35 Is he ... the Flash?!

"Mr.Mime, Reflect!"

A translucent screen appeared above Atiqo, right before the storm of stings could have hit him!

The stings hit the screen one after another and got stuck in it:

*Ching Ching Ching Ching*

When all the stings were let lose and none followed after, the screen vibrated slightly and a humming tone sounded out through the woods:

*Hummmmm*

*Boooooooom*

Suddenly an explosion made Atiqo open his eyes wide, just in the nick of time to see several stings fly towards the Zubat!

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"E-escape, you have to-", Hazel called his Zubat out but it was already too late.

The stings hit the Zubat hard, and no matter which way it tried to flee, the damage it received was still very harsh. Some of the stings hit its wings, piercing through the skins and preventing it from a steady flight.

It tried controlling its fall pathetically but still moved like a kite with its strings cut loose!

"Who was that?! Show yourselves!", Chestnut roared loudly.

"SHUT UP!!!", an even louder roar was thrown back at him, and left Chestnut standing speechless. It even caused him to shudder slightly, as the shout was still resounding in his bones and veins!

"Arthur, are you ok?!", the same person asked with a worried quiver in his voice.

Atiqo looked towards the origin of the cry.

He couldn't believe his eyes at first, but the red-orange fiery hair was all the prove he needed.

"You sure came ... at the right moment, haha ...", was the only reply he could bring to Gary. Atiqo knew that Arthur had secretly sent a message to Gary via his Pokedex. But Atiqo didn't know if he would really get it and arrive on time. Well, luckily it seemed to have worked out!

Gary stood farther away from them with a Mr.Mime by his side.

At first his face was filled with confusion but he only needed little time to assess the situation, the condition of the surroundings as well as the lifeless Pokemon bodies told him everything he needed to know. The worst was seeing Arthur's beaten up body and his torn up clothes.

"YOU Motherfucker's have really done it now!!!"

He dashed with full force towards the criminals and reached them in the blink of an eye!

Atiqo's sight was weakened a bit but he felt like seeing sundering flashes of light following Gary's fist all the way throughout his movements ...

"Is he ... the Flash?!", Atiqo instantly connected the mysterious show of lightning with one of his favourite comic book heroes.

Sparks and cracking sounds as if the air was ripped apart, filled the area around Gary's entire body. Every step he took left black burned footprints on the grass and his fists seemed to be made of pure light!

Seeing that one enemy was down for now, Gary stepped in front of the shrimp like Hazel and gave him a ruthless roundhouse kick! No, that wasn't enough to vent his anger, Gary followed the flying Hazel with super speed, grabbed his foot and threw him into the same tree his partner had been sent into!

*THUMP*

*Crrrrrrkakakakakaak*

The tree either couldn't handle Gary's overbearing force or the criminals weight anymore, it caved in at first but then burst apart into thousand pieces!

Storming fury filled Gary's thoughts and even though he wanted to beat these pieces of scum even more up, he was able to focus on the more important things right now. He turned around and swiftly moved towards his friend and asked carefully:

"Arthur, how do you feel?"

"Gary, I-I am ok, Sniebel, he saved me, he needs help, please!", Atiqo quickly showed him the Sniebel and recounted the events up until now.

Gary saw that 'Arthur' was stable at the moment, contrary to his outward appearance so he didn't waste time and took a look at the unconscious Sniebel. Of course, hearing the horrible tale right from the boy's mouth made his heart feel even heavier and his face paler and he couldn't help apologizing:

"Arthur, I am sorry, it's my fault. *Gulp* I shouldn't have let you go alone like that ..."

"Forget that, we can talk later, Sniebel's condition is more important.", Atiqo shrugged Gary's worries off like it wasn't worth mentioning and maintained a serious air, much to Gary's wonderment.

When did he get so mature? If his 12 year old self had been put through this much terror, Gary wasn't sure he could have kept his calm like that!

"Hmm, the right claws are heavily injuried, I think I can see some bones sticking out, that's not good.

A lot of cuts, the head is fine, but there is soo much blood here. Thank god it's still breathing ...", Gary heaved a sigh of relief seeing air getting sucked into the Sniebel's body.

"Is this your partner? I didn't think you had one."

Atiqo wasn't sure how to respond, it might take even more time to tell Gary about Sniebel escaping from Arthur's house, so he just nodded. There was time for questions later.

Seeing the wounded boy nod weakly, Gary didn't press further onto the matter and asked something else:

"Do you still have the ball? You should put it in immediately!", Gary urged him slightly.

"Ah, yes! It was just there, when the Zubat shot it away ...", Atiqo looked around a little and found the ball a small distance away from him. Luckily the metal cover was sturdy enough to withstand the sting attack from Zubat and remained undamaged.

He hurriedly pressed the button while holding it in Sniebel's direction, a red light shot out and transformed the Pokemon into tiny bits of particles that got sucked into the ball ...

"Hmm, haven't I seen this somewhere before?", it felt like a deja vu, but he couldn't get the right memory to it,

"Wait, that's just like ... like when that old man turned into light!", it's been so long, but the memory was still vivid once he recalled it again. Cornelius, turning into light and getting sucked into the wristband, wasn't this just like a Pokemon and the Pokeball?

"Gary, is it possible for humans to get sucked into objects? Just like Pokemon?", Atiqo asked Gary, as far as his memories from Arthur went, Gary was an actual scientist. He also wasn't sure about the current level of technology in this Pokemon World. For one they were able to keep physical mass in the form of Pokemon in such small vessels, but on the other hand they were still driving with fossil fuel cars ...

"Huh? Where did this suddenly come from?", Gary was surprised and didn't respond at first. Was this how children were supposed to react after having been assaulted and getting almost killed?

Waking up from his little daze he still answered though:

"No. Well, the latest paper that I read about Pokemon Conversion technology was about inanimate objects and that Pokemon in contact with them could be transfered into the ball as well, but only under certain conditions.

Humans, I don't think it's possible, not with our current technologies. That's something that could be possible in the future, or in Sci-Fi novels maybe, hehe."

"The future .... ", Atiqo breathed out silently.

"You see ...", Gary got instantly hooked when the topic switched to science,

"the underlying principle that Pokeballs are based on is known as 'Wave-particle duality' ..."

"You mean the fact that matter can either behave like particles or waves?"

"Yeah ... huh? How do you know about that?", Gary got baffled.

"I, eh ... I watched a video on the ... internet?", he couldn't tell Gary that this theory was quite wide-spread in his own world, right?

"Oh, internet, that's cool.", Gary didn't know kids these days were so much into sciences.

"Well, yes you're right. Lots of scientists contributed to finally discover this phaenomenon, but most importantly it was one specific person in the last century that made a connection between this theory and the composition of Pokemon!

I have told you about Infinity Energy before, well Pokemon are full of that, at least in the form of particles, Infinity particles! And these little miraculous balls are capable of re-transforming the particles into an energy form and keeping it sealed up!

And that's where the problem also lies, we humans aren't Pokemon. We aren't made of Infinity particles or energy. But who knows? Maybe one day it will be possible. I mean, surely the people from hundreds of years ago would have scoffed at anyone telling them Pokemon could be kept in tiny balls one day right? Hahahaah!", Gary explained without a break, he had already forgotten in what kind of situation they were in.

"Ah, yes, what you should really be aware of is that Pokemon staying in their Pokeballs aren't aging."

"Huh? Not aging? They don't get older?"

"What I am trying to say is that time is frozen still for them, as long as they aren't in their natural forms. All biological activities are halted as long as they are kept inside. That also means that injuries are stopped, even fatal ones ...", he threw some glances at the ball in Atiqo's hands,

"are prevented from causing further damages. That doesn't mean that it is completely safe to keep them inside all the time though, but I will tell you more about this later."

Mr.Mime had arrived during their talk, and seeing Atiqo in his horrible state it instantly tried to cheer him up with funny movements and mimes. Suddenly as it approached Atiqo closer, it stopped for a moment as if in deep contemplation and started dancing around Atiqo gleefully.

"Mr.Mime? What's wrong?", Gary asked puzzled.

(A/N: In this World, the Pokemon Mr.Mime is just called = Mime, and that's why his nickname is actually Mr.Mime here. )

"Is something wrong?", Atiqo didn't understand what was going on.

"Hmmm, it's just, hmmmm. It seems like ... Mr.Mime is really happy around you.", Gary closed his eyes for a little,

"He's saying ... you're giving off a lot of cosmic energy for some reason ...", his eyes widened in surprise.

"W-what? I am giving off cosmic energies? And what do you mean, he's saying that?"

"Mr.Mime is a Cosmic-type Pokemon, therefore he is especially sensitive towards cosmic forces, energies and such. And well, I can't really talk with him, not with our human language haha, but through our pact I more or less understand what he is feeling right now.

He is much more joyous than usual, hahaha!"

"Y-yeah, I can see that ... wait, Cosmic-type? Mr.Mime is a Psychic-type, isn't he?", Atiqo noticed something weird in Gary's answer.

"What? Psychic-type? What are yo-", but as Gary talked he got interrupted by several noises in the background,

"Urgghh!"

"Owwww Shit!"

Both of them looked in the direction the voices were coming from and Gary regained his angry fierce look again:

"You scumbags dare to make any sounds?! Seems like you didn't have enough yet, did you?!"

These kinds of people, he had seen too many of them. The scum of society, hiding in the dark and living off of shady businesses and other illegal dealings. They grew like weed, put some of them behind the bars of a jail and several new ones took their place and ruled over the streets as if they owned them for years.

It never truly ended even after Team Rocket had been crushed the second and last time. Instead the dubious and the filthy congregated again in new forms.

His brother Blue tried to reduce criminality within Viridan City but it never really stopped. It just moved even further into the shadows, away from people's eyes only deeply hidden in plain sight.

"Hiiiirkh!", Hazel squeaked loudly in shock,

"P-p-please Sir! Y-y-you're a reasonable man, someone of your standing d-d-doesn't need to waste time with poor folks like us!", his face paled quickly and deep fear was written all over it.

"What's wrong with ya Haze, nothin' to give a crap about. So what, spendin' sometime behind iron won't kill ya. If we pay the right guys it won't be long to come out hahaha ... Hick!", Hazel slapped him on his face.

"What the fu@#?!"

"Shut Up you imbecile! Do you even have an inkling of an idea about who's standing in front of you?!"

"That redhead? Of course I know him, he's that bitch from TV!" *SLAP*

"SHUT THE FU@# UP! YOU'RE GOING TO GET US BOTH KILLED!", Hazel lost his demeanor and shouted at Chestnut with desperate exaspiration, tears already forming in the corners of his eyes, he grabbed Chestnut by his shirt and shook him as much as possible while explaining,

"This guy is Gary Oak, and his brother is fricking Blue OAK! The Gym Leader of goddamned Viridan City! If the fricking Gym Leader gets wind of this we will end up in the worst place possible! 'Roots Underground'!", his speech got faster and faster and it seemed that Hazel let go of his eloquent tongue and cursed as rudely as possible.

"R-Roots Underground?!", Chestnut stuttered suddenly. Something finally dawned upon him now.

"If we end up in that forsaken shithole, you can bet your dumbass we ain't comin' out alive, DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW?!?!", Hazel lost the strenght in his short arms but his usual calmness didn't return a single bit.

"You should have thought about this before attacking my friend here!", Gary was still angry and it didn't look like he would share any sympathy with people of their kind.

"What's wrong? Why would you end up dead?", Arthur asked curiously.

" Y-young master! We are so so sorry!"

"Yes, he's sorry, really sorry", Chestnut nodded vigorously.

Hazel ignored him and continued while putting up a huge fake apologetic smile: "We didn't know ... If we knew you were aquainted with Gary Oak, we would never have even considered taking on this job! It was a trap! That damn jerk, he clearly set us up! We are just victims here, please believe us!!!", Hazel turned to Arthur seeing a chance in him for mercy. In the face of death, even a man could thicken his face to the maximum. This was especially so for criminals and thieves.

"And yes, we would die, die miserably oh my god!!! *sob sob*Fake tears*

Roots Underground, that's where the worst of the worst get in, beasts of humanity that might endanger the whole Eastern Islands region single handedly! The Living Poison Koga! Carnivor King Makarov!

Archbishop Xavier from the Cult of the Dragon! And many many more criminals that have carved their signature into history with blood and death ...

All of them are packed in a place far away from civilisation where they couldn't harm an innocent soul even if they wanted to! Rumors say the government dug a huge hollowed-out cave somewhere with hundreds of Ground and Mineral-type Pokemon at their services!

They have literally been sent down into the depths of tartarus and struggle for survival under the harsh environmental conditions underground! No one knows how it looks inside, but believe me when I say that it would be like hell!

So please, please I beg of you ...", Hazel thought his performance wasn't good enough and knelt on the ground and kowtowed several times. He might have even tried kissing both Gary and Atiqo's feet if he wasn't sure that would anger them even more.

"You attacked a defenseless minor with Pokemon, you injured him and even attempted murder! Are you out of your mind, granting mercy to such vile criminals like you?!", Gary confronted them with the truth, thinking about how much Arthur must have struggled for survival, he felt ashamed and knew his brother would feel even more anger about this ...,

"You should rather beg for a quick death, because I will do everything in the name of my family so that you never see the light of day again!", letting people like this off, that would become another sin of his and that he didn't want to risk.

"Nooooooo!"

"Young MASTER PLEASE !!!"

Just as Gary was about to give both of them another round of punches and kicks so that they would finally shut up, Atiqo grabbed him by his shirt and spoke out surprisingly,

"Wait Gary."

"Huh?", Gary looked back astounded.

"I don't think this is the best way to go about this.", Atqio replied with a firm look.

"What are you doing Arthur? You know these are criminals right? They tried to kill you, they beat up your Pokemon and for what? Just some money. When they look at you they don't see a human being but a walking corpse! They don't deserve any better!", Gary told him and reminded him of the evilness within these criminals.

Arthur was just a child after all, Gary thought his young mind got touched and felt pity for his enemies, but Gary knew he had to protect him from such thoughts.

"I know what kind of people they are ... my grandfather once told me that some of his business competitors hired thugs and thieves to vandalize our house and even kidnap me ... as a hostage of course, hehe. Do you know what he did in response?", Atiqo was thinking about his own grandfather for a moment who had already passed away a long time ago. But what he inherited from him, his legacy, was his wealth of experience when it came to survival in the business world!

"He hired that gang's competitors instead! Payed them a dozen more and attacked the enemy's hideout before they could take action! It was a successful assault, and ever since then no shady gangs tried to mess with my grandfather or my family again ...", his small bleak eyes gradually turned brighter and more resolute!

His feelings had been in a mess since seeing the Sniebel in its wounded state and experiencing his first near-death experience, but he wasn't a child anymore.

This wasn't a game world, he couldn't apply his light-hearted Fan-mindset here. But the world that he grew up in wasn't made up of cotton candy either! Death, war, greed and the hideous side of humanity, this was all daily stuff humans had to deal with in his world.

The situation in front of Atiqo wasn't any different to that, so he had to man-up and handle the situation like an adult!

He looked into Hazel's and Chestnut's pleading eyes and asked them with a playful but steadfast voice: