Chapter Text
Khun thinks he has a concussion. That explains the way his brain is fuzzy at the edges and his arms aren't moving the way they want. His pokeballs shake on his waist.
A voice whispers. "Why you?" it asks, mental, thrumming with anger and loneliness. Why you? Why does he want you?
There are a lot of he's in his life. His mind yanks an image of Bam, smiling at the sky. Bam, in his arms and wide-eyed with the fishing rod in his hands. Bam, soaked in rain, in nothing but a sheet.
"You should have asked him that," he croaks with a shaking mouth. "Or maybe you and that fucking bitch shouldn't have left him alone, cold and hungry in a cave full of dangerous pokemon."
"I'm protecting him!" Mewtwo shouts in his head. "Mew didn't! Mother didn't. She didn't! I'm the only one who has! I'm the only one who can! He's mine, not yours."
"Bam isn't yours!" Khun snaps through the weight on his throat. "He's not mine, or his mother's or Mew's or anyone's but his own! If you hate me for letting him see that, you're just as fucking terrible as they are."
Mewtwo snarls and the world twists and warps around him. Khun drops, but he's used to falls and rolls on the cave floor. Its whole body glows with psychic power.
"You're wrong," it screams and throws raw purple light.
Khun jumps to the side and tosses a ball, adrenaline thrumming, demanding to stay awake. Storm spins into his shell and his shell cracks at once from the weight of the strike. Khun curses, but Storm didn't need direct commands for this. He pops out his cannons only and hydro pump bursts from one. Mewtwo darts away, shadow balls leaving his fingertips like rain. Storm spins at Khun's whistle and they crash into the cave walls.
Khun doesn't have time to think, not now, not when this thing was cracking cave foundations. Cerise will not last long enough to leech, but at this rate, Storm won't either.
He needs to bring him down to earth.
Mewtwo swings down a weak electric fist and Storm fires. The flash cannon makes him roar in rage. Khun calls back Storm and lets out Larka while the other pokemon blinks back stars. "Get him down!" he shouts, in case mewtwo tries to read his mind. Mewtwo flings dark pulses in every direction while trying to get back his sight but it doesn't matter. Larka was fast before she could float and she's faster now. She slams into him, cheeks sparking, knocked sideways out of the air with a shadow ball. She rights herself as sparks race over lilac fur.
Mewtwo howls and raw anger sends them both flying across the water and towards the wall. Larka grabs Khun mid-flight and rolls him into her fur, hitting the wall with a crack and a horrible high-pitched squeak. Khun coughs and then throws up from the impact. They slide towards the water, which is only a puddle. So it hurts, again.
It's like fighting Jahad all over again, if the blonde man was a screaming toddler out loud instead of just in his head. Khun strains to move his arm. His mega ring is in his bag. His whole body is screaming, but he's fought through worse, lived through worse, if he can just get his bag.
"So that's how you look when you lose."
Rachel's hair is covered in dust. Her labcoat is ripped, golden eyes wild and clothes filthy. But she's holding a master ball and looking serene. No wonder she feels so content with this shit.
Her pikachu is nowhere to be found.
"Hey," he croaks, raising his head. "Did he eat your baby?"
Her cheeks reddened. That time at the lab where she'd cradled her pikachu with love seems so far away. "She left. It's fine. I don't need them now."
"Loyalty is no use to someone like you." He's pretty sure his left arm is broken. Fuck. Mewtwo hovers beside her, weight pressing Khun down into the cave. He doesn't cry out. He's felt worse. "No wonder Bam's so happy to be out."
Her lips thinned. "He didn't listen to me. That's all it is. People who listen and do what they're told last longer."
"You didn't, or he wouldn't be here, would he?" He jerks his head at Mewtwo, who growls. "The Master Ball makes him obedient when even badges won't let you do it, and where did you stop with badges? Was it my dad?" He spits red. "Not that I blame you. He's a bitch. But you're not strong enough, you never have been. But Bam could be, couldn't he?"
Rachel scowls. "You talk too much." She looks at Mewtwo. "I'll let you go when he's dead. You and Bam will be happy together, away from humans forever. That's what you want, right?"
Unrestrained loathing in the monstrous pokemon's face makes Khun pretty sure none of them are leaving this cave alive if he doesn't get to Corona's fucking ball or his bag.
Then Altair bursts from his ball with a screech. Mewtwo smacks the eevee down and she hits with a crunch. He winces as she spits out teeth. But the little eevee climbs to her paws, teeth glowing deep violet, and the next psychic attack disappears, forcing a much weaker thunder punch. She dodges with a spin. Her eyes are wild with rage.
Altair flies again, but this time she rights herself on a stalagmite, firing a shadow ball. She doesn't stop moving, which makes even his dramatic power shots useless. She's always been fast when she's angry, and anticipation makes her faster. Her legs bunch, and even from this distance, Khun thinks they look darker, her eyes look redder, and she howls, darkness forming at her mouth.
"Altair?" he whispers as she lands right in front of Rachel. Mewtwo hesitates, the master ball in Rachel's shaking hand.
She looks at him and then she glows, turning away from him. There are no words, only love.
In her next leap, an umbreon crunches her teeth right into Mewtwo's throat. Blood splatters over her fur.
The monster screams.
Khun takes advantage of the surprise to roll over. His broken arm screams, but he shifts, rolling and scooting back on his legs, dislodging his bag. Mewtwo slams a fist down, but Altair lands, dodging and sending dark pulses at his eyes. They're not strong, at least not against this thing, but they're buying time.
Or trying to. Rachel has lunged for him with a knife, forcing him to roll over. "I'll do it myself," she says, hands shaking.
For a moment, watching her draw it back towards his throat, Khun wonders if she really can.
Then a yellow blur knocks her off of him and Bam races between them. Rachel's pikachu knocks something into Bam's hands. It's a pokeball, a familiar fire sticker on its button.
"Bam?" he croaks.
Bam is shivering, his clothes damp, nose bleeding. There's something wild in his eyes that has never been there before. His Key Stone gleams on his neck.
"It's okay, Khun-ssi," he says. "Help is coming. You're going to be okay."
Khun realizes in an instant. "Wait, Bam, you can't-"
"It's okay," Bam repeats, looking at Mewtwo and Altair, who are still fighting. There's something small clutched in his fist.
Rachel throws her pikachu off, but the pokemon escapes with the master ball, fleeing to the other side of the cave, as far from them as fast as it can. Rachel shouts in alarm and sends out a sandslash.
The two of them fighting isn't important (it is, he knows, but everything is hurting, he can't think), but Khun makes himself look where Altair is standing, growling as Mewtwo's body burns white. The blood spraying from its neck slows to a trickle and Bam steps towards Khun. He puts two pokeballs in front of him.
Then he turns away and lets out Corona.
The charizard snarls in his direction before Altair yelps. Bam reaches over and gently strokes his neck. "Will you help me?" he asks. "Will you help me protect him?" He looks at Khun, who is now trying to at least sit up, but he thinks his leg is broken now.
Corona looks at Khun and those blue eyes fill with anger. For a moment, Khun thinks his pokemon will refuse. He'd accepted Khun over hundreds of hours of encouragement and patience, forgiveness, and injuries.
But Corona looks at Bam, who doesn't know how to look away. And he nods. The chest plate with his mega stone gleams. Bam climbs onto his back. Khun tries to make a sound. Black spots dot his vision. He can't pass out. He needs to stay awake, or he might not wake up.
The world erupts with light as Corona bursts into the fight, black scales and claws burning. Altair dodges and Mewtwo turns on Bam. His eyes are filled with tears.
Bam doesn't flinch at all. Pride blossoms like a flower and Khun grins to himself. "It hurts," Bam says. "Right?"
Mewtwo lunges for him. Corona swings his tail right into Mewtwo's chest. He screeches.
In the distance, Rachel curses. Altair snarls. Everything feels … further away. He tries to stay awake, he really does. But everything hurts.
Khun lets go.
Khun wakes up to Isu sobbing by his side and Hatz leaned against his shoulder.
Well, he's had worse mornings. "H'w bad is it?" he croaks. Oh no, he hates that.
They both start and Isu's sobbing starts all over again. It must be really fucking bad. Isu cries for dramatics, not because he means it half the time.
"You'll recover," Hatz says quietly. "But your mom and sister have gone full homicidal, so there's that."
His mother cries when she's angry. Ugh. "Bam?" he finally says.
That makes Isu laugh, hiccupping out of a sob. Hatz sighs. "You worry about him before your own pokemon."
Obviously. He trusts them to look after his pokemon. Bam had decided to mega evolve someone else's partner.
"He's recovering from psychic damage," Isu finally tells him. "Yours was bad, but he apparently went mind to mind with a mewtwo."
"They're not sure how he's still alive," Isu admits, like that won't make Khun's heart leap into his throat. "But he's healing pretty well. He, uh, caught Mewtwo by the way. He stole your master ball at some point when we weren't looking and broke the other one."
"…Oh." Well, it's not like he was really gonna use it, but it was a nice backup. He grimaces in pain.
Hatz nudges him back down. "Go back to sleep."
He wants to protest because it's Hatz, and he wants to see Altair and pamper her and tell her how proud he is of her, but honestly he's so exhausted he goes back down again.
He wakes up to light peeking through the blinds and to Bam. There's a blissey healing Khun's leg. Bam looks at him with exhausted eyes and smiles. He places Altair's ball at his side and he grunts at the weight of a concerned, delighted umbreon in his lap, sniffing and nuzzling his face. The blissey gives Bam a dirty look, but he mustn't mean it since he goes right back to healing.
"Hey," Khun says weakly.
"Hi," Bam says. He looks so drained.
"It looks worse than it is?" Khun offers.
Bam laughs, but it doesn't touch his eyes. "V-Mewtwo won't bother us again, I think," he says. "Not for a while. He went to Kalos."
"I thought you caught him," he says as his leg pain fades and Blissey goes to his arm.
"I did," Bam says. "But I let him go. He deserves to be free as much as I do, and he doesn't want to be here anymore. The ball still has his code, so if need be, I can catch him again. That's what Professor Hansung said."
He looks down at his hand. "I'm glad you're okay."
Bam looks ready to cry, but he swallows it. "Rachel's missing."
"Of course she is."
"She's banned from Kanto," Bam continues. "And they're working on Johto. So … Hoenn, maybe."
"Are you going to follow her?" A lump almost fills his throat but the heal pulse won't let him cry and he wouldn't even consider it. He has a reputation to uphold.
"No." Bam smiles at that and it looks genuine. "My father is somewhere in Johto, so I was going to go there. I was … I was hoping you'd like to come with me? When you're better."
For a moment, Khun wonders. There's something sincere and gentle in those eyes, an understanding that this time, Bam can go alone.
"I've never been to Johto," he says. "Could be fun. You ask the other two yet?"
"They're your friends," Bam says shyly, but the pure longing in his face makes Khun want to give him everything he wants.
"They're yours too," he says, but a note of mischief enters his voice. "But maybe I just want you to myself."
Bam squeaks and pink flushes his ears. "I … that's… I don't mind at all."
"It's a date," Khun says before he can think better of it. "A very long date."
Altair purrs loudly and Mirai's ball shakes, letting out the squeak of the happy eevee. It flashes and turns long, thin, and purple before their eyes.
"You have got to be kidding me," Khun mutters as Bam laughs loud enough and hard enough to wake the dead.
Mirai just chirps, pleased with herself. Altair paws her.
Khun settles back, content for a moment. Then he smirks. "Hatz still owes me one more favor."
And he knows exactly how to make him use it.