Pokemon - A Mystical Journey

They are shocked, surprised as well as scared at the prospect of Alex facing that h.e.l.l. But they were experiencing something more than all those emotions. They felt despair.

To think that their young boy whom they loved had to go through what most people called living h.e.l.l is very painful for them.

" No, no, no... You are joking right, Alex. You are just trying to prank us like you used to do when you were a small kid. It cannot happen. No I don"t accept this." Gwen tried to deny it.

Michael just looked at Alex face along with his tired eyes. " I finally remember where I saw that look. I had the same look when I partic.i.p.ated in my first Pokemon Tide. With your talents I knew you will encounter it some day but I didn"t think it will be so soon. In the end, you too learned of that h.e.l.l, Alex." Michael said sadly knowing how difficult such situations could be.

For Gwen it was too much and she fainted right way. Fortunately, Alex was close by and had caught her as soon as she fainted or else she may have fallen on the floor. That fall won"t be good for the unborn kids.

Holding her close, Alex told Ben and Michael," Why don"t we head inside and talk? Mom needs to rest, especially in this condition and these things can be talked about later."

They took her and entered the house. Alex has placed Gwen on a sofa so she could rest.

" I will go and get water for Mom to wake up." Alex turned towards the kitchen to escape his grandpa who is most probably going to talk about his last adventure.

While he was leaving, his grandfather said something he doesn"t want to hear," Don"t think you can run away from this situation, Alex. We will be having a talk about this."

And then he turned to Slowking who was standing nearby and ordered," Slowking can you bring back Arthur, we need to have a talk with Alex about some of his past actions."

Slowking first looked at Alex who was frozen solid and then at the old man. He nodded at the older man and then teleported away.

After a couple of seconds, he returned with Arthur who was surprised. " Slowking what Happened? Did something happen to Gwen that you called me like this?" Then his eyes fell on his unconscious wife and ran to her and asked," Gwen, what Happened to you, dear?"

" She has just fainted. " Michael answered from behind him

Arthur turns to Michael and inquired," Dad, what happened to her? Slowking suddenly came and brought me here without explaining anything? And did Alex returned back."Arthur asked his father in quick succession.

" Alex has returned back just now. As for Gwen fainting, let"s just say she couldn"t handle the shock." Michael answered sadly.

" Did something happen to Alex that caused her to faint. What really happened dad?" Arthur was anxious now.

" Arthur calm down. I know how you must be feeling, but Alex is my grandson too. You are an adult, so act like one. Control yourself and your emotions. If you act like this, who will support Gwen. " Michael tried to comfort and calm his son down and then reached near him and whispered in his ears softly but it had a hit of firmness,"Ben is here too. Some things can only be discussed between adults. "

This worked as he looked around to see his youngest son Ben standing on the the sofa and looking at his unconscious mother with worry completely evident on his face.

This has helped him control his raging emotions and curiousity. He called Ben towards him.

Ben rushed towards his father and hugged him tightly. After that he asked his father,"Dad, what happened to mom? Why is mother sleeping now? Did something happened to mother?"

He firstly calmed his son down and said," Don"t worry, Ben. mommy is alright. You know mommy is feeding your younger siblings too, so she is weak now. You know she has eaten less today so she became weak.

Don"t worry she will wake up soon. She is going yo be alright. Why don"t you head to Clara so you could play with Alex"s pokemons. " He tried to cheer him up.

" But mom told me that I should study now and can play later. I still have to complete my homework." He said confused why his father was letting him play now.

" Yes but you see your mother is sleeping and she cannot scold you if you ran off to play now.

And, Alex has also returned home so your mother will not say anything to you later. You can play as long as you want." He told while encouraging and tricking him to leave the house under his father"s instructions.

" Yeah. I can play and I won"t be scolded " he shouted and ran off towards the back to play with Pokemons but he stopped midway and looked at his father puzzled.

Seeing his youngest son"s expression Arthur asked," what happened, Ben? Did you forgot something?"

" Dad, what is a Pokemon Tide?" Ben asked his father. Michael who was quietly watching all this was sad and his hands gripped the arms of wheelchair harder.

But, Arthur who heard it for the first time, has his face turn ghost white. He even started to take deep breathe and seemed like he was having seizure. His body was shaking , and he didn"t know whether it was in fright or shock, but he ignored all this. He held onto Ben"s shoulder firmly and asked," Ben, when did you hear this word?"

Been was afraid of his father now since he held him too tightly and it hurt his shoulders, but the grave expression on the face made him even more afraid and he stuttered, " Ddd...aaaaddddd.. I h..heard...it from Alex. He mentioned it once and mom fainted after it."

Arthur then turns his head towards his father for confirmation who just nodded. His face no less grave than himself.

Arthur ignored his son who was slowly motioned by his grandfather to leave. Ben ran away as fast as a Growlithe and didn"t turn back to look fearing he may be scolded or punished if he remained there.

Arthur on the other hand circled the room anxiously until he stopped at a table. He picked the case on the table and smashed it on the ground breaking it into pieces.

Alex has just returned with water but his father"s actions wakes his mother up.

She slowly opens her eyes and looks around until her eyes falls on her eldest son and she called out," Alex". She motioned him to come to her and then grabbed onto him thinking that if she left him, he may be gone forever and started to cry on his chest.

Alex just rubbed her back and comforts her by telling her in her ears that everything is alright.

But it doesn"t seem to work and his mother starts to cry even harder.

" Mom don"t worry. I am here. See nothing happened to me. Didn"t I tell you that I will come back to you safe and sound.

Mom now isn"t the time for you to act like that. It is not good for the children in you especially when you are seven months pregnant. " He tried to cheer his mother.

This has managed to stop her sobbing but she still didn"t released her hold on him.

His mother calmed a little but his father was raging angry and shouted," IT ISN"T ALRIGHT, ALEX. YOU ARE JUST A ELEVEN YEAR, ALMOST TWELVE YEAR OLD KID. YOU SHOULDN"T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING WITH POKEMON TIDE LET ALONE PARTIc.i.p.aTE IN IT."

" Dad.." he simply said and sighed.

"Arthur calm down. Things like these cannot be talked about in anger. You need a cool mind. " Michael said and tried to calm his son.

" CALM DOWN. HOW CAN I CALM DOWN AFTER THAT? I AM ...." He started to shout angrily but his normally calm father wasn"t calm anymore and even he joined the shouting. He yelled put loud,"YOU THINK ONLY YOU ARE ANGRY AND I AM NOT. MY GRANDSON WAS IN A FIGHT WHERE PEOPLE CAN DIE AT ANY MOMENT. I MYSELF HAVE FOUGHT THROUGH THEM.

I KNOW MORE ABOUT THEM THEN YOU SO SIT DOWN, AND CALM YOURSELF OR I WILL EDUCATE YOU, LIKE I USED TO DO WHEN YOU WERE BUT A KID." He thundered at his son.

This worked and Arthur sat down quietly. Gwen and Alex were shocked to see the angry form of normally calm and collected Michael.

He then turned to Alex along with everyone else in the room and said," Alex can you please tell us what really happened!"

Alex will tell his family about his experience. Stay tuned.

To be continued...