Hey guys! Happy belated Halloween! In case you were wondering, yes, I did go trick-or-treating, however, I didn't dress up. I'm surprised that I got candy, but I was even more surprised by how excited I was to get candy that I knew I probably wasn't going to eat. I hope you all had a wonderful halloween and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Feel free to share what you decided to dress up as for halloween and I'll give a special shout out to those i think were the most creative/those that pique my interest!

Chapter 3

A Stunted Reunion, Hidden Intentions

"Kyouhei!" Yancy ran over to the unconscious trainer, sitting against the dumpster. A Lucario, who was knelt over him, its eyes focused on his trainer, quickly got up and stood in between Yancy and Kyouhei.

"It's okay, Lucario, I'm here to help." She said to the Lucario, a gentle smile adorning her face. The Pokémon stood down and went back to kneeling next to his trainer. Yancy saw that Kyouhei had his hand loosely across his abdomen. She lifted up his shirt and saw a blue bruise on his chest, where his ribs were.

"Oh no, I think his rib is broken." Yancy reached into her purse to pull out her Xtransceiver, but then remembered that hers was missing. She began hyperventilating as she got up and rushed back out into the street.

"Help!" She called out, but there was no one in sight. What am I going to do? Then, an idea popped into her head. She ran back to Kyouhei and grabbed his Xtransceiver and called up the police.

"Nimbasa police speaking. How can we help?" A young woman said

"I found my friend collapsed against a dumpster. I think his ribs are broken and he seems to be unconscious." Yancy reported; her voice cracked as if she were on the verge of tears.

"Press the button on the side of the device so we can find where the two of you are." Yancy fumbled with the device and pressed the button. "Okay, wait right there and we'll be there soon." With that, the woman hung up the phone.

"Please be okay, Kyouhei." Yancy held his limp hand in hers as they waited for the ambulance to arrive.

Crimson flames licked the trees and the surrounding houses, ashes fluttering around like tiny little butterflies, as people, men and women, ran around screaming. Men in full chainmail clothing marched through the streets, shouting commands to their Pokémon. Trainers were rushing out, trying to fend off the men in chainmail, but were easily beaten and their Pokémon taken from them. Some Pokémon ran away from the conflict, heading into the forest to save themselves. Running with his father holding on to his sleeve, the two made their way through the ruin and destruction.

"Hurry Kyouhei, before they catch up to us!" The two of them rounded the corner and continued down the street.

From out of one of the side alleys jumped a Pokémon with a long snout like nose, flames shooting from its nostrils and its tail. The iris of its eyes were a fogged over by brilliant purple fog. The flaming Pokémon turned towards the father and son.

"Stand behind me son!" The man yelled as he shoved his son behind him.

The Pokémon scrunched up its snout as it reared its head back. A low growl settled in its belly that escalated into a roar as it spit out a ball of fire. The man turned around to sheild his son as the ball of fire hit his back, sending the two of them sprawling.

"Father?" Kyouhei shook his father, whose back was scorched. Tears were falling in torrents down his face as he shook harder and harder. The flaming Pokémon started stomping its way over to the boy. He turned his head to saw the Pokémon looming over him like a specter. The boy used his body to cover his father, crying out as he did so.

"Don't hurt daddy!" Kyouhei cried.

"So you're saying you found the boy sitting up against the dumpster and you swear you didn't have anything to do with it?" The police officer questioned Yancy, a skeptical look about his face.

"I know it's hard to believe, but it's the truth." Yancy hung her head low, avoiding eye contact with the police officer.

"And you said you are this young man's-"

"His name is Kyouhei," Yancy interrupted the police officer, finally looking up at the balding man.

"You are his -"

"Adoptive sister, Jane." Yancy smiled at him the smile she used to woo all her fans, the smile that defined her idol career.

"Okay. Whatever. I'll let you off the hook cause you remind me of that Idol girl who sung at the game last night." The police officer sighed before turning to the rest of his team. "Lets just get this boy to the hospital."

A team of four guys carefully picked up Kyouhei, strapped him into the stretcher, and wheeled him into the ambulance. Yancy hopped into the back of the ambulance and went to Kyouhei's side, grasping his hand tightly, holding it against her chest.

"You're going to be okay."

Just as the Pokémon reared its head back to shoot another fireball from point blank range, a blue and black blur leaped from the flames. From its paw, it shot a ball of blue energy, hitting the raging Pokémon in its snout, sending it sprawling to the ground.

"Kyouhei," The man coughed out blood, his voice raspy. "I'm done for son. Go, with this Riolu and get as far away from here as you can!" A fit of coughing followed.

"No daddy, I can't leave you!" Kyouhei said into his father's chest.

The Riolu gently put its paw on Kyouhei's shoulder. He turned towards the Pokémon, whose eyes weren't clouded over with that purple mist, but fierce with its own fire burning within them. The boy looked back to his father and then to this Pokémon and nodded his head. Slowly, he got up and held hands with the Riolu.

"I'll never forget you father. I'll make you proud." The two of them, the boy and the Riolu ran out through the streets, through the flaming village, together.

In the back of his mind he heard a voice. It was a familiar voice, a voice of a girl. His mind was filled with a purple presence. The flames turned purple, the sky a violet hue.

"You're going to be okay." He heard it say. He looked around at the bizarre scenery, looking for source of the voice, but there was no one in sight.

"Who's there?" Kyouhei cried out.

"You're going to be okay." The voice said again, this time a bit clearer, but he still couldn't find who was speaking to him. It sounded like a young girl.

"Who are you?" Kyouhei cried out again.

All of a sudden, Kyouhei saw a light off in the distance. He ran towards it as fast as his small legs could carry him. Soon the light engulfed him, taking over all his senses.

Kyouhei woke up with a gasp, beads of sweat trialing down his face. He sat up quickly and winced slightly. He looked down to his shoulder and could see that there were bandages wrapped around his chest and shoulder that held an icepack against his ribcage. Images of what had transpired in the desert flashed through his mind, the Darmanitan and the strange man with green hair. Across the room, he saw his Lucario leaning against the wall, it eyes closed; it was in a deep sleep. He really envied how his Pokémon could do that.

"Oh, I see you're finally awake." A woman in nurses clothing and short brown hair walked in. She had a warm motherly smile as she looked at Kyouhei.

"Yeah," Kyouhei said, placing his hand on his ribcage as he smiled back. "Thank you."

"It's what we do," the nurse replied smiling back.

"Just one question. How did I get here?" Kyouhei remembered that he passed out back in the desert, so everything that happened in between there and the hospital was a swirling mess of darkness to him.

"This girl with pink hair, claiming to be your sister, happened to come across you slumped against a dumpster, so she called us and we brought you here. She actually just left a few minutes ago. What a sweet girl she was."

Sister? Kyouhei couldn't remember him having any siblings. "I'll think I'll go thank her right now," Kyouhei smiled as he pulled back the covers and hopped out of bed.

"Sir, what are you doing? You aren't fully treated yet." The nurse said with a worried look on her face.

"You guys can't hold me here, right?" As soon as Kyouhei snapped out of bed, his Lucario opened its eyes wide and proceeded to grab his backpack. Kyouhei reached inside the pack and grabbed a sweater. He draped it over his shoulders, brushed past the nurse and made his way out of the hospital. He got a lot of strange looks from the doctors and nurses as his made his way through the hallways, but he didn't care; he needed to see the person who to claimed to be his "sister".

There was a man leaning against one of the support beams, who looked like he was waiting for someone.

"Excuse me, but did you happen to see a girl come out of the hospital a little while ago?" Kyouhei asked him.

"Um, yeah. I think she went that way," the man pointed down the sidewalk.

"Thanks!" Kyouhei took off down the sidewalk.

When he got to the end of the block, he looked around, searching through the sea of bodies, seeing if he could spot anyone he knew. Across the street, he caught a glimpse of pink hair and an off-white sun hat, weaving through the crowd. He glanced at the crosswalk signal, which was a blinking hand with only five seconds left. I'll make it.

Kyouhei and Lucario took off, weaving through the cars across the four-lane street. The timer hit zero before he made it across and the cars started beeping their horns. Kyouhei held up his hand, bowing his head with an apologetic look on his face. One man stuck his head out of his car and yelled at Kyouhei, but he pressed on.

Kyouhei was short of breath as he stepped on to the sidewalk on the other side, however, Lucario was just fine. He always envied his Pokémon's stamina. He stood back up, holding his hand against his ribcage as he felt his broken bone pinching his lung. Kyouhei just barely caught the girl turn the corner.

"Miss!" Kyouhei yelled out as he took off down the sidewalk, weaving his way through the crowds, getting many angry looks. He turned the corner and ran up to her, grabbing on to her shoulder and spinning her around.

"Do I know you?" A young woman who looked about in her twenties turned around to face Kyouhei.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else." Kyouhei took his hand off her shoulder and let it fall to his side.

"Well, I hope you find them." The woman smiled at Kyouhei and continued on her way, leaving him standing there on the sidewalk. The adrenaline began to wear off and he could feel his rib throbbing.

"I'd better get back to the hospital."

"Yancy! I was just about to call you." Colress greeted Yancy as she came through the front doors of the building, Aldith standing beside him. "I see you were able to find your Darmanitan."

Darmanitan became very still and rigid, a gesture Yancy didn't see too often. She took note of the behavior. She knew her Pokémon well and could tell it was frightened of Colress for some reason.

"Yeah, luckily," Yancy said cheerfully, smiling at Colress.

"I'm glad," Colress smiled back. "Now I know it is a bit early, but I want you to have your lesson with Aldith now. We're going to leave for Driftveil City in a couple days and I want to have a run through when we get there, so you should get as much rest as you can."

"Yes, of course father." Yancy complied, following Aldith into the elevator.

After the doors to the elevator closed, Colress pressed a tile on the wall. A series of locks seemed to disengage behind the wall and secret elevator revealed itself. He hopped in and took it down to a control room. From the room, he could see both the room where Yancy and Aldith were having their lesson and another room beside it, where there was a shackled Keldeo and several of Colress's scientists. The sound from the lesson room was projected to the room with the Keldeo, but not the other way around.

"All levels are set sir, we are ready to go." A scientist from the Keldeo room relayed to Colress.

"Thank you. Aldith, you can begin the lesson." Colress spoke into a microphone on control panel in the room he was in.

Aldith turned to Yancy and gave her a device that looked like a choker. Yancy strapped it on to her neck. "Okay, Yancy lets run through the set for the Driftveil performance."

"Yes Ma'am." Yancy nodded. Aldith counted her off and Yancy began to sing.

Keldeo woke up with a start; surveying the area it found its self in. Just moments ago, it seemed like; it was in a field enjoying itself with its friends. Keldeo tried to move its legs, but found that it couldn't due to chains being attached to them. It struggled, but found that no matter how hard it struggled the chains wouldn't budge. It was about to give up and pass out again when it heard something.

There was a voice singing. The voice worked its way into Keldeo's ears and worked its way through its head. Keldeo began to feel its anger and hostility coming out. It began to thrash uncontrollably, crying out in rage, trying to break out of its shackles.

"Sir, the device is performing even better than the prototype we used at the game the other day. The Pokémon is showing signs of hostility much sooner than it was with the prototype." One of the scientists reported into his headset.

"That is great news." Colress smiled a crooked smile. So it works on the legendary Pokémon as well. Colress began to laugh, a small chuckle at first, but it soon escalated into an out of control cackle. "I feel like Driftveil is going to be a very interesting performance."

Yancy finished the whole set, sweat glistening on her skin and her mouth dry from singing. Aldith handed her a bottle of water that Yancy took, with a thankful smile. Yancy took a giant gulp of water.

"Great work today, Yancy. You are going to be amazing," Aldith said to Yancy with a smile.

"Thank you, Aldith." Yancy bowed her head as she slummed down against a wall.

"We're done for the day, so you are free to do whatever. Just don't stay out too late." Aldith walked over to Yancy. "The device, please?"

"Oh yes, sorry." Yancy carefully undid the device around her neck. "What does this thing do? You guys always make me wear it when I practice."

"It's nothing too special. It helps to reduce the strain your voice puts on your vocal cords." Aldith replied with a smile as she took the device from Yancy. "Now if you'll excuse me," Aldith made her way into the elevator, leaving Yancy alone in the practice room.

After a few minutes rest, Yancy got up and made her way to the elevator, when she heard something that sounded like a Pokémon crying. It was so quiet that she believed it was just her imagination playing mind games on her. She dismissed it and took the elevator back up to her room where her Darmanitan was sleeping in the corner, looking more like a decoration than a Pokémon.

Yancy smiled at the sleeping Pokémon and hopped into her bed, instantly drifting into a deep sleep.

Thank you for reading! Feel free to review if you liked it or if you wanna share what you were for Halloween!