Uncontained

The rest was a blur.

The Game Corner burned down and it was all over the news. Some hero drug addict helped everyone get out, including Malachi and I, but I didn't really remember it. We went to the hospital to check if we'd been poisoned by the smoke afterward. We were fine and were released later.

I was depressed; there was no doubt about it. I laid in the Pokemon Center and my Pokemon couldn't even get me up. Not even Uriah's jeering worked. For some reason Malachi sat around and watched over me. I didn't need him there, but he sat around anyway.

"Beau." This was probably the fifth time he'd tried to talk to me.

"What is it?" I mumbled.

I decided to humor him and sat up. Malachi put an arm around me and I allowed it because I didn't care anymore. Or maybe I did, because the gesture felt nice and I felt like crying all over again. I'd already done enough of that bullshit.

"I got something from the base that Giovanni left behind, and I cringed at my father's name. "I think you should have it. I don't have any use for it."

Malachi slid something in my hand. I looked down. It was a rock, pearly silver, and it was vaguely shaped like a crescent moon. "What is it?" I murmured.

"A moon stone."

My mind snapped to Czeslaw.

"I can't give up," I said.

"Beau?"

I stood up. My Pokemon were wandering around the Center the time I'd been here and busied themselves with odd jobs the nurses had them do. I spotted Czeslaw resting in a corner. He lifted his head and locked his red gaze into mine.

"If I give up, I'll be forcing the Pokemon to be giving up too," I said.

Czeslaw rose. His eyes shifted to the stone in my hand and back to me and I knew he knew what it was.

"Beau, are you going to continue after my mother?" Malachi whispered.

His words hurt like a knife. My father wanted me dead and he had my mom in his possession. I had to keep going. I couldn't let him keep doing this, even though it hurt. It was so painful just the thought made me want to break down.

"Of course," I said. I walked slowly to Czeslaw.

The nidorino growled. Will we be moving on?

In the corner of my eye I saw my other Pokemon, other people, watching. I didn't care. The stone was pulsing in my hand like it was alive. When I took another step forward, Czeslaw's spines went rigid. I held the stone to his level.

"Yes," I said. "No time to waste."

The edge of the moon stone touched Czeslaw's horn, and with a ravenous roar, he evolved.

---

The tiles of the Pokemon Center crushed underneath him. In the blast of white light a massive tail morphed from his old one and smashed a coffee table. The energy sent my hair flying back from my face and my entire body felt charged. When I could see again, fizzing whisps of white steamed off Czeslaw's new arms, deep purple and huge. A wicked horn gleamed from his forehead and red eyes glowed from beneath his heavy browridge. Czeslaw was a king. And he threw his head back and roared.

My stomach dropped my to my feet but I stood my ground and roared back. The shout tore from my throat with all my rage and fear and I roared with Czeslaw. When he stopped, I stopped, and he gripped my shoulder with a gargantuan claw bigger than my head. A hand that could crush bones in an instant. I lifted my own and rested them on his tough skin.

"You're strong," I said.

No, he growled. His voice was octaves deeper and gravelly. We are strong.