Chapter Ten: Rude Awakenings.

Chris awoke in the middle of the night, to the cry of a Vulpix. For a moment, his mind was so foggy that it didn't understand what communications it was receiving – actually; Chris had no idea what the hell was happening. It only lasted a second, and then he shook it off. Most the fog still remained, but one thing penetrated it.

Kani had disappeared.

Chris, worried, retreated into himself, trying to reach her with telepathy. He didn't even notice that he didn't hurt when he used it.

All he got was blackness.

"Shit." He came out of his impromptu meditation in time to hear Mathrara's last few words… (and I can't seem to smell her! )

"Wait, what?"

(Kani. She's gone – someone took her. It was sleep powder. I woke up, and tried to wake you up. I guess my body must have burned some of the powder off before it hit me. But… I can't smell Kani. Something used sweet scent, and I can't smell anything.)

Chris sighed. "Well, now what?"

(If only I could clear my nose…)

"How long till that happens?"

(I don't know.)

Chris sighed. "Look, go back to sleep. I'm going to meditate. There's no way I can sleep, so I'll try to find her."


"No way." Mathrara locked onto Chris's eyes, and used hypnosis. He then curled up, thinking things over. He'd done like Kani had warned him if she disappeared – hypnotized him into sleep, then mostly blocked off his open mind from what his telepathic powers would receive. He'd have a hard time hearing anything he didn't know, but that was the idea.

Now that girl owed him a favor. Smiling to himself, he curled up, and went to sleep.


Chris awoke with the sun in his face. "Aw, crap. That Mathrara! What the hell's he thinking?"

Mathrara was already up, stretching. (Simple. You couldn't find her then. Try now.)

Chris did the same thing he'd done last time, but nothing happened. Something seemed different, but he guessed it was sleep haze. He had a hard time hearing Mathrara, too…

"Nada. Guess she's gotten one heck of a dose of sleep powder."

(Is her pokeball gone? )

Chris shook his head, pulling out a decorated ball. "No way. I SLEEP on this thing to prevent someone from doing that. They can't catch her, so they've got another motive."

(Make you lose? )

"Could be. Or a collector. Those nuts would do anything for rare pokemon."

(Sleep powder, and sweet scent. That's an Oddish's work. I've burned enough of them to know that much.)

"That's no help. Those things are common as heck."

(True.)

Chris sighed, and walked out of the room. Mathrara followed at a discrete distance.

"Oh, hello there. Can I help you?"

Chris didn't have the energy to fire a dirty look, or complain about security. "My Espeon was stolen last night. And I can't seem to find her."

The nurse looked at him, trying to judge if he was joking. He wasn't. Her face hardened, and she began to punch some commands into the computer. "We have a security system here. It at least should have captured an image of the offender…"

Chris watched the flashing video. Nothing appeared for a while, then the punk Chris remembered from the gang of kids snuck in.

The nurse studied the boy's picture, then turned to Chris. "You know this boy?"

"Saw him, once."

"That's Steven. He's quite a trouble-maker, but I have no idea what possessed him to do something like this…"

Chris sighed. He figured he did. "How about an Espeon that's loose enough to talk to anyone telepathically?"

"She did what?"

"After we got ambushed by that mob of people, she accepted their tourney challenge, as long as we had a day to rest. Though I doubt he understands that she can't normally do that…"

The nurse sighed, and clicked a button. She then produced a sheet of paper from somewhere, and handed it to Chris. "You might want to start here. It's the directions to his house. Don't go charging in, his parents believe he is a 'good boy'."

Chris nodded his thanks, and ran out (sort of – his ankle couldn't support a full run yet). Mathrara managed to keep up, as Chris dashed out.


Chris looked up from the map the nurse had provided. "So… nice place." It was – for a mansion. Fencing surrounded the place.

Chris shook his head. "Damn. I hate this. What the hell can I do?"

(Let me. I'll go in. I can pretend to be a cute little pokemon, and see if I can find Kani.)

"Can you?"

(I've pulled this stunt more than once. I know what I'm doing.)

Before Mathrara could run off, Chris restrained him gently. He pulled out a Chesto berry, and offered it to Mathrara. "Here. Somehow make Kani take this."

(Gotcha. You gonna let go now? )

Chris nodded, releasing him, and Mathrara ran into the mansion. He disappeared quickly, apparently into a basement window.

Chris followed his progress until he disappeared into the window. "Who'da thought that a Vulpix has the nature of a prankster? Or that it would come in use?" He sighed, and set himself for a long wait.


(Found her! Chris, you read me? )

Chris started, then nodded to the absent Mathrara. He tried to respond, but had a hard time sending the first time. He had to basically 'yell'. (Yea, I read ya. Brat took her? )

(Looks like it. He HAD one mean Gloom guarding her. Until it met my Heat Wave.)

Chris rolled his eyes skyward. (Well? )

(Oh, right… that berry. Hold on a moment…)

Another voice cut in a moment later( …bleargh! What's that Vulpix doing to my mouth? )

Chris burst out laughing. A passerby looked curiously at him, but he really didn't care.

(Kani? Sorry about whatever Mathrara did, but could you two teleport out of there before that brat comes back? )

(Oh, fine. Jerk of a Vulpix…)

Kani re-appeared next to Chris, and with a rather alarmed Mathrara next to her.

(Don't EVER take me there again.)

(Don't ever do that to me again, and I'll think about it.)

(Fine.)

Chris shrugged. "You want to walk? Fine. I don't blame you, but it's faster..."


Kani smiled. Mathrara had done like he said. Even though she had to get even with him for that kiss, she'd go easy on him.

She took off the 'fog' that blocked off most of Chris's abilities, and instead shielded him herself. He didn't seem to notice the change.


"HEY! YOU!"

Chris looked back. The kid was back, and it looked like he'd seen part of the escape. A vein near Chris's eye flared, as he barely managed to suppress his temper. He called out in a gangster tone (he'd learned how to speak like one at home) "hey brat! Wazzup?"

The kid reached the gate, and blew through them. "That's MY Espeon now!"

Chris smirked, and pulled out Kani's ball. "I beg to differ. Since this clearly has my name on it, and this" he recalled Kani for a moment, then released her, "works on her, she's obviously my partner."

The kid growled. "I want her, so she's mine!" He threw a pokeball, and out came a Growlithe. "Growly! Ember!"

(I'll deal with this furball.)

"Mathrara?"

Mathrara stood, and directly took the ember attack.

"What're you doing?"

He appeared to laugh, as his body absorbed the embers. (Fire doesn't work on me. My ability's Flash Fire. Don't tell the kid that, I'm gonna mime being hurt. Until I burn down that Growlithe.)

Chris nodded slightly. "Mathrara? Try a will-o-wisp!"

"Growly! Dodge it!" The Growlithe dodged the attacking fires, but they kept coming until it was struck.

"Growly!"

Mathrara stood there, supposedly panting. The Growlithe, stung by the flames, charged forward in a bite attack.

"Mathrara? Now might be nice…"

The Vulpix attacked in a blazing Quick Attack, catching the Growlithe by surprise. It got knocked away, and had a hard time getting up – Mathrara must have caught its leg in the attack. It stayed down after Mathrara hypnotized it.

Chris snorted. "Kid, give it up. Mathrara's pissed, and frankly, I'm about ready to go Medieval on your butt. Now."

"No!"

He threw another ball. This time, a Beedrill came out.

"Fine. Your pokemon's pain, I guess. Mathrara, I'll leave it up to you." With that, Chris began to rub his ankle. "Damn thing. It's still not completely healed."


Meanwhile, the Beedrill was going after Mathrara with Twineedle. Mathrara was dodging, not really trying.

Kani, from the sidelines, swished her tail irritably. That Vulpix was grating on her nerves. First that kiss, then this showing off… (Mathrara, just finish it already!)

(Fine.)


Mathrara jumped away from the Beedrill, then launched another Heat Wave. The Beedrill went down, burned to a crisp by the attack. Chris was surprised it wasn't dead.

"Ready yet?"

"No!" The boy's bravado was wearing thin with his pokemon falling like pins, but he still had one left. He called out his Poliwrath.

"Heh. Your Vulpix is gone, now!"

Chris shrugged, as Mathrara walked away. Kani, looking smug, took his place. "I don't know about that."

(Actually, it's a fighting type. I win.) Kani's 'voice' was cold.

"Don't get cocky, Kani. Type isn't everything."

"Wrath, Hyper Beam!"

"See my point?"

The Poliwrath gathered himself, then launched the attack at Kani. Kani, bemused, just jumped out of the way of the attack – it looked like the Poliwrath hadn't practiced his TM move at all. The beam flew over Chris's head, and upwards.

(What a nice attack. That would have hurt. My turn.) She fired a confusion, knocking the Poliwrath back. It seemed to be unable to move.

"Kani, just finish this. No more showing off, or Mathrara's going to have competition. "

Kani fired another confusion attack, and the Poliwrath fainted.

"Wrath! No!"

Chris sighed. Kani was emitting a faint bit of surprise (he just knew she was surprised, though he didn't know HOW), and new strength. Actually, both pokemon were. "You two… what now?"

Kani gave a laugh. (I'm close to psybeam. I've already got swift.)

(I've gained imprison! Imprison is useful only on pokemon that know the same attacks that I know, but still…)

(It blocks their attacks, so long as Mathrara knows it. He can use the attacks he knows, and they can't. Nice, huh? )

"Yeouch."


The kid, ignored, had tried to sneak up on Kani, with more sleep powder in his hands. The only problem was, he was suddenly trapped in a cage of blue fire.


Chris studied the cage. "Interesting… so that's imprison on a human. I guess the name fits. Hey, kid, next time don't try this crap. Or mommy and daddy might not believe that you're a 'good little boy' anymore."

The three walked away. After a minute, Mathrara paused. (Well, that's that. I turned off the imprison. He should be free now.)

"Yea, yea. Brat."

(Chris, lighten up.)

"I'm not going to. Frankly, I'm almost as pissed as when that Rocket showed up. Why is it that some people treat pokemon as possessions?"

(I don't really know. Well, it's noon, and both of us have gained something we normally wouldn't have.)

"I'd rather that you were safe, than having to worry like that."

(That's really such a nice statement, it's a wonder…)

Chris returned Mathrara. He then gave a warning look to Kani. "Sorry, but I'm in a horrible mood right now. Mathrara used hypnosis on me to force me to sleep. So I have a right to be mad at him."

Her voice was wry, (I guessed. Well, let him out. He's learned his lesson.)

Chris flicked Mathrara's ball, releasing him.

(…that you don't have a girlfriend.)

Chris sighed. "There's no way to win with you two. Actually, there is. Kani, control him, you get extra poke-food on the road."

(No way. It's just not worth it.)

Chris just hung his head. "Fine. We'll work for the rest of the day, and call it quits at six. Then we sleep until at least ten, THEN go to the tourney."


Cloudburst awoke from his nap. He slowly stretched his tired body outward until his joints cracked, then held still. He'd been sleeping longer, these days. He began to generate a unique magnetic field that only electric pokemon could generate. It was their signal to Zapdos, that they wished to speak to him. Zapdos usually responded – these days, there wasn't a benefit for each of the legendary birds going at it – Lugia, Ho-oh, other legendary pokemon, and sometimes even trainers would interfere, trying to stop the feuding. They still attacked each other, but not in open battle.

What's more, Coudburst was unique – for he had a deep understanding of the world. Sometimes, even Zapdos would come to HIM for advice – Zapdos would not refuse his request for a meeting lightly.