The rest of the day was proceeding slowly. Arthur, along with Crystal, Jasmine, Olive, Jake and Mat, were having their lunch at the cafeteria. The fragrant aroma of sizzling berries and freshly baked Pok?read filled the room and making everyone's stomach growl with hunger. Everyone just grabbed a tray of food and then went to a vacant seat. The low dining hall tables and chairs are permanently joined together in a circular formation; and the height difference is barely noticeable. The seats just a cushion with a disposable lining; embedded in space allocated in the chairs. The group got a seat and was eating their hearts out. Arthur was simply playing with his last Pecha Berry.
"I thought you are starving. You were asking about the food before Battle Class." Oliver asked Arthur after finishing his meal of roasted Cheri Berry. "What happened? Lost the sweetness to your tongue?"
"No… I just lost my appetite; you can have this berry if you want." Arthur replied rolling the Pecha berry towards Oliver.
"Don't mind if I do then…"
"Oh I forgot to mention, I spat out that berry out earlier." Arthur finished and Oliver, who already took a bite out of the leftover, spit the remainder out and glared at Arthur. "I choked on it…" Jasmine giggled at the scene with Crystal who also found it hilarious. Oliver placed down the Pecha Berry and took a napkin and wiped his face clean.
Meanwhile, back in the infirmary, Sakura slowly opened her violet eyes and gently sat up. The smell of medications and pills was overwhelming. Feeling a slight headache from the earlier concussion, Sakura slowly looked around the unfamiliar environment.
"Oh you woke up already?" someone said and Sakura turned to see Alice sorting out the medicine cabinet.
"Alice, you are alright!"
"Of course, I just need to rest that's all. I reckon you want to go to your friends now." Alice suggested and Sakura flipped off the blanket and leapt off the bed and walked out the door after waving a cheery goodbye to Alice. As Sakura wandered through the vast hallway, she suddenly felt extremely strange and she tried to head back to the infirmary. Hey body started to hurt In numerous and unusual locations and looking at a nearby reflection from a glass panel nearby; her eyes are flicking between a spiritual blue to her sparkling violet eyes. Her head is pounding hard and her vision is slowly going out of focus before finally the dark tunnel engulfed her vision completely and she collapsed heavily onto the floor.
Back at the Cafeteria, Arthur just wandered out aimlessly along with the rest of the group as they made their way to the infirmary to visit Sakura who they believe was still asleep.
"Oh shoot, I should have saved that Pecha Berry for her," Arthur muttered to himself.
"Look Arthur, I know that you love her and all but you need to control yourself," Mat commented.
"Mat, why do you just speak for yourself, you do the same when I talk to you," Crystal said and as clear as day, Mat's speech melted down like his heart to Crystal. "Looks like I proofed my point." Kyle let out a restrained chuckle that he wisely changed into a cough. Suddenly, the lights in the immeasurable corridor went dark. Using Oliver's tail flame and sunlight seeping in from the windows to help illustrate their path, they continue onwards. Some of them had fear slowly creeping up their spines and when all of a sudden, Jake tripped on something furry and smacked headlong onto the floor.
"What is this stupid thing I tripped over?" Jake growled as he rubbed his busied forehead and out of frustration kicked it hard.
"Wait a minute… why does this 'thing' have fur?" asked Oliver as his tail flame lit up the 'thing' "Arthur, get Alice now!" Alice came out in time to help lug Sakura back onto her bed. As Alice worked franticly, an occasional shock surged across Sakura body. Only Crystal notice while the others saw Sakura move without a logical explanation.
"Looks like she is having a nightmare," Alice commented as she opened the door. "I will be fetching more berries from the new berry garden. Arthur, please avoid standing for too long." As the door closed behind her, Crystal suddenly did 'something' as the rims of the room glowed. Everyone as confused at first but they then recalled a saying: If anything is abnormal, it's most likely magic. Crystal glared at Sakura who suddenly just jerked.
"Do you see it? That blue static electricity!" Crystal exclaimed while the rest just looked at her, bewildered. She irritated started to recite a spell: Say what you say, say what you mean. One thing leads to another, now see what I mean. A blinding flash of light later, everyone see what Crystal meant. Earlier they presumed that Sakura was having a nightmare but now they are seeing a trickle of electricity constantly zapping her. Arthur was trying to wake her up and in his desperation, tried licking her in the face. (This also failed miserably)
"What are you doing?' asked Mat looking at Arthur.
"I had to try my luck." Arthur muttered as he blushed madly and leapt off the table.
"Regardless! We need to give her Charm Berries; this condition is uncommon but known to magic users." Crystal elaborated. "This happens mostly to younglings who just got their full powers. That means Sakura is can do magic without getting tired out easily." Suddenly, Jake raised a notable point. Sakura is naturally allergic to Charm Berries, it often led her to be totally unpredictable and everyone can tell that a disaster would happen within seconds. This first started when Jasmine got a butterfly clip sprinkled with powdered Charm Berry that causes Pok?on's abilities to kick start and played a joke on others until Sakura got some on her nose and went in frenzy.
"Oh yeah… nearly forgot about her allergies," Crystal commented. "But that is the only cure or this will just worsen."
Quite unexpectedly, the ground started to shake and it seemed like Sakura's full powers at starting to peak and out of the blue started to affect the environment around her. Alice burst through the ward's door and got everyone to evacuate. Unknowingly, the earthquake's magnitude grew into a state that the building might just come crashing down.
"Alice! Do you have a Charm Berry?" Crystal asked and Alice did not respond but quickly opened her bag and threw one. Since Crystal was carrying Sakura, she slid into a rough stop and quickly stuffed the Charm Berry into Sakura's mouth. Silence followed soon afterwards.
Several hours later, Sakura opened her eyes. Her vision was still blurry. As her eyes slowly focused, she was feeling refreshed but strangely a little cold. She tried to move but her legs appear to be at a standstill. She looked down and she was encased inside a block of ice. She quickly panicked and looked around to see her friends sleeping and most of them looked like they got beaten up rather badly. Sakura suddenly felt that she had a concussion and when she tried numbing the pain; the ice glowed and then exploded around her thus releasing her without a scratch. The sound of the explosion woke everyone up. Sakura suddenly looked at a clock and to her surprise: it was early morning. Arthur was the first one to tackle her. Her body flew backwards and just before it hit a wall; she stopped in mid-air and slowly returned to her feet. Wow I am using Magic like its second nature, Sakura thought.
"Sakura, are you still a crazy lunatic?" Arthur questioned only earning him an uncomfortable glare from Sakura. "Guess not… the last time I asked that; I got the wind knocked out of me." Sakura was not too offended by Arthur's unintentional comments; she is too contented with her new found abilities. Crystal who also got up hurled a pillow at Arthur. (With Telekinesis)
"Keep it down, love birds!" yelled Crystal out of frustration and tried to go back to sleep. The word 'love birds' made both Arthur and Sakura stare at each other and feel embarrassed. Sakura 'flew' to the top of her bunk bed and went to sleep while Arthur took the pillow that Crystal threw at him and returned it before hitting the hay himself.
They did not feel like they slept long before the first bell sounded in Lavinder Town. Almost on cue, Sakura fell off her bunk bed again and went headlong to the ground but with her new abilities, she stopped for a few seconds before landing softly. Sakura quickly got up and was nearly surprised that she and Arthur were the last to wake up. Sakura attempted to wake him up when something happened to her.
From out of the blue, Sakura felt that she was encased in a sort of cage which is hexagonal and instead of metal bars; it was a strange barrier that is transparent and nearly invisible. Overcame with fear and feeling claustrophobic, Sakura tried screaming for help. Arthur merely changed sides like he could not even hear Sakura at all. Sakura, realizing that the cage is sound proof, did not bother to try again. When she was thinking on how to escape, she felt the cage being lifted up and she lost her balance and toppled over. She inspected the top and noticed that the cage was moving by itself and then an idea hit her: Magic. She charged up slowly while inside the cage and was hoping to explode it open. As she is charging up, she saw four unfamiliar figures standing in a circle: a Vulpix, Golduck, Turtwig and Swablu. A burst of light later, Sakura landed on the rooftop; in the middle of the four.
Sakura had a feeling they all know about Magic and therefore she needs to be more careful. Without warning they all summoned an orb that is all different colors: Red, Blue, Green and Gray. Those orbs interlinked with a glowing white bond. Sakura slowly saw the square formation magic closing in on her and gradually she felt restrained. The square formation emitted a somewhat of a force that is pressing down on her from all sides and administering a heavy shock to her every few seconds. She withered to the ground in pain, unable to move with her front legs that are forcefully attached to her sides. She unintentionally made a bubble shield around her. The energy difference from inside the bubble caused the fire orb to burn out and thus breaking the formation completely. Sakura scrambled to get up to her feet.
"Looks like she will be more troublesome than I first anticipated." Vulpix stated as the rest of the group formed up behind him. "I wonder if she can deal with a battle." Without any further delay, they started to summon more orbs to their sides and they slowly turned into their respective elements. Sakura got a chill and decided to make a break for it. She teleported back down and ran for dear life. When she out in the corridor, she felt for a moment that she was safe and stopped to catch her breath. Fireballs are now flying by dangerously close to her head before she broke into another sprint. Her pursuers are all levitating and starting to use various offensive magic to slow her down. As Sakura skid across the floor to make a sharp turn; she was hit with a wave of water that smack her onto a wall. Ouch! I can't give up; I need to find Crystal. Sakura thought furiously as she got up quickly and continued to flee. A burst of nature grew right in her way and two ferocious plants looked at her as Sakura pulled on her brakes and halted right before them. They were intending to attack at first but Sakura has an unusual ability to understand plants better than others; it helped her to make friends with them and even get their help to slow down her chasers. The plants managed to grab hold of two of her hunters and left them struggling helplessly. As the door to the courtyard came into view, Sakura was wearing a ghost of a smile. She, on the spur of the moment, was propelled forward by a strong gale of wind that she went headlong through the door and slid painfully on the rough ground.
A strange sensation was bubbling inside Sakura as she lifted herself up. Her elemental guardian came out from within here and it spoke with the same mysterious tone. "Sakura, those Pok?on will catch up you eventually! You have to fight no matter how much you want to evade it." Sakura got a sneaking suspicion that the guardian is meant to be her conscience, and she knows that her guardian is right. She then stood her ground and orbs are now orbiting her. When the four came out of the door, they were surprised to see Sakura standing there.
"So decided to stay and fight? Don't worry we will make this quick." Vulpix sneered. "Which one of you wants to have first crack at the little girl?" Vulpix eyed Turtwig and he step forward. Sakura felt uncomfortable facing Turtwig and his brown orbs as water does not do well against earth. Turtwig first sent an earthquake at her causing her to lose her balance and then hurled rocks at Sakura. Sakura remembered the bubble shield that helped her earlier and used it to deflect the incoming rocks. She then used the initial energy of the bubble shield to unleash a water wall. Turtwig narrowly dodged it and he abandoned the use of magic and resolved to regular attacks. Turtwig charged forward and Sakura was caught off guard and was pushed backwards.
"What is going here?" someone asked and they all turn to find Crystal and the rest of Sakura's friends.
"They just attacked me all of a sudden!" Sakura said but before she can further explain she got knocked out with an intense fire attack; leaving her fur smoking.
"This girl is a wanted criminal by Sun-Grove, take a look at this." Vulpix declared boldly and snatched up the necklace that Sakura was wearing; held it up. "This is what she stole. It's the key that unlocks one of the many vaults inside Sun-Grove Castle." Crystal was at a loss of words; unable to explain everything properly without exposing Sakura.
"That key rightfully belongs to her!" someone yelled, Crystal spun around to see that it was Arthur. "She is the true princess of Sun-Grove, not a thief!"
"Arthur what are you doing!" exclaimed Crystal, looking horrified.
"Telling the truth, Crystal! Sakura cannot keep running away forever, she has to admit it one day!" Arthur argued. "I know that you want to protect her from the life you suffered, but like you, she can make her own decisions!" Crystal and Arthur were at a stand-off, they both are now staring at each other with a mixture of anger and concern. Vulpix, the leader of the group: Royal Elite Guards looked at this with seriousness.
"So it's true?" asked Vulpix as he looked at the necklace itself to Sakura. "She is the princess? This is a serious accusation; if it's not true, you could be charged of being her accomplice." Arthur rudely bypassed Crystal and walked up to Vulpix and stared straight into his eyes.
"Why don't you use Magic and find out if it's true, I am staking my life on it." Arthur whispered darkly. Vulpix, taken back by the 'staking my life on it' comment, did as requested. He first went over to Sakura and placed a paw on her forehead and closed his eyes. Secrets beyond believe, truth buried deep; to be sure, show me depths of your mind. The spell's effect was immediate; Vulpix dove deep into Sakura's memories as a spiritual apparition. It all started when Sakura was an egg and in a state that she could hear.
"Doctor! She is really weak!" said a panicking voice.
"This is not good, she might not make it! Quickly we need to at least save the egg or we will lose two lives!"
"Yes sir!" After that, there was a lot of fumbling and whispers. Sounds of a tinkering metal could be heard clearly. The scariest sound to listen to is the heart monitor. It was beating very dangerously slow. The foreboding event was about to happen.
"Doctor! The egg is sa…" The voice was cut off by a wave of panic when the heart monitor when completely flat.
"No… NO! This could not have happen, it shouldn't have happened!" a helpless voice which belonged to Rita. This was soon followed up by a sound of the door closing shut.
"What is the patient's name; I got paperwork to file in…" another sad voice muttered. "She… is the Queen, Lesley."
"Wait… a minute, is this, another egg?" asked the doctor who, with a lot of difficulty, rescued it. "It feels cold, tell Rita to put this in the other incubator." After this, the memories fast forward through time and presumed normal speed at another scene. It was at the old Pok?cademy, when she was first given the necklace.
"Sakura may I have a word with you?" Alice asked and Sakura nodded before hurrying her to an empty corridor.
"I think that you should have this…" Alice clipped the necklace onto Sakura. The same kind that Vulpix had accuses her of stealing. "It belonged to your mother and it's time that I pass it to you."
"Mom…" With that scene, Vulpix retreated back to reality before he intrudes on anything personal.