A/N: I just want to say, Merry Almost Christmas! My gift to you readers is this chapter! I might add some Christmas-ness in this chapter, but I'm not sure. And I think I'm going to start making up some towns, just because it'd make the story a bit more interesting. I hope you faithful readers don't mind!

The Ongoing Saga Of Emi Hana

Chapter 9

The death that Emi was braced for never came. Instead she and her two male friends landed on the police's net and were lowered to the ground. Emi let out a sigh of relief; she had been really scared for a moment or two. Rich helped her up to her feet and together they supported Kyo.

"Hey, it's been a while since I saw you three!" A familiar voice exclaimed. Emi and Rich looked up to see their old contest opponent, Sheila Whynoba.

"Sheila! What are you doing here?" Rich and Emi gasped in unison.

"I'll give you two guesses." Sheila declared, her eyes shinning at the prospect of a challenge. The police officers worked around her; they surveyed the area and had their pokemon doing the same. They were pokemon like Hoothoot, Ninetails, Houndoom, the various Shinx evolutions, and Arcanine. Emi's eyes widened.

'There's no way Sheila is a…' she thought in disbelief. Rich seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Emi.

'Sheila isn't dressed like an officer.' Rich stated in his mind, taking in the green haired girl's outfit. She was wearing a brown sweater that revealed her midriff, and a matching pair of pants.

"That's right, I'm a police officer!" Sheila laughed at the shock on the two teen's faces.

"All joking aside, I'm sorry we didn't get here in time to catch those Sinaps scum." Sheila added sadly, staring up at the remains of the recently blown up building. It was basically just a pile of rubble; most pieces of the building had flown out over Veilstone City. Then, noticing Kyo drooling on Emi's shoulders, Sheila pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

"Sheila, what are you doing?" Emi asked sharply, her hold on Kyo tightening. Sheila gave Emi a funny look before glancing at Kyo.

"That's funny; I thought I was arresting the Sinaps scum." She answered, getting an angry hiss from Emi in reply. Rich, looking frantic, quickly stepped in-between the two females.

"Sheila, please put away the handcuffs. Kyo's no longer a Sinaps goon; in fact he even helped us fight against Zak, Gina, Connor, and Jake." Rich said truthfully. Sheila stiffened as Rich named the Sinaps, her body tight and tense. She then watched Emi silently glare at her for several minutes; she seemed to be chewing things over in her mind. Slowly Sheila put her handcuffs away.

"B-But LT. Whynoba!" A few nearby officers gasped. Sheila held up her hand, demanding silence.

"We have no reason to suspect Emi and Rich would lie to us; if they say this boy is innocent then I believe them." She didn't sound happy about it though. Emi felt Kyo's heart race increase as his breathing became slightly accelerated.

"Thanks for understanding, Sheila. But right now we need to get to a Pokemon Center STAT." Emi interrupted. She wanted to hurry, not only so Kyo and Gardevoir could get care, but also so she wouldn't have to carry Kyo anymore. Her shoulder was falling asleep from having his weight on it.

"Let me give you a ride. Veilstone's Pokemon Center isn't for another five miles, and that's a long walk with him around." Sheila sighed as she nodded at Kyo. They agreed, and five minutes later Rich and Emi found themselves in the back of Sheila's police cruiser.

"You guys can handle this, right?" Sheila said to the remaining officers. They all nodded and declared that they could do the paperwork and everything. With that said Sheila pulled out and drove away from the crime scene. Upon arrival at the Pokemon Center, Rich fished out all his pokemon and all Kyo's pokemon and handed them over to Emi.

Then he and Sheila carried Kyo inside while Emi carefully carried the pokemon that were going to need healing. Nurse Joy gasped when she saw our heroes walk in, and she listened carefully while Rich briefly explained what happened.

"Chansy, you take the pokemon and I'll take the boy." Nurse Joy commanded. Chansy nodded and held out a tray to Emi. Emi put all of Rich and Kyo's pokemon on the tray before adding her own to the pile. Nurse Joy led the way to one of the people rooms located in the back of the Pokemon Center. As soon as Kyo was lying on the bed Nurse Joy examined his body and made careful notes on a clipboard.

"Is he going to be alright?" Emi asked worriedly as she watched the pokemon doctor finish writing.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. With a pokemon the effects usually wear off after battle but I've never had this happen to a human before." Nurse Joy pursed her lips.

"And the pokemon?" Rich questioned as Chansy came running towards Nurse Joy with another clipboard. After studying the results Nurse Joy's mouth lifted up into a smile.

"They are all going to be fine." She informed them.

"Good." Sheila nodded in agreement.

"Well, I need to get going. The rest of my squad needs me to help clean up. We just finished up the Contest Hall in Hearthome City, and now we're cleaning this up…" the officer sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Emi and Rich called their good-byes to her retreating figure.

"I need to go as well, but please make yourselves at home." Nurse Joy said when she heard people calling her name. Chansy ran after the pink haired nurse in a hurry.

"Listen, Emi, I'm going to visit our pokemon. Do you want to stay with Kyo for awhile?" Rich asked, not surprised to see the redhead nod. Emi sat down in an empty chair near Kyo's bed.

"I'll come see mine soon. I just hate to leave him…" She muttered, frowning at the sleeping boy's pained facial expression.

"Yeah, I know…" Rich patted her on the shoulders before walking out of the room. Kyo trembled a bit before he started shaking. Emi noticed that Nurse Joy had set a bowl of water on the bedside table, and Emi wetted a rag.

She rang it out carefully and placed it on Kyo's forehead, hoping the warm water would relax him some. He seemed to calm down a bit under her gentle touch, but there was obviously something bad still left in his dreams.


Inside Kyo's head…

It was hot. The sun was hot. The ground was hot. The air was hot. Everything was just plain hot. Boiling, perhaps, would be a better term. Never before had Kyo faced such a terribly hot and deathly, barren desert. The sand, which stretched out as far as the eye could see, was an ugly shade of orange.

He glanced up at the large, orange ball of heat that was the sun in the sky. He couldn't find a single cloud, and therefore no signs of comfort. Kyo started walking, though he had no precise destination in mind. He just wanted out of the sun.

"Why is it so darn hot?" He muttered out loud, sweat pouring down his forehead. The black shirt he wore made him feel twice as warm, and he was quickly becoming extremely thirsty.

"I need water!" He moaned at last, pulling out two pokeballs. Out came Mudkip and Spheal, his trusty water/ice type pokemon. They waited for a command, both taking in the extreme heat conditions with worry.

"Hey, guys, I could really use some water right now." Kyo crouched down and held his mouth open. No sooner had he done that then the sand below his pokemon started to move. The sand collapsed in itself and created an in ground whirlpool. Mudkip and Spheal tried to fight their way to safety, but the vortex sucked them down and buried them in sand.

"No!" Kyo shrieked as he tried to rescue his pokemon. He wasn't quick enough, and the sand calmed down and spread out, looking as if nothing had happened.

"There has to be a way to save them!" Kyo hissed through gritted teeth. He pulled out his remaining pokeballs. But before he could do anything with them they melted into sand. Kyo fell to his knees, all hope vanishing.

'I am going to die out here. I am totally going to die out here.' He thought hopelessly.

"Kyo! You're here!" A familiar voice gasped in delight. Kyo looked up and found himself staring at Emi Hana.

"Hiya Kyo!" Emi giggled, reaching out to help Kyo stand. Kyo accepted her outstretched hand, his eyes wide.

"Emi, where are we? How'd we get here? I don't remember anything, and my pokemon are gone!" He explained with apprehension. He didn't let go of Emi's hand. Despite the situation, he couldn't help but smile at his companion.

Kyo took in all of Emi's appearance; her red hair, the white sweatshirt that must be making her very uncomfortably hot, the pink backpack hanging on her shoulders, and especially her amazingly bright blue eyes.

"Kyo, Rich is here too!" Emi giggled, not appearing to hear a word he said. Rich appeared out of nowhere and he stood beside Emi. Like the redhead he was smiling.

"Kyo! We wondered where you went." He said. With the closest things to non-Sinaps friends he had smiling at him, Kyo couldn't resist smiling back even more then he had before. He wanted to say something, but an evil laugh cut him off.

"Kyo, why'd you invite them to see you? I'm your big sister; don't I count for anything?" Gina asked, a mock expression of hurt on her face.

"Gina, why are you here too?" Kyo questioned, forgetting his anger with her. They were all here, all the people who truly mattered to him. Gina placed one hand on each Emi and Rich's shoulder.

"Goodbye Kyo!" Gina, Rich, and Emi all uttered in unison. They disappeared in the same manner as Kyo's pokeballs, and his hand clenched down on sand.

"Gina, why did you do that? Why'd you make them go away?" Kyo shouted, the urge to cry flooding through him. Their three voices all laughed, Gina's evil cackle, Emi's happy giggle, and Rich's deep chuckle. And in an instant their voices vanished, leaving Kyo alone to die in the desert.

He felt a few tears escape his eyes, the salt water vanishing instantly from the heat. The temperature seemed to increase, and Kyo's vision turned black.


That was one of the nicer visions Kyo suffered through during his time knocked out. Though when all he could see was black, Kyo heard someone close by. A few seconds later he found himself staring at the ceiling of a very white room.

There was medical equipment here and there, so Kyo figured he was in some sort of hospital. He felt light pressure on his side, and he cocked his head to see what it was. Somebody was lying face down on the edge of his bed and it didn't take him long to guess who was under those waves of red hair.

"E-Emi?" Kyo whispered, wishing he could scream her name. He didn't want to get his hopes up, thinking that she might just disappear again.

"Wha…?" Emi yawned, looking up to see his emerald eyes.

"KYO! HE'S AWAKE!" Emi screamed at the top of her lungs. She practically sat on top of him in her frantic attempt to embrace him. She seemed to forget that he had just woke up from nightmares. Nurse Joy, Rich, and Chansy came flying in the room, and with some difficulty Rich pried Emi away so the doctor could take a look.

"Breath Emi!" Rich instructed. Emi nodded and took a few deep breaths, wishing Nurse Joy would hurry up.

"I-I don't believe it! I can't see why or how he's awake!" Nurse Joy was astounded.

"It must be like with a pokemon; it just takes some time for the affects to wear off." Rich pointed out.

"Um, Nurse Joy, are my pokemon ok? They didn't get sucked up by a sand vortex or anything did they?" Kyo asked anxiously.

"Erm, of course not dear. Your pokemon are in the recovering room with Emi and Rich's." Nurse Joy explained gently. Kyo's voice was getting some strength back in it.

"Speaking of which, where'd Emi and Rich go anyway?" Kyo looked around the room, suddenly worried and panicked. Nurse Joy, who had been standing in front of them, moved aside. When Kyo's gaze met theirs, Emi lost all her self-control. She started crying loudly. Rich patted her awkwardly on the arm, looking at Kyo randomly.

"Emi, you ok?" Kyo questioned. He was worried that he'd done something to make her so upset.

"I-I'm sorry K-Kyo. I'm just so h-happy that you're alive!" Emi took a tissue from Nurse Joy and blew her nose.

"It's really good to have you back, Kyo." Rich said, relieved to see that both Kyo and Emi were fine.

"Well, it's good to be back, Rich." Kyo smiled, relief washing over his entire being.

"Kyo, what was it like having those nightmares?" Nurse Joy asked, a pencil in her hand as she prepared to take notes. Kyo frowned, he wasn't quite ready to talk about that.

"They're very painful and realistic, but whenever my friends were there they weren't so bad. Especially you, Emi." Kyo directed the last part of his sentence at his female friend, a small blush on both their faces.

"Why don't we go visit our pokemon?" Rich suggested.

"All right!" Emi agreed happily. Kyo stood up on his own, and it seemed he could walk fine. Emi and Rich hovered close by, just in case. They left the room with Kyo urging them to hurry up.

A/N: Yay! Kyo's better, and he and Emi are starting to get some fluff moments. How nice, right? Thanks for waiting for me to update this chapter; I know I took forever on it…