"Trust me."

"Always."

Protector of Silence

Chapter Forty-One - Here with you

"LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Kellyn almost die with relief as J stopped her preparation to launch in order to stare at him. It gave him enough time to dash in front of Kate, holding his arm out in front of her protectively.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!"

J paused, her lips drawn in a tight line, unsure if she should follow out on her threat of freezing the girl. The psychic being had a murderous look in his eye - a look mirror to that of his 'older brother' when she'd last seen him - and she didn't want to make the mistake of pushing him completely over the edge.

Kate was just holding her breath, unsure of what to say or do. She was slightly afraid. Kellyn had always been slow to anger – a long fuse, but there was a nuclear bomb at the end of it.

Kellyn meanwhile, though panting with exhaustion and rage, had enough time to wonder who had been yelling. Whoever did was a life saver - he'd saved Kate's life and...possibly J's - because if J had hurt Kate, she wouldn't have lived very long either. Whoever it was was plainly a boy - and a very angry one at that. Kellyn could relate.

That's when it clicked. That voice was a boy's voice.

He was the only boy breathing in room.

He tried to speak. There was no pain in his throat - as if it had never existed in the first place.

"What?"

He spoke.

Automatically his hand flew up to his mouth as his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. He couldn't see Kate's expression (which was just as shocked as he was) but all J did was raise an eyebrow.

"So...I see" she said.

Kellyn was even more speechless than he had been a few minutes ago. He had always imagined, the day he would finally speak consistently, he'd have so much to say that he would just talk for hours. But right now, he couldn't say anything at all - even with all the words at his disposal.

Kellyn nearly jumped into the air when he felt a hand grip his own. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Kate coming to stand beside him, his hand encased in her own. She offered him a reassuring smile. It was one of those smiles that just said everything for her: Don't be scared, I'm here.

And he believed her.

He ran his thumb overhear knuckles in a comforting gesture before turning his attention back to the situation at hand. J wasn't going to let him go, and he wasn't going to run - not if that meant leaving Keith and Luna and everyone else here. And if he fought back, Kate would no doubt get caught in the cross fire - and he would never let that happen. Not while he was still breathing.

The adrenaline rush from being able to speak consistently for the first time was starting to wear off, and he was honestly starting to feel a little lost. He tried to remember how other people (like Kate and Starlight and, dare he say it, Keith) said things and eventually he worked out how to say:

"Trust me."

Kate gripped his hand tighter, her understanding smile never fading as she whispered back in a voice so quiet Kellyn almost missed it: "Always."

Slowly - and reluctantly - he released Kate's hand and took several steps forward to put himself halfway between Kate and J. With a deep breath, he looked J in the eye and spread his arms out, as if inviting what J would inevitably do to him.

"What is this?" J looked like she was on the verge of laughing. "You're actually surrendering?"

A deep breath later, Kellyn nodded. That was when J laughed.

"You fool!" she laughed "You actually think you're protecting the girl by giving in?! What's to stop me from harming her when you're out of the picture?!"

A hard glare.

'This has to work, it has to.'

J snorted. "You make exactly the same mistakes as your brother - putting a girl's well-being before your own." She raised her gauntlet. "Which will give me all the more pleasure of doing this."

The gauntlet fired and the shot whizzed towards him almost too quickly for him to comprehend. Kellyn was scarcely aware of a heavy gale seemingly blowing past him before everything went black.

Trapped.

That was the best way to describe how he felt now. Encased in stone and unable to move. Heavy weights seemed to press on him from every direction, forcing him to stay completely still. But he was still fully conscious. He could feel the stone texture on his skin. His eyes were open, but he was onto greeted with a screen of darkness. And fear - he could still feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins, telling him he had to run. But he couldn't run, and that made the blood pounding in his ears seem all the more louder with echoing dread.

At least, there was no pain.

Physically at least.

Then, all that fear transformed into anger. His friends were being forced to go through this. Solana had gone through it for eleven long years. Trapped in this state between conscious and unconscious, alive and dead.

And it was all his fault.

No, it was all Hunter J's fault.

Kellyn felt a surge of hate run through him. J was hurting the people close to him - he would NOT allow that to happen anymore!

He felt his heart lurch as a power begin building inside him, flowing through his veins until it reached every part of his body, heat like a great fire on his skin building. The fire just kept growing and growing, reach out beyond the limits of his body into the world outside this prison. The pure power of the Betwixt and Between beginning to spill out of him.

J was going to stop. He wasn't going to stand by and let her hurt the people he cared about the most.

Never. He would never let that happen.

Never again.

Kate raised her hand to shade her eyes as a bright white began to emanate from Kellyn's statue. The light eventually got so intense she had to press her eyes shut or be blinded. She could feel a great power swelling in the room, gradually expanding and increasing its strength. It was more powerful than anything she had ever felt before - seemingly other worldly.

Then, that power released itself in one great wave. Its immensity forced Kate back a step, her eyes screwed shut. In the back of her mind, she recognised a siren going off, a woman's scream and someone yelling:

"EVACUATE! EVACUATE!"

Then the wave was almost forgot as, mere seconds later, the whole airship seemed to jump as the horrible sound of scratching metal rang in Kate's ears. She was flung off of her feet and landed hard on her back, causing her yelp as a burning pain raged up her spine.

It didn't take an genius to work out the airship had crashed.

It was a another minute or two before Kate dared look up and open her eyes. J and her Salamence were gone. Keith and the others were lying on the floor amongst pieces of broken ceiling, released from their statue prisons but clearly unconscious. A red light above the door was flashing - an evacuation light. No doubt the crashed airship had been quickly abandoned.

"Kellyn" she whispered, climbing to her feet. The white light was just fading back into Kellyn's body. His arms fell to his sides, and he was completely still.

"Kellyn!" A smile leapt onto Kate's face. "You're alright!" She began to run forward, but stopped in her tracks when Kellyn turned around. She inhaled sharply.

Kellyn's eyes. They looked so...dead.

"...Kate?..." That was all he murmured, his lips barely moving and his face completely blank. He took a step forward, but it was like all the bones in his body simply evaporated. He felt forward, Kate thankfully catching him before he hit the floor. He was clearly beyond exhausted, his energy completely drained. He just didn't have the strength to hold himself up anymore.

"Kellyn!" she called urgently, utterly horrified at what was happening. "Kellyn, no! Stay awake! You're gonna be alright! Kellyn!"

Kellyn coughed roughly, sand filling his mouth. He tried to sit up, but he felt like a thousand bricks were pressing down upon him. He couldn't see anything, he couldn't hear anything, he couldn't feel anything; only darkness surrounded him.

'Is this what dying is like?' he wondered, screwing his eyes shut.

"Kellyn."

'No one ever mentioned it was this painful.'

"Kellyn."

'Great, I'm hearing voices now.'

"Kellyn."

'This is so not the time to be going crazy.'

"Kellyn!"

'Wait, that's not my head speaking!'

"Wake up Kellyn!"

"Who's there?" Kellyn tried to call, but his words came out as violent coughing.

"Easy Kellyn, easy. It's okay."

Kellyn felt like he knew the voice, like he had heard it before. He tried to open his eyes, but they remained closed, too tired to open. As the voice repeated what it had just said, a hand gently grabbed his left one. Eyes mentally widening, Kellyn realised who the voice belonged to.

"Lunick?" he asked, his voice a mere whisper.

"It's okay Kellyn, it's okay" The voice whispered, a rough thumb rubbing circles on the younger boy's palm "Go on back. This isn't your place. They need you back there." Kellyn heard a low chuckle and clutched the hand. It was ice-cold, but made warmth spread through his body.

"I'll be fine" the voice said "Go back Kellyn. Go back."

Kellyn gasped as he felt the comforting hand move away and the voice silence itself. Immediately his chest felt heavy and like a knife had been shoved through his heart, whilst fire seemed to run in his veins. His body felt so heavy, like he moving boulders and not limbs. But slowly, the weight seemed to fade away, and he felt energy start to seep into him. After a few minutes, he felt strong enough to open his eyes. He was glad he did - the first thing he saw was Kate's face - concerned and terrified - looking down at him.

"Kate?" he tried calling to her. His voice was scratchy and quiet - but he was speaking.

"Kellyn?" Kate's voice was quiet too, like she could hardly believe what was happening.

"A-Are you okay?" he asked, now concerned himself. But when he said this, her face melted into utter relief.

"Kelly!" she squeaked and hugged him tightly. He cleared his throat.

"Oh, sorry" Kate back off "You don't like being called Kelly. Sorry." Wincing with the dead pain in his muscles, Kellyn half-sat-up and gave Kate a feeble hug. She tensed with surprise. Kellyn smiled and softly whispered to her:

"Only you can call me that."

Kate's cheeks turned a rosy red at that could rival strawberries. Kellyn then let go of her, one hand on her shoulder so he wouldn't fall back and bash his head against the floor. It was then he frowned and added:

"Don't tell Keith I said that. I'll never hear the end of it."

Kate giggled and tried to help him to his feet. Key word: tried.

"Sorry!" Kellyn apologised as he almost knocked her over. She just laughed it off.

"Oh, get a room you two!"

The pair looked up to see Keith clambering to his feet, smirking at the opportunity to tease his two favourite obvious friends.

Kellyn though now had his own opportunity to fight back. "Well who asked you to watch, Keith!"

Keith's jaw just might've hit the floor. Or, possibly, the floor below that one. Heck, it might've even hit the Earth's core.

"Flibbawhat?!" Keith yelped. He surged forward and gripped Kellyn by the shoulders, staring into the startled brunet's eyes. "When did you start talking?!"

Kellyn nearly answered: "Well, where have you been for the last fifteen minutes?". But at the last minute he remembered what had happen to Keith. "Um...while you were...stuck."

"Holy Arceus! You really are talking!" Keith scrambled backwards, his eyes the size of flying saucers. "Why did you start when I wasn't there to witness it?!"

Kellyn rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I didn't really have a choice, Keith. It sorta...happened."

"HE'S TALKING!" Kellyn turned his head to the right and saw the three cat Pokémon staring at him. Shadow, who had been the one to speak, was now fainted. Sparks was giving off what appeared to be a Luxray smirk. Luna had her head bowed and was muttering things like:

'Lunick, I swear, if he's anything like you when you started talking, I'll go jump into the Boyleland Volcano."

"So, how?" Keith asked, now sounding curious.

"Well" Kellyn tried to think about it, working out how and when. "J put Kate in danger, which made me mad. And then she turned me into a statue, which made me really mad." He looked around at the fallen ceiling pieces and dented metal panels. "I guess that's when this all happened."

Keith stared at him. "You did this?!"

Before Kellyn could say anything else, Kate added: "He crashed the airship too."

Kellyn blinked at her. "I did?"

"I think so" Kate nodded.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute!" Keith stared at the petit boy "So you destroyed this and crashed the airship, scaring every bad guy in the whole place off including Hunter J, because you had a temper tantrum!"

Kellyn ducked his head in embarrassment. "Well, when you put it like that..."

"Kellyn?"

Kellyn whirled around at the sound of a female voice behind him. Seeing the light-blue hair, he at first panicked, but then calmed as he realised it was just Solana. She was taller than she had appeared in surviving photos, looking older than her fourteen years. Her red eyes didn't smile as they did in those photos either - these eyes were impassive and calculating, surveying him, no doubt to try and work out if he was truly the same infant she had met all those years ago.

"Solana" he acknowledged her, clasping his hands together and lowering his head so he wouldn't have to hold that crimson gaze. But Solana didn't reply. Nearly a minute went by before Kellyn heard something.

'Sniffling?'

He dared to glance up. Solana was looking down at him with heartbroken eyes, tears running down her cheeks. She was crying.

"Solana?" Kellyn wasn't sure why, but he felt the need to reach up and touch her shoulder. But his hand had barely been there a second before she squeezed her eyes shut and gave a fierce shake of her head.

She turned on her heel and fled the room.

"Solana, wait!" The urge was back again, this time ordering him to follow her. So he did, and he never let her out of his sight.

Solana finally stopped in the cargo bay. The cargo bay doors had been ripped off when the airship crashed, exposing them all to a fairly beautiful view of a sun rising above a pine forest beneath a cliff they were evidently perched on the edge of.

Kellyn couldn't quite bring himself to approach the now still Solana, facing the rising sun with her arms folded behind her back. She was...peaceful; which was strange, considering just five minutes ago she'd been crying in front of Kellyn like she'd found out he'd confessed to murdering her parents or something. She looked like she'd just listened to a kind lecture by a voice that had gently explained to her way she was wrong.

Hearing Kate and Keith as well as the Pokémon stop behind him, Kellyn cautiously asked: "What's wrong?"

Solana turned back around, her auburn eyes shinning kindly.

"You promised me we would meet again" she said, strangely in Kellyn's direction.

"I did" a voice that certainly wasn't Kellyn's said.

Then the poor brunet boy nearly had a heart attack as a second person seemed to walk straight out of him, faded as if he wasn't quite there. The midnight-blue hair and red Ringtown ranger jacket meant that even from the back, Kellyn knew who this was.

"I said that we would meet again, but you may not recognise me" Lunick smiled at Solana.

"But somehow, I knew it was you" she said "A small part of you, I could see within him."

"I wasn't the only one" Lunick confirmed "At first, I confused you with this girl." With that, he looked at a stunned Kate. After all, seeing dead people walking out of your best friend isn't exactly a regular everyday thing. "I sensed a part of you within her, and it threw me off at first. I thought you were already her guardian."

Solana gave a small shake of her head. "I always thought people like us were damned, destined to...fade into oblivion. But we didn't. We got to see each other again. And we got to see Kellyn, and Kate."

The two of them turned to the younger rangers, who both looked like they didn't know what to say about the whole thing.

"I have to go" Lunick said, looking then at Solana "So do you."

"My race is over" she agreed "But I wish to make myself the guardian of this young lady:" with this she looked at Kate. "Katherine Hitomi. If that is okay with her that is."

Kate nodded with a warm smile. "Of course!" she smiled "You should have just as much a chance to find happiness, Solana!"

Neither Solana nor Lunick could look happier.

"I'm glad" Lunick said "Whilst Kate and Kellyn are together, on this dimension plane we will be too."

Their eyes met for a second, auburn on aqua. Kate nudged her companion with her elbow.

"We'll be together always" she told the older rangers "Right Kellyn?"

Kellyn nodded his confirmation.

Solana and Lunick turned their gazes upon each other and nodded with a smile. They intertwined their fingers with their counterpart's, hope shinning in their eyes.

And then they were gone.

Kellyn could only stare at the spot they'd been, frozen, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to look at Keith, the ginger grinning like the good friend he was.

"Good to have you back" he said. Kellyn blinked at him twice, then let his face relax into a smile and nodded back.

With that, Kellyn, Kate and Keith turned towards the rising sun, casting golden and red rays over the pine forest.

And at that moment, Kellyn thought he heard a voice in his ear. But for the rest of his life, he could never quite recall what it had said. But if he had listened just a little harder, he would've heard:

"See, everyone's happy now Hajime."

"...Hey guys. I have a question...

...

...

...

...How are we gonna get home?"