Life Goes On

Chapter 5
Hyla was about to start the ceremony. “I welcome you, all townspeople, to the revival ceremony of Tate, brother of Liza. I believe you all know who they are.” She began to mumble some unintelligible things. For five minutes she held up the small disk of lavender crystallised stone, chanting lightly as she closed her eyes. She finished and placed the disk over Tate’s body, which was laid out on a table outside, in front of a fire. The League trainers watched fascinated, thinking it a funeral ceremony. <And you are somehow convinced this will work?> asked Tate from above.
<Yes. Yes I am.Now try to return to your body,>she snapped.
<Whatever,> he answered and hovered closer to the body. Carefully he put his hand through the skin. Surprised, he turned around and fell backward into the lifeless mass. When he opened his eyes, he OPENED HIS EYES. The rigor mortis that had made his body stiff was long gone, and the frostbite was nonexistent. He sat up. Wow. He hadn’t realized how pessimistic he’d been since dying. This felt so good! He held up a hand and moved the fingers. He touched it with the other hand, and laughed. He didn’t notice the prestige Hyla had just acquired, or the slight smile she gave him, the one that said, ‘I told you so.’ He only noticed the shouts of joy emanating through the spacewaves, the ones from his sister.

Ash was worried. Misty hadn’t been feeling well lately. She had been riding Meganium for the last day, for she was getting pretty weak. It was just over a week since they had arrived, and Brock was confident they were near the village that Sabrina had mentioned.
“Sabrina said that once it’s been eight days, we should come up and we’ll be in a tropical forest. Go west until you hit the village. It’s been eight days, we’re in the tropical forest, and we’re going west. We’ll be there in a day at most.” Brock could make everything sound so easy sometimes.
Falkner and Clair dropped rather ungracefully from the tree they had been scaling. They had been looking around for a sign of civilization, and had seen something about three miles to the northwest.
They had encountered a few Primeape earlier that day, and had opted to avoid any other wild Pokemon for the time being, noticing their strength.
“Be quiet a moment, I thought I heard something close to us,” hissed Blaine quickly. Without warning four beings ran out of the jungle with weapons resembling swords and swiftly surrounded the group. The trainers, in their fright, had all put a hand to their belts to release a Pokemon. Pikachu, unsure of the situation, jumped down from his master’s shoulder and assumed a ready position on the ground. Sabrina had sent an SOS to Liza to ask what to do, because they were Liza’s people, and Liza knew the language. Liza had just barely made a reply when the four attacked and Clair released her Dragonite, and Pikachu used Thunder.
Sabrina yelled to get the attention of everyone. With an added psychic blast, everyone shut up. She relayed Liza’s message. “Venimos en paz.” Sabrina sent the message psychically to each of the attackers in turn: the two men and the two women. Liza had told her that those who knew the language were never regarded as enemies, for only enemies couldn’t speak.
The attackers nervously regained their composure and called a quick conference, obviously deciding what to do now.
“Sabrina, what did you tell them?” asked Clair, nursing a hand that had been cut by the blade of the auburn-haired female.
“We come in peace,” was the slightly surprised answer.
The black-haired male looked to be in his early twenties, as did the rest of the group, but he was clearly the leader. His flashing green eyes conveyed leadership. The auburn-haired woman was a close second. They looked similar: they both had the same sharp eyes, angular features, and domineering air. The other two were friendlier looking; their matching brown hair and eyes seemed softer than that of their fellow swordsman.
Kyokin, the leader of the group, was directing their impromptu meeting. “They are enemies. When we surrounded them, they all reached for the trapped spirit of a Pokemon to attack back! Did you see that dragon? It must have taken some powerful force to summon it, and to make it disappear again.”
“They spoke the language,” replied Alona, the second-in-command. “No enemy can speak the language. They are friends. Or at least friends of friends,” she added.
“I’ll have to agree with Alona, Kyokin,” replied Jose, the other young man. “The woman who spoke seemed intelligent, if foreign. She held contact with someone before she spoke, maybe psychically.”
Alona continued. “Even if they’re from the land of plague, they are better allies than enemies. And did you see the red-haired woman? She was very much with child. I doubt that the scum would send a pregnant woman to steal Pokemon from the land.”
Padra spoke up. “Well, I know the rule. The rule is to never bring prisoners back to the village. I say we either leave them here or leave them on the ground.”
“Sister, are you so blind?” asked Jose, brushing charred skin from his hand. “They aren’t our prisoners, we are theirs! Did you not see the number of Pokemon spirits each one of them held on their belts? Not to mention that yellow creature that threw thunderbolts at us! And that dragon! If each had six, then we would be outnumbered two people and twelve Pokemon to each one of us!”
“Then it’s agreed,” Alona announced without asking. “We spare their lives and help the woman. She doesn’t look well at all.”
“Hey! I’m the leader of this excursion, I call the shots!” Kyokin retaliated by drawing his blade in front of her face.

The others stared on, not knowing what to do. The leader had drawn on the auburn-haired woman, and she was staring him down when the other man broke it up. He took the blade out of the leader’s hand and gave it to the woman with a slight bow. She took it and began to speak to the watching group in her unknown tongue.
Sabrina was repeating everything into the spacewaves, and impatiently awaiting an answer from their only translator, Liza. Liza responded quickly. <She says that they aren’t sure whether you all are friend or foe, but that they are trusting you for now and returning to their village. She says you are welcome to follow, and that this action is mainly for the benefit of the pregnant woman in your group. She apologizes for their earlier actions. She introduces herself as Alona, the leader as Kyokin, and the other two as Padra and Jose. She says they are leaving now.>
<Thank you, Liza. I couldn’t seem to read their minds; they are somehow blocked.> she responded.
<Get going! They only make these exceptions every once in a while. Actually, almost never.> Sabrina opened her eyes and relayed the information, while Kyokin was tearing through the forest, Padra was visibly wavering, and Alona and Jose were waiting patiently for a response. Sabrina nodded her head, and led the others forward.

After a mile or so, the natives had decided to be on the safe side and had confiscated the Pokeballs and tied the Trainers’ wrists together. At Liza’s recommendation, Sabrina agreed and allowed Padra to wrap the homespun twine around her wrists. She didn’t tell them that it wouldn’t help if Sabrina was angry, as she could move things with her mind. The others, feeling rather helpless without their Pokemon and hands, were more wary after that, but relented after a warning glare from Sabrina.
Trooping through the jungle was no easy task, but they managed with the expert hunters as guides. Suddenly, they came to a large clearing, and all the noises of people going about their daily business stopped. The eyes of hundreds of people were on them, as they paused in the middle of cutting fish, making spears, cooking food, or mending clothes. Women hid their children behind their skirts, men grabbed their weapons, all without a sound. Alona was growing worried. ‘What if they think my judgement wrong? They might make quick judgement on me.’ But she had to go through with it. Those barbaric laws had to go! Innocent until proven guilty, she always said.
It was almost sunset, and the people looked menacing in the half-light of the day. There was a fire built in the center of the clearing, which sent flickering shadows every direction. Alona spoke. “I wish to speak with the son of Miguel, Emine Leon.”
“I would very much like to know the meaning of this, my wife’s sister Alona,” said a voice from out of the shadows. He stepped out and revealed himself to be a brown-skinned twenty something man, with spiked dark brown hair and squinting eyes. He, like the others around him, had picked up a spear, and was holding it on its end, like a sceptre. The man held back a woman behind him, who in turn was holding back a young toddler.
“Emine Leon, I apologize for my actions, but these outsiders clearly said to us, ‘We come in peace.’ They made no move against us except out of surprise, and willingly gave up their Pokemon capture orbs. Except for that one,” she said, gesturing toward the Pikachu which had refused to leave his master’s shoulder. “That one seems convinced that they are not to be feared. It is obvious that you can’t trust people, but have any of you met a Pokemon who was an unsatisfactory judge of character?” This generated a murmur of response from the townspeople.
It was about fifteen minutes until sunset, and Misty was having convulsions. Oh no, she thought. Not now, any time but now! She was beginning labor!
“I know you to be an honest woman, Alona. You have proved your loyalty again and again. Yet still there are rules. Take no prisoners!”
Sabrina suddenly started moaning. She doubled over in pain. Repeating the words, “No, no, no!” over and over, she hit the ground with her tied hands. <Go away!> she screamed. <Leave me alone! I don’t want anything to do with you!> Sabrina was panicking. Something very powerful was trying to take hold of her mind. She couldn’t resist long enough, and to others, she suddenly appeared to become calm. Her head looked up, and her eyes opened. But they were no longer the almost-black eyes that she had once had. They glowed an eerie purple color, and didn’t flinch as Sabrina was surrounded with blades of every manufacture. She stood up.
All eyes were on Sabrina, except for Ash’s. His were flying between Misty and those purple-glowing eyes. Oh, of all the times! Why was it that bad days had to be so bad? Sabrina didn’t seem herself as she began to speak.
“Peace, brothers and sisters. I was once a sister among you,” she began, but all that her fellow trainers heard was gibberish. She was speaking in Paluzi!
“I am Comani Evelyn. I travelled to this noble town during my journeys. You were all much nicer back then,”
A few voices rang out. “How do we know you’re really Evelyn?”
“Yeah! You haven’t told us anything to prove you’re not deceiving!”
The large-eyed Evelyn continued. “Well, I assumed telling you my name and using your language was enough. Do you wish another sign, Emine Leon?”
“I’m curious to know what you have shown yourself for, but please the people first, and give another sign.”
“Very well. A malicious gang of thieves, whom his people later destroyed, killed Leon, your grandfather Emine Padre. Your father Miguel, who married Cecilia, has a large scar on the side of his face, extending from his right eye vertically past his nose. He received this wound while hunting, as a wild Skarmory came upon him, thinking him an egg thief. You were born twenty-five years ago, on March 28, on a full moon.” Leon paled, and the spirit of Evelyn paused as a woman watching shouted,
“It’s true! I was there!”
Evelyn continued. “By this time I was thirteen, destined to die in seven days’ time. Your son Juan was born just one and one-half years ago to your wife Imperi Myra. I believe that is sufficient proof that I am who I say I am, and that I am trustworthy. What I must say cannot wait, and the first inhabitant of this body grows anxious. You must take in these wanderers and help them. The woman,” she pointed to Misty, “is in labour. You must take her to a house. Before the sunset she will have a son.” She paused as Misty was lifted on many hands to the nearest house, Ash struggling to follow. “And before the moonrise she will have a daughter.” Once these words were said, the glow left her eyes. Sabrina dropped to her knees, fell forward, and didn’t move for a long time.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Leon shouted, after recomposing himself. “Return to the visitors their Pokemon spirits and cut their bonds! They will be treated with the respect granted to a native citizen. Some food, and shelter for these guests!” He directed a few bystanders to fulfil his orders and sighed, walking into his hut.

After the oldest woman had driven everyone else out, the three women were left in the house to tend to the red-haired soon-to-be mother. ‘The man at the bedroom door, the one with the yellow Pokemon on his shoulder, he obviously thinks a lot of this woman,’ she thought. ‘He must be the father.’ Marli went back to the pregnant woman, who was doing unusually well. She turned to her fellow nurses: Cecilia, her sister and Leon’s mother; and her own daughter Padra. They did their best to comfort the pained woman and wondered if the words of Evelyn were true.
Ash stood in front of the door, waiting. He needed to be with Misty now. After knocking on the door didn’t work, he ended up pacing. He felt like he would wear a hole through the mats on the floor if he didn’t stop, but he had nothing better to do. Obviously his pacing was making Pikachu nervous, who shocked Ash a little as a warning. “Sorry, Pikachu, but ya know I’m really nervous, and I can’t stand that Misty’s having to have our baby away from home. I’m sure she’s terrified. I know I am.” He sat down on the floor and waited, seeming not a day older than twelve.
Thirty minutes later, Misty lay recovering with two sleeping infants in her arms. The nurses were still amazed at it. The orange-haired boy had come first, before the sunset, and the girl, clutching her brother’s heel, came after. “The moon rises!” whispered Padra to the others. “She was right!” No one could believe it except Marli. She was the oldest and wisest in town.
Marli spoke. “You can let the father in now, sister,” she said to Cecilia, who was nearest the door. Ash looked up dumbly, then sprung up to run into the room. Misty was barely awake.
“Misty, are you all right? I’m sorry I wasn’t here, I really didn’t mean to,” he continued, until Misty dazedly told him to shut up, please. ‘She must really be out of it,’ Ash thought lovingly. ‘She never says please.’ Ash finally looked down to the two bundles of cloth in Misty’s arms. One had a full head of red hair, and the other had a mass of black. ‘Wait a minute, two??’ “There are two?” he asked of Misty, who was looking in awe at the babies.
“I see two. This one is a boy, the one with red hair, and this is his little sister, with the black.”
“They’re beautiful, Misty, just like you. The boy has your eyes,” he added. It was true. Under the mess of red hair, two crystalline blue eyes opened briefly to catch their first look at Ash. The girl’s eyes did the same, revealing hers to be a golden-brown color. The new parents gazed in wonder at the new life, unaware of anything but joy.