8 - Returns and Battles

Okay… I had far too much fun writing this one. Here's the reason why:

It's Xander's time to battle!

Xander POV

"Hey, long time no see!" Daniel greets us as Anabel and I exit the airport. Anabel waves at him, as well as Brock, Misty, and Ash. I yawn before tiredly nodding in reply. Flying screws up my already poor sleep schedule. At least this time my dreams before the flight only had me getting killed once, via a dagger to my eye. My left eye, unfortunately, is sore now, and my body refuses to sleep once more, though I don't know how much longer I can stand up. The ground is looking a bit comfortable now.

"Nightmares again?" Daniel asks in concern, noticing my lack of witty response.

I just nod again. "Just… enjoy the day without me… I need slee…"

I couldn't finish before my exhaustion finally gives me some bliss.

Daniel POV

"Xander!" we all cry in surprise as the Professor suddenly passes out. Thankfully, Anabel and I catch him before he falls completely to the ground. The lilac haired girl sighs. "He's been pretty sick, having worked himself into a frenzy a couple of days ago. He stubbornly refuses to take the medicine, and I don't know why."

I sigh. "Probably because all that medicine would make him sleep. As much as he is tired, he is utterly terrified of going to sleep."

Anabel frowned. "I know. I barely managed to calm him down when I found him writhing on the grass after passing out. He shot a literal spear of psychic energy that almost went straight through a tree. Thankfully, his aim was quite horrid."

"Wait, Xander has trouble sleeping?" Brock asked.

I wince. I completely forgot they were there. "Er… yeah. Don't talk about it though, it upsets him quite a bit."

Anabel and I work together to carry the unconscious body of Xander to the Pokemon Center. Hopefully he'll be a bit better after a good rest, for once.

The Next Day

"Alright… who the hell is fuckin' with my mind and being an utter pain in the ass to my nerves," the groaning voice of Xander crudely says as he awakens. "When I get the number of that car I'll eviscerate the driver after I castrate him with a rusty fork and scoop out his organs with red hot tongs!"

Anabel looked at the teen quite distrubed, while I sigh. "There are people around you idiot."

"Let me die in peace," he groaned. "This is worse than the hangover I got when you spiked my thermos with vodka. Ugh…"

"I didn't know you were so vulgar…" Anabel commented with a strange expression.

"Only when I'm in so much fu… accursed pain."

"I… could help?" Anabel suggested. "My empathy abilities allow me to share the burden of people."

Xander poorly waved it off. "Nah, compared to the feeling of having your head shot through, this isn't all that bad. Then again, you really only felt the pain for about three seconds…"

"Oh quit being stubborn!" Daniel huffed. "God you just love to gripe!"

Xander turned and glared his hazel eyes at me. Then he flicked at me.

SLAM

"Ow…" I groan as I slide down from the wall Xander just blasted me into. "When did you get telekinesis?"

"I've had it since we started on our journey," he grunts as he sits up, holding his head. "I've just never seen a reason to use it yet. Now if you'll give me about an hour, I can get this accursed headache and pain flushed out. Thank Arceus for that little trick…"

Xander POV

Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.

I think you get the hint. I hurt. A lot. I had used my psychic abilities to ignore all the damage I've done to my body from the training and experimenting with my Ralts, Athena. The ERB was a pain to finally get down pat, and having to search through so many online shops and weave through the black market under New Mauville… yes, I use the black market. As long as I purchase nothing illegal, I'm fine. Admittedly, prices are a bit… sketchy, but they have everything.

So let's just say, all my exhaustion, pain, soreness, and headaches I should have had the last 48 hours just hit me all at once.

Again. OW.

Thankfully, I managed to snag a book on psychics, and many of those techniques have been great to try it. Though I'll probably be careful with that pain numbing trick… should have mentioned that once it is over, it hurts like a bitch!

I frown. I'll need to get a leash on my swearing.

EIther way, the hour I need is a technique that helps flush out pain. I've tried it once before, and it is nii~iice. Seriously, imagine having a huge headache… and then suddenly it vanishes. Just like that. Oh it is a good thing, a very good thing.

I open the book and flip to the page on the pain flushing technique. I haven't memorized it yet, so yeah.

"Sorry about my little episode," I say simply as I nibble on a piece of bacon. I don't know how there is bacon in this world, and while I am curious, I am pretty darn sure I don't want to know. "Though I have a request to make once we're done eating."

"What is it?" Brock asked.

"I may not need the badges to enter the league, but I still want the experience and just battle in general," I shrug. "So, I want to battle you and Misty."

"Alright, I'm game," Misty agrees.

"A 1."

The others pause. Well, all except Anabel. She knew I was pretty darn good at battling. Admittedly, I haven't won against her yet, but I've beaten one of her Pokemon each time we battle. When you factor in the fact that my Pokemon are less than a third of her Pokemon's level - excluding the now level 40 Java - she couldn't help but state that once my Pokemon were on even ground in terms of power, she's lose no matter what. Personally, I don't think that she'll always lose. I know that if I'm caught off guard I panic, so all she needs to do is that. Then again, I do plan ten ways from Sunday…

"A two on one?" Brock repeats.

"Did I stutter?"

"N-No…" Misty speaks up. "But… we are Gym Leaders, you can't expect to beat us so easily."

"I want to test my skills. A two one one, three Pokemon each sounds like a fine challenge to me," I smirk. "Unless, of course, you're scared…"

"Great, you have an ego as large as Daniel…" Misty groaned, before glaring at me with a smirk. "I guess Brock and I will have to knock you down a peg!"

"We can't let him think we're pushovers, after all," Brock agreed.

Scene Change: Border of Cerulean City, by the Forest.

Xander VS Misty and Brock!

"Let's do this Staryu!"

"Onix, let's go!"

Xander was silent as he let out his Ralts, Athena.

Misty huffed. "What is it with you and Daniel throwing out your weaker Pokemon! We won't fall for that-"

The trees suddenly shook violently as leaves shot from their branches and harshly stuck the two Pokemon repeatedly. The two Gymleaders were too shocked at the sudden attack to think to tell their Pokemon to evade. Not that it would help since Onix is too bulky, and the move was Magical Leaf. There was no escape.

"W-What just-" Misty gaped as Staryu collapsed.

"O-Onix?!" Brock exclaimed as the ground shook with the large rock snake's fall with a groaning roar of "Nix…"

Ash gaped in shock. "How- Xander didn't say anything!"

"Pi…" Pikachu gaped in astonishment.

Anabel giggled slightly. "He doesn't need to, as a Psychic, he can communicate with his Pokemon with telepathy."

"Telepathy?"

It means I can speak with my mind. Xander's voice rang through the three's heads. I've gotten a lot better at it thanks to Anabel's help. Since she does the same thing to me.

"Well, you're welcome," Anabel curtsied in Xander's direction. To Daniel's immense surprise, Xander actually cracked a slight smile! Or was it just a trick of the light? He was back to his impassive gaze at Brock and Misty.

"I don't think we need a ref to say that you're Pokemon are out."

Misty growled as she recalled Staryu and sent out Starmie. Brock just sighed as he recalled Onix and sent out Geodude. This time, though, he started the battle off as soon as he could.

"Geodude, Megapunch!"

"Seel, follow that up with Water Gun!"

Xander was silent as Athena easily dodged the water blast, but winced as Ralts took the Megapunch head on. Brock, hoping it was a chance, ordered for Geodude to do Mega Punch again before Athena had a chance to step back.

"Seel keep Ralts in place with Ice Beam at its feet!"

Xander's eyes widened and a grimace formed, as the icy beam froze Ralts feet in place, letting Geodude get another punch in. Misty smirked at this. "Guess you but off more than you could-"

She was cut off because at the moment when Geodude landed his third Mega Punch on Athena, he was suddenly blasted like a missle backwards and right into Seel, sending them both crashing into a tree which, of course, let Athena use Magical Leaf right on top of them.

"Dude…" the rock pokemon groaned as he succumbed to the sudden injuries, passing out, with Seel not very far behind.

Ash gulped at the sight. "What just happened?!"

"So that's the ERB…" Anabel muttered.

"Could you please educate us barbarians and tell us just what on earth just happened?!" Daniel huffed.

"I told Athena to use ERB, Energy Reconstruction Barrier," Xander stated aloud. "It's a move of my own creation. Using psychic energy, a Pokemon can create a barrier around their immediate self, and will absorb about half of the kinetic energy of any physical attack, and reconstruct it into potential energy, and then reconstruct it back into kinetic energy as an attack right back at the attacker. Normally, this only lasts against one attack, but Athena is holding some Light Clay, which extends the length of barrier type moves. As you may have guessed, ERB is a barrier type move."

Brock sighed. "Daniel wasn't exaggerating when he said you were good…"

Xander smirked. "Daniel has only won once against me, and that was sheer dumb luck."

"Oh… you mean that time-"

"WE DO NOT SPEAK OF IT!" Xander growled, a slight burst of psychic energy causing his grey lab coat ruffle slightly. "Anyways, let's get back to the battle. Athena, return," he recalled his Psychic/Fairy type and tossed another Pokeball lightly before tossing it out. "Nightshade, time to battle."

Daniel grimaced as Nightshade was revealed to have evolved into an Ivysaur. He didn't think Xander would have gotten a chance to train all that much with his constant researching. It was a bit painful to his pride to know he was wrong.

"Alright Starmie, you're up!"

"Zubat, let's go!"

Barely a second had passed before Misty shouted, "Starmie, Confusion now!"

Nightshade flinched hard as the super effective psychic attack struck him. Misty almost cheered, except Xander smirked. Then, quick as a flash, four vines slapped Starmie into another, knocking it out instantly.

"WHAT-!?" Misty exclaimed in shock.

"Weakness Policy," Xander chuckled. "A lovely item that makes super effective hits dangerous. Whenever the holder is struck by a super effective attack, both attack stats are raised. I knew that you would command Starmie to take advantage of Nightshade's weakness to Psychic, and planned accordingly."

Brock smiled grimly. "Hmph, and that means Zubat can't attack since the only moves it knows are Gust and Bug Bite, one is super effective, and the other does little to no damage and required Zubat to get in close, and judging from your tactics, you are well prepared for that."

Xander just smirked further, causing Brock to sigh. "Daniel wasn't kidding, you are terrifying in battle. I forfeit, I don't want to injure Zubat with no chance of winning."

Xander POV

I couldn't help but continue my smirking as Zubat was recalled by Brock. I recently found out my arrogant and cocky side kinda revealed itself whenever people fell into my traps or were so easy to manipulate into a victory for me. Passionate battlers like Misty, Ash, and Daniel were easy to beat because of this… though Daniel was starting to use strategy from the battles I've seen of him.

Though, there was that time in the old world, where on our 3dses, my Gardevoir was against his Charizard. I used Attract FOUR TIMES and it didn't work! Grr… just thinking about that makes me annoyed.

Getting back on topic… Cold logic battlers, like Anabel, were much more challenging for me… and far more fun, really. I have to use every trick I know to pull something over her, and most of those tricks are one shot deals because Anabel figures out the weaknesses almost instantly, and I have to come up with new ideas to battle with.

Out of habit, I bring out the precious slip of paper and gently smooth it out. Gods I miss her…

"Xander!" Ash called, "We're going back to the Pokemon Center!"

I subtly slip my last link to my old life back in my grey lab coat and make my way over to Ash, Nightshade lumbering behind me. My body was walking one way, but my mind was off in the distance. I don't know if Anabel noticed, but I felt… something while battling. Something familiar… oh well. I'll ponder later.

I wanted this chapter to go on just a little longer… but I kinda ran out of juice to extend this without it seeming awkward… Oh well, guess I'll have to make the next one longer!

Also, the comment about the 3ds battle, that actually happened. I was so ticked. Daniel just laughs like a loon.

As for the first part, that was to show that Xander will work himself to a critical point, as well as show the effect his nightmares can have on him. The second part was to show some development in his psychic abilities.