The bullet hit.
There was no warning pain—just impact.
A violent force slamd into my chest and threw backward. The world spun, breath ripped from my lungs as sothing warm sprayed across my clothes. My shoulder struck the ground hard enough to blur my vision.
For a split second, my mind refused to accept it.
Blood.
Too much blood.
Shouts exploded around .
Apoorv reacted first.
He slamd into from the side, gripping my vest and dragging backward with raw panic-fueled strength. My heels scraped against dirt and stone as he hauled toward cover, yelling sothing I didn't hear.
"DOWN—!"
At the sa ti, Arpit also lunged.
"Mankey—!"
He grabbed Mankey just as the Pokémon collapsed, pulling him clear of the open ground as another shout rang out. Arpit rolled with him behind the sa cover.
I hit the ground hard again, back against stone, chest heaving.
Pain flared—
—but not where it should have.
Not where the bullet should've hit.
That's when I saw him.
Mankey.
He lay twisted at my side, small body trembling violently. Blood soaked his fur—dark, spreading, too fast. His chest rose and fell in ragged, shallow pulls.
The realization slamd into harder than the bullet ever could.
"It wasn't …"
Mankey had jumped at the last possible mont and taken the bullet in my stead. It was his weight that threw to the ground not the bullet.
My hands moved before my thoughts caught up.
"Mankey—!"
I pressed my palm against the wound, Evergreen power flooding out of in a surge so raw it burned. Green light wrapped around my fingers, forced into torn muscle and shattered flesh.
The bleeding slowed.
Didn't stop.
Mankey's eyes were open.
Wide.
Unfocused.
Then—
Sothing changed.
His pupils contracted sharply.
Red bled into the whites of his eyes, spreading like spilled ink.
A sound tore out of his throat.
Not a gunshot this ti.
Not a cry.
A screech.
High. Shrill. Predatory.
I looked up just in ti to see it.
A Fearow burst from the trees nearly five hundred ters ahead, wings beating hard as it gained altitude—rifle discarded, talons flexing as it turned to flee.
Before I could speak—
The sky ripped open.
Pidgeot.
She didn't dive.
She beca the dive.
Steel Wing ignited mid-flight, not glowing—sharpening. The air itself scread as she broke sound, feathers cutting wind like blades.
This wasn't speed.
This was execution.
She tore through the Fearow in a blur of steel and montum.
The right wing ca apart in a spray of feathers and blood.
The Fearow shrieked once—then fell.
Straight down.
Branches snapped as it crashed through the canopy.
"Mankey—wait—!"
Too late.
He ripped free from my grip.
Blood still stread from his side, wound barely sealed—but he didn't care.
He leapt.
Not jumped.
Launched.
A blur of rage and muscle tore through the undergrowth, eyes glowing red, teeth bared. Pikachu bolted after him, electricity crackling wildly around her cheeks.
"Rhyhorn!"
The ground shook as he erged, horn lowered.
"Charge!"
We plowed forward.
The forest closed in fast—trees packed tight, branches clawing at skin and gear. Pidgeot couldn't follow; I felt her frustration overhead as she circled helplessly, unable to enter the dense canopy.
Ahead—
Impact.
Mankey hit first.
He didn't hesitate.
Didn't posture.
Didn't think.
His fists ca down in a storm—Cross Chop, Karate Chop, raw strikes fueled by pain and sothing darker. The Fearow shrieked again, lashing out in desperation.
"FEAR—!"
Fury Attack launched.
Sharp strikes aid blindly—
—but Pikachu intercepted.
"Pika—!"
Thunderbolt erupted point-blank.
Lightning wrapped the Fearow's body, freezing it mid-motion, muscles locking as electricity tore through it.
By the ti I broke through the last line of trees—
Mankey was already above it.
His body shook violently.
Blood dripped from his fur.
His breath ca in broken snarls.
And his eyes—
They weren't just red anymore.
They were burning.
He brought his fist down.
Once.
The sound wasn't flesh eting bone.
It was sothing heavier.
Final.
The Fearow's head slamd into the earth.
Mankey didn't stop.
Not at the Fearow.
Not at the blood on his fur.
He lifted his head slowly, chest heaving, breath coming out in broken, animal snarls. His eyes—still red, still unfocused—scanned the clearing like a predator searching for movent.
Then he found it.
A man.
He'd fallen badly when Fearow went down, one leg twisted at an unnatural angle, bones clearly shattered. He was dragging himself away with his arms, leaving a dark sar in the dirt behind him.
Mankey locked on.
The air around his fists began to distort.
Purple energy crawled over his arms like living fla, thickening, condensing. Each step he took cracked the ground beneath him.
The man looked back.
And scread.
He twisted onto his side, fumbling desperately, and raised his pistol with shaking hands. His finger tightened on the trigger—
A blur cut across the space between them.
"Thwackey!"
Green light flashed.
Razor Leaf.
The spinning leaves struck first at the man's wrist.
Flesh split.
The pistol flew from his hand, clattering uselessly into the dirt.
Before he could even scream properly, more leaves followed—slashing across his calves, his ankles. He collapsed forward with a cry, forced down onto his knees, balance completely gone.
He looked up then.
Straight into Mankey's charge.
The purple glow around Mankey's fists intensified, swelling, warping—his right arm seeming larger than the rest of his body, rage compressing into a single point.
The man's face broke.
Tears stread down his cheeks as he shouted—not a plea, not regret—
A slogan.
"Hail liberation!"
Mankey didn't slow.
His fist filled the man's vision.
The impact was wet.
Final.
The skull caved in with a sound like fruit bursting against stone.
Silence followed.
Mankey stood there for half a second longer.
Then his body convulsed.
Energy exploded outward—violent, furious, uncontrolled. The ground fractured beneath his feet. His muscles expanded grotesquely, veins bulging as his form twisted, bones snapping and reforming with sickening force.
I felt it.
The pressure.
The rage.
The evolution didn't bloom gently.
It detonated.
"Mankey—!"
His roar shook the forest.
And where my partner had stood—
Sothing larger straightened.
Sothing angrier.
Sothing that could no longer turn back.
Priape lifted his head.
His fists clenched.
And his eyes—still burning red—locked onto the world.
Priape staggered.
The rage didn't vanish—but it wavered.
The red in his eyes flickered, like a fire starved of air.
He turned his head slowly.
Looked at .
For a heartbeat, the forest felt impossibly quiet.
Blood soaked his fur. His chest rose and fell unevenly. My Evergreen power was still clinging to him, desperately trying to knit flesh that refused to calm.
His fists trembled.
Then—just barely—his gaze softened.
His mouth opened.
A broken sound ca out.
"…Pri… ape…"
The words were clumsy, unfinished—like his body already knew sothing his mind hadn't caught up to yet.
I took a step forward. "Priape—"
His legs gave out.
He collapsed forward, unconscious, body hitting the ground hard enough to kick up dust.
The stream was still live.
The world was still watching.
And the consequences had only just begun.
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