"So where's the next gym, again?"
We had just gotten off the boat that took us from Cinnabar Island to Pallet Town, and Katsu was fumbling with the Kanto map. After a few moments of him staring intensely at it, as if he were waiting for it to give him the answer, he turned to me and shrugged. "I don't see any gyms past Cinnabar. Maybe this is just a really old map, or something."
I sighed and snatched the map from him. "Look, the 8th gym is right here," I pointed to Viridian City, "It's not that hard to miss. Anyway, it looks like we can just go north the whole time and we'll get there pretty quickly."
Not long after, we were walking through the Viridian Forest. It was thick with pine trees, and you all you could see when you looked up was a few pieces of blue sky between the spaces of the leaves. A few Caterpie and Weedle skittered about, and once in a while a Butterfree flew by; there weren't very many interesting Pokemon to be seen here, and considering how weak they were, battling wasn't an option. All in all, the long trek through the forest was rather boring.
...For the most part, anyway.
Not a week seemed to pass when something either exciting or aboslutely infuriating didn't happen to us; and, seeing as nothing notable had happened in the past two weeks, I was obviously watching out for anything suspicious. And nothing is suspicious about a Butterfree in the Viridian Forest, right?
Well, that's what we thought. Of course, we were wrong.
We were about three-quarters through the forest -- though considering the fact that the forest was a complete maze, that may be an overstatement -- when yet another Butterfree flew past us, though this time, it stopped directly in front of our little group, inspecting us with its long feelers.
"Uh... Katsu? What is this thing doing?" I asked nervously as the antennae brushed over my face.
"It's probably just curious, Keiko... just stay still and don't surprise it, otherwise it might think we're going to hurt it," he replied, standing as still as a statue.
I took his advice and didn't move a muscle, but that didn't stop the Butterfree from moving a few feet backwards and glaring at us. With a loud trill, it released a stream of yellow dust into the air, flapping it in our direction. I gasped and turned to run, but everyone had already inhaled the powder; soon enough, I collapsed to the ground, drifting to sleep. The last thing I heard before I was fully asleep was snickering, and the Butterfree being recalled to its Pokeball.
When I opened my eyes, my vision was blurred and hazy; once I adjusted, I blinked a few times before looking around at my surroundings. The walls were made of stone, and a few rays of dim sunlight poked through the iron bars that barred the small window. The same type of iron bars -- only thicker, and probably stronger -- were keeping us locked in some sort of jail cell. Except for the fact that there were no other cells here, this seemed to be exactly like a local prison.
It was then I noticed how cold it was. I sat down on the cement floor and wrapped my arms around myself, teeth chattering. Millions of questions ran through my head, and though the answers seem like they should have been obvious, I was still somewhat under the affects of the sleep powder at the time. Where was I? Where were my Pokemon? Whose Butterfree was that?
My questions were quick to be answered when a small TV that was inside the wall outside of the jail cell flickered on, revealing an unfamiliar face, but still recognizeable as -- yes, you guessed it -- a Rocket.
"I will not waste time on greetings," the man said, "You have an hour to decide whether we keep your and your friend's Pokemon -- and maybe we'll keep that boy, too -- or if we keep you, the girl. At this point, you should already know why we want you; you are the biggest threat to our organization. Choose wisely -- I will be meeting you in this room in one hour; that's 1:24 PM."
Before I could ask what exactly was going on, the TV shut off again, and I sighed, resting my head in my arms. It was rather dark in there, though the sunlight and a dim light bulb provided enough light to see.
At that moment, I could hear Katsu yawning and getting up. I just looked at him sadly as he suddenly realized where we were, a horrified expression on his face.
"Keiko..." he stuttered uneasily, "What's going on?"
I sighed. "We're in some kind of Team Rocket base. They're either going to keep our Pokemon -- and I don't doubt they'll take you, too -- or they're going to keep me, and we need to make a decision by 1:24 PM." I motioned to the clock on the wall that read 12:29. Katsu sat down on a rotted wooden bench, running his fingers through his hair.
"Great," he muttered, "Just great."
"Look, Katsu, I already know what I'm going to do," I answered, and he jerked his head up to look at me. "I'm going to let them take me. If I decide to save myself, they'll just keep our Pokemon and get me later anyway. It's a lose-lose situation."
He jumped up, trying to meet my eyes but failing; my gaze was stuck on the ground. "Keiko, you can't go with them!" he exclaimed, clenching his fists, "They'll probably kill you, or... or worse!"
I shrugged. "I know, but I told you before -- there's no winning this time. You guys could try to break me out or something, but there's no way I'm going to sacrifice all our Pokemon's lives for my own."
A long silence passed between us; he didn't want to admit it, but I know that he knew I was right. Without a word, he sat back down on the bench, and I walked over and sat down next to him. I gave him a sad but slightly reassuring smile. "Come on, you guys will be fine. All they really need is me, and then they'll leave the rest of you alone."
Katsu groaned, rubbing his head in frustration. "How many times do I need to tell you this, Keiko?" He locked eyes with me. "You're my best friend, okay? I care about you and what happens to you."
I couldn't help but blush; maybe he didn't mean it that way, but it was still a bit awkward. "I know." I answered quietly, looking at the floor, "But I care about you too, you know. I don't want to let anything... happen to you."
He smiled at me, and another silence occurred. I looked up at the clock again -- 12:42 PM. I didn't have much longer before I might have had to say goodbye to my friends forever. With a heavy sigh, I rested my head on Katsu's shoulder, and he just responded by wrapping his arm around my shoulders, holding me tightly. And, well, neither of us seemed to want to move.
Though it had only been fifteen minutes, it felt as though hours had passed when I finally lifted my head off him and sat straight, sighing and looking away. I could feel tears stinging at my eyes, and I tried desperately to hold them back.
"Keiko... are you okay?" Katsu asked, letting me go and trying to look me in the eye again.
"...No," I answered simply, my voice wavering, "It's just kind of scary to know that I might not ever see you guys again... And besides that, I don't know what Team Rocket is going to do with me. I... I don't want to die. Not anymore, at least."
He smiled. "You know, it may sound weird, but it's nice to hear that last part."
I smiled back at him, then turned my head and looked out the spaces between the bars of the window. Somehow, I felt happy and sad at the same time. "I know what you mean. It's nice to be able to say it truthfully, too."
--------------------
1:23 PM. It was almost time.
The second I saw the time on the clock, I could feel the tears coming back. I kept rereading the clock, hoping that maybe the time would go back and change, but I was stuck with the numerals that it had. Katsu was looking away; he seemed close to tears. Without hesitation, I leaned in and hugged him tightly, crying softly into his shoulder. "Tell all my Pokemon that I love them," I looked up at him slowly, looking into his eyes. "You won't forget me, right?" I whispered.
"I wouldn't dream of it," he replied quietly, holding onto me like his life depended on it. It was then that the clock struck 1:24, and the door to the room of where our cell was flew open. The same Rocket I had seen earlier walked in, a key in his hand.
"Your decision?" He asked bluntly.
I let go of Katsu and stood up, smiling sadly at him one more time.
"You can take me. Let Katsu and my Pokemon free," I answered, and he unlocked the door, grabbing me roughly by the wrist and dragging me along. Before we left the room, however, he chucked a bag at Katsu.
"Those are all the Pokemon we took from you. The exit is right down this hall, to the left, down the stairs and then another left. No one will bother you, just make haste." With that, Katsu snatched the backpack, jumped up, and ran out of the cell.
We were all at the doorway before any of us left. The Rocket sighed impatiently, "Hurry up and say your goodbyes, kid. This'll be the last time you'll be seeing your little girlfriend."
I was somewhat surprised that neither of us said anything to that, though we weren't really in the mood to deal with those comments at that moment. "Bye, Keiko. I'm not going to let them keep you," Katsu said in a shaky voice, and he reached out to me and wiped some tears away. Before I could reply, he leaned in and pecked me on the cheek before turning and walking away slowly.
I could feel my whole face turning red; I wasn't sure what his intentions were at the time, but it didn't matter to me. "...Goodbye, Katsu," I whispered, just barely loud enough for him to hear me. He turned his head, and we both smiled sadly at one another before the Rocket tugged on my wrist again and began pulling me away.
"Come on, kid. Time to go," he hissed, and it wasn't long before I could no longer see Katsu. I sighed, and followed obediantly.
--------------------
Three flights of stairs later, I was led to a dimly lit room, and I was thrown into yet another jail cell; the difference was that there were other cells around me, with other people in them. Some were starving to death, some looked insane, and some looked perfectly fine, despite the fact that they seemed depressed due to the fact that they were imprisoned in this place.
The Rocket locked the door. "Don't worry," he smirked, "You'll be kept alive. If you die, that just leaves another 'chosen one' to be born for us to deal with. Enjoy your stay." With that, he turned swiftly and left, slamming the iron door behind him.
I kicked the bed, and it bounced and creaked noisily. I crossed my arms, not bothering to try and hide my tears. It was only when I turned around and saw a young man in the corner of the cell, smirking at me, that I noticed I had a cellmate.
"Having fun, Keiko?" he taunted in an all-too-familiar voice. Immediately, my face went red with anger and my fists were clenched so tightly that my knuckles were already white.
"Shuppet!" I shouted angrily, charging at him and raising a fist in the air to punch him. "You little bastard! Why the hell can't you leave me alone?!"
He easily stopped my fist with his hand. "Such rude words coming from such a pretty little girl," Shuppet teased. I lowered my fist and backed away from him. "I hope now you understand that you just can't win, Keiko."
"Why do you insist on torturing me like this?!" I shouted, "I just want a normal life, okay? I don't want to be the 'chosen one'! And since when does someone need to be chosen to do something good for the world, huh? Why me, out of all people?"
"Because," he explained, "You are the one with the heart to do it. You are the one who has a chance to do it. Sure, someone else can come along and try, but their likliness of succeeding compared to you succeeding is pathetically low. That's why we're keeping you trapped here."
"Dammit," I whispered shakily, tears rolling down my face, "God dammit!" I turned away quickly and sat down on the bed, burying my face in my arms and crying. I lifted my head slightly to see Shuppet fading away, as a ghostly tune played; it was high-pitched and stung my ears like I couldn't believe. By the time Shuppet was gone, everything turned to blackness.
--------------------
Something about this place was familiar, yet different; the trees were leafless and looked burnt, and the grass was dead and yellowed. When I stepped into the small, out-of-place building, I instantly recognized it.
It was the flower shop.
The woman was there as always, sitting idly in a wooden chair, staring into the distance. She looked at me, but said nothing.
"What am I doing here?" I asked her, not bothering to make small talk. She turned towards me.
"Something bad is going to happen to you soon," the old woman answered dully, "And if you don't stop it..." Her voice trailed off as she stood up, grabbing a book from her desk and flipping open to a dog-eared page. "'It is said that the world began with chaos, and will end with chaos, lest the Chosen One stops Him. If the Chosen One fails to do their duties, He will prevail, and Darkness will engulf the world. If this is to happen, the Original One, Arceus, will be reborn as an egg in the center of the Earth -- the center of the Chaos -- to stop the Darkness and rid the universe of its biggest source of corruption. When the egg hatches, history shall repeat itself; Arceus shall be born again, and a new universe will be born with Him, and so the cycle repeats.'" She closed the book and set it gently down on the table.
"You mean to tell me that the entire world is literally at risk of imploding on itself unless I stop 'Him'?!" I shouted, eyes widening, "This is insane! How can this kind of responsibility be put on the shoulders of an emotionally unstable thirteen-year-old?!"
The woman sighed and looked away. "Those facts mean nothing. The only thing that matters is that you need to stop Him."
"So who is 'Him', anyway? Giovanni? Shuppet?" I demanded crossly.
"He is the bringer of nightmares and the bringer of death," she answered simply, "In old legends he is usually referred to as... Darkrai," she whispered the last word extremely quietly, as if his very name would cause her to die that very second.
"Darkrai..." I muttered. Somehow, the name sounded familiar to me. "So tell me something, lady, is all this really going to happen if I don't stop 'Him', or is it just a big metaphor that's supposed to teach me about how fantastic peace and love is?"
She frowned. "As much as I would love to tell you that it's just another cheesy metaphor, it's not. Though it wouldn't be as obvious as it sounds in the legend, I'm afraid that it could happen."
"This is crazy," I said, "I feel like I'm going to faint."
"Escape from your prison as soon as you can, Keiko. You need to stop Him as soon as you can," she went on, ignoring my previous statement. "In any case, you should be going now."
My head began to feel even lighter, and I rubbed it furiously and leaned against the wall. "Wait one second," I said suddenly, realizing something, "I don't even know who you are, yet I've seen you plenty of times. So who are you?"
There was a few seconds of silence before she turned to face me, looking me directly in the eyes. The room was spinning now, and my vision was blurring, and I could barely hear the last two, simple words she said to me before I fainted again.
"I'm you."