Chapter 7: Unseen Enemy

The zeppelin remained where it was, covering the moon from site. The nearly inaudible whir from the engines was the only sound that could be heard. The massive airship watched over the area below. Its hunt has led it to this place, where it would find what was lost years ago.

Inside the zeppelin stood a woman dressed in a burgundy shirt and black pants. She had long, black hair and entirely black eyes. Beside her stood a man wearing a black, long coat. He had short, brown hair and dark, brown eyes. Both of them stood looking out a window, waiting.

Nicholas handed his mother the bag with the eggs and pulled out a different poké ball from his belt. He held it out in his hand. “Let’s go, lanturn.”

“Lanturn!” it called out as it appeared from the white light that shot out from the inside of the poké ball. It floundered on the ground for a second, trying to stay balanced. The large and small orbs of its antenna were only slightly glowing. But it did not emit enough light for the entire area. It happily looked up at its trainer, awaiting his word.

Nicholas’ chinchou was one of the first pokémon on the team to evolve. It was actually during one of his many lost battles against his old friend, Whitney Green, that it had evolved. Nicholas and lanturn nearly beat her after the evolution, but Whitney, being a breeder, and with her parents’ help, had pokémon that were well better taken care of, and had been raised well. Nicholas wondered where his childhood friend was now.

Nicholas put on sunglasses and looked back at the group. His sunglasses were specially made to block out extremely bright light. If the sun were out, those glasses would make it look like the pitch black of night. “You’ll need to shield your eyes for a while.” He waited till everyone either closed their eyes or put their hands over them. He saw Katherine put on her own sunglasses. “Those won’t work as well as mine,” he informed her. Katherine then put her hands over the lens. Nicholas nodded and turned back to Lanturn. “Okay, lanturn, light up this area as bright as you can.”

“Lanturn!” it called out as its orbs started to slightly flicker yellow. Then they got brighter. “Lan –“ Lanturn was in full concentration now and the light it emitted dimmed to a faint glow. “– turn!” it exclaimed. The orbs exploded with white light, illuminating the entire area as well as part of the town behind them.

Nicholas was even caught by surprise. He had not had lanturn do this in a while, but he knew that training him would help its light get stronger. He had to squint behind his sunglasses and hold his arm in front of his eyes to block out the light. He quickly looked around. He gasped from surprise. Although it was still hard to see, he counted five figures all dressed in black, all were wearing masks. Nicholas could see that they were temporarily blinded, covering their eyes and facing the other direction. But what surprised him was what surrounded them.

The two trainers on the airship were caught by surprise, but didn’t flinch. If anything, they were impressed by the tactic. Even from so high above, the intense light reached the airship and was able to slightly light up the cabin. The pilot had left the controls earlier and looked out to watch as well. When there was the flash of light he had stumbled back in surprise and almost fell back onto the controls.

Nicholas could see them clearly now. So many! Surrounding the group were many dark, transparent pokémon. Ghosts! I should have known. In front of the group alone were eleven various ghost pokémon. But he knew that they were surrounded by many more. Something else caught his eye. There were shadows on the ground. He knew they weren’t the ghosts’ because the light would have to be coming from above. Now he could see the zigzag pattern floating in mid-air. Kecleon?! They have kecleon?

The ghosts were caught totally by surprise, and they hated the light. Simultaneously, the ghosts disappeared from view. The kecleon had stumbled back, but were now getting back up. All they could see was the bright source of the light and dark spots that came from the quick and unexpected change from pitch black to intense brightness.

Everyone was now slightly used to the light, but still struggled to see. Lanturn was still holding out its light, but it seemed to be tiring. As they looked around, they were shocked from being surrounded. They all were deeply confused at what was going on. They did not understand why this was happening to them.

“Everybody, run!” Nicholas exclaimed as he picked up his lanturn. “Lanturn, do you think you can hold out a bit longer. Thank you for doing what I planned. You can lessen your light’s intensity, but just let out enough for us to see far enough.” As lanturn weakened its light Nicholas got his family and Katherine to move quickly towards the town. But they did not get far.

From the camouflaged pokémon with the zigzag pattern came their long, red tongue. They wrapped around legs and arms, immobilizing the entire group. Then the ghost pokémon reappeared and floated toward the tied up captives. They had been ordered to put them all to sleep and take what their owner has been looking for. But as they approached, the blue and yellow pokémon brightened its light, causing the ghosts to back off a little. The kecleon holding the lanturn lifted it in its tongue and violently ran lanturn into the ground several times. After each strike, lanturn’s light weakened.

“Lanturn,” Nicholas called out to his hurt pokémon. But he could not move. Everyone was tied up by the kecleon. He saw the ghost pokémon were closing in again. The trainers were also moving their way. “Lanturn, can you manage an electrical attack?”

“Lanturn,” the pokémon said weakly.

Its large orb started to flicker and spark. But the kecleon holding lanturn saw this and lifted lanturn. This time it held it in the air higher than last time. As kecleon was about to pummel lanturn into the ground, lanturn attacked with a burst of electricity from its body. The kecleon could not let go and could only watch in fear as the electricity trailed down its tongue. Its whole body got electrocuted on the outside as well as its inside. It was no longer camouflaged and its green body collapsed to the ground with smoke rising from its mouth.

Lanturn threw electricity at the other kecleon and ghosts, causing them to back off and release the group. At their trainers’ command, all the ghosts and kecleon attacked lanturn all together. Lanturn could not move well on land and could only use its bolts of electricity to deflect the onslaught of ghost and psybeam attacks. But there were too many and lanturn became weak and could only take the attacks. Lanturn lay motionless on the ground, terribly scarred. As lanturn lay there, vaporeon and umbreon tried their best to keep the enemy away. Lanturn’s light then went out and they were once again enveloped in darkness.

Nicholas could hear the chuckles of the trainers. Once again he started to feel the kecleon’s tongues wrap around him. He heard a scream and felt someone struggling beside him. Before his arms were tied up, he felt for his belt and tried to get a hold of a poké ball. But he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down and barely made out a haunter’s transparent arm in his chest. His whole body tensed and all he could feel was pain and cold. He could not breathe. He was not able to yell out. Nicholas felt like his very life was being squeezed from him. This pokémon was killing him. Help!

A bright, purple light erupted from Nicholas, sending the haunter soaring away, and the tongues of the kecleon released him. As the light waned, only a small, round object was still glowing. The glowing poké ball lifted itself from Nicholas’ belt and levitated around the group. As it passed over Christopher, there was another burst of purple light and the slimy restraints released him. The floating poké ball did the same with everyone else. Then it opened.

“Alakazam!” Standing over its owner’s family and friend was the strongest pokémon Nicholas had. The hunched-over pokémon stared out into the darkness. Its body was calm; its arms hanging loosely at its side with one large spoon held in each hand. As soon as it closed its eyes, it could see everything all at once. It felt exactly where every living being was. It could clearly sense where each camouflaged kecleon stood; where each ghost hovered, circled around, or were still invisible; and where each of the five enemy trainers stood. When it focused toward to the airship above, it suddenly felt nervous. Something powerful was blocking its mind. For now it would ignore the presence above.

Nicholas slowly got up, his hand over his chest. He still shook from the cold feeling of near death. He looked around to see if everyone else was all right. “We’re alright now. Alakazam will protect us.” Nicholas watched as his psychic pokémon pulsed with energy, sending several approaching ghost pokémon flying back. He turned around to see Katherine jump up. She was angry.

“I’ve had enough of these guys!” She still had the two poké balls clutched in her hand. She threw both of them, releasing her duskull and bayleef. “Duskull, use your foresight. Bayleef, sweep the ground with your vines.”

Duskull’s eyes glowed red and released a ray of light. The enemy ghost pokémon that were caught in the beam became visible and recoiled in the red beam. Duskull, with umbreon joining in, scanned the entire area, revealing every hidden ghost and kecleon caught in their foresight. Bayleef then brought out two vines and swung them wildly into the darkness in front of it, attacking the kecleon and now visible and touchable ghosts.

“That’s it! We’ve been going easy on you people. Not anymore!” It was one of the masked trainers. It was the first time any one of them had spoken. “Everyone! Take them out!”

All at once, every ghost prepared a night shade or a shadow ball. First, the kecleon launched an assault of psybeam attacks. The alakazam easily shielded against them. As the psychic attacks hit the barrier, the explosion of the blasts hitting the shield caused smoke to rise all around it.

From inside the barrier, Nicholas waited for the smoke to clear. Then he felt something from his pokémon. “Everyone, get down!” He pushed a reluctant Katherine down while everyone followed. Nicholas watched as alakazam hold up its arms and cross its spoons in front of it.

Alakazam concentrated more strength to its shield in front of it. Through the dying smoke came many ghost attacks. Each attack was concentrated on its front, impaling the shield fiercely. Some went through and flew over the group. Alakazam then sensed more enemy pokémon coming from behind. It let out more power and increased the durability of the shield all around. It needed to take the offensive. It held its eyes closed tightly now and concentrated. Twenty-three ghosts and sixteen kecleon, one of which was still incapacitated from electricity. Alakazam then hesitated. Something was interrupting its thoughts. The intruder was giving it a headache and going through its mind.

“Give it up. You have no chance. You are weak. Your trainer is weak.” Someone was speaking to it telepathically. These words had come out of nowhere and echoed deep in alakazam’s head. The voice seemed to be of a girl’s. It was soft and soothing, but at the same time, sounded sinister. “Give us what we want or you will all die!” The voice laughed, as its last statement seemed to startle alakazam into almost letting down the protective barrier.

Nicholas saw that his pokémon was struggling to keep up the barrier. Something was bothering it. “Come on, alakazam. I know you have more power than this. Just give us a chance to escape. That’s all we need.” Nicholas watched as alakazam seemed to calm down from hearing his voice. Alakazam started to glow a bright purple, and the shield grew in size and strength.

“Alakazam!” it exclaimed as it thrust out both its arms straight out to its sides. There was a powerful surge of psychic energy. The dome that was the shield grew and pushed away anything that it came in contact with. Alakazam then held his arms high in the air towards the airship. It crossed its spoons and focused its power into one large sphere that pulsed with psychic energy. [i]“Kazam!”[/i] is said and shot the sphere at the zeppelin. As the orb of psychic energy continued its course, it increased in speed. As it neared the target, alakazam sensed a presence aboard the airship similar to the one that invaded its mind. There was a short flash of light, and alakazam watched in disbelief as its attack slowly shrank into nothing before it reached its destination. Alakazam was about to try again, except it would be much bigger this time, but his trainer stopped him.

“We don’t have time right now,” Nicholas said. Their enemies on the ground were starting to recover. Nicholas quickly grabbed the bag holding the pokémon eggs from his mother and handed them to his younger brother. “Chris, you and Katherine must run from here and try to find a place to hide. Maybe get some help. Go! I’ll take care of Mom and Grandma.” Nicholas pushed Nicholas and Katherine toward the town. “Go!”

Christopher hesitated. His brother was greatly outnumbered. He wanted to help, but he could not. He felt Katherine pulling at his shirt. Christopher turned and started jogging. He took one last look to see his brother and his pokémon prepare to fight again. He assured himself that they would be all right and started running. Katherine and her pokémon followed.

The masked trainers ordered their pokémon to follow the two escaping boy and girl. As the ghost pokémon and kecleon followed orders a pokémon appeared out of nowhere in front of them. Alakazam had just teleported. Then umbreon and vaporeon joined alakazam at its side.

“We’re not done here,” Nicholas said, glaring coldly at his enemies.

Above, the airship began to move.