Having tons of fun playing FFIX, but not so much that I'd forget about
my fans!
There's been a lot of tragedy in the lives of myself and my friends
since we went through the portal. Of course, if you asked them, they
would tell you that I had no idea. Well, Ash might remember me in his
precious few lucid moments, and poor Misty would burst into tears at the
mere mention of anything having to do with the other world. Out of all
of us, the tragedies hit her the worst - on the outside. But I can see
that my friends are in pain, and it hurts me deeply. I can't bring Gary
back to life, or restore Misty's condition, or bring Ash back to us.
That's why, even though I appear to be the only one untouched by the
curse of that other world, I was cursed just as much as they were. In
fact, even though they'll probably never realize it, I carry the
greatest burden of all...
POKEMON: The Portal - Chapter 5
For the second time in two days, Ash had taken something I said the
wrong way and become so offended that he stormed out of the house.
However, the last time, he'd stayed away overnight and come back looking
like a well-done steak. I knew better than to let him run off a second
time, and so I followed him, leaving a trail so that Misty could track
us. I'd expected Ash to run off into the woods, the same way he'd gone
last time, but he surprised me by heading straight for the city. I
wondered briefly if he knew that I was following him and he wanted to
lose me in the crowd, but he made no attempt to shake the pursuit.
I grew even more perplexed when he finally reached the city proper
and made a Beedrill line for the Pokemon Center. I was several seconds
behind him as I entered the building, but I caught up with him at the
desk, where he had handed two of his Pokeballs over to the Nurse Joy.
"Ash, I need to talk to you - " I began.
"Skip it, Brock," he interrupted. "I've got important business, and
you're only going to try to stop me. I appreciate your concern, but this
is something I have to do."
Joy smiled at me as she handed Ash his Pokeballs. "Hi, cutie," she
teased me. It was a joke among all of the Nurse Joys throughout the
country; I'd always tried to talk them into going out with me before I
married Suzy, so now that I was no longer available, they liked to
pretend to hit on me. I wasn't in the mood for playing just then,
though. Ash was already halfway to the door. I ran after him and grabbed
his shoulder, but he pushed me away and stepped outside.
By the time I got out the door, I'd lost sight of him. I knew Misty
would be furious that I'd let him get away. Fortunately, I was spared
her wrath, as Ash happened to be in the wrong place at the right time to
receive it on my behalf.
"Ash, don't leave me!" came the shout from behind the building. If
Ash replied, I didn't hear it, because the next voice I heard was
Misty's again. "Don't you care about my feelings at all?"
I rounded the corner in time to catch Ash's response. "Why should I?
You don't seem to care about mine."
Misty slapped him in the face, causing Pikachu to nearly fall off of
Ash's shoulder. "That is so not true! I do care! I love you more than
anything else, and it hurts me when you leave without even saying
goodbye! I'm going to follow you no matter where you go!"
This time, it was Ash who raised his hand to slap Misty, but his arm
stopped in mid-strike, and tears welled from his eyes as he summoned the
self-restraint to hold back. His fury quickly exploded in a different
way. "Don't you dare follow me!" he shouted. "Either of you!" After
fixing me with one last cold stare, he turned and ran into the forest,
quickly disappearing into the trees.
Without a word, Misty and I both chased after him as he fled, not
knowing or caring where he was leading us. He moved quickly, and with a
definite purpose - if not for the fact that Pikachu's yellow fur stood
out quite clearly against the dull hues of the forest, we would
certainly have lost him. But finally, he stopped in a clearing to catch
his breath, and I grabbed him to prevent him from running away again.
Surprisingly, he didn't struggle at all.
"Welcome to the other world," he said in a strange tone.
"What are you talking about?" I asked. But even as I said it, I
realized that something was wrong with the surroundings. The sky was
much darker than it had been before, and the trees weren't the same as
the ones in the Viridian Forest.
Misty voiced my suspicion in a wavering voice. "Ash... where are
we?" Before Ash could reply, a hissing noise cut him short. It sounded
as if the sound was coming from every direction at once. Misty shivered,
and I felt a similar chill run down my spine.
"Wherever we are," I said, "I want to be somewhere else."
"I'm afraid we don't have that option," said Ash, as a strange
creature emerged from the forest. It had the head and neck of a snake,
the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion. Misty screamed at the
very sight of it, and I felt my knees go weak. I looked over at Ash,
expecting an 'I told you so' look, but was both relieved and
disappointed to see that he seemed just as surprised as I was. "Compared
to this, the werewolves were ordinary," he quipped, his attempt at humor
doing little to add color to his ashen face.
"A-Ash..." Misty's voice sounded strained. "There are more of those
things over there!" I pointed my Pokedex at one of the creatures, hoping
to learn something.
"This is not a Pokemon," sang the always-chirpy voice of the
Pokedex. "No information is available."
"They must be Triesha's sentries," said Ash. "They've been guarding
this spot and waiting until the portal opened again."
"What can we do?" asked Misty, holding Ash around the waist and
trying not to look at the creatures. Ash gently pushed her away and
grabbed a Pokeball.
"We fight." He threw the Pokeball to the ground. "Charizard, go!"
The creatures backed up several steps as Charizard appeared, then
steeled their nerves and attacked. Charizard swung its massive wings at
the creatures, keeping them at bay while it brought its claws to bear.
"Don't just stand there!" Ash shouted at us. "You've got Pokemon! Use
them!"
Even though the reality of the situation had yet to hit me, I knew
that I had to act. "Graveler, go!" My champion Pokemon raised its
massive fists and pounded on the nearest creature. Nearby, Misty's
Starmie emerged from its Pokeball and began to blast the attackers with
water. I caught a brief glimpse of yellow as Pikachu darted between the
creatures, using her Agility to avoid them. The creatures were
temporarily distracted by our Pokemon and weren't attacking us... for
the moment.
A scorpion tail swung down and speared Graveler squarely on the
head. Graveler simply grabbed the tail and ripped it right off of the
creature's body. As the creature tottered away, minus one tail and its
delicate sense of balance, Graveler wielded the severed tail as a
weapon. "That's the way, Graveler!" I cheered.
"All right Starmie!" shouted Misty. Three of the creatures to my
right were dripping wet and surrounded with a puddle of water.
Ash nodded. "Now it's my turn. Pikachu, Thundershock!" Pikachu's
attack was amplified by the water, making it strong enough to cook the
creatures alive. They began to emit a horrible smelling smoke as they
writhed in their death throes. "They're not immune to magic! Charizard,
Flamethrower!" Charizard's flames did a slightly more efficient job of
roasting the creatures, keeping the smell to a minimum.
"Graveler, Rock Throw!" I shouted, determined to get a piece of the
action. Graveler launched huge boulders at the creatures, smashing in
their snakelike faces and crippling their legs. With its other arm, it
continued to lash out with the stinger. When it pierced one of the
immobilized creatures, the stricken foe fell dead instantly. Within
minutes of the ambush, not a single one of the creatures was still
alive, and our side had taken no injuries.
"Brock, is your Graveler okay?" asked Ash. "I saw it get hit with
that stinger..."
"It's a Ground type, so the poison doesn't have much effect on it."
But I found my real concern harder to express. "Ash, - I'm sorry. I
should have believed you."
Misty bowed her head. "I'm sorry too. I doubted you even though I
knew you wouldn't lie to me."
Ash shrugged. "We all have apologies to make. I took it a little
hard when you guys wouldn't believe me. I should have expected you to be
skeptical. I know I would have been." He gestured at the pile of corpses
that surrounded us. "It's hard to believe something that you haven't
seen, but now that you've seen it, you can't believe that you ever
didn't believe it... I should have invited you back with me before, but
I wasn't thinking too clearly. I'm glad you followed me, despite the way
I was acting."
"Ash," I spoke up, "we're your friends, and we care about you. We
wouldn't let you run off and possibly hurt yourself because you're
upset. And now that we're here, we're going to help you rescue your
friend."
"I can't ask you to do that. This is my problem, and you'd only be
putting yourselves in danger."
"We owe you this much," I insisted.
Ash's eyes scanned the horizon. "We don't have much time. Follow
me." He set off down a path that led into the forest, recalling
Charizard as he went. Misty and I pulled out our Pokeballs to recall our
own Pokemon, but Ash told us to keep one Pokemon at the ready. "If
anyone asks, tell them it's your familiar. That will raise a lot less
questions." Misty kept her Starmie out; while I, not wanting to take
chances with the strange poison, recalled my Graveler and sent out my
Vulpix.
We wound our way through the forest past a variety of trees and
animals. A few of the larger carnivores tried to threaten us, but
Misty's Starmie spritzed them with water and scared them away. Those
that weren't intimidated received a non-lethal electric shock, which
quickly convinced them to find another meal. Ash pointed to a thorn bush
at the side of the road. "That bush used to be a woman," he said.
Misty's eyes grew wide, and she latched tightly onto Ash's waist.
"Are you serious?"
"If you can believe in a world of magic, then believe it. That was
Dominic's girlfriend, before an evil enchanter cast a spell on her and
turned her into a plant." He returned Misty's embrace. "We have to get
into town before the storm comes, but after that, I want you to go back
through the portal. I can't stand the thought of something like this
happening to you."
"And you think I can?" sobbed Misty, holding back tears. "I'd rather
spend the rest of my life as a plant knowing that you're safe than be
safe myself but not knowing what's happened to you."
"Misty..." Ash began, but Misty was determined to be heard out.
"Haven't we been together for long enough? We've been through danger
before, and we always got through it together! Even if you are the
world's second greatest Pokemon master, and Brock and I are only ex-Gym
Leaders, even if you think I'm weak because I'm a woman and I have only
one type of Pokemon, even if Brock's specialty is breeding and not
fighting - we're still a team, and we stick together through anything!"
The fire in Misty's eyes had evaporated all of her tears during the
speech, but Ash's eyes were damp enough for both of them. "You're right,
Misty. We'll all go and rescue Dominic together!"
I hated to break up the tender moment, but something that Ash had
said was nagging me. "Ash, didn't you say something about a storm?"
Ash looked up into the sky. "It's almost here!" he shouted. I
glanced up and saw the rapidly approaching dark clouds. "Hurry! This
way!" Ash continued down the path, and Misty and I were close behind. We
still saw the forest animals from time to time, but all of them were too
busy fleeing from the impending storm to attack us.
Finally, we turned off of the path and onto a gravel road that led
shortly into a small village. As raindrops began to patter on the thatch
rooftops, Ash banged on a door, shouting for help. His shout turned into
a scream of pain as a raindrop landed on his arm. The skin broke from
the raindrop's impact, and blood sprayed from the wound. Misty cringed.
The door opened and an old woman gasped at the sight of us.
"Quickly, come inside!" We gratefully accepted the offer, and were soon
safely inside the house. The sound of the rain beating on the roof grew
louder as the rain fell with ferocious intensity, and I knew that we
would never have survived outside in such a storm. The old woman placed
a patch over the wound on Ash's arm, then inspected me and Misty in
turn. Finally, she turned her attention to our Pokemon.
"My arm has gone numb, but I think it's healing," announced Ash.
"What's in this patch?"
"An ancient family recipe, nearly as old as I am," the old woman
chuckled. "Such unusual familiars, not like any animal I've ever
seen..." She produced another patch and placed it over a hole in
Starmie's shell that none of us had noticed. "The three of you aren't
from around here, are you?"
"No, we're not," I said.
"We came from another world through a strange portal," explained
Ash. "I'm a friend of the magician Dominic."
The old woman looked up at this remark. "You know Dominic? He was
supposed to arrive in Urtroa yesterday, but he never got here. Do you
know what happened to him?"
"He was captured by the sorceress Triesha," said Ash. "She was after
me, but Dominic bought me time to escape. I've come back to try to save
him."
"I've heard of this sorceress. You'll need very powerful magic to
defeat her."
"We don't have any magic," I explained. "All we have is our
familiars."
"I think we can trust this woman," said Ash. "They're not familiars,
really. They're Pokemon. We catch them in the wild in our world and call
them out when we need them to fight. They have attacks that are like
magic, but they can also attack with their bodies as well."
The woman picked up Pikachu and stared at her critically. "They
don't look very threatening. Are you sure they'll be enough to defeat
the sorceress?"
Pikachu's skin darkened with anger. "Pika..." she threatened, sparks
flying from her cheek pouches.
"Pikachu, no!" shouted Ash. "Your attacks are a lot more dangerous
in this world, and she's an old woman!"
"Ash, that's so rude!" Misty berated him. But the old woman just
chuckled to herself.
"It's true, I'm very old. But these old bones of mine have been
through a lot, and I'm not as frail as I look." She handed Pikachu back
to Ash.
"Pika pika," murmured Pikachu darkly.
"Our Pokemon's special attacks won't be enough to defeat the
sorceress," I said, hoping to diplomatically steer the conversation back
to a safer topic. "But Ash thinks that their physical attacks might be
able to break through her magical protection."
"Ash?" she asked, turning to Ash. "Is that your name?"
"We forgot to introduce ourselves!" realized Misty. "Where are my
manners? That's Ash, my name is Misty, and this is Brock."
"My name is Leothra," said the old woman. "I'm the village healer,
and a grandmother of seven. I'm not used to seeing new faces in the
village; otherwise, I would have remembered to introduce myself."
"Not many people travel through this village?" asked Misty.
Leothra shook her head. "The magical traps are everywhere now. It's
dangerous to stray even slightly from the paths. And the paths are
guarded by fierce creatures, many controlled by powerful magic users."
"We had to fight our way through some of them to get here," I said.
"If you can fight those creatures, you may be able to reach the
sorceress' palace alive."
"Please," begged Ash, "can you tell us where to find the sorceress?"
"It is not far from here, but the path is treacherous. You should at
least take a guide from the village, one who knows some magic to protect
you."
"When the rain lets up, we'll do that," said Ash. "Everyone get some
rest, because we have a dangerous journey ahead of us." Ash was more
right than he knew - two of us would not be returning from that journey.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to "Whose Line is it Anyway?" where we make things up as we go
along, whether they make sense or badger.
JOHNNY BRAVO: *sigh* The only woman I ever really loved... and she's
gone. I wonder if I'll ever get over - Hey! Nuggets!
JACKIE CHAN: Oh, sorry. I broke your spy camera! (pause) SPY CAMERA?!
My webpage: http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~katinamp