Jack opened his eyes slowly, and quickly closed them again; he had a terrible headache, and the bright morning sunlight wasn't as pleasant as usual. However, despite the throbbing behind his eyes, he opened them once more to inspect his surroundings. He was expecting to see his room in the Veilstone Pokémon Centre, but that was not what he saw.
Jack sat straight up, ignoring the pain in his head, and looked around hastily. He was in the hospital, and there was a large machine directly above his head which he only narrowly avoided hitting. He rubbed his head as he remembered exactly how he had gotten that headache.
Jack got out of the hospital bed, and looked around some more; he was alone in the room, except for a figure lying on the floor. As his vision cleared, he realised that it was Lucy; she was fast asleep, and someone had put a blanket over her.
"Lucy," Jack said, walking over and shaking her gently.
The Absol woke quickly. "Jack? You're awake!"
"Yeah, but why am I here? The last thing I remember is... Jason! Is he alright?"
Lucy nodded. "He made a complete recovery. But, there were... complications."
"What kind of complications?" Jack asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
Lucy's eyes shone with concern. "Well, right after you healed him, you passed out; you've been unconscious all night. And..." Lucy got up and walked over to the hospital bed. "Here; see this monitor? They've been scanning you since you fell unconscious."
Jack looked with apprehension at the screen; it had a load of things that Jack didn't understand, but in one corner, there was something he found quite familiar.
Name: Jack Storm.
National #: N/A.
Species: N/A.
Height: 5'11".
Weight: 174 lbs.
Gender: Male.
Ability: Inheritance.
Moves: Counter, Agility, Mach Punch, Psychic, Thunderbolt, Leaf Storm, Extremespeed, Force Palm, Aura Sphere, Close Combat, Healing Wish.
The screen showed other information, but Jack didn't have the strength to read on. He knew exactly what the screen meant; the whole world knew about him, and they probably wanted to take him apart to see what made him tick.
"So; that's that," he sighed. "No more secret."
"Actually," a voice came from behind him.
Jack turned in surprise. "Nurse Joy!"
Nurse Joy smiled. "Yes, Jack Storm. What I was about to say, is that no one other than me has seen that information, and I won't tell anyone; if you really want to keep it a secret."
Jack let out a sigh of relief, but then tensed again. "Thank you, but what about me healing my br... Lucario? Didn't the other nurses see that?"
"No; they don't know what happened, but they don't think it was you. All they saw was a miraculous recovery, and a boy fainting from physical and mental exhaustion."
"Why are you being so kind to me?" Jack asked. "With my powers, I could be dangerous. For all you know, I could go on a destructive rampage any minute."
Nurse Joy understood exactly what he was saying, and why he was saying it. "I admit that you are unusual, but I try not to judge people by their abilities; I judge them by their actions. And from what I've seen of you, I'd say that you're a nice young man. I also want to thank you for saving my sister, and everyone else in Eterna City."
Jack smiled in relief. "You're welcome, but please do keep it a secret; I'm just not ready to let the world know about me yet. Oh, by the way; where are the rest of my Pokémon?"
Nurse Joy smiled too. "They've been waiting in the hall ever since they found out about what happened; they would've stayed in here, but it would have disturbed your rest. The only reason we let this Absol here stay was to keep watch over you; that, and she gave me the puppy-Growlithe eyes."
"That sounds like Lucy alright," Jack said, scratching the Absol behind her ears. "Thanks for everything, Nurse Joy; tell your sister I said 'you're welcome'."
With that, Jack and Lucy left the room, and were immediately swarmed by their friends. With difficulty, Jack managed to herd them outside; then came the questions.
"Okay," he said over the hubbub. "One by one, please."
"Uncle Jack," Wendy asked. "What happened?"
Jack recounted the events of the night, up the point when he lost consciousness; he left out certain details though, such as his unexpected trip to the Moor of Icirrus and the direct implications thereof. By the time he was finished with the story, they were all quite hungry, so they had some breakfast at a local café.
"So," Cap asked, nibbling at a biscuit. "What's to stop that Greninja just coming back, and stealing another piece of the meteors?"
Jack sipped at his tea. "Well, it was pretty beat-up; I'm not even sure it'll be able to get back to Cyrus."
"How badly hurt was it?" Toby asked, spearing a sausage.
"Pretty badly," Jack said, in a way that dissuaded further inquiry.
"And, you have no recollection of doing that damage?" Solomon asked.
Jack sighed. "No; I remember chasing Greninja into the hills, but it's all a blur after that until it was over. What I don't get is how I beat it at all; I just don't have that kind of power."
Jason used his paw-spike to cut up a pancake. "Well, I sure wish that whatever happened, had happened sooner; I might have avoided a trip to the emergency ward."
"Speaking of which," Jack said. "How are you feeling?"
Jason grinned. "I actually feel better than I've felt in a long time; whatever you did to me, it worked wonders."
"From what I can gather," Jack said, thinking back to the hospital monitor, "I think it was a move called Healing Wish."
"If it's a move, then it a pretty good one. But still, I can't help but wonder why you had that power spike, and learned a powerful new move in the same night."
Solomon sipped at a cup of milk. "I think it might have happened because of you, Jason."
"How so?" Jason asked.
"Well, remember when the Predator had frozen all of us, and Jack fought her alone? He received a burst of power then; not quite as big as this one, but substantial nonetheless. And also, from what you told me, Jack learned Extremespeed when Wendy was in trouble in Eterna City; another substantial increase in power."
Jack realized what Solomon was driving at. "So, you think my power spikes when someone close to me is in danger."
Jason shook his head. "I was already unconscious by the time the power-boost kicked in. And what about the blank patch in his memory?"
No one had an answer for that, except Jack.
"I know why," Jack said in a brooding tone of voice. "I guess I've known for a while, but I don't like it. It wasn't any protective instinct that fueled the spikes, it was anger; righteous anger I can only hope, but anger nonetheless. I wasn't protecting you; I was avenging you."
His appetite gone, Jack got up and left the café, leaving his team behind. He knew that extreme emotions could increase someone's strength, like those cases where mothers could lift cars off their children, but he'd hoped that his power was reacting to a more benign emotion than sheer rage.
The mere fact that his anger could make him stronger would've been fine, except that anger could also take him over completely. He hadn't told his team, but he hadn't just injured Greninja; while he was in that state of rage, he had beaten it to death. The thought made Jack sick to his stomach.
However, before He could wander too far from the cafe, he heard someone call his name. He turned, and saw Nicholas running towards him.
"Jack," the trainer panted. "I've been looking all over for you; what happened? I heard you were in the hospital!"
"It was nothing major," Jack said, relieved for the interruption.
"Going to the hospital isn't 'nothing major'; what happened?"
"I just got into a fight," Jack said. "Nothing major."
"If you say 'nothing major' one more time," Nicholas shook his fist in jest.
"But I keep telling you," he said in a goading manner. "It was nothing ma..."
"That's it!" Nicholas said. "I challenge you to a Pokémon battle! And if I win, you have to tell me everything."
Jack laughed at this. "I suppose it was only a matter of time. Well, I have nothing better to do; I'll go and get my team. Meet me at the dojo."
"At the very least," he thought to himself, "It might take my mind off last night."
Maylene was more than happy to let them use one of their outdoor battlefields, with the condition that they tried not to destroy it. With that in mind, they took their positions.
They decided on a quick battle, so two-on-two with no substitution seemed reasonable. Neither side knew what the other's choices were going to be, but they both had some predictions.
"He'll be expecting you to use Jason," Solomon observed. "So he'll probably use Sunspot first, and his other choice will almost certainly be Scatterbolt."
"Thanks for the predictions," Jack replied, "But I don't think I'll rely on Type-advantage today; his team is pretty inexperienced compared to us, and I want to take the chance to give the younger members of the team some combat experience."
Jack didn't say it out loud, but he was positive that they would win, even with the younger Pokémon; after last night however, he didn't want to get overconfident. Besides, apart from wanting to give the younger Pokémon some experience, he also had a theory to test.
Jack and Nicholas released their Pokémon at the same time; Nicholas, true to Solomon's predictions, sent out Sunspot. Jack, to the confusion of his opponent, sent out Wendy first.
[Wendy (Kirlia) Ability: Trace. Moves: Confusion, Magical Leaf, and Hypnosis.]
"Hey," Nicholas said. "Aren't you going to use Jason?"
Jack shook his head. "One, he's still recuperating. Two, if I did, this battle wouldn't be half as fun; or long."
Nicholas shrugged, and called his attack. "Sunspot, use Fire Punch!"
The Playful Pokémon dashed towards Wendy, fist raised. However, the Emotion Pokémon knew what to do; as Toby had taught her, she used Confusion on the ground, lifting herself off of it.
Using this rudimentary levitation, she dodged Sunspot's Fire Punch with relative ease. The Monferno watched in disbelief as Wendy floated over him, and didn't even think about dodging when she then used Magical Leaf on him, scoring several hits.
Sunspot got over his astonishment quickly, and used Ember to try and knock her to the ground; however, she simply floated out of the way, and landed another Magical Leaf.
By this point Sunspot was not a happy Pokémon; he launched himself into the air, and tried to land a Mach Punch, but Wendy used the opportunity to land Hypnosis instead. Sunspot dropped to the ground, fast asleep.
Wendy took the chance to land several more Magical Leaves, all at close range. However, none of them expected what happened next; as the Kirlia went to use Magical Leaf again, Sunspot let out a violent sneeze, unleashing a burst of Ember.
Wendy, her face now covered with soot, stared at the still sleeping Pokémon for a second, and then let out a small giggle.
"Yeah," Nicholas said sheepishly. "I hate it when that happens; I wake up in the middle of the night, and my face looks like a Gastly."
At this, Wendy broke out into laughter, rolling on the ground with mirth. Her laughter soon proved infectious, and everyone started joining in. Eventually, the noise woke the sleeping Monferno, and Sunspot could only wonder what had happened that was so funny.
Once the laughter had died down, the battle resumed with Sunspot using Ember. Wendy used Confusion to deflect it, but the Monferno kept up the pressure with Fury Swipes. Wendy levitated around, barely dodging each Fury Swipes as it came, but then Sunspot switched gears with Fire Punch, landing a direct hit.
Wendy was flung backwards the attack, but caught herself with Confusion before she hit the ground.
"Wendy," Jack exclaimed. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Uncle Jack," she replied.
Not entirely reassured, Jack called out the next move. This, involved Wendy using Confusion to stir up a could of dust, and fling it at her opponent. The improvised attack landed a resounding hit, effectively blinding Sunspot, and leaving him open to a direct blast from Wendy's Confusion.
The Monferno took the hit, and used it to clear away the dust. He then charged in with Mach Punch, scoring another hit, but then Wendy grabbed his fist. While holding on tight to her opponent, Wendy let loose another blast of Confusion, at close range this time. Then, just to make sure, she used Confusion again to fling the Monferno across the field. Sunspot was out for the count.
Nicholas recalled his partner, and then addressed Jack. "What's the deal? I thought you said she'd never been in a battle before!"
"She hasn't," Jack replied. "And she needs a rest now."
"No I don't," Wendy said. "I feel fine!"
"I know," Jack said telepathically, "And that's what worries me. Take a break now and if you really want to battle some more, then we can have a nice, rigorous training session later."
"Alright, Uncle Jack," Wendy agreed, then went and sat in the benches with the others; throwing in a large yawn for good measure.
The two trainers agreed to call it a tie, and brought out their second Pokémon; Nicholas indeed brought out Scatterbolt, and Jack called on Solomon.
[Solomon (Abra) Ability: Magic Guard. Moves: Teleport, Shadow Ball, Ember, Thundershock, and Powder Snow.]
"Jack," the Abra asked. "Why are you choosing me?"
"I want to see how you do in a real battle," Jack replied.
"Fine, but know this; I don't like to fight."
With his objection out of the way, Solomon settled into a sitting position, and waited.
Scatterbolt knew one thing about Abra; they know Teleport, but not much else. He decided to attack first and ask questions later, so he fired off a Signal Beam.
Solomon dodged the attack with Teleport, disappearing from one place and reappearing behind Scatterbolt. However, before the Abra could take advantage of his position, the Light Pokémon followed up with Discharge; a dozen bolts of electricity arcing across the field.
Solomon couldn't Teleport away in time, and so took a direct hit. Scatterbolt took the opportunity to unleash Signal Beam on the defenseless Abra, scoring another direct hit; a super-effective one at that.
Jack knew that Solomon couldn't take much more of that, and he considered pulling him out as well, but Solomon though of that before his trainer.
"Do not even think about it, Jack. I will not be defeated that easily," the Abra telepathed.
"If you say so."
Solomon got up, and used Teleport to get behind Scatterbolt. The Light Pokémon quickly struck behind himself with Iron Tail, but Solomon wasn't there anymore. Scatterbolt looked around, to see Solomon floating above him, holding a Shadow Ball.
As cool as a cucumber, Solomon dropped the Shadow Ball onto his opponent, but the Ampharos used Thunder Punch to deflect it back at him. Solomon used Teleport to avoid his own attack, but fell prey to another Discharge; Scatterbolt then followed up with a devastating Thunder Punch, tossing the Abra across the field.
"Are you going to be defeated that easily now?" Jack asked.
Solomon got slowly to his feet, and then began to glow. "Do not bet on it!"
The entire field was filled with a white glow, and out of it stepped a new Pokémon; a Kadabra.
[Solomon (Kadabra) Ability: Magic Guard. Moves: Teleport, Shadow Ball, Ember, Thundershock, Powder Snow, and Psychic.]
Solomon cracked his knuckles. "Let us end this."
Without any further warning, the Psi Pokémon unleashed it's newest move; Psychic. He picked his opponent up effortlessly, and slammed him into the ground with his telekinetic powers. And that was only the tip of the iceberg.
Before Scatterbolt could get his breath back, Solomon used Teleport to get behind him, and then followed up with Powder Snow, scoring another direct hit. Scatterbolt tried to strike back with Discharge, but Solomon used Teleport again; the last thing Scatterbolt saw before he was knocked unconscious was a Shadow Ball being dropped on him.
Solomon used Psychic to float to the ground, then folded his arms and went off to read a book.
Nicholas watched Solomon leave, then addressed Jack. "Well, I guess that's that; I lost. You're really good at this."
"Thanks," Jack said with a smile. "But I'm not the one doing the fighting."
Jack sat in bed that night, thinking about the events of the last twenty-four hours, but he couldn't come to any meaningful conclusions. He could only hope that Cyrus would be defeated, and that he had really made the right choice; yet for all he knew, that might not have been the big choice anyway. However, he was pretty sure that it was.
Jack had decided not to tell his team about his trip to Unova; it would raise too many questions that he couldn't answer. All he knew, was that this was one adventure he wouldn't forget any time soon.
He glanced at the clock, and was mildly surprised to see that it was almost 11:30. Had he really been lying here that long? He decided to put the question in the back of his mind, and get some sleep. Then suddenly, it hit him; with all the excitement, he hadn't even thought about it until now. The excitement made him sit up in bed.
"I was on Keldeo the Critic!" Jack exclaimed, grinning like an idiot.
Jack: And I hope it won't be the last time either. It was certainly fun working with Keldeo, and it was definitely one of the high points of my career.
Me: Anyway; this chapter was, like I said before, a continuation of the first chapter of 'Keldeo the Critic: Season Three.' That review, and this chapter, both reference 'Conquering the Dark' by AuraWielder; his stories can be somewhat dark, but are magnificent pieces nonetheless. I suggest that you check them out, and Keldeo the Critic as well.
Jack: See you next time.
