“Hiding from all of this just buys you time until it eats away at your soul, your heart.” Elesa watched as Terri vanished from the battlefield in a stream of red light. “Do you think you deserve that?”

“Maybe!“ Burris tossed out Madison’s capsule and felt sweat rolling down his forehead. The Mightyena slipped for a moment on the slimey substance Terri left behind on the ground, before getting her footing again. She growled and glared at Helena.

The Zebstrika shook her head and snorted.

“Do you think your grandparents want to see you like this?”

Burris gulped, mouth feeling dry and head spinning lightly. Roxanne and Brawly weren’t like this. “Madison, roll then Bite!”

The Mightyena felt a few bolts dance around her as she tumbled to the floor, rolling towards Helena’s left flank. Burris covered his eyes from the sheer light of the Zebstrika’s second electric attack, stopping only inches away from his trainer’s box.

“Sienna? Wally?”

“I don’t fucking know!” Burris shouted. With a snarl and a lunge, Madison dug her claws into Helena’s side, then locked her jaw on. Helena shook her body left and right, neighing all the while. Madison hung on for dear life, body flopping all over the place.

“Dad? Mom?” Elesa crossed her arms at the sight of Madison flying in the air, landing on all four paws and taking a second to steady herself. A second Helena needed to close in again.

“NO!”

Helena raised her hooves.

“Then what the fuck are you doing, then?”

Madison whined as both hooves slammed into her side, the dark type crashing to the ground just shy of Burris.

Burris froze mid-pose, Madison’s ball outstretched and retrieving its resident. A lump sat in his throat.

“I…” Burris tried to reply, voice shaking and quivering, mind racing for some sort of explanation, some sort of way out, some sort of solution. He reached down for Jorge’s capsule. “I don’t want any of this, I don’t want to-“

“There are people that love you and care about you, and you need as well,” Elesa replied, voice reverberating around the battlefield. “Why do I see that look in your eyes that suggests that, maybe, you deserved all of this?” Helena snorted.

Burris glared back. He tossed Jorge onto the battlefield, the Combusken blinking as he got a measure of his surroundings. “I-“

“You can face it down or you can let it destroy you,” Elesa said, hands clamped down on her railing. “And you don’t have to face it down alone, but…” Elesa paused, fist over mouth to cover a coughing fit. “Shit,” she muttered. “Fucking cigarettes.” One last light cough followed. “But you have to tell people WHY this happened, give them some sort of rope to climb up to try and fucking help.”

Jorge looked back at the lack of instruction, shoulder slouched as fiery orange eyes observed his trainer shaking. He chirped and tapped a finger on his beak, his eyes trailing down to the remaining capsules on Burris’ belt.

Burris’ mind spun, his heart slowed, a knot of emotions crushing his body with anxiety, with fatigue, with the nagging feeling dancing around in the back of his mind that he deserved all of this, that he deserved to be alone because who would even bother with him in the first place, that it’d just make everything better, that-

Jorge’s eyes followed Burris as he plopped to the ground, arms around his knees and head buried into his thighs.

“So I’m going to ask one last time, and I want an actual answer; Why?”