Note: I do not own Pokemon or And Then There Were None, nor do I own the characters.
Ninetales was the first guest to arrive at Pokemon Island. To be frank, she was surprised to have been invited. She worked as a school governess and had wide experience dealing with children.
Pokemon Island was basically a large rock with a house, beach and pier. The island was located about 10 miles off the coast of Rustboro City. Because of the close locations, the Devon Corporation once used Pokemon Island as a research facility.
Now, however, the island and the house belonged to a wealthy host.
The house was big and spacious, but had only two staff to manage it. One butler, Minun, and one cook, Plusle.
When Lapras dropped Ninetales off at the pier, Minun had come to show Ninetales to the house and take her luggage (which Minun found very difficult due to his small size).
And now, Ninetales was alone in the large, looming lounge waiting for her host and the other guests to arrive.
The host of the house had written to Ninetales asking to employ her as a secretary. Knowing the fame of Pokemon Island Ninetales didn't feel she could refuse.
Ninetales wandered around the lounge looking at the expensive furniture and classy antiques. There was a huge grand piano. She came to the fireplace and noticed a framed poem above the mantelpiece. It was a children's poem.
10 little Pokemon went out to dine,
One choked his little self and then there were 9;
9 little Pokemon sat up very late,
One overslept himself and then there were 8;
8 little Pokemon travelling in Devon,
One said he'd stay there, and then there were 7;
7 little Pokemon chopping up sticks,
One chopped himself in halves and then there were 6;
6 little Pokemon playing with a hive,
A bumblebee stung one and then there were 5;
5 little Pokemon going in for law,
One got into Chancery and then there were 4;
4 little Pokemon went out to sea,
A red herring swallowed one and then there were 3;
3 little Pokemon walking in the zoo,
A big bear hugged one and then there were 2;
2 little Pokemon sitting in the sun,
One got frizzled up and then there was 1;
1 little Pokemon left all alone,
He went and hanged himself and then there were none.
Ninetales remembered singing that poem to her nursery school class. They always wanted her to sing it 10 times over.
Just then, Minun struggled to push open the door to the lounge and entered. He said: "Judge Slowking has arrived."
Judge Slowking was a stout fellow. He leaned on a crutch to one side, so Ninetales assumed his leg was broken. Slowking was elderly and looked rather old-fashioned.
He had been a judge for a great many years and was beginning to grow tired of it. If he had the money to retire he'd get on with it straight away.
"Good evening," said Slowking, slowly, "It's a marvellous house, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is."
"Did you see that perfectly sculpted marble clock in the hall? It is a remarkable effigy of an Ursaring."
Ninetales was beginning to think that Slowking wasn't worth talking to do. Almost silently, Minun opened the door again and said: "Luxray has arrived."
Luxray strolled into the room and confidently acquainted himself with the other two. He was notably tall and also fairly intimidating.
"Hello, people," said Luxray, "What do you think of the house?"
"It's very charming," said Slowking.
"Yes, it's very dear," agreed Ninetales. She looked out of the open window and saw Lapras arriving again with two more guests. I wonder how many people are coming… thought Ninetales.
Minun introduced the new arrivals as Cubone and Nurse Chansey. Cubone was the stumpiest guest so far, and he knew it. So Cubone went to sit on his own in green armchair in the corner of the lounge. Nurse Chansey was the complete opposite. She practically bounced into the room and smiled at everyone before commenting on how everything was wonderful and that she felt terrific.
Nurse Chansey started talking to Ninetales about the hospital she worked in.
"I'm a highly respected nurse," she said, "I do all sorts of things at the hospital. Of course I carry out hundreds of operations every year. That's a key part of my reputation."
Plusle, the cook, staggered into the room under the weight of a large bottle of wine. Minun followed her in supporting a tray of glasses. The guests watched as the two midgets tried to open the bottle. In the end, Luxray took the bottle and opened himself but gave Minun the "honour" of pouring the wine.
"Will you have wine, nurse?" asked Plusle.
Nurse Chansey looked almost shocked by the offer and said: "Oh, not for me, thanks. I never touch alcohol."
"Suit yourself, nurse," said Luxray, "All the more for the rest of us. Cubone, will you join us?"
At this offer Cubone immediately perked up and joined everyone else in the middle of the room. He then started talking about his interests.
"I am a huge car fan," said Cubone, "Cars are my sole purpose in life. If ever I see a car that I like, I buy it. I'm particularly wealthy, you see." As he spoke, Cubone raised his eyebrows at Ninetales. Judge Slowking chuckled a bit.
Once again Minun introduced another guest.
"General Wobbuffet has arrived."
The general seemed almost feeble at first, it was evident that he was elderly, even older than Judge Slowking. This was in great contrast to Ninetales, Luxray and Cubone, who were all reasonably young.
General Wobbuffet trotted over to the crowd and said: "How do you do ladies and gentleman, I'm General Wobbuffet of the Ninth Johto Platoon."
"How do you do, sir," said Ninetales.
Wobbuffet grumbled: "You youngsters need not call me "sir"."
It was a good long while before anyone else arrived. The general was thrilling Cubone with tales from the war, Chansey was annoying Judge Slowking with her views on happiness and Luxray was telling Ninetales how daft everyone else was.
The moon was fluorescent in the sky when Lapras finally came by with the last two guests. One guest was Raticate, as soon he entered the house his beady eyes scanned everyone suspiciously. The other was Bellossom, another old Pokemon who came in clutching a Bible and sat down upright and began knitting.
As Minun went round the room collecting the used glasses, Cubone said: "I've just noticed something, our host isn't here."
Half of the guests spluttered and Judge Slowking said: "I thought one of you lot was the host!"
"So did I!" exclaimed General Wobbuffet.
Ninetales remembered the invitation she received. It was signed off as Arcanine, the Head of Arcanine Independent Sports Network. Arcanine had been her closest friend in college and wanted to employ her – or so the letter claimed.
Luxray reflected on his own invitation, which was signed off as Captain Weavile who had commissioned Luxray to work in the Amazon. According to the letter, Weavile wanted to invite Luxray to a reunion of the "old days".
Minun interrupted everyone's trail of thought to inform them that dinner was prepared.
Overall, everyone agreed that dinner had been phenomenally delicious. This gave Nurse Chansey a chance to say more about her views on happiness in the modern world.
"I say that Plusle is a superb cook," said Bellossom in a forthright manner, "We need more honest workers like her about."
Minun and Plusle came into the dining room via the kitchen door and Minun asked: "Has everyone finished?"
After a number of additional compliments Minun collected the plates and went back into the kitchen.
Raticate then asked: "Plusle, you account for half of the staff on the island, you know who our host is, don't you?"
All of the guests looked eagerly at Plusle; they all wanted to know who their host was and why he or she was not with them tonight.
"Well," said Plusle nervously, "I've never actually seen my employer."
The judge said: "Are you telling us that you don't know who our host is even though you work for him? Or her?"
Plusle slowly shook her head. She genuinely did not know who her employer was. She explained that she and Minun had only been working on Pokemon Island for a couple of days and that the only communication they had with the host had been by letter. Silence followed.
Ninetales thought it her duty to steer the conversation away from the topic of "What is the identity of our host?" and decided to talk about the little stone statuettes in the middle of the dining table. She said: "Aren't those little figures adorable?"
Nurse Chansey agreed. "Oh, yes. If I'm not mistaken, they resemble ancient Pokemon. I wonder how many little Pokemon there are?"
Cubone quickly counted them and said: "10."
Nurse Chansey's melodramatic smile widened when she heard this. She said: "How wonderful! It's just like that poem above the fireplace. 10 little Pokemon went out to dine and so on. And in the end all of the little Pokemon have gone away."
Luxray decided to join in with this conversation. "Hm, if you include Plusle and Minun there are 10 of us on this island."
Chansey was now hysterical. "Isn't this exciting?"
Raticate desperately wanted to gnaw Nurse Chansey's tongue off just to make her shut up. Nurse Chansey did shut up as soon as Minun re-entered the room.
"Ladies and gentleman, as you are aware; your host has been delayed on the Magnet Train and will not be able to arrive until tomorrow at the earliest. Lapras has delivered a letter on your host's behalf requesting that you all be in the lounge at 9 o'clock. Thank you."
The guests left the dining room and Plusle and Minun cleared the dining table. Plusle turned to Minun and asked: "What were our instructions?"
Minun said after a moment: "The host wrote in his letter that we were to play his Swan Song CD at 9:00 and we should also be in the lounge from then on to serve whisky and cocktails to the guests."
Plusle began to grumble. She said: "I think we should quit and find a different job."
Minun was surprised. "This is a famous house, and the owner is rich. Why do you want to leave?"
"Don't you think our employer is asking a bit much of us?" she asked, "We don't his or her name, we don't have any verbal communication, there isn't a telephone on this island and we have a large party of guests during our first week of working here!"
Minun looked glum and continued to work in silence.
8:55pm. As requested, everyone was assembled in the lounge. Plusle wheeled in a whisky tray and quickly moved away to avoid having Cubone and Luxray trample her. It seemed that whisky was a favourite of theirs.
Bellossom sat in the same chair as before and resumed knitting. Raticate paced around the edge of the room. Cubone sat in the corner, swigging his whisky. Nurse Chansey and General Wobbuffet sat on the sofa whilst discussing matters of (guess what) happiness. Judge Slowking sat at the far end of the room next to the stereo; he was resting his tired eyes. Luxray gulped down his whisky and went over to the grand piano and played while Ninetales stood and sang the poem.
"10 little Pokemon went out to dine, one choked his little self and then there were 9…"
Slowking began muttering to himself. "The place for nursery rhymes is in the nursery!"
Nurse Chansey bounced over to Slowking and said: "Having fun, judge? I am!"
Judge Slowking frowned and went to sit down opposite Bellossom. "So," he said, "what do you think of it all?"
Bellossom looked up from her knitting and said: "I don't know what you mean."
Slowking replied: "I mean this whole setup. It reminds of a case I presided over in court, lots of suspicion floating about."
Bellossom seemed almost shocked by his words and dropped her knitting needles. She scrambled about on the floor to pick the up and suddenly she said in a harsh tone: "Have you taken my wool? There's a ball of gray wool missing from my knitting bag."
Slowking backed away from Bellossom nervously. He thought, That old woman, there's something wrong with her…
Ninetales carried on singing: "4 little Pokemon going out sea…"
Raticate stopped to talk to Cubone. "It's terrible, this poem."
Cubone's voice sounded unstable when he replied: "Yeah, but there's whisky. By the way, do you have a car? I was thinking of buying the new Donphan Proto…"
The poem drew to an end: "1 little Pokemon left all alone, he went and hanged himself and then there were none."
As soon as Luxray stopped playing an empty voice spoke from all around the room. It was a terrible and unearthly voice. Every word echoed throughout the house. The voice said: "Silence please! This is your host speaking. You are charged with the following indictments:
Bellossom, that you were responsible for the death of Whismur, your scullery maid;
Cubone, that while driving over the national speed limit, you ran over and killed Cleffa and Igglybuff;
General Wobbuffet, that during the Great Pokemon War you sent Vibrava on a suicide mission;
Judge Slowking, that due to prejudice you wrongfully gave a death penalty to Houndoom;
Luxray, that while working in the Amazon you caused the deaths of 21 native Bidoof;
Nurse Chansey, that you killed Wormadam whilst operating on her due to drunkenness;
Ninetales, that you allowed and are thus responsible for the drowning of Riolu;
Raticate, that by providing false evidence in court you caused the death of Poliwhirl;
Plusle and Minun, that you deliberately murdered your former employer, Delcatty.
Prisoners at the bar, have you anything to say in your defence?"
Everyone was silent. Then it started again: "Silence please! This is your host speaking. You are –"
"Make it stop!" yelled Ninetales.
Minun ran over to the stereo and ejected the CD. He turned round every eye in the room was upon him.
The judge asked: "Why did you play that record, Minun?"
Minun suddenly began talking very fast: "I didn't know what it was! I swear I didn't! I thought it was just a piece of music! It's labelled Swan Song! I was only obeying orders!"
The judge calmed Minun down and said: "Let's get this perfectly clear. Whose orders were they and what were these orders?"
Minun said slowly: "They were the host's orders. He said in his letter to play the CD at 9:00 and to make sure everyone was in hear at the time."
Nurse Chansey decided to take charge of this awkward situation. She said: "We have been invited here under false pretences. Our must be some kind of lunatic. We should all get off this island as soon as possible."
Minun cut in: "Um, excuse me, but, well…I don't think you will be able to leave tonight. Or tomorrow. You see, Lapras only comes on Friday and Monday unless told otherwise by the owner of this house. There isn't a telephone here, either."
Judge Slowking said figuratively: "Today is Friday, unless our host plans to keep away until Monday, we are unable to leave before then."
Bellossom grunted and knitted more vigorously. She thought, there is no need at all for that judge to state the obvious. But I say that we are here by the Lord's will.
Cubone walked over to the sideboard and refilled his glass with whisky then he banged the empty whisky bottle against the wall to get everyone's attention. Once he had it he said: "Listen. The accusation against me is true. The host said on that CD that I ran over Cleffa and Igglybuff. I say to you people tonight that I did run them down with my car!"
Bellossom raised a hand to point at Cubone and she said: "You are possessed by the devil!"
Ninetales was equally horrified: "What happened? Was it an accident?"
Cubone seemed almost proud to be recounting his story. "I just bought a brand new car and I thought to myself, "Let's see just how fast this car can go". I was driving so fast! It was magnificent! And then, two little blobs in the road, and…" Cubone trailed off, as if he were remembering a tragic event. "They took my licence to drive away!"
Judge Slowking nearly dropped his cocktail and said: "Good grief! You should have been given time in prison and had your licence permanently withheld!"
Cubone grinned: "I had enough money to bribe the police and the court."
Ninetales was unable to stop herself saying: "That's horrible! You little snob!"
Cubone wasn't perturbed by this intervention. He raised his whisky glass and said: I'm all for crime, here's to it!" Cubone swigged his whisky.
It was almost as if Cubone had signed his own death warrant with those last words. While he drank he suddenly jerked and the glass fell from his hand. Cubone clasped his throat and fell against the window; he then staggered into the middle of the room and collapsed.
Bellossom said indignantly: "How disgusting. Such behaviour is disgraceful."
"He's just drunk," muttered Raticate.
Nurse Chansey sighed and walked over to Cubone. She bent down, slapped Cubone's cheeks and then felt for a pulse. There was no pulse.
Chansey screamed out loud: "He's dead!"