CHAPTER EIGHT:
LEAVE THE CITY

-Udon-

I felt like I was falling. Or maybe I was floating.

Whatever was happening felt strange to me. It was almost like the feeling of being in space.

I tried to move my arms and legs, but they were stiff. Was I dying? Is this what it felt like?

Suddenly, I could see a light coming towards me, getting closer and closer until it enveloped my entire field of vision.

Then, I opened my eyes.

Looking around, I could see I was in some sort of hospital. The last thing I remembered was being in the restaurant. How did I end up here?

"Ah, you're awake," I heard.

Turning to face the voice, I could see a pink Pokemon, with what looked like a large egg in its pouch.

"I'm glad someone found you when they did, or you would've been a goner," she said. "But don't worry, you're fine now."

I sat up and looked over myself. All of my cuts and scrapes were gone. How was that possible?

"Thanks," I managed to say. "Where am I?"

The Pokémon looked concerned. "You're in the Pokémon Center," she said. "Did you hit your head when you fell down?"

I had no idea what that was. Maybe it was like this worlds equivalent to a hospital.

Then, I remembered Ruffles. He had been hurt a lot worse than me.

"Ruffles. What happened to him?" I asked. "Is he okay?"

"Your friend is fine," the Pokémon said. "He's in the other room, resting.

I sighed with relief. Neither of us were hurt. I was starting to remember what happened before I passed out. Did we really almost get killed, and how did we get here, to the Pokémon Center?

Just then, a certain yellow Pokémon came rushing in to see me. It was Amp.

"Holy crap, dude. Are you okay?" he asked. "How in the world did you get hurt like that? You're lucky I found you back there."

So, it was Amp that brought us here.

"Wait, how'd you know where we were?" I asked.

"Well, you two didn't get back from work, and I started to worry something was up," he answered. "I went to the restaurant and sure enough, I see your bloodied bodies lying there. So I ran outside and asked anyone I could see for help."

Maybe Amp was more concerned with our health than we thought.

"Aww, you care about us." I said.

"Knock it off," he said, crossly.

Classic Amp.

After a few minutes more of rest, I got out of the hospital bed and stretched my legs. Usually, after getting hurt that bad, you would need to recover for a lot longer, but something about the medication in this world fixed everything almost immediately.

I followed the nurse to another other room, and was greeted by a familiar face. Ruffles.

Ruffles' eyes lit up as he saw me walk in.

"You're okay!" he said, coming over to see me.

The scar that he got earlier had completely healed, and he looked better than ever.

"I was so worried about you," he continued as he wrapped his arms around me. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Thanks." I said. "You too."

We shared a small hug that lasted a few seconds, before Amp walked in the door.

"Alright, cool it, lovebirds," Amp said. "Ruffles, you still have the thing, right?"

Ruffles walked over to the bed and grabbed his flannel.

"Yup, right here in my pocket," he said. "Thankfully, nothing got ruined."

Amp breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright," he said. "We should probably leave."

We all agreed and, after permission from the doctors and nurses, we left the Pokémon Center.

As we got outside, I realized it had become daytime. We must've been in there for a little while.

"Okay, listen," I said. "Someone is trying to hunt us down. The Pokémon who hurt me and Ruffles. I don't think he's going to leave us alone for long. Plus, he knows where we are."

"So, what are we gonna do?" Ruffles asked.

I paused. I didn't want it to come to this but it had to happen.

"We have to leave early," I answered. "It's the only way."

"What?!" Amp uttered. "But we don't have any supplies yet!"

"Do you really want to get killed?" I asked. "There's no other option. If we stay here, he could come and find us."

"But if he's that smart, he's gonna find us either way," Amp stated.

I hung my head. "That may be true," I said. "But it'll be a lot harder to."

Amp's rage slowly turned to willingness.

"Fine," he said. "But when we all die, it's your fault."

After grabbing our stuff from the inn, we left the only place we called home since we came to this world. It was a hard decision, but if we wanted to make it to the mountain alive, we had no choice.

We were gonna make it home, but probably not in one piece.

-Hassel-

"What do you mean, you couldn't kill them?" the Great One asked, his voice raised.

I hung my head. This was not a conversation I was hoping to have with my master.

"The Dragonite, he used an ability." I answered. "Thunder Punch. I've never seen any Pokémon able to use their powers, at least, except for you."

The Great One was only getting more displeased.

"I sent you out there to get rid of them!" he yelled. "And you disappoint me once again!"

Suddenly, I could feel force around my neck as I began to be lifted into the air. The Great One was using his telekineses on me.

"M…master…" I managed to spit out. "You….you don't understand. H…he was too p…powerful."

"Lies!" he screamed, as he threw me backwards.

I fell to the ground with full force, and the pain was too much to bear.

"Poppy! Get in here!" the Great One yelled.

Just then, a small Pokémon with a large hammer came walking in.

"Yes, oh Great One?" she asked, bowing.

"I'm counting on you this time to finish the anomalies off," the Great One said. "And don't fail me like Hassel here."

Poppy nodded her head. "It would be my honor," she said back.

"Now, as for you," the Great One said, pointing at me. "You won't be getting off that easily."

All of a sudden, a cage of some kind of magical dark energy surrounded me.

"You will stay in here until you learn your lesson," he continued. "Now, Poppy, leave."

Poppy looked over at me, and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry."

Then, she left and it was just me and the Great One in the room.

"I'm telling you, you don't know what you're up against," I said. "If they can use powers like that, there's no telling what they can do."

The Great One just sat on his throne, not responding.

While I stayed in the cage, I couldn't help but think of Poppy. She didn't stand a chance against them. How could she? If I could get so easily defeated, who's to say she wouldn't as well?

We clearly were underestimating them.

The anomalies. They're much more powerful than we thought.