Back in his home in the suburbs near Saffron City, Antoshi sat deep in thought on his bed. His friend Fireball stared out the bedroom window, pondering to himself as well. Two months had passed since their loss at the Indigo Plateau. The young trainer had decided to head back home, where his parents greeted him ecstatically, with many tears of joy from his mother to see her only child return home once more.
Since returning home, he celebrated his thirteenth birthday. It wasn't a big party, just a simple one with his parents and Fireball, but one he appreciated and enjoyed nonetheless. He'd also not spoken of his ordeal back in Viridian City, as he did not want his parents to become concerned with his new abilities. He especially did not want them to know about nearly being killed by a bus and spending a couple days in the hospital, knowing the thought alone would terrify them and most likely make them never want him to leave the house again.
He had returned with the hope of taking a short break from traveling to stay home. But with the way his parents were so eager to have him home, he felt guilty for wanting to leave again. However, the urge to go back out and resume exploring new places and collecting badges was bubbling over to the point where he couldn't sit still anymore. He sighed heavily, eyes focused on the ground as he rapidly pushed his leg up and down, wondering just how to break the news to his parents, worried about how they would react.
"I want to go," Fireball spoke up, breaking the deafening silence. "I'm ready whenever you are." Antoshi calmly nodded.
"I know," he quietly replied. "But mom and dad..." he trailed off, not knowing what else to say.
"They let you go once before," Fireball said as he turned around, "why not this time?"
"I'm just not sure. It's a lot farther than the first time. A whole different continent."
"But it's where we'll get new badges. A completely new shot at making it to the top, just like we always dreamed of doing." Antoshi sighed again, raising his gaze to the popcorn-covered ceiling.
"All right," he solemnly agreed. "I'll bring it up at dinner." Fireball walked over to his friend's side, sitting down on the bed, causing it to creak and bend under his weight. Antoshi looked at his friend, greeted by Fireball's big grin.
"I'm right behind you all the way," Fire said. Antoshi smiled, the two friends giving one another a high-five, knowing they'd always have each other's back.
That evening, Antoshi and his family sat down to dinner, another home-cooked meal that the boy missed greatly on his travels. They were awfully quiet while they ate, both of his parents noticing the glum, uncertain expression on their son's face, knowing instinctively that he wished to leave again. His mother sighed, hoping to steer the conversation away from such a topic.
"Antoshi," she spoke, perking him up as he looked at her. "When are you going to change out of those clothes? You've insisted on wearing them ever since you got home." The boy looked at his clothes; the same large, baggy red shirt and over-sized jeans he'd wore since his old clothes were ruined.
"But I like them," he quietly rebutted. "You packed them for me."
"I wasn't sure how long you'd be gone--" she stopped herself, realizing she accidentally spoke of his traveling, which was what she tried to avoid. She knew it was too late and continued on anyway. "I was worried you'd be gone for a long time and I would miss you growing up..." she added with a look of despondence. Antoshi felt even more badly about what he wished to talk about with his parents. He was even more unsure of how his mother would take the idea. Fireball made his insistence known, clearing his throat from across the table, having sat down with the family like a person would. It caught Antoshi's attention, seeing his friend point toward his father. He took a deep breath and sighed heavily, preparing to speak.
"I know what you're going to ask," his father calmly spoke up just before Antoshi could. "I support your decision. I think you're an excellent trainer and you should pursue that all the way." Antoshi's jaw hung open as he couldn't believe that not only did his parents somehow know what he wanted to ask, but that his father avidly supported him.
"M...mom?" he quietly spoke up, turning his attention to her. She sighed heavily and nodded. A bit of a smile came over his lips as the stress fluttered off his shoulders, making him feel quite enthused.
"Yes!" he exclaimed happily, jumping up from the table with an upraised fist. He quickly realized he was out of line and sat back down. "Sorry."
"It's all right," his father reassured him. "I assume you're going to compete in the Johto league this time?"
"Yes," he replied with some surprise. "How did you know?"
"You've always been a curious boy, always wanting to explore new places. I figured re-entering the Kanto league would seem too monotonous for you."
"Well... yeah," he spoke, cracking a smile as it felt good to know the extent of his parent's willingness to let him compete again.
"Johto is one stop away on the Magnet train from Saffron. I'm sure you're eager to get going, so we'll have your things ready for you in the morning."
"But honey," his mother chimed in, "isn't that a bit soon?"
"Dear, he's been cooped up in the house for two months. The boy deserves to follow his dreams." His mother sighed once more before turning to her son.
"Antoshi, I'm sorry if I don't seem supportive of your plan right now. I just..."
"I know, mom," he cut in with a smile. "I love you, too." She felt her heart swell with pride as she looked at his bright, smiling face. The same face she fell in love with when she took him home as a baby from the hospital. She eagerly leaned over and hugged him tightly, getting an immediate return on her hug. His father and Fireball just chuckled quietly as they continued to eat their dinner.
Later that night, Antoshi finished brushing his teeth before hopping into bed with a sense of excitement he hadn't felt since the first time he was to depart on his journey. He slid under the covers, leaning over to see his friend getting settled comfortably with just a pillow on the floor.
"I'm gonna miss how warm this floor feels compared to the ground in the woods," Fire said. Antoshi chuckled before settling into bed himself.
"Goodnight, Fire," he said before turning out the light.
"Goodnight, Antoshi. Try to sleep well tonight. You'll need all that energy to jump around on the train." Antoshi laughed loudly, amused at how well his friend knew him. Fireball cracked a smile as well, the two of them in good spirits before heading off to slumber.
Elsewhere, however, that same night, another young life was not in good spirits. Rather, the mysterious young boy with sable hair was just the opposite. After two months of captivity, he had become depressed and listless.
"I... I wanna go..." he whispered, knelt down on the floor as the energy restraints held his arms over his head. His sable hair had grown longer, covering his eyes, which had developed a dark shadow around them from lack of sleep. "I'm so tired. I'm so sick of this. When are they going to let me go?" He looked up, at the same, dark, one-way mirror that had stared at him constantly for the past two months. "Please let me go!" he pleaded loudly, only to get no response.
He'd had no human contact in so long. Meals were served to him by a robotic aide. He felt like an animal locked in a small cage. And like an animal, he was ready to fight his way out of his inhumane prison. He shouted angrily, pulling at his restraints as his arms glowed with his black aura, putting extra power into his pull. The restraints gave out a little, but it wasn't anywhere near as much force as was needed to break the bonds, causing him to quit and give up trying, just as he he'd done for the past two months. He huffed, tears flowing from his eyes.
"What do these people want from me?" he whispered, his lip quivering. "I don't remember anything, yet they keep me here. I didn't do anything bad..."
'I know you didn't,' a deep voice spoke to him. The boy gasped, looking up but finding no one.
"Hello?" he called out. "Is someone there?"
'Yes,' the voice replied. 'I'm not in this room though. I'm much closer than that.'
"What?" he quietly asked. His eyes widened before adding, "Oh no, I'm hearing voices..." The mysterious voice chuckled in amusement.
'You are hearing voices, but believe me when I tell you that you are not crazy.'
"I am going crazy," the boy muttered despairingly. "I've been locked in here for two months. I just want to leave."
'You can leave,' the voice calmly said, causing the boy to gasp with hope. 'You just need to try harder to break free.'
"I've tried that!" he angrily exclaimed, before softening his tone. "I've been trying that all this time..."
'You don't even know of your powers, do you, boy?' the voice asked in an amused tone.
"Powers?" he asked curiously, "What are you... talking about?"
'Try to pull at your bonds as hard as you can,' the voice instructed.
"Fine," the boy agreed, "but it's not going to make a difference." He grit his teeth and began to summon his strength to pull at his restraints, closing his eyes as the black aura emerged from his arms.
'Now,' the voice said, 'continue struggling, but open your eyes.' The boy did so, gasping loudly as he consciously saw his own aura for the first time, causing him to lose his focus and the aura to fade away.
"What..." he spoke breathlessly, "what was that?"
'That, dear boy, was an small exertion of your aura,' the voice explained. 'It's a projection of your spiritual power, unleashed by your emotions. The limitations and applications for what your aura can create are virtually endless.' The boy was speechless by what he heard, unable to comprehend just what kind of power was inside him.
"Have I... always had this?" he quietly asked.
'Yes,' the voice explained, 'since the day you were born.' The boy gazed down to the ground, still in shock, wondering why he had never known such a power to be inside him.
'You want to leave, don't you?' the voice calmly asked, snapping the boy out of his trance.
"Yes!" he exclaimed. "More than anything!"
'Try as hard as you can once again,' the voice instructed once more.
"But, it didn't--"
'Just do it,' the voice snapped. The boy sighed heavily, closing his eyes as he strained with effort, his arms again glowing with his aura. 'Keep going,' the voice coached him, his aura suddenly growing intensely out of his arms. The boy continued to pull, intensely focused on the task, the bonds starting to give way to his newfound power. 'That's it, you're almost there...' the boy gave an angry shout before finally managing to pull his arms toward each other. The bonds broke from their metal grounds, the glowing energy used to hold them together fizzling out. The boy panted loudly, trembling as he slowly opened his eyes and realized he was no longer chained. He took a few incredulous steps forward, unable to believe he was finally free. He grinned happily, jumping up and down a few times.
'Freedom,' the voice spoke up, seemingly as enthused as he was.
"This feels incredible!" the boy remarked, looking in the one-way mirror, seeing his dark aura flickering several inches around his entire frame like a fire. "I feel..." he trailed off, looking down at his hands surrounded by aura. "Powerful," he added, his expression turning to a frown.
'You remember, don't you?' the voice asked. 'Why you're here in the first place.'
"Those people," the boy recalled, "they thought they were so powerful compared to me," he angrily recalled, his aura starting to flicker more rapidly. "Keeping me chained up like some kind of animal."
'They should be taught a lesson then,' the voice persuaded. 'They should know who's truly the powerful being, don't you agree?' The boy's eyes lit up with excitement, before his lips curled into a devious smile. The voice chuckled in amusement just as the boy thrust his fist toward the glass, shattering it on impact. There was no one behind it however, but an alarm suddenly blared from the commotion. The boy chuckled along with the voice in his head, stepping into the observation room before grabbing the nearby door and pulling it off the hinges. It attracted the attention of a nearby team of three uniformed agents running over to check on him.
Red lights flashed all along the hallways, the alarm blaring endlessly. The agents were shocked to see his overpowering strength and quickly reached for their guns. The boy narrowed his eyes angrily, thrusting an open palm toward them, his eyes focused on their guns. They were suddenly engulfed in his dark aura and pulled toward him. The guns hovered in mid-air, suddenly being turned around and pointed back at the agents who quickly threw their hands up in surrender.
"Please don't shoot us," one of them pleaded. The boy chuckled, enthralled to be holding their lives in his hands. He hummed thoughtfully, glancing at their pistols inquisitively.
"You're right," he remarked in a politely sinister tone, "I don't want to shoot you." The guns fell harmlessly to the ground as the boy stopped focusing on them. The agents sighed in relief, feeling as though they averted disaster until the boy began advancing toward them. "I want your suffering to last!" He grabbed two of the men by their collars before kicking the third one in the stomach with such force it sent the man flying toward a wall well over a dozen meters away. He hit the wall with a painful shout before falling onto his side, groaning weakly, a visible splotch of blood left on the wall.
The other two agents looked at the boy nervously after seeing what had happened to their partner. The boy could hear rapid chattering in their earpieces, realizing their other colleagues were conversing about the alarm going off and most likely heard everything he'd said up to that point. He became annoyed, yanking the earpieces off their faces.
"Now," the boy began, "the first one of you to tell me where I can find your leader gets their life spared."
"He's this way!" one of the men quickly exclaimed, pointing toward a long hallway.
"No, he's this way!" the other shouted, pointing to a completely different hallway.
"Robert, be quiet!" the first man snapped. The boy narrowed his eyes angrily at the first man, letting go of the second before kneeing the first in the stomach, causing him to grunt and double over in pain.
"How dare you lie to me," the boy quietly said in an angered tone. "You think this is a game, don't you?!" He suddenly lifted the man into the air by his collar while the man held his stomach. "You stole two months of my life. You made me miss my birthday! One of the only things I can actually remember! And you think you can just lie to me?! Give me one reason why I should spare your life!" The man gasped for air, smacking his dry lips before speaking.
"We were... just doing our job..." The boy was shocked by his answer, quickly becoming enraged. His aura flared wildly around his frame, although the men could not see it, only able to see an angry young man holding an agent up in the air. He angrily threw the man to the ground, wanting nothing more to do with him as he groaned weakly, still holding his stomach. He spun around, angrily eyeing the second man known as Robert.
"Take me to your leader," he commanded before irately hustling him. "Right now!" Robert nodded, quickly leading the boy down a nearby hallway. They didn't get far, as a plethora of government agents and soldiers blocked their path, weapons drawn, all pointed at the boy. He grit his teeth angrily at the inconvenience.
"Either I pass," the boy spoke, "or he dies." He grabbed Robert by the collar, awaiting their next move. The blockade force awaited their next command through their headsets and earpieces. The boy could hear something being muttered and suddenly their entire force opened fire at the boy. He gasped, his eyes going wide as his life became threatened.
In his mind, time began to slow down considerably, causing him to see every one of their many bullets coming toward him. He grunted, angrily shoving Robert out of the way before grabbing their bullets out of mid-air. Another command was given and they ceased firing, letting the smoke from their guns clear before they saw the boy standing there, his head hung down to the ground. They had no idea why he was still on his feet until he opened his clenched fists, letting the bullets drop harmlessly to the ground, much to their collective shock. He looked up at them with an icy glare before thrusting his hands forward and expelling a wave of dark energy that was invisible to all but himself.
"Out of my way!" he angrily commanded as the wave pushed them all backward, causing them to hit the ground hard. Robert shook as he gasped in amazement. What he just witnessed was far beyond his scope of comprehension. He looked up at the boy just as he turned to him with the same livid expression.
"Where is he?" the boy demanded an answer. Robert raised a trembling hand and pointed to a set of double doors toward the end of the small hallway. The boy then calmly walked over the small mob of semiconscious agents and soldiers and up to the double doors. Just as he did, another small team of soldiers turned the corner, guns aimed at the boy.
"Hold it right there!" one of them commanded. He did no such thing, believing the lot of their fallen comrades would be reason enough not to shoot. He pulled a fist back before punching through the center of the double doors, toppling them over inside the base commander's lavish office. He stood there, already waiting for the boy's arrival, pointing yet another gun at him.
"I've been watching you for the past two months, boy," the commander spoke in a gritty voice. "We know about your inhuman powers. It's the reason you're even here. On top of that you're an emotionally unstable kid with no memory of your past. You're an absolute threat to mankind. You are never going to leave this base alive." The commander fired his gun, but the boy simply grabbed the bullet once again. The commander smirked, counting on him to snatch it. The boy gasped as his hands were suddenly bonded together in the same type of energy used to keep him prisoner.
"Now," the commander calmly spoke, motioning for the soldiers outside the door to enter the room, "you're going right back to your cell where you belong." The boy grit his teeth, staring at the concentrated energy locking his hands together.
"My cell?" the boy spoke incredulously as the soldiers held his arms. The commander seemed curious to hear what the boy had to say. "Like I'm some kind of prisoner? I don't deserve to be here! I never did anything wrong to begin with, it's your fault! You turned me into this!"
"You're a career-maker, kid," the commander explained. "This world has never seen anything like you and, by God, we are going to keep running tests and find out what you are and what caused that explosion!"
'Explosion?' the boy thought.
'Forget it,' the voice spoke to him. 'They have no right to keep you here. Enact your revenge. Show them who's most powerful!' The boy grinned, starting to chuckle in amusement. The commander glared at him as the boy's chuckling turned into amused laughter.
"What the hell are you laughing about?!" the commander shouted.
"You keep telling me what I am and where I'm going, like you've got me all figured out." The soldiers gasped in shock, letting him go as the boy began to slowly levitate. "You know nothing about me. Hell, I don't even know anything about me. But there's one thing I do know. I will not be kept here as a prisoner. I'm free now to do as I please and nobody, especially you, is going to stop me!" Almost effortlessly, he pulled his bonds apart, evaporating them as they became overpowered by his dark aura which began flickering more intensely than ever. The commander grit his teeth, firing more of the energy bullets at the boy, only to have them disintegrate on impact with his aura. The boy chuckled.
"My turn," the boy proclaimed, aiming a open palm at the commander, summoning a sphere of dark energy that unstably expanded and contracted rapidly. He shouted, firing the energy at the commander who saw nothing flying toward him, narrowly missing and destroying his desk with an explosion on impact. The others shouted in terror, leaping away from the flaming desk before looking up at the boy with fear.
"And you say I'm never going to leave here alive," the boy said, gradually ascending toward the ceiling. "I believe it's you who won't leave here alive!" The commander gasped.
"Wait!" he shouted just before the boy punched through the ceiling, exiting into the cool, night air. "We can talk this over!!" The boy ascended higher and higher, several hundred meters over the base.
"Too late for that," the boy muttered, holding both hands out in front of him, one over the other as he growled, summoning another ball of energy that slowly, gradually became much larger as he poured more of his energy into it. It became more unstable the larger it got, filling with energy like a water balloon and having the viscosity of such.
'That's enough,' the voice told him, 'if you use too much energy you'll fall unconscious. Now, let it fly and watch the fireworks...'
"Boom," he whispered before shoving the massive ball of energy at a blinding speed toward the base below. It collided, punching a hole through the roof on impact. For a short moment nothing else happened, until a shock wave of his aura shot through every square foot of the base. Then, an explosion rang out, followed by multiple others that erupted all around the base, sending chunks of concrete and shards of metal and debris flying in every direction.
The boy laughed triumphantly as he watched the show, arms folded across his chest. Within moments, the explosions had stopped, leaving nothing but a mass of fire and charred debris. The realization that there were no survivors only gave the boy more solace. He was free of his captivity and revenge was adequately obtained. He was also free to explore the mystery behind his power.
'You want more power, don't you?'
"Yes," he hissed, smirking as his elated eyes surveyed the devastation he caused.
'This is just the beginning. Imagine what you could achieve if you were ten times more powerful than you are now or a hundred times more, even a thousand times more powerful.' The boy hummed thoughtfully as he thought the prospect over. 'Just remember, humans were the ones that put you here. I say the world should be cleansed of humans so that their torment over others can cease. Don't you agree?' The boy growled at the thought of his captors locking him up and leaving him in a cell to rot.
'Follow my lead. I can help you achieve enormous, insurmountable power. Together, we can cleanse this world and begin a new one. One with you as our glorious leader...' The boy swelled with pride, his eyes lighting up at the daring new idea. 'Will you accept?'
"Absolutely," the boy thought, his eye color suddenly changing to an inhuman red on black, yet he never felt more relaxed. He calmly descended toward the ground, landing softly. He casually strolled into a nearby wooded area, just before a mass of police cars and government vehicles showed up on the scene. He chuckled softly as they were far too late. The thought amused him further the more he thought about it, until his chuckling became a delirious cackle that echoed through the woods.