Chapter 28
"Big Mistakes"
Dr. Gray, that's the scientist, got to work right away. He went into his lab and asked us not to bother him unless he asked us to. That left the rest of us with nothing to do…Well…most of us, at least. I had to figure out a way to get to the phone without them noticing…
"…I hope he hurries up…" Billie commented, after he had disappeared.
I couldn't care less. Even if it did only take a few days, I wouldn't let him get near me. I knew the boss wouldn't like that, and I had to do what the boss wanted.
"…What about you, Ash?" Billie asked me.
"Huh?"
"Don't you want him to hurry up?"
"No."
She kind of looked at me for a moment, then sighed. "I knew you would say that…"
I crossed my arms. "Why do you want him to…'cure' me, anyway? I thought you liked staying on the boss's good side."
Right away, I knew I had hit her where it hurt. She refused to look me in the eye, but she kept on talking.
"…Ash…I thought it was for the best…I did…at the time…but now…Now I see that I should've known better…I mean…the only reason you're back here anyway is because I brought you here…Kind of……If I had left when you told me to, and done what you said…none of this would've happened…I have to make it up to you somehow, Ash…"
I smiled. "Then do me this favor……Don't."
That hurt her even more. I could tell…and…I didn't care.
"I'll see you around," I said casually.
With that I left her alone with Pikachu and…Taper…They both stared at me critically as I walked out the door, but I ignored them. None of them were important.
I didn't know where Dr. Gray kept his phone, so I figured I was going to have to search his whole house.
Maybe it would be easier to just go back to the HQ…
…I know what you're trying to do…
I jumped and spun around. Taper was standing right next to the door. Drowzees are really just small, chubby things…but they're psychic powers make them dangerous…and that one was scaring me.
…Don't try it, Ash…I won't let you.
"Why not?" I whispered angrily.
Because I have a duty to protect you. I can't let you hurt yourself any more.
"I can do whatever I want. You can't stop me."
Really? The phone's in the room right behind you. I'll bet you anything that you can't call the boss.
I grinned.
"Sorry, Taper, but you're gonna lose this bet…Thanks for telling me where the phone is, though."
I turned around, opened the door, then shut it behind me. Sure enough, there was a phone sitting on a table. I took a step forward, but the door behind me suddenly swung open as if a Machoke had punched it open. I glanced behind me in surprise, and there was Taper again.
Don't do it, Ash.
"Shut up, you stupid Pokémon," I growled.
Taper didn't move.
I know you don't mean that.
"You don't know anything. You think that just because you're psychic that that makes you smart. Well it doesn't, and you can't stop me from making this call."
I reached out my hand to pick up the phone. I got about five inches away from it, then I couldn't move my hand anymore.
"What the?"
I tried shaking it, but it was frozen in place. I grabbed my arm with my other hand and tried to get it to move, but it still didn't budge.
…Taper.
I glared at my Pokémon.
"You're gonna pay for this, Taper…"
It didn't say anything…I didn't like the way its eyes were glowing a light blue…
Then I realized that my other hand wasn't frozen. I reached for the phone as fast as I could, but I only got about two inches away before it got frozen too.
"Taper! What are you doing!?" I asked it in frustration.
Disable attack, it said simply.
"Well, un-Disable me! I don't like this!"
Not until I'm sure that you won't try to call the boss again.
"I'm not going to! Now stop it!"
You're lying.
"No, I'm not!"
Because I could think of any other ideas, I tried to kick the phone off of the hook, but Taper just froze my leg too, and I ended up falling on the floor…and it wasn't carpeted either…
While I trying to recover from the fall, which wasn't easy, because I was paralyzed, the blue in Taper's eyes gradually faded away, and I could move a little again.
"Pikapi!"
'Hey! What's going on!?'
Still lying on the ground, I turned my head to see Pikachu running up next to Taper. It was obviously concerned about me, but Taper got busy telling it that I was alright.
It's still got all my Pokéballs…
I focused on the single Pokéball with the yellow star on it.
I am home free…
Being careful not to think about, lest Taper find out, I got into a ready position, then lunged at Pikachu.
"Drowzee!!"
'No!!'
I know I caught Pikachu by surprise. How could I tell? Because it reacted by pure instinct…and the natural reflex of an electric mouse when it's being attacked is to Thundershock the attacker…That's how I could tell…
…I don't know if I got Taper's Pokéball or not…I guess it doesn't really matter anymore…
…What I do know is that that Thundershock was different from any other Thundershock I'd ever experienced…and I had experienced a lot……That Thundershock did more than just electrocute or even burn me. I think I felt something explode…inside of my head…I'm not really sure…It wasn't a very large explosion…a small one…an explosion…inside of me…burning…sizzling…hurting……very painful…very…very painful…very……
* * *
Darkness…Heat…Darkness…Chill……Dark…Dark…everywhere…Abyss…Darkness……Darness…
I had lost all sense of identity. Names were meaningless to me. All I knew was the darkness…and the temperatures that came and went…I was alone…but that didn't matter to me. I didn't know what it meant to not be alone. All I had ever known was the darkness. The darkness that surrounded me…that was a part of me…I didn't think anything else would ever break the darkness……but something did…something I had never seen before……a light…a small light…meaningless…pale…distant…flickering…
…Light…
What was this new thing? What was its significance? Why had it come? What did it want with me? Why was it killing the darkness?
……light…
…another one…
…Why?
Now that there were two, I could learn something new about them…something I knew was called color…white…pink…changing colors…blue…yellow…They were never the same color at the same time…They moved back and forth…up and down…around…around…around…I watched them in wonder…
…Dancing…
The lights were dancing…Could I dance with them…? What was I anyway?
I looked around to try to figure out if I was a light too, but I couldn't see myself in the darkness.
Can I dance too? Can you tell me what I am? Can you help me? Can you hear me…?
The lights kept on dancing…back and forth…to and fro…up and down…around and around…and around……and…around……
Maybe I can't dance. Maybe I can just watch. Maybe I am just part of the darkness…
…the darkness…The darkness that was a part of me…
…That was when I knew. I was just part of the background…the darkness that was everywhere…The lights were separate…They were special…They were dancing……dancing……
…I just watched…I watched as they danced more and more…The silent music that they were dancing to grew faster…and faster…They danced more vividly, and they're colors changed more rapidly, and the glowed brighter and brighter…They grew larger and larger…They started to fill up the darkness. They grew…and they glowed…and they grew…and they glowed…and they burned…They glowed and burned and glowed and burned…and burned…and grew…and……