"Where is that damn brat gone?!", Hazel shouted madly, not admitting to have made any sort of mistake on his own.

"I-I don't know, he was there and then h-he just disappeared ...", Chestnut tried explaining but got interrupted quickly,

"Of course he's gone! I can see that, imbecile! *Snort*", hazel curbed his anger and managed to control his short fit of rage. The boy couldn't have run have far, especially with those pre-existing injuries plus the burning damage, it's just a matter of time until he succumbs to his wounds or they found him and ended his suffering.

"Hunter! Sonic! End that Snibel quickly, try to not to damage its skin too much, I bet I can find some customers who are into endangered species, even if they have been roughened up a little, kyakakaka!", Hazel revealed his sinister plans and ordered his Pokemon to finish the battle so they could pursue the boy again.

"Triiiiiierr!"

"Grooouuuuuurrrrr!!!"

The Snibel suddenly sensed that the situation heated up and his enemies were getting serious now. He turned back into the direction that that human child had fled, mixed emotions filled its eyes.

It didn't expect anything from a young fledgling anyway, so the Sniebel seemed relieved that it escaped somehow. Was he finally able to repay its old debts?

His attention was pulled back onto the field in front of it, the Houndour advancing with a jump while opening its jaw to attempt biting in its flesh.

The Sniebel evaded the attack like an expert and showed a sneer, conveying contempt for Houndours poor performance.

But at the same time a shower of well-aimed sonic blasts rained on him by Zubat and made his small feeling of superiority dissipate in a second. A fight against these two opponents wasn't simple enought that he could allow himself becoming careless. They got its respect for driving him into a corner for so long.

All the while the flames surrounding the group slowly sipped away Sniebel's endurance and made his fatigue rise up rapidly! Having made up his mind and no longer bound by any burdens, the Snibel extended its claws out and rushed into the final clash!

...

"Huh, huh, huh, argh!", Atiqo held his limp left arm with his other hand, running on the bumpy ground without care for balance or elegance. He tried to suppress making pained expression on his face and only thought about finishing his objective. His head throbbed like a ticking time bomb and his heart was running on overdrive mode, the miracle drug called adrenalin and near-death experience making this feat possible.

Atiqo didn't have any time to think about useless things like pain, broken arms or dazzling stars in his field of view ...

"Oh god damned!", he cursed loudly, not caring for anything in this moment. For his plan to work out he needed to escape shortly from the enemy's radar and gather some materials in the woods.

But it didn't help that his body was denying him any kind of support!

Sadly, his re-awakening didn't come along with an instant heal - super recovery package, he still had to struggle with wordly matters like headaches and exhaustion.

He had to hurry though. Atiqo wasn't sure how long that Sniebel could hold out anymore under the continuous barrage of two well-trained Pokemon.

He clenched his teeth angrily and cursed again. Sniebel couldn't be considered his partner or friend, but this Pokemon appeared in Arthur's darkest moment and helped fend off these criminals. This made him Atiqo's ally as well, no matter what!

Leaving his ally behind to deal with the enemies on its own left a bitter taste in Atiqo's mouth. He felt angry at himself for being too weak, not being able to help those that needed help.

Suddenly, he felt a vibration coming off from his pocket. He put his hand inside and brought a red coloured electronic device to light with a blue bulb in a corner that kept blinking erratically.

"What the ... is this really what I think it is ...?!"

If it weren't for the grim situation and other pressing matters, Atiqo would be excited to finally hold a real Pokedex in his hand, how many times did he have incredible dreams about going onto Pokemon Adventures, catching Pokemon and analysing them with his very own Pokedex?

He even had a collection of Pokedexes in his own room, one for each generation, though the one in his hand heavily resembled the first generation Pokedex, there were still some slight differences here and there. Mainly the weight was a bit heavier compared to the replica and the metallic vibe it gave off was much more realistic.

Atiqo found a press button on the side, which opened the PokeDex and revealed rows of text appearing on the small screen:

[Host's mental and physical conditions have entered critical state .Beep.]

[Suggestion for Host to find a peaceful environment and calm mental state and recover immediately .Beep.]

[Host has lost consciousness .Beep.]

[... Soul Transfusion has progressed positively .Beep.]

[Congratulations to Host for successful recuperation .Beep.]

[Suggestion for Host to find a safe environment and recover from injuries immediately .Beep.]

[Detecting intense energy signals in Host's environment ....Beep.; Suggestion for Host to search for the origin .Beep.; High probability that signals are radiated by Energy Crystals!]

[Reminder to Host: Energy Crystals are required for the System Upgrade; Clearance Level Promotion, A.I. Initiation, Activation of Training Protocol 'Olympus', Recovery of previous Host's soul - Cornelius Sullivan -... .Beep.]

Atiqo's eyes shook for a moment when the name 'Cornelius Sullivan' was caught by them! The guy who got him into this whole mess, his name was Cornelius, right?! What did he have to do with all this now all of a sudden?

He took a break for second, and let the information sink in his mind. What should he do now? Go after the weird signal and find out more about this mystery? Or continue with his mission and throw himself back into the dangerous fight?

An image flashed across his eyes, captured by Arthur in that one moment where he thought he would die for sure, smashed by the Bellsprout into a meat paste. It was then that the Sniebel appeared first, out of nowhere and blocked the Bellsprout's fierce attack like an expert.

With his heart ignited by a rush of new resolve, Atiqo quickly made up his mind and pushed all other the matters aside for now.

He knew from Arthur's memories that the Pokedex was able to respond to him, even if most requests were denied immediately.

"Ehh, Pokedex, can you mark down the location of that energy signal? I will take care of it later.", it was a weird experience for him trying to talk with a inanimate object. But it succeeded.

[.Beep. Suggestion for Host to directly go after the signals and prevent any variables to app-]

"I asked wether you can do it or not, damned!", Atiqo didn't really have the time to discuss the best course of action with a piece of electronics and asked again with more urgency in his tone.

[ ... Instructions received .Beep. Marking down location of Energy Signals for later reviewing .Beep.]

"Sighh, good. Now back to the task at hand.", he put the PokeDex away and disappeared in the curtain of greenery.

...

Back at the centre of the conflict, the situation looked pretty bad for Sniebel. It had miscalculated its own power, his reserves weren't enough to break out of the conflict, or to even take down one of the enemies that aimed at Sniebel's life.

The Fire Spin that continuously gnawed at Sniebel's stamina ran out of power moments ago, but a completely different disaster struck Sniebel now!

Its eyes glanced down onto one of its claws, blood gushed out from its right side and the Sniebel had to suppress the overwhelming pain striking his mind and reject the urge to just close its eyes for some small ... mo... ments...

"Krrrrr...", it wasn't even able to intimidate the enemies anymore, the Houndour and the Zubat seemed to slowly realize how the scales of the battle had tipped to their favour and dashed into action more unbridled than ever before!

That's how its injury came to be. The Houndour just disregarded its own defense and crunched down heavily on Sniebel's defending paws.

The problem was that unlike other Pokemon with claws, Sniebel's claws weren't coated with hard materials for protection and they were also directly connected to its own nervous system!

Usually it was a benefit that granted an improved sensitivity when climbing trees, steep hills and buildings. However, this sensitivity now seemingly turned into a disadvantage!

The Houndour had managed to chomp through its outer defense layers and opened up a path to Sniebel's nerve endings, leaving them vulnerable to the environment!

That's why it currently suffered from intense sensual reactions and difficulties moving its limb correctly. This made it even harder for the Sniebel to shield itself and caused great harm to its already frail mind.

"Kyakakaka! Look at this poor soul. Has it realized that its struggles have finally become senseless? That they just delayed the inevitabel! Kyakakaka, sadly this won't help you anymore!", finally the fight was coming to an end. Hazel had the urge to immediately rush after that the boy, but the risk was too great that the Sniebel might cut off his path and even worse, wound him fatally!

"No, no, no! I won't be this stupid. That Pokemon is almost finished anyway, there is no reason to hurry.", is what he thought.

"Hahaha, stupid crappy Pokemon! U'r lucky ain't coming for you!", Chestnut shouted at the Sniebel overjoyed, however, he promptly turned back to Hazel at his side and pleaded pitifully,

"Haze, I got hungry, please just finished it and let's go find that boy and get our money! I need some food, and Homey needs to see a Pokemon Center!"

"Got it, no need to tell me. My patience has run out as well", Hazel replied with furrowed eyebrows.

"Sonic, Hunter! What are you doing there! That Sniebel is practically a walking corpse! An unmoving target! Do you need my help to finally get this job done or what?!", Hazel yelled at his Pokemon with an irritated and unmasked tone in his voice.

Feeling the discontentment in their master's voice, both Pokemon mustered up even more strength and energy to defeat their opponent!

While the Houndour was keeping Sniebel busy again catching its entire attention, an opening got exposed in Sniebel's blindspot, one that the Zubat saw and fully intended to utilize!

The Zubat put itself in the right position and shot down in a straight trajectory towards its target! The Zubat's strategy was simple yet effective!

Flying in a straight line and using the gravity of earth, the Zubat gathered as much force as possible to smash right into Sniebel's back of the head!

This might actually endanger Hazel's plan to get an undamaged corpse so he could sell it for a high price, but this savage Zubat was either drowned in sheer madness or was just plain stupid and had already forgotten its master's previous orders!

Either way, things didn't look good for Sniebel and as things stood right, it might not even be able to react to or notice its imminent demise before it was too late!