-chapter 11-

The next morning went by normally, and just before noon we left for Goldenrod, got lunch at that restaurant with the Tauros sign, and then we headed over to Whirlyworld, just for something to do for the day. By the time we got there Charley had fallen asleep in his car seat.

Phoebe: "Nina is Charley awake?"

-cutely- Nina: "No...he's sleeping."

-enamored- Phoebe: "Awe..."

The elegant front gates were open and the ferris wheel was turning, so it looked like the place was open today, and even better, there wasn't many people here. We found a good place to park, just on the second row.

-getting out of the car.-

Phoebe went to get Charley out, since he usually didn't cry if she woke him up.

-softly- Phoebe: "Ok Charley, we're here, you need to wake up now."

She gently rubbed his head until he started to wake up.

He groaned a little bit, but he didn't cry.

Phoebe: "There we go."

-happily- Phoebe: "You can sleep more when we get home."

We started to walk towards the ticket booth. The sound of calliope music from the merry-go -round close the entrance becomming more distinguished as we got close.

We had to wait in line for a few minutes, but soon we got our bracelets, the little paper kind they use instead of tickets nowadays, and headed inside.

Phoebe :"Well Charley, let's see if you can go on the little merry-go-round now."

Me: "Do you think he can?"

Phoebe: "He has grown a little bit since last time, and he can sit up."

Me: "I guess it's worth a shot."

Phoebe: "Mhm."

Nina: "I want to go on the rollercoaster, I didn't get to last time."

Me: "Allright then, go get in line, we'll meet you over there later ok?"

Nina: "Ok."

She left to get in line for the rollercoaster, while we went over to the little merry-go-round to see if Charley could ride.

Phoebe: "Ok Charley, I'll place you in here."

She placed him in one of the little cars, and he sat there, seemingly fine, but unsure of what was going on.

Me: "I don't know about this, he seems pretty nervous."

Phoebe: "That's just because there's a lot going on around here and he doesn't know what to make of it."

Me: "Yeah, I guess."

She buckled him in and went to put in a dollar to start the carousel.

Phoebe: "Ok here we go, hold on Charley."

The carousel started to spin. Charley got a little scaired at first, but eventually he started to enjoy it.

Phoebe: "Hehe, he likes it."

Me: "Good."

He started to smile as he went around and a around.

After about two minutes later it came to a stop.

-confused babling- Charley: "Ra...ralralralts?"

-playfully- Phoebe: "It looks like it ran out of time, do you want to go again?"

He didn't respond, but he seemed to be having fun atleast.

Phoebe: "Ok one more time."

She put another dollar in and the carousel started up again.

Phoebe: "Hold on Charley."

He span around for another 2 minutes, until the ride came to a stop once again.

Phoebe: "Allright I think that's enough for you for now."

Phoebe: "You keep spinning around like that you might get dizzy."

She unbuckled him and lifted him out of the ride. He got a little grumpy because he didn't want to stop riding.

-grumpily- Charley: "Ralralralts..."

Me: "Hehe, now he doesn't want to leave."

Phoebe: "-sighs-, ok Charley, one more time."

She placed him back in and buckled him up.

Phoebe: "This is the last time for now."

Phoebe: "You can go again later."

-happily babling- Charley: "Ralts ralts."

She started the ride up again, and once again he enjoyed it until it came to a stop.

Phoebe: "Ok, Charley, now we have to go, come on."

She unbuckled him and scooped him up.

-grumpily- Charley: "Ralralwal..."

Phoebe: "Oh you'll be ok..."

Phoebe: "Come on, let's go."

Phoebe :"Maybe we'll get a stroller for you, you're a little heavier than last time."

Me: "You think he'll be ok with it?"

Phoebe: " I think he'll be fine."

We went over to the stroller rental place, and she placed Charley in one of the strollers and buckled him in.

Phoebe: "He seems to comfortable."

Phoebe: "I think we should go ahead and rent it."

Me: "Ok."

We payed the clerk and then strolled away.

Charley started to giggle as we moved forward.

Phoebe: "I think he likes it now."

Me: "Seems like it."

Me: "I'll push if you want."

-cutely- Phoebe: "Awe, thankyou."

We headed towards the rollercoaster, Nina was just getting on.

Phoebe :"Well there she is..."

Me: "Yeah."

-worried- Phoebe: "What's she doing, getting on the front car?"

-unsure- Me: "I have no idea."

-worried- Phoebe: "Nina don't get on the front! What are you doing?"

Obviously Nina was too far away to hear her.

-facepalm- Phoebe: "-sighs- silly girl."

Me: "This might be fun to watch..."

Phoebe: "Hehe...yeah..."

The coaster left the station and started to climb up the hill.

Nina seemed to be really excited as it made it to the top, but her excitement quickly turned to fear as the coaster went around a slow curve, revealing its main fall.

-solemnly- Phoebe: "Poor girl."

We went over to the ride's exit and waited for her to get off.

-after she got off the ride-

Phoebe:" Nina are you ok?"

-sickly- Nina: "Mommy?"

Phoebe: "Yes?"

-sickly- Nina: "I don't...I don't want to ride it again..."

-sickly- Nina: "I don't feel so good..."

-sincerely- Phoebe: "Poor baby..."

-kindly- Phoebe: "Come on, let's go sit on that bench over there, let your stomach settle for a little while."

-sickly- Nina: "Ok.."

We all went over to the bench.

-a few minutes later-

Me: "You feeling a little better now sweetheart?"

Nina: "A little bit..."

Me: "So now what?"

Phoebe: "I don't know."

Phoebe: "You should have seen Charley ride the little carousel Nina, it was soooo cute."

Nina: "Awe..."

Phoebe: "Maybe I'll let him ride it again later, and then you can see."

Nina: "Ok."

Phoebe: "Also why did you get on the front car?"

Nina: "I thought it would be the best view."

Phoebe: "It is, but it's also the most terrifying, silly."

Nina: "Oh...ok."

Phoebe: "Can you watch Charley for a little bit, he should be fine in his stroller."

Nina: "Where are you going?"

Me: "Yeah where are you going?"

Phoebe: "Well...I want your father to go on the ferris wheel with me."

Nina: "Oh..."

Phoebe: "Is that allright Cj?"

Me: "Yeah sure..."

Phoebe: "Ok come on then."

We went over to the ferris wheel, there was a little bit of a line, but it was moving fast, and it wasn't long before we were in a gondola, slowly lifting into the air.

Me: "You think the kids will be ok down there?"

Phoebe: "Yeah, Nina is old enough to watch him for a little bit."

Me: "Ok."

Phoebe: "I don't think this will take more than an few minutes so they should be fine."

Me: "Allright."

The wheel stopped, the gondola swayed a little bit.

Phoebe: "Woah..."

Me: "-sighs- I love you."

Phoebe: "Oh...I love you too."

Phoebe: "That's why I wanted to ride this with you, together."

Me: "I thought so."

Me: "You had a good idea to come here today."

Phoebe:" Awe...thankyou."

We were both looking out the window, trying to keep an eye on Nina.

The wheel stopped every once and awhile, letting someone enjoy the view from the top.

Me: "You know, it's so weird, I love you so much, but I find it hard to think of things to say to you."

Phoebe: "That's because we spend so much time together there's not much to say."

Me: "Yeah...maybe.."

Phoebe: "I think tomorrow, I might go hang out with Melissa, just for a change of pace, if it's ok with you.."

Me: "Um..ok..."

Me: But we don't even know where she lives now."

Phoebe: "I know, we're going to meet at the department store instead."

Me: "Oh...ok."

Me: "What about Charley?"

Phoebe: "I'll take him with me, he'll be fine."

Me: "Ok."

Phoebe: "And you and Nina can stay home."

Me: "Ok."

Phoebe: "I think we could use a little time apart Cj."

Phoebe: "I think it will bring us even closer."

Me: "-sighs- If you think so."

Phoebe: "You know I won't let anyone else touch me."

Me: "I know, I trust you."

We finally made it to the top of the wheel.

Phoebe: "Hey we're at the top."

-concerned- Me: "Can you see Nina?"

Phoebe: "Yeah she's still over there by the bench with Charley."

Me: "Oh...allright."

-playfully- Phoebe: "Now...what are you waiting for?"

-unsure- Me: "Hmm?"

-seductively- Phoebe: "Kiss me silly."

Me: "Oh..."

We kissed.

Phoebe: "It's all going to be ok, I promise you."

Me: "I know."

-cutely- Phoebe: "Now, you want to snuggle on the way down?"

Me: "Why not?"

She tried to get up but the gondola started to sway a little bit.

-scaired- Phoebe: "Ok maybe not..."

Me: "That's allright honey, we'll snuggle later."

Phoebe:" Promise?"

Me: "hehe...promise."

Eventually the ride ended, and we got off and went back over to Nina.

Phoebe: "Allright sweety we're back."

Phoebe: "How's Charley?"

Nina :"Um...he fell asleep."

Phoebe: "Oh...ok..."

She gently woke him up.

-tiredly, softly, cutely- Charley:" Ralts...ralts..."

Phoebe: "Did you miss me Charley?"

-happily, cutely- Charley: "Ralts."

Phoebe: "hehe..."

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the park, heading home when it closed.

The next day, after the usual morning routine, Phoebe got ready to go visit Melissa.

-in the living room-

Phoebe: "I'll be back for dinner Cj, I promise."

Me: "-sighs-...ok."

Phoebe: "I love you two, so much."

Nina: "Why are you going?"

Phoebe: "Just to change things up a bit Nina, don't worry."

Phoebe: "Be good while I'm gone ok?"

She gently kissed her cheek, and then kissed me a little more romantically.

-seductively- Phoebe:"And you be good too Cj."

-disgusted,quietly- Nina: "Oh brother..."

Me :"Just be careful baby girl."

-lovingly- Phoebe: "I will don't worry."

Phoebe: "I better get going, it looks like Charley is starting to get a little upset."

It looked like he was trying to squirm out of his seat.

She got in the car and left for Slabtown, leaving Nina and I behind.

-unsure,worried - Nina: "She's really going to come back right?"

Me: "Of course."

Me: "You think she just left us for no reason?"

Nina: "Well...I worry about things like that..."

Me: "Oh, she'll come back sweetheart, don't be sad."

I put my arm around her, just to comfort her.

Me: "If she was really going to leave us, she'd be a lot angrier.."

Nina: "I guess so..."

Me: "And even then she wouldn't leave, because...well that's just the way she is."

Me: "Now, why don't we play some video games to pass the time?"

-excited- Nina: "Ok.."

Me: "And then maybe later you can play outside with your pokemon."

-happily- Nina: "Sounds great.."

I went to turn the tv and the xbox on.

Nina: "Daddy?"

Me: "Yeah?"

-curious- Nina: "Why did mommy leave?"

Me: "Because , we were talking yesterday, and she thinks if we spend some time apart we'll be closer."

-cutely, confused- Nina: "That doesn't make any sense."

Me: "I know."

Me: "It's just...one of those things."

Me: "But it's probably good for her to get out of the house a bit, and maybe make friends with some of the people in town."

-somewhat annoyed- Nina: "Why can't I do that?"

Me: "You can, you and I are going tomorrow while your mother stays here with Charley."

Nina: "Oh...ok."

Me: "And then in a few days we'll probably all leave for Sinnoh together."

Nina:" Ok."

Me: "So what game do you want to play?"

Nina: "Racing is fine."

Me: "Ok."

We played midnight club 3 for awhile. She was doing really well, and was even challenging to beat at times, but eventually she got bored with racing, so we went outside where she let out her pokemon. I let out Mr. Jiggles, Polli, Staraptor, Cap'N'Magnum, Cloudela, and Blossom as well, so she had a lot of pokemon to play with.

Nina: "Daddy? Can we battle?"

Me :"You sure you want to?"

-adamantly- Nina: "Mhm..."

Me: "Allright then."

Me: "Mr. Jiggles, come here please."

Mr. Jiggles: "Wigglytuff?"

Me: "I need you to battle, don't worry Nina's pokemon aren't that strong."

Me: "In fact you should go easy on her."

-somewhat annoyed- Nina: "nnng"

Me: "Oh Nina come on, you don't want your pokemon to get hurt do you?"

Nina: "No..."

Me: "Ok then."

Nina: "Matches, you go first, gulpin you stay back and watch."

Matches ran over to her and got ready to fight. Gulpin slithered up behind her, somewhat bashfully.

-unsure- Gulpin: "gul gulpin?"

Nina: "Ok, Matches, start off with ember."

Me: "Rollout."

Mr. Jiggles rolled into a ball, as Matches charged towards him spitting fire.

Nina: "Abort the ember, go into a tackle, smash into it!"

-unsure- Me: "What?"

Matches stop spitting fire and ran head on into Mr. Jiggles.

Both pokemon crashed to the ground, though it was obvious Matches was hurt more.

Me: "Nina that was a horrible move."

Nina: "Now turn towards him and use ember."

Mr. Jiggles got up only for Matches to hit him point blank. Mr. Jiggles panicked and went into another rollout on his own, quickly putting out the flames before they hurt him more severely.

Me: "Good reaction, keep going, don't let it hit you again."

Nina: "Tackle it."

Matches chased after Mr. Jiggles, but wasn't quite fast enough to catch him.

Then suddenly changed direction and smacked into him, knocking him aside.

-worried- Nina: "Matches come on get up, don't let him hit you again."

Matches was getting tired, but he still managed to get up before Mr. Jiggles was able to hit him again.

Then I heard my cell phone ring from inside the house, that didn't happen very often.

Me: "Wait a second."

Me: "Nina we have to stop the battle my phone is ringing."

Nina: "Why?"

Me: "It could be your mother."

Nina: "-sighs- ok."

Nina: "Come on Matches the battle's over."

Me: "Why don't you bring them both inside and get them some potion?"

Nina: "Ok."

Nina: "Come on Matches, Mr. Jiggles you come to..."

Mr. Jiggles: "Wigg...wigglytuff?"

He came out of his rollout, looking somewhat confused.

-unsure- Nina: "Where are the potions?"

Me: "Our room, top drawer on the dresser."

Nina: "Ok."

I hurried inside to answer my phone, which was plugged into it's charger in the kitchen, where I usually left it. Meanwhile, Nina headed upstairs with Matches and Mr. Jiggles.

Nina: "Gulpin stay outside, you don't need a potion."

-sadly- Gulpin: "Gul gulpin...gul.."

-into phone- Me: "Hello?"

It was Phoebe...

-phone conversation-

-awkwardly- Phoebe: "Hi honey."

Me: "Hi baby girl, is everything ok, how are you even able to call me from the pokemon world?"

Phoebe: "Melissa said Devon. Co hacked into the satelites on your world, and set up a small network, so we can call eachother now."

Me: "Oh...ok."

Phoebe: "Everything is ok."

Me: "How are you?"

-somewhat sadly- Phoebe: "I miss you."

Me: "You've only been gone an hour."

Phoebe: "I know, but I still miss you."

Me: "Oh you'll be allright."

Me: "Is Charley ok?"

Phoebe: "He's fine, he's asleep right now though.."

Me: "Hehe...ok."

Phoebe: "What about Nina is she ok?"

Me: "She's fine."

Me:" She's upstairs right now healing her pokemon."

-worried- Phoebe: "Why what happened?"

Me: "Nothing, we were just battling a little bit before you called."

Phoebe: "Oh ok..."

Me: "You buy anything cool?"

Phoebe: "No, we haven't really been shopping much, we just played some dancing game at the arcade and now we're about to get some lunch, and then we might do some shopping, and then maybe we'll go to Celadon because their store has go karts, and then maybe we'll get our hair and nails done..."

-awkwardly- Me: "Oh...um...ok..."

Me: "Have fun."

Phoebe: "I'll try."

-sweetly- Phoebe:" I love you."

-sweetly- Me: "I love you too."

Me: "I'll see you at dinner."

-lovingly- Phoebe:" See you."

I hung up just as Nina came back down the stairs, then I noticed her gulpin had tried to follow her up but couldn't make it up the first step, he kept trying to jump up on it, but couldn't quite make it.

-somewhat annoyed- Nina: "Gulpin what are you doing? I told you to wait outside."

Gulpin: "Gul gulpin?"

-a little more annoyed- Nina: "No I don't have any food for you."

Me: "-sighs- I guess he can't make it up stairs."

Nina: "No, I guess not."

It wasn't surprising considering he had no legs.

-curious- Nina: "What did mommy want?"

-jokingly- Me: "She wanted you to clean your room..."

-defensively- Nina: "No she didn't."

Me: "She didn't really want anything actually, I think she just called to check up on us."

Nina: "Oh ok..."

Me: "You know how she worries sometimes."

Nina: "Mhm.."

Nina: "Can we start battling again?"

Me: "Not right now Nina."

-a little let down-Nina: "awe..."

Gulpin: "Gul gulpin?"

-annoyed- Nina: "No gulpin I still don't have any food, stop asking."

Me: "Oh, come on, just give him some to keep him happy."

-unsure- Nina: "Ok."

I went into the kitchen to get a few slices of bread.

Me: "Here you go, he can have this."

She took the bread from me and held it in front of her gulpin.

Nina: "Watch this daddy, his mouth is so big."

Gulpin opened up his gigantic mouth and swallowed all the bread in one bite.

-somewhat impressed- Me: "Cool..."

-happily- Gulpin: "gulpin gul!"

Nina: "He says thankyou."

Me: "Hehe, you're welcome."

Nina: "I'm going to go back outside."

Me: "You maybe want a sandwhich or something first?"

It was around noon now.

Nina: "No...it's ok I'm not that hungry."

Me: "Ok."

Me: "Don't wander off."

Nina: "I know."

She headed back outside, her pokemon following behind her along with Mr. Jiggles. I went to go see what was on tv, found nothing interesting, and then went back outside to watch the pokemon play.

Nina had somehow talked Cloudela into battling against her and Matches. Cloudela, fighting without any commands, decided it best to shoot light beams every which way in a wreckless manner.

Me: "Nina what are you doing?"

Nina: "I'm battling."

Cloudela: "Clou...cloudela..."

-to cloudela,somewhat annoyed- - Me: "What are you doing? Stop attacking before you break a window or something."

-ashamed- Cloudela: "clou..."

-annoyed- Me: "Nina I told you not to battle right now."

-ashamed- Nina :"I'm sorry."

Matches ran up to her, cutely panting and completely oblivious to what was going on.

Me: "And Cloudela, seriously? Don't you know how to aim?"

Me: "You keep shooting light beams like that in random directions you're going to end up hitting something you don't want to hit."

-ashamed- Cloudela: "clou...cloudela..."

Nina: "It's not his fault, I talked it into battling."

Me: "Yeah but still it should know better."

Nina: "He says he's sorry."

Me: "I know, it's allright, just don't do it again."

-relieved- Cloudela: "Clou..."

-relieved- Nina: "-sighs-..."

Me: "But as for you missy..."

Nina: "-gasp-"

-unsure- Me: "-sighs-...I don't really know what to do with you."

-scaired- Nina: "Don't hurt me I promise I won't do it again."

-curious- Me: "Why do you always think I'm going to hurt you?"

Me: "Have I ever even layed a finger on you?"

-nervously- Nina: "Um...no..."

Me: "-sighs-..."

Me: "You know sweetheart, we really were having a nice day."

-nervously, quietely- Nina: "I know..."

Me: "I think I'll just let this go, for now."

Me: "But don't do it again."

She hugged me.

Nina: "Thankyou daddy."

Me: "Yeah...yeah..."

Me: "But no more battling without my permission, you can practice as much as you want."

Me: "But don't push your pokemon too hard ok? Potions are expensive."

Especially since they couldn't be transferred over anymore.

Nina: "I know."

Nina: "But what else is there to do?"

Me: "Well, you could make sure the chickens have some food and water."

Me: "And get the eggs."

Nina: "Ok, I will."

She headed over to the chickens, while I went back inside to check the news again.

Nina stayed outside for about another hour or so until she got hungry and came in to get something to eat.

Nina: "Daddy I'm hungry, is there anything to eat?"

Me: "I guess I could make you a sandwhich or something."

Me: "We're going to have steaks tonight."

Nina:" Ok."

I went into the kitchen and started to make some a sandwich for myself.

Me: "Ok Nina what do you want on your sandwich?"

Nina: "Um...can I make my own sandwich?"

Me: "Ok, if you want, go ahead, you know where everything is."

Nina: "Ok."

She opened the fridge, grabbed a few things and started to make a sandwhich, while I went back over to the couch to watch tv. It felt weird not having Phoebe or Charley around, I missed them both, and I knew that Phoebe missed me too. I'm pretty sure Nina missed them as well, she seemed to be really worried when they left this morning.

That afternoon seemed to drag on forever. We got so bored, we cleaned the extra eggs and made a quick trip to the store to add them to the inventory, just for something to do.

-after leaving the store.-

Me: "Nina you want to try to drive home again?"

Nina: "Um...ok."

We switched seats and she attempted to drive home.

Me:" Ok Nina be careful, and remember to look out for other cars."

Nina: "I know."

Once we got back on the road, she seemed to sway back and forth just a little bit, like she was having trouble going in a straight line.

Me: "Don't sway from side to side like that sweety, try to keep in a straight line."

Nina: "I'm trying."

Nina: "What's that?"

Me: "What's what?"

Nina: "There's a big plane."

Me: "Oh..."

Me: "Hmmm...that's weird."

Nina: "Where's it going?"

Me: "I don't know, it would be a little difficult for it to land in Slabtown though.

There was a lone C130 flying overhead, fairly low to the ground, while they were a very rare sight, they could still occasionally be seen prior to the disaster on training runs, but since then they were all sent out west to aid against the pirates, and their base, while undamaged, had been closed until further notice. Sometimes on their training runs they could even be seen dropping crates, however that was only if they were close to their base. So it was even more odd that its rear doors opened up and a single large crate ejected from it, equipped with its own parachute of course.

Nina: "Now it dropped something."

Me: "Hmm..., now that is strange."

-scaired- Nina: "It's a bomb..."

She floored it..."

-yelling- Me: "NINA STOP!"

Me: "It's not a bomb it's just a crate."

-worried- Me: "SLOW DOWN!"

-nervous- Nina: "Sorry, sorry."

Nina: "I wonder what's inside it?"

Me: "I don't know, could be empty, could be be a clown on a unicycle, I don't know."

Nina: "Can we go see?"

Me: "No, not now, just keep heading home."

Nina: "Why not?"

Me: "Because it could be trouble, and I don't have my pokemon with me."

Nina: "-sighs-...ok..."

The C130 flew off into the distance, while the crate slowly drifted towards the ground.

Me: "I'll go back to it later."

Nina: "What about me?"

Me: "You're going to stay home where you can be out of harm's way if anything bad happens."

-sadly groaning- Nina: "mmmm.."

Me: "Nina, it's for the best..."

Nina: "-sighs-..."

We arrived at home a few minutes later, and then I started to gather up some of my pokemon, and then I made a quick call to Phoebe.

-phone converstation-

Me: "Honey are you there?"

-concerned- Phoebe: "Is everything ok?"

Me: "Yes, but there's something strange going on though."

Phoebe: "What?"

Me: "A military plane flew over and dropped a crate in an empty field a few miles away from the house."

-unsure- Phoebe:" Ok..."

Me: "It might be nothing, but I want to go check it out just to be sure."

Phoebe: "Ok..."

Phoebe: "Just be careful...and take your pokemon."

Me: "I know."

Phoebe: "And don't take Nina."

Me: "I know, I know."

Phoebe: "And take your guns..."

Me: "I know honey."

Me: "And you make sure you keep Charley safe..."

Phoebe: "-giggles- I know..."

Me: "I love you."

Phoebe: "I love you too."

Me: "If I'm not there when you get home...um...come look for me."

Phoebe:" You know I will..."

Phoebe: "Just be careful."

Me: "I know."

Me: "I'll see you later."

I hung up. Nina was standing in the doorway.

-worried- Nina: "Why can't I go with you?"

Me: "You know why, it's too dangerous for you."

Me: "Look just stay here ok? Play with your pokemon, watch your tv, watch our tv, play video games, play with your toys, but just don't do anything stupid."

Nina: "-sighs-...ok."

I gave her a hug.

Me: "I love you sweetheart, but your just too young to come along with me."

Nina: "I love you too daddy."

Me: "So just stay here ok?"

Nina: "Ok."

I got in Phoebe's car and headed back out to where we saw the crate drop.

A pair of humvees and a large flatbed truck had already arrived by the time I got there. Apparently this had something to do with the national guard. As I pulled up to the sight I caught their attention almost immediately.

Unknown guard: "There's nothing to see here civilian."

Me: "Civilian?"

-somewhat nervous- Unknown guard: "Oh crap it's you..."

Me: "Never mind that, I'm not here to fight, I just want to know what's in the crate."

Unknown guard: "Where's Phoebe?"

-awkwardly- Me: "Um...she's uh...not with me right now..."

Unknown guard: "Well, I'm sorry but I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to."

Me: "You don't know?"

Unknown guard: "Nope, our orders were just to come out here, retrieve it, and take it to the armory in Maple Valley."

That was another small town to the west, it was about the same size and condition as Slab Town, and about 20 miles or so away.

Me: "What's so special about Maple Valley ?"

Unknown guard: "Nothing really, it just happens to be deep within the safe zone."

-concerned- Unknown guard 2: "Any trouble here?"

Unknown guard: "No, it's allright, he's not here to start anything."

Unknown guard 2: "Why's he here then?"

Unknown guard:"He just wants to know what's in the crate."

Unknown guard 2: "We don't even know that."

Unknown guard: "I know."

Unknown guard: "My guess is that whatever is in this crate has to be valuable, so they're just tucking it away in this little town to keep it safe."

Me: "Can you look inside?"

Unknown guard: "No, we were specifically told not to open it.."

Me: "-sighs-, Fine, carry on, good day."

Unknown guard: "Good day."

I left them to their job. I didn't see any reason to continue to bother them, for now. Most of them seemed to be in their early twentys, meaning they might have been recruited after the disaster, and probably had minimal combat experience, if any. Out of desperation, the national guard would recruit almost anyone willing to fight against the pirates now, though there were signs that the war was coming to a close.

I went back home to find Nina watching tv.

Nina: "That was quick."

Nina: "Did you kill anybody?"

Me: "No, it was nothing, don't worry."

Nina: "-sighs-, ok."

Me: "-sighs-, what time is it?"

Nina: "It's almost four..."

Me: "-sighs-, Your mother should be back around six..."

Me: "I need to start defrosting the steaks..."

Nina:" Ok."

I headed down to the basement to get some steaks from the freezer, then I brought them back up to the kitchen, put them on a plate, and shoved them in the microwave. I called Phoebe again to let her know everything was ok. Then I sat on the couch and watched tv with Nina for a little bit.

Nina: "Did you find out what was in the crate?"

Me: "Nope..."

Nina: "Then what did you do?"

Me: "Um...not much."

Me:"Look sweetheart there's no reason to cause any trouble."

Me: "The national guard owns it, so I'm sure they aren't going to try to hurt anyone, ok?"

Nina: "Ok."

Me: "But if they start shooting up the town or something, then we'll cause some trouble ok?"

Nina: "Ok."

Me: "Or...actually I will, you'll stay here."

-sadly groaning- Nina: "awe..."

Me: "It's your mother's orders sweety..."

-sadly- Nina: "Really?"

Me:" Mhm."

-let down- Nina: "-sighs-.."

Nina: "When is mommy going to come home?"

Me: "In the next hour or so, hopefully."

Nina: "Ok."

Nina: "I wonder what Charley is doing..."

Me: "Eh he's probably asleep or something."

Me: "Or sitting in his car seat watching his shows."

Nina: "Yeah."

Me: "I'm sure he's fine, you know your mother won't let him out of her sight."

Nina: "Mhm."

A few minutes later the steaks were done defrosting, a few minutes after I set them on the grill to cook Phoebe called again.

-phone conversation-

Me: "What's going on Pheebles."

Phoebe: "I might be home a bit later than expected, they shut the portal down in the next town over."

Phoebe: "Did you do that?"

Me: "Um...no, I wonder if it's connected to those NGs from earlier though."

Phoebe: "NGs?"

Short for nat guard troops, by the way.

Me: "Yeah atleast that's what they looked like."

Me:" Just come back home as soon as you can sweety, we miss you, and I just set the steaks on the grill."

Phoebe: "I will, don't worry."

Phoebe: "Melissa said they shut the portal down because it was getting attacked, and they didn't want to risk anything comming through that could harm the facility."

Phoebe: "So there's something attacking the town."

-from the living room- Nina: "Daddy somebody's here."

Me: "Nina go to your room."

Nina:"Why?"

Me: "You're not in trouble it's just for your safety."

Nina: "But they aren't bad people."

Me:" Oookay..."

Nina: "They just want some help."

Me: "Ok fine, you can stay out if you want but let me do the talking."

Nina: "Ok."

I went up to the door, wondering what all this was about, Nina said they weren't bad people, and I had no reason to believe she was lying, she was psychic after all.

I opened the front door, it was just a small group of people from Maple Valley, along with some of the same national guardsmen from earlier, in handcuffs for some reason.

Me: "What can I help you with?"

-nervous- unknown person: "You have to help us, they're destroying the town."

Me: "Can you be a bit more specific? What's destroying the town?"

-nervous- unknown person: "It's some extremely strong pokemon, it broke out of the armory."

Me:"And why did you arrest these men?"

Unknown person: "Whatever that thing is, they brought it into town."

-defensively- unknown guard: "We had no idea."

Me: " Nina, are they lying?"

-shyly- Nina: "No, he's telling the truth."

Me: "You heard her, let them go, they didn't know what was in the crate, they were just following orders."

-grateful- unknown guard: "Thankyou."

Me: "Just don't call for backup."

unknown guard: "Why?"

Me: "Because you might not have known, but your superiors did, and I don't think they would want that getting out, sorry to say this, but I don't quite trust them, if they ask questions, you opened the crate out of morbid curiousity and that thing was dead when it got here."

unknown guard: "Ok..."

Me: "Also, you are now officially my backup."

Me: "Do you have any weapons?"

unknown guard: "Just a few m16s back at the armory, but I'm not sure if they're still operable, that thing almost tore the place down."

For the record, it wasn't a very large armory, it was just a single large building that normally housed a few humvees and trucks, making it even more curious that they chose to bring it there.

Me:" Allright, try to get those back, and then wait for my signal."

Unknown guard: "Ok."

They only brought two cars, a police dodge charger, and an ordinary 4 door chevy cobalt. The only thing I had that was large enough to carry the guards was that rusted out van, that probably wouldn't start, so I was stuck with these two.

Me:" Allright, the guards and I will take the police car to the armory, the rest of you take the other car and try to save the people that can't escape on their own."

Unknown person: "Ok."

Unknown person 2: "Didn't you have a bullet proof sedan?"

Me: "Um...yeah, wife has it right now...sorry."

-curious- Me: "How'd you know that?"

Unknown person: "I just heard it from your father..."

Me: "Oh...ok."

Thanks dad...like everyone needed to know that.

Me: "Come on, let's go."

Me: "Nina stay here, and um...watch the steaks..."

Nina: "Ok..."

Me: "And when your mother gets home tell her where I went."

-shyly- Nina: "Ok, be careful daddy."

Me: "I will, don't worry."

I gathered up my pokemon, and my pistol, and got in the police car.

The maple valley armory was about 25 miles away, but we got there in just 15 minutes, with the emergency lights on we didn't have to mind the speed limit as much. One of the guards seemed to be a fairly talented driver. I had been to Maple Valley countless times before the disaster, so it was kind of sad to see it in such a bad shape, a gas station was burning, the large, iconic water tower had fallen over, crushing an old warehouse behind it. There was also a lot of traffic leaving the town, for obvious reasons.

Me: "Allright, get your weapons, take a humvee, and then wait by the water tower."

The water tower was already destroyed, so I didn't think whatever we were dealing with here would go back to it.

unknown guard: "Ok."

I got in the driver's seat and drove away, started heading down the streets, looking for whatever this thing was.

It felt strange, not having Phoebe with me.

It was almost sunset, so we were losing light very quickly.

Whatever it was, it wasn't a groudon, I would have seen it by now.

It wasn't a water type either, since all the buildings seemed to be burning.

It turned out that it wasn't a pokemon at all, but rather, some kind of mutated...freak.

It had a humanoid body, with normal skin in some areas with patches of reptillian scales in others. It had a very disfigured face that looked like something out of a creepypasta. It was like it had the large, square jaws of a charizard, filled with several, metallic teeth. Its arms and legs looked metallic in nature as well, possibly from a scizor, bisharp, or some other steel type. It also had the wings of a dustox, allthough there was no way it could use them to fly with it's limbs being made of metal. It hovered instead, meaning it had some sort of psychic power as well. It also had a psyhorn on it's head, likely from a gardevoir, and a metallic tail, with a spinning, U shaped magnet like thing on the end, which seemed to have a constant arc of high voltage electricity. I couldn't think of any pokemon that had anything like it, so it might have been purely mechanical, similiar to the magnemite line.

This wasn't a pokemon, it was some kind of genetic experiment, there were no seams or anything where it's various mismatched parts had been sewn together. And even if it was some sort of frankenstein monster, there was no telling what, or who it once was.

I shut off the all the lights, not wanting to attract it's attention at the moment, so I could sit in the shadows and come up with a plan to stop it.

I didn't really understand what it's motives were, it seemed like it just wanted to destroy, it was obviously extremely angry, probably from being captured, but their could possibly be other reasons.

Shooting it probably wouldn't work, if it did the guards probably would have killed it as it tried to escape.

People were running out of their houses, men, women, and children. It cruelly zapped a few of them with it's tail as they tried to get away. They were helpless, I couldn't save them without risking myself or my pokemon.

I stayed there for a little bit, carefully watching it, trying to find a weakness.

Part of me just wanted to send Aggron out, but if I did that he'd probably end up leveling the entire block.

Bubba would get fried by the electricity, Rhyhorn and Rocky would get thrashed by the steel, Hellblade might be able to land a hit, but I wasn't sure if he'd survive the potential counter attack. Blossom wasn't particularly strong at attacking, so she wasn't an option, aside from that, this monstrosity could also spit fire which would probably kill her instantly.

Cap'n'magnum could resist its electric attacks, and stay out of range of its flames, so I sent him out.

-unsure- Cap'n'magnum:"Mag?"

-nervous- Cap'n'magnum: "Magnezone magna."

Me: "Yeah I know."

Me: "Don't be too afraid though, you're not fighting it alone."

Me: "I just need you to go out there and provide a distraction, don't get to close to it though, it has fire attacks."

Me: "You need to move fast, as fast as you can."

Me: "Understood?"

-nervous- Cap'n'magnum: "Magnezone."

Me: "Ok, wait for my signal."

I sent out Hellblade, Bubba, and Rhyhorn.

Me: "You see that thing over there?"

Me: "When it starts to fire at Magnum, I need you to hit it as hard as you can, with fireblast, hydro cannon, and rockblast. "

Me: "Understood?"

They all nodded.

Me: "I'm not quite sure how resistant it is to damage, so don't hold back."

Me: "We need to stop it before it tears town the whole city."

-nervous- Me: "Ok..."

Me: "Let's do this."

Me: "Magnum, go NOW!"

He flew out, and circled around the monster a few times, drawing its attention.

It tried to attack him with it's electricity, which didn't seem to hurt him much.

Me: "Allright everyone else GO!."

Hellblade, Bubba, and Rhyhorn ran out and started their attacks. They stunned the creature, but only for a moment before it hit them with an extremely powerful psychic attack that knocked them all on their backs.

-nervous- Me: "What the hell?"

To make matters worse, it did some sort of combo move, combining it's flames with a shadow ball, which it then threw at Cap'n'Magnum, hitting him hard and causing him to crash into the ground.

-in pain- Cap'n'magnum: "Mag magna!..."

-worried- Me: "Magnum..."

-to self- Me: "What the hell is this thing?"

I went up and returned them all, except for Magnum, who crashed somewhere on the adjacent street.

I realized my only chance at hurting this thing was to use Aggron.

So, reluctantly, I sent him out.

He roared triumphantly as he came out of his ball.

-nervous- Me: "Kill that thing, I don't care how, just kill it."

He charged towards it, it stunned him with another psychic wave, he took a few swings at it, but it was just too fast for him to him.

Me: "It's too quick for melee, try a hyper beam."

He used hyperbeam, the monster used something that resembled flamethrower, both moves hit, Aggron fell back in agony and the monster got knocked clear over to the adjacent street.

Aggron was hit too hard to get back up, I returned him, then I headed over to the other street to get magnum and get the hell out of here.

Cap'n'magnum was lying on the ground, barely able to move, I returned him, and then noticed the monster, very much alive, and struggling to get back up.

I sprinted back to the police car, defeated for now. Bubba broke out of his ball on his own.

Me:"What the?"

-angry- Bubba: "Blastoise...blast.."

He still wanted to fight.

Me: "We can't, we just can't right now Bubba."

Me: "It's too strong, we need to regroup."

Me: "The best we can do right now is try to save some of these people it electrocuted."

-solemnly- Bubba: "Blast..."

We dragged a few people over to the car, if we hurried to the pokemon center they could be revived. While the monster started to destroy the next street.

I went over to the water tower real quick.

-confused- unknown guard: "There was no signal."

- a bit crazily- Me: "That thing is too fucking overpowered."

-exhausted-Me: "The best you can do is gather as many people as you can and take them to the pokemon center in Goldenrod, that's where I'm going now."

unknown guard: "What about the monster?"

-exhausted-Me: "I might have hurt it a little bit, but it took most of my pokemon down."

-exhausted-Me: "It's psychic, fire...steel, electric..."

-exhausted-Me: "It doesn't have any weaknesses."

-exhausted- Me:" If you know anyone in the airforce, have them deal with it."

-exhausted- Me: "But don't try to fight it yourselves..."

Me: "In fact go ahead and call for backup..."

-unsure- unknown guard: "Ok."

Me: "Just make sure you get some tanks...and rpgs...and yeah..."

Me: "I have to go, or else these people might not make it."

unknown guard: "Ok."

I headed back over to Slab Town.

My phone started to ring.

Phoebe: "Cj I'm home, are you ok?"

Me: "I'm going to the pokemon center in Goldenrod."

Phoebe: "What happened?"

Phoebe: "Are you ok?"

Me: "We'll talk when I get there, I'm just..."

Me:"-sighs-...I love you."

Phoebe: "I'll see you there."

Me:" Ok, that works."

Phoebe: "I love you."

I arrived at the pokemon center about a half hour later.

Bubba helped me carry the people in. I was starting to feel weak.

Nurse: "Arceus, what happened?"

-exhausted- Me: "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Me: "I need my pokemon healed too."

Nurse :"Ok."

-from across the room, worried- Phoebe: "Cj!"

She came up and hugged me. I could barely stand.

-weakly- Me: "Hey...baby girl."

Phoebe: "Cj?"

I blacked out.

I woke up in the pokemon center.

Me :"The hell?"

-confused- Me: "Why did I faint?"

Nurse: "Delayed neurotoxin, we found this small needle in your arm, whatever you were fighting must have hit you with it without you noticing."

Me: "How did I not notice it?"

Nurse: "The neurotoxin also doubles as an anesthetic, it's like when a remoraid sticks it's fin into a mantine, it doesn't feel it."

Me: "Oh."

-relieved- Nina: "Daddy your ok!"

Nina hugged me.

-weakly- Me: "Hey sweetheart."

Me: "Where's your mother?"

-jokingly- Phoebe: "You've been out for a whole year Cj..."

-jokingly- Phoebe: "I remarried."

Me: "What?"

-lovingly- Phoebe: "hehehe...just kidding, you've only been out for a few hours, it's just around midnight, I'd never leave you silly."

She kissed me.

Nurse: "What were you fighting?"

Me: "I...I don't know."

Melissa: "I can explain."

Phoebe: "Melissa?"

Melissa: "That was one of team rocket's failed experiments."

Me: "How did the NGs get it then?"

Melissa: "I don't know, they must have traded it to them."

Me: "For what?"

Melissa:" Probably pokemon they could actually use."

Me: "Are my pokemon ok?"

Nurse: "They'll be fine."

Nurse: "However you'll never walk again."

Me: "What?"

Nurse: "Just kidding, you're fine too."

-annoyed- Me: "Oh come on."

-sternly- Melissa: "Enough of the jokes this is serious."

Melissa: "This monstrosity is one of team rocket's most powerful creations."

Melissa: "But what's worst is it's also completely insane, and won't stop until it has destroyed everything."

Phoebe: "It can't be that powerful can it?"

Me: "It took down aggron in one shot..."

Phoebe: "-gasps-..."

Me: "It took out most of my team in one shot actually."

Phoebe:" Oh..."

-worried- Phoebe: "That's not good."

Me: "No honey, it's not."

-concerned- Me: "What about the others I brought in? Are they ok?"

Nurse: "They'll be fine."

Nurse: "Allthough it would have been better if you brought them to a hospital."

Me: "Well this was closer, the hospital was farther away, and then I probably would have blacked out in the middle of the street."

Nurse: "Yeah that's true."

Phoebe: "I'm just glad you're ok for now Cj."

Me: "Yeah but...-sighs- Maple Valley."

Melissa: "Devon will do what they can to stop it."

Melissa: "However, we're having problems of our own right now too."

Me: "What?"

Melissa: "James told me the base he was visiting got hit by Team Rocket."

Phoebe: "So that's why you walked of the restaurant earlier?"

Melissa: "Mhm."

I had no idea what she was talking about.

Melissa: "He's ok, the base is ok, but what we can't figure out is what the motive for the attack was."

Melissa: "They hit the front of the base, the most heavilly guarded section, with several robot tanks."

Melissa: "They caused a lot of damage, and then retreated for seemingly no reason whatsoever."

Phoebe: "That sounds weird."

Melissa:" Mhm."

I started to regain my strength, and sat up.

Phoebe: "You allright Cj?"

Me: "Yeah, I'm ok."

Phoebe: "Thankyou Nurse."

Nurse: "Mhm, no problem."

Phoebe: "Come on let's go."

She picked Charley up off of the adjacent bed.

Me: "Hi Charley."

Me: "I missed you."

Phoebe: "He missed you too, he's kind of tired right now."

Melissa: "Just be careful tonight, and get some rest."

Melissa: "I need to head home too, it's late."

Phoebe: "Ok."

Phoebe: "Come on Cj."

Me: "I'm comming..."

Me: "You look really nice honey..."

Phoebe: "Awe...thanks..."

Me: "You didn't spend too much did you?"

Phoebe: "No, I just bought this dress for a hundred or so."

Phoebe: "You like it?"

Me: "Yeah, it's nice."

We got in our car and headed home, leaving the police car there. Phoebe was driving.

Phoebe: "Is that our car now?"

Me: "No...I um...I don't really know who owns it..."

Phoebe: "Hehe...ok."

I don't know if anyone really owned it, it might have been the city's.

Me: "I left the keys in it, they can come back and get it if they want."

Phoebe:" Ok."

Me: "Let's find a hotel for the night, ok?"

Phoebe: "You don't want to go back home?"

Me: "That thing is still out there honey."

-a bit psyched out- Me: "You weren't there, you didn't see it."

Me: "If it comes by our place in the middle of the night, we're fucked."

Me: "Let's just find a hotel, just to be safe."

-concerned- Phoebe: "Ok... fine."

We found a hotel, and got a couple of rooms, one for Nina and Charley, and one for Phoebe and I, we went to bed shortly after.

Me: "We'll go back home, first thing tomorrow."

Phoebe: "Ok."

-sadly-Me: "I failed you."

Phoebe: "You didn't fail me Cj."

Phoebe: "You did your best."

Phoebe:" And you saved a few people, so you didn't completely fail."

Me: "I guess so."

Phoebe: "I've never seen you like this before and it's worrying me."

Me :"I'm sorry..."

Phoebe: "It's allright, I know it's not your fault.."

-lovingly- Phoebe: "You just need to rest now, ok?"

-lovingly-Phoebe: "Let the toxin wear off..."

Phoebe: "Calm down, and clear your mind..."

Me: "What do you mean?"

Phoebe:" You keep darting back and forth from thought to thought, your mind is all blurry."

Phoebe: "You're panicking Cj..."

Phoebe: "But we're safe for now so you can relax."

Me: "I'm sorry baby girl.."

Phoebe: "It's ok."

She held me tight.

-softly- Phoebe: "I love you."

Me: "I love you."

We kissed.

-tiredly, but sweetly- Phoebe: "Now hold still, I'll help you sleep, I'll even try to keep you from having nightmares."

-softly- Phoebe: "We have a lot to do tomorrow."

She touched my head, and I felt her kiss me one more time as I fell asleep.

-softly- Phoebe: "Goodnight Cj..."