Hello everyone, I'm so excited to have my mojo back and finally be out of this writer's block. Now then I did promise shit gets crazy this chapter, and without spoiling anything this chapter is the reason why my story is rated M so fair warning. Any way Enjoy!

Chapter 58: Power and Lust part 2

I was abruptly awoken in one frightening instant, like I was struck in the gut with a jack hammer. My eyes shot open and I wheezed and coughed trying to get a sense of where I was. It was dark all around me and for some reason I was standing up. I quickly turned and was shocked to see that there appeared to be a building in front me. It looked as though this building was still under construction for there were no windows or exterior walls. It was a hollow shell of a department building erected out of concrete and steel. As the wind blew around me, I could hear the haunting echoes of it resounding through the empty tower.

The powerful visage of the abandoned building sent chills down my spine. It loomed over me like a beast made of wrought iron and stone. As I stared at this unfinished citadel, I heard the sound of radio static go off near my feet. Alarmed by this, I looked down and saw a small black box at my feet. When the sound of static emitted from it again I saw that the box was in fact some sort of portable radio.

Somehow I felt compelled to pick it up and when I touched it I heard a voice come from whoever was on the other end. "Hello Ethan. If you ever want to see you friend again, you'll come to the fifth floor and you will come alone."

"Lyra? Who are you?! Where is she?!"

"You and I have crossed paths before; I was there when the Tyranitar attacked Cianwood. I'm sure you remember."

"You!" I growled angrily when I realized who he was. "What do you want with Lyra, you monster?!"

"I have no interest in harming her Ethan; this was the only way I could finally talk to you face to face."

"Like hell I will! I swear when I get up there; if you laid a single finger on her I'm going to tear your fucking throat out and feed you to my Feraligatr!" I threatened him.

He laughed at my threat from the other end of his radio and replied: "You're becoming more like me every day."

"You shut your mouth. I am nothing like you!"

"If only you knew the half of it." The Skull man quipped.

"What the fuck does that mean?!" I demanded but was left with the silence of the radio static. "Damn it!" I then threw the radio to the ground and watched as it shattered to pieces and tiny trails of smoked emitted from the fried electronics.

With steely determination I set my eyes on the entrance of the half finished building and sprinted toward it. I gritted my teeth in anger, humiliated by the outcome of the last time I encountered this man. I don't know how I got away from him last time but this time I was going to settle the score.

Rushing to the top of the stairs I pushed myself to the point my legs burned with each step. The sounds of my footsteps rebounded off of the concrete walls of this hollow unfinished building. When I reached the fifth floor I came to an open husk of room, the floor was concrete and all around me were steel girders and concrete columns. Along the floor were various piles of rebar and steel panels, and other abandoned construction equipment. It didn't take long till I found Lyra; she was to the left of me near the edge of the building. From where I was I could see she was bound to a chair and gagged. I was frightened to see that she was unconscious and I immediately sprung into action.

"Lyra!" I shouted as I bounded toward her.

But to my despair before I could reach her a tall figure dressed in black revealed himself from behind a concrete column next to Lyra and he stood between me and her. I skidded to a halt then this happened as my fears were confirmed that it indeed was the Skull man from back at Cianwood.

"You!" I shouted, too angry to be scared of the man who nearly killed me before. "What did you do to her!"

"Trust me Ethan, I don't wish any harm to come to her as much as you do." The Skull man's distorted voice proclaimed with an eerily calm tone.

"Bull Shit! Give her back!"

"All in good time Ethan. I simply came here to talk, and she was the only way I could lure you here."

"Well now I'm here you bastard, and I'm sure as shit not going to talk to you!" I roared as I dashed forward to try and strike the Skull man.

"Oh Ethan." He remarked calmly as I charged him and he swept he left leg around for a low kick that took out both my legs and knocked me flat on my ass. "Arrogant and clueless as usual."

When I hit the floor I felt the wind get knocked out of me and just as I gasped for air I felt my stomach get stomped in. It took every ounce of my willpower to stop myself from hurling over the gut wrenching impact.

"I thought by now you would've known that out of the two us I was always the better fighter." The Skull man quipped in a condescending tone.

Gritting my teeth with anger I summoned all the strength I had to grab the coat tails of his black trench coat and dragged the Skull man to the floor with me. With his foot off my gut I quickly sprung up to my feet and swung my right leg to kick the Skull man square in the face. From the impact I watched sparks fly off the advanced machinery in the man's mask. The man reeled back from my kick and I heard him growl from the pain so I tried to kick his face again but was halted when he grabbed my foot with his hand and twisted it to the point I heard something snap inside my ankle.

"Fuck!" I screamed in pain as he released my foot and I collapsed to a knee.

As I gripped my ankle in a futile attempt to alleviate the pain the Skull man stood up and reached for a nearly 6 foot long steel rod that was perched up on a concrete column. Before I could react the man swung the steel bar like a staff and nailed me in the shoulder knocking me to the floor. He then swung the bar around again and tried to attack me once more and I barely rolled out of the way.

Fearing another strike I quickly shot up to my feet, but in doing so I felt a sharp shooting pain in my right ankle. I hissed through my teeth and did everything I could to ignore the pain.

Wielding the pole like a spear the man twirled it around with a few skilful hand motions and quick thrust forward he tried to impale me. I dodged it narrowly but at the cost of using my right leg and sending ungodly pain through my surely broken ankle.

I clenched my teeth hard, trying my best to not bite off my own tongue by accident. But my pain was far from over and the whirling sound of the pole arm was sounding again. Looking for an exit I noticed a crowbar on the ground not too far from me and I dived forward just before I was clothes lined by the steel pole that was aiming for my face. Grabbing the crowbar I turned around to face the Skull man, enduring the pain in my ankle the best I could.

The man swung the pole for an overhand strike and quickly turned the crowbar sideways to block it. The weapons clanged loudly when they collided and a few sparks flew off the impact. The man retreated his pole arm back with masterful precision, swiping it around for another strike and I hardly had time to parry. Sparks flew again and I tried to strike back to which he swiped his weapon around and deflected the blow. I growled as I swung the hooked bar again and aimed for his face. The Skull man twirled the pole around and blocked my attack and with the same motion he used the other end of the pole to nail me in the ribs. I reeled back from the powerful blow, and before I could react the man struck me again in the same place and I spat up blood from the sharp impact.

"Once again Ethan, I have proved to be the superior of the two of us. Just give up and give me what I want!"

I spat more blood onto the ground and with steely resolve I roared, "I'd never join you or Team rocket! You hurt my Pokemon and friends; I'll never let you get away with it you monster!"

"I would hardly call us a monster Ethan." The skull man retorted as he round house kicked my ribs for a third time and sent me flying into a nearby concrete column where I heard something in my back splinter when I made impact.

I collapsed to the floor and screamed before coughing up even more blood, choking on my own fluids.

"So now are you in a talking mood or do I have to keep hurting you till you do?" The man spoke condescendingly as he held the pole to his side walking within reach of me.

"That depends. Are you fond of talking with fists?" I roared as I swiftly grabbed the pole he was holding. Using all my strength I used the pole to pull myself upward. Rising up toward his face I reared back my other hand with the crowbar and yelled at the top of my lungs as I struck him across the face with the crowbar.

With him reeling back from my unexpected strike, I saw my opportunity and wailed on him with unbridled fury. I screamed as I struck his head over and over again. Hunks of metal and electrical sparks flew everywhere as I hammered his face mask. Never before have I attacked someone with such ferocity and hate. With each strike I drove the Skull man backward until finally I reared my arm back and roared as I went in for one final blow, aiming to finally break through that helmet and skewer his face! But just as I was about to finish him off the skull man caught my arm and twisted it forcing me to drop my weapon. He then grabbed me with the scuff of my shirt and swung me around, tossing me toward the chair Lyra was tied to.

I yelled loudly as my broken ribs hit the ground hard and I clawed at the concrete floor in agony. I looked up and saw the unconscious Lyra and tried to reach out for her, but as I did so I saw a metal pole come striking downward and impaled my forearm to the concrete floor. I screamed in agony as blood gushed out of the wound. I reached forward to try and pull the pole out but it was firmly imbedded into the concrete. I was then kicked in the ribs and spat up more blood. I then looked up at the Skull man and the lights on his mask were malfunctioning and his head was twitching from all the pain.

"That's it Ethan! I've had it! I'm sick of being trapped in here! You can't keep me here forever; I want out god damn it!" He roared as he clenched his hands into fists.

"What? What the fuck are you talking about?" I hissed through my teeth.

"I want out of here, you miserable excuse for a trainer! I'm the reason you're here today, and the reason you can succeed at all!" He roared as he leaned down and grabbed the scuff of my shirt. "Let me out!"

"I don't understand you! What the fuck do you mean?" I coughed on my blood.

"You don't get it do you? Let's see if this helps." The man then reached for the back of his helmet and popped a hinge of some kind.

The failing lights of his mechanical eyes powered down, and he slowly removed the helmet revealing a matted mess of greasy looking dark blue hair. The tangled hair covered his face, obscuring any real details, but when he tilted his up I saw a wicked grin form as a glint of gold shown off one of his eyes.

"No, no that can't be." I shuddered as I looked at a haunting visage of my own face staring back at me.

"Recognize me now?" He spoke with my voice. "That feeling you get Ethan when you fight, that power you feel to overcome your enemies: that was always me, I am Gold! And I'm sick being player two in this story!" He growled as he yanked the steel pole out of the ground and out of my impaled arm, and I yelled in pain.

He then lifted me to my feet, yelling: "You've been in charge for too long Ethan. Now I want a turn!" He shoved me backward and I felt myself land in an empty chair.

It was the same chair Lyra as tied to just moments ago and she was nowhere in sight. I tried to stand up, but suddenly I felt that all my limbs were tethered to the chair, as if the bindings appeared out of nowhere.

"I'm sick of being trapped in within a hell inside my head. You've truly created a monster Ethan." My darker half yelled as he dragged the chair I was bound to toward the edge of the building, stopping a few mere inches from the precipice. "It didn't have to be this way, but you've kept me buried for far too long."

"Fuck you! You're not real, this is all just some fucked up dream!" I yelled back at him.

"Don't believe me, huh? How about this?" He put his foot on the chair and starting tipping me over the edge, and a terrifying sense of vertigo consumed me. "Our birthday is coming up in a month isn't it? Let's see what a whole month of me in charge does for us and then we'll talk again."

"What the fuck do you mean?" I hissed in bewilderment.

"One month, and if things aren't better then we go back to this again… Deal?" He tipped me a bit further over the edge and I felt stiff with fear.

I started to hyper ventilate as I peered over the edge and saw hundreds of stories of empty building below and no bottom in sight. I then looked back at my imposter and he grinned. "I knew you'd say yes." He then pushed the chair and fell into the inky blackness. Frozen with fear I rocketed faster and toward the black abyss. Icy wind blew past me at an alarming rate and all I could do was shout as darkness consumed me. Spiralling out of control I felt my body become stiff as a rock as panic and fear overwhelmed all my senses. When I stared off into the abyss below I saw something that horrified me. It was brief and I only caught a glimpse of it but it looked like a long black serpent with a golden face, six golden ribs around its chest, and six black red tipped tendrils that formed some kind of wings.

The creature then flapped its wings and raced toward me roaring some unholy chorus of a thousand voices. The beast came right from below me and its golden plated face split down the center revealing a black empty maw. And just before it consumed me, I felt myself hit the bottom and I closed my eyes.

When I built up the courage to open them again I found myself in a room I didn't recognize, and with my back against a bed I didn't remember getting in. I stared up at the ceiling and noticed what looked like the morning sun bleeding into the room from a nearby window to the left of me. The next thing I noticed was that I was sweating profusely and breathing heavily, like I had just run an entire mile nonstop. My chest also felt heavy, like something was laying on it and when I looked to see what it was I was shocked to see that Lyra was asleep and resting her head on my bare chest. The rest of her body was to the right of me and she had an arm wrapped around my sternum, her hand resting just above my rapidly beating heart. I could also feel that her two legs were wrapped around my right one. When I leaned up to see if what I was looking at was real, I felt Lyra moan softly stirring from her sleep.

"G-Gold?" She yawned, lazily lifting her head a few inches off my chest using the arm she had on my chest to support herself. "I thought you said we would—" She yawned again her eyes barely open and her voice groggy. "I thought you said we would sleep late on your birthday."

My Birthday?! I mentally exclaimed to myself, shocked and confused beyond belief. Struggling to make sense of what was going on I stuttered saying: "Um—yeah sorry about that Lyra. I uh—I was just stretching." I then leaned up a bit more and stretched out my arms and said: "Sorry I woke you, I uh—" I was suddenly cut short when she leaned up along with me and the blanket that covered the two of us fell down her back.

It took me a moment to register what I saw for I wasn't completely sure it was real. Revealed in the warm glow of the morning sun I could see that Lyra wasn't wearing a thing and she was in fact completely nude.

"What is it Gold? Is something wrong?" Lyra rubbed her eyes when she noticed how silent I was.

Too bewildered to comprehend what was going on, instinct kicked in and I stuttered saying: "Uh nothing it's just that, you uh look so pretty and I um… was uh—"

"Oh shut up you." She lazily giggled still half asleep, and clearly hasn't noticed how utterly shocked I truly was. "You're so cheesy sometimes." She chuckled in a dismissive manner. "Go back to sleep Gold, and don't wake me till its way past noon ok." She yawned again as she pulled up the blanket to her shoulder and she leaned back down and rested her head on my chest, to which I hesitantly leaned back down with her so she could lay down.

She yawned yet again and said: "This is your fault you know. If you weren't so greedy last night about getting your birthday gift early I wouldn't be so tired right now. So just let me sleep so we can do it again ok big guy?" She cooed softly as she closed her eyes and wrapped an arm around me as she snuggled up close.

She then drifted back to sleep and I was left clueless as to what was the hell was going on. It's my birthday? But how?! And why is Lyra like this?! Why is she suddenly cool with being naked around me and sleeping with me like that and...? And…? It was then that I looked to my right and saw what was lying next to my Pokegear on the nightstand. It was an open box of Trojans and that's when the reality of what was happening hit me.

This can't be real… I… must be dreaming?! It can't be my birthday that's impossible we were just at the motel! Why can't I remember anything this isn't right!

As I lay there with my mind racing and running amuck, I reached for my Pokegear on the nightstand and checked what the date was. To my horror it was in fact the date of my birthday and there was an news app message on my front page that said, 'Young Trainer defeats Battle Tower with Severe Self Imposed Handicap' and right below that title was a photo of my face.

"What the fuck?" I muttered quietly as to not wake Lyra.

I tapped the message and it opened up an article about something I had no recollection of doing. After spending a solid ten minutes reading word after word of unbelievable feats that I accomplished I was left in shock. Apparently four days ago I had challenged the Battle Tower again during a Team Doubles weekend by myself. Not only did I apparently fight two opponents at once each and every round, I also limited myself to only three Pokemon while the others had six between the two of them. It would seem that the only reason the league associates allowed me to enter with such ridiculous self imposed rules was because I wagered all the winnings I got from the last time I was there. And to my shock I read that I nearly tripled my prize money when I pulled it off.

"No way, how is this possible?" I muttered again unable to grasp what I was reading.

I then scrolled to the bottom of the article and clicked on several YouTube links of all the fights I supposedly did as I climbed the tower. Fight after fight I watched with very low volume as witnessed things I never remembered doing. Video after video I was shocked at the skill and execution of every one of my commands and my Pokemon completely decimating everyone I came across. I couldn't stop myself from watching the last video as I fought in the finals and all I had left standing was Nile and he was facing a fully evolved Tangrowth and a Gengar. Despite outnumbering him the two pokemon struggled to keep up with my water-type. At the end of the final round I was shocked to see how much I was milking the crowd and the extent to which I was seemingly enjoying the admiration.

At the end of the video there was an interview of me and I was startled at all the things I was saying to the person interviewing me. I was saying things like "I love to give a good show" and "I plan on doing more spectacles like this in and the future" and what really got me was when I announced something I truly couldn't believe.

"So Gold, do you plan on tackling the Pokemon League in the future? A trainer of your talents surely would do well in it." The Women interviewing me asked.

"I'm glad you asked me that, I wanted to take this moment to declare to my fans that I will be participating in this year's Johto and Kanto Pokemon League."

"Wait, this year's League? Are you serious?"

"Yes I'm completely serious I have 6 badges already so it won't be too long till I have the rest."

"But that means you'd be the youngest person to ever participate and…"

Apparently I rudely interrupted her and said: "Yes if I won, I would break the record for youngest Regional Champion. I believe the current record is held by Red and he was 19?"

At that point I couldn't watch anymore and I placed the Pokegear down on the bed as I felt a wave anxiety consume me. This can't be happening?! For hours I laid in bed just staring at the ceiling, trying to wrap my head around the situation.

My hours of silence were interrupted however by a voice within my head, "So Ethan, you impressed?"

"What? Who's there?"

"It's me Ethan; don't you remember our little deal?"

"Deal? But that was just a dream?! And I never said yes!"

"We're the same person Ethan.Youmay doubt it,but I felt what you were thinking and you agreed."

"No you aren't real! That was only a dream!"

"And yet here you are lying naked with your dream girl. I have to admit she was playing very hard to get but we already knew how she is."

"You bastard, how dare you touch her!"

"What are you talking about, we're the same person you moron. What exactly did I do wrong?"

"You stole my life!"

"You mean I made our life better."

"Shut up! You took advantage of her!"

"Judging by the way she's holding us I think it's safe to say she loved every second of it and loves us even more now."

"You don't know that you… you don't…"

"Again what did I do wrong here?"

"I… I don't…"

"Tell me with a straight face that all of this wasn't what you wanted. We've loved Lyra for years and now she's madly in love with us. Plus we've had dreams of being the League Champion since before we were teenagers. So tell me what did I do that you weren't already planning on doing?"

"I… I… I don't know." I admitted with a hint of defeat in my tone

"You know if you really want me to leave I will. You've held up your end of bargain so if you truly want me to leave I'll stop. But just so you know, you have thousands of fans waiting to see you compete against stronger and stronger opponents. If you don't want my help that's fine; that is, if you think you can do it by yourself."

I didn't respond, for I was too scared to say anything.

"I'll take that as your answer.You'reon your own now."

"Wait!" I suddenly exclaimed internally.

"…I'm listening." My other half responded in a sly voice.

"We… might be able to make an agreement."

"Go on."

It wasn't long before I opened my eyes and a wicked grin appeared on my face.