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REBIRTH

DEEPER WOUNDS

Ch. 34

It turned out that Cresselia had been visiting her mother, Mew, and had been intent on returning back to New Moon Island for a little while before, then chasing off again after her brother to stop him from drowning the world in nightmares. Though as she passed by a young trainer, which she'd seen from overhead, did she notice that he'd was suffering from some kind of nightmare. Wondering why he was suffering from a nightmare when her brother wasn't anywhere within the area, she decided to float down and take a closer look. After hovering over the youth for a time she noticed that something was wrong about the whole situation and was promptly attacked.

Out of nowhere she felt an overbearing presence behind her and felt the effects of Mean-Look being used against her. Not being able to escape now due to the effects of the attack, did she realize what this was all about. Looking back to the youth she saw that he'd been faking his slumber and had had one of his Pokémon hidden in the trees not far away in ambush. She didn't know how this youth was able to do what he'd just done, until she recognized the youth from a battle she'd had some time ago. The youth had appeared on her island a time ago, used some kind of machine to scan her, and then promptly battled her (Little had she known that that scan was a tracking program built into the new version of a Pokédex). After her near capture, she'd quickly taken to the air and thought she'd escaped the youth. She hadn't seen the youth in so long that she forgot about him until that moment.

Now she was battling him again and this time she knew she was in trouble. In short order the youth had whittled down her stamina and to that end, her own health. As she lay there, frantically trying to get away but unable too, due to the effects of that of Mean Look. As she lay there feeling herself on the verge of passing out due to fatigue did she feel something hit against her side. She only had a moment to see that it was some kind of Pokéball that had struck her before the feeling of her body disintegrating. It would have been easy to break out of the sphere, but from the beating that she'd received from the trainers Pokémon, she wasn't able to break free. After a few more struggles did she finally succumbs to that of the spheres influence and was captured within. Her last conscious thoughts were to that of Mew as a single tear trickled down her cheek at the thought of never flying free or seeing her mother again.

She didn't know how long she was kept within the ball, but she was sure that if/whenever she'd be released from the awful sphere that she'd never follow the commands of that of her trainer. She'd fight him tooth, nail, or even psychically if it really came down to it, but for some reason that never came, as the first time she was released from the sphere was just a little while ago. 'And that is my story.' She finished her tale at that and looked down at us as the majority of us were seated around her, like we were all a bunch of kids at story time.

"Let me get this straight. Your saying that in all this time your old trainer never even let you out of your ball, even to stretch." I asked her in a bit of a shocked tone. Now, don't get me wrong, there are some trainers out there that have more Pokémon than they know what to do with, but that still doesn't excuse the fact that any person/Pokémon needs to get out and stretch from cramped positions every once in a while. Cresselia just shook her head and then was promptly smothered in hugs from that of Mew.

'Oh, my poor daughter. Caught in that of such a tiny sphere for so long.' I then heard Mew give off a bit of a cooing like noise and hug Cresselia's head a little tighter, as if trying to console her fear of being kept inside one of the small spheres.

'At least now you do not have to worry about that.' Lady Suicune said as she sat on my left side while Trisha was on my right. 'I am sure that Genii will think of something to set you free of that Pokéball.' She then leaned a little further into that of my hand as I scratched her in her favorite spot just behind that of her horn.

'Is it true? Can you release me from that Pokéball?' She asked me, which made me look up to her and see her pleading eyes.

It was true that Cresselia was like that of a free spirit and to tie down someone/something that controls the good dreams, while her brother was out there giving others nightmares, it was just wrong. "Of course I'll help." I said with a smile to see both Cresselia and Mew give out a quick squeal of glee then was promptly tackled to the ground by the two of them. After getting nearly snuggled and such to death, they finally let me up and gave me a quick kiss to either side of my face. I could feel a green blush quickly form on my face and sat there in a daze as I tried to come to terms with that of my first actual kiss by that of a girl. How little did I know/hear Lady Suicune growl lightly under her breath as she looked up at me.

'When do you think we can do it?' Cresselia asked as both Mew and her sat back on the grass and looked hopefully over at me.

"Probably tomorrow, as it's getting a bit late." I said to them, only to see both their faces fall a little bit at being told that. "Though you don't have to worry about being recalled into your ball," To which Cresselia looked pleased to hear. "I don't really feel comfortable about keeping my friends and the ones I care about inside their balls if they don't want to be kept inside them." Both Cresselia and Mew nodded to that in thanks.

A little while later found my tent pitched and the sleeping mat inflated within. Trisha, though had been quiet most of the day, now lay asleep with that of the baby Cubone within while both Lady Suicune and I staid just outside. I looked over my shoulder at the open flap of the tent and could see the two of them pleasantly asleep within. "Both Trisha and the Cubone are asleep." I said to Lady Suicune to which she just gave a bit of a huff like noise, almost as if she really wasn't paying attention. Seeing that she wasn't really paying attention to me I thought that now would be a fairly good time to bring up the other bit of news that I hadn't earlier. "Plus, we've got a new friend to travel along with us.

'That is...,' Lady Suicune stopped in mid-sentence as she slowly turned her head to look up at me. 'A new friend? And just who might that be?' She asked in a bit of a heated tone as she gave me a bit of an upset look on her face.

"Now just hold on a minute, My Lady. It's not like that." I said as I got a brief glimpse of anger from her mind. "She's was one of the other Pokémon that belonged to that of the trainer that'd captured Cresselia." She seemed to calm down a bit at that and I was thankful for her not fully jumping to any conclusions or speculations. "When I battled that of the trainer, I found that he was abusing that of one of his other Pokémon and decided to liberate her from him."

'Her? And what do you mean by abuse?' She asked in a bit of an interested and wincing tone.

"When I battled him I saw him kick her not being able to rise up to her feet when we battled, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I believe that the abuse may go deeper than that." A small shudder passed through the two of us at that moment as the two of us, though may not have been actually abused, we could imagine. "That was one of the other things I did while I was at the center. While Cresselia was put into one of those recovery machines, I also had her in there at the same time." I then removed another ball from my belt and placed it in front of us.

'Do you know how long she has been abused?' She asked as she reached forward with her paw and lightly touched that of the shrunken Pokéball.

"Not sure, but by the way that she cringed from that of her trainer, I'd safely say that she's still fairly new to the beatings." She looked up at me from the ball and I could see her eyes were a little wider. "What I mean to say is that, she still looks on her trainer with that of fear when she heard that he was very unhappy with her. If she were brand new to it, she'd look at him with that of disbelief, if she looks at him with that of defeat she'd been beaten for a long time. When she looked up at him with that of fear, I knew that she'd experienced that of the beatings before and knew that the pain would be soon to come." She gave me a nod then turned to look back down at the ball.

'The poor dear. Do you think that you will be able to help her?' She asked me but kept her gaze down upon that of the ball, only to see me pick it up and then turn it around in my hand for a while.

"Probably, but that all really depends on her. I can show her the way to recovery, but it's up to her to actually move past her past and look forward to that of a brighter future." I said but was quickly broken out of my revere as I heard a light giggle come from my side and saw her smiling at me with her paw over her mouth, in hopes to hide that of her mirth. It was almost like I'd struck a memory of something that she believed was funny, but when I peeked into her mind I saw that she was thinking that Lady Suicune and the Umbreon had or would have very similar pasts.

A while later found all of us inside of that of our tent and most of us asleep. With all four of us inside the tent, the temperature was quite nice due to our combined body heat, and those asleep looked as so in that of total piece. Trisha was mumbling something about someone, Lady Suicune was saying something about wanting a dance with someone, and me...I lay awake on my back while I held aloft the newest members Pokéball in my green hand. After lying there for a little while longer I finally resided myself and exited the tent as quietly as possible. Once I'd exited the tent, I found myself standing over that of Mew's small pool, looking down into its clear depths.

Memories of the battle with that of the last trainer kept playing back in my mind as thought like; 'Did I do the right thing by battling her when she was already so hurt?' running through my head. I kicked a small pebble into that of clear pool and watched as the light of the moon made the ripples dance silver.

'Cannot sleep? I have a remedy for that.' A sly voice said behind me, almost making me jump forward and into the pool. I quickly turned and found the voice had come from that of Cresselia as she slowly emerged from that of trees lining the small pool.

After I'd gotten my heart rate back under control I slowly took a long breath and nodded to her. "Good evening Lady Cresselia. I didn't expect anyone else to be awake at this hour." I said to her as I gave her a quick bow.

Cresselia slowly floated on over and hovered there by my side. 'By the look on your face, you are thinking of something that you might have done wrong. Does it have something to do with that trainer?' With that she slowly tilted her head to the side and look at me through the corner of her eye.

I didn't see the harm in telling her about my thoughts as to the matter and told her my thoughts to the Umbreon. How I'd not only rescued her but also that of one other of his Pokémon that looked to have been severely mistreated. Cresselia took everything I'd said in and as she turned to look back at the water that reflected a nice image of the moon on its surface. 'Hearing that really makes me glad that you rescued me from him. Though that does ponder the question about the poor Umbreon. How do you intend to help her?'

I took a long sigh again, turning to look back down at the water and shrugged. "I know that I'd like to help her if I can, but I don't really know where to begin." I then look over at her out of the corner of my eye. "When she's in here...," I held up the ball for her to see. "She's in some kind of suspended animation like state and I'm afraid that if I release her that she'll wake up frightened and I fear that she might hurt herself in that kind of state."

Cresselia nodded to that and then did something I hadn't thought of. She then reached over to that of her chest, plucked something out from it, then handed whatever she'd plucked from her chest to me. I could see that the item that she'd plucked from her chest was that of a single feather. Slowly reaching out I accepted that of the feather and held it aloft to that of moonlight and watched as it sparkled in the light. 'That is my gift to you for saving me from that awful trainer, though you may also consider it a gift for that Umbreon as well. When you release her, place the feather on top of her head and she will fall right to sleep. The feather will guarantee that she will have pleasant dreams for the rest of the night.'

At that moment I couldn't really contain my thanks and leaned forward to give Cresselia a hug, to which she returned the best way she could, despite having such stubby arms. Needless to say that when the two of us had pulled apart I caught a glimpse of something in her starry like eyes that made me think that, though she'd enjoyed the hug, she was hoping for more than that. 'You know...she is lucky.'

"Who?" I asked in general confusion as my mind was still mostly on that of the abused Umbreon.

'Suicune, or Lady Suicune as you call her. She is one lucky lady to have you so faithful to her.' I was about to ask her about what she was talking about when something popped into my head. It was an image of Cresselia sharing a kiss with me and enjoying it quite immensely. Though as the thought process went a little deeper I saw that she had just discovered that she saw me as her own white knight and the act of saving her from the awful trainer was like something strait out of some kind of romance novel. I watched her as she slowly levitated a little further away and saw her give me a wink as she slowly faded out and disappeared from view.

A shiver ran up and down my spine for a bit as I thought about what she'd just said to me and then slowly looked over my shoulder at the tent. Inside I could see that all the occupants were still fast asleep and something about the way that Lady Suicune slept in such peace left me feeling almost a bit guilty at sharing the hug with that of Cresselia. 'Does Lady Suicune have the same kind of feelings for me as Cresselia does?' I wondered at that and then quickly shook my head to dispel the notion of being unfaithful to her on even the slightest level.

With another shake of my head I focused on what had brought me out of the tent in the first place. Pulling out the ball containing Umbreon, I held it aloft and took a long sigh. "I hope that I can help her." I said aloud as I hit the center button and began the release process for the held Pokémon. The ball enlarged in my hand and once it was the size of a softball, I pressed it again and gave it toss in an upward ark. The opening process for a Pokéball to release its occupant was around a second and a half, and depending on what type of Pokémon it was, it would either have the occupant materialize in midair or on the ground. Since the Umbreon was a four legged Pokémon, she'd materialize on the ground while sitting on her haunches. Though before she was fully materialized I quickly moved forward and stood before her with Cresselia's feather in hand.

Once the white light of the materialization process exploded outwards did I see her up close for the first time. Much of the missing fur, bruises, etc... were gone from the first time I'd seen her, all thanks to that of the revitalizing machine there at the Pokémon center, and she looked just as if she'd awoken from a long sleep. Though before she could raise her head and take in her surroundings, I slowly knelt down, and gently placed my hand against her cheek. "You don't have to worry any longer there little one. I promise to take good care of you." And with that our eyes met for the first time.

I could see that there was something in her eyes, but for the life of me I couldn't make it out. Hope, pain, something, but I didn't know, though through her eyes I did catch something akin to relief and maybe even something like grief. Not letting anything else pass between us, I gently placed Cresselia's feather down upon her brow and watched as her eyes slowly loose focus and watched as she slowly began to fall to the ground. With my hand there at her cheek so she wouldn't have to fear falling to the ground and hurt herself, I gave her a smile and watched as she returned it with a smile. "Pleasant dreams little one. When you awaken, you will find that you are safe, you are cared for." With that she slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep in my hand, and then my arms as I scooped her up in a hug.

Though as I lifted her up into my arms, I could almost swear she whispered, 'Thank you.'

(END PART 1)