in spite of everything

which breathes and moves, since Doom

(with white longest hands neatening each crease)

will smooth entirely our minds -

before leaving my room i turn, and

(stooping through the morning)

kiss this pillow,dear

where our heads lived and were.

- E.E. Cummings

The Greatest Lesson

James Bailey always considered himself to be alone, especially after his home region of Johto had been destroyed. Burnt down, broken into, and totally abolished with a vengeance to rid it of its people and Pokemon - Cipher, bent on world domination after its destruction, had taken no mercy. People died, Pokemon died, and they didn't seem to care. James had remained behind after witnessing the death of his parents.

He remembered the day well, even when he chose not to. He'd been around nine years old, playing outside on a sunny, beautiful day in Cianwood City. The deep blue ocean water had been rippling gently on the shores, and James had no idea what was going to happen later on that day. He had seen the boats on the water - enormous, black eyesores that resembled submarines, but James remembered thinking they were just…boats.

How wrong he was.

His parents called him back inside, and an adamant young James perked up. His mother stood in the doorway, looking much more concerned than she normally did. Valerie Bailey was a gentle woman, caring desperately for her babies - Pokemon included. She had none of her own, but her husband's Chikorita was a member of the family. She was a curvy, shapely woman and she always seemed to be wearing an apron.

"James, come back inside!"

"Aww, Mum! But it's not dinner-time, is it?"

He beckoned Chikorita to follow him, and he did so happily, staying close to James's skinny legs hid only by shorts. The sun was beating down even stronger than usual, and James had a frown on his face, even as his mother frantically ushered him in. The young boy was surprised to see that even his father, Steven, supported the decision, as he was looking out the windows suspiciously and telling Valerie to "watch" for something.

"Dad, what's going-"

All James remembered was being thrown to the floor, and he cradled Chikorita into his arms, shielding the little Pokemon from any harm. He tried to block out the screams, the kicks he was being subjected to by an unknown boot, all while trying to crawl away. The shrieks echoed in his mind - they belonged to his mother, hysterically crying, while his father fought for whatever reason.

"Don't fight. Just come with us," an unfamiliar voice calmly, dangerously spoke. James didn't recognise it, and he didn't want to look up. His tears were soaking into Chikorita's fine, grass-like fur; he didn't want to reveal his weakness. But, slowly, and surely, he looked, holding the little Grass Pokemon even tighter, his tear-streaked face was a mess and he wished he had stayed outside, no matter what his mother told him.

He looked up to see a remarkably tall man, with long, flowing silver hair, stand at the doorway. He wore an enormous black trench coat, with black leather gloves, and if James wasn't mistaken, his eyes were a deep shade of bloody crimson. In his leather-clad hand, he held a silver pistol.

"I do not want to have to take severe action against you. Cianwood now belongs to us."

He didn't even seem to realise that James was there, until the little boy could no longer hold in a sob. The silver-haired man smiled, obviously realising that this would be a lot more fun now that there were children involved.

James, in a brave move, stood up and hid behind his father.

"Don't hurt him," Steven threatened, holding James's shoulder to somewhat try and assuage his fear. "Who are you, and what do you want from us?"

"I am afraid," the man began, laughing a little. "that unless you want me to use the weapon I hold in my hand, you will have to come with us. All three of you. If you don't…well, you have brains. Use it to answer that, unless you want them all over this lovely floor. Wouldn't that be a shame?"

"Leave our house."

James closed his eyes tight, only to hear the man flick something on the pistol - he'd heard that familiar sound in the movies. He heard him click his tongue on the roof of his mouth, totally uncaring of what he was about to do. His father's grip tightened, and James knew that something was going to happen, something bad.

"What a pity."

A deafening bang rung through the house, and it lasted in James's ears. He covered them quickly, not realising he'd dropped Chikorita, but the Grass Pokemon simply covered its own, looking up at James in terror. The bang had been a bullet from the man's pistol, aimed right at his mother's head. James looked to see his mother, slumped across the floor, eyes and mouth unchanged from shock. Dead.

The next bang lasted as quick as it came, this time aimed for Steven. James moved and looked at his father, now lying against the wall, a trail of blood tainting the cream wallpaper as if someone had taken his head and driven it against the wall, repeatedly. He was dead. Steven and Valerie's hands, now unfeeling and slowly being drained of their life and warmth, were touching closely. Dead, together.

James looked in wide-eyed horror to the man - but he was outside. James ran to the window pane, then crouched down so he wouldn't be seen. Chikorita followed afterwards, but made sure to be quiet. James gripped the pane as soon as it hit him, and a heart-wrenching, high-pitched scream ripped from his throat.

He was just a baby, just a boy, and he had no family left. He'd just watched them die, and he had done nothing. He couldn't have done anything. Any move would have resulted in all three of them dead. Why was he still alive? Why hadn't the man just shot him and got it over with? James felt a great desire to actually ask him to kill him. He wanted his parents. They kept him safe. Always.

James summed up the courage, wiping his tears away, to look outside. He would have plenty of time to mourn later. His father always told him that he had to think of himself when life depended on it, but he still had to consider others.

The sky was still sunny - no tormenting, enormous black clouds circling the sky or huge rings of fire like he'd seen on television. The sun still beat down, the ocean still roaring away. James hated nature. How dare everything still be the same when his life had just been ruined, forever? How dare time still slice away?

"Blood on your coat, Nascour."

"Never mind. They refused to come with us, at all. No other way to get out of it. Less work for us."

"Makes sense, I guess. Did you get the boy?"

"No. He's still in there. I'm not wasting a bullet on useless things, Ein. Leave it."

James looked at the man referred to as Ein - he was wearing some kind of white laboratory coat, and had a large tuft of black hair that stuck up and over his face. The young boy thought he looked absolutely ridiculous but there was no time to laugh about him. James felt a special hatred towards Nascour. The murderer, the destroyer…James hated him! He'd never felt anything like it before. A blackened hate, like the remains of a burnt home, cinders and specks of black peppered his heart, heating and burning and scalding until he was sure he would explode.

Once Ein and Nascour were out of sight, James hurried outside with Chikorita in tow, and he felt the tears begin to prickle behind his eyes. Had anybody survived? Surely, someone had to have heard the bullets!

"James! James, are you alright?"

He looked to his right, and there was their neighbour, Linda, rushing towards him with open arms. James had known her all his life, and he trusted her just as much as his own parents. With Chikorita in his arms, he ran towards her and let the tears flow into her, crying loudly and noisily, having never felt so alone and so lost.

"There, there, shhh, baby…it's alright, James, I promise you it's alright…"

James wished he could believe her. Never, never had he felt so alone - and knowing he would feel this way for the rest of his life, he wished he had died along with his parents.

Needless to say, James never left Johto. He had travelled to Olivine City with the remaining survivors of Cianwood's destruction - only for Olivine to suffer the same treatment a short time after. City by city, town by town, Johto was ripped apart. The last safe place in the entire region was in the mountains - Mahogany Town. Whether Cipher viewed it as worthy enough to be honoured of their carnage, or they just didn't even know it was there, nobody knew the answer and were glad they didn't. Even as years passed by, Mahogany Town remained untouched by the evil touch of Cipher.

James was taken in by Pryce, the Gym Leader. The other Gym Leaders remained in Mahogany Town, also. James had spent his teenage years surrounded by Pokemon and people that cared about him, as so the trauma of his parents slowly diminished, but the memory remained. Simply put, James had learnt to miss them without being upset.

When the young boy turned ten, James took in Chikorita as his own Pokemon, and began to battle with him. He nicknamed him Vines, and the two's friendship merged even closer together. They battled in the forest surrounding Mahogany, with the accompaniment of an adult until James was old enough to be there himself. In that forest, he'd learnt many things about himself, and the Pokemon he had captured.

Now that he was a handsome young man at seventeen, James was beginning to think about leaving Johto. He'd travelled to Mt. Silver and back, but he didn't find any fun or faith in Johto anymore. Nobody aside the Leaders were around to battle - he'd probably earned more badges than anyone in the history of Pokemon. He'd seen the region of Kanto - a place that Cipher hadn't touched. To him, Kanto represented hope, love, and faith. He ached to be there, but preparing his Pokemon, and preparing himself mentally, had taken a long time.

He was sure he was strong enough. All of his Pokemon were around their late level fifties by now, and some of his Pokemon were rather rare: Vines was now an incredible Meganium, a calm-hearted, kind Pokemon; Blaze, a breathtakingly beautiful Ninetales; Astrus, a serious and amazingly smart Alakazam; Bolt, a happy-go-lucky, loud Raichu; Earthquake, a Tyranitar with a marshmallow heart; and Aqua, a naïve, childish Vaporeon that was the baby of the team.

James was sure he could move on from Johto, and start afresh in Kanto with his new family - his Pokemon. The ones that had been there for him ever since he captured them. With his kind and loving nature, James was the perfect trainer. They would continue to support him, as James would continue to care for them. His parents had been dead for eight years. James knew he couldn't mourn and grieve over them forever. He would have his revenge on Nascour. James never forgot how that man looked when he pulled the trigger.

A/N: I rarely ever do Author's Notes, so, this will probably be the first one for a long time. Just to clear up a few things: I used Cipher as the villain simply because although they only appear in Pokemon Colosseum, they are actually pretty awesome characters, and also because I am too damn lazy to think up my own evil organisation. There will be no Shadow Pokemon in this story, though. Oh, and the title of this story may change quite a bit until I find something I'm happy with. This will also be a long long long story. And it takes me a long time to update, so I've got a long way to go. The entire summary is planned out, however.

The characters from the now-deleted Dreamcatcher (my OC, James, and his team) feature in this story.