Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. If I did, I'd be rich. But I don't, and I'm not, so please don't sue me Nintendo.
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Grasping the Moon
Chapter 9 – And We All Burn Down
Part 1
"Is it ready?" Lorelei asked into the dark at level volume rather than a whisper like all the others. The figure slipping through the ranks of League trainers stood out at night with his white coat, but soon enough that wouldn't matter.
"Answer: Merely give the signal." Said Blaine, coming up besides her. Adjusting her glasses, she wasted no time in lifting her hand.
Before she could bring it down and signal the advance, all present felt as sudden flush, then hollow feeling in their guts. Something rustled behind the Ice Queen's ear, and she turned to see a head poking from the black air.
"This looks fun…" The female head said in sultry fashion, licking her lips.
All the trainers, Blaine included, drew back in both shock and horror, recognising Night-Whisper, Karen of the Elite Four. Lorelei didn't look more than irritated. "I would have preferred you arranging your involvement earlier."
"Oh nonsense." The monster replied, revealing the rest of her sickeningly feminine body. "That would ruin all the spontaneity." Karen strode gracefully behind one of the fire trainers, winking at Lorelei while licking the terrified man's ear. "I promise not to get in the way too much."
Tightening her mouth indiscernibly, the Frozen Maiden faced front and raised her hand again. "We have no time for this – do what you want." Karen chuckled as she released her man, who would swear her saliva was burning his ear. Lorelei dropped her hand. "All units advance."
Word spread down the ranks like a wildfire, and soon the wildfire started in earnest.
--- -
Misty was woken by the smell of smoke and before she could even mentally register how hot it suddenly was, she was at the window, blanket wrapped around herself. What she saw horrified her.
Celadon was burning. Fire was everywhere, washing over the city like a flood. Red and yellow flicked and danced in wild delight; the mass of vines and excessive greenery that coated the town provided an ample feast for the ravenous flames. Smoke was everywhere, blotting out the stars and moon in the sky with an inky stream of ruin.
Misty broke out of her dumb shock to wonder what started this blaze when she realised her building was on fire as well. Leaping back from the window in alarm, her hand immediately shot for her pokéball belt.
"Misty!" Gary shouted from outside, banging loudly at the door. "The building's on fire! Hey!"
"I'm coming!" She screamed back, snatching up her clothing (as she slept in her underwear) and barrelling through the door. They had slept in a poorly maintained, abandoned house, and the door came right off at the hinges.
As she came through, she was hit with smoke. Misty coughed violently while someone dragged her down. It was Gary, pulling her beneath the smoke.
"Let's go, let's go!"
Gary shoved Misty before him as they followed Eevee. The little dog scouted ahead of them, ducking his little head around every corner to check that the way was clear. He led them away from several openings spewing smoke, and finally nodded his head decisively one direction.
"Ee!"
The three of them tumbled forward coming to the head of the staircase. The problem was, there was no stairs – the fire had eaten away the foundations and left nothing more than a few smouldering sticks.
Gary swore, covering his mouth from the smoke. He tried to think of a way down, but Misty didn't miss a beat and vaulted over the railing, landing well enough on the ground floor. Gary and Eevee followed her.
Throwing a chair through the window, the two humans and the pokémon stumbled outside. Dragging themselves out, they struggled to cough out the smoke and breath in the slightly lighter air. Someone ran over in a panic.
It was Nurse Joy, who was grateful to see someone alive. She held Misty and Eevee, babbling uncontrollably.
"What's happening?! There's fire everywhere and I was in the chapel and praying and it got hot and what's happening?!"
Pushing aside her own troubles, Misty grabbed Joy tightly to comfort her.
"Shh, shh, we need to keep our heads." She said, and the nurse gathered herself with a nod. Gary checked his sword handle to see if it was too hot to touch.
"The convent burnt down – I think she's the only one to get out."
Joy clenched her eyes to try and keep the thought from mind while Misty, Gary and Eevee watched the building fall to the ground. Misty looked up at Gary.
"What started this fire?" She asked. Gary grimaced
He pointed up at the sky, where against the smoke Misty could see red shapes flipping around. "Charizards." Gary explained. "This was set on purpose. Probably the League."
Misty let go of the nurse, who straightened up and breathed slowly to collect herself. As the pink-haired woman let Eevee drop to the ground, Misty asked Gary: "Where are the others?"
"They're trying to save anyone they can." Nurse Joy answered, standing. "We should as well." The nun helped Misty to her feet. "You're a water master, you should be able to put out some of the fire."
Looking around at the red glow of the withering city, Misty was sceptical. "Maybe."
"The fire's spreading fast, we need to move." Gary advised. "You two do that, Eevee and I will get who we can."
They agreed and Gary handed over Blastoise's pokéball to Misty. She thanked him and waited for Nurse Joy to say a quick prayer and lead her, while Gary ran a hand through his spikey hair, took a long breath and went the other direction.
-- --
"Stop that dying, y'all! Kill them!" Ordered the League trainer, one 'Lara Laramie', who was obviously delusional. She tossed her blue hair with shallow contempt as her retinue of minions were easily beaten aside, feeling that their loss was from pure laxity.
In among the fight, Brock lashed out hard and a trainer went down. Whipping out his pistol, he shot the man as he fell, and then glanced around for more targets. The Rock Master saw Onix flatten both a Cinderquil and a Growlithe, and let his eyes fall on Laramie, who was standing aside, a riding crop as her weapon.
Seeing Brock focus his attention on her, she winked. "Well now, at least I get the cute one." She noted in her Southern accent, opening her pokéball. "Rapidash, Fire Spin!"
The horse galloped from its beam of light, flaming mane flickering like the burning city. It opened its mouth to launch a stream of fire, but was cut off when Onix leapt into its side, sending the fire pokémon flying.
Lara set her hands on her hips and huffed. "Now really, is that any way to treat a lady?" She asked seriously, further cementing her detachment from reality. Brock smiled at her, as she was very easy on the eyes.
"Well, I can't say I hate hitting on women, but not in this sense!" He said, shrugging. "Let's turn this into a romantic barbeque and forget all this killing nonsense, hey?"
The Southern belle actually seemed to consider the option, when Lance leapt in from all his hard work fighting.
"Damn your proclivities!" He roared, sweeping his halberd widely. The dragon-carved blade went clean through the midriffs of a League Trainer and his Chameleon, which were the last of the ambushing party. "This is serious, Boulder King!"
"Oh, butt out, wet-shirt!" Laramie said, waving her riding crop at the short man. The Dragon Master responded by springing forward and driving his halberd into the woman's stomach.
The blue-haired woman glanced down at the weapon that had punctured through her in offended shock and fixed Lance with a glare. "Now that was just rude!" She condemned just before dying.
Pulling his weapon free, the black-haired man tried to ignore Brock's protests. "Hey! She was totally into me!"
Grunting, Lance knelt down and examined Lara's uniform, which was common to all the League soldiers who attacked them. They wore red cloaks with a fiery theme around the rim of the hood, fixed with a bronze clasp.
"The Lost Gym of Cinnabar." Lance said aloud, as the other Resistance leader came up beside him. "Fire against Grass – they knew we were here."
His comrade was hardly listening. Kneeling down, Brock double-checked the clothing as though he couldn't quite believe it, rubbing the material with his fingers. Onix curled around and tried to look over his master's shoulder. "Ash has gone completely insane. This is a League city!"
Snarling, Lance turned his attention to the air, failing to notice Brock using Ash's name without entering a catatonic state. "We can agree on that. Let's fly." The Dragon Master let his hand fall to his pokéballs but stopped when Brock gave him a look.
"Up there, surrounded by Charizards? You're on your own."
Lance was about to argue back, when something exploded a few blocks over. When the noise died down, they turned their attention away from the falling debris and back to each other. "Fine, we're taking your Onix."
They moved to climb up the rock snake's stony hide when they heard a cry from a nearby building.
"Help! Somebody help!"
Looking up, they saw the cry coming from a window, a waving silhouette therein. Wasting no time, Brock ordered Onix up to the opening, allowing the person to crawl on. As the pokémon lowered the rescued down, they recognised him as Tracey.
"Sketchit, what were you doing in there?" Lance demanded, waving his weapon the watcher's way.
Tracey stood to salute as well as he could, being exhausted. "I was trying to observe the situation, Sir!"
The Resistance leader found that an acceptable answer and lowered the polearm. He tugged at his collar impatiently – his military dress and cape was very uncomfortable in this heat. "And?"
"The city is surrounded by a circle of fire, being pushed quickly inward, Sir."
Brock and Lance exchanged a look and an uncomfortable silence fell over them. Tracey looked at the ground while they lingered among the dead corpses of the Lost Gym. Finally, Lance changed hands with his halberd decisively. "This isn't an invasion at all. The bastards are trying to destroy their own city."
Tracey raised his eyes. "We need to save as many people as we can." He said, almost forgetting "Sir."
Stone-Baron nodded and turned to Lance. "He's right. We should split up."
"Fine." Legend-Stalker agreed. "Do it. Be sure to find water pokémon to fire-fight our way out of here."
The Dragon Master opened a pokéball, revealing a towering Dragonite. The yellow dragon mewed as Lance climbed its back, then took off like a jet down the street, careful not to fly too high. Brock mounted the head of his Onix, which worked up the opposite way, leaving Tracey all by himself in the sweaty-hot street.
"Uh, fine." The watcher said to himself after a moment, wiping the moisture off with his sweatband. "I'll just walk then, shall I?"
-- --
Waving her hand simply, Sabrina projected a steady psychic force over the blaze in front of her. Pressing down gradually, she slowly choked the flames out. As the last of the flicking tendrils disappeared, and when Sabrina was satisfied the move had worked, she lifted the pressure.
It sprung back to life again in an instant, causing the psychic to grimace almost noticeably. She was about to try again with both hands when she thought she felt familiar presences nearby. Coating herself with a protective psychic bubble, she hovered through burning wreckage. Burning rafters bounced off the force of her mind and safely came out the other side without even feeling the heat.
She found in this new street a group of people – Resistance soldiers and Celadon locals alike – saving some people from a fire. The victims tumbled from their windows in to the waiting arms of those below, while one of the Resistance fighters had their Coralsa fight the flames as well as they could. A Nidoking and Nidoqueen were moving dangerous wreckage.
From this crowd someone cried out, and Sabrina looked to see an Eevee bound towards her. Gary Oak soon followed, sweating from the heat, and leaving the others to tend to the rescued.
"It is you!" He said in relief, coming to a halt. "Glad to see a friendly face." He looked at the dark-haired woman's flat expression. Eevee snickered. "Well, y'know…"
Oak looked down at what she was wearing in shock. He tried to form the question, but Sabrina beat him to the punch.
"I was sleeping." She stated, fully aware that she was in pyjamas. Gary could understand – he'd caught Misty in her underwear – but couldn't get his head around the thought of the famous psychic Sabrina, who mentally tortured half the trainers in Kanto, in something as innocent as pyjamas. Or doing something so human as sleep. The little spoons all over the dark fabric were a surreal touch.
The floating psychic decided to help him shake it off by resuming conversation. "My attempts to fight the fire have proved fruitless."
Focussed on the situation again, Gary shook his head. "Don't bother. We're not going to put out a fire this big." He advised, looking back at the group of people behind him. "Let's save who we can – you should start teleporting whoever you can find out of here."
"The League psychic will detect me." Sabrina countered grimly, thinking of her replacement, Will. Gary laughed humourlessly.
"I think the League already knows we're here, hey?" He said. "Speaking of whom, we fought off some guys on the way here, didn't we Eevee?" The dog yelped up an affirmative.
Sabrina nodded and followed Gary as he led her to the group. They marvelled at her levitation. "Cinnabar's Lost Gym." She explained. "This is Quiz-Master's work."
"Yeah, Blaine." Gary looked around and set himself a course of action. "You get people out, I'm going to look for more. Punch through the line. Maybe take out someone important."
Approving of this plan, Sabrina organised for every to hold hands. She didn't feel the least foreboding as she brought them safely outside city limits in a flash of light, but a bad feeling hit her suddenly when Gary's presence simply winked out of her senses. Almost like something was blocking her detecting it…
-- --
"Egg Bomb!" Erika screamed, throwing down her hand with the signal. The row of Eggsecutors behind her all fired on command, launching a barrage of explosive eggs at the approaching Lost Gym-members. The Green Knight peered over the piece of shattered wall that was her cover to see the only effect was to damage the city more and slow the centre slightly.
At her signal, the Rangers with her all sprung from their hiding spots and fired. The volley of arrows proved slightly more effective, a few red cowls going down, but most of the wooden shafts were burned up mid-flight. She and the Rangers ducked back down as their position was peppered with Fire-Blasts and Embers.
Being a proper girl, Erika restrained herself from swearing, but that didn't stop her kicking a loose rock savagely in frustration. Her city was burning. It was the League doing it. This was all so wrong.
And look at her. All that talk about not fighting, and this was how easily she betrayed her ideals.
She touched her face lightly as the tears threatened to come, but she steeled herself and shook it off. Not in front of the men. She could cry when she was alone.
Rocking her head back and hitting it against the charred brick wall, she tried to think of a plan while the Rangers took another volley without her orders. She hated fighting, she never wanted to fight. She was never any good at this…
Which gave her an idea. Why fight when you didn't want to? Especially when you couldn't possibly win? She raised her sickle, drawing her men's attention.
"All pokémon, front and centre!" There were scattered flashes of red light as the men summoned their grass-types, including Erika's Vileplume. Some of the Rangers exchanged concerned looks, hoping this wasn't some sort of last stand. "Everyone, Sweet Scent, Paralysis, Sleep Powder, whatever, all at once on my count!" She cried, pulling herself into a crouch. "When they're stunned, pull back!"
She didn't need any confirmation from them, and she readied herself to run. The Green Knight was pleased that she had decided to change into a practical skirt and top – running in that kimono, particularly in this heat, would have been hell.
"Three!" She cried, wasting no time on drama as she proceeded onto, "Two! One! Now-"
Her orders were lost as a sudden river of fire washed over the cover, catching many green-cloaks and sending them screaming in pain. The jet of fire didn't let up, sweeping up and down the defensive line, catching most of the hiding rangers. Erika's skirt caught alight, and desperate to not end up like the flaming men nearby, she leapt to the ground and rolled out the small blaze, Vileplume risking herself to help pat it out with her leaves.
The fire out with no real damage, Erika looked up. The area was filled with a smell other than smoke, and keeping her eyes from the black corpses Erika forced herself not to think about it. There were about five Rangers still standing with their pokémon, two of whom were fleeing.
Choking back a curse, Celadon's Gym-Leader called her men over.
"This is Hell." One man, wearing a grey moustache said flatly. "We've been sent to Hell for harbouring the League's foes."
Erika didn't need to hear that, looking around at the burning surroundings and the red glow washing over her once fertile home. She figured there was no point forming a withdrawal plan; just get together and run.
The last straggling Ranger jumped down a small rise with his Jumpluff, but neither reached the ground alive. A long bronze chain swung out from nowhere, a flaming ball at the end catching the young man at the temple. His skull cracked, and fortunately he died before having to feel his face melt away.
The swinging chain wheeled around and came crashing down on top of Jumpluff. The pokémon was shocked to see his master struck so quickly, and was unprepared for the blow. Jumpluff floated uncontrollably, its grassy body on fire.
Appearing from out of the fire emerge the source of the chain – a tall bald man with a ridiculous moustache in a white coat. Erika gasped, while the young man beside her rushed forward with his Oddish bounding with him.
Moustache cried after him to stop, but it was too late. Leaping powerfully over a wall, a red Magmar appeared, swiping its sharp yellow claws. Oddish was grabbed completely by one great hand and smashed into a wall. It cracked, and as Oddish fell it left a trail of white sap.
The grass trainer tried to counter-attack, but Magmar turned his nozzle-like nose like a flame-thrower and discharged. Erika didn't even know the boy's name and she was forced to watch him die screaming.
Trying to use the foolhardy assault as a distraction, Moustache notched an arrow and fired. Blaine was quicker though, driving his chain forward like a dart, knocking the shot from the air, and rolling forward in an athletic twirling leap, using his body to spin the extended chain.
Flipping around, the flaming head slammed down hard at the side of Moustache's neck. There was a crack – several vertebrae moved. The ranger went down.
Erika couldn't keep the fury from her face as she watched Blaine turn his attention back to her, his Magmar approaching Vileplume cockily.
The Grass Master's pokémon backed away fearfully while Erika reached to her side and withdrew a second bronze sickle. Holding her dual weapons up, she could see that the second weapon amused Blaine.
"Aside: I thought it would have been a hammer." He hummed, spinning his weapon casually.
Narrowing her eyes, Erika couldn't see past Blaine's opaque sunglasses, but she could tell he was enjoying this thoroughly. He wasn't jesting from arrogance, or from pretension. He was genuinely happy to be burning down people's lives and homes. The Fire Master could hardly restrain the joy of arson.
"I refuse to believe the Champion ordered this." Hissed Erika, standing up into a fighting stance. Vileplume, seeing that her master wanted to stand firm, swallowed her fear.
Blaine smiled. "Affirmation: You're right."
In a flutter of his white coat, the Cinnabar Gym-Leader flicked his censor-weapon forward. Erika lurched back, but the chain wrapped around her sickle. Blaine pulled, launching her weapon into the air. She dove for it, but missed.
Vileplume didn't though, and reached out like a snap with her vine whip, dropping the bronze handweapon back into Erika's hands. Magmar charged forward to counter-attack, but the grass-type caught the fire-lizard across the cheek with a second vine whip.
Blaine whistled in appreciation, spinning his weapon and advancing slowly. Erika gave ground. "Commentary: More impressive that I'd anticipated."
"Insatiable, Ever-Hungry, Kindler, Quiz-Master." The Green Knight said, pulling into a very Asian defensive stance. "Now I have a question for you: Did you think I wouldn't have thought up a way to fight you?"
Spinning forward a tornado, Erika attacked. Blaine's weapon had a long reach that was devastating offensively, but had little value defensively. If she struck fast and hard like Surge advised, she could get him.
Whipping straight past his effective range, she came up close, bringing a curled blade around tear into his stomach. The larger man was nonplussed and neatly head butted her in the face.
Erika fell back, skilfully turning it into a backwards roll, avoiding a counter-swing from Kindler.
"Answer:" Blaine provided while his Magmar cracked his knuckles. "I simply didn't care!"
-- --
"This way!" Cried Lance, pointing forward with his dragon-headed halberd. The group of people he'd rescued or collected followed him over a wall of fallen but burnt out remains. As they stumbled down it's blackened footholds, the Dragon Master instinctively dabbed at his forehead to wipe away the sweat – only, there wasn't any.
Must be cooling down. He thought, glancing around at the still alight city. Perhaps the fires were burning through all their fuel…
When all assembled, Lance pushed forward and around the corner in the street. What they saw froze them in place.
The street was thick with ice. Everything was frozen over – the stores, the rubble, the remains of cars… even large blocks of ice that could very well have been human. It was a bizzare ice sculpture show.
Recovering her voice, the Celadon local next to Lance opened her mouth. Her name was Jenny, an Officer with the Rangers. "What… is this?"
Where did all this ice come from? How could it stay frozen in all this heat? Lance had his jaw set tight. He knew – it was the last person in the world he wanted to see.
"Listen up." Legend-Stalker ordered, not taking his eyes from the crystalline sight before him. "Everyone stick together. Go and group together with whoever you can and get out of Celadon."
Jenny started. She was under the impression that this was some sort of counter-attack. "But…"
Slamming the butt of his polearm on the ground, the Dragon Master growled. "Celadon is dead!" Unwilling to shift his eyes, he waved off the others. "I will deal with this!"
Reluctantly, Jenny hustled the crowd off, sparing Lance one last glance before disappearing around the corner. Gritting his teeth, Lance released Dragonite and set carefully out along the strip of ice. Even with such sturdy footwear, he had to focus on his footing.
It was very quiet on this street – the burning sounds and even the smells of the rest of Celadon felt far away here. It sharpened Lance's reflexes too the point that when Dragonite stepped and cracked some ice, he jumped. The yellow dragon smiled down apologetically, and the Dragon Master sighed before shaking it off and continuing on.
Working deeper into the ice, the Resistance Leader considered –
"Blizzard!"
Lance rolled while Dragonite shot off with great speed. They both narrowly avoided being peppered with shards of razor-hail as a great snowstorm kicked up. Hiding behind a frozen postbox, Legend-Stalker cursed. Peering out, he saw the source of the attack – a Jynx on top of an old patisserie.
His dragon saw it too, and turned on a dime to rocket up at the viking-woman pokémon. The yellow streak smashed through the roof like it was water, and in the blast of ice and cinder the Jynx somersaulted safely to the street.
"I had expected you from the other direction." Came a straight female voice.
Lance hit the back of his head against the post box. Lorelei. Why, of all the Champion's lackeys, did he have to fight the only one whose element was strong against his?
"I'm tricky like that, you old cow." He called back, trying to look around and assess the situation. He barely avoided getting his head shot, the bullet chipping into the ice.
He saw enough though – Lorelei was in the middle of the street, pinning him with a pair of small pistols. She was moving with impossible ease across the ice in her heels to where her Jynx was, perhaps trying to get an angle on him.
Lorelei's response contained to trace of offence. "That is an inappropriate way to address a member of the Elite Four." She said, guns never shifting from the ice-crusted post box.
Hitting his head again, Lance cursed himself for thinking he could wait before picking up a gun. At least Dragonite should still be lurking around the side streets, waiting to bail him out of a bad situation.
"How about fourth-rate nobody?" He cried back, looking around for an escape. "All those open spots and you still couldn't move up in rank!"
Had he been able to stick his head out, Legend-Stalker might have seen Lorelei's face twitch – a mighty blow. The Ice Queen indicated to Jynx to take the other flank and they both started rounding on Lance from either side. No escape.
She continued talking in hopes it would keep him in place. "Lance – Dragon Master, Legend-Stalker, Fury, Crest-Holder." She recited, taking careful step over step. "Still as arrogant as ever."
"I have every right to be!" The Resistance trainer announced, unaware that Lorelei could see the top of his polearm. A few more steps and she and Jynx could…
Dragonite exploded through a shop wall and hurdled at Lorelei. She threw herself to the ice-slick ground as the immense pokémon rushed overhead. Jynx turned and fired and blue ice beam, but the dragon barrel-rolled around it and bodily slammed into the smaller ice-type.
Lance grabbed the opportunity to make a break for it. Despite hitting the ice hard, Lorelei had a gun up immediately, taking pot shots at the ex-Elite-Champion. Black hair and cape billowing, Lance skidded along the slippery road, bullets slicing by. He managed to slide in through an open door.
Turning to the Dragonite, Lorelei saw it withdraw before Jynx before the white-haired pokémon could bring its type-advantage to full effect. The great beast disappeared behind the row of low buildings, completely out of sight. Jynx looked expectantly at her master, who adjusted her glasses sharply.
This was very frustrating.
-- --
Something was very wrong, Gary realised. Walking through a burning city full of dying people was wrong enough as it was, but there's wrong and then there's wrong. Something was distinctly off about reality in the area into which he stumbled. Eevee felt it too, the small dog taking hesitant steps forward, looking up at his master at regular intervals, each looking saying 'Can we leave now?'
They had found their way into a part of the city in which the fire was really getting to work. There was barely a building upright, and there was no road, merely spaces between burning debris. Each pile was like a bonfire to the dead he couldn't save. Why was he here? There was no one to rescue…
He was lost, that's why. It hurt to admit, given his famous sense of direction, but lay of the land seemed to keep changing…
Stepping over a heat-twisted pipe, trying to rationalise this feeling in his gut, Gary experienced a sudden feeling, like a woman pressing her body up against his back. Then, it was gone.
Glancing down at Eevee, Gary saw the dog even more terrified than before. That was concerning; pokémon were generally more sensitive about weird things like this.
That's when a face appeared in the shadows.
It was a woman's – pale and made like a model. Emerging from the shadow cast by a thick wall, the woman's hollow features rolled into a grin, her black lipstick emphasising every twitch of her mouth.
"Ah, you look like an enjoyable fellow."
Gary was rather used to seeing freaky stuff like this, but one never grew blasé about this sort of thing. He stopped and pointed his rifle at her, a tight expression on his face.
"Who are you? How are you doing that?"
The face winked at him and crawled out of the shadow like from a pit. Gary managed to keep his horror behind his face as he watched each pale limb unfold, flowering into a shapely woman in a tight short dress made of what looked like shed snake-skin. Eevee wasn't as cool, edging back towards his master as the dog watched the dead white hair fall sensuously around the shadow lady's features.
"My my, I generally prefer my midnight rendezvous' anonymous." She purred, stretching seductively. Pulling up her long hair and letting it fall. The firelight cast her in a demon glow. "But I suppose I can make an exception for you, mighty Oak."
Something about her appearance was bothering Gary. She was wrong – the wrong sort of wrong. She curved very nicely, her eyes shone and begged, but he couldn't find her attractive. Gary couldn't drag his eyes away from her black lips as her mouth arched to say more.
"I am the dark things." She said, whispering like a pant. "I am the hidden bits. I am Night-Whisper, I am Gym-Slayer." The dark lady licked her lips in a fashion Gary didn't like. "I am Unmentionable. I am Karen, the Elite First."
She shot him a kiss, making the Pallet trainer cringe, and the shadows at her feet drifted up like a gas, taking the form of a Houndoom. Suddenly the impossible mist became a Houndoom in truth, the black hound growling, its teeth bared.
Eevee focused on the rival pokémon quickly and jumped forward in preparation. Pokémon he could deal with – all this weird vampire business was his master's department.
Surprised at being faced with Kanto's second-ranked pokémon trainer in the middle of a burning city, Gary did the only natural thing – he raised his AK-47 and fired.
Houndoom didn't react as the bullets pattered into Karen's body – kicking up splashes of black mist instead of blood. Releasing the trigger, Gary was shocked to see Karen reduced, from the waist up, to a mess of dark tendrils waving about freely in the air. His shock turned to fear as the limbs re-wove themselves into the Elite First's form.
"Well now," the monster said, running her hand along her collarbone. "Somebody jumped the gun, didn't they?"
-- --
"Seadra, keep that blaze down!" Misty cried, pointing at a grocery store that had burst into flame suddenly. The floating blue sea horse raced over to follow her command. "Blastoise, keep it up!" Gary's Blastoise was handily dealing with the encroaching fire from the West by himself. Misty turned back to the most immediate problem. "And Starmie, will you get this guy out of my hair already?!"
The flying star spun around at speed, avoiding a streaking flamethrower attack. The guy in question was a thin boy in brightly coloured shorts and a singlet, his Lost Gym robes hanging loosely from his shoulders. His hair was styled up like a flame – he looked like a moron.
Currently he was getting into Misty's hair with a large Marcargo. The large lava-like snail had proven resistant to water-based assault by evaporating incoming attacks with a pinpoint bout of fire. It was proving a great irritation, as Misty had to deal with the jerk and firefight a citywide inferno simultaneously.
"Heh, yeah get angry." Stated the Lost Gym-Member, who identified himself as Egan, crossing his arms. So far Egan was content to stay back and hide behind his pokémon. Small blessings. "You're totally hot when you're angry."
Misty grit her teeth and restrained herself, thankful that she had changed out of the bed sheet before dealing with the fire. The way Egan spoke, he may have been a stalker. Perhaps he was an over-zealous fan?
Behind her, Nurse Joy had managed a complete turn around in attitude and was busy giving impromptu aid to various burn victims, human and pokémon. Misty's one-woman war on burning Celadon meant that her proximity was the safest spot in the entire city. Most of the survivors who had gathered to her had grass pokémon rather than anything useful, but all who were able bodied did what they could to fight the fires around them and save others. Nobody worried about the Water Master, fully confident that she could deal with some Cinnabar punk.
Starmie swung around the far slower Marcargo, blasting a quick watergun from its tip. The snail lethargically turned to see the column of water blasting towards it, then opened its maw and spewed fire. The two attacks collided barely a metre from Marcargo's face, and exploded into a cloud of scolding steam. Damage successfully adverted, Marcargo dragged itself along tediously, leaving a trail of sludge like burning napalm.
Grinning lecherously, Egan waggled his eyebrows. "Gotta say, I'm loving those Daisy Dukes." He yelled at the multi-tasking Misty, running his eyes up her long legs.
Fuming, the red head turned savagely and jabbed her finger at the giant pokémon. "That's it!" She screamed, causing Nurse Joy to glance up for a moment and Egan to flinch. "Everybody, hit the Marcargo!"
Marcargo looked rather concerned as all of Misty's pokémon rounded on it at once, as well as Blastoise, who was following orders largely out of bemusement. Unable to counter all bursts of water at once, the snail could only cry out as it was hosed down from several different directions.
Steam rose and the fire pokémon slowly deflated, hardening and turning grey. Misty desperately hoped that didn't mean it was dead, but was knocked out of her concerns by Egan yelling and stamping.
"Dammit girl! How could you do this to me?"
Acting of his own accord, Blastoise launched forward with his surprising speed, withdrawing into his shell and spinning. Slamming solidly into the thin fire aficionado, Blastoise sent the man flying. Egan hit and wall and collapsed in a heap.
Telling herself that he was merely unconscious and conveniently forgetting that a man with a concussion had no chance in the hell Celadon had become, Misty turned her attentions back to the inferno.
"Right! Everyone, let's see what we could do!"
All the water pokémon got to work, and while she was directing them, Misty considered the situation. The Lost Gym of Cinnabar started this madness – that meant Blaine, and where there was Blaine, there was Lorelei. Where Lorelei was, nothing good was.
Pursing her lips in worry, Misty spared herself a glance backwards into the burning centre of the low city. The area she could plausibly save was so woefully small. She hoped the others were safe.
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Author's Notes:
Argh! So long… I didn't want to break this chapter up, but I'm going to have to. What do you guys think? Do you prefer shorter chapters, or big long ones?
RedHeadtheGirl: Ah, thank you for your kind review! I'm glad you like it; I was getting nervous at the lack of reviews. I don't want to give too much away about Ash in this story, but suffice to say the tension you noticed was intentional.
