"And... On the left side of the arena. Hailing from Sootopolis City, he has become quite accomplished with his team. His name is always seen in many high spots across the globe, coming in sixteenth in the Kanto Championships and in third in the Johto Championships. Please welcome Chris Eaton.
The crowd let out a roar at the announcement of his name.
"Dile Dile!" said the Totodile on Chris' shoulder patting Chris on the back, trying to get Chris to calm down. Chris took a deep breath, and began to make his trek to the trainer's box. The crowd began a chant "Chris! Chris! Chris!" as he entered the stadium. Chris couldn't help but let out a smile, all of these people had come to see him, compete in the finals.
When Chris made it to the trainer's box, he turned to the direction where he had just come from. Then, he and Dile simultaneously gave the crowd a huge wave. Seeing this, the crowd let out another roar and chanted stronger "Chris! Chris! Chris!"
Looking around the stadium, Chris saw his parents sitting in the front row, joining the crowd in their chants. His friends from Sootopolis and Kanto were sitting there as well. On the bench were Isabel, Josh, Drake, and Maud, all cheering him on to victory. Across from him, on the opposite side of the Pokémon field, was his lifelong friend and rival, Gregory.
Last time the two had battled, it had ended in a tie, both Pokémon being knocked out at the same time. But Chris was sure that this time, he would win.
Gregory, having the first move, carefully chose a Pokeball and tossed it onto his side of the field. After a flash of red light, an Absol stood, poised for battle.
After careful consideration, Chris sent out his Pokémon too.
"Comon Out! Sakura!" Another flash of red it up the stadium, this time reveling Chris' Pikachu, Sakura.
"Let the Battle begin!" The referee announced.
Chris was about to give Sakura a move, when he heard a yell from behind
"Let him GO!" Although the voice was distorted, Chris could make out the words. Quickly, Chris spun around 180 degrees, looking for the source of the noise. The voice had sounded a lot like Isabel's, but that was impossible, she was sitting on the field side bench, cheering him on and offering tactics.
Chris shook off the voice as his imagination, refocusing his mind on the battle ahead.
"Sakura, Use Quick Attack!" Chris commanded the Pikachu. However, the small mouse Pokémon just stood there, as if she hadn't heard him.
"Sakura?" Chris quizzically asked the Pikachu "Come on, you need to use Quick Attack!"
Again, Despite Chris commands, the Pikachu stood there as if frozen in place.
"Sakura? Are you ok?" Chris asked, but the Pokémon continued looking straight ahead. Chris jumped of the battling stand and ran to the Pikachu, expecting the worst. As he approached her, Sakura began turning around to face him.
Relieved that the Pikachu had come back to it's senses, Chris slowed down, coming to a stop about a foot away from her. However, as soon as Chris came to a stop, Sakura started walking slowly to Chris, her cheeks sparking with electricity.
"Sakura?" Chris asked once again, frightened by the sparks on the Pikachu's cheeks.
The sparks on Sakura's cheeks died down and Chris took a step to the Pikachu. But before Chris could speak to Sakura, she told him. "Wake up, Chris…"
Chris was taken aback by what had just happened, Sakura, a Pikachu, had just spoken to him. The voice had sounded somewhat motherly and tender, but Chris was astonished all the same. Chris quickly looked around the stadium, but no one had seemed to notice. It was as if it was a normal, everyday thing. Gregory was still ready for battle, his friends were still cheering him on, and the crowd was still steadily chanting "Chris! Chris! Chris!" Dile jumped off of Chris' shoulder, snapping Chris out of his confusion and landing next to Sakura.
Again before Chris had a chance to say anything, Dile interrupted, and told him "Wake up Chris" Dile shot a powerful Hydro Pump attack at Chris face, knocking him over.
Chris recovered and sat back up, only to be find out he was floating in a void of darkness. He was surrounded by thousands, perhaps millions of Diles and Sakuras. He could still hear the crowds chanting his name "Chris! Chris! Chris!"
His eyes widened as the confusion settled in. As hard as he tried, he couldn't move and he couldn't speak. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, hoping that the nightmare would end. Suddenly, the Pokémon all disappeared, replace by an image of his parents. He recognized it as their old home, and both parents were crying. He stood up and walked to the image, and realized that this was the day that he ran away to become a trainer. He walked closer to the image, but as he got closer, the image faded away,. It was soon replaced by a young trainer, which he recognized as himself, receiving his Pokémon from Professor Elm. Chris couldn't help but smile at the site.
"Remember this?" A voice calmly said from behind. Chris turned to look and saw a small male Pikachu standing behind him.
"Great, more talking Pokémon…" Chris mumbled to himself "What the hell is going on here!?" He yelled lifting the small Pokémon up into the air by the skin on it's neck.
"You've been doubting yourself in the past" The small Pikachu calmly replied "Remember that day when you left your parents to become a Pokémon trainer? You were so happy, so ignorant, and so blissful. But your parents were not. And you didn't even give their wellbeing a second thought. All you cared about was yourself."
"They were trying to force me to be who they wanted me to be! They didn't care about me, so why should I care about them!" Chris yelled at the Pikachu, dropping it on the 'ground'.
"It was just a choice. And look how far you've come." The Pikachu confidently said pacing back and forth. "Saving Josh and vowing to save all the young trainers, that was very noble"
"And what's your point?"
"Me?" The Pikachu asked "I'm just making sure you go through with it. If you bailed out now, your words would've meant nothing. And those good choices that you have made, will also have meant nothing , as well as anything else you will say or do. But if you go through with this, even though you will do some terrible things, your good choices will overshadow the bad things and choices."
"Wait… So what does-?"
"Think about this later." The Pikachu sighed, interrupting Chris in mid-sentence. "Right now, your friends need you, so just wake up."
----
Chris awoke drenched in sweat. His head was throbbing and his vision was blurred. A rancid smell traveled up his nostrils, helping to bring him back to his senses. He tried wipe of the sweat with his hand, only to find that his hands were chained to a slimy wall behind him. He desperately tried to pull away, but only succeeded in wearing himself out. He began to lose hope.
"CHRIS!" He looked up and a tear fell down his face, Isabel was here, trying to save him. Her Eevee, Eve, was by her side, growling at a woman in front of them. The bounty hunter from earlier was also standing by the woman, blood was still dripping from his wound. He couldn't let them down. He took a look at the cuff and chains holding his hands against the wall. The left chain was rusted and weathered. Again, he gathered up all of his strength and pulled against the left chain and cuff, stretching them to their absolute max. His head started to throb again and his vision blurred, but he couldn't give up. Suddenly, he heard a loud snap, the chain had broken. The cuffs and a bit of the chain were still around his free hand, but for the most part, it was free.
He reached for his knife, but the case was empty. He realized with despair that he had lost it in the previous battle.
CHRIS! YOUR POKEMON! Isabel yelled at him, her voice echoing down the tunnels.
Chris looked at his belt and, to his surprise, his Pokémon were still on his belt. With his free hand, he grabbed three Pokeballs.
"Char! Dile! Rio! Let's Go!" The whole tunnel lit up with red. When the light faded, three Pokémon stood, poised for battle.
"Rio, use Force Palm to break the rest of these chains!" In a flash, Rio broke all of the chains holding Chris in place as well as their respective cuffs. The one chain which he had broken was still around his wrist, but he could deal with that later.
"Isabel, we'll take the hunter! You get the b---- over there!"
"Still got some fight in you, boy?" The bounty hunter chucked sending out a Seviper and a Gallade. "We'll have to fix that."
OOC: Still writing the battle scene. The whole conscience/dream thingy was part of my writers block (When I can't think I write:)) Yes, the whole "escape" scene is short and cheesy, but i felt as though i had delayed it long enough... If you want to complain, keep it to yourself:tired:
