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Mike watched with a distant stare as the two kids fled, his gaze slowly losing focus until he was just looking at the horizon. The boy sat there in silence, his Pokemon standing (and floating) beside him. "They're not coming back are they?" Mike asked no one in particular. "They weren't just playing around..." He let out a saddened moan and stood up, his arms dangling uselessly in the wind. "Wait, of course they were! Hahaha!" A smile found its way on the boys lips, but once again faded as he failed to accept his own delusion. Wordlessly, he turned about and recalled his Pokemon and released another: Portabello.

The Breloom paused for a moment, no doubt sifting through the boy's mind as to ascertain just who it was before him. Master! The relieved Pokemon mentally shouted, quickly bowing before his rightful trainer. I was wracked with concern over your well being, as were the others. The Breloom began a somewhat folly attempt at cleaning off his master, brushing him off and straightening his clothes. You look terrible... Mike remained silent during the entire procedure, refusing to move or even lift his arms. Portabello continued diligently, trying his best to make his master look somewhat presentable; like wiping the large amounts of blood from his face, flattening his hair and wrapping his stomach and arms with impromptu bandages made from vines. After a few minutes the Breloom stepped back, gave his master a look-over, and with a half-hearted smile and nod his work was finished.

Mike walked over to the edge of the island and looked down into the water. His hair was indeed straightened out and his face didn't look like he worked at a slaughterhouse, but what lie underneath was much worse. At least when he was covered with dirt and blood there was something to hide behind, a buffer between him and the rest of the world. Looking at himself, unhidden and clean, was anything but. He turned away. He couldn't even look himself in the eye anymore; not after what he had done. "I...I need to get out of here..." he said quietly.

What was that master? inquired the Breloom.

"I have to get out, go someplace far away where I can't hurt anyone. Somewhere I can suffer in solitude without having to worry about what I might do when I close my eyes." He stared at the ground, his gaze unmoving as he drew Nitro's Pokeball and released him. "Someplace far away..." he repeated.

Portabello jumped forward. Master I must protest! The best solution would be to seek help, like a hospital. There you can get the care you ne-

"Like the 'hospital' that took you away from me and locked me in a cage?" He laughed. "Hya-ha! Oh no, no one is taking you away from me again. They can't. You're all I have left. No one else trusts me!" Mike climbed onto the Charizard, Portabello reluctantly joining him.

What about your friends, master? Surely Miss Kasiya or Sir Kilik, or Miss Mitsu have faith in you.

"But don't you see Portabello? Every time my friends try to help me I hurt them! I can't put them at risk again, I CAN'T! I've got enough blood on my hands."

The Breloom was speechless. Rational thought was lost on his master, and he had given up all hope. Is this to be the fate of my once mighty master? To descend into madness and obscurity forever? He thought to himself. Nevertheless, he would remain by his side. Regardless of your destination master, I will remain your protector until my last breath.

Mike smiled warmly, a rarity in recent days. "Thank you Portabello." he said, turning to Nitro. "To Mt. Ember, buddy. Time to find ourselves a new home." The Charizard spread his wings and took flight. For once, the wind was at their back.

Normally Mike would be anxious at having to fly over the sea, but at this point he could care less. Just yesterday he was quite content enough to throw himself off a cliff, so falling off of Nitro and tumbling into the murky abyss of the ocean, while less instantaneous, would produce about the same effect. Not to say that at this point he would just get up and jump off, but if an accident were to occur...oh well. No point in thinking about it now. Portabello placed a comforting hand on Mike's shoulder.

Please master, pleaded the Breloom. Don't think such things. You're not so far gone that you are beyond redemption.

Once again, normally Mike would have yelled at his Pokemon for perusing his mind like a library, but he didn't feel like it. At least he knew that Portabello only meant the best from his mental prodding. For now he would just think of his soon-to-be hideout: Mt. Ember. He'd always read about it, but never had the chance to visit. Despite the utterly depressing concept of becoming a hermit and being alone the rest of his life, the boy could at least look forward to exploring the volcano.

Speak of the devil, what should come up on the horizon but Mt. Ember. Unlike Mt. Chimney, Mt. Ember was a dormant volcano, and hadn't erupted in a very long time. Mike smiled as Nitro began to touch down, spotting an opening near the midpoint of the volcano. No one could make it up that far without being either an expert climber or a trainer, so that would keep visitors to a minimum. "There!" he called out, pointing to the somewhat hidden entrance. Moments later they had landed, entered, and sealed the entrance to the now hidden entrance to the upper levels of Mt. Ember. The boy turned around and took in a deep breath of that wonderful volcanic air. Portabello and Nitro looked at their trainer, awaiting for their next order.

"Well boys," he began. "Let's break this place in, shall we?"

Still sniffling, Kasiya continued to hang on to Themis, quietly listening to Keegan's story with mixed interest, looking up at him only when his voice went too low to hear. However, she forgot all about that as he went on, and her eyes grew wide. "Wh-what? Mai tried to steal your Pokemon? And she used Shocker against you?" Her gaze moved over to Helios for a moment before looking back at the redhead again. "What happened? How did you get away?" she asked, finally relinquishing her grip on the Manectric and standing up. She was quite interested now, as she was quite aware of just how tough her sister's Pokemon (and her Raichu too, of course) were, and the fact that Keegan still had all his Pokemon meant that he'd somehow gotten himself out of that situation.

=-=-=-=-=

It wasn't until the Sneasel had put herself in front of Eris in a display of blinding speed that Jaeshan snapped back to his normal self. The Ice Punch had landed a solid hit on Squirtle as well, and the poor turtle was knocked out cold with the hit. "Sorry 'bout that," the tall blonde chuckled as he recalled his KO'd Squirtle and somewhat-tired Kakuna, and made his way across the still-slightly hazy battlefield. "I got a little carried away at the end there, is everyone okay?" He glanced up at Crenu and offered a well-mannered nod as a greeting, seeing as he didn't know the guy that well and it would be awfully rude to flat out ignore him.

Kasiya wandered along behind Keegan and his two Pokemon in somewhat of a daze, her mind filling with more and more 'what if' scenarios as she continued to listen to Keegan's story. What if she'd not gone back to the Pokemon Center right away, and waited to go back with him? Perhaps working together the two of them could have taken Shocker back from Mai; maybe they could have even knocked her down a peg or two as well. But then again, what if that had been her only chance to get Shocker back at all? Again she felt tears stinging the corners of her eyes but she furiously wiped them away before they could be seen. No, she wasn't going to think like that. She'd get Shocker back someday, somehow. Though I probably should recruit help from my friends, or they'd never let me forget it, she thought with a half-smile. She'd been so absorbed in her own thoughts that she'd nearly missed his question about the ship. "Hmm? Oh, uh, it leaves at noon," she said, nodding. "Why do you ask?"

Once they got inside again, Kasiya waited in the lobby for Keegan to return his dishes, going over the things she wanted to say to him in her mind before he returned. She was well aware by now that if she didn't word things properly it was all too easy to set him off, and after their rough past couple of days it was the last thing she wanted to do, especially if they were going to part ways for who knows how long. Appropriately enough, she'd sat down on an unoccupied loveseat, wringing her hands as she waited for the redhead to get back.

=-=-=-=-=

Jaeshan couldn't help but chuckle at the exchange between Crenu and Kenneth, and when the latter held out his hand Jaeshan shook it firmly. Somehow the name Kenneth Breeman seemed familiar to him, but he wasn't sure why. He straightened out his jacket a little as he looked over at Crenu. "I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself sooner, that was a little rude of me." He cleared his throat and held his hand out to Crenu, smiling his usual, cheerful smile. "I'm Jaeshan Devereaux, it's a pleasure to meet both of you. And thanks," he went on, also quite proud of how well Kakuna and Squirtle had done. "I just met both of them yesterday, actually, but I can see they've both got a lot of potential." He stole a glance at Riza, not sure he knew what Kenneth was going on about, but if there was something going on between Crenu and Riza, he was now sure he had an explanation as to why Crenu had gotten so annoyed yesterday when Keegan had cut in on him.

“Will! Hey Will!”
He rolled over to see Teagan looming over him. Enthusiastic as always, she wore a huge grin that he couldn’t help but smile at.
“Time to wake up, kiddo.”
He groaned, “What time is it?”
She pulled at his arm gently, “6:30. C’mon, I made breakfast.”
Will looked up at her, still not fully functional, his mind struggling to find anything that would compel someone to be up this early of their own free will. After a brief moment he gave up and rolled back over, trying to find that same comfy spot.
Teagan scoffed and smothered him with a pillow, “It’ll get cold. C’mon, get up.”
“Okay, okay. Just give me a sec to get dressed.”
Excited, Teagan skipped out of the room, closing the door behind her. “You'd best hurry, you don’t want me to have to come back in there.”

Will chuckled. He sat up and looked out the window opposite his bed. The sun was just rising, giving light to the port in Canalave. This was the first morning for him in this new town, the first time hed see the sun rise over the water. He looked on as a massive boat made its way underneath the drawbridge, and watched the foam at the crest of the wake. He let out a long sigh. I’m never going to get used to this, he thought, I don’t even know what I’m doing here. He stumbled to his dresser, threw on a wrinkled t- shirt and some worn jeans. Was this the right thing to do, he continued, I’m not sure. I mean, I know I needed to get away. Snowpoint just had too many holds on me, memories that are less than ideal. What am I going to do now? I don’t know anyone here, no one at all. I can’t do this. They will judge me, they will see me for what I was, they won’t, they can’t understand.

Spinning and leaning up against the wall, looking down at his feet nervously, he began to think of Snowpoint, and of his father. All the times he was told that he wasn’t going to make it, all the times his father told him that his injury made him inadequate. All the times that he got noticed, stared at and outwardly mocked. He thought of his vices, of the smoke, drink and needles.. He slid down the wall into a slump, the hair on his arms standing erect, tears streaming down his face. Looking down he noticed his hands were shaking. I thought I broke this. I thought I was better than this. I spent all that time at that damn clinic and look at me know. Just a kid too paralyzed by his own anxiety to walk outside, second guessing himself. Feeling the ever-present itching, the longing for a fix, a hit, anything. This isn’t me, this is just some momentary relapse. It has to be. Please let it be.

Will sat there, crying uncontrollably, feeling belittled and scared. His father used to tell him that he wouldn’t amount to anything, that he wasn’t capable of it and at that brief moment, Will agreed with him.

“Hey,” Teagan snapped as she opened the door, “I thought I told you tha-“ She froze when she saw Will curled up against the wall. She quickly moved to sit beside him. Brushing his hair from his face and dabbing at his tears with her sleeve, she spoke, “Hey kiddo… What’s going on?” He looked up at her, tears flowing, she could see the pain in his face. He fell into her lap, shaking uncontrollably. Teagan gently comforted him, stroking his hair and holding him close. “It’s okay kiddo,” she explained, “I know you’re scared, and I’m scared too but it’ll be okay. I love you Will, and nothing will change that or take that away. We have each other now, and I think that we’ll manage. I’m telling you kiddo, we’ll get past this. We will make it through this.”