AN: Finally, a development in the plot! Here's an explanation of everything that has been happening since chapter 5, The Arcade.

Chapter 21

Switched: Goliath

I was blind.

I was awake, but my eyes wouldn't open. I could feel that the lids were closed. I tried to lift my hand to my face, but it wouldn't move.

I was paralyzed. Completely paralyzed.

And yet, I could feel my entire body. It just wouldn't move. I felt myself breathing, but if I tried to hold it, nothing happened.

The alarm went off.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!

I must've set the tone instead of the radio.

And then, I felt another presence inside my head.

My eyes opened. My hand reached over to the clock and turned it off.

But it wasn't my hand. Last time I'd checked, my arm was a little bit hairier, and my fingernails were shorter and unpolished.

Not only was it not mine, but I couldn't control it!

I sat up unwillingly. My eyes swept the room. Not my room.

Something else was inside my head.

I could tell two things just from its presence. One, it wasn't human, and two, it wasn't friendly.

I tried to talk to it. Think to it. Communicate with the little thing inside my head.

"Hello?"

"You are not the girl," it replied, but not out loud.

"What?"

"Maya. Where is the girl?"

"Listen, I don't know what you are talking about. Why are you in my head?"

"This is not your head."

It made my body walk to the bathroom that was adjacent to whoever's room I was in. It stood us in front of the mirror.

I let out a mental scream.

A black-haired girl stared back at me. Not only was I controlled by some strange being, but I was in Maya's body!

"Silence, fool. I can still hear you, and that sound was not pleasant," said the thing.

I got a grip on myself and asked it, "How long have you been in Maya's body?"

It thought a little, then said, "Ah, you are the one they call Goliath, aren't you? The big, strong one. Yes, I remember. I have inhabited this body since I got out of... what was her name? Ah, Marvette. She let me out."

"Out of what?"

"My prison."

Ooh, cryptic.

"How long ago was this?"

"I was trapped in Marvette with no other available hosts for a year while her father studied my ruins. Then, Maya wandered over. I saw this as an opportunity and attacked her. All I could do was possess her before she woke and Jim showed up. I didn't have enough power to release myself."

"What was the thing you sent to attack us?"

"One of my Intities."

"What's that?"

"An Intity is a fully-evolved Unown. Humans haven't found the circumstances needed for the full evolution.

I had to remember that; Oak would want to know.

"What happened to Marvette after you released her? Wouldn't she tell someone she was being held by a strange being?"

"I absorbed all her life force to plan my escape. Then, I left her in the forest."

So it wasn't afraid to kill to set itself free.

It reached up and brushed the lock of hair away from the eye it always covered. I would've jumped, if I was more than thoughts. The eye was purple. No wonder the hair sheltered it. "Hmm. The life-draining process is coming along."

It was stealing Maya's energy!

There was a knock at the door, and Maya's mom came in. "Phone, honey."

It took it. "Hello?"

It was Kerry. Or was it?

* * *

Later, when everyone had gathered at the Trainer, Bob kept throwing "us" strange looks.

"That's Maya," said the voice.

"I figured," I replied. "She knows you're here."

"Not for long. When you switch back bodies, I'm transferring to yours. I need your strength to open the chamber where my own body lies. Then, I will be free. The world will once again fear me."

Right, I thought, I won't let you do that.

I had a plan.

Bob walked up to Kerry. Er... Maya walked up to Jim. I felt my eyebrow furrow into a glare. It was giving her a warning. Maya backed up. I nodded.

"Leave her alone," I said.

"No, I need her energy. Marvette had a lot, but it was not enough to completely restore my powers."

Anger welled up within me. That is a major figure of speech, because "me" was controlled by a psychotic monster. I was going to try my plan out that night.

I figured that if it worked, I'd be awake for most of the night. So I went to sleep. All I had to do was decide to sleep, since I didn't have to relax or anything.

Basically, my mind shut down, and the next thing I knew, it was night.

My plan was fairly simple. I would wait until my "roommate" was deep in sleep, then I would see if I could control the body and go get help.

I just hoped it was asleep enough that it wouldn't wake up if I started walking. I figured that I hadn't been able to move that morning because it was waking up at the time.

My eyes opened. Yes! I was in control. I sat up, but slowly. Suddenly, differences in Maya's physiology and my own made themselves aware to me. I won't comment on them.

I made sure I could move everything before I got up. Everything but the fourth toe on my right foot was usable. That was because Maya had broken it in track. I couldn't even feel it, so I could run on it.

Now came the part where I snuck out of the house. For someone who had never done it before, I found it rather easy. Everyone was already asleep, so I just walked downstairs and out the door.

Where was I gonna get help from?

My mind raced through everyone I knew, every option. I couldn't go to any of my friends because I wasn't sure where any of them were. Maybe the sleeping thing was a Pokemon. I could go see Professor Oak. No, he was off on some scientific thing.

I could only think of one person who could help me. I almost kicked myself for it.

I used Maya's running legs to head towards the warehouse.

* * *

As soon as I stepped inside, I heard a sound very close to that of a gun cocking. It was the guard Pokemon. They looked exactly like normal Slowpoke, but the K-CLICK I had heard when I came in was them aiming large mechanically-attached Hyper Beam cannons at me.

"Can't breed any new gene-Pokemon, Cos? I mean, attaching guns to Pokemon is kinda sad."

"What do you want, brat?" I saw the weasel on his belt before I saw the rest of him. The bronze shone through the darkness. I also noticed he was wearing pajamas.

"Where is Sabrina?" I asked.

"At the moment, she is checking up on the kids. Have to make sure no one breaks them out."

The psychic floated into the room. Literally. "I'm done."

"Show-off," mumbled Cos.

"What was that?" asked Sabrina.

"I said, 'I'm off'. I'm going back to bed."

We watched him retreat back to the shadows.

"I have a request," I said.

"I know."

"Should you really be reading people's minds like that?"

"I've known about this problem for a while."

"So, do you know how to get rid of it?"

She thought for a moment. "Yes," she said simply.

"And...?"

"It will be hard. I'll need full concentration. We'll need to go to my inner sanctum."

Oh, great, exactly where I wanted to go.

"I heard that."

I'll hear you....

"You'll hear me? Is that supposed to be some kind of a threat?"

"Let's just go."

We walked to her "sanctum". When I say we, I mean that I walked, she drifted. As we passed the Rockets' quarters, I saw several familiar faces. Ross, Ryan, Paul, Corey, and Chloe all gave me dirty looks.

Sabrina stopped moving forward at a wall. "I don't even let Cos in here." Then, she let out a powerful psychic burst that I felt. A headache came on as the wall opened up.

As we progressed further, I detected some strange smells. Incense. It wasn't helping my migraine.

Suddenly, I was blinded by the bright purple that was synonymous to Psychic-types. Several fat, squashy cushions surrounded a... who woulda thought... a crystal ball on a table. Several candles lit the room, and I could see the fragrant smoke wafting around the dim lights.

Sabrina hovered over one of the pillows, then dropped. I took a seat across from her.

"Now, breathe deeply of the perfume," she commanded.

I inhaled, practically feeling my brain cells pop.

She put two fingers on each temple and began to probe my mind.

There it is, she said to me.

Don't wake it up, I replied.

I'm trying to read its mind without disturbing it...

I felt it stir. Careful!

There, I know where its body is so I can send it back.

Can you get it out?

I'm trying...

Suddenly, she flew backwards.

And I lost control.

"You have failed, Sabrina," it said through me.

She lay, motionless, barely breathing.

"A word to the wise: do not go messing in strange minds."

With that, he turned and slowly walked back to Maya's house.