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SnS
Written by: CG


Chapter 02:
Is This Right? Questioning The Art Of Capture!

"YOU WHAT!"

Rose Angel was wincing as she looked at the aerial monitor above her desk, which showed a shadowed and very imposing woman on the screen.

"I-I'm sorry, Marzgirl, but SnS sent a soldier here to take Char from me! I tried to prevent it, bu-"

"Jeez, I TOLD you what to do if they interfered!" Marzgirl interjected, showing a bit of irritation, "Did you at least get the clone data?"

"Y-Yeah!" Rose Angel replied back, smiling nervously, "I got enough data from Char's strand of hair. I'll send it to you right away!"

The woman continued, "Good. Still, though, if you had just followed what the top brass asked you to do, you wouldn't have lost Char. You let your pride get to you again, didn't you?" The cat girl simply lowered her head, with Marzgirl sighing, "Look, I know you are inexperienced with fighting your own former friend. I know you knew it was him the second you found out it was Ryoko."

Rose Angel's green eyes looked down, in a bit of surprise. She wanted to question how her supporting officer knew of this, but she figured the whole group got intel on what happened.

"You got to learn that he's going to stay loyal to SnS, girl." Marzgirl pointed out, "He's going to keep stealing each and every one of YOUR bishounen until they're all removed from your life."

"But couldn't I just go back into their universe and reclaim them?" Rose Angel countered. The girl then sighed, "Come on, we've been through this already, RA. If a Corolect Collector's bishounen is returned to his universe through the actions of SnS, SnS themselves lock away ANY Corolect Collector from that specific universe, no matter how much hacking we do!"

"But there HAS to be something we could do to go back!"

Marz then pointed at her wrist, which had nothing on it, "Look at your own wrist. You see that device?"

The cat girl brought out her right wrist to see the same black device that has been attached to her for as far back as she could remember, sans a few upgrades. To her, it felt like an extension of her own body, so not once did it ever feel uncomfortable. Still...

"As long as you have that Key Tool on your wrist, there is NOTHING we can do about it. We're able to hack the actions of the Key Tool for our own benefit, but we can't hack your own information from that device. It's a miracle we wern't attacked immediatly by SnS once we started our revolution, but they must of known that didn't have to worry this entire time. They can trace your every movement, every action... doesn't that bother you one bit?"

Rose Angel's eyes seemed to shake a bit. It truly did bother her, but she tried to discard the idea and notion that she was being "tracked" every day. It's all she could ever do. To know that this device was forbidding her from going back as well was very troubling.

The Corolect Officer continued, "This isn't just about your ability to take Bishounen, Rose Angel. This is about YOUR freedom. I know the Key Tool's origins go further than SnS, but it's SnS that's enforcing invasion of freedom. Even if we WERN'T breaking any laws, I can guarantee you SnS would still have their eyes on you. Always watching you. All because you left their academy. In fact, even Alters that aren't even in our own group have to worry about being tracked just because they left prematurely. Even if what we're doing is against their own laws, someday we're going to be cornered to a wall and we'll all have to fight together for our freedom. And this is why I'm trying to tell you that you cannot hold back to contact me the next time you see ANY hint of this again. We cannot allow SnS to interfere with us anymore. Got it?"

Why couldn't it just be carefree fun and games for her? She understood the severity of everything, but if she didn't have to worry so much about SnS breathing down her shoulder every time she wanted to do something, then life would be so much simplier for her.

If only these rules didn't exist. It's not like she was killing anyone...

If only these rules truly didn't exist...

Rose Angel nodded firmly afterwards, "Yeah. I'll contact you if anything like this arises again."

"We'll keep in touch. Until then."

As the monitor finally cut communications between the two, the brown furred cat girl simply brought back her seat and brought her hands to the back of her head, looking at the ceiling. She stared... and stared... and stared...

All to get her mind off of her worries.

After a while, she couldn't take it as she showed an annoyed expression and finally kicked out of her seat, "MAN, I can't worry about all of this! I need to get someone to replace Char. But who?"

She paced around for a while, pondering about all the characters she's seen in various anime she had watched in the past few years. For some time, Rose Angel has had a whole list of Bishounen in her head that she wanted to obtain and put in her personal fortress. It's been a goal of sorts for her for some time to get 100 Bishounen, and she swore along with her fellow Corolect Collectors that she would get to that goal first before any of them.

Of course, losing Char brought her further away from this goal now...

Nonetheless, she kept thinking of all the Bishies she wanted to get. She thought more and more... and then...

"Wow Sis! Look at that sexy package right there! He just cut up Freeza like he was a paper doll!"

"And that awesome music that's playing along with his appearance? And that body... those eyes... even when he's in Super Saiyan form!"

It hit her. The time she and her sister saw Dragon Ball Z and, for the first time, saw the teen saiyan known as Trunks. She recalled how they watched it together and they were both amazed by everything with him. It was love at first sight for both of them. She wanted to obtain Trunks first, but she felt that it would be wrong for her to do that considering her sister wanted him too. But ever since she dissapeared...

Rose Angel shook her head and smirked a bit, "That settles it!"

"Trunks! You're mine!"

*********************************************

"Option card activate! High Speed Plug-In B!"

On top of a digital touch screen playfield in Seif's main living room, one of Seif's friends revealed a face-down Digimon option card on the designated spot of the field. On that same field, there was a digimon card which showed, through the help of the digital touch screen, a holographic image of Dukemon. As soon as that player placed his option card, Dukemon was wrapped around a red aura, which Dukemon envoked the power from and released his arms in a powered-up position. He thrusted his spear right at Seif's own Digimon hologram, Angemon, and struck him, destroying all of his data. A counter on the left side of Seif's play field showed a number grid, from 100 to 0. Seif's pointer next to this grid went down from 10 to 0, which then immediatly showed the 3d words "WIN" on his friend's side.

Seif, now with only his black tanktop yin-yan shirt, put both of his hands on his face. It was the 3rd time in a row his friend, Darkside, beat him in the card game. Despite his name, Darkside seemed like a rather friendly and happy fellow, complete with his backwards black cap, his black shirt, dark blue jeans, black shoes and black wrist band that had the undertaker's logo from the WWE (the only thing that didn't seem dark about him was his tan face).

"Man, Seif, you really do need to up your game a bit." Darkside said, giving a chuckle. Seif just replied back, "I know, I know..."

As the two were playing in the living room, complete with a tan wallpaper and red carpet, both Patamon and Guilmon looked at their respected Tamer's side of the table. Guilmon waved his arms and proclaimed, "YAY DARKSIDE WON AGAIN!"

Patamon smiled a bit as he perched on his Tamer's shoulder and tapped his head with his right wing, "You just need more training, that's all."

Seif sighed as he removed his hands from his face, looking down, "It's not that... I just have my mind on other things right now..."

All 3 of them looked at Seif with curiousity, with Darkside saying, "What do you mean?"

His eyes stayed on the red carpet as he continued, "I don't know. Even though I should feel good that I successfully completed a mission as one as important as reclaiming a captured individual from an "Illegal Dimension Traveller" for the second time... Ijust don't feel right about it."

"What are you talking about?" Darkside spoke back, "Those crazy girls KIDNAP these guys from their own worlds! We're serving justice by bringing them back to their own worlds! I'm sure Char is very appreciative of what you did for him."

"I know, Darkside" Seif replied back, "But when I saw Duo and Quatre's eyes, when they were angry for what I did... it didn't seem like eyes from someone who was being controlled. It seemed like the same kind of eyes from someone who seemed legit about it."

Darkside got up from his chair, putting his hands in his pockets, "Seif. What you have to understand is that these guys aren't in the right mind to declare how they feel. They're being influenced by the one whom KIDNAPPED them for crying out loud. You can't trust the emotions of someone who may be controlled, and you have to serve justice the way you feel it needs to be delt."

"But how do I know for sure if it's TRUE justice, Darkside? How do we know for sure that their decision ISN'T being controlled by their capturer?"

Darkside patted Seif on the shoulder, "There is an ancient saying that goes "Justice is Blind.". As long as we carry out what we need to do and trust on SnS, then that's all that matters."

Seif looked at his friend for a while... before he nodded. He was right. Seif just had to trust in his gut instinct and believe in himself, despite his doubts. It was clear as day how big of a lawbreaker people like Rose Angel are, so it shouldn't be bothering him on how their captures felt. In the end, it was necessary to put these lawbreakers down for good. And he knew that in time, SnS' plans would come to fruition.

Suddenly, Seif's and Darkside's Key Tools began to give a beeping sound. When they both checked their devices, they looked it for a while, doing some jesters with their fingers on the device, before Seif smiled, "Hey, there's a new mission up from SnS! There's a Meganium herding heading that's nearby the area, and any capture obtained there will yield about 3,000 units for every Chikorita obtained. I gotta take advantage of this!" Seif raced to his room and grabbed his backpack, but not before he noticed Darkside getting his cards, "Are you going to come with?"

"Nah, I'm fine." Darkside remarked, "Don't really need the units right now and I don't intend to get all the Generation 2 starters anyway. Especially a grass type like the Meganium line."

Seif shrugged, "Suit yourself!" Then he darted off into the hallways up ahead. Darkside could see that this was something Seif needed; Get out and about his worries and quarrels. And one of the best ways to do that in Entra by far is catching Pokemon. And as he jestered Guilmon to follow him, he knew that Seif would be ok for the rest of the day, as long as he kept his mind away from the drama at hand.

*****************************************

Seif raced down the lone road in a grassy plain field, with the city he lived in in the horizon behind him, racing down with his partner Patamon in his red Volkswagen Beetle. His foot was bringing the pedal close to the floor as the Bug struggled to go faster. At first glance, it seemed like it was trying to warm up after Seif accidently flooded the engine from the sheer excitement of what was going down (ie putting too much gas in the engine and bringing the poor car the inability to start up until he properly unflooded the engine through the throttle). But it seemed like enough time had passed since then to Seif. He knew something was wrong...

Seif sighed, knowing what he had to do as he looked foward, "I'm sorry for flooding your engine, Rose."

He heard the car speak right back to him, "You better be. I thought you were over these mistakes by now. You know how annoying it is for me when you flood my engine an-"

"I know, I KNOW." Seif stressed, "That's why I'm sorry. Honest to god, I'll pay you back when we get the chance, ok? I was just in a hurry and I didn't want to miss the Pokemon swarm that's occuring."

"Just be more observant the next time you start up an engine like mine, ok?"

"Right. So can you please go a little bit faster?"

"I dunno... I could use the encouragement of someone else in this party."

Patamon brought his paws together, sitting in the passanger seat, "Please Rose?"

They both heard the car giggle, "Welllllll... I GUESS if Patamon's asking... OK!"

Suddenly, the engine roared loudly and the car gave a huge jolt of speed, rushing faster than it did before, making both Seif and Patamon grasp hard on the steering wheel and seat respectfully. Though they were startled at first, the two of them eventually laughed out loud and smiled. They were rather use to Rose's sudden burst of speed when she wanted to startle them, but every time that engine roared and the sudden burst of speed occured, it was a complete adreanline rush for both of them. Their best times were usually with this car, that's for sure.

(And as for how this car can even talk to begin with... well, that's another story entirely.)

Eventually, as they came close to a corner, Seif's brown eyes noticed on the car's dash a screen that showcased a digital map of their current location as well as where they needed to head. "Rose, we're coming up to the corner."

"I see it, Seif."

The red bug took the corner by giving a powerful drift, which, with the right control and steering from Seif, allowed them to go through it easily and follow the rocky trail up ahead.

Eventually, as they followed a few more directions, they found themselves outside the trail and on the main grassy hills. When they got themselves close to the peak of one of the hills, the Volkswagen stopped itself, but kept the engine running. Seif and Patamon got out, with the teen grabbing his Pokemon backpack from behind the seat. As Seif closed the door, Patamon got on top of Rose's hood. Seif stepped ahead to see beyond the horizon of the hill, with the Bug following suit slowly.

What they saw in front of them was absolutly amazing. A huge herd of Meganiums, Bayleefs and Chikoritas were all roaming together in the grassy plains below. Various Pidgeys and Pidgeottos flew above the herd itself as they got near a huge lake, with the majority drinking from the water from this lake.

"It's so beautiful." Rose remarked. The car couldn't be any more right. To Seif, seeing a sight like this was a blessing. Herdings in question didn't happen too often every year, but this was the first time in his life he was able to catch one with his own eyes: And it was all thanks to the little red car, which helped him get to the scene fast enough.

"Thanks Rose." Seif said, looking at the car with his brown eyes. He heard the car reply back, "No problem. That's what I'm here for."

He then nodded, then proceeded to get his back pack straightened and go down the slope of the hill. The car got closer to the edge and remarked, "Wait, where are you going?"

"What else? I'm going to catch a Chikorita!"

The car seemed rather puzzled by this, "But... I don't get it..."

Seif stopped and looked at the car, "I thought I mentioned this to you. As a Pokemon Trainer, I catch, battle and train Pokemon. It's a common thing with us. As a result, I'm going to captured a Chikorita."

"That's not the thing I get about it, though..."

"Don't worry, I'll explain when I get the chance!" He then ran off which left the car a bit bewildered. Patamon looked down and asked, "What's wrong, Rose?"

"I don't know, Patamon. Something about catching Pokemon... especially in a group like that. It doesn't seem... right."

*******************************************

Sephiroth kept his back on the tan wallpaper, with an upstairs hallway that led to a lone door. Through a good portion of the day. He felt like shouldn't even care about how things happened with Rose Angel. In fact, he didn't. But the sheer fact that he felt like he failed her brought a sense of guilt to him. Why he felt like this was something he could explain (as he looked at his finger and reminded himself once again), but he felt it was his nobility of all things, especially back when he was loyal to Soldier, that brought him to feel like this.

So he decided he could make up for it the only way how:

Keep guard of her room, making sure no one else stepped in.

He already had to turn down Kuja and Seifer, so already he felt like he was paying his dues... just a bit, anyway. But he couldn't deny the job was a bit boring, as he yawned and rubbed his eyes a bit.

A few moments later, however, he heard the door open, with Rose Angel emerging out and stepping down the stairs, black jacket and Capsule Shot on and everything.

"RA..." Sephiroth commented in a bit of surprise, "Where are you heading off to?"

"I'm going to get a new Bishounen. Stand guard of the place while I'm gone."

As she walked past Sephiroth, he remarked, "Are you sure you don't want anyone to accompany you?"

She turned around and then shook her head, "I gotta use this as a training experience as well. I don't want to simply stand by the sidelines while everyone fights." She then turned once more and smirked, "It's time I recall what I learned at SnS."

As she walked off, Sephiroth eyed her for a while before he shrugged and walked out of his slum and back down the red carpet hallways.

Meanwhile, the cat girl walked into an elevator and took it down to the first floor of the area. She then faced two large steel doors. As she brought out her Key Tool, a device from the door suddenly emerged and brought out a red scanning light. As she passed the Key Tool under it, the two doors opened, with the lights turning on inside the room.

When she walked foward inside, the doors closed behind her. The entire room was painted black, with yellow lines on the bottom floor, and a circular pathway in front of her, with a computer console next to it, as well as a circular device.

She then walked up to the circular device, put her left hand in her jacket's pocket and brought out what looked to be an SD card of sorts. As she put it inside, she gave a command: "Seek data for Dragon Ball Z universe. Scenario: Future Trunks' final fight between Android 17 and 18 before time travel. Normal canon scenario. Duplicate multiverse." The device lit up for a while, with a status bar displaying the progress. When the bar got full, the lights stopped and the card popped out from the slot. Rose Angel looked at the card to see it was designated with the words "DBZ MU#199201".

With a smile on her face, she walked to the console, inputted several commands, and then inserted the card into the device. Soon, a huge portal once again emerged from the circular pathway.

"Alright... here we go."

When Rose Angel stepped into the portal that was set up for her, she found herself immediatly out, her eyes lingered as she saw before her a land filled with destruction everywhere. Buildings toppled over, no signs of plant life, smoldering rocks... it all looked very depressing to her. But she kept her positive attitude nonetheless and brought out her Key Tool, "Now let's see here..." She pressed a few things on the device before she exclaimed, "AHA! There he is. So Trunks is-"

A huge explosion was heard from the direction of the destroyed city, with what looked to be a person flying to dodge said explosions.

"... right over there!"

She smirked and ran off towards the destruction, ready for anything that would cross her way.

***************************************

Several Meganiums turned their heads to look behind them and their herd to see the black haired Seif walking towards them. They kept a wary eye on the teenager, being untrusting of Alters. Seif, as well, knew that they were wary of him and knew that he couldn't immediatly jump right in and catch a Chikorita in the mix. Especially with a herd that big, it would be too dangerous. But then again, how else would he catch a Chikorita unless he seperated it from the herd? He knew the second he brought out that Poke Ball from his pocket, the whole herd would scatter away.

He stopped as he eyed the scene, with the Bayleefs and Chikoritas unaware of the teen and drinking water and playing with one another. He then saw one particular Chikorita who seemed to be sniffing a flower and a bit away from the herd.

That was his chance.

He quickly drew out the Poke Ball, and as soon as he did, the Meganiums cried out their call and began to run away, causing all the Bayleefs and Chikoritas to run in a panic next to the Meganiums. However, as soon as this one particular Chikorita heard the call, it felt it's leaf being hit by a red and white ball and felt it's entire body turning into energy and being sucked into the ball.

Keeping his position after throwing the Poke Ball, he kept his eyes on it as it shook a bit, red light continously lit up in the center of the ball. Throwing a Poke Ball at a Pokemon that hasn't even been weakened whatsoever was an almost guaranteed way of not capturing a Pokemon. This was something even newbies knew. But Seif knew that if he could stall long enough while the Chikorita was attempting to get out, he would be far seperated from the herd.

The ball finally broke out to bring back Chikorita, just as Seif expected. Chikorita looked left and right, confused as to where it was, then noticed it's herd far off in the distance. It tried to run off, but then it's instincts kicked in as it dodged another Poke Ball being thrown by the teen. It's soft red eyes looked towards the Alter and gave a very angry expression.

"Alright Chikorita..." Seif said as he brought out a Poke Ball from his belt, keeping a smirk on his face, "Let the real battle begin!"

******************************************************

Trunks kept trying to escape the various energy blasts that were sent at him. So far, he was doing it fairly well. If only he could find an opening to attack these two androids at the right moment, then maybe he could turn the tide in his favor.

Suddenly, a yellow haired woman with a blue vest and a blue lined undershirt appeared in front of him, hand extended. He barely dodged the blast that was unleashed at him and did a hard punch right at this woman's stomach. But as he looked at her expression, it was clear that she was hardly even phased by the blow.

Out of nowhere, a black haired man with a black vest appeared next to him and smashed his gut with a powerful knee jab.

He could feel the blood run out from his throat and out his mouth from the sheer force. Then he felt a powerful smashing blow from the woman, whom used both of her hands to attack his back, and forced him down to the ground, his body bouncing on the broken pavement like a ragged doll.

All his training.

All of his hopes.

It seemed like all of that was for naught.

"Well he certainly didn't put up much of a fight, huh 18?", the black haired teen remarked as they both floated down. The woman sighed as she brought up her hands, "I keep telling you to take it easy on him, 17. He's practically the only thing we can toy around with in this desolate place now." 17 chuckled as they finally landed near the body, his eyes looking as sadistic as they could be, "I can't help it if this kid can't even take a simple jab to the gut."

It was like hearing two children talk about taking turns with a beat up doll. He couldn't believe how insane these androids were. They sure looked human on the outside, but their actions certainly proved that they were not human.

He tried so hard to fight to avenge the deaths of everyone he held dear. These two were the soal reason why his life was so miserable. He trained for several years after his mentor died in battle. He tried to reawaken that power that was unleashed briefly when his mentor was killed...

And yet, it wasn't happening.

His blue eyes looked up at the black cloudy sky as he forced a smile, knowing that it was all over, "... I'm sorry mom. I guess I won't be coming back..."

Android 17 forced out a chuckle, "Heh. Near death and the poor boy can only cry out for his mom. How pathetic."

Android 18 smirked as she brought out her hand, "I think it's pointless to prolounge it. Let's just end this already."

17 nodded as he too brought out his hand. A yellow orb of energy formed over it, powering up more and more. Trunks closed his eyes, ready to accept death...

"CAPSULE SHOT!"

17 and 18 barely had a chance to turn around to hear the voice behind them as 17 was suddenly hit by a white energy blast which engulfed his body and then shrunk his body down to a bronze state, seperating them into several attachable pieces, with a silver base and an egg shaped capsule next to the pieces.

Despite being unable to move his entire body, Trunks still managed to move his head to see what had just occured. And though he was grateful for the sudden shift in the situation, he couldn't help but feel bewildered at what just occured. 18 was equally surprised, then looked ahead to see a smiling cat girl with what looked to be an arm cannon in her arm.

"You!" 18 exclaimed, "What did you do to 17?"

Rose Angel gave a smirk as she put aside her weapon, "Well, your brother was in the way, so I had to put him to the side so it would be a fair fight between us. That and I know I wouldn't have gotten the chance to get both of you."

Her eyes looked down at the pieces once again, then she looked back at the cat girl, giving a smirk, "Smart girl." It was clear this person was no ordinary being. Whoever the hell she was, 17 couldn't even sense a proper power level from her. So she walked up towards the cat girl, cold blue eyes staring at the green calm eyes, as she began to power up another energy blast.

"Ok, kitty cat. Let's see what you got."

*********************************************
*************SnS Eye Catch*************
*********************************************

Several bronze pieces, a silver base and a egg-shaped capsule once again fell down to the ground below as Rose Angel kept panting, trying to get more air into her system and sweating up a storm, her Capsule Shot facing foward. She lowered the weapon and got on her knees, trying to breathe in harder.

The fight she was involved in was truly a life-or-death situation, as her torn up clothes proved. Fear ran through her body, her eyes shaking.

What kind of mess did she get herself into?

She wanted to try to become stronger by fighting one Android. She felt that fighting 2 would be suicide so she used the smart tactic of taking down one with the Capsule Shot and then fight the other (That and, hey, she found 17 sexy as well, so two birds with one stone). She thought she could take out 18 with the fighting abilities she learned during the last year at SnS. But she did recall that she never took the last half of the exams due to her escaping the Academy for Corolect. She overheard from every prior year that the last half of the last year removed any safety restrictions and was basically life-or-death if you chose the wrong kind of missions... and if you no longer had a Guardian.

But before she attended the last year, she overheard about Corolect and felt that she didn't half to worry about that last half. That the first half would be enough training.

... she was completly dead wrong.

As that fight progressed, every punch, every kick, every energy blast that 18 landed was brutal. Through the fighting lessons she learned through Sephiroth, she felt like she stood somewhat of a chance, but simply phasing in and summoning out black magic wasn't enough to keep up.

In fact, she thought at one moment that, when she was pushed to a corner and choke held at a wall, she thought it was the end... and yet...

... her memories were fuzzy at that point... but when she realized where she was, the next thing she recalled doing was using the Capsule Shot as a last resort.

She didn't want to use that device for this one fight. She wanted to prove to herself that she was capable of fighting for herself.

... and by using that device, she just proved that she wasn't capable after all.

She smashed the ground with her fist in anger as the rain started to pour in. She got up and began to walk to Trunks, slowly.

Trunks, meanwhile, witnessed the entire fight, but could barely see what happened at the moment that girl managed to counter 18 and unleash that device. He had to admit that girl had some guts to come by... either that or she was plain stupid.

As she finally got over his body, however, she put a coin into her Capsule Shot and turned the dial, then pointed the device at him.

Trunks seemed to be a bit surprised at what she was doing, but he was too weak to even question it. He could only smile as he looked at her.

And as she looked at him, ready to capture him, she saw his face. Those long bangs covering his forehead and eyes. The blood that was over his forehead and a bit coming from his mouth. His entire body looking shattered and broken. The rain that continued to pour down went down his body, as if the heavens were trying to give him one last blessing before what was suppose to be his possible death.

Her hand inside the device was itching to push the button that would shoot out the same white blast that captured many other bishounen. She was so use to it already. She's done it so many times...

... yet why couldn't she do it?

Her eyes shook as they saw his battered face and body.

Why couldn't she do it?

She felt something go down her cheek.

Why?

She felt it with her left hand... was it...a tear?

Why?

"What's... wrong?" Trunks finally spoke out, coughing and then continuing, "Aren't you... going to turn me... into pieces... like those monsters?"

After keeping her Capsule Shot pointed at Trunks for what felt like an eternity to her, she finally lowered it and shook her head, "I can't do it."

"Why?"

She couldn't give a clear reason. His body looking so broken. His face looking so beat down. His expression showing a sign of giving up on life. It seemed so... immoral to her.

But why? She never felt like this before. She was already use to capturing Bishounen through methods like the Capsule Shot or through pure force like when Sephiroth took down Char. So why was this particular situation any different?

Why?

She shook her head and now had a determined face, taking off her Capsule Shot and grabbing the broken and battered teen, carrying him by the arms, and then holding her Capsule Shot.

"Where... are you taking me?"

She looked up at the sky, her eyes shaking at what had transpired still. This wasn't a world for him. She had captured many bishounen before. Most of them with fates that would have led them to an ill fate. But for the first time, she could truly say that she may be SAVING a Bishounen from his own world.

Her eyes looked at his as she gave a calm smile:

"Somewhere safe."

********************************************

"USE THUNDER PUNCH!"

The quick punching Pokemon, known as Hitmonchan, dashed through the fields and unleashed a powerful lightning punch, which was enough to send Chikorita high into the air and down to the ground. Seif quickly got out a Poke Ball with a blue and white color scheme and shouted "GO GREAT BALL!"

The Great Ball struck Chikorita's leaf once again and sucked it in... and a few seconds later would break out once again. Chikorita clearly seemed exhausted by the battle as it panted, but it wanted to defeat this Hitmonchan... and quickly.

Seif seemed to be getting equally frustrated. This was about his 28th Great Ball, and he was starting to run dry. If he didn't get this Chikorita soon, not only would he be losing out on a partner, but he'd also be losing out on the reward.

Chikorita tried to move against Hitmonchan, but winced as it felt electricity course through it's body, going down.

"Alright, he's paralyzed!" Seif exclaimed, "Time for an Ultra Ball..."

Just then, out of nowhere, Seif's Red Volkswagen drifted in between the two Pokemon.

"Rose!" Seif exclaimed, "What are you doing!"

Rose simply did not reply as it opened it's passenger door to the little Pokemon, "Hurry and get in!"

Chikorita didn't know what to think of all of this. This mechanical vehicle of sorts was... talking to it? And furthermore, it wanted to help.

Chikorita paid no mind to putting the pieces together and nodded as it got inside the red car, with it quickly closing the doors and driving off.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING, ROSE!", Seif exclaimed. But yet he heard no reply whatsoever from the car as it continued to drive downwards. The teen had no idea what got into the vehicle, but as he brought back Hitmonchan into his Poke Ball, Seif felt he had to follow suit, so he ran to follow the trail of the car.

As Rose continued to drive down the hills and through the grassy plains, Chikorita tried to regain it's energy in the car's comfortable seat. However, the sheer shock from it's paralyzed state was getting to it as it was barely keeping itself consience. Patamon, whom was inside the bug as well, seemed to show concern as he looked over to see the Pokemon.

The car had a clear idea of where to go, but as it went over one last hill, it quickly applied the brakes... where it stopped right next to a huge river.

Rose looked at the river. The water clearly looked too deep for the Volkswagen to go through safely, and it was too deep for the weakened Pokemon to go as is. Patamon especially looked too small to carry Chikorita over.

"Damn..." Rose spat out.

"ROSE, WAIT!"

Rose heard her partner calling out for him. She revved her engine, ready to speed off... but at the same time, she felt like she couldn't continue to abandon her partner. So she just simply drove up to him and faced him, shouting out, "What the hell is your problem, Seif!"

"MY problem!" Seif exclaimed angrily, "What about YOURS, suddenly kidnapping that Chikorita and racing off before I can even catch it!"

"I wasn't kidnapping HIM!" Rose exclaimed right back, "I was trying to get him back to his family! You know, that very mob you said you just wanted to LOOK AT? If anything YOU were about to kidnap HIM from his family! And now that they likely crossed this river, it's too late to even get him back to them!"

Seif looked at his car, his eyes showing some surprise, "But... this is what Pokemon Trainers do, Rose... we..."

"You CATCH these poor creatures from their own families?"

"Well... not... always... but-"

"Well then why don't you do this with one that doesn't have a family of his own or something?"

"Because Chikoritas are... a rare breed... so that's why there's a reward for them right n-"

"Oh I see, so because there's a REWARD you have to catch one. I see, it's all a money thing to you, isn't it?"

"No it isn't!" Seif exclaimed back, swiping his hand, "I wanted a Chikorita of my own as well! All I have to do is breed Chikorita with another-" Seif then stopped in his tracks, "Wait, you said that Chikorita's a male?"

"Yeah."

"How can you even tell?"

"Trust me Seif, I can tell these things."

Seif facepalmed as he sighed, "Damn it, I thought that Chikorita was a female! Now I can't even breed it!"

"So you ARE doing this for the money!"

Seif looked back at his car, "No! I'm telling you, I wanted a Chikorita of my own as well!"

"As well, huh?"

Seif kept looking at his car for a while. Slowly, it began to dawn upon him. The main reason why his partner was getting so peeved at him. Despite Chikorita being such a rare breed, he didn't have the right to do this to an innocent Chikorita. If anything, he should've tried to capture a Meganium (as hard as THAT would have been), but even then that may have been wrong. He had not once tried to consider how the captured Pokemon in question would feel about the situation.

Captured...

... just like...

It dawned upon him more.

"You finally get it, don't you, Seif?" Rose remarked as his hands shook, his brown eyes also shaking.

"But... this is different... Pokemon training and battling... capturing... it's been done for-"

"I'm telling you, Seif, there has to be a better way to do it than the way you were just trying." Rose remarked, "Otherwise, I'm sure there would have been another Alter out there claiming the wrong doings of all of this by now. But this... taking a young creature like this away from his family... it's no better than-"

"I know Rose!" Seif snapped back, his brown eyes looking down, now understanding his actions, "I... know..."

The car's driver door then opened up, revving it's engine, "We better hurry and take him to a hospital. Your Pokemon banged him up quite a bit."

Seif looked up to the car and nodded, "There should be a Pokemon Center in the city. I'll input it in the GPS."

As he got in and raced down with his car, he couldn't believe what he was being compared to. But it was the truth. Pokemon capturing was no different than how Corolect Collectors capture Bishounen. He wanted to use the excuse that Pokemon are a lower class being in this world, that they don't have the same rights as Alters. But he knew just as much as any other Pokemon Trainer and even Digimon Tamer in Entra that Pokemon have just as much right as Alters in this world.

He couldn't help but ask himself again the same question he just asked many minutes ago.

Is he really doing the right thing?

**********************************************************

Was she really doing the right thing?

As she carried Trunks through the portal and back to her home, she kept asking herself that question. Corolect had made it clear that if a Bishounen isn't captured by the Capsule Shot, they must have a Corolect Ring BEFORE coming to Entra. The only problem in this particular case is... well... something about putting a ring that signifies that he's captured after he's been beaten and broken down didn't seem right.

"RA!"

As she exited through the doors, she saw Duo and Sephiroth run up to her, seeing both her and this "new one" battered and broken up. Duo took Trunks into his arms and spoke, "What the hell happened to you guys!"

While Sephiroth carried Rose Angel in his arms, she smiled, her eyes weakly open, and spoke, "Got a little too carried away with my fight..." Sephiroth sighed and shook his head, "This is the reason why I asked for me to come along. You never know what kind of dangers lie ahead..." He then looked at Trunks, "Especially with men like him."

Rose Angel chuckled, "He didn't beat me down..." She then brought out two capsules from each of her hands, "We were beaten down by these two."

As she gave the capsules to Duo, she told him, "When you're done putting Trunks in the Care Center, give these two to Reeve and tell him not to bring these two out." Duo grabbed the capsules and put them in his pocket, nodding:

"Right. But first, let's get you two patched up."

Rose Angel simply nodded before slowly passing out, her energy and body completly drained from all the fighting...

********************************************

Inside the hospital for Pokemon known as the Pokemon Center, Seif sat in the seats, waiting to hear of the condition of the Chikorita he tried to capture. All the words Rose spoke to him were still fresh in his mind. Was it really any different at all of what he was doing?

He felt guilty about it now, and could only hope that he could make it up to this Chikorita somehow.

Seif then heard a familiar "Healing" jingle that's heard in all Pokemon Centers. He saw the pink haired girl known as Nurse Joy come out with a Chansey with a nurse maid hat, holding a tray with Chikorita on the top, resting. Seif then asked, "Is he...?"

Nurse Joy gave a smile and replied, "This Chikorita is perfectly fine now. He was just your typical battle damage from a Pokemon fight and nothing else. He just needs to rest for a while before he can be used in a Pokemon battle."

Seif nodded, and yet still had a depressed look on his face. Nurse Joy couldn't help but ask with concern, "What's wrong Seif?"

He looked back at Nurse Joy. Ever since he was part of SnS and trained under the Pokemon Trainer classes, he saw Nurse Joy on many occasions, whether to heal his Pokemon or even buy items inside the Center's shop. She had a knack for remembering every last Trainer that would stop by, but there was something about Seif that made her remember him more. Maybe it was his mysterious past, or maybe it was because he always complimented how cool of a Pokemon Chansey was.

Nonetheless, the two did know each other pretty well, which was enough for Seif to feel comfortable to explain, "I dunno Joy... I feel bad after the Pokemon battle I had with this Chikorita."

"Well what do you mean?"

"I tried capturing him in a herd, and... I seperated him from his herd."

"I see..." Joy replied back, "You didn't think much of Chikorita's own situation and how it would feel being seperated, did you?"

Seif sighed and shook his head. Joy, however, smiled and patted his shoulder, "Don't worry too much about it, Seif. I'm sure in time, Chikorita will open up to you, just so as long as you're willing to show your dedication towards making him happy."

"But..." His eyes looked down once again, "I seperated him from his family. That's a pretty big gap to fix..."

Joy kept her smile as she continued, "Any gap can be fixed, Seif. Especially when it comes to Alters and Pokemon." She then looked up towards a mural which showed what looked to be a War Greymon fighting against a Charizard, "It's been said that Pokemon have been rivals with Digimon for many, many years, as far back as the record books with our world states. And the only reason why they are rivals with one another is because Pokemon themselves are jealous that Digimon are the Chosen Partners of Entra. Because of this, every Pokemon, no matter how meanincing or rebelious, wishes to have a partner of their own, because if they don't, they find themselves a disgrace to their own kind."

Seif quickly gave a deadpanned look to Nurse Joy, "Are you sure you aren't just telling me a fake story so I can feel better about my situation?"

Joy quickly replied, waving her hands and smiling, "No no, it's the honest to goodness truth! Really!"

At that moment, however, Chikorita's eyes began to open slowly. Joy looked at Chikorita, "Oh look, he's coming to!"

However, as soon as he woke up, he looked around in a panic, left and right. Seif tried to talk to him, "Chikorita, I-"

Chikorita's red eyes looked at Seif and showed that he was still extremly angry as to what occured, giving a huge slash with his leaf which forced Seif to go back. Chikorita then ran off, with Seif shouting, "HEY WAIT!" and followed suit. Nurse Joy and Chansey looked as the two raced off, but Chansey poked Joy and gave a smile and a nod. Joy nodded as well, "Yeah... I'm sure it'll work out between them too."

********************************************

Seif continued to run down the hall, going through options on his Key Tool, "Let's see... Pokemon languages... set to... Chikorita. There!" As they stepped outside, he then shouted out, "Chikorita! Wait!"

Chikorita quickly stopped and looked back at the Alter teen. He brought out his vines and spoke out in a voice that Seif could understand thanks to the Key Tool's Pokemon Voice Translate feature, "Stay back, Alter!"

Seif backed away and replied back, "Take it easy, Chiko..."

"Take it easy? TAKE IT EASY!" Chikorita exclaimed, "YOU TOOK ME AWAY FROM MY FAMILY!"

"I KNOW that!"

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT!"

"I wanted you as my partner, but I wasn't thinking about YOUR situation! I'm sorry!"

"SORRY'S NOT GOING TO CUT IT! I want to go back to my family!"

"I don't know where they would be!" Seif exclaimed right back, "Honestly, Chiko, if I could bring you to them again, I would, but I don't know where we could start looking!"

Chikorita's eyes started to shake a bit. It was clear the poor Pokemon was feeling depressed as is, "Mom..." The grass Pokemon then lowered his vines and retracted them back to his neck, going down to the pavement and having tears starting to form at it's eyes.

The Pokemon's eyes dripped down the tears as it stayed on the ground. As it looked up to see the person that seperated him from his family, however, Seif couldn't help but have a tear come from his eye. The grass pokemon couldn't help but ask, "Why are YOU crying, Alter?"

Seif didn't respond to this and merely brought out his hands in an open position, closing his eyes, which initially confused Chikorita.

"If you want to vent your frustrations on me... do it. It's the only thing I can offer to you to compensate for what I did..."

Chikorita stayed confused, but as his tears continued to flow, he couldn't help but yell out and started to tackle Seif, slashing his face a few times with his razor leaf and slapping it as well with his vine wipes. He headbutted, tackled, did everything he could to this Alter, and the boy continued to show the pain he was going through with all of this. The whole series of attacks must of gone for a minute before Rose, whom was nearby, woke up to hear all the action and drove up to them on the street, "Chikorita, what are you-!"

"Don't stop him, Rose!", Seif spoke out, as the Pokemon continued to attack him.

To him, this was his punishment.

And the punishment did go on for some time, the stream of attacks continuing on and on... until about 3 minutes later, when Chikorita's actions started to get slower. After giving one last powerful vine whip, the poor Pokemon laid on the ground once more, with Seif falling on his knees, his hair covering his eyes and breathing heavily from the brutal attack.

"Seif, why did you let him do that!" Rose exclaimed. Seif couldn't even respond as he walked over to Chikorita, whom barely opened his eyes. Seif then kneeled down, with the grass Pokemon barely able to see his brown eyes.

Those brown eyes that showed compassion... concern...

And as Chikorita fainted from all of the attacks, Seif decided to grab the Pokemon into his arms, put him inside his car's passenger seat and walk up to his car and drive away.

He did not speak a single word after that incident occured. His injuries meant nothing to him, because to him, that was his punishment...

*********************************************

"Kitsune, hand me the desanitizer."

"Is it on the left or right shelf?"

"It should be on the right shelf."

Rose Angel's vision was hazy as she started to wake up, seeing herself in a white wall'd room, laying down on a hospital bed. She felt the majority of her injuries were now just small bruises. As she looked around, she saw a black haired girl with a blue shirt and blue jeans, wearing a white nurse cap, with another guy with blonde hair and a black and blue lined long sleeved shirt and black pants.

The girl noticed Rose Angel's open eyes and smiled, "Hello there, sleeping beauty."

Rose Angel brought out a smirk, "Playing the role of a nurse again, huh Junsei?"

Junsei shrugged her shoulder, "Can't help it if Kenshin isn't that entertaining back at home. That and when I hear a friend needs help, especially when said friend has no Bishounen who know the first thing about medical related things with Alters... well, what can I say?"

"Here it is, Junsei!"

Kitsune quickly tossed a hand de-sanitizer bottle, with Junsei grabbing it, thanking her partner. She placed it on the nearby table and put a bit in her hands, rubbing them. As she did, she commented, "So your bishies told me what happened. Going to the Dragon Ball Z Universe, fighting the two androids and rescuing Trunks. Kinda reckless, huh RA?"

Rose Angel chuckled, "Well... maybe a little..." She then asked "Where is he anyway?"

"He's in his own room now. Apparently he got over his injuries quicker than you."

"How long was I out?"

Kitsune responded to this inquiry, "For about 8 hours now."

Rose Angel sighed, "I can't believe this."

"Don't be so hard on yourself." The blonde haired teen spoke out as he walked towards Rose Angel, "The Dragon Ball Z Universe is an insane place. Even experienced fighters in SnS tend to have a problem defending themselves against the foes in that world. You should be happy you made it back the way you did."

Rose Angel's eyes looked to the side in dissapointment, "Yeah, except I had to use the Capsule Shot to contain both Android 17 and 18."

She quickly disregarded her regrets as she forced herself up slowly, which prompted Junsei to speak out, "Wait, where are you going?"

"I gotta check up on Trunks."

"But you've been out for some time! You need your rest!"

Rose Angel forced herself up, seeing that she was with a brand new green shirt and blue jeans, but her jacket nowhere to be seen, "I'll get my rest once I make sure Trunks is alright." She then slowly walked towards the doors and looked at the two, nodding, "Thanks for your help, guys." As she walked out of the room, Junsei chuckled a bit as she looked at Kitsune, "So do you think we should've told her that you're the newest member of Corolect?"

Kitsune gave a similar smirk, "We'll leave it as a surprise for later."

********************************************

His eyes kept looking at the ceiling. Long and hard. It was all he did ever since he regained consience and fully healed from his wounds. Trunks couldn't think about doing anything else, and even if he did, he noticed the silver haired man with a large trenchcoat was next to his door some time ago. He couldn't even walk out if he wanted, nor explore his surroundings. So that man kept telling him, along with something about new captures being kept in their rooms or in some sort of dungeon.

So his eyes just kept staring... and staring...

The door unlocked, which caused his blue eyes to look at the door. When the door opened up, he saw the same cat girl he saw out in that battlefield, without her black jacket.

"Trunks, sweety... are you ok?"

Was he ok?

Why was she even asking that question? Of course he wasn't ok.

"I'm fine." he lied, looking at the ceiling once more.

"You know..." She began, walking towards him, "I told Sephiroth you're free to walk around the hallway."

"I thought I wasn't allowed to leave my room since I'm 'The New One'."

"Normally you wouldn't be allowed to..." The girl replied back, "... but you don't even have the Corolect Ring everyone else around here does. I was going to put it on you, but..." Her eyes lingered, "... I... don't feel it's right. Not after everything you've been through."

He looked at the girl for a while. All of these men were her prisoners, captured by her, and yet she spares him from this ring that claims a person. He didn't know if he should be grateful or not, but one thing was for certain; He wasn't 'Captured' like that man was claiming he was. As he got up, Rose Angel questioned, "Where are you going?"

He stopped as he looked at the girl, "You said I'm allowed to walk around. So I'm getting out of here."

"Y... you can't."

He showed a bit of confusion, "Why not?"

She looked at him for a while before she sighed, "Because... you're not in your world anymore."

His eyes slightly widened, but as he kept thinking, he eventually gave a slight smirk, his attitude changing now that he understood he was no longer a prisoner, "Heh, not too surprised. That portal you took me through didn't look normal. And you certainly don't look normal either."

"Well I'm sorry I don't have a perfect human body for you."

He slightly blushed, "T... that's not what I meant...!"

Rose Angel giggled a bit, feeling a bit mischevious. She then continued, "In all seriousness, though, even though I should have you officially as one of my captures... maybe we can go around this thing just this one time."

"What do you mean?"

She placed both of her hands behind her back as she paced around, "Wellllll... normally, I don't allow any of my bishounen to leave back to their worlds, especially once they have my Corolect Ring around their finger. Most of them come from places like yours; In an apocolyptic world, after their done with their missions, not having any other purpose, etc etc etc, you know how all that jazz goes. BUT! Since you did work so hard to save your world, and... well, thanks to my efforts, I guess I kinda did help save it... I figured you might want to check on your dear ol' mum or something. But..."

Rose Angel couldn't help what she was about to say next. She felt like she was going back to her SnS days again...

"... we could always use someone like you here. You know... as a bodyguard for me. It's the least you could do for me after I saved your world, ya know? And our world... Entra... it's a lot more peaceful! Not much fighting or anything goes on around here!" She then remarked, "But it's up to you! I mean... I would normally CATCH you but..." She then sighed, feeling like her emotions were going to mix up her words. She then brought out a ring that looked similar to the Corolect Ring. However, as she placed the ring in Trunks' hand, she explains, "Look. We Corolect Collectors are given blank rings before we engrave them with our marks. I figure no one's going to pay attention to the fact that your ring doesn't have a code mark on it as long as you don't show it off."

He looked at the ring, examining it, and seeing that it didn't, in fact, have no such markings on it. As he brought out his finger and grabbed the ring, however, he looked at the girl and asked, "Why? Why are you doing this for me?"

She put both of her hands in her pocket as she looked down, "Well... cause... you know... I kinda, sorta DID see how miserable you looked... and I kinda, sorta DID see how sad you were after that fight... and... um..."

She felt like she wanted to tell him how she felt about his situation. How she felt horrible for what occured to him. How she wanted to make an exception and have him be the only Bishounen to have freedom in her entire crew. But...

"Look, I'm just doing this because I want to, ok? Don't question it!"

Yeah, she couldn't let her wisecrack attitude go away in this place.

He smiled at her in response to this. He could tell that her words were getting jumbled up for obvious reasons, and even he had to admit that... he was getting obvious feelings for her too. But just like how she couldn't admit to her feelings, he couldn't admit such immediate feelings either. Maybe it was because she saved him. Maybe it was because she made an exception to him as part of this whole crew...

He placed the ring on his finger and asked, "Is there any way I can contact my mom back in this world?"

Rose Angel looked at Trunks curiously, "I... I'm sure there has to be."

"See if we can." He replied back as he opened the door, "And I guess you can come with me and explain where am I to begin with."

She smiled and nodded, and as she followed him, one thing was for certain to her.

She DID in fact do the right thing.

It took several hours before the grass Pokemon woke up after his very stressful evening. As his red eyes opened, he felt himself resting on a very comfortable basket filled with cushions on a red carpet floor in a dimly lit room thanks to the sunrise from the window behind him. He looked around his surroundings to see a room with a bed right next to him, several bookshelves filled with various books and figures in them and a small monitor on a table.

It looked like a pretty normal room, but as he never saw such a thing before, he was initially confused in his surroundings. The basket he laid down in was unlike any spot he ever rested on before. As he got up, he felt his hooves touch the red carpet.

This fuzzy carpet felt weird.

This whole enviroment in question was beyond what he was use to.

"HEY!"

Chikorita got startled as soon as he heard the voice from above. He looked up to see the same orange creature that was looking over him while he was being rescued.

"Don't scare me like that!" Chikorita exclaimed, "I don't even know where I am..."

"Well, you're in Seif's room." Patamon said with a smile, "He took you in here after you two had your fight. He still felt guilty about everything that went down, so he got you a comfortable basket to rest in and is even making you a good breakfast. He should be in the kitchen right now, actually."

Chikorita had no real response to this. This Alter, the one whom took him away from his family, was doing all of these things for him to make up for his mistake. Why?

He looked at the Digimon closely. He knew that Digimon were obediant to their masters. But why?

"Can I ask you something?" Chikorita asked. Patamon nodded, "Sure."

"What is it about Alters that make you Digimon so obediant towards them?"

Patamon looked up towards the white ceiling for a while in thought. "Well... to be honest, I wouldn't call myself 'Obediant' with Seif."

"What do you mean?"

Patamon's blue eyes looked at Chikorita's, "Me and Seif didn't start off as partners. When we first met, we just happened to find ourselves in this world at the same time. We worked together to find out where we were at, and though I was initially hesistant to accept his help, I found out that when we worked together, we really did make a good team."

Chikorita looked to the side, "The hesistant part sounds a lot like me." Then he looked at Patamon, "But why would you be hesistant towards him? Digimon are known to be the best partners for Alters."

"I didn't even know who I was when I first found myself in this world." Patamon replied back, "Even now, I don't know for sure what's my purpose here. I was scared too. Scared of the unknown. But Seif proved to me after a while that he is a really kind hearted person. He may make some really stupid mistakes and grind your nerves, but he's the kind of Alter that'll stand up for anyone that needs help. That's what I realized, and that's why we're partners now."

As Chikorita looked down once again, he couldn't help but wonder if he could give this "Seif" a chance. Chikorita knew very well that he couldn't just go and look for his family now; He knew that they would only graze the outskirts of cities every once in a while, and from there, they'd go into seclusion in the deepest parts of the forests, unknown to any Alter.

He then recalled his mom always telling him something. That someday, he may be captured by Alters as well. But if he ever did...

"Have faith."

Why did she tell him that? His whole herd was always trying to avoid Alters to begin with. So why?

He recalled asking her that same question. Her answer was a bit... comforting.

"There are Alters with pure of heart, and then there are Alters with the blackest of hearts. Instead of trying to find pure of hearts ourselves, we choose to avoid the risk of being discovering by the blackest of hearts by avoiding all Alters. But if we are ever captured, it's up to us to only hope that we are caught by the purest. This is why we can only have faith; That we will be destined to be partners of one who is pure of heart."

His first impression of this Alter was that he truly did have the blackest of hearts. Why else would someone like him capture a Pokemon and take them away from their own family? But as he kept thinking, he did recall seeing how this teenager showed emotions of regret from his actions. He took him to a facility to treat him for his injuries. He shed a tear of remorse for him. He sacraficed his own body so Chikorita could lash his rage at him.

Was he really that bad of a person?

The door to the room swung open as the black haired teen stepped in, with a plate of food on top of 2 small trays in each of his hands.

"Morning Seif!" Patamon expressed with a smile. Seif smiled back at his partner, "Morning Patamon." He then brought one of the plates filled with eggs and bacon on the plate and placed the tray on top of the bed, "Your favorite as always." Patamon seemed happy as always as he waved his arms in excitement, shouting "Yay!" in the process.

Seif then kneeled down next to Chikorita, who showed a cautious expression. Seif noticed this, but tried to keep his spirits high as he put the tray next to the grass Pokemon, "I decided to throw in a bit of everything on the plate. Eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, sausage and the likes, but I also did some research on what Pokemon in the wild like to eat, so I got some Oran Berries in there too." He smiled as he finished, "Just let me know which you like the best and I'll prepare it for you every morning, unless you want something else, ok?"

Chikorita kept staring at Seif for a while before he looked at the plate. He couldn't deny it all smelled good. But it was the first time he'd ever eat such things; After all, he was use to eating berries. And yet this guy went ahead and got some Oran Berries too. And they looked so ripe.

"I'm still sorry for what I did, by the way."

The grass pokemon's eyes looked up towards Seif, whom looked a bit depressed, "I know what I did was wrong. But after all of this today, if you still want to leave-"

"I'll give you a chance."

Seif was a bit surprised as Chikorita's eyes looked down, "I can't keep beating up on you when I can see you're trying to make up for what you did. Mom always did tell me that if we're ever captured, all we can do is have faith that we'll be with a trainer with a pure heart." Chikorita eyed the breakfast a bit, then for the first time, cracked a smile as he looked at Seif, "And considering your actions, I suppose maybe you are actually pure of heart. So let's see how things work out."

Seif couldn't help but shed a fear tears of happiness, "Thank you, Chikorita." He was hoping that he could make amends with this Pokemon in due times, but the sheer fact that he would be open about this is what made his day.

"Call me Chiko."

Seif gave a slight confused look to the Pokemon as Chikorita chuckled and shook his head, "Did you honestly forget what you kept calling me when you were chasing me down and trying to talk to me back at that clinic?"

"N...No." Seif responded back, "I just... I figured I just call you Chiko for short instead of Chikorita. Because it's easier to say and... kinda like how my nickname is..."

"What's your full name?"

"Seifer. But my friends call me Seif."

Chikorita nodded, "Alright then... Seif. Just call me Chiko. And like you, only my friends are allowed to call me that." He brought out his vine, which gave Seif a mild startled expression. But as he looked at it, he realized Chiko wanted him to shake it, like a handshake. So Seif grabbed it and they both shook hand to vine.

It was the beginning of a great partnership between this Alter and this Pokemon. And despite not being caught in a Poke Ball, it was honestly something Seif could care less about. To him, not putting Chiko in a Poke Ball and allowing him to have a sense of freedom was the best thing he could do for the Pokemon.

And in that sense, he DID in fact do the right thing.

TO BE CONTINUED