WE ARE BACK!
Keith: AND DROWNING IN LEGO!
Seren: I thought it was Jenga?
Kellyn: Is it both now?
Kate: I can't see any Lego?
Sky: LEGO SHARK!
Keith: AH! SAVE ME!
Kate: Time to put up the help wanted sign.
Way ahead of you.
Keith: OH THANKS A FUCKING LOT! *swims away from shark*
What's his problem?
Isaac: No idea, you want to say whatever it is you want to say?
YUS! I have four exams when I go back to school but for now I'm free for a week.
Isaac: You're actually revising?
Better than being yelled at…. AGAIN! But yeah, I have four exams two maths and two science, so there will be no updates whenever those exams are, least I don't think there will be.
I apologise for this whole thing being late, really I do, don't kill me.
On another note, my co-author Sky, is stuck with writers block, but we know where this story's heading, so we should be okay for this one since there's two of us.
Worrying us more, is the fact that she is also ill, I won't say how or anything, that's her job. But please go easy on her for the slowness of her updates and for the slowness of Distorted Mayhem until she is back on track.
Seren: *hands Sky bowl of chicken ramen*
As you can see we're working hard to take care of her.
Kate: A few hours ago she was riding on a boat through the Jenga Sea to fight off the Jenga shark and now she's sofa bound?
Er, yeah, I guess? Anyway, we'll try to get this story updated as much as possible, but with my exams, and Sky's writers block and sickness, we're not sure how often that will be.
Seren: *looks up* Luckily HTF has a week-long vacation this week, so she should be able to write more.
If I feel like it.
Readers: *glare*
Er, I mean, I shall write as much as I can!
Isaac: Let's just get on with the chapter before you die.
Good idea.
Keith: WHAT ABOUT ME?!
Cast: ENJOY!
The Rangers gathered in front of Hastings the following morning. Their luggage was being taken to where the Staraptors were being held for their flights to the other Regions. Hastings and Erma wanted to see them off before they left.
"We wish you all the best of luck, now Professor Hastings will tell you where you're stationed," Erma smiled as she turned to Hastings, who nodded his head.
"Kate and Keith, you will be in the Sinnoh Region stationed in Eterna City. You will be meeting with Cynthia upon arrival. Ben and Summer, you two are off to the Johto Region stationed in Golden Rod City, not exactly the center, but the largest place with lots of buildings. Sven and Wendy, I want you two to head to Saffron city in the Kanto Region. Form there head to meet Professor Oak, he can help you. Seren and Kellyn, you two will head to Hoenn, stationed in Mauville City, Flint will meet you there," Seren froze. They were heading to Mauville City? Why? Out of all the cities in the Hoenn Region, why there?
Keith noticed her frozen state, frowning he elbowed Kate, who cast a short glance at Seren. Kate became confused as she looked at Keith, who frowned, Kate knew something was wrong.
"You leave in ten minutes," Erma sighed. "We're sorry to bring all this on you like this, but the world needs protecting once again," she added, Hastings nodded his head.
"Good luck," the two smiled as they watched the teens walk off. Rythmi rushed after them, wanting to spend a few more minutes with them, Isaac followed her.
"Kellyn, mate, can I talk to you?" Keith asked as he looked at Kellyn, who frowned at him, but followed. Kate watched Keith lead Kellyn away from the group, he looked back to mouth an 'I'll-tell-you-later' to Kate, who nodded her head.
Once Kellyn and Keith were away from the group, Keith looked at his brown haired friend.
"I need you to watch out for Seren..." Keith started.
"What makes you think I won't?" Kellyn asked defensively.
"Well, she's mad at you, and you don't seem too happy this morning. But she needs a friend now more than ever," Keith answered.
"You'd know all about that wouldn't you?" Kellyn hissed as he glared at Keith, who became confused.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, Kellyn glared at him.
"I've seen you around Seren, hugging her, touching her, you've been all lovey with you. You've got Kate, so why go for Seren?" he asked. Keith's eyes went wide.
"Woah, no dude, slow down, it isn't like that. I just found out some recent stuff about Seren that's brought us closer, that's all," Keith answered as he looked at Kellyn wide eyed.
"Sure looks like it, just stay away from her, or you'll regret it," Kellyn hissed.
"Dude, you're not jealous are you?" Keith asked.
Kellyn glared at Keith.
"That's rich, you're jealous of me and Seren," Keith stated as he laughed. Kellyn wasted no time in balling his fist and swinging for Keith, who expertly caught it.
"Kellyn, you know I wouldn't do something like that to you. Seren's your girl, but if you don't do something soon, you will lose her," Keith pointed out as he walked away towards his friends. Kellyn balled his fists again as he punched the wall in front of him.
Meanwhile, Seren stood in complete silence as Rythmi and Isaac went around wishing everyone luck.
"Seren, you ok?" Kate asked, Seren snapped out of her state as she smiled at her friend.
"Yeah, fine, no problem at all," Seren answered with a fake smile. Kate frowned, she knew something was wrong, but didn't pry at her.
Keith and Kellyn walked back over a few minutes later, each in their own grumpy mood.
"Jheeze, what happened with you two?" Wendy asked as she hugged Rythmi goodbye. Seren just frowned at the two as she walked over to Keith.
"Good luck," Keith smiled as he hugged her. Kellyn silently growled as he walked over to his own pokemon before mounting it.
"You too," Seren replied. Kate just looked on in confusion before shrugging.
"Everyone ready to head out?" she asked, everyone nodded in reply.
"Alright, remember, if anyone finds anything, contact the Union and then everyone else alright?" Sven asked, the others nodded their heads as they all mounted their Staraptor and headed off to the Regions they were going to. Each with a different thought in mind.
The wind was just right. First time in days, actually. Normally it was way too harsh or extremely cold. Now Wendy could relax a little. Hey, she's the Staraptor ranger after all. She loves flying.
"You look like you're enjoying yourself." Sven noticed.
"It's great up here!" Wendy took a deep breath of cool air. "Besides, I've always wanted to go to Kanto."
"Really?" Sven asked.
Wendy nodded. "The wide open plains, clean air and so much to explore! Not to mention all those bird types you can't find in Almia! I wanna see them all!"
Sven chuckled. It lifted his spirits to see his partner in such a good mood. After that thunderstorm some time ago, all Sven wanted was to see Wendy smile again. She hadn't been flying as much with the bad weather so it made her a little depressed. And when Wendy was depressed, Sven couldn't help but feel the same way.
"Gotta admit. Kanto does sound like a good place to me." Sven tipped his hat. "It'd be nice to see some ranches."
"Missing the western scene, cowboy?" Wendy teased.
"Maybe." Sven smirked.
Pallet town was supposed to be a ranch town so Sven did feel a little eager to check it out. If possible, maybe ride a Rapidash again.
"Hey, Sven?" Wendy spoke up, hesitating a little. "This might be weird but um..."
"Yeah?" Sven waited patiently.
"You think you can teach me cowboy stuff? Like riding a Rapidash?" Wendy asked.
Sven grinned. "Sure thing! I'd love to teach ya!"
"Great!" Wendy lit up. "...assuming we have time apart from saving the world."
"Right, right." Sven remembered. "We'll head to Saffron City, visit that Professor guy and see what happens next."
Though his mind was already wondering how Wendy would be able to tame a wild Rapidash without getting burned to a crisp.
"WAAHOOO!" was the only thing that could be heard in the air as Ben rode on his Staraptor through the sky, Pichu sat on his shoulder. Summer rolled her eyes at the dark brown haired boy as she sighed.
"Can't you keep it down? You're scaring the bird pokemon," she stated with an un-amused expression. Ben turned to her with a goofy grin on his face.
"There are no bird pokemon out here anyway. We're flying over the ocean," he replied with a know-it-all tone. Summer rolled her eyes again. Come to think of it, there should be pokemon flying around, Wingull, Pelipper, Pidgey…. Where were they all?
Summer frowned; surely the darkness couldn't have reached so far in such little time. Staraptor flew up as Ben flew in front of it, causing Summer to snap out of her thoughts.
She growled, if they weren't in the air, she would kill him. Then again, she could always do it when they landed. But she couldn't help notice how Ben didn't take anything like this seriously until near the end of the event. His whole stay optimist always had him smiling, even in Oblivia when things were bad.
'Someway, somehow Ben, you need to learn that things aren't going to well. I just wish you weren't so optimistic sometimes,' Summer thought to herself as they continued towards Johto where they would meet Professor Elm.
Crawford sat on Breeze Hill, watching the sky. He had seen Staraptors rise up and fly off in different directions. All heading towards different regions across the world. Each group had to protect their assigned region from whatever was happening. That included Crawford himself. Vientown rangers were in charge of Almia's safety. And while he did feel hopeful, the afro ranger couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of worry stir in him.
"There you are!"
Luana appeared, sitting by her partner. Crawford grinned seeing her in her ever cheerful mood.
"Jeez, I've been looking all over for you! Bertha brought over milk pudding. Better get over to base before the others eat it all." Luana said.
"Let's go! I don't want the leader chowing down on my portion again!" Crawford sweatdropped.
Luana laughed as she helped him up. They walked down the hill and over Nabiki beach. Weather was nice for once. Good flying conditions for Staraptors. Hopefully, the weather would stay nice a little longer.
"You've been distracted today. Everything ok?" Luana asked.
"You noticed?" Crawford blinked.
Spacey klutz Luana knew? Little miss kitchen destroyer? Wow.
"Of course I noticed." Luana rolled her eyes as if the fact was obvious. "You're my ranger partner and best friend, you doof. I know a lot about you. And I can tell when you're not your usually happy self. Like how you didn't make one joke in the last few minutes."
Excellent point. Crawford sighed.
"I've been thinking about what's been happening lately. That's all." He told her. "Kate's been assigned to the centre of chaos, Sinnoh. She and my other sister, Cynthia, are throwing themselves head first into danger. I'm just hoping they don't get themselves into any trouble."
"This is Kate we're talking about; top ranger 11. And Cynthia's champion of Sinnoh, right? They're both super strong and always determined!" Luana optimistically said. "Even if they were in trouble, Keith's with them. He may be as idiotic as you sometimes but should he need to be, Keith can be strong."
Crawford sweatdropped again at that last sentence. Though Luana made another good point. Keith proved himself to be a good ranger and a decent partner for Kate. They were close friends who wouldn't let anything happen to the other. Kate had protection. That gave Crawford some relief.
"You know what? You're right." Crawford smiled.
"See? Luana always does things right!" Luana cheered.
"What about that time you blew up the freezer?" Crawford smirked.
"I SAID I WAS SORRY!" Luana frantically protested. "You're not letting that go are you?!"
Crawford snickered. "Boy was Elaine mad at you! Took her a week to fix it! And she gave you quite the cold shoulder."
Luana groaned at the joke as Crawford laughed even harder. The dark haired girl gave him a playful shove. Crawford stumbled a bit before rubbing her hair, making it frizzy. Together, the two kept laughing and started running back to Vientown base.
The Union was quiet. Too quiet. Rhythmi had been given the rest of the day off since it was a particularly tranquil day. But it felt like the calm before the storm, judging on the evidence seen so far. First all this bad stuff started happening. Now her best friends were sent faraway. They'd keep in touch, sure.
"But they're going to be way too busy to talk much." Rhythmi thought, sprawled across her bed. "Until this whole mess is resolved, I can't hang out with my friends. I feel so lonely..."
Knock! Knock!
Who could that be?
"Door's open!" Rhythmi called.
In came Isaac. That brought a smile to her face. She sat up as the blond genius entered.
"Issac! I thought you were busy with research." Rhythmi said.
"I finished work a little early to see you." Issac responded.
"Really? Just to see me?" Rhythmi was touched at the gesture.
"You seemed depressed. And I was concerned that my best friend was this way." Issac told her. "I wanted to make sure you were alright."
"I'm fine." Rhythmi said.
"Really?"
Issac stared at her, knowing better. Was he good or what? The boy came to sit on the bed next to Rhythmi.
"Might I take a guess that you're sad is because all of our friends are gone?" Issac assumed
"How did you...?" Rhythmi was stunned.
"You've been this way since morning when everyone left. And I admit that I've felt the same." Issac replied. "I must admit that the Union just isn't the same without our crazy friends around. No Kate and her fierce determination."
"No perverted Keith to drive us up the wall." Rhythmi added.
"No Seren, taking dozens of photographs a day."
"Not even Kellyn's around to moan about his 'handsome' looks."
The two blondes chuckled. Memories of their friends came flooding back; all the smiles and good times they shared. Still, hard to believe it would be awhile before any more of that would come. Isaac sensed this.
"Rhythmi, I'm still here. And we'll get through this together." Issac quietly assured. Rythmi sighed, she trusted Isaac, she knew he was right. Even if their friends weren't around so much, that didn't mean she was alone.
Rythmi laid on her bed with a smile on her face. Isaac copied her motions as the two laid in silence for a while. Both were tired, both were worried, both were frightened, Rythmi more than Isaac.
But both had faith, and both knew that whatever was going on, things would work out fine in the end.
A scream came from the centre of Mauville City in the Hoenn Region. Kellyn had fallen off of his Staraptor as they were landing. Seren rolled her eyes; the dunce shouldn't have fallen asleep.
As Seren petted her Staraptor on a job well done and fed it some treats that Wendy had given each of them for the Staraptors after the long journey, she looked around her old home.
It had changed over the years, the Pokemart has moved to the very beginning of the city as you walked off the route, the Poke Centre was now in the middle of the city. The hotel she and Kellyn were staying in was now stationed next to her worst nightmare.
Pokemon Research Incorporated. One building Seren never wanted to see again. It was larger than before, what used to be a small facility was now over twenty stories high. The outside of it was painted colourfully with pokemon posted around it.
The posters were of extinct pokemon, or brief sketches of pokemon that had been brought back to life. The door to the building opened, Seren's breath hitched in her throat as she waited to see who had walked out.
She relaxed when she saw it was just an old man, walking away with his Growlithe. Seren sighed as she watched Kellyn bid farewell to his Staraptor.
"Let's get to the hotel already. It's this way," Seren stated as she walked over to Kellyn, who seemed to be in a better mood, but not quite back to himself.
"Sure thing," he replied as he looked over her shoulder. His eyes narrowed as he balled his fists. A boy with black hair and blue eyes was looking at Seren with a confused look.
"What is it?" Seren asked as she turned around. She saw the boy looking at her. Her body froze, he had been sent home from his journey.
The boy started walking towards Seren, but Kellyn dragged her off towards the hotel. Seren watched as the boy stopped, a smirk played on his lips as he shook his head. Seren knew she was in for it.
She quickly grabbed Kellyn's arm and began dragging him faster towards the hotel, their stuff should have already arrived.
Kellyn watched Seren drag him with a confused expression. He looked over his shoulder to see the boy had disappeared.
As Seren rounded a corner to the hotel, she and Kellyn bumped into someone rather small that looked up at her. Seren's eyes widened as she knelt down to help the boy up.
As he looked up, she noticed the scar on the side of his face, his black eye, bruises around his neck and the tears in his eyes.
"Who did this to you?" Kellyn asked as he knelt down too. But once Seren saw the child's eyes she knew who he was and who had done this to him.
She picked him up into her arms, cradling him like a mother would. The boy was confused to who she was, but cried into her shoulder nonetheless.
Kellyn then lead the two of them inside to the hotel, where he would be sure to ask a few questions.
Seren stood with the boy in her arms in the middle of the lobby, he still sobbed into her shoulder, but Seren didn't mind.
Kellyn walked over with two keys in his hand, each for the same room. He and Seren then got in the lift to the tenth floor. They walked down until they found room 1035.
Kellyn opened the door. The room was full with their luggage. But they could make out fine details. Pictures of different legendry pokemon were hung on the wall, Seren's favourite being the Celebi picture on the far right. A desk cabinet with a mirror was opposite the beds. Opposite from Seren and Kellyn, just as you walked in, was a large glass door that lead to the balcony.
Seren walked over to one of the bed as put the small boy down onto it. She took into account that the boy was around twelve years of age.
Kellyn walked over and sat next to the boy as he patted his shoulder. Seren walked into the bathroom to get the first aid kit.
Fifteen minutes, and a wad of bandages later, the boy was bandaged and had stopped crying. Seren sat next to him as he sniffed and look up at her. Seren sighed; she regretted everything she had done now, seeing the boy like this.
"Seren," the boy whispered. Kellyn was shocked and confused, how did the boy know Seren?
"What is it, Caden?" Seren asked, this confused Kellyn even more.
"Are you staying for good?" the little boy, Caden, asked Serena as he looked up at her. Seren frowned at the twelve year old, she was torn. Seeing him the way he was broke her heart, but going back there, to that place, would kill her, literally kill her.
"Caden I-," Seren stopped, she remembered Kellyn in the room, she didn't want him to hear anything she was going to say. "Let's go onto the balcony," she suggested as Caden nodded his head. Kellyn stood up to follow but Seren shook her head.
"Stay in here please, just start putting everything away, I can handle this," Seren smiled the fake smile she had perfected over the years when she went to school. It was a long time since she had to do it, but she remembered how.
Kellyn frowned, he didn't want to be left out of it, but nodded his head nonetheless.
Seren sighed as she closed the balcony door. She knelt down in front of Caden, who hugged her tightly.
"I'm sorry; I'm only here to fight off whatever darkness has come to this Region, Rangers duty Caden. But I promise, if I get this mission over with quicker than what I hope, I will find a way out for you," Seren explained as she looked at Caden, who shook his head.
"I don't want to go back. I don't want you to leave me again!" he cried as tears fell from his eyes. Seren felt herself tearing up, but she blinked them away.
"Caden, a week, I just want you to go back for a week. If I haven't got any of this sorted by then, then you can come here to the hotel and stay with us," Seren smiled.
"But what if you have to leave the Region?" Caden asked as Seren wiped his tears away.
"Then I will break into that witch's home and I will take you with me. I'm not letting you stay there, but we need to get accustomed to everything in Hoenn before we can do anything. A week is all I'm asking you to put up with Caden. Then I promise we'll be together again. I know what it's like to be put through what you're being put through, that's why I left. But I won't let you suffer anymore. Just stay out of her way as much as possible, okay?" Seren asked as she looked at Caden, who nodded his head.
"Okay," he whispered in reply.
"Promise me one thing Caden," Seren spoke up again. "If you see….." she hesitated for a moment. She took a moment to collect herself.
"Promise me one thing Caden," Seren spoke up again. "If you see….." she hesitated for a moment, "mother," the word came out like acid in Seren's mouth. "Don't let her know I'm back in the Region. She'll know soon enough, but if she knows now then she will never let you out of her sight. Alright?" Seren asked. Caden nodded his head once more as he hugged Seren tightly.
She felt tears welling in her eyes again as she tried her hardest not to let them fall.
Kellyn watched from inside, anger rang through him as he clenched his fists. He wasn't angry at the child, but angry at Seren for keeping him in the dark.
He was getting sick of it. One way or another, he was going to find out exactly who the boy was, and why Seren was being so secretive around him.
"I'm bored!"
The whine sounded just as the Staraptors left. Kate face palmed.
"We've been here not even two minutes!" She groaned.
"Yeah. And I'm bored." Keith muttered.
Kate couldn't believe her partner. They went on a long flight from Almia to Sinnoh, where the rumours on the crazy conditions were true. Nearly flew into a thunder storm! It was like the entire region went psychotic or something. Not to mention the heavy air pressure Kate felt since entering the region. A feeling that only got stronger the closer to Eterna she got.
Looking around, something wasn't right. There was a Starly on one kid's shoulder while another trainer-looking girl had an Aipom. But other than those two, there were no other pokemon around. None flew in the skies, were scattered in the bushes or anywhere. And the two pokemon who were with those people seemed a bit off.
"What Cynthia told us was true after all." Kate said in a low tone.
Keith glanced about. "Huh. I guess so. Speaking of which, where is your sister?"
"She's supposed to meet up with us here somewhere. We could look around for her." Kate suggested.
"Bound to be better than being bored." Keith sighed.
Kate smacked his head before leading the way. Keith rolled his eyes and followed. No other pokemon. The weird feeling in the air. And the weather was getting very windy right about then. Something bad seemed to be on the horizon. Kate knew she and Keith had to do something before worse things happened.
"Hey what's that?" Keith pointed.
There was a hill. The rangers took the stairs up to see a pair of gigantic bronze statues. Both statues were worn considerably from old age and weather from over the years. Though they were still standing in decent condition.
"I know this. The Eterna City statues!" Kate remembered. "I've heard that they were centrepieces in festivals for decades. And they hold stories found on these plates here."
Indeed there were metal plates with faded inscriptions. Impossible to read but Keith took a look anyways.
"This first statue on the left is Dialga, ruler of time." Kate informed. "That other one is Palkia, ruler of space."
"You certainly know your stuff." Keith said.
Kate shrugged. "You're talking to the girl who used to be Summerland's Gift. Studied up on legendary pokemon a lot."
"Hey! In the middle of the two statues, there's a crumbled portion. Seems out of place to be random junk." Keith noticed.
There was an open spot between the pokemon. A slight debris of rock with a statue part of some claw stuck right in there. Though whatever had been there had to have been ripped out of the ground or destroyed long ago. Actually, it would've had to have been gone almost right after that statue was created. And then there were holes in the space between the plates, as if something was bolted but then removed.
"I've heard that there may or may not have been another pokemon besides them but I'm not too sure." Kate mentioned.
"Wait, you don't know?" Keith blinked, confused.
"Hey I only got so far in research. And none of the other legendary pokemon said anything to me before." Kate told him. "So I have no idea what pokemon could be there."
"That would be Giratina, ruler of distortion."
The rangers spun around to see Cynthia walking up to them. Kate smiled and hugged her sister, having not seen her for awhile.
"What's that about Giratina?" Keith asked.
"Giratina is the third part of the creation trio, appearing at the same time as Dialga and Palkia. However, due to its behaviour and an untold disaster, Giratina was punished. It was banished from earth and sent to a place in another dimension, the Distortion World." Cynthia explained. "Legends and stories of this pokemon were erased from existence to prevent people from learning about it. To make sure that disaster would never happen again or be remembered. That included this statue and its plate, here."
Kate looked at the missing space on the statue. Giratina's claw was the last piece of the statue that hadn't gone. It was the only hint to what this pokemon may be like.
"Very few stories survived to present day. Those that did mention another world beyond seeing, a violent pokemon whose name was not to be spoken and ghostly shadows." Cynthia went on.
"Wait! Does that mean Giratina's behind the whole mess?" Keith questioned.
Cynthia shook her head. "I highly doubt it. Giratina's only goal is to protect the Distortion World. And there's no way that Giratina's powers are this strong. Something else is causing all the trouble."
"How do you know so much?" Kate asked, curious.
"I encountered Giratina myself once." Cynthia replied. "But that's a story for another time. We better handle your things and get situated. Meanwhile, I'll catch you up to speed with what's going on."
Rythmi: *looks up from book* Is that it? Are we done?
Yes, we're done now. Sorry the chapter took so long to update, but now Sky's starting to get better we should have the next chapter up soon.
Sky: What's that about another chapter?
It should be up soon.
Sky: Oh yeah, hopefully, so just keep an eye out. Now where did I put my plans *walks off looking for plans*
Seren: KELLYN! I WILL KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T DROP THAT THING NOW!
Kellyn: *running away with picture in his hands*
Rythmi, can you just wrap it up please.
Rythmi: With please. HTF and Sky don't own Pokemon; if they did they'd be rich-
Sky: AND WE WOULDN'T HAVE CHANGED ASH SO MUCH!
Rythmi: And that. But you know what to do now, click the little REVIEW button below and tell us what you think.
Cast: *gets together in a big group* We hope to see you again!
Seren: NOW GIMME THAT PHOTO!
Kellyn: NO!
