Hoi hoi~! Oh I'm sososo excited to be back in action!
Merry eve of Christmas eve everyone~! I wanted to put this up on a special day and this was what i decided on~!
As usual I do not own pokemon or the mystery dungeon series, but you already knew that didn't you~!
Welwelwelcome back everyone! I sure hope the holidays have been swell for you all and continue to be so!
Now I know we left off on some pretty steep circumstances but do not fret~! Why not you might ask?
WELL READ ON AND SEE FOR YOURSELVES~~~!
^0^
Everyone was silently gathered in front of team hopes base. The once funny looking base now seemed eerie with its empty dark eyes staring out into the trees surrounding them. The night air was too cool for school... Everyone had been quiet for some time.
"I just… don't get it. This whole curse thing is beyond confusing. It was meant for that coward human, Gardevoir took the hit for him… but Sora did something to take part of it?" Lombre thought out loud to himself.
"That's what Sora was telling us yes…" Alakazam nodded solemnly and turned to Absol who was sat across from him, "Absol… You were present. If you can shed some light on this it'd be much appreciated." Everyone turned to him, wanting so badly to hear something that could help them break the curse.
"She begged and pleaded with Ninetales for some way, ANY way, she could at least ease Gardevoirs suffering and after much consideration Ninetales gave her a medallion. She needed to take it to the legendary bird Pokémon so they could charge it. She then connected part of the curse to herself using this medallion in a special cave and went back to return it to Ninetales." Absol winced remembering the journey back, "Since it was also the key to accessing the curse it would need to be with her. That way when he finally sought to lift the curse his one lead, Ninetales, would have what was needed to do so. But only the one who the curse was meant for can use it now. She was lucky that she had a strong enough soul to take part of the curse in the first place and splitting it again could do more harm than good." Everyone looked down, feeling hopeless.
"Can't we just find him?" All eyes snapped over to look at little Caterpie in shock and surprise. Velcro Leapt over and swept Caterpie up in his arms.
"Yes! You're a genius we'll find him and make him lift the curse!" He laughed and skipped around.
"What?" Ekans tilted his head at the now being spun around Caterpie, "Find him?"
"Yes find him and help him lift the curse." Alakazam nodded in agreement, sure that they could find this mysterious individual.
"That's easier said than done." Charizard muttered rubbing the back of his head.
"Yeah, how do you expect us to find him?" Tyranitar straightened up and pointed at Alakazam, "If he's anything like you he might not even know he's human!"
"How would Ninetales expect an amnesiac to break a curse he's unaware of? No, I believe he must at least be AWARE of his human past, and, more importantly, aware of the curse. We are going to find him, we MUST find him if we're ever to lift the curse. As impossible as it might sound to do we must try to lift it by any means. If anyone deserves to live in this saved world it's Sora and Gardevoir, after all they've done for us…"
"He's right!" Shiftry calls looking out at everyone, "We need to find this guy, whoever he is, and make him lift that curse while we're still around to see her return! I still need to thank her for saving me from Zapdos!"
"But how will we get him to lift it?" Medicham interrupted, finger in the air, arm propped up at the elbow, "Hasn't it been over 700 years now? Why hasn't he lifted it yet? Weren't they supposed to be friends? What if he can't be convinced to do it? I'm pretty sure we can't just beat him up and force him to lift it." Medicham asked question after question bringing almost everyone down a peg with each one. Velcro seemed to be in another world still as he twirled poor Caterpie around, "I'm sorry for the reality check but these are questions that we need to ask ourselves if we're really serious about finding this guy. Who, what, or wherever he is."
"We can ask all the questions we want, the facts of the matter are only three of us have ever met him before now and one of those three currently doesn't remember." Alakazam explained, "Our best bet is to hope the two who do can recognize him by his mannerisms and personality, if those are still intact." He crossed his arms, eyes closed head tilted down. It was clear that he wished he could remember and be of more use.
"Well… what do we know about this guy?" Shiftry asked.
"He's a coward." Lombre pointed out, "Even though Gengar was accusing Sora of being the human at the time he was right to call them a rotten coward." Everyone nodded in agreement, much to their dismay at being reminded of that day, he was right.
"…" Velcro started paying attention again, though one could question if he ever really stopped. He quit spinning Caterpie around, looking bothered by what was being said. He set the little child down as gently as his suddenly tense arms could.
"Yeah and he's got to be greedy, I mean he fled to save his own skin!" Added snubbull, looking determined to hit the guy. The irony of what she said not dawning on her at all. Only Caterpie seemed to notice the slowly seething Velcro. He clutched his fists and grits his teeth, trying to keep from lashing out at them.
"He's also a fool, who messes with a Ninetails' tails? Even if it WAS only a light touch." Shiftry would have kept going but he was quickly interrupted.
"Enough!" Velcro yelled causing everyone to look at him, "None of you have ANY idea what you're talking about. You weren't there, you didn't know him. You don't get to sit here and bad-mouth someone Sky cares for, even I never really liked him, but at least I knew him!" Everyone either looked down, shifted on their feet or both.
"He's right; he and Absol are the only two who could possibly identify him. Velcro even more so since from what we understand Absol only knew us as humans for a short time, aside from Sora." Alakazam looked stern, but only slightly. Absol nodded in agreement before speaking up.
"I'm afraid I won't be of much use as I only observed until the curse had already been cast and two of the humans had perished. Not to mention it's been hundreds of years, and anything I could have known about him is lost in old memories." He looked at Velcro who glared at him quickly. When Velcro turned away from him he found himself being stared down by nearly everyone. His glare faltered for a moment from the attention, but it quickly came back full force.
"What?" He dared them to speak, most looked around at each other, unsure if they should say anything. Alakazam, of course, just steps forward and places his hand on Velcro's shoulder in an attempt to calm him.
"Velcro, please, you're right, they didn't know him. I don't know him… Anymore." His voice lowered near the end and Velcro looked at him. He could see that he was pained at his lack of all his human memories, of whatever adventures they went on, of his friends. "It would seem you're the only one that has any information on this person." Alakazam squeezed his shoulder, "Please, Velcro, tell us all you can so that we may have better chances of identifying him." Velcro looked at him, at everyone, and then sighed, nodding slowly. Alakazam released his shoulder and stepped back, waiting for him to speak. Everyone stood in silence so as not to miss a word.
"I'll try, but… well… I'm not sure where to start." He blinked and looked at the sky trying to think, "Telling you what he looked like won't be of much use… So I can skip that." He mumbles to himself. After standing there for what felt like forever to his nearly silent audience he spoke up, "Well his name was Gavin and he wasn't the most talkative, kind of… stand offish." He paused for a moment, "When he did talk he could be… brash at times. But it was all hot-air." He waved his hand, "I know I said you didn't know anything but he really was somewhat of a coward… Before any of you go off and assume things he had his reasons!" He glared at Snubbull who had been about to make a snide remark but instead huffed at being stopped. "But he was not greedy or a fool… Sure he could be an idiot at times but hey aren't we all from time to time?" He didn't wait for an answer before continuing, "He was actually getting better about it; he didn't want to be so scared. But old habits die hard." Alakazam nodded his head in agreement; he could understand what he was saying.
"What else?" Shiftry urged him to continue.
"He was a fan of music, I'm sure he remembers at least SOME of his favorite songs even after so long. But don't expect getting him to sing or anything easily, at least with an audience. He'd have to be alone or with those he trusts. Even I hardly ever got to hear him and I was usually in my Pokéball so his voice was a little altered. If he ever broke out into song and I heard him though I'm sure I'd recognize it, but I doubt that'll happen. That and I'm pretty sure you guys don't know any human songs so that in and of itself would be a dead giveaway."
"But what if some of his memories are gone?" Alakazam interjected, arms crossed once more, "Though I believe he must know he was once human, much like Sora he might not have his memories just the knowledge of what he was."
"Well if he's like Sora then maybe you or another psychic can sense it?" Lombre was quick to point out and everyone seemed to perk up.
"True that may be, but even now I still don't sense it in myself… The only reason I even learned I was once human was on the words of Ninetails, Velcro's confirmation, and what occurred on the peak of . There's no telling whether his situation is similar to Sora's or my own. It could be entirely different or a mixture of the two as far as we know." Alakazam turned to Velcro and motioned for him to continue.
"Hmmm what else… oh since No one knew him better than Sky I could use some of her descriptions of him," He laughed, "Ahem *snicker, snortle chortle*, 'H-he's like a tea kettle, he'll just sit around for a while until *Snorts* Until you fill his head with water then put him on a fire and before you know it he'll yell at you but in the end it because he's filled with hot water for making hot cocoa, and I like hot cocoa.' Or-or 'He's like a marshmallow, sweet and fluffy and I still like hot cocoa, but even more with marshmallows!' or wait then there's, 'He's STILL like a marshmallow but in ice-cream because sometimes he just needs to chill.'" Everyone laughed and Velcro took on a somber expression, "I swear she was obsessed with getting him to laugh… she likes it when she gets anyone to laugh but I guess he might have been a challenge so it was even better? It was either that or… she just liked his laugh that much… or maybe both?" He looked up at the sky again; Alakazam understood then what it meant for him to look at the sky and looked up himself. Everyone followed suit and just thought for a little about their situation and just how they'd find this Gavin guy.
Except for two... Their thoughts were, 'Oh no.' Medicham tried to keep her cool. No one other than her and Ekans knew Gengar well enough to put two and two together and assume that he could be this 'Gavin', but it was too much of a coincidence, right? She shook her head, 'If there's even a chance it's him we should make sure right…' She made a mind link with Ekans, being careful to not get noticed by Alakazam, when he had no reaction she felt relief and spoke up.
'Ekans.' the snake Pokémon blinked, knowing who it was but didn't want to look at all suspicious, 'Ekans… Those weird songs Gengar taught us when we were younger… you don't think…?' He took a breath; he had been avoiding thinking too hard about it.
'He lived with humans before so… Oh Medicham… What are we going to do? If we say anything and they think it's him there's no telling what they'll do to him… after what he did? They nearly killed her because of what he said about HER being the human from the legend. If they get even the tiniest reason to believe it was him all along they'll go ballistic!' He waited for Medicham to reply but she was silent, 'Medicham?' Another short pause and she finally replied.
'We need to make sure… before we say ANYTHING we need to know 100% it's him.' She told him, her tone serious and deadly. After a few moments Ekans kept himself from gulping at his next question.
'Wh-what if it is him? What will we do? What if he knew he was human all along like Alakazam says he could?' She thought for a moment and shook her head lightly.
'We'll cross that bridge when we get there… let's just… hope he's not or else the others will have a full on riot.' She glanced around trying to think, they needed an excuse to get out of there and get home. Whether he was back or not he'd be there at one point. 'Ekans, we need a reason to leave, NOW.' She fretted with a sense of urgency when nothing came to mind. Ekans quickly thought of something and yawned deeply. Medicham understood what he was trying to do and followed suit, it came more naturally than she thought and she really did feel tired. Alakazam noticed and glanced at them looking concerned.
"As much as I would like to continue our discussion, we need to rest; it's been a long and taxing day for us all." Alakazam stated, to their relief, "We should meet back in town during the evening tomorrow to devise just where to start in our search." Everyone agreed but Velcro looked at the team base with an uncomfortable expression. He wasn't sure about where to stay and he didn't want to stay in Sora's giant head house… thingy? Not if she wasn't there, it crept him the creep out of creepiness… of the creeps. He jumped when a hand was placed on his shoulder and he turned to see Alakazam.
"Feel free to come stay in my home Velcro, I can sense your," He paused and looked at the Base, "Unease." He finished with a raised eyebrow. Pika could be heard mumbling 'It's not that bad…' under his breath. With his arms crossed and his chin digging into his chest in annoyance he left for home walking alongside Absol who remained silent.
After watching them leave Velcro looked at the psychic Pokémon. Looking thankful he just nodded and off they went, Tyranitar close behind them. Tyranitar noticed someone was missing and stopped, looking back at Charizard.
"What's the holdup Charizard?" He asked crossing his arms.
"Just going to make sure this one gets home safe." He replied as he picked up little Caterpie, who was looking ready to fall asleep. Tyranitar smiled, gave a small chuckle, and nodded before continuing to follow Alakazam and Velcro home, towards town. Everyone went their separate ways, heading home to sleep for the night.
Once no one was in sight Ekans and Medicham went from walking to straight up sprinting. Ekans slithering on the ground as fast as he could, as tired as they were they had to find out. They had to find the truth. They reached their base and rushed through the door and instantly went to Gengars room… to find him sleeping.
"Oh great," Medicham whispered harshly, "He finally does what I've been telling him to do for nearly 2 days straight RIGHT when we need to talk to him." She shook her head and walked away. She grabbed Ekans by the tail and dragged him away as he was about to wake him up. "No Ekans… It'll just have to wait until tomorrow."
"But what if he gets up and leaves before we get up?" Ekans pulled free and looked at her, worried. "It wouldn't be the first time he left while we were asleep to be alone."
"With how tired he was?" She scoffed, "Not gonna happen. Even if he does it's not like we can't just find him or wait until he comes back. He needs to sleep, and that's that." She stared him down daring him to pull what he did last night. He sighed and slithered off to his room. After staring in the dark at his room she also went to her room for some much needed shut-eye.
She laid her head down, hands behind her head looking up at the ceiling… She growled. She knew before she even got home that she wasn't going to sleep, no matter how hard she tried. So she just kept staring up at the ceiling, frustrated about the whole situation… She sat up and looked intensely at her hands as they balled into fists. The moonlight through the circular opening in her wall was the only light as she thought about what to do. Then she got an idea…
"I'm every bit a psychic type as Alakazam is… so maybe I can check without waking him up?" She smiled as she whispered to herself, as if trying to talk herself into it, "Yeah… Then that way he'll never know." She felt dread at the chance they were right and he really was that human… 'Would we have to keep it from everyone and try to lift the curse ourselves? How do you even go about lifting a curse?' She shook her head and got up, 'Whatever I just… I just need to find out if he really is that guy first and worry about the rest later.' She took a steadying breath and pushed it back out smoothly before getting up. She made her way to Gengars room slowly, every step she took made her feet feel heavier. Walking in the entrance nervously she looked over at Gengar. She stopped dead in her tracks, eyes narrowing and she just about saw red.
"Ekans?! What do you think you're doing?" She hissed and he jumped slightly, luckily Gengar was dead asleep and didn't even react to any of the noise. "You've got a LOT of nerve to try this AGAIN. What part of he needs to sleep don't you understand." He looked at Gengar and then back at her.
"B-but-" He tried to say.
"No, no buts, OUT." She pointed at the doorway behind her, his mouth gaping looking for something to say before looking down and slithering out without another word.
She glared at him with arms crossed tightly to keep herself from lashing out at him as he passed by. Her foot tapping harshly the whole time he was leaving. Once he was out of sight she huffed and crossed her arms.
She stood there questioning if what she herself was doing in there was okay. 'How else will I find out? Knowing him he wouldn't admit it if he is the human and if he's not he'd just get mad at me for accusing him without enough proof… Not that he has any right to think that, but still.' She uncrossed her arms and looked over at him before sighing and walking over. She reached her hand out to touch his forehead.
She stopped just an inch away, fingers curled limply with uncertainty. She stood still, silent as questions ran through her head, 'How will I know? What am I looking for? Would I even sense it after knowing him for so long? Wouldn't I have sensed something by now? Maybe it wasn't even Alakazam being psychic but it was their shared past and some part of him recognized her? What WILL we do if he's the one?' She scrunched her eyes shut, trying to silence the doubt and keep moving, but her hand wouldn't budge.
After what felt like an eternity she let it fall and turned on her heel, hands clutched at her sides in frustration. She left his room and made to go back to hers, slowing to a stop in the doorway. She eventually relaxed and dragged her hand up to bring it in front of her face, staring at her palm helplessly. She knew she couldn't do it, and she knew she couldn't go to sleep. So, Restless, she went out for a moonlit walk in an attempt to calm her nerves.
Arms crossed and brow furrowed she wandered, not really caring where she went. Her mind was racing with questions so fast she couldn't think about any of them. On she went with her footsteps, quick and rhythmic, easily breaking the silence of the night. After what felt like hours of walking, her feet beginning to feel sore, she stopped. Looking around she found herself in an empty meadow just outside the forest. She blinked in surprise a few times at the small hill nearby.
"Didn't realize I went out this far…" She thought aloud recognizing this as a meadow near town, just over the hill was the town in fact. She sat down as she sighed out of both relief and frustration at their situation. Her hands were balled into fists on her lap with her glaring at them.
"UGH!" She yelled, scrunching her eyes shut and falling onto her back, covering her face, "Why does this have to be so hard! Why can't whoever can just lift the curse on their own time? Why do they even NEED us to go find them and ask them to do something they should already be at least TRYing to do!?" Hugging herself she looked at the stars glimmering above, "I don't care WHO they are, but they'd better fix their mess soon... Oh who am I kidding they've waited all these years why would they do it now? Because we asked nicely? HA! I doubt it." She ranted and raved, this whole thing was really getting under her skin.
'And if it IS somehow Gengar he's going to have some explaining to do…' Her brows furrowed, remembering those songs, 'Those could EASILY be from when he was with the humans though. But still, the way Velcro described this human was pretty similar to him… but it's wasn't the most detailed description, was it? Seemed a little broad actually… oh I don't know what to think about all this… Questions questions questions! All I can think of are questions! What I need, what WE need, are some answers!' She huffed in frustration. She placed her hands across her belly and took a deep breath, looking at the stars again. Her eyes softened as she looked up at them. The irony that it was a "star" that nearly destroyed their homes and took their lives was not lost on her as her breathing evened out.
She took a deep breath and focused on listening to the trickle of the small stream nearby. She felt tired and started to close her eyes when they snapped back open and she sat up.
"Who's there?" She called, knowing she had sensed someone.
"… I guess there's no getting past you psychics is there?" They chuckled as they revealed themselves to be Team ACTs Charizard.
"Charizard? What are you doing out here?" She asked curious, propping herself up using her arms behind her.
"I could ask you the same thing." He mused crossing his arms, "My base is just over that way." He tilted his head to his left, "I was on my way back after taking Caterpie home. I was hoping I could sneak past you." He uncrossed his arms and sheepishly scratches the back of his head with his right hand.
"You saw me here?" She sassed, disbelieving.
"Saw you? More like heard you yelling about something or other, I wouldn't be surprised if my team heard you! Hahaha!" He chortled as she flushed at his words.
"Wha-what?!" She quickly put a hand over her mouth and looked in the direction he said his base was in, her face growing red, "I was that loud?" She tried to keep quiet.
"Yea, 'Fraid so." He nodded.
She looked at the ground, having a small panic attack. No one was meant to hear anything she said, 'At least I kept my mouth shut about Gengar and my suspicions. If anyone knew about that it could have been a disaster! I nearly blew it!' She hit her own head mumbling, "Stupid loud mouth…" Her eyes screwed shut.
"What are you going on about anyways?" She stopped and turned to face him, nearly having forgotten he was there.
"Oh just… uhm," She didn't want to but she couldn't keep herself from blowing up about it, "UGH, I'm just so frustrated about this whole curse thing. Why do we need to do ANYTHING, it's not our curse. Why doesn't that human guy just do whatever it is he needs to do!?" She let herself fall onto her back again, covering her face, "Who does he think he is getting everyone else involved!? He should've done something a LONG time ago, right?!" She lifted her arms as if reaching towards the sky, "I swear if I ever get my hands on that guy I'll give him such a thrashing!" She growled.
"I didn't realize you cared so much?" He walked over and sat down next to her.
"Well, I don't know Sora much, and I've never met this Gardevoir but… Ekans is friends with her and I guess Gengar is to? It's hard to tell with him though... What really has me so annoyed are all the questions! Like how I initially thought that as a psychic I'd be able to tell if anyone was a human like Alakazam did with Sora. But then I thought 'What exactly would I look for? What was it he sensed in her?' and 'What if Alakazam could only sense Sora because of their shared past?' or even 'Why can't Alakazam sense that he himself is a human? Would I be able to sense it in him?'"
"That is… quite a few questions." He looked at the ground, unsure of what to say.
"I KNOW! And that's not even the half of it!" She sat back up and was going to keep going but he put a hand on her shoulder so she stopped and looked up at him.
"I know it's frustrating… but depriving yourself of sleep over it won't help. Just get some sleep and bring up these questions tomorrow when we all meet up in town. Alakazam might even be able to answer some of them… hopefully. Everyone's on edge right now because of the whole situation. It's not just you who's feeling like they're owed some kind of an explanation." He gave her a smile and she just looked at him before shrugging him off roughly and grumbling. He sighed, "If you want to stay up all night over it then I can't stop you… but try to keep it down, okay?" He insisted half-jokingly while standing up, looking at her for some form of confirmation, after she gave him a quick nod he left for home.
She hugged her knees to her chin sitting there, waiting until she couldn't hear him anymore and sighed. Staring into the distance at nothing in particular time drifted by as her worries over her suspicions hammered in her head. Just when she was thinking about heading home her head snapped toward the direction Charizard had gone.
"What? Here to tell me to go get some sleep to?" She sneered, "Alakazam?" He stepped out of the trees, hands folded behind his back as he took a moment to consider her.
"Yes and no." He answered simply, eyes betraying nothing of his thoughts.
"Oh? Well what else is it then?" She mused as she stood up and crossed her arms leaning back slightly, trying to look composed.
"I realize you thought I hadn't noticed at the time. I could feel you and Ekans speaking through mind link before I assume you yawned as an excuse to get away." Medicham's crossed arms came undone and all of her composure fell away.
"Th-that was a private conversation!" She clutched her fists, "What did you hear?!" She started to shake, a bead of sweat rolled down off her chin, 'This is it, he knows. Would he tell the others? No, surely he knew what would happen if he did. But it's also their only lead to lifting the curse!' She clutched her eyes shut waiting for the ball to drop, 'I blew it, I shouldn't have made the link in the first place, I should have known better with another psychic so close! I should have-!'
"Nothing." He replied calmly, she stopped and opened her eyes wide.
"You… you didn't listen to it? To any of it?" Her mouth was agape, shock written all over her facial features… She found it very hard to believe that he actually kept his mind to himself. Especially with everything that's happened recently.
"No, but I could sense worry followed by an urgency to return home." His eyes narrowed and she gulped, "If it has anything to do with the curse, anything at all… If you think you've found something, please, tell me. It doesn't have to be now and you can trust I won't say anything." He brought his arms forward in a gesture of trust.
She looked at him, her eyes flickering back and forth her mouth opening and closing. She turned her head away, jaw locked, her eyes burning as she glared at the ground. She shook her head, no way would she trust HIM with such sensitive information.
"So you won't tell me?" He asked and she shook her head again, not trusting her voice. "Does it have something do with the curse?" He stepped forward gently, his voice betrayed slight desperation to know. This surprised her enough to look at him again and see that his own composure was now falling away. She bit her tongue, 'Maybe he can help… NO WAY! What am I thinking!? I'd never ask HIM for help!' She turned around facing her back to him.
"…Look just drop it, I'm not telling you." She tightened her crossed arms. "It was a private conversation and it's going to STAY that way." She started tapping her foot in annoyance and chewing on her upper lip. 'Please drop it, please drop it, please drop it…' She closed her eyes and her heart started racing, 'pleasepleaseplease-'
He sighed in defeat and she perked slightly.
"Alright, I won't force it out of you." She turned to face him again, feeling relieved as she released a breath she'd been holding.
"Good, because-" He cut her off.
"But you should know that if it has anything to do with the curse or a way to lift it. I WILL find out what it is eventually, with or without your help." His voice turning serious as he walked up to her. When he stopped he was standing at his full height. One could hardly tell he was still recovering from his broken leg. How a handful of berries could cure such an injury was amazing to say the least. He had always been taller than her, but she was never close enough since her evolution to tell by just how much and it was very much intimidating.
But there was a moment she realized he was indeed intending to come off as intimidating since being nice and asking wasn't working and she wasn't about to take that. She narrowed her eyes and uncrossed her arms puffing up her chest and straightened her back.
"Just who do you think you are?!" She started jabbing him in the chest, not at all pleased that he just stood there unmoving, "Walking up to me like that! HA! I'm not some little weakling like when we were kids! Don't think I've forgotten what YOU used to be like!" This made him falter if only slightly, but she noticed and grabbed onto it, "Yeah that's right! You and your friends might be a famous rescue team now but as I recall you were far from being the kind and wise leader you are now!" She gave him a short lived smirk.
"That has nothing to do with this conversation and is uncalled for-"
"Uncalled for?!" She had to get on her toes but she got right in his face, "You wanna step to me like you used to when we were young? Expecting me to just fall into my old routine of stuttering and then say this is uncalled for?" She seethed, "Well tough luck."
He opened his mouth to speak but didn't.
"Yeah, that's what I thought, not so easy when I bite back is it?" She leaned back crossing her arms triumphantly; she'd been waiting years to say that. She had no idea she'd actually struck a nerve, his regrets. But his response wasn't like the collected Alakazam everyone knew him as now. His fists clenched as he threw caution to the wind for the first time in years.
"You can pretend that all you want Medicham, but in truth it's only because you've become what you hate most. The fact that your team name is 'Meanies' says it all. You're still that scared little girl, just with a mask of arrogance covering it up." She faltered for only a moment at his words but it was quickly gone as her eyes grew hot with an old rage.
"I'll show you SCARED!" She just about screamed as she lunged at him with a thunder punch. He honestly hadn't expected her to attack him so the punch landed. The hit knocked the air out of him when it connected with his gut and sent him sliding back about two feet.
He kept from falling over despite the surprise attack thanks to years of experience. He looked at her in utter shock, watching the crackle of electric energy still surrounding her fist. Her blazing eyes glaring at him from under her shadowed face, terrifying in the black of the night.
"Medicham… I'm not going to fight you." Alakazam cursed himself under his breath for what he'd said, it wasn't like him to say something like that, not since-
"Tch. Like I care!" She barreled at him with a high jump kick only this time he was ready. He teleported out of the way and she ended up damaging herself. Her psychic senses allowed her to instantly look where he'd teleported to her right a few feet away.
"Medicham! This neither the time nor the place!" He yelled.
"I'm not the one who started it." She growled back.
"Wha- I haven't made any move to attack you in any way. I just wanted answers!" He pleaded, trying to get her to understand.
"You started this a long time ago." Her voice low as she brought her fist back slowly. Crackling energy forming around her fist for another thunder punch.
"We never meant for-"
"I wasn't about to listen to your excuses then and I'm not gonna start now!" She dashed forward and threw her renewed thunder punch; he grabbed it and held her fist. She threw her other fist at him only for him to catch it as well. The yellow lights were dancing on their faces as they stared each other down. She started kneeing him, he went to block it but it was his bad leg and he winced. She saw the opening and slammed her head into his.
"Listen and listen good, Ekans might have forgiven you but I haven't. I've been playing nice these past few years for his sake but I'm getting real tired of looking at you." She shoved him away leaving him looking at her.
"Medicham if I had the power to turn back time I would!" He yelled and she looked at him, what he said only caused her fury to grow.
"Well you can't!" She yelled, "You can never take it back! All the things you've ever said, what you did to him! I don't care if you didn't mean for it to go that far! Because it did! IT DID GO THAT FAR!" Her eyes burned more, now with hot salty tears, "I nearly lost him because of YOU." Before she could say anymore she felt more approaching. She quickly regained her composure as best she could. She wiped away the tears quickly and roughly, her red eyes thankfully hidden in the dark.
Alakazams face fell and became unreadable and dark as he sensed them as well. Not daring to look anyone in the eyes in his current condition he turned away to hide his face from them.
"Hey, what's all the…! oh." Tyranitar yelled as he walked up with Charizard and Velcro stopping within a few feet of them two, looking over at Alakazam with worry. Velcro more than confused upon seeing that the sounds of fighting had come from them.
"What do YOU want?" She growled through gritted teeth glaring daggers at the members of team ACT as if daring them to step at her like Alakazam did. Even though she knew they weren't yet aware of what exactly happened just moments ago.
"We heard fighting…" Tyranitar pointed out, "And thought we'd check sure what the fuss was about." He looked over at Alakazam now as well. Medicham glared at Charizard, wanting an explanation as to why Alakazam came out in the first place, and he could tell.
"When I got to the base Alakazam asked if I knew what the yelling he was hearing outside was. I told him it was you ranting on about the curse and he came out to investigate. So when we heard the fighting... I figured that this is what we'd find." He nervously scratched the back of his head wings fluttering. Velcro looked at her suddenly.
"The curse? Do you know something about the curse?" When she looked at him her eyes weren't quite so harsh.
"No, I'm just mad that we need to do anything to lift it when this Gavin guy's the one who should be doing it." She half-lied.
"Oh…" She felt bad at the look of disappointment on his face but shook it away, 'I can find out on my own if it's true, I don't need them,' she looked over at Alakazam again, 'And I certainly don't need HIS help with ANYTHING.'
"You can stand there like that all you want, it doesn't change anything." She continued to glare at him, he hadn't moved and his expression hadn't changed. He stayed like that for a while all eyes on him until she was finally fed up with the whole situation, "Whatever." She grunted as she started walking away, waving a hand at him nonchalantly.
'Medicham.' Her steps faltered but she didn't turn to face him, 'You're right, you know me better than the others ever will. But it's a double edged sword to know me so well, because it means thatI know you as well. You're hiding something; I can tell just by the way you hold yourself, crossing your arms as if hiding what's in your heart, clutching your fists to hold in whatever you're keeping. How you keep locking your jaw to keep from blurting it out. The sudden moments where your minds defenses triple as you think about it. You may be older but old habits die hard. There's something you know that you're keeping from the rest of us and I intend to find out what it is.' This made her unconsciously gulp as his presence in her mind faded.
After a few solid seconds she dared a glance back at him.
He still hadn't moved but now his pupils barely gave off a low humming blue glow, a look of determination to find the answers he sought. He was still facing away from the others making her the only one who could see them as they looked off into the distance. She looked away again quickly muttering under her breath, "Should have just stayed home." So low no one could hear… at least she hoped so.
She held herself tight as she walked back home, quickening her footsteps. She soon saw her home in sight and couldn't help but take this as a safe place to "quietly" rant to herself again.
"Ugh the nerve of that guy, he's such a know-it-all. Thinking he knows sooo muuuch about me ha!" She stopped in front of the door arms not budging to open it, "…Tch, he doesn't know me, he doesn't know anything…" She leaned forward onto the door, forehead resting on it as hot tears rolled down her eyes and she tried to stop shaking. She backed up, wiping away the tears. Slowly she opened the door and peeked in to make sure no one was there, it was dark.
"Good, they damn well better still be in bed…" She glanced into Gengar's room half-expecting to catch Ekans in the act of attempting to wake him up again. She sighed in relief when there was only Gengar sound asleep, his back facing the door.
She went over to check on Ekans and there he was coiled on his bundle of hay slumbering away. She smiled, wondering if they were dreaming about anything. She knew she could check for herself but decided against it. She knew she was still going to have a hard time getting to sleep, and going out for a walk just made things worse for her in the end so doing that again was out of the question. She shook her head as she entered her own room.
"Back to square one…" She murmured lying down, hands folded behind her head looking up at the ceiling, "Tch… How many times am I going to end up like this tonight?" She brought one hand up in front of her, the one she punched Alakazam with. She looked it over taking all the details into consideration, the scuff marks from where it connected to his gut catching her eye quickly. A bitter smile formed on her face as she looked at it, "Had it coming." She mumbled and folded it behind her head once more eyes tracing the lines in the ceiling.
Before she knew it her mind was flitting with thoughts, though this time it wasn't all the questions no…
It was the past.
Her mind took her back to a time where it was just her and Ekans. They were a couple of silly kids who spent their days playing games and occasionally trained to be stronger. It was their dream to form their own rescue team and help their fellow Pokémon. To protect them so that they'd never feel scared.
But it wasn't until that day that Medicham felt true fear. She tried to push it out of her mind but it was insistent on playing through her mind like a movie, she hated nights like these.
You could have done this differently. You could have said that differently.
How could they have done that to you? To someone you cared for?
The regrets, the pain, the shame and embarrassments.
When you nearly lost someone dear to you…
Meditite was looking for him, giggling, playing hide and seek with a snake Pokémon like Ekans wasn't easy to say the least. She moved a rock, looked in a tree hole, even stuck her head in the river and looked around. When she pulled her head up, shaking the water off, she went to check another possible spot. She heard a scream to her left, down the river.
"Ekans!?" Her giddiness disappeared instantly and she ran along the riverside towards the scream, she knew that voice, it had to be him.
"Ekans!" She yelled when he was in sight, he was lying on the ground, unmoving. She knelt down next to him and shook him, no response. He wasn't dead so what was wrong with him?!
Nearby three pale faced Pokémon her age she knew stood stock still, Kadabra, Pupitar and Charmeleon. She took a moment to look at them, baffled, she knew they weren't the nicest to her and Ekans… but to go this far? She shot them a glare.
She snapped back to reality and looked at Ekans, unsure of what to do.
She looked around for something, anything that could help.
Could she get water from the river?
He let out a blood curdling scream, startling her out of her thoughts.
"Ekans? Ekans?!" He was writhing around on the ground.
"Calm down Ekans, I'm here now, see?" Meditite pleaded, hands shaking as she tried to hold him down so he'd stop hitting his head on the ground. She tried, as a psychic type, to reach out to his mind and calm him down; it lashed out at her as if in defense. She recoiled from his mind and glared up at Kadabra, realizing then what was wrong.
"What did you do?!" She yelled, demanding an explanation, he stood there unable to speak. Ekans stopped moving suddenly and fell limp. Her heart stopped for a moment, processing what just happened.
His mind was shattered.
*Medicham herself was tearing up just thinking about it again.*
"Why?!" She suddenly glared at the three who did it, "What'd he ever do to you!? WHY?!" She stood up and pointed at them, "Y-you…"
"I-I didn't mean to!" Kadabra yelled.
She began to glow with psychic energy and rushed them; she didn't care if it was three on one. She was going to make sure they got what they deserved once and for all. Lashing out left and right with confusion, the only offensive move she knew.
Medicham blinked and wiped her tears away, willing the flashbacks to stop before going any further. She didn't even want to think of what her life could have been like had Ekans never regained his mind. It took a few years and therapy from a wise psychic to get it done. But they did it and she was just glad to have her friend back.
She still didn't dare reverse any little bit of the process to find out just what is was that Alakazam had tried to read from his mind so forcibly that it broke Ekans' mind. A young psychic with little care for how he used his powers was a dangerous Pokémon indeed…
She turned in her bed and tried to sleep, looking out the window and seeing the light glow she growled and turned the other way. She concentrated on her breathing, keeping it calm and even. She listened to the gentle sounds of rustling leave outside and, finally, after everything she was able to drift to sleep.
A deep relaxing breath.
Breath in… out.
No dreams.
No nightmares.
Just sleep.
,
What could Alakazam have wanted to know so badly?! WELL you'll have wait and see, maybe not next chapter, perhaps not the one after that!
WHO KNOWS?!
...
...
...
Oh wait I do!
NYEHEHEHEH~!