Spoiler Warning – Anyone reading this story should have played through KH and KH2. Don't worry if you haven't played Chain of Memories. Although this story will not delve too heavily into the plots of KH/KH2, and I really don't see any major spoilers coming up, it does take place after KH2, so… fair warning.
Also, the KH crew visits a few worlds in this game outside of the SquareEnix/Disney franchise. If you see the story delve into a franchise you follow and are not caught up on… just stop reading. Again, I don't intend to spoil anything, but now you know.
The Great Eight
James ducked his head
down as a great billowing flame passed over him.
"Get out of
here, Meowth!" A young man with short blue hair pushed his smaller
companion out of the way and flattened himself against the ground. Even with his nose pressed into the dirt and rubble, he could feel
heat on his back and smell the smoldering of his own hair.
The scarlet and
glowing Moltres circled for another turn. The fiery phoenix
screeched and reared its head, diving towards James.
With a flick
of his wrist, James reached for his belt and grabbed a small red and
white ball. As the silhouette of Moltres grew larger and larger in
the sky, a beam of light leapt from the ball in James' hand.
"Go, Arcanine!" James bellowed, just as Moltres launched a devastating Fire Spin at the pair.
At this, the beam of light from James' hand condensed into an overly large, broad-bodied dog, with a tan-white mane and a tiger-striped patterning. Although the hound bears its weight in a friendly enough fashion, the large canine is taller than its trainer by nearly a foot.
"Arcanine, Safeguard!" James' command could barely be heard over roar and crackle of approaching fire. Before the flames could reach either of them, a blue lacework of light appeared in front of the two, catching the entirety of the immense blast.
"Arcanine," James gasped, feeling beads of sweat form on his forehead. "This is it! Extremespeed, now!
Before the irate Moltres spread its feathers and climb to a safer altitude, it was caught with a full-body tackle from a four hundred pound Arcanine. The large red hound was temporarily airborne as the two make contact, and in short order the two collide with the hard rock and soil below.
"It shouldn't like
being slammed into those rocks…" James muttered as Moltres
launched back into the air almost immediately after the attack. "But
I guess it isn't as good as a real rock move."
"It's
comin' back again!" Meowth scrambled up the gravel hillside to
where James and Arcanine stood.
"I can see that, thanks," James pushed his sopping wet hair out of his eyes and looked hard at
the powerful legendary bird they were facing.
"It's diving…," Meowth stammers, watching the great flaming bird dip down from the sky with astonishing speed.
"Again, not
necessary, Meowth!" James snapped as Moltres barrel dived straight
for Arcanine.
At a ridiculously high speed, Moltres strikes the
large beast full on, sending the massive canine rolling. Although
the Moltres matches Arcanine tip to toe, Arcanine is much bulkier and
outweighs its aviary opponent three-fold. The weight difference,
however, was not apparent from the way that Moltres sent Arcanine
soaring over rocky rubble.
"What on earth was
that?" Meowth asks as Arcanine climbs back to his feet.
"Aerial
Ace," muttered James. "An attack that never misses its
target."
"Can Arcanine come back from 'dat?" Asked
Meowth nervously, pawing at his whiskers.
James asked himself the
same question as he watched his Arcanine struggle back to all fours. He and Arcanine had been through a great deal together, and James
knew that the enormous fire pokemon was tough as nails. Only his
childhood Growlithe had compared in dedication and loyalty.
The next move would be a tough call. Switching out Arcanine was out of the question; James was up against a Fire-Flying Legendary, and the only other pokemon he had on him was a Grass type. Completely useless.
The best move type in this scenario would be Rock, and next Water and Electric. Unfortunately, Arcanine knew absolutely no attacks that would fit the bill. The next best thing would be a strong neutral attack.
"Arcanine, Dragon
Pulse now!"
With that, Arcanine stretched his jaws wide apart
and fired a blindingly bright beam of sinewy blues and greens at its
airborne adversary. With a crackle and a smell like lightning, the
bolt struck, and Moltres fell from the sky.
"That's gonna hurt
tomorrow…," Meowth pulled an Oran poultice from the knapsack on
his back and approached the battered legendary bird.
"That
Moltres is tougher than it looks," James warned, not yet
withdrawing Arcanine. "I'd be prepared to use False Swipe or
Thunder Wave if it gets aggressive."
"Nah, it won't hurt me, I wasn't the one fightin' wit' it," Meowth pressed the warm compress into Moltres' side as the great beast crooned.
"Well, we'd better report back," James shielded his eyes with a gloved hand and wiped his brow, watching his teammate tend to the downed bird. It was nearly midday. Damn. That meant they'd likely get another assignment.
Mr. Zincinni coughed
and hacked and thwacked his chest with his free hand, stuffing his
pipe with premium tobacco and dried Rawst berries.
"So you
brought down Moltres, huh?" Zincinni eyed the pair through small,
bespectacled eyes.
"Yes sir," James replied.
"Good, good work you two," Zincinni clapped his hands and paced around his small office. "That bird was going to kill itself, trying to chase those wild Onix clans off of Tattros mountain. What was it thinking?"
"From the orange patches on its mantle, we think it might be from the Kanto region. We don't know what it would be doing this far from home," James toyed with a paperclip in his left hand, bending it and twisting it as he spoke.
Zincinni just snorted.
"Damndest thing, isn't it? All this strange migration from Johto and Hoenn, and now Kanto, too. You know I had to send six teams over to Knock Town last night? Two hundred Murkrow nearly devastated a wheat field. We managed to save most of it, but if we hadn't been there..." Zincinni trailed off, eyes following the tendril of smoke that escaped from his pipe.
"That's
why…"
"Don't start, James." There was a hard quality
to Zincinni's voice at this.
"But, we have…"
"Have to what?" Zincinni rounded on James, his portly, stubby figure suddenly
menacing? "Send a fourth team to Kanto or Johto, only to never
hear from them again? To have them disappear without a trace? Is
that what you want me to do, James?
James and Meowth exchanged
glances, both not wanting to look Zincinni in the eye. They had been
down this road before with their new boss.
"I'm sorry, James," said Zincinni at last, spreading his hands. "But I need you here too much.
"Other people are working on the problem in the south. Oak and Birch will figure it out, believe me. That Oak chap may look old, but don't ever second guess him. He's incredibly resourceful. In the meantime, we need able bodies on this end."
James and Meowth both wanted to argue. It was a strange feeling, as if they both knew Zincinni was right, but at the same time, they knew that they were right, too. It was hard to shake, but James was sure that if he went to investigate whatever was causing pokemon to leave their homes, he wouldn't disappear.
Meanwhile, in a town called Hollow Bastian…
"You wanted to see me, Leon?" a high pitched voice squeaked as a middling sized black mouse strode up to a man in a leather jacket.
"It's, uh… Squall," the man known sometimes as Leon mumbled as he walked over to greet his friend.
"Right!" The mouse, called King Mickey, enthusiastically agreed. "Now what was it you wanted to show me, Leon?"
"It's… nevermind," the former member of SEED dropped it.
"I want you to take a look at this monitor," Squall pointed to a large display screen in front of the two of them. "Do you know what that is?"
King Mickey scratched his chin and thought hard for a moment.
"It appears to be a computer! Or maybe an internet," reasoned the king, leaning over the box to inspect it more closely.
"No, no… I mean, yes, but what about what's on the computer?" Squall was beginning to have doubts about whether summoning the king had been a good idea. Squall pointed to the image that had disturbed him so this morning. "What do you think of what's on the screen, Mickey?"
King Mickey looked deep in thought. After a considerable amount of time spent 'hm'ing and nodding, he looked up at Squall again. "Maybe you should… just tell me what's on the screen?"
Squall enlarged the image so that it filled up every monitor in the great computer hall. "Mickey, don't you see? After all this time… we've found another world."