Chapter 10 - When giants collide.

(POV Vulpix)

I just sat there, despair was at the forefront of my mind. Tears filled my eyes as terror continued to fill my heart. Guess I haven't changed, have I? I'm still a coward. Hell, even with how much Machoke hurt Ace, he was still able to stand strong in the end. And what did I do as he fought back, despite the massive amounts of fear I could sense from him? I hesitated and choked up like the little old coward I am. Even now, all I can do is sit here while Machoke picks up Ace. I continued to watch, not able to do anything about it.

Machoke picked up Ace and slung him over his shoulder. The look he gave me told me that I was no longer worth his time. He turned away from me as he began to run away. He continued running all the way to the stage area. I couldn't understand why he would be heading over towards that area, until he opened up a hidden door at the middle back area atop the stage. Machoke descended down what might be a ladder. Every step down he took, a pain would prick at my heart.

Machoke disappeared beneath into this tunnel of sorts. He's gone, Ace is gone. Ace is…wait, what am I thinking? Ace isn't gone, he's just been captured. I…I can still save him. I stood up, anger replacing the despair I was feeling. The anger was at myself for being so pathetic. Yes, Ace wouldn't give up, he would fight until the very end. But what can I do? I have no shot of defeating Machoke, he's just too strong. I would need help.

Looking around I saw the defeated bodies of Pokémon that Machoke bested. I shook off the small amount of apprehension that was building again. I looked elsewhere for a solution. That's when my eyes caught a glimpse of someone. Someone that could beat Machoke. Incineroar .

"That's right, Incineroar is here! He would be able to save Ace! I have to hurry!" I say to myself. Determination filled my spirit as I began to sprint into the chaos before me.

I entered the battlefield, dodging Pokémon that were thrown around. I narrowly dodged a purple orb that collided with a Geodude. Looking back forward, I continued to run, not stopping for a second, even as something hit my right side. Pain began to fill my right side but I didn't let it stop me. I'm not stopping for nothing.

Scanning the fight going on, I couldn't find Incineroar. If only I were taller, I could find him easier. I continued to run, desperation began to disappear when I finally spotted him. Hope took its place as I continued to approach him. I began to feel a bit nervous about approaching him. He is my favourite hero after all, but I immediately shake off that feeling. Now's not the time, Ace needs me.

Incineroar was currently finishing up his fight with a Durant. One punch atop the poor creature's head knocked it unconscious. He posed with pride over his defeated foe. He scanned his surroundings for more foes to defeat when he saw me approaching. He examined me with his eyes before relaxing his stance. He noticed that I'm not a foe, thankfully. He ran towards me, meeting with me quickly.

"What are you doing here, little Vulpix? This is not a safe place. Come, let's get you out of here." He said, misunderstanding my intentions.

"N-no that's not the reason I came to you. I'm here because-" I started to say.

"You are injured! Oh no this isn't good. I need to get you to a medic, stat! Greninja!" Incineroar shouted, cutting me off.

"What is it?" A tall blue Pokémon with a…tongue scarf appeared from Incineroar shadow. He startled me from how quickly he appeared.

"I'm going to take Vulpix here to the medic, can you handle things here for a second?" Incineroar asked.

"Tch, easy work." The uninterested sounding Greninja replied.

"Alright, let's get you some hel-"

"NO!" I shouted, cutting him off. "You misunderstand, it's not me that needs help!"

"But you are injured?" Incineroar said, tilting his head.

"No, well yes, but it's not me that needs help. Please, he took Ace! Machoke took my friend and fled down a secret hatch at the stage. Please, we have to go save him before he gets away! We have to…we have to save him…please." I began to tear up.

"Alright, I understand. I'll save your friend. You just stay here with Greninja, okay? I'll be back as soon as possible. Greninja, hold the fort- it's time to save a life." And with that he began to run. I wanted to run after him. I…I had to help.

I looked at Greninja who was staring back. "I have to help. Ace, he needs me." I continued staring into his eyes.

"Sorry miss, you heard the big guy. You are to remain safe her-Boom" Greninja was about to say before getting interrupted by a large explosion nearby.

"Greninja, sir, the enemy are engaging in what seems to be a last ditch effort to escape!" Another Pokémon said from nearby.

"Dammit, ok you lot…" Greninja relayed his orders but with him being distracted this was the perfect time for me to slip away.

I walked back slowly until I was near the group of Pokémon nearby. I ran between them so they blocked me from Greninja. Once clear I continued, full sprint towards Incineroar to catch up. My eyes began to water up from the pain at my side, yet I pressed on.

After catching up with Incineroar, I slowed down to match his pace. He looked down at me, and I looked back. He seemed to understand that I'm going no matter what.

"Ha, youth," he chuckled to himself. "Alright then, let's go and save your friend!"

We both picked up our pace as we continued through the battleground. We got to the stage area in a short time. We descended the old looking ladder; it led to a large unnatural tunnel. Once at the bottom, Incineroar and I nodded to each other as we resumed our chase. Fear filled my mind as we continued to run, unwanted questions filled my head but I pressed on. Is this what being brave is, Ace?

I guess I can be brave, huh? Don't worry Ace, help is on the way!

(POV Ace)

My eyes open for a second, the world is a moving blur. My eyes close.

A short time later, or at least, I think so, my eyes open again. The blur is the floor and I appear to be hanging from something as I'm moving quite fast. Tiredness overtakes me and my eyes shut again.

The 3rd time I open my eyes, I confirm that I am indeed hanging from something. Getting a better look I can see grey, muscly legs moving back and forth from my sight to the ground. I know those legs: they're Machoke's legs. Guess the prick took me after I was knocked out. My eyes begin to get heavy again as I start to fall back unconscious. I can't pass out again, who knows if I'll wake up again. I bite my tongue, not hard enough to draw blood but hard enough to where I wished I didn't. This did however wake me up completely. Now that my brain is awake and firing on all cylinders, I can indeed tell that my face hurts really bad. Gee, I wonder why.

Luckily Machoke hasn't noticed that I'm awake; he seems focused on this winding cave we are in. I don't risk taking a look around- I can't have Machoke knowing I'm awake just yet. A plan begins to form in my mind. When it comes to speed, strength and combat experience, Machoke outshines me completely. But one thing I was always good at was thinking outside the box.

Now I don't need to fight him head on, oh no sir. See, I'm a poison type as well as a grass type and I discovered after getting poisoned myself, that I can use poison powder. I haven't really been able to use it, but I can tell at least, that if I focus I can make the stuff. So my plant is the thing that creates the poison powder and guess whose mouth and nose is right next to it? Ding ding that's right: Machoke's.

A devilish smile forms on my face as I realize something else. Why don't I also put some nice little seeds on his back while I'm at It. Could always use a snack.

Steeling my mind, I began to make plenty of seeds, as well as preparing powder in my back. How am I able to do both at the same time? No clue, but I think it has something to do with how I use my stored energy. Also, while my seeds are stored in my plant they are extremely tiny in size, however once planted they grow exponentially in size. If I were to compare, inside they are the size of apple seeds and once planted, they grow to the size of a walnut.

8 seeds were created to be planted on Machoke's back. With my poison powder filling to its max, I begin my devilish plan. With great care, I slither one of my vines out from the right side of my plant. It doesn't need to come out of the top, but it feels wrong. So with my vine out of sight, it slowly moved around Machoke's head. Once I got it as far as I could, I began to release my poison powder.

Machoke seemed to have realized that a purple smoke cloud appeared out of nowhere and began to remove me from his shoulder with great haste. But my already prepared vine wrapped around his head, keeping in place as I continued to release my poison cloud. Part 2 of my plan begins. I shoot out my other vine and place as quickly as I can, all my prepared seeds, all over Machoke's back. There's probably a joke in there somewhere, but there's no time for dirty humour.

Machoke now has recovered his senses, he began to really pull on me now. I tried to stay as best as I could but I was eventually overpowered by his pure muscles. Even the 2nd vine didn't help. He was too strong, but it didn't matter since the sight before me filled me with so much glee, so much so that I'm able to ignore the pain I received from being thrown to the ground.

Machoke was now on all 4s, coughing up a storm. Purple liquid is ejected from his mouth. Yes, he's poisoned! Now all I gotta do is avoid any counter attack.

I quickly scan my surroundings. I'm in a large, open cave littered with large crystals of various sizes; some the size of pencils, to some being as tall as a single story house. Their colours range from shiny pink, green, light blues and dark purples. To be honest, if I didn't have the big bad in front of me right now, this scene would have been very magical.

'This couldn't be more perfect,' I thought to myself. With all these lovely crystals to hide behind, I can take advantage of Machoke's poisoned state. A nice energy stream flows from Machoke into me. Oh yeah, that's the stuff. Energy filling my body and a battle plan in action, I begin to take advantage of Machoke's pathetic stature.

Looking around, I spy a small loose crystal just chilling on the ground, just begging to be thrown at Machoke. So respecting the small rock's wishes, I grab it from the ground and lob it as hard as I can with my vine. It flies through the air with impressive speed, I gotta say, and boom right on the money. It connects with Machoke's stupid looking head, leaving a small red scrape mark.

Machoke slowly, in a smooth, robot-like manner, looks over towards me. His eyes are bloodshot, revealing pure anger coming from him. "I'm going to kill you now." he says with pure ice in his voice.

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try." I countered. Machoke got up off the floor, stumbled a little, then suddenly bolted towards me. "Oh crap! No I lied, I lied!"

I begin to ru-tactically retreat from Machoke, choosing to hide behind a large crystal. Machoke continues his chase, seemingly about to catch me but a nice bit of energy fills me up, giving me the boost to run faster. My body is too small for him to grab, especially with a crystal blocking him.

I ran behind more crystals, but Machoke didn't seem to like their existence since instead of running around it, he punched straight through it. Since he was poisoned and his energy being drained, it took him a second to recover from the punch that shattered that crystal- giving me enough time to run behind another, larger crystal. Yet once again he broke it with ease.

Is it just me or is he getting stronger? Wait, do abilities exist here too? I may have made a slight miscalculation if that's the case, because doesn't Machoke possess the Guts ability? You know the one where he gets stronger if he is affected by a status? Like the poison one I applied onto him? Great, he is glowing a slight red colour. Better not get hit at all.

"Why do you insist on ruining my life!? Can't you just succumb already!?" Machoke has the nerve to say.

"Ru-ruin me…ruin your life?..." I stumble on my words. I just can't process what he just said. "...How the actual fuck have I ruined your life!?" I ask, jumping away from the new crystals I was hiding behind. Machoke charged straight through them. I ran over to another set and once again he broke through. We continue this pattern while talking.

"If it weren't for you releasing Sneasel, Smash I would have been in the fast pass for being second in charge! Smash Then instead of not succumbing to the demerit system, you continued to resist, making me look like an even bigger fool. Then, to make matters worse, Smash, smash, smash Zoroark discovers that you are a user of this blasted Aura nonsense!" Machoke rants on.

"Oh well boo-fuckedy-hoo! You know what? I'm glad you lost your promotion and I'm glad you look like a useless tool in front of your boss!" I shouted back to him.

This causes Machoke to halt in place. He doesn't move, seemingly processing what I just said. Energy fills me up again. Seemingly annoyed that I'm feeding off his energy, he moves over to a nearby tall, purple crystal. I was trying to figure out what he was about to do but his next action spelt it out to me. He slammed his back multiple times into it. I could feel the connection between myself and the seeds dying en masse. To make matters worse, Machoke snorted, and spat at the plants with a large, nasally, purple goo.

"Heh, it seems like your poison has worn off." With much greater speed, he lunges at me. It took all my effort to dodge away from the crystals I was hiding behind before he smashed them. This time he obliterated them. "And your only source of healing is now cut off."

I don't get it, if he isn't affected by poison anymore, then shouldn't his Guts ability be disabled? Then why is he still so strong?! Maybe I shouldn't have pissed him off..

He recovered more quickly than I did, as he sprinted over to me. Thinking on the spot, I used the remaining amount of energy I had stored and launched my vine over to a far away crystal. My vine wraps around it and pulls me just in time to narrowly avoid Machoke's stomp. I could hear the earth shatter from the impact. I'm just glad that wasn't me. Once I landed, I looked as fast as I could over to Machoke. But instead, I spied a large rock coming towards me. I dodged to my left, narrowly avoiding it, but rock number 2 entered the fight, smashing into my right leg.

I land on the ground with a thud, pain shooting throughout my body from that rough landing. Instincts took over and I tried to rise from the ground, only to stumble due to pure pain radiating from my right leg. I look down to it. Ah that would do it. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure my leg isn't meant to be bent in that angle.

I can hear running coming towards me. I look up but I'm not sure that I should've, since I was kicked straight in the face. This sent me flying into the wall of the cave. I didn't even get to fall to the ground before an elbow was planted into my stomach since I landed back 1st into the wall, further crushing my poor back plant. Machoke wasn't done though, as he grabbed my head tightly with his huge hands. I closed my eyes, bracing for what was to come. I felt myself getting thrown. I bounced along the floor.

I can't breathe, I think he knocked the wind out of me. I try to catch my breath but I can't seem to expand my lungs enough. I'm pretty sure I'm meant to be in pure pain. Adrenaline must be in overdrive. I try to crawl away but I can't. Something is terribly wrong with me at the moment.

All I can do is look up as Machoke is flying towards me, leading with is fist. I just can't catch a break, can I?

I close my eyes. A small bit of wind rushed past my face, as I could hear a loud 'Bang' noise. I slowly open my eyes. I'm able to catch some of my breath back as I gasped at the large creature who had intercepted Machoke's punch with his own.

"Mind if I punch in?" the new creature says. I think I recognize this Pokémon, it's the Incineroar that Vulpix pointed out earlier. He was red, with black stripes along his arm. He had 2 more on his legs and on his long tail that touched the floor. He was tall and stood on 2 feet. His torso also looked like he was wearing a grey wife beater. He also had what looked like an orange belt around his waist.

He held Machoke in place, blocking all his momentum with his powerful counter punch. Incineroar roared a mighty roar as he pushed against Machoke, sending him back. Machoke skidded back, studying his new enemy.

Incineroar looked over to me. He winced once he got a view of me. "Don't worry little dude, I'll make this quick. I'm glad your friend and I got here just in time. Now then…" He turns his attention to Machoke "you're this Machoke I've heard so much about-"

Their conversation is cut off by someone calling my name. I moved my head with great effort to see who the voice was coming from. It's Vulpix. Huh, she really did come back for me. A small smile formed on my face.

The small little fox ran over to me, skidding to a halt. "I got help, Ace! You are going to be alright now…oh no. Ace…your leg." She said with worry in her voice.

"Yeah." Is all I could muster up. It was extremely strenuous to speak at the moment.

Vulpix was about to say something but a loud shout from Machoke drags my attention back to him.

"Another interruption! Why can't you all just lie down and die already!" Machoke screams.

"Sorry, I'd love to stay and chat, but I believe you deserve a major beat down. Prepare yourself, Incineroar is going to incinerate ya." He shouted his one liner as he broke out into a sprint to Machoke.

The 2 muscly Pokémon lock hands over their heads, trying to overpower each other. They both push against each other with great effort but Incineroar wins out as he breaks free from the death grab, making Machoke lose his balance. A right hook connects with Machoke's face. This sends Machoke skidding back along the ground.

Incineroar pats his bicep while Machoke rubs the blood from his lip. With the 1st hit coming from Incineroar, he takes advantage of the ground he has gained by leaping towards Machoke, while brandishing his claws. Machoke tries to back up but isn't fast enough so instead he dodges Incineroar's swiping. He was able to dodge 2, while blocking the 3rd swipe but swipe 4 and 5 slipped through his defense, scratching the right side of his chest and his left shoulder.

Machoke, pissed from getting scratched up, raised his open palmed hands over his head. He brings them down with great speed but Incineroar is too quick as he dodges around Machoke. Incineroar mouth begins to glow a brilliant red glow as he prepares his next attack.

Machoke, missing his earlier attack, wasn't able to move out of the way in time. So all he could do was try to block his face as a magnificent flame shot out from Incineroar's mouth. Machoke is engulfed in flames.

"Gaaah!" Machoke screamed in pain. After enduring the flame attack, he finally got sick of getting barbecued. He jumped back, breaking the floor beneath him in the process. He landed, shaking any lingering fires off himself. His flesh was burnt with black spots and smoke rising from parts of his body. His arms got it the worst, though.

I'm not going to lie, seeing Machoke getting burnt like that made me feel good. I just wished I was the one to do it.

Machoke, seemingly not wanting to get too close to Incineroar at the moment, looks around the environment. He looked over to a rather large, translucent green crystal. He literally pulled it out of the ground. It was about twice his size. He held the large crystal over his head, turned towards Incineroar and threw it with a roar, pointy bit 1st.

"Ha, easy." Incineroar just gloats while not moving. Quickly, Incineroar runs toward the crystal. Once in range, he raises his right leg up and kicks the crystal twice. The crystal cracked up when the 1st kick landed but completely shattered when the 2nd kick connected. I just can't believe how easily he did that. "Is that all you have? Come on, you can do better than that." He smiled cheekily at Machoke.

Machoke glared daggers at Incineroar. His fist clenched to the point where he drew a bit of blood. I swear the vein in his head was about to explode from how pissed Machoke was. After a second, Machoke instantly calmed down. He looked towards us, a malicious smile forming on his face. Quickly, Machoke ran over to a smaller crystal, picked it up and threw it as hard as he could.

I tried to get out of the way, but I had no energy left at all. Plus, even if I could, my leg is currently broken. So all I could do was sit there, helplessly. I could hear Vulpix scream with fear as the rock came hurdling over towards us. Instead of running or freezing up however, Vulpix chose, willingly, to shield me from the crystal. She had her back towards me so I couldn't read her expression.

'No move, get away.' I wanted to say but instead an incoherent murmur escaped my lips. The crystal approached, but just before it connected with Vulpix, Incineroar slid in the way just in time to take the full brunt of the crystal.

Incineroar looked over towards us, making sure we didn't get hit by the crystal. Blood was pouring down his forehead, so he must have gotten hit in the head. I'm honestly surprised he made it in time. That was some insane speed. That's twice now he has blocked a hit for me. I'm glad he did though, I don't want to see Vulpix hurt, not by Machoke of all Pokémon.

After Incineroar was satisfied that we weren't hurt, well, more hurt I'll say, pure anger formed on his face as he turned back to Machoke. "You coward! You dare attack innocent Pokémon in the middle of our fight? Okay then, no more Mr nice cat! I'm ending this now." The coldness from his voice sent a chill down my spine.

Incineroar began walking, steam rising from him. His footsteps began to literally leave burnt tracks as he kept on walking. How hot was his skin at the moment? This boy is Hulk levels of angry.

With each step he took, the hotter he seemed to be getting until he literally caught on fire. With a loud 'Bang' Incineroar shot off towards Machoke, leaving a small amount of fire behind where he once was. Machoke, somehow being able to see this monstrous speed, goes to counter with a punch, but is too slow as he is shoulder-barged by a flaming Pokémon, sending him flying while crashing through multiple crystals.

I begin to feel a bit dizzy and woozy, but I keep watching. I'm not missing this beat down on Machoke for the life of me.

Still aflame, Incineroar continues his assault. This time Machoke is able to land a solid right hook on Incineroar's face, but he shrugs it off quickly, countering with a gut punch of his own. Machoke lurches forward from how hard he was hit. Incineroar follows up his attack with another flaming fist punch to Machoke's face. One punch turns to 2, two turns into 8, until all I could see is a blur of punches sent into Machoke. More scorch marks appear all over Machoke as a result.

You gotta give it to Machoke though, he was actually able to break out that punch storm that Incineroar was delivering. Although he is clearly very tired and sore.

Incineroar now casually walks over to Machoke, anger bearing on his face. Machoke, confused with this sudden demeanour change, rushes forwards, kicking Incineroar in his right side. Incineroar didn't even flinch when he got kicked. The fear on Machoke's face filled me with even more delight. He tries again to attack with a right handed punch. His fist was caught however by Incineroar's left hand. Incineroar twists Machoke's wrist so he is now stuck.

Incineroar rears his right elbow into the air, a punch aimed at Machoke. Machoke tried to struggle out of this situation, but wasn't able to. All the fire that was still lingering on Incineroar's body travels up to his right shoulder, down his arm and collects in his fist. The resulting fire looked like it could put hell's fire to shame with how bright it radiated with its pure heat.

"This is for all the Pokémon you have hurt." Incineroar announces to a terrified Machoke. With a crack the fist is launched at Machoke. The flame travelled from his fist and engulfed Machoke's face with its intense heat. Machoke, being powerless to resist, is sent careening across the cave system. He smashes into the wall, making the whole cave system begin to shake. Even after revealing that Machoke is down for the count with Xs for eyes, the shaking doesn't stop. I guess all this crystal breaking, plus Machoke smashing into the wall, was too much for this cave to bear as rocks begin to fall slowly from the roof.

I savour the vision of Machoke's burnt, broken body as it's still very stuck in the wall. A boulder however blocks my vision of Machoke. Dizziness and tiredness continue to fill me as the pain finally begins to set in. I guess the adrenaline has worn off. My body begins to scream with how much pain it's in.

Incineroar runs over to us. He says something to us but to me it's just a muddle noise. With how loud he was, I'm guessing it was something like we gotta run. I was lifted from the floor, after a Vulpix said something. His arm was still very warm from his fight, it was kinda something in a way. Like being on a warm blanket. I just wished my everything didn't hurt so badly.

We began to move which only aggravated all my wounds. Since I'm face forward and supported by both of Incineroar arms, I'm able to look at Vulpix who is running besides him. She continuously looked towards me with fear and worry. Don't look at me like that, I'll be fine. I'm…just gonna…take a nap.

Maybe, maybe I won't wake up this time.

???

Birds chirping is the 1st thing I noticed. The cool breeze filled my lungs. I feel strangely comfortable, devoid of any pain or fatigue. I open my eyes, it's the open blue sky. It's littered with fluffy white clouds. It's a nice view.

I contemplate getting up but everything is screaming for me to stay put, so I do. I don't think I ever need to get up again.

Enjoying the peace and tranquillity, I continue to listen out for the nice sounding wildlife. The scuffling of nearby grass cached my attention. I moved my head to the side to see a person, a human walking over towards me. I scan his face, trying to figure out why I recognise him. Like someone throwing cold water over me I recognise who it is. It's Chriss! Ignoring my insane desire to stay down, I shoot up into a sitting position. I wanted to stand up but that seemed impossible for me for some reason.

"Yo." He waved as he approached me. "Long time no see."

"What the? Chriss? How can this be? You died, unless…we are both dead," I say. If it is true, I'm surprised with how calm I am about it. I waved back, releasing that I'm in my human body. Boy, I missed fingers.

"Mmm that's only half true, yes I'm dead. You however, aren't. You are at the brink of death. So I guess half dead would be appropriate."

"Where are we?" I asked.

"If I were to guess, Limbo." He replied.

"Limbo seems nice."

"Only because we are currently inside a memory of mine." He moved over to sit next to me. He moves his gaze forward. I move mine to match his. Ah, I see what he means. Right now I see a large lake with 2 boys sword fighting with some random sticks they found. It's younger Chriss and I. We look like we are having a good time. Guilt begins to fill my mind. I'm the reason this can no longer happen.

"This is my favourite memory of mine, us two playing like nothing else mattered."

I look down to the grass in guilt.

"Haaa, I see you still blame yourself for what happened."

I don't respond, I just grit my teeth and hold my pants tighter.

"It was my choice to go there, you know?"

"But still, if I didn't convince you, you wouldn't have died."

"Haaaa, what am I going to do with you?" he says while his left hand is on his forehead.

I chuckled at remembering how he used to always say that. "I missed you Chriss."

"I'd say the same, but I never really left you. I made a promise to stick by you until you made a friend and I meant it."

I don't recall this promise, but it's something he would most definitely do. "What do you mean?" I asked. "You have been with me the whole time?"

"Yeah, unfortunately there's not a lot I can do as a spirit, even though I really wanted to. I can't believe what Machoke did to you."

"Yeah, that sucked. Oh well though, since this is Limbo, can't I just leave for the afterlife?"

"You could, but you shouldn't."

"What do you mean? Ever since I can remember, all I've known is abuse. From my parents, to my school and even in the magical world of Pokémon! What do you mean I shouldn't?"

"You made a promise with Vulpix, remember? You promised to join the guild with her."

I stumble at my next response. Chriss was always headstrong on adhering to promises.

"You don't belong here. You still have a full life of adventure to be had." He said.

"But…I don't want to get hurt anymore. I'm sick and tired of it. All I ever do is get hurt and gather more terrible memories."

"Well, what about the good ones?"

"What do you mean?"

"What about all the fun we used to have?" I recall some of our adventures together, boy did we get into trouble. "How about the time we put swear words on the white board in missus Red's class?"

"Ha, I remember her nearly passing out from seeing them! The detention was worth it." I chuckled from this memory.

"See, there are good times to be had, even if there are terrible ones. You just have to keep on moving forward."

I looked towards him. "How? You…aren't there anymore. I'm all alone now."

"Are you though? I recall a red foxy Pokémon, who would say otherwise if she was here right now. Here, let me show you." Chriss pulls out his old iPhone 4, turns it on and shows me the screen. What's on it fills my heart with pain. It's me being rushed to a hospital or whatever the equivalent is in the Pokémon world, in a cart. There are a couple of Pokémon tending to me, trying to keep me alive. Vulpix is sitting right next to me, tears coming from her eyes. I guess she never left me.

"You're not alone, Ace. Don't leave her like how I left you. I know what it feels like to be forced to leave. It sucks, and it's even worse for the ones you leave."

"Haa, I guess you're right."

Chriss stands up, walks over to the front of me. He offers me his hand. I stare at it, contemplating my choices. I sigh, "Fine, I'll give it another go. What's the worst that can happen, that hasn't happened already."

Chriss smiles a wide toothy smile as I grab his hand. He pulls me to my feet. It felt like life being poured back into my soul, the lethargic stare I was in is no more. Feeling strangely out of balance, I fell to all 4s. I've turned back into my Bulbasaur body, it feels oddly right.

"Bulbasaur huh? You know, it oddly suits you," he says while looking down towards me since he is taller than me.

"So what now?" I ask.

"Now we part ways."

"Will we ever see each other again?"

"No, this is the last time, I'm afraid. It's time for me to move on. Besides, you don't really need me anymore."

I was about to respond, but a voice echoed throughout the area.

"Ace, please wake up. Please." The voice belonged to Vulpix. I can't pinpoint its location as it seems to be coming from everywhere.

"You got yourself a good one, Ace. Well, I'll see you on the other side. Make sure you have tons of stories. I want to hear every single one of them. Well, anyways, until next time." He waved at me, turned around and walked towards the nearby trees.

I just stare at him leaving. I wanted to shout out for him to stay or not to leave me but I didn't. "Yeah, until next time. Chriss." I said to myself. Once he enters the forest, he disappears into the trees. Tears fill my eyes. Guess I was never truly alone, huh.

What do I do now? I think Chriss said we parted ways, so I'm guessing I walk the other direction. I turned to do so but a figure caught my eyes. At a faraway hill, I spy a shadowy figure. It has tall, slender legs that remind me of stretched out triangles. It is a dark grey in colour. Its eyes are a turquoise colour, its hair is a long lighter grey that seems to be acting more like smoke than normal hair in the wind. Before I can make out who it is, it disappears as I blink, making me question if I truly saw the figure.

I shake my head clear. I continue to walk as everything around me begins to fade to white. Ah, I can feel myself waking up now. I wonder where I am now. Oh well, I guess I'll see when I wake up.

End Chapter 10

Edited by S'mores