Pokemon: Exodus of Souls
Ash's Youth
The New Boss of Team Rocket, the self styled Master of Ceremonies, was just a
room ahead. I had already lost Misty and Brock in the dread confines of this
maze. It was just me with pikachu at my back, struggling to keep up, left to
stop this mad fiend. Of what he had planned no one was sure but it was known
that the greatest scientist in the world was helping him. With a challenge like
this I hoped to gain world fame as the King of Pokemon, a title that the Master
of Ceremonies held.
With this in mind I burst into the darkly lit room expecting to be swarmed by
guards but instead I discovered something for which I was not prepared. An
arena had been set up. "I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU SILLY LITTLE BOY!" A voice
thundered from nowhere. I realized almost immediately that it was the Master of
Ceremonies. He sat above me in black clothing, not a black like dark black, but
a hole in space, in life, in time. He wore a black cap and his face seemed
nonexistent when I looked at him.
"CARE TO DUEL ME? WELL THEN, I THINK WE SHALL HAVE A BET. IF YOU WIN THE WORLD
SHALL BE SPARED AND TEAM ROCKET WITHDRAWN FROM ALL CORNER OF THE WORLD. IF YOU
LOSE, YOU FOREVER GIVE UP POKEMON TRAINING." Overly confident in myself I
accepted his challenge expecting an easy victory. Easy victory, I had never had
one before. Why did I ever think I'd get one now?
"The rules are simple. Each person uses one pokemon and one alone. No more, no
less. The first one to fall loses. Agreed?" Chalk one up for pikachu I thought
rashly, even arrogantly.
"Let the duel begin." I choose pikachu while he did something unprecedented. He
choose to battle with a black butterfree. I didn't even know they existed and
then realized this may be one match I could not win.
My first move was agility. If he could not hit pikachu then it would be easier
for me. But it was not so. He opened up with Winds of Chaos. No matter where
pikachu moved he couldn't dodge the drab maroon winds the encircled him. The
force was so great I was knocked over. I was nearly flung out of the room had I
not grabbed the first thing nailed down. The winds seemed to disturb logic,
defying the laws of physics.
Next I used thunder. His butterfree took the hit stoically. As pikachu pumped
more power into the butterfree, at my command, the butterfree only seemed to
absorb it. My thunder was returned with Dark Vengeance. A great blade of dark
energy seeming range to all infinity formed and sliced pikachu to the core!
"HAHAHA LITTLE ONE! HOW MUCH MORE CAN YOU TAKE!"
Before I could utter a word of protest or command he prepared his last attack.
"BLACK BUTTERFREE, USE HEARTLESS ANGEL, LET HIS PIKACHU DIE!" A mighty blue
aura surrounded the butterfree. Slowly, an eternity it seemed, the aura came
off the butterfree and condensed above it into a small blue orb. With a mighty
roar the orb was let lose toward pikachu. In a last act of heroism, or was it
stupidity, I leapt from the ledge I was on and took the blow for myself. I felt
a great pain the orb burrowed into my chest. The last sound I heard, before I
blacked out that is, was a hideous laughter and an order to begin project
Alpha.
When I came too I was lying in a bed in my house. Professor Oak standing over
me examining my shirtless chest. Imbedded deep in it was a multifaceted blue
gemstone. It emitted an eerie pallid glow as soon as I looked at it, a glow
that emitted a wave of hatred, greed, anger, jealousy, prejudice, everything we
fear. I was quickly overcome with a tremendous wave of nausea and ran to the
bathroom.
Once out I asked the professor what happened. "Well Ash, after your failure at
Rocket Mountain Misty and Brock rescued you and took you here." When I started
to babble about pikachu all I got in reply was "You have no pokemon Ash. You
lost." Those words echoed through my mind. I lost, I lost, I lost. My pride, my
ego were crushed, I felt the hope that was trapped fly away. I broke down
almost immediately. I begged to see Misty and Brock but to no avail. "They left
to fight the Rocket advance in their own towns. You see Ash, after you lost the
duel pokemon near the mountain lost their minds and became slaves to Team
Rocket."
After hearing this I lost all hope. I knew my failure could mean that all
could become nothing. "Our world, lying on the edge of yesterday, the verge of
tomorrow, people seeking to change the future, to fix the past, without
realizing that all they need do is watch the present." I mumbled to myself
remembering words from a distant past, as it seemed to me. I looked to the past
to command the future but completely forgot that I lived in the present.
I made a final request of the professor before he left, I asked him if he knew
what the crystal was. "I don't know Ash I'm sorry. But I feel a great enmity
from it. Beware, keep it hidden, speak not of it." Just what I needed that day,
more riddles. As Mom came in and helped me to my bed I felt relived to know
that someone was still out there. I always wondered how many people were really
out there to care for me. I gently lay to sleep like a person in their grave.
Ash. My name? No. Something else. Fire. Death. Ash. Not my name. I awoke from
my nightmare to see my house burning. As I sprang from my room to get outside I
saw all of Pallet town burning. People were running as various fire pokemon ran
amok. At the end of the road stood a man and a pikachu. The man shouted in an
oddly familiar voice "DEATH TO THE OPPOSITION. THE PROJECT ALPHA SHALL CONQUER
AND ENSLAVE." James! It was James and MY pikachu at the end of road! Pulling
what was left of my shirt on I ran toward them. As I approached pikachu turned
to James and began spouting something out.
Once I was up to the I asked them what the hell they were doing, using vulgar
language for the first time in my life. "So you came Ash. I have a show for
you." James put a thunder stone near pikachu and I watched helpless as he
evolved into a raichu, something he never did when he was with me. I demanded
to see Professor Oak and my mom. "Oak left before we came but your mother is
right here."
My mother stepped forward in her slightly singed dress. "Ready for the show of
a life time Ash?" Pikachu grabbed my mother and, raising him and herself into
the air by an unknown force, began to slowly electrocute her. Her flesh began
to brown and crinkle, and peeled off her body. The screams she sent out pierced
my soul and I still remember them, no matter how hard I try to forget.
It seemed like all time was a moment, a moment that spanned for eternity,
echoing from darkness to darkness, until she died. My pikachu, evolved into a
raichu, had just slowly murdered my mother. My mind broke, my heart broke, my
spirit broke, but before my life broke A great form swopped down and spirited
me off.
It was Lugia. He had caught me in his mouth and was flying away with me. I
screamed. I wanted to die. I begged to die. I wanted to die. But he wouldn't
listen. Why! I screamed, cajoled, and begged to die but onward we flew to a
great wall. The wall shimmered like a diamond in the moonlight, argent and cold.
Before we got out of range I heard James's final screams. I could never tell
were they screams of rage at losing me or where they screams at himself, at
what he had become? A monster, a devourer of souls, an empty being. But who
could tell at that point? Certainly not I, who hanging in physical form, fallen
in life, forever falling in spirit, could tell a scream of rage from one of
pain.
Lugia carried me closer to the great wall. As we drew closer I saw it was a
force field that was being constructed by Mr. Mimes! They were constantly
repairing it to keep some unknown force at bay, and known one, the known being
an army of pokemon. They were all dark in color, wielding a blue aura, much
like the one the Black Butterfree had when it struck my chest with this
accursed crystal. Immediately I felt ill. Not an ill as in stomach turning, but
an ill like having no stomach. Like you were and weren't. I felt as though I
was not part of time, reality, existence.
As we flew over the wall I felt a cool relief pass over me, sparing me the
agony of nonexistence. "I'm sorry for not having a chance to talk to you but we
had to move quickly. I felt as though my mind was slipping away. I'm sorry
about your mother but it was imperative that I save you. You know, you don't
have to honor that bet you made, I'll be your pokemon from now on, but I will
not stay in a pokeball." I heard Lugia's voice in my head and he seemed to
really care, but, at the time, I didn't. All that mattered was ending my pain.
As soon I thought this though, the crystal glowed brightly and I felt like
everything was gone. I first saw only black, then I seemed to see everything as
it went along. I cried out to Fate for these injustices to me. Out of the
darkness spoke a voice so terrible it chilled my body and soul. "Fate, it is
just a scapegoat. Gods are a way of never taking blame for the bad things in
life. Learn well this lesson pitiful child who shall get no pity, TIME WAITS
FOR NO ONE!" A surge of warmth brought me back to reality.
"Are you all right?" Lugia seemed concerned about me and for once I cared
about myself, or anything, which would not seem to happen again for a long
time. "I know where the officers is in this city. I think we could convince
them for room and board. This city is overwhelmed by refugees. There might be a
camp we can stay at until we establish a permanent residence." I felt honored,
and spiteful, for his tender care. How many people can say Lugia, a legendary
pokemon, genuinely cared for them.
As we walked down to the station I watched the people passing me by. Many
seemed dirty and disheveled. Then again, it could have been the setting sun
casting a dark shadow over the land. As we plodded along, moving inevitably
toward the officer's station I looked around and saw something I had not
noticed before. Hatred. People were glaring at each other. Some were sneering.
A select few were out right swearing, but that didn't really affect me. All I
cared about was the truth, and myself.
As we reached the station there was a fervor of voices. As we drew closer I
prepared myself to see anything, anything, but what I saw haunted me then and
haunts me now. Looking back it all falls together, like the pieces of an almost
completed puzzle. Yet still, I remember the confusion, the panic, the pain, the
sorrow, all those torments we wish never to face, but always come face to face
with.
As I, along with Lugia, stepped into the station numerous screens were
flashing various images of the outside, or perhaps another world. One man had
just had his arm ripped off by a savage rocket and was being, most disgustedly,
bludgeoned to death with it. Another flashed a familiar city. It was Pewter
City! I asked a near by officer what was going on. "We are getting pictures of
the war outside the Barrier. Now what are a kid and his pet bird doing in here
get out!" I struggled against the officer's grip, vying for my right to see
Brock. I cried out that he was my best friend.
Another officer turned around after my shouting spree. In fact I was still in
the middle of it, ignoring Lugia's incessant commands to calm down, the
officer's struggles when she introduced herself to me. "Ash? I've heard of you
from my cousins in other cities. I remember them mentioning Brock. I'll be more
than willing to let you watch but, I don't know if you could stomach it. Things
are getting extremely brutal outside. It's almost as though they were being
reduced solely to their hatred."
I walked over to the screen to see Mewoth speaking to Brock. I asked to we get
sound and Jenny turned a knob to the bottom left of the screen. "Meowth, you
little scoundrel what are you doing! Killing the innocent! What did they do to
you! You'll pay!
Go Onix, Geodude, Zubat, finish him. Onix Wrap! Geodude Rock Throw! Zubat
Supersonic!" Meowth danced around the attacks like it was nothing at all.
"Is that the best you can do little boy? MMEEOOWWTTHH, I'll make sure you can
never show your foolery again!" With that statement Mewoth jumped onto to Brock
slashing his face. After ripping his claws out, leaving great trails of blood
streaming down Brock's cheeks. Then he slashed apart Brock's shirt knocking him
to the ground, Then, in an agonizing period of time, the slowly cut an X into
Brock's chest right above his heart. Finally, in a moment that will last
forever in my mind, and perhaps the minds of the officers, and in Lugia's mind,
Meowth plunged his clawed hand into Brock's chest forcing his heart out the
other side. It beated three time before stopping, forever.
The picture flashed to Cerulean city. I struggled to stand up after seeing
that horrendous act. I prayed this picture would be one of victory, a scene of
hope long set free returned again. What I got was another horrendous loss. The
sins and terrors all chained together free to release chaos again. The picture
was inside Misty's gym. I saw Misty fending off four rockets, Jesse amongst
them. Misty shouted out her challenge. "You creeps. I thought you were a bunch
a good for nothing pomeon thieves! But in truth you are cowards, in heart,
mind, and soul."
Jesse began laughing, a laugh I remembered, a dark voice, filled with ominous
power. "Pathetic weakling, you have no right to live! I'll have life and
replace it with death! Death, for death is what girls like you deserve, greedy
slobs, mere mortals who rely on love and friendship to pull them through! I'll
show you true power!" Jesse pulled out her trademark bazooka and loaded it with
a strange missile, pointed at the end, like it was designed to inject
something. With a great explosion the missile shot straight toward Misty. As
soon it struck Misty fell over. She began to convulse, flesh growing purple and
puffing up, she began to have her arms fling wildly. Blood trickled out of her
overly large lips and her skin began to rip from the growth. The picture sent
before they shut off the camera was Jesse laughing over Misty's fallen body,
watching it be ripped apart by the explosion of size.
On the edge of my hearing was voice, whispering dark words. "Little one, are
you a lion? Are you a mouse? Do you stand stalwart in the face the the
tribulations this world is soon to face? Will you cower away hiding in the
shadows to save yourself? ARE YOU A BRAVE FOOL OR AN INTELLIGENT COWARD! LEGEND
HATH RISEN UNTO FACT AND YET YOU COWER! A BEAST OF TERRIBLE AND UNIMAGINABLE
POWER SHALL CONQUER. NOT HUMAN , NOT ALIVE, NOT DEAD, OLD AS LIFE, OPPOSITE TO
LIFE YET PART OF IT! CAN YOU SOLVE THE RIDDLE OF PANDORA! To this day the line
confuses me. I didn't know back then, and don't truely understand now, what
Pandora is.
I had to be dragged out by the officer's to place where I could stay for the
night after the ordeal. All I remeber from that time till my early adulthood
was death, fear, pain, addiction, the Master of Ceremonies, and the Riddle of
Pandora.
Ash's Youth
The New Boss of Team Rocket, the self styled Master of Ceremonies, was just a
room ahead. I had already lost Misty and Brock in the dread confines of this
maze. It was just me with pikachu at my back, struggling to keep up, left to
stop this mad fiend. Of what he had planned no one was sure but it was known
that the greatest scientist in the world was helping him. With a challenge like
this I hoped to gain world fame as the King of Pokemon, a title that the Master
of Ceremonies held.
With this in mind I burst into the darkly lit room expecting to be swarmed by
guards but instead I discovered something for which I was not prepared. An
arena had been set up. "I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU SILLY LITTLE BOY!" A voice
thundered from nowhere. I realized almost immediately that it was the Master of
Ceremonies. He sat above me in black clothing, not a black like dark black, but
a hole in space, in life, in time. He wore a black cap and his face seemed
nonexistent when I looked at him.
"CARE TO DUEL ME? WELL THEN, I THINK WE SHALL HAVE A BET. IF YOU WIN THE WORLD
SHALL BE SPARED AND TEAM ROCKET WITHDRAWN FROM ALL CORNER OF THE WORLD. IF YOU
LOSE, YOU FOREVER GIVE UP POKEMON TRAINING." Overly confident in myself I
accepted his challenge expecting an easy victory. Easy victory, I had never had
one before. Why did I ever think I'd get one now?
"The rules are simple. Each person uses one pokemon and one alone. No more, no
less. The first one to fall loses. Agreed?" Chalk one up for pikachu I thought
rashly, even arrogantly.
"Let the duel begin." I choose pikachu while he did something unprecedented. He
choose to battle with a black butterfree. I didn't even know they existed and
then realized this may be one match I could not win.
My first move was agility. If he could not hit pikachu then it would be easier
for me. But it was not so. He opened up with Winds of Chaos. No matter where
pikachu moved he couldn't dodge the drab maroon winds the encircled him. The
force was so great I was knocked over. I was nearly flung out of the room had I
not grabbed the first thing nailed down. The winds seemed to disturb logic,
defying the laws of physics.
Next I used thunder. His butterfree took the hit stoically. As pikachu pumped
more power into the butterfree, at my command, the butterfree only seemed to
absorb it. My thunder was returned with Dark Vengeance. A great blade of dark
energy seeming range to all infinity formed and sliced pikachu to the core!
"HAHAHA LITTLE ONE! HOW MUCH MORE CAN YOU TAKE!"
Before I could utter a word of protest or command he prepared his last attack.
"BLACK BUTTERFREE, USE HEARTLESS ANGEL, LET HIS PIKACHU DIE!" A mighty blue
aura surrounded the butterfree. Slowly, an eternity it seemed, the aura came
off the butterfree and condensed above it into a small blue orb. With a mighty
roar the orb was let lose toward pikachu. In a last act of heroism, or was it
stupidity, I leapt from the ledge I was on and took the blow for myself. I felt
a great pain the orb burrowed into my chest. The last sound I heard, before I
blacked out that is, was a hideous laughter and an order to begin project
Alpha.
When I came too I was lying in a bed in my house. Professor Oak standing over
me examining my shirtless chest. Imbedded deep in it was a multifaceted blue
gemstone. It emitted an eerie pallid glow as soon as I looked at it, a glow
that emitted a wave of hatred, greed, anger, jealousy, prejudice, everything we
fear. I was quickly overcome with a tremendous wave of nausea and ran to the
bathroom.
Once out I asked the professor what happened. "Well Ash, after your failure at
Rocket Mountain Misty and Brock rescued you and took you here." When I started
to babble about pikachu all I got in reply was "You have no pokemon Ash. You
lost." Those words echoed through my mind. I lost, I lost, I lost. My pride, my
ego were crushed, I felt the hope that was trapped fly away. I broke down
almost immediately. I begged to see Misty and Brock but to no avail. "They left
to fight the Rocket advance in their own towns. You see Ash, after you lost the
duel pokemon near the mountain lost their minds and became slaves to Team
Rocket."
After hearing this I lost all hope. I knew my failure could mean that all
could become nothing. "Our world, lying on the edge of yesterday, the verge of
tomorrow, people seeking to change the future, to fix the past, without
realizing that all they need do is watch the present." I mumbled to myself
remembering words from a distant past, as it seemed to me. I looked to the past
to command the future but completely forgot that I lived in the present.
I made a final request of the professor before he left, I asked him if he knew
what the crystal was. "I don't know Ash I'm sorry. But I feel a great enmity
from it. Beware, keep it hidden, speak not of it." Just what I needed that day,
more riddles. As Mom came in and helped me to my bed I felt relived to know
that someone was still out there. I always wondered how many people were really
out there to care for me. I gently lay to sleep like a person in their grave.
Ash. My name? No. Something else. Fire. Death. Ash. Not my name. I awoke from
my nightmare to see my house burning. As I sprang from my room to get outside I
saw all of Pallet town burning. People were running as various fire pokemon ran
amok. At the end of the road stood a man and a pikachu. The man shouted in an
oddly familiar voice "DEATH TO THE OPPOSITION. THE PROJECT ALPHA SHALL CONQUER
AND ENSLAVE." James! It was James and MY pikachu at the end of road! Pulling
what was left of my shirt on I ran toward them. As I approached pikachu turned
to James and began spouting something out.
Once I was up to the I asked them what the hell they were doing, using vulgar
language for the first time in my life. "So you came Ash. I have a show for
you." James put a thunder stone near pikachu and I watched helpless as he
evolved into a raichu, something he never did when he was with me. I demanded
to see Professor Oak and my mom. "Oak left before we came but your mother is
right here."
My mother stepped forward in her slightly singed dress. "Ready for the show of
a life time Ash?" Pikachu grabbed my mother and, raising him and herself into
the air by an unknown force, began to slowly electrocute her. Her flesh began
to brown and crinkle, and peeled off her body. The screams she sent out pierced
my soul and I still remember them, no matter how hard I try to forget.
It seemed like all time was a moment, a moment that spanned for eternity,
echoing from darkness to darkness, until she died. My pikachu, evolved into a
raichu, had just slowly murdered my mother. My mind broke, my heart broke, my
spirit broke, but before my life broke A great form swopped down and spirited
me off.
It was Lugia. He had caught me in his mouth and was flying away with me. I
screamed. I wanted to die. I begged to die. I wanted to die. But he wouldn't
listen. Why! I screamed, cajoled, and begged to die but onward we flew to a
great wall. The wall shimmered like a diamond in the moonlight, argent and cold.
Before we got out of range I heard James's final screams. I could never tell
were they screams of rage at losing me or where they screams at himself, at
what he had become? A monster, a devourer of souls, an empty being. But who
could tell at that point? Certainly not I, who hanging in physical form, fallen
in life, forever falling in spirit, could tell a scream of rage from one of
pain.
Lugia carried me closer to the great wall. As we drew closer I saw it was a
force field that was being constructed by Mr. Mimes! They were constantly
repairing it to keep some unknown force at bay, and known one, the known being
an army of pokemon. They were all dark in color, wielding a blue aura, much
like the one the Black Butterfree had when it struck my chest with this
accursed crystal. Immediately I felt ill. Not an ill as in stomach turning, but
an ill like having no stomach. Like you were and weren't. I felt as though I
was not part of time, reality, existence.
As we flew over the wall I felt a cool relief pass over me, sparing me the
agony of nonexistence. "I'm sorry for not having a chance to talk to you but we
had to move quickly. I felt as though my mind was slipping away. I'm sorry
about your mother but it was imperative that I save you. You know, you don't
have to honor that bet you made, I'll be your pokemon from now on, but I will
not stay in a pokeball." I heard Lugia's voice in my head and he seemed to
really care, but, at the time, I didn't. All that mattered was ending my pain.
As soon I thought this though, the crystal glowed brightly and I felt like
everything was gone. I first saw only black, then I seemed to see everything as
it went along. I cried out to Fate for these injustices to me. Out of the
darkness spoke a voice so terrible it chilled my body and soul. "Fate, it is
just a scapegoat. Gods are a way of never taking blame for the bad things in
life. Learn well this lesson pitiful child who shall get no pity, TIME WAITS
FOR NO ONE!" A surge of warmth brought me back to reality.
"Are you all right?" Lugia seemed concerned about me and for once I cared
about myself, or anything, which would not seem to happen again for a long
time. "I know where the officers is in this city. I think we could convince
them for room and board. This city is overwhelmed by refugees. There might be a
camp we can stay at until we establish a permanent residence." I felt honored,
and spiteful, for his tender care. How many people can say Lugia, a legendary
pokemon, genuinely cared for them.
As we walked down to the station I watched the people passing me by. Many
seemed dirty and disheveled. Then again, it could have been the setting sun
casting a dark shadow over the land. As we plodded along, moving inevitably
toward the officer's station I looked around and saw something I had not
noticed before. Hatred. People were glaring at each other. Some were sneering.
A select few were out right swearing, but that didn't really affect me. All I
cared about was the truth, and myself.
As we reached the station there was a fervor of voices. As we drew closer I
prepared myself to see anything, anything, but what I saw haunted me then and
haunts me now. Looking back it all falls together, like the pieces of an almost
completed puzzle. Yet still, I remember the confusion, the panic, the pain, the
sorrow, all those torments we wish never to face, but always come face to face
with.
As I, along with Lugia, stepped into the station numerous screens were
flashing various images of the outside, or perhaps another world. One man had
just had his arm ripped off by a savage rocket and was being, most disgustedly,
bludgeoned to death with it. Another flashed a familiar city. It was Pewter
City! I asked a near by officer what was going on. "We are getting pictures of
the war outside the Barrier. Now what are a kid and his pet bird doing in here
get out!" I struggled against the officer's grip, vying for my right to see
Brock. I cried out that he was my best friend.
Another officer turned around after my shouting spree. In fact I was still in
the middle of it, ignoring Lugia's incessant commands to calm down, the
officer's struggles when she introduced herself to me. "Ash? I've heard of you
from my cousins in other cities. I remember them mentioning Brock. I'll be more
than willing to let you watch but, I don't know if you could stomach it. Things
are getting extremely brutal outside. It's almost as though they were being
reduced solely to their hatred."
I walked over to the screen to see Mewoth speaking to Brock. I asked to we get
sound and Jenny turned a knob to the bottom left of the screen. "Meowth, you
little scoundrel what are you doing! Killing the innocent! What did they do to
you! You'll pay!
Go Onix, Geodude, Zubat, finish him. Onix Wrap! Geodude Rock Throw! Zubat
Supersonic!" Meowth danced around the attacks like it was nothing at all.
"Is that the best you can do little boy? MMEEOOWWTTHH, I'll make sure you can
never show your foolery again!" With that statement Mewoth jumped onto to Brock
slashing his face. After ripping his claws out, leaving great trails of blood
streaming down Brock's cheeks. Then he slashed apart Brock's shirt knocking him
to the ground, Then, in an agonizing period of time, the slowly cut an X into
Brock's chest right above his heart. Finally, in a moment that will last
forever in my mind, and perhaps the minds of the officers, and in Lugia's mind,
Meowth plunged his clawed hand into Brock's chest forcing his heart out the
other side. It beated three time before stopping, forever.
The picture flashed to Cerulean city. I struggled to stand up after seeing
that horrendous act. I prayed this picture would be one of victory, a scene of
hope long set free returned again. What I got was another horrendous loss. The
sins and terrors all chained together free to release chaos again. The picture
was inside Misty's gym. I saw Misty fending off four rockets, Jesse amongst
them. Misty shouted out her challenge. "You creeps. I thought you were a bunch
a good for nothing pomeon thieves! But in truth you are cowards, in heart,
mind, and soul."
Jesse began laughing, a laugh I remembered, a dark voice, filled with ominous
power. "Pathetic weakling, you have no right to live! I'll have life and
replace it with death! Death, for death is what girls like you deserve, greedy
slobs, mere mortals who rely on love and friendship to pull them through! I'll
show you true power!" Jesse pulled out her trademark bazooka and loaded it with
a strange missile, pointed at the end, like it was designed to inject
something. With a great explosion the missile shot straight toward Misty. As
soon it struck Misty fell over. She began to convulse, flesh growing purple and
puffing up, she began to have her arms fling wildly. Blood trickled out of her
overly large lips and her skin began to rip from the growth. The picture sent
before they shut off the camera was Jesse laughing over Misty's fallen body,
watching it be ripped apart by the explosion of size.
On the edge of my hearing was voice, whispering dark words. "Little one, are
you a lion? Are you a mouse? Do you stand stalwart in the face the the
tribulations this world is soon to face? Will you cower away hiding in the
shadows to save yourself? ARE YOU A BRAVE FOOL OR AN INTELLIGENT COWARD! LEGEND
HATH RISEN UNTO FACT AND YET YOU COWER! A BEAST OF TERRIBLE AND UNIMAGINABLE
POWER SHALL CONQUER. NOT HUMAN , NOT ALIVE, NOT DEAD, OLD AS LIFE, OPPOSITE TO
LIFE YET PART OF IT! CAN YOU SOLVE THE RIDDLE OF PANDORA! To this day the line
confuses me. I didn't know back then, and don't truely understand now, what
Pandora is.
I had to be dragged out by the officer's to place where I could stay for the
night after the ordeal. All I remeber from that time till my early adulthood
was death, fear, pain, addiction, the Master of Ceremonies, and the Riddle of
Pandora.