.:.7.:.
Vanishing
"All the things that I used to say
All the words that got in the way
All the things that I used to know
Have gone out the window."
--When It's Over-- by Sugar Ray
Cirrus-17
Gary-18
Ash-17
Brock-25
I wasn't too sure of Brock's age when the series started. I used Ash's age of 10 and I think Brock was 18 at that time. If I was wrong, let me know and I'll fix it. I just wrote and forgot to do the age thing. I also forgot one other slightly important thing. Ash and Gary have both defeated the Elite within the past year. Neither have chosen to take over as the "Grand Master" and kick Lance out of his spotlight. Gary's content to just be a Master, Ash on the other hand may want more.
The sound of chirping Pidgey's gently brought me back to the land of the living. Cracking open my eyes let me know that I was laying on my stomach on a bunch of gritty sand. The fact that I was on a beach didn't much matter to me right now. I was definatly out of it. Water gently lapping the beach and my feet tried to coax me back to the darkness that was edging my already fuzzy vision.
Gary's voice came out of nowhere, sounding distant and tinny, like through a bad phone connection. I saw him as he ran towards me, he looked like he was moving in slow motion. I tried to get up and tell him I was okay, but I could barely move and dizziness overtook me and I passed out.
When I next regained consciousness, I found myself in a bed that was in a room with white walls. At first, I thought my worst fears had come true and that I was in the looney bin, but soft snoring over-ruled that notion. I turned my head to the left and saw Gary sleeping in a chair.
A quick look down at my legs revealed that, though under a light blanket, that both were fine. That disturbed me because for some reason, I expected one to be hurt. The air conditioning fanned my tanned arms and I shivered, rubbing them briskly. I stopped and looked at them. There were no cuts. That there should have been cuts is the one thing I remembered. I frowned, also remembering Gary kissing that Other Girl.
Struggling to get up was out of the question, as much as I wanted to due to one little problem. I was only wearing one of those itty-bitty hospital gowns. I sighed, lay back down, and fell asleep.
Night is at it's peak as James Wonnur makes his way through the forest that edges Blackthorne City. Only a half hour is between him and a cozy bed at the Pokemon Center. He would have let his Charizard fly him there, but the creature is suffering from some sort of virus. It is unable to fly safely.
Noctowl hoot as if in warning and James shivers unexpectedly. Running a hand through his thick blond hair, he wonders if someone is watching him.
He is right.
The strike is so sudden that James is unable to even cry out in surprise. A large dark shape had knocked into him, throwing him off his feet and to the base of an unforgiving tree trunk. He sees stars for a second before he is pulled from the base of the tree. Sharp teeth have clamped onto his right ankle and James digs futily at the ground, dirt is shoved under his nails and a few tear. He is oblivious to that pain as sudden new pain erupts at his leg.
James screams in pain as the creature stands up, its jaws still holding his leg prisoner. The thing does not let go and it seems that it grips harder in a second before viciously shaking its head, like a Growlithe shaking a chew toy. James kicks at the creature's snout with his left leg and is rewarded by being dropped to the ground. The creature bellows in pain and James can see that it is actually a black Charizard with blue flames. At any other time, he might have wanted to capture so rare a creature; right now, James just wants to escape with his life.
"Go, Thermalzip!"
James' Charizard emerges and becomes enraged at the sight of its trainer lying on the ground, injured. Thermalzip is a high level Charizard and the winner of many battles, including nearly defeating Lance of the Elite Four. The two Charizard engage in battle, James does not give any commands to his friend, he pulls himself away from the fight by crawling.
Tears run down James' face as he wonders how such a strange Pokemon could be so evil. Maybe it's a genetic experiment, he thinks to himself. Suddenly he hears a roar of pain and the thud of a heavy body hitting the ground, and James turns around, confident of his friends' victory, only to see his Charizard lying on the ground like a child's toy.
The dark Charizard is hunched over it, torn tissue dangling from its jaws. A smile seems to be on its face.
"Thermalzip! No!" James' cry is weak, and he sobs as the flame extinguishes itself from the tailtip of his starter Pokemon. If only he'd gotten it healed in Mahogany Town, Thermalzip would have won...
The dark Charizard hisses and steps over the fallen body of the Charizard. James' only satisfaction is the numerous wounds inflicted by Thermalzip and his last thoughts are of his fallen friend and his beloved fiancee. Her smiling face engulfs his vision as the dark Charizard lunges towards him and all is blessed darkness.
Day two of my stay in the Pokemon Center. I was working on being able to sit up without the immense need to toss my cookies. After a whole morning of failed attempts, I was finally able to sit up without my vision spinning as out of control as my stomach just as dinnertime was rolling around.
Nurse Joy walked in then, a Chansey followed behind, wheeling in a covered tray. "How are we feeling?"
I smiled, "Better than this morning. I'll feel even better if you're gonna tell me there's filet mignon under that cover."
"You're such a kidder, Cirrus," Nurse Joy smiled back. "All I have for you is slightly buttered toast and pudding!"
"You're...kidding. Right?" I was feeling a bit nautious again. "I need something more substantial than that!"
"Okay, I was kidding." Nurse Joy had Chansey wheel the cart next to my bed and she lifted off the cover. Under it was a tray full of what looked like shredded beef in gravy, mashed potatoes, and a vegetable that looked like green beans that were yellow. She settled the plate of food onto a tray that fit securely over my lap.
I picked up the fork and picked at the beef. I never was too comfortable having someone watch me eat. I looked up at Nurse Joy.
"You need something?" Nurse Joy looked over to the cart. "Salt? A glass of water? What...oh! Okay!"
She understood my silent look and before leaving with Chansey, she handed me a remote for the TV. She had turned it on and closed the door gently behind her. I sighed and started eating slowly. My stomach was totally empty.
The news was the only thing on then and an anchorwoman paused as she was handed a paper. She scanned it, and her face paled. She composed herself and spoke in a shakey voice, "This just in. It seems that Blackthorne Police have discovered the bodies of Pokemon Trainer James Wonnur and his prized Charizard. Both had been brutally mauled and police fear a wild Pokemon may be the culprit." She paused and suddenly got up out of her seat, handing the paper to her co-anchor.
He too, looked shaken but he spoke in a strong voice. "Blackthorne authorities believe this to have been a random attack and are searching in teams for the Pokemon. They have stressed to the public to not panic."
I turned off the tv, wondering why the woman was so upset.
The night air is cool and it is windy, but the dark Charizard takes no notice. Its concentration is focused solely on the herd of Mareep in the meadow below. Mareep are easier to catch, unlike humans. The healing wounds on its body are itchy, but healing fast. The dark Charizard is a fast healer.
After one final, careful pass over the herd, it would strike. It berated itself for the hasty attack on the human. It had thought the boy to be an easy attack, a quick snack. Luckily the humans' Charizard had already been weakened. The dark Charizards' energy level was nearly at full. Only a few more victims before it would start it's next project.
It takes a final, unnoticed flight over the Mareep before diving down and snatching up one of the plump, surprised Pokemon. It bleats its name and futily attempts a Thundershock, but the dark Charizard is larger than a normal Charizard and it is unnaffected by the crackling electricity. The dark Charizard tosses the hapless Mareep into the air and snaps it in half with its powerful jaws. Very little of the Mareep falls to the meadow below.
The whole attack has taken fifteen seconds and another sixty seconds later pass before the Mareep's owner runs out of her hut to see what is wrong. The frantic bleating and random electric attacks skywards have caused great confusion within the herd and the owner. She and her lone Growlithe are too late to save eight of the Sheep Pokemon. The woman cannot see what the Mareep and the Growlithe see; the form of a large Charizard, winging away into the dark night.
"I want you to stay in Goldenrod for at least a week. No traveling by any means until then." Nurse Joy was very strict with that order and I would find myself staying most of that week in a different room in the Pokemon Center.
My original room was closed for repairs. The only damage Pikachu did was to the door, the window, and its frame. Since a Pokemon had caused it, its Trainer had to pay for it, but I took over responsibility for it. Pikachu had been trying to get me to stay and part of me wished I had.
And besides, I could afford it.
What I hadn't been expecting at all was the lack of news I got when I phoned home to Viridian. I had hijacked a wheelchair and wheeled my bon-bon down to the first floor to use the Vid-phone in the lobby. Yes, I was fully clothed in some new clothes (my old ones were pretty threadbare and crappy), but I was still a bit shakey with the standing and walking bit. Okay, so I was feeling lazy, so sue me.
So there I was in the lobby and calling home. While the phone was connecting, I looked around guiltily. Gary had sworn that if he found me out of my room (he'd gone shopping again on my request) that he'd go out and kiss more Other Girls. Finally, the phone breeped confirmation and I saw Matt in the moniter. I was about to say hello when he rattled on and on. I'd gotten the answering machine. How lovely.
"Sorry I can't be here to take your call. Stacie, if this is you, I'll pick you up at eight. And if this is you Cirrus, you'd better not be getting too close to that looser, if you know what I mean..."
With a quick hit on the disconnect button, and a few snickers from the person on the other side of me, I hung up. I'd call from a normal phone later. I got back to my room without anyone, like Gary, catching me in the process. Nurse Joy didn't approve either, as I'd unsucessfully asked her earlier for a wheelchair.
The sheets were in my hand and I was about to get under them, when I heard a throat being cleared. Gazing up with my most innocent glance at the doorway to see Gary glaring at me, I smiled faintly. "Sup?" I asked, weakly. I'll, ah, spare you the gory details. Seems Gary and a few Chansey's had caught sight of me, plus the wheelchair next to my bed wasn't too stratigic on my part.
"...And in other news," The anchorman was saying, "A herd of Mareep has been descimated by an unknown Pokemon..."
I turned down the volume of the tv. I really didn't want to hear that much and I was trying to get to sleep. The eleven o'clock news was worse now than yesterday when they reported that poor boy and his Pokemon were found dead. He wasn't even fifty feet from the back of a clothing shop. To make things worse, it turns out that the anchorwoman that broke the news to the public, had been his fiancee.
"...The owner of the flock said she was awakened in the middle of the night by the cries of her Growlithe and the flock itself. When she ran out to see what was the matter, it was too late. Eight of her twenty Mareep had been brutally slain. Authorities are working on the scene and we will be talking with our reporter on the scene right now."
The scene switched to show a blond man standing in the middle of a messed up meadow. Powerful lights had been set up around the meadow and people in uniforms were busily taking samples and doing other things. Grass and dirt had been torn up in clumps by the sheep Pokemon.
"That's right, Mark," The man said, looking very professional. "I'm here in the middle of a meadow and what I've seen has shocked me. The video we're about to show is pretty graphic, so if you have any little ones watching, we'll wait ten seconds for them to leave the room."
The reporter paused and stood waiting, one hand to a earpiece thing. He still looked very professional, despite the fact it was nearly eleven-thirty at night. Hey, just how many little ones did he expect to be up so late anyhow?
"Allright, now this is the footage we have to show you." The images switched from the blond man to pre-recorded footage of the field itself. There were tufts of bloody fleece and more than a few hooves and severed limbs. A silver ribbon was stained red at sliced edges. "The evidence is evident. This had been an attack made by..."
But I wasn't listening anymore. I had turned off the television and closed my eyes against the disturbing footage. Hopefully, my sleep would be less disturbed.
It wasn't. My dreams that night were filled with crying Mareep. They were running away from something that I couldn't see. They were terrified and they were dying. I was there, but I wasn't there...as if I was a ghost watching them. I'd see a black blur and then a Mareep would vanish. It happened over and over again, until a Growlithe's bark chased off whatever was attacking them.
The dream switched and suddenly I was looking into the unblinking, unseeing eyes of the dead boy. His arms had claw marks and they were torn down to the bone. The look of pure terror on his face was painful to look at. It was obvious he had died roughly.
Reaching out a hand to try to close those eyes was a mistake. Suddenly they focused and his hands grabbed my wrist in a vice-like grip. I cried out soundlessly and tried to get away, but he was too strong.
"Why?" He asked in a whispery voice, "Why did you let it do this to me?"
I woke up, drentched in sweat and I was breathing as if I'd been in a marathon. I sat up, holding the blanket tightly to me - a security blanket - and I just sat there until my heart stopped racing and my breathing was more regular. I reached over and snapped on the bedside light and looked down at my wrists. They were unmarked and I laughed, just to hear the sound of it. It was a few minutes until I was calmed down and it wasn't until then that I shut off the light and lay back down.
Luckily, the crescent moon had risen and was shining into my window. It wasn't all that bright so it didn't make it harder to try to sleep again, but it was pretty and it took my mind off of the nightmare. Though it was the last thing I wanted to do, I knew I had to get some sleep. I was scared and alone. Gary had his own room near Misty and Ash's (no they weren't sharing a room), and if Pikachu hadn't wrecked mine, I'd be in my own rented room too. As it was, they were several flights above me. I was close to the nurses quarters, in case something happened.
I thought as I tried to fall asleep. Why would I have dreamed about James and why would he have said that to me? Whatever had happened to me on that island, I was healing fast. Gary swore up and down that when he saw me last, on the island, that I'd had broken my leg and that there were cuts on my arms. But...wouldn't I have remembered that?
Closing my eyes, I felt the cool breeze of the open window wash over me. It blew in gently, bringing in the scents of the outdoors: trees, flowers, the occasional all-night eatery. It was very soothing and I was just about to fall asleep when I felt a presence in the room with me. A dark presence.
Waking was what I wanted to do most, but for some reason, I couldn't resist the sleepiness that overtook me.
The dark Charizard is feeling a most unusual emotion: Happiness. Things have been going better than according to plan for it, and things can only get better. It has an agenda to stick to, and no human is going to spoil it.
The dark Charizard swoops low over the full tree-tops, leaves tickle its belly. It doesn't laugh at the sensations of tickling, rather it laughs over the fear it induces in the sleeping--and now awake--Pokemon that had been roosting in the trees. Fear is a delicacy to the dark Charizard.
And like most delicacies, it hungers for more.
This night's hunting has gone better than planned. No more killing, the dark Charizard has eaten enough to last a week, this time the hunting is for live prey. With half the night gone, the dark Charizard swings into full force.
The village that comes into view is full of sleeping humans and the mutant Pokemon wastes no time. It flies low and slowly, almost hovering, while it sings a high-pitched melody. The song bypasses the humans' Pokemon as the song is sung to a frequency heard only by humans. The song has a limited reach, roughly equilivent to the size of a small village, like this one.
Below the dark Charizard, doors open to the houses and buildings below and humans step out onto the street. The song leads them to the center of their village, where the dark Charizard is waiting, hovering above a dark mass of energy. When the last human has stepped into the center, the dark Charizard's melody changes a fraction of a note and the humans, one by one, step into the mass of dark energy. It looks like a doorway and as the humans disappear into it, it seems to grow, bit by bit.
The last human steps through and the dark Charizard stops singing. The dark mass vanishes in a shower of blue sparkles and the dark Charizard drops to the ground, exhausted. It drinks from the small fountain that is off center of the square. There is a marble statue of a Magicarp and a Goldeen. The dark Charizard takes note of the dawn edging on the far horizon and it leaps into the air. It's mission is done, at least for tonight.
"I have to leave you," Gary said, holding my hand.
"Why?! Was I so rotten to you?" I cried out.
"No, nothing like that!" Gary said, trying to sound reassuring. "I have to get home quickly. Gramps injured himself and he needs me to capture his Gyarados. It only listens to him or me."
"When will you be back?" I hated how I sounded, weak and afraid.
"Tomorrow afternoon, no later than three."
"You're taking the train?"
He nodded, "Mystikal isn't feeling well and I don't want to risk a miscalculated Teleport. I don't want to end up with half of me in a tree or something." He stood up to leave and his hand slipped out of mine. I watched his back as he walked to the door, his brown hair brushing the collar of his shirt.
"Be careful."
Gary turned around, flashing me his "Proud as hell" look. "Don't worry, Cirrus. I can handle anything!" He waved and left, closing the door softly behind him. I watched his sillhouette on the frosted glass window on the door vanish as he walked away. I had a feeling like that was the last I'd see of him.
Twenty minutes later I was watching the news. The lastest story was about five villages in Johto and Kanto. It seems that every person in them had vanished, down to the last woman and child. I'm not talking about the BIG cities like Viridian or Blackthorne, but the little suburb-types that weren't famous for having Gyms and stuff...'cause they didn't.
"This just in...breaking news from Goldenrod Police," a blue haired man was saying.
I turned up the volume, just a hair.
"It seems that the Magnet Train from Goldenrod to Saffron has mysteriously stopped right on the tracks..."
I held my breath, No...tell me you weren't on it Gary...Tell me you're okay...
"...people on board have disappeared. I repeat, all people on board have disappeared. Though police have no suspects and no motives, this disappearance has been linked to the vanishings in the past three days. While police do not have any leads, they are urging people not to panic."
A.N.: Due to the thoughtfullness of one reviewer, and I really do appreciate it - don't think that I don't - I have cut down on the amount of times the word/letter "I" will begin a new paragraph. I'd like to take the time to thank the reviewer for letting me know. I hadn't known how irritating it was getting! Thank you, you know who you are!
Teaser: Ah the results of the actions of one. Strange things are a'foot. What will Cirrus do? Or, what has she done? Has Cirrus led the Pokedemon right to civilization? Does the Pokedemon have worse things in mind than this? How much worse could it possibly get? All this and more, next Friday.