#heropartner

          “Come on, Port! We’re almost there!” Chrome shouted with a heft through the heavy downpour. Dashing across the soaked town, he took care as to not trip or sink on the dirt path leading to their home, which had been muddied by the intense rainfall. Treasure Town was completely barren, with not a soul in sight minus the two explorers, as no one felt like getting soaked upon catching sight of several massive, dark clouds over the horizon rapidly approaching the town. Unfortunately for Team Flux, they were out on a mission at the time by Crystal Crossing, and had arrived just as the storm hit. Chrome pushed through, running on all fours in an effort to hasten his escape from water beating down on his yellow fur. While the Pikachu would love to check in on how his partner was doing, the storm was only getting stronger, evident by the intense rumbling above, the harsh wind battering into his skin and-

        CRRK!

        A blinding flash of white filled the dark sky, followed immediately by a clap of thunder striking the earth, snapping a tree in half and sending it tumbling down onto the bridge, destroying the path forward. One which Chrome was currently barreling towards, with no chance of stopping. With mere seconds to react, the Pikachu clenched his teeth and buckled his legs before leaping forth, successfully jumping over the rapid river below. He glided through the air for a few seconds longer before finally landing back on the ground. However, he failed to account for the rain as the path was softer than usual, and Chrome, unable to pull out his sunken left paw off the ground, was forced straight down face first to the ground, the momentum plopping his stuck paw out and launching him to the sky, tumbling across the road at unprecedented speeds.

        “Agh!- Ough!- Ack!- Eagh!-“

        The Pikachu winced at every tumble, feeling his insides hurtle and body bruise. At the sixth tumble, however, his stomach sank and eyes widened. He was by the cliff! Home was just around the corner! Unfortunately, Chrome was in the air, and was headed not for home, but over the cliffs and into the rocks below! He desperately oriented himself as best he could, flailing around midair to get him as close to land as possible and-

        “Argh!” Chrome yelped, his paws gripping tightly onto soft soil as his body swung and slammed itself against the stony cliffside. All momentum ceased, and the Pikachu gave himself time to breathe… which proved to be fatal as the growing storm had softened the dirt further, allowing one of his paws to slip. Chrome’s heart quickened, faster than it ever had, as with just one paw left, he could feel his grip loosen with every passing second. His mind was screaming now, telling him to pull himself back up, to propel himself upwards, but the ground was giving in too fast. With just one paw, there was no way he coul-

        The ground gave way and his stomach dropped.

         “CHROME!”

         Port’s voice struck him like lightning as out of nowhere, and something bit his hand, hard. Chrome held his yelp, however, as looking above, he saw his partner biting down on his hand, eyes furrowed, “Cmmm onn!” The Mudkip shouted, shakily heaving the rodent up with as much strength as he could muster, and with one last pull, fully yanked Chrome up, hurtling him towards himself and sending the two sprawling across the floor, with Chrome lying atop his savior.

        “Hah… that was… close… thank you… Port…” Chrome muttered, before dropping limp with half-closed lids. His consciousness faded as he felt Port squirm beneath him, before suddenly being lifted up and carried away.

        “L-Let’s… just get b-back inside…”

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                The fire crackled and popped as Chrome huddled by the warm heat of the campfire, bundled up in a ragged cloak. Despite the… many holes it had, the Pikachu still felt warm and cozy, and as the muffled pitter-patters of the rainstorm continued to fill the air, he carefully reached his shaky paws out from his cover, hovering them over the flames.

        Off to the side, Port was busy searching through their personal storage where the duo had placed their soaked bags and equipment. “Come on, where is it…” the Mudkip muttered to himself as he threw out items out of the barrels one by one, scattering berries, seeds and Max Elixirs before…

        “Fwound iwt!”

        Chrome glanced at his partner to see a Blast Seed carefully carried in his mouth. He hustled on over to the fireplace before placing it on a waterfilled pot and carefully setting said pot over the fire, “Sitrus, Rawst and Blast should be enough to heat your body up.” Port stated, carefully stirring it for a moment before turning his eyes back at the mess he made with a quiet gagging sound escaping his throat, “I… can fix that mess later… for now…”

        He turned his attention back to his partner, and Chrome couldn’t help but feel bad as he noticed how moist and baggy his eyes were, “A-are you feeling any better?”

        “Lot better than before, for sure, heh heh…” Chrome replied, opting to not inform his anxious partner of how cold his body felt still. He glanced down at his right hand, feeling out the cloth bandaging it, courtesy of Port. “Will say, you have a pretty strong bite. Almost bit my hand right off.”

        “I-I know… I’m sorry, I-I wasn’t thinking straight. I sh-should’ve bit down lighter, or perhaps be a bit faster with my Dig so I could catch you earlier. If I had j-just been a bit more prepared y-you wouldn’t be so hurt but, but even then I c-could’ve taken things slowly and used Dig t-to catch you instead of b-biting your hand which is p-probably broken and wounded and-“

        THUNK!

        Chrome bonked Port’s head with his ear, sending the Mudkip recoiling, “H-hey!” Port winced, rubbing the spot where he got hit, “Why did you do that?!“

        Chrome merely sighed, an empathetic tone to his voice, “You were about to spiral, or descend, or whatever that term was.”

        Port backed off a bit from that, but he still continued, “I know, but I still-“

        Chrome placed his free paw over his partner’s face, shutting him up, “Yut-tut-tut! I didn’t finish speaking yet. You’re just going to say that stuff again, anyways.” Port looked away at that, face flushed a faint pink.

        Satisfied that Port was listening instead of falling down a rabbit hole, Chrome continued, a firm yet still friendly tone to his voice now, “First things first, this wasn’t your fault, okay? It just wasn’t.” Port scuffled a bit in his place, gritting his teeth, but said nothing, “I know you want to argue it was, but you didn’t cause me to crash and tumble all the way off the cliff. I did. And if that doesn’t sit right with you, then let uhh, Ray-quata or whatever his name was be responsible for sending a storm at me.”

        “Technically, thunderstorms are Thundurus’s thing, not Rayquaza…” Port softly muttered beneath his breath.

        Chrome rolled his eyes, waving his hand nonchalantly, “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He silently watched as Port quietly chuckled to himself, feeling his own smile curl as well, “Moving on. You saved me. There’s no other way to explain it, you saved me. Who cares if all that’s left of me is bones when I’m still alive and walking despite my lack of fur or skin.”

        A long pause came as the duo’s face scrunched up at the thought of the Pikachu walking around skinless across town, scaring the life of every resident who dares to look at him. Chrome shook his head, “…Ignoring that last example, you get what I’m trying to say. I got saved, and that’s that/” Chrome reached his hand forth, before swiftly pulling it back, a warm smile on his face, “So… no need to knock yourself too bad, okay?”

        The nightly ambience slowly crept back in as the two sat by the fire, Chrome eager for a response. Port’s answer, however, blew that eagerness away, “…Still, I should be better…” Port spoke clearly, head down with dejection, “I saved Anu before, and look at what good that did. I tried to save my friends, and look at what help that did.” A deep growl left the Mudkip’s throat, and it didn’t take Chrome long to realize that he was visibly shaking, “It doesn’t matter that I saved you, if I don’t become better, if I don’t learn, I will make the same mistake I did long ago, and I can’t…” He choked for a second, steadily wiping his face of the growing tears, “I can’t let that happen to you, or Mana, or Anu again. I just can’t.”

        Silence. The same ambience as before filled the room, now accompanied by the Mudkip’s staggered breathing. His body still shook as his eyes remained transfixed on the floor, lost to the world before-

        “Then what should you have done back there, hmm?”

        Port paused, surprise in his voice as he stopped, “Huh?”

        “You said you should be better.” Chrome firmly stated with crossed arms and furrowed eyes, away from his partner “Are you saying saving me wasn’t the best choice?”

        "What?! No!” Port cried, a winced look on his face, “I meant that if I was better or stayed calm, then you wouldn’t be hurt…”

        “So then why does it matter?!”

        Chrome leaned forth, striking his paws to the ground, startling the distraught Port as his gaze returned to his, “It doesn’t matter if I’m hurt, or in pain. You still saved me!” Port jolted back from his fiery cry, a soft tone beneath Chrome’s words, “I don’t expect you to be perfect all the time, nor anyone else! What matters is what you did. And what you did…”

        Chrome paused for a second, face indescribable as something bubbled inside him. His heart beat fast and loud, and without a second thought, both his paws were placed over the Mudkip’s shoulder, the two now locking eyes, “You saved my life... and I can’t empathize enough how grateful I am for that.” Chrome could feel his eyes water as painful memories resurfaced, “It… It felt like it was my time again, yet you saved me, once more. And you always do that, even from when we first met. From Grovyle attacking us and Palkia’s assault, to when I… disappeared… you, you were always there to save me…” He cried, tears flooding his vision. His entire body was telling him to stop, to not dwell any further.

        Yet he persisted, his heart set on what he wanted to say next, “I don’t know how you can blame yourself after all this time, when… without you, I… I wouldn’t even be here. I wouldn’t have existed, wouldn’t have been able to enjoy my life.” Chrome sniffled, almost choking on his tears, failing to notice Port was the same way.

        “Chrome…”

        “I…” for a brief second, Chrome turned away as the words struggled to reach him, but…, With a deep breath, the Pikachu gazed back at his partner, a wide smile formed over his face. “Thank you… for everything.”

        Chrome slowly let go of his partner, yet the two did not break their gaze. As the two stared each other down, he began to feel… strange. His body felt warm and tingly, like it had been zapped by 100 tiny, harmless volts. The beating of his heart grew louder and faster than ever before, and his mind was growing more and more frantic, like he had gone into overdrive. Alarm bells rung all over his brain, and everything in his veins told him to run, to fight back, to do anything else.            Luckily for him, it didn’t take long before Port’s awed face slowly turned deep red, and far too quickly turned away, frantically looking at every corner before settling on the pot of soup by the fire. “I-I should check on the soup!” He said, speaking much faster than usual.

        Chrome watched his partner’s odd demeanor and laughed to himself, ignoring the weird panic just a moment ago and the weird sensation running down his throat. As he laughed, however…

        “..Hahah…hah….ahhh….aAA-CHOO!”

        Port turned around to see Chrome with a runny nose, and visibly shivering, “Wha- Chrome! You said you were feeling good!” The Mudkip proclaimed, wide-eyed as he carefully bit the pot handle between his jaws.

        The Pikachu tried to respond, but was interrupted by another sneeze, thankfully covered with his arm this time, “I-I did… “ he sniffled, “Guess the s-symptoms came late, h-heh hehh….achoo!”

        Port rolled his eyes at that as he carefully placed down the pot to the side, “At least we have symptoms… remember when you ate a dozen whole Dropeye Seeds and didn’t tell anyone until you accidently bumped into Chimecho, during team assembly?” Port remarked with a playful scoff, slowly stirring the berry stew, “You didn’t even know you were blinded till she used a couple of Heal Bells!”

        Chrome bellowed at the memory, “Oh y-yeah! I feel sorry for her, h-having to care for me like t-that.” He scratched the back of his head with a sheepish expression, “Arceus knows h-how many ‘injuries’ I h-had…”

        Port slowly shook his head all knowingly, “Too many to count…. Too many to count…” He slowly tapped the pot and looked inside, baring a satisfied smile, “Soup’s ready now!” He took a quick glance at his partner, who was already frothing at the mouth. A small hint of sadness lingered in his eyes as his head dropped, asking beneath bated breath, “Whatever will you do without me, huh?”

        As Chrome reached out for the spoon, though, he lightly tapped the Mudkip again on the cheek with a wink, “Thank Arceus you’re my partner t-then.” He gently spoke, “I should be counting m-my lucky stars for that...I couldn’t ask for a b-better pal!” A wide grin grew on his face as he stuffed a spoonful of soup into his mouth, plopping it out with a satisfying ‘ahh’, “Also, you make some great soup! Try some Port!”

        The Mudkip stayed motionless for a second, seemingly lost in thought, before coming through with a warm smile on his face, “Sure thing…”