Treading In Darkness

Disclaimer: I own a few people in here, like Harmony and some others I can't reveal to you. But they'll be kind of obvious. But I don't own pokémon or even close to owning it. So it belongs to Nintendo, Game Freak, etc etc.

Note: Alyssa=Suicune- girl

Valicano= Moltres- girl

Substorm= Lugia- boy

Struck=Raikou- boy

Rhapsody=Celebi- girl

Polarice=Polarice- girl

Bubblz=Mew- girl

Desu=Mewtwo- boy

Pyre= Entei- boy

Torch= Ho-oh- boy

Thunda= Zapdos- boy

Treading In Darkness

Part Three

A redheaded girl stretched lazily as her silver-olive eyes opened. Glancing around the room, she thought to herself: How DID I end up in here? Ah well… have to go find out, I guess. Then, a bit dismayed, she looked down at her mud-covered clothes and sighed quietly. "Looks like a shower is first, then." She pulled the covers back from a twin bed with pink covers and took another gaze at the room.

What DID happen here?! Her eyes flickered. The whole room was…

PINK!!!!

She gave a muffled shriek. Pink wallpaper, pink curtains, pink window frames, pink bed, pink dresser, pink closet, pink carpet, pink bathroom… it was like some sort of nightmare! She shuddered a bit, then calmed slightly. After all, pokeballs did look sort of cute in pink! She grinned, and tossed a pink towel over her shoulder and waltzed down to the bathroom.

The teenager slipped out of the bathroom and wrapped a soft sky blue robe around her body then tied it up. She danced on sparkling toes, then slipped on the floor and giggled. I feel much better than last night… She shuddered, thinking of it, then smiled again, looking down at her dimly reflected face. Then, her eye caught sight of a brown-black-red stain on her right arm in the tile and she frowned, then lifted her eyes to see what it was. A hardened, rust-colored, angry stream of dried blood was on her light skin, looking like a dark, deadly scar. Her eyes narrowed.

I know where this is from… last night. But I just took a shower!

Shouldn't it be gone?!

She touched the part that had bled and felt a slight spark, then pulled back her fingers swiftly and nursed them. Why… how… "Ah well… I have to go find out who had the hospitality to bring me in here!" She picked herself off the ground clumsily, still injured, and walked in a hip-hop manner to the door and out of the room.

Delicately she stepped down the stairs and landed on the ground floor on a hop. She glanced around the unfamiliar settings again, then noticed the brunette who's hands were tapping the table anxiously as she pondered. The redhead walked over to her and looked her in the eye.

"Hi! You must be the one that got me out of the cold last night! I can't thank you enough! My na-" The redhead stopped abruptly.

Those eyes… those are the eyes!

She stared at them.

It's the eyes of the girl…

Suddenly she realized she was staring and blushed a bit. "Oh, I'm sorry, I was staring."

Is this really her?

"My name's…" She racked her brain for a nice fake name. "Alyssa." She grinned. "Who are you?"

The brunette looked at 'Alyssa' curiously, then blushed herself. "Sorry, I was staring too! Uhh, my name's Harmony."

Harmony?! Alyssa's eyes widened. "Y… you're… Harmony?!" She swallowed and stared at the girl, not realizing she was staring, and wouldn't have cared if she did know.

Harmony wore a blank gaze. "Well, yeah, I just said so," she answered, wondering what was wrong with the person.

"I… I guess I should explain myself. Uhhhh…" she stammered, not sure of where to start. "Where are we?"

"Shamouti Island," Harmony answered carelessly, getting up. "You want anything to drink?"

"I'll have some tea." Alyssa sat down and fingered the woodworks of the table nervously.

"Okay." Harmony reached up and pulled out two tea bags, then started boiling some water. Turning back to Alyssa, she asked, "So where are you from?"

"Hmm? Oh, Ecruteak."

"Isn't Ecruteak deserted though?" Harmony looked at the tea bags then poured some water in two mugs.

"Yeah. Team Rocket chased everyone off a few years ago. Its kind of sad… they did a lot of killing."

"Mmm-hmmm. I had never known they killed, but I guess anything's possible with them." Harmony dropped the tea bags into the mugs and placed them on the table, then say opposite of where Alyssa was standing. "Sit down, please!"

"Okay." Alyssa slid into the chair. "And Team Rocket's a lot worse than most people know." Her eyes flickered, thinking of what had happened, all she had been through…

"I want to know something most people don't know, and it's not about Team Rocket. Are you a… a pokémon?"

Alyssa's eyes wandered, then caught Harmony's and she blinked. "Huh what?"

"I asked you if you are a pokémon."

"Oh, well… ummmmm…" Alyssa sat at the end of her chair, alarmed, while trying to not show it and think of a good excuse. "Why?"

"Oh, because… I dunno, it's just… I saw you change. From pokémon to human and back again. I took a pokémon home, and now I've got a girl. That's why."

"I… I see." Alyssa wondered whether to avoid it or not, then decided not to. She needed to hear the whole story. "You're in for a loooong story, you know that?"

"I'm not sure where to start, so I'll just begin. When I was little, I grew up with a bunch of friends. We were inseparable. I remember how much fun we had… it was great.

"Anyways, we all had this little game we'd play, called 'Travel To The Future." It was really cool. We all imagined we'd go into the future sometimes through our own time machine while we played around in a cardboard box. All eleven of us. But it was when Rhapsody, my best friend out of all of us, got really involved was when the game was the coolest and far-out freakiest.

"Because that was when she discovered…

"We had powers.

"I'm not talking those kind of stupid, superhero powers. REAL powers.

"We found out when we where playing that we had went into 'Legend's Era' of the future. Year 2000. That's what we pretended, anyways. And Rhapsody (that's my best friend) started glowing light green, to our surprise.

"Instantly, we were teleported. And then back again, just as fast. But that was only the first time. I found out that once in a while, I'd glow too. A pure, true blue. And I'd kind of be hypnotized in my own mind… it was weird. It still is. Sometimes I'm scared, still… oh, I'm getting off track. Sorry!

"And then I caught my friend Struck glowing. Yellow. I talked to him about it, and we decided to meet in our secret clubhouse to talk.

"That's when I found out that all of us could 'glow'. I had no idea what that meant, or how it would affect us, but I kept coming.

"Later, as the years passed, we were glowing more often. It would sometimes last for hours, and we would leave the house in a hurry, escaping our parents to talk to the others.

"I guess the best way to describe it at that point was a surge of energy uplifting me and strengthening me. At that point, I could fly a bit… more like floating. And sometimes it would feel like I was someone else. Kind of like… a pokémon.

"It was kind of hard for us to accept that we were… freaks, I guess. That's probably what I thought at that point. I think I was around 10.

"A few years passed, and I found my secret power strengthening. Often it would happen, at least every day. I began cutting school so that no one would find out. In fact, I missed about every other day of class. I was quiet and moody, avoiding my friends, teachers, and parents. Mostly. I still hung out with our gang: Struck, Rhapsody, Polarice, Valicano, Substorm, Bubblz, Desu, Pyre, Torch, and Thunda. We were kind of afraid of ourselves, too. There would be days when I would hide from them, too, scared to see what was happening to us.

"And then came the day. Rhapsody began glowing again. But this time, it was more intense, more like it had a purpose. And slowly, she changed into a pokémon. We all watched her in shock, and then I pulled out my Pokédex.

"I was planning on being a pokémon trainer, mostly because I wanted to be on my own, get out of school, not worry about people seeing me…

"The pokedex said, 'Celebi: Time Travel Pokémon. All other information unknown.' It was soooo weird, watching my best friend, the one I confided all my secrets too, the one who understood me for real, the one who came with me everywhere, the one who wasn't afraid of me, the one that stood by me for everything I did… she was a creature that no one knew, that I didn't know, that I was afraid to know…

"I can't explain it too well, mostly because it's hard to remember things that happened under stress, and also it was a loooong time ago… I'll explain that, too.

"Then I started to feel the surge in energy again. Angrily, I directed my thoughts to destroying everything, despite how peaceful I felt. Suddenly, I realized all life would turn out to be… I can't tell you. It'll ruin your want to live.

"To continue, I clenched my fists angrily. My eyes were blazing, and all I could see was red. It was like… someone was attacking my friends and me and I was willing to defend them with my life. I was angrier than ever at that one moment. And then the softest serenity came over me. Slowly, I calmed, to find my hands were turning into blue paws and I had a tail! And I fell on four feet to the ground.

"On the ground was a mucky puddle. Instinctively, I touched it with my paw. The water cleared instantly. I stared back at my reflection, puzzled to see a blue shining dog as my form instead of human. No, puzzled isn't descriptive enough. Abhorred works better, because that's what I was. I glanced up, and saw my other friends slowly shape-shifting, and I let out a long, quiet, howl, crying for my friends and I as we became something else… something no one knew…"

Alyssa took a sip of her tea quietly, watching Harmony quietly as the girl's eyes sucked up everything the redhead said. She shook her head a bit sadly, realizing the girl was never going to stop thinking this was wonderful…

"That's interesting… can't you keep going?" Harmony asked, sitting on the edge of her seat.

Alyssa sighed, but nodded. "Yeah. I still have a while…"

"I decided to try out my new form. I stretched, then looked back at the others. We all nodded at once, each knowing what the other was thinking. We all ran. I had no idea pokémon, even Rapidash, could be as fast as us. It was amazing. We ran, and ran, and ran, and kept running, far far away from our home. We knew, that at that point, we would never, ever turn back. It wasn't an option. We were someone else.

"The next day, I awoke back as myself again. Human, I mean. I wondered if it was a dream, until I saw my friends sprawled across the muddy path we had been racing across. I picked myself up, wincing at the bruises.

"But I knew our secret now. That was all that mattered.

"And eventually, as we ran across the pokémon lands, or flew for some of us, we learned how to change back and forth. It took a lot of effort and energy at first, but we got used to it, and learned how it could help us. Sometimes we'd change involuntarily, like when you saw me, but it worked. We ran around all of Johto and Kanto, changing into pokémon when we saw humans. It worked nicely. Not that there was anyone to fear. Rhapsody, or rather Celebi, had transported us to the past, so not many civilizations existed at that point. I'd say it was… oh, 5000 years ago? Anyways, we didn't fear much. I guess we kind of got used to being… weird? Or is it special?

"But then one day, we all got a psychic message. It said:

"'Hello there, immortal ones. You don't know me. But I know you. I need you to go to the year of 2001. Urgently. Because the world is in danger, and we need you.

"'I must warn you. There are a few chosen masters.'

"He gave us their names and left us with one last message:

"'You need to come. More than you'd think is expected of you. Come a few years earlier though, because you need to be ready.'

"Rhapsody transported us to year 1999. Since then, we've been living around, avoiding the humans, and the pokeballs. If we were caught, it would mean death. Since we're humans, the pokeball would explode on us.

"And I've been roaming around since then. This is my natural time, because I was born in 1987. I'm 13, in this life and any time I came from. And supposedly we're immortal. We're needed to control the environment, and maybe one day, the human race.

"That's also why we can't breed… there can only be one human. Never are there identical copies: you've heard the term about how everyone is unique.

"Which brings me to a very unique person: you.

"You see, there are some 'chosen masters'. You're one. So is your sister, Melody, as well as Ash Ketchum, Misty, and Brock. You're going to be the greatest master of Pokémon. And you'll have more than immortality, like us… you'll have eternal effect on everyone. Years after you die, you'll be remembered as one of the greatest pokémon masters… ever. That's the way it will be, and you can't change it."

Tired, Alyssa dropped her head to the table, shaking the empty tea mugs. She glanced up at Harmony with a glazed over look, as if saying, "That's the whole story. You happy?" She murmured lifelessly, "And my name's not really Alyssa. Its Sunnie."

Harmony's eyes locked onto Sunnie's. "So… I'm going to be a master?"

Sunnie nodded.

"And this Rhapsody… is she in any relation to my sister?" Harmony asked.

Sunnie nodded again. "She IS your sister."

Harmony sat still without saying anything. My sister… is… a pokémon? She stared at Sunnie. "Are… are you sure?"

Sunnie nodded yet again. "Positive. Ask your sister, she'll know. Then again, you probably can't."

"Huh?"

"Well, Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket… you know what Team Rocket is, right?" Harmony nodded. "Yeah, well, he captured all of us… and tried to send some kind of evil energy into us. I… I can normally talk to them psychically, but… it doesn't work now…" Her eyelids lowered. "God am I tired…"

"I see…" Harmony murmured.

Sunnie got up and smiled at her. "By the way, you're the chosen one at the legends festival! Tomorrow! Don't you think you should get ready?"

Harmony sweatdropped. "I… I'm WHAT?!?!" In a frenzied panic, she tore around the room.

Sunnie stared blankly at her. "Uhhhh…. Yeah, you are."

Harmony stopped running amuck. "Okay. Guess I have to get ready, right?"

Sunnie grinned. "Yup!"

Harmony glanced at her. "Hey… how do YOU know? Why should I believe you?"

Sunnie mumbled something under her breath, irritated, then answered her. "Because the line in the legend begins with, 'Disturb not the harmony', stupid."

Harmony blinked, then made a 'V' for victory sign. "Oh yeah! That's right!"

"Meowth… that's right…" murmured Sunnie, a little frustrated at Harmony.

Jessie looked around Ecruteak again. "Why DID the boss send us here?!"

Meowth answered her. "Becus da pwace its empty!" he retorted angrily. "He doesn't want us to get into morwe troubwle, Meowth! And if dere's no one here, we can't get in trouble!"

Jessie sighed. "I guess you're right."

"The boss still thinks we're failures…" finished James.

All three sighed together.

"I wonder if there's anything worth keepin' in this dump," mused Jessie. Distracted, she walked forwards, her head to the ground, and rammed heads with another girl.

"J… Jessie?!" exclaimed Cassidy, her eyes huge with shock.

"Cass?!" Jessie asked back.

"I… I thought you were… were dead!" Cassidy stuttered.

"I thought I'd never see you again!" Jessie added.

Cassidy rubbed her eyes. "Wait… you can't be Jessie… the real Team Rocket Jessie is dead…"

"Not this one," grinned Jessie. "You think the boss would kill US? We just brought him some legendary pokemon!"

Cassidy stared. "So… so did we…"

Jessie stared back. "But… but why?" The rain fell across her face, sending single strands of hair across her forehead. James and Meowth came up from behind Jessie.

Butch stepped behind Cassidy and stared with her. "So… why aren't you dead?"

Meowth 'looked' at them. "I bet da Boss probably predended he killed us and den had us woik for him unda cover so we still made him mona…"

James grinned. "And that's probably why our paycheck increased suddenly… eeehoooo!" he laughed. Jessie whacked him with her paper fan.

"Be quiet, James!"

James laid on the ground, his eyes swirling. "Oooooh Jesssssiicaaaa!!!!! Jesssssiiiicaaaaa, the onnnneee that hooooollllds my hhhhhheaaaaaaaRRRT!!" he sang in a drunken-like stupor.

"Uhhhh…" Butch looked at James confused. Jessie rolled her eyes while struggling not to cover her ears.

"Excuse James… he's just like that…"

"Ooooooooooooooh JessssssssiiiiiiCAAAAAAAAAA, do you luuuuuuuuuuuuuuv me tooooooo?!" James continued. Meowth slapped him.

"GET UP YOU LIL NASDY PARASECT!!!!!" Meowth screeched.

James' ears rang. "EIEIEIEIEIEIEIE!!!"

Cassidy gazed at Jessie, her eyes picking up every feature. Jessie, the girl she had secretly looked up to. Jessie, her main rival and her best friend, besides Butch. Jessie, who she had thought was killed and she would never see again… a tear ran down her cheek. Jessie was alive… she was real… Cassidy stepped forwards and touched the side of Jessie's face. "I… I can't believe it…"

Jessie glanced back confused, but then she realized what Cassidy was thinking. "You better believe it!" Cassidy grinned back at her through her tears.

Melody let the rain drop onto her. "Disturb not the harmony…" she mumbled. She shook her head sadly. I can feel it coming… the day when we rise to become greater, but lower than ever before… She traced the shape of a pokeball on the mud besides her. Tomorrow… She blinked. With her fingers, she added crude beams of light coming out of the pokeball.

Tomorrow.

She looked at her drawing, adding one final touch. In the middle of the pokeball, she wrote….

G S

Magik came up to Harmony and tugged on her dress like a tiny baby. "Cllle?" she asked. Harmony picked her up.

"Sunnie, meet Magik. Magik, meet Sunnie," introduced Harmony.

The tiny Clefairy jumped out of Harmony's arms and stumbled over to Sunnie. "Cle! Faairy! Clee!" she exclaimed.

"Awww, what a cutie!" Sunnie pet Magik. The Clefairy purred. Sunnie looked at Harmony while petting the Clefairy. "Do you have anything else I can wear? I mean, I'm only in a bathrobe…" She giggled a bit. "I think I want to wear actual clothes just in case…"

"In case of what?" questioned Harmony curiously.

"Well, Giovanni has control over us, so if I change into a pokémon, I'll be doing whatever he wants me to. And if I change back… I'm not sure everyone will want to see me dressed in… this…" she explained, blushing a bit. Magik looked up at Sunnie.

"Oh… eheheh, sorry! I'll bring down something for you to wear. Is it okay if Melody once wore it?" Harmony asked, turning around to go upstairs and get something suitable to wear.

"Oh… uh, yeah." Sunnie sat down. Magik smiled at her, then raced off clumsily after Harmony.

Harmony came back down, a bundle of clothes in her hands. "Here you go," she said, giving the clothes to Sunnie. "They're a little dressy, for the legends festival, but they'll do."

Sunnie unfolded them and smiled. A slim, blue with light silver flowers kimono. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere!" she commanded. Harmony nodded with a grin.

"Yessir!" she answered, grinning impishly. Sunnie pretended to scowl at her, then both girls giggled. Sunnie took a step forward, then turned back to Harmony.

"Wait… where's your bathroom?" The two girls giggled harder.

"Its… over there…" answered Harmony between fits of laughter.

"Okay, gotcha!" Sunnie trotted off to the bathroom to get changed.

Giovanni groaned in frustration. Stupid creatures, he thought angrily. The rain pattered against his window on his top floor office. Suddenly, his eyes flickered dangerously. Maybe I can contact them telepathically… I'll choose Lugia. Lugia!

His eyes widened. Sir?! Urgh, get away from me, demon! Lugia sent back at him telepathically.

I'm not a demon. I'm your friend and trainer.

Ha! I am mastered by no one! Those who could take me would be the strongest ever! You are not my owner, I am owned by no one!

Giovanni smiled. That is where you are wrong. Now, attack Ho-oh.

Noooooo!! cried out Lugia in pain. You… you can't…

Oh yes, I can, responded Giovanni, chuckling.

Lugia's eyes narrowed. No… I can't… But he found the movements forced onto him, no choice. Please, stop… he pleaded to himself. But no, he shot out a huge glowing beam at Ho-oh, the tears running down his cheek and blending with the rain. I've lost… I've lost against Giovanni… a human! He unwillingly threw his own body at Ho-oh. Ho-oh screeched, and turned to Lugia, its eyes showing anger, resentment… and behind that, deeper, was the feeling of hurt, that the firebird was trying to hide, hurt that his friend could attack him. Ho-oh flamed at Lugia. Both pairs of eyes were blazing. Lugia cried out, not in pain, but in fear and the same hurt Ho-oh was hiding.

Giovanni smiled. Somehow, psychically, he could tell that he had pitted the two birds against themselves. This was going to be better than he thought…

Articuno looked at Torch and Substorm. Angrily, she screeched. What are you doing?!

Substorm looked back at her. I'm sorry, Polarice, but I… I don't have a choice. He flapped his wings and a huge whirlwind attacked Polarice. It hit Valicano and Thunda as well, knocking them over in the air. On the ground, the creatures avoided the whirlwind easily and stared up at Substorm uneasily.

Sub, why are you doing this?! asked Desu, floating up to confront the Lugia.

I… I'm not TRYING to… but… Substorm sent back. He slammed himself into the Mewtwo as Torch tried to attack Substorm's back.

Bubblz looked up and shrieked. DESU'S IN TROUBLE!!! She glided up to the birds and cried. DON'T HURT MY DESU-KUN!!!

Desu-kun? asked Desu, raising an eyebrow. Bubblz flew over to him and hugged him.

I was soooooo worried! Don't try to get yourself into things like this!

Uhhhh… Desu stared at the overprotective Mew. Bubblz, are you feeling okay? He tried to push the attached Mew off of him, while she refused.

Oh, Desu, I never want to let go! And Bubblz fainted. Desu sweatdropped and held her limp body in his arms, looking down at her.

Struck growled. What is going on?! He looked at Rhapsody. Can you help me?

Rhapsody nodded. Get on my back. We can fly up there. The Raikou jumped on and tried to compact himself to help her gain altitude. Rhapsody soared up and looked around curiously.

Valicano smiled. Get on my back, Struck. I think Thunda will carry Pyre. Thunda nodded and swooped down and hovered over the ground as Pyre hopped on. The dog barked at Struck, trying to smile. Struck nodded, then directed his attention to Valicano and jumped on her back. They all gazed at the fight, then Thunda flew into the midst, cawing angrily. Substorm rammed into him and knocked both him and Pyre over. Pyre fell helplessly onto the ground, until Rhapsody swept down and he landed on her back. Thunda shrieked and fell, crashing into the wet ice on the ground, caused by Polarice. Substorm floated in the air, glancing around at the damage he had caused without even wanting to… and hung his head and dropped into the ground next to Thunda. Valicano was about to fly down and see what was wrong until she was attacked in the back by Torch. Her eyes turned blood red with hate. No longer could she see anything because of her anger… she grabbed Torch's neck with her claws and squeezed the life out of it. Torch's eyes glazed over and he fell down to the ground with the others. Blindly, Valicano dove at such speeds that Struck lost his grip and was thrown off to suffer below. Rhapsody zipped up and stopped in front of Valicano and held onto her face.

"Listen to me, Val! LISTEN TO ME!" Rhapsody cried, using her human voice. "DO YOU HEAR ME?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! THESE ARE OUR BEST FRIENDS!"

Valicano flapped her fiery wings against Rhapsody's frail body and the flame caught on. Rhapsody let go, her body burning. She closed one eye, trying to hold the pain, and continued.

"STOP!! STOP, FOR ALL OF US!"

Substorm trembled a bit, then pushed himself off the ground. He took off and flew into the air and ambushed Thunda from the back, causing the bird of lightning to push into Rhapsody and knock her out of the air. Valicano slammed into Substorm, and both birds fell to the ground, crushing the dogs…

The legendary pokémon had been defeated for the very first time… by themselves…

The rain fell, stronger and stronger as the pokémon dropped. Hail soon came down, despite the warm summer temperature, and lightning struck everywhere. Volcanoes erupted and the rivers overflowed, potentially drowning the planet…

Sunnie came out, glowing slightly. The kimono fit perfectly. She pulled her red hair back in a ponytail and glanced at her arm again. The blood was still there. She barely touched it, but still felt the same shock as before. Her fingers stung, and she held out her hand to find that the blood had spread onto her palm. But… the blood was still dry on her arm… and the blood in her palm was fresh, a sticky, dense liquid. She stared at her hand, not knowing what would happen, what to do anymore…

I voted against adding more to this chapter simply cuz I don't have much time, seeing as my grandfather's dying. So I'm finishing here.

And here is where I got the names from…

Sunnie- My name's Allison. Get it? Allison? Sunnie? Not to mention that you can get Sunnie from the name 'Suikun' or 'Suicune' if you try hard enough…

Pyre- Pyre with an e.

Substorm- if its not obvious, Sub (as in under) and storm. An underwater storm.

Struck- Struck by lightning.

Valicano- Volcano (DUH!)

Rhapsody- Sister of Harmony, Melody, and Carol obviously, so its obvious why I chose this name.

Polarice- Polar and ice.

Bubblz- named for the pink bubbles that Mew always has ^^;;; (By the way, wasn't what Bubblz did utterly sweet? I always thought that Mew and Mewtwo would make a good couple ^^;;;)

Desu- No, not the Japanese word… actually, I just stuck a 'u' on the end of Des (des stands for Destiny, which Mewtwo kept using in TFM…)

Torch- This one isn't too hard.

Thunda- eheheh… this is the only REALLY stupid name that I had, but I was brain dead (and still am ^^;;;) so I just kinda gave it a rest…

That's it! Next part will be delayed. But anyways… until then…

~Suikun