Vhira's kidnapper gave my Grimer an appraising look as the poison gas of his own started to fly his way. My eyebrows furrowed when I saw that he didn't even flinch when the purple smog passed through his face because, from experience, I knew that a Grimer's poison gas smelt bad. Rotting corpse bad. "I see you also have a shiny Grimer." he looked at me and the glint in his eye told me that he knew what my pokemon was. "where did you find him?" he smiled stiffly.

He waited for my answer before he continued to tell his pokemon to use their moves but Whitney and I weren't that versed in talking to him and both of us issued our commands;

"pidgey! wing attack again then tackle!" Whitney called out and her pokemon gladly followed gusts of wind started to manifest around the now glowing pidgey,

"grimer, power up punch again." Grimer's fist started to glow white. He struck the normal Grimer, sending the yellow blob of toxins skidding across the floor and leaving behind a long trail of yellow gunk.

"ew!" Whitney gagged when as she looked at the ooze, she turned to me with a scowl and then at my Grimer, "make sure he doesn't do that!"

I nodded, "uhuh, grimer, shadow sneak!"

"pidgey, one last time! Wing attack!"

my Grimer melted unto the ground as the wings of Whitney's Pidgey started to glow, gusts of wind started to form out of nowhere, and with a flap of its wings, the flying type threw the move towards the still uncommanded Grimer. The small tornadoes flew across the white halls of the underground tunnel, aiming directly for the enemy, and just as they were about to strike-

they were blocked and a loud, metallic clang followed. "Magneton!" the new - and fully evolved by the current standards - pokemon called its name out. All of its three eyes observed us and their surroundings. It turned and looked at its trainer and both of them nodded at each other, "paralysis on the pidgey's trainer and thundershock towards... Lionel? was it?" he murmured, looking at me.

my eyes narrowed, "Grimer! help!" and my pokemon was on my side in the blink of an eye, emerging from my own shadow with Shadow Sneak. He blocked the incoming move and wobbled briefly.

"hey! that isn't fair!" Whitney wasn't so fortunate to have a pokemon that knew a priority move and the wave of paralysis slowly came her way, Vhira got in front of her and blocked most of the attack but a bit of it managed to reach Whitney.

the future gym leader looked at the unmoving Vhira by her feet and her face paled. "L-Lionel?" she turned to me,

"a-ask your pidgey to defend you, make sure it doesn't stay that far from you," I said, trying my best to prevent my voice from quivering. I tried to reason with him one last time, and I made sure to keep my eyes on the now branded criminal, "you know attacking trainers directly isn't allowed right? Jenny's gonna have a word with you when she sees this." I said and the guy scoffed.

"sure," he retorted, "Grimer, poison gas, fill the entire tunnel, and Magneton? Thunderwave at the pidgey's trainer again, then use spark on Lionel."

I looked around, trying not to panic, "use Shadow sneak on Magneton." I commanded, "prevent him from using any of his moves."

unlike me, the still calm Grimer quickly executed my command, melting into a black puddle before emerging right next to Magneton in the blink of an eye and hitting him with a twice-powered up shadow sneak. It sent the three balls of metal flying as Whitney issued her command,

"Wing attack again! Dissipate the smoke!"

"Poison Gas, keep going,-" more toxic gas started to saturate the tunnel, "and Magneton,-"

"Grimer, shadow sneak again! don't let him move!" I called out through the purple fog.

Grimer's silhouette faded and then re-emerged right next to Magneton, sending him flying for the third time- "Shockwave! aim it at Grimer's gas and expand the range as far as you can." Electricity crackled, it arched through the toxic fumes and the scent of ozone started to take over the poison gas' horrendous smell. "Grimer, poison gas then pound on the pidgey." the command was issued and I heard both pokemon huff in disdain before following their commands.

Magneton released his attack and everything turned white- my head spun and when I opened my eyes, I couldn't see anything other than a heavily shaded blur. Something was ringing in my ears and covering it with my hand didn't help. Or maybe I wasn't even able to cover them at all, I couldn't notice, not when the feeling of my hands was gone.

I tried to stand up and felt the increased weight of my body. I couldn't even rise on my knees before I fell again and then-

my sense of touch came back everything started to burn.

"Ahhh-" I groaned and I heard my voice, it was weak, faded. "he-elph," I called out, hoping that Whitney could hear me but as my vision cleared, so did the smoke and from what I saw Whitney's unmoving body slumped up against the wall, red from the explosion with parts of it coated in crimson- blood. The red liquid dripped down her face, then down to her thankfully intact clothes.

a few feet away from her, Vhira lay, unconscious? paralyzed? she wasn't moving!

I tried to get up, only to fall back down.

"h-" I choked on my own words and I coughed out blood. Other than scratching my dry throat, I didn't know what to do... I kept scratching and scratching, it was dry- and- I couldn't call out for help and- and-

"OI!" an angry voice called out. It was deep and I could feel the anger of the person it had come from manifesting itself as some sort of pressure that kept me down even further, "THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

a bright flash of red, then a Piloswine, the furry ice type roared angrily. "I-" his eyes met mine, then they went elsewhere, looking at something behind me. "did you do this?" he asked,

"Thunder Wave." was the reply, the voice was calm. Unharmed?

"Piloswine dig! Attack the Magneton!" was the reply and the boar started to dig underground, straight through the metal floor of the tunnel. Magneton's thunderwave struck the man but he seemed fine. I eyed him, he... didn't seem all that special and he dressed and looked like your typical hiker; with brown clothes and a cap on his head. He didn't have their iconic oversized backpack but I was sure it was inside the room he came out of.

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The hiker started moving towards me as I heard the sound of grating metal thanks to Pilloswine emerging out of the ground, he sat right next to me, grabbed my wrist, and felt my pulse. He sighed in relief when he saw that I was still alive. "I thought you were gone kid," he said, "Ho-oh would've been pissed that someone so young came his way eh?" he laughed heartily, then he picked me up.

"h-how?" I coughed out as he calmly hummed, "t-the m-move."

"oh, that? you get used to it after experiencing it once or twice in the wild yeah?" he chuckled, "standing in front of them all the time made me sort of resistant you know?" I stayed silent at that but the possibilities in my head were already whirring.

"are these your friends?" he asked me and I lifted my head from his shoulder to see him pointing at Whitney and Vhira, I nodded. He checked their pulse, "okay,-" he sighed in relief, "-Piloswine will carry them both, and then we'll see if we can get you guys checked up in the nearest hospital eh?"

"there's a criminal in here," my voice started to become clear but everything else was replaced by a painful headache, "h-he's the one who did this." my head started to feel light and my eyelids were starting to close,

"ah? that guy eh?" another flash of red light and I saw a tyrouge manifest in the corner of my vision, "grab the guy that went inside that room and hold him down until officer jenny arrives."

"Tyrouge!" was the last thing I heard before I passed out.

...

When I came to, it was on a white bed in front of white curtains. The smell of disinfectant alcohol and the occasional shadow of a Chansey told me that I was in the hospital but for some reason, the entirety of my surroundings were blocked. I heard hushed voices and I looked to my right, there, I saw a few silhouettes standing in front of a bed, from their shadows I saw two women, one who was younger and the other one older, and then three men.

The older woman was clasping her hands together as she looked at the bed of the patient and for the life of me, I couldn't put off the feeling of something at the back of my aching head nagging me that I knew these people.

I tried to ignore the feeling and looked to my left, there was also a silhouette there. One. And it belonged to someone who's also bedridden without any visitors near them.

a few moments later, a few more voices rang out and this time, they were loud enough to hear and I was able to recognize a few of them. Two were from my mom and Dad while the other one was from a nurse joy. Their shadows started to dot the white curtains in front of my bed and seconds later, the familiar silhouette of the chansey that passed by earlier was in front of me, blotting out the white curtain with a rotund shadow that blocked out everything around it. I assumed the shadows all around her - or him, - belonged to my Mom and Dad but there were two more that I wasn't familiar with.

Well, I guess one since nurse joy was recognizable even before she opened the curtains. She smiled at me and I returned it, "how are you feeling?" she asked, pulling the curtains in front of my bed aside and revealing the worried faces of both my parents and the excited expression of a lanky guy in glasses.

I looked at him and he looked back, "do I know you?" I asked, he was about to step forward when nurse joy walked in front of him, stopping him before he could even take a single step.

"the patient needs rest professor." she said professionally, "and I think you should come back here after I think he's ready."

the professor looked unsure at that but under nurse joy's stern gaze, he lost all of his energy and raised his hands before backing off. "I'll see to it that I meet him when he's ready then." he replied with a high pitched voice, "rest well." and then he was off.

"who was that?" I asked,

"just some guy who saw the news of you and your Grimer," Mom answered, and she took a seat right next to my bed. "don't worry about him."

she pressed the back of her hand on my forehead, "how are you feeling?"

"fine? I guess?" I rubbed my face, "I don't feel like anything was harmed by that explosion,"

at the mention of that, both of my parents frowned, "right, speaking of that," my father spoke up, "what happened for you to get into a fight like that? And why were the three of you inside that underground tunnel?"

"you didn't know?" I asked and all of them, including nurse joy, shook their head. "Whitney and I thought that Vhira was going to meet up with a criminal so we searched for her and we saw someone trying to push her inside one of the tunnel's rental rooms."

"what?" the shocked voice of my Mom made me flinch, "what do you mean she was getting pushed inside a room?" she stood up and before anyone can stop her, she violently pushed aside the curtain to my left and there, lying on the bed, was Vhira. She looked fine to the point that her green hair wasn't even singed, "you didn't tell us about this."

"Whitney didn't as well." I looked to my right where the voice came from and sure enough, Whitney's family was there, standing all around her bed. She shot me a glare and I winced,

"sorry?" I said to her,

"there's nothing to apologize for Lionel," Whitney's Dad, the current gym leader of GoldenRod city said to me as he walked over and pat me on the head. She then turned to Whitney, "you though, are going to tell me why you lied."

for once, Whitney's stuck up attitude didn't show when she was scolded and instead, she looked down in guilt.

okay, wow.

"and what was this about criminals?" Mom asked Vhira, "what were you planning on doing?"

she murmured something under her breath as an answer and Mom frowned, "I could've helped you with that," she told her.

"you don't need to," Vhira's purple eyes looked down,

I looked at her and then at Mom, she gave me a nod and I returned it. Well, I did still have two extra pokeballs back in the house and I don't think Dad is going to get mad when I give one of them out. The hard part would be convincing Vhira but I'm sure she'll let me help her when I say that my parents wouldn't mind. Worrying about others' parents seemed to be the big reason for most kids my age to not accept things like that after all.

the badly hidden relieved expression on Vhira's face when she saw the exchange between me and my mom seems to be pretty good evidence for helping her catch her pokemon as well.

"speaking of Pokemon..." Whitney's dad coughed and he looked to the right of my bed beyond the curtains. Seconds passed and he sighed when no one came, murmuring something about someone not being capable of paying attention to a single subject before turning to me and smiling, "your grimer and even that magneton is fine," he said, "in fact, they're in the pokemon daycare on the hospital's first floor."

I sighed in relief, "is it bad that I forgot about him when he woke up?" I rubbed my forehead,

"not... really," he replied, "and besides, it's better if you worry about your health first more than anything." he turned towards Whitney, and she frowned,

"what?"

"nothing," and with that, he left, my father following closely behind him. Then after that, all the adults in the room started to slowly filter out and the last to leave was my and Whitney's mom, they gave the two of us a wish for a good recovery before leaving to god knows where.

with all of them gone, Whitney stood up from her bed and made her way over to mine and immediately, she proceeded to pinch me in the forearm as her expression shifted from calm to pure hate. "why would you drag me there huh?!" her pinch tightened,

I tried to pull her away and she grabbed my hair, "hey! d-don't!" she pulled and I had to let my head follow her pull or else increase the pain. "w-wait!" my pleas went unheard as she pulled and pinched even harder.

a giggle to my left made her stop and we both turned to look at Vhira with a smile on her face. "does that always happen?"

Whitney and I nodded, "yeah?" / "with Lionel's attitude? of course." the two of us replied simultaneously.

her smile softened, "thank you," she said and both of us nodded. I liked to think that the two of us did well by following her and I know that Whitney was thinking the same thing as well. She still pinched me again despite that though.

"I... honestly didn't know what I would've done without both of you," she said, "really, thank you." she did her best to give us both a bow even if she was sitting on the bed.

I chuckled, "your welcome."

"it was nothing," I turned to see a red faced Whitney. She met my eyes and pinched me in the arm.