And man, is it boring.
We've been walking for a few hours now, corridor after corridor, and no change of scenery.
Prim absentmindedly munches on a granola bar, passing bits and pieces to Francis, while I watch Cel train Mannix on the way of the mind.
By carefully lifting this, you can actually summon its own gravitational pull, as with any object that can be lifted. Cel demonstrates buy lifting a larger rock, and soon all the rocks around it are being tugged towards it.
Interesting. What if I...
They go on, as I throw rocks ahead of us.
We round the next corner, and there is movement by the end of the corridor, a flash of blue.
"Whoa!" I put my hand out, stopping Prim, and she starts.
"What was that about?" She asks, and I point.
"Something moved. Manny, Cel, sense anyone?" I ask, but they both shake their heads.
"Wait here, I'll take these two. I'm going to see what it is." Prim nods, stepping back around the corridor.
Me, Cel, and Manny slowly start forward.
We make it to the corner without issue, and slowly look around it.
It opens into a small open arena, where a figure is standing, stock still, in the center.
I send Manny to grab Prim, and turn to Cel.
"You can't sense anything?" She shakes her head.
Either they're not currently living, or...
"Or what, Celeste?"
Or... there is a powerful dark type nearby.
Sighing quietly, I steel myself, and turn the corner.
The figure, a woman, looks up at me.
She has long, light blue hair, and is wearing a yellow crop top, white khakis, and bright yellow pumps.
I recognize her face, but I can't tell from where...
"Well hi there! About time someone found me!" She laughs, shaking my hand.
"Um... hello?" I ask, and she giggles.
"Tell your friends to come out, I'm here to test you, not hurt you." She gestures to where Prim is hiding with her pokemon, and I laugh.
After they join us, the woman bows.
"Name's Karen, member of the Johto Elite Four." She laughs, and I nod.
"I've seen you on T.V" I say, and she nods.
"Thought you might have recognized me." She pats my arm.
"So, what are we supposed to do? Defeat you?" Prim asks, but she shakes her head.
"Well first, introduce yourself, second, no. I have a test for you." She laughs at our surprised expressions.
"I'm so sorry ma'am! My name is Primrose, but you can call me Prim." Prim bows, face blushed.
"Cole, pleasure to meet you." I look around, and notice that Cel isn't anywhere to be seen.
I'm about to say something when Prim hits my leg with her bag.
Karen is leading us to the center of the arena, but Prim shakes her head.
"SHES HIDING." She mouths, and I raise my eyebrow, but nod.
"This, my good friends is a mental test. Fail, and your out of the Race for one full day, or until the last eligible team wins, whichever comes first. " My eyes go wide.
"Mental test?" Prim asks, unfazed by the consequences.
"Yes, mental test. As you may or may not know, I pride myself on the training of my Dark Types. Part of my personal training is that I put myself under the effects of Nightmare, a dark type move, to strengthen my mind, and body. Nightmare takes your worst, well, nightmares, and makes them your reality, leaving you to fend for yourself and succeed, or to fail miserably and most likely go mad. You two will be placed under a Nightmare, and you have two hours to escape. You wont remember being put there, and you already know the consequences." Her face breaks into a smirk, and Prim gasps.
"When." I ask, and Karen turns to me.
"Whenever your ready."
"Are we allowed a pokemon?" I ask, and she nods.
"One pokemon may go with you, and if they cant mend themselves into your nightmare, I have a pokemon who can do it for them." I nod.
"Where?" I ask, and two chairs rise out of the floor.
"Sit, and call your pokemon." I look around, and see a small smile behind Karen's head, floating above her shoulder.
I sit, Prim still agape at the challenge, and lean back.
"Which pokemon do you choose?" Karen asks, releasing a Gengar.
"She'll show herself when shes ready." I answer, and she shrugs.
"Suit yourself. Pokemon tend to have a harder time mending once its already taken place, just to let you know."
"She wont have a problem, trust me."
"Alrighty kid, here we go..." I close my eyes, and hear Cel's voice softly in my head.
Trust me.
I nod slighty, and feel a warmth drape over my body.
"Cole! Dinner!" Mom calls from downstairs, and I smile.
Chili night!
"Coming!" I call, throwing a shirt on. I had just been working on my treadmill.
I slide quickly down the stairs, and see I'm the last one to dinner.
"Shar!" Effie laughs, nudging my chair.
I look at Effie, my head ringing a bit when I look at her, but I write it off as the aftermath of my workout.
Next time I won't go so hard.
I sit quickly, and begin mowing down.
I pass garlic bread to Effie, who happily gobbles it down, and munch on as much Chili as I can shove into my mouth.
"How was internship day?" Mom asks, and I look up to answer, but realize Kai already is.
"It went great! I signed up for all the teams, just like Cole, and hopefully I'll get one!" His smile is contagious, and we are all smiling soon.
"You'll get one bro, they'd be stupid to not hire you!" I pat his back, and he laughs.
"I hope so." He laughs, pulling away from the table, finishes with his food.
"I'll be downstairs if anyone needs me!" He calls, and ewe all wave him off.
"I hope someone takes him." Mom sighs, and Dad pats her back gently.
"He's smart, honey. Someone will take him, and they'll love him." I nod my agreement, when there is a crashing from the stairwell.
"Shit!" I get up, running, and see his wheelchair at the top of the stairs, but Kai is gone.
I book it downstairs, and go around the final corner-
I enter the hospital room, and see Kai on the bed.
I look around, confused, but quickly shake it off.
Kai is hooked up to multiple machines, and his breathing is shallow. A doctor is standing at the end of the bed with a clipboard.
"How is he?" I ask, and the doctor shakes his head.
"If his breathing doesn't improve, he won't make it till morning." The doc pats my shoulder, and heads out.
"He's tough, just like his parents." A frail voice says behind me.
I whip around to see... Grandma Tottie.
"Grandma!" My head rings a bit when I hug her, but I ignore it, writing it off as stress.
"Hey sweetie. Just remember, he's a tough one. He's not going anywhere." She laughs, but I see the tears in her eyes.
"Where's mom and dad?" I ask, and her eyes go wide.
"Cole, please don't..."
"Grandma? Where are they?" I ask, my voice raising as I get more freaked out.
"Cole, honey, they've been dead for years. Kai has been in his coma for three." She says quietly, and my world comes crashing down.
"What? What?" I sit down, somehow not remembering but still wary of the thought.
"Cole, do you need a doctor?" A new voice asks, and Grandpa Trent (we call him Grandpa Gio cause of his maiden name, Giovanni) walks in.
"Grandpa?" The ringing in my head reaches a crescendo, as I lay eyes on him.
"Hey buddy. Sorry for all the confusion." I notice something floating behind his shoulder, but I cant quite make it out.
"Thats okay, Grandpa. I guess I... forgot..." I trail off, as the thing from behind Grandpa floats closer.
Then everything freezes.
I look around, and see Pidgey mid-flight out side the window, Grandpa's hand outstretched, but not moving forward.
Cole.
I look around, trying to find the source of the voice.
Cole, it's me, Celeste.
I shake my head.
"Get out! I don't want to talk to you! GET OUT!" I sob, punching the sides of my heads as I cry.
I close my eyes, when something light and gentle lifts my chin.
Cole, look at me.
I shake my head, the tears rolling freely down my cheeks, and it speaks again.
Cole, this isn't real.
"GO AWAY!" I screech, opening my eyes to push away, when I see her.
Her bright, blue eyes are soft, gentle, but speak the words of many wars. I see pain, sadness, along with happiness and sunshine, and her skin a light green. Her wings flutter softly behind her, barely audible but heard as a light humming. Her face is set in a smile, and she giggles as everything comes rushing back to me.
I gasp as I wake up, gulping for air, as a hand pushes my back down.
"Whoa whoa, not so fast there bud!" Karen laughs, holding me down as I catch my breath.
"How long?" I gasp, and her head tilts in confusion.
"How long was I out?" I ask, finally catching my breath, and she nods.
"Hour forty five." I nod, and see Prim is still asleep.
"What pokemon helped you? I saw a flash as they jumped in, but I didn't catch which pokemon it was." She asks, and I point to Cel, who is floating gently behind Karen.
Karen turns, then shouts as she jumps back.
"Celebi!" She gasps, bowing slightly.
"Her name is Celeste, but I call her Cel." I explain, and before Karen can say anything else, Prim screams as she wakes up.
"Whoa!" I jump over, hugging her tight as she sobs, trying to catch her breath.
"How long?" She cries, and I smile.
"Hour forty five." She smiles slightly, but holds onto me as she sobs.
"I'm so sorry, you two. I know personally how terrifying it is in there..." Karen apologizes, but I wave her off.
"What pokemon helped you?" I ask, and she points to Cel.
I was able to pull you both back.
"Thank you, Cel." She nods, dissappearing again.
"You two get these for passing, and now you are able to proceed-" I grab the two bags shes handing to us, and we take off.
"Thanks, Karen. Nice meeting you." I wave behind me as we walk away.
The sun has gone down, and Cel has summoned a little shelter out of roots and plants for us for the night, complete with beds and everything. We are just washing up, with help from Francis, and getting ready for bed.
"How are you?" I ask, as we haven't spoken since Karen, which was a few hours ago.
She shakes her head, smiling apologetically and rolls over to sleep.
I roll over to, and Cel is resting beside me.
Are YOU okay?
"I'm fine." I say abruptly, then realize how tense I am.
"Sorry. Thanks for the help." I kiss her forehead, and she smiles.
That was a dirty trick. Gengar looked for your worst nightmares, and I hated watching him.
"I know. Is Prim okay?"
Her nightmare was... hellish, to say the least. It's not within my abilities to tell you at the moment, but... giver her some distance.
I nod, smiling.
"Well, time for bed." She nods.
I will keep both of your dreams safe, and good.
I nod again, thanking her, then close my eyes.