The bullet hit.
There was no warning pain—just impact.
A violent force slammed into my chest and threw me backward. The world spun, breath ripped from my lungs as something 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 me.
Apoorv reacted first.
He slammed into me from the side, gripping my vest and dragging me backward with raw panic-fueled strength. My heels scraped against dirt and stone as he hauled me toward cover, yelling something I didn't hear.
"DOWN—!"
At the same time, 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 same 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 slammed into me harder than the bullet ever could.
"It wasn't me…"
Mankey had jumped at the last possible moment and taken the bullet in my stead. It was his weight that threw me 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 me 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—
Something 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 time.
Not a cry.
A screech.
High. Shrill. Predatory.
I looked up just in time to see it.
A Fearow burst from the trees nearly five hundred meters 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 became the dive.
Steel Wing ignited mid-flight, not glowing—sharpening. The air itself screamed 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 momentum.
The right wing came 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 streamed 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 emerged, 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 came down in a storm—Cross Chop, Karate Chop, raw strikes fueled by pain and something darker. The Fearow shrieked again, lashing out in desperation.
"FEAR—!"
Fury Attack launched.
Sharp strikes aimed 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 time I broke through the last line of trees—
Mankey was already above it.
His body shook violently.
Blood dripped from his fur.
His breath came 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 meeting bone.
It was something heavier.
Final.
The Fearow's head slammed 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 movement.
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 smear in the dirt behind him.
Mankey locked on.
The air around his fists began to distort.
Purple energy crawled over his arms like living flame, thickening, condensing. Each step he took cracked the ground beneath him.
The man looked back.
And screamed.
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 streamed 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—
Something larger straightened.
Something angrier.
Something that could no longer turn back.
Primeape lifted his head.
His fists clenched.
And his eyes—still burning red—locked onto the world.
Primeape 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 me.
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 came out.
"…Prime… ape…"
The words were clumsy, unfinished—like his body already knew something his mind hadn't caught up to yet.
I took a step forward. "Primeape—"
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.