Twisted Paths, Forgotten Pasts
Chapter 18
Chiata brushed back her now short black hair, tying it into a small ponytail. Her vulpix partner had finally convinced her to cut her hair, and now she realized that had been a good move, for now she could move around a lot easier.
Slipping into her black leather jacket, Chiata picked up her partner, and headed out of the hotel room, meeting Calisin, Firais, and Sian on her way out.
"Ready to go?" Calisin asked, glaring at his little sister who was busy trying to annoy Sian by playing with his hair.
Chiata didn't answer, but continued walking. "I want you all to keep your eyes out. The two we're looking for could be anywhere."
"I say we split up." Sian suggested.
"I say we stick together." Chiata snapped, for she knew all too well that they just didn't want to be with her. She really did not like Sian, and she knew that the feeling was mutual. Calisin was a little easier to get along with, for he had strong natural charm, although he didn't really use it on the two guides. Firais was plain annoying, for she tried her hardest to be.
Reluctantly, the group followed her and the vulpix. The only thing that kept Firais from shooting off into the streets was the fact that Calisin had a sort of mental hold over her. If he felt like it, he could cause her to feel excruciating pain and go into a coma.
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They entered a pokemon center, one of the last buildings in the town that they hadn't checked out yet. However, they did not find the pair they were looking for. Rather, the pair found them.
"Hey Calisin, Sian!"
Somewhat surprised, Calisin turned around and smiled, looking genuinely pleased. "Rai! And Zoey!"
Exiting from one of the rooms where trainers took their pokemon for check-ups were a man and a woman, one holding a white pidgey, the other holding the leash to a persian.
"You guys have been busy, haven't you?" The man approached, his white and blue eyes twinkling. The pidgey reached up and grabbed a lock of his light blonde and brown hair, and he gently detached it from his hair. "Stop it Tanya." He scolded the pokemon.
"Firais? Calisin, why's Firais with us?" Zoey asked, tucking a lock of her long brown hair behind an ear. She was a pretty young woman, but not quite a head turner like Taie. "No, wait, don't answer me now, you can give us more of those details later. Who's the lady with the vulpix?"
"My name is Chiata, and this is Chisa. We're your guides."
The man bowed gallantly, his eyes twinkling even more. "Pleased to meet you. I am Serai, father of all Flying types, and this is Zoey, mother of all normal types."
Chiata blushed slightly despite her effort to try and stop herself from doing so. Disapprovingly, Chisa glared at the man, for she had a feeling that his disgustingly perfect self was going to be a handful, more so than the attractive, but reserved Sian and Calisin.
Despite the fact that he was enjoying Chiata's discomfort, Calisin intervened. "Serai, would you like to return to the hotel we're staying in? We can catch up, and plan a little more about what we're doing."
Before turning his attention to Calisin, Rai flashed Chiata one last smile. "Perfect idea! Zoey and I are just passing through this town, and we left all our things at the inn we were at. We can go get them later." He tucked his pokemon under one arm, and then slipped the other arm around Zoey's waist. "Let's go."
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"So, we've got four of our team? That's not bad. We've got five more, and two come as a team." Zoey remarked, slipping on her glasses and thumbing through a little notebook she kept in her coat pocket. "Hmm, we'll probably get those two last. But knowing them, they've been tracking us down..."
Calisin nodded. "I wouldn't doubt those two psychics..."
"I would." Firais piped up. "How many times did Ivan predict something falsely?"
"Be quiet Firais." Sian snapped, backhanding her hard across her left cheek.
Stunned, she looked at him wide eyed, then turned to Calisin, who offered her nothing in terms of comfort. What had happened to the loving siblings they had been? When she had chosen to be with Kiajis and stay neutral, they had not cared, and said it had been for the best, so she would stay out of the main battle... But now... Calisin's hidden, but large heart seemed to have shrunk, and Sian's already cold demeanor had gotten worse. Had being re-born changed them somehow? Serai and Zoey seemed pretty much the same... What was going on?
"Sian, Calisin, don't you think you're being hard on her?" Serai asked. "She hasn't spoken to her husband for a really long time, and she's away from friendly faces, and her firstborn..."
Calisin did not reply, but gave Serai and Zoey looks that silenced any protests immediately.
Chiata entered the room, her vulpix partner trotting behind her. "Our next destination is a lot further south, the continent of Kanis."
They all nodded, still too caught up in what had just happened to speak.
"Chisa and I are retiring to our rooms. Behave."
After she left, Calisin stood, pacing up and down the small room.
/Calm down Father... You've been very moody recently. Why?/
/No reason Silac, it's none of your business./
Wisely, the dratini shut up, settling with sighing worriedly.
"I think we're done for the night. Firais, you're staying with me tonight. Sian, you can have a room alone, and Zoey and Serai, I'm sure you two will want your privacy. You can return to the hotel you were in earlier, just make sure you're back her by eight in the morning tomorrow." Calisin sat down on his bed and watched them leave, his eyes fixed on Firais, who now sat in a corner, her arms hugging her knees to her chest. Tangled, her wild red hair fell to her shoulders, and her sharp blue eyes were confused and frightened.
For some reason, Calisin felt a wave of sympathy wash over him as he watched his little sister, reminding him so much of Akira for some reason... Quietly, he walked over to Firais and knelt in front of her, lifting her chin up with a careful hand. "I'm sorry Firais... I don't know what's come over me lately." Wait, why was he doing this? He shouldn't be doing this, it wasn't right! She was the enemy now, neutral side or not! "I can't promise that we'll be treating you like the old days any time soon, but I want you to know it's nothing personal. It's war."
She managed to smile, the brave little thing that she was, and Calisin hugged her, suddenly wishing that the war was over, that Akira was in his arms right now, and that he wasn't causing his own sibling so much distress.
But just as quickly as those compassionate feelings had come, they had left, and he broke off the hug, standing up and looking away from her. "Go get cleaned up in the bathroom. You can have the bed, I'll sleep on the floor."
She nodded, then scrambled to her feet and dashed into the bathroom.
Sighing, Calisin took a pillow from the bed, and got the pair sheets from a chair in the room, settling down on the floor. He didn't know if he could do this again, he didn't know if he could possibly bring himself to maybe kill his own wife again...
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"Your team is being difficult."
"I'm sorry... They're strong willed."
In a definite male form, the being that had fought Ash sat in a chair in the realm of Chiata's creator. "They're making it difficult for me to control their minds. Especially the dragon one. His twin was easy, and the flying and normal ones shall be easy too. The psychics willingly serve me, they know what's good for them." He smiled, raising a pale hand to tuck back a lock of silvery hair. "As you do."
The black haired 'girl' approached him, curtsying before him. "You could kill me now if you wanted to..." She reminded him, her voice forever carrying a hint of sadness. "I live to serve you, I always have."
"Such a dear little thing..." He caressed her hair, running his dainty fingers through her silky black locks. "You know Sor-"
"I don't go by that name any more." She said sharply.
"Triste then." He corrected himself, picking up her slight body and settling her on his lap, where she leaned her head against his chest. "But as I was saying, you're a very obedient girl."
She didn't reply.
"Why don't you ever grow up?" He asked her. "You're missing out on a lot of things." He added slyly.
She tensed a little, moving her head from its resting spot and looking up at him. "I can't grow up, and I am content in this body. I am not frivolous like you, I do not need a body that is able to change appearance and gender at my whim, and I do not need to experience the pleasures of the flesh that you do."
He shrugged. "Suit yourself." He kissed her on the forehead, as a father kisses his much loved daughter. "Just work on your team. They need to be more co-operative." Carefully, he picked her up off of his lap and set her down. Standing up from his chair, he disappeared in a brilliant flash of red, and left the small goddess alone, as she'd been for most of her life.
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Jay wiped off his knife, having paused to catch his breath. Looking around, he checked to see if anyone was around, then quickly put the knife back in it's sheath and wiped the sweat from his brow.
/You know, there's got to be some other way to earn money.../ Jyp remarked, noting the conflicting emotions in his best friend's mind.
/This is the quickest way without having to settle... Besides, I have a good reputation worldwide, these jobs are high paying, and easy./
/You like being a cold blooded killer?/
/I'm an assassin; its my job./ Jay replied, flicking back his bangs and walking out into the streets calmly. /We travel way too much for me to settle down and work. We need a lot of money for this journey, and we need to earn it fast. I check each job with our creator too, you know that!/
/I still don't like it./ Jyp snapped back in his mind. Once again, the growlithe regretted having been cut away from his body, for while he was stuck within his partner's mind, he was restricted in ways to express how he felt.
/You don't have to like it!/
The two of them had gone over this argument many times before, yet neither ever backed down. They would argue until one stormed off in a huff, but this time, that was impossible, for they practically shared a body now. For a while, this tension between them had faded, for they had been too relieved at not losing each other forever. But now the happy facades had faded.
Abruptly, Jyp managed to form some sort of shield around himself, blocking Jay out from accessing his own thoughts.
Frustrated, Jay idly kicked at a coke can that lay on the side walk, not caring that his sneakers were getting soaked in the puddles that had been left by the rain the night before. Things hadn't been going well for him recently. Akira was still a little pissed at everyone, he was running low on money, there was some new unknown being playing in the game, they had no idea where they needed to go next, for they were still stuck in Ralaos, Jyp was mad at him, and there was still the whole thing with the pokemon disappearing going on...
Normally, Jay had an overall cheerful attitude, being as optimistic as he could. Unfortunately though, a lot of it was an act... He knew the dark reality of his life, he knew that he would probably 'die in action', but it'd be for the good of the world.
He approached the hotel they were staying in, and sighing, he walked in, ignoring the mud prints he left on the clear floor.
What if he didn't care about the good of the world? What if he just wanted to be a normal human being, and... have kids or something! What then? What if he didn't want to be a Guide?
But no... He couldn't be a normal human being, because he wasn't... He was as far from normal as possible, from the strange green eyes to the straight black hair, he was all guardian. Like Chiata, Rezia, and Jizo, he was just a tool disguised as a human. A convenient magical tool that walked and talked and thought and bled like a normal human, but wasn't one.
/Do I even have a soul?/ Jay randomly wondered, walking into his room and throwing himself onto his bed. Rolling onto his back, he looked up at the ceiling, then closed his eyes and fell asleep, with his coat and muddy shoes still on.
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/Don't you think you've been taking this too far mother?/ Rika asked, riding on Ash's shoulder along with Pikachu for she had started growing a little too heavy for Akira's small shoulders.
/He brought it upon himself, they all did./ Akira replied coldly, browsing through the bookstore with Ash silently following her. She had not said much to him lately... Actually, she had not said much to anyone.
Straightening, Akira was about to move on to another section, one on myths and legends, when she spotted a couple sitting together in the cafe that was joined to the bookstore. They were a young blonde haired man and an equally young brown haired girl, but they were sipping cups of what looked like hot chocolate, despite the hot weather outside, and the way they looked at each other... What Akira would give to have someone look at her that lovingly... They looked so happy, so content...
Ash followed Akira's gaze to the two people sitting at the table, and he felt a slight pang in his heart. He was right here. Why did she still long after her husband of so many years ago?
Akira noticed that Ash had also started watching the couple, but she couldn't read the expression on his face. Was it wistful? Jealous? Sighing, she continued on her way to the section she'd been heading to, browsing through the books then moving on.
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"So, Sarina, any idea what's up with your twin?" Garis asked Akira's twin, idly browsing through some TV channels. They had rented a movie earlier, and were waiting for Gary to finish making the popcorn before they started.
Sarina shook her head, patting her seel, Saris, on the head. "Her daughter isn't quite so sure either... I'm thinking it's just that time of the month though."
Garis cringed, shuddering slightly. He had a lot of bad memories about Gilisia's behavior at 'that time of the month'. Normally the Mother of All Grass Types was a rather sweet, calm person, but when on PMS... She could be mistaken for a fire type.
Gary emerged from the little kitchen in the suite they were in, triumphantly holding a bowl of popcorn.
"Took you long enough!" Garis exclaimed. "For a pokemon master you sure have a lot of trouble with simple microwave controls."
Glaring at the Father of All Grass types, Gary settled down on the couch right next to Sarina, with Saris in-between them. "As a Pokemon Master I'm more used to roughing it."
Garis rolled his eyes and muttered to himself. /Yeah, if you call all those five star hotels you're found in roughing it.../
"Anyway, shall we start the movie?" Sarina asked, looking at the cover. "Hey, they didn't portray Akira and me as twins!"
"Stop complaining about the cast Sarina..." Garis took the tape from her and put it in the VCR. "Now, time to see what humans think happened back then! Ladies and..." He glanced at Gary. "Others, I now present the Grammy award winning, 'The Firsts!'" He pressed play, the sat down to watch.
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Sajoya lay on her bed, her eyes shut tight. She'd just finished a meeting with Jyp and his creator. This whole being in two places at once was not as easy as she had though it would be. She was eventually going to have to tell Jay the truth, but she did not think he was ready.
Opening her sky blue eyes, she got up, looking at the black pokemon curled up in the corner. Sorrow slept deeply, still regaining her energy. It would take a while before she returning back to normal.
Yet again, Sajoya wondered how Sorrow had known about the Ultimate Gift of Love. Not to mention, did she love Ash? And what exactly was she? In her current state, Sajoya refused to pick at her mind, that would be rude. Not to mention there would not be much to pick at anyway. Her mind would most likely be blank.
Looking in the mirror, she noticed that her blonde hair needed combing badly. It was all in knots. And there were bags under her eyes. Were Goddesses supposed to get bags under their eyes? Well, maybe when they were as confused as she was... They had left the world in the hands of the legendary pokemon for too long, now it was time for them to put the reins of the world back into the right hands. Yet before they could do that, they needed to get those certain not quite humans not quite pokemon back into their normal selves. But something was wrong, things weren't going as planned. Her sister's group... They seemed evil now, they weren't evil in their past life, they never were... At least, she didn't think they had been...
What the hell was going on?
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"Alright people, we've been sitting around enough. It's time to get back on our feet. We have just three more people to find. Three more! " Sajoya looked at her team, noticing that many of them were taking care to avoid glancing at each other. "Now, if we all co-operate and work together, then we'll be able to find the next members very easily, and then we can work on the stones. From what I know, we're *way* ahead of the other groups. Let's keep that lead. We need it."
Jay waited for her words to sink in before he added what he had to say. "We're going down to the continent of Hiana. We'll start around the north, then we'll work our way around. Hopefully we'll find who we're looking for fast, it's a big and hot continent."
Everyone except for Garis groaned.
"Sorry, but it's a necessary evil guys. Well try and make the stay quick though. Hotels are expensive, Jay said.
And the less money we have to spend, the less you have to kill.../ Jyp added, dropping his mental shields briefly.
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Jizo sighed as he watched the TV. Their group was horribly behind. Of the nine Firsts they were supposed to have in their group, only two were with them, and another had been captured.
He changed the channel, watching the news. At Rezia's insistence, he'd been paying much attention to the pokemon thefts, searching for a pattern. He was guessing it was Team Rocket's doing, but why? There was nothing in the prophecies he knew of about this. Had things changed somehow? Something that wasn't supposed to happen, happened? Maybe.
Recently, there have been noticeably large increases in the number of believers in the myth of the Firsts. Many people claiming to be prophets, announcing that the Firsts are coming, and will claim their rightful roles as leaders of the world. Yet others bring a darker message, saying that the Firsts shall be corrupted, and will fall, and the legendary pokemon will die, leaving the world dangerously un-balanced. We sent one of our reporters to the tiny island of Scythis...
The screen changed to show a youngish reporter with neatly trimmed brown hair interviewing a young couple. They both had interesting black hair with a lustrous green shine, and their eyes seemed different, though Jizo could no quite place it.
"So, what do you two think about all this?" The reporter asked.
They both looked at each other, smug smiles on their faces. "We think that the world's in for a big shock." The young woman finally answered.
"Anything else?"
"No." The man replied. "But we advise you be careful where you reporters stick your noses, this is a rather dangerous game, it's not for children." One arm around the woman's shoulder, he looked into the camera with a smirk. "Beware, sometimes myths are simply history that has been forgotten."
The reporter looked flustered, and the camera focused it's attention back on him.
"Umm, back to you Janine!"
Jizo turned off the television. /Scythis... That is our next stop. I think we're done training. Kiajis seems to be in good shape, so are the ninetales, and Gilisia's been ready for a while. The eevees are fine, and so's Rezia./ Getting up, he winced as his shoulder ached. /I, however, am in not as great shape, but I can deal with it./ "REZIA!" He yelled for his twin.
"What?" She yelled back, somewhere upstairs. After a brief pause she could be heard running down the stairs. "Yes brother dear?"
"I know where we're going next." He replied.
"Really?" She dropped the brush she was holding, leaving her hair for later. "Where?"
"The island of Scythis. We need to get packed and figure out how to get there."
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"Reaper! Harvel! Come inside right this instance!" The slight woman stood at the door, wiping her hands on a towel. "Dinner's ready!"
Two cries of excitement were heard, followed by the light scuffling of young teenage feet. The woman stood aside immediately, narrowly avoiding being run over as they ran inside. Closing the door behind them, she entered the kitchen to find the two youngsters sitting ready at the table.
Reaper, the girl, had bright green, long, spiky hair, and multi-faceted black eyes. From her shoulder blades, two delicate wings could be seen. Even more unusual, at the elbow joint of her left arm, where the arm should have continued, a scythe was found. Her skip was a pale, green, and her entire being just screamed 'not human'! Harvel, her 'brother', and boyfriend, was exactly the same, except his scythe was on his right arm.
Placing the food on the table, their father sighed. "How many times have I told you two not to assume your 'human' forms in public? Run around outside as scythers."
The two both feigned hurt looks. "But father," Reaper said. "We weren't running around, we were examining the wild scythers to see how our descendants are doing. And everyone was back in their homes, it was getting dark, and the 'nasty scythers come out in the dark'!"
The woman sighed, patting her daughter on the head. "Just be more careful."
"Yes mother." They both replied at the same time.
She sat down beside her husband. "Well, let's eat!"
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Yawning, Levrah stretched her thin arms, then smoothed back her very short dark green hair, and blinked her strange black eyes. Looking beside her, she realized that Repith was no long beside her. Stepping out of bed, she wrapped her navy morning coat around her slight frame and slipped on her comfy butterfree shoes. Shuffling downstairs, she was more than surprised to find strangers in her living room, with her children gleefully chatting with some other pokemon.
"Kiajis, Gilisia?" With a little squeal, she leapt down the last steps and ran to hug her two long lost friends. "Who're they?" She pointed to Reika, Rezia, Janyin, and Jizo.
Kiajis answered took over. "Our guides."
"Oh. Nice to meet you," She smiled pleasantly, then looked over at Repith. "Why didn't you tell me we had guests? You could've warned me!" She whacked him lightly on the back on his head.
"Sorry dear..." He replied. "But you were sleeping so soundly, I didn't want to wake you."
She sighed, but let it slide anyway. "Are you guys hungry, tired? Need anything?"
Reika looked at the group. She'd had noted that none of them had really touched any food on the plane, or the boat. "Hungry." The eevee spoke for the group. "as for being tired, we can wait till the night so sleep, we have so much to catch up on."
Reaper and Harvel looked up from their conversations with Aisili, Sijia, and Siari. All at once, their parents received requests to go outside so they could talk freely.
"Sure," Repith replied. "But Reaper and Harvel, scyther forms only!"
"Yes father!" They replied, transforming into two majestic, and dangerous looking scythers with wickedly sharp blades.
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/So none of you can transform into your human states yet?/ Reaper asked the ninetales and the vileplume.
/No, we need our stones./ Sijia replied sadly. /And to get our stones we need our mother./
/So that means that finding the Mother of All Fire Types is a high priority on our list, because their attacks will be more powerful when they can transform./ Aisili the vileplume interjected. /I guess I just need more time. My mother only just regained her memory a little while back./
Harvel nodded, idly trailing a scythe in the grass, his blade sharp enough to cut through the delicate glass blades. /Then we shall hunt for the Mother of All Fire Types and the stones. Our parents could use the extra help./
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Inside, the adults had come to a similar conclusion after having finished preparing the meal.
"We've been living on Scythis our whole current lives," Reprith told them, placing a dish of magikarp onto the table, then going to the fridge to find something cold for them to drink. Turning, he looked at his guest. "Go ahead and sit, Levrah and I shall take care of the rest."
Reluctantly, their guest sat, and he returned to the fridge.
"What would you like?"
Everyone asked for water, except for Kiajis, who replied, 'Something hot'.
Reprith got a jug of cold water out of the fridge, and Levrah set to boiling water for some tea.
"So anyway, we've been living here our whole lives, but we have also been studying the rest of the world, learning about how it has changed." Reprith continued. "So much is different now, people no longer treat pokemon as their equals these days. Most treat them as inferior beasts, yet unfortunately, that is true. Many pokemon are no longer the mental equals of humans. Others have gotten smaller, or bigger but weaker. They have de-evolved. There are some that have improved, but those are few. We have a lot of work to do in this lifetime."
Jizo nodded, taking a grateful sip from his glass of water. "Well, now that we've found you too, we're back on track. Like Reika mentioned early, our priorities are to get the group together, and find the stones our father was talking about."
Reprith reached under his shirt and drew out a necklace with a butterfly shaped crystal of red and black. "This is one of the Bug Type Stones."
Levrah did the same, revealing a butterfly shaped green and purple crystal. "This is the other."
"But... How come you have yours?" Janyin asked, his little furry brow furrowed deeply. "I thought none of the Mothers or Fathers would have theirs yet..."
The two shrugged. "Maybe it's because we are two of the lesser Firsts." Levrah replied. Looking around, she smiled slightly. "You must be hungry. Go ahead and start. I'll go get the children then go change." She turned to look at Kiajis. "No smoking in our house." She warned him before leaving.
Kiajis snorted, removing his hand from his pocket, where he had just been about to reach for a cigarette. Noticing that, Rezia grinned, earning a dark look from the Father of All Fire Types.
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