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"Iron Hide!" the youth yelled as he lept from his tree, bounding towards his fallen pokemon. Good thing to, cause the Tree he was calling his orders from caught up in flames, the entire Tree ablaze in seconds.

The 13 year old stood rooted in his spot, halfway to his fainted pokemon, his eyes glued to the tree, eyes wide with fear. 'I... I could have..just Died' the realization of everything finally hitting him like a heard of tauros. inside he felt sick, this wasn't a Game, not someplace where you could Save your progress then pick up again where you left off. Here, if you loose, you lost a lot more than just some EXP.

Tk finally, with much effort, Resumed his trek to his fallen Pokemon. closer examination shown that the Lairon wasn't in any immediate Danger. "Thank Goodness.." the boy sighed with some relief. Moments later Spike had reappeared at his Trainers side, covered with soot. he returned out of worry for his trainer and because it was pointless to continue his search for Grom, he Had been there to witness his destructive power. The mole Pokemon didn't want some one as young as Takamaru to have to fight against that. So when Tk asked if he had found anything during his search, the mole Pokemon simply shook his head slowly.

Takamaru was now sitting between a fainted Iron Hide and a tired Spike. lots of different things going through his mind, like how he could have just died, how Olysea must have felt while dying while Himself only watching her. as well as whether or not he should Brave the fires of the forest in serch of gorm, whom he still thought to hold Lancer. So many different things, so many different choices, so many different outcomes, so many that thinking about them all only made the boy feel worse.

With a Deep breath, Tk took to his feet. his mind not entirely made up, but deep down he knew that he couldn't just turn tail and leave, his childish pride wouldn't allow that. So pushing all those other thoughts aside for now, he removed both a potion and a Paralysis Heal, using them to fix up the still fainted Iron Hide, then returning him to his heavy ball with a flash.

From there Tk took out a black bandanna, with a half cut silver pokeball on the left side and used it to tie around his forehead to keep his silver bangs out of his already limited vision, the bangs now resting over the top of the bandanna. "There that should be fine, you ready Spike?" he asked looking down at the mole pokemon whom only shook his head in defiance. "Wha? why not? don't we have to go help every one?" asked a confused Takamaru. he knew Drilbur was defiant and all but not in the Face of battle, he had always proven to be a good fighter, and a Pokemon that generally liked to fight. so Seeing Spike now wanting to run away deeply concerned Takamaru.

Spike still only shook his head, now carefully wrapping a clawed hand around Takamaru's Arm, attempting to pull him in the direction of the exit. "Sp..Spike, no! we cant just run away" Tk cried, tugging his arm, but the mole Pokemon held it firmly. "Dril dril bur bur Drill!!" the mole Pokemon Shouted [don't be an idiot, what can we do!]. Still not being able to understand poke-speech Takamaru was getting pretty frustrated, finally tugging his arm Free. "Fine, if you don't wanna come then go back to the Pokemon center, im going."

Directly afterward Takamaru sprinted deeper into the forest, not out of a sense of heroism, but because he didnt like leaving things un-finished. Even though he couldn't call the people he came into the forest with direct friends, he still felt pretty...'Attached' to them. So the boy letp over a fallen Tree. Behind him Spike let out an annoyed noise and followed his trainer. if he couldn't sway Tk from his path then he'd protect him.

Someone said her name. Maybe. The dull roar of the flames made it hard for her to tell. Her vision was blurred, eyes reddened by the noxious smoke. Salieri's senses weren't on point.

Or was it her emotion that was making it hard for her to see? Bill's face was a combination of half burned, bloody and bruised. How long had she been punching him for?

Salieri realized that her fist was raised to give him another steel clad punch. It had become reflexive for her at this point.

She felt Henrietta pull her off of Bill, and the two girls rolled onto the ground. Laying on her side, Salieri's gloved hand was illuminated by the fire. The blood of the man she had beaten senseless coated the knuckles of the iron armor. It's thick scent was still strong even with the continuous formation of smoke in the canopy above them.

The Battle Girl sat up and looked over to Bill's body. Those burns hadn't come from this encounter. No, those burns had come from the fire Salieri had left Bill in. Is that what happened after I left?...was he just going to burn up?

Now the two bullet wounds on Bill had become apparent to Sal. The sight of the black material mixed into his flesh almost made her gag. The whole man's appearance was horrifying.

What horrified her the most was knowing that she had done most of it.

Salieri turned to Henrietta, trying to furrow her brow but failing because her eyes were too wide. Henrietta looked shaken up as well. But that wasn't unusual. Sal almost didn't even notice. She looked over her friend's body, to see if any of her clothes were ripped or if there were bruises or scratch marks-

You need to calm down. He's not going to touch her now, she'll be okay.

She gulped before slowly speaking to her.

"What's going on, Henrietta?"

What she had intended was to say that in a level voice, with the same hint of sternness that had become a part of her general behavior. But as she breathed heavily, her voice sounded a little shaky. Not something Henrietta had heard from her before.

Salieri's heart pounded slowly while Henrietta rushed to Bill's side.

"Saved you?"

Henrietta hadn't been attacked by Bill at all. He had taken the bullet for her. And Salieri had been too angry to even make sense of it.

When she met Bill at the Dreamyard, she hated him. When all he did was mock her, she hated him. When he taunted her in Nacrene City, she hated him. When he blocked her way and took one of her most powerful blows like it was nothing only moments before, she hated him. When he threatened to hurt Eunmi, she hated him.

There was nothing she felt for him but hate. No matter how much of a tough front she put on in front of him, deep down the things he said stung her core. So when she saw him on top of Henrietta, it had broken the dam she worked up, and all of the hate flooded out.

But he saved Henrietta.

Salieri's eyes darkened with shadow as she bowed her head forward. Her arms hung limply at her side as she stayed in her kneeled position. I did that to him?...that was me?...

"I can't...I can't do it. Not now. Look at me."

The Battle Girl suddenly stood up and held her arms out at her side, showing off her Plasma gear. "I-I can't go dressed like this. I was trying to steal that skull back in disguise, but the police will get the wrong idea if I'm in their uniform, you know?" She tried to laugh a little in light of everything. It was a really weak laugh.

Her eyes tried to focus on just Henrietta and not to Bill as well, but she couldn't help wavering back and forth. "H-hey, I just need a minute to change out of this. You...You take him," she told Henrietta, nodding with the side of her head to Bill's body without looking at him.

"I'll take that woman over there."

Avan came to a stop when Chuck shouted to him. Called the police? Is he crazy? Isn't he the bad- The boy shook his head, Or maybe not... He didn't know what to think other than to agree; the fire had to be put out.

"Alright!" He called back, "Let's do it!"

Avan reached into his bag and pulled out the two pokemon he'd need for this task. In a simultaneous flash of light, George and Baku appeared from their Pokeballs. Baku instantly took note of his surroundings.

[What's with the fire?] He asked almost frantically.

"No time to explain." Avan replied as he looked George over, "Use your psychic abilities to push away the flames and snuff them out if you can!" Baku huffed before turning, his eye alight, to do what he needed.

The boy pulled a Super Potion from his bag and sprayed George with it. The Tadpole roused slightly. "Sorry buddy, but I need your help again. Can you use Rain Dance again?" George nodded; and his tail whipped back and forth rhythmically, clouds gathered over head and it began to rain." That did it for right there. "Aqua Ring, then Muddy Water!" George wrapped himself in a watery veil to recover further, and then proceeded to spray the area brownish water, aiming for trees and the grounded, and whatever looked to be on fire. From there they'd work outwards.

While Avan and Chuck started putting out the fires in the Pinwheel Forest, Virizion pranced by them at speeds too quick to be fully clear. The force of it's run helped blow away flames, making them die down in front of the two former opponents.

The guardian pokemon didn't stop going.

****

"Wha?" Salieri said abruptly, snapping out of her trance. She had been leaning over Alyse to take the Plasma Grunt's armor off like Henrietta had said. It looked like she had been shot too. She didn't look as bad off as Bill but she definitely needed help.

Sal had heard that in the Dreamyard, one of the Plasma Grunts died. And now she was seeing people get shot. And I left Bill in the forest to burn. What is wrong with me?

Salem looked over the Alyse's body fretfully. She knew what gunshot wounds were. And how deadly they could be. When the Eevee's eyes wandered over to the knuckles of Sal's gloves, her nose began to twitch with sudden awareness to the aroma of blood.

The flames had blocked her view before, and she hadn't seen what Salieri had done. Or what had happened to her. But something had shaken up her trainer more than she had ever seen.

"Vee vee..." Salem whimpered.

"Yeah, come here." Salieri motioned for Takamaru to come closer with her hand. "Can you take this lady? I'm still in disguise, so I've still got a shot at getting that skull back."

Salieri hadn't taken her uniform off yet, opting to take off Alyse's first so she wasn't boiled over. Besides, she didn't want to be anywhere near Bill when he recovered. If he recovered. The Battle Girl thought little of asking this out of Takamaru at first. But then she remembered that he was just a kid. Sure, she wasn't much older than him. Even so, Sal felt that those few years made a big difference.

"...good to see you're okay."

Takamaru complied and walked over to Sal and the unconscious Alyse.

during these types of moments when two comrades are brought together, finding out that the other is physically Safe can be a hefty relief on one's mind. but not here, not when the surrounding forest was ablaze, not when two people are on the verge of death and more already possibly Dead, and Definitely not when your own mind is ablaze in doubt, Fear, and a collection of many other uncertain emotions

Looking at the unconscious form that was Alyse made Takamaru uneasy, it reminded him of Olysea's dying moments, the moments where he stood stock still and watched. a Shiver Ran down the length of Tk's spine and he shook it off, already having pushed it to the back of his mind, he'd sort all his thoughts out later.

With a nod of his head he would Agree to Ferry the plasma grunt to Safety. "But could you do me a Favor? If you-" he stopped himself.

"When you find Gorm, will you also Get my Pokemon back? he's a Karrablast, you'll know him if you see him. a Real Friendly Pokemon." his Question was more of a plea, all his childishness from before gone, replaced by a more retrained, a weighted down presence.

'I didn't think that this is how things would go when i agreed to Get back the Dragon Skull.' thinking back to when he was Full of optimism and Resolve made him wonder how how much this 'Adventure' Had forced him to grow. it seemed like only yesterday when he'd spend his summer's Reading Manga, Watching anime, and playing around town with his Buddy, Hiba. 'wish he were here in unova..'

Regardless of whether not sal Agreed to Retrieve his Pokemon or not, he would place the Grunts stomach on his back, her head resting on his shoulders. Herself being Taller than Tk made it so her legs drug against the ground, "Spike, a little help please?" with that the Drilbur would trot over and place the woman's legs over his neck.

"And...im glad your okay-" 'As ok as a person could be' "- too, Wayne would be pretty bummed if anything happened to you." he said with a small slightly Cheerful smile, in what was an attempt on hopefully cheering Salieri even a little bit. 'wait, why am i trying to Cheer anyone up?' he pushed these thoughts aside.

With that, Takamaru, along with spike's help, followed behind Henrietta, carrying Alyse. Himself wishing, once again, that he had more Pokemon to help.

"Do you have any others beside K-rok?" He asked Chuck. "If not, got any ideas?"

"More water-types?" He asked again, mostly to himself this time, to think of something, anything, that could potentially help in this situation. "More water..." The pulled out his Pokedex and began to quickly press it's buttons. "Aha!" He smiled at Chuck, "I have an idea. There are no water-types in this forest as far as I know..." Besides the Tympole outside the main forest, since Avan didn't know they were technically connected and random Panpour that dotted the main forest which Avan didn't know about either. "But what if we could spread what we have even further?" With that, Avan called Baku over.

"Go up above and direct the rain, this area is fine for now."

The Munna did just that. Above the tree tops, his eye lit up once again and most of the rain suddenly stopped; it was now under Baku's control. And with that the rain was sent rushing to the area around that were not in the range of the Rain Dance itself.

"Keep it up!" Avan called to Baku.

Meanwhile, George was continuing his Muddy Water attacks; the mud and water combined would make good progress with the flames. But they weren't being spread the way they were meant to be; so George turned it up a notch. In game the Muddy Water attack is like a wave, like Surf, so going on that... He opened his mouth wider and larger pulses, or waves, or however it would look, erupted.