Yup, it seems that most of the readers figured it was Darkrai. No real harm done to the story though. Or so I hope. Just hope y'all just ain't playing the hindsight bias card on me.

From the Zogg: Also, while it was obvious it was Darkrai the you sometimes described him differently than normal to throw us off. Darkrai was described very H.P Lovecraft like. Was that on purpose? Because Cody's guidebook linked Darkrai to Jungism aka Carl Jung who came up with stuff to similar Lovecraft. It seems like more foreshadowing to me.

Differently than normal? How so? I looked him up on Bulbapedia, and I did notice that the anime portrays him as a misunderstood, emo pokemon or whatever. I was aiming more for the Mystery Dungeon portrayal of him, while trying to add my own flavor. Also, I've never read any of Lovecraft's books (I really should read Call of Cthulhu) but I'm flattered you see a resemblance. As for Jungism, I just used some factoids out of one of my pysch books.

Cody: Bastion (Wartortle), Mars (Diglett), Colossal (Pupitar), Antonia (Skarmory), Elesa (Zebstrika), Cortez (Litwick)

Heather: Somnos (Poliwhirl), Feathers (Pidgeotto), Nadine (Nidorina), Bella (Oddish), Flash (Trapinch)

Jared: Charmeleon, Servine, Croconaw, Gastly, Fearow, Onix

Chapter 26: Hubris

Loamford City, home of the Terra Badge, was a handsome city in the midst of the Rumbling Mountains. The city had a well to do economy from the coal that was mined there, as well as a strong community of earth trainers that met to hone their craft under the powerful and respected Martin Hornsby. Hornsby was many things: gym leader, Diamond Beach Champion of 1989, and an expert on earth pokemon. But even though he was an aging man in his mid-forties, he was the kind of man that any trainer would emulate. He started training pookemon as a child, and continued to perfect his craft for decades. Even though he was older, he still showed his inner youth on the battlefield on a daily basis, whether he was having a gym battle, or he was facing the pokemon champion himself. Martin Hornsby: a man that every trainer wanted to be… or in Cody's case, wanted to beat.

But in the midst of his next gym battle, something else plagued Cody's mind: Darkrai… just the thought of the Dark One gave the young trainer shivers. But he refused to be permanently shaken. If he's a monster, I'll be the one to put him in his place. Therefore, Cody was driven to train even harder, pushing his pokemon to their best and defeating trainers left and right. He wasn't about to let a dark spirit or some mysterious organization best him. And the best way to put his foot down and announce that he was unshaken was to earn his third badge. But whenever the day turned to night, his disposition would alter like how the sun was replaced with the moon and stars. Even his newly found determination couldn't keep his mind even.

The day he arrived in Loamford City, he was set to face a pre-trainer, a slightly older boy, in order to get his chance at Hornsby. The two of them went to one of the basement levels of the gym, which was essentially a cave, given the stalactites and Zubat that were present. Though he had never battled in a cave before, Cody grinned smugly at his opponent. We got this.

"Go!" both trainers shouted as they sent their pokemon onto the field to do battle. Bastion emerged from his pokeball, the courageous Wartortle looking eager as ever to fight. His opponent was a much smaller pokemon: an orange crab with claws, beady eyes and a shell made out of rock. What pokemon is that again? he thought to himself. A Crustle? A Dwebble?

"Dwebble, Rock Blast!"

Okay, there it is. But he had no time to contemplate, as the hermit crab began to make horizontal slashes at the rock slab below him, cutting away at the bedrock and sending sharp shards of stone at the turtle. Bastion easily dodged the shards before blasting the crab with water. The Dwebble was too slow to dodge the blast, but its hard shell absorbed most of the blow. Even so, the crab looked more pissed than weakened that it had been hit.

"Bastion, Aqua Jet!" The Wartortle pulled into his shell and shot himself like a cannonball at the crab, but the opponent was a fast thinker.

"Faint Attack!" The Dwebble shifted to the side, hopped into the air, and drove the Wartortle downward with a powerful blow from its claw, causing Bastion to skid across the cave floor. "Now Bug Bite!" Once the Wartortle reemerged, he seemed shaken from the misdirected attack, but he was unable to recover as the hermit crab latched itself onto the turtle's shell and dug its teeth into the back of Bastion's neck. The Wartortle yelped and struggled, but he couldn't shake off the foe or retreat into his shell. Cody sighed. Even though Wartortle was getting smarter in his battle sense, he still needed help to overcome certain dilemmas.

"Rapid Spin!" Even though the turtle pokemon couldn't pull his head into his shell, he still managed to pull in the rest of his appendages before spinning his shell at a fast enough pace to de-latch the crab and send it flying into the floor. As Bastion stood up, Cody noticed a puffy, red mark were the crab was biting. "Aqua Jet again!" This time, the crab was not ready for a preemptive strike, and it took a direct blow to the face from the shooting shell. The crab clamped its claws around the Wartortle's wrists once the turtle popped out of its shell again, drawing more blood. But this proved to be a foolish move, as it put it at point blank range for Bastion's Bubblebeam. The exploding bubbles did hurt Bastion some (though he was pretty resistant to water attacks), but the rock pokemon he was tangled with took most of the attack, and it was enough to knock it unconscious, though its claws were still clamped on the turtle's wrists.

"Good effort, Dwebble!" the opponent called out before returning the crab to its pokeball. "But water won't always trump rock pokemon, my friend. Go Omastar!"

Cody grinned as the next enemy pokemon appeared. He had never fought a pokemon that had been resurrected from fossil DNA before, so this was a real treat that challenged his inexperience. The nautilus pokemon had a gray, spiral shell with spikes, a squid-like beak, and plenty of slimy tentacles. It was a fearsome beast, but neither Cody, nor Bastion were afraid.

"Bastion, Bubblebeam!" The turtle shot a ray of bubbles at the foe, but instead of being knocked back, the Omastar formed its body with its shell to make a wheel, and rolled through the bubbles, knocking the Wartortle over like a bowling pin. Once Bastion was back on his feet, he just narrowly dodged the rolling pokemon as it came at him a second time. On the third time, he used Protect, and the Omastar bounced off his force field, but it kept rolling, even faster. The next hit would surely hurt even more if Bastion could not avoid it.

"Bastion, Aqua Jet!" It was a risky move, but it somewhat paid off. The turtle's shell flew from the jets of water at the rolling fossil, and the two collided, trading momentum and flying backwards from each other. When they both stood up, both monsters seemed woozy from the collision, but Cody had unknowingly left his opponent in an advantageous position.

"Spike Cannon!" The nautilus shot the rocky spikes on its back wildly. At first, Cody thought this was just a sloppy move, since the dizzy Omastar did not come close to hitting Bastion. However, the spikes hit the ceiling, shaking several stones loose to fall from the cave above. The Wartortle tried to evade the falling rocks, but was hit by a few, allowing the Omastar to get up close and wrap its tentacles around the turtle's shell before biting him in the same place where the Dwebble had bitten him. Bastion tried to shake the fossil pokemon off with a Rapid Spin, but the suction cups of the nautilus were too strong to escape from. "Keep biting him!"

Cody was at a loss. Bastion wouldn't be able to out-grapple an Omastar, and eventually, the biting and his struggling would wear him out. New plan… but what? Then his mind began to put together another scenario. He noticed that the spikes on the Omastar's rocky shell were slowly growing back. Then he looked at the floor and the ceiling. Both were made of rock that was easily chipped away. Perhaps he could use the Omastar's strengths as a weakness.

"Bastion, Water Gun at the ground!" The turtle pokemon blasted the ground with water, launching both of them to the ceiling of the cave. The spikes on the shell of the Omastar had penetrated the soft cave ceiling, and the fossil pokemon was stuck. In a panic, it flailed about, allowing Bastion to escape its clutches. However, instead of falling to the floor, the Wartortle managed to cling onto a nearby stalactite. Cody was about to call for his pokemon to drop down and take the Omastar down with a Water Pulse, but the turtle went far beyond that. As the Wartortle's fluffy tail glowed silver, it used its arm strength to horizontally swing around the stalactite and smack the Omostar straight on the beak. The nautilus made a choking sound upon impact, and it was broken loose from the stone. With a thud, it slammed into the floor, unable to pull itself up.

"Bastion…" Cody murmured once the turtle fell fro the ceiling and landed on its feet like a cat. "That was… that-"

"Huah!" the Wartortle responded proudly, sharing the same, smug smile as his trainer. Cody's confidence was contagious, since like pokerus, it was spreading among his pokemon.

The opposing trainer's confidence was beginning to fade. While his pokemon had injured Bastion greatly, the turtle had easily beaten his foes with strength and ingenuity. Brains mixed with brawn was a beautiful recipe, and the opponent could see that he was being outclassed in both departments. However, he continued with his third pokemon: a brown, black-striped crocodile that stood on two legs, making it somewhat taller than the Wartortle. But even this final pokemon couldn't intimidate Cody, or his pokemon.

"Krokorok! Sand Tomb!" The croc let out a roar as it ran around Bastion on all fours, avoiding the Water Guns, and using its connection with the earth to stir up miniature sand whirlwinds. The little sandstorms weren't very dangerous, but they were chipping away at what was left of the turtle's stamina. But he wasn't ready to drop yet.

"Water Gun!" Bastion sent a fifth blast of water at the Krokorok, just barely missing it. Damn, this alligator is faster than it looks. But it was too close a call for the opposing trainer.

"Torment!" he ordered. In a flash, the croc stepped forward and whipped the turtle with just the tip of its tail. This barely seemed to hurt the Wartortle physically, but it did hurt him mentally. It was as if the desert croc was insulting the turtle, saying that he wasn't a threat.

"Water Gun!" Cody commanded, but Bastion either didn't hear him, or didn't care, now that he was enraged and not thinking rationally. The Wartortle used Aqua Jet, only to be smacked away into the whirling sands, like a baseball against a baseball bat when colliding with the Krokorok's tail. "No, Water Gun!" Again, the turtle didn't listen. With a glowing tail, he tried to smack the crocodile with an Iron Tail, but the brown reptile read the move like a book. Sidestepping the move, he had an opening to attack once Bastion hit the ground, clamping his jaws around the shell, and violently shaking its victim.

"Bastion, focus! Rapid Spin!" The long-eared turtle finally listened to his trainer and spun in his shell and escaped the jaws of his attacker, and then tackled the crocodile through a collision to the stomach. Unfortunately, this was only benefiting the foe.

"There we go! Assurance!" Invigorated from the hit he had received, the Krokorok grunted loudly before smashing its skull into the chest of the turtle's shell, a black glow surrounding his head while doing so. It was almost as if he was returning the favor with his attack. In a last ditch effort to hold his own, Bastion shot a blast of water into the croc's chest, but the foe seemed unfazed as he charged again, grabbing the Wartortle by the neck and hurling him across the battle plot. Bastion had finally been brought down.

"Good effort, buddy!" Cody shouted out, returning his first pokemon to his pokeball. Even this loss didn't scare him. He still had two monsters left, and the Krokorok, while tough, wouldn't take much longer to bring down in his estimation. Hell, he wouldn't even need two pokemon to do it. "Wrap this up, Colossal! Body Slam!"

The blue, pupated lizard shot out of his pokeball and immediately blasted its body at the Krokorok. Even though the gasses in his pressurized chambers shot him at an incredible speed, the crocodile easily evaded the blast at an even faster speed. It was strange: even though the croc had taken a few hits from Bastion, he seemed faster and stronger since taking the turtle out. But the playing field was even now. The cave was an environment that suited the Pupitar, and the little dust devils that the Krokorok had brewed up didn't seem to hurt Colossal in the slightest.

"Screech!" Cody shouted, adjusting his tactics appropriately. The Pupitar let out a deep pitched, but booming voice that echoed throughout the cave, catching glances from the other trainers and their pokemon that were working in the lower caverns. But the screech had done its job, leaving the crocodile in a vulnerable, defenseless state from the noise. Taking advantage of the situation, Colossal hopped up into the air and his collision with the stone shot several small boulders up from below the rocky floor, almost as if they were balls of liquid forming out of the stones below. Then, he blasted himself forward, with the boulders in tow and smashed into the much smaller pokemon. The desert reptile had taken a major blow, but it was back on its feet again, and it was trying to grapple with the pupated pokemon, though he had difficult dealing any physical damage that way.

"Thrash!" both trainers shouted simultaneously, and both the Krokorok and Pupitar began to take swings at each other. It was interesting watching Colossal perform the move, with no real tail, foot, or claw to thrash with. Instead, he swiveled his body with quick and brief rotations, smacking the foe with the tops of its head and sides of his shell. But in the end, his size and physical build gave him the advantage, and he finally knocked the Krokorok onto its back.

"Get up and use Crunch!" the opposing trainer shouted desperately. But before the Krokorok was able to stand, the Pupitar smashed its body onto the crocodile's chest, which was enough to knock the reptile into a forced sleep.

"Yes! You did it!" Cody cheered. The Pupitar, knowing instinctively that the battle was over, hopped back over to his trainer and leaned his body against his trainer, humming. The pupated pokemon was never overly affectionate like some of Cody's other pokemon, but their bond was obvious to any that saw the two together. After giving his pokemon a final pat, Cody turned to the gym trainer, who was approaching him now with his clipboard.

"Good work, you passed, obviously," the older boy said. "I wrote my signature and everything. Can you do me a favor though and take this paper to Hornsby for me? I have another battle scheduled in a few minutes. We were lucky we ended so early, or I would have been late."

"Sure," Cody agreed. "Where is he?"

"He should be I his private training facility right now. It's one floor above us. Just get off the elevator and go to your left. You'll know it when you see it."

"Alright, thanks." Cody took the paper from the defeated trainer, returned Colossal to his pokeball for a good rest, and made his way to the elevators. He was in such a good mood after defeating the opponents three pokemon with his two, and he couldn't imagine Hornsby's pokemon being much more difficult in that tier level. After taking the elevator up to the next level, he followed the trainer's directions until he reached a set of double doors that looked like they had been there for a hundred years. Even the little plaque on the wall next to the doors, shining in gold with Martin Hornsby's name on it didn't detract from the ancientness of the environment. Not even bothering to knock, he pushed through the doors into the gym leader's personal gym.

The room was enormous. Cody only expected this, given that Hornsby trained several Onix and Steelix at various skill levels. The room was filled with training equipment, from a large battle plot for practice, to an obstacle course, a running track, a large pool, and what looked to be standard equipment that humans would use… if humans were typically ten feet tall. The large room echoed with the sounds of various earth pokemon in training.

From the corner of his eye, he could see some of the leader's pokemon sparring with each other, but the thing that caught his attention the most was the battle-scarred Rhydon that was punching an oversized punching bag with power and precision. Occasionally the punches shifted from just being standard punches to being incrusted in ice, fire, or electricity. This Rhydon had been tutored in various elements, potentially making him a dangerous opponent. Next to the rock rhino was a man, shouting out orders to keep his pokemon on rhythm. The man was wearing a gray hoodie, and gym shorts like a stereotypical coach would wear. His hair was cut short, and was jet black, save the graying strands near his ears and the lower parts in the back of his hairline. Despite being in his forties, the man appeared to be in good shape, like a runner would be.

"Excuse me, sir?" Cody asked over the echoing sounds of the punches. The man turned around, and Cody immediately recognized the man as Martin Hornsby (though that was obvious to him when he first entered the room). The man leader soft, brown eyes, a black beard and mustache that encircled his mouth, and an aging face that gave him a sort of distinguished quality.

"Ah…" the man started, before he cocked his head in confusion. "Who are you? Are you one of the new gym trainers?"

"No, not quite," Cody answered. "My name is Cody Storm. I'm set to challenge you for your badge in a week. The gym trainer I beat, he gave me this to give to you because he-"

"Say no more," the leader said jovially as he took the paper from him before analyzing it thoroughly. "Hmm… third tier, huh? Half of my current second tier team will graduate by then. It's going to be interesting mixing a new set. Good luck to you, Mr. Storm."

Ha, part his second tier team? This is going to be easier than I thought. "Thanks, but no need. I'm coming for your badge, Hornsby." Immediately, he regretted saying that, because it did sound overly arrogant and cocky. But thankfully, the gym leader was not offended, but amused, since he laughed.

"Sure you will, kid," he chuckled. "Good luck anyway. Now if you'll excuse me…" He turned back to his Rhydon and the big monster picked up the rhythm again. Knowing this was his cue to leave, the younger trainer turned around and exited the training room and returned to the lobby of the gym where a very excited Heather was chattering with a more stoic looking Jared listening to her. Obviously, she had won he pre-battle.

"Let me guess," Cody ventured once he had approached the two, "you won?"

"Easily," Heather answered, smiling. "You?"

"Take a guess," Cody teased, but his friend gathered that the answer was "yes."

"Well good for you then," she said, happily. "Looks like we'll both be out of here in a week I promise I won't hold us back a week this time."

"Awesome," Cody replied, smiling confidently.

"You guys…" Jared sighed, shaking his head. "I hope you realize that-"

"Just shut up," Cody snapped back, though not in a violent voice. "This is going to be simple."

"Says you," Jared said, looking annoyed that he had been told off again. "Cody, have you even watched any of Hornsby's battles? The man is not to be taken lightly. That Rhydon of his… it was a monster in his championship fight."

"Well lucky for me, I won't be fighting his Rhydon, no won't I?" Cody asked, chuckling at Jared's logic. "I'm ready for this."

"Well, okay then…" Jared trailed off. "Just don't be mad when I say I told you-"

"Told me what?" Cody asked, somewhat mad now. "I can be right too, you know. I was right about that Gastly. You still have it, and-"

"Shut up," Jared snarled. He had, in fact, grown attached to the purple ghost, but he didn't like to admit it. "You know what, forget it. I'm not going to bother. Let's get lunch."

"Okay, how about Pollo Loco?" Cody suggested, remembering the name from a previous conversation. "Laurence told me that it has great Mexican food. It's been awhile since I've had a good tac-"

"Cody," Heather whispered, her eyes growing wide, "don't you… don't you have something to do?"

He remembered then that he did have a prior commitment. And how beautifully Heather disguised it when bringing it up. Jared would simply believe that she was saying what she said because she wanted alone time with him. But of course, Cody knew the truth.

"Yeah," he said sullenly, his mood falling to a much lower point. "Yeah, never mind, I do have somewhere else to be. You guys go get lunch. I'll see you later." He split from the two, exited the giant gym, and heading down through the streets of Loamford. He had a promise to keep.

Dr. Irving Stall was a living, breathing, walking, talking stereotype of a psychologist if Cody ever met one. He was a graying, balding man in his early sixties, with circular glasses and a full beard. If the young trainer didn't know any better, he would have thought that the man was Sigmund Freud, minus the backwards theories.

Like Cody had promised Heather, he was visiting a psychologist, though the process was often difficult for traveling trainers. Most of the time, they were forced to continually transfer their patient files between doctors as they traveled. It was a messy process, but it wasn't uncommon for trainers to need some sort of psychological support, given all the troubles of travel. Of course, this required Cody to tell the doctor everything that was going on with his life. His medical history, his training, how he was feeling, the situation with his friends, the situation with his family, the stranger that had been following him, and reluctantly, about Madame Stella, the nightmares, and Darkrai. To most people, talking to a psychologist was unnerving, but not so much to Cody. It wasn't something he hadn't done it before. Though it was somewhat weird talking about the paranormal.

"Hmm…" the doctor mused inquisitively. "And you actually believe that this reoccurring dream is really a spirit that wants to use you for world domination?"

"Well… yeah…" Cody stammered awkwardly, "but you know, when you put it that way… it sounds moronic when you say it out loud." Great, they're gonna lock me up in an asylum.

"No, it's not actually," Stall corrected, "you aren't the first person to give this story... Well, besides the part about you being followed by an old woman. That's a new one. While I do not believe in the collective unconscious, it is interesting that so many people who have claimed to have seen Darkrai share a similar experience. There are many people who've claimed-"

"Yeah, I know, I read it on Wikipedia," Cody interrupted impatiently. "I just want to know if I'm crazy or not. I mean, I don't think I am. My pokemon saw Madame Stella too, but-"

"Mr. Storm, I don't think you're crazy," Dr. Stall said calmly, cutting the trainer off and ignoring his excuse and reason that supported his beliefs. "I think you're a very stressed young man, which is a common thing among traveling trainers. Adding the various factors of your situation, it would be strange for you to not be stressed."

"But I'm not always feeling… feeling so uncertain and scared, as if I can't do a damn thing. I mean, the only time when I'm not feeling so afraid is when I'm battling. When we're on the battlefield, my pokemon and I… I just feel like there's nothing we can't do. It's so different from when I'm dreaming. I feel helpless then. Why… why is that?"

"Hmm…" the doctor pondered. "Many talented trainers have a powerful sense of accomplishment in battle. As for why you're feeling so distressed, I think it may be because you're living at two different extremes," he answered. "Think about it. When you're battling, you feel empowered and strong. But in situations such as your family, or your dreams, you feel alone and weak. This very difference in what you feel is what will lead to such difficulties and stress."

Silence, save the ticking of the clock, was imminent. But then, Cody asked, "so what do I do?"

"Well… as far as your visions go… I would recommend you visit this psychiatrist," Dr. Stall said, handing Cody a small card with a name and phone number on it. "She's very good with further diagnosis. Perhaps she can prescribe you an anti-psychotic that-"

"No, no I can't do that. Not again," Cody begged, his eyes widening and growing fearful. "Look, I don't have a problem with medication, but I can't be trying any new drugs right now, especially when I'm on the road. When I was a kid, I was really hyper, some shrink misdiagnosed me with ADHD, and they put me on medication for it. It just ended up slowing me down way further than I should have been. The medication I'm on now, for the anger management stuff, I had to switch medications three times, and I'm taking it in minor doses now. If I start taking anything new, it could really mess up my training."

"Hmm…" the doctor hummed again. "Well then, if you won't consider medication, perhaps you should consider taking a break from training for some time and-"

"What?" Cody snapped, almost angrily in his tone. "I can't do that! I have to keep going! My parents-"

"I know what you believe. You've already told me," the doctor said empathetically. "However, I disagree that you are responsible for the deterioration of your family. All I'm asking is that maybe, you consider taking some time off to clear your head. Perhaps it will make you feel better if you do."

Cody looked down at his shoes. Taking a break could be helpful, but in his heart of hearts, he knew that Darkrai was real and that he wasn't going away, no matter what he did. No professional would be able to convince him otherwise. He just hoped he was wrong. And if he were to take a break, would he be able to get back on the road again? Many trainers who took extended rests ended up giving up the trade. "No… I won't do that. I have to keep going. If I don't, everything I've done will all be for nothing. You'll have to lock me up in a straightjacket to keep me from continuing my traveling."

"Well, I won't be recommending that," Stall replied, a small smile on his face. "So far, I have no reason to believe that you're a danger to yourself or others. And who knows. Maybe you're right and I'm wrong. Maybe you are being haunted from something beyond our world. So I will suggest this." He stood up from his chair, walked over to his desk, and pulled out a small spiral-bound notebook, and handed it to Cody, who just looked back at the doctor, confused.

"What is this for?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"Look Mr. Storm, personally, I do not believe that all dreams can be interpreted to mean something, but I think this can help you. I want you to keep journal entries of your dreams. All of them, whether they be about this 'Dark One' or anything else. Maybe it will help you gain some understanding for these dreams. Maybe it will give you some feelings of control when you're feeling helpless. Can you do that for me?"

Cody looked at the notebook. How this was going to help him fight Darkrai… it couldn't. However, since nobody, not Heather, not this psychologist, believed that the 'Dark One' was real, perhaps this was the best thing to do in order to appease Irving Stall. It was better than being put on new medication or being sent home.

"Very well. I'll do it," Cody answered in a straight voice. "But only because you think it will help."

"Very good," Stall replied, smiling in his success. "Now let's talk about this voice some more. As you know, there are many people who have claimed to have heard and seen Darkrai in their dreams, but this can be brought on by many other things, such as exposure to knowledge about Darkrai in the past, combined with stress and whatnot. Allow me to go into details…"

For the rest of the session, the doctor continued to elaborate on all logical reasons unto why Darkrai didn't and couldn't exist. Cody respectfully listened and nodded at all of these reasons, but he still couldn't agree with the man. After all, while the doctor was trying to understand, he hadn't experienced the dreams themselves. He had no idea how real they felt, unlike many other dreams he had experienced. And it still didn't explain how his pokemon reacted to Madame Stella. While Stall had tried to convince him that perhaps, he imagined that too, he didn't agree. But he decided he would start keeping a dream journal. At the end of the day, perhaps it was better than nothing. But another problem sprung to his mind when he had to pay for the session at the front desk of the health clinic. Since his medical insurance was still under his parents' plan, they would know he had gone to a psychologist. He had been able to lie before about hospital visits (such as when Antonia broke his arm) to his mother, saying they were for bumps and cuts, but when she saw this… he knew she wouldn't like what she saw.

Tiffany Storm tiredly slipped into her scrubs. It was 8:10 PM, but her day was just beginning. Ever since Stone Rise North Hospital had been cutting back on employees, her shifts had been moved to the night hours. At first, it was difficult adjusting to the schedule of working all night, but then, it became a welcome change. Since Randy worked during the day and she worked during the night, it kept the two of them separated. For the time, that was a good thing. Whenever the two of them were together, they would usually end up fighting over something insignificant, such as the food, the way one of them was spending money, housework, the TV channel to watch... but the important thing they argued about constantly was Cody. That was the one thing she never quite got used to. Despite his bad attitude, Cody always provided a youthful energy to the home, and without him, she constantly felt tired and cranky. What really made things worse was that he rarely ever called home, and whenever they did talk, it usually ended with them fighting. It was the Derrick situation all over again, except the more she thought about it this time around, the more she wished she could have convinced her second son to stay in school and not become a trainer like his father… it was his fault for all of this. If he hadn't been so encouraging of Cody becoming a trainer, even after what happened with his older brother, none of this would have occurred. She could only pray that Cody wouldn't be completely sucked into the lifestyle he had chosen.

"Ugh… I need an aspirin," she muttered as she gripped her forehead. I'll get one on the way out. Before heading downstairs and out to work, she walked over to her laptop on the bed and checked her email as she habitually did. The only piece of mail she had was an update from her health insurance company about the payments and usage of said insurance during the past month. She opened it and began to scroll down the list, barely paying much attention to the names of her and Randy's doctors and pharmaceutical providers. But at the end of the list, she saw a name that was unfamiliar to her: Dr. Irving Stall. Looking at the details listed next to the name, she saw that the insurance use was in Loamford City. It must be Cody. What did he do this time? Another hiking related injury? Or something worse? Every time he used the family's health insurance, her heart would skip a beat, fearing that maybe he finally bit off more than he could chew. However, the listing wasn't specific enough, but in order to try and figure out what her son was using the health insurance for, she pulled up a second tab and ran a Google search on the name of the clinic and the doctor's name. But what she saw piqued her interest, and not in a positive way… Doctor Irving Stall was listed as a psychologist.

"Randy!" she shouted out of the room. No response, save the Hypno that peeked its head in the doorway, but teleported away when he realized that Tiffany's fear had nothing to do with him. Frustrated with her husband's lack of response, she shot up from the bed and walked briskly down the stairs to the den on the first floor where her husband was working at the family's desktop computer. "Randy, we need to talk!"

"Not now dear," he groaned as he continued to type away at the keyboard, trying to shut out another one of his wife's complaints. "I have a deadline on this article, and I have to-"

"Now!" Tiffany demanded, her hair falling to disarray.

"Fine, fine," Randy grunted as he left the keyboard and turned to his wife, an annoyed expression on his face. "What is it this time?"

"It's Cody again!" she yelled, her voice breaking in her concern, "our insurance records show that he's visited another doctor without telling us!"

For a few seconds, Randy just stared at his wife with utter confusion and disbelief. "So? Being a trainer is rough, and he knows that. He's not going to call home every time he scrapes his knee."

"He didn't see just a regular doctor this time. He went to a psychologist!"

Again, Randy just stared at her dumbly before repeating, "So?"

"So? So?" she began again, furious at Randy for not seeing things the way she did. "Randy, a psychologist! Don't you think that's a little suspicious? What if something is wrong? What if he stopped using his medication? What if he's become psychologically unbalanced while out there? What if this is the same thing that happened to Derrick, and we don't stop it while we have the cha-"

"You're overreacting," Randy sighed, shaking his head in disgust. "Trainers see psychologists all the time. I did for a little bit too. Things can be confusing, so as long as we're not getting any calls about it, I'm sure everything is just fine and normal."

"Normal? If it was so normal, why did Cody not call me to tell us that he's visiting a psychologist?"

"Gee, I don't know dear," Randy began sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "maybe he didn't want you overreacting like you are right now! Cody is a big boy and-"

"He's only fifteen!" she screeched, but her husband tried to talk over her voice.

"Sometimes kids don't want people in their business, and you've been prying an awful lot lately. Maybe if you knew that earlier, you wouldn't have pushed Derrick to the point where he left completely!"

"What?" she roared, her face turning red. "You're saying it's my fault that he never came back?"

"Maybe I am!" Randy shouted back, standing nose to nose with his wife. "Derrick was always independent! He probably got sick and tired of you prying and trying to control him! Kids need to be able to learn from their own mistakes, Tiff!"

"I just wanted my baby to be safe!" she screamed back, tears running down her face. "If Cody ends up like Derrick, or worse, I'll never forgive myself!… I'll never forgive you either!"

"Oh, because it's my fault that the kid had a dream?"

"Yes!" Tiffany shouted, her cheeks now drenched. "He was a good student! He would have stayed in school and done something useful with his life instead of running the risk of being eaten by an Ursaring! I just- I can't do it anymore!" She stormed off, ignoring her husband's pleas to listen to reason. His reason. His reason was the reason that her children were gone, possibly forever.

When she finally reached the garage, she fumbled with her keys before falling to her knees and crying, this time, even harder. "I can't do this anymore… I won't… I won't let my last child get swept away from me." She decided then and there that it was time for Cody to come home, no matter what it took.