Always a Chance

“Shit! It’s not going down!”

The two of them hid behind a rock, panting. Both were full of bruises and cuts from the battle. It wasn’t going well.

“Erik! What do we have left?”

The Raichu scrambled through their bag. They already burned through so many of their items, it was impossible the ones they had left could carry them to victory.

“Uhhh… Two Orans, a Blast Seed, a Slow Orb… and… I think that’s it.” Erik handed one of the Oran Berries to his partner. “What the hell do we do, Joel?”

The Nidorino took a bite off the berry, but didn’t respond. He didn’t have an answer.

“Why didn’t we bring the rest of the party with us?!”

“Because the last thing we expected was to run into fucking Groudon of all things, Erik!” He slumped down tiredly. “A Nidorino and a Raichu against a Groudon… That’s like the example they always use when teaching bad matchups…”

Erik frowned. “We’re doomed, aren’t we?”

Joel didn’t want to admit it, but things really weren’t looking good. They were both tired and already struggling to keep standing.

He peeked from behind the rock. Groudon was just standing there, staring. It knew that this was a guaranteed win, so it just waited. No rush to finish them off.

“Is it close?” Erik wanted to take a look as well, but if Groudon was on their tails, that would only cause problems.

“It’s… It’s just waiting for us.”

Joel scanned the room again. There had to be something, anything that could let them get out of this alive. But no, it was just a cave, literally nothing special about it. That is, until he saw the stalactites hanging from the rock ceiling. They were too high up to attack, or to throw something at, but maybe they didn’t need to do that.

His brain had an idea. A very, very bad one, but an idea nonetheless.

“So… I think I have found a way to win… But it’s a gamble, I’m not going to lie.” Joel was nervous. This was the move that would either save them or completely kill them. “I need to tell you a couple things first, though.”

Erik was confused, but was listening anyway.

“First off, if this doesn’t go to plan, I want you to run away, you got me? No getting into harm’s way while trying to protect me or anything like that. We both know that we’re nothing against this guy by ourselves.”

Now Erik was concerned. How dangerous was this plan of his that he was telling him to run away?

“And Second…” Joel hesitated. “If I don’t come out of this alive, know that I’m very happy to have met you, Erik. And… I love you.”

“Wait, what?” Erik was hit with an emotional whiplash that made him stunned. “W-wait, what do you mean ‘if you don’t come out ali-” Joel cut him off by kissing him.

It was short, basic, simple, and yet it meant way too much.

When they separated, Joel wasn’t looking happy, but he looked determined to do whatever the hell he was planning to do. He grabbed the Slow Orb and the Blast Seed and ran in.

As expected, Groudon immediately noticed and started attacking again. Joel dodged as much as he could, approaching the beast. He grabbed onto Groudon’s front, tossing the orb at it.

Groudon was slowed down, but it was fast enough to grab Joel and slam him into the ground. Joel only had a second of respite before being launched into the air by an Earth Power.

It hurt. It hurt a lot. But it was exactly what Joel was hoping.

As Joel hit the ceiling, he managed to catch a glimpse of a terrified Erik looking at him from behind the rock. It was almost enough to make Joel doubt. But in the end, he used the Blast Seed against the top of the cave.

The shockwave sent him back down again. He was full of pain, staying awake was tremendously difficult, but he got the results he wanted. The Blast Seed made most of the stalactites around him break, falling directly into Groudon.

The roar that left its mouth was deafening. It tried to run or dodge, but again, it was moving slowly. The pieces of rock were falling one by one onto it, managing to show some blood from the titan.

Joel let out a sigh of relief without realizing that Groudon was swinging wildly out of panic, and with such a close distance, it was a question of seconds until he got launched yet again against one of the cave walls. He had endured a lot until now, but this time he passed out immediately on hitting the rock surface.

“J-Joel! Joel, please!”

Joel opened his eyes slowly, he was greeted to the sight of his teammate on top of him, crying. Erik had never cried in the many years they had been working together. It was a new sight, which made Joel wonder what made him so upset. It took him a while, but he finally remembered.

As soon as Erik saw the Nidorino’s eyes open, he immediately jumped on him for a hug. “D-Don’t you ever do that to me again, you hear me?! I-I thought I lost you…”

Joel was taken aback. The only thing he could do was to pat his partner’s back, so that’s what he did. There was a moment of silence, but after the chaos they just lived, it was appreciated.

It took Joel until now to realize that he wasn’t in the cave anymore, but rather back on his bed. They were home. “Did I… Did I do it, at least? Did it work?”

“Somehow, it did. But don’t think that excuses you for what you’ve done. What was that all about? Telling me you love me, kissing me, and then going on a plan to almost die? What the hell, man?!”

Joel didn’t want to respond. He thought that stupid plan was going to kill him, so he never considered the aftermath.

“Did you mean it?”

Joel was surprised to hear that. “I did…” Arceus, he just made this so awkward. The anxiety was already surfacing, as well as the want to just vanish.

“I… I’m willing to give it a try, I think.” Erik was blushing, but the frown wasn’t going away. “But I’m still really hurt, you know? Just… Please. No more of that hero bullshit. We’re a team and we both need to get through things.”

Joel hesitated, but then nodded. If he had to get through his self-sacrificing behavior to be with Erik, then so be it.

The conversation ended with another kiss, a decent one this time.