Chapter 21: You Don't Recognize Me?

'Where am I?'

A voice called out in a world filled with darkness.

Soon after losing consciousness, Aeron found himself in a dark void where he could not see anything.

'Is this death?' He asked himself. It was very likely that he was in the afterlife since he was injured very severely. 'I hope Axe is safe...'

Even now, he cared more about his partner than himself.

'I hope mom and dad will be fine.'

Whom was he kidding? They won't be. Their only son died soon after he left on a Pokémon journey.

Sigh

Not knowing what would happen next, Aeron sighed and looked into the darkness.

'I can't move my limbs as well.' He tried to move his feet and arms, but he failed. 'What is going on? Am I dead, or what?' His mind raced at incredible speed.

Aeron wanted to know where he was or what was going on, but other than darkness, he could not see anything, not even a speck of light.

He was floating in a void with no sense of direction.

'If this is death, why do I feel this headache?'

When was that this annoying headache appear? Maybe on the second day after he opened his eyes in the cage. Since then, no matter how much he struggled to ignore it, the headache kept increasing every second. In this void where he could not feel anything, not even his heartbeat, the presence of a headache gave him hope. Maybe he was alive?

Aeron tried to struggle but could not move or feel anything other than the annoying headache that seemed to be increasing tremendously every second within this dark void. It was getting worse and worse until he could not help but scream within his mind.

'Arrgh.'

He felt his life was being sucked out of him, and sharp needles were striking his mind.

For the first time since he was kidnapped and came into this dark void, he felt a blade of death hanging around his neck. It was the second thing he could feel after the headache that was still increasing.

'AAAAAH.'

He screamed in pain as the blade of death came closer, and Aeron felt his consciousness fading away.

'I am going to die.'

He knew it. His instincts were screaming at him that he would die if he lost consciousness. But the endless pain overwhelmed him until his mind could no longer bear the pain.

-0-

"Axew."

Aeron looked at the baby Dragon that had just hatched from the egg.

"Xew Xew Xew."

Aeron looked at the young Dragon, who was crying after it hit his head on the table one day after his birth.

He looked at every moment he had spent with his partner until a man's face appeared before his eyes, followed by his Pokémon, a Kadabra.

The man and his Pokémon walked toward Axew, who was backed against a wall.

Run

Aeron shouted for Axew to run, but no voice came out of his mouth.

No

He called out for the man to stop, but it was useless.

Stop

No matter how hard he tried, no words reached any of them.

He looked at the Psychic-type Pokémon charging its [Psybeam] to hit Axew.

Don't

Aeron called once again, but to no avail. And then he saw a beam of Psychic energy fired at Axew at full strength.

His mind became blank as the Psychic energy got closer to the Dragon. And just like how a roar reverberated in the Viridian Forest, the dark void shook from the roar of a human.

"I SAID STOP!"

-0-

As the headache reached its peak, Aeron felt a blast of unknown power within his mind.

"I SAID STOP!"

Did he want the headache to stop or the [Psybeam]? Who knew? But his shout reverberated in the darkness as the whole void shook before cracks appeared on its surface until...

Boom

The cracks were blasted off into smithers, and Aeron clenched his eyes from the sheer bright light that assaulted his face. He felt a wave of energy touch his skin before it surrounded his body.

Aeron hesitantly opened his eyes, and what appeared before his eyes left him dumbfounded.

If the void he first stood in was nothing but darkness, the place he was in now was in total contrast.

He stood on a field. Instead of grass, the whole field was purplish-pink. It had no end to it in any direction and extended to infinity. At least he could not see the end of it. Maybe there was no end to it?

Aeron raised his head. Threads covered in rainbow light covered the sky, and just like the field he stood on, the threads extended as far as the eyes could see. They were mangled into each other, yet, they looked perfectly placed where they were.

He could feel a strong surge of energy from the rainbow threads.

'I have felt this before.'

This energy… was not the first time he had felt it. Aeron thought back to the [Psybeam] the Kadabra had used. The energy in the threads was the same as the [Psybeam], but the one before his eyes was far stronger than whatever he felt from the Kadabra's attack.

Aeron looked around as he was bathed in the rainbow light on the purplish-pink field.

And once again, there was no trace of panic on his face. He was shocked at first but once again became calm as ever, and the rainbow light increased his calmness even more.

Instinctively, Aeron raised his hand toward the rainbow threads. The energy…no. The power inside those threads was calling for him. But then he felt some other energy pull on him.

This one differed from the threads' calm, collected and cold energy. It was volatile, aggressive and hot.

Aeron felt his soul split between the two, and he lost consciousness before he could make anything of his weird situation.

-0-

Aeron felt a throb of headache before it disappeared. He opened his heavy eyes and looked at the ceiling above him.

"You are finally awake."

He looked to the side and saw Nurse Joy writing something on her notepad. He looked at his body which was connected to machines.

"I am alive?" He unconsciously asked. 'Was it all a hallucination?'

Aeron thought about the dark void and the world filled with rainbow light.

"Yes." Nurse Joy approached him and looked at the screen of the medical machine he was connected to. "Thanks to her." She pointed toward his right. "She was the one who found you and brought you to the Task Force."

Aeron looked over and saw a dark-skinned girl with dark blue hair sleeping with her head on the bed he was lying on. A soft smile appeared on his face, and he patted the girl's head with his right hand.

He felt something pressing on his chest and could already guess what it was.

"Your Pokémon had been adamant about staying by your side."

Aeron raised the sheet covering his body and looked at the Dragon lying on his chest. As soon as he saw Axew, who was not injured, Aeron felt a wave of relief wash over him.

"Thank you for taking care of me." He looked at the Nurse Joy of Pewter City.

A warm smile appeared on Nurse Joy's face. Before she could say anything else, the door opened. A pink Pokémon walked in, followed by a tall man with a thick beard.

"I will take this from here." The man said before Nurse Joy could say anything else.

"Although he is completely healed, he still needs rest. Make sure you do not disturb him for long, or I will have to ask you to leave. Regardless of your position in the league." She glared at the man and then walked out with the Chansey that had accompanied the man.

Aeron looked at the man standing in front of him.

He was tall, with strong muscles and a thick beard that gave him a ferocious look. Any kid who saw him would be afraid. Aeron could feel intense, volatile and hot energy surrounding the man, and in more than one way, it was similar to the other energy he had felt before in a place he dubbed 'The field.'

"Aeron Duskborn," The man spoke in a deep and heavy voice.

Aeron did not know what to say, so he asked the obvious. "Who are you?"

The man looked Aeron in the eyes before he spoke once again. "Atlas Derlick."

"Mr. Derlick…why are you here?"

The man smirked at Aeron's confusion.

"I thought you would recognize me."

"Hmm?"

"What? Do you, a Kanto Special Task Force member, not recognize your Captain?"

A wide grin appeared on the man's face as he saw 'the look' on Aeron's face.

"Get up; we have many things to talk about."

-------------------------End of Chapter-------------------------

Author's Note:

- Drop some Power Stones to support the book. Let's take the book up in rankings.

- Let me know your thoughts in the comment sections! Have any suggestions? I am open to them!

- Peace!