Nerima Park
Carrot opened his eyes and was instantly thrust into a new world of
pain, his face exploded and he felt the blood rush into his cheeks
serving only to increase the amount of agony. Everything seemed to flash
as his eyes tried desperately to adjust to the sensations of light that
seemed to fill them. He sat up and immediately knew it was the wrong
thing to do.
"Easy there buddy, you all right?" asked West as he pushed him back down
noting the expression on his face.
Jackson leaned forward and frowned. "He's as well as can be expected I'd
say, he did just get his face sliced open."
Jones sat nearby on a rock looking somber; it was obvious she was very
upset. Carrot found himself laughing despite himself. "So sad? I'm
touched."
The two men looked at each other and said nothing as they slowly helped
him to his feet. Carrot staggered for a moment before regaining his
balance as the pain alone almost sent him back to the ground. "You're
lucky to be alive," commented Jackson dryly as he steadied him on his
shoulder.
"We all are, she was about to kill us," replied the boy as he glanced
around to get his bearings. "Where the hell are we?"
"About a hundred yards from where we met that crazy woman," said West
with a snort as he indicated the area. Several large winged creatures
could be seen enjoying the remains of the pair.
The man nodded for a moment before the pain reminded him of his injuries
again; after a moment he stopped and looked around. "Where's Hugo?"
The two men looked away not willing to answer. Jones finally spoke up
coming out of her mournful trance. "We found him about an hour ago, what
was left of him anyway."
"I see," Carrot sat down in the dirt path and said nothing for a long
moment. "How long was I out for?"
"Two or three hours," said Jackson calmly as he joined his companion on
the ground. "We weren't sure what to do with you, it's a good thing you
woke up."
"Yea, well I'm kind of sorry I did," retorted the boy a little
grouchily, he reached up to his face and touched the bandage there. After
a moment of confusion he noticed that Jones's shirt was torn, "Thanks for
the first aid lady."
"No problem," she said seeming far away from the conversation.
"We'll rest another hour and get moving again, try to take it easy. We
don't need you passing out in the heat of things," said West as he took
the man by the shoulder and smiled.
"I'll try to remember that," said Carrot with a heavy sigh. He could
feel the pressure on his face lessen some, but the throbbing pain
remained.
Jackson leaned in and peered at the man's eyes carefully. "Can you see
alright?"
"Yea, I don't think he got my eyes,"
"You're lucky, another half inch and he'd have cut your nose in half,"
said West with a disgusted sounding snort.
Jackson nodded in agreement and frowned deeper. "It's probably gonna
leave a nasty scar, we'll have to be careful it doesn't get infected
too."
Carrot nodded again stopping short as the pain erupted in his face
again. "Man, I've got to quit doing that."
The two men smiled a little at this. Carrot stood and started to walk
around a little to get used to moving a little. Jones turned to them and
spoke. "We should get moving again, it's going to get dark in a few
minutes and I don't want to be in the open."
"We're going to keep moving until we find a safe place to rest again,
even if we have to move at night. After what happened to Hugo I don't
want to get caught out in the open here. This place is crawling with
weird looking critters that I don't recognize."
Carrot frowned at this, "Is that wise?"
"Not really, most predators are most active at night, but we have to
make up for lost time. We don't know when the boat comes and we might
have quite a wait if we miss it," said the hunter casually.
"We don't know when it comes in either, if we get there too early we
might not be able to hold our position," noted West.
"That's true, but we might be able to find out when it comes in and go
back," countered Jackson with a shrug.
Carrot looked back at them and started walking slowly forward, without a
word the others followed.
After about an hour the three men walked side by side with Jones
following very closely behind them. West looked towards his companions
and broke the silence. "It seems at least one of our imprisoned friends
got out. That girl did not react well to our mentioning the Saiyans."
"I think you're right, I'm willing to bet I know which one got loose
too," said Carrot without looking away from the road ahead. "Ranma seemed
a little too defensive of some of the ones he should have called enemies,
perhaps he was just speaking well of the dead?"
"You think one of those things got loose and killed a few of them?"
asked Jackson seriously.
"Most definitely, I noticed quite a few of the characters were missing
from a few of the spots, I assumed they were never made," replied Carrot.
"Now that I think about it, a few of those characters seemed like
classic cases of loss. Those girls in the arcade became noticeably
uncomfortable when you mentioned those others who weren't there," agreed
West.
"The Outer Senshi, I didn't think much of it really, they do tend to
keep to themselves in the original show," Carrot looked thoughtful for a
moment and shrugged his shoulders. "Why hasn't Kon made replacements
though? It seems odd, especially if he wants to keep his cover."
"Perhaps its his way of weeding out the weak?" offered Jones in a
disgusted tone.
"Or perhaps he has abandoned these projects in favor of the Saiyans,
there were six of them in that dome, only four were in the show that I
remember. Not counting the children they had later, and they were half
human," Carrot stumbled slightly in the dirt for a moment and regained
his balance quickly.
"Getting tired?" asked Jackson patiently.
"No, just gotta get used to this, it hurts," he replied as he pushed
onward.
"Why abandon everything else when he can't control the Saiyans?" said
West in frustration.
"I think the Saiyans are the ultimate product of all this research, but
something went wrong and they can't control them for some reason," said
Carrot as he looked towards the Dome. It wasn't visible any more, but the
light from the shield could be seen against the steadily darkening sky.
"I should have realized what this place was after we saw the Saiyans,
they wouldn't have a dome like that even built for a park with almost
human inhabitants," said Jackson angrily.
Carrot realized what he was saying and frowned. "You're right, why would
they need a containment field in a place like this, unless they realized
that they might need to hold something dangerous."
"I thought it was kind of weird too. I mean, who needs something
dangerous enough to need that kind of protection in an amusement park?"
agreed Jones.
They all froze as they came upon a figure standing in the middle of the
road. It was a boy of about eleven years old wearing a red and white
jacket with a matching hat on his head. He frowned deeply and stared them
down. "I can't let you pass."
Carrot didn't waste any time; he raised his weapon up and pointed it
directly at the boy. "Move."
Ash Ketchum stood his ground and pulled a small sphere from his belt. "I
can't do that, kill me if you have to, but I'm not gonna let you pass!"
A long standoff took place and Carrot lowered the gun, "Fine."
Everyone looked on in shock. "Whatever you try to use against us dies,
but I won't kill you. Just your friends."
The boy stepped back with a look of horror on his face. "What?"
Carrot smiled and continued. "All I want to do is go home, I don't care
what Kon does with this place and I could care less if he eventually does
take over the world. It won't effect my life much if he does. If you
attack me with your pokemon I'll kill them and leave you to mourn their
deaths. Either way, we pass."
The boy growled under his breath and stared him down with a look of pure
rage appearing on his face. They stood opposing one another for a long
moment; finally Ash hung his head in defeat and stepped aside.
Carrot placed the gun back in his belt and walked by, as the others
stood for a moment confused by the exchange. The jogged to catch up to
him and he froze in place, it seemed he was waiting for them until they
reached him
He had a strange look on his face as he looked towards the sunset and
back to the dome. "Oh god."
Ash stepped towards them and frowned as he realized they were looking at
something.
"What's wrong?" asked Jackson as he grabbed the man's shoulder gently.
"That old fool, he didn't even realize!" screamed the man in terror as
he stared at the dome in shock.
Jones was becoming very upset and finally snapped at him. "What the hell
are you talking about? We're all gonna die one by one and you're worried
about some stupid..." she was cut off as she seemed to understand what he
was afraid of. "They're out aren't they?" she said in a completely calm
voice.
Carrot nodded slowly. "They kept breaking the sun shield, not because
they new they didn't like it. They were testing to see how long it took
them to fix it, it's not a sun shield at all."
"What are you talking about?" said West with a confused and worried look
on his face.
"Don't you see? It's a moon shield, and it's broken. The Saiyans weren't
waiting until guests arrived to make trouble, they were waiting for the
next full moon," he pointed to the horizon and the group watched as the
moon slowly rose into the air. It was almost mocking them from its place
in the sky.
"That's bad right?" said West nervously.
Ash spoke up looking at Carrot in terror; they hadn't even noticed him
standing with them until then. "What happens on a full moon?"
Almost in answer a deafening roar filled the sky as explosions could be
seen in the distance. The sky was filled with the soft thumps of
shockwaves as the shield finally gave in with a spectacular fireball.
Triumphant sounding roars filled the sky as the Saiyans escaped their
prison.
"We've got to get cover now," said Carrot as he started to jog for the
forest that surrounded the open fields that held the Pokemon area of the
park.
"It's dangerous in the woods!" warned Ash as he jogged with them.
"I know, but it's more dangerous in the open," said Carrot gravely.
"We're bringing him with us?" said West in surprise.
"Jackson, keep your eyes on him," said Jones as she rushed by the group
outrunning them easily.
"Right," replied the man as he pulled out his pistol. Ash either didn't
notice or didn't care.
"I always liked a fast woman," quipped West tensely as he struggled to
keep up.
A few moments later they sat in the woods huddled in a tight circle. Ash
was sitting uncomfortably with Jackson keeping the pistol trained on him.
"That's it, the island is through," said the boy with a heavy sigh. "Do
you think we can get away?"
"What about the town? Aren't you worried about them?" asked Jones in
shock.
"All the sentients are gone, they died when the golden monkey came. All
that's left are me and the zombies," he poked at the ground uncomfortably
and looked away.
"Sentients? Zombies?" said Jackson in confusion.
West spoke up, "I noticed a while back that only the combat capable
characters seem to have a brain here, the others are just cover I think."
Carrot nodded as he looked up and shivered. Outside the forest he could
hear the sounds of chaos on the island in the distance. "I doubt they'll
worry to much about less populated areas tonight."
His companions nodded gravely. Ash looked at them grimly and sighed,
"When you leave the island...take me with you."
The group turned in shock and stared at him. "Pardon?" said West in
surprise.
"I was under the impression Kon was using some sort of mind control to
keep you in line. A loyalty program," said Jones in shock.
"Who are you kidding, I bet he told them that; but honestly, all it took
was them knowing he kept the Saiyans contained. I'll bet the first one
getting loose wasn't an accident." Carrot eyed the boy carefully for a
long moment. Ash said nothing and continued to poke the ground with a
small twig.
"We'd better try and get some sleep," said West as he leaned back
against a fallen log.
"No, if you sleep here you won't wake up," warned Ash.
Everyone looked at the boy in shock; he looked off into the distance and
sighed after realizing he had to explain things. "I know what you think
pokemon are, I've read the stories...but the pokemon here are not cute
little creatures. They are almost all carnivores; the ones that aren't
were created to feed the ones that are. This island is a biological
weapons factory."
"We figured that out a while back," admitted Jackson with a sigh. "Are
there many pokemon in the area?"
"Yea, probably hundreds of em. We used to lose Zombies to them all the
time, eventually they started to spread out a little more, so the eat
each other more nowadays," Carrot could see the deep fear in his eyes.
"Put the gun away Jackson, just keep it handy; we might need it
tonight."
The man frowned, but complied.
They sat there for several hours listening to the destruction of the
island outside the woods. None of them could sleep if they wanted too.
Ash seemed more nervous than most sitting in the woods in the darkness;
it didn't take long for them to find out why.
A terrible scream cut through the air causing the boy to jump up and
look around in terror. Carrot stood with him and glanced into the
darkness. "What the hell was that?"
Jackson stood up and readied his weapon; none of them saw it coming.
Jones uttered a muffled scream as several tentacle like vines wrapped
around her body. She was lifted into the air and pulled back into the
shadows. Carrot dove forward grabbing her leg as she was dragged along
the ground towards a large plant.
Jackson stepped forward to follow but the boy grabbed his arm and shook
his head. He shoved him aside knocking him into West as he dashed off
into the woods after his friends. "Carrot! Say something!"
"Over here!" yelled the man as he was pulled through the dirt. Small
trees and bushes tore at his arms and legs, slamming into his face
reopening the wounds as he clung desperately to the woman's leg and tried
to stop her from being slowly dragged through the forest. He looked up
and saw a large flower in front of them and the momentum suddenly stopped
cold.
The strange plant moved revealing a long dog like face that emerged from
the dirt and growled at them. "Sauur."
"Oh, shit," he said as he fumbled for the gun in his belt as he released
her leg. She cried out in terror only to have her screams muffled by the
vine that covered her mouth and nose.
Carrot rolled and looked up as Jones shook in the grip of the plant
monster, a sickening popping noise filled his ears and he realized that
the creature was slowly crushing her body.
His hands fumbled along his pants and she brushed away dirt and leaves
searching for his weapon. Finally he gripped the handle and pointed the
barrel at one of the vines firing two clean shots into the protrusion
severing it at almost point blank range.
The creature screamed in pain and rage as it dropped the woman to the
ground, she lay there unmoving as he staggered to his feet. The remaining
vine slammed into his body and he hit the side of a tree knocking the
wind out of his body. His vision began to blur as the reopened wound
poured blood into his eye; he struggled back to his feet only to feel the
stinging whip-like protrusion strike him again almost sending him back to
the ground. He raised the gun and pointed it at the creature as he jumped
aside to avoid the next strike and squeezed the trigger. The report was
nothing more than a dry click and Carrot cursed as his hand dropped down
to his pocket feeling desperately for another clip.
The thing didn't hesitate though as it lunged forward and bit into his
arm pulling him to the ground and shaking him violently from side to
side.
He cried out in pain as he started to black out yet again. A loud crack
reached his ears and he felt himself slump to the ground again as pain
burned up his arm. Slowly and painfully he turned his head to see the
thing lying here still with his arm still firmly in its jaws. There was a
clean hole in its forehead that oozed black. He laughed as he felt hands
on his body again rolling him over and gently removing his arm from the
thing's grip.
Jackson stood over him smiling warmly. "You'd better quit getting hurt
kid, we'll have to cart you out of here in pieces if this keeps up."
Carrot laughed and let the darkness take him.
About fifteen minutes later the group sat outside the woods near the
edge. Ash seemed notably calmer as he tended to Carrots wounds. The man
was still unconscious, but the bleeding had stopped fairly quickly.
"We're running out of shirts for him," said West as he sat dressed in a
white undershirt that looked out of place on him.
"We're all gonna feel like hell tomorrow, but he'll get the worst of it.
Jones here has a few bruises and maybe a cracked rib or two. Overall I'm
surprised we all lived through that," commented Jackson in a rather light
tone. Neither one of the pair was awake at the moment and they would
probably stay out for a while.
"Well, we should hit the future area tomorrow, what's left of it
anyway," West peered towards the populated areas and saw that all of them
now glowed with a familiar orange light. Occasionally a roar would float
over the treetops towards them, but it all seemed pretty far away at the
moment.
The psychiatrist placed his sunglasses on despite the darkness and
frowned. "I get the feeling it's gonna be a long night.
Kon stared out the window at the creature that stared into his office.
He was easily five stories up and yet the beast still had to bend down to
see him through the window. "So, this is how it ends?" he was remarkably
calm as he looked into the creatures gaping mouth as it bared it's teeth,
that alone took up the whole window. He turned away and walked towards
the elevator in the back of the room as the terrified fat man sat at the
desk looking out the window in shock. "Good bye Genson," said the old man
as the doors closed around him.
The man turned around and watched the elevator doors close in shock
before he stood up. "What? What the hell are you doing!? Get me out of
here!" he screamed as he rushed from around the desk and tried to run to
the elevator.
A massive fist slammed through the wall overcoming him easily as it
closed around his massive bulk. The man screamed in terror, a high
pitched sound that grated on the sensitive ears of the beast.
It watched him scream in its fist for a moment and seemed to grin.
Genson looked on as it opened his mouth and slowly pulled him towards it.
A moment later the scream stopped abruptly as blood splattered to the
ground at the giant ape's feet.
TBC...
Whee! Total Chaos.
Carrot is near death, Jones is injured, and Hugo is dead. All that and
things haven't even really started going yet. Next time the group finally
reaches the future area of Tokyo, but what will be waiting for them?
There are six Saiyans known to be running around now and Chaos has
completely swallowed Nerima Park, will the survivors reach the docks in
time to escape? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!
A few notes if you will...
I know I made it seem as if Carrot might have died in the last part, but
I kind of need him for a few things yet. He is as expendable as anyone
else though in the end.
I added Ash to the group because A: I needed someone who knows exactly
what's going on to explain a few things about the island. B: I need
cannon fodder, but it's not necessarily him either. Having an extra guy
around can let me kill of some other cast members if I want, after all.
There's always someone to take their place.
Yes, I like the idea of carnivorous Pokemon. It gave me a few liberties
I might not have been able to take otherwise.
Ok that's all.
C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com
URL: Http://www.geocites.com/tokyo/fountain/3203