Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

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Chapter Nine: Dream the Dream and Wake Up

My dreams that night consisted of strange water Pokemon I had never seen before - one of which was a giant green Gyarados-looking thing that called itself "Carnivine" and tried to attack Zeke and me, until Ozzy came out and ninja-kicked it somehow.

Don't ask.

Despite my odd dream, I ended up sleeping extremely well. Whether it was due to the fact that I had actually accomplished something the previous day, the fact that I had been attacked by my new Pokemon, or the fact that this was the first time I'd slept in a real bed in days probably all contributed to it. I wasn't complaining. Thus was the life of a trainer.

The reason I woke up, though, was the fact that I had an odd pressure on my chest. Wondering what the deal was, I opened my eyes and nearly got them poked out by the bill of my newly obtained Psyduck.

"Ozzy! Holy - "

"Good morning!"

Oh, a headache was the best way to start the day. I looked over to where the voice had sounded from, pushing Ozzy off of my stomach in the process. "Aw, come on."

Jared was packing up his things, Theo at his side. The rest of his team had been returned, it looked like. I wasn't sure what I was witnessing here, but I wasn't sure that I liked it. "What are you doing, Jared?"

He looked up at me, his ponytail loosely tied at the nape of his neck, bright green eyes studying me curiously. "Going to shop for supplies. I was just about to wake you up to see if you wanted to come with."

I sat up, Ozzy flailing as he was thrown from my chest and into my lap. "Sure! I probably need to stock up now that I have more than one Pokemon…"

"My thoughts exactly." He gave me a cheeky grin.

I rubbed my eyes vigorously, wanting to check my cell phone for the time. I groped around for it, as uncoordinated as ever in my waking moments.

"Corrine?"

"Yeah?"

"Your hair looks like a Pidgey nest."

"…Thanks."

Before we left to go stock up on supplies, I made sure to change Zeke's bandages again and put a fresh dollop of the medicine on the sting. The swelling had gone down rapidly during the night, which I was proud of. These Pokemon Centers sure knew what they were doing, after all. I changed into a pair of clothes that were cleaner than the ones I had on previously, and realized that I should probably do laundry. Or something. Yeah…

Jared was practically tugging me out the door, Theo seated on his back as per usual. Since both of my Pokemon were rather small - compared to Jared's Steelix and Golem - and not to mention smaller in number, I decided to leave Zeke and Ozzy out as we walked to the stores.

It was a rather lengthy walk, and I was sure if I was by myself, I would have gotten lost at least twelve times, but I had fun chatting with Jared about random things as we moved on.

"And then, Theo totally slapped the chick Abra - "

"My trainer, I do believe you are mistaken."

"Nope! Don't think so! You totally reached out and smacked that girl one."

"I would not go as far as to say it in that manner - "

"So you admit it?"

"I do not."

Jared turned to me and faux-whispered, "He so did it."

"If you keep spreading this nonsense, I will not hesitate to use a Psybeam."

"Corrine didn't do anything!"

"On you."

Jared laughed, but suddenly his expression changed. There was a strange look in his eyes, something that I had never seen there before. He looked toward me and then out in front of him yet again. "Theo, look. It's Willa."

"Willa?" I asked quizzically. I had no clue what he was talking about, but he looked slightly upset - okay, not slightly. He looked like he had just been punched in the gut by a Machamp whose career was pro-boxing. This more than bothered me because, though I knew the time I had spent with him was short, I had never seen Jared look like this.

As the wheels in my mind turned, I followed Jared's gaze to a young woman sitting on bench near a water fountain. She was staring out at the water as if it were liquid gold, something infinitely interesting, and stroked the huge Mightyena that had lain its head on her lap.

I was slightly out of it, wondering what in the world could have made Jared act like that, when I saw him approach her. I heard Theo's warning tones - "Jared, are you sure this is a good idea?" - and saw as he had placed his clawed hands onto his trainer's wild hair in a symbol of comfort.

I followed. Probably not out of my best judgment, but it's what I did. I walked forward and was glad when I saw Zeke and Ozzy following me. They were just as confused as I was - though I wasn't sure about Ozzy. He permanently looked confused to me.

Jared had finally reached the woman. He was just standing there, doing nothing, as I came up and took my place beside him.

I finally got a good look at this strange woman. She had shoulder-length platinum blonde hair that was strangely tinted with some kind of teal color. Her deep brown eyes looked as if they had seen too much. This suddenly felt too serious; I felt I should leave before I messed something up. This was not the place for a clumsy, absent-minded girl from Floaroma Town.

She looked up at Jared and a smile split the fog that was her face, "Jared."

"Willa." His voice was a strange croak.

"I finally got my hair back to normal." She picked a piece of green-tinged blonde hair between her fingers and rubbed at it. "At least, somewhat. It'll take a few more tries, most likely."

He said nothing.

Okay, this was officially awkward. And random. And…just plain weird.

The Mightyena raised its head off of the girl's lap and glared at me. I supposed it sensed a new person here and didn't like it. Its muzzle pulled back and teeth glistened at me. I heard Zeke start to growl behind me.

"Down, Milo," she said, patting his head reassuringly. "But he does have a good point. Jared, who's the jailbait you got there with you?"

Jared started for a moment and then turned around. He looked like he was seeing me for the first time. I didn't like the look in his eyes.

When he didn't say anything, I addressed her, "Corrine. I'm Corrine Bray."

"Well, Corrine," Willa said, smirking lightly. "I'm Willa James. Nice to meet you."

"You too."

Milo stopped growling, but I still felt Zeke at my side, tensed and uncomfortable, ready to pounce if provoked. I felt my new Psyduck clench his tiny claws into the fabric of my jeans.

"Houndour, huh? You don't really look like a dark-type trainer."

Zeke barked in insult, and I replied, "…I'm guessing you are?"

She smiled, "Just my starter, here."

I felt my muscles tense up. The whole air here was completely off. I looked down at the Pokemon by my side and saw that Zeke was staring up at me, questions in his eyes, and that Ozzy was practically squeezing his head with his tiny paws. Yeah, buddy, I feel you right now.

"Same here." I told her, reaching down and stroking Zeke's ears in what I hoped would be a comforting manner. Pokemon could sense what other people could not, and I knew that Zeke would be sensing things every which way now. Like how wrong this all felt.

To my surprise, he had been tense when I had touched him, but he relaxed. Instead of the other way around. I took this as a big step in our relationship. I felt a grin spread across my face and Zeke nipped at my wrist.

"Enjoying tutoring newbies, huh?" she asked Jared while looking amusedly at me.

"Corrine's cool."

I felt a smirk twist my mouth. "Right here, people."

"Yeah," Jared said. And suddenly his hand was around my wrist, fingers overlapping one another as they grasped my arm. "Come on, let's go. We have to go shopping, right?"

Jared was pointedly looking away from Willa, but her large brown eyes were fixated on him with an impassive stare. I thought we were being rude, but the whole vibe of the situation seemed to dictate that rudeness didn't matter. Whatever Willa had done to him had been bad enough to make him come over to her and then leave as if she hadn't been there in the first place. I tried to plant my feet, but Jared was too strong, pulling us away.

I stumbled backward and when we were far enough away that Willa couldn't comment anymore without shouting, Jared freed my wrist.

Then, a voice. Loud, shouting. Just a complete statement, nothing emotional about it. Just a statement of a fact. A fact that didn't seem like a fact to me since it seemed to clarify nothing. Nothing except to Jared.

"You know I left! I quit!"

However, this didn't seem to sway Jared. While he paused a bit and I heard his uncertain intake of breath, he didn't turn back around to face Willa. Zeke was glaring at Jared, and Ozzy was just tumbling alongside him.

"Jared?" I voiced. He was still tugging me along. "Jared!"

"Dour!"

"Trainer, stop it."

Theo seemed to get to him, and he immediately let go. He flushed lightly and said, "Sorry, Corrine."

I took my hand and rubbed at the skin of my wrist. "No problem."

Jared was rather subdued the rest of the day. Sure, he acted like his usual self, but he was strangely dark about everything else. As his starter, Theo was particularly worried. They had such a strong relationship that it made me slightly jealous, but I was glad that Theo seemed to be helping Jared's mood. I didn't know who this Willa chick was, or why she disturbed Jared so, but I knew better than to ask. Maybe Theo would explain to me later. This whole situation was just so bizarre…

"Oh! Sale on Pokemon food! Which does Zeke like, Corrine?"

At least he was back to acting scatterbrained as usual.

We ended up buying some strange kind of food for Zeke and some for Ozzy. I wasn't sure what to get my new Psyduck, so I just randomly put some food in my cart and moved on. I was feeling exhausted and we haven't even done anything. I guess some kinds of encounters do that to a person.

But we shopped until we dropped. Literally. After we were done, we were so loaded down with packages that we plopped to the ground in front of the Pokemon Center where we would spend another night before heading off somewhere else. Or something. I still had no idea what Jared planned to do.

"What a day," I commented, watching as Zeke snickered at Ozzy. I sent him a glare.

"What a day," Jared echoed. I could tell that he was now back to thinking of Willa.

Theo slapped the back of Jared's head.

"Theo! Come on!"

"I would not have to do that if you would just snap out of this funk."

"I don't think slapping me is the way to go about things."

I laughed, an abrupt and strange thing sounding in my chest. Zeke bit onto Ozzy's tail and I then shrieked and watched as Ozzy started to use a Scratch attack, "No! No! Stop it! For the love of Giratina, stop!"

Jared and Theo were rolling at this point.

I finally managed to pull the two Pokemon apart - literally, with my hands - and we ended up going to our room, which Jared had reserved for another night before we left the Center. Nurse Joy grinned as we walked into the place. Just a few straggling trainers were left around, most sitting in the chairs and waiting on their Pokemon to be healed, while some others were standing by drink machines.

My stomach growled.

"You do know they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Centers, right?"

"Wrong." I told Jared, "I did not know that."

"Then let's eat!"

Jared pulled me into a room just across from the stairs that led to the trainers' quarters, and there was the largest buffet I'd ever seen.

"Oh my…"

Zeke pounced on the buffet like a cat rather than a demonic dog, and Ozzy tried to claw his way up the side to no avail.

"Bad idea, Jared."

After a while, we were able to get my wily Pokemon to calm down. However, we ended up taking all the food up to the room to eat in a impromptu picnic type deal. We all sat down on the floor in a circle. Jared let out his Pokemon - except for Ferdinand, because we were very certain that the room wasn't Steelix-friendly - and it was almost like our first night together. Minus the fire, that is.

Ozzy seemed to get along well with Nelly, which I was glad for. I suppose water-types kind of had that kinship thing going on. Explained why Zeke was enthusiastic to talk to Mitchell. It was nice to see that this kind of camaraderie was still possible even after all that had transpired before.

Jared was smiling, which was good, but I could tell that there was something about his eyes that just wasn't right. They were far off. Too intense for his giddy expression. I stroked Zeke's ears absently. The wince wasn't there this time.

After a while - after I got my shower and Jared got his - we retired for the night. Zeke, while having not winced before at my touch, still slept on the floor. Ozzy, however, was all to eager to get into the fluffy bed provided by the Pokemon Center.

"Good night, Corrine," Jared said as he flipped off the light. He crawled into the top bunk once again, and I made my home at the bottom bunk. I supposed the whole day had tired me out because I was out like a light within minutes.

My dreams were of nothing in particular. There were random flashes of Zeke, of Ozzy, of Jared, of Willa. All mashed together like some strange collage. And I was running. None of the dream made sense, but I figured that most dreams don't. I slept like the dead, though, so I figured the dream wasn't too bad.

However, when I woke up the next morning, I figured that it was a bad thing I'd slept so soundly.

I woke to an empty room. Only my two Pokemon and I remained. I checked Jared's bunk, and the bed was neatly made. His pack was gone, too.

I looked over at Zeke, who was glaring at me with an important look in his eyes. Ozzy just looked clueless, which I figured meant he knew nothing about the abrupt departure. But that was his default look, though, so I couldn't be sure…

I made up the bed, seeing no reason to stay there any longer. Feeling a strange disappointment that he had left so suddenly without any goodbye. I was walking over to my own book bag when I saw it.

A piece of paper, folded and lying on top of my pack, my name written on the front in a messy scrawl.

I unfolded the note to find a phone number and a note of apology.

Sorry, Corrine. I hate to leave you like this - Theo disagrees with this decision as well - but I need to get going. There are some things I need to take care of. Please forgive me. Call if you ever feel the need to talk. It has been fun these past few days. Good luck with your journey!

All the best,
Jared

There was nothing else to say, I suppose. And I couldn't escape the feeling that this had something to do with the encounter yesterday.

With nothing else to do, I saved Jared's number in my phone and packed up the rest of my things before leaving the Pokemon Center.

As soon as we stepped outside into the bright sunlight, I put a smile on for my team and exclaimed, "On to Oreburgh, guys!"

Zeke clamped down on my ankle. That, at least, was a constant. I smiled at him and kneeled to gently pry him from the spot on my ankle that he seemed to adore more than anything in this world.

Just as I got him off of my ankle, I noticed that someone was standing near me. The scuffed brown shoes got my attention - and then I noticed the four paws standing nearby.

I lifted my head to find myself face-to-face with Willa James.

End Chapter Nine.