Targets
A Pokemon Fanfiction
In this chapter, we see a darker side to the female trainer earlier, as well as an old face. And Ash makes a stupid decision to explore some islands. Because we felt like making him do that.
The human condition... so many things can go wrong, so many different things. Your cells might make a critical error in it's genetic programming, suddenly becoming cancerous, or worse... Every day, you might have a sudden heart attack, or accidentally kill yourself. Even in bed, or at home, there are all manners of potential killers, ranging from knives in the kitchen to acidic bleaches and detergents. So many things that can kill you, that can wipe you, your memories, your whole being off the face of the Earth... The entire human race is gearing towards a planet-wide extinction, as pollutants trap heat in the air and force the world to deteriorate. Even as people waste their time and energy discussing the matter, animals are extincted, on an almost daily basis. But humanity will pull through. Have you ever paused to wonder how our ancient ancestors ever survived in the first place, in a world full of unknown and very potent dangers? A world that Man had never even guessed existed? Humans are weak, we always will be. Even in our minds, emotions make us boringly predictable, the illusions of Love and Hate flitting across our judgement, causing fatal mistakes. But the one thing that will keep us alive is our tendency to group together. You look at apes in the wild; they will stay together but they lack the ambitious drive that can and will protect them almost indefinitely, so while they are strong, they will not fight. Take a pack of wolves in the forest- though they are quite ambitious, they lack the intelligence and capacity to communicate, plan, learn, and predict as efficiently as mankind can. They will not move forward either. It's these three tendencies- grouping, ambition, and exploration- that will see humans through. Imagine what would happen if we took that principle and took the three to a whole new level- it would be a super-race! Nigh unkillable, extraordinary in every respect. The ultimate race.
"Ow!" This was the third time that day that the stupid card had stabbed me in the back. "Stupid card." After having canoed my way back to civilisation, in the form of the Isle of Arahaz, I had made a spur-of-the-moment decision to hire a boat to Apocalypse, the mainland.
"So we'll be headin' round these islands, an' straigh' to the mainland from there onwar's. Any questions?" the skipper of the boat, a burly man named March, asked his passengers; yours truly, a strange person in a hooded cloak, and a tough-looking girl from Loyonsia Island. I put my hand in the air. "Yes?"
"Why are we going around those islands? It seems much more direct to cut straight through them, to me."
"Well, m'good sir, we sailors are deeply superstituous and the like. A good year ago, one of me good friends, a skipper like meself, got hisself lost in a naval battle roundabout those parts. 'Bout six months ago, this mate of mine turns up in a pub down on Burnua, an' he can't remember how he got there. Tha's not the only thing. Apparently there's tales down on Leppon an' Deshir of great big gangs of powerful Pokemon hauntin' the islands. Them Pokemon can't be caught, it's like tryin' t'catch smoke, an' even if'n y'can snag one with them Pokeballs, they jus' burst out an' kill ya!" He snapped his fingers for effect. "Jus' like that!"
The cloaked man, intrigued, asked for more information. Meanwhile, the Loyonsian was gazing thoughtfully out of a porthole, and I was practically jumping out of my seat in excitement.
"March, what would you say to stopping at Deshir to allow me to traverse the islands for myself? I have undertaken such challenges before, and I would sorely enjoy observing these Pokemon you seem to hold in high regard. Indeed, I would want to so much that I am quite prepared to pay twice of my fare to you again." The cloaked man offered the skipper.
"Well, sir, I can't really say no t'that, I do need t'feed me wife an' kiddies, but for the life of you's, don't throw yer life away like that. Isn't tha' right, me lad an' lassie," said March, appealing to me and Loyonsia girl.
"Actually, mate, I've been wantin' to make that offer since ya told us about this gang."
"Same here, minus the stupid accent."
"Shut up, pretty boy." snarled the girl. Looking at March, I was shocked to see him a horrible, ashen grey (no pun intended).
"Please, don'. I'm not kiddin' when I say that no-one's made it pas' the outer ring an' survived to come back out."
"Oh, in that case it's different. Triple the fare should suffice." The skipper, who had been looking slightly hopeful at the end of the cloaked man's first sentence, was now positively horrified.
"Very well, lads an' lassie. You kin have yore trip t'Deshir. But I ain't goin' no further than that, y'hear? An' I ain't coming back fer you's, either."
"Don't worry, March, I'm sure we can make our own ways back." assured the cloak guy calmly.
"Agreed!" said the girl and I simultaneously, nodding vigorously.
"So, you two, any ideas to get across the channel?" The three of us were standing right next to our great obstacle- the Deshir Channel.
"We could use water-types to cross it." I volunteered.
"I'm afraid that I do not have any water-types handy." said cloak guy.
"We could fly across, guys."
"Don't have a flying-type either."
"Well, what do you have?"
"I have a Tangela, a Rhyperior, a Raticate, a Dratini and a Magmar."
"You've come all the way from Kanto?" For some reason, the man was facing a tree before he heard my voice and turned to face me. That said, I couldn't see his face at all- it was completely shrouded in shadows.
"Yes. I thought I recognised your dialect- you hail from either Pallet or Pewter, am I correct?"
"Right, I'm a Pallet Town kinda guy."
"I used to live in Saffron City, working in the archives. I daresay you have heard of them?"
"Since you two seem to be set on talking about your homes, I guess you won't care that some girl is waving at you, pretty boy." The Loyonsian person's snappish remark jolted me out of my conversation with Cloak, and I turned in the direction that she was pointing. A path made out of flagstones... there she was, right at the end of it. The girl looked fairly small, although that was probably more due to distance than anything else, and she looked very, very, familiar. Pikachu picked it up before me, waggling his tail furiously.
"Pika pika! Pi, pipi!"
"Is it really?" I had long ago grown used to my Chu's speech patterns, and could recognise the different tones and combinations of 'pi' and 'ka' that he used to name my friends (and foes). "Is it really May?"
Whistling, a boy worked his way through the expansive marshes of Mire, where he and his 'family' lived. In truth, he was related to them, but they rarely interacted properly, bar the boy and his sister, who were the most direct relations among them.
He was wearing a light blue tunic, and shorts in a darker shade. He went barefoot, knowing full well that the bugs of the marsh would not trouble him, and nettles hadn't a hope in hell of piercing the soles of his feet. He was, as people might say, invulnerable in this place. In the darkness of the night, he stood out like a beacon of light, but he knew that nothing would harm him on his land. The pair of sunglasses that he had filched from the mainland hid more than just eyes that shone a brilliant lilac. They hid more than vengeance and great powers. They hid darkness.
In the feeble rays of the rising sun, Nicole stood over a horrified little girl, who was barely four years old. After forcing the tyke to watch her mother tortured and killed, Nicole had obliterated the entire house and the poor child's entire life in one single stroke- namely, setting fire to some explosives that her twin had stashed underneath the house. The briefcase Nicholas had stolen from the ship had proved a veritable mine of information, displaying several of Team Rocket's agendas. It was because of a particular operation that Nicole had decided to stop by the Goldeneye residence and pay a certain Mr. R. Goldeneye a visit, before slaughtering him and everyone else in the west wing of the house. Of course, his wife then chose the moment to walk into his study and scream, thus waking up half the people in the area- a good three dozen. Fortunately, Nicole managed to salvage the situation by chaining the recently widowed woman to a door post and walking out into the street, calling out that it was nothing but a rat. Since this sort of thing had happened before, most people had let it drop. However, one annoyingly persistent person kept on bugging her until she snapped his neck right at the door of the handsome manor. She then proceeded to stick knives into the woman, tying the little girl to a chair so that she could see all of the pain Mrs. Goldeneye had to endure. Finally, after a combination of pain and horrorstruck screaming, the woman spilt out all of her information and was rewarded with a swift decapitation. Then Nicole heaved her corpse bodily at the only living Goldeneye and knocked her unconscious, allowing the murderess to untie the four-year-old and carry her to an alleyway, where they were now.
Before the girl's terrified eyes, Nicole called a Houndoom from the shadows, and rapped out several orders.
"Inferno, give the girl three severe bites and then two huge burns. Then do twice the damage to me." The Houndoom nodded smartly, and then carried out it's orders to the letter. Before long, the girl was screaming in pain, and Nicole was hard-pressed to do likewise- after all, these injuries were only minor to her. Finally, a police officer heard the two's piteous moans for help, and arrived on the scene, appropriately horrified at their appearance. Nicole had already had an alibi as well as cover story ready, which she presented to the officer at the police station, after she refused medical attention.
"Well, the Goldeneyes were old family friends, and when they heard I was in town, they asked if I could look after their daughter for the day, while her usual sitter was unavailable."
"From our reports, the parents were immensely protective of their daughter. Why would they trust you with her?" asked the officer, a tall and imposing lady with a rapt and rather strict face. It was as if she was wearing a permanently strict expression.
"Like I said, I was an old friend of them, they probably reckoned I was trustworthy enough. Anyway, so I was going down the street when I heard this growl from behind me. I looked around, but nothing was there, and I'd heard tales about Houndoom who'd never give up the chase if you ran, and besides, I didn't want to scare little Melanie. So's I just stayed calm, and I decided that it was a Pokemon battle or something."
"I see now. So you didn't think to send out one of your own Pokemon, just in case?"
"Y'see, I, er, didn't actually, um... have any Pokemon on me." confessed Nicole, pretending to be abashed.
"Honestly? You certainly seem to be the type to be a trainer, young missie."
"I never guessed that this kind of thing would have happened. You must admit, it was highly unlikely."
"I suppose so. Well, what happened next?"
"Then I realised that there was a Houndoom following us, then I saw that there were two more. So then I just started running, but the managed to trap me in a alleyway... and you saw the damage." The officer just nodded, probably reminiscing the horrible burns that covered them, and the blood oozing out from bites.
"Well, young lady, you seem to be fine, so you may leave right now. I believe you will send word to your parents beforehand?"
"Of course, missus!" While this wasn't technically a lie, as she had spent some time writing a note to her brother and other partners, she wasn't about to tell them that she had to wound herself badly in a message. The whole thing was disguised as a normal letter, but the trained eyes of Nicholas would be able to see through it. When it got to him.
"I would never have guessed that I would see you here, Ash!"
"So then what were you doing here?"
"I was heading to a contest in Leppon which'll be taking place around two weeks from now. I registered yesterday, and right now I'm just unwinding here, on Deshir. You?"
"Long story short, I found out about some really powerful Pokemon here and decided to check it out with some other people."
"Who exactly are they?"
"We were in the middle of introducing ourselves when we saw you."
"Oh. Can I come back with you? If you don't want me to, I under-"
"What are you talking about? Of course you can come with me!" grinned Ash, glad that his old friend was taking an interest in this exploit. Well, that's what he thought, anyway. Some people just stay naive.
The wind was bitter and freezing- it was like the Queen of Ice had a grudge against them. Strangely, Lilac couldn't feel the full extent of the cold, nor could his sister, Glacier or Turquoise. But Sunshine, Orange, and Leaf could, and so they pressed on, knowing that it was either that or a life without freedom or happiness. They were only five hours old, but they felt like they had seen everything.
Little did they know that they had.
Implicative penultimate paragraph, but no, we have no intentions for this to become another pathetic Advanceshipping outpost, so put those banners and ten-gallon hats down. And no, Drew isn't about to make a surprise appearance either, and neither is Misty, or Tracey, or even Paul. And while Brock and Max will appear, one of them dies about three chapters later. Horribly. Okay, fine, it's just- Wait, this isn't the place for spoilers... if you must, look at it in the guide that we may or may not be uploading some time. In the near future/50 years. Whichever suits us.
By the way, we live on reviews. FEED ME!
And you'll never see the last paragraph again, so it is not a preview, or a teaser, or one of those repetitive brainteasers, okay? Do you seriously think we'd sink so low? Actually, scratch that, we probably will one of these days... yeah right, dream on/'cuz that deal ain't on. Bye for another eternity while we try to write chapter four.
