"You didn't get any of that, right?"

"Arf."

"Yeah, figured. I didn't either."

Cassius had left sometime after Gloria's Yamper had done the Nuzzle-thing. He didn't understand how a physical move could also deal what looked like a status effect—wasn't paralysis supposed to be a permanent thing anyway?—and he hadn't banked on either Hop or Gloria bothering to explain it to him, so he was content to leave while the two were clearly occupied with each other. Neither had noticed, and presently he and Hyla were sitting on a comfortable patch of grass near what looked like a really big lake.

Hyla had looked pleased to be released from her confinement, but her throat still sounded a bit sore. He'd have her rest plenty tonight. It was the least he owed her after she had single-handedly (paw-edly?) cleared the way for his group on the way to the professor's house. She looked pretty tired, anyway.

The view was nice, at least. He picked up a nearby pebble and chucked it in the lake. Once again, it splashed with a ker-thunk before sinking pitifully. "And I still can't skip anything. Awesome."

Hyla cozied up beside him, resting her head on his lap. Cassius smiled at the gesture. She always knew how to cheer him up, especially after a rough day like today.

"You know, under any other circumstance, this would be kinda nice. You and me, enjoying nature and all that. This place is pretty scenic." Hyla went against a verbal response, but he figured she'd agree. His eyes drifted back to the lake. "Swim?"

This time, Hyla did verbally respond, and not too happily. "Grr..."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I know you can't swim." He loved his conversations with Hyla. They'd known each other for so long, but every chat felt therapeutic. Even if she only understood maybe half of what he was saying, it was enough. More than most anyone else he had talked to, that was for sure.

Did he maybe look a little crazy, attempting full-blown conversations with his Pokémon? Perhaps, but Hyla understood the gist of what he was saying most of the time. In a way, dumbing down his conversations for her to understand made his true feelings and thoughts a lot easier to convey. He didn't know how much he would miss simple, easy-to-understand conversations after moving.

And just like that, the scope of what was happening set in on him once more. His smile fell, as did his head. A sigh escaped his lips as his hand softly petted the top of Hyla's head. "What am I doing...?"

There was a part of him that felt like he should've stayed and watched Hop and Gloria's battle. He would have been nothing but confused, sure, and very little (if anything) would have made sense, but it would have been an effort at least. He was sure Hop could appreciate that. And who knows? Maybe he would have learned something.

But then he wouldn't have understood some tiny detail that "experienced trainers were expected to know" or whatever, and Hop would have to dumb it down, and Gloria would yell at him, and he wouldn't understand it anyway... it was all so tiring. That small bit of hope that had made him agree in the first place felt more and more fleeting as time went on. Like he had lost his mind in that brief, all-important moment.

Better to not have set himself up for disappointment. He'd figure something out. Eventually.

For now, he'd be content to sit down, relax, and enjoy his brief respite. If there was one thing Hop was probably right about, it was that he wouldn't be getting a ton of rest in the coming weeks. He'd treasure the quiet moments when he could get them.

And so he continued to sit in silence, stroking Hyla's fur as his eyes lingered on the calm motion of the lake. His breathing steadied, and for a moment everything was alright to him.

He was in the middle of an internal debate about a potential nap when he first saw it.

Whatever it was, it was fast. It wasn't in his field of vision in one moment, and then a blink later, it was perched in front of him, a few feet away. He didn't even have time to be surprised at its sudden intrusion into his view of the lake.

It was a bird, by the look of it. Small, to the point where it could snugly fit atop his head without a ton of difficulty. It didn't do anything immediately after appearing. It just stared at him, red eyes a strange deadpan Cassius didn't expect to see on a Pokémon.

"Guess we didn't scare all of the wild Pokémon away," Cassius mused aloud. Hyla looked up at him, curious as to what made him stop petting her. He waved a hand at the bird. "Go on. Shoo."

The bird didn't budge. He tried again, a little louder. "I said shoo. Leave. Go away." Still, the creature remained, eyeing him without blinking.

Cassius was starting to get a little unnerved by the newcomer. "Weird ass thing, whatever you are. What part of leave don't you get?" Hyla started growling softly, echoing his sentiment. Yet the bird remained undeterred.

"Alright, that's it," Slowly, as to not alert the Pokémon, Cassius picked up another pebble in his hand. He had no intention of skipping this one. "Don't say I didn't warn you." He felt a little bad about chucking a rock at this small Pokémon that might have been trying to be friendly with him, in some weird way, but he had finally found some time to himself, and he wasn't going to have it interrupted.

His arm lurched forward, and the pebble followed suit. Rather than finding a target of feathers, however, the pebble landed with a resounding plop in the lake. The bird Pokémon had deftly moved to its right, eyes never leaving Cassius.

"Huh..." Cassius scooted back, taking care to not drag Hyla along the ground. His Pokémon stood up fully, continuing to growl in the bird's general direction. Even after dodging the pebble, the bird Pokémon was still.

Cassius thought about simply leaving the thing alone and relocating before it moved again.

While not in the blink of an eye, the small creature was certainly fast. Blue feathers ruffled as the creature shot forward—straight toward Hyla. It was on her before he had a chance to get a word out of his mouth.

"Raugh!" Hyla whined as a sharp, protruding beak made harsh contact with her side. Cassius was still reeling. How in the world had that tiny thing moved so fast? And why was it attacking Hyla?

No time for questions. He'd have to move quickly. "Roar, Hyla!" His Pokémon still had two more uses of the move from what he could recall, and now was the first time he had an actual dire need to use it. Despite her sore throat, Hyla quickly made some distance away from the Pokémon and let out her now-familiar shrill cry. "Preaaaah!"

The move slammed into the wild Pokémon, and for a moment Cassius thought the aggressive thing would finally leave. There was a look of obvious conflict and what looked to be fear on the bird's expression. Seconds passed, before Cassius was floored once more—the wild Pokémon shook its head and charged forward again.

"Obviously, the move's useless against stronger Pokémon," he remembered Hop telling him after scanning Hyla with the Pokédex. There had been obvious signs of a struggle on the wild Pokémon's face, but that it hadn't run away meant that it was either just as strong—if not stronger—than Hyla. Cassius felt his chest clench. That meant he was in a very, very bad spot.

He had to do something. His first thought was to recall Hyla back into the Poké Ball. "Okay, we're out of here!" Cassius thumbed for Hyla's Poké Ball in his pocket, but felt his heart drop when he couldn't find it. "No no no, not now! Where did I put it?"

The bird Pokémon was on the offensive again, swarming around Hyla and peppering the Dragon-type with pecks. Hyla tried desperately to create some separation, even throwing in a few swings of her head in hope of a lucky hit, but her opponent was simply too fast for her inexperienced attacks to land.

Cassius dumped the contents of his backpack onto the ground, and out came three potions and six Poké Balls—five of which were gifted to him from Sonia, and one of which was Hyla's. From a glance, he had no idea which were which. Hyla's capsule was older, and looked more weathered than the average Poké Ball, but only to the discerning eye. And the Poké Balls Sonia had gifted him weren't exactly in pristine shape either.

At a loss, he yelled out a haphazard command to at least give Hyla the chance to defend herself. "Tackle! Tackle it!"

Hyla quickly jumped on the offensive, planting her feet and charging toward the bird Pokémon. The move was in vain, however, as her fatigue combined with her opponent's flight allowed the Pokémon to easily climb to a distance where the Tackle couldn't hope to reach. Hyla's charge passed, and the second it did, the bird Pokémon swooped back down and planted another peck along her backside, drawing another cry of pain.

Cassius was stuck to the ground. Now that Hyla was closer, he could see exactly where the Pokémon had hit her—through her fur, he could see the angry blue and purple bruises lining her body. Some had started to bleed, splotches of red staining the grass and dirt he and Hyla had been relaxing on barely a few minutes ago.

He had to do something. Formulate a plan, like Hop or Gloria would have done. That was what trainers did, right? What moves did Hyla know again? Tackle, Roar, and...? His train of thought was broken as another attack made contact with Hyla's head, a pained snarl escaping his companion's mouth.

He grabbed the first Poké Ball he set his eyes on and clicked the center button, praying it was Hyla's. No dice—the flash of red never came. He grabbed the next Poké Ball, clicked the button again, and received a similar result. Another cry of pain from Hyla, and the knot in his stomach twisted further.

"Please, please, please," he begged, fumbling for a third ball. Right as he was about to click the center button, it slipped from his hands, falling back to the ground. He finally noticed how badly he was shaking—his hands refused to stay still.

He was scared. Meanwhile, Hyla was getting hurt. And he was stuck watching, fumbling over himself like an idiot. Just like Gloria made a point of calling him.

The third ball wasn't the one. Neither were the fourth or fifth. He finally aimed the sixth one at Hyla, certain it would work. He clicked the button, and nothing happened.

"Why? Why won't you work?" Cassius almost cried, smacking the ball repeatedly with his hand. Did he own more than six Poké Balls? Was there an extra he hadn't accounted for? Or was Hyla's ball not functioning properly?

He couldn't afford to waste any more time. Cassius took off, grabbing a random Poké Ball from the lot clicking the center button, praying it was Hyla's. No flash of red, so Cassius quickly opted for his second plan. As soon as he closed the distance between himself and Hyla, he cut off the wild Pokémon's next attack by throwing one of his own.

Cassius had never been in a fight before. He'd roughhoused as a toddler on a few sparse occasions, but that hardly counted. There was precious little for him to go on in terms of technique and strength. As such, the punch he aimed at the bird was likely an iffy shot at best. That it barely landed—his knuckles barely grazing over an inch or so of feathers as the Pokémon dodged out of the way—also spoke volumes regarding his experience.

Still, it got its attention off of Hyla, which was good enough. The Pokémon pulled back, red eyes now entirely focused on him. He wished he still had a spare rock on him. Spreading his arms, he stood in front of Hyla, who was panting heavily and noticeably bleeding from multiple spots.

Ideally, he would have run away. But Hyla looked like she was in no shape to do any sort of running, and he felt sure that the wild Pokémon was faster than the both of them anyway. That left him with one option. "Try that again and see what happens," he challenged the Pokémon, knowing full well how shaky and unsure he sounded.

He had no idea if the wild Pokémon understood a word he said, but his intent had been clear enough, it seemed. With a shrill chitter, the creature flew up, gathering momentum, before diving back down toward Cassius. Cassius prepared his next punch, taking what he loosely thought to be a defensive stance.

It was one thing to watch Pokémon fight each other. It was another to be on the receiving end of a Pokémon's attack. How such a small, tiny thing could inflict so much damage baffled him in the back of his mind. Presently, his thoughts were focused on his punch missing horribly, the Pokémon swiftly dodging his very telegraphed strike, and the searing pain that shot through his forearm as the Pokémon pecked him. Pecking felt too tame a word—the bird Pokémon made contact with his right forearm, before dragging its sharpened beak across his skin. Not enough to pierce to the bone, but certainly enough to create a frighteningly apparent line of bleeding.

Cassius bit back a yell of pain as a haphazard swat forced the Pokémon away. Hyla tried getting to her feet, but she looked to be on the verge of collapsing. If only one attack had him reeling this badly, Hyla was a trooper and more to have weathered what looked to be close to a dozen of those hits.

The wild Pokémon circled around for another run, and Cassius once again stood ready. He wouldn't underestimate this tiny bird again. It was still a Pokémon—one that seemed entirely capable of maiming him or worse, if it felt like it. Which might have been the case, seeing how it had yet to let up. The bird came close, and Cassius prepared yet another punch.

This time, however, he sent it at an even slower speed. The bird dodged easily, preparing for another assault on the same arm. Cassius was ready, however. With every ounce of strength and speed he could muster, he quickly reversed his arm's trajectory, instead launching the back of his fist toward the bird. Caught off-guard, the creature was caught by the backside of his knuckles, Cassius' hand still managing to land on a solid portion of the Pokémon's frame. Cassius still felt the sting of the Pokémon's sharpened beak—and did it ever hurt—but that he had actually managed to hit the thing made the pain worth it.

The Pokémon skittered away, warbling in what sounded like pain, but Cassius wasn't focused on that at the moment. By now, what looked like his entire right arm was bleeding, the gash from his forearm trickling down and mingling with the growing injury on the top of his hand. His jacket sleeve was ruined.

The burst of adrenaline that had been fueling him up to this point was beginning to fade, replaced by a surge of panic at what at first glance looked to be a grievous injury. Sparing a look at Hyla, Cassius saw her slumped over, breathing steady but unresponsive—she had fainted. The wild bird, seeming to have finally shaken off Cassius' decent smack, looked positively incensed. It elevated, preparing for what looked to be another barrage of pecks.

He couldn't muster the strength to try his last scheme again, and he wasn't sure if he was willing to risk his other arm to do so. He didn't know how much blood loss constituted too much, but the red splotches littering the ground beneath him didn't comfort him any.

For a brief moment, he thought about scanning the Pokémon with the Pokédex, but he failed to see what good that would do at this point with Hyla down. In one last desperate attempt, he aimed the random Poké Ball he brought with him at Hyla, praying for a miracle. It did not come, no red beam flashed, and he was officially out of options. He could try to carry Hyla back to safety, but he was on his last legs himself, and who knew how long that would take. And he was fairly certain the wild Pokémon that seemed dead set on killing them wouldn't afford them the luxury of a head start.

So, Cassius fell to his knees, and arched his body in front of Hyla. Spreading his arms, he angled himself to cover as much of Hyla's body as possible. He was the reason they were in this mess—he wouldn't have Hyla getting hurt even worse because of his mistake.

He shot a look behind him. The bird Pokémon had halted its flight path, hovering in the air with what looked like a critical look. 'Probably thinking I'll try to pull a fast one on it again,' Cassius surmised.

His eyes went back to the Poké Ball, and an idea came to mind. A stupid one, admittedly, but it was the only that didn't put his entire wellbeing at risk. He also didn't have much time to scheme any alternatives.

Cassius' arm shook, from fatigue, fear, or otherwise, but he maintained the stance he held over Hyla. This close to her, he could almost vividly see the cuts, gashes and wounds lined across her formerly well-kept fur. Her breathing was still even, but every so often what sounded like a pained wheeze would escape.

Cassius couldn't remember the last time he had ever felt outright angry. Everyday life had never really given him a reason to feel that way—disappointed, and maybe a little upset, but never angry. If people never experienced sadness or disappointment, how would they ever appreciate the good and happy things that would eventually come? It had been enough to just weather it all and wait for the good. Eventually.

There was no good to be found in this. He and his partner were both hurt, during what should have been at least a small bit of reprieve from the impossible situation they had found themselves in. That he had put themselves in.

Whether he was angry at that revelation, or angry at himself, it didn't matter. That small bit of adrenaline, fueled by that foreign feeling of hate, helped to harden what pitifully little resolve he had left. The bird Pokémon sped toward them—not even bothering to mask its intent, echoing a cry that sounded far too intimidating for a creature of that size—and Cassius felt his muscles tense.

He feinted with his right arm, and sure enough, the Pokémon angled itself the other way, gaining some altitude before closing in once more, this time from his left. From the way it was moving, the Pokémon looked to be aiming for his ribs. That was good—at the very least, its attention was focused on him, and not Hyla.

Keeping his stance, he waited. The timing would have to be pretty close to perfect. Too early, and he'd prematurely reveal the only card he had left to play. Too late, and the blood lining his arm would be among the least worrisome of his bodily injuries. He kept waiting, watching as the Pokémon's dive came closer and closer.

His vision started to blur, but he fought to keep himself upright. Right as the Pokémon closed to within a meter, he struck—revealing the Poké Ball he had hidden in his remaining sleeve, he angled his arm to meet the Pokémon's attack head on. His depth perception wasn't as focused as he would have liked, and for a second, he thought he had started moving too late, but he felt the ball make hard contact with the side of the Pokémon. A click sounded at the same time as the Pokémon let out a surprised yelp of pain, and before the bird made contact with his body, it was absorbed into the empty ball.

Cassius fell to a knee just as the ball fell to the ground. His pulse thumped in his head, drowning out the sound of his own breathing as he watched the ball shake. There was probably a joke somewhere about the Poké Ball making this as tense as possible, but he wasn't going to bother enjoying it. He was in more trouble than he already was if his last gambit didn't pay off.

Shake, shake, shake. After what felt like an eternity, a faint click sounded, signifying a successful capture. For the first time in his life, Cassius had caught a wild Pokémon.

He had just enough energy to sigh in what was vaguely relief, before his body finally failed him. Blood loss, as it turned out, took a pretty heavy toll. His face met the dirt, and his eyes landed on Hyla, who didn't look a ton better.

His first battle, and it had almost killed him and his companion. Just like everyone would expect from a top rookie trainer.

Cassius faintly picked up a sound from some indiscernible distance away. It was male—Hop, probably. Good timing, as he had no idea how he was going to notify anyone that he had suffered what felt like a pretty grisly injury.

Hop came to a stop by his side, flipping him over and checking for injuries, of which there were plenty. More words, and Cassius could make out a few. Namely "help," "blood," and "hurry."

The words had been aimed at Gloria, who looked a great deal less concerned than Hop did. Cassius would have snorted if he had the energy for it. He'd probably ruined their little battle, and Gloria was probably pissed at him for it. Like she'd been since the second they'd met.

His breathing evened out, and his vision started to dim, but not before he heard one last sound, this time courtesy of Gloria.

"You're so pathetic." And as his consciousness faded, there was a large part of him that felt inclined to agree.

I'm back. Thanks for all the support. The show goes on, baby.