Japanese Title: The Girls Of The Water Cities! Of Cerulean And Of Olivine!
Translation: Sono Gaaru no Mizu Shiti! No Hanada to no Asagi!
By: Pro_V
Luri just kept muttering, "My life bites," as she tossed her cloak on the hanger and slammed down on the bed.
She hit the bed so hard that she must have bounced a good six inches into the air. She pulled the pillow over her face and mumbled something into it. Probably just another repeat of "my life bites", but you never can tell what will come out of Lurianna's mouth. She kicked off her shoes and sprawled out in the middle of the bed, growling something into the back of the pillow and trying to make sure no one would hear her jabbering to herself and start to think she was going loopy.
"I give up. I am so fed up with my life it's not even funny," came a muffled snort, "Why do I even pester myself with living anymore? Life is nothing but a chicken's egg. It's good for a while and then goes rotten. That's the story of my life. Great for a while and shitty the rest. Maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead. Out-of- League relationships are permitted now thanks to Kratos and Eevy, so I could still be with Will even if I did go back to Olivine. Long distance relationships aren't that bad and I wouldn't mind seeing my parents again."
A familiar female voice echoed in her head, "Mistress Luri. No. That's not what you really want. All you're really doing is digging yourself into a tunnel and purposely collapsing the entrance. That may sound good when you first do it, as you're keeping all the problems out, but once you've done it, you can never get out again. If you suddenly decide to try and dig yourself out, it collapses in on top of you and you're stuck. It's the same with dropping out of the Elite. If you were to realize it was a bad idea to quit, you could never come back. You're doing just as Jason was; searching for an easy way out. The easy way, this time, is the coward's way. It usually is. Stand up to your loss and teach your depression it can't take you over. There's a whole house full of people who love you and you're going to leave? Shape up, Lurianna Sedna! Besides, what would Eevy do to the guys if you left her unsupervised?"
"Suicune, you are truly stubborn," Luri sighed, then smiled, "And I wouldn't have you any other way."
*^~^**^~^*
Misty sat calmly on the balcony of one of the many fourth floor rooms. She stared out to the far east of Rainbow Metro and could just see the ocean's bright blue water. She wished that the sun would either move so it set in the east or that the ocean would move so that the sun would set into it. Alas, she knew she would never achieve that dream, and sat staring at the water. She sighed and saw a shadow jump above the trees and squinted to make out what it was, but she could only make out a flowing purple mane and a blue glow. She frowned, wanting to know what it was, but shrugged it off. She could tell the sun was setting just by the Pokemon that were coming out. She heard the door open and spun wildly to see who it was.
"It's fine," Luri shook her head reassuringly, "You can stay here as long as you like."
"This place," Misty looked around the frigid room, "What is it?"
"This is my ice room," Luri walked out to the balcony and leaned against the bar, "I love it here."
"It is nice. A beautiful shade of blue."
Luri smiled and looked over at her, "I think so too. So does my mother."
"Lorelei?"
"Yes," she nodded once and looked out at the ocean with her eyes closed, "There's a storm coming."
Misty watched carefully as Luri's long blonde hair blew in the light breeze just reaching the Mansion from the ocean. She seemed to almost be dozing off until her eyes opened slowly. Her ice blue eyes were nearly whimpering and starting to tear up, but Misty could tell Luri was holding it away. Luri again closed her eyes and took a deep breath with her mouth open ever so slightly.
"How can you tell?" Misty asked in a whisper.
Luri kept her eyes closed and gave a half smile to Misty's side, "Anyone can. The air is wet and the breeze is chilly. It's coming from the ocean, so it may be big. From the southeast."
"You can tell all that just by feeling the breeze?"
"Yes," she nodded once and went back into the ice room, sliding on the ice and out to a mound of hardened snow, "What is it you were doing in here anyway?"
"Just looking at the ocean. Water Pokemon are the best and they tie me straight to water."
"Water Pokemon?" Luri looked her over, "That's all you train, isn't it?"
"Yep," Misty dared herself to step onto the ice and skid wildly across to where Luri was sitting, "They're my specialty. I want to know everything there is to know about them and I want to be a Water Pokemon Master-uh-Mistress."
Luri gave a half second scowl, "I'm sure you'll do it," she looked up at the thermometer, "It's too warm in here. I'll have to fix that," the room started filling with a light fog and the temperature started lowering.
"Wow," Misty breathed smoke, "That's really cool."
"No. It's cold," Luri snickered, "Give me your hand."
"Why?" she leaned away.
"Just let me see," she snatched her wrist as her palm started glowing blue, "Oh, yes. The Beasts like you," she put their hands palm to palm and raised them up while their fingertips illuminated cold blue, "They like you a lot."
"Beasts? The Legendary Beasts?" Misty's eyes nearly fell from her head as she remembered the blue Pokemon leaping over the trees.
"Yes. Suicune shows interest in you. Entei is quite interested in both Brock and Tracey and Raikou shows a strong curiosity about the Ketchum boy."
"How do you know that?"
"I have my ways. Not only Eevy has connections to them. Someday you will too. I can already feel the Water rushing through you," she dropped her hand and looked out the balcony door and changed the subject, "I come here all the time to think alone a lot anymore. It used to be once and a while, but now it's every day. It's been even worse since the day before yesterday. Then it turned to spending most of the day here."
"I'm sorry about that. Everyone is."
"You shouldn't be. You did nothing to cause it or to prove it wrong. Will's right. Eventually it'll work out. It's just that…I don't know. I thought it would have worked out. I got so elated that it broke my heart to find out I was wrong. How I got sick, I may never know, but I did. The stomach flu. Oy vey, it was a nightmare through the whole thing."
"I'm sure it was," Misty flicked away a puff of snow and stared around at the icicles hanging from the ceiling and on the wall.
"Can I ask you a very odd question?" she noted Misty's nod and continued, "What is Ashura to you?"
"You mean Ash?" she cocked her head and looked overly puzzled, "What do you mean what is Ash to me?"
"Just that. What is he to you? Other than a boyfriend?" Luri looked at her dead seriously.
"Oh," she looked around and then looked overly thoughtful, "Other than a boyfriend, he's a close friend too. A traveling partner. A colleague. And at some points maybe even a rival."
"That's not quite what I meant. I meant what kind of qualities do you like about him? What is it that you fell in love with in the first place?"
Misty looked dumbfounded for a moment, trying to figure out just why she was asking such questions. She stared left and right blankly a few times while trying to come up with an answer she felt was truthful yet would still satisfy a Mistress's curiosity. She looked back and sighed a bit, trying to kick her brain into motion.
"Well, I," she paused, "I like his sense of humor and his looks aren't bad either. He can be really sweet when he tries and his way with words is great sometimes. But what I first noticed about him was how much he loves Pokemon. So, to me, he's funny, cute, handsome, sweet, compassionate and caring."
"It sounds like you had your eye on him for a while," Luri muttered, "before you said anything."
"A couple of years, actually."
"That sounds just like Will and me. None of us should have kept it from each other that long. All we were doing was smoldering our courage."
"Yes, but it worked out, at least."
"That's true. The Beasts see so much potential in you," she sighed and pushed a hand print into the snow beside her, "I'll bet you'll all achieve your dreams someday. Sooner or later, the four of you will get your hopes fulfilled and your wishes granted."
"Maybe," Misty looked out the balcony door and down into the trees, "What's that?!" she jumped up and zipped across the ice.
Down in the underbrush, a small greenish-white sparkle seemed to dig through the leaves lying along the forest floor. Glowing white sparks fell to the ground in its wake and left luminous white specks on the leaves before they flickered and disappeared like candles slowly dying in the wind. Luri and Misty watched it move as it seemed to search through the foliage around the ground of Spectral Spirit Woods. Its dragonfly-like wings were just barely visible, as they fluttered crazily to keep the body of the carrier above the ground and to propel it about as it searched. A white glow started to form a sphere around its body and it started picking up speed and flying off. It went faster and faster with each passing second as it moved away. Rushes of white power flowed from around it as it just kept moving. It suddenly disappeared without a trace in a splash of bright white light as it just fizzled away in the center of the woods. Luri whispered something that even Misty couldn't hear, despite the fact they were standing right next to each other.
"What was that?" she looked to Luri with a blank face, "What'd you say?"
"Nothing," she shook her head with a slight smile and turned to walk back inside.
"I won't tell anyone what that was if you tell me. That is, if you know."
Luri ignored that, "Do me a favor, Misty. Please never lose Ash. No matter what the reason. True love is a very precious thing, and losing someone or something as dear to you as he is would be like losing your very life itself. Hang onto him and keep a hold of life. Never let him go, Misty. Never."
*^~^**^~^*
"This sucks!" Peter snorted, "My arm is going to fall off here in a minute. Don't tell me that not only did I lose Medira but I'm going to lose my arm too. Damn this hell-hole of a world!" he kicked a huge shower of snow into the air, "I hate this shitty world! That stupid Mistress bitch is going to pay for what she's done! First she took my chair as Champion, then she destroyed my plans about six zillion times, and then she and that ratty Elite First of hers stole the only person I've ever actually loved! This hell of a world turned against me before I was even one speck evil! I thank it for my malignancy but not for the consequences that it's brought me! Why, for once, can I not have what I want?! This banishment is not what I joined the League to achieve! I joined the League to achieve strength and power. I got my power! I got my strength! But, in turn, I lost everything else! Absolutely everything fell apart! Once I did manage to find someone who actually meant something to me, they pulled that away too!" he ran his hand along his face and started burning red, "I hate those people!" the snow and ice around him melted for yards in every direction, "With a burning passion! I hate all of them with every inch of my very existence! I wish them all to burn for taking everything that meant anything to me away! They should, and will, all rot for what they've done! That includes their stupid friends and those idiotic Gym Leaders!" a spiral of fire crashed and spread from tree to tree, "Just you wait, little miss Mistress! I'll be back for you and you will not survive our next encounter! I've had it with you and anything that has to do with you! You'll not make it through me this time! You will lose!"
The explosion came, alerting everyone within miles. Eevy, who had been sitting on the front porch swing, shot up straight and looked out to her right into Spectral Spirit Woods. A spiraling twister of flames roared from the center of the forest. Eevy's eye colors wrapped together and flashed crimson. She clenched her teeth and took a deep breath as the fire slowly died down and fizzed away. Lance stepped slowly from the door and watched her closely as her hair started flipping in wind that wasn't there.
"Eevy. Please. Don't go after him," he snatched her arm, "Let him come here and face all of us."
She calmed slowly and slouched, "I won't. If he thinks he's so big and so scary that he can stand up to anything, let him come here. Do you hear me, Rubeus?!" she shouted as loud as she could and stepped to the railing of the porch, "I know you do! Screw you, Rubeus! I will not come for you! Come for me if you want me so damn badly! I dare you to face all of us at once!"
"I will come when I'm damn good and ready!" Rubeus' voice echoed back, "Until then, prepare! Plan all you like, but I refuse to lose to you! You have what warning you will receive!"
"I don't need warning to defeat you! I will plan! And I will be ready!" the wind went silent as their verbal bickering slowed and disappeared, "Stupid shit. Let him come."
"Are you sure just inviting him here like that was a good idea?" Lance crossed his arms as she turned around.
"I am sure," she pushed him to sit on the porch swing and sat down beside him, "He'll come; but only after his arm is healed. Even he isn't stupid enough to challenge when wounded. He may be an idiot at some points, but he is actually very smart and very cunning."
He scowled, "Really?" he snorted.
"Stop that!" she hit him in the stomach, "You know better."
"Yeah, sure I do," he ran his hand around the back of her neck, "But do you, is my question."
"I know better than to go too far with anyone. Including you," she grabbed his index finger between her own index finger and thumb and pulled them up and over, dropping his hand on his own knee.
"Is that so?" he turned to sit and stare at her, "And just how far is too far?" he played with her hair.
"I have the strangest feeling you already know," she swatted his hand from her hair and shoved him over.
He repositioned his head on the arm of the swing and pulled her arm, causing her to lie out on top of him, "Maybe I do and maybe I don't. Maybe you'll even have to show me."
She sighed and ran her hand around his chest, "Later," she yawned and kissed his chin, "I say we just sit here a while."
A tiny shadow peeked out the door and watched the porch swing swaying slowly. His left eye started twitching, alerting anyone who may have seen him that he was getting annoyed. He watched the Elite Fourth charming his Mistress and watched his Mistress cuddling with someone other than him. His bright blue and green eyes flashed red momentarily and he turned and headed back inside. He jumped along the hall and into his Mistress's room. He hopped onto the bed and curled up on the pillow, breathing deep to catch the faint scent of her raspberry shampoo. Vovo hated it when Lance and Eevy were that close, as did his sons. They had all agreed when this romance first started to keep out of the way, but that seemed to be changing for the worse now that their Mistress and her Elite Fourth were getting even closer. Vovo opened one eye at the sound of footsteps in the hall and sniffed the air. The identity was confirmed; Misty. He yawned and frowned, as he had hoped it was Eevy. He rubbed his face into the pillow and slowly dozed off.
*^~^**^~^*
Misty kept walking along the hall and stopped at the dining room door. Her sneakers scuffed the floor as she made her way across the room and to the refrigerator. She dug through the chilly air as she looked for anything interesting to snack on. She felt hands at her waist and started to shoot up straight before stepping back and cracked her head on the inside of the door.
"Ouch!" she shrieked and stepped back, rubbing her head.
"Sorry, Mist," Ash slightly snickered, "What're you up to?"
"I was looking for Eevy, but searching for a snack sounds better," she still rubbed at the back of her head.
"Eevy's out on the porch with Lance," Ash motioned to the window, "They're actually sleeping, I think."
"Cute," Misty turned back to the fridge, "What were you up to, other than giving me a concussion?"
"I was just looking for you. And for your information, I thought you heard me come in. It's not like I meant for you to cram your head on the fridge."
"Very funny," she turned around with a sandwich in her hand.
"Thanks," he snatched the food and sat down at the table.
"You little snot!" she stomped, "That was mine!"
"I'm only kidding!" he dropped the sandwich on the table and shook his head, "You should know by now that I'm almost never serious."
"That's true," she gave an evil smile as she again dug through the fridge, "The only thing you're serious about is food."
"And Pokemon," he corrected quickly and watched her as stood digging.
"Stop looking at me, Ash Ketchum," she snapped, knowing he was watching even though she didn't actually see him.
"Sorry!" he threw his hands in the air and turned around, seeing a bright white flash out the window, "Hey, Misty! Look at that!" he jumped up and ran to the window.
"I'm not going to watch Lance and Eevy sleeping, you sick pig!" she growled.
"No! It's some kind of alien or ghost or Pokemon or something! Come here!" he jumped and pulled her to the window, "Check it out!"
The bright greenish-white figure was hovering over the porch swing and staring curiously down at the couple sleeping beneath it. It hovered back and forth, examining them for some reason. Ash and Misty were close enough now that they could tell it had big blue eyes and a kind of light sea foam/seaweed green skin. It reached down and touched Eevy's forehead with an arm nearly as long as the full length of its body. A little spark stirred Eevy a bit, but she stayed asleep and simply wrapped her arm farther around Lance. The tiny figure cocked its head and swayed back and forth.
"What is it, Ash?" Misty whispered, "Is it a Pokemon?"
"I don't know, Misty," he answered in the same low tone, "Maybe it's an alien and it's gonna abduct them or something."
"Oh, whatever," she moaned and rolled her eyes.
The figure reached and pushed Eevy's arm back between them and pulled Lance's arm up to it. It moved their index fingers towards each other and touched them to each other. Raikou's cry sounded in the distance and a bright white glow illuminated from their touching fingertips. The figure blinked and nodded with a small smile on its tiny mouth. It leaned back and started floating away, but noticed Misty and Ash standing in the window. The two of them stepped back, but the figure turned and smiled. It placed its hand on the window. A small purple glow left a tiny four-fingered handprint on the windowpane. Ash and Misty looked to each other and then back to the whatever-it-was. It hovered back and gave a wave before turning around and zipping away with the white power falling from behind it. It disappeared with a bright white flash and was gone.
"Look at that," Ash pointed to the handprint on the glass, "That was awesome."
"What do you think it was?" Misty looked at the handprint.
"It looked like a Pokemon, but I've never seen one like it before," Ash reached out and touched the handprint, "Whoa!" he jumped away as his entire hand burned purple, "What's going on here?!"
"That's like what happened when I touched Luri," Misty tapped the handprint slowly and her hand also lit up, "Wow."
"What is this?" Ash stared at his hand, "What was that thing and what did it do?"
"I don't know. I saw it earlier with Luri. I think she knows what it is, but she wouldn't tell me."
The glowing slowed and disappeared, leaving them both blank-faced, "That was weird," Ash stared around the room, "Anyway, what were you talking to her about?"
"Luri?" Misty snapped back to reality, "About you, actually."
"About me?" his eyes narrowed, "What about me?"
"She said she and Will have a lot of the same kind of problems we do. She told me never to lose you and to hang onto everything I have."
"Never to lose me?" he cocked his head, "You could lose me if you dropped me in the middle of nowhere blindfolded!"
"Well, that bursts my bubble then," she snickered with a huge smile at the scowl he shot, "I'm only kidding."
"Yeah," he put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, "I know."
"What are you doing?" she tilted her eyebrow.
"Uh," he pulled her even closer, "It looks to me like I'm kissing you."
"Oh," she nodded, "OK."
She put her arms around his back as their lips pressed together. He ran his hands up her back and pulled away slowly, watching the smile stick on her mouth.
"You enjoyed that?" he sounded overly surprised.
"Yes, I did. Did you?"
"As a matter of fact, I did."
"If we both like it so much, why not do it again?"
"Sure."
*^~^**^~^*
"She's so much like me," Luri laid out on her bed and stared at the ceiling, "She really is a sweet girl. Those two deserve each other and belong together."
"Who?" Will looked over at her, "Ash and Misty?"
"Yep."
"Yeah, those two are nice kids. A little loopy sometimes, but they're OK."
"If we do have a baby," Luri started but paused just to be safe, "What would you think of a girl's middle name being Mistaria?"
"It's nice. Pretty. Why?"
"I have my reasons."
"If you say so. Now," he walked his fingers over her, "How about we get the baby to carry that name?"
*^~^**^~^*
The little white light worked around the trees, weaving and zipping along. The bright white glow flowed from behind it as it kept moving around the woods. It stopped at the scent of smoke and saw a young man with bright red hair sitting and staring into a fire. It tilted its head at the steam rising from the trees around it. It then went about its work. It spun from the base of each tree on up and sent its sparkles onto the burned or burning bark. Green sprouts started growing from their very touch. It continued around the campsite, the bright white catching Peter's attention.
"What's going on?!" he jumped up and looked side to side while turning around, "What's happening?! How are the trees growing back?!"
He shot back a step as a small, bright green-white figure flashed past his face. White power splashed behind it as the sphere containing this tiny creature continued away and disappeared in a blinding white flash. Peter stood in a daze and watched as more and more green formed on the trees around him.
The Next Chronicle:
Heading For The Holidays
Notes
Whee! This was interesting, if nothing else. And look! The next chapter is the beginning of a series of Christmas-y chapters! The posting schedule is going to be WAY off this month, so you may want to check http://www.geocities.com/hukubuandnanka/calendar.html for the days I'll be posting. It's just a little table that shows what goes up when. Well, that's it for now. ^_^ Buh-bye!
*^~^*Pro_V*^~^*
-=O~Her Pokemon~O=-