Disclaimer: My character claims to own Pokémon!

DM: Make a Bluff check.

Disclaimer: I get… a natural 1.

DM: GEODUDES FALL AND YOU DON'T OWN POKÉMON. Also everyone dies.

(Note: Does this make sense? I've never actually played D & D.)

Chapter 17: Mors Exspectat Mors

Amber

Seeing as Axel had gone off into the woods with a strange detective who thought he might be a psychopathic serial killer I was, as you can imagine, quite worried. Axel is anything but discrete, and if he said something that he didn't realize could be taken the wrong way… ugh. I got a feeling I wouldn't be able to explain it away this time… or be able to afford bail.

What I hadn't thought of worrying about, but I really should have, was being alone with Vanna for the first time. Sitting around a campfire with her, just waiting sort of… waiting for someone to say something… that was awkward. I almost felt like waking up one of our Pokémon, who had since long been smart enough to go to bed.

"They've… been gone a while now, huh?" Vanna asked, trying to spark up conversation after long minutes of silence.

"Yeah… they have," I agreed, not really having anything else to say.

More silence. It was becoming extremely apparent that I'd only ever talked with her around Axel.

"You don't think… there's any truth to it, do you?" Vanna asked.

"Absolutely not," I said automatically. "Axel was the one who prevented Cliffkiln from being destroyed, not the one who sent Deathbreath (the news' name for the Dragonite) to kill everyone."

"Oh," Vanna said simply. "Right. I had heard about some 'brave young trainer' on the news. Figures it was Axel."

Somewhere, a dog barked. Crickets chirped. Vanna positioned herself a little closer to the fire Qwill had started, rubbing her hands together. "Who do you think would have accused Axel of being Death, then?" She asked.

"Percy Garrison, probably," I explained, telling Vanna about the Cliffkiln Pro-Am and Axel's match against him. "He snapped after seeing Deathbreath, and started listing off these ludicrous reasons why Axel had to be the Trainer of Death. They thought he'd gone crazy at first, but he somehow found a psychiatrist to declare him sane." I shrugged. "It's amazing what you can just buy these days."

"I know, right? It's a real shame." The wind blew by, and we held our jackets shut, scooting closer to the warm blaze.

"What kind of reasons did Garrison give?" Vanna asked, staring into the fire.

"Well… he had issue with how nicely Axel treated the Dragonite after Medici… sort of crippled it. But that's just Axel, you know?"

"Right, it's just Axel," Vanna agreed. "He's nice to everyone."

"Right," I assured her… and myself. "And I mean… he also pointed out that a lot of Death's victims had dies of burns or… cuts or… being pummeled and then psychically hung which would match the battle MOS of Axel's party."

"But lots of trainers have a Fire, a Grass, and a Psychic type," Vanna interjected.

"Right, exactly," I agreed. "So that's not really any proof, is it?"

"Plus, since Death is such a skilled trainer, he's probably got tons of Pokémon, so it'd only make sense that some of them would match up."

"Yeah… yeah," I said, pausing for thought. Vanna shifted around uncomfortably, rummaging through her backpack to try and hide it.

"Were those the only reasons?" she finally asked.

"Well… there was one other one," I said softly.

"What was that?"

"Garrison… he claims to have seen Axel's eyes… glow blue."

We were both silent. The fire's crackling seemed somehow ominous now. I don't know why. "Which is physically impossible, of course," I added.

"Right, of course," Vanna agreed. "But then again… it should be physically impossible for anyone's eyes to glow like that, right?"

It was my turn to shift around uncomfortably. "Well… yeah, I guess." We both let out a sigh. More silence. We were both coming to the same conclusion; it was only a matter of time before someone spoke up.

I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up suddenly, shocking Vanna mildly. "It's not Axel," I stated loudly. "It just isn't!"

"I never said it was!" Vanna defended quickly. "But you've got to admit, it is a little suspicious, spending two years in the next town over and never once checking home."

"He didn't think of it because he's Axel," I stated.

"I know!" Vanna said, standing up to face me down. "I know that! I just wish there was a better reason than that, that's all!"

"You… I…" I wanted to yell at her. I wanted to scream and tell her why she was horrible for not trusting Axel. But I couldn't. I slumped down onto a nearby log, cradling my heads in my hands. "Me too," I whispered, fighting back sobs.

I heard a throat clear. "I'm… uh, not interrupting anything, am I?"

It was the tall detective again. He'd finally come back from… wait, where was Axel?

"What'd you do with him?" I asked accusingly.

"You mean he hasn't come back yet?" the detective asked.

I gulped, instantly fearing the worst. Nervously, I asked: "what do you mean 'he hasn't come back yet', detective?"

"Well, I finished up with the interview quite some time ago, let him on his way," the detective explained. "Thought he would have gotten back here by now."

"Well we haven't seen him," Vanna offered. "How far away was it? Is there any way he got lost or…"

"No," the detective grunted. "We could see the fire from where we were talking… he should have gotten back here fifteen minutes ago." He thought a moment, and then drew his gun out, immediately causing both Vanna and I to jump. "Easy," he said, waving us down. "I'm going out to search for him, that's all. I found a body out there that had just recently been crushed, so Death is here. Whether or not it's Axel doesn't matter, but if he hasn't just gotten lost, he's either Death, dead, or about to die, and I'm not letting any of those things escape my notice."

He turned to the woods, taking his leave, but Vanna stopped him. "Wait Mr. Brave Detective Man, it's dangerous to go alone!" She rummaged through her tent, quickly pulling out her backpack. "We'll go with you, ok?"

"Out of the question, ma'am, I can't put any civilians in danger," Officer Jenny said dutifully.

"We're going to go out and look for him anyway," I affirmed, grabbing my backpack as well. "So there's no point in saying no."

The Detective grunted, kicking at the dirt, but eventually caved in. "Fine. But stick close, I'm not having any more deaths tonight, understood?"

"Yes sir!" Vanna bounced, calling out Gallade and Gardevoir to help keep track of things. I thought for a moment, and then unzipped Axel's tent, smacking the Pokémon inside of it.

"Medici!"I yelled, "Wake up! Axel's missing and Death's nearby!"

"That is not how you wake someone," Medici shouted, almost taking the tent with him as he blasted off of the ground, raring to go.

"The hell?" Detective Jenny uttered, but recovered quickly. "Another one that talks? Are you serious?"

"Riiiight, because English is such a hard language to master," Medici said, stretching. "Ok, I say we split up, yeah? We can cover more ground that way."

"Out of the question," the detective said. "I'm not letting any trainers wander the forest by themselves while Death is lurking out there."

"Then send some Pokémon out in a separate party. Gallant should stay with you, just in case, but Shelligan, Inigo, Gardevoir? We can search one side while you guys take the other. That's fair, right?"

The detective nodded. "Fine. If there's one decent thing we can trust Death to do, it's not killing a Pokémon." He pointed at Medici. "Just make sure none of you get any… ideas out there, all right?"

"As if I'd switch over to the Dark side," Medici assured us. "Now let's get going, all right? I don't even want to think of having to get another trainer."

Gallant

I do realize that the Meditite's suggestion of having me, out of all of us, protect Ladies Vanna and Amber was an attempt to curry my favor. Almost worked too, had I not been exposed to such subtle manipulations via his trainer Axel beforehand. (You may ask what I mean by this, but it should be fairly obvious. There's only one person alive able to truly sway Vanna using no deceit whatsoever, and last time I checked it wasn't Axel.) Either way, it was a duty I intended to carry out to the fullest of my capabilities; yes, I might be a little scared that Death would come for us and I'd be powerless to stop him, but I couldn't let that get to me.

Keeping a constant psychic edge on my outstretched elbow-blades, I circled around our party as we searched through the woods for Axel. Everyone else was also clearly on edge, as Detective Jenny would occasionally shoot at trees that swayed in the wind (picking up at an alarming rate, I might add), and Vanna would often duck behind the detective, arms squeezing around his waist like her life depended on it. It might have. Amber kept Toto close, flinching occasionally but remaining otherwise resolute. Strong willed, that one.

A loud crash sent us all jumping, and led the detective to empty a full chamber's worth of ammunition into the darkness. We inched slowly towards the source of the noise, finding nothing but a downed tree, cleanly cut by a blade.

Then I heard the chuckle. That blasphemous chuckle that sent my brain reeling, accompanied by a blast of Psychic suggestion that nearly knocked me off my feet.

You seem strong, the voice rang in my head. Care to join me?

"No one's joining anyone, you sick bastard!" The detective yelled. Apparently, Death wasn't trying at all to be discrete. "Why don't you come out and show yourself, you coward?"

Oh, but detective, you know I will, in good time, Death's voice whispered, filling my ears with a Supersonic ringing that I'd never experienced before. Quite soon, actually, so you might want to get going. I've got a special surprise for you today, aren't you glad I rang your department to let them know I'd be here?

The anonymous tip the detective had spoken of… had been from Death himself? I gulped, and heard Detective Jenny do the same. This had been a trap, and we'd walked right into it.

I heard Death laugh, soft yet course, maddeningly like a father observing his children. Another surge of suggestion pounded through my brain, and I fought back with all my strength, pounding the earth beneath me to cleanse my body of the instincts coursing through it. A blue light began to build in the back of my mind's eye, and I slammed my head against the nearest tree, not caring what damage I brought upon myself, as long as I didn't give in. The light faded.

Someday, Deathslice. Someday. Death assured himself... and me. Until then, I just thought you all should know: I'll be watching you.

So do be careful, won't you?

I felt Death's presence leave the area, and I collapsed, gasping for breath. Vanna ran to my side, returning me to my Pokéball for rest despite my weak objections. I secretly felt relieved to be inside, though, because this space was safe. Nothing Death could do could break into the secret garden that was a Pokémon's ball… right?

To think I used to look down on Pokémon weak-willed enough to be corrupted by Death. Now… now I understand completely.

Qwill

What's going on? What's going on what's going on what's going on?

After Axel was done talking with the big muscular dark-skinned man he didn't go back to the campsite and he started running into the forest! And he climbed up into the trees and started looking around and moving between branches which is really hard to do and I've got no idea how Axel managed to do it and not knock me off but he did and seriously, why aren't we going back to see Amber?

I don't remember a lot because it was all a blur because Axel was moving really fast but I remember seeing some dead female trainer and I heard Axel cursing and muttering something about 'finding it before he could' and lots of running through the trees and then we almost ran into to Amber and Vanna but he decided not to go up to them and then I don't even know what's going on! Someone please tell me what that huge thing in the sky is because it's scaring me and I think it's following Axel and I've got no idea what to do about it!

Inigo

I do not know why I chopped down the tree, but I did. Well, all right, I cannot tell a lie. I do know why I chopped down the tree, but I am not proud of it. I would have like to have thought that I had grown resistant to the suggestions of Death, all things considered, but my body reacted faster than my mind could push him out. I am just glad no one was hurt.

The crash, in addition to drawing the attention of Detective Jenny and company (which I was quick to avoid, and make my way back to Medici's group), caused something to stir in the forest. Upon reuniting with Medici, Shelligan, and Gardevoir, I found the performer curled up in its shell, being carried by Medici. Gardevoir, all past occurrences forgotten, was almost touching the Meditite, as close as she was following him. We heard a loud caw, and bright blue flares the size of car headlights suddenly lit up our area, the windstorm now escalating into a virtual Twister as an enormous shape (a Dragon? A god?) rose into the air, bathing us all in a sickly azure.

Then, we heard a great burst of wind, and the shape took off, roaring through the air like a jet plane, leaving behind gale force gusts in its wake. Medici, sensing its purpose, yelled "after it! Hurry!" And we took off through the forest. I darted out ahead, cutting down low-hanging branches that blocked our way while Medici bounded from trunk to trunk. As trees fell around us, we blasted whichever ones threatened us before they could touch the ground, showering the ground of Oakridge with wooden shrapnel as we tore after the gargantuan beast. Finally, after what could have been either minutes or hours of running, we erupted into a clearing. The beast has since landed in the forest on the other side, and we began to continue our chase, but Amber, Vanna, and the detective burst out into the clearing from that very section of forest. Confused, we looked at each other, not quite understanding how what had happened had happened.

Our thoughts were interrupted, however, by an all-too-familiar sickening laugh coming from above. Looking up, I immediately unsheathed my Leaf Blades to their maximum length, staring with unbridled hatred at the cloaked man perched on top of a dead fir tree, at least seventy feet in the air.

Looks like the gang's all here, she whispered, bright blue eyes shining from under his mask.

Author's Note:

Whenever I write a sequence like this, where it has to balance action with suspense with plot development, I always get the feeling it's not overwhelming enough.

Maybe that's a good thing, but I don't know. The purpose of something like this is to be disorienting and exciting, but I always feel like my writing's a little too straightforward.

Then again, it might only seem straightforward to me because I know what happens next. What do you think? I do, while it might not seem like it sometimes, care.

Viva la feminism?