A/N: Hello all this chapter is coming out a little earlier than usually because someone wants me to release it, I'm not naming names, Orange...
Some of you have been coming up with your own ideas on things that are happening in the story, some of you are quite spot on with your ideas and guess while others made me laugh, but all were great, you keep guessing with how the story is going with our characters I like to read them.
Orange: Hi everybody some of you guys went back and checked the first question I asked. Still no one said Tabatha... :(. Okay revieewer corner!
Charlesguy: Goddammit Orange I missed out on the last chapter, because of you. your playing broke someone's window, and they blamed me. *hands Orange sheet music for Nocturne of Shadow.* Just try not to get caught in a pocket dimension, or you'll have to go it, trial and error to get out... It ain't fun.
Now where was I...? Oh yeah, I have a quick question... Is this story cannon to the Anime or the games? The fact that our little member of PeTA (they tried to sue Nintendo, twice) might not have released Arron into the wild, and Tom still catching him, tells me that he either has Wes' snag machine or it's cannon to the games, where trainers swat the pokéball away' in the anime however the 'ball is unable to capture.
Grammar as usual, but you said it yourself, grammar will never be perfect. Now I'm going back in time to read the last chapter.
*removes same pocket flute from same sweater*
May the winds of fortune blow in your favor.
*Plays song of time, going back to the point of last chapter.*
Orange: *reads the Nocturne of Shadow sheet music* hmmmm seems correct... now I will take that sweatshirt your wearing cause it looks boss. * plays Nocturne of Shadow*. Coolio... *gets teleported to pocet dimension*... FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU- oh a radio now I can still talk to you guys atleast. A certain someone will like this chapter. ITS LIkE FUPPIN TARDIS IN HERE!
Skater: You two are weird, spending time with Orange has made me get use to this kind of crazyness, but I do still wonder. Orange came up with the time line for this story and the fact Tom was able to catch Arron was because Darcy released him, meaning the time line is of the games but that release system is from the Anime.
I opened my eyes to the darkness of the void in my dream, I wasn't floating but instead standing on solid ground, when I looked down however I didn't see the non-existent ground like the other times, at my feet I saw a circle of white light under me, I curiously tried to step off it to see what would happen and as I moved my leg out the light followed me like a shadow, to test this I walked around for a bit and as I did it followed me where I went.
"Well, this is... confusing", I said to myself. Now that I have gotten used to the white shadow under me I called out for Aeon, it wasn't long before another circle appeared near me as Aeon faded into existence.
"Hello", he said.
"I see you have been upgrading",I looked down to what I was standing on indicating that this is what I was talking about.
"I figured that you could use a floor this time around", Aeon said happily, he seemed pleased that I took interest with his new little feature.
"Well I guess it's better than the invisible floor", I had a slight chuckle in my voice finding this a little amusing but I didn't see how it was, but I just figured that I needed to be happy for a while after the day I had.
"I saw what you did today", Aeon slowly broke the silence.
"What are you talking about?", I did many things yesterday that I found it hard to figure out what Aeon was talking about.
"I heard and saw everything you did, and I must say, I'm impressed", Aeon started to walk around me with a smile on his face but I still was lost.
"Aeon, you're not helping here, tell me what you're talking about?", I was started to get irritated by Aeon's lack of information he is giving me.
"Well for one, you saved another pokémon you haven't even met before and risked your life protecting her", what Aeon was talking about was Fling I met yesterday, Luna and I manage to defeat the Beedrill that were following her, but not before Luna got poisoned and I got attacked in the back a few times.
"Well I'm just glad we were able to help, even if my back still hurts", I wanted to rub my back better but I just couldn't reach it. Aeon was still circling around me with that smile of his face still plain to see.
"I'm glad, second, you are getting used to your emotions, I knew you would", Aeon seemed really pleased with this, last time we met I let them control me and I almost killed Coal, Aeon wasn't happy with me after that.
"Well... like I said, I just needed time".
"Yes, but will see in time if you can control them fully", Aeon's happy tone went away for a second, he could tell that I can still lose control over a few things that can happen, but I was still confident that I can control myself in any situation. Aeon quickly went back to smiling and had his happy tone again.
"Thirdly, you're getting more confident with your changes, back in the last town you were a nervous wreck".
"Last time no one had seen me like this before, I had gotten used to being stared at".
"I know, lastly, you offered to be your brothers pokémon, which I found touching", Aeon finally stopped circling me and sat down in front of me still with that annoying smile.
"Well... only if we can't get a cure... but on that subject, how are you with coming up with a way to help me keep my memories?", I only remembered that I would lose them when I was telling my story, I told Tom what I wanted to do if I changed fully so if I did lose my memories, he would know what I wanted.
"I might of come up with a way, but...", Aeon looked away not wanting to look at me, he seemed saddened by the information he found out.
"Aeon, what is it?", I asked but he just continued to sit looking away from me in silence, I don't think I remembered Aeon ever being silent like this, it was quite scary seeing that even Aeon can get like this.
"Sora, the only way I found out to keep them is... I can't say, not yet, I need to be sure that there isn't another way before I tell you", Aeon responded still not looking at me, whatever he found out saddened even him, and if this made Aeon sad it made me worry.
"Aeon, I don't know what you found out, but whatever it is, it's something that you don't want to do, and I'm not going to force you to do it", Aeon still didn't move, still deep in thought.
"Sora... thank you", is all he said before fading into nothing.
"Aeon wait!", I called out but nothing happened, he wanted to be alone to think about his options, I wish I knew what scared Aeon so much but until he was ready to tell me I could only guess. I was sitting in the void for sometime waiting to wake up, Aeon left me in a hurry way before I was going to wake up, while I waited I tried to think of what scared Aeon, but I came up with nothing.
"Grr... why can't I think of it, I want to help, but I can't think like him", I told myself, I wanted to help him, he shouldn't try and do this alone, but the more I thought about it the more I think he is more like me, I hid many things from my friends that I didn't want to tell them about in fear of worrying them further, I guess Aeon is learning things off me, and I should be the one learning off him. When I finished my thought a light appeared in the darkness far away and expanded at extreme speeds before engulfing me.
I slowly opened my eyes, the room was still dark since there were no windows in here to let light in, but it didn't bother me much as my eyes allowed me to see better in the dark, laying on my back I thought about Aeon again, but before I could start I felt soft movement between my arm and the side of my torso under the blanket, I was curious about it as it felt familiar to the touch, I looked around thinking that it was Dash or Pulse but when I looked to the other side of the bed, I saw them sleeping soundly, barely moving and nowhere near me. I slowly lifted my other arm raising the blanket to see what it was, as I did I saw some brown fur between my arm and body, I was shocked at the site that I yelped in surprised and launched out of the bed, landing on the ground hard.
"Ow...", I slowly got up rubbing my head, I opened my eyes as I went up and saw that on my bed was an Eevee, it was Luna, she was the one cuddling up to me, she seemed scared by the sudden noise, "Sorry Luna, I forgot you were with us tonight so when I saw you, it kind of scared me", I rubbed the back of my head feeling embarrassed as well and trying to stop it from throbbing in pain from the fall.
"Sora...?", Luna sleepily said, she was still just waking up from her sleep still unsure with what was going on, I looked over her to see that Dash and Pulse were still asleep, or I did wake them up and they just went back to their slumber, after so much time sleeping with me they are used to my sleeping habits, I also looked to the corner of the room and found Coal was still asleep, I let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, at least I didn't wake everyone up".
"I'm sorry Sora", I looked back to Luna she didn't seem happy.
"Sorry for what?", I asked.
"I got cold during the night, so I went under the blankets and cuddled up with you to get warm, I'm sorry if I scared you", Luna looked down at the bed feeling sorry for scaring me, I moved my hand onto her head and gave her a warm smile.
"It's fine Luna, I just forgot you were here tonight, sorry for waking you", I rubbed her head a bit before moving my hand away and getting up, stretching my arms, I grabbed my bag and went into the bathroom leaving Luna to relax on the bed.
As I was in the small cold room I got myself changed into my clothes, I looked at myself in the mirror, last time I probably done this was back in Viridian City, since I was here I wanted to take a look at my new changes since then.
I leaned in closer to the mirror so I could look into my eyes, the colour they showed was red as blood, the pupil and the Iris were solid black, but I still had the white sclrea surrounding it, at least I didn't lose my human eyes completely at least not yet, being this close to the mirror with these new eyes hurt my head so I moved back a focused on something else.
I looked at my head and at the ring of yellow fur, it seemed to replace the hair where it grew but the rest of my hair grew a little smaller and softer, seeing as the yellow fur was smaller than my hair it was somewhat hidden under it but it was still noticeable.
I finally moved on to my hand, to the black fur that grew on the back of it, I was still unsure as to why it grew there and not anywhere else, maybe the answer was plan to see but I just couldn't get it, the fur that was on my hand was just covering the back of it and spread slightly over some of my wrist, it wasn't on my fingers so at least that was something. I stopped checking out the changes and cleaned up before heading back out into the main room, as I left the bathroom I just noticed that I didn't have the light on, 'Wow, these new eyes are handy, I just hope they don't become a burden', I thought.
I put my bag back down, I looked around the room and saw that everyone was sleeping, even Luna, I smiled at all of them seeing them in their peaceful state, I turned around and left my room, as I opened the door light flooded my room and entered into my eyes, I jumped back in pain covering my eyes but stopped myself from making any noise so I didn't wake up the others, I tried opening my eyes again lowering my hands at the same time trying to get them used to the light, it wasn't easy but I manage to do it, "Yep definitely a burden", I mumbled to myself as I closed the door behind me and walked down the hall.
I walked to the main hall, no one was around and I didn't run into anyone else on the way here, I guess everyone else was still asleep, but I wanted to go for a walk since I didn't want to go back to sleep, I walked to the automatic doors and walked out, it was still quite cold out here the evening air was cold and crisp, the stars shining bright as the sun slept for a few more hours, I looked up to the sky looking at the moon in awe.
"Wow, I've never thought the moon was so... so pretty", I quietly said to myself as I took a seat on a nearby bench, not taking my eyes off it, it wasn't a full moon only half of one but it was so bright and mystical that I just wanted to sit here and stare at it all night, but I was soon interrupted.
"What you doing Sora?", the voice said, I jumped from fright as I turned around to see who it was.
"Tabatha!", I exclaimed, I put my hand over my chest, "You startled me".
"Sorry", she smiled happily and took a seat next to me.
"What are you doing out here at this time?", I asked.
"What I usually do in the mornings, nothing new, when I came out I saw bright lights over here so I came to see what it was, turns out it was you", Tabatha looked up slightly, I followed her gaze as a could just see my ears glowing brightly as well as my other rings.
"I didn't know they were doing that, I was just looking at the moon", I looked back to it and I could feel the rings get brighter just by me looking at it.
"You know I have been doing my own research on Umbreon".
"Am I the only one not doing my homework on this?", I jokingly said, Tabatha chuckled at my comment.
"I guess so, anyway I read somewhere that Umbreon spend some of their time just sitting and staring at the moon, no one knows why but they think it's their connection to it", she said, I wasn't looking at her the whole time, I was just staring at the moon, I just couldn't take my eyes off it, but the information from Tabatha finally sunk in as my expression went from happiness to sadness.
"So, you mean I'm acting like a Umbreon right now, great", I manage to stop looking at the moon as I tried to control myself better.
"You missed a great dinner last night", Tabatha tried lightening up my mood, but it wasn't working all to well, "Sora, I talked to Tom last night", I moved away from my thoughts and focused on Tabatha.
"You mean...".
"Yep, Tom told me everything", I again was saddened by the information, Tom told her about what my new goal is, I wanted him to think about, not tell everyone about it.
"Yeah, and what did he say?", if he told her maybe she would know his answer.
"He had no idea what to think, he barely ate because of it", Tabatha's tone was one of concern for both of us.
"Really... I didn't want to put Tom on the spot like this... I was just planning things out", I said.
"Well what happened to your dream about becoming like your dad?", Tabatha asked.
"I still want to do that, but, if we can't get a cure and reverse this then I wanted to set a new goal for me to achieve".
"So you want to become his pokémon, fight for him".
"Look, I know your against me giving up my...", I was quickly interrupted by her.
"I think that's great!", she exclaimed leaving me confused.
"What, but you said...".
"I know what I said, and I still do stick by it, but like you said, if you can't get a cure then you might as well plan something out, and I think that helping out Tom is one of the best things you could do", She took a breath, "I have seen you two interact between each other even if your conscious or not, and I could see the bond between you is strong, you would never leave each other side, not even as a pokémon, asking to be his pokémon you will still be able to keep that bond", Tabatha sounded really happy, but as she talked her tone she started to use gave me pause for concern.
"Tabatha are you okay?",I asked.
"It's just... nothing".
"Tabatha, please tell me", I insisted, she looked stared into my eyes to think about it before slowly nodding.
"Okay then, Back in Unova, I had a sister that I used to always be around, we would always play with each other, protect each other, we never left each other side, just like you and Tom, she was about year older then me so when she turned ten she got her first pokémon and went on a pokémon journey, I was sad when she left and cried for days, but I knew we would see each other again, when she came back a few months later she seemed different", Tabatha took a break, I was listening carefully to her story, hanging on every word.
"When she came back she was cold and bitter and wasn't the same person I knew before, she never wanted to do anything with me, all she would do was be out all hours of the day, come back before dark, eat and go to bed repeating the same thing everyday, when I look at you two you remind me of the times when we played, how we would always protect each other, stay by each other side till the end, you two aren't even blood related and you won't leave each other, I guess the reason I wanted you to continue with your dream was because I didn't want you to give up on finding the cure, I wanted you and Tom to continue to be with each other, but now I see that even being a pokémon won't stop you from being brothers", Tabatha seemed like she has finished, I grew a bit emotional after it, she really cared about what happens to me and Tom due to her past experience.
"Tabatha... thank you... thank you for sharing that with me, it means a lot, and I want to let you know that I will never give up on finding that cure", Tabatha's sad expression soon went a way being replaced with a soft smile.
"That's good", she said. We sat on that seat for quite awhile, the sun was starting to rise and we haven't said anything to each other, I was thinking about her story when something came to me.
"So with your story, is that why are you so childish and crazy?", I asked, once I said it I regretted it, it kind of slipped out, but Tabatha just smiled at my question.
"Nope that's just pure me!", she said as she pushed me off the seat, giggling away.
"I'm glad you find it funny...", I got up off the ground dusting myself off, she seemed some what depressed lately and it was good to see her laugh again.
I walked back into the Pokémon Center, Tabatha left to do what she does in the mornings after spending some time with me. I learned a lot about her today, I'm glad that she wants to see me well, not really because she doesn't want me to change but mainly she doesn't want Tom and I to lose our friendship, which will never happen. I made my way back to my room as I went I passed a few trainers that wanted to get an early start to the day, waved good morning to each other when we passed, it was good to see no one here was scared to look at me, outside however would be a different story.
I opened the door to my room and walked in, straight away I saw that Dash and Pulse were up watching the T.V. yet again, I looked over them and saw Luna had moved some of the pillows and made a small bed to relax on while Coal was still in his corner sleeping, he seemed to do that a lot lately.
"Sora your back!", Dash exclaimed, but didn't move from his spot.
"What you guys up to?", I asked but I had a pretty good idea.
"We're watching T.V.!", Pulse exclaimed, they took their attention away from me and back to the magical box on the wall. I walked over to Luna and took a seat next to her.
"I don't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that I showed them the T.V.", I told Luna she giggled at my comment, it's good to see her happy after yesterday.
"I don't know, it's not that great", she said.
"Luna, you grew up with a T.V. in our house, they didn't".
"Well they're making up for it now", Luna giggled once more, I followed along.
"Yeah, I guess they are... hey Luna, you want to talk about yesterday now, about why you were crying so much?", I asked, after I told my story yesterday to the crowd of trainers, Luna broke down in tears, she didn't last time I told the story and she was with me most of the time when we travelled to Pewter City so she already knew most it. Luna cheery expression went away at the thought of yesterday, she soon shook her head, before looking up at me, "Well I thought I'll ask away", I let out a sigh, if she wanted to keep it a secret that's fine but I wish she would tell someone.
"Sora...", Luna said, I looked down at her.
"Thank you for letting me stay", I gave her a big warm smile.
"You're welcome", she smiled back, her cheery, happy manor was back, this is the side I liked to see of her, "Alright everyone, time to eat!", I called out to everyone, I got up from he bed and got everything ready for breakfast.
After we all ate I got ready to leave, since we were staying for a few more days I was leaving my stuff here, to Dash and Pulse's dismay I turned off the T.V. and got them to hop onto my shoulders, I recalled Coal who was still sleeping in the corner and walked out, Luna in tow. When I closed my door and turned back around I was startled to see Tom waiting for me.
"Tom, can you be less sneaky!", I exclaimed.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you", Tom didn't sound like himself, he sounded more depressed and deep in thought rather than his cheery self, I didn't want to ask him for an answer to my question from yesterday, seeing as that is what he is thinking about, "How was Luna?".
"She was great, so quiet, I forgot she was with us when I woke up, gave myself a fright", I said with a slight chuckle in my voice, Tom didn't change his expression at all, I was beginning to worry.
"Did she tell you about why she was crying so much?", Tom asked, I just shook my head, "Well then, let's go", Tom headed off down the hall back to the main room, me and the others lagged behind him, all slightly worried. As we walked into the main room, it was again filled with trainers doing their own thing, when Tom and I entered they looked over and waved hello, I did the same but Tom paid them no attention, what he had on his mind really made him block out the outside world.
"Tom", I said, he stopped and turned slightly so he could just see me, "I want to make a few calls before we start the day", I waited for Tom to respond but he just stood there and looked at me, I never seen Tom like this before, even the pokémon were getting scared, I didn't know what I asked him affected him so much, I only asked if I could be his pokémon if we can't find a cure, and now he's barely himself,"Tom...?".
"Sure, you calling Mum and Dad?", he asked.
"Yeah... and Professor Oak", Tom finally turned around fully and stared at me, but he seemed to be somewhat happy now, but he was still in his depressing state.
"Come on", Tom said as he walked over to the phones, me and the pokémon slowly joined him. Tom started to dial the house as Mark picked up.
"Hello?", Mark said.
"Hey dad", Toms depressing state was gone and his usual happy demeanor was back. The camera was turned on quickly as Mark's face appeared on screen, soon joined by Marry's.
"Tom, Sora, where have you been?!", Mark exclaimed causing Tom and I to stare at each other.
"Well we had some problems in Viridian forest", Tom replied.
"What kind of problems?", Marry asked, Tom turned around and pulled my face into view.
"This kind of problem...", Mark and Marry took a look at me and back off slightly, when I saw this it made me almost want to cry, they seemed scared of me, I wouldn't blame them, I now have a ring of yellow fur on my head and my eyes looked black and dead, "That' not all, see", Tom let go of me then grabbed my arm and brought it into view to show off the fur that has grown on it.
"Oh...", Marry sounded sad, I would be sad to if it wasn't for my annoyance with Tom, I quickly pulled my hand away from him.
"Tom what you think your doing!?", I yelled, but he didn't really care, he turned his head slightly so he could see me.
"Sora, if you don't mind, I want to talk to them alone", he asked, by the way Tom has been acting I wasn't going to say no, I walked off with the pokémon, and took a seat nearby.
"Sora what's going on?", Dash asked, I only shushed him.
"I want to listen in", I told everyone as I moved my ears to be able to pick up on their conversation.
"Tom... is everything alright with you and Sora?", Mark asked, he could tell that something was wrong with the way we were acting.
"I don't know... so much has happened since we last called".
"What happened?",Marry asked.
"A lot of things, Sora has changed quite a bit and I don't know if it is still him...", my rings were glowing faintly on and off from what Tom said, how could he not know it's me, I know I have been acting differently with everything that's going on, but I don't think I did anything to show him I changed.
"What are you talking about Tom?", Mark asked.
"Well first he got that ring on his head, and now those rings glow, it's really off putting", my rings are something I can't control right now, there was nothing I could change about that, "Then we found out that he is only a kid and that he replaced his emotions with the pokémon ones, which made him flip out and almost killed Coal...", I dropped my ears when I heard this moving away from the conversation for a few seconds, it was my fault for letting the emotions get to me like they did, it was my fault Coal got injured like that, there is nothing I could do to replay Coal back for sticking with me after that, but I thought Tom understood what happened then. I raised my ears again so I could pick up what they were talking about.
"... he said that he didn't know if he wanted to be a pokémon, that he was torn between us and them, but it was what he asked me last night that made me think he has given up...", Tom was already talking about last night, I must have been with my thoughts longer than I thought.
"What did he ask you?", Mark said to Tom.
"He... he said that... that he wants to be my pokémon, when he changes he wants to be mine...", Tom sounded like he was going to cry, but at least he is talking about it.
"He what?!", Marry exclaimed.
"He wants to be my pokémon... he wants to help me become a pokémon master... but I don't want... I don't want to be Sora's owner, commanding him to do stuff, he's my brother...", I could tell that Tom was breaking down into tears, he felt the same way I felt, I didn't want to be anyone's pokémon, I didn't want to be owned and commanded around, but the more I thought about it the more it seemed right, if I was going to be someone's, I want it to be Tom.
"Tom... listen to us", Mark said, Tom slowed his tears but I could still hear him sniffling.
"Sora hasn't given up", Marry told him.
"What...?".
"From what you told us, Sora hasn't given up just... thinking things over, he is trying to move on and trying to think about the future if there is no cure", Marry explained.
"If Sora offered you to be his trainer, then you should be honored, remember this isn't an easy decision for him either", Mark said.
"But... I don't want him to change... he's my brother...", Tom went back to crying, I slowly joined him, I didn't want to change either, I want to be with Tom and my family as I was before, but finding a cure seemed useless now, since I doubt we can revert the changes already done.
"We know Tom, but we have been preparing for the worse, seeing Sora as he is... it's saddening, but we know that if he has you around, at least he wouldn't be sad", Marry added, I couldn't take anymore and I got up and made my way over.
"But... I don't like seeing him like this...", Tom said trying his best to hold back the tears.
"Tom, they're right...", Tom looked back and saw me standing there.
"You... you been listening?", I nodded.
"I want to turn back time so we can be brothers like we used to, but I can't do that, and finding a cure now probably won't change what I already have now, so I offered to be your pokémon so we could still be brothers, so we can still protect each other, and still play like we used to", I put my hand on Tom shoulder looking him straight in the eye, "I'm not going to force you, but I thought I would at least offer, because even as a pokémon, I want to still be brothers".
"Sora... I... I...",Tom tried to speak, but failed to do so.
"Tom listen to Sora, can you not see how much you mean to him", I turned around and saw Tabatha standing behind us, Tom followed my gaze.
"Tabatha...?".
"I only been with you guys for over a week and I can already tell that you guys are close as one can be, Sora and I talked this morning and I told him everything about how I felt about this, I can see you two are close and mean a lot to each other, you would go to the end of the world to protect each other, to stay brothers", she walked over to Tom and knelt down, "I thought like you did Tom, I didn't want Sora to change so you guys could still be brothers, but now I realise, not even being a pokémon will stop Sora, will it stop you?", Tom dropped his head and thought about all this information, Tabatha got back up and joined me.
"How much did you hear?", I whispered to Tabatha.
"Well I just heard what you said to him, I figured what you were talking about and joined in", she gave me a smile.
"Thanks for your help", I told her, she gave me a smile before we looked back at Tom still thinking about everything.
"No... it won't...", Tom looked up to me, getting off his seat, "I'm sorry for the way I have been acting lately, I guess I had too much on my mind, but now I see that the answer was simple, we won't let this stop us from being brothers will we".
"No way, it may be different but I know nothing will change", Tom and I started to hug, it felt really good to finally get this matter over and done with.
"You sure about this?", Tom whispered to me.
"If there's no cure, I don't want it any other way", I whispered back.
"Well we're glad things have been sorted out", we stopped hugging and turned back to the phone, which I forgot it was on.
"Thanks mum, dad", Tom took his seat back at the phone.
"Just remember Tom, you have friends to talk to, if you need help their there for you, if something like this comes up again talk to Sora, since he is the one that has to deal with it".
"Don't worry mum, I learnt that now", I could tell already that Tom was back to his happy self, even if he was still unsure about all this, he knows that Tabatha and I are here for him.
"Sora", Marry said, I went down into view of the camera.
"Yeah?".
"I know this is very hard for you to handle but hang in there, we know that you can pull through", Marry gave me a comforting smile making me feel warm inside.
"Everything will be fine, remember I got everyone here to help me", I looked around to Tom and Tabatha, confidence shining through there warm smiles, Dash, Pulse and Luna were doing the same.
"Your right, I wish you the best of luck, bye boys, and thank you for looking after them Tabatha".
"No problem".
"Bye!", Tom and I called out before hanging up.
"So you guys feel better?", Tabatha came closer to us.
"Yeah", Tom got up and looked back at me, "Sora, I'm still not sure about this, but brothers to the end right?".
"Right... now if you excuse me", I pushed past Tom and took a seat and started to dial.
"What are you doing?", Tabatha sounded confused.
"I'm calling up Professor Oak, it's been quite a while since we left Pallet and I wanted to see if he has found anything out", I continued to dial.
"Oh, right", I finished dialling the lab on Cinnabar, as it finished trying to connect a face appeared on screen.
"Hello, Professor Oak speaking!", Oak had a big smile on his face eyes closed.
"Professor, it's me Sora", Oak opened his eyes stunned to see me.
"Sora!?", he looked closer and backed off slightly leaving me sad seeing him do so, "You, look different".
"I know Professor, a lot of things has happened since Pallet".
"Like what?", he asked.
"Sora who is he?", Pulse asked, I looked over to Dash and Pulse which were again confused with the people we talk to.
"That's Professor Oak, he is trying to find a cure for me, I haven't spoken to him since I left Pallet", their confused looks went a way being replaced with happiness, they always get like this with people I know.
"Sora you did it again...", I turned around and saw Tom had his face in his hand, I turned around back to the screen and saw what he was talking about, Professor Oak was stunned and shocked by what I just did, I keep forgetting that I sound like a pokémon.
"So I see you had some big changes...", Oak slowly came back to reality.
"Yeah, let me fill you in and what has happened".
Over the course of an hour I told Professor Oak about my changes and about Aeon, everything he should know, I left out a lot of information that he didn't need to know, but I couldn't resist to tell him about Dash and Pulse.
"Okay, so you saying that these changes happen in a few days of each other?", Oak said.
"Yeah two to three times a week", I added, the Professor closed his eyes going deep in thought, he was like this for a few minutes.
"Sora is he okay?",Dash asked, I found that funny.
"You guys don't know Professor Oak", another minute went by before Oak opened his eyes and stared me right in the eye.
"Sora from the data I have been getting and how often these changes are happening, I worked out a rough estimate on when when the changes will become complete", what Oak said stunned us all.
"You mean you know how long I got?!", I exclaimed, I always wanted to know when I would change, and if the Professor could tell me I could find out how long I have before I should give up and prepare for the end. Professor Oak nodded to my question.
"If I'm correct then you have until some time after you sixteenth birthday, but I still need to work it out but that's what I would say how long you have", once Oak was done I had mixed emotions about the information I just got, I didn't know what to expect, I was hoping that it would be longer so we had more time to find the cure, and was hoping it to be shorter so this can all be over and dealt with.
"Sora... you okay?", Tom said, I was taken away from my train of thought, I realised that I was still on the phone and with the others.
"Yeah I'm fine, I was just thinking, thank you Professor, is there any news on a cure yet?", I wanted to ask this question when I called, but thought it best to tell him what has happened.
"I'm sorry Sora, we are nowhere closer to finding a cure", I was saddened by this information but I was expecting it.
"Thanks anyway Professor, we should really get going", before I could let him say anything I hanged up and got up slowly, I let a tear fall from my face but I quickly regained my senses.
"Sora...", Tom walked up behind me.
"I'm fine", I turned around showing a smile, trying to hide my true feelings, "There's nothing to be sad about, we still have plenty of time to find a cure, you heard the Professor".
"I guess", Tom didn't sound to convinced but I didn't need him to be,
"Come on, let's go explore Pewter City!", I ran past Tom and Tabatha and bolted for the door, Dash and Pulse trying to there best to hang on.
"Sora, wait up!", Tabatha yelled out and chanced after me, Tom soon joined her with Luna close behind.
We spent most of the day walking around and seeing the sights the town had to offer, which wasn't much, as we were making our way back to the Pokémon Center, we walked by the Gym, I could see Tom was eye balling it wishing he could challenge it, it was surrounded by rocks of different sizes, metal frames surrounding the building and keeping the rocks in place.
"Tom", I snapped Tom out of his fixation on the Gym.
"What... oh Sora, what is it?".
"I can see you looking at the Gym, I know you want to challenge it", I stopped walking and Tom soon joined me, Tabatha noticed we weren't behind her anymore and ran back to see what's up.
"No... no I don't, it's just a big building, that's all", Tom lied to me, but he wasn't very good at it.
"Tom, if you want to challenge the Gym, I'm not going to stop you".
"It's not that... last time we were in a Gym the Gym leader was working with Team Rocket, and they broke Luna's leg", Tom looked down at her, they both didn't enjoy that memory, neither did I.
"Tom, you can't expect every Leader to be working with Team Rocket or Team Horizon, now are you going to go challenge it or not?", Tom looked away from me, not going to answer the question, "Fine then!", I grabbed Tom be the arm and dragged him to the Gym.
"Hey, let go!", he exclaimed, he tried to get away trying to loosen my grip, but I wasn't budging.
"You know you want to challenge it, now come on!", I pulled Tom ahead of me and almost made him lose balance as he flew slightly ahead of me, he looked back at me quite pissed, but I only crossed my arms, threatening him to get in there, once he saw me Tom let out a sigh and turned back and walk to the doors of the Gym.
"Was that really necessary?", Tabatha asked.
"He wouldn't have gone in other wise, come on", Tabatha and I joined up with Tom as we made our way in.
Tom pushed the doors opened as they moved slowly to reveal a big room, resembling a warehouse, rocks could be seen all over the place, showing that this was the rock-type Gym.
"Wow...", Dash and Pulse were in awe over the size of the room.
"I'm still not sure about this", Tom said.
"Everything will be fine. Just relax", Tom was still on edge about it all, but I couldn't really change his mind on that.
"Hello?", I voice came from next to us, we all jumped from fright when we heard the voice, getting scared like that set off my emotions and my rings to go with it.
"Who's there!", I yelled out, a hint of fear could be heard in my voice.
"Easy, I'm not going to hurt anyone", we looked to the side and saw a man wearing black and orange vest with a green short sleeve shirt, along with brown cargo pants, his hair was brown and spiky.
"Who are you?", Tabatha asked.
"I'm Brock, I'm the Gym leader here", we all were sort of wide mouth when we heard this.
"Your the Gym leader!?", we all called out, Brock nodded.
"I'm... here to battle you", Tom spoke up.
"Is that so... well it can't be today", Brock said, leaving Tom sort of depressed but also slightly relived.
"Why not?", I asked.
"Because I already got another challenger which should be here any second", we looked at each other wondering who it could be, most likely not someone we know but it was still interesting to guess. It wasn't long after until we heard running from outside, down the path I could see a girl running to us, she was wearing a black cap on her head with her cherry colour hair hanging just above her shoulders, she had dark brown eyes, she was wearing a loose red short sleeve shirt and baggy blue jeans with black runners.
She was running fast to get to the Gym and wasn't watching where she was going and ran right into Tom, knocking each other down.
"You guys alright?", Tabatha asked. The girl open her eyes and seemed quite embarrassed, Tom opened his eyes and saw her on top of him.
"Oh I'm so sorry, this is my fault, I wasn't watching where...", she stopped herself saying anymore when she looked down at Tom, "Hey, you're cute", Tom started to blush and began to stutter his words.
"I... um... you... okay?", Tom manage to say, I was laughing at his embarrassment so was Dash, Pulse and Luna, Tabatha just shook her head at how childish we were acting.
"I'm fine", she said as she got off Tom and stood back up, Tom soon followed her up, "How about you?".
"I'm fine, I have been through a lot worse than just being knocked down", Tom smiled, me and the pokémon stopped laughing but we resorted to giggling now.
"Brock I'm her for my battle!", she turned around to him sounding quite confident.
"You ready to start?", Brock asked, she nodded.
"You mind if we stayed and watched?", Tom asked.
"Sure, if that is alright with Simolena", Tom looked back to the girl finally knowing her name.
"It's fine by me", Simolena agreed.
We were now standing on a catwalk above the battlefield, Simolena on one side and Brock on the other, since we can watch their battle it will help Tom to see what pokémon he has to face.
"This will be a two on two battle, when a trainer has no other pokémon to battle for them they're out, only you can substitute pokémon, understand?", Brock explained the rules, Simolena nodded, "Okay then let's begin, Onix let's go!", Brock throw out a pokéball and out came his pokémon, it towered over the battlefield leaving all of us stunned by it's size, it was pretty much a long snake made out of boulders.
"Interesting, okay Sneasel time to shine", Simolena threw her pokéball out and released a Sneasel, seeing it made my skin crawl and I back away from the edge, Tabatha noticed me walked back.
"Sora what's wrong?", Tom turned around and saw me backing off, he knew what's going on.
"It's okay Tabatha, I will tell you later, just leave him be", Tom told her, she nodded and returned her attention to the battle about to take place, "Sora will you be okay?", Tom asked, I slowly nodded to let him know I was fine, but I wasn't really, but I wanted to see the battle so I slowly made my way to the railing and looked over so I can see what's going on, Tom rubbed my back before returning his gaze down below.
"You can have the first attack", Brock offered.
"Alright then, Sneasel Rain Dance!", the Sneasel claws glowed with a blue before slashing at the air letting two blue glowing cuts fly up before hitting the roof.
"We're indoors, that move what do anything", Brock called out, "Onix, Iron Tail!", the huge bolder snake moved closer to Simolena pokémon, as it did it's tail glowed white and turned to Iron before it moved around to attack Sneasel.
"Dodge!", Simolena called out as Sneasel jumped out of the way of the powerful attack slamming down on the ground, "Now Ice Beam!", Sneasel formed a ball of light blue energy in front of it's mouth and fired off a jagged beam of ice at Onix scoring a hit and encasing it in ice.
"Wow..", I said in surprise, what I was seeing was a battle between two strong pokémon.
"Now finish this with Metal Claw!", Sneasel ran up to the frozen Onix as it's claws turned to metal, it jumped up and slashed at the ice braking it and causing the Onix to groan in pain flying back to it's trainer, knocked out from the pain.
"Did you see that!", Dash exclaimed.
"That was so cool!", Pulse added.
"That was awesome, did you see how that battle went, it was so fast and powerful!", I joined in on the excitement, Simolena looked up to us.
"Do you have a Umbreon up there?", she yelled out, I heard this and reacted quickly.
"Yeah we do, sorry for the noise", I backed off from the railing slightly, feeling quite embarrassed.
"Sora, you were quite loud, did something happen?", Tom asked.
"Nothing, I just got excited over the battle that's all".
"So you find battling fun?", Tom added.
"No, no... I just found that cool that's all", I went back to the railing and looked back down trying to get away from that conversation.
"That was quick, you trained your pokémon well", Brock said.
"Thank you, now Sneasel return", Simolena held out a pokéball and returned her pokémon.
"Okay, it's time for Geodude!", Brock yelled out and released his last pokémon, it looked like a floating bolder with rocky arms.
"Time to show them we mean business, Roserade it's your time to shine!", Simolena released her last pokémon, it had bouquet of red flowers for it's right hand and a blue one for it left which I wasn't expecting, "You can attack first this time", she said to Brock.
"Alright then, Geodude Rock Throw!", the floating rock pokémon dug it's hands into the ground and pulled out a big chunk of earth before throwing it at Roserade.
"Roserade Petal Dance!", Simolena called out, Roserade starts to spin around at high speed releasing pink petals from it's body, soon after it fired the vortex of petals at Geodude and intercepting the Rock Throw, pushing it back and shattering it, the petals reached Geodude and hit it hard causing to scream out in pain before falling to the ground.
"Down but not out!", Brock exclaimed, Geodude manage to get back up and started to float again.
"Not for long, Roserade, Weather Ball!", this move got my attention since I never heard of it before.
"Of course!", Tom exclaimed leaving me to jump slightly from the sudden noise.
"What?", Tabatha asked.
"I see why Simolena used Rain Dance before, Weather Ball changes power and type depending on the weather, now that it's raining outside the move is now a water move and will do a lot of damage to Geodude!", Tabatha and I looked at each other then back to the battle.
"She planned this out from the start", I said.
Roserade jumped into the air holding its flower hands above it, creating a ball of water before firing it at Geodude, leaving Brock and it stunned they didn't do anything and so Geodude got hit by the powerful attack, causing it to fly back to Brock's feet before giving up.
"Yay, we won!", Simolena jumped up and down with joy.
"Well that was fast", Tabatha commented.
"Come on let's get down there", Tom and Tabatha started to walk but stopped to turn around to see me still staring over the railing, "Sora?", I wasn't listening, I was still amazed by what I just saw.
'Wow, could I do that... that looked like so much fun', I thought, I wanted to do that, wanted to be as powerful as those pokémon.
"Sora?", Tom again said, I shook my head and returned to reality, looking back over to Tom.
"What?".
"You okay?", he said, I looked back over the railing seeing Simolena receiving her badge.
"Yeah... I'm fine... really, let's go", I said walking past Tom and Tabatha, 'What am I thinking, I don't like battling, not with myself or other pokémon, stupid pokémon emotions'.
We joined Simolena and Brock down on ground level.
"Simolena, that was awesome!", Tom exclaimed, she turned around and blushed slightly.
"Thank you, and please, my friends call me Sim", she said, "What's your names?".
"I'm Tom, and this my pokémon Luna".
"I'm Tabatha".
"I'm Sora, and these are my brot... er, pokémon, Dash and Pulse".
"Nice to meet you all", Sim smiled happily, "So which one of you owns that Umbreon that made that loud Racket?", Sim asked, I grew slightly embarrassed that I acted like that before and I noticed that Tom and Tabatha were looking at me, "So it's yours?".
"No", I responded.
"Well everyone is looking at you, so you must own one".
"Yes, I mean no, I don't have one!", I tried defending myself, I noticed that Brock raised his eye brows at the thought of something.
"So you say you don't own an Umbreon, yet I heard one before", Sim was getting impatient.
"I mean there is an Umbreon, but none of us own it, in a sense".
"Now you not making sense!", Sim yelled out.
"So it is true...", we all stopped and looked over at Brock.
"What is?", Sim asked, I was getting nervous.
"You're the kid off the news, aren't you", I dropped my head knowing that the Gym leader figured me out, I didn't want him to know, I was still cautious about Gym leaders after Viridian City.
"News... what are you talking about", Sim asked Brock but then turned around and faced me yet again, "What have you done?!".
"What... nothing!", I exclaimed in fear, her eyes showed anger.
"Don't lie to me, I will just beat the information out of you, go Sneasel!", Sim released her pokémon and it looked at me, I chill ran down my spine as I jumped back whining in fear, Dash and Pulse jumped off my shoulders and stood in front of it ready to fight.
"Oh no", Tom said when he saw the Sneasel so close to me.
"Sim stop", Brock said, she turned around and Brock nodded to her, she let out a sigh before stopping.
"Sora is it, I heard about you on the news, you have been an interesting story lately", Brock walked over to me, I was still on edge with Sneasel still around, Brock walked past Dash and Pulse and stopped in front of me looking me in the eyes.
"Uhh...", I wasn't sure what was going on, Brock started to look me over going around me a few times to see everything before backing off slightly.
"So, it's all real then, well that's interesting", Brock walked back to where he was before.
"So you know too, huh?", I said feeling sad that even Brock knows about this.
"Yes, you have been all over the news lately, most recent one being this morning saying that you were in Pewter City", Brock said.
"Great that means we can't stay here much longer", Tom sounded depressed, he enjoyed being in a town with stuff to see and a comfortable bed to sleep on.
"What do you mean?", Brock asked.
"Well we have people after us and once they see the news they will know where we are so we can't stay for long", Tom explained.
"You shouldn't worry to much, you're staying at the Pokémon Center correct?", we nodded to answer his question, "Well there are many pokémon trainers there to help protect you if need be".
"I guess...", Tom slowly thought about it.
"Does this mean we can stay longer?!", Tabatha exclaimed, Tom turned around and nodded leaving Tabatha to jump up and down in joy.
"What's going on, I'm not following?", Sim said.
"You don't watch the news?", Tom said leaving Sim to shake her head, "Well Sora can explain that one", everyone looked at me, but my attention was on the Sneasel nearby, "Oh right, Sim can you recall your Sneasel please".
"Why?", she asked.
"It's a long story, just like everything else, can you please just do it?".
"Fine, Sneasel, return", Sim took out her ball and returned the pokémon, leaving me to finally relax, Dash and Pulse ran back to me and hopped back on my shoulders, before I rejoined everyone.
"You feel better?", Tom asked.
"No... what's going on?".
"Seems like Sim doesn't watch the news, care to fill her in?", I looked over to her she seemed really confused by everything that's going on.
"Not really, she did almost attack me", I wasn't happy about her jumping to conclusions about me.
"Oh come on, I'm sorry alright, can you please tell me this big secret of yours?", she said, she did sound sorry for it, I closed my eyes and thought about it.
"Okay then fine, I will tell you, but I'm not going into another four hour story".
"Four hours?", Sim is even more confused than before.
"I'm part pokémon, I was the one making a loud racket before, sorry", Sim didn't seem to understand, but to be fair, my explanation was small and brief.
"What do you mean?", she said still trying to rap her head around my answer, I let out a sigh and thought about what I would do next, to get her to understand I needed more.
"Umbreon bre um breon", I said to her, it wasn't even a sentence but it was enough to get my point across.
"What... you... wait a second, your the one making the noise before?!", I nodded,"But... I still don't understand".
"You see a few weeks back I got injected with a virus from some people called Team Horizon, I left home with Tom to hide from them, I'm turning into an Umbreon and sometime after my sixteenth birthday I will change completely", Sim had her jaw dropped still trying to understand before gaining a smile and standing upright.
"Okay, is this a gag, where are the hidden cameras!", she yell out looking around the place, not believing me.
"Sora, how about you show her what you mean?", Tabatha said.
"But... that makes me tired", I responded.
"Well do you want her to joke about it or to believe you?", I thought about it and she was right, I would rather people believe my story than laugh about it.
"Sim!", I exclaimed, she stopped looking around and brought her attention on me, "If you don't believe me then watch this", I walked out slightly and found my target, a lone rock some distance away, I pulled back my arm and charged up a Shadow Ball, releasing it at the rock shattering it to pieces, I turned back around to see Sim jaw dropped and wide eyed, even Brock was surprised.
"But... how...", Sim didn't know what to say.
"Think this is all a joke now?", I asked her, she slowly shook her head.
"That was some impressive power", Brock spoke up.
"Really?", I asked, he nodded his head.
"That was no ordinary Shadow Ball".
"Umbreon!", I tried to say thanks but that slipped out instead, I guess compliments about my power made me happy, Brock chuckled slightly.
"No problem, anyway, it's getting dark and I need to get home, so we will have our battle tomorrow, okay Tom?", he asked.
"Yes sir, we should head back to the Pokémon Center anyway", Tom waved goodbye and made his way out followed by me and Tabatha.
"Wa... wait up!",Sim called out running to try and catch us.
As we made our way back Sim joined us and asked a number of questions about me, some I would answer and some I would not, but we also asked her questions about her fighting style, it intrigued me a lot on how she got them so powerful, she said that used to be her brothers, but gave them to her when she turned ten, she had no idea how they were trained before.
We entered the Pokémon Center I was asked a question that sent chills down my spin.
"Wha... what was that?", I asked just to make sure I heard correctly.
"I said why did you act so differently to my Sneasel when he was out back at the Gym?", Sim asked, I looked away from everyone at the thought.
"I don't want to talk about it, good night", I quickly walked off down the hall to my room leaving them behind, but I caught a few sentences before I left.
"What was that all about?", Tabatha asked.
"I don't think Sora will like it if I told you guys, I think it's just best to drop the subject", Tom said, that's all I head before I left ear shot.
I slowed down when I saw they weren't following me to push the subject, and let out a sigh of relief.
"What's wrong Sora?", Dash asked wondering why I was acting like I am.
"I really don't want to talk about it", I told them.
"Please...?", Pulse pushed but I wouldn't budge.
"Sorry, not talking", I said, we made it back to our room as I opened it Dash and Pulse jumped off my shoulders and ran onto the bed as I release Coal, last time he was out when we stopped and had lunch hours ago.
"Hey Coal, Sora's hiding something!", Dash quickly yelled out, Coal looked over to me seeming worried.
"Don't bother Coal about it", I told them.
"If you won't tell us your secret, Coal will!", Pulse yelled out, I let out a sigh of defeat as I took a seat on the bed.
"Fine I will tell you", I took a deep breath, thinking about this really made me scared but those two will find out from Coal anyway.
"When I was eleven, on my birthday, I travelled to a pond in the forest where my mum and dad met for the first time, I did this every year after my dad died but this time a pack of Mightyena surrounded me on my way there, I got to close to their nest and they attacked me, I was severely injured and was treated for many wounds, I was in hospital for two weeks before I was released, to this day I'm scared of Dark-types since they are so aggressive, and yes I know I'm turning into one which doesn't help either, and I know the Absol we fought was a Dark-type as well but I was too caught up with protecting the Arron that I forgot about it", I took several deep breaths from the long speech.
"You okay Sora?", Coal asked, I simply nodded.
"Come on let's eat, then I'm going to bed, I had enough", I got up and served out some food for everyone, I also got something for myself, it wasn't big but it will do, I also pulled out my journal and wrote down the next entry. I was cleaning up when I heard a knock on the door, when I answered it I found Tom and Luna just outside my door, "Tom, is something wrong?".
"I don't know, ask her", I looked down at Luna she had a small smile.
"Luna what is it?", I asked.
"Well... I was hoping to stay again", she replied, I wasn't expecting that, she stayed last night because I wanted to talk about why she was crying, but for her to come and ask me to stay again wasn't like her.
"So what is it", Tom asked.
"She says that she wants to stay again", I told him looking back at him.
"Again, what for?".
"I don't know, she didn't say", Tom looked down at Luna, she was waiting for a yes.
"I don't see why not", Tom finally said, with that Luna bolted into my room without any warning.
"I guess she really liked it here", Tom said.
"It seems so... well, good night Tom".
"Good... Night", I closed the door on him and walked back to the bed.
"Luna why do you want to stay again?", I asked her.
"Does there have to be a reason?", she answered with another question.
"No, but... have you had dinner?".
"Yep", she answered.
"Good, then I'm going to bed, Coal can you deal with everything while I'm asleep?", I asked him, I trusted Coal to deal with anything that may happen with the others, and get them to bed at a reasonable time.
"Sure Sora, night",he said.
"Night", I went under the blanket and got nice and warm, falling asleep, 'After everything that happened today I need to rest my head', and with the thought I drifted off.
Dear Journal,
It felt good to wake up on a bed again, spending some much time in a forest made you miss some things, Aeon seems to be getting stronger able to do different things now in the dream, I always wonder if he gets too strong, what would he do with that power?
Tom finally dealt with the question I asked him today, after a number of people talked to him, but he said he would be my trainer if there is no cure, I'm glad it's him and not someone else, along with that Professor Oak said that I have till sometime after my sixteenth birthday till I change completely, which means more time to find that cure, but it also means I have a year of pain to deal with.
We made a new friend today call Sim, she is a strong trainer who won against Brock the Pewter City Gym leader with ease, as I watched the battle I could feel myself drawn to the power the pokemon showed and how much fun the battle looked, I wanted to join in, this isn't like me, I tried my best to resist but it I fear that might be a losing battle to fight those emotions, also when Brock commented on my Shadow Ball my pokémon speak slipped out and not english, I don't know if I have to worry about that but it seems like if I get to excited or happy I just fall into the language.
Tom has his battle tomorrow and I wish him the best, I just hope he wins, he could use the ego boost.
-Sora
A/N: Well a lot of stuff happened this chapter, Aeon is happy with Sora, but is hiding something, I wonder what it could be?
Tom finally got an answer for Sora, hearing a yes was a good thing, but I doubt Tom is happy with all this.
Our group made a new friend, Sim seems like a strong trainer and because of her battle she made Sora act differently, wonder what would happen.
Sora's fear of Dark-types is something I didn't expect, it's interesting that he is turning into the one type he hates, I wonder if there is a connection between that and his fear?
Next chapter Tom has his battle with Brock, but before that Sora has to deal with Aeons helpful ways, I wonder what Aeon is doing to him?