Chapter Eight: Figures from
the Past
We walked further into the gloom of the Evil Forest. Domino and Ash walking slightly ahead of me while I kept myself prepared for a rear attack on our party.
“You know, we should have had at least ten attempted attacks on us by now.” Said a clearly unhappy Domino, she stopped with her hands on her hips and looked around.
“This just isn’t right.” She concluded
I nodded
“I know what you mean, this isn’t Evil Forest, sure it looks Evil but, nothings happening, where are all the Mist Monsters?”
“That monster back there was bad enough.” Muttered Ash
“Oh that was nothing, just wait until you see a Kraken.” Said Domino giving Ash a large and very cheeky grin which made him turn white.
“Are there Krakens in this forest?” he asked in a shaky voice.
“Nah, besides, I’m around so don’t worry, I can fight my way out of anything.” Said Domino, regaining some of her cockiness which I had come to associate with the genome I had been a friend with for all these years.
Something rustled in the trees behind me, something or some things getting closer by the second, I turned and saw ghostly shapes in the mist approaching.
“Err, Dom, we might have to test that theory out.” I said, the tone in my voice instantly alerting Domino to the danger approaching, she turned around and walked back to me, her sword drawn.
Something cat shaped bounced out of the Mist in front of us and shouted
“Meowth!”
I groaned, with Meowth about there could only be one meaning
“Prepare for trouble!” shouted a male voice in the mist
“Oh no, Not these idiots.” Muttered Domino as she relaxed slightly
“And make it double!” came a female voice from the same direction
“Team Rocket?! What are they doing here?!” said Ash, his eyes wide open in shock.
“To prevent the world from devastation!” continued the voices
“To unite all people within our nation!”
“To denounce the evils of truth and love!”
“They must have followed me through the portal, sorry Domino.” Said Ash
Domino sighed and placed her hand on her forehead
“To extend our reach to the stars above!”
“Jesse.”
“James.”
“SHUT UP!!!” yelled Domino as she finally lost her temper
Two figures emerged from the mist in front of us, the forms of Jesse and James of Team Rocket walked forward and stopped staring at us.
“You!” yelled James as he pointed at Ash
“And your friends from another planet?!” asked Jesse, a little confused
“What are you doing here?!” asked Meowth
“You answer the same question first.” I said, walking forward and standing face to face with Jesse
“No, we asked first!” protested James
Dominos blade hovered point first inches from James face, he stared cross-eyed at the sword point and gulped
“Err, ok, we followed Ash through the portal to try and steal any Pokemon he caught.” He quickly blurted out
Jesse glared at him and turned her back on us.
“Hmm, well it’s not safe for you to be here you know, we’d better get all of you back through the portal.” I said to them.
James sighed and put his wrist to his forehead
“I told you this wasn’t a good idea Jesse.” He muttered.
I was about to comment when a noise made me stop and struggle to listen to it, Domino had heard it too for she had fallen silent.
“An airship?” she asked in confusion.
“And low too, very low.” I confirmed as the noise grew louder.
Ahead we could see a chink of light which indicated the edge of the forest was near and Domino suddenly broke into a run, sprinting for the forest edge.
“Domino, wait!” I shouted at her, unsure what to do with Team Rocket and Ash, turning to them I yelled
“Well, don’t just stand there you idiots, follow me!”
We all ran after Domino, I had no idea what the genome was doing, perhaps she was unsure as to the airships intentions, it sounded like it may be coming into land, if that was the case then it would be common sense to see who was on it.
Domino stood crouched at the edge of the forest, using some bushes as cover as she watched out on the marshland beyond us, I crouched behind her indicating the others to do the same as we watched events unfold.
“Ah, our chariot awaits!” called Fury from his position sitting on a tree trunk.
“What do you mean?” asked Ilvian
Fury pointed to the southern sky over the forest, moving quickly towards us at a very low altitude was a flying ship.
“An airship?” I asked
Fury nodded
“The only way we’ll get anywhere on this planet.” He said
The ship came in lower and slowly stopped not far from us.
Fury looked around, distracted, almost as though he felt something was wrong.
“You go on ahead, I want to check something.” He said to me, motioning me to lead Ilvian and the old man onto the airship.
The cloaked figure walked closer to our hiding place, my fingers tightened around my sword, I knew that this party of people meant no good for they had Lawrence with them, I was in shock seeing my creator, I thought I had finished him when I had saved the Phoenix but evidently I had failed and now he had a strange man and two silver type genomes working for him.
The cloaked figure moved over to our bushes and stared directly at me, our eyes connected, I couldn’t see much detail in his face as he wore a dragon shaped mask which concealed all facial features but his mouth. I could feel hate and rage flowing from him, it was contagious, almost entrancing.
<Keep out of this genome, you cannot stop us.> said a hollow male voice in my head as the figure turned away.
I jumped, a telepathic communication! This was extremely rare! I had to know more.
I stood up and went to run out over to him but some small roots twisted their way out of the ground and wrapped themselves around my ankles trapping me on the spot, as the figure walked away I tried to talk to him.
<Who are you?> was the only question I could muster.
The figure stopped and looked back at me, I could see the edges of his mouth curl up in an evil sneer.
<You’ll find out soon genome, you will all find out!> he warned me before turning and walked over into the airship which then powered up and headed due west. Shortly after it left the roots holding my feet down returned into the ground.
Fury stormed into the cabin and slammed the door behind him.
“Damn that stupid genome!” he shouted, kicking a chair across the room.
The old man looked up from the corner
“You refer to Yugami I take it?” he said with a smile
“Yes, I bloody well do!” cursed Fury
“She was my best creation.” Chuckled the old man
“She’s smart Lawrence, too smart, if she figures out what’s going on we’ll be sunk before we start.”
Lawrence leaned back in his chair
“Calm down Fury, she couldn’t possibly know who you are, or indeed where we are going. I’ve worked a long time to set this plan in motion. For three years I’ve bided my time on Terra, making the occasional trip to Gaia, staying well hidden for fear of meeting her. I’ve taken into account everything. There is no way we can fail. Within one month we will rule this planet Fury.”
“I will rule this planet Lawrence, don’t forget your place.” Warned Fury, his temper barely contained
“Whatever you say.” Muttered Lawrence.
Fury growled and opened the door, he stalked out of the room and swung the door shut behind him, it slammed once again.
“What’s up with him?” I asked
“He’s just confused, don’t worry Ilvian, he’ll be ok, we all will be.”
“You know my name…Lawrence?” I asked, my facial features turning to a frown
“Of course I do Ilvian, and you Rhiana. I helped give you those names…a long time ago.”
I jumped backwards in shock, could the frail old man before us really have known us that long ago, back in the days before the gold type genomes, back in the days when we served a purpose rather than cannon fodder.
“Tell me more.” I commanded him, sitting down next to him.
“Well, it began a long time ago, before Terra was destroyed by the Borg…”
“Well, that was unusual.” I said when I walked over to Dominos side, Team Rocket and Ash forgotten for a moment.
“He…he spoke to me.” She muttered quietly
“He did what?” I asked
“He spoke to me, telepathically.” She replied
I sat down next to her where she lay sprawled on the ground where she had fallen when the roots released her. We both looked to the sky where the airship had left, I didn’t recognise the type of airship.
“Do you know what airship that was?” I asked her
She slowly shook her head
“Could have been from any city, private probably.” She replied quietly “If Thunderchild was here…he’d know.” She added sombrely
“What was that all about?” asked Ash as he walked up behind us
“I dunno,” said Domino as she stood up “But I didn’t like the sound of it, as soon as Thunderchilds funeral is over I’ve got to find out what’s going on. Things are getting very odd around here.” She muttered
And so we turned around and walked back into the Evil forest and almost immediately we were attacked by four Axolotls, the attack surprised both me and Domino as the forest had been so quiet before.
Hastily drawing our swords we prepared for battle.
Uncertainty swirled within me.
Who are you? She had asked me, simple words from a simple being.
I knew who I was, I was Fury, I knew what I was going to do, rule Gaia…but I didn’t really know who I was, I am who I am.
Standing at the front of the airship, the sea moving below me I watched the seagulls keeping pace with the ship, out of sheer boredom and anger I sent a fireball at one of them, with an alarmed squawk the bird plummeted out of the way and returned gliding on the wind at a lower altitude.
I cursed, nothing I did worked!
I had been doing fine until I had met that blasted genome, and now I was shot to pieces.
Never mind I thought Get away, get ready and then this world will be mine.
Lawrence assured me that Domino could be defeated, the ‘infamous’ Domino was weaker than we all thought, I hoped he was right because in Domino I sensed the strength, the direction and the ability to stop me, to stop my plans and destroy who I was.
And this was unacceptable.
The battle had ended, again, and again we were victorious. It was the fifth monster we had had to fight since re-entering the Evil Forest, I was confused, before hand the forest had been quiet, now it seemed almost alive with monsters of all sorts.
I wondered if it had something to do with that mysterious figure, his appearance and warnings bothered me, but not as much as seeing Lawrence again, I was sure that I had killed him before, sure that his hatred was gone and that I was free to live my life again but I had been wrong.
The Silver type genomes, what were they doing with him? They looked so familiar too. I shook my head, there were too many unanswered questions, and I didn’t like unanswered questions, they tended to lead to nasty surprises.
Team Rocket were arguing again.
“This is all your fault James!” shouted Jesse, her red hair swirling about her as she turned on her team partner.
“And how is it my fault?” he retorted, running a hand through his blue hair
“If you had never suggested following Ash then we’d never be in this mess.”
“But it was you who suggested it…”
“I did no such thing! It was you!” Jesse screamed at him
“Wasn’t!”
“Was!!”
“Wasn’t!!” the argument began to get louder and louder until I had had enough and I turned on them and screamed
“Will you two just QUIT IT!!!”
The arguers stopped and looked at me
“He started it.” Muttered Jesse
“I did not!” protested James
“Did!” yelled Jesse, I sighed as I could see another argument erupting.
Alex walked in between the two and grabbed them by their shirts
“Look, unless you want us to leave you to the Mist monsters by yourselves, which believe me, is a tempting idea, then you can stop arguing and start helping us!” she warned them
I smiled, Alex was quite a force to be reckoned with when riled. One of the many reasons I was glad she was a friend and not an enemy.
Jesse and James looked very sheepish and stayed quiet. Meowth clamped a hand over his mouth as his cat like shoulders shook in laughter
Ash walked up beside me
“Are we at the portal yet?” he asked
“I think so,” I replied pointing towards a cave entrance “I think that’s it there.”
Ash nodded and smiled
“Thanks for your help Domino.” He said
“That’s ok, just in future stay on your world, it’s quite dangerous here. And I have a horrible feeling that things are going to get more dangerous.”
“What do you mean?” he asked
“That man, the one who talked to me. He’s up to something, both him and Lawrence, they’re plotting something but I don’t know what. As soon as Thunderchilds funeral is over I’m going to find out.”
“Who’s Thunderchild?”
I sighed and sniffed once, until just now I hadn’t thought of him and his recent death, I had forced my mind to think of other things to keep me from sorrow, it seemed wrong but it was the only way I could keep going and do what needed to be done.
“He was my husband.” I replied sadly
“You were married? Domino, I didn’t know!”
I grinned slightly but sorrowfully
“Yeah, it happened after I left your world, about a year after. I met him shortly after he was teleported to this world, it’s a long story Ash and I don’t really feel like recounting it. Ask Alex, she’ll tell you.”
Ash nodded and walked over to Alex, presumably to ask her.
I walked over and into the cave, leaving the rest of the party behind. Inside it was the shimmering form of the portal I was familiar with, what surprised me was that it seemed to have been left open, as though it had not long been used.
I looked at the scene on the other side of the portal, it was of a desert like place, a few rock and boulders littered the landscape and there was some ruins nearer the portal. I didn’t recognise the world but it wasn’t the Pokemon world to which this portal was usually linked. I knew vaguely how to change the destinations of the portals but there were so many combinations it could take a while to find them all.
I sighed, this could take longer than I thought.
Reigannas POV
Yugami and Alex had been gone for several hours now but I expected them to be
gone longer than that, after all Yugami had a long way to go.
And so I was left with Mikoto to deal with Kuja, I cared for him but had no idea how to begin to explain his past to him.
So I sat down on the bed next to him and placed my hands on my lap.
“Reiganna?” I asked
“Hmm?”
“I spoke to Alex this morning, I’ve done many bad things in my past haven’t I?”
I nodded
“Yes, but that doesn’t necessarily make you a bad person…take Yugami for example.”
“What about her?”
I brushed away a strand of silver hair and continued
“Well, Lawrence, our creator, specially modified her, originally she was a silver type genome like you and I but Lawrence made her different, tried to add Bahamut to her but she became too unstable.”
“Unstable?”
I nodded
“Yes, she is a killing machine, more so than you or I, bred to destroy the enemy which destroyed Terra but used to attack Gaia and but for the chance of a young female scientist Yugami wouldn’t be the person she is today.”
“What did she do?”
I sighed and bowed my head slightly
“She wiped out quite a few towns, no survivors. She did many bad things in her life but it was her design, and it’s in the past. That’s the important thing Kuja, time heals old wounds so they say. There are still people in this world who are afraid of her, like there are people on Gaia who will be terrified of you, or hate you. Alex is one of them, but you’re not the same person now as you were then, now you have a chance to be someone else, to do good the wrongs you did.”
Kuja looked at me with his piercing purple eyes which reminded me so much of Yugami and said
“I think I know what you mean Reiganna and I thank you, but please, tell me what I did, so that I know what wrongs I have to put right.”
I sighed again, I had hoped to skirt this subject completely but now it looked like I’d have to tackle it head on.
“Well, it all began about three years ago when the Queen of Alexandria for no reason destroyed the Cleyra settlement, her step-daughter Garnet Till Alexandros was with Zidane at the time, he’d tell you more…from then on though, you became a major player in world events…”
“Well, that sure as hell doesn’t look like home.” Muttered Jesse at the desert landscape that she could see through the portal
“I know, I know, I’ve just got to focus on changing the destination.” Replied Domino, her face strained
I walked over to her side and whispered to her
“Are you alright Dom?”
She nodded wearily
“A little tired, the portal is fighting me all the way, I’ve never known it to be this resilient, almost as though it’s under the control of someone else.”
I nodded
“Do you think it has something to do with Lawrence?” I asked her
She nodded
“Unfortunately I have a horrible feeling it does. I never expected to see him again.”
“I thought you killed him.”
“So did I, but it appears I was mistaken.”
The portal shimmered and switched to a large city with a stadium like building in the centre.
“That’s it!” shouted Ash “It’s the Pokemon centre in Viridian city!”
“Right,” sighed Domino, her strength spent “You’d better go through then and quickly, in case something goes wrong.”
Ash nodded and shook both mine and Dominos hand
“Thank you Domino and thank you Alex, I’ll stay on my world from now on.” He promised before walking through the portal with Pikachu which shouted a brief “Pika!” in thanks to us before disappearing with its master.
“Well, I suppose we should thank you.” Said James
“I suppose you should.” I said
“Come on James.” Said Jesse as she pulled her team mate with her through the portal, Meowth jumped along after them and all three disappeared with a flash of light just as the portal flickered and changed to another area, this one another desert like canyon, I couldn’t see if they had managed to pass through ok so hoped they had.
“Oh well, there’s nothing more I can do for them.” Said Domino softly “Let’s hope they got back ok.”
I couldn’t believe what my ears had heard, that old man was our creator?!
We sat in silence for many minutes after Lawrences revelation. That it had been him who had made us, he who had overseen the birth of the genome race.
Ilvian spoke first
“Then…you are my father?” he asked
Lawrence chuckled and nodded
“In a way I suppose, yes I am your father.”
I snorted
“Father? How could he be our father, we weren’t born Ilvian remember, we were made, he just oversaw the project.”
“But still, all this time I never knew…” muttered Ilvian
I shrugged, I couldn’t see what Ilvian found so important in having a father.
“So what, now we know, what difference does it make?”
Ilvian opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the opening of the door into the room, Fury stood in the doorway a small smile on his face.
“We’re here.” He announced
“Where?” I asked
He beckoned to me and walked out of the room, I followed him down the corridor and out onto the deck of the airship where I could see the landscape clearly.
Around us was a desert like land, canyons stretched out in a maze of red brown valleys, Fury pointed at something ahead below the setting sun.
“Look.” He said
I walked to the bow of the ship and shielding the sun from my eyes with my hand I looked at where he was pointing, below us and getting closer as the airship descended was a strange tower, almost like a finger pointing to the sky with a round structure below it.
“What is it?” Ilvian asked from beside me
“That, is our new home for now. It’s not much I’m afraid but there’s a lot we can do to it.”
“After all,” said Lawrence “We’ll have plenty of help.”
I turned, wondering what he meant by that, aside from the crew of this airship, there was only me, Ilvian, Fury and Lawrence on board.
Fury chuckled and then began laughing, that maniacal, insane laugh which seemed to invade the brain and invoke primal feelings of terror. Lawrence merely smiled and nodded to the southern horizon.
Far away in the golden sky a group of black dots were getting larger…
“It all begins here children…” he said.