FicWad

It feels as though my stomach has dropped into my feet. My head reels in shock. My legs shake, and my fists grip so hard my fingernails bite into the soft flesh of my palms. I notice the all too familiar touch of a psychic’s mind probing my own. And not just any psychic; it’s a Psychic Type Pokemon. They have always presented themself so much differently than a humans' would. Fear at the sensation engulfs me. I want to run. I need to get away from this creature before me.

“Rai rai?” Squall, the newly evolved Raichu queries. Its fur is a darker brown than the Raichu’s I’m used to seeing. Instead of a tail shaped like a lightning bolt, this one’s looks like a surfboard. It even rides on top of it as if it were one, floating in the air with its powers. It has clear blue eyes, and right now, those eyes are pinned on mine, watching my every move.

I take a step back. My breath catches in my throat as I stutter out, “W-what is that?”

“It’s a Raichu,” Burnet responds, her smile swiftly vanishing as she watches the events before her. She walks up closer to me, clearly noticing my sudden panic. Her hand rests on my shoulder in a failed attempt to ease my fright.

“I wanted it to be like the one Kabir has. Like Tempest.” My heart is pounding so hard it hurts now, the pressure on my mind not leaving as the Pokemon before us continues searching me.

“You can’t reverse an evolution. This is your Pokemon now.” Her voice is so soft that I hardly hear it over the roaring in my head.

“No,” I whisper, taking another step back as Squall moves closer to me. It reaches out a soft white paw, making to place it on me. “Don’t touch me!” I shout, swinging at it with my hand. It pulls back, already knowing my next move. I notice something wet on my cheeks and realize I’m crying. I whip around and try to run.

A hand clasps onto my arm and stops me. I make to hit the one holding me back, but I’m spun around, my arm getting pinned behind me in a few sloppy moves. The grasp is stronger than I expect, and I find myself unable to break free. I should know what to do, but my body is struggling to react as I reel in fright.

“Anya, you’re alright. There’s nothing here for you to be afraid of.” Burnet says, her voice carefully set. “You’re not in any danger.”

I can’t form any cohesive thoughts as adrenaline continues pumping through me. My vision is darkening around the edges, and I realize my whole body is trembling as I hyperventilate. I feel myself being pushed forward, unable to prevent the movement. I’m led over to a bench, which I collapse onto, drawing my legs up to my chest and wrapping my arms around them while shoving my face into my knees.

I hear Burnet’s voice next to me. “It’s alright, little one. She just needs some time to get used to you. That’s all. She’ll come around.” Though her voice sounds confident, it thinly masks the worry in her own. “Anya, it’s okay.” She’s turned to face me now. Her hand runs along my back, trying to bring comfort.

I know I need to calm down, but the pressure in my mind has still not left yet. The foreign presence is frightening. I hate it so much. I despise it with every fiber of my being. My mind begins to swirl as memories whiz through me.

~~~

“Come on, you guys, hurry up.” A young girl calls. A boy and another girl follow behind the five-year-old Anya. The other children are Sahib, her six-year-old brother, and Sita, her oldest sister, who is eleven. Anya pauses up ahead of the others, turning around and waving her hand impatiently to push her siblings to catch up.

“Are we almost there?” Sahib grumbles irritably, wiping a layer of sweat off his brow.

“Nearly,” Anya responds, bouncing on the balls of her feet in her eagerness to move on.

“Where are we going anyway? Can you just tell us?” The boy asks, stopping beside Anya and facing Sita as she, more slowly, makes her way up the hill.

The small girl giggles at her secret for a moment before finally answering when her sister catches up. “It’s an abandoned house!” She proclaims with glee. “I heard the kids in class talking about it. They say it’s haunted.”

“What?” Sahib draws back, annoyance forgotten, dark brown eyes widening with surprised fright. “I don’t want to go into a place like that. How about we just head home?”

“We’ve already come this far. We can’t turn back now.” She pouts.

“What if something happens? One of us could get hurt. Nobody even knows that we’re going here, so what if we end up needing help? No one will know where to look for us.” Sahib says in a flurry.

“It’s fine. Besides,” the small girl points a finger to her sister, “Sita has Pokemon now. She’ll be able to battle anything.” Though Anya wasn’t a fan of the creatures on the best of days, Sita’s happiness at her return from a short Trainer Journey had the younger girl eager to see what they could do.

“Well, what if someone does know where we’re going? We could get in trouble.”

“It’s not like we aren’t allowed out here. Mom and Dad say that as long as we stay in town, we’ll be fine.” Anya answers, her anger starting to get the better of her.

“Yeah, but this is technically right outside of town.”

Sita places a hand on the boy’s shoulder and spins him around, forcing him to face the path once more, winking mischievously at her sister.

“Let’s move, you two. This is going to be so cool,” Anya runs ahead of the others and climbs up another hill, stopping at the crest and staring down. Her expression changes to one of pure excitement as she views the old house at the bottom. “Hurry up Slowpokes,” She calls, facing them again, “Come on! I can see it!”

Sahib casts a nervous glance at his older sibling, who merely shakes her head and presses on. “Hold on; we’re coming.” The young boy hollers.

The house before them is dilapidated and ancient. White paint peels off the siding, most shutters hanging on by barely a nail. The roof contains more holes than can be counted. As the wind blows, it whistles through half smashed in windows, poorly boarded up with broken splinters of wood. The children have to pick their way carefully across the porch, stepping lightly so as not to break any of the wobbling planks.

Anya places her hand on the dingy front door knob and turns it with difficulty. The handle twists and rattles, the door groaning on rusted hinges as it slowly swings open.

Inside, the house is dimly lit by the rays of a midday sun cast through broken windows and holes in the walls. Dust motes fly into the air, rushing about and sparkling in the light as they swirl around the feet of the adventurers. The sweet smell of rotting leaves and the harsher notes of moldy wood clings to every surface. Floorboards creak noisily beneath carefully placed feet.

“Anya, please. We’re inside. That should be enough.” Sahib pleads with a shaking voice, coughing as he breathes in some of the dust.

“We’ve only just got in here.” Anya counters in exasperation, glancing at her brother. Her temper was flaring as the edges of her head felt an odd, painful pressure, like the start of a headache, but somehow deeper in her mind. “We have this whole house to explore.”

“But what if we get sick? Can’t you smell all that mold?”

“Oh, come off it, Sahib. Let’s have a bit of fun while we’re-“

Sita places her hands on both siblings’ shoulders, stopping the annoyed retort from Anya. She points up ahead to a closed door. Light shines underneath the crack, and a shadow moves around inside. The two have to squint their eyes to see her hand movements as she signs to them. “There’s someone else in here.” She places a finger to her lips.

Anya signs back at her deaf sister with a grin, “Let’s see who it is. Maybe it’s a ghost.” Without waiting to see if the others agree, she creeps forward and pushes the door gently. It slides open with surprising ease, not even making a sound.

A Pokemon stands inside, facing a window; it's back to the children. Its body was a mix of purple and white, with sharp, half-white, half-pink tentacles by its side.

Sita draws Sahib and Anya’s attention again. “It’s a Malamar.” She signs, looking at it briefly before continuing. “It’s a Dark and Psychic-type Pokémon that was first discovered in the Kalos region. They don’t normally come to Johto, so I’m not sure why-“ Her hands drop to her side, her eyes widening in sudden shock.

Anya and Sahib turn around in unison to see the Pokemon was now glaring at them.

“Mala,” It growls angrily, its eyes taking on a white glow.

“Let’s go now,” Sahib begs, taking a few steps back until he realizes the youngest wasn’t following. The girl stood with her hands covering her head, trying to fend off the sharp stabbing sensation that suddenly shot through her mind. Without another word, her brother grabs her by an arm and drags her away from the door.

Anya’s feet feel like she’s trying to drag them through wet cement. Her body moves sluggishly at her command. Her head feels full, like a balloon filled with too much air. As they near the front of the house, her hand slips from Sahib’s, and her foot shoots out in front of him, causing him to trip and sprawl painfully onto the floor. Sita spins around at the feeling of her siblings' halted footsteps.

What just happened? Anya thinks, shocked by the movement.

“Ow,” Sahib moans, holding his scraped palms up. “Anya, why did you do that?”

“I didn’t do anything. It’s like my leg had a mind of its own.” Anya tries saying, only to realize she isn’t able to make the words leave her lips. Her body was snapped to attention, and she found she had no control over it. She feels her body move forward, past her sister, trying to help Sahib to his feet. Her hand pushes the door closed and locks it. Then she spins back around to face the Pokemon, who had easily caught up to the children.

“What are you doing?” Sita signs, her hands rushing through the motions and her light brown eyes filled with confusion.

Anya’s head pounds painfully, like an erratically beating drum. Something is very wrong. She thinks. She pleads in her mind with her sister. Sita, this is bad. Please, take Sahib and leave. Get out of here!

The oldest seems to understand the pleading look in her sister’s eyes, but instead of running, she plants her feet straight ahead and throws out two PokeBalls. A blue and yellow-bodied Crocanaw and brown-feathered Noctowl appear in a flash of light. “Protect these two,” She signs at the latter, then pointing to the threat. “Crunch.”

The blue Pokemon jumps into action and runs towards the large purple one, opening its jaws wide, its teeth taking on a bright white glow. The Malamar brings an arm across its body and easily slaps the Pokemon out of the way, flinging it to the side and causing it to go hurling through the air until it smashes into a wall. It falls to the ground with a thud.

The offending Pokemon then shoots out a beam of power at Sita’s Noctowl, knocking it out with just as much unconcern.

Quickly recalling the others, Sita then sends out a Gengar, but the Malamar doesn’t give her a chance to even tell her Pokemon what to do before it shoots another beam, defeating this one with a single blow as well, a devilish grin on its beaked face.

Anya’s body has placed her in front of Sita, holding onto her arm and trying to pull her back, eyes flowing openly with tears. Her older sister tries to pull away from her, her left arm signing desperately at Anya to stop. Instead, she pulls harder, beginning to drag Sita away from Sahib, who was now crouching on the floor, his face buried in his arms, and pulling her towards the Malamar.

Sita strains with all her might until suddenly, Anya lets go. The older girl tumbles backward, her foot catching on a broken bit of the floor, and she crashes into a table, her head slamming into the edge with a sickening crack. The eldest daughter crumples to the floor and does not get up again.

Anya finds herself wishing she could close her eyes at the sight of her sister's terrifyingly still form. The five-year-old pleads in her mind. I shouldn’t have brought us here. Please, just let us go.

Why would I do that? I despise every one of you useless lumps of flesh. The Pokemon responds, the voice in her head sounding deep and menacing.

Though Anya is shocked by the Malamar’s ability to communicate, she instead tries to reason with it. You have us all absolutely terrified. If you let us go, we’ll tell the others and make sure everyone knows to leave you alone.

The creature laughs at her openly, jeering at her futile attempt, pushing grotesque images of its previous victims and their demise into the young child’s mind. And allow my prey to slip away? Never! It wraps an appendage around Sahib, who whimpers as he’s raised high off the dust-covered floor. It then throws the small boy across the room, hurtling him into a stack of chairs, his body breaking through them and sending shattered debris shooting through the air.

Anya watches with horror as blood begins to seep into the wooden floor around her brother, the warm smell of it overpowering the other scents in the air. The small boy moans softly in pain. Anya strains against the force holding her body at attention, but she cannot break free. The agony in her head increases as her attempts at struggling begin to decrease, her strength failing fast and the corners of her vision fading in and out.

Stop wiggling, you brat. I want you to see me destroy your precious little kin. The Malamar grumbles into her mind. It reaches down to grab onto Sahib, pulling his weakly struggling body into the air once more.

No, stop. Anya sobs in her mind, hating the torture her family was going through.

The monster laughs in evil ecstasy as it tosses the boy headfirst into a pile of splintered furniture. Then it strolls over to Sita and picks her up by the collar of her shirt. Her head lolls to the side, blood covering her face and her limbs dangle limply as the beast waves her form gleefully in the air, like a kid playing roughly with a doll.

Without warning, a Pokemon crashes through a window. A flash of green and white rushes across the floor and snatches the child away from the Malamar, placing her with just as much speed onto the floor by Anya. Another Pokemon, this one yellow and orange, its long fur bristling in fury, skids to a halt in front of the two girls.

The pressure in Anya’s mind suddenly releases, and she falls to her knees. She struggles to keep her eyes open as her body slumps uselessly to the floor. The last thing she sees is a tall, dark-skinned woman striding into the room, calling out to the two Pokemon she brought in. Even in the darkness, Anya can just make out the woman’s green eyes as they glow with a mysterious power before the world fades to black, the sounds of a battle growing distant as the noises slowly vanish into nothingness.

~~~

“I woke up in the hospital a few days later,” I told Professor Burnet. Though I still felt like the world was crashing around me, my breathing had begun to regulate, and I had unclenched my tightly balled fists, pumping my whitened fingers to force the blood to flow back into the tips.

It had been Burnet who convinced me to share my fear, telling me it wasn’t healthy to hold it in. I’d heard that advice many times before, and ignored it. The kind woman before me though was swiftly becoming someone I felt I could trust, one of only a couple, and I found my voice spilling out this memory before I could stop it.

“What about your siblings? Were they okay?” She asked, her hand still making comforting circles on my back, but her voice echoing her disquiet at my words.

“They are now. Mostly,” I state darkly, “Sita hit her head quite badly on a table. She has a lasting brain injury from it. She had to relearn to walk, lost a fair amount of memory, and she still jumbles her words when signing.”

“And your little brother?”

“Sahib’s injuries were very severe. He lost so much blood and was covered in countless gashes and punctures all over his body. Once we were at the hospital, he crashed many times during his surgeries. It took a fair amount of transfusions to finally replenish his blood supply too. He’s disfigured now. He has so many scars that they can’t all be covered up.” I paused, the memories flowing through my brain, cutting off my words. “We nearly lost both of them and its all my fault.” I stutter out as fresh hot tears roll down my face.

“No its not. You had no way of knowing there’d be a dangerous Pokemon at the house.” The Professor soothes.

“If I hadn’t forced my siblings to go with me, they’d both be perfectly healthy right now.” The thought begins to choke out my voice.

“I don’t think you forced them to do anything.” Burnet responds, bringing her hand to my shoulder and gently moving me to face her.

“How would you know? You weren’t there.” I growl, pushing off the bench and pacing away.

“Anya, wait.” She calls, catching up to me and blocking my path. “Don’t go storming off now.” She herds me back to the bench and I reluctantly sit back down, my anger simmering away as a fresh wave of shame washes over me. “You and you’re siblings are alive. That’s what really matters.” The white-haired woman pauses for a moment, clearly thinking about her next words more carefully. “Do you know who it was that saved you?”

“Yeah,” I mumble, though I can feel my mind eagerly cling to the new subject. “It was Mel.”

“Kabir’s adoptive mother?” Her response was filled with shock and confusion.

“She didn’t even know Kabir then.” I answer, shaking my head, then continue when the surprise in her eyes doesn’t diminish. “Mel had just moved into the region, a town over from us. At the time, she was following the trail of a monster that attacked and killed children. She was looking into recent claims that led to that house. That’s when she found all of us and had to mount our rescue.“

“That must have been a worrying site for her, to find more children in Malamar’s grasp.”

“Not nearly as surprising as you might think. Her specialty lies in pediatrics and the applied forces of psychic abilities. And in her spare time, she would often investigate claims similar to ours. After the attack, she even returned to our town for a couple years, trying to work with me and my siblings. It was through my parents that she learned about Kabir’s case.”

My mind suddenly switches to thoughts of my twin, tortured by a Pokémon. We still haven’t been able to do anything to help look for her. I think, imagining how awful she must feel. What if she thinks we’ve forgotten about her? Or that we aren’t trying to get her to safety? My mind begins to wander into this darkness, imagining her in Sita or Sahib’s place, thrown around and injured, bleeding out and alone.

We sit in silence for a long while as Burnet chews on this large dump of information. After some time, I sigh, pulling away from my thoughts, breathing in long and deep, then pushing it out slowly, trying to work at calming myself down, knowing my recent outburst was foolish.

The night had fully taken effect on the world. The stars were shining brightly in the sky, and the wind rushing over the ocean and onto our sitting forms was soft and cool. The night-dwelling Pokémon were out in full force, pausing to look at us while they scurried around, collecting food or nesting items.

Squall sat on the other side of the Professor. His ears were drooping, and his head was cast down. The surfboard-like tail was sitting on the gravel path underneath the bench.

“We need to get back to your place now, or the others will be worried for us.” I finally say, pulling the Professor’s mind out of deep thought.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Burnet responds, looking at the time on her phone. She sounds as if she has more questions, but she stands anyways.

I make to move off, my travel companion following more slowly. I turn around and see that the Raichu has yet to leave the bench. It keeps its eyes down. I study it for a moment, looking at the white paws and dark fur.

Finally, it catches a glance at me and realizes I’m watching.

Steeling myself with a shaking breath, I indicate with my head that the Pokémon follow us. It leaps off the bench and trods up to me with an ambling gate, its tail dragging dejectedly through the gravel.

“Squall,” I address it, trying to hold back the tremor in my voice. “You’re going to need to keep up.” I turn back around, not waiting to see if there’s a response. I walk on ahead, taking the lead, Burnet stays right behind me, and Squall shuffles at my side, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. Though our pace matches the one used to arrive here, it feels like my group makes our way away from the lights of the city, and towards the Professor’s home very slowly.

“Anya,” Burnet stops me with a soft call. I halt my steps, but don’t turn around. “We’re going to find her.” She says. “I promise you, we will find Sashi. And we’ll wake Kabir up. You just wait and see.” She walks past me, taking the lead and I find myself questioning her resolve.

A promise to find a sister. I think, trying to recall a faded memory. Where have I heard that before?