Tag, you're it
"Changin' all the time
Playin' with your mind
Modified or rearranged
Everything has gotta change."
--Everything Changes
*****
Toge briiiiii!
Images of crushed shell, collapsed concrete, and the betrayal in Gary's eyes....all of it haunted me.
I sat on an ledge that hung over a still pool, my legs tucked beneath me Indian-style. I was deep in the cave, though not too far from the rest of the Trainers. I needed to think and the only way to do that, was to be alone. I didn't even bring Moonsong with me, and Gary...well, he was taking over as leader of this rag-tag group of survivors.
Below me, the pool glowed as moonlight fell onto its surface from a small, natural duct high in the ceiling.
I tossed a pebble in the pool, watching it fall, tumbling over and over before finally hitting the surface. It vanished with a plopping noise and swiftly disappeared from sight. I saw a flash of white and orange; a Goldeen or maybe a Seaking. It didn't matter though, what could when Ash was...
I really didn't want to think about it, but I couldn't get it out of my mind.
I had shoved past Gary and the others and saw Ash laying under those blankets. But it wasn't the same Ash and I would have had a hard time even trying to recognize him if it weren't for Pikachu being so loyal. For all that I saw was a sick, full blooded Dragonite; the only markings on him that marked him as Ash were the zigzag marks beneath his eyes as they had remained unchanged.
Could I have prevented this? I tossed in another pebble.
Splosh.
"You can't blame yourself."
I turned around, unable to see in the darkness as my eyes had adjusted to the moonlight, and all I saw were red glowing eyes. I wasn't afraid, for some reason.
The eyes moved closer to me and I had the sense that it was friendly. I was right, for once.
An Umbreon stepped closer to me, gold glinting off its eboney body. It sat next to me and stared out at the pool. "You have to learn to forgive yourself, Cirrus."
That shocked me. "How do you know my name?"
It turned its head, cocking it at an angle, and seemed to smile. "You really don't know...who I am?"
I shook my head, my eyes darting over it. Had it been human?
It closed its eyes for a second, reopening them to stare out once more at the pool. "Once upon a time, you promised to help me, to take me to safety. You failed me. When things seemed to be at their worst, you saved me, my avenging angel."
"Eevee?" I gasped, suddenly unable to take my eyes from it.
"Yes!"
Tears filled my eyes, blurring the sight of this proud Pokémon. I brushed them away and reached out a hand to him. The thick black fur was luxuriously soft, kitten soft, and he sighed beneath my touch. "How did you evolve?"
"After Xanady went nuts, I left Professor Oak and hid in the forests. I never stayed in one place for too long, since I wasn't sure if Xanady was going to use me like she did Gary. I wasn't going to be her puppet. I trained at night and hid during the day. I battled any who would take me on, and sometimes just to protect myself." He looked up at me. "I had been following you from Viridian. I fought off any who came too close to your group."
"I'm sorry." The words hung like dirty laundry.
"Why?" The Umbreon crept into my lap and lay its head on my knee. "I forgave myself, you, and even Xanady a long time ago. I still want to kick her ass, but I've forgiven her."
"Humph, I'm glad we're thinking on the same level, but I don't know if I can forgive myself."
"You have to, if we are to succeed and defeat Xanady."
"Can you stop saying that name? It's really driving me buggy."
"What, this? Xanady, Xanady, Xanady..."
I placed my hands around his muzzle, hushing him. "Really, I'm begging you...Don't say that name."
*****
"CIRRUS!"
I lept to my feet and hit my shoulder on an unseen outcropping of rock. Umbreon was launched from my lap and nearly fell into the pool below.
Moonsong's eyes reflected the water and I saw fear in those eyes. "It's Gary...he's going nuts!"
We sped through the small warren of tunnles, Umbreon providing the light from a Flash, and we made it quickly to the main chamber. Inside, I heard Gary shouting and the sound of flames roaring.
My first look was of Gary being held down by Vine Whips, the slender green lengths wrapping around Gary and holding him down. Then there was a burst of flame and the vines retracted, only to lash forth again.
"STOP!" I shouted, then screamed it, and a sudden crack of electricity punctuated my words. A Thundershock. I ran forward, unconcerned at how I regained a small electric attack, and dashed through the crowd. "What is going on here?"
"He attacked Ash," An unchanged man named Anthony said. "He knocked Pikachu unconscious and then tried to kill Ash."
"Is that true?" I stared up at Gary. "Did you...?"
A sudden, wild look overcame his eyes and he reared up and lunged at me. I fell to the side and he ran past and out of the chamber. I ran after him, out of the light and into the darkness. Behind me, I heard angry voices, punctuated by a loud, "PIKA PI!"
What could I do? I ran as fast as I could, but he was a Rapidash. The angry voices faded and was replaced by the thudding of hooves. He wasn't running very fast, the Vine Whips must've really hurt him. I followed the flames, a streak of yellow and red, and suddenly we were out of Mt. Moon and into the daylight.
I was anything but cautious as I ran out into the path outside of Mt. Moon and I stopped suddenly. Gary was nowhere in sight, but I caught sight of sindged and still smoking leaves and branches that marked his flight. He'd run through the clearing we'd camped at last night and past that.
I stood in the clearing we had camped in and called out his name, over and over again. I waited about twenty minutes and then turned back to the safety of Mt. Moon. The entrance was ten feet from me when it happened.
I heard the startled cries of Pokémon in the distance, in the direction Gary had run towards. Was he attacking someone else? I saw two Spearows fly high into the air and fall like stones back into the thick canopy of trees. Whatever it was, was coming this way.
I ran to the entrance and turned around. All I saw was a slight disturbance in the air, like the ripples of a stone's passing into a pool of water. The ripple moved fast and it ran right through me.
As it did, Mew's necklace burned white-hot and I could see an aura of pure white surrounding me. Despite the pain the necklace brought, I wondered if I would have a crab-shaped mark branded onto my chest. I turned, drunkenly, to see the ripple vanish into the trees, moving towards Pewter.
I gasped then, unaware that I'd been holding my breath. I felt like a marionette that just had its strings cut.
"Xanady!" Mew's voice chimed from beside me. I spun towards the voice to see her sitting on the Mt. Moon sign. "I'm sorry, Cirrus, I wasn't quick enough again." The little Pokémon looked positively distraught.
"Don't worry, Mew," I said, reaching out a paw towards her. "It's o...okay..." I dropped to the ground, clutching my three-fingered paw. Already, I was shrinking, again.
"I guess I'm not the great genius I thought I was." Mew's voice was wry. "But honestly, I'm suprised it wasn't an instantaneous change, so maybe my necklace helped after all."
"Helped how?" I demanded, stepping out of my now useless mound of clothes. "Mew, I'm a foot and a half tall, I have three fingers on each hand, and I'm....not pink." I blinked. I was still Raichu-tan.
Mew giggled. "You look funny! A Mew with Raichu ears...and a tail-tip, and other markings..."
I took a look over at myself. I was fully a Mew, but with Raichu ears and tail tip. I had tan fur, darker at my finges and toes, like mittens and socks, and a cream underbelly that reached up to my throat. I had Pikachu black back stripes and Mew let me know I still had red cheeks.
Mew giggled again.
"What's so funny?" I sniffled. "Mew, I'm a Pokéfreak! What am I now? A Raimewchu?"
This sent the little cat into more fits of giggles.
"Fine! You can just take this..." I ripped angrily at the necklace, but it wouldn't budge.
"Sorry, but you can't take that off." Her voice was suddenly sober and serious.
"Give me one good reason why."
"If you take it off, Xanady will claim you...body, mind, and spirit. As it is, you are the one shielding Ash's hideout from Xanady's Psychics. They can't influence those people if you are under my protection."
"But Gary..."
"Gary is fine and unharmed. What you were chasing, what attacked Ash, was a shade...an physical illusion, if you will. Gary had nothing to do with this. It was a trick to get you out into the open."
"So Xanady knows where I am, where Ash is, and this whole thing was a trick?"
A nod.
"So Gary is..."
"Gary is somewhat influenced by Xanady still. He is a puppet of sorts, but not her ears or eyes."
"Why did I become a Mew?"
"I have shared a great deal of my own power with you. It was only natural for the wave to shape you thusly. That you retain certain Pikachu/Raichu features is part of the shielding of the necklace. It was trying to do its job and those features are permanently yours, save for the tail-tip." Mew looked pleased.
"You know what? I don't like you right now, Mew. I really don't."
In response, she formed a TK bubble of light blue around my shed clothes, lifting them into the air. "There, there, Cirrus...there, there."
*****
Mew had Teleported both me and my clothes back to the main chamber. I reappeared next to Ash's niche, but Mew wasn't around.
"I'll be back..." Her telepathic voice faded away.
I snorted and stood up, suddenly aware that people were staring at me.
"Look, it's a Mew!"
"I thought they were a legend?"
"That can't be a Mew, it must be a Ditto!"
Pikachu bounded over to me, its cheeks sparking dangerously. "Who are you and how did you get in here?"
I sighed, "My name is Cirrus and I came in here with Gary."
"Prove it."
I rolled my eyes. They don't call them Team Stubborn for nothing.
Since I couldn't see any higher than people's knees, I shouted for Moonsong. She recognised my voice and ran towards it. She froze when she saw me, her hackles rose, and she growled.
"Moonsong, it's me!" I raised my arms in surrender.
Still baring her teeth, she stalked over and sniffed my paws. She was taller than me, too tall. Umbreon joined her a second later and his eyes widened. "Cirrus? How?"
His words eerily echoed mine and I sank against the wall. "There was another wave and I got caught. I was running after Gary and..."
"What are you talking about?" The voice was annoyed and definately Gary's. "I've been here the whole time."
I was confused, Mews words that it had been an illusion haunted me. "Moonsong, you ran and got me and told me that Gary had attacked Ash and we ran and saw Gary being Vine Whipped and..."
People were still staring. Umbreon broke the silence.
"I fell asleep in your lap when we were at the pool. The next thing I knew, you had jumped up and ran out. I followed you as far as I could, but you ran so fast that I lost you." He paused. "Cirrus, you never entered the main chamber and no one raised a Vine Whip at Gary once."
"And I would never hurt Ash. He...we've all been through too much to stoop to silly rivalrys." Gary stared down at me and I was flooded by fear.
I feel like I'm loosing my mind.
*****
"We strike at dawn..."
The words, Gary's words, echoed in my mind that night. I felt stupid. Why had I run outside when I knew it to be unsafe? I would've been fine here, in the depths of Mt. Moon, but nooo I had to be the heroine. The only advantage to being a Mew was the ability to fly and I used that to get quickly back to the main chamber. Once again I had been reflecting...meditating, by the pool. It hadn't helped.
The main chamber was filled with snoring, sleeping beings. A very few were like me and unable to sleep, but those were more restless due to the want to fight. Gary had taken up camp near Ash, who hadn't awaken once yet, and Moonsong and Umbreon were there too. Pikachu had resigned itself to a spot near, but not on Ash.
From my vantage point, they all looked pretty silly, like one big slumber party. Yet, it wasn't funny and actually it was very serious. Seriousness must make Mews sleepy, cause suddenly I was tired. I dropped down to an empty spot near the wall farthest from Gary, curled up into a small ball, and fell asleep.
*****
Pre-dawn came way too quickly. I'd been hoping that the whole, "We strike at dawn" thing was a big cliché. Alas, I was wrong.
Gary, Moonsong, Umbreon, and Pikachu split the group into four teams, a Psychic on each for communications. Ash was to stay behind with one of the Chansey-morphs. She would care for him since he was still unconscious. Also left behind was a Ryhorn and an Arcanine, two of the *real* Pokémon, for protection.
I hovered meekly behind Gary as he led his group out of Mt. Moon. I still felt stupid at being tricked so easily. Stupid and guilty for believing that Gary would attack Ash. Moonsong and Umbreon's group would run ahead and scout out Xanady's forces in Pallet. Pikachu and Gary's groups fell behind them, the main hitting force. Twenty minutes of flat-out running and flying passed before Gary spoke to me.
"Are you okay?"
"Sure," I said, faltering in mid-flight, skimming the ground before regaining my concentration and altitude.
"When you first changed, Jessie and James let me know that your form was unstable, that you would die if not in a human form. Is it stable now? Will you be okay?"
I didn't answer, I wasn't sure.
"You are stable." Mew appeared on the other side of Gary. "Shh...he can't see or sense me, so don't let on that you do."
"Well? Are you?" For the first time, I saw what I thought was worry in his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Mew vanished when I answered Gary.
Gary fell silent as the group raced through Viridian Forest.
An Abra hovered near Gary. "Xanady's forces are concentrated in Pallet. There are none in our way."
"Fine. We'll rest on Route One for a half-hour and then we're on to battle."
Viridian City was quiet and no one bothered us, though I thought I saw shadows in broken windows of buildings. I shivered and kept up with the group.
When we reached Route One, Gary stopped his and Pikachu's group in a clearing by the side of the road. I thought I recognized it, but I shook my head. I was probably wrong. I landed in a tree branch and lay on my stomach; forearms, legs, and tail hanging over the branch. I closed my eyes, wanting to shut out the sight of Pokémon, full and half-changed, and people who were avidly watching the Rapidash and Pikachu talking to them. There was a Slowking who provided a translation for those who didn't understand.
I didn't want to understand, even though I did. He was talking about battle stratedgy and the main thing was taking Xanady alive. Those that got in our way were to be held captive and those that tried to kill, would be killed.
A Rapidash clone, what a low trick!
It's undeniably shady!
In the next exciting chapter:
It's the final showdown between Xanady and those she wronged. Will Cirrus come out triumphant or will Xanady win after all?