Synchronization

Chapter Seven: Hatching a New Future

James woke up and stretched, grateful that he could sleep in his own bed again. Sleeping on couches was fine, but he was starting to realize that perhaps it was time to upgrade to two-room hotel units.

He splashed some cold water on his face and brushed his teeth to rid himself of his 'night breath' before leaving his room to visit his fiancée.

He rubbed his eyes as he padded down the hallway and gently tapped the door to Kimono's room. "Kimono?" he whispered. "You awake?"

No answer.

"Kimono?" he said a little louder, knocking on the door with an equally increased volume. "You there?"

Still no answer, which worried him.

Feeling guilty for invading her privacy, he turned the doorknob and entered her room. "What the..."

On her bed laid a large, blue crystal-like object. It was easily the size of a human and, with the way it pressed into the mattress, fairly heavy. A steady pulsating glow emanated from it. "Kimono?" he said as he looked around her room, giving the thrumming crystal a wide berth. "Are you in here? Please answer me..."

"Is something wrong, sir?" James jumped as the Lucario suddenly appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. "I detected distress from you."

"Do you know where Kimono is?" James demanded in a near-panic, not just from the Gardevoir's disappearance but also from Shade's abrupt appearance.

"She is on her bed," he replied, pointing at the large crystal. "She appears to have encased herself in there for some reason."

James cautiously made his way over to her bed and examined the crystal more closely. "Kimono? Are you in there?"

No answer.

"Kimono?" he said, hoping that mind-speaking would give him more luck. "Are you in there?"

Still no answer.

He reached out and carefully touched the structure; its texture matched its appearance, hard and smooth to the touch.

"I don't believe she can hear you," Shade confirmed as he joined his trainer by the bed. "I'm sorry, sir."

"It's okay," James said, running his hands across the bluish gem's glowing surface. "Thanks for telling me."

"Will you be okay, sir?"

"Not until I find out what's going on," the veteran trainer replied with a sigh as he laid his other hand on the Lucario's shoulder. "Well...I guess I'd better get started, huh? Would you be willing to get my cellphone from my room? I...don't want to leave Kimono alone right now."

"As you wish," he Pokémon replied; one blink later, he had disappeared.

"How does he do that?" James wondered aloud, grateful for the mild distraction. "One of life's great mysteries, I guess..." He turned back to the crystal and laid both hands on it, closing his eyes and trying to reach out to his fiancée, so close yet so far away...

***

"Amazing..." Professor Oak breathed as he checked the readings on the device in his hand. "Simply amazing. My scanner shows that she is in there, James, but...it's as though she's in some kind of suspended animation."

"How do you know it's her?" James asked as he tried to look over the doctor's shoulder at the screen.

"The psychic 'signature' in there is that of a Gardevoir," he replied, pocketing the scanner. "Even though all psychic Pokémon use the same kinds of attacks, their 'signature', for lack of a better word, is different between different species."