“Kill the man, and bring me Sabrina. Preferably in one piece, though if it can’t be helped I’ll be content with just her pretty little head.”

Azure, finally free of that odd shadow binding, dusted himself off and spoke as casually as an office boss asking his secretary for a cup of coffee.

“Oh… And take them too,” he added, pointing toward something buried in the rubble of the now destroyed courtyard. The look on his face as he raised his finger would’ve frozen the veins of the bravest person.

----------------------------------------

The small group of men scouting the outside of the Gym were used to testing challengers before they were judged worthy to fight Sabrina, so they had some knowledge of Pokemon battling. Yet as they made their way toward the cold and dark Saffron streets, few could hide their nervousness.

“What are you so afraid of?” one of them, the oldest and tallest, elbowed his partner and stepped forward. “Gym leader or not, there’s little she can do without Pokem-”

He cut himself off, raising a hand to stop the rest as he noticed something in the distance. The men narrowed their eyes. Was that…? Something like a body was collapsed past the edge of the nearest turn, what seemed like a head visible above the rubble.

“D-did the rest get them already?”

They advanced slowly, carefully. What must’ve been the man’s head was covered in a dirty black cloth, or was it his jacket? The bravest of them stepped forward and quickly snatched it back.

A bad idea.

Six pairs of eyes met his. The Exeggcute smiled maliciously as it spat a cloud of yellow dust forward, which quickly covered the entire group.

“Gh-ghah! Stun… s-spore…!?”

Not too far away, the man with the cross looked over his shoulder as he ran, his teeth chattering and his fingers numb from the ruthless cold. The Saffron streets were so badly lit and full of rubble that he and Sabrina kept tripping every few seconds. And the various wounds and scratches on them certainly didn’t help. It was a moonless night, and the thick blanket of clouds above hid every single star in the firmament.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“D-did it work?” the man asked.

“I don’t see them following us, so you tell me,” Sabrina replied, struggling to keep up with his running. Stamina had never been her strong suit.

At the sound of that, the man waited for her and then wrapped one of his arms around her head in a chokehold, laughing as he ruffled her head in glee.

“Haha, we did it! Who would’ve thought; in the end it was your dirty tricks I hate so much that saved our hides!”

“I c-can’t… breath…”

“Oh, sorry. Hehe.”

Before she could tell the man she’d be more than happy to leave him behind next time he did that, she saw him stop in place only a moment after they resumed their running. He was looking at an old woman crossing the street near them.

He didn’t hesitate for a second. At first the woman seemed alarmed to see a man bleeding from the side approaching, but then he gently grabbed her by the shoulders and spoke.

“Miss, I’m imploring you to return to your home,” he said with that tone that had -unknowingly- worked so well on Sabrina all this time. “Saffron is dangerous at this time of night, and it will only get worse. Please…”

The old lady looked at him and spluttered, unsure of what to say.

“We don’t have time for this!” Sabrina complained, grabbing him by the arm and pulling away. “I’m sure more of them are on their way, come on!”

“A-ah! Please, go back to your home, stay safe! Jeez, I’m coming…”

They kept running in silence for an indeterminate amount of time, scurrying through forgotten alleyways and avoiding any street that was even remotely lit. And the further they got, the more Sabrina actually realized what she was doing. She was leaving the Gym. Leaving the city. The ramifications of that choice terrified her, overwhelmed her. Was she really going to…? What the hell was she supposed to do from now on? Where would she go? Could she even survive on her own?

No… not on her own. If she was at his side… as long as they were together, she could go anywhere. That thought brought -for the first time since she could remember- a smile to her face. She felt more alive than ever before, emboldened by the knife-sharp cold winds running past her face.

After a few more minutes, however, the man with the cross stopped to lean against a nearby wall, wheezing.

“Let’s… let’s rest, just for a second. Okay?”

“We can’t,” she said, glancing nervously over her shoulder. “Not until we leave the city.”

“Ha… I guess you’re right.”

Tearing himself from the wall, he followed Sabrina’s lead -why wasn’t he the one in front?- for a good few minutes in which the girl was too focused on their immediate survival to realize the man was slowly falling behind. Until it was too late.

“Huh?” She finally noticed, and turned to look at him. “What’s wr…?”

One hand over his wound, the man slowly raised his head, black eyes meeting green. The expression on his face was one she’d never seen before… sad… so terribly, agonizingly sad…