5 A New Tomorrow

This punch was filled with love. Filled with the hope that Max was okay, that this would keep him out of further danger.

Not.

It was just a reflex, of course. When you see all those terrifying things a Ghost had done, wouldn't you try to at least land a punch?

The punch struck towards Max face as it hit firmly in a curve. Good thing it was not a real punch but of reflex, else bloody teeth would litter on the floor. Max went down on the ground, as Raiden took the time to compose himself.

Max slowly sat up before looking at Raiden with pure malice. He moved quickly as he pounced towards Raiden and grabbed hold of his neck and squeezed. Strongly squeezed.

"Kikiki-kiki-kii-kii!"

"Kuhukkk!! kkk.."

Raiden was choking. He couldn't breathe, and he couldn't muster the strength to remove the hands strangling his neck. Blood rose to his head and his vision blurred and spun. He knew he couldn't hold on for much longer.

Gathering strength on his knees he knee-kicked Max in the guts. He felt the grip on his throat loosen as he gasped for air. Max went down again, this time for sure. Rotom went out of his body, laughing an uncomfortable laughter.

"Kikikiki-kiii!"

Raiden was now staring face-to-face with this terrifying Ghost of a Pokémon. It didn't seem mad and was actually quite happy. But this happiness came at the cost of despair for others.

"Please ascend to heaven, Mr. Rotom. Or go to hell." Raiden sincerely asked.

Rotom danced in the air for a few seconds. Raiden could only see a blue glow zipping all around him. He wanted to dodge at the moment it came towards him, but knew it was practically impossible.

Rotom zapped straight towards his face, when suddenly, it unnaturally changed direction. The last thing he saw was a blue light diving towards his chest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kid... Hey kid... You okay?"

Raiden woke up with a headache and felt like he was dying. It was like he had ran a full marathon and felt tired all over his body.

He then looked at the person shaking him awake.

It was a police officer. Not Officer Jenny, but a man. He recognized him from his uniform, which had a label of 'Lynier Fort Police District 2'.

"Ughh... Mr. Officer, how long was I out?" Raiden then tried to sit up with all his might but failed, proving just how tired his body was.

Lending a hand, the officer said as he searched Raiden for injuries. "Only 20 minutes passed by after the Rotom first showed up, and 15 minutes after it left.

What happened to you? Do you remember?"

"No, I blacked out after it dived into my chest. It came out of... Ahh!! Max! Is my brother alright?" Raiden hurriedly looked at where he last saw him, but Max wasn't there.

"Oh, that kid was here just now. He was waiting for you to wake up, but he was guided out by another officer to treat the bruise on his face. Good thing it wasn't strong enough, else he might have a concussion." The officer then tried to help him stand, but Raiden couldn't muster out the energy to move his legs.

So, the officer princess-carried him. Quite a touching, yet tragic scene.

As soon as he was brought out, he saw as much as ten police cars and two ambulances which were about to leave. The most injured ones must have already been loaded on.

Two Chansey were using Heal Pulse on some of the students and workers with self-inflicted minor injuries. It seems that they crashed into machines, tripped, or ran into each other when it suddenly became dark.

Heal Pulse only helped lessen the pain and boost the bodies recovery, not fully healing the cuts and bruises. But it was a great help to the still shell-shocked victims.

Max was there too, with his eyes shut and holding an ice pack onto his face, he bathed in the light of the Heal Pulse.

The officer carried Raiden towards the group of injured and set him up standing. But right now, his legs were like jelly and he fell headfirst onto the ground, again.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry! I forgot. Kid, you better eat more meat. You look like you were hit by Stun Spore." The officer tried to downplay his mistake, while making Raiden sit down leaning on the wall.

A Chansey walked over to where he was and touched his head. It stopped moving for a while. Then it a ray pulse of light washed over him as felt a little less tired and more comfortable.

Raiden thanked Chansey and the police officer as looked towards Max. Max looked down and a bit unnerved. It was at that time Max saw him and walked slowly towards him. Then he leaned on the wall and sat down next to him.

"Ray, are you okay? What did that Rotom do to you? I think that crazy Pokémon controlled me to punch myself, as it was not too hard. Ahahaha... I look weird holding this ice pack to my face, right?" Max tried to lighten the mood as he was concerned about Raiden and if he would be traumatized.

"I didn't get injuries, but my body is so tired I can hardly move. Good thing it left. Is the ice pack that cold? You're literally turning blue. Ahahaha." Raiden pointed out to Max's bruised face. He felt sorry about the bruise on his face but decided not to tell him and keep it a secret.

"Har har har. Funny." That was all, as they both just sat still and tried to rest.

Raiden scanned around to check the situation, while listening to the reports of a medic to the team leader officer.

He learned that there were five students and three workers with big wounds, dislocated, or even broken bones; five electrocuted; and 15 others with minor injuries. Out of the 42 who were present at the scene, 17 were directly affected by Rotom, 11 self-inflicted wounds, and the rest of the students were badly shaken.

Raiden and Max were included in the count of 17 directly injured. The first female student who got possessed was being treated nearby with bandages on her head and her arm had a cast.

The ambulance brought away the male students who broke their bones into the emergency room and a worker who had been impaled in the shoulder with a sharp metal.

Rotom seemed to have suddenly left after a while, which perplexed everyone. When they did a full investigation later, it was found out that the thunderstone inside the Battery was nowhere to be found.

It was thought out that it had been brought away by Rotom and it left while carrying the stone.

A doctor came over to check their injuries.

"It looks like your life force was sucked out. I never knew Rotom could absorb a victim's life force. It must be more special than the others of its kind.

Life force would slowly recover so take a good rest for 2 to 3 days and eat a lot. Also take this medicine once a day for three days and you'll be back to normal." The doctor wrote a prescription and then left to check on the others.

Dad arrived shortly after the commotion, he drove from the Wool Farm in his jeep and comforted Raiden and Max as they asked for permission to head home.

When they arrived at the house, Mom was standing on the porch as she waited for them after she received the news. Dad carried Raiden directly onto his bed. He fell asleep not long after and as he was sinking into dreamland, he heard a faint laughter.

"Kikiki-kikii.."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was all over the news. A wild Pokémon suddenly appeared in the Lynier Power Plant and attacked the workers and a class of students who were on a field trip. Many residents paid attention to this disaster as they grew worried for their safety.

The Lynier Branch of the Pokémon League made an official statement regarding the case.

A Rotom was born from the spirits of the Pokémon who died in the accident 8 years ago and the enormous electricity output of the Power Plant. It was classified as a mutated Very Strong Rotom. It was not a Ferocious Pokémon as there were no trace of 'Rampage'. But the estimated damage to the facility and machines reached up to 27 million Poké dollars and there would blackouts all over the city for the next few days.

They did not blame the Power Plant and they claimed responsibility, as it was an unavoidable event. A Rotom would have been born in the future if not now. The Pokémon League Lynier Branch also submitted a report to Pokémon League and warned the other forts of this danger.

Raiden stayed in bed for next two days. He could already stand move about the next day but was forced to rest by Mom when she saw him swaying like a leaf in the wind. Max even gave him a new nickname 'Bed-Raiden'. They still didn't know what was wrong with his body and why some of his lifeforce taken.

After Raiden and Max recovered, they took it easy during the next two days. Their classes were suspended till next week. The household never touched on the topic of the incident, as if they tacitly agreed. But something had changed, no, someone had. Max still laughed and joked, but it was not as it real as it used to be.

The night before classes resume, Raiden was laying down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He thought of a lot of things. He looked at Max who had his back towards him. And then he asked.

"Are you scared?" Raiden didn't mention of what, but they both knew what it was about.

There was no reply. Thinking that Max was already asleep, Raiden closed his eyes.

After a few seconds passed, a reply came.

"I remember." Max suddenly said.

"What?"

"I remember. Everything." Max repeated.

"Ah? O-oh." Raiden understood what he meant. It was about that time when Max attacked him. He could still feel that tight grip on his neck, taking out his breath.

But he knew it was not Max's fault. "Its fine. I'm okay, you're okay, and Mom and Dad are okay. That's all that matters."

He saw Max turning over to look at him. He had tears in his eyes. Raiden knew that Max had been crying every night.

"I'm sorry... sob... I almost killed you. I don't know what to do if I did. It haunts me every time... sniff..." Max was terribly distraught. Raiden knew that he had to set things straight so that it would not leave any scars in their lives. He wanted to laugh it off.

"Why are you crying? I should be the one crying. It hurt, you know. Bloody hell, how'd you get so strong? Last time I threw you all over the place like a ragdoll. If you wanna say sorry, let me throw you a few more times, then we'll be even. 'Kay?" Raiden laughed.

"Bastard. I should have gone through with it. Ahahaha... ha..." Max fell asleep. He didn't have a proper rest for days. Now, the relief had set him free and Raiden was sure, everything would go back to normal tomorrow.