CHAPTER 2
That night as he slept, Raize was once again visited by his recurring nightmare. Even three years after the fact he was still dreaming about it, every aspect of that day recalled with vivid clarity in his dreams and even some times in his waking thoughts. The feelings, the battles, everything was burned into his mind up until the moment he climbed out of that hole. He would always wake up at that precise point, sitting up in bed, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. However, the dream he was having now was different, instead of ending at the point when he climbed out of the hole, it continued.
It was dark. Everywhere around him was cloaked in darkness so thick that he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. Raize couldn't feel the ground beneath his feet. It was as if he was just floating in midair, helplessly disconnected from reality. Bunching up his leg muscles, he pushed himself forward and to his amazement, he moved, albeit that his movement was slow and clunky but it felt almost as if he were flying. Am I in space? He wondered.
After pondering his predicament for a few moments Raize decided that he should probably try exploring a bit. It didn't seem as if the scenery around him was going to change anytime soon and besides, this was all just a dream wasn't it? It's not as if he could be seriously harmed in here...right? He thought to himself.
Mustering his courage, Raize pushed off again, this time on a more horizontal angle. It was still a bit hard to work his way through the dark abyss but he somehow managed it. At least he thought he was because it was so dark that his mind could not determine whether he was truly moving or not. After what felt like a few minutes he started to hear what sounded like mumbling voices, they were coming from the right. Curiosity awoken, Raize turned to his right and made his way over to the sounds.
"...can't...much lo-"
As he approached the voices started to become clearer. A few moments later and he found himself being confronted by a brilliant white light.
"A human!" He heard a voice gasp in from within the light but who it was or what it wanted; Raize didn't get a chance to find out because at that moment he was awoken from the dream.
For a moment after opening his eyes, Raize felt as if he were still dreaming. A pair of beautiful brown eyes was staring down at him.
"Wha-" he started to say in shock.
"Ah! You're finally awake sleepy head." Himawari said as she held up from leaning over him.
Raize sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"What are you doing here Himawari?"
"I could ask you the same exact thing" she tsked at him.
"Well for starters...it's my bedroom"
Himawari narrowed her eyes at him.
"Thank you for that unnecessary tidbit of information captain obvious. I mean why are you still here, in bed. It's the middle of the day and we're supposed to be leaving on our pokemon journey today."
"Crap!" Raize exclaimed as he stood abruptly as he realized how late he was.
Raize held his hand up to his head as he began to feel a bit dizzy from standing up so suddenly after awakening. He tried to maintain his balance but was unsuccessful and he began to tip over.
"Raize!"
Himawari attempted to catch him before he fell but his weight proved to be too much for her to handle and as a result, both of them toppled over and fell to the ground.
"What in Arceus name is going on in here?" Raizes' mom asked a few moments later as she looked in through the door. She was breathing heavily, a tell-tale sign that she had run up the stairs to his room after hearing the loud noise they had caused from falling.
"I'm usually an advocate from young budding love but I have to say you two are getting bit over your heads here. You're too young to be getting s-"
"MOM, NO! it's not what you're thinking, we just fell over. I wasn't feeling too well and started to fall over and Himawari tried to catch me, that's all".
"I see" his mom replied, the look on her face saying she wasn't too entirely convinced with his explanation.
"If you aren't feeling well then maybe you should post pone you're trip for a while".
"It's ok mom, I'll feel better in a bit"
Raize pushed himself back up on to his feet and offered his hand out to Himawari who took hold of it gingerly and pulled herself up off the ground. Raize held her hand in his for a second longer than simple friends would as he relished in how soft Himawari' hands felt. It had been months since he'd seen her, not counting yesterday, and although he would probably never admit it aloud, he had missed her.
"Thanks" she said as she tugged her hand gently out of his, a slight blush on her face.
Just then, Himawari sister, Pinky, poked her head through the door from behind Raizes' mom.
"Did you manage to wake him up yet?" she asked
Himawari and Pinky were twins. The biggest tell-tale difference between the two of them was the fact that Pinky had this stubborn lock of hair that was a vibrant pink, which had earned her the nickname Pinky. No one had ever found out why or how her hair had a lock of pink in it. It had just grown that way and whether died or cut, it would mysteriously grow back that way within twenty-four hours. Eventually Pinky had gotten tired of trying to get rid of it and now instead wore it proudly as her signature trade mark. She would usually tie her long hair back into a ponytail, always leaving that lock of pink out.
"Somehow I did" Himawari answered her.
"I told you he would wake up if it was you" Pinky said with a sly smile.
Pinky was apparently the other reason for why Himawari was so gun-ho about going on a Pokemon adventure. Pinky had been extremely sick for the last few years which had kept her bed ridden and thus unable to travel around the region. However she was feeling much better now and her doctors had also suggested that it might do her some good to get out and get some fresh air to improve her health. Upon hearing this, Himawari had hatched this plan for the three of them to go journeying together. That had been their plan three years ago but then Pinky had fallen ill and Himawari had delayed her travels for a while as she took care of her sister. She had ushered Raize to go on without them and now that he reflected upon that decision, Raize was glad the two of them had not been with him. He counted it as a small mercy that they had been spared the pain he was now living with. There was even a thought in the back of his mind that what happened to everyone in the stadium that day, with the exception of himself, could have happened to them. Had that happened to the two of them, he wasn't sure that he could have handled it. As it was now, he was barely hanging on to the loss of his team. Raichu (Shocker), Infernape, Gastrodon, Goodra, Sylveon and Chesnaught. All six of them, along with all of the spectators in the stadium, Champion Ava and the big four of the League, along with the entire League building complex, had disappeared without a trace three years ago. No one could figure out, why, how or where they had gone. They were even sure as to how…gone, they were. Did they get transport to some far off place? Or were they….dead? That's what most everyone thought had become of them but so far, no one had had the courage to utter such a word.
"Raize"
Raize looked over at Himawari who had called his name, distracting him from his thoughts of the past.
"You sure you're ok?"
"Yeah I was just…..thinking about stuff."
"Are you guys all packed?" Raizes' mother asked to avoid the awkward silence that was threatening to gather in the room.
"We are" Himawari said as her sister walked over and stood beside her, "knowing Raize thought, he probably hasn't finished packing yet.
"I foresaw this and packed his stuff after he went to bed last night" his mother said with a laugh, cutting Raize off as he attempted to make some excuse as to why he hadn't yet packed.
"Thanks mom" he replied with a slightly embarrassed expression on his face.
It took them a further twenty minutes before everyone was ready to leave the house to start on their journey. Just as Raize was about to step through the door, Kitsune ran up behind him and gave a sharp indignant bark at him.
"You want to come along girl?" Raize asked as he bent down and patted its head.
"Vul!" she replied.
Raize looked up at his mom and she nodded, giving her consent for him to take Kitsune along with him. Raize reached into his back pack and pulled out a pokeball and touched it to Kitsunes' nose, it opened and a beam of light shot out and enveloped Kitsune, when it dispersed, Kitsune wasn't there anymore, the button on the pokeball glowed red for a second and then disappeared with a ping, signifying that Kitsune had been safely secured inside the ball.
Raize stood and pressed the button on the ball, releasing Kitsune once again whom immediately began to rub against his leg. She would always do this whenever she wanted Raize to pick her up. With a smile, Raize picked up Kitsune and looked out towards the horizon.
Well guys, here I go again, a new day, a new journey but I swear I'll never forget you guys or stop trying to find out what really happened to you all.
"Raize, hurry up" Himawari and Pinky called out to him in unison.
He hated when they did that.
"I'm coming!" he shouted after them as he jogged to catch up with them.
As the trio made their way off onto their journey, they were unaware of the figure silently watching them from within the branches of the tree in Raizes' yard.
