Hmm, it's been a while since I've updated. Anyways, sorry for the wait. This chapter seems random to me o-o, oh well. Enjoy!
Chapter 8: Mind Over Matter
"Good morning." Sakura said as she entered the classroom, less cheerful than usual.
Her friends answered with their own good mornings and Tomoyo came up to her and pulled her to the side.
"Sakura-chan, are you still depressed about what Shinji-kun said to you?" Tomoyo said obviously noticing the lack of enthusiasm from Sakura.
"I'm fine!" Sakura said trying to sound cheerful, but Tomoyo wasn't at all convinced.
Sakura walked to her seat and Tomoyo went over to Rika, Chiharu, and Naoko.
"Sakura-chan isn't that cheerful today." Rika said in concern as Chiharu and Naoko nodded in agreement.
OOOOOOO
During class, Sakura couldn't concentrate on what the teacher was saying and was thinking about how Paul had captured Electabuzz and took the Zap Plate.
'I failed to get it. Is what Shinji-kun said true? Was it a mistake that Ho-oh chose me?' Sakura thought to herself.
"Kinomoto-san, would you take a break from daydreaming and join our discussion?" Mr. Terada said.
Everyone turned and looked at Sakura, making her face flush in embarrassment.
"I'm sorry!" Sakura said, now concentrating on the lesson.
OOOOOOO
Sakura sighed as the recess bell rang and Tomoyo walked over to her desk.
"Come on, Sakura-chan, let's go talk to someone about your problem." Tomoyo said taking Sakura's hand.
"Who could we possibly talk to? No one knows about this except you and me." Sakura said.
"Oh, you'll see." Tomoyo said leading Sakura outside and around the corner, where no one could see them.
Once the coast was clear, Tomoyo turned and pointed at Sakura's charm around her neck.
"You can ask them." Tomoyo said.
Sakura stared at it in silence for a moment, then said, "I'll try." Sakura then released all the Sealed Pokemon she had collected out into the opening.
To her surprise, they all seemed smaller and different looking.
"Is it just me, or did they change?" Sakura said dumb-founded.
Tailow shook his head. "We just changed into our smaller forms to conserve energy. Anyways, what's this about, calling us all out like this?"
Buneary hit him over the head and said, "Weren't you listening? She's troubled by what that guy last night said to her."
Tailow glared at her and Absol sighed in annoyance.
"Well do you?" Sakura said.
All the Sealed Pokemon gave her a questioning look to what she was referring to.
"Do you consider me unworthy of capturing the Sealed Pokemon?" Sakura replied.
All of them gave each other uneasy looks and Sakura looked at the ground in dismay.
"It's not that you are unworthy, you're just inexperienced, that's all." Cranidos finally said.
Sakura looked up as Cherubi started circling her. "Yeah! You may be a beginner, but you will get better!"
"Nobody's perfect, Sakura-san. You're bound to make mistakes, but that's how you grow, right?" Absol said.
Sakura smiled at the love and support she was getting from them and felt her cheerfulness return.
"Thanks for being truthful." Sakura said with a big smile.
They all nodded and returned to the charm in a flash of light.
"See? What did I tell you?" Tomoyo said with a smile.
"Thank you too, Tomoyo-chan." Sakura said as Tomoyo nodded.
OOOOOOO
Back in the classroom, Rika came up to Sakura and handed her a flower.
"Here. You weren't as cheerful today, Sakura-chan. So I hope you feel better." Rika said.
"Thanks, Rika-chan." Sakura said with another smile.
'Rika-chan is so mature. She always knows what to do in situations like this.' Sakura thought.
A sudden jolt shot through Sakura's body, making her flinch.
'An aura impulse?' Sakura thought looking around.
Suddenly, a thump was heard and Sakura gasped when she saw a girl had fallen to the floor.
"Is she okay?" someone asked.
Then another student fell and everyone started to panic.
"What's going on?!" Chiharu cried. Then she too, fell to the floor.
"Chihaur-chan!" Sakura cried, rushing to her side.
Sakura looked at her and realized she was asleep.
'Why would she-'
!Thump! Tomoyo fell to the floor, fast asleep.
"Why is this happening?" Sakura said as more students fell to the floor, asleep.
Sakura found her eyelids were getting heavy and found herself starting to drift to sleep.
Suddenly, Sakura was hit in the face by a stream of cold water.
Her eyes snapped open and found herself soaking wet. She looked up to see Buizel standing in front of her.
"Why are you here?" Sakura asked.
"You accidentally put the Water Stone in your backpack. Man, you really were out of it." Buizel said crossing his arms.
Sakura rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.
"But I thought you hated being in that stone. Why are you always sleeping in it?" Sakura said.
"Now's not the time to be asking questions like that. But anyways, good thing you took it, otherwise you would've been snoozen away right now." Buizel said.
"Is a Sealed Pokemon causing this?" Sakura said.
Buizel nodded. "Most likely. Take a good look, there are spores floating around the school."
Sakura looked around and saw small glowing powders hanging in the air.
"Sleeping powder. We have to hurry, the powder can be harmful if breathed in for too long." Buizel said bolting out the door.
Sakura ran after him, being careful to not step on any of the people sleeping.
As ran down the hall, an explosion rocked the halls and Sakura nearly lost her footing.
"Come on!" Buizel called.
When they made it to the roof, Sakura saw a large purple moth with scaly wings.
As it flapped its wings, blue powder started wafting in the air.
"Venomoth!" Buizel yelled
A sudden lightning bolt shot out from left and Venomoth flew out of the way.
"Not you again."
Sakura looked over to see Paul and Electabuzz.
Paul then glanced at Buizel and smirked. "So you managed to gain yourself a Representative. But you're so pathetically weak you left him in his regular stage. Why hasn't he changed into his stronger form?"
Buizel let out a low growl and said, "It's not her fault she doesn't have enough aura power right now to-"
"Shut up." Paul said as Electabuzz launched an electrical attack at Buizel, knocking him to the ground in shock.
"Buizel-kun!" Sakura cried rushing to his side.
"Pathetic. Only someone as dimwitted as you could make a Representative so weak." Paul said turning his attention back on Venomoth.
Venomoth then flapped its wings, sending out bluish powder at them.
Sakura got up and held out her staff.
"Razor wind!" Sakura commanded as Absol's vicious winds shot out of her staff, breaking up Venomoth's attack.
"Use Thunder!" Paul commanded.
Electabuzz charged up powerful electricity in its body, then released it onto Venomoth.
Venomoth then put up a shield-like screen in front of itself and Electabuzz's attack merely bounced off it.
"Bounce!" Sakura commanded as she jumped high into the air over Venomoth.
"Electabuzz, use Thunder again!" Paul commanded.
Sakura gasped, knowing she was close enough to be hit by Electabuzz's attack as well.
Before Electabuzz could release its attack, a jet of water shot out and hit Electabuzz head-on.
"What the hell?!" Paul cursed as Electabuzz fell to the ground by the surprise attack.
Buizel emerged from the jet of water and smirked.
"How do you like that?" Buizel said as Paul grunted in annoyance.
Sakura then aimed her staff down at Venomoth and used Swellow's Sky attack.
Swellow burst from Sakura's staff and hit Venomth from above at high speeds, knocking it out instantly.
Sakura landed close by and quickly absorbed Venomoth into her staff.
"Dammit." Paul muttered as he called back Electabuzz.
"Way to go Sakura!" Buizel cheered.
Out of annoyance that he lost his chance of capturing another Pokemon, Paul kicked Buizel from behind sending him flying.
Luckily, Sakura caught him and Buizel glared at him.
"Don't think I've forgiven you for biting me in the leg, you accursed water rat." Paul said as he called out Staraptor and flew away.
"I'M A WEASEL!! NOT A RAT!!" Buizel shouted.
A light greenish plate appeared before Sakura and floated down into her hand.
"Thanks, Buizel-kun. I would've gotten zapped if you hadn't been here." Sakura said as Buizel gave her a thumbs up. (Not sure how he does it, but use your imagination)
OOOOOOO
As everyone came to, Sakura rushed down to her classroom and went over to Tomoyo.
"Are you okay, Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura said.
"Yes. What about you?" Tomoyo said.
"I just captured another Sealed Pokemon and gained another item." Sakura whispered.
"Oh no! That means I've missed one of Sakura-chan's great captures!" Tomoyo cried as everyone looked at her weird.
"What do you mean by that?" Naoko asked in interest.
"Nothing!" Sakura said nervously.
OOOOOOO
As Sakura skated home, she thought about what Paul had said about Buizel staying in his regular form.
"Hey, Buizel-kun. What did Shinji-kun mean by you not being in your stronger form. I thought you already were in your strongest form." Sakura asked.
Buizel was silent for a moment (inside the stone), then answered, "The truth is, I'm not able to go into my stronger form because of the lack of aura power you possess right now."
"Oh..." Sakura said in dismay.
"Hey, your aura power gets stronger every time you gain another item. So just wait, you'll see my super cool, awesome true self some day, once you've claimed the right amount of items." Buizel said.
Sakura smiled and nodded, wondering when she'll see Buizel's so called "awesome" true self.
She suddenly knocked into someone and fell hard on her bottom.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." Sakura said as a hand reached down to her.
She looked up to see a boy with a kind smile and snow, white hair.
"It's okay, no harm done." the boy said helping Sakura up.
Sakura stared at him for a moment, somehow she's seen him before.
"Um, is there something on my face?"
Sakura snapped out of her trance and shook her head.
"I'm sorry. Guess I was spacing out a little," Sakura said blushing. "My name is Sakura Kinomoto."
"Cute name, mine is Brendan Yuki. Nice to meet you."
Sakura blushed again as Brendan just smiled.
"I better go, there's something I need to do." Brendan said.
"Oh, okay. Sorry again and nice meeting you." Sakura said skating away.
Brendan watched her leave and narrowed his ruby, red eyes before going on his way.
A man in a big green trench coat walked up to him and started walking beside him.
"So, see any potential as the new Pokemon Master?" the man asked.
Brendan looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head.
"Not really." Brendan said.
"Hm, so sad. Guess Ho-oh's gone soft." the man said.
"That was just my opinion, Palmer. Why don't you go see for yourself what she's capable of?" Brendan said.
Palmer sighed. "I guess so."
OOOOOOO
"Great job on capturing Venomoth, Sakura." Eevee said taking a bite of one of Sakura's homemade pancakes.
Sakura nodded a thanks and Buizel grumbled.
"What's his problem?" Eevee asked.
"He's mad because Shinji-kun called him a water rat." Sakura said taking a sip of milk as Buizel growled at the mention of water rat.
Sakura walked down to the kitchen to dispose of the dirty dishes.
She suddenly heard a weird noise. Sakura kept silent as she listened to the noise.
It sounded like snoring and Sakura crept around the house to where she thought the noise was coming from.
She walked around the house for about half an hour and collapsed onto the couch, tired of looking.
"Aaaaabraaaaaaaa..."
Sakura's eyes snapped open and looked behind the couch. To her surprise, an odd looking creature was sleeping there.
"H-hello?" Sakura said nervously reaching down to it.
Her hand hit something and sent a jolt up her arm.
"Ouch!"
"Sakura, are you okay down there?" Buizel called.
"Um, there's something down here and I don't know what it is." Sakura called back.
Buizel and Eevee came down the stairs and gave Sakura a questioning look.
"What is it?" Eevee asked.
Sakura pointed behind the couch and Eevee and Buizel jumped up onto the couch and looked over the edge.
"GAH!!" Eevee nearly fell off the couch out of shock as Buizel just stared at it in shock.
"How did he get in here without us knowing?" Buizel said.
Sakura wondered the same thing as Eevee went over by it and took a whiff of the air around him.
"It's being protected by Safeguard." Eevee said as the Pokemon's eyes suddenly shot open, making Sakura and Buizel gasp.
"Who dares disturb my slumber?" the creature moaned.
Sakura cowered behind the couch as Eevee took a step back from the creature.
The creature was enveloped in a flash of light and once it faded, the creature had grown a mustache and was holding a spoon in each hand. It also had grown in size and was looking fiercly at Sakura.
"Ala...kazam!" the creature said as it disappeared in a flash of light.
"Where'd it go?!" Sakura said looking around.
"Don't know. It teleported." Eevee said.
Suddenly, the ground underneath them jerked, sending them to the floor.
"An earthquake?" Sakura said.
"No, it felt like the house just moved!" Eevee said.
The house suddenly tilted to the side, making all the furniture slide down to the side.
Sakura made her way to the door and tried to get outside.
When she opened the door, she found that the house was suspended in midair.
"HOEEEE!!" Sakura cried.
Sakura looked down and saw Alakazam down on the ground, its eyes and the spoons lit up with blue light.
"Are you causing this?" Sakura yelled down at Alakazam.
Alakazam just grinned and pointed one of its spoons to the left.
The house suddenly tilted to the left, making the furniture slide across the floor.
"I think that's a yes." Buizel said.
Sakura got out her staff and used Swellow's fly.
Alakazam put the house down and focused its attention on Sakura.
Its eyes lit up again and Sakura found herself unable to move and just hung in midair.
"W-what's going on?" Sakura said.
"We're caught in Alakazam'a Phychic attack!" Swellow said.
Alakazam pointed its spoon towards the ground and Sakura plunged down towards the ground below.
"Sakura!" Eevee shouted as he darted towards where Sakura was falling.
Eevee quickly transformed into Espeon and used its psychic ability to stop Sakura's fall.
Espeon gently set Sakura onto the ground as she breathed heavily from the fright of falling like that.
"Sakura, use Gengar's Night slash. Psychic won't be able to do anything about dark type attacks." Espeon instructed.
Sakura got her bearings and nodded.
"Night slash!" Sakura swung her staff and sent a slash of dark energy hurtling at Alakazam.
Alakazam vanished in a flash of light and reappeared in a different spot, avoiding the attack.
"I forgot. Alakazam has an I.Q. of 5,000, so it's not going to be easy defeating him." Espeon said.
"Hoe..." Sakura said with a sweatdrop.
"Oh, now you tell her." Buizel said crawling out of the house.
"Wait, I think I have an idea." Sakura said.
Alakazam grinned and sent a ball of electricity hurtling towards Sakura.
"Shadow ball!" Sakura commanded, releasing a ball of dark energy at the ball of electricity.
The two energies collided with one another and an explosion followed.
Smoke engulfed the area (It's strange how they aren't drawing attention).
Alakazam teleported out of the smoke and looked around for Sakura.
"Petal dance!"
Pink petals erupted everywhere, blinding Alakazam from his surroundings.
Alakazam strained to see where Sakura was and then used its Psychic attack to stop the petals in midair.
"Night Slash!" Sakura sent the attack directly behind Alakazam.
Alakazam's eyes widened in horror, not able to teleport due to the fact he was already using an attack.
The attack hit its mark and Alakazam crashed to the ground, letting the petals fall to the ground.
A colorful wind shot out of Sakura's staff and brought Alakazam into the staff.
"I did it!" Sakura said happily as a pink colored plate appeared.
"And that stupid purple-haired gaki didn't even show up!" Buizel said triumphantly.
"It was probably because Alakazam was using Safeguard which prevents its aura from being detected." Eevee said after switching back to its regular form.
Sakura smiled seeing how Paul didn't interfere this time.
"Anno, Sakura. You might want to look inside your house." Buizel said nervously.
Sakura peeked inside and gasped.
Some of the furniture was flipped over and objects were scattered all over the place, to put it simply, it was a mess.
"Hoeee!! How am I going to clean all this up?!" Sakura cried falling to her knees.
"I don't know, but good luck!" Buizel said running upstairs with Eevee right behind him.
"Wait! Don't leave me to do this by myself!" Sakura cried out with a hand outstretched towards them.
Sakura looked at the ground in hopelessness. "How am I going to explain this one..."
OOOOOOO
Off in the outskirts of Tomoeda, in a dark cave near a lake, a heart beat sounded.
"Hmm. What was that?" a sandy colored bug creature with a halo said coming into the cave.
A lightly colored stone was shining brightly and another heartbeat pulsed from the stone.
"How could this be happening he shouldn't be able to-"
The stone soon faded and all was peaceful again.
The creature looked at the stone questionably, then went back outside the cave.
The stone twinkled slightly and let out one final heartbeat before settling.
'Sir Aaron... Why did you betray me...?'
To be continued...
Cliff hanger! Bet you probably know who's in the stone. Some of the mysterious characters' identities have been revealed! I had Brendan's last name be his Japanese name. He is not Yue. Yue does not appear in this fanfic, sorry Yue lovers. This one turned out long, but I had to stuff another Pokemon in this. Two Pokemon in one day, what a day. I'll work on having more than one day happen in a chapter, so bear with me. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter! Please Review!
