Chapter 9: Once upon a nightmare

Last filler before the time skip, just wanted to get Hailey some more Pokémon before we skip seven years.

"Give Larvesta back!" The young man shouted, struggling in the Plasma Guard's grasp as he was dragged out of Victory Road.

One of the guard's associates had managed to return his Larvesta to its poke ball, leaving the crimson eyed boy defenseless. His other Pokémon, Flareon and Charizard, had been seized as well.

"And let you oppress it? I think not." The associate smirked, shining his flashlight in the man's face. "Now, keep quiet and maybe we'll spare you and your other little rebel friends."

"Ha! Like I even believe that you have them. They're all too smart for you." He said cockily, praying to Arceus that he was right.

"Well then compared to your friends you must be especially stupid."

A vein in his forehead bulged, he began thrashing harder to escape the Guard's grip, only to be tasered. Visible blue electricity raced through his body after he fell.

"Somebody got a better taser." He commented.

The guard shrugged with a smirk. "You could say that."

XXX

Clair, Hailey, and the other Blackthorn gym trainers finished training with Morty and were just arriving in Goldenrod City. Clair still thought that Hailey had hallucinated due to Suicune's roar and had never actually encountered a woman with an Arbok.

"I'm telling you, Clair there really was a lady! She paralyzed Lilly and I and trapped Raikou, Entei, and Suicune in cages, honest!" Hailey insisted, struggling to keep pace with the gym leader as they neared the Pokémon center.

"Hailey, Eusine himself has been studying Suicune for many years and knows that interacting with an aggressive Suicune can cause hallucinations and confusion. Besides, the trauma from Suicune pinning you may have just triggered it in your subconscious." Clair snapped, making Hailey flinch.

Clair sighed.

"Look, how about after we drop our stuff of at the Pokecenter, I take you to meet Whitney early and we spend the day with her." Clair offered, slightly afraid to leave the girl to her own devices in such a large city.

"Ok…" Hailey muttered, trying very hard to hide her anger.

Lilly, who was sitting atop Hailey's shoulder, felt her shoulders tense up. She knew very well how frustrated she was.

"Great. Oh! I almost forgot, before we go see Whitney, I need to pay Bill a visit. He lives here."

"Who's Bill?"

"He designed the PC system for Johto and Kanto. We went to the trainers' school together." Clair explained.

Hailey nodded.

"Ok, I guess it wouldn't hurt to see him." She shrugged, not knowing what else to say.

XXX

Bill's house was rather small, hidden away from most of the hustle and bustle of Goldenrod. He didn't have much of a yard either… but by the way Clair spoke of him, he didn't seem like the outdoorsy type so it didn't really matter.

Clair didn't even bother knocking. She just opened the door, which was unlocked much to Hailey's surprise.

Bill sat on his couch, his nose buried in a book. Hailey brightened. Bill seemed like her type of guy.

"EVE!" Lilly cried, leaping off Hailey's shoulder, nearly knocking her back into the wall.

Lilly tackled Bill, making him drop his book as she licked at his face.

"Whoa! Lilly is that you? I haven't seen you in years." Bill laughed, sitting back up with the Eevee in his lap.

Hailey's face lit up with hope.

"You know Lilly?" She asked.

Bill nodded. "Oh yes! Lilly is Taylor's Pokémon. But I haven't heard from her in a long time… is she here?" Bill asked hopefully, scanning the room for his old friend.

Clair stepped forward. "We believe that Taylor is either still living in Unova under Team Plasma's rule, or is dead. Hailey here found Lilly in her poke ball in a forest near the Pokémon league." Clair explained, looking at Bill in the eye.

He froze, his smile quickly fading. Lilly's ears drooped, her tail stopped wagging at the mention of Taylor.

Hailey looked to Clair, rage bottling itself in the pit of her stomach. "You recognized Lilly from the very beginning… and didn't tell me?!" Hailey snapped, letting her temper get the best of her.

Clair didn't meet Hailey's gaze. "Yes. I recognized her. But Lilly didn't seem to remember me at all. If she had then I would've told you."

"I've been wondering who the girl in Lilly's locket was for months now!"

"Hailey-"

"Stop." Bill said sternly, setting Lilly down on the couch before standing up.

"What Clair did is nothing but the past now. Let's focus on now. Please just let it go. Clair, I know you were just doing what you thought would be best for everyone. Clair, would you mind coming back later? I'm in the middle of something very important that could be a breakthrough in the technological developments of my-"

"Yes. I'll come back later. Come on, Hailey." Clair said, clearly bored by the sudden 'tetchy' side of Bill showing.

The two of them were silent for the remainder of the morning.

XXX

Clair had come back a little while later to Bill's, just without Hailey and Lilly this time, she had then headed over to Whitney's gym. Hailey had decided out of selfishness not to come to see Whitney due to her being so angry at Clair.

But, this gave Hailey and Lilly could sit in bed and finally get some reading done. Hailey opened the door, striding over to her bed.

There was a lump under the covers… Puzzled, Hailey peeled back the covers and saw a little box with a blue ribbon tied around it and a tag attached to the ribbon. Hailey and Lilly looked at each other, then at the box. Curious, Hailey read the note.

The tag read, 'If you love something, let it go.'

Hailey blinked in surprise.

"If you love something, let it go." She echoed, wondering who'd left the gift and what he or she meant by it.

She exchanged confused glances with Lilly. "Ok then…" Hailey murmured, untying the box and peering inside.

It was a poke ball. She looked back at Lilly. "Why do people keep giving me Pokémon? I am perfectly capable of catching them on my own." Hailey grumbled.

Lilly shrugged, picking the sphere out of the box and offering it to Hailey. She accepted the ball and stared at it for a moment, taking in its features. It was polished and maybe even waxed; it looked fairly new and smelled factory-fresh. Hailey peered into the see-through part of the ball. A dog-like Pokémon stared back at her, wagging its tail quickly.

Hailey smiled and eagerly pushed the white button in the center, a white flash blinding her and Lilly as the Pokémon inside came out. The dog-like Pokémon immidately started making noise.

"Growl!" It barked, wagging its tail at Lilly and Hailey.

"H-hey, what's your name?" Hailey asked, her body naturally shaking at the sight of an unfamiliar Pokémon.

"Growl, Growlithe!" It yapped, licking Hailey's fingers.

Hailey immediately stiffened, recalling the moment when Storm's Zorua had done something similar, ripping her away from the life she was used to in Crown City. A part of her wished that it'd never happened, and that she was still reading her books beneath the oak tree that grew on her street and going to school and her old clothes even. It was much simpler living in Unova. Forcing herself to relax, she spoke again to the canine Pokémon.

"Growlithe? You're a Growlithe?" She asked, trying to remember what type Growlithe were.

They had come up once or twice in conversations with Lara, she'd shown her one of her Pokémon cards with one on it to give Hailey a visual.

The Growlithe barked its approval.

"Ok, now not to be awkward but… you're a guy right?" She asked, bracing herself to be yelled at again. For once, Growlithe howled and licked her face instead.

Hailey fist pumped the air, laughing. "Yes! Finally, I got the gender right!"

Her bad mood was reduced to nothing as she was attacked by the puppy Pokémon. She could hear Lilly snickering in the background, glad to see her trainer back in a good mood. Soon, Growlithe let her up. Hailey, still having a giggle fit, then gestured for Lilly and Growlithe to follow her outside, as she was too happy to just sit and read inside.

XXX

Hailey quickly remembered that Growlithe was a fire type. A stranger simply asked Hailey for the time and Growlithe snarled at the man and shot embers at him, sending the stranger running. She'd gotten a lot of stares for that one.

She had then decided to call him Goblet because the stranger he'd attacked was holding an old goblet filled with what looked to be coffee, but she could be wrong. Afraid that Goblet would attack another passerby, she returned him to his poke ball with a sigh.

"Well isn't this great? Clair doesn't believe me, Clair lied to me, and to top it off I got a Growlithe who won't let anyone even talk to me." Hailey grumbled, her excitement about getting a Growlithe quickly fading away.

By now, Hailey was itching to get back to Blackthorn City.

She was sick of Goldenrod.

XXX

She was back in the Pokecenter sitting in bed, her nose in a book, Goblet under her right armpit, and Lilly under her left armpit. It was pitch black outside, the only light being from her little clip-on book light. Ironically, the book was The Pecha Fields, the very book that she'd been reading when Zorua and Storm had shown up. The turning point in her life. She felt compelled to finish it though, even when Ms. Reggie wasn't there to enforce it. She may even write the book report that was supposed to be due two days after her execution date, just for the heck of it.

Hailey would give herself an A if she did write it. It'd be the first A she'd gotten for an essay. Math had always been her stronger side, although she wasn't awful at science. Hailey could actually be better at science than math if she wanted to. But she purposely dumbed herself down out of fear that Team Plasma would make her one of their scientists. The last thing she wanted was to work for Unova's oppressors, otherwise she would BE one of Unova's oppressors. Then she'd intimidate people, and Hailey didn't like to scare people. For she had been in the townsfolk's shoes for most of her childhood. If she had stayed in Unova, Hailey most likely would've followed her mother's footsteps after finishing school and would bake for a living. Most women either baked or sewed or farmed, whilst most men became a lumberjack or an architect not for designing the town, but for building it. Some however, strayed off the path and became artisans or started working for Team Plasma depending on their skills and use to the Unovian rulers.

Lilly passed out around an hour ago, never tending to stay up past ten 'O clock, and Hailey could tell that although Goblet was trying to 'keep watch', he was on the verge of sleeping as well. Hailey however, is a night owl so to speak; back in Unova she would stay up to around midnight every night. (Usually reading.)

She planned on putting the book down after she read two more pages though, not wanting to be too worn out to battle Whitney's trainers tomorrow. She finished the two pages quickly, setting the book down and letting sleep seize her.

XXX

Tonight, Hailey would witness a dream.

XXX

There she was, in the spotlight once more, her countless fans screaming her name from the audience as she stepped onto the well lit stage.

Her chocolate-colored hair was done in a high foo-foo pony-tail adorned with all sorts of trinkets and bobbles, the sweet scent of her perfume heavy in her nose; she wore a long blue dress that trailed behind her with a large white bow tied around her midsection; her feet were elevated off the ground by four-inch teal heels that would occasionally snag on the dress as she walked.

Loud fast-paced pop music blared in the background, nearly drowning out the cries of her many fans. She could see several signs in the crowd all made for her. She felt truly welcomed. Finally, as the music decreased in volume, she spoke.

"Icy wind and willow whisp!" Suddenly and elegantly, a Glaceon and an Arcanine leapt out from behind the coordinator, the Glaceon blowing a frosty breeze across the stage, and the Arcanine shooting blue and white embers into the mix.

Just as she'd planned, the purposely small whisps were overpowered by the frost, bursting on impact into a glittery shower of dying embers, the icy wind carrying the embers straight over the crowds' heads, causing them to shriek in delight.

Glaceon and Arcanine exchanged proud glances as the judges and crowd gawked over the beauty of the attacks. She however, still had more to show the spectators.

"Ice beam into a funnel shape! Fire fang!" She cried, pointing to where she wanted Glaceon and Arcanine to launch their attacks.

Glaceon flawlessly executed the attack, the ice smooth and thin and beautiful just as she had practiced. Arcanine leapt up into the air using its incredible core strength towards the ice spiral, coating its fangs in flames before clamping onto the tip of the ice. Water began to rain down on the crowd, just as she had planned.

"Wild charge!" She cried, watching in delight as Arcanine's fur cloaked itself in electricity, knocking the now electrically charged droplets back towards the waiting Glaceon.

"Freeze 'em solid!" She commanded.

Glaceon nodded, spitting small bits of ice at the electricity-filled water droplets, freezing each individual drop into tear-drop like hunks of ice.

"Catch some for us, Arcanine!" She hollered.

Arcanine nodded in mid-air, catching only three of the droplets - one for each judge - as he stuck his landing. The rest of the ice droplets shattered on the stage, the electricity shocking a small area around it. Arcanine then trotted towards the judges and offered each of them one of the ice chunks, which they graciously accepted. The crowd roared its applause, causing her eyes to light up and for Glaceon and Arcanine to grin profusely at each other.

She could see it: the judges handing her the perfectly crafted contest ribbon. She could hear it: The crowd applauding and her bitter competitors booing at her out of sheer jealousy. Oh how she wanted it…

Suddenly, the power is cut, the officers securing the doors are dead - shot - blood oozing from the single bullet wounds on their temples. In front of her, a pair of glaring amber eyes paralyzed her out of fear. The lights are back on, a Plasma banner is strung across the exit, acting like a Curtin in a way. Heavily armed Plasma Guards corralling her many defenseless fans into corners, more heavily armed Plasma Guards taking the judges into the corner as well.

A snarling Zoroark and its master stood in front of her. The boy's familiar green locks of hair draped onto his forehead, his green eyes hard and staring, a beaten up poke ball in his fist.

She looks desperately to her two Pokémon to help her escape - Arcanine is tasered, down for the count - Glaceon looks thunder-struck, staring at the poke ball as though it was a loaded gun.

Wordlessly, he points the ball towards Glaceon - his face is still without emotion - he ushers the traditional words, the red beam eating Glaceon alive.

At last he portrays emotion - sympathy - he tells her the words, "I'm sorry," as he steps aside. A loaded guard takes his place, a hand gun raised.

A sound of thunder.

XXX

Last night, Hailey had witnessed a nightmare.

XXX

Hailey awoke shaking, beads of sweat pouring down her face. She feels a wet towel on her forehead, her eyes dart to the clock. It's one thirty in the afternoon. She looks to the door and sees Goblet standing guard. Her eyes stray to the foot of her bed, Lilly was lying down looking at ease, grooming her tail. Her other Pokémon's balls are still sitting on her nightstand, untouched. However, all the other beds are empty.

They must've thought that I was sick and left to train without me. Hailey thought, pulling the damp towel off her head and sitting up, gaining the attention of Goblet and Lilly, who immidately stopped what they were doing and gathered around their trainer.

Hailey gave the faintest smile, still thoroughly shaken by the dream. No, that was no dream, but a nightmare. However, Hailey couldn't help but imagine Goblet being a powerful yet graceful Arcanine, or Lilly evolving into such a beautiful ice type.

She stroked their heads silently, reliving the nightmare for a moment. Hailey recalled Lara telling her of Pokémon Contests, how grand and well planned they were. She'd always liked the idea of her Pokémon showing off rather than knocking each other around. Now her liking for the contest had wriggled its way into her greatest dreams gone nightmares. The more Hailey looked at Lilly and thought of the dream part of the nightmare, the less she could shake the image of her being a Glaceon.

Blackthorn City was right next to the Icy Path, so it shouldn't be too hard to evolve her… Hailey winced at nothing but a mere thought: what will Clair think of that? An ICE type training at her DRAGON type gym? Hailey could get kicked out of the gym for doing that… Hailey's eyes narrowed.

You know what? I don't care what Clair thinks. She lied to me, she lost all the respect that I had for her. Lilly's my Pokémon now. I can do whatever I want with her. Screw Clair, I don't care what she thinks, not anymore. Hailey thought, finally deciding on her evolution.

"Growl?" Goblet barked, worried that Hailey hadn't spoken yet.

Hailey blinked, just now realizing it herself.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm not sick, I promise, I just had a… disturbing… nightmare is all." She insisted, forcing a smile.

"Growlithe!" Goblet yapped, licking Hailey's face in response.

Lilly, being more subtle with her affections, instead curled up on her lap.

"Eve…" She yawned.

PING, PING. Blue and Hart released themselves from their pokeballs, Hart jumping onto the bed and Blue snaking around Hailey's midsection, resting his head atop of Lilly's hind leg on her lap.

Hailey smiled. "Yep… it was only a dream."

XXX

Clair, Hailey, and the rest of the Blackthorn gym trainers returned to Blackthorn the following morning. Lara and Hisser had been in the airport waiting for Hailey to get off her plane, wanting to battle her to see if she'd improved at all during the trip to Ecruteak and Goldenrod City.

"Hailey! What took you so long?" She prompted.

"I-"

"No time! Battle, now!" Lara demanded, practically dragging Hailey out of the airport.

"L-Lara!" Hailey whined, sick of her friend dragging her everywhere.

PING. Goblet released himself from his poke ball, firing an ember attack at Lara, who screamed in response, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Since when do you have Growlithe?" She asked, slapping an ember out of her hair.

"Goblet, no!" Hailey scolded, looking back at Lara apologetically. "Sorry! He's just… overprotective I guess. I got him back in Ecruteak City."

Rather than being angry or afraid or shaken, Lara clasped her hands together.

"That's awesome! Finally, you have a Pokémon with some spunk!"

Hailey sweat-dropped. "Yeah… spunk, that's the right word…"

Goblet yapped happily at the comment, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

"Any other new ones?" Lara asked.

Hailey shook her head, "nope. Just Goblet." She said, patting his head.

"When are you evolving him?" Hailey shrugged, "I don't know about him yet, but I finally did decide on Lilly's evolution."

Lara's eyes sparkled with excitement at the mention of Lilly evolving. "What did you decide on? Espeon? Leafeon? Flareon? Vaporeon? Umbreon? Sylveon? Jolteon? Which one?"

"The only one you didn't mention."

Her eyes widened. "Hailey you train with dragon types and Clair! You can't do that!"

"Says who? She's my Pokémon." Hailey argued, her voice steadily rising in volume.

Lara sighed. "You know, it's a pretty big deal to be chosen by Clair for her gym, if it were me, I wouldn't blow it."

Hailey stayed silent for a moment.

"It's not like I'm going to be a gym trainer for the rest of my life, you know. The more I think about it, the more I want to be a coordinator." Hailey said, pushing one of her hair-hoops behind her shoulder.

Lara laughed. "You? A coordinator? I can barely see you wearing a skirt, let alone the fancy smancy dresses and heels they wear. You're rougher, tougher than a coordinator, you're a trainer!"

"Well maybe I don't want to be a trainer anymore!" She snapped, making Goblet and Lilly flinch. "Sorry… I just… I just don't know what to do." Hailey whispered, suddenly feeling bad about snapping.

Lara waved it off like she always did, "it's just fine, Hailey. But seriously, don't tell Clair that you're thinking of leaving otherwise she will give you the boot probably right after you're done talking with her. Sit on it, maybe practice on the side and watch contests on TV and make sure it's what you really want."

Hailey blinked her surprise. "Wow… you actually make sense for once."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"N-Nothing!"

"Ok! Now can we battle?"

"After I take Lilly into the Icy Path then yeah sure."

"Are you sure about Glaceon? 'Cuz Espeon can do some pretty neat-o stuff. Like this one time, I was watching a contest special with my mom at home, were you use three Pokémon to impress the judges instead of one and this teal-haired teenager had this Espeon, Flareon, and Vaporeon competing. She ordered Flareon to use flame thrower, and Vaporeon to use hydro pump, and Espeon to use psychic to manipulate the attacks, and then BOOM! There's bits of fire and water flying all over the place! It was awesome!" Lara gawked, looking all giddy as she described the event.

Hailey shook her head. "I'm positive. Glaceon are very elegant and powerful from what I've heard of them."

"If you're sure… but have you asked Lilly about it? Does she want to evolve into Glaceon?" Lara asked, looking down at the plush furred Pokémon.

Guilt flooded her body. She hadn't thought to consult Lilly about evolution. Hailey looked towards her Eevee, no, Taylor's Eevee. Technically Lilly wasn't even her own, and here she was about to force evolution upon her. Lilly looked forgivingly at Hailey, much to her relief.

"Are… are you ok with it? I won't make you if you don't want to."

Lilly's facial expressions told Hailey all she needed to know.

"Thanks." Was all Hailey could say.

XXX

"Sage Gorm, why must I do this?" Storm asked quietly, clutching Moku tightly in his arms.

"Master Storm, please put Zorua down. If you are to journey in Johto and get the runaways back here you must learn to battle. Here, it is considered cruel and wrong, but in the other regions… to them its considered an art, a way of life. You must learn to adapt to their ways, not forever, but for the years you spend looking for your subjects, you must." Gorm explained, forcing himself not to lose his temper, or there would be dire consequences on his part.

Hesitating, Storm reluctantly set Moku down.

Gorm nodded his approval, releasing a rather easy opponent: a Patrat.

"Zorua knows scratch and growl, ok? You have the first move."

XXX

She had left without Clair's permission, leaving Blue in her room at the dorms underneath the gym for his own protection and took Lilly, Hart, and Goblet in case if any hostile Pokémon got in her way while they walked around the Icy Path in search of the Icy Rock. This was no easy task. Hailey tried her best to look, but Lilly, however, was really the only one could find the rock, being that evolutionary hormones drove her to the rock subconsciously. Every so often, Lilly would squeeze into frozen crevasses and return with a look of frustration, her tail swishing in anger.

"You think we're close, Lil? It's getting kinda cold…" Hailey shivered, her breath warm and moist as it clouded around her face.

Lilly nodded, moving quicker down the narrow path, soon breaking out into a gallop.

"L-Lilly! Wait up!" Hailey cried, struggling to run without slipping on the frozen-over ground.

Lilly didn't slow down at all, in fact, she ran faster. Hailey tried running faster, only to trip and skid across the floor, crying out in pain as the ice and rock tore the flesh off her knees and elbows and scraped her cheek.

Lilly stopped, fighting her instincts and returning to Hailey, looking quite guilty. "Vee?"

Unlike most girls Hailey's age, she did not cry; she had too much practice NOT crying to cry.

"Yeah… I'm fine." She muttered, her voice portraying only the smallest hint of pain.

Hailey staggered to her feet, sliding around before she regained her balance. The pain was numbed by the cold, her blood quickly drying into solid droplets on her calves and knees. But Hailey had seen much worse pain, even the whipping had grown less painful for Hailey as she grew up. Scraped knees were nothing.

Lilly forced herself to slow her pace, now afraid that Hailey would fall again, but she was still driven to find the evolutionary stone. After a little more wandering and sliding around, Lilly stopped at a small crevasse, digging at the ice surrounding the small hole in the wall until she could crawl through it with a determined look on her face.

"Vee!" Lilly squealed in delight, her cries echoing throughout the cave.

"You find it?" She asks, putting her face in the hole.

"Eve!" Lilly cried, bounding over towards an incredibly large frozen stone.

Hailey smiled, barely able to contain herself, as she'd never experienced a Pokémon's evolution. Lilly sat down beside it, placing a single paw on the stone. All it took was a single touch before she began to glow white, rapidly changing forms.

The process took no more than two minutes before the light cleared, revealing the new Lilly: a slick blue furred Pokémon with larger ears; two dark blue, rhombus-shaped markings on its back, and the tip of its tail and feet the same shade of blue. Lilly appeared to be wearing a teal tiara on her head.

Only one thing didn't change about Lilly physically. She still had the golden locket dangling from her now skinny neck. No matter how much she would change, Taylor and her old life would never leave her.

"Glaceon!" Lilly cried, looking herself over with a large grin on her face.

Hailey couldn't stop smiling herself. "Come here!"

Lilly happily bounded back to the small crevasse and nuzzled Hailey's head through the now-too-small hole. After congratulating Lilly, Hailey stepped back.

"Use iron tail to make the hole bigger." Hailey commanded, shivering from being in the Icy Path for so long.

"Ceon!" Lilly nodded, coating her tail in iron and slamming it against the ice wall; her newfound power easily shattered the glass with only one attempt.

Lilly stepped down from the hole without a sound. Hailey patted her head, causing her to cry out in delight.

"Let's go home now. Maybe, if we're lucky Clair might just strangle us instead of throwing us into her lava pit." Hailey said dryly, beginning to head back to Blackthorn with her new Glaceon by her side.

XXX

Clair held her head in her hands when she saw the new Lilly. "What…. what did you do!?" She yelled, throwing her hands in the air.

Hailey narrowed her eyes. "She's my Pokémon-"

"No! She's not your Pokémon! She's Taylor's! And she will always be Taylor's Pokémon."

"Well according to you, Taylor's dead, so she's mine! I can make decisions for her without you breathing down my neck!" Hailey snapped, glaring at Clair.

"Put that monster in its poke ball right now!"

"I don't have the poke ball, so no!"

"What do you mean you don't have it? You said that you found her in the woods inside a poke ball! Where is it?"

"Still in Unova. It was taken away from me."

"Who has it?" "Team Plasma." Hailey whispered, realizing that technically, Lilly wasn't hers nor Taylor's.

Lilly was Team Plasma's property.

Time skip time! ^_^