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Part 6: The Uneasy Trip...

"Are you all packed Adrian?" his mother asked.
"Yeah, I'm done." His mother walked up to Alen.
"Well, I think we can go now." Alen stands up and closes the book. He hands it to Adrian.
"All right. Call everyone out and I'll teleport us to the boat." Adrian walked over to where the pokéballs were and tapped on each of them. The pokémon inside came out a second after. Alen came in and psychically told them what was going on. They all nodded and walked outside. Adrian and his mother got their luggage ready and Alen prepared for the teleport. Within an instant they were all near a dock where a large boat was. It seemed more like a small ship than a large boat. He told them to board it while he took care of some business. Charla stretched her wings and went in search of prey while the others went to the boat. It had 'Giant Minnow' painted on its side. Other than that it was a good looking ship. It had three floors and a deck large enough for everyone to be on. Alen came back and began to retain the anchor. Charla came back with a large lickitung and pidgeot before they set sail.
"So, where am I going to put the meat?" Charla asked as she carefully removed lickitung's tongue.
"You can put them in the bottom floor of this boat. It's temperature controlled and water-tight. I don't think we'll need that part of the ship right now." Charla nods and begins hauling the bodies into the lower regions of the ship. Luckily the ship's interior was all steel and wide so she didn't have to be too careful about her tail-flame. Alen was in the control room steering the boat and everyone else was on the deck. Adrian's mother rested on a large, body-length cushion on the deck. Adrian stood leaning against the railing watching the water as they floated on by. Duckman was getting restless.
"All dis water an' I can't take a dive! geezzz...." Lucy walked up to him and patted his back. "Should I toss you overboard, Ducky?" She laughed as she walked away. Duckman chuckled to himself and continued to stare at the rolling waves. Dasher lay on the deck in the middle of the ship.
"I hate water...." He shivered at the thought of it. He encompassed himself in his flame and began to calm down. Charla came up from below. She took one look at the water and went back under to her room. Cannon smiled when he saw that happen. He looked up at the sky. There were white, puffy clouds scattered throughout and the sun was hanging behind one. It seemed that everything was timed just right with the nice, cool weather and crisp air. Adrian walked over to another member of the boat that he had not met yet. He noticed Adrian walking his way.
"Unusual huh? Me being of the ground and I'm here staring at the water. I do not believe we have met, young boy. You may call me Maro." He bowed.
"Well, I'm Adrian. Nice to meet'cha!"
"Hm.. You are Tiff's son? Yes, yes you are. Ha, the last time I saw you you had little waving arms and legs and couldn't stand up. It was such a funny sight, you kept trying to keep your balance but you kept falling over." He shook his head. "I've been in that pokéball too long. I've only been out whenever your mother took the pokéballs to the center for these past years. Everything was uninteresting. I didn't like that thing with pictures on that small table... the TV, so I stayed in the ball. I knew the others would come out more often, but it didn't really matter to me. I made a promise to your family long ago and I won't break it." He turned his attention back to the water. "This is what I like watching. The earth itself. These waters are older than all of us, and they will continue to exist long after we're gone. The mountains, the trees, the land, all here before us and will be after us. The spot we're headed to is new compared to everything else. A phenomenon such as this just doesn't occur. I have been there several times before, with Alen, and it continues to change. I wonder what it's like now..." He tapped his bone club on the railing.
"So, how did you come about making a promise to this family?" Adrian asked, softly.
"It is a tale that will be told to you when it gets dark. Right now I need to fully take in all this fresh air and shaded sun." Adrian stood for a second then walked over to another. It stared at him when he came close.
"Tiff's boy! Yes, you, I remember now!" It was the gengar. "Ha! Old guy like me not forget rrrrecent event. You how old?"
"Um... eleven."
"Eleven?!" he thundered, "You're a BIG boy! Lots of human years tell me you are big boy. I like this human family, that is why I stay. HAH! I forgot! Me name is Glen! Had ya wonderin' huh?" Adrian looks at the big grin on Glen's face as he laughed at himself. Such a grin with giant teeth was too unnatural. "You like big teeth?!" he said pointing at his own teeth, "Then I give you big teeth!" He started laughing as he went invisible except for his teeth and tried to put his smile on Adrian. He never stuck. When Adrian moved the smile hung in the air. Glen materialized. "It not work!!" He began laughing again. Adrian's mother began to get a little annoyed with all of Glen's shouting and loud laughing.
"Please, Glen, could you turn the volume down a little?" she said in a sleepy manner. Glen laughed at himself now with a little less volume.
"I take you to me room inside big iron FISH!" He went through the ship to his room, but then he smacked his head. "PEOPLE CAIN'T DO THAT!!" He came above deck again and grinned. He chuckled as he lead the way across the ship to the stairway to his room. "Me forget sometimes." The room didn't have anything in it, and really why should it. "Sit and you hear story from me!" Adrian sat on the hard floor in front of Glen. "I have existed many more years than I wish to count." His tone was completely different. Adrian thought he heard someone different talking, but it was Glen. "I have always been Glen, but I wasn't always gengar. I have been human and pokémon: animal and plant. And lastly, gengar. As a human, I was a blacksmith that forged some of the finest weapons and armor of the time. As a pokémon, I wasn't the gengar yet, but I was charizard. Charla doesn't know it, but I was one of the elders before she was born. He died the day she hatched. As an animal I was raticate, untamed and completely wild. He lived the longest out of his siblings. As a plant I was an oddish. He would borrow into the ground and sleep during the day. He was an unfortunate victim as pray to larger pokémon. And now I am gengar Glen." His smile came back. "Or goofy Glen!"
Adrian sat puzzled a second. "So you were other pokémon once...."
"You are correct, sir," he said with closed eyes. "I could have continued being others but I just didn't want to. I had a choice. But then I always had a choice. I had really started out as gengar, but too many years as one thing made me a little crazy, so I chose to be something else. Ghosts have this ability. For a number of years I was that charizard elder, but I had to fly there as a young charizard first and try to fake aging. I was successful in my attempts, but I lived too long, longer than any other charizard did at the time. So I had to fake death. I decided to die when the next egg would hatch. That egg was Charla. I heard one of the other elders make a prediction after I faked death. He said that Charla was going to give birth to a white flamed child! As you know, this DID happen. That prediction, though, was only told to that elder's youngest son, who was already old enough to be Charla's father. His name was Ashton, but everyone called him Ash. He is the elder Charla knows as the prophet, but really his father was. He was a very smart beast and cool tempered, unlike how most male charizards are, hot as a volcano. Anyway, enough about him, The next thing I became was the human blacksmith. I..."
"Hold on a sec.... You have now become a human.... What was the year?"
"Oooo.... toughie... um, maybe it was at least about a good five hundred to a thousand years ago. After I stopped being a charizard I thought about what I was going to do next.... for a few... years. Being the blacksmith was quite fun! Everyone wanted armor and swords and stuff that was tempered by me, the finest metalworker in the whole country of people. Making the stuff was hard-work, but it gave me a real sense of accomplishment..... That is until I figured out where it all went. As humans, you really don't need special abilities, all you have to do is make them. Armory was one of those things, now it's tekno... tehknol..."
"Technology?"
"Yes! That word! All the stuff I made went to the killing of other humans. I couldn't stand it after that, so I stopped and vanished from the country. Of course now armory isn't really even needed, you have the tehk.. no .. th..that word to make everything and destroy everything. I was never aware of how fast human lives change. I hate most changes. Too many changes drive me INSANE!" Glen flails his arms around. "But enough of my SANity, as a raticate I was INsanity! I..."
"Sorry to interrupt, but, well..."
"He heh he he.... You sat on this strange tale without getting hurt, so you are definitely not one of those people. There is a very thin line between sane and insane. I am on that line, and intend to stand on it as long as I can. I sometimes wish that I could tell which way is which."
Hmmm, Adrian thought, sanity.... insanity.......?
"Anyway, it not big deal! I went completely nuts as a raticate. But, in order to be one, I had to find a mother that had had a child that died without her knowing. I can also copy smells, ya know. I stayed with them until they all separated and grew up and had families and stuff. Other than that, I was the fastest thing any of 'em had seen! Hmmph, I wish I could show some of their facial expressions.... WAIT!! I can!" He thinks for a second and begins to change his face into a raticate's face. Trying his hardest he managed to look like a very bewildered raticate. "SEE?! It FUNNY!" Adrian sat and smiled as Glen tried to make another face. "HA! This one is my favorite!" After another face Glen changed back and looked at Adrian with a grin on his face. "You didn't really think that was SOooo funny, did'ya?"
Adrian looked at the floor, then back to Glen. "Um.... well...." Just as Adrian was about to say another word, Charla knocked on the door.
"Come get some grub, yo! HAH!" she laughed at herself for saying 'yo.'
"That's right, PEOPLE need to eat! We will continue this journey through my head some other time then?" Glen asked as if he were talking to a psychiatrist. Adrian got up on almost fully sleeping legs.
"Yes, I would like to continue our little journey at a later time, but until then, take two and call me in the morning!" Adrian stumbled out as Glen started laughing at what he said. Glen fell on his side hardly controlling his laughter. Adrian opened the door and left for the deck.
"I can hear Glen laughing hard... What did you say to him?" Adrian's mother asked upon seeing Adrian. She and two others were on deck.
"Oh, nothing that funny. I'm not too sure what's making him laugh so much. Oh well, laughing's a good thing, right?"
"Well, not when it's so loud!" she cried, trying to concentrate when the laughing began to die down. "...That's better."
Cannon was still onboard, as was Maro. The others had gone into their rooms to eat. A large table had some of what looked like ground up beef. "What's to eat?" Adrian asked.
"Oh, the stuff on the table is actually some meat Alen had teleported into the ship's hold. I guess when he went to take care of some business he got enough food for the journey. Charla simply hunted because she likes the taste of fresh meat rather than this ground beef. It's quite good actually, why don't get a bowl of it before you go to bed." Adrian walked over to the table, grabbed a bowl and put some of the cooked meat into it. There was also rice, lettuce, and stray slices bread. A large cooler provided some cherry flavored drink. Hmmm... where did he get all this stuff? Adrian thought as he set his bowl and cup on one of the tables. The ship was not swaying very much, so the cup never moved. Maro came and sat across from Adrian.
"Well I see you have healthy appetite," he said looking at Adrian's bowl. It was brimming with the meat and rice, and had four slices a bread on top. Maro chuckled. "It is very natural for you to be so hungry. You are a growing boy, but that doesn't always have to be your waist." Adrian looked at his bowl, then back to Maro and smiled. "Yes, your great-great-grandfather was much like you. He always ate a lot, but he needed to, he was a very hard working man. He did jobs on his own that I have seen others have three or four pokémon do. He worked hard to make a living, though he demonstrated that man can achieve certain goals without needing special abilities. His mother inspired him, whom I made a blood oath to. She did something that I don't think neither I nor Alen could have done or prevented. It was after she had her son that this event happened. She was nearing forty years old and her son was nineteen. Her name was Victoria and her son's was Frederick. Her husband had died while defending their home when it was broken into. There were too many for him to handle, so they ganged up on him and left him to die. They didn't even steal anything. He did what he wanted to do, but he wasn't finished yet. He got to his feet and walked outside his house. He found me sitting by a tree next to his house. I was a different kind of person then. I didn't want anything to do with humans then, but he struck me as...
....worthy.

I looked into his unwavering eyes and saw that he was about to breathe his last. He spoke two words then fell to his knees. He tried to breathe, but his lungs were punctured and he coughed blood. He died fighting." Maro paused as he looked at Adrian's bowl. It was empty. Adrian was sitting and listening when he noticed the pause.
"What were his last words?" Adrian asked softly.
"They were.... 'Save her.' I knew who he meant, but to just ask me like that.... I was not anyone's possession, but I knew what happened and had been in the city for a while and knew the faces of all the people in that section. I reported the murder to the local police and they thought I was joking. A hypno translated for them. I told the hypno to verify my report by using his psychic powers. He nodded and closed his eyes. Within a minute they opened and he dashed for the door. He knew I was right. Four officers immediately followed him to the scene. I, on the other hand, left without being noticed and snuck back to the scene. She was there. She was on her hands and knees crying and weeping as the officers sealed off the area and called for backup. I was on a roof-top watching this happen. I jumped down and walked up to the scene. The officers and hypno found me and apologized for not believing at first. They found his body where it was when I left it, but he was on his back instead of on his chest. I asked if they had picked him up and they said that they did not. I walked over to his wife when she looked at me. She asked me why I didn't help, but I could not answer her. She then asked what he said to me. She knew he said something before he died, so I told her. The hypno translated. Her facial expression immediately changed. It was about this moment that her son had come. He had been gone for a couple years, and he had returned with a wife. She had Alen and some others, I forget who, but Alen immediately spoke to me with his mind. He quickly told me some things I needed to know as well as the gift of speech. When Victoria saw her son and new daughter-in-law she opened her arms to them and hugged them with happiness. Though they did mourn their loss, they moved on and moved to Fred's home. I came with them. I decided to do what that man said, try to save her. But from what, I did not know until it was too late. The region Fred lived in was unstable at the time. Wars between people erupted without warning and Victoria got caught up in one. She explicitly said to keep Fred and his wife out of it, so they never knew until it happened. She ended a war by herself, but in doing so she destroyed herself. I was there. Her mind was set on one purpose and one only: to stop the war before it would take anymore lives. She knew why her husband died.
He was secretly a general in the war of the regions. He was trying to end the hate each region had for each other, but he failed and was killed for his efforts. All sides claimed his death as their doing, but none of them really did it. An underground organization actually did it so that the wars would continue. She knew about it even before Alen figured it out. She lead a small band of troops against that underground organization. The troops were each from different parts of each region in the war, and shared no animosity toward each other. They were successful in taking out their target, but only one returned to tell his story. All the others, including Victoria, had died in battle. I could not save her. I failed her husband, but I think he would have forgiven me. The wars did stop after a few more months of fighting and peace treaties were signed to help unify them as one nation under an equal set of representatives. What she did will always be remembered by me, and now I hope you understand that I will defend this family until I die because of it. I made that blood oath on her grave, and that I will not fail her." He stopped and looked at the table with closed eyes. A very faint tear ran down from one eye, but faded away after a second of exposure to air. "I will never let anything happen to you, or your mother or anyone that falls in this blood line." He got up and walked down to his room. Adrian's mind was thinking and remembering everything Maro said. He was about to get up when his mother sat next to him.
"I heard Maro talk to you. He never mentioned any of this to me when I was little. I believe you are simply the one that must know. Perhaps there is more than just stories that is occurring here. Well, you had better get some sleep." Adrian nodded and left for his room. He stopped by the restroom to brush his teeth and relieve himself. He finished and walked to his room. His suitcase was there in his room and so was a small bed and drawer. He began putting his clothes in the drawer when someone knocked on the door. It was Alen.
"Come in."
"Maro talked of his promise, correct?" Alen asked as he walked in.
"Yes, yes he did. I was going to ask you something about it tomorrow, but you're here now."
"Well, what was it you were going to ask me? Geezz that felt weird, asking what you're going to ask..."
"Hmmm... It's about Victoria. He said that neither of you knew until it was too late. Was this true?" Alen thought a minute.
"Yes, it is true. Maro would not give false information. She had a very resistant mind. It would take me a few minutes to reach into it, but I could not always hear what was going on. She was something else. A human with that much will to see something through, even after her husband died is truly unique. Well, does that answer your question?"
"Yes, but another thing..... Who was with you during that time?"
"Hmmm... At the time..." Just as he was about to say something, Ollie walked in. He seemed seasick. Alen looked down at the cat. "Uh, Ollie? Are you alright?" Ollie walked a little farther and began to fall on his side. Adrian instinctively jumped up and caught the cat in a flash.
"Ollie! Say something!" Ollie looked up at Adrian and spoke.
"I wisshh.... thhhe boat.... would >urp stooop... swaaaying...." Ollie's tongue lagged out of his mouth. "Sorry.... I maaaay have messshed in da haaaall...." Alen touched a spoon to Ollie's forehead and he began to sleep, purring.
"He'll be fine when he wakes up. Now let me clean up the mess...." He walked outside the room and saw a small trail coming from the deck. He focused both spoons on the mess and teleported it outside the ship. He also made sure that the surface didn't have any microbial remains. Alen then sensed something, or rather heard something coming from the deck. It was Adrian's mother and Cannon running under.
"The water's are getting cranky!" she shouted as a clash of thunder was heard booming through the ship. Alen thought for second then teleported himself to the helm.
"We cannot be there already! Unless, the storm simply kept growing and is now a hurricane." Alen tried turning the ship around, pushing it with his psychic powers. He managed to turn it completely around, but was shook when a wave slammed into the hull of the ship. "Everyone, concentrate on me and maybe we can escape it!" He shouted to everyone, psychically. Everyone heard it, except Adrian. The psychic message never made its presence known to Adrian, so he didn't know what exactly was going on. Adrian's mother quickly asked everyone to get into their pokéballs so that they could be in less danger. Charla and Dasher were the first to enter their pokéballs. Cannon, Duckman, Glen, and the dragonair remained in their rooms, since they have nothing to fear from the water. Maro, was hesitant at first, but entered his since he can't bear water for very long. Lucy entered hers as well. Ollie didn't have a pokéball of his own, so Cannon lended him his. Adrian walked out into the hallway after he pokéballed Ollie and found his mother with a very concerned look on her face.
"Adrian, take these," she handed Adrian the pokéballs, "and keep them close to you so you don't lose them." She hurried over to another room as Adrian put the balls into a zipper pocket in his shorts.
The boat shook as another wave hit at full force. Alen was not succeeding. Adrian walked to another room were Duckman was pacing.
"Da suspense is killin' me!" He looked as if he were in great thought. Adrian asked what he was doing. "I'm'a tryin' ta halp Alen! Ya mean ya neva heard him call?" Adrian shook his head no. "Oh great! Well, pleaze, concentrate on Alen and prey for clear skies..." Adrian sat down in a chair that was in the room and began to concentrate on Alen. Harder and harder he thought..... until the crack of a thunder bolt rocked the boat. It struck the mast and shattered it to shrapnel. Pieces flew in all directions, even through the ship into the lower regions, puncturing the hull as well as flying toward Adrian. The shrapnel stopped an inch in front of Adrian and fell to the floor. Duckman was astounded. "How did you...!!??" But the storage hold was taking in water.
The ship was sinking.
"Everyone, above deck to the lifeboats!" Adrian's mother shouted as she headed above deck. The remaining pokémon knew that this element would not harm them, but it could harm Adrian and his mother. Duckman ran out of his room, Adrian following, to the deck. Upon arriving, they could hardly see in front of them. It was solid black except the lightning strikes every second or so. Adrian watched on, almost as if in slow motion, a bolt heading for his mother. He saw it forming above her. He saw it form. He saw the light.
He was then under it, shielding his mother from the blast. It never touched anyone, except Adrian. He never fully felt the blast.
The light was so bright.... is this a dream? No, it couldn't be. There's my mom, and Duckman, and Cannon, and the dragonair whose name I don't know. There's the lifeboat we're about to enter. There's some of the shrapnel holes on the deck. That's where the mast used to be. There's the table that was fused to the deck, along with the bench and now dead umbrella. Alen is still in the helm. Wait, is he still in the helm? No, he is here, behind me, about to enter the lifeboat and about to create a small barrier to keep out the water. But how can I be noticing all these things without taking time? I am here, looking around at everything, but where's time?
Just as Adrian is wondering, time hits him dead on.
He and his mother are shoved into the lifeboat as the others launch it. Once it is on the water and cut loose from the ship, Alen teleports himself to it and puts up a psychic barrier.
"There, now we should be safe, at least for a while...." The others dive overboard and hit the water. They immediately guide the boat away from the storm, but the storm seems to begin following them.
"Alen," Adrian shouts above the noise, "I believe that we should ride into the storm. It is intent on getting us, so lets ride it out." Alen looks up at Adrian from deep thought.
"Perhaps you are right!" Alen psychically tells the swimmers to guide the boat into the storm. They do as he said and to their astonishment the storm begins to die down. A light can now be seen through the darkness. They were close to an island. The storm almost seemed to have come from that island. "Such an oddity." Alen said as they saw what was on the island. It was being lit by countless lights. There were windmills catching the hurricane winds that once blew. There was a small wooden pier where they would have docked their boat. A figure stood at the end of that pier with folded arms. Its eyes were glowing, somehow it was controlling the boats movements. It could finally be seen as what Adrian had met in a dream.

Mewtwo.

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