Final Pokémon Fantasy IX
Episode 3: Vs. Kuja
Rob slid down the hill, hopping over flat areas and trying his best to get to the psycho below him. With riveting speed, his feet skated down the hill, almost as if he were on ice. Hopping at the end of the "slide", Rob readied his sword and mustered all of his bravery. But before he could step forward to challenge the evildoer, someone said, "You have too much d*** determination! But I decided that whatever stupid crap you do, I guess I'll just have to clean up your act or follow along, and down here this chump doesn't look so threatening."
"Ash Ketchum," Rob said, not even turning back. "I should have known that you'd follow me, even to the end of the world."
"Yeah, we both would," Taz said. " You have bravery and power we don't, just like we had pokémon expertise and you didn't. We want to learn from you."
"What he said," Ash jerked his thumb to Taz.
"Heh, I see," Rob grinned. "But we have innocent lives to save and a little s*** to kick away. Let's move," Rob readied his sword, Ash his pokéballs and Taz his-
"Bows and arrows??!!" Ash exclaimed. "When did you learn to do that?"
"Grandpa taught me before I met you people. Funny I don't remember much after that... But I'm a master. I've had weapon arrows for a while."
"Ah well. Let's toast this fruitcake!!"
At that, our heroes and Pikachu ran into war, not knowing what they were about to get into.
****
"Dagger..." Kuja watched in amusement as Zidane tried to reach for his romance. She still laid unconscious after all that had happened, but Zidane didn't care. All he wanted was to cuddle with his "lovey-dovey" before Kuja blasted him to smithereens. Just as he was about to grasp her hand, Kuja blasted him away again.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! This is just TOO fun!" Kuja crowed. "Still can't touch her, Zidane! Face it, when you're dead, she's mine!"
"Too late... I already touched her, fool...ha!" Zidane laughed weakly.
"DID NOT!!!"
"Did... too..."
"Urgh!" Kuja clenched his teeth. "Playtime's over! DIE!!!" Kuja punted Zidane like a football clear over the field. Still fuming, Kuja was taken aback when he heard:
"Lay off the torture, fruitcake!!"
"Who the..." Kuja turned around to see three youths and a yellow rat charging towards him. "Heh, this is an amusing brigade. What are you fools going to do? Tackle me and hit me with your toy sword? Bring it on."
But he underestimated the mouse's power. It careened past the others and ripped what looked like a Thundara attack on him. To his utter shock (no pun intended) he was actually hurt by its power. The other three stopped right beside it.
"Pikachu had more power than I thought," the dark-skinned boy said. "But no time for amazement." He raised his sword. "Now it is time you pay, chump!" he hissed at Kuja.
"Time to toast some butt," another boy, slightly taller than the dark-skinned one said, pulling out a bow and arrow.
"Who are you? Why do you interrupt my fun?" Kuja said, standing up and making the boys reel back in horror. "Be off, you pathetic kids and mouse, and take your lack of taste with you!" Kuja slammed the earth. Pikachu jumped out the way, but the boys were shaken badly. As for the mouse, Kuja bellowed, "You want lightning?? Here, TAKE THIS!!!" he shot Thundaga at it, blasting it away. However, it rebounded and landed on its feet.
"S***, Ash!" The dark-skin yelled to the tallest of the three with messy black hair. "This one is going to take all we've got!"
"Rob! Use the dragon!" Ash shouted back. "Pikachu! Thunder!"
The mouse powered up one of its electric attacks. Kuja quickly cast reflect on himself for protection, then tried to attack Rob with a flurry of magic. However, Rob dodged the attack.
Pikachu's Thunder, which was more like Thundara, bounced right off of Kuja, but the boy with the bow and arrows placed one well-timed shot that absorbed the thunder and sliced through the air. Kuja dodged the arrow, but a touch of thunder knocked him off balance.
That's all it took for Rob to ready a red and white sphere and throw it at Kuja, smacking him in the face before landing down on the ground. However, that was just the beginning, as upon landing, the sphere opened to release a red mass of energy, and out popped a Grand Dragon, roaring with all its might.
"G.D! Make him eat Thundaga!" Rob shouted.
"Taz, give silver-hair a thunder arrow!" Ash cried.
Taz, the bow and arrow kid, readied another bow. Kuja responded to this by casting Shell on himself and launching yet another earthquake. The G.D's Thundaga was easily dodged, and the little sparks that managed to hit him were bounced off. But the bow was another story. It pierced right through the barrier and hit Kuja hard on. The shock of the arrow blew him off balance and caused major pain. "I'm losing my power... and losing to these brats!" Kuja hissed. "They will pay." Kuja ripped one of his most powerful attacks, Flare Star, on the team of misfits, blowing away even the dragon. Now all that seemed to still be standing was Rob. He was staggering and leaning on his sword. "Now you fools shall FEEL MY POWER!!" Kuja levitated and prepared to blow Rob to smithereens with his holy attack.
"NOOO!!!" Ash cried. But it was too late, as Holy shone from the sky and hit Rob with unbelievable force.
Kuja marveled at his work, but when the smoke cleared, Rob was still standing. Worse than that, he had completely recovered and had a demonic grin on his face. "Holiness makes me all shiny and new again!" he crowed in a doll-like voice. Pikachu and the Grand Dragon charged up their most powerful electric attacks, as if they were preparing for one large attack. "Now, ye shalt Steelix thy wrath!" Rob leapt up into the air, and as the thunder hit his sword, Rob ripped a Thunder Slash on Kuja, causing him to fall.
Eyes twitching, Kuja whispered to himself, "I lost? How come...?"
"You made a BIG mistake messing with those people. Now at last I can kill you..." Rob pulled out his sword.
"You haven't seen the last of me yet!!!" Kuja jumped out of the way with all the energy he could muster before Rob tried to stab him. "My hit list has now expanded to include you brats. I'll be back. You can count on it." At that Kuja disappeared in a thick wisp of smoke.
Rob stood, utterly shocked at the events that just happened. He just barely managed to fight off a madman, who nearly destroyed him and his friends, just to rescue two people. Was it worth it? He pondered this as Taz staggered towards him. "We did it. We fought off a sorcerer..."
"But was it worth it?" Rob asked, aloud but almost as if to himself.
"That's something we'll have to find out," Ash answered. He hobbled over, along with Pikachu and G.D, who were also worn out but very proud of themselves. "But at least we know we leveled up big time from that fight."
"We'll first have to see if they're still alive," Rob instructed. He went to the girl, dressed in a strange orange jumpsuit, and checked her pulse. "Yeah, she's still alive." Rob checked her breathing, and all was well there. "She's fine. She just needs to be slapped awake. "
"I'm not sure you want to do that," Ash suggested. "You KNOW what happens when you slap people awake. ESPECIALLY girls."
"Yeah, and what about that guy over there hobbling towards us?" Taz asked. "Nobody offered to check HIS pulse. Now you got him all angry."
"TAZ," Ash growled. "YOU IDIOT. Why would you need to check his pulse?! He's ALIVE AND BREATHING!!!"
"I was being sarcastic, nimrod," Taz backslapped him upside the head. "Ever heard of sarcasm?"
"WHY YOU-" Ash attention changed when the young man spoke.
"Dagger... I won't let him have you..." he hobbled closer, and to our heroes repulsion, the guy revealed to have a tail. Rob, who so happened to be in his way, was pushed gently by the monkey-tail. "Shove off, Kuja..."
"KUJA???!!" Our heroes exclaimed.
"Was Kuja-" Ash began.
"The guy we just fought?" Rob finished.
"Who IS Kuja?" Taz inquired.
"What did he want with-"
"Dagger..." monkey-tail whispered. He cuddled down close to the girl. "Dagger?" he felt her pulse, and relieved, shook her gently. "Dagger?"
The girl awakened. "... Zidane?"
"Dagger!" they hugged, much to our heroes' disgust.
Zidane and Dagger then began to kiss, and this time they were all over each other.
Pikachu looked at the romantic couple in admiration. "Pika..." it seemed to have fallen in love itself.
The boys, however, were sickened. Taz pretended to gag.
"Aw, come on, Taz!" Rob smacked Taz upside the head. "Earlier you were just talking about hitting on-" Rob turned around to the couple and pretended to smell an awful stench.
"AUGH!! My virgin eyes!!" Ash covered his eyes in horror.
"Pika!" Pikachu chanted disapprovingly. With a tail whip, Pikachu swept Ash off his feet.
"Couldn't you people give us some privacy here?!" Zidane complained.
"Sorta impossible here; we have no place to go," Taz countered.
Dagger gently put Zidane to the side and bounced up. "Who are you people anyway?"
"The name's Robert Seirdane Benton, Rob for short." Rob introduced himself.
Each of the other heroes introduced themselves, as well as Zidane and Dagger.
"Whoa! So it WAS worth it! I rescued a king and queen from a cross-dressing fruitcake!! Nobody's gonna believe this!" Rob whooped.
"WE! WE is keyword!!" Ash gave an Arbok's glare to Rob.
"Oops. Sorry."
"Uh... Did that cross-dressing fruitcake have a name of Kuja?" Dagger asked nervously.
"Yeah..."
"Kuja's back?!"
"I'm afraid so..." Zidane hung his head. "Kuja had sworn vengeance when we defeated him and Necron. I too, thought he was dead, but it seems as though somebody plucked him right out of the flow of souls. It seems as though he isn't interested in world destruction anymore. All he wants is us dead..." Then he turned to the three trainers. "I'm very surprised you three beat him."
"We are too!" Taz exclaimed. "We wouldn't have fought him off if it weren't for thick-skull ROB over here," Taz backhanded Rob on the head.
"Ow," Rob rubbed his head.
"On the other hand," Dagger bowed in respect. "I'm-erhm, WE are very grateful for your rescue. Thank you."
"No problem-" Rob started to say, but Ash interrupted him.
"ONE thing:" Ash announced. He turned to Rob. "Why were you able to recover from that holy attack?"
"Hmmm... Maybe his armor? That sword?" Zidane looked at the sword. "Or maybe he has a 'heart of will', like Vivi did?"
"Who's Vivi?" Ash questioned.
"Vivi-" Zidane looked over the hills to see Eiko, Vivi Jr., Steiner, Beatrix, and Amarant. "Um, you meet 'em."
"ZIDANE!!" Eiko cried. She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. Upon reaching him, she hugged both Zidane and Dagger and started weeping. "Oh, Zidane!!! I'm so sowwy!! I'm sowwy I was cruel! It was just too much of a shock, and then those Behemoths dragged you away, and St-St-Steiner told me that it was all Kuja's doing, and-and-and I'D THOUGHT I'D NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN!!! WAAHHHH!!!"
"There, there, it's okay now," Zidane patted her. "I believe you've learned your lesson."
"King Zidane!" Steiner and Beatrix bowed humbly. Steiner continued. "We are so glad you two are safe! I'd thought Kuja finished you off!"
"Who the heck are these people?!" Taz howled.
"I may ask you the same thing!" Steiner returned. "What business do you have with the queen and king?"
"Of what army?!"
"TAZ, YOU IDIOT!!" Rob broad sided Taz with his sword. "Were you not paying them any attention when they were introducing themselves?!!"
"I thought they were having delusions of grandeur when Kuja beat the crap out of them!!"
"He's hopeless," Rob smacked himself, and a sweat drop appeared on his head.
"Just kidding. I know they are king and queen of Alex-what's-its-face!"
"Yeah, sure you were," Ash grumbled, a sweat drop forming on his head as well.
"Who's Kuja?" Vivi Jr. asked.
"Evil fruitcake that is unfortunately my brother," Zidane grumbled.
"Not good enough!" Vivi Jr. teased. "Pops says he is the one who created the black mages."
"Ookaaaaaay!!" A sweat drop formed on Ash again.
"One question I wanna know:" Amarant said, silencing everyone. "WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE???!!!!"
Everyone took to introducing him or herself, almost like a stage show. But Ash decided to ask yet another long question: "How'd you guys end up this way?"
So once again, everyone began to explain his or her life story. Vivi Jr. however, since she didn't have much of one, explained her father's instead, and left everyone else (even Amarant) in a mess of tears. After everyone stopped crying, Rob decided to be utterly annoying and pop one last question: "Do you people have a place to stay? I'm pooped."
"Sure! Why don't you people come back to the castle?" Zidane piped. "I'd be more than happy to accompany you three. You did, after all, rescue us." Looking away, Zidane spots someone in the distance. "Huh? Who could that be?"
"Let's not forget! This world is merged!" Taz reminded Zidane.
The figure hobbled through, and when it came into view Taz saw it was a she. She had on some usual clothes, but she was bruised badly, luckily not bleeding. A closer study revealed that she was-
"Keeli!!" Taz snarled. He readied his bow and arrow. The other earth heroes followed suit.
"Is she an enemy?!" Steiner questioned.
"Yes, but she can't harm us now," Rob sheathed his sword. "She's too weak to even heal herself."
"Heh, what a nice reception," Keeli gave a mirthless laugh. "I guess it's what I deserve for torturing you losers."
"You've had your fun!" Ash snapped. But he dropped his mean tone. "But what brings you here? Why are you bruised so badly?"
"Heh, OUR hated enemy is back. They found out that this planet has merged with ours. Unfortunately, this planet has inferior technology compared to them. They'll overtake every important kingdom. You'd better stop them before they gain too much power..." At that, Keeli dropped to the ground. Amarant rushed up to catch her.
"Is she...dead?" Dagger gaped in horror.
"No!" Rob said, checking her pulse. "Unfortunately... All joking aside, she was talking about Team Rocket. The most nefarious gang of organized crime on earth, they are dedicated to using Pokémon for their nefarious crimes. But lately, that's not the only trick they've pulled up with their sleeves. They've found out how to utilize magic somehow, and now they're trying to overtake every place of importance. I had no idea Keeli hated them as much as we did..."
"One question:" Zidane pondered. "What's a Pokémon?"
"Ay, caramba!" Ash, Taz, and Rob fell over. Pikachu waved a white flag.
"This is gonna take a while..." Rob stood up. He had one heck of a job to do, and only a short time to do it. Educating a whole roster of weirdoes from the past about Pokémon is going to take a LOT of work. "Come on. Let's get to your castle, and I'll teach you EVERYTHING..."
Episode 3: Vs. Kuja
Rob slid down the hill, hopping over flat areas and trying his best to get to the psycho below him. With riveting speed, his feet skated down the hill, almost as if he were on ice. Hopping at the end of the "slide", Rob readied his sword and mustered all of his bravery. But before he could step forward to challenge the evildoer, someone said, "You have too much d*** determination! But I decided that whatever stupid crap you do, I guess I'll just have to clean up your act or follow along, and down here this chump doesn't look so threatening."
"Ash Ketchum," Rob said, not even turning back. "I should have known that you'd follow me, even to the end of the world."
"Yeah, we both would," Taz said. " You have bravery and power we don't, just like we had pokémon expertise and you didn't. We want to learn from you."
"What he said," Ash jerked his thumb to Taz.
"Heh, I see," Rob grinned. "But we have innocent lives to save and a little s*** to kick away. Let's move," Rob readied his sword, Ash his pokéballs and Taz his-
"Bows and arrows??!!" Ash exclaimed. "When did you learn to do that?"
"Grandpa taught me before I met you people. Funny I don't remember much after that... But I'm a master. I've had weapon arrows for a while."
"Ah well. Let's toast this fruitcake!!"
At that, our heroes and Pikachu ran into war, not knowing what they were about to get into.
****
"Dagger..." Kuja watched in amusement as Zidane tried to reach for his romance. She still laid unconscious after all that had happened, but Zidane didn't care. All he wanted was to cuddle with his "lovey-dovey" before Kuja blasted him to smithereens. Just as he was about to grasp her hand, Kuja blasted him away again.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! This is just TOO fun!" Kuja crowed. "Still can't touch her, Zidane! Face it, when you're dead, she's mine!"
"Too late... I already touched her, fool...ha!" Zidane laughed weakly.
"DID NOT!!!"
"Did... too..."
"Urgh!" Kuja clenched his teeth. "Playtime's over! DIE!!!" Kuja punted Zidane like a football clear over the field. Still fuming, Kuja was taken aback when he heard:
"Lay off the torture, fruitcake!!"
"Who the..." Kuja turned around to see three youths and a yellow rat charging towards him. "Heh, this is an amusing brigade. What are you fools going to do? Tackle me and hit me with your toy sword? Bring it on."
But he underestimated the mouse's power. It careened past the others and ripped what looked like a Thundara attack on him. To his utter shock (no pun intended) he was actually hurt by its power. The other three stopped right beside it.
"Pikachu had more power than I thought," the dark-skinned boy said. "But no time for amazement." He raised his sword. "Now it is time you pay, chump!" he hissed at Kuja.
"Time to toast some butt," another boy, slightly taller than the dark-skinned one said, pulling out a bow and arrow.
"Who are you? Why do you interrupt my fun?" Kuja said, standing up and making the boys reel back in horror. "Be off, you pathetic kids and mouse, and take your lack of taste with you!" Kuja slammed the earth. Pikachu jumped out the way, but the boys were shaken badly. As for the mouse, Kuja bellowed, "You want lightning?? Here, TAKE THIS!!!" he shot Thundaga at it, blasting it away. However, it rebounded and landed on its feet.
"S***, Ash!" The dark-skin yelled to the tallest of the three with messy black hair. "This one is going to take all we've got!"
"Rob! Use the dragon!" Ash shouted back. "Pikachu! Thunder!"
The mouse powered up one of its electric attacks. Kuja quickly cast reflect on himself for protection, then tried to attack Rob with a flurry of magic. However, Rob dodged the attack.
Pikachu's Thunder, which was more like Thundara, bounced right off of Kuja, but the boy with the bow and arrows placed one well-timed shot that absorbed the thunder and sliced through the air. Kuja dodged the arrow, but a touch of thunder knocked him off balance.
That's all it took for Rob to ready a red and white sphere and throw it at Kuja, smacking him in the face before landing down on the ground. However, that was just the beginning, as upon landing, the sphere opened to release a red mass of energy, and out popped a Grand Dragon, roaring with all its might.
"G.D! Make him eat Thundaga!" Rob shouted.
"Taz, give silver-hair a thunder arrow!" Ash cried.
Taz, the bow and arrow kid, readied another bow. Kuja responded to this by casting Shell on himself and launching yet another earthquake. The G.D's Thundaga was easily dodged, and the little sparks that managed to hit him were bounced off. But the bow was another story. It pierced right through the barrier and hit Kuja hard on. The shock of the arrow blew him off balance and caused major pain. "I'm losing my power... and losing to these brats!" Kuja hissed. "They will pay." Kuja ripped one of his most powerful attacks, Flare Star, on the team of misfits, blowing away even the dragon. Now all that seemed to still be standing was Rob. He was staggering and leaning on his sword. "Now you fools shall FEEL MY POWER!!" Kuja levitated and prepared to blow Rob to smithereens with his holy attack.
"NOOO!!!" Ash cried. But it was too late, as Holy shone from the sky and hit Rob with unbelievable force.
Kuja marveled at his work, but when the smoke cleared, Rob was still standing. Worse than that, he had completely recovered and had a demonic grin on his face. "Holiness makes me all shiny and new again!" he crowed in a doll-like voice. Pikachu and the Grand Dragon charged up their most powerful electric attacks, as if they were preparing for one large attack. "Now, ye shalt Steelix thy wrath!" Rob leapt up into the air, and as the thunder hit his sword, Rob ripped a Thunder Slash on Kuja, causing him to fall.
Eyes twitching, Kuja whispered to himself, "I lost? How come...?"
"You made a BIG mistake messing with those people. Now at last I can kill you..." Rob pulled out his sword.
"You haven't seen the last of me yet!!!" Kuja jumped out of the way with all the energy he could muster before Rob tried to stab him. "My hit list has now expanded to include you brats. I'll be back. You can count on it." At that Kuja disappeared in a thick wisp of smoke.
Rob stood, utterly shocked at the events that just happened. He just barely managed to fight off a madman, who nearly destroyed him and his friends, just to rescue two people. Was it worth it? He pondered this as Taz staggered towards him. "We did it. We fought off a sorcerer..."
"But was it worth it?" Rob asked, aloud but almost as if to himself.
"That's something we'll have to find out," Ash answered. He hobbled over, along with Pikachu and G.D, who were also worn out but very proud of themselves. "But at least we know we leveled up big time from that fight."
"We'll first have to see if they're still alive," Rob instructed. He went to the girl, dressed in a strange orange jumpsuit, and checked her pulse. "Yeah, she's still alive." Rob checked her breathing, and all was well there. "She's fine. She just needs to be slapped awake. "
"I'm not sure you want to do that," Ash suggested. "You KNOW what happens when you slap people awake. ESPECIALLY girls."
"Yeah, and what about that guy over there hobbling towards us?" Taz asked. "Nobody offered to check HIS pulse. Now you got him all angry."
"TAZ," Ash growled. "YOU IDIOT. Why would you need to check his pulse?! He's ALIVE AND BREATHING!!!"
"I was being sarcastic, nimrod," Taz backslapped him upside the head. "Ever heard of sarcasm?"
"WHY YOU-" Ash attention changed when the young man spoke.
"Dagger... I won't let him have you..." he hobbled closer, and to our heroes repulsion, the guy revealed to have a tail. Rob, who so happened to be in his way, was pushed gently by the monkey-tail. "Shove off, Kuja..."
"KUJA???!!" Our heroes exclaimed.
"Was Kuja-" Ash began.
"The guy we just fought?" Rob finished.
"Who IS Kuja?" Taz inquired.
"What did he want with-"
"Dagger..." monkey-tail whispered. He cuddled down close to the girl. "Dagger?" he felt her pulse, and relieved, shook her gently. "Dagger?"
The girl awakened. "... Zidane?"
"Dagger!" they hugged, much to our heroes' disgust.
Zidane and Dagger then began to kiss, and this time they were all over each other.
Pikachu looked at the romantic couple in admiration. "Pika..." it seemed to have fallen in love itself.
The boys, however, were sickened. Taz pretended to gag.
"Aw, come on, Taz!" Rob smacked Taz upside the head. "Earlier you were just talking about hitting on-" Rob turned around to the couple and pretended to smell an awful stench.
"AUGH!! My virgin eyes!!" Ash covered his eyes in horror.
"Pika!" Pikachu chanted disapprovingly. With a tail whip, Pikachu swept Ash off his feet.
"Couldn't you people give us some privacy here?!" Zidane complained.
"Sorta impossible here; we have no place to go," Taz countered.
Dagger gently put Zidane to the side and bounced up. "Who are you people anyway?"
"The name's Robert Seirdane Benton, Rob for short." Rob introduced himself.
Each of the other heroes introduced themselves, as well as Zidane and Dagger.
"Whoa! So it WAS worth it! I rescued a king and queen from a cross-dressing fruitcake!! Nobody's gonna believe this!" Rob whooped.
"WE! WE is keyword!!" Ash gave an Arbok's glare to Rob.
"Oops. Sorry."
"Uh... Did that cross-dressing fruitcake have a name of Kuja?" Dagger asked nervously.
"Yeah..."
"Kuja's back?!"
"I'm afraid so..." Zidane hung his head. "Kuja had sworn vengeance when we defeated him and Necron. I too, thought he was dead, but it seems as though somebody plucked him right out of the flow of souls. It seems as though he isn't interested in world destruction anymore. All he wants is us dead..." Then he turned to the three trainers. "I'm very surprised you three beat him."
"We are too!" Taz exclaimed. "We wouldn't have fought him off if it weren't for thick-skull ROB over here," Taz backhanded Rob on the head.
"Ow," Rob rubbed his head.
"On the other hand," Dagger bowed in respect. "I'm-erhm, WE are very grateful for your rescue. Thank you."
"No problem-" Rob started to say, but Ash interrupted him.
"ONE thing:" Ash announced. He turned to Rob. "Why were you able to recover from that holy attack?"
"Hmmm... Maybe his armor? That sword?" Zidane looked at the sword. "Or maybe he has a 'heart of will', like Vivi did?"
"Who's Vivi?" Ash questioned.
"Vivi-" Zidane looked over the hills to see Eiko, Vivi Jr., Steiner, Beatrix, and Amarant. "Um, you meet 'em."
"ZIDANE!!" Eiko cried. She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. Upon reaching him, she hugged both Zidane and Dagger and started weeping. "Oh, Zidane!!! I'm so sowwy!! I'm sowwy I was cruel! It was just too much of a shock, and then those Behemoths dragged you away, and St-St-Steiner told me that it was all Kuja's doing, and-and-and I'D THOUGHT I'D NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN!!! WAAHHHH!!!"
"There, there, it's okay now," Zidane patted her. "I believe you've learned your lesson."
"King Zidane!" Steiner and Beatrix bowed humbly. Steiner continued. "We are so glad you two are safe! I'd thought Kuja finished you off!"
"Who the heck are these people?!" Taz howled.
"I may ask you the same thing!" Steiner returned. "What business do you have with the queen and king?"
"Of what army?!"
"TAZ, YOU IDIOT!!" Rob broad sided Taz with his sword. "Were you not paying them any attention when they were introducing themselves?!!"
"I thought they were having delusions of grandeur when Kuja beat the crap out of them!!"
"He's hopeless," Rob smacked himself, and a sweat drop appeared on his head.
"Just kidding. I know they are king and queen of Alex-what's-its-face!"
"Yeah, sure you were," Ash grumbled, a sweat drop forming on his head as well.
"Who's Kuja?" Vivi Jr. asked.
"Evil fruitcake that is unfortunately my brother," Zidane grumbled.
"Not good enough!" Vivi Jr. teased. "Pops says he is the one who created the black mages."
"Ookaaaaaay!!" A sweat drop formed on Ash again.
"One question I wanna know:" Amarant said, silencing everyone. "WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE???!!!!"
Everyone took to introducing him or herself, almost like a stage show. But Ash decided to ask yet another long question: "How'd you guys end up this way?"
So once again, everyone began to explain his or her life story. Vivi Jr. however, since she didn't have much of one, explained her father's instead, and left everyone else (even Amarant) in a mess of tears. After everyone stopped crying, Rob decided to be utterly annoying and pop one last question: "Do you people have a place to stay? I'm pooped."
"Sure! Why don't you people come back to the castle?" Zidane piped. "I'd be more than happy to accompany you three. You did, after all, rescue us." Looking away, Zidane spots someone in the distance. "Huh? Who could that be?"
"Let's not forget! This world is merged!" Taz reminded Zidane.
The figure hobbled through, and when it came into view Taz saw it was a she. She had on some usual clothes, but she was bruised badly, luckily not bleeding. A closer study revealed that she was-
"Keeli!!" Taz snarled. He readied his bow and arrow. The other earth heroes followed suit.
"Is she an enemy?!" Steiner questioned.
"Yes, but she can't harm us now," Rob sheathed his sword. "She's too weak to even heal herself."
"Heh, what a nice reception," Keeli gave a mirthless laugh. "I guess it's what I deserve for torturing you losers."
"You've had your fun!" Ash snapped. But he dropped his mean tone. "But what brings you here? Why are you bruised so badly?"
"Heh, OUR hated enemy is back. They found out that this planet has merged with ours. Unfortunately, this planet has inferior technology compared to them. They'll overtake every important kingdom. You'd better stop them before they gain too much power..." At that, Keeli dropped to the ground. Amarant rushed up to catch her.
"Is she...dead?" Dagger gaped in horror.
"No!" Rob said, checking her pulse. "Unfortunately... All joking aside, she was talking about Team Rocket. The most nefarious gang of organized crime on earth, they are dedicated to using Pokémon for their nefarious crimes. But lately, that's not the only trick they've pulled up with their sleeves. They've found out how to utilize magic somehow, and now they're trying to overtake every place of importance. I had no idea Keeli hated them as much as we did..."
"One question:" Zidane pondered. "What's a Pokémon?"
"Ay, caramba!" Ash, Taz, and Rob fell over. Pikachu waved a white flag.
"This is gonna take a while..." Rob stood up. He had one heck of a job to do, and only a short time to do it. Educating a whole roster of weirdoes from the past about Pokémon is going to take a LOT of work. "Come on. Let's get to your castle, and I'll teach you EVERYTHING..."