Cashe felt his heart pounding in his chest as he chased Emilia, following the noises to the far side of the town. He rounded a corner of low-rise buildings, several crumbling into dust from an unknown assault, and came face to face with a pokemon battle.

The ground was torn and blackened, where patches of smoldering grass were doused by the rain. A pokemon stood in the distance, disturbingly humanoid, with blue skin, a jewel between its eyes, and a yellow beak. A wild Golduck. Its eyes glowed an unnatural red, leaving trails of light in the air as it moved. It stood in front of a sturdy building, a bunker or shelter of some sort. It was concrete and steel, twenty yards wide and rent with the scars from the Golduck’s attacks. The main entrance, a door of thick steel, was dented and puckered, almost entirely crumpled in upon itself, about to give way. Cashe could see movement through the gaps present in the bent door. There were people sheltering inside.

A young teenager, a child, was shouting orders at his pokemon. A gray-silver blur zipped through the air, almost invisible in the pouring rain. Emilia was closing in on the boy, tossing Omanyte’s pokeball to support him. An arcing lash of lightning erupted from the gray, floating orb, allowing Cashe to see it more clearly. It was a Magnemite, a steel orb with an eye and two U shaped magnets protruding from its sides.

The Golduck absorbed the lightning like it was a shock of static electricity from a wool carpet. It bellowed in annoyance, a high, keening cry that cut through the din of the rain. A blue orb of water coalesced at its beak, brimming with power. The water exploded from it in a beam that rocketed through the air, missing the young boy and his pokemon by inches. It crashed into a building at the edge of town, sending wood flying in a cascade of splintered shrapnel.

Cashe stood frozen. That was enough to kill him. That was enough to kill anyone that got hit by it. He tried to take another step forward and join Emilia. To do as much as a child. He couldn’t. His feet refused to move. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking. He couldn’t do it.

He couldn’t do it.

“Bulba.” Bulbasaur nudged at the back of his leg. Bulbasaur stood there, bold as ever, resolute and waiting for his orders. Mankey clawed at the ground in impatience. The little pokemon saw the same thing he did. But they wanted in.

Cashe blinked and Bulbasaur nudged him again, causing him to stumble forward. He caught himself before he fell and suddenly he could move again.

“O-okay,” Cashe’s voice stuttered from the cold, from the adrenaline and the fear, “We need to get it away from that bunker.”

Bulbasaur nodded and Mankey hopped in place, making impatient noises.

Cashe looked at the boy and his Magnemite. They were keeping far away from the Golduck, just like Emilia and Omanyte.

“Mankey, you’re going to have to get up close and distract it,” Cashe said.

“Mank,” the little pokemon nodded.

“You’re also going to have to listen to me,” Cashe said.

Mankey narrowed her eyes but nodded.

“Bulbasaur, I think our best chance is we poison it, put it to sleep, hit it with Leech Seed,” Cashe said, “But you have to time your attacks with Mankey, otherwise you aren’t going to hit it.”

“Bulbasaur,” Bulbasaur said with a serious nod.

“Okay, let’s go,” Cashe stood and faced the Golduck. It was distracted by Omanyte, firing off a blast of water through the rain. Omanyte moved to the side but was too slow, taking a glancing blow as she tried to dodge. Emilia grimaced, but didn’t stop battling.

“Omanyte, we need to weaken it, use Leer!”

“Thunder Wave again, Magnemite,” The boy called out as Cashe arrived at the scene. Magnemite channeled electricity between its magnets, sending a slow moving wave of crackling energy towards Golduck. Golduck dodged to the side, unnaturally fast, and screeched in challenge.

“I’m sending in Mankey to distract it,” Cashe announced, “try and time your attacks with me!”

The boy turned his head and nodded. He was soaked, and shivering violently, even paler than Emilia.

Emilia grunted in acknowledgement as Omanyte glared at Golduck. The seething blue pokemon turned its attention to her again, the jewel on its head glowing with the same light as its eyes. The air around Omanyte shimmered and the spiral pokemon cried out in pain, collapsing on her side.

“Omanyte!” Emilia cried, “Cashe, hurry up and do something!” Omanyte forced herself upright again, but it was clear she was on the edge of fainting.

“Mankey, use Acrobatics to get in there and then Low Kick! Bulbasaur, cover the dodge with a Leech Seed!”

“Thunder Shock, Magnemite!”

Mankey rushed off towards Golduck, screeching her own challenge and darting across the torn battlefield. Golduck’s gem glowed again and it reared back as Mankey approached, slamming its head forward in a ferocious attack at her. Mankey spun through the air, gracefully slipping just over the wild attack from Golduck and landing behind it. She swept out a leg, and in a wicked blow, kicked Golduck in its knee.

Golduck roared in pain and stumbled back, just as Magnemite finished charging its Thunder Shock. Electricity sparked from the pokemon and lightning danced through the air, striking Golduck with another blow.

Bulbasaur’s Leech Seed was just a second behind the attack, but the electricity caused the Golduck to seize up, meaning that most of the seeds missed their target. Some still hit, however, and wiggled beneath the skin of Golduck

“Sorry!” the boy shouted.

“It’s fine, enough hit!” Cashe said, “Bulbasaur, follow up with a Poison Powder! Mankey use Low Kick again, knock it over!”

“Omanyte, Rock Tomb!”

“Thunder Wave, Magnemite!”

Before any of the pokemon could act, Golduck responded to its new opponent, its claws glowing with white energy and swiping at Mankey. Mankey dodged the first few swipes, but Golduck wasn’t slowing down, catching Mankey across her chest.

“Mankey!” Cashe watched, helpless as the little monkey tumbled to the ground. Golduck moved to continue the attack, but a boulder slammed into its back and legs, forcing it to stumble and turn back to Omanyte. It began charging another water attack at its beak to retaliate. Magnemite’s Thunder Wave cut the attack off, just in time, forcing the Golduck to dodge.

Golduck leapt to the side, moving out of the way of the rolling waves of electricity as they sped by, coming to a stop just out of the attack’s area. Bulbasaur took advantage of its distraction, firing several concentrated bursts of powder as it dodged, covering the area in a rising cloud of poisonous dust. Golduck coughed in irritation as the poison settled into it, but showed no other signs that anything was wrong.

A few yards away, Mankey pushed herself to her feet, her chest covered in blood and muck from the Golduck’s attack. She was unsteady, but focused her eyes on the powerful Golduck, nonetheless.

“You need to get in there and put it to sleep now,” Cashe said to Bulbasaur, tracking a thin stream of golden energy running from Golduck to his small pokemon as Leech Seed slowly whittled Golduck down, “Remember what I said about tough battles and outlasting your opponents? Do that. Now go help Mankey out! Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip!”

“Bulba!” Bulbasaur ran forward, closing the distance to Golduck, his vines unfurling from his bulb and whipping through the air at his opponent. Golduck saw the attack coming and turned its glowing eyes towards Bulbasaur. The gem in its head flashed red again and psychic power gathered around its beak.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Magnemite, Supersonic!”

Magnemite screeched, sounding like a fax machine from hell. Despite not being the target of the attack, the sound made Cashe buckled in pain, his concentration on the battle slipping. He covered his ears, touching something wet and warm. Blood. A cascading wave of sound pulsed through the air and across the battlefield, striking the attacking Golduck across the side of the head.

Nothing happened.

Golduck didn’t flinch or slow its movement in any way, continuing its attack against Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur’s vines glowed green as Vine Whip slammed into Golduck’s sides. Golduck grunted with the impact and grabbed Bulbasaur’s vines, pulling the little pokemon into its range. Bulbasaur cried out and tried to resist, but Golduck was far too strong. It wound up a massive head-butt and brought it down at Bulbasaur.

“Bulbasaur, get out of there!”

It was no use. Golduck's beak came crashing down. Dust billowed around the pair from the impact, obscuring his view of them, but also his recovering Mankey. Cashe screamed. Bulbasaur was silent.

With dust blocking their view, the boy and Emilia stopped giving orders as well. Emilia pulled a potion from her backpack, using the lull in the fight to heal Omanyte with a few quick sprays.

“Bulbasaur!” Cashe shouted. His voice was broken, his shout almost a sob.

“He’ll be fine, Cashe, pokemon are tough,” Emilia said. She didn’t look at him, her voice more pleading than comforting.

The dust cloud began to settle and clear. The first thing Cashe saw was blood. A lot of blood. Spilling out from the cloud of dust, pooling around an indistinct shape.

Bulbasaur.

No.

He wouldn’t be alone again. His vision narrowed.

Cashe ran forward. He would save Bulbasaur, he would not let him die alone.

“Wait!”

A hand clasped at his arm, arresting his motion for a brief moment. The boy. His hand was small and callused.

“Why are you stopping me?” Cashe growled, whipping around, fury burning in his eyes. He needed to get to Bulbasaur. He would never hit a child, but if it got him to his pokemon…

“Look,” The boy was pointing with his free hand, his face pale and his eyes wide. Cashe was scaring him. He was scaring a child, “I know it’s scary, just look.”

Cashe turned. The Golduck was collapsed and doubled over, its head and knees resting on the ground. Its beak penetrating deep into its thigh. Blood, tainted with purple streaks, pumped from the enormous wound. Its body was covered in a thick layer of dust. It wasn’t moving.

“Is it dead?” Cashe said, tension draining from his body, just a bit. Where was Bulbasaur? Cashe searched for the golden trail of energy, but couldn’t find one.

“No,” the boy said, “Asleep.”

“Asleep?” The Golduck’s arm twitched, causing dust to cascade from its body. No, not dust. Powder.

Bulbasaur’s Sleep Powder.

“Bulbasaur? Where are you?” Cashe said.

“Bulba,” Golduck twitched again. Cashe blinked. The little guy was trapped under the larger pokemon, encaged by the awkward position of Golduck’s body. He was trying to wiggle out without waking the dangerous pokemon.

Relief rushed through Cashe, nearly causing him to collapse in the boy’s grip.

“I told you he’d be fine,” Emilia said, though she sounded just as relieved as he was, “Bulbasaur, you can push Golduck off, it won’t wake.”

Bulbasaur tossed the Golduck off him with ease, causing it to tumble to the side and spray blood everywhere. Bulbasaur was covered in the stuff as well, a gruesome coat of paint dripping off his body. Gruesome as it was, it didn’t stop him from bounding back to Cashe and jumping into his arms.

“Gross,” Cashe said, hugging Bulbasaur tight to his chest.

“Move back,” Emilia said, “We need to finish this.”

“Finish?” Cashe took a step back.

“Magnemite, use Thunder Wave.”

A cone of electricity shot from the boy’s pokemon, hitting the sleeping Golduck. Golduck trembled with the shock, but did not wake.

“Poisoned, paralyzed, seeded, and asleep, do you think that will be enough?” Emilia glanced over at Cashe. She wasn’t really asking.

“Probably better to play it safe.” Cashe said, not taking his eyes off his bloody pokemon.

Emilia nodded, “Omanyte, use Rock Tomb.”

***

Misty's eyes were glued to the television, unblinking as she watched the broadcast. Beside her, her pokegear was ringing.

“Hello?” Blue’s voice was thin and crackling with static, “Misty, are you there?”

“Are you watching the news?” Misty said by way of greeting. On the television screen was a scene from a disaster movie, buildings collapsed and crumbling, smoke rising in the air, hundreds of people being shuffled towards medical pokemon.

“The news? No,” Blue’s voice wavered with the connection, “But listen, Misty, you’ll never guess what I found.”

“I don’t care about your old rival,” Misty said, “Get to a TV.”

“It’s not about Red, well, it is, he says “Hi” by the way, but-”

“Blue, get to a TV. Now.” Misty’s tone brooked no argument.

“A TV is-” the sound of Blue’s voice was lost through a roar of static, “-the air right now. What’s going on?”

“Our daughter is making waves,” Misty said.

“Selena again?” Blue’s voice was unclear, but the exasperation was still detectable, “I thought she would settle down after becoming a gym leader, maybe give us another grandchild or two. You know we don’t get to see Annie that often. Wasn’t she interested in that trainer? The handsome one with the stupid name? Bil, Wil, Dil? What was it?”

“Til,” Misty said, “And that fell through. Apparently he was a bit insecure about losing to Selena. But I’m not talking about that daughter. Listen.” Misty turned the TV up, as loud as it could go.

“And now we go live to Tilda, who has an exclusive interview with the three unlikely heroes,” A newscaster said. The feed cut to a blonde woman holding a microphone. She was standing beside three exhausted figures. The first, a child, was wrapped in a thick blanket. His hair was soaked and dirty to the point where it was impossible to tell its color.

The second was a man - tall, dark, and handsome, with foreign features and in desperate need of a shave. He had haunted eyes and was holding a Bulbasaur close to his chest, a Mankey resting on his shoulder, picking at his hair. All three were completely covered in dried blood.

The third was their daughter, hair tangled and matted, thankfully blood free. Her face was a mix of intense relief and exhaustion. She was also soaked, though only with rain water. Misty smirked looking at Emilia’s pose. She was trying to pull off a hot, exhausted heroine look, Misty could tell. It would have worked, too, if not for Omanyte’s tentacles clearly keeping Emilia on her feet, pressing up against her back and legs to hold her in place.

Misty had missed the first question, too distracted by Cashe’s horrific appearance and her daughter’s antics.

“-just ran out,” the boy was saying, “I didn’t really do anything else. Mr Cashe and Miss Oak were the reason we won.”

“No,” Cashe interrupted, placing a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder. The blood covering him and his haunted appearance gave what should have been a tender gesture a macabre cast, “Lindon is the real hero today. He held that Golduck off by himself until we arrived. He was braver than either of us.”

“I dunno,” the boy, Lindon, looked down at his feet, tears leaking from his eyes. The reporter and the cameraman had enough sense to move on to Emilia so as not to show the young hero crying across the entire region.

“Whether it is true or not, it was an incredible feat,” Tilda said as she turned towards Emilia, “Did I hear that correctly? Did our hero call you Miss Oak?”

Emilia nodded stoically, but even that small movement upset her precarious balance against Omanyte’s tentacles. She yelped as she nearly fell before Omanyte could right her again.

“A-and that would make you the daughter of two professors and the sister of Gym Leader Selena?” Tilda asked, clearly holding back a laugh.

“Ah, yes, that’s right,” Emilia said, hearing the laughter in the reporter’s voice and giving up the stoicism with a defeated slump, “That’s my family.”

“Well, you have certainly had an auspicious start to your journey, I just know there will be plenty of boys and girls cheering you on now,” Tilda said, “What are your plans, besides dashing heroism?”

“A bath,” Emilia said wearily, glancing at Cashe’s bloody covered body, “Two for him.”

Tilda gave a good natured smile and pulled away from Emilia, “I think I will let our heroes get to it then, they could use a good rest,” She glanced to Lindon who looked particularly exhausted, sympathy creeping into her features, “Next up, we have the town’s mayor who has nothing but good things to say about the situation-”

Misty muted the TV as soon as her daughter was off screen, “Well?” she said.

“What can I say, she’s definitely an Oak,” Blue’s voice said through the pokegear.

“It’s too soon,” Misty said, “She’s going to get a target on her back. You remember what it was like for Selena.”

“I’m not too worried,” Blue said through the static, “Selena turned out alright.”

“She wasn’t trying to prove anything,” Misty said.

“Maybe Cashe can scare some of them off,” Blue said, “You know what strategy he’s going for with that Bulbasaur of his.”

Misty grimaced, “Do you think Emilia should be traveling with him? Her reputation…”

“Will be of a winner,” Blue said.

“Perhaps,” Misty said, watching the TV closely. Cashe was moving around in the background, the cameraman making sure to keep him in frame. His grisly appearance gave the whole event a striking groundedness. Whoever the producers were, they knew what they were doing.

Misty turned off the television and returned to her room. She stared down at a row of pokeballs that sat on her dresser. Maybe it was time for her and Cashe to have a talk.

*****