Disclaimer: I don’t own pokemon. The things that aren’t property of Nintendo Topaz or I made up and you need permission to use it.

Officer Jenny had indeed wanted to see them. The pokemon that Manfred had stolen needed homes and she wanted the girls to have them. Neither girl could pass up the chance. The two were now in route to Coral City. This stretch was the first they had seen that wasn’t blanked with trees. The girls had let out their earth bound pokemon out to run with them. Creidi was astride Arcanine with her Espeon and Jace’s Umbreon behind her. Astral, Suicune, Raikou, Houndoom, and Jace’s Typhosen ran along side them. Over head Jace rode Gyrdrake with her birds and Creidi’s Radianz and Articorn.

"Hey Jace! You ready to stop for Lunch?" Creidi called up hopefully; she was getting really hungry.

"All right." Jace called back and began to land; food was working its way into her mind as well. They didn’t have the wood to start a fire, so after opening tins of chew for their pokemon, they had sandwiches. They hadn’t been eating for ten minutes when Articorn suddenly took off at the speed of light.

"Hey! Articorn!" Creidi said jumping up and running after him. Jace just stared. Creidi was far too slow to catch her horse, but he didn’t seem to have gone far and she was able to follow his whinnies. When she finally caught up she was treated to quit a site. Articorn was prancing about with his head, tail, and wings held high. He whinnied, and neighed as he reared and pumped his wings. Creidi could practically hear him crowing his own excellence.

And the object of all this macho posturing? Not a Rapidash or Zefire as Creidi would expect, but instead a strange dark horse. Fore starters she was much heavier set then her courtier. She looked more like a draft horse, with large hooves and thick compact muscles. She also had a good 3-4 hands in height on Articorn. Her wings, unlike those of an Articorn or Zefire, were dragon like in appearance and several times larger. She mane, tail, and hooves were golden. The look on her face told Creidi that she was as amused with Articorn’s antics as she was herself. Creidi decided that it was time to intervene before her ice horse embarrassed himself any further.

"What are you doing you silly thing?" She cooed as she stepped up to her horse and placed her hand on his nose. The dark horse looked at her with suspicion, but stood her ground. "See you’ve found a friend." She said calmly. Articorn gave a soft nicker, then looked at the dark horse.

"You want her to come with us?" Creidi sounded amused as she looked at the horse. Creidi didn’t know how she understood him, she just did. "Well you ran off, without me, my stuff, or my other pokemon. You want her to come, you’re going to have to talk her into it." Articorn pause, then stepped up to the dark horse.

Creidi hung back and watched the exchange with interest. Articorn neighed and nickered softly as he made gestures with his wings and head. The dark horse responded with similar noises and gestures. Articorn made a poignant noise then turned and walked back to Creidi. He stopped and looked over his shoulder and whinnied. Slowly the dark horse followed. The two horses followed Creidi back to the campsite, where Jace was collecting their stuff.

"What was that all about?" Jace asked without looking up or turning around.

"She was." Creidi responded as she leaned down and began fishing in her pack for an ultraball. Jace looked up and her mouth dropped. Quickly she whipped out her pokedex.

"Mistallion: The Dark horse. The evolved form of Epony, these pokemon like the company of small herds. Rarely seen and even more rarely caught there is little known about these pokemon."

"How did you catch it?" Jace asked in amazement, "You only had Articorn and no pokeballs."

"Articorn talked her into it." Creidi said with a snicker, amused by the sheer sound of the thought.

"You’re joking." Jace said skeptically. She had never heard of such a thing.

"Nope." Creidi replied, finally coming up with an empty ultraball. She stepped up to Mistallion slowly. The dark horse took a nervous step back, but a reassuring nudge and nicker from Articorn gave her courage. Creidi place her hand on the horse’s velvet nose and spoke to her gently. Then she tapped the ultraball on the horse’s neck and watched as she turned to red energy and vanished into the ball. The ball didn’t even shake before it disappeared in a blaze of white.

"Well, I’ll be…" Jace said calmly, "She followed you all the way back to be captured when she didn’t have to…" She wouldn’t ever admit it but she had never been more impressed with Creidi then at that moment.

*********************************************************

Coral City, not surprisingly, was on the coast. So after checking into a local hotel, the girls changed into their swimsuits and made a beeline for the beach. Creidi wore a red and black one piece and Jace an aquamarine two piece.

The girls found a pair of plastic lounge chairs and a table shaded by an umbrella. The sun was high and the sand warm. Several trainers with water types were playing in the surf. Jace and Creidi had brought Suicune and Aquatro along; both pokemon seemed to attract a bit of attention. The rest of their pokemon stayed in their pokeballs in the girls’ packs. Creidi laid out her towel on one of the chairs, flopped down, and opened her book.

"I’ll save our spot, you go have a swim with Aquatro and Suicune." Creidi said, swimming just wasn’t her thing.

"Okay." Jace agreed before running off with Suicune at her heels and Aquatro over head. She splashed into the water with zeal, the two pokemon followed happily. Jace Loved to swim. She swam out and dove down. The clear water surrounded he in a cool embrace as her cerulean hair fanned out behind her. A school of goldeen swam gracefully by. After a moment Jace returned to the surface with a splash and a spray of water.

Looking back to shore Jace realized how far out she was and began to swim back. She had heard rumors of shark like pokemon attacking people who swam out too far. Aquatro landed next to her with a soft splash and Suicune’s head broke the surface on the other side. The trio came to shore several hundred meters from were they entered. Jace looked around but couldn’t see Creidi anywhere, or any one else for that matter, but she wasn’t worried about it. She had Aquatro and Suicune with her and they could find Creidi in a heartbeat.

It was then that something caught her ear. Jace listened hard. It was the sound of someone yelling, a cracking noise, then a cry. Jace’s first thought was that whatever it was it was none of her business. But the sound came again and Jace found herself compelled to follow it.

She rounded an outcrop of rocks to find a gruesome scene. Lying on the ground was a bleeding and broken pokemon no larger then a small pidgeotto. It was definitely a bird of some description. Under the coat of blood Jace could pick out cream and blue markings. Over the baby pokemon stood two men, one held a whip that dripped crimson. Jace audibly growled. It was beyond her how any one could be so cruel to a pokemon, or any living thing.

"This is a legendary pokemon?" one of the men said snidely, "Get up you pathetic lump of feathers!" The poor bird could only lay on the ground in defeat.

"You heard him," The man with the whip said, "Get UP!" He swung the whip high. Jace caught it on the back swing, not caring about the deep cut it left in her hand she pulled the weapon from the surprised man’s hand. Both men turned to see a very angry Jace holding their whip.

"Get out of here girl, you don’t know what you’re getting into." The first man said coldly.

"No, you don’t know what You’re getting into." Jace came back. These guys didn’t scare her, "Aquatro, Suicune; Water Cannon!" She shouted. The two water types leapt from hiding behind the rocks a shot off cannon ball size spheres of water. Each man caught a blast to the chest and was thrown back in to the rocks behind them. They were knocked cold instantly. Jace ran forward and scooped up the bleeding bird. Turning back she started to run back the way she had come.

"Aquatro, fly a head and get Creidi. Suicune stay with me and clear my way." The pokemon obeyed her to the letter. Aquatro disappeared into the sky and Suicune ran in front of Jace and barked to clear other beach goers from her path. Jace attracted many stares and whispers, but she didn’t care.

Upon returning to where she left Creidi, Jace saw that Aquatro and Creidi had done their jobs well. Aquatro was sitting on Creidi’s shoulder and next to them was the local Nurse Joy along with her two Chances and a pokemon ambulance. Without thinking, Jace placed the bird on the stretcher and jumped into the back of the ambulance behind the Chances. Nurse Joy slammed the doors before climbing into the cabin of the vehicle and driving off.

Creidi and the two water pokemon were left standing. After a moment of staring after the ambulance, Creidi picked up her and Jace’s stuff and, after recalling Aquatro and Suicune, returned to the hotel. Creidi knew Jace was worried. If she hadn’t been, she would have stopped to brag. She stepped into the elevator and pushed the button with the number 3 on it. The elevator gave jolt and began to glide upward. Creidi leaned against the side and looked at her reflection in the gold polished surface across from her. She looked a bit disheveled, but at least she wasn’t covered in blood as Jace had been. Creidi was only half-sure about the pokemon she thought she saw. The blue markings over cream colored feathers. The predatory head and the icy eyes. Had it been the legendary psychic bird? She couldn’t be sure.

The elevator pinged and the doors slide open. Creidi stepped on into the hallway. She entered the girl’s room only a few passes away. The room was done in sea blue with a tan carpet. Creidi changed from her swimsuit into her regular clothes. After picking up Jace’s clothes from her bed she went to the balcony. Releasing Radianz, Creidi mounted and headed for the pokemon center.

**************************************************************

It had been three hours sense the Jace and baby pokemon had arrived at the pokemon center. Creidi had arrived not long after wards with a change of clothes for her. Jace’s swimsuit had been a complete lose and her hand would probably scare. Jace was pacing the length of the room and occasionally looked up at either the clock or the light over the emergency room. Creidi lay across one of the waiting room chairs idly tossed an empty pokeball up and down. Neither girl spoke.

There was a soft ping and the light over the emergency room went out. A very exhausted but still smiling Nurse Joy emerged to talk to the girls.

"Well…?" Jace asked, her voice cracked as she spoke. Creidi smiled, Jace talked tough but she really did have a soft heart.

"She’ll make it." The Nurse confirmed and both girls gave a sigh of relief, "You’re welcome to go see her now." She proceeded them into a back room. In a soft bed across the room lay the bird. It was covered in sterile looking sheets. Upon their entrance it turned to look at them.

"Lugia…" it said weakly.

"Hi Lugia," Joy said cheerfully, "These are the girls who saved you. They want to know how you’re doing." The birds eyes turned to look at Jace, then Creidi. The predatory eyes seemed to pierce into the girl’s souls, as if the bird were looking for their motives. Jace greeted it with a warm smile and so did Creidi, but she shifted uncomfortably under the gaze. Weather or not the bird could actually see into their subconscious or not, the girls never decided; but Lugia seemed to except them.

Jace approached the legendary bird slowly. Her heart was pounding against her chest as if it were trying to escape. Slowly, very slowly and carefully, she reached out her hand to Lugia. The bird watched until her hand was only inches away. Then reached its head up to Jace’s out stretched hand and allowed herself to be petted. The feeling under Jace’s hand was not that of feathers, as one might expect, but instead of sleek skin. But that was nothing compared to the relief Jace felt. Not only was Lugia okay, but also for the fact that she was getting to pet it.

"I would love to have a pokemon like you." Jace whispered idly, not intending to say it aloud. The bird looked up at her for a moment, then reached out and unclipped one of the pokeballs from her belt. She lifted her head to hand the ball to Jace.

"You will come with me willingly?" Jace asked in the same hushed tone, though this time her voice reflected her surprise. And she had doubted that Creidi could convince a pokemon to come with her willingly and now it was happening to her. Lugia nodded and then sat as if waiting to be put in a ball.

"I think it would be best if Lugia stayed in the hospital over night." Nurse Joy interrupted, "You can leave tomorrow, but for now visiting hours are over."

"I’ll be back tomorrow." Jace said softly, "Get some rest." Lugia nodded and lay back down on the bed. Jace took a moment to cover the bird before following Nurse Joy and Creidi from the room.

Out side the pokecenter the day was fading to dark as the girls stepped onto the street. Streetlights were struggling to flicker on and cast their circles of dim light on the asphalt. The sky glowed pink, turning the sea purple and outlining the city skyline. A cool salty breeze ran it’s long fingers through the girl’s hair and made them shiver.

"That was really sweet, Jace. Very unlike you." Creidi said in a teasing voice. She knew how much Jace really cared for her pokemon, but how much she hated having it shown. Jace decided not to give her the satisfaction.

"I know." She replied simply.

********************************************************

The next day, the girls awoke to the sound of someone knocking on their door. It was an important sort of knock one would hear from a door to door politician. It was also impatient, knocking several times every few seconds. Creidi rolled to see the clock, 4:51 a.m.

"COMING!" Creidi shouted as Jace covered her head with her pillow and let out a string of sleepy curse words. The knock came again. Creidi, who was a bit miffed by the rude awakening, snapped the door open with more force then she intended to. Out side was a little boy, who couldn’t have been more then 10, with blue hair and eyes.

"What?" She snapped.

"Are you Jace or Creidi?" he asked as if very impressed with himself.

"I’m Creidi." She answered sleepily, "What do you want?"

"I’m supposed to give this to you." He said importantly as he handed her an envelope. Creidi took it and ripped it open, to sleepy to notice the wax seal on it. But she could see at a glance that it was their gym invitation.

"And why did you beat down our door at 5 in the morning for something that could have been left at the front desk or slide under the door?" Creidi asked and abnormal edge to her voice as she spoke.

"I was told to give it to you personally." He said proudly. Creidi rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration. The very Jace like urge to hurt the kid tugged at her mind.

"Thank you." She said instead.

"Aren’t you going to go now?" the kid processed.

"No, I’m going back to bed until a more reasonable hour." Creidi said in exasperation.

"What about me?"

"I don’t know, what about you?" Creidi snapped. The kid responded by pointing to the letter. Creidi raised the letter to her face and scanned it. Congratulations… …Compassion… … The child will lead you. Creidi looked over the letter at him. "Fine. Come in." She let him in and shut the door behind him.

"You can watch TV, Quietly!" She tossed Espeon’s pokeball to the ground. She emerged very sleepily and looked around for some good reason to be up this early, finding none she treated Creidi with an accusing leer.

"I know and I’m sorry," Creidi said kneeling down next to her, "but can you keep and eye on the kid. I’ll make it up to you." Espeon narrowed her eyes at Creidi, but nodded all the same. "Thanks." Creidi said scratching her behind the ear the way she liked. Creidi stood and went to back into her room, stopping just long enough to see the little boy start to pull on Espeon’s ear.

Two and half-hours later the girls awoke to find the kid watching cartoon network and Espeon looking very tousled. Both girls had to stifle a snicker at the site of her dawn tint fur brushed the wrong way and plastic hair clips all over her body.

"We’re ready to go kid." Creidi said, still fighting her laughter, as she took clips off Espeon and brushed the fur back into its proper place. Espeon stared at her with a look the said she was going to pay through the nose for this one.

"But first," Jace said, also fighting off laughter, as she sent Xatu’s pokeball to Prof. Elm, "We need to run by the pokecenter."

*******************************************************

The blue haired boy, who’s name turned out to be Jake, lead Jace and Creidi through many twisted streets over the next hour. The girls were sure they had been several places twice. At one point Jace came only a hair breath from chewing the kid out, only Creidi’s reminder that he was their only way to the gym stopped her.

"How much farther?" Jace asked impertinently. Creidi elbowed her in the ribs.

"Not much." Jake replied. Five minutes later Jake stopped the girls outside a building. It was a plain, unmarked, unobtrusive building. It was made entirely of brick with the windows all painted over on the inside. In general the whole thing looked like an abandoned factory.

"This is what you were going to drag us out of bed at 5am for?!" Jace snapped, grabbing Jake by the collar and lifting him off the ground. Bad enough he had tried to wake her up at an ungodly hour, bad enough he ran them all over town, but after all that he had lead them to an abandoned building in god knows whare! Jace’s fist clinched at her side.

"Deep breathes, Jace." Creidi said prying her companion’s hand from the boy’s collar, before turning to the building and pushing the door open. This kid couldn’t have done this as some elaborate practical joke, could he?

The door was not locked and swung open effortlessly. The entire interior was dark. The painted over windows only offered a dim whisper of light, but it was enough to show that the building had been gutted. The place, for all appearances was empty. But what surprised Creidi was the smell of fresh water that was mingled with the dusty overtone. Jace was about to turn on the boy again, only to find him gone. Suddenly the doors slammed shut and the lights flashed on.

For a moment both girls went blind. Then, after their eyes adjusted, they were greeted with a new site. The building was not as empty as it first appeared. The giant chasm they had thought was the building’s interior was now filled with towering light blue walls that all but reached the ceiling, at least a 100 meters up. The wall directly in front of them had a ceiling high section missing from it flanked by two Espeon.

"You have one hour to complete the maze." A female voice boomed over a PA.

"Why?" Jace called out but got no reply. Creidi shrugged, what’s the worst that could happen?

"I would have sworn this would be a water gym." Creidi said as they walked past the twin espeon. On the other side of the espeon the path went left and right. The girls looked around. The walls were stainless pale blue and gave no indication of direction.

"Got a favorite direction?" Jace asked.

"Right, I guess." Creidi said with a shrug. The turned and began to walk with a …splashing noise? They both looked down in surprise. Through tiny holes in the floor water was beginning to seep in. It wasn’t rising very quickly yet, barely getting their shoes wet at this point.

"Shit!" Jace yelled, "If we don’t get out of here soon, we’ll drown!" The girls started running. Right, left, right, straight, dead end. Back track, left, right, right, straight, left, another dead end. Right, right, left, left, straight, right, left, dead end.

"Stop!" Creidi yelled. The water was up to their waste by now. "This isn’t getting us anywhere."

"Got any better ideas!" Jace snapped, with the water still rising they didn’t have time to waste.

"First, we need to buy some time. Articorn, whirlwind and permafrost!" The Ice type appeared and began to powerfully flap his wings. The wind had the effect of sending all the water in a five-foot radius of the girls into a wall eight feet high. His horn glowed and the wall turned to ice.

"Now," Creidi said returning Articorn and sitting down Indian style to think, "What we need is a way to get through this maze, but how…" Creidi’s brain began to work in over time while Jace paced back and forth across the circle. What did they have that could get them through this? Any flyer of riding size wouldn’t fit through the passages. Articorn hadn’t even been able to fully extend his wings. The fire types were definitely out. The dragons were too big. Suicune, Aquatro, and Lugia could swim with them, but what good would that do? Wait! Lugia!

"Jace," Creidi broke the thick silence and Jace’s train of thought, "What do you know about Lugia."

"She’s a baby, she’s blue, she is part water and part psychic…"

"No, in general." Creidi interrupted.

"What do you want to know?"

"Does it use some sort of sonar to find its way around under water?" Jace began to scan her memory. She reached back through all the useless math, history, and English classes. Back to the class she had taken from Falkner, ‘Everything You Need to Know About the Legendary Birds and Then Some.’

"I… think so…" She said slowly.

"Here’s hoping." Creidi said looking up at the water starting to spill over the wall of ice, "Go Suicune!"

"Go Lugia! We need you to use your sonar to get us through this maze. Are you up to it?" The bird nodded and rose into the air. The two girls climbed onto Suicune’s back and the dog made a mighty leap over the wall of ice and into the water on the other side. With both girls hanging on (and kicking with their feet), the dog began to swim after Lugia. Creidi was amazed at how fast her dog was in the water. The water dog seemed to keep up with Lugia without effort. All the time the water was rising.

Left, right, straight, straight, right, left, right, straight, left, right, and out. Lugia burst through the wall of water with a splash. Suicune and the girls followed suit, unfortunately, they couldn’t fly. They passed through the wall of water into thin air nearly 50ft off the ground.

"Suicune! Hydro Pump!" Creidi screamed. The water dog responded without hesitation. Cocking her head down she shot a heavy blast of water at the ground. The force was perfect for slowing their descent. They touched down less then softly, but it beat the alternative.

"Return." The girls said together. They stood up stiffly and looked around. Behind them, two Kadabra were using their psychic power to hold back the water at the maze exit. They were in the back of the factory; here the windows were not painted over and let the morning sun pore in around them. The floor under their feet had what looked to be several circles drawn on it. Before them was a girl with shoulder length wavy green hair and sea blue eyes. She was dressed in a swimming suit the same shade as her eyes and was seated on a velvet blue throne. In her hand was a stopwatch.

"30 min and 10 sec." She said in a wispy voice, "Average time. I was expecting better. Let’s see if your battling skills live up to their praise."

"You’re on!" Jace snapped cockily, then from the side of her mouth, "What’s the plan, Creidi?"

"Gyrdrake and Raikou at least." Creidi whispered back. That should beat anything a water trainer could throw at them.

"Good." The gym leader said with a smile, "My name is Rain, leader of the Coral City gym. This will be a two on one battle. I choose Leviathan! Rain Dance!" Below their feet everything but the earlier observed circles sank and the room filled with water. Rain’s pokeball hit the water and burst open to reveal a slim, snake like, blue green dragon with fins running the length of its spine. The Sea Monster roared and a rain cloud appeared and rain began to fall.

"Go Gyrdrake, Neptune’s Gale!"

"Raikou, Thunder!" The Ice dragon and Thunder cat appeared together one in the air and one on a floating circle, respectively. Without the slightest bit of hesitation the two released their attacks. The storm of ice, wind, lightning, and water wrapped around the surfaced part of the dragon while the Thunder attack surged through the water. Leviathan screamed in rage and pain.

With out orders the dragon unleashed a rage attack. With a mighty lash of its tail it slammed Raikou across the room, and into a nearby wall. The thunder beast landed, by shear luck, on one of the floating circles and began to groggily get to its feet. Gyrdrake’s agile build allowed him to dodge the vicious on slot.

It was at this point that Leviathan seemed to forget that it had a trainer. The water dragon launched into all out combat against Gyrdrake; they bit, scratched, tail lashed, and shot out several close range attacks. While this was going on Raikou was completely forgotten. The very angry cat was back on its feet and looking for its next order.

"Jace call Gyrdrake off, I have an idea." Creidi called over the noise. Jace nodded. She rarely second guessed Creidi’s plans in battle, just as Creidi wouldn’t second guess her impulses.

"Gyrdrake, stand down!" Jace shouted over the noise. The ice dragon hesitated then reluctantly obeyed. He flew high over head, well out of reach of any of the water dragon’s attacks.

"Raikou!" Creidi yelled over Leviathan’s challenge roars, "Jupiter’s Roar!" Raikou nodded and then screamed its name. The effect of this attack was like five Thunder attacks at once. One Thunder hit on the four sides of Leviathan and the fifth hit it square in the head. Electricity surged all around and through the dragon. As the attack commenced the water dragon turned on Jace and Creidi. With a roar it charged!

Jace and Creidi had nowhere to go. They could only watch the enormous pokemon as it charged opened mouthed at them. The dragon made contact and the girls were thrown high into the air as the platform they had just stood on was crushed in the monster’s jaws. Leviathan wasted no time. With a quick change of course, the dragon made to swallow the girls. It leapt from the water, mouth wide. At the last moment, Gyrdrake’s ebony spiked tail slammed into Leviathan’s jaws and he caught Jace and Creidi on his back. Leviathan landed with a spray of water and blood, but was quickly back on its ‘feet’.

"Raikou is still down there!" Creidi screamed, her heart pounding in her throat.

"Recall him." Jace yelled. Creidi fumbled for her pokeball, nearly dropped it, and then shot the red beam from the button. The light didn’t make it.

"We’re too far away…" Creidi cried. Her pokemon was stuck down there with a monster. Suddenly Leviathan charged the thunder cat.

"RAIKOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Creidi screamed. But the cry was lost in the simultaneous roars of the two breasts. In and instant the whole room filled with electricity. The only things not consumed in the surge were Gyrdrake and the humans. After several minutes the rush of power subsided. Left in its wake was black charred walls and platforms, and a Leviathan that none were sure was alive. On his circle platform Raikou stood on shaking legs breathing hard for a second, then collapsed.

"What was that…?" Jace breathed as she held out her pokedex.

"Lightening Flood." The pokedex chirped in monotone.

"Take us down." Creidi said in a horse voice. She seemed shell-shocked. Gyrdrake drifted down towards Raikou. As soon as they were close enough Creidi jumped onto the platform and ran to Raikou. ‘Please be alive’ she begged mentally. She lifted his head and began to stroke between his ears. He didn’t respond.

"Raikou…" Creidi whimpered, "You can’t be dead…" She rubbed some blood from his cheek, "I need you…God you can’t leave me! I order you not to die!" tears began to roll down her cheeks. The salty drops wet the fur around his whiskers. "You can’t…you can’t…Please god no…" Creidi broke down crying, her shoulders heaved and her tears wet his fur as she snuggled into the mane around his limp neck.

Jace on the other hand was as far from tears as someone could be. She was furious! And she turned her fury on Rain. Without a word she directed Gyrfalcon to Rain’s platform and jumped down right in her face.

"What the Bloody Hell do you think you were doing unleashing a monster like that! You could have killed us all! You damn nearly did! You’re a gym leader! You’re supposed to be responsible! Say Something!!"

"I…I…"

"You what!"

"I…didn’t think…this would happen…"

"That’s right! You didn’t think! You released a pokemon you couldn’t control and my best friend’s pokemon is dead because of it! I am going to personally see to it that your license is revoked!" With that, she remounted Gyrdrake and flew back to Creidi. Landing next to her friend she laid a hand on her quivering back.

"Creidi." She whispered softly, the rage that had just filled her voice had vanished, replaced by gentle concern. "Creidi, there’s nothing we can do now…" Creidi shook her off and began to cry harder. Jace sat next to her and began to rub her back reassuringly.

Creidi could feel her heart braking. In front of her eyes she could see Raikou’s capture, she felt his playful pushes during a game of tag, she could hear his thunderous roars and loving purrs. How could this happen? She was his trainer, he trusted her, and she had let him down. When he needed her the most, she couldn’t help him. Sub-consciously she smiles, as she remembered the way his tongue felt when he licked her face.

Wait a minute, she could feel his tongue! Creidi’s eyes snapped open and her head shot up. Raikou’s eyes were open ever so slightly and he gave a weak roar.

"You’re alive…" Creidi whispered, almost as if she didn’t believe it herself. "You’re Alive!" she repeated in a voice so joyous it made Jace jump. Creidi throw her hands around his neck and hugged him.

"Creidi." Jace said firmly, for once the voice of reason, "Recall him so we can go to the pokemon center. Then she added in a more hushed voice, "and the police station."