** Yeah! Another chapter done. Sorry that I haven't updated this story for quite a while, but I was reading the impressive Sailor Moon/Pokemon crossovers from other authors. And updating my other stories. This story is what I would call a "moderate" story - not too much violence or anything. Yet (^^). **
Ami woke up with a splitting headache, her eyes blurry and unfocused. She blinked a few times, trying vainly to clear her vision, why her finger slowly massaged her temples. That explosion had been quite unpleasant, in the least. The blue haired girl, her vision finally regained, looked around at her surroundings and realized for the first time that she was... not where she had expected to be. A lush canopy of trees sprouted around her, and everywhere, she could hear the faint echo of bird pokemon, the sigh of the leaves, the slow trickling of water. She was, not doubt, very far away from home. As in VERY.
"That explosion must have caused some strange distortion that got us here." A voice exclaimed, the source clearly feminine, and one of much maturity.
Ami quickly whirled around, to greet an aquamarine-haired girl, who seemed a few years older than herself.
"I guess..." Ami answered, realizing that she actually didn't know who was talking to her. She immediately became cautious, wondering if the person in front of her was actually a member of Team Rocket. "Who are you, anyway?"
And the girl laughed, tossing back her wavy hair in a graceful gesture. "You can call me Michiru. I'm an... ally of yours."
Ami noticed the hesitance in choice of words. "How can I trust you if I don't know you?"
Michiru smiled. "Then, I wouldn't have helped you in the first place."
"What do you mean 'helped us'?" Ami demanded.
Michiru sighed. She then took out he pokeball, tossing it with a gentle flick into the air. Out of the pokeball rose a beautiful rabbit-like pokemon, its aqua fur glossy.
"Does that explain it?" Michiru finally demanded, gesturing at her pokemon, who waved at Ami.
Ami blinked. Then she realized that one of the pokemon which had helped them fend of Team Rocket had indeed been an Azumarril.
"Yes." Ami finally admitted. She watched as the older girl returned her pokemon. "So, you're going to help us fight too?"
Michiru turned to the younger girl. "Maybe. We are not interested in helping you fight within your group, because we have a greater mission to take care of."
Ami bristled at that comment. "What do you mean, 'greater mission'? Don't you want to get rid of Team Rocket? I can't think of anything else more important than saving the world from their grasps!"
"I can." Michiru answered quietly, not expecting Ami to understand. She sighed. "Listen. Forget that now, okay? What really matters is that we find Usagi and your other friends before..." She cut herself off, as if not wanting Ami to know something.
"Before what?" Ami demanded, now feeling more irked than anything else.
Michiru seemed to be contemplating with herself in an internal dilemma, and she finally sighed and took a deep breath. "Listen. Yes, Team Rocket is dangerous, but the greater danger is not Team Rocket, but rather the pokemon your friend Usagi Summoned. They are what we call Spirit pokemon, legendary pokemon created from the essence of your power. The last Spirit pokemon existed over five thousand years ago, and a whole kingdom was destroyed because of them."
"What do you mean? Isn't Usagi's Ho-oh good?" Ami asked.
"Yes." Michiru admitted. "But the presence of Usagi's Spirit pokemon can also create the presence of pokemon which are... a danger to this world. And woe to this world if the Summoned Spirits should battle each other, for this world would not live to tell the tale."
Ami was confused. "What are you talking about?"
Michiru simply pointed to a point in the sky. It was getting dark now, and past the canopy of tree tops, Ami could make out the faint outlines of the moon.
"That used to hold one of the most brilliant kingdoms in the universe, called the Moon Kingdom. It was a time called the Silver Millennium, where humans and pokemon bonded in ways that scientists deem as impossible nowadays. And the stronger the bond between a human and pokemon, the greater their power. The Queen of that Kingdom had the greatest power and those directly under her influence also of wonderful skill. And so, the kingdom thrived in peace until one day an advisor got jealous of her, and unleashed her own Summoning powers in a fit of rage. A wave of darkness swept over the kingdom, and the Queen, in order to protect at least her own daughter and loyal advisors, used the last of her powers to send them to the future. The reason why the rebel advisor's Summoned Spirit pokemon had been so powerful was simply because Summoned pokemon are not supposed to know evil. A summoned pokemon which works not to preserve the world but harm it, will in turn break the bonding of all humans and pokemon, resulting in darkness and sheer destruction. That is also why these days, there are no human-pokemon bondings like that of the past."
Ami thought for a moment. "Wait a second. You said there are no human-pokemon bondings now. Yet, you also mentioned something about the Queen sending her people to this time. Don't they still have that bonding?"
Michiru nodded. "Exactly. I know this sounds absolutely crazy, but we believe that there are reincarnated versions of the people who the Queen saved, living in this lifetime, unaware of their potential power. Should they Summon their pokemon for the wrong purposes, the balance of human and pokemon alike in this world would be forever doomed."
"What do you mean by 'forever doomed'?" Ami asked.
Michiru gave her a look. "What do you think I mean?" She stated, wryly. Ami asked no further, but fell silent.
"So, I guess that it would be our duty to find all the humans with such bondings and warn them before they cause potential danger?" Ami finally concluded.
Michiru nodded. "You could say that."
"But how do we know who they are? There could be so many." The younger girl's voice was at a point of despair.
"There are only nine. One of each of the planets." Michiru answered. "And the moon." She added a bit later.
Ami looked at Michiru curiously. "Why the planets and moon?"
Michiru shrugged. "I'm not too sure, but the theory behind that is that the planets are the source that provides the power behind each human-pokemon bonding. The stronger the bond, the closer they are to the power of the planet. I guess those who were closest to the power of the planets in the past were the ones reincarnated."
"Oh." Ami thought for a moment, taking everything in and digesting it word for word. "What about Team Rocket? If they get their hands on them..." Ami trailed off, not wanting to say the rest.
"That is also a potential problem." Michiru confessed. "So that is why we are wasting precious time talking while we should be finding the rest of your friends!"
"My friends would never join Team Rocket!" Ami protested. Wait a moment. "My friends? They're the ones...?"
"And you too." Michiru concluded. "There are five of you and three of us. That means that one of us is missing. That's the one I'm worried about."
Ami's mind was still swimming from the latest news. Did that mean that she was some reincarnated person from the past? Did that explain why her pokemon were so skilled and powerful even though they weren't at a high level? Was that why she could feel the actions of her pokemon when no one else could? It was funny, since she knew that she already had a special bond with her pokemon, although she hadn't deemed it to be THIS bond that Michiru spoke of. Her mind fell into a bottomless pit of questions, but she slowly shoved herself out.
"I'm ready. Lets go and find them all." Ami demanded.
Michiru nodded.
"So let me get this straight." Minako said, thinking very hard.
Haruka sighed in sheer exasperation. Did this girl not get anything?
"The real bad guys are the pokemon we Summon, so Usagi's Ho-oh is evil?" The long-haired blonde finally said, hoping that she at least had the right gist.
If she could have facefaulted, Haruka would. "Look! I didn't say that Summoned pokemon were evil! What I mean is that if the PERSON Summons the pokemon for evil purposes, THEN they would be evil, and only THEN we would be in great danger. Get it?"
"Ohhhhh." Minako finally exclaimed, looking thoughtful. Then, she did the last thing Haruka expected. She sat down, and began meditating.
Haruka stared. "And what are you doing? Don't we have to find your friends?" The dirty blonde punctuated every syllable with barely suppressed anger.
Minako opened one eye. "Don't bother me. I'm cleansing my soul of evil so that the pokemon I Summon won't be evil and I wont turn evil and destroy the world."
For lack of better words, Haruka simply stood, dumbfounded. She could NOT believe that Minako was even of the Chosen ones reincarnated from the past to the future. Minako was just simply... not what Haruka had expected.
"Let's just go." Haruka finally said, having no other words to say.
Minako shot up, faster than the eye could blink. "You know what I think? I think you're just way over yourself about this lets-find-the-reincarnated-people stuff that you've forgotten that saving the world is the most important thing."
"Yeah, whatever." Haruka said, non-commitally. She continued plodding ahead in the grassy plain setting, swatting away the occasional bug.
"And I'd appreciate it if you listened to me, for once!" Minako exclaimed, indignant at the older girl's attitude.
Haruka turned around, and stared at Minako face to face. "Don't push it kid." She said, in a cold piercing tone.
Minako wisely kept her tongue, but when the dirty blonde had turned around again, Minako stuck out her tongue. Ha! She deserved it! Satisfied, Minako stopped walking. Besides, she was tired. All that Haruka knew was walk, walk, walk. And she didn't even have a clue on where they were going! So why even bother going anywhere?
Haruka turned around, to see the distant form of Minako. "What the heck are you doing now?" She snarled, at the very edges of her patience.
"I'm-" But Minako got no further than that as an explosion knocked the blonde off her feet. A huge cloud of dust and grime billowed in its wake. Haruka swore, and began running in Minako's direction, silently praying that the girl was alright.
"They're in danger." Setsuna stopped walking, closing her eyes and seeing something that only she sensed.
Makoto looked around, but saw nothing. "Who?"
The older woman gave an enigmatic smile. "The ones who will either help preserve or destroy this world."
Makoto rubbed her temples, feeling another headache coming along. She seriously hoped that at least her friends had better traveling partners. For this woman, Setsuna, was at best, serious. And even that was rare. Makoto could have sworn that the elder dark-green haired woman enjoyed surrounding her words in half-mystery, and confusing the hell out of whoever she was talking to. And boy was it sure effective.
"You told me that it was us. Our friends and your friends at least." Makoto had at least deciphered enough to get this information out of the older woman.
Setsuna nodded. "Yes. And now, your friends are in danger."
Makoto blinked. Had Setsuna really just said a straight answer? But there was no time to invest into that thought. "Who's in danger?" Makoto demanded.
"Your child-friend." Setsuna answered, obviously falling back into her guise.
Makoto sighed. "Then let's go find her. Whoever the 'child-friend' of her's was. Perhaps it was Usagi?
"A disturbance in the Time Line is indeed dangerous." Setsuna mused, more for the part talking to herself. "If any of the Chosen ones were to get out of hand, the world should suffer. Only one of us has Summoned, from the purity of her heart. I wonder if the others will do the same."
"The one who has Summoned. That's Usagi right?" Makoto asked.
"There are many others who have summoned before her time." Was Setsuna's only reply.
Makoto translated that as a 'yes'. Secretly, the brunette wondered if there was any book she could buy which would effectively translate "Setsuna-language". If so, she would be the first customer, and if Usagi and the rest of her friends ever met Setsuna, they wouldn't be far behind. Except for Ami, possibly.
"And what role does Team Rocket play in this whole good-versus-evil thing?" Makoto asked, trying again to get hopefully a straight answer.
"The role of the Serpent." Setsuna whispered. "No more powerful than a simple temptation, yet powerful enough to banish the rights of human and pokemon, and condemn this world into eternal darkness, further away from Paradise."
Makoto blinked. "Ummm..." She wracked her mind for the answers. Well, the 'Serpent' must have been that religious story of the Serpent tempting Adam and Eve away from Paradise. So, Team Rocket was a temptation to evil. She was getting better at this, at least.
"I never knew you were religious." Makoto pondered, noticing that Setsuna did not wear a single cross or charm. In fact, the older woman didn't wear any jewelry at all, save her earrings, which glowed a deep garnet red shade.
"I'm not. I'm simply stating an analogy"
Makoto counted two straight answers. Suddenly, the brunette got a brilliant idea. She decided to see how many times she could get Setsuna to reply with a straight answer in the entire length of the trip. This might become very amusing. Or boring, depending on how the older woman cooperated.
Unfortunately, the older woman did not seem to be cooperating well at all.
** I'm a big fan of sarcastic and dry comments, as well as all sorts of paradoxial ideas. Also, sorry that there was no action or battling in this chapter. There wont be much going on until all the "senshi" are settled, and then I'll bring it to a nice climax. Okay. Ja for now!**
Ami woke up with a splitting headache, her eyes blurry and unfocused. She blinked a few times, trying vainly to clear her vision, why her finger slowly massaged her temples. That explosion had been quite unpleasant, in the least. The blue haired girl, her vision finally regained, looked around at her surroundings and realized for the first time that she was... not where she had expected to be. A lush canopy of trees sprouted around her, and everywhere, she could hear the faint echo of bird pokemon, the sigh of the leaves, the slow trickling of water. She was, not doubt, very far away from home. As in VERY.
"That explosion must have caused some strange distortion that got us here." A voice exclaimed, the source clearly feminine, and one of much maturity.
Ami quickly whirled around, to greet an aquamarine-haired girl, who seemed a few years older than herself.
"I guess..." Ami answered, realizing that she actually didn't know who was talking to her. She immediately became cautious, wondering if the person in front of her was actually a member of Team Rocket. "Who are you, anyway?"
And the girl laughed, tossing back her wavy hair in a graceful gesture. "You can call me Michiru. I'm an... ally of yours."
Ami noticed the hesitance in choice of words. "How can I trust you if I don't know you?"
Michiru smiled. "Then, I wouldn't have helped you in the first place."
"What do you mean 'helped us'?" Ami demanded.
Michiru sighed. She then took out he pokeball, tossing it with a gentle flick into the air. Out of the pokeball rose a beautiful rabbit-like pokemon, its aqua fur glossy.
"Does that explain it?" Michiru finally demanded, gesturing at her pokemon, who waved at Ami.
Ami blinked. Then she realized that one of the pokemon which had helped them fend of Team Rocket had indeed been an Azumarril.
"Yes." Ami finally admitted. She watched as the older girl returned her pokemon. "So, you're going to help us fight too?"
Michiru turned to the younger girl. "Maybe. We are not interested in helping you fight within your group, because we have a greater mission to take care of."
Ami bristled at that comment. "What do you mean, 'greater mission'? Don't you want to get rid of Team Rocket? I can't think of anything else more important than saving the world from their grasps!"
"I can." Michiru answered quietly, not expecting Ami to understand. She sighed. "Listen. Forget that now, okay? What really matters is that we find Usagi and your other friends before..." She cut herself off, as if not wanting Ami to know something.
"Before what?" Ami demanded, now feeling more irked than anything else.
Michiru seemed to be contemplating with herself in an internal dilemma, and she finally sighed and took a deep breath. "Listen. Yes, Team Rocket is dangerous, but the greater danger is not Team Rocket, but rather the pokemon your friend Usagi Summoned. They are what we call Spirit pokemon, legendary pokemon created from the essence of your power. The last Spirit pokemon existed over five thousand years ago, and a whole kingdom was destroyed because of them."
"What do you mean? Isn't Usagi's Ho-oh good?" Ami asked.
"Yes." Michiru admitted. "But the presence of Usagi's Spirit pokemon can also create the presence of pokemon which are... a danger to this world. And woe to this world if the Summoned Spirits should battle each other, for this world would not live to tell the tale."
Ami was confused. "What are you talking about?"
Michiru simply pointed to a point in the sky. It was getting dark now, and past the canopy of tree tops, Ami could make out the faint outlines of the moon.
"That used to hold one of the most brilliant kingdoms in the universe, called the Moon Kingdom. It was a time called the Silver Millennium, where humans and pokemon bonded in ways that scientists deem as impossible nowadays. And the stronger the bond between a human and pokemon, the greater their power. The Queen of that Kingdom had the greatest power and those directly under her influence also of wonderful skill. And so, the kingdom thrived in peace until one day an advisor got jealous of her, and unleashed her own Summoning powers in a fit of rage. A wave of darkness swept over the kingdom, and the Queen, in order to protect at least her own daughter and loyal advisors, used the last of her powers to send them to the future. The reason why the rebel advisor's Summoned Spirit pokemon had been so powerful was simply because Summoned pokemon are not supposed to know evil. A summoned pokemon which works not to preserve the world but harm it, will in turn break the bonding of all humans and pokemon, resulting in darkness and sheer destruction. That is also why these days, there are no human-pokemon bondings like that of the past."
Ami thought for a moment. "Wait a second. You said there are no human-pokemon bondings now. Yet, you also mentioned something about the Queen sending her people to this time. Don't they still have that bonding?"
Michiru nodded. "Exactly. I know this sounds absolutely crazy, but we believe that there are reincarnated versions of the people who the Queen saved, living in this lifetime, unaware of their potential power. Should they Summon their pokemon for the wrong purposes, the balance of human and pokemon alike in this world would be forever doomed."
"What do you mean by 'forever doomed'?" Ami asked.
Michiru gave her a look. "What do you think I mean?" She stated, wryly. Ami asked no further, but fell silent.
"So, I guess that it would be our duty to find all the humans with such bondings and warn them before they cause potential danger?" Ami finally concluded.
Michiru nodded. "You could say that."
"But how do we know who they are? There could be so many." The younger girl's voice was at a point of despair.
"There are only nine. One of each of the planets." Michiru answered. "And the moon." She added a bit later.
Ami looked at Michiru curiously. "Why the planets and moon?"
Michiru shrugged. "I'm not too sure, but the theory behind that is that the planets are the source that provides the power behind each human-pokemon bonding. The stronger the bond, the closer they are to the power of the planet. I guess those who were closest to the power of the planets in the past were the ones reincarnated."
"Oh." Ami thought for a moment, taking everything in and digesting it word for word. "What about Team Rocket? If they get their hands on them..." Ami trailed off, not wanting to say the rest.
"That is also a potential problem." Michiru confessed. "So that is why we are wasting precious time talking while we should be finding the rest of your friends!"
"My friends would never join Team Rocket!" Ami protested. Wait a moment. "My friends? They're the ones...?"
"And you too." Michiru concluded. "There are five of you and three of us. That means that one of us is missing. That's the one I'm worried about."
Ami's mind was still swimming from the latest news. Did that mean that she was some reincarnated person from the past? Did that explain why her pokemon were so skilled and powerful even though they weren't at a high level? Was that why she could feel the actions of her pokemon when no one else could? It was funny, since she knew that she already had a special bond with her pokemon, although she hadn't deemed it to be THIS bond that Michiru spoke of. Her mind fell into a bottomless pit of questions, but she slowly shoved herself out.
"I'm ready. Lets go and find them all." Ami demanded.
Michiru nodded.
"So let me get this straight." Minako said, thinking very hard.
Haruka sighed in sheer exasperation. Did this girl not get anything?
"The real bad guys are the pokemon we Summon, so Usagi's Ho-oh is evil?" The long-haired blonde finally said, hoping that she at least had the right gist.
If she could have facefaulted, Haruka would. "Look! I didn't say that Summoned pokemon were evil! What I mean is that if the PERSON Summons the pokemon for evil purposes, THEN they would be evil, and only THEN we would be in great danger. Get it?"
"Ohhhhh." Minako finally exclaimed, looking thoughtful. Then, she did the last thing Haruka expected. She sat down, and began meditating.
Haruka stared. "And what are you doing? Don't we have to find your friends?" The dirty blonde punctuated every syllable with barely suppressed anger.
Minako opened one eye. "Don't bother me. I'm cleansing my soul of evil so that the pokemon I Summon won't be evil and I wont turn evil and destroy the world."
For lack of better words, Haruka simply stood, dumbfounded. She could NOT believe that Minako was even of the Chosen ones reincarnated from the past to the future. Minako was just simply... not what Haruka had expected.
"Let's just go." Haruka finally said, having no other words to say.
Minako shot up, faster than the eye could blink. "You know what I think? I think you're just way over yourself about this lets-find-the-reincarnated-people stuff that you've forgotten that saving the world is the most important thing."
"Yeah, whatever." Haruka said, non-commitally. She continued plodding ahead in the grassy plain setting, swatting away the occasional bug.
"And I'd appreciate it if you listened to me, for once!" Minako exclaimed, indignant at the older girl's attitude.
Haruka turned around, and stared at Minako face to face. "Don't push it kid." She said, in a cold piercing tone.
Minako wisely kept her tongue, but when the dirty blonde had turned around again, Minako stuck out her tongue. Ha! She deserved it! Satisfied, Minako stopped walking. Besides, she was tired. All that Haruka knew was walk, walk, walk. And she didn't even have a clue on where they were going! So why even bother going anywhere?
Haruka turned around, to see the distant form of Minako. "What the heck are you doing now?" She snarled, at the very edges of her patience.
"I'm-" But Minako got no further than that as an explosion knocked the blonde off her feet. A huge cloud of dust and grime billowed in its wake. Haruka swore, and began running in Minako's direction, silently praying that the girl was alright.
"They're in danger." Setsuna stopped walking, closing her eyes and seeing something that only she sensed.
Makoto looked around, but saw nothing. "Who?"
The older woman gave an enigmatic smile. "The ones who will either help preserve or destroy this world."
Makoto rubbed her temples, feeling another headache coming along. She seriously hoped that at least her friends had better traveling partners. For this woman, Setsuna, was at best, serious. And even that was rare. Makoto could have sworn that the elder dark-green haired woman enjoyed surrounding her words in half-mystery, and confusing the hell out of whoever she was talking to. And boy was it sure effective.
"You told me that it was us. Our friends and your friends at least." Makoto had at least deciphered enough to get this information out of the older woman.
Setsuna nodded. "Yes. And now, your friends are in danger."
Makoto blinked. Had Setsuna really just said a straight answer? But there was no time to invest into that thought. "Who's in danger?" Makoto demanded.
"Your child-friend." Setsuna answered, obviously falling back into her guise.
Makoto sighed. "Then let's go find her. Whoever the 'child-friend' of her's was. Perhaps it was Usagi?
"A disturbance in the Time Line is indeed dangerous." Setsuna mused, more for the part talking to herself. "If any of the Chosen ones were to get out of hand, the world should suffer. Only one of us has Summoned, from the purity of her heart. I wonder if the others will do the same."
"The one who has Summoned. That's Usagi right?" Makoto asked.
"There are many others who have summoned before her time." Was Setsuna's only reply.
Makoto translated that as a 'yes'. Secretly, the brunette wondered if there was any book she could buy which would effectively translate "Setsuna-language". If so, she would be the first customer, and if Usagi and the rest of her friends ever met Setsuna, they wouldn't be far behind. Except for Ami, possibly.
"And what role does Team Rocket play in this whole good-versus-evil thing?" Makoto asked, trying again to get hopefully a straight answer.
"The role of the Serpent." Setsuna whispered. "No more powerful than a simple temptation, yet powerful enough to banish the rights of human and pokemon, and condemn this world into eternal darkness, further away from Paradise."
Makoto blinked. "Ummm..." She wracked her mind for the answers. Well, the 'Serpent' must have been that religious story of the Serpent tempting Adam and Eve away from Paradise. So, Team Rocket was a temptation to evil. She was getting better at this, at least.
"I never knew you were religious." Makoto pondered, noticing that Setsuna did not wear a single cross or charm. In fact, the older woman didn't wear any jewelry at all, save her earrings, which glowed a deep garnet red shade.
"I'm not. I'm simply stating an analogy"
Makoto counted two straight answers. Suddenly, the brunette got a brilliant idea. She decided to see how many times she could get Setsuna to reply with a straight answer in the entire length of the trip. This might become very amusing. Or boring, depending on how the older woman cooperated.
Unfortunately, the older woman did not seem to be cooperating well at all.
** I'm a big fan of sarcastic and dry comments, as well as all sorts of paradoxial ideas. Also, sorry that there was no action or battling in this chapter. There wont be much going on until all the "senshi" are settled, and then I'll bring it to a nice climax. Okay. Ja for now!**