It is 11 years into the dark future. Join the new adventures of Ash and
Pikachu and discover the changes that have left the world in ruins. And
discover the power of the Pokemon Masters...
If you want the previous parts, visit the website at
http://jsa.users.fl.net.au/pokemon.htm
You can also see fanart and stuff like that there ^_^.
By the way, this part was so huge, I split it into three parts for this
list. I'm sure no one likes nabbing a full 200 KBs text file *_*.
Of course, if you like that sort of thing, I'll put the whole unbroken
one on my page anyway.
Warning: This is not standard Pokemon fanfiction. It contains scenes of
violence and some inappropriate language.
*************************************************************************
Pokemon Master
Fanfiction by Ace Sanchez.
All parts of this story may be found at http://jsa.users.fl.net.au
Note: Pokemon and its associated characters are copyright by Nintendo,
Game Freak, Creatures Inc, and 4Kids Productions.
*************************************************************************
Part 10A - Resentments
Cold, so biting cold. As she hugged herself around her slim shoulders,
folds of her ice-blue cloak blew out in front of her by the biting winds
at her back. She stared out at the black tumbling waters of the vast
ocean. From her perch upon a seaside cliff that seemed to be made
entirely of ice, she remained silent and still, even as her high heels
seemed to hold her unnaturally steady upon the sheer slippery surface.
Cold to suit her frozen soul. It was what she was after all. To tell the
truth, she didn't know how she could still be alive with her very heart
unbeating, a block of ice.
Sea-green eyes blinked once. She could sense them coming. She reached
within her cloak to remove her small spectacles and put them on
carefully.
She watched.
And waited.
<><><>
Nock. Draw. Release. The arrow seemed to glint as it shot straight and
true over the black waters of the ocean. A distant scream of a gyarados
as the sharp projectile of steel, wood and fletching shot into one of its
crimson red eyes. Even from this distance, the roar of the death-cry was
audible before being replaced by a gurgling, then silence as the black
scaly head sunk into the turbulent waters. However, more gyarados just
seemed to replace the one just killed. The large pack continued following
the white ship relentlessly.
Ash lowered the large wooden long-bow and reached down for another arrow
from the quiver laying by his side. He had a great view from his position
sitting high atop the stern; at the rear of the large ship. His legs
dangled over the edge of the deck, high over the trailing, bubbling
waters expelled by the ship's turbine.
For the past hour or so, the sky had been steadily growing brighter, not
the same impenetrable darkness that had descended over the world since
the prophecy of death began, but almost beginning to glow white. It
seemed to be light reflected from the earth, from the icebergs that grew
ever so numerous on their voyage south-west. As a result, the biting wind
was even colder now, cold enough to bite flesh.
But Ash didn't let it bother him. He felt around in the quiver, not
dropping his gaze from the pack of gyarados that had been following the
ship since two days ago. But his fingers touched air. Empty.
He silently looked over to Pikachu, who scampered over on all fours to
the pack of hunting gear laying on the deck behind him and placed it by
his side.
He took out another arrow. Nock. Draw. Release. Death-cry. He didn't like
killing pokemon, never had. In fact, once he had been willing to lay his
life on the line for any at the drop of a hat. But these were different.
These were monstrosities - failed creations. They would stop at nothing
but at the destruction of every single living thing on the planet.
He heard the hatch open behind him and a person step out, but continued
concentrating on the bow, the arrow. Nock. Draw. Release. Death-cry.
"Hey, Duplica," he said without turning around.
A pause. Then a light laugh. "I guess it was my overly sensuous presence
that gave me away," she said lightly from behind him. Then in a more
serious tone, "So, Ashy-boy, this is where you've been hiding. You've
largely been avoiding everyone ever since you regained consciousness."
She watched him release another arrow, felling yet another gyarados in
the distance. "I was wondering who was thinning out those numbers." She
flopped down by his side, letting her legs dangle over the edge of the
roof and over the trailing waters like him. "I can sit here, can't I? I
haven't seen you since ..." She hesitated. "Since we all got split up."
He nodded. "As long as you don't say the 'M' word." He lowered the bow
and looked at her. "There's something I've been thinking about a long
time now. Tell me the truth, Duplica. What really happened back at
Cerulean?"
"Ahem." She brushed her windblown hair away from her eyes and looked
away. "You mean you don't remember?"
"Obviously not," he said dryly.
"Misty didn't tell you?"
He frowned. "I said not to even say the 'M' word."
"Just what is wrong with you two?" she said exasperatedly. "Whenever
you're apart, both of you seem so sad, but when you're together all you
do is fight and fight-"
He cut her off. "Duplica, don't try to change the subject."
For a moment she got a stubborn look on her face, then she looked down at
the ocean. "Well, to put it short, well ... you kind of attacked us.
Well, mostly Mist- I mean, you-know-who."
"What?" He knew something happened, but nothing like what Duplica had
just told him.
"Pika!" Pikachu said in shock, who was also listening by his other side.
Duplica nervously cracked her knuckles. "It looked like you were
seriously out of it ... no emotions, nothing. I thought you were
brainwashed or something."
Ash desperately thought back from his dim recollections of that night. He
and Pikachu had been just about to destroy the Cerulean tower when
someone ... Sabrina ... Sabrina had did some sort of psychic attack on
him. He couldn't remember exactly what she did though. Except she must
have been successful ...
Duplica hurriedly continued. "But you didn't do anything serious - to us
anyway. And Mist- um, you-know-who, is still up and kicking so you can't
have done anything to her. And you're back to your normal self, mostly
anyway. So what's the big problem? It was that crazy bitch, Sabrina's
fault. Who, I might add, I don't trust one tiny bit. After spouting off
this corny stuff about destroying the Elite Four and Master Garick, she
just up and leaves."
He thought hard. "The thing is, that I can't remember exactly what
happened back at South Lavender either." His eyes closed. "After Brock
knocked me out, it's all a blur." At the thought of Brock, his throat
tightened. He still felt terrible about his old best friend. Like one of
the foundations his life was built from was just suddenly ripped away
from him. He knew that he should be feeling outraged about him and Misty,
but curiously, all he felt was some sort of emptiness. If Misty truly did
love Brock over him, who was he to complain? Maybe he should just release
him and let her be. He shook his head. "I don't even know how we captured
him."
"Brock? Mist- I mean, you-know-who, told me that after you were knocked
out, Brock and Valdera had this huge fight which ended up destroying the
entire base. And uh, some sort of reaction from Valdera's element mucked
up with the Forbidden Pokemon there and uh, captured him ... or
something." She shrugged. "At that point, yours truly led the rescue
squad and evacuated mostly everyone."
"Mostly everyone?"
"Well, Koga and Aya were nowhere to be found as well as a few other
people, uhh ..." She waved her hand. "Who I can't quite remember the
names off the top of my head." Then she clicked her fingers. "And you
of course, who we fished out of the ocean the next day, which you already
know about." Suddenly the wind grew even colder, blowing Duplica's long
blue hair from behind her and over her cheek. She shivered in the long
coat she wore over her slender shoulders. "Brrrr ... is it getting colder
or what? I wish I could just make myself up some woollies to keep me
warm, but those Forbidden would just find us even more tempting if they
sensed any sort of power disturbance out here in the open." She hugged
herself. "As it is, I had to borrow some real clothes for the moment
from Mist - I mean, you-know-who's sisters."
Ash turned his attention back on the gyarados following them and with one
hand, swiped away a lock of black hair which had fallen in his face from
the wind. "Yeah, even though we're close to the Seafoam Islands, you'd
think it would get warmer with us getting closer to Cinnabar, but it's
just been getting colder and colder." He indicated the icebergs they were
passing. "What else is weird is that we've been sailing in League
controlled territory for some time now, but we still haven't seen any
League vessels." He nocked another arrow and shot it. Another gyarados
screamed as its eye was pierced and killed.
Duplica squinted. "That's some really good shooting. It must be at least
two hundred yards and I can hardly even see them from here. The only way
you could be killing them is by hitting them dead-on in the eye where
they're vulnerable."
Ash shrugged one shoulder. "I had lots of practise during the Dark
Pokemon Wars."
They fell to silence as Ash methodically shot down more and more
gyarados. Although, more just seemed to replace every single one, like
there was a bottomless supply of them just beneath the surface of the
water.
Duplica shivered again. "You know, it's almost time for dinner. How about
you halt off your fun and let's go down and warm up? And you can't avoid
everyone on this boat forever. It's another two more days before we
reach the Viridian Gulf and head off to Indigo Plateau."
Ash lowered the bow. "Alright, why not?"
He didn't want Misty to think that she had run him off. She was the one
who did the running after all.
<><><>
"So, like, you see, during the Dark Wars, we somehow got separated from
the rest of the fleet and were cut off for quite some time somewhere
around the Seafoam Islands. Afterward, when we heard what the Pokemon
League were doing, we decided to stick around and help all the natives
protect themselves during which-"
"Daisy, I don't think Misty is like listening," Lily interrupted her
with an exasperated sigh, as she combed her shoulder-length pink hair
with a hairbrush.
Daisy looked at her youngest, red-haired sister who was now sitting down
on the opposite couch and staring absentmindedly out the port-hole. She
was rolling and unrolling a lock of her red hair around a finger.
"So Misty, are you like listening or what?"
Misty continued to look vacantly out the window. "I'm listening."
Lily dropped the comb, leaned over and waved her hand beside Misty's
face. There was no reaction. "Misty, your panties are on fire," she said
in a straight tone.
"That's nice," Misty replied automatically.
"Misty, your tit is like, hanging out of your dress," Lily tried again.
"That's nice," Misty said.
Erika stepped into the room in her green cloak, swinging her long black
staff around in circles with one hand. "No, this is how you do it girls."
She smiled. "Misty, Ash is here," she said softly.
"Wha-what!" Misty immediately said in a panicked tone as she rapidly sat
up straight and looked from side to side. Her blue eyes heated up with
the promise of conflict.
"See, like that's why I never got a boyfriend," Lily declared, leaning
back on the couch and putting her hands behind her head.
Daisy crossed her arms. "And I always thought it was because you were so
... how you say, effervescent," she said dryly.
"That too," Lily agreed.
Daisy then turned her attention back to Misty and tilted her blonde head
to the side, blue eyes inquiring. "Just, like, what is wrong with you
little sister? What is up between you and Ash? Last time we saw you years
ago, you were all so lovey-dovey."
Misty looked away. "Things change."
"Is this some kind of lover's spat?" Daisy asked Erika.
Erika sighed as she walked off to the corner of the room, this time
spinning her staff around from hand to hand. "If it is, it's been going
on for five years."
"Well, little sister's always been stubborn," Lily stated.
Something beeped and Daisy quickly pulled a small device from her belt
and looked at it. "Hmmmm, Violet needs us at the helm. Misty, we'll have
to like continue this talk later." She rolled her eyes. "If it can even
be called a talk with you mostly just sitting there. Oh, and dinner
should be ready soon, although I don't know how it'll turn out with that
doctor girl doing the cooking..."
"Giselle?" Erika asked. "Oh, she may be a bitch, but I have to admit she
is a great cook."
Lily looked sideways at Misty. "She said she was mixing up something
extra special for Ash."
Misty narrowed her eyes. "Really? Well I'm a much better cook than she
is!"
Daisy had a sceptical expression on her face. "Really now. Well, anyway
we have to go." She and Lily stood up from where they were sitting on the
couch, smoothed down their sailor jackets and left the room.
For a while it was silent, except for the sounds of the air swishing as
Erika practised with her staff while Misty stared out the porthole
at the black ocean again. Finally, Erika looked at Misty with a concerned
look on her face. She propped her staff against the wall and grabbed a
hand-towel from a nearby table. Wiping her face as she sat down on the
couch, she joined her. "Okay, finally I get you to myself. You've almost
been avoiding everyone as much as Ash-"
"Don't say the A-word," Misty interrupted.
"Okay, you-know-who, then," Erika said exasperated. "Now about what I,
how you say, 'learned', back at South Lavender ... I know you weren't ...
'like that' with Brock, even though Brock may have thought so, come to
think of it ... but anyway, why don't you tell Ash the truth?"
Misty crossed her legs out in front of her. "I told him the truth ... and
... he won't believe me. So, later I thought, fine! I don't need him!"
She sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as Erika. A
tear betrayed her by trickling out of one eye, but she angrily wiped it
away from a fold of her blue cloak. "And he is such a hypocrite!"
"What do you mean?"
She looked away. "I-I, can't tell you."
Erika suddenly got a burst of intuition. "Is this what caused you to
leave him five years ago?"
She hesitated, then nodded slowly.
"Don't you think it's time to tell someone what happened?"
The room fell to silence again. The sounds of the ship moving was soft in
the background, the water swishing and the floor gently rocking with the
waves.
Misty finally turned to Erika with pain-filled blue eyes. "I-I ... oh
Erika!" It all just started flooding out of her as the dam holding off
her emotions broke. What she saw that day came back fully into her mind.
Erika rushed over and hugged her. As Misty told her story in short sobs
and jumbled sentences, Erika's green eyes began to narrow menacingly.
<><><>
The dining room of the ship was fairly large, more than enough space to
accommodate all the escapees from South Lavender. Which wasn't quite
that many, now that Ash finally got to see everyone in one place. Aside
from the table he was sitting at which was in the far corner, there was
only about three other tables of people. There was the Captain and Nurse
Joy from Castle Town sitting at the opposite table along with Bruno,
Junior and a green-haired woman who he hadn't seen before although he
Thought was a bit familiar. There was *her* table, with *her* sisters,
and Erika and her Trainers - the table he had been purposely trying to
ignore, and finally, there was a table of miscellaneous Trainers and
people he didn't really know, many of whom were all looking at him with
scared looks on their faces.
He tried to ignore the stares as he ate silently, lifting his chopsticks
methodically. Pikachu munched on a red apple sitting on the table next to
his bowl, his only other companion at the table besides Duplica. "I don't
think this was such a good idea," he said softly.
Duplica, dressed in one of her 'own' outfits now that she was below
decks - a smallish black dress with a slitted skirt, and open at the neck
- just waved them off as she munched on her own food. "Maybe they're all
staring at me," she said modestly, in-between mouthfuls.
"What about the women?" Ash said, smiling a little now.
Duplica tossed her head, cascading blue hair over her shoulder. "Maybe
they're gay."
He laughed. "You're a riot, Duplica."
"Pika," Pikachu agreed.
"Ash!" a girl suddenly cried from behind him. Everyone turned to look,
even *her* and Bruno's table. It was Laselle, dressed in a green jumper
and skirt. Her brown eyes were shining underneath long black hair. "You
came to dinner!"
"Hi, Laselle," Ash greeted her.
"Laselle, you didn't have to shout it that loud," Duplica groaned.
Ash blushed as Laselle suddenly leaned over and hugged him around the
neck. "It's just that I haven't seen him in so long," she explained
happily.
"It's only been about three or four days," Duplica said, rolling her
eyes.
Laselle let go of Ash's neck. "Well, I've only known him about a week, so
three or four days is a lifetime!" All of a sudden, her eyes widened as
she spotted someone behind Ash's back. "You!" Her voice grew icy and her
eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?"
Ash turned around. Behind him and approaching was Giselle, looking as
perfect as a model, her long dark hair trailing in the air behind her.
She was wearing an elegant green dress over her slim form and a white
apron which read, 'world's most beautiful cook' on the front in bold
letters. She stopped by Ash's side and smirked her red lips. "Didn't
you know I was stationed at South Lavender, Laselle my dear." She looked
down patronisingly at the shorter girl.
Ash's eyes widened as he looked at the two of them. There was something
about the two of them...
Laselle lifted her chin. "Unfortunately not."
"Well, you're certainly growing more beautiful with age - you're starting
to look more and more like me," Giselle said in a superior tone as she
folded her arms and leaned on one high-heeled foot.
Ash tallied in his head. Same long black-brown hair, same brown eyes,
similar facial features... "Are you two related by any chance?"
"Unfortunately yes," Laselle spat.
He looked at Giselle with incredulous eyes. "You're her *mother*?"
Giselle looked offended. "I don't think it was possible for me to have
kids when I was six years old. She's my little sister."
"Oh."
Duplica sighed and kicked him under the table. "Sometimes I really worry
about you, Ash..."
<><><>
"So, like Ash decided to join us for dinner this time," Violet said as
she eyed the handsome young man in the black clothes at the far table. He
was surrounded by women and looking a bit bewildered.
Lily nudged Misty in the shoulder from beside her. "Well, aren't you
going to say anything?"
"He's not my boyfriend anymore," Misty said quietly as she picked at her
food. But there was a telltale flush of red on her cheeks.
Erika just glared. "Leave him, he's probably enjoying himself. We have
more important things to discuss anyhow. Like whether we should believe
anything that Sabrina said. For all we know, she could be luring us all
to the Palace of the Elite Four to get slaughtered all in one place."
Misty agreed, grateful for the change of subject. "I know. It just seems
too simple. Just how far can we trust her?"
Violet rubbed her chin. "It seems to me that you like need someone who
knows her well." She flicked her head of hair coloured like her name,
in Ash's direction, who now seemed to be trying to break up a fight
between Giselle and Laselle. "Wasn't Ash part of the Pokemon League
longer than anyone else here? He's worked with her before. I say we
should ask him to join this conversation."
Misty banged her hand on the table, clattering the cutlery. "No, I don't
even want to talk to him!" A cold aura began to emit from her body.
"Little sister, you're like, being totally illogical," Violet scolded
her. "What he tells us could be the meaning of life and death. Now are
you going to let some silly lover's spat be the death of us all?"
Misty looked away, abashed, letting her aura drop. "Sorry. Just don't
expect me to even talk to him."
Violet looked at Erika's young medic, Joy. "Would you please call Master
Ash over here? Tell him we like need to discuss something with him." Then
she paused. "Wait, get Mistress Duplica and Master Bruno over here too.
They may know something as well."
"Yes, Mistress," the young nurse said as she stood up and approached
Ash's table.
Something cracked. Daisy turned to her little sister to see that she had
frozen her chopsticks solid and snapped them in her hands. "Careful with
those. We already have to use so much energy to keep us warm, its not
helping with you acting like a freezer all the time."
Misty just lifted her chin defiantly. Violet sighed. She wished Daisy was
here, but no, she had to get the easy job of captaining the ship at this
time-slot.
Then they were standing around the table. Ash, Duplica and Bruno. Already
Ash and Misty were flinging daggers at each other through their eyes.
Bruno and Duplica sat down, leaving only one seat vacant. The one next to
Misty.
Ash turned from his glare-fight and looked in horror at the only space
left. "I am *not* sitting next to her," he said in a dangerous voice.
"He is *not* sitting next to me," Misty stated in a voice just as
dangerous.
Violet threw up her hands. "This is just rich! Like, how can you two be
so immature?"
"Are not!" they both said in unison. They looked at each other, then
blushed.
Lily smirked. "Just sit down Ash. Are you afraid of her or something? Are
you afraid of him, Misty?"
"No!"
"No!"
"Then just sit down already so we can get to business!" Lily ordered,
surprising everyone with her firm tone.
Ash blinked his light-brown eyes. He sat down obediently.
Violet silently looked at the ceiling. Remind me to be nicer to Lily, she
thought to herself. She looked at Ash, who blew some stray strands of
black hair out of his eyes with a slight breath and returned her look.
"You weren't conscious when Sabrina revealed the supposed way of closing
this so-called Forbidden Gate, but you know of it don't you? You've known
Sabrina longer than any of us. What are your thoughts?"
Ash fiddled with a piece of frozen chopstick that was in front of him and
looked at Misty for a second. Then he answered. "Well, Sabrina's always
been the most mysterious person I've ever met, well, maybe the
second-most, I'm not sure. But I don't think I'd be lying if I said that
she seemed to be closer to me than most other League Trainers or Pokemon
Masters. My opinion is that ... well she could in fact be telling the
truth." He took a sideways glance at Misty and his eyes glowed golden for
a second. "But most probably not the whole truth."
Misty tossed her red hair over her shoulder contemptuously.
"It does sound like that it makes a certain kind of sense," Duplica
offered. "There's something in the prophecies that state the towers being
linked to souls. The Elite Four and Master Garrick must be those souls.
Naturally, if those souls were put out of the picture..."
Bruno was thinking, his square chin resting against huge fingers. "You
actually buy that?" he asked in his deep voice. "Either it's one big
deliberate trap, or she could be just setting us directly against the
League so that we'd destroy each other. Do you really want to kill Brock?
Because that's what we'd have to do if we believe her. He *is* one of the
Elite Four - we know that now. My replacement in fact."
"No one kills Brock," Ash stated firmly as he folded his arms over his
black shirt.
"Why are you sticking up for him?" Bruno looked puzzled. "It's obvious
now that he's been against you from day one." His rust-coloured eyes
flashed menacingly. "We were all made fools of. I trusted him like a
brother."
Ash shook his head. "He wasn't like that in the beginning." He stared
down at the table. "Maybe I can help him. I-I, just have to."
"Great, just great," Erika said mockingly. "Our best bet to win this
thing and we can't even put that into action. How about you, Misty?" She
looked at her friend. "Would you kill Brock if it meant saving the
world?"
Misty looked away and picked specks of nothing from her blue dress. "I-I
don't know."
"I'd rather let Brock and Misty go off together," Ash said. A wet noodle
splattered on his cheek. He turned his head in the direction it came
from. Misty.
She had an innocent expression on her face. "What?" she asked, with a
lifting of one slim eyebrow.
Ash reached over to snag a rice ball by poking it with a frozen
Chopstick and then sneezed on purpose. The rice ball flew on to Misty's
nose and splattered into a white gooey mess. It made her look like a
clown. An angry clown. "Oops," he said, smiling lopsidedly. "That was an
accident."
Misty slipped forward deliberately, throwing her bowl of food forward so
it splattered on Ash's head. Wet mushy stuff dribbled all through his
fine black hair and ran down his face. "Oops. That was too," she said
with a gleam in her eye.
Soon, it just degenerated into a full-on food-fight between Ash and
Misty. Noodles, rice, sushi and everything else were fair game to be used
as weapons. The whole room was silently staring at the two of them
sitting down next to each other and mashing food into each other's faces.
Violet shook her head. These were the people who were going to
save them?
And then suddenly the floor seemed to jerk violently underneath them as
if the ship had been hit. Violet's beeper let out a shrill sound and
she snatched it from her belt and looked at it. "Damn, we're under
attack! Daisy says its a Pokemon League ship at six-o-clock!"
<><><>
"Like, they didn't even show up on the ship's scanner, so they managed to
knock out our submerging capability before I detected them!" Daisy was
shouting as she wrestled with the wheel on the captain's seat. The black
ocean through the ship's view screen in front of her looked rougher than
before, and the floor was noticeably rising up and down with the waves.
Violet and Lily immediately rushed over and took their positions on the
seats by her sides. Panels opened with a whooshing sound and control
sticks and switches were rapidly set and positioned. Lily threw on
headphones and a mike while Violet pulled down a pair of electronic
goggles and placed them over her head.
Other than Misty's sisters in the bridge, there was also Ash, Misty,
Duplica, Erika, and Bruno all inside the sophisticated control and
driving room of the ship. As always, Pikachu was sitting on Ash's
shoulder although the black electric mouse was actively trying to avoid
the gooey mess all over Ash's head and face.
"What kind of League ship is it?" Ash asked as he wiped some liquid away
from his eyes which was dribbling down from his hair.
Violet fiddled with the goggles. "It looks like a Class Three Pokemon
League Destroyer Battleship! It's huge!"
"Shit. Daisy, can this ship outrun it?"
Daisy was still wrestling with the wheel. "Like, I don't know yet. Lily,
how's the hydro-turbines? I think number two is giving me a spot of
trouble."
Lily pulled out a keyboard and began tapping on it furiously with her
slim fingers. Readings came out of the small monitor in flashing red
letters. "Like I think number two's been damaged! It must have got hit
when they took out the ballast. Report says heat, liquid and electrical
overload. What the hell did they hit us with?"
"I think it was a combined fire, water and electric blast," Daisy said,
frowning as she skilfully manoeuvred the ship past two icebergs. The
floor tilted left, then right, causing Ash, Misty, Duplica, Bruno and
Erika to hold on to handholds on the ceiling for balance.
Duplica gasped as she held herself steady. "They're using direct
elemental attacks? Are they crazy? Any Forbidden Pokemon in the area will
sense it and surround us all!"
"I thought the Pokemon League control the Forbidden?" Bruno asked
curiously. "They wouldn't be attacked too, would they?"
Duplica shook her head. "You should have seen the League army at South
Lavender. They were totally ripped apart by Forbidden Pokemon. Maybe they
don't control them as much as they think they do."
"So we can't outrun them?" Misty asked her sister.
Daisy looked at her monitor and pushed her blonde hair back behind her
ears with one hand. "I don't think so. We're losing like too much speed,
especially with the large amount of icebergs that we have to dodge now.
We can't outrun them or escape by submerging, with number two damaged and
the ballast gone."
"I guess we'll just have to fight then, or somehow damage their ship
enough that they can't follow," Ash said as he took out a pair
of fingerless black gloves from his pocket and slipped them on to his
hands.
Misty frowned. "You're not thinking of using lightning are you?"
Ash spun away from her, walking briskly to the hatch as his hooded cloak
materialised over his form out of dark floating shadows. "I can fight
hand-to-hand. Bruno, you coming?"
Bruno cracked his knuckles and summoned his maroon cloak over his
muscular shoulders. His dark eyes were eager. "Sure, I haven't had a good
fist-fight in ages - a good one, meaning one that I can actually win," he
said dryly.
"Count me in also," Erika said as her green cloak sparkled over her dress
with the smell of flowers. She extended her hands as she summoned her
wooden black staff into them. "I haven't been practising for nothing."
Duplica smiled, but shook her head. "I'd love to come too, but I'd
probably just get in your way. I'm no good without using my transform
ability." She looked at Misty out the corner of her eye. "Misty?"
Misty flared blue as her cloak solidified around her body. "I can fight
physically if I have to." She silently dared Ash to object with a flat
stare.
Ash shrugged the shoulder Pikachu wasn't sitting on. "If you think you
can."
Misty pulled out blue fingerless gloves, which matched her cloak and
dress and put them on slowly. "I know I can."
Daisy let out a breath of disbelief as she continued to pilot the ship.
"Children, like, please. Just get out there and get that damn ship off
our tail!"
<><><>
"They're shooting a line!" Bruno called up from below, at the starboard
side of the ship. "They're trying to snag us!"
A huge steel anchor with a thick rope attached was flying toward them
from the large dark-blue Pokemon League ship which was about fifty or
sixty feet behind them and closing. It crashed somewhere on the front
deck and got caught on a railing.
"Pikachu, the bow!" Ash said quickly from his position atop the
upper-deck at the stern of the ship.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu handed him the bow and the quiver that they had left
up here before they went down for dinner.
Immediately, Ash nocked an arrow, aimed and shot, cutting the rope before
it could tighten up and pull them off course. His hair flapping over his
eyes by the freezing cold wind did nothing to distract his concentration.
"Nice shot," Erika grudgingly said from beside him, the wind also blowing
her shortish black hair and cloak around violently.
Ash didn't say anything and lowered the bow as he turned his attention
back on the League ship. Erika had strangely been acting hostile toward
him lately. If he said anything, she'd probably cut him down.
The ship tilted as they dodged another iceberg at full speed and he
quickly grabbed on to the port-side railing at the edge of the upper-deck
to hold him steady, Erika following suit. Pikachu grabbed on to his
ankle.
For a moment, the League ship was out of view with the massive
whitish-blue iceberg blocking their field of vision. He shivered as the
wind grew even colder.
When they passed the huge iceberg, the League ship was even closer and a
person was now visible, standing high on the front of it, at the point of
the bow. It was a tall woman. She was dressed in long black overcoat
with dark-blue hair worn in a long braid, which floated behind her in the
wind. The right side of her face was covered by her long bangs, but the
half of her face that he could see was attractive, although there was
something about her expression that made him uneasy.
"You can't escape," she said, her voice somehow amplified by her ship so
that they could hear. "Halt!" she ordered.
"I don't think so!" Ash shouted back over the wind.
Her eye focused on him. "Ah, Ash is it not? So we do indeed have the
right ship. Halt your ship, I wish to discuss something with you."
"Discuss?" Erika whispered to him.
Ash looked at her and shrugged. He turned back to the huge League ship
with the woman standing on it. "What do you want?" he shouted.
"It has come to my attention that you harbour something, or rather
someone, that I want," the woman replied. Her voice still being amplified
so that it could be heard easily. "You will surrender him to me or face
the consequences."
Puzzled, Ash smoothed his wind-blown hair away from his eyes again.
"Someone?"
Surprisingly, the woman seemed to growl. "The Rock Master. Brock. Give
him to me!" Her voice was now angry, when before she had been calm.
Footsteps sounded behind him and Ash turned to see Misty arriving from
the lower-deck, via a ladder on the port-side of the ship. Her long red
hair was being blown forward by the wind, but she didn't seem to be
affected by the cold at all; not even any goose bumps. "This is weird,"
she said as she stopped by his side and tried to stop her blue cloak from
blowing everywhere. "If this is the Pokemon League, wouldn't they be
attacking us furiously by now? They're close enough, but all they've
tried to do so far is snag us with lines, besides disable our best chance
for escape."
"They want Brock for some reason," Ash said, shrugging his shoulders.
"What for?"
Ash turned back to the huge ship following them. It was even closer now
so that in a few more minutes the woman who was standing on its tip would
be able to jump down to their ship. "Is this some sort of rescue?" he
shouted up at her.
The half of her mouth that was visible tilted upward and then the woman
laughed hard, looking up at the pulsing grey sky. Then she looked down at
him and her eye flashed, brown he could see now. She was starting to look
a bit familiar too, although it was hard to tell with half her face
covered by her blue hair.
"Not exactly," the woman finally said after her laughter had died down,
although she was still letting out a few chuckles. "I'm going to kill
him."
Misty suddenly snapped her fingers. "Hey, you're Brock's girlfriend! I
thought you looked familiar."
Ash blinked. Holy. She was too! "You're Suzie, the Pokemon Breeder lady!"
he exclaimed. As far as he knew, she wasn't part of the Pokemon League.
Was she the captain of this ship? Why was she the captain of this ship?
The woman suddenly stopped her laughing, instantly angry again. "I'm no
longer Brock's girlfriend, haven't been for at least three years now; and
what a mistake that was. But I *am* Suzie, you're right about that, Ash.
Now I know you have Brock, hand him over."
"No way!" Ash refused.
Erika elbowed him in the side. "Are you sure that's wise, Ash? What
Sabrina told us... she could be doing us a favour."
"Look, we don't know if she's lying or not." He folded his arms. "And I
won't be forced into anything."
Misty just cracked her knuckles. "Just get ready for a fight, Erika. When
Ash gets this stubborn, there's nothing else we can do."
"Oh, shut up," Ash said.
"No, you shut up," Misty replied.
Suzie glared at them. "I was willing to negotiate this peaceably, but now
I'll just have to do this by force." The League ship was right on their
tail now and she was looking directly down at them, with her arms folded.
"I have a friend of yours here Ash, that wanted to get another crack at
you. I have him here just in case you wanted to be stubborn."
Ash stepped sideways, his folds of his cloak blowing across his face and
prepared himself. "I'm not afraid of anyone," he called up to her.
"Pika pika!" Pikachu agreed by his foot, cheeks sparking dark
electricity.
A tall, muscular figure in a light-brown hooded cloak stepped out next to
Suzie. With one swift movement, he threw off the cowl revealing his
full features.
Ash gasped.
"Hello, Ash." It was a hauntingly familiar lilting accent. He had spiky
green hair and brown eyes. Or eye. He had only one left. There was a long
jagged scar which ran from the top of his forehead, through his
non-existent left eye down to the bottom corner of his hard mouth.
"AJ, is that you?"
"You should know, the one person who destroyed my dream back at the
semi-finals of the Pokemon League tournaments," AJ said in a resentful
tone. He tapped his scar. "And later gave me this."
Ash stepped backward, tightening his black cloak on his shoulders.
"That was an accident."
"Accident-shmackcident!" AJ roared. Then he shook his head and composed
himself. "Well now, besides me, this whole ship seems to have somethin
against you, Ash. These here fellows I met just now, want to kill you
too. You're a mighty popular fellow, Ash." He stepped aside as three more
cloaked figures walked from behind him and stood at the ship's railing.
One was in blue, one was in red and the last one was in yellow. They were
all of equal height at about six feet each.
All three of them simultaneously threw the hoods of their cloaks back.
The colours of their hair matched their cloaks and elements. "Ash, we
heard you killed our little brother," they said in unison.
"The Eevee brothers?" Ash called up to them. "What are you talking
about?"
"You've killed so many people, you don't remember? His name was Mikey!"
Surprisingly, Misty stepped forward. "That's a lie! Ash didn't kill
Mikey, it was your damned Missingno at Mount Moon!"
The blue-cloaked brother sneered down at her. "Why should we believe you?
You're nothing but Ash's whore! You'd say anything to save his butt."
Misty's eyes flared and a blue aura of cold arose around her, possible to
feel even in the artic wind. "You come down here, Rainer, and say that,
and I'll show you a Water Master's power."
Rainer folded his arms. "Don't mind if I do. I haven't had an equal
element fight in a long time."
Ash glared at Misty. "Watch it, you know we can't use direct attacks
against them, even if they can against us."
"Damn it!" Misty cursed, letting her power die down.
Erika spoke up. "Look if we're all going to fight, you can't use any of
your element-based attacks! Otherwise we'll all be bait for Forbidden
Pokemon."
Suzie let out an uncaring breath. "We're of the Pokemon League so they
won't touch us, but they can and will 'touch' you." She put her hands on
her hips. "Last chance. Give me Brock and I may let you free to do what
you want - for as long as you have left to live anyway."
"No dice, Suzie," AJ said, "we also want Ash now."
"That wasn't part of the deal," Suzie protested, turning to glare at him.
"Look," Ash interrupted, "if it was just me, then sure, I'd give myself
up. But I can't let you have Brock. Sorry."
"Who gives a shit about Brock?" AJ growled. "I'm finally gonna pay you
back for what you did to me, you piece of shit! Sandshrew, let's git
him!"
"Shrew!" A small yellow rodent with armoured skin leapt up on to his
shoulder, and he leaped over the ship's railing and dived down with a
flying kick directly at Ash, light-brown cloak floating behind him.
Ash flipped away, barely dodging the kick, as AJ came down with a
crunching sound on the deck, exactly where Ash's head was just a
millisecond before.
Misty was about to join in when Rainer jumped down, blasting icy energy
from his fingertips as he did so, causing her to leap away in the
opposite direction.
That left the red-cloaked brother and the yellow-cloaked one to jump down
and take on Erika. Suzie signalled and her huge ship began to fall back,
separating itself from them.
<><><>
"Ah heh heh, this doesn't seem exactly fair now, boys ..." Erika said,
backing away with her staff spinning around in one hand. "And I don't
even know your names."
The red-cloaked brother with flaming hair grinned evilly as he stepped
forward, hands bursting into flickering fire. "Well now, how rude of us.
I'm Pyro, while my bro in yellow is Sparky."
Sparky winked as he also stepped forward, his yellow cloak putting the
truth to his name.
"Is it alright if I take Sparky?" Erika asked flippantly. "I don't really
like fire as you'd imagine."
Suddenly Bruno joined her, having just arrived from the lower-deck, his
huge fists raised and ready. "I'll take hot-head here."
Erika sighed gratefully. "Bruno, if you weren't so big and scary, I could
kiss you."
<><><>
Ash blocked another punch with a complex twist of his arm and stepped
backward again. "Look, AJ, I don't want to fight you. Especially when one
wrong move could kill us all."
"Bullshit," AJ said, advancing again. His spiky green hair was unmoving
against the wind. "Do you think after all this time searching for you,
I'm gonna let you off scot-free? Especially when I've completed my
training! Training meant to stop you personally! Any electric attack you
throw at me will be ineffective." He abruptly threw his Sandshrew into
the air. "Sandshrew, Earth Blade!"
"Shrew!" the sandshrew squeaked and then the deck of the ship seemed to
tremble as the rodent pokemon flashed and then reformed itself into
energy as if it were being sucked into a poke-ball, but instead
metamorphised into a curved broad sword, the same colour of light-brown
as AJ's cloak. AJ grabbed it out the air and began spinning it around the
fingers of his right hand in front of him. The air made whistling sounds
at each rotation.
"That's right, I've even learned your little trick," AJ said quietly,
still spinning his sword around. He turned his head, his single eye
flashing hatred. "Where's your rat? Sandshrew will rip it apart this
time."
Faster than he could blink, a small shadowy figure seemed to streak past
AJ's head from behind, startling him.
"Pika!" It was Pikachu who leaped beside Ash's foot on all fours, tail in
the air. His cobalt-blue eyes were glowing, casting an eerie light over
its night-dark body. Abruptly, he leaped up high on to Ash's left
shoulder.
AJ sneered. "Ha! It didn't like me calling it that did it? I hate your
Pikachu almost as much - no more, than I hate you. How can its attacks
have beaten Sandshrew back at the semi-finals? It's impossible."
Ash shook his head. "Get over it already, AJ. Pokemon League was years
ago. You came third or fourth, that's still a high rank. And it hardly
matters now, when the whole world is at stake."
AJ's black eye glowed malevolently. "Third? Fourth? You ruined my dream,
Ash, and that was to become first. THE Pokemon Master. The greatest one
of all time. Ever since you beat me, my dream changed. My dream to have
revenge. Except you stopped me last time and took my eye. But now, I've
trained up enough to destroy you." He seemed to be waiting. "Well? Aren't
you going to form your rat into a sword and fight me?"
Ash shook his head. "Weren't you listening? Any stray elemental energy
will attract Forbidden Pokemon to us like fish to a hooked worm."
"Fool," AJ said, shaking his head as he stopped spinning his sword and
held it aloft. "Then this won't be as much fun as I thought." He
sidestepped quickly in a spin and slashed impossibly fast.
Ash just managed to dodge it, although the sword cut off a part of his
cloak. "I can still fight you hand-to-hand," he said as his cloak
regenerated itself out of dark shadows.
"Don't be so confident," AJ advised as he shifted the momentum of his
missed swing into an even faster and stronger side-slash.
This time, Ash weaved in close, shifting himself around the swung blade
lithely and flashed into an uncountable series of rapid punches and
palm strikes on AJ's face and chest. He finished the series with a
backward hand flip, kicking AJ on the chin and sending him flying. Then
he completed the flip and landed in a crouching position.
But AJ recovered in midair and executed a back flip to land on his feet
on the deck with a soft thump. A trickle of blood ran out of his left
nostril and he sniffed. "Not bad." He chuckled without humour. "But I
marked you too."
Ash sucked in his breath as the upper-arm of his cloak suddenly split
open and blood ran out of a fresh deep cut.
"Cha!" Pikachu said in shock from on top of his other shoulder at seeing
the slash.
"And here's another new trick I taught Sandshrew just for you." AJ lifted
his sword and held it in both hands. "Sandshrew, Electric Inversion!" All
at once, the blade of his sword seemed to spark on and off.
Instantly Ash doubled over as an intense pain flared inside his head.
Pikachu fell off his shoulder and on to the ground like a dead weight. It
felt like hammers beating against his skull. Dimly he could sense that
Pikachu was in agonising pain as well and was rolled up in a ball
clutching his head.
AJ grinned. "How do you like that? I spent years perfecting this. It
actually destabilises the being of anything electric-based within a
certain radius."
<><><>
"C'mon, I thought we were going to have a water fight," Rainer complained
as he formed a huge ball of ice and water in his palm and then flung it
at her.
Misty spun around, letting her long blue cloak nullify it to snow flakes
which drifted around her. Then she completed the spin and crouched,
clutching a fold of her mantle. "I can beat you even without using direct
water attacks."
Rainer tilted his head. "Are you kidding? A Pokemon Master's
effectiveness is solely due to the elemental abilities that he wields,
fighting hand-in-hand with his pokemon. Otherwise we may as well be only
weak Trainers." He pulled a blue poke-ball from his cloak and threw it.
"Isn't that right, Vaporeon?"
The ball split, releasing the four legged and blue marine Pokemon. Its
black eyes were narrowed as it thrashed its long tail of fins. "Vee!"
"See, even Vaporeon agrees with me!" Rainer stated triumphantly.
Misty reached inside her cloak for her own poke-ball and enlarged it in
her hand. "That's only half the story. A real Pokemon Master is one who
has a true bond with their Pokemon, understands them, trains them, feels
what it feels, shares their hurts, loves and conflicts. It isn't just a
learned trait, you have to be born to it. We'll see how your Vaporeon
compares to mine." She threw it, releasing her own pokemon to stand in
front of Rainer's. Her Vaporeon was silent, spines stiffened in
preparation.
Rainer chuckled. "A pretty speech, but you've lost this one. My Vaporeon
is even bigger than yours. Vaporeon, Ice Beam!"
"Vee!" Rainer's Vaporeon opened its mouth, letting out a stream of icy
cold directly at Misty's.
"Have you ever heard the saying, size doesn't matter?" Misty said,
smiling. "Vaporeon, Coldness Redirect!"
Misty's Vaporeon didn't say anything as it stood still, letting the Ice
Beam freeze it in a solid block of ice.
"Hahaha! Is that your boyfriend's excuse?" Rainer taunted.
"Well, actually, yes. But he doesn't know what a find he is. What do you
think is the real reason I followed him around all those years?" she
said, winking suggestively. "Now, watch."
Rainer's Vaporeon began to look puzzled as a light mist rose around its
body. "Vee? Vee!" The mist solidified into ice, while Misty's Vaporeon
cracked out of its own cold prison.
"How the hell did you do that?" Rainer said in shock.
Misty's hand flashed as a blue poke-ball appeared on her palm. She
recalled her Vaporeon. "And you call yourself a Water Master?" Then she
launched herself forward in a spinning aerial manoeuvre, blue cloak
flapping everywhere, and kicked Rainer in the face knocking him ten feet
backward and on to the roof railing.
<><><>
Pyro had a black eye. "Argh!" he yelled as he lifted his arms to try
another bolt of flame, but his head jerked as Bruno smashed him in the
face yet again.
"One, two, one two," Bruno said underneath his breath, then he spun
around into a mid-level roundhouse kick, smashing Pyro backward like a
soccer ball and flat on his back. "Ah, that felt good!" he sighed, as he
pushed his sweat-soaked brown hair back on his head.
Pyro coughed, turned over and spat out a tooth on the deck.
"Come on, fight like a real man," Bruno said, flexing his chest muscles
as he approached. "None of this sissy power stuff."
Pyro flipped upright and snarled. "You muscle-bound moron. I'm going to
burn you good!" His hands burst into flame and he lunged in a quick
punch.
Bruno yelled as Pyro managed to score across his arm, giving it a nasty
burn. He counter-attacked with a grab and a sweep, knocking him to the
floor again. "Ah, so you're not as easy as I thought," Bruno said,
beating the flames off his arm.
Pyro rolled away and threw a red poke-ball. "Flareon, go! Fire Blast!"
"Darn," Bruno said, taking a step backward.
<><><>
Sparky already had his Jolteon out. The electric evolution of Eevee was
snapping and hissing as Erika tried to beat it off with her staff.
The Thunder Master brother was enjoying the show. "Heh, you can't keep
that up forever," he gloated as he tried to tilt his body in the best
possible angle for the wind to hit him just right so that his yellow
cloak would flare out nicely.
Erika retreated a couple of steps, waving her staff menacingly at the
spiky-backed yellow pokemon. "Bad boy, bad!" Erika was scolding it. "Go
bother someone else!"
"Jolt!" The Jolteon began to spark, black eyes narrowing fiercely.
Then she noticed that she was backing up almost up to Ash and Pikachu.
They seemed to be bent over in pain. What was wrong with them?
But the weirdest thing started to happen. Sparky's Jolteon suddenly froze
up and started to emit a whimpering sound.
"Jolteon?" Sparky called out in worry. "What's wrong?" He ran closer
until he too doubled over in pain. He screamed.
The green-haired guy that seemed to hold the biggest grudge on Ash
abruptly shouted. "You fools, get away from there!"
Ash groaned as AJ turned his attention away. "Got to ... got to..." He
leaned over and grabbed the metal railing of the ship's roof. Slowly, he
ripped a bar off with the sound of steel creaking. "There!" he shouted as
he threw it like a spear at a sword that AJ was holding, which was
blinking in front of them. The sword seemed to squeal a shrill sound
as the railing smashed into it and knocked it away to clatter upon the
deck.
"Sandshrew!" AJ cried in horror. He kicked Ash away furiously and then
turned on the coughing Sparky. "You idiot, look what you did!"
"Me?" Sparky choked, standing up and slowly recovering from the intense
pain. "What did I-"?
AJ stamped his booted foot, and a wave of pressurised air travelled along
the deck and knocked him over. "Now for Ash and his rat-" he snarled,
spying the small black pikachu slowly standing up on to its hind legs and
shaking its head.
But Erika stepped forward and quickly dealt him two blows with her staff,
once in the chest, then a spinning slash at his legs, tripping him over.
"Oh no you don't!" she said in satisfaction as she dealt a final blow to
the head knocking him out.
Sparky lifted himself to his feet, eyes burning yellow. "I've had enough!
Brothers, it's time!"
<><><>
Rainer's eyes abruptly shone blue. He stopped throwing Ice Beams and
turned. "Yes, it's time."
Misty blinked. "What are you talking about?"
The frozen Vaporeon suddenly burst out of its coating of ice and leaped
away towards the rear of the ship.
<><><>
All of a sudden, Pyro burst out laughing as his eyes flared red. "Now
you're dead. It's time."
The Flareon that was attacking Bruno blinked once and then loped away on
all fours, red fur glowing bright with fire. Pyro followed, his cloak
trailing flames on the deck of the ship.
"Come back here and fight," Bruno called as he ran after them.
<><><>
The three brothers and their pokemon stood in the centre of the ship's
roof.
"I don't like the looks of this," Erika said as Bruno and Misty just
arrived and stood next to her.
Ash stepped backward and let Pikachu jump up on to his shoulder. "Get
ready."
"For what?" Misty asked curiously.
Rainer yelled, "Vaporeon, merge!"
Pyro yelled, "Flareon, merge!"
Sparky yelled, "Jolteon, merge!"
The three pokemon seemed to flash then slowly slide into each other as if
they were as insubstantial as air. What formed in the centre quickly
began to grow larger and larger until it was at least eight feet tall.
Soon the merging was complete and what stood there was a huge dragon-like
creature which stood on four spiny legs, but had three heads and three
tails. Each head corresponded to each of the pokemon that had spawned it,
the middle was a Flareon's head while the two side heads were a Jolteon
and Vaporeon respectively. The three tails corresponded to the same
pokemon also, but that was where the resemblance ended. The actual torso
of the fearsome creature was a dragon's, complete with wings and coloured
black as the night. All three heads roared simultaneously, a terrifying
sound that seared the soul. Its razor-sharp claws scratched deep furrows
on the ship's steel deck.
Bruno blinked. "Holy crap."
"What he said," Erika mumbled. She took one look at her staff, then
another at the Eevee-dragon creature and hid it behind her back,
blushing.
Ash and Misty were silent, their cloaks rustling sinuously in the cold
wind. Pikachu was still on Ash's shoulder.
The hatch behind them opened and Lily stuck her head out. "What's all the
racket up here, and why have we suddenly gained at least a ton in
weight?"
The dragon thing roared.
Lily turned her head and her blue eyes widened as large as saucers.
"Oh... Well, I'll leave it to you guys. Sayanara!" She slammed the hatch
shut.
The three Pokemon Master brothers laughed. "Sorry now aren't you, that
you murdered our little brother?"
Misty shook her head. "For the last time, none of us killed Mikey."
"Liars," Pyro accused. "I'm going first. Triverion, Ultimate Fire!" He
looked at Ash and pointed. "On him!"
Ash pivoted sideways as the middle head focused its large red eyes on him
menacingly and began to inhale with powerful suction.
"Guys," Erika suddenly spoke up. "Has it just gone colder or is it my
imagination?"
"Now is not the time to think about the weather, Erika," Bruno said
matter-of-factly.
Ash looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "No, actually, she's
right. This cold ... it doesn't feel natural." He looked behind the ship.
"And those flock of gyarados that were following us have disappeared."
"Ash, watch out!" Misty warned as the Triverion's middle head opened its
fanged mouth and let out a solid bar of white flame from its throat.
Ash spun around, letting his black cloak cover his form as the immensely
hot, burning fire struck. Darkness seemed to flash as Misty, Erika and
Bruno were blown back off their feet by a wave of intense heat. Black
mist and smoke was flying everywhere making it hard to see.
"That was almost too easy," Pyro said contemptuously with a flick of his
red hair. "Now where's Brock?" Then as the black mist was cleared by the
biting-cold wind, a dark form was seen kneeling on the deck, black cloak
smoking. "What? You're harder to kill than last week's mayonnaise!"
But suddenly, his teeth chattered and he began to hug himself around his
red cloak as he realised something. "Hey, brothers, you feel that? It's
starting to get freezing!"
A sharper wind began to blow from the west and everyone looked in that
direction. No longer was the horizon over the tossing black ocean
visible, it was absolutely clogged up with white impenetrable fog. It
seemed to be rapidly approaching over the ocean as if it were a tidal
wave that was as wide as the eye could see.
"Who cares about some storm?" Rainer shouted. "It's my turn! Triverion,
get ready for Ultimate Ice." He pointed at Misty who was standing up from
being knocked over. "On that bitch!"
Sparky grabbed his arm. "No wait, I don't think that's a natural storm."
Pyro jerked backward. "Shit. Do you think it's her? I think we're close
enough that-"
And then the wind grew even more fierce and a storm of hail and snow
began to fall around them. Ice fell so hard, it felt like stones being
beaten across their backs. A loud clattering sound began to pervade the
air as the hail smashed against the ship's deck.
<><><>
Butch and Cassidy were watching the action as they stood next to Suzie
atop the deck of the large Pokemon League Battleship. They had been
observing the fight for quite some time as their ship followed at a
discrete distance.
"They're not going to kill Ashura are they?" Cassidy asked in a high
voice. "That flame attack of theirs actually looked like it could have
killed him."
Suzie shrugged uncaringly. "I doubt they'd be able to kill him. He is one
of the Forbidden Pokemon Masters after all." She narrowed her one visible
eye. "All I want is Brock."
Butch shivered and tightened his grey over-cloak. "It's freezing! Maybe
we should go in, it's starting to snow," he said, lifting his palm up.
Cassidy cursed as a large piece of ice bounced off her blonde head. "It's
not snowing you fool, it's hail!"
And then there was the most horrible screeching sound like fingernails on
a blackboard. Their ship jerkily came to a stop from underneath them
sending Butch and Cassidy stumbling forward.
Suzie, however, stayed secure on her two feet. She took a step forward
and peered over the edge of the bow. "The water around our ship has been
frozen," she said calmly.
Cassidy saw that the smaller white ship they were following had stopped
too. "They've been frozen also. What gives?"
"Maybe that," Suzie indicated with a nod of her chin.
They looked to the side and saw a rapid fog approaching. And at the
centre of the fog, a lone figure. The fog seemed to be emanating from it
as it approached them from the horizon. It seemed as if the figure was
walking on water ... on the ocean itself.
<><><>
Ash watched as he knelt, his black cloak still smoking from the fire
attack, as the figure in the fog came closer and closer. Slowly details
emerged. It was wearing a Master's hooded cloak, that much was obvious,
and it was the colour of frozen ice, a pale whitish-blue. The freezing
cold wind was blowing it across to the side, casting a slim curvaceous
figure in relief. Long, milk-white legs were revealed with each flap of
the cloak. A woman.
Around her feet, the water of the ocean seemed to freeze as she came
forward, and that was how she was able to 'walk' on water. And then her
sliding gait was explained as he picked out that she was actually on ice
skates, skating on the ice-path of her creation.
Brightest green eyes flared within the shadows of her cowl.
Lorelei.
The first of the Elite Four.
As she neared them more and more, the air began to grow even more
unbearably cold and the fog began to cut out the already scant light. Ash
reached behind to cover his head with the hood of his cloak and tightened
it. Pikachu burrowed into his arms and stuck his head out the top,
pointed ears twitching.
Everyone else covered their heads and faces with their cowls too, except
for Misty who seemed to be unaffected by the cold or the hail, which just
seemed to dissolve before it hit her. She was silently staring down
across at Lorelei, her eyes glowing an icy-blue as her long red hair
seemed like a flame in the sudden darkness.
As for the huge Triverion, it had shrunk down to crouch in a ball,
whimpering as it tried to keep warm.
Finally, when Lorelei was about thirty or so feet away from their ship,
she hopped sideways and skidded on the pathway of ice she had created,
and came to a stop, her skates creating icy-blue sparks. Her long cloak
rustled lithely along her body, revealing enough bare skin underneath to
show that she was almost naked underneath it. Her head remained covered
by her hood, although her eyes were still glowing green deep within them
- all that was visible of her facial features.
"I sense warmth." Her voice was icy, as cold as the arctic wind. It was
actually a pleasant voice, a singer's voice, except there was something
about it which seemed to freeze the soul. "All warmth must be destroyed."
The three Eevee brothers, Rainer, Pyro and Sparky took a step backward,
obviously frightened.
"What's your problem?" Erika whispered over to them. "Isn't she on your
side?"
"Yes and no," Pyro whispered back. "It was said that Lorelei lost her
sanity a few years ago, and now no one really knows whose side she's on."
"What?" Bruno looked absolutely shocked.
Ash nodded slowly. "It's true. That's why she was kept largely apart from
the other League Pokemon Masters and Trainers."
"I-I didn't know," Bruno mumbled.
Erika recalled her staff away with a flash of emerald light. "The
question is, why is she here?"
Sparky answered her. "We're near Cinnabar. She was in charge of the
Cinnibar focal point for opening the gate. Master Garick had to use her
since she is one of the most powerful Pokemon Masters in the world, after
all."
A groaning came from the floor. Everyone turned to look and watched as AJ
regained consciousness and pushed himself to his feet. "I remember that
bitch," AJ snorted angrily. "She was the one who made sure I didn't even
qualify for Pokemon League the next year!" He grabbed his sword and then
jumped off the side of the ship to attack her.
Ash stepped forward to grab him, but missed. "AJ, you fool, you don't
know what you're doing!"
AJ landed lightly on the frozen island of ice surrounding the ship and
hopped toward her, slipping a little, with his sword held horizontally by
his side. "You're dead!" he shouted, his eye glowing fiercely.
Lorelei waited for him to come, silent, as the cold wind blew her
ice-blue cloak sinuously around her lithe form. But when AJ swung his
sword at her, she suddenly spun in a high spin-kick, cloak gliding like a
ballerina's skirt, as she agilely blocked it with the blade of her left
ice skate. As AJ stepped off-balance, his sword ricocheting off her
foot, she spun again, this time striking with her right leg, the sharp
blade of her ice-skate stabbing deeply into his chest with a splash of
blood. AJ coughed once before Lorelei tossed him away with a smooth
movement of her long leg to send him sliding off the ice and into the
ocean. He sunk beneath the black turbulent waters without a trace.
Her eyes were still glowing green as she turned back to look up at them.
"Warmth is a disease that lets one feel. Soon all will be replaced by
blissful cold." Her aura of white fog began spreading outward, toward
the ship.
Ash sensed movement by his side, but was too late to stop Misty from also
jumping off the side of the ship. "Misty!"
As she leaped down, red hair and blue cloak trailing behind her in the
air, blue-white flashes sparked from her feet as blades of ice-skates
formed underneath her black boots. She landed with a skidding of ice and
began skating toward Lorelei.
Tucking Pikachu within his cloak to keep warm, Ash moved to follow when
suddenly hard thick arms grasped him from behind and caught him in a
strong hold. He turned his head to find that it was Bruno holding him,
his rust-coloured eyes shining fierce. "Bruno, what the hell?"
All Bruno did was tighten his hold further, so that even Pikachu was
trapped, caught within Ash's immobilised arms. He closed his eyes. "I'm
sorry, Ash."
<><><>
Misty slid to a stop, shards of ice flying away from her skates as
she slowed down. In front of her, Lorelei was unmoving, two bright points
of green light that were her eyes glowing over the shadows of her face.
Both their cloaks seemed to rustle in synchronised movements, in timing
with each gust of the frozen wind.
She didn't quite know what she was doing. There was just something she
felt deep within that pulled her to seek this confrontation.
Abruptly, Lorelei threw off her hood and tossed her long wavy hair free
to flap behind her in the wind. It was a dark-blue, a purple colour that
almost matched the dark waters of the ocean. Over her deep green eyes,
she still wore her oval spectacles, the same ones she had worn back in
the days of the Pokemon League tournaments.
"You are warm ... yet cold at the same time." Her voice was just louder
than a whisper. "Do you seek the frozen oblivion?" Her hands by her sides
began to pulse with icy-blue power, emitting a fog whiter than was
natural.
"Lorelei ..." Misty voiced. "Why?"
She thought back to the past. Years ago, Lorelei, the mistress of icy
pokemon had been her idol. She had looked up to her, like Ash had looked
up to the other Elite Four. Once, she had even thought about following in
her footsteps, a pure ice trainer - although water, her first love, had
brought her back. Lorelei had been aloof, a cold personality, yet
even so, deep down, Misty thought she was a caring person, someone who
you could tell could feel deeply. This Lorelei was different, a Lorelei
who embraced the cold and nothing else.
Suddenly Lorelei blinked and the faintest tinge of red appeared on her
pale-as-ice cheeks. "Y-You!" she shouted. "So you think you can escape
death?" She lifted her arms skywards and the cold power she had gathered
rocketed up into the sky. Clouds up above trembled and roared.
Misty slipped backward at the freezing cold backlash, so cold that even
she could feel it.
The hail began to fall harder and the gusts of cold wind grew
exponentially powerful - powerful enough to crack the ice they were
standing on. It forced Misty to slide away despite her skates being
locked against the ice.
"Master Pokemon of Ice!" Lorelei shouted over the now screaming wind.
"Show her the numbness that only ice can give!"
It was as if a giant earthquake had hit underneath the ocean. The ice
that they were standing cracked apart even more. Misty gasped in horror
as her sisters' ship behind her began to rise as something ... something
huge began pushing it from underneath, from underneath the island of
frozen ocean it was marooned in.
In front of the ship a massive head broke out of the ice, the head of a
giant lapras. It was as translucent as frozen spring water but with eyes
that glowed a crimson red, the colour of the Forbidden. It rose up
higher, revealing a long elegant neck, smooth as the ice it was made of.
As it rose rapidly, she saw that the ship was actually on the huge
lapras' back, held within the frozen spines of ice that adorned the
saddle of its massive torso. Its icy body broke up out of the frozen
island of ocean carrying the ship up to a height of at least twenty or
thirty feet.
Lorelei flung her arms down in an abrupt gesture. "BLIZZARD!" she
screamed.
<><><>
"Let go of me!" Ash shouted as Bruno continued to hold him from behind in
a double arm-lock.
But Bruno was silent, unspeaking.
Ash's eyes blazed golden, lighting up the darkness created by the storm.
"Can't you see? Misty ... ARGH!" He savagely broke out of Bruno's hold
with a powerful surge of strength and was about to leap from the ship,
when the deck shook and he lost balance, stumbling over to his hands and
knees. Pikachu fell out of his arm to land in front of him on all fours.
Everyone else fell down too in the wake of the horribly vibrating floor.
"We're ... we're rising!" Erika gasped as she rolled over to look out
the starboard-side.
"Shit!" Sparky cursed.
Everyone clung face-down on the deck as the ship rose higher and higher
until it stopped rising and bobbed once. Hail slashed across their backs
as the storm of ice above them grew to abnormal proportions.
At the front of the ship, the back of a huge head rose up high. It was
glimmering and transparent as if it were made of ice. Ash felt a chill go
down his spine that was not the cold as he gazed upon it.
"It's-it's the Master Pokemon of Ice!" It was Rainer's voice. "That
lapras!"
"But I thought it was dead!" Pyro said, shocked.
It can't be! Ash thought. *She* was the Master Pokemon of Ice? "Nessie!"
he yelled up to it. "Is that you?"
Immediately, the lapras' head began to turn around. Its brightly glowing
red eyes widened when they alighted upon him. A light female voice boomed
telepathically through the air, easily heard despite the screaming wind.
"MASTER ASH?"
"Nessie? H-How?"
"Pikapi!" Pikachu shouted up to it.
It closed its crimson eyes. "I'M SORRY."
And then it seemed like the world had turned white.
<><><>
The unnatural blizzard raged on, completely engulfing the ship in its icy
embrace. Even the League Battleship had gotten caught and was tossed
around the ocean like a leaf in a hurricane.
But the storm was not created for the sole purpose of death, but for a
different reason ... a reason of vengeance.
*** Continued in Part 10B
Ace Sanchez
Email: jsa@fl.net.au
WWW: http://jsa.users.fl.net.au