Author's Note: I'd like to thank everyone who left a review of the first chapter. I'm really thrilled about the response this story has gotten so far. Anyway, I got this entire chapter done late last night before going to bed. It only took me a couple of hours to do, but I've visualized how this next part of the story was going to go so many times that I guess it just came pretty easily to me.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
Chapter 2: Doom Desire
Bolt had gotten Christine to the hospital as quickly as he could after finding her. It seemed that she had suffered a pretty bad fall down the hill from the night before. Thankfully when the doctors had checked Christine out, they found that besides the head injury she had only suffered a sprained ankle and a few bumps and bruises. Though because of the head injury, the doctors had wanted to keep Christine overnight as a precaution. As Christine was checked into a room, Bolt contacted the others and told them about what had happened.
Night was falling as Bolt headed for Christine's room to talk to her. When he reached the door, Bolt found that he was filled with a storm of emotions. The blonde rocker took a deep breath and opened the door. Christine was sitting up in her bed looking out the window. A thick bandage had been wrapped around her head and the swelling of her black eye had gone down considerably. Sitting on the nightstand by Christine's bed were the pokeballs that contained her five Pokemon. She had been carrying the pokeballs in the pocket of her dress in their compact form.
"Hey." Bolt spoke, causing Christine to turn from the window. "I heard from the doctors. They said you're probably going to be okay."
"I'll live, but… I'm not sure if I'll ever really be okay." Christine replied.
"So… what did you mean when you said you killed your dad?" Bolt asked.
"…Before I get into that, I want to tell you about why I suddenly left you for Richter that day in the Viridian Gym." Christine told him. "Believe it or not, it actually has something to do with your question." She paused and took a deep breath. "The only reason I left you Bolt was because my father and Richter had evidence that my mother, my real mother, had killed someone. It was in self-defense, but the man she killed had some powerful friends who would've done everything in their power to send her to jail. If I didn't leave you and go back to Richter, my father would've given that evidence to the police, and I just couldn't let my mother go to jail."
Bolt sighed. "Quinton and the guys thought it was probably something like that. To me it was the only thing that made sense. Still… you ripped out my heart that day, Christine. It took me over two years to get over what happened, not that I ever really did."
"I know. What I did really hurt me too." Christine replied. "Did… did you ever see anyone else after me?"
"…I've had a few relationships, but… none of them ever really lasted." Bolt answered. "No other girl could compare to you."
"You have no idea how sorry I am, Bolt." Christine told him as a tear came to her eye.
"…What does what happened back then have to do with killing your dad?" Bolt asked.
Christine sighed and looked back out the window. "It all happened last night…"
It was just after dinner as Christine headed up the stairs to her room. She had suffered a miserable afternoon and evening dealing with her stepmother and a seemingly endless parade of wedding planners. Of course Christine knew that what she had just gone through was going to be nothing compared to the actual wedding itself. Christine felt like she was approaching the day of her execution, though an execution would be more merciful. An execution would mean an end to her suffering, but instead she was going to spend the rest of her life as Mrs. Richter Chase. That sort of life was going to be its own special kind of hell.
Just as Christine reached the stairs, something on the table near the door had caught her eye. One of the butlers had set the mail there, and on top of the pile of mail was a flyer that had a familiar name on it. Christine went to take a closer look and saw that it was a flyer for the Stardust Falls Rock Festival, and one of the bands playing the event was Raging Thunder. Christine couldn't believe that Bolt was suddenly so close to where she was. Ever since what happened in Viridian City, Christine had followed Bolt's musical career as best she could. It was the only way she could still feel close to him.
"There you are, Christine." An all too familiar voice spoke from behind.
Christine turned around, quickly hiding the flyer for the rock festival behind her back. Standing before her was a young man with olive-green eyes slightly long straight dark hair, a lock of which covered his right eye. The man wore a dark-brown pinstripe suit with a black shirt and red tie. This of course was Christine's husband-to-be, Richter Chase.
"What do you want, Richter?" Christine asked.
"It seems your mother want another opinion from us about the table arrangements." Richter explained. He then quirked his brow when he noticed she was holding something behind her back. "What're you hiding?"
"Nothing!" Christine answered.
Richter stormed over and took the flyer from her hand. Seeing what was written on it, Richter angrily crumpled the paper in his hand.
"So… after all this time you're still pining for that low-class piece of trash." Richter observed. "Just forget about him, Christine! You belong to me!"
"You may think you own, Richter… but I will never love you!" Christine declared.
Richter punched Christine in the face and knocked her to the floor. Before she could get back up, Richter kicked her twice in the side. All she could do was lay there coughing.
"Just in case you get any ideas about running off again to be with that rock star, remember that your father still has the evidence that could send your biological mother to jail for the rest of her life." Richter reminded her. "It's up there right now in his office safe here in the villa. And he won't hesitate for a moment to send that evidence to the cops if you try and back out of our wedding. Why don't you take some time to think about that?"
With that, Richter stormed out of the room. After Christine finally got off the floor, she went up to her room and gathered up her Pokemon. Christine then managed to sneak out of the villa and into the surrounding forest. She just needed to get out and get some air, to just get away from Richter and everything that had to do with her wedding. Christine wandered aimlessly until she came upon what appeared to be some kind of shrine. In the center of the shrine was some sort of large red crystal. It looked to Christine that something was inside of the Crystal, but she couldn't tell what.
Seeing the shrine as a good place to rest, Christine sent out Meloetta. Upon emerging from her ball, Meloetta noticed that Christine was starting to develop a black eye. Concerned, the songstress Pokemon went over to see if her human partner was okay.
"I don't know if I can live like this, Meloetta." Christine told her on the verge of tears. "I think I'd rather die than spend the rest of my life with Richter."
After a moment, Meloetta began to sing in the hopes of cheering Christine up. After a moment, Christine joined the songstress Pokemon in her song. Christine had always felt a little bit better when she sang. As the pair's duet neared its completion, the red crystal in the center of the shrine began to give off a brilliant light. Once the song finally ended, the light flashed and the crystal vanished. Floating where the crystal once stood was Jirachi. The little wish granting Pokemon yawned and opened the two eyes on his face.
"Oh! Hello there." A cheerful child-like voice spoke in Christine's head. "Was that your song I was hearing?"
"Who… what are you?" Christine asked.
"I am Jirachi!" the little Pokemon answered. "It seems your song has awakened me a little bit early. I don't think I was supposed to wake up for another few hundred years."
"Oh. I'm sorry." Christine told him.
"There's no need to apologize." Jirachi assured her. "For a being like me who only spends a week at a time awake, an early wakeup call is quite welcome. If you don't mind me saying so though, your song sounded… what's the word I'm looking for? Ah yes! Sad."
"I am sad." Christine admitted. "I'm going to marry a man I don't love… a man who's an absolute monster."
"Hmm… from what little I know about human relationships, that seems quite illogical." Jirachi remarked. "Why would you bond yourself to a mate you seem to despise?"
"It's because I don't have a choice." Christine answered. "If I don't marry this person, my father will use the evidence he has on my mother… my real mother to jail."
"You do seem to have a unique problem." Jirachi observed. "But perhaps I can be of help. I am a Pokemon that can grant any wish a human may desire. As thanks for waking me up, I will grant you such a wish."
"You're saying I whatever I wish for, you can make happen?" Christine asked.
"That is correct." Jirachi confirmed. "There is practically no wish that I can't make a reality."
"…Okay then." Christine spoke. "Then I wish… I wish that the evidence against my mother could just burn away and that I could be free of my father and stepmother forever!"
"Seems simple enough." Jirachi replied. "So be it."
With that, Jirachi closed his eyes and the large eye on his chest opened up. The large eye gave off a brilliant silvery light that was beautiful to Christine and Meloetta to behold. Suddenly Christine heard a loud explosion in the distance. As the light faded and Jirachi closed his eye, Christine turned and saw the light of a fire coming from the direction of the villa. Christine ran towards the light with Meloetta and Jirachi flying close behind. When Christine made it back to the villa, she found that it was completely on fire.
"What… what happened?" a horrified Christine asked. "What did you do, Jirachi?"
"I granted your wish!" Jirachi cheerfully answered. "For the sake of simplicity, I turned the incriminating evidence you spoke of into a powerful explosive that detonated instantly. Everyone in this building, including you father and stepmother, is now dead."
Christine dropped to her knees. "How could you? How could you do something so horrible?"
"I fail to see what your problem is." Jirachi answered, still in his cheerful tone. "I merely granted your wish in the most effective way possible. Now that your father and stepmother are dead, you are free from your influence."
"But you killed them!" Christine told the wish granter. "You killed them and everyone in the house! How could you do something so coldblooded?"
"Ah! I see. I forget that you humans take the death of your own kind quite hard." Jirachi recalled. "And what I have just done would be considered the crime you call murder."
"And you don't feel bad about that at all?" Christine asked.
"To use one of your human expressions," Jirachi spoke as he flew close to Christine's face, "I don't give a crap."
With that, Jirachi flew off into the night sky. Christine managed to get back to her feet and ran from the burning villa as fast as she could. Meloetta flew after her instantly. After running aimlessly through the forest, Christine broke the heel of her sandal and twisted her ankle before falling down the hill. The last thing she remembered was everything going dark after hitting her head on something.
"…The next thing I remember is seeing you." Christine spoke as she finished her tale. "I don't know what happened to Jirachi."
"…Holy crap!" Bolt declared. "So… your dad really is dead?"
"My father, my stepmother, and every one of the servants who worked at the villa." Christine answered. "Richter probably died in the explosion to." Christine once again broke into tears. "They're all dead because of me. I'm a murderer!"
Bolt instantly went over to comfort Christine. "Hey! This isn't your fault. You didn't know that this Jirachi you woke up would pull something like this. Don't go blaming yourself for what happened. You could never be a murderer."
With that, Christine completely broke down and began to sob. Bolt held her close, trying his best to comfort her. It broke his heart to see Christine the way she was now. He stayed there holding Christine for several minutes before she finally cried herself to sleep.
Lorain and the rest of Bolt's band had been hanging out in the hospital waiting room for hours ever since Bolt had called them there. It was close to midnight by the time finally came in to report on Christine's condition.
"How is she?" Quinton asked the blonde rocker.
Bolt let out a heavy sigh. "She's a total wreck. I mean she wasn't banged up too badly, but… man!"
"What the hell happened to her?" Ross asked.
After a few moments, Bolt sat down in one of the chairs and told the gang everything that Christine had told him about the incident with Jirachi. By the time he completed the tale, the others were left just as stunned as he had been.
"Dude! That's messed up!" Skins declared.
"That's a total understatement, Skins." Ross told him. "Are we sure this is for real?"
"Well, I looked into some of the history about this town, and there are some legends that say a Jirachi sleeps somewhere near the falls." Quinton answered. "But I've never heard anything about a Jirachi having such a bizarre personality."
"I was surfing the web a little while ago just to kill some time, and I did see a news story on there saying that a mansion in the area had burned down during the night." Lorain revealed. "I guess that must've been the villa belonging to Christine's dad."
"Did the news say if there were any survivors or casualties?" Quinton asked.
"They did find a bunch of dead bodies, but none of them have been identified yet as far as I know." Lorain answered.
"Can't say I'm too broken up about Christine's dad being burnt to a crisp." Ross admitted.
"Neither can I." Quinton agreed. "Still… this is screwed up on so many levels."
"Does Christine know where Jirachi went?" Lorain asked.
"She doesn't have a clue." Bolt answered. "But with a psycho Pokemon like that on the loose, I get the feeling that some really bad stuff is about to go down."
Author's Note: Around the time I first started Thunder in Kanto, I thought long and hard about how I was going to get Christine out of that situation with Richter. I kept hitting a bunch of dead ends until one day I read that Jirachi could be awakened from its thousand year sleep a little early by the song of a pure-hearted person. After that, the idea for this little story formed. Of course this Jirachi is nothing like the cute and cuddly one from that Hoenn saga movie. For this story, I wanted a Jirachi with a personality similar to that of Kyube from the hit anime, Puella Magi Madoka Magica. And in case anyone complains, keep in mind that the anime has shown Pokemon that are "evil". Anyone remember that wild Togepi that used Attract on Ash's Pikachu to make him into her slave?
Please review and let me know what you think.
