"Do I- do I have superpowers now?!", Atiqo talked excitedly to himself. Of course, flight and super strength would have been a more favourable pick for him, but he accepted this mysterious force anyway as long as it helped him survive this ordeal!

But just as these thoughts crossed his mind, his head felt a slight headache coming his way, dampening his elated mood a little.

He needed to press his hand on it a little, and the pain was eliviated by small bit.

"Is this the payback ...?", he murmured weakly. He wasn't an Otaku just for show, he knew there wasn't a free breakfast and a warm meal without a price.

But as long as his pain could be kept under control, it wasn't enough to stop him from using this strange power. He needed it, or else it would be over with him anyway.

A strange memory flashed briefly before his eyes ... it was from Arthur, right after the end of his battle with that snobby boy, it was the same headache he had felt back then!

Of course Atiqo couldn't be exactly sure of that, and this wasn't the right time for these questions either.

He had achieved his goal of stunning the Zubat, and preventing it from taking any actions against him or the Sniebel. Yet that wasn't enough to knock it out completely, small chance!

He just bought Team Sniebel a few more seconds that they could gamble for survival!

While the Zubat was still hovering unsettled or flying around looking lost, Atiqo took this chance to shout at Sniebel:

"Hey! You there! What are you doing, hurry up and finish up the Houndour, I will deal with this Zubat!"

The Sniebel saw everything that had happened from the moment the Zubat got shot down until now and it still didn't understand how that weak human child could stall that damnable enemy and keep standing as lively as he did right now!

But now that one annoying Pokemon was taken care of, he could finally ...

Sniebel's eyes turned into slits and focused on the Houndour in his front. The Houndour suddenly felt a shiver coming from the depths of its soul. Those eyes reminded the Houndour ... of a Pokemon looking at a dead prey ready to get devoured!

Before it could react, or let out an intimidating roar so that Sniebel shouldn't have any thoughts, it suddenly disappeared in front of Houndour!

Where?!

The Houndour didn't see Sniebel in its field of view anymore, turned around and couldn't find traces of its enemy either! Where was it?! Any second longer in the unknown, felt like death creeping nearer towards his life!

Then an idea popped up in its minds, slowly moving its head up it saw Sniebel jumping on its back in that same moment!

"Grooouuuurrrr!!!", Houndour got into a panic, moved, and slammed into trees nearby to get rid of this opponent of his.

But to no avail! The Sniebel didn't let go at all, deeply burying its grip onto Houndour's neck.

Houndour felt as if a noose was gradually tightening around his neck, attempting to rip his head apart from its main body!

It knew that those claws were dangerously sharp to get close to, but their gripping strength was a whole different thing!

Of course it was natural for such strength to lie in Sniebel's claws, they were his main weapons after all, and in addition his only mobility tools in possession. Climbing and moving from tall, massive trees, mountains, hills ...etc., without sufficient strength in their claws they would easily risk falling into an early death!

A mere Houndour trying to break away from a Snibel's grip? A blissful dream at best! The most Houndour could hope for was its skin and flesh miraculously falling off his body, but that might have been just as bad or even worse.

Sniebel saw his chance coming, and even though Houndour's desperate attempts to free itself injured Sniebel a little, it wasn't enough to escape its fate!

Sniebel raised its wounded claw, blood still dripping down from the fresh injuries, closed its long single claws together into a spear-looking paw, gathered all the strength it had left and visciously targeted a specific spot at Houndour's back!

Sniebel's tremor senses were still fine in its left paw, and by grabbing the Houndour on its neck Sniebel simultaneously located the place of Houndour's pumping heart!

Houndour's skin wasn't made of cookies or cake, it still offered great resistance towards all kinds of elemental or physical attacks, but in front of Sniebel's sharp thrust which had a clear target, Houndour's skin gave in after only a couple seconds!

Of course this success didn't come without a price, Sniebel had to use its already crippled right paw, in addition to all the pain Sniebel needed to endure during this assault, its right claws were in an even worse state right now.

Blood gushed out from the Houndour's back, as if a water geyser had sprung up from the ground, and the Sniebel, whose claws were still stuck in that back, was covered in a bloody red aura of a murderer!

A recovery was impossible, the heart was pierced through with a huge amount of strength, so much so that the muscle tissues couldn't help but burst apart like bubbles!

"Grooouuurrr ...rrrrr...", it let out a last miserable growl before collapsing on all of its limbs, its fate already sealed in dead cold stone.

At the same time, Hazel who was watching from a bit farther away suddenly felt immense pain hitting him from the back of his head, and as time passed it worsened until he fell on his knees and blood spurted out from his mouth!

He knew it deep down, his Houndour had died! It was truly dead now! The pact was destroyed after its death and it was him who had to suffer from the repercussions the most!

"GrrrrrAAAAAAAAAAAARRGH!", he let out a scream filled with all his anger and frustrations. His face had paled greatly because of the sudden shock, but it didn't stop his emotions from running wild at all!

But why did he feel so emotional rigth now? Was he grieving for his dead partner? Was it because of the way it had died? No!

It was because of the money! All the resources Hazel poured into raising that Houndour, all the investments he had taken up ... all had now turned into losses instead!

The Houndour should have been his main Pokemon, a beast that would protect him at all times and stay by his side! It could have evolved into a mighty Houndoom and helped him take over Viridian City!

Yes, deep down in his heart Hazel was an unscrupulous yet ambitious man! He dreamed of building up his own team of rogues and enter the struggles for power in Kanto's underworld, vanquishing all the other dark organisations and sitting on the throne only worthy for monarchs!

That Houndour was his ticket to ultimate power but now ... that dream crumbled into dust.

...

Atiqo currently busy with Zubat heard someone scream and looked in the direction the wails came from.

He saw Hazel in a disastrous state crying pitifully on the ground.

"What happened to that guy?", he wondered. Minutes earlier he was acting all high and mighty, spouting nonsense about killing him and Sniebel and now he layed there weeping like a baby?

Suddenly he noticed something weird ... the silence! What about the battle?!

His mind had been constantly preoccupied with stalling Zubat, so much that he forgot the main battle deciding about his life!

As his eyes swept over the battlefield he saw Houndour lying lifelessly on a patch of grass and ... Sniebel standing on top of its back! Atiqo shivered with slight fear when seeing Sniebel in its current state.

Its body was covered with so much blood, it's as if he had taken a bath in his enemy's blood just now! How gory was this fight actually?!

Atiqo couldn't tell what blood belonged to the Sniebel and what was the Houndour's!

A game character suddenly appeared in his mind, Snibel he ... he looked just like the main character from 'Bloodborn'! Devourer of blood, bringer of death, harvester of life!

But in the exact same moment he finished his train of thoughts, a sound caught his attention. A sound of a body falling down. His eyes contracted sharply as he witnessed Sniebel collapsing right beside the Houndour's corpse!

"Shit, Sniebel!", Atiqo shouted loudly. He let go of the stones in his hands, and clumsily ran towards his new ally. Clumsily because his body was bruised and battered, the adrenalin wasn't working anymore and the pain attacked his senses like a flood.

Finding the right balance and advancing with one foot and pulling the other leg at the same time proved to be more and more difficult!

Finally reaching the Sniebel, Atiqo discovered with shock that its body was likewise filled with cuts, bites, bruises and open wounds. There might have been even more, however they were hard to spot with all the blood covering him like a layer or mantle.

"No, I-I, you can't ...", Atiqo's weak voice quitened down all of sudden. Panic ran through his whole body and left him rooted on the spot. What was this feeling? Why did he feel so sad now?

He didn't know that Pokemon at all, he just suddenly appeared and rescued Arthur, him, no both ...

They hadn't even spent a lot of time together, barely spoken any words to each other, so why did it hurt seeing the Sniebel injured, almost close to its death?

"When I came to realize I was in the Pokemon World, I was so happy. I-I wanted to enjoy moments with Pokemon like in the game, do an adventure, battle the gyms and fight the ... the league *sob sob* ...", tears dropped down his cheeks. His eyes were reddening and he couldn't stop them at all.

He thought he was mature enough to realize this wasn't a game but seeing Sniebel in its current weakened and injured state, he knew he had just been deceiving himself.

This world, it wasn't game, Pokemon and people didn't respawn, and health couldn't be recovered with a Hyper Potion ...

Fear gripped his heart suddenly, why was he sent to this world? He wasn't a soldier, he wasn't a fighter, he just liked Pokemon, so why did he have to watch them suffer so much?

"Krr.. krrrir...", a quiet but audible voice entered Atiqo's ears and awoke him from his stupor.

"You- you're alive!", he realized astoundedly. His bafflement turned into joy and relief washed over his body!

Sniebel coughed up some blood from its mouth, its eyes were still closed, it might have been too weak to even open them but its raising and sinking chest assured Atiqo that he wasn't hallucinating.

"I-I need to ... we need to find a ... a Pokemon Center ...", his thoughts were still disordered and his body was too weak to get anything done.

He had problems standing up on his owns, so how was he supposed to carry the Sniebel with him ...

"The ball!", an idea struck his mind,

"Arthur, that boy, he should- he should have put the ball ...", Atiqo tried searching his pockets for the ball that Snibel was supposed to get caught in. He needed a little longer, his hands still trembling from shock but his search was successful!

A little red ball appeared in his hands, he fumbled around a little and found the corresponding button. Pressing it, the little ball grew bigger until it was the size a big apple. He pointed it at the Sniebel and wanted to get it inside ...

*swoosh*

Suddenly a projectile hit the ball in his hand, which flew several meters away and landed somewhere in a bush.

Atiqo's eyes followed the direction the projectile came from and found a flapping creature flying circles in the air above.

"Triiierrrr!"

The Zubat had freed itself from the stunned state and by its master's orders prevented the boy's actions.

"YOU BASTARD!", Atiqo heard that familiar yet disgusting voice again.

"Did you really think I would let you get away with this shit?! Killing my Pokemon and then save yours right in front of my nose?!", Hazel's bloodshot eyes threw daggers at Atiqo, not a bit of mercy or pity could be found in them.

"Do you know how much money your Sniebel stole from me?! ROBBED FROM ME?! I could have been the king of the world! But you had to do this right?! This has been going on long enough now! I don't believe you got another Pokemon up your sleeves, Zubat, Poison Sting, RAPID FIRE!", his thunderous shout became Zubat's command.

"Rapid ... fire?", Atiqo didn't understand what Hazel's nonsense was all about, and he didn't know that attack move either, what was that? But as he looked back towards the Zubat, his question got answered.

Several Stings formed up in Zubat small mouth, like ammunition from a machine gun, ready to get fired up all at once ...

"Damned!", Atiqo couldn't move at all, he was mentally and physically exhausted, all his cards had been played, but the worst was that he couldn't save the Sniebel.

It wasn't his conflict, yet Sniebel got dragged into the fight as well and ended up severely injured.

Atiqo was kneeling on the ground, and closed down his eyes. He had done everything he could do, the best he could bring forth yet it wasn't enough ... regret built up inside him ...

another voice in his mind overlapped with his own ...

"If only ..."

" ... I had been stronger ..."

*PUT PUT PUT PUT PUT*

Zubat was fully loaded with Poison Stings and shot them without a pause!

Hazel and Chestnut watched on with glee, being able to witness the death of this cursed child and its Pokemon partner lessened their pain a little and distracted them from the lossed incurred.

The stings moved with an incredible speed, within a moment of though they reached Atiqo's area and then ...

"Mr.Mime, Reflect!"