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[attr="class","textbox"]Isaac long believed that everyone deserved a chance to prove themselves. If they didn't, he was a hypocrite at best, an abject mistake at worst. Yet if even someone like him could be one of the brightest stars in Hoenn after being given but a chance, who was to say the rest of the world didn't have that potential pulsing through their veins?[break][break]

Perhaps even monsters like this deserved such kindness.[break][break]

With a heavy sigh, Isaac took one step, two steps, three. The winds took him, bringing him toward the lonely creature's side as it watched its betters continue their feeding frenzy. It was worse up close than it ever could have been from a difference. Blackened ichor and chunks of incandescent flesh flew in all directions, and the spell made Isaac want to vomit.[break][break]

In spite of everything, Isaac stayed there and watched. The way the Guzzlord went to take a step forward, only to shy away at the last moment, was heartbreakingly familiar. He could hear its tremendous guts, deprived of their first meal, rumble with enough force to shake the ground beneath its feet. He wondered if, were the creature to stay so boxed out by its littermates, it would die where it stood.[break][break]

Inspiration struck. As Isaac took form, he rifled around in his pockets. Of all the strange artifacts he'd found throughout the fringes of reality, the sodas he and El Sunderland had discovered were among the oddest. He'd kept some around if only for the novelty. Now, in the most unexpected of ways, it seemed they might come up again.[break][break]

The Guzzlord perked up at the fizzing sound by its side. In a blind fury, it lunged forward, groping for the space where Isaac stood. However, as he dipped to the side, he flung the first of the drinks right towards the Guzzlord's mouth. It froze, stance unnaturally rigid, as it processed the sudden sensation.[break][break]

Then, with a keening rumble, it pried its jaws open all the wider. The message was clear. More.[break][break]

"There we go, big guy," Isaac whispered, tossing drink after unnatural drink the overgrown newborn's way. Feeding a baby a metric fuckton of soda was a big no in the rangers' handbook, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He didn't have to make it a whole diet plan. He just had to pacify it enough to get it out of here. "Just keep eating . . . just keep eating . . ."[break][break]

After a dozen soda cans made their way into its gullet, unlucky number 13 was a different shiny metal object. The Pokeball bounced off of the Guzzlord's tongue, turning its body into a peal of red light. The last thing the Guzzlord saw was Isaac, eyes warm and smile trusting, as its hunger stilled and its world went black.[break][break]

The last thing Isaac saw was the pack of Guzzlord's peering up from their feeding frenzy. That was his cue. He scooped the Pokeball up, ran back to Eris' side, and let the winds take them all. "See? Told you so," he said, pointedly ignoring the heavy footsteps fading over the horizon. "Everything's fiiiiiiiiine."[break][break]

Sometimes, the stunts he could pull with his new speed amazed even himself.