Prelude Chapter 2: Kasumi vs. Ayesha Rubinia
	
	Lightning cracked overhead, thunder roaring its on choir for the lightning 
to perform its swift dance once more. Rain pelted the roofs of the houses of 
Nibi City in a rage and the wind howled defiantly, its own speed not great 
enough to do damage to the stone houses of the small city.
	Takeshi was silently sipping tea along with Satoshi and Shigeru, Sivitri 
calmly watching them, her Vaporeon eyeing their Pokemon with a challenging eye. 
Her Vaporeon had proven itself extremely loyal to her. It never let any of them 
near her for anything unless she so directed it to slacken its defense. It was
quick to obey and it only expected small treats and her affection in return. 
Satoshi and Shigeru had a hard time believing she was the granddaughter of 
someone who had started a war.
	"So, why did you come to the Indigo League?" Takeshi finally asked.
	Sivitri eyed turned to look at him with her warlike eyes. "I came 
searching for help. My father nor my mother will give it, so why not come 
searching for the Masters?" She shrugged her shoulders and turned
her attention back to Shigeru and Satoshi.
	"What kind of help?" Satoshi asked.
	Sivitri regarded him and him alone. "I need help stopping my grandfather."
	"What has your grandfather done now?" Takeshi snarled.
	Sivitri turned to her Vaporeon, who look back up at her with sadden eyes. 
"My grandfather as begun another bought for control of our continent. But...he 
wants more. If he succeeds in conquering Crystalmir, then he shall try for the 
Jhoto League next, then Orange and finally the Indigo."
	"So why did you come to us?" Shigeru said, watching the girl intently.
	"I came to you two because I knew we were the strongest masters among 
Pokemon in the three leagues the are most known. My league's not, so we have yet 
to discover if indeed you are better then my masters. You see, my grandfather 
has already messed up our system. He has thrown everything into chaos
and in a last ditch attempt to save our home, the people voted that I, the 
granddaughter, and my friend would go out and seek help of the two Pokemon 
Masters Satoshi and Shigeru," Sivitri explained softly.
	"Wait, your friend?" Shigeru asked.
	"Yes," Sivitri nodded. "Her name is Ayesha Rubinia."
	"Where is she then?" Satoshi asked.
	"Can you fit two people on one of your Rapidashes?" she returned.
	Satoshi frowned, but nodded. This only provoked a smile on Sivitri's 
porcelain face.
	"Good. The rain shall let up by morning," she smiled. "If you want to 
Master Takeshi, you may come with me to Hanada City to see Mistress Kasumi. That 
is where Ayesha is located."
	"We're coming too!" Shigeru and Satoshi shot at her.
	"I know, that's why I asked the Rapidash question," Sivitri responded, 
blinking. She smiled and rose from her seat, bowing. "Thank you for the 
hospitality. Come Kajiki." She and her Vaporeon walked out of the house, into 
the rain and faded into darkness.

	"Good morning!" called Sivitri as she walked out of the woods. Her 
Vaporeon wasn't with her this
time. "Ready to go?"
	Shigeru and Satoshi had finished drying their saddles, their saddlebags 
being waterproof. Takeshi was standing behind them, watching them.
	"Where is your mount?" Takeshi asked her.
	"Hmmm? Oh, my mount," she smiled icily and picked a pokeball from her 
waist. "Go Blackash."
	Out of her pokeball came forth a monstrous Pokemon. It looked like a 
Rapidash, but it was solid black, blacker then even a starless and moonless 
night. Its horn was sharp and wickedly curved, glinting in
the sunlight like obsidian. Its eyes were like blood droplets within its head 
that burned with an unholy light. Its hooves were the same substance as its horn 
and they were shoed, the silver glint of steel making Satoshi
and Shigeru shrink back a little. Its mane and tail were red, but the red flames 
gave off a light that was not warm like their own Rapidashes, but hair raising 
and uncomfortable.
	Sivitri stoked its muzzle lovingly and slipped a silver, silken halter 
over its head, attacking to long lengths of silver leather to it for reigns. 
Other then that, she put nothing else on it. With a swift jump she
was mounted on the large beast, which was around seventeen hands high. (Note: 
One hand is four inches - do the math. The Blackash is 5 feet 8 inches high.) 
The Blackash snorted, but nothing more. It struck the earth impatiently as it 
watched the others mount.
	"What is that?" whispered Satoshi to Shigeru. Shigeru shrugged and pulled 
out his Pokedex. His grandfather has downloaded all the data on the Crystalmir 
Pokemon into his and Satoshi's the night before they left.
	Blackash: The newly discovered evolution of Rapidash when exposed to a 
Fire Stone. Blackash is extremely fast, sometimes being clocked at three hundred 
miles an hour. Little else is known and since these Pokemon are so hard to 
handle, the Rapidash is rarely evolved.
	"Ready?" Sivitri asked them.
	They nodded, Takeshi looking almost sick as he held on to the waist of 
Satoshi. Turning sharply Sivitri began to trot down the road. They kicked their 
Rapidashes into slow canters and slowed them when they were nearly on Blackash's 
rump. Pikachu and Umbreon watched with interest as the Blackash trotted.
Pikachu even jumped from Satoshi's Rapidash to the Blackash and shocked it, 
Pikachu's way of communicating. In return it Pikachu found itself surrounded in 
flame for a few seconds. The answer was obviously not what Pikachu had expected 
and dejectedly jumped back to Satoshi to curl up near him in the Rapidash's 
mane.
	Umbreon looked sadly at Pikachu and said something, but neither of the 
three could understand them. They continued on their way in silence, pushing 
into a full speed gallop when they were out of Nibi City. They said little, lost 
in their own thoughts. They didn't notice that they had reached Hanada City till
Sivitri pulled them up.

	"So, you want my Cascade Badge, do you?" Kasumi smiled at the girl who 
stood before her. "Fine. Come this way please."
	Kasumi led the girl through a maze of corridors until they appeared in a 
large pool with floating boards.
	"This is to be our battlefield," she said with some pride. "Take your 
position on the left and I'll take
mine on the right."
	The girl did as told. She calmly stood on the rocking board, waiting for 
the orders of how the match was to be played.
	"Mistress Kasumi!" called a worker from the aquarium part of the large 
stadium. "Masters Satoshi, Shigeru, Takeshi and a girl called Sivitri Scarzam 
are here to watch the match."
	"Let them in," Kasumi responded. The worker hurriedly nodded and did as 
told. In came the four.
	The girl look towards Sivitri. "I did not expect you to come so early 
Sivitri."
	The girl on the board was as pretty as Sivitri. Her hair was long and 
black, laced with highlights of silver. It was tied neatly in a braid that hung 
to her calves and her eyes were large orbs of blood set in her head. She wore a 
turtleneck, sleeveless emblazoned with white and silver pokeball. Her pants were 
leather, but she wore tennis shoes. Around her waist hung a marble chain with 
six pokeballs clinking together on it. She had on trainer's gloves, but they 
reached her elbow, not her wrist.
	"That's right, I forgot to ask your name," Kasumi said to the girl.
	The girl turned her blood red eyes to Kasumi. They shone with no sign of 
life, no happiness, they were just set there, set within her head. They betrayed 
no emotion. They were dead.
	"I am Ayesha Rubinia," she responded. "Now, if you don't mind I want to 
get this over with so as I can go and greet Sivitri."
	"Is it me, or are you getting cocky before this fight even begins?" Kasumi 
asked. She picked up a pokeball and kissed it lightly. "For luck. Go Staryu!"
	Ayesha didn't seem in the least impressed. She chose her own pokeball and 
closed her eyes a minute before throwing it out. "Go, Xenic!"
	Satoshi, Shigeru and Takeshi raised their eyebrows in mild surprise, but 
nothing more. Kasumi, on the other hand, looked at the Pokemon with a shocked 
expression. The Pokemon was Jolteon, but it was as large as a good-sized 
Houndoom, just like Sivitri's Vaporeon.
	"Xenic, hurry this up. Thundercrush," Ayesha ordered immediately.
	The Jolteon nodded and jumped out to a board farther out on the water. 
Watching the Staryu with eyes that seemed to have lightning cracking from 
within, it raised the needles on its back and raised its lips
so that it looked as if it was snarling. The next second the whole water arena 
was alight with electricity and the Staryu was being hit the worst. When it was 
all done Staryu was laying, unmoving, on one of the boards.
	"Staryu!" cried Kasumi. "Return. This isn't over! It's a two Pokemon match 
and that Jolteon has to be tired after such an attack. Go Corsola!"
	"Nice job Xenic. Come on back," Ayesha called and the Jolteon jumped 
lazily from the board back to Ayesha's side. "And he can still keep going, but I 
need give the others an exercise so why not try this? Go Taichu!"
	Out popped an even weirder Pokemon then Blackash. The Pokemon was 
lightning blue with yellow lightning bolts like stripes down its back. The head 
was mouse like, the ears a pointer version of a Raichu's. The tail was thin with 
an amber looking lightning bolt end attached to it. The body was sleek and 
skinny, meant for speed. Its eyes shone with an emerald light, as if a storm 
raged within them that could not be quailed.
	"This is Taichu, the evolution of a Raichu," Ayesha explained.
	"There is no evolution to Raichu you fake!" Kasumi called, her face 
screwed in a mask of anger.
	"Where I come from there is," she smiled. "Taichu, we know how to deal 
with a Corsola don't we?" Taichu sniggered as it eyed Kasumi's Corsola. Ayesha's 
smile disappeared. "Taichu - attack with Lightning Cyclone!"
	Taichu leapt from its board and began to, or at leas to seem to, fly 
around the arena, the waters raising up in a storm like fury as the wind from 
its agility began to pick up speed, like a real storm.
	"What is it doing? If it keeps this up the whole place will be torn 
apart!" cried Kasumi.
	"Just watch! You'll see," Ayesha assured her.
	And precisely at the moment she said it, Taichu stopped running, but storm 
kept blowing. Jumping into the eye of the storm it started to spark and with an 
ear splitting cry lit the whole storm with lightning. Corsola screamed in terror 
and pain . As Taichu landed the storm faded into nothing and the undisputed
victor...Taichu.
	"Now, who was cocky at the beginning of this match?" Ayesha asked as she 
hugged her Taichu.
	Kasumi sank to her knees, watching Ayesha thank her Pokemon. The only 
thing that registered in Kasumi's mind was the power Taichu had put out and how 
it could still be standing.

	"Sivitri," Ayesha smiled and hugged the silver haired girl. "Good to see 
you again."
	"And you too Ayesha," Sivitri smiled. She turned to Takeshi and the 
others. "This is Nibi City's
Gym Leader, Master Takeshi and the Pokemon Masters Satoshi and Shigeru."
	"Pleasure," Ayesha said. "I'm Ayesha Rubinia, Granddaughter of Shanarra 
Rubinia."
	"Shanarra Rubinia?!" Takeshi cried. "But, she was the one who defeated 
Sol'kanar Scarzam when he first started that war!"
	"Indeed," Ayesha nodded politely. "Sivitri and I have teamed up to stop 
her grandfather, for my own grandmother is dead."
	"Then why did you seek us out?" asked Shigeru.
	"We sought you out because we know you are the most powerful Pokemon 
Masters to walk the earth right now," Ayesha explained. "And we need your help 
to win."
	"So how do we get to where you're from?" Satoshi asked.
	"Did you receive those pokeballs I sent you?" asked Ayesha. "The obsidian 
and the marble?"
	They both blinked and pulled them forth. Instantly Ayesha took them and 
deposited them in her pocket.
	"Good. We are from Crystalmir and I am the one who sent you those 
pokeballs. Get a good night's sleep. We leave tomorrow at dawn to Vermillion 
City. From there we head to Crystalmir," Ayesha said and turned to walk away, 
Sivitri at her heels. "Be ready. And as for Takeshi and Kasumi, stay behind. I 
can't risk you two getting hurt." With that the two left, the arena silent as 
the information sunk in.