Zion stared at the stars as he listened to everyones quieted breathing. He started looking at their peaceful faces as he sat up. The thoughts of the day that had just ended fueled him as he started putting his stuff away quickly and quietly.
--
"Wake up Zizi!" The boy opened his eyes in time to see Kirlia jumping across the room and landing on his stomach. "Time for breakfast." She smiled at him as she climbed back off. He made himself smile back and get up. The others had already left the room.
"This is gonna be a long day." He got dressed quickly and headed out after the poke as she skipped with Grim beside her. They entered the cafeteria to see the others sitting with Espeon out beside them. Kirlia started running and was picked up by Raz when she jumped for him.
"You hungry dear? You can get anything you want." He looked as she pretended to be thinking. Zi sat down next to Rayne and made no effort to be hyper as he normally was. Sara and Kira looked at him with concern.
"You alright bro? You look sick." His sister put her hand on his forehead, but it was normal. He just shook his head.
"Just had some...bad dreams you could say." Raz looked at his friend as he listened to Kirlia.
"I'll just have some eggs daddy." As she said it, the young man saw the boy's eyes twitch quickly. He turned to her and smiled though.
"No problem. I'll get you some real fast. Anyone else want some?" The others shook their heads. He looked at Zion and directed his next comment. "You want anything Zi? They got pancakes."
He looked up and saw everyone watching him. With a shrug the boy got up and followed him to the breakfast area.
"What happened? Your not quite you it seems." He watched as the boy piled the cakes up on his tray.
"She'll probably want some also. I'll just give her some of mine cause I'm not really hungry." Zi smiled as he turned with the tray full and went back to the table. The other man followed with 2 plates of eggs. He set one next to the altered poke and then gave the other plateful to Espeon. She smiled up as she ate.
"Thanks." The little girl started digging into the plate without another thought. Zion didn't even touch his food as he began remembering his dream.
"More like a nightmare." His mind raced to remember every detail of it.
--
"You who have disturbed my slumber. You have harmed the one this vessel cares for the most. For that, you will pay." The voice was booming yet regal in tone. One of the tentacles wrapped around Rayne as it picked her unconscious body up. The water started glowing as it mended the broken neck that was fortunately non-fatal. When it stopped, he set her down to sleep it off.
"What are you?" The man was cowering with his wife and the Arcanine.
"You 4 don't like these 2 humans. You were hurt when he hit the girl. Why do you still stand with them?" As the words were spoken, the dogs looked at each other. They barked a few times before going to Rayne's side and knelling around her. Without warning, a tentacle shot out and grabbed the dog's pokeballs and set them next to her.
"Now for you 2." They screamed into the night as the tentacles grabbed each of them. Their legs began to grow cold and were slowly covered in ice. The feeling was soon taken away and replaced by nothingness. He swiped a tentacle around and their legs were destroyed as he shattered them.
"Now for your arms. These I will break slowly. The pain will be unbearable, but your crimes will have been paid for. Perhaps this way will work better though." He turned and pointed to the pieces of their legs as they began smoking. The pieces began dissolving as the ice that had frozen them turned into acid. Not even a mark showed as the pieces completely disappeared.
"Oh well, it doesn't matter. Prepare for death." The couples hands froze as the ice creeeped up their arms.
--
"You alright Zizi?" Everyone watched as the boy began shaking with anger. Raz saw a feint blue aura as it disappeared when he stopped shaking. The boy looked as the poke looked at him with worry.
"Fine, just remembering some bad stuff." She eased up a bit and turned her head.
"If it's bad, why do you want to remember it?" The question caught him off guard. He decided to tell the truth though.
"Memories are precious, so you should always do your best to remember everything, even the bad so you can learn from it." He looked around as he stood up and walked out of the room. The others didn't know what to say or do. Kirlia just looked and then continued eating, not knowing why the others began to worry.
--
He almost had everything packed. The time was around 2 in the morning as he threw the pack over his shoulder. He took one last look at the sleeping poke.
"I'm sorry, but I have to do this until I sort things out."
He turned and walked into the woods. As he disappeared, Raz sat up in his bag.
"No blame man. Take as long as you need." He turned and laid back down, putting his arm around the girls that were near him as he let sleep come back to him.
--
"Where's Zion?" Rayne awoke and saw Raz already putting his and Kirlia's bags up. He looked up and smiled as the others looked around for their friend.
"He needed to take care of some things he forgot about. He'll rejoin us at some point. We're almost to Violet City, where the first gym is. You ready?" He watched as his word sunk in to everyone except Kirlia who was running with Grim in a circle. Rayne wiped her eyes and got out to pack her bag.
"Sure. It'll be easy after the league." She smiled as she finished and turned to the playing little girl. "You ready to see your daddy in action? He may not be as impressive as me, but he does alright."
The little one turned and stuck her tongue out at the older girl. "My daddy is the best. You just got lucky in the tournament. Your Leafeon got a lucky shot on Tyrana."
"Lucky shot my foot. Leafeon was just better. Lucario would have beaten him had he not been weakened from fighting-" She cut off before the word "you" could come out. Raz looked up as she caught herself.
"Please. Tyranitar would beat that dog any day. Ain't that right Kir?" The little poke leaped into his arms and nodded happily.
"Sure is. It didn't matter that your doggy was already in a fight with...her...me..." The little girl's eyes glazed over as her head began pounding. After a few seconds, she grabbed her head and began crying. Raz's eyes widened as he heard them.
"It hurts daddy! It hurts so much!"
"AH! My head! It hurts so much! Help me Raz!"
He quickly grabbed her head and held it against him. He listened, but nothing else came from the other side of Kirlia. The human version slowly stopped crying as she grew tired from what had happened and fell asleep. He looked up as the others were watching closely.
"She's still the altered version. I did hear her for a second though. I think we can get her back to normal, but it'll take some time to do it. We need to be careful and remind her of things she was a part of. Let's go so she will be awake for the gym. That might help her some."
They finished gathering their stuff and headed down the path. A sign appeared at a fork, and they followed it to the direction it said Violet City to be. As they disappeared, Eddy came out from behind a tree that had hidden him. Quickly, he changed the sign back to show the correct path and then followed toward the group, as they walked away from Violet City, and into dangerous territory.
"Targets redirected. They will be lost for a time and then I will strike when they get disheartened." He spoke into his headset as he continued down the path.
"Very good. Be sure to knock them out and bring them back alive. When they are contained, signal for a chopper. I will be ready for him when they arrive." Ian laughed as he cut off.
"No problem sir." Eddy smirked as he watched the others from a safe distance. "They won't know what hit them.
--
"Thanks Joy." Zion turned as he put the 3 pokeballs back onto his belt. He headed out and walked toward the mountain to do some thinking. "Horsea and Mantyke needed to swim for a while. They'll like it back at home." He left the tiny village and up the path, without a look back to where he came from.
"Time to remember."
--
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A/N: Interesting. How will Zion leaving affect the group as the walk away from their destination? Tempers flare as Kirlia remains altered in the next chapter. See ya then.
