"I never said that I want this
This burden came to me
And it's made it's home inside"
Imagine Dragons - Monster

•••

You look down at your knuckles. Bruised and sore, just like last week.

You sigh, before start punching the bag again. If Matt was on your ass last month, he was basically inside your body right now.

You're too tired to remember the last time you had a break. Matt has been dragging you to useless missions and training sessions for weeks, not even giving time for you to eat properly.

"Good, (Y/N). Keep punching!" He tells you.

Your lower lip twitches. You really don't understand why you need to practice self defense, since you only battle with Pokémon. Instead of giving him a smart comeback, you just focused all your hatred for him and let it all out in the poor bag.

However, he grabs your left arm before your fist hits the blue leather bag.

"Why are you so angry? You won't go anywhere if you just use your fists to let out your anger."

"You can guess why I'm angry" You growl.

Matt grabs your face, squeezing your cheeks. You blink in pain.

"I already told you not to give me those smartassy comebacks, understood?"

He stares fiercely into your (E/C) eyes.

"Yes, sir."

"Good" Matt lets go of your face. You touch your cheek, just to make sure everything's alright. It will definitely leave another bruise. "Take five, then go back to your training session."

•••

"May!"

Maylene turned around to look at who called her. Wallace is running after her.

"Oh, Wallace! Haven't talked to you in a while. How are you?" She asks him, while giving him a hug.

"Right now, I'm not okay."

"Why? What happened?" She furrows her eyebrows. What could possibly be bothering Wallace? He's the happiest and most cheery person she knows.

"Because Steven has been missing for a week."

•••

Just why?

They thought, as they sat on the floor.

They were angry and confused.

"Why would they do that to her?"

•••

"Now, onto the battle simulator!" Matt happily states.

Your whole body felt weak. It was a miracle you could even walk. But your legs gave in as you took the first step inside the chamber.

"What are you doing? Get up!" Matt hisses. You feel your body start shaking.

"I-I can't..."

He kneels down next to you.

"Is this another dumb excuse to stop training?"

You flinch at his tone.

"No, I swear. I-I'm too tired to move" You state. Your body is shaking violently, but Matt doesn't mind.

"Good thing your Pokémon will move for you" He coldly tells you, handing you Poochyena's Poké Ball.

"Matt, I can't" You whisper, almost fainting.

"I don't care. You don't get to come out until you get a perfect score on your test."

Matt leaves the chamber, locking the heavy metal door behind him.

Your vision was blurry, your body was shaking, your stomach was rumbling, your eyes were closing.

"G-Go, Poochyena!" You force out your voice, weakly releasing Poochyena from its ball.

The digital opponent appears on the opposite side of the field. You shot your eyes open. Blood rushed to your eyes, blinding you with anger.

You didn't got to say a word, your body gave up and you fell on the floor.

•••

As May and Wallace crossed route 101, they found your best friend pacing back and forth in front of her house in Oldale. Wallace reaches out to her, asking what's wrong.

"It's nothing..." She lies, waving her hand.

"Doesn't look like nothing" May approaches her friends.

"Y-You guys look busy, I don't want to interrupt anything."

"It's okay, we can talk" Wallace reassures (Y/F/N) with a smile. It is enough to break her down in tears.

"(Y/N) has been missing for almost a month. She hasn't gone to school and I can't find her at her house. Not even her parents are there!" She hugs Wallace.

May and Wallace trade looks. He proceeds to play with (Y/F/N) hair.

"Hey, we'll find her. We were on our way to find Steven, too."

May censors Wallace with her eyes. (Y/F/N) pulls away.

"Wait! Steven has been missing too? She asks.

No turning back now...

"Yes. For a month" May answers.

"That's not good..." (Y/F/N) states, furrowing her eyebrows. "Do you think it's related?"

"I don't know" Wallace places a hand on his chin. "Steven did say his father acted weird when he mentioned the incident with (Y/N) at Mauville..."

(Y/F/N)'s face turns pale.

"Do you think Joseph...?"

"No... He wouldn't" May says, although she doubted her own words.

"There's only one way we can find out..." Wallace states.

"We're not asking him! He would deny it immediately."

"Did I ever say we should ask him?" Wallace scolded. May's face turned bright pink. "I say, we break into his house."

•••

"You sure did sleep a lot."

You don't bother open your eyes. Matt already knows you're awake anyways, so you just waited for your punishment.

And, yet, it never came.

You open one eye, trying to understand what's going on. He's quiet, staring at the window.

"I know you, (Y/N). You're asking yourself why aren't you getting beaten to death, right?" He asks.

"Y-Yes, sir..."

"I got an... interesting message this afternoon. It has to do with you."

"What does it say?"

Matt remains quiet for a minute. You can see his left eyebrow twitching.

"If I ever land a hand on you again, I can kiss my life goodbye."

You rise an eyebrow.

"Since when do you care about this kind of threat?" You ask, genuinely curious.

"Because your mother sent the message."

•••
Final A/N

Sorry it took me a while to update, I needed a moment for myself. But now I'm back on track, thanks to my friends for cheering me up, you are all awesome! ^^

I'm sad to say we're close to the end of this story. I never intended for this story to be super long anyways, but it still is sad to see it's end coming.

Thank you so much for reading! Luv, Angel.