YES!!!!! 1000 reviews!!! Thank you, everyone! Well, here is the one segment
of a trilogy. I think it's pretty good. See what you think!
I am a rocket, a member of the famous Team Rocket.
I am hated and feared. And yet, after all that is and was known (or thought to be known) about us, there is so very little that is really understood.
And so I write this.
Prologue
I was born before the Fall, when Team Rocket was merely gaining power, merely feared. My mother was a Jenny, but I wasn't fully one. My parents were distant but never cruel. Others, of course, could be.
We lived by the ocean. I loved the sea more than anything in the world. I got all my pokemon from the water. Ponds and lakes and streams were too calm. I also loved storms. My favorite thing in the world was watching a stormy sea, with the waves smashing into boats and the wind howling.
I caught a psyduck, tentacool, staru, magikarp, and seel. Later on my mother gave me an eevee that had been abandoned, and I evolved it into vaporeon.
I loved my family and my pokemon fiercely. As for the rest of the world, if they happened to drop dead I'd be happy.
My mother, when she first found out I had caught several pokemon and was training them, marched me to the police station and gave me hours of community service to complete. She then took my pokemon and refused to give them back until I had completed the forms and passed the tests necessary to get an underage trainer's license. For a Jenny, this was bending the rules. No normal Jenny would have done it, but no normal Jenny would have broken custom and married a regular man. My mother was, for a Jenny, incredibly emotional. She let her attachment to her child make her treat me differently then normal.
I avoided people, and they avoided me, the half-Jenny. The town I lived in was small and isolated. The world was falling to pieces around us, but I only really noticed it a few years before I went on a pokemon journey. My mother was the only one effected at first. No rockets would come to our quiet, average little town. Still, once I started to understand what the headlines said, I realized we were in trouble. Team Rocket attacked, and attacked, and attacked. The Jennies fell back, withdrew, retreated. In a thousand different ways people admitted that they were losing.
My mother was furious about this. She raved about the rocket Ice, who killed everyone who spoke out against Team Rocket or in some way came to their attention and trained the evil type. Ice was the strongest trainer ever. No one had beaten her ever. She got into the most heavily guarded fortress, killed someone, and got back out not only alive but uninjured and completely unnoticed. She stole anything Team Rocket wanted. My mother often called that rocket a demon.
She also talked about a rocket that trained fire pokemon, though that rocket wasn't well known enough for the name to be known. The fire trainer was the second strongest rocket known. That rocket stole pokemon, and again, no one could stop her.
My mother had been beaten by the fire trainer several times, and a few (a very, very few) of the other Jennies, the ones who had somehow lived through battling Ice, told her that Ice was a thousand times better then the fire trainer. It was my mother's greatest desire to catch them and bring them to justice. One night she had to go out and guard a warehouse full of powerful pokemon, one everyone was certain the fire trainer would attack. I knew my mother was going to do something there, but I didn't know what.
When she came back the next night, she looked awful. I had already found out what had happened from the papers. The infamous fire trainer had beaten them once again. But that wasn't what she was so upset about. She showed it to me.
A gun. My mother, the law abiding and enforcing Jenny, had a gun, an illegal thing. Seven of the bullets were gone. She told me that she had messed up the controls in the warehouse and brought in twenty of the strongest water pokemon she could find. She had also made it impossible to withdraw pokemon, just in case. The water pokemon were beaten in an instant, so she shot the fire trainer's pokemon and killed them, and then ran away in horror.
I took the gun and the bullets and threw them separately into the sea, one by one. If I was a true Jenny, I would have gone to the others and told them what had happened. I never even considered it.
About year later, when I turned ten I was allowed to go on a pokemon journey, although because I had gotten my license years before I didn't get a starter.
Because I had been training pokemon for longer then most trainers at my age, I had an advantage. I battled viciously, and usually won.
I had gotten several badges when the Fall began. I remember seeing the headline in the newspaper, a bad, blurry picture next to it. All you could make out was that a person was on a charizard. A rocket, who identified herself as Wildfire, had destroyed the Saffron City Police Station.
The writer of the article was quite optimistic. He/she said that the Jennies would swiftly deal with this 'Wildfire'.
I was worried. I remembered what my mother had said, about the fire trainer. Her pokemon included a charizard. Still, my mother told me she had shot to kill. She shot all of them in the head, and when the charizard didn't die immediately, she shot it in the chest. There was no way anything, no matter how strong, could survive that.
And the Jennies organized against the threat. They were very good at organization. While Jennies were not the best trainers, it was their numbers and the fact that they could act as one entity that they beat criminals. Within a week, all the stations were fully prepared to deal with Wildfire.
And it wasn't enough. She attacked again, ripping through their defenses like a hot knife through butter. She destroyed them again and again. You could never tell when or where she would attack. She went after big city stations as much as small town ones. It didn't matter if there was one Jenny or a thousand, she just killed and killed.
Did I care what happened to Jennies? No. Not one tiny bit. I felt no kinship with them. I only cared about my mother, father and pokemon.
Before long, the Jennies went into hiding. My mother went with them, but at least she was alive.
I tried to continue my journey, but I couldn't. Though I had grown up with the world fearing the might of Team Rocket, I still noticed some things that were wrong, even though I had little to compare them to. Everyone was fearful and once Wildfire attacked, that fear went from something in the background to the most important thing in the world. The gyms were shut down, since gym leader's pokemon were noticed and stolen. Pokemon battles no longer operated by the 'Official Pokemon League Rules' because there wasn't a pokemon league. If you lost, the other trainer could have their pokemon attack you, could steal your pokemon, could take all your money, could even kill you. After all, who would punish them for it?
And then I made my choice. I'm sure my mother would have been horrified, but what else was there? I went up to a rocket and asked to join. They didn't recognize me as being part Jenny. Because the Jennies were all identical, no one looked for people who only looked a lot like them.
Ch1
It wasn't long before I had proved my loyalty and gotten my pokemon back. But then I was told I was to be trained by one of the best rockets. An elite rocket.
I hoped and thought it wouldn't be Ice or Wildfire.
I recognized the names, of course. Hard to forget. By then I'd learned plenty about Team Rocket and the two greatest of them, Ice and Wildfire. Wildfire was second in ability only to Ice, and had been trained by her. Wildfire would sometimes -very rarely- be asked to train the most promising rockets. I wondered why they didn't want Ice training people(she had only worked intensively with one rocket in all the time she was there, and that was Wildfire, who she had also named), but I wasn't about to complain. Ice was an insane murderer who killed people for fun. I heard she had killed her own family with her evil-type pokemon. I'd seen her around a few times, and just from the way she looked I knew she was a monster.
The next day I reported to the Boss's office. Another rocket was there. She looked odd. She had red hair with flecks of gold and orange. Her eyes were yellow and her skin tanned.
She shrugged. "So, I'm to train you?"
The Boss answered. "Yes, and you better do a good job of it. We'll need all the good trainers we can get. She has been here for a time, and has shown promise."
"Very well."
She walked out, and I followed, not seeing anything else to do.
Ch2
I remember that day well. It was rather disturbing, after all.
She stops by the side on of a small lake. It's been a few minutes since we left, and I haven't asked questions, not sure what would happen. Once she stops, though, I start to talk.
"What exactly do you think you can teach me?"
"Plenty, and with that attitude I can see I should also try teaching you humility while I'm at it."
I glare at her. How dare she! "I'm a great trainer!"
"Really? Let me guess, you're a water trainer. What pokemon do you have?"
How did she know this? No matter, she probably just got it from the Boss. "I have a golduck, gyarados, tentacruel, vaporeon, dewgong, and starmie. Why?"
"If you can beat me, then you're a better trainer then I am, right?"
"Yes."
"So, even though you have a lot to learn, you wouldn't listen, because to you, being a better trainer means being better at everything."
I don't answer. If I beat her, why would I listen to her advice?
"I train fire pokemon, and I'm known as Wildfire. If you can beat me, I'll go back to the Boss and tell him I can't train you. But if I win, you'll have to obey me and not cause me trouble."
So, she is the infamous Wildfire?
"Fine, but I've got water pokemon. How do you think you can beat me even if you are a better trainer?"
"I will. Would you like to battle one on one or all at once?"
"One on one. Go, dewgong!"
She smiles for some reason. "Go, Star!"
"Dewgonggong!" cries dewgong.
"Char!" roars the charizard, scaring dewgong. Snorting contemptuously, it looks back at Wildfire. "Charizard char char izard zard?"
Dewgong lets out a few cries of her own. "Gonggong DEWgong!"
"Yes, Star, you're supposed to fight it," she says. "Do as you will."
I don't know what Wildfire means by that. Doesn't matter.
"Char!"
The charizard roars, opening its mouth to use hyper beam. I have no idea why Wildfire isn't commanding it. It's not like pokemon know how to battle on their own, after all.
"Dewgong, use surf! Aim for the charizard's tail flame!" I yell. I picked up this tactic when battling charmander and charmeleon. Even with a glancing blow the best the other trainer could ever hope for was a comatose pokemon. Usually the move was fatal. But what did it matter? I won, after all. And what else is the point of pokemon battles?
Dewgong, lying in the lake, lets out a cry. A tidal wave appears from nowhere, and hits the charizard. I notice Wildfire flinches from the spray, though it isn't cold. I wonder why? Yet that charizard is still standing there, seemingly unweakened. The hyperbeam shoots out and hits my dewgong, fainting it.
"What in the world…?"
"That was a solarbeam attack," she says calmly. "What will your next pokemon be?"
I start to say that charizards can't learn solarbeam, but stop. It doesn't matter. What matters is winning. "Go, tentacruel!"
The charizard waits, allowing my tentacruel the first move. If it wants to just let me win, I won't stop it. "Try another surf attack!"
Tentacruel lets out a cry like my dewgong did, and a second wave appears. The charizard doesn't let the wave hit it again and lets out an answering roar. The wave reverses direction, smashing into tentacruel and fainting it.
This doesn't make any sense! "Go, starmie!"
"Star, hurry it up, would you? There's no need to show off," she says.
The charizard roars again. "Zard, char charizard izard char char zard." This time it quickly slashes at starmie, fainting it.
"This is too easy. Would you like to continue this battle using all your remaining pokemon?"
Too easy? How dare she say that? I glare at her, angry, but it looks like I'll need to send them all out. "Go, vaporeon, gyarados, golduck!"
The three pokemon appear, each crying out once.
"Vaporeon, gyarados, golduck, use a combined hydro pump!"
"Star, why don't you take out all three with one attack," she says quietly and calmly.
It roars yet again. The sky begins to darken.
A soft rain begins to fall, growing stronger and stronger. Wildfire winces as the rainwater hits her. The water seems to effect her more then that stupid charizard, who didn't even seem to notice it.
"What are you doing? Rain dance makes water moves stronger!"
"True, though it doesn't matter. Star?"
"Charizard!"
The charizard lets out a final, earsplitting roar, and bolts of lightning appear, combining and hitting the lake.
I can't do anything but stare in shock. "And you only used one pokemon…" I murmur. "What other pokemon do you have?"
"None."
"What? Why didn't you train any others?"
"I did. They were killed."
Her tone clearly indicates that's all she'll say about it. Oh well, I can still ask about other things.
"Who trained you?"
"Ice did."
"Ice? Isn't she the murderer? That weird assassin who killed another rocket once and has a clone pokemon? The evil-type trainer? The person who sold her soul to the devil and is insane?"
"Well, she's the best Team Rocket assassin, and trains the dark type. She did kill a guy once that I can remember, though I think he was asking for it. He knew she hated lying. And she does have a twilight. But as for selling her soul and being insane, I don't really know. She does odd things but she's always right and in time you can find out why she does them."
"But isn't she evil? Why did she train you?"
"The Boss told her to. She's the best assassin, the best thief, and the best pokemon trainer that Team Rocket has ever had. I'm the second strongest, and it's only because of Ice that I am. I don't think she's evil."
"Why not?"
She sighs. "See Star over there? That white mark is a bullet wound. If it wasn't for Ice, Star would be dead like all my other pokemon. Later on she warned me and saved Star's life again."
Bullet wound…no, nothing could have survived two bullets. She must gotten new ones. For all I know, this isn't even the same fire trainer. Oh, right. This one's chest is unmarked. How silly. If this was the same one and it had somehow lived, it would have a second bullet wound.
"But what about her demon powers? Like how she can get in and out of a place without anyone knowing, or how she never makes a sound? Don't you think she sold her soul, if she even had one?"
"You want the full list of things Ice can do but shouldn't be able to? Yeah, she never makes a sound. It doesn't matter what she walks on; you never hear her coming. She can appear out of nowhere, just comes out of the shadows and goes back in. She can find people or pokemon, she can tell if people are lying, and it seems like she may be a mind reader. She knows what will happen long before it does. She can talk to any pokemon as long as it isn't part fighting. And I think she can heal pokemon. But no, I don't think she sold her soul. As for having one, I don't know, but if a pokemon has one then Ice does."
I'm shocked by what I just heard. Before I can start asking more she walks off, her charizard -her second charizard- following.
Ch3
I always pay attention to what the rockets say about Ice. She scares me. She kills for fun, and no one can stop her when she fights in the arena. I saw her battle Wildfire once. She used a sneasel, evil/ice, against that powerful charizard.
The sneasel won without a scratch. That charizard couldn't land a single a single hit on sneasel, and it beat the fire pokemon quickly and without effort. And that was with a type disadvantage.
And no one can beat Wildfire in the arena. She only uses one pokemon, and Ice has six, one of which…
The stuff I've heard about that thing. All of her pokemon have reputations, legends of the horrors they have done. And that thing, in comparison to the rest, makes them seem like angels.
Houndoom, which killed her own father, and later killed others before she even joined Team Rocket. While little is known for sure, all the rockets know that what Wildfire says about her is true. And Wildfire, at some point, told some rocket this. She'll tell you things, for a price. And she says that Houndoom killed Ice's father, and later attacked a trainer, burning him so badly he died. Ice then buried the body beneath a stream to hide it and help it rot so it would never be found. It looks like a black perversion of a sick, deformed growlithe who's been burning in hell for a few hundred years. Its forked tail and huge, twisted horns make my blood run cold every time I see the hellhound.
Sneasel, who is often the one who kills the targets Ice is sent after, when she herself doesn't. It slices open their throats in an instant and lets them bleed away their life. Once it froze several hundred people so that no one could escape, before Ice and her pokemon slaughtered them. I've heard that it is the one who killed Ice's mother, and earned her the name Ice. Like all evil pokemon, its form is twisted and disgusting, out of proportion and grotesque.
Scizor, who is often sent out with sneasel to chase down those who escape, who run away in fear to try to escape the shadowy demons chasing them. It is the only one of hers that is not an evil type, but it is nearly as horrible as the rest. It looks like a grotesque metal statue of a deformed scyther, more a machine then a living creature. It often gave the illusion of being emotionless, but I saw that thing kill a person once. It's eyes held a hidden glee at what it did. That monstrous being is a killing machine, a sickening mockery of life.
Umbreon, who is her special ace in battles against fighting and bug, the only two types that are strong against evil pokemon. She somehow managed to teach the damned creature psychic, of all the impossible moves. It, like all the rest, is fast, killing before you can even think of stopping it. And it got rid of the only disadvantage her evil pokemon had. It has a marked hatred for humans. It's body looks awful, like it was shaped from shadows by a demented fallen angel playing in hellfire. Whenever I see it, I think of serpents.
Murkrow, that omen of death she trains and harbors. Its twisted, malformed wings, aside from being hideous, don't look like they could let it fly, let alone at the speeds it manages. But it flies up high then dives at such high speeds, its beak smashes a hole in the target's head, dashing out their brains. What a way to die…
And finally, there is that, that creature. Words cannot describe it, in either body or mind. At least the others are natural. That twisted fiend of a monster is not. Wildfire herself admitted that Ice's 'twilight' is a clone pokemon, a mixture of four different pokemon. I don't know what they are, and I don't much care. The disgusting creature looks like a young umbreon with huge black deathwings, only slightly stockier, more like a houndoom. She keeps it out constantly. It is by far the strongest of all of her hellbound pokemon, and it is still young. Rumor claims her daughter often trains the thing. However, no one has ever even proved she has a daughter, so I doubt it. Ice wouldn't fall in love, not that cold bitch.
Ice is the only one scarier then her pokemon. Sometimes, when she walks by, her eyes shine in the light like an animal's. Otherwise, they're jet black. The pupil and iris are impossible to tell apart. Her hair is also black, and has a silvery sheen to it. Demon eyes, nightshade hair. A monster.
Ch4
I challenged Wildfire to a battle daily. Once a week she would accept and crush my pokemon. She taught me how to break into a building undetected, how to anticipate were alarms were hidden, how to get something out of the most heavily guarded fortress. She trained me to be a thief, and I learned.
Finally it was over, and I started going on missions as part of a team of at least three rockets. Once I proved how good I was, I started on solo missions.
Slowly, slowly, I started to gain power and more importantly, trust.
During my time in Team Rocket, I learned they have lists of everything they have done, a history of their cruelty and evil, though I admittedly don't care much about such things. But I did care about my mother, who had gone into hiding. Was she still alive? If the rockets had killed her, it would be there.
I began to get access to records, first of things stolen, then of pokemon, then finally, the one I wanted all along. The list of people killed.
Most of the people had, of course, been killed by Ice, and a few by other assassins. But most of the Jennies had been killed by Wildfire. I don't know how they got the complete lists of the Jennies, because Wildfire had mainly destroyed buildings with many people inside, not killed people one by one. But there it was. I looked slowly down the list, checking the designation of each Jenny. None was my mother.
Still, one day when I was looking through the computer's files, I saw an odd folder. 'Unauthorized' it said. On a whim, I opened it.
It contained the information on what rockets did without sanction by the Boss. Some pokemon stolen, some items taken,…and some people killed.
I didn't care about a few things stolen. But that last list, of people the rockets had killed without permission, that last list interested me.
Some trainers killed because of complications stealing pokemon, some people killed who had seen too much, some guards killed- oh, there was my name a few times for guards. Some people who pissed off a rocket with a gun and a short temper, and a list of the people Ice had killed. Several rockets, a few civilians, nothing that wasn't already suspected. I personally guessed that from the look of the list, she probably hadn't even reported most of her actions. And as I went down the list I found-
A Jenny. It didn't have the reason for death, like all the others. But it gave her designation, time and place of death, just like all the others. And it said who killed her.
The designation was my mother's. The killer was not Ice, but Wildfire.
Ch5
I hadn't seen Wildfire in a long time. Several years had passed since she had stopped training me, and she was no longer fighting in the arena. But I knew where to find her.
I'd heard silly rumors about her too. They got worse and worse. The most recent ones claimed she had grown demon wings recently. Yeah right.
She had a mission yesterday, and had reported in today. She was out by the lake now.
I walked out to find her.
Something tells me that this is the end.
She's standing carefully by the side of the lake, making sure not to touch the water. She has on the elite Team Rocket uniform of a pokemon thief, and is wearing a cloak for some reason. I never saw Wildfire with a clock before, but it doesn't matter. She won't exist much longer anyway. Her charizard is…
Somehow, that freak creature is swimming in the water. It doesn't even seem to mind the water!
She's staring out over the water. I move up silently behind her-
"Hello, Maelstrom. Ice told me you would come today." Wildfire's voice is calm, lazy. How did she know I was here?
I notice, idly, that black storm clouds are appearing.
"What do you mean?"
"You found out I killed her, didn't you? And now you've decided to kill me. Ice warned me, a few years ago, that you would do this, and she jut came to tell me a moment ago that you would be here," she says, turning with a sad smile to me for a moment, before looking back out over the lake. Her voice is still without a hint of worry. Why? But no, it doesn't matter.
I look around for Ice nervously. We are on an open plain, after all. There was no way anyone could have approached without me seeing them. But it doesn't matter! The blood right to Wildfire is mine! Ice won't stop me. If she tries I'll kill her and all her pokemon.
Without turning around -how can she be so calm? How can she just ignore me? I'm here to kill her!- , she gestures at a tree, the only thing even casting a shadow in the vicinity. "Ice was over there," she says casually.
I look at the tree, my eyes straining to pick out that half-familiar form from the darkness. A shadow moves, its eyes gleam silver like an animal's reflecting light as it looks up with cold carelessness, I think for a moment I see a forked tail twitch- and then the shadow, the almost-but-not- quite human shadow vanishes.
"Why did you tell me that? I intend to kill her too, after all. She killed Jennies as well," I lie. "Besides, she isn't there."
Wildfire almost turns, just enough to glance at the tree. Her voice is still completely relaxed. "Oh, she isn't here anymore. I knew she would leave once she told me. I guess she wanted to stay to see you show up, though you did see her for a moment there. You wouldn't sound so scared if you hadn't.
She sighs. "Dark and psychic aren't so very different, though it took me a long time to understand. She knows what has happened, is happening, and will happen, and warns me, which is how I knew you would come. A half- jenny. I didn't know they existed. Are you the first?"
I don't respond, and she continues. "Ice said you are the last, but she wouldn't tell me if you were the first. I guess it doesn't matter now. The last jenny died about three months ago. And don't say you want to kill Ice, you're just lying, though you have good reason to kill her. Anyway, it's not like you could, and she still scares you so much, though not for the right reason. I told you she wasn't a demon."
I'm not sure what to make of this, so I ignore it. What does she mean, the right reason? No matter. I don't fear Ice. Besides, Ice has run away, left her little creation to die. Why would I fear her? "Would you like to try to explain it to me? Convince me you had a good reason to kill her?"
"A good reason? That depends on your point of view. I had a good reason to kill her, to kill all of them. But you do not care about your pokemon like I do."
"What are you talking about?"
She shrugs. "You know. Ice told me all about it. Your mother told you what she had done."
"My mother didn't do anything," I lie.
"Guns were illegal then, you do realize. I didn't have one myself, and so I never expected a jenny to have one."
"So why did you kill her? Because she had a gun?"
"Really. She told you all about what she did, and Ice told me. My pokemon were my family. I would not, could not let their deaths go unavenged."
"You killed her because of some stupid pokemon?" My voice shakes slightly with rage. I realize, a moment later, that she really shouldn't know that my mother told me. How does she? And why does she keep babbling about 'Ice told her'? Is she insane? Ice is a demon and she is about to die!
"You think of your pokemon as lesser creatures then yourself. The only reason you have any attachment to them is because you hate everything else. I prize my pokemon's life over my own. Why would I let a person live after killing them? I killed the jennies, I plunged this world into chaos, because of them. But your mother was one of the few that hid from me rather then gather and try to fight back. Ice had found all the bases, so I asked her where the jenny was that did this. She told me, she showed me, and I killed her with my own hands. I told you that you also had reason to kill Ice."
"Monster! I'll kill you! Not even your damned friend Ice dares stop me! She left! Do you hear me? She left! Ice has left, Ice ran away and I'll kill her when I'm done with you and your charizard! Demons! Monsters!"
A thunderstorm is brewing. Strange it came up so fast.
She laughs. "Monster? You have no idea."
She takes her cloak off, in one quick motion. From her back arch dragon wings, ones just like her charizard has.
I suddenly realize how she flinched every time water touched her. I run at her, to shove her into the lake.
Almost there-
Right before I grab her, she spreads her wings and jumps up. I fall headlong into the water.
The thunderstorm is now full blown. The waters of the lake churn. What is going on?
Wildfire looks down at me, her wings flapping. Her demon wings.
"Surprised? No human can hold the power of a pokemon except, to a small degree, that of the psychic type. And I hold the element of fire. You, though you don't realize it, summoned this storm."
"If I did that, can't I hit you with lightning?!" I yell over the storm. How dare she be so confident! A storm is raging and she is flying! Why doesn't the rain kill her? Why doesn't the lightning strike her? She is an abomination, why does nature not destroy her?
"You aren't electric. Water/psychic pokemon can create storms. Electric pokemon can summon lightning.
The current -the current in this once calm, peaceful lake- is dragging me out. Wildfire's charizard is still in the water, but doesn't seem to mind or struggle one little bit. Though the water is only waist high even with the waves and I am a good swimmer, I, I who have swum in the ocean during storms, cannot get out.
"I win, Maelstrom. I beat them all. You may not have cared about the jennies, but I did. And with you dead, their race ends. But don't feel too bad. No human can hold a pokemon power and live," says Wildfire. "So, don't feel too bad about my killing you. You would have died anyway, in the end."
Her inhuman gold eyes glow. I think I can see flames dancing in them.
"You can't use a fire attack on me! I'm in the water!" I scream desperately.
She laughs again, one last time. I imagine I can hear the devil laughing with her. "If I will that something burn, it burns."
And suddenly I'm in an inferno.
Well, how was that? This is the third of these I've actually written, and is kinda the wrapping up of everything, but I think they're best read in reverse chronological order (how many of you actually know what that means?). If you want me to submit my other two rocket fics, about Wildfire and Ice, review!
Oh, and I don't hate dark pokemon. If you have read any of my other work, this should be clear. If anyone is upset by Maelstrom's descriptions of Ice's pokemon, just remember that you see what you want to see, and Maelstrom wanted to see evil, twisted things, because she already thought they were evil
I am a rocket, a member of the famous Team Rocket.
I am hated and feared. And yet, after all that is and was known (or thought to be known) about us, there is so very little that is really understood.
And so I write this.
Prologue
I was born before the Fall, when Team Rocket was merely gaining power, merely feared. My mother was a Jenny, but I wasn't fully one. My parents were distant but never cruel. Others, of course, could be.
We lived by the ocean. I loved the sea more than anything in the world. I got all my pokemon from the water. Ponds and lakes and streams were too calm. I also loved storms. My favorite thing in the world was watching a stormy sea, with the waves smashing into boats and the wind howling.
I caught a psyduck, tentacool, staru, magikarp, and seel. Later on my mother gave me an eevee that had been abandoned, and I evolved it into vaporeon.
I loved my family and my pokemon fiercely. As for the rest of the world, if they happened to drop dead I'd be happy.
My mother, when she first found out I had caught several pokemon and was training them, marched me to the police station and gave me hours of community service to complete. She then took my pokemon and refused to give them back until I had completed the forms and passed the tests necessary to get an underage trainer's license. For a Jenny, this was bending the rules. No normal Jenny would have done it, but no normal Jenny would have broken custom and married a regular man. My mother was, for a Jenny, incredibly emotional. She let her attachment to her child make her treat me differently then normal.
I avoided people, and they avoided me, the half-Jenny. The town I lived in was small and isolated. The world was falling to pieces around us, but I only really noticed it a few years before I went on a pokemon journey. My mother was the only one effected at first. No rockets would come to our quiet, average little town. Still, once I started to understand what the headlines said, I realized we were in trouble. Team Rocket attacked, and attacked, and attacked. The Jennies fell back, withdrew, retreated. In a thousand different ways people admitted that they were losing.
My mother was furious about this. She raved about the rocket Ice, who killed everyone who spoke out against Team Rocket or in some way came to their attention and trained the evil type. Ice was the strongest trainer ever. No one had beaten her ever. She got into the most heavily guarded fortress, killed someone, and got back out not only alive but uninjured and completely unnoticed. She stole anything Team Rocket wanted. My mother often called that rocket a demon.
She also talked about a rocket that trained fire pokemon, though that rocket wasn't well known enough for the name to be known. The fire trainer was the second strongest rocket known. That rocket stole pokemon, and again, no one could stop her.
My mother had been beaten by the fire trainer several times, and a few (a very, very few) of the other Jennies, the ones who had somehow lived through battling Ice, told her that Ice was a thousand times better then the fire trainer. It was my mother's greatest desire to catch them and bring them to justice. One night she had to go out and guard a warehouse full of powerful pokemon, one everyone was certain the fire trainer would attack. I knew my mother was going to do something there, but I didn't know what.
When she came back the next night, she looked awful. I had already found out what had happened from the papers. The infamous fire trainer had beaten them once again. But that wasn't what she was so upset about. She showed it to me.
A gun. My mother, the law abiding and enforcing Jenny, had a gun, an illegal thing. Seven of the bullets were gone. She told me that she had messed up the controls in the warehouse and brought in twenty of the strongest water pokemon she could find. She had also made it impossible to withdraw pokemon, just in case. The water pokemon were beaten in an instant, so she shot the fire trainer's pokemon and killed them, and then ran away in horror.
I took the gun and the bullets and threw them separately into the sea, one by one. If I was a true Jenny, I would have gone to the others and told them what had happened. I never even considered it.
About year later, when I turned ten I was allowed to go on a pokemon journey, although because I had gotten my license years before I didn't get a starter.
Because I had been training pokemon for longer then most trainers at my age, I had an advantage. I battled viciously, and usually won.
I had gotten several badges when the Fall began. I remember seeing the headline in the newspaper, a bad, blurry picture next to it. All you could make out was that a person was on a charizard. A rocket, who identified herself as Wildfire, had destroyed the Saffron City Police Station.
The writer of the article was quite optimistic. He/she said that the Jennies would swiftly deal with this 'Wildfire'.
I was worried. I remembered what my mother had said, about the fire trainer. Her pokemon included a charizard. Still, my mother told me she had shot to kill. She shot all of them in the head, and when the charizard didn't die immediately, she shot it in the chest. There was no way anything, no matter how strong, could survive that.
And the Jennies organized against the threat. They were very good at organization. While Jennies were not the best trainers, it was their numbers and the fact that they could act as one entity that they beat criminals. Within a week, all the stations were fully prepared to deal with Wildfire.
And it wasn't enough. She attacked again, ripping through their defenses like a hot knife through butter. She destroyed them again and again. You could never tell when or where she would attack. She went after big city stations as much as small town ones. It didn't matter if there was one Jenny or a thousand, she just killed and killed.
Did I care what happened to Jennies? No. Not one tiny bit. I felt no kinship with them. I only cared about my mother, father and pokemon.
Before long, the Jennies went into hiding. My mother went with them, but at least she was alive.
I tried to continue my journey, but I couldn't. Though I had grown up with the world fearing the might of Team Rocket, I still noticed some things that were wrong, even though I had little to compare them to. Everyone was fearful and once Wildfire attacked, that fear went from something in the background to the most important thing in the world. The gyms were shut down, since gym leader's pokemon were noticed and stolen. Pokemon battles no longer operated by the 'Official Pokemon League Rules' because there wasn't a pokemon league. If you lost, the other trainer could have their pokemon attack you, could steal your pokemon, could take all your money, could even kill you. After all, who would punish them for it?
And then I made my choice. I'm sure my mother would have been horrified, but what else was there? I went up to a rocket and asked to join. They didn't recognize me as being part Jenny. Because the Jennies were all identical, no one looked for people who only looked a lot like them.
Ch1
It wasn't long before I had proved my loyalty and gotten my pokemon back. But then I was told I was to be trained by one of the best rockets. An elite rocket.
I hoped and thought it wouldn't be Ice or Wildfire.
I recognized the names, of course. Hard to forget. By then I'd learned plenty about Team Rocket and the two greatest of them, Ice and Wildfire. Wildfire was second in ability only to Ice, and had been trained by her. Wildfire would sometimes -very rarely- be asked to train the most promising rockets. I wondered why they didn't want Ice training people(she had only worked intensively with one rocket in all the time she was there, and that was Wildfire, who she had also named), but I wasn't about to complain. Ice was an insane murderer who killed people for fun. I heard she had killed her own family with her evil-type pokemon. I'd seen her around a few times, and just from the way she looked I knew she was a monster.
The next day I reported to the Boss's office. Another rocket was there. She looked odd. She had red hair with flecks of gold and orange. Her eyes were yellow and her skin tanned.
She shrugged. "So, I'm to train you?"
The Boss answered. "Yes, and you better do a good job of it. We'll need all the good trainers we can get. She has been here for a time, and has shown promise."
"Very well."
She walked out, and I followed, not seeing anything else to do.
Ch2
I remember that day well. It was rather disturbing, after all.
She stops by the side on of a small lake. It's been a few minutes since we left, and I haven't asked questions, not sure what would happen. Once she stops, though, I start to talk.
"What exactly do you think you can teach me?"
"Plenty, and with that attitude I can see I should also try teaching you humility while I'm at it."
I glare at her. How dare she! "I'm a great trainer!"
"Really? Let me guess, you're a water trainer. What pokemon do you have?"
How did she know this? No matter, she probably just got it from the Boss. "I have a golduck, gyarados, tentacruel, vaporeon, dewgong, and starmie. Why?"
"If you can beat me, then you're a better trainer then I am, right?"
"Yes."
"So, even though you have a lot to learn, you wouldn't listen, because to you, being a better trainer means being better at everything."
I don't answer. If I beat her, why would I listen to her advice?
"I train fire pokemon, and I'm known as Wildfire. If you can beat me, I'll go back to the Boss and tell him I can't train you. But if I win, you'll have to obey me and not cause me trouble."
So, she is the infamous Wildfire?
"Fine, but I've got water pokemon. How do you think you can beat me even if you are a better trainer?"
"I will. Would you like to battle one on one or all at once?"
"One on one. Go, dewgong!"
She smiles for some reason. "Go, Star!"
"Dewgonggong!" cries dewgong.
"Char!" roars the charizard, scaring dewgong. Snorting contemptuously, it looks back at Wildfire. "Charizard char char izard zard?"
Dewgong lets out a few cries of her own. "Gonggong DEWgong!"
"Yes, Star, you're supposed to fight it," she says. "Do as you will."
I don't know what Wildfire means by that. Doesn't matter.
"Char!"
The charizard roars, opening its mouth to use hyper beam. I have no idea why Wildfire isn't commanding it. It's not like pokemon know how to battle on their own, after all.
"Dewgong, use surf! Aim for the charizard's tail flame!" I yell. I picked up this tactic when battling charmander and charmeleon. Even with a glancing blow the best the other trainer could ever hope for was a comatose pokemon. Usually the move was fatal. But what did it matter? I won, after all. And what else is the point of pokemon battles?
Dewgong, lying in the lake, lets out a cry. A tidal wave appears from nowhere, and hits the charizard. I notice Wildfire flinches from the spray, though it isn't cold. I wonder why? Yet that charizard is still standing there, seemingly unweakened. The hyperbeam shoots out and hits my dewgong, fainting it.
"What in the world…?"
"That was a solarbeam attack," she says calmly. "What will your next pokemon be?"
I start to say that charizards can't learn solarbeam, but stop. It doesn't matter. What matters is winning. "Go, tentacruel!"
The charizard waits, allowing my tentacruel the first move. If it wants to just let me win, I won't stop it. "Try another surf attack!"
Tentacruel lets out a cry like my dewgong did, and a second wave appears. The charizard doesn't let the wave hit it again and lets out an answering roar. The wave reverses direction, smashing into tentacruel and fainting it.
This doesn't make any sense! "Go, starmie!"
"Star, hurry it up, would you? There's no need to show off," she says.
The charizard roars again. "Zard, char charizard izard char char zard." This time it quickly slashes at starmie, fainting it.
"This is too easy. Would you like to continue this battle using all your remaining pokemon?"
Too easy? How dare she say that? I glare at her, angry, but it looks like I'll need to send them all out. "Go, vaporeon, gyarados, golduck!"
The three pokemon appear, each crying out once.
"Vaporeon, gyarados, golduck, use a combined hydro pump!"
"Star, why don't you take out all three with one attack," she says quietly and calmly.
It roars yet again. The sky begins to darken.
A soft rain begins to fall, growing stronger and stronger. Wildfire winces as the rainwater hits her. The water seems to effect her more then that stupid charizard, who didn't even seem to notice it.
"What are you doing? Rain dance makes water moves stronger!"
"True, though it doesn't matter. Star?"
"Charizard!"
The charizard lets out a final, earsplitting roar, and bolts of lightning appear, combining and hitting the lake.
I can't do anything but stare in shock. "And you only used one pokemon…" I murmur. "What other pokemon do you have?"
"None."
"What? Why didn't you train any others?"
"I did. They were killed."
Her tone clearly indicates that's all she'll say about it. Oh well, I can still ask about other things.
"Who trained you?"
"Ice did."
"Ice? Isn't she the murderer? That weird assassin who killed another rocket once and has a clone pokemon? The evil-type trainer? The person who sold her soul to the devil and is insane?"
"Well, she's the best Team Rocket assassin, and trains the dark type. She did kill a guy once that I can remember, though I think he was asking for it. He knew she hated lying. And she does have a twilight. But as for selling her soul and being insane, I don't really know. She does odd things but she's always right and in time you can find out why she does them."
"But isn't she evil? Why did she train you?"
"The Boss told her to. She's the best assassin, the best thief, and the best pokemon trainer that Team Rocket has ever had. I'm the second strongest, and it's only because of Ice that I am. I don't think she's evil."
"Why not?"
She sighs. "See Star over there? That white mark is a bullet wound. If it wasn't for Ice, Star would be dead like all my other pokemon. Later on she warned me and saved Star's life again."
Bullet wound…no, nothing could have survived two bullets. She must gotten new ones. For all I know, this isn't even the same fire trainer. Oh, right. This one's chest is unmarked. How silly. If this was the same one and it had somehow lived, it would have a second bullet wound.
"But what about her demon powers? Like how she can get in and out of a place without anyone knowing, or how she never makes a sound? Don't you think she sold her soul, if she even had one?"
"You want the full list of things Ice can do but shouldn't be able to? Yeah, she never makes a sound. It doesn't matter what she walks on; you never hear her coming. She can appear out of nowhere, just comes out of the shadows and goes back in. She can find people or pokemon, she can tell if people are lying, and it seems like she may be a mind reader. She knows what will happen long before it does. She can talk to any pokemon as long as it isn't part fighting. And I think she can heal pokemon. But no, I don't think she sold her soul. As for having one, I don't know, but if a pokemon has one then Ice does."
I'm shocked by what I just heard. Before I can start asking more she walks off, her charizard -her second charizard- following.
Ch3
I always pay attention to what the rockets say about Ice. She scares me. She kills for fun, and no one can stop her when she fights in the arena. I saw her battle Wildfire once. She used a sneasel, evil/ice, against that powerful charizard.
The sneasel won without a scratch. That charizard couldn't land a single a single hit on sneasel, and it beat the fire pokemon quickly and without effort. And that was with a type disadvantage.
And no one can beat Wildfire in the arena. She only uses one pokemon, and Ice has six, one of which…
The stuff I've heard about that thing. All of her pokemon have reputations, legends of the horrors they have done. And that thing, in comparison to the rest, makes them seem like angels.
Houndoom, which killed her own father, and later killed others before she even joined Team Rocket. While little is known for sure, all the rockets know that what Wildfire says about her is true. And Wildfire, at some point, told some rocket this. She'll tell you things, for a price. And she says that Houndoom killed Ice's father, and later attacked a trainer, burning him so badly he died. Ice then buried the body beneath a stream to hide it and help it rot so it would never be found. It looks like a black perversion of a sick, deformed growlithe who's been burning in hell for a few hundred years. Its forked tail and huge, twisted horns make my blood run cold every time I see the hellhound.
Sneasel, who is often the one who kills the targets Ice is sent after, when she herself doesn't. It slices open their throats in an instant and lets them bleed away their life. Once it froze several hundred people so that no one could escape, before Ice and her pokemon slaughtered them. I've heard that it is the one who killed Ice's mother, and earned her the name Ice. Like all evil pokemon, its form is twisted and disgusting, out of proportion and grotesque.
Scizor, who is often sent out with sneasel to chase down those who escape, who run away in fear to try to escape the shadowy demons chasing them. It is the only one of hers that is not an evil type, but it is nearly as horrible as the rest. It looks like a grotesque metal statue of a deformed scyther, more a machine then a living creature. It often gave the illusion of being emotionless, but I saw that thing kill a person once. It's eyes held a hidden glee at what it did. That monstrous being is a killing machine, a sickening mockery of life.
Umbreon, who is her special ace in battles against fighting and bug, the only two types that are strong against evil pokemon. She somehow managed to teach the damned creature psychic, of all the impossible moves. It, like all the rest, is fast, killing before you can even think of stopping it. And it got rid of the only disadvantage her evil pokemon had. It has a marked hatred for humans. It's body looks awful, like it was shaped from shadows by a demented fallen angel playing in hellfire. Whenever I see it, I think of serpents.
Murkrow, that omen of death she trains and harbors. Its twisted, malformed wings, aside from being hideous, don't look like they could let it fly, let alone at the speeds it manages. But it flies up high then dives at such high speeds, its beak smashes a hole in the target's head, dashing out their brains. What a way to die…
And finally, there is that, that creature. Words cannot describe it, in either body or mind. At least the others are natural. That twisted fiend of a monster is not. Wildfire herself admitted that Ice's 'twilight' is a clone pokemon, a mixture of four different pokemon. I don't know what they are, and I don't much care. The disgusting creature looks like a young umbreon with huge black deathwings, only slightly stockier, more like a houndoom. She keeps it out constantly. It is by far the strongest of all of her hellbound pokemon, and it is still young. Rumor claims her daughter often trains the thing. However, no one has ever even proved she has a daughter, so I doubt it. Ice wouldn't fall in love, not that cold bitch.
Ice is the only one scarier then her pokemon. Sometimes, when she walks by, her eyes shine in the light like an animal's. Otherwise, they're jet black. The pupil and iris are impossible to tell apart. Her hair is also black, and has a silvery sheen to it. Demon eyes, nightshade hair. A monster.
Ch4
I challenged Wildfire to a battle daily. Once a week she would accept and crush my pokemon. She taught me how to break into a building undetected, how to anticipate were alarms were hidden, how to get something out of the most heavily guarded fortress. She trained me to be a thief, and I learned.
Finally it was over, and I started going on missions as part of a team of at least three rockets. Once I proved how good I was, I started on solo missions.
Slowly, slowly, I started to gain power and more importantly, trust.
During my time in Team Rocket, I learned they have lists of everything they have done, a history of their cruelty and evil, though I admittedly don't care much about such things. But I did care about my mother, who had gone into hiding. Was she still alive? If the rockets had killed her, it would be there.
I began to get access to records, first of things stolen, then of pokemon, then finally, the one I wanted all along. The list of people killed.
Most of the people had, of course, been killed by Ice, and a few by other assassins. But most of the Jennies had been killed by Wildfire. I don't know how they got the complete lists of the Jennies, because Wildfire had mainly destroyed buildings with many people inside, not killed people one by one. But there it was. I looked slowly down the list, checking the designation of each Jenny. None was my mother.
Still, one day when I was looking through the computer's files, I saw an odd folder. 'Unauthorized' it said. On a whim, I opened it.
It contained the information on what rockets did without sanction by the Boss. Some pokemon stolen, some items taken,…and some people killed.
I didn't care about a few things stolen. But that last list, of people the rockets had killed without permission, that last list interested me.
Some trainers killed because of complications stealing pokemon, some people killed who had seen too much, some guards killed- oh, there was my name a few times for guards. Some people who pissed off a rocket with a gun and a short temper, and a list of the people Ice had killed. Several rockets, a few civilians, nothing that wasn't already suspected. I personally guessed that from the look of the list, she probably hadn't even reported most of her actions. And as I went down the list I found-
A Jenny. It didn't have the reason for death, like all the others. But it gave her designation, time and place of death, just like all the others. And it said who killed her.
The designation was my mother's. The killer was not Ice, but Wildfire.
Ch5
I hadn't seen Wildfire in a long time. Several years had passed since she had stopped training me, and she was no longer fighting in the arena. But I knew where to find her.
I'd heard silly rumors about her too. They got worse and worse. The most recent ones claimed she had grown demon wings recently. Yeah right.
She had a mission yesterday, and had reported in today. She was out by the lake now.
I walked out to find her.
Something tells me that this is the end.
She's standing carefully by the side of the lake, making sure not to touch the water. She has on the elite Team Rocket uniform of a pokemon thief, and is wearing a cloak for some reason. I never saw Wildfire with a clock before, but it doesn't matter. She won't exist much longer anyway. Her charizard is…
Somehow, that freak creature is swimming in the water. It doesn't even seem to mind the water!
She's staring out over the water. I move up silently behind her-
"Hello, Maelstrom. Ice told me you would come today." Wildfire's voice is calm, lazy. How did she know I was here?
I notice, idly, that black storm clouds are appearing.
"What do you mean?"
"You found out I killed her, didn't you? And now you've decided to kill me. Ice warned me, a few years ago, that you would do this, and she jut came to tell me a moment ago that you would be here," she says, turning with a sad smile to me for a moment, before looking back out over the lake. Her voice is still without a hint of worry. Why? But no, it doesn't matter.
I look around for Ice nervously. We are on an open plain, after all. There was no way anyone could have approached without me seeing them. But it doesn't matter! The blood right to Wildfire is mine! Ice won't stop me. If she tries I'll kill her and all her pokemon.
Without turning around -how can she be so calm? How can she just ignore me? I'm here to kill her!- , she gestures at a tree, the only thing even casting a shadow in the vicinity. "Ice was over there," she says casually.
I look at the tree, my eyes straining to pick out that half-familiar form from the darkness. A shadow moves, its eyes gleam silver like an animal's reflecting light as it looks up with cold carelessness, I think for a moment I see a forked tail twitch- and then the shadow, the almost-but-not- quite human shadow vanishes.
"Why did you tell me that? I intend to kill her too, after all. She killed Jennies as well," I lie. "Besides, she isn't there."
Wildfire almost turns, just enough to glance at the tree. Her voice is still completely relaxed. "Oh, she isn't here anymore. I knew she would leave once she told me. I guess she wanted to stay to see you show up, though you did see her for a moment there. You wouldn't sound so scared if you hadn't.
She sighs. "Dark and psychic aren't so very different, though it took me a long time to understand. She knows what has happened, is happening, and will happen, and warns me, which is how I knew you would come. A half- jenny. I didn't know they existed. Are you the first?"
I don't respond, and she continues. "Ice said you are the last, but she wouldn't tell me if you were the first. I guess it doesn't matter now. The last jenny died about three months ago. And don't say you want to kill Ice, you're just lying, though you have good reason to kill her. Anyway, it's not like you could, and she still scares you so much, though not for the right reason. I told you she wasn't a demon."
I'm not sure what to make of this, so I ignore it. What does she mean, the right reason? No matter. I don't fear Ice. Besides, Ice has run away, left her little creation to die. Why would I fear her? "Would you like to try to explain it to me? Convince me you had a good reason to kill her?"
"A good reason? That depends on your point of view. I had a good reason to kill her, to kill all of them. But you do not care about your pokemon like I do."
"What are you talking about?"
She shrugs. "You know. Ice told me all about it. Your mother told you what she had done."
"My mother didn't do anything," I lie.
"Guns were illegal then, you do realize. I didn't have one myself, and so I never expected a jenny to have one."
"So why did you kill her? Because she had a gun?"
"Really. She told you all about what she did, and Ice told me. My pokemon were my family. I would not, could not let their deaths go unavenged."
"You killed her because of some stupid pokemon?" My voice shakes slightly with rage. I realize, a moment later, that she really shouldn't know that my mother told me. How does she? And why does she keep babbling about 'Ice told her'? Is she insane? Ice is a demon and she is about to die!
"You think of your pokemon as lesser creatures then yourself. The only reason you have any attachment to them is because you hate everything else. I prize my pokemon's life over my own. Why would I let a person live after killing them? I killed the jennies, I plunged this world into chaos, because of them. But your mother was one of the few that hid from me rather then gather and try to fight back. Ice had found all the bases, so I asked her where the jenny was that did this. She told me, she showed me, and I killed her with my own hands. I told you that you also had reason to kill Ice."
"Monster! I'll kill you! Not even your damned friend Ice dares stop me! She left! Do you hear me? She left! Ice has left, Ice ran away and I'll kill her when I'm done with you and your charizard! Demons! Monsters!"
A thunderstorm is brewing. Strange it came up so fast.
She laughs. "Monster? You have no idea."
She takes her cloak off, in one quick motion. From her back arch dragon wings, ones just like her charizard has.
I suddenly realize how she flinched every time water touched her. I run at her, to shove her into the lake.
Almost there-
Right before I grab her, she spreads her wings and jumps up. I fall headlong into the water.
The thunderstorm is now full blown. The waters of the lake churn. What is going on?
Wildfire looks down at me, her wings flapping. Her demon wings.
"Surprised? No human can hold the power of a pokemon except, to a small degree, that of the psychic type. And I hold the element of fire. You, though you don't realize it, summoned this storm."
"If I did that, can't I hit you with lightning?!" I yell over the storm. How dare she be so confident! A storm is raging and she is flying! Why doesn't the rain kill her? Why doesn't the lightning strike her? She is an abomination, why does nature not destroy her?
"You aren't electric. Water/psychic pokemon can create storms. Electric pokemon can summon lightning.
The current -the current in this once calm, peaceful lake- is dragging me out. Wildfire's charizard is still in the water, but doesn't seem to mind or struggle one little bit. Though the water is only waist high even with the waves and I am a good swimmer, I, I who have swum in the ocean during storms, cannot get out.
"I win, Maelstrom. I beat them all. You may not have cared about the jennies, but I did. And with you dead, their race ends. But don't feel too bad. No human can hold a pokemon power and live," says Wildfire. "So, don't feel too bad about my killing you. You would have died anyway, in the end."
Her inhuman gold eyes glow. I think I can see flames dancing in them.
"You can't use a fire attack on me! I'm in the water!" I scream desperately.
She laughs again, one last time. I imagine I can hear the devil laughing with her. "If I will that something burn, it burns."
And suddenly I'm in an inferno.
Well, how was that? This is the third of these I've actually written, and is kinda the wrapping up of everything, but I think they're best read in reverse chronological order (how many of you actually know what that means?). If you want me to submit my other two rocket fics, about Wildfire and Ice, review!
Oh, and I don't hate dark pokemon. If you have read any of my other work, this should be clear. If anyone is upset by Maelstrom's descriptions of Ice's pokemon, just remember that you see what you want to see, and Maelstrom wanted to see evil, twisted things, because she already thought they were evil