Japanese Title: Still More Friends Vanish! Where Can Everyone Be Going?!
Translation: Ichidan Furenzu Kieru! Doko Kotogadekiru Minasama Gozaru Iki?!
By: Pro_V
"It's been a while since anyone went missing," Ash muttered, "Do you think it's over with?"
"I seriously doubt it," Luri yawned, "I'll bet any amount of money that whatever or whoever is out there is just trying to make us feel cozy before it attacks again."
"And when it does attack, who knows who it'll go after," Tracey shrugged, "So far it's taken only the girls, but the count on ladies is dwindling, so chances are it'll take a guy next."
"That's a comforting thought," Brock mumbled, "Just what I want to do. Spend my time playing prey."
"Do you think it's Peter? Honestly?" Misty asked, "I mean, could it really be him? It is kind of stealthy and must be agile to pull this off. Is there a chance it's a Pokemon?"
"That's always a possibility," Will nodded, "Humans and Pokemon usually get along, but there is always an exception. Sometimes those exceptions can turn dangerous, maybe even deadly dangerous. A Pokemon's temper isn't always controllable. Like during a Rage attack a Pokemon can't necessarily control its attack power. It could very well be an aggravated Pokemon from the Moss Bogs."
"Something tells me this is not at all what we think it is," Morty mused, "There's just something wrong with this picture."
*^~^**^~^*
Eusine was simply sitting in his room, throwing his Poke'Ball into the air and pondering the disappearances; especially Mizu's. He was blaming himself for not keeping a closer eye on her. He slouched in the chair and threw the Poke'Ball higher. A few throws later, he threw it higher still. In a few minutes he was throwing it high enough it was cracking the ceiling with a slight pop now and then. He yawned and was about to stop and put the Poke'Ball back in his vest's inside clip when he threw it up and it didn't come back. What goes up must come down, that he knew, so he slowly looked up. Nothing. No Poke'Ball and nothing that could have taken it.
"OK," he swallowed hard and started shaking, "Good thing it was empty."
He looked back down, not noticing the air vent above him slowly sliding open. He didn't dare take out another Poke'Ball, fearing he'd lose that one too. He stood up and stared at himself in the mirror, debating on whether or not he was presentable for dinner. His mind kept returning to Mizu, but he shook it away, deciding he had to be strong; for Eevy's sake. A long black tendril slowly lowered behind him. As he went to turn around, it snapped around his neck. He tried frantically to yell, but it was useless. It pulled him up into the vent, choking and kicking. It whipped him up hard enough that he slammed into the roof of the vent, going out like a light. The gold chain around his wrist dropped off and clattered to the ground; the only clue left behind. The tendril pulled him back, closed the vent, and disappeared. Eevy knocked on his door. Receiving no answer, she slammed it open.
"Eusine!" she called, "Eusine! Where are you, Eusine?" she caught a glimpse of a gold shine on the ground, "This is the chain I gave him when we were little. He never takes this off. He wouldn't even pawn it," she spun around frantically, "Eusine! Morty!" she jumped out the door and crashed down the stairs, "Morty!" she burst through the door of the room where some of her friends were watching TV, "Morty, Eusine's gone."
"No," Morty sprang up, "No way!"
"Yes way," she held out the chain, "Remember this?"
"I sure do," he stepped over and took it, "He never takes it off."
"My cousin's gone," Eevy started wailing, "What's doing this, Morty?"
"If you don't know, I don't know," he pulled he closer and hugged her, "Poor Eusine."
"We'll find them soon, Eevy," Lance nodded, "I promise you that."
"We've just got to," Eevy cried into Morty's shirt, "Whatever's doing this took my cousin."
*^~^**^~^*
"What do you think it is, V?" Vic turned to her brother as they sat on the roof of Rainbow Mansion, "What's taking everybody?"
"I seriously don't know, Vic. Really," Victor sat down next to her, "It's like everyone's just disappearing from the Earth completely. Hardly any clues, only one case with any contact just before hand, and no sign or clue of the culprit."
The sliding lock on the door leading inside slowly flipped and latched, trapping Victor and Victoria on the roof unless they were to climb down the side of the building. A tendril moved off the lock and slid back out from under the door. The Ryujin twins stood to go back inside with Victor taking the door handle.
"Uh, Vic. Did you lock the door?" he asked as he pulled on the handle.
"How could I do that? The latch lock is on the inside," Vic slightly snorted, "Don't go blaming me."
"I'm not," he continued pulling, "But I'm serious. We're locked out!"
"No way!" Vic cringed.
Something moved along the side of the door, peering out at its next two targets. A tendril shot out, wrapping around Vic's ankle and pulling her over.
"Yah!" she flailed, "Victor, help!"
"I got ya'!" Victor snatched her arm, "What the hell is that?!"
"I don't want to find out! Pull harder! It's got me good!"
He kept pulling, adding at least twice the force as he had on the door. Vic turned and slammed down on the tendril with her other foot, hearing a hiss and shriek as it retracted its bruised limb. She scrambled to stand and stopped beside her brother.
"V," she shook and trembled closer, "What's going on here?"
"I don't know," Victor swallowed, "But I'd say whatever the hell that is, it's what's taking everyone."
"You noticed?" she cocked her head at him, "We've got to get out of here!"
"But we can't! We're four stories up and the door's locked! There's no way we could climb all the way down before it got to us."
That thing was now steaming mad and bounded up on top of the door, growling lowly as it spied the two who had just injured it. It turned and sent out two tendrils; one from each side. Vic and Victor spun, backs to each other, as the tendrils whirled towards them. They each let out long screams, catching Will's ears. He rolled from Luri, who snorted, and jumped up, snatching his shirt and cape as he ran. Each tendril swung twice around the twin on its side, twice around the other, then finished off by wrapping their remaining length around both. Vic and Victor let out slight chokes and gags until a third tentacle slammed them both on the head, knocking them cold. Will hit the door with a tremendous slam with Lance and Eevy standing tiredly behind.
"This had better be important, Will," Eevy pulled her cloak closed, "If I'm up here in my nightgown for nothing, I'll club you one."
"You think I wanted to walk away? I was in the middle of something!" he tried to pull the latch loose, "Damn lock's jammed again."
"Move over," Lance shoved him out of the way and took one quick kick at the side of the latch, cracking it open, "After you."
"Very funny," Will slowly opened the door and stepped out.
"There's nobody here," Eevy snorted.
"I swear I heard screams from up here," Will looked frantically around, "I know I did. My ears never lie."
"He's got a good point, Eevy," Lance agreed, "He's never been wrong like this before. Maybe somebody really was up here."
"You mean you think somebody took them?" Eevy swallowed.
Will jumped to the stairs and called down, "Take a head count! There're three of us up here, look for ten more!"
It took a few minutes, but Luri jumped up the stairs with the answer, "There's eight of us down there," she panted, "It's V and Vic. They're not there," she paused at Lance's hack, "We've looked everywhere. They're not in the house at all."
"That must have been who was screaming," Eevy swallowed and looked to Lance, who was basically frozen, "Lance, breath!"
Will jumped up behind him and hit his back, "Just take deep breaths, Lance. Come on!"
"Breath, Lance!" Luri jumped, "You'll pass out if you don't!"
"Don't you see?" Lance dry heaved, "They're the only family I've got left! My parents died when they were still babies. I was only three, but I still remember them. Vic and Victor never really knew them. They're all I've got left!"
"That's not true!" Eevy snapped, "You've got me. And everyone else."
"She's right," Luri pushed in, "This has gone far enough. It started with friends and progressed to relatives. This is ending. Soon."
*^~^**^~^*
Ash, Misty, Brock and Tracey all agreed to stick together, which was actually a mistake. To the kidnapper, all that did was make its job easier. The chance to take four of the targets at once would not be passed up for the world. The group took the chance of staying on the front porch, believing they were safe because they were together. Brock was reading, Ash was half-asleep, Tracey was sketching and Misty was just staring off into the sunset. The tendrils creeped around the base of the porch, searching relentlessly for an easy way in. It finally found the open steps and traveled up, one by one.
"Do you guys really think it's safe out here?" Misty shook, "I mean, Yuu-Yuu, Sooney, Beth, Vic and Victor all disappeared outside."
"Don't worry about it, Misty," Ash yawned wide, "As long as all four of us are together, nothing can happen! Not one thing can go wrong!"
"Yeah, he's right," Brock looked over his book, "There's no way whatever this is could take all four of us at once."
"True," Tracey paused and put his pencil and pad down, "Whatever this is has taken a max of two. It's nearly impossible for anyone or anything to steal four people at one time. Besides, the others would be right here to help."
"I suppose so," she leaned and looked out the window.
The tendril slipped up beneath the window Misty sat in and zipped around her mouth. She let out a muffled scream, alerting the other three in the room.
"What the heck is that thing?!" Ash jumped up and snatched Misty's shoulders, "Guys! Help me!" he received no answer and no help, "Guys!" he spun around, "Oh no!"
Brock and Tracey were fighting their own war against tendrils around their necks and mouths. Another caught Ash's foot and slammed him to the floor. He was out like a blow light bulb in a matter of seconds. He was the only one left who could yell until that. Brock was turning blue until he was leaned forward and slammed into the porch railing, also going out. Tracey stretched for his pad and scribbled something on it, tossing it in the front door just before he too was knocked out. Misty was pulling frantically away until her arms collapsed thanks to a whip of a tendril across them. She snapped forward and cracked her head, blacking out instantly. The tendrils slipped around their waists and began dragging them off. Ash woke up slowly just as they were exiting the porch steps.
"Eevy! Help!" was all he had time to say before another tentacle slapped him over the head, knocking him out again.
"Ash!" Eevy slid to a stop in the front door, "Ash! Misty! Brock! Tracey! Where are you?" she looked down and saw the book, "Tracey's book. He never goes anywhere without that," she picked it up and looked at the note scribbled on it, "Not human?" she questioned what he wrote, "What does he mean 'not human'?" she shook herself straight, "Lance! Morty!"
*^~^**^~^*
Eevy's boots scuffed the floor as she skid down the hall, "Morty! Lance!" she burst through the door, "Lance! Morty!"
"Calm down, Eevy!" Morty tried to quiet her, "What happened?"
"It's Ash," she panted, "Whatever took him took Misty, Brock and Tracey too. They're all gone."
"It took all four of them?" Lance sprang into the air, "At one time?"
"Yeah. Look what Tracey left behind," she turned the book towards them, "Look what it says. 'Not human'. Whatever took them wasn't human. What is this?"
"If it wasn't human, what the hell was it?" Morty swallowed, "The only other possibility is Pokemon."
"Could it be a Pokemon?" Lance questioned, "Could a Pokemon really do this?"
"It must have," Eevy looked at the picture of the sunset Tracey had scribbled the note over, "Either that or we've got a big problem on our hands here."
*^~^**^~^*
"This is nuts," Morty muttered, "Just about everyone's gone. The only one left who's not part of the top trainers is me!"
"Don't worry," Medira shook her head, "We're all watching out for everyone else, so just keep your cool."
"What did Tracey mean by 'not human'? I just can't decide what he meant," Eevy bit her bottom lip.
"But what was it if not human?" Luri mumbled, "And how did it get four people at one time?"
"How did it keep all four of them quiet?" Jason questioned, "It'd have to do some pretty hard hitting to keep them all dead silent while it took the others."
"That's true," Lance nodded, "They'll all be at least bruised. Either that or gagged. It's absolutely nuts. No one who's seen the damn thing's remained to tell us."
"That is, all except Tracey. And all he could tell us was 'not human'," Will added, "Which still makes absolutely no sense whatsoever."
"Whatever this is, it has to be taken seriously," Eevy mused.
The others nodded agreeably, not knowing the tendrils were working their way around the room. A figure, from which the tentacles came, stood silently outside the door while weaving its tentacles' ways around the room. Seven victims was not an option; four was hard enough. This time it was only after one specific target. The last one it needed to get step one completed. The problem being, of course, the fact that the choice prey was not alone. The tendrils stopped directly behind the targeted soul and waited. In a few seconds, every one of them lashed forward. Short chokes caught everyone's attention.
"Morty!" Eevy jumped up and snatched her brother's arms, "Help me, you guys!"
"Now I know what Tracey meant by 'not human'!" Will grabbed at Morty's shoulder, "Come on!"
"What is this thing?!" Luri joined in, "What does it want with Morty?"
"Let go of him!" Medira shrieked, "Not for you, whatever you are!"
"Drop the Gym Leader!" Lance pulled at him, "Drop him!"
"Let him go!" Jason shouted with a growl, "Get off!"
"Let go of my brother!" Eevy wailed, "He's mine!"
It was nearly impossible to get him away, even with the six others pulling with all their might. He was bound around mouth, neck, each elbow, each wrist, each knee and each ankle, making him hardly visible. The group flailed and pulled as the figure in the hall started walking away towards the open floor tile. Morty was pulled along with it, shoving everyone away. The figure was already gone into the tunnel, making it impossible to see it, but Morty fought as much as he could, pulling against this…thing as it pulled him along. Eevy jumped out the door and snatched her brother's arm. Morty chomped down on the tendril around his mouth, hearing a shriek of pain as it was pulled away.
"Eevy! Get away from this thing!" he flailed, "Who knows what the hell it is!"
"I'm not leaving you!" she hooked her feet on the statue to her side, "I'm not letting you go too!"
"Go, damn it!" he slammed his head on the tile as he was pulled through, going out as Eevy tried desperately to save him.
Eevy was too late and Morty was gone with another tendril pulling the tile back, "What the hell was that damn thing?!" she scampered backwards on her back, "I mean, shit! What the hell?!"
"What in the world could that have been?!" Luri shivered, slapping her hands around Will's waist, "What was it?!"
"I have no clue!" Will shook, "Whatever it was I can see how it got all four of them at once and what Tracey meant by 'not human'!"
"Why did it only take Morty?" Medira quivered, "We were all right here and it went after him and him alone."
"This is absolutely nuts!" Jason burst, "What the hell was that?! It was like some octopus of pure black!"
"This is bad," Lance swallowed, "Very bad. Whatever that thing was it looked really ticked off by the way it fought for him."
"My brother," Eevy whimpered, "My big brother," she started crying, "Morty."
*^~^**^~^*
Yuu-Yuu groaned and looked up, seeing nothing but blurred colored lights. She looked to her side and spotted most of her friends, lined up in the same predicament as her; hands and feet bound to separate boards. Sooney and Beth moaned and looked up, as did Mizu and Lisle. Eusine blinked a few times and tried desperately to reach for Mizu, but had no luck. Victor and Victoria shook themselves straight and looked blankly around the room. Ash, Misty, Brock and Tracey hacked a few times while awakening and Morty stayed out cold.
"Where are we?" Sooney swallowed.
"This place is freaky," Mizu shook.
"No, this place is the very center of my plan," a voice with a hint of a snake's hiss snickered lightly, "Welcome to my base, ladies and gentlemen."
"What?" Eusine looked up, "Woah! You're Peter Rubeus!"
"I see you've heard of me. Who told you? Your Legendary Beasts? Or maybe the angel-girl?"
"Hey!" Yuu-Yuu jumped, "You back off Eevy, scum bag!"
"What the hell do you want us for anyway?" Victor snorted.
"Why, you're the bait, my dear gate keeper," Peter stepped over and leaned towards Mizu, "Of course there could be some," he smiled wide, "other uses for some of you, but the primary reason is," he paused and started reddening, "I want that angel-girl exterminated! Roasted, baked, fried and blackened!"
"Leave her alone," Morty groaned, "Leave my sister alone."
"Do you have something to say to me, Minor Master?" Peter leaned into his face, "Then say it."
"All right," Morty spit in his face, "You'd damn well better keep your sorry ass the hell away from my sister, you shit-faced, scum screwing son of a bitching bastard."
"Excuse me?" Peter wrapped his hand around Morty's neck, seemingly remaining calm, though his flaring red eyes told otherwise, "Would you like to try that again?"
"If I have to," Morty swallowed, "Yes."
"Now you've earned yourself a good dose of pain."
He slapped his hand over Morty's arm, searing away at it with all the fire power he could muster. Morty let out a long scream as the heat singed straight through him. Lisle pulled wildly as she tried to get to him. Peter let go and stepped away, snickering evilly at him.
"Feel good?" he hissed, "Say anything like that and I'll just roast your little girlfriend over here," he pushed Lisle's chin up with his hand, "Or maybe I won't," he planted a literally burning kiss on her shoulder.
"Hey!" Morty pulled, "Hey! You keep your mouth off her, ya' sick pig!"
"Magmar!" Peter spun and called his Pokemon, "See that he…stays warm."
*^~^**^~^*
Eevy and Luri sat on the edge of the pool, staring into the crystal clear water. Eevy stood and jumped in with Luri sliding in behind her. Eevy only liked to swim when necessary, when in need of serious action and fun, or when in deep thought. She kept to her own side of the pool to think. She stayed under while pondering this recent turn of events. She couldn't get over the fact her brother was gone. He brother of twenty-two years was gone in less than twenty-two seconds. She started thinking and decided an oxygen segregator was a good idea.
"That thing that stole Morty definitely wasn't human," she thought as she put the mask in her mouth, "So it was in no way Peter or any person. It didn't act like any Pokemon I've ever seen. The skills and speed of a Pokemon and the craftiness and cunning of someone like Peter. Wait a minute. That's it!" she surfaced quickly and sprang from the water, "I've got it!" she spit out her mask.
"Got what?" Luri looked at her as she pulled herself up on the edge of the pool.
"It wasn't Peter!" Eevy jumped.
"Yeah," Luri nodded, "We know that. It was a Pokemon."
"It wasn't just a Pokemon either."
"Wha?" Luri cocked his head to the side.
"Just come on!" she pulled Luri down the hall, still sopping wet in bathing suits.
"You could have at least let me get a towel!"
They slipped to a stop and jumped into the room Lance, Jason, Medira and Will were in, "Hey! I figured out what we're dealing with!" Eevy shouted.
"Wow!" Lance drooled, "You look good-uh-I mean, that's good…"
Will whistled, "Nice suit-um-nice going, I mean."
"Stop it!" Eevy slapped a wet hand on Lance's head, "I know what that thing was."
"Really?" Medira jumped, "What?"
"It's got the craftiness of Peter and the agility of a Pokemon," Eevy paused to breath after the three flight run, "It's Peter's Pokemon."
"What?" Jason shook his head, "Why do you think that?"
"Don't you see? The agility of a Pokemon; Peter's Pokemon belonged to a Master, making them super strong and fast. The cunning of Peter; they'd return to him and get their orders. It's Peter's Pokemon!"
*^~^**^~^*
Morty was now red hot; both from rage and from burns. Lisle and Mizu were now on the other side of the room, still pulling to get away as Peter paced back and forth in front of them.
"What's keeping those friends of yours, huh?" Peter huffed, "Where's the angel girl? The dragon boy? That psycho psychic? The ice witch? The color brat? The cute little blond? This is taking too long! I'm not going to wait much longer before I start taking certain measures," he turned and snickered at Mizu who hacked while Eusine growled, "Oh, I'm sorry. Is she yours?" he pointed from Eusine to Mizu, "Good."
*^~^**^~^*
"This is the tile it went under," Lance pried it up, "There's the tunnel."
"We're not honestly going down there, are we?" Luri shivered, "It's too dark."
"We're all going to be there," Will commented, trying to calm her, "No reason to be scared."
"I'm not exactly thrilled either," Medira quivered, "There's no way I'm going down there!"
"Come on, Medira," Eevy begged, "We've got to get them out of there!"
"No way!" she turned to walk away but Jason snatched her.
"Let's go, Medira! Time for a ride!" he snickered and pushed her into the tunnel, "Yeehah!"
"Yeehah yourself, ya' maniac!" she shrieked as he slid in after him, "You bloody psychopath!"
The ride was a wild one, down through a twisting tunnels on the slide heading who knows where, "Look! A side tunnel!" Eevy shouted, "Which way?"
"Take the right one!" Will called, "I can tell! Definitely the right!"
Each one braced his or herself on the left wall as they passed the tunnel. They continued on down, kicking off in the direction Will suggested. They started twisting and turning around as they neared the end of the tunnels. Peter and the group heard a very odd group of shrieks and shouts coming from the walls and stared side to side as they looked for the source.
"What the hell is that?!" Peter burst, "An avalanche of screams?!"
"Incoming!" Eevy screamed as she toppled from the tunnel above them.
"Bombs away!" Lance shouted when he came flying out.
"Wicked ride, man!" Luri flew out behind them.
"Sweet!" Will zipped down.
"I think I'm gonna barf," Medira slid out.
"Cannon ball!" Jason fell out last.
"Shit!" Peter stepped away, "I told you to seal those tunnels!" he barked at Magmar, "Great job, you sad excuse for a Fire-type! I wanted them to find us, not fall on us!" he spun back to the group.
The just entered troop stood and stumbled side to side, half-laughing until Eevy spotted the one thing she had hoped never to see, "Morty!"
The Next Chronicle:
With The Ring Of A Bell
Notes
Yes, I know...I'm odd...But LOOK! *holds something up and waves it* I got a female Totodile! Then, I went to try and get females of the other starters, so I bred 2 of each, except Totodile, and all I got that was female was a Bulbasaur x_X Now I have to go breed 2 more of each starter except for Bulbasaur and Totodile. I won't consider myself a professional breeder until I get those girls...Must...Get...Females...FWAH!
The Spastic,
*^~^*Pro_V*^~^*
-=O~Her Pokemon~O=-