EVERYONE: - Complete The Palindrome Mysteries: A Fishy Tale

[Mr Cat Dog]

Well, I tried this fic on SPP, but it sank as no one responded - and I had a ton of homework then. Well, seing as this forum is loads quieter than SPP, (I don't mean that in a bad way) I should be able to update more frequently - as with SPP, if you didn't update everyday, the topic was botted off the front page. Well, enough of my rambling... here it is (and please give your PERSONAL opinion - I don't care if you hate it, just tell me). It's rated U (UK) or G (US)

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The Palindrome Mysteries: A Fishy Tale

Chapter 1 – Lost in Lilycove

The Safari Zone was completely silent. Everyone was sound asleep. The Geodude had curled up into balls and were having a nap. The Natu huddled around the elder Xatu to keep warm while they snoozed. The Heracross had attached themselves to nearby oak trees and were having forty winks. Even in the water, the Goldeen lay down to rest at the bottom of the waterbed. The Psyduck lay down on their backs while a gentle breeze blew over their golden bodies. The wardens themselves, who seldom fell asleep, were having a little slumber on top of all this. However, one Pokemon refused to give in to the call of the night. This Girafarig was intent on escape.

Escape was harder than she thought. She had already passed a group of Gloom gently wafting their Sleep Powder over the nearby Rhyhorn. She slid down a nearby mound, nearly waking a baby Phanpy, to find that a herd of Pikachu surrounded her. If she woke them, they would surely shock her with their electric powers. If she let them lie, she would be trapped. There was only one thing she could do to advance on – jump them. After taking a few steps back, (and nearly stepping on a mother Gloom) she sprinted forward and bounded into the sky. She practically flew through the air, and landed safely on all four hooves. Although an infant Pikachu stirred a bit, she was already heading towards the fence.

She loathed the fence. That metal piece of junk that just stood there. It thought it was so high and mighty but it was wrong. That fence was the gateway between freedom and a lifetime caged up. That fence determined who would have a happy life and who would rot away with the sand and the dust. Tonight the fence was about to meet its maker.

It was only then that she realised something – the spikes. They weren’t there last time. Last time she tried to jump there was just a little fence, but they’d added spikes this time. This just raised her level of anger to boiling point. The adrenaline was now pumping into overdrive. She could do this – she could escape. There was that risk, if she didn’t make it she would be physically and mentally scarred for the rest of her life. She didn’t think like that though because she was ready.

She stepped back for the second time tonight, (and again almost stepped over a Gloom) and sprinted forward. It was now or never, was she going to make it? She leapt forward into freedom. Her hooves made it over the spikes – but would the rest of her body?

She successfully made it over the fence – now landing was the problem. She had to swerve to avoid a nearby Shuppet while landing. The Shuppet moved suddenly but Girafarig didn’t. She crashed down and injured one of her front legs.

Now she was severely wounded. She couldn’t make a noise though as the wardens would hear. She gently got up – enduring the pain – and started to limp along to the left.

She could see a place with big buildings and flashing lights. If this was freedom, then she was ready for it.

As she was walking along she experienced new and exciting things. The waves crashed on the bank side. That scared her a bit, but then she got used to it, knowing that they would always crash. She noticed things she had never even dreamed of before: trees with food on them; Pokemon she had never seen before – little ghosts that she could walk right through; people that weren’t wearing brown uniforms; little items that had been dropped on the ground. All these things filled her with happiness and joy.

As she entered the place with big buildings and flashing lights, she came across a sign. It had funny squiggles on it, which she couldn’t interpret, and a little flower with delicate buds. She thought to herself, “This must be my new home then” and looked for a place to settle down in.

Back in the Safari Zone, all Girafarig slept under a large tree while the Heracross kept guard over the area. This place was alien though; there were no trees or Heracross to be found. It looked like she would have to find a new habitat to call her own.

The first place she found was a big building with a red roof. As she walked passed it, a big clear object slid aside, letting her in. The room was painted bright vermilion with pictures of other Pokemon there. There was the Ghost that she nearly crashed into, a weird golden star-like Pokemon with an orb in the middle; there were even some of her friends from the Safari Zone. She found a nice comfortable seat in the corner, and sat herself down to rest.

“AAAAAAAAAAGH!” a voice screamed, waking Girafarig up. Although she was still a bit dazed, she could still recognise the human had red hair curled up in a loop and was wearing a white blouse. She could also tell that the human was a female (Pokemon can sense those things). The human seemed either terrified or furious as she was getting herself into a panic.

“Shoo, Shoo!” the human whispered, but Girafarig was already gone. She never wanted to see that human again.

She ran around in circles – afraid that the human was going to come after her with a gun (which was what the wardens did). After making sure the human had gone, she restarted her search to find a new home.

The second place she came to was like the huts that the wardens lived in. Initially, she was scared in case a warden would come out with a rifle and shoot her, but she then confronted her fears and started to find the clear object that let her in before.

This time, there were four of these clear objects but they were all located up above. She tried walking passed them like she did before, but they didn’t open. Then she tried tapping them with her head. She did this several times until she heard a noise.

Panic struck in again. She could hear a human muttering something. It was a male this time. What if he had a rifle? He came closer – confused and tired – and opened the clear object aside.

“WOW – A Girafarig!” the male human screamed. The fear was instantly lifted when she heard that. It was only then when she took a closer look at him.

The human didn’t seem to be that old. He had short mousy brown hair and had brown eyes. His hair seemed to have a mind of its own as it was scattered all over the place. Looking further down, he was wearing a lime green garment that covered his torso with some more squiggles that she couldn’t interpret. He also was wearing some cyan garments that covered his legs. Looking further down again, he also had on some violet garments that covered his feet.

Once Girafarig had analysed the human, she lifted her head back up to find that he had a smile on his face. He took his hand out and gently stroked her long neck. Now it was Girafarig’s turn to smile. This was the nicest any human had ever treated her in her life.

It was only then that she could hear more footsteps. Some were coming from the inside of the hut; some were coming from where she had just been from. The wardens were coming!

It was the people inside the hut that got there first, “What’s going on? Your mother and I are trying to sleep…what the blazes?” a taller male human came out. He wasn’t a warden – so, (according to Girafarig’s knowledge of friends and enemies) he must be a friend. She showed her gratitude to her newfound friend by licking him across his wrinkly face.

“AAAAAAAAAAGH!” the tall human screamed. His face was turning bright beetroot.

“Derek, what’s happening down there? I’m trying to sleep!” A female voice came from the upstairs of the hut.

“This, this…THING, has just licked me on the face. I could have countless germs on me right now.” The male adult shouted.

“It’s not a THING, Dad. It’s a Girafarig. It’s a Pokemon and it has feelings like you and me.” The male boy shouted back at the adult.

“Did you say Girafarig?” The female voiced exclaimed, “I’ll be right down!” There was a short noise of running around and darting and then the female human practically sprinted down some stairs. “AAAAAW, It’s so cute!”

This was another adult, female this time, and she seemed to like her as well. She, like the boy, stroked Girafarig’s neck.

This blissfulness was short lived though – the wardens had arrived.

“It’s over there – GET IT!” One of the wardens shouted. Another four came out of nowhere and started sprinting towards Girafarig. Girafarig tried to escape but fear rooted her to the spot. They reached the house and flung a net over Girafarig. “Now we’ve got you, come on – you’re coming with us now.”

“What’s going on here? I’d like some answers please!” The male adult yelled at the wardens. His beetroot face had now turned the colour of his son’s slippers – violet.

“Well, Mr. Pinewood,” a warden said, “This Girafarig escaped from the Safari Zone up the road. She’s quite a notorious one – tried many a time to escape but failed every time. The adrenaline must have gotten into her body and…”

“So you’re just going to take her back then?” The boy blurted out, “If she seems to hate the place so much why don’t you let me keep her?”

“Well, I suppose we could do that…” a warden said, “But only if your parents agree. What do you think Mrs. Pinewood?”

“I’d love to have it, but the decision rests with my husband. What do you think sweetie?”

“Absolutely not!” Mr Pinewood muttered. He had his arms crossed and his bushy eyebrows were all down. The violet tinge had left his face but he still looked as mad as a Primeape.

At that statement, Girafarig’s eyes started to fill up with water, and then it did something that Pokemon seldom do – cry.

“Don’t give me the sympathy vote,” Mr Pinewood muttered, “You’re going back where you belong – The Safari Zone!”

As soon as he said “Safari Zone”, Girafarig’s other head turned around to face Mr. Pinewood. It too, started to cry. Mr. Pinewood was feeling the guilt. When one Pokemon head starts to cry, you can fight the temptation – but when two heads start to cry, that’s just a different story.

“Oh…all right. You got me too.” Mr. Pinewood sighed, “But it had better not go in the house.”

“YAY!!!” Mrs. Pinewood and her son screamed simultaneously (waking up the rest of Lilycove while they were at it).

“OK, now what do I do?” The boy asked, “Don’t I need a Pokéball or something?”

“You sure do sonny,” a warden in the distance said with enthusiasm, “And I have just the thing right here – let me just go find it.” The warden started searching in his leather satchel for a Pokéball. After 30 seconds of searching and throwing things out, he eventually found one and gave one to the boy.

“What do I do now?” The boy asked.

“You throw it down at the ground and Girafarig will be sucked into the Pokéball,” The warden replied, “Go ahead. Try it.”

The boy threw the Pokéball down at the ground and a red beam shot out. The beam made Girafarig’s whole body turn bright scarlet. The beam then sucked Girafarig’s body into the Pokéball. It wobbled two or three times, then came to a rest.

The boy picked it up and stared at it for a few seconds. “Me, Will Pinewood, with a Pokemon – YES!!!”

“Come on, off to bed – it’s your birthday tomorrow anyway.” His dad said. He was extremely tired so he did as he was told and went off to bed.

Will placed the Pokéball on his bedside cabinet, next to “Murder on the Magnet Train” by Delilah Honeydew. He knew he wouldn’t get to sleep anyway so he decided to think about the adventures he and Girafarig would have. Little would he know that one of those adventures would start the very next day…

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Very interesting!

I like how it's a Girafarig, too, those things get no love, it seems.

And such a unique capture! Very clever.

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

Wow - someone replied. This never happened on SPP I think... anyways... thank you for the review. Did you like any specific bits about it other than the capture?

 

[wayc]

I like it a lot! I also really like the mood in your story right now. I can't wait to see what happens to the boy and his new Girafarig!

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

You won't actually see the boy and Girafarig for a bit. If I tell you why, I'd be giving too much of the story away. Also, I'm pleased that a mod liked it (that's like royalty). Chapter 2 will probably be up tomorrow morning (UK time).

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

Chapter 2: Ditto and the Hypnotist

Just to let people who read this know, the length of Chapter 1 was about the length of one of my prologues. This is where you find out the sub-plot to go with the main plot. If you start reading after this chapter, then basically you're screwed! :-D Without further ado...

***

Chapter 2: Ditto and the Hypnotist

The media were all crammed together like sardines in a small room with grey walls and bland boring chairs. They were all shouting and screaming at one woman behind a table.

“…And Miss Maprive?” A member of the press shouted out, trying to be the one heard, “How do you think your new superstore will affect the people of Celadon?”

The “Miss Maprive” they were all shouting at was sitting behind a mahogany table with a silk azure cloth over it. Executives of the DM Corporation – the company that she founded and ran – surrounded her on either side. They were wearing black jackets, white shirts and black ties. She thought about the question carefully before coming out with an answer:

“Well, the new DM SuperStore will affect the people of Celadon in three ways. The first being that it will get rid of that old piece of debris that used to be called a “department store” and replace it with something that isn’t actually an eye sore to look at.” The press coverage there took note of this and started to mutter amongst themselves, “The second being that it will offer a vast number of jobs to Celadon and the surrounding area. There might be some jobs available for people even living in Fuchsia.” Again, the press made a note of this on their clipboards and started to mutter amongst themselves, “The third and final way is that it will offer the pleasant people of Celadon City a little more in the eyes of retail therapy. It will actually offer beauty products and things you can actually buy for yourself – not just your Pokemon.”

As soon as she had finished telling the reporters about the third way, the room went silent. A nervous journalist stood up, while everyone turned their heads around to look at him. He was wearing a tweed jacket with suede elbow pads, a navy blue shirt and round glasses. “Erm…but…erm…are you saying that personal beauty is…erm…more important than a Pokemon’s health?”

“Heh…heh…heh…I’ll be right back.” Miss Maprive replied. She turned her back to the media and ushered her executives to do the same. After a quick talk – something about feelings and vanity – she and the executives turned around and put her mouth to the microphone labelled “Saffron TV”, “All I am saying is that products for oneself will be available as well as products for Pokemon. We at the DM Corporation think that people and Pokemon should co-exist peacefully, so our products cover both human and Pokemon needs.”

After another muttering, one of the executives placed a microphone to his crackly lips and whispered, “We shall have one more question, then this interview will cease – thank you.”

At this, every reporter in the room started to scream random questions to, the now terrified, Miss Maprive. After 5 seconds of going “eeny-meeny-miny-mo” she settled on a female reporter in the front row with short black hair and a grey blouse. She didn’t seem as nervous as the previous one, but she still looked like a rookie.

“What would you say would be your motto in life? So people can look up to you and think that.” She seemed surprisingly confident, but when she had finished she sat straight back down.

“Well, that’s an easy one,” Miss Maprive replied, “My motto for life is that if you can’t strive for something that you think that you deserve most – there’s no point in living at all.

“As a final note, I’d like to thank all the media for coming down here tonight. I know these midnight interviews can be quite stressful for some people. Well…thanks again and goodnight.”

The executives and Miss Maprive got up and walked casually out of a grey door and into a blue corridor. The media were ushered out of another door and a few of the reporters started talking to each other about the whole thing:

“She seemed a bit tense didn’t she?” A female reporter whispered to a male one. He was wearing a black cardigan with bronze trousers.

“Yeah, but she was so gorgeous. That doesn’t matter.” The male one replied.

There was every right for not just that male, but every male in that room to be attracted to Miss Maprive. First of all she wasn’t married (although that didn’t matter to half the men there). Secondly, her scarlet satin dress left nothing to male imagination. Thirdly, there was her curvaceous body – no need for an explanation. Fourthly, her long blonde flaxen hair sent male pulses racing above the speed limit. Last but not least, her pearly white teeth just topped it all off.

But by the time all the reporters had left Celadon Mansion, her appearance had completely changed. She had taken off her blonde wig to reveal her grey frizzy, wiry hair – with a hint of blue rinse. The beautiful wrinkle-free face that the reporters had come to know and love was really a mask. As she took it off, the mask practically flung back off her face to reveal a hideous skull with minimal amount of skin and wrinkles in every pore on her face. Although her teeth were naturally pearly white – it was only after severe dental surgery that she achieved her teeth nirvana. She also kept her scarlet satin dress on (although men who looked beneath it would become emotionally scarred for the rest of their life). Instead of the 25-year-old single temptress – here stood the 55-year-old widowed ogre that was Drucilla Maprive.

“Ugh, I HATE the press,” Drucilla shouted to the two loggerheads she called executives behind her, “They give me the creeps. Still, thank goodness for these masks and wigs and such – right Jimbo and Jumbo?”

“Yes, Drucilla!” Jimbo and Jumbo said in a drone like voice. They were the executives who surrounded her in the meeting. By the sound of their voices they seemed to be under a trance. They were even walking the same way. If you looked closely they were even blinking in unison.

“Who have I got next?” She pulled a clipboard out of some hidden compartment located in her dress, “Ah yes, my chief shareholders…some more pawns in my quest for eternal…OW!” Drucilla was too busy talking to herself to realise she had just hit her head against a door.

After grumbling a couple of times – something like automatic doors – she pulled a card from another compartment in her dress and swiped it into a little slot on the right of the door. It was labelled “Meetings Room”. The door opened and Drucilla, Jimbo and Jumbo strolled in.

Her beloved shareholders were sat around a round table, whispering to each other. When they saw Drucilla entering, they instantly ceased and looked sternly at her. Now they didn’t look so loving and caring. They seemed to have that “angry mob” look about them.

“Drucilla, have you seen this month’s accounts?” A male shareholder with brown hair and a brown moustache asked – in a stern voice, “DMC has plummeted compared to Silph. Co and Devon. What are you planning to do about it?”

A group of them started shouting things at random like:

“Yeah, we want our money now!”

“We didn’t invest all our money to LOSE it!”

As Jimbo closed the door, Jumbo pulled up a soft chair and Drucilla sat down. The moustached executive a brown file labelled in ruby writing, “DMC”.

After a brief introduction on the first page, Drucilla flicked through the pages to find four or five graphs. Each one of these graphs showed a downfall in investments in all sections of the company. From Retail Management to Executive Bonuses – each graph showed the same black arrow plummeting down to virtually zero.

After closing the file and handing it back to the shareholder that gave it to her, she blinked a couple of times (probably had something in her eye), and then cast an evil smile upon her broad and wrinkly face. (Which sent most of the executives’ hair one the backs of their necks tingle and stand upright.)

She whispered something to Jimbo and Jumbo and they started to usher people out of the room, “Just follow Drucilla down the hall way and you shall meet you fate there. Thank you for you co-operation.”

Confused and bewildered, the shareholders just did as they were told and followed Drucilla. As she strolled, almost with a skip in her step, down some corridors she turned left, left again, (now going down another blue corridor) then right. As they were strolling, or skipping, they passed numerous doors with signs written on them. There were doors such as, “Accountancy” “Management Authorities” and “MY Office – written in bold crimson writing”.

After turning a couple lefts and rights and all other directions, Drucilla and co. made it to a door down a long narrow corridor. When they finally reached it, they found that its original label had been covered up with a piece of paper that read, “Conference Room”. A female shareholder tried to lift the piece of paper up, but Drucilla stopped her and whispered, “Naughty!”

None of them thought to ask why this door had a piece of paper on it – but they just accepted it and walked in. Although they didn’t realise it now, that would be the last bit of thinking they would be doing for a long time. As Jimbo and Jumbo argued over who would shut the door – they both slammed the door together and the piece of paper fell off – to reveal the words, “Hypnotic Procedures”.

The “Hypnotic Procedures” room (of which the shareholders still had no idea of its true identity) looked like the previous two rooms. Its walls were as grey as ever, the chairs were still the same, boring old chairs. The reason this room “stood out” though was because of the projector, and the screen, which covered most of the right wall. On the left, there were some stairs leading up to what looked like a mini commentators box.

“Now,” Drucilla announced, “I’ve arranged this room especially for you – my darling shareholders. Sit down and make yourselves comfortable. You will now be shown a short DVD about the company’s progress. Are there any questions? No? Then I’ll make my way up to the box.”

It was about now that some people were starting to act rather tense. Some people were fidgeting, others were twiddling their thumbs, whatever they were doing – they were feeling tense.

As Drucilla made her way up to the control box – as it was officially known – she pressed the button labelled “START”. The projector started to whirl and make funny clanking noises – but eventually, a picture started to flash across the screen…

“Presenting…the DMC Stocks and Shares DVD. First of all, here is a word from the owner and founder of DMC, Miss Drucilla Maprive.”

The white background switched to Drucilla in the control box. She had the evil smile on her face like she did before.

“I’m going to get straight to the point here,” she said with a hint of immorality in her voice, “I’m going to hypnotise you. There, I’ve said it; don’t say I didn’t warn you. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. DITTO!!! Seal the exits.”

The bland grey ceiling opened up and out dropped four Ditto. They crawled and wriggled to the door before they transformed. The first one wriggled to the door, spread itself out and transformed into several steel padlocks. The second one came up to the door and just spread itself out over the locks – adding extra protection. The final two wriggled over to the door and transformed into a Rhydon and a Tyranitar. The Rhydon was wielding a silver mace whilst the Tyranitar had a sword that somewhat resembled Link’s Master Sword in Ocarina of Time. To make matters worse, they didn’t seem to be taking any prisoners and had those angry faces on them. They were angry and weren’t afraid to show it.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!” Drucilla cackled in a malicious tone, “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…bye bye.”

The projector then started to show a presentation entitled, “HYPNOSIS…it’s time to stop thinking.” The filmsetting changed to a black background with an Alakazam staring at the audience. It started to wave its hands about and mutter (in a voodoo tone), “Ala Ala Zam Kazam”

“We shall give all our money to Drucilla Maprive.” The shareholders spoke in unison.

“Ala Ka, Zam A Zam La!” The same muttering (in the same voodoo tone) by the Alakazam

“Drucilla is our God, our everlasting eternal figure in life who we must treasure most.” The shareholders again spoke in unison. They seemed to be under the same trance as Jimbo and Jumbo.

“Oh I love being rich – HAHAHAHAHAHA!” Drucilla laughed with a merciless attitude about her, “Ah, I’m going to take a walk – this shouldn’t finish for at least another twenty minutes. If you need to find me, I’ll be wandering around somewhere – OK?”

Jimbo and Jumbo clearly weren’t listening as they were gazing at the Alakazam with their eyes rooted to its hands as it waved them about in its hypnotic fashion.

Drucilla groaned at her two loggerheads and left via an emerald door labelled “Emergency Exit”. She turned left and started to walk down a lavender coloured corridor. As she strolled absent-mindedly down the corridor – she passed a mirror on the wall. Wondering why it was there – and to see if had anything dysfunctional about it – she looked at it at stared at her own reflection.

“Ugh, I’m hideous.” Drucilla stared vaguely at her own reflection. She tried to soften out one of her countless wrinkles but it just scrunched back up again, “Not even plastic surgery could cure me…” It was only then that she saw someone else in the mirror – a male with light brown hair who was wearing a tuxedo.

She turned around to find the very same man standing right behind her, “Are you some sort of spiritual epiphany?” she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

“No…” he said with a confused expression, “I’m your chief executive, James Roberts.”

After about 5 seconds, it finally sank in to Drucilla that she wasn’t dreaming and replied with the words, “Oh…yes…of course, come in. I hope you’ve found something this time.”

James Roberts was the only executive that wasn’t under a trance – which was only because he was her adopted son – although he probably worked the hardest out of all of them.

Drucilla led him to a room called “Personal Improvement” and he sat down in a comfortable seat. She sat down on the opposite side of the round table.

“So…” Drucilla asked with anticipation, “What have you got his time? It had better be good.”

“Well, I found three things…” James said, kind of nervous and anxiously.

“Ooh, three…well that’s an improvement on last time. Please go on.”

“The first one is the plastic surgeons, but they said you need at least another hundred layers of skin before they can do anything at all with you, so it’s a no-no on that one!”

“It’s such a shame the professionals can’t even do anything…”

“The second one is that witch doctor we tried last time – but he wouldn’t even come out of his hut to say hello. All he kept going on about was “Uga Uga Uga” Which I have no idea what it means.”

“Stupid witch doctor, you can never find one when you need one…”

“The final one is this,” he reached into his briefcase and took out a piece of what looked like to be ancient papyrus, “an ancient manuscript called, “The Scroll of Everlasting Beauty”.”

“Oh…now we’re on to something. What does it say? What does it say?”

“OK, OK, keep whatever hair you have left on, I’m going to read it out.”

The fountain of eternal beauty,
Determines youth to whoever
Drinks from it
If you be willing and strong enough,
Then the path shall reveal itself

“Well…” Drucilla ranted. She was really tense. This manuscript had really got a hold of her, “What’s next?”

“That’s it…there must have been another half to it. Well, that’s kind of a downfall isn’t it?”

“Oh no it’s not!” Drucilla shouted, “This is the greatest breakthrough I am ever going to have and I am not going to let it destroy my dream of becoming beautiful. But I can’t do it alone. I’ll need help and lots of it…I know.”

“What? What? Tell me!” Now James was the one feeling tense.

“Oh it’s nothing that concerns you, for the moment. All I need is the other half of the scroll and then my destiny shall come before my eyes. All I need are my Pokemon and I shall be off. James, be a dear and hand me my three Pokéballs.”

James did as he was told. His adopted mother could get pretty angry when you got on the wrong side of her. He found them in a filing cabinet in a corner. He gave them to her and she left the room.

As soon as she had stepped outside, she found another slot in the wall and swiped her card through it. The wall opened up to uncover a secret lift. Drucilla pressed the button called “G” and the door closed. Even as she was going up out of Celadon Mansion – you could still hear her cackling in her evil merciless voice.

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

Chapter 3: Happy Birthday to you...

Ooooooh - no replies. I might cry... but I won't. Here's the next chapter and I want at least ONE response before I post the next one. Got that?

***

Chapter 3 – Happy Birthday to you…

Will was sitting under a giant oak tree reading his copy of “Murder on the Magnet Train – by Delilah Honeydew”. The sun was high in the sky and the sea breeze echoed in the wind. As a leaf fell down from a nearby sycamore tree, Will got up, put his book down and started to walk around the empty field.

As Will was walking around the field, he heard a whooshing sound from a distance. He turned around and looked at the nearby lake. In the distance, he could loosely see and creature with majestic giant wings. The feathers seemed to reflect every beam of light to reveal a golden sheen.

The golden winged creature flew closer, and Will had to cover his eyes, as the wings would have blinded him. The creature came closer and Will could start to make it out.

Its diminutive body did look appropriate to the surroundings though. It had an emerald head with a yellow beak. It had one small ruby coloured feather on top of the emerald head. Its claws were sharp and jagged – they were also ruby coloured, as was the sole feather that lay on its backside. As far as he could tell, it seemed to be a Natu!

He sighed as he recognised this familiar sight, “Come back for more eh…” but the grin was soon wiped off his face as something unusual was happening to the Natu. It was glowing – but not just its wings – its whole body was glowing a bright white. It looked as if it was evolving. Its now white body was growing larger and larger by the second. By this time, the Natu-who-would-soon-to-be-Xatu was trying to find a place to land. It eventually picked a clearing that was only about a foot away from where Will was standing. By the time it had landed, the glowing had vanished and there stood a majestic Xatu.

“So you’ve finally evolved huh?” Will said sarcastically, “What have you got for me this time?”

The Xatu drew back its wings and, as if by magic, they turned into a normal Xatu wings. Then it looked at the trees, the sky, and finally at Will. It opened its mouth and spoke in a mellow tone, “Sarcasm will get you nowhere, no wonder you don’t have any friends.”

“Hey!” He shouted at the Xatu – it shrugged it off – “Don’t bring my personal life into this. It’s not my fault you keep coming up in my dreams. Your visions aren’t even true most of the time”

“This one’s a good one, I promise. It shows your first Pokemon, and…”

“I have a Pokemon already,” he shouted at the bird – which again, shrugged the insult off – “I got a Girafarig one or two hours ago. What do your psychic sources say about that?”

The Xatu was speechless. It was actually wrong. It closed its eyes and clasped its wings together. It then went under a process of meditation for about two seconds before unclasping and coming back to reality, “Oh yes…my mistake…this will be your next Pokemon. Please come with me.”

Xatu and Will walked passed the field and into some sort of tropical rainforest – where Vigoroth swung from vines, and Parasect lurked beneath mahogany trees and dark leaves. After a brief encounter with rainforest life, the couple were by the banks of a lake.

“Here we are,” the Xatu said in its soft mellow tone, “Lake Milotic – home of the beautiful and tender Milotic…”

“Well duh…” Will sighed. He was getting a bit bored now. All the bird ever did was predict the wrong things at the wrong times. Last week it predicted that he would save the life of a beautiful woman by the beach. It turns it he did save the life of a beautiful woman – although the woman turned out to be a man (which he only found out after doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation), “show me this Pokemon so I can wake up and get on with my life.”

“As you wish…but you’ll like this one. I promise.” Xatu opened its beak and let out a sharp hissing sound. Will couldn’t hear it, it must have been so high pitched that human ears couldn’t hear.

“Well…?” Will asked – still feeling bored – “Where’s this stupid Pokemon? I wanna wake up and get my birthday presents.”

“Oh, but this is one of your presents, off your parents if I believe…” the Xatu spoke in its ever-so-deep mellow tone again.

And then it happened. Three giant snake-like Pokemon came leaping and bounding out of the water. They weren’t ugly like snakes though, they were beautiful. Their long slender bodies glided through the water as if it wasn’t there. Their eyes were bright crimson and had ruby hair flowing off either side of their heads. Their beige bodies eventually blended in to become bright azure scales, which – like Xatu’s wings – reflected every beam of light to create a pattern of colour that no artist could ever recreate.

There was one that was different than the other two. The one in the middle had a metallic shine to it. Instead of being beige, this one was bright silver. Reflecting even more light it creating an effect that was almost blinding.

“Wow…” Will gasped in awe, “My parents have got me one of those? They must be loaded – or know people in the right places. Which one am I getting?”

The Xatu did its meditation thing again before answering, “The one in the middle.”

At this, Will started jumping around and nearly fell in the lake – which wouldn’t have mattered – this was a dream anyway.

“It’s time you should be waking up now…” the Xatu said in a more uplifting ton of voice, “I have other clients, not just you. I bid thee farewell – William Pinewood.”

With that, it withdrew its golden wings and flew off into the midday sun.

“Bye Natu…I mean Xatu – and thank you!” Will shouted at the airborne bird.

As he slowly started to walk back into the rainforest, he slowly began to gain consciousness. By the time he had left the lake, he was back in his bed with his lime green pyjamas on.

He quickly got changed into an amethyst T-shirt and denim jeans and ran downstairs. He was shocked to find that the living room was bare. The plain mahogany coffee table, the window that looked onto the cove of Lilycove, the giant plasma screen TV that was attached to the left hand wall. Then of course there was the horrible fawn settee and the violet nylon carpet. He left the room in disgust only to find that it was the kitchen that everyone was in. Although everyone being his mother and father.

“Happy Birthday Will!” His mum and dad shouted at him. The level of noise was so loud that it nearly sent him flying back.

“Thanks for remembering.” He said tiredly and dazedly. That dream had left him tired and confused.
“How could we forget?” his dad said quite loudly. He had obviously been up for a while – or had drunk about ten cups of coffee in the last ten minutes, “come on, come on –open your presents. Here’s a one from you Grandmother.”

His dad handed him a package that was wrapped in bright violet wrapping paper. Will frantically opened it to find a maroon sweater which was obviously too big and too wide around the waist.

“Oh thanks Grandma…” Will said sarcastically, “Now I will have to send you a thank you card.” He tossed it aside onto a nearby bench.

“William!” His mother yelled at him, “Don’t be sarcastic to your Grandmother! Even though most her marbles have fallen out and rolled across into a ditch doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t respect her.”

He then picked it up and placed it gently on a bench, “There – happy now?”

“I’m ecstatic – ” his mother said with the same sarcastic tone as her son just said, "here’s a one from you Aunt Joy and Uncle Bob, and be nice to them!”

His mother handed him a solid package wrapped with brown paper and string. Will shook it and something rattled inside. He opened the string with his teeth then tore apart the wrapping paper. He found a plain ordinary box and started to undo it. After emptying a load of polystyrene – a little circular object dropped out onto the table.

“Great,” the sarcasm was coning in again – this time from Will, “another voodoo disk – I’ll add it to the collection.” He took it upstairs back to his room. His room was absent from the splatter of posters that adorned teenage rooms. His spacious double bed was covered with an orange quilt. His “collection” was by the windowsill where they stood and watched over the bedroom – to guard off evil spirits.

Apart from the voodoo collection on the windowsill, Will’s bedroom was empty. There was a bed – with a mauve duvet on top of it – and a cabinet. Apart from the picture of scribbles from when he was about 3, his monochrome walls were vacant from any form of posters and artwork. On his bedside cabinet lay his computer and his two only other possessions to date: his signed copy of, “Murder of the Magnet Train – by Delilah Honeydew” and the Pokéball containing Girafarig –

“Girafarig!” Will shouted. He placed the purple voodoo disk down and grabbed the Pokéball with Girafarig. He ran downstairs for the second time that day and ran into the kitchen.

The kitchen – like the rest of the house – wasn’t decorated in an extravagant way. It still had its quaint table and ceiling with a small stove, mini blender, and a microwave – all on the benches on either side of the mahogany table. The only thing that made it different was the fact that there was a giant chocolate cake with fifteen candles on it, and a spherical object wrapped in Pokéball wrapping paper.

“Cake for breakfast?” Will asked with a suspicious look in his eye, “What gives?”

“Our sweet little baby doesn’t turn 15 every day.” His mother said in one of those lovey-dovey voices, “Actually, its only once in his little life time. Eat up!”

Will delved into the cake, practically stuffing his face like a 6-year-old child would. Hunger obviously took hold of his etiquette and manners – he finished the whole cake within 5 minutes.

“Enjoy that son?” His dad asked hungrily – he slaved over the oven making that cake and didn’t get one bit in return, “All you have left is the present from us. It’s the last one on the table.” He handed him the spherical object and Will tore it apart.

The Xatu was right so far. This was his parents’ present and it was a Pokemon. The Pokéball sat in the palm of his hand, shining in its ruby glory.

“You’d better take it outside – to the sea.” His mother said, “It’s a Water Pokemon – so it can’t survive on land.” That just made the feeling even better. He ran out of the kitchen and into the streets of Lilycove.

Although it was about 11:00am (the Xatu made him sleep in), the streets of Lilycove were still. There were some people with their Meowths out, and there was the occasional old couple having a stroll by the pier, but other than that, Lilycove was empty.

Will ran out over to the pier – which stood at the entrance the Team Fusion’s old base – and waited for his parents to come and watch. They were still back in the house getting mauve dressing gowns and bright orange slippers on (even their son could tell that they needed to see the fashion police). When they eventually rushed outside, they were clasping their torsos to make sure that their garments would actually support them long enough to make the long journey to the pier. Thankfully they made it without a hitch – much to the delight of Will, who in their right mind would want their parents running around stark naked.

“Well, release it into the water.” His dad said with an exasperated tone in his voice. He was almost as excited as Will was. He did as he was told and released the Pokemon into the water.

What came out of the Pokéball wasn’t what Will wasn’t expecting. Instead of a long, slender, beautiful Pokemon, out came a small, greyish, ugly fish. It seems that the Xatu had only got it half right, as this was not Milotic. The fish was silver and shiny, but that was all that it resembled to the glorious Milotic.

“What on Earth is that…?” Will asked his parents hoping for a good explanation, “Well…”

His parents looked at each other first – with blank looks on their faces – then grumbled something to each other. Then they finally turned around and replied, “It’s a Feebas!”

Will stared perplexedly at the fish – which was now swimming around, enjoying the sun – before coming out with a response. “Why did you get me this…this…disgusting, vile, foul, murky fish!!!”

“We thought you’d like it,” his mother said with a voice of sympathy, “we searched high and low in the river of Route 119 for that fish. It’s one of the rarest in the world.”

“How can that thing…” Will shouted, and the Feebas looked up – it must have identified “thing” with itself, “be rare, it looks so common! Well, the shiny silver bit makes it a bit rarer, but apart from that – it’s common.”

At that, his mother started to cry over his father’s shoulder. After patting her back several times, his father came into the conversation:

“Now look what you’ve done.” His father said in the mellow tone that Xatu used. “Your mother spent days trying to find that fish and this is how you repay her. Apologise to her right this minute!”

“Never!” Will shouted at his parents. He sent Feebas into its Pokéball and ran away into the, now busy, streets of Lilycove City.

After running for what seemed like hours, he found himself at the main entrance of the harbour. The harbour itself looked grand and magnificent from the outside, with its shiny metal plated walls and huge red signs dotted all over the place reading “Lilycove Harbour”. He was about to go in when a familiar voice spoke to him.

“Well, fancy seeing you here. I have news…” the familiar voice said in its soft mellow tone – the Xatu had returned.

Will was now completely baffled beyond belief. How did it get here? Why was it here? So many questions…how could he express them all?

“What on Earth are you doing here!!!” he shouted at the bird. As always it didn’t seem to notice. It found a place by the edge of the bank to sit and relax – and to stretch its famous wings.

“My other clients were having parties – I didn’t want to disturb them so I came to see how you were doing. How’s Milotic doing?”

“Oh it’s doing fine,” Will said sarcastically, “since I don’t have one!!!” The Xatu looked shocked – it was wrong again.

“What did your parents get you then? A maroon sweater?” It looked at Will with menacing eyes. It too could play the game of sarcasm.

“No – that was from my Grandma. My parents got me this.” Will took the Pokéball from his belt buckle and released the metallic Feebas into the water. As before it started swimming about enjoying the sun. “It’s a stupid silver Feebas.”

The Xatu looked at the Feebas, and then flew down to greet it. It hovered above while squawking in the high-pitched voice used to summon the Milotic. After the Feebas moved its mouth a couple of times, the Xatu smiled and came back up to dry land.

“Well, what lies have you been telling this innocent fish then?” Will asked.

“Nothing…” the Xatu replied in its mellow tone, “but I have a slight suspicion that I’m not all wrong about the Milotic thing.”

“Oh,” Will asked. Suspicion was kicking in. For once the daft bird might be on to something. “What is it?”

The Xatu went under meditation for the third time that day. After unclasping its hands, it revealed the Feebas’ secret, “Feebas is Milotic – in its pre-evolved from!”

At this, Will gawped at the Feebas, then at the Xatu. He then pointed at the Feebas, and then Xatu nodded its head.

“That,” Will whispered and pointed into the Feebas – which looked up to him an gave a sort of smile – “evolves into the glorious Milotic?” He was quite giddy and confused. There was so much information in such a short space of time. So many new questions to ask:

“How exactly does it evolve then?” That seemed like a sensible question to ask.

The Xatu opened its beak and was about to speak when a beeping sound was heard from nowhere, then its head started to glow bright orange. Ray of orangey light flew out from its face and illuminated the air around it.

“What on Earth is happening to you?” Will asked, shocked, and now backing away from the faceless Xatu, “Are you dying or something?”

“Oh no – I’m receiving an E-mail!” The Xatu seemed quite calm that an orange blob was sucking up its head.

“Your brain is a weirdly shaped computer?” Will asked. It still wasn’t making much sense to him. He was surprised that no one had found the pair of them.

“No…” Xatu’s face was still glowing, “Its stands for ESP-mail. My boss decided to shorten it to sound easier.”

Its head returned back to its emerald colour, and a small piece of paper started to float in the air separating Will and Xatu.

“It’s for you.” The Xatu spoke after the orange-blob incident, “It’s from my boss…”

Will then took the piece of paper and read it out loud:

But only the fish
Can use the fountain’s powers.
Let it swim
And it will grow

There was a bit torn off the top and the bottom, but that didn’t really occur to Will at the moment. His eyes were fixated on those four lines of text. He was reading over and over until he didn’t even need to look at the paper. All he could say was:

“I need more information…HOW CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION?”

The Xatu went under meditation for the third time. When it came out, it grinned like a Cheshire cat – only without the evilness. It then withdrew its arms out and a ticket appeared – floating between Will and the bird.

“What is it?” Will stared blankly at the ticket. Xatu’s psychokinetic powers were making it glow bright lilac and it was becoming increasingly like what Xatu’s head turned into with the E-mail.

“It’s a ticket for the Orion – the cruise liner.” The Xatu was still smiling. It had contracted its wings now. Will didn’t interrupt as the Xatu continued outlining his information, “There you will sail to Vermillion City. You will meet a female Pokemon Trainer. That trainer has my boss as a Pokemon. If you have spoken to the right trainer – my boss will visit you in your dreams with me tonight.”

Will thought about what the Xatu had just said, then came out with a response: “What does your boss look like?”

The Xatu didn’t need to think or go under meditation for this answer. Any minion should know its boss’ name. “My boss is called Reseda – its is a Gengar.”

The ticket was still floating there – although it had turned from lilac to peach and azure. After its final colour change, it dropped to the ground. Will picked it up and looked at it in its natural state. The ticket itself was vacant of any text apart from the words ORION and C47. On the back there was a serial number with so many digits he couldn’t recall.

“When does it depart? It’s about…” Will consulted his watch and then realised it had stopped. “What time is it?”

“It is 12:00pm and 48 seconds.” The Xatu seemed more confident in its voice this time around. It didn’t even go under meditation. “It leaves in approximately 3 hours at 3:00pm.”

“3 hours?” Will asked. “I’ve got to get home – erm…I suppose I’ll see you around sometime. Bye Xatu!”

The Xatu shuffled towards the edge of the bank and let out a quiet coo. It then lifted its withdrew its wings and launched itself into the air with one majestic swoop of its glorious wings.

As the Xatu was flying off into the midday sun, Will suddenly realised how little time he had and rushed back home. Although the Department Store was having a clear-out sale, no one was there when he ran past it. After running past the empty contest hall, the Fan Club headquarters and the Pokemon Center, he finally reached his house – located at the opposite end of Lilycove to the harbour. Gasping for breath, Will opened the door gently and the slammed it back into it hinges.

“Honey…” his mother cried at him. She was holding a stack of flyers reading: “Lost Son – please call. Reward of £500” Sweat was dripping all over her face as if she had been on a treadmill at 15 mph wearing something resembling an Eskimo coat. Hot and flustered was an understatement, “Where have you been? We’ve been looking all over for you!”

“Oh, just to the harbour…” Will replied – he was reading the top flyer on the stack of countless. He then saw the reward section on it: “FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS!!! I’M ONLY WORTH FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS TO YOU?”

“You’re always going to be priceless to me darling, but £500 is still a lot of money to pay up for our favourite son.” His mother was trying to think of the best excuse possible to her downgrading of her son.

“At least I’m leaving now…I don’t have to put up with you or Dad.”

“You’re leaving? To go on an adventure?” Now his mother was euphoric. “Yay – my little baby’s going on an adventure – Derek, come down here and help Will pack his things.”

Will had never really wanted to go on an adventure before. The thought of battling other people and getting the title of Champion seemed too commercialised to suit him. He enjoyed helping out with his parents while they worked.

He ran up the spiral staircase to his ever-vacant room and packed everything he could find into one little suitcase. His room now just had a blank bed with no trimmings on the side or anything. His Dad handed him some clothes (Will didn’t have a wardrobe in his room – pretty unusual for a teenager) and he packed them into another suitcase.

“Where are you actually going?” His Dad asked as he handed him some blue shorts.

“I don’t really know myself – I’ll just go wherever the wind takes me.” Will replied. By this time both suitcases had been packed and he was carrying them down the staircase.

“What time is it?” Will asked – he didn’t want to miss the ship.

“It’s 2:30 – Why do you ask?” His parents seemed more suspicious than their easygoing selves.

“Oh, nothing. Its just I’m boarding in half and hour. The Orion can’t leave without me.” Will smiled and waved as he ran out of the door.

His parents looked at each other with open mouths. Their last words to him as he was running were: “He didn’t even say goodbye!”

“Oh yeah.” Will shouted back at the house. He must have heard them talking, “Bye – I’ll see you soon…hopefully!”

As his parents closed the door and went back to their lives, Will ran towards the harbour like he had never done before – still oblivious to the fact that this would be one of his greatest adventures ever…

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Say, I have a rather odd question...

Will wouldn't happen to be the Elite 4's Will, would he? I know that's probably a long shot, but he's got that weird thing with psychic types...

Why *was* he so mad about getting the Feebas? Wouldn't he know it was Milotic's pre-evol?

And I love how the predictions are *nearly* right. That cracks me up.

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

To answer your questions. No - it is not the Elite 4 Will. The Will in this story is 15 years old. He was angry about the Feebas because he didn't know that it evolved into Milotic - if Xatu had told him in the dream that Feebas evolved, then he might not have been so shocked. If he didn't know what a Milotic was before the dream, then he probably won't have known what a Feebas was. You'll be seeing a LOT more of Xatu's "nearly-right" predictions in the chapters to come.

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

Chapter 4: The Blue Burnished Blob

This chapter has one of my favourite titles (the favourite being the next one). As before, I'd like at least one reply before I post the next chapter

Chapter 4: The Blue Burnished Blob

The Orion was titanic – but not in a movie sense. The whole body of the ship was painted bright indigo with pictures of various Water Pokemon splattered across the boat. There was: Dewgong, Starmie, Cloyster, Azumarill – and they were on one side of the ship alone. Will had been on the SS Aqua and Tidal before, but this just blew him away. Its body seemed to be a sleek as the Milotic as there were no large gigantic bumps. As it came into port, it swam just like a Milotic would.

As the ship came to a standstill, a great walkway – laced with scarlet satin – came down to the pier. Will, and many other people, walked up to it and up it to the ship. They were greeted by a porter in a red bellboy uniform. The gold buttons were sown across the whole of the scarlet outfit and his hat made him look like a Beefeater. After seeing about 4 people, he directed his attention to Will.

“…And what can I do for you young man?” The man asked. His voice sounded similar to Xatu’s, but his chocolate covered moustache made his speech a bit ruffled. His sunglasses also meant that his face was more or less covered up. All you could see was a couple of wrinkles around the cheekbones.

“Erm…I’m not exactly sure where I’m supposed to be? Can you help me find cabin…?” After speaking in a confused voice – Will looked in the breast pocket of his T-shirt and pulled out the ticket, and after reading it announced the answered like he had won the lottery. “C47 – yes that’s what it says here. Can you help me please?”

The porter looked at Will suspiciously before taking the ticket off his hands. He looked at the ticket and showed it up against the light. Will then snatched it off him and gave him an angry look:

“I didn’t steal it if that’s what you mean. I received as a birthday present.” Will spoke with a calm and collected voice. Technically this was the truth as Xatu kind of gave it to him as a present and it was his birthday after all.

“Fine…follow me. I’ll get someone to carry your luggage for you.” The porter made no expression and clicked his fingers. Another porter in the same uniform and glasses came from what seemed like nowhere and started to carry his bags down a long corridor on the right.

As the first porter watched the other one hurry down the corridor, he started taking to Will:
“The reason I checked it wasn’t to say that you stole it. It was to check if it was actually what I think it was.” A smirk came on the porters face after he had said that.

“And was it what you think it was?” Will was becoming evermore suspicious of the porter.

“Oh yes – you’re in an executive suite! Lucky kid.” The porter muttered more words to himself before rummaging in his trouser pocket. He gave him a crumpled up piece of paper. “It’s a map of the ship – all the executive suites are located up on the top deck. I think 47 has an ocean view, but you can see for yourself.”

The porter then dashed off to another area of the ship and started to give them the guided tour of the ship.

After careful deliberation of the map, Will realised that he had to go down the corridor until he saw a lift. He would then take the lift up to the 5th floor, and turn left. His cabin would be on the left hand side and would face the sea.

He went along the corridor until he found the lift. Luckily no one was in and no one wanted to be in, so he pressed the button labelled 5. As the lift went up you could see inside the mechanics of it. It was completely made of glass. Luckily, Will wasn’t claustrophobic so the ride went fine for him.

After leaving the lift, he walked along the left and started looking for his cabin. After passing oak doors with gold plates on reading: C43, C44, C45 and C46, he eventually came to his cabin, C47.

His door wasn’t made out of oak and didn’t have a gold plate on. This door was made of pure mahogany and had a diamond-encrusted plague with the words “C47 – Presidential Suite” chiselled into the diamonds. There was also a slot instead of a keyhole. Using his common sense, Will slotted the ticket into the slot and the door unlocked.

Will pushed the door opened and was flabbergasted by what he saw. The walls were covered in white paint and had a beautiful mural depicting a Gorebyss and a Huntail battling it out amongst one another. They were fighting underwater and were both using some form of supersonic ray. At the far end of the room, there was a balcony, which led on to the sea views. It was surrounded by a golden satin veil, which resembled Xatu’s wings. On the left hand side lay an enormous king-size double bed. From the looks of it, it was covered with a layer of violet velvet. Amongst other things, there was a Steinway piano in the far right hand corner, a bookcase with an array of novels inside. Then there was the gigantic luxurious chandelier in the middle of the room. It lit up the whole room and had energy to spare. On the floor, there was a vinyl carpet with the same mural that adorned the walls. Added to that was the fact that Xatu was pecking at a corpse on the floor.

“What on Earth are you doing?” Will yelled at the Xatu. It stopped pecking and waddled over to Will.

“Pecking him to death…it’s kind of obvious really.” The Xatu didn’t seem remorseful or anything for its brutal crime. “Come on – we need to throw him into the sea?”

“You didn’t kill him did you?” Will was starting to doubt the morals of Xatu.

“Well, kind of…but he was stealing from the vault…” The Xatu was actually begging for Will to forgive itself.

“And that gave you a reason to kill him? Who is it anyway?” Will thought he had a right to know whom his mentor killed.

“Oh, it was the porter who carried your luggage here. I reckoned he looked a bit dubious to be honest with you.” Xatu was already dragging the porter to the balcony – beaks can be surprising useful.

“Are you sure no one will notice that one of the porters is missing?” Will seemed not to care about the deceased porter anymore, and more about trying to forget about the whole incident. “Won’t people find it a little suspicious?”

“Not really, people who work on these type of ships can be extremely stupid. They have no common sense whatsoever. Trust me – they won’t suspect a thing. Now come on – you’re the one with the opposable thumbs.” The Xatu was still dragging the lifeless porter to the balcony. Will eventually gave in to the Xatu’s begging and helped drag the corpse to the balcony.

When they eventually dragged the carcass to the balcony, Will hoisted the body up and threw it over he balcony and into the Alphega Ocean.

“Well, that’s all done and dusted – so what are you dong here?” Will was sitting on his double bed while Xatu was trying to open a book with its beak. It had already successfully knocked it off the shelf, but opening it was tricky with a just a beak.

“Oh – I came to put some stuff in the vault. You can go open it if you want. The key is on the top of it.” The Xatu said while trying to open the same book.

Will hadn’t noticed the vault in the corner. It was hidden behind the Steinway piano. When he walked over to it, it looked like a typical vault. It was a silvery box stuck into the wall, with a keyhole in the middle. The key was located on the top rim of it – like the Xatu said. He thrust the key into the lock and turned to the right. It opened without a hassle.

The door thrust open and the vault revealed a wad of money, a folded up piece of paper and a key ring with 2 keys on it. Will took the money and counted it to himself:

“This is £2000!!!” He had never had this much money in his life – what would he spend it on? “What am I going to do with all this?”

“Spend it! That’s kind of obvious really.” Xatu had successfully opened the book and was now trying to read this weird language on the first page.

Will counted the money again to make sure of his newfound fortune. It totalled £2000 again. He tossed the money onto the bed and picked up the piece of paper. It turned out to be a detailed map of Johto.

“Johto?” Will asked the Xatu. It stopped trying to interpret the language (which was really a picture of a Kingdra) and looked up as if it was vaguely interested. “I thought I was going to Kanto?”

“Hey – my boss told me to bring these. It must be part of his master plan. Don’t argue with him.” Xatu seemed quite knowledgeable about his boss. He must have been a loyal minion.

Will through the map onto the bed with the money and looked at the keys. Both of them were in the shape of skulls. They were identical in every way apart from that one was gold and the other was silver.

“What do these do any way?” Maybe the Xatu would have had an answer to this one. It turns out it didn’t!

“Hey – I’m just the messenger. If you want to ask questions – find my boss and speak to him…this is getting boring. Your books make no sense. I’ve got other clients to see anyway – I’ll be seeing you then.” The Xatu tried – and failed – to shut the book and then waddled to the balcony. It perched on the railings, withdrew its wings and took of into the mid-afternoon sun.

Will closed the veil and set to work unpacking. He only realised that the wardrobe was hidden to the left of the balcony. He wouldn’t have noticed it if it wasn’t for the green button which, when you pressed it, opened up to become a room in itself. Hangers were located everywhere and there was a place for everything. Will set to work organising his clothes into trousers, shorts, t-shirts, jumpers, shirts, swimwear and underwear.

He went over to the bed and started jumping on it – just for fun. Then he got out his Pokéballs and looked at them. He clicked the first one and Girafarig came out.

“Giiii” neighed the Girafarig. She was obviously pleased to see him as she licked him over the face.

“Aw…OK you can stop now. Please stop!” Will had to push Girafarig’s face away to make it stop licking. Girafarig got bored of this and managed to find its way into the closet. It found a nice cushion and sat down to rest.

Will took the other one and brought it over to the balcony. He clicked that one and Feebas came out into the ocean. It looked confused as to where it was but eventually saw a Dewgong and joined in with its splashing game.

Now that both Pokemon were happy, Will set about trying to make himself happy, and the only way to do that was to find some food. He was pretty sure that Girafarig and Feebas would be happy on their own so he set about trying to find the restaurant.

Will shut the door and started walking to the right. It was only then that he heard a muffling sound and a ping:

“Hello, this is your captain speaking. In about five minutes, we shall be leaving Lilycove City and setting off to Vermillion City. On the way, we shall stop off at the Hokanto Belt – home to the beautiful island of Aurora Rora. There, the ship will dock and you can explore the island for yourself. After that, the ship will set sail and we should dock in Vermillion by the morning. Thank you for listening.”

Will remembered that Feebas was still playing with the Dewgong. He rushed around to the left of the ship – trying to see Feebas. He felt he was going around in circles but eventually found him. The Dewgong it was playing with had brought a few of its friends along. There was a Shellder and its parent Cloyster, a group of Staryu, and even a pair of doting Golduck were joining in the splashing fun.

“Feebas – it’s time you came back in your Pokéball. We’re going to Vermillion now. Come on!” Will shouted at the Feebas. It was obviously having a great time. The other Pokemon were admiring its metallic body and it was good at making waves. Eventually – after many minutes of saying what looked like goodbye to its friends – Feebas came into distance of where Will could send him back him to his Pokéball.

It was only then that Will realised that Girafarig was still in the cabin. He rushed back the opposite way to C47 and the door slid open. Luckily everything was still there. Even the pile of money was on the bed where he left it. The only difference was that Girafarig had dragged her mauve cushion from out of the closet and right next to the Steinway piano. Will took out Girafarig’s Pokéball and Girafarig cam back with a flash of scarlet light. Now that both Pokemon were by his side, Will resumed his search for the restaurant.

Will shut the door and turned along to the left. He was walking much slower now so he could take in much more of the surrounding panorama. The sun was now well through its journey through the sky and was coming down to rest. It filled the sky with ruby coloured light. There was not a cloud in the sky and there was an atmosphere that everything was going to be fine. The Pokemon that Feebas was playing with were following Will around and were trying to wave at him. Eventually, he realised and waved back.

It was only after the marine Pokemon went back to splashing each other that Will noticed a door he hadn’t seen before. It had a gold plaque like the other C cabin rooms, which was labelled – Conference Room – and there was also a sign on the door, which read, “DMC Shareholders DVD – everyone welcome!”

Will – being the curious little guy that he was – had a look in. When he looked in – after turning on the lights – he found the only room so far that disgraced the Orion’s sparkling reputation. The shabby grey wallpaper was peeling at the edges. The floor had pieces of pink and purple chewing gum and was made of badly designed and placed nylon tiles. The few chairs that were the plastic types seen in schools were just as dilapidated as the rest of the surroundings.

Although the interior put Will off, his sense of curiosity urged him to keep looking. He ventured into the dilapidated room and started searching for something that brought the room up to the standard of the Orion. The only two things he found were a pull-down screen and a projector – both at opposite sides of the room.

“Boring…” Will muttered to himself and he began to walk towards the end of the room. Just as about he was going to leave, something was tugging from the belt. Suddenly, a flash of scarlet light blinded the room in brightness and Girafarig emerged from her Pokéball.

“Girafarig – what are you doing out of your Pokéball?” Will shouted at Girafarig, but a quiet shout as not to alert anyone. Girafarig wasn’t listening. She was practically sprinting down to where the projector was.

When Girafarig arrived at the projector, she closed her eyes and seemed to go under meditation like Xatu did. When she opened her eyes, her pupils were glowing bright scarlet and they were literally lit up like fire. She opened her mouth and a rainbow coloured beam spurted out. It the projector with force and it shattered with the sheer power of the Psychic attack. When Girafarig decided it was thoroughly broken, her pupils returned to the normal auburn colour.

“What the hell have you done?” Will shouted at Girafarig. At this, she came bounding towards him, with tongue at the ready.

“…Your ideas are the stupidest I’ve ever heard…” a mysterious crackly voice was heard in the distance. Fear struck Will’s body like a hammer struck a nail. He was a real coward and fell to pieces in the face of danger. Instead of running to hide, he just stayed there, rooted to the spot, waiting for the voice to draw ever so closer.

The voice became a silhouette. The silhouette opened the door to reveal Drucilla Maprive and James Roberts. Drucilla was wearing the same satin dress, but this time in mauve. Her wig was absent and her hair still flew over the place in its wiry state. James on the other hand was feeling more relaxed (even though he was carrying about four or five carrier bags). He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts. They were almost as dazzling as Girafarig’s Pokéball light.

“Who the hell are you?” Drucilla asked coldly and viciously, “And what are you doing here?”

“My mother said I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.” Will pulled a sarcastic smile and turned around.

Drucilla’s face turned the colour of her blood vessels. “I’ll give you one more chance.” She spoke in a calmer voice – although it was behind gritted teeth. “Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?”

“Sorry…not going to talk to you.” Will was still facing the other way, more interesting in Girafarig – who was fiddling with some plastic chairs. “Anyways, I don’t even need to see you to tell that you are some sort of hybrid between a dried prune and a warthog.”
At that, Drucilla literally blew a gasket. Her face had turned the colour like when you try to hold your breath and fail. If this was a cartoon, steam would be coming out of the ears and she’d have a twitch in her eye. She marched forward, feet stamping and went in front of Will:

“Nobody calls me a hybrid of a dried prune and a warthog and gets away with it! Do you know who I am?”

Will did the eyebrow thing where one of them moves and the other doesn’t, before giving a short and sweet answer: “No!”

After heavy panting and muttering about children and video games, Drucilla finally came back with a response: “I am Drucilla Maprive – founder, owner, all around boss of the DM Corporation. I have reserved this room for my presentation for allowing more people to join my organisation. You are trespassing on my property. Please leave now.”

“I don’t think you’ll be doing any presentation, my old hybrid. Your projector is broken.” Will smiled as Drucilla ran over to the projector and tried to piece it back together.

“You…you…you’ve broken my projector. I demand vengeance. You shall pay up every penny for this expensive piece of equipment.” Drucilla cast an evil smile upon her face.

“No can do my wrinkled up cabbage. I didn’t break it – Girafarig did. If you want vengeance, you’ll have to see her. The evil smirk was wiped off Drucilla’s face as her whole plan had fallen apart by a Pokemon.

“Fine I’ll give her some vengeance…in a Pokemon battle. It will be your Girafarig versus my…Ditto. Right here – right now.” Drucilla felt she had Will backed into a corner.

“OK if you’re sure. Call out your Pokemon then. The duel shall be one-on-one.” Will was coming out of the corner with sword in hand.

By this time, James had already hid behind the screen. The fear had struck him just as Drucilla’s voice struck Will

“Fine. One-on-one it is. Prepare to lose – sonny boy!” Drucilla whispered – in a tone of evil and malice. She pushed her wrinkled and skeletal hand into a hidden compartment of her dress and cam out with a Pokéball in hand. She clicked it and a scarlet light emerged that filled the room.

And out of the Pokéball came a gelatinous blob. Its body had no features whatsoever. All it had was a pair of eyes and a mouth that looked incredibly crooked. Its body was a metallic blue and sparkled like Feebas’ did.

“Hahahahahaha – my shiny burnished Ditto can stop any Pokemon in its tracks. Do you have a shiny Pokemon?” Drucilla laughed viciously.
“As a matter of fact I do – but I don’t want to spoil its sheen. That’s why I’m calling in Girafarig. If does as much damage to your pile of sludge as it did to your projector, then I’m pretty sure this is already in the bag.” N evil smirk was cast upon Will’s face now. He whistled and Girafarig came bounding down from the other side of the room.

“Girafarig! Use a Psybeam – hopefully it will disintegrate this Ditto!”

Girafarig nodded its head and shut its eyes. When they opened, the pupils were back to their fiery state. It opened its mouth and the same coloured rainbow beam shot out of its mouth and was heading straight for the Ditto.

Drucilla still had a smile on her face. She waited until just when the Psybeam was going to hit when she gave her command:

“Ditto – Mirror Coat!” Ditto burnished body turned into a reflective coat. You couldn’t see Ditto’s eyes or mouth. All you could see was this blob that seemed to be coated with a substance that made mirrors.

As soon as the Psybeam hit Ditto’s reflective body, it bounced straight back at Girafarig. The beam hit Girafarig with full force and she collapsed to the floor.

“Giiii!” Girafarig cried in excruciating pain. She eventually got up and tried again.

“Come on – try again. This time from a different angle, so it doesn’t reflect back onto you.” Will couldn’t figure out how a Ditto could know anything else other than Transform.

Girafarig nodded its head and moved to the side. Ditto on the other hand, stayed motionless. Girafarig closed her eyes and opened them with the fiery pupils blazing strong. The rainbow beam shot out again, but just reflected off the mirrored body. This time, the beam was reflected onto the screen – where James screamed and ran to hide under a pile of chairs.

“Hahahahahaha – none of your pathetic Psychic attacks will have any effect on Ditto while its Mirror Coat is working. I think this battle is well and truly over.” Drucilla’s evil smirk grew into a greater evil grin.

Will scowled, while Girafarig ran around the room in a dizzy state and Ditto still stayed stationary. There must have been a way to break that mirror somehow – but it wasn’t by Psychic attacks. It was only then that Will realised about Girafarig’s hooves.

“Girafarig! Stop running around and listen! Your Psychic attacks have no effect on Ditto – so try stomping your hoof down on it. It might smash the mirror.” Will was sure of this tactic. Drucilla on the other hand, just yawned and took a seat on one of the plastic chairs.

Girafarig looked a bit confused at first, but nodded her head. She galloped up to Ditto and stomped her hoof down on the Ditto’s body before it had a chance to move – although it probably wouldn’t have moved anyway. The mirror then cracked, and then shattered just as quickly as Girafarig destroyed the projector.

“What the…?” Drucilla shot up off the chair and looked stunned for the first time in the match. James was still quivering underneath the chairs and was saying the “Our Father” to himself as the duel continued. “It doesn’t really matter though. Ditto can keep on using Mirror Coat until you run our of stomping power.”

“Not if I’ve got anything to do with it. Girafarig – Psybeam the defenceless Ditto!”

“Oh no you don’t! Ditto – Mirror Coat!”

Ditto tried to nod like Girafarig but failed. By the time it turned around and started to bring out its shield – the Psybeam had already struck it with full strength. Ditto was lifted into the air for a couple of seconds while its blue body turned from scarlet to indigo and back to a lighter blue before the Psybeam ended and it fell to the floor.

“What…? How…? What…?” Drucilla couldn’t believe it. Her prized Ditto whom she looked after and cared for with all of whatever remained of the heart. “Well, I suppose you win…this time. We’ll have to find somewhere else to show our presentation. I don’t think well meet again so farewell…sonny boy!”

With that, Drucilla dragged her trembling son and her fainted Ditto out of the room and onto the left hand side. Will came over to the shattered Girafarig and gave her a hug. He then got out his Pokemon and called Girafarig inside.

Will took one last look at the decrepit room before turning the lights off and shutting the door. He turned around and resumed his search for the restaurant – the reason he had gotten into this mess. After walking about 5 or so yards, his walking was interrupted by another intercom message:

“Hello, this is your captain speaking. We have arrived at the unspoilt island of Aurora Rora. The ship shall soon be docking into the port and you can depart and enjoy the beautiful beaches and dense jungles. Then you can watch the spectacular fireworks display provided by the staff of the Orion. We shall then sail through the night and arrive at Vermillion City in the morning. Thank you for listening, goodbye.”

Will looked at the island from the railings and gaped in awe at the sheer beauty of it. It was only then that he realised that he’d seen that jungle before…sometime not long ago.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Will seems to get over Xatu killing someone fairly quickly.

Say, why does Drucilla look all haggard if she's 55? (for reference, that's around Oak's age)

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

You'll understand a bit more about Drucilla's appearance later on in the story. It's quite gruesome so I won't share it here... and for spoiler's sake! Thanks for the review

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

Chapter 5: Aurora Rora Trauma

This is the final chapter I posted on SPP before giving up due to lack of responses. So from now on... it could take days before I post a new chapter. Well, enjoy...

***

Chapter 5: Aurora Rora Trauma

It was now 6:00pm. The sun was setting in the sky while the stars were just waking up from their sleep. The sky was painted a darkened indigo while the moon shone like a beacon in the night.

Everyone was happy. Girafarig was running around the main beach of Aurora Rora, while Feebas was playing with its friends. It turns out they swam all the way from Lilycove to play with Feebas again. Even Will had found a place on the beach to sunbathe the hours away.

The beach was a haven of golden beauty. The sun shone its light down and made the beach a picturesque sandy place of splendour. The sand was the ying, and the sea was the yang. The ocean boasted more exotic temperatures than back in Lilycove, so more glamorous Pokemon lived there. Wailmer and Sharpedo found their new oceanic friends very entertaining and joined in the splashing game with Feebas.

Although sunbathing had its perks, Will was one of those people who couldn’t stay still for more than five minutes. Eventually the thrill of absent sunlight coming down on your body wore off. He was more into exploring than just lying down and doing nothing.

Will got off his orange sun bed and started to think more about the jungle he saw when he first saw the island. He knew he had seen that jungle somewhere before, but he still couldn’t think where. Well, the only way he would clear his mind was to go into the jungle and figure it out for himself.

He figured Girafarig and Feebas would be OK on their own, so he grabbed his clothes (he was only wearing his scarlet swim shorts) and got changed behind a palm tree. Now that he was wearing more suitable clothes for exploring (a ruby T-shirt, navy shorts, and white trainers) he set off into the jungle.

To get to the jungle was harder than he thought. The beach itself spread a further distance area than he realised, and it took at least five minutes (and countless palm trees) before he left the beach to its own business.

After eventually leaving the beach, he seemed to enter what seemed like a miniature forest. There were trees of all kind: sycamore, oak, birch, pine, maple, cedar, fir and many more types that Will didn’t know the name of. Also, instead of walking on sand, the terrain had changed to grass. Will didn’t seem to care about his new surroundings as he could see the jungle ahead – and the gigantic stone wall that guarded it.

“What the…?” Will was stunned at the fact that a stone barrier guarded him from knowing the secrets of the jungle. He ran towards the stone wall and started to see if there was a hidden passage that he might crawl through.

Although, after countless minutes of searching, there wasn’t a hidden passage, there was something that caught his interest. Near where he first started looking, he found two little holes in the wall. Above them there were engravings of skeletons. The one on the left had a gold skeleton and the one on the right had a silver skeleton. Where had he seen those before?

“Aha!” Will shouted to himself. The keys that Xatu had given him, one was gold, the other, silver – and they both were in the shape of skeletons. Without a moments thought, he started to run back to his cabin.

As he ran through the forest, wild Shroomish from underneath oak tree started to sprinkle their Spore clouds on the Wurmple and Weedle. He came back to the beach and saw that Feebas was still playing the splashing game (although Wailmer’s splashes blew the competition away) and Girafarig was still running around in its dizzy state. He still thought he’d be all right on their own, so he headed for the ship.

The ships walkway still had its scarlet satin lace on it, but that didn’t matter as Will ran straight up it and into a nearby lift. After quickly pressing the button 5 – so that no one else would come in – the lift zoomed up and came to a stop (with a ping).

Will ran out of the lift and headed left towards his room. Many people had already gathered along the bank of the ship to watch the fireworks display, but didn’t really notice the teenager frantically running around looking for his cabin. After eventually finding it, he slotted the ticket into the hole and the door opened.

The room was the same as how he had left it beforehand. The money was still on he bed and everything else was in its place – including the keys. Will picked the keys up from the top of the safe and dashed out as quickly as he came in.

After running down the lift and out onto the beach, everything was still as it was. Girafarig was now lying down having a sleep, and Feebas and company had found a Seadra to play in the splashing game. He quickly checked that they were OK, and then ran off into the forest.

The forest – like everything else – was the same as before. In Will’s sudden 5-minute absence from the woodland, no tree had lost its leaves or had suddenly withered and died a gruesome death by a Parasect. He ran through all the trees until he reached the stone wall. It was only then that the changes started to happen.

The keyholes were absent. Will searched the whole stone to see if he was dreaming, but after four or five times going round (although he couldn’t really tell), he concluded that they had vanished. Although there probably was a reasonable explanation, Will couldn’t think of one at the moment. He decided to just leave it – it would probably be one of those things that you think of just when it’s too late.

He walked back through the forest to find that there were more people on the beach than there were before. Will came up to a plump man wearing similar clothes to what James Roberts was and asked:

“What’s all the fuss about?” Will asked with a confused look upon his face. It was one of those looks that a prepubescent girl would use to get attention.

“Oh – the captain’s just hopped off and left. None of us know where to find him! And just before the fireworks display…” The gentleman then started talking to a nearby palm tree to see if the captain was hiding behind it – he wasn’t!

Feeling tense now, Will quickly sent Girafarig And Feebas back into their Pokéballs and rushed back to his cabin in the ship. As he ran up the lift and down the hall, some thing told him that there would be something new and uneasy in the air.

It was only when he got to his cabin that the palaver started to happen. Everyone was crowded around it and was staring into the slot hole like it was some sort of magical genie about to grant them all their wishes and desires.

“Oi!” Will shouted at the bemused and baffled passengers. They were like little children salivating to get sugar. “What do you think you are doing?”

The anxious passengers stopped looking through the hole and turned to face Will. A group of old people pushed another overweight man (like the one talking to the palm tree – he was dressed like him as well) to the front and ushered him to explain:

“Erm…erm…we can hear music. It seems like someone’s screaming their lungs off. Have you got any Meowth in there?”

“No! Of course not. Honestly…people today. Let me through!!! This is my cabin you know!” Will shouted sternly at them as he barged his way through the crowds. He got the ticket from his left pocket and thrust it into the door. The door clicked and he opened it.

“See…nothing to worry abo – AAAAAAAAAGH!” Will screamed at the top of his voice. He sounded just like his mother did when his dad dropped one of her Ming vases.

He had every right to scream though – his room had been vandalised. Instead of having a Gorebyss-Huntail battle on the walls, the vandals had painted a Sharpedo and a Wailord biting the Sharpedo’s head off. They weren’t even good paintings. They’d painted Sharpedo bright crimson and the Wailord a sort of puke-ish colour.

On the other hand, there was no actual damage taken from the cabin. All that the vandals must have done was painted the mural of he grotesque Sharpedo-Wailord battle. It seemed as though they’d added something though as there was a Hi-Fi in the middle (where Xatu was pecking the porter to death) and was playing the “screeching Meowth” music.

“Opera?” Will asked himself. He then wondered where the portly gentleman outside got the “Screeching Meowth” thing from. Meowths normally purr softly. He pressed the off button, and then picked up a piece of paper that looked like a greetings card. The front cover was blank, so he opened it to see what was inside:

We have the Captain
And you have what we want
Meet us in the Conference Room
So we can switch
If you don’t
You stay here forever
I’d think long and hard
If I was you

Will read it to himself over and over again to see if it made sense to him. After about the fifth time, he realised he needed to go to the room with something that these people wanted. He grabbed things that he thought were vaguely interesting: the scroll; everything Xatu gave him from the vault; the Pokéballs containing Girafarig and Feebas; the bed linen (it looked valuable) and put them into a rucksack he had brought with him. He put the rucksack onto his back and left the cabin as it was.

Will walked around the top deck until he found the Conference Room. He walked inside to see that it was exactly as it was left before – dilapidated. It was only then that he heard a voice – a creaky, squeaky voice:

“You have what I want – little boy…come closer…closer…NO – DON’T TURN ON THE LIGHTS!!!” The voice started shouting at Will. He took no notice and turned them on. “AAAAAAAAAGH! The light – it burns!”

Will only had to take one look at the wretched woman to realise what she was up to. The warthog-prune hybrid as Will called her was sitting on one of the dishevelled chairs with a gun pointed to the captains head.

The captain – although being gagged and bounded to a chair – was actually feeling quite comfortable. The Bermuda shorts and Hawaiian shirts seemed to be popular with sea-goers – even the he was wearing them. Other than his balding grey hair and the fact that he was tied to a chair with a gun pointed at his head – he seemed fine.

“What do you want now?” Will asked Drucilla. He had his arms folded and wanted a good explanation from her.

Drucilla cast an evil smirk on her face. “Oh nothing…nothing…just…your scroll!” The evil smirk grew into a Cheshire Cat grin – without most of the pearly white teeth though.

“What? You can’t have it – it’s mine!” Will clutched the scroll – which he had gotten out of his bag – tightly by his chest.

“Oh well – say bye bye to your precious captain.” Drucilla grin grew into something much more than a grin – it was more of a beam. She then cocked the gun and you could hear the captain starting to panic. Luckily for him – Will had a plan.

“OK…fine. Kill the captain. We’ll all be stranded here – but so will you” The smirk/grin/beam transferred from Drucilla’s face to Will’s. Drucilla was left with a blank look of shock on her face. Although Will was no relation to her, or an acquaintance – he was absolutely right. Although she had three Pokemon in her arsenal, not one of them could swim or fly. If she pulled the trigger, she’d be sealing her own fate as well.

Drucilla retracted the gun and removed the bandages and rope that she had gagged him with. She then went to the pull-down screen – which was still as useful as a chocolate kettle – and dragged her degenerate son out of the room.

“This isn’t the last you’ll here from me – you’ve made an enemy of the wrong…wrong…person. You’ll regret you crossed paths with Drucilla Maprive you…you…what’s your name again?” Drucilla scowled at Will – who still had his arms folded

“Oh just go!” Will scowled back at her. Drucilla scowled for a final time before dragging her son off to the left and out of sight.

Will then turned to the captain. He was brushing down some dust that he had received off the chairs.

“O thank you, thank you so much. Is there anything I can do to repay my debt?”

Will thought about his offer for a bit, then fiddled around in his pockets for the Johto map and pulled it out

“What’s the nearest port in Johto?"

***

Will was lying in his room. Girafarig was curled up on the floor and Feebas was in its Pokéball. It was then that Will heard the call:

“Could William Pinewood please leave the ship – we have arrived in Olivine.”

Will sent Girafarig back in its Pokéball and picked his bags up. He then left his cabin – for the final time and made his way off the ship, and onto Johto mainland.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

I am highly amused that someone actually said "The light--it burns"

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

I like to put a bit of comedy into all my stories. I've started the 6th chapter and it should be up by Monday... hopefully.