With one final push, Pryce reached the top of the crater, watching the land
on the other side, that which no human before him had seen, or if they had,
they had never told anyone. It was a spectacle beyond belief. Within the
rim, tall spires of pure crystal rose toward the sky, beautiful, like a
thousand swords of ice rising to claim the heavens.
There seemed to be a noise behind him, but that was impossible. After all, he was the first one - the only one - to make it here, to watch the beautifully stunning scenery.
He smiled again, admiring, feeling the world around him, the peace. The cold was nothing, not with what his eyes could see, not with what his ears could hear, the enchanting voice of the wind in the world all around.
There was no warning. The cliff gave way under him, becoming a sharp slide from what it had once been, a stable, even platform.
He screamed as he fell back, toward the mist of the cold valley, but his scream was cut short as he realized that the crystal spear were nothing less than the vapor of the air, in contact with the cold, icy ground of the volcano, freezing at astonishing speed. Before he could scream again, he was entombed in ice.
_____________________
Jasmine yawned, driving her car behind the enormous van that made its way forward slugishly. She wished she could already be in her gym, but instead she was stuck on the road, behind a massive truck. It was, to put it mildly, frustrating.
The voice on the radio was droning on about the recent death of Bugsy. Even thought the death sounded natural, it was just starting to be too much of a coincidence, all those members of the league falling one after the other, all of them to their own elements.
Their own elements...
She took a look at the truck ahead, confirming the worse of her fears ; it was loaded with steel beams. A coincidence, maybe, but...
She started moving her car right toward an exit, even though it would take her completely out of her road toward Olivine. Her car reacted, with a seeming slowness she had never felt before driving the vehicle...
Whether or not the car truly was slower than usual, it was too late. A steal beam broke free of the truck suddenly - she could have sworn she saw flashes of blue light around the cable holding it before it did - and rushed toward her own, breaking the window to her left. She had no time to react, the beam crushing her skull, breaking her neck.
Out of control, her car crashed in the fence on the side of the road, exploding in a ball of fire soon after from the leaking fuel.
_____________________
Brock was in the middle of Pewter, helping out with the construction of a new section to the old, often overcrowded pokemon center, when the earthquake began. Realizing the potential for disaster, he was also one of the first to rush for cover, under a wooden doorway made of solid tree trunks. There were no rocks near him, thus there was no danger of his falling like the other gym leaders. He had not needed much time to put two and two together, to realize the gym leaders were dying one after the other to their element.
The ground calmed down rapidly, however. It had, after all, it seemed, been only a minor shake, nothing worth worrying about, after all. His death, it seemed, was not yet to come.
"Let's finis this folks!" he called out, going back to the last few touches.
A sinister cracking noise rang in the air. It was too far from him to be a menace to him, but out of habit, he looked around, and found fond the source.
A huge stone carving of a onix, on a pillar in the middle of the center, had seemingly come lose during the earthquake, and was about to fall. He was too far from it to be hurt...
But the local nurse Joy, however, wasn't. He didn't even hesitate, his instinct winning over his reason in the blinking of an eye. Jumping forward he pushed the Nurse to the side, and was the one to take the blow as the heavy piece of marble fell on his back, crushing his spine.
_______________________
"That's a fine one we got here, dear." The old man turned toward Whitney, smiling, pointing at the Tauros. "Wil' be good for breeding." He pushed the beast as Whitney smiled in turn.
Yet, even as she smiled, she felt uneasy, a strange feeling that she shouldn't be around the animals at this point in time, not given what was happening, all the deaths she had heard about for gym leaders. Still, she couldn't leave, not in the middle of one of her few private moments with her grandfather. But still, she wouldn't remain there for any longer than she had to.
"Can we please go back now gramp?" she asked. "I...don't like being here...with all those gym leaders dead..." She glanced uneasily at the Tauros. They were, she was convinced, a menace.
"Worried about tose, dear?" He asked back, grinning ."Sure, et's go bak." He started leading her off toward the house...
One of the tauros broke free, rushing at her. She sidestepped, letting it crash into the fence, sending one of the log spinning wildly, but not hurting Whitney. She breathed a sigh of relief, turned back just as the sound of rushing hoofs rose again from the direction she now faced...
She could do nothing to avoid the Miltank. The creature's head was hornless, of course, but she understood in the moment of contact that the horn wouldn't bring about her death, and neither would the hoof. As the head pushed her forward, she found herself brought violently in contact with the sharpened end of the massive piece of wood that had once been part of the fence. The sharpened stake ripped through her, impaling her, leaving her no chance of survival.
Her horrified grandfather moved toward her, even as in a final moment of clarity the goal of the murderers became obvious to her.
"Got to warn them..." She whispered, dying "Échel..." She never finished, her ability to speak deserting her before death slowly claimed her.
_______________________
"I wonder why everyone's so afraid." Claire turned to look at the valley below. Everything seemed so fine with the world, why would everyone be as afraid as they were, all the other gym leaders persuaded death was coming for them.
Only coincidence. After all, there would be no point to murdering the gym leaders. Who would waste their time killing people whom they had no interest in killing?
She smiled, and the smile was still on her face as her mistake became fully apparent. The beast jumped out of nowhere, closing its jaws around her neck, ripping it apart. It was not a pokemon, or at least none she had ever seen before, seemed like an image brought forth from a storybook, but it definitely was far more than that, far more alive than any image, she felt that much in the moment of bitting.
She died slowly, given full time to regret her refusal to believe in the warning of the others.
_______________________
Erica had carefully withdrawn in the depths of her stadium as news of more murder had become apparent. It was the only place in the world were she felt safe, especially with her attendants around her, ready to protect her.
"I wonder how many more will die today..." She asked softly, not to anyone in particular, her eyes peering at the ground.
"None, we can hope." It was one of her attendant, wearing like all of them the usual kimono.
She felt a slither of movement behind her, a slither of noise in the grass bushes...another in the grees above...
Creeping vines flashed out of everywhere at once, ensnaring her attendants, holding them within their grasp as they struggled to get free. The last vine was for her, she knew. She resigned herself, realizing that there would be no escape, even in this safest of place. The vine snapped around her neck and rose, and she controlled her reaction to struggle. It would be useless.
Her death was painful, took time, but at least once it was done with, she would no longer have to fear the murderer and his attacks. She would be free...
Her attendants would at least be able to say that she died smiling.
_____________________
The two rocket agents moved silently in the elite four building. They had been ordered to get at least one member of the elite four to safety, away from the attacks, which, all of the Rocket command authority was slowly becoming persuaded of, targeted not only the gym leaders but soon would take on the elite four.
"Why pick Bruno, though?" The woman questioned, pushing a strand of golden hair.
"Because he's the only one who holds relatively alone and far from the security system, to train privately." Her partner answered, his voice bleak.
It was not long before they ran in the colossus of a man that was a member of the Elite Four. His strong muscles seemed impervious to any form of attack.
They both drew their guns, aimed, and revealed themselves.
"Sir, if you'd please follow us..." She offered, smiling. There was no use in being rude, or any such.
"Do I have any choice?" he replied, apparently deciding not to resists. The walk toward the outside of the Indigo headquarters wasn't long, soon they were there, by the cliff, moving toward their helicopter on a small private landing field.
And everything went wrong. Her partner seemed to go insane, delivering a powerful chopping blow to the neck of the giant, who, despite his size, shuddered and collapsed at the lethal blow. It was almost surprising that it would take so little to bring down such a giant, but the blow was a killing blow for all, Indigo elite member or simple janitor.
"You fool! We weren't supposed to kill him!" She yelled, but efore more could be done, he turned on her, aiming his gun. She couldn't, wouldn't believe it, but yet he found somehow the ability to do it. The bullet flew out with a loud noise, digging deep inside her.
_____________________
"No way..." Gary was, from looking at him, just as breathless as Ash was, as Misty was. They all were, the young leader of Team Rocket reflected somberly. They had seen the strikes of their opponent, quickening in pace, but to hit seven - no, six - gym leaders and one member of the Elite Four within the space of an hour?
That was horrid. There had been no official announcement of the events yet, but it was entirely too easy to piece together by tapping in the communication between the various police forces, panicked calls from city to city, and toward the league headquarters at Indigo.
"I guess they found out the gym leaders were beginning to get the point. They didn't want to leave them much more time to think." He grimaced, his eyes filled with disgust.
Misty had fallen back on a couch, in a state of stupor. She opened and closed her mouth, but no sounds came out, as if she could find nothing to say.
"And we're out of gym leaders, now." Jessie pointed out somberly. James nodded ; so did Butch.
"And..." James started to say something, was interrupted.
"Sir!" A man came in. "We picked up interesting information from the Goldenrod police communications!"
"What is it?" He whirled to face the communication officer.
"It seems that Whitney understood - to an extent - what was going on. Before dying, she asked that the gym leaders be told that it was all about "Ishel"".
"That means nothing...closest word I can think of is échelle, a french word for ladder." Butch pointed out rapidly.
Ash, however, was thinking. Why would Whitney bring up as the last clue to those she believed to be behind the attack a French word that made little sense...
Unless she hadn't have the time to say the full word. Which, given the description of her death, made sense. Very much sense. And, if that was so...
"No way..." He breathed, his face turning a pale white. Everyone turned toward him, curious looks on their faces.
"What is it Ash?" Gary's eyebrow shot up.
"It's not échelle, or any such." He breathed. "The word she was trying to use is echelon."
Jessie, James and Butch's faces remained curious, not understanding. Gary and Misty, however, understood, and the shade of their face was as pale, if not paler than his.
There seemed to be a noise behind him, but that was impossible. After all, he was the first one - the only one - to make it here, to watch the beautifully stunning scenery.
He smiled again, admiring, feeling the world around him, the peace. The cold was nothing, not with what his eyes could see, not with what his ears could hear, the enchanting voice of the wind in the world all around.
There was no warning. The cliff gave way under him, becoming a sharp slide from what it had once been, a stable, even platform.
He screamed as he fell back, toward the mist of the cold valley, but his scream was cut short as he realized that the crystal spear were nothing less than the vapor of the air, in contact with the cold, icy ground of the volcano, freezing at astonishing speed. Before he could scream again, he was entombed in ice.
_____________________
Jasmine yawned, driving her car behind the enormous van that made its way forward slugishly. She wished she could already be in her gym, but instead she was stuck on the road, behind a massive truck. It was, to put it mildly, frustrating.
The voice on the radio was droning on about the recent death of Bugsy. Even thought the death sounded natural, it was just starting to be too much of a coincidence, all those members of the league falling one after the other, all of them to their own elements.
Their own elements...
She took a look at the truck ahead, confirming the worse of her fears ; it was loaded with steel beams. A coincidence, maybe, but...
She started moving her car right toward an exit, even though it would take her completely out of her road toward Olivine. Her car reacted, with a seeming slowness she had never felt before driving the vehicle...
Whether or not the car truly was slower than usual, it was too late. A steal beam broke free of the truck suddenly - she could have sworn she saw flashes of blue light around the cable holding it before it did - and rushed toward her own, breaking the window to her left. She had no time to react, the beam crushing her skull, breaking her neck.
Out of control, her car crashed in the fence on the side of the road, exploding in a ball of fire soon after from the leaking fuel.
_____________________
Brock was in the middle of Pewter, helping out with the construction of a new section to the old, often overcrowded pokemon center, when the earthquake began. Realizing the potential for disaster, he was also one of the first to rush for cover, under a wooden doorway made of solid tree trunks. There were no rocks near him, thus there was no danger of his falling like the other gym leaders. He had not needed much time to put two and two together, to realize the gym leaders were dying one after the other to their element.
The ground calmed down rapidly, however. It had, after all, it seemed, been only a minor shake, nothing worth worrying about, after all. His death, it seemed, was not yet to come.
"Let's finis this folks!" he called out, going back to the last few touches.
A sinister cracking noise rang in the air. It was too far from him to be a menace to him, but out of habit, he looked around, and found fond the source.
A huge stone carving of a onix, on a pillar in the middle of the center, had seemingly come lose during the earthquake, and was about to fall. He was too far from it to be hurt...
But the local nurse Joy, however, wasn't. He didn't even hesitate, his instinct winning over his reason in the blinking of an eye. Jumping forward he pushed the Nurse to the side, and was the one to take the blow as the heavy piece of marble fell on his back, crushing his spine.
_______________________
"That's a fine one we got here, dear." The old man turned toward Whitney, smiling, pointing at the Tauros. "Wil' be good for breeding." He pushed the beast as Whitney smiled in turn.
Yet, even as she smiled, she felt uneasy, a strange feeling that she shouldn't be around the animals at this point in time, not given what was happening, all the deaths she had heard about for gym leaders. Still, she couldn't leave, not in the middle of one of her few private moments with her grandfather. But still, she wouldn't remain there for any longer than she had to.
"Can we please go back now gramp?" she asked. "I...don't like being here...with all those gym leaders dead..." She glanced uneasily at the Tauros. They were, she was convinced, a menace.
"Worried about tose, dear?" He asked back, grinning ."Sure, et's go bak." He started leading her off toward the house...
One of the tauros broke free, rushing at her. She sidestepped, letting it crash into the fence, sending one of the log spinning wildly, but not hurting Whitney. She breathed a sigh of relief, turned back just as the sound of rushing hoofs rose again from the direction she now faced...
She could do nothing to avoid the Miltank. The creature's head was hornless, of course, but she understood in the moment of contact that the horn wouldn't bring about her death, and neither would the hoof. As the head pushed her forward, she found herself brought violently in contact with the sharpened end of the massive piece of wood that had once been part of the fence. The sharpened stake ripped through her, impaling her, leaving her no chance of survival.
Her horrified grandfather moved toward her, even as in a final moment of clarity the goal of the murderers became obvious to her.
"Got to warn them..." She whispered, dying "Échel..." She never finished, her ability to speak deserting her before death slowly claimed her.
_______________________
"I wonder why everyone's so afraid." Claire turned to look at the valley below. Everything seemed so fine with the world, why would everyone be as afraid as they were, all the other gym leaders persuaded death was coming for them.
Only coincidence. After all, there would be no point to murdering the gym leaders. Who would waste their time killing people whom they had no interest in killing?
She smiled, and the smile was still on her face as her mistake became fully apparent. The beast jumped out of nowhere, closing its jaws around her neck, ripping it apart. It was not a pokemon, or at least none she had ever seen before, seemed like an image brought forth from a storybook, but it definitely was far more than that, far more alive than any image, she felt that much in the moment of bitting.
She died slowly, given full time to regret her refusal to believe in the warning of the others.
_______________________
Erica had carefully withdrawn in the depths of her stadium as news of more murder had become apparent. It was the only place in the world were she felt safe, especially with her attendants around her, ready to protect her.
"I wonder how many more will die today..." She asked softly, not to anyone in particular, her eyes peering at the ground.
"None, we can hope." It was one of her attendant, wearing like all of them the usual kimono.
She felt a slither of movement behind her, a slither of noise in the grass bushes...another in the grees above...
Creeping vines flashed out of everywhere at once, ensnaring her attendants, holding them within their grasp as they struggled to get free. The last vine was for her, she knew. She resigned herself, realizing that there would be no escape, even in this safest of place. The vine snapped around her neck and rose, and she controlled her reaction to struggle. It would be useless.
Her death was painful, took time, but at least once it was done with, she would no longer have to fear the murderer and his attacks. She would be free...
Her attendants would at least be able to say that she died smiling.
_____________________
The two rocket agents moved silently in the elite four building. They had been ordered to get at least one member of the elite four to safety, away from the attacks, which, all of the Rocket command authority was slowly becoming persuaded of, targeted not only the gym leaders but soon would take on the elite four.
"Why pick Bruno, though?" The woman questioned, pushing a strand of golden hair.
"Because he's the only one who holds relatively alone and far from the security system, to train privately." Her partner answered, his voice bleak.
It was not long before they ran in the colossus of a man that was a member of the Elite Four. His strong muscles seemed impervious to any form of attack.
They both drew their guns, aimed, and revealed themselves.
"Sir, if you'd please follow us..." She offered, smiling. There was no use in being rude, or any such.
"Do I have any choice?" he replied, apparently deciding not to resists. The walk toward the outside of the Indigo headquarters wasn't long, soon they were there, by the cliff, moving toward their helicopter on a small private landing field.
And everything went wrong. Her partner seemed to go insane, delivering a powerful chopping blow to the neck of the giant, who, despite his size, shuddered and collapsed at the lethal blow. It was almost surprising that it would take so little to bring down such a giant, but the blow was a killing blow for all, Indigo elite member or simple janitor.
"You fool! We weren't supposed to kill him!" She yelled, but efore more could be done, he turned on her, aiming his gun. She couldn't, wouldn't believe it, but yet he found somehow the ability to do it. The bullet flew out with a loud noise, digging deep inside her.
_____________________
"No way..." Gary was, from looking at him, just as breathless as Ash was, as Misty was. They all were, the young leader of Team Rocket reflected somberly. They had seen the strikes of their opponent, quickening in pace, but to hit seven - no, six - gym leaders and one member of the Elite Four within the space of an hour?
That was horrid. There had been no official announcement of the events yet, but it was entirely too easy to piece together by tapping in the communication between the various police forces, panicked calls from city to city, and toward the league headquarters at Indigo.
"I guess they found out the gym leaders were beginning to get the point. They didn't want to leave them much more time to think." He grimaced, his eyes filled with disgust.
Misty had fallen back on a couch, in a state of stupor. She opened and closed her mouth, but no sounds came out, as if she could find nothing to say.
"And we're out of gym leaders, now." Jessie pointed out somberly. James nodded ; so did Butch.
"And..." James started to say something, was interrupted.
"Sir!" A man came in. "We picked up interesting information from the Goldenrod police communications!"
"What is it?" He whirled to face the communication officer.
"It seems that Whitney understood - to an extent - what was going on. Before dying, she asked that the gym leaders be told that it was all about "Ishel"".
"That means nothing...closest word I can think of is échelle, a french word for ladder." Butch pointed out rapidly.
Ash, however, was thinking. Why would Whitney bring up as the last clue to those she believed to be behind the attack a French word that made little sense...
Unless she hadn't have the time to say the full word. Which, given the description of her death, made sense. Very much sense. And, if that was so...
"No way..." He breathed, his face turning a pale white. Everyone turned toward him, curious looks on their faces.
"What is it Ash?" Gary's eyebrow shot up.
"It's not échelle, or any such." He breathed. "The word she was trying to use is echelon."
Jessie, James and Butch's faces remained curious, not understanding. Gary and Misty, however, understood, and the shade of their face was as pale, if not paler than his.