GoggleMaster01- Well, I hope you have time on your hands. This was eight pages long on my Mac, so it's gonna be a long one, folks. Pokemon's still not mine. Enjoy.
Chapter 4
And that was how Terrell and Marina started their career as Colosseum leaders. Here in Poketopia, every aspect of who they are will be tested, and in the end, each must sacrifice something great.
The walls lit up again and Mysterial reappeared. "Congratulations, Leader Terrell and Leader Marina. Welcome to Poketopia." He shook each twin's hand, making sure he didn't touch Terrell's clawed hand. "I will introduce you to the other leaders. Step through this door." Mysterial made a new door appear and walked through it. Terrell and Marina exchanged glances, then walked in after Mysterial.
They entered a round, gray stone room with ten chairs around a round stone table, kind of like the knights of the round table's table, lit with several torches. Above each chair was a tapestry of some sort.
"This is the gathering room for the Leaders and Masters," Mysterial said. "Boy, you take a seat over there, beneath the tapestry of the volcano. Girl, sit next to him under the tapestry of the waterfall. I will return with the others." Mysterial disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Both of the twins took their seats. Terrell sat on something made of deerskin. He looked down. Mysterial had put his bags on his seat! Marina's bags were also on her seat.
"So, Marina, what did you battle?" Terrell said as he fished around for his claw sharpener.
Marina gulped. "Sharpedo," she whispered. Marina had been terrified of Sharpedo ever since last summer. She was swimming too far from her usual places and encountered an angry shoal. She escaped their wrath by going on land, but never went back to their waters and was phobic of them ever since.
"I think that Test thing sends out the Pokemon we're most afraid of," Marina said with a shrug. "Doesn't matter. I got a Corsola in my backpack, and I whittled down the Sharpedo's health with Toxic, then used Stealth Rock and Recover to finish him off."
"Toxic?" Terrell asked. "Corsola can't learn that!"
"Well, this one knew it," Marina said. "I'm happy Rayquaza chose Corsola for me. I'm good friends with one on the island. It reminds me of home."
Terrell looked confused. "We're in a new place to be AWAY from home, and see things OUTSIDE of home!" he barked.
"Well, Terrible Terrell, I'm just a little homesick!" Marina snapped back. "I mean I want to explore this new world just as much as you do, but I miss my family and Corsola and the island, too."
Now that Marina mentioned it, Terrell was starting to miss Groudon a little bit. He was close to his father. He could get anything he wanted out of Groudon, and, when he was little, it was Groudon who carved out his room and told him stories at night. But, he shook it off. When he went back home, he'd have all kinds of things to tell his dad.
Besides, he'd just found the claw file. He examined it curiously, then began to slowly run it over his claws. "What are you doing?" Marina asked.
"Testing the claw file," Terrell replied. "What else can I do? I'm bored."
"Yea, it is taking a long time," Marina said. "Maybe because Mysterial has to go to everyone's Colosseum and make magic doors and stuff."
"Well, can't he bring them here one by one?" Terrell asked impatiently.
"You know, you're really impatient, Terrell," Marina said, biting her lip to hold back some insult that she didn't want to slip out. Terrell hated waiting. He always said he came out first because he couldn't wait for Marina to be born. But, as long as he had something to do, which in this case was fiddle with the claw file, it was only a minor nuisance. If left with nothing to do, he'd start clawing gouges into the wall like he did in the waiting room.
Oh well. If Marina had to choose between Terrell's whining and Terrell defacing people's walls and getting them caught and possibly even having the species of their parents revealed, she'd take Terrell's whining.
Actually, she'd take Terrell whining to his "OOO OOO OOO!" noise that he made when he wanted attention. And Terrell was making this noise right now. Marina turned to face him. "What?"
"Look! Look!" Terrell showed Marina his clawed hand. The claws were all sharpened to a point.
"Wow, nice!" Marina said as she examined them. "Now you won't have to gouge out the wall of your new room to sharpen your claws!"
"I never said I wouldn't claw the walls of my room," Terrell said smugly.
"Well, I hope you don't, because I'm moving in!" Marina yelled.
"WHAT?!" Marina and Terrell had always had separate rooms. Why did Marina want to change that?
"Terrell, what if something goes wrong?" Marina asked. "We can go to our room and talk it over without anyone knowing. Besides, if all we're doing is going to our room, no one will suspect anything. So, you better not claw big gouges in the walls."
"I can make wave patterns," Terrell said. Marina sighed. Terrell knew she liked waves.
Marina sighed. "Fine. But only make wave patterns and only in our room and keep it to a minimum! You have that file for your claws now. Use it."
Terrell buried his face in his hands. Marina was a walking, talking nag machine. But, he liked her company. Humans or not, he didn't want to be alone in this new world. Besides, Marina gave him someone to talk to, even if half the things she said were direct orders.
At that moment, a door magically appeared on the other side of the room in a puff of smoke. "Oh, look, they're coming!" Marina said.
The magic door opened and Mysterial came out. "Here they are," he said, turning around to talk to someone unseen in the doorway.
"Can we make this quick? I have another battle at five and I DON'T want to miss this one!" came a female voice from the other side of the doorway.
"Yes, yes, none of you can miss these battles," Mysterial said. "This will be quick." He turned to face the two newest Colosseum Leaders. Terrell waved at him. "Hi, Magic Guy!" he said. "Say, how do you do that door thing?"
"It's a very complicated magic called the Toguchi-monko," Mysterial explained. "The Colosseum Masters know magic to some degree, but only I can summon the Toguchi-monko. You are just a Leader, and Leaders are not ready to learn magic."
"I don't think so," Marina whispered to Terrell. "I think my water powers would be considered magic too. Of course, I'm part Kyogre."
"Why don't you show him the geyser thing you use to go to your room?" Terrell asked.
"Because we don't want to use things like that unless we have no other choice," Marina whispered. She turned back to Mysterial. "Well, your Toguchi-monko is pretty cool, but can we meet the other Leaders?"
"Leaders and Masters," Mysterial said. "If you work long and hard and win many battles, you may become a Master. You will then move to Stargazer Colosseum, which I run. It is a great honor for a Leader to become a Master, for the Masters are the best Pokemon Trainers in the world." He turned around to face the Toguchi-monko, which was still open. "You may come in now and meet your new colleagues," Mysterial said, turning and seating himself at the head of the room beneath a night blue tapestry covered with golden stars.
"Ugh, finally," came a male voice. A boy in his teens stepped out of the Toguchi-monko. He was dressed as a Lucario, and even had Lucario's piercing red eyes. They tore through Terrell and left him squirming in his seat.
"How long did you except us to wait in that door thing?" the boy asked, sitting below an amber tapestry of a beautiful sunset.
"One of them asked me about the Toguchi-monko," Mysterial replied.
"Well, couldn't he have waited until everyone was in the room?" the boy asked. "That door is one of your best magics. I can't believe you taught that- kid?" He noticed Terrell and Marina.
"I did not teach them the secret of the door, Dusty," Mysterial said. "But, soon, you will become a Master and learn a variation of the technique."
"Master Mysterial, they're kids," Dusty said. "Like, little kids. Like Taylor's age."
"They managed to defeat Test, and the rules say that they must join us," Mysterial said. "Besides, it wasn't long ago when you were just a kid and you defeated Test."
At the mention of Test, Dusty gulped and shrank down in his seat. Marina and Terrell wondered what kind of Pokemon he'd fought.
They snapped out of their thoughts when a young woman dressed as a Roserade with dark skin walked into the room and sat beneath a bright tapestry next to Dusty. Dusty developed a sweatdrop. "Um, hi, Rosie?" he asked.
"Hello, Dusty-sama!" Rosie said, blushing and turning Dusty's way. "I didn't see you there!"
"I'm not a Master yet," Dusty said, folding his arms. "When I get my promotion, you may refer to me as -sama."
"You know you're already a Master to me," Rosie cooed, staring at Dusty with a lovesick gaze. Terrell stuck his finger in his mouth and made a gagging noise. For once, Marina mimicked her brother's immature gesture. Neither twin had really had a crush before, and found Rosie's sickly sweet talk to Dusty disgusting.
There was suddenly a high-pitched shriek of "Don't break the door, Voldon! Don't break the door!" and another voice, this one more of a grunt, that replied, "I won't. I learned my lesson from last time." A little girl of about six in a Pashirisu outfit with light blue hair the same color as Dusty's rushed out and jumped into Dusty's arms. "Scram, rat! He's mine!" Rosie barked.
"Taylor's my sister, Flower Brain, and she can talk to me whenever she wants," Dusty said, his voice still calm. "Hi there. How are things at your Colosseum?" he said, this time to the girl, Taylor.
"Great! Me and Pachirisu won another battle!" Taylor hugged her brother and hopped into her seat, which was in between Dusty's and Marina's under a tapestry of a Pachirisu and Bidoof.
"Good job, kiddo," Dusty told the younger girl, who was looking at Mysterial, eagerly awaiting what he had to say.
"Don't break the door!" came several voices.
"I'm not, I'm not, sheesh," replied the man who was halfway out the door, a muscular man wearing Electivire getup. He pulled himself out and sat next to Rosie under a tapestry of a large crystal.
"You broke it last time, you big oaf," Rosie hissed. "And what happened? We got stranded in the Space Between the Doors! We would have dissolved into nothing if Dusty-sama wasn't there with his Lucario who helped us find our way out!"
"Yea, yea, I know, spending too long in the Space Between the Doors is deadly, blah blah, blah," the man said. "Can't you forgive me for that?"
"NO, VOLDON!!!" everyone screamed, including Mysterial and the people still in the doorway. One by one, the others came out, the first being a seventeen year old boy with dark blue hair and a large yellow gem on a ring on his finger. After him, a girl danced out. She was dark skinned and had a red gem embedded among hundreds of ribbons that swayed as she danced. Lastly came a large man with black hair and a blue ring on his finger. They sat in the remaining seats without a word as the Toguchi-monko disappeared.
"So, all of the Leaders and Masters have come," Mysterial said. The large man nodded. "Everyone's here," he said. "I see some new faces in the Waterfall Colosseum and Magma Colosseum Leader's seats."
Terrell waved his clawed hand. "AH! IT HAS CLAWS!" The dancing girl shivered and covered her face with her hands.
"What?" Terrell looked down as his hand. "Something wrong with my claws?"
"They're part of his costume!" Marina blurted out. "Part of his costume. Yea, that's it."
"I doubt it," said the dancing girl, peeking out through a few fingers. "They look pretty real to me."
Everyone started mumbling to one another. "Freaky clawed hand he has-"
"That is enough!" Mysterial caused thunder to roll. Everyone stopped what they were doing and directed their attention to him. "Welcome, Leaders and Masters. As you can see, we have some new members joining us."
Marina waved. Terrell began to yawn, but Marina covered the boy's mouth. Scared of them as she was, Marina didn't want everyone to see her brother's sharp teeth, especially after they'd seen his claws.
"They have defeated Test and earned their place among us," Mysterial went on. "With them in our number, we are at last ten again!" Mysterial turned to the two children. "You two, why don't you introduce yourselves?"
"Hi, I'm Terrell!" Terrell waved his clawed hand again, then caught himself and waved his other hand. Marina sighed. Her brother may have been immature, but at least he learned quick.
"I'm Marina. I'm his sister-" Marina turned to her brother. Terrell looked sick. His eyes were half closed and he coughed up a small puff of smoke.
"Oh no," she whispered. "Terrell, what's the matter?"
"It's those peanut things," he whispered back, his voice strained.
"I've known you for eleven long years, Terrell," Marina told him. "This is always how you get before you burp. So, do us all a favor and don't burp."
"Okay," Terrell looked down and tried not to burp.
Marina had been right to put the lid on Terrell's burp. Whenever Terrell burped, he shot fire out of his mouth and there was a small earthquake in his general area. If Terrell's claws had gotten him labeled a freak, an episode like that could get him kicked out!
"Welcome, Marina and Terrell," said the teenage boy. "I'm Joe. I'm the leader of Gateway Colosseum, and a Master. We expect you will work hard here."
"Rosie," said Rosie. "Okay, can I return to my life now?"
"Well, the magic door isn't back, so I guess not," Dusty said. He ignored Rosie's cries of "Dusty-sama!" and turned to the twins. "Name's Dusty," he said. "Get used to Flower Brain over there. She's always like that."
"Really?" Terrell said, developing a sweatdrop and coughing up another little smoke ball.
"Yea," he said. "Plus, she's been calling me Dusty-sama ever since I got here."
The little girl next to Marina piped up, "I'm Taylor. Nice to meet you!"
Terrell made a noise that was a cross between a regular burp and a groan. Marina knew he couldn't hold it in much longer.
"Um, Mysterial, can you let my brother go to the bathroom real quick?" Marina asked. She turned to him and whispered, "You can burp in there." Terrell nodded.
"He can wait until we are finished here," Mysterial said.
"Damn!" Marina cursed under her breath. If her brother didn't leave and go burp someplace else, he was going to give them away.
The Electivire man, Voldon, spoke up. "Hi, I'm Voldon-" he began.
"The door breaker," went the other muscular man.
"For God's sake, can't we just forget about that door?" Voldon asked.
"No, we can't, Voldon," the other man sneered. "And, you've been losing to a lot of Trainers lately, most of them ten-year-olds with Squirtles and Mudkips. You know my thirty-fifth birthday is coming up soon, and you know what I want for my birthday most of all? YOUR TERMINATION! So, you better pick up your act, or you're going back to Pewter City or Muscle Island or wherever the hell you're from!"
Voldon squirmed in his seat. "I'll clean up my act," he said.
"Good," the other man sighed as he turned to the children. "I am Kruger, one of Poketopia's three Masters. Hopefully, you two children will do better than this slug. Children seem to be very good at besting him lately."
Voldon groaned. Obviously, no one was going to forgive him for this door thing. And it was true he wasn't doing so well in the Colosseum lately- he was too busy taking care of his beloved cavern. When he went back, he was going to work out a bit more and get back on track. He couldn't afford for Kruger to give him the axe.
This only left the dancing girl. She got up and started to dance around the room, twirling and spinning out of control with her ribbons flying.
"Yawn," Terrell said, followed by three normal burping/groaning noises. Marina held her breath. Terrell was going to let loose any minute now. The dancing girl continued to randomly twirl around. Marina slapped her forehead. Couldn't she stop it and say her name so they could move on?!
Finally, the dancing girl stopped and returned to her seat. "Did you enjoy my new dance?" she asked.
Both twins looked at one another. "It sucked," Terrell whispered to Marina.
"Um, yea, great dance!" Marina said to the dancing girl. To tell the truth, she thought this girl was the worst dancer she'd seen in her life. The twirling had no rhythm whatsoever, and, in Marina's opinion, the dancer needed some music to guide her steps. But, Marina was too well brought up to go into a spiel about how terrible the girl's dancing sucked.
"Great!" The dancing girl was happy. "That dance was to celebrate the table being complete once more. I am Sashay, one of the Colosseum Masters. We are pleased to have you here." Both twins nodded.
"That is all for now," Mysterial said. "Terrell, Marina, welcome to Poketopia. We expect the best out of you." Mysterial stood up and caused two Toguchi-monko to appear.
"Colosseum Leaders, go through the door to the left. Masters, use the door to the right," he said. As everyone moved along, Mysterial stopped Sashay, Terrell and Marina. Terrell wobbled on his feet. He needed to burp, or he might explode with all the fire burning within his little eleven-year-old body. The only good part of all this was that Terrell was calm and quiet. He didn't even give a peep of a complaint.
"Before you go, Terrell and Marina, I must ask which room you would each like?" Mysterial asked.
"Any room, as long as we're together in the same room," Marina said. "And can we go fast? My brother really needs to use the burproom- I mean restroom!"
Mysterial closed his eyes and murmured some magic words. Then, he opened his eyes and said, "I have merged the rooms of the Magma Colosseum Leader and the Waterfall Colosseum Leader. You may collect your bags and go there. But first, Sashay has an offer for you. I will return home to my own Colosseum." Mysterial walked through the Master's door.
Marina went back to her seat to get her and Terrell's bags. She gave Terrell his luggage, which he cradled gently in his arms. The twins turned to Sashay. "Okay, what do you want?" Marina asked.
"I only want to help you," Sashay said. "I make this offer to all-" here, she spun around, "the new Leaders here. It's your choice if you wish to take my offer, but I can relieve all of your pain."
"How?" Terrell asked. "You'll give me a different sister?"
"Not funny!" Marina snapped. Terrell was starting to revert to his old irritating self. Meaning the burp was coming!
"Sory Mari-UUUURRRRRPPPPP!!!!!!!!!" Terrell spit fire and a burping sound out of his mouth and the ground began to quiver. Terrell closed his mouth and looked relieved. Sashay looked horrified. Marina glared at Terrell.
"I tried my best! I just couldn't hold it back!" Terrell said.
"He does that every time he burps," Marina grumbled. "Rare genetic condition. It's called Youreanidiotterrellitis. There's also a rarer form called Selfcontrolitis. Terrell doesn't have it, though. Youreanidiotterrellitis is perfectly harmless. Those 'flames' were really just an harmless acid that looks like flames, 'cause of the light from the torches. And you may have felt an earthquake. He has seizures that shake up the whole room. You might want to tell Mysterial about that."
"That's sad..." Sashay said, looking convinced.
"Yea, I know," Marina said with feigned sadness. "He also has Imgivingyouagoodtalkingtooncewegettoouroom Syndrome and Youdirtylittlebooger Syndrome. Terrell's very ill. That's why we have to always stick together. Because I have to TAKE CARE OF HIM." The last part she hissed at her brother more than said to Sashay.
"Well, I can take care of your brother's, err, problem," Sashay said, still horrified of the boy despite Marina's semi-convincing lie. "Many people become Leaders because of my special treatments. I can get rid of your brother's Youreanidiotterrellitis, and maybe do something about those claws. And you, Marina may seek interest in spending some time with me. In short, I'll give you a new look and cure any little problems you have, including this Youreanidiotterrellitis."
The twins looked baffled. A new look? What was Sashay talking about? "Keep talking," Marina asked.
"Well, since you're in a new place, you might want a new image," Sashay explained. "I can do anything I want with the machines at my Colosseum. The two of you will be unrecognizable when I'm done. I'll make you all look and fell better than you had in your whole life, so long as I get to do whatever I want. Do we have a deal?"
"What do you think, Terrell?" Marina asked.
"I think it's stupid," Terrell said. "I'm just fine with the way I am. So what if I have claws and I burp weird? That's how I've been my whole life. I'm not gonna let that Sashay do anything to me."
"I think I will," Marina said. Terrell looked shocked. "If she deals with my Kyogre powers, that lessens our chances of getting caught," she whispered. "Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices like that."
"But I thought you liked your water stuff!" Terrell almost blurted out. "And you like swimming with your Psyduck feet, too!"
Marina wanted to scream at Terrell that her feet looked nothing like a Psyduck's, but she bit her tongue and held it back. Then, she said "I know that, but I can't risk getting caught," Marina said. "If I don't have webbed feet and stuff, that brings down the chance of us being busted. I don't know about you, but even thought the others are mostly nice to Terrell and Marina the humans, I'm scared of what they'll do to Terrell and Marina the children of Kyogre and Groudon. I'm playing it safe."
"Well, I'm going to our new room," Terrell said. "See ya, Marina! Wouldn't wanna be ya!" He thrust the door to the Leader's rooms open and slammed it shut with force.
"Fine! Then go burp and burn down Poketopia, Lizard Breath!" Marina cried. She then turned to Sashay. "Deal," she said. "I'll go, but my stupid brother's out. My feet are all weird because I have Terrellsawimpychicken Defect Syndrome, or TDS for short. Do you think you can fix that?"
"Sure!" Sashay said. "And, if your brother ever changes his mind, he can come to Sunny Park Colosseum any time he wants. My shop's always open, unless I'm battling of course." Sashay removed her gem and threw it in the air. She drew a door with it, which turned into a real door slightly smaller than the Toguchi-monko.
"Chibi Toguchi-monko," Sashay said, returning her gem to the proper place. "It can't go to as many places as the normal Toguchi-monko, but it works just as well." Sashay opened the door, and Marina picked up her junk and followed Sashay inside.
GoggleMaster01- This is normally the part where I request reviews. But I won't this time. Instead, I'll request reviews- IN PIG LATIN! Leasepay eviewray my anfictionfay. There. Now, please do it. Thanks.