Another day with a third update. Well, it probably is only a temporary thing. Once the summer end, I'll probably have to go back to the one update every two or three days. Ah well, such is life.

Flame has pushed himself to his limit and still he keeps going, can he recover from this or will he lose everything to the Persian?

Episode Fifty-Five: Daylight Danger

The Persian opened its jaw, showing massive and very sharp looking teeth, as it pounced. I threw myself backwards but, because I was sitting down, ended up falling onto my back. I went with the flow, following Squirtle's advice, and lashed out with both legs as the Persian decended on my throat.

I caught it it the stomach and the momentum caused to get launched off of me and hit the ground behind. I got to my feet and turned to face the Persian as it growled while getting up itself. Blacky still hadn't moved.

"Damnit. Get out of here! That's an order!" I yelled as the Persian charged again.

This time, as I launched myself backwards, I had a fireball in the pipeline and blasted the cat Pokémon. The sudden attack caused it the veer to the side, dodging the fireball and myself in the process. I caught a glimpse of a large burn along one of its sides, the Flareon hadn't been defeated without getting at least one hit in.

"Blacky, I'm warning you now. Go! I'll be fine!" I yelled, focusing on the Persian as it turned for another attack.

I remembered a trick from when I was only a newborn, one that I tended to use to get to food before any of my larger siblings could. I broke into a two-legged sprint and charged at the Persian, focusing on my target and nothing else. I could see the Persian's claws ready to dig into my flesh again as it bounded towards me.

As the gap closed, I lowered my body closer to the ground and forced myself into a slide. As I slid underneath the Persian, I raked my claws and my tail flame across its stomach. I got to my feet on the other side as the Persion fell to the floor.

I had cracked its main attacking power, it was an ambush master. In a strait forward scrap, I had the advantage. Or, at least, that was what it was supossed to be. As the Persian got back up, I shot a quick glance around and grinned because Blacky had actually listened and gotten out of the area.

Then, my vision blurred and I nearly lost my balance.

"Ugh, I can't keep this up forever," I muttered, as my vision and balance returned to normal. However, that wasn't my main concern. I had lost sight of the Persian.

"Bugger."

I slowly moved into the center of the clearing, in order to give myself the best chance of dodging an attack, while keeping all my senses open for any sign of the Persian. I spun round at the sound of rustling bushes and spotted the cat Pokémon, pulling the Hypno's body away.

"Does that mean it's over?" I asked myself, with a sigh of relief. I slowly began to traipse back towards the City, dispite the exaustion that was taking over. Intsead of going over obstacles, I went the long way wound as jumping was too much effort in my state. I spotted the odd bit of wildlife as the world began to awaken, but kept going. I didn't have the energy too appreciate the sights.

Finally, the trees started to thin out as I got closer to the bridge. The entire City had started to return to life but, more importantly, it had a Pokémon Center and I needed the medical attention. My limbs were screaming at this abuse I was putting them through, I wanted to rest but pressed on. If I stopped, I would probably never start again.

Everntually, I reached the wooden bridge and the safety that it issued from the wilderness. I heard shouting from the direction of the City but was too focused on each and every step that I had to take. I didn't dare look to see how feeble my tail flame had become, looking fowards on my goal was my only chance of making it.

I was about half way across the bridge, still fighting for each single step, when the voices became coherant to me.

"Flame!"

I looked up and spotted the entire gang racing towards me. Blacky and Spiral were at the front of the pack, Squirtle and Scout right behind.

I stopped walking and held onto one of the bridge supports in order to stay standing, the others had reached the other side of the bridge by now. Moron had even managed to wake Nurse Joy. I smiled to myself, I had the hunch that I was going to need her.

"Told you that I'd be okay," I laughed as they got closer. However, I felt far from okay. My skull felt as though it was being torn in two and my legs probably would never forgive me for what I put them through. Blacky skidded to a halt, just infront of me, and was trying to say something but either my hearing had gone or he was speechless.

Both Moron and Nurse Joy looked shocked at my condition or the fact that I was still alive, I wasn't sure which as my brain wasn't working properly. I kept seeing strange lights and was unsure of what was reality. I was struggling to breathe too, a massive pain in my chest kept flaring up. My legs were shaking like crazy and my arms were in the same condition.

The next thing I was aware of was the feeling weightless and seeing the lake rushing up towards me. The impact, when I hit to water, was enough to force the air out of my lungs and the sudden chill kicked in as my tail flame died. I was aware of a blaze of light from the direction of the bridge as the sun shone down on me. I was too tired to swim back towards the surface and could only float there. I was too tired to even think up some curses, so I fell unconsious without a fight.