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Chapter Five.

My dreams were filled with oddities over the night. It was more like a nightmare. I was with Zane in my dreams, the two of us idly talking in the middle of the woods in our tent. Everything was calm and peaceful with him there.

But then the tent zipped open, and a big burly hand reached in, grabbed Zane by the collar of his shirt, and pulled him out into the dark night. I chased, but I wasn't fast enough. Eventually Zane vanished, and soon even his shouts faded into nothing, and I was left alone in the middle of the dark woods.

Thankfully, that's when I woke up. I gasped while shooting up, clutching my chest as my heart beat rapidly. I saw Zane beside me, and calmed down considerably.

"What a dream..." I sighed heavily, closing my eyes as I tried to calm my still racing heart. I looked over at Zane then again, watching him as he slept so peacefully. It didn't seem our connection transfered dreams at least.

I laid back with another sigh and stared at the ceiling of the tent. The rain was gone now it seemed, droplets of water scattered on the outside of the tarp shined brightly in the morning sunlight.

"I wish every day will start like this, asides the nightmare..." I chuckled and smiled. It just seemed so peaceful out here, and I knew that a huge hand wasn't likely to just rip through the tent and take Zane away of course.

I laid there, remembering everything that had happened the night before. I blushed slightly as I grinned. I couldn't believe we had done something like that together. What had we even done? I wasn't sure what it was, but the connection I shared with Zane now seemed to give me some of his knowledge.

"Sex...?" I blushed still as I tried to understand the word that came to mind, feeling my body become warmer as I thought, and then, I felt my cock becoming hard inside my sheath and I tried to stop. I couldn't let myself get so excited over it. I had no idea what would happen now that me and Zane were mentally linked.

He had said we would never have to do anything like that again now that we were linked but...it felt so nice, I wanted to do it again.

I shook my head slightly, managing to calm myself. Not now though, it was the start of a new day, we needed to get going.

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It took a few hours for Zane to wake and then to properly pack up the tent and fit it into his backpack.

"I'll get better at this as the days go by, my first time camping out on my own." He said to me as I waited for him to be ready, and he lifted me up onto his shoulder as we started walking down the path again.

The forest was shining, droplets of rain sparkling against the rays of the sun. It was beautiful, and the sight of the land in front of us as it sparkled was awe inspiring.

"Wow..." Zane whispered lightly as we stared out over the grand forest, and in the background, I could see a few tall buildings from the distant city stretching up into the sky over the hills.

"That's Chrom City." Zane told me as he saw the building too. "There's a mining facility there, it's our first stop for a league badge." He scratched my ears lightly as he talked and I murred.

"I won't let you down Zane, I'm strong." I flexed an arm, realizing I probably only made myself look cute rather than tough.

"I know you are Riolu, you'll only get stronger. I appreciate how hard you worked during all our training back home, and how you defended me both from that trainer and from Snivy."

I blushed brightly and wagged my tail, "I'd...do anything for you Zane..."

Zane smiled and he kissed me a moment by turning his head, chuckling afterward as he broke it and returned to looking down the pathway.

"I've been thinking lately, perhaps I should give you a nickname, what do you think?"

"Yes!" I yowled and flung my paws in the air a bit, "A nickname! It'd be difficult if at some point we run into another one of my species like Lucario and you're calling us both Riolu."

"Well..." He thinks a moment, tilting his head up at the sky. I wondered why I couldn't feel his thoughts right now. I guess we could still have our privacy in a way, we could only feel what the other wanted us to.

"How about....Ruli?" He smiled and looked at me, "It's something simple, but it does give you an actual name too, not something like Sparky or Flame." He rolled his eyes and I giggled.

"Ruli...I like it." I wagged my tail and blushed a bit, happy to have a name given to me by Zane.

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We walked for a few hours, the journey was rather uneventful, the two of us either chatting or leaving to our own thoughts. I enjoyed the nice environment of the wilderness, and occasionally, I spotted a pokemon in the woods who would hide when it heard us walking down the path.

Reaching the city was more eventful, as a cheery greeter meted us where we entered. The person was blue haired and wearing a very nice looking outfit that made him stand out quite a bit.

"Hello! Welcome to Chrom City! I'm a worker for the city council, taking a tally on who visits the city and why. Could I please get your name?"

"Uh, I'm Zane." Zane blinked as he answered, stopping as the person had come in front of him.

"Okay, and what are you visiting for?"

"I'm going to challenge the gym here." Zane grinned.

"Ohhhhhh! A Pokemon Trainer yes? Is this your pokemon here?" He eyed me with a grin and I felt a little uneasy.

"Yeah, this is Ruli." Zane said, calling me for the first time by my name to someone else and I blushed.

"Ruli? A Riolu you mean?"

"Ruli. That's his nickname." Zane corrected.

"Ah I see." He nodded and wrote on his clipboard a little before he nodded, "Thanks for visiting Chrom City, I hope you have a nice day here."

"Thanks." Zane waved a bit before he continued on walking into the city, and I looked behind to watch as the man stood next to the entrance again.

"Now, I wonder where that gym is located here..." He thought while looking around at all the buildings.

I took in most of the sights. The city wasn't incredibly large by the look of it, the largest building was only seven stories high. I guessed the only main attraction here was the mining facility. There were several strong looking and large pokemon around, hauling a rock or a box here and there. I wondered what kind I might be facing up against in the gym battle. If they were going to be as large as the ones I saw here, I might be a little out of my league.

"Well...I suppose we should just stop at the pokemon center first, they can tell us where it is and it's easier to find." He looked around again a moment, "There it is." He pointed and I looked. There was a large, bright red colored building down the street, with the symbol of a ball that was half red and half white.

The inside was bustling with trainers and pokemon alike as we stepped in. It wasn't packed full, but it certainly seemed very busy.

"Hey...It's you..." Zane gasped in surprise and spun around from where we stood in the doorway. and I growled from his shoulder and bared my teeth as I saw who was there.

It was that trainer from the woods. His stare was impassive as he stare down slightly at Zane, just a little bit taller than him.

"Oh..." Zane started indifferently, "What's up?"

"Nothing much, picking up my Pidove. After that beat up your Riolu did to him his wing was broken. Thankfully, pokemon heal up fast..." He walked around Zane then and proceeded up close to the counter. Zane followed quickly, getting up into step beside him.

"Did my dad hire you to battle me that day?"

The Trainer stayed silent a moment before he decided to respond, "Yes, he did, and after he learned of my defeat, he was demanding I send you home in shame or he will remove my payment."

"Who are you?" Zane folded his arms as they both stopped by the counter and waited to be serviced by the pretty and big pink haired women who was attending other trainers at the moment, "What kind of trainer lets himself be hired like that?"

"A "Mercenary" trainer of course. and my name is Fredrick if you must know." He grunted a bit.

"Why take my dad's job then?"

"He was paying quite a bit of money, he made it seem like you'd be easy to defeat so I used my weakest pokemon against you, but your Riolu-"

"Ruli." Zane interrupted and corrected him.

"You named him?" Fredrick grinned a moment and raised an eyebrow. "Heh, you'll be quite a trainer I'm sure. Anyways, after he found out about my failure, he told me to use my best pokemon and just leave your Ruli in the dirt. Of course, he meant...to kill it..." He grimaced, "I am of course, against that so I told him no and went about my way here."

Zane stayed silent now, but I could feel his thoughts. Surprise, anguish, anger, at the thought that his dad would try to go so far as to have me killed. I didn't feel too well about it either. Could I die to anything but old age? I knew all pokemon were strong and hardy, we could take lightning bolts and streams of fire and merely pass out and be back on our feet in hours. How much would it take to actually kill me?

"Excuse me?" A nice voice interrupted our thoughts, the young lady was ready to help us it seemed, as she stood behind the counter with a nice smile.

"Sorry." Fredrick said, "I'm here to pick up my Pidove, is he all right?"

"Yes he's just fine, I'll go see if he's ready to go."

"Thanks." After a bit, she returned with a pokeball and handed it over to him.

Zane and Fredrick spent a few more hours chatting about their experiences and adventrues. Mostly, it was Fredrick who told Zane about most of his own journeys. The shock of learning that his father wanted me dead was faded now.

Fredrick seemed like a nice enough guy now, despite how he decided to make his living as a mercenary trainer, he still cared about his pokemon. He apologized to Zane about what had happened a few times as we sat together.

"I'm sorry by the way," He said once, "If I had known your dad was so uncaring I wouldn't have taken the job."

"Well..." Zane sighed, "It wasn't your fault I suppose, besides, the battle gave me a lot of confidence afterwards."

"Heh, it was nice to actually get to met you in a more proper setting." Fredrick chuckled and he smiled, "Perhaps we'll met again down the road, for now, I need to get going."

"Hey hey wait." Zane stood up with him, "Do you know where the gym is in town?"

"The Gym? Yeah. I'll take you to it before I head out."

We walked out together, and as we left the building, there was a sudden SNAP.

"What the hell!?" Fredrick gasped and I looked down from Zane's shoulder at the sudden claw that had latched around my waist, and before I knew it, I was being pulled up into the air.

"AHHH! ZANE!!!" I yowled out as it pulled me away from him and into the arms of someone else.

"Got ya you little runt..." A deep voice growled at me and I looked up. Zane's dad looked down at me with that glare in his eyes.

"Ruli!" Zane called out as he raced up, Fredrick close behind him. He came to a stop as he saw who had grabbed me, "Dad?!"

"Zane." Steve grunted gruffly and he tucked me up under one of his arms, lifting his other one up into the air. He was wearing some kind of odd uniform. A small wire and grasp slide down from the air next to him.

"Go home son, your journey is over." He said while grabbing hold of the cord. Before Zane could respond, Steve started shooting up into the air with me, up into the air where a small sized airship waited.

"ZANE!!!" I shouted before Steve muffled me with his arm, squeezing me tightly.

"Shut it you..." He growled loudly over the rushing wind as we came closer to the ship. He continued to squeeze around my neck, cutting off oxygen as I wiggled and tried to breath, but eventually, the lack of air slowly caused me to black out, as Zane grew smaller in the distance on the ground.

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"Wake up runt." That same gruff voice spoke to me and I shuffled a bit, opening my eyes to find myself in some kind of odd computer lab. As awareness returned to me, I looked around tiredly at all the odd computer panels and flashing lights. I tried to move then, but my paws and footpaws were shackled in place, spread apart in the air.

"Wh-what's going on?" I whispered tiredly as I struggled against the restraints.

"What's going on," Steve growled at me as he walked around the lab, turning on a few of the monitors, which then showed a diagram of what looked to be me, "Is that you're going to be the subject of a few special experiments, all of which will probably kill you."

"What are you talking about?" I growled lightly and then blinked, "How can you understand me?!"

He stayed silent a moment, "That's none of your concern..."

"What's your problem then!?" I growled again, now finally getting fully awake and I bared my teeth, "Why can't you just let Zane go on a journey with me!?"

He turned a dial on one of the computer panels, and I yelled as I felt my right arm pulse with intense pain, courses through the rest of my body crazily before he turned it off and I slumped forward in the restraints, panting.

"Like I said, that's none of your concern, you won't live long enough to say anything about it anyway."

"What...?" I groaned and looked at him through one eye, pain still slightly flooded my body.

"I've studied Pokemon a long time..." Steve said slowly as he walked along the many computer panels, flipping a few more switches. I noticed that the diagram of me on the screens now showed my right arm in a slightly yellowed color rather than green, and it was steadily returning to a green glow as the pain faded away as well.

"When Pokemon fight, their abilities target a certain part of the targets body. Arm, Leg, Midbody, and Head. If a pokemon sustains enough damage to these different parts of the body, they pass out and enter a "recovery state". Typically, this is when they would be taken out of battle. In the wild, other Pokemon leave those who they knock out like this alone. Why do they do this?" He grinned and slightly turned his head to me, and I gulped.

"I-I don't know...why?"

"Pokemon can't cause constant damage to another of course, a Thunderbolt only hits once as anything else does. If a Pokemon who has been knocked out continues to sustain damage after entering a recovery state, it can cause bodily missfunction, loss of motor ability, and even...death."

He turned the dial again, this time, pain tore through both of my arms, and I yowled out again with my eyes closed tight as I endured.

"AHHHHH!!!!"

"You feel that don't you? The pain, and how tired your arms become as they suffer through more and more? That's them slowly entering the recovery state, eventually, your own subconscious will pass out as you fully go in."

I gritted my teeth as I whimpered and whined continuously, it felt like I was being hit with thousands of lightning bolts all at once, my body twitching and shaking. My arms started to feel numb, and I opened an eye with effort to look at the computer monitor. Both of my arms on the screen were red colored, and he finally turned off the dial and the pain left me and I slumped again, panting and groaning and still slightly twitching, electricity still coursing through me a bit.

"Your arms are gone, now, let's do your legs."

I yelled out again as the pain returned, this time shooting up from my feet and along my legs, and it even went deep into my chest. I yowled in pain and begged.

"PLEASE!!! STOP!!!"

"I will not let my son go through the same thing I did! All Pokemon are alike in the end!" The pain intensified as he turned another dial to its max, and suddenly the arm shackles joined back in, sending all their jolts of power into my body, which gathered right in the center of my chest, attacking my heart.

"NOOO!!! ZANE!!!!!!!" I writhed in agony, as electricity coursed through my body in such volumes it practically was jumping off of me into the ground.

Suddenly there was an explosion on the far wall, and wind blew into the room as a large, dragon Pokemon flew into the room on wings that looked too small for it.

"Dragonite! Dragon Rage!" Someone called out among the rushing wind, and the large Pokemon took a deep breath and then blew dark blue flames around the computer panels, as Steve retreated closer to me. The consoles exploded one after the other, and the electricity turned off on the shackles and left me panting, I held onto my consciousness, only barely though, as I saw Fredrick riding on the back of the dragon, just above its wings with his legs wrapped around it's neck and he held onto the dragons ears lightly.

"Steve! You go too far! Release that Riolu!"

Steve scowled as another pokemon, the Pidove I had fought earlier, flew into the hole, and holding on tightly to its feet was Zane.

"Ruli!" He shouted and jumped onto the floor of the lab.

"Z...Zane..." I moaned and smiled a bit.

"Grrr...." Steve made a growling sound as he scowled at Zane then and his hand found a knob on the platform I was on. "You want him so badly son? You can have him! His lifeless body!" He turned the knob, an override for the platform.

I screamed again as the electricity started all over again, scoring through me intensely and I couldn't take it anymore. I was starting to black out, I could feel it picking at the back of my head as I barely held on, but I couldn't, if I let myself slip away, and this torture continued, my body would start to die!

I heard dozens of shouts, as Zane yelled out my name, Fredrick told Steve to get out of the way, and Steve refused, and then the blaring alarm of the ship as it started losing altitude, before I finally lost my hold and slipped away.

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The next thing I heard were the sounds of slow, light beeps in the background of my mind, as I laid on the ground of a dark and dreary world. I breathed slowly, although I felt wide awake, it was just as fast I could apparently. I looked around, there was nothing here, but then, where was that beeping coming from?

"Ruli!" Zane's voice echoed through the world and I felt my heart skip a beat, which was rather painful to endure.

"Ruli!!!" It echoed again and I moaned.

"Zane...help..." I whimpered and tried to move, but only more pain shot through me.

"Stay still!" A different voice shouted, and I recognized it as Lucario's. "Get back! Stupid boy!"

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"Stay still!" Lucario growled at Zane again as I opened my eyes to the real world slowly, staring up into a bright light hanging from the ceiling "You're only making him feel more pain!" Of course Zane didn't understand, but Herb was there too.

"Stop Zane! Stay silent, I know you only want to help but stop!"

"But Ruli-!"

"Ruli will be fine, let Lucario and the Pokemon Center tend to him."

Lucario appeared above me then, his hand glowing that soft greenish glow that I had seen back home. He waved it over me slowly as I breathed in again, pain flashing through me even as I did and I winced.

"Lu-Lucario..." I stammered out. "Wh-what are you...doing here..."

"Easy...don't talk...we came running as soon as we heard what had happened. Relax young one...I'll tell you everything once you're okay, but for now, sleep..." He whispered and placed one of his paws on my head, and I sighed thankfully as the calming energy it gave me kept the pain out. He continued to wave his other paw over the rest of my body, as I just let myself fall back into a deep sleep.