“Driftveil City looks pleasant,” I commented cheerfully as June and Ella walked by my sides, looking around at the buildings surrounding us.

Several people were outside on this gray, freezing cold morning. The fog within the city was thin, a light mist of rain being blown all around, a light layer of moisture on our clothes and faces. A tree was planted every few feet apart in front of the buildings, their branches swaying lightly in the wind, the leaves rustling against one another, several of them falling off of their branches while the leaves already on the ground swirled into the air, meeting with the falling leaves, spinning together.

“Driftveil City?” Ella asked me.

“We can finally earn our next badges!” My eyes were focused ahead, looking for the Gym. “You said his name was Clay, right?”

“Yes, Clay is who runs the Gym in Driftveil City, Gary,” Ella told me. “But we’re not in Driftveil City.”

“We’re not?” I turned to her. “But, I thought it was right after the Driftveil Drawbridge!”

“Well, almost,” Ella said, staring at her Town Map. “We should be there soon, but there’s still a little bit of a walk to go. Not much further, though.”

I sighed with disappointed as she turned her sweet eyes and angelic smile to me, immediately cutting my sigh short as I smiled back. “Great! No big deal, then.”

“As long as you have Ella with you, everything will be fine, right, Gary?” June chimed in, a sinister grin on her face as she eyed me.

“Wha-? I… Well, she has the electronic Town Map, so, yeah, I guess with her around, we have no real worries,” I replied nervously.

“Oh, I see,” Ella said sadly, lowering her head. “This is all about my Town Map. Here I thought maybe it was something more special…” She whimpered.

She’s joking, I was sure, and yet, I felt like a sucker as a regretful feeling filled my heart. “No, Ella, it’s not that,” I tried.

“That’s exactly what you said.” Ella closed her eyes as she held her Town Map out to me. “Just take it, then. You can use it since this is all that matters. Silly me, thinking we had something going.” She turned to June and grabbed her shoulder gently.

June stopped walking and stared at me with a smile that showed she was on the verge of busting out laughing.

Ella leaned on the arm that was attached to the hand holding June’s cane, and she started crying loudly, obviously faking.

“Ella, I’m sorry, really,” I said, uncertain of how to act in this situation. “I-you-I…”

“No, no. I’ll be just fine.” She placed her hands, still holding her Town Map, over her heart and walked ahead of us, sniffling hard.

A couple of people were staring at us now, watching Ella and then turning to me and June.

I looked away from them and stared at the ground. Some people get shot in the head and die, I thought, a feeling of embarrassment mixed with sorrow and confusion swirling through me. Me? I get to deal with this… Some people have all the luck. I knew Ella was just playing, but it was a game I wasn’t very good at. In fact, I was downright horrible at it, having exactly no experience in the field. Not to mention, I had no idea what Ella was going for with her game. I walked as quickly as I could after her, June hobbling after me.

“This sure is a cute little place,” Ella said, touching her Town Map screen. “It has something called a Pokemon Performance Competition where Pokemon and their Trainers can perform and do all kinds of cool tricks using their attacks, or dancing, or whatever original ideas the Pokemon and their Trainers can come up with!”

“Oh, like the Musical in Nimbasa City?” June asked.

“Yeah, or like a Pokemon Contest!” Ella said to her happily. “That might be nice to see, don’t you think?”

“Oh, I think that would be just looooovely,” June turned to me, a mischievous grin on her face. “What do yooooou think, Gary? You want to find Driftveil, right? We don’t have time to stop and see the sights, riiiiiight?”

I swallowed hard, wanting to strangle June. “Um, I just think it might be a better idea to just stay focused on the path ahead, instead of getting sidetracked,” I said in a low voice, turning my eyes to the ground as Ella looked up at me, wide-eyed. “But, if you guys want to see the sights or whatever, I guess we could take an hour or two…”

“Well, that’s a first,” June laughed. “See, Ella? You must be special! He never let me or Trixa go where we wanted to go! It was always, ‘Grr! I’m the boss. We’re not going there. We have to catch Pokemon. Badges. Rah rah rah.’”

Ella laughed loudly.

I could smack her right upside her bandaged head and not think twice about it, I thought viciously as I leered at June who was smiling broadly back at me.

“You’re just saying that, June,” Ella smiled at her, and then she turned to me. “Gary’s a sweetheart.” She leaned her head towards me and fluttered her eyes.

My face grew hot as I looked around frantically, not really looking for anything. After I’m done traveling through Unova, I really need to go back to basics and start traveling by myself again, I thought wearily.

It wasn’t much longer before we had made our way out of the town we were in, Ella saying she was more interested in reaching Driftveil City than stopping for a Pokemon Performance, and she would rather see a Pokemon Musical from Nimbasa than a smaller scale one here.

This made me start to wonder if Ella was a more high maintenance type of girl.

June didn’t seem bothered by Ella no longer wanting to see the Pokemon Performance and happily continued with us. We eventually found ourselves walking through a wooded area.

“Oooh, so scary, huh?” Ella said, giggling lightly as she nudged against me, pretending to shiver and be scared.

Her body against me made my heart beat, even after she had moved away and was looking around.

Little light made its way through the treetops, making the woods look even scarier, grass rustling around us, cries from strange creatures surrounding us, a thickening mist making it harder to see, the presence of monsters behind every tree.

“I wonder what kind of Pokemon live in here,” Ella brought up.

“Yeah,” I muttered, but suddenly remembered that I had six Pokemon already. I couldn’t capture anymore Pokemon at this point. Any other Pokemon I caught would be sent directly to Prof. Oak. He’d know I was in Unova if I sent him a Unova Pokemon. I needed to seclude myself from him entirely until I sorted all of this out. “OW!” I screamed and grabbed my head with my left hand, stumbling back. “What was that?” I looked up into the trees above me, but I couldn’t see anything, so my eyes went down.

“Hey!” Ella pointed at the thing on the ground.

“Is that a nut?” I asked.

The nut moved and then, from underneath it, two tiny stalks sprouted and it stood up! Its head rose towards me and I could see two circular, black designs. The designs looked like eyes and seemed to blink as it cried out.

I stumbled back in fear. “What’s that thing?” I cried, my eyes wide.

“Seedot!” June smiled at the Pokemon.

I pulled out my Pokedex with Ella and we both scanned the Pokemon at once, my attention focused on what my Pokedex had to say about it.

Seedot. The Acorn Pokemon. They suck up nutrients and moisture by hanging from tree branches using the top of their heads. Once full, they drop to the ground. Sometimes, they do this on purpose to startle people and Pokemon.

“Hey, that’s a Hoenn region Pokemon,” I mumbled. I could catch that, and Prof. Oak might believe I’m in Hoenn or something! Or should I just wait and try to sort things out with him instead. Ugh! I’m not sure what to do at this point at all! Are all of my Pokemon from Unova? Pidove, Darmanitan, Tympole, Elgyem, Excadrill, and Cottonee. Yup, all Unova Pokemon. What should I do? I sighed.

“It’s really cute, huh?” Ella took a step closer to the Seedot.

“Seedot!” it spoke out, keeping its eyes on her.

“Hi, little baby! My name’s Ella. Did you jump down from a tree branch to say hi to us?” Ella asked caringly.

“Seedot!” Seedot took a small jump.

“Aww! This little guy is so-OW!”

Something fell from above and landed on Ella’s head.

“Seedot!” Another Seedot landed on the ground next to the first Seedot.

“That really hurt!” Ella complained as she stood up and rubbed the back of her head.

“Ella, are you-ouch!” I grabbed the back of my head as I stumbled forward, something landing on it painfully. Whipping around, I turned to see a third Seedot on the ground, standing near the other two.

“It’s a third Seedot!” Ella pointed. A smile came over her face. “Well, at least we won’t have to fight over which of us gets to capture one. There’s one for us-AAHH!!”

Ella’s sentence was stopped as a few more large items dropped from the trees on top of her head.

“OW!” I screamed angrily.

“Whoa!” I heard June cry out. “Watch out!” June had backed up as several more Seedot landed from the trees near her.

“June, be careful! Your head!” I warned her. I screamed out in pain as something heavy landed right in my face, taking me to the ground.

“Gar-UGH!” Ella was interrupted.

“Ella?” I opened my eyes and turned to her.

Ella was rubbing the top of her head, her eyes closed.

“You guys, we need to move!” June called out to us. “It’s raining Seedot!” A shrill screech burst from her throat as a Seedot fell and landed on her bandaged head. She gripped her head with her right hand and moaned weakly.

“JUNE!” I leaped to my feet and ran towards her. “Come on! Let’s get out of here! Ella!”

Ella turned to us, and suddenly, a continuous amount of Seedot started raining down on us!

We all screamed and I covered June’s head with my arm, though it wasn’t really any protection, as we ran as fast as we could.

I quickly took my bag from my left shoulder and held it high over June’s head, trying my best to protect her, my arm shaking from the weight. Seedot dropped heavily onto the bag, making it even harder to hold up, but I refused to weaken my arm, determined to keep June safe.

Our feet pounded uphill, following Ella who was leading the way. It was a lot easier for her to run since she wasn’t physically handicapped in any way like June and I were. Not to mention, I was keeping a slower than usual June, safe, my heavy bag over her head, as the continuous downpour of Seedot continued.

“Where are they all coming from??” Ella wailed in a panic.

“Why are they doing this crap to us? What did we do to them?!” I demanded angrily as I stumbled over a fallen Seedot. My right shoulder was in pain as I moved urgently, but I gritted my teeth tightly and let out the pain in a furious, determined growl.

“The Seedot! They-ow! Ow!” June gasped out, trying to catch her breath as the uphill path we were on released itself to a flat surface and we all seemed to move a little bit quicker now.

The cry of the Seedot surrounded us, and my head started aching, my ears ringing.

“June! Gary! You can do it!” Ella encouraged us from far ahead, looking back.

“Just keep running, Ella!” I yelled back at her.

Ella slowed down and started to remove her light blue backpack.

“Ella, I said to move it! Don’t stop!”

“I’m not leaving you two behind!” She started to slow down to a stop, and her eyes widened. “WHOA!” She screamed as she startled to stumble and lose her balance. “Oh, no!” Ella tumbled on her feet, running rapidly now, downhill!

The raining Seedot finally seemed to let up, and once June and I reached where Ella was now running down far below, the Seedot seemed to have stopped dropping entirely.

June and I started to come to a stop as I kept my eyes on Ella screaming as she frantically swung her arms out at her sides, her feet a complete blur as she ran down the hill.

June gasped as she stumbled on her cane and slammed into me.

“HEY!” I grabbed June for balance, accidentally gripping her left arm.

June cried out in surprise as the cane slipped in her left hand and she reached out for me, grasping both of my arms, making me scream painfully as she grabbed my right arm which was in its sling, my right shoulder now burning strongly. Before I knew what was happening, June and I were both screaming, both from pain and fear, stumbling down the hill rapidly, June hopping on one foot, desperate not to land on her other one.

Ella let out a scream, June and I tripping over rocks, each other, and things in our way. In the next instant, June and I crashed into Ella and we all collapsed, groaning.

I opened my eyes slowly and saw Ella’s beautiful eyes staring right back at me, something heavy sitting on top of me. “Um, Ella?” I gasped. I just breathed on her, I thought in a panic. Does my breath smell? Is the toothpaste from earlier this morning still noticeable? Do I smell fresh? I showered today!

Ella smiled. “Yes, Gary?’

We both stared at each other, my heart racing, my face so close to the face of the most beautiful girl in the world.

“Man, isn’t this romantic?” June said from on top of me.

“WHAAAA-???” I freaked out and struggled out from underneath June.

“Hey!” June dropped on top of Ella, their eyes wide as they stared at each other.

They both smiled at once.

“Sorry, Gary, but I don’t swing that way,” Ella said, not taking her eyes off of June. “That’s one level of coaxing that’s never gonna happen. Nice try, though.”

June climbed off of Ella, gasping and crying out in loud whispers as she got to her feet.

Ella stood up and dusted off her clothes. “You two okay?”

“Yes, thank you. I’m a bit sore and dizzy, but I’ll be fine. How about you?” June asked.

“I’m okay,” Ella nodded.

Both girls turned to me, but I was already walking towards them, making my way past, and continued on the flat path laid out in front of us.

“Gary?” June called out.

“Come on, let’s keep going,” I called back to her.

“Are you alright?” Ella called to me.

“I’m just fine,” I answered, though my right shoulder was throbbing really badly and my head was spinning.

A sharp whistle ripped through the forest, and I instantly felt chills all around my body, goose bumps up and down my arms.

“What is that?” June questioned with fear.

“I don’t like this one bit,” Ella’s voice quivered. “Gary, what’s going on?”

A strange melody whistled through the trees, surrounding us, and I shivered hard as if I had stripped myself of my clothing in the middle of this winter weather. It was hard to explain, but I felt like all hope was lost all of a sudden. “You said we aren’t far from Driftveil, right?”

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“Yeah. After that run and tumble, we should be there in no time,” Ella said as she and June walked quickly to catch up to me, looking around in fear into the tall trees, through the dimming fog, the frightening tune traveling through the air.

“Then let’s keep moving,” I urged, and we kept close together as we moved forward.

Before long, the woods separated, and the whistling finally faded away as we stepped out into an open plain, grass as far stretched as the eye could see.

I gave a set of hard shivers from my body before taking a deep breath, the feeling of despair and nervousness gone from my body now.

“That was really strange,” June whispered behind me.

“But this is so beautiful!” Ella clasped her hands together. “Just look at it all! What a place to relax and take a break. What do you say?”

I sighed and dropped to the ground, exhausted. Even if I had wanted to say no, I couldn’t. My head was throbbing, my shoulder was really hurting me now, and my body was drained of energy. “Okay, just for a few minutes,” I agreed, breathing hard.

Ella sat next to me, smiling.

My heart beat faster as I stared back at her.

June slowly knelt down, groaning loudly, and got to the ground, her left leg outstretched in its oversized, black medical boot. She set her cane down beside her.

“I’ll bet our Pokemon would like to see this beautiful stretch of land, too, don’t you think?” Ella turned to me.

“Yeah, a little break would be good for them,” I agreed, digging through my bag for a bottle of water. “They can take some time to eat and maybe even take a freaking nap. I have to admit, I’m spent.”

“Mhm.” Ella took off her bag and pulled out six bowls from it, getting onto her knees as she set them a few feet apart from each other.

My eyes widened as I pulled out my water bottle and watched her, her behind in the air as she set up the bowls. Swiftly, my eyes turned to June, who was already staring at me, a wide smile on her face as she squinted at me.

I scowled and shook my head hard, denying whatever stupidness she was accusing me of.

This only made June smile ever broader.

Ella took out six different bags of food, pouring some food from each bag into a specific, individual bowl.

How does she fit all that in there? I wondered as I sipped my water, watching her put the food bags back into her backpack.

June began shuffling through her own large bag.

“Okay, now, let’s start with you three!” Ella threw her first three Poke Balls into the air.

“Servine!”

“Boldore!”

Pachirisu ran around in rapid circles.

“Hey, by the way, June,” Ella said as she grabbed her final three Poke Balls, her Pokemon approaching their food bowls. “You said something about the Seedot back there. What was it?”

June turned to Ella, a tired yet scared look on her face. “Well, I was trying to hear the voices of those Seedot-” June stopped her sentence and turned to the direction of the forest we had just come from, and a look of horror came over her face. Quickly, crying out in a struggle, she got up to her feet as she stuttered an incoherent jumble of words.

Seeing June so scared, I froze in place, afraid to see what had her so stunned.

Ella immediately turned and then shrieked.

A low rumble of words could be heard from the forest the three of us had just gotten away from.

Slowly, my head turned. My throat closed at what I saw.

A colossal amount of Pokemon were running from out of the forest, the ground starting to rumble under the stampede as they charged at us.

Nuzleaf. The Wily Pokemon. This is Seedot’s next stage. If you hear the whistle of a song when traveling through the woods, and feel a sudden feeling of discomfort and distress, it is caused by a Nuzleaf.

“So that’s what we were hearing!” Ella was gripping her Pokedex in her shaking hand.

“They’re after us, too! Just like the Seedot!” June hobbled off as fast as she could, away from the group of Nuzleaf approaching us in what appeared to be a number somewhere in the hundreds!

“We can’t escape!” Ella said determinedly, facing the Nuzleaf. “With June so injured, we’ll be captured in no time. We’re not leaving her behind, so we have to battle!” She threw a Great Ball. “Musharna, help us out!”

“Musharna!” The Pokemon appeared.

“Psychic attack! Hold them back, Musharna!”

“Musharna!” Musharna’s eyes glowed light blue, but the Nuzleaf continued charging at us.

“What’s wrong, Musharna? Psychic attack!!”

Nuzleaf. The Wily Pokemon. They live deep in forests. They don’t like to have their noses pinched, as it causes them to lose their power. This Pokemon is part Grass and Dark.

“Damn it, they’re Dark types, too!” Ella stomped the ground angrily, glaring at my Pokedex I had just used. “No wonder Psychic won’t work!”

“Ella, we’ve got to run! Get your Pokemon!” I grabbed her arm.

“Musharna, get back!” After returning Musharna, she returned Pachirisu who was watching the oncoming Nuzleaf in shock, along with her stunned Servine and blank-faced Boldore.

I pulled Ella with me as we scooped up our bags.

“Wait, the bowls!” Ella reached back for them as I yanked her hard. “OW!”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “We’ll buy more at the store, Ella! Come on!”

Ella reached down and grabbed one of the bowls desperately. “Leave us alone!” She flung the bowl like a Frisbee at the oncoming Nuzleaf.

“Nuzleeeeeeaf!”

I heard one of them and turned my head to see one of the Nuzleaf drop to the ground, tripping a Nuzleaf behind it, and causing a few more Nuzleaf to trip, several more Nuzleaf dropping right after that. Many Nuzleaf were falling, but plenty were now leaping over the fallen Nuzleaf and continuing their pursuit of us.

“That bought us a little time!” I turned back around, June far ahead of us, moving incredibly fast for a girl in her physical state.

“Yeah?” Ella gasped happily.

“I mean, like a second or two. Sorry.”

Ella moaned as I continued pulling her with me, not letting go of her arm.

“There’s a forest up ahead!”

“I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not!” Ella responded.

“Well, maybe Driftveil is right after this!”

June entered the forest first, Ella and I right after her, and soon, we had caught up to her.

“June! Come on!” I pleaded as Ella and I ran past her.

“I can’t run much faster, Gary!” June said weakly.

“Juuuuune!” Ella reached back for her desperately.

“Not a good idea for a crippled girl, Ella,” I warned her as we continued running.

“But we can’t leave her!” Ella was starting to slow down.

A strong gust a wind came from out of nowhere, causing Ella and I to cry out as we were forced back several feet, and we stumbled past June.

June was screaming loudly in the wind, struggling not to get blown back, but she stumbled and tripped, her arms flailing.

“June!” I let go of Ella and caught June, wrapping my left arm around her waist, twisting my body so that she wouldn’t fall on my right arm.

June managed to stand up against me, visibly shaken.

The wind died down suddenly and I looked up to see something leap from the trees.

We all let out a shrill shriek that easily could have been mistaken for three girls.

A large, vicious monster tackled me to the ground.

The scream that ripped through my throat was not only from complete terror, but also from pain as the monster landed on my right arm, forcing my shoulder to move sharply.

“A MONSTERRRR!!” Ella burst out.

I heard the rustle of grass all around me, and the muttering of familiar creatures, but I didn’t remove my eyes from the growling, glaring monster that pressed against me, on top of my body.

“Oh, no!” June whimpered. “We’re surrounded, now.”

“June, what’s going on?” Ella demanded fearfully.

“Seedot, Nuzleaf, and Shiftry, which is on top of Gary. That’s their final form,” June informed us.

“Shiftry?”

Shiftry. The Wicked Pokemon. This is Nuzleaf’s evolution. They are known to appear deep in forests in the dead of night during cold weather. The leaves on their hands can create gusts of wind at over 100 feet per second in speed. They are known to lead groups of Seedot and Nuzleaf.

“A Wicked Pokemon? What does it want with Gary?” Ella sounded so terrified.

At the sound of Ella’s worried voice, I wanted to flip this ugly creature off of me and face it in hand-to-hand combat with me coming out the winner, but at the moment, I was more focused on struggling not to scream out in desperation as Shiftry continued applying pressure to my body, including my sore shoulder.

“They’re…” June stopped for a moment.

“Huh?” Ella turned to her.

Shiftry looked me over a couple of times, growling.

“The Seedot, dropping down on us from above,” June said in a low voice. “The Nuzleaf, hunting us down, leading us here, and now, surrounding us.”

I didn’t look around to see the Nuzleaf around us, my eyes glued to Shiftry, but I could hear them muttering closeby.

“This Shiftry on Gary…” June went on.

“What does it mean? What do they want from him?!” Ella yelled at June.

Shiftry stood up, its feet on my stomach, making me choke out, and it raised its arms to the sky. It let out a loud roar that sent a chill throughout my body.

“This is all just a game to them!” June revealed. “All of this is just some kind of sick prank! They want to harm and terrify us!”

“What?!” Ella’s scream was the last sound I heard before Shiftry looked down at me.

The Nuzleaf around Shiftry screamed in unison.

Shiftry swung a blow to my face, and stomped down hard on my chest.

I gagged out hard as my breath was stolen from me.

Shiftry continued to step on me harshly, and before I knew it, I felt like I was being bombarded by groups of attackers, being kicked, punched, and helplessly beat up.

“Garyyyyyy!!” Ella and June’s shrieks reached my ears.

The painful blows kept coming, punch after punch, hit after hit, swing after swing, hitting me in the face, stomach, pained shoulder that still remained in its sling, and every part of my body possible.

My eyes closed and I just laid still, hoping that, at the very least, I’d end up dead here and not have to live in constant pain for the rest of my life.

The attack ended not much longer after it had begun, the flurry of sharp hits still felt on my body, but my now open eyes displayed the Shiftry and its Nuzleaf friends behind it. All of them staring at me silently.

I wondered just how long the attack had lasted if I could still feel the hits, but was no longer under attack.

“THAT TEARS IT!!!!”

My throbbing body made me moan out just from using my eyes to look towards Ella, but I couldn’t see her.

Her feet stomped over and stopped just close enough for me to see her blue and pink sneakers from out of the corner of my eye. “Shiftry, you don’t play fair at all! If you’re so damn tough, and you’re the leader of this sick little group of pranksters and heathens, then I challenge you to a Pokemon battle, right now! Just you and I, a one-on-one Pokemon match! Do you accept, or are you that much of a punk?”

My head turned towards Ella painfully, stunned by her words, and a gasp escaped my throat.

Ella’s eyes were practically on fire, flaring out at Shiftry who was glaring back at her, though in a much less intimidating manner, comparatively. She raised a fist out towards Shiftry. “Do you accept, you filthy cretin? Battle me right now! Enough is enough, Shiftry!”

“SHIIIIIFTRYYY!!!” Shiftry leaped at Ella!

Her thumb slipped inside of her fist as she pulled it back and hurled the enlarged Poke Ball.

My eyes shut tight as my body gave out an involuntary jump and I grit my teeth hard, willing away the pain.

“Pachirisu, Gunk Shot!”

My eyes reopened at Ella’s call.

Pachirisu screamed out joyously as he soared at Shiftry. His throat expanded and then returned to normal size as his cheeks stretched out several times their normal size. He spat a purple, glowing bag of garbage at Shiftry.

The bag exploded on contact with Shiftry and it dropped to the ground from the Super Effective hit.

“And now, you’re Poisoned!” Ella laughed. “How do you like that? I personally find this hilarious. Not so funny when the tables are turned, huh?”

Pachirisu landed and happily chattered at Shiftry.

The group of Nuzleaf had backed up, staring at their leader in shock.

I groaned, trying hard to hold it in as I struggled to roll over and watch the battle between the two Pokemon.

Shiftry, its face flushed in purple, managed to get back up, growling ferociously at Pachirisu. It raised its arms, breathing hard, and its body was outlined in a turquoise color. From out of nowhere, glowing leaves swirled around its feet, rising up its body, finally reaching its hands. The turquoise color faded from its body and it pointed its hands at Pachirisu, causing the leaves to fly at him.

Pachirisu cried out helplessly as the leaves cut at his body and he was flung back.

“That was Leaf Storm!” June told a shocked Ella.

“Pachirisu, get back in this and use your Quick Attack!”

Pachirisu flew at Shiftry in a flash, forcing it back.

Shiftry vanished in a flash, appearing behind Pachirisu, and it swung a kick that hit him directly underneath his belly.

Pachirisu screamed and slammed into a tree, sliding down on his back.

“Pachirisu! Please get back up! We can do this!”

“Feint Attack,” I choked out to Ella, letting her know what move Shiftry had just used.

Ella stared at me and nodded, and then turned back to Pachirisu. “Gunk Shot, once again!”

Pachirisu hacked up another toxic attack at Shiftry, but this time, it leaped over the attack and it exploded on the ground beneath it.

Shiftry closed its eyes and flinched from the Poison, collapsing to the ground.

“Quick Attack, now!” Ella said quickly.

Pachirisu knelt down and gathered energy, finally charging at Shiftry incredibly fast, tossing it through the air.

“Swift attack!” Ella told her Pokemon.

Pachirisu cried out happily as several golden stars flew out at Shiftry from his eyes, colliding with Shiftry’s body.

Shiftry landed on the ground and groaned as its body laid flat.

“Alright, let’s do this! GO!” Ella tossed a Great Ball at Shiftry!

The Great Ball bounced from Shiftry’s body, into the air, and opened, pulling it in with a red beam. It hit the ground and shook.

It shook again.

It shook some more.

The Great Ball burst open and a white beam sent out an angry Shiftry, heaving heavily, bent over. The Great Ball flew back to a shocked Ella, who caught it.

Shiftry’s eyes glowed gold and a multicolored beam fired at Pachirisu.

Pachirisu was tossed back, sliding along the ground.

“Pachirisu, don’t!” Ella begged. “Please!”

I groaned as I struggled to my knees and grabbed my sore right shoulder as it throbbed relentlessly, feeling as if it were burning. “Pachirisu,” I groaned, my eyes closed. My breathing was shaky, my teeth grit tight. As my eyes opened again, I could see Pachirisu, shivering on the ground, his eyes closed, trying to find the energy within him to fight. “Please, Pachirisu.” The pain was too great, and I fell down, making sure I landed on my left shoulder, but I screamed anyway as pain ripped throughout my entire body, my right shoulder hurting the worst as it exploded in agony, hot tears burning in my closed eyes. With a low whimper, I opened my eyes once again, struggling to see through my shimmering tears.

Pachirisu now had his head up and was staring right at me.

“Gary,” Ella’s weakened voice reached me.

Pachirisu seemed to look toward his Trainer before looking down to me again, a look of awe on his little face.

The Nuzleaf around us were smiling, edging closer, very slowly, closing in on us.

Shiftry flinched and fell from the Poison it was suffering from.

“Pachirisu, I believe in you! I know your power!” Ella said with newfound strength, taking a deep breath.

Pachirisu turned to her and smiled, shook his head, and leaped to his feet, facing Shiftry on shaky legs.

“Ella! Pachirisu!” June said happily. “Be careful!”

“Hyper Fang!” Ella pointed at Shiftry.

Pachirisu ran forward and then leaped into the air, landing on the weakened Shiftry. He opened his jaws and sunk his teeth into Shiftry’s neck.

“SHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFFFFT!!!” Shiftry raged.

The Nuzleaf all backed up at Shiftry’s scream.

Shiftry raised a hand and smacked away Pachirisu.

Pachirisu tumbled, getting back up on all fours, heaving with his eyes on Shiftry.

Shiftry glared back at Pachirisu, its legs shaking hard.

Suddenly, Pachirisu let out a pained whine and collapsed!

With a weak growl, Shiftry raised its arms into the air.

Pachirisu opened one eye, unable to move, and watched Shiftry helplessly.

At the same time Shiftry had raised its arms, Ella raised her own arm and let out a desperate yell.

The Great Ball flew through the air, bounced from Shiftry’s body, and the red beam pulled it inside.

The Great Ball shook strongly.

It shook some more.

It shook a couple more times.

PING!

The red light on the front of the Great Ball remained, but the Poke Ball was now motionless.

A collective gasp rose from the Nuzleaf around us as they stumbled back.

Breathing out happily, I struggled to my feet, my body shaking with pain. “Ella!” I gasped with joy.

Ella had a large smile on her face. “Damn right! YES!” she cheered, and ran up to her Great Ball, scooping it up. With a scowl, she turned to the surrounding Nuzleaf.

The Nuzleaf all remained still, staring back at Ella.

“Beat it you bums!” Ella screeched out, birds in the tree branches above fluttering away.

The Nuzleaf all took off in different directions immediately, and only a second later, it was just me, Ella, June, and Pachirisu.

“Pachirisu,” Ella said gently as she knelt down next to her rodent Pokemon. “Oh!”

The Great Ball in Ella’s hand suddenly glowed white and in seconds, had vanished.

“There goes another Pokemon to Prof. Juniper,” Ella smiled, and then she turned back to her Pachirisu, extending her arms.

Pachirisu got to his feet and let his owner wrap her arms around him, kiss his head, and snuggle her face against his.

“Pachirisu, you’re the best Pokemon of them all. I just knew you would pull through. You were great.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, taking slow, pained steps towards them, smiling.

Ella and Pachirisu turned to me.

“Pachirisu, you saved me there,” I thanked him. “That was amazing. I really appreciate what you did out there. Thank you so much.”

Pachirisu chattered out happily at me.

“Pachirisu was just incredible!” June gushed, making her way over to us. “How brave! How powerful! Oh, and just too cute!”

Pachirisu was thrilled with the attention and struggled from his Trainer’s grasp, running around like a wet dog, scurrying around all of us collectively and individually, nearly impossible to trace.

I turned to Ella and was surprised to find her smiling back at me. “Ella.” I hesitated. “Thank you.”

“What’d you expect me to do?” she winked.

“Nothing less, ha,” I smiled back.

“Okay, enough Pachirisu,” Ella laughed, reaching out with her arms.

Pachirisu leaped into them and then laid peacefully, curling up, surrounding himself comfortably with his tail and resting his head on it, finally seeming to have tired himself out.

Ella giggled and turned her back to June and I. “Return back, now.” Ella returned Pachirisu and whipped back around, beaming lovely at me. “Gary, hon, are you okay?”

My heart beat even faster and a warm feeling took over my body at the word “hon” that Ella used on me. Term of endearment, I reminded myself. Term of endearment…

“Yeah, that Beat Up attack was really uncalled for,” June nodded. “That was merciless.”

“They took the phrase ‘play hard or go home’ a bit too far,” Ella frowned, looking around our surroundings.

“I’ll be just fine,” I nodded. “Let’s just get out of here, please? I really want to see a Pokemon Center right about now. I could use a rest.”

Ella pulled out her Town Map and played with it for a moment. “Ha! Well, good news! We’re like, less than a day away. We could be there by nightfall depending on how quick we move!”

“Good enough for me,” I said gratefully.

“I’m so upset over what happened, but at the very least, we got to Driftveil a lot quicker, you know?” Ella said, gazing into my eyes.

“And you caught a new Pokemon,” I added, grinning back at her.

“Yeah! I’m definitely gonna be using him soon.”

“Her, actually,” June informed us.

“Really? That’s so funny.” Ella burst into laughter. “Your ability is so cool, June.”

June’s face went a little red. “Thanks, Ella.”

“Come on, then,” I told them. “Let’s get out of here already and get ready to battle Clay.”

“Okay,” Ella nodded with June.

I hobbled weakly, Ella walking carefully, slowly with me, June by my other side, deeper into the lightly wooded area, on our way to Driftveil City.

A city unlike any place I’d ever been in my life, to battle Clay.

A Gym Leader unlike any I’d ever encountered, and would probably ever meet again.