Author's Note: I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed and gave their advice on whether or not I should change the genre of this story. Because of your feedback, I've decided to keep the genre of this story as Romance/Supernatural for the time being. To be honest, I don't see those genres changing anytime soon, since I guess I never really saw this as a horror story. It's nice to know that I was right to go with my first instincts.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.


Chapter 4: The Accountant's Grudge

Christine had somehow managed to relax considerably after Bolt had dropped her off in his hotel room earlier that day. There was just something about the room that felt so much safer than the cold unfeeling hospital room she had spent the previous night in. Christine had not seen much of Bolt since he had dropped her off. She did know about the battle with the living statues, as it had happened right outside the building. After the battle though, Bolt had come back just to check on her and get a couple of thing before leaving with his band to rehearse for the upcoming concert they were performing in.

Night had eventually fallen, and Christine was in bed watching footage of the statue incident on the news. Bolt at that moment was in the bathroom getting ready to turn in for the night as well. When the news finished its story about the living statues, Christine turned off the T.V. and Bolt at that moment walked out wearing a yellow t-shirt and a pair of black shorts.

"They showed your face on T.V. just a second ago." Christine informed him.

"I'm sure." Bolt replied. "That Jirachi is pretty dangerous if it can do stuff like bring statues to life."

"Do you know how that sculptor's doing?" Christine asked. "The you told me about?"

"You mean the guy who made those statues? Last I saw him, he was pretty broken up about what happened." Bolt answered. "Can blame him, since we pretty much demolished his life's work. The poor dude's probably drowning his sorrows in a bar somewhere."

"I feel really bad for him." Christine replied. "I'm sure he never intended anything like this to happen."

"Just like you never meant for your dad to get killed." Bolt added. "Like I told before, that Jirachi is the one to blame for your dad's death, just like it's to blame for those statues coming to life and going nuts."

Christine sighed. "I get what you're saying, but… I can't deny that if I never made that wish, my father and all those people would still be alive."

Bolt sat on the edge of the bed and took Christine's hand. "I get what you're feeling, but… what's done is done. It's horrible, but you're not the one to blame for what one psycho Pokemon did. Stop beating yourself up over it, okay?"

Christine managed a weak smile. "I'll try."

Bolt kissed the back of her hand and stood back up. "I think I'll go ahead and turn in for the night. You can use the bed. I'll just use that couch over there in the corner. It doesn't look too uncomfortable."

"Bolt, wait." Christine told him as she grabbed his wrist. "You… don't have to do that. This bed is big enough for both of us. And besides… I think I'd sleep better right now if you were with me."

Bolt's face turned bright red. "Uh… I don't know…"

"Bolt… please." Christine begged. "I really need you right now."

Bolt couldn't resist the pouting look on Christine's face. "Well… okay. If that's what you want."

With that, Bolt turned off the lights in the room and got into bed with Christine. The brown-haired woman immediately cuddled up next to him. Christine was out like a light in a matter of moments. Bolt on the other hand was having a much harder time falling asleep. A part of him couldn't help but feel like he was taking advantage of Christine somehow, plus the feeling of Christine's body pressed up against his had made his shorts feel uncomfortably tight. Even so, Bolt couldn't deny that he was happy to have Christine lying beside him. After finally managing to push away his lustful thoughts, Bolt finally drifted off to sleep.


It was morning as Lorain headed into the hotel lounge for a quick breakfast. When she arrived, Lorain saw Christine sitting at one of the tables and eating a plate of toast with some coffee. Lorain's anger flared up upon seeing the girl who years ago had broken Bolt's heart. After calming herself down, the blunette decided to go over and have a small word with Christine.

Lorain walked up to Christine's table. "Hello Christine."

Christine looked up from her plate. "Um, hi. Do I know you?"

"It's me. Lorain Verdant." The blunette answered. "I used to travel with Bolt and the others back in Kanto, remember?"

Christine's eyes widened, as she looked Lorain over. "Wow! You sure have blossomed since the last time I saw you."

"The guys didn't recognize me either when I showed up here." Lorain admitted. "Of course it had been ten years since they last saw me. Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all." Christine answered.

Lorain pulled out the chair across from Christine and sat down. "So… what're you going to do now that your wedding's been pretty much canceled?"

"Well… if Bolt will have me, I'd like to just go on traveling with him." Christine answered. "I mean that was my plan originally before everything that happened in Viridian City."

"…Are you freaking kidding me?" Lorain asked, anger showing in her voice. "You think that after everything that happened, after the way you just tore out Bolt's heart and stomped on it, you think you two can just pick up where you left off?"

"I'm not saying that!" Christine told her. "But… the fact is I never stopped loving Bolt. And after everything that's just happened, I feel like I need to be with him now more than ever. I know that getting past what happened ten years ago will be hard, but I think that Bolt and I still have a chance."

Lorain rose from her chair. "You're the worst thing that ever happened to Bolt. If you really love him like you say you do, you'll stay the hell away from him."

With that, Lorain stormed out of the room. Her appetite for breakfast had completely vanished.


It was just before lunch hour as thirty-four-year-old Archie Frankel stormed into the men's room of his office building. He immediately went to the sink to wash out his tie. One of his coworkers had played a prank on him by giving him a can of soda from the vending machine that had been shaken up. Of course this was not the first time that something like this had happened to Archie, because the reality he had two jobs at his company. Officially, Archie was part of the company's team of accountants. Unofficially, he was the designated butt of every office practical joke.

Every day, at least one of Archie's coworkers would pull some sort of prank on him, and every time Archie would somehow fall for it. That was how things had been since Archie had started working at the company seven years before, and he wasn't really surprised that things had turned out that way. Looking at himself in the mirror, Archie could easily see why somebody would routinely pick on him. Archie was scrawny, had pasty white skin, his red hair had already started to recede, and he wore a pair of thick glasses that had been out of style since the fifties. In short, Archie was what many would consider to be a geek.

Of course that was how things had always been for Archie. In school, Archie was that one kid who all the bullies would pick on and who all the kids would laugh at whenever he tripped or ended up saying something stupid when the teacher would call on him in class; the one kid that everyone else would pick on just so they could feel superior for at least a little while. It certainly didn't help that Archie also had an overprotective and overbearing mother, a mother who he still shared an apartment with. No matter what Archie did, it just seemed to be his fate to be the one person in life who everybody else picked on. And he was really starting to get tired of it.

Archie was at least glad that he hadn't ended up like his former coworker, Gloria Finch. The police still didn't know how Gloria had managed to steal all that money from the Stardust Falls bank, but it was clear that she was going to be wearing an orange jumpsuit for a pretty long time. Still, Archie was beyond fed up with being everyone's punching bag. Getting soda sprayed onto his favorite tie was the last straw. Archie began grumbling to himself as he continued to scrub his tie.

"Hi there!" a cheerful child-like voice spoke in Archie's head.

Archie turned around and saw Jirachi floating behind him. The little Pokemon had apparently flown in through the open restroom window.

"What sort of Pokemon are you?" Archie answered.

"I'm Jirachi!" the wish granter answered in the same cheerful tone. "I was flying by and noticed that you seemed to be… what's the word I'm looking for? Angry, I think. I'm not all that good at distinguishing human emotions, so I hope you'll forgive me if I made an incorrect observation."

"You bet I'm angry!" Archie confirmed. "I'm sick and tied of everyone just walking all over me! Every day I have to put up with their stupid jokes and I've had enough of it! Now one of their pranks has ruined my best tie! It's the only tie that's ever really looked good on me."

"So what you're saying is that others of your kind take advantage of you." Jirachi observed. "That they view you as inferior."

"You got that right, buster!" Archie replied as he went back to scrubbing out his tie. "You know what I wish right now? I wish that I could use attacks like a Fire Pokemon so that I could teach everyone a lesson!"

"Done!" Jirachi replied.

Suddenly the room was bathed in an odd silvery light. A second later, Archie felt a strange warmth coursing throughout his entire body. Soon the light faded, but the feeling that Archie had remained.

"There! Now you have the ability to use almost every fire-type Pokemon attack." Jirachi told him. "Go ahead! Try using a Fire Punch."

Archie looked at his right hand and clenched it into a fist. Suddenly his fist was enveloped in red flames, but the fire didn't hurt at all. After a moment, Archie slammed his fist into the mirror. The fire then died out, but the mirror had been completely shattered.

"This is… incredible!" Archie declared.

"Glad I could help. Bye!" Jirachi replied. And with that, he flew back out the open window.

Archie clenched his fist again and the fire reignited. A mad grin then formed on the accountant's face. He decided that it was high time for the meek to inherit the earth.


Quinton was sitting on the bed in his hotel room typing on his laptop, papers spread out all around him. He was working on a rock musical he had been writing for the last two years during his spare time. On the nightstand was a police scanner he had set up the night before. The blonde thought the scanner would be the gang's best bet at locating Jirachi. As Quinton stopped typing to write something on one of the papers he had spread out, there was a knock at his door.

"It's open!" Quinton called.

The door opened and Bolt walked into the room. "Hey man. You got a few minutes? I feel like I need to talk to someone."

"No problem." Quinton replied as he shut his laptop. "So… I think I can guess what it is you want to talk about, or I guess I should say who."

"Yeah, it's about Christine." Bolt confirmed as he walked over to the window. "I think I'm still in love with her. Even after what she did back in Viridian… my feelings for her are still the same."

"You're absolutely sure about that?" Quinton asked.

"Totally man. And you know how I know? Because it's been tearing out my guts to see Christine in pain like she had been these past couple of days." Bolt replied. "Tell me something Quinton, do you think Christine and I should get back together?"

"Well… there's not much standing in the way of you two becoming a couple again." Quinton pointed out. "Derik Wyler is dead, and so is Richter from the sound of it. Of course, the question that should really be asked is, do you think you and Christine should get back together?"

Bolt turned to face Quinton and sighed. "I guess… a part of me is afraid to start something with Christine because I'm afraid of getting hurt again. I mean you know how long it took me to get over what happened ten years ago."

"I get that, Bolt. But here's the thing, we always run the risk of getting hurt when getting into a relationship like that." Quinton pointed out. "I don't think I need to quote you the old line about it being better to have loved and lost. Besides, you and Christine just seem to make a good pair. So if you really want my advice, I say go for it."

"Thanks man." Bolt told him.

"Calling all units! Calling all units!" suddenly came a voice over the police scanner. "We have a dangerous man attacking people at the office building at the corner of Oak and Juniper! Suspect is breathing fire! Repeat, suspect is breathing fire! All available units report to Oak and Juniper immediately!"

"You think Jirachi might have something to do with this?" Bolt asked.

"Well, a guy breathing fire isn't exactly normal." Quinton pointed out. "We should get the others and check it out."

"Good idea." Bolt agreed. "We need to end this once and for all!"


Bolt and the rest of his band plus Lorain soon arrived at the scene of Archie's rampage. The office building he worked at had been set ablaze and fireman were busy trying to put it out. In the meantime, the police had cornered Archie, who had since lost his shirt, jacket and shoes. The aqua-haired female police officer that was the town's local Officer Jenny was speaking to Archie through a megaphone in an attempt to negotiate with him. The super-powered accountant merely delivered a roundhouse kick to a parked car as his bare foot suddenly became covered in flames. The resulting kick caused the car to burst into flames as it hurled through the air towards Officer Jenny and some of her men. Fortunately the police officers managed to duck out of the way.

"That… that looked like a Blaze Kick attack!" a totally stunned Quinton spoke.

"So this guy can use Fire Pokemon attacks?" Ross realized.

"I guess this means that a lot of my Pokemon are pretty much useless in this situation." Lorain realized.

Bolt pulled out Raikou's pokeball. "Let's rock, Raikou!"

The tiger of thunder burst out of the thrown ball with a roar. The appearance of such a Legendary Pokemon instantly caught Archie's attention.

"Well, looks like it's my day to encounter Pokemon that are only seen in fairytales." Archie observed. "First the Jirachi that granted me this power, and now this."

"Just stand down, dude!" Bolt told the accountant. "Why you even doing this anyway?"

"To show everyone that I can't be pushed around anymore!" Archie answered. "People everywhere are gonna learn that they can't walk all over Archie Mortimer Frankel!"

"Nobody's gonna walk all over you man." Bolt told him. "Now let's just calm down so we can talk about this. I really don't want to have to hurt ya."

"Yeah? Well maybe I want to hurt you!" Archie shot back. "Eat my Flamethrower attack!"

"Raikou! Block it with Thunderbolt!" Bolt commanded.

Archie spewed out a stream of red flames at Bolt and Raikou. The electric tiger shot a bolt of yellow electricity at the head of the attack, resulting in a small explosion.

"Damn! We can't just attack this guy! He may be able to use Fire attacks, but he's still human!" Quinton pointed out. "The attacks from our Pokemon could seriously hurt him."

"But if we don't do something, he could burn down the whole town!" Lorain pointed out.

"Dammit!" Ross cursed. "I wish this guy couldn't use Fire Pokemon attacks!"

Suddenly Jirachi popped out from behind a nearby car. "I heard that! Your wish shall be granted!"

Suddenly the area was bathed in a silvery light and Archie's body gave off a feint red aura that seemed to shatter. After the light faded, Archie opened his mouth to breath out another stream of flames but nothing came out. The accountant then tried to kick another car with a Blaze Kick attack but all he accomplished was seriously hurt his own foot. Realizing that Archie had lost his power, Officer Jenny ordered her men to pile on the accountant. Within mere moments, Archie was in handcuffs.

"Hey!" Bolt called to Jirachi, getting the little Pokemon's attention. "You the reason why that guy could use Pokemon attacks?"

"Why yes. I gave those powers to him because that's what he wished for." Jirachi answered. "Just as easily took them away because that other human wished that he didn't have those powers just now."

"Why the hell are you doing all this?" Bolt asked. "Granting all these wishes?"

"Because I find it fascinating." Jirachi answered simply. "The things that you humans wish for are interesting, as are the responses to those wishes. Take what happened just now, for instance. That man I granted those powers to seemed… what's the proper term? Overjoyed at having those powers bestowed upon him, but everyone else had a contradictory reaction."

"Don't you give a damn about the ones who get hurt because of these random wishes?" Bolt asked. "Because of you, a bunch of people died and someone I care about became a total wreck because of it!"

"Am I supposed to be concerned about that?" Jirachi asked.

"Man… you are one psycho Pokemon, you know that?" Bolt declared. "And I'm not gonna let you keep screwing with people's lives like this!"

"As if you can stop me." Jirachi responded. "Flash attack!"

Suddenly the eye on Jirachi's chest opened and gave off a blinding flash of silver light that forced Bolt and the others to shield their eyes. When the light faded, Jirachi was nowhere to be seen.

"That's one screwed-up Pokemon." Skins declared.

"No kidding!" Ross agreed. "This is all just one big game to him!"

"So what do we do now?" Quinton asked.

"No clue." Bolt answered. "But I get the feeling that things are gonna get a lot worse."


Richter awoke in a dark room in what appeared to be a hospital bed. His head throbbed as he tried to sit up. The last thing Richter remembered was walking outside the Wyler villa for some air after he had beaten Christine. The next thing he knew, the villa suddenly exploded and the shockwave knocked him to the ground. After that his head hit something, probably a rock, and he was out cold.

As Richter tried to piece together what had happened, the door to the room suddenly opened. Walking in was a woman with long orange hair that was split in the back like a V. She had on a black blazer over a white shirt with a black necktie, and a short black skirt and a pair of black high-heeled shoes. On the front right pocket of the blazer was a red letter R. Following close behind the woman was a man with green hair that was split at the front, wearing a black suit that also had a red letter R on the front jacket pocket.

"Good. You're finally awake, Mr. Chase." The redhead spoke. "We were starting to worry that you had fallen into a coma. You did get a nasty blow to the head, after all."

"Who are you people?" Richter asked. "And what do you want?"

"I'm Cassidy." The redhead answered.

"And I'm Butch." The green-haired man added.

"As for what we want, we'd like you to be the leader of the new Team Rocket." Cassidy revealed. "Interested?"


Please review and let me know what you think.