A Note from the Author:
Even though I created this series of stories as a complete separate plot line, it is intertwined within the stories that make up THE LUGIA CHRONICLES (TLC), which may also be found here on FFN (story #1272028). Therefore, before you start working through these stories about the PokéMorph Shadowcat, I would suggest that reading TLC first will help in understanding these tales better.
As for the character of Shadowcat herself (not to be confused with the Marvel character of the same name - they're definitely not related) – there are two distinct origins that surround her - one is obviously my interpretation - the other is S. E. Nordwall's, her online creator. While her Shadowcat tended to be fun-loving and occasionally a bit goofy, she still was an expert Team Rocket operative. My version tended to be this latter version, the more adventurous dynamic character forced into the world she now lived in. But, as my stories have stated, this is perfectly normal as different realities can create different personalities, of which both of us have taken advantage of in past roll playing games and fan fictions with each other – to the point where she once brought both versions of Shadow together (What'ta mess!) That is why I love this lady so much – she understands this, and uses it to our mutual advantage in many ways. You never know which version of Shadowcat you'll run into next. But isn't that the reason for being a cat anyway? Being mysterious?
One other thing to note – ALL three primary story arcs I have on FFN interlink, mostly through the use of my characters from The Observers and a piece of paper called The Treaty of Advent. This means that in one form or another, The Lugia Chronicles and all its sub-arcs, TRIGUN: MOON CHILD in both of its arcs, and Haibane Renmei: CORPORATION all have an intertwined story that draws them all together - though oddly in reverse to the way that they are being presented here on FFN. So if you want to have some fun seeing things presented in a unique way, read these other series as well, even if you're not into Pokémon, TRIGUN or Haibane Renmei. If you find the connections, you too will be connected! ;-)
Enjoy!
R. A. Stott - ArkNorth Productions/DMS
Rev. - June 2007 - April 2018
Originally Published Spring 2000
First Published on FFN: 03/23/03
Original FFN #1280256/1
THE LUGIA CHRONICLES
AFTER CHRONICLES
YEAR OF THE CAT
By R. A. Stott
Based on characters by S. E. Nordwall and R. A. Stott
Chapter One
Prelude to a Life Forever Changed
Late afternoon in a desert community west of Phoenix, AZ. If you were smart, you were indoors staying cool. At that particular time of year, even as the winter months were rapidly coming up, the outdoors was just flat out hot. And if monsoon season showed up on time, wet, steamy and hot. Stay in, stay cool – that was the order of the day.
In the back in the house, a small box was showing Ash Ketchum as he was begging to some Clefairy to let his beloved Pikachu go. Stacey had seen this episode before, but that didn't matter. Just watching the show removed some of the stress of the day – the hot, sticky, no AC in the old rickety pickup truck day. She had sketched a few odds and ends while the television played on. It all was fluff and nonsense - But fun fluff and nonsense as all she needed.
She was in the house by herself that day - Well, almost by herself - One of her cats, Shadow, was sleeping beside her on her bed. It was late afternoon and it was starting to get dark early. She watched as Shadow rolled onto its back - Foolish feline. She tickled its belly.
The house looks small on the monitor - A touch isolated from the rest - Scans showed it has a perfect target - There is a relatively young specimen, not too small, not too large - The proper weight and shape - It should do nicely.
The image of a lion with flames flowing from its mane was evolving on her sketch pad. On the television the picture rolled… which was odd... she had not seen it do that since they had put in satellite. Pictures didn't roll, they broke up… strange…
The picture rolled again, only this time it was replaced by the dreaded blue screen. Nuts... the dish is out… Which was also odd, as it normally only did that when it was raining outside – a glance out the window showed her no clouds in the sky.
Suddenly, Shadow snapped about on the bed, its ears twisting and turning as it heard some sounds that Stacey failed to hear. The cat leapt across over to the dresser and into the open window beside it. Stacey watched as Shadow looked to the darkening southwestern skies. She put down her sketch pad and peered out the window as well.
Shadow stared at the twilight, its ears locked on something to the west.
"What is it Shadow?" Stacey asked, giving the cat a scratch across its head.
"Merowl?" The cat glanced back, pressing its head into Stacey's hand. It then leaped out the window into a nearby bush.
"Shadow!" Stacey called. She ran out of the bedroom and through the house as quickly as she could. As she reached the west side of the rancher, the ground began to shake and a light illuminated the edge of the building.
"SHADOW!" she shouted as the glow was now joined by a loud drumming, throbbing sound that beat her ears and shook her bones. She rounded the house. Looking up a small hill between scrub brush that lined a small path, she could see her Shadow cowering at the base of a shaft of light, looking skywards and un-moving. At the top of the light was a saucer shaped craft.
"A target has been acquired... standing by..."
"Hold..."
"Holding..."
"SHADOW!" she shouted again. Stacey ran up the hill as fast as she could, her glasses falling away as the wind blew pieces of scrub into her face.
"Merollllw!" Shadow cried. It was a pitiful yell that made Stacey more determined to grab her kitty.
"Secondary target acquired... standing by..."
"Stand by..."
The light struck Stacey hard - How could light be hard? She felt as if she were moving through thick syrup. She reached down and gathered her gray kitty as it continued to cry. Moving through the light was odd feeling. Not only did it feel like molasses, it reacted like it as well as the spots where she touched Shadow's fur remained pressed in as if it were wet.
Stacey gazed back at her house. It looked like it was being illuminated by an arc welder. Each window was reflecting what the building was seeing - a young girl, her cat, and a bright light bathing them. Even the lenses of her glasses on the ground nearby were glaring in white.
"SHAAAADOWWW!" she heard herself yell, as she attempted to run back down the hill, but found that entering the syrup was easy, leaving it wasn't. She fell back, landing on one knee.
Something tapped her on the forehead. She looked up to see what it was. A small stone or pebble floated by. She looked about and found many more stones and pebbles floating up off the ground. Then, her own shoulder length blond hair started to follow the floating gravel.
"Merrrowlll!" Shadow cried as they started to rise off the ground.
She looked through the light. A few neighbors could be seen in the street far down the hill.
"HELLLP MEEE! HELLLLP MEEEEEEE - - PLEASE!"
It had been a struggle to even move in the light, let alone speak. But that last 'please' came out as a squeak as she and Shadow were suddenly free to move again. She was on a white floor in a gray-white room. Then it rained pebbles and stones.
She covered Shadow as she was pelted by the spray of gravel. The cat was absolutely terrified and wanted out of her arms, but she wouldn't release her hold.
"Stasis..."
A blue light now bathed them, and Shadow stopped struggling. Stacey felt her muscles stop responding to her thoughts, and she could see the world dropping into a pit, as if the power to her eyes were turned down, but not off.
Her mind was racing. She could still feel slightly. She felt hands grab her shoulders, gently lifting her up. She had been frozen in the crouched position. They unfolded her. She still held her Shadow as they turned her over onto a flat surface. A bright light over her prevented any way of seeing clearly who was moving her about. She saw the form of Shadow move across the light being held in odd looking hands. They seemed like they were made up of three round fingers.
Sounds were even harder to discern than what she could see. Forms moved by, and noises were warped and strange. She saw a head out of the corner of her motionless eye. She concentrated on that peripheral vision.
Something pressed against her left temple and her neck. She felt something move inside her, a fluid of sorts maybe? Now it really was getting hard to see and feel.
The head moved over the light. A head she recognized. It was blocky and angled. She struggled to remain conscious enough to see...
…MewTwo?
Darkness fell. She wasn't asleep. She simply felt adrift. Void was a freeing feeling. You float. You fly.
You fall...
She hit her forehead with the back of her hand.
It was soft.
For the last five years, it had been soft and furry. Shadowcat had fallen asleep by the fire she had made to heat her Rocket Stew. Her Aslanti, a rare Pyrlion Fire Lion Pokémon, looked over at his mistress with slight concern. She had that dream again, and he knew it. He looked over at Shadow's other Pokémon, another rare specimen, Bakagoat of the Ice, as it lay asleep under a tree avoiding the fire. It never seemed to notice when Shadowcat was upset by these visions of her past. Then again, it usually acted just plain loco anyway, so best it was asleep.
She reached over and stirred the glob that had been rendered in the pot. Umm - thick... ugh.
Aslanti nuzzled up to her. She reached over and scratched him behind his ear as he always liked. Oh well, blackened Rocket Stew was better than nothing. Tomorrow would be the big mission. The last six months had been a busy one for her and her Pokémon. And tomorrow, just maybe she'd get her hands on the person responsible for her furry condition.
She looked down on the com unit that sat on top of her backpack of goods. She wondered how things were going back at headquarters. The last few months, she had been on quite a few missions that weren't exactly authorized by Team Rocket, but by a sub branch of the group called the Golden R. She sighed. It almost felt good to work with them, rather than Giovanni, the creep, but to do it with basically a partner for once - someone to watch her back so to say, that was a kick.
Tomorrow on the other hand, she would be alone. Some events back at headquarters were preventing her normal help from being there. She could feel it in the air that night. Something was dreadfully wrong, but she had been ordered to stay away, stay on her own mission. Her friend had helped her enough that she respected his request. She'd stay on her mission, he'd stay on his. But she missed her other new friends in the Golden R, even though she technically wasn't a member. She missed Bucky, the rascal. Derek... Hydron... Even Ayako and Fuego... Then there's Ziggy...
Aslanti snorted. Then she realized she'd been saying their names out loud, and the Pyrlion knew who Ziggy was - that 'OTHER' cat... that PERSIAN! She laughed and stroked his fur.
Then there was North. She took a spoonful of stew and gagged it down. What was he doing tonight? She sighed and rested her head on her knees.
She reached down to the com unit. He had told her to keep radio silence for the next 48 hours. But, there wasn't anything he said telling her she couldn't listen. She put the headset on, turning the mic off so not to broadcast anything, and listened in on the multitude of channels the small device could get.
It squawked and hummed on some of the lower settings. Then she hit one channel that made her stop. It was Giovanni.
"He's here," Giovanni said over the com. The tone made Shadow's fur bristle.
"Standing orders, sir?" another voice said in response to the boss' comment.
"Correct. But wait until the operation outside is complete before sending in your TS force... I'd rather he were alone when you capture him... In his present form, you may be able to use a PokéBall!"
The channel went silent as the other voice laughed at Giovanni. Shadow felt wary. What was that devil up to? She turned to another setting.
"Flight leader to Flight One... Ghosts at the Silph... Repeat, ghosts at the Silph..." came a remarkably clear signal.
"Roger, sir... Stand by - entering atmosphere... code blue alpha on a vector o mark 9…"
High above her, Shadow watched five streaks of flame cross the sky heading east. Whatever North was up to, it had begun. She looked back at the mountain behind her. Her mission was up there, not at the Silph. She sighed again and turned off the com. The stew really was beyond all hope. She laid back and watched the stars until she dozed off in Aslanti's fore-paws.
"My, you're a sight," she heard. She felt groggy and pained. She found herself on the ground, her clothes a tattered mess, and some wires and tubes still attached to her. Her blurry vision cleared slightly, and she moved some of her hair out of her eyes. She was in a fog shrouded forest. The voice had come from a pair of feet that were standing on a nearby path. "What kind of Pokémon are you, my dear?" they asked.
"RRrrrrwhatrr... whatrrr... what arerrr you talking about?" she attempted to ask, but found herself unable to form her words fully for some reason. "I ammm not a Poké... Pokémonrrrr..."
"That I would agree with, my dear... I don't know of many people who would dress a Pokémon in clothes, lest of all, those clothes.
She felt something drape across her. It was a jacket - A red jacket.
"G... Giovanni!" Stacey said, looking up at the face of the person who had just covered her.
"My!" he said. "What a pretty one... If you're an escapee from the boys at Splice and Dice... they've out done themselves..."
"What?" Stacey said as the world continued to spin about her. She slid back a bit, but found a tree behind her. She looked at it as a piece jabbed her. It had an ugly scar on it, as if something had struck it long ago.
"What is your name, my dear?" Giovanni asked, bending down to squat on his knees. Stacey looked around him and saw the eyes of a Persian looking at her. It stood almost gawking at her.
"S-Staceyrrr..." she stammered. She could feel the world falling on her again. "Space shiprrr... Shadow... where's my Shadow?"
She could see Giovanni's expression change when she said spaceship. She saw him pull out a cell phone before she passed out again.
Shadowcat awoke to Aslanti's snore next to her ear. Great alarm clock he was.
oOo
Characters from Pokémon ©2000, 07, 18 The Pokémon Company/ Nintendo/Creatures/GameFreak
Shadowcat (Shadow, Shadsie), Aslanti, Pyrlion, Bakagoat (Baka) ©2000-03, 05, 07, 18 S.E. Nordwall – Used with Permission
The Observers ©2000-03, 05, 07, 18 R. A. Stott/Denivan Media Services – Used with Permission
North, Bucky, Derek, Hydron, Ziggy ©2000-03, 05, 07, 18 The Lugia Project/DMS – Used with Permission
Ayako, Fuego ©2000-03, 05, 07, 18 R. A. Stott/Ayako/The Lugia Project/DMS – Used with Permission
Story ©2000-03, 05, 07, 18 S. E. Nordwall/R. A. Stott - The Lugia Project II/DMS
Edit - 0501.01 - 0706.30 - 1804.22
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