Author's note: THANK YOU SANGO-CHAN FOR RAKUEN BECAUSE IT INSPIRED ME FOR SOME STRANGE REASON BUT THANK YOU MORE VINNY! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!
Thanks to your three new chapters that I hadn't read, I WAS INSPIRED.
But, there is one last person I must thank. Who? Who could it be?
HAZY AURA OF COURSE!
I love your new story. Can't wait for it to get off the ground. And it inspired me too.
I LOVE ALL OF YOU.
Um...((burns tomato red))
In a sibling way.
Yeah...Thanks to all my reviewers, responses at the end. GOD I LOVE YOU ALL...LIKE SIBLINGS.
Ok, I'll shut up now.
Wait. One more thing: There is a mention to 'Otherworld' in this. Call it whatever you want. It's where you go when you die (if you believe in stuff like that). Something akin to heaven, I'd say. But not quite like it. Not my version, anyway.
As soon as the door opened, Kip felt himself change. It was as though he left his body behind. He was frightened for a moment, wondering at this sudden loss of essence and weight that usually restricted him. Looking around, he found he was floating next to the old man...Or not. He was no longer old, but much, much younger. He looked around Kip's age, with short powder-white hair, bright blue-white, snowy eyes, and a kind, smiling expression. He was still wearing the white robe-thing, and was floating beside him like a ghost. Kip, suddenly struck by horror, looked down at his own body and gasped.
He was completely white. His jeans looked like clean linen, not denim or jeans of any sort. His shirt was linen-like also and longer so that the sleeves ended at his wrists. His hair had gone white also, as well as his skin. The only thing that hadn't changed colour were his bright, currently frightened green eyes.
He was no longer human. He was pure spirit.
"What...Just...Happened...!" He said in a soft, shaky voice. The boy next to him smiled.
"You are something like a cross between a spirit and a memory. Your consciousness has been preserved, but your body and soul have been altered."
"Body and...What! You mean I'm dead?"
The boy laughed. "No, you are simply existing in this dimension. You're still the same person, though your soul has been purified in order enter this realm."
"Wait...This is like the bridge to the Afterlife?" Kip said, the panic in his voice turning to curiosity now that he knew he wasn't dead.
"Otherworld, actually. It's where souls go when their shell loses its life."
"You mean where ghosts go when their body dies?"
"You could say that."
"But I'm not dead."
"You're not in Otherworld. You're on the Bridge, also called a gateway. You can't pass through since your body still retains a pulse, and neither can most of your friends, so you have nothing to-"
But Kip had not missed the slight reference and cut him off sharply. "Most of my friends? You mean one of them CAN die and go to Otherworld any second now? Don't tell me it's..."
The boy turned grave. "I'm very sorry, but your friend Gaby is rather close to death. Her body is badly injured and her soul is being tormented."
"Tormented?"
"Yes. And a soul that has been tormented and warped into near non-existence cannot enter Otherworld under any circumstances."
"But...Where will she go?"
"She will become a lost soul. You've heard of ghosts, correct?"
"Yeah...Gaby won't become a ghost, will she?"
"No, much worse then that." The boy turned so that his back faced Kip. He raised his head and stared into the empty space. "Ghosts and evil spirits are the remnants of poor souls who have either done such horrible deeds that they are not allowed into Otherworld, or they are lost in darkness. Your friend's soul is being tormented beyond belief of even myself."
"And who are you exactly?" Kip asked tentatively. He had been dying to ask this question, but had thought it sounded rather rude. Now, he didn't think formality was a real concern in this place.
At this question, the boy turned around. "I am simply a guide here, a guide who was chosen to be your guardian for your time here and help you in any way possible. However, I generally run this place."
"So...You're like a God?" Kip asked, feeling intimidated by the boy, even though he looked no older then himself.
"Not at all, Kip," He said. "I simply have been here for the longest and know much about it, but no one shall rule over Otherworld."
Kip was silent for a while at this news, but his mind suddenly snapped back to Gaby. "Is there any way we can help her?"
"We, no," He said, turning fully around and facing Kip. Kip simply stared back into the snowy blue eyes. "But you can."
Lily had now remembered most of the city. It had been several years since she had been in this city, but she had spent most of her life here. The memories of where things were had come back, and now she was wandering the streets, desperately trying to figure out how she had gotten here.
"Let's see...The last thing I remember was Kip glowing. That's not much help..." She said aloud. Not having others see or hear you did come in useful. At least they, meaning the people bustling about her, didn't think her insane. "Come on, think! Think Lily, you're stuck in your old home where no-one can see or hear you and you have no idea how you got here!" Her stomach rumbled in protest. She stopped and looked down at her growling stomach, people walking through her. She sighed heavily and agitatedly. "I can't think on an empty stomach..."
Her new mission was to find food. After attempting to talk to a hot dog vendor and getting nowhere (most likely because he couldn't hear or see her), she figured that the only way to get food was to take it.
Besides, she thought as she entered a pizza place (A/N Gee, I haven't done these for a long time, but I must. Does this look familiar, Vinny? ) It's not like these people ever gave me a break before. Who's to stop me for taking some of their food? They owe it to me.
However, this plan did not go over well. For one thing, she couldn't pick up the pizza at all. Her hand went through it.
Cursing loudly (though no-one could hear), she left the pizza place, hungrier then ever. However, thoughts of how nice a rice ball would taste right now were driven from her mind when she heard the shouts of people. Following the noise, she was led into a long, narrow alleyway. Near the end of the alley, a cloaked figure was running franticly, tripping over its own feet and running very strangely. Behind, a group of several boys and girls ranging in age from 9 to almost adult were following, brandishing sticks and other threatening items.
The figure in front was running extremely fast, knocking over garbage cans and boxes in its haste. Lily, even with her enhanced sight, could not make out who or what it was. In a blink of an eye, the figure had passed right through her, followed shortly by the group of people pursuing the strange figure.
Lily wasted no time. Despite her lack of energy, she opened her Dragon-like wings and shot forward after the figure. She knew she couldn't do anything in this world...But the figure was very strange...It intrigued her. Already she had thoughts, but dared not think them.
Silently flying behind the people (though she didn't need to as her movements attracted no attention whatsoever from the crowd. Even if they could have seen her, they might have been more distracted with the enormous crowed pushing their way past them to get the small figure), Lily watched as the figure pushed past the crowd, the angry and jeering shouts of the mob behind her growing louder as people started to join the group.
The small figure turned into another alleyway, but this one was a dead end. The roofs of the surrounding houses closed in on the top, letting no light in and forcing Lily to use the claws on her hands (inherited from her Charazardien blood) to latch onto the side of a building and watch from there.
The mob had filled the alleyway and outside, cutting off any escape route. 3 people led the group of angry citizens, and Lily herself felt that this was exactly what she thought it was and would have given anything to be able to affect this dimension. Because if she could, she would have killed these three on the spot.
"So, you filth," Said the first one, a tall man with short, dark brown hair and cold grey eyes. "You going to fess up? Or are we gonna have to beat it out of you ag-"
"I DIDN'T KILL THOSE PEOPLE!" The cloaked figure screamed. It was a girl's voice, sounding about 10 years old. The crowd laughed and jeered at this statement, making the girl hiding beneath the cloak either shudder with fear or rage.
"Sure, and I'm a Pidgey," Said a girl, about 16 years old.
"You've got the intelligence of one if you think I'm murder, you idiotic bitch," Said the girl. Lily was sure now that the shudders had been rage, not fear, and she knew who exactly was under that cloak.
The girl who had just been insulted looked outraged. "You take that back, you little halfbr-"
"Why? So you can go around and say you trashed down the little HALF-BREED?" The shrouded girl put particular emphasis on the last word. A pause, and Lily could swear she was smiling under the veil. "My mistake. You look and act like a Snorlax to me." Before the girl could do anything but burn red with anger, she continued, "But that's an insult to Snorlax. You remind me more of a repulsive, surprisingly stupid MUK. You're face and IQ resembles one, you see."
By now the girl was near purple with anger. Without her sight Lily would be lost in all this but with it she could see what was happening.
"So what are you guys really afraid of? Surely not me, a lowly 10-year old kid?" The child under the cloak continued. "Or are you afraid of my power?"
Unfortunately, this did not get the response she was looking for. Instead they moved in with their weapons raised and started yelling again.
"NO! WE'RE GONNA GET YOU OUT OF OUR CITY ONCE AND FOR ALL, YOU FREAK!"
The girl who had been compared to a Muk ran forward and ripped the cloak off the figure underneath, kicking her in the process. She skidded across the hard ground, her clothes tearing. And Lily, who could see her in almost perfect clarity, nearly fell from her perch from shock.
It was...Her. This 10-year old version of Lily was wearing a very long, blue t-shirt that hung past her knees and very tattered old jeans. The signs that she was a Pokémorph, however, were slightly less. She had the same clawed, orange, reptilian-like feet and the same long snake like tail with an abnormally large fire burning on it, but no wings. Obviously this was a pre-form of her current Charizard form, and this younger lily was still in a Charmander form.
The mob had rushed forward as one, holding their sticks and weapons high and bringing them down. Older Lily, who had long since dropped down from her perch, was standing beside the mob, watching hopelessly as her memory played back in living colour.
The small form was struggling to rise, but failed each time when another person brought a tree branch down on her back, forcing her down. Some were slashing her with knives. Others were simply kicking her or, as mentioned before, hitting her with sticks or metal bars as hard as they could. It looked as though the small Lily would not rise.
A crashing sound was heard from the back of the mob. People were in mayhem now, running and screaming. Lily had risen and was flaming anyone who came near her. Finally, from the back of the crowd, her saviours had appeared, fighting and forcing the rebelling crowd back: A Natu, a Bagon, a Tailow, and a Murkrow were being led by a very pissed off Charmeleon, who did not look happy in the slightest. He was bashing through them ruthlessly, the rest of what undoubtedly was Lily's younger team (minus Rocker the Aerodactyl, most likely a member she did not get until later) following behind him, pissed but not quite so destructive. Little Red had already sent half the crowd into a panic.
"R-Red...PsyFly, Blackbeak, BraveWing, Arrow..." Lily said the names of her only friends weakly as the crowd dispersed and retreated, Muk-Lady shouting right before she disappeared, "We won't forget this, freak!"
Her Pokémon...Her family crowded around her, but the rest gave Red and Lily some space.
"Char?" Red asked. Lily looked up and nodded. "Char, Charmeleon."
"Your right. We have to leave...They'll come back...They always do..." Lily said. She smiled faintly and whispered, "But...at least I have you guys..." With that, she fainted.
Older Lily, who had been standing by, was now half-crying. She had been through this once, but why again? After this incident, she had been forced to leave. Every city and town she had lived in had treated her this way or not let her in at all. Therefore she had gone up to volcanoes and live, training for her life. That's all she ever did: Eat, Sleep, Fly and Train.
But Lily's vision was getting blurry. At first she thought it was the tears, but after wiping her eyes several times, she found that the scene around her was dissolving. Panicking, she looked around, trying to move, but she wasn't going anywhere. In the midst of confusion and fright, she fainted in the black swirling mist that consumed her.
"Man...So, this Lugia-Girl named Gaby got attacked by some wacko organization and got really badly hurt. Your other friends, Human Kip, Charizard-Girl Lily, and Human Seth who's the son of this Sakio-guy who sent this Latios-guy named 005 to get you guys fought against hundreds of the minion-people while you attacked 5. But Gaby was weakened by something 5 did to her and two OTHER Lugias right before they attacked, so she was nearly killed. Meanwhile, all the Pokémon are fighting it out with their trainers, Gaby's being beaten to a pulp, Lily's fending off about a hundred minions, Seth and Kip are trying to save Gaby, and you're keeping 5 busy. So when 5 and the minions disappear back to their hideout, you're unconscious and Seth takes care of everyone. I...I mean, You wake up and take over since I...WE are medical experts, but Gaby's gonna die. Then Kip and Lily come back from getting the Pokémon healed and Kip's acting all weird. You don't have a clue what's going on until Kip tries to get Gaby to get out of her coma and starts glowing. You black out, and you end up here. Is that about it, or did I miss something?"
The past 4 hours had been devoted to older Kieran explaining everything that had happened since he met up with the gang up until now. With assistance from Kokuei, they had explained everything they could remember to their younger counterparts.
"Yeah, that's about it," Kieran said, sighing and slumping against a tree trunk.
"And you have no idea how you got here?"
"Well..."
"Well?"
"If Kip got his telekinetic powers..."
"Kip is Psychic?"
"Sort of. He's telepathic with Gaby, anyway. But if they were amplified, maybe..."
"You're saying you were transported here because Kip went into emotional overboard and now you're stuck?"
"You like repeating things, don't you?"
"It helps me think better."
"Well, that goes for the both of us!"
They paused. A few seconds later and little Kieran spoke.
"So...What do you do now?"
"You mean you don't think I'm insane for believing this?"
"I KNOW you're insane," Little Kieran said haughtily. "You're the older version of ME, aren't you?"
Kokuei and Prowler were slightly apart from their half-human brothers and were conversing together. They had gotten to know or re-know each other, and were now discussing their future (at least for Prowler) affairs.
((for the benefit of my readers and because I don't know whether Mightyena say their name when they speak, I have taken the liberty of translating it for you))
"So is what they just said all true?" Prowler asked.
"Yup," Kokuei answered.
"So how're these friends of you're Pokémon?"
"Well...Kip's got Seaflyer...She's a Lugia, and-"
"No way! I didn't event think they existed!"
"Yup. And Gaby's got Silversong, Seaflyer's older brother!"
"Unreal...So? Anyone else?"
"Kip's also got Darkfaller, who's a Houndoom..."
"Awesome? He any good?"
"Not bad at all. And Lily's got a Blackbeak the Murkrow and a kick-ass Charizard named Red."
"Wicked!"
"Seth's got a damn good Manectric called Sparks as well, AND an Aggron named Ironfight AND Flyer the Flygon!"
"That's wicked. So this Seth-guy's the best in the group?"
"Nah, I'd say the order goes Gaby, Kieran or Lily, Seth and Kip."
"What! You mean Gaby's the best? Who else does she have!"
"Trouble the Pidgeot, Dragonsong the Dragonite, Sapphire the Charizard...She's blue and silver...Affection the Meganium, Slicksilver the Skarmory and Silversong the Lugia."
"So it's Silversong?"
"Nope. She rarely uses him. I'd say Slick's second-best."
"Slick? Oh, Slicksilver. I've never heard of a Pokémon having two names before."
"It is a bit strange, isn't it? A nickname inside a nickname..."
Their conversation carried on like this for some time, well past sunset. They had talked themselves out and had settled down to sleep by about 1 in the morning. But...
It had been two weeks since Seth had broken out of his fever. He had been trying to dismiss his wandering thoughts to Gaby, Kieran, and the rest of the people he had told himself were just figments of his imagination, but his mind kept wandering back to them. Especially Lily. How could one feel so strongly for someone who didn't exist?
He brushed these thoughts away as he continued to work out the calculus questions his father had set for him. Fever delusions, that's all. Just a long, crazy dream.
"Seth! Lunch time!" Seth's father's voice rang from the hall outside his bedroom.
"Coming!" He said, dropping his pencil and pushing his chair out. However, when he was walking down the long hallway to get to his parent's room, he thought he heard something heavy fall and hit the floor. He stopped, ears pricked for any sound of movement, anything to give a clue to what the sound was or where it had come from. After a few seconds with no sound, he dismissed it as one of the young scientists simply dropping something.
He entered his parents' room and was greeted by James and Guinevere Sakio sitting at the table, conversing cheerfully about DNA patterns and molecular levels and other things you would hear from two of the world's brightest scientist.
"Seth!" James said, turning to face his son. Seth waved and sat down at the open chair, where he began eating the Pokébet Soup (like alphabet soup but with little Pokémon shapes in it) in front of him.
"Any new discoveries?" Guinevere Sakio asked, ladling some of the soup into her own bowl.
"Well, I'm working on a new kind of Pokéball," Seth said after swallowing his mouthful.
"Really? What kind?" James Sakio asked.
"Sky ball. There's net balls and lure balls and all that, but nothing for flying-types."
"So? Made any headway?"
"Kinda...It's better then a Pokéball, anyway. But it's still only as good as a great ball for everything, it just looks cooler."
"Well, keep it up."
"What about you dad?" Seth asked as he ladled more soup into his bowl.
"Well, we're actually going to let the fused Pokémon and Human DNA cells continue to live," James said excitedly. Seth looked very surprised.
"But they never survive!" Seth said.
"Well, we've got some new data..." Guinevere said. "And we think this one will survive."
"I hate it when they fail..." Seth said quietly. "It's not right, kidnapping people. It's not so bad if they live, but when they die for a cause they don't even know..."
"Well, that'll stop soon," James said. Seth dropped his quiet air and, having failed not ask the exciting question, succumbed to his curiosity.
"So? What DNA are you using?"
His two parents exchanged looks, grinned, and turned to their son.
"We've got a human female about 8 years old," Said Guinevere.
"And the DNA of a Lugia!" James finished.
"What!" Seth said, dumbfounded. Lugia? "But they don't exist...Do they?"
"Apparently! We found the DNA in an ancient temple and are now using it to create a Pokémorph! And the readings say she's fine!"
The continued to chat about this subject for a while before Seth was told to return to his calculus. Seth, excited that maybe, just maybe this one wouldn't die, returned to his room to attack his calculus questions. However, he never finished his questions, for, lying unconscious on the floor in the middle of his room, was a young girl, around his age, with long orange hair, turquoise bangs, a sky-blue shirt, jeans, orange lizard-like feet, and a long, snake-like tail with a flame burning on the end of it.
Preview:
Lily: Wha...Where am I? Who...GYAH! IT'S SETH!
Kieran: What's that foreboding evil black cloud that's...Uh...Oh...
Lily: But why is Seth...Why am I a little kid!
Seth: I...I didn't dream it up...What's going on!
Lily, Seth & Kieran: Next time on Rogue Genetics: Nightmare, Part III!
Oh I am so evil...YAY!
Ok, I think it's gonna end up being a 4-parter instead...Oh well! Rejoice, because I have been able to WRITE!
OK, here's some review responses for my oh-so-loving fans:
happyham: Oh, but why would you keep reading the story if I didn't keep you hanging? I've lost many reviewers to non-cliffyness! And you are awesome, for you have been reviewing RG for a while now and you deserve a COOKIE!
linkmaster27: You think you could put a little more effort into your reviews...
Demon-Slayer13: Well, I STILL don't know what confused you, but oh well. And SEE? I'M UPDATING SOON. THIS IS SOON. And my &# spell checker wanted to be nice and skip over some stuff.
2005-03-08
ch 36, anonymous: You don't have any other identification other then ' ', so... Anyway, this Nightmare thing...Well, it's not so much Nightmare more then it is that Kip created a rip in dimensions, transferred their minds into Gaby's (The reason all this stuff is happening is because Gaby's mind, as stated by our mysterious white-robed person, is in rapture and affecting stuff around it. Therefore, if your minds are in there, then you're getting affected (the reason Kieran can actually interact is because he's a dark type. Even though what Gaby's doing isn't exactly Psychic, it's effecting him less because his mind is a dark-type's and her mind is a Psychic's). Anyway, Kip got lost in the transfer and got 'stuck on the bridge' (the dimension he used to transfer everybody).
Hope that helps.
B Boi: Thank you. And I prefer literacy in my reviews, PLEASE! It annoys the hell out of me. Yes there is hell inside of me. What of it?
OK! That's about it. C Ya next time!
Gaby & co.
PS: Yes, Gaby is now reading all Poké-fics and helping me writing them. Gaby exists in my mind with 72 other people, which some of you know already. Yes I am insane. Yes I am a genius...Wait, why are all the smart people evil mad scientists? Oh well!
MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!
PPS: PLEASE, PLEASE ask questions. I beg of ye, ASK THEM! It helps me WRITE!