Abused and Vindicated
I feel abused, but vindicated. So much of importance has happened over the last two weeks, and the previous two days were, if anything, as eventful as the previous eleven. I have shed more tears and experienced more emotion over this fortnight than over any of my prior twenty-one years, or so it seems to me now.
After Jessie, James, Meowth and Meowsie II and I teleported from Viridian City we stood in front of my gym tired but intact. I turned to my guests, "Please allow me to go in and have a word with my father. I doubt he will be happy to hear I'm offering sanctuary to a bunch of Rocket agents."
"Ok, you do what you have to do," Jessie replied.
I walked through the double doors and down the hallway to the Leader's Office watching junior psychics, channelers, and would-be hypnotists back into the walls or dive into rooms off the hallway as I advanced. I reached out to knock on the office door and my father's gruff voice came through the wood and entered my mind, "No need to knock dear, I knew you were back as soon as you entered the gym."
I opened the door telekinetically. My father stood next to my desk his dark hair and beard around his chin peppered with gray. "I kept things in order while you were away," he said needlessly, "You know I'm proud of you for taking on a mission with an Elite Four member. I always hoped you would come out of that shell you were hiding within."
I looked into his deep brown eyes and sighed trying to avoid thinking thoughts about Koga and what he meant to me now, it was a strain trying to block out my father's curious probing. "I need to discuss something with you, and I will need the phone to make a call to the Viridian City Gym."
"What is it?" he said, "And why are you so defensive?"
I conjured up in my mind an image of the Rocket trio cooling their heels outside the gym. Father's eyes widened slightly, then I accessed my memories of Jessie's mind to give him an inkling of my motive for sheltering her and her friends.
"This is very unlike you Natsume, you are just, but seldom generous. Why do you offer these raffish criminals our protection here?" Father said becoming stiffly formal and businesslike.
"Because everyone deserves a second chance if they seriously take it. This Musashi woman is inclined to be my friend and I wish to help her and her lover start anew. The Meowth that travels with them will some day become an important link between humans and Pokémon as well."
"It's a severe risk to arouse the enmity of Giovanni. I've known him for much longer than you, he is grasping and vengeful."
"I think I can handle it," I said bowing my head to father in respect.
"And I suppose you can handle loving a man only a couple of years my junior too?" he growled.
I blushed from head to toe, "I...I think that is my business. I happen to think we are better matched in other ways."
"To think my cautious, self-possessed daughter would give her heart when it could most easily be bruised or torn in two," he said quietly, "I fear for you my dear, you know nothing of what it takes for a man and a woman to live together."
"I'm willing to take the risk," I sniffed trying to keep my suddenly rampant emotions in check, "I've seen the man's heart and he has a great fondness and respect for me."
He looked tired, closed his eyes and said, "Very well, but always remember that your mother and I are here if...if you get hurt."
I smiled, "Of course father." I reflected for a moment, "You know, this is the first time I can really see your love for me. I don't believe I would have noticed it before this trip."
"Are you going to introduce me to our new, ahem, employees?"
"Oh yes, let me fetch them."
* * * * * * *
My father went off with Team Rocket to show them around the gym and settle them into their quarters. I sat at my desk and switched on the Visiphone with my mind, I said, "Call Viridian City 501-6666 extension 1." I watched the random snow on the screen trying to compose myself. In all my years in charge of the Marsh Badge I had never spoken to the forbidding defender of Earth Badge. An image took shape. A man in a russet business suit with his face obscured by shadow stroking the head of a Persian appeared on the screen.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of a call from the Saffron City Gym Leader?" he said with a trace of menace.
"Koga and I were able to locate Mewtwo," and I noted his body becoming tensely coiled, "In the process we ran into some of your underlings."
"Those idiots!" he muttered he then calmed down and said, "No need to worry about them they will be taken care of. I'll do the same for you if you dare tell anyone else about this."
"Your threats have no effect on me, if I die my ghost will give you no rest and bring on your inevitable ruin, and rest assured I will tell the League and the police about your operation if you raise your hand against Koga or Jesse, James and Meowth. These last three are now in my employ."
"You are a fool to associate with those bumblers, but be my guest, they will ruin you before I would be able to do so."
"I find they have strengths you never saw in them. They will do much better in a smaller organization with less stringent demands."
"Ha! We will see about that. So what did my great creation have to say? Mewtwo should come home."
"I believe Mewtwo allowed you should go to a much warmer and lower place than here, and no, he's not in those caverns any longer," I said suppressing a smirk.
"Well, enjoy your incompetent new 'friends' and inform them to keep their mouths shut about Team Rocket and me if they know what's good for them. Which I doubt."
With that he abruptly cut off the call leaving me in a cold sweat, although I knew from probing his unpleasantly scheming mind that we all were safe, at least for the foreseeable future.
* * * * * *
I was anxious to call Koga. I told the phone, "Please dial Fuchsia 606-4652." The screen remained fuzzy for a long time until a brusque message flashed on the screen, "The party refuses your call."
I blinked. Koga refusing my call? Something wasn't right. Still, my father's warning flashed through my mind. I stood up slowly, unsteadily and walked numbly into the hall and bumped into Jessie and James walking down the hall arm in arm.
"Your father's as warm and charming as you are," James noted wryly.
"Uh huh," I mumbled.
Jessie's eyebrows shot upward, "What's with you?" Then she went a bit green and gasped, "Oh no! Gio's gonna rub us out anyway isn't he?"
"No that's taken care of," I murmured, "I just had a call refused at Koga's gym. I was so sure..."
Jessie scowled, "Listen girl, it can't be what you think, but it's still not good. Let's go down to Fuchsia right now!"
"It can wait," I said softly. "We need some rest now. I'll go there in the morning."
"I'm coming with you," Jessie said decisively.
"If you wish," I sighed turning to head down the hall to my room.
I could hear Meowth's parting comment, "Boy she sure looked spooked. Din't she?"
* * * * * *
In the morning I arose very early, and quickly got dressed in my usual black turtleneck, red tunic, black pants and leather boots. I combed my hair distractedly and went down to the former Rocket's room to tap on the door. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jessie coming down the hall from the lobby, she was wearing a red turtleneck with a blue vest and dark green slacks.
"I was waiting outside. C'mon let's go."
"Why are you doing this?"
She looked evenly into my eyes, "You made me admit my love to James, and you're the first person besides James who tried to understand me. I'm not going to see you get hurt and not do anything about it."
"Thanks."
"It's nothing really," Jessie mumbled turning fuchsia reminding me of our destination.
Once we were on the train, I settled into my seat and looked at my companion. She was looking out the window watching Saffron flash by as the magnet train gained speed. She turned and said, "Look, there's something else I have to do," as she dug a Pokéball out of her vest. "I don't want to hold onto your Ninetails too long, I'll start to think it's mine."
"Oh, but it is," I said smiling ever so slightly, "You're my friend. Lonely hearts like us need all the friends they can get. Let Ninetails be a sign of my regard for you. Its fire suits your fire dear Musashi."
Her tough façade fell away, "Oh...I...um, wow, this is so...amazing." She remained silent for a long time clutching the Pokéball tightly. "Nobody ever did anything like this for me except for James giving me my Ekans for my birthday. Look, would you like to trade for my Wobby?"
"No that's OK," I replied. "You need at least one psy Pokémon in my gym."
We were quiet for awhile, but we eventually started to talk about our recent adventures and the painful things that happened in our respective childhoods. It didn't seem very long before the train started to brake outside Fuchsia City as Fuchsia Bay flickered on our right. I took a deep breath and looked at the city map we purchased at Saffron Station, the gym was in a vast park near the southern edge of the Safari Zone. We'd need a taxi. I wished rather bitterly that I had traveled more often to gyms other than my own. As it was I could only teleport to two or three gyms in Kanto.
We stepped out of the taxi at the tall ornate gate to the Fuchsia Gym, an imposing and intricate mansion with two wings and a tall central hall. I turned to Jessie. "I want you to hang back in the lobby until I've tried to see Koga. You're here to give moral support, not to break down doors and browbeat anybody who gets in my way."
"OK." Jessie reluctantly agreed with a frown.
The receptionist in the lobby looked us over briefly, "Hmmm, a visit from a fellow gym leader. Don't expect to see Koga, he's sick and confined to his bed, but I'll let you talk to his daughter."
I gave a little gasp causing him to raise his eyebrow, "Something wrong?"
"Um, not really. You see I'm a psy Pokémon specialist and I had a premonition of the girl."
"Aw, Janine's a tough cookie, but she's fair. Don't worry about it."
"Oh I'll keep that in my mind," but I couldn't help feeling my heart sink as I recalled my dream. "Is Koga going to get better soon? I really did want to talk to him alone."
"Dunno, ask Janine. I'll go tell her you're here."
"Thank you."
I stared at the halls with their dark hangings and displays of the exotic weaponry of the Ninja's craft. It wasn't a cheerful place in which to wait.
The man returned looking over his bifocals, "Follow me, Janine will see you." He looked appraisingly at me, "What did you ever do to Janine? She looked really mad when I brought up your name."
"I told you, I never met the girl," I sighed. "Except in a dream."
"Oh," he said uncomprehendingly scratching his receding hairline.
I followed him down the hall feeling very shaky. At the fifth door on the left he stopped and opened it. The room it gave onto was small with wine-colored tapestries showing stylized Samurai in battle at night. The girl was seated in a plush chair that matched the color of the wall hangings. She wore a black suit with a short velvet cape. She was a little shorter than I with black hair forming a helmet of corkscrew ringlets, and she had a ponytail tied carelessly into a loose bun over her hair whorl. Her eyes were as dark as Koga's but betrayed the nature of a sly trickster. She had a confident cavalier air, but this was obscured by a supremely sour expression of distrust and petulance. How was I to talk to a teenager determined to hate me and not listen to a word I would say? I felt horribly helpless.
I sighed, "This may sound strange but we've met before...in a dream."
She looked a little shocked, "Yes, June 16. Guess that means we don't need to say anything. Right?"
"I'm afraid I must. I don't know how to put this to you," I sighed raggedly. "I'm in....love with your father, desperately attached to him. I came here out of worry. Not taking my call last night brought on this confrontation rather than forestalling it."
"Look witch! I don't know how you brainwashed my dad or what you did to make him so sick, but I'll be damned if you get anywhere near him!"
I struggled with my emotions, "How could you be that kind, open-hearted man's daughter? Your father never thought of me in those terms." I couldn't prevent a tear trickling down my face.
"I've heard the stories, from my teachers at Poké Tech and from other trainers. You played with people as if they were toys. You forced trainers you defeated to stay in your gym and you did terrible things to them!" Her voice was rising to a cold venomous fury, "I know about you - the heartless, calculating, terrorizing psychic protector of the Marsh Badge! Well, our badge is the Soul Badge, which is more soul than you'll ever have."
I hung my head, "I can't deny some of the things said about me, but I've matured. I have not done any of that in years, although I admit I still try to scare my opponents to test their mettle. Please, I'm worried about Koga, if there are any psychological roots to his malady I could help. I beg you, I love him and can't bear to contemplate his pain."
Her eyes narrowed. "He's my dad and I just know you'll do him nothing but harm'" she snarled through clenched teeth.
It dawned on me that this was hauntingly close to my own talk with my father the previous day. I went silent and looked into her dark mind and was crushed by her deep hatred and her fear of never seeing her mother reconciled with her father. I couldn't deal with this now. I needed time to consider how to defuse her fears. I tried to control my voice but the emotion caused it to break, "All right I'll leave you now, but I do care about your father very much and I really want to know you because of your importance in his life."
"Get the Hell out of here!" she hissed.
I walked out of the room in a fog. I absently brushed my sleeve across my eyes and nose to staunch the tears, but they wouldn't cease. I bumped into someone, a wiry young woman about an inch or two taller than I. "Sorry," I mumbled sniffing lightly.
"Hey, don't I know you?" the blue-black haired girl said in surprise, "Yes, of course, you're that Natsume girl I won the Marsh Badge from last year. Did you come down to see Koga? Hey you're crying, what's up?" she said handing me a blue silk handkerchief.
"Oh, too complicated," I muttered disconsolately.
"Try me," she said brightly. "Weren't you and my big brother off in the hills on a mission for the last two weeks?"
"Yes," I said quietly. "I guess it won't hurt to admit I've grown very attached to Koga and I'm worried about him. But..." and I choked on a sob.
"But Janine won't let you see him?"
"That's the size of it Aya."
"If you want access, I think I could arrange that," Aya said reassuringly.
"That hardly seems right if I haven't made things right with the girl," I said half-heartedly.
"Tell you what, she won't be able to deny a battle for the Soul Badge with a gym leader. Let's make a side bet that if you win she'll have to let you talk to Koga."
"You think she'd consent to that?"
"I'm sure of it," Aya allowed, "She's pretty cocky and she'd probably believe she could get rid of you permanently that way."
"I don't know if I'm up to it," I sighed.
"Love will find a way," she winked, smiled at me and with a toss of her long ponytail she went to the room where Janine still fumed.
* * * * * *
As we stood in the ornately carved and decorated gym Jessie looked worriedly at me, "Are you sure this will work?"
"I hope so," I half-whispered. "I wish I felt more confident."
The match attendant and Aya appeared followed by a still darkly angry Janine. The attendant raised a fuchsia and white flag, "This is a special Pokémon match for the Soul Badge. In Leader Koga's stead will be his daughter Janine. This will be a four-on-four single elimination match. The opponent is Saffron City Gym leader Sabrina Natsume, her aide will be Jessica Musashi. Janine's aide will be Aya Kunoichi."
Janine stepped forward, "I'll start this. Go Weezing!"
"Go Wobbuffet!" I shouted and winked at Jessie.
"Smokescreen Weezing."
"Safeguard."
"Weezing! Smog attack!"
"Mirror Coat," Weezing groaned, but the poison attack even at two times the initial strength had little effect. I thought quickly as Janine considered her next move.
"Tackle."
"Counter," I countered, this battle was going to last awhile if she kept using low-level attacks.
She couldn't resist playing her trump for long, "Sludge Bomb!"
I had to count on Wobbuffet's defense to survive and he did, "Mirror Coat!" I shouted. Weezing survived the initial blow but became poisoned. Janine looked stricken, "Sludge Bomb," she demanded but Weezing fainted from poison before it could attack again.
Janine glared at me, "Go Venonant."
"Use Safeguard."
Janine said, "Sludge Bomb."
I sighed. Wobby was poisoned. "Return," I said irritably.
"Go Jynx," now I had the speed advantage.
"Sleep Powder," Janine commanded, but Jynx avoided the drifting spores.
"Blizzard," thank goodness Jynx did not miss.
Janine was now in a fury, "Not fair!" she whined.
"Get 'em Golbat!" It wasn't over yet.
"Confuse Ray," she shouted. The ghost attack struck Jynx and she became hopelessly confused.
"Try to use Ice Punch," I advised Jynx but she hurt herself. However she still hadn't taken much damage. I silently said a prayer to the Goddess.
"Hit 'er with Leech Life!" Damn, a bug attack.
"Lovely Kiss," somehow Jynx planted her lips on the swift fluttery bat and it fell asleep on the floor.
"Return Golbat," Janine was about to reveal her ultimate Pokémon. I decided to hold Jynx in reserve with a little less than half of her health intact, "Come back Jynx."
Janine waited for me to tip my hand, but I simply stared back at her almost feeling sorry to be manhandling this plucky girl. She sighed, "Go Ariados."
I decided to play my ace too, "Go Merlin."
"Night Shade," she said bitterly.
A ghost attack, dear Lord. Merlin was hit hard. "Future Sight," I knew full well this might cause me trouble.
"Night Shade again,' I couldn't keep Merlin out any longer, "Return Merlin," I sighed. "Go Wobbuffet."
Janine glared at me again, "Psychic," she muttered, this didn't do much damage, but the poison was really hurting Wobby.
I sighed again then said, "Destiny Bond." Janine gasped as the poison took Wobbuffet and her spider. "End game," I said tiredly, "Go Merlin."
"Go Golbat," she said woodenly.
In a blue flash Merlin's Future Sight hit and Golbat fainted as Janine wailed over her loss.
Aya brought the Soul Badge to me and smiled thinly, "Funny how it's heart shaped isn't it?"
"Janine," I murmured. "I really am sorry, but I fought you because I love your father and I want to learn how to love you too," but she didn't answer.
A deep voice intruded from the back of the gym, "To gain this family's respect you have to beat it out of us. It's how Lorelei and I came together. I am glad you won our badge dear Sabrina, may I have the pleasure of pinning it at your breast next to that warm, quiet heart of yours?"
I looked up, there stood a pale, but steady Koga, "You shouldn't be up, go back to your sickbed right now."
"Only if my girl and my love support me there," he said turning to Janine. "Come now girl you must admit this woman fights fairly, cleverly and well."
"Yeah," she said through her bitter tears. She extended her quivering hand and I wrapped my arms around her.
"You fought well, you will be a great champion someday my dear. I shall be happy to hand you your Marsh Badge some day soon," I said with my face buried in her curls.
With that we each took one of Koga's arms and guided him back to his room as Jessie and Aya trailed behind us.
