Meeting Foes

The last time it emerged…

That world…

It was torn apart.

Kyle looked through the closed window of the car as it sped down the street. He watched as stores and buildings slid towards him and then away into the distance as the car passed them. He pressed his body against the door in an effort to decrease the physical contact between him and Jordan, who sat next to him. It didn't do much.

It had been almost a week since Kyle had talked with Leader, the boss of Team Dominion. The four friends were on their way to the location that had been decided on. Chelsey was driving them there since none of them had driver's licenses. Kyle had wanted to get someone else to drive them so Chelsey could work today, but neither Adrien nor Jordan had siblings, and Carol's only sibling was Noah, who definitely couldn't drive.

Parents talked too much, so Kyle, Adrien, and Jordan had all been against that idea. Not only because something about Team Dominion might slip out, but also because it was a pain to be constantly pulled into a conversation without consent.

However, Kyle had to admit that if they had found a parent who could drive them, they would all be a lot better off in at least one area. Many parents owned a van. Kyle would've given a lot to be in a van.

Chelsey's sedan only sat a total of five people, which was exactly how many of them were in the car. Needless to say, it was a bit cramped.

Kyle had offered up the front seat to Carol. He knew she would rather have more space, though she would never admit it. Additionally, Kyle had insisted that she sit in the front for… his own reasons. Of course, he didn't share these concerns with her or anyone else in the car.

That left Kyle, Adrien, and Jordan in the back, with Jordan in the middle. He had argued that Adrien should be in the middle since he was the smallest out of all of them, then reconsidered when Adrien began displaying a large discomfort at the possibility.

Kyle was almost forced into the middle by Jordan, but he had been first in the car and had refused to move. Jordan had sighed and grumbled, but he eventually yielded and took the middle. Chelsey had seemed to enjoy watching the whole thing as it happened.

The back of the car was dead silent save for the occasional grumbling from Kyle or Jordan when one of them decided they were dissatisfied with how much room they had. Adrien didn't offer a single word of complaint the entire ride.

Carol and Chelsey talked for most of the drive. Kyle listened in a few times without giving any input. Most of their conversations had involved Pokemon. The rest had mostly been about school. At one point, Chelsey had been preparing to tell an embarrassing story about Kyle that he had heard from her far more than he liked. This time, he had spoken up and cut her off before she could get ten words in, much to Carol's and Jordan's disappointment.

"So, has your Pokemon evolved at all yet?" Chelsey was asking Carol.

Kyle heard Carol sigh. "No, it hasn't," she said with regret in her voice. "It's close, though," she added with some positivity. "I think after maybe a few more wins and it'll have its first evolution. What about yours?"

Kyle knew how proud Chelsey was of her Pokemon. It had evolved into a Snorlax only a few days ago. She had probably asked Carol about her Pokemon so she could talk about Snorlax.

"Wow!" Carol exclaimed when Chelsey finished describing her Pokemon. "That's awesome! I've heard that Snorlax can be pretty strong, too."

"Are you kidding?" Chelsey asked with disbelief. "Have you heard what a Dragonite can do? Girl, you probably have the most powerful Pokemon in our town! Maybe even in our state!"

Kyle heard Carol laugh shyly. "Yeah, maybe. Oh! That reminds me!" Kyle heard the sound of a zipper followed by rummaging from the seat in front of him where Carol was.

They had all brought backpacks for the trip. Kyle had in his a water bottle, some food, potions, a few other things that might come in handy, and the white rare candies. He had left the four others at home for when they returned. Eve's Dominance ball and Kyle's phone were secure in his pockets.

The rummaging stopped, and there was another sound as Carol zipped her backpack closed. Then she turned in her seat to face Kyle, who looked up from the window.

Carol held out her hand. Resting on her palm was a turquoise rock. It was translucent, and Kyle thought it resembled a chunk of glass. There was a pattern on top of it that looked exactly like a snowflake.

Kyle tilted his head. "Is that-"

Carol nodded. "Yeah. Noah found it in the snow on his way home from school a few days ago. Since nobody else he knew had a use for it, he wanted to give it to you. He said to think of it as thanks for helping Shine. I know you already have a stone to evolve Eve with, but I was thinking it'd be nice for you to have more of a choice."

She was right. Having the freedom to choose was nice, especially since evolution stones were expensive and hard to come by. In addition to that, he would prefer to have a Glaceon over a Leafeon.

"Well, tell him I said thanks," Kyle said sincerely, reaching his hand out. "This is really nice to have."

Kyle took the ice stone and put it in his bag, right next to the leaf stone he had also brought along. It was past time for him to evolve Eve, and he had planned on evolving it into a Leafeon when they reached Team Dominion's base. Now, however, it seemed he would be evolving it into a different Pokemon.

"So Mom didn't even want to know what you guys were doing?" Chelsey asked.

Kyle shrugged. "I mean, she didn't mind not knowing, anyway."

Chelsey shook her head. "There's Mom for you. Plenty of my friends would kill to have that kind of freedom."

"You have friends?" Jordan asked, leaning forward. "Funny. I thought you'd be like your brother. Nobody likes him."

Kyle scowled, but Chelsey laughed. "Yeah, he's kind of hopeless when it comes to socializing, isn't he?"

"Tell me about it," Jordan said, grinning. "I'm guessing since you're his brother that you've seen him try to order food."

Chelsey started laughing even more. "I know! He fumbles over everything he says and can barely make his order understood."

Kyle sighed. The four of them had gone to a fast food place one time for lunch. Kyle never liked ordering his food, and Jordan had been snickering the entire time while Kyle stuttered.

Conversation continued for the next half-hour before they finally arrived at their destination. Kyle opened the door to get out with Jordan pushing him. The two of them stumbled out of the car with sighs of relief and stretched their legs.

"Thank God," Jordan said. "It was way too cramped in there."

"Yeah, I'm sure that must've sucked," Carol said smugly as she stepped out of the car, slinging the straps of her bag over her shoulders.

Jordan scowled. "Oh, shut up. Your boyfriend just didn't want you to be pressed so close to us."

Kyle felt his face warm slightly and turned away so nobody could see his face change color. Carol didn't say anything back.

Adrien stepped out of the car on the other side with his bag and raised an eyebrow at the three of them.

"Did I miss something?" He asked.

Kyle turned back around when his face turned back to normal. He noticed that Carol had been a bit flustered as well, while Jordan's mouth was turned into a satisfied smirk. Nobody answered Adrien's question.

"Do you guys need anything else?" Chelsey called from the driver's seat.

Kyle walked over to the window and leaned down. "No, we should be good," he said.

"Are you sure? You don't need me to stay and make sure you guys… ah… do whatever it is you need to be done?"

Kyle shook his head. "No, we're good. Go ahead and go back home. We'll get dropped off in a little while back there, too."

Chelsey's face showed she was uncertain. "Well, okay. Be safe. I still don't know what you guys are up to, but good luck. Don't do anything stupid."

Kyle nodded, and Carol added from behind him: "Yeah, don't worry. I'll keep him in his place."

Chelsey smiled. "Alright. Bye." She waved and Kyle stepped back as she began to drive away and out of sight.

"So what now?" Jordan asked.

Chelsey had dropped the four of them off in the middle of an outdoor shopping center. Stores and a few restaurants lined the outside of a parking lot, which the four trainers stood in.

Kyle shrugged. "I guess we just wait. They said they'd come to us."

As promised, Kyle had sent Leader photos of everyone with their Pokemon after asking each of them. They had all been resistant at first but had eventually given in after some convincing. The members of Team Dominion were probably here, looking for them.

"Let's just walk over to a bench and wait there, in that case," Carol said, pointing.

The bench was large enough for all four of them to sit while still having adequate room, something Kyle could tell everyone was grateful for.

"It'd probably be best to give our Pokemon the things now, I'd imagine," Jordan said after a little bit.

Kyle nodded and took the plastic bag out of his backpack. He removed the candies from it and passed one around to each of them. They all took out their Pokemon. They all waited expectantly.

Well, here goes nothing, Kyle thought as he fed Eve the white candy in his hand. He saw everyone else do the same.

Scarf wiggled around a bit and Fireball's tail flared for a moment, but other than that, no change was apparent. Eve didn't seem to show any reaction at all, other than the fact that it was clear it thought the candy was delicious.

Then everyone noticed Chu. The Pikachu was having a bit of an issue. As soon as it put the candy in its mouth, it spat it back out in disgust. Adrien furrowed his brow in confusion the first time as he tried to feed it the candy again. Chu tried to eat it again only to spit it back out again.

After many attempts of trial, Chu simply refused to ingest the rare candy.

Adrien sighed. "Can I see the plastic bag?" He asked Kyle, holding out a hand. "I'll just try again later."

"Sure," Kyle said uncertainly, holding out the bag. Adrien took it and replaced the candy in the bag before closing it and putting it in his backpack.

"Does it not like the taste?" Jordan asked.

"I'm not sure," Adrien said. "That seems like the most logical conclusion, though if it's true it's pretty unfortunate."

That's an understatement, Kyle thought. If Chu can't eat the candy, we're done for.

Dream Eater walked through the halls of Team Dominion's underground base. He had been summoned by his younger brother, Phillip, who also happened to be the leader of Team Dominion. Of course, it wasn't as if he were Dream Eater's boss. Nobody could control him. Dream Eater was simply allowing him to tell him what to do.

Two operatives stood outside the door to Phillip's room. Or rather, one operative stood. The other was sitting and leaning back against the wall, eyes drooping as if he were trying to stay awake. Dream Eater couldn't blame. Things could become dreadfully boring if one had the job of a door guard.

Honestly, what's the point of even having door guards? Dream Eater wondered as he passed the operatives and put his hand on the door handle. Neither of them made a move to stop him or ask who he was. They don't do anything.

Dream Eater pushed the door open and walked into the room. He blinked in surprise when he saw that Phillip was on his feet, pacing. In all the times he had come here, Dream Eater had always seen his brother either sitting or laying down.

"Hello," Phillip said without giving any other acknowledgment of Dream Eater's presence.

"What did you need me for?" Dream Eater asked, closing the door.

"A few kids will be dropping by later today," Phillip said casually.

Dream Eater raised his eyebrows. "Interesting. What does that have to do with me at all?"

"You're going to be a part of their escort. I'm having two operatives from Poison Squad join you. You'll meet them at a location a couple of hours from here. The other operatives know where to go."

"Why exactly do you want me to do it?"

"Well, you have the strongest Pokemon here. That's useful when the kids you're escorting might be working for the CPP. Keep them in line. Oh, and I also want you to use Hypnosis on them for the car ride. Can't have them knowing where we are."

"Well, if their working for the CPP, it won't matter what state I put them in. You're talking about something that could potentially end your whole organization. Are you thinking straight?"

Phillip stopped pacing looked at his brother for the first time since he had entered the room. "Of course. Why?"

Dream Eater sighed. "Forget it. Sure, I'll go. When do I leave?"

"Right about now, I think," Phillip said, turning away from Dream Eater again. "Good luck."

An hour passed. Then two. The four of them left the bench after the first forty-five minutes to buy lunch before returning to eat. They passed time talking, eating, and looking at their phones. They didn't battle at all, not only because the area wasn't appropriote, but also because they didn't want to wear their Pokemon down. They would need their strength for what was to come. To let them rest up, the trainers kept their Pokemon stowed away.

Adrien had fallen asleep in a sitting position on the bench, which baffled Kyle. The iron bench wasn't the most comfortable place in the world to sit.

"He looks so strange when he sleeps," Carol commented as she looked over Adrien's blank face.

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked.

"Well," Carol said, "he just looks… dead." Kyle raised an eyebrow at this, to which Carol responded: "You know what I mean. Just look at him. It hardly looks like he's moving at all. I can barely see his chest rise and fall."

"Sleep is the only peace he gets," Jordan said, "which is weird. Most people with anxiety tend to have nightmares. He doesn't seem to get those. He says he doesn't even dream at all."

Kyle found himself sympathizing towards Adrien. He hadn't even been able to pick up on his friend's mental condition. Jordan said he managed to hide it pretty well, but Carol had noticed it, hadn't she?

Kyle's thoughts were interupted as a man and a woman approached their bench. Kyle perked up, then had to try hard not to show his excitment. He wanted to seem calm and rational to everyone at Team Dominion. Jordan and Carol sat up, too.

The two of them didn't seem like typical villains or criminals at all. They both wore blue jeans and black hats. The woman wore a beanie, like Kyle, while the other wore a baseball cap. The man had a green coat that was zipped up and the woman had on a red jacket. They both looked to be around their late twenties.

I mean, Adrien looks the part more than these guys do, Kyle thought. The sleeping trainer had worn only black today.

"Are you Judgment?" The woman asked.

Kyle nodded.

The man looked around at his friends. "And these are the ones who assist you?"

Kyle nodded again.

"You don't look like much," the woman commented. "Then again, you are children." She turned and began to walk in the other direction. The man beckoned and began to follow.

Carol gently shook Adrien awake as Kyle and Jordan stood and began to walk behind the two apparent members of Team Dominion. Adrien stood groggily and began to stumble along after everyone else.

They walked throught the parking lot in silence. Kyle couldn't think of anything to say. Should he ask for their names? Code names? Make small talk? He was beginning to feel nervous.

The six of them came to a white van. When they were right next to it, the woman opened the back and knocked on the interior of the door.

"Get in," she ordered.

It all seemed very stereotypical and comedic to Kyle, but he didn't make any comment about it.

Of course, then there was Jordan. As the two members of Team Dominion stood there, asking four kids to get in their white van, he blinked once and said: "What are you guys, rapists? Come on, you couldn't do better than some pedophilic white van?"

The woman growled, but the man just sighed. "Tell me about it," he said. "Really doesn't help when you're trying to keep a low profile. Unfortunaly, we didn't have much better options, so here we are." He gestured inside the van. "Anyway, just step on inside. I promise we have no plans like that despite what our ride says."

Jordan obliged and climbed into the back of the van. Adrien followed. Kyle turned to Carol and shrugged before both of them entered through the back doors. The woman closed the doors behind them, plunging them in dimmness. The only light came through the windshield and the windows in front. The day was cloudy, too, so not much sunlight came through.

The back of the van was spacious, which Kyle was happy about, but there were no seats or safety belts. He hoped the members of Team Dominion weren't rough drivers.

Kyle went towards the right side of the van and sat down, leaning against the inside wall. He looked around at his friends as they also seated themselves. Carol sat down next to Kyle and Jordan sat on the other side. Kyle realized that Adrien wasn't there anymore, though he had been only a moment ago. Kyle could only see two others.

"Adrien?" Kyle asked quietly. "Are you here?"

"Yeah," Came a voice directly across from Kyle, to Jordan's left. He squinted his eyes and found the rough shape of a person. Since Adrien was wearing all black, it had been difficult to spot him in the darkness.

"Wow," Carol said. "With the outfit you're wearing, it's really hard to see you in the dark."

"Yeah, I bet," Adrien. "I almost didn't notice the guy sitting next to me."

Kyle eyes immediately darted to the empty space at Adrien's left. It took him a moment, but he was able to make out yet another shape of a person in the van. They were also wearing nothing but black. Kyle couldn't discern his features through the shadows.

Now, this was what I was expecting, Kyle thought, satisfied, though he didn't have a good reason to be so.

Kyle heard the sounds of car doors opening and closing from the front of the van, followed by the woman's voice.

"Alright, Dream, put 'em to sleep," she said from the passenger seat.

"Could you stop that?" The voice from the shadowed man asked.

"What?" The woman asked.

"That," the shadowed man said again. "You make it seem like everyone you address is your slave. It's annoying."

The woman growled and looked as if she were about to say something, but the man in the driver's seat put a hand on her arm and shook his head. The woman hesitated, then tore her arm from the man's grasp and turned toward her window, falling silent.

People must not want to mess with this guy, Kyle realized. I wonder how much of a threat he'll be to us.

The man in the driver's seat turned the key into the ignition and the engine hummed to life. Kyle saw movement from the man in shadow before he held his arm out. For the first time since he had known the man was there, he could clearly see something on him. In his hand was a Dominance ball.

The man pressed his thumb against the button of the ball, and it opened. There was a flash of light in the back of the van. Kyle was able to see Adrien more clearly for a moment, as well as the man sitting next to him.

He looked to be around thirty, older than the man and the woman at the front of the van. He wore a black beanie, too, as well as a long sleeve shirt, pants, and boots. Kyle thought he could see a thin blonde beard around his mouth.

The flash of light was gone, and the man was once again shrouded in shadow. With the darkness, the van suddenly became much colder than it had been before. Kyle also felt a chill run down his spine, though it wasn't due to the unexpected decrease in temperature. He heard Carol gasp to his left.

A Pokemon stood in the center of the space in the back of the van. Kyle could see that it was large and purple, with spikes on its back. It also had a small tail and glowing red eyes. The eyes fell on Kyle, whose mouth became dry.

It feels like it wants to kill me! Kyle thought, fear building in its chest.

"Hypnosis," the shrouded man ordered. "The four kids."

The Gengar grinned widely and flared its eyes at Kyle, who immediately began to feel drowsy. After a few moments, he drifted off into a deep sleep.