I just had a random thought today…

What do you think about it?

National Suicide Hotline Number : 1-800-488-3000

If I am my own worse enemy, then my friends will always side with the enemy.

"(It's not much further now.)," Leo stopped to sniff the ground more thoroughly and looked up at the gates where he had stopped at,"(the honey's coming from in there.)"

"Thanks Leo," I said, taking another drink of Soda. I'm surprised how well these drinks can keep me on my feet. I haven't had the need to rest since we stopped at that vending machine back there.

"(So the culprit's in there?)," Phineas double checked with Leo.

"(I'm certain of it.)"

"You have to be kidding me," I looked up at the gates. I recognized it's design, so did Karen and Derrick. Past the gate were only a few buses compared to the homes that I'm used to. The building itself was small and would be easily mistaken for a four story apartment building with an attic. Even I would have made such a mistake, if it wasn't for the crest on the gate. A Sleeping Snorlax was this family's crest. Nothing complicated, but certainly recognizable. This "small" estate belonged to the Hotei family.

"Hotei," Karen put a hand to her head, "No, it can't be. Buddy's too stupid to come up with a devious plan like this."

"Maybe he's gotten himself some help," Derrick squinted Tyrone's eyes. I looked up to where he was sneering at. Buddy was at the third floor window dancing with an empty bag. He also looked like he was talking to someone else.

"Just who is he talking to," Karen pushed her head closer to the gate, trying her best to get a better view. She stepped away to answer her phone.

"Where are you," Rio said from the other end, "please tell me that you brought back Tyler by now."

"Wouldn't you be the first to know if I did or not," Karen confessed.

"Well, I've waited for you all afternoon and you didn't show up," Rio hush yelled as, "Now there's no one covering for your hooky playing butts."

"Where are you," Karen demanded to know, but Mrs. Lawerence's voice called out before he could speak.

"Rio, it's almost 11:00, bedtime. Get off the phone, so you can brush your teeth," she sang.

"She is kidding, right?"

"Blare and I wish she was," Karen could hear Rio smothering his face with one hand, "just hurry up and get him home before we're caught."

"Okay, I'll try," Karen said before grumbling to herself, "I will try…"

"What was that about," I asked.

"Nothing," she acted as if nothing happened.

"Who was that with Mrs. Lawrence?"

"It's just Rio. He…," Karen looked at me, "how did you know that was Mrs. Lawrence?"

"Well, she was my favorite teacher," I said, "I know her voice anywhere."

"But you called her Mrs. Lawrence."

"Yes she did," Derrick tapped his foot, "But who really cares?"

"I do, Shorty," Karen snapped at Derrick, he was clearly not offended.

"Is that supposed to be an insult?"

Karen paused for a moment, "Okay, seriously what's wrong with you?"

"What is that supposed to mean," Derrick said, "I've been doing everything you two have been telling me since I've gotten here and all I've gotten from you has been childish behavior."

"That's exactly what's wrong," Karen turned to me for an explanation, "What did you do to him?"

"Me? What makes you think I did anything to him?"

"That thing over there is not the Tyrone that I know," Karen sharply pointed at Tyrone, "and no one remembers that name. Even Mrs. Lawrence hasn't called herself that since she's gotten back."

"What are you talking about? Mrs. Lawrence is the only name that I know her by," I was seriously confused.

"Were you at Tyler's dedication ceremony?"

"Again that Torchic's been brought up," Derrick snorted, "it's too bad it has nothing to do with right now!"

"Shut up you fake," Karen acted as if she was about to throw something at him, and turned back to me, "Were you there or not?"

Karen stared into my eyes for a second, before quickly looking away from them. She was frightened, but also more angry.

"I was there, but I don't remember anything about it," I lied, which would have been the truth had Uncle Smith not spared me his… wait.

"Why aren't you looking me in the eyes?"

"I'm sure you know the reason," Karen pushed me up against the gate, "You murderer."

"Hey, put her down," Derrick lost control to Tyrone's whining, "Aneki didn't do anything."

"So is that your real name?"

"Let Aneki go," Tyrone shouted before biting her on the leg.

"Ow, what are you doing," Karen let me go to kick Tyrone off of her. She shouted again, "Phineas run for it! Warn the others!"

"(Right away!)," Phineas took off, Leo sat there blinking.

It's not just because he didn't know what to do. He was waiting for a command from his Aniki.

Of course, Tyrone wasn't going to be giving orders. I had to stop him. Without thinking, I took out the Phoenix Gate and aimed.

"Recreate," I shouted thinking quickly of the slowest Pokémon that I could think of. No, something without legs. He stopped as the red energy surrounded him. I decided quickly on a Metapod. The energy then closed in and began it's work.

"What the? What's going on," Phineas shouted, I lost my concentration when I heard those words fly out of his mouth. The Totodile was completely unaffected. He wasn't even a little bit stiff as he ran off.

"Why didn't it work," I asked myself.

"It was just like with you, Aneki," Tyrone looked up at me still gripping with Karen's leg. Karen was covering her eyes and doing everything she could to kick Tyrone off of her.

"Tyrone, let her go," I ordered him. Karen almost allowed herself to remove her hands from her eyes.

"You're not fooling me."

"If you think that am the one, who did what I think you think I did," I thought about the words to make sure that they sounded right, "It wasn't me that hypnotized people."

"Like I'm supposed to believe you," Karen stopped kicking.

"(What is she talking about, Jade?)"

"I'll explain later, Leo."

"I wanna know too, Aneki," Tyrone said, still holding strong to Karen.

"Fine," I sighed, telling them all now would be much faster than trying to convince Karen that I wasn't a threat first, "She thinks that I hypnotized the whole school into forgetting about Jonathan Lawrence."

"Why would you do that," Tyrone cocked his head.

"I didn't," I said sitting down, putting my hands over my head for what I was about to say, "Uncle Smith did."

"What…," Karen slowly let her arms drop.

Tyrone continued his question, "and who's Jonathan Lawrence?"

"What…," both Karen and I dropped our arms to look at Tyrone.

Dad took out Jay-jay's Pokéball, "I swear that we'll be back."

I looked up at Dad's uniquely shaped pendent… but he drew my attention away by pulling my face to look at him in directly in the eyes.

"You do understand, right?"

"Why am I having those dreams again," I slowly awoke myself from my apparent daydreaming. Rubbing my eyes, I put down the picture of the person-less portrait. It's the same thing every time and they are distracting me constantly. I had a strange chill run down my spine earlier today. It's been worrying me for some strange reason.

"Maybe I should call Karen to see if Tyler is alright," I took a look at the clock, "Eleven O'clock. She would have returned him long before now."

I decided to take a walk around the daycare. All the baby Pokémon were asleep, which is a rare sight to behold, unless it's this late. Even so, my shift would be over soon. Looking around, I began thinking again.

"Who is that guy in my dream? He looks so familiar, but I've never seen him before," I paused, "haven't I?"

I felt a tugging at my pants leg. Apparently, I had woken up a few of the older babies. A pair of Pichu to be exact. They tilted their heads at me.

"Pichupichu chu pichupi pipi…," one of them said. Judging by experience and the combination, I had to guess…

"Need some water?"

"Pi," they nodded.

"Okay," I hushed them, placing the portrait down on the counter, "just don't wake the others and I'll get you two a small glass."

"Pipi," they nodded again.

Now normally, I wouldn't trust Pichu to stay still for longer than I can throw Geodude. Tonight, I was distracted and not thinking straight. When I had gotten back from the kitchen the Pichu were already climbing all over the desks. They were sniffing at the portrait that I had placed there. I dropped the water when I saw that both Pichu began angrily charging their energy for an attack. I very stupidly ran up to stop them from doing that and was chargrill 3.25 seconds later.

The Pichu were tuckered out in my steaming arms. I unconsciously frowned as I could feel my face again. When my ears had stopped ringing I could now hear a few baby Pokémon crying, disturbed from their naps. All my hard work was now ruined by these two battery packed demons. Of course, all they needed was someone to carry them and they'll be just fine.

"Honey are you alright," mom was the first one to find me standing there.

"I'm still alive at least," I told her.

"What happened?"

"Ask these two," I said raising the Pichu for her to see.
The other workers on my shift followed in behind her and got straight to work on tucking back in the awoken babies.

"Oh honey," Mom stopped.

I looked around to see exactly how much damage they had just cost the Daycare. That's when I saw it.
Clear as day, the portrait that had been blank until now was of that man in my dreams.
I remembered now where I had seen him before.

It was Mr. Lawrence, John's father. I had the proof with me this whole time.

"Where did you get that?"

"Oh, it's borrowed from one of my teachers," I said, trying to think of a lie that would explain why I would have such a thing, "it's for a photoshop thing."

"Is that all," mom quickly took the Pichu from me, "I didn't know you were taking a class like that. What's the assignment?"

"Uh, just make the person in it become more identified in the photo." Well, that was the truth. Those little electric devils were somehow the answer. But my mother seemed to somehow raise a few more questions to me.

"More identified in what way… exactly," when she asked, she gulped.

"Mom? Are you feeling alright," I couldn't help but notice her erratic behavior.

"I'm fine dear. How about you go on to bed," she offered, "I'll finish your shift for you."

"Okay…," I said taking the picture with me.

That's when I noticed something else. The image was already fading away, into a picture of no one again. Mom only watched me leave.

After I had left Mom sat herself down and sighed, "thank God, he doesn't know."

I have no final comments,
Only something to declair…

Please send a review!