Title: The Thief, the Artist, and the Crow Part 2: The Point of Chaos
Author: Shadowcat
Shadowcat’s Notes: Ha! The awaited sequel to "The Thief, The Artist, and The Crow"! I plan this to be a three-part Series. ‘Tis
quite violent, so if you can’t take PG-13, don’t read. The first scene in this may even be leaning more on the "R" side. Definitely for
teenage and adult "Pokemon" fans, not for those under 13. I’m telling you, for "Pokemon" fiction, it’s DARK. Also, this story, like the
last one, is unabashedly spiritual. If you hate Christian ideas, don’t flame me, I warned you!
Disclaimers: I don’t own the concept of "Pokemon" and neither do I own any of the characters from the anime or Selebi (Serebii) or
Murkrow (Yamikarasu). I do, however, own the fire-lion Persian-evolution pokemon, Aslanti, whom I made up for my
James-centered fanfiction, "Scarlet Letters", and Tracey’s Aunt Krissy, whom I made up for a *cruddy* little fic "The Art of the
Wild". I also own Marie and Drew Sketchit. And...I own the fictional Pokeworld region of Sonyoura. "Kishi" the moonstone-cat, is
the property of Sforzie, used with permission.
A pair of small dark wings cut the fiery air over the plain. The last Taruos staggered, raising very small clouds of dust with the
plodding of its four hooves. He bellowed and fell to his side. Yamikarasu soared down and looked the great bull in the nose. The
Murkrow nodded his black-feathered head and flapped into the sky once more.
The heavens were filled with black wings as a host of dark carrion birds descended upon the shaggy brown carcass, squawking and
tearing their shares of flesh.
A gaunt, golden-haired cat with a mane of fire and a tail alight with a dull flame stood on the horizon against the setting sun and roared
softly. The lion-pokemon padded upon weary paws into the valley, followed by an even thinner cat that lacked a mane. Tiny flames
flickered from the tips of her ears. She squeaked a kittenish growl as she glanced at her mate.
He neared the writhing black mass that had ensconced itself on the Taruos, meat that his pride sorely needed. The crows glared at
him with glowing ruby eyes. The fire-lion huffed a pathetic growl-sigh and walked with his head and tail drooping out of the valley,
followed by his female, who looked back with a hungry stare at their lost prize. Two great and mighty Alsantis, too weak to be able
to even chase off a flock of lowly Murkrows.
Down in a desolate ravine lay a waterhole. Two groups of people were there, separated by the waters. A mousy-haired woman on
the west shore shouted to the scruffy, middle aged-looking man on the east shore. The man rubbed his broad, blond stubbed chin.
"This is the last clean waterhole for miles! Do you think that I’m going to give it up to you invaders!" The woman yelled.
"Your people better give it up to us, Missy, or there’s gonna be Hell ta’ pay!"
"You’re not sane! Do you think we are going to let you contaminate our last source with the Blight?"
"How do we know that you’re not carriers already, too! My group needs water, and we didn’t trek all the way here to live off of the
dust!"
The people behind the woman mumbled. She trudged out into the water until she was deep up to her thighs. A small black shape
darted in front of her. For a brief instant, she saw it’s flashing red eyes.
"You ain’t a’ takin’ our last water!" she screamed, but was cut short as a sharp cracking sound ripped through the still air and her
body shook from the force of a barrage of bullets. The unshaven man tossed his gun into the water as her form hit the surface, staining
the waves crimson. He yelled a horrible shout of triumph and battle-call as the men and women on the east shore all pulled weapons
out of pockets, off their belts, and from under jackets. The people on the west shore did the same, and everyone stormed out into the
waterhole, muddying the very prize for which they were fighting.
When it was over, Yamikarasu cackled a deep and hellish crow laugh. Not a sign of life remained at the waterhole, which lapped
upon its shores, ruby. A horde of carrion birds filled the skies again and descended.
The sprite-pokemon, Selebi stood upon a hill, grass and bushes suddenly springing up around her, only to wither in the scorching
wind. She looked down into the barren valley. This was not right. This was not the future, the future that she expected to step into on
her daily stroll through the ages.
Ash sat, beads of sweat gathering on his forehead and trickling down his neck. He was on the witness stand at the last leg of the
murder trial of Butch Anhieser and Cassidy Yamamoto. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes as he answered the lawyer’s
questions.
"Yes, Butch fired the shot that...h-hit...Mr. Kenji Sketchit. H-he...Kenji, I mean...jumped in front of me...Mr. Anhieser was aiming
at me."
"You are sure that it was the suspect in question, the honorable Mr. Butch Anhieser here?" The lawyer asked.
"Yes, it was Bu-I mean, Mr. Anhieser."
"Thank you, Mr. Ketchum. You may step down now."
"I would like to call my final witness, your honor," the lawyer stated to the Judge as Ash left the stand to take his seat next to Misty at
the front of the courtroom. Misty looked around. Their old enemies, Butch and Cassidy were in the Defendants’ Box on their right in
blue prison uniforms and handcuffs. Drew Sketchit, Kenji’s father, was in the special seating section next to the stenographer.
Another surprising thing that Misty learned about her friend’s family; Drew was the sketch-artist for the Greater Archipelago Court,
the court on Tangelo that served most of the Orange Islands. He had been here, in the courtroom where a jury decided the guilt or
innocence of the suspects implicated in the murder of his son, every day since the trial had begun the week after his funeral. The Court
offered him leave, this being a trial so close to his heart, but he insisted upon working. He was here even on the days when Ash and
Misty were not. They both had been called to the witness stand today, and for the last several days, during this - the last proceedings
of the trial.
Drew’s sketches would be the only images from the courtroom that would be made available to the general public, via display on
television. This was the first murder trial to have taken place in the normally peaceful Orange Islands for a very long time, and even the
news stations from way out in remote Sonyoura were covering it. However, the Orange Archipelago authorities would allow no
cameras in the courtroom, to avoid a media circus.
Misty glanced at Ash. He looked strange in a royal blue suit and tie, much different from his usual garb, and very haggard. This trial
had been very hard on him. This time on the witness stand had been fairly uneventful, but he had been called up for prior confessions,
and the lawyer for Butch and Cassidy had harangued him terribly. Ash had been asked if Butch had really been the one on the scene
that day, and questioned so much that he almost began to believe that it was someone else. Also, the lawyer had tried to implicate him
in the shooting that had killed Kenji Sketchit and Jessica Lillis, claiming by his testimony of Pikachu’s electrocution of the
suspects-causing their deadly rage, that he was at fault for not training his pokemon properly.
Pikachu was left in the care of Marie back at the Sketchit home. Ash hung his head and sighed.
"Ash, are you okay? You look like you’re about to faint!" Misty whispered.
"It’s okay...I’ll be fine." Ash breathed.
"I call my final witness;" the lawyer shouted. Ash and Misty both gasped as a familiar figure took the stand. "I call Mr. James K.
Rochester."
Misty and Ash stared with blank expressions as they watched the lawyer question and cross-examine James. They had not seen him
since the terrible day of the murders. They had supposed he had gone back to Team Rocket. The Court had been trying to contact
him for his testimony, but had been unable to. They had even put out a warrant for his arrest, pegging him as a possible accomplice
suspect because of his disappearance so shortly after the deaths, even though he had answered questions at that nearest hospital the
day of the murders.
James exited the stand and the jury was called to go into the Jury Room to decide a verdict. They came out forty-eight minutes later.
Ash and Misty held each other and quietly sobbed with relief when the verdict was read: "We the jury find Mr. Butch Anhieser and
Ms. Cassidy Yamamoto guilty of the crime of murder in the deaths of Kenji Sketchit and Jessica Lillis."
Something gnawed at the mind of Misty as she exited the Court into the main outdoor courtyard with Ash. It was something that she
had passed off as nothing more than a dream, a hallucination induced by a mind stressed from the murder of her friend and the trial.
She clearly remembered seeing a strange vision of Kenji, speaking from another realm, telling her that he had "died before his time"
and that they needed to seek out a time-traveling pokemon called Selebi in order to go back in time and prevent what happened.
Drew came up to her and gripped her in a tight embrace. Tears streamed down his reddened cheeks. "Justice!" he cried; "Justice has
won this day!"
Misty nearly had a heart attack as she walked on, only to lock eyes with James. Meowth stood beside him.
"Misty, Misty Williams;" he said graciously as he stuck out his right hand, apparently offering it out for a handshake.
"J-James?!" she asked.
"Misty, am I ever relieved to find you and Ash!"
"Wha-?" Misty’s jaw nearly hit her feet.
"We been’ lookin’ fer ya." Meowth added. "We’s need yas!"
"Hey! What’s going on here?!" Ash asked, stepping up beside Misty, indignant at seeing his old enemy, a member of the organization
whose other members murdered one of his best friends. "Let’s go, Misty."
As Misty and Ash turned to walk away, James pleaded. "Please! We need your help! I-I can’t quite explain this, and I’m not sure
that you’ll believe me, but, but...I saw Jessie...in a weird vision. That is why I came here, to find you."
Misty paused, mid-step.
James continued. "She...was in some sort of void realm. She...and that Watcher kid. She said that they were not supposed to die
and that we had to get together with you so we could find a ‘Selebi’ and prevent them from getting killed."
Misty wearily turned around. She felt lightheaded. Her heart beat in a rapid rhythm, as if trying to break free from her chest.
"Misty! What are you doing?" Ash asked as she stepped back toward the blue-haired man and the cat.
"Y-you...had a vision of Jessie?" she choked through tears... "Tell me...tell me everything."
The void of the vertex of time was a world of white, like fresh snow, but neither warm nor cold, and was permeated with soft light.
Jessie sat cross-legged on what seemed to be a "floor" or "the ground" of this realm, running her fingers down the strange, long white
linen robe that she wore.
Was she wearing it? Was she not wearing it? What is the definition of clothing if you didn’t have a body anymore?
The dark-haired Twerp kid paced, his robe flowing dramatically behind him, as if being carried by a breeze. He suddenly doubled
over in pain.
"What?" Jessie asked. Then she was hit with a powerful feeling.
"We’re fading;" the boy, "Kenji" replied. I talked to Misty and you to James...we can only hope that they find Selebi. It’s only a
matter of time..."
"Even though there is no time here."
"It passes for them. And they must not let too much of it pass...ugh...Yamikarasu is an EVIL, EVIL bird!"
"Well, no duh!!!" Jessie replied curtly. "And Selebi is supposed to prevent all this...how come you knew all this junk when we came
here and I didn’t?"
"Providence...God..."
"God? And why would this God of yours let us get into this mess in the first place if he’s supposed to know everything?"
"Don’t look at me! I don’t have all the answers!"
Kenji and Jessie paused. After a long glance, Jessie changed the subject. "I miss James...and Meowth. I...I wish that they didn’t
have to see me die like that. Meowth’s been with us for a couple of years...James I knew since I was a child...when I met him at
Pokemon Technical Institute after my Daddy sent me there...I-we both dropped out. We’ve been best friends for so
long...inseparable, do you know what I mean?"
"Ash, Misty, and I used to sit and talk around the campfire about you two. Ash and Misty knew you from before they met me...they
thought that maybe you guys were a couple...that you...might be..." Kenji blushed, "in love."
"And our Motto denounced the ‘evils of truth and love’. No, it never went so far...we were just best friends...but...I think it may
have become more, if my life was not cut so short..."
"But it’s not. When Ash, Misty and James find Selebi, we will have another chance, we were not supposed to die, that is why we are
here."
"Maybe...or maybe we are going to, because we’re fading. Do you have any dreams left unfulfilled, Kenji? Any dreams that were
crushed in your life?"
"I always dreamed...of living a life close to nature, ‘tis what I was living. And of learning about Pokemon, to become a researcher.
Being a Watcher was great, but I always wanted to do more...like the great Professor Oak of Pallet Town."
"If only," Jessie sighed, "if only I could have passed those exams at Pokemon Tech, if only Daddy had more money...I-I did not ask
for a criminal life, at least not at first. I-wanted to become a pokemon nurse, like the Joys. But Daddy scraped together what was left
of my mother’s Team Rocket insurance-my mother was a Team Rocket agent, she disappeared on a mission when I was a little
girl-just to send me to Pokemon Tech. I hoped to earn scholarships to attend a very-high class veterinary academy, I even studied at
a lesser nursing school for a while...but...it never worked out."
Jessie continued her tale. "The world is made for the rich, Kenji. If you don’t have money, you might as well forget about whatever
dreams you have. I met James and he was failing the same classes that I was at the Pokemon Tech." Jessie laughed a subdued and
sorrowful laugh. "Even then, we were a pair of failures. We both flunked the night of the big exam. Convinced that we were
irredeemably stupid, we had no where else to go, so we joined a weird little, trouble-making bicycle gang in Sunnytown for a while,
then, I decided to follow after my mother, and joined Team Rocket. James did too, as he got into a habit of going everywhere that I
go. And, of course, even in Team Rocket we were colossal losers. We couldn’t even get that one wretched Pikachu. So, that’s the
story of my life, failure, failure, always failure."
"That’s sad..." Kenji whispered. "I never knew that. I shouldn’t have judged you so harshly back in life. I hope that I will not if we get
our second chance."
"We won’t remember this?"
"Probably not...if we are prevented from dying in the first place. I think that we should attempt another contact."
Selebi dwelled in the thick forest of a vast mountain range. She wandered all over the range, hers was a vast territory, and remote, no
humans ventured here. She was glad of it, for on the rare occasion when she saw them from a distance, humans greatly frightened her.
She looked up into the full moon. A shape darted across it in silhouette. Selebi smiled a wide sprite’s smile. Kishi was out tonight.
Kishi was the protector of Selebi’s mountains, a pokemon appointed by the Creator to guard this range and all the pokemon therein
from the ravages of men. Kishi was a feline, a feline that could fly, but without wings. It was told among the wild pokemon that Kishi
had once been a normal Persian, but had evolved when she made contact with a fragment of the equally legendary Moonstone. It was
also said that she was always the way she was, since the beginning of time. It was not known for certain where Kishi came from.
The cat had shining white and pale purple fur, somewhat long and elegant. She also had a small horn protruding from the center of her
forehead, like that of a Rapidash. She was the guardian of all the wild pokemon in these great Azure Mountains, and good friends
with Selebi.
Selebi lived in this time, mainly. She wandered through time, through the past and the future, but always returned to this "present
place". Time was always moving forward in its continual drone here, as it did for most pokemon and humans. Time always ran at a
continual pace here, unlike the foreign ages that the sprite visited. Selebi would wander to another time for a while, and time would
pass for a interval in this, her chosen "present realm", meaning that if she left for a day to visit another age, a day would have passed
upon her return, even though she had passed through centuries. Time in the present realm was always moving toward the future and
not even the time-traveling Selebi could regain it.
Kishi soared above Selebi’s head and lighted upon a great rock in front of her. "Have you found out anything more in your quest to
figure out the future?" The cat asked.
"No, I was going to try again, tonight." It is strange. I went to that same place to that same year, month, and day a month ago and
everything was green. This time, when I went back three days ago, all was a desert...and death. Humans were at war...because of
some sort of ‘Blight’ in the water, and most of the pokemon were dying. The Murkrows were feasting, but the rest were perishing..."
"Yamikarasu!" Kishi hissed, her eyes flashing lavender in the moonlight.
"Yes, he was there. I know that he did something...the Bird of Death did something, to create the fate that he desired for the world. I
do not know what...what is the key..."
"Servant of Darkness, how I’ve longed to pluck Yamikarasu of his feathers and tear him into pieces to feed to the young Meowths of
the Aslanti pride..."
"But he is powerful." Selebi whispered. "I do not think that it is appointed for you to defeat him or to destroy him. I am going less far
into the future, to many places to try to find the key. I think that it lies near..."
"Near?" the mooncat asked.
"The desert...with the valleys and the scorching winds...was here."
"Andrew?" the green-haired, lavender-eyed woman asked as her husband steeped through the door. Marie Sketchit was arranging a
vase of sunflowers with a certain small electric-rodent helping her out.
"Marie, Maria...were you watching the news today?"
"Yes...still won’t bring him back." Marie collapsed into a fit of sobbing, Drew placed his hand upon her shoulder but she swatted it
away. "Leave me!"
"Pika?" Pikachu asked.
Just then, Ash and Misty, followed by James and Meowth, stepped through the kitchen door.
"Who are these people?" Mr. Sketchit asked. Then he glared. He recognized James Rochester from pictures on the newscasts and in
the papers, when the Court was searching for him. He stared, stunned, then began a tirade of yelling, with Misty trying to explain the
reason for their presence.
James began crying. "I-I lost Jessie, too, you know..." Misty stood between them, trying to keep the peace, Drew ranted about how
he wanted the young Rocket and the Meowth out of his house. Marie simply wailed.
"What is going on down here?" asked Krissy as she stepped down from the upstairs bedroom. Her hair was dripping, for she had just
taken a shower, and she was dressed in khaki pants and a khaki shirt.
Suddenly, everybody stopped screaming at each other. A strange, wispy pattern of white light materialized in the room. Everyone
stared, bewildered, with James and Misty looking a little less shocked than the rest. The large TV screen shape began to form and
gather intensity. Soon everyone was staring at the images of Kenji and Jessie within the "screen".
"Trace?" Ash queried, reaching out his hand, only to pass through the white-robed figure of his friend.
"Krissy!" Kenji exclaimed, seeing his beloved Aunt staring back at him.
"Kenji? Is it really you?" She asked, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Jessie?" Meowth asked.
"Jessie, my dear Jessie." James whispered.
Kenji and Jessie explained to everyone and to James and Misty again, the dynamic of the vertex of time and their need to find Selebi.
"You needed to be brought together first." Jessie said, pointing to James and Meowth, then to Ash and Misty.
"Where do we search for this ‘Selebi’?" Ash asked.
"The Azure Mountain range," Kenji said. "I think it said something in your ‘Legends of Pika-Don’ book about it, isn’t there?"
Ash ran to the guest bedroom and back, carrying his book. He frantically turned the pages. "You’re right...something about the
Azure Mountains and a time-traveling sprite...and...a cat of the moon?"
"Hurry." Jessie pleaded, looking into James’ eyes as the contact was broken and the screen looking into the vertex-realm dissipated
into nothingness.
"Well, Mist. I guess we’re going to the Azure Mountains...let’s get packed!"
"Hold-up!" Said Krissy. "If what I’ve heard of the Azure Mountains is true, you will need a guide. They’re a dangerous
range...people have gotten hopelessly lost there"
"Kristina! No!" Marie cried, "Don’t go! It’s too dangerous! I’ve already lost my son, I don’t want to lose my sister, too!"
"I have to!" Krissy retorted. "Did you not see what just happened here? It’s the only way to save Kenji...and I can’t let these kids go
alone!"
"So," James sighed, "I guess we’re off to find a Selebi...whatever that is..."
Selebi journeyed through the times of the future. She believed that she had now discovered the key to what Yamikarasu, the Bird of
Death, had changed. She learned of what had brought the bleak future that she witnessed in her mountains, the scorched valley where
Murkrows gathered and men fought for tiny pockets of water.
Sometime in the near future...a parasite was discovered. It was too late to stop it by that time, and nothing to kill it or to prevent its
spread had been created. The "Blight". It was something from another land, though no one knew which one. It was a mutated version
of a more ‘benign’ parasite, one that could easily be killed within the victims with the right medicines. This ‘new, mutant worm’
resisted all treatment, eventually bringing the lives of all its victims to termination.
The tiny worms attacked the nervous systems of pokemon and of people, mainly the brain. It was spread by saliva and other body
fluids, often through water. Almost any pokemon or person who drank from a contaminated river, spring or groundwater supply
caught the Blight. The victims would first begin to loose their mental capacities, paranoia often being the first symptom in humans.
Pokemon would behave much as animals infected with rabies, with an extreme change in personality.
The Blight attacked indiscriminately. Few pokemon species could drink from a contaminated spring and not catch the worm.
Rock-pokemon and most of the bird-pokemon remained unaffected, while mammal-pokemon and even most of the bug-pokemon
perished. And humans were a dwindling species.
Forests became deserts as people re-routed uncontaminated rivers and streams, lapping up every bit of clean water. Trees were also
cut down to build crude forts and compounds when small wars began to break out among the remaining population for the
ever-more-scarce water resources.
Selebi remembered hearing of a "Blight" before, in her time-travels before the future was terribly altered. She remembered something
about a young researcher and a pokemon nurse who used to be a member of a criminal syndicate - but who had changed her ways
after having a child, discovering a parasitic worm when working together on a study of Squirtles. They had examined the strange new
parasitic species, and alerted authorities and the public to safety before it had a chance to spread. They also, after intensive study,
discovered a way to cure the victims of this terrible parasite just after the paranoia symptoms began to show up, without further
damage to their psyches, and to reverse those first effects.
Selebi tried hard to remember the names...Schetich...no...Sketich...Sketchit! That was it! And Ro-Ro-Roengarden? Rochelle?
Rochester!
Selebi returned to her present-time. She leaned against a rock to rest after her harrowing and depressing journey. A black shape
darted out of the forest and landed in the branch of a tree before her. Selebi felt a wave of cold fear come over her. Such it was with
her and servants of Darkness.
"Yamikarasu!" She huffed, looking up at the red-eyed crow-pokemon.
"You like what I have done?" He cackled condescendingly.
"You went and took two lives before their time!" the sprite-pokemon stated.
"Yes, yes, isn’t it beautiful? One event, two single lives. Humans, pish-posh, they have no idea how important an individual life is.
They go about their lives, thinking that they are just small creatures, their own lives not able to change anything...but they are
wrong...so deliciously wrong..."
The Murkrow laughed. "How many people have I appeared to on their way to Heaven or Hell. The people bound for damnation to
show them a bit of the fear they have to look forward to and the...ick...Heaven-bound to give them a shot of fear and doubt as to
where they are going just before they depart. I love my job, Selebi. I love it! I’ve fought for my world for a long time...the world of
the New Future!"
"You will not win! The One whom I serve is in control! I know that your future is not what he wants!" Selebi cried.
"But how do you know?" Yamikarasu sneered. "This is our world, Selebi. It belongs to the dark creatures. I have tried, tried, tried to
cause death before the appointed time. Every life, if cut-off before its time...would be a gain to me. But, I could not before..."
"So, why these two lives?" the sprite asked.
"This time, my dear, the fetters that bound me were loosened. I took the opportunity when I could. My future will come to pass,
Selebi! The future of Darkness draws ever near! Adieu, Selebi, adieu!"
At that, Yamikarasu flew off.
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