A/N: Yes, it has been a very long time, too long. I have not excuse just that I didn't really have the inspiration to continue, however kind words from family and friends and from you guys really just put me back into the spirit of writing this story. For taking so long with this I drew up a new cover for this story, you can find it over on my deviantart as well as having chapters edited and they will be appearing on there too which is nice.
I can't say when I will have the next chapter, but I have put it into my week schedule now.
Saturday: Lineart comic.
Sunday: Colour and release comic.
Monday - Wednesday: Type up chapter / Draw art.
Thursday - Friday: Break / Draw art.
It has made its way in there, I do think I can have a chapter done in a few weeks if I keep to this. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter.
It's been a few days since I finally got back together with my friends after that event with Team horizon and Team Rocket, not to mention Darcy showing up again and kidnapping me. I'm already over all that even though it was onlya few days ago, sometimes dwelling on the past can prevent you from moving on, which is what we have to do.
Now traveling along Route 3 we make our way to Mt. Moon to get to Cerulean City where Tom will challenge the Gym and hopefully I can find more answers to my problem. Tom has been on guard for anyone that wants to hurt us, I told him that's fine but he won't listen he just wants to keep me safe, which is sweet of him and Luna has joined him as she knows full well about what could happen. Tabatha has been her cheery self this whole time making sure the mood doesn't drop and keeping our spirits high, mostly with having her little tea breaks and scaring Tom and I half to death with the wild Pokémon she brings to the party.
Since we left we've been keeping out time making sure we don't fall for any traps but after that failed attempt last time I'm sure they won't be back, but it's good to take in the surroundings as I haven't been able too lately… it's nice. The world is bright and beautiful it almost makes you forget about your troubles, however I can feel my troubles patting my back every few seconds as I walk, just that's not much of a trouble rather than an annoyance.
I raise my hand and paw and put them behind my head as we walk, my eyes closed as I take in the sun.;Its' glow cascading over my black fur and. My black fur absorbing more of the heat than my skin which is heating up my bodya bit too quickly but still manageable and relaxing.
Tom and Tabatha are a bit behind me walking together keeping an eye on things as Luna travels with Claire next to me. As for Pulse and Dash, they're sleeping together in my large hood .
"So…" Tabatha said while yawning bored.
"Hm?" Tom's eyes wander over to her breaking his concentration from me.
"Have you picked who you're going to use for the Gym battle in Cerulean City?", she asked wondering, my ears twitch over hearing them, I'm too am interested in what Tom is planning on doing.
"What do you mean? I'm not challenging the Gym", he answered, I stop moving my feet and stood still, Tom and Tabatha both notice my lack of movement and stopped behind me. Luna and Claire sitting my by side.
I cocked my head to the side and stare at him confused, "What you mean you're not challenging the Gym?", I asked.
Tom looked into my eyes, "After everything that's happened lately I'm not risking battling a-".
"You're challenging the Gym!", I snap at him which left everyone wide-eyed at my sudden outburst of anger towards Tom, waking up Pulse and Dash as well.
"S-Sora…", Tabatha mumbled still surprised, but not Tom he closed his eyes before she said anything.
"Why?", Tom opened his eyes and stared at me.
"We're not giving up on your dream just because of one little problem", I replied, just because so much has happened in such a small amount of time doesn't mean I'm going to give up on our dreams.
"Little problem?", he raised an eyebrow sarcastically, "You could have died, we all could have! That's not a little problem Sora that's a big one a very big one!", Tom explained with a tone to his voice which made my ears go flat.
"Alright that's enough!", Tabatha stands between us with her arms out frowning at both of us, "No more fighting, that's the last thing we need".
"I'm not fighting, I'm just stating that I'm not challenging any more gyms", Tom told us while crossing his arms.
"I'm saying that we're not giving up on his dream just because of me, I don't want to be a problem for other people, including my brother", a moment of silence goes by before Tom sighs and lowers his arms to his side.
"You're not a problemSora, I just want to protect you and not have to worry about what I'm going to be doing for the next gym".
"Then stop worrying about protecting me, I'm fine", I responded which only left him angrier, I can see it in his eyes even if he isn't showing it.
"Sora I said I-".
"Tea time!", Tabatha loudly interrupts Tom as she reaches into her bag and pulls a blanket from out of it and spins it past our visions. As soon as the blanket is out of my sight it was on the ground and the tea set was already set up and ready for use.
"Uh….", I blinked confused and amazed, wondering if that is even possible, I also noticed Tom was in a state of disbelief as well.
"Tabatha, how did you do that?", Tom ask pointing to the perfectly placed tea set.
"Oh that's my secret~", She winks at him and giggles as she starts to start a fire to boil the water. Tom blinks even more confused than before as I just stand there still in complete awe on Tabatha's skills with tea.
An hour passed and I would say Tabatha's little distraction worked. Tom and I sat down with Tabatha and had some tea, she also had some treats for the Pokémon which really put a smile on everyone's face. It was mostly a quiet break for Tom and I to relax as getting angry was the reason I got kidnapped in the first place, so I drank my tea and watched the Pokémon eat and play, oh how I wish I could join in and have fun with them;however, as of right now I had other things to worry about than play.
"Sora?", I took my focus away from the Pokémon and directed my attention to Tom who said my name.
"Yeah?", I responded.
"Sorry that I yelled at you before", he apologized which made me smile a bit.
"No I'm sorry, I was the one that snapped", I looked down to my cup of tea with my ears still flat, "I guess I snapped because I don't want you to stop, I want you to keep going and achieve your dream of becoming a Pokémon master", I look back up and smile at him my ears perking back upslightly, "If there is something I want to achieve while I can is to help you with this dream, so please… don't give up because of me", I pleaded to him. I watch as his mind tries to figure out what to do, he really wants to protect me and I understand that, but I don't want him too.
"Alright, I understand Sora", Tom finally says with a nod of a head leaving me happy again, "I do worry about you, but I guess you can handle yourself if you managed to almost make it back to Pewter City", He smiles, it's like he's almost proud of me, "So I will focus more on Gym Battles from now on, but I will be keeping an eye on you still, got it?", he finishes, raising his hand into a fist.
I smile happily and raise mine too and fist bump with him, "Sounds good", we both chuckle happily smiling at each other, this feels like old times before all this happened, he's acting like he used to and that's really what makes me happy.
"Tabatha's turn!", We both turn to her to see what she means, but being Tabatha means she's quick and jumps at us and puts her arms around our necks, pulling us in for a painful hug, "Group hug!", she yells while smiling.
"Ah! T-Tabatha!",Tom and I both complain but it was to no avail. Soon our Pokémon noticed and ran over to join in on the so called group hug.
"Yay! Family!", Luna exclaims while rubbing up against me.
"Our turn!",Dash and Pulserun up me and sit on top of Tom and I giggling.
"Ugh! G-Guys! Please…", I complain with pain in my voice as Tabatha squeezes hard on my neck.
"Okay", Tabatha replied and let go of us suddenly, Tom and I weren't ready to be released and fell on the ground with Dash and Pulse jumping off, "Oops~", she laughs as the other giggle.
"Ow…", I sat up with Tom already up and dusting himself off.
"Well that was… fun…", Tom said sarcastically said annoyed, however no one else really cared as they're all giggling and laughing on their own. I smiled watching as it's good to see everyone happy, well almost everyone.
I look over to where everyone was playing just before and Claire is still over there just watching everything from afar, I guess she doesn't feel she's welcome as part of this little group of friends. I smile over to her and wave her over, "Come here, don't be all alone", her ears perk up as she stares at me, not expecting me to just invite her over to the fun.
"Um…", She's seems confused about what to do, "But I-".
"No buts, come on",I smile still with my hand out waiting for her. She thinks about it for a moment longer and gets up slowly walking over to me, before long she made it and I picked her up and held her to my chest turning to everyone, "Claire, I know you've been alone, but we're here now, we're your friends",Everyone looks over and smiles at her. hoping to get her to warm up.
"We're friends! All of us", Dash happily exclaimed with joy with Pulse giggling by his side. Claire stares at everyonecompletely surprised, she wasn't expecting this. Sure she plays with the other pokémon, but I guess she thought she didn't belong here, that we didn't want her.
I make her look up at me as I keep smiling, "You won't be alone now, not anymore, we'll get you back home", I told her with confidence in my voice, I wasn't about to let my problem stop her from getting home, she's been through enough. She stares up at me and all is silent, until she starts tearing up, it was clear she didn't want to be alone anymore, I hugged her and rubbed her back trying to calm her down, "It's okay…", I soon get up and look at Tom and Tabatha, "We should get moving, you mind cleaning up?
"Sure, leave it to us Sora", Tabatha said smiling kneeling down and starts to clean up.
"You really care, huh Sora?", Tom asked which I replied with a nod, he smirks happy, "I guess it's you after all", with that he kneels down with Tabatha and helps clean.
It's starts to get late as the sun goes down on another day, everyone's tired from just constant walking without breaks, our only one was hours ago as we really just want to get to the next town, the less time we spent on the road the better as it was easier to get us outside of towns and cities.
"Alright", Tabatha spoke up, "Time to set up camp, no?", she asked smiling back to us, Tom and I just nod as we're ready to just flop onto a comfy sleeping bag and let our heavy eyelids close in slumber.
"Lets set up and we'll get dinner started", Tom replied smiling back
"Dinner? Awww…", I fall flat on my bottom as I just don't want to move anymore' I just want to sleep right now, not stay up another few hours.
"Oh don't be such a baby", Tabatha walked over and patted me which was for some reason comforting. I cross my arms and pout.
"I'm not a baby. I'm tired, there's a difference", I told her, Dash and Pulse emerge from my hood and rest on my shoulders.
"I didn't know brother was a baby", Dash giggled from his brothers comment.
"Yeah!", Dash leaned over and stared into my eyes, "Are you a baby?", my ears twitched in annoyance as my rings blink slightly.
"How come this is such a hot topic?", I knock Tabatha's hand away and get up dusting myself off, Tabatha smiles feeling accomplished.
"Thought that would get you up", She snickers, walking back over to Tom to help out with dinner.
I blink and stare at her, "That was your plan? What kind of plan was that!?", I notice Pulse about to open his mouth to respond so I raise my hand to his muzzle, "Don't. Say. Anything", all I get is giggles from him and Dash.
"Be nice to the kids Sora", Claire walks past me smiling while I cross my arms.
"I am nice thank you", I replied in a hurry, Dash and Pulse jump off me and down to the ground running over to where they can smell food. To be honest, it does smell rather good. My ears perk up as I smile wandering over to everyone else.
"Hey Sora, see that?", Tom walked over to me and puts his and on my shoulder pointing down the path and into the distance, "There's Mt. Moon, we're almost half way", He tells me with a smile on his face. It was too bad we weren't at Mt. Moon already, it would be nice to rest there and tomorrow be at the next town by nightfall, however that's not happening.
"Yeah, It's so close", I smiled, even though we're not there it's good to know we're so close. Tom walks back over to setting up dinner with Tabatha while I just stood there staring at the dark shadow of Mt. Moon while going through my own thoughts.
I start to hear a jingle of bells ring through my head, soft yet audible. My attention is taken away from the mountain in the distance as I looked around trying to find the source of the bells. What was making the noise and where is it? I thought looking around, I saw nothing in the trees or bushes off to the side of the path, nor nothing down the path behind me or in front, I also noticed that Tom and Tabatha, nor the pokémon are reacting to the jingle of bells, am I just going crazy, well it wouldn't take too much for that given what I've been put through lately.
The source of the noise was starting to get on my nerves, I swift stared around but still finding nothing and it was annoying to the point of my rings glowing faintly.
"Sora, look up", I hear the familiar voice in my head.
"Aeon?", I responded but got nothing so I did as he asked, I stares up to the darkening sky and high up I could see something faintly glowing, something pink. "A… ball?", I shake my head and quickly retract my statement, "No a bubble", I figured out as I watched it slowly move across the sky, I quickly figured out that that must have been the source of the bells.
"Sora, we need to get moving", Aeon spoke up breaking me from my concentration. I look away from the bubble in the sky and stared off in the trees confused.
"What are you talking about Aeon?", I asked.
"You may not know Sora, but can't you sense it?", Aeon was starting to make less sense by the day, honestly confusing me to the point that my head hurts sometimes.
"Aeon please explain", I asked, me talking to myself finally got the attention of some of the pokémon, Luna and Claire look my way stopping their little play session.
"Close your eyes and concentrate Sora", He responded, Aeon hasn't been one to let me down so I quickly did what he asked and closed my eyes trying to sense whatever Aeon was talking about.
I had no idea what I was supposed to find just told to sense, my ears perked up and flick as the rings on my body grew brighter, "Sora?", I heard Luna call my name sounded rather concerned, however I just kept my eyes closed and sensing. This felt all rather stupid I was just standing here like an idiot, maybe Aeon was playing a prank on me but I guess he isn't like that, then there's that stupid annoying ringing still going on.
Wait, the ringing, maybe if I focus on that… I put my concentration towards the sound I was hearing and soon the jingles of bells turned into a soft gentle voice, "Help me…", is what I heard, help me? Who needs help? I couldn't figure out whom this voice belonged to, then again there was that bubble.
I concentrated harder on the voice and out of no where flashes of visions appear in my head, whatever this thing is it's flying fast… away from something, as it looks behind itself it can see something following it, it looks like a machine. My suspicions were laid to rest as the thing behind it shot out a dart as flew through the air as it flies into the pokémon's body. "Ahh…", I heard it yelp in pain, this thing was being attacked but by what?
My ears twitch as I hear a faint sound, I open my eyes wide and stare up, high up above following the pokémon was the machines I saw in the vision, whomever is controlling it was attacking this pokémon, "Sora, we have to go save it", Aeon told me, it sound almost like he was pleading that we go which is not like him. However that pokémon sounded in pain and I don't like others hurting pokémon.
"Alright", I nod in response and ran past everyone and bolted down the path to follow the bubble which looked like it was heading to Mt. Moon.
"S-Sora!", I hear Tom and Tabatha yell out to me in confusion, wish I could tell them what just happened but I not even sure what happened myself, I just have this impulse to run and help, maybe it's Aeon or maybe it was the pokémon calling for help, whatever it is I'm going and I'm not stopping.
"Well I did want to get to Mt. Moon today", I mumbled to myself sprinting off into the darkness.
Didn't take long for me to get to Mt. Moon at the speed I was going at, however the pokémon that was in the bubble and the machines have already entered the mountain a little bit ago. What was happening and what was the pokémon calling for help I didn't know but machines like that are never a good sign.
I ran into the cave at the bottom of the mountain and ran in, my footsteps echo loudly as I went along the damp empty void, I can hear the annoyed pokémon that call this place home muttering angry gestures from being woken up.
"Why am I even in here…?", I asked myself as I slowed my pace to a walk looking around the cave.
"That pokémon needs help Sora, we need to help", Aeon responded.
"I didn't think about this before, but why?".
"Because this pokémon is special, we can't let anything happen to it", he told me, how is this one so special? Sure it was in a bubble and flying but that doesn't mean anything, just meant that it was a psychic type.
"Aeon please tell me what's going on", I asked, I have no need to shout at him but he's being secretive about this.
"Nothing to say, just we need to find it quickly", with that Aeon went silent leaving me with my own thoughts and the silent cave.
I just keep traveling around the cave system trying to find any sign of those machines or the pokémon in the bubble, but no sign of any of them. "This place is huge!", I throw my arms up in the air and let out annoyed grunt which was a mistake as the damp rocks I was standing on made me slip as tumbled down the cave, "Waah!", rolled up into a ball and went with it hoping I wouldn't emerge too hurt.
I soon stop tumbling as I unroll myself at the bottom of the track, checking myself over to just find myself with some scratches, which was good. I sighed relieved that I wasn't massively hurt, I look around the cave just even more confused to what I was doing than before. "Man… what am I even doing..?", I ask myself, while I thought to myself I felt a tugging on my tail and as I cocked my head confused and turned my head and glanced behind myself to see what it was and standing there with a tear in its eye was a little pikachu.
"U-Um… please… you're on my tail…", it says in a soft low voice to me. I look down and see that I am indeed sitting on this poor pikachus tail.
"Oh!", I quickly get up off its tail and turn to face it kneeling down. The pikachu takes it tail and rubs it with its paw, "Um, sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you", I told it.
"Uh…", It started up to me confused, "It's okay, it's not broken".
I smile in response, "That's a relief", I stared at the pikachu which from what I could gather is a female from the voice and the bump in the tail, then I grew to wonder something, "Hey, what's a pikachu doing in this mountain?", I asked her.
She looked up to me even more confused than before, "Uh… w-we're safe in here, that's why", she responded which leaves me to more questions.
"We? So there are more of you in here? And safe from what?", I kept asking.
"U-Um… you can understand me?", I forgot that not everyone knows I can understand them.
"Oh, sorry, yeah I can", I smile at her, "My name is Sora, what's yours?".
"Uh, Violet", she responded with a small smile on her face, she seemed happy that I could talk to her.
"Hi Violet, so what are you hiding from?", I asked concerned, it could be the machines I was trying to find.
"Uh, well I don't really know, you have to talk to my dad…", she said still holding her tail.
"Where's your dad then?", I asked looking around to see if her dad was nearby but with no luck. She waved her paw to me and walked off down into the cave as I got up and followed closely, the darkness of the cave wasn't much of a problem for me with my eyesight as she lead me through twist and turns of the cave system, I never really thought this place could get so confusing.
After a short while of walking and climbing we made to a dead end, "I'm back~!", Violet calls out to the wall and from out of nowhere two Pikachus a Pichu and a Raichu come out from the cracks.
"Violet! I told you to not wonder off!", the Raichu exclaimed walking over and hugging her, "Glad you're okay", he then said softly.
Violet giggles, "I'm okay daddy, I got someone I want you to meet", She escapes her father's embrace and turns to me, "This is Sora".
I waved as she introduced me, "Hey", I said a bit nervous. The Raichu raise his eyebrow as he slowly moves Violet behind him.
"Violet why did you bring a human to us?", he asked as he started to frown.
"He's different daddy, and he wanted to ask you a question", she responded to him.
"Is that so?", he slowly walked up to me as I kneeled down, "Well speak up human".
"Uh well… I was wondering why you were in this mountain and not out in the forest, this isn't a place for you", I asked and he seemed shocked, again not used to a human understanding him.
"So it talks, interesting", he commented, "Well we're in here because of YOU humans and other pokémon that want to kill us", he said as he turned to face his family, "People trying to catch us, Beedrill trying to attack us every time we want to travel..".
Wait, beedrill? That's familiar, too familiar. I remember a pikachu I met named Fling, I…. she died because she listened to advice I gave her. She told me she was trying to get to Mt. Moon to some friends, maybe these are the friends. "Hey… um… d-do you know a pikachu named Fling?".
All their ears perk up and all attention was on me, "D-Did you say Fling?", The Raichu responded, it was clear these were the friends she was talking about.
"Yeah, I met her a while ago".
"Fling is my mate, p-please tell me where she is? Is she okay?", The Raichu told me.
"You know where mommy is?", Violet said after. Mommy? Mate? W-Was the friends she was talking about her… family? Why wouldn't she tell me this, why didn't she tell me it was her family not just some friends?
I start to panic as my eyes widen falling back onto my bottom worrying the chu's in front of me, "Y-You… mate… mother…?", I asked to make sure that I heard them right and they nod in response which made my heart sink, "I-I…", I lean forward and fall to my hands staring at the ground, I forgot about Fling up to this point and the terrible fate I gave her, but now it's all caught up to me one last time.
"What's wrong?", The Raichu asked.
"Fling… I met her as she was trying to flee from some Beedrill, I saved her and I told her she should stick up for herself and be brave...b-but…", Tears fall from my eyes as I can remember everything from that day, "S-She took my stupid advice and g-got herself killed! I killed her… I'm so sorry… I wish I could turn back time and save her but I can't… she died in my arms…".
I cried morning for her and for the stupid mistake I did. I could hear the chu's sulking, I took their mother away, how horrible am I… taking a mother from her family, it was my stupid advice that killed someone and now their family is the one that suffers.
"Sora, look up", I heard the Raichu say and I did what he asked, I looked up at him with tears in my eyes, I could see through my watery view his claws glowing as he lunges at me and swipes at my left eye.
"AhhH!", I scream in pain as I jump back and fall to my back covering my left eye, he cut deep as my eye thobes in pain, I don't dare lift my hand.
The Raichu jumps on to my chest with rage in his eyes, "You killed my mate!? She goes out to find us a safe place to live and you kill her!? ", His claws glow again ready to strike again.
"Sora fight back", I hear Aeon in my head.
"No, I deserve this…", I told him in my head as to not sound crazy to the chu's.
"Daddy wait!", I heard Violet yell and see her jump into my chest in the way of the Raichu.
"Violet out of the way", I hear him demand.
"No! Sora did nothing wrong", I see her ears go back still saddened by her mothers death, why was she defending me for? I haven't done to deserve this.
"What are you doing Violet? Move", He demanded again, not wanting to hurt his daughter.
"He saved mom, you know how mom is, she wouldn't trust anyone unless they were good people", she told him, after a short time his claws stop glowing as he lowered his paw.
"...You're right…", He looks down to me as I still hold my left eye with my hand trying to hold back my yelps in pain, "I'm sorry.. I'm sure you meant well, just this was all sudden to hear and I was still hoping that… she would come back… guess not", He takes Violets paw and get off my chest, allowing me to sit up.
The pain in my eye right now was bearable but it still hurt really badly, I don't know how much damage he did to it but I was hoping not a lot. Violet came up to me and stared at me saddened, "I-I'm sorry my dad hurt you, are you okay?".
I slowly nods still covering my eye, "Y-Yeah I'm okay, not too much damage done… I hope", I told her with a smile, it didn't seem to make her happier.
"Here, there's a puddle over here where you can wash yourself", the Raichu told me which I quickly accept his offer, I got up and made my way over to him where the puddle was located.
"Good thing I went through more pain than this", I said out loud with a chuckle, my body changing hurts a lot more than this cut did, but I will admit that it was pretty close. I bent down and removed my hand from my eye, I mostly saw blurry red which isn't a good sign. I used my hand and got some water from the puddle and tried to clean up my eye, I still kept bleeding bit it did start to die down, it got to a point where I could see myself in the puddle, I had a huge claw cut mark across my eye, it looked pretty deep and my left eye was blurry and still in pain so I closed it.
"Again Sora I'm sorry", The Raichu again apologized. I Turned back to him and smiled.
"It's okay, really", I did deserve it after all. I took my bag off and searched through it and ripped up one of my T-Shirts to make some bandages, wrapping them around my left eye to let it heal. "Guess I got a new look now", I smiled to the Chu family then soon grew concerned, "What are you guys going to do now?".
The chu's all looked at each other then finally the Raichu looked back to me, "Stay here most likely, Fling went out to find a safe place for us to live but she couldn't it seems", he answered. My ears go back as I hear this, I stop them from find a new home as well, I couldn't leave them like this.
"Listen… it's my fault that this has happened, and I'll feel terrible leaving you guys like this", I smile again trying to raise their spirits, "I'll find you a new home, don't worry about it".
"You will?", Violet asked growing happy.
"Where would this home be?", The Raichu asked tilting his head to the side.
"Hmmm…", I brought my hand to my chin and thought about it. " I think-"
"Meeeeew!", I hear from deep within the cave, the sound of pain and cries for help. It stopped my train of thought as I stared down the cave.
"Oh right! The pokémon and the machines!', I got up in a hurry and looked down to the pikachus, "I'll be back guys, there's still something I need to do", with that I ran down the deep dark cave again.
"S-Sora!", I hear Violet call out but I couldn't stop, that pokémon was still here and in trouble, it had to go save it, there was something about it that I can't quite get my paw on, whatever it is I need to hurry.
A/N: Interesting chapter, yes? X3 No, maybe not but I'm still glad I got it out. Please if you haven't already check out my deviantart account (With the same name) As it's the best way to contact me and keep up to date.