Journey to Isle of Jade

Chapter 10

So, this is the 10th chapter now, and boy does it have action in it.
I'm currently working on chapter 14 and this fic is very close to being finished, so just bare with me for a while and you shall know what became of Cimi, Adan and their Pokémon after this adventure!
But, for now, here's the 10th chapter. 11th will be up soon enough. Thank you for reading!

Chapter 10 - The Rescue Plan B

Adan woke up. He was laying in a bed that was just about his size. It was clearly made for Pokémon. As he carefully looked at his surroundings, he noticed there were lots of other similar beds, too. They were all placed in a long room that looked almost like a hallway. Somehow it looked really familiar. He turned his head really slowly.

"Is this a Pokémon center?" he heard the sincerely curious voice of Kirlia from behind.

It sure looked like a Pokémon center. Kirlia sat on her bed and looked around. On the other side of Adan, Pichu slept in his bed. There were some other Pokémon laying on other beds further down the hallway. Pichu had electrodes taped to his cheeks, Kirlia had one on her forehead and Adan had one on his paw. Next to their beds, travel-sized monitors kept an eye on their vital signs. For a while, Adan watched how the green line on the monitor danced to his heartbeat.

"Where are we", he muttered. He still felt a bit drowzy from the sleeping potion.

Then, a door at the other end of the corridor opened and a Blissey pushing a trolley came in. On the trolley, there seemed to lay some Pokémon under a white cloth. Two Chansey followed the Blissey as it walked past beds. Occasionally either of the Chansey checked some monitors on their way. When the trio suddently saw that Kirlia and Adan were awake, they didn't get too suprised.

"Ahh. Our patients are awake", Blissey said and sounded very content. At first, Adan was shocked to realize he actually understood wht Blissey had said. Then he remembered that he was a Pokémon now.

"Marvellous", said one of the Chanseys, "I can take the trolley from here, so you can chat with our friends here."

"That'd be great", Blissey said and gave the Chansey a dazzling smile. As Chansey continued with the trolley, Adan started to get confused and Pichu started to wake up.

"So, how are you feeling?" Blissey asked Kirlia.

"I'm feeling fine", Kirlia said touched the electrode on her forehead, "So you can take this off, now."

"Oh, it's still too early for that", the other Chansey said and smiled, "I'll be getting some food. Do you have any preferences? We have a marvellous variety of delicacies here!"

As nobody answered anything, the Chansey left to get some food she thought would be most suitable.

"And you, my friend", Blissey spoke to Adan now, "How are you feeling? Your brain readings were a bit odd, so we were afraid there was possibly something wrong with you. Do you feel anything like that? No headace or anything?"

"No", Adan said, and started to get annoyed. What was this, anyway? First they shoot us and now they ask what preferences do we have with food. All Pokémon food sucks, except the one mom made, he thought to himself.
"Where are we", he asked Blissey.

"Oh", Blissey laughed, "How silly of me not to tell! You're in the basement floor of the Sheffield Building now. This is the private Pokémon Center of Sheffield Co. and I'm the doctor in charge here."

"Sheffield?" Pichu said a drowzy voice, "Isn't that a Poké food brand?"

"Oh, yes", said Blissey, "but lately I've heard we sell jade, too. Isn't that great?"

Chansey came back with the food. Adan had a million thoughts in his head. Were they rescued by Sheffield Co. or is the Poké food brand with a good image behind all this? Did Sheffield Co. kidnap Cimi? No, that couldn't be right, they had to be here because they were saved by the nice people of Sheffield Company.

"Ah, I forgot to mention", Blissey said with a huge smile, "You're all the property of Sheffield Company now. Isn't it great to have a food company as your owner?"

The Sheffield Co. really was behind this. Adan's heart skipped a beat. Property of a Poké food company?

---

In another room closeby Cimi woke up. She didn't receive even half of the treatment her Pokémon and Adan were enjoying. She was laying on the ground, her head hurt horrendously and her body had bruises all over. She stayed there, laying down on the chilly floor. It was pretty dark in the cramped room she was in. It seemed to be a storage of some kind.

"I wonder what happened to everyone", she mumbled to herself. After feeling sorry for herself for a while, she slowly stood up. She felt a bit dizzy, probably because of the damage her head had taken. She tried to open the door by the handle, but of course it wouldn't open.

"You can't blame me for trying", she said to herself. Then, she checked what else was in the room with her. Oddly, it seemed to be a small Poké food storage. She took a jar of food expecially designed for fire Pokémon - she had eaten that one before - and started eating it. She sat down munching her food and drifted away with her thoughts.

---

As the last piece of food disappeared in Pichu's hungry mouth, Adan shot his vines towards Blissey as he had decided minutes ago. They had to escape and their only chance was to knock out Blissey and Chansey. This Blissey was, however, clearly better trained for battles than any normal Pokémon Center Blissey would be, as she dodged the hit. Unfortunately for her there were three desperate Pokémon against her and her under-trained Chansey partner. In a very short amount of time, Chansey was hit by Kirlia's confusion, Pichu's thunderbolt and a series of razor leaves by Adan.

That left Blissey all alone in this fight. She was mad. She loathed fights, expecially when there was no trainer and therefore no merit involved. She was very career-minded: she wanted to have her own hospital where she could help lots and lots of Pokémon, and now she had it. She would not tolerate this kind of rioting in her hospital. She grabbed her egg and threw it at Adan, who seemed to be the mastermind behind this mutany.

"Adan", squealed Pichu.

Kirlia threw herself in front of Adan, and just as Adan was about to shove her aside, Kirlia teleported them both behind Blissey. The egg bomb went off and shook the whole room. A couple of monitors let out an alarm, but they quikly went off. A patient Pokémon could be heard moaning somewhere. The smoke from the bomb remained in the unventilated room.

Blissey turned over and when she noticed Ivysaur and Kirlia, her face turned red and she was about to take out another egg bomb. Just when she was about to throw it, a thunderbolt hit her from behind. She dropped her bomb, which exploded on the spot. After getting over the noise and the shock, Adan, Ivysaur and Pichu hurried away before anyone would come and seize them. They had now escaped, but they still had to find Cimi and a way out. They busted open a door and started to search for a prison of some sort so that they could find Cimi.

---

Cimi had her ear glued to the door. She was sure she had just heard an explosion, or maybe two. She tried to listen if there were any noises outside her prison. There were no footsteps to be heard, no alarms going off, no shouting voices, no nothing. She felt really disapointed. If nobody was panicing, those explosions were completely intentional, not the sounds of a rescue team coming to get her. She leaned her forehead on the door and let a couple of tears roll out her eyes.
If not for that stupid fight, none of this might've happened, she thought to herself. How did they end up in this mess anyway? All she ever did was to help an injured Bulbasaur... She started to cry for everything there was to cry for. She had never felt more sorry for herself, which made her feel rather annoyed. There were better times to act like a fool, but her head had chosen this moment for some unknown reasons. The more Cimi tried to cheer up, the more she felt like crying. After all, she was hungry and not in the best physical condition. Minutes dragged on and she felt like a thousand years had passed after the explosions.

Suddently, she heard voices.

"I said, she can't be here. We should head for the lower floors", a familiar voice said.

"Why would she be any lower than we are now? Let's search this floor first!" mumbled another very familiar voice.

"Because that's where they put prisoners!" the first voice said in an annoyed way. There was only one person Cimi knew who used that tone when annoyed. Adan! Now that she had recognised Adan's voice, she recognised Pichu, too.

"Pichu! Adan! Kirlia!" Cimi started to yell and bang the door with all her might. It hurt a bit, but well, it was the only reasonable thing to do. She could almost hear how shocked they were able to find her so fast.

"Cimi?" It was Kirlia.

"I'm here! In a closet", Cimi yelled with all the air she had in her lungs. She could hear running paws getting closer to the door she was leaning on. Suddently she realized that Adan would propably open the door by pushing it in, and she withdrew in the furthest corner of the closet.

"You there, Cimi? Are you near the door?" The one to speak was Adan.

"No, I'm not", Cimi answeared. Her head hurt. Oh, how much her head hurt! She heard some rustling behind the door, and then something slammed very hard against it. The first slam wasn't powerful enough, so more followed. After some smashes the door started to give in. Flakes of wood flew off the door as it started to bend under the force used against it. The next slam then finally made it break. Adan rolled inside the closet and the air was full of dust, wood and flakes of paint from the door. Cimi coughed and shaded her eyes from the sudden light.

"Are you all right, Cimi?" Adan asked.

"I think I am", Cimi said and smiled in a way that looked like she was everything else than all right. Either way, she stood up and stepped away from the closet that had been her temporary prison.

"How long were they going to keep you here", Pichu poundered and took a peek inside the closet, "How awful! What about your head? Is it all right?"

"I'm fine, so let's get out of here! Where are we, anyway?" Cimi asked and tried to forget her terrible headache.

"This is the Sheffield Co. Building", Adan said with a face as serious as you can get as an Ivysaur, "And we think the Pokémon from the cave was brought here, too."

"Sheffield..? This is worse than I thought", Cimi said and was rather shocked about the news, " but if the Pokémon's here, we must find it first, don't we?"

"I think we should get out first", Kirlia said, "I think Radeem and Ivysaur might be looking for us."

They went where they thought the exit would be. Cimi opened a door and they came into a new hallway. There, close to the ceiling, there was a small window.

"Man! Why didn't anyone tell we're underground?" Cimi muttered and ran to the window. She tried to decide if it was possible to get out trough it or not. Pichu and Kirlia would be easy to get trough the narrow window, even she herself might've been able to squeeze her body through it. But there was no way Adan could get out that way.

"We could escape trough this window", she said and looked down on Adan and his enormous bud, "But you can't fit trough, can you? Aah, why do you have to be so massive?"

"It's not my fault! My normal body would go trough that with no problem at all", Adan claimed and looked offensed.

"Yes, I'm sorry", Cimi calmed him down and tried to ignore the fact her headache was getting worse by the minute.

"Um, I can get him trough it", Kirlia said and smiled, looking very confused. "I can use teleport, you know, but not for long distances or with many passengers yet. This, however, is not difficult for me, so I can teleport outside with Adan."

Adan, Cimi and Pichu all looked at Kirlia in great amazement. They had almost forgot that she was there, and nobody remembered that she was a Pokémon, too, and therefore capable of using moves. She had now solved their problem and freedom was just a footstep away. Cimi opened the window as much as it could be opened and Pichu went easily through.

"Nobody here", he said after looking around for a while, "you can come, too, Cimi."

Cimi jumped and was about to grab the window board and start to crawl trough, when three suprising things happened at once. First of all, Pichu saw Radeem galloping on the other side of the fence that surrounded the Sheffield Company Building. A more disturbing thing was that the door behind Cimi, Adan and Kirlia suddently opened and a man in a uniform appeared. He stopped and stared at them, and then took out two Pokéballs. The third thing was that Cimi, before noticing any of these two things, passed out and fell on the hard floor before Adan could catch her.

Chapter 11

The Chapter 11 of 'Journey to Isle of Jade': Our friends are back together, but that alone doesn't solve their problems!

Chapters 12 and 13 will be up later this week and that nears us to the end of this story. According to current plan, there will be a total of 15 chapters and an epilogue. Not much left, is there? // Edit: Actually, I'm just finishing the 15th chapter, and yes, it really is the last one, if epilogue doesn't count.
//// Edit: Actually, I finished the whole fic, epilogue and all. So, now you'll just have to wait for the chapters to slowly appear here.
Chapter 12 - Little Joseph
Chapter 13 - A job to be done
Chapter 14 - Trust me!
Chapter 15 - Jade Bracelet
Epilogue (this will be posted with chapter 15. Maybe I'll draw you a nice picture for the end...)

Thank you for reading this fic of mine! I would appreciate some more criticism (instead of current 'none'-situation), but well, now I can imagine my fic is perfect. ^-^ In any case, I am grateful that someone puts up with my work and really reads it.

Now, read the chapter and enjoy.
Or else.



Chapter 11 - Mr. Joseph Sheffield


Adan faced a difficult situation. He was supposed to be escaping, but he had an uncoscious girl to save and a rather scary-looking man to battle. He knew Kirlia was not much of a fighter, Pichu had a lot of power but very little stamina and Radeem and Ivysaur were still far away. Moreover, he wasn't very used to the body he was in. In every battle he had faced up until now he had been a trainer with 6 Pokémon to choose from, but now he himself was the only Pokémon on hand.

"Don't battle us", yelled Kirlia and took a step towards the man in uniform, "We're just lost!"

"Lost? Here?" said the man in disbelief. Adan looked at Kirlia and tried to determine what in this world was she trying to pull.

"We came here with our trainer to ask about Pokéfood", Kirlia explained, "And then she fell on the stairs and hit her head and we were told to come down here. There's supposed to be a Pokémon center somewhere, we were told, and we were looking for the place when she suddently started feeling dizzier... She was trying to get some air from the window!"

"So that's how it is", the man said and smiled, but not in a promising way at all. "Too bad they don't actually let any trainers in this building. Our info center is in a completely different place. You must be the Pokémon that escaped from that Pokémon center of ours? I don't have a sleeping gun, so I'll catch you the old-fashioned way. Go, Poliwrath and Leafeon!"

He threw his Pokéballs and his Pokémon appeared.

"Shoot some water at them, Poliwrath", yelled the man and Poliwrath did what he was told.

"Dodge", shouted Pichu from the window. Adan and Kirlia both jumped out of the water's way, Adan dragging Cimi along with his vines. Immidiately after the water hit the wall, a flock of razor-sharp leaves hit Kirlia. She squealed from pain and - suprisingly enough - got really angry. She took a fighting pose and sent some magical leaves flying towards Poliwrath.

"Wait, let me fight them, Kirlia!" Adan tried to calm her down.

"Even I want to pay back sometimes", Kirlia said in a voice that was almost cold. Her eyes were blazing with eagerness to battle and Adan got goosebumps from looking at her. She made another attack, this time trying to confuse Leafeon with it. It was a direct hit. Suddently the Leafeon looked very suprised. Before she had time to do anything else, she heard Pichu's voice again.

"Everybody down, now!" the little creature yelled with everything he had.

"You'd better listen to him", said Ivysaur. In a blink of an eye, both Adan and Kirlia turned towards the window, saw Ivysaur and Radeem and ducked immidiately after seeing what Radeem was doing. A huge blast of fire came in from the window and hitted their opponents, trainer included, with full force. When the heat cooled down, Adan lifted his head.
The whole hallway had black walls, both Leafeon and Poliwrath seemed to have fainted, and their trainer leaned his body against the door and looked horrified. He turned around, opened the door and ran.

"He's going to call help", Ivysaur noted and Adan nodded.

"We have to escape quickly or we'll be done for", he said and looked at Kirlia. She was glowing bright, blueish light. She smiled in her usual, a bit confused way.

"I think I might be evolving", she said before she started to shift her shape. The light filled the whole hallway as she grew taller and taller. In a matter of seconds, she was a Gardevoir. She laughed a bit and everyone could hear how her voice had gotten lower and calmer.

"We should make our escape", she said, looking more gracious than she had ever looked.

"Yes, but what can we do with Cimi", Pichu asked, sounding desperate.

"I can try to lift her out the window with my vines after Kir... Gardevoir teleports us out", Adan said and looked at Gardevoir.

"Oh my", she laughed, "I wonder if I will ever remember my new name?"

"We don't have time for your nonsense now", Radeem said to Gardevoir, "We have to make haste!"

Adan put Cimi down gently so that she was in a sitting position, leaning to the wall. Gardevoir then teleported herself and Adan out. Adan slipped his vines in from the window and grabbed Cimi. Slowly, he started to slide her from the window. She didn't fit.

"She's too big", Adan said and sighed, "What was she thinking? This window is way too small!"

"I'm sorry for being too big", Cimi mumbled with her eyes closed.

"Cimi! You're alive", Pichu squealed, almost in tears.

"Of course I am", Cimi answeared very quietly and tried to smile. She still didn't open her eyes.

"But what can we do", Radeem said in despair.

"It's no problem", Gardevoir smiled, "I can go back and teleport her, too."

"Why didn't you say so before", Adan yelled and put Cimi back down.

"I didn't want to rob you of the joy of saving her yourself", Gardevoir laughed, "Surely you knew about this possibility yourself, too."

Adan did not say anything when Gardevoir teleported in and back out again, as he did not want to admit that the thought had not even crossed his mind. He felt really stupid and, in a way, offended. Gardevoir put Cimi down on the grass, where she opened her eyes.

"Kirlia!" she said, "When did you evolve?"

"It's Gardevoir now", Gardevoir said and laughed, "We had a battle before, just when you passed out."

"I seem to miss all the good parts", Cimi mumbled and looked around.

"We should get going", Pichu said. He was very nervous because he had lost most of his self-confidence when Cimi had been kidnapped right under his nose. With some help from Ivysaur, Adan lifted Cimi to Radeem's back.

"You have a nasty-looking wound on your head, Cimi", Adan told her.

"It hurts a lot", Cimi admitted, "I don't really know what that guy hit me with. Does it look bad?"

"Well, your shirt's all bloody", Ivysaur said, sounding a bit worried, "You think a spray potion would help? I mean, humans are not that different from Pokémon, after all."

"Hey, that's a good idea", Radeem said and smiled a bit arrogantly, "Apparently you can even be useful sometimes."

Ivysaur didn't quite know if it was sarcasm or not.
They sprayed some potion on Cimi and started to sneak away from the building.

"Can't you tone your flames down a bit", Ivysaur asked Radeem, "You're like a torch. I wouldn't wonder if they see us because of you."

"You want me to fry you, grass boy?" Radeem answeared, "I can't wait for you to return in that weakness-for-fire body of yours."

"Shut it, we don't want to be heard", Adan whispered. They were approaching a separate, small building that was built in the park surrounding the huge Sheffield Company Building. It seemed to be a lab of some sort, with it's low, flat roof and not many windows. They tried to walk as close to the building as they could so that they would be safe in its shadow. A window couple of steps before them was open and voices could be heard inside.

"This is where we saw them bring the Pokémon from the cave", Ivysaur whispered.

"Let's listen to them", Cimi whispered back. She felt a lot better after the potion. They sneaked closer to the window. The voices could be heard clearly. There were about three men talking about something inside.

"But it doesn't want to go into a Pokéball", said a middle-aged man, "We haven't gotten it into any of our Super Balls. They are supposed to catch any Pokémon, and they do, Mr. Sheffield, but this one just doesn't stay in!"

"You haven't made it weak enough, Professor Mori", this so-called Mr. Sheffield said, "have you done everything I ordered you to?"

"Yes, we have", said a third man, younger than the two other men, "We have used our best electric Pokémon against this Pokémon you call Manaphy, sir."

"Then why is it not obeying?" shouted Mr. Sheffield.

"We don't know, sir", said the young man, "But we're working on it."

"Why do you want this Pokémon so bad, Mr. Sheffied?" asked the frustrated professor Mori.

"Ah, I suppose you haven't heard of this Manaphy and it's Heart Swap, have you, professor?" said Mr. Sheffield in a very proud and enthusiastic voice, "Heart Swap is a move that can make two minds change bodies. Like, say, if my mind was in your body and yours in mine. You see, it's a very unique and useful move, expecially if you can come up with good purposes for it... And in the name of modern scinece, I certainly have."

"You... You have?" asked professor Mori, sounding rather worried.

"Of course I have", Mr. Sheffield laughed in a friendly way, "You see, my power over Pokéfood industry is very strong. By selling jade for years, my company has grown so that it now has power in all sorts of industries. Moreover, the Sheffield Co. trains lots of Happiny to become the hard-working staff in every Pokémon Center. We have gym leaders, TV reporters and even some members of the government on our sides. But there's something my grasp cannot reach. That, my friends, is the science industry. Have I tried to get there? Yes, I have, but the scientists do not obey a company nor an ex-scientist. They have their own little world with their own little professor gods - not on offense to you, Mori - and all they care about are their universities. But I want my share of power in their stupid universities!"

"But how is this Manaphy and its Heart Swap going to help you, sir?" asked the young man.

"I have invited the famous professor Itaka to inspect my new laboratories. Have you already met him, professor Mori? Ah, I thought you hadn't, he's a very shy person, this Itaka", Sheffield explained, "but he's a very remarkable person when it comes to his studies and he is well known and respected in the science world. I suppose you also know about the vice president of our company? I shall switch the minds of professor Itaka and the vice president! That way, I will have power over science world as well!"

A silence fell.

"He's crazy", Adan whispered and everyone nodded. They thought that the two men inside the building, Mori and the young man, also thought Mr. Sheffield was out of his mind.

"Then, who knows, maybe I'll come up with another way to use that Heart Swap", Mr. Sheffield muttered in a way that had everyone thinking this science nonsense was not his main plan at all.

"Ah, let me see that Manaphy", Mr. Sheffield said strictly, "I want to know what's so darn hard about capturing a Pokémon!"

"Yes, sir, immidiately!" the young man said and the three could be heard leaving the room.

"We have to save that Pokémon called Manaphy", Cimi whispered, "Let's climb in and find it right now!"

"You're not well enough to start rescuing Pokémon from mad people", Adan said in a way a mother would, "So leave this to us, all right?"

"No way", Cimi answeared, "Besides, can you even go in from that window? You're too big, and so is Radeem. You have to wait outside, not me!"

"It is big enough for me", Adan claimed, "and if it isn't, Gardevoir can teleport me in. But you have an injury on your head, and..."

"Oh, cut it already", Cimi muttered, "You're overprotective. Can't you see I'm fine?"

"Let's all go", said Gardevoir.

"Hey, who said I want to go", Radeem asked.

"I know you do", Gardevoir said teleported inside with Adan. The rest of them climbed in from the relatively large window and looked around. The room had some sofas around it and in a corner there was a table with all sorts of drinks and an ash tray on it. It seemed to be some kind of negotiation room. A more troubling thing was that it had three doors. Radeem stayed outside, "just in case", as she said.

"Which one should we take? Which one did they take?" Cimi asked and looked around in the room. There were no clues to help them.

"We just have to try", Ivysaur said and opened a door. Behind it, there was an Alakazam.

"Great choice", Radeem yelled from the window with her voice filled with irony. They all got themselves ready for a fight.

"Don't attack me", the Alakazam said in a small, tired voice, "I do not wish to fight. After all, I am merely a temporary visitor in this body and thus I should not harm it in any way."

"A temporary visitor?" Adan and Cimi repeated.

"A temporary visitor", confirmed Alakazam, "This body is Joseph's - that is to say, Mr. Sheffield's - body-to-be. I think that is the reason he wants to seize that Pokémon called Manaphy."

All right, people. This is it: the beginning of the end. The beginning of chapter 12 is very plot-filled but there'll be some action later on. In this chapter, we learn a bit about who is it that Cimi, Adan and the rest are opposing. We are also introduced to a whole new kind of item, and a dangerous one, too... Oh, and I had to modify the end of the last chapter a bit, since it had a mistake on it.

Again, thanks for reading, and I appreciate comments and/or criticism. Also, I'm thinking about eriting another fic with the same cast: Adan, Cimi, Ivysaur, Radeem, etc. Has anyone any opinion on whether I should do one or not? Are they nice guys ore do they annoy the heck out of you? I've already made up something plottish, so that's not a problem. I like using the same characters over and over again. It's nice to get to know them more...

Enough with this nonsense! Here I present you the 12th chapter of my fic. Please, proceed.


Chapter 12 - Little Joseph


"Joseph Sheffield's parents were both gym leaders specialized on electric type Pokémon", Alakazam told all of a sudden, "He was the second child of his family. His older sister Marianne was to inherit the gym, if nobody else wanted to take it. His parents and Marianne tried to convince him into getting himself an electric type Pokémon. They tried offering him Pichu, Pachirisu, Shinx, Voltorb, Elekid... None of those was to his liking. Then, one day, as he watched another challenger battling his parents, he saw something that made his heart jump. He saw psychic types in action."

Amazed by this sudden storytelling, Adan, Cimi, Ivysaur, Gardevoir and Pichu could do nothing but blink.

"It amazed him!" said Alakazam intensily, almost like reading a poem, " It moved him to his very heart! He adored the idea of manipulating surroundings, dealing damage and causing problems by the mere power of mind, without using any physical power at all. So he told himself: this is the kind of Pokémon I want to have. And that is, indeed, when I entered his life like a ray of light into an empty church."

"Excuse me", said Cimi, "Why are you telling..."

"However", Alakazam interrupted with a slightly louder voice, "However, I was to remain his only Pokémon for many years. He trained me, a humble Abra, like I was the most important Pokémon in this world. He gave me nutrients, he gave me berries and other treats, he held me in a Pokéball with luxurities beyond your imagination. And his parents were proud of him, they were indeed."

"Why are you telling us this nonsense", screamed Ivysaur. Alakazam looked at him in amazement, like he hadn't seen this black-haired boy standing there before.

"There is a reason I'm telling you this, but please don't rush me or you'll never understand", Alakazam said and closed his eyes, "So, if you will, please let me continue."

Nobody said a word. They were so suprised by all this that they couldn't find any sensible words to say. So, nobody said a word and therefore Alakazam continued.

"He became a scientist, studying the secrets behind the mind of a psychic type Pokémon. But he became frustrated. He was poor, nobody wanted to sponsor his study. So, he advanced rather slowly. After a while, he grew tired of being moneyless and estabilished this company you know as the Sheffield Company. It was estabilished to earn him some money for proceeding with his career as a scientist, but he soon became greedy. He multiplied his businesses and forgot about science completely. He sold more and more products, hired more and more people and started to bribe some folks on high positions. He became powerful and the power corrupted his mind. A scientist friend of his, Itaka he was called I think, then called him. He was worried that Joseph didn't care about science anymore. Joseph tried to convince his friend that he still loved science as he once had... But it was a lie, a fitlhy lie on Joseph's behalf!"

"I - I see", Cimi said with a trembling voice, as Alakazam seemed to be waiting for a response.

"You do?" Alakazam asked and then nodded, "You might, indeed. Why was it that he lied? It was because he wanted to know what was going on in the science world, the only place he did not have power over things that happened. It was at tahat time that he learned about this Pokémon who swaps hearts. He was filled with his old enthusiasm again! He started to train me again, feed me treats again... But he also fed me some strange medicine. I now know this medicine was one used for cheating purposes. That is why I am unreasonably strong and do not wish to fight anyone. I wondered what were the purposes behind this sudden training interest of his, and soon I came to know the truth. He wants my body. He wants to have power over minds, too, and therefore he wants my body and my abilities. That is why I am merely a temporary visitor in this physical appearence you see before you."

"I still don't understand why you told us all this", Adan said after a brief silence.

"I am deeply worried about him", Alakazam said sadly, "He is no longer the little energetic Joseph I once knew. I'd like you to stop this crazy plan of his. Also, this was to buy time for our staff."

"Buy..." A horrible realization struck Cimi's mind. Alakazam had told them this story to stop them from following Mr. Sheffield. We're so stupid, she thought and sharply turned around, but it was already too late. Three security guards had just entered the room, and they had some weird-looking pieces of metal with them. They were big men with scary-looking uniforms and a mean look in their eyes. To Cimi's suprise, they did not seem to have any Pokémon with them.

"Why you son of a..." Adan growled to Alakazam. The yellow-brown creature looked sad and bowed his head.

"I'm sorry", Alakazam muttered, "but Joseph is my trainer that I cannot betray, no matter how bad the situation is..."

"Why don't they have any Pokémon", Ivysaur asked out loud while looking at the security guards. The guards all took on a smile that was not at all happy or friendly.

"Heh, we have something far better", said one of them and patted the weird metallic item he had, "I suppose you haven't seen any before, since they're prohibited here, but back where we come from, they're as common as grass is here. It's called a gun."

"Hah", Ivysaur spitted back, "A metal pipe like that can't possibly hurt us when we have our Pokémon! Go, Eevee, Pachirisu, Beautifly!"

He threw the balls from his belt and the three Pokémon appeared. Both Adan and Cimi had a baad feeling about those metal pipes, but it didn't seem to occur to Ivysaur that there were other dangerous things in this world besides Pokémon.

"You'd better call them back", said another guard, "We don't like hurting innocent Pokémon."

"And you horsie outside there", said the third guard, "You'd better not do anything suspicious or we'll hurt these guys."

Radeem disappeared from the window, but she stood closeby and thought about a plan.

"You'd better not hurt innocent Pokémon", yelled Cimi in sudden determination. Adan sighed, as he seemed to be the only reasonable person left in this world.

"Try not to anger them", he whispered to Cimi and Ivysaur.

"Call them back, now", said the first guard, "Or we'll do something that you will regret."

"Oh, yeah?" said Ivysaur. He was actually really scared, but he would not show it, not to anyone, expecially those bossy guys with metal pipes instead of Pokémon.

"You asked for it", said the second guard, grabbed his pipe and BANG! A loud voice filled the small room and had everyone lay down almost instinctively. When their ears stopped ringing, they looked up. Cimi gasped. Everyone turned their gazes on her and were shocked.
The wall behind her had a tiny hole on it. The hole was surrounded by tiny splatters of blood. Cimi was holding her arm, but everyone could see the blood slowly staining her sleeve. Slowly she lifted her hand and gasped again. There was a tiny hole on her shirt - and her arm.

"I - I - I can't move it", she whispered and covered the wound again with her hand, "I can't move my arm..."

"Now, would you please call away these Pokémon?" It was the first guard.

Ivysaur didn't say a word, he just called the three Pokémon back. Nobody dared to move, they just stood all there staring at Cimi. Even Alakazam looked shocked and pale.

"What are those things", Adan gasped and looked at the metal pipes in a whole new way.

"If you could follow us, please", said the second guard and pointed at the door they had came through. Everyone stoop up, Cimi still holding her arm. Alakazam looked like he was going to say something.

"You will be punished", said the third guard to Alakazam, "For telling secrets to intruders. These are the orders Mr. Sheffield gave."

Alakazam was left there standing, so shocked his skin was more white than yellow, wondering if he had really betrayed Joseph by not betraying him.

"Cimi", yelled Radeem from the window, but the guards did not care.

As the door shut, Cimi leaned to a wall.

"Please don't make a mess, miss", said the first guard and pushed her so she walked again. A bloody stain was left where she had leaned.

"Cimi", Pichu whispered in great despair. He could not come up with anything to do for Cimi. He was so scared of the three men with those things called 'guns' that he let out small charges. He walked on with his tiny feet and tried to make eye contact with either Ivysaur or Adan as he was sure they could come up with a plan.

Cimi started to feel dizzy from the pain in her arm. It was getting worse by the minute, propably because of the shock that was slowly going away. This wound would not kill her, but her arm might be really in such a condition it would never work again. She was scared and could not think of anything, anything but her arm...

Ivysaur cursed himself. He cursed and cursed and cursed himself for being so stupid. Nothing good had ever come of his actions, and this was by far the worst of his achievements. He wanted to make everything up for Cimi, Adan, Pichu and Gardevoir, but could not bring himself to saying he was sorry. If Cimi was to die, he would surely have to run away and live alone for the rest of his life, or maybe with other Ivysaur. As a human, he had done nothing good. He wanted to be a Pokémon again.

Adan was swallowing tears of anger. He was so angry, angrier than he had ever been in his life. He was worried, he was scared and he was angry. He wanted to be a human again, a trainer with all his Pokémon. That way he might've done something good, but this way he could do nothing. All he could do was to watch how Cimi walked on, holding her arm, the blood stain on her sleeve getting bigger and bigger... And by every step she took, Adan became angrier and started to forget being scared or worried.

Gardevoir was the only one to take action. She spread her arms so that she touched every three security guard and then she teleported out before anyone had time to say anything. Seconds later she appeared back, smiling a rather devilish smile. Everyone looked at her in great amazement.

"Cimi, are you all right", she asked and looked at Cimi. Everyone rushed to her and tried to come up with a way to help her with her wound.

"Ivysaur, can you rip my sleeve off", Cimi asked in a small voice. Ivysaur did as he was told and ripped the sleeve off as gently as possible. Of course it could not be done gently and Cimi gasped a couple of times before the sleeve was off. Her wound looked nasty. She touched it for a second, shivered and then wrapped the sleeve around it. She managed to tie it with one hand. For a couple of seconds everyone just stood there and looked at the bloody sleeve.

"Well, then, better get going", Cimi said and smiled with all the might her pale face had, "We have a plan to stop, don't we?"

"Yeah", answered Adan and smiled back to her, "Let's go!"

Chapter 13

In chapter 13 our friends dash towards the conclusion! What will come of them when they have to be heroes all of a sudden? Will Cimi's wound distract her too much?
Read and find out!


Chapter 13 - A Job to be done


They walked in silently and tried not to look suspicious. Cimi was wearing a lab coat that was way too big for her but she hoped it didn't show too much. Ivysaur was wearing the uniform all security guards had and he acted like Adan was his trusted pet and bloodhound. Gardevoir was supposed to act like a test subject. They had found these clothes from an empty working room and Cimi had conjured a cover-up story fror them based on the papers lying around in the same room. She was now doctor Meiga (because it actually was her last name), a woman passionately studying the subject of psychic type Pokémon. The security guard next to her was called Bradley, they were working buddies and he was there to see Gardevoir didn't get loose and start destroying stuff. Pichu was hiding in Adan's backpack, carried by Ivysaur. Radeem was outside the building, waiting for a sign to start her part of action.
Everything was set up perfectly for their plan. If it was to work in any situation, it would work now. Cimi and Ivysaur both took a deep breath.

They walked in the room and nobody noticed a thing. They had come into a spacious room with two floors. The upper floor had a large opening in the middle and you could see people walking around in the second floor. There were large, weird machines around the room but also more familiar ones, like treadmills and other excercise equipment, medical equipment and computers. Large shelves filled with Pokéballs covered one wall on the lower floor, but there seemed to be even more balls stored on the upper level. Scientists, assistents and security guards were working on Pokémon everywhere in the room: scientists with their lab coats and specimen Pokémon, who seemed to be okay with all the examining; assistents with their laptops writing what their instructors told them to write; security guards with their scary-looking guard Pokémon. But none of them noticed anything suspicios about their "colleagues" who had just walked in.

But the crucial part was now to come. Cimi gathered her courage and walked up to a security guard.

"Excuse me", Cimi said to the guard and tried to sound as important as she could, "You wouldn't happen to know where Mr. Sheffield went?"

"He went up just a while ago", answered the guard casually and pointed towards the stairs, "But I would assume he doesn't want to be disturbed, as he is with professors Mori and Itaka."

"Ah, is that so", said Cimi and shivered a bit, "But my results are most interesting and I'm sure he will want to hear right away. He told me to come straight to him, so.."

"Well then, get going", said the security guard and looked at Cimi for the first time, "Oh, your arm is bleeding! Are you all right..?"

"Ahh, hahhah", Cimi laughed, "It's just a minor scratch, I mean what wouldn't we do for science..."

"Doctor", Ivysaur called Cimi, "Your Gardevoir is getting nervous, we should hurry!"

"Ah, well, excuse me", Cimi said to the guard, smiling nervously. She tried to walk away as normally as anyone would. They reaced the stairs, climbed up and looked back down. The guard was still looking at them.

"This is bad", Cimi whispered.

"It's your fault for being a lousy actor", Ivysaur grumbled.

They hurried towards a door that was the most probable candidate for the right way to go. When Cimi was about to push it open, a middle-aged woman stopped her by putting her hand on the door.

"Are you sure you want to go there?" she asked Cimi with a genuinely worried face. She was wearing a lab coat and glasses and had a Rotom floating next to her. Her hair had gray stripes on the sides of her head, but otherwise she looked kind of young.

"W-Why do you ask", Cimi stuttered and tried to stand in a position that wouldn't show the blood dribbling trough her lab coat.

"Sheffield is there", the woman whispered, "And he's not that fond of interruptions... my, you must be new here, am I right?"

"Yes, I'm new, but I have orders to report to Mr. Sheffield as soon as I get results, and, well, I got some..." Cimi's voice faded away.

"Hmm, then, you better hurry. He likes to have his results fresh!" the lady said and let Cimi open the door. Just as Cimi, Ivysaur, Adan and Gardevoir were about to proceed, she stopped Cimi again by gently tapping her shoulder. "What's your name, new one?"

"I'm Cimi Meiga - I mean doctor Meiga", Cimi answered, very suprised.

"Well then, doctor Cimi Meiga", said the woman and smiled, "I'm Augue. I look forward to working with you!"

As the door closed, Cimi felt really bad for fooling the poor woman. Then the pain on her arm sharply reminded her of their job.

"Let's get this over with", Adan growled. Ivysaur took his backpack off and opened it.

"Can I come out now?" Pichu asked hopefully.

"No, you can't. It's far too dangerous", Cimi declined the request immidiately.

"Come on, give the little guy a break", Ivysaur said as he lifted Pichu out from the backpack. He took out all the five Pokéballs and let out Adan's Pokémon: Eevee, Zubat, Pachirisu, Spearow and Beautifly. They all looked suprised as Adan explained the situation briefly.

"If someone doesn't want to participate, that will be all right, too", he said to them, "You can wait in your Pokéballs for all this to be over."

"You really think we'd do that", asked his Spearow and gave him a terribly unrespectful glare, "After we have spent so much time in those darn balls?"

"And after all you've done for us", Pachirisu said and grinned.

"No, no, I think we're fighting", Eevee said absent-mindedly. All Adan's Pokémon nodded to him and turned towards the door in front of them. This was the only door in the hallway, so Manaphy and Sheffield were most propably behind it. It would be embarassing, though, if they weren't.

"All right, Gardevoir, go get Radeem", Cimi said and started walking towards the door with a determined look on her pale face, "Let's get this over with, my arm really hurts."

And so this private little army of Pokémon and two human teenagers went to face the crazy and megalomaniac president of a huge and powerful company with only their plan and the element of suprise to help them.

The door, of course, was locked, so they busted it in.

Much to their relief and also disapointment, this wasn't the final door. They had come into a room that looked a lot like a waiting room of a small hospital. Luckily, there was also only one door to bust open, so they busted it.

And behind that door, they saw Mr. Sheffield, professors Itaka and Mori and a man that apparently was the vice president, all staring at them with amazement. They saw about six security guards with their guns and Pokémon companions and a couple of assistants that looked really scared. But the most important thing was that they saw Manaphy in the very cage they had seen before, and it looked like he recognised Adan and Ivysaur.

"Interesting", Manaphy said, and was the first to talk.

"What is the meaning of this? Who are you people?" asked Mr. Sheffield, now back to his senses and therefore very angry.

"We're here for an important job", Cimi shouted as loud as she could to cover her fear, "We're here to stop your plan of taking over professor Itaka's body!"

"Excuse me?" said Itaka.

"Are you completely out of your mind?" asked Mr. Sheffield and made a gesture with his hand. Every guard in the room pointed their weapons at Cimi and Ivysaur.

"Let's see how you manage without those pipes of yours", Ivysaur laughed. In a split second Radeem galloped in from the door and took a deep breath. Before the guards could use their guns, Radeem had let out a huge blast of fire. Unbearable heat filled the room, fried every hair or everyone's head curly and made the gunpipes bend just barely enough for them to be unusable.

"Hm, I have to assume you're serious, then", Mr. Sheffield said and shrugged, "just what is it you want?"

"We want that Pokémon", yelled Ivysaur and pointed at Manaphy, "I want to be a Pokémon again! I want to speak with other Pokémon again! I want to battle again! It's lousy being a human!"

"Is it, now? Interesting", said Mr. Sheffield and smiled, "I'll also have to assume you know too much. Well, then, professor Itaka, would you rather stay a human or become a Pokémon?"

"Becoming a Pokémon would be very interesting from a scientist's point of view... Wait, are you serious?" Itaka didn't think for a second that Sheffield would use this new Pokémon discovery for evil deeds. The scientist Sheffield he had once known would not have done that...

"Of course I'm not", Sheffield laughed. He looked at Manaphy, who was following the course of events with a rather curious look on his face. Sheffield sighed. "Tell Manaphy to swap hearts like I told it to do or it'll get the electric shock punishment from before."

"But isn't it a water type", Itaka asked in panic.

"It is, and that's precisely why we use electric shocks", admitted Mr. Sheffield and looked stricktly at Manaphy, "We can't get it into a ball and make it legally my Pokémon, so we have to command it by threatening. It's Manaphy's choice, if you think about it. Well, my little friend, will you do what I asked you to?"

A light started to glow from Manaphy. He was going to do what he was told.

"No", Ivysaur yelled and started running towards the little blue Pokémon. A ball of light flew towards him, went right trough and continued its way to Cimi, Adan and everyone else.

"Now you've done it", Mr. Sheffield shouted at Manaphy and ordered the punishment to be given. He also ordered his vice president to take Mori and Itaka away from the room. Then he turned towards the intruders.

"What am I going to do with you? How much do you know?" he asked and straightened his suit.

"Cimi", whispered the large grass pokémon beside Cimi, "I am me again. I am Ivysaur. We returned to our bodies!"

Cimi turned swiftly and looked for Adan. He leaned to a handrail a bit further from the rest of the group and looked somewhat nauseous. Security men were approaching from all directions: there were five of them and undoubtedly more had been already called. Manaphy's shrieks of pain cut the air like tiny knives for a while, but then there was a silence.

What do we do, Cimi thought. Their plan failed miserably, but what can you expect when teenagers and their rather moody Pokémon try to infiltrate the building of a huge company? They had more Pokémon than their opponents, but there were people threatening them as well. Cimi noticed that a security guard dug up a second gun. All the powerful-looking watchdog-Pokémon and all the giant men were coming closer. And yet the most scary man in the room was Mr. Sheffield with his gaze...

"Why?" Cimi asked him. For a second, he looked suprised. Then, he grinned.

We're nearing the end, folks. I'm currently rewriting the next chapter, but it should be ready soon enough. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Thanks for reading!

Chapter 14 - Trust me!


"Why, you ask me", Joseph Sheffield said and gave Cimi a rather sad smile, "I guess I went a bit crazy."

"Huh?" Cimi did not believe her ears.

"Scientists do that, you know", Sheffield said and shrugged, "Our need for knowledge surpasses our common sense and we go a bit crazy."

"Seems so", Radeem snapped at him.

"I thought you were an ex-scientist", Ivysaur mumbled, but Mr. Sheffield did not understand his words as he was a Pokémon again.

"I want to know how it feels to use those enormous powers Alakazam has", Sheffield explained, his eyes gleaming excitement, "I want to know how it feels to be hit by a psychic type attack, I want to know everything about psychic type Pokémon! I want to feel the power and control minds, making people confused or drowzy according to what I want!"

"But if you know you're crazy, why are you still doing all this", Cimi asked him. She was really confused. Sheffield seemed to be relatively sane, but still he had crazy plans like this. Moreover, she was worried about Adan, who was still leaning to the handrail behind Mr. Sheffield.

"I want to do it and I can do it. Why shoudn't I? It's not even causing any trouble to environment, society or Pokémon in general. There are a lot worse people than me out there. Besides", his voice faded and his facial expression suddently changed to a lot angrier one, "I have to get back to her..."

"Her?" Cimi repeated. Great, she thought, here we have a mad scientist who's making evil plans to pay back some woman. Suddently everything started to feel very unreal to her. She thought that this must've been a dream.

"Oh, great, is this all because some lover who dumped him?" Radeem let out a deep sigh.

"Whatever the reason, you'll never succeed", Adan yelled suddently, dashed towards Joseph Sheffield and hitted him in the back of his neck. Sheffield gave out a yelp and lurched forward. He managed to stay on his feet and turn around.

"Why you little..." he growled.

"Adan", Pichu shrieked and took a trembly step forward so he could help Adan if he needed help.

"It's not that great, being a Pokémon", Adan said to him, "When suddently all the things you've been doing for your whole life are impossible for you. Say, like speaking with human beings! And all the food you get is lousy Poké food! And, you know, it's not easy to use those powers when you're not born with them."

"Adan", Cimi said quietly after seeing a digital calendar on the wall, "Your mom... Her memorial day is tomorrow. If you want to get there, you'll have to leave on the ferry tonight!"

"What", blurted Adan, and lost the point he had been chasing. More days had passed than he had thought. How was that possible?

"You go ahead", Cimi yelled at him, "I'll handle this."

"What? Wait a sec..." Before Adan could say much, Gardevoir had appeared by his side and teleported him away from the room. This suprised both Radeem and Pichu, as neither of them had noticed Cimi giving any commands. Even Cimi looked a bit confused.

Sheffield stood there for a while, looking at the empty space in front of him. Even without looking he knew by the voices he heard that Ivysaur, too, was reclutantly teleported outside the room. He turned around and looked at Cimi with the most menacing facial expression Cimi had seen so far.

"Cimi, you freaking idiot", Radeem sighed and shook her head. Sometimes she felt like she was a hundred times more sensible than Cimi was.

"Why did you throw them out?" Pichu yelled at Cimi. She just stood there and looked back at Joseph Sheffield with a calm, yet confused look on her face.

"So, who's this 'she' you talked about", Cimi asked casually, as if nothing had happened.

"You'd like to know that, wouldn't you", Sheffield said, "But I'll have you thrown in prison for the rest of your life and you will never know!"

"Could you do that to me? I mean, how would you feel if you had to die not knowing something you really, really wanted to know?"

This had a visible effect on Joseph Sheffield. He was not a sadistic man, no, he was rather compassionate when it came to things like this. He had not had too much repentance over switching Itaka into another man's body, because he had intended to make Itaka a Pokémon, too. He knew Itaka would have been excited over such a thing. He also did not think much about hurting Manaphy, because they had the equipment to fully heal the Pokémon afterwards. But since he was a bit more weak and childish than his high position made him seem, this really made him think he was being too cruel.

"She's my sister", he finally said, "My older sister, who always surpassed me. She chose to stick with our family heritage, electric type Pokémon, when I chose psychic types. Ever since I was a kid she'd tease me and tell me how electric type Pokémon are stronger. I'm going to snap her back by showing that only psychic types have the potential to rule over humans..."

"You can't be serious", Radeem gasped, agonized by the utter stupidity of this man. Even Pichu seemed rational when compared to him, and that was not a compliment for Pichu.

"You really are out of your mind", Cimi giggled. The feeling of unrealness did not leave her, even though her arm and head had started to hurt again, and they hurt a lot. She felt like she was dreaming. That's why she had sent Adan and Ivysaur out: they had to get to Adan's mothers memorial party in time, and since this really wasn't real, she could handle a couple of bodyguards and mad scientists by herself - with the help of her Pokémon, of course. A faint thought drifted to hear head. Maybe this was all because the hit on her head?

"Sir, Manaphy is escaping", one of the guards shouted and pointed at the cage Manaphy was in.

"What?" blurted Joseph Sheffield and turned sharply around.

Since the cage was too small for Gardevoir to teleport inside, Adan had opened its door from the control table next to the cage. Sheffield could see how Gardevoir disappeared from the cage with Manaphy. Adan grinned from the control table. This took everyone in the room by suprise.

"Adan! What are you doing here?" Cimi asked in great disbelief.

"You should trust me sometimes, Cimi", Adan answered and duck behind the table in case those security guards decided to use their guns. He ducked just in time to escape from the bullet that hit the wall above him. Cimi turned to look at the scary men and their Pokémon. Cimi and Adan were outnumbered so they needed a good battle strategy. Before she could come up with anything, her Pokémon started to act by themselves.

Radeem blasted another ball of fire towards a guard with a Luxray as his Pokémon. It hitted both of them and made the Luxray let out a groan. This guard did not have a spare gun so he attacked with his half-dead Pokémon. The electrified tackle of Luxray hit Radeem who did not have time to dodge. Before Luxray could withdraw further from Radeem, she spewed out more fire to hit the poor Pokémon. After Luxray was out, Ivysaur grabbed the guard to his vines and threw him out of the room, where he was left laying unconscious.

"One down, four to go", Radeem grinned and turned around in a way she thought looked cool and elegant. She turned towards Ivysaur.

"Which one are you now", she asked the big green Pokémon.

"I'm Ivysaur now, I'm back to being a Pokémon!" Ivysaur answered enthusiasticly but gasped then. He remembered Radeem's threats of burning him when he got back to his own body. He took a step backwards and stared at the red, menacing eyes of Radeem.

"Congratulations", Radeem said and smirked, "It must be great not being a lowsy human anymore. Just to congratulate you, I'm going to postpone that frying we talked about. Come on, you slow idiot, we have work to do!"

Ivysaur smiled as he realized he had finally gotten a compliment out of the bad-mouthed and arrogant Rapidash.

Meanwhile, Pichu and Gardevoir were co-operating in beating a guard with a Medicham. Pichu focused on taking out the guard while Gardevoir had a one-on-one battle with Medicham. All odds were against her, but she managed to dodge most of the physical attacks Medicham tried to use. Pichu paralyzed the guard with a couple swift thuderbolts and then went on to help Gardevoir. It wasn't a fair fight, but who cared about those things anymore. With the help of some magical leaves and the confusion Medicham had gotten from Gardevoir, the battle was soon over.

Adan's Zubat and Spearow were attacking a guard and his Machoke. The poor Pokémon had no chances of dodging as both Zubat and Spearow attacked it simultaneously from above. Beautifly was carefully filling the air above guards with sleeping powder, as she tried to put only the bad guys to sleep and not any of her allies. It was a hard job, but she tried to control the sleeping powder by making the air flow with her wings. She managed to get two of the guards very drowzy, but neither of them fell asleep on the spot.

Eevee and Pachirisu were also co-operating in beating the last guard and his Charmeleon. Eevee had never wished to be Vaporeon as much as she wished now. The only thing she could do was to headbutt the lizard's stomache and imagine that she was a beautiful Vaporeon using a highpower water stream to instantly take down this fire type Pokémon. Pachirisu tried to keep the Charmeleon's attention to himself while he paralyzed the guard so that Eevee's job would be easier. When they were done, the room was clean of guards, and only a single watch Pokémon remained just to get his butt kicked by Ivysaur.

But as suspected, it wasn't as easy as that. After a couple of calm seconds, a whole plutoon of guards dashed in the room with their equally numerous Pokémon. There were so many of them that Cimi's and Adan's Pokémon could no more co-operate in beating them. They had to dodge bullets before Radeem and Ivysaur could take all the guns out and they all had a human and a Pokémon to beat. The guards didn't play by rules, and they had four Pokémon opposing Radeem and five opposing Ivysaur.

Pichu, however, had to pick fights himself. He proved himself worthy by taking out at least three Poliwraths by blasting them with thunderbolts. He managed to do this because none of the guards nor Pokémon excepted him to be much of an opponent. He was really mad because nobody seemed to pay any attention to him.

"I can fight, too", he repeated time after time while running around and zapping everyone on the way.

Suddently a sharp whistle cut the air and had every security guard and their Pokémon stop fighting and take their stand-by positions.

"Come back and I'll kick your butts", Pichu yelled, although he was already completely exhausted.

"Don't fight if you don't have to", Radeem whispered to him with a calming voice, "You brat. You can't beat them all."

Pichu was about to answer something but another whistle, similar to the first one, took his attention.
It had come from Mr. Sheffield.

"Enough with this nonsense", he shouted to his staff, "I thought you were well-trained, real security people, but here you are losing to children!"

While the guards focused on Sheffield and their own shameful actions, Adan grabbed Cimi's shoulder. He was careful to grab the healthy one. Much to his suprise, all their Pokémon were close by. They stood there pretty much back against back and all the guards were surrounding them. He hadn't realized how bad their situation had been, as the fighting had took all of his attention. However, there were holes in the intense wall of guards now that they had made some sort of formation after hearing the whistle.

"Come on, we should escape before anything happens", he whispered. Cimi looked at him contently.

"I see your point, but no worries, Adan. This isn't real", she answered happily.

"What?" Adan was shocked. What was Cimi blabbering on about?

"Aha, this is a dream, Adan", Cimi explained and wobbled a bit.

"You must've hit your head really hard", Adan said and tried not to sound very worried. He slid his hand down her healthy arm, took her hand and started to drag her away.

"Weren't you a Pokémon just a moment ago?" Cimi asked Adan in an unnecessarily loud voice. Adan tried to hush her a bit, but then she almost fell down. They both noticed a light behind Mr. Sheffield. Mr. Sheffield noticed it, too, and so did all his security men.

"Look", Adan whispered to Cimi, "Manaphy came back! I wonder what's it up to..."

"Sir, they're escaping", noted a rather young security guard.

"I don't care anymore, I have my Manaphy again", Sheffield said absent-mindedly in a dreamy voice, "You do whatever you want with them."

"Very well, sir", said the guard, took his gun and fired it.

Manaphy's glow faded for a second after the shot but then increased again. It was about to use Heart Swap. Meanwhile, Gardevoir had safely transported Radeem, Pichu and Ivysaur outside and had just came back for Cimi and Adan.
A split second after the shot stunning pain hit Cimi in the back and pierced her like a drill. She lunged forwards to stay on her feet and grabbed Adan's arm.

"What did you do", screamed Joseph Sheffield, awoken from his thoughts by the gunshot. He might have been a crazy megalomaniac, but he sure didn't like killing people.

"Why do they allways shoot me", Cimi mumbled, "And this was supposed to be a dream."

"Cimi", Adan gasped in panic and grabbed her to hold her up.

"You mustn't touch my arm", Cimi whispered and looked grumpily at Adan. She coughed and a small amount of blood came from her mouth.

"Cimi", Adan whispered and tried not to yell with the full force of his lungs. He spent a second to collect his toughts and tried to appear calm.

"You'll just have to trust me now", he said firmly, squeezed Cimi against his body and got ready for teleportation. Cimi could hear how another shot was made, followed by a lot of yelling by Mr. Sheffield and other guards. She could hear that Manaphy released the move it had been charging for quite a while now and the security men all shouted in panic. The last thing she could hear was Pichu's desperate cries. That little fellow takes everything so serious, she thought, and then the sound of her blood rushing on in her veins was everything there was.

She was alive. But would she stay that way?

All right, so we're finally here: the last chapter of Journey to Isle of Jade! After this, there's still an epilogue to come, so don't quit reading yet. I'll post it soon enough.
My thanks to those who actually read this whole thing.
I love you.
No, seriously.
So, enjoy the 15th chapter of my fic!


Chapter 15 - Jade Bracelet


A day passed without Cimi waking up. Her vital signs were realtively stable, but she was in a coma. The bullet had damaged her left lung but had not hit any other major organs. She had been lucky, said the doctor.

"But that doesn't necessarily mean she survives", he added, "she does have fluids in her lung. We are doing all we can. In any case, she'll never be fully healed again. She'll always cough and get out of breath fast, as her lung is now scarred."

As the night came, she still hadn't woke up. Adan was all drowzy from all the painkillers he had to eat because of the bullet that had hit his leg. He would get a cast on his leg the next morning, because his shinbone had been shattered by the bullet. Now he was sleeping in a closeby room. Pichu, who was also very tired from battling a bit too much for a Pokémon his size, slept with him. Radeem wasn't allowed in the hospital, which made her enraged and she galloped around in the park surrounding the Hospital of Jade - a groovy name invented by Joseph Sheffield, who owned the hospital - to tease the hospital staff as much as she could.

Ivysaur and Gardevoir were still awake, sitting in Cimi's room and watching the hypnotical geen line drawing her heartbeat on black background. The room was pretty dark, but there was a lamp above Cimi's head, so her face could be easily seen.

"I'm sorry", Ivysaur mumbled to Cimi.

"Why would you apologize to her?" asked Gardevoir, as unsensitive to the moment as ever.

"Because it's my fault she got kidnapped and all", Ivysaur muttered, "It's my fault she got involved in this to begin with. If I wasn't stupid and stubborn, we wouldn't have fought with Adan and she'd be all right now."

"Do you really think she thinks so?"

"Of course she does. She blamed me for everything anyway. I think she doesn't like me, but I can't blame her for that."

"Ivyasur", Gardevoir said in a friendly voice, "Shoudn't you know this? Fighting doesn't necessarily mean you hate the people you argue with."

Ivysaur was silent and looked at the peaceful figure of Cimi.

"I think I like her anyway", Ivysaur murmured, "She's very courageus, totally unlike Adan. But I'm never going to tell her that."

"I think she likes you, too", Gardevoir said with a friendly smile on her face, "But I doubt she's going to say it either."

After that, the two remained silent. Gardevoir was a bit troubled. For the first time in her life, she had did something she was not sure was right. She had to tell Cimi, but how would she dare?
After a long while they both stood up and left the room to go and sleep with Adan and Pichu, but Gardevoir eventually went to the park to sleep with Radeem.

"I don't need any company", Radeem told her, "I'm going to spend my night running around and howling to annoy the staff of this hospital, so you just go inside and sleep in a bed like everyone else.

"I don't think there's any room in any bed", Gardevoir said smiling, leaned to a tree and closed her eyes.

"Why don't you ever believe me?" Radeem asked. She was very annoyed, or at least she thought she was. However, she still went next to Gardevoir, let her head drop and started to fall asleep. After all, the fight had been hard on her, too.

"That's because you never tell the truth", Gardevoir answered after a while, but Radeem did not let her know she had heard it.

---

The next day, Adan got his cast and was allowed to leave the hospital. Because Cimi wasn't awake yet, he decided to get a place to sleep closeby. The Pokémon Center of Island of Jade - where Adan's Pokémon were receiving treatment - had some room for the next night, so Adan - as poor as he was - decided to spend his night there with Ivysaur and Cimi's Pokémon. He, as everyone else, was really worried about Cimi, so if she was to wake up, he wanted to know right away. So, he asked the phone number of the Pokémon Center, wrote it on a piece of paper and went to the hospital to leave it for Cimi.

Cimi had been removed away from the intensive care unit, because her condition was stable enough. The bleeding in her lung had stopped, her hearbeat was completely normal and her brain waves were those of a sleeping person. In other words, she was in a coma. The nurse told Adan that Cimi might wake up in a week or it might take her over a month, there was no way to tell. So, in her opinion, Adan shouldn't leave a temporary phone number for her to call. The staff of the hospital would notify Adan about Cimi's awakening as soon as it was a current concern. Her parents had also been called, but they would not make it to the hospital for a couple of days.

Adan went to leave the number for Cimi anyway. She was in a small room that had a big window. You could see the ocean from that window. Adan stood there for a while, biting his lip and looking out the window. Pichu, who had insisted on coming with Adan, was sitting on Cimi's pillow and looking miserable. Adan watched Cimi's sleeping face for a couple of seconds. He then put the note with the number carefully next to her phone.

"Come on, little guy, let's go", he said to Pichu. Pichu reclutantly left Cimi's pillow.

"Wake up soon, Cimi", he whispered before the door closed behind them.

---

Against all odds, Cimi woke up. It didn't take her long to figure she was in a hospital. Her head and arm were wrapped in bandages and she had a partial cast on her back, which made lying down very uncomfortable. She looked around in the room. There were no flowers or other gifts in this one-bed hospital room. She could see the sea from her window, which made her think they were still on Isle of Jade. There was a phone on her bedside table, and in front of the phone there was a piece of paper that had a number written on it. The handwriting was unfamiliar to Cimi but the number looked like a Pokémon Center phone number. So, she grabbed the phone and dialed the number.

"No need to call, Cimi", said a voice from the door, "We're already here."

Cimi put the phone down and looked at Adan, who had just come in with a bunch of Pokémon.

"I figured this was left by you", Cimi said and took the piece of paper from the table.

Gardevoir smiled happily from the door, as she was more than happy to see Cimi awake again. Ivysaur was his usual grumpy self: he blamed everything on himself, so he felt he should not be very happy about anything after what he had done. Pichu, as feisty as ever, ran to Cimi and jumped on her lap, crying aloud the whole time.

"We were so worried", he cried and hugged Cimi's leg. Adan took out a Pokéball and grinned.

"They wouldn't let Radeem in the hospital", he said, "So we decided to smuggle her in!"

The Pokéball let out a red light and Radeem appeared, as huge and blazing as ever. She shook her head.

"I had to carry you, Adan and Pichu", she moaned, hiding her worries behind the cloak of her usual pride and arrogancy, "Have you got any idea how tiring that was?"

It wasn't until now that Cimi noticed that Adan had a cast on his leg and he was walking with a crutch.

"What happened? Don't tell me I missed the good parts again?" Cimi asked Adan.

"Nope, you were there, and I think you were still conscious at that time", Adan said and sat on the side of her bed, "Before we teleported out, the guard managed to shoot my leg. So, now I'm a handicapped person for a while! But they let me out of hospital yesterday, so I'm all right. You got shot in the back, so it's you we have to worry about. Those gun-things, I say, they're inhumane weapons. Nobody should use those."

"Wait, did you say yesterday? How long have we... What about your mother?" Cimi panicked suddently and tried to sit up. It hurt her back a lot and she let out a yelp. Adan gently pushed her back down and Pichu sat on her chest to make shure she wouldn't do so again.

"Don't be stupid. Mom will forgive me", Adan calmed her down, "Won't she, Ivysaur?"

"Definitely", Ivysaur growled and smiled a bit. Cimi looked at them and smiled, too. She was a bit too worn out to try to disagree and worry about things.

"So, you're back to the way you were, Manaphy was saved and everyone's all right", Cimi said contently and closed her eyes.

"But you know what Manaphy did to them", Pichu told Cimi, "He changed all their hearts! Now all the security guards are Pokémon and then the other way round! And he even said he won't turn them back before they start to act like they should."

"Like he did to Adan and Ivysaur", Cimi said and giggled.

"That never changed anything, though", Radeem noted and shook her head.

"Oh, and by the way, Joseph Sheffield came to see you yesterday", Adan remembered suddently and laughed, "You'd be suprised if you saw him. He has, eh, changed!"

"What? Is he a Pokémon now?" Cimi was shocked.

"Yeah", Ivysaur said and grinned, "He's a Mime Jr. now. Manaphy did it as a favor to him, but I don't really know why."

"He said he's the property of his older sister, Marianne, now", Gardevoir told Cimi, "and that they made a deal of some sort. He told us his sister is going to Heart Swap into one of her Pokémon and they're going to battle one-on-one to know who's the best."

"Is that really going to remove all his grudges?" Cimi pondered.

"Well, you can't know that", Adan said in a very serious tone, "Maybe he will try to get powerful again, maybe not. It seemed to me that he really was happy, but I don't know him, so I can't tell. We saw Alakazam with him, though, and he thanked me. So, I guess all we can do for now is to trust him..."

"There's not much we could do about it anyway", Cimi laughed, "You're speaking like we're some gang of superheroes. We might have done a hero's deed, but look at me! Superheroes don't get into condition like this."

She coughed a bit, but it didn't hurt inbearably. Doctors told her that she would never be cured from her cough, because her lung was scarred now.

"You know, Cimi, I have a confession to make", Gardevoir admitted and looked guilty, "Do you remember having a dream-like feeling when we faced Mr. Sheffield?"

"Yeah... I think it was because of the hit I got to my head. What about it?"

"Well... It was me."

"What?" This suprised everyone, except for Radeem.

"I affected your mind so you wouldn't notice the plan I was trying to put in action", Gardevoir tried to explain while squirming and hopping nervously.

"It was my plan", Radeem interrupted and made Gardevoir look rather relieved. "I thought of that plan when I realized how strong Gardevoir had gotten. I couldn't tell it to you guys because we would've been caught. It was also Gardevoir's doing that you sent Adan and Ivysaur away... That way they gained free hands to do what had to be done in order to save Manaphy and ourselves. And, well, as you saw, my plan worked!"

"Why didn't you tell me trough Gardevoir's telepathy?" Cimi asked, not knowing whether to be insulted or proud. "Those bad guys wouldn't have heard anything, and I could have participated, too..."

"That's because we know you're a lousy actor", Radeem said and grinned boldly. "You would have given us away! We couldn't afford that, so we decided to do it the way we did."

"Did you know about this?" Cimi asked Adan with a rather blaming tone and coughed a bit to further deepen the effect.

"Only after you threw me out", Adan answered and shrugged. "Before that, I was just as clueless as you were."

"I think I still am a bit insulted", Cimi said slowly and smiled in a bit gloomy way. "But I guess it was for the best. I am a lousy actor, after all, and I'm not in the mood of fighting or complaining right now. But that makes you the hero, doesn't it, Radeem?"

"Well", answered Radeem reclutantly but still not bothering to cover her conceited expression, "You could say that, but the true hero, I think, is Gardevoir, who put my plan into action."

"I didn't do more than anyone else did", Gardevoir said and smiled graciously. She was so modest and good it was almost annoying, particularly to Radeem.

"Give us a rest, will you", the Rapidash muttered and rolled her red eyes.

"Let's say we were all heroes", Adan said smiling and spread his hands. Cimi chuckled at him: he looked like he was some good-hearted king. Chuckling, however, made her cough.

"What is that Rapidash doing in a hospital", yelled a sudden, very loud voice interupting their chatter, nearly scaring Pichu to death and causing Cimi to cough more. The source of this voice was a nurse that looked like there was a Muk in the room where they sterilize equipment. Radeem was thrown out, but as a protest she decided to use the elevator. All the other Pokémon followed her because they wanted to see how other nurses would react to a bunch of Pokémon in the elevator. The first nurse looked like she could get a nervous breakdown any minute now. Cimi promised her Pokémon that she would follow them to the park surrounding the hospital right after she got up - the nurse didn't let Radeem wait for her.

"Adan, you have to help me up, this is impossible", Cimi said after a couple of tries to get up.

"Sure, in a minute", Adan answered and took something from his pocket, "but first I want to give you this."

He was holding a perfect, round jade bracelet in his hand. It was dark green but still a bit transparent, like jade often is. It was polished so you could almost see your face on it.

"Isn't that the one you bought for your mother?" Cimi asked. She was confused.

"Yeah, this is the one that got us all into this mess", Adan said and held the jade bracelet towards Cimi, "But I think mom would have preferred for me to give it to you. You know, as an apology and a thank you. You once said you liked jade, didn't you? Back then when you found me and took me in at that ranch."

"But that's... Are you sure you want to give it to me?"

"Of course I am, you dimwit! I wouldn't offer it otherwise, would I?" Adan got a bit annoyed, "Besides, look at you! Your injuries are all our fault, mine and Ivysaur's."

Cimi looked at Adan for a moment and then she burst into laughter.

"If you would only realize how similar you two are", she laughed, "None of this would ever have happened! Thank you, Adan, this is a wonderful gift. I'll have to give you guys something, too, for putting up with me and my curiousity."

Cimi put the bracelet on her wrist and Adan helped her stand up.

"Ahh", she said, "I hurt all over but it doesn't matter. I'll die if I have to just lay in that bed. Come on, let's go to the park, our Pokémon are waiting for us."

"You do realize that we still have to go greet my mom, do you", Adan said behind Cimi, "And you should come with us and explain that it isn't out fault that we were late."

"But it is your fault", Cimi laughed.

"Oh, come on! And I think I should apologize to your uncle, too. I mean, I ate his food and all... Maybe I should work at that ranch of his for a while to pay back."

"You're impossible", Cimi told him, grabbed his hand with her healthy one and dragged him to the elevator.

All things must come to an end. This, my friends, is the official end of this fanfic. I'm thinking about writing a sequel to this (I'm partially clear with the plot already) but this short epilogue is my temporary goodbye for Adan, Cimi, Radeem, Ivysaur, Pichu and Gardevoir. I don't knwo about you guys, but after all this writing, I'm really going to miss them. *sniff*
Thanks for everyone who read the whole thing. I hope you read more of my fics, as I intend to finish them all. I hope you enjoyed this. Thank you.

Epilogue


"I get to remove my cast tomorrow", Adan rejoiced.

"It's about time", Cimi answered, "It's been... How long already? Over two months!"

She put her shovel aside, wiped the sweat off her forehead and coughed. Sun was shining a bit too brightly, as it was boiling hot outside. But the ditch had to be dug, no matter how hot it was, or they wouldn't have a corral to keep all the newborn Ponyta in. Radeem had recently become a mother, and she was very proud of her son.
The jade bracelet tinged when it hit the handle of the shovel. Adan looked at it and smiled. It felt like it had already been years after their adventure. It all seemed so distant now. A lot had happened after Cimi got out of the hospital.

First they had told Cimi's parents about what had happened, resulting in both her mother and father declaring a boycott for Sheffield Company. This caused some problems when a dozen trucks loaded with Sheffield brand Pokéfood appeared on their doorstep. The Sheffield Company also paid for the hospital bills of both Cimi and Adan. It took them a whole week to persuade her parents to let her travel to Parcel Town, the hometown of Adan.

Because Adan's father was of the overprotective type, they couldn't tell the whole story with these so-called guns and all, and so they told him a bit shorter version. He was happy to have his son back, expecially when Adan declared - much to the suprise of everyone - that he'd quit being a Pokémon trainer. He then set all his Pokémon free, but none of them really left and decided to stay with Adan instead. Ivysaur was shocked to his very roots and for a whole week he did not say a word for Adan. Eventually he gave up his sulking, maybe because of the visit the gang made to Adan's mom's grave. The peaceful atmosphere around the grave let everyone understand that she was content with whatever path her son choosed.
They all then left for the ranch of Cimi's uncle to help out for the rest of the summer - the summer that now neared it's end.

Adan and Cimi decided to take a break on digging and eat some lunch for a change. They had been digging ditches for half the summer because it was one of those few jobs Adan could do with his broken leg. The work had made the skin on their hands all hard and their backs and hands sore. Cimi had to take breaks a lot because of her arm and back, although they had already healed. Adan guessed that it was all a lousy excuse for not working.

Adan whistled and their Pokémon came flocking from all directions.

Radeem galloped to them with Pichu and Adan's Pachirisu on it's back. Pichu and Pachirisu had come up with a rather competitive friendship. Now they were both carrying some lunch boxes, some for Pokémon, other for Cimi and Adan. Anyone who knew the two electric Pokémon could guess that there had been quite a competition about who can carry most boxes. Seemed like Pichu was the winner this time. Following his mom, the yet-to-be-named son of Radeem, a tiny Ponyta, ran and bounced high into the air while doing so. He was a playful one, but to the disapointment of everyone, he had inherited Radeem's strong will and pride.

Next ones to appear were Adan's flying Pokémon: Zubat, Spearow and Beautifly. They were usually helping Cimi's aunt, either with drying wet laundry or with the battling lessons she held for the fire type Pokémon raised on the ranch. Pichu no longer took part on the lessons as he felt he had overgrown the level of the teaching at the ranch.

Then came Adan's Eevee, who played with Growlithe cubs nowadays. She was now even more convinced that she should be a Vaporeon, and Adan was trying to find a water stone for her. Cimi's uncle had promised to look from his storage after the summer's rush was over, so Eevee was looking forward to the summer finally ending.

The last ones to come were Gardevoir and Ivysaur. It always looked like Gardevoir only annoyed Ivysaur and to most people it was a mystery why Ivysaur put up with her. Adan, Cimi and Radeem all knew that he was actually happy about Gardevoir's constant company. Gardevoir also tuned down his will to battle a lot, so everyone were happier this way.

"I still don't know what career I should take up, though", Cimi mumbled as she ate her lunch with Pokémon eating theirs all around her.

"You don't want to stay as a worker here?" Adan was still trying to choose which rice ball he wanted.

"Are you kidding me? Do you think I want to dig ditches for the rest of my life?" Cimi spouted and a couple of rice grains flew from her mouth. She immidiately blushed and emptied her mouth before speaking again. "I want to do something bigger, like research."

"No way", Adan laughed, "All scientists are mad. I think we should start our own business as heroes."

"Heroes?" Cimi asked in great disbelief. Radeem laughed ironically behind her. Pichu and Pachirisu were having an eating contest on her feet.

"Don't you think we'd make great heroes", Adan asked and sounded a bit hurt, "We did great before, didn't we?"

Cimi snorted.

"You think too much of yourself, Adan", Ivysaur said and munched on with his lunch.

"I think so, too", Cimi said and giggled. Then she looked straight at Adan. "But I think we should keep together so that if there happens to be another job for heroes, we're ready for it. You know, just in case."

"You mean we should keep working here and wait for another Bulbasaur to crawl from that forest?"

"Pretty much, yeah", Cimi chuckled. Adan thought about it for a moment and then grinned.

"Deal?" Adan asked and offered his hand to Cimi.

"Deal", Cimi confirmed and took Adan's hand. They shook hands and smiled to each other.

"Humans", Radeem sighed and rolled her eyes.


(End)


The sequel to this fic can be found here.

I discovered this yesterday, and I can tell you I'm reading the sequel NOW.

Don't bump threads over a month old.

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