Chp 6

	"Phantom. Phantom, wake up." Mystic said while pushing his side. He let out a groan and rolled over. She walked around to be face to face with him and lightly bopped him on the nose. "We gotta get moving." 

	He groaned again, opening on eye before shutting it quickly. "What? Where to?"

	"To the tower, geez, did you forget?" 

	"The tower..."

	A troubled look must have crossed his face, because she asked "What is it?" 

	"Do you not... we... ugh..." He couldn't bring himself to say anything about it. "We don't need to go there anymore."

	"Why? What about the eevee?" 

	He grimaced and covered his head with his paws. "Just trust me please." He begged.

	"No secrets. They always come back to haunt you. Tell me why." She said sternly. 

	"Would you want to know, even if it's something bad? Something really bad. I really don't want to say if you really don't remember." 

	"Don't remember what? Tell me already, dammit!" 

	"Fuck." He cursed under his breath. "You were... we made it to the tower, and someone knocked us out and raped you." 

	"Hah, that's a load of crap and you know it." His expression remained the same. "Seriously, stop joking." Nothing. "Then that means... my dream..." Her eyes went dim as she looked into her memories. "You were the one... who did it. I had a dream where we went into a dungeon and you stepped on a trap, then we... yeah..." 

	He thought to himself for a moment, his body, particularly his head, throbbing dully. His eyes widened when the memory came flooding back. He remembered everything. All that had happened yesterday, and how he had tried to fight it, but failed. He clenched his eyes and jaws, tears begging to fall. "It's all my fault!" He shouted suddenly, before turning and bounding off into the woods. 

	"Wait!" She tried to stop him, but he was gone. She followed after him, shouting for him the whole time. Her body ached with every step, but she couldn't let him do this. "Phantom, please come back! I don't blame you!" 

	Her voice fell on deaf ears. She tried her best, but his greater skill seemed to pay off as he vanished and she was lost. Her predicament did not stop her efforts though. The only thing she cared about was stopping him before he did something. "Phantom!" She kept calling, but received only silence in response. They only sounds besides her frantic panting and shouts was the wind. Occasionally she picked up the sound of a bird, but they only got her hopes up. 

	"Damn, damn, damn!" She nearly screamed in frustration. She couldn't let this ruin their friendship. In truth... she kinda liked what happened. She would have liked it much better if it had really been him though. Her love for Phantom definitely was more than what would be considered friendship. As she walked, considering her feelings, she became more and more absent, until she eventually tripped over something. She tumbled forward, smashing her face into a fallen and hollow log. She got back up, rubbing the sore spot. 

	She then heard the sound of crying, but not distantly. It was coming from in the log. She walked around and looked inside. There was a small, purple, mouse like pokemon, covered in spikes: a nidoran. The average nidoran would have been about her size, but this one was much smaller. "Must be a baby..." She said to herself quietly. Her fur raised as a chill ran over her body. Something was breathing behind her. 

	She leapt forward, onto the log, and spun around to face it. A gigantic similar looking pokemon was leaned over where she just was. The nidoking raised his head and roared at her. His horn began to glow as Mystic tried to back away. "I'm sorry. It was an accident..." She tried to explain. She dove to the side as he stabbed his horn forward, snapping the log in two where she was. The adrenaline coursings through her veins only nullify so much pain, and as she landed from her dodge, she stumbled. The nidoking took the opportunity, and smacked her away with a bulging forearm. 

	She cried out as she slammed into a tree, an sickening crack echoing out. She fell to the ground and began coughing in an attempt to recover. The ground shook as the beast stalked closer to her. "Help," She tried to yell, but all that came out was a faint whine. His horn began to glow again, and she closed her eyes in fear. 

+++

	Phantom darted through the woods with impressive speed. His eyes were barely open, just enough to see, as tears streamed out of them, leaving a sparkling trail behind him. His every breath was labored and shuddering, and not from the running. He burst through a bush and landed in a clearing. 

	He reared up, standing on his rear paws for a moment, before slamming his front end down, his back collapsing too. He flailed on the ground for a moment before he curled up. He struggled to catch his breath, as he sniffled in an attempt to get control of his emotions. "Fuck... I'm so fucking stupid... HOW COULD I SCREW UP SO BAD!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, sending a flock of birds to the sky. He rolled back to his feet and charged forward, slamming his head into a tree. "I had someone and I fucking blew it!" He smashed his head into the tree again, letting out a sorrowful cry. 

+++

	When nothing happened, Mystic opened her eyes again. She looked around in confusion after she saw no nidoking. The nidoran in the log was also gone. "Thank you..." She sheepishly said to no one in particular. 

	She slowly got up, fearful that the nidoking was still nearby. Her back shot out bolts of white hot pain, but she had to find Phantom. Just before she moved away, something caught her eye. A light blue orb sat near the log. She shook her head and decided not to mess with it. 

	"How could I screw up so bad!" A scream ripped through the quiet. It was faint, but she could tell the direction, and it was Phantom's voice. Gritting her teeth, she went as fast as she could towards it. 

+++

	Phantom stopped smashing his head into the tree. The bark was damaged, and his head was bleeding profusely, the blood and tears mixing as they fell down. He drew his head back once again, but before he could smash it forward, something pounced on him. They rolled together across the ground until his attacker ended up on top of him. His eyes were too blurry to make them out, only seeing a red and orange creature. His fur bristled with electricity in preparation for retaliation.

	Once he blinked a few times, the image cleared, revealing Mystic holding him down with her tears falling onto his chest. Her fur was puffed out with the static electricity he was letting off. "Please stop!" She yelled into his face. He winced at the emotion in her voice. "Stop blaming yourself. I don't!" 

	He rolled his head to the side, unable to look her in the eyes. "I raped you."

	"No!" She smacked the side of his head. "You didn't do anything. I blame whoever put that trap there."

	Some of his blood ran down into one eye, forcing him to shut it. "You... really don't blame me?" 

	"For the love of..." She leaned down and licked him on the nose. "You didn't do anything wrong. Now get up, we should go rescue that eevee."

	"I don't think... there really ever was one. Not all pokemon are nice people, so it may have been a trap." 

	"Why would someone send us into a trap like that?!" 

	"They probably wanted to rob us. Rescue teams are usually loaded."

	"Dammit! Let's just warp back home then."

	"We can't... Badges don't work outside of dungeons. I tried earlier."

	"Wait, maybe... a little bit ago, I found some blue thing in the woods. Could that help?"

	"Blue thing... an orb?! Yea, it could! Let's go!" He said excitedly, seemingly cheering up. He hurried forward but once he looked back, his joy left. She was limping along after him. "Are you okay?!" He asked, rushing back to her side.

	"Yea, yea, I'll be fine. Let's just get the hell out of here." She tried to perk up, but her wounds were getting to her, forcing her to limp slowly alongside him. Every few seconds, he looked back to make sure she was making it. She put up a strong facade to ease his worries, even though her entire body burned with pain. 

	"Here," He suddenly said. He opened the box and offered her an oran berry. She accepted it, swallowing it in two large bites. Her pain lifted greatly, and they continued on. Every time her paws hit the ground though, pain shot through her for a brief moment. She hid it as best she could, only stumbling on the first few steps. 

	She guided him from behind back the way she came, until they returned to the fallen log. The orb was still sitting right there next to it. Phantom went up to it and looked at it closely. "Ha! We are so lucky! This is an escape orb. See this house shape inside? That's how you can tell." 

	She came over and they both pressed a paw to it. The orb let out a bright yellow light, blinding them both, before they found themselves in their room. 

	"An escape orb teleports you back to where ever you think of as home. Do you need the nurse?" 

	"Yea, and so do you." She said, pointing at his bloody forehead.

	They both went down and into nurse Puffles' office. "What can I- My lord, what happened!" She exclaimed upon seeing them. 

	"We got into trouble..." Phantom said shyly. She guided them over and got them both on examination tables. Phantom was up first. The blissey took some alcohol and a cloth and began to clean up his head. He hissed at the burning sensation it caused. She then gently went in with a pair of tweezers, working expertly with her pudgy hands to pick out any remaining splinters. Once done, she switched to examine Mystic.

	She visibly bit her lip while gently combing through the vulpix's fur. She carefully touched her back, apply just enough pressure to make Mystic squirm. "You have some spinal damage, little lady. And this foot too." She said, pointing to her right one. "It's not crippling, but still dangerous. I'll get you patched up, but you have to take it easy or you won't heal properly. I'll give you some sitrus berries to take and dull the pain."

	A while later and Mystic had a brace around her midsection and a splint on her foot. She could still walk, but couldn't put much weight on it. The entire time, Phantom was looking at her with a guilty face. They walked out together and slowly headed back to the room. Mystic wanted to speak, but she decided to wait until they got into privacy.

	Once back, she immediately spoke up. "Don't blame yourself for this. It's my fault. I was attacked in the forest."

	"But if I didn't run off-"

	"Dammit! Stop doing that! Shit happens, whether you want it to or not. Bad thing will happen no matter what. It's all out of your control so just relax. You can be guilty for your mistakes all day long, but stop being so negative, please." She said, her emotions going from angry to sympathetic. 

	"I..."

	"You don't have to respond. Just, trust me, all right?" 

	"Yeah..." He said. He got up and took two apples from the barrel. He rolled on over to his bed, and carried the other gently in his teeth to hers. He set it down for her, making sure it didn't escape before she got hold of it. She put a paw over his. 

	"Please. You're a good person, you have nothing to be ashamed of."

	He blushed and hurried back over to his bedding. "Thanks..."

	"You know... if I was in better shape, I would pounce you right now."

	"W-w-what?!" 

	"I honestly almost liked what happened. I just wish my first time was with you." 

	He just blushed and looked down. He took one more slow bite of his apple, but his appetite had vanished. "How could you be interested in someone like me? I'm just so... average. There are pokemon out there who would be so much better for you."

	She let out a heavy sigh. "You just proved it. You care about me. If I went out and asked some random male to fuck me, they would do it and leave." 

	"Of course I care. You're my friend."

	"Well maybe I want to be more than friends."

	He got up and walked towards the curtain. "I'm gonna go for a walk. I'll be back later." Before she could respond, he was gone. 

	He walked with a purpose out into the town, a stern look on his face. He wasn't thinking about their conversation though. He found it soon enough: the house where Hearth the typhlosion had been. In front of the house was a for rent sign. He gritted his teeth in anger. 

	With his suspicions confirmed, he headed back to the headquarters to get some info. Once there, he headed straight for the main office. He had to wait outside, as someone else was with Marie, but when they were done,  he went in and got right to the point.

	"Do you know anything about a typhlosion named Hearth?"

	"Let me see." She turned around and went through a few filing cabinets before turning back. "No records of a such a pokemon in the rescue team registrations but there is a record of him renting a property here. May I ask why you need to know?"

	"He sent us into a trap. I think he might be a bandit."

	"That is worrying. The house was rented almost a week ago. Other than that, there are no traces."

	"I went to his house, and he's gone. We got pretty hurt and there was no sign of the pokemon we were sent to rescue."

	"Yes, that is very suspicious. If we discover anything, we will let you know." 

	"Thanks." He said, before heading back to the room. The sun was beginning to set, and as he walked across the yard, he saw Mystic looking out of their second floor window. They locked eyes for a moment, and she vanished from the glass.

	Once he got back up to the room, she was laying on her bed as usual.

	He took his place and rolled onto his side without a word.

	"I want you."

	"Hmm?" He said, raising his head. He had been distracted with his own thoughts and hadn't heard her.

	"I want to have sex, with you. But I feel like crap, so I want you to promise me."

	"I... uh, wow..." He took a deep breath. After a long pause, he said "Alright. If it'll make you happy, I'll do it." 

	She smiled and relaxed. She reached her muzzle into the bag of berries sitting next to her, ate one of the sitrus berries inside, and closed her eyes. "Could you hit the light?" She mumbled. 

	He got up and did so, his body feeling quite stiff. His exhaustion was quickly catching up to him. Only seconds after he closed his eyes, he was out.