Pokemon - Solo's Strange Journey

Narrator-POV:

Wow! Our heroes are in quite the pickle, huh?

... Anyway, let us look at what is going on elsewhere!

After Ash's Pikachu was abducted by Mew and after Kidd Summers decided to help him recover his pokemon - which was in truth just a thinly veiled excuse to capture the illusive, legendary pokemon; Their gang went on a journey to the Tree of Beginning.

The gang in question consists of Ash Ketchum, Kidd Summers - the famous adventurer, Brock, May and Max of Hoenn and the usual evildoers of Team Rocket.

At the moment when all hell broke loose, Kidd Summers had just finished scouting out the tree with her array of survey drones.

Each one was tasked with the following: Finding Mew. And finding and mapping out any other interesting features.

Finding Pikachu has never been the goal of the drones but they did find him.

Right next to Kidd's main target: Mew.

With that knowledge, when the tree's immune system activated, the gang ran as fast as they could up the tree in hopes of finding what they were looking for.

... However, none have expected the resistance to their presence to be quite so aggressive.

Not only did they have to run away from white blood cell-like creatures, they also had to escape the wrath of regular sized Regirock, Registeel and Regice.

Sooner or later, all were caught.

First it was Jessie and James who sneaked along in some random tunnels. Their bodies were caught and ruthlessly disintegrated by the tree's immune response.

Then Brock, May and Max have split off from the group and were turned into fertilizer for the continued survival of the tree.

And then, lastly, Kidd Summers and Ash Ketchum went down.

Pikachu found his trainer. But he was just a little too late. Instead of a happy reunion he got nothing but a teary-eyed Ash who finished saying his final goodbye to his pokemon.

...

Luckily, this was not the end of their story.

It was not just Pikachu who arrived to the tear-jerking goodbye, but also Mew.

The illusive, usually ever-happy pokemon was driven to tears and in a moment of pity, she used up the last bits of stored power that her tree held in order to release the captured humans.

She turned off the immune-response and the Regi-guardians returned to their posts.

Regirock to the surrounding badlands. Registeel to the trunk and Regice to the foliage.

However, the attempt to save the humans from their terrible fate has cost Mew far too much power. The tree cannot survive with the few remaining scraps of energy.

In a last ditch effort to stay alive, it rapidly used up all the left-over stores of crystallized energy.

But even that was not enough and thus it tried devouring the energy of the symbiotic Mew as well.

It still was not sufficient to keep the dying tree alive any longer.

Life fades from the Tree of Beginning. Like everything, it too came to an end.

The Regi-guardians are now protecting a mere corpse.

The heart stops beating and soon all signs of life will leave this place forever.

A being that has been around for all of life's creation is no more.

Yet the humans do not know.

Ash and Kidd only see the dying Mew in front of them and hold on to the belief that the heart of the tree can still save her.

Swole and his friends have the thought burned in their minds that the tree can still be saved if they just reach the heart.

And so both groups hurry up to reach the heart of the tree.

While Ash is simply separated from it by the distance that is between them and their target, Swole needs to get past Regice.

---

Swole-POV:

Re-re-re-e g i c e »Ð¶╗░╝▒«╣

The high pitched voice of a pokemon sounds out before it switches into static noise. 

Oh you gotta be kidding me!

I can only think of one pokemon that this voice could belong to.

Buneary and Salandit jump to a ready position the moment they hear the battle cry of a Regice and Lucario lets go of my hand to scout ahead with her aura.

"We are in trouble." Lucario confirms my fears. "Regice is up ahead, behind the next bend. We are still far away from the heart."

"Is it a regular Regice or a massive one again?"

"Regular."

Whew. Thank Arceus for small miracles. 

Still, a normal-sized legendary pokemon? It's on the same level as Cynthia's ace pokemon. "Are we fighting it? Or running away?"

"We will need to get past it to get to the heart. I... I don't think I'm strong enough to fight it." Despite that, Lucario gets into a battle ready position.

Shit. That's not good.

"Let's try ambushing it. Lucario, can you prepare an Aura Sphere? Hit Regice as soon as it crosses our path." Buneary is already doing her Defense Curl in preparation for the fight. "Salandit, get Poison Gas ready. Buneary, prepare Jump Kick after your Defense Curl."

I can feel Salandit nodding in confirmation from my shoulder.

The air is so thin. This will make fighting more difficult.

Lucario channels the biggest fucking ball of energy in front of both of her paws I have ever seen and her face is scrunched up in focus.

Same for Buneary and Salandit. Their powerful preparation radiates out a sort of comfortable warmth that pushes away some of this high-altitude cold.

Wind blows a few leaves across the clearing as everyone waits for Regice to move past the bend.

I can see Quilava preparing Will-O-Wisp from the corner of my eyes while Zorua hides behind Akari's feet.

Regice won't see what's coming.

... And then it comes. 

First we see some of the freezing cold air seeping over the bend of the hill. 

Then the crystalline, cone-shape of Regice's head comes next.

And then his yellow glowing eyes appear. They turn on and off in a seemingly random interval. "Re-re-re-e g i c e .^!°|.!"

Its torso crests the hill and it is already prepared for a fight. An Ice Beam was pre-charged and shoots at us immediately. 

Lucario reacts first and her counter is instant. The massive ball of Aura Sphere smashes into the beam of ice and pushes against it.

The forces seem to come to a standstill in the middle of the clearing and the tiny attacks of Poison Gas, Will-O-Wisp, Fairy Wind and Bubble Beam zoom past the action and smash into the behemoth of an ice pokemon.

Regice takes the hits in stride. Pockmarks of damage appear on its surface.

But the bits of damage seem distracting enough to ruin the balance of the attacks. 

Ice Beam becomes weaker and Lucario's ball of aura pushes closer to Regice. At the same time, Buneary runs across the battlefield to kick Regice with everything she got.

"Salandit, follow up with Ember. Stay at range and swap between Ember and Smog."

Recognizing the danger it is in, Regice puts all its effort into maintaining the Ice Beam but a small little Buneary tips the scales all the way in our favor as her Jump Kick smashes against its arm followed by a Double Kick right after.

The ice giant staggers and his move fails.

Aura Sphere slams into him with a massive explosion that echoes around the mountain-like environment, sends tremors through my legs and casts the golem in a smoke of ash and dust.

"Yes!"

When the smoke lifts the curtain from the scene of battle, Regice is laying on its back but slowly levitates back up.

A deep crack is in its icy armor and the eyes briefly flash in a dangerous looking red before calming back down again.

A few more rounds like that and we have this!

You need to hurry!

But we don't have time for a few more rounds.

"We don't have time for this fight." A rumble over the ground accentuates my assessment.

From the corner of my eyes I can see another massive part of the foliage breaking off and falling into the depths below.

"Quilava, use Smokescreen. Make it extra thick." Akari orders her pokemon. "Swole, we will distract Regice. You, head to the heart!"

"Are you--" 

Now!

"Alright! Stay safe!"

Oh no! What about Buneary! 

Leave her behind.

Right. She can fight for herself-- No, what the fuck! No!

I just can't leave her. I need her. Where did that thought even come from! Am I insane?

She needs to be fighting here. Go. Now!

"Buneary, Salandit, I will be back! Fight safely!" 

My voice reaches them at the same time as a massive cloud of smoke spills over the hill and hides everything from sight.

Not a single ray of sunshine pierces the cover.

Shit. I didn't think of that.

Everything is dark.

I can't even see my own nose. How am I supposed to navigate past Regice like that? -- Right! I can use aura!

But all of a sudden, a paw grabs me by my hand and starts dragging me along.

Seemingly instantly, we move out of the Smokescreen and into a muted world devoid of any color.

The trees are lifeless. The leaves are still. The moss is gray and depressing.

Buneary... you need to be alright. I need you. I can't have you leave me.

Gray trees and black and white vegetation silently rush past me as a paw keeps hold of me and drags me ever forward.

... A paw? ... Buneary? 

I look at my hand and see the blue fur of Lucario.

It felt too cold to be Buneary but my hand clutches her paw nonetheless. 

Like holding on to a lifeline, I keep hold of her.

Purpose fills me again. 

The tree!

Right! I am heading with Lucario to the heart to save it.

I need to stay focused. 

I can't let myself be distracted by the rhythmic pats of her feet on the ground.

Or the soul-soothing feeling in my hands. The soft fur. The cold skin of her paw pads. The reassuring strength in her grip.

Right. None of these things can distract me right now as we rush past the depressing scenery.

There is an annoying, ringing noise in my head and every once in a while I hear the sounds of splashing water and of tearing flesh...

We continue to run without saying a word. The incessant noise is our constant companion. 

Until we move into another cave. 

Darkness surrounds us once again.

This time I remind myself to use my aura sense to help me navigate in the dark.

Closing my eyes and focusing on my sixth sense, until I get a vague feeling for my surroundings.

The world is somehow even... less... this way. As if space only exists for a precious few meters. 

Everything beyond is the void.

Buneary is too far away for me to feel her.

Something powerful is somewhere far ahead but whatever it is, pales in comparison to Lucario.

Her soul is laid bare before me. And with nothing to distract myself I can view her in all the glory that makes her who she is.

Her pains, her grievances and her joys. I feel it all like never before. No amount of empathy can compare to this. As if she and I were parts of the same coin.

And passing through our connected hands is a string.

My soul tugs at the string that connects us somehow and I can feel her extending out to me as well as if she was embracing me.

Everything is just perfect now. 

She feels perfect right now.

We stay like this a little longer.

---

Narrator-POV:

Until voices interrupt the pleasant experience Swole was enjoying.

His eyes rip open and he finds himself in a large cave where he sees the heart of the tree in front of him.

The walls of the cave are a facsimile of plant cell-walls. They too, are shining in a deadly red. 

The weight of the cave is supported by just a few, still standing crystal columns. The tree knows that the roof of the cave would collapse on top of the heart if it cannibalized those columns for energy, and thus this is the last space with intact structural integrity within the entire Tree of Beginning.

In the middle of the room lies the crystal heart itself. A large, magical structure with jutting out spikes and some residual heat shining out in a dim, red color. The whole room is painted in a dangerous looking tint from the many sources of red light.

Earlier today, it was beating at the same pace as a human heart and radiating out bright green light with each magical pump.

But now, it is dead. 

And the fate of the tree has been sealed.

Just like a corpse that has some remaining bodily functions after the death of its heart, so too is the tree trying its best to stay alive with everything its got.

There is a girl with bushy, twin-tailed hair and a sporty outfit - Kidd Summers - and... 

"Huh?! Ash? What the hell is he doing here?" Swole exclaims as he takes in the occupants who managed to reach this place before him.

The twin-tailed girl is standing near an especially jagged crystal column, inspecting something inside and holding something in her arms. Both can not be seen by Swole just yet.

Ash is standing bent over in front of the enormous crystal heart. Just a moment ago, he had activated a Time Flower that grows as the base of the heart.

The memory stored inside the Time Flower is currently playing out.

The ghostly, faded image of Sir Aaron paces through the cave.

"Where are you!? Mew!" His voice rings out from the mirage.

Hoooooo

The screech of a pokemon wrests everyone's attention towards another cave entrance further up a wall.

A massive bird pokemon, unmistakably the legendary pokemon Ho-Oh, has just landed there and is now overlooking the cavern. Her plumage is a faded red and her surroundings are a faded green superimposed over the red glowing wall. 

However, just seconds after perching on the cliff facing the room, she starts glowing and transforms back into her original shape.

The otherwise illusive and mischievous pokemon was using the larger body to traverse the vast distance between the nearby battlefield and the tree. Her face is fallen in melancholy and her heart pains for the death and destruction that the war brings to her home once again.

"Mew... I realize that you and this tree are one. I know of the powers you can unleash; Please, take the power of my aura and save the people!"

"Mew!" She confirms in a relieved voice.

"Accept the aura!" Sir Aaron shouts out and he thrusts his palms towards Mew to build an orb of aura. The gloves on his hands worked on overdrive to support his efforts. "The power of aura... will... prevail!"

The mass of aura grows larger and larger, more massive than any created ever before. It takes everything from Sir Aaron, the strongest aura guardian in history, to keep the effort up and his body fights in pain against him as he emits more and more of his aura for Mew to collect.

"Aaaaa--" As his power accumulates to a crescendo, so does his bone-chilling scream in pain until the memory cuts short and dissipates into nothingness.

The Time Flower closes and hides the memory away but his shout of anguish still lingers in the room in echoes for a bit longer.

Lucario watched the whole exchange in a disbelieving stupor. 

The girl next to the pillar speaks up in a calm and professional voice, as if reciting the book she plans to write about her adventure. "Sir Aaron, I believe this is the moment where he sacrificed himself in order to save the kingdom and to restore peace between Kanto and Johto. A true hero, just like the legends said."

Lucario can not take it anymore. 

She falls to her knees and shuffles to the pillar. The staff she carried all this time drops to the ground with a loud clang. 

Sealed inside the crystal, like an insect trapped in amber, is the lifeless corpse of Sir Aaron himself.

Proof enough to Lucario to realize the truth.

Sir Aaron did not abandon the kingdom to save himself. He made the ultimate sacrifice in order to purchase Mew's aid in ending the war. To finally end their mission.

Little did he know, even the entirety of his life was not enough for that task. 

His actions that day have started the slow and steady decay of the Tree of Beginning. The war had already left its mark on both the environment and the tree and Aaron's request was the final nail in the tree's coffin.

Tears stream down Lucario's face as she grabs hold of Aaron's gloves which rest upon a crystal. "Forgive me for doubting you, master!"

Her paws stretch out to try and grab her former master through his crystalline coffin.

Kidd Summers and Ash Ketchum notice the newest additions to the cave and they can do nothing but watch in silence as the tragedy plays out in front of them.

Swole, on the other hand, does not simply watch in silence. His heart is screaming at him to move. 

And so he does.

His arms wrap around Lucario and she lets him.

Swole's hand strokes over the back of her head but her eyes remain solely on Sir Aaron.

His aura tries to reach out to Lucario once again, but he cannot reach her anymore.

They hug and Lucario cries until a pained cough catches their attention.

Mew floats out of Kidd's embrace as another tremor quakes through the cave and the crystal pillars start glowing a bright red. The last remaining power stores are being absorbed by Mew and the Tree of Beginning.

"Mew! Mew-me Mew!"

---

Swole-POV:

The ground quakes with a vengeance but Lucario helps me keep balance at the same time as I help her. The gloves that she held on tightly before, slip out of her grasp and she holds on to me instead.

A coughing, small, pink pokemon with a long tail slowly floats out of this familiar looking girl's arms and sluggishly hovers towards us. 

A Mew!?

"Me--. Cough. Mew-me Mew!"

"You need me to save you and the tree?" Lucario asks Mew for confirmation. "If I use the power of my aura?"

Mew seems to be in a lot of pain but nods along nonetheless. 

... But if Lucario uses up her aura...

My eyes leave her to look upon the figure of Aaron, trapped inside the crystal.

"I will help you, Mew." Lucario answers without any hesitation.

"Hold on, Lucario! If you use your aura like Aaron did, then you will end up in the same state as him!" ... dead. But I can't bring myself to utter that word.

Lucario squeezes my hand before letting go. "Yes. I know. But I am an aura guardian." She stands up, wipes away her tears and faces Mew. "The aura is with me."

She starts charging up a sphere of aura around Mew. She is focusing her personal aura into a single point.

"Lucario..."

She is offering up her life for the Tree of Beginning and for Mew. And all the pokemon whose lives depend on the tree.

But still... I want her. And I don't want to lose her. But I don't want so many others to die either!

I have to trade all of them away just to have her be with me... 

... Why didn't we just run away with all the other pokemon? Why are we even here!? 

This didn't have to be our problem to solve! Damn it! "Lucario, are you sure about this?!"

I shout so my voice reaches through the noise that her aura is making. 

I don't want her to do this. I wish it could be someone else. Anyone else...

Her head turns to me, new tears are streaming down her face. "No. I don't want to die. But... I must. Aaargh!"

Suddenly, her sphere disappears and Mew looks worse for wear than before.

"It's no use!" Lucario shouts out in frustration as she kicks a small crater into the ground. "It's not working! I'm not strong enough!"

Ash suddenly picks up Sir Aaron's gloves, puts them on and stretches his arms towards Mew. His face scrunches up in concentration and much smaller motes of aura appear around the little Mew.

The gems on the backs of the gloves are glowing brightly, trying to increase his power, I assume.

"Pika pi..." His pokemon calls out to Ash.

"No! It's too dangerous! You will end up destroying yourself!" The woman calls out next.

Now she cares?! When it's Ash fucking Ketchum who risks his life!? Where was your damn empathy when it was Lucario on the chopping block!

"If I don't do this, the tree will die." Ash responds while he struggles to maintain his aura. "Mew will die. And so will the pokemon who live here. I'm not going to give up!"

"Fuck!" He's right. 

And not only all the pokemon who live here... Buneary... Dawn, Akari, Salandit and everyone else in our group... If the tree dies and collapses... I can barely imagine what would happen to them. Would they die? Would they be stuck in stone until they starve?

... Ash's pitiful contribution of aura won't make a difference... but maybe mine will.

Ha. Ha. This will show him. My aura will be bigger! ... But it won't matter when I die.

With heavy steps I get closer to Mew and start focusing. I can feel a tear moving down my cheek.

I guess this is it.

My adventure... ends today.

I close my eyes and try to move my aura - my soul - and push it towards Mew.

It's difficult. My heart beats rapidly. I try to shut everything else out and concentrate until my soul gathers in front of me and mixes with Ash's.

But what I feel bothers me. It's weird. Ash's aura doesn't feel alive. It lacks personality. As if all his aura is merely energy.

Perhaps from the gloves? Or maybe he isn't a real person? No, it's because he's a noob. He has no idea how to use his aura and so he can't actually push out his soul... It's just surface power... No substance. And maybe the gloves too.

Mew feels afraid, truly saddened and a little hopeful.

Is Ash even in danger?

The guy didn't seem to recognize me at all, when he saw me. And I bet he fucking caused the whole issue somehow!

Arceus, how I hate him!

I wasted money on his shitty Pikachu. I had to save his ass in the Bewilder Forest. His friend is a pervert who can't keep away from Zoey!

He stole my second place in the tournament! And then forgot about me!

Did they leave Zoey behind somewhere? With Brock?! Is she in danger!? 

This fucking prick! I will kill him--

Warm determination wraps around me. 

Startled, I open my eyes and see a truly massive sphere of aura around Mew. Lucario is standing next to me and channels her aura into the sphere once again.

With one hand I take Lucario's paw and close my eyes again. I can feel her moving closer to me as well.

She feels... determined. Resigned.

"Swole... I won't blame you, for failing to keep your promise."

She is a little happy.

My promise... 'I swear it. I would never let you go.' 

Ha. So she really is part of my team now. Damn.

Her soul wholly wraps around mine. Her aura is simply so much stronger than mine. And she really is giving it her all. Her presence feels calming. Her aura presses into mine, gently. As if interlocking our fingers.

"Argh." Fuck. But this still hurts. It feels like my muscles are tearing themselves apart.

I can feel Lucario's pain as well. But her feelings of determination, gratitude and guilt outweigh the pain.

"Aaaaaaargh!" It hurts so much.

But Mew feels... happy. Our task is almost--

"Oof!" My aura rushes back to me and my eyes snap back open from the pure agony that assaults me.

I'm lying on my back. Pain throbs in my stomach and I can't breathe. Something knocked the wind out of my lungs.

No!

"Leave the rest of this to me, Swole!"

No, no, no, no!

She kicked me away!

"Lucario!"

"The aura. Is! With ME! Aaaaaaaaargh!" Lucario's whole body is glowing a light blue and flashes of bright light course through her body like lightning.

A second ball of power grows from within the aura sphere, this time coming from Mew. It quickly grows and consumes all the energy that Ash, me and Lucario put into it.

The light it emits briefly turns into a blindingly glaring shine and the next second, everything darkens.

The crystal heart stops beating, the walls stop glowing and the columns stop melting.

Beneath Mew, a tiny, sparkling sapling sprouts out of the ground and the pokemon seems happy as she dances through the air in excitement.

I scramble up from the ground and rush to Lucario as fast as my battered body allows me to.

She is exhausted and has crumpled to the ground right next to Aaron. A crystal has already grown to trap one of her legs.

As she tries to lift her arms to embrace me one last time, her paw brushes against yet another Time Flower and a new illusion lights up the room.

"Lucario, forgive me." Aaron's voice fills the silent room.

His memory is just a few steps in front of his own corpse. He too is exhausted and close to dying.

"I do... master." Lucario responds to the shade, despite him not being able to understand her back.

"Please understand. I had to seal you inside the staff... I knew if I didn't, you'd follow me here and suffer the same fate... I only wish... you could have known... the real story."

"I understand!"

"One day, you will be released... In a distant and more peaceful time... What will it be like? I wonder if-- urgh! Aaargh! ... I have... no regrets. My journey... has been good... I served a beautiful queen and found a beautiful mate... You and I... we shared so many adventures! Those memories... will always be with me."

Aaron collapses against a column while he speaks. The body of the memory is now seated the same way as his lifeless body. But his head is still held high.

"Master! If you could only hear me! I want to tell you. How much you mean to me! I love you!"

Lucario... I wish we never went to this damn tree. I wish we could have gone on so many adventures together.

"Lucario..." Aaron says softly. His body is losing more strength every moment. "Farewell... You were so much more to me, than just my pokemon... I love you."

Lucario is crying softly now. "I feel the same..."

"Who knows... it could be... one day... we will see each other again... I hope so, my love." His eyes close. 

His head falls limp and the memory becomes reality.

The Time Flower closes and Lucario breaks down in sobs.

Heavy tears stream down her face. "Aaron my love! I'm sorry I failed you!"

"Lucario." I say and her teary face turns back to me. "That's not true. You did good. You saved the tree. You proved that you are a true guardian of aura. You saved everyone... Just like sir Aaron did." 

But I don't mean those words.

I hate this. It should have been anyone else! Fuck the aura guardians! 'Sir' Aaron my ass! In the end, he pulled Lucario down with him!

Yet, I still hold her paw tighter.

"Thank you... Swole." Lucario wipes away her tears with her free arm. "It means a lot... to hear you say that."

"Lucario... I wish we could have gone on some more adventures. I will miss you."

Her eyes close.

"Me too... Goodbye, Swole... I'm sorry... Aaron is waiting for me..."

Her head falls limp.

Lucario... has died.

...

Her paw feels somehow much colder now in my hand.

"Why?" I mutter out but I don't expect an answer.

I barely knew her and yet... she ripped a hole straight through my heart. We weren't even given a chance to really get to know each other.

We didn't get to fight a single battle together.

All of the fun adventures we could have gone on together... lost to the void.

The string of aura that connected us is gone too but I can still feel her presence within my own aura.

This sucks.

...

Someone grabs me by my shoulder and pulls me back. The second my hand leaves Lucario's paw, the crystal suddenly grows over her and blocks her from touch.

My gaze remains fixated on her.

It was Ash. "Hey, uhhh, you... Are you alright?"

I blink in sheer disbelief. Did he seriously just ask that?

"By the way," He takes my silence as a confirmation. "My name is Ash Ketchum. This is Kidd Summers. And this is my partner Pikachu! And-- ... Oh. Sorry."

I wipe away my tears. "I'm not alright. And my name is Jimbob." I give him some stupid, random, fake name. 

I really can't be bothered with that guy anymore. If he just forgets about me after a few days, then he doesn't deserve to get my name.

And now I know why the girl looked familiar. She's the internet-famous adventurer and explorer, Kidd Summers.

Usually I would be excited to meet someone like that; After a champion, being an explorer and adventurer must be the second greatest job ever...

But I really couldn't give less of a crap right now. 

Fuck them.

I turn to start heading away. I want to return to Buneary--

Huh?

The dead crystal heart, the remaining pillars and the crystal that surrounded Lucario and Sir Aaron suddenly starts glowing again. This time with a soft green light. Some kind of green orbs are streaming out of them and float through the air into the small sapling underneath Mew.

Slowly but surely, Lucario disappears and is absorbed by the new tree. The sapling already grew to hip-height and continues to grow at a visible pace.

I pick up Aaron's-- No, Lucario's staff and lean it against the new tree. 

"Goodbye. Lucario."

A handful of the green orbs make their way to me, as if saying goodbye in return, but somehow they end up merging with my aura instead of moving to the new tree.

Was this just the part of me that I gave to her when Lucario unlocked my aura?

It feels warm, fuzzy and loving. Like the embraces we shared in the past.

I wish I could take one last look at her before I leave this Arceus forsaken place for good, but the pillar that sealed away Aaron is gone. The cluster of crystals that trapped Lucario is gone too.

Nothing remains... Huh? Except a pokemon egg?

A large, white egg with blue spots. The same blue as Lucario's fur. 

A Riolu egg?

I quickly pick it up before Ash or Kidd think this is some kind of loot for them and head for the exit.

Lucario must have been pregnant with an egg the whole time. Or is it gravid because they give birth to eggs?

"Hey, you. Jimbob, right?" Kidd Summers stops me from leaving. "How did you manage to get involved with this? Who are you?"

"I don't know... Can we do this some other time?"

I brush her off and head out.

Once again, the world is rendered in black and white.

Am I going insane? Or is that just the universe falling apart?

Who knows.

Who cares.

"Alright." A voice comes from behind. 

They are following me out. 

"It could be dangerous out here alone, without a pokemon, so we will follow you."

"Sure." Who cares.