Not wanting to overstay our welcome, I get up nice and early. In fact, it's still dark. The first thing I notice is that only five pairs of eyes are watching me. I count again. Bronze, Khrys, Sky, Toxis... Dill. Bill has breakfast ready, but my eyes are wild with fear. "Are you interested in some pancakes?" My stomach growls and Toxis licks his lips, but I pull him away by the ear.
"I have to go. One of my Pokemon is missing." Bill looks confused but I drag out the struggling Nidorino by his ear and begin running, which is very hard until Toxis gives up and stops digging his heels in. Dill is on his back, Sky and Khrys are flying at full speed, and Bronze is just wandering alone. He looks around at the world, they grey clouds specked with dawn light reflected in his eyes. "Ashley... I'm scared." He says finally.
"Me too." I tell him, my voice coming out in rasps as I run like hell.
I reach the National Park last, my Pokemon already there, standing in shock. "WAAAAIT!" I scream, but they're not scared.
Pecker is taking on five Hoothoot at once. He fends them off with a burst of sound, which is angled in a way so that it looks like it's coming from the stick. "Hullo!" he says cheerily, taking his eyes off his adversaries. His eyes are full of the thrill of battle.
"PECKER, LOOK OUT!" I scream as a Scyther advances behind him, large and menacing.
He doesn't even notice, that gleeful smile still on his face, until a scythe rips right through him, leaving a bloody gash on his back. His eyes are wide for a split second, until his leg bends inwards and he falls over.
I run to him.
Too soon.
Too soon.
No no no no no no no no.
"Ashley, before I regenerate..."
"It's all right. You'll be okay." I'm keeping myself calm.
"You were the best companion ever."
"Don't die. Don't die. Don't die." My heart beats to the words, over and over and over.
"Hey, maybe next time I'll be a ginger. I've always wanted... to... be..."
And he's silent.
"WHY?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?" I cry over the silent form of his body, picking up that stick he loved so much. To my surprise, the stick is... hollow? There's something still in there. How could it even fit?
I shake it out, and a black bell drops onto the floor, jingling. The kind Stantlers have on their antlers. It's smeared in blood and still vibrates with ghostly energy.
I might have been the best companion... but I wasn't the only one.
I leave the stick by his grave.
"You were weird. But that was good." Sky says.
"Good weird." agrees Khrys.
"It was much too soon... but I wish you safe travels." Bronze tells the mound in the earth.
"You fought like a mad owl." Toxis notes.
"Bananas are a good source of potassium. You had class." Dill tells Pecker, "but pickles are better."
"To the best timelord ever, even if you were just an owl on a stick." I finish, and we all bow our heads before heading to Eutucreak, where Morty will finally explain everything.
In the morning light, the place where we buried him- and his stick- glow a faint gold.
