Hello all! Here is the second chapter I promised. I hope we enjoy.

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I choose you, chapter 106.

The Pillar of Light

Yamaguchi sat balled up on an armchair in his room that he had dragged by the window. He looked outside their room window at the rain. Eevee slept curled up in his lap as he stroked her fur. Tsukki was napping on their bed, lulled to sleep by the comforting sound of the rain.

Their room was three stories up and faced out towards the desert. All he could see from their window was the vast desert that reached towards the way they'd be going once the storm passed. There was something calming about sitting in a dry room as rain poured outside. It made Yamaguchi feel safe and fortunate. During the day he quite liked rainstorms and enjoyed watching lightning from the window. It was only at night that it could be a problem for him.

The sound of a far off thunder storm could lull him to sleep but when a storm came overhead it would always jolt him awake. Yamaguchi wondered if the storm above them would actually develop into a thunderstorm like the forecast predicted or if it would just stay as rain. Yamaguchi's eyes examined the view out the window as this passed his mind.

It was still light outside and easy to see despite the dark clouds overhead. In the far distance he noticed something quite strange. There was a large building out in the middle of the desert. At first he was shocked to see a lone building in such a desolate place but then he recalled how Kuroo and Kenma had told him about the abandoned power plant. When they had seen it on their trek it had been so far away, just a speck in the horizon, but now they were much closer and it looked almost different. Perhaps he was seeing it from a different angle now.

The building was still a ways off but if Yamaguchi had some binoculars he wondered if he'd be able to get a good look at it. Not that he was interested in the place, it was just something to look at amongst the vast desert. From where he sat, in the small room, and with the dark storm pouring outside the building really did look abandoned. Yamaguchi studied the building for a long while for any sign of life but it really did seem abandoned. Perhaps it was now home to the pokemon of the desert.

Curled in a ball with Eevee on his back, Yamaguchi had fallen asleep on the arm chair. Yachi's delicate knock woke up Tsukki who then gently shook Yamaguchi awake.

"Yachi is here," Tsukishima mumbled. His voice was still groggy with sleep.

"Oh, what time is it?" Yamaguchi yawned as he sat up in the chair.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize you were sleeping?" Yachi gasped, standing just inside their room.

"It's not a problem," Yamaguchi insisted as he placed Eevee on the chair and stood up. "Is it time to get ready for dinner?"

Yachi gave a small nod. "If we don't start soon then we won't be done until late."

"Right," Yamaguchi agreed before releasing a loud yawn. "I think tomato berry pasta should be quick and easy to make."

"Sounds delicious," Yachi said with a smile as she and Yamaguchi made their way out of the room.

"Make sure you are downstairs in thirty minutes!" Yamaguchi told Tsukki before leaving.

This time around it was just Yachi and Yamaguchi making dinner. Hinata had opted to stay back in his room and review his training with Kuroo. Tomato berry pasta was another Yamaguchi family special recipe. The sauce was fresh and delicious and easy to make. It was a bit spicy but just the right thing to eat after a hard day training.

Yachi and Yamaguchi quietly worked on the meal as they watched the latest news on the hostel's TV. Yamaguchi wasn't the best at keeping up with the news but with the storm that was about to hit them he thought keeping an eye on it wouldn't hurt. With how nervous Yachi was about it, it seemed she agreed.

"...and in the world news, it seems that several confidential documents have gone missing from the Alola region.," The female news anchor on the TV spoke seriously as she addressed the camera. "The documents were research done by The Aether Foundation that had been confiscated over a decade ago when the foundation had been outed as an evil team themselves." As the lady spoke a torch like symbols flashed on the screen and under it read Aether Foundation.

Yamaguchi's attention went from the lettuce he was chopping for their salad to the TV. It was rare for Alola to come up in the couldn't help but feel like he recognised that symbols and the name Aether Foundation.

"It seems along with the documents the Sun Flute has also gone missing but the Moon Flute was fortunately salvaged before it too could be stolen," The male anchor said solemnly. "Officials now have the Moon Flute in custody until further notice."

"Officials are asking that if anyone knows anything of where these stolen items may be to contact you nearest Officer Jenny," The lady anchor said. "Now, over to Jerry with tonight's weather forecast."

Yamaguchi's eyes fell from the TV to the lettuce he had stopped cutting. He had heard of the Sun Flute before. They learned about it in school. It was a sacred item in Alola. Who could have taken it? And the name Aether Foundation, he knew that name but he couldn't recall from where.

Yamaguchi sat for a long moment gazing at his lettuce. All that he just heard from the TV spun through his head. On top of all that had happened to them here now there was trouble going down in his home region. He couldn't help but worry for his family.

"Yamaguchi… Yamaguchi!" Yachi spoke loudly as she addressed her friend.

Yamaguchi jumped on the spot causing Yachi to jump as well. Blinking several times he turned to look at Yachi. She held a tomato berry in her hand as she looked at him in concern.

"Are you okay, Yamaguchi?" Yachi asked, taking a step closer to get a better look at him.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine," Yamaguchi stuttered, averting his eyes for only a moment. "I was just thinking I guess. Nothing to worry about."

Yachi's brow furrowed as she studied him a moment longer. "Well, do you think we have enough Tomato berries for the sauce?" she asked, pointing to the pile of berries she had already cut up.

"That maybe two more and then that should do it," Yamaguchi replied before turning back to the head of lettuce on his cutting board.

Yachi gave a nod before she too returned to her task. The two worked quietly for a moment. Yamaguchi could hear the new anchor mention something about a tournament in Kanto so it seemed like they were done with the coverage about Alola. He carried on with dinner keeping one ear open but the news channel never went back to the topic of the Aether Foundation or the Sun Flute.

Dinner came and went. Yamaguchi had meant to mention what he had heard on the news to his friends but it slipped his mind when Hinata nearly spilled his whole plate of pasta on Tsukki's lap. There was an uproar at their table that wiped the news from his mind and before long dinner was over and Yamaguchi found himself once again on the large armchair in his room.

Yamaguchi sat with Eevee asleep on his lap as he looked out the window. It was dark now and the rain was pouring outside. He could only make out the first few feet from the hotel due to the lights but after that it was complete darkness. Thunder and lightning had yet to hit the oasis so only the sound of rain could be heard. Now that things were quiet once more his mind wandered back to the news from earlier.

Tsukishima sat quietly on his bed reading from his tablet. Musharna floated fast asleep beside the bed. The room was dead quiet aside from the pounding rain. The worry Yamaguchi felt began to build up in him.

"So, are you going to tell me what's bothering you or not?" Tsukishima asked, his voice cutting through the silence like a knife through bread.

Yamaguchi gave a great jump causing Eevee to almost fall from his lap. "T-Tsukki, what are you talking-"

"You're on edge again," Tsukishima cut him off. "Are the dreams back?"

Yamaguchi turned in the chair, rested his chin on the cushioned backrest and looked at Tsukki. "I've not had any dreams at all since Musharna started sleeping beside me."

Tsukishima sent him a skeptical look.

"It's true!" Yamaguchi sighed. His sleep had been completely dreamless lately. "I just heard something on the news today," he sighed.

Tsukishima lifted an eyebrow in interest. "Was it about the evil team?" he asked.

"It was about an evil team," Yamaguchi nodded. "But not the one here."

Tsukishima looked puzzled about this answer.

"The news today mentioned that some confidential documents have been taken by someone back in Alola," Yamaguchi explained. "Have you ever heard of the Aether Foundation?"

"No," Tsukishima said, shaking his head. "I don't think I have."

Yamaguchi gave a long sigh as he slipped off the chair and joined Tsukki on the bed. "I feel like I have heard of that name from somewhere but I can't remember where. Like, maybe it was something my parents talked about once a long time ago."

"So, do they think the Aether Foundation stole these documents or something?" Tsukishiam asked, allowing Yamaguchi to cozy up close to him.

"According to the news these documents were created by the Aether foundation over a decade ago," Yamaguchi replied, resting his head on Tsukki's shoulder. He peared at Tsukki's tablet screen as Tsukishima looked up the term Aether Foundation.

One the tablet screen the same torch-like emblem appeared along with a short description of who the group was. Yamaguchi did his best to read the article over Tsukki's shoulder. His free hand absentmindedly stroked Eevee's soft fur as she snoozed in his lap.

"Looks like this group disbanded over a decade ago," Tsukishima hummed.

"Do you think they could be at large again?" Yamaguchi asked, feeling uneasy. "Do you think the team here is…"

"I highly doubt the team that's been plaguing Kalos has anything to do with the Aether Foundation," Tsukishima cut in, knowing what was on his boyfriend's mind. "It says here that their leader, Lusamine, had spent the past decade devoting her life to protecting Pokemon and making sure the atrocities that her foundation did do not happen again," as he spoke he pointed to a paragraph near the end of the page. Next to the paragraph was the picture of a beautiful woman with long blond hair.

"Does it say what she and her team did?" Yamaguchi asked, scanning the page once more.

"I can't find anything here," Tsukishima hummed. "It seems it's something that is being kept under wraps but whatever it was over a decade ago. You and I would have been toddlers."

Yamaguchi tried to rack his brain. Had something gone down in Alola over a decade ago? "I do remember a time when I was a kid where I was told to stay inside. I can't remember for how long but my mom and grandparents said something bad happened and we had to stay inside. But I can't remember much other then that."

Tsukishima gave a quiet nod. He could still see that Yamaguchi was worried.

"The news also said that the Sun Flute had gone missing as well," Yamaguchi sighed, abandoning Tsukki's shoulder and flopping onto his back. "Remember learning about it in school?"

"Yeah, I do recall learning about that as one of Alola's sacred artifacts," Tsukishiam replied. "But I can't recall what it was used for."

"Me too," Yamaguchi released a long drawn out sigh.

The room went silent once more. Only the sound of the pounding rain could be heard.

"I'm worried about back home," Yamaguchi admitted.

"We can call our families tomorrow if you want," Tsukishima replied, placing his tablet on the side table and laying down. "But I'm sure they're fine."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Yamaguchi rolled close to Tsukki.

Tsukishima flipped off his lamp before wrapping an arm around Yamaguchi's waist. They both exchanged a gentle goodnight kiss before settling into bed for good. The loud pattering of the rain lulled both trainers to sleep. While Tsukishima dreamt of a nice picnic with his boyfriend, Yamaguchi's sleep was dreamless.

A loud crashing boom was what woke Yamaguchi up. He nearly rolled out of the bed as the thunder clapped from above. Eevee had someone wormed her way between himself and Tsukki. Both Eevee and Tsukki were sleeping silently as another boom shook the room.

Yamguchi rolled onto his back. He peered up at the ceiling quietly. A flash of lightning lit the room and a moment later another boom of thunder sounded off. Yamaguchi knew he wasn't going to be able to get to sleep until the storm passed over the oasis.

With every boom he gave a small involuntary jump and after the third crash of thunder he relocated himself to the large armchair by the window. There was no point in waking up the others by accident with his jumps and if he looked out the window he knew he'd be less inclined to feel startled by the thunder.

Yamaguchi sat in the large armchair with this back to the backrest and his legs drawn up to his chin. He looked out the window, not looking at anything in particular. It was dark and only when lightning flashed across the sky was he able to see anything. The rain poured aggressively outside as the sky put on a light show.

Looking out the window really did help Yamaguchi through storms like this at night. There was something about seeing the flashes of lightning and hearing the thunder that startled him a lot less. He would see a flash then count to see how long it took for the thunder to sound off. He once heard somewhere that the time between the lighting flash and the rumble of thunder told you how far away the storm currently was from where you were. He had no clue if this was true but if it was true then the storm was slowly moving out from above the Oasis and over to where the power plant was.

Yamaguchi took to studying the vast desert as best as he could between each strike of lighting. As the minutes ticked by it really did seem like the lighting and thunder was moving out towards the desert. The rain still pounded aggressively from above but the crashes of thunder became more distant as it moved on.

Before long Yamaguchi watched as the lightning flashed in long lines across the sky. Every now and then it almost looked like the lines of light would strike the ground. It was right after one of these strikes that Yamaguchi noticed something strange in the distance. There were small lights, like that you might see from the window of a house or a building, off in the distance.

Yamaguchi sat upright as he peared carefully out the window. He squinted his eyes as he tried to make out what the lights were. At first he thought they may have been from the lightning but the lights were stationary and consistent in size. He leaned closer to the window, his nose almost pressed up against the hard glass.

It was hard to see well with the heavy rain splattering against the glass of the window. The small lights he saw way out in the distance looked unassuming and innocent but Yamaguchi knew that this desert was desolate. Could someone be stranded out there in the storm? He looked to see if maybe the lights moved like one would if trying to signal someone but they didn't. It was when another flash of lightning illuminated the desert that Yamaguchi realized the lights were coming from the power plant.

Yamaguchi sat back in mild bewilderment before pressing his nose to the glass once again. The power plant was abandoned. There shouldn't be any lights on, right? Perhaps he had been mistaken. He squinted out the window, his eyes glued on the lights.

With another flight of lighting Yamaguchi was sure that the lights were indeed from the power plant. He sat in confusion for a long moment. Should he tell someone what he saw? Maybe power plants lit up like this during storms. There was also the chance that it could be electric Pokemon at play but the lights didn't move like a living creature would.

Yamaguchi sat there fascinated by the anomaly. If what Kuroo said was correct then no one should be at the power plant but from where Yamaguchi sat the place was lit up as clear as day. The lightning storm was inching closer and closer to the plant with each moment and as it moved and the lightning flashed, Yamaguchi got a better view of the power plant. Perhap it was from his paranoia after the news he had watched earlier but he felt inclined to watch just in case something did happen.

Yamaguchi's breathing became shallow with concentration. Somewhere in the back of his brain he knew he was being ridiculous, sitting here and watching the power plant like this. There was just something so mysterious about light being on in a building that shouldn't have lights on.

Once again the desert became illuminated by a giant flash of lighting but this time the lightning didn't just travel across the sky. This time the lighting struck the power plant. Yamaguchi jumped back as he watched the line of light hit the power plant and a moment later he felt terror rush though him as a blast of energy seemed to release back into the sky.

The light that erupted from the power plant was not like that of lightning but a deep blue purple color he'd never seen before. It shot into the sky like some sort of laser blast. Not a sound could be heard from the blast but the small hostel room where he sat became illuminated with the light from the bright beam of light. Yamaguchi watched in silent horror as it shot into the sky, making a hole in the clouds. As he watched terror settled in his stomach. The terror he felt was familiar to him. It felt exactly like the terror he experienced in his dreams.

Just as the terror washed over him, a jolt of pain rushed through his body. His vision went white as he released a small shout. He curled in on himself and rolled off the chair and onto the floor. It hurt, his chest hurt so much. It felt like someone was trying to split him open with a hot knife. It stung and burned at the same time. He groaned in agony but just as swift as it came, the pain stopped.

Yamaguchi sat panting on the floor. The room was dead quiet aside from the pounding rain. Yamaguchi caught his breath as he tried to understand what just happened. His body and chest felt just fine now though he was drenched in cold sweat. He shakily pulled himself back into the large chair. When he looked out the window the pillar of light was gone along with the lights of the power plant.

Yamaguchi's shaking slowly subsided as he looked out the window. Indeed, the small lights he had seen from earlier were nowhere to be seen. He was so sure the lights of the powerplant had been on but now they were definitely off. Had that been a dream? He wasn't beside his bed so maybe he had fallen asleep in the chair and Musharna hadn't been able to eat his dreams.

Yamaguchi slowly took in a breath and released it. No, he had definitely been awake that whole time but what had he witnessed? Whatever it was, it was now over. He had heard of strong electric type Pokemon duking it out during thunderstorms. Could that have been it? It must have. It was the only logical reason for a beam of light like that. But what about the pain he felt?

Yamaguchi was confused and tired. He knew if he sat here in this chair and looked out the window he wouldn't get any sleep. The thunder had passed so he should be able to get to bed now. With a long sigh he pulled himself out of the chair and made his way to the bathroom.

As Yamaguchi passed the bed he failed to take notice of Musharna who sat floating in her normal spot. If he had taken the time to look at her he'd have noticed that she was quite awake now. Her large round red eyes were fully open and fixed on the power plant for she too had witnessed the anomaly. Her psychic power was drawn to it for it was no normal blast of light.

By the time Yamaguchi returned to bed Musharna had closed her eyes and gone back to sleep. He tucked himself into bed, scooping Eevee into his arms. After such an event he was exhausted. The sound of the rain and the warmth of Tsukki beside him lulled Yamaguchi back into a deep dreamless sleep once more.

Author Note:

Oh my! What was it that our Yamaguchi had witnessed? Even Musharna had a reaction to it! Could it have anything to do with the evil team? Or maybe it was a legendary Pokemon! What about the Aether Foundation? What could be going down in Alola? Will our two lovers be able to handle the new development? Stay tuned to find out that and more.

Hey all! As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read this story and getting this far into it. Thank you to all who have left kudos, followed, bookmarked and left comments and reviews. I really appreciate the feedback from you all.

I don't know how many of you guys follow the games but I am very excited for Pokemon Snap, The Diamond and Pearl remakes and the new Pokemon Legends game. So much to look forward to. I have been such a big fan of Pokemon. It's crazy to think 25 years has already passed. I have even spent the past few years dedicating my down time writing this fic. I feel like the reason it is as long as it is is because of how dear Pokemon is to me. I hope Pokemon stays a part of my life for years to come.

I hope everyone here had a great Pokemon day. See you next chapter!