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Okay, I'm freaked out, I dreamt that I posted the latest chapter in someone else's fanfic thread by accident and it was REALLY embarassing. n.n' What REALLY creeped me out was that that's EXACTLY the kind of thing my clumsy little self might do n.n'. That said, VOILA:
Chapter XVI:"In Search of Kin"
Another tremor almost knocked Fay off her feet. The pathway and the platform were crumpling under the creature's weight, it was unsafe to stay there for much longer. Fay was just about to check around for an escape route when Fred grabbed her and Jasper, turning their attention toward Ursula.
"Look!" he hollered.
Ursula was calmly removing the IV tube from her thin arm, barely sparing a glance to the raging creature which was just waiting for a command to tear them all apart. She gingerly supported herself on the arms of her chair and rose into a standing position carefully, after which she looked at Fay.
"Could you release Mosca, please?" she asked politely while reaching after her own pokeball.
Without even wondering why, the girl did as she was told and a second later the yellow pokemon appeared, sparkling briefly. Ursula smiled at him gently.
"Would you be so kind to teleport your new trainer and her friends back to Lotus?" she inquired.
Fay gaped at her.
"Wha-I mean, wait!" she snapped, "What about you?"
Ursula smiled enigmatically and pulled out an odd, glittering pokeball. Fay stared at it in shock, but Fred was the first to comment.
"No way!" he gasped, staring at the diamond ball with utter amazement.
"Er-" Jasper managed, "Is that-"
"Yes!" Fay snapped impatiently, her eyes darting from the pokeball to Ursula's face, "What's going on?"
The woman didn't have time to reply because Benedict practically burst into the hall at the other end of the crumbling path. He had just ordered his Crobat to use wing attack to ward off a persistent Meditite when he spotted Ursula and the others. His eyes darted to where Fay and the boys were standing and his face suddenly grew ashen with rage.
"YOU!" he practically hollered, "I'll kill you, you little-gah!"
He was forced to go back to fighting when his pokemon just barely missed the attacking Meditite's Thunderpunch.
"He sure seems more murderous than usual." Fay muttered guardedly.
Jasper nudged her with his elbow nervously.
"Maybe we ought to make tracks?" he pointed out, "I mean, Ursula will probably jolly well take them to the cleaners, but-ah...just in case?"
Fay shook her head obstinately.
"No way!" she snapped, "I want to see the pokemon!"
Luno squeaked when he just barely dodged a piece of the crumbling ceiling.
"I can't believe what I'm about to say," he yelped, "But the weird guy is right!"
"Just a little longer..." Fay murmured as her eyes keenly followed the ball while it left the slim, pale hand and snapped open.
There was a sudden outburst of dazzling light which caused everyone to cringe away and cover their faces. When the brightness dimmed a bit, Fay immidiately looked around, but only the peaceful scenery of Lotus greeted her.
"Oh, come on!" she groaned at the Abra, "You couldn't have waited one minute!?"
The yellow pokemon gave her an 'orders are orders' look, causing Fay to glare at him jadedly.
"Great..." she muttered before looking around to make sure that everyone's accounted for, "All alive, then?"
"I'm fine." Luno replied, trying to unbristle his fur.
"Alive and well." Fred muttered.
"Ugh." Jasper groaned, "Ask me again in five minutes."
The girl sighed and glanced around the village. Some of the monks were staring at them with interest, but no one seemed particularly surprised by their sudden appearance or worried about the attackers. Ilvire bounced out of a nearby house, looking rather happy as he chased after a jolly Zigzagoon. The boy waved at Fay as he ran.
"It's so calm." the girl murmured, following Ilvire with her eyes, "I don't understand, Benedict must've gone through here."
Jasper shook his head.
"What I don't understand is how he found his way to the Mirage Gym in the first place!" he snapped, "There's got to be more to it than just having a psychic pokemon, right?"
"Maybe he followed us?" Fred offered, rejecting his own theory immediately, "No, he would have to had stayed close in order not to get lost in the fog, we would've seen him..."
"There's no point mulling over it now." Fay sighed, "I guess we ought to make ourselves scarce...though I feel bad leaving Lotus like this. What if Benedict comes back and attacks the monks? And with Ilvire here too..."
She trailed off worriedly, staring after the boy who was playing not far away from them.
Jasper shrugged slightly.
"I'd hate to sound like a cold, realistic bastard," he remarked, "But if that old git somehow beats Ursula and her entire Gym and makes it back here, there wouldn't be much we could do against him, would there?"
"Where should we go next?" Fred asked, "If Benedict decides to give chase...which he probably will, I'd hate to lead them back to Hauregy."
Jasper looked pensive for a moment.
"Well...we could head west." he offered, "There's a Holiday Camp on the other side of the mountain with a cable car connecting with Terraville. It ain't exactly skiing season, but it ought to be open."
Fay nodded contemplatively.
"That's not bad..." she mused, "I'll need a computer to find my uncle's address...we can see where we need to go from there."
They said quick goodbyes with Ilvire and their silent, but friendly hosts before they made for their destination. Just before they passed the large gates Fay stopped suddenly, looking back with an uncertain expression. She stared at Ilvire who was watching them leave. Something about the boy's sad look, his condition and Jasper's earlier comment about psychic pokemon gave her a vague feeling she could help him somehow.
Her hand accidentally brushed over the pokeball Ursula had given her and, suddenly, everything clicked into place.
Of course!
It was so simple!
Fay rushed back to the confused boy and knelt in front of him while releasing Mosca from the white ball.
"Ilvire, I want you to have him." she said ardently, "It's a psychic pokemon, you won't need to talk in order for him to understand you."
The boy stared at her.
"Er-" she tried again, "You're perfect for each other, you know?"
Since Ilvire still didn't move, she just tucked the white ball in his hand.
"Here you go." she said gently, "It's okay, he's yours."
The little boy stared at the ball with huge eyes, almost as if he couldn't believe that he finally had a pokemon of his own. He then stared up at Fay with a look of sudden, shocked realisation before launching himself at her unexpectedly. The girl sniggered a bit as she gave him a bear hug.
"Take care, okay?" she whispered into Ilvire's ear, even though she knew he couldn't hear her.
Fay rose abruptly and glanced at the monk in charge of the boy.
"Er-" she said, "Look after him, alright?"
The man grinned rather un-monkishly and gave her a thumbs up.
When Fay caught up with the boys again, Jasper gave her a skeptic look.
"You do have some general idea how rare and valuable psychic pokemon are, don't you?" he asked in a tone which portrayed a mixture of amusement and wonder.
The girl glared at him wearily.
"Yes, yes." she sighed impatiently, "Ilvire needs him more than I do, end of story."
She marched on stubbornly, signaling that the discussion was over.
***
The sun was already setting when they finally arrived at the holliday camp. It wasn't a very luxurious establishment, but it had a Pokemon Centre and free bunks for traveling trainers and that was all Fay wanted to see right now.
They all relished in the gentle wave of heat which splashed over them as soon as they stepped inside. This Pokemon Centre had a cozy feel about it with its soothing, fawn interior and relaxing music in the background. Then again, Pokemon Centres were like that generally, safe places where trainers could relax and enjoy time with their pokemon away from battle.
The girl looked around for a nurse and spotted a person with long, blonde hair standing by the counter. She stood with her back turned to them, but she wore a white coat so Fay decided that she must be the person to talk to.
"Er, excuse me, nurse?" the girl started, but went mute when the person turned around to face them and it became obvious that 'she' was actually a young man.
"Er-" Fay managed with a guilty flinch, "Sorry, I thought you were...ah-"
The young man waved it off with a wide, bright smile.
"Oh, don't worry one bit." he said cheerfully, "It's quite alright, I get it all the time."
Something about his tone made Fay doubt that they were thinking of the same adjectives, but she decided it would be best to drop it.
"We're looking for a nurse-" she started, but was interrupted again.
"Oh, right!" the young man flashed them a rueful smile as he scooted behind the counter, "Sorry, I'm still new around here. Could I have your pokemon, please?"
Jasper stared at him in utter bemusement.
"Er-" he almost sniggered, "You're the nurse, uhm...miss-ter?"
Fay nudged him with a cross glare, but the young man didn't seem to catch the derision as he turned the dazzling brightness of his grin a notch up.
"Why, yes!" he stated proudly, "You can call me Ezra, though. I'm still in med school, but don't worry, I won't mess up or anything."
"I mean, it's not like it's complicated work." he babbled cheerfully as he took the pokeballs from Fay and the boys, "You just push a button."
He looked worried, suddenly.
"Er-" he gulped, "Don't spread that around, though, or I'll run out of work."
Luno looked a bit worried when Fay put him on a metal plate and handed him to the weird young man, but he forgot all about it when he was placed in the warm healing apparatus which resembled an incubator.
"Oooh, that feels nice!" he almost purred, rather uncharacteristically, "I think I'll stay in here for a while."
"Okay, that ought to do it." Ezra smiled, "You can pick them up in the morning, but they'll be as good as new in a few hours too."
Fay tried to keep a straight face.
"Er...okay." she said, "Um, look, is there a computer around here I could use? I need to find an address."
Ezra scratched his chin and Fay couldn't help but stare at his perfectly manicured hands.
"I'm afraid that our computer won't do you much good with that." he mused, "Ever since that attack on Sylph, the database is messed up."
Fred looked at Fay and Jasper helplessly.
"Now what?" he sighed, "It'll take us ages to find Cain if we just run around blindly."
"Well, you could do it the old-fashioned way." Ezra offered, "You're perfectly welcome to browse through our telephone directory archive."
"That'll take forever!" Fay moaned, "But I guess I've got no choice..."
"You guys will help me look, right?" she asked Fred and Jasper desperately.
"I will," Fred said, "But I want to get in touch with Lola and let her know we're okay first."
Fay seemed to remember something.
"Oh, yeah!" she said suddenly, "Good idea, you ought to tell her how Ilvire's doing too and about his new pokemon."
"No problem!" Fred sniggered as he sauntered toward the computer.
"He can still send mail, right?" Fay asked Ezra worriedly.
"It should be okay." he answered, "Only Sylph's servers are down, the rest should work normally. Come on, then. I'll walk you to our archives."
He led them up the stairs and unlocked a dull-looking gray door. When the room was lit, Fay winced at the amount of stacked up, thick books.
"Oh, boy..." she pressed out, her eyes darting over the rickety piles of tomes, "This'll be fun..."
Ezra seemed as surprised as she was.
"Oh, dear." he poked his head inside, glancing around reluctantly, "If I'd known what a mess this was, I would've cleaned it up. It figures, really, we almost never use these."
He wrinkled his nose slightly at the dust and the stale smell.
"Er-" he cleared his throat awkwardly, "Well, good luck! Remember to check the dates of edition for each phone book since no one ever bothered to sort them."
With that he disappeared, leaving Fay and Jasper alone in the clustered room. The girl glanced around helplessly.
"Well..." she managed eventually, "You take that wall and I'll take this one and meet you in the middle. Look for Cain Longfellow, remember?"
Jasper sized up his pile with a sigh before clambering up to reach for the phone book at the very top with a mutter.
"The things I do for...wait, why am I doing this, again?"
"Less talk, more look."
After about an hour of rustling dusty pages and squinting at the small letters in the dim light, Fay slammed the phone book she was checking shut and tossed it on the pile of all the others she'd checked through.
"It's hopeless!" she moaned, "What if he's not even listed?"
Jasper sent her a bloodshot glare over his phonebook.
"Hats off to you for knowing how to motivate people." he said sarcastically.
"Ugh...sorry." the girl muttered, "I mean, look at this place. I can't help a bit of pessimism here and there."
"Maybe we need a change of strategy." Jasper offered and started digging through the stack of books in the middle of the room, "Let's look through these first, they're bound to be...WHAT THE-!?!?"
The last part was a reaction to a stray Spinarak which popped from under one of the phone books with a threatening chitter. Jasper gave a shriek one might expect from – oh, let's say Ezra, for instance – leapt backwards, hit the nearest pile of books, causing it to sway dangerously, bounced off of it and slammed his head right against the light switch successfully depriving the room of illumination.
There was a rumbling sound of – oh, let's say hundreds of heavy phone books creating an avalanche, for instance – and Fay felt herself being knocked on her back as the revenge of much neglected telephone directories hit her in full intensity.
When everything calmed, Fay found herself lying on her back under a heavy pile of books, staring up into the darkness inertly while wondering if this position could possibly get any worse. Then Jasper flicked the light switch again and the first thing that Fay could see was an especially thick phone book at the top of an especially high and rickety pile right above her head, swaying back and forward, as if contemplating whether to give in to the seductive charms of gravity or not.
Of course it would.
"Oh, come on!" Fay grit out just before the heavy book hit her face just after flapping open in the air.
Jasper, who had remained unscathed rather miraculously, given that he was the source of all the bovver, winced at the impact. Fay couldn't see him, what with the five pound book lying wide open over her face, but she could swear that she heard a choked back chortle before the boy spoke.
"Er, you alive, Fay?" he asked carefully.
"Yes." came the muffled reply, "Hard luck for you, though."
"Er...okay, I deserve that...let me get that..." he said as he picked up the book off of Fay's face.
He glanced at the book once and was just about to toss it away, but then he stared at it again, open-mouthed.
"You are not going to believe this!" he gasped.
"Try me."
The boy grinned maniacally as he practically smothered her with the open phone book.
"There it is – Cain, bleedin', Longfellow!" he laughed smugly, "Now you can't kill me, can you? Because we found him thanks to meis bugger was on the very top, we would have looked for it for ages!"
Fay stared at the name unenthusiastically.
"Joy." she said, "Jasper?"
"Er...yes?"
"I'll need some help."
"Oh, okay. What with?"
"Everything."
"Moving?"
"Everything."
"A-ha! So now it is you who needs saving, m'lady?" the boy sniggered as put away his find and tried to pull Fay out from under the pile, "Oof, m'lady could bear to put the fork down every now and then."
"I beg your pardon!?"
"There, there, just kidding, your Seriousness." he chortled, "Up, up! There's a lass! You can stand okay? Or should I sweep thee of thy feet and carry m'lady to her quarters like a dashing saviour I am?"
"Ngk, no, thank you." Fay grit out murderously before glancing around the now-much-messier room, filled with dozens of, she suddenly realised, identical books, "Jasper...where's the phone book?"
The boy looked around with a confused expression before gulping rather loudly.
"Erm...which phone book?" he uttered with barely restrained dread.
If looks could kill, Jasper would've been dead five generations back when Fay glared at him.
"THE phone book!" she grit out homicidally, fully prepared to do something a houseproud mother might tell her child about and add '...and that's what happens to little boys who don't eat their greens'.
Suddenly, Jasper broke into a snigger and picked up one of the books.
"Relax, I'm just yanking your chain." he said with an utterly despicable grin, "I've got it right here."
He waved it in front of Fay's not any less murderous face demonstratively.
"Well, no need to dawdle here." he added, while backing away cautiously, "Let's go back to where there are witness-er, I mean, people...yeah, we should see where Fred's at too, he was supposed to help, remember?"
They found Fred practically lying across a table near the computer, holding the telephone receiver in one hand while, apparently, trying to pull his hair out with the other. He looked so tortured and disheveled that Fay actually found herself feeling sorry for the poor chap.
"For the thousandth time, Lola, he's fine!" the boy groaned pitifully, "No I didn't see him eat...wha-!? How am I supposed to know that!? ...okay, sorry...would you calm down!?"
He looked up desperately at Fay and Jasper, helplessly motioning towards the receiver.
The girl rolled her eyes with a tired chuckle.
"I'm going to bed." she stated, "I've had enough excitement for one day."
The rest of the adventure, or whatever it was they were going through would have to wait until tomorrow.
To Be Continued: A bad day, but you can't say that Fay hasn't had worse. And so, Fay sets off to find her uncle, but what is her next destination? What will she encounter on the way? Will Fred finally manage to end the phone call to Lola? Read in the next chapter:?
My word, what a lame ending. O.O' Well, to anyone who's noticed the "?" where the name of the next chapter should be...DON'T TELL ANYONE!!!! O.O
Hehe, just kidding. ^.^' This is exactly where the fic ends and the storyboard continues ;) I'll have the next chapter ready by 26th of October, so sit tight ;)
Not much happened in this chapter, but I just felt a bit of a reprieve from the main story was in order, hence the little interlude ^.^' I ended up rather liking it, but then again, Jasper's in it so - of course I would. XD
See y'all soon!
PS: And gimme back my rubber chicken, or I shall be forced to taunt you like a medieval frenchman and MAYBE even call you a [french accent]son of a one-legged window-dresser![/french accent] XD
1. What are you doing posting this in Alter Ego's fanfic??:badsmile:
2. If I see the phrase "Shadow Pokemon" pop up, I'm leaving.
3. You're getting too personal with this...and too racist (why is FAY the one under the books??).
4. I don't have the rubber chicken. AE has it.
Oh, BTW, there's a cow on your head.
*takes cookie when nobody is looking*