Chapter 16: Punishment

My mind was still swimming with emotion from my own problems, but I decided to follow Electivire. Really, he was my responsibility and I should be putting him first anyway. Otherwise, I shouldn't be a Trainer. I let those thoughts of being a good Trainer overtake my mind so I could ignore the past.

I walked quietly among the trees, pausing often to listen for my Pokemon who didn't seem to want to be found. After twenty minutes, I felt his presence above me and looked up, spying one of his wire-like tails hanging downward.

"Electivire." I said softly.

I heard a grunt as he shifted his weight.

"Have you been thinking of the past as well?"

His body dropped down right in front of me, his red eyes glaring at me as he slowly straightened up to purposefully be taller and more intimidating.

"Why has this bothered you so suddenly?" I asked. I pictured the Primeape and Mankey again, images from his mind that Demi had allowed me to see.

He growled at me, a deep, building threat.

I refused to step away despite his anger. I could tell he would hurt me if I went too far and decided to sit down to appear less threatening, keeping eye contact. His eyes were still full of hurt. I took a deep breath, "Things are bothering me that haven't for what seems like a long time. I understand what you're going through."

Electricity sparked and he slammed his fist into the tree behind him, a crater denting the bark. Fury sizzled off of him in droves. I remained absolutely still. Electivire breathed quickly and bared his teeth, seeming to wait for a response.

"I won't treat you that way ever again. I can promise that." I knew what he was thinking. I didn't have to read his thoughts.

He snarled and got closer to me. I didn't flinch. My emotions were cut off so I would remain calm if he snapped.

"What do you want from me?" I asked quietly.

I felt his tail coils snake around my limbs, one around each of my wrists. My hair stood up on end as he made contact with me, the electricity thrumming inside him. I felt my body being pulled up so that I dangled off the ground. My heart beating faster- if I fought, he would attack. If I didn't, the results would be similar.

"Electivire, this isn't like you." I said, the slightest hint of uncertainty present in my voice as I stared at his determined eyes. His tails wound tighter around my wrists, burning, as he held me at eye level.

"I want to talk about this. Why do you think I'm here?" I decided not to remain calm anymore, despite how badly I disliked sounding desperate, "I'm not the same Trainer I was when we first met. You know that. Why are you suddenly acting like this?"

He growled and I felt a small shock, wincing.

"Electivire!" I heard someone yell from behind me.

Electivire's eyes narrowed. I turned my head as far as I could to see Demi, who had her mouth open as she studied us. She took a step forward. Her expression became solemn, "Put him down. I won't hurt you."

Electivire let out a laugh, feeling as if she was a puny threat, before lifting me higher.

"I don't want to be in your mind, but you're not really leaving me a choice if you won't talk." Demi warned.

My Pokemon frowned before gripping me tighter, my legs flailing automatically in response to the pain.

Before Demi could begin reasoning with him again, I heard the ground begin cracking. Vines a foot wide shot out, ensnaring Electivire and binding him automatically to the tree. He yelled and fought against the vines, but they bound him too tight. I slipped out of his tails' grip right before he began using Thunder on the vines, which smoked and seared away. More shot out and held him in place, tighter than before.

I felt the ground shake as I dropped to it, confused until I felt it continue trembling. I looked up to see Torterra barreling through the trees, faster than I'd ever seen him move, his red eyes intense and threatening. Murderous.

He ran, skidding to a halt in front of Electivire and letting out an ear-splitting roar. All the Flying types in the forest let out fearful cries and took flight as he continued roaring in Electivire's face. Electivire hissed and bellowed back.

I watched, feeling completely removed, not knowing how two of my Pokemon could turn against each other, seeming ready to fight to the death. A hand on my arm brought me back to reality. Demi yelled above the intense noise, "I'm going to calm them down!"

Her Dedenne jumped off her shoulder and ran around the two giants, little pink hearts flying at them both. At first I thought it was Attract, but realized that Peachy was a male and that it must be Charm. Torterra and Electivire's protesting noises began to reduce and their eyes became a bit softer. They seemed a bit lethargic. Peachy continued using the attack on Electivire, a dopey smile forming on his face before he slumped against the vines, his eyes closing.

Peachy scurried back over to Demi, who let him perch on her shoulder. She whispered a few words of thanks before helping me up. I was already on my feet before I realized I'd let a little girl help me up. My mind was too distracted by my Pokemon.

What had I done? I asked myself, horrified. I'd been focusing on myself, and here I'd absolutely forgotten about the emotional needs of my Pokemon despite Demi's warning. I was a fool.

"Paul? Hey, Paul. Are you alright?" Demi pulled on my jacket worriedly.

"I need to get my Pokemon to the Pokemon Center." I stated, feeling faraway.

"I didn't know he was in such bad shape." Demi whispered, "He hides it better than you do. I knew he was bad, but not like that."

My stomach clenched as I dug out Electivire's Poke Ball, returning him without a word. I walked up to Torterra and murmured a thank you. He nodded, but seemed a little far gone to understand, so I returned him to his Poke Ball as well.

"I'll help you get Salamence back." Demi said hesitantly, "And Paul?"

"Yeah?"

"I might need to get into Electivire's head if that continues. And he's not going to like that."

"I know." I thought about her being in my head and mentally shuddered.

"Then you need to fix things between him and fast. I've never seen anything like that before..." She trailed off, thinking just as much about the possibilities of what would have happened if no one had interfered as I was.

"I don't think he was going to hurt me much more than that." I said, wanting to mean it, but knowing it was a lie.

"What did you do to him?"

I closed my eyes as if to hold back to memories, all the horrible things I'd said, all the training, every harsh punishment, "I undid him."

The little nine year old, who didn't seem to ever stop talking, was silent. Her silence was weightier than anything that could be said to me. It held all of her surprise, all of her empathy for Electivire, and all of her disappointment in the Trainer who should be wiser than the young girl that she was. Guilt began boiling within me.

"You're better than that now." Demi whispered, "And I believe you can change what you've made him, just like you can change yourself."

Her voice became firmer, "So don't you dare feel guilty. That doesn't fix anything. Just undo what you did, or else you don't deserve to be a Trainer."

I mentally nodded at her words, numb. I felt her small body come hug me, her head nuzzling my upper stomach before she pulled away and grabbed my hand, leading me back to the field on the hill.

I stared at the church as we broke through the trees, the clean white that was ever-present. It felt like the only constant since arriving in this town, that building. My emotions, my problems, were as changing as the ocean. And yet that building was always there. I turned to look down at the city, the height making me feel as if I was above the people there, as if everything I was doing was far apart from them.

Demi patiently guided me. I didn't even notice Aaron as I got my Pokemon ready to go back to the Pokemon Center. My ears didn't seem to be working. My eyes didn't take anything in as we left the hill. I occasionally noticed Salamence floating along. It felt like a dream. Maybe I'd never woken up. Maybe I was still trapped inside a never ending nightmare.

I even felt Demi inside my mind, sending me a few waves of emotions. Worry. Hope. Some words of encouragement that I couldn't focus on.

Yes, I was stuck in a nightmare.

What felt like days later, Salamence had been returned to his room, Demi had given me a final hug, and I was standing in our room, Dawn throwing herself on me and asking a million questions about why I was so late and why I looked like I'd seen a ghost. After she was finished, she stared at me, expecting an answer. I wanted to let her know what had happened. I wanted to tell her absolutely everything- past and present. And yet, the second her blue eyes landed on mine and held my gaze, the only thing I did was cry.

And not just a few tears, but full out sobbing that would have filled me with dread if it were possible to be full of more emotions. I cried for the first time that I could remember in years. And Dawn just hugged herself to me the entire time, leading me to the bed to sit down when I began shaking. She helped me despite me dampening her perfect hair, despite my extreme traumatic behavior. She was there, she was present.

And that gave me comfort.

She didn't ask me any more questions when I was done, but kept her blue eyes on me in understanding as she ran a hand through my hair. It was soothing. I soon fell asleep, too exhausted to stay awake.

Today still wasn't as bad as that day, I thought foggily as I began to drift, Almost. But not quite.

Hey Readers!

Obviously, if you haven't figured it out yet, this story is a super emotional one. I would know because I just finished writing the whole thing. And I was wondering if people would like it or not. Truthfully, I'm not writing it and wanting approval or people to like it. I want it to mean something. It definitely means something to me. Hits me at home. That doesn't mean it does for you and that's ok, but I did want to explain that all of these flashbacks and dramatic events are very crucial to not only who Paul is, but a lot of the other characters as well. It'll make more sense as the story goes on, of course. But I just wanted you to know that Paul's past is, to me, far more important than talking about what happens in the future with his relationship with Dawn. And here's why:

"We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. There is nothing progressive about being pig-headed and refusing to admit a mistake... Going back is the quickest way on." -C.S. Lewis

Love that quote. But really, there isn't any point in moving on with Paul's story until he goes back and makes everything right. Wouldn't you agree? I think everyone should do that with their own lives or else we can't truly move forward. 

Thanks for reading. I hope this resonates with you. Always feel free to comment what you think.

Pokemon Question of the Day: Which Pokemon scares you the most when it comes to it going crazy and attacking people?

God bless.

-Flips