Purifying Dark Hearts

Rose: I was reading chapter 5 and omg what have I been typing without my editing program. ALL THOSE MISTAKES! Anyways, I'll be making sure none of those get by me this time. Anyways, let's have a Barry chapter today! No Dawn yet. My apologies!

Getting to Veilstone took forever. Not to mention there were so many double battles on the way. Thank Arceus Lucas was helping me out. Or else I think I would've lost like twice by now. Once we walked into the City, Lucas made it very clear that we needed to head to the Pokemon Center first, then the Department Store. I think he ran out of healing items helping me out. Which I felt bad about. But next time we team up, I'll be sure to work harder so he doesn't have to heal fainted Pokemon every battle.

"Sorry about using all your revives. Guess I wasn't paying attention." I told him sheepishly. He waved it off though.

"Don't worry about it. The prize money we got from those battles will be helping me get more for sure." He said calmly, a drastic difference then he would've before. It brought a grin to my face when he agreed to stop hiding behind his mask and to finally treat me like a decent human being. Heck, even seeing him smile at me the one time was still a huge achievement for me! Maybe things will finally be going well for me. First, I'll get this next badge, then I'll beat Dawn in a battle, and then maybe Lucas will say something nice! … Why am I fishing for his praise anyway? Whatever, not worrying about that!

Once we finished getting the Pokemon healed and spent like an hour shopping, we finally headed towards the Gym. And Lucas, being the endless know it all, wanted to talk about this.

"Maylene uses fighting types, and she's pretty young compared to the other Gym Leaders. Your Monferno will be perfect for dealing with her Lucario. I just hope you have something to fight the rest of her Pokemon. Do you have a flying type?" He looked at me, his eyes glancing down to my belt.

"Yeah! Got a Staravia! Maybe by the end of this gym, I'll have an Infernape and Staraptor! That'd be so cool!" I fist bumped the air from joy. Lucas nodded along, looking at his belt.

"Maybe I'll get Empoleon, Staraptor, and Chimecho from this." He said thoughtfully.

"You never showed me your team! Heck, we've never battled!" I realized. I have never fought this guy and we run into each other everywhere!

"It's Prinplup, Staravia, Luxio, and Melody. I had an Onix, but I deposited it so I didn't have two rock types." He told me.

"Melody? Wait… Hold on a second, I know that Chingling! You were at the contest with Dawn and I!" The moment the words left my mouth, he paled and his cheeks glowed pink. Which made me remember. Oh, my Arceus, Dawn and I were arguing over him and he heard. Oh, the humiliation.

"Tell. No one." He said shakily, probably being completely embarrassed beyond anything he's ever done before.

"Agreed. And you heard nothing." I added the last part on the fly because I had no idea how much he heard. Hopefully none of it. At worst, not the important parts.

"Deal." He said, looking away, his face growing red.

"Anyways, you said you had four Pokemon, but there's five on your belt?" I asked, noticing the inconsistency.

"Just a spare. It's empty, for now." He said dismissively. I believed him since he promised he'd be as truthful as he can. So if he's hiding it, there had to be a good reason, since Rowan constantly says he was trustworthy, and a good hearted person. Most likely, he wouldn't lie over something stupid.

"So I guess you'll be using Staravia, but how will you deal with that Lucario? Got any fire or ground type moves?" I asked, curious. He gave a shrug.

"I'll deal with it when the time comes." He said shortly, looking up at the gym in front of us. I took a deep breath before walking forward confidently. I realized Lucas wasn't following, so I guessed he went to go scope around town, or leave me alone, because I guess I'm pretty annoying to him. I blazed through the gym, get it? Blaze is Monferno's ability? Anyways. Once I got my shiny new badge, I slipped it into its new spot with the other three, before walking out with my chest held high. Before deflating. Right in front of the gym, Lucas and Dawn were being harassed by the space men looking grunts of Team Galactic. I charged forward, releasing the newly evolved Infernape, chasing them off. I turned to the blue haired duo.

"What happened?! Are you guys alright?!" I asked, looking at both of them, my gaze lingering of Lucas, if only for a second longer.

"Those grunts… They ran off with Dawn's Togepi and Melody." Lucas said slowly, his voice laced with absolute hatred. I wouldn't have caught it if I didn't get used to how he hides his emotions over the past day.

"Those little-! Where are they?! I'll make sure to get the Pokemon back!" I yelled, Infernape screeching with equal fire as myself.

"If I had to guess, the Galactic Building they have here. However, they would've made their entrance in the warehouse area, near where we entered in from. Don't tell me you're even considering…? Barry get back here before you get yourself in trouble!" Lucas yelled, watching my Pokemon and I run towards the warehouse. No way is someone gonna take away my friends' Pokemon! I pushed back the grunt guards before entering the warehouse, completely ignoring that Looker guy and dashing head first into danger. Why was I being so stupid about this? That Chingling meant alot to Lucas. On that contest stage, they were so close. Now that I knew that guy was Lucas, it only firmly cemented my belief that he can be a kind person, and that how he treated me just HAD to be him faking! And I was gonna get back his partner!

I wish I could say I handled this flawlessly. I really did. I could say I saved the Pokemon, took down Team Galactic, and got a compliment or two from my friends. However, that is not how things went. One of the Commanders quickly crushed my team and tossed me aside with her Purugly. Then, some blue-haired maniac came up to me, talking nonsense about how I was the catalyst to ruin everything, along with Melody. I got thrown into a cell.

Things didn't go well for me. They took my bag, and my Pokemon, and stuck me in a cell with Melody. I finally realized, they literally imprisoned me. Me, a nobody from Twinleaf Town. So, I did my best to stay upbeat, but keep an ear out for information. The blue-haired guy, who I earned was the big boss, Cyrus, liked to vent to me.

"My plans on rebirth were flawless. And my little spy had given almost everything I needed to do it. Then he disappears, and a beast appears in my dreams and speaks of a prophecy. That he, some boy, some lying nobody, will save or end the world. I had no problems with that until he started to defy us, ever so slightly. Because he made a useless friend and caught a weak Pokemon. Maybe, it isn't too late. If he gives both of you up in the name of destruction. Then, everything will be perfect again."

"If only the two of you were dead."

This man spoke a lot of crazy talk, but implying that killing me will aide in ending the world? This was no longer a crazy guy. This was a freaking psychopath. And I had no means out of this. I had questions though. Who was this spy and this beast that spoke to mister nutters in his dreams? He said the spy was the decider of the universe, and it was Melody and I that was helping him decide to kill and erase everything or to let it survive and flourish. But the only person that Melody and I had a connection to was Lucas, and Lucas couldn't be a spy. Professor Rowan told us nothing of how sincere and kind he was. So, I refused to believe him, and chalked it up to him being insane. Because really, that was pretty believable.

I sat in that cell for awhile. Really, if I counted the meals, it could've been a week. But it felt a lot shorter. For all, I know they were screwing with me through the food anyways. I was starting to go a little crazy too, my only company being a Chingling that never moved from her spot in the corner, and a raving madman who visits every so often, ranting about how I'm better off dead. They didn't let me leave for anything. No showers, but they were decent enough to give me a prison toilet. Like, really?! I deserve equal treatment as an actual criminal?! Arceus save me from this nightmare.

I eventually found out how long I was there. Two and a half weeks. Now, you might be wondering how I found out such a specific timeframe. Well, it's because someone told me after they broke me out of there.

One day, Cyrus cut off mid-rant and ran off, and I heard stuff about a breach. So I was pretty happy. This could be my ticket out of here! I gently picked up Melody and walked to the bars, hearing the destruction happening upstairs. Then, like a gift from Arceus, Lucas ran into my little prison room, slid a key card that made the bars slide back into the ceiling and made a mad dash for me.

"About time Lucas! Man, I have so many questions for you-" I was promptly cut off by something that made my brain freeze. I couldn't explain my shock even after the whole prison break stuff happened. Even after the whole fate of the world crap, I couldn't ever tell you exactly how I felt in this moment in time.

Because I was completely in shock once Lucas threw his arms around me, and that shock turned into me being floored once Lucas kissed me, tears streaming down his face like he thought I was his long lost dead lover that just came back to life.

Rose: does this make up for my absence? No? Okay. See you soon! I hope...