Chapter 8: The Ghost Type
Damian, Katie, Sadira, Steven, and Chester happened to be strolling through the next town. Moving quickly to reach their next destination, but still glancing around for signs of mew activity. They passed by a large stadium like building. There was a flashing sign out front.
"Child beauty pageant today?" Damian read aloud.
"Oh yeah!" Steven perked up. "My sister wanted to be a pageant girl when she was little, but mom wouldn't let her. I bet she would've won, though. She was a very pretty young girl."
"But she isn't now?" Chester asked.
"I wouldn't know," Steven replied, a small hint of sadness in his voice. "I haven't seen her since mom and dad's divorce, and that was many years ago."
"My parents wanted me to be a pageant girl when I was a kid," Katie jumped in. "But I'd much rather play around in the dirt, you know?"
"I was just like that when I was a kid, too," Sadira said with a big smile on her face as she and Katie bumped fists.
"We could always stop in and look," Chester said flatly.
"You realize this pageant is for girls 5-8. You like creeping on little girls, now do ya?" Sadira joked with him. He simply ignored her and turned his head away.
"I'm in favor," said Steven. "I could really use a break from all the walking, anyway."
Katie laughed. "I swear, sometimes your energetic like a monkey but other times just so lazy."
The group decided to stop in and have a seat in the back. There were a bunch of little girls on the stage, but one in particular stood out. She looked to be about seven and had whispy blond hair and grey eyes. She had such a radiance about when as she walked across the stage, a huge smile upon her face. The announcer had said her name was Elizabeth.
Suddenly, an explosion came from somewhere behind the stage. Everyone rose from their seats in shock. Emerging from the cloud of smoke were two female figures, one of which Damian and Katie recognized all too well.
"It's E!" Katie exclaimed.
"That's E?" Sadira asked. "We can take her, let's transform."
"But who's the other chic?" Steven asked, referring to the other female at E's side.
"Who cares, let's just see what they want," said Katie. "Mew Mew Electric Type, Metamorphosis!"
"Mew Mew Fighting Type, Metamorphosis!"
"Mew Mew Grass Type, Metamorphosis!"
"Mew Mew Ground Type, Metamorphosis!"
"Mew Mew Normal Type, Metamorphosis!"
Everyone transformed and jumped down onto the stage. E chucked. "Well it looks like you've made some friends since we last met," she said, looking at Sadira, Steven, and Chester.
"It appears you have a new friend, as well," Damian replied. How could another mew have fallen to the side of darkness? One was bad enough, but this other girl had a strange look in her eyes. A look that said hurt and pain, not evil. "Who is she?"
"Mallory is my associate, and also the steel type mew, but enough about that. We're here for her." E pointed to Elizabeth, who was cowering away with the other pageant girls.
"W-what do y-you want with m-me?" Elizabeth stuttered.
"You're going to be our new partner," Mallory stated.
E pulled out the same device she had used on Mallory and approached Elizabeth.
"You stay back!" Sadira shouted. "Brick Break!"
"Flash Cannon!" Mallory got in Sadira's way and blasted her away.
"Sadira!" Katie cried.
"Iron Tail!" Damian shouted, calling forth the move.
"Iron Head!" Mallory countered. Her head glowed the same color as Damian's tail as they clashed. The two moves were a perfect match for each other and no one won dominance. "I have to finish you. Toxic!"
The poison hit Damian hard because he was so close to her, and he fell to the ground. His body had a faint glow of purple and he felt himself getting weaker and weaker. Mallory smirked. "I learned that move just for instances like these."
"Oh my gosh, Damian!" Katie ran to him. She went to her knees and held him slightly upright in some kind of sitting position. "Look at you, you're all red in the face from the poison." This was untrue, as he was actually blushing because she was unintentionally pressing his face into her breasts.
Meanwhile, it was E's turn to make a move. "Waterfall!" E called out as she summoned a large wave of water and flowed towards Elizabeth.
"Oh no you don't!" said Steven. "Razor Leaf!"
"Stone Edge!" Chester added.
The two attacks pierced through the waterfall on their way to hit E on the other side. E, however, had other ideas. "Acid Armor!" she called as she became one with her waterfall, gliding towards Elizabeth and evading all the attacks.
"Discharge!" Katie yelled. Electricity flew everywhere, but mostly at the water, due to water conducting electricity. The water evaporated and E fell to the ground, breathing heavily.
"I dare you to try that again," Mallory said as she took a stance before Steven. "Swagger!"
Swirls entered Steven's eyes. He tried to attack again, but ended up hurting himself.
"He's confused!" Chester gasped.
"I can't believe you just did that!" Sadira spoke. She came up from behind Mallory and got her in a strangle hold.
"Let me go," Mallory choked.
"No!" Sadira replied sternly.
"What did she do to Steven?" Katie asked.
"Swagger is a move that raises the opponent's attack level by two times as much, but also confuses, so when the opponent attacks himself in a confused state he does it two times as hard," Chester explained. Katie gasped.
E scrambled to her feet and finally reached Elizabeth. E pressed the device to Elizabeth's chest, causing Elizabeth to writhe and scream in pain.
"What are you doing to her?!" Sadira shouted with much anger in her voice.
"You'll see," E replied, an evil smile creeping onto her face.
What E was doing to Elizabeth was just plain horrifying to watch. When it was over, Elizabeth looked different. She was wearing a short greyish-green tube top dress, greyish-green ballet flats with ribbons up her lower legs, red beaded bracelets, a greyish-green choker with a mew pendant on it, and greyish-green mew accessories. Her wispy blond hair became voluminous greyish-green hair with magenta tips and flowed around just like the head of a misdrevous.
Most of the audience had already run away screaming by this point. The audience members that remained became so shocked at Elizabeth's new appearance that they ran away as well. The other pageant girls that were huddled with Elizabeth began to scream and run.
"Allie!" Elizabeth called to her friend. She reached out her arm towards her friend.
"Stay away from me, Lizzy!" Allie called back as she ran. "You're a freak now!"
"What's happened to me?" Elizabeth asked, eyes downcast, fists clenched.
"You're cursed, like we are," E replied. "Your life just ended, nothing but bad things can happen to you now."
"That's not true!" Sadira cut in, so shocked at what E was telling Elizabeth that she released her hold on Mallory. "You've become half-pokemon half-human, the ghost type by the looks of it. It's not a bad thing."
"It's a truly wonderful thing," Katie added.
"These losers tell you lies!" Mallory shouted.
"How can this be a good thing? Your own friend even recognized the fact that you're nothing but a freak!" E pointed out. "We're all nothing but freaks. Team Rocket is the group that can help us now. Come with us."
"Don't do it! Team Rocket is evil!" Though Damian was weak, he lifted himself up to say this. He gazed into Elizabeth's eyes, hoping she would understand the truth.
Elizabeth kept her eyes facing the ground. All I wanted was to be thought of as beautiful, she thought. Was being beautiful too much to ask? I feel pretty when I'm on stage, but now even my closest friend runs and hides from my ugliness. I've become some kind of monster. Tears streamed down Elizabeth's cheeks and she clenched her fists even tighter. "You're all idiots!" she yelled to Damian, Katie, Sadira, Steven, and Chester. "All of you, idiots! How has this improved my life? You've ruined me and my career with your stupid pokemon powers! I'm going with these two girls. If they say they can help me, I've got no choice but to believe it," she cried.
"Ha, victory," Mallory commented.
E looked toward Damian and Steven. "We can take you two as well. We can heal you and work together for the right forces."
"We'll never surrender to you!" Katie squeezed Damian tighter.
"Be careful, you don't want to damage him in his weak state," Chester warned Katie, and Katie loosened her grip on Damian.
"We can fix them ourselves!" Sadira declared as she held a confused Steven back from hurting himself. "Get out of here! She's made her choice, so just leave!"
E and Mallory laughed as they left with Elizabeth.
Katie turned to Chester. "You're a doctor, can you do something to fix them?"
Chester sighed. "I'm a doctor for humans, not pokemon, and they're experiencing pokemon ailments."
"Well, we can't bring them to the Pokemon Center, Nurse Joy will ask too many questions," said Sadira.
"Perhaps we can find some berries or something," Katie said hopefully.
"We'll see," said Chester. "But who knows how long either of them will last."
End of Chapter 8
