WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE – SEASON 3: UNDER THE SAME SKY
Everyone has a dream that fills their heart, a journey they must take, a destiny to fulfill.
When you're at the end of your rope, with nothing to lose and only seconds to choose, what do you think you would wish for? And what if someone gave you the chance to make that dream come true?
Right now, the fondest wish of Kris from New Bark Town, as she woke from her friend Iris' snoring on top of some filthy rags in a dank, dark, smelly prison cell, was being anybody else in the world. Her mind took a while to adjust as she tried to remember why she was there.
Chapter One: Fiore, Land of the Rangers
Location: The S.S. Spiral, en route to Fiore
A day earlier...
"Step right up, step right up! Is there anyone here brave enough to challenge my girl? Don't let looks deceive you, friends, she's nabbed dozens of wins on this trip alone, and this here will be her 50th battle!"
Iris, a 17-year old short Unovan girl with long, bushy purple hair was standing on an improvised podium in the dining hall of the ship, challenging today's crowd – mostly burly sailors – to have a Pokémon battle with her best friend.
That happened to be Kris, a pasty, scrawny 17-year old girl from Johto with black hair on pigtails. She was hugging her Sandshrew and nervously waving at the crowd, which almost caused her to drop her Pokémon.
Naturally, a lot of people tried to enter, and even more people started making bets. Iris was gathering money from people, putting good odds for today's challenger, who happened to be a biker from Unova called Charles.
"The Heartbreaker!" insisted Charles – this was apparently his stage name.
The biker was at least six feet and three inches, a whole foot taller than Kris, with a really embarrassing mullet. He wore a stereotypical leather vest, but with no shirt underneath, and he was heavily muscled, to the point where Kris believed his stage name was probably what he literally did to people who crossed him.
Kris went with her Sandshrew, which caused the spectating crowd to laugh. Charles the Heartbreaker sent out his Krookodile. Both ground-types, with no immediate type advantage to either of them- just the fact that Sandshrew was only up to Krookodile's knee. Iris acted as a referee, loudly announcing the battle as having begun.
"Tell you what, little girl," Charles told Kris condescendingly. "I don't want to hurt your or your little… whatever you call that thing… so how about I give you the first shot. Come on, go ahead, stand easy, Krookodile!"
"Your kindness melts my heart," Kris deadpanned. "Shrew, Poison Sting!"
Kris' creatively named Sandshrew lunged at Charles' Krookodile with speed uncharacteristic for its species. As Shrew sunk one of its claws into Krookodile's tough hide, Krookodile winced in pain, but quickly got over it and whacked Shrew away with its tail, sending the little ground-type flying back to its owner.
Charles burst into loud, obnoxious laughter, some of the crowd joining him. "That's how you used your free shot?!" he taunted Kris. "Well, don't say I didn't warn ya! Krookodile, grab that little squirt and use Crunch!"
"Dig!" Kris ordered quickly.
Moving much faster than the lumbering Krookodile, Shrew dug under the floorboards like they were dirt, easily dodging Krookodile's attack. Charles ordered an Earthquake, but once again, he wasn't fast enough as Shrew suddenly emerged behind Krookodile, hitting the larger Pokémon in the head and stunning it for a while.
"Krookodile!" Charles wailed. "Stop screwing around!"
"Ooh, that's gotta hurt," Kris said mockingly. "And I didn't mean your Pokémon, I meant you. The frustration is just eating you up inside, huh? Do you want a free turn now?"
"Shut your mouth!" Charles ranted. "Krookodile, get a hold o' yourself! Focus Punch!"
"Shrew, Focus Punch!"
People in the crowd gasped at the little Sandshrew knowing such a move. Both Krookodile and Shrew pulled back their fists, gathering energy until their claws glowed bright blue. But Kris had one last surprise up her sleeve. She hadn't been content with teaching Shrew just a regular Focus Punch, so when Shrew prepared to strike, it rocketed itself into the air and punched Krookodile right in the stomach, breaking Krookodile's concentration and letting Shrew escape with zero damage.
Krookodile staggered a bit while Charles yelled at it, but miraculously managed to stay upright.
"Good, finally!" Charles ranted, his face shiny with sweat. "We'll teach that punk, Krookodile – use Outrage!"
But Krookodile didn't do anything but look nauseous, its tiny eyes becoming crossed as it started staggering around. Finally, instead of attacking, Krookodile passed out and hit the floor with a mighty thud, its tongue hanging out.
"Krookodile is unable to battle!" Iris declared. "Which mean Kris of New Bark Town wins the match!"
Sandshrew, having made it through the match without a scratch except a piece of its claw having come off, dashed back to its owner and jumped into Kris' lap, where it nuzzled against her chest. Kris scratched it behind the ear, thanking it for another successful battle. Charles didn't even withdraw his Pokémon, he just stared at it with his mouth wide open.
"You know, that Poison Sting in the beginning wasn't supposed to do damage," Kris pointed out. "See, when it comes to fighting an opponent four times your size, you might want to focus on whittling its health down little by little. Well, anyway, good show, gg, gotta go!"
Not waiting for Charles' reprisal, Kris quickly left the dining hall, and Iris soon followed, but not before hastily putting all the money she had made into a bag. The crowd only now realized that only one person had actually bet in favor of Kris – and that was Kris herself.
Fully anticipating an angry mob, Kris and Iris rendezvoused in a broom closet, where Kris was already feeding Shrew some Pokéblocks as a reward. As soon as Iris entered, Kris quickly turned to look.
"Well?" she asked. "How much?!"
"Looks to be about 2800 pokédollars," Iris said as she unloaded the stack of bills on the floor. "But Kris, I have to say-"
"Great, great, I'm listening, honest," Kris said as she started stuffing her share of the money in her bag.
"This is serious!" Iris insisted. "I don't feel okay doing this anymore."
"Yeah, I should switch around a little," Kris agreed. "Maybe I should finish with my patented Defense Curl and Rollout combo next time..."
"That's not what I meant," Iris sighed. "I meant, aren't we kind of… ripping people off?"
Kris stared at Iris. "No!" she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I beat him fair and square, didn't I?"
"Well, yeah-"
"And I was the only one who actually bet I would win, right?"
"Yes, but Kris, you-"
"And if they really thought I was deceiving them," Kris ranted on, "then maybe they should look in a mirror and not be such judgmental scumbags. They only thought I'd lose because Shrew is so small, or because I'm," Kris changed her voice to imitate Charles' deep baritone, "a 'little girl'."
Kris snorted.
"I tell you, Iris," she continued, "if I'm going to be stuck in a boat with a bunch of chauvinistic jerks, I want to at least get some money out of it! Sweet, sweet, money…"
Iris smiled. "Okay, I get it, and I'm not complaining about the money. It's because of that we've gotten this far, and most of it is going to pay for our ticket and our food anyway, so it's not like we're making a huge profit."
"Though I would like some nice new clothes," Kris pondered. "How long do you think it'll take us to get to Fiore?"
Iris checked her PokéGear watch. "About-"
She was suddenly interrupted by the ship's PA system:
"Attention, passengers! We will arrive in the docks of Summerland, Fiore in ten minutes. The staff of S.S. Spiral thanks you for your patronage and for not vomiting too much during yesterday's storm."
"-about now," Iris finished.
~o~O~o~
Location: Just outside Summerland, Fiore
Soon enough, Kris and Iris were on their way to Summerland. They had to show their passport at the docks, Fiore being a part of the Ranger Union, a completely different country. Still, it wasn't too far and it looked pretty much the same as any other place Kris had been: lush forests, green meadows, Pokémon going about. Only… a lot more Pokémon than usual. In Johto or Kanto or wherever, you had to wander deep into a forest or a thicket of tall grass to get Pokémon, but in here, they just wandered about, Pidgey chirping in the trees, Rattata and Stunky running across the path leading to Summerland, Mankey hopping from tree to tree and so forth, like they weren't afraid of humans at all.
As Kris kept an eye out for something rarer, Iris read a pamphlet about the Ranger Union. As much as she had studied in her school days, they were mainly limited to Pokémon and information about the Unova region and others with similar Pokémon Leagues, like Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. The Ranger Union was a complete unknown to her.
After a while of walking in silence, Kris stretched and yawned.
"Arceus, it feels good to be on dry land again!" she said. "A whole month in that tub was getting on my nerves. Least we didn't have to scrub the deck this time. I still have crap under my nails from our time at S.S. Anne. You wanna find a burger place?"
"Aren't we here for important things?" Iris asked. "Finding more about this prophecy thing – and getting to know the local culture, of course! Plus we just had breakfast a while ago."
"Fast metabolism, deal with it," Kris said. "How much longer till Summerland?"
"We've only been walking for three minutes..."
Kris groaned. "It's a great day and all but I want to sit in a dirty booth in some fast food diner and eat something fattening already! And it's been like ages since I smelled some good-old pollution!"
"Hm, guess you'll be disappointed," Iris noted as she read her travel guide. "The Ranger Union is mostly populated by-"
"Pokémon Rangers?" Kris guessed glibly. "Yeah, I figured. But what do they do?"
"They team up with Pokémon to fight crime, solve ecological problems and to help people in general," Iris read. "Seems like the Rangers in this country handle security, logistics, administration, education, health care, food services – pretty much everything. The Ranger Union consists of the regions of Fiore, Almia and Oblivia, but all three are governed by the Ranger Union's Chairperson who resides in Almia. All three regions are bound together by 'respect for Pokémon and living in symbiosis with nature'."
"Hippies, got it," Kris summarized. "Nah, but it all sounds great, trust me. Long as their personal hygiene is good, I don't judge. Any cultural things I should know about? Like, if giving a thumbs up or showing a victory sign is grounds for a death penalty here?"
"Nothing like, pretty sure, but there's a lot of text," Iris muttered as the read the guide. "There's a whole section about eyebrow grooming… probably should skip that..."
"You best, though you could use it, actually," Kris pointed out, not noticing Iris' glare. "You know what I really want to do, though? I want to catch a new Pokémon! Not that my current team isn't great, but you know, I haven't gotten a new one since Snorlax, and that was a nightmare! Hope professor Elm is feeding it correctly… say, what does the guide say about the wild Pokémon here?"
"The Rangers are also very into protecting them – probably explaining why they're so many of them here," Iris said, stopping to let a group of Wurmple to cross the road. "But according to the guide, it's pretty much the same species you could find anywhere we've been before."
"Awesome, now let me think!" Kris said in thought, Iris having to pull on her jacket to stop her from stomping on a Wurmple. "It has to strike a perfect balance between adorable and badass, you know? Like all of my current ones!"
Iris smiled nervously. "I wouldn't call Croc adorable, but-"
"You kidding! It's the cutest one!" Kris exclaimed and grabbed a Poké Ball from her belt – the only one with a special symbol, marked with a blue 'T'. "Croc, come out!" she called and opened the ball.
Iris winced as Croc, Kris' massive Feraligatr materialized in front of her. It snapped its jaws and flexed its muscles proudly, roaring in delight to be out of the ball. As soon as Croc spotted the Wurmple crossing the road, it licked its lips and tried to grab one of them, but Kris slapped it on the wrist.
"Hey!" she snapped. "Bad Feraligatr!"
Croc obeyed, but it was clearly hungry, with drool dripping from its mouth and onto Iris' travel guide, making Iris recoil in disgust.
"You still haven't taught it not to be like… that?" she asked Kris.
"Ehh," Kris said with a shrug. "It listens to me well enough and it hasn't actually eaten anyone – that I know of. Sure, it's got an attitude, but hey, you try bossing around something that could snap your arm off it wanted to."
Then, Kris suddenly started laughing.
"Hey, wouldn't it have been cool if I had used Croc in that battle," she giggled, holding onto the Feraligatr for support. "I could have made it act all weak and make him think he was gonna win, and he would have said 'see you later, Feraligatr!'. And then I would have told Croc to use Superpower and knock that sassy bastard Pokémon's teeth out and I would have been all 'in a while, Krookodile!'"
Kris laughed at her own joke for several minutes while Iris looked on in contempt.
"He probably wouldn't have used Krookodile in that case, with the type disadvantage and all," Iris pointed out.
Kris stopped laughing. "Hmm, guess you're – Iris, look!"
Kris had spotted the perfect Pokémon for her just walking on the grass a few yards away from her – a Vulpix, a cute Pokémon with a smooth reddish brown pelt, shiny eyes, six orange tails with curled tips. And it could burn m********ckers!
"Want it!" Kris squealed.
"Don't you already have a fire-type?" Iris asked.
"Pfft, I love Chandelure and all, but I can't cuddle with it!" Kris scoffed, then turned to Croc. "Okay, blast it with Water Gun, but go easy, I don't want to make a trip through the Pokémon Center!"
Croc looked at its would-be opponent… then just snorted in contempt, yawned and collapsed on the ground.
"Fine, be that way!" Kris said, returning the Feraligatr to its Poké Ball. "I'll just catch it myself. Good thing I have one of these things left!"
Kris pulled out a black, yellow-striped Poké Ball, an Ultra Ball, but before she could throw it, Iris let out a weird yell.
"What?!" Kris wondered.
"Just – hold on a moment before you catch it, okay!" Iris said anxiously as she leafed through the guide. "They mentioned something about there being strict laws against 'poachers' but before they could explain more thoroughly, they said 'for more information, turn to page 394'..."
"Iris, hun, I'm not a poacher, I'm a Pokémon trainer," Kris said condescendingly. "Catching them is sort of the basis for the entire human culture. So, if you'll excuse me..."
"Wait!"
But Kris threw the Poké Ball straight at the Vulpix – only for it to be caught mid-air and smacked away by the vine-like appendage of a Ferrothorn that suddenly emerged from the bushes. Soon, it was followed by other Pokémon and their assumed trainers, all clad in red and black uniforms of some kind.
Rangers, I'm guessing.
"Guys, what gives?!" Kris immediately yelled at them. "I saw that Vulpix first! Give my Poké Ball back, please!"
"Suspect #1 has confessed their crime!" belted one of the Rangers, a tall, authoritative young woman with long, light blue hair. "Rangers, you have clearance for a takedown, I repeat, clearance for a takedown!"
Iris shook her head. "Who are you talk – oof!"
Both Iris and Kris were suddenly tackled to the ground and handcuffed by two Pokémon Rangers each while the blue-haired girl looked on, scanning the two with a red, remote control -looking device.
"You two are not in the Ranger Union database!" she announced with an unnecessarily loud voice.
Kris tried to wriggle free, but the two Rangers held her tight. "What datab-"
"SILENCE!" the girl screamed. "I ask the questions! State your names, hometowns, home regions and your intentions here?"
Iris and Kris glanced at each other.
"Um," Iris said meekly, "I thought we had to be sil-"
"Answer the questions!"
"Right, right, Iris, Village of Dragons, Unova, here just to study your great land!"
"Kris, from some Arceus-forsaken craphole in None-Of-Your-Damn-Business-Stan," Kris spat.
"And what do you intend to do here?"
"Your mom."
"That's the third one this month, Solana," laughed the other Ranger holding Kris down. "You really need to stop walking right into those things!"
"Quiet!" yelled the blue-haired girl. "Get them up!"
Kris and Iris were lifted roughly into the air, Kris glaring at the young woman as she folded her arms and assumed her authoritative voice:
"I, Solana, in my capacity as the Top Ranger, hereby place you under arrest for poaching, attempted assault of a Pokémon, disrupting a nature preserve, resisting arrest, sassing of social betters – and wanton sassing of social betters," she added with a smirk to Kris. "Leilani, did I forget anything?"
"Public disturbance," laughed one of the Rangers.
"Good point!" Solana said. "Yes, your loud talking might have traumatized some local Pokémon. You will be imprisoned pending your trial. Should you attempt to escape, I am authorized to stop you by force! And, uh…"
"They smell bad!" suggested another Ranger.
"Yes, and you sm- shut up!" Solana snapped. "Get them to lockup!"
~o~O~o~
Location: Snowpoint City Docks, Sinnoh
A month earlier…
While Iris had run off to the shops, Kris sat in a dingy coffee shop by the Snowpoint City harbor, with a full view of the ships, including the icebreaker S.S. Spiral, from the window that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in the last decade. While she drank hot cocoa, Shrew was sitting on the table, munching on a platter full of Pokémon food pellets. Making sure no one was looking, Kris tried dipping one pellet into her cocoa, to see if tasted better… and then it crumbled in the drink, prompting a frustrated sigh from Kris.
While she struggled with her disgusting drink, Kris failed to notice Shrew's ears perking up and the ground-type lifting its face from its chow. Shrew then quickly turned and ran into the arms of a girl who had just entered the store. Kris was about to run to apologize for Shrew's sudden need to cuddle, but she stayed put when she recognized the girl, although it was hard to do so in winter clothes.
As she sat down and took a layer off, Kris recognized her: Leaf from Pewter City, a friend (if not very close one) of Kris', 18 years old, with long, straight brown hair and big, blue eyes. Besides the fact that she was an experienced trainer, a scientist-in-training and a former con artist, Kris mostly respected her for being a former friend of the legendary Pokémon trainer Red. The Pallet Town -born boy won the Kanto championship at the humble age of 15, but was only a Champion for little more than a year before abruptly retiring and then disappearing altogether.
Looking around her only to see no one in the coffee place except the bored-looking server and an old, sleeping sailor in the corner, Leaf leaned closer to Kris.
"Sorry for the wait," she muttered.
"Oh, no problem," Kris said, her voice oozing with sarcasm. "It's only been… three hours and twenty-seven minutes since we were supposed to meet – at the boat over there, not here! What's up?"
"I have to be careful, is all," Leaf said. "Where's Iris?"
"Shopping for goods, but I'm sure you'll get to say hi to her as we-"
"There's really no time for that!" Leaf snapped. "Just tell her what I'm about to tell you. Someone is monitoring everyone who's ever been in contact with Red. Even if he disappeared exactly so this wouldn't happen, his enemies are damn persistent. They think he'll pop up to say hi to his old buddies any day now."
"Yeah, speaking of that," Kris said and took Shrew in her lap when the Sandshrew started to peruse through Leaf's bag. "If you want me to do something, you'll have to tell the full story to me first! What's the deal with all this? Why is Red still hiding, and from whom?"
Sighing, Leaf looked over her shoulder once again just to be sure, then motioned Kris to lean even closer.
"It all started when Red was champion," Leaf explained. "He gained access to some really sensitive information, involving the Pokémon League, even the Pokémon Association, the very people who make the laws, build the roads, eat the taxpayers, all that. Even I don't know, exactly, but that's what one day he came across something that really made him quit."
"I thought he wanted to train more, travel to new places, all that stuff," Kris wondered.
"I'm sure that was one reason," Leaf said with a nod, "but he wasn't going to go cruising around some tropical island while knowing what he knew. He assembled a group of reliable friends, people who he could trust and who would never sell him out to the Pokémon League, even if everyone who knew him had officially cut him off."
"So people like you?" Kris asked.
"Me, Blue, his friend Copycat, Dr. Blaine, the secretary of Silph," Leaf listed, "and Yellow, of course. Yellow basically ran things with Red, the two were much closer than he and I could ever hope to be. Together, we found out and exposed a lot of wrongdoings in the Pokémon League, but it was mostly minor stuff, and almost all of it was swept under the rug. But the information which caused Red to flee… that has to go out there! Even if I doubt you'd believe what it was..."
"Hey, I love to fight the establishment!" Kris protested. "Have you read my tumblr?"
Leaf furrowed her brow at Kris.
"I'm guessing that's a no," Kris muttered.
"This is serious, Kris," Leaf argued. "Will you help us?"
"Of course!" Kris said immediately. "Sounds like I need go somewhere, which means plenty of opportunities to become stronger. Just tell me what to do!"
"There is a prophecy," Leaf began, but Kris interrupted her:
"Yeah, I'll believe anything you throw at me, but not those," she said. "Even after all I've done, kicking ass in Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh-"
"Aided by your friends and Pokémon," Leaf corrected.
"Yeah, whatever," Kris said, "anyway, even after I've done all that, I haven't gotten anything! I'm not super-rich, super-skilled, super-famous, super-popular and I just plain don't feel super. I was supposedly part of some prophecy that said I was supposed to become the next Red, but nope, drinking horrible cocoa in a filthy coffee place in the middle of nowhere is what reality decided for me! So I'm sorry if I don't believe in prophecies."
When Kris ended her rant and took a sip of her cocoa, then grimaced in disgust, Leaf decided she could get a word in:
"The prophecy you're talking about is a loosely translated part of a much greater whole," Leaf said. "Red's information is related to it, and I think the Pokémon League is trying to hide something related to it. I think… they're about to do something terrible."
"For what?" Kris wondered. "Money, power, giggles?"
"The prophecy might have some answers, and I have a whole section translated here: 'As the stars fall on the Earth, the conquest begins from the land of life's beginning'. Then there's a whole section about a Pokémon that grants you any wish-"
Kris began coughing on her cocoa, which continued on for a whole minute, but tried to play it cool when she recovered.
"Really?" she asked, trying to sound just mildly curious. "Um, what kind of Pokémon?"
"Hm? Oh, some mumbo-jumbo myth about an alien Pokémon called Jirachi. They said that it visits our world every thousand years and grants you any wish you desire. Anyway, then there's a whole bit about-"
"I'll do it!" Kris agreed and stood up, holding Shrew so tightly she almost suffocated the poor Pokémon. "I'll go look for answers about this prophecy. Um, me and Iris will."
"Yeah, that would be good," Leaf agreed as she packed her notes, apparently disappointed she didn't get to show off her translation. "Even if you're rookies, you and her have gotten into a lot of dangerous adventures, so I know you'll be able to take care of yourselves. It might take a while, but that boat-"
Leaf pointed at the S.S. Spiral.
"-will take you to Fiore after it has completed its tour around Sinnoh," she said. "I don't have any clues, I'm afraid, but there's a scientist close there who knows something about this. I wish I knew his or her name, but-"
"No need, me and Iris are on the case! We'll find this Jirachi and ask them about the wish! Uh, I mean, scientist… um… I'll go find Iris! Good meeting ya!"
~o~O~o~
Location: Basement of the Ranger Base, Summerland, Fiore
Back in present day…
As Kris woke up, she got used to her surroundings. It took her a while to remember why her whole body hurt and why she felt a mix of anxiety and rage, then she realized she was in a small, dank, dark room with only one, tiny window, a heavily reinforced locked steel door between her and freedom. She had been forced to sleep on the floor on top of dirty, smelly blankets, cuddled next to Iris for warmth, only to have to endure her snoring.
She would have cuddled with her Pokémon, but the Rangers took them all, along with everything else Kris and Iris had except for their PokéGears – not that it did much good, as neither internet, phone nor the radio worked in the cell. Kris shuddered to think what that scum was doing to her Pokémon, and only got satisfaction thinking that some idiot would have accidentally opened Croc's Poké Ball and it was now eating everyone.
Iris woke up too, having slept with the Ranger Union guide (another thing they allowed them to keep) on her face.
"This is Tauros!" Kris cursed. "This is against, um… well, if there was some convention about this, our situation would be against it! They can't keep us here much longer! Our bucket needs emptying! It's like hours are turning to weeks, weeks to months-"
"We've only been here for 12 hours," Iris said groggily.
Desperately looking for an outlet for her rage, Kris turned to Iris.
"Why didn't you stop me?!" she snapped. "You're the smartypants, culturally sensitive book-worm… girl! You had the frickin' guide! How was I supposed to know I was committing a crime!"
"Hey, this thing is pretty hard to read!" Iris protested. "It's over five hundred pages long – the first chapter alone has like five thousand words! The author probably has no life. See, the whole thing about poachers? Well, I had to read seven different chapters and thirty pages of legal junk to find out capturing Pokémon and having Pokémon battles are both illegal. Battles are only allowed by official Rangers in dangerous situations or by students of the Ranger School in the next region over."
Forgetting to be angry, Iris went into lecture mode.
"There's a fascinating reason for all that, by the way!" she said with a giddy smile on her face. "There's this chapter about the Union's history, that-"
"This place is crazy," Kris muttered. "No capturing, no battles… I have to get out of here!"
"Well, from what I've read-"
"Oh yeah, I'm glad you had time to read it between all that obnoxious snoring!" Kris snapped.
Iris frowned. "Look here, Kris! We're here because you didn't stop when I warned you and because you're so self-involved that you never listen!"
"Well if I'm so self-involved, then don't talk to me!" Kris yelled.
"Fine!" Iris yelled back.
"FINE!"
Five minutes later…
Kris and Iris hugged while loudly crying against each others' shoulders.
"I didn't-" Kris stopped to sniff. "I didn't mean it! I'm so sorry!"
"I'm sorry, too!" Iris sobbed dramatically. "Will you forgive me?!"
"Of course! You're my best friend, Iris! I love you!"
"I LOVE YOU TOO!"
Five more minutes later…
Iris leaned against the wall and stared at the cell's ceiling while Kris laid on her back, her eyes tightly closed.
"We're going to die here, aren't we?" Iris mumbled quietly.
Kris suddenly sat up, eyes wide open. "I got it!" she yelled. "I know how we can escape! See, we use our Pokémon to-"
Iris glared at her.
"Oh, right," Kris mumbled and went back on her bed. "Man, I suck. Well, it's not like I've ever been in prison before. I've never committed crime before! Well, okay, once I was broke and I really wanted this manga. See, it had these two guys who…"
Blushing, Kris trailed off.
"Never mind," she said quietly.
"Kris," Iris said, fortunately not listening. "If we had found Jirachi, what would you have wished for?"
That was a strange – and kinda personal – question, Kris thought. Did Iris really think they wouldn't made it? And Kris hadn't given it too much thought. After all, she could wish for anything. Like, a million wishes! Or was there a rule against it, like in Aladdin? Could she only ask for one thing? And if not, what was it? What did her heart's deepest desire?
Oh, Arceus, what did she even want? Did she have to answer this? Should she have the wish ready in case they actually found it? Or would she have to split the wish with Iris?!
Before Kris started hyperventilating, the cell's door was suddenly opened. Kris and Iris sprang on their feet, but quickly retreated against the wall when two Rangers stepped in, aiming crossbows at the two. Solana, the leading Ranger, followed.
"Hope you slept well, poachers!" Solana mocked. "It's time for your trial!"
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N: Okay, I know some people hate author's notes (trust me, I will NEVER put them in the middle of the story) so I'll avoid them from now on, but first some info:
This is part 3 of my series, but you don't have to read the previous two to know what's up, since I'll try to explain things and keep it self-contained, though with characters and plot points obviously reappearing from the previous parts.
I use only canon characters, mostly from the games but maybe a few minor ones from the anime and PokéSpe manga, but some of them are reimagined, though I still want to characterize them well. The Ranger Union is a bit different as well from the Ranger games. This story is mostly original, kind of an AU but still based on elements of the games, like the stuff about Red disappearing.
WARNING: I'll keep things T-rated so there will be no sex or overly graphic violence, but there might be mild language, mature themes and some mild violence ahead - along with possible character death.
I hope to make this an epic, character-driven adventure story with action, friendship, twists and lame jokes. I hope I can achieve that goal. All feedback is welcome, positive or negative, but I'm okay with you just reading it. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy what's about to come, chapter 2 coming soon!