DING DING DING! Winner winner, chicken dinner! You have picked the lucky chapter number 29! And that means...BONUS CHAPTER!
BONUS CHAPTER
Ben and Shari
Shari hacked. It was getting to her; she could feel it. "B-Ben? Where are we?"
"I...I don't know. But...it's beautiful, isn't it?" Ben didn't seem to have the same concerns. He was lucky. It didn't have him yet. It had her. "Are you okay?"
Shari fell to the ground with a nasty cough, and raised her head to look at her brother. He extended his hand; she took it. "Thanks...and, no. I don't think I am. I think...I think it's getting to me."
"What's getting to you? By the way, have you seen these leaves? They glow!"
Shari stood aghast. "H-how...How can you not remember?" She coughed. "You can't remember why we came in here?"
"Why we came here?" Ben asked, confused. "It's so pretty...look, the grass is purple! But it's still green! It's so quiet and peaceful-"
"Ben!" Shari screamed, regretting it instantly. Her throat burst into flames, angrily protesting the stress Shari was putting it through. She repeated herself, softly this time. "Ben...this isn't like you. You aren't like this. What's happening?"
Ben didn't answer. He was inhaling the scent of something through his nose. He sighed. "We came in here to appreciate how beautiful it is!"
Shari shook her head. "No, we came in here to-" Her eyes grew wide. Why couldn't she remember? She should be able to...why can't she? She squinted her eyes, looking down, trying to ignore the pain screaming at her from each and every part of her body. She saw the grass. It was pretty neat. It glowed purple...but it was still green. Ben knelt down beside her. She recoiled.
"Don't come near me! You'll catch it, too!" Shari screamed.
Ben smiled. "Stop worrying. We'll find a cure."
A cure for what? What am I talking about? Am I sick? Suddenly, she started shivering uncontrollably. I am.
"We should get out of here before too long," Shari said.
"Oh, we've only been here for a few minutes," Ben said passively.
Shari looked up at the sky. She couldn't see the sky. Only leaves. Orange, glowing leaves, casting dappled light onto the dirt path below. Delicious fruit hanging from each and every branch looked absolutely
What am I thinking? Where's the sun? How long have we actually been in here? Shari was beginning to get scared. She wrapped her coat around her. Her skin was beginning to itch underneath her jeans. She debated whether to take them off, but decided against it. She coughed again.
So did Ben.
"W...Wow...this forest's pretty neat, huh?" Shari whispered, leaning on her brother as she slid her feet across the leaf-lined path.
Ben said nothing. Realizing how tired he was, he looked up through the leaves, trying to see the sky. "What time is it?"
"I dunno...I left my watch...uh...what's the name of the place where we live?"
"Home?"
"Yeah, I left it there. What are we doing here, anyways? Remember yet?"
Ben's eyes refocused on the path in front of
Where's the path? Where did the path go? Ben thought frantically. Shari was whimsically skipping along behind him. She didn't notice.
Ben and Shari were drifting in and out of sanity.
"...Shari?" Ben asked quietly.
Shari hummed, slowing her skip to a walk, then stopped, a dopey grin on her face.
"Shari? Have you seen the path?"
She didn't respond.
"Shari!" Ben exclaimed.
Shari jumped, then turned to Ben. She coughed. "Are you talking to me?"
Ben was about to answer, then he started coughing himself. He tried to nod his head through the convulsions.
Shari began skipping again, then tripped. She crumpled to the ground, her limbs too weak from the virus to support her. Instead of crying out in pain, however, Ben watched in confusion as she started making snow angels. In the grass. "It's soooooooo soooofffft..." She drawled.
Ben sat down beside her, clutching his head. What is this forest called again? Why are we here? What time is it, Mr. Wolf? Is she right about the grass? Who is she? Who am I? Ben thought, slowly drifting back into the influence of the curse.
"Hey, Ben," Shari sighed, next to him.
"Yes, Shari?" Who's Shari?
"Do you-" She stopped, and started coughing for a good twenty seconds. "Do you think we'll become Skull Kids? Y'know, like...like the ones in Zelda? The ones lost in the forest?"
"I don't know..."...What you're talking about.
Both of the children laid down on the ground, their flaming red joints too weak from sickness to support them anymore. They laid back on the grass, the softest thing either of them could remember. They felt it grow around them.
Right before he died, Ben thought he heard a giggle.
"Banette! I'm sorry I shirked today...but...my friends were-" Shuppet tried to explain frantically.
Banette was ticked. "That's no excuse! Someone could've come to the Bazaar while you were gone, ready to buy the most expensive thing in the shop!"
"There was nobody! Everyone was busy with the restoration project!" Shuppet protested.
"But they could've. And since you were gone, we'll never know! You need to take your job more seriously! What could've been more important than-"
Shuppet interrupted. "They were in Perlex Forest."
Banette stopped talking. "Perlex Forest?"
Shuppet nodded grimly.
"And you went to get them out?"
"We know...it's hard. It's hard in there. They're trying to do something about that Voice thing! And...if they died..."
Banette sat down next to Shuppet. "It's fine. I understand. But...we need to keep up the cover."
"Why? What danger is there anymore?"
"I don't know. But I want to be prepared. Just in case. What harm is there in forgetting?" Banette said before realizing his poor choice of words.
Shuppet's glare bored into him. "We both know...exactly...what harm there is in forgetting, Ben."
"Shh!" Banette shushed Shuppet frantically, looking around to see if anyone else heard them. "Don't call me that!"
Shuppet hung her head. "I...I don't want to be a Pokémon anymore..." She whispered.
Banette frowned sympathetically. "I know. Neither do I. But you know the alternative. At least we're alive."
"No. We're not. We're ghosts in case you've forgotten. I am a puppet and you are a doll," Shuppet spat.
"Y-yes. I-"
"Sometimes I wish the virus got me! Would it be better than this?" Shuppet started to cry.
"Don't say that! You don't-"
"I am falling in love with a Pokémon, Ben! Do you know how messed up that is?!" Shuppet screamed.
"Shut up!" Ben hissed. "Come here. If we are going to talk about this, we need to do it in private."
Shuppet, seething, followed Ben to the back room of Banette's Bazaar.
"Shari, you need to keep quiet in public," Ben scolded.
Shari, instead of answering, started bawling. "I miss mom and dad! I miss our house! I miss having HANDS!"
Ben didn't know what to say. "I...I'm sorry. But...as hard as it is to take, this is our life now. And if we went around telling people...no, Pokémon that we were humans, they'd burn us at the stake, so to speak."
"D...do you think mom and dad are together?"
"I don't know. But...we'll see them. Eventually."
Ben pulled Shari into a hug.
"I'm tired...I'm gonna go to bed. Goodnight Bane...Goodnight, Ben," Shuppet went into her room.
"Goodnight, Shari."
I deleted Chapter 17 because of apparently illegal content. I don't want my story removed. So if a review for a chapter doesn't correspond with the content that's in it, that's why. And I'm sorry for the short chapter.
