Pokemon Virus Version Chapter 34: 3(03) The Sequel Part I
So not much to say here. I know these last few chapters have been slow pace, but I believe next chapter will be the last before we start to shift our attention back to Seth, since he hasn't had a chapter dedicated to him in quite some time, so please enjoy and write a review.
Yumi's POV
Immediately upon arriving at the mansion's front door, Pheobe, Slowking, and I heard the impact of glass breaking as a flying object flew out the window, right past us. Pheobe gasped as the three of us looked over and identified the flying object to be the Salamence we encountered earlier, carrying 03 and a man I wasn't familiar with.
"03!" Pheobe yelled as she extended her arm in 03's direction.
"Hm?" 03 questioned as she turned toward us. "You're the girl who was chasing after us earlier."
03 jumped off Salamence and landed right in front of Pheobe, as tensions quickly started to rise.
"A familiar girl, you are," 03's eyes narrowed, "State your purpose, now!"
"I want my father back." Pheobe replied.
"Your father?" 03 repeated in a confused tone. "Who ARE you?"
"You mean you don't remember me?" Pheobe was becoming Very annoyed. She then sighed in order to give 03 an explanation. "One year ago, you had a confrontation with my family and I (Chapter 14). I threw myself at you in a failed attempt to get you to leave. You took my father for him to pay off our debt to Neo Snagem by doing extended hours of research for you guys. Since that day, I vowed that I would get him back..."
03's eyes shot wide open. "You're Pheobe, the girl from Kalos."
"I'll ask one more time: Where's my father?"
Slowking and I stared at Pheobe. Her passive aggresision was about to become real aggression as she stared at the silver haired woman that burdens her very much.
"Hmph," 03 said as her eyes narrowed once more. "Did you honestly think your search would end once you found me? Pitiful."
"Where is he?!" An angry Pheobe yelled as she grabbed 03 by the jacket.
Without warning, 03 simply struck Pheobe with a backhand that sent her to the ground.
"Pheobe!" I yelled as Slowking and I went to comfort a downed Pheobe.
"I have no reason to explain anything to you," 03 jumped, returning to the back of her Salamence. "But I'll give you a start: Rather than just finding me, you'll have to catch me, and force the answers out of me."
Slowking and I slowly helped Pheobe to her feet. Her face was red, and she didn't look like she knew where she was. Salamence took flight once more, and 03 had one last thing to say before she departed.
"But until THAT day comes Pheobe, I'll be knocking you on the ground like always." I sinister smirk appeared on 03's face as she bid farewell.
Salamence was gone, and the moonlit night was silent.
"Pheobe?" Slowking asked worried.
"Pheobe..." I repeated.
Pheobe's eyes were fixed on the ground. "I can become stronger... I must become stronger..."
Slowking and I heard a faint sniffling, and initially thought it was the sorrow coming from a hurt Pheobe.
"Uh, are you crying?" I asked as I put a hand on Pheobe's shoulder.
"I know you may be upset, but tears are unnecessary, miss," Slowking said.
"What?" Pheobe said confused as she fixed her gaze on the two of us, revealing a dry but red face. "I'm not crying."
The three of us remained silent for a few seconds, only to still be hearing a faint crying.
"It's coming from inside the mansion," Slowking said as he pointed toward the broken window. "We may enter through the broken window.
"Um, wouldn't that be trespassing?" I asked.
"For all we know, 03 could have critically injured whoever is crying in there," Slowking said as he approached the window. "We must aid that person at once."
Without further conversing or hesitation, Slowking entered the mansion. I began to follow, but looked back at Pheobe, who was staring into the full moon, probably thinking about what 03 said and did to her. Pheobe looked at me and smiled without word as she soon followed me.
We'll find her, eventually...
Upon entering the mansion, I observed the dim lit foyer, and a girl sobbing while laying up against the wall, accompanied by a Teddiursa. Slowking was right next to her, but she ignored the royal pokemon as she drowned deeper into her sorrows. Pheobe remained by the broken window, while I began walking toward the blond haired girl.
The house got dimmer as I moved away from the moonlight and deeper into the foyer. The mansion was silent, and only the echoes of my footsteps could be heard, aside from the crying girl. I stopped right next to Slowking and faced him.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked.
Before Slowking had a chance to respond, the girl's voice could be heard replying to my question.
"Gone again... Papa's gone again... To help bad people." The girl said as she looked at us with tear-filled eyes.
"Did your 'Papa' happen to be the man on board the Salamence?" Pheobe asked as she approached us.
The girl looked at Pheobe, and nodded yes.
"...03," Slowking said. "But why would she take your father?"
The girl was indifferent to Slowking's question. Heck, she's even indifferent to the fact that Slowking could talk.
"Look," I said, "Please tell us."
Pheobe walked up to the girl, oblivious to the Teddiursa, and put her hands on the girl's shoulders.
"We have something in common, don't we?" Pheobe said as the girl looked up to her. "You want your father back, and I want my father back, but I can't help the both of us if you don't tell me any details first."
"Molly...Molly Hale." The girl said as her sobbing started to subside. "It's my name. My papa, the man on the Salamence, is Spencer Hale. He's a researcher who once came in contact with the spell of the Unown five years ago."
"Spell of the Unown?" I was confused.
"The woman you call 03 wanted to know how and where to awaken the spell of the Unown once again." Molly said.
"And just where might the spell of the Unown be?" Slowking asked.
"The Unown Ruins, near Violet City." Molly replied.
"No way," I said surprised. "Back THERE? It would take too long to travel back there on foot."
"Well, there is one way we can get there faster." We all paid extra close attention to Molly. " We use the spell of the Unown."
"Here? In the mansion?" Slowking asked.
"Yes." Molly replied. "We can use the spell of the Unown to travel through the Unown's dimension, to get to the Unown Ruins."
"But how do we get there?" Pheobe asked.
Molly recalled Teddiursa as she rose to her feet and started walking down the hallway. "Follow me."
Molly lead us further down the hallway, into a spacious room which lied a single looking round table and a wierd looking brown box on top.
"What's that?" I asked curious.
Without a reply, Molly opened the brown box, revealing on the inside to be a bunch of stone tiles with different letters of Unown carved on each one.
"Please, I need your help," Molly said as she grasped her hands.
Moments passed without any sort of action made, I grew impatient and was about to question Molly, that was until a few of the stone tiles started floating.
"Um, what's happening?" I asked.
Five stone tile aligned themselves in front of Molly.
"U,N,O,W,N," Pheobe read what the lettered tiles were spelling out.
"The Unown..." Slowking said.
"Please, if you don't help us, not only will Papa be gone, but the Unown Ruins, as well as your own dimension, will be in danger," Molly explained to the stone tiles.
"Pleading to inanimate objects?" I said confused.
I knew the tiles were floating, that was weird enough. But begging them to help us was just 'out there'.
It was as if everyone ignored me though, because nobody responded.
After moments of floating, the stone tiles started glowing. I believe it was an answer to Molly's prayers. but what kind of answer? The light coming from the tiles started to grow and spread. Molly remained in a prayer-like state, and Slowking remained calm and reserved as always. Pheobe and I were about to panic because we didn't know what this light was.
Soon, all four of us were engulfed in the light that was so bright, we had to shield our eyes.
When it appeared as though the blinding light faded, I opened my eyes, and was astounded. We were no longer in the mansion...
Location: Dimension of the Unown
We were on an isolated beach, with no life whatsoever present, with the exception of an array of Unown drifting through a sky that looked like time and space itself. But this wasn't a sky... there was no sky... there was just a spiral galaxy wandering aimlessly through deep space. And the sea... the sea was pitch black, with the reflection of said galaxy being it's only source of light.
"Is this?" I asked.
"The Unown's dimension?" Pheobe finished.
Molly stood on her two feet, returning to her normal stance from prayer.
"This... this is MY world..." Molly said calmly.
"What?" Pheobe and I said confused.
"Please explain," Slowking said.
Molly looked up at the drifting Unown, who stopped their aimless movement and all turned toward us. It appeared they were spelling something out, but what?
"What they spell out is what I myself mean to say to you. About 'my world' -my illusion," Molly said.
Slowking read the message spelled out by the Unown:
This, is my world. If you wish to proceed to the ruins of the Unown, you must pass through the visions crystalized by me five years ago...
"I battled a girl here... And I defeated her using my dreams-my illusions...underwater." Molly said. "This is not only the Unown's dimension, but also my memory."
"Then I believe you should be our leader," Slowking said.
"Since you're the only one who knows where you're going." Pheobe added.
We all nodded in agreement as Molly took lead, the rest of us following.
On our journey alongside the beach, illusions, or Molly's memories, were very visible. It was a battle between what I believed to be a preteen Molly, and a red haired girl I did not know. The battle did not last too long, as the illusions faded once the battle was over. Molly won...
As THOSE illusions faded, we reached the end of the beach. And endless abyss of emptiness lied past the edge of land. But as we approached the edge, new illusions appeared. It featured a boy running up a set of long stairs that did not appear to lead anywhere except toward the drifting galaxy. But this boy... I know it was an older version of this boy whom Slowking said 'defied all odds to become Pokemon Master, Pikachu and friends beside him'. But like I said: this was only an illusion, and there was no need to acknowledge this illusion's presence.
"We climbed these stairs..." Molly said.
"But why?" I asked. "The stairs are illusions, and they don't look like they go anywhere."
"Ah, but looks can be deceiving," Slowking said with a slight smile.
"Molly's the leader, so we do what she says," Pheobe said.
I looked at the stairs and hesitated because they looked so ghastly and hollow. With an endless deep space lurking beneath, I was struck with the fear of falling for what could be an eternity.
"No need to worry." Molly said as she turned toward me.
Molly then turned back and set one foot on the first ghastly step.
"The stairs are solid." Slowking said.
"The Unown Ruins are just ahead," Molly said as she started up the stairs.
Slowking, Pheobe, and I once again followed. As we ascended, we moved closer to the drifting galaxy, as well as the many drifting Unown.
Molly stopped at the top of the stairway, and the drifting Unown started to form one more message.
This is our space. This is our time. This is our home. Our home is different from yours. You have been gone a long while, but not too long. (The commas and periods are just to be grammatically correct).
Just how long have we been gone?" Pheobe asked.
"Time in the Unown's dimension moves twenty four times faster that our own dimension. On Earth, it's been twenty four hours since Papa was taken from me. So I bet he and 03 would've beaten us to the ruins.
"So what now?" I asked.
"When the drifting galaxy above us makes contact, we will be teleported to the Unown's ruins, back within our own galaxy." Molly replied. "
"And here it comes..." Pheobe said as she pointed toward the oncoming galaxy. "It's time to get my father back..."
Before I knew it, we all white out once more...
Location: Unown Ruins
When the light faded, we were in a dim room with hieroglyphics of Unown inscribes on every part of every wall.
As I was looking around, I found a brown box behind me. A familiar brown box to be specific.
"Um, this looks like the box at the mansion," I said as I was about to open the box, but before I could-
"Open it, and you'll find yourself back within the Unown's dimension again, without me to guide you this time," Molly said without facing me as she started toward the hallway.
Once again, we followed Molly through the hallways, in which the hieroglyphics of the Unown seemed to go on forever.
"So Molly, do you mind me asking what these hieroglyphics say? Or perhaps what purpose they serve?" Slowking asked.
"Both questions, I don't know the answer to, I'm afraid." Molly replied.
"Shh!" Pheobe said loudly. "Someone is coming."
We heard footsteps, but the footsteps were not ours since none of us were moving.
"The 'someone' might be 03." I whispered.
"We'd be fools to rush into battle against an opponent as strong as her," Slowking whispered as he turned back and started walking." I belive it would be best for us not to confront 03 for the moment.
I could hear the footsteps coming closer. Our sights were limited due to the hall being dim lit. I didn't want to fight 03, but THAT was the whole reason Pheobe and I came here in the first place. I had much doubt about whether I stood a chance against 03 without my friends here for me to depend on, so I turned back and followed Slowking.
Two seconds later, I stopped and realized there were no footsteps right behind me, So I turned around to see Pheobe and Molly just standing there.
"Uh guys, what are you doing?" I asked. "We have to hurry."
"The two of us don't go until we save our fathers," Pheobe said as she crossed her arms.
"You two are stupid," I said. "You've seen what that Salamence is capable of doing. You don't stand a chance!"
"We have to at least try..." Molly said as she looked at the ground.
"It's like you said Yumi: Freedom isn't free," Pheobe said.
"But Pheobe, what if you fail?" I asked worried. "What if you never get the chance to become a top coord-"
"- Oh my gosh, just be quiet, will ya?!" Pheobe yelled annoyed.
"But-"
"So what if I leave you alone. Why should I care if you return to Olivine or not?!" Pheobe asked. "Remember: We aren't friend, Yumi, so you don't have to worry about me. We will never again be friends until you prove you're the girl I befriended five years ago." Pheobe slowly extended a hand out to me. "Will you stand by me, best friend?"
This was my chance to fix all the problems I had with Pheobe, but doing so wouldn't guarantee I would make it back to Olivine City alive. I stared at her extended offer to forgive me, and took a step back.
"I'm sorry..." I took a few more steps back before completely turning around a running. As I neared Slowking, Pheobe and Molly faded into the distance. I then had serious doubts on if I would ever befriend Pheobe again, or if I'll ever even see her alive again...
Pheobe's POV
My hand remained extended after Yumi left, but I knew that the friendship I tried to fix was now out of reach. The Yumi I knew was long gone, but was she gone forever?
"How foolish of me..." I said as I winced.
"Yes, indeed you are a fool," A voice added from behind me.
Wait, the footsteps have closed in, and Molly hasn't said anything. That means-
"03!" I yelled as I turned toward the voice.
As they got closer, two people were now visible; 03 and Spencer Hale.
"Papa!" Molly yelled.
"Spencer gasped. "Molly, how did you-what are you doing here?"
"We're not gonna just stand by and let Neo Snagem have their way!" I said. "We'll fight for your freedom, or die trying!"
"So, it is death you choose. Then allow me to send you two to the next life." 03 said as she grabbed a pokeball.
"Here it comes!" Molly yelled as she and I quickly braced ourselves for the Salamence 03 was about to send out.
"No way! There's no way we'll die here!" I said as I grabbed a pokeball.
Both 03 and I threw our pokeballs as we readied to fight. 03's pokeball sent out a predictable Salamence, while my pokeball released my recently caught Illusion Fox Pokemon, Zoroark.
"Flaffy, I choose you!" Molly yelled as she sent out a pink electric type pokemon.
"Molly, don't! You don't stand a chance!" Spencer yelled concerned.
"The DID say they would die trying to save you. So if they are offering their lives, I'll gladly take them." 03 said as Salamence stepped up, ready for battle.
"I believe it's the other way around," I said as my eyes narrowed. "Because you're in for the fight of your life!"
To Be Continued...
So like I said before, next chapter will be the last chapter before we start to shift our attention back to Seth. So please review and stay tuned for next chapter.