"Yet again, the Eterna City police have found a victim of murder. Oscar Wilder, thirty-five years old, was found dead and mutilated last night. Like with the other cases, it looks like the work of a pokemon - police now suspect that the murderer behind this is using a pokemon to attack his targets. Five have now been reported dead and two missing - Leonard Cooper and Will Rio. Police are fearing the worst for them. Kelly Tavern, Twenty-Five News, signing off."
Lexi powered out the TV with a sigh, her mind in utter turmoil.
Will was missing - still.
It had been two weeks now, and each morning was a little different. Sometimes Lexi was glad that Will was still missing - it gave her hope that he would come back. He wasn't dead like all the others. He was trying to get back home. It was only a matter of time.
Other days hope dwindled. Those were the days that Lexi found herself most drawn to her bed, snuggled between her sheets and covers. The police had told Will's parents that the chances of him surviving past the first forty-eight hours of his disappearance were slim. Lexi's father had tried to comfort her by saying that people defied those odds all the time, but if anything his words only made her more tense and uneasy.
And then there were days that she was angry. How dare Will go missing on her like that? How dare he let himself be kidnapped? He had left her, alone and without a best friend. It was almost like he had widowed her. It wasn't fair. How dare he?
Needless to say, her parents were worried. They had been the first to hear that Will was gone - when Lexi had run through the door in a panic after searching the whole city for him. They were the ones that had reported him missing, her father making the call while her mother soothed Lexi by rubbing her back and petting her hair.
They were the only ones more worried about Lexi than Will.
"Sweetie?" Lexi's mother said, pushing the door to her daughter's bedroom open. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, Mom. Of course." Lexi's voice sounded hoarse. She was laying in bed on her side with her arms wrapped around her, staring at the wall with unfocused eyes.
Her mother gingerly sat at her vanity chair. "I'm heading down to Hearthome tomorrow for some shopping," she said. "You've got to tell me what you want for Christmas."
Lexi just shrugged her shoulders, her mind elsewhere. It bothered her that it was December - Sinnoh winters were brutal and Will might freeze to death if he was being kept somewhere outside.
"You've got to want something," her mother persisted with a patient tone. "A sweatshirt, or a book? A new flute - I saw that one you had your eye on..."
"Mom, I really don't want anything for Christmas," Lexi said quietly, hugging her knees to her chest.
"Well why don't you come to Hearthome with me, then? You can pick out something when we get there."
But Lexi was shaking her head before she had even finished her sentence. With just the merest hint of impatience, her mother asked, "How about we go on a walk instead? It's real pretty outside."
"Mom, it's winter. Winter isn't pretty - there are no leaves on the trees anymore!"
"You wouldn't know, sweetie, you've been inside for two weeks straight!"
That hit a mark. Lexi winced and said, "Mom..."
But she was hearing none of it. "For Arceus' sake, Lexi, all you do is lay here feeling bad for yourself! Do you think that would make Will happy? You've got to get over this - adjust! Will is missing, but the world's still here!" Her shoulders slacked slightly when she saw Lexi's shocked face. "At least try."
There was a pregnant silence in the air as Lexi's mulled over her mother's words. It wasn't a particularly poignant speech, but it managed to get through to her daughter at least.
"Actually," Lexi said at last, cringing. "Will would probably be pretty pissed if he found out I haven't done anything since the Ether concert... either that or he'd be laughing his head off."
"Exactly," her mother gave a small smile. "So... how about Hearthome?"
"No. You know I hate that place." She sat up in bed, stretching her back. "I'll go for a walk, though, if it'll make you happy."
"It would make me very happy," agreed her mother.
But, despite her promise, Lexi didn't leave until the sun was low in the sky. Both her parents agitated her to go sooner, but she refused - Lexi had always hated how glaring the sunlight seemed in Eterna City and how hot it made everything. She waited until the sky was orange and soothing before she pulled on her thick winter coat and headed out.
It was weird walking the streets without Will by her side. She thought about him again - their arguments, and apologies, how, when they'd first snuck out, they'd had no idea what to do with themselves. She thought about how one of their teachers had caught them on the roof once, skipping. She'd been so deathly embarrassed then, but now looked back on it with a reminiscent smiles. How the two had had detention together, how he had joked about it afterwards.
She almost didn't notice where her feet were carrying her until she saw the snow-tipped trees. She'd walked all the way to Eterna Forest.
That was the first stop she and Will had made every night.
Lexi suddenly felt her shoulders tense up. It was as if the atmosphere of the forest had weight to it, pressing down on her. The image of Will, grinning, taunting her...
"Lux?"
She started and jumped two feet in the air. Spinning, Lexi saw Sparky the Luxio at the edge of the trees, his fur filled with unruly tangles as if he'd been tossing and turning all night.
"Sparky!"
Lexi hadn't seen Sparky since Will went missing. All at once a sudden guilt dripped her - the guilt of forgetting about her other best friend. When Sparky approached, Lexi did her best to smile at him, but instead the pokemon leapt at her, knocking her down and licking at her face. Lexi laughed and returned the embrace without any hesitation.
"It's great to see you, Sparky!" she said, pushing herself away from him.
"Lux luxio?" demanded the electric type with a frown. Lexi winced, catching the meaning behind his words all too easily - where have you been?
"Well...you see," she began, but was interrupted when, as if by sheer coincidence, a bloodcurdling scream pierced the air.
"Whatwasthat?" Lexi was on her feet at once, eyes swiveling around anxiously. At her feet, Luxio tensed up, nose twitching as he took in the air.
"Luxio!" cried out the pokemon, gesturing towards the forest.
"It came...from in there?" Lexi guessed, eyeing Eterna Forest skeptically. She took a deep breath and then said, "Let's go check it out!"
"Lux lux?" said Sparky with wide, incredulous eyes. It was as if he was saying are you crazy?
"Maybe just a bit," Lexi muttered, but she ignored Sparky's protests and treaded carefully into the trees. "Hello?" she called out, looking around. She suddenly wished she'd brought a flashlight. "Anyone there?"
She walked even farther into the forest, Sparky all the while at her heels, growling.
"Hello?" she shouted out again.
There was a response this time; a menacing hiss from just ahead. Lexi jumped again.
No sooner than the sound hit her ears, a Misdreavus appeared from nowhere in front of her. Lexi relaxed on sight.
"Oh," she said, smiling a bit. "It's just a pokemon-"
And then the ghost lunged forward, using a quick Faint Attack on Sparky. Not much of a fighter, the electric type was thrown backwards, tumbling on the ground.
"No, Sparky!" Lexi cried out as the Misdreavus cackled evilly. Sparky stood himself up, growling, and Lexi, acting on pure instinct, shouted, "Use Discharge!"
It surprised her that she even knew what moves Sparky knew - she had never battled with the pokemon before, nor had it occured to her to. But Sparky did, indeed, know Discharge; he gathered up the charge in his fur and them let loose a powerful shock that barely missed Lexi herself. Luckily, it didn't miss the ghost.
"Dreavus!" it screamed out in anguish, falling through the air.
"Again, Sparky!"
Sparky did so; again, the Misdreavus was struck, and it lay still on the ground, moaning in pain.
Lexi sighed in relief. "Thanks a ton, Sparky. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Luxio lux," replied Sparky, eyeing the Misdreavus as though he expected it to attack again.
Instead, the Misdreavus left out a deafening, hideous cry. Both Lexi and Sparky screamed and covered their ears as the Perish Song echoed through the forest.
Suddenly Lexi's head was pounding. She stumbled, disoriented, and groaned out as the Perish Song reverberated in her ears.
The attack didn't have the same dizzying affect on Sparky, though. He growled at the Misdreavus, electricity sparking in his fur. The Luxio knew he only had a few minutes left - the Perish Song was already draining his energy away. He just had to take down the Misdreavus before he fainted.
But the Misdreavus just smirked as three more of its kind appeared from the trees around them. Sparky's eyes widened in horror; they were surrounded.
"MisDREAvus!" the pokemon shouted out in harmony, each of them summoning up a swirling black orb in front of them. Sparky's eye's narrowed - a Shadow Ball attack.
The four ghosts let loose, and Sparky ducked and rolled to the side, avoiding the attack. Lexi wasn't so lucky - the Perish Song attack had her head swimming and she had collapsed to her knees, trembling. One of the Shadow Balls hit her square in the face.
"LUXIO!" cried out Sparky, eyes widening in horror as the dark-haired girl howled out in agony.
The ghosts were all cackling, moving in towards Lexi now, who stayed rooted to the spot in pain and terror. Growling, Sparky made to jump at them but didn't move fast enough; the Perish Song overtook him, shutting down his mind and causing him to faint on the spot. One of the Misdreavus drifted over to him, smirking nastily.
It was hit with an Aura Sphere not a moment later.
Before any of the other Misdreavus could react, there was another pokemon among them - moving so fast it was nothing more than a blue blur. With a battle cry, it fired another attack that hit its mark squarely, taking down another Misdreavus before it had a fleeting chance to react.
The remaining ghosts, terrified, fled the scene. Lexi barely noticed them leaving - she was trying to sit up, clutching at her face, tears streaming down her cheeks. Between the pain and the Perish Song, her vision was distorted and consciousness was quickly slipping away from her.
The last thing she saw was a blue figure kneeling down in front of her, looking at her injured face with concern.
A blue figure with a worried look in his steely eyes, eyes that reminded her of Will's. Of course, everything seemed to remind her of Will at this point.
Without a word, it grabbed her arm and pulled her up, but Lexi's legs buckled underneath her and she fell back down, unconscious before she even hit the ground.