Chapter 6

Mystique

Sarah floated along the ceiling, watching the battle rage on below. It looked like an ordinary battle. But then one Pokemon went down, and the other continued attacking. It eventually stopped, but not before the weakened combatant was nearly mutilated.

The battle ended and the unconscious fighter was dragged off. The Announcer stepped up. "Winner, Johnson!" The crowd cheered. "And the next battle will prove to be yet another great show. The great Mystique…" A woman in a long black dress and an eye mask walked up to the stage waving. "Against Ella Adams."

Sarah's heart jumped as Ella strode up to the stage and continued onto the battlefield. Was that girl insane? Suddenly the connection to her head injury made sense. This was the "fight" she got in.

Mystique wasted no time with formalities. "Go, Gengar." Her Pokeball flew through the air and released the Ghost Pokemon.

It landed on the ground with a snicker. "Hehehe."

"Just as I'd thought." Ella fell and morphed into a Houndour.

"Oh, no you don't." Sarah began to descend, completely intent on stopping this match.

"Gengar, use Dimension Sphere."

Ella paused. What was Dimension Sphere? She'd never heard of it.

Gengar seemed to glow for a moment, and then a dark orb that looked like swirling gas and sheer emptiness grew from its center and expanded outward. There was nowhere to run, so Ella tucked a shoulder to try and cushion the blow. But the darkness continued past her with no effect.

Sarah watched it expand, but tried to ignore it. It stopped when the darkness completely enclosed the battlefield. She charged in, but when she dove into the gas she suddenly found herself flying out the other side. She turned and dove back in, but against she flew out the instant she went in. What was going on?

"What's going on?" Ella asked. Inside, it simply looked like a dome of black gas completely surrounded the battlefield.

Mystique snickered. "This is the Dimension Sphere, a unique move that only my Gengar knows. As long as this sphere exists, no one can go in or out. And all Ghost attacks are magnified."

Ella cursed silently. It was just her luck. Something to enhance attacks that she couldn't use. Oh well. She'd just have to make due. She pulled back her head and a ball of dark energy formed in her mouth. With a swing, she threw it through the air. The Gengar vanished and the Shadow Ball passed. The Ghost appeared higher up.

"You can't get my Gengar in the Dimension Sphere. Use Night Shade." Gengar waved a hand.

Ella lunged forward, jumping just out of the attack. But another Night Shade appeared in front of her. The attack tripped her as a searing pain tore through her. Her body tumbled for a small stretch before she stopped, one of her legs still twitching slightly. She stood onto all fours slowly. Her body ached. And that was only one attack!

The Gengar floated back down to the ground, both it and Mystique laughing. "There's no way you'll get out of here alive."

"We'll see about that." In an instant, Ella morphed into a Hitmonlee and used her powerful legs to push off. Then she changed back into a Houndour and focused another Shadow Ball in her mouth. The sudden speed startled the Gengar, and it froze for a moment.

Ella struck while the attack was still in her mouth. It pushed into the Gengar's body and it let out a wail that she guessed was a scream. Then the Shadow Ball was shot from her mouth, sending the Gengar back into the ground.

Mystique seemed surprisingly unphased. And Ella realized she had a reason not to be. Only a second after the Shadow Ball dissipated, the Gengar hopped back to her feet.

Ella gasped. That was her best attack against Gengar. At it had barely caused more than a flesh wound. This was not looking good.

"I think this match has gone for long enough. Gengar, use it."

Gengar's chuckle became a full laugh. It rose up into the air, nearing the very pinnacle of the dome of smoke. It started to glow with a dark blue light. The smoke of the Dimension Sphere seemed to glow with the same light.

Ella recognized it instantly. It was a Night Shade. But it was being spread over the entire area.

Even from outside, the smoke glowed lightly. Sarah's heart became cold. An attack that big couldn't be good.

Ella cringed. She could feel a pressure start to build around her, the indication that a Night Shade was about to hit. But there was nothing she could do. The attack was going to hit every inch of the battlefield. She tensed up to try and cushion the attack.

In the moment before it struck, a single thought stuck in her head: this was the end. She was going to die here and there was nothing she could do about it.

She screamed as the attack struck. It felt like someone had driven a million needles into her very soul. Her body felt nothing but agony.

Sarah, along with everyone in the cavern, heard the ear-piercing scream and it sent shivers through her ghostly spine.

It only lasted a second, but to Ella it felt like an eternity of torment. She could only squirm as her body convulsed. It was too much. Her mind, overloaded, shut down, sending her into pained unconsciousness.

The Dimension Sphere dissipated. Ella's body lay still in the center of the arena.

For an instant, Sarah's world stopped. The clapping and roaring of the crowd was lost to her. The only thing in her mind was seeing her daughter on the ground, looking as if there wasn't any life at all left in her.

And then the moment passed and she was falling to the battlefield, her body rematerializing. The entire audience fell silent, with a few gasps arising throughout the audience. Even Mystique, who had turned to leave, stopped and peered back at the woman.

Sarah's hand felt Ella's neck, finding a faint pulse. Her daughter was going into shock. She looked up into the eyes of the masked woman at the edge of the platform. "If you value your life, turn yourself in to the police."

And then the two wink out.

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Ella's dreams provided very little escape from her agony. She floated in absolute nothingness, her body experiencing nothing but the lingering glow of pain.

Her eyes opened slowly. The light stung, so she closed them tightly until they adjusted. She turned her head. A machine beeped next to her bed. She could see and feel several wires connecting it to her arm.

Her mother was sitting in a chair by the door, her arms crossed in mixed emotions. Ella's eyes focused on her. "Mom?"

"Ella." Her face didn't change. If anything, it stiffened.

That look told Ella she'd done something. "What…?"

"Uh-uh." Sarah held up a hand. "I can tell you aren't awake yet. Sleep. You'll need to be fully awake for our talk."

Before she'd even finished, the girl had slipped back into the black emptiness.