The Legend of the Sky Cat

by Kissy Fishy

"A creature unlike any other," said Professor Oak. "In legends, it is called the Sky Cat. It invades the mind, destroying opponents from the inside. It's more dangerous than any other Pokemon in the world. And that is why you, Ash Ketchum, must slay it."

2. What's in a Name?

"What hurts the most, was being so close, and having so much to say, and watching you walk away. And never knowing, what could have been, and not seeing that loving you, is what I was trying to do." - Rascal Flatts "What Hurts the Most"

2 What's in a Name?

Paul arched a skeptical eyebrow. "'The Sky Cat'?" he repeated. "That was the craziest one of all."

"Ooh, it sounds cool!" Dawn exclaimed. "Read it read it read it!"

It's not our theory," Tracey growled. "This was all Gary's idea."

I sputtered with laughter. "We're taking advice from Gary?"

"Gary has become an excellent young researcher and I would take his advice before my own," Oak snapped, clearly annoyed.

Mom looked at me with disappointment. "Show Gary more respect," she told me.

"I want to hear the story too!" May insisted.

"Me too," Misty said. "So everyone shut up!"

We all fell silent, secretly cowering at the thought of an angry Misty. Earlier, I had seen the outline of that wretched mallet in her bag, and I did not want to feel its wrath.

Oak grinned. "Thank you, Misty." He cleared his throat. "'The Legend of the Sky Cat'," he read. "In the beginning, there was Arceus, the Great Creator. Before he created the universe and every living thing, he was lonely. He took the beauty with which he made the stars, the softness with which he made the clouds, the power with which he made the water, and the purity of which he made dreams. With these things, he created himself a wife." He paused from the reading. "They assume Arceus to be male in this," he explained.

I thought it was a little strange for Johto people to be talking about Arceus, but I pushed the question to the back of my mind with the intention of waiting for Oak to finish reading.

"He called her Yacaeli, or Cat of the Sky," Oak continued. He lifted the book to show us the picture. "This is what she supposedly looks like." I felt like a little kid in one of those library reading sessions, where there's some lady up there reading a book in a really annoying voice and showing the pictures with every word she says.

I found myself gaping at the drawing of Yacaeli, despite its crudity. She resembled a lion, but whoever had done the picture put stars in her fur, with a dark black streak running down her back. Her eyes looked like they were supposed to be moons. Intricate designs curled up her legs, like wind or water. Curling, silvery wings unfolded from her shoulders, sparkling like a starry night. It was the strangest looking creature I had ever seen.

"Arceus loved Yacaeli immensely, and it is believed that he created the universe for her. Together, they birthed the Legendary Pokemon. He made the earth, and Yacaeli made the moon, connecting the two with the water.

"Unbeknownst to Arceus, he had created three beings that, together, were more powerful than himself," Oak continued. "The Dragon Trio: Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. Yacaeli foresaw this, and she warned him. Arceus, however, assumed there was nothing more powerful than he, and he grew furious at her suggestion. He banished her to earth."

Drew whistled. "Lover's quarrel, huh?"

"How come all these legends have to do with lovers getting screwed over?" Brock wailed. "It's like history is telling me I'm doomed to fail."

Misty grinned. "History does repeat itself," she remarked.

"As we've seen exceedingly in Brock's life," May added.

Professor Oak cleared his throat. "May I continue?"

Everyone fell silent. I allowed Pikachu to jump onto my lap, and I scratched his head.

"Where was I…?" Oak wondered. "Oh yes, here we are. Angry at Arceus, Yacaeli called the Dragon Trio to her mountain, and told them how to defeat Arceus. They, in turn, stormed the Hall of Origin (see the Defeat of Arceus) and forced him to surrender. Arceus discovered Yacaeli's treachery, and came down to earth to battle her.

"Yacaeli lost the mighty fight, and as punishment, Arceus took away her powers. He returned to the Hall of Origin, once again lonely, and vowed to never see his wife again. That is why the moon pulls the water, creating the tide. Yacaeli's home misses her." Oak looked up from the book. "Tragic, isn't it?"

Dawn looked like she was ready to cry. "That's so sad!" she cried. "Poor Yacaeli!"

"Yacaeli is the one screwing all this stuff up for us now," Tracey muttered. "She's pissed, and she's taking it out on Arceus's beautiful earth."

"But he took her powers away," Drew pointed out. Despite his earlier nonchalance, he had really gotten into the story.

Max pushed his glasses up on his nose to prevent them from falling. "Not exactly," he stated. "See, I was talking with Gary yesterday and he explained that Yacaeli might have gotten her abilities back."

"You talk to Gary?" May asked, confused. "You've never even met him!"

"Dad took me to Sinnoh when you were in Johto," he said. "Gary asks me for help with his research all the time now!"

Misty coughed, "Nerd!"

Paul rolled his eyes and folded his arms stonily. Brock narrowed his eyes at Max. "Alright. Explain how she got her powers back."

"Well, Arceus couldn't destroy her abilities, nor absorb them himself, so he kept them in the Hall of Origin, supposedly in a jar." He gestured to the book. "There's something in there about people trying to steal Yacaeli's powers, but it's more of a side note. Anyways, we think that Yacaeli broke into the Hall of Origin when we last saw Arceus, and stole her abilities back. Now she's mad and is unleashing them on earth."

"That's a really big stretch," Drew said.

"Oh, stop it," May snapped at him. "You're just being critical because he's a little kid."

"I have no reason to be critical of him," Drew replied shortly. "Although of you… well, that's another story."

"Can you guys just shut up?" I said, exasperated. They glanced at me, glared at each other, and fell silent. "Thanks."

Dawn spoke up. "How did people in Johto know about Arceus? I thought he was Sinnoh only."

Professor Oak showed us the pictures again. "The drawings resemble Arceus, and the story of him somewhat fits the same one the people of Sinnoh have. However, it says in the beginning that they only assumed this was Arceus. Apparently, in the original stories, they only referred to him as the Great Creator."

So Yacaeli is making the Pokemon go crazy?" Misty asked. "That's pretty powerful."

"And the fact that it's reaching all the way here to Kanto is even more frightening," Oak said. "Gary and Professor Rowan said they think it has something to do with the fact that Arceus made her out of dreams. It's their theory that she attacks the mind."

I hesitated. "And what do you want us to do?"

Professor Oak fixed me with a hard stare. "She's a creature unlike any other," he said slowly. "She invades the mind, destroys her opponents from the inside. Yacaeli is more dangerous than any other Pokemon in the world. And that is why you, Ash Ketchum, must slay her."

I recoiled so violently my chair tipped over. "What?" I replied.

My mom's reaction was similar. "Now hold on, Sam, you didn't say anything about my baby going to kill anything!"

"Delia, I'm sorry, but he's the only one who can do this," Professor Oak explained. "Gary said so."

"How is he the only one that can do this?" Misty put in. I glanced at her, and was pleased to see her face was streaked with worry. "There's no frickin' legend that says 'Ash Ketchum must kill Yacaeli, and no one else will do'."

Paul grimaced. "There kinda is," he said quietly.

All of us whipped around to stare at him. "What!?" we all cried.

He shrugged. "It's the last one. Look."

We all scrambled to get the book, and I wound up with it in my hands. Hurriedly, I flipped to the last few pages, and started reading aloud.

"When the world's delicate structure is shattered by those who are bent on revenge, by treacherous liars, and by confident failures, a champion will arise. He is the smoldering Ashes of a once great fire, born from the Daughter of the sea. He is covered in sparkling Dew, flanked by the Small and the Courageous and guided by the one who wields the Spear. He hunts in the Morning, with the Flowers and his Greatest allies with him."

Misty looked over my shoulder, confused. "How come some of these words are capitalized?"

"To add emphasis, I think," Professor Oak guessed. Suddenly, the phone rang. He raced to answer it.

"Paul, how do you know this talks about Ash?" Drew asked.

Paul shrugged, glancing over at the screen Oak was talking to. "It looks like Gary can help us out."

We all rushed to crowd around the tiny screen. "Gary?" we were all shouting. "Gary?"

"Hey everyone," Gary greeted, grinning (woo! Go alliteration!). "Like the book?"

"No, not in the least!" Mom cried.

Misty tugged the book out of my hands. "How come some of these words are capitalized?" she questioned.

Gary looked shocked. "I thought that was obvious."

"Well, it's not, so give us a hint, will ya?" snapped May.

With a smirk, Gary explained. Slowly. "Think, everyone. What do we capitalize when we write?"

Dawn jumped up, excited. "The beginning of the sentence!" she exclaimed.

"And?" he prompted.

She paused, uncertain. Paul sighed and answered for her. "Names," he said.

Mockingly, Gary clapped his hands. "Bravo, everyone! So that makes those words…?"

"Names!" Dawn said. "They're names!"

I wrenched the book back from Misty, rereading the paragraph. Well, the "Ashes" one was kinda obvious, but I wasn't the son of the daughter of the sea.

"Oh yes you are," Gary replied when I voiced this thought. He looked at my mom. "Ms. Ketchum, what does your name mean?"

Mom hesitated. "I've never been able to find an exact definition. Everything I've found just says 'from Cordelia'."

Gary looked agitated. "Did you ever bother to find out what Cordelia meant?"

"No, why?"

He exhaled in exasperation. "It means daughter of the sea."

We all exchanged terrified looks. "So all of these are names referring to us?" Brock asked. He looked down at the pages. "I don't see anything about a badger!"

I snickered. "Your name means badger?" I scoffed.

Pikachu laughed along with me. Misty tore the book from my grip; if our book-snatching kept up, the thing was going to be in tatters be the end of the evening. "Which one's me?" she said excitedly.

"The one about dew," Gary told her.

Misty looked appalled. "Ash is going to be covered in me?" she gasped.

"That's what she said!" laughed Drew. May smacked him, and he broke off with a quiet "Ow."

"C'mon, Drew," May sneered. "Let's see which one you are."

Drew looked confident. "Andrew means courageous and manly, so good luck twisting that one."

May's expression was slightly angered, but as much as she liked to, she couldn't slander Drew's heroic name. "Well, who's small, then?"

No one answered.

"Is greatness on there?" Max asked. "That's me, I'm greatness!"

"Yes, you're on here," his sister assured him. "Which one am I?"

"I'm the morning!" Dawn said happily. "You hunt in me, Ash!" Suddenly, she looked less thrilled. "That sounded really, really wrong."

Misty snickered. "Who carries the spear?" she asked, looking around.

"That would be me," Gary admitted, raising his hand.

"Then that makes me small or flowers," May muttered.

I put on a thoughtful expression. "You've gotta be flowers."

She stared at me. "Why?"

I stared at her as if it were obvious. "April showers bring May flowers!" I recited. "Jeez, and you guys call me dense!"

Misty's face said that she had struck gold, like finding the ultimate dirt on someone. "So… Paul," she said with a devilish grin.

Paul flicked his eyes to her, but that was all the acknowledgment he gave her.

"Hey, wait a minute," Drew said, a terrible smile spreading across his lips as he flicked his bangs out of his face. "That means that Paul is…"

"Small!" Dawn cried, thrilled to have figured it out on her own.

May, Tracey, Brock, Gary, and I burst into gales of laughter. "That sucks, man!" Brock laughed, trying to be sympathetic.

Paul puffed out an angry puff of air. "Leave it to you guys to take it in the sickest way possible," he murmured.

This caused us to laugh even more. "I wasn't going that way, but now that you've brought it up…!" I couldn't finish due to my laughing.

Mom smacked me on the back of the head, and I stopped laughing immediately. "Ash! Behave yourself!" she cried.

Pikachu, of course, leapt onto my Mom's shoulder and imitated her stern face. This caused me to laugh even more, and piss her off equally as much.

Dawn patted his arm comfortingly, and from the look on his face it took all of Paul's effort not to flinch away. "Don't worry, Paul. I think you're just the right size," she said sympathetically.

Now this— these wonderful words of consolation—this, caused the rest of us to howl with laughter, and Paul to blush the soft pink that was as deep a red as he could go. Even Mom had to snicker a little bit.

Dawn looked around with wide eyes. "What?" she asked, confused.

"Dawn," Misty giggled, "you are so innocent."

Our laughter was interrupted by the gruff clearing of a throat, and we all straightened up. Whoever this person was, they sounded important. We all glued our eyes to the screen to see a very guilty looking Gary standing off to the side, with an extremely stern faced Professor Rowan eyeing us. His arms were folded across his chest in a gesture of disappointment.

I adjusted my shirt to look a little more presentable. "Hi, Professor Rowan," I greeted.

Rowan did not look pleased. "Hi, Ash," he said tersely. He glared down at Gary. "Did they read the book?" he asked.

"Um… yes, yes sir," Gary stammered. A deep red blush was creeping up his neck in blotches, similar to Misty when she was pissed or forced to do public speaking.

The ancient professor arched an eyebrow. "And?" he pressed.

Gary swallowed and looked to us for help. "You guys will go, right?"

I stared at the eerie prophecy, and felt the grin of adventure creeping up my lips. "I don't know about these guys, but I'll do it."

Misty whacked me with her mallet. "You think we're going to let you get killed all by yourself? If there's mortal peril up ahead, you can bet we're all in this together."

"Yeah," May and Dawn agreed. "You're stuck with us."

Drew flipped his bangs. "Mortal peril would certainly be a change from this boring Coordinator crap. Count me in."

"I wanna go, I wanna go!" Max cried, his eyes shining.

"You guys will need a cook…" Brock pointed out, trailing off hopefully.

Paul looked bored. "Fine, I'll go."

May glared at him. "No one invited you," she snapped.

"The prophecy did," I told her, tapping the book.

"This is really, really confusing to listen to," Rowan stated, massaging his temples. "Listen, meet Professor Elm when you get to Johto. He'll be waiting for you guys tomorrow afternoon."

"We have to leave now?" Drew whined.

I had to smirk. These guys, despite how annoying they were, were my best friends, and they would stand by me no matter what.

At least I had Misty to keep me sane.

*AN: Chapter 2!!!! Yay!!! BTW, I looked up the meanings of all their names, so I did my homework. Also, Yacaeli's name comes from the Greek word for cat and the Latin word for sky. Cordelia is a pagan goddess or something, I can't remember. But I did do my homework! Anyways, reviews are much appreciated!

I'm only saying so because every story I read that says that at the bottom of every chapter has like, a million reviews. I'm right, admit it. Subtly, your mind thinks you should review. Ah, the beauty of subliminal messages.

Thanks for reading and I'll update soon! Over and out.*