Chapter 56: Stolen 

Everything inside me felt dead. Numb. Nonexistent.  

Now there's nothing stopping you from becoming the best Pokemon Trainer, a voice in my head told me. You will be the strongest. You will become whatever you want to be and nothing will stand in your way. 

But what is the point in being the best if I had nothing else? I wondered. 

I don't know how long I stood where Dawn had left me. Time had ceased to exist. My thoughts were sluggish and I hoped that I had dreamed the entire thing up, that this nightmarish conversation had never taken place, by just standing here by myself was a promise that the moments before weren't real. Our exchange was more plausibly a hallucination if I didn't think to prove myself wrong.  

A hallucination did not explain my deadness, the way my eyes searched the forest and found nothing, the way breathing felt raw, my churning stomach. 

What had I done? 

It felt too late to stop, to change my mind. I'd hurt her too much already. Why had I allowed myself all these months to hurt Dawn with my words, my actions, my secrets for how I felt about her? Why hadn't I forced her to leave before any of this could have happened?  

Because I had been selfish. Because I hadn't known I'd develop these feelings for her, because her company was too appealing. How had I not noticed how much I longed for her even then, weeks into our arrangement? 

Why was I such an idiot? 

These questions swirled in my head, refusing to leave, plaguing me. 

I heard something come through the trees and a tug at my ankle. I looked down. 

Bagon. 

I didn't say anything to him. I looked away as if he wasn't there despite how worried he seemed. I couldn't make myself care. I was too lost in emotion, something I'd never wanted to get lost in before. Trapped in aching agony.  

I heard the voice in my head again, The great and powerful Paul, submitting to weaknesses he swore never to let undermine him.  

It sounded like something I would have said before Dawn. Before I'd changed. Why had I been such a jerk? Had I been that unloved my entire life that I truly hadn't known how to love? I'd resented my childhood, and still did, but now I pitied myself more than anything. 

And yet I had changed. 

I'd changed who I was, but not on my own. Dawn had changed me. I wasn't as cruel as I used to be. I used to consider my newfound softness a bad thing, but now I cringed at who I once was. 

Without Dawn, I wouldn't be who I was now. Without Dawn, I wasn't sure who I would become again. 

I knew that. I knew that when I'd decided not to be with her. Was I truly that afraid of losing her, of us not working out after growing even closer that I wanted her to leave now? Yes, she was leaving, and it was painful. For the rest of my life I would wonder what happened to her, who she married, if she was happy. 

I knew I wouldn't be happy now without her. I wasn't who I once was and I couldn't be myself without her, even if that meant possibly breaking worse in the future. She was worth a chance. Of course she was. Why had I been such an idiot to not see that before? 

"Dawn," I whispered, snapping back into focus in the real world. 

Bagon pushed me frantically and I looked down, frowning. He looked close to crying. 

"What's wrong?" I asked, my heart beating quickly. 

Right then I heard a scream. Dawn's scream. It was worse than the scream I'd heard when she'd fractured her wrist. I recognized the desperation of her voice instantly. 

Without thinking, I ran. I ran towards the source of her agonizing cry, wondering what had happened. Was she ok? Bagon was worried about something. He had been afraid of the storm, yes, but there was a new sense of desperation in the way he ran, of the way his eyes looked. 

It scared the hell out of me. I ran faster, slowing only when instinct told me to remain quiet as I approached camp. Bagon mimicked me, though his unease was loud enough for me to hear as he continued forward, never stopping. 

I started hearing muffled yells coming from the same direction. 

"Hurry up and grab that stupid Water Pokemon. Stop squirming, kid!" I didn't recognize the voice. There were other people shouting, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. 

I sprinted the last couple steps, a hand on Torterra's Poke Ball, but something hard rammed into my stomach, making me see stars. I couldn't breathe and I fell over on my side and rolling against my will, my arm getting pinned painfully by my body, my eyes burning as I gasped for breath.  

Through the haze of pain, I saw someone dressed in a dark red hood standing over me, kicking Torterra's Poke Ball out of my hand and pushing my body with their foot so I was on my back.  

Get up! I barked mentally at myself. Stand up, you pathetic wimp! But my body was too stunned to move and I couldn't get the oxygen needed to execute any reasonable thoughts. The figure, which I'd identified as male, stooped over me, whisking all six of my Poke Balls out of my possession. 

"You won't be needing these." He chuckled before standing up. 

Rage filled me- what was I doing on the ground!? My Pokemon needed me and so did Dawn. 

Ignoring the blackness that crept into my vision as I stood up, I took a deep breath and stumbled forward, wincing as my stomach screamed at me in pain.  

Pain is just a message, I grunted. And right now I'm ignoring it.  

I assumed the guy who'd kneed me in the gut thought I was down for the count because no one looked at me as I stared at our campsite- Dawn was being tied up by her wrists by people also dressed in dark red, hoods concealing their faces with dark shadows. She squirmed and cried out, but someone clamped a hand roughly over her mouth. 

I tore my eyes away angrily as I heard threatening growls. Piplup was putting up a fight against five Mightyena and three Camerupt. All of the Camerupt had fainted from Piplup's Bubblebeam attacks. Bagon jumped into the fight, hitting a Mightyena with a Dragon Claw, but it was still four against two and it looked like Piplup had been surprise attacked, giving them the disadvantage. Piplup looked battered and worn from fighting them all by himself for so long.  

I decided to focus on making sure Bagon and Piplup would be ok- without help from Pokemon, it'd be nearly impossible to release Dawn. I started forward quietly, glad that the members were so busy rounding up all of our belongings that they didn't notice me as I made my way through the trees until I was behind Bagon and Piplup to help watch their progress and be ready to aid them when they needed it. 

"Hurry up!" the man who attacked me ordered to the others. "Houndoom, take care of those pipsqueaks." 

I noticed a large black and orange dog-like Pokemon dash towards Bagon, snarling. Right as the Houndoom jumped, Bagon yelled. Piplup noticed and sent a Bubblebeam attack at Houndoom who slammed into a tree. However, the remaining Mightyena took advantage of the distracted Penguin Pokemon. He rammed into Piplup whose head hit the ground hard, knocking him unconscious. 

Bagon's eyes widened as he saw Piplup faint and he began attacking the Mightyena with Flamethrower, keeping them from hurting Piplup further. That's when I noticed the Houndoom about to jump in front of the flames. 

"Stop," I said, still hidden, just loud enough for only Bagon to hear. Bagon's attack ceased in obedience, without thought, before the flames could lick Houndoom's body, whose ability must have been Flash Fire considering he wasn't scared of the Fire type attack. If he had been hit with Flamethrower, his Fire attacks would have become more powerful. "Use Brick Break." 

The Houndoom's mouth opened and a purple orb, Shadow Ball, began to grow. Bagon slammed his glowing arm into the neck of Houndoom, but the Shadow Ball was released before he could get away and hit Bagon up close, sending him flying backwards as the Houndoom almost collapsed from the super effective attack. 

Bagon got weakly to his feet and the Mightyena surrounded him again, all of them readying Shadow Ball attacks if he dared to move. The Houndoom recovered, teeth barred, glaring at Bagon with malice. 

By then I had crept closer to Bagon and was thinking over my options. I didn't have Bagon's Poke Ball to recall him from harm's way. Piplup had been collected by one of the grunts. I knew Dawn was being hauled off to Arceus knows where and had to refrain from illogically, blindly going after her. Bagon needed me most now. With Bagon I could help Dawn and free our Pokemon. 

"Alright, buddy. If you make one move, you're toast," One of the grunts said to Bagon who was breathing heavily, eyes darting around for means of escape, finding none. 

"Why?" another grunt asked, obviously annoyed. "Bagon aren't important to us. We got all the Bagon eggs we needed from Meteor Falls." 

I got as close to Bagon from behind as I could in the bush, studying the scene and how tense he looked at the news. 

"Yeah, but this one seems really young. Like a newborn. He's still pretty weak like all his brothers and sisters that we stole, wouldn't you think?" 

Bagon growled at them, though the grunts were too busy talking amongst themselves to care. I whispered, "Don't do anything foolish, Bagon." 

The growling stopped but I saw how uneasy he was, not only from anger but from exhaustion. He wouldn't last much longer. 

I ordered quietly, "Use Zen Headbutt on that tree. Make it fall towards them and run back here to me. Now." 

Instantly, Bagon darted to his right and jumped behind the tree, his head glowing purple, bashing into it with his strong attack. The trunk fell helplessly, startling the grunts and their Pokemon, forcing them to retreat out of the way. Bagon hurried towards me and I grabbed him before taking off through the forest, slightly relieved as I didn't hear any shouts to find my only Pokemon. Perhaps we were safe. 

But Dawn and my Pokemon? A chill ran down my spine as I thought of what may be in store for them. 

I continued running, working out a plan of how to save them all.

Bonjour! 

So, last chapter I leave you with Paul being an idiot and in possible tears. This week I leave you with... Paul's greatest fears. I purposefully rhymed, yes. 

I've had this part of First Light written for awhile and it's almost odd to get to it now since I knew it was going to happen, but the journey along the way has been so amazing that I wanted it to continue. Either way, things are getting serious now as you already know. 

Thank you for reading First Light! I can't express how awed and thankful I am for all of the attention my story gets. If you liked it, please make sure you vote, comment, and/or follow (I'm such a broken record. Someone stop using Encore on me).

Pokemon Question of the Day: If you were the creator of the next Pokemon game, which country would you base the region on and why? 

Have an amazing weekend!

-Flips