26
I awaken with a start on the hospital bed. No dreams this time I guess… I think, as I look around the little room. It is dark and hard to see anything, but I can see someone is sleeping on a chair on the opposite side of the room from me. I smile, glad someone stayed with me, however long I was here. I let myself fall asleep, still tired and now aching.
--
I awake in the morning slowly. The white room glistens with light from the sun pouring through the window, and makes everything seem mystical. I sit up and look forward and find Draxik sitting on a chair, wide awake and looking at me.
"So, your up." He says, with a dark tone of voice.
"What the hell was up with you guys earlier!? Flying around with swords, shooting energy blasts and… that was unbelievable!" I say, not sure why I blurted out like that.
"This curse has phenomenal effects once you learn to control it. Dark Ambition is one of the cursed family, and he controls fire apparently. I use dark energy."
"So you can fly?!" I blurt out again.
"You could say that."
"This is all too much to deal with." I say, sighing. "What do I have to do to get to Team Rocket?"
"Raizu…" Says Draxik in a concerned and dark tone.
I raise an eye brow at him as my response.
"Dark Ambition told me something…"
--
I see Raizu dashing away with Abby, and Dark Ambition standing in the clearing. "Ahahaha, this was fun. Go run off now little brother, and save your pathetic pokémon." He says in a playfully evil tone.
I tell the other two to stand where they are and walk up to him, sword up in defense. "You are of the other family… and Raizu is your brother!?" I yell, amazed. I can't accept someone like Raizu to be of such despicable evil.
"Oh yes. I like him quite a bit too, not that I knew him well enough. And you are of the cursed? Figures." He looks at me through the mask that still lay on his face. I had lost my mask, not feeling any emotion anymore.
"I… have to kill both of you." I say, dishearten. "You… and Raizu."
"You can't touch us. He trusts you, but won't stop to hurt you if you do something to him or his friends. That much you should know about us. We stay close, and keep friends closer."
"I could care less. This curse shouldn't be a burden on my family any longer! Especially when it shouldn't even exist, it is almost meaningless!" I yell.
"Then go kill yourself. At least we won't have to deal with you guys again. We being the Kawashima family." His mask fades away as he winks at me, and jumps away. I shoot off a shadow ball effortlessly from my hand and it hits him, sending him sprawling into the woods. I jump after him and find him on the ground, weakened.
"I deserved that." Said Dark Ambition. "I can't move…"
"I should hope not. Now for you to be finished…" I walk up to him slowly from the trees. He had fallen face first into the mud, and looked pathetic.
"Fine. Kill me and be done with it. My father will avenge me, and Raizu might just for the fact that I am a brother." He spits at my feet, and I chuckle a little. "What is so funny? End your curse!"
"Not yet."
"What the HELL is that supposed to mean?!" He yells at me. "You want your curse to be lifted don't you?!"
"If I can't kill Raizu, I won't kill his brother in cold blood."
"YES YOU WILL!" He got up instantly and grabs at my sword. This catches me so off guard that he gets the sword. He holds it horizontally at himself, almost to kill himself. I quickly grab it back and look at him, bewildered.
"Damnit! Let me do what I want! That sword has to be what kills isn't it!?" Yells Dark Ambition. I look at his exasperated face and see a tear fall down it.
I grab his shoulder. "You… what is going on with you?"
"All that I have been doing these last several years… to get Team Rocket from my Father… is to disband it too. He wants me to say it, and I do these things because he tells me to… but I hate it. I don't want to hurt all of these people. Well, that is a lie. But I am not as evil as I think you think I am. I… have to do something for it, and I don't want to live on like this."
"Tell me why you are trying to kill Raizu? Hurting Abby and Veera? What are you thinking!?"
"I have to. Our father made me swear to try and kill Raizu. And in the way he made me do it, I can't go against it. I cannot try, but if the opportunity presents itself, I can't run away. I have to…"
"He would surely know what you are doing if you have that kind of oath." I say, suspicious of this random attempt on his own life and all the confessions.
"I… he says I had to say that to Raizu. My father has so much power I cannot even touch him. People wise, and with his powers. He isn't a kind man. Raizu, he believe such doesn't he?"
I nod.
"Tell him what he is really like. Raizu and I's father is a heartless man. He does want to change Team Rocket's direction, yes, but he's going to go out with a bang. He's going to pull off one last stunt. He won't tell me; He can't trust me when I'm fighting you guys…"
I look at him thoughtfully. "Dark…"
"Ken."
"Ken. What do you want me to do? I could let you go, but…"
"No, it is fine. But, unless you want to kill Raizu, you should let me go. Can you do that?"
"You don't want him gone do you? This is all very odd, sudden, and completely unexpected. My life I have been taught by my late father that your family is evil and that you must be destroyed… and you just tried to commit suicide for MY sake. I feel torn up." I say simply.
"I could expect that…" He just sits there. "My you are in a precarious position."
I look at him and think. My dad died protecting me from a small gang that was attacking the tower, his anger enveloping and killing him. I keep thinking. Either him and his family and possibly Raizu… or just me.
--
"This is unbelievable!" I say loudly in my hospital room. "You expect him to be telling the truth!? All he said was he is good, my dad is bad, and that he HAS to kill me."
"Well, from what happened next, I changed from your point of view." States Draxik.
I eye him oddly. "What did you do?"
"I executed him promptly."
I would have fallen over and cracked my neck if I were standing up. The man who hurt Veera and Abby-
ABBY! "Is Abby okay!?" I yell, forgetting almost about what we were just talking about.
"Oh yes, that would have been a better conversation starter. She is hurt badly, and was close to death. A few more minutes after you got her to the pokécenter and she would have died, but she is going to be fine since you DID get her to the center."
"Thank god…" I say.
"What?"
"Nothing… So… Dark Ambition-"
"Please give him his dignity. Ken."
"My brother Ken. You killed him. He didn't struggle or anything? Seem upset?"
He shakes his head. "He… I stabbed him through the chest. He got out one natural gasp, and took a calm face as he died a second later. So I'm leaving."
I eye him curiously and scared, knowing what he may have decided to do since he killed him. "What?…"
"I am going. I have to think. Killing him in such a way, him asking and saying he wanted death, saying he truly wanted you to live. He probably wanted you to succeed more than his own actions. So I am going to leave and think if killing you and your father will be a better outcome overall." He steps out quickly before I can take it all in.
I look down my bed from my sitting up position, the blankets covering me. I feel overwhelmed and start to cry. It is almost as if I have cried more than most people do in life. What is wrong with my life? Do I have any real purpose? Why do all these things happen to me!? I wanted to travel and become a good trainer with Veera and maybe a few caught pokémon. But now… I feel like the weight of the whole world is on my shoulders. Oh Veera, how can I be a good trainer to you?…