Chapter 10: Mesprit Situations, Part 3
Already, there were turns for the worst. An assassination ploy was discovered by Merrill. Pikachu raced out to find his friends and advise them of the assassination threatening the life of Velasquez. The Velasquez Street Rumble has been nothing less than exciting as each participant were on the wrong ends of Junpei and Louie's wrath. Round after round, the two fighters scored victories with knockouts a plenty. Lenard didn't fair too well. During his first round match against the bald guy Jeanie questioned would be a threat to the other two, he spat something into Lenard's eyes. Blinded, Lenard was at the mercy of the opponent. Jakinson stepped in and saved Lenard from harm. However, it cost Lenard a chance to advance as he was disqualified due to the 3rd party interference. The crowd was amazed with the prowess of the martial artist and the flunking magician. Speaking of the magician, Louie was fighting the bald man who defeated Lenard who was showing some fleet footwork...but none of the kicks were landing. Fed up, Louie caught a kick. "Louie Punch!" he shouted as he connected a devastating right cross to the cheek. The bald man flew all the way to the wall and left a depression in the concrete. The bald man was out cold. Louie rose his winning arm in victory.
"And down goes Chin Fang!" the announcer roared. "Louie has advanced to the semifinals! He'll join Junpei, Bartcher and the Masked Brawler after an hour break!" All of the ladies deserved a break. Oh, yeah. Brock, too. Brock stood up and began to walk off to relieve himself of the excitement. He was about to walk into a bigger moment.
("Brock, I need help!") sounded Pikachu as he rushed over to him. Brock spotted the panicking Pokémon.
"Pikachu, what's wrong?" Brock wondered. Pikachu's first concern was Merrill.
("Merrill's stuck in a well back there!") Brock learned from the many quick body gestures that something was amiss. He raced ahead to the well as Pikachu pursued the girls. Reaching, he started the same gestures about the assassination plot.
"What's wrong, Pikachu?" Dawn wondered. Pikachu acted like Ritsuko with a gun, a motion of trying to kill someone. Airi listened and realized what's going on.
"There seems to be a plot for a big murder somewhere here," she studied as she turned to Velasquez sitting at his throne. "And he appears to be the target." Gasps from the girls and Piplup sounded trouble coming.
"Why would someone want to kill Velasquez?" Ila questioned. A quick thought to Cynthia was the prize of the Street Rumble.
"Perhaps it's the Crystal Eagle," she guessed. "You know how much that's worth in the black market." Perhaps but right now, Velasquez needed protection.
"Whatever the reason, he needs to be kept alive," Jeanie prioritized. "Ritsuko, you have something that can hit a target from a distance?"
"Yeah, my rifle with the scope option," Ritsuko offered. "I can go and get it." Jeanie nodded to the offer.
"Excellent. Make sure you set up somewhere along the rim of the coliseum. Cynthia and I will warn Velasquez about the plot." Ritsuko was ready to help out the matter. No innocent man was about to die on her watch.
"I'm coming with you," Dawn offered her support. Ritsuko accepted as they bolted for Mike as Jeanie and Cynthia raced for Velasquez. That left Melissa and Airi with the Pokémon. Meanwhile, Merrill was still trying to figure out how to get out of that well with the money. She wouldn't need to wait long.
"Merrill!" Brock called down. Merrill peered up and saw the spiky hair of the breeder.
"Brock!" she cried up. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes and throat!" Yeah, Merrill's voice was getting rather horsed. "The walls are too mossy and I can't get out!"
"Don't worry! I'm gonna lower a rope for you!" Brock inched a rope down. A minute later and Brock's line had ended. Looking down, he saw the rope was not long enough for Merrill to reach. It was about three feet short.
"Brock, it's too short!" Now what? Brock reached to his back and grabbed one of his balls. Instead of opening the tiny sphere, he dropped it down to the trapped thief who caught it.
"Press the button and toss it up!" Merrill listened, hit the button and softly tossed it to the sky. When the ball opened, Happiny emerged. Okay, dumb question: what could Happiny do? "Happiny, throw Merrill up here!" That's a little baby Pokémon! How could it-AH! Holding up Merrill by the skirted butt, Happiny was thrilled to throw the thief from that rocky chamber. Merrill flew up at high velocity out of the cavernous well. This was a big surprise for Merrill. Babies were not suppose to be that strong. Finally, she reached the rim of the well where Brock snagged her. "Gotcha!" But the momentum from that "toss" propelled Brock to fly onto his back, allowing Merrill to fall onto him. After a minute, both gazed into each one's eyes, concerned about their health. "You...uh, okay?" Merrill was so red in the face, she was lost in transition. Suddenly, her arms wrapped around his head and pulled it down. Whoa... Merrill began to smother Brock with her affection. Was this her way of thanking him? Meanwhile back at the hut, Ash was beginning to awaken from his nap. Waiting by his bed were a couple concerned girls, the littlest priestess and the elf-hunting elf. Anna, Celcia and Uxie witnessed the eyes coming to shine.
"Hey, Ash!" Anna chirped. "How are you feeling?" Ash was careful not to aggravate any of the muscles and body still aching after Cyrus tried to kill two children, Ash and Gannet. Ash performed emergency surgery and gutted his way to repairing the wounded organs of Gannet while wounded himself. When he rose to a seating position, he felt very little pain if any. It's as if Cyrus' attack never happened. It had to, why else was there bloodstains on the mattress and sheets?
"I'm...okay?" he acted bewildered. He even sounded different. He clasped his throat to make sure he was fine. "What happened to my voice? I hadn't had it since returning from Hoenn." Celcia began to scratch her elven ears. She did something to Ash that she's regretting.
"Since you brought the books and me reading them, I conjured a spell which...uh," she fidgeted. "Well..." Come on, Celcia, out with it. Anna offered to explain what Celcia struggled with.
"She tried to do a spell on your Monferno to see about understanding your Pokémon but her aim was a little off," she tried not to joke about the mistake. "She did manage to seal your wounds so you should be fine." Ash was moving around like normal. A good sign. His concern was then focused on Gannet.
"What about Gannet?" he asked. One look to the other bed showed Monferno, Grotle and Joan watching over Gannet's slumbered body. She was...smiling. That's a good sign.
"Yeah, her wounds too." Effortlessly, Ash exited out of bed to meet up with Gannet. Joan and Monferno were worried about any injuries he suffered to re-aggravate. Once arriving, he spotted a hand sticking out of the blanket. Ash clasped her hand, non-vocally telling her that if she could feel him to squeeze his hand. The hand weakly clenched his. Could she be waking up? Yes. The eyelids of the redhead priestess-in-training were splitting apart to see the person who saved her from Cyrus and did an emergency operation to repair the damage done. One look over to Ash and she knew she was in safe in Ash's watch.
"A-Ash..." she murmured.
"It's okay," he muttered soft words. "You're safe." Gannet was more startled that Ash was holding her hand than she was about his new...or his old voice. Feeling no pain, Gannet sat up. She had something to get off her...bra. She dove onto Ash, thankful that she's alive.
"Ash, please! I wanna stay with you!" Ash was taken aback with Gannet's proposal. "I know I should wait for Mylee to give approval. I know I should wait for my revelation. But I've decided and I don't want Mylee to change my mind, even though I follow my God of Battle. I wanna go to your world. I wanna go with you! Please!" Ash felt bounded. This priestess-in-training wanted to forgo following the path Melissa had taken, not seeking revelation from Mylee and willing to go to the Pokémon world...and Those Who Hunt Elves seemed to strikeout again. Ritsuko might not like the scene unfolding back near Ohfun. But could Ash say? Sure, he had his old voice back no thanks to Celcia but that's beside the point. Speaking of, she witnessed this whole experience.
"You know, your god can't make all the decisions for you," she huffed. "Sometimes you gotta let your heart choose the offered path." Talk about understanding the human heart, and that's from an elf. Ash and Gannet understood Celcia, her wisdom far greater than their own together.
"In a sense, your heart's a god of your own," Ash summarized. Interesting point. Gannet huffed a chuckle acknowledging Ash and Celcia's word.
"I guess so," she giggled. "So what do you think?" Ash hesitated a bit. Was he thinking about Dawn now? Cynthia? Lily? Ritsuko? Finally, he smiled. Did he accept Gannet's wish?
"You bet." Words Gannet wanted to hear, not so much Anna and Joan who were cringing with Ash's response. They were about to be even more envious when Gannet and Ash laid lips on each other. These lips have now been claimed by Gannet and she wasn't wanting to release it or him. Celcia and Uxie were proud of the sight.
"Miss Celcia, don't you have a love interest of your own?" Joan wondered. That made Celcia panic a bit. Was there someone the elf had admired? Junpei? Brock? Perhaps Louie.
"D-D-Don't talk about it so hastily!" she roared back. Anna and Joan were about to experience an elven wrath while Ash and Gannet were busy smooching. Back at the arena, Ritsuko and Dawn scavenged through the cache of firearms. Ritsuko's looking for her favorite, it seemed.
"Where is it?" she frantically wondered as she dug through the tank. "Where is it?" All Dawn could do was watch. She's a Pokémon Trainer, not a gun collector.
"Lemme know if you find it," Dawn shrugged off before she walked to the lakeside. She wondered about what her friends were doing back home. Yet she knew there was nothing she could do at the moment. Before she knew what to do next...
"Is that you, Dawn?" a voice rang in her ears. Alerted, Dawn spun her head around for the voice.
"Who's there?" There was nothing to see...until something began to protrude from the lake. A black sphere was surfacing and Dawn spotted it. She stepped back, fearing a repeat of what happened before.
"Dawn, it's me!" The mysterious sphere levitated from the lake and floated to Dawn, a lot slower than Uxie when it was a sphere itself. Ritsuko peered out at Dawn's location, also locating the black sphere. She pulled her handgun from her skirt linen and aimed it at the sphere. Dawn noticed the unusual behavior that the sphere displayed.
"Dawn, move!" Ritsuko shouted. Dawn was so awe-driven, she couldn't get her feet to move. Frozen in fear. "Dawn, move!" Dawn was still not moving but had a feeling that it was someone she knew.
"Mes..." she stuttered. "M-Mesprit?" Suddenly, the sphere dissolved and it looked like Uxie once again, only anything yellow was magenta. It's head looked to have four stretching bulbs sticking out from the middle which had an embedded ruby. However, much like Uxie, it's body was darkened, presumably by the spell Celcia was interrupted on. Still, Dawn had to know. "What happened to you?" The being of Mesprit wasn't too sure about what happened. Ritsuko holstered her piece and joined Dawn and the second of the Lake Trio.
"When you tried to stop that bad man from destroying our world, we were marked with this ink," it tried to explain. "We began to feel this immense burst of energy like nothing we've felt fully rested. Azelf had gain so much confidence with the ink that it abandoned us to go on adventures. Uxie had so much strength that even I was powerless against my brethren. It was then that I realized my Psychic-Type abilities were extremely heightened to easily maintain contact with Uxie and Azelf, advising them to hide until you came to find us." So the Lake Trio figured that Ash, Brock, Dawn and Cynthia were here. Never underestimate the power of a Pokémon.
"We did find Uxie and removed the ink from it," Ritsuko pointed out. "Our good friend, Celcia, was trying to me and my friends home when the spell went a rye and somehow ended up on you. You and Uxie have spell fragments of said spell." Mesprit was informed plenty about that ink on its body.
"You mean to tell me that Uxie's safe?" A nod confirmed Mesprit's gratefulness.
"There's a hut near the outskirts of Ohfun where she can remove the ink," Dawn informed the pink-headed. Delighted by this news, Mesprit was ready to reunite with an old friend.
"This is wonderful! I'll head there right away!" Mesprit flew off like a rocket, heading back where the group came from a few chapters back. Meanwhile in the arena, Junpei just tossed Bartcher on his back with a vicious slam. That slam knocked all the wind out of Bartcher, unable to get back on his feet.
"And it's over!" the ring announcer determined. "Junpei will be in the final match against Louie!" The crowd roared in excitement at the contest so far, knowing that a new winner was about to be crowned. Junpei acknowledged the crowd in support. He wasn't aware of the assassination plot that was coming. In Velasquez's box and surrounded by guards, Velasquez was ready to give the Crystal Eagle away. There was one more match. Junpei vs. Louie for the title and a big payout.
"Hold it right there!" A guard yelled out. Velasquez turned to see who's disrupting his good time. Cynthia and Jeanie arrived to warn Velasquez about the assassination on him.
"Please, we're here to warn Velasquez about someone wanting to kill him!" Cynthia pleaded. Guards weren't ready to back down.
"Is that so? Where's the evidence?" These guys weren't going to be sold like that. Evidence...
"We have an eyewitness to it. She can testify that your highness' life is in danger." It seemed like a logical reason. The guard scoffed, almost dismissing this claim.
"I suggest you get back in your seats and watch the battles. You may not see them but we do have plain clothes guards around the stadium. If those guys can spot problems, they're as good as dealt with." Who knew there was undercover guards working as they watched the match. That's when a flicker of light shone in Jeanie's face. Turning, they spotted an orange triangle flag. There were only rectangle flags of various colors so that was out of place...unless it was Dawn and Ritsuko in position. Finally, Junpei and Louie stepped out onto the battleground. The finals were on.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time for the championship battle!" the announcer shouted. "From the east, seemingly and literally out of nowhere, the rumor which we now believe is true, the six-time martial arts champion, Mr. Junpei!" Junpei waived to the crowd who erupted in gradual cheer. "And from the west, member of the Magician's Guild in Ohfun, a rising champion of all, Mr. Louie!" Louie copied Junpei and rose his hand up...with only a few onlookers cheering him on. Flustered, Louie had a pretty good guess at why the crowd supported Junpei and not him.
"She's swindling again," he figured. "Doesn't that flat-chest know when to leave me alone?" No, apparently not. The announcer was ready to get this final contest on course.
"Alright, fighters!" he cheered. "Ready, fight!" The two squared and locked shoulders in the middle of the arena. The crowd roared for blood and they were about to get it. Junpei kicked Louie in the gut and blood spilled out. Louie staggered but regained his footing, wiping the blood seeping from his mouth. Junpei waived him over, a taunt. Falling for it, Louie charged right back at Junpei. Junpei fired an overhand swing but Louie ducked it. He wound up his signature strike.
"Louie Pun-AH!" Junpei caught the Louie Punch with the other hand and twirled a throw. Louie was tossed several feet but landed on his feet. He ain't going down that easily. The two engaged in close combat while a pair of leering eyes spotted Velasquez with all those guards around him.
"Prepare for your death, Velasquez," he sneered. Suddenly, Junpei came towards the metal gate where the eyes were peering from...back first. Louie was starting to get momentum and the crowd became electric. This was a final for all to remember.
"That was a good shot, Louie," Junpei complimented as he got onto steady legs. "At least I know a fighter when I see it. That's when Louie saw a hood. That's the Masked Brawler's hood.
"Hey, Junpei," Louie called for attention and pointed to the hood. Junpei wasn't about to bite on Louie's distraction.
"Nice try!" Junpei raced in with a clothesline attack but Louie rolled under it and snatched the hood. Junpei was willing to try the attack again when he saw the hood, too. "Is that?" It certainly appeared to be.
"Yeah, I think it is." The fighters were puzzled with what Louie's defeated opponent's hood was doing on the arena floor. Since Junpei beat Bartcher, it would make sense that Louie was victorious in stopping the Masked Brawler.
"Die, Velasquez!" a man shouted. Both turned to see a tiny man fly right at Velasquez. That tiny man had a dagger which was bigger than him. Cynthia and Jeanie spotted the guy, hoping that Ritsuko's shot was going to hit the mark. BANG! POW! Ritsuko shot a rubber bullet from her rifle, slamming the alledged assassin to the wall and jarring the dagger from his tinier hands. The assassin was knocked unconscious and one guard secured him. Junpei and Louie were astonished with that shot from the teenage military girl.
"Did Ritsuko kill him?"
"Nope. Rubber bullet or Less Lethal in the US," Junpei corrected. "He'll be out for sometime." Apparently, he wasn't the only one in it.
"Brother!" sounded another man. Both finalists twisted to see the Masked Brawler...without the mask. It was a disfigured man with shark teeth. Junpei and Louie were disgusted with the unmasked man. The two knew what to do.
"This whole time, you're here to take out the host, huh?" Junpei sneered while crackling his knuckles. Louie too.
"How about we take you out instead?" Louie offered. Before Mr. Ugly could react, Junpei scored a roundhouse kick to the man's ginormous gut, then reversed it and tagged him in the back, caroming to Louie. Punch time! "Louie Punch!" KRACK! Louie Punch to the base of the jaw, that had to hurt. The unmasked thing was knocked out, literally from the arena. With that distraction out of the way, both were ready to resume fighting with the crowd rising to their feet in cheer and encouragement.
"Well, shall we continue?"
"Ha, I'm ready for ya!" Both leaped at each other and restarted their bout. What would happen in this championship match? Later that evening, the arena was emptied out. All but the two male fighters, the elf hunters, the female trainers, two of the three adventurers and the Pokémon were left...but what about the Crystal Eagle?
"3rd Party Interference, my ass!" Were one of the two disqualified? "Just because that masked freak decided to pop his frigging head in our fight isn't a valid reason to kick BOTH of us out of the tournament!" The Masked Brawler did disrupt the fight with that attempt on Velasquez. In a sense, he didn't help either of them and both were disqualified due to him.
"Them's the breaks, Junpei," Jeanie murmured. Dawn placed a hand on the upset shoulder a sense of comfort.
"Look at the bright side, you did win gold for best performance," she consoled. So, if both Louie and Junpei were disqualified, who won the Crystal Eagle?
"At least it's up for grabs for next year," Airi advised. Some solace. That meant that despite awarding the DQ'ed finalists for their entertainment, the Crystal Eagle was still in the possession of Velasquez.
"And Bartcher's gonna use the winnings for being the only 'clean' fighter who won by default to spruce up his favorite watering hole," Ila informed.
"Besides, all that's left for us is returning back to Ohfun," Cynthia suggested. It's the only option for the heroes now.
"I suppose," Louie decided. "Besides, I bet Ash completely gutted out Foltess' classroom and Merrill's already counted the gold she stole." That alerted Pikachu who looked back toward the well. Brock went to rescue Merrill while Pikachu warned the others about the assassination. It ran off toward the well, catching the others off-guard.
"Pikachu?" Ritsuko called. Pikachu ignored it and pressed on until he heard a noise from a close by area. Moans...with Merrill's pitch. Ila and Dawn wondered what it could be. Ila carefully opened the door and the three peeked in. What they saw left them flabbergasted. Merrill was on Brock...under the covers...presumably naked...WOW! Ila, Dawn and Pikachu were stunned with this sighting. What could they do? Croagunk hadn't popped out to pull Brock from Merrill. It was odd.
"Guess she was honest about not liking Louie," Ila teased.
"Yeah but what do we do?" Dawn asked. "Can't leave without him or her." Yeah, Ash could be wondering about what's wrong with his best buddy in human form. Somehow they did get him onto Mike and all rode back to Ohfun. As they reached the hut, they were woefully unaware of another brewing romance. Hearing Mike, Celcia and Celecia who was visiting heard the motor of the T-74 military vehicle fast approaching. The two stepped out and there was Mike on the arrival. The group stepped off and walked to the hut.
"Welcome back everyone," Celcia greeted. Brock stepped off, Merrill sleeping on his back and having Celecia make a smug at what appeared to be admiration or love.
"Celcia, did Mesprit arrive?" Dawn wondered. Smiling, Celecia glanced back at the hut.
"Yeah, I helped it here," she insisted. "Celcia removed the spell fragments and now it's sleeping with Uxie and..." A clearing of the throat hinted that something was going on inside. Louie, Junpei, Ritsuko and Melissa seemed bewildered with that back glance. Cynthia passed the elves to look inside. Sure enough, Mesprit, the black now blue and normal, and Uxie resting together. That's when she saw Ash and Gannet in the exact same positions as Brock and Merrill, Gannet on top of Ash. Quietly and eerily calm, she closed the door. Everyone was wondering what was occurring inside the hut.
"Cynthia, is something wrong?" Dawn questioned. Cynthia remained stone faced. She's the champion, nothing's phasing her.
"Was Ash injured while we were gone?" she asked Celcia. Hearing that, Louie began to seethe in anger, thinking his teacher was responsible for Ash's harm.
"It better not be Master Foltess!" Louie snapped. Celcia shook her head.
"It was a man named Cyrus," she finally replied. Dawn and Pikachu gasped. Team Galactic's leader engaged with Ash in a battle here. "Fortunately, we did fend him off and I used the borrowed books to heal him. That and a little help from his Pokémon." Most of that was a lie. She never included Gannet, Anna and Joan into the mix. Still, everyone bought the fact that Celcia healed him and he was fine. It was an exhausting few days for all. With 2/3 of the spell fragments and Uxie and Mesprit in their possessions again, the elf hunters and Pokémon trainers were one step closer to their homes. Where's Azelf and was he in possession of the last spell fragment? Somethings are brewing in the next chapter.
TO BE CONTINUED... (Sorry for the long wait. Other projects and work were in the way.)