August 18, 13 AL

9:13 AM

Kyle and Terra awoke with splitting headaches. Blinking from the light, they looked around and saw that they were in two of the beds in the back room of a Pokémon center. As a nurse walked in, Terra realized who was missing.

"Where's Alexander? Is he all right?" she blurted out.

The nurse replied calmly, "That poor boy who was with you? He'll be fine. Steven is caring for him. I'm not as good with people as I am with Pokémon. You three sure did give me a fright when I saw two trainers unconscious on my scanner. I sent Steven out to get you from the beach, and he left you two here, and said he would take care of your friend. The funny thing, though, is that your Pokémon weren't all unconscious when he found you. That Abra of yours was balanced perfectly on its head. I think it tried to teleport you upside down. How did you manage to train it so badly?"

Kyle groaned, "It isn't ours. I think it was Syd-"

"Kyle!" hissed Terra, "Don't say anything about him."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm supposed to arrest you for attacking Sydney, but either you did a very poor job of it or he attacked first. Either way, neither of you is in any condition to hurt me. But I do wonder about that Abra. When an Abra uses Teleport, it flees to a safe place. When it is wild, that's its den. If it has a trainer, that's here. Do you know why it wouldn't do that?"

"No," replied Terra, "but Sydney could have done something weird. And I can believe he would blame us after what we saw. So why don't you arrest us?"

"My job is to heal anyone who comes in here as long as they won't harm anyone. Officially, I'm also supposed to arrest any other members of Prism who come in, but Steven has made sure I don't need to do that either."

"Other members, Nurse…?" asked Terra.

"Jennifer. Nurse Joy left because she couldn't take their constant fighting, so now it's just me."

"Well, Nurse Jennifer, what is Prism? And what does Steven have to do with it?"

"Prism? You mean you fought Drake, and you had no support?" Nurse Jennifer asked confusedly. Terra shook her head. Nurse Jennifer explained "They oppose just about everything the Elite Four do. Friends of Firestorm, the crazy trainer who attacked Ever Grande City, started it, and I took care of Firestorm after Drake defeated him. Steven has been quietly leading the group here in Mossdeep City. Those Elite Guards- I guess you've been out too long for that too?" They nodded. "They're the Elite Four's private army hired from the last of the Teams. They, on the other hand, were giving a description last night that was definitely you two. Steven had already guessed you would be wanted, so we agreed I would claim you were never seen."

"And you can stop them from checking?" asked Kyle incredulously.

"Prism attacks them regularly, so they need a Pokémon Center. If they tried to force their way in, I would no longer serve them. That would be too much even when they have more Pokémon than everyone else."

"More Pokémon? Do they hold ten or something?"

Nurse Jennifer explained the new rule about only two Pokémon and how it was from a Lanette's central PC, so she could do nothing about it. Terra said that she wanted Slash and Flygon back, and Kyle wanted Angel and Scyther. She explained that the Pokémon were still hurt, but Kyle and Terra would get them back later.

"Now you need to sleep," Nurse Jennifer said, "but just one question before you drift off. I can tell you're brother and sister, but I still can't figure out who is older."

"Me!" answered Kyle.

"He means we're twins."

"I'm still older."

"Fifteen minutes does not count."

"Yes it does…yawn."

Nurse Jen turned off the lights and said, "Head injuries require rest. You can add any other comments later."

They were asleep before Nurse Jennifer could walk out of the room. She looked in on their Pokémon. They would be fine by the time Terra and Kyle awoke. She wondered about their friend's name, though. Was he the Alexander who wrote the letter to start this war? That would explain Steven's interest. Of course, how could anyone tell with all his scars? She shuddered at the memory. She would need to ask them when they awoke.

An hour later, she heard beeps coming from her scanner. She checked names, and realized there were six Prism members. Every other time only one or two had blacked out while the others finished the Elite Guards. Someone dangerous was here. She turned and went into the back where Kyle and Terra were to wake them. They might need to leave very soon.

She started to shake Kyle. "Wake up. You need to leave now."

"Leaving? I don't think so, my friend." A voice came from behind her.

She turned to see Sydney with his Mightyena and Absol behind him. "Nurse Jen," he said condescendingly, "I know you are new here, but I thought you understood that this is a Pokémon center. I am sure I can find a better hospital than this crude place. Go ahead and wake them. I won't stop you."

Nurse Jennifer looked back into the other room, wishing she could call for Steven. But she had no choice, so she woke the twins.

Both awoke and tried to grab a Pokémon off their belt when they saw Sydney, but there was nothing there. All of their Pokémon were still being healed. With nowhere to run, they could do nothing but be herded off by the dark master and his Pokémon.