Reviews from the readers (I have a lot to talk about today):

also i dont know if u got it planned, but around 3/4th gym u should lose badly to the leader, and badly and go on a training trip, i seem to enjoy them a lot in others i read, no idea why.

HOW DARE YOU TELL ME WHAT TO WRITE! Lol, just kidding. Cody will lose badly somewhere down the road, but a training trip… Yeah, maybe. My only issue is that I really don't want it to become filler. It may be hard to make a whole chapter or more just about training without it getting boring. That's why I've been trying to cut back on pointless battles and stuff just so I don't get repetitive. However, I'll keep that in mind. I think a lot of that time will bee filled with sub-plot stuff anyway (Frank and the baddies, dreams, Stella, friends, etc.) Anyway, you gave a really positive review, and I'm very appreciative.

Good chapter, although I was expecting it to be more of a challenge for Cody to catch a skarmory - it seemed a little too easy after the earlier descriptions you gave.

The idea was that it was a two foot armorless chick versus a trained rock pokemon. It would have made Colossal look bad to be beaten up by a baby pokemon. However I countered that by showing the chick's resilience. Either way, remember what Eagle said: Catching the Skarmory is the easy part.

I believe that [this fanfic] has great potential and it is also very realistic. I like the way you equate pokemon to animals on our planet. I believe it gives this fic another point in my books.

I'm glad you noticed that, since it is what I'm going for. I am portraying most pokemon as smart animals, though some types like psychics and ghosts may be a bit more human like in their actions and personalities. That being said, I'm giving them all more emotions than what some animals display (real turtles don't have the emotional and intellectual capacity that Bastion has), but I've aimed for realism in several concepts such as mammalian pokemon giving birth rather than laying eggs and pokemon making animal sounds rather than them saying their own name.

Thanks again to MagikarpMaster for the proofreading.

Cody: Bastion(Squirtle), Mars (Diglett), Colossal (Larvitar), Antonia (Skarmory), Elesa (Blitzle)

Heather: Somnos (Poliwag), Feathers (Pidgey), Nadine (Nidoran [F]), Oddish (Bella)

Jared: Charmeleon, Servine, Croconaw, Nidorino, Onix, Jolteon

Chapter 13: Crosses to Carry

The battle was winding up. Cody's Blitzle and Heather's Poliwag stood facing the opposing trainers' Sableye and Voltorb. All four trainers were on their last pokemon now.

"Go for the Voltorb," Heather muttered to Cody. "I'm sure your Blitzle could handle it better."

Cody nodded. "Elesa, Quick Attack!" Before he had even finished the command, the Blitzle charged the Voltorb at full speed and rammed into it using the top of her head. The Voltorb rolled backwards in pain, but used this momentum to keep rolling. "Pursuit!" Cody shouted. The little horse began to chase after the rolling ball. She wasn't fast enough to catch up with it, but she continued regardless.

"Water Pulse!" Heather yelled. Somnos shot a blast of water at the Sableye, and it hit the slow pokemon in the chest. The Sableye retaliated with a Night Shade. Because neither pokemon were all that fast, every attack they launched at each other hit. It wouldn't be long before they wore each other out.

"Hypnosis!" Both Heather and the Sableye's trainer shouted simultaneously. Both pokemon began to send hypnotic waves at each other at the same time. It wouldn't be long until they were both asleep. "Hey Cody!" Heather shouted. "I could use som-"
"Got it! Spark to the ghost!" Elesa gave up on chasing the speedy Voltorb and ran her electrified body into the Sableye. The ghost was knocked down, but Somnos was bowled over by the rolling Voltorb.

"Sableye! Shadow Sneak!" The diamond eyed ghost disappeared and reappeared in front Elesa, giving her a powerful smack. The trainer then commanded his ghost to use Fury Swipes. Elesa was not quick enough to move out of the way of the ghost, and she ended up taking several slashes to the face. Meanwhile, Somnos was being given all he could handle from the Voltorb, whose Rollout was growing faster and faster.

"Finish the Poliwag off with a Charge Beam!" The Voltorb began to glow for a second before shooting off an electrical beam at the bewildered Somnos. However, commanding the Voltorb to use an electric attack proved foolish. Instead of shooting in a straight line, the electrical beam curved around and hit Elesa instead. The filly had drawn the electrical beam to her body like a lightning rod, and upon being struck, she let out a happy neigh as her body was boosted with electrical energy. Upon touching her, the Sableye was shocked, and fell over dazed, making it an easy target for Somnos.

"Okay Elesa, Quick Attack again to the Voltorb." The Voltorb tried to roll away, but Elesa was faster than it now. She smacked the Voltorb again and then gave the ball a strong kick with her hooves.

"Voltorb, this is getting difficult! Self-destruct!" Cody and Heather gasped. An explosion from the Voltorb wouldn't hurt the Sableye because it was part ghost, but it could spell doom for Elesa and Somnos. But when the Voltorb concentrated on creating an explosion, nothing happened. Its body was too damp from the collisions with Somnos to explode.

It was then shot at with a Water Gun by Somnos who had turned around during combat with the Sableye to aid his partner. The ball charged him with a Rollout, but before he could make a hit, Elesa pushed the Poliwag out of the way and the ball collided with the ghost instead. Both pokemon lay in a heap, but they wouldn't stay down for long.

"Water Pulse!" Heather shouted. The opponents were hit by a strong water blast that also confused them. The Sableye began to stagger around while the Voltorb just sat there.

"Shock Wave!" Cody commanded. The Blitzle let out a whinny as a burst of electrical energy left her body and struck the opponents. Because they were soaking wet, both the Sableye and the Voltorb were hurt more than normal by the attack and they both passed out. The battle was over.

"Alright! Good work Elesa!" Cody cheered. The little horse let out a happy cry and began sprinting circles around Somnos. Somnos celebrated by chirping, but suddenly, his body glowed white.

"Oh my God, Cody, Jared! Look!" All of the trainers looked on at Heather's Poliwag as he began to change. His body and legs increased in size and two arms sprouted from his torso. Suddenly, the light faded and revealed and Somnos looked really different. The bigger pokemon looked at his newly formed arms and legs.

"Ribbit!" the Poliwhirl croaked happily.

"You evolved! Yay!" Heather ran to Somnos and gave him a hug, and for the first time ever, he was able to hug her back.

"It's about time he evolved," Jared commented to Cody. "He's been getting outclassed lately anyway."

"Yeah." Cody sighed. He secretly wished one of his pokemon would evolve.

The two boys that Heather and Cody had battled walked up to them and congratulated them on the victory before paying them their winnings. One of the boys looked at Cody's left arm and a curious expression appeared on his face.

"What happened to your arm?" he asked.

"Oh this?" Cody asked as he raised his left arm. The forearm was in a cast. It was covered in the signatures of trainers they had met. "Skarmory bite."

"Really?" the boy asked doubtfully.

"Yup, just a hairline fracture though. I got pretty lucky."

"Riiight," the boy sighed in disbelief. "Hey, you should tell your Blitzle that the battle's over. She's still running around." Cody looked over to see that the tiny zebra was still running around in circles, whinnying happily.

"Nah, she's always excitable," he replied. "But she's pretty jumpy right now. There's probably a storm coming."

"A storm?" the trainer asked worriedly. He turned to his traveling companion. "Trent, we better find somewhere dry. This trainer says there's going to be a storm."
"How about that cave we just passed?" the other trainer suggested. "It should be safe in there. You three can come with us too if you want to."

"Sure, that sounds great," Jared agreed. "Where is it?"
"That way," Trent answered, pointing west. "Let's go!"
"Sure thing," Cody agreed. However, he noticed that Elesa had run off into the forest. "Hey, you guys go on without me. I have to catch my horse."

He ran into the thicket where Elesa had entered and began running while calling out her name. Suddenly, the tiny filly zipped in front of him. Neighing happily, she twisted and turned through the trees as Cody desperately tried to keep up with the little speed demon. His body ached as he ran from the various bruises and scrapes on his body, but he laughed away the pain as he gave chase. Eventually, Elesa ran out of the woods and over to the side of a cliff. She neighed loudly over the cliff's edge at the sight of the approaching storm clouds on the horizon. Cody sat next to her and stroked her back. She always got excited for storms, since it was the absorbing of excess electricity that would eventually allow her to evolve when she was old enough. For now though, she was too young. Nevertheless, the sound of thunder always made her excited.

He had chosen the name Elesa for his Blitzle since it was the name of a popular model from Unova who was also an electric gym leader. The little horse was always extremely happy and loved to learn new things, making her very easy to train. Since she had a herd mentality, she saw Cody as the leader and she would always try to please him.

Cody touched her jagged mane, and she licked his cheek. He felt bad that he had not been able to spend as much time with her as he should have, due to how much time the Skarmory chick demanded in her taming, but Elesa seemed very forgiving of this. She made every spare moment she could a good one, and that was a very admirable quality.

"Come on," Cody said to the Blitzle as he stood up. "Let's go back to the cave. You know how I hate being out in the rain."

"Man, this room sucks," Cody mumbled bluntly. They were in a ground level of a motel in Moraine City. There wasn't anything of note in the city: no gym, no tournaments, no really serious trainers. It was just a working class city that many trainers were passing through on their walk to Kito Grove. Heather and Cody had left their pokemon at the center for the night, and Jared was still training with his. After placing his backpack and makeshift spear on the ground, he sat down on one of the beds and began reading a newspaper he bought outside.

"At least it's cheap," Heather sighed. "Shouldn't you reapply the ointment soon?"

"Damn, you're right. Just how I like to spend my Saturday nights." Putting down the paper, he reached into his pack and found a bottle of ointment. He slowly removed his jeans and took a hard look at the various bandages that covered his shins and knees. One by one, he peeled them off, revealing the cuts they concealed.

Eagle was right: catching the Skarmory was the easy part. In order to get the chick's respect, he essentially had to become her mother. Several times a day, he would take the chick into the forest where he would find and kill young bug pokemon with his makeshift spear for food. He could have used one of his pokemon to do the job for him, but according to the document he read, proving to a young Skarmory that he could make the kill himself was the best thing to do; since young Skarmory chicks only understood power. After killing a bug pokemon, he would then take a few bites of it before letting the chick have the rest. This was also a sign of dominance, since in the wild, the dominant animal eats first. Even after he let the chick hunt for herself, he would make sure he took a bite first to remind her of his position. He hoped that someday, the eating of raw meat and the stomach pain that followed afterward would be worth it.

The Skarmory, or Antonia, which he had nicknamed her, was the epitome of unruly. He had her out of her pokeball every opportunity he could so she could become accustomed with him and the others, but he had to contain her when he battled other trainers, since she would run in and attack any pokemon she saw, even his own.

Antonia hated his other pokemon. While Bastion, Mars, Colossal, and Elesa got along with each other like brothers, she hated all four of them, especially Mars, since his ego was as big as hers. Sometimes, just the sight of his other pokemon would drive her to attack them. At first, he tried to follow the nurse's orders of keeping the chick out of battles, but once fights between his pokemon and her became a daily occurrence, he finally snapped and let them battle. Because she was young, inexperienced, small, and lacked armor, all four of his pokemon easily defeated her individually. She grew to resent them, but no longer attacked them after they had humbled her. The only fights he did stop were the ones that Antonia tried to pick with Heather, Jared, and their pokemon.

After applying the ointment to his legs, Cody put fresh bandages on the cuts before putting his pants on again. He then removed his shirt and began unwrapping the bandages on his arms, back, and torso.

Probably the most unpleasant thing about raising this Skarmory chick was that whenever she was pissed off at him (which was pretty much all the time,) she would fight him. Calling her back into her pokeball didn't work because the moment he would let her out again, she would continue as though she was never gone. Eventually, he had to break down and fight back. As cruel and barbaric as that sounded, it was actually what the professionals recommended when worst came to worst. Even though she was small and armorless, Antonia was still difficult to tangle with since she had sharp talons and a sharp toothed beak. Cody would do anything to beat the bird into submission. He would kick her, punch her, strangle her, burn her with the lighter and even bite her. Eventually, the chick would grow weary and give up. After a fight, he would spray her body over with a potion and cradle her in his arms until she fell asleep. After the first two weeks, the number of fights between them dwindled. Even so, he wore many scrapes from battle, many of which would become scars. The chick had also fractured his arm with a strong bite, which is why he wore the cast. On top of that, Cody had to buy a lot of new clothes since many of them were shredded during their fights. He also bought a protective cup (for obvious reasons.)

"Heather, can you get my back?" Cody asked.

"Sure," she said as she sat behind him and began applying ointment to the scratches on his back while he patched up the ones on his front.

There weren't only sour experiences between Cody and Antonia. Eventually, the chick had learned that she needed him to grow stronger, since that point was evident with his other pokemon, and she was smart enough to notice. She was beginning to trust him, though she was still wary about doing so. She also went to Cody to be groomed, and had become accustomed to being pet. To take the bond even further, he let the little bird sleep with him at night to emulate the feeling of a mother and nest. He knew there was always the chance that she would kill him in his sleep, but she never did. Though the bird didn't want to show it, she was afraid of the dark, and having a human there to comfort her made things safe.

Despite the progress he was making, Cody felt as though he was neglecting his other pokemon. He still battled with them daily, but this Skarmory chick was taking up so much of his free time. He was glad that she would be spending the night at the pokemon center so he could have the night off. The past four weeks had been brutal.

His phone began to ring. "Hello?"
"Hey Cody, what you up to?" Cody recognized who the voice belonged to.

"Hey Angie," he greeted. "Just getting a massage from a hot brunette." He swore he could hear Heather roll her eyes.

"Really now?" Angie giggled. "Happy ending or no?"
"Hold on, let me ask." He put his hand on the receiver and turned his head as far back as he could. "Hey Heather, am I getting a happy ending?"

"Hell no," she laughed before smacking him on one of his cuts. He winced.

"She said no," he said as he began talking to Angie again.

"Aw, poor you. Guess you're not getting any birthday lovin' then, huh?"

"Birthday, lovin'? What are you talking about?"

"It's your birthday, isn't it?" Angie questioned.

"It's my birthday?" Cody repeated.

"It's your birthday?" Heather gasped.

"I don't know, what day is it?" Cody asked.

"I think it's the fifteenth."

"Holy Arceus, it's my birthday," Cody stated in amazement. He couldn't believe he had forgotten. It's not as though he didn't know it was October. "I guess I'm fifteen now."

"You guess?" Angie laughed on the phone. "Who forgets their own birthday?"

"Me, I guess," Cody chuckled. "So how about you? How's school?"

"It's okay. I'm playing soccer, getting good grades, still training Sentret, and… Hold on, I'm getting another call, I'll call you back in a minute, okay?"

"Sure, nice chatting with you so far," Cody finished before he heard a beep on the other side. "Watch her not call me back," he chuckled.

"Okay, I'm done pack here," Heather said as she stuck on the last bandage. "You never talk to her much anymore."

"Who, Angie?" Cody clarified as he put his shirt back on. "Do you talk with any of your exes?"

"Not really, but I'm not really friends with any of them now. You still seem to be friends with her."

"Yeah, but I did that out of necessity. She's friends with all my friends back home, so we always ended up at the same activities. It would be awkward if we weren't cool with each other."

"I guess that makes sense…" There was an awkward pause. "So, we going to do anything for your birthday?"

"I don't know. I feel kind of mellow tonight," Cody murmured as he looked through the sports section. None of the articles interested him until he reached the bottom portion of the paper. There was a small section that announced upcoming games. "Actually, do you want to go to a football game?"

American football. Not just in America anymore. Ever since the high school rugby ban that took place in the late 80's, American football slowly took over the niche in high schools across Skitrex. However, it was only a high school sport, but many players were given college sports scholarships to American schools, should they want to continue playing.

Cody and Heather sat in the top of the bleachers, looking down at the game. They didn't know the names of the schools, but one team's mascot was a leprechaun and the other was a Luxray. Near the bottom of the seating where the two trainers sat was a rowdy group of students painted up in blue and gold, and the school's band.

Out on the field, it was the fourth down, and one of the blue colored football players made a field goal. The score was now 10 - 0. The student section went nuts.

"Wow, I didn't think he was going to make that," Cody exclaimed. "I thought it was too far."

"Wait, what just happened?" Heather asked in a confused voice,

"It was the fourth down, so instead of trying to run-"

"What's a down again?"

Cody shook his head. "You don't watch a lot of sports, do you?"

"No, not really. Do you?"

"Nah, besides battling, I'm not really a sports guy either," he sighed. "I just know about football because Laurence loves it. He played his freshman year, and he loves watching the American series. Every January, he gets obsessed over the Super Cup, or whatever they call it. I told him he should just move to the states already."

They continued to watch the game and make small talk. It was nice to get away from the thoughts of training for a little bit and to watch other people fight for a change.

"So, it's too bad Jared couldn't make it," Cody said.

"Shut up Cody, I know you're lying."
"This is what I get for trying to being nice," Cody sighed. "I called him up about it out of the goodness of my heart, and he tells me he's going to church in the morning. What a good little choir boy, eh?"

"He's better than you," Heather shot back in a laugh. "Mister 'I believe the universe can exist without a god to create it.' I'm sure Stephen Hawking is proud of you."

"I didn't come to that conclusion through him. I came to it through simple logic. And aren't you the little pot calling the kettle black?" he teased.

"Agnosticism and atheism are two totally different 'isms' so don't even start!"

"Just pick a side already, you're embarrassing yourself," Cody laughed. His attention was drawn back to the football players as blue team made an interception. "Nice play."

"So why did you want to come here of all places for your birthday?" Heather asked. "You said it yourself. You're not a sports guy."

"Well, I like football enough."
"Yeah, but after the cost of admission and that hot pretzel-"

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you," Cody began with a sigh. "It's just… you ever feel like you're going to miss this?"

"Miss what?" Heather asked.

"Miss being a part of that," Cody answered, pointing at the crazy group of students that were cheering on their team. "I mean, I like being out here, but think of all the high school stuff we're missing. No sports games like this, no group of friends to party with, no prom… the list goes on. I mean, Laurence said he liked his first year and it's not like you can't be a trainer and be in school since schools have battle teams and stuff."

"I thought about that too for awhile," Heather replied. "A lot of my friends back home were upset when I left, but think about it. We're traveling Skitrex, fighting dangerous monsters, and becoming skilled. You and I started training at the same time, and we're both doing well compared to a lot of other people at our level. I regret nothing."
"Me neither," Cody agreed. "Even so, I will miss some things. I wonder how Jared feels about all this…"

"Jared doesn't like a lot of people, so-"

"Jared is also an android," Cody pointed out.

"Oh stop it. Be nice to him."

"That was me being nice to him. I could have said he was a cyborg who lives by the goddamn clock-"

"Hey, what are you both doing up here?" a girl from the blue school asked. Along with her Luxray jersey, she had painted her face blue and her hair gold. Even with all the paint, she looked pretty cute. "Shouldn't you guys be down there in the student section?"

"No, we're not students here," Heather answered. The girl gave them a weird look.

"Shouldn't you be over on the other side with St. Liam's then?"

"No, we don't go there either," Cody tried to explain. "We're just watching the game."

"Why? Do you know somebody on one of the teams?" she asked.

"No, we're not from around here. We're trainers," Cody clarified.

"Really!" The girl's face lit up. "That's so cool! Do you have any pokemon with you?"

"Sorry, they're being treated at the pokemon center tonight," Cody apologized.

"Aw, but what about badges? Do you have any badges?"

"I have one, but I left it at the motel room in the case," Cody replied with a shrug.

"Well how do I know you're not bullshitting me?" she demanded. Her outburst caused Cody to laugh.

"I have a trainer's license if that's proof enough for you." He reached into his pocket and extracted his trainer's card from his wallet. The painted girl looked at it suspiciously.

"How do I know this is real?" she questioned.

"You'll just have to trust me," Cody replied casually. "Because I'm awful at lying, especially when it's around a cutie such as yourself."

"Well, how do I know you aren't lying right now?"

"Like I said before," he stated with an evil smile growing on his face, "you'll just have to trust me." The girl giggled at this response. Even though her face was painted blue, he could tell she was blushing. He grinned back at Heather who was rolling her eyes again at his shenanigans.

"By the way, I'm Tonya," the girl introduced herself.

"My name is Cody, and this is Heather," Cody replied.

"So Cody, what are you doing in Moraine City?" Tonya asked, completely ignoring Heather's presence. "There aren't any gyms around here."

"We're just passing through on our way to Kito Grove. We're both after our second badge."

"That's so cool," Tonya squealed. "I had friends who went out on an adventure, but they didn't even get one badge. You must be good then, right?"
"Well, I guess for our age, we're pretty good," Cody admitted. "Still, it's hard work. We train our pokemon for hours everyday."

"I can imagine…" Her eyes were drawn to the cast on his arm. "What happened to your arm?"

"A Skarmory broke it," he replied truthfully.

"Wow, you fought a wild Skarmory?" she asked in amazement.

"You could say that. I wouldn't recommend it though."
"That's so crazy… Hey, I have to go join my friends, but can I sign your cast?" she begged.

"Sure, hold on." Cody had gotten into the habit of carrying sharpies around with him just for the occasion. He took a pink one from his pocket and handed it to her. She found a blank space on his cast and began to write. Once she was done, she handed the marker back to him.

"I'll see you around, Cody," she farewelled as she returned to the rowdy group of high school students below. Cody looked at where she had signed, only for his stomach to flip.

"Well, you're having a good night," Heather chuckled.

"Oh, it gets better," Cody began to say. "Do you remember that girl's name?"

"Umm… she only said it once. Didn't she just write it on your cast?"

"Not quite," Cody said as he turned the cast so Heather could see. "She left me her number."

Heather began to laugh really hard. "Oh Christ, you are having a good birthday!"

"Eh, sorta. I can't call her if I don't remember her name," Cody sighed. "Either way, we're leaving tomorrow once the church mouse is done visiting with the lord. Still… that was pretty bold of her."

"You're one talk," Heather said through her laughter. "You were flirting with her and she probably thought you were some cute hot shot trainer straight out of Diamond Beach."

"She was attractive!" Cody reminded her. "What was I supposed to… wait, did you just call me cute?"

"No, I said she probably thought you were cute," Heather said defensively. "Besides, you have a cast. She was probably just pitying you."

"You just gotta ruin every little victory I get, don't you?" Cody laughed. Inside, however, he reminded himself that he couldn't get distracted from his training. He had already denied a woman that he liked, so he had to make the denial worth it.

"No, no! Not again!" He was having the dream again. He looked around frantically. That 'thing' could be anywhere.

"Ah, fear. I love the smell of fear. It makes me feel young again."

"Let me go!" Cody shouted.

"Cody, it's been so long since we've had a little heart to heart. How have you been doing? Have you recovered from my last visit?"

Cody looked down at his naked chest where he had been struck by the dark figure. In this dream realm, all of the cuts that Antonia had made on his skin were gone. So was the hole where the dark hand had burst through his chest.

"It's like I said before, I can't kill you, but I can make you feel pain beyond a few scratches of that bird you have. Imagine it, child. Every night you sleep, there is the possibility that I can bring you pain that you can't even comprehend."
"What's the point of all this crap!" Cody shouted. "You yourself told me that I'm of no use to you yet. Why are you bothering me like this?"

"When a colt is being raised for racing, the owner will check up on him to be sure everything is going according to plan, and that someday, that colt will be a grown stallion that will take him to the finish line. You're my colt, Cody Storm. When the time comes, you will bend to my will, and we will cross the finish line together."

Cody sat down. The metaphor was too much for him, and he couldn't understand what the dark voice could possibly mean.

"Since you have been a good little boy, you may ask me one question, and I will answer it to the best of my ability. Make it count."

A million possible questions ran through Cody's mind. 'Who was this mysterious being?' 'What were its intentions?' But there was one question that stuck out.

"Who the hell is Madame Stella?" he asked.

There was a silence. Had he stumped the dark being?

"That bitch… I told her to stay out of this. She has no right to-"

"Hellooo? You told me you'd answer my question!" Cody shouted.

"SILENCE!" A dark hand slapped Cody across the face. "She's how I found you in the first place! That's all you need to know. And when you see that wrinkled whore again, tell her to crawl back into whatever hell she spawned from!" Another hand shot out from the darkness and clutched Cody's face. "Remember that. Or I may have a tighter grip next-"

"Cody, what the hell?"

Cody saw that he was in the motel room again. He had vouched to sleep on the floor in his sleeping bag, since he didn't want to share the bed with Jared. The older boy was now looking down at him in confusion.

"You were talking in your sleep and thrashing. What's up?"

Cody just stared back at Jared for a second. He had no intention of telling him what he had just seen. Ignoring the other teen, Cody picked his wallet up off the floor next to where he was sleeping, and exited the grimy motel room into the chilled autumn air.

"I need a snack," he muttered to himself. "Anything to get my mind off of that… thing." He staggered down the cement path alongside the motel until he found a candy machine. As he looked at the selection, he noticed his reflection on the glass. He resembled like a zombie. After deciding he would get the peanuts, he popped a couple of coins into the machine and pressed the proper buttons. The peanut baggy fell into the lower shoot, and he bent over to get his food. But as he stood up with the bag in hand, his face went pale. In the reflecting glass, he could see Madame Stella standing behind him.

"Mother of God!" he shouted as he spun around and dropped the peanuts. "Don't scare me like that! You're going to give me a heart atta-" He stopped mid-sentence. The old crone was staring intently at him with her one good eye. He backed up against the vending machine in panic. "How did you find me… again!"

"You had another vision, haven't you?" she asked. "The dark one will-"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time. The dark one this, the dark one that, the dark one the other thing, I don't care! How the hell are you finding everywhere I go?"

"You are arrogant!" the old hag spat. "There are things happening that are so much bigger than you!"
"What 'things!' Make sense already! I have no idea what you're talking about! Explain it to me!"
The ancient woman sighed. "You want to know how I manage to find you, marked one? The answer is because I have been marked by the dark one too. Ever since I met you in Kindle City, I established a connection with you so that I may find you when needed. The connection is strongest before he visits you, since I-"

"You're still making no sense!" Cody roared. "Connection? What connection?"
"A connection that has also allowed him to find you!" she answered. Cody felt a shiver roll down his spine.

"So… it's because of you I'm having these weird ass nightmares?" he questioned. A cool breeze kissed his cheek, relieving him of some of the excess heat. He looked at the old woman for an answer. All she did was nod.

In fear, Cody turned away from the old woman and leaned against the vending machine. Even though he still found a few more pieces to the puzzle, he still had no idea what she was talking about.

"He told me to tell you something," he muttered. "He told me to tell you to stay out of his business. Do you have any idea what that means?" There was an eerie silence. He turned around to see that the old woman was gone.

Cody breathed a sigh of relief. Even if he had no clue what the bat was talking about, at least she listened to the last thing he had said and was leaving him alone.

Last chapter before I leave, since I don't want to rush to make another one. Anyway, updates may or may not come within the next few weeks depending on my internet access and writing time, so sit tight.

By the way, thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter. You're all too kind. : )