-Castelia City Gym, 5:10 PM, Terry's POV (Human Protagonist)-

Crossing my arms over my eyes and bending slightly to stay on my feet against the shock waves, I feel my grin waver. "Axinite? You ok?" I call.

Soon enough the dust settles, revealing the gym's grassy floor once again. Axinite is at mid field, standing tall over the prone, body of an unconscious Dewott.

"Dewott is unable to battle! The winner is Axinite the Boldore, which means the victory goes to Terry and Axinite!" An Ace Trainer, who had been serving as a referee for the match, shouted.

I cheered, rushing to midfield and embracing the Boldore. "Nice job!" I praised. "You two did well too, Callen." I add as my traveling companion crouches in the grass as well. He sends a quick grin, flashing a peace sign with one hand. The other sprays a potion on Dewott's arm.

"Thanks. You guys did awesome. Just kinda proves that we still have a long way to go. Either way though, we're gonna crush you in the tournament tomorrow. That's a promise." He says as he returns Dewott to his pokeball and stands.

I return Axinite and stand as well, shaking hands with Callen. "You can try. Are you headed back to the Pokemon Center then?" I ask. At his nod, I hold out Ace's and Axinite's pokeballs. "Would you take them to get checked out? I need to talk to these guys before I leave."

Callen takes the pokeballs and pockets them. "Sure thing. I'll meet you back at the Center tonight then." He finishes, before jogging out of the almost empty Gym. Most of the trainers had finished earlier, and those few that still remained were packing up their things.

I stride over to my spot on the bleachers and sit down. After a moment of rest, I stretch my fingers across the pendant around my neck, where Arceus's Rings encased a Luxury Ball. The pokemon inside responds to my touch, deeply relaxed. I sigh contentedly and pop the ball from the slot in the necklace, widen it and press the button. In a flash of white light, Angel appears, her bluish coloring clashing beautifully with her orange eyes. The Gardevoir smiles and sits next to me.

"Hey, Angel. Doing better?" I ask by way of greeting.

She blushes slightly, but nods nonetheless. "Yeah, I am." She replies, her voice in the back of my head like a wind chime. "About earlier today…"

I cut her off. "You don't need to apologize. I had all day to think about it, and I figure if I was in your position I probably would have reacted the same way."

She nods, but her emotions do anything but agree.

"Good evening, son." A raspy voice sounds behind me. I jump a little and turn. The creator of the voice turns out to be a man in his early thirties, with tanned, rough skin, wearing a sleeveless camouflage shirt, dark grey pants and sturdy black boots. His face seemed just as rugged as the rest of his body, donning a large, jagged scar on his right cheek and a scrunched look, like he spent most of his life looking down the scope of a sniper rifle. His facial expression revealed a cheery, positive demeanor, though.

He laughs slightly. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to startle you. My name is Bryan Wolf. I'm a good friend of Zeke's. I noticed you conversing with your pokemon here." He adds, nodding his head at Angel in greeting. Angel nods slightly in recognition, but says nothing.

Bryan continues. "She's nervous around new people, isn't she?" He asks, though I doubt he wants an answer. "I can tell. I had to go through the same ordeal with my partner as well." He says, pulling out his wallet as he does so. He opens it and turns it around, revealing a photo of a slightly younger Bryan, hugging a Buneary and smiling widely at the camera.

"You two look like you're having fun," I say.

Bryan nods, though a thoroughly depressed look clouds his facial features. "Her name was Calista. We took this photo shortly before I joined the Sinnoh Company. To keep a long story short, though… She was gunned down by Team Plasma… In Sinnoh." He states, a slight bitterness to his tone. It only lasts for a moment, before his face brightens again and he puts his wallet away. "She may be gone, but it's her face I think of when I need a reason to keep fighting."

I nod in understanding. "I'm sorry for your loss, Bryan. She's in a better place though, surely smiling down on you."

As for what Team Plasma would be doing in Sinnoh, though, I would sure as Hell love to know…

"Thanks, Terry." Bryan says, smiling. "Anyway, I was wondering. I'm inviting everyone out to the Snorlax Lounge for dinner tonight, on me. Would you and Angel like to come?"

I've heard rumors of the Snorlax Lounge. The owner enjoys the company of Pokemon and it's usually pretty quiet.

I take a moment to send a thought of mine to Angel. I think it would be fun. And as for earlier today… If you want to talk about it later, I'll be happy to. But I think we should just take a break from the seriousness and enjoy ourselves.

"Alright."

I address the Sinnoh Company soldier. "That sounds great, Bryan."

"Awesome. Let's head out then, shall we?"

-Snorlax Lounge, 5:30 PM, Angel's POV (Shiny Gardevoir)-

"So I sort of dimmed my side of our bond so she wouldn't know where I was, then when she came around the corner I jumped out wearing a realistic Gengar costume, screeching at the top of my lungs!" Terry says, receiving a round of laughter from our group. I narrowed my eyes at him, but I couldn't pass for angry when I was laughing merrily too.

The Snorlax Lounge turned out to be a great hangout, with a slightly darker color scheme that made it more relaxing than dreary. We were all gathered around the table eating out meals and listening to Terry embarrass me with one of our childhood stories, back when I was still a Kirlia.

When I could breathe again, I speak up with Telepathy. "He's got it right so far, but he's leaving the last part out."

Zeke shakes his head, grinning. "Oh? And what is he leaving out, Miss I'm Afraid of Ghost Types?"

I send a mocking glare at him. "First off, I'm not afraid of them. Secondly, Terry is leaving out the part where I hit him in the face with a Thunder Punch, before fleeing the room."

This receives another round of laughter from the team, including Terry, though his face glows red.

"Now she's leaving out the part where she broke my nose."

"Nurse Joy and Audino fixed it though!"

"Still!"

The laughter increases and it takes a while for everyone to be able to breathe again.

Zeke sighs slightly, smiling. Then he turns to Terry. His cheery expression dies as he speaks. "So, Terry, I've been meaning to ask you something… How did you and Angel survive that free fall in Burgh's Gym? You couldn't have teleported, because you still have the same momentum, and you weren't strong enough to stop yourself, you told me that when we first met. What happened?"

I glance at my trainer. His expression seems extremely conflicted. Slowly the other conversations at our table ground to a halt. To be honest, I want to hear this as well. I notice the fork he set on his plate shake slightly, seemingly on it's own accord. I use a weak Confusion to steady it, and address Zeke.

"Could we talk about this la-"

"No, Angel." Terry cuts me off, sighing heavily as he does so. "They need to hear it. Granted," he adds, "I can only theorize. I don't have a clear answer, but based off everything I can think of, I'll give it my best guess." He says.

He takes a sip of water, before setting his glass down. He stares at the cup for a moment, before starting. "I first developed these powers at eleven years old. Angel, still a Ralts at the time, and I sneaked out of the house and were playing in a grassy field we had found earlier that day. Out of nowhere, a small gang of Lillipups attacked. Angel used Confusion on them, threw them against some trees at the edge of the clearing. Three easy . I felt sorry for them, so I was working on taking some potions out of the backpack I had brought with me when a bright light flared up behind me." He pauses, for a moment, smiling at the memory. "I turn around and watch Angel evolve into a Kirlia. Afterwards, when it was time to leave, we were heading out of the clearing when we were ambushed.

"Four Houndoom rushed out of the trees and blew streams of fire, lighting up the grass in a ring around us. The light revealed two Fletchinder with black cloth over their bright colored wings. All of their eyes glittered with intelligence and hatred… I fell to my knees, terrified as a man walked through the flames unscathed. Looking back on it, his clothing must have been fire resistant. He demanded that I hand over Angel, or his pokemon would viciously murder me." Terry pauses.

"So what did you do?" Craig asks, interested.

Terry snorts. "Oh, the logical thing. I screamed at the top of my lungs. Only, instead of his pokemon running towards me to take Angel, they were all attacked by sharp chunks of dirt and rock, flames that seemed to have a mind of their own, and water that defied all laws of physics to chase them away."

Wolf grins. "Telekinesis?"

Terry nods, eyes back on his water glass. "Extremely powerful Telekinesis, and without any control to speak of. It developed at a time when I felt hopeless, desperate, and unspeakably angry. I think that is part of the reason that it's always been really strong. To be honest, I only saw red most of the time, and I fell unconscious afterwards. I only know what happened because Angel showed me her memories. Anyway," he continues, "Afterwards, I devoted almost all of my time to developing my bond with Angel, as well as training myself on my Telekinesis. My biological father, Paul Collins, he had powers just like mine. He trained me in control, and at age 13 I participated in my first International Psychic Trainer Strength and Coordination Test. "IPTSCT' for short. My first year, I placed 5th in the 13 year olds division, and 19th in the 18 and under division. My personal record was 3,108 pounds of steel weights, lifted for the full three minutes and guided through a sort of obstacle course, crafted by metal poles."

Terry pauses for a few moments, and I spot a tear leaking down his cheek. He continues, sounding depressed. "The night of my fourteenth birthday, Team Plasma started a huge forest fire a short way away from Nuvema Town. No one knew their true intentions, but everyone did know that Nuvema would have burned to the ground if someone didn't do something. Dad and his partner, Blade, went into the forest. They used their abilities to cut deep trenches in the ground, and float water from the stream to put out the fires. Their actions delayed the fire long enough for Accumula Town to send in reserve firefighters and about 20 Pokemon Rangers. Thing is… These abilities come at a price. Both Dad and Blade tired themselves so much that they were paralyzed about ten minutes before the firemen got to them…" A sob escapes his throat. "Both Dad and Blade were burned alive by the fire, they died moments before the Rangers found them."

The entire table is silent, and in the shock I notice most of the Lounge's other customers and even the staff listening to the sad tale. Terry takes a deep breath, wipes his eyes, and continues.

"The next year and a half passed by in a sort of haze… I remember getting rushed to the Accumula Town hospital after mom found me on the floor with a bloody wrist… Junior went off on his journey, after months of he and Alex trying to cheer me up… Mom was in a panic, not only because I was suicidal but because my depression was hurting Angel as well."

Zeke frowns at this. "You mean she was depressed too?"

Terry grimaces and shakes his head. "No, I mean physically hurting her. Remember that Kirlia rely heavily on their trainers emotions, more than any other pokemon. I was so incredibly depressed that she was losing the will to live. Her body was hardly functioning. I was literally killing her. She stayed with Professor Juniper quite a lot during that time, so her health would be monitored."

Terry shakes his head slightly. "About a year into this, my mother, Michelle Collins, married my step father, Jeremy Pepper. If you ask her, he was an Arceus given miracle. To be honest, I agree with her. Jeremy devoted himself to helping me. He had telekinetic powers as well, and although he was considerably less stronger than Paul, he continued my training. His partner Gallade, Kory, even allowed himself to be renamed Blade. The lengths they went to save me had no limits."

Terry laughs a little. "About six months later, their endurance payed off. And as a wise man once said, 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.' Angel and I continued our training, and my power skyrocketed so fast that I really didn't know what to do about it. During my next two tests at the IPTSCT, I placed in the number one spot in the 15 year olds division, the 16 year olds division, and both years, number one most powerful underage psychic in the world."

Zeke's eyes widened. "Damn, Terry."

Terry laughs. "My third year was the best. I broke the world record for the most powerful Junior Psychic, lifting 22,564 pounds of weights for the full three minutes, and completing the obstacle course with a perfect coordination score."

A small round of gasps followed this. I myself knew all this already, but I was waiting to see where it was going.

"So from there, I continue my training, and a few months later set out with my buddy, Alex Gates, to travel Unova. Jump to the battle with Lenora at the Nacrene City Gym, and Angel evolves from Kirlia to Gardevoir. During the short rest of the battle, my mind felt overstimulated. It wasn't the cheering or crowds, I could deal with that well enough. In the five days between the Nacrene battle and our battle with Burgh at the Castelia City Gym, however… My powers grew so phenomenally fast that to be quite honest I'm more scared of them than anything. When the Gym's roof collapsed… That was at LEAST 30 thousand pounds of debris, and I held it for the length of about four minutes. Keep in mind that five days before this my record was 22 thousand and afterwards I was so exhausted and overstimulated that I went into a week long coma. I was tired after lifting the roof, sure, but it only took me about two minutes to recover enough to lift several thousand pounds of rock and fly myself on it to the helicopter that Team Plasma used to fire on the Gym."

Terry pauses for a moment, glancing at me. I nod slightly, and he takes a deep breath. "When I entered the copter, two grunts pointed assault rifles at me. Their leader had two pistols buried in Angel's hair, and she was telling the truth when she said that if she let go they would fire. So I buried the rock into the helicopter's tail, forced the pistols away from Angel, causing them to fire into the grunts. After that… We jumped."

Terry snorts, though his mood darkened. "We should have hit the ground with over forty thousand pounds of force… But at the last second I put every bit of energy I had into slowing our fall, as well as pushing us to one side. Thus, when we landed it was only about two hundred pounds. The push to the side made sure it was survivable, but it was still devastating."

Terry, finished with his death defying tale, goes silent. Bryan shakes his head, astonished. "That is crazy…" He trails off.

Craig speaks up. "So you're still having trouble controlling your powers?"

Terry ponders the question for a moment, then shakes his head. "I would have died if Angel hadn't used Heal Pulse on me at the last second… And afterward, we both admitted that we loved one another." His face reddens, as I'm sure mine does, but he forges on. "After that, I've found a sort of balance, and I don't have much trouble with it. The only times I do are when I'm feeling extremely angry, at least so far."

Craig nods. "Fair enough."

Bryan Wolf frowns. "Isn't Pokephilia against the law, though?" He asks.

Terry nods. "Yeah, but there are certain exceptions. For Angel and I, it's allowed, although we can't make a family together until I get us officially registered at a Pokemon Center. Not that we want to do that anything soon." he quickly adds, his face reddening even further.

Bryan laughs, a twinkle in his eyes. "Oh, I can tell you want to."

"What?! No!"

"Sure."

I stop the argument by reaching out with Psychic and slapping Bryan's face with an invisible hand. What follows is a very womanly scream coming from the soldier as he puts a hand to his cheek and staring around wildly. I would scold him, but I'm too busy laughing uncontrollably with the rest of our group, along with most of the now packed Snorlax Lounge.

-Pokemon Center Lobby, 7 PM, Terry's POV (Shiny Gardevoir)-

"We'll see you all tomorrow, then."

"Sounds great, Terry! You better get to the finals so Tana and I can crush you."

"Not if my friends and I have anything to say about it!" Callen adds excitedly as we part ways. I stretch, exhausted but content as we make our way through the lobby and towards Alex's hospital room. Angel resides in her pokeball, already asleep. Callen walks beside me, having returned Ace and Axinite to me, and taken care of his friends as well.

Soon enough we arrive at Alex's room and open the door. Alex talks quietly to Nicky. The Gallade's slender form is devoid of bandages, and he seems extremely drained but happy. They both look up and quietly greet us as we enter. Alex puts a finger to his lips, pointing at another bed with his other hand.

Athena sleeps on the bed, the white fur not quite covering the scarring present on her leg. The Riolu seems to be sleeping very lightly, tossing and turning, occasionally whimpering as she dreams. Alex sighs softly.

"Angel fixed her up as best she could, but the way she acts around humans, she might as well be getting whipped by them. I hope I can help her through this." He says sadly.

I nod mutely. "Listen. If you have any questions, feel free to talk to me. I want her to recover as well." I smile a bit and continue "That being said, the tournament is tomorrow. Don't expect to get far, though. We're gonna destroy you."

Alex struggles to keep his laughter quiet. "Oh, yeah. Sure you are."

I nod my head while Callen waves. "Yep, we are. See you two tomorrow."

Callen and I head back though the hallways to our hotel room, where our beds call us to sleep.

-Unknown Location, Midnight, Unknown's POV-

"Everything is going to plan, other than the news I shared with you."

"Can we do anything about that?"

"No, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem. They won't see it coming."

"Good. Get some shuteye. You have to be ready for tomorrow."

"ο προδότης out."

(Author's Note: Tomorrow is the long awaited Castelia City Pokemon Tournament! I wonder what those unknowns have planned… And that name totally isn't translatable from Greek to English to uncover a large hint, so you totally shouldn't try to copy that into Google Translate and translate it into english! Really! Don't do it!"

The above message totally wasn't sarcasm. Don't forget to R/R! Talk to you soon! Happy Reading/Writing! -Orthros)

(PS: ο προδότης is pronounced 'PrO-vO-tis')