Chapter Nineteen: The power of desperation


Kani almost smiled at her work. It was a collection of spheres – light screens intermixed with reflects, surrounding her and Chris. Each sphere went wider, and encompassed the room in barriers. Air could penetrate each, or leave (but she'd managed to make a filter just in case). That had been a tricky operation, with the airflow. But she'd managed it, and wouldn't fail. Chris had given her his word he'd wake, and she didn't want anyone taking him away before he fulfilled his promise.

She sighed, and curled up next to him. She occasionally had to open the defenses for a stupid nurse (who believed that he wouldn't wake), but really didn't care. She knew he was winning.


April sighed, as she walked out of the Safari Zone. She'd caught a few rare pokemon, and should have been excited, but something was bothering her.

"What's wrong with me? Why am I so depressed?"

She caught a news report, wondering what was going on. It apparently was a slow news day, because they were going on about how a trainer had collapsed in Cerulean, in the middle of a gym battle. "Huh. Weird… wasn't that kid Chris supposed to be going there?"

They displayed the trainer's picture, and she froze. "What the hell? That…" She thought about what she'd read from Chris's e-mail. "Now it's my normal color, except for some strands being blue (Black brown is my natural color)."

"Shit. What the hell happened to him?"

The news reporter continued on "The trainer has not been identified, but is listed in stable condition. From what reports we can gather, he has fallen into a coma. The gym leader of Cerulean had no comment about what happened.

However, the medical staff has encountered a strange phenomenon. The trainer's pokemon have refused to leave his side, and now one of them has constructed a barrier of incredible proportions. We go now to Chuck, who has more."

The screen blackened for a moment, then a willow thin man came on. He held a mike with the 'Ch 9' news emblem. "Thank you Teresa." He indicated a window that seemed to have a collection of bubbles around it, and it was clear that they were also inside the room as well. "As you can see, the room is surrounded by barriers. What's more, the pokemon have been attacking without a command, if anyone threatens the barrier. This video was taken earlier." A video clip began to play, of a trainer with a Hitmonchan charging the barrier. "Hitmonchan, use Brick Break! Break that barrier!"

The Hitmonchan charged forward, throwing a punch at the sphere. Instead of taking the blow, it opened, allowing the Hitmonchan through.

The window of the room opened, and an Espeon peeked out, giving a look something akin to a leer. It had a dark purple coat, and it looked horrible. Her fur was matted, and her eyes were bloodshot. April had a hard time realizing it was Kani. She attacked with a Psybeam, and the Hitmonchan flew backwards, towards the outermost barrier. The barrier re-opened for the instant for the Hitmonchan to fly through, then closed again. The trainer was seen rushing towards her fallen Hitmonchan, and the clip cut off.

April gasped. "Kani?"

She was different. Her darker coloring seemed to be even darker (nearly midnight black), and the incredibly nasty look she had given contradicted the Espeon she had seen with Chris. Her eyes were bloodshot, and it looked that all she cared about was protecting Chris, and nothing else. She hadn't even been taking care of herself – her fur…

"As you can see, all the pokemon have no problems attacking. The hospital staff have reported that they have had NO problems with the pokemon, but every time the barrier that the Espeon is generating is attacked, they attack back.

What's more, they have been unable to examine the trainer's personal effects or information, because it was clear that none of the pokemon will let them, and will attack them if they try." His image faded, and the anchorwoman commented on the incident, then moved on with the news.

April nearly wept. She knew more or less what Kani was doing – she was protecting Chris. But she was going about it in the worst way possible, if she wanted to avoid attention. It was romantic, but…


The man in the suit looked quizzically at the image of the barrier. It and several other images were in a folder. It was all over the news, about this 'super Espeon', and its mysterious trainer. "Has anyone been able to get through?"

One of the others at the table shook her head. "Sorry sir, but there's no way to get in. The media is swarming the area, and then we'd have to deal with the trainer's pokemon."

The man shuffled a few papers, and skimmed one over. "Who is this clown, anyway?"

"We don't know. Two of our grunts tried to steal his Espeon earlier, but they bungled the job."

He sighed. "Is there any chance we could acquire this Espeon?"

"Not until the barrier comes down, or the media goes away."

He blinked, studying the portrait of the trainer. It was obviously a snapshot, but something seemed familiar…

"I know this kid from somewhere. Find out who he is, and where he comes from. He might be quite the asset to our organization."

"Sir?"

"Look at the loyalty he inspires in his pokemon. If we could get that same loyalty in every one of our grunt's pokemon…"

The woman (she'd been answering all his questions) nodded, and left the table.

"Now, to other business…"


Al sighed, and pounded on the barrier. He'd managed to get inside the door, but no further. "Kani, let me IN!"

The Espeon looked up with bloodshot eyes, and sighed. A hole appeared, and Al walked in. The hole closed behind him, and another opened.

"What are you doing? You've got news vans outside, covering the supposed 'Super Espeon', and her trainer's story. Chris told me you guys wanted NO attention."

She looked up, and shook her head. Al 'heard' something, but it was so garbled, he couldn't understand it. "Didn't hear you."

(I SAID I don't care. I'm not letting anything through, besides what we need. Until he wakes up, we're not moving.)

Al blinked in surprise. He'd never been able to understand psychics very well… that she could get through to him was something akin to a shock for him.

"Are you eating, at least?"

She nodded, pointing out some of the food that had been provided for them. Each showed signs of snacking, even the one that was on the table (it was clearly for an Espeon, it had berries rather than any meat mixed in).

Al sighed, and pulled a chair from nearby next to the bed. He'd brought his best pokemon with him (just in case he had to deal with Chris's enraged pokemon, who clearly were willing to go far beyond their normal limits), but instead, it looked like Kani would be content with letting him help out with guarding Chris.

Kani studied him, then nodded. Al sat down, and relaxed. He figured it would be a while. At least he hadn't gotten questioned when he went for the room – they knew he was a master of pokemon.


The shadows continued to restrain him. The words of what they told him pounded in Chris's ears.

"No. I am not backing down. I refuse to let the world fall to that!" He broke the hold of the shadows, and continued to charge onwards.

His spear had been left behind a while ago. He'd been leaning on it too much, and didn't want it to become a crutch.

A shadow that looked exactly like him stood in front of Chris. "You can't win, you know. We are you."

Chris shrugged. "So? Everyone has darkness within. The only question is if they surrender to it."

The shadow smirked, and continued to block the path. "You honestly don't believe that."

"I believe it. It's not a matter of when, it's a matter of IF."

"Your stupid games have corrupted you. What can one human with only a few weak pokemon do? Especially against something like the rockets?"

Chris walked through the shadow. It dissolved. Chris looked back, and a faint smile crossed his face. "That."

Light began to shine, and Chris's smile became a bit less grim. It looked like he'd done well. So far, he was passing the test.