Please bunny, I beg you, don’t die!
Disclaimer/Notes: Don’t own pokemon. ‘Nuff said. AU, possible character-bashing…
Chapter 6 – Dead men tell no tales… right?
Morty was quite surprised when Red showed up on his doorstep, asking him to talk to a dead soul.
“You know, Red, normally, I’d be intrigued, but you are misinterpreting my powers. My true power is being able to find things or people that have been lost using my ‘third eye’. I can’t talk to dead people.”
Red sighed despondently. “Darn.”
“It must be important then. Two hundred pokeyen is no small sum to offer. Why are you so interested in this one trainer?”
Red frowned. “Honestly I want to drive Team Rocket out of Kanto.”
“A noble cause, certainly.” Morty agreed. “Well, then, I wish I could help you, but it’s not my line of expertise to be a medium. If only Agatha were still around, she could help you…” Red thanked Morty and exeunted.
Well, so much for that vein of inquiry!
Master Red?
“Yes, Venus?” Red’s Venusaur smiled.
Why do you not try Lavender Tower? A few channelers are rumored to live there.
“I would, but it’s a team rocket base right now, isn’t it?”
When has that ever stopped you in the past?
Red suddenly remembered one incident. He’d been twelve, snuck into Team Rocket HQ disguised as a Rocket…
He grinned.
Maybe the same trick would work again… he was taller now, so he wouldn’t be a tiny short rocket like last time, right?
Right.
He took the Magnet Train to Saffron – it still ran, but only one way, from Johto to Kanto, and they checked passports at both sides, but with Porygon masking his I.D., they thought he was a Johto Trainer on vacation and let him through.
Pokedexes were still used in Johto, after all, and a few trainers had them thanks to professor Elm, so he made it through safely.
In Kanto, he then flew to Lavender on a Noctowl he had specially caught. Noctowl was a Johto pokemon, and it would help with his disguise.
Sure enough, there was a rocket base in Lavender. Oh, there was no doubt about it – a newly built radio tower gleaming with red metal stretched up towards the sky. However, Pokemon Tower remained, untouched.
Interesting.
Red first attempted to enter Pokemon Tower, but found the way barred by four Rocket grunts.
“Unless you’re here to bury a pokemon or have a pass from HQ, you’re not allowed in.”
Well, that was no good!
Bury a pokemon… bury a pokemon… Red smiled. Yes, that would work well. An hour later, dressed in somber black clothing with a veil over his face, carrying a Machop that had been hit by a car, he entered.
The rockets had been rather sickened by the remains and had waved him in at once. Once inside, the Machop swiftly resolved itself as Ditto’s familiar smile.
They ran up the first two flights of stairs, finding only tombstones.
On the third floor, they saw a channeler – or so they assumed. A frail old woman in purple sat near a tombstone, a gastly floating next to her.
“Are you?”
Red suddenly stopped dead. He recognized her – Agatha! “Agatha?”
“Red.” She nodded.
“I thought you were dead…”
“I’m a Ghost Master. I do not die easily. However, I do wish my existence to remain a continued secret. If you betray me, Gastly’s Curse attack shall make short work of you.” She threatened.
Red winced. “Sorry.”
“Why are you here?”
“I…I oh! You can talk to dead people, can’t you? Morty told me!”
“I can indeed. Was there someone you greatly desired to speak to? For a small fee, I will allow you a short conversation…”
Red handed over 30 pokeyen, and then told Agatha who.
“Lance?”
“Yes, anything wrong with that?”
“… Why would you desire to speak with him?”
“Well… he’s got the Viridian Power.”
Agatha fixed a beady eye on Red. “Surely you are not thinking of bringing the Emerald Phoenix prophecy to life to defeat Team Rocket?”
“How did you know?”
“I study prophecies as part of my training to be a ghost master.”
“Oh.”
Agatha finally gave a small sigh, as a column of black mist rose from the ground. “I can only maintain the connection for ten minutes. Use it well.” She turned her back on Red and went back to her crocheting.
Red gulped, as golden eyes appeared in the mist, before other features – crimson hair, black attire became visible.
“Who are you?” Lance’s voice sounded wispy, like a strong wind could scatter it. Well, he was dead…
“Are you Lance Dragyn?”
“I am indeed. Why have you called me up?”
So Lance wasn’t in the best of moods. He’d been listening to a particularly enrapturing story about the romance between a Gyarados and a Dragonair before he had suddenly been summoned. It wasn’t the four either.
“Do you – I mean, did you have the Viridian Power?”
“I hold it still even in death.”
“I need your help!”
Lance hesitated. “Why?”
“To drive out Team Rocket.”
“Team Rocket is no concern of mine.”
“Demo – I… I can’t do it by myself! I need someone with the Viridian Power!”
“Why do you not ask Yellow?” A flash of bitterness made itself known even in the incorporeal words.
“Yellow’s lost her powers.” Red said. “Besides, aren’t you more powerful than she is?”
Lance snorted. “Hardly, my dear… you see, she killed me, so I think she was stronger where it truly counted. My time runs short. Was there anything else you wished to inquire from me?”
“Yellow killed you?!”
“Hai.”
Red shivered. He’d never imagined Yellow as a murderess – she was only a little kid, but-! How horrible! She’d lost his Pikachu too…
Pikachu…
“No.”
Lance vanished as soon as the time was up. Agatha turned to Red.
“Learn anything useful?”
“Not particularly…”
“I could have told you it wouldn’t do any good. Team Rocket – surely you aren’t going to take them down alone, are you?”
“Why?”
“I’m offering to help you. They killed my husband and grandson and granddaughter…”
“So you are Green’s grandmother!”
“Yes, but now is not the time for introductions.” She held out a hand. “Shall we join forces against Team Rocket, then?”
Against his better judgment, Red took it, shook, and sealed the deal.
End Chapter
Completed 2/12/05
Red: You’re not pairing me up with Agatha are you?
Phantomness: sighs* NO, that’d squick even me….