Chapter 5

I couldn't remember the last time I had slept in a bed as comfortable as the mayors'. It was a pillow top with memory foam pillows. The comforter was made of down and the sheets were freshly washed and soft as silk. It was like I was sleeping on a cloud. When I turned to my side in the night, Espeon curled up against my chest and purred. I rested my hand on her and stroked her for a few seconds before sleep took me again.

"What makes you think you can find her?" a voice shouted. My father was staring down at me from his spot in the black sky, face red and teeth bared. "She ran away; she'll never take you back!"

"She's better off without you!" another voice called. My mom pushed him out of the way and wagged a wrinkly finger at me. "You're a terrible pokemon trainer! You should've made her happy! Now look at yourself! You can't even pick up another pokeball!"

"You're not going anywhere, sis." The image of my brothers' face stared down at me. He was the largest of my family and his entire image was so large it was nearly too big to take in. "You're staying here or you're never welcome back!" He lifted his giant hand. "What's it gonna be, Rui?!"

He didn't give me time to reply. Right before I started to run away, he brought his hand down on me, crushing me like a bug.

I jumped up into a sitting position, a curt scream escaping me. Espeon shrieked and fell off the bed, where she clumsily landed on her feet before staring up to me with wide eyes. Umbreon, who had been sitting on the other bed, just lifted his head in my direction. I barely noticed him. My arms went up and down my body, patting all of it.

It was just a dream. It was all just a dream.

I hid my face in my hands. Why? Why did the one night I was most comfortable be filled with nightmares. Now my whole body was trembling and my eyes were about to spill tears. There was no need for that, I told myself. It's over. It was just a bad nightmare.

"What's going on?" The mayor opened the door to the room and hurried inside. Wes was behind him, a little less quick, and scanned around it. There was nothing out of place except me, covered in sweat and hair in complete disarray. I tried to look normal, but the dream had shaken me too much. "My dear Rui, did you have a nightmare?"

"Y-yeah." Espeon hopped back up on the bed and nudged my hands. I pet her head with three fingers, which she purred loudly too. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Umbreon snorted in my direction. There was no telling what that meant. It could've meant 'All is good', or it could've been a scolding noise of disapproval for waking him. Either or, the others weren't entirely convinced I was alright. Yet they disregarded it.

"Well then," the mayor said, clearing his throat. "I made sure to have your clothes washed by my wife last night." He gently set my clothes, pristine and ironed, on the bed near my feet. "That should last you awhile. I'm not sure if you plan on getting another set of outfits, but I would recommend you do. These took my wife quite a while to stitch up."

"I'll get some new ones," I half promised, half lied. As much as a new pair of clothes sounded great, I had no money to get them. Those had been my only set for quite some time. There had been few chances I'd been able to wash them, but there had been even more I'd had to walk around in a watering hole to wash off at least a little of the smell.

"Good." He took ahold of the door handle. "There is quite the breakfast for us when you're ready to meet up downstairs. Till then, get dressed and all prettied up with whatever you find to your liking in the bathroom." Wes and him then left the room and shut the door behind them.

After a while of getting dressed, washing up, and brushing my hair, I was walking down the stairs to the main floor. In the center of the room, a huge table had been set up that Wes and the mayor were sitting at. The entire thing was covered with breakfast foods. There were waffles and bacon and eggs and cereal. It was almost too much food for the three of us to eat, yet as the two of them picked away at it, I began to realize how hungry I was. How long had it been since I last ate?

Wes saw me pause at the top of the stairs and pointed to a seat between him in the mayor with his fork. He was slowly picking away at a tall pile of pancakes that were nearly doused with chocolate syrup. When I sat down, he slid me a platter of bacon, sausages, and eggs with his pointer finger before casually returning to his own plate.

"Where did you get all this food?" I asked. The urge to down the plate in one gulp was strong, but if I did that, the two of them would think less of me. So I picked at the food one bite at a time. It was almost too good. It had been cooked to perfection.

"Wes is quite the cook," the mayor praised. "He got up quite early to make all of it." I paused halfway through a cup of orange juice. He made all of this? By himself? How long did it take him? At least an hour, I guessed.

"Thanks," I said in his direction. He chuckled as a response before politely taking the final bite of his pancakes. I'd known this guy for only a day and he was only getting cooler and cooler. Fighting rogue pokemon, blowing up Team Snagem's base, being part of an undercover plot to save Shadow Pokemon, and now he could cook like a master chef. What couldn't this guy do?

After we had eaten, the mayor stood and started taking dishes to the sink. "The two of you will be needed in Pyrite Town. There's been some complaint of unusual pokemon activity, which you know means." I downed the last of my milk before wiping it away with a handkerchief. "If you have any updates, report to me from your PDA, Wes."

"Yessir," he replied.

"Now, go on, shoo. I'll take care of the dishes. You have quite the journey to make." Wes didn't waste one minute. He stood up from the table and pushed in the chair before starting out the door. I quickly cleared my plate before following him out the door. Umbreon hopped up on his shoulder the same time Espeon hopped on mine. The trip was short-lived when we arrived at the bike. I started to hop up.

"Hey," Wes said, catching my attention. I turned back to him, and the able pokemon trainer was holding out his hand. In it was a blue scarf that reminded me of the color of my eyes. I was confused at first, but then I remembered: my neck must've been heavily bruised.

"Oh, thanks." When I reached to take it, he leaned forward and started putting it on himself. There was no way he couldn't have seen me blush. Yet he continued anyway, tying the silk fabric comfortably around my throat. He finished and then lifted me up onto the bike. It was almost too much for me to wrap my arms around him again. My heart was about to leap out of my chest. I managed and we started off to Pyrite, but Espeon smiled at me the whole way.

If you looked up the meaning of 'dump' in the dictionary, you would probably get a picture of Pyrite Town. Each building was a different color ranging from puke green to poop brown to infected white. They were stained with graffiti and marks of people who had tried to break in. Each one crumbled slightly when the wind blew past, and there was no sign they were to be repaired.

The city barely had a sidewalk. If they did, it was a long time ago and it had poorly been set down, because the majority of cement had been removed, broken, or covered in dirt. It was ragged and covered in hidden pieces of glass that had either been a window or bottles of beer. The people looked just as shady as the rest of the town. They had stern faces and torn clothes, bottles in their hands and toes sticking out of their shoes. When we approached on the bike, they glared at us before directing themselves the other way.

It wasn't exactly where I had planned to arrive, let alone did I want to.

We came to a stop and Wes hopped off the bike. He helped me down slowly, as the ground was littered with broken glass near the entrance.

"Mr. Johnson, give a man a break here." A man with lime green hair and a broke set of goggles was nearby. He wore a black jumpsuit that must've been way too hot for him because sweat was dripping down the sides of his head thickly. He was talking to a man in an obvious police uniform. Though he was the one in question, he didn't look too worried about being arrested. He was picking old food from his teeth and flicking it off absently. "I dunno about any weird pokemon. You're the first one I've heard it from."

The authority figure known as Mr. Johnson looked tired. He must've been at this for a while. "That better be true, Cail." Aiming a glare at him, Mr. Johnson started back into Pyrite, where he disappeared into a nearby building. Cail chuckled and continued adjusting his teeth. It was obvious he was content with how the situation had turned out.

Wes started off into the town as soon as it was done. I followed closely. If there was any place I was going to be attacked, it was most likely here in this craphole of a city. I thought I'd see some Shadow Pokemon out there in the open, or at least another suspicious figure, but everyone looked like they wanted to jump us. Any of these people could have Shadow Pokemon. Any of them could be part of Team Snagem. And whether they were or not, Wes ignored each and every one of them. I forced myself to do the same.

When we turned to corner of the main street, a new side of town appeared. There, only a short walk away and across a dangerously unstable bridge was a pokemon stadium. The stadium looked like it had survived a meteor shower because it was dotted with holes and leaning to one side. The entrance was just a gap that someone had opened with a hammer and some power tools. Though it looked to be only a shell of its former self, the inside was lit up and the dull roar of a crowd could be heard.

But to get to that, you had to cross this dusty battlefield. Well, I wouldn't call it much of a battlefield. It was basically a larger section of the street with a poorly painted pokeball on the ground. A few tougher-looking trainers were talking while standing on it. When they saw Wes and I start to pass them, the town went silent and all eyes turned to us.

Please let us pass, please let us pass, I prayed. the last thing we needed was a fight with-

"Hey." Yep, praying didn't do much good. A man with spiked dirt blonde hair approached the two of us, standing right in Wes' path. He was forced to stop. "You two aren't from around here, are you? You're not even following the simplest rules."

"Rules?" I asked quietly. The man looked past Wes and at me. He didn't look too happy I had spoken up.

"Yeah," he snapped. "If you stand in the middle in the square, you're gonna have to battle someone. Rules are there for a reason." He pulled out a pokeball and tapped his fingers on it. Already I could see the Haze seeping through the cracks in the device and feel the pressure of a Shadow Pokemon trying to get out.

I nudged Wes. He glanced back at me. I nodded. He had to battle this guy and take his Shadow Pokemon.

"Fine," my partner said. Umbreon and Espeon jumped onto the battlefield, tail twitching anxiously. "Don't be upset if you lose."

"I'm not losing," the goon replied. "Emok! Double battle!" A girl approached him from the crowd. Judging from her bandana, long-sleeved belly shirt, and tight black leggings, she appeared to be the town's leading female pokemon trainer. She pulled out a ball of her own which also leaked the Haze like a smoke machine. Again, Wes glanced back at me. I nodded once again.

"You ready, Vant?" she asked. Her teeth were yellow and crooked. It was the only part about her that seemed to be lacking in the beauty department. Vant positioned his pokeball firmly in his hand.

"Ready." They threw their pokemon out on the field. A quilava and a noctowl emerged, both of which were surrounded by the Haze. The two of theme emerged on the battlefield, grinning , crazed. When they saw each other, it was their first thought to battle each other, but Vant and Emok had dealt with this before. The two trainers shouted and hollered at their pokemon until the Shadows pried their attention ff each other and focused on Umbreon and Espeon.

Noctowl's eyes were fully opened and blood red from lack of sleep. His beak twitched and his talons were torn. It was like Vant had never heard of a pokemon center. The quilava looked even more torn up. There were sections on her back that had been wounded and couldn't ignite fire, just a small tendril of black smoke. One eye was forced shut as she was obviously in pain.

It was terrible. These trainers were pushing these two pokemon to their limit. Why would they do such a thing? Why would anyone do something this terrible? They were Shadows, I know, but they were living creatures. It hurt me just to look at them.

"Espeon," Wes said softly. "Use hypnosis on the both of them. There won't be any need to battle long." She waved her tail at him in acknowledgement. The red gem on her forehead began to glow brightly. The two Shadow Pokemon stopped to stare. Big mistake. As soon as the red gem began to pulse, Quilava and Noctowl began to get drowsy.

"Wake up, you good for nothing pokemon!" Vant shouted. "You guys haven't even hit them yet!" They heard him but they didn't care. They let sleep overcome them like a warm blanket. Both curled up on the ground, sighing pleasantly.

"You two are useless!" Emok shouted. "Look at you! We're going to lose at this rate!" She was about to shout more, but he pokemon vanished right in front of her. The two Shadow Pokemon were trapped inside Snag balls now, and they weren't even slightly willing to try and escape.

"What… what the hell?!" Vant stepped forward to pick up the balls, but Umbreon jumped in front of him. The spots on his body glowed menacingly, keeping him at bay while Wes walked over and picked up their pokemon. "You good for nothing cheater! You can't just steal someone else's pokemon!"

Wes clipped the balls onto his belt. "Watch me."

Emok darted at him, screaming in rage. He saw her coming out of the corner of his eye and, right before she tackled him, bent down. Emok missed and ended up flopping onto his back, where he flipped her over his shoulder and onto the dirt. Vant tried to attack next. He caught Wes from behind in a chokehold, but the pokemon trainer had wedged his hands up to his cheeks before his attacker could fully secure the grip. Angry, the attacker squeezed on his wrists. The grip was his downfall, for when he was on tight enough, Wes dropped to his back and slammed Vant right on the dirt opposite of his girlfriend. The hit was so hard that vomit trickled out of the corner of Vant's mouth.

I covered my mouth with both my hands. Wes had just gotten even cooler. He knew martial arts. I couldn't help myself.

"Awesome!" I shouted. My partner had just freed himself when I had complimented him. He looked to me and a faint smile flashed on his lips.

"H-help!" The two of us turned. There was a building a short ways ahead. It looked was a dirty blue and almost completely rusted. Wherever there wasn't rust there was black, illegible graffiti. A shorter man with broken glasses and an ashy lab coat stumbled out with a limp to his step. "The-the colosseum…" he stammered. "It's-" His ankle twisted and he fell to the dirt. It looked painful, but the man was so out of it that he seemed to hardly feel it.

Wes started towards him, but two trainers cut them off. One of them was a girl with a pink skirt and top, holding a cane and adjusting her frilled top hat. She put the butt of her cane on his chest and glowered.

"Where do you think you're going, pretty boy?" she questioned. Her gaudy makeup nearly flaked off as she spoke. "I think you owe the rest of us a battle after that little display." The other trainer, a mid-thirties hipster with old rollerskates, jabbed a finger at him.

"We'll take you on this time. You'll have to wait till after the battle to help him." Wes paused to think. He couldn't possibly walk away from them. It'd start a full-on fight if he did. So he turned back to me, gesturing to the balls the two misfits held in their hands. Both emitted the black Haze, so I nodded. He had no other choice.

"Go," he ordered me. "See what's going on."

"R-right." I ran past him and towards the building. Some of the townspeople looked like they were about to give chase, but none of them made the first move to do so. There was going to be a battle against a man who could steal pokemon and two of their own. Who would pass up a chance to see that? Who would want to chase a girl who didn't look tough at all?

Well thank goodness for that, because when I got to the scientist, he was awake enough to speak to me.

"Inside," he breathed, "the building…" He fainted before I could ask questions. I felt bad that he had twisted his ankle, so, carefully, I repositioned it the right way on the dirt. It was the least I could do.

The inside of the crippled building was what looked to be a control room. Behind a metal barrier was a small area of gears and cogs that were slowing to a painful, loud stop. Inside the restricted area was a bald man with a shiny dome. He had just removed the cog that connected two different groups of gears. Without the one he held, the machine wouldn't work properly.

"Stop," a voice rasped from the corner. Near a control panel and on the floor was a man in a bright orange construction suit. There was a welt growing on the side of his head. "That gear… the colosseum won't have power." The brown-haired assailant snorted in his direction. He wasn't too big and too scary. And when he turned to me, it was unnerving to see that his face was riddled with scars.

"Hm? What are you doing here, little girl?" I pulled the skarmory feather out of the sheath Wes had given me that morning. Not a good idea. "Oh, so we got a fighter here. Judging by that blade, you're not a trainer." He stepped over the barrier and towards me menacingly. I backed against the entrance. I couldn't let this guy get past me; I had to fight. "Move out of the way, little girl. There's no need to shed blood over a stolen piece of metal. Now, run along."

"No," I snapped. "Put the gear back!" My voice trembled. He smiled.

"You're scared, aren't you? I promise I won't hurt you if you stand aside." He leaned to my height and outstretched his hand, ready to grab me. "If you don't, I'll have to kill ya."

My impulsive side kicked in again. I repositioned the blade in my hands until it was comfortable. Then, aiming for his arm, I brought the blade down on it and slashed it vertically, cutting the skin wide open and splattering blood all around the room.

Wes Caught Noctowl And Quilava!

Wes Is Trapped!

Rui Used Run Away!

Rui Used Cut!

It's Super Effective!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!