History’s Past,
Present’s Future
Chapter 1, Part IV: Branches of Doom's limbs
gatene2k3@hotmail.com
“Peachblossom,
emerge.” Sabrina commanded.
A large
unicorn-looking Pokémon landed on the ground in front of Sabrina, pawing the
ground hard, as if readying itself to charge.
With a mane of roaring flames that stretched down to its rear, it
neighed loudly, causing some nearby Pidgeys to take flight from the forested
area in which Sabrina occupied.
“You need
not to get riled up Peachblossom; we are now in a different era of the
world. It is peaceful here.” Peachblossom heard in its mind, causing her to
become calm.
It was
nearing sunset, and the forest took on a reddish tint to accompany the
sun. Various flying typed Pokémon
littering the air from the ruckus.
Sabrina
looked around in the sky above her, thinking to herself, ‘Yes, we are in a
different era. The vegetation is all
thick and moist. The Pokémon have yet to
even become separated into different regions.
I do not need to get content with this; I have a mission to
complete.’
“Peachblossom,
I am here to bring back four warriors to fight in the East and West War. This is a different time, where the war has
yet to travel to, but will eventually do so.
I am going to ask you to battle with two trainers here, but you must not
kill their Pokémon, alright?”
The
Pokémon neighed to verify that it understood.
“Now, we
need to go to
‘Team
Rocket isn’t even around yet.’ Her last
thought sounded in her mind, as she remembered what a dreadful day it was, to
leave her daughter’s side as a corpse, and her granddaughter believing that she
was deceased. She had to leave for the
past, to get her Alakazam and her Rapidash, making a huge riffle in time, but
swore to make it all right, once the war was over. Team Rocket was the cause of
it all, and she’d love to put a stop to them, right away.
“I must
be around four years old now, and causing a massacre in
She
continued thinking, with the background on either side of her blurring as the
Rapidash made haste to get out of the woods, and into the Viridian
settlement.
She held
on tight to the reign on Peachblossom, and leaned forward to keep from getting
hit by any branches. Any show of psychic
powers would cause tension and eventually panic in the people of Viridian.
“Slow down
Peachblossom.” Her Pokémon heard once
again in her mind. “We are nearing the
clearing, and we need to give the appearance that we come in peace.”
The
Rapidash obeyed and slowed down, to a soft clop upon the forest’s floor of
leaves and sticks.
They
reached the clearing, and immediately headed to a nice clear spot, to set up
camp.
<><><><>
“My
Giovanni, I come with news.” A short man
clad in gray approached the mayor’s tent, and softly spoke. “Giovanni” was a title given to a man within
the Rocket Team who was the leader in that day in age.
“We have
successfully captured the Oak man, and he is now in our custody.” The man was standing no more than 3 feet away
from a large solid oak desk, neatly covered with stacks of paper in midst of
the blueprints for the city, and surrounded by various copies of the
blueprints, with marks and scratches, which hung over most of the tent’s
ventilation openings.
The man
stood there and removed his hat to reveal a slick body of wavy black hair,
before George burst out, “What! I said I
wished to talk to him, not for him to be captured. You imbecile, how could you possibly
misinterpret such ridiculously easy instructions? Rocket Ingenuity isn’t about theft; we are
exactly what our name says.”
By this
time, George was about ready to leap from his desk and strangle the now
terrified man, who was ebbing his way toward the adequately small attached exit
of the tent.
“Actually
sir, we are The Rocket Team, remember?”
The man spoke aloud, hoping to deter George’s thinking. On the contrary, it had no effect on George’s
anger whatsoever.
“You lead
me to him, NOW!” George shouted at the
man.
“BANG” a
gunshot was heard from the distance.
“I
totally forgot! We’ll have to postpone this.
I have a party to host tonight.
Now, you will take Samuel Oak out of confinement, and apologize to him
until he gets as angry as I am. And, you
are to tell him to visit me here in
The man
bowed in respect, allowing two locks of hair to fall down over his forehead,
which annoyed George even more. George
jumped over the desk, and pushed the man through the exit and out onto the
ground.
<><><><>
Brantley
was now rejoined with his Eevee, talking and laughing among themselves, as they
were heading back up the steep slope leading to the campsites. Still walking, they came to the top of the
slope, and noticed a change in the scenery; tents of every size and color
littered the ground around the foundations.
Third
tent on the right, in the row directly in front of him stood Chuck and
Caroline. Caroline obviously wasn’t
speaking to Chuck, but Chuck was steadily giving out instructions for Caroline
to follow in building the tent.
“Hold
that pole steady, while I wrap this around each of them.” He said carefully, with an expression of
sorrow on his face.
Chuck was
then facing towards Brantley when he was affixing the tent wrap around the
farthest pole from the front of the tent.
“Brantley, you’re back!” He said
delightedly.
“Great,
you can help Nina with hers and your tent.”
Chuck finished with a glance at Caroline and then became solemn.
Fifth
tent on the left stood Nina, with Percy carrying an edge of the tent’s canvas
in her beak. An overall strap hung
loosely to Nina’s side as she fixed it back on for the umpteenth time.
“Need
help there?” Brantley asked curiously,
surveying Percy’s strained cries to hold the heavy canvas in the air.
“Brantley”
Nina called to him joyously with a smile upon her face.
Percy let
go of the canvas with a sigh of relief, and the canvas corner hit the pile with
a soft plump. “It’s okay Percy; I told
you that you didn’t have to do that.”
Nina giggled.
Brantley
was now dressed casually with jeans and a black sleeveless shirt, and gave a
clean appearance. Nina glared at him
with surprise, “Wow, you clean up nice.
Okay, what do we do first?”
Brantley
walked over to the tent, and began pointing, pushing, and pulling. About 30 minutes later, they were finished
building the tent. Brantley had lots of
time learning how to build a tent with his journey to learn of Pokémon.
By this
time, Chuck and Caroline were finished with their tent, and were already inside
of it. Brantley and Nina did the
same.
To
Brantley’s surprise, the tent was rather roomy, which made up for its lack of
height, which made Brantley duck when he walked in and out, and in the lower
parts of the tent.
The tent
consisted of four doorways which zipped up in an arc shape. There was also a large divider to separate
two rooms, which also zipped in an arc.
‘It would
be nice to walk around in the forest a little bit, and come back for the
festivities.’ Brantley thought to
himself, feeling how he could possibly get away from Nina long enough to do
so. ‘No, she would probably want to come
with me, I should ask her.’ A last
thought crossed his mind.
Nina had
already set up her sleeping bag, and plopped onto it, and began to write in her
diary. “Nina, would you like to go with
me into the forest, just to walk around a bit?”
He asked her, standing underneath the highest point in the tent, with
both hands in his pocket, and Eevee atop his left shoulder.
Nina left
a period at the end of the last sentence in her diary, and looked up at
Brantley, her jade-colored eyes reflecting the last bit of sun that seeped
through the vents of the tent to her right.
Brantley
shifted a little, and caught himself staring at Nina. He quickly turned away, and got back on
subject once again, “Would you like to go for a walk in the forest?”
Nina
smiled at him, looking as though there wasn’t anything else better he could
have ever suggested.
“Yes, I
would like that.” She said, but in a
nonchalant tone. ‘What’s his plan? Are we going for just a walk? Or does he have some kind of ulterior
motive? Why am I worrying? Percy will protect me.’ She began to say to herself, before shaking
her had, ‘Who am I kidding? Percy
couldn’t even hold up an edge of a tarp.
Oh well, I’m going with Brantley, I trust him…Completely.’ She ended her thought with that, and got up,
using her right leg for support, and dropping her diary onto the floor followed
by the pencil she was using to write with.
In a quick motion, she grabbed the two objects, and stuffed them into
her book bag that was idle in the corner of the tent, and went outside to where
Brantley was waiting.
“Mom,
Chuck, we’re going for a stroll to find Percy, we’ll be back in time for the
festivities.” Nina yelled to her mother
and Chuck, who were now seated in a large collapsible loveseat, each side
accompanied by a canned drink.
“Alright
Nina, you two be careful.” Chuck yelled
back, “Ouch! What was that for?” Chuck said
aloud to Caroline, who had hit him rather hard in the ribs with her elbow.
“Them,
that’s why, they’re going off alone into the forest, to look for some
Pokémon!” She was nearly shouting, but
ended it before her voice became any louder.
Her daughter was the only thing she had left from a completely happy
life; not that
Chuck didn’t make her happy, but she was thoroughly happy with her late husband
and Nina. She could let just some,
“boy”, to take the last thing away from her joyous lifestyle.
“Well, I
am sorry that I want my step daughter to have fun Caroline. I realize she is your daughter, but I too
care for her, and I trust her.” He said
taking a sip of his beer, and setting it back into the holder of their burgundy
loveseat.
Caroline
was taken aback. She had never heard
Chuck speak that way about Nina before, nor did she know they were even close
to being that close. ‘I trust Nina too
Chuck, but telling you and her about how I feel, could make myself sound
selfish.’ She thought. “Alright, I’m sorry. Now, let me kiss and make it better.” She said before they both
were laughing, trying to fend each other off, and making the first kiss.
“Oh
brother, let’s go before I get sick.”
Nina said to Brantley, before they headed into the forest.
<><><><>
“I am
sorry my Giovanni.” A man clad in gray
stood in the attached doorway’s entrance.
The sun shining behind him, making him weary to the eyes. “I was told this, this morning from a
messenger. I quickly checked it out
myself, and she was not seen by anyone.”
This man was different, he was dressed in gray like the other minions of
the Rocket Team, but this one didn’t wear a hat. His hair was extremely thin, black, and
receding, and his voice was deep and commanding, that of a leader.
“Have
their bodies been found?” George asked
the man, tears welling in his eyes, and his face struck with horror.
“No sir,
Delia wasn’t found after she miscarried the baby, and
the doctor’s left to leave her to grieve in peace.” The man said in a bow, with a smirk across
his face.
“Good,
then there’s a chance she’s still alive.”
George proclaimed, but still held a worry look on his face. He quickly got up, and hopped over the desk,
and started to head out of the tent, thinking, ‘My poor Delia, she must feel so
much pain and misery right now, I must be with her, to grieve with her, and to
put an end to it, together. DAMN! Why did this have to happen? She was so happy about Ashley. I was so happy about Ashley. My son…is…dead.’ At that moment, his tears were no longer held
back, he was rushing out of the door way, with tears bellowing out of his eyes,
and large but short shrieks accompanied the tears.
“No,
there is no chance she is still alive. I
didn’t want to tell you this…but…” The
man began to stammer, but with cruel intentions.
“Dammit! Spit it out, you should have told me
everything, you piece of shit!” His rage
wasn’t unexpected, for the man knew, the madder George became, the easier it
would be to end his life.
“There
were footprints found in the hospital.
Footprints made of blood, and they led out of the hospital. The forest surrounding the hospital held no
sign of blood or a disturbance.”
George
stopped in his tracks, his back still turned towards the man. George held his stance, and in a moment’s
time, he collapsed onto his knees, crying uncontrollably.
The man
stood his ground, a large grin formed upon his thick lips. A sinister coxcomb-like laugh could be heard
among George’s weeping. The man wasted
no time to reach into a back belt loop of his uniform, to retrieve a gun among
his Pokéballs, cocked it, and pointed it directly at George’s back.