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Part 3: A Capacitor's Vision...

"Adrian! Oh... you're finally awake!" Awake? I only slept for a few hours. Then again, I do feel weak. "You were asleep for three days! Honey, I hope you're okay." Three days?! Was I out for that long? That dream was trying to tell me something. I just can't remember what.
Adrian looked around and saw that he was outside. All the pokémon were there, around him. His cat Ollie and the other nine. I must have given everyone a fright. Lucy, the raichu, walked forward, "We were so worried about you. You're Tiff's only son, and it would have hurt us badly if you had slipped from us. We would have been relocated and separated if she didn't have a child." She looked at Adrian with unwavering eyes. Her dark fur shown in the sun. The others walked forward. Adrian looked at all the faces: charizard, blastoise, rapidash, raichu, alakazam, marowak, dragonair, golduck, gengar, and his pet meowth.
"Remind me not to sleep!" was what Adrian said after he stood up. The others let out a small sigh of relief. They walked back and entered their pokéballs, except Lucy.
"In the years both of us have lived, I never really got to know you. Call me Lucy," the raichu stated as she looked up at Adrian. He felt a little better hearing her soft voice. "Let's go to the kitchen." Adrian walked with Lucy back to the house and they sat at the kitchen table. "When I was young, my parents and older relatives would always gather at a feast and talk. I suppose this will do for now." Adrian's mother brought him a cup of tangy orange juice. He sipped it and sprang from his sleepiness.
"I needed that. Thanks Mom!"
"Yeah, Tiff always knows just what to get to solve certain problems," Lucy said as she walked over to Adrian's mother. "Ain't that right?"
"Of course!" she said, patting her favorite pokémon on the back. "I work at a hospital."
"So, how ya been, bro? I really should already know, but I want you to tell me."
"I'm... okay. I guess. I still don't remember that dream I had."
"You mean you had a dream while you were knocked out? Shoot, I don't get that lucky!"
Glug. "Yeah, right. Well, I've been having a string of dreams, ever since Charla took me out and told me a story. Weird ones at that."
"Do you remember what they were about?"
"Not entirely. I sorta remember the one I had on the first night. A strange creature looked at me and said something like 'new,' only it wasn't 'new.' It looked harmless, being small and having a cute little cat like face. It had small arms, big feet, and a long, thin tail as well. Its eyes were a very sky blue color, lighter than the underside of Charla's wings."
"Hmm... I have ta say that I never saw somethin' like that. It might not-a been pokémon."
"Well, I only dreamed it once. Then I remember a dream about the person that had befriended Charla. He told what was going to happen that day, and he was right. Hmm... I remember one about a sea of nothing and I was on a raft. A ship came and they through a rope to me. The captain said that I had somehow survived 'murky waters' and 'was something else.' I dove off the boat to wake up after he told me that I was dreaming. Oh, before I fell asleep, Ollie wasn't in my room. Where was he?"
"I don't know. Hey Tiff, do you know where the kitty was before the big sleep?"
"Yes, he was on the couch. I thought it odd that he wasn't in your room. He loves how the bed feels," Adrian's mother called from the living room.
"Well Adrian, since you started asking history around here, I might as well tell you mine."

"I was born several of your generations ago. As a pichu, I was the silliest little one in the group that I belonged in. I would always play harmless pranks and always play static tag. Of course, I was usually the last one to get tagged, so a lot of dust would build up on me, and my fur would stand on end for hours. It took a while, but I finally became a pikachu, and my parents finally named me. They didn't need to name me, but they thought it was time I had one since 'Hey you' or 'Why you little' just didn't suit me. They looked at my fur; it was the brightest of all the pikachu there. When they saw me zip past them, they thought I looked like lightning, so that's what they named me. I thought it was a little tacky, but anything was better than 'What's your face.' I decided to just leave it at Lucy after I became a raichu, since my fur turned dark except for my cheeks." She grinned. "Ha! I packed more punch than that goofy little Hawaiian guy that was in those weird soft drink commercials! I didn't even need my electric personality to defeat my opponents. Some worthless graveler was attacking our little group one day and I was able to trash him like he was nothing. Because I was at a big disadvantage I had to use my head to outwit him. It didn't take long for him to run off, or should I say roll off. Hm hm ha... it was all fine and dandy until a small group of humans came. This time all of us let 'em have it, since they were coming to capture us. Those idiots didn't stand a chance. I think they had dark uniforms with a big 'R' in the middle of their shirts. None of us really knew who or what they were at the time, but we just wanted to live in peace. Some more time passed and one day a single human came. We were going to shock her, but she didn't seem to pose a threat. She had a large pad and a little stick. She was an artist, and thought we were perfect to draw. She sat on the grass and drew. I'm not to sure what she drew, but she did do several drawings. I walked up to her and offered her an apple, for not creating a ruckus. We had pichu everywhere for that. She excepted and offered her hand. I didn't know it at the time, but she wanted to shake my hand. I put my tail on her hand and gave her a little buzz! I felt so bad when she screamed from the shock, that I went and got another apple and placed it next to her. Only she wasn't moving, except for the up and down motion of her chest. At least she was breathing. The others noticed what happened and came. The pichu tried their static charges to get her awake, but only succeeded in making her clothes statically charged." She looked up at the ceiling light. "I had an idea: get water. We always used some for pranks, since water can carry electricity. I ran to the pond with a small half shell of a coconut and got some water. I came back and splashed her face. She instantly shot out of her shock induced slumber. She looked at everyone there and you know what she said? She said, 'I'm sorry I worried all of you.' Can you believe it? She was sorry for causing us to worry when I caused her to be knocked out. I couldn't hold it, I spoke to her, sayin' that I was the cause of her getting knocked out. She looked at me with a confused expression on her face. She didn't understand me. She then called out of a pokéball the strangest pokémon we had ever seen. It was Alen, her alakazam. 'Can you translate for me, please?' she asked the thing. He nodded. He looked at me with a glare, which went away a second later. He had a grin on his face and asked me what I said. I told him and he told her. She said not to worry; she knew the risk she was taking by being there. That alakazam came to me and touched my head with one of his spoons. I felt a surge of knowledge flow in ma head and when I said somethin', she understood it. She got up and started to leave with Alen, but I wanted to go with her. Don't ask me why, I just felt this urge to go outside the little box I had created for myself there at that place. She looked over and asked if I was sure, and I said, 'ya I'm sure.' She smiled and looked at Alen and said, 'We have a new friend!'" She paused and thought for a second. "She was your... great-great-great-grandmother. Thanks to that pokéball, my life has been prolonged!" She looked over at Adrian, still sitting and looking as if he was going to fall out of chair. "Yo, man! Snap out it!" He looked at her and fell off his chair. BONK!
"Oooww!" he said on the floor as Lucy ran over to him. He was helped up when he said to her, "I heard every word you said, but I just couldn't move. Almost as if being tied up and gagged."
"Ya gotta stop freakin' me out like that!"
"Heh.. I think the long summer vacation is taking its toll on me." Really, he thought, what else could it be? The story didn't make him sleepy; it wasn't long enough. Something's just wrong with me, he thought. "Well, how about I take a nap?"
"No! No you don't! I don't want what happened last time happening again!"
"Okay, but I need something to keep me as awake as possible. The orange juice only lasts so long."
"How about I give you a little buzz?"
"Huh?" She walk over and promptly shocked him. He jumped up and felt the serge of energy run through him. "Waah! That's just what I needed! Wooo... what a jolt!"
"See? I knew it!"
"Hmm... So, what else happened?"
"Well..."

"I went with her. Alen didn't go back into his ball until a couple days later. Before she called him back, she showed her other pokémon. She had a dragonair, golduck, and gengar. I was surprised she had the dragonair, until he told me how he ended up with her. The other two also told me that were passed down from previous generations. The golduck just loved to show off his muscles and physical powers to anything female. He's just one weird quack, is all I'm sayin'. He promptly showed off in front of me before he went back into his ball. Heh, like I'm impressed... HEY, DUCKBOY!!" She yelled and a pokéball immediately sprang open; out came the golduck.
"What's it wit you and yo mout?!" he said with a very bad Jamaican accent. "Da name's Duckman ta you, sista!"
"Me an' him just love to mouth off at each other."
"Oh, an' anota ting, I saw light in your eyes when I winked at you!"
"Ha, the light of me preparing to shock you, D-boy!"
"Please, don't show me how well you two get along..." Adrian finally said. The two pokémon looked at him, and said in unison, "Who's talkin' to you?" Obviously these two just like to fight with words instead of their fists, Adrian thought. Maybe if I slip outside....
"Where do you tink you goin', huh? You sittin' in dat chair and you prepare ta listen." Duckman decided to sit on one of the chairs surrounding the table. "I've a story ta tell ya."

"Befo' I met da human, I was jus' like any oter psyduck. I din't have any family, dough. I made a livin' impresin' woman with just how much power I had. I was really better tan any oter. Grrls would come and pet da duck and feed da duck and they would get a good laugh. I loved messin' with da ladies! Heh... old habit die hard. Anyway, she come along and she din't pet da duck. She din't feed da duck, or look at da duck! I try an' try to get her attention, until she finally look. She gaze at me with eyes dat make me stop foolin' around. There was someting on her mind, but I couldn't figure her out. So, I went an' sat in front a her, and look, with my mind. I saw dat she had recently lost someone important, and she wanted to talk to someone but that she couldn't. I look at her again and said, 'Bad tings happen to good people. I can see dat you are hurtin' inside, and I don't like to see a woman sad.' She look at me and smile and said that she was grateful, but dat I couldn't help. I told her dat I will help, even if I have ta follow you and give up my act. She look at me wit such a smile that it made me feel good. I help her relieve dat stress she had bundled inside-a her. She was so tankful an' she was going back ta dat place when I said ta her dat she needed me. She knew it, an' she took me in. She took out a ball and place it on ground and said to touch it if I would like to join her. I walk up to it and I push da button. It open and it suck me in."
"Was that really how you met her, Dee?" Lucy teased.
"O'course! Hmmph.... you neva believe a word I say!"
"Well I believe it." Adrian said. "I don't doubt that you met her like that. So, when did you evolve?"
"Oh, dat took place about two years late-a. She call out Alen an' she said to 'strut ya stoff!' O'course I din't like battlin', but she wanted me to grow and be stronger. Alen was my sparin' part-a-nar! He showed me how to focus ma abilities an' how to sense a little into da future. All da learnin' expanded ma mind, until I just changed. She was so surprise when it happen. Now I could really impress da ladies! Ha ha! Oh it was a fun life." He nodded then looked at Lucy. "Den dis ting come along and ruin EVRYting!" he thumbed.
"Hey... you know I'd only do it for Da-boy," Lucy said grinning a not so friendly grin.
"Ah oh... dat's DUCKMAN! DUCK M-A-N, MAN! And I still don't see what so luzzzy about you!" Oh brother, thought Adrian, I really need to leave this conversation. Adrian began to get out of his chair when Duckman stood up and said, "Ah ah aaah.... You ain't goin' nowhere." How annoying can he be? "I jus' need you to tell me how well I look in dis pose." He struck a pose with his back toward Adrian and Lucy, flexing his muscles.
"How am I supposed to judge that?"
"Oh, like this," Lucy got up and walked away, lashing her long tail as she walked.
"Haha! I knew she'd do dat!" Duckman said when Lucy had gone into her pokéball. "Now, onto business." He dropped his accent and sounded normal. "I act differently around certain people so that they feel good about themselves. I know where Lucy there comes from; she didn't tell you the full story. Even in a pokéball us psychic types can tell what's going on outside. She is very emotionally damaged. When she was a pichu, her parents were killed from a raid of graveler. She did her best to try to fend off those beasts, but she couldn't do it alone. All the others ran, but she and her parents stayed to try to fend them off. Her father was the first to go down. He had valiantly kicked through several when they ganged up on him. She couldn't save him. Her mother died saving her life. One came from behind and was going to slam her, but her mother pushed her out of the way before she got squashed. She went into a rage upon seeing her mother speak her last breath. Pichu are not known for their abilities as powerful fighters, but she changed the rules. She used all the agility she had to fly across the entire group of graveler and confuse them. She was so fast that she was nicknamed Lightning afterward, but of course it didn't stick. She shot so fast that she began to break the sound barrier with each jump and quick attack, and the graveler couldn't stand the sonic blasts of so many explosions. They retreated after a few minutes of being at ground zero for the blasts of sound. Your mother still doesn't know this story, and I would like to keep it that way."
"Wow, by the way she spoke, it's as if what you said isn't true."
"It is true. I'm telling you because you need to know where all of us came from. She told me this a year after she joined us. I decided to take her to a local pub I knew. She seemed very stressed out about something and I thought maybe she needed a different atmosphere. We walked in and the bartender saw that I had a lady with me. 'So, you found anotha one, eh? Heh heh...' I told him that this wasn't one of those girls; that she needed to calm down. I told him to bring two of the lightest drinks he had. This was not fun time." Duckman looked back at her pokéball. "I wanted her to tell me what was making her tremble. That was when she told me. The story she made up was good enough to fool your ancestor, but not me. She told me about the way those pokémon attacked. It almost seemed that they were not free pokémon. Graveler rarely come down the mountains on purpose, and they would never attack other pokémon. I did my best to help her and she hugged me when she had nothing else to tell me. She asked to do that little accent when I was in her presence, so her mind would not be on that incident all the time. It pleased me to see her happy, so I kept it up. The other pokémon here don't know this story either, so don't tell them. I hope, someday, this knowledge you get from the past will help you. Also, your strange dreams and weird sleeping habits.... I would like to be there when you fall asleep next time. I would like to see what your mind sees when it happens, okay?"
"Ya, okay. yawn..... I am a little tired now; follow me to my room." Adrian got up from the chair and walked to his room with Duckman following. Ollie was on the bed. "Hey kitty." Duckman then looked at the cat and he left the room.
"Now, lie on the bed," Duckman almost commanded. Adrian sat on the bed, then got comfy. His eyes closed and didn't open. Duckman put his hand on Adrian's head and tried to enter his mind. When Adrian finally slept, Duckman tried his hardest to see into Adrian's mind.

An open field and a blue horizon shown through hazy clouds. Adrian stood alone and looked up. He saw two moons and a dark red sun far away. He looked to the horizon and saw a blue sun setting in front of him. "Where... am I?" he said after looking to see no one around him. He finally looked at his feet; ashes were everywhere. "Is everything... burned?" A shadow came from the distance. He braced himself; why he didn't know. The shadow was that of a ghost. It didn't look like anything he had ever seen. It slowly came forward and faced Adrian.
"Yes, all life has stopped," it said without emotion.
"How... How could such a thing happen?" Adrian almost shouted.
"A great war. In your time pokémon will be used as weapons; stripped of all free thought. A purpose will be implanted into them: destroy all who oppose. I am the last; ................ The alpha and beta died in the war, trying to save this planet from destruction. But they couldn't do it, and the world died. This is the aftermath; .............. The ashes you see are those that lost their lives to the earth. Those that fought have no remains. I am the omega; the .......... I am .........; I am a ghost. This planet is slowly ........... it received it from. If the alpha or the beta had ........, this world would begin again. The time is over a ...................... the world would stop burning, and slowly wither. This solar system ........................ .............., and some would fall apart and ................................. gravitational field. The sun ....................... All these things will ............... started the war ........................ such a war would cause to innocent lives. You have the power to ......... destruction; it's all in your mind. The .......... hear will change the course of history for the better. For this planet's ...., I don't want to .......................; I don't want to see ............................. this world; I don't want to see.... hope die. I want to see this planet become full with life. You are that last piece of hope that this planet has.... You are................" Adrian looks up and the ghost disappeared. Me? The last hope? Who were alpha and beta? Why does this war happen? Why? A bright light shines as the blue star erupts and explodes. A large chunk flies in the sky and hits the earth. "Awaken."
Adrian opens his eyes and sees that Duckman is on the floor. Adrian gets out of bed and picks up the golduck. He notices that he is breathing and puts him on the bed. For a long time Duckman remained still. Finally he awakens.
"Uhh.... oh......" he was shaking badly. ".....your mind; it survived....."
"Slow down. You look like you had a few rounds with Lucy. I'll go get you something to drink." Duckman's head rose, and his body glowed for a second and stopped trembling.
"No, stay here. I'll be fine. You are something else."
"How so?"
"I couldn't even hold on to you when you slept. I tried to latch on, but I was psychically shocked and thrown from your mind. I can't look into your head. You are different."
"Hmm... Well I remember some from the dream, but not a lot of it was not clear. It's like trying to see the stars behind the daytime sky. It said that I should continue to listen to the stories the pokémon have. The thing that said it called itself omega, and that the alpha and the beta failed to survive the war and-."
"Woh.. woh. What you're saying is out of my league. The others need to speak to you. Perhaps then you will know all of what was said."
"Perhaps you're right. Anyway, you need to rest; I think you need it." Adrian left the room and sat at the kitchen table. It was morning again and his mother was sitting at the table drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. "Morning Mom."
"Good morning Adrian. Last night I heard a scream. I think it was Duckman, but something told me to not go and check. Is he all right?"
"Yes, he's fine."
"Oh, Lucy's in the back; she wants to speak with you." Adrian opened the back door and saw the raichu sitting and staring at the horizon. He walked over to her and sat next to her.
"About last night..."
"It's fine. Listen, I know your real past; Duckman told me. I said I believed you when you told me, but deep down I wasn't sure. That is probably why he told me; I knew something was odd."
"Oh," she began to cry, "why did it happen? I could never figure it out. Why did my parents have to die in order for me to live?"
"I think it has something to do with fate. You were destined to become part of this larger family, and so certain events had to happen in order for the outcome to become what it is now."
"D-man told me that bad things happen to good people. Was he just humoring me? He bought us some drinks and I think something was in the drinks."
"He told me that he did it to try and help you. He wanted to find out what had you so troubled. He also said that he hates to see ladies stressed over something. From how he sounded, it seemed that he had done this before. He wanted to see you happy when he saw you tremble. He is one that cares about others and I am glad to have met such a person."
"You speak as if he's human."
"Why shouldn't I? As far as I'm concerned, all of you are not animals, you are people, because you have heart. Animals are those that have been brainwashed into obeying every command; those unlucky to have people treat them like people. I will never order or condemn any pokémon to do anything. I can't just order someone I know to do things. Remember, Lucy, you have a family here; you always will. You can talk to us and we will try to comfort you. If this family's history has taught me anything so far, it's to not be ignorant of other's feelings."
"Thank you, Adrian. It makes me happy to hear you say such things, but I need some more time here."
"I will be inside if you need anything." Adrian got up and walked back inside. His mother had already left and he had the house to himself again.

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