Chapter Thirteen: Who Am I?

*Author Note – This is some sort of flashback chapter, the first few days on Eon Island. And some Legends that were written before/during Chapter Nine! We planned this some time ago, so… Enjoy! And if you don't like them, well, it's written after four hours of sleep. And a whole day of cycling before the sleeping.

Disclaimer: We only use Pokémon to make more sense of the story line, but we don't own it. Really.*

Here is the longest Chapter up till now. It's Chapter Thirteen: Who Am I?

Pichu's Point of View

It was only moments ago I had woken up. Someone put a blanket over me. I could not help but recognize it as Pikachirate's. I saw multiple dresses lying next to me, the ones Buneary bought in Plaza del Labyrinthos.

I felt no desire in wearing them at the moment.

His voice - of course his voice - did not come as a surprise. "Hey, Princess. Did you get enough rest?" I had to think about it before answering. Flashes of earlier, flames, came back to my mind.

I remembered feeling betrayed by everyone, including my bodyguard Charmander - that was a while back, around two weeks ago. Now I even felt as if I betrayed myself. I did something that hurt me in some way. In a mental way.

"Probably not," Pikachirate said when I did not answer. He was looking at me intensely, probably trying to read me - it worked, without a doubt. I was on the edge of crying. I was not crying yet, but it came close. There was no way to hide my emotions from him.

This was the first time in my life that I realized; I am not myself at the moment. Never had been. Or am I myself now without knowing?

Pikachirate kept his distance from me. He made sure there was some space between us.

"Not to be rude, or anything, but can you come with me? You can leave the dresses here, since Buneary said it was important to come, so, can you stand?" I looked up at him - I was laying on the ground - with watery eyes.

He pulled me up. I was not resisting, yet I was not cooperating either. While standing, I took our surroundings in mind. We were at a beach, and a forest was visible from this distance. The ocean on the other side was a soft, clear blue.

The two of us were walking towards a fire with slow steps - I could see the rest of the Crew sitting around it, already in a circle. I sat down next to Amy and Sneasel, while Pikachu sat down next to Chansey and Gengar.

Buneary got up - she had a lot of notes with her - and started the 'meeting'. "First, I want to welcome you all to Eon Island. The ship is in a bad shape, so prepare for staying here for a couple of days," she said in a clear voice. That meant for me that I would not be back in time at Plaza del Catans. One tear rolled down my cheek.

Pikachirate looked a bit tense, as if something was not going according to the plan. He did not think that staying here would remain a secret to me, did he?

Buneary continued. "Now I will tell you all some stories that I put together, they are legends, myths and facts put together. It took some time to gather the data, so pay attention, you all!" I was neither told a legend nor a myth, never in my life. I read facts, but those would probably not be in the stories.

Buneary glanced around the circle once before she started to read.

"Once upon a time, there was the MasterPokémon. He was known to all, seen by none. It was a mystery what form he had, but everyone knew he existed. And everyone knew he had three disciples.

The MasterPokémon had saved the lives of those three.

They were injured badly, all with a different cause.

Raikou - A storm was above them, in the darkest shade ever seen. Raikou was at the see, enjoying the simple life he had. They were all alarmed by the clouds, but it didn't matter. There was no escape. The ship got struck by lightning.

Everything caught fire. The rest of the Crew and even the Captain jumped into the sea, and Raikou was the only one left at the ship. Flames were dancing around him, with no way out. It is said that he saw a rainbow before passing out because of the lack of oxygen.

A second lightning struck down, and the ship sunk.

Entei - He was at his own country, the place were he was born. The Land of Flames. Everyone here had the talent for utilizing fire, but Entei had no desire to use it.

It was a peaceful life for Entei, since being a baker meant a life outside the war.

After a day of work, he came home. His carpet caught fire.

And no one knew how to extinguish the flames, to defeat their own powers.

Entei's vision got blurry, but the last thing he could see was a feather shaped object right in front of him.

The doors opened, while the flames took him.

Suicune - He was leading an army across the water. They were trying to take over the command of the city they were headed to.

The fight was tougher than they thought. The opposing team was even winning. But no one suspected their last attack.

Multiple Pokémon were using Surf, while standing in a circle on the island. The water was coming Suicune's way, rapidly.

The power of the army lay in attacking. They lacked defending, so no one even knew the move Protect.

Their fleet didn't come above the water afterwards. Suicune saw a flying Pokémon through the surrounding water, at the moment of passing out.

Meeting - The three of them woke up in a black room. They stared at each other, not knowing who the others were. When they introduced themselves, it became clear they were enemies. Real enemies.

They managed to remain silent for a while, all questioning why they were still alive. The MasterPokémon arrived a little later.

He was magnificent. It was a flying Pokémon, with rainbow wings. They had never seen him, but they all bowed simultaneously. It was the MasterPokémon.

The MasterPokémon explained everything, from red threads to details. They slowly started to know each other, and became the best friends of all later.

Disciples - They had to narrow down their fears to become strong.

The only disciple who had trouble naming it was Suicune. The MasterPokémon answered with the following questions. What ability do you lack? Why were you defeated?

Suicune thought about this. His power wasn't the problem. He could only destruct something, not repair.

Raikou's fear was the lightning that ended his life. It weren't the flames, but the second lightning.

Entei's fear became fire, a power hidden deep within him. Flames that surrounded him, unable to do anything against the uncontrolled fire.

Suicune's fear was more complex, since he now feared water, but his fright for irreparable was larger.

And with this, their training began.

Raikou learned the power to strike. He is the fastest among the three. Lightning.

Entei was taught the strength in attack. Even though he is slower than the other two, his moves are powerful, precise and destructive. Fire.

Suicune got the ability of healing. He shouldn't be underestimated at other fields, even if his name is 'Purifier of the World'. Water.

These three are legendary. Their powers are way above our level, and these three will only show themselves to someone worthy. Legends about the three are all over the world, and it is unknown what the truth is.

A secret, something most don't know, is that the MasterPokémon had a fourth disciple under his wings. This disciple was a good observant, and was quick to evade. No attack could hit this one. Even today, this disciple remains undamaged by attacks.

The fourth disciple was probably stronger than the MasterPokémon, but chose to stay loyal to him.

The disciple was a traveller, and didn't stay in one place for too long, although the loyalty to the MasterPokémon never faded."

Buneary stopped reading for a few minutes, to let us take the whole story in. Some of the Crew members were simply staring at the ground before them - deep in thoughts about the story - and others were in a conversation.

I had seen Raikou, and I knew Pikachirate did too. I shivered because of the memory. It was something I did not want to remember for long. His electric power even made Pikachu stunned, since Buneary said it is a power above our level.

I was not looking forward meeting the three other disciples, or even the MasterPokémon. I looked up at the sky, and knew that I would never meet them. The closest I could get was 'seeing' them.

I am sure it is not unusual for a wrongly kidnapped Princess and a Captain who's short on sleep to meet a Legend Pokémon. Or even four.

I had to stop thinking about this. The more I would think about the possibility, the more likely it would become!

Buneary coughed twice. "I got a short story for last, mainly since there was little information about it. I think I got most of it, though. So, keep this story in mind, okay?" She skimmed through her notes, only to pick one page out of the pile.

"The Prism Stone changes fate. Its form switches the direction of fate of the Pokémon who touch it. Even if the change looks insignificant, it will save a life in some way, or even more.

This stone changes its colour. It could be after a week, a half year, even a decade. It depends on the conditions of the world.

The red-zone is the worst. Many lives were taken in a short amount of time, the nature is destroyed.

While indigo and violet are the closest colours to each other that stand for peace, the union with nature.

The stone knows a way to communicate. It sends messengers to communicate with potential world savers. The test is if they understand the message."

I did not get everything she said, but I had a strange feeling that I knew the story. The problem was that I did not know where I knew it from. Maybe my mother told it when I was young, a bedtime story, and it was somewhere deep in my memory.

I looked at Pikachirate's Crew, and tried to see if recognition was on one of their faces - the faces were puzzled to a frustrated look - knowing that the story was as unknown to them as to me in some way.

Buneary sighed and all eyes were on her. "I knew the last story would be one whole question to you, but it answers a few if you look closely at it. If we assume this stone exists, we can be certain of its colour, can't we?"

There was silence; no one seemed to be able to answer her question.

"I already said you had to keep it in mind, didn't I?" Buneary was on the edge of sanity. "Red. The stone would be the reddest colour we would know! The stone, it is a legend itself, it can change fate and can send messengers to those 'world savers'. This is a legend, right? The only reason for it to be unknown is that it's a stone. A legendary Pokémon is far more interesting than a legendary stone."

I felt too down to continue thinking about this 'dilemma'. I had to find myself first, before giving this Prism Stone a thought. "My apologies, I can not seem to be able to progress any more thoughts about this. Can we continue this discussion tomorrow? I need some sleep," I said with a voice that broke - not intended.

I saw Pikachirate giving me stealthy glances and Amy, next to me, already began standing up.

"William!" Luckily for me, Amy was the first to offer me help. "Let's take her to the sleeping place, okay?" I did not see where William was; I was getting dizzy for no reason at all. "Can you stand?"

"Yes, Pichu, can you stand?" William repeated the question, giving me no time to answer. Before I knew, my vision started to fade. My eyelids fluttered a few times, and everything turned black.

I found myself lying on a flat ground on top of a blanket. Again. I remembered seeing a similar one on Buneary's bed. Next to me was another blanket - I think I tossed it off me while I was asleep - although it was thinner than those on the ship. It looked like it was handmade, instead of made with the use of machines.

I was having difficulty with suppressing my loud breathings, but it was normal after a few seconds. I looked around, just like I did some hours ago, and this part looked nothing alike anything I had seen before.

A lake was nearby, only a few hundreds of yards further East. I lay in a flower field, and saw Amy, William, Pikachirate and the rest of the Crew lying in the grass - all on thin blankets. Some trees surrounded us, but the path was easy to see.

By seeing all this, I figured that I needed some time off as a kidnapped Princess. It was just getting too much, I even had the thought 'Who am I?'.

I noticed I was watching Pikachirate sleep after a while. I never did that before, what was strange, to be honest.

He seemed to be having a terrible dream, at least, his face was a mixture between worried, scared and frustrated.

Why had I not watched him sleep before? Maybe because I was not sure if I had feelings for him. Now I was not sure who the 'I' was.

The next step I would take had to be done without Pikachu. He would get in the way of finding myself. So, since we were stuck on this island, I had to get away from him. He had to stay with his ship. I would go to the other side of the island if I must.

But he would think I would try to escape, again. I need permission, but how am I going to ask that?

I decided that the best way was to say I wanted to see the island, but wanted to do so on my own. Some sort of 'adventure'. By thinking this, a thought struck me. I daydreamt about these possibilities for ages in the castle. This was what I wanted.

I might know more things about the hidden me than I thought.

It was early in the morning, the moment before sunrise. I started feeling more and more desperate and anxious by the seconds that went by. Pikachirate's face became paler and I did not know what I was supposed to do. He would not die because of a pale face, of course not, but what if it was something dangerous?

I was the only one awake. Someone had to wake up. I was going crazier by the minute.

The horizon turned an orange-red colour, reflected in the lake. I saw a green Pokémon drinking out of it to my surprise. Was it a Leafeon? I have never seen one before; there are not that many Eevee in the world. With the evolutions added to the population, there are roughly four-hundred of them, five-hundred at the most.

A Vaporeon appeared out of the lake. That was unsuspected. With the splash it made, Pikachu woke up. His face already started to get less pale. I suppressed a sigh. Always be careful what you wish for, he has woken up now.

He sat up right away, squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could, and wiped the cold sweat of his forehead. He stared directly at me. "Good morning, are you feeling better?" Apparently, I was sick yesterday. I felt silly when I thought of a reason. It could be lovesick or my emotions played a part in my health. I had an identity crisis, you never know if you get sick because of it.

I preferred the second option. "I am fine, thank you for asking." I nodded my head, as a token of acception. "Actually, I was wondering if I could explore the island. It seems to be filled with different kinds of water, flower fields. I can even see a mountain from down here!" His look was sceptical.

He narrowed his eyes. "Why didn't you go when you had the chance? I mean, everyone was asleep, you could've slipped away easily," he stated. This was true, but a feeling told me he would have found me within half an hour after I left. He found me with ease at Plaza del Labyrinthos.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "I was warned not to try and escape again, remember? So I am politely asking for your permission." I waited.

Pikachirate hesitated for a moment, but his answer did come. "Okay, I will give you a tour around the island."

That was not the answer I had hoped for. Pikachu did not look happy with the thought of giving me a tour, too. I felt slightly hurt.

I had to change his mind. Travelling with him while escaping him was not the best combination. "Well, I have to decline that offer. You have to think about your ship, and the Crew... Next to that, I would not mind travelling alone, it would be a positive change for a while. Please, may I travel alone? I really need some time for myself." My eyes started to water and my emotions changed the sentence. I was pleading.

Pikachu's face tensed. "Princess, I can't allow that. You should know that." His voice was different than before. It was more an 'I follow the rules' tone, instead of the tone he normally used. The tone used with friends. I did not like it.

My face fell - because of the sentence and its tone - and continued pleading. "Please, I need this. Do you know what it feels like to be kidnapped?"

I had never told this frustration to anyone up till now, but it had to get out now.

"And being brought to an unknown island? The day after that, you learn that you will not be returning soon, since the ship is wrecked, and the pirates do not trust the exchange? Do you have any idea what that is like? No! So, please, let me go for a few days. Please," I pleaded with a broken voice. "It is not like I could get away from the island, could I not?"

Tears were almost streaming down to my cheeks. I never cry uncontrollably. At least, I never used to.

Pikachirate was frozen in place, yet he managed to speak. "Let me think about it. I have to discuss this, alright?" he said in a reassuring voice. I nodded my shaky head and took some deep breaths as to calm myself. After a moment of rest, I was feeling normal again.

"Thank you," I whispered, the relieved tone was hear able in my voice. It was a late 'thank you', but it was one. "And I do not want to bother your Captain-duties, so do not worry, I will be fine." I smiled an honest smile, and Pikachu was stunned.

He shook his head to recover. "I'm going to take a look at the ship." No movement. "Will I see you at breakfast?" He was waiting for my answer.

My smile returned. "Yes, of course! See you then," I said in a cheerful voice. It was not exactly sounding the way it was supposed to be for cheerful, but it was good enough. "Bye!" I waved him goodbye.

Esmeralda told me she would be joining me - without Ditto and Mew - to keep an eye on me and 'guide' me. Amy and William were too busy, they had to search for parts that could be used to repair the ship.

Maybe I misjudged Esmeralda, she must have Pikachirate's trust if she is in charge of escorting the kidnapped Princess.

It is the dream island for most

But known to few

The Island of joy
The Island of happiness

Different natures are here to be found
Forests and mountains
Glaciers and fields
A place with Thunderstorms
Dark and light

Inhabited by the flexible kind of Pokémon
Although the environment is as the best

Only because it is hidden from the outside world

*Author Note - It was a long Chapter. It could be two acceptable lengths Chapters even! So, uhm, what did you think of it? Worth a review...? There is a button below, it's easy to click, and it is a happy-maker! :D*