IMN: Hello my fellow readers and welcome to chapter 18! YAHOOOOOO!
Kate: You seem very happy today.
Keith: *Carries KJ the Egg in his arms* What are you up to?
IMN: I'm just happy that its summer and I have LOADS of surprises for this story! HAHAHAHAHA!
Rhythmi: I really don't like the sound of that. O.O
IMN: *Her phone rings and she answers it* What is up? What is down? This is Infusion Masters Nightmare speaking! ...Uh-huh? ...Uh-huh? ...WHAT?! YOU CAN'T JUST QUIT AS I START A CHAPTER! YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST ANNOUNCED IT A MONTH AHEAD! ... Hello? Hellooooooo? *Puts her phone down* HE HUNG UP ON ME!
Kate: What happened?
IMN: My babysitter just quit on me! Apparently all my baby Pokémon are 'crazy, evil, sadistic demons from hell'. How dare he say that about my adorable Pokémon?! The nerve of him! That's my thirteenth babysitter in the last six months! *Looks at Keith and strokes her imaginary beard*
Keith: What?
IMN: Keithie, you're about to become a father right?
Keith: I don't like where this is going.
IMN: You'll need all the experience you can get to take care of baby Pokémon right?
Keith: I seriously don't like where this is going!
IMN: So from here on out, you'll be on babysitting duty! Starting now! HERBONIA! BLAZEY-CRAZY! BRING THEM IN! *A female Meganium and male Charizard walks in with fifteen baby Chikorita*
Keith: HAHAHAHAHAA! That's it? That's what you're babysitters are afraid of?! *Pointing at the baby Chokorita siblings*
IMN: That's just Blazey-Crazy and Herbonia's children. BRING THEM ALL IN!
Keith: *An army of baby Pokémon charged in and tackle Keith to the ground* AAAAAAHHH! WHAT THE HECK?! WHAT'S WITH ALL THESE BABY POKÉMON?!
IMN: It's not my fault that my Pokémon found love and has a family. Plus they're too adorable! ^^
Keith: YOU FIND A PSYCHOTIC GYARADOS ADORABLE!
Kate: I'll take care of KJ for you. *Picks up KJ the egg and minds him* By the way Infusion Masters Nightmare doesn't own Pokémon or it's characters. On with the show!
Keith: HELP ME! I'M DROWNING! SAVE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Chapter 18: Marine Cave Mystery Sound
Kate's Pov
"PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUUUUUUUUUUTT!" screamed Crawford as he runs around in circles with his butt on fire. 'Why is his butt on fire?' you may ask.
Well Luana thought it would be nice to make breakfast but for some reason the oven caught fire and the fridge burst into flames. Of course everyone in the base put out the fire but Crawford got too close to the flaming fridge and got his butt on fire. Since Crawford is a Grass type Mewman, he's more flammable then normal humans.
"Crawford calm down!" shouted Elaine as she and Barlow tried to catch Crawford. Keith, Jet, Fro and I were trying to put the fire out by using Jet's 'Water Gun' attack and Fro's 'Psychic' attack on the water but Crawford was running around too much so the attacks keep on hitting Barlow and Elaine.
Then Rhythmi and Luana jumped in front of Crawford and threw buckets of water at him. It worked!
"Thanks, I needed that," Crawford said before he checks himself and collapses from exhaustion and the adrenaline rush. Everyone sighed and followed Crawford's lead.
"You see Rookies? This is why we don't let Luana go into the kitchen. That was the fourth fridge and tenth oven that caught on fire in the last two months!" Barlow said as he got up.
"I said I was sorry!" exclaimed Luana as she got up.
"That was a really...interesting way to start the day," said Rhythmi before the phone rang. She legged it to the Operator counter and picked up the phone.
"Vientown Ranger Base. This is Rhythmi speaking, how may we help you? ...Okay... I see... That is really worrying... I understand we'll look into it. Thanks for calling us," Rhythmi said as she wrote down notes before she hung up.
"What's up Rhyth? What's that phone call about?" Keith asked as he helped me up.
"That was Mr Woodward. Apparently he heard some weird noises from Marine Cave the last few days and he's worried because the pokémon are acting weird. It's as if they're in a trance. He wants some Rangers to investigate what's going on," Rhythmi replied. Barlow held his chin and started thinking.
"This is indeed worrying. We'll definitely check this out. Keith, Kate head to Nabiki Beach and go to the cave on the far side of the beach. The tide should be out now so you should be able to get in. Your mission is to find out what the source of the weird noise is and what's wrong with the pokémon," Barlow ordered. Just when Keith and I were about to head out the door, Crawford stopped us by holding onto our shoulders.
"I'll help you guys out since I know Marine Cave. It's mostly full of Rock and Water type pokémon, so I'll be really handy to have for this mission," Crawford said with a smile. Translation-'There is NO WAY that I'm letting my little sister go with some BOY in a dark and tiny cave, ALONE!' Looks like the Mewman protective instinct are kicking in...
"Good idea Crawford. Also, if it's anything like the noise you both heard on the One-Day Internship, you should wear these," Elaine said as she gave us the four little fingernail size red circles that she used on the One-Day Internship.
"These little babies are 'Sound Cancelers'. As long as Kate and Crawford wear them, their heightened hearing would be deactivated so they could hear like normal humans. They won't hear anything that Pokémon would pick up when they wear those little guys," Elaine explained. Crawford and I picked up two 'Sound Cancelers' and placed them right behind our ears. We then head to Nabiki Beach, not knowing that this is the start of something big. Something that would dare threaten Almia and a part of the Icecia prophecy.
"Alright you two, you better be careful. The beach is swarming with Shellos so watch out for their-WAAAH! *THUD!* ...Slime trail," Crawford said when he slipped on the trail of slime left behind by the pink Shellos. He should really watch where he's going. After Keith and I helped Crawford up we carefully avoided the Shellos' slime trail, we reached the Marine Cave. When we got into the cave there was this strange pulsing sound that gave me a headache.
"Kate, look out!" Keith shouted as he pushed me aside from an angry Zubat. I forgot that my Mewman hearing is deactivated so that's why I didn't hear the Zubat. Lucky for us Keith captured the angry Zubat in record time before it attacked Crawford's afro. The strangest thing was that instead of befriending Keith, the Zubat flew off.
"That's weird. Keith are you sure you captured that Zubat right?" Crawford said as Fro and Jet help him up.
"Yeah, I used the capture disc, did a full capture and everything. I did it the right way so why did that Zubat flew off?" Keith said as he stared at his styler in confusion.
"That Zubat looked like it was in a trance. Maybe it has something to do with the pulsing sound? Let's follow the sound to find the source," I said calmly before our group went deeper into the cave. After following the pulsing sound we found the source of the noise. It was a big, strange red machine. It was surrounded by two Shellos, a Zubat and a Pichu who look like they're in a trance.
"What is that thing? It's making my head hurt," Fro complained as she held her head. Jet just growled at the machine and backed away from it.
"Evil...Evil..." Jet growled as he looked around the cave for something. The machine must have something to do with Jet's past. Keith went over to calm Jet down but the Buizel just kept growling at the machine.
"Hey guys, I just scanned the thingamajig. It looks like we need a pokémon to use a Soak 2 Field move to stop it. I got good news and bad news. Good news is that I know a Gastrodon who lives at the back of this cave," Crawford said as he went deeper into the cave. Luckily the pulsing sound faded as we walked deeper into the cave.
"Great but what's the bad news?" Keith asked as we followed Crawford until he stopped suddenly so Keith and I bumped into him. I looked around Crawford to see a giant boulder blocking the way.
"For some reason this boulder is blocking the way. This didn't happen last time I was here. From the size of this boulder, we'll need a Pokémon with a Crush 2 Field move," Crawford reported.
"Don't worry! I'm a Froslass so I have a Crush 3 Field move! Step back and let me handle this!" Fro announced as she got ready to use a 'Shadow Ball' attack. Just as she was about to use the move...she tripped. Good news is that Fro was okay. Bad news is that she unleashed the 'Shadow Ball' attack by accident and now it's bouncing all over the place!
"HIT THE DIRT!" Keith shouted as we dodged the 'Shadow Ball' attack, unfortunately Crawford's afro sacrificed itself to save us. Now Crawford is wailing from the hole in his afro thanks to the attack. This is why I don't let Fro do this type of thing!
"I said I was sorry! You all don't have to be so mean to me!" Fro sobbed as we head even deeper into the cave to find the only Nosepass here, all the time lecturing Fro about safety. Crawford was trying to grow his hair with his powers so it would cover the hole. Fun fact about Grass type Mewmans- just like they can grow plants in seconds, they can also regrow their hair but it takes a minute or two to do so.
We found the Nosepass and Keith captured it in seconds (He's such a show-off for a prodigy). We went back to the boulder and thankfully the Nosepass hit the target without putting us in danger. I went in and captured the Gastrodon and went back to where the machine was. I told Gastrodon to blast the machine and the red monstrosity exploded. The Pokémon were confused when the pulsing sound stopped. They appear stunned momentarily and then ran off.
"Well the machine stopped making that annoying pulsing sound and the pokémon are back to normal so we know that was definitely the cause of the problem. Looks like this is a Mission Clear!" Crawford announced. We did our Ranger Poses before Crawford went over to the machine and tried to pick it up.
"Damn, it's heavy! Kate, a little help please?" Crawford whimpered as a piece of the machine fell on his foot. I lifted the part up to free Crawford's foot. When Crawford lifted his foot I saw a tiny black shard on the ground, it was no bigger than a pebble.
"No way...It can't be..." I thought as I picked up the shard and looked at it up close. I felt my family pendant reacting to the shard but I quickly put the shard in my pocket before Keith noticed anything. I glanced at Crawford to do something so Keith won't ask questions and Crawford understood perfectly.
"This looks like a job for Almia's strongest person!" Crawford said as he opened up his styler to voicemail someone.
"You're calling Barlow?" Keith asked.
"Even better than Barlow. I'm bringing in Big Bertha! She may not look like it but she has beaten our leader at arm wrestling in three seconds flat. I'm just calling Barlow so he'll send Big Bertha over. You guys can go on ahead and I'll wait for Big Bertha," Crawford said before he started talking to Barlow. Keith and I walked out of the cave along with our Partner Pokémon.
I smiled as Fro kept tripping while she chased after Jet. Then I felt something wet and slimy hit the side of my head. I touched the thing that hit my head and saw that it was the Shellos slime. Keith was laughing in front of me, standing next to a trail of slime. I smirked before grabbing a handful of slime next to me and I threw it at Keith. HA! Right in the face!
"Ooooooooh! You're so going to pay for that, Icecia!" Keith shouted as he grabbed more slime and chucked it at me but I dodged it as I was picking up more slime.
"Show me what you got, Adams!" I shouted before an all-out slime war started. Fro and Jet joined the war too. We were all laughing and having fun while some people who were walking by stared at us as if we lost our minds.
"Aah. Young love. It's always such a beautiful sight to see such a cute young couple together," said a female voice from the steps. We turned our heads to see Big Bertha walking down the stairs with a grin on her face. I felt my face turning red when I figured out what Big Bertha meant and judging by the colour of Keith's face now matched his hair, he knew too!
"Y-Y-Y-You got it wrong, Bertha! We were just playing around! Anyway Crawford is in the cave, waiting for you," I stuttered while willing myself to keep my Mew ears and tail from showing. Big Bertha let out a big belly laugh and patted us on the shoulder (Really hard).
"Well I better get going. I don't have the faintest idea why Crawford called me out here. My husband was acting all silly when I told him I was meeting Crawford in the cave. He was so jealous because he thought I was going on a date with your brother, Kate. So I told him that's exactly what I'm doing! HAHAHA! You should have seen his face! Hahahaaaa! See you both later," Big Bertha said before she walked straight to the cave. Keith and I headed back to the base with our Partner Pokémon following close behind us. When we got into the base Rhythmi, Luana, Barlow and Elaine were playing poker with cookies as chips.
"Oh, you're both back. How did the mission go?" Rhythmi asked.
"It went well. We found out what made that weird noise and Crawford is getting Big Bertha to carry it. Why are you guys playing poker?" Keith said while looking at the group.
"It's been a slow day. I ordered a new fridge and oven but none of us want to pay for it. We then decided to play poker, the person with the least amount of cookies by the time you all come back from the mission has to pay for the new fridge and oven. So far it looks like Luana is paying," Barlow explained as Luana pouted.
"Hey, I could still win this!" Luana complained. Elaine laughed and patted Luana on the back.
"Crawford could be back any minute and you have one chip left. There's no way you could win unless you get a miracle. Since it looks like the last draw, I'm all in," Elaine said as she put all her cookies in the middle along with everyone else. Rhythmi smiled as she shows that she has a 'full house'.
"Not so fast Rhythmi! 'Straight Flush'!" Barlow exclaimed as he showed that he does have a 'Straight Flush'. He was about to reach for the cookies when Luana stopped him.
"Uh uh uh. 'Royal Flush'! Told you I could still win this," exclaimed Luana as she showed her cards. She won so she collected all the cookies. Just then Big Bertha came in with the red machine over one shoulder and Crawford following right behind her. She placed it down in the Mechanic corner of the room and started talking to Barlow.
"By any chance is she a Mewman too? There is no way that she could carry that over her shoulder!" whispered Keith as he looks at Big Bertha in amazement.
"Trust me, she's 100% non Mewman. She's really strong for a human. Even I don't know how she got that strong," I whispered back to Keith. From the corner of my eye I saw Elaine drooling as she looked at the machine. Big Bertha then walked out of the base and Crawford gave Barlow a full report of the mission, Barlow looked at us as he got into his serious leader mode.
"Alright people, first things first. Kate, Keith since you both have successfully completed this mission in record time, I decided to promote you both to Ranger Rank 1," Barlow announced. Keith and I cheered because it was only our third day as Rangers and we already moved up a rank.
"Secondly we should take a look at this machine. Since this... thingamajig has the power that greatly affects the pokémon then we have a serious problem. I'm going to-" "TAKE IT APART!" Barlow announced before Elaine shouted and ran to the machine. Crawford and Luana tackled Elaine and pinned her down until she calmed a bit.
"Elaine, how many times do I have to tell you not to do that?! I know you love taking things apart but control yourself! *Ahem* Anyway, as I was saying. I'm going to call Prof. Hastings from the Ranger Union to come and examine it first. We need to know how serious the situation is before more of these things are made," Barlow announced. Keith then had a look of realisation on his face before he stepped forward.
"Barlow about my Grandpa. He's in the Fiore region on business and won't be back for a few days," Keith said while nervously looking at Elaine. The base went silent for a minute before she made a break for the red machine.
"GRAB HER!" ordered Barlow as we all dog-piled on Elaine to stop her from getting to the machine. Something tells me that this won't be the last time that Elaine would try to take the machine apart before Prof. Hastings arrives.
Kate's Pov-4:47 am
"Kate, are you sure that it is the real deal? Maybe it's something else entirely. We don't know that it really is-"
"Dad it is the real deal. The pendant reacted to it and everything. There's no use in denying it," I explained to my dad on the phone. I couldn't sleep after finding the dark shard in the cave so I decided to call my dad to tell him what happened. Good thing he was sneaking into the fridge to eat mum's pie before everyone gets the chance or else I would never have contacted him. I was on the roof of the base talking so I don't wake up anybody and I think better when I'm on a high place.
"Hmmm. This is really bad. If what you say is correct then that means that the 'Day of Darkness' is sooner than we expected. Kate, you have to hurry to find the 'key' that would help you stop the 'Day of Darkness' before it's too late," Dad explained. I took out my silver pendant from underneath my top and looked at it.
"Dad, the pendant doesn't react to anything except the shard. What if the 'key' isn't in Almia at all?" I asked my dad. I heard him sigh through the phone before hearing him speak again.
"The Icecia Prophecy says that the 'Day of Darkness' takes place in Almia in 'the tower of nightmares disguised as peace, upon the day of birth the light shall cease'. The prophecy first took place in Almia and it will end in Almia. It's just not the right time, Kate. You have to be patient and let the pendant act on it's own will. It's the only way to find everything you need to stop the 'Day of Darkness' from happening," my dad explained. I groaned in frustration because it's been centuries since the prophecy was written by the first Icecia and no one in the Icecia family has discovered what it means since then!
"Okay dad, thanks for the advice. Love you, bye," I said before hanging up the phone. I lay back on the roof and looked at the sky. It was beautiful tonight with all the stars out; you couldn't see any of them in Fall City because of the smog.
"Couldn't sleep too?" said a voice from behind me. I instantly sat up and looked at where the voice came from. It was Keith in his black wife beater top and his dark blue boxers and he was carrying two cups of hot chocolate. He smiled at me as he sat next to me and gave me my hot chocolate.
"Thanks Keith," I said before taking a sip of the smooth hot chocolate. There was a peaceful silence between us for a while before Keith spoke.
"Do you think that something big is going to happen in Almia? Ever since I saw that red thingamajig I had this bad feeling that something is going to happen," Keith said as he looked at the stars. In the starlight Keith looked like he was glowing and his brown eyes shone green thanks to the stars. I felt my cheeks heat up when I realised that I'm staring at Keith, KEITH of all people! I turned my head away from Keith and looked at Vien Forest. Just then I saw a bright red glow from the forest and that sight made my stomach sink.
"Keith, what time is it?" I nervously asked while staring at the red glow. Keith looked at me in confusion before looking in the direction I was looking at. He turned pale too when he saw the glow.
"That's impossible. It's 5:02 am, the sun isn't suppose to be up for another hour or two!" Keith exclaimed. That was it finally hit me. That wasn't the sun rising. Vien Forest is on fire!
IMN: Da da DAAAAAAAAAA! Don't you love cliff-hangers? ^^
Keith: *Crawling out from the Chikorita dog pile* HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPPP!
Kate: Keith! *Gives KJ the Egg to Rhythmi and rushes over to help Keith*
Keith: *Finally gets out of the dog pile* ARE YOU CRAZY?! I WAS ALMOST KILLED! YOUR POKÉMON ARE ALMOST AS CRAZY AS YOU!
IMN: EXCUSE ME?! FOR YOUR INFORMATION MY POKÉMON ARE ADORABLE AND PERFECTLY SANE! ...Well most of them.
Fro: DON'T EVEN MENTION THAT CASANOVA!
Rhythmi: Casanova?
IMN: That is a story for another time. Anyway, hope everyone enjoys this chapter and please review! Until then SEE YOU ALL LATER!