The Other Side of Insanity 3

Searcher.

Gold smiled as he scanned his Pokedex. They had cleared many pokemon very quickly and was climbing up to the last few. He arrived at a river and aimed at a pokemon he recognized as not caught. As he fired, he heard a SNAP right by his ear. He recoiled, which ticked the bow enough for him to miss the target. He cursed before Chikorita made a sound, alerting him. That's when he saw the problem.

His bowstring had snapped.

His heart dropped as he brought it in front and checked it. There was no way for him to fix it now. He needed a new string. He sighed as he got Chikorita onto his head and headed off.

~~~

If it wasn't bad enough. Just before he arrived at the nearby town to look for a new bowstring, he was attacked by a rogue pokemon. He caught it, knowing it would just do much more damage. But his bow was snapped in half by the attack. Hugging it close, he got to the center, just needing a safety net.

Later, he was approached as he examined the damage of his bow. He gulped as he checked if he could fix it, which didn't look possible.

"And the catcher's down!" His eyes shot up, meeting his mother's gaze. Oh shit.

"Uh- Mom-" He knew that she had seen the bow, but he couldn't let her know that he was down. He got to his feet, pulling out a few pokeballs. "I am not! I'm not that much of a failure!" She raised an eyebrow as he slid the broken bow behind him.

"Oh really? Then what will you use now that your bow's down?" Fuck-

"I don't need it." Chikorita, in that time, had stolen the other pokemon's pokeballs, snuck away and went over like his pokemon had just gotten healed. He used that to his advantage. "Ah! Thank you, Chikoree. Just what I was waiting for." He took the 5 pokeballs back and slipped them into their respective pockets in his bag. "See? Not down. Just healing pokemon and restocking items!" His mother hummed.

"Then what will you do without your bow?"

"I'll survive!"

~~~

In short, she jumped him, knowing damn well that he depended on the bow for catching pokemon. So after managing not to cry for an hour through her shouting, he hid behind the center, letting the tears fall. Chikorita paused as he trembled.

"Now what...? She's right... I can't do this without my bow... I'm screwed." Chikorita hummed at that.

~~~

He ended up focusing more on looking for the other two than the pokedex, knowing he had nothing to use. He sighed as they arrived at Olivine City. That's when he discovered a clue.

"A mysterious pokemon carried them through here?"

Jasmine, the gym leader, nodded. She apparently saw it from the Lighthouse and was hoping to alert someone.

"The Whirl Islands have appeared nearby, so I think they were taken there." Gold smiled.

"Thanks."

~~~

He managed to get a temporary bow just in case he found something that he wouldn't find anywhere else. He was silent as he looked around the islands.

"Freaky..."

He got off the Quagsire he had swapped out before entering one of the caves, arrow notched and ready. Eventually, something caught his eye.

A ring of fire.

He paused as he neared it, finding the two he was looking for. He gulped before seeing a figure watching over them.

"Entei..." Oh that was risky. Especially with the two right there. The legendary stayed silent as the flames faded, revealing that 'Crystal' was stirring. Entei then left, leaving the archer to check the duo. He got 'Silver' onto his back as 'Crystal' got to her feet.

"Ow... what-" He guided her out, hoping to not get in any more danger.

~~~

He needed to smack himself.

Lugia nearly took them out, which startled the two that were awake. They were sent flying upon it landing. While Gold and 'Crystal' were able to regain their footing, 'Silver' was practically thrown into the water. Gold reacted quickly.

"Quagsire! Megaree!" The Water type dove in after the Redhead while the Grass type, which had evolved since his bow broke, attacked the legendary back. 'Crystal' gulped as she scanned it. Gold aimed up at the large pokemon, hoping to catch it without dealing with any problems. He then fired, hitting with perfect accuracy. While Megaree went to fetch the arrow, Quagsire brought redhead back to land. Clearly he had woken up as he was coughing the water out and gasping for air. Gold wrapped a towel around him before gulping.

"Is everyone alright?" 'Silver' didn't exactly respond as he laid down, still coughing and gasping. 'Crystal' nodded.

"Yeah. I guess." She hummed. "Weird... why would we..." He scanned her as Megaree returned with the Arrow.

"Thanks..." He took it before pausing. Clearly someone had thrown a pokeball first, somewhere that wasn't seen by him, since he didn't get it. Or was his luck that bad? He pondered too long on the thought (he was reminded of his original bow) before 'Silver' managed to speak.

"Where are we...?" Gold was a little busy with his thoughts, so they were left to their own conversation. Crystal stretched.

"If I'm right... This is the Whirl Islands. Scary place to be." She paused. "I last recalled being surrounded by Gyarados and fighting the Masked Man... What happened?" Silver sat up.

"You were unconscious when I got back to you from getting separated from the fight. The ice then broke and-" He paused. "We must've gotten pulled out of the lake... by something." She hummed as she scanned Gold, who was still lost in thought.

"But why here...? You wouldn't normally get pulled out of a lake and be brought to Lugia's territory. You would get brought to a nearby house or center." Silver glanced at her.

"Unless we were saved by a pokemon." She hummed at the thought.

"You have a point. Not a lot of pokemon have access to houses. But still... there are centers they could've used."

"What if it was a rare pokemon? Or a pokemon that didn't like people?" She hummed. "While it makes no sense, it does limit our options to who we might've been saved by."

"True-" She scanned Gold as Megaree tried getting his attention.

"The real question is why isn't our savior here? Wouldn't you want to be there when the people you saved wake up? You know... to check them?" She scoffed.

"Or... someone arrived just in time to do that for you." Gold heard her words and pulled out of his thoughts, slipping the unused arrow into his bag.

"I'm sorry?" Silver stood up as Crystal frowned. He then shook his head and smiled. "Sorry... are you guys ok?" Silver nodded softly as she sighed.

"Yeah... now. Who are you and what are you doing?" He blinked before slinging the bow over his shoulder.

"Name's Gold. Professor Oak sent me to look for you two after you two disappeared. He wanted to make sure you guys were ok." She took a deep breath before sighing.

"We would've been fine." Silver gave an audible groan, gaining her attention. "Oh, I'm sorry. I would've been fine. He would not." Instead of arguing with her, Silver made one point.

"You're still limping." She stayed quiet, unable to produce a comeback. Silver then turned back to Gold. "Thank you for the help. It's better than trying to figure out on our own what happened." Gold smiled as Silver shuddered, still cold from being in the water.

"Let's get you guys back to the mainland." Hearing a scoff escape the female said it all.

"Over my dead body. I have an asshole to kill." Silver turned as she took off.

"She's still limping."

"Yeah. Come on. Let's get you back."