[Pokémon] Mentor (PG-14)

All I can say is "Amazing story" and "I can't wait for the next chapter". As I've been told, not many people write decent fanfics on PC. I know there are superb fanfics and I also know yours is one of them.

Hopefully procrastination isn't contagious as I've yet to update my fanfic beyond chapter one, chapter two written down on paper and not sent to a beta reader. Good luck with your story and have fun writing it. It's great fun reading it.

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Thanks Kaji! I'm glad you're liking it! Heh, procrastination can be solved by just doing it, as I find time and time again. I open my work document and write, that's all there really is to it for me. Of course, actually clicking the word document icon is another thing entirely.

Well done, Dagzar. That chapter, or part thereof, really rocked. I still have to wonder if the Scyther belongs to Blue or Green. Won't you please tell me?

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Thanks! And no, you can find out on Friday. ;)

-



She had been running for a while. Even if she didn't know the time, it was easy to tell. Her lungs burned; every part of her was whining, her legs kept gasping at her to stop and take a rest… but it wasn't something she was willing to do. A slight stinging sensation on her neck reminded her that a Scyther was trying to kill her and almost had.

It was a pretty good reason to keep running.

If she thought she was in bad shape, she only had to turn her head to look at poor Zee, who was being dragged along only by their interlinked hands. Her yellow and brown body shone with sweat and the claws on her feet made clinking sounds every time they hit the gravel; however, the Drowzee was also well aware what would happen if she stopped, so she pushed on, no matter how tired she felt.

The only one that could be called in good shape was Sands. Being sick, he got a free pass at running and had been carried the whole way. Not very comfortably, that's for sure, though at least he wasn't exhausted. He clung to her jacket, claws digging into her skin, but a few pinpricks of annoyance didn't bother Leah in the least.

There were more important things to think about, like running… And that strange buzzing sound that was just on the edge of her hearing.

Leah would have cursed if she wasn't using her mouth for breathing.

Damn it! Back at the bridge, she had the Scyther just where she wanted it, down on the ground, in pain. But did she do anything further? No, she just ran. The Scyther was obviously following her, so why didn't she do more damage? Now, the Scyther was going to catch up when she and her Pokemon were tired. It was a terrible disadvantage, but as much as Leah wanted to curse her luck, she decided not to.

Cerulean wasn't getting any closer and not for the first time, Leah wondered why she wandered so far out. Sure, she wanted some place quiet, but all the running wasn't worth it, especially not with a Scyther chancing her.

This is never going to work… the Scyther's going to catch up and being too tired to fight won't help…

Gravel crunched as Leah skid to a halt, gasping for breath. Her legs helpfully informed her that they were in great pain and the girl let herself collapse to the ground, feeling sweet relief for the first time in ten minutes. Zee sat down beside her and Sands was dumped to the dirt as Leah wiped her palms on her pants.

If she was going to fight, she wasn't going to do so when she was tired. Sands was in no shape to battle properly, so Zee was her only weapon. While Zee didn't need any physical abilities to attack with her mind, dodging something deadly could be helpful. The buzzing wasn't that far off and the Scyther would catch up soon enough. She'd bide her time, rest for a couple minutes, and try to take it by surprise.

Not getting up, Leah used all her strength to lift her head and glance at her surroundings. Nothing looked like it could be used for an ambush. The only things that looked useful were sticks and stones, but they were either too small or twig-like; not the best weapons.

Any supplies on her? Her pockets suggested a 'no' as she didn't know how Sands' Poke Ball or a Fire Stone could come in handy. Actually, this would be a good time to return the Sandshrew, if not for the fact that even if he was a useless at this point, he was still a weapon. Even if Sands couldn't do anything, knowing that the Sandshrew was beside her made her feel safe.

Maybe she should get off the path? Hide in the trees? If it couldn't run, the Scyther would have trouble following.

While not an ambush, that seemed like a good plan.

It took almost a full minute for Leah to get back on her feet and a few more seconds to drag Zee up. With Sands in her arms, she walked through a grove of trees, pulling Zee along behind her.

Now that she was standing up, the trees seemed farther apart than on the ground. Since Zee had no trouble fitting between them, she couldn't see how a Scyther would have problems either. Well, if it at least made it annoyed, than that was fine. She just needed to find a good place to wait-

Bzzt

Leah turned.

The Scyther hovered in the air, a few feet above the path. "Scy!" it cried, the high-pitched voice having shades of pain, made evident by its still bleeding leg. It hovered in the air almost like a drunk, not being able to stay in one spot, constantly swaying.

Leah put a hand on Zee's head, sending a thought.

'Confusion.'

The psychic force was marred by tiredness and seemed almost lazy. Therefore, it was no surprise when the blue aura was swept aside with a swipe of the bug-type's blade.

The Scyther's blades started to glow white as they were positioned across its chest, the bug-type staring directly at Leah and her Pokemon.

There was no need to be more direct, she could take the hint. Panic flew through her mind as Leah pushed Zee between a couple of trees and followed, jumping over a root and holding Sands close to her chest.

With a long scrape, the gleaming white X entered the grove of trees, cutting down anything in its path. Bits of branch and leaves rained down as they were suddenly cut off from their lifeline and Leah turned away from the light. There was a loud crack and Leah only had time to feel Zee's confusion and terror before a tree fell, crashing into another with a slap of thunder. A branch nearly hit Leah in the face and she could feel the Drowzee clutching her leg, scared stiff.

Bzzt

Leah looked over at Scyther, noticing that only a few trees stood between her and the Pokemon. Despite what the sound suggested, the bug-type did not go airborne. Only blurring its wings, letting them glow a brilliant white. Leah pulled her head back just in time, hearing the breaking of branches and the thump of something hitting the tree she stood behind. A crescent-shaped energy blast went passed her and Leah saw the long slash mark it left in the trunk of a tree nearby.

Okay, so as long as she had trees separating her from the Scyther, she was safe. Such a cluttered environment wasn't a good place for a fast Pokemon, especially not a large one. But still, the Scyther could cut its way through, if it wanted and Leah was a bit unsure of why it wasn't coming closer. It couldn't get good aim from where it was standing.

She peaked her head passed the tree and saw the Scyther standing alert, but motionless, its head turned towards… something else. What was it looking at?

'Let's go,' Leah told Zee, reluctantly peeling her eyes away. She didn't have time to be curious. This was the perfect time to make her escape.

Since Scyther was on the path, she decided to continue her route between the trees. It would be slower, but Leah didn't think she could run anyways. Slow and steady, that's what she was going to do.

Zee had trouble following her with her short legs and while Leah helped her Pokemon as best she could, she couldn't afford to be patient. It'd be much easier if she didn't sacrifice Zee's Poke Ball, but honestly, having a psychic Pokemon around couldn't be a bad thing.

They was able to keep up such a pace for around five slow and tense minutes, but all good things must come to an end.

Bzzt

Leah froze and looked up. The sky was made up of hues of gold and red, and while pretty, it was all that was there.

A rustle of leaves from the side made Leah whip her head around and in that direction, there was a thump.

Trees were all around her, but the closer she got to Cerulean, the further apart they were, leaving more space than what Leah would have liked. The mist was gone, but the light had mostly gone with it, lengthening shadows and making it difficult to see. In-between the trees, she swore she saw something green, but this was a forest, so…

Her legs were numb, her arms were numb, her whole body was numb… She bet Zee felt the same and Sands had the added bonus of feeling sick.

Was she actually going to be killed?

Heart pounding, Leah swallowed and kept a hand on Zee's head. At her request, the Drowzee raised a hand at the shadows, a psychic blast at the ready.

Bzzt

A shadow went over her head and Leah turned, only seeing a glimpse of Scyther before registering a searing pain in her arm.

"****!" Leah cursed, dropping Sands and holding her injured arm. Blood ran under her hand and tainted her jacket sleeve with a crimson tint, sending waves of pain all over her body.

Zee send a blast of psychic energy Scyther's way, but it was as doomed as the first attempt and the bug-type leaped through it. Though the pain of her arm, Leah took a few quick steps back, staggering, before her mind took control of her legs and she turned and ran.

With an uneven run, Leah went back the way she came, jumping over roots and anything that got in her way. Finally, her mind caught up and Leah stopped twenty feet away from the Scyther and leaned her back against a tree, breaths coming out in shallow gasps.

Leah looked back to the clearing to see the Scyther had not followed, instead staying with her Pokemon-

Her Pokemon! She had left her Pokemon behind!

It was like a scene from a horror movie. You're running away from a monster with someone, a friend or a love interest, and then that person suddenly trips. You're meters away at that point and you can only watch in horror as the monster catches up…

Why wasn't the Scyther coming after her? It was almost weird, but Leah had just assumed the Scyther didn't like humans and it did seem to go after her specifically. Why was it abandoning her now?

No, the better question was, what was she going to do?

Everything seemed to slow down as Leah's mind raced.

Obviously, the logical thing to do was run. The Scyther wasn't interested in her, so she now had a chance of getting out alive. But that would mean sacrificing her Pokemon for her survival. Sure, Pokemon were just animals and were never worth the life of a human, but… She didn't like training or Pokemon, really, but they were her Pokemon. She couldn't abandon them.

Not that it mattered since there was nothing she could do. What could a human do against a Scyther? Nothing. Either way, she couldn't save Sands and Zee, so why sacrifice her life too?

… If she got out of this alive, having abandoned her Pokemon, then she knew that she'd regret it for the rest of her life. There wouldn't be a day that went by that she wouldn't remember Sands and Zee. She had known Sands for years and while Zee had only been with her for a month, she would miss her too.

Run and live, or go back and die.

Or go back and win.

She was being so pessimistic. Scyther was old. There had to be a way to beat it.

Still, Leah had a hard time moving, her body freezing out of both exhaustion and fright. She took one last breath before unhanding her injured arm, letting the blood run freely. Her good hand went into her pocket and curled around her Fire Stone, jagged edges and all.

She had to be brave. She put the Scyther down before; she just had to do it again.

Leah started her way back at the same time Zee was thrown off her feet by one of Scyther's glowing blades. The Drowzee landed heavily with a thump, crying out. Even from a distance, Leah could feel the psychic-type's fear, almost like a mild but annoying scent in the air. The Scyther stood over her, the victor, its blades still glowing with a soft purple light.

"Leave her!" Leah shouted, her voice hoarse, gaining some of the bug-type's attention. The Scyther glanced at her, but then turned back to the Drowzee, not listening.

"Shrew!" Sands exclaimed in protest, coughing as he got to his feet, leaping in-between Zee and the Scyther. His breathing was weak, but he stood firm in the face of the powerful creature. The ground-type growled and let loose a furry of poisoned needles at the Scyther's weak leg, and so close to the Pokemon, the Scyther could cry out and take a step back.

The victory was short-lived.

Leah watched all from a distance as she couldn't run fast enough. She saw the Scyther's eyes narrow and raise a blade up high. Sands, loyal and weak, was too tired to see it. There was a whooshing of air and only then did the Sandshrew look up, jumping back into Zee, but not in time.

A high-pitched screech broke the silence of the forest.

"SANDS!"

A blue glow overtook the Scyther and he was suddenly thrown backwards, the tip of his blade smeared with crimson. Zee stood up, and hovered over Sands, who was crying and withering, one of his front feet covered in blood.

Leah saw red.

"Disable! NOW!"

The psychic-type joined her trainer in rage, and energy that the Drowzee didn't have before was bestowed upon her. The Scyther's blades and feet were encased in a bright blue glow and the bug-type struggled, unable to move.

Only seconds too late, Leah made it back to her Pokemon and rushed right at the Scyther, only able to see the image of her bloodied Sandshrew. She drew back her fist, held the Fire Stone tight, and slammed it against the Scyther's face, leaving a long scrape.

Bzzt

The wings blurred and Leah screamed, bringing her arms over her face as tiny crescents of light left the wings and slashed at her, leaving tiny cuts in their wake. Her clothes ripped and pieces of her dark hair floated to the ground.

"****!" Leah cursed, feeling the pain all over her body. It was intense and she stumbled back, closing her eyes, hoping that it would go away.

"Drow!" Zee called out, and Leah steadied herself, staring at the trapped Scyther.

It couldn't move, so now was the perfect chance to run, but she had run twice and look where had that gotten her? She had the Scyther right where she wanted and she couldn't take another chance.

"Make it fall over; trap its wings," Leah told her Drowzee, her voice cold.

As Zee did so, Leah knelt next to her Sandshrew, holding his shaking body still, feeling a wave of guilt crash into her. If only she had finished the Scyther off sooner, Sands wouldn't be hurt.

"Straight to the Pokemon Center," Leah promised, her vision blurring as her eyes went misty. "I'm sorry." She took out Sands' Poke Ball and returned him without anymore fuss.

Sands would be safe in his Poke Ball. Right now, she had something to do.

Leah went over to the Scyther, staring over it impassively. It struggled, but Zee's anger was increasing her psychic powers, so a weakened old Scyther was no trouble at all. Leah's own anger had turned into a simmering rage. This was no time for outbursts. She had to do this properly.

Saying nothing, she knelt down next to it as she did Sands, and brought out her Fire Stone, the edge of it still gleaming with blood. The Scyther was at her mercy; she could do anything to it. She didn't have anything sharp, so her Fire Stone would have to do.

Bringing it to the Scyther neck, the bug-type understood what she was doing and struggled some more, moving his head wildly.

"Can you do a Hypnosis?" Leah asked Zee, pausing. Her Drowzee was already busy with holding the Scyther down, and she wasn't sure if she could do anything more than that. "It's all right if you can't."

Zee was fine with it. Keeping her paw trained on the Scyther, made her other paw into an odd hand sign and closed her eyes. The Drowzee hummed and as Leah watched, the Scyther's struggles weakened until it was looked straight up at the golden sky before its eyes slowly closed.

Leah waited a few more seconds, nudging its neck with the Fire Stone before saying, "Let the Disable go on everything but its arms."

Most of the blue glow faded and Leah continued what she was doing. With one hand, she held the Scyther's head still, feeling its leather-like texture under her palm, much like Sands' skin…

She had never done something like this before and it showed badly. Even old, the Scyther's skin was hard to cut through, but Leah did the best she could, making sure the job was done. By that time, her hand holding the Fire Stone was covered with blood and the warm liquid felt unpleasant and nauseating against her skin.

Leah stood, the Fire Stone dripping from her hand.

"It's done."

The blue glow faded entirely and Zee slumped, exhaustion catching up with her.

Putting the Fire Stone in her pocket, Leah wobbled on her feet, and walked a few feet away from her Pokemon before getting on her knees and throwing up.

She wiped her mouth and then spit, the terrible taste on her tongue joined by a slight metallic one. Her sleeves were covered in blood and ripped in many places. It felt disgusting, so she took the jacket off and held it up, inspecting it. It was a good jacket and had served her well for many long months, but it was ruined now. Even if it could be cleaned and stitched up, she would never wear it again. There was no point in keeping it.

Leah took Sands' Poke Ball and the Fire Stone, transferring them to her pants' pockets before throwing the jacket next to the Scyther's body. Then, she took a deep breath and stood there, feeling the wind on her bare skin. It was cold, but she rather liked the feeling. It wasn't disgustingly warm. Just… refreshing.

"Let's go," Leah said, taking Zee's paw in her non-bloodied hand and walked with the Pokemon back to the path. It took a few minutes of backtracking, but all she had to do was locate signs of destruction.

Once on the path, they started the remaining trek to Cerulean City. Leah was exhausted but for Sands' sake, she had to keep going.

Just before the path ended, Leah saw a man.

He was standing at the side of the path with a strange Pokemon at his side, one with a long tail and a dog-like face. The man's face was familiar, and when Leah saw it, a name popped into her mind.

She averted her gaze and passed the man and Pokemon without a word. The man did nothing to stop her, only watching her with those pale eyes.

It had been a long day. Leah was long passed caring about murderers and thieves.

Sands needed her.

That was all that mattered.


-


Blue watched the girl go.

She had survived. Against all forms of logic, she had survived.

The girl looked terrible, though, covered in scratches and blood, her clothes ripped in some places. Her dark hair was messed and a chunk of it had been cut off, not very neatly, too, if he had anything to say about it. She had survived, yes, but it was a close call.

Strange. His old Scyther wasn't that out of shape.

A throb of pain from his head made Blue wince, mentally cursing the existence of headaches. He shouldn't have used so much Mist back in the forest. Using his ice powers in one place and so much of it wasn't something he was used to, especially Mist, the most useless move in his arsenal.

(…)

Turning away in case the urge to kill her then and there overtook his reason, Blue sighed and walked in the opposite direction the girl was going.

Honestly, it had been a long month. He just wanted to forget everything, go home, and watch a movie or something. Not to look for the results of his failed assassination attempt. And what a failure it was. Scyther hadn't been defeated in the past, but time hadn't been kind to him.

Blue wanted to kill that girl. He had ever since Seafoam Island. He could admit, it was rare of him to get so rifled up, but somehow, that girl did it. Ever since he got mixed up in the whole Plate business, his luck had taken a turn for the worse. First, his arm became useless, and for someone who stole and killed for a living, that was terrible. Sure, he got ice powers out of it, but that couldn't compare to the ability at being able to hold stuff without dropping it whenever his focus went elsewhere.

Then, he had failed again, on the S. S. Anne, the Elite Four almost nabbing him with that stupid ghost trap. Again, she was there. She didn't do anything, really, but it was an awfully big coincidence. After that whole incident, Giovanni happened, and, well, things had been bad ever since. If he didn't already have a middle name, he would of sworn it was 'It Got Worse'.

So, of course, he didn't like that. His arm was bad enough, but getting roped in Giovanni's little organization was the last straw.

What could he say about Giovanni? He was one of the strongest gym leaders; his skills with ground-type Pokemon almost unmatched. Being an aimable person, he was easy to trust and confide in, and helped people out when he could.

Now, what could he say about Giovanni? He was the leader of an organization that centered on trafficking Pokemon to make money. He was The Boss and a disturbing amount of people were at his beck and call. His organization did anything to get Pokemon; stealing and murder only being some of the methods used. He would use anybody and anyone at the drop of a hat and once you were in his grasp, have fun getting out of it.

Yes, have fun. Blue was having so much fun being Giovanni's little pet. Back at the beginning of September, Giovanni approached him and offered him a deal. Do what he says and Blue wouldn't be handed over to the Pokemon League.

Blue didn't have many dislikes in life, but he could now say blackmail was one of them.

That girl was the reason this had happened to him. If she wasn't there, he could have gotten away with the Plate unharmed. Then, he could have given it to Jade and everything would be over. Done, finished, complete.

Things were getting complicated and quickly. Green, at least, was being quiet, giving him more time to concentrate on Giovanni. It was unsettling on how the gym leader had gotten his name and phone number so quickly. Now, Blue couldn't just lock himself in his home and hoped the world outside would go away. He was quickly running out of the opportunity to flee. To get rid of Giovanni, other than the obvious and more violent route, he would have to change his name, move and maybe change his appearance permanently.

While that was a good idea, Blue didn't want to do that. He liked his life; he grew up in his house- he didn't want to lose that.

So, what other options did that leave? Not much. Killing Giovanni would be a long and hard task. One false move and he'd have a ground-type at his throat. Not to mention that the gym leader liked surrounding himself with people, so even if Blue killed him, he'd be shot right after, which wasn't the ending he wanted.

"Smear!"

His Smeargle snapped him out of his thoughts and Blue looked to where the Pokemon was pointing. There was a hole between the trees and through it, the trainer could see broken branches and bits of wood. Obviously, his Scyther had made his way through here, after his quarry.

Another flash of pain hit him and he hissed under his breath, closing his eyes and ignoring his Smeargle's concerned look.

(…)

If using Mist meant headaches, this was certainly the last time he was ever using it.

Pushing the pain to the back of his mind, Blue entered the grove of trees, watching where he stepped. Smeargle followed behind him, but at his own pace, examining the slashed tree trunks.

The damage extended a good fifteen feet and stopped at a fallen tree, its bark twisted and broken. Scyther must have used his X-Scissor attack from the gravel path, directing it to the trees. So, that meant that the girl had escaped, but to where?

After a minute of study, Blue found another path, where destruction was absent, if you didn't count a few broken twigs. Flicking on a small flashlight that he brought with him, Blue followed the new path, noticing the footprints on the ground of a human and a bipedal Pokemon.

'Drowzee, then,' he thought.

He was on the right trail for sure.

Finally, he came upon a clearing, the last bit of day fading from the sky. There was an odd smell in the air and Blue wrinkled his nose. His flashlight found the source of it quickly enough, but it brought about feelings of confusion rather than disgust. His Scyther didn't have any dizzying attacks, so why would anyone-

Blue stopped, his flashlight trained on a body.

It looked like the Pokemon had put up quite the fight. One of its legs had a large wound on it, which wouldn't be too bad if the Scyther didn't have a bad leg. A bloody scratch stood out on its pale green face, but none of those could compare to the laceration on its neck. Whoever did it obviously had never slit a throat before and didn't have the best equipment. It was clumsily made and looked as if it took several tries to pierce the skin. A coat of blood covered it, shining with a red gleam under the flashlight.

Kneeling down, Blue put his good hand over the Scyther's mouth and nose, knowing that it wouldn't matter either way. It didn't surprise him when he didn't feel breaths against his palm. Honestly, he was glad the Pokemon was dead. With a wound like that, there was no saving it. If there was one thing he hated as much as blackmailing, it was putting down his own Pokemon.

The girl had a Drowzee and he knew that Scyther would fight to the end. She must have held it down with her Pokemon's psychic powers, maybe even hypnotized it, before slitting its throat with a rock.

Even though he had seen lots of dead bodies, human and Pokemon, Blue turned his head away from the sight, sickened.

He had raised this Pokemon from an egg and Scyther had been with him for a decade. To see him lying like that, killed so crudely with a rock of all things… it was an insult. Scyther was a killer, but Blue had retired him two years ago after a rock slide permanently damaged his leg. He thought the bug-type would be up to one last job, but obviously, that wasn't the case.

A bit of anger bubbled within him, but he wasn't sure who it was directed at. The girl killed him, but she was protecting herself, so it wasn't like he could fault her for that even if it would make him feel better.

No, it was his fault. He had seen Scyther was doing poorly, but he didn't give up. Things weren't going as planned, and he should have known to quit when he was forced to change Scyther's instructions, telling him to go after the girl's Pokemon before killing the girl herself.

But he was overconfident. After spotting the girl while shopping of all things, he came up with this convoluted plan to kill her without getting a spot of blood on his hands.

It was all just for fun. Oh sure, the feeling of wanting to kill her was serious, but he had to get his kicks from somewhere, right? He was a professional, but sometimes, he just wanted to copy the movie villains and made elaborate plans. So that's what he did. Using Mist as a cover, he sent Scyther in alone to track the girl down and kill her. What he forgot, however, is that complicated plans tended to fail.

Why couldn't he have just shot her? Hell, he could have killed her when she walked past him just then, but he didn't.

Why? Because it wouldn't have been as fun… but that was only a personal reason, something that could easily be set aside. If he killed her so directly, there was a chance that the crime would link back to him and Blue wasn't interested in that. It wasn't something he thought about much since he usually did his jobs out of town, but he lived in Cerulean and that changed everything. A wild Scyther attack could be seen as a misfortune with little suspicion, but stabbing or shooting her right there on the path would bring the police snooping around. Maybe even the Elite Four would drop by since the girl was connected to the Plate incidents. Either way, he couldn't risk it.

There was another throb from his head, making Blue sigh. He needed some painkillers and some sleep. It was time to go home.

(…)

Blue turned the flashlight away, his eyes widening at the heap of clothing beside Scyther. He stood up and grabbed it off the ground by a sleeve, looking at its torn form. It was a jacket, its colors worn with age, having been much used. Blood covered the end of one sleeve and dotted around the jacket, around the rips and tares. It was the girl's jacket; he remembered seeing her wearing it for the past two weeks.

A thought rose in his mind, and it seemed unlikely, but…

He turned over the collar, looking at a formally white tag at the base that had thin black writing on it.

Leah Gordon, it read.

He stood there for a moment before folding the jacket and throwing it over one arm. Well, at least he didn't have to keep referring to her as 'the girl' anymore.

"Let's go home," he told his Smeargle, who had just wandered into the clearing. The normal-type froze upon seeing the Scyther's corpse and seemingly not hearing Blue's words, went over to it.

Blue sighed. Before replacing Scyther with Starmie, he and Smeargle had been his team. He didn't like having a full six Pokemon team, so it had just been him, Scyther and Smeargle for years. Because of that, the Pokemon had grown close, relying on each other and just generally being friends.

To see the corpse of a friend must be a shock.

"There's nothing we can do here," Blue said, Smeargle standing beside the body, holding his tail limply. "He's already dead."

Before Blue had even finished the sentence, Smeargle let out a cry and green ink oozed from his tail. Like a whip, Smeargle smashed his tail into Scyther's still form, the green liquid mixing with the red to make brown. The tail was thrown over the blood until the green was triumphant, the red all but gone.

"Stop it." Blue's voice was stern as he grabbed Smeargle's tail. Smeargle growled, but seeing his trainer's face, the Pokemon went silent.

"That's not-" He took a deep breath in. "This isn't the time for that."

The clearing was silent.

"Come on, buddy," he said quietly. "We have to get going. I don't want to get caught out here."

Smeargle's head drooped and he allowed Blue to rub his ears.

Blue took one last look at Scyther's body. The green paint covered the red, not letting any show. In the darkening day, you could hardly see anything was wrong. It only looked like the Pokemon had an accident with a paint bucket, nothing more. Scyther wasn't dead, and in a moment, he would get up and shake his wings, annoyed at getting paint on them.

But no matter what you did, you couldn't hide something like that and pretend everything was okay. All the green paint in the world wouldn't fix it.

Some people thought Pokemon were animals and didn't have feelings. That they relied on instinct and nothing more. That they didn't feel happiness, sadness, anger… not like humans did. That they didn't understand things like death or loss…

Such people were fools.

"Let's go," Blue said, putting his throbbing headache to the back of his mind. He'd deal with everything in the morning. The world could wait.

As the white light of Smeargle's teleportation surrounded them, Blue had an odd feeling that something had gone wrong.

(…)

(…)

(… ?)


-


A/N: There was going to be another scene of this chapter with Leah, but I cut it out because it was making the chapter too long (I transferred it to the next chapter). I had to reedit some parts, especially Leah's scene, so I hope the chapter's alright! I was originally going to call this chapter 'Bzzt, part two', but the sound effect didn't show up much, especially since the Scyther was killed half-way through, so I gave it a name change.

If you see anything weird in this chapter, tell me. There's just something off about it, especially in the first few pages that I can't put my finger on.

I'm not a grammar checker so I'll just say "Great chap, Dagzar." Nothing seemed weird to me but I did feel a little..disturbed reading how she got rid of the Scyther. Poor creature...

*Claps hands loudly*

Wonderful Dagzar. Simply wonderful. Out of EVERY chapter you have written so far, this is the best. the BEST. I mean it. You brought out Leah's true feelings, and you made blue show a side I didn't know that he had. I applaud to you Dagzar. I have been reading since you posted ch 12, and I have really enjoyed the emotions situations and humor that you have put forth for this story. I wouldn't be surprised if you became a professional author one day Dagzar. I honestly feel that you are a great writer, and i hope you continue to write for the greater (poke)community. And Dagzar, thank you for writing such a great story. I can't wait for what's still to come.

Also, I laughed so hard when I read this that I almost peed:

Someone must have broke the universe when she wasn't looking.

Reminder: find the person who broke the universe so she could force him to fix it again.

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Alright... so, I did not like this chapter. Actually, I take that back. I did not like the second half of this chapter. Leah's scene was great. Anyway, I'll discus more below:

Her good hand went into her pocket and curled around her Fire Stone, jagged edges and all.

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Awesome. Just, so completely awesome and cute. Very symbolic of Leah's development. I also like how she finally used the Fire Stone for something useful!!

It struggled, but Zee's anger was increasing her psychic-powers

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So, I know Sands was hurt. Zee and Leah would be angry. However, I'm not sure it makes sense for Zee to continue getting more angry- it seems like Zee would get a strong wave of anger to briefly increase psychic powers. Also... I know the whole anger thing increases power, but it seems like a stronger attempt to protect Sands should have been made before he was hurt.

With one hand, she held the Scyther's head still, feeling its leather-like texture under her palm, much like Sands' skin…

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Wow. Unexpected. Wow.

Only a few months ago was Blue a free man, not disabled and no powers. Living a pleasant life, just doing a few odd jobs every month to pay the bills… Now he had a leash and a collar and he was rarely home. Giovanni could have hired anyone to do what Blue did, kill some people in the way, steal this, steal that, but no, he had to have Blue.

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Blue, I believe, is where my dislike for this chapter stems. As in the above passage, you throw a lot of information about Blue at the reader that's been hidden for a long time. First of all, it's been hidden, it feels rather awkward and anticlimactic for it to be suddenly revealed. In addition, you TELL us this information, which is not as effective as showing us. Some real character development could have come from showing us some scenes from when Blue was living that pleasant life and maybe a few scenes from other assignments Blue was given in the past.

(…)

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Err... I don't really remember you using this notation before. Either way, its awkward, and I'm not quite sure what you are trying to convey by putting it in.

Yes, he was sticking to that answer, no matter how absolutely stupid it sounded.

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Up until here, I had a lot of respect for Blue. I thought his character was... more intelligent? His thought process as well as letting Leah go just did not seem to fit with what you have shown us this far of his personality. And his reason for letting Leah go was rather flimsy.

I don't know what ideas you have for Blue, but I would recommend writing out some scenes/situations that don't even have to be included in the story. This would allow you to get a better picture/development of Blue.

Overall, not my favorite chapter. I really liked Leah's scenes! And the jacket- that was neat. Sorry if in this review I've used awkward grammar/misspellings... My brain doesn't function right at five in the morning. I hope this wasn't too harsh! Sorry!

I'm not a grammar checker so I'll just say "Great chap, Dagzar." Nothing seemed weird to me but I did feel a little..disturbed reading how she got rid of the Scyther. Poor creature...

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Yeah, I felt sorry for the Scyther to. It was only doing what it was told. Actually, the scene where Leah gets rid of the Scyther was much more graphic, but I decided to tone it down quite a bit since I thought it was too violent.

*Claps hands loudly*

Wonderful Dagzar. Simply wonderful. Out of EVERY chapter you have written so far, this is the best. the BEST. I mean it. You brought out Leah's true feelings, and you made blue show a side I didn't know that he had. I applaud to you Dagzar. I have been reading since you posted ch 12, and I have really enjoyed the emotions situations and humor that you have put forth for this story. I wouldn't be surprised if you became a professional author one day Dagzar. I honestly feel that you are a great writer, and i hope you continue to write for the greater (poke)community. And Dagzar, thank you for writing such a great story. I can't wait for what's still to come.

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I'm glad you really liked it, pika! The chapter is pretty important since it serves not only as a turning point for Leah and Sands, but also for Blue (sort of, you can't really tell here, but something has changed). This also marks the half-way point of the story (not really chapter-wise; that's a couple chapters ahead) and from now on, the story will be going in a different direction.

I liked the chapter; it's definitely for a mature audience. Good job :] and I hope to see you improve!

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Thanks Yusshin! It's been a long time since I've gotten such an in-depth grammar review! I'll remember to keep my eye on those pesky comma splices to make sure their evil deeds don't bother my story again.

Blue, I believe, is where my dislike for this chapter stems. As in the above passage, you throw a lot of information about Blue at the reader that's been hidden for a long time. First of all, it's been hidden, it feels rather awkward and anticlimactic for it to be suddenly revealed. In addition, you TELL us this information, which is not as effective as showing us. Some real character development could have come from showing us some scenes from when Blue was living that pleasant life and maybe a few scenes from other assignments Blue was given in the past.

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Blue's a tricky character, and I have the odd feeling that I'm starting to change his personality between scenes. It's difficult for me, in my mind, to separate the information (especially minor) that I know, and the audience knows, which is probably the reason that things are coming out anticlimactic. I'm not quite sure how to fix this other than keeping a very close eye on the chapters. Either way, I'll go back and do some editing and see what I can do.

You're right about the character development and while I don't deal with flashbacks, I think Blue deserves more scenes. Since the next few chapters are only planned in a vague sort of way, I think I can fit him in. Actually, this gives me an idea, and while it's going to take some editing in this chapter and a previous one, I'm totally going to do it.

*rubs hands together with a grin*

Up until here, I had a lot of respect for Blue. I thought his character was... more intelligent? His thought process as well as letting Leah go just did not seem to fit with what you have shown us this far of his personality. And his reason for letting Leah go was rather flimsy.

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Yeah, it is pretty flimsy, isn't it? I'll go back and edit that to see what I can do.

Err... I don't really remember you using this notation before. Either way, its awkward, and I'm not quite sure what you are trying to convey by putting it in.

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I'm going to cheat and just say it's an idea I had a while ago and nothing else. You'll find more about it later.

Overall, not my favorite chapter. I really liked Leah's scenes! And the jacket- that was neat. Sorry if in this review I've used awkward grammar/misspellings... My brain doesn't function right at five in the morning. I hope this wasn't too harsh! Sorry!

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Don't worry about being harsh! Criticism can only help me improve. :)

You requested a review, yes?

chancing

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Should be chasing.

Scyther neck

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I think you meant Scyther's neck.

(…)

(…)

(… ?)

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What is with these? Or will they be explained in the next chapter?

I look forward to seeing 41. I'd suspected that the Scyther belonged to either Blue or Green and I was right.

What is with these? Or will they be explained in the next chapter?

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They'll be explained later, that's all I can say.

And thanks for the review, Nudge! I'm glad you liked it and I apologize that there's no more chapters. I used to update once a week, but procrastination ambushed me around November and won't leave me alone. <_< Next chapter should be out by next Friday, so look forward to it! ;)

And here I was planning on waking up to a new chapter of Mentor. :/

Ah well, better get typing before I go back to sleep.

-



"Ed?" Ally asked, rapping at the door.

It made her feel ashamed that this was the first time she had come to Ed's door in days. She had been spending so much time with her Pokemon, she had completely neglected her friend, who had been all alone after a miserable defeat. Even then, Ally couldn't say she was too keen at spending time with Ed. He had just been so depressed and quiet; it was rare for her to get a word out of him.

She didn't think it was the best time to call on Ed since it was rather early in the morning, but she had already given her afternoon to her school friends, who she also hadn't seen lately. Since her gym battle was tomorrow, it was a good idea to let her Pokemon rest before the big day. They would need it.

Waiting another minute, Ally knocked again.

"Ally?"

The girl startled and turned to see Ed staring at her a few feet away, his hair unusually messy.

"Oh, I thought you were still asleep," Ally explained, face reddening.

Ed stared at her. "It's nearly ten."

"I- It's early," she defended, but let it go, quieting. "Um, how have you been?"

"Fine," Ed said, unlocking his room door and entering, Ally following. His room was strangely neat, except for his bed, which wasn't made. The two kids sat down, Ally releasing Amber since it didn't look like she was leaving any time soon.

Amber nuzzled her hand, being friendlier than he'd been the few days. Even if he had gotten the hand of his training, he was still upset at being forced to do it. Even Sparks hadn't put up such a big fuss.

"How's Coralie?" Ally asked, hoping she wasn't bringing up a bad topic.

Surprisingly, Ed seemed open to it. "She absorbed a lot of water," he said. "It's going to take a long time for her to go back to normal, but she's doing good."

"How bad is it?"

"She can't transform right or hold forms very well. She won't be able to swim at all."

Ally swallowed. "Then how are you going to beat Misty?"

"I'll think of something," Ed said, turning his head away. "… What have you been doing?"

"A lot of training. Sparks has gotten really good at Light Screen." Ally smiled. "He's getting better and better every day." Her expression dimmed. "But Misty is going to be hard. I don't think Light Screen is enough…"

"Maybe a TM could help?" Ed suggested.

Shaking her head, Ally said, "There aren't any stores here, I checked. There's no time to teach a TM move, anyways."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"… I'm working on something," she admitted. "I'm not sure it will work, though. Oh!" Ally dug through her bag and brought out a slim journal.

"Our Journey Journal," Ed stated, taking the book. "I haven't seen this in a while."

Ally said, "I- I've been thinking that we need to change our plans."

"What's wrong with them?" he asked, flipping through the book, eyes on the pages.

"W- Well, I don't think we can beat Sabrina." She rushed on to explain, "I've looked her up and Leah's right. She's really powerful. She's one of the toughest gym leaders and she can read minds."

"Can she?" Ed said, looking up. "Really?"

"I don't know, everyone says she can and we can't beat her if she can read our minds."

"Oh... Maybe we can learn to read minds too?" Ed sounded hopeful, and to make his intentions clear, added, "To beat her?"

"Maybe," Ally hesitantly agreed, as she wouldn't mind that solution.

"So, if we don't go to Saffron, where do we go? Pewter?"

"I think we should go to Lavender Town," she said, turning the journal to a page and pointing to the words. "I made new plans of where we're going."

"Lavender doesn't have a gym."

"I- I know, but Lavender has ghost-types! They're good against psychic-types."

Ed could see that logic. "Okay, but why are we going to Celadon after? Why not Saffron?"

"We can train our ghost-types in Celadon," Ally explained. "Then, they'll be even more powerful against Sabrina."

"I dunno, isn't Celadon supposed to be… bad?" Ed hesitated at the last word. "Everyone says so."

"A city can't be bad," Ally said, not sounding so sure. "We need to go there anyways."

"Erika has grass-types…?"

"Yes."

Ed seemed to be talking to himself. "Carla wants me to catch her an Arcanine…"

Eyes lighting up, Ally said, "There are Growlithe near Celadon! There are a lot of packs there; I watched a show on them!"

"So, Lavender, Celadon, Saffron… then Pewter?"

"Yes, then Viridian will be last."

"Four more badges to go," Ed said, smiling. "We're almost done."

"When does the Indigo Tournament start?"

"It starts in March, and it's October now, so we'll have lots of time to train."

"That's good."

Amber's tail brushed Ally's arm as the Pokemon climbed over her lap and poked Ed with his muzzle. The boy smiled and rubbed the Vulpix's ears.

"E- Ed?" Ally asked, feeling embarrassed just for asking. "Are you okay now?"

He looked up. "Huh? What'd you mean?"

"You've been really quiet whenever we've talked," she explained, looking away. "And you always look so tired…"

"I've… been busy," he said, shrugging. "Me, Parasect, and Coralie… We've been spending lots of time together." He paused. "I've never really spent much time with my Pokemon, outside of battles, and training, or when I want to experiment. I just- Coralie almost drowned, you know?"

She nodded, watching him. "So you've been… playing with them?"

"I guess," he said, his face showing his dislike of the word. "We've been going to the park a lot or just watching battles at Misty's gym. Since Coralie can't do anything, I don't have anything to do."

"Are you going to the park today?"

"Yeah, I was just coming back to get some stuff when you came."

"Then I'll come with you," she said, picking up Amber from the blankets. "O- Our Pokemon can play together. It'll be more fun with two people."

Ed got up and grabbed his backpack off the floor. "Okay," he said. "Though, before we go, one more thing…"


-


"I don't think Leah will want to come," Ally said quietly as Ed knocked on her door.

"She looked bored yesterday, so…" Ed cut himself off, turning to Ally. "Oh, did you hear? Sands is evolving!"

Ally gasped, making Amber look up from the floor at his trainer's reaction. "Really?"

"Yeah, Leah talked to me yesterday."

"Does that mean Sands has evolved by now?"

"I hope so!" he said, knocking louder. "Sandslash are so cool! They have spikes on their back and have longs claws, a- and they're great diggers… They just look so cool," he finished, having run out of things to say about that particular species.

To the two's dismay, Leah not answering the door popped their Sandslash-shaped dreams.

Ed frowned. "I wonder where she is. She's always in her room."

"Maybe she's eating breakfast?"

"Maybe." Ed continued down the hall, Ally by his side.

Unfortunately, Leah wasn't in the cafeteria, nor was she seen in the hallways. It was like she vanished into thin air.

Not that Ed seemed to care too much. "Guess we'll go without her," he said, shrugging. "Maybe we can see Sands later."

A burst of chilled air hit the two kids as they walked out of the Pokemon Center's front doors. Ally shivered and pulled her thin jacket around her tighter, Amber trotting along at her heels.

When they got to the park, Ally had already promised herself to get a thicker jacket. If it was already this cold when it was barely October, she wondered how she and Ed were supposed to do their journey in December and January, especially considering the prospect of snow.

She voiced her worries to Ed.

"We can take a bus or…" he trailed off, expression confused. "Um, where do you think we'll be in December?"

"Pewter?" Ally suggested, though she wasn't sure at all.

Ed thought. "Well, that's okay then. The snow will freeze the bugs, so we'll get through Viridian Forest fast."

"It'll be hard to hike through snow." Ally sighed.

Finding a nice place in the sun, Ed sat down, Ally beside him. He pulled out two red and white spheres and released the two Pokemon with identical flashes of light.

Parasect looked the same as ever but it was Coralie who had changed. Her purple flesh had lightened considerably, looking almost a silvery white and she seemed wobblier than normal, twitching with the faintest breeze. There was a smile on her face, made from wood, but that too was pale, and her dotted eyes were gray instead of black.

"She looks…" Ally didn't know what to say.

"Cool," Ed said, and at Ally's uncomfortable look, added, "It's bad, but she looks nice, at least."

"She's almost like an al… I can't remember the word," she admitted, "but it's when someone's born with really pale skin, eyes and hair."

"That'd be cool; they'd be like a vampire," he said, gathering his Ditto up in his hands and putting her on his shoulder. With stubby arms, Coralie steadied herself using Ed's head, trying not to fall off.

"So, she really can't transform?" Ally asked, watching them.

"Well…" Ed averted his eyes. "She can, sort of. It's kind of weird." He paused. "Want to see?"

Ally nodded and Ed put Coralie back on the ground.

"I've been training with her a lot for the past week," he explained, motioning Parasect to get closer. "I've never heard of a Ditto that can do what Coralie can do." He spoke to his Ditto. "Coralie, Transform, pincher."

A change overcame the Pokemon; the Ditto's twitching halting very suddenly. Coarlie's grin seemed to widen, and one of her stubby arms was outstretched… and outstretched… Becoming as long as a human arm, the appendage turned a very pale orange and morphed, the tip gained an extra flap and becoming sharp. While the pincher was created, the rest of Coralie remained unchanged in her pale jelly-like state.

"She can't keep it like that for more than a minute," Ed said, watching the Pokemon swing the pincher back and forth. "It melts if she does." He looked at Ally. "But this is pretty good, right? She can't Transform, not really, but she can still do stuff."

"She's going to have a hard time battling."

"… She doesn't need to," Ed said quietly. "She's still recovering and until then, she can just have fun."

Ally bit her lip. "Parasect can't win all your battles."

"That's why it's good we're going to Lavender. I'll catch a ghost-type and a Growlithe, and then I'll have four Pokemon. Erika and Sabrina won't stand a chance against them."

"What about Misty?"

"I have an idea," Ed said. "Don't worry, I have a plan."

She didn't know how a Parasect could battle in water, but Ally didn't push. Ed was talking more than he had in a week, and that's all she needed to be grateful for. Things were getting back to normal, finally, and once she and Ed got the Cascade Badge, it was on to Lavender Town.

Celadon, Saffron, Pewter, Viridian… They were all on the path to Indigo.

She could only dream of how she would fair in such a tournament and while she didn't think she could win, she'd try her best.

"What about Sparks?" Ed asked. "Aren't you going to send him out?"

Ally took out her Voltorb's Poke Ball, and after a brief hesitation, said, "I don't want to upset him before the battle tomorrow. He's been doing so good."

"You won't upset him."

"What if I do?" She put the Poke Ball away. "I have to win against Misty, I can't lose again. I don't have enough time for another try."

Puzzled, Ed asked, "Why not? We have lots of time until the Indigo Tournament."

"It's not about the tournament!" Ally lowered her voice. "I- It's about my Mom. If I stay around any longer, she's going to enroll me back in school."

Ed sat bolt upright. "What?! But you're on your journey!"

"She thinks that I'm going to get bored of it."

"That's stupid."

"… I've gotten bored of a lot of things before this," Ally admitted.

"It's still stupid. Being a trainer isn't like anything else! You can't get bored of it. Can't you tell your mum that?"

Ally hesitated. "S- She won't believe me. She'll do it anyways."

"Don't worry," Ed said, a determined expression on his face. "If you lose, I'll help you run away. Then, we can be runaways together and go on our journey."

"… Thanks," Ally said shyly. "I- I'm going to win against Misty, though. I've been training all week. I think I can do this."

"I know you can do it."

Ed's encouragement made Ally feel warm and she couldn't stop the growing smile on her face if she tried.

"What about you?" she said. "The battle's tomorrow and you can't win with Parasect; he can't swim."

"I have a plan," the boy repeated, looking away. "It'll work."

"… Do you think Leah will be there?" Ally asked, changing the subject. "I made her promise, but…"

"I don't know," he said, outstretching a leg for Coralie to climb up on. "Does she know its tomorrow?"

"I told her."

Ed nodded. "Then, I hope she brings Sands. He's probably so cool as a Sandslash. I bet Leah's only disappeared because she wants to keep him all to herself."

Ally giggled. "She always says she doesn't like Pokemon."

"She's weird like that."

The humor drained out of the situation as a thought occurred to Ally. "Ed?"

"What?"

"What if Leah left?"

"… What do you mean?"

"I mean," Ally said, stressing her words. "What if Leah went home and that's why we can't find her?"

Ed looked over. "We don't have four badges; she can't leave."

"But she's always in her room or in the cafeteria. She's never just gone."

"Maybe she went to the bathroom?" he said.

"I hope she didn't leave," Ally moaned. "She promised to be here tomorrow!"

"She couldn't have left. Look," he said, gaining Ally's attention. "I'll go check her room when I get back to the Pokemon Center and keep a look out. I'll call you when I see her."

Ally nodded, worried. "Alright… But you don't have my number."

"C- Can I have it?" Ed asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'll write it down."

After Ed slipped the note in his pocket, the silence lasted only for a few moments.

"Hey, Ally… How are you going to beat Misty?"


-


That evening, long after Ed got back to the Pokemon Center with a number in his pocket and grass stains on his shorts, the boy ventured out of his room. He walked down the hall, his footsteps quiet, until he came upon Leah's door. He knocked three times, counting each one, and waited.

She didn't answer.

"Leah?" Ed said, knocking louder. "Leah! Did Sands evolve?"

Ed stayed at her door for more than two minutes and when it was apparent she wasn't there, he walked back to his room, worry on his face.

Where was she? Ally was right; Leah never went outside or anywhere special. She couldn't have left, could she? She always talked about ditching them, but he never thought she'd actually do it. And she never gave any signs of leaving. He had talked to her yesterday and she had told him that she would be gone for the day because Sands was evolving.

… Maybe that was a ruse? A cover for Leah to leave the Pokemon Center with her bag and Pokemon without Ally or him questioning? She could get on a bus and be in Pewter by nightfall. Then, it wouldn't be too long to get back to Pallet.

With a strange tightening in his chest, Ed scowled and promised to check back later.

She couldn't have left…


-


Leah flipped through the magazine, her eyes only glancing over the pictures and text. She sat comfortably on a chair, legs crossed, but still felt restless. Her body kept twitching at the slightest noise. It was distracting, and she couldn't help but glance up to see what was causing the disturbance. The magazine was only something to hold onto, to give her hands something to do.

Her mind was elsewhere, still deep in a haze of memory. Only by her Drowzee's Hypnosis did she fall asleep last night; she didn't want to repeat that incident. But there wasn't much she could do. She just couldn't stop thinking about yesterday's events. Her whole day had been spent doing just that while she sat in a secluded ward in the Pokemon Center where injured Pokemon rested.

Luckily, time did its work, and she wasn't as worried as last night. She had a whole day to think on things, and much of that was coming up with something do about her problem. Or problems, as it turned out.

It was hard, though. While she was calmer, it didn't mean she wasn't as paranoid. She didn't take a step outside and always made sure there were people around her at all times. Zee was useful too, and the Pokemon hadn't seen the inside of a Poke Ball all day. Since Sands couldn't do anything, the Drowzee had been promoted to bodyguard and partner in suffering, not that Zee appreciated it.

As if knowing that she was thinking bad things about her, Zee flipped a page in her own magazine rather harshly, making a slight tearing sound. Leah turned her eyes towards the Pokemon, glancing at the tear, but the Drowzee didn't seem very apologetic, simply continuing with her reading.

The Pokemon wasn't literally reading it, of course. Emotions, yes; words, no. It was a training lesson that Leah had picked up off the internet a while back. Psychic-types weren't born with the ability to read minds and sense emotions. They had to be trained like all other Pokemon. Reading emotions off objects was a good way to hone psychic abilities, no matter how mundane the objects were.

Having run around all yesterday, Zee withdrew into her emotion lessons, paying more attention to them than to her trainer. It was a bit annoying, but as long as Zee was around, Leah didn't mind.

For the past day, her mind had been plagued with thoughts and flashbacks, the cursed things preventing her from concentrating on anything. It was like the mansion incident all over again, but three time as worse. The mansion only brought general unease that could be dismissed as silliness, but yesterday's events were real. They weren't part of her imagination and there was no strange and friendly professor to explain them all away; what happened yesterday happened and she had injuries to show for it.

She was very lucky that none of her cuts (even the deeper one on her arm) required stitches, though the wounds were numerous enough to cause some concern. Her legs were spared, but her arms, front and face all took damage, mostly by the Scyther's final assault. They were very small, but they could be classified as paper cuts by how annoying they were, the throbbing not letting up.

Not only that, but her hair was a mess. She rather liked her hair, but the Scyther's bzzt thing had cut a large chunk of it off right by her ear, sentencing her to a haircut in the future. She hadn't yet, too busy with other things, but it was something she would have to do soon. The nurses and doctors, not to mention the stray trainers, keep giving her worried and almost astonished looks. It was annoying.

But that didn't matter. There were two problems on her mind, ones that needed to be solved right away, if only to spare her from a crushing realization once she snapped out of her shocked state.

That Scyther had targeted her, tried to kill her and almost had. Wild Pokemon didn't do that. A Scyther with a bad leg like that would never survive in the wild, especially being old on top of that.

He was there. By being on that path, it was fairly obvious Blue was the Scyther's trainer. He must have ordered it to kill her and her Pokemon. Leah thought he had forgotten about her. She remembered the words he told her on the S. S. Anne, how he'd deal with her later. She dismissed them, but he hadn't.

A murderer that had gotten under the Elite Four's skin was after her.

It was a terrifying feeling. Someone was actually trying to kill her, and they meant it. In one blow, her normal and mostly-carefree life had been shattered and Leah knew that it'd take months for her to calm down. It wasn't everyday someone tried to kill you, after all.

And no one knew.

She was entirely alone. No one knew Blue was after her except for her and her Pokemon, and since two couldn't say, there was only her.

What was she supposed to do?

She had to do something, of course. Going to the police wouldn't do any good since she was leaving Cerulean soon, anyways, though that might just be her police prejudice talking. In so many movies were police portrayed as incompetent that she could honestly didn't know what they could do in real life. If the Elite Four couldn't do anything, what made her think the police could?

She didn't know what she was supposed to do at that moment, but she would have to think of a plan soon. One that involved a phone call to her grandmother would certainly be helpful.

And that even wasn't mentioning her other problem…

Leah closed the magazine, having finished turning the pages for the fourth time that hour. She was about to begin again when there was a sneeze.

"… You alright?" she asked, keeping her voice down, glancing at the occupant of the bed next to her.

It was her Pokemon, but it wasn't a Sandshrew, that was apparent. Its golden tiles had morphed into smooth skin and brown spikes littered its back, arched, ready to defend. Its muzzle was pointier, its eyes narrower and the spike on its head pointed into the air.

But something was wrong. It could have been a Sandshrew, judging by size. Its spikes dwarfed it and were obviously heavy, making the Pokemon lean on them for support. One of its hands had two long and sharp claws, but its other was wrapped in bandages. A Sandslash was a strong creature, able to burrow at a fast pace and zip along underground tunnels. This Sandslash looked weak. Its breathing was shallow and its eyes misty, as if not quite there.

The Sandslash didn't answer, its nose twitching.

Choosing not to continue with the magazine, Leah dropped it to the floor beside Zee, sure the Drowzee would devour it sooner or later.

Her chair made a scraping sound as she adjusted it so she could sit closer to the Sandslash.

"I didn't bring your Fire Stone," Leah started. She had told the Pokemon this before, but since the ground-type kept drifting in and out of sleep, she sometimes wasn't sure when it was awake. "Sorry."

Truthfully she could have brought the Fire Stone, but she doubted Sands would be too pleased with the blood all over it. She didn't know how to get the blood off without putting the rock under water, which may have been okay if it was a Water Stone, but being fire, it wouldn't due.

The Sandslash turned its head away, not interested in the topic, instead using its new long claws to scratch at its bandages.

"Don't," Leah said, reaching over, but before she could even touch the Pokemon's paws, the ground-type hissed.

"Slash!" the Pokemon said in a surprisingly sharp voice, jerking its head as much as it could manage as a detriment, making Leah withdraw her hand.

Despite the Sandslash having reacted the same way every time Leah had tried reaching out to it, she couldn't say she wasn't hurt.

It was a reminder that the Pokemon in front of her wasn't Sands. At least, not anymore.

The doctor had told her everything. She had breeched all the big no-no's of evolution and even if it was out of her control or had a good reason, Sands paid the price. He didn't evolve right, his right paw having been left behind, still keeping its five digits while its new paw only had two. He was smaller, weaker, hardly having enough energy for the evolution. Apparently, he didn't even have enough excess energy to keep his mind.

Oh, it wasn't like the Sandslash couldn't think or anything. But it didn't recognize her, or if it did, didn't care to obey her orders. The result was the worse thing that could happen to an evolving Pokemon. She had heard of other trainers being faced with something like this and there weren't many options, especially since the Sandslash could be considered physically disabled.

Most Pokemon like the one in front of her were abandoned, their strong temperaments too much to handle. There were a few happy cases, of the Pokemon coming around, snapping out it, or the trainers retraining it, but the 'bad ending' cases outnumbered those lucky few.

The doctor had advised her not to expect much from the Sandslash, though as soon as he said that, Leah had started to tune out his words.

The Pokemon in front of her was Sands. Even if it didn't look like him, he was there somewhere under that mess and she planned on getting him out of it. She didn't know how, but she would. If it came to buying a truckload of Fire Stones and burying him in them, she would.

Abandoning the Sandslash was out of the question.

"Are you hungry?" Leah asked the Pokemon, who was glaring down at the floor where Zee was sitting.

A low growl came out of the Sandslash's throat, and Zee looked up in surprise.

"Stop that." Leah ordered. "That's Zee, she's your teammate. You know her."

The Pokemon didn't think so, not stopping its growling.

"San-" she started, but stopped, suddenly getting out of her chair and looming over the Sandslash. The growling turned to her direction, and Leah stepped back, giving the ground-type its space.

"I'm getting something to eat," she told it quietly. "Stay here, I'll be back in a little while."

Motioning for Zee to follow, Leah strode past the rows of bedded sick Pokemon, her eyes burning with unshed tears and a hiccup caught in her throat.

Goddamn it…

She would get Sands back.

She had to.


-


A/N: This chapter's rather shorter than the previous ones, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. Next chapter is the rematch against Misty, which I'm definitely looking forward to.

x]
Wow...poor, poor Sands...
This chapter definitely has a lot of emotion hidden deep under the surface. There's the tension growing within Ed, Ally is getting a bit of a backbone, and well, Leah has had emotional switch flipped. Hopefully Sands will get back to his old self...I doubt it though...
Excellent chapter.

That's....sad to say the least. Poor Sands...

I want my Sands back! ;~;

I think I caught your procrastination last week. I've had chapter 3 all written up for about two weeks now and I haven't typed it up. I think I'll go do that now. Good chapter, dgzar.

Really good chapter,I can't wait for more.

Thanks for reviewing, guys!

I actually feel a bit sorry for Sands. He was supposed to evolve the previous chapter without too many complications, but I was like, 'Sands evolution going well is way too easy. How can I complicate this… Oh, I know! Let's erase his personality and physically disfigure him! Genius! :D' Sands' attitude change was last minute decision, so even I'm a bit unsure on how this'll play out. Hopefully it'll be interesting.

Next chapter is coming out next Friday, as usual, and I have to say, it's going well. ;)

Dagz, what happened to the chapter? I miss reading your story's weekly updates.

Dagz, what happened to the chapter? I miss reading your story's weekly updates.

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I update every second Friday, so chapter forty-one will be out in two days. ;) I used to update weekly, but I couldn't keep up, so... *shrugs*

Dagzar said:

I update every second Friday, so chapter forty-one will be out in two days. ;) I used to update weekly, but I couldn't keep up, so... *shrugs*

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*shrugs back* Must be a part you're forcing yourself to write to advance the plot. I know the feeling.

Well, I have nothing to say on the story itself except: [applause]

No kidding. I really, really love this fic. However, I hear you on the "couldn't keep up" part. My first story on the Internet (not here, but it's being rewritten!) was on a weekly basis too, and I ended up pumping out four pages of really rushed stuff every week because I would work my tail off Sunday (I posted on Saturday) and totally ignore it until the time came to post it. |D I learned my lesson pretty early into that, but I couldn't change it... ah well, perils and pitfalls and whatnot.