Pokemon: Merge

Pokemon: Merge

Part 2

Chapter 1

"Hello, anyone home?" I knocked on the door of the Celadon Gym. I had broken the law to get here. I would hate if Ash found out. Erika, dressed in her favorite Kimono opened it. She was 16 now, older than when I'd left. She was more beautiful than ever, hair cropped short, brown eyes sparkling like diamonds. She enfolded me in a hug. I smelled her sweet perfume, and I felt comforted for a moment. I wasn't going to cry about Sabrina, I was going to save her. Erika held me out at arms length.

"I thought I'd never see you again."

"Told ya I'd be back." She pulled me to her, and kissed me. I didn't pull away, though I should have.

"Erika, before we do anything like last time, you should know, I was married."

"Was?"

"Well, she turned evil and's probably screwing my evil brother right now." I sobbed. Okay. Maybe I was going to cry a bit. She hugged me, letting me rest my face on her delicate shoulder. I smiled up into her face, blinking away a tear.

"I'm back, though."

"For how long?"

"As long as it takes to figure this all out. With Mew I can return to the moment I left."

"When did you leave from?"

"Thirty years from now."

"What happens to me?"

"Well, lots."

"Like what?"

"Can we discuss it over tea?"

"Sure, c'mon in."

"Thanks. I owe you one."

We sipped tea in her personal living room, secluded deep in the gym. Her attendants lived in the city itself, but she remained here, in her gym.

"Why are you avoiding telling me what happens in the future?"

"I just don't think you should know?"

"Why? C'mon, tell me."

"Well, you die."

"How, why?"

"During a Rocket attack two years from now. The building is stressed by bombing, and the sections repaired after the fire from the attack several years back collapse. You happen to be standing near one when it happens. You were crushed. I was at your funeral. You can't imagine what it felt like."

"Oh, Goddish, I'm dead?"

"Well, kind of."

"Kind of?"

"I can take you to the future when I'm done here, and the temporal flux will make you live forever, that's the only problem.

"So you're invincible, I'm guessing, from all this time travel?"

"Yeah, just about."

"Cool, I think."

"You said you were married. Who's the lucky lady?"

"Well, it was someone I'm sure you know."

"Who?"

"Does it matter, she's gone now."

"Yeah, it does. Who?"

"Sabrina, from Saffron."

"Good choice, when she's not evil."

"Well, she is now, so I'll stay here with you, if it's alright."

"Yeah, it's been a while."

"Mmhm." Erika was the only other person I'd ever had a personal relationship with, other than Sabrina. And to tell the truth, I really wished I were single again, just for a day, to pick up where Erika and I had left off.

The next day I found the psychic marriage laws on a website posted by the psychic Hegemony, where I had been looking for a cure for Sabrina. Number 7 caught my eye.

7. If one or both of the married individuals becomes a Dark Psychic, their marriage vows, and all other binding legal contracts are nullified.

Now I knew that, and I was with Erika, and I was single, I wondered how long I could stay true to my ex-wife. Sabrina had tried to kill me twice, and Erika was the kindest person I knew, almost kind to a fault, but behind her kind and gentle front there was a strong person, with a challenging mind. She was also very beautiful. I didn't think I could resist her in my fragile state.

We lived at the gym for almost a year, and I eventually let her warp through a time warp to two minutes after she left, insuring that she'd never age physically, mentally, yes, but not physically. I usually stayed in the main forest area of the gym, sleeping with the trees and grass pokemon around me, but eventually, after six months, she persuaded me to stay in her quarters, on a futon in the living room. We usually stayed up late, talking about the past, future, and whatever else we thought about. More often than not we would fall asleep together on the rush mats covering the floor, waking with the other in our arms. I knew I was getting dangerously close to her. I didn't want to fall in love with her, with Sabrina needing my help in the future, but I did. Erika was so nice, her smile so convincing. And Sabrina was evil, so far away. I couldn't help myself, or if I could, I didn't. That's when it happened.

I woke one morning, Erika asleep in my arms, on her futon bed. I kissed her, and her eyes fluttered open. She kissed me back, but we were disrupted by the flashing of a portal. Megan stepped out. She looked battered, weakened. One leg was supported by biomechanical structure, and her face had deep gashes on it. One hand appeared to be mechanical. Her eyes burned with her usual fire.

"James, what are you doing? You're married for Goddish sake!"

"No, Megan, I'm not. It's been a long time. Sabrina's turn to Dark power nullified our marriage."

"Well, things have gotten bad since you left, two years ago. Ash Ketchum was killed, along with his wife, Misty. David is also dead. Brock's in a coma, Snowflake and Brian were killed. I'm the only one left, and most of me is digital enhancements or replacements. Sabrina and Darien had twins during the first year, and she's pregnant again. Thanks to several dark psyburns, I'll never be able to have kids. Russell and Kim fell in love, if that's what you call it. All this is happening, and you're sitting here screwing some chick."

"I am not 'some chick,'" Erika said, angry.

"I've been working on a solution, and I should be to it soon, I can return to when I left. It's all going to be alright."

"Does it look alright?" Megan asked, showing the bare circuitry of her left hand.

"Once I go back, this version of you will never exist. You'll be all right, Sabrina will too."

"I exist now, I'm human, I feel pain, and I'm alive. Consider that, James. Just because you leave doesn't mean that time stops. Life goes on, and I am" She pulled me to my feet with a psychic hold. She put my hand on her chest, "there's a heart there. You need to stop thinking about what will happen, and start thinking about what you're going to do."

"Just give me time, I'll come back."

"James, you did come back, and you died. Sabrina killed you in front of me. I came back to before you left. I need to warn you. You can't stop the evil with anything but pure love. Nothing but."

"How did I die? I'm more powerful."

"You let your guard down."

"I was always weak to pretty ladies, eh?"

"Well, stick with one from now on, will you. Sabrina needs you. I need you."

"Ok, I'm going back. I'll go now, and see what I can do. If anything happens to me, come back here and get me again." Future Megan nodded, and I released Mew. It converged the energy on the portal power and opened a rift.

"James give this to the other me," Megan said, handing me her psyblade. Megan stepped through the portal. The rift closed.

"Mew, open a rift to the minute I left to come here."

"Goodbye, James," Erika said, tears in her eyes. I hugged her.

"It's not goodbye." I kissed her.

"What do you mean?"

"You're coming with me. I'll need all the help I can get." With that we stepped through the portal. Erika jumped a bit as the light flashed. She wrapped her arms around my neck. As everything turned upside down and spun she held me tighter. I felt sorry for her, and put my arm around her waist. Her grip relaxed a bit as she felt me hold her. Time travel was always scarier than dimensional travel, especially for a beginner, like the grass gym leader. We landed in the hotel room from which I'd left. Megan sat up, dazed. Snowflake looked up from his bed of shredded paper. Brian snored. Megan stared at Erika, and then back at me.

"You said I should give this to you." I handed Megan her psyblade.

"I know, I know everything that happened. It was a dream I had, and now it's coming true."

"Not a dream, a psychic link with yourself in the future."

"That explains it. Well. If that's true there's one thing I forgot to tell you. You can't just save Sabrina and the rest and expect it to be alright, you have to stop it at its source, Darien."

"I can't kill my brother. It doesn't matter if he's evil or not. I can't kill him."

"Then I will. He's not going to get away with stealing my best friend's wife, making my best friend miserable, and then taking my husband. No way," she said. She looked at the psyblade, "I may be a more powerful psychic with the powers of the future me, but I'm still a bit shady on how to use this."

"C'mon, to the mansion, I'll teach you. You too, Erika, we're going to get you some grass pokemon. Good ones, at that." So we left, my best friend, my ex-ex-girlfriend, and I, dragging a hamster and a half-wakened Brian out the hotel door, me flipping the man an amount that should have covered our room. And several others. He deserved it, I figured he'd end up cleaning out Snowflake's 'nest.'

"No, snap punch, reverse roundhouse, snap punch, back kick." I was teaching Erika some basic karate combinations. Megan stood to the side, watching. She thumbed the psyblade to life, and I broke off Erika's training, letting her fight a Hitmonchan, and went to instruct Megan with the psyblade. I ignited mine, and took her through the weakness finding, and then weakness preventing measures. She had natural talent with the psychic weapon, and I found myself on the ground, disarmed, very soon. Then I showed her how a psychic could teleport themselves and their blade to behind another's back. She had me disarmed again in a few seconds. She was good. Maybe she was picking up on the training of her future self.

The skylight crashed in, and Darien fell through, landing on his feet. Sabrina and Russell and Kim came through after him. Brian rushed into the room. He pulled out a gun and realized he was aiming at his wife, Kim. He walked up to Kim and Russell.

"Honey, get this guy away from me," Kim said.

"Of course," Brian said.

"She means, me get you," Russell said, his arm around Kim's waist. He pulled out a pistol and fired a round at Brian. Brian dodged, sliding along the slick floor. I pulled my automatic pistol and shot the gun from Russell's hand.

"That's a no-no."

"Arrgh."

"Sabrina, handle your ex-friend, the Ranger." Darien pointed to me. I pulled out my psyblade. Megan had hers out and dove towards Darien. Sabrina rushed me, her psyblade slashing high. I caught it, flinging it back out of her hand. She pulled it back psychically before it hit the ground. I came in, disarming her again. The blade landed in my hand. She backed up, straight into a corner. She stopped, inches from the wall.

"Ok, you win. Do with me what you want."

"All I want is you."

"I don't do hentai."

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about you. I want you back."

"Why? I'm evil now, even by my own judgment. And I'm sleeping with your brother."

"So? I love you, for whoever you are. Evil or not, you're still my Sabrina. I'll always love you."

"What?"

"I love you."

"Stop, don't say that, you can't, it hurts."

"I love you."

"No, c'mon, please."

"No, I love you."

"Please..." I took her in my arms and kissed her, and I felt the darkness leaving her, like a weight being lifted from her shoulders. We broke away, and I looked into her eyes. They seemed glassy.

"Thank you, James..." her eyes closed and she passed out in my arms. I carried her over to a couch, and then realized my friends needed help. I dove, kicking out Russell's legs. He fell on top of me, but rolled to the side, and, regaining his balance, kicked me forcefully. My head spun, and I tasted blood. He kicked again, but I caught his foot, twisting it. I heard a definite snap. Then he punched me in the solar plexus. The air rushed out of my lungs. And the fighting continued. Megan and Darien spun, psyblades clashing again and again. Erika stood, horrified, to one side.

"Erika, help Sabrina," I called, fending off a painful barrage of Russell's blows. Megan kicked Darien back, into a wall, He fell, almost dropping his blade. He looked worn out. His eyes closed.

"I got him," Megan called, looking towards me. Darien's eyes flashed open, and his psyblade came up towards Megan's heart.

"Megan, noooo!" I yelled. She jumped back, the blade missing her heart, cleanly slicing off her left hand. She gasped, and fell to her knee, her psyblade dropping. Megan's blade dropped onto Darien, slicing him clean through the head. The two halves of my brother fell opposite directions. I rushed to Megan's side. Russell, seeming to snap out of the darkness at Darien's demise, limped over. Kim and Brian, hand in hand, also came. We were able to get her to the medical bay, where Erika, with the help of a medical robot, was able to fit a cybernetic hand to Megan's arm. It was keyed to nerve action, and for all uses and purposes, was a real enough hand. Sabrina lay on the next table, still knocked out. When Megan could stand and perform her usual duties I asked her to run a diagnostic on Sabrina. She did. Sabrina was still unconscious, but I knew she would come to soon. Megan had some disturbing news.

"What?" I asked, as she pulled me aside.

"James, the diagnostics of Sabrina's systems say she's in working order, and the psychic analysis machine says she's a light psychic again."

"Than what's wrong?"

"She's pregnant, James."

"Huh?"
"You heard me. DNA tests should finish soon, but I can't say anymore till then."

"Goddish."

Erika stayed up late with me, while Sabrina slept, still in a coma. Erika and I were talking, over tea, as usual. I would have asked Megan to join us, but she can't stand the tea, and Erika can't stand the smell of coffee, and, also, Megan was with Russell. I wished Sabrina would wake up sooner than later, so we could sort everything out.

"Did I tell you Sabrina's pregnant?" I asked my friend. She looked up, wide-eyed, from her tea, or cha, as it is called in Japan.

"Goddish, aren't you two a bit too young to have kids?"

"Yeah. The thing is, I don't think the kid's mine. Darien is the only other person she's been with."

"Well, I mean, uh... Couldn't you have uh, how do you teen guys say it? Um, slipped one past the goalie, or something."

"No. A psychic won't get pregnant unless she wants to. It's part of the whole matter manipulation concept."

"I see. So that's why I never..."

"Yeah."

Sabrina woke up at noon the next day. I had been by her bedside since the early morning, and had fallen asleep in my chair, my head had fallen to her lap. When she woke she nudged my head.

"Wake up, James. I'm trying to get up."

"I'd imagine that that is harder with my head on your lap."

"Well, not really, but I didn't want to dump you on the ground."

"Yes, it would hurt considerably more than waking up." I kissed her.

"I'm glad I woke you up," she said, then kissed me back. I teleported us to the bedroom. I kissed her again. Then I drew back.

"What is it, James? You look, um... troubled."

"Well, I am."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not particularly, at least not with you. I love you and all, but it's just..."

"Something you can't talk to me about, " she finished, "Maybe someone else, like, Erika!" I was stung by the accusation in her words. She knew about Erika. She must have seen her earlier. I had no idea how long she'd been awake before she woke me.

"Erika has nothing to do with this."

"Then who does, Megan? Or did you actually have to find someone you didn't know to have a little fling with while I was gone?"

"Actually, it just about you, and I was just waiting for the right moment."

"Yeah right, if it's so important, why don't you just tell me now.

"Sabrina..."

"Now!"

"Ok, Ok. Sabrina, um, sorry, uh. You're pregnant, ok, I said it, I got it out in the open, ok?"

"Me, no, I wouldn't let... It wouldn't have..."

"Just mentally scan yourself, it's painfully evident." She closed her eyes for a second.

"Oh, Goddish, I'm sorry. It must have been Darien. I was evil, I'm sorry. It was too hard to resist him."

"It's alright, it's alright." I enfolded her in a hug. She sobbed quietly on my shoulder. Darien was dead, but he had dealt the ultimate damage, he had made his evil invincible. He was going to try to make me raise his kids. I was going to stop this once and for all. But how?

Several weeks later, I was at the newest tournament. I was sitting in the stands, while Sabrina, who was not even engaged to me, was off with her boyfriend. She had said that we'd best wait before getting back into our relationship. I knew what that meant. She had said that, "maybe we should see other people." Sure, she was young and beautiful, and she'd broken my heart. I almost instinctively knew that we could never be together again. Ever. She had even moved out of our house. I was single again. Probably forever. David was gone on assignment, and Erika had gone to set things straight in Celadon. The Mercs were mostly running Anti-Rocket operations for the league, and that left me alone. Even Casey had things to do. I was watching a dynamite match between a Charizard and Bakufuun.

Bakufuun dove under the Charizard's attack. Bakufuun's trainer, Sean, a guy I had met at a tournament once, commanded it to use a Slash attack. Charizard was thrown backward, slightly bleeding from gashes Bakufuun's claws had left.

"Charizard, Fire Spin!"

"Bakufuun, Reflect it back at Charizard!" Charizard was trapped in its own Fire Spin.

"Bakufuun, dig under the fire spin and finish it with a slam!"

"Bakuu! Fuuun!"

"Charrrr!" Charizard cried out in panic at the ground erupted beneath it, revealing Bakufuun, a firey menace. Charizard was knocked out. Its trainer called his next Pokemon, Poliwrath, which knocked out the wily Bakufuun. Sean chose his next pokemon, Entei, a Legendary Fire Dog. It made short work of Poliwrath, and the other four pokemon the trainer had.

"And Sean is the winner!" announced a loudspeaker. The crowd cheered. Sean was going into round 2.

"Next up, Jeremiah Filkins, and Terrance Philips. Come on down." Jeremiah was a grass trainer, with a secret. I had also known him for a while.

"Oddish, Go!" Jeremiah chose his little weed. He had spent weeks training it with moves that didn't usually work on its type, but he had found ways around his pokemon's disability. Terrance let out his pokemon, a Moltres, which would normally have made short work of Oddish, except that Jeremiah's was special.

"Oddish, poison it with poison powder, then dig!"

"Ha, you're inexperienced, Oddish can't dig," Terrance said to Jeremiah. At that second the poison powder hit Moltres, poisoning it, and then the Oddish dug. Jeremiah had taught it to dig. Moltres was weakened continuously by poison, while Oddish hid underground. Moltres fainted.

I watched the matches progress, until the announcer called the end of that day's competition. I walked back to my room. On the way back, I saw two guys dressed in Pokemon League uniforms chasing a man in a Rocket uniform. The rockets showed up too often. They managed to corner him. I walked up, hand on my pistol, ready for action.

"Need some help?"

"Wouldn't mind it," said a familiar voice, but I couldn't place it. The agent handcuffed the rocket, while the other read him his rights. The first agent turned around. It was Sugar. He holstered his pistol.

"Goddish, you work for the League?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah, we were on assignment at the Rocket Facility, with the demonstones, and you just had to give us trouble. The reason we kidnapped you and Sabrina was to reveal ourselves as your allies, and if you weren't from the League, dispose of you, easily."

"You could have just told me," I said, "So you aren't gay, right, that was just an act?"

"Yeah, worst undercover identity we've done yet. That was horribly embarrassing. And turns out you're a ranger. Great way to look in front of your superior, eh? Gay. Funny. "

" Ever heard of Don't Ask Don't Tell? We have a policy. Yeah, well, I'm going to get some coffee, or perhaps a very heavily spiked cup of sake. Call me if you need anything."

"Yeah.

"Whoa, Kelley, you look pretty beat," Megan said, walking in the door. I had just woken up, at midnight. I was sitting at the table in the kitchen of the mansion. Megan had just gotten back from a shopping spree. Her husband, Russell, was already asleep. I pushed a chair out for her with my foot. She sat down. My suitcase was sitting, packed by the door.

"I looked pretty when I'm not... Ah, what the hell, humor isn't working for me right now.

"Where you headed?"

"Dunno, somewhere new, I guess. Somewhere where they need me, or maybe after Sabrina."

"James, she's great, but do you want to burden yourself with all that, or what's more, could you live raising your evil brother's kids?"

"No, but I can fix it, I know I can, just not how."

"Only time will tell. Well, remember where we are, you'll always have a home here."

"Well, it is my mansion." I smiled. Megan had always been there, and I got the feeling she always would be, to listen.

"Sake?" I asked, pouring myself a glass of the rice wine.

"Sure, not too much, you remember the bouncy castle..."
"Yeah. Well, not actually that much..."

"That's a good thing," she said, barely audible.

"Huh?"

"Nothing, I didn't say anything."

"Riiight. Okay."

"What?"

"Nothing. Listen, Megan, I'll see you around, if I'm alive, so goodbye for now. I'll be back." I grabbed my bags, and left. She was still drinking sake.