Nerima Park
Carrot staggered beside West as best he could as the group moved towards
the remains of the villages that once dotted the valley only a few hours
before. The sky above was almost black with smoke and ashes fell around
the island like a black snow. The travelers had cloth handkerchiefs tied
around their faces as they walked morbidly through the remains of the
Pokemon village around them.
Ash stopped and looked at a sign in front of him and sighed heavily. "No
good, it's been destroyed."
Carrot looked up at him and frowned, he was not well at all. West set
him down again and swallowed as he felt the air around him feel cool
where he had been in contact with the man despite the flames that
surrounded them. His arm had swollen and turned a nasty shade of blue and
the scar on his face was obviously infected badly now. Still, he somehow
continued on trying his best not to slow the group down.
Ash looked at him and frowned. "I didn't want to tell you, just in case
we got here and found this. You have about three days to live at most."
Carrot froze in place; Jones jumped towards the boy and lifted him by
his shirt. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Ash looked away from her in shame; "Venasaur is venomous."
Carrot looked down at his arm and sighed, "So, that's it then."
Jones threw the boy to the ground and snarled at him angrily. "You could
have told us that last night you little creep!"
"Why? So we could try and get it from the village while the Saiyans were
running around? We'd just have gotten ourselves killed if we did. He did
the right thing, I'd hate to get my hopes up and then find this in the
morning anyway." The man seemed remarkably calm; it was something he had
almost been expecting.
"We might still find something, there were other villages," said West,
his voice had suddenly become hoarse. "We'll dig around a bit, who knows,
we might get lucky."
"We don't have that kind of time and you know it, if we're found by one
of the Saiyans we're dead," said Carrot firmly. "I won't have all of you
getting yourselves killed just to save me."
"Maybe if we can get to the boat in time we can save him," said Jackson
with his back turned to the group. "It's our best chance, besides, we
don't know if this antidote was even made for humans. Kon said these
things aren't human, they just look that way. If we use it on him it
might just kill him."
"But we don't know when the boat is supposed to arrive, or even if it's
coming at all," pointed out Jones. "Our best hope for him is to see if we
can find that antidote here."
Carrot growled at them. "Look at me damn it! I'm already dead! If the
poison doesn't kill me, the blood loss, or the infection will! We need to
get moving I'll help you as long as I can, but I won't let you stay here
any longer. You have no idea what you're up against." He felt a sharp
pain against his cheek and looked towards Jones in shock.
She stood with her hand still poised after the slap. "I've seen men far
more gone than you survive, if we can get that antidote, you have a
chance, that's enough for me." She focused her attention on Ash. "Where
is this other medical center, the Saiyans might not have been very
thorough."
"The closest one is about two miles east," replied the boy as he pointed
towards a nearby column of smoke.
"Let's get moving," said Jackson as he pulled Carrot over his shoulder.
The man said nothing in protest, but glared at his companions angrily.
It took them roughly an hour to reach the remains of the next town. A
few scattered bodies littered the streets; many of them burned along the
sidewalk or hung out of buildings. The sent of charred human flesh hung
in the air causing Jones to throw up violently along the side of the
road. They stopped for a moment looking at the carnage in terror; it was
a hundred times worse than the last village could even hope to come close
too.
West simply stood calmly watching. "My god, the butchered them."
Carrot uttered a small laugh from his place; Jackson had set him down
against a piece of brick wall that had once been a building. "You don't
know the half of it." He continued to chuckle and started to whistle a
tune to himself.
Jones frowned and stared at him darkly. He was giggling madly every few
moments and whistling the theme to Jurassic Park. "Is he all right?"
West turned to her and smiled grimly. "No," he turned towards Ash and
pat him on the shoulder getting the boy's attention. "Is this normal?"
The boy shook his head, "I think it may have something to do with his
injuries, he's got more than just a bite you know."
Ash walked onward leaving them behind and stopped in front of a large
building, or the remains of one. He sighed heavily and turned to face
them. "It's over, he's dead. The Saiyans knocked out the medical
facilities on purpose."
The group turned back towards Carrot and kneeled beside him. He had
grown silent a few moments before and hung his head down in exhaustion.
West put his hand on the man's shoulder and sighed. Carrot gave no
indication that he had heard. "I'm sorry, we tried." His hand pulled back
suddenly and he stood with a smile on his face that seemed strangely out
of place.
"What's going on?" said Jones as she looked at the men in confusion.
Jackson punched the wall the man was leaning against and put his hand on
top of his head. "Damn." He slowly pulled the tattered remains of his
jacket off and hung it over the man's body.
"Oh, no. Oh god not again!" screamed Jones as hysterics took over her.
Jackson pulled the handgun he had in the front of his pants out and
cocked it checking the ammunition. He walked over to West and handed it
to him.
Ash looked at the scene in a cold emotionless state; he had liked the
man, but not known him for very long. After so many deaths it just became
a normal part of his life, the pokemon valley was probably the most
dangerous area of the park. It was the only place he knew of that the
human population was hunted regularly. He had his friends to protect him,
the small balls at his side. Only three remained after the turbulent
times in his past, back when the gym leaders had died. Only two Nurse
Joys had survived the massacre, and now it seems they were gone as well.
He tried to find the tears, but they would not come to him, perhaps off
the island he would find them again. He had to get away; all that was
left to hold him was just a barren wasteland now.
The group walked on silently and exited the village; the flames behind
them, coupled with the howling wind of the valley masked any sound that
might have been made among them.
Finally West chose to speak up. "Without him, we won't know what to
expect ahead."
"Ash has lived on the island, he probably has some knowledge, right
kid?" said Jackson as he turned back and offered a half-hearted smile to
the boy.
The boy merely nodded, "I know a little, enough to get us to the docks;
we don't interact much with the other areas, it was kind of against the
rules."
"It isn't any longer?" asked Jones.
"The saiyans are loose, there are no rules now," replied the boy with a
shrug.
"I kind of expected them to be more active, I haven't seen any sign of
them other than what happened last night," commented West as he glanced
around.
"Be glad of that, my guess is they're busy over on the other side of the
island where the real humans tend to stay," said Ash coldly. "It won't be
long until we see them if we don't get out of here."
"That would make sense, I just hope we make it by tonight; the full moon
lasts a couple of more days yet," said Jones.
Before them the steadily growing remains of the skyscrapers of Future
Tokyo stood in burning ruins. They stopped and stared at the spectacle
for a long moment before moving towards the shattered mini city.
As they neared the outskirts of town the road became paved, in almost an
instant they went from a dirty path onto what looked like a super
highway. The group stopped cold as a figure emerged from the burning
remains of various motor vehicles. It stood there silently and rose from
the ground where it had been seated, waiting for them. Slowly it stalked
forward, remaining only a silhouette in the burning flames. Finally it
came to a stop about ten yards ahead of them and raised its arm. A snarl
apparent on its face as it glared at them hatefully.
Jackson and West both had their weapons trained on it, but refrained
from firing for some strange reason. "What are you doing? Kill it!"
screamed Jones in frustration and fear.
"No, it's not a saiyan," he said simply.
The shadow spoke. "I-I'm supposed to kill you..." it slowly lowered it's
arm. The group stared in shock, as its definitely female voice became
clear. "But why bother?"
The group backed away defensively as she stepped into the light. Her
face was covered in black soot with her short brown hair matted against
her head with blood and sweat. Her body armor had once been blue, but it
was torn and broken. One leg was missing revealing a body suit of some
sort underneath, the top torso had also been halfway destroyed leaving
her left arm and head exposed. Her eyes held a wild anger and a deep
sadness as she stared at them and fought with her emotions and what she
felt was duty.
Jones stepped forward causing her to jump back and raise her armored arm
at her pointing the barrel of the gun inside at her face. "What
happened?"
The woman shuddered visibly and fell to her knees clutching her head as
she finally gave in and started to sob. "There all dead! They're all
dead! They're all dead..." she repeated the words over and over with her
voice growing softer and weaker each time.
Ash stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We're getting
out of here, off the island, are you in?"
The humans looked over at him and said nothing. West gave an approving
nod, while Jackson was uncertain, he felt like he should be angry with
the boy. Somehow he knew he would not be.
"Off?" she asked him as she suddenly stopped crying and looked towards
the group. "I'm supposed to stop you though, I'd like to leave though..."
she tore her gaze away from the burning city and looked towards the
group. "If I betray him though, he'll..."
"What? Release the saiyans?" said Ash coldly as he stood and backed away
from the woman as she knelt there on the ground.
"No, he'll never get what's coming to him," she said as her arm gave an
audible click as the weapon inside came to life momentarily. "I'll help
you get to the boat, it should be here in a day or two, our section
usually has to deal with the imports since we're the closest. I'm staying
on the island though, when I find Kon, he'll wish the saiyans had killed
him."
"How do you know they didn't?" asked Ash carefully.
"I'm not willing to take that chance," said the woman coldly as she
tugged at her armor. "We managed to take one of the monkeys down when
morning came. That's when Sylia died, the others didn't live through the
night."
"Who are you?" asked West calmly.
"The name is Priss, and those monkeys fucked with the wrong person last
night. If I can't get them at night, I'll lay low and hunt them down
during the day. They are strong and fast, but they ain't bulletproof, we
found that out this morning." She gave them a dark smile and turned
towards the city leading them into the flames and shadows, not really
caring if they followed or not.
Nurse Joy stood in the flaming ruins of the Pokecenter and glanced
around. Behind her a few citizens emerged from the floor. She had it
installed after the monkey had come all those years ago. Now her
cautiousness had paid off in the end. She walked out into the city and
frowned at the total destruction that surrounded the few survivors who
had been with her in the end. She walked through the streets slowly
taking it all in, the others had no expressions on their faces as they
slowly started to rebuild their homes and sift through the ashes already.
They would work until the town was rebuilt; stopping only to see to the
essentials of life, checking on crops would begin tomorrow. If they
survived that long, they were mindless creatures mostly. Nurse Joy still
liked caring for them though, even if she only had her counterpart and
the Ketchum boy to speak with any longer. In the back of her mind she
thought about how much of a shame it was he would never get any older
than he was. She froze as she came upon a fresh body, it was covered in a
jacket and leaning against a wall. She walked over and frowned, pulling
the makeshift shroud from on top of his head she peered at him. He wasn't
from the village, "So, they got through? We weren't supposed to let that
happen. Ash must have failed, poor boy," a small twinge of sympathy went
out the boy. She had liked him; he was a good-hearted person. She stared
down at the traveler and sighed heavily before turning and motioning for
some of the others to move him.
She froze as she saw something fall from his pocket as they moved him, it
was a thin black object, a clip from the gun he had been carrying. That
meant the travelers were armed, they had not been told of this before.
Still, it meant that Ash probably had a quick death, she was thankful for
that if nothing else.
After she picked it up she noticed something strange on the man's shirt,
a small pin no larger than a dime flashed for a moment and she froze. It
was Ash's boulder badge; she looked the man up and down for a moment
before turning away with a shocked expression on her face. "Ash is still
alive perhaps? She turned back towards him and looked again as they
covered him with a sheet and placed him onto the cart with the remains of
the townsfolk.
The trip through Future Tokyo was surprisingly uneventful, a few
scattered survivors would walk by in a daze on occasion, but it was
obvious that most of the battle capable clones had been killed the night
before. Priss moved over to one particular body and spat down on it as
she kicked it over with her armored leg.
Jackson noted that she'd been having a little difficulty moving with an
almost six inch difference between her left and right leg, he had been
trying not to say anything to her but she noticed his gaze.
"I'd rather be a little comfortable with a little more armor if you know
what I mean," she said coolly. Her demeanor had changed considerably over
the past few hours. She was still mostly unpleasant and kept her emotions
closed up, but she still seemed more cheerful somehow, almost as if she
was enjoying the trip through the city, remembering the battles.
"Who is it?" asked Jones as she tentatively stepped over next to the
body.
"The Saiyan, it took almost two hundred rounds to bring him down. That
was after he reverted back to this. Most of us didn't even realize what
he was until he changed back the next day. I wonder what we did to make
him release these things again?" Priss snarled the last part angrily.
West chuckled to himself at this. "He didn't release them, they tricked
him. He had something set up so they wouldn't change, but they broke it.
When they turned into this they escaped."
She turned towards Jackson and frowned. "Is this true?"
"It's just a theory of ours, but yes. That is what most likely happened,
especially since we saw explosions coming from that area last night
before all this started."
Priss glared at it and flipped it over so that it was face up. "I don't
care, there's no excuse for this. Now he can't hold these things over our
heads like he did before." The saiyan had long black hair that ran down
to the middle of it's back, it's chest was nothing more than a red stain
now where it had been shot multiple times with a rather large caliber gun
of some kind.
Jones looked down at the creature in horror; it didn't look all that
menacing at the moment almost like a man close up. It was muscular to a
ridiculous degree, but still somehow it didn't seem dangerous or anywhere
near as evil as they seemed to be. Her face was roughly pulled away from
the thing as Priss stared her down hard.
"Don't you dare pity this thing, wait until you see one awake before you
try wasting your feelings on it." She turned away and started down the
street once again.
About two hours later they walked out of the city. The group quietly
started into the wooded area along a paved road that was much smaller
than the highway that led to it in the first place.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Jackson as he pulled out his
handgun and glanced around nervously.
"Put that away, we're going back," said West suddenly with a haunted
look on his face. He turned back up the road and started walking again.
"What? What the hell are you talking about?" snapped Jones in shock as
she ran up and stopped him.
"Look for yourself," replied the man as he took her by the arm and led
her back to where he had been standing moments before. He pointed down
the road and she gasped, there was the dock, nothing more than a smoking
crater of splintered wood and ashes.
"No, not this!" she sobbed as she buried her face in the man's shoulder.
Jackson took in a deep breath and looked back at Ash and Priss. "I'm
sorry, it looks like we can't leave after all."
Ash nodded and sat down by the road looking off into the trees while
Jones cried in West's arms. Priss merely smiled and looked at the ashes
coldly. "I'm sorry," despite her smile Jackson could tell she was
sincere.
"We'll find another way," he said simply. "Until then, we'll just have
to survive."
"That might not be easy," warned Priss in a dangerous tone.
"What else can we do?" said the man with a shrug.
"We could go back to the pokemon area, humans usually avoid that part of
the park, and the Saiyans killed everyone else. They might not look
there," suggested Ash.
"True, we could be safe there for a while if we're careful, and if they
don't wander into that area for a while...or..." said Priss as she looked
thoughtful for a moment.
"Or what?" said West skeptically.
"Or we could go for the visitors center and try and get our hands on the
radio there," finished the woman with a dangerous smile. "If we try to
wait it out in the Pokemon area, we'll eventually be found."
"She's right," admitted Ash.
"Jackson noticed everyone was looking at him for the answer. He sighed
heavily and shook his head. "When did I become in charge?" He muttered
under his breath before looking back at the group again. "Our best shot
is the visitors center, who the hell knows, we might take some of those
bastards down with us."
Jones smiled despite herself as she stepped away from West. Once the
focus had been on survival alone, only a few minutes ago; now it seemed
even the leader of the group had all but given up hope on even that small
comfort. "If I'm gonna go, I'm gonna make sure of that," she announced
firmly.
Jackson smirked, "If I live through this somehow, I'm going into a nice
safe profession. Like Egyptian Archeology or something."
They turned back up the road and started towards the city once again.
TBC...
Wheee! I'm dead now. Never done that before in a fic, some of you may be
wondering what the big Nurse Joy payoff might be, and why Ash said
nothing while they where in town. This will be explained. I like Priss
too, now I get to play with her character some. Especially an emotionally
wrecked, bent on holy vengeance Priss.
Next time: The group tries to make it to the visitor's center, but the
carnage they find might be a little too much for them to take. They
finally meet one of the Saiyans as well.
C&C to: Carrotglace@juno.com
URL: Http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/fountain/3203