Rays of sunlight shone on the light blue scales of Gyarados. Warm breath splattered on Patrick’s face filled with the smell of dead fish as it roared. The sound rumbled in Patrick’s core, he spun and raced towards the forest, away from the behemoth. But it was too late.

  Gyarados pushed its head out with its enormous neck. Fangs caught Patrick by his calf as its tongue pulled him down towards its gullet. Patrick winced, its many jagged teeth slicing ribbons out of his skin. His head pulsed with the pain, as if millions of daggers were stabbing every inch of his trapped limb.

  Patrick’s hand dug deep into the sand, searching for a grip as he tried to pull himself out of the Gyarados’s grasp.

  A shout echoed from the forest ahead. Pancham ran towards Patrick, utilizing its energy that was lost on Nickit and Zigzagoon, who crawled to get to him. Patrick’s heart leaped to his throat as his other leg failed to find a purchase on the slippery sand beneath him. The sand was painted with scarlet as blood dripped from his mutilated leg.

  A white and black arm hovered in front of Patrick. Shining with the sun that was rising slowly but surely. Patrick’s surroundings however darkened by the minute as he slowly lost his fight against Gyarados’s tongue. Heat filled his body as he grabbed the warm arm of Pancham. It whimpered as it pulled on Patrick with its entire strength, wrestling the huge tongue that could very well be the same size as its entire, puny body.

  Patrick thrashed with his leg, the pain shooting up his spine like a hot lance digging into his leg. He kicked the tongue a few times, forcing it to relent its grab slightly. Pancham groaned as it used its entire strength and pulled Patrick out. Darkness gave way to light as the sunlight battered Patrick’s exhausted body. Tears welled up in Patrick’s eyes but it wasn’t their time. He choked back the tears and crawled ahead, not daring to look back.

  Pancham didn’t relent its pull as jaws snapped behind Patrick, missing his legs by an inch or two every time as it exited the lake more.

  The Gyarados gave up and licked its blood filled lips to dive into the lake again. Waves rounded the lake, rippling from the spot Gyarados dove. Bubbles rose up as the light blue disappeared into the depths of the deep blue lake. Patrick loosened his entire body as Pancham, Zigzagoon, and Nickit pulled him away from the shore and underneath the shade of a tree on the forest’s edge.

  He gave a deep breath, his chest rising and lowering visibly, and looked at his leg, but he didn’t find one. Its surface was a mutilated black and red mess of meat. Skin gave way to show the bloody red muscles beneath it. The metallic stench of blood swirled with the damp rot of the leaves behind him into an amalgamation of must.

  He wept.

  A howl that rustled the leaves above as he shouted, pain thumping in his head. Tears lined his face in two streams from each eye. The warmth of the tears offered reprieve in the cool of dawn.

  The dam he used to bottle his emotions held up for long but once one inch crumbled, the rest followed. He cried as he imagined his mutilated leg in his mind’s eye. Mom’s warm embrace as she consoled him after he came back with a graze from Slumbering Weald. Amber’s glistening crimson hair that fluttered with the wind, her smile a ray of sunshine merging with the real ones streaming behind her. The warmest embrace of Mimikyu on the log in Slumbering Weald as they played together, joked together, and hung out together for hours on end.

  An arm hid his eyes as streams kept flowing, his whimpers a pathetic plea for mercy that would never come. He wept for a long while as his Pokemon sat around him, giving him enough space to vent his emotions.

  His entire body shook as something cold splashed on his leg. He wiped the blurry mess of tears on his eyes and saw Pancham splashing lake water it carried in its cupped hands and going back to bring more. The blood poured off his leg, mixed with the lake water, and seeped into the sand beneath him.

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  ***

  Sunlight battered Patrick’s eyes and woke him up. With the position of the sun, it was already afternoon. Neurons flashed in Patrick’s mind as the pain slammed into him like a freight train. He bit his lip hard as he choked back the scream that welled in his throat.

  His companions stirred out of sleep as Patrick looked at the remains of his leg. He placed a hand that sunk in the soft sand and hoisted himself up on his healthy leg. Nickit and Zigzagoon pushed him from behind with their snouts, helping him up on his leg. He wished he had a Pokemon large enough to carry him. Lombre flashed in his mind’s eye, its face caved in by the numerous punches he landed.

  Karma.

  He walked on the healthy leg, the swinging of his mutilated one sending jolts of pain up his spine. The pain amplified to a million as he tried to support himself slightly with the other one. A scream rumbled the ground around him as Patrick vented out the pain.

  The tree’s rough bark offered support as Patrick hopped on one leg, yearning for Rose’s camp. He didn’t know if the man would offer anything for Patrick in this situation, he might even deem him unworthy and end him right there and then, but it was his only shot.

  Pidove chirped on the branches above. The wind whistled through the leaves of the canopy above that shielded them from the sunlight. Skwovet ran from tree to tree, sniffing the blood beneath them and running with bewildered looks on their faces.

  Wood dragged over the dirt, digging a shallow trench, emitting a screech. A thud echoed through the woods as a huge branch dropped on the floor. Patrick rested his back on a tree and stared at the log and his two companions. He raised the log painfully.

  They brought him a crutch. How did they know about something like that?

  Patrick took it and pushed it underneath his bare armpit. The wood chafing at his skin, leaving splinters as he pushed through the pain at both ends of his body.

  Shadows lengthened. Temperatures dropped as time strung on for what felt like eons. Patrick’s vision narrowed with a growing vignette at the borders. His healthy leg ached with soreness and his other one screamed in pain. In the distance, smoke entered Patrick’s vision, reminding him of Rose’s final words.

  “Till you get these rodents evolved, you’re nothing, both to me and to society. You either return to this campsite with two evolved Pokemon. Or return dead, whichever comes first.”

  He was closer to the latter.

  Cold dirt rushed up to meet him as he crossed the treeline into the clearing that housed Rose’s campsite. He dropped with a thud as his leg throbbed in pain with the impact. Rose looked down on him as Patrick raised his head, soil filling his mouth. His Pokemon all stood behind him, unevolved, pathetic.

  “You chose death?” Rose stood up from his log, Pawniard at his side. He flicked an eye at Patrick’s mangled leg and crinkled his nose. “Pawniard, Slash him to ribbons. Make it quick. He isn’t in a spot to handle more pain.”

  Pawniard’s eyes glinted as it rushed forward, its blade hands poised. Black and white blurred and Pancham stood in front of Patrick, arms wide.

  The Slash caught Pancham at the shoulder as the bear whimpered in pain. It knelt down to one knee, its arms still open, or at least as open as it could manage. Fire crackled in the distance as Rose clicked his tongue.

  “You’ve got nothing to do with this, bear.” He spat the last word like an insult.

  Pancham stomped the ground and looked up at Rose. And despite Patrick staring at its back, he saw its face clearly, the intimidating, pitiful one. Behind Patrick, two growls hummed, vibrating him to his core.

  “You all want to die? So be it.” Rose waved his hand. “Deal with them, Pawniard. Use whatever you deem worth it.”

  A wave of black and red sound vibrated in the air as it slammed onto Pawniard and bounced off uselessly. Another wave of Snarl slammed again from Zigzagoon this time. They barraged it as Pancham’s arm glowed a rusty red. Pancham used Arm Thrust and pushed its arm into Pawniard’s core, finally pushing it back an inch or two, forcing it to wince slightly.

  Chirps from behind attracted everyone’s attention as the ground shook with footsteps. Numerous white, small cicadas chirped as they followed the blood trail Patrick’s leg left. Zigzagoon and Nickit stared back and forth, from the horde of Nincada behind them and the Pawniard in front.

  A Nincada lunged through the air, aiming for Patrick’s throat. Nickit flew through the air, its claws glowing a reddish black hue. It slammed the Nincada’s head with a Knock Off, cutting its neck and lopping its head with one clean sweep. Green bug blood splattered on the ground, staining the grass beneath it.

  Then it happened.

  Patrick squinted his eyes at the blinding light. Something beside him glowed intensely, emitting extreme heat. Nickit disappeared into the white glow. Its body warped, changing shapes and growing.

  Nickit was evolving.

  What design should Patrick's cane be? Capped with a Pokemon motif? Which one if so?