The first thing Draconix heard was laughter. Everything around him was pitch black, and only the laughter could be heard.

Then there was the image. He was a young kid. Eleven, twelve at most. Around him were various kids, his age or younger. And everyone was laughing.

He tried to move, to change what he knew was going to happen.

The trainer on the other side of the field was the only one not laughing. He ordered his Pokémon to use Icebeam.

Draconix tried to close his eyes but had to watch as Swinub jumped in to block the ice… and got thrown away. The Pokémon cried as it got flung back, defeated by that single blow. The laughter grew in pitch, everyone pointing fingers at Draconix.

The scene spin again, and now he was in an office.

"I am sorry ma'am, but he still stole school property. I won't tell the police, but he will receive proper punishment."

The woman near him nodded, and he felt her eyes on him. She was… sad, angry… and disappointed.

Everything begun to spin, and he found himself alone in the classroom. On his desk were various phrases, written with pens and markers. "Idiot." "Pig-type trainer." "Mr. Know all didn't know this."

"I didn't do anything bad. I had a theory and tested it! How is that wrong?!"

Laughter continued as he rose from his desk. Everyone was looking at him, shapeless shadows with eyes, a cackling mouth and a finger to point.

"Always the smartest." Said a voice "So smart the rest of us were never enough. Always compared to a kid." It was the voice of an older person, at least a teenager "He was always brought up by teachers. Be more like him, study like him… And everyone hated him for that. So well, when he chose to be ridiculous, everyone laughed."

The scene became clear. Draconix was looking at a young girl, two or three years her senior, talking with another girl. He was hidden behind a corner, to not be seen.

"Of course, I remember that. But isn't this going a bit too far?"

The girl slapped the other one. "You know what it's like to be told every day that you are worse than a kid three years younger? You know what it's like to be beaten by a child? I will not let you ruin this."

The other girl sniffed, her hand on her cheek. Draconix was crying. "I did not ask for this! I just love Pokémon and everything about them! Why is that so wrong?"

The girls rose up and he gasped. Swinub was tied to his desk. She had been beaten and something more. To her was tied a small paper. "I don't resist ice."

Draconix gasped and felt the world spin again.

With a scream Draconix rose from his bed. Both Raziel and Gastly were looking at him, startled. The brown-haired teen panted heavily, feeling his heartbeat thunder in his chest like a storm. After a short time, it grew slower.

For a while, no one spoke. Draconix didn't feel like it, and Raziel clearly didn't want to say anything.

After a while, though, it was Raziel that decided to break the silence. "Draconix… Does this happen often?"

"More than I care to admit. That's why I don't like to be in the same room as other people." The young man said with a sigh. "Please don't tell anyone."

"Sure… But is there anything I can do to help?"

Draconix pointed at Gastly "Does he know Dreameater?" Raziel shook his head "Then no."

Raziel closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. "Do you want to talk about it? I have had my share of nightmares, both natural and induced, but that was… different?"

"Induced?"

Raziel nodded "I live near the Pokémon Tower, Gastly come out of it regularly and their favorite game is inducing nightmares. But this is beside the point." He pointed at Draconix "There is something wrong going on with you. Does anyone else know about this?"

"My mother, a few doctors, Blue and Giuls. I don't know if they told anyone else." He sighed "I guess not, if Professor Oak chose me over anyone else." He looked at Raziel 'Fine, why not? He knows anyway. And talking about it can help according to the doctors.' He thought, then begun to speak. "I was born in Pallet, but as a kid I grew up in Johto. There is this town called Blackthorn, up in north-west Johto. Just east of here, in fact. My mother had family there, and after my father's death she wanted to move on."

"I didn't know…"

"Yes, he died when I was just one year old. I don't even remember him." Draconix said "Anyway, I went to Blackthorn pre-Trainer Academy. And I was good. Every teacher said I was going to be the strongest trainer out of Blackthorn once I joined the Academy proper. Good at tests, good fighter… Not so good at making friends."

"You were not good at making friends? I have seen you befriend at least three other trainers on our way here. You befriended me on day one!"

"Yes, this is who I am now, but I wasn't like this back in Blackthorn. I was… too focused to socialize. I spent all day reading, testing fights, and absolutely no time making friends. And when you have no friends, you only have enemies. My teachers were too loud with their praising. And so other students started to hate me."

"Something went even more wrong, right?"

"Yeah. Back then, people just ignored me, but it was no problem. Then one day I entered the Ice Path. I just wanted to see some Ice-types. And it was then that I saw a Swinub fight a Weavile. And win. Ice bounced off him with almost no damage, which is not what is supposed to happen. And I saw other Swinub from his pack do the same. That was when I thought I… had discovered a new type." Draconix shivered "I run back to the academy and started to loudly claim I had found out about this new type. The teachers tried to calm me down and explain a new type can't be discovered so easily, but it was too late. Not only I was convinced, but everyone in the school had heard about it. I was so convinced that I stole a Swinub from the school and used it to fight another Ice-type. In front of all my classmates, and more."

"I am guessing it didn't work."

"No, Swinub got defeated in a single shot. And everyone laughed." Draconix started to cry "I was just a kid, but everyone started to bully me at the same time! Older trainees, my classmates… Even the teachers and my mother were angry for my theft of the Pokémon!" He started to breath heavily, his heart racing "My life became hell. Everyone was openly mean now, since the teachers didn't have my back anymore. After a while, I couldn't go to school anymore."

"So you moved to Pallet."

"Yes, my mother realized there was nothing she could do in Blackthorn for me. I said she got angry, but is not like she hated me or anything. She was my mom after all." He smiled, a sad smile "She looked for a job in Pallet and moved back here, where we still owned my father's house. And that's how I got there."

For a while, no one spoke again. Raziel was thinking, and Draconix sighed again, falling back on his bed. He had opened up like this only once before, with Blue and Giuls. It always felt… refreshing, to tell what happened to a friend.

After a while, Raziel nodded "Well, that's… damn, I don't know what to say. Back in my school I did have a bully, and that hurt a lot, but… Well I can't imagine the entire school hating me." He turned "You know you have friends now, right? That won't happen again. Giuls and Blue are there."

"I know, I know." Draconix said with a smile "Is just my dreams that refuse to move on."

Raziel smiled "I can't really say I know what it feels like to that extent, but I was in a similar situation as a kid. If you ever want to talk again, I am here too."

Draconix nodded "Of course. Friends are for that, aren't they?" He yawned "Anyway, we better get some more sleep."

"Yeah." Raziel turned around "Good night, Draconix."

"Good night, Raziel." He replied. He turned to hide the tears on his face. For a moment he wondered if he should have told the whole truth, then shook his head. How his life in Blackthorn ended was his secret and shame, and his alone.

Giuls didn't know what exactly was going on. Bulbasaur had tied the Clefairy, and now the Pokémon was leading both of them down the mountain. In the wrong direction though.

'Are we supposed to just follow her?' She wondered, yawning. Her plan had been to simply recover the stone and be done with it. Instead, now they were dragging her in a forest on a mountainside in the middle of the night. She looked up at the moon, then turned just in time to see the two had stopped. She looked ahead and gasped. In front of them was a steep cliff, blocked by an old, broken fence. The cliff was at least fifty feet of falling down before reaching the top of the forest below, so at best about sixty feet total.

Giuls shivered looking down. "Nope, I am not going down there."

Bulbasaur looked at her puzzled. "Nope, nope, nope, no heights, no flying, I don't do that. I am not even considering…" The Bulbasaur scoffed and one of her vines tangled Giuls at the waist. She screamed as at once both Clefairy and Bulbasaur jumped down, dragging her with them.

She screamed and screamed, all the way down. Of course, rationally she knew they were floating down slowly, thanks to Clefairy's ability to use the energy of the moon to float. It was still terrifying. It was too close to flight and too close to that crash.

Finally, they reached the bottom. In that moment, when she touched the ground, the girl realized she had not stopped screaming for the entire fall. Clefairy and Bulbasaur both looked at her, as she wiped tears off her face.

"I… I'm sorry." She said sobbing "Please, don't do that again. I don't… I don't like flying or falling. Or heights. Sorry…"

Bulbasaur let her waist go in a far kinder manner than she had taken her, and slowly rubbed her head against the trainer's leg. Giuls could not help but smile, wiping away more tears. It was a surprisingly nice gesture from her starter.

Clefairy waited a moment, then continued walking, followed by the two. They continued for a bit and reached a clearing in the woods… where the Pokémon gasped in shock.

Giuls could tell immediately what was wrong. Unlike most wild Pokémon, Clefairy's were capable of building, even if on a rudimentary level. They would build small hiding places deep in woods or caves, where the clan would live led by a matriarch.

But there was no one here. The "buildings" were destroyed, rocks and woods on the ground, and there wasn't a single Clefairy. The Pink Pokémon started calling, a long, sad cry of help. Bulbasaur was so surprised by how sad the call was, or at least that's how Giuls understood her reaction, that she let her go. The Clefairy begun to run around, moving the rocks and the planks of wood to find where her companions were. There were none. No Clefairy, no Clefable, neither dead or alive.

Giuls looked at the ground and called her in surprise after a few moments. Under the light of the moon it was hard to notice, but she could see a single print. A shoeprint.

"Yes, the swipe was successful." The female agent said, with a smile.

"Excellent, as expected of you. The Game Corner needed new prizes. How many do you have?" Her boss replied. She could not help but smile at the compliment, or what she interpreted as a compliment.

"Fifty… no, forty-nine Clefairy and one Clefable." She said "Some of them were dying. Apparently out first attack with that Pokémon they sent us was a bit too effective."

His boss tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair. "Yes, I got similar report from the swipe on the northern edge of the Safari Zone. Stop using them until further instructions are sent."

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now, send all the captures to Celadon. We will mix them with the stolen goods."

"Yes. Speaking of that, I will also send along the ten Pokémon we stole from a few trainers."

The boss frowned "Stole from trainers? Where?"

"On Route 4 boss. No worries, we made sure it was on the southern edge, to keep inspections away from Mount Moon."

"I hope so. Send them along. How are the preparations going for the heist?"

"We will attack in two days. Can I ask why we waited so long sir?"

"Too many young trainers. Not that I don't trust the recruits we sent, but even the mightiest can be brought down by too many enemies. Speaking of that, you are being sent to a new location."

"What?!" The Lieutenant asked.

"I am sending Domino to take over your duties there. I have a bigger mission for you to take care of. If everything goes right, you will get a promotion. You know what that means."

Ariana smiled. "Yes sir."