Would you?

The question haunts me for the rest of the day, mainly because I don't have an answer. What would I do for Ashley? Stella? Shin? Kimiko? Juliet? Gaile? Mimsy? Ozzy? Nina?

I realize painfully that the list is terribly long now and my stomach churns with guilt. I look down at the ground and focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

"Hey, what's that?" asks Bronze. I look up. He's pointing at a huge hotel, or at least what must have been one before falling on harder times.

"I don't know. It looks pretty old to me. Maybe we should be careful." Shauna says quietly.

"Abandoned and structurally dubious buildings are great places to catch rare Pokemon! Heck, bet you twenty there's a legendary in there!" Bronze says, still walking towards the old building nonchalantly.

"Why would a legendary Pokemon want to be in a crumbling hotel?" I ask.

"Makes them look mysterious. Let's have a look, it'll be fun." Bronze suggests.

No one seems to have any objections, so we walk into the abandoned hotel.

"Wow." Nico whispers, eyes closed, "What an aura."

"What a dump." Chrona says snarkily, and most of my team seems to agree with her sentiment.

The whole team looks uneasily around the lobby, aghast at the grotesque emptiness of it all. I consider getting out Crypt, but as soon as I reach for the Pokeball, it begins to move. The vibrations grow faster, the Pokeball rocking wildly in my hand. "Hey, cut it out!" I exclaim, but the Pokeball only replies by wiggling faster. Everyone looks my way.

"Is something wrong?" Pich asks.

The Pokeball falls to the ground and Crypt breaks free, but this is nothing like the Pokemon I raised from a Tyrunt. His pupils are dilated and his position is bestial. He roars loudly, and I can hear that this is not the voice of a tame or meek Pokemon, it's the hunting call of a predator.

I try to call him back but my Pokeball isn't working.
"Guys! I'm freaking out right here!" I yell.

"Everybody, we're going to need to wear him down without getting killed!" Bronze says, calling to all the Pokemon.

"What's the plan?" Rune asks.
"Run!" suggests Shruikan.
"That's a terrible plan!" Rune snaps.
"Shut up and run, furbait!" Shruikan slaps him and they both take off down a hallway.

Bronze is yelling orders to his other Pokemon, taking them upstairs, and Pich is bravely attacking Crypt from the little airspace she gets in the lobby. I hear her screech as Crypt knocks her against the wall and she falls downwards, but before I can run to her, I'm snatched away by Shauna. We run down the halls together until we're helplessly lost, and I turn to her and sigh.

I feel the golden connection between me and my four Pokemon besides Crypt, all perfectly intact. "They're okay." I murmur, half to myself.

"You sure?" she asks. I don't think she knows who I'm talking about but she sounds worried anyways.

"I can feel their bonds. I just wish you hadn't pulled me away."

"Oh, Lilly, I'm so sorry! I-" I slam a hand over her mouth, far harder than I had meant to.

"Quiet." I whisper. "We don't know how good his hearing is."
"You don't? You're his trainer!"
"Only for a few months. I don't flash to him often, and when I do-"

There's an echo down the hall, a resounding whining noise that seems to make the halls vibrate. Both of us freeze, eyes wide, and the whining noise grows louder, accompanied by the sound of footsteps.

Shauna screams, "Hyper Beam!" and from her hands comes a beautiful pink blast of light in the shape of a flower. I look down the hallway and see nothing there, but we stay put, unwilling to check out of fear it might be some spectre (which is quite likely in a hotel like this).

Sure enough, there's a quiet groan from someone or something. The two of us move closer and I realize I'm clutching her hand tightly.

Pacifica gets up slowly, and says, "S-sorry..."
I pick up the blue cat. "Pacifica!"
"Ginger... he's down... Shruikan and Rune hiding... he's coming."

There's a loud roar and Pacifica stands up, casting a Reflect over all of us and the hallway itself. Crypt charges right into the barrier and breaks it, racing against us and slamming Pacifica who lets out a loud yowl of pain.

Pacifica falls against the wall with a loud whimper and Crypt advances on us, his tail lashing and tearing through a room like it's made out of cardboard.

I take in a deep breath, then fling out my hands in front of Shauna. "Crypt, stop! You're not like this!"

He roars angrily, and I can smell his awful breath. There has to be some way to stop this...

I reach for our bond, for anything to pull to keep him down, but there's nothing I can use. I realize with a jolt that this is a situation that doesn't deserve peace.

"You asshole, this is all about Nina, isn't it? Do you think we aren't sad too? Do you think we aren't hurting?"

I feel my voice rise as he recoils for a second, but I step forwards. My whole body is tingling with some new sensation, making all of the hairs on my arms stand up like goosebumps.

"Do you think we're not suffering because we don't show it? Well let me tell you... I'm fucking dying."

Anger surges within me, bubbling up- no, it's not bubbling, it's crackling. I scream as pure fury radiates from my body, sending hundreds of lightning bolts in different directions, nothing less than months of agony that had been bottled within this human form.

Screaming with rage, I let the energy overtake me, causing all the lights in the hallway to brighten to an impossible level, bright as miniature suns before shattering from the current, some even melting as the volts ramp up.

All the way down the hall, the hotel flares to life with the electricity before everything goes out again, only a single lightbulb still flickering over my head.
Crypt is shocked multiple times as well as battered by the glass shards. I recognize the tell tale signs of paralysis as he retreats down the hallway, still roaring in surprise and pain.

I turn to Shauna, my whole body completely numb and my heart beating out of rhythm, and I say, "I did it. I finally..." She's got a slash down her face from a glass shard, and her eyes are full of tears from the insane amount of light, but she's smiling giddily.

Without warning, we're both laughing with relief, hugging each other close as tears stream down our eyes. We just avoided death and I just figured out how to use my powers in my human form, even if it was weak. Still laughing, I feel Shauna's grip tighten around me and my hand moves to my hips. Shauna leans in and my heart begins beating quickly.

"Shauna, what are you doing?"
She looks up. "I-"
"Were you trying to kiss me?"

"No, I swear, I-"

"Oh mother of Mew, I was so leading you on..."

"No! No, no, it was all me! I'm just a terrible, horrible, hopeless-"

There's another roar as Crypt comes charging back down the hallway, still weakened by constant attacks from all of us and paralyzed from my own ThunderShock. He draws nearer, making his way down the hall quickly even while dragging a leg behind him, and roars loudly. He raises his claws and just in time, a bright pink blur jumps in the way.

The native Pokemon! We're saved!

A Clefairy takes the Outrage to the face, completely unharmed due to the fairy-type immunity, and proceeds to waggle its finger at Crypt. I recognize Metronome, which summons Rock Wrecker.

Though not effective statistically, few can argue that having a giant rock blaster straight at your face is going to do some damage. It hits Crypt in the side of the head with a clatter of a tooth falling to the floor from the impact and one last primal roar and he falls over, unconscious.

The Clefairy turns around with an unassuming smile and bows. "Thank you, thank you all for witnessing the work of Faye the Powerful Dragonslayer!"
Shauna walks up to the Pokemon and begins talking. Meanwhile, I withdraw Crypt, who luckily isn't fatally wounded but rather just knocked unconscious for the time being. "We'll try again later," I say, wondering quietly if we'll ever be able to try again with such high risk factored in. What is this bestial side of such a meek Pokemon?
Shauna, who must be just as bewildered as I am, is talking to our small pink savior.

"Hello. I have no idea who you are, but you just saved our lives." Shauna says, carefully approaching the Clefairy. "Want to come along for the journey?"
The Clefairy puts out his hand. "Name's Faye. I deal in drama, action, romance, and of course, bulking hits from massive two story dragons intent on utter annihilation."

"Welcome aboard!" Shauna says, and he goes in the Pokeball.

"Lilly!" Rune yells, running down the corridor. Chrona bounds by his side, remarkably fast for a Venusaur, followed by Shruikan and Escargot. "Thank Xerneas and Yveltal you're alright!I finally managed to pick up your scent and track you. The others are behind us except Nephthtys and Nico, they're talking to the locals about this and... Are you two alright?" He looks at Shauna and I as if we're ill.

"Yeah." I say. "I think I'm much better now."