Chapter Fifteen
Dark Feelings in the City of Light
I've worked it out,
There is no doubt,
That you like
Breaking me.
But I'm about
To scream and shout;
That your games
Don't work on me.
I've opened up my eyes,
You thought that you could fool me,
With all your lies.
Forget about it,
Cause now it's getting rough.
I think it's time,
'Cause I have had enough.
I'm gonna treat you,
the way you treat me.
You like it hot? But now,
Can you stand the heat?
Can You Stand the Heat
Anuj
Sam's Point of View
How dare she? If anything, I'm gonna be making sure that she will NEVER use her powers again. If she's lucky, I might leave her alone and never talk to her again!
"Sam!"
If she evens tries speaking to me, I'm gonna hurt her. Oh yes, hurt her severely.
"Sam, wait up!"
Katrina I might forgive. She didn't keep me pinned to that chair in any way.
"Sam, it was only meant as a joke!"
I whirled around. Pointing at my hair, I yelled at Ashlee, "Does this look like a joke to you? A haircut I might have accepted, but, this!" Gritting my teeth, I resumed my furious pace, as Ashlee struggled to find something to say as she half-ran to keep up with my pace.
Anger almost radiated like steam from my body. People moved out of my way on the sidewalks, Pokémon scuttled into the nearest safe place; trees were popular, and it seemed only Ashlee was stupid enough to follow, or stay near me when I was in this mood.
"Come on Sam. It doesn't look that bad. If anything, you look much better-looking now. And if you got that scowl from your face, and that freaky Anger-Radiating thing you're doing now, some girls might be eyeing you right now. And like I said, it was only a joke. Nick and Brendan have played plenty of jokes on you, haven't they?" Ashlee's voice faded slightly as she finished. I could almost feel her hope that they had.
Whirling around again, Ashlee literally flinched as she felt the full force of my anger. "JOKES I can stand. If they are funny, I can stand them. But making me see illusions for three days, and then, against my will, do this?" I shouted, Ashlee shrinking away slightly.
Turning and resuming my livid walk, I turned a corner and onto the street of the Pokémon Centre.
"Aw, come on Sam. It isn't at all that bad. And it makes you look better. It's a really good colour to go with your eyes. And girls really like guys with blond hair."
A strand of my now blond hair flipped to just above my eyebrow. My much shorter hair actually exposed my ear, and my Pokémon Translator. The haircut was apparently a good one on me; the hair short on the sides, while the hair on top of my head a bit longer than those to the sides.
But then again, I had also liked it red.
Storming into the Pokémon Centre, I got many curious looks from trainers. When they saw the look on my own face, they resumed what they were doing. Stomping up to the front desk, I pinged the bell on it repeatedly until Nurse Joy looked out the door that was behind the desk. "Yes? No matter how many times you ring it, it will still make that sound you know." A vein of annoyance ran through her voice as she walked up to the desk.
"Can I please book a room for myself? Preferably one with no other people in it please."
Frowning, and looking curious at my request, Nurse Joy bent down to look at a book that listed the occupants of the rooms of the Pokémon Centre. "Room 29 is free. No-one else is in it. Why do you want to cha-?"
"Don't ask." I growled, casting Ashlee a venomous look. Raising her eyebrow, Nurse Joy grabbed a key from under the desk and handed it to me.
"Your Mudkip and Nymbis are ready as well. We'll be keeping your Polienix for a little longer, as we need to perform a full-routine check to ensure she is healthy, seeing as she isn't that old yet."
"Ok, whatever." I said, drumming my fingers along the hard wood of the desk. Giving me a slight glare, Nurse Joy went back to the room she had been in, before returning with two Pokéballs. Once I had taken them, Nurse Joy walked rather quickly in the room, looking glad to be away from me.
I took off again, heading towards the room I had shared with Nick and Brendan. Ashlee started following me again, trying to stop me from changing rooms.
"Isn't this a little immature? You're taking things a little too far, and you don't need to change rooms. You just can't take a joke." Ignoring her, I pushed the door to my old room open hard enough for it to slam and bounce off the wall, hitting Ashlee in the side of the arm. Grabbing my bag; luckily, I hadn't unpacked yet, I went back out the door and up the hallway to my new room.
"Sam, please. Talk to me."
Extending a hand behind me, I summoned my TWT. Teleporting itself out ofAshlee's pocket and into my hand, I stopped for a few seconds to open the room door, before turning and slamming it right in Ashlee face, locking it in the process. Silence filled the air, as I surveyed my new realm. Leaning back to lean against the door, I slid down slowly, until I was sitting on the floor. Casting my mind out, I felt Ashlee stand and stare at my door for a few seconds, before walking back up the hallway. Closing my eyes, my head went back until the wood of the door hit my head gently. Now that I didn't have anyone to direct it at, my anger faded a little, but still remained; a hot, hard stone in the pit of my stomach.
Two hours later
Lying face down on one of the beds in my room, I flicked through some of the pamphlets that I had picked up when I had signed into the Pokémon Centre earlier. Mostly for something to do, also because it required little brain-power to do. The anger at Ashlee was still burning in my stomach, but it was slowly fading.
The others had come by frequently, knocking on the door, or in Nick's case, pounding on it. I hadn't let any of them in; when I was angry, I had the unfortunate habit of directing anger at whoever passed me, not whomever I was angry at. Sighing, I unfolded one of the pages, when an advertisement caught my eye.
'The Festival of the Dawn, being held from the 11th of Sharmishira to the 18th of Sharmishira. Pokémon Contests, Tournaments, and a one-time event, the Pokémon Move Council. This festival is to celebrate Mew's triumph over Missingno in ancient times.
Also being featured, the traditional Mass Pokémon Battle between the trainers of Romanc City and Rorroh Town. Sign up now to enter!'
The tournament didn't interest me at all that much. I knew I wouldn't stand much of a chance, unless I power-trained my Pokémon for a few days. Turning the page over to the tournament area, I grinned as I saw a custom tournament.
'Due to Dictioy hosting the International Pokémon Trainer Contest this year, we will be holding a contest for trainers who have been trainers for less than three months. Come down and see the stars of tomorrow training today!'
Shrugging, I wondered if I should enter. I'd ask Artemis and the other Pokémon if they wanted to later. Changing page, I looked at who the Pokémon Move Council were. My eyebrows shot up into my now shorter hairline as I read.
'The Pokémon Moves Council, direct from the International League Headquarters, are the council who decide on Pokémon Moves. Come down and show off your custom moves. The top ten moves will be made into actual moves!'
Shrugging, I put that down on the 'Maybe' list as well. I'd go and watch some Pokémon Contests though. Apparently there would be some rides and things as well.
Nodding my head, I decided that this would be a Trainer-Pokémon thing. I might go with the others; it just depended on how I felt. Checking my watch I saw that it was 20 to five. We could even go tonight and check out the competition! The Beginners Tournament was going to be in two days, so I had plenty of time.
Hoisting myself up, I rolled off the bed and onto my feet. Zeus and Artemis, enjoying full reign over the room looked at me curiously. Squinting my eyes, I drew on a psychic ability I didn't normally. My vision turned white, before returning to normal. Blinking tears from my eyes, I rubbed them and tried again. Two more attempts resulted in what I wanted to see; other life-forms nearby. Seeing none near my door, I stopped using my 'X-Ray' vision, before walking to the door. A headache nagged at the back of my brain as I opened the door and looked out carefully. Silently walking out of my door and closing it after me, I began walking fairly fast. When I reached the lobby of the Pokémon Centre, I looked around the corner of the door before walking in. Going to the computers, my mind gave a momentary blank as I forgot what I was here for. Biting my lip as I tried to remember, the sliding doors of the Pokémon Centre caught my attention. Katrina and Brendan wandered through it, followed by Nick. I jumped and looked resolutely at the screen. With the reflection on the screen, I saw all three look around the lobby, each of them passing over my head. It seemed that going blond did have its uses...
Swiping my Trainer Card through a slot attached to the computer, my personal computer came up. Clicking on the phone area, I selected Professor Rowan's name from the list. When the call failed, I frowned. Opening up my Pokémon Storage Area, I looked at all the options, before selecting the 'Withdraw' area. Two Pokémon appeared on the screen. My memory about my newly paid-off Mareep suddenly kicked in, and I began to grin. Selecting the option to withdraw the Pokémon, a signal was sent from my computer to the one at Professor Rowan's lab. I had seen the process often enough while I had worked there; a Pokéball would be selected from a shelf, and the shelf under it would drop the Pokéball onto a conveyor belt, which, in turn, carried it to the teleporter. Right on cue, the teleporter next to the computer lit up. In a flash of white light, a Pokéball appeared. Smirking, I picked up the Pokéball and attached it to my belt.
Looking back at the screen, I selected Diana's icon. When I selected the withdraw button, this time a mail icon appeared on the screen. Opening it, I read,
"Dear Sam
Your Eevee should be fine, but I wouldn't let her get in any battles. The toxic sludge found in her wounds also weakened her immune system, so if you look at the list attached, you should find some of the medicines she needs. Follow the instructions EXACTLY, or she might get severely ill.
Yours truly, Professor Rowan.
P.S: Your mother wants you to call her."
Grimacing, I looked at the list attached to the mail. Looking at the list, I whistled slightly. He wasn't kidding about her immune system. Wondering how I'd be able to find it all, I decided to give the list to Nurse Joy, along with the money. Hopefully she'd be able to get it all. When Diana's Pokéball arrived, I grabbed it and logged out of my profile on the computer. Being as careful go to my room as I had coming from it, I sighed with relief when I slipped the key into the door and opened the door.
Katrina sat there, putting a hairclip back into her hair.
I looked at her blankly. She ignored me as she fixed her hair back up. "You know, nice girls wouldn't know how to pick a lock." I told her, wondering how I was gonna get her out before anyone else came in.
Actually, that part was easy. Turning my head, I squinted at the lock on the door as I drew on the power of telekinesis, not a good area for me. The lock clicked into place of course, but my headache was back and getting steadily worse.
"Yeah, well, nobody ever got anywhere in life by being nice. Not to mention, I've got to keep my skills in practice. Not that your lock posed much of a challenge." Having fixed her hair, she crouched to pat Artemis on the head while I gritted my teeth.
"You do know that I could blast you out that window, don't you?" I asked, pointing to the window of the room.
Katrina snorted. "Yep, you are in a bad mood, to resort to threats that you're never gonna carry out anyway."
Oh, she noticed. I thought to myself. Suddenly, Katrina held up her hand. A purple ring was around her index finger. Looking at it curious, I wondered what it was.
"It's a Psy-Neut." Katrina said, putting her hand back down. "I had to apply for a license back in Arw, but they accepted my request. I only just got the order in. Try all you want, you won't be able to use your powers on me anymore. About time too, though, I am glad that you learnt quickly to stay out of people's minds."
Rolling my eyes, I walked past her. My TWT and her Psy-Neut began beeping rapidly as the two of them began to 'battle', their purposes being the exact opposite of the other. Jerking my wrist away from Katrina, I removed my wrist-band, the one that hid the TWT, most of the time anyway. Knowing that sleep would catch up on me quickly without the power from my TWT, I stowed it in my bag, before hopping up on a bed.
"Now, Sam, don't you think you're over-reacting? I mean, sure, you're blonde now; but what's wrong with being blond?" Katrina asked, curling a strand of her hair around her finger. Lifting my head from the pillow with some slight effort, I glared at her, giving her all the response I intended to give right now.
"Well, I guess you do have a point. People do tend to pick on you if you're blonde." Katrina said, answering my unspoken question. "But then again, you do get away with a lot of things other people don't, I mean-!" Katrina continued to ramble for a while. Ignoring her, I eventually went to the sleep that my psychic powers had caused me to have.
When I woke up, a look out the window showed that night had fallen. Blundering my way over to the light switch, I flicked it on, startling Artemis and Zeus into wakefulness. Checking my watch, I saw that it was 6:30 pm. Perfect.
Grabbing the two Pokéballs from the dresser in the room, I released Diana the Eevee, and the newest member, the Mareep. Diana looked around the room, and at the other Pokémon, before her eyes settled on me. Giving a happy squeak, she jumped into my lap and snuggled into my belly. Grinning, I patted her and turned my attention to the Mareep. "Hi."
Seeming to get over its shock, the Mareep nodded.
"I'm Sam. I got you from Aiden's caravan. Um, welcome?"
Giving me a blank look, the Mareep seemed to give me and the team a going-over. When it nodded its head again, I smiled wryly. "A good team and a variety of types. With me, the team will be more balanced, though I do recommend getting a grass, fire, ice, psychic or fighting type, as this will even the team out even more and prepare you for almost any strategy."
I blinked. For a moment I didn't say anything, before my grin widened and turned crooked. "Right you are. I'm guessing I'm gonna have to not lower my intelligence when talking to you then."
Shaking his head, in a strangely grave way for a Mareep, I bit my lip and frowned. "We'd better come up with a nickname for you. Zeus is out of the question, "I turned and indicated Zeus the Nymbis, the cloudlike Pokémon floating above Artemis. "What kind of name would you like?"
Giving a shrug, the Mareep gave no definite answer. Giving a grunt of annoyance, I went back to thinking of names. Electricity, shocking, rain, thunder, light, wait. Light!"
"How about Helios?" I asked the sheep Pokémon. Flicking his tail, the Mareep digested the information, before nodding his head. "Great. Welcome to the team Helios. "Now, this is Artemis, "I indicated the small, mud fish Pokémon. "Zeus, a Nymbis as you can see, and Diana." Patting the Eevee in my lap again, I wondered what I should do for dinner. I didn't really want to eat with my friends, maybe something quiet with just my Pokémon. That sounded fairly more appealing. And my Trainer Card had a fair bit on it, so I may as well treat myself to a, well, treat.
Taking Pokémon to a restaurant probably wouldn't be at the top of most people's list; actually, it probably isn't on anyone's list. Most people in their right minds wouldn't do it, but then again, I'm not most people. And I had all the Pokémon under strict oath to behave. And they did…. For the most part. Apart from an incident where Artemis though he'd try and steal some Hot Chilli Blasters from the table when I wasn't looking, and when Helios the Mareep got hiccups and ended up cooking some sushi we had. Apart from that, we were good. We left the restaurant with happy faces, full stomachs, a 'lighter' Trainer Card and, in Artemis's case, an aversion to hot and spicy foods. I neglected to inform him that milk, yogurt and bread did better to calm his fiery mouth than water did. Not that I could, I had burst into hysterical laughter when he had dove for the jug of water on the table and gotten himself stuck in it.
I couldn't put up with the thought of walking back with the Pokémon after having had dinner with them, so I returned them all to their Pokéballs. Walking along the streets in silence, I slipped quietly into my thoughts, going over the entire day, and feeling slightly guilty over my outburst at Ashlee. I'd almost got myself feeling guilty enough to apologize, when my attention was caught by sudden movement to my left. Looking, I saw the fairground where the carnival was set up. A battle was in process currently, between a Breloom and a Piloswine. It was hard to tell who was winning, but I took a guess and decided that the Piloswine was winning, judging from the scratches and bruises dotting the Breloom's skin. Turning my head, I could see another battle in progress, though that one seemed far bigger than this one. Walking along a fence that cut me off from walking onto the actual battlefields, I went along to the larger battle, and it was definitely larger.
What looked like ten Pokémon were in a melee, dust, fire, water, electricity and vines were flying everywhere. I looked at it in muted surprise; this wasn't something often seen. The calling of the trainers to their Pokémon was almost drowned out by the screaming of the crowd, which was one reason why all the Pokémon were probably in a huge tussle like that. Instinct made me jump to the side in my stunned state as a wire-thin bolt of electricity zapped past me. A jump forward again as a flamethrower came my way saved my backside, but when what looked like a Tri-Attack came my way, my mind and body went blank. The sensation of a moving body of matter hitting my side impacted upon my brain before my head collided with the ground. White pain flared up, and my body came back to my control again.
My eyes slammed close as I curled up, clutching my head. The person who had tackled me didn't let me lie there, however, and grabbed my arm. Some sense came through the haze of the pain and I stumbled to my feet and let myself be dragged. When I was turned around and the back of my knees hit something, I automatically sat down, still clutching my head. I was aware of someone talking to me, evident when the pain began to lessen and I could hear the voice clearer.
"–ok? Here, sit down for a while and I'll see if I can get an icepack. Graham?" A young, male voice answered. The first voice asked Graham to go to the Gym and get an icepack. The word 'Gym' caught my attention, and I finally opened my eyes, blinking away some of the pain tears that simply rested on my eyelashes. A young lady looked back at me; like a princess out of a fairytale. Blonde hair, blue eyes, blemish-less complexion, and the hand that was touching a cut on my temple was soft. An overwhelming urge to trust this girl filled me, a feeling I tried to shove away. It came back, however, and managed to win the fight. Growing up with Ani, who was, among other things, a very strong Empath, had taught me that not all emotions belonged to me. I had demonstrated some empathy powers too, but nothing compared to Ani's. In the end, they'd annoyed me so much that I had asked my father to seal that ability away, thus leaving me empathy-less.
"Are you ok?" The girl's voice bought me out of my musings. I smiled weakly, and nodded, an action that bought a wave of pain and dizziness upon me again. A young boy rushed up behind the girl, holding a blue square in his hands. Accepting the boy's tribute, the girl gently moved my hand and placed the ice-pack on my temple. "I'm Kiera, by the way."
Kiera, the name struck a bell. I said it again mentally, and then realised why. My mind filled in an automatic 'N' to the end of the name, making it Keiran, the name of the little boy who had helped me find the Pokémon Centre earlier.
"Are you related to Kieran, by any chance?" Was the first thing out of my mouth. Kiera looked startled for a moment, before a wry grin appeared on her face.
"You're that Sam kid huh? He told me some guy defeated him. Good job on that, by the way. He was getting all high and mighty. All the kids around here just get Pokémon from their parents, and not very strong ones either." She finished with her voice sounding very wry. "As a result, they're easy pickings for someone with experience."
"And you?" I asked, bringing up my fingers to press the ice-pack to my head and indicating for Kiera to let go.
Raising her eyebrow into an expression of disbelief, Kiera asked me, "You don't know who I am, do you?"
I frowned. "No, I just got into town today. I might challenge the gym tomorrow, either that or find a way to get this stupid dye out of my hair." Using my other hand, I reached up and tugged at one of the strands of hair hanging just above my eyes.
This time Kiera's face turned to astonishment. "You're not a blond? A natural blond, sorry."
I sighed again. Because my hair was naturally red, the new blond in my hair seemed to have a core of red at the middle, making it look like my hair was natural blond. It was a good effect, but not one I wanted to see currently. "No, I'm normally a redhead."
"Ah."
"Yeah."
The conversation pretty much stopped there. Kiera sat next to me on the ground, while I just leaned back against a pole that Kiera had positioned me near. The silence in the direct vicinity was nice, the Marowak pounding the inside of my skull with its bone club was definitely making itself heard though. Pokémon cries and trainer's yelling drifted over the small fence and near to us. Kiera shifted slightly, so I cracked open one eye to see what was happening.
Nick was there, looming close to me.
Giving a yell, I shoved backwards, and straight back into the pole, jarring my head and causing the Marowak in my head to evolve to a yelling Exploud. I clutched my head in pain, tears starting to prickle at the corner of my eyes again. Once the Exploud had devolved back to the Marowak, I opened my eye to glare at Nick. "Feel better now? 'Cause I sure don't."
Nick nodded, grinning. Sighing, I swatted at him with my hand, not even reach half-way up the distance between us. Instead, Nick grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet, none too gently. Ignoring the Marowak, I looked at Nick. "What do you want?"
"Kat picked your lock, you weren't in there. She sent me out to find you." Nick said, not looked embarrassed at all.
Scowling at him, I asked him, "I'm still wanting to know exactly why Koga taught a curious girl like that how to pick locks."
"Lack of entertainment? I dunno, my favourite saying when she does that was always, 'Curiosity kill the Kat.' Never listened to me after that either."
Shaking my head, I handed the ice-pack back to Kiera, ho had been watching our conversation silently. "Thanks for that, I'll get the Chansey at the Pokémon Centre to check me out when I get back."
Kiera nodded her head. "Sure thing. And if you need to find me again, just ask for the Gym Leader of Romanc City." She said, a malicious grin on her face, before she turned on her heel and went in the opposite direction from us and into the fairground.
I looked after her blankly, before turning to look at Nick again. "Say a word and you'll be needing to use your feet to eat from now on."
Putting up his hands in submission, Nick grinned and nodded. "Wasn't gonna do anything of the sort mate."
"Sure you weren't."