Pokemon Max

Ch. 36 Turns Out, Begging Works

Ch. 36 Turns Out, Begging Works

-Meanwhile-

Harper strained to keep going. She had been fighting for several minutes now, and hadn't made much progress. The men seemed to keep coming, and she couldn't keep it up. After taking out a few more, she looked at those remaining and simply fell. She couldn't hold herself up. She looked up, ready for whatever happened next. Suddenly, a large, dark void appeared between them. Out of it came a large creature, with two figures atop it. Todd leaned off of the back and gave her a wink.

Giratina quickly began blasting men. It hit them with balls of energy, it body slammed some. It was both awesome and completely terrifying.

After the men were all down, Todd jumped off of the legendary Pokemon. He leaned against it and grinned. "Well? Pretty awesome, right?"

"Incredible. How did you manage to tame it?" Harper asked.

"Well, it wasn't easy. But I knew I had to-"

"He closed his eyes and begged for his life." Red walked up beside Todd. Todd threw a punch at Red's arm.

Suddenly, frantic footsteps were heard leaving. The three looked to see one man running off. Red reached for a Pokeball.

"Wait." Todd said. "It's fine. It's just one guy."

Red sighed, and the three climbed atop Giratina and flew off to assist Nelly.

-Later, back to Todd-

After we met Nelly and gave her a hand (and I picked myself up a freakin' AWESOME Irish meal with both wieners and french fries), we flew back. We decided it best to park outside view. Once we got off, Red announced that he was going to use Giratina to get home. I walked up beside him. "Well, thanks man."

"No problem. Take care of yourself, 'kay?"

"Why, you think I need you to do it?" I grinned.

"So, see you later?" Red called as he hopped on Giratina's back.

"Who knows? I just might get lonely."

Giratina disappeared into a void with Red on back. "Well, there goes one of our best modes of transportation." I sighed.

We made it back to Doc's house soon after. I opened the door and yawned as I called out, "All right, mission accomplished, I'm ready for a..." I noticed Taylor standing in the middle of the room, with Joey backing up slowly. He wisely feared the outburst to come.

"Uh, hi, hehe." It had been almost a year since I had seen Taylor face to face. She wasn't happy.

"Todd, we need to talk."

---

"Todd, what the **** was with the whole, 'Don't tell anyone anything' bit!?"

"Whoa, okay, I didn't know you knew that word. Listen, just calm down. There are impressionable kids in this house."

She leaned back on a wall as I began to explain.

---

I walked out of the room and took a deep breath. "Well that could have been a disaster."

"Todd, come here." Doc called to me.

"'Sup?" I asked.

"First of all, you'll be happy to know Adrian has made a full recovery."

"Awesome. What else?"

"I think you'll want to see this." She turned and showed Joey standing in an open area. He had boxing gloves on his hands. He waved.

She went and pressed some buttons, and a large punching bag dropped from the ceiling. She nodded to Joey.

Joey took a deep breath, and began punching. He looked swift, and as he continued, his punches became faster, until his arms could barely be seen moving. He grinned, with just a nice touch of cockiness. He began to mix in kicks, and soon a hole appeared in the bag as foam began falling out. He slowed, until he delivered a spinning kick to the center of the bag, knocking it off of its perch.

He breathed quickly, then began to steady his breathing.

"Whoa." Harper spoke first.

"He seems to have been affected as well. I don't know why he hasn't begun showing symptoms until this point."

I heard my pokedex beeping. I pulled it out and opened it. It began to list information.

Tyrogue. Fighting Type. The scuffle Pokemon. It is always bursting with energy. To make itself stronger, it keeps on fighting even if it loses.

"Well, this is awkward." I sighed.

-Later-

I sat in Doc's attic. Nobody ever came here for anything, so it was always quiet. I looked out at what I could see from the small window. It was getting late in December, and a light snow had begun dusting the roads.

"Come up here often?" I turned around to see Taylor.

"Oh. Uh, yeah, sometimes." I sighed.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Sure."

"What's wrong, I thought you loved Christmas?"

"Yeah, but to be fair, my last Christmas I had my biggest failure, that would make me look like a freak, and make my life a living hell."

"I think you might be doing that to yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"Todd, think about what you've had so far. You've become family with these people. You've made friends."

"And I saw one die."

"What?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Todd, I'm sorry. Just, remember what's important, okay? You don't have to do it for me. Do it for your mom."

She caught me off guard. I sighed. "Thanks. For coming up here."

"No problem."

---

We headed down to check on Joey, when I looked out a window. I saw a large, strange wave approaching fast. I immediately snapped into combat mode.

"Everyone down!!" I yelled. Taylor dropped beside me, and the others as well. I noticed Joey wasn't yet. "DOWN!!" He reacted this time and ducked.

The wave came in before I could react. I felt myself get flung into the wall. I felt crushing pain in my chest and back. I fell onto the ground.

-Later-

I began to feel my eyes flutter, and awoke. I stood up, with much pain, from hitting the wall. Everyone else was getting up slowly. I noticed a little exception though. "Doc."

I rushed to her, ignoring the pain. She lied face down on the floor. I reached to her arm to turn her over, but upon grabbing her, I pulled it away quickly. She was freezing cold. I could hardly touch her. I was careful to touch only her clothing as I flipped her. Her front worried me even more. She was clearly unconscious. But her face was also literally white as snow.

"Doc. What happened to you?"

To be continued in the BIG CHRISTMAS SPECIAL CHAPTERS!! DON'T MISS THE FINALE OF THE FIRST PART OF THIS TALE!!