113 Lost companions, finding new ones

"Say, what are you gonna do when you get out of here?" I pondered as we walked with our Pokemon by our side. Stones in hand, fetching them out of the cave.

"Get back to training," Khalid announced, his fist pumped into the air as much as he could manage with the load, the look of excitement in his eyes and a flashy grin on his face.

"And then I'll come back here next year and actually become somebody, maybe i'll get to beat the champion." He chuckled to himself at his wishful thinking. I smiled at his enthusiasm, saying no more than that. My dream was a bit crazy too so who am I to judge?

"What about you?" He pondered, looking at me with skeptical eyes, "What's your dream?"

I hesitated for a bit, my eyes darting all over the cave as I pondered if I could tell him. 

"Well, my dream is." I murmured, breathing in to get that random burst of confidence to blurt it out. "To save Celebi! And to become the champion!"

"Save Celebi?" Khalid chuckled, his eyes filled with disbelief, but i could tell by his smile that he found it amusing. "Thats a weird dream, what makes you think Celebi even needs saving?"

I looked down to the pile i had in my hands as i thought about it, seeing Celebi in that tube back then, floating loosely in the vile. I gritted my teeth at just the sight in my mind. That was definitely not a pokmeon who chose to live like this. That I'm sure.

"I just know," I finally muttered, my voice barely a whisper above our footsteps as we walked through the caves.

"Oh, you're actually serious." Khalid sighed, looking up ahead, his playful demeanor soon fading for just a moment before he finally spoke up again. "Well!" he shouted a bit louder than necessary in an attempt to make the situation less awkward.

"Since one of your dreams is to become the champion then, then i guess ill be seeing you for our final battle." He grinned once more at me, and I grinned back.

"Definitely," I reassured, Zorua cheering at my reply as if to back up my statement, with mutual understanding our free hands collided into a fist bump of respect, being careful not to drop the things we worked so hard to find.

"We'll meet on the road of champions." Khalid flashed me a challenging look.

"And we'll stomp anyone who gets in our way." I continued.

"Until we are the last ones standing." We both said in unison, the cave shaking the second we finished talking, and a roar echoed through the cave.

In a panic we all looked around, the scurrying of Pokemon overhead all too easy to hear, the breath of fire raging fire fighting against the ambiance. Our Pokemon jumped by the sudden noise. Charmeleon ran ahead to the sound.

"H-hey wait!" I called out to him but my words fell on deaf ears. I gritted my teeth and ran ahead, Khalid and Zorua soon following me from behind. 

_______________________

"Professor Adams! How are you?" A voice called out to the professor in her extensive project, her body hunched over a weird device, as light sparks from her blow torch, tired green eyes hidden behind glasses watched the sparks as they flew off ignoring the voice that loomed behind her.

"Giving me the cold shoulder again?" The voice pondered, it's hand, hardly recognizable, rested on her shoulder, she promptly pulled away and looked up at the man, his green eyes and black hair similar to her's he too was wearing a labcoat and glasses, a grin on his face.

"You're working way too hard, relax a little. You need sleep." He informed, only for Adams to look away, her mind still set on her research. 

"Why are you here." She murmured finally, her voice aching with each word.

"Well im your father aren't i? I'm allowed to talk to my daughter." He grinned, sitting next to her. 

"No, I mean…" She gritted her teeth, her hand squeezing the handle of the blow torch.

"You're not even supposed to be alive….."