Chapter 3
There was nothing more Mika hated than ships. Surfing on Pokemon was fine and dandy, it was soothing, relaxing time she could spend with her dragons, it was the life. Ships however, were not natural creations. Not in the least. And when they were on water, they didn't offer the soothing smells and sounds of the ocean. No, they offered the smells and then some, like the acidic smell of the rocks being burned and other disgusting elements. Limping hanging over the edge of the ferry, she stared down at the water rushing by and tried not to lose her lunch.
She understood she couldn't just ride her dragons across the freakin ocean, that would cause suspicion they didn't need at the moment thus why she was dressed in a pair of slightly low rise dark wash blue jeans, a black tanktop and a pair of brown flip flops instead of her rocket uniform but honestly. A ferry? A freakin' boat? Why oh why couldn't they just have flown? It wasn't that much more expensive… was it? Groaning, she placed her cheek up against the cool metal of the observatory bar, pulling one of her two long tightly woven braids down to get it out of the way as she looked over at Koji who was watching, happily, as his Waillord floundered around in the water near the ferry, happily swimming in the sunlight. Rolling back so she was staring down at the waters, she thought over and over again how amazing it would be if she could just not ever be around water on a boat ever ever ever ever ever ever ever again. Boats were not fun. Not fun at all.
"You alright Mika?" Raven, his hair pulled in a lazy low ponytail, pried the girl back form the bar and handed her a bottle of water. Dressed similar to the other, except in a pair of lighter jeans and a dark purple t-shirt, he motioned for her to sip, "You still hate boats, don't you…"
Snatching the water, she took a greedy gulp, "Boats yes. Water no. Boats… Yes. Annoying blue haired idiots in tan cargo shorts and white t-shirts who run rampant around boats with giant whale pokemon and think-" she wrinkled her nose, mockingly raising her pitch about ten levels to an obnoxious nasely tone "Aren't Boats great? Barbara can swim and Walter can run! It's amazing! Boats are Amazing!" Returning to her normal tone, she took another swing, "No. I don't like them." Snorting, she finished off the glass and nearly chucked it at Koji when he bolted past again.
Laughing, Raven gently took the glass away from Mika and patted her shoulder, "I know, he's a hyper rattata isn't he."
"The worst…"
"Relax, the ferry'll pull in soon."
"It freakin' better."
Sighing, she laid back, closing her eyes for a moment, listening to the water and trying to ignore the nauseating smells. "Ugh…. This day... is not turning out to be the great start of a new journey in the magical world of Pokemon… Seriously… I object!" Slugging at the sky, she sat up, groaning lightly, "Alright. Time to move. Time to move…" Rubbing the bridge of her nose, all seemed ot be looking up but as I'm sure all of you know and understand, such things are never meant to last as the moment she managed to quell the queasy, a high pitched male voice shouted out from the observatory deck on the bow on the ship.
"Aaaaaaaaaah! Someone! Anyone! W-we need a strong Pokemon Trainer out here! The… The Goldeen! A-and the Seaking!! They're attacking! Aahhhh! Somebody, anybody, HELP!"
"God damnit!" Stomping her foot, she shook her head from side to side, "Why me? Why does my stupid gut have to say 'go help them Mika! They neeeed you' when all I want to do is lie here and die until the ship comes in?! ARGH." Pulling herself together, she darted towards the bow, mumbling something about punting pichus in the kidneys off the sides of cliffs under her breath as she entered the chaos, her demeanor transitioning into that of a serious minded trainer.
"Iiiiiit's GO TIME!" Koji decended form the top of the ship's bridge, falling in what seemed to be a body-slam move until the last second when he flipped once forward, landing perfectly on his feet. Pulling his hands back in a fighting pose, he smirked, "So, what's the problem?"
"If you'd use your eyes, you imbecil, you'd see the problem is the amount of goldeen and seaking using water attacks on the tourists." Raven stepped up calming beside Mika, an arm crossed across his middle, his right hadn lifted to his chin in a thoughtful sort of mannor, "And there are fearow coming out of nowhere to peck at people. Deduction, if you would?"
"They're being controlled by someone near by." Mika shoved a headband onto her head, tucking her braids firmly on her back, and narrowed her gaze, scanning the horizon, "So we'll take care of the three problems. Raven, you handle the birds, Koji, you take the fish and I'll find out who the hell is behind al of this."
"Rodger that."
"Yaaay! Waillord gets to eat fishies!"
"Break!" Dividing in three separate waves, Raven drew his right hand up and down to his belt, pulling out a pokeball and in the same fluid motion, flicked it towards the sky, "Soaren! To the skies!" With a sharp cry and a stream of sparkling light, a nearly pure gold Pidgeot emerged from the pokeball, wings flapping as he flew to face his foe. Beak twitching, the feathers pinned down, and he waited, his tail rigid and ready when the time came to deliver a death defying blow. It didn't matter he was up against a good fifty or so unhappy bird pokemon, he was Soaren. He could take 'em.
Smirking, Raven closed his eyes, "Soaren! Arial Ace!"
His wings stretched out, the bird flew higher, gaining altitude before, well, the bird simply vanished, having swooped down behind the other birds and with a sharp cry, tightened his wings and pushed forward, mauling several spearow in the process. Turning, he hovered over his master, his beak wiggling in delight. T'was fun to maul such little twerps. They couldn't dream of having his illusive shine or speed and power. Nope. Couldn't dream of it.
Meanwhile, while the fight in the sky had feathers flying and caws filing every available space of air, there was as intense of a fight brewing in the seas below. Barbara wasn't the type of Waillord who liked to fight. She deplored such things and only did so if Koji gave her a good reason. The fishies were trying to sink the boat thus hurting her Waltermuffin? Oh, that was PLENTY good reason. For you see, now the goldeen and the seaking had a very protective very flustered whale on their hands. A whale who's mate was in danger. Swimming up beside them, her white eyes narrowed as she snorted, steam blowing out her air hole in irritation. In a slow swoop, she opened her mouth, letting forth a mighty roar that shook the boat from side to side. Her fins pressed at the ready, it was all she could do to wait for a command. Luckily, Koji knew all too well his beloved whale and, after applying the traditional rocket underwater breathing apparatus, treaded water slightly about the giant mammal fish. While it was muffled by the breathing apparatus, he shoved a hand towards the goldeen, his eyes narrowing, "Go! Whirlpool! Trap them in an endless void of watery space!"
Her mouth opening, the Wailord roared again and spewed forth a change in the current so strong, it ensnared the now nervous fishies inside the now enclosed battle arena, preventing escape by any underwater means. Swimming to the side, Koji quickly ran through strategies in his head. As his wailord dodged, as best as a wailord can, the baray of horn and furry attacks, he continued to think until a passable idea struck him and he snapped his fingers before swimming to tread beside his pokemon, "Now! Use Water Pulse!" Nodding as only a Wailord can, thus knocking Koji a bit of the way behind her, Barbara opened her mouth as quickly as she could and in a second, spewed a swirl of watery mess, managing to confuse the bloody crap out of the goldeen which then caused them to start attacking the Seaking and occasionally Barbara. Smirking, Koji attached himself to Barbara's head, "Let them hurt eachother, we'll just wait and then deliver the fainting blow!"
But up on the deck, Mika had yet to move. Staring at a pokeball in her hand, she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood as she fought inwardly over what pokemon to use. Kuri was her fastest flyer…but as a Dragon/Ground dual type the water would be less than inviting. The twins were too tired from the journey to fight without bickering and Tari was too little to carry Mika's weight that far. Grasping the key around her neck, Mika closed her eyes and thought, the world around her coming to a halt for a moment as she tried to think of a plan. Tina was risky, it might inhibit her ability to function safely… but Tina was the strongest she had. If she…no. No it was too risky. Too soon to be so risky. Dropping the key, her eyes snapped open and extending her hand into the air, she threw up into the sunlight an ultra ball, snapping her fingers as she did so, "Kuri! Come forth!"
Lowering her hand, she closed her eyes, the rush of wind blowing her hair back as the massive green and brown dragon slowly uncoiled from the ruby red light, letting out a sharp cry as his wings began to extend and unfold, little sparkles falling around his mistress as he slowly, with a power behind the audible beating of his wings, descended, settling on her right side. Smiling, Mika gently lifted a hand, stroking over his nose for a moment before she leapt up onto his back, settling on him firmly, "To the source Kuri, where the Pokémon are coming from." The dragon nodded, his wings falling back before pressing down, creating a powerful lift underneath them. A second later, he had propelled himself up into the sky, spinning and rolling to avoid enemy bird pestilences as he flew, his mistress pinned on his back, her body down tight against the coolness of his scales as they grew higher and higher into the air. At long last, a small grey transport airship with a deck on the front came into sight. Sitting up, Mika pulled the majestic Pokémon up into the air, out of sight of the deck, and once she had a moment when there was no obvious activity down below, she returned the pokemon to it's ball and fell about twenty feet, landing softly on the tarp over the bridge. Blinking, she reached into her bag and pulled out a black mask and gently fit it over her eyes as well as replaced the fingerless gloves with black leather replicas, except of course that these had finger tip coverings.
Nibbling on her bottom lip, she slipped onto the deck and ducked behind a set of boxes, just as a patrol passed. Peaking out, she couldn't help an internal groan. The grey and black pants, the metal undershirt and the awkwardly fashioned black and white turtle sleeveless tunic with the bright yellow G, the bowel cut hairstyle that had already been banned by the psychologically stable, the maniacal laughter, without a doubt this was Team Galaxy. Pressing low to the ground, she tailed the duo, two men with bright blue hair that really should be shaved off or at least restyled or at least washed, until they reached the bridge. Quickly but silently slipping in just behind them, she attached herself to the rigging above, pulling herself along it. The airship wasn't finished and thus, it wasn't as difficult as she'd originally thought it to be. Smirking, she pulled herself into the bridge and into the duct system, crawling directly over the head of the commander in charge, a red haired girl whose hairstyle was that of a crokagunk's for some awkward reason and who was dressed in a pair of dark grey horizontally stripped black tights, white go-go boots, and a knee length hoop dress that was white to the breast line and dark grey with black stripes to the tips of her fingers. The yellow crest in the middle of the grey patterened mess was undeniable proof of who this was. Mars. Rocket didn't know much about her than what they'd seen on the TV propaganda [honestly, what criminal organization could sleep at night safely after pretty much telling the world, including the Global Police, where they fucking lived. Honestly. How fucking STUPID could they get?!] but what they did know was slightly disturbing. Sighing, she slipped to the ground and snuck down towards the engine room where, after placing the appropriate charges followed by a sneaky little flamethrower from her adorable little dratini, she fell, quite literraly from the sky, Kuri emerging from his ball on his own accord to catch his trainer and deliver her back to the ship's deck as, in the distance, there was a rather large explosion and the blimp, well, the blimp turned into a heap of burning metal and stuffs.
Landing back on the bridge, she returned the pokemon to their balls and let out a heavy sigh, rubbing her forehead with her right hand as the crowd began to form around her, cheering ridiculously too loud, "Gack… I don't like attention, I don't like it..." She grasped her right arm and sighed, blushing profusely, looking at the ground as everyone praised the three's amazing tactics. Raven simply snorted, prasiing himself and his ego, as he often did, and Koji just ate it up as well, rubbing his nose in light embarrassment, a giddy smile on his face. Soon, the sounds around the girl blurred into a massive mess and she pushed through the crowd, her head beginning to ache in a certain mannor that made her want to be alone, before it hit completely.
But she barely made it to the other side of the deck before the force of the headache nearly brought her to her knees. Letting out a sharp cry, she gripped her head tightly between her hands, tears springing to her tightly shut eyes, slipping out through the cracks. No…No, not again… I don't want to-
The world around the girl began to swirl, she barely noticed Koji running towards her, Raven hot on his heels, when she fell forward onto the deck, her hand slowly reaching out towards the ocean.
Everything went white.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm still real
All of this, my entire reality
How do I know it's legit?
How do I know that I'm still alive?
Breathing….
In and Out…
In
And
Out
If I keep breathing…
I exist.
In
Out
I am real
I am alive
Suddenly, she wasn't falling anymore. Her body felt cold but she was breathing. In and Out. So she wasn't dead. Or at least she didn't think she was. Opening her eyes, the world was a rainbow of glowing colors on a black background, the light trickling from the sky. Looking down, the see-through crystal floor sparkled into a physical reality, white marble with light grey speckles. Slowly blinking, she looked towards what used to be the black sky ahead but had now turned into a rounded hall, crystal chandeliers hanging from the silver beams that connected the glass windows together under the clear, starry night. In the course of a single breath, people appeared, dressed all up in formal attire, dancing around and around the hall. Turning around, the girl, with a striken look on her face, began to recognize the world that was taking shape. Banners slowly materialized on the peach walls, banners with a black and red crest, the crest of the Dragon's Den. Shaking her head, she stepped backwards, somehow managing to not run into anyone, her hands cupping the sides of her head, inwardly begging to wake up when a gloved white hand pressed onto her shoulder, "Milady? Are you alright? You seem abit frightened…"
Turning, she took a step back form the hand, slightly startled by the motion, "I-I'm fine…."
The man, no one special in particular as he was without a face, bowed, laughing lightly, "Well I shall leave you in peace then milady, but may I say you look fantastic tonight?"
Blinking, she tilted her head, confused at first as to why he was looking at her the way he was. Following his gaze to her toes, she gasped, her eyes going wide. She wasn't in a jean and t-shirt anymore, not anything close to that. The sparkles on the soft blue fabric caught the girl's eye, amongst many other things, as she took herself in, raising a arm covered in the silk and satin, spinning around once, the full skirt billowing around her. It was a dark blue dress with a light blue lace and sequence outer skirt, the back scooping low, just above her diaphram, the sleeves a dark to light blue gradient as they petaled out around her wrist. Her shoulders bare, thin white straps held the dress to her frame, the elegant u-shaped neckline covered in pure white silk. Around her waist, a white bow whose ties trickled nearly to the ground, the back of the dress dragging ever so slightly on the wood behind her. Reaching up with her right hand to pat her hair, two silver rings glistened on her fingers, the sapphire and emeralds encrusted within them catching the light, an elegant spread of iridescent light sparkling overhead. Her hair was no longer simply down around her shoulders but elegantly twisted up into a fancy bun, tressels framing her face softly while the rest dangled behind. Reaching forward, she let out a soft cry as just the tips of her fingers grazed across cool crystal. A small blue crystal tiara. Her mother's. Looking up, her eyes widened further in a state of horror at her before-faceless speaker.
His crimson hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, a few strands dangling around his left cheek. His bright blue eyes sparkled, his smile and complextion flawless. He was dressed like a royal, in a white tunic over a pair of white dress pants, decorated with the family sash, a smaller crown on his own head. His gloved hand, the sleeves accented with blue cuffs, reached out before he simply bent his arm, offering it to the girl half his size, "Won't you give your brother a dance?"
Her crystal shoes clinked softly on the floor as she took his arm, bewildered and unsure of what to say and as he drew her into the center of the room, the people around dispersed, giving the crown prince and his beloved sister some room to breathe, let alone dance. A hush fell over the crowd, the lights seemed to dim until it was almost as though a spotlight was shining just on them. The orchestra paused for just the briefest of moments before it began to play once more, a sorrowful waltz slowly filling the hall.
1, 2, 3,
1, 2, 3.
Over and over they turned, the only sound besides that of the orchestra being the occasional squeaking of their feet. 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, over and over it echoed, her mind racing as she stared up at his smiling face, her gaze growing sadder and sadder with every passing moment. She glanced over his shoulder, to the thrones, where seated happily were her parents, her father dressed in a red version of his son, her mother in a beautiful navy dress, their hands clasped together tightly, smiling so fondly at their children.
1, 2, 3,
1, 2, 3.
The ballroom still existed, the people around undivided. Everyone was happy, everything was peaceful. She was so caught up in everything she didn't notice her father replace her brother, his large red hand slipping around her tiny pale one, his strong arm around her waist, his warm gaze, his gentle smile, focused down on her as he spoke, his voice soothing, "My turn, my beautiful Mysterica is not always for sharing."
1, 2, 3,
1, 2, 3.
Swallowing hard, she followed his movements, tears slowly beginning to form in her eyes. All of this, this perfect reality, this loving family. Her mother dancing with her brother, laughing softly at a joke he'd made, the world of the clan at peace. It was, it was, it was-
All I ever wanted… Tears pooling over, she looked down, unable to keep her father's now concerned gaze, This.. this is what I dreamt of, so many times… but this… this isn't real. Trembling, she began to stumble and as one stumble turned into a fall, she fell against her father's arm and outside the window behind her, the stars began to fade. This isn't real.
"Mysterica?! My beloved child, what's wrong?" He gathered her up into his arms, holding her close, trying to soothe the child whose head lay so tightly under his chin, his strong warm hand patting her hair, "Tell your father, he'll make it right…"
"Mysterica!" He ran over, her beloved onii-sama, worry on his face as well as that of her mother's, her steps close behind those of her son, "Are you alright? You fell!"
"Lance, perhaps she's too exausted for all this, why don't we take her back home?" Clair reached out, her cool hand stroking her daughter's cheek, worry clear in her eyes, "Rei will stay with me, you needn't worry."
He nodded firmly, kissing his daughter's forehead, "Yes, my good boy, you'll stay with your mother, yes?"
"Of course Father."
"Thank you my son… I'll take her home, would you fetch her coat Clair?"
Steps moved away, her hand tightened the fabric of her father's tunic in her hands, tears boiling over. So many nights, so many nights she'd dreamt of this but she knew now this was only a dream. Her father and Rei wouldn't get along, her mother would not touch her with such compassion nor say the things she had… this wasn't real, it wasn't real.
1, 2, 3,
1, 2, 3.
1, 2, 3,
1, 2, 3.
It started to rain.