Pathos「Pokemon Fanfiction」

Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four: By Heart

He didn't quite know what was going on, but Yan's terrified expression had made something in his blood freeze and he was sure that she had seen something that they hadn't.

If she was serious, though, all of them would die, and he didn't want that to happen—he did care about Fabio and Lillian to some extent, and Arceus forbid his death because there were still more than three weeks until he was supposed to die.

It took a few moments of staring at Azumarill's cold Pokeball in his hand to register what was actually going on, and the panicked voices of his partners were now audible through the cold fog that seemed to hang over his ears.

"What's going on?" Lillian glowered at him, an icy expression forming on her face. "Yan ran out all of a sudden after saying some strange things—did anything happen?"

"I'm not sure, but we have to run now." It wasn't the most convincing sentence he could come up with, but the pink-haired girl's words had shook him just the tiniest bit and he found himself tripping between sentences as he spoke. "I don't care whether it's stupid or not; we can come back some other day."

Noticing the two stock-still figures beside him, he grunted in annoyance, releasing his brother's Heliolisk from her Pokeball and commanding her to escort the two out.

He wanted to run—hell, it wasn't just because of Yveltal's words to him or whatever role he was supposed to play in this twisted nightmare, but he wanted to stay alive and that surprised him; this was the second time, after all, that he was witnessing death in the face.

Some part of him pondered the reason why he was so comfortable when his death had been announced straight to his face. Perhaps it was because he didn't want to die in a situation that he had no control over; perhaps it was because he didn't want a meaningless death.

He didn't really know, and in the same way, he couldn't find himself caring about any of that.

"I'll need an explanation for this later," Lillian warned, but she didn't protest against the Electric-type pushing her and Fabio forward and he was grateful for that.

Avis answered with a hurried nod. He didn't know why he was so on edge by Yan's expression and her terrified voice, but he supposed that he was far too used to her peace-loving self and kindness that his brain couldn't adjust to this new aspect of her personality.

Behind them, just as they stumbled out of the Arceus-forsaken building, a mighty bellow sounded in his ears , and he felt the ground trying to trip them up at every step they took.

He regretted his curiosity as soon as he glanced back for just a moment, when he saw a cloud of billowing orange that stopped just centimetres away from him and felt searing heat threaten to melt away the cloak around his shoulders.

Almost forgetting to let out a breath, he tensed as he realised that he was the only one stupid enough to stand where the explosion's flames could reach him; that the earth's rumbling was so much more prominent here and that it could devour him any second.

The ground bested him in the end, a violent rumble making him stumble and a second tremor causing him to lurch forward with the grace of a wild Hariyama.

"Psychic." Somewhere at the back of his mind, he knew that he had Fabio's reflex to thank for this—he would have been dead if not for the older boy's Pokemon. "Drag Aiden out of there, Mismagius."

He let himself exhale as he felt the creature lift him up in an invisible embrace, pushing him away from the chaos and dropping him several metres away, and he opened his mouth in thanks when he felt his feet touch the ground again.