Beyond the Truth - Part I

[AirwaY]

Beyond the Truth - Part I

Prologue:

-Pallet Town, 12:02 am-
I was lying there, listening to the calm, night wind. I could hear crickets chirping, and an owl hooting. It was a peaceful night, a quiet night. Maybe it was a bit too quiet.
As quick as a bullet, I shot straight up. What was that noise? It sounded like a low hum.
I heard a twig snap, and the movement of feet. I threw off the covers and headed for the balcony door. I stumbled over a pile of books along the way, only barely managing to cling on to my desk for support.
I slid the door open and stepped out. I looked around. There was nothing to be seen. Instead I decided to look up, and to admire the star veiled sky. A full moon topped it all off.
“I wish it could be like this all the time,” I said quietly.
*rustle, rustle*
Again a noise that shouldn’t be there… I gazed over the backyard, and tried to spot the source of the noise.
There! Something was moving between the bushes, creeping closer. I jumped down from the balcony, which wasn’t terribly high, and moved forward, slowly.
As I crept closer, the noise became quieter. When I had reached the bushes, I stopped for a moment. No more movement, no more noise. Nothing.
I pushed away a few branches to get a better look.
“Meowww…”
“AAAHH!”
My heart had jumped so bad it felt like it had popped out of my chest. I looked down and was staring straight into the eyes of a Siamese cat, which stared back up at me.
“Tuffy, you scared me…” I said, while clutching my chest.
“Meow?”
I picked up the cat and sat down. I sat there for a few minutes, petting the cat. Before it had the chance to fall asleep, I put it back down, and climbed back up onto the balcony. I reentered my room, laid back down in my bed, and fell asleep almost straight away.

~To be continued...

[AirwaY]

Introduction:

-Pallet Town, 6:56 am-
A few hours later, I had opened my eyes again. I blinked a few times, trying to protect my eyes from the sunlight that was pouring into my bedroom via the open curtains. I rolled out of bed, closed the Pokéball printed curtains, and scrambled around the room searching for clothes. When I had found a pile of clean clothes, I picked out a white shirt and a blue vest and topped it all off with my gray jeans. I glanced in the mirror and noticed my hair looked like it always had looked: messy. I didn’t really mind, it gave me a kind of rough look.
I opened up my door, which creaked quite badly, and headed for the stairs. When I reached them, I noticed something was different. My parents’ bedroom door was closed, which was strange, since they both had to work at five o’clock, and normally they left the door open after they’d left. Could they possibly still be asleep? I decided to check it out.
I turned the knob and pushed on the door. It slowly swung open, and revealed and empty bed. The bed was made, meaning they must have left. I gave a sigh, and thought they might’ve not felt like opening their door today. I closed it on my way out, and headed downstairs. When I turned left into the kitchen, something else caught my eye that shouldn’t be there. A man was sitting at the table, who looked roughly around the age of forty, with brown hair and cold, gray eyes. He also had a crooked jaw, as though it had been broken before. He was wearing a long, black tailcoat, and it was hard to see his posture and whatever else it was he was wearing.
“Umm… may I ask who you are?” I asked.
“Better yet, I’ll tell ye ‘oo I am. The name’s Johnny, I’m an old friend of yer Dad’s. I’ve been ‘ere fer a few ‘ours, ‘e let me in so I could wait fer you ter wake up. ‘E said you probably wouldn’t min’ going with me to the pier,” the man said.
“The pier? But what for?” I replied.
“Yer Dad said you like to swim, and I figured you might enjoy it. And it gives me sumthin’ ter do while yer old man’s at work. It’s also a way ter get ter know each other better, since you’ll probably be seeing me ‘ere more often.”
“Umm, okay… I’ll get ready after I’ve eaten something, okay? I’m starving.”
“That’s a waste, I figured we could go out fer some breakfast, I haven’t eaten anything meself. So, what d’you say?” Johnny asked.
“I say, let’s get going then! I’ll just run up and grab my swimming trunks, and a few other things and we can get going. Thanks Johnny,” I said.
I dashed upstairs, packed a few things into my bag, and jumped the last few steps. Johnny was heading for the car. I locked the front door, and together we went to live the day Johnny had just described for me.

~To be continued...

[AirwaY]

Chapter 1: A true friend?

Three years later...

-Pallet Town, 1:49 PM-

“Happy Birthday to you… happy birthday to you…”
There I was. I wasn’t having this huge party, but just enjoying my fifteenth birthday with my parents and Johnny. Yes, Johnny was still around, just as he had said. He had come round our house everyday, and we’ve become great friends. We do a lot together, him, my Dad and I. It’s been great these past three years. It’s really made me happy having him around. He’s like a guide to me. I also got a girlfriend thanks to him. He managed to give me the courage, and now I’ve been in a relation with Linda for more than two years.
“Now, blow out the candles Rax!” my Mom said to me.
I breathed in deeply, and blew out, hard. All fifteen candles went out.
“Good job, son. Ready for your presents?” my Dad managed to ask me through the hysterical cries of my mother, while muttering under her breath “my boy’s gotten so big, I couldn’t be more proud”.
“Sure thing Dad!”
I walked over to the small pile of presents and starting to unwrap them. Once they were all opened, I sat back to admire the catch. I had received a laptop, a new watch, another blue vest, since my old one was getting too small for me, and a leather wallet which contained two new hundred dollar bills. What I also noticed, there was nothing from Johnny. Had he forgotten my birthday and didn’t have time to pick up a present?
“Rax, I got sumthin’ fer you right ‘ere. Sorry it’s unwrapped, didn’t have the time, I got caught in the middle of sumthin’,” Johnny had said.
He handed me a small silver chain, which had a small, blue ball hanging from a holder. The ball was sparkling in the light, and it looked as though it gave light itself. It also had a warm touch to it, as though a small fire was burning within.
“Now that there’s a special orb we managed to find on the bottom of the lake. I brought it to the specialists to find out what it really was, but they didn’t have a clue. There was one man though, who tried to steal it the mo’ he saw it. Put up a fight too… he said it had some kind of mystical powers, but we ain’t sure what they are. Anyways, thought you might like it,” Johnny explained.
“It’s beautiful… those powers, I believe it’s supposed to hypnotize you or something, I can’t keep my eyes off it…”
“Hahah… it’s always a possibility… Glad you like it,” Johnny said.
“Mom, Dad, Johnny, thanks for this wonderful birthday, and these great gifts. I can’t wait until next year, when you all buy me a car,” I said hopefully.
They all turned their backs on me, and laughed.
“Okay, okay, I’ll…” I had started.
There was a loud noise, which came from the front hall. Dad quickly went to check what it was, but came falling back through the doorway, and three men wearing black suits stepped into the living room.
Dad scrambled to his feet, and yelled, “What the hell do you think you’re doing! Who the hell are…”
One of the men grabbed my Dad, and hit him hard in his neck, and Dad fell unconscious.
The others grabbed Mom and Johnny, and threw me to the wall.
The one gave me an evil look, which said enough. If I were to tell anyone about this, either they would kill me, or my parents and Johnny. And I had a feeling they were able to do anything.
These people left the house with their hostages, and I quickly ran to the door. They had already stepped into a black pickup truck with tinted windows. They drove off, leaving me behind.
I returned to the living room, wondering if this was for real. I felt my insides burning, and felt a hot pain on my chest. I looked down, and noticed the orb was glowing extremely bright. I took it off and examined it. The light had faded instantly. I put it back on, and it started to glow again. I took no more notice of it, and sat down. After having my head in my hands for a moment or two, I got back up. I couldn’t call the police; it would hurt my parents and Johnny. So what could I do?
At that moment, the phone rang. I answered.
“Hello?”
“Here’s Johnny! Rax, listen carefully,” I heard from the phone.
“Johnny! But… you were…how…?” I asked.
“Hahaha… You really think they would hurt me? Why would they kidnap their own leader?”
“Leader!? Johnny, what the hell’s going on?” I asked again, now with a felling of rage.
“You’ll learn it all in time. Now listen to me. Tell anyone about this, an’ yer dead. Not yer parents, we need them, so if you like yer life, then you’ll keep yer mouth shut. Everything you need to know for the moment is on the laptop yer parents gave you. I sent an e-mail to you, so check it, all right? And abou’ that orb… don’ lose it. It’s a sacred artifact, which channels yer emotions into the orb. Everything you feel, it will all be absorbed, and when needed, you can call upon those emotions.”
“If it’s so great… why did you give it to me?” I said.
“Well, I had to do sumthin’ nice fer you. It was yer birthday an’ all, and I felt bad lying to you all these years,” he said.
“Lying…?”
Tears were starting to come to my eyes. Was this really the man I had once called a true friend?
“You really think I did all those things with you ‘cause I liked you? Haha! No boy, it was to get to yer Mom and Dad, to get yer trust. Couldn’t have some boy mistrusting me, whilst hindering the job I had ter do. Anyways, we’ve been on too long. I’m gonna hang up now, but we’ll talk later. Cya kid,” and he hung up.
I picked up the machine and smashed it against the wall. I sat down on the couch, sniffling, but not being able to cry. The orb around my neck was glowing again, preventing me from this emotion. I took it off and was ready to toss it, but instead, I hung it back around my neck. If this thing could really keep emotions inside, then it would be really handy once I track down Johnny. I started to wonder… how much rage and anger could he and his team really handle? My mouth pulled up into an evil grin, and I stood up at once, headed for my room, and started to pack my things.
I made plans to leave tomorrow morning, and the rest of today I would try to enjoy my city, since I probably wouldn’t be seeing it for quite a while.

[AirwaY]

Chapter 2: Time

-Pallet Town, 5:12 PM-

I had been out all day, trying to enjoy myself. But how was that possible, knowing the fact that one of my best friend’s had been lying to me for years, and it turns out he had kidnapped my parents? Every time I received a comment about my new necklace, I just gave a shrug, and continued walking. After a few ‘Happy Birthday’s’, I got fed up and decided to stay clear of the town.
I climbed over a fence at the edge of town which led to a beautiful grass field right next to a water route, which, if followed, would bring you to Cinnabar Island.
I sat down on the bank and just sat there, staring into the depths of the water. I had sat there for many hours, and finally stood up after a while. My back was stiff, so I walked it off, and when I past the water, I shot a glance at my reflection. My eyes were bloodshot, and looked extremely tired. While looking at the orb around my neck, a pain shot through my forehead. The memory of the day’s event were too harsh on me, I could barely handle them. If I took off the necklace I was sure to do something rash, and I couldn’t afford to do that right now.
I started to head back home, and when I reached the fence, I heard a rustle of leaves. I looked around, but didn’t see anything. I started to climb back over the fence, and when I reached the other side, the rustling had returned. But still there was nothing to see.
Glancing over my shoulder every few minutes, I headed back home. When I reached the house, I noticed the bushes beside me were moving. It was probably the neighbor’s cat again, Tuffy. I moved over to the bush, and pushed a few branches away. But there was nothing.
“What the hell? I could swear that…” I said. “Reminds me of a few years ago…”
I turned back to face the door and saw that it was open. Strange, it was shut a few seconds ago.
I advanced, slowly. When I reached the door, the leaves were rustling again! The door slammed shut, and all leaves throughout the yard started to rustle.
“Okay, who are you and what do you want? You don’t want to make me angry, for I will take this necklace off if necessary, and then you’ll get it badly!” I yelled angrily.
A figure emerged out of the bushes and walked towards me. Many more figures followed, some of them looked human, while the others looked particularly strange.
Once out of the shadows, a man with a large scar across his left eye, and many open wounds on his face became clear. He was wearing clothes which had completely been torn. His shirt was missing a sleeve, while the other was ripped at the shoulder. His pants had many rips in it, and were worn out. The other figures had similar clothes, but of course in their own style. The smaller creatures weren’t human at all. They were Pokémon. I recognized an Electrode, Sandshrew, a blue duck, which I didn’t know the name of, a Mr. Mime and a Vulpix. While examining each of them, a moth Pokémon came floating down in front of me.
“Veno…” it said.
“Who… who are you people? And what do you want?” I asked, glad that the orb was busy absorbing my fear.
The one with the scarred eye glared at me, and then spoke.
“We are the Kanto Protection Force. We protect all Kanto inhabitants from all sorts of things, such as a rampaging Pokémon, or gangs who are working on some kind of dangerous job. And we’ve noticed an activity of an extremely dangerous group, also known as the Alliance. They have invented several terrifying devices, which are sold for a large sum of money. But they’re close to a breakthrough, which will probably change the world completely if this device is finished. They have been working on a device which is able to freeze, slow-down, turn back and even fast-forward time,” the man explained. “Think for a moment what they could do with that type of power? If they’re close to capture, they can freeze time and make a getaway. They can do anything with this device. We thought their previous one was dangerous, which was able to dry up large bodies of water. We managed to destroy it and all blueprints, but this is worse.”
“Good lord… But what do they need my parents for?” I asked.
“Think, boy think! They’re scientists! They study things like this, and they have a pretty good idea of how time truly works.”
“Scientists? But they told me they were lawyers, which is why they were late so much!” I said in surprise.
“Well, they must’ve had a good reason for not telling you then. I wouldn’t have, but it seems that it was all for nothing, since you know what’s going on anyway. And that orb around your neck is another one of the Alliance’s inventions. The leader must have given it to you, since he’s the only one with access to something as dangerous as that,” he said.
“Dangerous? Johnny said it was able to absorb all emotions and feelings, and that they can be called upon at any time!”
What was going on? I was too confused, and hoped these people could clarify more than what I’ve heard so far.
“Johnny? If you mean the man who’s been here for the past three years, that’s not Johnny. That man is called Blake Wolfe. He’s the leader of them all, and is the smartest. He’s the one who invents most of the things they produce.”
It seems that ‘Johnny’ has done more lying than I thought. It was logical not to tell everyone his intentions, but to even hide his true name? Now I started to wonder if he had gone through his entire life by the name of ‘Johnny’, for he said he was a friend of my parents, and they called him Johnny as well.
“Kid, don’t worry. We saw you packing your stuff today, and it’s not necessary. You are not to go after this team, understood? You are to stay here, and a few of my men will keep a close watch on you, for your own safety. Here’s another thing that is required for you to carry with you at all times, and if you go out, report to the guards, and check in every half-hour in any way possible,” he ordered me.
He handed me a small red and white ball, a Pokéball, and the small fox Pokémon walked up to me and rubbed up against my side. It seemed that I was receiving a Pokémon for my protection. I knelt down and patted the Vulpix, then stood up straight again.
“Thanks for all of this, but I’m going after John… I mean Blake, myself. There’s no way you can stop me, so don’t try. I have some emotions trapped in here, and they’re ready to be released upon the Alliance,” I said while holding up the little blue orb.
“Damn, I forgot to tell you what it really is. It’d be best to take it off. It does trap emotions inside, and they can be called upon anytime you want, but I’m sure Blake didn’t tell you what happens if they are used?”
“Umm, no he didn’t,” I replied, wondering what made it so dangerous.
“Each time you use the orb and the trapped emotions, they will all flow back into your body, making it nearly impossible to control them all. Think of it… when angry, are you not blinded by rage? When sad, aren’t you and easy target, due to being off your guard? What happens if these emotions are mixed? Sure, you can become stronger from the rage, but also weaker by the vulnerability of sadness. If you cannot control emotions once mixed, you’re in huge trouble. So please be wise, and take off the necklace. The choice is up to you,” he said, with a tone of concern in his voice.
“No. I might not be able to handle it, but with the love for my parents mixed in, how could it make me weaker? I will have a goal set,” I said, smiling.
There was a moment of silence, wherein the man stared at me. He finally nodded, and turned around. A few others followed, while two stayed behind, along with Golduck and Venomoth. I also turned around, and headed inside the house, while clutching the Pokéball I had received. Vulpix followed, and together we went upstairs.
When we reached my room, I sat down and booted up the laptop. Now was a good time to check the e-mail. The small, red fox jumped onto my bed, curled up and fell asleep. I smiled while watching the peaceful movements of its chest. I turned back to face the screen and opened a page and went to my e-mail server. There it was, the e-mail marked: Have fun, kid.
I opened it and read.

Rax,
When you receive this message I’ll probably already be in the car with your parents or back at my Headquarters. Sorry it had to go this way, you weren’t really supposed to exist, you know. But I’m sure you’re a smart kid, and will leave us be. Why I needed your parents… well, I’ll start with this. We’re creating a device and it has to do with the subject of what your parents were studying. Once we’re done, we might give them back. The chance is large, since nothing will be able to stop us once it’s done. This will be the last e-mail you’ll get from me in a while. So goodbye, Rax.

Johnny

I wonder if he hasn’t thought of KPF coming to visit me. Obviously not, or else he would’ve signed with his real name, and what he was making.
“Which means… I have the upper hand in this situation,” I said, quietly.
They don’t know that I know what they’re doing, who they really are, and that I know what the orb really can do now.
I exited the program, and decided to install a few others. While I started to install a huge file, I decided to get some sleep. It was only 6:27 PM, but I was extremely tired. I got up from my chair and lied down on the bed, next to Vulpix. It opened its eyes and looked at me with its big, cute eyes. I smiled at it, gave a yawn, rolled over and fell asleep.
Tomorrow I would find a way out of town, and find some way to get far enough before they could find me.
The time had come…

[AirwaY]

Chapter 3: Escape from an ally

-Pallet Town, 6:51 AM-

About twelve hours later I had reawaken due to the sunshine pouring into my bedroom. I quickly got up, but careful enough not to wake up Vulpix, and looked out of the window. The previous guards had gone, and now two others were standing there, while their Pokémon – Charmeleon and Electabuzz – were pacing through the yard. I couldn’t help but notice that the guards’ Pokémon hadn’t been of the same element so far. It might have been a coincidence, but I think it was to keep an upper hand if something were to happen.
I also noticed that I fell asleep with the same clothes on I had worn yesterday and the day before. I decided to change out of them, and searched through my closet, looking for a matching set. I found a pair of black pants with two grey stripes on the thigh, which went horizontal. They also had some sort of stretchy, blue material, which were about a foot or so higher than the ankle. I pulled my pale green t-shirt over my head, and grabbed my blue jacket and put it on. I also found a pair of gloves, which were the same color as my shirt, and the fingers only came up halfway my fingers, leaving the top part open. Lastly, I kept my pants up by snapping the silver buckle on my blue belt, which could also hold my Pokéballs. I messed up my hair a bit to give it the same rough look it always had, woke up Vulpix, and together we headed downstairs for some breakfast. While I got Vulpix some food, I looked around for my shoes. When I saw them lying underneath the coffee table in the living room, I slid my feet into each of them and tied up the laces. I joined Vulpix in the kitchen, and when we were done eating, we went back upstairs.
The programs I had been downloading were finally done. The one was a highly detailed map of the Kanto Region, and also acted as a navigation system. Kind of like the Pokégear they have down in Johto. The other program was a database of the many trainers, Gym Leaders and Elite Four. It provided me with a lot of information that might be useful for when I head out. The final program was an anti-tracking system, so neither the Alliance nor the KPF could find my whereabouts. I was ready. I checked my watch and saw it was only 7:26 AM. I had all day to try and avoid the Force while trying to get out of town.
While I made my way to the front door, my cell phone rang. I picked up and heard a weary voice say: “Do… not leave… the house… Rax,” the voice said. It sounded as though whoever this was was badly injured.
“Excuse me? Who are you?” I asked.
“Don’t leave… the house…”
*click…* *beep* *beep* *beep*
They hung up. Now I was more curious than ever. First I receive a magical orb which could do great harm, second my parents get kidnapped, third I’m personally being guarded by an official organization, who are protecting me from some mad scientists, and lastly, some stranger happens to have my cell number and tells me to stay in the house.
What was seriously going on?
I decided not to think about it anymore, and headed outside. When I stepped off out of the door, one of the guards stopped me.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked me.
“Out into town. Don’t worry, I’m sure you guys are all over the place, and I’ve got Vulpix with me, just as I was instructed,” I replied.
The guard nodded and stepped back. I turned around and quickly walked away.
I walked around town all morning, observing. It seems that there were only a few guards, but they were stationed at places which made it almost impossible for me to find a way out. They had the entire town in their view. At least, that’s what I thought. I noticed a large brick wall, which had a crack in it. There was a guard nearby, but out of reach of being able to hear me. I asked Vulpix if she could try and break the crack open a bit further, to make a hole.
Vulpix opened her mouth and fired off a large stream of flames. I grabbed a sturdy-looking, metal pole and started smashing the heated wall, hoping to do some damage.
When I realized that it wasn’t working, I ordered Vulpix to try something else. Vulpix let out a cry, and I heard running. I turned around and saw some Pokémon dashing over to where we were standing. Vulpix started to talk with them, and one by one, they stepped up. First we had a Raticate, who tried to bash it. Second was a Mr. Mime, who tried to break it down using its psychic abilities. And the last Pokémon was a Machop, who took a moment to focus, and then landed a powerful hit on the wall, creating a hole big enough to fit through.
“Yes! You did it! Thanks guys for the help, you really have no idea what it means to me. You could’ve just saved my parents’ lives…” I said.
The Pokémon said goodbye, and I quickly headed to my house.
When I arrived, I walked up to the guard.
“I’m planning on sleeping over at a friend’s house, so I’m going to go pack my things, all right?”
I waited for a reply. The guard took his time, examining me, and then he grabbed his walkie-talkie, and talked into it.
“Boss, he wants to go sleep over somewhere. He was out all day, with Vulpix. I don’t know what I should do, so… What’s that? All right, I’ll tell him,” he ended.
“The boss says you are allowed, but we are to go and guard the house. Now go get your stuff.”
“You don’t have to go right away, I’m just going to bring my stuff over, and I’ll come get you guys later, all right?”
“Fine. If you do not return by sic o’clock this evening, we will form a search party, so check the time every once in a while, understood?”
I nodded, and headed upstairs. I grabbed my bag, and loaded it with my laptop, a flashlight, some extra clothes, and then I headed back downstairs to get some food.
When I exited the house, the guard demanded on searching through my bag. I held it up and he took it. He searched through it and asked me what I needed the food for.
“I’m sneaking it for tonight,” I replied. The guard nodded – which seemed to be the only thing they ever did – and handed me back my bag. I turned around and walked off, trying not to look suspicious. I just needed one more thing. I walked around town, and finally I arrived at my destination; Professor Oak’s Pokémon Laboratory. It was the best place to be if you’re going out on an adventure. I could get the necessary things I needed to travel from place to place, without having any trouble. I entered the building, and saw Professor Oak straight away. He was walking through the hallway, heading to some other room.
“Professor Oak! I need your help!” I shouted to him. I walked over to where he was standing.
“Hmm? What for?”
“Well, I’m going out on a journey, and I need a few things; Pokéballs, a Pokédex and a Trainer’s License. I decided to come here first, otherwise I might not get very far,” I said.
“I see you also have your first Pokémon. Well, come with me then, I just need to enter a few things into the database.”
We continued on through the halls and entered a circle shaped room. We walked up to a large computer, and Professor Oak sat down.
“Now, I need to tell me your name, age and birth date,” he said.
I had thought about this. It might be easier for me to give a false name, to avoid trouble and the KPF.
“Peter Green, 15, the fourth of September,” I replied.
“Okay, let me fill this in… done!”
A small card was printed out, which the Professor put into a laminator, and handed it to me, along with five little red and white balls, and a red Pokédex.
“You’re all set then, Peter! I hope you enjoy your journey, and if you ever need me, you can contact me via a computer in and PokéCenter. Farewell and good luck!”
I bade my farewell, and left the building. Making sure none of the guards had seen me, I quickly set off to the brick wall. To my surprise, the hole was already shut when I got there.
“No… this can’t be, not now!”
“It was a nice try, Rax, but not good enough,” I heard from behind me.
The leader of the KPF was standing there, staring at me with a cold gaze.
“There was no mistaking it, you can’t be stopped. I’m sorry Rax, but because of your actions, we can not allow you to try this again. You’re being brought into our Headquarters until this is all over.”
“What!? No! You can’t do that, I have to go save… let me go!” I yelled.
I suddenly felt a burning pain in my chest, and I heard the leader yell: “Quick, let him go! Stay back, and don’t provoke him!”
I fell to the ground, blinded with rage. I stood up, and ordered Vulpix to attack. She shot another stream of flames at my guardians, and I recalled her into her ball, and ran. How I was going to get out now, I don’t know. But I had to find some way, because being caught wasn’t an option. I ran a few blocks and around the corner and bumped into someone.
“Quick… this way…”
I was being dragged along, while this person kept their hand pressed against my mouth. Finally, they stopped in the shadows, and we sat there and watched the KPF members rush by, not noticing us. The person let me go, and I turned to look at their face. But whoever it was, had disappeared. I was certain they were the exact same person who had called me this morning. They had the same, weak voice. I stood up straight, and carefully walked out of the alley. There was no one in sight, so I dashed to the edge of town. Guards were everywhere around the exit. I noticed a large fence, which could mean only one thing: freedom. I jumped and grabbed on, and climbed. A few guards noticed me, and came running. By the time they reached me, I was already over. They quickly grabbed their walkie-talkies, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I ran as far as I could, and for as long as I could. When I had finally stopped, I let Vulpix out of her ball again. I smiled, and let myself fall onto the grass, and laid there for a few minutes, enjoying the peace, blue skies and freedom. It wasn’t that easy, but I had done it. I had managed to escape… from an ally.

[AirwaY]

Chapter 4: Sight Seeing

-Route 1, 7:03 AM-

After the escape from the KPF, I started to wonder if it was a smart thing to do. Sure, I could go check for my parents now, but if I was found, I would be in deep trouble. Extremely deep.
While walking down the route which connected Pallet and Viridian to each other, I saw quite a bit of wild Pokémon. They were mainly Rattata and Pidgey, which fell easily to Vulpix’ ember attack. After a few more minutes of walking and enjoying the peace around me, the blue skies, tall, leafy trees and perfectly cut grass, I came across a person. It didn’t seem too unusual of course, but this was a Trainer. One who challenged me. This was it; my first Trainer battle.
“Go Charmander!” the boy yelled, while tossing a red and white ball into the air.
I ordered Vulpix to get into position, and she got ready, and started to growl lightly.
“Charmander, use Leer!”
Charmander dashed forwards, and ended up face to face with Vulpix, while opening its brown eyes wide. I saw Vulpix shiver, and knew the attack had worked. This wasn’t going to be that easy, the only moves Vulpix knew were Ember and Quick Attack, which she had learned recently.
“Vulpix, try a Quick Attack, but attack from a not so obvious angle!” I shouted out.
Vulpix knew what to do. I came up with this strategy while fighting the wild Pokémon. While Vulpix dashed forward, she crossed diagonally, and Charmander followed her with its eyes. But the trick was to try from the backside, and quickly dash back. While the small fox, darted forwards, looking like she was going to make contact with Charmander, she quickly dashed to the side again, and managed to land a trick from the front. The fire lizard let out a cry, and was knocked back while slamming into a tree, hard.
Charmander managed to get up quickly, and awaited its next order.
“Charmander, go for a Scratch now its defense is down!” the trainer shouted!
This is what I was afraid of. I yelled at Vulpix to try and dodge and fire an ember. Vulpix jumped, but Charmander’s claws had raked the fox’s leg. Vulpix came crashing down, but managed to fire off a small fireball while on the ground. Another strategy I had come up with. The fire moves didn’t do much damage to Charmander, none actually, for the attack wasn’t aimed at the lizard. The attack hit the ground, and the leaves quickly caught fire, while Vulpix was dashing around it, and somehow controlling the flames to stay in place. It seemed that Vulpix had a special power of her own, giving her the advantage.
Vulpix finally stopped running, and Charmander was trapped inside a ring of fire, with no way out.
“No, Charmander! You have to try something, try slashing through the wall! Use Scratch!”
Charmander walked up to the edge of the wall, raised its claw and brought it back down pretty fast. A second later Charmander was running around in the barrier of flames, while trying to cool its hand down by blowing on it.
“Good job, Vulpix,” I said “If you want to give up, go right ahead, you won’t see me stop you.”
“Fine. Charmander, return!” the boy said, while brandishing his Pokéball. Charmander was sucked back inside in a flash of red light, and together, the boy and I put out the flames.
“That’s some Vulpix you have there. Where did it learn to manipulate the flames like that?” he asked.
“I actually have no idea. I got him from the Kanto Protection Force’s leader, so they probably taught it to her,” I replied.
“The KPF!? Hahaha, there’s no way the KPF would just give a Pokémon away, especially one with a gift like that. What was it for?” he asked, in a taunting voice.
“Well, it started when…”
And we sat down and went through the entire story, which the boy – who was called Rick – was having trouble believing. I showed him the necklace, and told him to put it on. When it was safely around his neck, I punched him hard on the shoulder.
“OU… wait a minute… where’s the rest of the pain?”
“In there,” I said while pointing to the small blue orb attached to the chain.
“No way… so what you were saying was…true?”
“Duh, why would I lie about something this big?”
Rick took the necklace off again and handed it back to me. He looked around, and quickly stood up.
“What’s up?” I asked him.
“Sssh! Follow me, but be quiet,” he said, almost whispering it.
I stood up and quietly followed Rick. We walked through the tall grass and ended up at a large tree, which Rick showed some strange interest for.
He pointed up, and I looked. What I saw was amazing. It was an entire nest of Weedle and Kakuna. Rick threw his Pokéball, and gave Charmander an order. Charmander gave the tree a tremendous head butt, and while walking around - apparently dizzy from the hit – a few of the Pokémon fell down. Only Weedle though. Rick grabbed another Pokéball from his pocket, and threw one at the caterpillar. The ball started to shake violently, meaning Weedle was putting up a good fight trying to escape, but finally the ball gave a loud PING and stopped shaking. Rick picked up his brand new Pokémon, grinning proudly.
“Well, now I have two Pokémon. You should try and get one too, Rax, there easy to train but are still pretty powerful in their final evolution,” Rick explained.
“Nah, I’m thinking more along the lines of a Pidgey, they looked pretty cool when they evolve into Pidgeot… wait a second, what’s that?” I stared into the distance.
It was a small bird Pokémon, which could easily be related to the Pidgey species, but I recognized it as a Spearow.
“That’s the one. I’m going after it…” and I took off.

[AirwaY]

Chapter 5: Way of the Spearow

-Route 1, 7:41 AM-

While silently approaching the bird Pokémon, I beckoned Vulpix forwards. She darted out, and rammed into Spearow before it had a chance to get away. Spearow gave me a sharp look, clicked its beak, and went into the offense. It flew up into the air, and came soaring back down, whilst striking Vulpix incredibly hard with its sharp beak. Since Vulpix couldn’t be knocked anywhere else except into the ground, she suffered even more damage. A small crater appeared where her body lay. She managed to crawl up straight, and shook the dirt out of her fur. She started growling again, waiting for orders.
“Vulpix, let’s go with an Ember attack!” I shouted out.
Vulpix opened its tiny jaws, and shot off a small fireball, which went flying into Spearow’s direction. Spearow, being able to fly, avoided it easily, and tried to catch Vulpix off her guard the same way Charmander had done before. Luckily it didn’t work this time, as I wasn’t sure how much a tired Vulpix could handle a Spearow at almost full health.
Spearow rose into the air, and crashed into Vulpix, with the use of a dive-bomb. This time Vulpix was knocked of her feet and sent flying a short distance away from myself.
Rick and Charmander were standing next to me, cheering me on.
The small red fox jumped to its feet with a spot of trouble this time, and started panting heavily.
This Spearow appeared to have a high attack level, which didn’t mean anything good for Vulpix.
While I kept on giving the orders to use Quick Attack and Ember, the Spearow couldn’t be stopped. It kept on swooping back and forth, while dealing great damage to Vulpix. Finally, she saw her chance. Just before the bird had mad contact, Vulpix dashed to the side, and sent a flaming orb at Spearow’s back. The attack had hit, and Spearow was sent out of the air, screeching at the same time.
“Now, Vulpix, same strategy as with Charmander… wait, there are no leaves around here! There’s only sand! Okay, meaning that you have to stick with the Quick Attacks, okay?” I said all at once.
Vulpix nodded, and tried to dash at the helpless bird, but I noticed she had trouble walking. It wasn’t the wound Charmander had caused, but the sand. Vulpix wasn’t used to this kind of terrain, only grass. And with Spearow being a flying type, it doesn’t notice anything.
“Vulpix, stop the attack! It’s the sand that’s doing the trick for Spearow! Please, be careful, and try to get to any sturdy ground you can find!” I yelled, while searching around.
Spearow was finally air borne once more, and the two Pokémon began to clash immediately.
I started to panic, and looked around for some safe ground for Vulpix. Finally, my eye caught a large boulder, which just might work.
“Vulpix, quick, head over to that rock, and stay on it until I tell you to jump, all right?”
Vulpix turned her back on me, meaning that she understood. When she reached the rock, Spearow was closing in again. It flew up high, and dived down, cutting the air at an incredible speed.
“Wait for it…”
Spearow was 20 feet away… 10 feet… 5 feet…
“Now, Quick Attack out of there!” I yelled.
Vulpix quickly jumped to the side, and I assumed that the loud crunching noise I heard was Spearow bashing head on into the rock.
The rock was split in half and in the sand there laid the small bird, which was out cold. I threw a Pokéball at it, but unfortunately the ball bounced back at me! I caught it, and saw Spearow flying again, as though nothing happened. How could he be back in the sky?
“Vulpix, it’s not over… Vulpix? Where are you?”
I looked around, and my eyes fell back on the rock. Vulpix wasn’t gone quick enough. It was Vulpix who laid there, K.O.
“No… Rick, lend me your Charmander, please. Return, Vulpix!” Vulpix was beamed in through the red rays, while Rick pushed Charmander over to me.
“Thanks, I’ll try not to let him end up the same as Vulpix…” I said “ All right, Charmander! Ready? Start with a Leer!” I cried out.
Charmander sucked in air, making its chest buff, and then let it all out while pulling a frightening face, which made Spearow flinch.
“Now Scratch it!”
Charmander leapt into the air and slashed at the Spearow. Small cuts appeared in its chest, and Spearow quickly used its Peck attack against the borrowed lizard.
Charmander put his hands over his head, trying to ward off the Spearow, but to no success.
“Damn it… that Spearow’s too strong… there has to be someway… Rick, does Charmander know Ember yet?” I asked, curiously.
“Umm, I don’t know, you could try,” was his reply.
“All right then Charmander, if you can, try an Ember and fire it straight above you!”
Charmander looked up reluctantly, but was pecked in his left eye immediately. Charmander clutched his wound, and I saw the flame on his tail grow higher.
“Uh-oh…” Rick said.
“What? What’s up with that?”
“He’s mad. Very mad, just look at the size of that flame!” he replied.
I glanced at the tail, and noticed it was rather large.
Charmander took a swipe upwards, knocking the Spearow away. Charmander quickly took this opportunity, aimed, and shot a nicely sized fireball at Spearow. You could hear the flames roaring and piercing the air while it hit Spearow. The bird gave another screech, became silent, and fell to the ground, completely still.
“This is it, Pokéball GO!” I yelled while I hurled the ball of red and white at the unconscious Pokémon. It was sucked up inside the ball in a blinding flash of white, and the ball hit the ground and started to shake. Not that violent, but still quite a lot, despite Spearow’s wounds.
The ball wiggled once… wiggled a second time, and a third and finally…
~~~~~
Ready to be graded, and please don't go easy because it's my first story. I would like to receive the full criticism, so I can edit up in a few spots like a true writer.

[Jack of Clovers]

It really helps to space paragraphs from each other, rather than having them directly under. Much easier to read. Also, got/get/gotten can almost always be replaced by another verb.

I really like the story, leading the reading to wonder what's going to happen next. A well thought story. :wink:

The battles are nicely executed and imaginable.

You have what it takes to write URPG stories. Keep up the great work.

Outcome- Spearow Caught!

~Jack~

[AirwaY]

Thank you Jack, it makes me happy to see that I did a good job on it ^_^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DING! The Pokéball had finally stopped wiggling. I had caught the Spearow.
I walked over to where Charmander and the ball were, and picked up my new Pokémon, while Rick had recalled his Charmander.
"Nice battle, congratulations!" he said.
"Thanks, and I'd love to test him out, but we really need to get to a PokéCenter, because I think they're all tired out from the battle," I said with a touch of worriedness in my voice.

And with that, Rick and I continued on through the route, hoping to find the next city soon...
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 6 will be up soon! ^_^

[Focal]

Chapter 6: Like no tomorrow

-Viridian City, 8:11 AM-

After the capture of my brand new Spearow, Rick and I managed to arrive in Viridian City without any further troubles. The moment we arrived, we asked around for where the PokéCenter was. Luckily everyone knew, so it wasn’t too hard to get there.

“Come on Rax, we should check our Pokémon in,” Rick said the moment we stepped into the Center.
“Okay, the desk is over there.”

We headed over to a large, curved desk where a beautiful lady was standing. She had pink hair, a white cap with a red cross and the usual Nurse uniform.

“Welcome to the PokéCenter, how may I help you?” She asked kindly.
“It’s our Pokémon. They got extremely hurt during a battle, and we were wondering if you could heal them?” Rick asked.
“That shouldn’t be a problem. Hand me your Pokéballs, and I’ll see what I can do for you,” she replied.

We handed over our Pokéballs, hoping they could be healed and that there wouldn’t be too much scarring. Rick and I sat down on the seats while the Nurse was busy healing our Pokémon. Rick and I got into a conversation about what I would do to get my parents back.

“Well, the first thing I need to do is find out where they’re hiding. Which means I’m probably going to need some strong Pokémon to get there, and to get through there. It’s not going to be easy, and the KPF isn’t going to help me voluntarily either. If they manage to catch me, I’ll be shipped off to their base and held captive there. Well, not really captive, but there’s no way they’d let me go again,” I said.
“I see. Well, I’ll come with you. I can’t just let you go by yourself. Besides, it might turn out to be a fun trip,” he said, while laughing partially.
“Boys, your Pokémon are ready!” the Nurse called out to us.

Rick and I stood up, but were forced back down into our seats. We were blindfolded, gagged and then something damp was pressed up against my nose. It had an awful smell, making me drowsy, meaning only one thing…

All went black. When I finally opened my eyes again, the blindfold had been removed. But I was still gagged, and was tied up. I looked around and saw Rick looking at me. I noticed a few large men were standing huddled behind a computer, and another joined them, and said something to them. With those words, all of them turned around and faced us. One of them bent down and removed our gags. Rick choked on a few threads that were caught in his throat.

“Who are you people? What do you want from us?” I yelled.
“Calm down. We are from the Alliance. You didn’t follow Johnny’s orders. You came looking for us after all, and the KPF are involved in this as well!”

He struck me hard with the back of his hand, leaving my face burning. I didn’t feel too much of it though, because of my necklace.

“Stop calling him Johnny… I know his name is truly Blake Wolfe! Don’t try to fool me!” I said angrily.

I thrashed around, which was useless. The ropes were too tight. But Rick had noticed something. He thrashed around too, and finally got caught on something. He continued thrashing and his ropes fell to the ground. He grabbed my necklace and started to fight. He kicked, punched, yelled, everything. He finally saw an opening in this fight and managed to free me. He handed back the necklace, and dropped to the ground in a heap.

“Rick! Are you okay?” I asked. “I’m fine. I took off the necklace while hurt, remember? Go, finish it for me!” he said.

I nodded and stood up, and continued. During the fight, I was pinned against the wall, and saw them taking Rick away. The one who had pinned me was ready to hit me, but I rolled away, leaving him to hit the hard, stone wall. Suddenly, I felt something strange. Something warm inside me, trying to escape. I saw the orb glow a bright blue, but as quick as it had come, it stopped. The Alliance members stared at me in shock.

“He has the gift! We must tell the boss, now!” one of them yelled out.

They all got up and quickly escaped, leaving me alone in this room. I had no idea what had happened, but it did scare them off. I quickly exited the room in the search of Rick.
Luckily this hallway wasn’t an infinite hallway of doors. Only two doors: the one I had just come through, and one to the stairways. I bashed open the door, and bumped into something.
I got up and took a swing, but stopped, realizing it was Rick.

“Rick! How did you get away from them?” I asked.
“The others came running down the hall screaming something about a gift that you had. They dropped me and ran away,” he said, confused.
“I don’t know what it is myself, so I won’t explain. Right now we have to get out of here!”
“Wait, what about your parents? Shouldn’t we be looking for them?” Rick asked.
“There’s no way they would bring me to the place where their being held. And Blake can’t be here either, so we’ve got to go!” I said.

Rick nodded and together we ran through the building in the hope of finding the exit. We were stopped by many of the guards, but we managed to break through them. We had no other choice but to run. I had already noticed that we didn’t have our Pokémon either, meaning we were at the worst position you can imagine in this situation. We had no other choice but to run like there was no tomorrow… but would we succeed?

~To be continued...~

[Focal]

Chapter 7: Encounter with the enemy

-Unknown Place, 11:27 AM-

While Rick and I ran through the building wherein we were held captive, we couldn’t help but notice that it must’ve been somewhere underground. It looked like it might’ve been in the sewers, for the hallways were pipe-shaped, and small air shafts were above us.
Down the hallways we went, not thinking of which way to go. We had no idea what to do, seeing as Rick was hurt, we had no Pokémon, and if I were to lose the necklace, we would definitely be in for it. I was still thinking about what had happened, and what this so called “gift” could be. For some reason, I couldn’t help thinking of my birthday, which of course had gifts, including the necklace. I wondered if there was something about the necklace Blake forgot about, but whatever it was, it was going to be his downfall.

“All I have to do is master it…” I muttered under my breath. “What was that?” Rick asked, while slowing down.
“Nothing, nothing…” I replied, while slowing down myself.

We were both tired, so we decided to walk for a little while. We took the time to search the rooms we came across, but they seemed to all be sleeping rooms for the Alliance members. We kept on searching, hoping for something useful. The next room had nothing, neither did the next one. We turned to the left and opened another door and looked around.

“Hey, I got something!” Rick yelled. I walked over to him and peered over his shoulder. “It looks like some kind of document… Let’s see what it’s about,” I said.

We sat down on the bed and opened the yellow folder. While searching through the pages, we saw some words flash by which didn’t sound too good, such as “bomb” and “suffocation”. This made us worry a bit, but Rick thankfully noticed this was from a year ago, and the operation had been a failure. There was nothing else we could use, but we decided to take the folder with to show to the police.

We left the room and continued throughout the building. But we didn’t get very far, for...

“Hello, boys. Good to see you again, Rax,” Blake said. Yes, it was Blake. It seems the guards who were keeping an eye on us had warned him, and they had located us.

“Blake. Why are you doing this? Let my parents go, you know I can fight you, and you know I have the advantage!” I said, and showed him my necklace.

“Hmm… that’s what you think. I’m not worried about your possible “gift”. A child like you could never possess this legend! I do believe in your origin, however, but for you to have inherited the gift? Ha!” he said with an evil tone.

“My… origin? You believe in my parents?” I was confused.

Blake just stood there and laughed. He shook his head, and said; “No boy, your so-called parents aren’t your origin. You descend from a much greater form of human. I would tell you, but it might make you consider if you want to save these people or not. Of course I would love to have you off my trail, but I like a challenge. And watching you die would be the most satisfying thing right now, next to our new device being completed. So Rax, other boy, good luck, for now you will have to face a series of grueling challenges, and I believe only one of you will survive…” he said, while eying Rick.

Blake turned around, laughing and waved his hand. The guards moved in and tried to tie us back up again. We were ready, for Rick and I quickly turned and ran. Straight into more guards from behind. We were surrounded.

“There’s no escape from here, boys!” we heard Blake yell.

“We’ll see about that! I’ll show you what a true gift is!” I yelled.

I let out a cry and dashed forward, while taking a jump. I turned in mid air, and kicked one of the guards hard in the neck. He flew back, and I landed on the ground with a crash, quickly turned round and landed an uppercut on the next guard. I stood up and saw Rick taking on the others behind him. I smiled, for it was great to fight beside someone just like myself, and of course it was great fighting for justice.

CRACK!! While watching Rick fight, I had let my guard down, and one of the guards got up and landed a straight punch into my jaw, breaking it. I was thrown back, and two guards jumped on me, while beating me to a pulp, and making sure I didn’t get a chance to do anything strange. But they failed. The one who had just broke my jaw, tried to hit my shoulder, but I felt something warm inside of me again.

My arm shot up and blocked this hit. He tried with his other hand, but it seemed I had received lightning-quick reflexes, for I had blocked that too. I spread his arms apart, making him fall down, while I bashed my head up into his face. I quickly jumped up onto my feet, and slowly moved towards the other guard. The guard started thrashing around, but I managed to block them with ease. I grabbed one of his arms, moved around behind him and twisted his arm until I heard it snap. I then pulled him back by his hair and whispered; “You tell Blake that the next time we meet, he won’t get away as easily as this time. Tell him my “gift” has appeared again, and I’ve got the hang of this one power, and that many more are to come. Don’t forget this, or I will snap your neck first,” I said, with more courage than ever.

I pushed him forward and strolled over to Rick who was lying in the middle of the fighting group. I pushed all of them to the side, and they came after me instead. It was three-on-one, and they soon realized it was no use. I was fighting with such calmness, there was no way we could lose. After I had delivered the last hit, I picked Rick up, hung his arm over my shoulders and started walking the way Blake went.

“It’s all right, Rick. I’m going to get us out of here, just hang on,” I said calmly.

While walking, I saw a flame appear at the end of the hallway, and was hoping it was Vulpix. When I got closer though, it seems this was one of the obstacles Blake was talking about. There were a large amount of rocky pillars, which were very narrow and they were all sticking into the floor which was a sea of flames. I noticed a door on the other side, but to get there, I’d have to get over the pillars.

“Damn! If you could walk, we could get over there, but like this there’s no way…” “Go. Rax, go ahead, leave me here. I can’t walk, and I’m severely injured, it might even be fa…” but he didn’t get to finish, for he fainted.

There was no way I was going to leave him behind, so I stood there for a minute or two, regaining my strength while concentrating hard. I was hoping I could master my powers, and maybe even gain incredible strength, making it easier to carry Rick. But when I tried to put him over my shoulders, I couldn’t. It wasn’t working.

“Come on! I thought I could master them, I need some more strength!” I yelled angrily.

Suddenly a voice echoed throughout the fire room…

“Rax… your powers will come in time, for now though, embrace what you have already received. Your quick reflexes and courage should be enough for this task…”

“But… who are you? And if I can’t lift him, I can’t get across!”

Silence. It was strange, to hear a disembodied voice. It did make sense though. Had I not fought off many guards, and manage to get here? Why listen to Blake, when he said one of us were going to die for sure, when I myself am certain we can make it out. I nodded, and stepped up to the edge where I could clearly see how deep the drop off was.
I saw flames dancing and jumping all over, and when they parted a bit, I noticed it was only a few feet down. So if we were to fall, we would have to get out of there. Quickly.

I took a deep breath, and wrapped Rick’s arm around my shoulder again, and jumped…

[Focal]

Chapter 8: Dancing Flames

-The Fire Room, 12:03 PM-

You wouldn’t have any idea of how scary it was to be there. You wouldn’t want someone hanging from your neck, when you have to jump from pillar to pillar, especially when those pillars might collapse at any given moment. With flames dancing below you, and fumes strong enough to make you faint, you would probably give up. Well, I won’t. I never would have thought that I would have this much courage, but thanks to someone, I was prepared to do anything to get out of here alive and save those in need.
I was still wondering what they did with Vulpix and the other Pokémon. When we were kidnapped, the PokéCenter was pretty full, so it wouldn’t have been easy to take us away without anyone noticing. Unless they were all working for the Alliance, and they kept those who were not, outside.

I stopped thinking about these things and decided to bring my attention back to the task ahead of me. I had safely managed to reach the first pillar, and was ready to leap to the next one. As I took a look around to see if anything might hinder myself while jumping, I noticed a small gap in the ceiling. It wasn’t an ordinary gap though. The flames on the other side of the room seemed to crawl up the wall and ceiling, and escape through this hole. I had no clue what this might mean.

I turned my attention back to the pillars. Slowly, I moved as close to the edge as possible. I then bent my knees, put my right foot onto the side of the pillar and pushed away with all my might. I rocketed forwards and landed on my left foot, then quickly put my right one down, taking caution not to accidentally let Rick slip from my grasp.

After those two jumps I was wiped out. Carrying Rick was draining a lot of my energy. I took a moment to catch my breath, and then took another jump. Once again, it was a safe landing. While jumping from pillar to pillar, I couldn’t help it but to look down. It didn’t matter how dangerous it was, the flames below were beautiful. So beautiful, it looked like they could just draw my attention away from everything around me…

Suddenly, I jumped again. I wasn’t going anywhere in particular, my feet just pushed away from the pillar. My eyes moved down to the flames again, and then I realized that they actually were hypnotizing me! I tried to look up, but it didn’t work. My attention was with the fire below. When I saw a pillar in front of me, I stretched my leg a bit, and landed softly. This was getting too dangerous. It seemed that I would have to do my best to keep my gaze away from the flames to make it safely across. This wasn’t an easy task.

I took another deep breath and leaped across the blazing hell, and noticed that I had jumped to the wrong pillar. It was close enough if I was alone, but from dragging Rick all the way across, my arms were sore and my strength drained. Rick was dragging me down.

“Rax, please let me go!” I heard.

I looked down and saw Rick was awake. I looked back at the pillar and grabbed the edge with my arm. I held onto Rick, hoping he would try to climb up.

“Come on Rax! You know this isn’t going to work! Just let me go!” Rick yelled.

But I wouldn’t. I tried to pull myself up with the arm clinging onto the ledge for dear life. I felt warmth in my chest, and before I knew it I was standing on the pillar with Rick next to me. The amulet had done its job once again.

“Rax, why did you do this? I told you to leave me there!” Rick said angrily.

“Don’t worry about it! There was no option in leaving you behind! I managed to save your life before, so I decided to do it again. Besides, with the amulet I knew we would make it. But now we have to jump one at a time, and possibly even go separate ways,” I explained.

“Why would we split up? If we want to get out of here, we’ll have to go the same way.”

“Yes, but something tells me that after this room there’s no way any two people could get through together. We’ll see when we’re through here, but we need to keep moving!”

Rick nodded, and turned away. I watched him jump to the next pillar and quickly cross over to the next one as well. Within no time at all he was completely across.

“What the hell? Rick, where did you learn to move around like that?” I yelled to him.

I took my time while crossing over.

“Well, during Gym class one day, we had the balance beam out, and we had to walk over it,” he said.

I focused on the next pillar and took a great leap.

“I don’t know how it happened, but I just kind of flipped across it. I started with a front flip and then switched to a back flip.”

My foot slipped on the pillar after that, but I managed to stand straight again.

“I then competed in many competitions, and that’s when I knew that I was going to be the best gymnast ever,” Rick finished.

I landed next to Rick, took a few deep breaths and beckoned him onward.

We walked up to the door and turned the handle. But it was locked.

“No! We came all this way to end up at a dead end?” Rick said.

“Damn… there’s got to be a key around here somewhere then!”

I looked around and sure enough, a key was on a pillar near the wall where the fire was crawling up. I was exhausted and couldn’t send Rick across, so I did the only logical thing a person could do at that moment.

I grabbed my amulet and jumped down into the fire. I dashed across the floor towards the eastern wall, hoping to find the right pillar.

“RAX! What are you doing!? You’ll die!” Rick shouted, although it was much too late.

I ran faster, grabbed the edge of a pillar and quickly pulled myself up, without letting go of the amulet around my neck. Sure enough, the key was only a few pillars away. I jumped as fast and as careful as I could, and instead of landing on the key pillar, I just grazed the side while snatching the key from the surface. I then dashed back to the platform where Rick was standing, where he pulled me up. There was no way I would let go of the amulet. Rick couldn’t speak. All he did was quickly unlock the door, wrapped my now bleeding arm around his neck and walked through the opening. When we entered the next room, I saw the best thing in the whole building so far…

[Focal]

Chapter 9: Just beyond the river bend

-The Water Room, 12:33 PM-

A pool of water was looming a little further up ahead. While Rick struggled to keep me up, I did my best not to let go of the necklace. We figured we could make it and get me into the water to cool off, but little did we know that there would be some more obstacles before we could reach the pool.

A spike shot up through the ground and grazed the back of Rick’s leg. He didn’t scream, he didn’t even notice it. I looked up and saw his eyes were fixed on the pool ahead. He would get me into the water, and he didn’t care what happened along the way.

“Rick… stop. I’ll get to the pool myself. Just find a way out of here. If you weren’t so focused on saving me you would’ve noticed the gash on your leg. I’ll be fine. Just… get to the other side, get out of here, and get help,” I said, while keeping my head high.

My breathing was heavy. The amulet around my neck was absorbing a lot of the pain, but the fatal wounds were getting to be too much. I didn’t know how much time I had left. It wasn’t even sure that I would survive if I reached the water.

“No Rax. Your wounds are too critical. You wouldn’t leave me behind in the fire room, and now I’m not listening to you either. And besides, we’ll probably need each other to get out of here. And don’t forget you have another mission ahead of you. Have you forgotten about your parents already?” Rick said, in a slow voice.

“Of course not. But remember what Blake said? About me descending from something else than a normal human? I need to find answers. But I need to survive this first!” I yelled.

I only just realized my jaw was broken. Ever since escaping the guards just before the fire room I never thought about my other wounds. Luckily the amulet absorbed most of the pain.

“Blake and his crew were going to go through a lot of pain the minute I unleash this force,” I thought.

I pushed Rick away and dashed towards the pool of water, managing to avoid the spikes shooting up from the ground. I could hear Rick behind me, yelling something I couldn’t understand. Just a few more feet and I would be lying in water, hoping it would save me.

But when I was about a foot away from safety, I was thrown against the wall. I slid down the cold, stone wall, straight onto a spike, which pierced my left forearm.

It wasn’t nice, lying there, barely clinging on to life. My burn wounds were third degree, my other wounds a couple inches deep, and the minute I let go of my necklace, my life would be over.

“Rax! Rax, get up, quick!” I heard from where Rick was standing.

I turned my head to the pool of water and noticed a large figure walking towards me. It was a man. He was very muscular, bald and big. This man was planted here to make sure no one could get out. I also noticed a shiny key dangling from his left wristband. It was a very frightening sight altogether, despite the little ray of hope hanging there.

“I… can’t, Rick. Get the key. It’s on his left wrist. Don’t be scared… please,” I said, only just understandable.

I started to cry. The pain was finally catching on. It wasn’t that the blue orb couldn’t take anymore; it was because I couldn’t take anymore. My skin was rotting away, my arm was bleeding out, and my body was dehydrated. If I could get into the water I’m sure I would be fine… the orb had come from the ocean, which actually gave me the idea that my powers would work better while making contact with water.

“Leave him alone!” Rick yelled.

He had jumped on the large man, and was fighting him away. He was taking great blows to his body, and was being tossed all over the place. He also had large wounds now, which looked more severe than my own. He had managed to stay away from the spikes, thankfully. But the attacker walked straight through them. His legs were being slashed open, but there was no blood. Instead, I noticed a spark.

“Rick! It’s an android! You need to get him to the water, he might short circuit there!” I yelled with a slightly raised voice.

Rick nodded and ran across the room. He managed to pass the android with a bit of luck, and was heading for the water. The android had then turned its attention back on me.
I removed my arm from the spike, pushed myself up with extreme difficulty and started to run towards the water. I don’t know where the power came from, but it helped me across the room. When I was close enough, I jumped into the pool, and swam up.
I then swam over to a shallow point, and closed my eyes. I took a deep breath and though of only one thing.

When I started to move my hands around, I heard a shout which was unclear. I then opened my eyes and saw a ball of water being formed before my eyes. I then pushed my hands forward, straight at the android which now had Rick in its grasp, and the ball shot away.

The android was hit, and it started to shake. Sparks were flying, bolts were coming loose, and parts were falling off. After a few seconds the android caught fire, Rick fell to the ground and a deafening explosion took place. I was smacked against the wall behind me, and was knocked unconscious…

-•-•-•-•-•-

I had no idea how long I was out, but when I woke up, I was still in the present world. Not in the afterlife, but I was alive. I examined myself and I was completely healed. It was amazing. My theory was right. The water not only saved me once, but it had saved my twice by recovering me. I didn’t know what happened to Rick though.

I got up, looked around, and lunged forwards, back into the water. I quickly swam to the other side, and saw Rick lying on the ground, his face gravely disfigured and something shining in his right hand. It was the key to the door. He had managed to get it.

“Rick… I’m sorry for this; this wasn’t what was supposed to happen!” I yelled.

“Rax… once again, your powers have come in handy, but they all come with a price…” a voice echoed throughout the room.

“Damn it, who are you!? If you want to help, then tell me how to help Rick! Otherwise, get the hell out of here!” I yelled angrily.

“Rax, there is no way to bring him back. Because of your actions, he has passed. What you must do is get out of here, and leave him behind,” the voice echoed throughout the room.

I sat there with Rick in my hands, shaking my head with rage. It was true. Rick had died because I needed to test my theory. We could’ve just grabbed the key and ran, but we didn’t. This was it.

“NO! This is not it! Rick is not dead! GRRAAAHH!” I shouted out.

My body started to shake. I was losing control. I stood up and lifted Rick. I walked over to the pool and saw the reflection of myself, holding the lifeless body. My eyes were shining sky blue, and I had received an aura around my body. I then threw Rick into the middle of the pool, and started to chant words I didn’t understand. They were coming out of my mouth, but I had completely lost control now.

After a few minutes of chanting strange words, the water started to glow. I saw how waves were being formed, and how the smooth surface was starting to ripple. The water started to turn, revealing a large whirlpool, and at the bottom of that whirlpool was Rick. I looked down into the tornado of water and saw how Rick started to glow as well. A large ball of light erupted from my hands and flew down to Rick, entering his body. It pierced his chest completely. Just when I thought I had destroyed him for good, I noticed his wounds started to close up. Rick’s face lightened up a little, but it seemed that would be the only scar he would keep from this place. Not too long after that, Rick was floating back up, and the water returned to its smooth state. I regained control, and quickly ran over to Rick. He opened his eyes, but couldn’t speak. He wasn’t completely recovered yet.

“It’s all right Rick. You’ll be fine. You did great, too. We have the key!” I said with glee. “Now it’s time to go to the next room!”

I wrapped Ricks arm around my neck yet again, and together we managed to get across the pool and to the door. I stuck the key in the hole and turned it. The door swung open, and we walked through. We were still there, and thankfully, alive.

And once again, the disembodied voice wasn't heard anymore.