Author's Notes: I know, I know. This part is short and there's no Reaper in it, but I wanted to get it out on time. This is also a "good guy" chapter, so the next will be an exclusive bad guy chapter, so Reaper will be back shortly. I've already got a majority of that chapter written out (in my head, that is), so it shouldn't be too long. Also, thanks for all the great reviews on Emery's vignette! You guys are the best!
Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon, so don't sue. If I did own pokemon, you can bet that Reaper would be in the TV show. Speaking of which, I own both The Reaper and Varia, so please don't use them without permission. All the other characters belong to their respective creators, so ask first.
Chapter 7—Sarena's Sanctuary
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
--Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
Sabrina could not believe her eyes. Her daughter, now sporting wings and tail feathers, stood before her along with a small menagerie of other pokemon-attributed people.
"Sarena, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Well, you see, it's…it's…" Sarena mumbled, then suddenly fell backwards. Kyle managed to catch her before she hit the ground. The girl groaned. "Man, I feel sick," she commented.
"It must have been the teleportation," Sabrina mused. "Bringing all these people with you has almost completely exhausted your energy. Come on, I can show you where she can rest for a while," the gym leader said to Kyle, indicating that he should follow her. Kyle did so, picking up the barely-conscious Sarena and carrying her in his arms. The girl's wingtips and tail feathers dragged along the ground.
Having no other choice, Varia, Emery, and Indigo walked after Sabrina as well. They were led to a small room just off the gym's battle arena. The room was hardly furnished, but it did have a bed for Sarena to rest in. Kyle laid her down gently, although it was a bit more difficult with trying to position her wings and tail feathers comfortably around her. Sarena made a small noise that could have been a thank-you to Kyle and folded her wings around her body. In seconds, the girl was sound asleep. Sabrina, not having to worry about her daughter anymore, turned to the other four, examining them curiously.
"Now, would any of you care to explain just what is going on?" she asked pointedly.
"Hell, how should we know?" Varia snapped, her Mew tail lashing angrily. "We were just trying to save Kyle and Sarena, then all of a sudden we end up here, wherever this is, and you start asking us what's going on!"
"Er…Varia? I really don't think you should be talking like that to Sabrina," Indigo in a low whisper. "I've heard that she turns people into dolls when she gets pissed."
"What are you talking about?! How do you know that lady's name? What the hell is going on?!" Varia exploded. Everyone turned to give her a surprised look, including Sabrina.
"You've never heard of Sabrina?" Indigo asked, slightly astonished. "She's the gym leader in Saffron City."
Varia's anger dissipated abruptly and was replaced with a look of fear. "Saffron City? Are you saying we're in Saffron City?" Indigo nodded slowly. "What?! No! I can't be here! Send me back! Send me back home right now!" Varia exclaimed. She seemed on the brink of hysterics.
"Varia, it's okay. Team Rocket can't find us here," Kyle said, attempting to reassure her.
"I don't care!" she shrieked. "Don't you understand? I have to go back to Viridian right now!" With that, she ran out of the room. Kyle ran after her. Indigo and Emery were about to follow, but Sabrina stopped them.
"Don't worry about her. That boy will make sure she's okay," she explained. "However, I would still like to know just what is going on, if you don't mind."
After one final glance after their two departed friends, Indigo sighed. "All right, but you better get comfortable. It's gonna be a long story."
As Indigo began to tell the gym leader the events that had led up to their arrival, Kyle caught up with Varia just as she was about to run out of the gym. He caught her by the shoulder.
"Let me go!" she cried out. "I'm going home even if I have to walk!"
"We're miles from Viridian!" Kyle said, trying to talk some sense into the girl. "Besides, even if you could walk there, how far do you think you'd get without being noticed? The ears and tail are a bit obvious, you know."
Varia stopped struggling to break free of Kyle's grasp and just looked up into his gray eyes. Her gaze dropped in embarrassment. "You're right. It'll be really easy for Team Rocket to track me down if I just walk around with these…these things in plain sight. God damn it! Why, Kyle? Why did this happen to me? I just wanted to be normal!"
"None of us wanted to have our genetics tampered with."
She pulled away from him. "Oh yeah? Well, what about you? You don't look too worse for wear after they messed with you! You're still human! How could you know how I feel?"
Kyle sighed. "I'm not human anymore. Here, look." He pulled up one sleeve to show his forearm. Varia gasped when she saw that his arm now had some sort of armor grafted to it. It looked like the body armor that some pokemon had.
"They gave me Alakazam DNA," he explained, pulling his sleeve back down. "I've got that body armor on my arms, chest, shoulders, and legs. So, what they did to you and the others, they also did to me." He looked at her steadily. "And how do you think I feel about it? Just because I can hide the fact that I'm not completely human anymore doesn't mean that I'm not troubled by it."
Varia felt sorry for Kyle. Her ears were lowered and her tail rested listlessly on the floor. Finally, she said, "I'm sorry. I really am. But I still have to go back to Viridian City. I just have to."
"Why?" he asked. Varia was surprised by the tone he used when asking that simple question. He wasn't challenging her choice like she had expected. Instead, he was just asking out of curiosity.
It's because…Well, I've never been outside of the city," she admitted. "It's all I've known my whole life. That's where my job is, my home is, and where my pokemon are. Everything I've ever known is there. It's where I belong. And I'm…" She broke off suddenly.
"What?"
"I'm…scared, Kyle. I'm really scared of being away from home."
Varia's eyes misted up when she finally confessed her fears. She turned her head away slightly and let her black hair fall in front of her eyes, not wanting Kyle to see her cry. But to her surprise, she felt him pull her close in a gentle hug.
"You didn't leave everything in Viridian," he said quietly. "I'm here."
****
"And there were Rockets coming from the left and right! I was all, like, bam! Pow! Die, evil Rockets!" Indigo was saying as Kyle and a calmer Varia reentered the room. "Man, you shoulda seen me! I kicked the crap outta every one o' them," she said proudly, polishing her nails on the front of her shirt. At a nudge from Emery, Indigo saw that their two companions had returned and wrapped up her story. "But they still outnumbered us, so Sarena teleported us all here and we met you in the gym."
Sabrina nodded, taking a moment to consider all the information she got from the Raichu girl. The gym leader couldn't help but wonder what had made her daughter teleport the whole group here. Why had she not chosen someplace that had been closer? That way, she would not have been as worn out as she was now. Sabrina wondered if there was some other reason Sarena had tried to get herself and her friends as far away from Viridian as she could manage.
She sat down on the bed next to her daughter and spoke quietly to her as the others just watched. "Sarena? Sarena, I need you to wake up. Wake up, sweetie." She placed her hand on Sarena's shoulder and shook the girl slightly to rouse her. Sarena groaned in her sleep and rubbed her eyes. She opened one eye just barely to squint at her mother.
"What?" she grumbled. "I'm tired."
"Why did you teleport here? Why did you take everyone so far from Viridian?" Sabrina asked.
Sarena's eyes widened and she sat up. The girl now seemed wide awake. "Mom, there was this monster at Team Rocket!" she exclaimed. "I saw it when it was talking to Varia. It called itself Mewtwo and said that it was a clone of Mew. When I saw it, I couldn't believe how much psychic power it was giving off. It wanted something with Varia and I just knew that we had to get as far away from it as possible. There was something…evil about it."
Varia nodded vigorously. "Yeah! It kept saying that we were related and that I had to help it take over the world or some nonsense like that. When I refused, it made me part pokemon." She shivered involuntarily. "It knew all this stuff about me, too."
A cloned pokemon, you say?" Sabrina remarked thoughtfully. "I'll have to talk with the other gym leaders about this. Obviously, Team Rocket is tampering with things that are out of their control."
"Mom, can we stay here for a while?" Sarena asked suddenly. "I think we all need some rest and a little while to sort things out."
Sabrina nodded. "That would be fine. Just be sure that all of you stay out of sight of the public. There's no telling who might spot you or what they might do."
"Heck, you don't need to tell us twice!" Indigo exclaimed. "Now, since we're gonna be here for an extended stay, what do you say you point us in the direction of the kitchen? I'm starving!"
With a laugh, Sabrina agreed that getting some food might be a good idea and led the group to the kitchen, except for Sarena who chose to lie back down on the bed. She wrapped her wings around herself and smiled.
"And while I'm here, maybe I can learn to fly, too!"
Author's End Notes: Pretty short, pretty pointless, but I had to post something! Anyway, the next part will be infinitely more interesting as I am going to delve into Reaper's psyche a bit (oooh, scary!). Also on the writing front, Indigo's vignette for The Beginning of the Road is in the works. That's all, so be good and write a review, please!