"Why, why aren't they doing anything!?"

"Alex there's nothing they can do, there's nothing we can do..."

Alex slammed his fist into the table. "You know what'll happen to Fortree if they cut those trees down!"

"We all know Alex but there's nothing we can do."

"Bullshit." Alex stormed out through the front door, his teeth and fists clenched out of anger. His mother didn't even bother to stop him as he left. She knew what he was going through; the whole town was going through the same. Loggers threatened to cut down all of the trees around Fortree City. They promised to keep the city intact but everyone knew it just wouldn't be the same. Alex took it harder then anyone though. He had lived in Fortree for 17 years now, all of his life, and he couldn't stand the thought of the city without its trees.

Living in Fortree for so long naturally meant you would be fit, but Alex took it to the extreme. He spent every waking moment out in the woods. Climbing trees, befriending wild pokemon, and connecting with nature, it's what he spent 90% of his time doing. Swinging from tree to tree like an aipom had become second nature to him; he'd live off of the land and occasionally sleep on it too. He absolutely loved the forest and everything inside, and yet there was nothing he could do to protect it. Frotree's trees were much taller then the average tree, it was only a matter of time before someone came to take them.

Alex did what he always did when he was angry, took a walk through the woods. It didn't matter where he was going, no matter what, the forest always calmed him down. For hours he wandered through the woods, kicking rocks, watching wild pokemon, and fuming. Every time he began to calm down, the thought of losing all that was around him brought his blood back to a boil. He was at his breaking point. He leaned against a tree, holding his face in his palm and audibly growling to himself. That is until he heard a small voice come from behind him. "Alex?"

Alex instantly came out of his rage and looked behind him, not even a foot away stood a turtwig. Being so close to nature it didn't surprise any of the pokemon that he could understand them. He was close friends with each and every one. Alex stared at the little pokemon for a second until he couldn't take it anymore. He broke down and cried, loud enough for most of the forest to hear. His back hit the tree and he slid down the trunk like the tears slid down his face. The turtwig was young, he had no idea what do, so he cried. Their combined wailing was loud enough to bring every pokemon in the immediate area to them. Droves of bayleaf, sunflora, bellossum, grovyle, bulbasaur, oddish, and all manner of grass pokemon surrounded Alex. Most of them had looks of worry and concern on. Everything was silent except for the crying; only when a breloom stepped forward to ask what was wrong, did the crying stop. It took him a minute but Alex completely stopped his sniffling and wiped his face clean of tears.

His voice broke constantly but he still managed to get the point across. "Guys...the forest...is gonna be cut down." All of the pokemon broke into a small-scale uproar. Most of what could be heard was the equivalent of "Where am I supposed to live now?" or "Where do we go?" There was almost no anger in the air; it was all shock, disbelief, and fear. The pokemon of the forest were all naturally timid and friendly. Normally that would be a good thing, but now it meant none of them could defend their home. To Alex it felt like he was losing his home too, losing his friends, and losing everything he'd grown up with. He listened to the uproar for minutes until he decided someone had to be the voice of reason. "Guys...EVERYONE STOP!" Just as quickly as they had started everyone was silent. Alex stood up and began to speak again, his voice still breaking as if he was about to cry. "There's nothing...we've tried everything, to get them to stop. But they wont...it would probably be best if you all...just...leave." He could barely say the last words; the tears were rolling down his face again as he walked back towards his house.




For the first time years Alex actually sat down in his living room and watched TV. The news channel showed protesters around the area they were to begin the cutting. Most of them walking in circles, holding up picket signs, and chanting "Save the trees!" Alex would've joined them but he knew it wouldn't matter. There had been talks of cutting down the forests for months now. The man responsible was a short old chubby guy, always dressed in a vertically striped grey suit. By irony or some horrible twist of fate his name was Trent Cutter, and he was bound and determined to get the trees by any means necessary. Alex didn't even have to talk to him for a minute to determine he was utter sleaze, the kind of person who would do anything to get what he wanted. He was tempted to knock him out but due to the abnormally large amount of death threats he gets on a daily basis, Cutter surrounded himself with body guards, it's not that Alex didn't think he couldn't take them he just couldn't afford to get arrested.

The news crew randomly selected protesters to interview during the event. The first person Alex saw was the little old lady who ran the pokemart near the edge of town. She gave numerous good reasons why not to cut the forest down. She argued that they were "Cutting down history, ruining the town, and destroying hundreds of pokemon homes." On the site was the sleaze himself, Trent Cutter. He didn't even try to defend himself, he was in control and he knew it. When interviewed he had only this to say. "The people of Fortree are overreacting; they won't miss a few trees." The blatant sarcasm in his voice sent Alex and a few of the protesters into a blind rage.

'"A few trees?!'"

'"Wont miss em?!"'

"He must be out of his mind!"

The protest was starting to get a little out of control. The chanting was quickly replaced by shouting. All eyes were on Cutter as the protest turned into a small-scale riot. Picket signs became weapons and everything imaginable was being thrown Trent's way. Unfortunately not only did he still have his body guards, but he also must have predicated the uproar. The police were called a full hour in advance and soon after the riot began, the police force was there to stop it. Cops dressed in full black body armor, armed with riot shields and batons effectively quelled the crowd's anger the only way they were trained to: by beating the crap out of people, using pepper spray and tazers, and also arresting a number of rioters. The camera crew caught it all for everyone to see, and sitting on the sidelines, smiling, was Trent Cutter. He smiled right into the camera like the bastard he was, almost as if he was sending a message to the world. 'Don't fuck with Trent Cutter.'

Trent's smile was about all Alex could take; he stormed upstairs to his room and slammed the door behind him. He fell face first onto his bed and put his pillow over his head. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep, the sun was barely setting but he didn't care. He just wanted rest.




Alex didn't have a dream that night; he didn't even have a nightmare. There was simply blackness and a constant feeling of dread from the time he went to sleep to the time he woke up. The feeling lingered in the air long after he awoke. It was 5 in the morning and all Alex could do was stare at the ceiling, waiting for the inevitable cutting at noon. For 6 hours straight that was exactly what he did, he waited. He waited until he couldn't stand waiting anymore. Alex's mother was nowhere to be found when he went downstairs. It was just as well anyway, Alex didn't feel like talking. With nothing else to do he sat in front of the television once again. He clenched his fists with anger once he turned on the TV and saw that they were starting the cutting an hour early. Far off to the side, the protesters were still chanting in vain, and directly in front of the cameras a 20 man logging team prepped their gear and revved up their chainsaws. Out of the corner of the camera Alex could see there were still pokemon still in the trees, trembling with fear. Cutter was there on site to watch the very first tree fall. He was really pushing the men to hurry, claiming "Time is money."

Time went into slow motion for Alex as the first logger put his chainsaw to a tree, with the pokemon still in it. The little cherubi was paralyzed with fear as the chainsaw grinded into the tree. Within seconds he had cut a large wedge out of the side, leaving only a tiny piece of wood holding the tree up. He yelled "Timber!" as he gave the front side a kick, snapping the small piece holding the tree up and sending the frightened little cherubi tumbling out of the tree and right in front of the logger. It shivered uncontrollably as it looked up at the logger, focusing mainly on the chainsaw. It didn't have any time to react as the man ruthlessly kicked it to the side and made his way to the next tree. The small act of violence sent the protesters into an instant frenzy. Unfortunately due to yesterday's events the police were already there, keeping the crowd in check. They could yell and protest all they wanted, but nothing else.

Alex was unconsciously tearing a massive hole in the couch. It was enough that they were cutting down the forest and destroying hundreds of homes, but hurting the pokemon in the process was taking it too far. Alex was so enraged he could barely even think straight. Every instinct he had told him to rush down there and kill every last one of the loggers, but he retained enough of his senses to know the consequences of such actions. Still, something had to be done.

Alex jumped off of the couch and darted through his front door, down to the logging site. If he couldn't kill all of the loggers, he would at least save the pokemon. He could think of nothing else other than to get the remaining pokemon out of the forest. Knowing them as well as he did he knew that none of them would just leave their homes after what he said to them last time, but he figured his persuasion and the sound of chainsaws would be all the convincing they needed to get moving this time around.

Cutter took one last look at the protesters before lighting up a cigar. "I want this forest gone in 3 days." With that he casually walked over to his small limo parked on the side of the road. He got in the back himself and was taken away by his driver.

The logging site was miles down the road and Alex would have to run the whole way. Thankfully he had excellent endurance. He sprinted the entire time, taking numerous shortcuts through the trees and over various small streams. It took him a little over 15 minutes to make it all the way there. When he finally made it his eyes went wide with shock as he saw how far the loggers had made it in such a short amount of time. At this rate it would only be days before the forest was gone, he had to work fast.

He took another shortcut through the trees and around the loggers completely, dashing deep into the forest as fast as he could. It didn't take him long to come across a few pokemon, they were going the opposite direction he was, obviously a little concerned or curious about the sounds of chainsaws.

Alex slid to a stop right in front of them. The meganium, leafeon, and bellossom all stared at Alex who was panting as if he had just ran a marathon.

The female leafeon spoke in a worried tone. "Alex what's that noise up ahead, and are you okay?"

"Chain...saws." He managed to say in between pants.

"What's a...chainsaw?" The meganium, also a female, asked in a less worried tone.

Alex groaned and took a second to catch his breath. "It doesn't matter, they're cutting the forest down, you have to get out of here."

The pokemon looked at each other with disheartened looks on their faces. There was an awkward silence between them until the bellossom spoke. "But...where do we go?"

For a moment Alex wore the same expression they did, he didn't want to tell them they had to leave but at that point in time there was no other choice. He sighed. "Look, I know...this is your home, but..." He sighed again. "Anywhere is better than here right now. If you don't go now I don't know what those men might do to you. Please just...go." Alex spoke in the most sincere way possible, but even if he didn't the pokemon of the forest knew to trust him. After all he spent more time with them than his own mother.

After another long and awkward silence the pokemon reluctantly turned to leave. "I'm sorry guys..." As nice as his words were they didn't do anything to quell the sadness in the pokemon's hearts. There wasn't much else he could do but if getting the pokemon to safety was the only thing he could do, than he would do it.

"Alex." The meganium called from a distance. Alex, who was staring at the ground in disappointment, looked up. "My daughter went out to play an hour ago. If you find her, please bring her back to me. I'm worried she might run into those men and get hurt."

With a bit of determination Alex answered. "I promise I'll find her."

The meganium smiled before disappearing into the forest.

Once more he dashed through the forest, making sure to get any stragglers to safety. Though his mission was meant as a non-violent one, he couldn't keep thoughts of brutality from arising. Every time he thought about what he was doing and why, it would soon degrade into unspeakable acts of violence against the loggers, and especially against Cutter. The very thought of taking a knife to his throat put a smile on Alex's face. Unfortunately Alex was brought out of thoughts with what sounded like hissing. At least from a distance that's what it sounded like. As he kept running the sound got clearer and clearer until he could clearly hear the "hissing" of a spray can.

Alex ducked behind a tree and peeked around the side to see another logger, spraying bright green "X's" onto certain trees. They were just past the boundaries of the city and the man was marking off the area that they could cut without breaking the "promise" to leave the town intact. As bloody as Alex's thoughts were he only sighed to himself and turned away. But as he was turning he had to do a double take. There on the right, approaching the logger was a little chikorita. Alex had no time to stop her as she stopped and sat right next to him. The man turned to her slightly and scoffed. "Get outta here." Without even a second thought the logger kicked the pokemon, sending her flying a good ten feet before rolling and skidding to a stop.

That pushed Alex over the edge, before he knew it he had run up behind the man and knocked him unconscious with a powerful blow to the head. He didn't even know what had hit him. Alex rushed over to the little chikorita. He fell to his knees and put his hand to her stomach. Luckily she was still breathing, other than a few scrapes and bruises she would probably be fine. A little traumatized, but fine.

Suddenly the man's walkie-talkie came to life. "Martin, hey Martin! Pick up, Maaaaaaaaaartin! Yo Mikey, Martin ain't answering." As the two men began chattering across the radio Alex's mind began hatching a plan. He had no idea where it came from but he was seriously considering it as he stared at the walkie-talkie. It certainly seemed like a good idea, and with it he could save the pokemon, the forest, and the town. But that was the problem, those famous last words. "It seemed like a good idea at the time." He stared at the walkie-talkie for a good minute until he finally made up his mind, he would do it, even if it meant getting arrested in the long run.

The sounds of the forest and the two men bickering on the radio came back as Alex came out of thought. "Martin I'm gonna eat your pork rinds, if that's okay don't say anything." Alex rushed over to the radio, yanked it off of the man's pants, and doing his best to imitate Martin's voice, screamed into it "HELP ME!" He didn't have to do it very well since screaming isn't hard to imitate.

"Whoa Martin, what's going on?!"

Alex screamed into it again and smacked himself against a nearby tree, causing him to let out a convincing "UGH!" As well as a convincing thud sound.

"Martin?...Martin!?"



Alex couldn't hear the next part but he could only assume his plan worked. "We gotta get someone out there!"

A nearby logger leaning against the side of a truck replied. "What are you nuts? And get attacked by what ever the hell just got Martin? Ha ha, no."

"Come on man you guys got chainsaws. Look if like 4 of you go in you'll be fine."

"Fuck that, I'm calling the police."

The man with the radio got really quiet when he talked to the man on the truck. "You remember what the boss said, were on our own now. He bribes the cops to stay out of our business on the condition that we don't call em. The boss arranged for the whole crowd control thing but that was our last freebie."

"Corrupt pieces of shit."

The sound of a chainsaw revving up brought the two men out of their talk. The logger holding it popped some gum in his mouth. "Well I say we go huntin', who's with me?!" All of the other loggers looked at him like he was crazy, and a few of them shook their heads at his behavior.

"Fine, I don't need you guys anyway. I'm coming Martin!" He ran into the trees, yelling and flailing his chainsaw around like a madman. None of the other loggers moved. They sat in silence for minutes, contemplating their next move.

"Should we...go after him?"

"Nah." The logger sitting on the hood of the truck, sipping coffee replied. "With any luck he'll-"

"GAH!" The man's scream could be heard over the radio. The sounds of the chainsaw as well as grunting and panting could also be heard. It almost sounded like a fight. This went on for a few minutes before everything suddenly went silent. The loggers all looked at each other with worried faces before trying to talk to him again.

"Y-you okay out there?" He didn't get an answer. Another minute of silence passed and he decided to try again. "Caleb?" This time he heard something. Caleb was panting heavily, his breath shuddering every now and then. "Caleb, are you okay, what's going on?"

"There's something out here man, something in the trees."

"What do mean, what was it?"

"I-I don't know but it was big and, and and and it was really fuckin' fast. It got the chainsaw right outta my hands and I couldn't even see it!"

"Alright just...just calm down. Do you think you can make it back here?...... Caleb? ...Caleb?" Suddenly a high pitched yell came from the radio.

"Caleb!? Cal-"

"Your friends belong to me now." Alex's voice came over the radio. It was much deeper than normal and it had an unnatural rumble to it. It sent shivers up the logger's spines.

"W-w-who is th-"

"Leave this forest at once."

"We can't just-"

"For every tree that is cut down, I will take one of their fingers. When I run out of fingers I'll chop off their toes. Once their toes are gone I'll cut off their limbs, slowly. And once they're both dead, I'll come for you."

The loggers were frozen in place, each of them paralyzed with fear, their mouths agape. The unnatural tone of Alex's voice scared them to the core.

"I'll release your friends when I see fit. Now leave this forest, never return." The radio went silent and all of the loggers gave each other nervous looks.




With no other choice, the loggers were forced stop their operation, but not without consequence. The captured men were released later that day, and together with all of the other loggers they had to face an angry Trent Cutter.

"What the fuck do you mean you stopped the operation!? I said I wanted that forest gone!"

The feeling of fear still lingered in the air amongst the loggers. They were still giving each other nervous looks even though it had been well over a few hours since the incident.

"Well!?"

Even though no one wanted to speak, one person eventually did. "Well sir, something... attacked us."

"What, what could've possibly beat a bunch of guys with chainsaws!?"

"You don't get it man, this thing was fast and like...silent. I couldn't even hear it run up behind me, I couldn't even see it!"

"And what were the rest of you doing while this was going on!?"

The loggers continued to look awkwardly at each other, mumbling quietly amongst themselves.

"I want that forest gone in two days! Now get your lazy asses outta here!"




Alex sat in his bed, wondering if he had really done what he thought he had done. He honestly couldn't believe it, it was too easy! He had saved the forest and it took no more than an hour. Slowly the frown on his face began to curve into a smile, and within seconds Alex was laughing. He laughed so hard that he cried. Knowing that he not only saved the forest but pissed of Cutter too, filled him with more joy than anything he could've ever imagined. The laughter continued for minutes until his sides ached and he was out of breath. When he finally came out of his laughing fit he sighed and shoved his face into his pillow. He was tempted to fall asleep right then and there but it was far too early. Instead he decided to observe the fruits of his labor for himself.

The TV downstairs was still on; apparently Alex's mom didn't care much for the electricity bill. Again the news crew and a female reporter were giving updates on the logging situation.

"Pokemon and citizens alike are celebrating as the logging operation has appeared to have been shut down, or delayed at the very least. An estimated 30% of the forest was to be cut down today, but it appears they got less than 5 as eye witness accounts claim the loggers were 'Scared away' by something. The townspeople can only pray they don-" Mid sentence the reporter put a hand to her ear. "I've just gotten word that Trent Cutter, head of the operation, is on site and ready to make a statement."

After he heard that sentence Alex's smile faded into nothing. The camera panned to the far right, showing Cutter stepping out of his car and making his way toward the camera. Alex couldn't help but start clawing at the couch when he saw his face.

"Mr. Cutter, will-"

"The operation will proceed as planned, logging will resume tomorrow." Cutter left without saying another word. The protesters went into an uproar again but managed to hold back their violence. Alex however didn't have as much self control. He had unconsciously ripped several large holes in the couch he was sitting on, and was continuing to make more. His thoughts were beyond violent, they were downright barbaric. He had to think of something, anything to save the forest, but his thoughts were too clouded by rage. Yet at the same time tears fell from his eyes. Constantly being pulled between anger and sadness, he could only lay face first on the couch and let his emotions sort themselves out.



It was morning of the next day, logging was well underway and Alex did nothing. He had relocated to his room the previous day, but other than that he hadn't moved an inch. He stared at the ceiling for hours while he lay on his bed. He had run out of tears long ago, but long visible streaks along the side of Alex's face showed where they had been. It was only when he realized what time it was that the thoughts began flowing through his mind again. Now that he was significantly calmer he could process rational thoughts. Even so, it was still proving difficult to figure out a way to save the forest. He looked around his room, trying to find anything that would give him inspiration; there was nothing of particular interest. Having spent most of his life in the woods, Alex hadn't really collected anything for his room. There was a black metal desk near the foot of his bed; it had a lamp and a cup full of pens and pencils on it; a wooden chest that held various toys and other such things from his childhood; and finally the closet, which had a nice amount of clothes in it, but nothing else. The only thing that stood out was the plain white theater mask that hung from closet door. His dad had sent that to him while he was out on his trip to "find himself." That and the machete, his mother protested that for months. Not wanting to throw away a gift, Alex placed the mask there, the machete in his chest, and never touched them again.

Alex got off of his bed and walked towards the mask. Like most theater masks it had that signature shape, wide and flat at the top, changing shape and converging to a single point at the bottom. It was curved to fit around a person's face and it had two thin slit eye holes with a wide smile going across the front. It was a little creepy, but creepy sparked a thought. Surely the loggers would have taken extra precautions against him this time; they would all stick together and stay toward the clearing they themselves had made. But if Alex could be there in plain sight he wouldn't have to worry about hiding, and the mask was just what he needed. Still there was a chance someone would eventually figure him out, slim, but it was still there, he'd have to hide his body somehow too. He turned to his old chest and began rummaging through it. A devilish smile emerged on his face as he found exactly what he was looking for. "Not exactly stealthy, but it'll do."



Logging had been going on for hours. Thanks to Cutter's "persuasion" the men were moving in double time and about a fourth of the forest was gone. To avoid any more mishaps all of the men stuck in groups and at the very least pairs. Though they were all watching out for each other, they couldn't help but be nervous, and it showed on their faces. Luckily Alex had held on to Martin's radio, and he planned to put it to good use.

"Do you remember, what I told you people?" Alex's unnatural voice rang over all of the loggers radios, causing all of them to freeze in place. Fortunately, they hadn't changed radio frequencies since the day before. "You have one last chance. Leave, or else."

Caleb, still thoroughly shaken yelled through the radio. "W-were not afraid of you!

Alex paused for awhile creating a tense atmosphere around the logging site. "Have it your way." He chuckled almost evilly and turned the radio off, and just in time too. He began coughing and hacking violently. "Ugh, hate using that voice. Gonna need a bag of cough drops after this."


Back at the site, most of the men were shaking in their boots. Most of them were desperately trying to think up excuses to leave. "Sir I'm feeling sick, I think I'm gonna go home."

"The suns starting to get to me I think I'm gonna go too."

"I think I chain sawed my finger off I'm going to the hospital."

"Dammit get your asses back here! There's nothing to be afraid of, just stay together and stay in the clearing. Not losing my job over some bullshit like this."

The men all gave each other nervous stares but reluctantly went back to work. They were getting close the inner area of the forest, where the most of the pokemon homes were. As hard as Alex tried he couldn't get all of the pokemon to move. The most stubborn of them sat in front of their homes forming the pokemon equivalent of picket lines. Two loggers came across such a picket line. A group of cherubi and a cherrim piled in front a tree in a desperate attempt to save their home. All of them were shaking violently but with nowhere else to go they had to stand firm.

The two loggers charged with downing the tree gave each other hesitant looks before turning back to the it.

"Look we don't wanna hurt you alright, so just move."

"Please."

The pokemon continued to shake but they didn't move an inch. The logging supervisor noticed that the two men hadn't moved for quite some time. "What's the hold up over there?" The two men looked at each again before looking back at him. "Nothing, just a little equipment malfunction, we got it now." They turned back to the tree, ready to move the pokemon by force if necessary. But when their heads swiveled all the way back around they found that they were looking at something black, and large. Their eyes trailed from the feet of the figure to its face, it was cloaked in a long flowing cloak that covered its entire body, head to toe, and at its very top was a white mask with a disturbingly wide smile on it. The unnatural rumble of Alex's voice spoke from behind the mask. "You should've run while you had the chance." The man had no time to react as Alex's fists shot out from underneath his cloak, knocking them out cold. 17 years of swinging from trees did wonders for his strength and speed. He turned his head to the pile of pokemon behind them, slid his mask to the side, and gave them wink and a smile. They instantly cheered up as he slid the mask back on and turned around.

The sound of two thuds brought the supervisor's attention to the area. He dropped his radio when he saw the black cloaked figure standing over the bodies of his two workers.

"Who the hell are you?!" He yelled. Alex turned his head toward the supervisor as slowly and dramatically as possible. The motion served its purpose, the man was almost scared out of his wits. By that time most of the other workers had noticed him, one by one their heads turned and their mouths hung wide open. Alex didn't move from his spot, his head slowly panned across the worksite, striking fear into each individual logger as his mask lined up with their face.

The sound of a chainsaw revving up brought everyone's attention to one spot. Caleb was shaking but doing his best to put on a tough guy act. "Think you can beat me n' my friends and get away with it?! I'll show you!" He ran toward Alex, waving his chainsaw around like a maniac. Alex scoffed and jumped backwards into the forest. Caleb gave chase, still waving the chainsaw without regard for safety.

"What the hell is that moron doing, doesn't he remember what happened last time?"

"That's Caleb for you, dumb as a box of rocks."

The supervisor snapped out of his stupor and yelled across the worksite. "Everybody follow him! Stay in teams of three and watch each other's back, GO!" Some of the men groaned, others snapped into action, and the rest were scared for their life but they still went, slowly. The supervisor called one person to the side. "Mikey you stay here, if we ain't back in 10 minutes call the boss and tell 'em what's going on."

Alex kept himself in sight of Caleb and let him chase him far ahead of the others, it was only when he disappeared suddenly did Caleb stop. He was in an extremely small clearing, the trees were barely a few feet away, and that was exactly what Alex needed. Caleb was spinning around frantically and trying his best to spot Alex before he got close. "Come on out. I ain't gonna hurt ya, I'm just gonna cut ya in two." The sputtering sound of his chainsaw helped to mask Alex's footsteps as he circled the clearing, waiting for a chance to attack. As Caleb got more and more calm, he started to spin slower and slower. It took less than a second for Alex to get to him. Before he knew it Caleb had a machete to his throat. From behind, Alex got his mask right next to Caleb's ear. He breathed hard through the mask and right onto Caleb's neck in an attempt to frighten him. It worked. Caleb was sweating bullets and shaking uncontrollably. One more push was all he needed. "How slow do you want to die?" That did it, his mind cracked under the pressure and he fainted.

"The loudest are always the weakest." Slowly the sound of revved up chainsaws started to fill the air. "Looks like I got my work cut out for me."



It had actually been around 15 minutes but Mikey was hesitant to call to boss for fear of what he might do to him. He had to do something though; he hadn't heard anything from anyone since they left. He pulled his phone out and began dialing the number when he started hearing yells, quiet at first but they got louder and louder. Suddenly all of the loggers burst through the forest screaming, all of them missing their chainsaws.

"Guys what's going on, what happened?"

"Run man run!"

Mikey followed the rest of the loggers as they cleared the worksite. After he heard their last footsteps, Alex smiled in triumph. However a victory for one side is a loss for the other, and the loggers now had to face the wrath of a furious Trent Cutter, again.


"What happened this time?" Cutter was talking through his teeth, there were long pauses between each word and he was gripping his desk so hard that he was shaking.

"Boss you don't understand, that thing is unstoppable."

"It beat us all by itself, and it broke our equipment."

"Look what it did to Caleb." The men stood aside giving clear view of Caleb who was sitting in the fetal position, wide eyed and muttering to himself."

"Boss it was like some kinda demon, it wore a long black cloak and a scary ass white mask."

"Yeah and it's got this evil voice too, like talking to a-"

He sighed. "You're all going back out there tomorrow." Trent said in a much calmer tone.

"But boss, th-"

"Relax," He lit up a cigar and took a puff. "I know some guys. They'll fix this."



Alex knew better than to rejoice this time around, they'd be back, and he knew it. For that reason he decided to sleep in the forest that night, amongst his friends. Word had spread quickly about his exploits, among the humans and the pokemon, and while the humans knew him only as "The Guardian of the Forest," it was the pokemon who knew who he really was. As they crowded around him Alex noticed the newfound hope on each of their faces. It almost made him want to give a motivational speech, but he never was very good at those. He did however say one thing. "I'll save this place, even if it costs me my life." Simple, but though provoking.



Morning of the next day, Alex was waiting patiently beyond the clearing, for he knew the loggers would return that day, and if they were to finish on schedule they would have to start early in the morning and work straight into the night. Sure enough, they came. Dump trucks, bulldozers, heavy machinery, and everything else that they could use. Alex also noticed a vehicle he couldn't recognize; it was a plain black van. As the loggers all climbed out of their vehicles the van stayed perfectly motionless. As far as Alex was concerned whatever was inside was of no immediate concern, so he shrugged it off and focused on his real targets.

The loggers pulled out all new equipment; Alex chuckled knowing that Cutter probably had to pay for all of that out of his own pocket. He could tell from a distance that the loggers were all still spooked from the day before. They were moving slower than usual, and it was still clearly visible on their faces. Catching them before they started seemed like the best move at the time. He affixed his mask to his face, cleared his throat, and dramatically walked into the clearing. He almost felt like actor in a play as every eye turned to him. A few of the loggers audibly gulped but most of them just stared.

"Looks like you still haven't learned your lesson. I'm afraid this time I'll have t-"

Suddenly the door slid open on the van and 4 people flew out, all of them landing side by side with assault rifles pointed in Alex's direction. They all looked dirty and rugged, almost like stereotypical mercenaries. They were all muscled and tan, they all wore red bandanas, and a few of them were smoking. Other than that they all wore camo pants and forest greens shirts. The guns were making Alex just a little nervous but he held his composure and stood tall, besides as long as he had the trees and bunch of human shields for cover he would be fine, he hoped...

"I miss the good old days, when everyone's problems were solved with pokemon battles." Alex thought to himself. "That'd make this so much easier."

Out of the driver's seat of the van came one more person. He was tall, really tall, other than that, he looked like the others.

"This him?" His voice was remarkably deep. "Pfft, waste em." Immediately after. the mercenaries fired full auto, and just as quickly Alex had run behind the dump truck. The hail of bullets just barely missed a few of the loggers, and one pierced a hole through one of their coffee cups. "Hey!"

The mercenary leader made a motion with his hand and the mercenaries swarmed the truck. One went around each side, one went under, and one went over top of it. They all converged on the spot where they suspected their target to be hiding but he wasn't there.

"Tch, they weren't kidding about him being fast. Duff, see anything?...Duff?"

"Gah!" Duff's voice echoed through the worksite. All of the mercenaries quickly turned their weapons to where the sound came from to find Duff and a machete around his throat. Alex had taken his first human shield. He was feeling confident until the leader snapped his fingers and the mercenaries cocked their guns. Alex jumped out of the way just in time as they filled their comrade full of lead. Without a shred of remorse they all turned to Alex who was wide open for attack. He knew what was coming so he zigzagged at high speed toward the truck, the bullets tearing shreds in his cloak. The mercenary who had just gotten from underneath the truck was the first to go. Alex slammed his head into side of it, knocking him out cold. Directly behind the fallen man was another mercenary. Without regard for friend in the area he tried to shower Alex with bullets, but missed as Alex jumped up to the top of the truck. There the other mercenary was waiting with a combat knife at the ready. Alex easily grabbed his knife-holding hand and held it behind his back. The man below, not thinking, or not caring showered his friend above with bullets in a vain attempt to hit Alex who was using him as a human shield. Mid-fire Alex threw the body off of the truck right onto the mercenary below. He pulled his machete out once again, jumped off, and used his downward momentum to impale both bodies. Alex didn't want to do any killing but that last one wasn't going to kill himself, besides, it was self defense.

The mercenary leader clapped as Alex drew his blood soaked blade from the two bodies. "Bravo, bravo, I could use a guy like you. Hows about joinin' my squad, the pays great."

Under the mask Alex had look of disgust on his face. He truly wondered why anyone would join him seeing how he treats his "friends." He pointed his blade, still dripping with blood, at the leader. "Leave. Now."

The man sighed. "That's a shame." With lightning speed he threw a knife right past Alex's head, and into the head of the one mercenary Alex didn't kill. The now dead man dropped his gun and lay motionless. "He was about to shoot ya, but you're my prey now."

"You're absolute scum."

"Well paid scum!" He rushed Alex with another knife in hand. Alex sidestepped ever so slightly and landed a long horizontal slash along the man's stomach. He staggered to a stop before turning around, smiling wide.

Alex still had his back turned to him. "That was your one warning slash. Next time I'll take off something you'll miss."

The man started chuckling almost maniacally as he put his fingers to his wound and tasted his own blood. "We'll see about that!" He rushed Alex once more, and once more Alex made a long slash horizontally, but he went for his throat this time. He was genuinely surprised when the man blocked it with his own knife. Alex went for another slash, and then another. But the man blocked them as well. They locked blades and were dangerously close to each other's faces. "Surprise." Alex said calmly as he twisted his blade. It pivoted around the man's and he fell forward. Quickly Alex sliced again, taking the man's thumb right off. He instantly dropped his knife and fell on the ground, rolling back and forth in pain. Alex in the meantime, jumped backwards to avoid any last tricks.

"Now get out of my forest."

The man stopped rolling suddenly and started laughing, quietly at first, but then loudly, and maniacally. "Never." "Have it your way." Alex charged him with deadly intent. In a last ditch effort the man threw his knife right at Alex's face. It was deflected easily, but he failed to notice what was behind it until the last second. The man was holding a revolver and pointing it directly at him.

"When did he-?!" Alex thought. He was on a beeline right toward a gun and it was far too late to move. Again things seemed to move in slow motion as his face inched closer and closer to the gun. He seemed to be moving so slow that Alex could watch him pulling the trigger. The hammer of the gun flew forward at an agonizingly slow pace, it was like watching his own death in slow motion, and it was torture.

Far to the left of the gun Alex spotted a leaf. He didn't know why he noticed it but something about it intrigued him. Possibly the fact that it was moving horizontally, in a straight line, and at a high speed toward the gun. It collided with the gun, throwing it off target, but no one was spared from the sound of the gunshot. Especially Alex, whose face was right next to it. Regardless he followed through with his slash, cutting through all of the fingers on the man's spare hand. Again he fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Rolling in the dirt only served to further blacken his already dirty face.

When Alex looked over at his savior he was shocked. There at the edge of the forest was a bulbasaur, and behind him was a treecko. To his right lefeaon, and a turtwig, and a cacnea, and a belossom, and a tangela! Pokemon were coming out of the woods in waves. Alex was stunned, usually none of them every leave the safety of the forest, but now here they were, all out in the open. Not only that, but there was determination on their faces, they were ready to fight. The loggers took notice of this at the same time Alex did and ran while they could.

"...You guys, why would you-"

"Because it's our home too."

"We can't just let you do all the work."

"We may not be the best of fighters but when we work together we can do anything!"

"We want to save our home too, right guys!?" All of the pokemon in the crowd cheered loudly. Their faces went from determined to happy in a second, and it put a smile on Alex's face, though no one could see it through the mask. A minute later the cheering had died down.

"Guys...thanks."

"Thank you, without you none of us would have had the courage to fight back."

He chuckled. "Well were not out of the woods yet, no pun intended. I'm gonna need you guys to do one more thing for me."




It was 7 in the afternoon. An "anonymous" call had been sent to Cutter. The Guardian of the Forest was coming for him, and he was coming soon. A little paranoid, Cutter called the police way ahead of time and had them positioned in front of his building, along with the residents of Fotree City who caught wind of the "attack" and came to give their support.

"Everybody look!" One person yelled. "It's him!"

On the horizon a lone figure walked toward the building. The crowd went wild, people were holding up posters with phrases similar to "We love you Guardian!" It almost made Alex feel like a celebrity.

"What's...what's that behind him?"

Not too far behind Alex were a few pokemon. As he came up and over the hill more and more appeared. The guardian of the forest was leading his own personal army. Before he could make it however, he had one last obstacle, the police. Alex and his army came to a stop directly in front of the first officer. He looked quite serious for a moment, but his frown suddenly curved up into a smile. "We appreciate what you're doing for the town." He stepped to the side and the rest of the officers followed suit. "If anyone asks, you snuck by us."

"Thanks, Ted." It didn't surprise the officer at all that he knew his name, after all only someone from Fotree would go to such great lengths to protect it.

Alex and his army walked down a path of screaming fans toward the door, and Cutter jumped in his seat when Alex kicked the door in. He barely took a step in before Cutter lost his composure.

"G-guards get him!" The 4 burly men walked straight for Alex but suddenly stopped dead in their tracks. "What the hell are you waiting for get-" He cut himself off when he noticed the army of pokemon piling through the door. Alex walked forward as the pokemon filed in behind him, literally filling the room in seconds. He stood right in front Cutter's desk.

"Let me introduce you to my friends. My friends whose homes you were trying to cut down for money. They're all very interested in meeting you." At that comment some of the pokemon chuckled, others growled, but most of them smiled widely.

Cutter was sweating profusely. "What do you want money? I can get you that, I can get you as much as you-" His sentence was cut off when Alex's blade was at his throat.

"You really are pathetic. I could kill you right now and get away with it if I wanted to."

"Please, please don't. I'll give you anything, anything you want."

"One: Leave the forests of Fotree alone."

"You got it."

"Two: Leave all trees alone, if I ever hear about you doing so much as carving your name in one I will find you."

"I p-p-ppromise."

"Three: Leave this city. If I ever see you again, regardless of the circumstance-" He drove his machete into the desk. "Got it?"

"I got it I got it!"

Alex retracted his blade into his cloak as the pokemon filed out through the door. Alex followed closely as the last pokemon left, however he stopped at the door. Without warning he threw the mercenaries knife, hitting right beside Cutter's head. "Let that be a lesson to you. Don't fuck with the forest."