37 Bad news, Worse news

The lights went out and Arthur found himself back in the darkness. He's been here before ... or at least he didn't feel a sense of uncomfortableness. He tried looking around but there was nothing, just an endless void like always.

It happened since the accident took place, this space appeared ever since then and he sometimes visited or rather was forced to come by during his sleep.

Suddenly a sound flew by like a breeze:

"Swoooshhhhh"

and Arthur was astonished seeing a ghostly gas fly in his direction. It looked like fog, but every second or moment passing by it gradually took a more familiar shape, almost humanoid.

The entity floated in front of Arthur, but he still couldn't really recognize its appearance. The fog didn't condense tight enough to make facial features possible, only a thin line where the mouth was supposed to be let Arthur know where he should look at.

He tried touching this gas-ish creature, likewise did the fog-humanoid but ... their hands only overlapped and didn't truly make contact.

But as his hand was inside the fog, a flood of images ran through his mind, a room, and ... he has been here before as well!

That room, the Pokemon figures, the hallway ...

"It's my home ...kkcccccc ....", a raspy sounded out in the void. Arthur raised his head slightly shocked, the voice came from the humanoid fog before him.

"Y-you can speak?!"

"kkkccc ... course I can speak ... kcccc"

"W-who are you? What are you?", now Arthur felt more afraid than before, seeing something in your dream was one thing, talking to it - completely different!

"We met ... kccccc ... before in that destroyed city, I saved you ... kkkkccccc ... remember? My name is Atiqo ...kkkccc... by the way haha.", the entity responded amused, at least that's how Arthur interpreted it, which was hard considering he talked to a faceless fog creature.

Arthur concentrated a little and found the right memory:

"Yes, I remember but ... that was a man, and you're ... eh, I don't want to be impolite but ..."

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"I get it, I'm fat, eaten too much lately, right?"

"Ehhh ..."

"Now on a serious side note, ... kkkcccc ... it seems like I used up too much energy, I don't know ... kkccc ... -rently I can't maintain my muscular-like body."

"What does that mean?", Arthur didn't get it.

"It's ok ... kkccc ... you will understand. Just grab the P ... kcccc... -ex and go to the Gree- ... kccc ... again."

"Wait! What did you say?"

"... kccccc... can't stay lo-.... kccck ... see y- ... kccc... -rthur!", before Arthur could respond in anyway possible, the fog dissolved into fine particles that flew away into all directions at once.

"..."

"His name was Atiqo ... feels like a familiar name, hmm."

Arthur thought he could now rest again but just as the situation had calmed down and he believed the silence would reign over the dark again, he heard a sound. Its volume increased slowly but surely and then he could finally make out what that sound was ...

*RUMBLE*

A huge avalance came in his direction and swept him up and covered his whole body under countless layers of ice ...

.....

Arthur slowly regained his sight, but this time it wasn't the void that greeted him but snow, lots of snow and whiteness that filled his entire view!

He looked around sideways and found two Pokemon facing off each other in a fight. The one farther away had a broad body covered in brown fur, narrow eyes, and a wide mouth with small, visible fangs in the upper jaw. The fur on its shoulders was longer and more structured, with rectangular extensions that resemble epaulettes, it had a large, ring-shaped mark on its chest and long forelimbs ending in five claws repectively.

(A/N: Description from Bulbapedia.Bulbagarden.net)

"Is that a ... an Ursar-"

"ROOOUUUUURRR!", a wild shout from that Pokemon interrupted his train of thoughts.

"KRIIIIEEEERRRR!", the Pokemon opposite replied with its own wild loud shout.

"This sound, I know that, it's, ... a Sniebel!", realisation dawned upon Arthur's mind, it was definitely a Sniebel, the shape and colours matched, but this one looked a bit bigger and didn't have a large feather on its ear.

"Is it female maybe?", Arthur was aware that sometimes Pokemon had different body structures depending on the gender, similar to humans.

He tried to move a little but his body was seemingly stuck in the snow and didn't budge at all, so he was forced to watch the battle unfold.

The fight was fierce, both Pokemon fought like their lives were on the line, yes, it was truly a death match! No one was willing to surrender or give in, both Pokemon fought bitterly without concern for any injuries they received or dangerous attacks they delivered, it was a fight between wild Pokemon!

Using every body part they had, the highest priority was about dealing the largest amount of damage to the target!

Finally during the endgame, after much blood had been spilled on both sides, after many punches and bites had been exchanged, the heavily wounded Ursaring caved in and slowly fell onto the ground!

Arthur felt a rush of excitement and relief from an unkown source, seeing that the Sniebel had finally won! He felt his body not stuck in the snow any longer, he could break free now!

Somehow he felt an urge to run straight towards that Sniebel, a yearning, anticipation, it filled Arthur's whole body and took control over him.

But when he reached the battle scene, the view shocked him greatly. The snowy ground was coloured with a bloody red, almost creating a pond full of that liquid. On one side was the dead fallen Ursaring and a bit farther away ... lied the injured body of the Sniebel.

"NOOO!", anxiousness and sadness poured into him as quickly as he closed in on the Sniebel's side.

She was bleeding non-stop from her body and her limbs were all covered in severe tears, wounds and marks.

"NO! Mother! You can't die!"

The Sniebel must have heard the loud shout and tried opening its eyes with the last bits of strength she had left! Looking in Arthur's direction, she raised her broken limb and carressed him on his cheeks before she lost the power to continue and her body turned frozen still in the red flowing blanket.

"NOOOO!!!"

"krrrrriiiiierrrr!"

Two voices overlapped and transmitted their endless sorrow and pain into the boundless snowy landscape ...

....

The scenery changed, Arthur was in the woods now, climbing from tree to tree, branch to branch. He was surrounded by a dozen other Sniebels and together they were on a hunt for food to feed their growing pack.

*POWWWW*

Suddenly Arthur heard a shot from behind and he turned sharply around only to see one of his friends fall down the tree with a large hole in his chest.

"NO!"

"Kriiierrr!"

"Kriiiiiiiierrrr"

"KKRRIEER"

All of his friends saw their fallen comrade lying on the ground, on the brink of death, what had happened, each wondered enraged.

Then the answer appeared by itself. A human wearing thick clothes with a brown beard showed up from the shadows, one of his hand held a long gun, smoke still rising from its ends.

"Bastard!", Arthur's mind was filled with killing intent, and he wanted to avenge his friend!

"Hahaha, usually Pokemon have quite a thick skin and muscle tissue, not easily penetrable by most guns. But this little baby here ...", the human looked with shining eyes at the metallic barrel of the shotgun,

"This is one of the best guns I could buy from the blackmarket, built with the latest Crystal-Infusion technology available in the market, hahaha, the price was worth it!", his attention turned back towards the Sniebels,

"Now, please sit still and wait patiently for your turn to arrive as well, hahahaha!", the man turned towards another Sniebel, raised his gun and let out another shot:

"POWWW!"

A second Sniebel from the trees and joined the one on the ground, Arthur felt the danger continuously rising and yelled loudly:

"Retreat! That human is dangerous! Retreat!", while he himself was dashing straight towards the guy on the ground!

*POW POW*

Another two shots fired out at Arthur this time, but both barely missed their target and he evaded them successfully. Arthur was an expert hunter in this forest and very knowledgeable about the environment, he knew every bush, grass field or tree stump by heart.

"Shit!", the human cursed, he needed time to reload his gun.

Arthur saw his chance coming and headed straight towards the human to end its life as swift as possible.

But then, when only a couple of meters separated them, the evil human smirked malevolently and said:

"Snover, now, Protect!"

Suddenly a screen appeared right in front of Arthur's path and it was too late for him dodge it!

*CRASH*

He smashed directly into the screen and made a full-stop, but the force that moved him forward earlier, now turned against him! The resulting power shattered some of his bones and left him gasping for air.

"Hahahaha, stupid Pokemon, that's what we call having a 'Trump Card' up your sleeves, hahaha.", the man mocked Arthur and grinned when seeing his trophy for the day.

The other Sniebels had escaped by the time the man was finished dealing with Arthur, it was regretful for him but that didn't matter anymore.

He walked over to Arthur and his dead comerades and seemingly talked to himself:

"Two dead, the prices won't be high, this gun is dealing quite a lot of damage to the body but you...", he looked at Arthur smilingly,

"Sniebels aren't worth shit in Sinnoh here but I've heard that in Kanto, hahaha, you're worth your weight in gold, hahahah!"

That was the last Arthur heard before he lost his consciousness and his mind faded away ....

.......

"NOOOOO!!!", Arthur cried out loudly and woke up, still frightened. He looked around, being wary of his surroundings, guarding against any enemies that could ambush him but ... he was all alone.

Alone in a bed room, several machines attached to his body, it was dark outside, in one corner of the room there was a weird kind of glass-casket, but it was too far away for him to see and when Arthur sensed his fingers moving ...

"Damn, huh, I'm me again, huh, I'm back, haha, huh, sighhhh ...", he breathed out loudly several times in a row, the experience he went through was still fresh in his mind and made him completely restless.

Everything felt so real, all those feelings and sensations that made up his whole self, felt like they had been a real part of him ... even though they were not.

This, this was too much for him to handle and it also just came without a warning.

"Am I going crazy now?", ever since his accident weird things happened all the time to him and he thought he gradually lost control over his own life. But what was the truth? Nobody could answer him ... no, there was someone who had an answer.

"I couldn't really understand what he said at the end, Atiqo ... but he said something about the PokeDex! I am sure of it ...", hopefully he would find an answer inside the Dex or else, maybe he had really lost his mind and his brain had only played a prank on him ...

"Please not ...", he prayed to god silently. Either he had to go into a mental hospital or cling onto the hope that weird ghosts haunted his dreams at night ...

Just as he was about to get off the bed and look for his PokeDex, the door on the side crashed open widely and several people simultaneously toppled on top of one another:

"Arty!"

"Arthur!"

"Young master!"

"Eeerrrieee!"

"Damned!"

Suddenly a bunch of noises and voices intermingled with one another, but Arthur was still able to clearly differentiate them. It seemed like he was in the Oak Mansion again. And the whole family plus some unfamiliar faces had gathered around him.

It took some moments but slowly everyone became quiet again and Blue was the first person to go forward:

"Hey, Arthur, no long time no see, hehe.", Blue smiled warmly at him,

"How are you feeling right now?", his tone now contained a hint of concern.

"I, ehm, I am good, I think."

*Sigh*

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Blue tried to lighten up the mood a bit:

"How come we always only meet when you're somehow involved in a dangerous fight? What's wrong with you, you little rascal, hahaha!"

"I am sorry M-Mr.Oak.", Arthur felt a litte embarrassed.

"You can call me Blue by the way, don't worry. You also don't have to apologise at all for what happened to you, no. It's me who should apologise, that's definitely on me and ...", he looked sideways as if waiting for someone ...

"And me, Arty, no, Arthur, I-I don't know how I can make up for this, this whole thing, I couldn't protect you-"

"Just stop Gary.", Arthur interrupted him without regard for politeness,

"It's not your fault, no, definitely not, and you did save me so we don't owe each other anything. But you could buy me an ice as a sign of our friendship sometime, ok?"

Gary gulped down and looked Arthur deeply into the eyes and only after some time passed, did he smile a little, nod and say:

"Sure, tons of ice, enough to bury you, haha!"

"No, I have had enough of that experience ..."

"What?"

"Forget it.", it kinda slipped out of his mouth by mistake, and he quickly tried to cover it up again somehow.

Blue turned serious again and waved his hand for a person to come forward. A girl appeared, a little older than Gary with brown long hair and a white lab coat on.

"This is my younger sister Daisy, Arthur."

"Hi, Arty", she also took after he brother and called him like that.

"She is a doctor-"

"Doctor-in-training!", she corrected him.

"A doctor who is specialized in dealing with Pokemon injuries. The reason she is here, we called her here, is partially because of your Sniebel ...", Blue ignored her and began explaining.

"Where is it? Is he fine?!", Arthur instantly questioned about the Sniebel's well-being.

"He is over there.", Daisy pointed towards the corner of the room, where the glass casket lied,

"It's been in a critical state before and we can talk about the details later, but he will survive.", she told Arthur in a sweet but serious tone.

"Sighhh!"

"It's too early for you to become happy, Arty.", she said and Arthur felt like something bad was about to come.

"Arthur, I told you how she is an expert in Pokemon injuries, right? 'Pokemon Pathology' is also related to 'Human Pathology' caused by Pokemon ..."

"What do you mean ..."

"What my Brother is trying to tell you is that you suffered serious injuires by Pokemon Arty. Very serious injuries ..."

"How serious are we talking about ...", the level of bad news just rose by big notch.