Ace Sanchez presents: Pokemon Master Part 12

It is the beginning of the end ...
________________________________________________________________________


Eyes. Glacier-blue eyes staring. Staring at her. Demanding, expecting.
The tall blond-haired, bearded man that was her father stood before her,
while her dark-haired mother sat to the side avoiding her gaze.

"Being a part of this gym means training for a mastery of water."

She looked away.

"Our family has always trained under the Cerulean banner. Are you going
to be the one member of our line to selfishly abandon tradition?"

Uncomfortable silence.

"Well?"

When the answer came it was almost a whisper. "I-I just don't feel the
same about ... the waters as... everyone else. Are you gonna punish me
for that?"

"If it's not water, then what do you feel an affinity for?"

"I ... I don't know," she mumbled.

"If it weren't for Misty, I'd think you weren't even one of the family,"
her father stated, shaking his head. "But lately you've even begun to
influence even *her* a little. It's got to stop."

Her eyes narrowed, but inside she was hurting. "And maybe I don't even
wanna be one of the stupid Waterflowers ..."

He sucked in his breath and shot to his feet, eyes as cold as
frozen water. But before he could do anything, the doorbell chimed.

"You think it's the other girls, back from swim practise?" her mother
asked doubtfully.

"No, too early." Surprisingly, her father smiled a little before leaving
to get the door, and the girl felt more than a little disconcerted.

Minutes later he came back but with an older man in a white lab-coat that
matched his hair.

"This is her, Professor," he said, pointing her out.

The white-coated man looked at her and his brown eyes seemed interested.
"I see. Well, young lady, my name is Professor Oak and you're a very
interesting case..."

Blink.

...

And Valdera awoke with the suffocating feel of helplessness within her
throat. The futon below her was damp with her sweat despite the coldness
of the dead air within the old room. Outside, through the cracked window
on the opposite wall, the city wind rattled the glass and shook the
crumbling walls of the deserted multi-level apartment building as if it
were a house of cards. Plaster splintered from the ceiling and fell with
soft thuds upon the wooden floor with intermittent shakes. No surprise
though, as the whole block of these apartment buildings in this part of
the city had been condemned for so long, no one even remembered it as
being anything else.

Her breathing was harsh, laboured, before finally she began to relax and
let out the pent up aguish. She brushed a lock of blonde hair from her
eyes. She was no longer a young defenceless girl to be pushed around by
everyone. Never again.

Nonetheless, she could feel a different kind of push now. 

Mistaria.

But she would take care of that soon enough.

A sudden rasping chuckle broke the silence of the room, startling her.
"Be quiet girl and maybe we'll let you live after we're done."

Valdera sat up on the futon and watched as two large men in ragged
clothing fully entered the room from the half-open door. Silly of her not
to have detected them sooner but the nightmares always left her
vulnerable. Though that was no excuse - she knew what the area was like
around here - even with the supposed mass gathering of the people at
the palace all ready to celebrate the reforming of the world. With no
regular patrol, the old housing sector had become a nest for the
criminals and rapists. But of course that was also the reason she had
chosen this place as their rendezvous. She wanted no League interference
when her sister finally arrived - and arrive she would. The curiosity
would bring her - she knew her sister as much as she knew herself.

But first ... some entertainment. She smiled slowly.

Their eyes were bright with lust as they looked upon her and she
realised that she still wore no clothes. She didn't care - she had found
out long ago that her body was just another weapon she could use. Though
frankly, scum like this didn't deserve even the sight of it. So she
pushed herself to her feet and the gloominess of the room was suddenly
extinguished as she let a bright light flare out from her body - as bright
as the sun before it had become shrouded in the shadow surrounding the
earth.

The men fell back, crying in surprise, blinded, stumbling backward like
bugs startled out of their nest by an upturned rock. Stepping forward,
she tossed her loose hair back over a slim shoulder with a quick motion
of her head and gestured her hand over her body. At the movement,
vapour-like light formed her thin white robes over her skin to conceal
her nakedness.

"She-She's a Master!" one of them exclaimed, now in total fear when
before they had been smug, powerful over an apparently weak woman. Still
blinking from the blinding light, they pushed at each other as they each
tried to retreat through the door at the same time.

Valdera waved open her right hand and strands of light-like chains
erupted vertically from the floor blocking their exit, weaving together a
web of entanglement. "Leaving so soon?" she asked with an evil twist on
her lips. "Tell the Forbidden in Hell I said hi." A ball of
brightest-white electricity crackled briefly in her palm before she sent
it hurtling at the back of the nearest man's head with a flick of her
slender wrist. There was a sound not unlike a popping watermelon and the
headless body toppled over to clutch jerkily at his friend's back. The
remaining man stopped clawing at the light chains and turned around,
screaming when he saw what she had done to his companion. Like a weak
woman, he screamed till his voice turned hoarse.

"Oh, shut up," she said as she walked over and kicked his loser friend's
dead body off of him with her bare foot. He immediately fell to silence
though his mouth was still gaping open and gasping for breath as if he
were a dying fish. She put her hands on her hips and stared down at him
with a tilt to her head. "Tell your other friends that tonight this area
is off limits," she said softly. She shifted her glacier gaze to his
late-friend meaningfully. "And you should know that people aren't what
they seem."

She left him cowering there as her form dissipated to light and
drifted outside down on to the street by the entrance of the apartment
building. She reformed herself. The air was murky, like a fog stained
with shadows, almost as if the clouds had sunk from the heavens. A slight
wind blew past ruffling the hem of her robes and she looked up at the
complete blackness of the sky, past the tall tops of the city buildings
around her. And maybe they had - the protective dome Lord Garick had
erected over the whole of the plateau was even darker and more
impenetrable than the covered sky behind it. Not even the tall, softly
glowing lamp posts lining the city streets could fully illuminate the
whole of the plateau. Not anymore.

But she had herself. With but a thought, her form grew brighter and it
chased away the gloominess like water washing away mud. The sudden
brightness startled a couple of scantily-clad streetwalkers leaning
against a nearby videophone booth. She shook her head as the girls made
warding motions with their hands and fled. Little rattatas feeding off
smelly garbage cans in the alleyway of the building she had just come
from hissed at her and scampered deeper into the alley.

The air smelled dead. But she was used to it by now. She let her eyes
wander along the street. Another one of the apartment buildings would
have to suffice as she waited.

And she wondered if Ashura would have liked the way she handled things.
She could be brutal too. Much more brutal. It was in her genes after all.


***

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 the following address:
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/acey/pokemon.htm

Note: Pokemon and its associated characters are copyright by Nintendo,
Game Freak, Creatures Inc, and 4Kids Productions.

*************************************************************************

Part 12 - Requiems


The dark forest and surrounding ruins were quiet.

Kneeling down on one leg, the tall woman with braided dark-blue hair
studied the large boot print embedded in the damp grassy ground. She was
tilting a lamp she held in one hand as she did so for better visibility,
while with the other she was rubbing the ground, sensing with her
fingers.

Suzie narrowed her eyes. Despite everything, Brock's presence still
affected her strongly - strong enough to enrage emotions in her that,
although completely different now, were at least as powerful as the
ones she had thought she was finally over. Her hair tickled the right
side of her face from where her long bangs covered it. She ignored it.

"Looks like they all entered the Plateau through the Victory Road
tunnels," Rainer said matter-of-factly as he peered down the incline,
still mounted upon his white and red horse of flame. Uncomfortable for
the rapidash especially, as it neighed painfully, stepping from side to
side from the agonising liquid aura of the blue-cloaked Water Master
above it.

Cassidy, also mounted atop her horse next to her partner, Butch, wrinkled
her upturned nose in disgust while she looked across at the gloomy
graveyard. It was just barely visible past an outcrop of trees and
collapsed stone columns. "I always thought that placing the graveyard of
those who died in the wars at the exit of the escape tunnels was a little
perverse."

Suzie stood up with one quick movement and dusted off her black overcoat,
her long braid settling down her back. "Let's all not forget who caused
the wars to erupt in the first place," she said with an underlying hint
of steel. She grasped on to her rapidash's fiery mane with one hand and
jumped to hoist herself on to its flame-proof saddle.

Rainer nodded as he looked back at the two League Generals with a hostile
glow in his blue eyes. "That's true. In fact, Suzie, I don't see why we
should even bother with these two no-ability humans. Coupled with the
fact they were once part of Team Rocket..." He said the last with no
small measure of contempt.

Butch grasped on to the hilt of the broad sword sheathed at his belt
underneath his grey over-cloak. "Fool! You should be thanking Giovanni's
shade for what he returned to humankind-"

"But in so doing, the short-sighted fool wrecked not just Indigo Insula
but the whole planet," Suzie interrupted flatly. "Enough of this, it's
all ancient history." She looked over Butch and Cassidy with her dark
eyes before returning her hard gaze to Rainer. "I chose this alliance and
they served me well to provide League properties. As long as their goals
do not interfere with mine, I see no reason to break it." With that said,
she wheeled her rapidash toward the cemetery down the sloped forested
hill and took off in a burst of flame.


<><><>


Thousands of feet below, within the darkest depths of the Victory Road
caverns, a lone woman sat at the very edge of a sheer cliff-ledge
letting her slender legs waver carelessly above a fathomless drop. Worn
free about her shoulders, strands of red hair that seemed the colour of
blood in the darkness was pushed back from a smooth cheek by a gloved
hand. Pale aqua eyes surveyed the dangerous height below her as if
transfixed by the view. Her cloak covering her dress was as dark-blue as
a midnight ocean.

Misty turned her head and looked up. The massive mile-high pillar
formation they were climbing seemed to reach forever into the shadows
above. But somewhere up there was the entrance to the surface of the
city. They were indeed close. She dropped her blue gaze and returned to
staring at the depths below her. And to think.

In years long past, the subway of overhanging subterranean cliffs,
tunnels and pitfalls served as the final impediment to competing within
the Pokemon League Championships. A penultimate test of endurance and
survival with nothing but the company of one's pokemon for defence beyond
themself in dangerous enclosed passageways filled with traps and
puzzles... not to mention hostile pokemon.

She placed the warm bowl down on the rocks by her side, no longer
feeling any sort of appetite. It had been a while since she could be
alone in her thoughts like this. When the group had stopped for a
short break she had wandered off further up the narrow ledge to take her
meal in isolation.

She could still remember when there was a movement to forego the Victory
Road altogether - especially during the unfortunate year when not just
one hopeful contender perished within the black caverns, but several at
the same time. But the present Elite at that time refused. Ever since the
initial induction of the Pokemon League - so long past now that few
records remained of that era - it had been a ruthless custom to weed out

the less-determined and unskilled of the challengers.

But dangerous and unsafe as it was then, after the apparent haphazard
excavation of the tunnels pending its collapse during the Dark Pokemon
Wars, now it seemed even worse. Crumbling stone cliff-side ledges,
collapsible tunnels, not to mention uncountable fathomless pits rendered
invisible by a thin layer of dirt riddled throughout - the present Victory
Road was an apparent death-trap to all but those who have had prior
experience in navigating its grim hallways.

However, right now, what puzzled her the greatest was her twin
sister's message delivered to her by the psychic, Sabrina. Her exact
feelings on her sibling were also unclear. On the one hand, the fact that
she remained in her apparent allegiance with the League was detestable,
but on the other she just couldn't find it in her to hate her own sister.
Of course, Valdera's past relationship with Ash, that she had recently
discovered, raised extremely heated emotions within that she was still
uncertain of. He certainly got around, she thought bitterly. For her it
had been different - after the break up she had just lost all semblance
of desire for another partner - no matter what Ash may think. He could
think her some whore who spread herself around, but she just couldn't
care anymore. She mustn't care.

Nevertheless, for all her denials, she now knew that unquestionably she
would be devastated at his loss if he was somehow killed in this
hell-hole of a mess she had gotten him into. Even if her conscience
should rightly stay clear in that he would have been involved if it
weren't for her anyway, the thought of his suicidal manner to some insane
reason still threatened to make her feel such a pain in her heart that
she thought she would die inside.

She clasped the small prickly badge attached to the breast of her cloak
between index finger and thumb. Suddenly she didn't feel like being
alone. She detached it and held it in front of her face, its small red
jewel gleaming as blood-red as her hair in the shadows ... as blood-red
as a ruby at midnight. Her very first pokemon when she had caught it as a
staryu, fishing on that fateful day long ago. 

"Starmos," she whispered, letting the black star pokemon go by her side
to float in the air as it enlarged to its regular form.

The ruby eye shined in greeting as it grew larger, in proportion to its
ten razor-sharp, triangular-pointed limbs. Ever since its second
evolvement it had no longer been capable of making sound at all - it
preferred instead to communicate by the gleam of its jewel.

"I-I don't know what to do." 

Starmos glowed softly in sympathy and moved closer to touch its face to
her shoulder. She moved her arm then stopped. The closer she got to the
sharp-bladed star, the more she would be hurt. 

How ironic.


<><><>


Further down the rocky ledge and around the face of the grey mountain
wall, most of the rest of the group ate in relative silence with the
soft orange glow of a campfire burning softly. The flames wavered
sluggishly, illuminating the six figures enough to just barely render
each other visible in the dim underground cavern.

One of them, the lean, athletic form of a young man dressed all in black
loose clothing and boots, sat on the ledge of the pathway, looking down
the cliffs into the oblivion of extreme height, staring down at the
shadows below. By his right side, wrapped in his cloak, lay an
unconscious woman, long teal-blue hair splayed about her smooth face,
pretty features twisted in the anguish of her apparent nightmares.

Ash tiredly rubbed one of his eyes with the back of his left hand. Pain
like steel anvils clanged within his temples, along with the nauseating
feeling within his belly as if he had drunk battery acid. It seemed he
had contracted that old 'morning sickness' again, ever since he had
awakened from the battle with that witch, Agatha. He didn't know why
he was suffering the symptoms of the malady now, but it didn't bode too
well with what he was already suspecting.

Bruno was sitting down next to Erika and his man, the solidly-built
Hikaru, several feet away with his back to the stony wall of the mountain
that the ledge wound its way up. 

"What's the matter, Ashura?" Bruno asked in seriousness as he continued
to eat out of his bowl with a pair of chopsticks. "Giselle's cooking not
agree with you?"

A very tired-looking Giselle in a dirty and ripped lab-coat that was once
pristine white, but was now tattered as a rag revealing patches of skin
and underclothes, was sitting down in the centre of the ledge fiddling
with the cooking pot. "Are you trying to be funny?" she asked without
looking up, still managing a patronising tone despite her obvious
weariness. 

Bruno just stared uncomprehendingly.

"No, you wouldn't," Giselle said, shrugging her tangled brown hair from
her shoulders as she started to pack the supplies and rations back into
the small travel pack.

Erika had already finished her meal and had been staring at her for some
time, green eyes attentive. It was apparent she was just waiting for a
chance to speak her word with her. "Okay, Giselle. Come clean. You *do*
have the elemental gift, don't you?"

Giselle aimed an automatic frost-filled glare at her little sister where
she was seated behind her upon a small boulder along with Bruno's son,
Junior.

Laselle flinched and pulled on a lock of her own long hair in
nervousness. "I didn't tell them. Honest!"

"Free," the dark butterfree agreed shakily from atop her shoulder. The
seventh Master Pokemon seemed to now have an affinity for the form it
had used to fool them with.

Rubbing his raw neck, Ash coughed. "Actually, it was quite a giveaway
when you did this," he said indicating where she had left raw red marks
on his neck when she had choked him with her hand. Giselle had awoke just
after he had and it seemed that she had no memory of what exactly
happened. Until now, no one had spoke of the incident as they all
continued on their way. Ash briefly explained to her who Chanelle
actually was and what she had done.

"That little bitch!" Giselle said as she saw what she had done
to his neck when he had finished explaining. "I'm really sorry about
that." Then she looked at her sister. "But how come you weren't captured
like the rest of us?"

Laselle shrugged within her torn green forest-cloak. "I dunno."

The dark butterfree's red eyes flashed in annoyance. "Free, free, free!"

But Laselle only blinked. "Huh?"

Pikachu had been listening intently though as it sat upon another boulder
in the centre of the path. "Pikapi, pikachu pika pika," he translated
with a few gestures of his small black paws.

"Pikachu says that Ditorion interfered with the spell enough to let it
and Laselle teleport somewhere else within Victory Road," Ash explained
as he rubbed his forehead. His headache was getting worse.

"But it couldn't do the same for us?" Giselle said dangerously.

The butterfree sweated.

Erika was still staring hard at Giselle, her eyes bright like
emeralds. "Giselle, you're changing the subject."

Bruno intervened as well, the hard planes of his face unyielding as
stone. "You know the Rebellion was underpowered compared to the League,
especially in Masters. If you had the ability, why did you hide it? We
needed as much people with the gift as we could get..."

Giselle broke down and closed her eyes. She looked uncharacteristically
vulnerable as she leaned back on her calves and placed both palms on the
rocky floor. "I-I just couldn't," she said slowly, head lowered as her
long tangled hair fell down to brush the sides of her pale cheeks. Then
she opened her eyes and stared at them, her brown-eyed gaze filled with
pain. "I never even wanted this so-called gift, you understand?"

Bruno looked a bit confused as he scratched at his long brown hair worn 
in spikes. "But ... why? How can you not like having strength? Strength 
that is so desperately needed to defend yourself and others?"

Giselle lifted her palms and stared at them. "As far as I'm concerned,
humans should have never been able to wield the element powers of
pokemon. I mean, look what we've done with it." She spread out her hands.
"Look! We're like children with handguns!" She drew up her knees and
hugged them, burying her face within them. "I've denied my 'gift' ever
since it began to surface when I was sixteen. When they were desperately
looking for people with the gift to counteract Team Rocket's 'Pokemon
Masters', I hid mine. I didn't want to use it for war - ever."

Ash was looking at Duplica's sleeping face. He wondered what demons she
was facing in her sleep to cause her to have such pained expressions. He
hoped she would be okay - whatever Agatha had done to her was probably
severe. "I guess that's why you became a doctor instead," he said out
loud. He began pulling on his gloves.

Abruptly, Giselle let out a self-depreciating laugh. "Of course, I'm not
as moral and saintly as all that. I mean, when I saw all those people
with even a hint of the abilities who were levied into the lead armies
dying, I was scared out of my mind. Besides, I don't even know much about
controlling it."

"But tending to the wounded and dying needed as much bravery or even
more." He shook his head and began to stand up, lifting up Duplica's
inert body wrapped in his black cloak to carry her on his back. "Anyway,
we've rested for long enough. We better go before any Forbidden begin to
show up." He arranged Duplica's arms to wrap around his neck.

"Pikapi," the small electric mouse agreed as it leaped down from its
boulder and ran to stand by his ankle.

"Hey, look!" Laselle suddenly said, pointing to something almost
camouflaged against the stone face of the mountain. "It's a pokemon!
I haven't seen many wild ones for a while."

Ash glanced with some curiosity to where she was pointing - he hadn't
even sensed it. It was a graveller clutched against the wall, its huge
stony arms flexing from time to time as they extended from its
three-foot-tall, boulder-shaped body. Looking closely at it, he
abruptly felt a sense of ... wrongness about it.

Pikachu growled low in his throat and dropped to all fours, black fur and
jagged tail standing on end.

As if that were a signal, Bruno, Erika and Giselle all stood up in
alarm with Junior, Laselle and Hikaru also rising to stare at the pokemon
warily. Food was forgotten as bowls dropped to shatter upon the rocky
ledge. "What's wrong with it?" Bruno asked, his eyes fixed on the
graveller. "I have some affinity for Rock Pokemon ... but I can't feel
anything from it."

Pikachu began to step closer, but Ash wordlessly stopped him from
approaching. "I think we're about to find out why there's been so few
wild pokemon around lately..."

The graveller suddenly flashed brightest white as if it were going to
evolve. But then it began to squeal horribly as if it were dying from a
searing pain. Jerking madly, the whiteness wavered and finally
darkened to a menacing blue-black. Two spots of red flared within the
darkness and when the glow faded, an ebony graveller remained. Now
with a feral hiss erupting from a mouth full of sharp stone teeth, it
prepared to charge at them with scrapes of its hugely-clawed arms.

"I don't believe it," Erika said, taking a step back with an appalled
expression on her face. "The wild pokemon have been changing to
Forbidden? I thought they all came from the gates. How is that possible?
What does it mean?"

Growling at them, the graveller suddenly leaped, claws outstretched for
the kill, but Bruno stepped forward and chopped it out of the air
viciously with one huge arm, shattering the black pokemon to pieces. Dust
and shrapnel flew everywhere. "I don't know, but it can't be good," he
said, rubbing his hand.

"Watch it," Ash warned as the pieces of the graveller scattering around
his boots began to stir and rejoin.

Bruno cursed and then kicked most of the rubble off the ledge and down
below with a few swipes of his heavy boot. The clattering of rocks echoed
far, far below until they could no longer be heard. "Damn things are hard
to kill."

But the narrow rocky ledge before them began to rumble and vibrate -
first softly, then harder and harder. Bits of rocks and stones started
raining down from the roof of the immense cavern and from the face of the
mountainous pillar they were ascending.

A shrill erupted from Giselle's coat pocket and she quickly removed her
handheld detector device from it to study the readout.

"Detector says uncountable ground element forces at two miles below sea
level, south-south-west," she called out over the noise of the
earthquake. "That means an immense gathering at the base of the pillar.
They're pokemon, but the detector can't calculate their levels.
Definitely Forbidden!" She paused as she deciphered something else on the
small screen. "Wait, there's human-based elemental power detected as
well... rock-based."

Ash was immediately alert. "You, Laselle, Junior and Hikaru said that
Brock escaped and was after us now, right?" His eyes flared with
inner-light. "Misty!"

"I'm here," a soft voice said from above. He looked up the ledge to see
... her ... come from around the corner of the rocky wall, stepping
carefully on the trail at a sufficient distance away from the edge to
risk falling. He let out a slight breath of relief, then instantly felt
anger at himself for doing so. He shook his head to clear the conflicting
emotions. He couldn't let himself think about her now. After all that had
happened he was once again at a loss to know exactly where he stood with
her or she with him. Best to take the middle-ground and pretend nothing
had happened.

Breaking his train of thought, a white persian came pouncing up from the
narrow trail below followed by two black-garbed ninja, veils unfastened
from their faces in their haste to clamber up the slope. They had been
resting further back on the trail on look-out duty.

"Black graveller everywhere," Jessie reported.

"And they don't look nice!" James added.

"Can you get my pack, please?" Ash asked Misty as he settled Duplica
more comfortably upon his back.

Misty looked at the both of them for a second with unreadable ice-blue
eyes. Then without saying anything, she stepped up to the wall
where his small brown pack was leaning, and after wrapping her cloak
about the waist to let it hug her slender, curved frame like a robe, she
smoothly slipped the straps through her free arms.

Bruno stepped by his side. "Do you want me to carry Duplica instead?"

Ash looked the maroon-cloaked Master over. Despite his large, muscular
frame, the way Bruno seemed to nurse his left arm as if it were sprained,
and the various cuts on his tired face, he didn't think it was such a
good idea. "Don't worry about it, Bruno. You and Hikaru shouldn't strain
yourselves." He turned up the corner of his lip slightly. "Besides, it
was Duplica here who beat you up in the first place. How can I be sure
you won't want revenge?"

Bruno's eyes lit up, but then died down when he realised he had taken the
bait. "Very funny, Ashura." He rubbed his arm and looked away. "If I was
fighting seriously, I might have stopped her myself. But I didn't think
it was wise to go all out against one of us, so to speak." He smirked
inwardly. "I admit, I underestimated her. I had no idea the girl's
ability could be so powerful."

"Do I sense a bit of softness there?" Erika asked impertinently as she
walked over to Ash's other side and smoothed her shoulder-length,
blue-black hair back with a hand before rethreading her red band back
into it. 

Bruno just grunted.

"We'd better go now," Misty finally interrupted. In her hand she held a
wooden torch that she had lit from the campfire. After tossing her head
once to shake her hair back off her shoulders to fall down over the
backpack, she moved to go first, ends of her blue cloak rustling by her
feet. "I'll lead us this time. I still remember the way through Victory
Road."

"Suit yourself." Ash shrugged and began to follow while Erika, Bruno,
Giselle and her sister, as well as Junior and Hikaru, stuck to his back
in single file to keep close to the mountain's side of the ledge.

Bruno noticed that Jessie and James weren't following. "You two coming?"

The white-haired panther pokemon that was Persian, uncoiled himself from
the wall and hissed in indignation. "That's three," he said in his feline
voice. "And no, we're keeping to the back. We'll continue the rest of the
way by ourselves."

Ash shrugged although he wasn't surprised. They seemed paranoid about
something as always. Of course, with the way the world had changed over
the years and their apparent profession, it wasn't really that
surprising. They continued on, leaving the mercenaries to their own
devices. 

Though he couldn't deny that he was worried about them. He chuckled
slightly. He had grown soft again like when he was a kid - always caring
too much. It was dangerous to care too much.


<><><>


"Garick... Garick... Garick..."

The dome of shadow that encompassed the whole of the massive city swirled
high above like oil upon a canvas of midnight. From the tall balconies of
the immense, white-marbled Indigo Palace - the centre of the plateau and
the city - it seemed as if one could just reach up and feel it. It was,
after all, one of the tallest and largest structures in the whole of the
city, even when most of the skyscrapers had still been standing.

But the form cloaked and hooded in dull grey that stood upon its highest
peak was deathly still as it looked down upon the thousands of people
gathered on the streets all around the palace walls like ants, chanting
his name. Only the sheer freezing upper winds caused movement - his cloak
rippled upon his lean athletic frame almost as if it were alive.

"Garick... Garick... Garick..."

A sudden flapping noise.

"My Lord." Behind him, the newly-arrived man in a long dark-blue cloak
stood still waiting for his acknowledgement. With one hand, the newcomer 
threw his hood back, revealing darkest black hair worn in longish,
flaring spikes over a handsome blue-eyed face. "Agatha has been killed."

But he did not turn around - only remaining in his study of the peoples
who had come to prepare for the final stage of the prophecy to unfold.

"Aren't you worried? After Lorelei, that leaves only Brock and myself -
if Brock is even still alive. We've lost contact with him." A pause. "And
you, of course."

The grey-cloaked figure standing at the precipace of the balcony gave no
sign of movement. Instead there was a roar of a thunderclap in the
distance. Black lightning began to flash in the sky. The sheer 
upper-winds grew harder, so hard that the marble of the palatial
balcony they stood upon was groaning from the strain. "So ... Ashura has
already arrived?" The voice was low, breathed just loud enough over
the shrieking wind to be heard.

"I don't think so. They must still be within the Victory Road tunnels.
The lesser Masters and soldiers posted at the Road's city entrance
haven't reported anything yet." A thoughtful pause. "I'm doubling the
guard and tell them to be alert on the watch - we'll stop those rebel
vermin from interfering - even Ashura can't fight the whole of the
League's Masters and army. I'll find Valdera and-"

"You sound scared, Lance," he interrupted.

Lance growled. "I'm not scared. Just prudent. Look at how many of the
other major Masters we've already lost. Not to mention two of the Elite
Four." He stepped by the League Master's side and followed his gaze down
at all of the people gathered about the palace. "Listen to them. The
people chant your name. They're depending on us to reform the world back
to what it once was before the dark wars. Don't forget that with our
deaths, that can never happen."

The grey-cloaked figure turned to him, though as always, his face could
not be seen within the cowl's depths. One red eye flashed. "Don't double
the guard. Let them come in."

"But-"

"Just do as I say. And tell the sentinel to comb the city for them once
they do arrive. I want to know where Ash and Misty are immediately.
As for their companions ..." He suddenly laughed at an ironic thought.
"They can kill them. They are unimportant. It shouldn't be too hard."  

Lance stiffly replaced his hood back over his head, casting his face in
darkness. "Understood."

Another flap of wind and he was gone.

And Gary remained to look out over the chanting people. As an artist that
makes mistakes and so a clean slate must be forged... or at least, that
is what everyone thought. 

After all these years he would finally realise the dream.

We would finally realise the dream.


<><><>


Misty held the torch aloft in her left hand as she jogged around the
curve in the rocky ledge. She was careful to keep close to the wall
and as far from the cliffside as possible. Behind her, she could hardly
hear the soft thumps of Ash's boots on the stone as he followed, even
with Duplica on his back. Pikachu, meanwhile, scampered on all fours by
his left boot, jagged tail raised upright. She remembered back when she
was fifteen and they met the guide in the Fuchsia Woods who had told them
a lot about masking their footsteps so they were not so loud. Among other
useful things - especially with all the walking they did in those days.
Afterward they had this big competition about who could sneak past
Jigglypuff at a full sprint... but of course, she was the one who ended
up with the markings on her face - Ash had been much better than her.

"What are you smiling about?" Ash suddenly asked.

She spared him a backward glance and frowned without slowing her jog. "I
was *not* smiling."

"Yes, you were?"

"How could you even see my face from there?"

"When you turned the corner, I saw the corner of your mouth."

"What are you doing, looking at me?"

"You're in front of me?"

She looked back at him again. "Look, I wasn't smiling alright?"

Ash blinked. "Well if it's that important, okay, you weren't smiling."
Then he shut up as if remembering something and his features blanked.

She smirked inwardly. He probably forgot that they weren't supposed to be
talking. At least like they knew each other.

Suddenly she felt the ledge vibrate and rumble beneath her feet again.
She almost stumbled when it happened, and looking down, she realised that
the stone they were treading on seemed to have grown rougher ... and
bumpier. Like uneven lumps in the granite. "This ledge, do you think
there's something weird about it?" she ventured, if only to change the
subject.

He was silent for a while with only the sounds of his even breathing
behind her. When the answer came it was in a puzzled tone. "You're right,
there's something about-"

"Pikapi!"

"Pikachu!" She heard him skid to a stop so she stopped too, her boots
sliding a bit before they grabbed purchase upon a lump of stone. As she
turned, she raised the torch higher, brightening more of the darkness and
revealing that the ledge they had been following had grown narrower so
that it was only three or four feet wide beside the pillar's sheer face.
She placed her palm upon the slanted wall, suddenly feeling wary of
the extreme height they were at. One mis-step and they could be tumbling
to their doom.

Ash was kneeling slightly where Pikachu seemed to have gotten a front paw
stuck in the rocky ledge.

"What's the holdup?" came Bruno's rough voice from all the way in the
back.

"Pikachu's stuck," Ash said, as he tried to balance Duplica's inert body
upon his back while simultaneously examining the rocks near his pokemon's
paws.

"Pika," Pikachu agreed in a worried tone. His blue eyes were narrowed at
the lumpy floor of the ledge as if he suspected something.

Erika stepped into the light behind Ash and went to kneel when she
suddenly shrieked as she lost balance, almost toppling over the side of
the cliff and into the bottomless darkness below. Fortunately, Bruno
steadied her with a hand from behind. Breathing hard with her green eyes
widened in shock, she looked down at the lump she had been standing on.
"The floor moved!"

Ash immediately looked up at her. "What?"

In the back of the group, Laselle screamed. "The ledge! It has eyes!"

Misty frantically shone the burning torch downward. The ledge - the ledge
was shifting! Uncountable points of red light suddenly flared from the
rocks beneath their feet, lighting up the darkness even more as if
glowing bugs were crawling all over the floor. Bugs ... Misty clapped her
hand over her mouth to stop the scream of terror from escaping her lips.
She looked closer. No, they weren't bugs, they really were eyes. She
didn't know if that were worse than if she thought they were bugs.

"Shit!" Giselle's voice shrieked from somewhere behind Bruno. "Detector
says we're ... we're *standing* on a nest of Forbidden!"

"The whole damn ledge is a shelf of graveller!" Ash shouted as he
desperately punched the rocks by Pikachu's paws to free him with a
cracking of stone. Dust flew in a cloud around his fist as the rocks he
smashed seemed to roar in pain. But Pikachu was now free to scamper up
Ash's arm and attach himself to the top of his head, blue eyes
frightened.

Misty stumbled as the ledge shifted beneath her feet and all at once,
sharp-fingered stone claws erupted from the floor all around them, trying
to grasp at their boots. The ledge was a cloud of noise with Bruno,
Junior and Hikaru shouting, Giselle yelling out elemental coordinates
while Laselle still hadn't stopped screaming.

And then the graveller ledge began to come apart. The bottomless depths
of the cavern revealed itself from the holes opening up beneath them like
crumbling cheese.

"Everyone stop shouting and go!" Ash yelled as he forced himself to his
feet and shifted Duplica upon his back. "Misty, come on! Just don't look
down!"

They began to pick their way over the rest of the narrow ledge, jumping
across in a deadly game of hop-scotch. But it was too late - it was coming
apart even more. In fact, the ledge in front of Misty had become so
riddled with holes that it was impossible to go any further and they had
to stop - they were trapped. The gaping bottomless depths below them
grimly invited their deaths.

"Ash, the no-element rule, is it still in effect?" Bruno suddenly yelled.

"I think the Forbidden know we're here - we're stepping on their heads!"

"All I needed to hear!" the Fight Master growled. There was a maroon
flash and an explosion of stone shrapnel and dust as Bruno smashed his
hard fist into the mountain's wall caving a section of it down. "I knew
there was something behind this!" came his triumphant shout. "Everyone
inside!"

They all just made it into the newly-opened cave when the ledge outside
finally disintegrated, leaving everyone panting heavily within the
opening. Inside there was even less light if that was possible and there
was a musty scent to the air that suggested a certain degree of
ancientness. Fortunately the scant flickering light of Misty's torch
brightened the oppressive darkness somewhat, though it still left most of
them seeing each other as only dim outlines when not directly illuminated
by the flame.

Misty looked around, swishing her torch this way and that as she tried to
see where they had ended up in. The cave seemed to continue on into the
heart of the stone steeped at a slight upward direction. It was indeed
ancient with disuse as the smell of the air suggested - cobwebs lining the
rounded stone walls and roof while a fine layer of dust covered the
floor. She sucked in her breath as small bugs and spiders fled from the
brightness of her light.

"My God, that was close," Hikaru breathed as he stepped to the crumbling
opening they had come through and peered back through the way they had
come in, out the side of the subterranean pillar. "That was good 
thinking, Master Bruno-" 

Shockingly the large Fight Trainer shouted in pain and he was thrown back
violently to smash into the wall behind Bruno. He bounced sickeningly off
like a wet sack to land unconscious upon the floor of the tunnel.

"Hikaru!" Bruno yelled, instantly running to his man's side.

Ash was already standing to the ready despite the burden of Duplica upon
his back. Erika, Junior, Giselle and her sister took a step backward
in preparation.

The air was deathly quiet with nothing audible but the slow ragged
breathing of everyone present and the occasional crumbling of rock. Misty
held the torch aloft to brighten the crumbling cave entrance so they
could all see what had thrown Hikaru backward with such force.

And then the ground began to rumble as if the whole subterranean pillar
was starting to shake apart. Amid the roaring of stone breaking and
shattering, a piercing sound as shrill as a whistle became evident, first
low, then higher and higher as if it were some unholy crescendo. The air
grew colder - as cold as the arctic wind - and then as powerful as one
too. A strong breeze had kicked up from the tunnels behind them as if the
all the air was being sucked out of the passages and out through the
opening in a powerful vacuum. Misty reached with one hand to stop her
long hair from blowing forward over her eyes and face, while the wind
pulled at her and tugged at her cloak forcefully. Everyone's clothes
flapped violently in the sheer wind. Flying dust and stones filled the
air so that it began to get hard to see.

Her torch blew out. Darkness.

"Flash." When Pikachu lit up the tunnel again, they could now see what
was causing the wind and the noise.

Zubats. Forbidden Zubats.

Hundreds - no, millions of them - they poured in through the opening as
if it was the spout of a bottle being emptied, spilling a total haze of
darkness. There were so many, none of the small bats were individually
distinguishable, instead it was as a tight, glowing blue-black cloud that
grew larger by the second, spreading toward them through the constricting
confines of the tunnel as if it were reaching out to embrace them.

Other than the noise of their movement, they were silent - what caused
the noise was not the usual screech of such pokemon, but the immense
beating of all the billions of wings all flapping violently. It was as if
they were a swarm of locusts charging a ripe harvest of wheat. 

With them as the wheat.

"Uh, it stands to reason that if wild pokemon have been evolving to
Forbidden, that there would be this many zubat," Erika pointed out dryly
as she unsuccessfully tried to keep her green cloak from blowing about in
front of her from the force of the wind.

"There's a time for scientific study and a time for running," Giselle
told her impertinently. "But now's the time to run, I think."

Laselle was already following her advice, pulling a confused Junior after
her and further into the tunnel. "Smartest thing you've said so far, big
sister!"

They ran.


<><><>


"Fire Blast!" Cassidy ordered in desperation.

Her rapidash was screaming in fear but it obeyed her anyway as it let
loose a cross-shaped projectile of melting flame from its mouth at the
clump of crimson-eyed rocks charging directly at her. But all the fire
seemed to do was turn the gravellers red with heat as they continued to
press on.

Butch wasn't having much luck either as he tried to hold another group of
them at bay with spiralling fire spins from his own mount behind a
boulder. Sweat poured from his forehead in thick rivulets, dampening his
aqua hair. Only Rainer and his vaporeon seemed to be holding their own
with great blasts of blue liquid from their hands and mouth respectively.
Suzie herself, though, looked unperturbed as she sat upon her mount
letting the Water Master do all the work.

They had been making quite good time through the tunnels upon their
horses but when it had opened up into the main caverns, just in sight of
the main pillar leading to the surface in the dark distance, an 
earthquake had suddenly shook. Black gravellers from all around had 
jumped from above down into the shallow canyon they were walking through 
as if waiting in ambush upon the higher ledges of the various stone 
boulders, walls and walkways.

"We're losing too much time," Suzie said with some anger. "Butch,
Cassidy, is there any short-cut we can take from here?"

Butch grunted as he swung his broadsword to knock away a graveller that
had gotten too close. As he turned to answer roughly, a sweaty lock of
aqua hair dropped on to his forehead which he swiped away with the back
of his free hand. "We can go north-west from here," he rasped, "but that
would mean we'd come out on the opposite side of the city Ashura and the
rebels would come out of."

"I suggest we take it," Rainer said calmly as he let loose an ice beam
from his palm and iced up at least half a dozen Forbidden into a frozen
block of water. "Sooner or later if we keep going this way, we'll be
overrun. Something seems to have agitated them."

"Fine," Suzie agreed, as she swung her torch to the left, highlighting a
rising up crop of rocky land. "Jump the slope with your mounts and let's
get gone from here."

Cassidy gratefully dug her knees into her horse's side to follow.
However, all of a sudden, she felt a pain in her side and she
screamed. The next thing she knew, she was unseated from her mount and
was lying prone upon rocky ground. Desperately she threw her blonde hair
away from her eyes where some strands had gotten tangled so that she
could see but then let out a cry of denial as already, sharp-mouthed
black shapes were attacking her rapidash, gnawing at its legs and eating
it alive.

Butch shouted and turned back for her and just in time as a pack began to
leap toward her. As he galloped past, he grabbed her outstretched hand
tightly and then pulled her aboard to sit at the rear of his horse.

"I'm beginning to think that all this isn't worth it," he rasped
worriedly while he spurred his rapidash harder to catch up to the rest of
them.

Breathing heavily behind him, Cassidy just shook her head, her long
braid of pale hair streaming in the wind of their speed. "To gain what
one wants, one must be prepared for the risks," she said stubbornly.
Inside her head, she imagined herself leading Ashura to battle, ordering
him to do whatever she wished, destroying all those stupid Forbidden.
Lord Garick kneeling to her, begging her for mercy. She patted the bulge
within her over-cloak and smiled as she hugged Butch about the waist
tighter. Sabrina had been sure it would work.


<><><>


"Laselle, do you even know where we're going?" Junior asked to the crazy
girl in the green jacket and forest-cloak in front of him, pulling him
for all of her worth. They had been running for some time now and all the
tunnels they had gone through had seemed to blend into some continuous
maze - he had lost all semblance of direction.

"Butterfree, uh, Ditorion knows the way," came her hesitant reply.

"Free?"

She abruptly stopped their wild flight and Junior almost collided into
her back. "You mean you don't know either?" she directed up to the
pokemon.

"Free, free," the butterfree said crossly as it hovered above her head,
lighting up the darkness of the tunnel so that they could see.

"Don't tell me what I think it meant," Junior said, appalled, as he let
go of her hand.

She turned to him, a sheepish look in her brown-eyed gaze. "Junior-"

"Don't call me that," he said, feeling anger at the name. "I now know
just what I'm 'junior' to and I want no part of it. You can call me JT
from now on..."

"I thought you said not to call you JT?" she asked in an exasperated
tone. "Anyway, as I was saying, we can just wait here for the others.
They must be behind us."

They sat and waited for several minutes, leaning against the cold stone
wall of the tunnel. There was no sound except for the steady beating of
the butterfree's wings.

Junior was playing with his maroon hat. "I don't think anyone's following
us."

"But they must be-"

"Laselle!" he exclaimed tiredly. "I saw so many different forks in the
tunnel we've been running along. They could have easily have taken a
different direction behind us."

Laselle began to look scared. "I-I didn't realise. It's just that those
zubats ... I hate zubats."

Junior felt a lump in his throat. It only occurred to him now as well,
that they were alone ... and virtually defenceless. He had his pokemon -
no, who was he kidding? Machop or Graveller would have *no* chance
against Forbidden - let alone a Pokemon Master - no chance at all. And
for himself - sure he knew a few fighting techniques - all Fight Trainers
continually had to practise them - but with the kind of power they were
up against, he might as well have known none.

"Do you hear that? Junior - I mean, JT," Laselle suddenly whispered.

And then he heard it. Footsteps. Coming from the way they came.

"Do you think it could be them?" she continued excitedly as they both
stood up.

"We don't know," Junior cut in. "It-It could be anyone."

Laselle's eyes widened when she realised that. "What should we do?"

Junior immediately looked around. "There, behind that small boulder. We
can hide and see who it is first before we do anything."

They scuttled behind the aforementioned rock and the butterfree stopped
using its Flash ability dropping everything to darkness. "Butterfree, I
mean, Ditorion, could you please maybe transform into a ... err ...
something big, if it's an enemy?" Laselle asked hopefully.

"Free."

Junior sighed in relief. He had forgotten about Laselle's 'pokemon'. Sure
it would be embarrassing for a girl to save him, but it was better than
the alternative.

The footsteps grew louder and they held their breath. Butterfree prepared
to transform.

A large cloaked figure finally stepped into view.

"Master Bruno!" Laselle shouted in relief, standing up to reveal herself
from behind the boulder.

The muscular cloaked figure paused. "So we meet again, little girl." The
voice was low and deep.

And nothing at all like Master Bruno.

Damn.

"Master Bruno?" Laselle tried again with a sinking voice.

Butterfree finally lit up the darkness with a flaring of light from its
body.

The muscular brown-cloaked figure threw its hood back from its head
revealing a hard, darkly-handsome face with glowing eyes like slits
staring at them from under brown hair worn in thick long sharp spikes.

The Rock Master's face was as hard as his title. He corrected her.
"Master Brock." 


<><><>


"Shit, shit and shit!" Erika was swearing as she stalked down the tunnel.
The earthquake had stopped and they had managed to lose the damn zubats
but now Ash, Misty and Duplica were gone *as well as* Bruno and the
kids. And if that weren't bad enough she had dirt in her mouth.
She tried to spit it out vehemently but the gritty dry taste of it
remained on her tongue.

"And I thought good girls don't swear," Giselle said by her side. The
doctor had been the only one to stick with her. Whether that was a good
thing or a bad one, Erika wasn't exactly sure of. It seemed her normally
annoying, arrogant personality had come back in full force.

"Ugh," she said with one more spit. She felt around on her head
and then gasped in relief to find her hair-band still in place. "I'll
pretend I didn't hear that," she said magnanimously.

Giselle waved a cloud of dust away from her face and coughed as she
combed her long brown hair away from her smudged, pale cheeks. Her face
looked worried. "Now what are we going to do?"

Erika shook her head as she kicked away a few pebbles with her boots.
"Well, the smartest thing we could do, I think, is just keep going
upward. If we turned back and tried to look for everyone, that could take
months in all these caverns ... and frankly we don't have months with all
these Forbidden hanging around. Everyone would have headed to the surface
anyway so we'd have a better chance of meeting up with them."

Giselle made a face at her, then turned to face the tunnel, cupping her
hands around her mouth. "Laselle! Ash! Bruno!" Her soft voice echoed
along the hard walls.

Erika gasped then pinched her on the arm.

"Ow!" Giselle stopped shouting and levelled a cold brown glare at her.

Erika was unapologetic. "Lackwit! Do you realise that enemies could hear
your voice as well? Especially Forbidden?"

"All right, I get the point!" Giselle hissed. "You didn't have to pinch
me." She raised her slender arm and pulled back the sleeve of her coat.
"Look at that! That's a bruise!"

Erika smiled inwardly. "Nothing more than you deserved. Now let's get out
of here." She walked past the glaring woman and pressed on ahead.


<><><>


"Did you see where Erika and Giselle went? I thought they were just in
front of us," Ash was saying as they continued running along the tunnel,
their boots making soft crunching noises upon the rocky floor. "Damn it,
where is everyone?" Behind them was the soft roar of wind indicating that
the zubats were still somewhere in the back although it sounded like they
were getting further and further away. Maybe they had lost them by now...

"Ash, can you maybe, like, stop squeezing my hand so hard?" Misty asked
as she let him pull her along with his free hand. With his other he was
just barely keeping Duplica from sliding off his upper-shoulders.

He didn't bother looking back. "Tough. You'll just have to bear with my
unpleasant self. I'm not losing anyone else."

But at that instant the ground rumbled louder like the sound of a
bursting thunderclap and a veritable avalanche of heavy stones and
boulders fell from above in a hail of stony barrage. Before he knew it,
his boot caught upon an uneven section of the tunnel's floor and he
tripped causing them all to fall in a tumble of cloaks and bodies.

Then a curious silence. The sudden rockslide or whatever it was had
stopped. He could feel and hear rocks and dirt settle around on his back
as he tried to regain his breath.

"Pikapi?" Pikachu queried out loud from within his backpack.

"I'm alright," Ash answered warily as he blew his hair out of his eyes
with a tired gust of breath. "Misty?"

His vision gradually adjusted to the darkness but he could still hardly
see with the amount of dust and dirt drifting around them. After a
moment, he could discern her shape lying next to Duplica's unconscious
body beside him.

"I'm okay," she stated in a hard tone as she pushed herself to her knees
and adjusted her cloak and dress.

He suddenly heard Duplica cough and realised she was finally waking up.
"Duplica?" he ventured with relief.

After a few minutes of silence, Duplica arose to a sitting position still
wrapped in his black cloak. She rubbed her still-closed eyes, combing her
long blue hair with the fingers of one hand. Some more dust rose in the
air. "W-What happened?" she asked wearily, her voice rough from disuse.
Her brown eyes blinked as they opened and adjusted to the darkness.

"Long story," Ash said, also pushing himself to a sitting position while
Pikachu jumped into his lap. He rubbed his face with the back of his hand
to wipe the dust off but only succeeded in smudging the dirt across his
cheek.

Duplica smiled and looked as if she was going to say some smart-ass
comment like she usually did - at least the old Duplica - until her
expression abruptly changed. Features freezing, she looked away, hair
dropping to cover her face. Sudden memories seemed to claw their way back
to remembrance. "I-I'm so sorry..." she finally said. Her voice was a
pained whisper. It sounded like she was going to cry.

He looked down and his hair fell back over his eyes. A tight feeling
arose in his chest. It was just so wrong to see Duplica like this. It
didn't fit, even more so then when she had been possessed. "You remember
what happened?" he asked slowly. "Duplica, it wasn't your fault ... it
was Agatha who used you..."

"Chu," Pikachu agreed fiercely, pointed black ears laid flat against the
back of his head.

"Y-You don't understand. I-" Duplica suddenly gasped as she realised what
it was that was covering her. His cloak. Almost as if it was burning
her skin, she ripped the long, dark mantle off and threw it to the side.
It left her briefly exposed before she hurriedly formed a thin, white
chemise over her body with a short glow of change.

Surprisingly, Misty abruptly touched her shoulder, a look of tiredness on
her face. "Duplica ... none of us blame you." Her eyes darted to him
briefly then returned. "I don't blame you. Just stop punishing yourself."
She smiled sadly.

Minutes passed. When Duplica looked up, a strange expression was on her
face. She rubbed her moist eyes and then stood up, looking more herself
than in a long time. Then she chuckled, though it was more a broken sound
then one of true humour. "I'm sorry I was such a cry baby ... I-I guess
I'm just not good at feeling sorry for myself." Her form flared violet as
she formed her master's cloak over her body.

Ash rubbed his aching temples slowly and brushed his hair from his eyes
again. She sounded better but he couldn't ignore the worry he still felt.
He let out a light laugh. "Yeah, Duplica, you really scared me. Everyone
has changed so much ... I don't think I could bear it if you did as
well."

Brown eyes stared at him. It wasn't a cold gaze, but it felt totally
different to how she had always looked at him. "Ash, people are always
changing," she said, suddenly serious. "Me, most of all." She stood up
and began to walk off down the tunnel.

Misty looked at him, shrugged, then stood up to follow after smoothing
down her blue cloak.

"Pika?" Pikachu asked.

Ash hoisted him up on to his shoulder and picked up his own cloak.
"Forget it, Pikachu. I never did understand women either. And with
Duplica being one of my closest friends, I sort of forgot that *she* is
one as well."

"Pikachu."

He started to follow the two women. "And yeah, she just reminded me of
that fact."


<><><>


Erika and Giselle walked on. Their path seemed to be converging into yet
another passageway that seemed to steep itself higher. In front of them,
the shaft was damp and cool, a contrast to the hotness of the lower
caverns. Slithering snakes of shadows danced away from them as a burning
torch Erika had created earlier and held aloft, shone its light through
the darkness. She didn't want to be so near the fire, but with all things
being necessary, she just had to brave the heat.

"I think we should be fairly close to the surface now," Erika said while
carefully examining all that lay before them. Apart from the wavering
light of her torch, nothing seemed to be moving among the small boulders
and debris that littered the tunnel that seemed to go on forever.

"Great," Giselle replied with a scrunching of her pretty nose. "I'm
afraid all this musty air and dirt isn't doing good for my skin."

"A bath would do wonders." Erika laughed a little. "I never thought I'd
see the day when perfect Giselle would be looking so scruffy."

"Yeah?" Giselle tried to say condescendingly, although failing from her
untidy appearance. "Well, I could say the same about you... I always
found it funny that you'd think yourself so much better than me, when you
yourself act a lot like me."

"I don't think myself better than anyone," Erika said a little annoyed
now. "Nor do I act like anyone..."

"Really now," Giselle said, brown eyes shining challengingly. "From all
the time we've worked together in the rebellion ... you've thought me
some sort of slut or something. Always the cool feminine beauty who 
shouldn't lower herself by consorting with men like I do..." Then her 
slim eyebrows lifted as she thought of something. "Wait, in all the time 
I've known you, you've never had a relationship with a man. Are you 
frigid?"

Erika refused to look at her. "No."

Giselle's nose twitched. "Don't tell me you prefer the same side of 
the fence? Should I be scared of you, Erika Dear?"

"No! You don't understand," Erika said with a flashing of her green 
eyes. "Look, you think you had it hard when your gift emerged, but it 
was nothing, I mean *nothing* compared to mine."

"How so?"

But Erika ignored the question. She stopped walking and held Giselle from
going further with her free arm. She could feel something familiar ...
but also not familiar. Strange and unsettling. She quickly snuffed out
her torch against the rough tunnel wall and instantly everything dropped
to darkness. "Quiet..." she whispered as she disposed of the smoking wood
upon the ground.

The sound grew louder. A foreboding snapping noise like animalistic jaws
opening and closing rapidly. Not just one, but many of them. And a
familiar smell began to assault her senses. Erika crouched on one knee
and quietly waited for her vision to adjust to the sudden lack of light.
Finally her eyes grew used to the dark and shapes began to emerge at the
far end of the passage. Momentarily she thought she was seeing a walking
garden of some sort before she realised they were pokemon. Half-open
mushroom things...

"I can't see a thing," Giselle murmured. She had crouched down somewhere
behind her. "And, ugh, what is that disgusting smell? It's like week-old
rotten ..." Her nose twitched. "Well, no offence, but like your Gloom
actually."

Glooms.

Countless blood-red eyes flared like dying stars as the blanket of black
walking flowers crawled toward them like a plague. As they grew closer,
Erika could see the drooling mouths upon their stalks unnaturally filled
with many sharp teeth. She swallowed, feeling the fine hairs on her neck
stand on end. "That answer your question? There's like a wave of
Forbidden just in front of us ... Glooms. But I don't think they've
sensed us yet."

"Oh great, now what are we going to do," Giselle said, sounding uneasy.
"We can't go back, unless we'd rather die by blood-sucking zubat
instead."

Suddenly Erika felt a tug within her cloak and abruptly one of her green
poke-balls shot out by itself and enlarged. The area around them lit up
briefly with emerald light as her own gloom came out to stand by her
side. 

It had a worried expression on its bluish stalk. "Gloom, gloom..."

The green poke-ball shot back into Erika's hand and she miniaturised it
and put it back within her cloak. "Gloom, you say you have an idea?"

"Gloom gloom gloom," it squeaked out desperately.

"I guess it's our only choice..."

"What was it saying?" Giselle asked, her eyes riveted to the approaching
wave of Forbidden in front of them. Her vision must have finally
adjusted.

"We're going to walk right through them," Erika explained softly. "Just
hold your breath as long as you can and stick close to me ... now!"

"Gloom!" Her flower-mushroom pokemon exploded its scent into the air
around it and began to scamper forward directly at the crowd upon its
short legs. Erika shot to her feet and rushed after it. Behind her,
she heard Giselle gasp in revolt but begin to follow her anyway.

Amazingly the tide of walking, ebony flowers began to split through the
middle allowing them an opening. Gloom took advantage of it and leaped
through boldly, widening the gap even more. Erika shook her head in
relief as she followed closely. She couldn't really believe it was
working - but the Forbidden Gloom must still share some qualities of
normal gloom ...

Behind her, she could hear Giselle start to give gagging sounds.

"You should have taken a deeper breath," Erika said a little evilly.

"I think you might have to hold my hand," Giselle answered in a 
woebegone voice. "Otherwise I might spontaneously decide that dying 
would be a better fate than smelling this," she coughed, "lovely 
scent..."


<><><>


Winding generally upward like a corkscrew, the narrow tunnel that Misty,
Ash and Duplica had been following finally began to level out and widen
so that it largely resembled the subways of old. Fewer cobwebs adorned
the rocky corners and there was less debris scattered about the path. But
the largest difference was that the deep darkness of the caverns had
begun to lighten, so much so that they could actually see all the way
across to where large stone pillars began to line the walls of the
widening passage. Up ahead, orange light wavered casting their shadows in
sharp relief. Fifteen-foot-high pillars carved into demonic designs
towered up to the roof, dragons with hostile looks upon their stony
features. The light that brightened the darkness as they pressed on
seemed to be emitting from candles placed within each of the many
statues' eyes. They walked until they reached the first pair of statues
and continued on between them.

Sudden soft tapping noises from her boots startled her before she
examined the ground more closely and realised that it was no longer the
rough grey stone of the tunnels but beautiful white marble. Looking
around, she saw that the walls and ceiling matched the pristine ivory
surface. "It's the main hallway leading to the surface," Misty said
softly. "It looks just the same as it did eight years ago." It was a
beautiful and elegant hallway, walls arching gracefully to a curved roof.
But it was a dangerous beauty as evidenced by the menacing designs of
etchings in the walls and the fearsome dragon statues.

Ash looked slightly worried. It wasn't overly apparent but Misty could
see it in the slight shifting of his light-brown eyes. "I hoped the
others might have gotten here first, but I don't think any of them have
gotten here yet." He paused and squinted, as if trying to see or sense
something far ahead in between the numerous statuesque pillars. He raised
his arms to the sides and slowed down his walk, holding her and Duplica
back. "Careful now. It should be obvious that the main hallway would be
guarded..." He suddenly noticed that he was touching her. With an
unreadable expression, he dropped it and began to step forward, not
looking back.

Misty rubbed her arm where he had come into contact and closed her eyes
briefly. She now knew that giving into herself back at the ruins was a
mistake. At least before then, she and Ash had been civil toward one
another - now she wasn't sure how to act with him while he treated her
like a stranger. But ... it had been so nice to pretend for a short while
that it had been five years ago and everything was just so perfect.

Finally she steeled herself. No, pretending was nice but it was just a
fantasy. Real life was different. Real life contained pain. She began to
follow them. He, Pikachu and Duplica were already several feet in front
and beginning to quicken their pace.

Wordlessly, with Ash in the lead, they weaved stealthily among the stone
dragons along the east wall of the hallway, carefully taking cover within
the long shadows they cast from the tall pillars. But strangely as they
continued, Ash's steps began to falter as if he were getting more and
more dizzy, until he stopped completely and dropped to his hands and
knees. His eyes were closed, hand raised to his temples as if in agony.
Misty and Duplica hurriedly followed to kneel by his side.

"What's wrong?" Misty whispered in alarm. She looked worriedly at
Pikachu, small head poking out the top of his backpack, who also seemed
to be suffering from the same effect.

"Ashy?" Duplica asked uncertainly.

A minute later Ash breathed in deeply and seemed to recall himself. He
opened his eyes and Misty was frightened at the slightly red hue to his
pupils before they faded to the more usual light-brown. "I-It's nothing,"
he said a little forced. He brushed his hair out of his eyes with a hand.

"Pikachu pika," Pikachu agreed a little warily, giving them a little
paws-up from the top of his backpack.

"Nothing?" she asked incredulously. "Your eyes just ... changed!"

Ash shrugged without emotion. "I admit I felt something weird a bit then.
But you don't have to worry - it was a different feeling than that other
one. So I'm not suddenly going to go insane and blow us all up," he said
sardonically.

She looked away, stung. "I-I meant nothing of the kind." And before she
could stop it from leaving her lips she added, "I'm just worried about
you."

Ash opened his mouth, then closed it, looking uncertain of what to make
of it. Then she watched as his eyes suddenly darkened and she knew that
he had taken it the wrong way. "Don't worry I won't be dying just yet -
there's probably more of a chance that I'd be getting everyone else
killed." He pushed himself up with a hand upon the white marble floor and
jerked around to continue their covert weave through the dragon statues.

Misty closed her eyes, then opened them, just abruptly feeling so fed up.
"Will you stop acting like you're punishing me?" she exploded, her eyes
gleaming blue.

Ash stopped walking and seemed to turn calmly. But when he was facing 
her, she could see that he was anything but. His eyes had begun to 
softly glow, matching her. "Punishing you? I'm only treating you as I 
would a stranger. It's the safest way. It's the best way."

"A despised stranger you mean," she said acidly. "I know that you hate
me, but please save it for after we finish all this."

He stared at her. "That's funny. I thought it was *you* who hated me. It
makes me wonder why you even decided to seek *my* help in the beginning.
Was it just to torture me? To rub my face in the fact that you can still
play me like some sort of cheap game?"

"Are you referring to what happened back at the ruins?" Misty asked,
her fury barely held in check. "If you are ... I admit that was a
mistake. But I've made so many other mistakes in my life, what's one more
to add to the heap? At least we know for sure that you really are free
of my bonding - first my sister and now me."

"I never even touched Valdera in that way since I left her years ago," he
said dangerously. Then he abruptly gave a hard smile and she just knew he
was going to say something hurtful. "Not that I wouldn't want to, though.
After all, why should I love you when loving her is the same thing except
she doesn't trample my feelings and then toss me away when she's sick of
me?"

She could feel the hurt settle within her chest, suffocating her, choking
her. "You're just a dog without a bone," she said, again, before
she could stop herself, just wanting to hurt back. "Just because I
refused you back at the ruins. It was just a little pleasure, it didn't
mean that I'd want to go back to anything serious."

The air wavered with unmistakable menace and a dark aura began to emit
from his body. An unnatural breeze tugged at his hair, lifting it to
reveal eyes glowing gold with fury. She was the same way, hurt and anger
radiating from her as they stared into each others' flaring eyes.

"Stop it!" Duplica abruptly interjected in a shrill voice. "Will the both
of you just please stop it!"

They both turned to see Duplica gazing at them, a mixture of anger and
sorrow upon her suddenly pale face. Then she looked away, deflated. "I'm
sorry," she said softly, "but looking at the two of you - you who had
everything, destroying yourselves - it's just a waste, a horrible waste!"

Involuntarily, Misty took a step back, away from her. Sad thoughts
rampaged through her mind. Duplica was right. A waste. She had called Ash
a dog without a bone. But what about her? Wasn't she the same way?

A waste.

The words were like the breaking of a dam. Ash had been willing to talk
back at the ruins but she had lashed out. Why? With but a word, all of
the pain and loneliness and heartache, all of that could have finally
been resolved. Perhaps she'd been wrong? But when he tried to talk to her
to open up to her ... she had felt *hate*. Hatred! There was something
wrong with her. And poor Duplica. None of this was Duplica's fault. In
fact, it was probably all her own fault in the beginning! Maybe if she
hadn't been so argumentative - maybe if she hadn't been so demanding -
maybe if she had shown her love for him more-

Her cheeks tickled and she realised that tears were flowing from her
eyes. Ash stood there in front of her, the look of anger replaced by one
of dismay ... and-and caring. She could finally see it - despite all his
remarks saying the opposite, she could see the look there that had been
there since almost the beginning. And the hurt, she could recognise it
for what it was.

She was sick of herself. Sick of denial, sick of hurting herself and him.
Sick of laying blame, when it would not change her feelings no matter
what. But now she didn't deserve resolution. "I-I'm sorry, Ash," she
sobbed. "It's all my fault." She looked at Duplica as well. "I-I saw
you. Both." Duplica's eyes widened. "That day five years ago. I-I ...
please take care of him."

And then she pushed between them, running. Just running down the hallway.

"Misty, wait, I don't understand!" he called out behind her. Then the
sound of footsteps. He was chasing her.

She had to leave him behind. She just couldn't take it anymore. She
sprinted harder, her long cloak streaming in her wake. Her tears were
cold in the passing wind. The rows of demonic statues on either side of
the hallway loomed as if leering at her as they began to blur.

Up ahead in apparent ambush, two men in long, dark yellow cloaks stepped
out from behind cover of statues to block her path.

Pokemon League Thunder Masters. Their gloved fists crackled by their
sides and their eyes flared amber as they accessed their innate ability
over electricity. Both had blond hair that sparked with their power.

Strangely she wasn't scared. Darkness hazed into her vision despite the
dancing candlelight of the statues' eyes. Inside she felt cold. 

Just cold.

The Thunder Masters whipped their arms toward her, letting loose jagged
bolts of lightning that hissed with deadly intent.

She didn't care.


<><><>


So focused was he on chasing after Misty, his clouded vision locked on to
the flapping sapphire folds of her long cloak in front of him, Ash didn't
notice the League Pokemon Masters uncurl themselves from behind the
statues until it was too late.

He spotted yellow cloaks... 

No. 

Lightning flashed brightening the whole of the hallway. He dived in
desperation to knock her over. But he realised as he was airborne that he
would never make it in time. The electricity would reach her before then.

No.

Her form seemed to darken.

Flash.

An explosive wave of black coldness blinded him, slowed down his flight,
then propelled him backward instead to fly several feet before crashing
into something narrow and hard - a statue. Blood flew out of his mouth at
the impact and he dropped chest-first to the ground with as much pain in
his head as there was in his body.

He blacked out.


<><><>


Junior panted as he leaned against the curved stone wall of the tunnel.
Bruises and cuts covered his whole body and his hat lay on the gravelly
ground before him slightly smoking. His maroon clothes had become
half-shredded from his chest and were stained with his blood. But no
bones were broken. Yet.

Laselle lay on the ground behind him in a bundle of ripped green clothes.
She was slowly crying from the powerful blow to her stomach when she had
bravely tried to stand up for herself.

Brock was just playing with them. Otherwise he was sure they would have
been dead already. They couldn't even run away when the Rock Master had
exercised his element and closed off the tunnel behind them with rapidly
growing boulders. Junior grimaced in disgust. Too bad Laselle's
coward-ass butterfree had escaped through it before then. Seventh Master
Pokemon ... maybe the damned thing had led them to this trap in the first
place. Betrayal after betrayal.

The tall brown-cloaked man stood before them, slightly sideways, muscular
arms still by his sides, mostly covered by the wavering folds of his
mantle. His slitted eyes roved over them - though it was hard to tell
what exactly his thoughts were. The ruggedly handsome face stopped as he
considered Junior directly.

"So you are Bruno's son." The voice was deep but contained no obvious
emotion.

Despite his terror, anger filtered into him at the reminder of his
newly-found parentage. "Through no fault of mine." Desperately he leaped
forward attempting another attack. He tried a fore-knuckle punch with 
his right hand which was brushed aside easily, then a thrusting 
sidekick. Brock caught his foot in his hands and then threw him into the 
wall. Junior cried out as he brokenly bounced off the stone surface and 
then collapsed in pain.

"I suppose I should tell you that once I was your father's closest
friend."

Senses reeling, he had only one chance. He couldn't let Laselle be
taken. Maybe his pokemon could succeed where he hadn't - a slim chance
but better than none at all. He reached into his trouser belt and removed
a small maroon poke-ball. "Machop, go! Karate Chop his head!" he shouted
and at the same time he enlarged the ball and sent it hurtling at the
Rock Master's face. Rock was weak to Fighting skill. The only chance.

Dark-red light flared. A pokemon's growl - followed by a scream and the
cracking of impact upon rock.

Junior looked up to see Brock's arm extended, his fist pinning the
light-blue Fighting Pokemon against a newly-formed crater on the tunnel
wall. Brock returned his arm back to his side and Junior's Machop stuck
to the wall a moment before it slid down to the ground leaving a red
trail on the curved stone.

"But even he had love," Brock continued as if nothing had happened. He
shifted his slitted gaze to Laselle and a feeling of hopelessness settled
in Junior's belly. He growled. "They aren't worth it, son." Then
surprisingly his brown gaze flared and the boulders blocking the tunnel
behind them receded back into the earth. The tall brown-cloaked Master
hooded his head, casting his face in its shadows and stepped over him and
Laselle both. He walked on through the tunnel and left them alone.


<><><>


Ash's eyes blinked open. For a while he could only lay disorientated on
the ground, ears ringing as if a thousand bells had gone off in his
skull. The cold marble floor beneath his cheek was numbing his face. With
a hand he pushed himself up from his chest slightly. His vision was hazy.
Black mists seemed to rise from the floor in sinuous clouds and was
slowly clogging the hallway. The air smelled of dissipated electricity
and acrid ozonic fog. It was as silent as a graveyard.

A dim thought came back to him. Misty. Spitting out blood, he frantically
pushed himself to his knees but only slipped to fall on to his shoulder.
He determinedly pushed himself up again and finally succeeded in rising
to a sitting position though he had to lay back on the crumbling
dragon statue behind him for support.

He pushed a damp lock of black hair from his left eye and gathered his
cloak tighter around himself. The air was freezing cold. And the black
mist had completely engulfed the whole of the hallway now and swirled
about in the air like impenetrable smoke. The candles within the statues
lining the walls had been blown out, destroying even those meagre light
sources. If it weren't for his eyesight, he would have been completely
blind in the shadows and mist. But even from what he could see, he saw
that Misty was gone. Instead, pieces of blackened frozen corpses with
shredded yellow cloaks littered the area that the Thunder Masters had
stood.

But Misty was gone, the thought returned. He knew for all his bluster
that he shouldn't care that much, but it was as if a part of his spirit
had just disappeared. Who was he kidding? Over and over again he got
into situations that tested his feelings and over and over again, the
tests came back positive. He never really did get over her leaving him,
he realised that now. She had been right - he had been punishing her. But
he hadn't known that he was also punishing himself. He was a bastard, and
he didn't deserve happiness. He thought about the life he had led. An
evil bastard.

But as he promised he wouldn't allow her to die over this, never that. He
would find her and stop this prophecy from destroying all that he cared
about. Though after that, like he had said to her, they would never see
each other again. He would never know peace but she deserved someone
better than him. Someone who wouldn't cause so much hurt to both sides.
He wouldn't even care if it was Brock, as long his old friend truly loved
her.

His eyes grew dull at the thought. Yes, that was what he would do.

Duplica crawled beside him looking completely beat up, breaking his bleak
train of thought. Her long blue hair was ragged around her shoulders, and
her violet cloak seemed to have several folds ripped from it leaving
holes and tears to show her white chemise underneath. Bruises seemed to
be forming on her forehead and left cheek. "How long have we been out?"
Her voice sounded almost as weary as he felt.

"I don't know," he answered in a dull monotone. His sense of time was all
screwed up along with his headache. It could've been anywhere from a few
minutes to several hours. He scratched an itch on his cheek. There was
that unknown feeling of elements floating in the air - obviously water
from the mists. And yet ... there was shadow? He didn't remember emitting
any of it himself. In fact he had actively been suppressing it for fear
he'd lose control. Maybe he had accidentally let it out when he had been
knocked unconscious.

Pikachu growled within his backpack and he tensed, or as much as he could
feel tensed when all he felt was a sort of detached lethargy. Footsteps
filtered into his hearing - many footsteps. "Someone's coming."

Ignoring the pain, he pulled himself up to his feet using the statue for
support yet again. Duplica did the same with a slight groan and they
stumbled into the deeper shadows of the wall behind the statue - and just
in time as several figures came striding out of the fog to stand over the
blackened remains of the Thunder Masters that had ambushed them.

Silence reigned as the group seemed to study the bodies.

One of them retched. "T-This is evil."

A pause and more footsteps. Ash could hear them walk past with slow
movements. The statue they were using for cover had barely enough width
to accommodate them both. He held his breath. By his side, Duplica did
the same. Getting found out would be the worst thing that could happen
right now - a thin line of blood was running down his temple and he just
felt too weak for a confrontation. He shook his head at a sudden
sarcastic thought. Or if he did have the will to fight, he'd be
uncontrollable, completely destroying everything.

Shuffling sounds. "No more after those two. This must be the point of
contact."

Ash blinked. These two? There were more? He continued listening.

"Point of contact?" a different voice continued. "You think this is the
work of those damn rebels? The hit-strike on their South Lavender base
was supposed to have wiped them all out. We had no orders to be
specifically alert to attack either. This looks more like Forbidden
work."

The other voice answered flatly. "Impossible. The wards of this hallway
were supposed to prevent any from entering up above into the main
city..." The sound of their footsteps receded further down the passage.

Wards. Thoughts raced through his mind. Then it was definite. He shut his
eyes. If only he could kill himself now ... but no, he couldn't. 

Misty.

She knew how much of a hypocrite he was and made him promise. Giving up
was against his very beliefs, the very fabric of what made him what he
was, but right now from what he knew, giving up would ensure no one else
could die from his hand. Either way, he lost.

He had to go. He had heard enough. On silent feet, he pushed off from the
statue and continued down the hallway, making sure he kept to the shadows
of the wall. The black mists still swirling about and the extinguished
candlelit eyes made sure he was completely invisible.

"Where are you going?" Duplica whispered behind him as she also followed.

Resolve settled within him. Up ahead, the hallway continued on until
finally, through the hazy dark fog, he could see a wide marble staircase
leading to the surface. 

He pulled his deep hood over his head, letting the shadows fall across
his face, his night-black cloak trailing behind him as he moved swiftly.
He answered her without looking back. 

"Indigo City."


<><><>


Indigo City. 

The largest capital city left standing on the whole of Indigo Insula and
most likely, the world. The Orange Archipelago, the other continents,
none had been spared from the darkness. The Dark Pokemon Wars
had seen to that. A revolution it was called. A revolution against the
very things that society had been built upon. Justice, democracy, people
living in harmony to coexist with the world and the elemental creatures
they dubbed, 'Pokemon' and indeed, that they heavily depended on just to
make the world work. All of it just gone, beginning from the day the
fateful rediscovery had been made.

All because of one power-hungry man named Giovanni who dared to upset 
the balance that had existed since the dawn of time. The Traitor, he was
widely known as. But also the Returner.

Silent black lightning streaked across the domed sky high above the tall
concrete jungle that was Indigo Plateau City. The thin jagged trails of
forked electricity the colour of twilight spread haphazardly across the
clouded horizon to the accompaniment of a steady whistling wind which
blew among the tops of the gloomy skyscrapers and office buildings. Their
glass windows reflected the flaring dark lights so that the city seemed
as if it had a life of its own, glowing brightly with its own elemental
energy. Most of the streets on the outer edge of the city were empty of
people, but of the many in the inner city who braved the coming just to
see the world being cleansed and remained outdoors to celebrate, all felt
the foreboding atmosphere of the supercharged feeling within the air.
Visibility was even lower than usual from the hazy clouds of fog that had
descended over all.

Much was going to happen tonight.

Indeed, much was happening *right now*, General Yas thought as he stood
at the foot of the stairway that led to the elegant white-marbled dome
structure known as the Victory Gate. With a feeling of impending
disaster, he observed the panic-stricken soldiers and trainers rushing
about the wide entrance, swords drawn and poke-balls clutched in ready
hands.

Dressed in a long, League silver coat, he hopped up the massive stairs
leading to the Victory Gate building two steps at a time, his steel
hauberk underneath his coat clinking against his chest. He grabbed one of
the many passing soldiers also uniformed in grey by the arm with a
gauntleted fist. "You! What goes here?" He jerked his chin up at the
bustling entrance to the marble building, still gleaming beautiful
despite the sheer blackness of the night. He had been ousted from his bed
from the alarm of his intercom, indicating an emergency. It wasn't his
shift, but in an emergency there was no shifts. Too bad as he had hoped
to get some sleep before the reformation. As long as he woke up the next
day with the sun shining and the birds crying above a blue sky, he didn't
much care about how it had happened.

The soldier grimaced and was about to roughly pull himself away when he
recognised just who it was that had detained him. Dark-brown eyes
widened. "General Yas! Forgive me. But there has been a breaching
of the Victory Road tunnels. Apparently some Forbidden have broken
through."

He automatically reached down to finger the hilt of the long katana
sheathed at his waist on his belted coat. Dread crawled down his throat
to settle into his belly. "Forbidden? But ... that's impossible!"

"That's what General Kas suspects," the frightened soldier replied as he
rubbed his freed arm. "The body count is over a dozen including-" His
voice cracked here, indicating that he couldn't really believe it
himself. "Including two Thunder Masters. The bodies have been ...
blackened and show sign of Forbidden elements."

His grey eyes narrowed at the mention of his rival's name, but then he
squashed down the feeling. At times of crisis, petty squabbling over 
minor rivalries had best be forgotten. "Forbidden elements you say? Light 
or Shadow? Maybe our resident queen bitch, Mistress Valdera was just 
flexing her muscles."

"All indications point to Shadow, Sir."

Dark Forbidden then. The fine hairs of his neck stood on end. He
dismissed the soldier with an abrupt nod and in a burst of speed,
continued his way up toward the entrance, boots clicking on the ivory
steps.

Forbidden. In Indigo City. A feeling of betrayal arose within his chest.
Didn't Lord Garick promise that their city would be impervious to the
reformation? He fought to conquer the rising panic. No, best not jump to
any conclusions. He would investigate this...

Suddenly another soldier running down the steps collided into his
shoulder and he grunted at the impact, the force enough to twist him
around and almost cause him to trip over the next step. Fury darkened his
eyes to weapon-steel silver as he rubbed his shoulder and turned around
to address the clumsy fool. "Idiot! Watch where you are going!"

The soldier had stopped to regard him with cool light-brown eyes. Longish
soft black hair wavered in the chilly night breeze, intermittently being
blown over and about a smooth handsome face. The standard grey of a
soldier's long-coat covered his lean athletic form from shoulder to foot,
the lower hem flapping at the ankles of his black boots. The Fire symbol
next to the League emblem on his uniform's breast marked him out as a
Fire Trainer and not just a common soldier. What was not standard was the
small brown backpack slung on his back. A frightening burst of
familiarity exploded into the General's mind, but when he tried to think
just who this was, he just couldn't grasp the man's identity. Like a
slippery fish with bare hands, it just eluded him.

Hard lips on that handsome face gave semblance of a mocking smile. "Long
time no see." A finger touched the tip of his nose in an impertinent
salute, and with a flap of his long coat, continued down the long
flight of marble stairs toward the lamp-posted city street. A Flareon
scampered down after him on its four paws, its orange and red fur
burning brightly like a walking fire.

General Yas spent several more seconds trying to remember just who the
man was before giving up with an annoyed growl. He continued to rush up
the stairs. He had more important things to worry about right now than
some smart-ass subordinate.


<><><>


On a street a block away from Victory Gate, out of sight from curious
bystanders and other soldiers and trainers, Ash ripped the grey League
long coat from his shoulders and with a crackle of dark lightning,
disintegrated the fabric into floating powder. The cold wind picked up
the dust and blew it away high toward the tops of the tall buildings
lining the street, high into the night sky.

The Flareon trotting by his feet flashed and reformed into a
five-foot-eight woman with long blue hair, a violet cloak draped over her
slim body. 

Duplica didn't look at him. "We have to find her." There was no doubt of
who she meant.

For a moment he didn't answer. Their boots clopped along the cracked
sidewalk. To their right, abandoned storefronts stood silent. To the
left, the wide street was empty save for a few pieces of rubbish being
blown and rolled along by the wind. lamp posts that lined the street
struggled to illuminate the sheer darkness through the hazy fog that
seemed to hover about them. Indeed it was amazing that there was still
electricity to light the city. An ironic thought almost made him smile.
Perhaps the League's Thunder Masters were working overtime.

He took off his backpack and reformed his long black master's cloak
about his shoulders with a dark shimmer. "I will find her." He closed his
eyes and hugged it. "But after that ... I don't know."

Pikachu's dark head popped out the top of his pack, pointed ears
twitching. "Pikapi. Pikachu." His pokemon patted his arm.

Duplica took a sidelong glance at him. Her eyes suddenly flared. "Well of
course you're going to get back together."

He was taken aback by the abrupt intensity of her stare. All at once,
her eyes reminded him of someone. He lifted his arms to the sides to let
his cloak shift over his form like a robe so he could put his backpack
back on. Then he let out a hard laugh directed at himself. "Duplica, I
... I appreciate your concern ... but some things, we just have to work
it out by ourselves."

She tore her gaze away and forcefully kept her eyes to the front as they
walked. "Bullshit, Ash. That's just bullshit. I know exactly what you're
thinking. I am not going to keep silent and let you make some fool
mistake, like spontaneously decide that you care too much for her to care
for yourself. It's just the kind of selfless, but stupid thing that you
would do."

Surprise almost made him bite his tongue. Duplica never spoke serious
like this. Just what had Agatha done to her to change her? It didn't
sound like her at all ... she didn't even call him Ashy or some other
irritating pet name either.

"Don't look so shocked," she continued in a hard tone completely alien to
her usual bubbly one. She was still refusing to look at him. "I can be
serious when I have to. And I care too much about y- ... my friends to
let them punish themselves."

Ash kicked at a wadded piece of tissue on the sidewalk with his boot. He
felt as torn as that piece of paper. "Duplica ... it just isn't as simple
as that. Getting back together. You know the saying, 'it was better to
have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all'?" He clenched his
teeth. "What a pack of lies. I'll give you a better one. Take a bird
that's been caged their whole life. Hatched in captivity. But caged in a
basement, darkness is all that it ever knew. Then one day, you let it
free into the bright day above. For the first time in its life it knows
light, to fly in the open sky, to know freedom. Instead, a moment later
you net it and bring it back into the shadows of the basement inside its
cage. At least before the light, it never knew the life of freedom. Now
it knows that it will never attain it - that is true cruelty." He shook
his head. "Life doesn't always have a happy ending. In fact, in some
cases, it would be better if there wasn't a happy ending."

Duplica was openly staring at him again. "Are you saying that it would be
better if we lost?"

He paused. "Maybe."

"You're not making any sense-"

Footsteps behind. He stopped and neatly sidestepped into a nearby alley,
dragging her after him by the wrist and cutting short her retort. They
wordlessly hugged the mossy wall with their backs as a company of League
soldiers followed by two men in long dark-red cloaks ran past, their
demeanor silent and serious.

When the sound of their footsteps receded, Duplica looked at Ash's hand
on her arm. She frowned as if she had found a bug on her arm, and to his
shock, roughly pulled herself away from him. "You didn't have to hide us,
I could have dealt with them."

"Then we'd have to deal with a thousand," Ash replied, slightly puzzled.
"You do know who that black-haired man was in the long silver coat and
armour back at the Gate building?"

"If I remember right, that must have been General Yas. Didn't he lead
half the Pokemon League's cavalry in the wars?"

"The very same. His duties now are protection of Indigo City along with
his ... let's just say ... his partner. And he takes it very seriously. I
don't know about you, but I want to get through this thing without having
to fight several armies worth of people within a populated city."

Duplica snorted. "He can't be very smart if he didn't recognise you. You
practically almost knocked him off the stairs."

"I wasn't surprised. He tries not to think about me too much." He walked
past her and kneeled down to examine a dark stain on the pathway outside
the alley. He touched it with his fingers. It seemed to be a piece of
burned fabric, with the bottom left corner that was less singed a shade
of ocean blue. Standing up quickly, he threw a fold of his cloak back and
began looking all around. "Anyway, we better hurry. I was right, she did
pass this way."

Duplica stared at the cloth in his fingers. "Ash." She hesitated. "Do you
have any idea what happened back there?"

He closed his eyes for a moment. "I ... just don't know what to think any
more. Or even if I want to think." He shook his head as he studied the
surroundings again. There was a balcony further up the alley wall, the
first of many that seemed to climb the whole building. It would be easier
to find her if they searched from up above, and there would be less
people to see them. Maybe she even had the same idea. 

"Hold on tight in there, Pikachu," he said back to the closed flap of his
backpack. Then taking a running leap, he rebounded off the opposite wall
with his boots and surged upward to grab the floor of the lowest balcony
and hoisted himself up. He prepared to thrust himself up to the next one,
and looked down at Duplica to signal her to follow him. The alleyway was
empty.

"Up here," a voice called from above.

He lifted his eyes to see Duplica already climbing the building, jumping
from balcony to balcony. He shook his head yet again.


<><><>


The central city streets were packed with hundreds and thousands of
excited people all shouting their celebration of the coming reformation.
Many of them held signs, which read, 'Save the world' and 'Lift the
darkness' not to mention the many varied banners depicting the 'L' logo
of the Pokemon League.

On Third Street, the excited shouting was suddenly cut short when a
manhole cover in the midst of the crowd abruptly exploded upward as if an
underground geyser had erupted. However, instead of boiling steam that
drove the explosion, it was a geyser of sub-zero ice shards and water.

The shouting turned into screaming as the people closest to the eruption
fell back in a ring of shock and pain as their extremities were frozen
solid.

The manhole cover high in the sky shattered into ice causing a brief
flash of light which was so bright, it illuminated a surrounding area of
more than two blocks. Following the blast, a blue-cloaked Pokemon Master
jumped out of the hole, followed shortly by a dangerous-looking coated
woman with braided hair and two Pokemon League Generals in grey uniform.

Suzie looked about observing the packed street and the surrounding city
buildings. Up above, the dark dome covered the sky completely. They were
finally inside. She smoothed down her black coat and looked at the specs
of frost that had collected on her sleeves. She frowned and they
evaporated into the air with a slight hiss.

"Move along, move along!" a loud voice bellowed, drowning out the
frightened whimpers of the people around them.

She raised her eyes to find a company of League soldiers dressed in grey
armour and coats shoving roughly through the crowds toward them. The
soldier in the lead spotted her. "Woman! It is illegal to obstruct-"

Butch and Cassidy stepped in front of her. "Step the hell down, soldier!"
Butch growled, his maroon eyes narrowed as his gauntleted hand tightened
on the hilt of his sword. "Do you have any idea who you are addressing?"

"G-General Butch!" the soldier faltered. He blanched even more when he
saw the expression on Cassidy's face. "And General Cassidy! But we all
heard you had died in the final battle against the Rebels."

"Not even close," Cassidy sniffed contemptuously with a flick of her
blonde ponytail. "You think a tiny force that was all the Rebellion had
left could defeat us?"

The soldier averted his gaze within his helmet. "Not the rebels ... but
... we've heard some things that ... Master Ashura has returned."

Rainer shoved his way roughly past Butch and Cassidy, tearing off his
hood to reveal his face. "Enough of this! While you stand here gossiping,
do you realise that a party of rebel Pokemon Masters lead by that very
same Master you mention has made it into this city?"

"What?" someone roared.

Suzie turned to see a tall heavyset man with huge shoulders and 
dirty-blonde hair push himself forcefully through the soldiers. He was 
wearing a long silver League coat that gave him an air of authority. His
black eyes were glittering with anger. In her mind's eye she saw the
bright yellow aura flare out from him.

"General Kas," Cassidy greeted him with a smirk. "You look well."

He ignored her and turned to Butch. "What's this about rebels entering
the city?"

"Rebel Pokemon Masters that survived the purging," Butch replied in his 
croaking voice. "Apparently they seem to think they can stop Lord 
Garick from invoking the Armageddon."

Genral Kas' mouth creased in a grim line. "That can't be allowed to
happen." His mouth flattened even more at a thought. "The break-in at the
League Gate," he growled.

Suzie stepped forward, interrupting him. "Enough of this wasting time,"
she said quietly. "General Kas, do you have any idea of the whereabouts
of Master Brock?"

He looked down at her with contempt. "Stupid woman, do you realise that
you are talking to someone of authority-"

She narrowed her eyes. At the look, his eyes blinked, and he
unconsciously stepped away. He glanced at Rainer, who nodded at him. He
turned back to her and shook his head. "More and more we didn't know
about," he said gruffly. "But I do not know the answer to your question.
Master Brock has been missing for some time now."

Suzie clenched her teeth. She should have had him by now! This was
unbearable... if it weren't for that Ash ... Her eyes suddenly
gleamed. Where Ash was ... Brock was sure to follow. She looked around
at the others. Butch and Cassidy were again talking to their colleague
and Rainer was looking through the crowds as if searching for someone.

She didn't need them anymore. Now that she was inside and she was so
close, she could feel it, they would just be unwanted baggage. She would
find Brock herself ... and finally end this. 

End the nightmare.

"Raise the alarm," General Kas ordered to one of his soldiers. "And tell
that good for nothing, General Yas, what's happened."


<><><>


"That will be nine gold Y's," the waitress shouted at them, her voice
just barely being heard over the crowd's loud ruckus though she stood not
more than one foot from their table.

"Nine golds?" James asked, his voice high as the waitress placed the tray
of drinks in front of him. "That's highway robbery!"

Jessie was trying to observe what Butch and Cassidy were doing from her
seat next to him, though it was hard with the sheer amount of people
jostling around the street and mostly blocking their vantage point from
the outdoor cafeteria. "Just pay it, James," she burst out in annoyance.
"When we bring those two in, it should be enough to keep us in high style
for a long time." Butch and Cassidy seemed to be conversing with the
newly arrived League General, who was heavily built and with closely
cropped dark-blonde hair. Right now they looked to be too solidly guarded
there on the street with many soldiers watching ... and that blue-cloaked
Master was there also, observing the crowds. Just then he seemed to look
right at her, his cold watery gaze pinning into her despite the dozens of
people they used for cover. She immediately ducked behind a fat man
guzzling his dinner at one of the tables that was between their line of
sight.

"What's wrong, Jessie?" James asked as he sipped at his glass. He moved
his head to the side to see what she was hiding from.

"Don't make it so obvious, you fool!" she hissed at him as she hugged her
chin to the surface of the table.

"You mean that Water Master? He's not looking this way anymore." Then he
tugged at his nondescript civilian tunic. "And it's not like he can
recognise us with these new disguises we're using."

Jessie raised her head from the table. "I know that, but we can't be too
careful with ... you know, Pokemon Masters." She ran a hand through her
dark red hair, not worn in her usual ponytail, but free to slide around 
her shoulders. She felt distinctly uncomfortable in her own disguise. A 
civilian grey frock which was altogether too tight. She should have 
known that the woman she had robbed it from was a bit too short.

James sipped again at his drink. "If you're so worried, why did you
insist on leaving the twerp and his friends? We could have used his
help."

"Oh come on, James. I refuse to rely on the twerp," she said with
superiority.

"But it looks like we'll have to. Have you heard what some of these
people are saying?" he said with the sound of his usual panic. "They're
saying that outside of this city, they're planning to wipe the whole
earth clear. That means no more Fuchsia State ... and no Fuchsia State
means no employer, and no employer means no reward for bringing in those
two criminals, and all this time we've spent will be for nothing!"

"Why don't you say it louder, I don't think the whole cafeteria heard 
you whining," Jessie said sarcastically. She sensed movement from the 
street behind her and she turned, angling her head around the 
still-guzzling fat man. Butch and Cassidy were starting to walk away 
down the street through the crowd in the company of the general and his
soldiers, their aqua and blonde hair soon becoming but a few bobs in 
the sea of people. She pushed her chair back to the annoyed grunt of 
the person behind her and stood up. "Well, come on James, we better 
follow."

James did too but then suddenly felt his pocket. "I think Persian wants
to come out now. He's not used to being inside a poke-ball anymore, and
he keeps shaking my pants."

She shook her head with a malicious grin. "Well too bad for him. If
we're caught by any of these soldiers with a pokemon, we'll be arrested
faster than a complaint can leave your lips. Besides, I've gotten rather
sick of his arrogant attitude and at least in there, we won't be able to
hear him order us around." An ironic laugh escaped her mouth then at some
other thought. "Imagine. Civilians no longer allowed to keep pokemon. How
barbaric."


<><><>


Holding her breath tightly with her lungs screaming for relief, Giselle
gave one more mighty heave to the manhole cover above her head, finally
dislodging it. The rusted steel cover overturned and clattered with a
cringingly loud metallic sound on the apparent street above like an
oversized coin. She scrabbled frantically up the rest of the slimy ladder
and out into the night. 

She gasped like a deep-sea diver coming out of the ocean. Glorious, fresh
air! Well, not so much as fresh but anything was better than the stench
down there. It was cool against her flushed face, but the best part of
it was that it didn't stink. She collapsed upon her back upon the street
sighing wearily. "We made it!"

"Don't be so melodramatic," a dry voice replied from behind her.

Giselle opened her eyes and blinked, trying to let her vision adjust to
the different light. The sewer had been as black as one of her favourite
dresses. The thought made her frown. All of those dresses had been
destroyed back at the South Lavender base. She pushed herself half
upright and turned around to regard the fuzzy green shape emerging from
the open manhole she had just come from with an imperious look. "Well,
excuse me if I'm not a connoisseur of awful smells, Mistress Erika. I
almost *didn't* make it. First your Gloom and then this sewer. I think my
nose might be permanently damaged."

The fuzzy green shape finished pulling herself out of the hole with
significantly more grace than Giselle herself had and settled down upon
her knees. Gradually, the shape focused into a green-cloaked woman with
shoulder length blue-black hair held in place by a red hair band. With an
annoyed expression on her lips. "I wouldn't complain if I were you, my
Gloom or that sewer - especially that sewer," Erika said hotly. "We're
lucky we even managed to break into the system or we'd have been lost
down in the Victory Road Tunnels forever." 

Giselle sniffed, still unconvinced. "Lucky is not the word." She pushed
herself up all the way to her feet and inspected herself. Her once-white
medical coat was now almost as green as Erika's clothing. Except it
wasn't nature's green, but some sort of slime green. And she didn't even
want to guess what that brown gunky stuff was that had collected beneath
her long fingernails - now most of them broken. Thoroughly annoyed now,
she added, "Besides, you don't have anything to worry about. Your sense
of smell was already impaired."

Erika gave her a look as dirty as Giselle was feeling but then shrugged
apparently deciding to let it pass. The Grass Master almost brushed stray
strands of her hair with her hands but then spotted the same brown stuff
covering her fingers that Giselle had and stopped just in time. "Anyway
we better get to cover, we're too exposed out here in the open," she said
instead as she herself stood up.

Flicking her fingers in a futile attempt to dislodge the gunk from her
nails, Giselle took a better look around at where they had surfaced. Or
as better as she was going to get with the gloominess of the air
that looked so thick, if she opened her mouth she could probably taste
it. Everything had a decidedly grey or black cast or some mixture 
thereof. But she could see well enough, the dim lamp posts on the sides 
of the street were actually working, giving some scant light to cast 
about the darkness. 

It seemed as though they had come out in the outskirts of the city within
the suburban sector - houses with tiled rooves lined each side of the
street they stood upon, grass lawns, trees, an intersection with traffic
lights at one end, a park on the other. Although unlike the lamp posts,
the traffic lights didn't seem to be working, their signals blacked out
like the sky. Of course, with no vehicles functional, it wasn't like
they'd be needed anyway. Looking to the south-east, the horizon was
blacked out by the dome. They were finally inside.

She finished her inspection with a shrug. Erika had no cause for
worry. The neighbourhood looked deserted. All the houses' windows were
devoid of light and the overwhelming silence suggested that no one in the
whole street was home. "No one's here to see us anyhow," she concluded as
she pulled her high heels from her coat pocket. She grunted as she hopped
on one foot to put one on then the other. "Which is good, since I'm an
absolute mess."

"Don't worry about what you look like now, worry about what you'll look
like if any League Patrol catches us," Erika said in a dry tone, though
her grass-green eyes were looking about alertly for any sign of movement
along the street. Giselle quieted down just to make her happy.

Surprisingly they were rewarded by the faint clopping sound of what
seemed to be horses' hooves down the road from the west toward where the
broken traffic lights were.

"Riders." Erika's green eyes narrowed. She turned quickly with a flap of
her cloak and sprinted across the road towards a house that provided
plenty of shadows to hide within. "Come on, Giselle, and hide!"

"You're not the boss of me," she said just to be disagreeable, but she
followed anyway. They leaped over a half-collapsed wooden white fence and
crouched behind an overgrown rosebush on the front yard of the deserted
house. She was careful not to touch any of the sharp thorns as she hid,
which was actually some feat since the night was so dark despite the
light posts.

The rhythmic trotting of the horses grew louder and then they spotted the
flickering burning manes of saddled ponytas and rapidashs being ridden by
grey-coated soldiers. They slowly moved across the road in their field of
view and were scanning the houses to the sides as if looking for
something.

Giselle squinted. The front two riders looked highly familiar. They both
seemed to be female. One had shortish blue hair, while the other had red
hair pulled in a ponytail... she suddenly growled. "Why those traitors!"

"Quiet," Erika immediately cut in. "Looks can be deceiving. Remember
there are more than one Jenny and Joy in the world."

Giselle shook her head. Of course. Their Jenny and Joy were back at the
Waterflower with Misty's sisters. These two ... must have stayed with the
League.

"What I find more important," Erika whispered, "is the flashing thing
that Jenny is studying in her left hand. Do you see it?"

She looked hard at what the blue-haired woman in the lead was holding. A
light flashed on it and suddenly she recognised the small electronic
device. She let out a surprised breath. "That's a Silph Co EDS."

A pause. Then Erika asked in a dry tone, "That's fine, but what exactly
is an EDS? Unlike some people, not all of us are doctor-engineer ... well
whatever it is you are exactly."

Giselle shook her head with some condescension. "Don't you know anything
besides playing with perfume and flowers? An EDS is an Elemental
Detection System. They're not as sophisticated as what ... say a
Forbidden might be able to detect, but they can sense some elemental use
and home in on its source - pokemon or human. What a gifted human gives
off is identical to the more standard pokemon energies after all." She
pulled her own detector device out of her coat pocket. "I have one
myself, this one, and you've seen me use it. But I think that one over
there that ... Jenny ... is holding is more advanced."

Erika frowned down at her device. Then she looked up and glared at her.
"That's all fine and good, but remember that its *my* knowledge about
flora that actually gets you the medicines you use to heal-"

A shrill beeping sound emitted from the detector across the street that
the League Jenny was holding. It actually glowed green and immediately,
two dozen unfriendly armed soldiers were looking over in their direction.

In panic, Giselle quickly went to clamp a hand over Erika's mouth, 
though failed when the Grass Master spotted her filthy hands and 
recoiled with a sick expression on her face. 

"I'm sorry, so please calm down!" Giselle whispered forcefully.

The detector's shrill alarm died. One of the soldiers looked at the 
Jenny. "Want me to check out that yard?" they could hear him ask gruffly.

The blue-haired captain was still studying the detector though it had
already died down. Her voice drifted down to them in the passing wind.
"Don't bother. It was probably just a stray bulbasaur or something.
Besides, we're not after grass related elementals, but it seems Forbidden
type. Generals Yas and Kas have reported a break-in at the Victory Gate
in the northern end of the city."

Immediately, a visible sense of panic seemed to wash over the whole of 
the soldiers. "You didn't tell us that Forbidden were involved!"

"And they weren't even supposed to be able to make it into the city!"

The League Jenny's brandy-coloured eyes darkened. "Well, now you know!
Are you soldiers of the Pokemon League or a bunch of snivelling cowards?
We will defend this city if need be, defend your poor families, even if
we face countless demons from Hell! It's just this one more night until
Lord Garick finally completes the reformation prophecy and then you can
go back to hiding underneath your beds!"

At their captain's castigation, the grey-coated soldiers looked ashamed.
Then they straightened and saluted. "As you wish, Captain."

"And that is how it should be."

The troop continued on their trip east down the suburban road.

When they were gone, Giselle stood up and brushed some stray pieces of
grass and leaves from her hair. She sighed. "That was close."

Erika didn't seem quite so relieved as she looked suspiciously around at
all the various shadows being cast around them. "Forbidden in the city?
And I thought we wouldn't have to put up with that with that black dome
covering the city and all." She shook her head. "And did you listen to
her? It's something we shouldn't forget. The people here are just trying
to protect their families. It's natural. Of course, letting everyone else
who isn't part of this city go to Hell isn't exactly nice, but we should
try to understand human nature."

Giselle's eyes narrowed as surprisingly a wave of intense anger washed
over her. "I don't care. All human life is precious and *they* should
understand *that*. They're all happy in their own little enclosed world
happily ignoring all of the other people who just aren't privileged
enough not to be part of the League. That prophecy is madness and if they
go along with it, as far as I'm concerned, they're holding the
executioner's sword just as much as Lord Garick and the other League
Pokemon Masters are." When she turned back, it was to find Erika staring
speculatively at her with green eyes. "What?"

"To think that I thought I knew you just a couple of days ago..."

She coughed and waved her suddenly hot face. She fought to act normal. 
"Anyway, things as they are," she said in her arrogant voice, "I don't 
think we should worry too much about whether we get discovered."
She smoothed down the rest of her clothing as best she could. "They
should be more worried about finding us instead. From what I've seen
you're no slouch at Grass Mastery and I know enough to put over-eager men
in their place."

Erika shook her head in amusement as if to say she didn't buy it. She in 
turn inspected her green cloak which had also been grimed up by their 
stint in the sewer. "What you forget, Doctor, is that now we're within 
Indigo City itself, the very heart of the Pokemon League. We'll be seeing 
a lot more actual Pokemon Masters like me ... and you ... against us." 
With that said, she frowned down at her soiled clothing. The green cloak
shimmered briefly before returning itself to a clean state.

Not convinced, Giselle just shrugged one shoulder at the same time
wishing she knew that particular trick. It would be one thing she
wouldn't mind learning with her unwanted power. Then again, that was one
thing compared to the many she didn't want to know.

Finished with her cloak, Erika turned to study her. Her nose twitched.
"Why don't you clean yourself up too? It isn't hard and it'll do until we
can bathe properly."

Not meeting her eyes, she grew quiet. "You know how I feel about people
and elemental gifts. I already broke my vow twice about using it."

Erika was solemn. "It's your decision... and I guess it's safer anyhow
since those patrols have those AIDS."

"That's EDS," she corrected, her mind elsewhere.

"I guess you would know."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing! Now come on, since Indigo Center isn't going to grow legs and
walk to us, logic states that we have to do the walking ourselves." She
turned upon the heel of her boot and jogged toward the side of the street
while trying to keep within the shadows of the bushes.

Giselle muttered to herself before following closely.

Silence settled back into the night.

And unknown to them, a black figure observed from high above, balanced
perfectly upon the tall thin apex of a dimly glowing street light.


<><><>


From rooftop to rooftop a slender figure glided across multi-storied
buildings, long blue hooded cloak billowing out at each extended jump. 

Leap. Rapid footsteps upon concrete roof. Leap.

At this altitude, the high cold winds that whispered through the upper
currents and among the tops of city structures blew much more forcefully
than at ground level. But the sound it made as it blew past her ears was
almost the sound of weeping.

She leaped toward the next building, this one at least a dozen levels
high. In midair she enjoyed the feeling of weightlessness as she seemed
to drift along the current of the upper winds. It made her feel as if she
wasn't really there. Below, the darkness of city streets was almost
shrouded in shadow except for the faintly glowing street lights. She
wondered what would happen if she fell. No one would miss her. Her most
of all.

Then all too soon she landed upon the next rooftop with a thump of her
boots. She grasped a loose fold of her cloak with her right hand and
continued onward without hesitation.

The old league housing were situated at the western end of the city.
Although housing was really an inappropriate term - slums was a much
better description. There wasn't even any real houses there, just
tightly packed-in multi-levelled flats. It had been the 'poor' section of
the city. At least in the old days.

She reached the end of the rooftop and jumped down to the next building,
cloak streaming above her. After dropping rapidly through the air, she
landed with a louder thump, cracking the cement underneath her boots, and
steadied herself with a hand as she crouched.

Unbidden, thoughts of Ash returned again to knife her in the chest,
almost on schedule. She honestly thought he would be happy without her
there to make him miserable. And herself.

She forced the thoughts away with a slight sob as she pushed herself to
her feet and continued on her way, jumping across rooftops. She was
messed up. But then she had known that for a long time, just hadn't
openly admitted it to herself. Now it only fell to her to discover just
how much she was messed up. The meeting with Valdera...

Glowing blackness in the sky flitted to the left of her peripheral
vision. She took a brief glimpse toward the centre of the city where she
could hear the faint rumble of people cheering. In the distance, through
the tall peaks of other buildings, the Palace of the Elite Four was again
visible. It was a pentagon-shaped structure built upon layer upon layer
of elegant balconies. From its roof, a slim tower thrust itself toward
the sky, its apex seeming to almost touch the very top of the protective
dome covering the entire city. Black lightning that flashed overhead
seemed to reflect from its marble stone walls giving it an eerie shining
effect. The last tower to be used in finally opening the way.

Once it had looked much different. Once it had been known as Indigo
Stadium where the Pokemon League Championships were held each year. The
place where Pokemon Masters were born - real ones who earned their
Mastery due to hard work, effort, strategy and team work. Not the bastard
offspring of ancient blood that had so frighteningly quickly replaced the
old ways solely from brute force, overwhelming power.

Gary. Now that she had ... freed Ash from worries about her, he could now
concentrate on the task at hand. And stop this utter madness. She kept
her gaze to the front, not having to look at the sky to see its utter
darkness.

Destroying the world around himself in the name of the Pokemon League.
What level of arrogance and selfishness did a person have to have to
commit such atrocity? Birth of a new world, but at what cost? Then again,
she couldn't quite keep the mocking voice in her head from snickering to
her. Just let the world die, the traitorous voice said. It's not worth
saving anyway.

"Crying, sister? The tears do not become you."

Misty almost stumbled upon landing on the next rooftop. Quickly looking
around, she finally spotted the slender white-robed figure standing atop
the roof of an adjacent building. Long wind-blown blonde hair sinuously
drifted to the side in the upper winds that howled about them.

Angrily, she reached within her hood to find a slight moistness on her
cheeks and rubbed it away. She surveyed the area. The buildings were
not so tall any more in comparison with the inner city structures. Dark
old apartment flats abounded across the empty streets below. She hadn't
realised that she had already arrived at her destination.

She returned her gaze to her sister. Valdera stood upon the edge of a
slightly taller building looking down upon her. The thin white robes that
covered her were flimsy at best and not one goose bump was raised on her
smooth skin despite the chill air. The two of them never really had been
affected by cold weather.

Misty threw her hood back, letting the wind catch it and her hair,
blowing it to the side to match her sister. "I can cry if I want to," she
said softly.

Valdera crouched a bit, then leaped across to join her on the rooftop.
She seemed almost to glide, her slight robe catching the air just so, as
she crossed the space of emptiness between them. Then there wasn't even a
sound as bare feet alighted on the concrete. Her sister turned to look at
her, the both of them standing only a few feet apart now, aqua eyes
identical to her own glowing softly. "But then, this isn't your party
is it, Mistaria?" she said, shapely lips twisting into a mocking smile.

"Save me the corny lines, Vally," Misty replied, letting her own eyes
flare. "I got your note. Now are you going to tell me what's going on, or
will we just stand here and throw insults back and forth?"

"Vally," she mused as she shook her head slightly, the long blonde hair
catching the wind even more to float hauntingly. "I haven't been called 
that since the night I left Cerulean City."

At the memory, Misty almost choked. "Left? I thought you died! Everyone
did. You were swept into the river..."

"Just because I hated to swim, doesn't mean I was incompetent at it
either. Besides, weren't you happy?"

"Happy? How could you think that I would be happy?" A feeling of outrage
grew. "How dare you think that? You of all people should have known that
I loved you. Of all the times I stuck up for you in front of Mom and Dad.
All the times we teamed up against Daisy, Lily and Violet. Damn it, we
were twins!" She looked over her sister's features. The night Valdera had
disappeared they had been seven. But for the differing colours of their
hair, they had all but been identical. Now, sixteen years later, though
they had both grown into adults, it was still the same. Valdera's face
was still as her own, eyes, nose, cheekbones, pink-tinged mouth - right
down to the dimple in her right cheek when she smiled. She looked over
her sister's body, loosely covered by the flimsy white robe. Even their
figures were identical. She even wore her hair at the exact same way, the
exact same length, loose to flow about her shoulders and down her back.
Though of course, Valdera's hair was still the same golden blonde the way
it was back then, and hers red - the tones just slightly darker now.
Probably to match the tones of their souls.

Some people may have found it eerie to just know that another person
shared her exact features. But to a twin, it was just the way the world
was. They had grown up that way.

"Twins? We are so much more than that, Mistaria. Much more." Valdera's
mouth twitched. "For instance, I know that you never really believed I
was dead. When you first saw me again, you actually weren't that
surprised. You were more surprised by me being in the League, and my
element, if anything."

Misty blinked. She had never given up the hope that her sister was alive,
and though she never told anyone, she had occasionally searched for some
sign of her in the hope that she would find her. However now that she
thought about it, somewhere inside she knew that if her sister were dead,
she would have felt it ... somehow. "W-Wait," she stammered, "what do you
mean more than twins?"

Valdera smiled a smile of malice. "How do you think I removed your
blood-bond from Ashura?"

Something snapped inside and her eyes flared anew. "So it really was
you back at South Lavender." Her voice was soft with deadly anger.

"He was just as good as I remembered." Valdera hugged herself around her
slender waist and tossed her blonde hair back with a flick of her neck.
"And it seemed he remembered me with how much he enjoyed having me back."

The air dropped a few degrees as Misty stared at her. Fog slowly began to
blow out of their mouths at each breath. Then she let out a slight laugh.
"You're lying. He was unconscious during that time."

"Ah, but it's the subconscious that tells no lies." At some inner
thought, Valdera's body abruptly sparked with white lightning,
illuminating the entire rooftop as if she were a spotlight that had
exploded. Bright whiteness began to emit around her in an aura of deadly
electricity as the sound of hissing thunder permeated through the air.
White boots formed over her bare feet, as well as her long Master's cloak
to cover her robes. "Which comes to the main reason I called you here,"
she continued in a furious tone. Surprisingly, her blue eyes were moist
with unshed tears, revealed now in the intensity of her aura. "Though you
say you love me, I am different. I hate our father, I hate our mother, I
hate our sisters ... but most of all, I HATE YOU."

In culmination with her shout, she flicked a palm outward, exploding
flares of vivid light into the darkness and Misty narrowly saved herself
from being blinded as she threw a fold of her blue cloak over her face
and spun. After completing the spin, an angry sob from in front warned
her of Valdera's intent and she leaped backward, high in the air,
throwing the cloak from her eyes.

She guessed right, as Valdera had materialised below in the exact space
she had just vacated delivering a crunching high axe kick which missed
her but connected with the concrete of the roof instead. The blow was so
powerful that the mortar seemed to dissolve beneath her boot sending a
blast of rocky grey shrapnel and pressurised air everywhere.

The force of the explosion propelled her further back in the air than
Misty had intended and abruptly she found herself without roof to land
on. Thinking fast, she completed a back-flip to stabilise her momentum
and threw a bolt of water towards an apartment block to the right. The
instant the column of liquid hit, she froze it solid in the form of a
slide, flipped around an over it with her hand and slid along it with her
boots towards the building she had snagged.

She was serious, Misty thought, shocked, as she turned her head and
searched for her sister. The rooftop where she had seen her last was
nothing but a dust cloud. If that kick had connected, she would have been
breathing out from her insides. Never before had Valdera ever attacked
her with serious intent to kill.

Her senses suddenly screamed. Without knowing exactly why, she dived
headfirst from her makeshift slide, just as Valdera teleported in the air
directly above her and shattered her ice construction with a double 
fisted blow that had been aimed at her head.

The air was cold, rushing past her face and flapping her cloak, as she
continued her downward dive aimed at one of the many upper windows of the
nearest building. At the last instant, she thrust her palms forward,
shattering the glass and broke her fall with some forward rolls followed
by a slide upon the hard wooden surface of the apartment. She couldn't
see as broken wooden furniture smashed while she slid through trying to
slow herself down. Finally, she planted both hands upon the ground and 
thrust herself feet-first at the nearest wall, bounced, flipped, and
landed into a crouch bringing herself to a stop.

Valdera swung in through the window after her, twisted once, then landed
softly. She stood deathly still, her white cloaked form luminous in the
darkness of the abandoned upper apartment room. Her hair wavered in tune
with the cold wind that was now blowing in through the shattered pane at
her back. "Stop doing that."

"Doing what?"

"THIS!"

She leaped even before Valdera had driven her right palm forward sending
a surge of blinding white electricity at her feet. Crackling lightning
cooked the soles of her boots as she grasped on to an overhead light and
swung away. Strangely, she would have expected to be hurt by the
proximity of the blast, but she didn't feel a thing besides the expected
heat.

Whiteness flashed in front of her as she was swinging away and she was
ready for that too as her sister shifted in to intercept her with a
midair spinning heel kick. Without thinking she blocked it with her left
forearm, somersaulted and kicked herself away with both feet, using
Valdera's leg as a springboard. Her sister gasped in surprise as she was
knocked off-balance and fell backward. They both moved into opposite
back-flips as they dropped away from each other and simultaneously
landed, each in a crouch.

The air was cold and quiet save for the howling wind outside and the
sound of their heavy breathing as they stared at each other with glowing
blue eyes.

"I can understand father and mother ... and maybe our older sisters. But
Why do you hate me so much?" Misty asked softly.

"You haven't figured it out yet?"

"No!" she suddenly screamed. "Do you have any idea how I felt when the
very first time I saw you again, knew for sure you were alive, you were
cheerfully helping Gary finish off what was left of Cerulean City while
you searched out Rebels like me to kill?"

Valdera narrowed her eyes. "That was revenge. I went through hell just
because I was different, just because I wasn't like everyone else with
their stupid love of anything to do with water. And you ... you were the
worst of the lot. You're just a traitor."

"What are you talking about? I always stood up for you! When the other
kids talked behind your back, I was the one who knocked some sense into
them. How do you think I first got an image of being a bit of a tomboy?"

"Maybe, but you still sold out." Her eyes suddenly flashed with hidden
knowledge. "You rely on your Water Mastery when you can be capable of
much more. Our Water Mastery genes are the weak link of our parentage.
The fault of our father. And it would have been the fault of our mother."
She grimaced. "Our supposed mother that is. Thank Hell that she wasn't or
we'd have turned out exactly like our air-headed older sisters ... or we
wouldn't exist at all which would be an even better option."

Shock made her mouth open. "What are you saying, supposed mother? She
*was* our mother!"

Valdera shook her head. "You lived with them longer than I had and you
still didn't figure it out? Our father, stubborn boar that he is, isn't
so righteous after all. He had an affair. We are the result."

Her eyes shut. Something inside of her wanted to deny it, that Valdera
was spewing nothing but lies ... but for the first time in her life,
crazily it fit. It seemed to explain all the little nagging thoughts that
she had had all through her childhood ... it just fit too perfectly not
to be true. But ... but then ... who was their real mother?

"And THAT is the question that counts, dear sister," Valdera said aloud,
"along with just who was our dear Ashura's father."

Her eyes snapped open and she thrust herself to her feet with a violent
flap of her blue cloak. "What do you know about Ash's father?"

Valdera also stood up out of her crouch. "My, my, that got your
attention."

"How do you know so damn much?"

She replied with a non-humourous smile.

"Does the rest of the League know?"

"Lord Garick does ... why do you think he let you come inside so easily?
He needs Ashura ..." An unholy blue light gleamed from her pupils as she
said the next. "Which is why I have to kill him."

Time seemed to slow. Then speed up again, incredibly fast.

"The HELL you will." Her form flared a violent dark-blue as she exploded
forward so hard, the wooden floor beneath her boots shattered.


<><><>


The faint sound of revelry drifted up to them as they jumped across from
building to building in the darkness of the artificial night. Ash
sneezed as the cold breeze blew past his shoulder, blowing out his hood
and cloak out behind him. Gary had done his job good, he thought, looking
up at the protective dome that covered the city. If he concentrated he
could make out the complex weaves of pure shadow that had gone into the
making of it. That worried him. It seemed his old rival had somehow
gained the knowledge and power of the forbidden element that he had
thought was his alone ... He closed his eyes briefly in pain. Along with
the Forbidden Pokemon that had been summoned into the realm. The power of
the prophecy? He knew that Gary had been attuned to electric types just 
as he had been, but now this too? It didn't bode well.

Duplica bounded to the next building rooftop in front, her violet cloak
and blue hair floating in the wind behind her. Ash followed closely, his
own leap taking him across just at her back.

Duplica directed a dark look towards the center of the city where much of
the noise was being generated. "Idiots. They shout the name of that
madman as if he were the answer to all their problems. But all he is, is
a murderer."

Ash was surprised to find himself wanting to defend him. "Gary just wants
the best for his city." He clenched his fist. "But I guess that doesn't
excuse the fact that he's willing to sacrifice everyone else just so his
city can have a rebuilt world to themselves."

"And that's another thing that doesn't make sense. The whole Forbidden
prophecy involved the Armageddon of the world ... there was nothing
that indicated that it would be a rebirth."

Ash shook his head, even knowing that Duplica couldn't see it, being in
front of him as she was. There was something missing here, he knew it. 
Then he breathed out, expelling the worrying thought from his mind. The
important thing now was finding Misty. He knew they were getting close.
The overpowering feel of her was so strong in the air. Normally he could 
sort of sense her, since he knew her so well, but for some reason, the 
signs were powerful enough that it seemed there were two of her.

"Why would Misty head toward the city slums?" he wondered aloud if only
to make conversation with Duplica in front of him. Misty wasn't the only
person he was worried about. It was Duplica too.

But she just grunted something incoherent and ignored him.

He fell silent, feeling uncomfortable. Duplica still wasn't herself. 
Ever since she had awoken, it seemed like ... she disliked him. Well,
maybe not as soon as she awoke, there was a brief moment when she seemed
herself ... then she had hardened and treated him as if he were a 
particularly unwanted visitor come to call. He stared hard at the back of 
her head as she lead the way. She rarely met his gaze anymore and 
preferred to either travel in front of him or behind him.

"Duplica, do you hate me?" he suddenly asked.

Her jog across the roof suddenly stopped and he almost bumped into her
back.

He scratched at the back of his head. "I mean ... if there's something
I've done ... or if ... I know I should have protected you from that hag,
Agatha-"

"Ash, what do you remember about your childhood?" Duplica abruptly asked,
but without turning around.

"Well, you know about that," he said, puzzled. "I left at ten on the
usual badge journey."

She turned to face him slightly, though her brown eyes were still not
meeting with his. "Not that, I mean earlier. When you were just a kid."

His gaze clouded. "Well ... you know me and my mom lived on the small
farmhouse in Pallet... it was hard making ends meet, but I helped her
with the vegetables we grew and sold-"

"What about your father?"

Abrupt hot fury rose up within him unexpectedly. "I have no father," he
growled. Then he blinked, a bit confused at his reaction. "Actually, I
must have had a father, or I wouldn't be here would I?" He laughed, but
it sounded forced even to him. "But I honestly don't remember. He

must've died when I was a baby. Mom never did speak of him."

Duplica looked into his eyes then and this time it wasn't a cold look.
Warm and brown hers was. He blinked. Now he remembered what her gaze
resembled. No wonder he had always liked her. She reminded him of-

"I don't hate you, Ashy," she said, breaking his thoughts. "Though I wish
I could. It would have been easier." Then she turned once more to the
front, and jumped, violet cloak wavering in the air, down to the rooftop
of the abandoned restaurant building below before he could say anything.

Still confused, Ash didn't follow her just yet, as he watched her duck
out of sight behind the walls of a stairwell which led downstairs into
the building. Why was Duplica suddenly interested in his family and past?
It made no sense. She had always avoided speaking of things like that
before and he had assumed that she was uncomfortable with it because she
herself had been an orphan. He remembered warmly accepting her into his
own house back before all the wars began, and she had seemed just to fit
in like she belonged there.

"Well, better not stand around remembering stuff like a senile old man,"
he said aloud.

"Pika," Pikachu agreed from his backpack, a bit annoyed.

"Well buddy, you don't have to listen in on my thoughts if you're so
bored by them." He jumped across the distance between rooftops, over
darkened streets and alleyways below, feeling the cold hard wind as it
blew his black hair up and out of his eyes ...

And water splashed beneath his boots as he landed. Instantly he felt
something was wrong as he looked down and noticed the whole rooftop was
wet with overflowing water, gushing out from a busted pipe near the
stairwell in the center. There was so much water it was leaking over the
edges of the building.

"I can't say as you're welcome back, Ash," a voice from behind the
stairwell said coldly. The owner of it stepped out into view holding a
curved katana blade to Duplica's neck who he held in front of him as a
hostage.

"General Yas," Ash finally said, after a pause. "I guess you finally
remembered me."

"You flatter yourself." The General's eyes were gleaming blade-like
silver. "You're not worthy of my attention. It was General Kas who raised
the alarm and told me that it was probably you who broke in at the League
Gate. The Masters left there were just blackened corpses. I just put two
and two together after that. I should have known it was your handiwork,
Assassin." He said the name with deep contempt as if he meant a slug
rather than a killer.

Ash ignored the insult to nonchalantly adjust his black fingerless
gloves. "You can call them out now."

"As you wish." Yas whistled, and up the fire-escape on the other side of
the roof trooped dozens of League Trainers armed with poke-balls and
swords. On either side of them, a Fire Master dressed in a red cloak and
a Ground Master in brown leaped up from their hiding places on the edges
of the building.

Ash didn't recognise either of them, the Masters appearing to be young
and just barely over the age that they would have come into their
abilities. Not from his time then. The two stared arrogantly at him as if
he were a mouse to be devoured by the cats which they no doubt assumed
was themselves. Definitely too young then. "One more," he called out
expectantly.

The sound of a pebble falling from behind him made him turn his head and
he wasn't surprised to spot a black-robed woman adorned with silver
charms come floating above the edge of the roof and settle down. What he
was surprised about though was the actual identity of the chaneller who
had blocked his senses. Then they had fallen right into the trap.
"Cassandra?" he said, his voice tight with betrayal.

The blue-haired woman looked away from his eyes. "I'm deeply sorry Ash.
But ... you know my grandmother. She wouldn't survive without this city.
I owe the League my loyalty."

He turned back furiously to General Yas who was still holding Duplica
hostage behind his sword. He laughed bitterly. "You're out of your mind
if you think this so-called reformation is going to solve all your
problems. If you go along with what that ... fool, Gary has proposed,
you're all a party to mass-murder ... world-wide murder."

Yas chuckled with a bitterness to equal his. "You dare accuse us of that?
You who have killed so many people, I doubt you could remember even how
many? You didn't come by your nickname giving out cotton candy to
children." He swivelled his grey eyes down to Duplica's cheek who had
stayed silent throughout the whole ordeal. "And who is this? She looks
familiar though I can't say that we've met. Yet another of your
followers? Will you sacrifice her as easily as you did my daughter?"

Ash sucked in his breath. "I know I'm guilty of killing, and after this,
I'll probably burn in Hell for it and I welcome it, but I did not
sacrifice Yasmine as you still wrongly believe! She died a hero in the
Dark Wars, giving selflessly of herself of her own freewill, I had
nothing to do with it. She saved countless lives. Why can't you still 
allow her the honour?"

"Honour?" Yas roared. "You cannot enjoy honour when you are dead!" Then
he coughed, recomposing himself. "Now open up your backpack and send your
pikachu over here, or I'll slit this girl's throat," he said in a quiet
dangerous voice.

Ash desperately thought for a way out of the trap, but he couldn't think
of anything. Yas had thought of all the outcomes like the experienced
General he was. If he sent a killing surge of electricity, the water they
were all standing on would harm Duplica as well. Yas knew that he would
never willingly endanger his friends ... though of course his daughter
being the one exception. If he tried a physical attack, he held Duplica 
hostage. If he tried anything else, Cassandra and the other Pokemon 
Masters and the trainers would be on to him in an instant. And
once he had surrendered Pikachu, he would only be half as strong and easy
pickings for the number of people against them.

But what Yas hadn't considered was Duplica herself. Especially when she
spotted the black chaneller robes that Cassandra was wearing. Her brown
eyes exploded into a frightening gold colour.

She screamed, "I ... will ... not ... be ... controlled ... AGAIN."

"What ...?" Yas gasped in shock as Duplica's body melted to water and
passed through him to his back, reformed, then clamped her own hand on to
the hilt of his katana, over his own gauntleted fist, threatening his own
neck instead. She had completely reversed their positions, she now
holding him hostage instead of the other way around.

The two Pokemon Masters stepped forward their hands beginning to glow.

Duplica roughly turned Yas' body toward them. "Move and I swear I'll cut 
your General's head right off his shoulders!" 

The Masters stopped moving.

"Girl ..." Yas said, his voice incredibly angry, "I'll not be used like
this!" 

His body flashed green and a sparkle of dust exploded into her face.
Duplica stumbled drowsily and Yas managed to elbow his way free, forcing
his katana with him in the process and slashing at her. But shockingly,
Duplica narrowed her eyes and instead of dodging it, she smacked the
blade away with an arm that had suddenly turned itself to hardened steel 
and spin-kicked the General away with a flap of her cloak.

Ash was completely surprised, having had no idea that Duplica could pull
such a move, but was soon preoccupied by more threatening matters as the
Ground and Fire Master turned toward him, already blasting the power of
their elements from widened hands. And as if that wasn't enough, the 
sound of escaping energy cracked the air as dozens and dozens of League 
Pokemon were thrown out by the trainers to the accompaniment of red 
light flashes.

He knocked away the fiery ember with his right hand sending it into the
sky, and shot a thin bolt of lightning into the water by his feet,
enough to electrically splash a wave as high as his chest to block and
neutralise the summoned spikes of earth that had been thrown at him.

"Charmeleon, Fire Blast!"

"Sandslash, Rock Throw!"

"Beedrill, Poison Sting!"

He leaped high into the air, and the cement that had been underneath his
feet just disintegrated as dozens of Pokemon attacks thrust into the same
area sending stone shrapnel, bricks and water droplets flying everywhere.

Down below, Cassandra stared at Duplica and began mumbling underneath her
breath, her hands forming arcane gestures in the air in front of her.

Duplica cried an animalistic scream of rage and transformed in a blast of
fiery destruction creating a wide crater in the roof. General Yas shouted
in pain as we was blown backward off his feet by the blast, her fire
singing him badly. A furious Moltres took to the fog-dark skies with a
flap of its massive wings, the fire-blazing legendary bird lighting up
the darkness like the sun. She shrieked and a huge circular pillar of
melting-hot flame burst out from her opened beak directly down at the
chanting woman. Cassandra cried in fear as she realised that she would
not complete her spell in time.

"Duplica, no!" Ash expelled as he descended from his jump, turning his
attention from the Masters and trainers to the woman who had been one of
his many old friends. Elemental blasts shot up at him in response.
"Pikachu, shield us now!"

"Pikaaa!" Pikachu yelled as he jumped from his backpack and generated a
blue-black crackling forcefield, shielding them both in midair. Pokemon
attacks pattered against it to the sound of a hailstorm.

In turn, Ash thrust his hands down at Cassandra and concentrated quickly.
An electric shield of his own crackled into place in the form of a dome
over the frightened woman. Duplica's Flamethrower bounced off and shot to
the side like a reflected beam of light and arced into the side of a
building in the distance. A split-second later the whole building burst
into flame with a sound like thunder and began melting to its side like a
burning candle.

Ash landed from his jump with a splash on the still-wet roof, while
Pikachu landed upon his shoulder.

"Keep shooting!" General Yas ordered angrily, still sprawled on the wet
cement roof where Duplica had knocked him down in her transformation. To
the direction of their trainers, the dozens of League Pokemon burst out
again in their hail of elemental missiles. For their part, the other two
Masters, having realised that it was going to be harder than they
thought, called out their own pokemon from poke-balls within their
cloaks, a rhyhorn and a charizard respectively which both roared in
unison as they exploded free. The rhyhorn pawed the wet rooftop, horned 
head lowered and beginning to growl as it felt pain from the water on its 
hooves while the charizard breathed out fire from its snout and spread
out its dragon-like wings to take off.

Alarms and frightened shouting wailed in the distance. Already he could
feel numerous points of power turning in their direction. He desperately 
erected a new wall of electricity in front of him using his link with
Pikachu for extra strength. It deflected most of the blasts from the 
League Pokemon but he had no confidence that it would last a second 
longer once the two Masters and General Yas began to co-ordinate their 
attacks.

It was time to leave.

Duplica-Moltres was hovering high above them, still screeching her 
displeasure at his rescue of Cassandra.

She was safe.

Perfect.

He jumped high into the air again and pointed to the wet rooftop.
"Pikachu, Thunderwave!"

"PIKA!"

Paralysing lightning exploded everywhere.


<><><>


Wooden floor cracked, old plaster crumbled around them, and furniture was
smashed as Misty continued forward furiously attacking, while Valdera
retreated, smiling as she dodged or blocked every single one of her
hits.

Punch, spin-punch, kick, kick, roundhouse, punch, kick. She kept on
striking, her gaze clouded and her lips shut in a grim line. Valdera's
arms and legs were a blur as she parried the punches with her arms and
countered the kicks with her own. It had been going on like this for what
must have been more than half an hour.

It didn't make any sense. None of it. Why would Valdera want to kill Ash,
when from all she had known till now, she seemed to care about him? And
why couldn't she even land a single hit? When she avoided all of
Valdera's moves earlier, she had thought she was a good match for her,
but now it seemed quite the opposite.

"Why does Gary need Ash?" she breathed in-between punches and kicks.

Valdera ignored the question as she defended, instead asking, "You fight
good." Her amused expression faded as she seemed to examine her moves
more critically. "Your fighting style is very familiar." Misty kicked
upward then let her leg fall down in a high axe kick which she also
blocked. "You went back and completed your training didn't you?"

"Of course I did! You and Ash weren't the only ones who fought in the
Dark Wars!" She tried several snap kicks but again failed to break
Valdera's defence.

"I thought you probably just went away to have a good cry. He betrayed
you didn't he? That's why you left. You couldn't stand to be cast aside,
so you left before he could do that."

Misty slowed down her attack in shock. "How do you know that?" Then
sobbing in anger, she jumped and rebounded off two walls for momentum to
come down on her in a powerful aerial kick.

Valdera's eyes flared a bright unholy blue. "Mistaria, didn't I already
tell you that we're closer than twins!" she screamed as she grasped
Misty's outstretched foot and then swung her around using her momentum
against her to fling her powerfully at the wall. "It's gotten so bad now,
that your emotions are leaking in to me!"

Emotions leaking in? Valdera was reading her mind? Unable to stop her
flight, Misty twisted in midair to level her feet at the wall as she
smashed through in an explosion of wood, plaster and bricks. Then
suddenly she was outside in midair, in the black sky, having been thrown
out of the building. Freezing cold air blew her cloak around forcefully.
Hurriedly she grasped the star-shaped badge clasped on to the heart of 
her cloak, flipped once, then threw it into the air before her. 
"Starmos, I choose you!"

Her star pokemon's ruby face flashed red as it enlarged to its real size
and caught her just in time. Misty crouched upon its back as it swooped
down then up, just narrowly missing a low-lying rooftop.

Valdera stared out at her from the gaping hole in the building, her white
cloak glowing bright from anger. "Bitch!" She performed a complex hand
motion and light flared from her fingertips, forming into her female
white pikachu with green eyes which sat upon her wrists. "My Pet, destroy
her! Radiant Bolt!" She threw it up into the air.

The pikachu's green eyes stared at her as it rose into the air
like a bullet. "Pikaa..." it growled furiously in a contrastingly soft
voice as its body grew luminous and began to crackle from the white
energy it was gathering.

In midair Misty quickly kicked at Starmos' rear blade causing it to spin
up in front of her. For the moment, momentum allowed her to continue to
rise as she grasped at the stars back in form of a shield and merged her
mind with it, merged her abilities with it. Starmos rose up to the
challenge, and to her surprise, she could feel the sheer violent emotion
of her pokemon. She didn't know that it hated Valdera so much. A silvery 
sheen erupted from the star's face. "Reflect!" Misty shouted and 
Valdera's pikachu, now looking like a white comet rebounded off the 
shield harmlessly.

Valdera gasped, seeing her pokemon's attack directed at her instead. She
jumped from the building just in time as the white comet that was her
pikachu collided into it, causing a massive explosion of light and
burning shrapnel that brightened up the whole area like fireworks.

As her sister fell through the air towards the nearest rooftop, Misty 
flipped once to reseat Starmos beneath her feet. "I don't care anymore!"
she sobbed. "All I know is, that before you kill Ash, I'll kill you ...
and even myself first!" She concentrated and continued her movement into
a thrown ball of Hydro Pump which left her right palm like a cannon ball. 

"Such selflessness!" Valdera mocked as she landed from her fall on the 
building and lifted her hand. She narrowed her eyes and they glowed a 
bright blue as her white pikachu suddenly reappeared within her lifted 
palm. The ball of destructive water screamed through the air. In one 
smooth movement she jumped, formed her pokemon into the long curved 
white katana, and slashed downward, cutting the projectile into two. The 
two halves fell far away behind her and shot into the rooftops of two 
buildings causing explosive geysers of debris and water.  

"And still using water-ice attacks?" she called up to her as she landed 
lightly and transformed her sword back into her pikachu which sat upon 
her shoulder. "How can you hope to beat me when I practically remade 
myself into a weapon against our family's element?" She closed her arms 
up in front of her chest and interlocked her fingers. "Die!" Her 
white-cloaked form sparked once, then a massively thick beam of white 
lightning erupted from her palms and surged up at Misty in a zigzag 
line of destruction.

Misty couldn't move away fast enough. The lightning struck her with the
full force of elemental nature. She screamed. Pain like only lightning
could give erupted through her being. And yet, for some reason, the
lightning also felt good ... like it belonged with her. She lost control
over Starmos and crash-landed upon a nearby building, trying to break her
fall by rolling along the cement roof. Starmos bounced down next to her
and lay still.

Strangely, Valdera then shouted as if she were also in agonising pain.
Her pikachu fell off her shoulder to land paralysed on the ground.
Lightning sparked around her form haphazardly and without control. She
crumpled down to her knees and leaned forward, holding her belly.

For a moment, the both of them could just lie there, smoking with 
dissipated electricity, each on their adjacent rooftops panting 
heavily as they fought to regain their breath.

Valdera recovered first, smiling woodenly as she pushed herself to
sitting position. "I haven't felt like that since the first time I
managed to channel electricity," she coughed. Then she closed her blue
eyes briefly. "I should have known that it wouldn't be so simple." 

Misty sat up too. "Why ... Why is this happening?" She focused on her
sister's gaze despite the distance between them. Her voice quieted to a
whisper. "Valdera, just how are we linked?"

Even though it was a whisper, Valdera seemed to hear her easily. "Let's
find out," she growled as she exploded to her feet and took a running
jump to her rooftop.

Misty narrowed her eyes, anger rising up within her from an unknown
place. It surprised her. "You still want to fight? Well, it would be kind
of me to oblige you!" She also leaped to her feet and jumped high to meet
her sister in the air. She rotated into a flying roundhouse kick which
actually struck Valdera directly in the stomach. 

Instantly a sharp pain exploded inside her own mid-section and she
doubled over in agony and complete surprise. Losing balance, she began to
spin out of control as she fell. The city beneath her was a revolving
scene of shadows and lights. And then she landed shoulder-first upon the
cold cement roof of another building with a massive crack, bounced once
and then rolled into a painful pile of arms and legs.

Valdera landed in a crouch next to her, frowning slightly as she rubbed
her stomach. "You kick hard, sister," she said with some difficulty,
then stood up and smoothed her flapping cloak. "But then, I've learned to
withstand most pain. I mean, with the inferior water side of my genes, it
causes me pain whenever I wield my lightning side." She looked down at
her lying there and sniffed. "It looks like you on the other hand, have
not."

Misty swivelled and reverse spin-kicked Valdera's chin as she used her
hands to propel herself into the air. It sent her sister flying backward
off her feet to land on her back violently. At the same time, her own
chin exploded in pain and she was knocked down all over again.

Spitting out blood, Valdera cursed as she flipped back upright and jumped
forward kicking Misty's waist, sending her tumbling across the roof. In
return, she was also kicked in the waist by an unseen force and was
thrust backward to fall on to her chest.

Misty blinked as she pushed herself to her feet yet again while Valdera
did the same. Her sister lifted her hands in a fighting stance. This was
ridiculous. It was getting them nowhere. And she was tired, just so
tired. She dropped her arms to her sides. "Vally ... I-I don't want to
fight you anymore. If you'll just tell me why you say you have to kill
Ash? I thought you liked him, enough to even be with him during the Dark
Wars, and I know how much you disliked boys... If you want, you can kill
me, if that's what will truly make you happy, but please, leave Ash
alone. If not for me, then at least for the world as he is trying so hard
to save it despite what he may have done in the past."

Valdera's eyes which had dulled during their most recent fight, now
sprang back to life with blazing blue. "You're such a hypocrite,
Mistaria! If you care so much about him, then why haven't you been
showing it? Why have you split up yet again?"

Misty opened her mouth for an angry reply, but the words died in her
throat. She couldn't answer.

Valdera spread her arms apart as she looked at her. "I'll tell you
why, dearest twin sister! You're afraid of being hurt! Inside, you make
up all these silly excuses why it's better for you to be apart. Oh, I'll
just make him miserable! I'm such a horrible person, he deserves better!"
She closed her eyes and her voice saddened. "But after all this time,
time I could only dream of having, you still don't know what it is to
love and be loved. You can't have love without being vulnerable. Love is
not just pure joy, it is also pain. Which makes love when you have it as
sweet as it is. Knowing that the person who loves you is also making
himself vulnerable for you." She opened her eyes again, and they were wet
with a sheen of tears. "You had all this but you threw it away! You have
so much, and yet you reject it." Her voice dropped its sadness then and
regained its overwhelming fury. "And that is the main reason why I hate
you so much." She tapped her shoulder and a light flashed as she ported
her pikachu to sit upon it. Abruptly, she flung her arms to the sky, and
the stiff upper-city winds grew ten-fold as her white aura blazed anew,
brighter than even the burning buildings they had left in their wake. 
"As much as I hate myself!" Shockingly, her bright blue eyes flashed and
turned a deep crimson red.

Misty was forced back several feet by the sudden devastating wind which
howled and screeched like a thousand souls in torment. Her boots could
hold no purchase upon the cement rooftop and she slowly slid back as she
lifted a fold of her wildly flapping blue cloak to protect her eyes from
the light and the wind. Her hair felt as if it would be pulled out of her
skull. "Valdera, what are you doing?" she shouted, fighting for her voice
to be heard above the sound of newly sparked thunder which began to boom
in the black covered sky. The smell of ozone was strong in the air now.

Valdera didn't answer. Her white cloak writhed violently against her body
in response to the surges of power she was generating. Windowpanes in
the buildings around them began to shatter and white bolts of lightning
forked across the horizon above them, no longer a black bolt to be seen
anywhere. Toward the center of the city where masses of people had
gathered, the noise of revelry faded away as they seemed to notice the
great disturbance to the west.

Impossibly, the blue-black dome directly above them, wavered, then
groaned as if under tremendous pressure. The sound was deafening and
Misty thought her eardrums would burst. And then a small crack appeared,
grew then shattered creating a gaping opening along the city's domed
defence. Even more shocking was the sudden, blinding sunlight streaming
through the hole, burning through the dark heavens that had shadowed the
world, sunlight that had not been seen since the whole nightmare of the
prophecy had begun. The sun was an angry unnatural white, burning
blistering hot, washing over them and the building they were standing
upon in waves. Steam instantly hissed from the cement of the roof.

"I've missed the sun," Valdera whispered as if to herself, Misty hearing
it despite the howl of the wind and the cracking of thunder as she shaded
her eyes with the back of her gloved hand.

Dread made Misty's throat turn dry. She had seen the like of this once
before. Ash at South lavender before he had reduced the base and most of
the surrounding countryside to dust. Vally ... please God, no...

Valdera's arms were still raised, though her palms were opened. She
clenched them now. The earth trembled. "WHITE LIGHTNING ULTIMATE!"

Misty didn't know what made her do it, but she exploded forward, catching
Valdera's raised fists in her own. For one long moment it seemed as if
Misty was facing a mirror, holding hands with her reflection.

Conflicting thoughts spidered along her consciousness.

Keep her angry have to kill her I have to I'll never be free need to be
my own person break the prophecy I hate myself will kill myself I need to
live to be free ... what's this she's holding my hands shouldn't hold 
hands reminds me of Ash, Ashura, Ash...

She blinked and the world shifted.

And suddenly it was Ash in front of her, holding her hands tightly within
each of his own. But it was not the Ash of now, it was a younger Ash, his
black hair somewhat shorter so that it didn't fall into his eyes so much,
his face with several cuts bleeding on it, and his coat looked so
shredded it was as if it would fall from his shoulders at any moment.

All around, buildings were crumbling and falling, most of them burning.
It was Celadon City. But it had not been totally destroyed yet. It was in
the process of being destroyed.

Brought about by the three men dressed in earthen-brown long hooded
cloaks that stood before them.

"I know you don't like me much, no I know you hate me, but you have to
listen to me!"

Her stomach tightened with conflicting feelings. Finally her mouth opened
of its own accord. "Why did you come here, Ashura? This is my fight and I
will finish it!" Her hands struggled within his grip but he would not let
go. "Let go!" Misty abruptly felt searing pain as electricity flared
within her palms. "Or I'll kill you just like I'd kill any other Rocket
Army scum!"

Ash sucked in his breath as the electricity flowed into his hands and it
was enough to distract him so that she could lift him up and throw him to
the side violently.

She turned to face her attackers again. "Now where were we?"

The cloaked man in the middle shook his head. "You should have listened
to him, girl." His voice was deep and had the quality that seemed to
exude danger. "You may have extraordinary natural talent for the
elements, but you're still just a novice." His eyes glowed an evil brown.
"I will do this myself you little bitch and maybe have fun with you
later." 

His cloaked form flared to match his eyes and suddenly there was a pain
within her head such as she had never felt before. She had thought she
was above pain with her mastering a side of her element that was so
contrary to her being that it caused her agony whenever she wielded it,
but apparently she had thought wrong. She fell to her hands and knees and
vomited on the floor.

"Game over, little electric mistress," the cloaked man said. He seemed to
look critically at her. "I'd thought to have you later, but it looks like
you really aren't my type. Never mind, you can just lay there and die."
His hands glowed with elemental power. "Subterranean Spike!"

The ground rumbled beneath her and she closed her eyes. She had been
stupid. So weak. She had thought that with her gift emerging she could
defeat anyone. The days of her backing down to anyone and everyone were
over once and for all. Instead, it seemed these ... Pokemon Masters
dressed in brown were more powerful than she could have imagined. She
should have paid more attention to the rumours. And Ashura would watch
her die. Ashura ... Ash.

And suddenly she was pushed away forcefully as a razor-sharp rock thrust
itself out of the ground narrowly missing her. A wet splatter sprinkled
on her cheek as she rolled away.

"NO." The voice was from behind her and sounded drained of emotion. "All
I have left is my friends and I won't let you take them too."

She turned to look weakly back at what had saved her. It was Ash kneeling
near the earthen spike, with a long cut on his arm where it had slashed
him. He had pushed her out of the way only to become hurt in the process.

"Boy, you shouldn't have interfered," the brown-cloaked Pokemon Master
growled. Two malevolent eyes within the dark hood flared red.

What was he doing? she thought. He could only fight hand to hand, he had
no elemental ability of his own! These Pokemon Masters would kill him! He
had just committed suicide!

...

For her...

...

Conflicting thoughts spidered along her consciousness.

And yet other emotions matched perfectly.

...

Their hands abruptly broke apart and they both fell on their backs, Misty
feeling immensely tired as if she had no more energy within her. From
the sound of Valdera's laboured breathing beside her, she probably felt
the same... she did feel the same.

The sun high above them dimmed as black stormy clouds resumed their place
covering it. And soon, those too were out of view as the gaping hole that
Valdera had created in the shadow dome quickly closed itself as if it
were a wound that had just been healed. The dark fog of the skys also
began to renew itself and the wind had died down to its usual eerie
wailing.

Misty closed her eyes. She knew now. It had literally taken Valdera to
beat it into her, hell, she even beat it into herself. 

But now she knew.

She pushed herself into a sitting position and spat out some blood to the
side. Valdera did the same.

Misty struggled to her feet and turned away, ready to go. "I'll be
leaving now."

Hearing that, Valdera laughed tonelessly. "You don't care about what I
will do to Ashura anymore?"

Misty shook her head. "You can't kill Ash." She shook her head 
ironically. "Even if it was to save the world."

Valdera's blue eyes that were her own abruptly blazed with light, then
just as suddenly died down. Instead her eyes closed in defeat.

"I know you could never kill him," Misty continued, "because I could
never kill him. Because you are me ... and I am you."


*** End of Part 12


To Be Continued in the final Conclusion ...

_________________________________________________________________________

                                POKEDEX
_________________________________________________________________________

??????????
Type 1 - Shadow
Type 2 - Water

Attack : Shadow Mist
Type   : Shadow / Water
 
A mist of overwhelming darkness that can corrupt the flesh, and even 
freeze solid.

_________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

This part was originally going to be the last, and I released first a
quarter then this when it was taking too long. Then the fic just exploded
in size and Part 13 had to be born by splitting it or it would have
exceeded 500 Kbs. I don't think I've seen a single part of a fanfiction
that size anywhere on the net! I probably win some sort of record :D


Ace Sanchez
Emails : jsanchez@bigpond.net.au
       : aceywacey@hotmail.com
WWW    : http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/acey