I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH 3. Yeah, so I was checking out the views and reviews on all my stories, and this one, by FAR is my most popular, with 30 reviews and now over 3,000 views! So thanks very much, and I hope everyone continues to enjoy A Different Soul: An Ikarishipping Story.
I don't own Pokemon!
Chapter 15: The Return Of A Nightmare
Friday, February 21st
"Great job Samantha, you too Ruby!" I called out to both my Ponyta, and my beaten opponent. It was about two in the afternoon, and I'd made good progress traversing Route 204.
"No, it was you who was great Hikari."
"Thanks."
"Here's your prize money, and good luck with your next Contest and Gym Battle!"
"Thanks!" Over the twenty four hours I'd been on Route 204, I'd found out that the next Gym was in Eterna City, a solid week away, if I traveled without stopping in Floaroma, which I was. There was a Contest being held there in a few days, and I was ready to win it! Tonight, my Pokemon and I were going to figure out and practice a new combination, though I wasn't sure who I'd be using in the Performance round yet. Not Mazey, I'd used her last time, but I still had a lot of thinking to do about it.
"You know, since you've joined our team Ruby, you've gotten way stronger, and really fast too!" The fire type whinnied next to me. "I'll bet you can't wait to take part in your first Contest!" Continuing to walk on the wet, mushy cold, yet still beautiful trail, we soon came across a large rock formation with a cave in the front of it. I sighed, because we all know how I feel about caves and tunnels. I shivered at the thought of Shinji pressing me against the cold, crumbling tunnel wall, lips just centimeters from mine. I then physically jumped when my hand made contact with his face. I guess remembering memories becomes more intense when you're psychic.
A sign outside told me that the cave was called 'The Ravaged Path'. The entrance was large, so I easily walked inside. It was dark, colder than the outside world, and smelled like guano. Otherwise known as, Zubat crap. Or Crobat poop, or Golbat turds, whatever you want to call it.
"PU. I hope we get out of here soon." I stated, holding my fingers to my nose. Ruby whinnied in agreeance. That was when I heard the fluttering and small screeching sound above me. Looking up, I realized that the entire ceiling was blue, filled with hundreds of Zubat and their evolutions. Ruby cocked her head at me, not knowing what I was looking at with a lightly worried face. "Shhh." I told her gently and quietly, pointing at the ceiling. She looked up, and saw the same thing I'd seen. We continued walking in silence, well, almost. The clicking of Ruby's hooves on the stone ground was bugging me, and I worried that it would wake the Zubat. I soon returned the fire horse Pokemon to her Pokeball.
I eventually came upon a crumbling flight of stairs carved into the rock. I did the quick stair run, staying on each step for no more than a second, and going up two at a time. Bad idea. One of them collapsed beneath me, and after letting out a short lived scream, I fell farther than backwards, hitting the steps behind me. Thankfully, I didn't go down all of them, and got away with just a badly scraped elbow on my right arm.
"Uhh," I let out a huff and rubbed my injured arm. After that, I got up and carefully but quickly made my way up the stairs and sat at the top, leaning on the wall. "Do Potions work on people?" I asked myself, reading the label of one of them. I had nothing better to use on it, and I wanted no bat guano disease. It stung the tiniest bit when I sprayed the small wound, but it wasn't bad. Then I just slapped on of those big square band-aids on it and jumped right back up. The exit was just around the corner.
"Thank Arceus." I sighed when I was out. Looking out over the land, I saw that we were up on a small cliff. Rounding the corner was yet another set of steps, but this time they were thankfully much newer and not about to fall under foot. A young woman was having a picnic nearby, up the stairs and in the shade of a large oak tree.
"Excuse me, miss?" She looked up, her long, luscious brown locks falling around her. She wore a comfortable looking think pink sweater.
"Hello young lady, what brings you here?" I opened up to answer, but she beat me to it. "Don't tell me, it was the wonderful aroma of flowers, correct?" I gave her that smiley but confused look when you don't understand what a person is saying but you don't want to be rude.
"Flowers?" I asked.
"Yes, this area is known for them. Especially Floaroma Town."
"How sweet," I told her. "I love flowers, especially carnations, they're my favorite." I smiled sweetly at her.
"Well I'm sure you can find some around here. Now what is it that you wanted?"
"Oh, right, well, I was wondering if you were a trainer? So you could, you know, battle me?"
"Of course! I haven't had a good battle in some time, and I'm sure my grass type Pokemon would love it! Two on two?" I nodded, and we began to walk a good distance away from each other in order to battle when she stopped me. "That reminds me, what's your name young lady?" I smiled brightly again and replied.
"Hikari, you?"
"Taylor. Not as beautiful as yours, but a unique name just the same." We smiled once more and then made our ways to good spots to battle from.
"Alright, Electra, spotlight!"
"Budew, let them get a smell of your strength!" I found that pretty strange to say, but who am I to judge? I'm psychic and say 'spotlight' when I release my Pokemon.
"Electra, use Bite!" I decided to directly attack my opponent during this battle, and took this chance to get the Pokedex entry on Budew.
"Dodge it!" The grass type wasn't nearly as fast as Electra was, and she easily caught it and shook Budew around like a ragdoll.
"Budew, the bud Pokemon. Sensitive to changing temperature, it's bud is said to bloom when it feels the sun's warm touch."
"Electra, let go and use Charge!" The electric type released Budew, sending it flying, and blue electricity began building up around her.
"Use Absorb Budew!" Electra ignored the health stealing attack, and continued to build up her energy.
"Spark!" The Shinx easily hit Budew with her attack, doing a ton of damage after charging up all that electricity.
"Use Growth and then Absorb!"
"Don't let it Electra, use Thunder Wave!" Budew was paralyzed in an instant, and didn't stand a chance. "Use Spark one more time!" The grass type fainted.
"Oh my poor little Budew!" Taylor whined, returning Budew to it's Pokeball.
"You ready to give up yet?" I teased. Taylor reciprocated my grin.
"Oh no, not yet. You still haven't met my secret weapon! Cherubi!" Another new Pokemon...I thought to myself, retrieving yet again my Pokedex. It looked like another grass type, and had a small, round, purple body, that reminded me of a berry.
"Cherubi, the cherry Pokemon. The small ball attached to it's leaf is not only full of nutrients, but is also tasty. Starly try to peck it off." I'll bet that Pokemon hates Starly just as much as I do. I thought, a smug look plastered on my face.
"Use Bite Electra!"
"Dodge it and use Sunny Day!"
"Sunny Day?" I said aloud. That was a fire type move. What good would a fire type move do a grass type?
"Now use Solar Beam!" My eyes widened. That was one powerful grass type attack, and it would be even stronger after Cherubi had used Sunny Day. The leaves on Cherubi's head glowed sunlight yellow and absorbed the now very bright light.
"Get out of there Electra!" I was too late. The huge yellow beam hit Electra right in the face. "ELECTRA!" As soon as the beam dispersed, it was obvious. Electra was down and out. I didn't say a word as I returned the electric type back to her Pokeball.
"So are you ready to give up yet Hikari?" I growled a little back, but as small determined smile soon replaced that.
"No way. Mazey!" In a flash of blue, the starter Pokemon appeared on our makeshift battle field.
"Your loss! Cherubi, use Tackle!" Due to Mazey's low speed, I didn't even make the effort to get her to dodge the attack. Mazey had a high enough defense stat, she would be alright.
"Use Withdraw Mazey!"
"Solar Beam!"
"Dodge it!" Mazey just barely made it out of the way in time, and we were unable to complete Withdraw. They weren't going to let us use any attacks like that. I decided that I needed to draw the battle out long enough in order for Sunny Day to lose it's effects on Cherubi.
"Tackle Cherubi!"
"Dodge it and use Razor Leaf!" Our attack did very little damage, but at the moment I really didn't have much of a choice. I just needed time.
"Tackle!"
"Dodge!"
"Solar Beam!"
"Use Tackle before they can finish it up!" Cherubi cried out, falling to the ground.
"Cherubi, please get up!" The grass type got to it's feet, giving us the evil eye as it did so. "Solar Beam again!" Cherubi began absorbing sunlight, when suddenly it got much darker out, and the rate at which she was absorbing the light slowed significantly.
"Yes!" I yelled joyfully. Sunny Day's effects had worn off.
"Hurry Cherubi, absorb the light!" A cloud was currently covering up the sun, so that light absorbing process was going a heck of a lot slower than before. This was my chance.
"Prepare Leaf Sphere Mazey." The quiet grass type nodded, determined just as I was to win. Using Absorb, she began to collect her own energy from all the life forms around her. The small glowing orbs collected into one large sphere. Meanwhile, Cherubi's leaves were glowing brighter as well. This was now a race, whoever's attack was finished charging up first would win.
Now, the sharp leaves from Razor Leaf were covering up the yellow ball of light created from Absorb. An orb of yellow light was also beginning to from at Cherubi's mouth. Then, the huge stream of light known as Solar Beam burst from Cherubi, but, at the same time, Mazey's attack, Leaf Sphere, flew forwards as well. This might be my only chance. I told myself. The two powerful attacks hit each other in between the Pokemon, and created a giant cloud of black smoke. That was when I made the move that I'd planned this whole time. Cherubi and Taylor never saw it coming.
"RU!" I heard Cherubi's cry long before I saw it. After the smoke cleared, I saw Taylor holding up a Pokeball, and Cherubi was gone.
"You Hikari, are an excellent trainer."
"Thank you Taylor. But using Sunny Day and Solar Beam like that, well, it was a very smart move on your part as well." Taylor and I said our goodbyes, and then I continued on my way. Just an hour later, the Pokemon and I set up camp and prepared a dinner. I ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich, while the Pokemon ate their Poke Food. By six, I was well on my way to figuring out a new move combination. Well, sort of.
"So, which one of you wants to do the Performance round in the Contest?" Ponyta cocked her head at me, and Electra only yawned and laid down. I threw an empty box of raisins at her.
"Shi!" Electra jumped up and cried out in protest at me.
"No sleeping on the job!" I bossed the electric type, putting my hands on my hips, probably looking stupid sitting on the floor of our tent. I threw back ideas and brainstorms with the Pokemon, all of which probably couldn't care less. Tangled up in the many blankets I had sprawled across the inside of my tent, I felt stuck. So far, we had no ideas for performances and it was getting late. If we stayed like this any longer, we wouldn't have time to practice tonight.
"I need some fresh air." I announced, jumping up and heading outside. The Pokemon happily stayed in the tent, away from the dropping temperatures of the night. It was nearly dark out, the setting sun created a gorgeous pink dusk to fuel my thoughts. Digging through one of my coat pockets, I pulled out the ribbon my mom had given me, the one she had won from Alamos Town.
"Why does everything have to be so difficult?" Much to my dismay, the ribbon did not answer. I sighed, then returned to the tent, a new strategy in mind to help me think of something for the Contest. Electra had fallen asleep inside. I threw a pillow at her.
"Up and at em' soldiers, we are going to think up a new combination if it takes all night!"
"Shiiiiinx." Electra whined at me, rolling over on her back and giving me those puppy dog eyes. I narrowed my ocean blue eyes at her.
"Those don't work on me sister." Electra made a sound halfway between a groan and a growl, rolling back over onto her stomach as I walked outside, the other Pokemon following.
"Alright, for tonight, because no one has any good ideas on our new combination that we need to come up with, we're going to practice moves. Okay, Mazey, use Razor Leaf on that tree, and Ruby you use Double Kick on it!" Razor Leaf wasn't strong enough to do much damage, the super sharp leaves only getting stuck in the trunk. Double Kick however, put two large dents in it, and for a second, it sure sounded like that tree was coming down. I watched as Ruby fell to the ground after using Double Kick, and I actually felt the ground shake the slightest bit when she did.
"Mmmmmhhh!" I made that strange girl noise that sounds like a restricted scream, I mean, I was pretty excited. "Guys guys guys guys GUYS! I just had the best idea EVER!" I was jumping up and down out of excitement, the Pokemon staring at me like I had finally gone completely nuts.
"Alright, you know that Floaroma is a real pretty, flowery, sweet little town, right?" They nodded. "Well, that means practically everybody will be doing combinations that reflect the pretty, flowery, sweetness of the town! Sooo, if we do something to show off more power rather than beauty, our performance will stand out and we'll totally get to the second round!" All the Pokemon made their funny little sounds, agreeing with me and smiling, just not as much as I was.
"Alright, Ruby, I've decided that you are going to be the star of the performance round this time, and you'll be-" I was forced to stop in the middle of my sentence to let out a rather large yawn. I laughed a little, the embarrassed kind. "Sorry, I guess I'm just tired. What time is it anyways?" Checking my surprisingly more useful than I thought it'd be Poketch, I found that it was nearly nine o'clock already.
"Wow! I guess time flies when you're training. We should probably go to bed now you guys, we need to get up bright and early tomorrow so we'll hopefully get to Floaroma Town before lunch, then we'll have time to sign up for the Contest and start practicing our routine!" And that was how that particular night ended, in my tent, all the Pokemon safely tucked away into their capsules, while I lay awake, unable to sleep with the excitement of the day ahead of me.
Hours later, at who knows what time of night, I burst forward from my sleeping bag, breathing heavily and blanketed in a cold sweat.
"W-what just..." I didn't even know what to say. There was no one around to talk to, and I felt ridiculous talking to myself, even though I used to do it all the time when I was a child. I guess this being a 'normal' coordinator and trainer was beginning to rub off on me.
Back to the cold sweat, I had little idea of what had caused it. A nightmare, obviously, but I couldn't recall any part of it. Suddenly I got the urge to vomit. I managed to hold it back, but I was just so terrified and confused. I didn't want them to come back. The night terrors, I mean. As a child, I'd had horrible nightmares, ones so bad that I'd wake up screaming and wouldn't leave the safety underneath my covers for hours. I only ever remembered bits and pieces of those as well. But this was how they started, nightmares that I never remembered, waking up with adrenaline speeding through me.
"J-just calm down Hikari, just breathe." I told myself, still breathing heavily. I didn't go back to sleep that night.
Just as the sign was beginning to rise that morning, I left my tent in favor of starting up breakfast. Making a simple breakfast of eggs, I then poured three bowls of Pokemon food and threw up the three Pokeballs that Mazey, Electra, and Ruby resided in.
"Rise and shine guys! Eat up, we've got a long day ahead of us!" Electra, lazy as she is, yawned and began eating her bowl just like the rest of the Pokemon, Mazey from her personalized jungle themed green bowl, with only half the bowl filled. Mazey never eats very much. After they were finished, I recalled all of the Pokemon and began walking. I didn't see another person until the woods cleared and opened way to rolling hills covered in nothing but flowers and a few small houses here and there. It was nearly noon, so
not many people were around, but I did see two young girls playing and laughing in their pink coats on one of the hills, stomping around in a remaining patch of snow.
"Liv, Liz, time to eat!" The two girls looked behind them and saw their mother calling them from one of the small houses. They then raced back home. I smiled seeing such happy people around here. Suddenly, a blue stream of energy appeared next to me, and Ruby was there.
"What are you doing out girl?" I asked happily. Ruby snorted and began grazing at some of the flowers beside the path. I laughed slightly. "Come on Ruby, we need to get moving." Ruby pulled up a mouthful of flowers and walked besides me.
"You know, I wonder how all these flowers are even growing this early in the year."
"Well, the soil around here is strangely rich, and because of the huge variation of flowers, there are plants blooming even during the winter." I whirled around to meet the intelligent female voice coming from behind me.
"Riley!"
"Hey rookie!" I grinned just as the red headed tomboy was.
"You know, I would hug you but I don't think I know you that well." We both laughed at my comment, then soon began walking towards the nearby Floaroma Town. "So, are you headed to Floaroma for the Contest too?"
"Yep, and I see you caught another Pokemon!" Riley reached over and pat Ruby on her muzzle.
"Uh huh! This is Ruby, and I also caught a Shinx whose name is Electra. Everything has been going really well with them, and I even got my first Gym Badge!" The disapproval on Riley's face was obvious. "What?" I inquired.
"Well, nothing personal, but I don't think that it's such a great idea for you to be challenging the League and be participating in Contests. People often bring concepts from one side over to the other, and it never works out." My eyebrows furrowed.
"What do you mean?"
"Like, the most common incident, trainers begin battling in Contests like they would against Gym Leaders, and they always end up leaving the coordinator life because they mess it up for themselves." The sad look on her face gave it away, Riley had lost friends because of this.
"I won't be one of those trainers Riley." She looked up at me with her brave yellow eyes, now full of doubt and loneliness. I gave her my most determined grin. "I promise. And trust me, I never break my promises, and I never give up." The coordinator's face softened up, and she even managed to give me a small smile.
"Thanks Hikari. I haven't heard that in a long time. I just hope you can keep those promises." I didn't say a word after that. And only moments later, we arrived in Floaroma Town.
Saturday, February 22nd
So, before I go, I'd like to personally thank a couple of my recent reviewers. One is malory79080, and another, which was really just a question, is from RaveOn-LastYear, who asked if I was going to skip around the story, a question I've been getting asked a lot lately about all my stories. And no, I'm going through pretty much everything in all of my stories. I guess I just like going through the developments of my characters fully. Maybe I should do a story from a dude's point of view... Anyways, I have a sad announcement to make. As you might know, this story is the furthest along of all of mine. I've decided to put A Different Soul on hold for a while, until the rest of my current stories are at chapter fifteen as well. So until then, review and reread my loyal readers! Luv yas!
:')