Chapter Nine: The First "Battle"

I'm not the most positive person. In fact, I'd probably say that I'm the opposite. Every person I know grills me for being a Negative Nancy and pessimistic, after all. I honestly feel bad for complaining about my life all the time in the past because lately, it had actually been really shitty. My best friend betrayed me, my Pokémon hates me, my sister is some sort of amateur Poképhile pornstar, I was blackmailed into losing my virginity to a stranger- and more than that- a Pokémon. Part of me thinks its karma for bitching so much when things weren't really that horrible.

So yeah, I'm pretty negative. But I'm trying my best to stay positive. Not for me, though. For Eevee. It was hard to come to terms with the fact that I had to let her go. I didn't feel any particularly special, powerful feelings for her but she was my first Pokémon. I wanted her to stay with me -to like me- but I understood that whatever Marissa did to her turned her against me. I resented Jack's bitch sister, but there was nothing I could do about it. I just had to let Eevee go, find another Pokémon that would hopefully like me, and then move on with my day...

It took a half an hour or so for me to make it to the border of Hearthome. A deep, forested area with a few biking trails and paths to hike spread far off into the distance. Even from here I could hear the chirp of wild Pokémon in the distance. A much happier place for an Eevee, I was sure. I wasn't exactly wearing clothes meant to be worn into a forest, but I didn't care. I walked into the woods, glancing around. Maybe I could find a weak Pokémon... I did have those gifts from Marissa still, after all. The modified Pokéballs...

I shook my head. No, that wasn't an option. I sighed softly, branches and grass crunching beneath my shoes. I grabbed Eevee's Pokéball from my belt and stared at it. I had thought about a certain issue a lot on the way here. Namely, that Eevee was most likely still going to attack me. But there was no real way to avoid this. My plan was to sit in a tree and chuck her Pokéball. I was hoping Eevee would listen to me when I told her I was releasing her. I also had some leftover Pokémon food from when Mabel came over. I prayed it wasn't expired. Either way, Eevee would have to tire out eventually. I wanted to avoid drugging her while she was new to this ecosystem. I didn't want her to be weakened and then have some Pokémon start stuff with her, though, it was more likely that it'd be the other way around. Either way, I didn't want Eevee to get beaten up.

I made sure my bag was secure and shut, then looked around for a tree of suitable height with some cover in case Eevee attacked me with her Swift. I wanted to avoid getting injured as much as possible...I found a pretty tall, strong tree with a great big canopy and began to crawl up it. The bark was rough against my fingers but I easily slid up it, sitting down on one of the thick, sturdy branches that stuck out from it. I was pretty good at climbing trees. Jack and I used to do it all the time, after all. The thought of Jack made me a little bit depressed, and I gazed at the Pokéball in my hand with a soft sigh.

For a while, I just sat there with my head resting against the trunk behind me. I gazed at the Pokéball the entire time. I wondered who had the Eevee that I was originally supposed to get. I wondered why Marissa was such a freak. I wondered a lot of things, but...I couldn't sit there all day. I had things to do. Like, beg for my job back since there was no way I'd be going on a Pokémon journey any time soon even if I did have a Pokémon that liked me. I rolled the Pokéball around in the palm of my hand and then...finally, I tossed it. "Go, Eevee."

With a flash of red light a familiar, tiny shape appeared. My heart hammered in my chest. She was so cute it was wrong. The tufts between her ears were abnormally fluffy, to the point of being sickeningly adorable. Just gazing at her it was clear that she was a bred contest Pokémon, she radiated cuteness. At first, Eevee seemed confused. She glanced around, wondering where she was. I understood, she was somewhere she'd never been before, presumably. She bounced around, looking all over, ears twitching. Then, she sniffed. And turned to me. Her eyes burned into me, her little tail wagging. She was glaring up at me from the ground.

"Hi," I greeted, crossing my arms. She hissed and before I could say anything else she shot a rush of glittering stars at me. Swift, just as I thought. I ducked under cover and hugged the tree, glaring down at her. "You have no manners! I'm letting you go, y'know! You can just fuck off if you don't like me, okay?"

Eevee cocked her head, then she narrowed her eyes at me.

"I'm serious! You can go. I honestly couldn't care less." I made my tone as mean as possible which honestly, wasn't hard to do. I resented her quite a bit. I thought maybe being rude would encourage Eevee to leave, but instead, she seemed to just get more bloodthirsty. She didn't want to be free. She wanted to kill me, and that was that. How the hell had Marissa trained her to be that way!? It was terrifying how potent Eevee's negative feelings toward me were! "C'mon Eevee. If we can't be friends, can't we just separate and call it a day? You can go into the woods, make friends. You wouldn't have to deal with me."

Eevee was quiet for a moment. I thought maybe she was considering my words. She slowly started backing away, resting low on her haunches. Her little hair tuft twitched along with her ears. I sighed with relief. The second the sound came out Eevee started running. Not away, towards the tree. With a soft mewl that managed to sound vicious, she leaped through the air. She hit the tree trunk hard. Obviously, she wasn't going to be able to climb the tree or get even close to doing so. My heart raced as her tiny body hit the ground, hard. She was still.

"Eevee?" No reaction. Then, her ear twitched. And she slowly got to her paws. She wagged her tail fiercely and grumbled at me. I figured at some point she'd get bored and wander away, or that I could talk her down, but after trying to negotiate with her repeatedly I realized that was definitely not going to happen...I sighed, resting my chin on my knees, my arms crossed around them. I stared down at her with a pained expression. She was so determined to fight me she sat down and calmly stared at me. I didn't even know calm was an emotion my Eevee felt. I thought her only emotions were rabid and...more rabid.

I had no choice. I dug around in my bag and pulled out the drugged Pokémon food from Mabel. I took a handful of the pellets, gazing down at Eevee who just glared back. I tossed the food and it landed softly in the grass in front of her. I'll be honest, I didn't think it would work for a number of reasons. A, it kinda looked expired. It was super dry and smelled bad too. B, Eevee was probably not dumb. She'd eaten food once and been knocked out and she hadn't' really known where the food came from. She knew this food was directly from me. No way was she eating it... However, I didn't expect her to reject the food with as much ferocity as she did. Instead of simply ignoring the food or maybe knocking it away with her paw and tails, Eevee released a very powerful Swift that literally obliterated the pile of food.

I gulped as I watched that. She was getting stronger every time she used that I swear...Eevee looked up at me, and Eevee's eyes glittered. Almost as if she was proud of herself. She sat back down, ears twitching, not removing her gaze from me for a second. Ok, so maybe I should have just...not done this. I sighed heavily. We both didn't plan to budge.

I started playing games on my Pokétch. If I was going to be stuck here I might as well do something.

Honestly, I started to enjoy it. The soft sounds of Pokémon in the distance. Being able to glance down and see Eevee's adorable face. Her ears were so big and fluffy, and her puffy little hair tuft thing...it was way too cute. I knew for a fact that most Eevee's didn't have that soft patch of hair between their ears. I was glad she did, even if she wouldn't be mine. She may not be shiny like Jack's, but she was special in her own way. As if sensing the fact that my thoughts revolved around her Eevee yipped loudly, and shot a Swift at the tree.

I carefully positioned myself away from the blast, sighing with relief when the glittering stars bounced harmlessly against the tree trunk. Then, I settled back down. What else could I do? I don't know how long I sat there, playing games on my Pokétch. Not very fun games, either. Basic ones. Unlike Zoey, I didn't have a high tech, most recent edition of the Pokétch. I didn't want one. While I did have Zoey's Pokétch in my pocket, I didn't want to touch it. It was a bit upsetting.

The game I played was some sort of dating simulator. There was a cute girl who I went on dates with, who I had to make sure I had enough money to keep dating. I had to take her out to town, buy her clothes, etcetera or she'd break up with me. It wasn't the best but apparently, it was entertaining enough because at least a few hours passed. The morning light brightened, and it was now around midday.

Leaves crunched in the distance. Both Eevee and I shot glances in the direction of the sound. I was shocked to see a small shape emerge from the trees. A tiny little creature with a small green bowl-cut...My eyes widened. A Ralts...But not a normal one. It was badly injured. Blood dripped from a wound on its face and it ran with visible desperation. Much to my distress, the little thing tripped over its own feet and face-planted straight into the ground... and began to cry.

Hysterically.

Eevee and I glanced at each other, then at the fragile little Pokémon.

I shifted to get down from the tree but Eevee yipped "Eevee!" loudly, clearly in warning. She wasn't done with me. Her tone made that clear. I watched silently, leg partially hanging from the branch I was perched on, as Eevee slowly, cautiously approached the fallen, crying Pokémon. We both waited for the Ralts to get up, but...it didn't.

A pool of blood began to form beneath the poor thing...

"Eevee! I'm helping! Attack me if you want but-" Just as I was about to hop down, a large shape slammed out of the trees. Rolling fast. I recognized its shape and color immediately. A Bibarel? It's huge body slammed straight into the Ralts, catapulting the little creature straight into the tree that I was perched into. It hit the trunk with a loud 'thud' and then collapsed once again, letting out the most pained sound I've ever heard.

I jumped down quickly. As fast as I could, I grabbed the soft, weak body of the Ralts and slid it into my backpack. I zipped it up quickly. The Bibarel took in its surroundings and my activity, its eyes mean and narrow. What was going on!? Why was it attacking this Ralts? "Hey! I don't know why you're hurting this little Ralts but you need to stop! Leave them alone, you're ten times bigger you damn bully!"

"Biibarrel!," The Bibarel snapped back, shaking its huge tail, baring its ginormous fang at me.

I expected Eevee to attack me any second now. Instead, she positioned herself in front of me. Between the Bibarel and I. Probably to protect the Ralts and not me, but it made me happy either way. She didn't want me dead so badly she'd kill the Ralts too. Eevee glanced back at me, eyes narrowed, and then glared at the fat Bibarel.

"Eevee!" She hissed angrily, crouching down.

For a second we all just stood there. For some reason, Bibarel didn't budge. It just glared. When I tried to move away it shook its tail in warning. I realized why when I heard a loud voice calling in the distance. A male voice. I realized quickly that it was probably the Bibarel's trainer. I swallowed hard as the person emerged. He was clearly a trainer by the way he dressed and appeared to be around my age. He was wearing some kind of designer jacket and skinny jeans. His hair was blond and in a crew cut.

"Hey!" He shouted when he came across us, looking from face to face. "What do you think you're doing? I was trying to catch that damn Pokémon and you got in my way! And Toothy! What do you think you're doing slacking off!? Find that Ralts!"

Bibarel began to make a ton of noise. Muttering its name and angrily pointing in my direction with its little hands. It was clear to anyone what he was trying to say. I had the Pokémon this man was looking for. Anyone could see the bulge in the bag I was holding. Clearly Ralts was stuffed inside. The guy's eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head.

"Uh uh. No fuckin way! I've been looking for a Ralts all day, and that one is the strongest I've found! You don't get to just steal her from me!"

I didn't have a chance to say anything.

"Eevee!" My only Pokémon snapped, dashing forward to slam herself into the boy. Or she would have if the big ol' Bibarel didn't get in the way. Eevee hit him hard, then jumped back almost by my side immediately, bristling. The Bibarel grinned, its eyes glittering with delight.

"Barel..." It grumbled eerily, still smiling. It had a really creepy vibe and it hit like a truck...

"Your Eevee is pretty pathetic, couldn't even do any damage to my Bibarel. Do you usually let your Pokémon do whatever they want?"

I gently clutched the bag in my arms and shook my head, taking a step back. "She doesn't listen to me. Anyways, this Ralts doesn't want you to capture them or whatever you're doing! And you've hurt them way more than you needed to for capture! If it doesn't want you at this point, there's probably a reason! Leave them alone. You're being excessive! This Pokémon is literally bleeding through the material of my bag. They need to go to a Pokémon Center. Just go find another one!"

The guy, who had the most annoying and smug face I'd ever seen, smirked. He flicked his hair out of his face. "Well, she never would've been injured if she didn't resist capture for so long. She has amazing willpower, yes. That's exactly why I want her. For some reason, she really doesn't want to get captured by me and that makes me want her even more." Considering how unnaturally mean his Bibarel was, I could understand why. This guy radiated scumbag vibes. Ralts was probably terrified of him...

Eevee, still bristling, began to run toward them again. Right at the Bibarel this time. The Bibarel waited with a somber smile. I took this opportunity to do the only thing I really could do...

I ran. This was the problem with Pokémon training. The things people were willing to do in order to capture Pokémon...The poor Ralts...I dashed away as fast as I could, hair getting in my eyes, and sweat building fast. I didn't even make it more than a meter before I felt an explosion of pain in my back. The Bibarel rolled to a stop in front of me, eyes narrowed. The bag in my hands went flying through the air, and Bibarel quickly jumped and -honestly, I was impressed- managed to catch the straps on the end of its tail. The bag slid down its tail, hanging loosely on the ground. I clutched my back, groaning in pain, watching in distress as the Bibarel slowly sauntered back toward its trainer.

Eevee had apparently also been knocked aside by what I assumed was Bibarel's extremely powerful Rollout move. She was breathing heavily, dirt in her soft brown fur. She glanced at me, and for once, I didn't see hatred there. She glared at the Bibarel. She hated them. She stared at the trainer, too. Was she starting to realize that I wasn't out to get her? That I wanted to be friends?

I managed to get to my feet, clutching my lower back which throbbed in agony. "You worthless fuck! People like you make me sick! Capturing a Pokémon against its will, you're disturbed...Pokémon are friends."

The guy's eyes widened. Eevee stared at me. Even the Bibarel looked at me like I was an idiot. Then, the guy smiled. And burst into laughter. "You're kidding, right? What are you, five? There is a reason why fighting a Pokémon in order to capture it isn't illegal. It's just part of how the world works...I bet you think battling is cruel too!" His words were followed by even more aggravating snickering. When I didn't respond, the guy went silent.

"Wait...Are you kidding me? You seriously think making two Pokémon battle is cruel?! They love it! And if they don't they grow to like it just like when we capture em. Pokémon sometimes hate us at first but grow to like us, whether they like it or not. They're stuck with us no matter what so...Whether they hate us or love us at first doesn't matter."

He was disgusting! Everything that Mabel and I hated.

"You have a Pokémon too, you know. This shitty little Eevee." I expected Eevee to sprint at them again after they said such a mean thing. Instead, she stayed completely still. She knew she was at a disadvantage with that Bibarel, I guess... The guy grabbed the bag, sliding it from Bibarel's tail.

"Hey! Give that back," I snapped.

"I will once I get my Ralts," the guy muttered as he pulled open the top of my bag. I couldn't do...anything. I had to just watch as he pulled the Ralts out like it was a damn doll. Aggravation filled me.

"Why do you even want them so badly?"

The guy raised an eyebrow. His thin lips peeled into a smile. "They are a she. So I think you know already."

Who was this fuckin' guy!? A dirty, rapey little Poképhile! No way was I letting that innocent, scared little Ralts -who was now unconscious and unable to prevent herself from getting captured- get caught by this fucker. The guy chuckled as he looked me up and down. "Tell you what, loser. You beat me and Bibarel, and the Ralts is all yours." Beat him? As in...battle him? I furrowed my brows. "But if you lose...Ralts, whatever is in this bag, and your Eevee are all mine." When I hesitated he chuckled.

"I've never banged an Eevee before. Sounds hot. Especially this one, she seems feisty."

My vision went red. "You're a pig!" I ran at him, ready to punch his disgusting ass but before I could even get within a few feet I was knocked aside. Another rush of intense pain hit me. I clutched my side as I hit the ground, hard. My jaw felt like it was knocked off as my chin hit the ground. I groaned in pain. The Bibarel, Toothy, stood menacingly above me. Glaring.

"..And you're a complete pussy. Battle me if you think you're so tough and wanna fight back so bad."

I glared up at him. Then at Eevee. "Will you battle for me?" I asked her, panting a little. There was no way she was going to say yes... and there was no way for us to win, even if she did. Was it worth fighting for this Ralts that I didn't know? I glanced at said Pokémon, ragdolled in the guy's grip and bleeding all over the place...If he was willing to do that much to her before capturing her I feared what he would do once he had her basically imprisoned and alone. No way. I couldn't let him have her. I wanted to help her...

Eevee stared into my eyes. Her own were slightly narrowed. "Eevee!" She snapped, teeth grit. Then, much to my shock, she...nodded. And trotted over to my side. I haven't picked up my Pokédex or Trainer Card, but I didn't think was an official battle anyways. The guy was basically saying we had to knock the other person unconscious and take their shit. I eyed both of them. He seemed to only have a powerful Bibarel, so...maybe I could beat him?

Nerves hit me, hard. I couldn't battle! It went against my morals, and more than that, I had zero experience! If I lost...I didn't even know Eevee's moves.

"I see you two are ready for a battle. Kind of makes me excited." The douche grinned and crossed his arms on his slender chest. "My name is Elton. What's yours, loser?"

I managed to get to my feet with a grunt. "Avery...Avery Higgs."

The guy snorted. "The kind of name I'd expect from a guy like you." What did that even mean? "This is my Bibarel, Toothy. He'll be fighting your Eevee. She have a name?"

My attention drifted to the Pokémon in his arms still, laying against his chest. She was still bleeding. She needed medical attention... "Who cares about that? Before this battle happens...can we heal Ralts? You're a trainer, you must have potions."

Elton raised one of his slender blond brows. "So she'll be harder to catch and this entire mess will begin all over again? No thank you. I s'pose if you want to we can get right to it. We go until the other Pokémon is knocked out."

I couldn't get behind that. I'd never liked that. But before I could reject his offer Eevee nodded her head and yipped "Eevee!" rather fiercely, as if offering her support. If she wanted to do it, then I suppose I didn't have the right to deny her.

"Okay.." I muttered. "But...you have to put Ralts down on the ground. If we win and you grab her and run anyways that'd be unfair." Truthfully, I just wanted to be able to grab her and run when I found the opportunity. Much to my disgust, Elton shrugged. He gripped the bag (and the Ralts inside) and casually tossed it. What the hell was up with this guy!?

Why did everyone have to suck so bad!?

Before the bundle could hit the ground Eevee darted forward fast as can be. She leaped through the air, quickly, and snagged the bag between her teeth. If I was her, I would run away with it now that I had it but apparently Eevee wanted to battle this one out cause she placed the bag against a tree and then trotted back over. I stared worriedly in Ralt's direction, my heart aching. I hoped she was still unconscious, I couldn't imagine having to deal with the fear and pain she was probably feeling.

"Okay, now that that's out of the way...let's do this," Elton grinned, cracking his knuckles and backing away quite a bit. "I'll enjoy disciplining that little Eevee of yours when she's mine, Higgs." The depravity in his eyes made me want to punch him.

I glanced at Eevee. "Are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to." Eevee simply nodded and faced the Bibarel head on. We put a bit of a distance between the two.

"We start on three," Elton declared. "One, two...three!" I brainstormed quickly, trying to remember the moves an Eevee could learn. My mind raced and panic set in as Elton pointed in Eevee's direction. "You know the drill Bibarel, just use that powerful rollout!"

"Eevee...T-try and dodge that," I ordered, my voice quivering. Eevee's ears flicked, and she easily jumped out of the way. The Bibarel, rolled into a ball and hurtling towards her, made a u-turn and started heading in her direction once again, even faster this time. "Dodge again!" I shouted. Eevee tried to do the same thing, but "Toothy" was too fast this time. I flinched, eyes wide, as Eevee was sent shooting through the air. The Bibarel had hit her full force...Eevee managed to catch herself in mid-air, landing on her two feet and panting softly out her mouth. She winced, trembling a little. This Bibarel...obviously overpowered her. There was no way to win.

That was made even more clear when the humongous Bibarel started shooting in her direction again. Elton laughed gleefully. "This is why training is a good thing, Avery my man. What if an asshole like me tries to steal your Pokémon? Are you just gonna sit there like it's fine? Or are you gonna fight back?"

The fact that this scumbag was lecturing me...He was capturing a resisting Pokémon to rape her, and planned to do the same thing to my Eevee! I thought quickly. What moves could Eevee use that could help her against this damn Bibarel!? Rollout got faster, harder, and more devastating with every use. We had to take him down very soon or Eevee was going to be brutalized. And then she was going to belong to this shithead, cause there was no way for me to stop him at that point...

Suddenly, a memory flowed into my brain. I'd always thought Eevee was cute. I was surprised when I learned that such a tiny, adorable Pokémon could learn...

I had it! Bibarel was normal type so... "Eevee! Use Double Kick!"

Eevee glanced at me, eyes wide. She clearly hadn't expected me to give her an actual order. She didn't overthink it for a second, though. Immediately, Eevee glared at the Bibarel shooting at her. She hissed and leaped into the air, landing on top of the Bibarel for just a second. I watched her body stiffen, and then the tiny Pokémon slammed both sets of her feet into the top of the Bibarel full-force. The Bibarel groaned in pain, temporarily knocked to the ground. Eevee sure had a fuck ton of strength in her body...then again, she'd cracked the door to the bathroom just by hitting her body against it. Maybe we could do this!

"Follow it up with Swift!" I ordered, and Eevee nodded. She let loose a blast of glittering stars, shooting them directly at where the Bibarel was squatting.

"Dodge it, and use Thunder!" Bibarel yelled its name, and a giant bolt of electricity appeared in the sky right above where Eevee was standing, still shooting out her Swift.

"Eevee! Get out of the way!" I yelled, and Eevee blinked, glancing about. The lightning shot down and much to my horror, shot straight into her. The tiny Evolution Pokémon hit the ground, hard, whimpering. Her body twitched every now and then, eyes wide with shock. I recognized what was happening. The lucky bastard had inflicted a status effect on her...

"Heh. Now use Rollout again, Toothy!"

Eevee was probably done for...My body moved before I could think about what I was doing. I couldn't handle it.

Eevee was just laying there, twitching, clearly in pain. And Bibarel was barreling toward her full speed. I couldn't let him hurt her. This was why I hated battling. It was bad enough that I could literally smell the singed fur where the bolt hit her. I wouldn't just stand by and let this loser beat up on my Pokémon!

"Fuck this," I snapped, "Leave them the fuck alone!"

I didn't know I was capable of moving so fast. I raised my fist. A million thoughts and emotions ran through me. Anger, disgust. This was the type of person that was a danger to society. Not my sweet little sister, who was in love with her Shinx. Not Juliet, who wanted her Absol to have a good time even at my expense. And not Lucia, who loved her Pokémon to death. This creepy, Pokémon raping, Pokémon abusing piece-of-shit! I'd been judging all of my friends, acting like they were a person like this- but they weren't! And the only thing to do with a guy like this was...

My arm shot forward, fist clenched. I literally felt the cartilage in his nose get crushed beneath my fist. There was a sickening crunching noise. Elton gasped in pain as blood exploded from his nose, coating his lips quickly. Before he could say anything I brought my fist back, and wailed on him again.

"Eevee!" Eevee screamed. Panicked, I glanced over to see Bibarel land his blow against her. I was hoping he would be distracted and hit me instead, but apparently he hadn't noticed me fucking up his trainer yet...Much to my agony, "Toothy" hit her as hard as I thought he would. And she couldn't do anything about it. This Pokémon was clearly much, much stronger than Eevee. My Pokémon was launched quite a distance, landing on the ground after bouncing more than a few times. She didn't move when she landed other than her heavy, shallow breathing.

"E-Eevee!" I gasped.

"You don't know how a damn Pokémon battle works, do you, asshole!?" I looked in Elton's direction just as his fist landed straight into my face. Pain exploded on my mouth, blood immediately bubbling from my bleeding lip. I was forced to let go of his shirt, stumbling backwards. "For a loser, you hit pretty hard you know," Elton snarled as he covered his nose. Blood trickled out between his fingers.

I wouldn't let him have my Eevee. Or the Ralts. "Fuck off," I snarled, ducking to avoid his next punch and going in for one of my own. I hit his jaw with a quick, fast jab and he grunted in pain.

"Toothy! You're done with that little shit. So come make sure this guy doesn't walk again for the rest of his damn life!"

That was quite an intimidating thing to say...Admittedly, I was more than a little horrified...

"Bi! Bibarel!" The Beaver Pokémon hissed, tail swishing as leapt into the air...and began rolling towards me, fast. At the same time, Elton jabbed his elbow at me. There wasn't much I could do...I waited for the blows to land, covering my face with my arms.

But the blows never came. In fact, I heard Elton gasp "What the fuck!?"

I opened my eyes to take in my surroundings. Much to my shock, a small, helmet-headed figure was staring at us. It's eyes were glowing vividly, blood trickling down the side of its head. "R-Ralts!" It yelled. Much to my shock, both Elton and Tooty were now floating in mid-air. For a second, the Ralts stared at me. I was shocked by how powerful it looked. Standing there with its tiny little arms cast out, suspending both of these bastards in the air...Then, the Ralts smiled at me. I could read her expression easily.

She was thankful. She saw the understanding in my face, nodded, and then... screamed its name. Its eyes glowed ever brighter, and Elton and Toothy dropped to the ground, hard. I wearily stood back as they both got to their feet.

"W-where am I?" Elton mumbled. "The woods?" Then he clutched his nose, groaning in pain. "Oh now...what happened?! Mommy is going to be so mad when she sees I got hurt again...w-wait! I'm...gonna be late for dinner, aren't I?" His words were complete gibberish. It was obvious he was...confused.

Elton stared at me, eyes wide and strangely innocent. He waited for me to answer. "Y-Yeah..." I replied, "So you better get home soon." I tried not to laugh at his use of the term "mommy."

Elton blinked blearily, shaking his head as if to clear it and apparently failing. "Okay...I'll...go home now."

"Biiiib," Bibarel groaned, clutching its own head and stumbling around on its feet. Elton grabbed the Pokéball on his belt and returned Toothy, before smiling at me.

"Goodbye, friend!" Then, he just...wandered away.

I was in awe. Ralts had done that!? She really was powerful! I had to thank her. When I faced her again Ralts was still smiling at me, nervously touching her too little nub-hands together. Then, as if all the strength had been seeped from her...she collapsed. I couldn't imagine how taxing it'd probably been using such a powerful Confusion when she was already extremely injured and had been unconscious only moments before. And I assumed the Confusion was not permanent, so Elton and Toothy could probably wander back any minute. I moved quickly, grabbing my backpack. I pulled it on, grabbed Ralts and placed her carefully in my bag, and then picked up Eevee and held her soft, frail body in my arms. Then, without a second to waste, I began to sprint. My one goal was to get them both to a Pokémon Center.

About halfway there, my breath ragged and shallow, Eevee began to stir in my arms. Worry and fear flooded me. If she acted up now it would really be bad. I glanced down at her, "Eevee! Listen! I know you hate me but you're hurt and-"

"E-Eevee," The little Pokémon whispered. Much to my shock she nuzzled my chest, sighed softly and went back to sleep. My eyes widened, and my heart pounded away in my chest. Her actions meant so much to me. She...didn't hate me anymore. She trusted me, at least more than she did before. It was up to me, then, to bring her and Ralts to safety. With my heart hammering away in my chest and a big smile plastered on my face, I sprinted all the way to the Pokémon Center.I think for once...things were looking up. Even though the situation was so grave, a part of me was happy.

I didn't stop to take a breather even though I needed it. Not once.