Pokemon Ultimate Evolution Season Two: Episode 24, Burned Into Memory

"So, we're stuck here, forever?" Jake asked.

"You bet! It's not really difficult to understand..." Giri answered. "Hey, uh, what's with that girl? People usually freak out when they get here, but they don't usually start crying."

"Oh, Karen... She's not my problem, and I want nothing to do with her." Jake bit his tongue. "Now, is there any place I could live, because I don't want to spend eternity in a stupid cell or wandering."

"You're taking this all well. It's almost as if you know ho this place works already."

"What can I say; I lost fair and square." Jake shrugged. "That loss cost me my life, and while I am seriously pissed at Sparker and his little family, I'm smart enough to know that sitting here sulking won't solve anything."

"Hmm, wise decision, unlike some of your recent choices, Mr. Woods." Giri nodded.

"Don't remind me..."

"Anyway, if you keep walking that-a-way you'll find something eventually." Giri pointed down the seemingly endless hallways on either side of them. "Take whatever house, apartment, or hut you find, one that isn't already occupied of course. I've got billions of them scattered across the dimension. Might be a long walk 'til you find some, though. I like to keep them on the outskirts just to keep the jail area relatively empty. Don't wanna make anyone feel too uncomfortable, although it is fun to watch people fidget under pressure, heh heh."

"Right..." Jake backed away from him. "Well, there's not much I've got to do, so I guess I'll get going..."

"Well, there's lots of recreational places you could go, just like in the regular world. You just gotta know where to look."

Jake spun around and walked off, waving back to Giri. "I'll be sure to check 'em out!"

"Also, if you see Flannery, you might want to talk to her!" Giri hollered at him. "As angry as she is with you, I think it would do some good!"

Jake winced at the sound of her name. "Flannery..." He said to himself. "Dammit, I should've seen this coming."

----

"This has happened before?" I asked. "Cristina, why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry, Ryan, but he begged me not to. He wanted to keep it a secret." She cried. "I don't even care if you're angry, I just hope he's okay."

"Don't worry, he'll be fine." I said. "As far as I know, it's similar to what happens to me. Do you know when this started happening?"

"He showed me the way his eyes glowed when we met. He told me that it was because he was happy, but he wasn't sure how to control it." Cristina began. "But then he saw Flannery get killed and it became harder for him to contain himself. While you and Pan were gone, he lost himself several times, once while we came looking for you. My only guess is that it's triggered from strong emotions.

"Um, guys." Pan interrupted. "What's with the heat?"

"No doubt that's coming from Jason. You did put him in the bed, right?" I asked.

"Well yeah!" Pan said.

I rushed over to the healer bedroom and flung the door open and was greeted by blast of heat from the room. Jason was at my feet, holding his head in his hands and shivering vigorously.

"I can't stop." He cried. "I can't stop. It's just too much..."

"Jason!" Cristina exclaimed. He dropped his hands from his face and locked his glowing gaze on her. She got on her knees in front of him and took his hands, wincing at the burning sensation. In spite of the pain she kept her eyes lock on his. "Look what you've gotten yourself into, honey."

"Cristina, I'm so sorry. I can't handle it."

"Honey, what's got you upset, now?" She asked, in her sweetest, most tender voice. "We can rest easy now; they're gone."

"No, no, no, no, no!" Jason screamed, burning Cristina's hands even more. "She trusted me! Flannery trusted me, and I broke the promise I made to her!"

"Sweetheart, I'm sure she'll understand." Cristina answered. "She knows what you're dealing with, and even though I don't know her as much as you, I could tell that she's a very reasonable person. Jason, you're stronger than this; I know you are. I can't bear to see you like this. It hurts too much.

"Cristina..." Jason answered. The heat died down for a few seconds. "I don't want to hurt anyone, but I'm all alone in this. I know I'm strong, but I'm not strong enough to get over my own emotions! Dammit, what's wrong with me!"

Cristina yelped at the sudden increase of the burning in her hands.

"Jason listen to me! No matter what happens, you'll never be alone." Cristina flashed a forced grin. "I will not allow it. You're my little brother, and I can't live if you're not happy. All I want is for you to be okay. I don't care if it takes you one year or a billion to get over any problems you may have, but I'll be there every step of the way. We all will..." Tears welled up in Cristina's bloodshot eyes.

"You don't have to be afraid, Jason." I said, holding out my hand to him. He instantly pulled away from Cristina and took my hand, fully aware that I wouldn't get burned.

"Why is everyone so quick to hurt themselves for me?" Jason whispered.

"Because, Jason. I guess it's just what we do." Pan answered. "Nothing's ever gonna change that."

----

"This is all my fault, Giri." Flannery cried, staring at her tablet. "Jason wouldn't be so upset if I hadn't forced him make that promise."

"Sweetie, you didn't know he'd act this way..."

"But I still shouldn't have done it!" Flanney exclaimed. "I can't force people to do what I what, dying or not!"

Giri sighed. "It's easy to say what you should've done after the fact. You made a mistake, he made a mistake. Hell, in the last few days, everyone is his family has done something wrong, but that won't stop them from living their lives, kid. Jason's got his family to help him, he'll be just fine."

"How can you be sure?" Flannery asked.

"Beats me, kid. " Giri shrugged. "But jugging by the fact that their family has a really powerful bond, I think he'll be alright. I can't help but envy him a bit."

"Thanks, I really needed the reassurance. I still can't help but be worried." Flannery chuckled.

"Jeez, you're such a worrywart." Giri said, playfully nudging her.

"I've been telling her that since I can remember."

Flannery set the tablet down and sighed at the sound of her brother's voice. "Have you finally learned you lesson?"

"You mean not to mess with insane people like the Sparkers?" Jake answered. "Yeah, even if I could, I wouldn't try that again."

"That's a... satisfactory answer coming from you." Flannery got up and stood in front of him. "Why, why did you go through all that trouble, spying on Panara, siding with Karen again, and all so you could be defeated?" Flannery asked. "Was it really that fun for you?"

"You've got a lot to learn about me, Nee-Nee. I don't only attack groups of people like that for fun all the time. I was heartbroken, and clearly that's not something I can cope with easily. All I wanted was Pan back, but then it turned into this crazed revenge on anyone she loved when she wouldn't come back to me, just to punish her..." Jake shook his head. "It haunted me so much that I would've done anything to have my life with her again. I was honestly ready to give it up when Pan said rejected me, but Karen just wouldn't let me. I can't believe I allowed myself to be manipulated by her."

"Ugh, you're such a confusing creature, Jake." Flannery groaned, averting her gaze from his. "I feel sorry for you."

"I expected nothing different from you. You're always so worried about everyone else that you haven't even taken your situation into account." Jake said.

"I was getting to that." Flannery fidgeted with her hair and looked up at him. "Why would you drag me into this? You promised me you wouldn't do that anymore."

"Face it, your concern for you boyfriend put you in it from the beginning. If you knew he was in danger, you would've come to his aid and gotten yourself killed anyhow. I didn't actually plan for you to die." Jake laughed. "I guess I'm sorry. I wanted to demoralize them, but little did I know that the bastard Sparker was an immoral monster."

"So are you, Jake." Giri chuckled.

"Shut it!" Jake snarled. "I'm not the same as him. Like I said, I tried my best to diffuse the situation when I realized I'd made a mistake, but I was so stupid that I let Karen make things worse. Even when I tried to be the boss again, her glamour and influence just took control of me... Ugh, it doesn't matter now. I just want to forget it all."

"Fine then..." Flannery crossed her arms and faced away from him.

"Do you hate me, Nee-Nee?" Jake asked.

She shook her head and sighed. "I know I should, but... I can't, so for now, I don't want to see you until you get it together."

Jake smiled. "That's okay, I can wait." He hugged her, tightly. Flannery clenched her fist, forcing herself not to hug him back." Jake took one last look at her and walked into the mist, disappearing from sight.

"Well that was kinda awkward, huh?" Giri said, breaking the silence. "You were really nervous there huh?"

"Oh dear, extremely." Flannery plopped herself down on the park bench and stared back at the tablet. "Once Jason's okay, I'll try and have a relationship with Jake again."

"Are you sure you really want to be involved with him again?" Giri asked.

"Jake's not a bad person; he just does bad things..." Flannery said. "Kinda like Ryan.

"While I don't think that's actually possible, I'm going to drop it there." Giri shrugged. "But, I wouldn't compare Ryan and Jake."

"Why not?"

"Because I wish I could be like at least one of them."

"Well, you do kinda look like Ryan. That's something." Flannery said.

"Hmm..." Giri materialized a mirror in his hands and studied his face. "Yeah, I guess I sorta do, don't I."

----

"There, your palms should be fine in no time." I smiled, tightening the last of the bandages. "Luckily, I had some Burn Heal cream in the basement, so you don't have to worry about hurting you hands every time you touch something."

"Thanks, Ryan." Cristina said. "It was worth it."

"That was very brave of you, Cristina. I happy to know that you're willing to put Jason before yourself." I said. "Just try not to go too far with it, okay? Even if it's for Jason, I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I don't think I'll need too." She grinned. "He'll do everything in his power to make sure it doesn't happen again, but I'll be with him to make sure."

"That's great to hear. Now why don't you get some rest, a lot of rest. You've had a really long couple of days." She fell backwards onto a bed and let me cover her with the blanket.

"You don't have to tell me twice." She chuckled. "But first, could you tell Jason I want to talk to him."

"I'm already here..." Jason said softly, standing next to the stairs. "I wanted to, check up on you..."

"Perfect!" I exclaimed. I left the two of them alone, stopping to pat Jason on the shoulder. "Don't feel bad about it."

Jason sheepishly walked to her bedside. "Are you okay?" He asked. "I heard you got hit out there ; how's your head?"

"I didn't hit as hard as you think." Cristina replied. She reached over and flicked on the desk lamp. "Don't you worry about me."

Jason took a deep breath. "I can't believe you did that... What if I had done something even worse?"

"As long as it's for you, it's worth a million times the pain." Cristina flashed another grin. "The only thing that kinda got me angry was that you think you're alone..."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but I guess I wasn't thinking clearly..."

"I hope that's the case, I don't wanna have to pound the thought into your head." She giggled. "I want you know that I'm always going to be here for you, any time, anywhere. If you call for me, I'll stop whatever I'm doing."

"No, I don't want you to do that..." Jason said, touching one of her bandaged hands.

"Well you're too late; I've already made up my mind." Cristina stuck her tongue out at him. Jason couldn't help but smile.

"Alright, but at least let me take care of you for a little bit. At least until your hands fully heal, please?" Jason gave her his best Lillypup stare.

"Ha, ha, you're so funny!" She laughed. "Alright, you've got a deal, but don't act like I've lost my eyes or something."

"Oh, of course not. I'll just treat you to a few small things. There's so many awesome places in this city, so maybe I'll take you to few of them. There's this one place where I used to always get cakes for Flan-" Jason stopped himself and looked down at the floor. Cristina place a hand on his warm cheek.

"It's okay, Jason." She said softly. "Look, it's kind cold, so why don't you sleep with me tonight?"

"Huh? I don't feel cold..."

"Not you, silly. You can keep me warm, how's that sound?" She asked.

"Oh, well in that case..." Jason slid under the sheet with her, allowing her to wrap her arms around him. Jason flicked the lamp off and faced her again. "I did say I would take care of you. I'm going to try and keep my promises from now on, and not go crazy if I managed to break one."

"That's what I wanted to hear." Cristina said.

----

...There have been zero reports of injuries occurring due to tonight's Flash Bomb. We thank everyone for being safe on this beautiful night This Caroline, signing off.

"Well that was kinda tense." Pan breathed, shutting off the TV. "Has Jason ever come that close to burning a house down?"

"I don't think so, but it shouldn't happen again." I answered. "Cristina will make sure of that, so I'm not worried."

"Those two really are close, huh?" Will said.

"Close doesn't begin to describe it. Jason's been with me longer than anyone else and I feel like he knows Cristina a lot more. I wouldn't be surprised if those two got married someday." I chuckled. "By the way, Will, here's a little something for you." I tossed a burlap pouch to him. His widened at the sight of numerous crimson Poke coins inside.

"Um, this is a lot of money. Are you really giving all of this to me?" He asked, pulled the pouch's ropes to seal it up.

"It's yours. You deserve to be rewarded for your help, and for probably saving my life." I patted him on the back. "Don't worry about it, I've won so many battles that I have tons of money to spare. Just to clarify, there's over fifty thousand Poke in there. Those are the coins that are worth the most out of them all, just so you don't have to carry too much on your way home."

"Really, thanks, Ryan." He bowed his head to me.

"You've earned it." Pan said.

"Well, before I absolutely lose it over the amount of money I'm holding, I'm gonna head back to Happinae, since I can see outside now."

"You sure you don't want to fly there?" I asked.

"No, that's alright; I'm not a fan of flying anyhow." Will opened the front door and hesitated. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, look after Cristina. In my visions, the only feeling I felt form her was fear. She's the scary one to me."

"Well of course you would, she's absolutely crazy when she's upset." I waved to him. "See ya!"

"Bye kid! If your get anymore visions about us, make sure to let us know." Pan beamed.

"Of course, guys." Will slowly shut the door behind him and proceeded on his trek back home.

"So, we're finally done, huh?" Pan yawned. "It doesn't feel as good as I thought it would."

"That's because Jason got the last attack on them."

"No, I mean I wonder what would've happened if I'd given Jake a chance. He really did want us to be together again. Would we have gotten married, had a nice life together, been a family?" Pan wondered with a sunken look. "It seemed like things could've been less hectic if Karen wasn't in the way."

"Jake, apart of our family? I doubt it would go that far. Karen would've gotten to him either way and ruined everything."

"How do you know?" Pan asked.

"You know, I'd really love if people would stop asking me that." I chuckled. "Forget about it, just continue being happy that you've got a family now, like you were when we first met. Can you do that, Pan?"

"Not as easily as you can." She answered. "Maybe we can talk it over in a bath, you know, one that isn't boiling." Pan started to fidget a bit.

"Ha, ha, there we go! Good old lustful Panara is back."

"W-well, you don't have to if you don't want to..." She blushed and looked down at the floor.

"Oh, no, I need to relax. You decide if you're up for it." I slid past her to the stairs. "I won't keep the water too hot, just for you." I whispered in her ear and quickly left her alone. She shivered in place and blushed even harder.

"Damn that guy..."

----

"How come you spend all you time out hear?" Giri asked. "This park does have a pretty big house for you to stay in."

"I like to enjoy to surroundings. Everything is so pale and blue." Flannery replied. "Blue is my favorite color; did you come up with that yourself?"

"Yeah, it's supposed to make you feel like you're in a dream, and the mist adds to the endless atmosphere of this place." Giri replied. "I thought that was just the coolest thing when I was three. That's how old I was when I started customizing this place."

"Hmm, I think I like that the most." Flannery nodded. "You really do care about everyone here don't you? Allowing them to map out their own private life with their thoughts so they can at least have a nicer death."

"Only when kids like you get sent here, and you're the first kid in a long time to die, so you're kinda top priority." Giri said. "I'm glad you like the park. It's the perfect home for a flower like you! I hope you don't mind me watching over you for a bit."

"That's sweet of you Giri; I don't mind." Flannery flashed a grin and continued to drink another glass of blue lemonade.

"Well, I guess I am pretty great." Giri blushed. "Okay, well, uh, I'm gonna head out for a bit. Just whisper my name if you want something."

Giri teleported into his empty mansion hidden from the rest of the Distortion World. He sighed sat down in his black couch in front of the TV that was always on. He stared at the flickering screen displaying nothing but static until an image popped into his head: An image of my house.

"Heh, I knew it..." He closed his eyes and smiled. "They're totally gonna be so thrilled!"