Chapter 56 - Awakening

Khrista couldn't tell which was worse: her massive headache, or feeling like she had been drained of all her energy. It felt like she had been weak and in pain for an eternity.

"Khrista," a voice called out. "Wake up. Please?"

Khrista winced a little at the sound of the voice. She felt like she hadn't heard anything in...well, forever. She didn't want to listen to it, but the voice kept repeating her name and the question, so the teen figured that it wouldn't stop until she obliged. With what little strength she had, Khrista slowly opened her eyes, letting out a groan as they came in contact with the light above her. She frowned as soon as she saw the shadowy figures above her.

"Give her some space," another voice stated, causing the shadows to move back. "It's been a while, Khrista."

Khrista blinked for a moment, allowing her eyes to adjust. "Joshua? Wh-what -where-"

"You've been out of it for a good two days," her cousin explained. "We're in a makeshift Pokemon Center in the Underground." He grinned. "Cyrus is in solitary confinement just down the hall. Darkrai has been keeping an eye on him."

Khrista's eyes widened at this. "Seriously? A-and Ash, is he -?"

"Still asleep, if you're wondering," answered another voice.

Khrista's head turned, and she caught sight of the familiar blue eyes of a neighbor.

"Matthew!" Khrista exclaimed in surprise. "What are you- I mean -"

"Take it easy," Matthew replied, holding up a hand. "I'm fine, and everything's going well...even though I still haven't been able to get a band together." He glanced behind him at the other bed that was in the room. "This would be so much easier if Maria wasn't off in another world."

"Another world?" Khrista blinked in confusion.

"Tell you later." Matthew smirked. "What'd I'd like to know, though, is how you managed to get a GigaVolt out of yourself and four Electric Mice."

Khrista blinked again. "I...I don't know. It just came to me, I guess." She gave a weak smile. "Sorry if that doesn't help you out."

Matthew shrugged. "Nah, it's all right. Just makes me wonder if Pika's done more training since my sister last saw him."

Khrista frowned and was about to say something else, but then she winced as a wave of pain wracked her head for a moment. "How long until this headache let's up?" she grumbled.

"If you actually manage to eat something, you should recover quickly enough," a Nurse Joy responded as she came into view. "If you two would please step out for a moment. I know you want to catch up, Matthew, Joshua, but Khrista needs her rest."

Matthew nodded. "Thanks for letting us visit, Nurse Joy."

"It was no problem."

As Matthew and Joshua left, Nurse Joy helped Khrista sit up by propping her up with pillows. The teen was then handed a steaming bowl of soup, causing the teen to give the nurse a curious look.

"We don't want to push you too much," Nurse Joy explained. "If we tried to get you up now, you would probably collapse."

Khrista looked down at the white sheets that covered her person, shifting her legs as she did so. "Yeah, I guess so. But if I had to get out of bed, a pair of crutches or a wheelchair would probably be needed."

"Is suppose so," Joy agreed. "Now, let's see if you have enough strength to eat something."

While Khrista was working on eating the broth without spilling any of it on the sheets, Nurse Joy told her what had been going on the past few days.

After the four Rayquaza had managed to topple the tower, everyone that had been in Mt. Coronet moved to the Underground. The celebration lasted for all of the first day and finished on the morning of the next, so no one had noticed when Ho-Oh had dropped her and Ash off after having Entei and Pyrus expose them to their healing fire. It was about mid-afternoon by the time Khrista had woken up.

"Wow," Khrista stated when Nurse Joy was done. "Looks like I haven't missed much."

"Some might say otherwise," Joy responded. "A lot of your Pokemon have requested to come in here and meet you, but I've had to turn most of them down - a Rayquaza can't fit inside, much less get his head through a window."

"I suppose not," Khrista agreed. "Who has come in?"

"Your entire team, an Eevee clan, your cousin, and other Avatars. Everyone else has been preparing for when the storm lets up."

Khrista's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "The hailstorm is still going?"

"It has moved on from hailstones to artificial fire and brimstone, but yes, it's still going."

"Fire and brimstone? Man, those Jhoto Legendaries can sure cook up storm! Are they trying to scorch the earth or something?"

"I believe so," Nurse Joy answered. "They have been trying to get rid of as much of Cyrus' work as possible."

"Well, I guess that makes sense. But, isn't it all over the world?"

Joy nodded. "The storm started wreaking havoc in Kanto, and is on its way to Unova as we speak."

There was a sudden moan to Khrista's right, causing the teen's head to turn in that direction, her eyes widening in surprise: Ash was beginning to stir.

As Ash started to sit up, Nurse Joy rushed over to a corner of the room and returned a moment later with a large picnic basket. As if Joy had just found an alarm, Ash sat up as stiff as a board, wide brown eyes watching the basket.

"Where did you get that?" he asked cautiously, looking between Nurse Joy and the basket.

"Your mother gave this to me at noon," Nurse Joy explained. "She claimed that it would wake you up more quickly." She placed it on Ash's bed while Khrista watched his hungry face with amusement.

"It's been way too long since I had any of Mom's cooking," Ash remarked as he opened the basket. Within mere seconds, he had the entire contents of the basket laid out on his bed, with Khrista's wide eyes watching all the food that was removed. The Kanto Trainer, of course, caught sight of this.

"You look like you haven't eaten in days," Ash noted with a smirk.

"Two would probably be more specific," Khrista responded. "We've been out since before Cyrus' tower was destroyed, apparently."

Ash's eyes widened. "The tower was destroyed?"

"And I rescued you with the help of a few Electric-Types, too. One big GigaVolt, remember?"

Ash looked like he could have leapt out of his bed right then and there. "A GigaVolt?! I've only heard about that in legends!"

"Well, I'm technically a legend, and I couldn't have done it alone. I needed both my Raichu, a Guildmaster Pikachu, and your Starter Pokemon, as well." Khrista shrugged. "I ended up fainting from exhaustion afterwards."

Ash motioned to Nurse Joy. "Do you think you could push our beds closer together? It looks like she wants some of my lunch."

"So long as she doesn't eat it too quickly," Joy responded. Upon getting a confirming nod from Khrista, the nurse pushed her bed over to Ash's. "Call me if you two need anything."

After Nurse Joy had left, Ash handed Khrista a plate. "Go ahead. Dig in."

With that, the Kanto Trainer took his own suggestion and started heaping food on. Khrista, after placing her soup bowl on a recently discovered tray attached to her bed, did the same.

"So, now that I'm clear of any Red Chain stuff," Ash started, "What's your name?"

"It's Khrista," Khrista responded. "Khrista Langstrom."

"Khrista..." Ash tried the name out, frowning slightly. Then he brightened into a smile. "That's a nice name!"

"Thanks!" Khrista replied, chuckling.

"So, where'd you start? I'd heard you got a perfect score in Hoenn, but -"

"I actually started in Hoenn and I made it a point to get as full a PokeDex as possible," Khrista replied. "I recently started to go through Unova, as well. If I manage to get through it all the way, then I'll have been to five regions - and become champions in all of them."

Ash's brown eyes widened. "Whoa." A smirk came over his face. "White beat you to that, though. And there's probably been a lot of other Avatars who've beat you to it."

Khrista shrugged. "It's not really anything that I'm worried about. I just like playing the games. Like everybody else from my world."

Ash frowned and was about to say something else, but then Knrista held up a hand to and cocked her head. That's when she heard something.

"Did you hear that?" Khrista asked, frowning.

"Did you hear that?"

Ash frowned, as well, but out of confusion. "Hear what?"

"It sounds like something small and fast is coming this way..."

Ash glanced at the door, frowning as he did. "How did you hear that? I can't hear anything."

Khrista shrugged. "It probably has something to do with the Pokemon abilities."

Ash gave Khrista a look of shock. "Pokemon abilities? Since when?"

"Since I got here, probably," Khrista replied with a shrug. She eyed the door as the fast footsteps became louder. "The whatever-it-is will be here in three...two..."

A yellow blur blasted through the door way and, leaping onto the picnic basket, stopped short and looked down at Ash, who looked up from his meal cautiously.

"Hey, Pikachu," Ash greeted. "What's up?"

"You've made me worry to death, that's what!" Pikachu responded. "First it turns out that Khrista's half Mew, and now Ho-Oh says you probably absorbed some electricity!"

Khrista blinked. "I'm what?"

Ash's eyes widened. "Wait - what happened?"

"The GigaVolt," Pikachu replied. "It sounds like people are saying that your body took in some of the attack. And there's a rumor going around that Cyrus could end up making a comeback or something. Whatever it is, we're going to be in big trouble soon enough. There's something in the air that I don't like at all."

Ash and Khrista exchanged a quick glance, the former looking anxious while the latter was just plain curious.

"Have all the Pokemon been accounted for?" Ash finally asked.

"The Elite Four's been taking a survey. If they can find everyone on their 'List of Missing Pokemon,' then we're good."

"Does that list include Legendaries?"

Pikachu frowned slightly. "Legendaries? Probably. Why?"

Ash's eyes narrowed. "There are quite a few Legendaries that aren't on the mainland," he warned. "Dialga and Palkia, for instance."

Khrista's eyes widened, recalling what Chaos had told her not long after she had arrived. "That's right. You and the Lake Sprits weren't the only ones to be hit by the Red Chain. The main Legendaries of Sinnoh got hit with it, too!"

Ash nodded grimly. "We need to warn the others, then get a group together and go after them."

"But where are they?" Pikachu asked.

"I think I've got an idea," Khrista responded, frowning slightly. "Are they anywhere near Stark Mountain, Ash?"

"Near it? They live in it!" Ash gave her a strange look. "How'd you know?"

"You're not the only one who wanders to other places in their sleep," Khrista shot back with a smirk. She glanced at Pikachu. "Do you think you could help us sneak past Nurse Joy?"

I told you we weren't done yet! ;)