Chapter 2

"I'm Back!"

The sapphire light ripped through buildings and cars, causing large explosions up and won the street. I looked for the central point of the disaster, but I saw no source, at least in my range of vision.

I threw a Ball, belonging to my Crobat. "Pinky, go!" The alternately- colored bat was large enough to carry me, so I jumped on and rode up into the smoke-filled air.

It tried to distinguish where the energy was coming from, and I saw a figure, shrouded in azure light. It looked female. I had been right.

Jessica was back.

"Set down near that Poke Mart, Pinky." He flew down and landed next to the little store. I looked around the corner from the alley and saw my ex- girlfriend floating three feet in the air and shooting blue bursts out every way possible.

I sent out all my Pokemon. Wigglytuff, Clefable, Azumarill, Power, Oddish, Cacti, Shadow, Goldark, Darkning, Darklett, Crobat, Umbreon, Rocky, and two new ones: Gastly and Dratini.

"Everybody, go!" I yelled, throwing every Ball in my belt. Oddish and Cacti worked together to tie her legs up with vines. Darklett threw a Fissure in her path. She floated right over it. Everything my Pokemon tried failed.

"Bryan, Philip, help!" I called. They rushed to aid me.

Bryan did something that I had gotten used to. His brown hair turned blond and got longer. A sword appeared on his back. He became more muscular.

"Where'd that sword come from?" asked Philip.

Then he yelled something. As I listened, I made out what he said:

"Phi-Lip-Ooooooooooooohhh!" His voice turned deeper by the time he was finished yelling. He was suddenly taller. He had been only an inch or two taller than I was; now he was almost a head taller! His eyes turned purple and gained an almost evil look. The gold object around his neck was floating and glowing, only held down by the chain.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said in his deep voice. "I'll explain later. Right now, we have a corpse to defeat!"

I broke a branch off of a nearby tree and charged with the other two. Bryan drew his sword, Philip just had fists, and I had another staff, not unlike the one I had used in Johto.

Bryan was the closest, but as soon as he reached the cerulean light, he flew backwards. "Gobryan!" I yelled.

Philip ran as close as he could and stopped. A strange marking appeared on his forehead. It looked like the eye on the gold thingy! He reached out and yelled, "Mind Crush!" A strange light appeared, throwing everything into warped color. Then, when the color turned back normal…

Philip was picked up and hurled across the street. "Phil!"

"Okay, Pokemon, attack!" They charged with me. I stayed away from the light, but still close enough to strike. I swung left and right with the wooden weapon, but it had no effect.

"Gastly, Night Shade!"

He cast a dark shadow around her. She stopped.

Out of nowhere, a blue minivan came tearing up the street. "Get back!" I screamed to the Pokemon. We jumped back just as the car collided with the darkness.

It went straight through, knocking the body onto the hood. The pillar of shade broke with nothing inside. Jess fell off the front of the van and I saw who was driving: some crazy blonde chick that looked insane!

The unconscious body lay on the street unmoving. I crept up to her and knelt down. How could she have survived the explosion that had taken her life only a few months ago?

Then I remembered the dream that I had had after we were caught in the tunnel. She had some crazy powers that saved us all from the cave-in and that saved her from the Tower!

I picked up the limp form and ran for the hospital. Maybe she could get help there. Bryan and Phil had picked themselves up from the dirt and joined me.

I ran in. The woman at the front desk stood up. "What happened?" she asked.

"Hit by a car," said Bryan, who had gone back to normal.

"Hit-and-run," said the now-shorter Philip.

"Can you get her into the ER?" I asked.

"I think so." She pressed a button on her phone and said, "We have a hit- and-run victim up here. We need somebody up here, fast!"

Soon, a doctor was examining her in the emergency room. "Well, she's got an arm fracture, but she'll be all right. Let's get this broken bone fixed over here!"

A nurse ran up and set the bone right. They had a cast on her in another few minutes, and she woke up.

"Jim? Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital, in White."

"White? How'd I get here? Last thing I remember, I pushed you out of the Tower, then it fell, and…"

"You don't remember what just happened?"

She shook her head.

"Well, somehow you got back here and attacked the city."

"I did what?"

"You tore up Main Street."

"Oh, man."

"Yeah, then some crazy blonde ran you over and we brought you here."

Phil jumped in. "Where'd that blonde come from, anyway?"

"Same place as my sword. Nowhere. She just appeared…" said Bryan.

Anyway…

The doctor came in. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm okay, just a little freaked out."

"Why?"

"Because I don't remember anything that happened since the Radio Tower fell."

"Okay, I'll come back and check on you in a while," said the doctor.

"We'll leave you two alone. You probably need to catch up," said Philip, and he, Bryan, and Tyler left.

"You don't know what happened, do you?" I asked her.

"No. What happened to Giovanni?" she asked.

"We finally beat him a couple months ago."

"A couple months ago?!? How long has it been?"

"Well, that was in August, now it's October."

"I've been out for that long?"

"Yeah. Do you remember the tunnel?"

"Under Celadon?"

"Yeah."

"I think so… It was a dead-end, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. Do you remember the cave-in?"

"I think so… Shadow howled, then a rock hit me on the head. I woke up like nothing had happened. The tunnel was normal."

"That's what happened to me, too, but I also remember something else. It's almost a dream, but I remember that you saved us!"

"How?"

"You turned all blue and glowy."

"Glowy? Is that a word?" She laughed. It was nice to see a smile on her face.

"It is now. Anyway, the rocks that fell missed us because you deflected them with this blue shield thing."

"How did I do that?"

"I don't know. But then I had a dream. You were very young, and you fell into a Pokemon pit at the zoo."

"I do remember that! But then I ended up back up on top, everyone crowded around me, and I was fine."

"You don't remember your powers?"

"What powers?"

"I guess not. I believe that you have some strange abilities that protect you, but only when you are unconscious."

"That's kind of a strange theory, Dr. Jim."

"I know, but there has to be an explanation for you attacking us like you did."

"I don't know."

"Maybe you should rest. I'm gonna go home and check on my friends. A couple of them may be hurt. I'll be back."

I headed home to call Goliath and Courtney. The big guy had disappeared in all the confusion, and Hick Girl had been stuck in traffic on that street.

I called the Hulk first. "Hello?" asked his mother.

"Is Goliath there?"

"Yes, would you like to talk to him?"

"Yes, please."

"May I tell him who's calling?"

"Jim."

After a brief pause, the phone was picked up and I heard his familiar voice. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Jim."

"I figured."

"Yeah. Are you okay?"

"Sure, why?"

"You kinda disappeared in all the craziness."

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

"That's good. I'm gonna call our local Miltank farmer now. See ya."

"All right. Bye."

Click. I selected Courtney's number and pressed enter. It auto-dialed.

"Hello?"

"Howdy. Is Miss Courtney around?"

"Speaking, Jim. Leave me alone!"

"Sorry. Did you get out of that traffic jam all right?"

"Uh-huh. I did see this weird blue light, but that was all."

"Okay. That was Jessica."

"Dead-as-a-doornail Jessica?"

"Yes. I dunno how she survived, but she's here."

"Wow."

"Yep. So you're okay."

"I'm fine."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

Later that night, we got a call from the hospital.

"Jim, there's a problem with Jessica," said my mom, who had taken the call.

"Oh, no. What?"

"Well, as she was sleeping, something happened to the equipment. There was an explosion and they couldn't get into the room. When they finally beat the door down, there was nothing left in the room but ash and charred machines.

"She probably burned to death. I'm sorry, honey."

I sat down on my bed. "She's gone. Third time. Gone."

"I know how much you cared for her."

"I did. And I never told her. I never told her!"

I broke down and cried. Mom left me alone for a while.

She was gone. Again. I had lost her a third time. First, to Team Rocket. Then, to the Tower. Now, an unexplained explosion.

She was gone this time. I was sure of it.