Chapter 4: A Shocking Daydream

The light crackle of a burning campfire rang through the ears of the two boys as they sat in the clearing, perched upon a hollow log, their faces illuminated by the brightness of the flame.

The boy on the left side, Volkner, stared into the blaze with a solemn wondering look, as if in the center of the campfire he would find the answers to all the questions that rushed through his mind like a bullet train; who was the girl who took him here; why did she take him here; what would he do now... all sorts of inquiries, and he had the answers to none of them.

The boy on the right, Cyrus, had noticed this solemn sadness in the eyes of his newly found traveling partner and turned his gaze to look at him silently, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't quite find the words.

The silence remained for a few more minutes before Cyrus gathered his thoughts and broke the silence.

"Volkner, I have an idea, if you're willing to go through with it," he said.

Volkner looked up at Cyrus and nodded, feeling a slight pang of curiousity. "Depends."

"The Old Chateau," Cyrus responded. "You said that's where you woke up, right?"

Volkner nodded again. "So you think we should go check it out? See if there's some sort of clue."

Cyrus nodded, a smile stretching across his lips. "Read my mind."

The next day, the two trekked through Eterna Forest while hiding in the shade provided by the tall trees. The day, so far, had been relatively uneventful, the most exciting thing being an encounter with a couple of wild Pokemon which Cyrus identified for Volkner as "Buneary"; small brown-furred creatures with large floppy ears. This was the first foreign Pokemon Volkner had ever seen and thus he found himself a bit occupied with thought on the subject.

As they walked, they finally came upon a clearing larger than the others of the maze-like path in the forest. This one, however, made each of them smile nervously. At their west stood a barracade of trees tightly knit against each other, leaving no room for anyone their size to get through; at their east a clear pathway with no end in sight, but an unusual white fence stemming from each tree. But at their northern side, right in front of them, stood a massive house made from an old-fashioned looking wood. It was a dillapidated old shack, obviously having no one to take care of it at all in the past many years.

They nodded to each other, and stepped forward.

"Into the Old Chateau," Volkner said. Suddenly though, a shrill voice rang through his ears.

"No, no, not a good idea!" the voice cried. "That place is haunted ya know, ya idiots!"

The two boys turned around to confront their verbal assaultant, only to be met with the sight of a relatively nice looking girl.

She stood just a bit below Volkner's height, dressed in knee-length khaki shorts, a black blouse and a green cape hung over her shoulders. Her hair was shoulder length and a caramel brown. She stared at them with a piercing green gaze.

"What tha' heck're you two plannin' 'ta do here at this place?" she demanded sternly. "People've gone in their 'n died, ya'know!"

Volkner and Cyrus turned their heads for a moment to glance at each other, trying to get some sort of clue that would tell them just what they needed to do. Neither knew, but after a moment Volkner decided to wing it, speaking up.

"R-really?" he said, purposefully stuttering. "We were just looking for a place to stay for the nuh-night, and this l-looked like a good place.."

The girl looked bewildered all of a sudden. She glanced over at the old building for a moment, before returning a sceptical gaze to Volkner.

"Ya really that dumb, buddy?"

Volkner stared at her like he was hurt by the comment.

"... Oh, fine. The forest ends not too far from here. Why don'tcha two follow me? I'll show ya a good place in the city."

Volkner turned to face Cyrus, and saw him nod. Thus it was set: they would follow her.

"O-okay... what's your name, by the way?" Volkner asked.

"Call me Gardenia. Yerselves?"

"I'm Volkner," he said, while pointing at his traveling partner. "And this is Cyrus."

Volkner turned to look at Cyrus and noticed his gaze was distant; focused upon the building in front of them.

Eventually, the three reached the end of the maze of trees known as the Eterna Forest. Gardenia had been right when she said it wasn't far from the Old Chateau's location; it had barely been fifteen minutes since they started walking together before they stood where they did now, the small lake in front of them blemished with the reflections of their own bodies as well as the fishermen that sat on the bridge above it, hungrily waiting for Magikarp or Barboach to bite.

"Almost there," Gardenia said, when suddenly a thought hit her. "Oh, I just realized I never asked... are you guys trainers?"

Volkner looked at Cyrus and, with the confirmation by nod he was given, allowed himself to nod too.

"Ah, okey then," she said, a thoughtful tone to er voice. "You guys should be capable of handlin' yerselves from here on, then?"

The two nodded in unison, thankful to quickly be rid of the pestering girl.

"Right. I'll see ya later, then – why don'tcha two drop by the Eterna Gym later tommor'a? I'm a trainee there myself and I honestly been urgin' for a fight."

In that moment, a flare of excitement was evident in Volkner's eyes, and that was all that Gardenia needed to see to learn that she would be fighting him soon. She grinned, nodded, and walked off.

Now the two stood alone for a few moments, staring out into the lake as they stared at into their campfire the night before. Volkner broke the silence this time, allowing himself to grin a bit.

"I want to challenge the gym. Tonight. You gonna come with me, or you gonna rest up?" he asked.

Cyrus looked at him for a moment, a bit perplexed by the decision – but he had already figured out that Volkner was sort of the impulsive type, so he supposed he shouldn't really question... well, the impulses.

"I'll rest. Good luck and see you later," Cyrus responded, and turned to walk off for the Pokemon Center, leaving Volkner to continue to stare out into the lake, thoughts running through his mind like a bullet train – and for once in the past two weeks, nothing negative. It was entirely positive energy.

He was excited. He felt charged up. Electricity raced through his veins, leaving him almost paralyzed with glee – wait, that wasn't excitement.

"... You … little … shit ..." Volkner choked out, struggling to bring the force in his leg up to the point where he could kick back and knock back the Pokemon that clung to his leg.

It was an electric type he recognized through its reflection in the water, but just barely – he had seen it in picture books as a child. It stood just barely at his knee's height, a smug grin upon the lips that sat beneath two prong-like ears. An electrical volt symbol designed into the fur of his chest. An Elekid.

Finally, he managed it. His leg was dumb and he forced it back with the strength of a young Ponyta, but it was enough to loosen the grip of the electric type on whatever item had been thrust into his leg and send the creature back. As the Elekid was, he could tell the device was yellow and somewhat battery shaped, sending a constant electrical current through his leg. But it was weak, thankfully enough. He reached down and yanked it out.

"Alright, ya little bastard.." Volkner groaned as he turned around to look at the startled Pokemon. "You want your little toy?" He waved the thing around tauntingly, hoping to draw a small fury out of the Elekid.

He succeeded.

The Pokemon charged, letting out a primal battle cry in its cute high-pitched voice. "ELEEE..." It leaped up right before colliding into Volkner, and curled its fist back. "KIII- ELEKID!"

And in that moment, Volkner delivered his own fist right into the Elekid's face, sending it flying back into the grass. Without wasting a moment, his instincts kicked in then – and he slung off his backpack and opened the side compartment which he knew his objective to be in. He pulled out a single sphere, red on top with a white bottom and then pressed his thumb to the center. It expanded and within a second he had tossed his arm forward, trusting his aim to hit the target; it did. Upon bonking the already pained Elekid, the object opened up and sent forth a flash of red light that swallowed the Pokemon and returned it to the inside of the Pokeball.

It landed on the ground and began to shake.

One shake...

Volkner's heart found itself racing, an unusual thing. He ignored it for now, figuring it to be the effects of adrenaline.

It shook once more.

As he watched, he also removed a bottle of a yellow liquid from his backpack. He had meant to spray it on his leg in that instant, but he suddenly seemed too focused on the Pokeball, rocking as the Elekid made its last struggles for freedom.

… A third shake, and then a click.

Elekid was his.

And Volkner was unaware that somewhere in the trees, a pair of ocean blue eyes watched him.

The girl let a small sigh escape her lips as she trudged on through the muddy grass of Pastoria City, listening to the sounds of the city around her. People were talking fast enough so that she imagined that if they had wheels attached to their head, they would speed right on down the highway. As she glanced over to a particularly odd looking man, she couldn't help but giggle at the thought.

Then her destination came into sight. A small stand with a few barstools sitting in front of a counter, a man with a variety of bottles behind him standing behind it. She approached it and sat down, reaching into a pocket of her coat for money.

"You hear, man?" one man beside her said to a friend of his. "The Valley Windworks got attacked."

"Really?" the friend asked, a bit of shock evident in his voice. "Man, the world these days..."

Yeah... the girl thought; not because she knew what a Valley Windworks was, but she thought it disgraceful that any place would get attacked.

"Yeah... held ransom, some dumbasses plotting to con people out of money. But these two kids tried to save it. They failed, but still, kinda admirable, ain't they?"

"What happened to the kids, man?"

"Oh, they're fine. One got a little hurt, but he was already hurt and apparently ran from a hospital, so... but I hear he's fine now."

I'm glad... she thought.

"Oh, that's good. Real good people out there these days."

"Didn't you just say 'Man, the world today...' or somethin' like that?"

"Quiet!"

"Ma'am?" a voice spoke, startling the girl out of her little eavesdropping session. "Can I help you?"

"Oh..." she muttered, a bit embarrassed. "Right, right. Yes sir, could I order a simple bologna sandwich, some plain potato chips and a glass of ice water?"

"Coming right up, Miss..."

"Jasmine."

"Miss Jasmine."

"Oh my," the attendant said. "Quite the tale... you're sure you're alright? We have a few spare Cheri Berries around here."

Volkner smiled slightly, glad the pity card was working. This young little nurse, probably barely over fifteen, was swooning over his little war story and he was loving every second of it. He simply shook his head and allowed himself to limp off.

He didn't need to do so, but what fun would it be to try this and not fake a little leftover pain?

He now stood outside the Eterna City Pokecenter, looking out into the city to try and figure the location of the gym – it was evident quickly where it was, as it loomed over the rest of the place. A huge brown-topped building, it was a bit hard to miss amongst the various blue roofs popular in this city.

He began to walk toward it, hands in his pockets, an excited smile on his face.

Author's Note: Okay, I apologize for the shortness of this chapter. Won't happen much. I'm just suffering from a bad lack of ideas for this story and I want to get a release in. I also apologize for the lateness of this release. , I'm sorry, but I ain't got the patience for the waits I've been getting. :( I ain't mad at ya, but think I'm gonna go ahead and drop you as a beta.

Next time:

"Pretty impressive guy, sir. Don'tcha think it'd be good if I go with 'im? Some experience, ya'know."

"Hey, hey, I never-"

"Thought I'd give you the honor? Right, right, but you're actually pretty good."

and

"Huh? Cyrus is supposed to be here..."

"Ya don't s'pose..."

"Without me? The bastard!"