• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

COMPLETE: Cries of the Dead (anime, horror)

ImJessieTR

Does Team Rocket hire?
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Messages
846
Reaction score
0
Warning: This is going to have mild swearing and scary/disgusting images. PG13 at least.






Cries of the Dead​

Author’s Note: I know I am retired. However, this is a favor to a friend of mine for helping me with my “Pokemon Bible” project. I’m still retired … really… :D Oh yeah, and this is HEAVILY inspired by Silent Hill, which I‘m currently having some sort of weird fixation about.

Chapter One: Dusk

The trees lining the road to Lavender soaked in the warm golden glow of the setting sun to the gang’s right. Ash, adjusting his sleeveless jacket so that the pikachu on his shoulder wouldn’t accidentally choke him, walked slightly faster than the others. He was nearing Lavender Town, a town well known for ghostly phenomena, especially within the Tower, and he hoped to go inside again. The Tower had been filled with a vast array of toys and ghosts … who got the drop on him (literally) and succeeded in showing him a different kind of life … the life of one in limbo. Only Brock, the eldest in their party, knew about Ash’s near-death experience.

Brock, with his well-tanned skin and narrow eyes, walked more cautiously. His best friend had nearly died in this town and although he knew Ash was walking briskly out of anticipation, he couldn’t help but feel that it was unhealthy to delve so deeply into the ghostly realm.

May, on the other hand, with her long brown hair stuffed up into her red and white bandana with hair on both sides of her face flowing gently toward her shoulders, was busy snapping pictures of pokemon with her pokedex, making quick rough mini-movies for which she provided narration, the volume of which never failed to spook some pokemon as they tried to drift off into sleep.

Finally, Max yawned. He tugged his big sister May’s biking shirt and rubbed his eyes, almost dropping his glasses. “Can we stop here tonight?” he asked plaintively. “I can’t walk another minute.”

May growled softly to herself as she accidentally deleted her newest mini-movie. She slapped his hand away. “Christ, Max! It took me an hour to get the footage for this!”

Max frowned. He, like many younger siblings, felt sometimes that he was a mere afterthought in other people’s minds. He pushed her. “You selfish dmmmmpsssofsshhht.” He jerked away from the strong hand that held his mouth closed. Turning around, his eyes grew wide as Brock tugged him away from his sister by the ear.

“Max, I know May wasn’t nice to you, but there’s no reason to swear at her.”

“Well I’m tired and I don’t want to walk anymore!” he exclaimed, trying to force Brock to let go.

Brock smiled. Having had to care for many siblings by himself after his parents left him, he was used to breaking up sibling rivalry. He knew that if family didn’t get along, no matter how painful it was, it was doomed to fail. He held on to Max’s ear tightly, enough to dissuade the child from pulling away (and for amusing revenge after all the times Max has done the same thing to Brock whenever Brock fell ga-ga over a girl) and looked up at May, who was still fiddling with her pokedex, trying to get the footage back somehow. “Apologize, May.”

May looked up and grimaced. “For what? We’ve all been walking for six hours straight. Lavender is only a couple more miles away and I’m not sleeping in a bag that hasn’t been washed since two days ago. Let the little whiner sleep here in the dark forest if he wants to, but I’m going to a Pokemon Center.”

“May.” Brock brought his voice down a register to emphasize his seriousness. “You’re right. We’re all tired. Reason enough to get along.”

“And sleep in a bed, not a mat,” May retorted.

“Pika pika!” Pikachu shouted while sitting on Ash’s shoulder. It hopped down, and ran over to a struggling Max and tugged on his shorts, using a cheerful voice, “Pika! Pi-pika-pikachu-pi!”

“Pikachu thinks it’s best to get out of the forest too,” Ash told the youngest of their group. Ash rubbed his feet together. They were surely blistered after walking for so long. “Besides, there could be lots of ghost pokemon around here. You wouldn’t want your sister to get frightened of the dark, would you?” he added, grinning.

Brock let Max go, thinking to himself Good God, here we go. He watched as May ordered Ash to take that back, while Max got a devilish grin and started to impersonate all manner of ghost pokemon as he circled around his sister. Brock sighed. If they all kept this up they’d tire themselves out and they’d camp right then and there. He decided as the arguing and teasing got louder and louder to set up a small site where the path widened out a bit. He set out a pot and made a campfire from some branches. He filled the pot halfway with water and gently dropped some aromatic leaves in, and the resulting fragrance stopped the fight cold in its tracks.

“What is that?” May asked, suddenly oblivious to her younger brother or her friend.

Brock smiled but kept his gaze on his campfire. “Some new teas I’ve been working on. I use some of your bulbasaur’s sweet scent pollen and some lavender leaves. I find it calms lots of people, especially when they’re all riled up.”

“Can we have some?” Max asked, sitting next to Brock.

Brock shook his head. “I think it’s better to inhale it than to drink it. I don’t know how sweet scent pollen would affect the body if drunk.”

As the team sat silently around the campfire, the sun began to slip past the treeline. Stars popped up here and there in the darkening sky. The aromatic tea also soothed the surrounding wild pokemon, keeping them at peace and away.

Max inhaled the aroma deeply, closing his eyes to savor the smell. However, when he re-opened his eyes, he spotted a blond-haired girl dancing through the trees, barely illuminated by the moonlight, her body cloaked in shadow. The girl seemed rather overweight, but gracefully swayed back and forth and twirled as leaves fell around her. Max couldn’t make out who it was, but he wanted to find out.

May was blushing as she stared with an empty gaze at Ash, as though she were really looking past him or through him. “So, Ash,” she began dreamily, “have you found a girlfriend yet?”

Ash twitched uncomfortably. “Uh … no, not yet.” He took a twig and poked the fire absent-mindedly.

May developed a dark grin. “Well I assumed you had someone close to your heart, since you haven’t been winning any Leagues lately,” she remarked, giggling.

Ash gave her the look of death. If she had only been teasing, Ash didn’t catch on. “And I suppose having Drew or Harley pin-up posters in your backpack is why you failed to win the contests? Maybe if you took your training more seriously instead of getting all flushed every time a guy with a rose showed up, you’d win more.”

May stood up and growled at him. “I do NOT have pin-ups of them! That’s obscene! I’m only eleven for God’s sake!”

Ash stood up to match her glare but added a cocky grin. “And I’m only a few years older than you and you want me to be married already, May!” He exhaled sharply and turned to face the dark forest. “Christ, you sound just like M-”

“-- Maybe we need to drink some tea after all?” Brock wondered aloud, spooning out several cups. “I’m sure all of us need some time to relax and get some sleep.”

May snorted. “These little get-togethers is the only way either of you are ever going to sleep with a girl.”

“HEY!” both Brock and Ash barked at once.

Max silently crept out from his space beside Brock and crawled over to Pikachu, who had been lazily walking toward the edge of the path, toward where the girl had been dancing but was now gone. He had a droll look on his face and offered Pikachu some tea and some poke blocks. They sat at the bottom of a large tree opposite the campsite and munched on poke blocks, popping them in their mouths like popcorn, and drank tea as the drama continued to unfold. As the arguing got louder again, they scooted around the tree slowly until they were no longer able to see what was going on.

But they could hear plenty.

“That’s enough,” Brock offered, with only a tinge of anger in his voice. “We all need to calm down.”

May’s voice was full of triumph. “I see. Whenever either one of you is asked about your life’s progress, you blow up and blame the messenger.”

“You’re baiting, May,” Brock replied with a tiny growl. “You’re completely out of line.”

“She still can’t get over Max asking her a simple question,” Ash offered in his most snotty little voice. “I mean, she must be the Queen Ditz if a simple question makes her lose her concentration and delete amateurish videos on her pokedex.”

Max and Pikachu stuck their heads out to peer at the fight. May’s eyes suddenly glazed over. She rushed at Ash and pinned him to the ground. “You heat my blood in this forest,” she groaned creepily. “I’ve been on a long journey and I need you to soothe me.”

Brock’s normally narrow eyes went wide with amazement that such things were coming out of his friend’s mouth, a reaction shared with Max and Pikachu.

Ash grunted under May’s weight and gasped at a sudden pain in his head. His eyes glazed over. “I have no interest in you. Be gone,” he told her in a dull voice.

May continued. “I can offer you love for the ages. My love knows no bounds.”

Ash, his voice still dull, grew irritated slightly. “Mine does. And you are not included. I merely wish to investigate the city nearby. Kindly return to your journey by yourself.”

Suddenly, both of them snapped out of their trances and May leapt up from Ash, horrified at the position she had found herself in. May shrieked, her panic-whitened hands gripping her paling cheeks. “Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! I am SO sorry! I didn’t mean what just happened Ash, I promise!”

Ash snorted as he stood up, but did not return the sentiment, staying silent. Ash was ticked off at May, ticked off that he wasn’t a Pokemon Master yet, ticked off that … Ash held his stomach as strange thoughts seemed to come to him unbidden … ticked off that no one liked him for himself, that they only liked him for his potential. As he glanced around looking for Pikachu, he kept seeing images in his head of glass shards and twisted metal and flames. He doubted the images came from him, but … still … they seemed … to fit his mood, somehow.

Brock opened a box of cookies and bit into one, trying to savor the sweetness and get over what just happened. With one bite, however, his face winced in disgust and he spat out the cookie, which landed in the fire, a black ooze dripping from inside. Inside sugar cookies.

May maintained her pale visage, her hands trembling at the rage she had felt when Ash (or was it him?) rebuke her. Finally, she noticed something. Timidly, she asked, “Where is Max and Pikachu?”

A bright light, like a supernova, answered her. All three looked up at the treeline where a visible shockwave was coming straight for them as the sky hid the stars in rolling black clouds. As the shockwave hits them at a speed that could not be escaped, sparks fly from their poke balls and pokedexes and they fly backwards and land flat on their backs on the ground. A terrible roar shivers them and they find they cannot get up. They struggle to win back control over their unresponsive muscles, but they cannot. As they fail to draw in enough air, their vision clouds and darkens, only to feel the ping-ping-ping of tiny pieces of hail strike their faces.
 
Chapter Two: Hailstorm

Ash twitched as he felt the stinging bits of hail strike his body. He finally managed to open his eyes, but closed them quickly again to avoid getting struck in the eyes by pieces of ice. He grunted and strained and gritted his teeth, but his body would not move. One thought and one thought alone drove his mind: get up. He knew that if they remained out here they could die if the hail got any bigger.

His body was numbing from the cold and the constant barrage of ice. He screamed in fury as he tried to flex his fingers and toes, desperate to get some sort of response. He had to get up, he told himself, to save the others.

His thoughts, though silent, boomed inside his head: I’m not going to die! I’m going to get up! Getting hit by snowflakes isn’t going to kill me! A Pokemon Master can get out of any situation!

His body gave out from struggling. Whatever fractions of an inch he had managed to raise himself, were taken away as he finally realized that his whole body was paralyzed.

He had been dead before.

Would it really be that bad?

The hair on his body stood on end as a loud crack of thunder was heard over the din of falling hail. It was funny, he thought to himself, because he could hear Pikachu. Yet, Pikachu didn’t seem to be saying only its name, but talking like normal people:

“Stop it!” Ash heard Pikachu’s clear voice in the thunder. “Our friends could die!”

Our?

So, Max was still with Pikachu, then?

Ash opened his battered eyelids when the sound of hail seemed to stop. The forest canopy was falling all around them, branches sheered off from the brute strength of ever-enlarging hail. Ash wearily looked around as best he could without moving his head. The ground was littered in randomly-sized ice balls. The sky was light purple from the ice reflecting what light there was back onto the rolling clouds. Despite the nightfall it was almost like early morning. Snaps and cracks were heard throughout the forest, combined with the weak sounds of pokemon fleeing.

Good, Ash thought as he felt his heart slow. Better to flee than to remain here.

Where people die.

Ash saw his world go black as ebony again and he felt safe cocooned in a dark void. He floated in space forever, it seemed -- it was comforting and he smiled as he enjoyed the relief from the storm’s pain. He closed his eyes and embraced nothingness, but soon found himself seated in a dark cave next to glowing embers, his Pikachu resting comfortably on his lap for warmth. Ash discovered we was wearing his old short-sleeved jacket, blue with white sleeves, and his red and white Indigo League hat rested on Pikachu’s head. All around them were fading footprints and it took some time before Ash recognized them: Pidgeotto, Charmander, Bulbasaur, Squirtle -- pokemon he didn’t see anymore. Three of them had left his team to protect others, while Charmander became a strong-willed Charizard determined to gain tremendous strength. Ash never did ask Charizard why. He assumed Charizard simply shared Ash’s belief that it was important to become the best.

Maybe, he thought wistfully, one day he would see his old friend again and ask him the real reason he was so obsessed with greatness.

Don’t you still want to be the greatest Pokemon Master? a deep male voice asked, slightly amused.

No, he reasoned, because everything he tried to master was always taken from him: his family, his friends, his pokemon -- he kept going on his journey so he wouldn’t have to admit he had lost everything.

At least you can go back, a female voice uttered bitterly, grunting as Ash felt himself moving across the frozen ground.

Ash felt himself propped up against a tree stump. He opened his eyes and noted a blurry figure with rounded curves and long straight ruby hair. “Are you a medic?” he asked, his voice shaking.

The figure patted him on the head hesitantly. “Does it count if I just was in nursing school? Uh, yeah, I’m a nurse. We’ll go with that.”

Ash smiled and lunged at the figure, hugging it around its neck, smelling an intoxicating perfume. “Did you find them? Are the rest of my friends okay?”

“They’re as beat up as you but I guess that’s good news, right?” the deep male voice said from farther away.

He felt the figure push away from him and scoot away. A lot of whispering followed, but Ash could only groan in pain.

But he was relieved…

What a stroke of luck to be rescued!

For what seemed like hours, Ash could hear both himself and his friends groan. Suddenly, the sensation of ice cold tiny hands patting his shoulders startled him awake. “What the hell?” he gasped, jumping three feet off the ground.

His eyes wild with shock, he glanced around and saw a lone meowth trying to use its claws to crack open a pile of poke balls. Ash grit his teeth and started for the pale beige pokemon, when he was blocked by two white and black-clad bodies. He looked up and saw Jesse and James holding him at bay and he struggled to get free. “Let me go! Those are our pokemon! I’m not going to let you guys take them!”

Meowth shrugged and clicked his tongue. “What’s da use a stealin’ poke balls if dey don’ work, kid?” he asked. “If we don’ get dese pokemon outta here, da ones dat belong to youse guys and us, dey’re all gonna die.”

Ash spotted Brock and May, heavily bruised, to the left of Meowth, also trying to pry open poke balls. They looked up and nodded. Brock informed Ash, “That explosion we saw shorted out the poke balls, the pokedexes, everything.” May sniffled, “I don’t want my pokemon to die.”

Jesse and James felt Ash stop struggling and let him go. “Is Pikachu in one of your poke balls?” Jesse asked the groggy boy. Ash shook his head. “Then we have to find him. Maybe Pikachu can shock the balls open.”

Ash sat down, feeling terribly defeated. He had been rescued only by the ones who wanted to hurt him the most. If he weren’t so stunned about the state of his pokemon, he’d be glad their pokemon’s safety was at risk too. “What’s the point?” Ash asked resignedly. “You’re just going to use Pikachu, then steal him. You’ll steal all of our pokemon ….”

Ash felt a crack of pain as a gloved hand slapped him on his face hard. “Wake up!” Jesse roared. “What’s the use of stealing pokemon if they’re just going to die? Besides, all of our equipment died out too, you know … you’re lucky we don’t even have a net to catch pokemon with.”

Ash rubbed his face and glared at Jesse, then James. “I bet you’re the ones behind this! You guys aren’t even scratched!”

“Typical,” James sighed. “Blame us for every misfortune you get caught up in. Aren’t you tired of sounding like a broken record?”

“Yeah?” Ash retorted. “Aren’t you guys tired of saying that stupid motto over and over again?”

“Hey, we changed dat motto and made it better,” Meowth snarled as he bit into the equator of a scratched up poke ball.

“You could be a little more constructive,” Jesse replied. “We’re trying to keep our pokemon alive and all you’re doing is sitting there griping.”

Ash quickly stood up, wobbled a little, but regained his stability. “Fine. I’ll search for Max and Pikachu. They could be hurt.” He glared at James. “Unlike you.”

James pointed to the east. “We were asleep in our mech,” his voice lowered to a mumble, “theoneweweregoingtousetostealPikachu,” and then spoke clearly again, “but the storm woke us up and we got out and found you guys here.”

“Believe me, twoip,” Meowth offered, “nuttin is worse dan sleepin’ in tight quarters in an insulated mech wit’ da air conditioning out.”

“I’m going with you,” Jesse announced and started in the direction Ash had been about to go before they stopped him.

“I bet,” Ash snidely remarked. “You just want Pikachu for yourself.”

Jesse wordlessly grabbed Ash by his shirt and jacket and flung him to the ground, inches away from the pile of poke balls, making Meowth shout “Gaaah!” before falling backwards, and growled, “Do we have to paint you a picture, kid? Our pokemon are dying too! The more you argue the less time they have!”

Just as she finished the sound of a roaring engine could be heard. It was a vehicle, they were certain and it sounded like it was coming to them. They could hear gravel or hail being churned up by tires and soon a pair of strong headlights rushed at them. The closer the lights got, the darker the night became, until only the lights of the vehicle could be seen. Jesse screamed and threw Ash back as she also dodged the lights, but they swerved and passed through her and Brock, May, and Meowth … all three of whom winced from the expected pain of sudden death.

Ash’s stomach fell to his ankles as he heard a loud thumping sound and the sound of tires screeching to a halt. A car door could be heard opening and slamming shut … but as it did the lights disappeared. The night was silent save for the hard breathing of all involved.

Then they heard a girl whimper. The sound seemed to start from where the lights had last been seen to past the campsite before stopping.

The general light that had been there before seemed to return, and all stood, shaking terribly, as they stared at Ash as he quivered, his face contorted and twitching in fury. Ash was staring beyond them, but when they turned around they could see nothing there. Then they noticed his eyes glazing over. His voice deepened and roared, “If you don’t stop this, stop this RIGHT NOW, there won’t be a microbe on earth that can find what’s left of you!
 
This story is running smoothly with description. Keep it up. I started writing like this too. Reveiwing this might work well. I'll keep an eye on this.
 
Chapter Three: Possession

SMACK!

Jesse’s paper fan whacked Ash right in his face just as his left hand seemed to burn with a dark flame of pure blackness. The energy gathering in his hand quickly dissipated as he slumped back onto the cold ground. May gasped and ran to the fallen boy, checking his face for wounds. “Ash? Ash, are you okay?” she begged.

“Alright, we need a new plan,” Jesse announced, folding her fan and putting it in a small internal pocket in the back of her jacket. “The hero here is obviously whacked by whatever’s going on in this forest. I say we tie him up and search for Pikachu ourselves.”

Brock nodded. “I agree.”

“WHAT?” May and Max screamed. It was outrageous -- the very idea of agreeing with a member of Team Rocket!

“We have to remember that finding Pikachu might be the only way to get our poke balls working again. If we don’t hurry, all of our pokemon will die. Ash is clearly in danger from some supernatural influence. We need to protect ourselves from him right now.”

Max stared at the ground forlornly. “So,” he asked bitterly, “what do you think is wrong with this place?”

Brock stroked his chin with his hand. “Hm,” he replied solemnly, “it could be a bunch of ghost pokemon trying to be scary.”

Jesse snorted. “More likely is that it’s a prank by some stupid teenagers.”

Brock tilted his head in confusion. “You mean, a teenager created the hailstorm AND all the haunting?” He looked southwest. “Still, maybe Sabrina of Saffron City Gym could be the culprit. After all, she does have a long history of dark mental problems.”

James drew pictures of randomly-sized doodles in the ground after clearing away some of the hailstones. After a few minutes of silence, he shrugged. “I don’t know. It reminds me somehow of Golduck Amuck -- you guys know, that cartoon where the golduck is tortured with various sight gags and it’s revealed that it’s Larry Loudred who’s holding the paintbrush….” He glanced up at Jesse. “I think it’s some terrible plot by some hideous hidden author who just wants to put us all through hell for kicks.”

For ten long minutes, everyone stared at James. The forest even seemed too shocked to make any noise.

Finally, Max spoke up in a condescending voice. “That’s the stupidest idea I ever heard.”

“Unnh,” Ash groaned. Everyone’s attention suddenly fixated on him. He seemed barely able to lift his eyes. “Who …” he asked weakly, “… is … she?” Then, just as suddenly, he fainted, his eyes rolling back, his body going limp.

“Okay,” Jesse announced cheerfully. “He’s gone all nap-time on us again, so let’s hit the road! Who’s with me?” She pumped her fist into the air, glancing around to see who would just jump up and join her quest to find Pikachu.

No one moved.
 
Chapter Four: Max Reappears

Having decided to bring their poke balls with them as they searched for Pikachu, the group created a sling out of some of the broken branches to carry an unconscious Ash. They had asked Max where Pikachu had gone, and he was more than willing to show them. Leading them through the forest towards the east, crunching through the now-melting hailstones, the group took turns dragging Ash behind them. Brock and Jesse thought it wasn’t wise to bring Ash along, but Max told them that Pikachu would naturally respond to Ash’s presence. After a minute of thought the rest agreed and they moved out.

As they reached a small clearing about thirty minutes from where they started, fatigue started to set in. They hadn’t had any sleep since last night and by Brock’s estimation it must have been almost four o’ clock in the morning. Jesse, James, and Meowth, however, seemed downright chipper … laughing and humming and snickering at each other as though they were planning something only they could hear.

“I can’t walk anymore,” May whined, slumping down next to a battered tree stump. She hung her head low. “I’m pooped. We’re never going to find Pikachu like this.” She started to wipe away the tears from her eyes. “Our pokemon are going to die, but I can’t walk one more foot.”

Max snorted his dissatisfaction and tried unsuccessfully to get his sister to look up at him. “May, get real. You guys never had any pokemon anyway.”

“Wat’s dat supposed ta mean, kid?” Meowth asked, confused.

Max looked around and saw Team Rocket and Brock staring at him, as Ash snored lightly in the sling, dark bags starting to appear under his eyes. He smiled in his cockiest manner. “I don’t know what school you guys went to, but I bet every one of you flunked, and that’s why you’re all like this.” He ran up to James, snatched a poke ball, and opened it effortlessly. It was empty. As the shock started to permeate the group, Max snatched other poke balls and opened them, again without any strain, and all were devoid of pokemon. Max laughed triumphantly. “Poor little trainers and thieves with no pokemon! How stupid can you get, running around a dark forest in the middle of the night with no pokemon?”

“What are you talking about?” May and Brock drilled Max. “Where are our pokemon?”

“Yeah, Mini-Twerp, cough up the details!” Jesse and James shot back.

Max shook his head and removed his glasses. His short black hair twitched in the slight breeze that made the branches whistle a somber tune. His eyes, when he glared at them, turned white, then clear. His skin started to lose its color. Indeed everything, from his clothes to his fingertips, gradually became translucent. He smirked. His voice took on a more accusatory, resonant, crystalline tone: “You didn’t watch your pokemon. You let them all rot inside those balls.” As his form faded from view, he continued, “It’s not real. But it is real. Those pokemon never stepped foot in this forest. They were smarter than you…” And with that, his glass-like body disappeared into the ground, a small crystalline pool with shards coming up around the edges the only trace left.

They all stood staring at the spot for several moments. Ash’s breathing could be heard becoming labored for a second or two, then returning to normal. Jesse sighed and went over to May and patted her on the shoulder. “Sorry about that, Twerp,” she said forlornly. “It sucks your brother was a demon or something. You just have to stock up on the Holy Water and keep going.”

May slapped her hand away. She shot up and pushed away Jesse. “Shut up! If Max wasn’t here then that means he’s still out there with God-knows-what messing with our minds!” Her voice cracked as the tears flowed freely. She sobbed, letting the frustrations and the exhaustion overtake her normally cheerful self. Her body wavered, her skin grew pale -- she couldn’t imagine what had just happened. What kind of a sister could she be, when she didn’t even acknowledge the return of her own brother, known to be missing? How could she not hug him and relish in his return? Did she always just take him for granted like that?

Brock interrupted her emotional breakdown. “I’m sorry, May, but we need to find Pikachu and Max. That’s the important thing. And if what that thing said was true, we also need to find all our pokemon as well.”

“If all da pokemon never got tru da forest, den why am I here?” Meowth wondered.

“Maybe your ability to speak human put you in the same boat as us,” James responded thoughtfully. “Whatever is doing this, it doesn’t like humans at all, even pokemon who act like people.”

Suddenly footsteps, dragging through the hail, could be heard just south of them. They turned to look, and a monstrosity took their collective breaths away: a three-headed monster appeared, seemingly barely able to move as though through deep water, wearing blue and white, with black shoes with blue ribbons on six feet which got progressively larger.

“Oh my God,” Brock whispered in shock, his eyes again growing wide. “Molly…”

“Molly?” May wondered aloud as she stared dumbstruck at the figure. Three female forms were merged at the navel, with a toddler in front, dangling from the navel of the next figure, an older school-aged girl, who in turn was joined to a woman in her mid-twenties. All three heads had soft faces and mousy-brown hair and black and white circles floating just beneath their ears like magical earrings.

The figures pointed at each of them in turn: Brock, May, Jesse, James, and Meowth. All three heads, drooping from extreme sorrow, whispered: “Max.”

May ran towards the creature, dropping some ten feet from it, tearfully begging, “Please tell me where my brother is!”

Each figure of Molly, having been given form years ago by the unown’s powers of reality-manipulation, took out cloth doll parts from deep pockets in their blue dresses. The toddler took out two arms, the school-girl took out two legs, and the adult took out a head and torso. They threw the macabre items at May and vanished.

May staggered back, speechless, as she realized that it was Max. Frantic, her heart pulsating almost to the point of complete arrest, she grabbed the shirt of the torso -- but with her touch the doll parts merged, linking together correctly and forming the flesh-and-blood Max, who coughed several times before opening his eyes and reaching lovingly and gratefully for his sister.
 
Chapter Five: The Ego and the Id

They had all decided to get some much needed rest, but no one could sleep. All tossed and turned, no matter what position they slept or how tired they were. For hours this went on, until a dim light appeared over the treetops. However, the massive cloud cover kept the sun from truly appearing that morning.

“Wake up,” a female voice commanded coldly.

All except Ash and Max, who were too exhausted by the recent goings-on, opened their eyes and stared at a thin young woman with black hair with broad green highlights, piercing eyes, and a Chinese-style red blouse and black tight pants. Confident they were giving her their full attention, the woman began posting small signs on the broken trees, in the ground, etc. At their quizzical expressions, she smirked.

“Combat chaos with order,” she offered in a boasting tone. “You should all do this. The more we identify the elements of this phenomenon, the faster the mystery can be solved.”

“Sabrina,” Brock noted, “I’m not surprised to see you here, since we’re close to Lavender and Saffron.”

Sabrina, the Saffron City Gym Leader, expert in all things paranormal, was the top psychic, at least in human terms. She could form her own psychic illusions, teleport, control pokemon telepathically, and change reality with but mere thoughts. Until dark pokemon, the antithesis of psychics, arrived to the west of Saffron City, she had no real competition, at least skill-wise. Ash had only managed to beat her with a comical Haunter, a ghost pokemon resembling a disembodied head with severed hands, who was more interested in making Sabrina laugh than battling. In any case, Sabrina frowned. “If you think my past self is responsible for this occurrence, you would be incorrect. A dark cloud has swallowed my parents as we were returning from the Goldenrod Train Depot. We had been vacationing in Ecruteak and learning about its fascinating history, particularly the deaths of Legendaries such as Entei and Suicune and Raikou. I have traced the phenomenon to this warped forest.” She looked away, toward the sky. “I know you want to see your pokemon. Mine, too, vanished as soon as I teleported here. However, I can sense my Alakazam and my Gengar. They are safe. I would suspect your pokemon are too.”

May spotted Jesse, James and Meowth trembling ever so slightly. She noticed they were staring at Sabrina. May stroked her weakened brother’s face and spoke up. “Excuse me, but I don’t get what this is all about.”

Sabrina shook her head. “My parents were arguing over my father’s newest pokemon. It seemed to have a crush on him. She is fascinated with psychic males, particularly human or humanoid ones.” She glanced at May, her expression softening to an almost compassionate form. “She … is … single-minded. Her focus is unmatched. I don’t know of anyone, human or pokemon, who could match her willpower.”

“But where are our pokemon?” Jesse asked timidly.

Sabrina gave Team Rocket a cold glance. “Safe, most likely. This is not the northern Lavender Forest Reserve. The geography is all wrong. Haven’t you people noticed that by now you should have been either in the town or at the coast?”

“Unless we’re walking in circles …” Brock noted humiliatingly, “ … because we tend to do that a lot.”

Sabrina laughed. But at that moment, two high-pitched laughs rang out from deeper within the forest. Sabrina’s smile vanished. She was about to run toward the sound when May protested.

“Ash and Max can’t go with us!” she pleaded. “And I’m not leaving them here alone!”

Sabrina quickly stepped over to the sleeping boys and waved a glowing hand in front of them. “Awaken,” she commanded in a monotone voice. When nothing happened, she gasped, her eyes growing wide.

“What is it?” Brock asked, not used to seeing her so perturbed.

“You mean to tell me you can’t see it?” She pointed at Ash. “This place has a strong grip on Mr. Ketchum here, like misty hands reaching for his heart.”

“Is that why he’s not making any sense?” Jesse asked.

“Has he been saying strange things?”

May looked toward the ground. “We all have … sorta.” She nodded toward Team Rocket. “They don’t seem to be affected much.”

Sabrina closed her eyes, trying to sense the meaning behind May’s explanation. “Ash … and you … are close. You’re connected to the ones responsible for this. It’s like your lives are parallel.” She opened her eyes. “They will awaken, but only if all of us wish it so. I can’t seem to break them free of the spell overcasting this place.”

Everyone closed their eyes and wished, aloud, for Ash and Max to awaken. Like magic, they opened their eyes and stood up. Max seemed to snap out of his trance first, but Ash continued to fluctuate between the usual spark in his eyes and the dull stare, the sign of his possession.

“Ash?” Brock asked. “Are you alright?”

Ash looked around. In his normal enthusiastic voice, he asked, “Where’s Pikachu?” But before anyone could answer, the dull expression took over. His voice lowered and became more monotonous. “What … are … girls doing here?”

Sabrina responded curiously. “Where?”

“What do you mean, ‘where’?” May retorted incredulously. However, Sabrina ignored her.

Ash stared momentarily. “The girls … playing … in the forest.” Ash suddenly snapped out of the trance and stared wide-eyed at Sabrina. “Mini-you! It’s her!”

“What?” Sabrina gasped.

“We need to find those girls,” Brock decided with some impatience growing in his voice. “We keep seeing and hearing haunting girls.”

“Like we need a psychic to see that’s what you’d be thinking about,” James muttered snidely.

Brock ignored him. “Let’s go … the faster we find them the faster we get back to our pokemon.”

As they rushed through the forest toward the sounds of the playing children, Brock asked, panting from the heavy running, “Sabrina! Do you think the unown are behind this?” He panted and jumped over a fallen branch. “We saw what they did in Johto … they could set up a trippy place like this.”

“Possible,” Sabrina replied. “However, I’m not well-versed in unown lore.”

“That’s a shock,” Jesse grumbled aloud. “You both tend to overdo your imaginations.”

“I don’t slip into chaos anymore!” Sabrina retorted angrily. “I’ve learned a lot about control since we last saw each other.”

As they reached a clearing, they approached a ring of crystal that seemed to dance a few inches above the ground … around two girls in white sun dresses and broad-rimmed hats, playing with brightly colored ribbons, their sea-green hair flowing freely behind them. One of them, Sabrina’s younger alter ego, stopped and smiled at her “real” form. “Hi!” she exclaimed. “We’re playing! Do you want to join us?”

“What are a bunch of kids doing here?” Max asked the other girl.

The other girl smiled and stooped her head, embarrassed. “We … want to cheer him up …”
 
Chapter Six: School Play Ending
Author’s Note: This story, like Silent Hill, will have multiple endings: School Play (a silly one), Fading Memories (a depressing one), Heroes of Righteousness (more upbeat and comedic), Pillar of Light (well, at least most get out of it okay), and Lost Light (probably the most depressing one). So, if you are in a certain mood, just skip to the one you’d most like to read, but from here on out there are five Chapter Sixes. (the first will be Monday, Oct 23, while the rest will start tomorrow)

Amber giggled as she saw the poster on the wall in the school where she and Sabrina were playing. Although it was a middle school, Amber, a kindergartener, had been invited to join the annual school play, around the time of Halloween. The poster was done in crude crayon, with several children battling a Jynx during a hailstorm. Sabrina, several years older than Amber, smiled.

“You’re going to be the star,” Sabrina announced, patting the little girl on the head. “Do you think your daddy will be proud?”

The little girl, sharing the same green hair as her new friend, beamed, her face shining brightly despite flickering fluorescent lighting. “Yep! Daddy’s gonna need a good pick-me-up after he kills me in the car.”

Sabrina laughed. “Yeah, your dad sucks as a driver.”

Amber chuckled and sighed. “Yeah, I’m weedle poopie alright.” She glanced at Sabrina. “Is the play gonna be soon?”

Sabrina nodded. Her dark green hair and bright red blouse made her look as though she were auditioning for Mrs. Clause, not a famous gym leader. “I hope so. It seems to take forever to get the script re-writes to the actors.”

Amber traced the outlines of the characters on the poster thoughtfully. “Are they all gonna die like me?” Seeing Sabrina shrug, Amber shook her head. “I hope not. My friend needs friends like them.” She picks up a stray pen from the tile floor of the school hallway and doodles a mustache on the youngest boy. “Except for him. I just want to smash his stupid smarty-pants goggles off his face,” she said flatly, then followed with a grin. “You think he’ll mind?”

Sabrina shook her head. “You’d be doing him a favor. No one else likes him either.” Sabrina struggled to keep a certain thought inside her. Yet, no matter how she tried to think of something else, the words leapt out of her mouth. “Maybe you’d like him better though if he had pink hair and a purple tail,” she teased with a smirk.

Amber groaned but later beamed with anticipation. “Maybe we’ll get married if he dies in the other endings.” As the bell rang, announcing the end of the day, the two hurried to the auditorium.
 
Last edited:
Chapter Six: Fading Memories Ending

The little yellow rat pokemon with the lightning-shaped tail lay flat on the ground, breathing labored, fur matted, red cheeks paling. It had gone ahead of the group, checking out a dancing figure it caught in the moonlight deep in the forest. It should have noticed the bright blue ball of light high in the sky. It should have noticed the strong psychic presence.

But it didn’t and now there was nothing else to do.

Pikachu felt itself being turned over without being touched. Every movement felt like thorns tearing at its sides. Pikachu opened one eye and saw a slightly blurry image of a large humanoid feline.

Mewtwo.

Do … you … Pikachu asked in its mind, too tired to speak … still see … Ash?

The created pokemon nodded. The psychic link we share is still in place. Is there anything I can do for you?

The tiny electric pokemon sighed and glanced up at the stars. Ever since using a thunder attack on the wayward Jynx it found terrorizing the forest with a hailstorm, Pikachu realized that it would be best to get some things off its chest. He … he doesn’t … doesn’t know … why Charizard left, Pikachu thought. Charizard … all his nightmares … how weak Ash was … to die … how weak he was … not to beat you.

Mewtwo’s eyes widened. How is that possible?

Pikachu shrugged imperceptibly. I don’t know. He had … nightmares … of super-strong Charizards with weird … markings … beating him senseless. Charizard left Ash because … Pikachu continued, wheezing, … because, he felt it was his weakness against your clone pokemon that caused Ash’s death.

Mewtwo growled to himself. It should not be possible, since he had wiped their memories of that incident on New Island.

As though reading his thoughts, Pikachu giggled. Charizard’s mind is very stubborn.

Mewtwo pointed a paw toward the west. I can teleport you to Mount Kayna, or the Lake of Light, or any place I can find so that you will be restored.

Pikachu, its strength fading, barely shook its head. No, I would never be restored to my full capacity … ice cream … ketchup … cotton candy-flavored poke blocks … mmmm … it said as its mind began to lose focus. The Ice Witch … hurt Ash … hurt all those people and pokemon … I stopped … I stopped her. Tell Ash … he’s free.
 
Please note: The thread is from 17 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom