I had vague memories of Bianca and Kenya carrying me, Pignite helped them. They carried me all the way to Castelia City. My mind wandered. They carried me into a pokemon center. Before I knew it, I was in bed. Pignite sat down on the floor by the bed. Kenya paced. Bianca was nowhere to be seen. I shivered, the blanket didn't warm me up at all.
Are you alright? Pignite's voice made me flinch. I rested my arm on my forehead. Kenya sat down, messing with her hair. I closed my eyes, drifting off. When I woke up, the chill was gone. I rolled out of the bed. Pignite jerked awake. Kenya was sleeping on the floor. I smiled at Pignite and nudged Kenya with my foot. She groaned, rolling over. I got up and led Pignite out of the pokemon center. We wandered around the quiet Castelia streets. We ended up on one of the docks. I sat down, stifling a yawn. Pignite gazed out to the bay.
"I wonder if I can talk to all of you," I said. Pignite turned to me. The thought seemed stupid in retrospect. I let out my other pokemon, one by one. Pidove, Munna, Pansage, and Tirtuoga. We chatted amongst ourselves for a while. It was around 4 am when I returned to the pokemon center. Kenya was standing outside, looking around. "You good?" I called out.
"Where have you been?" She ran to meet me.
"Just walking around."
"Are you okay?"
"I guess." I thought about the thing I saw on Skyarrow bridge. It must've been a pokemon. I couldn't help but think of it as something else. It didn't look particularly horrible. The feeling it gave me was different. Id seen powerful pokemon but the feeling that thing instilled in me. It was more than fear. It felt like an insatiable desire, a hunger. I felt the familiar chill under my skin. Kenya nudged me.
"Come on." We returned to our room. I offered to swap places with Kenya but she stubbornly refused. She was asleep on the floor in minutes. I fiddled with my bag. I pulled some clothes out and spare poke balls. I was organizing potions when I saw it at the bottom of the bag. A ball. A translucent ball about twice the size of my fist. I tapped it, it was hard as a rock. I picked it up, the surface was cold. It felt strangely familiar. I stared into it, despite it being translucent, I couldn't see through it. I focused, leaning forward. Its face appeared, yellow eyes shining. Kenya shook me. "What are you doing?" I dropped the ball, wiping my eyes. I had been crying. "You've been holding that ball for like ten minutes." I looked down at the ball. "Andrew?" I tossed the ball into my bag.
"I'm good. Just dozed off for a minute." Kenya furrowed her brow.
"You looked awake to me." She sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Where's Bianca?" I asked. Kenya tapped her chin.
"In her room probably. She doesn't seem like the early morning type." She paused to yawn. "Frankly, neither am I."
"Why don't you have a room?" I started packing my things. I tried not to look at the ball. Whatever it was, it felt important. I thought about asking Juniper or possibly Lenora about it. Kenya shrugged.
"Well. I was worried about you of course! You passed out and it was scary!" I pulled my bag onto my shoulders and forced a smile.
"I appreciate it." I got up. "You ready?"
"Yeah, I guess," I called Bianca's xtransceiver as we walked out of the pokemon center. She picked up but the screen was blurry.
"Hey, Andrew!" I barely heard her voice over the winds. "How are you doing?"
"I'm good," I said. The Castelia streets were packed. I tried to remember where the gym was as we navigated the crowd.
"What? Hold on! I gotta go!" Bianca hung up. It took us about an hour to find the gym. We ended up getting advice from a woman. She had reddish hair. She wore a strange blue outfit.
"This is it!" She exclaimed. A few people were standing outside of the gym. The woman walked away without another word.
"Hey, it's Skyla!" Someone in the crowd shouted. Kenya and I watched her disappear into the crowd.
"Isn't she a gym leader?" Kenya asked.
"I guess." I walked up to the gym, ignoring the strange looks from the other people standing around. I pulled on the door. It was locked.
"You have to wait your turn." The guy standing closest to the door said.
"Uh, alright then." We maneuvered around outside the group of people waiting. After a few minutes, Kenya started to grumble.
"Do we really have to wait for all these people? Most of them are gonna lose anyway!" The other trainers gave us foul looks... Kenya hadn't bothered to whisper her opinion. I crossed my arms and didn't bother to say anything. I didn't feel up to much of anything today. It was ten minutes later when the door opened. A girl walked out with a big grin on her face. She ran off into the crowd. A tall blonde man peeked out.
"Who would like to go next?"
"Us!" Kenya immediately shouted. The other trainers started yelling about who came first and how Kenya and I were the last ones to show up. The man seemed disinterested. He pointed at a guy standing to his left.
"Why don't you come in." The guy closest to the door stepped forward.
"Sir! I was here before him!" The gym leader wiped his forehead.
"Why didn't you say so. You come on then."
"Actually, I was here before him!" Kenya shouted.
"Oh. Why didn't you say so. You—"
"She's lying!" The guy in the front turned to Kenya. The gym leader didn't say anything for a moment.
"I'll let you all figure this out." He closed the door. Most of the other trainers groaned. Kenya laughed. I was tired of this.
"Why don't we just battle and let that decide," Kenya walked over to the guy in the front. "If you win, you go first. If I win, he goes." She gestured over to me.
"Fine then."
"What about us?" One of the other trainers asked.
"Forget you!" Kenya hissed. The shouting started up again. I watched silently. The image of that thing appeared in my mind again. My bag seemed heavier. I felt a cold sweat. My breath caught. Kenya looked over at me, worry plain on her face. Somehow, I knew its name. As if it was placed in my head. Kyurem.