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Yes, I stink. Been just about two months. Last month I had to write a story for my creative writing minor so that sucked up most of my writing time, BUT to make it up to you guys I promise to post another chapter next week after my finals (it's already written so it'll definitely be put up).
Anyway, happy finals week and good luck on all of those tests, obnoxious take-home exams, papers, projects, or whatever form of torture your professors/teachers have come up with.
OBR- Thanks! Internet phone, cool. I would buy one if I thought I'd be able to competently use one... I can barely manage my flip phone.
ChaosAngel4us - :) I have plans for Styx. Soon...
Glaceon34- Glad to have a new reviewer! Yeah, 1st chapters aren't very good, but I was four years younger. I'd go back and fix them, but I'd rather just keep writing forward.
Thank you guys for reviewing! Thank you to everyone who's reading and sticking with this! I know I'm slow, but I PROMISE this story will have an ending (not for a while, though... miles to go, right?). Next chapter in a week!
Previously on An Apple a Day:
Anita challenges the Artemis Town gym. The prelim is staying tied hand-to-hand to someone for a day. Unfortunately for Anita, that someone happens to be Liam.
Dustin lets slip that Liam has a secret and Erin discovers he's the gym leader of Drape Town.
Mel listens in on Sparky's meeting with the other gym leaders. Tamara's having trouble questioning Jamie Arkle and suspects he has a ghost Pokemon within his body. Mel and Scary discover that Tamara has a ghost within her body (the Master's (Liam's) Spiritomb, left within her to keep her from projecting an image of Liam into others, which we learned a few chapters back). The gym leaders also discuss searching Professor Hastings's house for clues as to whether he is withholding information about Liam Mendol. Professor Hastings is Mel's biological father, and Mel decides to get Professor Hastings's books before the gym leaders do.
Meanwhile, Styx promised Anita she would destroy Liam's Forced Transformation Device (FTD). When Anita can't find her, Anita thinks she'll be forced to take matters into her own hands. Fortunately, her Jolteon, Splash, has major problems controlling his electric powers. When Liam touches the FTD to Splash's fur, Splash's electricity destroys the FTD's circuitry. Liam is furious and attacks Anita. Allo, one of Anita's Eevee's, steps in to protect Anita- he hits Liam over the head with an Iron Tail attack.
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Chapter 39: Lost Revelations
My Lost Boy
In the forest my boy was born
Amidst a people bent and sworn—
So malleably bent!
Deal a fae's resent,
Skew through her rival the deadliest thorn.
Who were we to doubt her regime?
Mere man, woman, and boy unseen,
His hand in mine,
Tugged through time.
History but a haunting dream.
I turned the page. The next page was blank. That was the last poem in Seth Hasting's book—
"WHAT THE F—" BEEEP. An angry man in a frilly, white apron shouted at me, waving a bouquet of flowers at me accusingly. Whatever he was yelling was drowned out by a car trying to plow its way through the hoard of people crowding the narrow streets of Artemis Town. "—KEEP YOUR NOSE OUT OF THAT DAMN BOOK WHILE YOU'RE WALKING!"
I looked down. I'd squashed a small flower garden with my heels.
The angry flower shop owner was trying to push past a cluster of customers to get to me.
I, the brave, courageous Erin Kendle—unafraid of taunting Liam, picking a fight with Jake, or scolding Anita—released Griffy from his PokeBall and fled clutching the book tightly to my chest.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o
I forgot how much I missed the dusty floorboards, the Spinarak webs that hung from the ceiling, the little caterpillars that lived above the fridge, my collection of broken PokeBalls—my mansion. It still smelled dusty boots, still smelled like home.
I floated through my favorite wooden wall into the library. It was my favorite wall in the house because once every few months, when the dust got thick enough, Scary and I used to draw pictures in the dust all over the wall.
{The Oddish have infested the garden since we left,} Scary said, appearing through the bookshelf opposite me.
I shrugged. Scary cared about growing food in the garden. I thought it was easier to just go to the grocery store.
Scary floated up to the top of the tallest bookshelf and pulled out two tall, thin books. I remember my father used to drag ladders from the shed out back into the library to reach those two books sometimes. He wouldn't put the ladders back until he was done reading the books and they were returned to the top shelf.
{Ready to go back?} Scary asked, waving the books at me. The books' covers were falling apart like a crumble cake. Bits of peeled cardboard curled up around the edges and fell off as Scary waved the books.
I looked at the plush couches and floated down to the one that was peach colored. This was where I'd first met Liam and Erin and Anita. I missed them. Becoming solid, I sank into the couch.
{Sparky will notice you're missing,} Scary said. {Plus, the gym leaders are sending someone to come look at the house, probably some time today.}
{Can we stay for a while?} I patted the couch beside me. {Come sit! We can read together.}
{Mel…}
{I miss it here. Sparky won't mind being gone for a few minutes.}
Scary's eyes glowed red for a moment, and I almost got mad at him for trying to hypnotize me, but then he floated down next to me, dropping the books in my lap. {A few minutes,} he said.
My dad's books didn't even look like books—more like diaries, which was silly because everyone knows only girls wrote diaries. One was the color of Scary in those super bright lights and the other was a shade like the inside of a cucumber.
{Scary, why did Dad leave?}
{You tell me.}
{Because he was scared he couldn't see me. Because he couldn't see me.}
{He didn't know you were alive,} Scary said.
I looked at the books again. The cucumber book was dated 2005. I was born in 2005. The other book didn't have a date.
I opened the cucumber book. The pages were crinkly—had that old book smell—and the words were written with a pen in block letters, which was much easier to read than a lot of people's scribbles.
I read.
May 18, 2005
I've never kept a journal before, but what's just happened to me needs to be recorded. I've literally done what no man in written history has done before. Soon I'll be crossing scientific boundaries no one has dreamed of for I have taken the opportunity of a lifetime.
But I'll backtrack a little. This journal will surely be famous one day so I'll write a bit about myself. My name is Seth Robert Hastings. My friends call me Bert, but my co-workers call me Seth. I am twenty-five years old, and just finished up my doctorate at the University of Celadon in ancient Pokemon two weeks ago. I grew up an only child just outside of Zahavah City in Acceber, and I did my undergrad at Zahavah University. I've been in contact with Professor Blubber since he helped me out with my thesis, and the professor recently asked me to help him with a project after I graduated. Yesterday I moved into an apartment in Cape Caution, and today I was supposed to meet with the professor to discuss that project.
Everything changed this morning. I walked into my kitchen to make myself some sunny-side up eggs before I headed out to the lab and found a green fairy with glittery wings floating above my stove.
Celebi.
No joke.
I don't know much about Celebi, other than it can supposedly time travel. Oh, and I know some whacked religion has followers that perform creepy rituals on its behalf in Ilex forest. A few years ago a group of people were arrested for slaughtering several Slowpoke and scattering their mangled bodies there.
Anyway, the Celebi in my kitchen smiled at me and spoke to me telepathically. {Professor Hastings, I've been watching you for some time now.}
That was a little disturbing, but I admit, there was a part of me pleased that a legendary Pokemon thought me worthy enough to look after.
The Celebi continued, {I'd like to offer you an opportunity to continue your studies in ancient Pokemon. Some… firsthand experience.}
I stared at the little fairy, wondering if Celebi was a figment of my imagination. The legendary Pokemon looked so out of place floating above my dirty pans, in front of the cracked kitchen wall. "You mean, you'd take me back in time?" I asked.
The Celebi's smile widened. {Yes. You could see for yourself the Pokemon world as it was fifteen thousand years ago.}
"Would I be able to come back here? To this time, I mean, when I wanted?"
Celebi nodded, it's antennae bobbing. This was too good to be true.
"Okay, what's the catch?"
{No catch.}
"When do we leave?"
{Now.}
The world whirled and twisted around me. I felt like I might be sick so I bent over to clutch my stomach, only I couldn't seem to feel my arms. My ears popped. I blinked.
I stood in the middle of a forest, a Murkrow cawing above my head. The sky was a dim orange—I couldn't tell if it was sunrise or sunset. When I looked up and down the thick growth around me, Celebi was nowhere to be found.
Did I time travel, or did Celebi just teleport me somewhere? Was this even real? I pinched my elbow and it hurt. I didn't think that proved anything.
I checked my belt. I had my two Pokemon—Poliwrath and Machoke—but I didn't have any food. I had three empty PokeBalls, the pen and notebooks I'd been holding to bring to my meeting with Professor Blubber, and my cell phone, which no longer had a signal.
Somewhere behind me I could hear the ocean. I decided walking towards the sound would be my best bet. Maybe I could figure out where I was.
It turned out the ocean was only about a mile away. The trees gradually spread out more, making it easier to see. The air around me cooled and the sky brightened. It was morning. I reached a cliff.
I thought I recognized the shape of the land down below near the water—the thick arch of stone carved from the tide. It resembled the same cliff I'd stood on yesterday when taking a tour of Cape Caution. Only yesterday, there was a gym on the cliff. Today, there was nothing.
The arch had also been thin, eroded. A heard of Tauros could trample this arch and it wouldn't break.
Fifteen thousand years, Celebi had said?
Now I'm sitting by the cliff ledge. I've gathered strawberries for breakfast, waiting to be eaten as soon as I'm done writing this. Lucky I was holding the notebooks. I keep looking over the cliff at the rock arch, not quite sure if I can believe what's happened.
Today, I plan on exploring. Maybe gathering some sticks to build a tent for shelter.
I keep expecting to wake up, or one of my buddies to jump out from behind a tree and yell, "Haha, you fell for it!"
I can't stop the excitement from bubbling in my stomach. If I'm really fifteen thousand years in the past… Well, like I said, this is the opportunity of a lifetime.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o
After leaving the library and escaping the angry flower shop owner, I checked the Pokemon Center for Anita and Liam. They weren't in. When I called Anita, she didn't answer. I gave up looking for them. Honestly, I wasn't sure I was ready to face either of them with this newfound Liam-is-a-gym-leader info, and I certainly wasn't ready to face them while they were tied together. If I told Anita at all, it would not be while Liam was in the vicinity—he'd gone so out of his way to make sure we didn't know.
I spent the afternoon researching all I could on Liam and his past as the Drape Town gym leader. I was so not going to walk all the way back to the library just to use a computer, and the lines for the computers in the Pokemon Center's lobby had been ridiculous. Thus, I slipped behind the front desk and past the operating rooms without even having to change into the nurse's outfit—the Pokemon Center was so busy no one noticed, or at least nobody bothered to stop me.
I decided using one of the upper floor computers would ensure nobody would bother me, and I ended up on the floor I was pretty sure Apple was staying on. Maybe I'd check up on her later.
My research mostly comprised of me typing in various combinations of "Liam," "Mendol," and "gym leader" into Zangoogle (a much better search engine than Yahoothoot!) and sorting through the rumors to get to some base facts:
Liam had been the Drape Town gym leader for the past four years.
He took over after his father died of a heart attack.
Not one person had won a badge from him or his father. Statistics showed that most trainers avoided the gym altogether, opting to beat five of the other seven gyms to qualify for the Pokemon league.
Those were the only solid pieces of information I found. There were plenty of rumors circling, like his father being a member of Team Glop'emm, his father not actually being dead, and that Liam was currently fulfilling some secret gym-leader mission, which was why his prelim was to locate him.
Oddly, Liam's first name was never mentioned, which was confusing because his father was also referred to as "Mendol." It was also weird that I couldn't find a good picture of Liam; there were a few with him standing with the other gym leaders, but he was always dressed in a dark cloak that covered his face.
I guess I'd known Liam was paranoid, but this seemed a little extreme. I mean, what was the point? Why wouldn't he want people to know he was a gym leader?
Maybe he really was on some secret mission. It would explain why the other gym leaders weren't making a big deal about Liam's new prelim.
I clicked open a new tab. "Ahem."
I froze, slowly lowering my hand from the keyboard and turning my head around. Styx, Dustin's semi-bitchy girlfriend and nurse at the Pokemon Center, stood behind me, her arms folded across her chest.
"I don't remembering you checking in for a visit," she said. "I also don't remember giving anyone but our staff here permission to use the floor computers."
"Um… I can explain," I said, but Styx was looking past my shoulder at the computer screen. I moved to block her view and she smiled, flashing pearly white teeth.
"No, you can't, but I don't really care at the moment. Do you know where Anita is?" she asked.
I shrugged. "Haven't seen her since I left the gym. Why?"
Styx peered around my shoulder again. "You're a researcher, right?"
Choosing to let the abrupt change in subject slide, I said, "Well, I'd like to be some day. I was an assistant researcher for a year—"
"But not now? What are you doing now?"
"Traveling with Anita and Liam." I stuck my chin up, daring her to comment further on my lack of work.
Styx surprised me by saying, "How would you like an actual research job?"
I blinked. "What?"
"I'm not a Professor so the pay wouldn't be as good as you were getting, but I could give you enough to cover travelling expenses." Styx tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I could also probably get you some sweet benefits. I've got an in with the gym leaders, you know." She winked.
"You're offering me a job?" I asked in disbelief. A minute ago, I thought she was going to threaten to kick me out of the Pokemon Center for trespassing in private halls one too many times.
"Yes."
"So what would I be researching?" I almost glanced back at the computer. She'd better not want me to "research" what Liam was doing. I wouldn't spy on my friends, not for a billion dollars.
"Celebi."
The time travelling Pokemon? Why? "Uh, what about Celebi?"
"I want everything you can find. Books from the library, articles in the newspaper, common rumors of sightings or its powers—whatever you can get. I can give you a few contacts at Zahavah to get you started. I'd like you to call me weekly with whatever you've found." Styx grinned and she looked younger—like a child that's come up with a way to steal the cookies from the jar without anyone knowing. "So how about it?"
"Um, sure, I guess. You don't even want to see credentials or a recommendation or something?" This was just too weird.
"Nope." Styx held out her hand.
I took it.
"Great, I'll just need you to fill out some direct deposit—"
A nurse burst out of the elevator, panting. "Styx, Styx! There's a girl downstairs demanding to see you. A gym challenger by the look of her—tied to some unconscious boy her Eevees dragged here with her—she won't let us take a look at the boy until she's seen you. We don't know if it's bad enough to call the hospital—"
I caught Styx's eye knowingly. "C'mon," she said, hurrying to the elevator.
The lobby had cleared out considerably since I'd come into the Pokemon Center. Maybe not cleared out, I thought, seeing people packed around the edges of the room, hugging the walls and couch and leaving the middle of the lobby void of traffic.
It probably had something to do with Anita, standing in the middle of the lobby, surrounded by three growling Eevees and one sparking Jolteon. Liam slumped on the floor. "Don't you dare call the emergency room until I have a word with Styx—" Anita stopped talking when she spotted Styx approaching her.
Splash stepped forward, his pins bared. I decided it might be best to stay put by the front desk with the rest of the nervous wall-huggers.
Styx and Anita spoke in low voices I couldn't hear over the murmur of the other Pokemon trainers. Anita was furious with Styx for some reason. As she gestured angrily at Liam, his arm flopped against hers, like a puppet. Styx nodded and Anita said something quietly to Splash, who immediately backed off.
Styx turned around and started barking orders at the other nurses and the Chansey. Nurses hurried across the room like a swarm of frantic flies—some calming the other trainers and others helping Anita pick up Liam.
In under four minutes, we were back upstairs with Liam settled into a patient bed in a room across the hall from Apple's. Anita sat by his side in a plastic chair, no longer yelling. An improvement, to say the least.
I glanced at Liam. His mouth was opened slightly, his jaw at an awkward angle against the pillow. Anita let the arm that was tied to hers hang over the bed's metal railing. Should I take this opportunity to tell Anita about Liam's gym leaderness?
Styx entered the room, closing the door quietly behind her. She'd been reassuring the other nurses that she had everything under control. Liam, apparently, had a head bruise. He'd be out for another hour or so.
"How bad is he, really?" I asked her. I looked at Anita. "And what did you do to him?" She frowned at me.
Styx raised an eyebrow at me. "I'd have called the hospital if he was seriously injured," she said. "Just some bruising, no concussion."
"You hit him over the head?" I asked in disbelief. "How? With what?" I'd never seen Anita successfully land a hit on Liam hard enough to do actual damage. I looked back at Styx. "And you just know he's going to be okay after touch his head for all of five seconds?"
"I've already had a Sableye look into it. He's fine," Styx snapped.
"Anita," I said, turning back to face her.
"Liam attacked me and Allo hit him over the head with an iron tail." Anita glared past me at Styx.
"Liam attacked you?" Uh-huh.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he's a psychotic freak bent on destroying my life with his fancy—but very breakable—technology."
"Anita…" I said slowly, taking a breath. Anita leaned back in her chair so it teetered. Splash and Sunflower hurried behind the chair to keep it from falling. I don't think she noticed. "What did you break of his?"
"The tran—syringe thingy."
"That was a vaccine to prevent PokeRus given to him by the professor he works for! It was important." Maybe attacking Anita was a little extreme, but hell, I'd be pissed if someone ruined my assignment. And that vaccine probably saved lives.
"Oh, so that's what he's been telling you guys."
I shook my head. "Anita, this is ridic—"
"No, Erin, you listen to me. Liam Mendol is crazy. He—" Anita stopped talking suddenly.
"He what?" I asked challengingly. Anita was being childish.
"Ugh, I hate this!" Anita yelled. Her chair fell backwards, and she landed on her back, the overturned chair shoved into the bed. Her Eevees scrambled to her side, licking her free hand and face. Anita kicked the chair out of her way and got to her feet. She looked at Styx. "You got me into this mess. Fix it."
Styx walked past me and picked up the chair. "I'm sorry we had a slight… miscommunication," she said.
"I'll call it even if you have a way to keep Liam knocked out until the battle tomorrow."
Styx smiled grimly. "You think this is the first time this has happened? That can be arranged."
"Seriously, Anita?" I said angrily. She didn't care that Liam was hurt, just about her gym battle. Was that why she hadn't called an ambulance? She thought they might untie Liam, ruin her chances at the gym? And what was Styx thinking, encouraging her?
"What?" Anita snapped. "He attacked me. I mean, its survive through the gym battle or cut this damn band now and go into hiding—because even you know, Erin, that he'd hunt me down."
"You really are a selfish, paranoid, and bratty—"
"Erin, stop. I really can't take this right now."
"Yeah, well neither can I."
I turned around and left the room, my stomach empty and my throat tight.
o o o o o o o o o o o
Erin left. Styx left. Liam was unconscious.
I sat in the dark, in a cold plastic chair, my wrist itchy where it touched Liam's.
Allo, Splash, Vanilla, and Sunflower lay beneath my chair, their tails brushing my ankles. It wasn't much comfort.
I was scared. Seriously freaked out, borderline good-thing-I'm-in-a-Pokemon-Center-because-I-might-have-a-panic-attack. I had a decision to make: fight or flee. Stay, act like a typical gym-driven trainer, battle. Or run. Abandon Erin, my journey, everything. Risk Apple or risk my life as I knew it. I'd always told Apple we could run away, go into hiding, but for the first time, I was actually considering it seriously. The thought of never seeing my friends again, of not talking to my mom—that was scary.
I didn't have any good options.
A part of me whispered to go because it'd be easier to abandon Erin than to make up with her, to leave Liam than to explain to him, to forget Styx because her existence made no sense. It was a stupid, petty part of me, but it felt bigger.
The door creaked open. Probably a nurse finally bringing in the cot. A sliver of light spilled into the dark room. A rather small, furry silhouette stood in the doorway.
Apple entered the room, her eyes glowing a soft violet—more violet than I'd seen her eyes since Celebi had sucked her powers dry. Apple's ears were perked, her nose held high.
And that smile. That little, devious smile as Fiery padded behind her, never moving his eyes from the sway of her tail even as he kicked the door shut with his hind legs.
That smile made me not care for the moment how upset the nurses were going to be when they discovered Apple's absence. Made me not care that Erin was mad at me, and that I had no idea who Styx was. Made me not care that Liam had tried to strangle me earlier today.
For just a moment, that smile made me smile.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o
I looked up at Scary and patted the open journal in my lap. "Did this really happen? My dad time travelled?"
Scary nodded.
I looked back at the open journal. The writing didn't sound like Dad, not how I remembered him anyway. He got tired jogging. Adventuring would make him like an old walking zombie or something. "He didn't mention having a Gengar. Where were you, Scary?"
Scary held a clawed hand over the book, and pages flipped forward rapidly. Then suddenly, the pages settled with the journal open to the middle. I stared at the page. At the top it said Day 27.
"Hey, you've read this before," I accused. Not fair. He should've read me my dad's time travelling adventures.
Scary shook his head. {No, I lived through it.}
"You're from the past?"
Scary gestured to the book. {Just read.}
Day 27
The moving seaweed I've observed from the cliff for several days are Lileep. This morning, I scaled a low cliff four miles southwest of my camping sight. I'd only backtracked half a mile along the shore when I came across a Lileep in the sand bank. It was the size of my palm—a baby. Though I would usually not catch a Pokemon so young, for the sake of science I caught it within one of my empty PokeBalls. According to archeologists, Lileep became extinct a hundred million years ago. Either Celebi has lied about how far I've been taken back or I've made yet another outstanding discovery.
As I was climbing back up the cliff, I heard a dull thumping in the distance, from the direction opposite my camp. Whismur, perhaps? Or several Poliwag using Belly Drum.
Of course, I went to investigate. I followed the cliff for a mile, but when it was clear the sound was coming from the within the woods, I began picking my way through the giant trees and twisted ivy. Eventually I came to a large clearing, but saw no source of the thumping. The clearing was manmade—rectangular and stretching across a few acres. The ground was black, burned and spotted with car-sized craters. No human could have razed the ground so thoroughly.
The thumping was coming from my right, beyond the nearest edge of the clearing. As I approached, I heard voices—human voices humming and murmuring.
I hadn't known there were humans in the area. I've been exploring for nearly four weeks now without finding a sign of human existence—no tools, arrowheads, fire pits, and certainly no sounds. The clearing was the first indication I'd had of human habitation.
I walked across the clearing, and entered the woods again, this time careful to make as little noise as possible. Twice I nearly stumbled over a Seedot. In some ways, this past is very much like my present—the Seedot line still occupy the Cape Caution woods, as they have for tens of thousands of years. The Seedot, however, were more concentrated in this area than they had been along the edge of the woods. In fact, the concentration seemed to grow as I neared the thumping, the noise so loud I felt the vibrations in my bones.
Then I abruptly stumbled into another clearing. The thumping stopped.
If I'd been more practiced in wilderness navigation or even camping, perhaps I would've been able to hide in the bushes, like protagonists do in movies, clearly assessing the situation before implementing their clever plans. I didn't have a plan. Hell, I just wanted to observe.
Interrupting what appeared to be some primitive ritual pretty much destroyed any chance of me simply remaining a spectator.
This clearing was smaller than the wasted one I'd passed through, maybe only a fourth of the size. On the far side of the clearing there were large tents covered in furs and cloth, supported by thick tree branches. There were a few Manectric lounging beside the tents, perhaps guarding them. All of their muzzles were turned towards me, their eyes watching me like I was going to be their mid-afternoon snack. I noticed they all had long fangs protruding from their mouths—Manectric didn't have those fangs in my time.
However, it wasn't the Manectric that worried me. No, what worried me was the crowd of humans in lively colors gathered around a very still, but very alive bear. There had to be over a hundred people. They were mostly dressed in yellow and blue furs—perhaps Manectric fur—though I spotted shades of brown and red. No two outfits were exactly the same—the clothing was cut to cover the bodies however was easiest to cut or sew. There were more men than women gathered, and every person was over ten years old. They all had very light skin, and most had some shade of blond hair.
Every single one of them was looking directly at me in my torn cache pants and rugged cotton vest.
The bear in the center of circle roared. The men and women in the innermost ring of the circle all held sharp wooden spears. As if given some silent command, they all turned away from me and thrust the spears into the bear's neck.
I would've turned away if I'd known. I've never had much a stomach for blood. Instead, I stood very still, probably in shock. Some part of my brain noted that the bear stayed unnaturally upright when the spears were quickly withdrawn. A few too many heartbeats later, the bear slumped forward, a messy pile of blood and fur. I felt sick.
A purple mist seemed to trickle out of the bear's skin. It flowed forward, through the people and solidified in front of me. A Gengar.
The humans had all turned their attention back to me, and the ones closest to the Gengar moved back, clearing some space. I held my palms out. "I'm Bert. I don't mean any harm."
I started to back away. After seeing the bear, I wasn't sure I needed to learn about these people. Not if it cost me my life.
The Gengar growled, his eyes glowing red. I stopped moving and avoided direct eye contact. Never look into the eyes of a Pokemon that can learn Hypnosis.
I saw the Gengar rush forward. Without a moment's hesitation I let out my Poliwrath and ordered a Hydropump. Perhaps I'd surprised the Gengar—he was hit head on, water splashing me and the closest of the humans behind the Gengar.
I expected the Gengar to be knocked out; not many Pokemon survive such a powerful, direct hit. Instead, when the water cleared, I saw the Gengar's eyes narrow at me as he shook the water off. His shadowy hand curled into a fist and he leapt at me.
I reacted the only way a defenseless human can react—I threw and empty PokeBall at the oncoming Gengar. I didn't expect the Gengar to be caught, just buy enough time for my Poliwrath to recover enough to get between me and the angry ghost Pokemon. The PokeBall shook three times. Poliwrath got to his feet and positioned himself in front of me in a fighting stance.
The PokeBall stilled. The Gengar was caught.
"Scary, that was you?" I asked, but I knew it was, even before Scary nodded.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o
I guess I looked pretty strange walking down the street with an unconscious body attached to my wrist carried by a Flareon and four Eevees. My Pokemon walked with their feet in sync to ensure Liam wouldn't fall off. We got a few strange, worried glances, but nobody commented after seeing my wrist tied to Liam's limp arm.
Styx was escorting us to the gym. To keep Liam asleep, she'd put ear buds in his ears, which were attached to a small MP3 playing Jigglypuff's voice on repeat.
Being tied to Liam was frustrating. I'd been able to give Apple a verbal summary of what happened, but I couldn't hear her thoughts on the situation. I couldn't know what she really thought of our plan, whether she thought it would work.
I let out a sigh, an ocean breeze cool against my skin, carrying the waft of the market strawberries. Strawberries reminded me of Erin. We hadn't talked since last night. I hadn't even seen her—I'd slept in the patient room beside Liam. I guess I didn't really expect Erin to come to my gym battle after our fight, but she'd come to all of my others and it felt strange to be going without her.
Thinking about it, I hadn't seen Jake in a while either. Hopefully, he'd packed up and left town without us.
We reached the dome shaped gym. My heartbeat picked up, despite my best efforts to calm myself—I couldn't afford to be nervous. Apple was depending on me.
In a bush between the gym and a clothing shop next door, I saw a prickle of yellow. Splash peeked his head up from within the bush, winked at me, and then ducked back down. At least he was enjoying his role in all of this. A pity I wouldn't be using him in the gym battle after all that training we did, but his electricity was necessary for my plan. I eyed a vent leading into the gym near the bush. The other end of the vent was under the gym bleachers near the arena; the blueprints of the gym had been easily accessed though the Pokemon Center computer at the end of the hall on Apple's floor.
Once again, when I entered the gym, my ears popped.
The lights were brighter than they'd been on my last visit. It hurt to look at the battlefield's carved metal boundaries when at an angle that they directly reflected the bright light. Dustin and Tali stood at the far end of the gym in front of their throne platform on the edge of the arena. Neither of them reacted to the sight of Liam. Guess what Styx had said was true—apparently, a challenger returning with a knocked out partner wasn't very uncommon.
Dustin raised an eyebrow at Styx. "You said you were working all day."
"This qualifies," Styx said. She bent over Liam and removed the ear buds and MP3 player. I held my breath. Liam didn't wake up.
"You helped her?" Dustin asked. He didn't sound angry, just curious. "Just last week you complained that Tali and I should disqualify contenders of who don't return fully conscious."
Styx shrugged and tossed her ponytail over her shoulder. "We're supposed to help endangered Pokemon and trainers in this city—you two created PRAHA. Liam was a danger to Anita and her Pokemon. I helped."
"Fine." Dustin narrowed his eyes at Styx in a way that made me suspect this conversation would be continued later. "Anita Parkwood, you have completed part one of the prelim. Styx will cut the tie between you and Liam, and then we will fight."
Styx opened the cabinet she'd initially taken the band out of while Tali stepped forward. "The rules of the fight are simple. Dustin and I are a team. You and Liam are a team. When a participant is knocked out of bounds, the participant is out. When both team members of one team are out, the opposing team wins."
"What are the boundaries?" I asked.
"The metal lines depicting the battlefield," Tali answered. There was a snipping at my side, and my hand was suddenly free. Styx held the band in one hand and the scissors in the other.
I yanked my hand away from Liam, whose hand fell limply to the ground, and flexed my fingers, smiling.
{Free at last!} My mind automatically connected with Apple's first, and I was surprised to find a speck of her power had returned.
{Yup. Still too drained for telekinesis or barriers, but telepathy's working,} Apple said. She looked at Fiery slyly, and when she caught Fiery's eye, he looked promptly away. What exactly had Apple been up to, stuck in a room with Fiery, for over twenty-four hours…?
Apple looked up at me with innocent eyes, but a wicked grin. I touched Sunflower, Allo, Vanilla, and Fiery's minds, thanking them for carrying Liam. Then I sent a psychic pulse out farther and located Splash—he was already in the gym's ventilation system. Perfect.
Dustin cleared his throat. "Your Pokemon will need to wait in the stands, of course."
I wistfully pulled out four Pokeballs and returned Fiery, Sunflower, Allo, and Vanilla. I would've let them stay out, but Liam might've gotten suspicious when he woke up if Splash wasn't among my Pokemon. I put the Pokeballs in my pack, which Styx took while herding Apple towards the gym's bleachers.
As Apple shuffled through missed plans and memories in my head, I bent over Liam and took out the headphones. "Liam, wake up." I nudged Liam with my foot, but jumped away quickly, just in case Liam woke up with the same idea he'd had when Allo knocked him out.
"Challenger, are you ready to begin?" Dustin asked haughtily. Like he didn't freakin' know my name.
"No," I snapped. "Liam?"
No response. Shit.
"The referee will begin the battle in thirty seconds."
I glanced up, not having noticed a referee in the gym before. Styx stood on the sidelines, a flag in hand. She winked at me and tilted her head toward a timer that was suddenly projected onto the gym's curved ceiling. 27…26…
Great. Just great. She'd better not be biased.
{Shake him,} Apple suggested. I did. I lifted Liam's shoulders off of the ground and shook. He was dead weight. "Liam, wake up!" Drool dribbled out of his mouth onto my hand. Gross. I hastily dropped him and wiped my hand on his shirt.
I looked up.
15…14…13…
My mind was scrambling. Crap, I couldn't fight Dustin and Tali alone. My psychic powers weren't even stronger than Dustin's copied psychic powers.
"Liam!"
{Anita, remember Tali's power!} Apple said. I glanced up. Tali and Dustin were still standing calmly at the other end of the field. Tali took a deep breath. I let my mind drift into hers, she was calming herself, preparing for that first bellow—
Tali controlled sound. I needed earplugs—that was more important than waking Liam; he'd be up seconds after she yelled.
7…6…
Dustin grinned at me, shaking out his blonde hair. I stuck my hand down Liam's pocket. Where'd he put them?
2…1…
I shut my eyes and leapt away from Liam. Barriers. I needed barriers shaped like earplugs in my ears now.
Suddenly, there was a pressure on my head. I opened my eyes. Dustin was wincing and Tali had her mouth open, but I couldn't hear her. I couldn't hear anything.
Something grabbed my ankle. I jumped and nearly tripped. Liam looked up at me with a bizarre mix of pain and anger. He opened his mouth, but I couldn't hear the words. Grimacing, Liam rolled over and covered his ears, releasing my ankle.
Dustin settled into a stance with his legs apart, arms flung in front of him. I felt psychic energy gathering in front of his palms…
I whipped up a barrier to encompass Liam and me. Liam lay still on the ground for just a moment. He sat up, taking in our surroundings through the purple tint of my barrier. I saw his mouth move, but heard nothing.
Liam got to his feet and looked at me. His gaze hit me like a bucket of cold water. His mouth moved again.
I realized I still had my barrier earplugs in my head. I released them.
"What?" I asked.
"I said, give me one good reason not to beat the life out of you."
Okay, Anita, ignore the fact that he's talking stoically about your death. Ignore it and deal with it later. "There are gym leaders watching," I answered.
"Fine. Give me one good reason not to walk away from this prelim, leave you to lose, and later beat the life out of you."
I shuddered at a crash against my barrier. Dustin was trying to psychically break in. I realized that Apple was adding what little energy she could to the barrier—why it hadn't already caved. "You hate losing," I said.
"Not as much as I hate you at this moment." Liam turned. If he walked through my barrier, it would shatter, and we would be bombarded by both Dustin and Tali's attacks. That was just a small reason to stop Liam from leaving though, compared to my huge plan to help Apple that depended entirely on Liam staying.
"I'll tell you everything. I'll tell you everything I know about Mew."
Liam stopped mid-step and turned to face me. "I don't believe you."
"I swear." There was another crash against my barrier. It felt like a crack through my skull. "I—please, Liam."
"Tell me now."
Another crash. I saw lights behind my eyelids. "I can't, I can't hold on… on much longer," I gasped, bracing my hands on my knees.
"One piece. Give me a piece now and tell me the rest after we win."
Arceus, I hadn't prepared for this. "Near Melonbi," I blurted out. "Near Melonbi Town, I saw Mew."
The pressure was too great—the barrier wasn't just going to shatter, it was going to blow, it was going to collapse into me—
A hand was held in front of my nose. The hand I'd been attached to for up until about two minutes ago. Liam raised his eyebrows at me, expectant.
"The rules. The rules to the prelim—stay in bounds—push them out," I said. "And strategy from yesterday… I'll get in Dustin's head and—" The pressure on my head was too overwhelming. I took Liam's hand. All the pressure vanished.
There was a brief moment of silence. Liam pushed something into my hand—
Tali yelled and all strategic thoughts fled my brain.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o
{Mel, we should go back. Sparky will start to worry,} Scary said, lightly tugging at the book.
"No! I wanna keep reading!" I tugged the book back.
{Mel—}
"But I didn't finish the last entry—just till the end of it. Please?" I gave Scary my big eye look that usually gets me candy.
Scary let go of the book. {Fine.}
I stepped forward and picked up the PokeBall of the newly caught Gengar. There was a murmuring through the crowd: quiet, fearful noises. I returned Poliwrath to his PokeBall, trying to show that I didn't want to fight.
A man wearing all blue along with a necklace of sharp teeth pushed his way to the front of the crowd. Later, I learned he was Ahigetric, head of this Shiftry Clan. Ahigetric called something in harshly in a language I didn't know. There was rustling through the crowd and a woman was suddenly pushed to the front.
The woman was tall, 5' 7'' maybe, with waist-length blonde, almost silver, hair and the palest blue eyes I've ever seen. Her outfit was different from every other person's—though she wore the same Manectric fur, there was a tint of green to both the yellow and the blue. Looking closer, I realized that green strands of fur or hair of another Pokemon had been sewn into her clothes. She gestured at me and said something to Ahigetric in an urgent tone.
Ahigetric caught the woman by the wrist and thrust her towards me. The crowd quieted. Only sparing one angry glare at Ahigetric, the woman marched towards me, almost defiantly as if she had something to prove. I realized with a start that she was beautiful. My heart beat a little faster.
The woman stopped a few yards away from me. I pointed at myself and said, "Bert." Then I held out my hand.
She stared at my hand. I guess expecting a handshake was fairly stupid of me. I let my hand fall to my side. The woman asked me something, fingering the green threads of her outfit.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand," I said, holding my palms out and trying to look as harmless as possible.
The woman took another step forward, tentatively reaching out her hand. When I lifted my hand to touch hers, she drew back. I put my hands back down by my sides. "Alright, then," I said.
The woman's eyes watched me carefully. Then she reached out and gently brushed my cotton collar. She fingered the material in amazement, moving her hand down to my sleeve. She murmured something under her breath, looked up at me with those pale blue eyes, and asked another question in that language I didn't understand.
I shrugged. The movement caused her finger to touch the skin on my arm.
The woman took a step back and repeated the question. This time, I made out the word, "Celebi." Finally, something I understood.
I nodded and said, "Yes, Celebi. Celebi brought me here."
A look of relief crossed the woman's face. She picked a green thread off of her clothing, took my right hand in hers, and tied the strand around my finger. Then she grabbed my wrist and shoved it in the air, turning to the crowd. "Celebi!" she shouted. "Celebi!"
"Celebi!" the crowd answered. There was joyous laughter and some of the people started banging on hollow wooden drums. The woman took my hand and pulled me into the mass of people. Hands reached out to touch my arms and clothing. I had to slap a few hands that strayed too close to my PokeBalls.
The woman pulled me past the crowd, past the Manectrics to a tent at the edge of the clearing. Unlike the clothing, the tents were covered in a material thicker than Manectric fur. After seeing the little ceremony, I suspected it was bear hide. The tent she pulled me into was no different than the others except for the bits of green strands woven into the tent hide, just as the green strands in the woman's clothing.
The inside of the tent was bigger than it appeared from the outside. There was a bed of hay on one side of the tent, probably for sleeping. Above the hay bed hung various sized ceramic bowls. On the other side of the tent, there was a pile of black feathers, a stone carving, and several wooden spears resting against the wall—the same type of spears that had been used to kill the bear.
The woman settled down cross-legged on the hay bed and seemed oddly at ease, her fine straight hair flowing over around her shoulders like a blanket. She pointed to herself and said, "Abetzi."
Not knowing what else to do, I sat down across from her. "Bert."
"Bert," the woman repeated. She smiled and said something. Even if I could understand her language, I wouldn't have heard what she was saying. That damn smile was just so… enchanting, lovely… beautiful? It warmed the entire room, like a fireplace on a snowy evening.
The woman's smile faded. She asked me something.
"Celebi?" I said, wagging my finger that had the green strand tied to it.
Abetzi frowned, giving me an almost disapproving look. "Gengar."
I pulled the Gengar's PokeBall from my pocket and pressed the release button. Abetzi gasped as the room flashed red for a moment. When the Gengar solidified in front of her, she reached out to touch the Pokemon's pointed ear, as if she didn't believe what she was seeing. "Taabata," she murmured, running her hand over the Gengar's head. She didn't seem worried about looking directly into the Gengar's eyes.
"Taabata?" I asked.
Abetzi spoke rapidly to the Gengar, gesturing to me. Suddenly, the Gengar faded. Unwarranted images flashed across my mind, and I knew the Gengar was within my body. I shook my head, as if the action could cast the ghost Pokemon out. One of the images was of Celebi floating above the tents, the sunlight glinting across the legendary's wings. The other images were blurred, zooming through my mind too fast for me to comprehend. Finally, a word appeared in my mind. {Sign.}
{Taabata, sign.} I knew the Gengar was speaking from within my mind.
I blinked and could see the world around me again. The woman scooted forward and poked my chest. "Taabata."
Great, I was a sign.
"Of what?" I asked.
My own memories flashed across my mind, memories of when I was a child asking my father questions I couldn't yet begin to comprehend about babies, memory, bottle caps… Somehow, I knew the Gengar was using my memories to understand me, to literally understand my language. I found this strange. In our time, all Pokemon innately understand all human language, even while humans cannot understand each other. Pokemon are used as translators everywhere. Growing up, I was of course told the fairy tale of "Jirachi and the Sentret's Wish," but I'd never believed it. I never believed there was a Pokemon powerful enough to grant all Pokemon the ability to understand all languages.
Suddenly, the images changed and slowed. The Gengar had understood my question and was answering it. I saw the Shiftry Clan bowing to Celebi, worshipping the time travelling fairy. They were in another land, a flatter land, where the clan grew crops. I saw Celebi teach the clan to sharpen tree branches shed by Shiftry into sharp spears, and saw the clan learn to hunt dear with those spears, adding meat to their mostly grain diet. I saw a time of peace and prosperity.
Then the sky darkened. A blue fire, ravaging the fields. A spot of purple in the sky. The clan moved, migrated north. They lived because they could hunt, because Celebi had taught them. They prayed to Celebi and Celebi brought them to this forest. The men cut trees, plowed an enormous field, while women searched for Shiftry. The Shiftry were much more abundant in the forest, but harder to spot. Normal branches could be used to create the clan's tents, but not the clan's weapons. Celebi had deemed it so. Abetzi, the clan's so-called witch, befriended the local spirits, exchanging food and protection for help finding the Shiftry.
When the field was plowed and sewn with grain and the tents nearly complete, the Shiftry Clan threw a great celebration. A sudden crash interrupted their dancing, their drums. Something pink shot across the sky. More crashing, coming from their newly-plowed field. Children hid behind the legs of their mothers, and the Manectric growled.
Ahigetric, head of the Shiftry Clan, chose six men to accompany him to the field. Abetzi and the Gengar followed. No one stopped them.
There were two large craters in the field. Above the field the psychic legendary Pokemon, Mew, floated. Mew plunged suddenly towards the earth, its fist curled by its face. Where the legendary struck, another crater was formed.
Another Mew appeared next to the first Mew. It too, struck the ground. This Mew's crater was bigger. The earth shook when its fist touched soil, and fires burst across the few unharmed patches of soil. The first Mew rushed forward to extinguish the flames with its tail, whipping the earth until the ground was but a mound of long burnt scars.
Ahigetric, the six men, and Abetzi were horrified. They yelled at the Mews, shook their fists, and trembled because for all their anger, they were afraid. Only Abetzi stepped forward and ordered Gengar forth. Ordered an attack.
The Gengar rushed forward and the Mews teleported.
The scene changed. Celebi promising the people revenge. Using bears as an example of what must be done.
One man questioned why Celebi could not take the revenge into its own hands. Celebi never explained, but the man felt Celebi's wrath. For the first time, the clan feared Celebi, but they continued learning. Learning how to slay Mew.
"When?" the Ahigetric asked Celebi once. "When will we have our revenge?"
Celebi always answered with that tiny fairy smile. {Soon after the sign comes.}
"What sign?"
Celebi's smile widened.
The images faded. Abetzi blinked at me. I knew I had seen the Gengar's memories; I knew, but didn't quite believe. Not just Celebi, but Mew was somehow involved here? And why was I a sign? Why did Celebi bring me, use me? Hell, I wanted to observe and study the past, not be a part of it.
Abetzi touched my hand, smiling.
Warmth flooded my stomach, and I suddenly felt a yearning to sit here with Abetzi, forget my problems, and just bask in her presence. I looked at my hand in hers. It was shrouded in a sort of purple smoke. The Gengar was still within me. I vaguely wondered whether the sudden intense loyalty I was feeling belonged to the Gengar or me.
"You will stay. We will teach each other." Abetzi spoke. Words I didn't know, I understood with the Gengar feeding my mind subconscious translations.
With Abetzi's hand in mine, I nodded. I couldn't say no. "I'll need to get my stuff from my camp."
A tendril of purple floated across my hand to Abetzi's. She closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded.
"Yes, of course." She stood up suddenly, and the purple smoke flooded before her, materializing into the Gengar. I felt a bit empty, but strangely still calm.
I gestured around the room. "This should be scary," I said.
Abetzi looked at me, puzzled. She couldn't understand me. "Scarrr—ee?"
"Scary," I confirmed.
She looked at the Gengar. He shrugged. Abetzi leaned forward and patted the Gengar's ears. "Scary," she said, fondly. "Scary." Then Abetzi stood up and stepped through the flap of the tent. "Scary, vanguish."
The Gengar faded through the tent wall, following Abetzi and leaving me alone and bewildered. I'm pretty sure neither of them understood that because of the PokeBall, the Gengar was bound to me. They both probably assumed the effects of the PokeBall were temporary. I let it go for now because I needed time alone, time to get adjusted.
I opened this journal up to write everything down. None of the other clan members have bothered me yet. I don't know why Abetzi's presence seemed to comfort me, and when I consider my pull towards her, I'm quite frightened. Maybe she really is a witch. Now that she's left for the moment, I don't know if I should leave or accept the clan's hospitality.
No, that's not true. I already know I'm going to stay here, see what happens next. I'm too curious. The scientist in me wants to know what happens to Mew, the rationalist in me figures Celebi's my only way back, and the emotional lunatic in me just wants the chance to touch Abetzi's hand again.
Also, I think I've inadvertently named the Gengar Scary. Go figure.
I looked at Scary. "So that… that was how you met my father?"
Scary nodded.
"That woman, Abetzi. Did she have a ghost gift?"
Scary grinned.
I hesitated. "Was she… was she my mother?"
There was a crash to the left of me. I heard grown-ups swearing.
{We have to go, Mel. The police have come to search the house for evidence.}
"Was she my mother?"
{Yes.}
I hugged the journals to my chest. "I want to keep reading."
{You can. We'll bring the books back to Sparky's. We can store them in the attic—but we need to go before the police find us here.}
I turned invisible and floated up, wondering if Abetzi could do the same. "Let's go."
o o o o o o o o o o o o o
The noise brought me to my knees—my ears felt like they were being scooped out with pliers. Instinctively, my mind thrust away from my body to escape the pain. I could think more clearly with the sound distant. Maybe I could jump into Tali's mind and force her to stop yelling.
{Anita, you need to put the earplugs Liam gave you in, or make barrier earplugs if you don't want to lose your hearing,} Apple said.
But the sound. I didn't want to hear—no, better to stop Tali. I sent multiple psychic tendrils towards Tali. I wished I could see what Liam was doing—he was invisible to my mind.
{Anita, I'm serious. Earplugs now.}
A force cut me off, shoved me back toward my body. I created barriers in my ears just before I returned.
My head was still ringing. Liam was running towards Tali, his eyes narrowed in on her—it was the look he had before he hit something. Dustin created a barrier under Tali, raising her above the ground out of Liam's reach. Liam stopped mid-run as Tali took a deep breath. He was right below her. He scrambled to get away, but she released her breath, directly over him.
Sound is usually just a bit of pressure oscillating through the air. Tali, however, had the ability to create more than just a bit of pressure. That's what I found out when I threw up a barrier over Liam.
The vibrations hit the barrier, travelled down those invisible psychic tendrils back to my mind, and scrambled my brain. And I'd thought I'd had a headache before.
Dustin ran through my barrier, collapsing it—he must've copied Liam's gift. The platform barrier Tali'd been on disappeared as well, and she landed on bent legs behind Liam. Dustin smirked—they had Liam surrounded. Liam snickered right back.
At once, Dustin and Tali rushed in, Dustin making to grab Liam's legs, Tali his arms. Focus, Anita, I thought to my pounding head. I thrust up two small barriers—one in front of Dustin's feet and one in front of Tali's.
Dustin stepped right through my barrier, but Tali stumbled, enabling Liam to turn and kick Tali in the stomach. She fell backwards toward the boundary—
A barrier caught Tali before she fell out of bounds. I tried to shatter Dustin's barrier while Tali leaned on it, hitting it with all the psychic force I could muster, but it held strong.
Liam and Dustin were fighting in a blur of complex kicks and punches. Liam was faster—rolling under Dustin's foot and tripping him from below, but he couldn't seem to pin Dustin down or force Dustin toward the boundary. Dustin blocked Liam's kicks with his arms, laughing as Liam danced around him and failed to land any major hits or force Dustin back. In fact, Dustin was backing Liam towards the center of the battlefield, away from the boundary behind him.
Suddenly, the wind was knocked out of me and my body was flung backwards so fast my mind and body separated. I struggled to send psychic tendrils back fast enough to keep my body from being thrown out of bounds. I made it, but barely.
For a moment my body was suspended against the barrier. Even with my consciousness out of my body, I could feel the bruises forming along my back.
I sent my mind at Tali, knowing that if she continued yelling, my barrier would break and I'd be thrown beyond the boundary.
I shoved my way into her mind. {La, la, la, la, la, la, la…} "La, la, la." I was in! I felt Dustin shatter the barrier holding my body. Through Tali's eyes, I saw my barrier fall apart and my body slump to the ground, my fingers touching the metal border but not going beyond it.
I bombarded Tali's mind with the sensations my body was currently undergoing—returning the freakin' headache she'd given me.
"Tali, finish it!" Dustin yelled. Tali and I both looked at Dustin, who finally faltered under a kick to the gut. Liam rebounded off the balls of his feet, pouncing at Dustin—
{Get out, get out, get—} My hands—Tali's hands pulled at her hair. "Get out!" she yelled.
The same force that'd shattered my barrier—Dustin—yanked me from Tali's mind. I felt the power Tali had released, felt the sound propagate towards my body and Dustin's. I couldn't feel where Liam was, but then, I never could.
The sound waves hit my body with full force, but Tali hadn't been specifically aiming at me so there wasn't enough force to actually move my body. I felt the sound waves dissipate before they hit Dustin. Interesting. Either Tali could move sound vibrations through the air like psychics could telekinetically move objects—but no, Liam and I'd have already been pushed out if she had that type of power—or…
I rushed back to my body. Ignoring my groaning bones, I jumped to my feet. "Liam!"
Liam either couldn't hear me—he had earplugs in and his head was probably ringing as much as mine was, after all—or he was too preoccupied fighting Dustin. Dustin was no longer risking physical injury and had started mimicking Tali's powers to prevent Liam from getting anywhere near Dustin's body.
Liam had the disadvantage of not being able to put up psychic barriers. To keep from being blown away by strong sound waves he had to drop and cling to the ground or stay a good ten meters away from Dustin where the sound wave's power wasn't strong enough to cause physical injury.
I stumbled towards Liam. Sensing Tali behind me, I tripped her again the moment she took a breath to release a sound wave in my direction. "Liam, open your damn mind!"
Dustin let out a bellow that forced Liam to roll to the edge of the arena. Running towards Liam, I glimpsed Apple and Styx behind him, their eyes wide. Dustin took a deep breath, about to release another sound wave at Liam—no doubt this one would knock him beyond the boundaries with Liam so close to the edge.
I mustered my powers, throwing a barrier between them. Suddenly, Dustin turned his golden gaze to me. I was close enough that I could see Liam had ripped a sleeve off of Dustin's white t-shirt and abruptly realized I was much too close to Dustin.
Trap. Shit.
Time seemed to slow as Dustin opened his mouth. I psychically felt the vibrations in his throat transfer to the air and knew I was done for—
I hit the ground hard, something heavy pressing me to the gym floor as the sound wave roared around me so loud it made my eyes water.
When I could hear again, I craned my head around. Liam got up off of me in one swift movement, ready to dart at Dustin. "Wait!" I put up a semispherical barrier around us, more to keep Dustin and Tali from hearing me than to block their attacks. "Liam, you need to let me into your mind now—"
Liam looked at me with an expression of utter disbelief.
He wasn't going to listen unless I explained, and even then, maybe not. I spoke quickly. "Dustin doesn't have earplugs; he's been mimicking Tali's power to release his own sound waves that destructively interfere with hers so wherever he is located, the sound waves cancel out." Liam's eyes gazed past me, perhaps looking at Dustin. "So there'll—"
"—be other locations of destructive interference," Liam finished. He looked at me hard, calculating.
"I can sense how much power is being used by each of them, but I can't calculate where the areas of destructive interference will be—where Dustin's waves will cancel Tali's—" I felt Tali get up behind me, inhaling. Not just Tali—Dustin was getting ready, too. "You can, though—you can calculate where they'll be," I said. Or at least he could if he had half the brain I thought he had.
There wasn't any time. I released my barrier, making it clear that if he didn't open his mind we'd lose this because Dustin and Tali were going to attack us at once. "Now, Liam."
And suddenly, I could sense Liam's mind. Apple had once compared the mind to an onion and my psychic powers to an onion's scent. She'd said people using their dark gifts encased their onion-minds in diamond—no scent could ever break through. Later she'd told me the darkly gifted could control this encasing.
She hadn't warned me of the vacuum-like effect opening the encasing would have on my mind.
Liam's mind at once glittered like the inside of a diamond and felt empty—a void that had to be filled. I was pulled toward it and wanted to be pulled toward it. I wanted nothing more than to dive into the center of the void, but diamond-like barriers jutted out, prevented me from passing further than just below the surface.
{The fight, Anita.}
Liam's voice. I could hear Liam. I showed him the power I sensed building in the base of Tali's and Dustin's throats. Liam ran through a complex set of calculations involving the angles the sound waves would meet at and their amplitudes. When I was suddenly visualizing a 3D image of the arena with a variety of colors illustrating the sound waves, I realized that Liam had the best visual memory of any person I'd ever touched minds with.
I was unexpectedly shoved back into the real, non-glittery, physical world. I didn't even have time to blink before Liam yanked me across the field.
Dustin and Tali were both yelling. Apple was shaking, desperately covering her ears with her paws. The pressure threw Styx past the bleachers—she was lucky to have not hit her head. The bleachers rattled, and one of the thrones on the platform fell over.
Liam and I stood near the center of the arena, untouched by the sound. We stood within inches of each other, Liam's hand on my shoulder to keep me within the wave cancellation zone, careful not to brush my skin and cut off my psychic powers.
Liam kept the telekinetic link open, again showing me the image of the arena and the sound waves, now emphasizing the areas on the arena where there would be constructive interference—where the sound waves would combine to be stronger.
With two well-placed barriers shooting out from beneath each twin's feet, I gently nudged the gym leaders into the constructive interference zones. The effect was immediate. Both gym leaders were propelled well beyond the arena borders. Dustin was thrown far enough to knock over the remaining upright thrown.
The gym was silent—eerily so now that Dustin and Tali weren't yelling.
Styx got to her feet shakily. Her arm was bleeding as she declared, "The challenger, Anita Parkwood, has won the prelim."