Desperation Blinds

The violence has been ceased...for now.

This is unfavorable.

And who would've known?

It was a close friend of the boy who owns the anomaly.

Adrien opened his eyes.

He then decided that he was tired and in pain and wanted to slip back into unconsciousness.

"Hey, he's awake!" A female voice said.

Dammit. No chance of going back to sleep now.

Adrien sat up and rubbed his eyes. He blinked and looked around.

Then he immediately began to feel dizzy. He closed his eyes again and fell back down onto the cushions he was on.

Ow.

"Take it easy," another voice said. "You hit your head pretty hard."

Head? Adrien thought. I don't feel any pain on the exterior of my head… just the usual pain, plus the dizziness and nausea.

Slowly, Adrien opened his eyes again. Instead of sitting up this time, he simply looked around from where his head lay on his pillow.

Wait. Where am I?

Adrien was in a place he had never been before, lying on a couch he had never sat on. A TV was playing a comedy Adrien was a little familiar with. He was definitely in someone's living room, he could tell that much. He looked at where the voices had come from.

Jordan, Kyle, and Carol were on the floor of the room with their eyes on him. It made him feel only a little uncomfortable; he was getting slightly more used to the attention as time went on.

Carol was the one who had spoken first. He assumed Jordan had been the second. Jordan had clearly been watching TV before Carol had taken note of Adrien's consciousness. Kyle and Carol were sitting across from each other on the floor with a chessboard in between them. Kyle was winning.

Adrien tried to speak only to find that it was much harder than he was used to. "Hey," he managed to rasp. "What's happening?"

Carol chuckled. "You've been asleep for a little while. How do you feel?"

Adrien silently examined himself without moving. The dizziness in his head and hoarseness of his throat was there. There didn't seem to be anything else wrong with him besides the usual things.

"Fine," he said. Then he asked again, "What happened?"

"Do you remember anything?" Kyle asked.

Adrien racked his brain. He remembered Kyle saying he wanted to try and take down Team Dominion. He remembered how exciting it had sounded and how much he had wanted to do it with him. He remembered the Sandshrew and the kid who called himself Petal Dance.

That's something else I was thinking about. Why do the members of Team Dominion we've met so far consist only of kids around our age? Strange.

"Well?" Jordan asked.

"I remember everything up to the battle," Adrien said slowly, as he was still having trouble speaking. "But I don't remember how it ended. Did we win?"

Carol smiled. "Yeah, we won. Kyle still has his Eevee. Those other guys left soon after all of their Pokemon fainted."

Adrien nodded. "That's good." But there was something missing. Something else had definitely happened, but Adrien couldn't remember the details of what it was or how he had felt about it.

"Do you remember anything else?" Carol asked. "Anything at all?"

Adrien shook his head. "So what actually happened?"

"Like I said, you fell and hit your head," Jordan explained. "Slipped on a curb. Head hit the asphalt. You were out for only a little while though. Maybe an hour."

But again, I don't feel any pain on my skull, Adrien thought. It's all in my throat. Are they lying to me? Why would they…

Adrien thought of something that did not please him. Wait. No, no. His body suddenly felt cold despite the blanket covering him. Did I try to hang myself? There's no way. I couldn't have been that far in darkness. But what else could it have been? Adrien thought hard about what could've made his neck so sore but couldn't come up with anything besides his original theory.

They wouldn't tell me about it because they might think it'll trigger something, Adrien thought. That's why they're lying to me.

Adrien's head began to throb. Not the skull, but the brain. It was similar to how it felt when his usual headache spiked. He decided to stop thinking about it. He didn't feel like questioning his friends, either. He was afraid of finding out the truth. If he had tried to kill himself, there must've been an important reason. He didn't want to know what it had been.

He started to feel embarrassment and shame as well. His friends had seen him at such a low point. He had hoped to never let someone see him in a truly vulnerable state. Now they all knew how he really felt inside.

Whatever, he thought. There wasn't much he could do about it now. It was best to simply carry on.

"Where's my jacket?" Adrien asked when he noticed he wasn't wearing it.

"On the floor, next to you," Carol said. "Along with your Poke ball and shoes."

Adrien removed his arm from underneath the blanket and reached down the couch to the floor, feeling around with his hand. When he detected the fabric of his jacket, he rummaged around the bundle until his fingers made contact with cool metal. He grabbed his Poke ball and pressed his thumb twice against the button. The capsule opened, and Chu materialized on the couch next to Adrien's feet.

Out of the corner of his eye, Adrien saw Kyle tense. He didn't know why. He didn't care, either, at the moment.

Chu looked at Adrien with worried eyes. Adrien had figured out that, somehow, Chu simply knew how its trainer was feeling at any given time. It must've been able to feel the pain in his throat and his worry on the subject of his potential suicide attempt. The Pokemon moved closer to Adrien, who patted it on the head.

Something else caught Adrien's eye. "Hey," he said, pointing. "What are those?"

Kyle followed his gaze to the pair of plastic bags containing what looked like marbles. What was interesting to Adrien was that he noticed what seemed to be clouds of smoke moving inside of them. Four of them held white smoke while four more contained dark smoke.

"Oh, these," Kyle said, grinning. His hand moved to something next to the bags Adrien had been talking about: a leaf.

I meant the bags, not the leaf, Adrien thought, slightly disappointed.

Kyle held the leaf out to Adrien. "Read this," he said.

Read it? Adrien thought. There's writing on it?

Adrien took the leaf. His dizziness had faded, so he tried sitting up again. He waited for a moment, then was satisfied when the wave of nausea was absent. Chu moved onto his lap. He held the leaf in front of him and discovered that there was, in fact, writing on it. Nor just that, but the letters glowed white slightly.

That's pretty cool. Wonder how it works.

Adrien propped his arm on Chu's back as it laid down and read over the letter silently. When he realized who had written it, his interest expanded tremendously. He leaned forward as he continued to read. When he reached the section that described the candies, he realized why Kyle had shown him the leaf.

This is what we're going to use to take down Team Dominion. It's the perfect tool for the situation. I can't wait to see how much stronger Chu will become when it consumes one of them.

Of course, Adrien knew that he'd have to use a dark candy when everything was over. His battles here wouldn't be as fun with all of the extra power.

It's also impressive that it knows English, Adrien thought. It's probably not its usual method of communication, whatever that might be, but it shows he's keeping tabs with the people down here. Come to think of it, it's probably watching us now.

Adrien felt himself grow a little uneasy. That doesn't sit well with me.

"So, what do you think?" Kyle asked, interrupting Adrien's thoughts.

Adrien blinked and looked at Kyle. His face was hopeful, but it seemed like he was also uncertain. Why was that? It wasn't as if Adrien had displayed any intentions of disagreeing with Kyle's idea.

"I mean, I already said I'd go," Adrien said. "This note didn't make any difference. Neither did the candies." He made a gesture with his hand, moving it in a circle to indicate everyone in the room. "Are all of us doing it? Carol?" He turned to the only girl in the room. She had seemed a bit against the idea when it had been brought up.

The Dratini trainer nodded. "Yup. I'll be helping, too."

Adrien nodded. That's nice. It'll be good to have the whole group coming along. As Adrien was just about to turn away, however, he noticed something on Carol's face as his vision began to clear.

"Are you okay, Carol?" Adrien asked without bothering to specify what he was talking about. He wanted to see what Carol would do.

"Oh, this?" Carol put a hand to her head at the space just above her right eyebrow, where a considerable bruise was forming. She smiled to hide a wince. "You're not the only one who was hit in the head. A couple of kids were playing catch with a baseball. One of them must've sucked. They hit me right in the forehead." She said the words carefully, as if they had been scripted.

Now, what reason would she have to lie about that? Adrien wondered. The other lies hadn't bothered him, but this one was annoying.

"You're lying," Adrien said to Carol. His voice didn't hold a drop of emotion or accusation. He hadn't intended i to. It was a clear, plain fact.

Carol's smile faded and her cheerful expression changed to a nervous one. Adrien noticed Kyle and Jordan begin to look uneasy as well, though it was harder to notice it from the latter.

The room was quiet for a few moments. Adrien threw the blanket off himself and moved his legs over the side of the couch.

"So, are you going to tell me what actually happened?" He asked.

Kyle and Carol exchanged glances. Jordan looked down with a serious expression on his face. Adrien looked at them all with calm expectancy. When nobody spoke up, he sighed.

"If it's that important to you guys to keep it a secret, I guess I won't push." He didn't like making people respect his wishes against their preference.

Everyone visibly relaxed, which bothered Adrien a little more. He had made an inference before, but now it was certain that they were hiding things from him.

"So, when do we start?" Jordan asked after a while. "With the whole Team Dominion thing."

Kyle shrugged. "It's not really up to me. We just have to wait and see how things go. It all depends on that report."

"Report?" Adrien asked. He vaguely remembered something about a report, but not completely.

Kyle nodded. "Yeah. Petal Dance said he was going to make a post that exposed me as a rat."

"It might just ruin the whole thing," Jordan said.

"Yeah, maybe," Kyle said. Adrien could sense the discouragement in his voice. "We just have to hope for the best."

Leader was bored. Again.

He hadn't heard anything from Judgment in a little while, and he'd gone a little past impatience already. Not wanting to miss anything that came up, he hadn't left his room since Judgment had caught his Pokemon. A few of his members had brought him food over the past few days. None of them had been Luke. Leader hadn't seen his brother, the one who called himself Dream Eater since he had visited the other day.

Leader let out a sigh of frustration from where he lay down on the room's singular couch. He launched himself upward into sitting position and shoved himself off the couch. He needed something else to keep him occupied. He was about to lose it. He would have to leave the room to find something else to do.

As he started heading for the door, the PC at one side of the room beeped.

Leader didn't hesitate. He scrambled over to the computer like a madman. He tried to sit down but only succeeded in knocking the chair over. No matter. He simply remained standing, bent over at the waist. His eyes were only about a single foot from the monitor.

Leader had programmed his PC to make a noise every time a post was made on the Team Dominion program that included the word "judgment." Sure, it would've been easier to make it so that it beeped every time Judgment himself made a post, but Leader wanted to make sure he was receiving every scrap of info he could on one of Team Dominion's newest members.

Someone other than Judgment had made a post. This discouraged Leader when he realized until he actually read the post.

Member Petal Dance

I'm making this post to get the attention of anyone with admin authority.

About a week or so ago, a kid of around fifteen, along with a few of his friends prevented a member of Team Dominion from catching a Pokemon with a Dominance ball. Thankfully, that member wasn't found by the police, but it was still unacceptable. We were able to find a photo of him so we could keep an eye out.

I, along with a few other members, saw him today. We confronted him and tried to steal his Pokemon, but we were unable to because he himself owned a Dominance ball. This may sound like he switched sides, but I assure you, the situation was nowhere close. He openly admitted to being against out cause. He is registered as a member, but he is a fake.

We battled and I won, but he got away before I could manage to take his Pokemon away. I'd thought I'd report him so he could get kicked from a cause he is unworthy of being involved in.

Leader was beginning to sweat. He knew what the next few words were going to be. After all, he wouldn't be reading this post if there wasn't a certain word in it.

His member ID is Judgment. Kick Judgment. He doesn't belong here.

Leader straightened and did a backbend as he gripped his hair with both hands and pulled a little.

There's no way he can be against us! He gave us information. Extremely useful information that no one in their right mind would give if they weren't on our side.

Leader stared at the computer screen. He didn't read the words of the post, he simply looked at them as he thought.

After a few minutes of consideration, he came to a decision. He closed the Team Dominion application and shut his computer off. Then he left the room and went towards the exit of the complex, traveling up the stairwell. He reached the main building, which was abandoned, then went through the exit of that structure.

The wind hit him as soon as he stepped outside. It was a cool, winter breeze. The complex didn't have the best air conditioning in a building, so the frigid air was very refreshing after spending so much time inside. Leader started down the sidewalk.

Nobody knew what the leader of Team Dominion looked like, so he was safe to roam around the city. Often times when he went out, it was to get food at a restaurant or a cup of coffee from a cafe. He hardly did anything else.

Now, however, he found himself wanting a drink. He traveled a few blocks to the nearest bar and stepped inside. The sun wasn't beginning to set yet, so the place was almost entirely empty. The only ones there were a construction worker, a cop, and a guy who looked way to young to be drinking despite the glass of scotch in his hand.

Then there was the bartender, of course. Leader slid into a seat at the bar as the bartender turned to him.

"Surprise me," Leader said without waiting for the bartender to ask what he wanted. The bartender nodded and began to prepare a drink.

Leader sighed. There is a very good chance that he's against us. What he has been said to have done is proof enough for that. However, this doesn't change the fact that his hacking skills are better than anyone I've ever known. I can't just kick him out. I need him. He could hold the key to what I've been searching for this whole time. I can't let an opportunity like this go to waste.

The bartender placed a small glass in front of Leader, who closed his fingers around it. He raised the glass to his lips and tipped it to let the drink flow inside his mouth. It entered his mouth in a cool state, then began to feel hot and prickly. Leader let the glass part from his lips and grinned as he held the drink in his mouth.

And if he decides he wants to be a hero, Leader thought, it'll at least be a fun time.

Adrien was the first to leave Kyle's house. He had said he was really tired and wanted to sleep for a while. Nobody questioned him, even though it wasn't very late in the day at all.

Chu had been returned to its Poke ball. Adrien wanted a moment of solitude so he could think.

Jordan had offered to walk home with him. Adrien had politely refused, saying he wanted to be alone. Jordan had understood and decided to stay for a little while longer. Adrien had been grateful.

Adrien had told only part of the truth to his friends. The reality was that he was bothered. Partly that they had lied to him, partly because of why they had lied.

Adrien held up the palms of his hands and looked them over as he thought. He didn't feel like ending his life today or anytime soon, that was for certain. Of course, he didn't really care if he happened to get killed. That was normal, however.

All seemed fine, so Adrien simply decided to put everything that had happened today behind him. It would be best to move along. He put his hands in his pockets and walked down the quiet street.

Y…ost.

Adrien stopped in his tracks and whipped himself around, but there was nobody behind him. His eyes darted around the street, but he found the absence of people everywhere he looked.

Nev...ose...gain.

Adrien shook his head and resumed walking. I'm really losing it, aren't I? He thought to himself. He took his mind off the voices and headed home. He was tired, and wanted to sleep.

Kyle waved goodbye to Carol from his front door. She was the last one to go home. Jordan had left around fifteen minutes ago and Adrien had left around twenty-five minutes ago. That had surprised Kyle. He hadn't expected Adrien to leave before Jordan.

The last Kyle saw of Carol was her waving from the street as she walked, heading to the right. Kyle closed the front door and went upstairs. He entered his room and immediately let Eve out of its Poke ball. The Pokemon jumped on Kyle's lap as soon as he had seated himself in his chair.

Kyle turned his phone on and held it out in front of his and Eve's face. Kyle didn't think the Pokemon could read, but it seemed to like it when he let it see what he was looking at.

He opened the Team Dominion application and went to the main page, where members made all of their posts. He went to a search tab and typed in "Petal Dance."

A single account came up. Kyle tapped it and examined the members latest post. He sighed when he saw it. Eve seemed to be in distress, as well.

The post laid everything out clearly. Kyle was to be removed from Team Dominion for what he had done against the organization. He had been secretly hoping that Petal Dance would've forgotten about what he did to the thief, but it seemed that he was without luck in the matter.

At that moment, Kyle received a message. He was fairly confident on why he was being sent one but was not prepared to see who had sent it.

Kyle opened his inbox and saw the message sitting there. The sender's ID was "Leader."