PERISH SONG
By Twilight Harmony
~*§*~
CHAPTER II
Todd Pollock was a large, beefy man with a thick gray handlebar mustache and bald head who had worked out with his Medicham at the Fortree Gym every Tuesday and Thursday between nine in the morning and noon for thirty years. But the fire had left him with a singed mustache and a bad attitude. He and Medicham had just barely escaped from their treetop home, and now they were working on the Fortree Gym with Winona and the Gym trainers.
Todd's current assignment was to go out to Route 120 and gather wood for the houses. It was quite a nice winter morning, considering the events of the night. Wispy cirrus clouds drifted lazily across the vivid blue sky. The road outside Fortree had been damaged very little; the firefighters from Lilycove had arrived very quickly to put out the blaze. It was only the remote mountains north of Fortree which had suffered. And, of course, the City itself.
Todd found a nice patch of trees down the road which looked suitable, and took out a broad ax from his pack. He remembered Winona's directions: 'Get only the amount of wood necessary, no more.' And that was what he would do. He walked up to a small maple which was only about five feet high. He didn't think it would make much, perhaps a chair. Or a table, if they were lucky. But it would have to do. He raised the ax and prepared to make a swipe, when suddenly he saw something out of the corner of his eye. But when he turned around there was nothing there. Todd grunted and turned back to the tree. But there it was again. A dark shape lingering just out of his range of sight. Clutching the handle of the ax in both hands he spun around.
"Damn eyes," he said in frustration, seeing nothing. Todd finished his job and started to pull part of the tree back to the City. But something he saw in the bushes made him stop dead. A pair of large scarlet eyes were staring out at him, unblinkingly. He took a step closer to the bushes... and in a flash, the eyes vanished. Todd watched them for a few more seconds, but they didn't so much as stir. Mentally cursing his eyesight again, he started on his way again.
As Todd's footsteps faded down the road, a small head appeared over the tall grass, watching warily for the sign of anyone approaching. Finding the area to be safe, the creature left the cover of the bushes and shook the grass from its long white mane. It walked down a muddy slope on the side of the road and leaned over the water of the lake. Watching carefully, it waited. Finally it saw what it was looking for. A tiny ripple flickered across the surface. In a movement almost too fast for human eyes to see, it reached out a paw with inch-long claws and snatched something just under the surface. A large Magikarp wriggled weakly on the end of the creature's claws. It grabbed the feeble fish in its jaws and carried it back to its den. There would be breakfast today for its family.
~*§*~
After all of her Pokémon had eaten, Elana sat down at the kitchen table with a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon and turned on the television. She wasn't paying too much attention to what was showing on it, but then a commercial caught her eye. It was like a postcard, with a sandy beach and clear blue ocean. In a flowing white script across the middle was written, "Lilycove - Where the Land Ends and the Sea Begins."
"That looks like a nice place," Caroline said as she scrubbed the dishes at the sink. "Wish it was sunny here, too." She glanced out the window at the overcast sky. Elana said nothing. Something about the ocean sparked her memory. Whatever it was seemed so close, just out of reach... or was she imagining it? She always got this feeling when she thought about her mother. Because as kind as Caroline was, she wasn't the teenager's real mother. Elana's mother had died - though how, or why, she didn't know - when she was two. Elana didn't know much about her life after that. Her earliest memory was playing in Caroline's garden. Caroline's husband, Norman Brown, was a Gym Leader, and had received Elana as a baby from one of his friends, whom her father had bade take care of her.
The girl uncontrollably scowled. Her good-for-nothing father was still out there somewhere, training Pokemon or whatever he did now. He hadn't even had the guts to take care of his own daughter... Too bad no one had told her his name.
"Elana?" Caroline was staring at her, having finished the dishes. Apparently she had asked a question.
"What?"
"Honey, are you all right? What's the matter?"
"Nothing," Elana said, a little too quickly. "Er, I was just thinking how nice it would be to go to a place like that." She motioned to the television. The commercial was, of course, no longer there, but Caroline got the idea.
"You mean go on vacation? You only just got home!"
Yeah, if 'just got home' is a month ago, thought Elana. But aloud she said, "But you said it yourself! We never get any sun around here! And I'm DYING to be out on the road again." Which was true. Even as a child, she couldn't stand being inside for more than a few minutes. In fact, she was quite sure no other child in the town could climb trees as well as she could. When she finally got her Pokémon license, all her dreams seemed to have come true. "And you could come, too!" she added hopefully.
Caroline sighed, kneeling down to put the frying pan away under the sink. "No, I couldn't possibly. I have too much work to do around here. And besides, your father -" She stopped suddenly and glanced at Elana. "I-I mean, Norman, he, you know, has the Gym to think of."
"Right," said Elana, trying not to show that she had noticed Caroline's pause. "So can I go by myself, then?" She gave her adoptive mother her best Puppy-Dog Eyes face and crossed her fingers under the table. The older woman bowed her head and closed her eyes, smiling slightly.
"What's the use? I can't say no."
"Oh, yes! Thank you so much!" exclaimed Elana, jumping up to hug Caroline (who was quite surprised, because this happened so infrequently) before dashing upstairs to start packing.
~*§*~
How did I get myself into this? Brooke Springfield stood before the Boss's desk as he received confirmation via telephone that the operation had been successful. She gave the Team Aqua leader a scrutinizing glance, thinking that if perhaps the situation had been different, he could have been rather good looking. Dark, wavy hair, a straight nose, wide, powerful shoulders, and a trim waist. But then her common sense took over, and she remembered that he was leader of a rebellion gang, little more than a criminal.
She tried not to hear what he was saying to the Aqua member, but it was no good. His low voice carried across the small chamber, and she was only a few feet away.
"Yes, and there's no connection whatsoever to us? Good. No one expects a thing. No, I still need confirmation of whether THEY have been blamed. Yes, and she's standing right here in front of me." Brooke gave an involuntary shudder, knowing who he was talking about. She stared at the uninteresting ceiling of the chamber until she heard the phone being placed on its receiver.
"So…" said Archie, regarding her at last. "Miss Springfield. I expect you have word on our friends the Magmas?" On the word "Magmas" his voice turned into more of a hiss.
"Oh, y-yes, sir. One of our members came back just a few minutes ago. He reported that the rumor's been going around the mountain that Team Magma set the fire, though whether the people of Fortree think this as well, I don't know."
"And the Magmas? Do they suspect that we are behind this rumor?"
"Well…" Brooke began, but she was interrupted by a soft voice at the door.
"Allow me to answer that."
As the newcomer strode past Brooke to the desk, she caught a glimpse of her face.
Of course, she thought with distaste, Shelly. The red-haired Aqua Administrator was a well-known favorite of the boss. In fact, some people thought - including Brooke - that there something of a romance going on between them.
"I have been to the Magma hideout, currently in the mountains north of Fortree City. What I found out…" She paused, and turned around to look at Brooke. "I'm sorry, but this really is classified information. You'll have to wait outside until we're done discussing." She smiled sweetly, but Brooke found a threat in her narrowed green eyes.
Without a word, Brooke left the room, seeing Shelly watch her until she had reached the end of the hallway. Then the door was shut, and it sounded like it was locked.
Wonder how long the 'discussing' will take, Brooke thought. She sat down on the cold tiled floor and pulled her knees up to her chin. She thought back to how she had come to be here, wearing this disgusting, navel-bearing uniform.
She had once worked at the Slateport Oceanic Museum as a rather well-known oceanographer and marine biologist. She had studied the ocean floor intensely throughout her life, and had one day discovered a strange underwater cavern, thousands of feet below the surface. She had been studying this strange cavern, and had written a published essay on the matter, when suddenly the Museum received a visit which changed everything. Two well-dressed individuals (she knew them know as the administrators, Matt and Shelly) had appeared at her desk and gave her what seemed like the offer of her dreams. She would give them information on this "Seafloor Cavern" and provide them with coordinates, all in exchange for a comfortable office and - as they told her in hushed tones - a great deal more money than she had ever heard of in her life. How could she refuse?
But she should never have signed the contract, because it bound her to Team Aqua (not that she knew it at the time) for ten years. She should have known from the moment the uniform was delivered to her. She had disliked the emblem on the head kerchief - it reminded her too much of a skull.
And then, of course, they forced her to stay at headquarters and keep all her activities a secret from her family. She hadn't thought, when she was signed on, that she would be required to help steal a submarine.
But there was always that Cavern. She had followed Archie, without his knowledge, of course, down to the chamber of the great Sea Spirit, Kyogre. She had watched as he confronted a rather small young girl as she watched the sleeping beast.
*(FLASHBACK)*
'Look at the beauty of the sleeping Kyogre. If only we could awaken it, and then see its true power. For years I have dreamed of this moment, and you shall not ruin it for me.' There had been warning in his calm tone, but the girl gave him a seething glare, not remotely frightened.
'Why can't you just leave it alone? Didn't you hear what the old man at Mount Pyre said -?'
'I don't give a damn about the fairy-tales that senile fool told you! The power of my Red Orb shall allow me to control Kyogre's power forever!'
What followed was an intense Pokémon battle, in which Brooke, from her cramped hiding spot, could tell that the girl was an excellent trainer. She battled with skill and confidence, not at all intimidated by the Aqua Boss.
I would have been, Brooke thought, if I was her age. But eventually, Archie had been defeated, and with no Pokémon to defend him, he gave up.
'Fine,' he said. 'I did not expect a child to understand.' But suddenly the Red Orb began glowing, and the earth shook, and Brooke had run as quickly as her legs could carry her out of the cavern.
~*§*~
The Pokémon that was hiding in the grass (I'm not going to tell you yet!) won't have as big a part in the plot as I first thought it would. This story has evolved into more of a friendship/family kind of thing. I actually first started with the idea around Christmas, but you can see I hadn't gotten around to writing it yet. Thank you to my reviewers!
By Twilight Harmony
~*§*~
CHAPTER II
Todd Pollock was a large, beefy man with a thick gray handlebar mustache and bald head who had worked out with his Medicham at the Fortree Gym every Tuesday and Thursday between nine in the morning and noon for thirty years. But the fire had left him with a singed mustache and a bad attitude. He and Medicham had just barely escaped from their treetop home, and now they were working on the Fortree Gym with Winona and the Gym trainers.
Todd's current assignment was to go out to Route 120 and gather wood for the houses. It was quite a nice winter morning, considering the events of the night. Wispy cirrus clouds drifted lazily across the vivid blue sky. The road outside Fortree had been damaged very little; the firefighters from Lilycove had arrived very quickly to put out the blaze. It was only the remote mountains north of Fortree which had suffered. And, of course, the City itself.
Todd found a nice patch of trees down the road which looked suitable, and took out a broad ax from his pack. He remembered Winona's directions: 'Get only the amount of wood necessary, no more.' And that was what he would do. He walked up to a small maple which was only about five feet high. He didn't think it would make much, perhaps a chair. Or a table, if they were lucky. But it would have to do. He raised the ax and prepared to make a swipe, when suddenly he saw something out of the corner of his eye. But when he turned around there was nothing there. Todd grunted and turned back to the tree. But there it was again. A dark shape lingering just out of his range of sight. Clutching the handle of the ax in both hands he spun around.
"Damn eyes," he said in frustration, seeing nothing. Todd finished his job and started to pull part of the tree back to the City. But something he saw in the bushes made him stop dead. A pair of large scarlet eyes were staring out at him, unblinkingly. He took a step closer to the bushes... and in a flash, the eyes vanished. Todd watched them for a few more seconds, but they didn't so much as stir. Mentally cursing his eyesight again, he started on his way again.
As Todd's footsteps faded down the road, a small head appeared over the tall grass, watching warily for the sign of anyone approaching. Finding the area to be safe, the creature left the cover of the bushes and shook the grass from its long white mane. It walked down a muddy slope on the side of the road and leaned over the water of the lake. Watching carefully, it waited. Finally it saw what it was looking for. A tiny ripple flickered across the surface. In a movement almost too fast for human eyes to see, it reached out a paw with inch-long claws and snatched something just under the surface. A large Magikarp wriggled weakly on the end of the creature's claws. It grabbed the feeble fish in its jaws and carried it back to its den. There would be breakfast today for its family.
~*§*~
After all of her Pokémon had eaten, Elana sat down at the kitchen table with a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon and turned on the television. She wasn't paying too much attention to what was showing on it, but then a commercial caught her eye. It was like a postcard, with a sandy beach and clear blue ocean. In a flowing white script across the middle was written, "Lilycove - Where the Land Ends and the Sea Begins."
"That looks like a nice place," Caroline said as she scrubbed the dishes at the sink. "Wish it was sunny here, too." She glanced out the window at the overcast sky. Elana said nothing. Something about the ocean sparked her memory. Whatever it was seemed so close, just out of reach... or was she imagining it? She always got this feeling when she thought about her mother. Because as kind as Caroline was, she wasn't the teenager's real mother. Elana's mother had died - though how, or why, she didn't know - when she was two. Elana didn't know much about her life after that. Her earliest memory was playing in Caroline's garden. Caroline's husband, Norman Brown, was a Gym Leader, and had received Elana as a baby from one of his friends, whom her father had bade take care of her.
The girl uncontrollably scowled. Her good-for-nothing father was still out there somewhere, training Pokemon or whatever he did now. He hadn't even had the guts to take care of his own daughter... Too bad no one had told her his name.
"Elana?" Caroline was staring at her, having finished the dishes. Apparently she had asked a question.
"What?"
"Honey, are you all right? What's the matter?"
"Nothing," Elana said, a little too quickly. "Er, I was just thinking how nice it would be to go to a place like that." She motioned to the television. The commercial was, of course, no longer there, but Caroline got the idea.
"You mean go on vacation? You only just got home!"
Yeah, if 'just got home' is a month ago, thought Elana. But aloud she said, "But you said it yourself! We never get any sun around here! And I'm DYING to be out on the road again." Which was true. Even as a child, she couldn't stand being inside for more than a few minutes. In fact, she was quite sure no other child in the town could climb trees as well as she could. When she finally got her Pokémon license, all her dreams seemed to have come true. "And you could come, too!" she added hopefully.
Caroline sighed, kneeling down to put the frying pan away under the sink. "No, I couldn't possibly. I have too much work to do around here. And besides, your father -" She stopped suddenly and glanced at Elana. "I-I mean, Norman, he, you know, has the Gym to think of."
"Right," said Elana, trying not to show that she had noticed Caroline's pause. "So can I go by myself, then?" She gave her adoptive mother her best Puppy-Dog Eyes face and crossed her fingers under the table. The older woman bowed her head and closed her eyes, smiling slightly.
"What's the use? I can't say no."
"Oh, yes! Thank you so much!" exclaimed Elana, jumping up to hug Caroline (who was quite surprised, because this happened so infrequently) before dashing upstairs to start packing.
~*§*~
How did I get myself into this? Brooke Springfield stood before the Boss's desk as he received confirmation via telephone that the operation had been successful. She gave the Team Aqua leader a scrutinizing glance, thinking that if perhaps the situation had been different, he could have been rather good looking. Dark, wavy hair, a straight nose, wide, powerful shoulders, and a trim waist. But then her common sense took over, and she remembered that he was leader of a rebellion gang, little more than a criminal.
She tried not to hear what he was saying to the Aqua member, but it was no good. His low voice carried across the small chamber, and she was only a few feet away.
"Yes, and there's no connection whatsoever to us? Good. No one expects a thing. No, I still need confirmation of whether THEY have been blamed. Yes, and she's standing right here in front of me." Brooke gave an involuntary shudder, knowing who he was talking about. She stared at the uninteresting ceiling of the chamber until she heard the phone being placed on its receiver.
"So…" said Archie, regarding her at last. "Miss Springfield. I expect you have word on our friends the Magmas?" On the word "Magmas" his voice turned into more of a hiss.
"Oh, y-yes, sir. One of our members came back just a few minutes ago. He reported that the rumor's been going around the mountain that Team Magma set the fire, though whether the people of Fortree think this as well, I don't know."
"And the Magmas? Do they suspect that we are behind this rumor?"
"Well…" Brooke began, but she was interrupted by a soft voice at the door.
"Allow me to answer that."
As the newcomer strode past Brooke to the desk, she caught a glimpse of her face.
Of course, she thought with distaste, Shelly. The red-haired Aqua Administrator was a well-known favorite of the boss. In fact, some people thought - including Brooke - that there something of a romance going on between them.
"I have been to the Magma hideout, currently in the mountains north of Fortree City. What I found out…" She paused, and turned around to look at Brooke. "I'm sorry, but this really is classified information. You'll have to wait outside until we're done discussing." She smiled sweetly, but Brooke found a threat in her narrowed green eyes.
Without a word, Brooke left the room, seeing Shelly watch her until she had reached the end of the hallway. Then the door was shut, and it sounded like it was locked.
Wonder how long the 'discussing' will take, Brooke thought. She sat down on the cold tiled floor and pulled her knees up to her chin. She thought back to how she had come to be here, wearing this disgusting, navel-bearing uniform.
She had once worked at the Slateport Oceanic Museum as a rather well-known oceanographer and marine biologist. She had studied the ocean floor intensely throughout her life, and had one day discovered a strange underwater cavern, thousands of feet below the surface. She had been studying this strange cavern, and had written a published essay on the matter, when suddenly the Museum received a visit which changed everything. Two well-dressed individuals (she knew them know as the administrators, Matt and Shelly) had appeared at her desk and gave her what seemed like the offer of her dreams. She would give them information on this "Seafloor Cavern" and provide them with coordinates, all in exchange for a comfortable office and - as they told her in hushed tones - a great deal more money than she had ever heard of in her life. How could she refuse?
But she should never have signed the contract, because it bound her to Team Aqua (not that she knew it at the time) for ten years. She should have known from the moment the uniform was delivered to her. She had disliked the emblem on the head kerchief - it reminded her too much of a skull.
And then, of course, they forced her to stay at headquarters and keep all her activities a secret from her family. She hadn't thought, when she was signed on, that she would be required to help steal a submarine.
But there was always that Cavern. She had followed Archie, without his knowledge, of course, down to the chamber of the great Sea Spirit, Kyogre. She had watched as he confronted a rather small young girl as she watched the sleeping beast.
*(FLASHBACK)*
'Look at the beauty of the sleeping Kyogre. If only we could awaken it, and then see its true power. For years I have dreamed of this moment, and you shall not ruin it for me.' There had been warning in his calm tone, but the girl gave him a seething glare, not remotely frightened.
'Why can't you just leave it alone? Didn't you hear what the old man at Mount Pyre said -?'
'I don't give a damn about the fairy-tales that senile fool told you! The power of my Red Orb shall allow me to control Kyogre's power forever!'
What followed was an intense Pokémon battle, in which Brooke, from her cramped hiding spot, could tell that the girl was an excellent trainer. She battled with skill and confidence, not at all intimidated by the Aqua Boss.
I would have been, Brooke thought, if I was her age. But eventually, Archie had been defeated, and with no Pokémon to defend him, he gave up.
'Fine,' he said. 'I did not expect a child to understand.' But suddenly the Red Orb began glowing, and the earth shook, and Brooke had run as quickly as her legs could carry her out of the cavern.
~*§*~
The Pokémon that was hiding in the grass (I'm not going to tell you yet!) won't have as big a part in the plot as I first thought it would. This story has evolved into more of a friendship/family kind of thing. I actually first started with the idea around Christmas, but you can see I hadn't gotten around to writing it yet. Thank you to my reviewers!
