She fights the beast

Midori releases her vines to whip the beast, but it pulls out its own vines to deflect the attack. It then shoots a storm of razor leaves toward you and Midori. Instead of dodging, she uses a poison-type technique she learned, blowing a toxic gas that melts some of them, though a few still reach her and scratch her arms and legs. She groans in pain but quickly gets up and heals herself.

She runs toward the beast before jumping into the air and throwing a few razor leaves at it, cutting its flower a little and making it flinch. That gives her the time to keep hitting the beast with her vines without letting it breathe, and for a moment it seems like it is working...

Until a sudden attack hits her in the stomach.

One of the beast's vines strikes her in the stomach during a moment of distraction and makes her fall to the ground.

Suddenly the same vine coils around the pained Midori, binding her body completely, and it soon starts to squeeze her. Midori screams in pain as her body begins to get crushed, and you are there, barely able to move while your partner risks her life to protect you.

"Midori...!" you screech as you try to stand up, but you can barely move.

At that moment the beast focuses on you and tries to blast you with a sludge bomb. You manage to block it with your sword, but the attack melts the blade.

You feel ****.

You can barely move, your body hurts from the poison, and you don't know how long Midori will be able to resist.

The only thing you can think of is calling for help, but the words won't leave your mouth...

Then you suddenly start hearing a voice.

"Do you want to save her?"

The voice echoes in your mind as you suddenly feel something hot coming from your chest. It is the lucky charm your mother left you, and it is shining with a pink light.

"Do you want to protect the people who are dear to you?"

You hear the voice again. Even though you are not sure if it will work, you focus your mind and think of the answer, as if you were trying to speak with your thoughts.

"YES!" you scream internally.

The charm shines even brighter.

"Then forge your own path to victory... Bond Blacksmith..."

Suddenly, for the first time, you truly feel the bond between you and Midori—the partnership pact you share.

Or at least, that is what you think at first.

But in that moment it doesn't matter.

You can see it.

It looks like a thread connecting the two of you, and the moment you try to grab it...

It transforms.

In your hand it begins turning into a one-handed sword, similar to the one you had before. However, this one has a long emerald-colored blade, and the hilt is connected to the blade by a piece shaped like a Bulbasaur's bulb.

The moment you grasp the sword, you also feel the effect of the poison weaken, as if your body is becoming resistant to the toxic mist.

Thanks to that, you suddenly close the distance between you and the beast and easily cut the vine that was crushing Midori.

The beast screams in pain as you slice through the vine. You use that moment to grab Midori and move her away from it, hiding her behind a nearby tree.

"Wait for me, I'll handle this now," you tell her as you gently put her down.

"B-but... Erik... it's dangerous..." Midori whines, still in pain.

"Don't worry. I feel like I can handle him with this," you reply.

Suddenly a storm of razor leaves flies toward you, but you instinctively react with the sword.

The blade suddenly becomes longer and less rigid, almost like a whip, and you use it to swiftly deflect all the leaves before it returns to its normal shape.

"Cool," you mutter before running toward the beast again.

Thanks to the incredible movements you can make with the sword, you manage to block most of its attacks and injure its legs. When it becomes unable to move, you jump into the air and deliver one final powerful vertical whip-slash, cutting the beast perfectly in two.

After the hit you land on the ground.

The mist begins to thin out as the monster dissolves like the other creatures you defeated before, and you finally sit down to catch your breath.

You are completely exhausted.

Midori tries to crawl toward you to celebrate the victory, but suddenly four more of those creatures appear. This time they have the same flower as Ivysaurs and are bigger than the pseudo-Bulbasaurs from before.

For a moment you feel like this is the end for both of you.

But then—

"Flame Burst!"

A bullet of fire flies toward one of them and hits it perfectly, making it explode.

Then you hear a melodic voice.

Your injuries suddenly hurt less.

It is the voice of Emma, singing softly, and with her is Leaf. Using fire magic, she quickly kills the four creatures.

"Seems like you two needed a hand," Leaf giggles after finishing the monsters.

Emma stops singing since she has already boosted you enough to let you stand again.

"You really came in clutch... thanks, Leaf," you say while trying to get up.

But suddenly your vision becomes blurry.

You start losing consciousness as you fall to the ground.

The last thing you hear is the girls screaming your name.

You wake up in your room.

Your body aches a lot, but you are okay. Outside it is dark, so you were probably **** for a few hours.

As soon as you sit up to look around, the door of your room opens and you see Midori, who immediately runs to hug you while crying after she saw you were awake.

"Eeeeeeriiiikkk... I was so worriedddd..."

She whines while you hug her back, happy to see that she is fine.

"My, my, my dear boy finally woke up."

Venus also enters the room to check on you and gently pulls Midori away, though she can't stop crying while holding onto you.

She is always so cute.

Venus spends the next few minutes explaining what happened after you blacked out. Leaf and Emma helped bring you home and called the village doctor to check your injuries. Thankfully neither of you suffered any serious wounds and you only needed some rest to recover.

"Now that you know everything, dear, you can enjoy some more rest. I will probably head home soon since someone insisted on taking care of you," Venus says with a giggle.

"Mom!" Midori blushes as her mother teases her

The girls leave the room and you rest for another hour before Midori comes back carrying your dinner: soup and bread with butter.

"I hope you like it... I'm not great at cooking," she says bashfully.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you did great," you reply with a smile before eating.

The meal is nothing special, but it tastes good, and Midori sits next to you the entire time while you eat.

After dinner you just talk like you usually do.

But something feels different tonight.

Midori is clingier than usual and she never lets go of your arm.

"Midori... are you okay?" you ask while looking into her red eyes.

She stares back for a moment before looking away.

"Y-yes, obviously, silly. Why wouldn't things be fine?" she says with a nervous chuckle.

You gently grab her chin and make her look back at you.

"You know you're terrible at lying. And you also know you can tell me everything. Aren't we partners?"

Soon her eyes begin to glisten with tears.

"It's just... I always worry when you get hurt, but today was terrible. At first I really thought I would die... but even worse, I thought I would lose you forever..."

She hugs you tightly, burying her face in your chest while you gently stroke her hair.

"You're always so cute, Midori. Don't worry, I'll never leave your side."

She keeps sobbing for a moment before looking up at you.

"I can't lose you before I can do... this."

Suddenly she wraps her arms around your neck and your faces grow closer until your lips touch.

You begin kissing each other softly.

You are surprised, but honestly it is something you have wanted for a long time.

You keep kissing for a few minutes before finally separating.

"Woah... Midori... I—"

"Oh good, it's finally time for you to do the deed. Damn, I should have brought popcorn."

A voice suddenly interrupts you.

You and Midori blush immediately before turning toward the sound.

Right beside you floats a translucent girl—exactly like how you would imagine a real ghost—watching the two of you while levitating in the air...