"(This)" (italics and brackets in quotation marks) is when Pokémon speaks and I've translated what it's saying.

"This" (no italics, just quotation marks) is humans speaking or telepathy.

(This) (just italics and brackets) is used for thoughts, memories and other stuff that goes on inside the character's mind.

Author's Notes ~ ...You have my permission to beat me mercilessly with any kind of object you'd find satisfying to hurt me with. I think I deserve it, seeing how long it took me to make a chapter. And on top of that, probably a boring one for you guys...

Well, here's the next chapter.

Chapter XI ~ Karen's Tragedy

Lucas

"What was all that about Karen? Trying to act cool and all..." Hunter mocked, trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere as Karen prepared herself for tonight. Lady Karen and I remained silent as Hunter laughed nervously. Hunter looked down and gnawed on another Gummy Worm, reading a book as he sat on the living room couch.

He usually does read stories to try to calm himself down for what's ahead. As for now, he seems to be reading iTally's Chronicles/i (by one of our favorite authors, KOOZ) and seemed really into the book, wearing a relaxed expression.

"Silica had to restrain Lydia and Hikari from leaving their room. They said they heard shouting and wanted to help." Lady Karen said while wearing a grim face. Both Hunter and I exchanged worried looks.

The last thing Hunter and I wanted was for those two to find out about this. Like Hunter, Lydia is very reckless at times. And Hikari will follow her to the ends of the earth.

Kenryk has the last Shadow Pokémon. Doesn't really surprise me. If anything, he probably would've made Lionel one too.

"...What are we going to do about Amaya?" I asked.

"Good question. She went all 'crazy' on us again. ...That reminds me... her draining Kenryk's Aura... reminds me all too well about a certain 'bedtime story', right, Lucas?" Hunter asked, tossing me a Gummy Worm.

Yes, we know that story all too well. One night, Mrs. Akakage was telling us a story, but stopped because she didn't want us to hear the 'bad' part. Well, Hunter and I were curious and told her to tell us anyway.

I kinda wish she didn't. I wasn't able to sleep that night, nor the nights that entire week. Just the thought of something so demonic and evil doing that to an entire civilization...

But it's a good thing it's not a true story... right?

"It does. But we have to concentrate about the matter at hand. What will we do about her? She nearly killed Kenryk-"

"We bring her, of course." Lady Karen said.

"Are you out of your mind?! Didn't you see how she acted last night?! It's going to be the same thing, if not, worse! And even if we do keep her from going crazy, what about Lucas and me? We have to keep her restrained AND fight Kenryk?! I'm a good multitasker myself, but I don't think I could pull that off-"

"Shut up." Lady Karen interrupted. "We are after a wanted criminal that has the intent on killing an entire city. Enough of your jokes. We need all the help we could get. You saw how easily I kept her back from killing Kenryk. I think I could do it again-"

"Oh, you think?! No, Karen. Give me a straight answer. Yes, no, those kind of answers! Not, 'I think'. Because answers like that would get YOU killed."

"It's Shadow Pokémon fight Shadow Pokémon. We'll be even."

"Hell, that's good reasoning!" Hunter said sarcastically, "Look, Kenryk probably only wants me and Lucas. Anyone else, he'll kill for sure!"

"We'll hide with one of our operatives in the area. I'm not about to leave Veilstone in the your hands."

"What?! You don't think I could handle it myself-"

"That's an order." Karen commanded, now leering at Hunter. Unintentionally, I let out a gasp, now looking at Hunter to wait for his reply. Hunter instantly froze and leered back. "I'm sorry Hunter, you know how much I hate using that reasoning. But you were being rash. Leave this to me."

"...Yes ma'am." Hunter mumbled.

The last thing we want to happen is to be taken out of Team Savior. All our hopes and dreams will be taken away if Hunter didn't listen to her.

So that's that. I trust Lady Karen, yes... but I can't help but feel something terrible is going to happen.

But hey, who am I to say anything? I'm underneath her orders too.

Karen

"Lady Karen, mind telling me about what happened on September 21, 1999?" Lucas asked, now waiting in the living room with me. Night was quickly approaching, and we're getting prepared to head out. Mrs. Akakage has taken Lydia and Hikari to headquarters for their safety. All we have to do now is wait for one of my operatives to come.

"That's personal Lucas, you know that." I smirked, placing the final components to my own Mech-Suit.

"I know, but like you, I'm feeling nervous-"

"I'm not nervous." I interrupted.

"Lady Karen, don't lie to me. I know exactly how you're feeling." Lucas leered.

Oh right, the whole Aura-reading thing. How annoying.

"Why are you so interested? It's just a date when my mansion was burned down-"

"But it was also the day you started Team Savior. Or at least, when I checked our information... I noticed that the date was also when that fire destroyed the Lu Shing Mansion..." Lucas then looked at me, "Your original home."

"Do you really want to hear such a story?" I asked, giving him a quizzical look.

"It's a story, that's all that matters. Whenever I'm nervous, I like reading stories to calm myself down. I'm sure listening to your story will not only calm me down... but it would also take that burden off your shoulders. You've been keeping that story to yourself for a long time." Lucas said. I turned to the couch on the left and noticed that Amaya was also watching me closely, as if interested to hear what I have to say (though, her presence is making me nervous...)

"Tch. Fine then, but don't blame me if you fall asleep." I said.

"Mom... Dad... Cheung... Silica? Where are you?!" I cried, avoiding the raging flames that now surrounded me.

I don't know what happened. I woke up to the smell of smoke and when I went downstairs, everything was trashed. As I continued to look for my family, I kept hearing small explosions and the sound of the rooftop collapsing in other parts of the house.

"Mom?! Mommy, where are you?!" I shouted, now running through the house. This was a dangerous situation. The house is falling apart, and when I looked to the front door at the lobby, it appears as if something charged through the front gates.

"Lady Karen! What are you doing?!" someone shouted. I turned around and found one of my servants running toward me. "We have to get out of here! Some crazy Pokémon is raging thorough the property! We have to get out of here!" He then tugged my hand, pulling me toward the front door.


"No! My family's still in there! Come on, we have to save them!" I shouted, pulling away from his grip and running back inside the burning house. I heard him shouting my name, but I kept running, looking for any sign of my family. I kept looking, covering my mouth and getting ashes over my pajamas. Right now, seeing all of my precious belongings being burned away didn't matter to me.

I just want to find my family!

"Daddy?! Where are you?! Answer me!" I screamed, running into the living room. At last, I have found them, standing in the middle of the room. "Mommy! Daddy! Thank goodness!" I ran up to them, when I noticed another voice laugh.

"Karen! Get out of here! Silica, help her!" My father shouted. Just then, a sudden inferno engulfed both of my parents and the roof above me began to collapse.


"Lady Karen!" Silica shouted, now standing in front of me. Silica's entire body glowed blue, and her eyes a cyan color. The debris falling above us suddenly stopped, and the inferno of flames surrounded us as though we were in an invisible bubble.

"No! Mom, Dad!" I screamed, now trying to run out, but pulled back by Silica's telekinesis.

"Lady Karen, don't! You'll get yourself killed!" Silica screamed, her voice echoing in my head.

"But Mom and Dad! They're-"


"They're gone, Karen. They're gone!" Silica cried out.

"...No... No! No!" I screamed, now collapsing as tears flowed out of my eyes. In this hellish environment, I have lost my mother and father just like that.

Silica flung the debris and flames away from us, and she quickly dashed to me. "Lady Karen, we have to get out of here-"

"No, where's Cheung?! He's still alive! We can't leave him!" I shouted, now getting up and attempting to run further into the house. "He might be in his room- Let go of me Silica! He might be alive!"

"He's not! I doubt it!" Silica shouted, "Your father's last wish was for me to save you, and I intend to keep it- Ugh!" Her telekinesis suddenly stopped, and I flew forward and landed on my face. Looking back, I noticed that a large piece of debris hit Silica on her head, making a lot of blood flow out of the back of her head.


"I'm sorry Silica, but we have to save him!" I said, ripping off my pajama sleeve and pressing down on her wound as I carried her.


"Don't be foolish... Karen..." Silica breathed. Her eyes closed and she was out cold.

"Cheung! I'm coming!" I shouted, running up the stairs, avoiding gaping holes that the fire and debris has made on the large mansion steps. Silica was breathing, but in very short gasps. The sooner we could find him, the sooner we could get out of here.

I finally made it to his front door, trying to open it. The handle burned my hand badly, and I screamed out in pain.


"Karen..." A voice whispered on the other side.


"Cheung!" I shouted. I put Silica down and tried to ram the door down. It wouldn't budge, and smoke was coming out of the cracks in the doorway. "Silica, help me-" It's no use, Silica was out cold.

I couldn't do anything. I pressed my head against the door and listened for him. His breathing was ragged, and he sobbed quietly.

"I'm going to die, aren't I?" Cheung sobbed.

"No! Don't say that! Stay with me, I'll get help!" I turned around and began to scream at the top of my lungs, calling for anyone to help. No one responded.

"Don't leave me Karen... I don't... want to die alone..." Cheung breathed.

"Don't speak Cheung! You're going to be fine! Just hang in there, I'll get you out!" I screamed, pounding on the door with all my might.

"Karen... I'm sorry... I... just... can't..." Cheung coughed, "Don't worry about me. I'm... going to a better place..."

"Shut up! Stop saying that!" I screamed, attempting to break down the door.

"Goodbye, Karen. I love you." His sobbing stopped, and the faint scratching at his door halted.

He was gone. A sudden pain struck my heart, and my immediate response was screaming out his name in agony through this hellish landscape.


"Annoying. Who's there?" A voice asked. I quickly turned around, and faced a cloaked man, standing beside a Magmortar. He looked down at me and smirked, "Ah, so you're the last of that wretched family. I've had specific orders from some higher ups to kill everyone here... but you're just a little girl. What trouble would you cause to the great Cipher syndicate? Ah well, if I leave you in here, you'll die a slow and painful death... why don't I just kill you quickly? Magmortar."

The Magmortar merely nodded and walked up to me, aiming it's cannon-like arm at my face. I could feel the heat from it's cannon as it prepared for an intense fire attack. I clutched Silica close to me, and prepared for the worst.

"Gengar, Shadow Ball." Another voice echoed. A sudden chill filled the air around me, and the Magmortar fell backwards, writhing in pain. The fires around me died down, and disappeared, revealing a man with red hair and thick black glasses, accompanied by a Gengar with it's red eyes glaring at the fallen Magmortar.

"I know you. You're Ardos' brother, Eldos. This is my lucky day, I get to accomplish two missions! Master Ardos wants you dead more than anybody." The cloaked man said, now pulling out a gun and firing at the man named Eldos.

"Gengar." Eldos said, evading the bullets. The Gengar nodded, and disappeared into the ground. The cloaked man suddenly screamed and began to flail around. He seemed to be sinking into the ground, being pulled by the same Gengar that I saw earlier. As he began to panic and scream, his gun flew from his hand and landed next to me.

"Kill him Gengar." Eldos commanded. The man was finally dragged all the way down into the black mass, and a painful scream was heard as a red pool of blood began to flow out of the black mass. The Gengar materialized back to it's original form, sneering at the pool of blood beneath it's feet. The Magmortar finally got up, and noticed that it's master was gone. It leered at Eldos, before disappearing into the night. "We're finished here- Hmm?"

I hated guns. The thought of one pull of a tiny trigger ending a life immediately horrifies me. But this guy... Eldos. He's been a wanted fugitive that was from the Cipher incident five years ago. He's dangerous. He'll kill me.

"Put that gun down, child. You don't have any intent on shooting that at me, do you?" Eldos asked, now walking toward me. I aimed for his forehead, and fired a lethal bullet.

"Hmm. Pinpoint accuracy. I applaud at your skill, but look closely..." Eldos didn't even phase at the bullet, in fact, the bullet went right through him. He started to materialize into his Gengar, and it snickered as it stared at me. "Some things aren't what they seem to be." Eldos was suddenly in front of me, kneeling down and pulling the gun away from my grip.

"You... killed him. The guy that... killed my family." I whimpered, clutching Silica closely.

"That scum that Gengar killed recently? Yes, I did. ...Did... you want revenge? If so, I'm sorry that I took that option away from you... but someone so young like yourself... shouldn't be feeling such disturbing emotions."

"Shut up! What do you know?! My family is dead, and you're here just lecturing me?! Leave me alone, I have no where to go! Why don't you just kill me?!" I shouted, looking into his glasses, which showed a slight vision of Eldos' yellow eyes.

"...First off, I can't stomach the fact that I have killed a child. Second... you have potential. When you aimed that gun at me, I thought you were bluffing that you were going to shoot. No. You had that look in your eyes. Determined, fierce... and deadly. And think about it, if you either allow me to kill you or you kill yourself... what would your family say? I know all about you, Karen Lu Shing. Your parents were close friends to me..." Suddenly, he turned quiet and looked past me, as if he just thought of something.

"...It's my fault, isn't it?" Eldos asked. "It's my fault that your family is dead." He looked into my eyes, as if expecting something to happen.

...How could he?! I took my hand out and slapped him across the face. He merely smirked, and looked back at me.

"I'm sorry. Your parents... they were keen to stopping Cipher's organization. So, I offered to help. Doing so... they knew I had connections with them."

"You really are a criminal, endangering people's lives!" I screamed, now preparing for another slap. He quickly blocked my hand, and looked at me with a sad expression.


"I'm truly sorry. They were determined people, bent on stopping Cipher at all costs. ...So... would you want their dream to stop suddenly due to a stubborn brat that didn't take down the organization they worked so hard on doing for the past fifteen years? Not even avenge them? Not even continuing what they dreamed on doing?" Eldos asked.

"What are you talking about?! My parents never told me about what they're doing!"

"...Either way, your life isn't over yet. You still have a lot to look forward to. We all have... certain tragedies that will hinder us, but they are never a good excuse to just stop everything for. You. You have potential to stop this syndicate. You will become a hero. A savior, if you will."

"...If I ever do become this... 'savior' you speak of... Eldos... I will want you arrested sometime in the future." I leered, now starting to become dizzy and coughing.

"...If that is the case, fine. I need to be punished for my past sins. I would like to have you as the judge to my future. I wouldn't mind." Eldos smiled.

The world blacked out around me, and the last words I breathed out were inaudible to those around me, but were clear to me.

Mom. Dad. Cheung. Team Savior.

"...I'm sorry, Lady Karen..." Lucas whispered, his ears drooping down as he stared at the floor.

"Don't feel pity for me. I thought you said that a story would make you less nervous, not break down and cry." I joked.

"...You're right." Lucas smirked, as he looked up at me. Amaya was quietly looking down at the ground. She's been like that ever since I mentioned Eldos in my story. Weird.

"Lady Karen-"

"Please. Just call me Karen from now on. Everyone calls me Lady Karen. I think my close friends should at least call me without that 'Lady' part in it. After all, you know I'm just not that lady-like." I smiled. I got up and sat next to Lucas. "...May I...?"

"...If you insist." Lucas said, looking around as if worried someone was watching. I smiled and I rubbed his head, petting him and smiling. Lucas himself was smiling as I petted him.

"Ahem." Hunter said. Both Lucas and I jumped up and looked at him with an embarrassed look. "Killing machine, not an oversized teddy bear, right Lucas?" Hunter smiled, trying to hide any of his present anger.

"Er, yeah. Right." Lucas stuttered.

"And by all means, NOT cute?" Hunter asked again.

"...Yeah." Lucas agreed.

"Good. Now, let's go. That guy from HQ is here already, and we're all set." Hunter said, quickly taking a Gummy Worm and biting a part of it off.