I wished I was dreaming. Hallucinating, going crazy, sleep deprived, having a nightmare. Anything to prove the hell I was experiencing wasn't real, that Shelgon was fine and I wasn't going to die trapped under a billboard with the man I wasn't allowed to love.

I pressed closer to Piers, relishing the warmth that radiated from his body. I felt words whispered into my head, but I couldn't make them out. Espeon cooed and squeezed under the tent my bent legs formed. I let her, stroking her velveteen fur. "I love you," I whispered to her. "I love each and every one of you." In turn, I grabbed each luxury ball and kissed it. "Toxie...Skrelp...Salazzle...Meowsie...Shelgon--"

I choked when I held his luxury ball. My first partner, my first friend. We had been together longer than any of my other partners, even Meowsie. Now, he was gone. I sobbed as I tucked his away and hid my face in my knees. The rubble and debris around us kept falling, pitter-pattering on the roof like deadly raindrops. The ceiling above us bent and wailed under the stress. I sobbed one last "Goodbye" as the metal creaked and bent even further.

Then, suddenly, I heard a roar. It was a roar unlike anything I had ever heard before. It was a roar of pain, of fury, of determination. It was the roar of a dragon. Gasping, I scrambled to look where Shelgon had fallen, and I couldn't believe my eyes.

Bricks were flying from where Shelgon had been buried, sent off into low earth orbit by the energy pulsating from the pile of debris. The entire pile was glowing bright blue, and I heard a roar as I saw something warping and changing under the rubble. Crescent-shaped wings burst from the rubble, sending more of it flying. A reptilian head on a curvy neck came next, and as the pile exploded into bits and pieces of rubble, the light faded to reveal Salamence.

"Salamence," I whispered. "A Dragon and Flying type. Its wish to fly triggered a genetic mutation making it sprout wings. It flies until it is too tired to do so. If enraged, it will destroy everything until it is exhausted." Salamence cried with joy upon seeing its new wings, flapping them happily and blowing columns of flame into the air.

"Salamence," I shouted over the roof that could collapse any second. "Over here!" Instantly, its head whipped towards me and it roared again. Charging, it leapt into the air and landed just in front of us. Sweeping its mighty arm, it knocked the rubble we were trapped under off of us and sent it flying into the crumbling wall of a building.

"Dragon Claw," I breathed. "A new move! Amazing!" Salamence purred at the compliment, gently nosing at my body, now tiny in comparison to him. "You're a Salamence now," I smiled, pressing my head against his. "You've finally evolved!" He roared with happiness, and I laughed.

Piers was staring in disbelief, eyes bigger than I'd ever seen them. Carefully, he reached up to touch Salamence's nose. My partner bumped his face against Piers' snow white hand, purring gently, which sounded more like a motorcycle engine rather than a tame noise. Piers just chuckled and gently stroked the plasticy scales between his eyes.

"I can't believe we just survived that," he said.
"We did," I replied in disbelief, still in shock.
"We're alive," he grinned, before laughing. "We're alive!" I soon joined in, whooping and hollering and dancing around with victory.

Soon, I stopped, panting and leaning against Salamence. "We're alive," I gasped for air. "It appears so," Piers laughed, hands on his knees. I ran up to him and caught him in a giant hug. "We're alive," I sighed, digging my nails into his back and inhaling the scent of dust and faint cologne.

"Ya know, I think that earthquake kinda interrupted us earlier," Piers muttered with a smile in his voice. "Oh really?" I smirked, looking up into those seafoam eyes.
"Yep," he said, all jokes gone from his voice.

He stared into my eyes, gently moving one of his hands to cup my face and the other to the small of my back. I was all but frozen as I moved my hands to his shoulders and leaned in closer. There was no earthquake to stop us now, no flurry of bad thoughts making me turn and run. Now, it was just me and Piers.

I let my eyes flutter shut as anticipation bubbled up in the form of my racing heartbeat and shaking hands. I could feel his hot breath mixing with mine, his lips so close to my own. Then, he paused. Confused, I opened my eyes to see him staring off at the rooftop of one of the buildings. Before I could ask what he was staring at, he kissed me.

It was desperate, it was messy, and it was absolutely the best kiss I'd ever had. He forced his mouth on mine, pulling me impossibly closer and closer trying to make the kiss last longer. I sighed at the conflicting taste of cigarette smoke and coffee. I clawed at his long hair, the contrasting pearlescent and inky black strands running through my fingers easily.

The kiss seemed to last for only a moment, before Piers pulled away and shoved me hard. I flew away from him, and I gasped in surprise as he gave me one last pained look of apology before a large billboard crashed on him.

Instantly, I was flooded with panic, pain and shock. I screamed, unable to tear my eyes away from the rubble Piers' body was trapped under. Frantically, I grabbed at the billboard and shouted, "Salamence, help me!" He tenderly took large pieces of rubble off the pile, while I still struggled to lift the large metal billboard Piers was underneath. Glancing up for a moment, I noticed through my tear-blinded vision that a figure was running across the tops of the buildings.

"Salamence, go get him," I ordered, still pulling on the four-ton piece of metal. My partner's eyes flickered to me for a moment, before latching onto the figure cutting across the rooftops and took off. I grunted and gasped as my muscles burned, trying to lift the billboard but to no avail. Whenever I squeezed my eyes shut in exhaustion, all I could see was Piers' panicked face before the rubble crushed him beneath it...

With an inhumane screech, I dug my fingers into the metal, leaving indents that were impossible to make from human hands. Something crackled through my veins as impossible amounts of strength flowed to my arms, letting me lift the billboard like it weighed less than paper and flung it off into the night sky. The moment my fingers left the metal the moment of strength faded, and I barely registered the shock going through my head.

Somehow, I had started to grow feathers. Tiny, snowy white feathers one might find on a baby Pidove. They blew wildly in the slight breeze that kicked up, little patches growing from my arms as casually as hair might. Then, without warning, they detached and flew away; a flurry of white feathers that soon disappeared.

As much as I wanted to sit and wonder What the hell just happened?, I couldn't. With the sign gone, I could see Piers' broken form lying beside me. "Oh, Piers," I whispered, gingerly turning him over to face me. His face was paler than usual, if it were possible, and his seafoam eyes barely fluttered open.

"Is this...heaven?" he asked, triggering a violent coughing fit that spat up blood.
"No, no, Piers," I soothed, brushing some loose hair behind his ear. "You're not dead. Neither am I. You'll...you'll be alright, Piers." But he didn't hear me; he had already slipped back into unconsciousness.

I grabbed all five dusk balls from his pockets, tossing them one by one to find the Pokemon I was searching for. "Obstagoon," I sagged with relief when I saw him appear. "Piers is hurt. I need you to carry him while we fly on Salamence's back." Obstagoon only nodded, prodding Piers' face with his own and licking him with his giant tongue.

Carefully, I reached up and thumbed at the twin necklaces hidden beneath my shirt. Sitting on chains so thin they were nearly invisible to the naked eye, carefully embedded into place with silver. When I first became an Operative, I had been given this very special pair of necklaces from my father; one for Salamence, who had been a Bagon at the time, and one for me. Slowly, I pulled the Key Stone out from under my neck and admired the surface of the glittering stone.

Salamence returned soon afterwards, head bowed in defeat; he hadn't caught the criminal. "It's alright," I pressed my forehead to his. "Malamar, Skuntank, Toxtricity, Scrafty, Toxie, you all go back to Spikemuth and inform Marnie and everyone else of what's happened. Go as soon as we leave on Salamence; Obstagoon and I will be flying on him. Everyone else, you'll be with me." A bunch of cries of agreement went up as soon as the words were spoken.

"Alright, you know what to do," I said, looping the Salamencite chain around my partner's neck. "Go!" As all the Pokemon ran off to their respective places, Obstagoon gathered Piers' limp form in his meaty arms, and I turned back to my partner. "Alright, Salamence," I murmured, wrapping my arms around my partner's neck and pressing my face close to the plasticy scales.

"We've never done this before. You're newly evolved, and we don't have time to train for this. But...my friend, Piers, is dying. Do you remember him?" Salamence gurgled, and I felt the stone on my neck heat up. "Okay," I sighed, rubbing over the stone as it started to glow. "Then you remember how important he is to me. We need to save him. And to do that...I need you to Mega Evolve."

As I squeezed my eyes shut and let the last of my tears fall, a blinding light surrounding us as Salamence warped and changed once again. When I opened them, my faithful partner had grown darker, and his crescent wings had fused into one giant sliver. "Thank you," I breathed, gesturing for Obstagoon to get on. Careful not to jostle Piers too much, he climbed on behind me as I straddled my partner's wide back.

With a gigantic roar, Salamence reared his head and took off at breakneck speed for Wyndon's nearest hospital. Being in his Mega form, he was much faster than usual, being able to streamline for flight by tucking his legs into the 'shell' he had grown. I clung to his neck like a lifeline, trusting his sense of direction and sight to get us there.

I was exhausted, but couldn't find it in me to sleep, too worried for Piers' future to even consider shutting my eyes.