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Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Apr 29 2009, 09:31 PM

Tuesday couldn’t believe her luck. She had walked for a good part of the day, trying to get as far from Petropolis City as possible. Unfortunately, despite her love of walking and her willingness to continue, exhaustion had won over. She simply wasn’t used to this type of traveling. She had been planning to just find a nice place to set up camp, when she met a farmer alongside the road.

He introduced himself as George. He’d been taking a dinner break on the side of the road when Tuesday had wandered upon his cart. Just finished with his meal, he was more than happy to let her sit in the back, since he was headed in the same direction as she was. He’d thought that she would be adverse to sitting in the hay with a small flock of Mareep, but she must have surprised him. She’d never had any qualms about getting her hands dirty (or the rest of her, for that matter).

She’d slept for the first couple of hours, and the farmer – George – seemed perfectly content with the silence. On occasion, she heard him humming a tune, but he left her alone, probably accustomed to the peaceful quiet of his pokemon passengers.

After she had awoken from her rest, Tuesday decided to take advantage of the surprisingly-smooth ride that she had been granted, and she was finishing up her response letter to Jaima.

However, she was aware that it was a rather long letter for someone who she had never met, and who was just being polite by responding to her about the letter meant for her brother. Maybe she was being a little presumptuous.

Sighing softly and stroking Cyndaquil’s back, which earned her a sleepy coo, she read over her letter.



Crinkling her nose, Tuesday decided that it would probably be better to rewrite the letter. All she needed was a simple thank you. She didn’t need to go all out like she had, and really, she had no right to. She didn’t know this Jaima, and he probably didn’t want to be bothered with some kid.

A cry of “Swell!” caused her to look up in surprise. She blinked, as the Swellow that had delivered her letter from Jaima appeared, perching gracefully on the edge of the cart. The farmer glanced back momentarily, but didn’t seem concerned, and continued driving the Tauros onward.

“Hello again,” Tuesday greeted, smiling at the familiar bird. She noted that Cyndaquil was also looking at the bird, a strange look on her rodent face. “I just need a new piece of paper, Swellow. Hold on a sec.”

Tuesday set the bum-letter to the side and reached into her bag, rooting for a fresh piece of parchment to write on. There was her sketchbook, now where was her stationary? “Aha!” she declared, successfully pulling free a slightly-wrinkled piece of paper.

She blinked in surprise when she looked up.

The Swellow and her letter were gone.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom Apr 29 2009, 10:35 PM

The week had gotten worse.

Oh, it had started out all right. He'd spent time with Joy. Helped her out when she needed it with the center. He'd investigated the shop and found a water logged, smudged note. The one thing he hadn't done was catch a lead on Ember.

Joy was... well, a joy. However, Jaima began to feel guilty for enjoying the time spent with her. He began, slowly, to pull away, and Joy, understanding the reasoning if not agreeing with it, let him.

He found himself on the outskirts of the city, training more than anything, and that was where Joy found him as well.

"We should talk." Surprisingly, it was Jaima who muttered these often relationship breaking words.

Joy smiled, but the smile was shaky on her lips. "I suppose we should."

Fang continued to cast lightning bolts at the stick in the ground. His aim was improving, and Grondir began throwing up leaves, one at a time, for him to hit. Mercury watched, but also kept an alert ear on her trainer and the girl who wanted him to open up.

Jaima sat on a log, and looked up at Joy. Her smile strengthened, seemingly without her trying to cause it. Mercury shook her head. The girl had been infatuated with her Trainer. Now her feelings were growing stronger, and his...

his were embroiled in his loss. Mercury closed her eyes. She dared, just dared, to peek deeper.

There. Just there. He had feelings for Joy and one other, and it wasn't who Mercury thought it would be. She sighed. In the end, perhaps, the lesson in being an emotions pokémon was this: Someone was always bound to get hurt.

"I haven't been fair to you." Joy blinked, her brow furrowed, but she said nothing. Jaima continued.

"You've been nothing but kind to me, and nothing but patient. And part of me really wants to just..."

Joy looked down. Jaima chuckled. "I have to find Ember, and I have to keep going on my journey. I have to." He looked up at Joy and took her hand. "If I could convince you to come with me..."

Joy bit her lip. Of course she couldn't come with him. She was a Nurse Joy. But for a long, agonizing moment, she was considering it.

In the end, all she could do was turn around and walk back to the pokémon center.

* * * * *

Jaima was packed, but he did stop and put his hand out at the counter. Another hand timidly took his, and he smiled at Joy.

"I'll be back through when I head to Arasam."

"I'll be ready with my answer then..."

Her voice was shaky, and Jaima didn't blame her. He wouldn't blame her if her answer was no. But if it wasn't, he'd be ready.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Apr 30 2009, 01:57 PM

"Thank you, sir," Tuesday replied, standing next to the cart. She smiled up at the farmer, sitting on the bench with reins in hand, a kind smile gracing his heavily-tanned face, making his aged wrinkles stand out even more.

"Ya're more than welcome, lass," the man replied, "an' the name's George. Jus' ol' George." He offered that kind smile again, one you didn't often see on people anymore. "Ya sure ya ain't wantin' me to take ya any farther? The missus wouldn't mind if ya stayed fer supper."

"No, thank you," Tuesday replied with a smile of her own. She was pleased by the offer and she had considered taking the man up on it, but he had already done so much for her, even traveling past his turn-off point to take her farther down the road when she had fallen asleep in the back of his cart again. She didn't want to be anymore of a burden. Besides, the sun had only been up for a few hours and Tuesday needed to get used to traveling on foot. It was the perfect day to start.

"Well, in tha' case, I wish ya luck, lass. If ya're ever 'round this way again, ya jus' stop in an' say howdy. Everyone knows ol' George."

Tuesday restrained a giggle of surprised delight when he tipped his hat to her. "I will, Si- George," she corrected herself. "Thank you!"

He waved as he turned the cart around, urging the Taurus onward and the cart ambled calmly off in the opposite direction.

Tuesday stood in the center of the road for a while, just watching him continue on. She was sure by now he was humming one of those tunes again, and she found herself running them through her head. She would probably start humming soon enough, herself.

She looked down at the Cyndaquil in her arms. "What do you think, little fire?" she asked. "Ready to continue our journey?"

"Quil!" the rodent pokemon cried in delight, and Tuesday smiled. As she began walking, she grabbed the two pokeballs, now both back on her belt, and tossed them at the ground. Two bursts of fiery-red light later, Tempest and Dante appeared.

Tempest sniffed the area around her and let out a slightly annoyed, "chuuu..."

"It was just a flock of Mareep, 'Pest," Tuesday assured the errant Pikachu, "and the man was nice enough to give me a ride." She patted her shoulder. "Come on."

"Pi," Tempest replied, crossing her arms and turning her head to the side. Her tail twitched in disdain.

"Quil..." Cyndaquil replied, flames dimming.

"Oh, 'Pest," Tuesday replied. She shook her head. "Fine. Be moody." She started walking again, Dante waiting for her up ahead, having run a few feet in his excitement of being out of the pokeball. Tuesday could almost feel Tempest's eyes on her as she continued walking, but she didn't look back.

She heard an exasperated "Pika!", and then the tell-tale patter of feet, as the Pikachu ran to catch up.

Tuesday smiled. "Good to see you agree," she muttered, just before Tempest sprung up on her shoulder and sat almost possessively, leaning against her head. Tuesday simply grinned. Sometimes Tempest's temper was just too predictable. Maybe I should be a meterologist, she thought, and laughed.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom Apr 30 2009, 08:19 PM

It was beginning to get dark when Jaima heard the flapping above him. Immediately he stopped walking, and Fang leapt from his shoulder, sniffing the air. When the shinx began to bounce, Jaima relax. Fang wouldn't bounce for someone he knew would hurt him or his extended pack.

Jaima's theory proved correct when the flapping grew louder, and the unmistakable form of Mr. Postman landed nearby.

"Oh, wait a minute, Mr. Postman," Jaima growled. "What is the big idea taking a letter that I wasn't even going to send? There was some pretty personal stuff in there! You may think it's-"

"Swell," intoned the Swellow, but Jaima paid no heed to the bird talking over him.

"-to just take something and show it to other people, but it's not, it's embarrassing, and that's-"

"Low," the bird interrupted again, a slight smile behind his beak when once again Jaima allowed the bird to talk over him without stopping.

"- even for you!" Jaima stopped then, blinking rapidly, and looked at the bird, the Mercury, who was fairly glaring at Mr. Postman. "What just happened?"

Before Mercury could answer, and she was going to answer, Mr. Postman dropped a letter into Jaima's hand. Jaima sighed. "Another letter? Oh," he said, confused, "it's from Tuesday..."

As he read it, he kept glaring over the top of it at the vested bird. "You see, this is what I'm talking about! She wasn't going to send this letter! Stop doing that!"

Without further preamble, Jaima dug into his bag and pulled out a pen and paper. He turned the bag over and used the back as a desk, and started to write.

He folded it, walked to Mr. Postman, and carefully handed it to him. "Don't rush, I know you have a lot to do."

The swellow's eye twinkled, and he was in the air. He passed the sunset, and Jaima was blinded for a moment.

When he could see again, the bird was gone.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 1 2009, 01:48 PM

"Hell hath no fury like a Pikachu scorned," Tuesday muttered, as Tempest released a final electrical shock upon the Ratatta, sending it scampering fearfully away. Tempest let lightning flash from her cheeks in anger, staring after the rodent with a deep-throated "Chhuuuuu" reverberating past her lips.

The purple rat had attacked them. Tuesday couldn't comprehend why, since she had three pokemon out and visible with her, despite the fact that she would not command the Cyndaquil to fight. She wouldn't have needed to, anyway. Tempest had a fiery-enough personality for any fire pokemon, and even Dante needn't raise a paw.

"Nice, 'Pest," Tuesday commented, as the Pikachu came running back to perch on her shoulder. She glanced down at the Cyndaquil sitting happily in her arms. "What did you think, little fire?" she asked.

"Quil!" the Cyndaquil replied, her fires dimmed so as not to burn Tuesday. She had been frightened when the Ratatta first appeared, but Tempest had jumped to defend them all swiftly.

Such fire, indeed, Tuesday mused.

She was about to start walking again, when Tempest cried out in something akin to a greeting, and Dante pranced where he stood. "Quil!" Cyndaquil cried out, and Tuesday thought she knew the reason only moments before she heard the flapping of wings.

The large Swellow swooped into view and landed before her. "Well, hello," Tuesday greeted. "It's-"

"Swell!"

"-to see you again," Tuesday finished, eyebrow raised. "You do that on purpose, don't you?" The Swellow simply looked at her in what seemed to be amusement. "Yeah," Tuesday said, "I'm pretty sure you do. It's-"

"Swell."

"I was going to say funny."

"Swell." The Swellow clicked his beak and offered her a letter.

"That was fast," she admitted, taking the letter and opening it to discover that it was, indeed, from Jaima. She read it quickly, laughing lightly when she discovered that the Swellow did the same thing to Jaima as he did to her.

"So, Mr. Postman, huh?" she asked, smiling. "You... are an interesting bird, that's for sure." Deciding that she had some time to kill, and that Tempest deserved a nice break from her battle, she sat down on the ground and pulled out her sketchbook and a piece of paper to write on. Chewing on the end of her pen for a minute, she began to write.

"Here ya go, Mr. Postman," Tuesday said, folding the letter and handing it to the Swellow once she had stood up. She grinned. "Have a swell day."

Mr. Postman's eyes twinkled and he clicked his beak at her. "Low," he dared, and flapped his wings heavily.

Tuesday grinned. "I wonder how far our feathered friend has to fly?" she asked, and then blinked. "Even I don't speak in that much alliteration," she mumbled.

She tried to tell herself she wasn't crazy, when she thought she heard laughter in her head.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 2 2009, 05:25 PM

Jaima was camping. It was a nice night, and though he didn't have a tent, being out of the confines of Lenoilia's gloom did wonders for his outlook. He still had the blanket he'd had before, and had enough clothing in his bag for it to serve as a decent pillow. The air was clear, and the sky was filled with the biginnings of stars. It was a good day.

He'd also thought to pack provisions, gracefully provided by Joy. He was beginning to miss her a bit, so he jotted a note to her, to let her know he was thinking of her, and folded it. If Mr. Postman was willing, he could drop it off to her.

Next, he looked at his pokégear. He hadn't checked it since long before Ember was stolen, and was surprised to see that it was working. He smirked, then dialed Mindy's number. She didn't answer, and he shouldn't have been surprised. She was usually inside by this time, sound asleep. He left her a voice mail.

"Hey, Min. Just wanted you to know I'm still on the road. I left Lenoilia and headed out to Petropolis. I've heard rumors that there's a pokéthief out that way, so if the guy is the same guy who took Ember, then I'm going to find him and have a little chat. Mercury's just as eager, and the rest of my kids want to meet him, too. Unfortunately, I'm moving too slowly to catch up, but if Petroplois is the same size as the map indicates, they must have a pretty big police force.

Hopefully, his having caught Ember after my ball broke won't be a problem. I think there's a rule that says there needs to be time for the original trainer to re-catch if the ball is broken accidently, isn't there?

I just wanted you to know I was safe, and to see how you are. Tell Darryn and Darck I said high, and if all goes well, I'll be hitching a ride to Arasam and we can meet up again."

He clicked off and sighed, leaning back against a rock. Before long, Grondir, Shadow, Mercury, Fang, and Tsunami came from the nearby woods, pulling, carrying, pushing, or, in Mercury's case, floating rocks to put around the fire. Jaima smiled sadly. He hadn't brought matches, and Ember usually started the fires...

They had already gotten some wood and cleared the area (Grondir had done an excellent job of chopping the wood, and Shadow had busied himself with clearing the area), and Mercury lifted the wood into place. Fang looked back at Jaima and winked, then growled.

"SHIIII!!" With a loud snap, lightning came from his tail and hit the bottom of the pile of wood. The spark managed to catch, and soon there was a fire.

"Good job, Fang!" Jaima grinned. "Good job everyone! And now, ze cooking..."

A flapping in the breeze caught Jaima's attention, and he stood as the large, green, vested Swellow landed.

"Oh... wait a minute... Mr. Postman?" He walked over to the bird. "I wasn't expecting you so early!" Mr. Postman simply dropped the note and moved to warm himself by the fire. "Yeah, I guess the temperature is pretty-"

"Low"

"when you-.. OK, how are you doing that?!" Rather than wait for an answer, Jaima sat and read his letter. It put a genuine smile on his face. As he started to write back, Mercury glared at the bird.

OK, it's starting to get annoying! You shouldn't be making him say stuff!

I don't make him say anything, tiny dancer, I simply nudge what he says to amuse me.

And that's wrong! You can't control people like that!

You're taking things far too seriously. I am not hurting him, and he'd laugh if he knew... still, perhaps you're right. Jaima is a good lad, and his mother trusts him implicitly. His sisters, even, have benefitted from his direction, despite his young age. I simply want him to take life less seriously.

OK, we all want that. But stip making him say stuff. It creeps me out.

There was a laugh, and Mr. Postman warmed his wings. This little one was the epitome of her species, just as her mother was. Ah, the poor mother. Serenity would be proud of her daughter.

Jaima folded the letter and picked up the one he'd written to joy. "Please deliver this. This one goes to Joy in Lenoilia, and this one goes to my pen pal." Mr. Postman nodded and took off, and Jaima went back to make supper.

Before long, he had fallen asleep. Mercury looked over him and sighed, then asked Tsunami to put out the fire. The rest of the team soon drifted off to sleep.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 2 2009, 08:48 PM

The sun had long-since set, but Tuesday wasn't sleeping. She had lain her sleeping bag out on the ground and was lying on top of it, arms crossed behind her head and staring up at the stars. They gleamed and twinkled brilliantly in the otherwise pitch-black blanket that was the sky. Tuesday smiled softly, thinking on her adventure so far. She hadn't done much, of course, but she had made a friend, even if she'd had yet to meet him, and she was in the process of hopefully returning a lost pokemon to her no doubt worried owner.

I wonder how many trainers are missing their pokemon, she thought sadly, looking down at the Cyndaquil curled up snugly by her side. She had considered that the Cyndaquil might be Jaima's missing pokemon, but she didn't think that either of them could be that lucky. The thief had stolen tons of pokemon, as was evident by the size of the sack he'd run off with. Fate wouldn't proffer so an easy return of the boy's pokemon. She, in all her omniscient wisdom, much preferred that the mortals subjected to her whim be endeavored with an adventurous trial, of some sort or another.

I think I've been reading too much Lord of the Rings, she mused. I'm starting to associate Fate with something in accordance to a dark lord, a ring, and the fate of the world. She laughed lightly. "Tuesday, you are a strange creature," she whispered softly. She resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at Dante, who chuffed agreeably in his sleep.

Feeling the full weight of exhaustion finally settle itself upon her, Tuesday pulled the blanket over herself and the slumbering Cyndaquil, before finally slipping off into dreamland.

The flapping of wings, soft though they were on the wind, called Tuesday back from Sandman's Realm, and she opened her eyes to be greeted by warmth and gleaming sunlight. She caught sight of a large vested bird out of the corner of her eye, but resumed to blinking away the grains of sleep, flopping heavily on her back and yawning widely.

The yawn was abruptly cut off with recognition, and Tuesday sat up quickly. "Wait a minute... Mr. Postman?"

"Swell!" the Swellow offered by way of greeting.

Rubbing her eyes, Tuesday adjusted her position to be more comfortable, before blinking at the bright sun. "So... is there a letter in your bag for me, or are you just here for a social visit?"

She could have sworn she saw him roll his eyes. "Swell," he declared, and dropped a letter in front of her.

"Why, thank you, kind sir," she replied, and unfolded the piece of paper, happily reading the news from her new penpal. She finished quickly and, without hesitation, pulled out her sketchbook, with a piece of paper readily tucked inside for just this purpose. As the three other pokemon in her presence began to awaken and give their own greetings to the Swellow, Tuesday began to write.



Folding the letter up, Tuesday rose to her feet and handed it to the patiently-waiting Swellow. He was watching her in amusement and Tuesday was pretty sure he knew of her writing that bit about him waking her up.

"Have a-"

"Swell."

"-flight," she continued, undeterred.

As always, he seemed amused. Fluttering his wings importantly, which made Dante dance in amusement, the large vested bird rose into the air and flew off to make his delivery. Not watching to see him disappear, Tuesday turned to find Dante looking at her expectantly, but Tempest's attention on the trees not far off.

Grabbing her messenger bag and slinging it over her shoulder after she had pulled out her sketchbook, Tuesday crept silently closer to the trees. Indeed, there was a pokemon darting among the leaves... singing.

"What is that?" she wondered. The soft green pokemon appeared somewhat faerie-like, and though it darted among the foliage in what seemed a carefree manner, Tuesday thought she could almost sense a greater purpose from the creature.

Musing silently, as she so often did, Tuesday sat down comfortably and opened her sketchbook. Finding a blank page, she glanced up at her quarry and then quietly began to draw...

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 4 2009, 01:03 AM

When Jaima awoke the next morning, there was a letter waiting for him on top of the rock that he had leaned against the night before. It, in turn, was held down by a smaller rock to prevent it from being caught in a stray breeze. Jaima pulled it away from the rocks (he constantly worried that he was disturbing a graveller whenever he leaned against a rock, so he was gentle) and opened it to read. Tuesday's letter was a breath of fresh air, and he found himself grinning as he read it.

He also found himself missing his sisters. He'd have to talk to Mr. Postman about that.

Reading on, he realized he'd also have to talk to Mr. Postman about playing funny tricks on people. He'd suspected, but for some reason, Tuesday had noticed. Natu and Xatu were psychic types. He suspected Mr. Postman was also keeping the realization from him. Why Tuesday noticed before he did, he could only guess. Perhaps he was only able to influence those he knew well...

Still further in the letter came a memory of the dream he'd had. It was a good dream, and he'd been happy. In it, he'd been a hero, strong and tall, as he'd never felt he could be in life. He'd rescued people, and given comfort, and been looked up to. All the while, he was accompanied by a small girl and her pokémon, with a light green, smiling being leading them both. Tuesday's description was similar.

Maybe it was Mr. Postman.

He sat down to write as he waited for Mr. Postman.

As he finished the letter, he heard the flapping of wings. He stood, and Mercury came to stand beside him. Mr. Postman flapped to a landing nearby, and Jaima clenched his jaw.

Mr. Postman tilted his head and blinked, then cast a look at Mercury, who crossed her arms. The bird was, to say the least, surprised.

Then Jaima opened up his mouth.

"She hit the floor. Next thing you know, shorty got..."

Mr. Postman's eyes widened, and before he could stop himself, he was flapping his wings, calling out in a descending cascade, "Low low low low low low low low!!"

"How do you like it?!"

* * * * *

You told him.

No, I didn't. He figured it out on his own. But I knew he had.

You could have warned me.

It was wrong! You shouldn't manipulate people for your own fun. Even if it is harmless!

Tiny Dancer... you are right.

Mercury blinked. In the blink of an eye, Mr. Postman shared his life, and Mercury gasped.

I'm sorry that happened... but you were found by Trainer Mom.

Yes, but she was the one who taught me to use humor to cope. And her name is Midori.

She's my Trainer's mother. She is Trainer Mom.

I see.

You know where Ember is.

I do. But, she has a decision to make, and I felt she needed time away from Jaima, who is even more determined to send her home when he finds her.

Meddling again?

Come now, Tiny Dancer, You know as well as I that sometimes you have to nudge things in a certain direction...

Yes, but I don't like it. Trainer Jay is smart.

He is also human. Nothing will be harmed by prolonging their meeting. He's already come to a decision, to let go of his father's death and define himself for himself. His mother hoped this would be so. And your mother... well, once I knew he would come here, I made sure she waited as long as she could.

Yo- you knew mom?

Serenity was a beautiful soul. She would be proud of you, Tiny Dancer... And Luna will be, too, should you meet.

Luna?

Your sister. The Kirlia who was so nice in your memories.

... How..?

Midori knows Kumon, and I would deliver letters to him for her. Kumon is actually her old childhood friend. I met your mother on one of those trips. In fact... Mercury... I am your father!

No..! It's not true!!

... You're right. We can't even breed. But you should see the look on your face!

The entire conversation had taken mere seconds, and Jaima was surprised out of his anger by Mr. Postman flying backwards, not of his own will, and hitting a tree.

You deserved that!!

So I did. But you'll smile over it later.

"Look," Jaima said, shaking his head at what he felt was a pratfall by the bird. "I'm not mad that you did it, I'm mad that you were forcing me to. So... I'll make you a deal. You can influence me to say that line from the song... but no more alliteration. Deal?"

"Swell," Mr. Postman nodded. Taking the letter, he flapped into the air.

How soon can Trainer Jaima be with Ember again?

She's actually quite close. Don't worry, it will be soon, and I won't delay the natural progression toward each other. If she doesn't decide what she wants, I will talk to her.

Straight Flight, you perverted old rooster.

Be well, Tiny Dancer.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 4 2009, 01:48 PM

Tuesday was humming a gentle tune (one of the one's she had picked up from George), as she scooped the scrambled eggs off of the frying pan and into four separate bowls, three of which she placed in front of the pokemon with her. "Dig in, guys," she said happily, picking up a fork and scooping breakfast into her mouth, somewhat greedily. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the three pokemon dug in likewise.

They had put off breakfast for a couple of hours, spending their time regarding the pokemon that continued to flit among the branches, calling their attention with what must have been some measure of magic. Tuesday had sketched three pictures of the pokemon, before it had finally disappeared. To where, she did not know. One minute it was there, the next, it was gone.

As Tuesday ate her eggs, she regarded the three sketches with a curiosity that would have made Professor Oak proud. She intended to send one of the photographs to Professor Oak, along with a letter that was late in being written to her Shalafi on her progress in her "field work," as she liked to think of it.

She was still lost as to what the pokemon was. She didn't have a pokedex, but for some reason, she doubted one would have helped, anyway. As she flipped the pages in her sketchbook, looking at the third picture, she heard the distinct flapping of wings on the air and wondered vaguely if she should try to catch a bird pokemon next. She didn't know what pokemon were available within this region which were bound by the element of air, but she thought that having a pokemon that could fly might be beneficial.

She was about to grab a vacant pokeball off of her belt when the source of the flapping came into view and she blinked in recognition. "Wait a minute... Mr. Postman?"

"Swell!" the Swellow replied, landing before her with a wave of dust flying around him. Tempest, sitting nearest, sneezed violently and chuffed in annoyance. Ruffling his wings in amusement, Mr. Postman dropped a letter before her.

"Thank you, my feathered visitor," she replied curtly, smiling as she picked up the letter and unfolded it excitedly. She pushed her half-finished bowl of eggs toward the patiently-awaiting Swellow. "Would you like some breakfast, Mr. Postman?"

"Swell!" the pokemon replied in what Tuesday assumed to be thanks, and she turned to the letter and he began to nibble on the scramble eggs offered him.

Smiling as she read, Tuesday eagerly pulled out a blank piece of paper and began to write back.

Folding the letter up, she handed it to Mr. Postman, along with one of the pictures she had drawn of the pokemon she'd seen. "Could you deliver this to Professor Oak?" she asked, handing him another letter. "If it's-"

"Swell."

"-with Jaima, that is. You should deliver his first."

"Swell," he replied, taking both letters.

"Thanks, Mr. Postman," she said.

"Swell." And then he took off.

Tuesday wasted no time in cleaning up their camp and breakfast dishes. When they were completely packed up, she whistled for her companions and headed off. She hummed a light tune as the three pokemon followed her. Thinking about what Professor Oak might have to say about the pokemon she had seen, she never saw the pokemon until it had already run up and struck her in the side. Thrown roughly to the ground, she looked up to see a large yellowish-green pokemon standing above her, a wide leaf on its head and anger in its eyes.

"Bay!" it cried angrily, and Tuesday wondered if it was just naturally aggressive, or if it was being territorial and she had somehow invaded its home. "Bayleef!"

"D-Dante," she stammered, as the large pokemon took a step toward her, growling, "Tempest. We've got trouble."

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 5 2009, 05:34 PM

Jaima passed around dried berries and, for Fang and Shadow, tauros jerky. It wasn't much of a breakfast, but he didn't know how much longer it would take for him to get to Petropolis. Rationing didn't seem to be a bad idea.

Shadow sniffed his jerky and ate it calmly, but Fang wolfed his down. He had been training intently, and it was showing in his appetite. Grondir preferred the berries, but only needed a good sun beam and to ingrain. He had used the latter as he slept, and was, therefore, the least hungry in contrast.

As he finished doling out the food (and he didn't so much ration as just give the cheaper items first), his team was happily fed and content. He put away the packages, then combed Fang and Shadow's fur. Mercury helped by scrubbing Grondir's hide, and washing Tsunami's skin, with help in both jobs from Tsunami's water gun. Finally Jaima took a wet clothe to Mercury's crest and his own face, and they were ready.

That was when Mr. Postman flapped down for a landing. He seemed chipper, and Jaima smiled.

"Oh, wait a minute, Mr. Postman. I have some leftover berries, if you'd like.

No thank you, Jaima. I've eaten.

"Holy CRAP, you can mind talk?!" Jaima chuckled and shook his head. "Of course you can mind talk. What was I thinking."

He can teleport, too.

Mr. Postman leveled his gaze at Mercury. Try not to give away all my secrets, Tiny Dancer...

Jaima took Tuesdays letter as the argument between Mercury and Mr. Postman heated, and sat and read it, calmly. He smiled. It was a lot like getting a letter from his sisters, except she was much calmer than the two.

He missed them. He'd have to get a letter to them, since he was now out of Lenoilia.

He had avoided letters to them, and to Meiko, because he'd have to tell them about Ember, but Tuesday's words from her first response to him came back. Hiding from the fact would only make it worse. He penned them first, short little things that only gave the facts and little else. He also carefully avoided the subject of Joy. It seemed callous to include the fact that he nearly got a girlfriend in the same letter that he told them he'd lost his first pokémon. It also seemed weird telling that to Meiko at all.

He finished them and pulled out one last piece of paper. He spent much longer on the letter to Tuesday than he did in his letter to his sisters or Meiko (he'd also sent a note to his mother, but realized that, with the phone call, he had little else to say. He did mention Joy, and Tuesday, but did not dwell on the subjects.)

Jaima stood and stretched, watching as Shadow launched a kick at Mr. Postman, who countered with a whirlwind, which was blocked and countered by Mercury.

Jaima stood and cleared his throat. He still hadn't gotten their attention.

Finally he sighed. "I've been standing here waiting, Mr. Postman, so... so patiently..." He raised a brow, and Mercury began to giggle as Mr. Postman looked at Jaima in what bordered on shock.

"Yeah, it was one of Mom's favorite songs, I remembered a few lyrics. Can you deliver my letters, please?" He held the letters up once by one. "This is to the twins. This is to Mom, and this is to Meiko." Mr. Postman took the three, then took off. "Hey! Wait a minute, Mr. Postman!" He was gone, however.

"Great. I'll just have to wait for Tuesday to get her letter..."

It was then that he heard the loud cry of a Bayleef, and a commotion. It seemed to be on the other side of a stand of trees that marched the center of the road. Jaima crossed, and saw a blonde girl in brown being attacked by the angered bayleef. Just as he began to step in to help, Mercury's mental gasp stopped him, and a gout of flame came from the rear of the bayleef...

TO BE... CONTINUED!!! (by Tuesday... :P)

(..;. the character, not the day...)

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 5 2009, 06:58 PM

Tuesday couldn't explain the anger in the pokemon's eyes. She couldn't explain it, but she could recognize it, and it made her insides chill with fear. She had seen that same anger once before, and her mind recalled that incident so easily that the image before her was replaced with the cruel eyes of a man and a giant rodent, flames jutting out of the back of the creature as it towered over her, opening its mouth wide to release a fiery attack. Not at a pokemon, but at her. Her. A human.

But just like then, this time, someone intervened.

"CHAR!"

The memory was burned away as though it were made of paper, and Tuesday, curled up in a ball on the ground, watched out of the corner of her eye as the Bayleef was knocked off of her feet by the force of the fiery attack. Dante, as before, had defended his trainer and friend. And as before, Tempest was quick to join in.

"CHU!"

Tempest didn't know a great many electric attacks, still being young, but she did know a few, and she used what Tuesday recognized as her Thundershock attack on the Bayleef, before dropping to the ground and darting around her opponent in an impressive attempt to draw her attention away from Tuesday.

Right. On your feet, girly, she mused, and came out of her defensive position, rising to her feet. Unfortunately, this drew the Bayleef's attention right back on her, and Tuesday swallowed convulsively. "Oops."

"BAY!" the pokemon cried, and abruptly whipped her head around, the leaf on her cranium spinning and releasing a series of sharp leaves that whistled through the air. "Razor Leaf," Tuesday whispered, and then abruptly kicked herself for going researcher in a dire situation. "Dante! Ember!"

"Char!" Dante declared, leaping forward with his mouth open wide and blasting off a sharp fire attack. Tuesday ducked down, despite her faith in her pokemon's attack. It was a safe, but unnecessary maneuver, as Dante's ember attack destroyed the leaves ere they were able to reach Tuesday.

Rising back on her feet, Tuesday regarded the cold eyes of the Bayleef. Both of them were still, staring at each other, and Tuesday didn't quite know what to do. She could try to walk away and hope that the Bayleef would take it as it was: her unwillingness to fight. That might only work if the Bayleef was being territorial, however, and perhaps not even then. The Bayleef might still attack her. Tuesday didn't feel like standing her, waiting forever, but neither did she want to initiate the next attack. She wanted to avoid a confrontation, if possible.

The Bayleef made the decision for her.

Two thin, green vines extended from the Bayleef's sides and raised over her head. Tuesday and the pokemon with her regarded them warily, wondering on the Bayleef's plan of attack. She prepared to run, in the case that the vines were meant for her.

They weren't.

With another fierce cry, the Bayleef whipped the vines down fiercely on either side of her, one striking Dante across the face, then other throwing Tempest off her feet and into a nearby tree. The two threats (and Tuesday's protectors) taken care of for the moment, the Bayleef turned to the human before her and charged.

Tuesday had a fleeting thought of Legolas, as he cried out to Aragorn and the rest of the Fellowship about the incoming crebain, and then her thoughts abruptly grew a voice, and a deep rumbling growl demanded, Fly, you fools. Deciding that the word of a wizard was sound advice and probably in her best interests, she turned to run swiftly in the opposite direction.

This, of course, was not to be permitted.

The Bayleef was quite adept at using Vine Whip. Tuesday supposed that this made sense. The pokemon was, after all, born with the appendage. It made sense that, over the years, she had grown as accustomed to its use as Tuesday was of her arms. That certainly didn't make Tuesday happy, however, as a slender vine caught her ankle and she fell face-first into the dirt. It might have been funny, if not for the circumstances. Tuesday rolled onto her back to see the Bayleef running at her, large leaf on her head beginning to spin angrily.

"Oh, Valar," she murmured, barely registering the reference herself, as her fearful eyes locked with those of the pokemon charging her.

Once again, however, someone intervened, as the Bayleef was suddenly silhouetted against a background of fire. However, much to Tuesday's other shock, it wasn't Dante.

"QUIL!"

The Bayleef let out a cry that seemed crafted from the mating of fear and agony, as the flames licked at her yellow-green flesh. Ducking down in an attempt to avoid the blast, the pokemon decided that the safer bet would probably be to run far from her attacker.

And so she did.

Turning tail swiftly, leaf flattened against her head, the grass-type pokemon bolted. Unfortunately for her, she ran right past the tree that had been the only cushion for a far-flung Pikachu in a very bad mood. The Bayleef realized the error of her ways moments too late, as Tempest let out a vicious "PIKA!" and then blasted the offending creature with an impressive Thundershock.

Yelping like a wounded Poochyena, the Bayleef quickened its pace and swiftly disappeared. Tempest stood staring off in the direction she ran for a time, chuffing angrily, as Dante, apparently deeming this a victory, danced in happiness.

Sighing in relief, Tuesday rose slowly to her feet, finding herself somewhat sore after having been knocked to the ground. She found that her elbows were skinned and glared unhappily back at her, and her clothes needed a desperate wash, now that she'd slid through dirt. Still, that could all be remedied later, and Tuesday turned to the pokemon that had saved her a great deal of pain, and possibly her life.

"Hello, little fire," she said, stooping and picking the Cindaquil up. "I suppose I may need to change your nickname a bit, as little doesn't seem to fit quite so well, from that display. You pack a punch in that little body of yours, don't you?"

"Cyn!" the Cyndaquil declared happily.

"Thank you, my friend," Tuesday whispered. Rubbing the Cyndaquil's head affectionately, she sought her other two companions with her eyes. "Tempest! Dante! Let's get out of here, before that Bayleef decides to come back with friends." She sighed, her shoulders dropping. "I don't imagine that would be a pleasant-"

She was cut off abruptly by her surprise at turning to find someone watching her. He was slightly older than her, if she had to guess, though she would have looked far younger than she was because of her height, so she really shouldn't judge. His blonde hair was long, from what she could see, and held back in a tight braid. Her focus was on his eyes, however, which were a deep blue and concentrated solely on her. Her jaw tightening in anxiety, she took a cautious step back and had a sudden overwhelming fear that this boy was the Bayleef's trainer.

But not even Gandalf's words could make her move this time.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 5 2009, 09:13 PM

Jaima saw the battle and had almost sent in Grondir to help, but the cry of a cyndaquil, followed by a wall of fire that rivaled any he'd seen from a quilava, distracted him.

Ember was standing in front of the blonde girl, glaring fiercely at the now fleeing bayleef. He could tell it was Ember by the shape of her snout, the differentation between the brown and tan fur. The fire on her back was flared out larger than he'd seen, but the rest was completely familiar to him.

His chest constricted, and he felt his eyes begin to water. He tried very hard not to break down, but he couldn't help it. He found himself sitting.

"Ember."

Without warning, or direction, the rest of his team dashed to the cyndaquil. The charmander and pikachu who had come with her stepped between them. Fang and Shadow stepped forward, bristling.

Jaima's own emotional cascade was halted as his team took an aggressive posture. Before he could stop the confrontation, Grondir stepped between the two opposing groups, waving his vines and hissing. Jaima's eyes narrowed. Grondir was protecting the girl.

He stood, as Mercury moved to play peacekeeper, a role, Jaima thought, that was usually Grondir's.

He finally noticed the girl, now holding Ember in her arms. Things began to click into place in his mind. She said that she had a charmander and a pikachu. She said that she had recovered a pokémon from a thief. She said that she was travelling to Lenoilia from Petropolis.

He stepped forward. "All right, break it up!" He used his "big brother" voice, the one that had always gotten Mariko and Natsume to obey, the same voice that had forced Ember to think instead of reacting in the fight against Lemonade. It had the same effect on the rest of his team.

"Behind me. Grondir, put those things away! Fang, if you bear your teeth at the pikachu one more time, you are going into the ball! Shadow, down! Mercury, you- actually did the right thing, I'm not mad at you! Tsunami, good girl!"

He took in a breath and let it out, then knelt, not too close to the girl, and definitely not too close to her team, which was still bristling. The pikachu especially was glaring at him.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "I'm thinking you're Tuesday. THis is for you." He held the paper out, and smiled. "I'm Jaima. It's very, very nice to meet you."

As he spoke, Ember squeaked and leapt from Tuesday's arms into Jaima's, and he hugged her to him. "I guess I have you to thank for this, too."

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 5 2009, 09:47 PM

Tuesday didn't understand the boy's reaction. The tearing up of his eyes confused her and she couldn't comprehend the reason for it, unless he thought that she was someone else. A movement in her arms, however, caused her to look down and consider that maybe... maybe he wasn't looking at her.

She was about to ask if perhaps he had just come from Lenoilia, when he muttered something under his breath, too low for her to hear. Not a moment after that, his pokemon darted forward at her.

Fear rising within her like a tide, Tuesday staggered back, preparing to be attacked on all fronts, facing too many enemies and no Professor Oak to save her this time. Tempest and Dante darted in front of her, the Pikachu crouched low to the ground and hissing, while Dante's tail flame burst angrily into a blaze and he bared his teeth in a manner that didn't befit him, snarling loudly. Tuesday restrained a whimper and retreated another step, but was frozen in shock when the boy's Bulbasaur leapt forward and turned its back to her, waving its vines around and talking back to its own team.

He's... defending me?

A strange floating pokemon moved forward and Tuesday reflexively tightened her grip on the Cyndaquil in her arms, but not enough to hurt the pokemon. For her part, the Cyndaquil made no move to be either aggressive or fearful, but seemed to be studying all aspects of the confrontation.

Tuesday wasn't quite sure how to take that.

"All right, break it up!"

Tuesday jerked slightly at the sudden voice, but the tone of it wasn't so aggressive as simply... commandeering. It was the same way that Brone had lectured Cassandra, back when she was still an Abra and had a rather mischievous side. She enjoyed taking items of sentimental value and teleporting them throughout Pallet Town. When she had taken some of Brone's medication, he had finally used what Tuesday had deemed his "Commander Brone" voice. He didn't have to use it often after that, and not once since Cassandra had evolved.

Hearing that tone of voice from this boy was mildly reassuring, but she still found that there was fear present within her heart. So it was that she regarded him with a cautious eye, watching for his next move, much like she watched Brone as he planned his next Chess maneuver. If the boy made one aggressive motion, she was prepared to run.

Instead, however, she found herself floored by what most would call happenstance.

She blamed Fate. And subsequently thanked Her.

"Behind me. Grondir, put those things away! Fang, if you bear your teeth at the pikachu one more time, you are going into the ball! Shadow, down! Mercury, you- actually did the right thing, I'm not mad at you! Tsunami, good girl!"

Grondir, Fang, Shadow, Mercury, and Tsunami, Tuesday's mental voice whispered in her ear. I know those names. I know them. She latched her eyes onto the boy's face, trying to find something about him that matched the words she had been reading in letters of late. If there was ever a time for your hand to reach far, Fate...

The boy dug into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, holding it out to her. "I'm thinking you're Tuesday," he said, and she reached out tentatively for the note, as he said, "This is for you." As she opened the letter and saw the familiar and utterly-welcome handwriting, she knew who he was before he even offered, "I'm Jaima. It's very, very nice to meet you."

Tuesday blinked. She knew, but was surprised, and so she didn't react right away when the Cyndaquil bolted from her arms and leapt into Jaima's embrace. She watched as though from a distance as he hugged her tightly, his eyes filling up with tears again, but she thought she knew why, this time.

"I guess I have you to thank for this, too," he whispered.

For a time, Tuesday just watched him hug the Cyndaquil, contemplating. Odd. She wasn't disappointed. Quite the contrary, she was utterly pleased. She couldn't believe it was that easy, though. She had considered the idea, but had blown it off as being far too much of a coincidence. Once again, however, Fate had touched her life, and it turns out she was becoming close friends with the trainer whose pokemon she unknowingly escorted back to him... Very, very odd. It all felt rather anticlimactic.

But, she mused, perhaps I'm still in shock over the battle. Being attacked by a pokemon was probably something that other trainers had endured, but for Tuesday, the incident struck a cord of fear and brought the past to the forefront of thought. Too many possibilities and near misses. It was disturbing.

She shook her head and brought herself back to the present. You found the Cyndaquil's trainer, met your new "big brother," and survived another day out in the field. You did well.

Taking a deep breath, Tuesday let out a sigh of relief that seemed to take all of her worries with it, and she turned a smile onto Jaima. "Just... doing what's right," she said, thinking back to her latest letter to him. He would know what she referred to, no doubt.

The smile still on her face, she rose to her feet and sought for her own pokemon. Dante, sensing that the danger was past, had wandered off to study a flower some yards away. Tempest, on the other hand, being her distrusting self, was sitting at Tuesday's side. She was no longer hissing, but her fur had not yet settled completely, and Tuesday knew it would take some time for Tempest to grow accustomed to Jaima, even if Tuesday already trusted him.

"It's all right, 'Pest," she said softly, and flicked the Pikachu's ear.

Tempest let out a mock-annoyed "Pi!", before darting up to sit on Tuesday's shoulder. From her vantage point, she regared the boy and his pokemon, narrowing her eyes.

Tuesday knocked her head against the rodent, earning her a potent Pikachu glare. "Hush," she murmured. "These are, believe it or not, friends. Now be nice, or I'll have to put you back in your pokeball." Not that it will hold you.

Deciding that she was being rude, she turned her attention back to Jaima. "It's very nice to meet you, too, by the way, though... surprising. I hadn't thought you were so close and I suppose I wasn't in the greatest position to meet someone." She gave something of a sheepish grin as she thought of herself curled up in a frightened ball on the ground, shivering in fear. Can you say "pathetic?" "So... um... wherefore art thou headed now?"

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 5 2009, 11:15 PM

Jaima wiped his eyes and smiled. "Well, I was going to head to Petropolis, but I don't have to now." He stroked Ember's head, and she pressed up against his arm. "Hey," Jaima said, blinking, coming out of his reverie, "Are you OK? That bayleef was pretty ticked off." He looked at Mercury. Keep a watch, Mercury.

Way ahead of you, Trainer Jaima. Her mental emotion was quite the same as Jaima's; happy, near tears, and proud of the team.

"Wither goest thou, young scholar?"

* * * * *

"Wither thou goest, young celebi..?" The voice was deep and reverbrated, but was felt by only one. She laughed.

"Oh, you know, hither and yon. I've seen the most interesting humans of late!"

Dialga looked down from his lofty perch in Time, his face grim. He normally enjoyed Celebi's visits, but today his mind was elsewhere. "The OmniGlass has been stolen, little one. I have little time for the Humans as it is... now..."

"Stolen?" Celbi's voice, usually light and airy, took on an almost professional tone. "Who? How?"

"The how is a mystery. I suspect that Darkrai is behind it, somehow. The only thing I know if the Who is that it was a human, and he had some kind of protection. I couldn't touch him." He growled deep in his throat. "It is taking all of my concentration to keep him from changing the flow of time permanently."

"What can we do?"

"We, little one? It is not your task to guard time. It is mine, and I have failed."

Celebi scowled. "You need help." She said it so matter of factly, so fiercely, that Dialga was taken aback.

"If I could not touch him, I don't think you will be able to, either."

Celebi looked far off, revisiting her day. "Perhaps no pokémon can touch him... but I think I know who can help us." She turned and smiled, a beautiful smile, at the Time guardian. "Leave it to me, Di."

* * * * *

"- So why don't you travel with me, Tuesday..?"

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 5 2009, 11:38 PM

"Wither goest thou, young scholar?"

Tuesday felt excitement well up within her. Sometimes she spoke before thinking and prattled off something literary, in this case, Shakespearean in nature. Most people either didn't catch the reference or had no time for perceived trivialities. Jaima, however, neither scoffed nor glared, but regarded her with a similar flare. Whether she had found another literature-obsessor or not, she had found someone knowledgeable enough to keep up, and open-minded enough not to judge her. She was content.

"I was planning to head to Lenoilia next. Or rather, pass through it on my way to Arasam."

He offered her a smile that she happily returned. "So why don't you travel with me, Tuesday?"

At this, she openly grinned. "Really?" she asked, almost not daring to doubt. At his nod, however, she couldn't help but give a bit of a jump in happiness (something that Tempest didn't appreciate). "That would be wonderful!" she cried. "And we won't have to wait for hours for a response," she laughed, "unless you plan on not answering me until Mr. Postman shows up again."

She smiled happily at the Cyndaquil in Jaima's arms, glad that they were together again. Her mind turned back to the Bayleef, though, and she thought about her earlier desire to leave this place. That feeling still stood, but she wasn't certain that it remained for the reason it had been born. There was something here that made her feel off. It was... not cold, but it had a chilling effect on her. This didn't happen very often, but on occasion, she would get bad feelings that she almost always listened to (bad things tended to happen when she didn't). Brone was the psychic one, but as Cassandra said, such powers usually manifested in generations. Tuesday was, by no means, psychic, but she apparently held a strong level of intuition that she didn't feel like disagreeing with at the moment.

Unfortunately, Time did not appear to be on their side.

Just as Tuesday was about to reveal her desire to leave to Jaima, there was a great burst of light before her. Her pupils dilated (she swore, she could almost feel it happening), Tempest hissed in fear and shock, Dante let out a cry and scrambled over to Tuesday, and she, for her part, fell flat on her butt.

The bright light lasted for mere moments only, before fading, as though sucked into the form that hovered before them. A small creature, reminiscient of plants, insects, and faeries, with light green skin and a carefree air, but also one of purpose. How conflicting...

The pokemon raised its head and regarded the both of them for a moment. The silence was palpable, until the creature's voice echoed within all of their minds.

"Jaima Kuonji, Tuesday Berdison," the pokemon began, its voice soft and innocent, but burdened by age and deep understanding, "I am Celebi, a Keeper of Time, and I come to you begging for your aid. And I expect you to help me, or I'll unleash the fearsome puppy dog pout on you. I'll have you know, I'm quite good."

Tuesday blinked in surprise. She was accustomed to mind-speak from psychic pokemon, so the Celebi speaking had surprised her but a moment. Her words, however...

Tuesday turned to look at Jaima. She wondered what he thought of all this...

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 6 2009, 12:05 AM

Jaima's mind was, oddly, relaxed. He knew, deep down somewhere, that he should be panicking, but for some reason there was an aura of calm around all of them, human and pokémon alike.

Mercury squirmed next to them, and Celebi turned to her. "Don't be afraid, I mean your trainer nor you, nor your team harm. Unfortunately, I can't say I won't be putting you in harms way."

"You'll forgive me," Mercury said, acidly, "if I'm not comforted.

"Of course. My name," she said, floating placidly before them, "is Celebi Horatio Quark. You won't remember that silliness of a name, however. You will think I was an odd little fairy sprite who came to you in a dream. But for now, I need you lucid, and I need you thinking. We're going to take a trip, if you agree to it. I can't tell you why, but I can tell you it's important, and I will guide you. I can't be with you the whole time, b ut I'll make sure you are where you need to be."

Her eyes turned pleading. "Please. I beg of you... help me. The world is at stake."

Jaima looked at Tuesday, who looked back at him. "I'll help."

"Me too," Tuesday said, her voice calmer than she looked.

Celebi smiled. "I knew you'd say yes..."

With a flash, Celebi disappeared, and they were on a dirt road in a village. People were running around, screaming in terror, looking for family, friends, loved ones, calling frantically. Everyone was dressed in rough cloth and dirty.

"Tuesday, I don't think we're in Kanto anymore," Jaima quoted, swallowing. Then the roar happened, and a huge Charizard flew from the mountain, down to the village, gouts of flame flowing from it's nose and mouth.

"Ooooh, boy..."

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 6 2009, 12:40 AM

"Neither do I, Toto," Tuesday replied softly, staring up into the sky. She saw a thick red-skinned body and fire, and she heard screams and smelt fear and smoke and death. "I don't think I have to have read King Arthur to know what we're up against." She turned to Jaima with a concerned look on her face. "Well, Master Dwarf," she mumbled, "how do you propose we slay a dragon?"

"They look a little out of place, too, considering the era.

Tuesday jumped at the voice, spinning around to find its source. What she saw, to her surprise, was Dante watching her curiously. "Please tell me I'm not going nuts."

"You're not going nuts?"

Tuesday paled considerably. "I'm going nuts," she declared. "Crackers. Off my rocker and around the bend." She turned to Jaima. "I do believe that I have officially lost my mind. All the marbles went bye-bye when Celebi brought us here. I think she was a brain thief. Please, please tell me that I'm not the only one who just heard my Charmander speak to me."

"Well, that's new."

The voice this time was sharp and feminine, with an older flare to it, rather than the innocent, but intelligent tone of Dante's voice, spoken softly, almost contemplatively. Much like Tuesday spoke, actually.

"Indeed," Tuesday murmured. "I can hear my pokemon speak. Maybe Cassandra was right. Maybe I am more psychic than I realized."

"Maybe Celebi just thought it would be helpful?" Dante asked. "It's better than playing Charades, anyday. I just hope it stays active."

"Once again, I question who cares about such simplicities. We have bigger problems. Mainly, Dante's great uncle."

"Yeah," Tuesday murmured, searching the skies again. "Good ol' Smaug." She turned to Jaima. "Not that I don't find this both interesting, terrifying, and... concerning to a high level, shouldn't we also be considering the fact that... well, we're obviously in the past. If we do "slay the dragon," as appears our task, don't we risk messing up the time stream? Mind you, I don't fancy being a fish." (1)

At that moment, the Charizard swooped down out of the sky and released a ferocious fire spin attack into a nearby building, completely decimating it, before returning to the air. Apparently, he was having fun.

"Moreover," Tuesday added, "not that I don't have complete faith in our teams, but how are we supposed to defeat that?!"

Before Jaima could have a chance to answer seriously, Dante shrugged and offered, "A fire extinguisher?"

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 6 2009, 08:07 PM

"I don't really get the fish reference, but you're right. We don't want a Beautifly Effect here." Jaima looked around, squinting. "We should find shelter." He did his best to sound calm and in control, but the truth was if he hadn't already taken care of it, he would have wet himself by now.

The pair and their pokémon started to run, but were cut off by a gout of flame from the flying beast. They skid to a halt and ran the other way, Jaima unconsciously reaching for Tuesday's arm to help her along. Their pokémon, while obviously afraid, were quite calm about it, not screaming or carrying on. Ember was watching the sky and trembling, but did not seem to be as afraid as Jaima would expect.

A call from the side caught their attention. "Here, lad and lassie, come over here! This wall is strong stone!" An aged looking farmer was beckoning them from behind a stone wall, and when Tuesday caught sight of him, she nearly stopped. This, unfortunately, caused Jaima to yank her nearly off her feet, as he didn't stop.

"Sorry! Wat's wrong?"

"Um... nothing," the girl said, continuing to run. Jaima let her get ahead, making sure their pokémon were between them. He cast a look over his shoulder, watching the large charizard nervously.

Tuesday had gotten to safety, and rather than watch the drama unfold, she eyed their benefactor curiously. The elder gentleman smiled grimly at her. "I'm thinkin' yuir nae from aroond here, but standin' in th' field with not on but a nightshirt while Flametail is angry is a sure way tae get yuirself roasted."

Jaima looked at him. "This happen a lot around these parts?"

"Oh, from time t' time, Flametail gets his tail in a knot and burns his bum a bit, an' we have tae pay fuir it. Otherwise it's a nice place." The farmer stuck out his hand. "Me names Jorgen, boyo, but ye can call me Jorge." He smiled.

"My names is... um... Jaima."

"Jaimie, is it? A right peculiar name for a lad, but as I've said b'fore, ye don't look like yuir from around there parts. He smuled and put out his hand, which Jaima shook. He didn't think trying to correct the older man would work, and he didn't intend to stay around much longer. He knelt next to Tuesday. "OK, so maybe fighting it out with this great beast isn't what we're here for. Maybe we need to look for a change and see if we can't fix i--"

"S'cuse me, lad, but c'n I ask a question?"

"Um," Jaima said, blinking. "Sure."

"Ye've got these little creatures around ye, and the lass, too. Why?"

"Well... I mean... I caught them and they help me... um... I'm training them."

"Ye c'n train 'em?"

Jaima blinked, then his eyes widened. Pokémon had been trained since ancient times, and there were stories of them being trained in the middle ages, which matched the circumstances. He cast a significant look at Tuesday, who, by her expression, had caught the anomaly as well.

No one in this time knew that pokémon were catchable.

"I think we found our dead beautifly..."

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 6 2009, 10:12 PM

I really am starting to think I'm losing my mind, Tuesday thought, as she studied the old man before her. He looked just like George. Well, not quite identical, but the similarities were unmistakable. He must be a distant... [i]very distant ancestor of George's. This is so weird...[/i]

"Ye c'n train 'em?"

Jaima seemed to come to the realization the same moment that Tuesday did: these people didn't know how to train pokemon. But pokemon training had been an art crafted long ago, back in Ancient Times, before even the great pyramids were built. She remembered seeing images of Kings training pokemon on tablets, with hieroglyphics telling tales of great battles.

"I think we found our dead beautifly..."

"Sounds about right," Tuesday said, meeting Jaima's eyes. "Well, this definitely means that there's someone else here, and he... or she is messing with the time stream." She looked at Jorgen. "Have you seen anyone else around here lately who doesn't... belong?"

"Sure c'n say I 'av, lass," the man replied with a firm nod. "Str'nge chap, 'e was. Sa' 'is name was Kinser, but I c'nnut sa' fer sur' if 'e were bein' truthful."

"I'd have to say that's our man," Jaima said, and Tuesday had to agree. She fingered her bottom lip as she thought, wondering why he would change the time stream so that no one knew how to train pokemon. Or rather... so no one else knew how to train pokemon.

"Of course," she muttered, raising her voice as she looked to Jaima. "If he's the only one who knows how to train pokemon, then everyone will look to him for guidance. He could rule without contest. Even the strongest of kings and bravest of warriors would have no chance against someone with an army of pokemon by their side." She looked at their teams, and a slow smile stole her face. "But he's not the only one who knows how to train pokemon. And I think he's forgetting that pokemon have minds of their own. Their power may be stolen, but their friendship can't be bought."

She looked up at the sky and easily found the Charizard called Flametail. He was swooping through the air angrily, fire ripping from his throat and dousing the buildings in flames. "I don't think there's anything we can do against him right now," she admitted sorrowfully. "He's too strong for us, and I don't think he would listen even to Dante."

"Probably not," Dante agreed, and Tuesday noted that Jorgen made no surprised movements, as though he didn't even hear Dante speak. "If he was a Charmeleon, I might have a chance, but he's a lot older and a great deal stronger than I am. He'd squish me flat."

"Then I guess our best bet is to find that-" She broke off mid-sentence, as something in the distance called her attention. Her eyes weren't particularly strong, but she caught sight of someone dressed in dark blue, which was an odd color for a village as common as this one. Everyone around here was wearing brown or grey rags, but blue was either a royal, a guard, or... "I think we may have found our man."

Tempest stiffened beside her, obviously preparing to pounce, but Tuesday put a hand on her back to still her. "Wait, 'Pest. I think we should follow him."

"Why?" Tempest demanded impatiently.

"Well... what if he has a bigger plan than this? What if there's more pokemon, stronger pokemon, than Flametail and he's planning to loose them? I think we need to know exactly what we're up against." She looked at Jaima. "What say you?"

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 7 2009, 12:02 AM

Jaima pondered the question for a long time. His eyes narrowed, and wheb he spoke, finally, it was with slow deliberation. "I say this is a different beautifly." He smiled a little at Tuesday's puzzled look. "I'm sure Celebi knows what she's doing, but if we were going to figure out how to fix the trainer issue, we'd be back much further than this, right? So what if he's taking advantage of his previous meddling to do some more now?"

Jaima realized two things when he finished that speech: one, he still had no idea what, if anything, the man had to gain by erasing the knowledge of capturing pokemon, and two, contemplating time travel gave him a headache.

"Okay," Tuesday said, slowly. "What does he get if no one else can train pokemon?"

"Well, you said it. He has all the power. He can make his own rules."

"He could be the most famous person in the world."

"What I'd like tae know is if he c'n catch 'em like y' say, c'n he catch ol' Flametail?" Jorgen's voice was low, grim, and Jaima and Tuesday turned to look at him, terrifying realization in their eyes.

"He'd have his pick of the best," hissed Tuesday.

"Of all time," mumbled Jaima. They both looked at the man. He watched Flamerail circle and roar, then nodded and walked away.

"Shadow," Jaima said, his eyes widening. "Follow him, but don't get caught!"

"Yes, sensei Jaima!"

Tuesday furrowed her brow. "What is it?"

"What if Flametail isn't a he?"

Tuesday scowled, then gasped. "Eggs!"

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 7 2009, 04:26 PM

Tuesday and Jaima sat pondering their predicament. She had been watching the Charizard for some time, but unlike some pokemon, there was no readily visible difference between the male and female breed, so from this distance, she couldn't tell whether Flametail was a potential mother or not. Considering that the man they had seen hadn't attacked Flametail yet with the hope of capturing him or her, they had to assume that she had a nest around here somewhere.

Currently, Tuesday was trying to recall everything that she knew about Charizard. She had read a lot of information about the species, since it was Dante's breed's final evolution, but she had also learned a lot from Professor Oak, and some of it was beginning to come back to her.

"Charizard aren't very common in the wild," she muttered, "but I suppose that might be different in this time. Still, their habitat and behavior probably wouldn't change too much, I don't think. So..." She looked up at the Charizard again and sought out its tail with her eyes. "That's what I thought," she said, this time loud enough for Jaima to hear her. "Look at her tail! The flames are blue and white, which means she's fairly angry. Charizard also don't attack unless they've been provoked into a rage or commanded to do so. Considering her obvious anger, I'm voting the former." She chewed her lip for a moment, thinking, but it was Dante who came up with the next piece of information.

"Mountains," he supplied, looking to Tuesday. "I remember mountains when I hatched. Mommy hid us in the cracks so none of the flyers could come and pick us off and eat us."

"Right," Tuesday said, resisting the urge to kick herself for her stupidity. "Charizard are mountain and volcano pokemon." She lowered her gaze from Flametail to the landscape, and saw numerous mountains in the distance. Huffing lightly, she thought a moment, and then decided to start simply and with the most obvious. Maybe they'd get lucky.

That in mind, she turned to Jorgen. "You wouldn't happen to know of any volcanoes near here, would you?"

"Sure would, lass," he replied, nodding in affirmation. "There's ol' Fire Mount'n, righ' up there." He pointed straight ahead of them, to a tall, steep mountain devoid of any vegetation. Tuesday wondered idly why she hadn't guessed that, to begin with. "She's b'n quiet o' late an' it worries th' town folk. Ain't ev'n b'n smok'n, an' it ain't like her, no sirree." He gave her a pointed look. "Tha' where y'r headed, lass?"

"Yeah," Tuesday muttered, getting to her feet. "Yeah, I think it is."

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 7 2009, 05:01 PM

Jaima looked in the direction that Jorgen had pointed. There was a mountain, bare and barren, craggy rocks and stones jutting, giving it an oddly evil look, however, when they said that there had been no activity, Jaima nodded. Another time distortion, surely.

Or, perhaps, the fire-type simply knew that putting your nest near or in an overly active volcano was a bad idea.

"I'm trying very hard to touch the charizard, Trainer Jaima, but I can't." Mercury's voice lilted in his ear, and he blinked.

"Wait, you're talking? Like, talking talking?"

Mercury tsked. "Trainer Jaima, you don't pay much attention, do you? Celebi has done something that makes us all audible to you? She's either taught you pokémon language, or taught us how to speak human. Since Jorgen doesn't seem to be paying much attention, I suspect the former." The kirlia shrugged. "You haven't wondered who the little boy and the other teenage girl are?"

Jaima flushed. "I've been a little pre-occupied, OK?" He looked at Jorgen and apologized. Though the man did not seem agitated, there was a hint of confusion. "Sometimes you can understand them if you know how to listen."

"Be right handy to have them about, I reckon," the old man said kindly. Jaima smiled.

"More than you know."

"I think something's agitating her." This came from Ember, who was still nestled in Jaima's arms. "She's angry, but it seems like she thinks it's the town's fault, and she doesn't think she can get back to where she wants to go..."

"You know it's a she?"

Ember blushed, ducking her head. "No, not really... I mean, it makes sense, your idea, so..." Jaima smiled at her, and she seemed to bloom under it.

"OK, well... I think Tuesday and I are going to go there. We need to travel pretty quick, so... everyone's going to need to get in their balls for a while."

There was a chorus of denial, except from Ember and Mercury, both of whom cleared their throats. Tsunami peeped.

"What if you need us?"

"Then I'll call you. I promise." There was no more argument, and Jaima recalled his team, his kids, into their pokéballs. Jorgen shook his head in amazement.

"Right handy, 'tis."

Jaima nodded to him, then turned to Tuesday. "Well, come on, Sam, time to head to Mordor..."

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 7 2009, 07:36 PM

"Do you think we're going to have Nazgul on our tail?" Tuesday wondered, pondering what sorts of pokemon the man might already have handy. How many different time periods had he already been in before Celebi got to them? Obviously, he went back far enough to stop people from being able to train pokemon. Did he catch a pokemon back then? And weren't pokemon more powerful back then? They lived a life more brutal than now, or at least it seemed that way. Maybe that was only because they were trained to fight to death. But now he had made training nonexistent.

Tuesday forced her mind to halt and felt the rest of the world continue to spin for a time. Theorizing on time travel was... difficult. My head hurts, she thought, at the same time that she muttered to Jaima, "I think I stared into the Palantir for too long." If he'd been trying to hypothesize, too, she was sure he'd understand, and probably be able to sympathize.

Taking a deep breath to compose herself, Tuesday took her pokeballs off of her belt and turned to Dante. "All righty, pal," she said, smiling, "Jaima's right. We don't want to attract too much attention, and you'll be safer in here."

"But... I don't..." He ducked his head and let out a soft whimper.

Tuesday knelt down in front of her first pokemon, her best friend. "Listen, Dante," she said softly, rubbing the top of his head, "I will let you out of your ball as soon as we can travel without being seen. I'm not going to lock you up, I promise. I won't keep you in there forever." She nudged the bottom of his chin so he would lift his head and look at her. "Trust me?"

He ducked his head and nodded gently. "Yeah," he whispered. "I do."

She smiled. "All right, then," she whispered. "I'll let you out soon, I promise." She clicked the ball and a jet of red light sucked the Charmander back into his pokeball. She turned to Tempest, finding the Pikachu watching her. "You won't stay in even if I call you back, will you?"

"You're finally catching on," she said, crossing her arms over her chest and regarding Tuesday with a look of superiority. "We'll save time if you just let me sit on your shoulder."

"You can stay out of the pokeball, but you're going into the bag."

Tempest glowered. "Fine." With that, she struggled into Tuesday's messenger bag. "You know, if you carried less notebooks, I'd have more room."

"It's roomier in your pokeball," Tuesday offered.

"I said the bag was fine. Geez..."

Tuesday turned with something of an apologetic smile to Jorgen. "They certainly have their own personalities," she offered. "Some are easier to accommodate than others."

"I heard that."

Tuesday chose to ignore Tempest, which always seemed the better option. "So, up the mountain." She tried to measure the distance with her eyes, but all she got was far. Sighing, she turned to Jaima. "Looks like we're chasing the orcs on foot, Gimli." She adjusted the strap of her messenger bag, careful not to jostle Tempest. "Ready?" she asked.

"I guess," he agreed, rising to his feet.

"Thank you for your help," Tuesday said, turning to Jorgen. "We'll do what we can to stop Flametail from causing anymore damage to your town. If we're right, there's another person behind her actions, and while he can train pokemon, I don't think he views them the same way as we do." She shook her head. "They aren't tools, and they aren't weapons. Pokemon are friends." She looked at him, almost pleadingly. "However this turns out, Jorgen, don't forget that. Even if you can't catch or train pokemon, you can befriend them. That's what this man doesn't understand."

Turning to Jaima, she smiled. "All right, Frodo. As you say, to Mordor."

With that, she turned and headed off toward the mountain, hoping that they could find the nest of eggs before the Time Thief, and stop him from causing anymore damage.

"Goddess," she muttered, thinking of all the things that this man could do, "it's like Sauron with his Ring of Power."

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 8 2009, 11:17 AM

They walked in silence for a while, and as they walked, Jaima was deep in thought. The roars of Flametail receded, and the cries of the townspeople with them.

The trek was wearying, because the mountain looked closer that it was, but neither Jaima nor Tuesday faltered. The quips from the books his father had introduced him to had begun to seem more real: it felt as though they were actually part of a grand mission, and that they were heading to certain doom.

Only something was nagging at Jaima. Something about the circumstances didn't add up to the picture they were painting. They were assuming the man was smart, and he had to have knowledge if he knew when to go to stop all knowledge of pokemon training. But how could stopping one event change the world as they know it? How could stopping, say, the invention of the pokeball by one man erase all knowledge of training? Shouldn't there be pokecubes, or pokepyramids, or pokedecahedrons?

"Tuesday, have you ever watched movies?" He didn't allow her to answer, since it was more or less a rhetorical question. "My dad was the one who introduced me to works like the Lord of the Rings and the Luxray, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but he also liked movies, and one he watched with me was called Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Really kind of dumb, but funny. It involved time travel. Toward the end they were doing silly things to get out of trouble, like reminding themselves to have something ready for when they went back to the past again, and it would just appear. So... What if this guy was doing the same thing? Going back and forth to the past and changing every time mankind learned about pokemon...?" He shook his head and winced. "My head hurts. My point is, what if this is still his first trip, and right now he's just saying to himself 'don't forget to go back in time a lot and keep people from finding out about pokemon,' so it's erased, but he hasn't... Done it yet..?"

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 8 2009, 01:04 PM

Tuesday rubbed her head. "I'm debating about asking you not to theorize, Jaima. My head already hurts from my own thoughts, but I think I know what you're saying. So..." She sighed and took a breath, preparing her thoughts. "The guy in our time... maybe even this dimension hasn't gone back in time yet to change anything. Rather... he plans to and another him from... another time already went back and changed stuff, so... so... my head hurts."

She stopped walking and deciding that they needed a break. "Okie dokie, let's sit and think on this," she suggested, plopping down, with Tempest jumping out and making herself comfortable on Tuesday's shoulder. "Obviously, you had a point to mentioning that. What do you think? I mean... you seem as though you might even be formulating a plan of some sort?"

She stretched her legs out, thinking about how much her feet her killing her, as Jaima relayed his answer to her. She ran her thoughts over his hypothesis, but really, all she managed to get was a headache. They didn't know anything for sure, but it was a good idea.

"You know," she said, when he finished talking, "I really wish I had a pokemon we could ride. That would make this a whole lot easier." She was staring off at a herd of Ponyta, calmly grazing as though nothing in the world was wrong. "I know we can't risk catching anything, else we might mess up the time stream, but it would be nice." She sighed. "Oh well." Rising to her feet, she decided to let Tempest continue to sit on her shoulder, and called out Dante since no more people were around. "All right, guys, let's keep going."

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 8 2009, 09:47 PM

Jaima sat and sketched out his timeline. "See, here's what I'm thinking: he's come here, and he said to himself, 'It'd be really easy to get this charizard's eggs if no one knew how to use pokemon. I think, once I'm done here, I'll have to remember to make people forget how to catch pokemon.' And, lo and behold, it happened. So he thinks to himself, 'Self, you'd better remember to do that'."

As he spoke, he put a line in the dirt, then drew a mark on the line. He began to move his finger from the mark, down the line, then after a few inches, drew it back around in a curve, toward the beginning if the line. Moving his finger back between the mark and the beginning of the curve, he looked at tuesday. "Celebi brought us here, after he decided to change time but before he actually did it. If we can make him change his mind, the we'll reset time, and he won't ba able to get Flametail's eggs."

He held up his pokeball. "And maybe the way to do that is make him think he failed, so he won't bother."

He stood as Tuesday did, and smiled at her with for a pokemon to ride. "You know, I can carry you on my back for a while. I used to do it for my sisters all the time..."

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 8 2009, 11:18 PM

Tuesday smiled. "No, thank you," she said. "I would like to retain some semblance of my dignity."

"Aragorn carried Frodo," Dante suggested unhelpfully, referencing Lord of the Rings, which both Tuesday and Jaima seemed particularly fond of.

"He also tossed Gimli across a chasm," Tuesday argued. "I am neither a Hobbit nor a Dwarf."

"One could argue with the former, shorty."

Tuesday turned to glare at the smirking Tempest. "Hush, you."

"You know I'm right."

Tuesday chose to ignore this, instead turning her attention back to Jaima. "I like your idea," she said, as she had been thinking some time on the plan to make the thief think that his plan to stop people being able to train pokemon had failed. It was a good idea, and Tuesday hoped it would work. "How are we going to act this out?" she asked. "Are we going to act as though nothing was ever changed and we've always known how to train pokemon, or will we act as though we know his plan, which we do if your theory is correct, and we're here to stop him? We don't exactly look as though we fit in this time period." She regarded her clothes. "With the brown, we could probably pull this all off, if my boots weren't obviously machine-made." She gave a rather sheepish grin. "I don't fancy running around barefoot, however much Tempest thinks I resemble a Hobbit."

"You carry a frying pan in your pack," Tempest noted. "You are the embodiment of Samwise Gamgee."

"I'd have to agree," Dante said, nodding.

"This is mutiny!" Tuesday declared, throwing her hands in the air. "The world is against me!"

Dante was about to reply with something equally cheeky, when a blast of fire flew past his face, nearly striking him. With a cry of surprise rather than fear, he leapt to the side to avoid a second attack, and they all turned to see a Charmeleon standing in front of them.

Eyes narrowed and tail-flame burning brightly, the lizard-like pokemon released an angry hiss, before another storm of fire erupted from its mouth.

"What's wrong with him?" Tuesday yelled, ducking beneath the fire blast. "Why is he attacking us?"

Snarling at the Charmeleon for attacking his trainer, Dante leapt forward and released an ember attack, which the Charmeleon ducked under. The two staring at each other, Dante hissed in warning and demanded that the Charmeleon tell them why he was attacking with a confidence that Tuesday had never seen him exhibit before.

The Charmeleon stopped attacking for the moment and growled back at Dante. For a moment, Tuesday thought he was snarling in contempt, but it took a moment for her to realize that the Charmeleon was talking to Dante.

After a moment of conversation, Dante turned back to Tuesday and Jaima. "He says that there's a man on his mountain, near his nest. I guess Flametail is his mom and he was supposed to be protecting his brothers, sisters, and the eggs, but something blocked him from going near the nest. Whatever it was, it's growing, according to him - pushing him further and further away from the nest. And the man is getting closer. He thought we were with the man and going to steal his siblings."

"That's completely understandable," Tuesday agreed, nodding at the Charmeleon, who had calmed considerably toward them but still seemed agitated. "You said that the man is on the mountain?"

"Leon!" the Charmeleon declared angrily, nodding sharply.

"Well," Tuesday said, straightening up, "we're just going to have to get there first and stop him." Suddenly, a grin came over her face, slowly stealing away the contemplation with a plan. She turned to Jaima, full-out grinning. "Our orc thinks that no one else can train pokemon, so every pokemon he sees is wild and up for grabs. And he's looking for a fire-lizard." She turned to Dante. "What do you think, Dante? Want to teach this guy not to take everything at face value?"

"I'm a decoy?" he asked curiously. "He'll think he can catch me and I'll keep him busy while you guys catch up?"

"That's the plan," Tuesday admitted.

Dante saluted, which looks a little odd considering his arms were so short, but cute nonetheless. "As you command, oh fearless leader. Just don't forget to come and get me."

"Never, Dante," Tuesday said, resting her hand momentarily on his head. "But be careful."

Dante nodded, then turned to the Charmeleon and asked where the nest sat exactly. "First large crag about a mile up the mountain," he relayed verbatim. He looked at Tempest. "Don't let her fall."

"I won't," Tempest promised.

"I'm not gonna fall!" Tuesday declared.

"Of course not," Tempest said, "because I'll be there."

Tuesday sighed, but decided not to continue the argument, as Dante had already run off, the Charmeleon with him to escort him as far as he was able. Tuesday swallowed a lump that had grown in her throat, suddenly concerned that she had just sent her best friend to his doom. Why did she have to think of such a stupid, stupid plan.

She shuddered involuntarily. "Be careful, Dante," she whispered. When Tempest patted her head reassuringly, she starting walking briskly toward the mountain. She didn't want Dante to have to face the thief for long. Who knew what pokemon he'd be up against. She hoped he was ready to face it.

Tuesday hoped she was ready, too.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 9 2009, 08:45 PM

"Hey," Jaima said, putting Tsunami's ball away without having called her, and pulling Mercury's ralts-decoratesd ball off of his bandolier. "You forget, Dante has back-up in place."

He clicked the button on the ball and released Mercury, who looked around curiously.

"Merc, find out where Shadow is."

"I'm on it, of course, Trainer Jaima." Her eyes glowed briefly, then she looked at her trainer. "He says they're near a cave, and that there are orange eggs in a large nest there. The man hasn't reached it, he's scouting ahead."

Jaima nodded. "Ok, tell him to wait there. Tuesday's charmander Dante is on his way, and he'll be distracting the man while we make our way up. He's to stay calm, but defend Dante if he gets into serious trouble."

Mercury relayed the message, then grinned. "May I join Shadow, Trainer Jaima? I can help from a distance."

Jaima nodded. "OK, good idea. We'll be up as soon as we can." With a pop, Mercury was gone. Jaima nodded to Tuesday. "OK, let's get going..."

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 9 2009, 09:07 PM

Flame, the name by which the Charmeleon called himself, had finally needed to stop, unable to move any further beyond a random point. Dante tried to determine what was causing the "barrier" that kept him from continuing on, but all he managed to discover was that he suffered a strange tingling sensation in his tail-flame whenever he walked past the area that he was told was the wall. He got the feeling that whatever the barrier was, it was specifically designed to stop fire-types. Or, more specifically, Flametail, Dante mused. Maybe it doesn't affect me, because I'm not from this time. That made sense, he supposed. Flame had said that his mother was trapped further back, and Dante wondered if the preventative wall was weaker against Flame, because he was Flametail's son - the next generation.

Well, there would be time for further hypothesis later. He was on a mission. Cue Mission: Impossible theme song. Dante actually started to hum that familiar and catchy tune, as he climbed the steep cliff-face that made up the mountain. His claws dug easily into the cracks in the rock and he found it hardly a chore to make his way above the ground.

And it didn't take him long to find the thief. He was a great big man, with massive shoulders and a hard face. He looked as though he should have trouble climbing the mountain, but that didn't appear to be the case. Rather, he moved with ease up the side of the rock, hand over hand, booted feet digging into the wall. He must have had some exquisite training with mountain climbing, or perhaps he was one of those strange men who lived on their own in the wild. Despite his obvious knowledge of mountain climbing and the ease with which he accomplished this trying task, he was still a whale of a man.

"Call me Ishmael," Dante muttered, and then dodged forward to implement his super awesome plan.

It took them longer than Tuesday would have liked to reach the base of the mountain. In truth, it was only about thirty minutes since Dante had left them, but Tuesday was too concerned not to think that he had been gone for anything less than three hours. She was very ready to have him back in her sights, safe and sound and not facing a possible madman without her there.

Of course, she didn't want him facing a possible madman, even if she was there.

A blast of fire almost directly above them caused Jaima and Tuesday to look up simultaneously. They were a good distance away from the area, but they could see bursts of flame every now and then. Tuesday was certain that it was Dante and the thief.

She felt Tempest grip her shirt tightly, as she turned to Jaima. "Ready?" she asked.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 10 2009, 03:03 PM

Jaima smiled grimly at Tuesday. "Ready when you are." He knelt in front of her before they started. "I have a plan, and Mercury is listening so hopefully Dante will know what to do. Once we get up there, when Dante is in the clear, throw his pokéball to him. If he's ready, he should get inside it and it'll look like you caught him. Then we'll let him right out to battle. That'll do our job for us."

Tuesday nodded, looking frightened for her pokémon, and Jaima winked. "Don't worry. You don't have to deal with him alone."

They scrambled their way up the rest of the mountain, and stood at the mouth of the cave. The scene was one of controlled chaos, or possibly not controlled at all. Dante was dancing about hissing and snarling, dodging a zigzagoon. Judging from the pokéballs strewn about, he'd managed to avoid capture, though if those were regulation pokéballs, they would have serached for another ball with this pokémon's signature and released it. That was assuming the system worked without... he was getting a headache agains, and decided to stop thinking so much.

As they watched, a pokéball came flying at Dante from the side, thrown as he was distracted by the zigzagoon. Tuesday hissed, but at the last second it was deflected by an unseen force. The man's face screwed up in anger. "Aw, come ON!"

Nice shot, Mercury!

I know...

Don't get cocky, kid.

Jaima nudged Tuesday, earning a growl from Tempest, and she nodded, coming out of her fear and tossing Dante's pokéball. It hit him in the chest and activated (though Jaima could have sworn he saw Dante reach out and touch the button), enveloping the charmander in a white light. Tuesday dashed over and grabbed it.

"That was-- hey, wait a minute..." The man snarled. "You shouldn't be able to do that..."

Jaima crossed his arms, folding them just under the group of pokéballs on his chest. "And yet she did. Did you really think you could stop everyone from discovering how to catch and train pokémon?"

The man sneered. "Well, you're just two people, and I have time on my side." He laughed at his own joke. "I'll just have to remember to make sure you two don't follow me.

They stood there for a few seconds, then man's face contorting when Jaima and Tuesday didn't disappear. "Remind me," Jaima drawled, "to punch this guy in the eye if he tries that." To their surprise, a bruise appeared around his eye.

Jaima bit his lips to keep from laughing, but the man only grew angrier. "Then I'll have to take care of you now! Ziggy, tac-"

With audible pops, Dante, Tsunami, Grondir, Ember, and Fang appeared between the man and the pair. Tempest cristled from the top of Tuesday's head, and Shadow and Mercury appeared from over Jaima's shoulders.

"Sensei Jaima, he is using a device on the mountain to prevent the wild pokémon from coming up. Even I feel odd passing through that barrier."

"Do you know where it is, Shadow?" The riolu nodded. "Take Fang and take the device out!"

"No," the man cried. "You idiot, she'll come back and roast us all!" When they didn't move, he took a glowing device from his pocket. "It looks like I'm going to have to deal with you before I start catching the Ultimate Team!" The device glowed, then disappeared.

"So," Tuesday said, rubbing her eyes. "Did we save our beautifly?"

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 11 2009, 01:15 AM

A roar, growing in intensity even as it ended, revealed that Shadow and Ember had done as they had been told by Jaima. The device had been taken out. Now, Flametail was returning home.

Tuesday supposed that they could try to run, but she knew that they'd never make it. Flametail would see their retreating forms and probably roast them before checking her nest. So, Tuesday calmly sat down, Tempest on her shoulder and Dante by her side, waiting for the Charizard to appear.

And appear she did, in all her brilliant, flaming glory. She had been flying low to the ground, but rose up before them, wings spread wide, mouth open to blast a stream of white-hot fire into the sky. She roared angrily, challengingly, but it was a challenge that they could never win, even with all their forces combined. (1) Knowing that, she drew a deep, calming breath, driving away the fog of DragonFear. She met the Charizard's eyes, holding the angry gaze. For but a moment, she allowed herself to feel fear. And then she bid it leave her alone; she had no time for fear.

"Your eggs are safe," she said quietly, though the second half of her sentence was drowned out by a vicious roar. Obviously, any mention of her nest was going to drive Flametail further into a rage. "We protected them, even if you don't believe us. The thief wasn't able to reach them." She continued the hold the Charizard's gaze, noticing that the creature was not deafening her words with a roar, but nor was she entirely calm, yet. "He may be back," she warned. "We need to stop him, so if you would please let us down from the mountain, we will continue to try and do just that."

Flametail finally released a growl, her top lip quivering as the breath escaped her. She obviously didn't like the idea of letting potential egg-nappers go. Tuesday considered this for a moment, then turned to Dante, who nodded, seeming to understand. He stepped forward.

"I am bound to Tuesday, my partner," he began, by way of explanation. "She will not leave without me. I'll go with you to your nest. When you see that your eggs are safe, will you let us go?"

She seemed to contemplate this for a moment, then hissed softly, nodding her head. At his request, Tuesday gave Dante his pokeball, so that she couldn't call him back, and then he began to walk up the mountain. Flametail flew after him, but continued to glance back to make certain that her "prisoners" weren't running.

It didn't take very long, but they enjoyed the break while it lasted. Flametail came flying back down, Dante trotted behind. She growled softly in what Tuesday thought might have been as close to thanks as they were going to get, but Dante didn't offer a translation.

Rising to her feet, Tuesday turned to the Charizard and, on a whim, bowed respectfully. She wasn't quite sure why she did it, but it seemed right. Apparently, she had chosen a proper action, as Flametail released a surprised, but pleased sound, and they turned and headed down the mountain.

They didn't get more than five feet when a familiar voice filtered into their minds. "You did well..."

There was a brilliant flash of white light that consumed everything around them. Tuesday shut her eyes against the brightness, and when she opened them again, they were standing in the middle of a meadow. She looked around, wondering where they were now.

She saw a signpost on the road and walked over to read it. Lenoilia City, 50 miles

She blinked in surprise. "We're back in the present?"

"Yes," came the gentle reply, as though on the wind rather than in their minds, "for now..."

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 11 2009, 02:41 PM

"For now," Jaima sighed. "That pretty much means our new job's not over." He looked around. They had not bee placed on the road that they had met on, but on the one Jaima had been traveling toward Petropolis on, which, while they ran parallel, were actually different roads, or at least different halves of the same road.

"So, do we wait, do we travel on..? We have our own destinies, sure, but it doesn't look like we're being deposited far off of where we started." He shrugged, letting his pokémon out of their balls. Leading the way to a clearing across the road, he sat in it, cross legged, and invited Tuesday to do the same.

"I want to sit and think about what we're doing. We may want to document it for our respective professor's study." He smiled at her, noting the glint in her eye when he mentioned the "geniuses", as she phrased it. "Now, I wasn't much of a researcher myself. I suspect Professor Elm was taking pity on my family because of Dad, but I worked hard and learned a lot, and Professor Elm is a patient man. Here's what I know: We've been asked to help out a pokémon in need in repairing time or something to that effect. It is a pokémon I've never heard of, but looks familiar at the same time. She seems to be psychic, and feminine, but also seems to have power over time, or at least to travel back and forth through it and bring others with her. Thoughts?"

Jaima looked, not only at Tuesday ,but at the assembled pokémon. Shadow stood, held up a paw, pad side up, and opened his mouth. "Ri lu o luri o... lu? Riiii..."

Mercury blinked. Language, Shadow!

Jaima blinked, then nodded slowly. "It seems, while we're travelling through time, she can link our minds with our pokémon, and each other's, if memory serves. Maybe she can't keep that connection while she's searching through time?"

Tuesday piped up, stroking Dante's head, who seemed to be disappointed that he could no longer speak directly to his trainer. "Some scientists think that pokémon are, on the average, as intelligent as a human with the usual education, give or take some for psychic and dark abilities. I think we've been shown that's correct, or even too low a guess..."

"Yes, well, researchers in my area think it's based on the species, and I, personally, think wild pokémon are less intelligent than trained, but learn quickly enough to catch up, much like a wild human might be." He smiled tightly. "Are you thirsty or hungry? I think my pack's around here, and I have some food..."

Tuesday blinked at the sudden change of direction in the conversation, and Jaima laughed, noticing the rock he'd leaned against the night before behind her. "Sorry, I told you, I'm not as good a researcher as some. Besides, it's been so long since I've had to labtalk, I'm not used to it!"

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 11 2009, 03:22 PM

Tuesday laughed, as her mind leveled out on the new track. She tended to jump from topic to topic, but it had been some time since she'd met someone else who did the same. Opening her own messenger bag, she grinned. "We can make a meal," she stated, pulling out her frying pan, "and then get some sleep. If this isn't the last time we're going to be thrown through time, I suppose it's probably a good idea to rest up. Who knows. Next we might have to climb Mount Everest."

Dante gave a heavy snort at that, and Tuesday grinned. Obviously, the Charmander didn't much care for that plan, but he'd never liked the cold.

It didn't take long, between all of the pokemon, for a small fire pit to be dug. Dante was pleased to have another fire-type in his company, and happily joined Ember in lighting some timber that Shadow had fetched. Tuesday was digging through her bag while Tempest held the frying pan. "I think I used up the last of my eggs this morning... maybe I have some ham in here. What do you have on you, Jaima?"

"Mostly Tauros jerky and some dried fruit," he admitted, pulling out said items. He passed them around to the pokemon, and Tuesday nodded, pulling out some packaged ham she'd had in her pack and tossing it onto the frying pan so it sizzled loudly.

"I hope there's a decent marketplace in Lenoilia," she admitted. "I'm running out of food and I don't fancy us buying something in the past and then returning to the future. I don't want to know what century-old food smells like." Dante, finding this amusing, danced lightly from one foot to the other, giggling. Shaking her head, Tuesday searched through her pack some more, until the sound of wings caught her attention.

She blinked at the familiar Swellow. "Wait a minute... Mr. Postman," she said, smiling. "Would you like some ham?"

"No, thank you, Tuesday," he replied, causing her to blink thoughtfully at being mind-spoken to by a bird. She didn't want to ask what he'd caught to eat.

He held out a letter to her and, knowing it wasn't from Jaima, she took it with some trepidation. She wished she didn't have to worry all the time about receiving a letter about her brother, rather than from him.

As she unfolded the letter, however, she realized that it wasn't from her family, but rather, from Professor Oak. She read it aloud for Jaima to hear.

Tuesday folded up the letter with a smile. She'd never thought that Professor Oak had met Celebi. It was almost hard to believe. She handed a plate of the cooked ham to Jaima, grinning but thoughtful. She shook her head lightly as she began to eat. "This is almost too much to believe," she muttered, "but I suppose..." She smiled, leaving the sentence unfinished. "So food, sleep... where do you suppose we'll be taken next, Jaima?"

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 11 2009, 03:47 PM

Jaima looked into his bag. "I have some roasted nuts in here, too." He looked up at the mention of Lenoilia, causing a flood of mixed emotions. "I don't know that they do, Tuesy. I got my food from the pokémon center, and..." he trailed off. He hadn't spared a thought for Joy since he'd had Ember back with him, and that made him wonder.

He was preoccupied with his thoughts of the Nurse when Mr. Postman landed, but snapped to attention when the letter was being read. He smiled, something familiar about the tone of the letter, but he passed it off.

That was when he noticed Grondir was staring up at Tuesday with something akin to wonder. As he watched, Grondir sidled up to her and nudged her ankle, causing her to look down at him. With a happy croak, he nuzzled her calf, smiling so widely his eyes were forced closed.

"Um..."

"I think he likes you, Tuesday," Jaima said, amused, then muttered "aha!" He brought out a plastic jar of peanut butter, some bread (smashed, but still useable) and a small jar of pecha preserves. "We can save this for later, if you want, but we do have it, so it should be OK." He sighed. "Time travel. It's probably been minutes, but we've lived through hours..."

As they ate and prepared for their next journey, Jaima sighed. "I don't even want to know when we'll be taken next. There's no way to guess... if the guy is making the ultimate team, then he must be looking for historically strong pokémon... Maybe he'll go after Sir Aaron's Lucario..."

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 11 2009, 05:11 PM

Jaima was asleep and Tuesday was trying to follow suit, but she was having trouble. Aware that her insomnia rarely gave in, she took the time to study Jaima's pokemon. She knew them by name from the letter she had read only moments ago, the one that he had handed to her himself, but now, finally, she had a moment to truly look at them.

She supposed part of this was brought on by Grondir's strange display of affection. It had surprised her. Tuesday had always been on friendlier terms with pokemon than with humans, but still...

It didn't help that he seemed so... familiar.

It's not like you haven't seen a Bulbasaur before, Tuesday, she told herself, rolling her eyes. She had, in fact, seen a few. They were a common pokemon in Professor Oak's care. She remembered one Bulbasaur in particular who she had become good friends with. Dante, too, had been close with the pokemon. Professor Oak had given the pokemon to a trainer, however, as... thanks... wait a minute...

The world cannot be that small.

But then, maybe it was. It seemed hardly plausible that Grondir could be the same Bulbasaur that she helped raise, but the way that he had nuzzled up against her leg was just like the Bulbasaur she had bottlefed chocolate milk to. Also the same Bulbasaur that had eaten her last chocolate chip cookie. The homemade ones that she had brought for Professor Oak. The man never even got one.

Tuesday couldn't help it. She giggled outright. She clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound, but it wasn't enough not to wake the lightly-sleeping Grondir, who blinked sleepily at her.

"The dinosaur with the bulb on his back, eh, Grondir?" Grondir straightened, blinking at her wide-eyed. Her gaze softened. "So it is you, then?" she asked. "What a tiny world we live on."

"Saur," Grondir replied. "Bulba." He came over and nuzzled her arm.

Tuesday rubbed his head gently. "It's good to see you again, tiny," she whispered, her eyes drooping in exhaustion. Only moments later, she had slipped off into dreamland.

As they all slept, white light coiled around them, ancient magic whispering words long forgotten to humans and pokemon alike. When they woke up, they would find themselves far in the past, in a time of chariots, and gladiators, with a man of their own time period sitting on the throne.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 12 2009, 02:52 PM

Jaima sat up, stretched, and smiled at the sun on his face, all without opening his eyes. When he did open his eyes, he looked about lazily for his team and Tuesday, he found her curled up nearby, her head on her left arm and her right one slung over the back of...

Grondir..? This was new. Even when Mindy'd been training him, he wanted to sleep in the same room as Jaima. True, Tuesday was nearby, but there was a story here that begged telling.

"Great," he muttered fondly. "My pokémon's a player."

Grondir opened one red eye, closed it again, and muttered, "Don't hate the player, hate the game. Isn't that how it goes?"

Two things happened that very instant. Jaima realized that he had "heard" Grondir, and not what should have come out of his mouth, the expected strung syllables of his species name. And a male cleared his throat behind him.

Jaima turned to see a rather large man in an armored skirt, breastplate, and helmet with a large brushlike decoration on the top. He and three men like him were holding short swords, the tips pointed to the pair.

Jaima raised his hands slowly, his face growing worried, and muttered, "Oh, boy..."

* * * * *

"We found these two outside on the ground. They are obviously slaves, as can be told by their odd style of dress, but the boy," the centurion's voice took on a drawl that did more to set Jaima's nerves on edge than his condescending words, "seems to fancy himself a gladiator, with several sphere tenura strapped to his chest. As we have bound his hands, and he has given us no trouble, you can see that he has them still."

The large man on the throne was looking at them lazily, eating grepa and jaboca berries from a bowl. The large man next to him, however, grinned with a malicious glee, rubbing his hands together even as Jaima and Tuesday glared at him, despite their fear. The man, who now turned his head and whispered to the Emperor, was the same one they had encountered at Flametail's mountain.

"My Lord," he said, loudly enough to be heard by everyone before the Emperor, "They are obviously not merely slaves, but subversives. Who dresses in such a manner unless they are assassins? They should be summarily executed. Throw them to the luxio!"

The Emperor gazed over the two, and shook his head. "This one is but a young girl. I see no deceit in her features. In fact, she pleases me. I shall take her in as my slave." His weary-seeming gaze fell onto Jaima. "However, if this one thinks he can take on the elite in the gladiator's arena, let him prove it."

His pronouncements made, the centurion and his troops forcibly seperated Tuesday and Jaima, dragging Jaima to the arena. Great. Just great. Could have warned us, but noooo... He crossed his arms as they dragged him, then blinked. How come I could understand them?

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 13 2009, 01:21 AM

Tuesday was scared.

She was twelve years old, had been transported to Ancient Rome, separated from her companion, taken as a slave, and was now standing in a room with a strange woman who wanted her to strip down naked.

"No!" she said for the fifth time, resisting the urge to stomp her foot like a child.

"Your clothing does not befit a slave of the emperor," the woman replied, losing patience.

"I don't want to be a slave! I want my brother! Where's my brother?"

She had decided a number of things very quickly upon their capture. The first was that she hated the thief that they were chasing, and she didn't think that she had ever thought of hating anyone before. Once that initial reaction was over, however, she had begun to analyze the situation in a manner that would have made Brone beam with pride.

She was taken in as a slave to the emperor. Now, Tuesday didn't know a great deal about Roman slavery, but she had read Julius Caesar and she knew some things about slavery in general. The emperor had complimented her... sort of, and she knew that the slaves of royalty tended to be treated better than the slaves of commoners. That in mind, she was fairly certain that she wasn't going to be whipped.

Er... as long as she obeyed, of course.

But the thief was the emperor's advisor, which meant he was close enough to get to her if he really, really wanted to. Jaima had also been taken off to be made a Gladiator, and Tuesday had seen those movies. They were brutal. Brutal and barbaric, and though she loved Jaima and was certain that she was strong, she had to admit: he was probably going to die.

Well, you know, if she didn't interfere. Which she planned to. From the inside.

The emperor had really given them a leg-up on the thief, and she wasn't sure that the "advisor" even knew it.

Still, he was close. Too close for comfort, and Tuesday couldn't let him know who they were. Who knew what he would do if he found out their true identities. The answer: she had to lie. She hated lying, but this was necessary. Also, to be truthful, it was just like acting. She was playing a part. The part of a slave.

So she told them her name was Ilia, which wasn't a complete lie, as it was her middle name. She also told them that Jaima (who she'd said was named Jamie, because she figured if he said his real name, it would be easily forgotten with the similarities) was her brother, which also wasn't completely false, because he'd pretty much adopted her as another little sister. She'd also said that they were totally lost and had no idea where they were, which the advisor had laughed at, and she was pretty sure that it was because he believed her.

Fool of a Took, she thought sourly, and then decided that that was an insult to Pippin, and so took it back. Gullible idiot.

What it came down to was that Tuesday had to play the part of a slave to the emperor. She also had to act her age - younger, if she could manage - and lay on the innocence. She wanted to be a good slave and be able to watch the Gladiators. She hoped she would be able to find a way to save Jaima, then. If he needed saving. She'd never really seen him fight. Maybe he'd totally kick ass.

She seriously hoped he'd kick ass.

Right now, her biggest problem was the large woman who wanted her to strip.

"I can dress myself!" she finally screamed.

The woman threw her hands in the air. "Fine!" she snapped, and stormed from the room. Moments later, another slave came in carrying a handful of clothes. She handed them to Tuesday, bowed, and left.

Tuesday blinked. "I think I'm of higher rank than her." She resisted the urge to admit that part of this totally rocked. Jaima could possibly die, she could possibly die, and the world could be taken over by a fat man in an advisor's robe. "Forgive me, Jaima," she muttered, "but this sort of totally rocks."

Pausing a moment to admire the fact that she was making history - she was making history - Tuesday relieved herself of her desire to be giddy, and began to undress. She'd been worried that the woman would take away her pokeballs, which no doubt would have happened, had they been found. Now, she just had to figure out how to dress herself in... this weird clothing...

It should not take twenty minutes to get dressed. Finally, though, Tuesday had managed, but only when the young slave who had bowed to her had returned. She had smiled in understanding at Tuesday's predicament, and then helped her dress.

She explained to Tuesday that the dress-like part of her garb was called a stola, and that they varied in color. The girl, herself, wore a light blue stola, but Tuesday's was a deep brown. The girl, whose name was Minerva, said she'd thought that the stola was for a lesser slave, because of its common color, until she'd touched it and found that it was made of silk.

"You're the emperor's personal slave?" the girl asked, awed.

"I... guess so," Tuesday replied, laying on the nervousness (it wasn't hard, she was still scared).

"Don't worry," Minerva assured her, "the emperor's a nice man. It's his advisor that I don't like."

"Me neither," Tuesday muttered. "He gives me a bad feeling."

Minerva stopped from wrapping the forest green palla around Tuesday. "You get feelings, too?" she whispered.

Tuesday blinked. "Sometimes."

The girl smiled. "Sometimes," she whispered, her voice going lower, "I dream things. Before they happen." She grinned. "Cornelia helps."

"Cornelia?" Tuesday asked.

The girl looked around, to make sure no one could see them, and then pulled a pokeball from under her garb. It was a cream color and made of stone, but obviously a pokeball. She opened it with some effort, and a Chimecho appeared with the sound of bells. "This is Cornelia. We're not supposed to have pokemon, but Cornelia's been my friend forever." She looked pleadingly at Tuesday. "Please don't tell the emperor, Ilia," she begged. "Promise?"

"I promise, Min," Tuesday replied, smiling. "I won't tell." She frowned. "But how did you keep anyone from finding out?"

Minerva smiled, recalling Cornelia and slipping the pokeball back inside her stola. "No one can touch us, especially you." At Tuesday's confused look, Minerva elaborated, "I'm the slave of the palace chef, primarily," she admitted, "but he has me help the newer slaves adjust. Because my master is an employee of the palace and untouchable by anyone but the emperor, his advisor, (she snarled this with contempt), and anyone of higher rank than him, I'm untouchable by anyone but them." She grinned. "But you're the emperor's slave! Not even his advisor can touch you!"

Not even his advisor can touch you.

The thief had made an awful miscalculation.

Minerva helped Tuesday finish dressing in her stola, palla, and her sandals, and then left to return to her master in the kitchens. Tuesday, after making certain that she was alone, called out her pokemon.

Dante and Tempest stared at her. "Guys, we have a problem."

"What are you wearing?!" Tempest demanded.

Tuesday sighed. "We're in Ancient Rome, guys," she relayed, "and I've been taken as the emperor's slave."

"You what?! Is that thief here? I'm gonna kill 'im!"

"Yeah, he's here," Tuesday said, "but we've got bigger problems."

"Bigger?" Dante asked, obviously not liking the sounds of that.

"Jaima's been marked a Gladiator," she admitted. "They'll have him fighting in the Colosseum."

"He'll be killed!" Tempest snarled. Both she and Dante had watched the Gladiator movies with Tuesday. They knew what he stood up against, even if it was dramatized. But then, this was ancient entertainment. Maybe it wasn't dramatized.

"That's why I need your help," Tuesday said. "I know you probably don't trust him, yet, but... he's my friend."

"I know."

"'Pest, I need you to go into the Colosseum and play as one of the pokemon fighting him. Be discrete. Act like you're taking his pokemon out, but don't really hurt them. Tell them what's up. They can relay to Jaima what I have in mind." She planned to keep Dante with her, hidden like Minerva hid Cornelia. She might need him later.

"And what exactly do you have in mind?" Dante asked.

"Well, first off," Tuesday said, grinning, "you should know that our time-thief is an idiot."

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 14 2009, 04:03 PM

Jaima was scared. He was a sixteen year old researcher/trainer who had been transported somehowinto Ancient Rome, separated from his companion, forced to become a gladiator, and was currently sitting on the ground, stripped to nothing but a few straps of leather and what amounted to a leather skirt that managed to both hide little and still be three sizes too large for him. Jaima was far from out of shape, but he was leaner that a lot of the men he'd seen pass by.

These men also looked at him in an odd way. Jaima first thought it was because of his lean build. Someone had disavowed him of that misconception early on with the phrase, "He likes you, boy. Be careful around that one. The ones he likes don't survive the night with him." It was sobering.

He had decided a number of things very quickly; The first was that this time thief that they were chasing was a real dick. The second was that the past was rather drafty. The last was that if the thief really wanted to kill him, he should have found a way to take away his pokémon.

No one was around, so he released each of his pokémon. Mercury blinked up at him, but straightened suddenly, crossing her arms and looking defiant. Fang, instead of bouncing about, sat regally. Shadow knelt and bowed his head, his eyes dignified. Grondir was his usual self, but had a hint of formality in his own stance, his vines curling around his head. Tsunami stood as tall as she could, her head fin straight and gills sticking out at attention. Ember stood in the center of the group.

"Command us," they said as one, and Jaima lifted an eyebrow. Mercury alone, with facial features much like a human's, was the one to give away their joke, and soon she was trying hard to repress a giggle.

"This is serious, you lot," Jaima mock-snarled, then smiled. "Thanks. I needed that." He sighed. "Anyone have any ideas?"

"Do you need all of us," said Ember, looking about timidly. Jaima smiled softly at her.

"You don't have to fight, Em."

"No!" If her forelegs had been longer, they would have been on her hips. He'd seen a similar expression on his mother, and the mind-picture he got of Ember in a frilly apron made Mercury giggle. "You can have one of us go find Tuesday, and tell her what's going on!"

"Oh," Jaima said, blushing. "But, you know, if we have to do this gladiator thing, there's a good chance we'll have to fight and all..."

"You are my Boy, Jaima! Of course I'll fight for you!" Mercury patted the fire-pokemon's back and smiled at Jaima.

"OK. Well." Jaima looked around at his pokémon and sighed. "Any volunteers."

"I'll go." The voice came, not as he suspected, from Shadow, but from Fang, who continued to sit still and regally. "I can sneak real good, and I'm strong enough to get away if I get caught. So I'll go."

Shadow sighed. "If there is to be battle, Sensei Jaima, I am with you."

"JAIME!" The loud voice of the Arena Captain sounded through the halls. "Bring your weapons!"

Fang had disappeared, but it was all right. Jaima stood, recalling his other pokémon, and stepped toward the doorway. Tuesday was smart, and she was closer (too close) to the Thief. If she had a plan, he needed to be ready for it.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 14 2009, 09:30 PM

I feel like I'm on display.

Tuesday was trying very hard not to curl into herself and hide deep within the recesses of her oft more pleasant imagination. She didn't dare, however. She couldn't leave Jaima on his own like that.

The emperor had told her that her brother was to fight his first match that day. Tuesday didn't need skills in acting to appear frightened. She was terrified for Jaima. And, selfishly, for herself, as the emperor took his slaves with him to the "show." Whatever happened to Jaima, Tuesday would be there to watch.

She felt a shudder run through it, but did her best to suppress her fear. Now was not the time.

"Come," the emperor said, and Tuesday followed obediently, head bowed. She was normally a quiet person (though Jaima would hardly think so, she was sure), so being silent was not hard for her. It also helped her in this situation. As a slave, she was of little consequence. She belonged to someone, so no one had any true fears of her doing anything against them for their words. Therefore, she overheard many conversations that she wouldn't have otherwise been privy to.

It was through this technique of remaining a silent observer that Tuesday knew much of what would be happening in the battle-show today. She had passed this onto Tempest, and she hoped that their plan worked.

As it was, Tuesday knew that the champion Gladiator and deemed Ruler of the Colosseum, was a man called Aquila. This man had a number of pokemon at his disposal, though everyone called them "weapons," which disgusted Tuesday. She could not reveal her opinion, however, and so resorted to mentally arguing the point, and continuing to listen.

From what she had learned, Aquila had five pokemon. From what she could gather, he had a Fearow and a Sandslash. There was some sort of insect pokemon - a large one, if she'd heard right, and some sort of biped pokemon. She hadn't been able to tell the identity of the fifth pokemon. She wasn't sure that anyone else had ever seen it, truly, but it was always mentioned in hushed tones. People seemed to think that it was a demon summoned straight from Hell, by the necromancing powers of Aquila. The only pokemon that came to mind upon that description was a Houndoom, but then, she was sure she would have heard howling, or someone would have known what it was.

In any case, she was worried. Jaima's pokemon were surely strong, but... were they strong enough?

"Sit, child," the emperor commanded softly, and Tuesday obeyed. It struck her as odd, she supposed, that a man who ruled a country and who she was supposed to call "Master," could be so kind...

She unintentionally grew rigid when the thief came into view. Dressed in the elegant robes of the emperor's advisor, he looked like a high ranking official - someone of vast importance. He looked like someone who, in this era, she would have pledged her loyalty to. But not knowing that he was a liar, a thief of time, and... and someone trying to murder them.

He met her gaze, smirking cruelly. "Tell me, child," he said, his deep voice filled with pleasure, "are you excited to watch the battle?"

"It would be more exciting," Tuesday could not keep her tongue in place, "if someone of your level was battling, sir."

He narrowed his eyes at her, but could say nothing as a retort without revealing too much. Instead, he offered her a false grin. "Well, you'll have to settle for the slaves, I'm afraid," he admitted. "But your brother should give us a great deal of entertainment."

Tuesday swallowed thickly. "My brother is strong," she told him. She turned to look down at the bloody sand of the Colosseum. He's strong, she told herself, as men began to appear out on the field. Tempest would be there soon, to help Jay fight, even if she made it look like she was wiping the floor with him. Tempest was strong. She would help them win. She would help them stay alive.

And in the meantime, Tuesday would try to think up a plan to get rid of the thief, without getting them all killed.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 15 2009, 01:43 PM

"Citizens of the Great Empire of Caesar Augustus Pokemus Orillius! Before you today stand ten men, ten men who have lost their rights as people and come before you as little more than beasts! Men who will fight in this arena for their right to live! Men who will fight in this arena for their right to serve! And one who will fight in this arena for their right to be free!"

The crowd cheered, a thousand screaming voices, eager for the sport they would see. Dark marks still stained the ground from previous events, and Jaima looked at them soberly. He...

He was going to die here.

Trainer Jaima, you mustn't think that way. Have faith in your weapons.

You're not my weapons, you're my kids!

Pride flooded the bond between trainer and psychic-type pokémon. Then have faith in your kids, to protect their Trainer, their Sensei, and their Father. She seemed to sense Jaima's protest, because Mercury cut into his thoughts with the precision of a surgeon's scalpel. You have spent six years protecting those you love. Allow us to return the favor. And, yes, your sisters would do the same, adopted or otherwise, so hush!

... They grow so fast...

A great sound, like a bell, or a gong, but also like a screech filled the arena, and the men moved. Many of them were seasoned combatants, many of them had their own grudges and hatreds, so, for a small time, Jaima was left alone. He looked up at the Emperor's box, catching a brief glimpse of blonde hair, then had his attention forced to the battlefield. Mercury had briefly cried out, and when he turned, he saw why. There was a poochyena on the field.

"Shadow, Force Palm on that dog!" It was nearly a mistake, because from behind it a natu fluttered, it's eyes already glowing. Mercury gasped, but had been dealing with a heracross, and his other pokémon were engaged in battles of their own. Suddenly a bolt of lightning shot from behind the natu, causing it to twitch and writhe.

"Take that!" A dirty Pikachu dashed around the field, growling out and zapping anything that moved toward her. Jaima put out a hand to order Grondir to put it to sleep, but something stopped him.

He could understand her. She was panting and dashing, but also talking, and he could understand her!

"Tuesday... says that she... OW! Why you!! Wishes you well, but... the thief is... TAKE THAT!! ... very close to... the emperor!"

"Tempest..? Did you roll in the dirt?" The voice was Grondir's, and tinged with humor.

"Shut up!" cried the Pikachu. "Tuesday said to help, so I'm helpi-- oh no..."

Behind her, looking over her, was a hippopotas looming over her with a malicious looking grin. Jaima pointed to it and commanded "Razor Leaf, Magical Leaf!" Tempest was in the same direction, but as the sharp leaves neared her, two voices called out, "JUMP!" in two separate pokémon languages. Tempest leapt up, terrified, and the double grass attacks struck the hippopotas instead. Tempest growled and sent a lightning bolt at Grondir, which just happened to strike a staravia that was attempting to attack him.

The fight wore on, and in the end, Jaima's team was standing, weary, scratched, bruised, but otherwise conscious, and Jaima was left in the center of the ring. Tempest was no where to be seen, but had, according to Mercury, made her escape through the ducts.

There was silence, and then the crowd went insane, cheering wildly for this mismatched upstart.

"Citizens of the Great Empire of Caesar Augustus Pokemus Orillius! Before you stands the victor, who has won the right to earn his freedom! But his fight is not yet over, for before you now arrives the greatest warrior in all of the Empire! AQUILUS... NIGELLUS!!!"

A large man, strapped with bulging muscles that rippled under his skin, came from the underground chamber that had held the prisoners. Behind him marched large, savage looking pokémon; A heracross with long arms and a horn that seemed to shine; A zangoose that licked its claws and chuckled; A fearow with a wing span that shadowed it's team and master; a sandslash with claws like knives. The man crossed his arms and chuckled.

"This is what you send before me? Am I a dog that you send children to deal with me?"

Jaima swallowed, but spoke gently to his pokémon. "Grondir, take the sandslash. Ember, you're on the bug. Shadow, the white one, and..."

Fang came charging from the back, his tail sparking. "I'm here! I'm here! Tuesday say--"

"FEAR! SLASH! CROSS! ZAN! I WILL NOT NEED TO FIGHT HARD, SO NEITHER SHALL YOU, BUT MAKE SURE THAT ALL WHO COME AFTER THIS WHELP TAKE ME SERIOUSLY! DESTROY HIS WEAPONS, AND THEN DESTROY HIM!"

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 15 2009, 02:22 PM

He was huge.

HUGE!.

Moby Dick-huge.

And not like the thief, either. No, not with a bulging stomach that made him appear as though he should be gasping for breath at every step he took. No, this man had muscles the size of the wagon Tuesday had dragged Dante around in when he'd fallen out of a tree he had somehow managed to climb. She'd pulled him all the way to Professor Oak's laboratory in that thing, and this guy had muscles the size of it.

... and an ego the size of her dad's Dodge pick-up.

"Kick his ass, Jamie!" she yelled loudly, which earned her a stern look from the emperor, but an amused glance from the thief.

"You really think he can win?" the man asked, smirking.

"He already beat everyone else," she snapped. Well, he'd managed to survive was the truth. Everyone had been paying more attention to the people they knew and loathed. They tended to overlook the wimpy kid they had no grudges with, until they'd finished with their own. But she had watched the battle without looking away, and his pokemon were good. He could do this.

He would do this.

The thief chuckled, pulling her from her thoughts. "Don't be so sure," he said, and leaned closer to her. Discretely, he pulled a small vial out of the inside of his cloak. "Tell me, brat. Do you know what this is?"

The sunlight gleamed off of the near-empty vial. What meager amount of liquid that was left was crimson in color, but seemed to reflect the light as though it were mixed with ground-up diamonds. Tuesday shook her head, her eyes never leaving the vial (poison?). For some reason (was he going to poison the emperor?), she found herself drawn 9was the winner of the match going to be poisoned?to it 9had they already been?).

The thief began to explain the nature of the potion snidely, clearly not realizing that she was only half paying attention, as her thoughts whirred and danced in several directions at once. Had he been looking into her eyes, he would have seen that they were glazed and seemed to stare out at nothing. Part of her listened to him as he spoke, but another part was no longer on this world, but somewhere else - vanished off to that realm that she disappeared to when she was thinking hard about something. Not even she knew where exactly she went at these moments. Perhaps she never would...

"This is a potion I crafted myself," he explained in a whisper. "In our time, we might call it steroids. However, this is no meager supplement. Oh no. You see, my little friend her-" He shook the vial back and forth. "-has the potency to strengthen a pokemon to twice their normal power." He grinned savagely. "You may think that your big brother is good, but I promise you, he's not that good. Even if he does beat Aquillus' four pokemon, he'll never defeat the fifth. He really will be a demon from hell when he drinks the water I've laced with this." He chuckled darkly.

"They'll find you out," Tuesday whispered.

"No they won't," he admitted gleefully. "Didn't you know? Beings such as that damned shadow horse are omens of bad luck. Aquillus might win with him, but they'll kill him as soon as the match is done. No one will ever know." He stepped away from her then, hiding the vial in his cloak and grinning madly as he turned back to the match. To his mind, everything was going according to plan. Jaima would die, his pokemon would be killed, and Tuesday would be trapped as a slave until he found a way to frame her as a traitor...

And he'd probably use that damn potion, wouldn't he? Let them think that Jaima's pokemon were given a power-potion by her in order to buy the match in their favor. It'd be the perfect way to get rid of them both.

But only if Aquillus won.

Tuesday stared down at the ground, thinking. Tempest was, as she had been instructed, hiding in the vents, watching the match, in case Jaima needed her. But Tuesday still had Dante, and the thief had said that the fifth pokemon was a... a shadow horse. But what could that mean? The only equine pokemon that Tuesday could recall were Ponyta and Rapidash, but they didn't look like demons...

Unless it was of a rare breed. One of those with a genetic flaw. She had seen a picture once, when she was younger. One of Professor Oak's books had held information on the odd chromosome that caused a pokemon to have a distinctly odd coloring. People called them "shiny" pokemon, though she didn't know why. She didn't think they were particularly shiny. The Ponyta, in fact, had flames of dark blue.

Which could be mistaken as a demon, no doubt, in this time when no one knew of genetic structures and chromosomes.

So... a fire-type, doomed to die whether it lost or won.

Tuesday looked around and noticed no eyes on her. There was no one behind her and everyone else was concentrating on the battle. She pulled out Dante's pokeball and called him forth. The sound of battle prevented his summoning from being overheard, and she spoke quietly.

"Go find the Ponyta," she whispered softly to him. "It's probably down in the area just behind the doors, waiting to enter the arena. Tell him what's going to happen to him. Try to get him on our side, okay?"

Dante nodded but didn't risk speaking. Without a word, but sparing a look that cried for her to be careful, he quickly slipped from the balcony and off to do her bidding.

Biting her lip, Tuesday turned back to watch as Jaima and his pokemon battled Aquillus. She dearly hoped that Dante could convince the Ponyta to join them. If Jaima could defeat Aquillus with his help, then Tuesday might be able to turn the thief's plan around on him. She might be able to reveal his plan to cheat. And then maybe they could catch him.

As she stared down at the field, she couldn't help but wonder what would happen then, to the Ponyta.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 16 2009, 09:23 PM

He had no idea if he could do this.

Jaima stared up at the large man who had ordered his pokmon to attack, swallowing thickly. He was a monster, a madman. Jaima could see it in his eyes. He wouldn't stop until he was beaten into the ground, and this man was too much for Jaima to take.

Calm.

Jaima took a deep breath, muttering as his pokémon went out into combat with their foes, "How can I stay calm? He's a monster of a man, and I'm... I'm just a kid. I can't fight him..."

You don't have to fight him, Trainer Jaima. Your kids have to fight his weapons. And the orders that you gave us have made us well suited to that fight.

Jaima looked again. True enough, though the massive heracross was trying it's best to punch Ember, her smaller size was making her a hard target, and being a bug, the ember attacks were causing it more pain than otherwise. Ember giggled, relaxed for once during a fight, though the gigle was shriller than her usual cyndaquil laugh. Grondir's vines were whiping back and forth as he dodged the sandslash. Even though it was an evolved pokémon, Grondir's type advantage was in his favor, and he had managed to poison it, so the clawed pokémon was slower than usual. Shadow was the closest matched to his opponent. Both he and the zangoose twisted and turned in the air, the zangoose's natural agility nearly cancelling out Shadow's attacks. Jaima almost sent Tsunami in, but a quick look (more of a glare) from the riolu made him pause.

Fighting types, Mercury said, with a tone as if her eyes were rolling. He's having fun. He finds it the best challenge he's had in a long time.

Jaima smiled. "OK, let him have his fun," he said, watching Fang. His youngest pokémon was also, by all appearances, having fun, letting the bird nearly touch him before he sent a thunderblast his way and bounced away, nxing the entire time. The bird, also an evolved form, was stiff as it launched itself, slow, and Jaima nodded. Fang had managed to paralyze it.

A horrible thought came over him, they needed to start covering each other. They were, in some ways, weak to one of their teammates' opponent's attacks, and this could easily get out of hand. Mercury's eyes glowed, and Shadow leapt aside just in time to miss an attack by the fearow. Fang leapt and bit it on the wing, his mouth charged with electricity, dodging a ground attack from the sandslash. Grondir chuffed as it turned to try to get Ember at it's master's commande and doused it with sleep powder. Though it slowed more, it didn't fall asleep right away. The poison sickness was keeping it awake. The team moved closer together, better able to cover each of the weak teammate's back.

Keep thinking what you want done, Trainer Jaima. I will make sure you get your commands to them.

"FIGHT WITH HONOR, MANGY CUR," shouted Aquilus, but Jaima ignored him, watching his team. Mercury's trick was amazing, but he could feel her straining to monitor his thoughts and keep the other four connected. Tsunami fidgeted at Jaima's feet, looking up finally. "Am I not a good enough battler," she asked sadly. "That's why my last master threw me away."

"No, honey," Jaima said absently. "I don't know if you are or not, but I have a feeling there's more, and I needed to keep you back."

The Fearow fell, followed by the Heracross. Instead of pressing the attack, Jaima called them back to his feet to rest.

"They're weaker than I expected!" Ember's voice was quivering, both, it seemed, from fear and excitement. "If this guy fights all the time, why are his pokémon weak?

Mercury had the answer, but as she was still linking, she sent it mentally. He loses them in combat and has to catch... or steal... new ones. He's been afraid for some time that someone with much better "weapons" would come. He's got a weapon, though... A secret weapon. One he is only allowed to bring out once, and will lose when it's out, but will guarantee his victory.

"And what is that?"

If I knew, I would have said, silly!

The Sandslash went down, and then, with a mighty kick that left the zangoose reeling before it, too, fell, Shadow hopped back to Jaima as well.

"You would have been better off," said the Gladiator, breathing heavily in shock, "losing, whelp... BEHOLD!! FEAR THE MIGHT OF THE FIREY DEMON FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL! DO YOU TREMBLE? DO YOU QUAKE? CAN YOU SAY ANYTHING AT ALL?!"

"Yeah. Breathmint. Use one."

The crowd was too shocked to laugh, except for one tiny voice that did so and was silent after a second.

"FACE THE WRATH OF THE DEMONRIDER!!!"

From the stands shot a blue flame, a blur of blue and cream, that was nearly too fast to follow. When it came to Aquilus, it dashed around him, once, slowing, and stopped in front of him. The blue flamed ponyta whinnied, trembling, but snorting in anger.

Jaima swallowed, then looked down.

"Tsunami? You're turn."

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 17 2009, 01:27 AM

Tuesday had seen a picture of a "shiny" Ponyta once, briefly. It was brief glimpse, but it was enough for her to know what the pokemon looked like, she was sure.

She was wrong.

Nothing - nothing - compared to seeing the creature in real life.

It was beyond beautiful. There were no words. Tuesday had read hundreds, perhaps thousands, of books, and she had yet to come across a blazon that would do the Ponyta justice.

Whether or not the world actually slowed down, Tuesday would never know. They were not held within the boundaries of Time, however, not with Celebi's help, and so she wouldn't have been surprised if that pokemon of legends past and future had kept the world itself from turning for moments, just to permit Tuesday to look at the Ponyta as he galloped into the Colosseum.

His coat was cream-colored, like vanilla pudding, and it glittered in the sunlight as though he had been painted with the same brush used to carve the diamonds that littered deep caverns. In contrast to that jewel-enriched coat, his hooves shined like coal, carved into the perfect shape to be elegant, yet deadlier than knives. His mane and tail, however, as expected, drew most of her attention.

Flowing out behind him like a banner in the midst of a parade, or perhaps a flag standing tall even among the dead and wounded lying in the middle of a war zone, the flames that made up his mane and tail were a mix of the deep blue of the ocean's depths, and the peaceful white-blue of the open summer sky. It was as though he stood on the horizon, or was the horizon, where the sky met the ocean - the embodiment of day and night, where the sun fell to the earth in its burning death, and rose every morning from the ashes of its own destruction, like the phoenix claiming its birthright.

The Ponyta reared, releasing a eerie whinny that seemed to echo among the living. For but a moment, Tuesday wondered if the creature wasn't summoned from the land of the dead, for its cry seemed to pass through everything around it, like a ghost slipping through the claws of Mortality, unable to be caught now that it was far beyond life, in the realm of the dead.

But she knew, of course, that the cry was only so eerie because the thousands of people in the stands had gone as silent as though even a whisper would summon Death to them. And perhaps that is what they thought, for the creature before them was beautiful to Tuesday's eyes, but to them, it was surely a beast to be feared.

And Aquillus thought that Jaima should fear it, as well.

Among the silence of the crowd and the air, Tuesday could hear Jaima's whispered command to his pokemon, as though he were yelling it directly to her ears. She could not interfere, of course, but she certainly hoped that Jaima's intentions would be unnecessary.

Aquillus pointed forward, looking crazy to Tuesday's eyes, as he cried loudly, "DEMON! I HAVE SUMMONED YOU FROM THE BELLY OF HELL TO DO MY BIDDING!" He laughed wildly, assured of his victory. "DESTROY THIS FOOLISH BOY, AND PROVE MY RIGHT AS CHAMPION OF THE COLOSSEUM!!!"

If they had been in the modern world, in Tuesday and Jaima's time, the crowd would have laughed, she was sure. Some of them, at least, would have chuckled upon seeing the Ponyta glance at Aquillus with an annoyed look upon his face, before laying down, as though her were basking in the sun amidst the flowers of a meadow.

"It disobeys him!" someone in the stands cried, rising to his feet and pointing toward the Ponyta with fear in his voice and eyes.

The panic began to spread quickly. "You've summoned a monster you cannot control!"

"You've doomed us all!"

I suppose we actually have come a long way since this, Tuesday mused, thinking of what the modern day reaction would have been, within reason, at least.

Aquillus' eyes narrowed. "I am in control," he growled. He pulled a long, thin knife from inside of his armor. "If you will not listen to me, then I will win the battle myself. Either way," he snarled, "you will die, beast." With that, he ran at Jaima, raising the blade high.

He made it three steps before the Ponyta had rose to its feet and bucked, slamming both of his rear legs into Aquillus' side and sending him crashing to the ground. The knife fell from his hands, clattering to the ground in front of Jaima, as the Ponyta turned, snorting angrily at the fallen Gladiator, but making no more move in offense against him. Perhaps Dante had mentioned something about that...

Jaima had picked up the knife and walked over to stand above Aquillus, who was gripping his side with a look of pain on his face. With the Ponyta momentarily forgotten in the face of a win, the crowd had begun a synchronized chant of "Kill! Kill! Kill!" Tuesday barely restrained a whimper, wishing for Tempest and Dante's presence. She wasn't sure she could continue watching, if Jaima would... if he... but he wouldn't. Would he?

The emperor had risen from his seat and was staring down at the battlefield. Aquillus and his pokemon were all still alive, but there were rules. The emperor, rather than yelling, raised his hand level with his chest, and then slowly revealed the thumbs-down sign.

The Kill Signal.

Tuesday hugged herself, but could not look away. She was glad she didn't. Jaima had looked up at the emperor and seen the sign. He raised the knife...

And then let it fall harmlessly to the ground.

His eyes continued to remain locked with those of the emperor for a moment before, point made, he walked back to where his pokemon were gathered and checked to see if they were all right.

"Gladiator!" the emperor called out to Jaima. "It is by the rules of this land that you must kill the one you have defeated!"

"I have defeated him," Jaima said, turning back around. "What purpose is there is killing him?"

"It is the law of this land."

"Then it is a stupid law."

The crowd abruptly silenced. Jaima was glaring now. "I've defeated him. Why should I kill him if it's obvious he's lost? Send him to do work for someone? Make him a slave in place of my sister!" He pointed to Tuesday, who ducked her head in reflex. "We were innocent wanderers when you took us as slaves. Now I've won this battle. As my prize, let me and my sister go."

"The rules state that you win your freedom upon the defeat of your opponents," the thief explained, stepping forward to do his "job" with a cruel smirk upon his face. "You have refused to finish your opponent, and so you choose death over freedom!"

"NO!" Tuesday shrieked. This wasn't supposed to happen.

Everyone ignored her, as the thief continued, "As penalty for his loss and his acts of demon conjuring, Aquillus Nigellus, too, is sentenced to death. GUARDS!" he cried. "END THE LIVES OF THESE TRAITORS!"

"NO!"

This time, it was Aquillus who spoke, struggling to his feet and wincing, but still managing to cry angrily at the thief, as he pointed an accusing finger at him. "You swore that the power would be mine!" he cried. "You said I would win with the added strength!" He gestured to the Ponyta, snorting and stamping his hoof. "He has disobeyed me, robbed me of the win that should have been mine! Traitor! Liar!" he cried, finally being silenced as he was grabbed by the guards.

The damage, however, had been done. The emperor turned to his advisor.

"What does he speak of?" he demanded to know.

For once, the thief appeared nervous, his hands wringing together, even as he tried to lie his way out of trouble. "Clearly, he is delusional, my liege," the thief said nervously. "You would believe a slave over your trusts advisor?"

"Trust comes with time," the emperor admitted. "You have not been here long enough to earn it by the rise of the sun, and have gained none from your actions. What does he speak of?"

Minerva appeared at that moment, looking nervous but determined. She bowed to the emperor, who appeared surprised at her boldness. "If I may speak, sire?" The emperor nodded. "Your advisor has no place in the stables where the weapons are kept, but he was in there earlier this evening, before the battles." She looked directly at the thief, her eyes full of fear but also holding a cold certainty. "He was adding witch-brew to the fifth weapon's food." She returned her gaze to the emperor, her eyes bearing nervousness for but a moment, before she said, "The Fates tell me that he still carries what remains of this brew on his person."

The emperor snapped his fingers at the guards. "Search him!"

As the guards did as they were told, Minerva came to stand next to Tuesday. "Are you all right, Ilia?"

"Yes," Tuesday replied. "Thank you." She grew nervous. "But... what if they call you a witch, too?" she asked, thinking of her claim that the Fates had told her what she knew.

"You're welcome, and worry not." Minerva smiled at her dubious expression. "You're not the only one that knows what the future looks like." Tuesday's surprise obviously showed upon her face, and Minerva added, "the only difference is, I didn't want to go back." That said, they turned to see the guards remove the potion from the thief's cloak, holding it to the light.

"So," the emperor began, "you would use what remains of this to take my throne?"

"N-No, my liege," the thief stammered. "I would never-"

"SILENCE!" the emperor cried. "Chain him! I do not want him to see light for three days. Then, I will decide what to do with him." As the guards did as they were bid, the emperor turned to see Jaima being led into the balcony, halted not four feet from where Tuesday was knelt on the floor. The emperor looked between them both. "Now... what shall be done with you?"

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 17 2009, 03:20 PM

"M-my Liege," Jaima said, dropping to one knee. "There is an artifact on your old advisor, the man who conspired against you. It is something my sister and I have traveled over treacherous distances to recover. It is our quest, because..." Jaima faltered, unable to think of a reason.

"He is a sorceror," tuesday supplied. "The potion, it proves it! He is a sorceror, and that talisman gives him power untold. With it, he is still a threat, oh mighty Caesar."

The Emperor regard them both, seemingly with lazy contempt, but after a short time, he motioned to one of the guards. "Send a runner to the centurions leading the prisoner away. Have them search him for any weapons or artifacts. If he resists, they are to kill him and search his corpse." He waved, and the guard walked away.

"I desire a servant," the Emperor sighed, and both Tuesday and the girl who had spoken up before stepped forward. He waved them away with a smile. Regarding the girl, he motioned her forward. "I no longer have an advisor. One who speaks boldly, and who the Fates deign to inform, is one I want by my side. You shall be my advisor, as soon as you tell me your name."

"Minerva," the girl said, stunned but beginning to smile. "It will be an honor to serve you."

"As for you," the Emperor said, regarding Tuesday, "Ilia, you are either a traveler wrongly imprisoned, or a slave who's freedom was won. Either way, I will not ask you to serve." He smiled, then, and ordered the slave who came to bring wine.

As they waited, Jaima was a focus of attention. "You are bold, to speak to me as you did. This speaks either well of you, proving you are not from this land, or ill, proving you dangerously mad. Either way," he chuckled, "things have been interesting. You command your weapons well."

"They are not weapons to me, my Lord. They are..." He paused, then plunged ahead, "like my children. If one had been hurt seriously, it would be as if I were wounded myself."

The Emporer regarded him curiously. "I often wonder," he said slowly, "if there is a need to see the warriors and their weapons die."

"There'd be a lot more entertainment if there was a way to see them when they're stronger, my Lord. My own team is strong, but they still have room to improve."

"I shall consider this."

Just then, a centurion stepped forward. His eyes shifted back and forth, and he seemed resigned. "My Lord. The prisoner has escaped."

Jaima and Tuesday exchanged grim looks, but the Emperor remained calm. "Explain," he said, again with seeming laziness. Jaima was beginning to expect that the laziness was an act.

"As we approached the prisons, he struggled. He broke free of my men, and pulled out a stone that shined as the sun. There was a bright flash, and... And he was gone." The Centurion knelt. "I take responsibility for this. My men performed their duties well."

"As did you," the Emperor said. "Rise. I have only now been warned that the prisoner was a sorceror. You cannot be punished for what you could not prepare for."

The Centurion, stunned by his good fortune, knelt with his arms crossed and left. The Emperor turned to Jaima. "Your words have proven true, yours and those of your sister. You are free. For aiding me, I grant you each a boon."

"I... Just want our clothes back." The Emperor made a look of distaste, but waved to the servant, who left, presumably, to fetch them."

Tuesday bit her lip, came to a decision, and raised her head. "The fire stallion... What is to happen to it?"

"A creature of evil must be destroyed," the Emperor said, raising a brow. It seemed to Jaima that he was testing her.

"Please, allow me to take him. He will..." She bit her lip again. "There is no evil in him."

The Emperor regarded her for a long time, then tured to Aquilas. "Your sphere tenura, Gladiator."

Aquilus looked at Tuesday mutinously, but Jaima stepped forward. The gladiator pulled a stone ball from his belt and held it to the Emperor, who motioned for him to give it to Tuesday. He sneered. "It doesn't listen."

"It will to her," Jaima said, his face a mask of composure."

* * * * *

Minerva, dressed in her new robes, walked them to the edge of town. They waited, until finally Jaima whispered, "we stopped the bad guy, why haven't we leapt, Al?"

"I... Don't know, Sam," quipped Tuesday. That was when Celebi appeared.

"Minnie!" She hugged Minerva tightly.

"It worked, Celebi," Minerva said with a smile. "Jaima and Tuesday set it in motion."

"Huh," Jaima asked stupidly. Celebi giggled.

"I had to sneak you here, because if I told you what you'd end up doing, you might try too hard."

"... What did we end up doing?"

Minerva smiled slyly. "Nothing important. Just set in motion the eventual creation of the Pokemon League."

Jaima and Tuesday looked at each other in shock, but their cries were lost as Celebi moved them forward in time.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 18 2009, 12:22 AM

They had been transported first to Ancient Rome while they were asleep, so Tuesday supposed that it made sense, how they would be returned to sleep as they traveled back... forward... in time.

To the present, she thought, as she opened her eyes. The warm rays of the still-rising sun greeted her with more happiness than she generally gave the morning in return. Stretching with cat-like laziness, she sat up and looked around. Unlike their previous trip to the past, this one had not ended with their return to the present in an area further ahead than when they had left. Rather, Tuesday awoke to find herself lying in the same place she had been when she went to sleep in this same time period two days previous.

For one terrifying moment, Tuesday thought that she had merely dreamed of their trip to Ancient Rome.

In a desperate attempt to disprove this fear, however irrational it may have been, Tuesday grabbed at her belt.

There were three pokeballs. The one closest to her belt buckle was Dante's, she knew, not because of any markings she put on it, but because she had learned to discern the different feel of Dante and Tempest's pokeballs.

Both of the balls were your typical red and white pokeballs. Dante's pokeball, however, was warm to the touch. Now, all pokeballs that held a pokemon within their depths were warm to the touch, because they carried life, but Dante's was warmer still - almost hot. She supposed that it was because he was a fire-type, but she was merely speculating.

In contrast, Tempest's ball was warm with life, but not with fire. Rather, it seemed to have a charge to it. There was a heat as though the ball were made from wires constantly charged with electricity. Tuesday almost wondered why touching it didn't shock her, but it did explain the errant quality of her hair - the static charge made it stand on end. It might be tamer if she stuck her finger in a light socket.

There was, thankfully, however, a third pokeball on her belt. This was not red and white like the others, but grey and made of stone.

Sphere tenura.

Taking the three pokeballs off of her belt, Tuesday was momentarily startled at the contrast between the sphere tenura and the modern-style pokeballs. Of course, it made sense that a pokeball made of stone would weigh more, but she had been too preoccupied before to consider the difference, or to even truly think about her having acquired a new pokemon.

Now that she had time to think about it, however, she stared down at the third pokeball with something akin to amazement fluttering in her heart.

She had a new pokemon.

That thought in mind, Tuesday called out Dante and Tempest first, before pausing the the sphere tenura in hand. Dante and Tempest were both watching her expectantly and, considering their confident looks, she called forth the Ponyta she had first glimpsed during the Gladiator battles.

The red light emitted by the pokeball seemed not to change over time, Tuesday noted. It also came to her mind that the light seemed a prelude to fire, but when it faded, the flames that remained in its place were of a different shade.

Not even the swirling mass of light and dark blue, the flames of the Ponyta's mane and tail were black, like the night sky, devoid of stars. There was still a quality of blue within them, like the feathers of a crow that glistened ominously in a brief ray of light, but they gleamed eerily black against the Ponyta's vanilla cream coat.

As Tuesday regarded the pokemon before her, the Ponyta's attention more intently focused upon the fact that there was green grass beneath his hooves, she couldn't help but think that the Ponyta did, indeed, look like a ghost. A spectre borne from darkness, especially with a mane and tail of black fire. Standing there, staring at a creature that was so easily mistaken for a demon in lesser times, Tuesday found herself thinking of the demons within literature. The creatures that came to mind, so ominous in their name and the feel they brought to the hearts of characters and readers both, were the Nazgul, or Ringwraiths, as they were often called in the Common Tongue of Middle Earth. It was thanks to Tolkien's genius that the name Wraith was summoned to Tuesday's lips, and bound to the Ponyta's soul.

The Ponyta looked up upon hearing the whispered name from Tuesday's lips, and regarded her with a hybrid look of curiosity and caution. He snorted loudly, stamping his hoof on the ground and shaking out his mane.

"It's all right," Tuesday whispered, reaching out a hand gently. "You're not in the Colosseum anymore. They let me take you, as a prize." Her sarcasm apparently confused the Ponyta, who snorted, flicking his ears and tilting his head to the side. "Pokemon aren't things," Tuesday explained, "weapons or otherwise. I didn't want them to destroy you for being different, so I asked that I could take you." She offered a gentle smile. "I'll break the pok- the sphere tenura, if you want to be free," she admitted, "but you won't have to go back there."

The Ponyta stared at her for a long time, gazing at her as his thoughts flickering through his gaze. Finally, he stepped forward, letting the tips of her fingers brush against the soft felt on his nose. Tuesday released a sigh as she felt the fur beneath her fingers, and the Ponyta snorted lightly in response.

"You will care for me?" he asked, his voice soft and flowing, like the gently-burning flame on a candle, but with the slightest hint of a Roman accent, which suited him.

"Of course," Tuesday whispered.

"Then, I wish to stay with you."

Tuesday smiled. "Thank you. Wraith."

She was gently rubbing his neck when it suddenly occurred to her that she had heard his voice.

That meant that they hadn't returned to the present. Rather, Celebi must have transported them directly from one alternate time to another.

Just as she thought this, there was the crunch of a twig. Wraith snorted loudly, Tempest hissed, and Dante let out a low growl, as Tuesday turned around to find someone pointing a pitchfork at her, three people standing behind the man; one held another pitchfork, one a scythe for cutting hay, and the third a flaming torch. They all regarded her with looks of hatred and fear.

"H-Hello," Tuesday tried.

The man closest to her narrowed his eyes in a heated glare. "Don't play dumb, Demon Summoner!" he snarled. "We heard you talking to your beasts!"

The other man with a pitchfork nodded, while the torch-bearer cried, "Get the stake ready! We've found ourselves another one!"

"Burn her!" the man carrying the scythe cried. "She summons the beasts to do her bidding and speaks to the devil's kin! Burn her! Burn the witch!"

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 18 2009, 03:27 PM

When Jaima woke, it was to the cry of "Witch!", which was, in his mental review of things, nothing that should have been in his dream. His dream had been filled with... well, never mind what his dream was filled with, he IS, after all, a teenage boy and is wont to dream of girls from time to time. It's not embarrassing, only alarming in that when one goes in to kiss a girl, however nameless and faceless she may be, to suddenly have her face contort and scream, "Witch!" in a man's voice.

To this, Jaima woke up, alone, but with the pokéballs strapped securely to his chest by way of the bandolier he'd purchased during his journey. He was not worried about his pokémon at the moment however, but about his recent travelling companion, Tuesday Berdison.

She was nowhere to be seen, and, still, in the background, cries of "witch" sounded, like the pealing of bells. Jaima looked to the sky.

"Ooohh, boy."

* * * * *

Jaima had spotted the crowd rather easily after the rude awakening. Somehow, cooler heads prevailed and Tuesday, who, as Jaima feared, had indeed been the one being proclaimed a witch, was carted off to the center of town. As Jaima followed, he caught snippets of conversations from the shops and nearby houses.

"You assured me when I bought that chatot, not half an hour ago, that the reason he was so quiet was that he was tired and shagged out from a prolonged squawk!"

"Oh, well... 'e's probably pining for the fjords..."

Jaima had to roll his eyes at that one. The customer's resulting cry faded as he moved on.

"You had a room? Luxury! We had to live in corridor!"

"We would have dreamed of a corridor! We had to live in a ditch in middle of road!"

"I always dreamed of having a road..."

Jaima finally caught sight of Tuesday and hid behind a porch, which had been abandoned by the owners of the house it was attached to to watch the spectacle. Fortunately, they had allowed Tuesday to recall her pokémon without a fuss, it seemed, because she held a hand protectively over her belt. Unfortunately, they had also fashioned a crude nose and stuck it on her face, and taken a peaked hat and put it on her head, like a witch's hat. Jaima rubbed the bridge of his nose, then quietly released his team.

"Be ready, guys, Tuesy's in trouble and I intend to get her out of it, paradox be damned."

Mercury's eyes glowed lightly, and she reeled back. "Monsters," she hissed angrily. When Jaima cocked a curious eyebrow to her, she looked him dead in the eye. "They intend to kill her for, and I quote, 'speaking plainly to the lowly creatures graced to us by the Goddess herself to serve us, man, in our lowly time of need,' unquote."

Jaima looked grim, then blinked. "Huh?"

"They want to kill her for speaking to one of us like a human being."

Jaima looked back at the town, who now had Tuesday on a raised platform, still in her nose and witch hat, looking around nervously, but also a bit impatiently. "Can you tell her we're here, but not to look for us?"

Mercury rolled her eyes. "Trainer Jaima, I'm not slow, you know."

Jaima glanced at her, irritated, muttered something about teenagers, and watched. Finally, the lead man, a man with a scythe, stood up.

"I don't care 'oo 'e says 'e is, I ain't gonner 'ave no witch amongst me chil'ren! I say we BURN 'ER!"

The crowd around him erupted into shouts and cheers, with a third of them protesting, and the man took a nearby torch and brought it to the platform. Around said platform was a stack of kindling, and Jaima grit his teeth.

"Tsunami, can you hit that torch from here?"

Tsunami grinned. "It's how I hunt for flies!" She flicked her tongue, and a stream of water shot out, smacking into the tip of the torch and dousing the flames. The crowd went suddenly silent.

"'Oo did tha'?"

The crowd regarded Tuesday with fear, and the man stepped off the stage, truly frightened. "We'll... we'll just wait f'r 'is 'olyness, th' witch-'unter gen'ral..."

"You have nothing to fear," a high, reedy voice proclaimed. Jaima put his face in his hands when he saw the owner, who made his way to the clearing in the crowd. He was dressed in colonial type dress, matching the times, but his weight strained the buttons.

It was the time thief, and Jaima was getting tired of seeing him. "The Witch-Hunter General has arrived."

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 18 2009, 10:33 PM

Tuesday was not happy.

The inside of this stupid nose they had stuck on her face smelled funny, and she had to sneeze.

She was really getting tired of hearing people call her a witch. She understood the whole Littleroot Witch Trial time period was full of this, but... well, she'd never expected to be thrown right into one. And frankly, she was a little tired of this.

"The Witch-Hunter General has arrived."

Oh, great, she thought with a truckload of sarcasm. Why did I not expect this from the start?

And truthfully, Tuesday found this all far too pathetic to truly be scared. She supposed she might actually be in shock and that the true fear for her situation would attack when things had calmed down, but at the moment, she found herself almost laughing at the effort the thief was going through to try and get rid of them. Accusing her of being a witch? Really?

"So, you have found her," the thief said, stepping up on the platform. He eyed Tuesday critically. "Hmm..." He waved his hand dismissively. "Burn her."

A cheer went up among the crowd, but for about a third, whom cried out in protest. A particularly vocal man cried out above the noise, "How do we know she's a witch?"

"She looks like 'un!" someone else cried in answer.

""Ye', bu' we'en dress'd 'er up like tha'," someone else said.

"She turn'd me inta a Treecko!"

They all turned to look at him, the person next to him muttering incredulously, "A Treecko?"

The man shrugged, looking away. "I got bett'a."

"All right, all right, settle down," the thief said, waving his hands for silence. "Let's try to decide whether or not she's a witch."

Tuesday rolled her eyes. "Work it in your favor, eh, General?"

He gave her a sideways smirk, out of view of everyone else, before turning back to the crowd. "So tell me, what does a witch do in water?"

"She drowns if she doesn't swim," Tuesday muttered so only the thief could hear.

"Umm..."

"Er..."

"Ahh... she floats!"

"Yes, yes she floats!

"And what else floats?" the thief asked.

"Shit floats," Tuesday muttered, "and since you're full of it, you won't even have to swim."

The thief ignored her and watched as the crowd threw out answers.

"Rocks!"

"Wood!"

"A cork!

"Very tiny rocks!"

Tuesday saw movement out of the corner of her eye and turned her head slightly to see Jaima sneak from the bushes and into the larger crowd. "A Psyduck!" his familiar voice cried.

The man must have seen Jaima, as well, for his eyes had grown wide. If he was even half as perceptive as Tuesday, he would have seen Mercury the Kirlia hovering just behind Jaima, Grondir the Bulbasaur moving among his feet, and Shadow the Riolu jumping like a shadow from one place to another, merely a will away from being on the thief.

Tuesday felt the smile grow across her face. She supposed it was rather sadistic of her. Human nature, maybe, to exhibit such schadenfreude, but she gained some semblance of happiness from the thief's worry. Consider the circumstances, she thought that she was permitted this slip in civility.

"Yes... a psyduck," the thief stammered, "... so... if she weighs less than a psyduck, then..?

"The psyduck will need to go on a diet," Tuesday muttered.

"Ummm..."

"Errr..."

"Aah.. She's a witch!"

"A witch!"

"Exactly!" the thief cried, sounding as though he had succeeded at something, though Tuesday didn't know what he thought he had accomplished. She was small for her age, yes, but there was no way she weighed less than a psyduck.

"Jerry's th' psyduck farma!" someone cried. "She weigh less th'n a psyduck, Jer?"

The man called Jerry stepped forward, up onto the platform, and the thief stepped back. Tuesday grinned, aware that the thief was beginning to realize that he had already lost. She did scowl a bit, when the man grabbed her around the middle and picked her up, but she refrained from kicking him just barely. She did want out of this. She was just highly uncomfortable at the moment.

"What'cha say, Jer?"

Jerry set Tuesday back down after holding her for a moment, and she released a breath when her feet touched the ground again. "She'n weighs a lot more th'n a psyduck," Jerry admitted, stepping off the stage. "Ain't no way she's a witch."

"So... we can't burn 'er?" someone asked.

"She ain't no witch," someone else said, "so we can't burn 'er."

The thief was opening and closing his mouth as someone cut the ropes that bound Tuesday. She gave a grin at the thief and hopped down from the platform, where she quickly met up with Jaima. She couldn't help herself but to hug him, to thank him for being there and just making her feel safer with his presence. Like an older brother.

"So," she asked, looking up at him, "what now?"

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 19 2009, 09:09 PM

"Now, Tuesy, we get into a little thing I like to call... commupance." He smiled down at her, a smile that turned all at once evil and mischievous. With a flourish he'd never before shown outside of the play he'd been in in the third grade, where he was Benny Buneary running from Farmer Johnson, he called out in a loud voice, "People of Littleroot! You have been... deceived!"

The crowd blinked at him. The thief blinked at him. Tuesday blinked at him. He turned around and Grondir blinked at him.

Mercury got it, and grinned. Then blinked at him. She didn't want to be left out.

He turned, smirking. "This man, who you have seen as a savior, a saint, for whom you have killed many, many young girls and women-"

"We', actua'y, there's on'y been the one..."

"There was a girl last week, Norbert."

"Aye, there was, but worst happened t' her was she wet her knickers."

"Oh, righ'. Scared th' poor lass righ' off t' magic, we did..."

Jaima silenced the talking group with a stony glare. "As I was saying, this man, for whom many have wet their knickers, is himself what he claims to catch!" He pointed at the thief, who, despite the fact that tables, tides, and heads were turning against him, was utterly confused. "He has immersed himself in the practice of prestidigitation and eldritch chicanery!"

The entire crowd, as one, looked at Jaima in utter confusion. Jaima rolled his eyes.

"'E's a witch!"

"WIIIIIITCH!" The crowd reached for the man, who spun, screaming, in place. Finally, one man, a large, stately man, climbed up on the stage.

"WAIT!" He had to shout several times before the crowd's din came to a low, muffled sursuration. "We nearly doomed a young girl to death, and though this man eats us from house and home, steals our finest goods and clothing in 'payment', and feels up our wives and daughters when he thinks we're not looking,"

"That's not true," shouted the thief, but no one paid attention. "OK, the part about the wives isn't true..."

"We should not make the same assumptions he did, lest we become like him." The town was rapt on the new speaker, who, to be fair, spoke more eloquently than any of them (and that was why he was mayor). He pointed at the man, and said, in a stately voice, "Jerry... the weighing!"

What? No one said he was smarter, he simply spoke better.

Jerry the farmer looked dubiously at the Mayor, but a nod from Jaima convinced him to at least try it. Rubbing his hands together, a look of determination came over Jerry's face. The thief protested, "Now see here..!"

"What've you got to lose, 'Witch-Hunter General'? Surely you weigh less than a psyduck..?" Jaima's smirk was audible, and even Tuesday, thus far confused, had to at least smile. She did more than smile, but that would have been the least.

Jerry put his arms around the Thief's waist and, with a mighty heave, pulled. And promptly fell on his back, the man in his arms much, much lighter than he'd expected.

"'Zounds, 'e's lighter'n any psyduck I've raised!"

The crowd was on him like an angry vigaroth. The screams were horrible, but nothing compared to the laughter of Jaima and Tuesday. When the Thief emerged, his clothing was in tatters, and his face was red. He panted, then pointed his chubby finger at Jaima and Tuesday.

"You've interfered with me for the LAST TIME!! I'll get you if it's the last thing I do!!" Reaching into his only remaining pocket, he pulled out an object, clenched his eyes shut, and disappeared in a flash of light.

The crowd, confused, turned to Jaima and Tuesday, and screamed.

"Whoops..."

Jaima turned to see Mercury, floating behind him, her eyes still glowing from having lifted the thief enough to make him feel as light as a psyduck. A woman in the crowd screamed. "It's got 'orns, like a devil, it does!" and the scythes and pitchforks came out.

"Aw, crap."

"You said it."

Mercury lit up, flames wreathing her body. As they watched, her eyes, glowing a light blue, turned red and shot beams from them. She held out a paw. "FOOLISH MORTALS," she screamed, both in the heads of everyone around and audibly. "YOU THINK TO CAPTURE ME? YOU THINK TO DEFEAT ME? TREMBLE BEFORE MY FIERY WRATH!" Her hand, held out as if it could be clenched into a fist, burst into sparking green flames. "COWER BEFORE MY MAGNIFICENCE!!" Her horns grew, sharp and long, and her mouth filled with jagged teeth. "FLEE BEFORE THE RADIANCE OF MY--"

The town scattered, each of them fleeing past houses, into alleys, up stairs, anywhere to get away from the pokéwitch.

As soon as they were gon, the lights and sounds and imagery faded. "Illusion."

"Oh, she's going to be impossible to live with now..."

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 19 2009, 11:04 PM

Tuesday was still laughing when Celebi appeared. The small green insect-faerie pokemon was giggling, herself, and apparently knew well what had just occurred. Tuesday supposed that shouldn't surprise her. Celebi wasn't bound by time like humans. She wondered, vaguely, if the pokemon would age or if she, like the elves in Rivendell, was immortal.

She thought it was a bit too personal to ask, so she remained silent but for her moments of laughter.

"Where are we headed next, Celebi?" Jaima asked, trying to ignore Mercury, who was still going on about her genius.

Tuesday thought she saw something in Celebi's eyes, a flicker of some dark emotion that she couldn't quite name. The pokemon blinked her large eyes, however, and the strange shine was gone, making Tuesday wonder if it had been there from the start.

Somehow, she knew it had been, no matter what current sight offered. She had no way of knowing what the flicker had been, however, or its meaning, so Tuesday had no choice but to let it go.

She wouldn't realize until later that Celebi had wanted desperately to warn them of what was to come, but where she was not bound by time, she was bound by an oath.

It was an oath to not speak of that which she knew. And for her bearing it, she held the same name that Tuesday was given by her brother and those who knew her by her silence.

"I will be taking you back to the present, Tuesday," Celebi said softly.

"Wait!" Tuesday said, alarmed. "Just me? What about Jaima?"

That flicker entered Celebi's eyes again, but this time she didn't blink it away. She looked at Jaima, sorrow rolling off of her like heat. "I'm afraid you won't be coming with us, Jaima." She looked down. "I'm afraid there's nothing that I can do for you now."

"What do you-"

But Jaima's question was abruptly cut off when he vanished.

He did not merely vanish from sight, but from thought, and mind, and memory.

That sorrow deepened, as though the sands of her emotional ocean fell away, heightening the drop-off. She stared at the place where Jaima had stood, tears hanging from her eyes like glittering crystal chandeliers. She shook her head softly and whispered forlornly, "Oh, Jaima..."

Tuesday looked up at Celebi with a confused expression on her face.

"Who's Jaima?"

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 20 2009, 11:17 AM

The man was breathing heavily, hiding in the bushes outside the small, dome shaped home. His fist clenched and unclenched in unreleased anger. The humiliation he'd suffered... he hadn't felt that way since he'd been 8, and the bullies had set their pokémon on him. The same feelings had washed over him in old Littleroot... the clawing, the overwhelming fear... he'd wet himself! It was humiliating!

So he paused in his quest. Getting the most powerful pokémon in history could wait... in fact, if this worked, he wouldn't be hindered anymore. The tall jerk kid and his little sidekick wouldn't travel through time anymore and be there to stop him every... single... time...

Oh... he'd TRIED to be subtle! He'd tried stopping people from learning how to catch pokémon, just until he could get his team. But no... he'd shown up, and her, and they stopped him, and somehow survived the Charizard! So he tried working with history... the ponyta would have died anyway... why not claim it? It was a shiny, and it was strong... but no, not only did they interfere again, but the little brat got HIS ponyta, HIS! And then... and then... all he'd wanted was a chansey that had belonged to a witch... he'd take it, she'd die, as history said she did, and he could heal his team at will... he could be famous... he could be a master... that would show them, wouldn't it..? And there was the girl, and he could get HIS ponyta after all...

But no. No, the tall... annoying... asshole kid had shown up, and not only stopped him from getting what was his, but humiliated him!

So he'd tracked him. No interfering, not for a while, but he saw a dozen ways the kid could be taken out before he met the girl. Oh, he'd tried to do it peacefully, too, but the stupid bird that carried mail was too stupidly smart! No, this way was best. He had watched, and waited, and found out what the most important thing was...

The door opened, and a ten year old boy, wavy blonde hair unkempt, turned to his mother. "I'm goin', mom! When I come back, I'm gonna have the awesomest fire type in the whole world!"

"We wanna go too," came a strident call, and a little girl came running up. She had green hair, and the girl who walked up behind her, sedately, was a carbon copy, except with cyan hair.

"Ya can't go, yer not old enough," the blonde boy said, annoyed. He rolled his eyes, and his mother chuckled.

"He should be nicer about it, Mariko, but Jaima's right. You have to wait for a while." When the little girl teared up, the mother knelt and looked her in the eye. "I bet Jaima will let you play with his pokémon before he leaves. Won't you?"

The boy looked rebellious, but a warning look from his mother stopped his tirade. He huffed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, 'cept I won't be GETTING one unless I GO..."

The green haired girl hugged the boy, and the cyan girl joined in. He tensed, then smiled, just a little, before putting on a scowl. "OK, OK, get off!" He rubbed both their heads. "See you guys soon, I gotta go find Meiko!"

He dashed away, and the large man followed.

* * * * *

"Well, I'm gonna get a fire type, then we'll see!"

"Haha! Fire is weak to waaater," the red headed girl cooed, pushing Jaima in the arm.

"Yeah, well mine'll be so strong, it'll knock out water types with one shot! Even though it's not very effective..."

The man stepped out of the shadows, and both children stopped. Jaima scowled. "Sorry, mister, but we're in a hurry."

"Are you Jaima?" The man looked... weird. He was red faced, and trying to look scared, but he just looked eager... eeeww..

"Don't tell him your name, Jaima," the girl cried, then slapped her hands over her mouth. Jaima rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, so what?"

"Your dad sent me," he said. "He wants you to come to the pokécenter he's working at."

"Aw, man!" Jaima slumped. "I was s'posed to get my pokémon today!"

The large man smirked. "OK, I'm going to tell you a secret... he's got a charmander for you." He smiled. "They're the best fire type ever."

"A CHARMANDER?!" Jaima gaped, then turned to Meiko. "I gotta go! If this guy's wrong, I'll try to make it to the lab!"

"Jaima, don'-" But it was too late. He NEVER listened to her when he was excited. Meiko glared at the man, who smirked and walked away.

Two hours later, while she was admiring her totodile, The professor came up to her. His face was sad and drawn. "Meiko..? Did you know Jaima Kuonji?"

She looked up, suddenly, inexplicably scared. "I... I know him, sir..."

The professor knelt down. "Meiko... I... I just got some bad news. The pokécenter they were building in New Bark town.. it's..." He closed his eyes. "It collapsed. Several workers were killed, and... and..."

Meiko looked, the words sinking in. Tears started rolling down her cheeks. "Is Jaima ok, professor..?"

"Meiko, Jaima was killed."

* * * * *

Dialga watched as the time stream rippled and flowed, snapping down the timeline. The past was, usually, immutable. Even with smaller changes, the stream fixed itself, but premature death, despite being one person in a vast multitude of people through history, was never a small change. The future was liquid, yes, but the past was set in stone, so it's major changes were more like breaking a bone that had set wrong than stirring a liquid.

And so he watched, paying careful attention to the Kuonji's. He watched as a mother sank into depression deeper than she would have, with no son to try to keep the semblance of normality in the house, and to snap her out of her self-despair when it became too hard to deal with for a ten year old. He watched sisters be carted to foster care and separated when they were adopted by different families. He watched a shinx die alone in a strange forest, a ralts captured by a greedy huntress for her color alone, a mudkip die in an ooze, heard too late by the companions travelling there.

Companions that had recently been set upon and nearly killed by a group of ghosts lead by a vulpix.

In the future, in the tendrils of what could be, several possibilities simply died off, while a few newer ones started.

And a paradox formed. It wasn't a large one, and he managed to smooth it... but if the man could cause a paradox this way, he would cause a worse one later. Because, even though the boy and his companion were not important in the present, they could, and likely would, lead to greater important things, life, world, time changing things, later... he would have to watch. Losing one had affected more than he'd expected.

Losing both..? For the first time, Dialga felt fear.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 21 2009, 01:04 PM

"Hey, Celebi, what's the matter?" Tuesday asked, concerned. The little faerie pokemon had succumbed to quiet tears, sitting on the ground with her wings and antennae drooping. Tuesday crouched near the depressed little pokemon, with no idea what to do.

"I've failed, I've failed," Celebi sobbed gently. She shook her head and buried her face in her hands.

Tuesday sat down on the ground, her hands folded in her lap. She didn't seem to be able to do anything to comfort Celebi, so it looked as though she would simply have to wait for the little pokemon to wade through her river and tears and gather her composure. She was worried, though, and not only for Celebi's state of mind (she still didn't understand what had made the pokemon so sad in the first place). The thief was still out there, and Tuesday didn't know what time period he would have graced himself with now.

Tuesday fingered the pokeballs on her belt. She hadn't had much time to interact with Wraith, yet, since she had been given him by the emperor. She was glad that... Tuesday frowned. Wait... Why had she been given Wraith again? She had been named a slave to the emperor, and the thief was the emperor's advisor. Someone, though... someone was a Gladiator.

A boy. A boy with a long blonde braid and six pokemon. A Cyndaquil. She had carried the Cyndaquil for a time. Ember... Ember was the Cyndaquil's name.

But who was the boy?

Tuesday tilted her head to the side as she thought. "Celebi... was I... was there someone else with me?"

Celebi looked up quickly, tear streaks still marring her face. "You remember him?"

Tuesday wasn't looking at Celebi, but frowning at the grass. "I... sort of. A boy. A nice boy. Kind of like... he was like Brone, in a way. My brother." She met Celebi's eyes. "Who is he?"

"His name was Jaima," Celebi answered quietly.

"Was?" Tuesday asked in a whisper.

Celebi nodded, her expression solemn. "He does not exist anymore, because of the interference of the man who stole the Time Crystal." Tuesday's face became expressionless. "He went back in time and interfered in a part of the past, resulting in Jaima's death."

Tuesday's face remained expressionless, as she tried to hold back her initial emotional reaction. She wasn't sure if she was more saddened by the events, or angered that the thief had interfered where no one had a right to. Instead of falling prey to either of these emotions, however, she asked, "Can't I go back and change it?"

Celebi gave her a surprised look. "I... you'd want to do that?"

"Well, this wasn't supposed to happen," Tuesday replied, "and this... Jaima. He was my friend, right?" She nodded. "He must have been my friend, if we were traveling together. And I bet, if our positions were reversed, he'd come save me." She nodded more firmly this time. "Yes. Celebi, can you send me back there, so I can stop him?"

Celebi looked unsure for a moment. "I can," she admitted, "but there is something you need to understand." Tuesday cocked her head to the side. "Jaima's father died in the collapse of the Pokemon Centre, as well. Unlike Jaima, however, he was meant to." Tuesday moved to object, but Celebi shook her head. "To save him, even if it seems wrong, would be like taking out the main support beam on a building. Who Jaima is... was... was built around the death of his father. As much as it hurt him them, he is stronger now because of it. His family is stronger. He wouldn't be the same person, otherwise, and you probably wouldn't have met him."

"But..."

"No, Tuesday."

"I don't care if I don't meet him, if I could help him!"

"You can't," Celebi said, and her voice was firmer now than Tuesday had ever heard it. "What must happen, must happen. Que cera, cera. It was meant to be, and so you cannot change it. If you do, you risk not only unraveling the time stream, but becoming the same as the thief. Even if your intentions are well, the past it set." She shook her head. "You just have to save Jaima. I can only let you go back if you promise to do only that. Do you promise?"

Tuesday really wanted to argue. She desperately wanted to demand that the past be changed.

But Celebi was a pokemon, not a god, and she was still bound by the laws of Fate. Tuesday sighed and nodded. "I promise."

"Good," Celebi replied. She rested a gentle paw in the centre of Tuesday's forehead. "Be careful," she said softly. She smiled. "And good luck."

And with that, there was a white flash of light around Tuesday that blinded her from her every surrounding.

When she opened her eyes again, she didn't recognize where she was.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 21 2009, 09:56 PM

Let's review how time works, children, said arceus to his Firstborne. They came of all sizes, and scattered about the galaxy, and looked like many creatures that had roamed before. They were large and controlled the large aspects; space, time, land, sea, air. They were small and controlled the small aspects; emotions, thoughts, the seasons. Some had made others, to watch over the elements in the sky and on the land. Some simply were, travelling or sleeping. Some hated each other, but all loved their Father, Arceus.

Time, unlike most things, has three states. We know them as the past, the present and the future, but it's more than that. For simplicity, let us simply go with what we know. Time in the future is like many strands, like the tentacles of a tentacruel, writhing and going in every which way.

(Before you ask, and I know you will, because I did, he knew there would be tentacruels, and pikachis, and digletts, and everything. He even knows what will be discovered far from now...)

When time from the present flows back to the past... well, that's like rocks in a stream. The present, and the people in it, choose, without knowing, how time will flow. Each choice lets a strand of the future fall away and wither, or change to accomodate. Each choice is then frozen as the moment passes, becoming the past, and that's what's important.

The future is hard to go to, because, when you decide to go there, you are looking from the present... from the point where choices are made to the point where there are many to choose from. The past is easier, but more dangerous; it is set, the past, and changing it causes dangerous ripples, like plucking a string. It is best not to tamper with either, but I created you, and I know at least two of you long to see what others cannot. After all, I made you that way.

You may go now.

This is what Dialga remembered, and this is what Dialga feared, but he had to trust the small one while he made sure Time did not unravel. Sending the girl back could be more disasterous... but it could be exactly the right thing. The choice was made, and all he could do was watch, and pray to Father that it worked out.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 27 2009, 02:05 AM

New Bark Town didn't look a great deal different from Pallet Town, except that the houses seemed a bit more modern. Pallet Town was... her dad had always called it "old school." Apparently, New Bark Town is what he would have referred to as "new school." Good ol' dad. Never made a bit of sense.

How in the world am I supposed to find Jaima? Tuesday wondered, having no idea when she was, exactly, much less where she would find the boy that... well, wouldn't be older than her now.

"Right... so I'll be the older sibling, won't I?" she asked.

"Your dad sent me," he said. "He wants you to come to the pokécenter he's working at."

"Huh?" Tuesday tilted her head to the side at the distant voice. She knew that voice, and wasn't happy to hear it.

So Celebi had sent her back just as the thief had begun his interference into the past. Right. That made sense, she supposed.

"Aw, man!" She heard the voice of a younger boy crying out in disappointment. It sounded familiar, yet different. "I was s'posed to get my pokémon today!" Vaguely, Tuesday considered how her memory of Jaima was... better here. Perhaps it was because he hadn't yet been... killed, in this specific timeline. Or maybe it was just because she was here, or because Celebi was trying to help her remember. Whatever the reason, she remembered more clearly their adventures than she had moments ago, when she'd been speaking with Celebi. Things were still fuzzy, though, and she didn't like it. She wanted Jaima back, so she could remember.

"Okay, I'm going to tell you a secret," the thief continued in his annoying voice, as Tuesday moved closer, "he's got a charmander for you. They're the best fire type ever."

"A CHARMANDER?!" Tuesday reached a large pine tree and peered around it in time to see a small kid with wild blonde hair gaping at the whale lying to his face. She blinked. The kid was cute in that "you would make an adorable little brother so long as you didn't embarrass me too bad" kind of way. Huh.

The kid, obviously Jaima, turned to his friend. "I gotta go! If this guy's wrong, I'll try to make it to the lab!"

If he's wrong? Tuesday wondered. Oh, you sick, sick man, playing on a child's desires. She shook her head wildly, blonde hair flying. That sounded so wrong, and I'm twelve!

The boy's - Jaima's - friend tried to tell him not to go, which would have been the smart thing to do: avoid the evil bad man at all costs. But he was a child and he was excited, and this world was supposed to be safe.

Yeah. Right.

Swallowing, Tuesday swiftly ran her options through her head. She could follow Jaima to the pokemon centre and somehow keep him from being inside when it... collapsed... with his father still inside. That didn't sound like a particularly good plan. So she had a bit of a Messiah-complex, but she would feel compelled to save the man, despite her promise and Celebi's warning. Also... she didn't think that Jaima, who would already have to suffer the death of his father, should have to be present when he died.

Or be forced to travel with the girl who could have stopped it, but didn't. So maybe she was being selfish. As aforementioned, she was twelve. Twelve year old girls were permitted a little selfishness, right? Right?

Quickly scanning the other possibilities, she decided on one that involved her interacting with Jaima as little as possible. In theory. That was probably the best.

Grabbing the first pokeball on her belt, she drew strength from the familiar warmth of life and fire, before calling Dante forth. The red-orange dragon looked at her expectantly, and Tuesday knelt on the ground, explaining her plan. "Look, Dante," she said, "we need to make sure that little Jaima doesn't get hurt, okay?" Dante nodded. "I need you to distract him. He likes pokemon, which is a given, and I think he's pretty fond of Charmander, too." She flashed him a grin. "Think you can handle a ten year old?"

Dante gave her a withering look at rolled his eyes, before ambling off. "Thought so," she muttered affectionately.

That done, she turned back to see the smirking thief walking off. If he caught on that Dante was keeping Jaima preoccupied, he would no doubt try to finish the kid off himself. That meant that while Dante was distracting Jaima, Tuesday would have to play interference with the thief.

She gave herself a rather satisfied smirk. She was pretty talented when it came to being annoying. Just ask anyone who didn't like literature.

"Char! Char!"

Dante wandered into Jaima's view, blinking his big blue eyes and waving his tail, making the flame dance. He offered up one of his cutest expressions and was duly rewarded with a gigantic grin and a cry of, "A CHARMANDER!"

And then he was promptly tackled.



The thief was walking innocently through New Bark Town (well, as innocently as was possible, considering that he was conspiring to kill a ten-year-old boy who would later thwart his attempts to rule the world), when he was abruptly hit in the back of the head with a rock.

"What the-" He turned to see that damnable girl standing in all her four foot glory, tossing a second rock in her right hand, with that damn Pikachu sitting on her left shoulder, and the freaking shiny Ponyta standing on her right side. She was giving him something of a snide look, which merely made his blood boil. Then, she opened her mouth.

He'd never been so unhappy to see someone do that before in his life.

"Misfortunes one can endure--they come from outside, they are accidents. But to suffer for one's own faults--ah!--there is the sting of life."(1) The girl shook her head sadly, tsking quietly. "Now, tell me, dear sir, what could have possibly happened in your life to warrant such hatred of the world?"

"That's none of your business!" he yelled, angry that she had even considered hinting at his past.

"All things are ready, if our minds be so,"(2) she said with a sophisticated air, before shaking her head. "Clearly, you're not ready to face the darkness of your own heart."

"SHUT UP!" He chucked a rock in her direction, but missed wildly. She didn't even have to dodge, and hardly looked concerned. In fact, she looked like she was having fun.

". . . 'tis misfortune that awakens ingenuity, or fortitude, or endurance, in hearts where these qualities had never come to life but for the circumstance which gave them a being,"(3) she said, in a manner that told how she was quoting something. Was everything she was saying a quote? How much did this kid read? "But you use for talents for an unworthy purpose. 'tis a waste."

"I'll tell you what's a waste!" he snarled. "Damn kids like you! Interfering where you have no place! You're useless baggage that does nothing but get in the way!"

"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for any one else,"(4) she stated with conviction. "You'd know this if you cared for anyone but yourself."

"No one else is worth my time, brat! I'm the most important person to me! The only one that matters! I don't need anyone else!"

"Unwelcome truths are not popular,"(5) she muttered, sounding as though his statements had brought her some measure of annoyance. If he knew anything of her past, he would have realized that he sounded a great deal like some of the kids who had bullied her as a child. " . . . the chief proof of man's real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness.(6) You have a decidedly large ego, and in comparison to your bitter narcissism, are of little consequence."

"I'll do what I damn well please and think what I damn well want!" he snapped. "No brat is going to tell me that I'm not worth anything! This has to be done! You're ruining everything and you wouldn't take the hint before, so this is the way it has to be."

"How quick come the reasons for approving what we like,"(7) Tuesday replied.

"You're not going to make me change it!" the man snapped. "Your brother is going to die, and if that doesn't stop you, then I will."

"Indeed," Tuesday said. "So you intend to continue trying to foil us, battling eternity, attempting to rule the world. Face it - you're never going to win. We won't let you."

"You can't stop me!" he snapped. "I bear the Time Crystal! I control Time itself!"

"The end crowns all; and that old common arbitrator, Time, will one day end it."(8) She shook her head. "You may hold the crystal, but you no more control Time than you can forbid the sun from rising, the rain from falling, life from being. What do you hope to gain from bearing that crystal?"

"I will have what should have always been mine! I will be all-powerful!"

"Men and women, empires and cities, thrones, principalities, and powers, mountains, rivers, and unfathomed seas, worlds, spaces, and universes, all have their day, and all must go.(9) What you deserved, you would have, eventually.
Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience."(10)

"I don't want to wait!" he snarled. "I'm sick of waiting, of being laughed at!" He pointed an accusing finger at her. "You're just like them. Think you know everything. Think you're all that. Well, I'll prove you wrong. I'm going to be the most powerful man in the world. Then you'll respect me! Then they'll all have to respect me!"

"Respect is earned, not bought," she retorted, "and unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.(11) You don't want respect. You want a status of godliness, which is not yours to take."

"No?" he asked, fingering the crystal that hung on a chain around his neck. "We'll just see about that. You may think you're smart, brat, but you're more foolish than you realize. While you've been standing here quoting Shakespeare-"

"I hope you don't think that was all Shakespeare."

He ignored her. "-you could have been saving your friend." He looked at his watch. "Unfortunately for you, your stupidity has cost you his life. By now, the pokemon centre would have collapsed, and he will have died with his father in the rubble." He laughed. "And I'm not going back in time to fix it, because I don't have to!"

"Cruelty and fear shake hands together,"(12) Tuesday supplied. "You shouldn't be so heartless. Karma will be at your throat one day."

"Worry not for me, child," he snapped. "You'll bow to me soon enough."

Tuesday smiled grimly. "I honor no false gods." She waved her hand. "Go where you will. We'll follow soon enough."

He gave her a satisfied smirk. "Denial. Your brother is dead. If you follow me, you will die, too."

She smiled. "We shall see."

He gave her a snide look, before there was a bright flash of light, and he was gone. Into time.

Tuesday sighed. "Father Time is not always a hard parent, and, though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those who have used him well.(13) I fear he will destroy you for your ignorance, and while I should not care... Duty sits upon my shoulders like a fiendish friend, and I feel I must." She closed her eyes. "I must."

Something was... changing, she knew. Maybe she was simply tired of the running after the thief constantly, but she felt... older. Burdened. As though there was a weight on her shoulders; one that was separate from the duty that came with her innate hero-complex. It was as though Time sat heavily upon her, as well, and while she was young, she was also old.

"And come he slow, or come he fast... It is but Death who comes at last.(14) In time. In time." Tuesday smiled grimly. It made sense, of course. They were travelers through time, not wholly bound by time, but neither were they completely disconnected from it. They had jumped from the far, far distant past, to the recent past, to the present, various times. They had lived more lives than others could ever hope to boast, but for the Immortals and those who remembered their lives that came before. Of course, their souls being bound even in the slightest to the whims of Temporis, they would be bound by the nature of life and its limitations across the ages.

"So fickle, life," she mused. "And we have so little left, if we don't end this swiftly." She turned and headed back to where she had last seen Dante. Wraith trotted at her side, Tempest sitting on her shoulder, both looking at her in concern, as Tuesday considered the implications of her realizations. They couldn't jump much more, before Time betrayed them, and destroyed them, as it eventually took everything.

They were protected by Celebi to some extent, however, unlike the thief. His direct connection to the power of Time, without the buffer that Celebi offered them, would destroy him swiftly. They needed to stop him. As much as Tuesday didn't like him, she didn't like the idea of being the reason someone died, even indirectly.

She stepped around a tree, to see Dante being studied in earnest by an excited ten-year-old. The dragon pokemon looked up happily when she approached.

"Dante," she said softly in greeting, "I see you've made a friend."

The boy - Jaima - looked up. "Oh. Is he your pokemon?"

"He is my friend," Tuesday replied, crouching down by the boy. She felt the wanting of tears, knowing what little Jaima would face when he went home. "Look, kiddo, you need to get to the pokemon lab and get your pokemon."

"I'm supposed to meet my dad," he said. "He's waiting for me at the pokemon centre."

Tuesday bit her lip in thought, and to keep herself from crying. She coughed lightly. "Well, I talked to you dad, kiddo," she said softly, "and you're supposed to go to the lab to meet with the professor and get yourself a fire pokemon." She smiled at his surprised look. "And you're supposed to take her home and care for her, love her, and protect her, so she'll know how to love and protect." She blinked swiftly. "And you're supposed to know that your dad loves you, very much."

Jaima grinned. "I know! I better get to the pokemon lab, before all of the pokemon are gone!" He stood up and took off, but Tuesday called him back. He stopped, looking at her funny. "How do you know my name?"

Tuesday smiled beyond the shine of tears. "A little faerie told me," she said. "Do me a favor, Jaima?"

"Sure!" he said.

"Smile," she supplied simply.

Jaima blinked, then looked around for someone taking a picture of him, not understanding what this strange girl knew. When he looked back to ask her what she meant, she was gone.

Jaima stared at the spot where the weird girl had been, with a Charmander, a Pikachu, and a Ponyta that looked dark and kind of scary, except that it had kind eyes. He blinked for a moment, confused, before remembering about getting his own pokemon.

With that, he took off for Professor Elm's lab.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 28 2009, 01:27 PM

When Jaima awoke, he had tears in his eyes. He'd had the dream again. The same dream he'd had for months after his father died. He'd thought he was over the guilt, but something had brought it back fresh again. Only it was different somehow. More true to life.

For one thing, he'd forgotten about the fat man who'd tried to send him to the pokécenter, and the girl who's Charmander he'd met. The Charmander was a big reason why he'd picked Ember. That and the girl's words to pick a fire type and raise it well.

He looked over at Tuesday, sleeping with her knees up and her forehead resting on them, and a wave of affection rolled over him. He didn't feel like he'd gotten a decent night's sleep in ages. In fact, he felt... older. Wiser. Tired. He wondered, briefly, if she felt the same.

As if awakening from a nightmare, Tuesday's head snapped up, eyes wide, but still with large purplish bags underneath them. Her wide eyes fell on Jaima, who smiled wearily at her, and they began to fill with tears. She turned away swiftly, sniffling.

The look on her face, worn but kind, just before she turned, hit Jaima like a punch to the stomach. Despite his mind's refusal to acknowledge it, the assumption he immediately jumped to made the most sense. "It was you," he whispered, his voice low in wonder. Tuesday's shoulders tightened, but she nodded.

Jaima turned the other way, pressing his back to Tuesday's. "You could have saved my father," he said. It wasn't an accusation, but he was not surprised when Tuesday tensed against him.

"Sh-she told me not to." There was a pause, and when she resumed speaking, her voice was hollow. "She said it would interfere. Th-"

"It's OK, Tuesy," Jaima said slowly. "It's OK."

She turned, wracked with sobs, and hugged Jaima's chest, and he stroked her hair until she stopped crying. "This isn't like you, is it?" he asked when she looked up, halfway between embarrassed and mortified.

"N-not really."

He smiled and wiped a tear from her cheek. "We're tired. Bone tired. Fatigue does things to you. Makes you do stuff you don't usually do." He smiled down at her. "After this is done, we'll rent a couple rooms and sleep for, like, a week, OK?"

"YOU!"

The voice was not Tuesday's, nor Jaima's, and came from a hill to the side of the road. Both looked up and saw a familiar figure, pointing from behind the fence, his hand shaking in rage. He seemed worn down, worse than the two, and Jaima stood up, reaching for his pokéballs, just in case.

"You couldn't just let it go, could you," the man screamed, his voice hoarse and quavering. "You had to keep interfering and interfering and interfering! Well, if I can't get rid of you in the past, I'm going to get rid of you now! Then I'll have time on my side!" He sneered, pulling the lone pokéball from his belt. "Zigzagoon, go!" Instead of pointing to Jaima and Tuesday, he pointed up the hill, where a herd of tauros and miltank roamed, grazing. "Get them! Drive them insane! You can do it!"

The little badger pokémon meandered its way up the hill, striking out to the left, then to the right as rapidly as he could. When he got to the top, his dashing between the legs of the bovine pokémon started to have the intended affect. They began to moan, then the tauros began to stamp. Soon enough, they were running, a single, terrified miltank in the lead, toward the fence. The thief sneered, pulled the loose boards from the fence, and jogged out of the way.

The stampeding cattle pokémon rushed through the hole, straight toward Jaima and Tuesday...

* * * * *

Dialga had never felt this level of anxiety before. As both children died, timelines of possibility melted away, all of them good. In one, a child is not born forty years into the future. That child subsequently does not turn twenty and does not stop an eight year old from playing in the street. That eight year old is killed, and does not grow up to become a great explorer, who does not act to calm the Three Powers of Hoenn, which destroys the entire region.

In another, Brone literally goes insane after Cassandra tells him of his sister's death. After a time, he kills his family, starting with the sister Tuesday hated, and ended up becoming a psychic despot, eliminating free will by psychically lobotomizing every soul on the planet.

In a third, Midori Kuonji goes mad with grief and kills the bearer of the bad news, a young friend of Jaima's named Meiko. The vengeful spirit causes a ringing curse with her grudge, supernaturally killing anyone who dared to enter the Kuonji house.

Deep down, Dialga knew that this was only three of infinite possibilities, and deep down he wondered if two children would have such a harsh impact on time. In the end, the panic, a new emotion, won out. He had caused this by allowing the time gem to be stolen. He had allowed it by involving these two children. It was far too late to change things, at least for him. But a mad plan came to his mind, and he enacted it, ignoring Celebi's sudden cries against it.

He exerted his vast will, his Arceus given power over time, and split Time into two, allowing one to survive in each one.

Celebi's eyes blanked, and she fell to the ground, catatonic. Dialga did not mourn her.

He, too, was driven mad.

But time marched on in double file, and Arceus looked down, and saw that there was still hope.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 29 2009, 11:26 PM

Did she really save him, just for him to die.

Tuesday was walking across a meadow, her thoughts meandering drunkenly through her mind. She wondered if she wasn't wrong, for wanting to go back and save Jaima. Was she becoming addicted to the power that she had been offered? Was that why Celebi hadn't returned?

Sighing in near-defeat, Tuesday sat down on the ground, sniffling. It had been two days since the stampede. Two days since the thief attempted to have them killed and Jaima proved that he, too, had a Messiah-complex, when he shoved Tuesday out of the way of the rushing Tauros and Miltank, saving her life... ending his own...

"Tempest," she whispered, before she even realized that she had been thinking about the rodent. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them. The Pikachu hadn't been near Tuesday when the Tauros charged. She hadn't moved quickly enough. It wasn't like her, really, but for some reason... she hadn't moved out of the way in time. She, like Jaima and all of his pokemon, had been trampled.

And Tuesday was alone.

No, not alone, she corrected, pulling the pokeballs off of her belt. Just two. She reached down and touched the third, but it was cold now... empty. Hunching her shoulders, she called forth her remaining companions.

Dante appeared slowly, reluctantly. His head was bowed, his eyes unfocused, and his tail flame low. He blamed himself, Tuesday knew. As always, he thought he could have changed things, if only he were stronger.

Reaching over, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight, laying her cheek against his warm, leathery flesh. She sighed. "It's not your fault, Dante," she whispered. "Not your fault."

He made no reaction. This had become a repetitive occurrence over the past two days. He hadn't spoken since the stampede. True, they were in the present, without the influence of Time, so he and Wraith couldn't "speak." Or rather, Tuesday couldn't understand them verbally. But Dante hadn't uttered a sound since, and she was troubled.

Wraith had been affected differently. When he appeared from his pokeball, it was in a storm of fire. Snorting, he stamped heavily against the earth and them reared, whinnying angrily. The flames that made up his mane and tail blazed like liquid darkness, as black as pure shadow against his cream-colored coat. He was angry. Beyond angry, even. He wanted revenge.

"He who practices revenge keeps his own wounds green," she muttered without much thought.

Wraith turned toward her swiftly and snorted a hot breath in her face. His breath smelled sweet, like clover, and Tuesday raised a hand and touched his face, ignoring his angry expression, heedless of the raging black flames. As her fingers touched his muzzle, his eyes lost much of their ire, focusing on her and the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Where is Celebi, Wraith?" she whispered. "Why won't she come? Why has she abandoned us?"

Snorting softly, Wraith stepped closer and nuzzled her cheek, rubbing her tears away with the soft creamy hair of his nose. Tuesday couldn't help the smile that stole her lips, as his whiskers tickled her nose. Even as she grinned, however, the tears continued to fall.

"I want them back," she pleaded.

Wraith snorted in agreement, swishing his tail and stomping a rear hoof in disgust at their current position. He flicked his ears and regarded her with a look that was half-pleading and half-demanding. Tuesday was pretty certain she knew what he was trying to say.

If Celebi was coming, she would have been here by now.

"We're on our own then, huh?" she asked.

Wraith snorted and tossed his head. His nostrils flared as his mane blazed back and he turned to the west, where the sun was beginning to sink against the horizon. His eyes stared passed the world that Tuesday could see, as though he could find what they searched for by sheer will alone. He snorted. Perhaps he could.

"There's really only one thing left to do, then, isn't there?" she asked.

Dante looked up at her silently, curious despite his despondency, and Wraith returned his gaze to her face, ears flicking in a silent, polite demands to know what she was planning.

"Well," she said, "Celebi's the one that got us into this mess. She asked for our help to get the Time Crystal back. Jaima's dead, and now she's gone. She's abandoned us." Her pallor of sadness was replaced by a look of determination as she stood up and tightened the strap of her bag on her shoulder. "So I'm abandoning her. I'm giving up the quest."

Dante's tail flame flared momentarily for his startlement, and Wraith whinnied loudly in protest. Tuesday shook her head, both to shake away their protests, as well as to assure them that her intentions were to abandon Celebi, not Jaima and the others.

"If the situation were reversed," she said, "Jaima would come save me. No matter what." She looked down at the pokeball on her belt. She could almost feel the cold wafting from it. It was as though the darkness within were not a normal emptiness, but rather a Black Hole, which was growing rapidly and would soon devour them all. An inescapable darkness that was due to collect all mortals bound to Time.

So they just wouldn't be bound to it, anymore.

"I'm going to get the Time Crystal," she muttered. Wraith's ears flicked forward, and Tuesday raised her eyes to meet those of her newest pokemon; the one that bore a temper to match her own raging heart. "I'm going to get the Time Crystal," she repeated, "but I'm not giving it back, unless I have Jaima and Tempest back. We started this together, and we're going to end it the same way."

Wraith snorted in agreement, stamping his hooves to assure her of his readiness. Dante nodded and managed a very soft, "Char."

Tuesday smiled down at her first pokemon. She drew strength from that verbal agreement, however small it was. She nodded her head at the both of them.

"All right, then," she said. "If the thief wants to play this game, then I'll play." She narrowed her eyes. "But the stakes just went up. He's not dealing with a nuisance, anymore. It took a thief to get the Time Crystal in the first place. I guess it's going to take one to get it back."

Climbing onto Wraith's back, she grabbed the fire between her fingers. She didn't even take a moment to admire the fact that the flames felt cool, like shadows, and soft, like feathers or kitten fur. She didn't bother to consider that she was riding one of the only Ponyta in the world who looked like a mortal demon, and that as the horse raced across the ground, she looked less like a girl riding her pokemon, and more like a Nazgul racing toward death on a horse from Hell.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom May 31 2009, 03:50 AM

When Jaima heard the rumbling and saw the Thief pull out the fence slats, his first thought wasn't for his own dafety, but for Tuesday's. He reached for her, to try to get her clear of the rapidly approaching herd. Two things happened at the instant his hand moved; He missed Tuesday's arm, and a small, yellow form hit him in the stomach.

He reeled backwards, stumbling, and was hit again. He caught a bare glimpse of a jagged tail and was hit a third time, tumbling clear of the herd. "No! No, I didn't get Tue-"

A short, high scream sounded and then was cut off abruptly, and Mercury's ball twitched. Jaima was too shocked to move, his eyes blurred and dimmed. He caught a glimpse of a yellow form staring at the passing, panicked herd, but couldn't see it clearly for some reason.

He'd wait for it to pass, and go find Tuesday, and maybe they could figure out what made that scream.

There was a pop at his waist, and then another, and he felt warm pokémon arms around him, and heard the sound of crying. It was a little disconcerting. He'd never heard a pokémon cry before.

It isn't your fault, Mercury said, her mental voice full of grief. It isn't your fault, she wanted to save you. It isn't your fault.

Jaima didn't understand. It wasn't his fault, it was the Thief's, and when he and Tuesday found each other, they'd go after him...

Oh, Trainer Jaima...

The herd had passed, and the dust was beginning to settle. He stood, but halfway to his feet, he saw something that turned his legs to rubber.

From the bushes on the side of the road stuck a forearm and hand, still, bloodied, and familiar. Tuesday's tiny hand. Triggered by the sight, Jaima's memory played the scream, pained, frightened, and cut off before it would havr ended naturally. Jaima's legs gave out, but he didn't feel the pain of landing.

It can't be... She can't be...

I felt it... For all of it's quietness, Mercury's voice was a wail of anguish, and Jaima felt his eyes flowing with tears.

"I... No... Tuesday, I would have... She can't be dead..."

His legs wouldn't pry him up. His insides were jelly. His eyes wouldn't stop leaking.

And then he heard laughter. He turned his head and saw a fat man near a hole in a fence, dancing and cavorting as if he'd won the Daily lottery.

"That'll teach you! Who's laughing now? Not you! Hahahahaha! Now who'll stop me? Here's a hint: Not you!"

Jaima saw red. The strength that left him returned a hundred fold, and he felt himself rise. He didn't remember the run; it seemed he had been sitting on second and hitting the man the next. He didn't feel the usual fatigue or pain associated with his fist hitting another object, just the rage driving him to turn this murdering monster into pulp.

The man begged, and screamed, and bawled, but Jaima was unheeding. He simply hit again, harder. Finally, a familiar voice in his head bored through the rage.

Trainer Jaima, stop it! Stop, you're killing him!

"Good."

It won't bring Trainer Tuesday back!

"I'll feel better."

In desperation, Mercury released every pokeball, then linked the occupants to Jaima. Unlike the link in the pokecenter, this one was tenuous, the voices indistinct, but they were heard.

There is no honor in this victory...

Don't do it!

This is wrong...

Don't destroy yourself...

Stay good, Jaima, stay good!

Do it... Kill him...

The last voice, met with a collective gasp, was angry, full of the need for vengeance. Jaima turned, one hand still gripping the limp, whimpering Thief's shirt, to see Tempest staring at the Thief with malice.

He took Tuesday from me. She ordered me to push you out of the way. Kill him.

Jaima hesitated, then turned to the thief. For a long moment, it seemed he would continue the beating, but he finally dropped the thief, his strength drained. "No."

WHY? HE TOOK HER. He KILLED her! Why would you spare him?! Electricity sparked around the electric mouse in curling fire, but Jaima couldn't feel any fear.

"Because she wouldn't want us to be killers over her," he said wearily. The pikachu began to wail, distraught, defeated, mourning her trainer the way Jaima still could not. He turned away from it, giving Tempest the privacy she was due, and reached down to the thief.

"Didn't mean to kill anyone," he muttered. "In the way. Not my fault. Bullies, all of you." When he noticed Jaima reaching for him, he quailed. He didn't prevent him from grabbing the gem and pulling it out of his jacket, but whined when he realized what had happened.

The gem was small, as all things of great powere were, rounded on the front and flat and smooth on the back. Jaima gripped it.

"I'm going to get her back," he whispered, looking into the images that shifted and sputtered within the gem.

He returned the pokemon, picking up the weeping pikachu, and muttered, "take me back before the stampede."

He disappeared.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas May 31 2009, 10:54 AM

She'd caught sight of him by pure luck, she was sure.

Of course, he thought she was dead. That's the only reason he wouldn't have been watching out for them... her. Tuesday swallowed thickly and shook off her grief. If she had her way, none of this would happen and she wouldn't ever need to grieve. In her mind, Jaima was not dead. He was NOT.

Dante was safely back in his pokeball, and Tuesday sat astride Wraith. The Ponyta was pure energy beneath her, muscles tense and hard as iron, quivering in expectation. Tuesday tightened her grip on the shadow mane between her fingers, her eyes narrowed on the thief.

He was standing in the middle of a field, but too far away for Tuesday to see what he was doing with his back turned to her. It didn't matter, at any rate. No, she could see the chain around his neck. The sun was at the perfect position that it glinted off of the metal of the necklace, and that was all she needed to know. He had the time crystal, but he wouldn't for long.

Pulling Dante's pokeball from her belt, she released him. When he saw the thief, his tail flame flared briefly, and he looked up at Tuesday. If not for his own determination to get Jaima, Tempest, and the others back, he would have flinched at Tuesday's gaze. Where once her eyes had been soft and filled with a love of life, they had turned cold and angry... vengeful.

He didn't like it. He hoped it would fade once they saved Jaima, but he wondered if it was possible. They could change events in time, but could they change what those events had done to a person's heart? Even if the residual pain was gone, the anger and hatred, Dante had a feeling that a shadow would always remain over her eyes.

He decided to leave mourning his trainer's true self for another time, and looked up at her expectantly.

"Dante, I need you to make sure that the thief can't get away from the other side." She gave a rather dark smirk, "Or at all."

Dante's tail flame dimmed, but Tuesday did not notice. Instead of trying to talk her out of it, knowing he wouldn't be able to, he nodded and slipped into the tail grass, making his way toward the other side of the thief.

Tuesday sat and waited, watching the thief. He looked unconcerned and completely unaware that he was about to be, for all intents and purposes, mugged.

It's much more effective if you have no idea it's coming, Tuesday noted, grinning.

She and Wraith caught sight of the smoke moments before they saw the flames. It hadn't rained here in a while, and the grasses were dry. They caught fire quickly and, even from this distance, she could see the panic in the thief as he saw the fire. It was racing toward him as though it, too, sought vengeance. A grin curled her lips as the thief began to turn. When he had made a complete 180-turn, he froze, his eyes locked on her.

Tuesday could very nearly feel the emotions rolling off of him, and she figured that the first thing that came to mind was oh, shit. She certainly hoped so.

She nudged Wraith in the sides with her heels, though she hardly had need to. The Ponyta jerked forward like her leash had been cut, and Tuesday was pretty much left to hang on as the equine pokemon raced across the ground. For but a moment, she slipped out of the desire for vengeance, the pain of loss, and the anger at what the thief had done, and she lived in the moment of absolutely loving that she was riding a Ponyta across the open lands.

And then Wraith was on the thief, and the spell was broken.

"You!" the thief gasped in fear, stumbling backward.

Tuesday narrowed her eyes. "Me," she muttered darkly. "You killed my brother, you jerk!"

"You got in the way!" he snapped, but his voice was weak. "It had to be done! You would have ruined everything! You're just bullies, and I finally stopped you!"

"Do I look like I was stopped!?" she asked. Her anger clouded her mind, but something else he said slipped through the cracks, and Tuesday blinked in surprise. "I'm a bully?" she asked.

The thief scoffed at her. "You've done nothing but hound me since I started!"

"You're stealing Time!" Tuesday snapped. "You're hurting people! If anyone is the bully, it's you, but you're worse! We only tried to stop you from hurting people, and you killed my brother! You killed Jaima! You're a murderer!"

"No! No, I'm not!"

She shook her head, not even realizing that there were tears coursing thickly down her cheeks. Wraith, seeming to have sensed her change in emotions, wasn't attacking. He wanted to, but he wouldn't betray her heart. Dante was peering out of the tall grasses with hope, seeing his true trainer again, instead of the anger. Even if she was sad...

"I know what a bully is," Tuesday said. "Did you think you were the only one who was ever picked on? Did you think you were the only one who was treated like shit by people?" She shook her head. "You need help," she muttered, "but not from this." She reached over and grabbed the Time Crystal. The chain broke when she pulled on it, and the thief collapsed to the ground, still shocked by the fact that she was alive, defeated at seeing the crystal in her hands.

Dante came trotting over and laid a claw on her ankle. Tuesday managed a small smile, a sad smile, down at him. She looked once more at the thief, before holding the Time Crystal against her chest, begging it to work. The rough side rubbed against her hands as tears still ran like rivers down her cheeks and she whispered, "Please... take me back before the stampede."

There was the softest flash of light, less bright than usual, and then the thief was alone.

And he felt it.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom Jun 1 2009, 11:48 AM

"Why won't this damn thing work?!"

Jaima had travelled back three times now, and each time he'd come to a different spot, but the exact same moment in time. The exact moment when Tuesday was killed. He could hear that shortened scream in his head over and over without the constant reminder, but hearing it as it happened was a special kind of hell. It made him angry all over again, and only the fact that his past self rushed to beat the hell out of the Thief kept him from taking the same action later.

He glared at the gem, his teeth grit. Maybe it was that he had this moment on his mind, or maybe it was that the time gem was broken. But if it were that, there was no hope, and he refused to believe that. Failure was not an option. She'd become more than a friend. She was as much his sister as the twins in Johto.

T-trainer... Jaima...

"Not now, Mercury." He'd let her out to travel with him because he knew she would be able to tell if they were actually in the past faster than he could. She'd whimpered the first time they'd come back, but Jaima had simply sent them back again, aiming further back. He'd reasoned that if coming back before the stampede was impossible, maybe aiming further back would work. He said to send him back to Lenoilia, so he could warn himself, and ended up at the stampede. So he'd aimed back, further, telling the stone to send him to the Littleroot Witch Trials. Again, the Stampede.

"Send me to the Roma-"

"LIA!!"

Jaima spun at the sound of Mercury's cry. She had pitched forward, catching herself on her thin arms barely. Jaima's eyes widened. Her crest, once a beautiful pearl-like blue was now white and etched with lines, a cross between wrinkles and cracks.

"Mercury!"

He lurched forward and caught her before she hit the ground face first, and was painfully surprised by how light she was. Hadn't they just started travelling? It was as if she'd aged decades. He turned her over, and gasped. There was blood on the corner of her mouth.

i don't... feel very good... trainer jaima...

"Shh, don't talk, Mercury... oh no..."

you couldn't have known... i didn't know...

Jaima sat down and laid her in his lap, feeling but not paying attention to the pressure on his hip that indicated a pokéball was releasing. He stroked Mercury's crest, tears washing down his face. What have I done..? What have I done to you?

"RIII!" The cry, strained through grit teeth, came from his left, and Shadow appears, putting his hands on Mercury's horns. Mercury smiled, sadly, weakly.

it's all right, shadow... it's all right, trainer... She closed her eyes, and Jaima's eyes filled with tears, but she continued to talk. I can see my mother again... i see my mother again... hello, mother...

Then she took in a deep breath and her back arched, almost in pain, but gracefully as well.

i love you, trainer jaima... shadow... She breathed out, slowly, and jaima could feel, like a warm breeze in his mind, the life pass out from her.

"No..." Jaima stroked her crest, tears falling freely now, and sobbed, once. "Oh, Mercury, I'm so sorry..."

Shadow glared at him, shaking, but did nothing else for a long time. Then he reached to Jaima's bandolier and pulled two pokéballs from it, a black and blue one with two steel grey bumps on the top, and one that looked like a ralts' head. He cradled the ralts ball gently, then set it down, grabbing on each side of the other ball, his ball. With a mighty effort that Jaima couldn't try to stop if he'd wanted to, the riolu broke his pokéball and threw it to the ground.

Then, with a glare over his shoulder, he picked up the ralts ball and walked away.

Jaima sat for a long time, holding Mercury's body and stroking her crest. He was heedless of how much time had passed, but after a while he picked up the Time Gem he'd dropped. Looking into it, he saw flickering images of past events, going in and out of focus like a malfunctioning telescope or a bad TV signal. Taking a deep breath, he whispered, "Show me Tuesday."

The images changed, and Jaima could see Tuesday as she had been; laughing at times, serious at others, watching Dante dance with an affectionate smile on her face, rolling her eyes at the Monty Arbokesque goings on of Old Littleroot, or clutching her robes in fear during the gladiator event. After a short time, before he could feel the pain of her death again, he whispered, "Show me Mercury."

The scene changed, showing the tiny ralts he had found, and the moment he had found that she was different than most of her kind. He could see her laughing and clapping, floating determinedly in front of a plant creature that he remembered terrified her, and her evolution into the more mature kirlia. Finally he saw her at each jump, getting sicker and more worn down, and he hated himself for not noticing.

"What have I done..?"

But it was a question the crystal could not, or would not answer, and in his heart, he knew. He'd let his anger consume him and forgot to look after those he'd been trusted with. He'd failed Tuesday, and now he'd failed Mercury and Shadow. He gripped the gem in his hand and took a shuddering breath.

"I just want to make it so none of this ever happened," he sobbed, a tear dropping from the end of his nose to wet the crystal. And though he never opened his eyes to see it, there was a bright flash, and he was no longer where he had been.

And above, where such beings dwell when not keeping watch over their earthly charges, Arceus felt hope grow.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Jun 1 2009, 12:53 PM

"Not again," she whispered.

Tuesday legs abruptly gave out on her and she collapsed to the ground weakly. She couldn't do this anymore. She couldn't.

The Time Crystal wasn't working. It wasn't letting them come back any further than at the moment that Jaima... Tuesday choked and leaned forward, placing her forehead against the ground as she cried. She hadn't seen him die before, just... the results. But now... thrice now she had watched his life be jerked away as he was struck by the stampeding Tauros. Thrice, she had heard Mercury's cry of agony at her trainer's death, moments before she succumbed to the same fate. Thrice, she had stood helpless and watched Shadow bound among the stampeding herd, trying in vain to rescue his trainer and Mercury.

At his every failure, Tuesday had tried to call out to the Riolu, but found her voice would not work. Thrice, she had seen the pain of futility, the acceptance of failure, in his eyes. She had watched him as he turned to face the herd, and simply did nothing as they ran him down.

And then he was gone, too. Not so much like a victim, as like a samurai.

"Jaima, Mercury, Shadow..." Tuesday shook her head, the tall grasses tickling her face but producing no laughter. She didn't think she had room enough in her soul left for laughter... for happiness. She was empty.

The pokeballs on Jaima's belt had been trampled, their occupants likewise destroyed. Jaima and his kids... gone.

"... pika..."

Tuesday jerked upward at the sound. She would know that voice anywhere, but it sounded too strained... broken.

This hadn't happened the last two times. Upon realizing that she had only come back as far as the stampede... as far as their deaths, she had immediately tried again after being forced to watch...

She had never stayed.

"... pi... ka..." Tuesday rose swiftly to her feet, scanning the once tall grasses that now lay in a trampled heap, blood-drenched in parts. "... kaa..."

"'Pest," she whispered. Abruptly, her strength returned to her as though a dam was broken and she cried out, "TEMPEST!"

Her voice echoed like the wind was teasing her. Tuesday could feel herself shivering, though it wasn't cold here. She couldn't understand why she was shivering, but it didn't really matter. Nor did it matter that her vision was blurring. Had she hit her head? She couldn't remember, but that made sense, she guessed. Yes...

Tuesday caught sight of a quivering ball of gold and brown fur. She let out a sound that was not so much a name as an animalistic cry; a barbaric sound of shock and pain. Pain of soul.

Darting forward, Tuesday dropped to her knees next to the familiar golden-brown pokemon. There were patches of fur missing, bruises marring the creature's flesh, and blood staining the once pristine and beautiful fur.

But it was still Tempest.

"'Pest," Tuesday whispered. She was gentle as she picked the Pikachu up in her arms, but she felt the tears slide down her cheeks in earnest when the small pokemon let out an agonized cry. Sitting back, she pulled the Pikachu up against her chest, her eyes meeting the dark brown orbs she had so often looked into. They were not full of anger or life this time, however, but dilated and glazed over with pain. Like frosted glass.

"Tempest..." Tuesday felt the tears slide in earnest down her cheeks. That was why her vision had been blurring. And she was shivering again. She was cold this time, though. On the inside.

She didn't think it would ever go away.

Her breath hitched and she sobbed. "'Pest..."

"Pi," Tempest replied softly. Despite her pain, it seemed a gentle assurance. It was the same tone of voice she had used when Tuesday had awoken from a horrible nightmare a few days after she was attacked by the man's Feraligatr. It's okay, Tuesday, she seemed to say. Everything's going to be fine.

"But it's not going to be fine," Tuesday sobbed. "This is all my fault!"

"Pi... ka." It's not.

Tuesday didn't take the time to wonder how she was able to understand Tempest's meaning so easily. She didn't take the time to wonder that she was hearing her call her name less, and that she was simply hearing what she was saying. She just shook her head, hair flying out around her. She held Tempest close to her, trying not to feel the shuddering of the Pikachu's small body, or her rapid breathing, the soft gasps as she tried to stay quiet and not cause Tuesday alarm. She was always looking out for her.

"Not again," she whispered.

"... ka..."

Tuesday choked on a sob, bent over as she hugged the pikachu close to her. She felt Tempest's nose brush against her cheek lightly, trying to nuzzle away her pain. She closed her eyes tightly and tried not to let the tears fall, but to avail.

Sorry...

Tempest shuddered softly, and then went still. It was so abrupt that Tuesday had to wonder if it had happened at all, but she knew, of course... she knew...

She couldn't change the past, even with the Time Crystal. They weren't allowed. She wasn't able to come back any sooner. She couldn't save Jaima, who had come to be like another brother to her; someone she looked up to and was able to rely on, now that she was separated from Brone. She couldn't save Mercury, she couldn't stop Shadow... and she couldn't will Tempest back to life.

She had failed.

Tuesday refused to let Tempest go. She refused to set her down and force herself to see that this was the end. If she didn't see that Tempest was dead, then it wasn't true. It wasn't. There would still be some hope left... somewhere...

Tuesday drew in a shuddering breath, trying to fight away her tears, but they would not leave her. She choked out a broken sob and shook her head, tears slipping down her cheeks, heedless of her wants, her desire to be strong.

She didn't have the strength to be strong anymore. Not without them.

"I just wish... I wish none of this had ever happened," she whispered, the tears raining where the sky would not. A few of these crystalline tears dripping onto the Time Crystal that hung uselessly around her neck, and the jewel glowed brilliantly. Her eyes shut tight, Tuesday did not see the white-hot glow, like life, curl around her and speed out among the grasses like a living force.

The world around her shifted, changed, the trampled grasses replaced with a short lawn, the blood vanishing as though it had never been.

And Tempest's body, simply fading from Tuesday's arms.

Heedless of where she was, she let out a shriek of defiance and pain. "No!" she screamed. "You can't have her! You've taken away everything else, don't take her, too!" Her voice broke off into a shadowed whisper. "Don't take her away from me, too..."

Time, however, offered no sympathies, and Tuesday was left to her tears. Bent over the grasses of an unfamiliar place, she sobbed openly and without shame, choked by her own pain.

And though, as Arceus watched, he felt hope, not even he could stop a tear from falling.

And it began to rain.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom Jun 1 2009, 03:59 PM

Jaima did not notice when Mercury's body disappeared. not at first, and when he did, he hissed. It was raining in the empty field where he stood, and he wanted to rail against the heavens. He had wept enough, he had no more tears, and now the heavens mocked him by weeping for him.

Tempest, who had saved his life, dug her claws deeper into his shirt, but he didn't care. She had become a constant presence there, a constant weight, so much that he'd forgotten she was there. Let her tear him apart. There was no hope, no reason to go on. He wished for an errant bolt of lightning to take him out of his misery.

"PIKA!"

Jaima blinked. The sound was one of anguish and joy, a sound he never thought he'd hear. The pikachu crawled form his left shoulder to his right, and then leapt off. Jaima turned to follow.

There, standing with her face down was a form both familiar and strange. Tuesday stood, fists clenched with white knuckles, and trembled, sobs wracking her body. Jaima, at first, had the wild notion of fearing he was seeing a ghost. But if he were, wouldn't that ghost be angry at him, and not sobbing dejectedly? And wouldn't Tempest not be able to see it? Tempest bounded through the tall grass as if rushing to safety from the storm, her cries fading agaist the background of rain.

Jaima trembled, then took a step, then another. Even if it was a ghost, to see her, to apologize one last time, to try to make her understand that he'd tried would be worth it.

She looked up and was suddenly still, the rain hitting her face hiding the salt tears of anguish. Tempest stopped a few feet in front of her, ears twitching and tail quivering. Tuesday looked up, met Jaima's eyes...

and screamed, stepping back and falling on her bottom.

No ghost would do that, I'm sure, spoke a mental voice, sounding like Mercury despite being from his own head, and he laughed in spite of himself. Jaima took the next few steps and knelt down, looking at his adopted sister with great affection.

"You're going to get wet, Tuesy," he said, his throat tightening. Tuesday stared up at him for a second in wonder, then reached out and grabbed his shirt. She let out a cry that was half anguish and half relief and leapt, landing with a thud on his chest and bawling like a newborn. Jaima himself couldn't say anything to reassure her, he, too, was weeping openly, holding her tightly and sobbing into her hair.

"How," Tuesday managed to choke out. "How, I don't understand, I saw you die, I saw it three times! How?!"

Jaima pushed her away, just far enough to see her pale, stricken face. "I... I didn't die. You sent Tempest to save me. You were the one who died..."

"You threw me clear!" Tuesday was stuck between a laugh and a cry, and Tempest took that instance to shove her way between them. She did not bother trying to separate the humans, but nestledinto Tuesday's chest, who began to weep openly anew. She held the pikachu, and Jaima held her, and for a moment, that was all there was.

"I don't understand, either," Jaima said when he finally found his voice again.

Tuesday looked at him, looking as if he had granted her every wish, then frowned. "Four..?" She pointed at his chest, where his pokéballs were strapped.

Jaima swallowed thickly. "I... I messed up, Tuesy. I kept try- trying to go back to stop--... it was hard enough to see it, but Mercury... mercury must have kept feeling it, over and over... she died, Tuesy..." It was Tuesday's turn to hold Jaima as he cried again. When he finally finished, he took a deep, shaky breath. "Shadow broke his pokéball and walked away with Mercury's. I... I couldn't even argue it. I just let him..." He looked so hurt, so vulnerable just then. "I failed them. I failed you."

"But... you're here. I'm here. How..? I thought I failed you. I couldn't stop them from hurting you or your pokémon... Jaima..."

Jaima opened his mouth, but instead of his voice, both heard a tiny voice in the distance. "Help! Help! Someone help me!" It was panicked, and obviously a child's, and without thinking Jaima moved to find it, keeping a tight hold of Tuesday's hand, as if letting to woul dmake her fade away and he'd lose her again. They ran as fast as she could to the source of the noise.

There was a boy under a tree, holding a ragged, water soaked zigzagoon. Around him, in a large swarm, were bug-type and flying type pokémon, fighting each other and menacing the boy as well. There was agroup of children nearby doing nothing to help, rather they were pointing and laughing, hurling names and insults like daggers. Jaima felt his jaw clench, but he no longer felt th eneed to lash out... now he just wanted to help the kid.

"Ember, Fang!" He tossed the two balls to the fore, letting loose his cyndaquil and shinx. Tuesday's voice had also cried out, and Dante appeared as well, along with Wraith, and she commanded them to attack the bugs.

"Fang, thunder wave! Hit all those birds!"

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more," called Tuesday, pointing. "Tempest, knock them from the skies!"

It felt good, for both of them, to be doing something, and before long the ground was littered with unconscious birds and bugs. Jaima looked at the boy, who stared at the wet, weary pair with wide eyed wonder, sniffling. The rain had stopped as the battle had progressed, and now, briefly, the clouds broke, allowing the sun to shine for a short time. And, to the boy, it seemed as if the light of Heaven had shined down and at least two people had cared for his well being.

Jaima turned to Tuesday. "You talk to him, I'll talk to his friends."

"I don't think they're his friends, Jai."

"You talk to him, and I'll talk to this gaggle of yahoos."

Tuesday smiled at his back as he walked toward the group.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Jun 1 2009, 11:19 PM

"Gaggle," Tuesday muttered in amusement. "Now that's a fitting term." She watched Jaima walk toward the group of boys, who stood defiantly together, watching him, even as their eyes grew nervous. Tuesday smirked lightly, before turning to face the small boy standing next to the tree, still clutching the waterlogged Zigzagoon to his chest.

Gazing at him when he wasn't terrified, she finally realized who he was. For a moment, she was stopped short by the stunning difference.

She didn't dare call him Thief anymore. He wasn't that now... yet. Maybe he wouldn't be.

Where the thief she knew was a large man that reminded her distinctly of a whale, with a horribly vindictive attitude when crossed, this young boy held little else but fear in his eyes, and something... perhaps a desire to prove his worth. But the way those boys had been laughing at him when he was in danger...

It was far too much like the way Tuesday had been treated at home.

She saw the boy flinch when she stepped closer, and she restrained the desire to sigh. She knew that look. One of utter fear and a complete distrust of humankind.

Kneeling down so as to be eye level with him (even though he wasn't much shorter than her), Tuesday offered him the kindest smile she could. To her surprise, despite what he had done to them in the future, it wasn't hard. Whatever he would or might be in the future, right here and now, he was just a child.

And Tuesday understood the way he felt. She knew why Jaima had asked her to speak with him. Of the both of them, she would better be able to connect to the boy.

The boy. Now, there was a place to start.

"What's your name, kiddo?" she asked, using the name her father had called her on occasion. It always made her feel close to him, and comfortable.

"Li-Lionel," the boy stammered nervously.

Tuesday smiled. "Lionel? Your name means lion. You must be very brave."

The boy looked down in embarrassment. "I'm not brave," he murmured.

"Of course you are," Tuesday assured him. She reached out gently and ran her fingers over the coarse fur of the Zigzagoon in his arms. "You were protecting this Zigzagoon." She smiled when Lionel didn't deny it. "Is he your pokemon?"

"No," he said softly. "Those boys were picking on him."

"So you saved him?"

"I... guess so."

Tuesday smiled. "See? You are brave. Only someone who was brave would have protected a pokemon, no matter the risk. That's what those boys don't understand. Pokemon should be treated with kindness, not controlled like slaves, or hurt."

"But I'm not old enough to have a pokemon. I'm only eight."

"You don't have to catch a pokemon to be close to them. They are our friends, with or without this." She touched the pokeball on her belt. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a potion. She'd forgotten that she had any with her, but they would come in useful now. "We have to help and protect them, Lionel," she explained, "because that's how they learn to help and protect us. Let me show you."

Kneeling down beside Lionel, she gave him the potion, showing him how to use it. Smiling softly, he sprayed the medicine on the Zigzagoon, who had calmed considerably. After the medicine had been used in its entirety, the Zigzagoon shook its head experimentally, and then nuzzled Lionel's hand.

The boy giggled loudly, bringing a large smile to Tuesday's face.

She wasn't sure how but, as she watched the wide smile curl across Lionel's face, she knew that the thief was gone, and that everything was going to be fine.

Posted by: Hungry Hungry Houndoom Jun 2 2009, 11:17 AM

Jaima approached the group of boys, each of them eying him warily, all of them looking to see who would run first, but none of them willing to be the first to run. Jaima smiled a bit. Had he been so aware of what other people thought of him at that age?

Yes, came his inner Mercury voice, so strong that he felt a pang of renewed heartache. He swallowed past it and approached them.

"Hey, guys," he said casually, then motioned his head to the side, where Tuesday was talking to the boy. "What's going on here?"

No one spoke for a bit, then one, a boy who had two pokeballs on his belt, shrugged. "Nothin'."

Jaima raised his brow. "Looked like something to me. Didn't you hear that guy over there yelling for help?" He knew, of course, that they had, and had chosen to laugh at them. Let them dig their own holes, though.

"Yeah, well... he had no business being out here while we trained!" The same boy, either the leader or at least the most outspoken, crossed his arms defiantly. The rest crowded behind him.

"That his pokémon he's holding?"

The boy sneered. "He's not old enough to have a pokémon. Lionel's just a big pain!"

"Lionel, huh? And what's your name, kid?"

"I'm *not* a kid! I'm ten, not some eight year old baby!" The boy scowled and pulled a pokéball off of his belt. "And I can beat you! You have a fire type and an electric type! I got something that can beat them both!"

The boys behind him began to grow more confident, nodding and standing taller. Jaima raised his brows. "If I prove I can beat you, will you tell me your name?"

"If you can beat me, I'll tell you anything you want to know, jerkface!" He pulled a pokéball off his belt and tossed it. "Numel, go!"

Jaima pulled off his own poké, one of two that weren't yet decorated, and released Tsunami. Tsunami, while not a cruel mudkip, saw the numel and laughed.

"You have a mudkip?! How did you- Never mind! Geodude!" He pulled off the second ball and called his geodude as well. Jaima responded by releasing Grondir.

"Hey!" The boy was shaken, but persisted. "That's a grass type, he'll get burned!"

"Yes, you're right, but Tsunami will cover that. If I remember right, that's a fire and ground type. So she'll be twice as effective, plus Grondir can attack him. And they're both twice as effective against the geodude." He raised one brow, and the boy looked up defiantly. The other boys around him looked interested in the battle, and seemed to be admiring Jaima's pokémon, which looked a bit stronger than the boy's due to their training.

Finally, the boy sighed, recalling the pair. "These are my sisters. She's letting me use 'em while my treecko is sick. She'd be mad if I got 'em hurt."

Jaima nodded, choosing to leave his out, but motioned for them to stay at his feet. When they obeyed (Tsunami having to be told by Grondir what to do), the children whispered amongst themselves.

"My names Daniel."

Jaima crouched down, bringing himself eye level with the group. "Well, look, Daniel, I'm not trying to be a bully here. I just wanted to prove a point. No matter what tye advantage you might think you have, or," he smiled, pointing to himself, "how much bigger you are than everyone else, there's always going to be someone who's stronger or better." He looked each boy in the eye. "Lionel chose to protect that pokémon against the ones attacking him, and that makes him pretty brave. What if it was reversed? Would you want him to stand there and laugh while you were protecting someone?"

The boys shook their heads, ashamed.

"Think about that for a while, OK? Pokémon are cool and they can be strong in the right hands. But they're creatures, and they have feelings, just like you and me and Lionel and my sister over there."

Jaima stood and turned to see Tuesday making the boy laugh. He smiled. "Strength isn't how powerful you are sometimes. Sometimes it's just how kind you are to others."

He walked over to where Tuesday was, but before he got too far, a voice stopped him. "Hey, Mister!"

He turned to look, and all the boys were watching him intently. "You're pretty cool," called Daniel, just before smirking. "For an old guy!"

The boys giggled and ran toward Lionel. Jaima watched as the boy flinched, but Daniel put out his hand, and Lionel took it. "When you get your trainer's card, maybe you can catch one. Maybe even this one!" Jaima watched as the boys accepted Lionel into their group. Tuesday came and hugged him.

"Is it over? Can we go now..?"

Jaima didn't notice the world fading away. He didn't see Tuesday as he closed his eyes and hugged her back. He didn't see his pokémon fading into nothingness. But one boy, who turned to look at the strangers who talked a lot but had cool moves, watched wide eyes as the pair faded into oblivion, a reflection in glass, and then nothing.

Daniel turned. "Come on, Kei! I want to get some lunch!"

"Hey... did you see those strangers..?" Kei rushed back to his group, spooked. "Those two... they just..."

"Aw, they're cool. Come on!"

From the shadow of the treeline, Celebi smiled. When Kei saw the two disappear, it allowed the memory to remain even as Jaima and Tuesday went back to their moment in time. It would be a paradox: When everything changed, they wouldn't have had to move back, but it was a paradox that she, Dialga, and Lord Arceus could live with.

* * * * *

Three times now Time changed, fundamentally. The first was like a tearing of flesh, as the knowledge of capturing pokémon was erased. The second was like the splintering of bones, as a life was pulled far too early from the time stream to make the impact it was destined for. This was like... pulling apart a fabric to resew it correctly. It was still devastating, but it made things better in the end. Dialga smiled, and Celebi, leaning against him, took a well deserved rest.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Jun 2 2009, 11:59 PM

Tuesday blinked her eyes open, yawning softly. Blearily, she glanced at her surroundings. She was lying in the high grass in a field. She could hear Dante behind her, snoring softly. Tempest was curled up against her chest, snuggled into the folds of her shirt. Pushing herself to her feet slowly, so as not to wake the small rodent, Tuesday rubbed the leftover sands from her eyes.

As she began to grow accustomed to the sunlight, she heard Jaima stir.

Frowning, she said, "I don't remember this place."

He looked up at her, hair tousled. "What do you mean?"

"This isn't the place we went to sleep..." She broke off, vague memories flashing through her mind like shattered pieces of a mirror falling casually to the ground. "Wha-"

"Good morning!"

In Tuesday's defense, it was far too early to be fully conscious. She personally thought that she had every right to scream and leap nearly three feet in the air. Turning quickly, she saw before her a faerie-like pokemon, who was giggling as she floated in the air.

Tuesday blinked. "... Celebi?"

"Oh, good!" Celebi laughed. "You do remember! I was worried for a moment that I'd have to go through everything again."

"No, I..." Tuesday rubbed her head. "What happened?"

"You changed the past. Deeply, in fact. You altered the perspective of a group of children, who otherwise would have led unhealthy lives. By talking to Lionel about caring for pokemon and showing bravery, you kept him from turning into a heartless man. When Jaima spoke to the boys, he helped them to accept Lionel. This kept him from feeling the need to prove himself, thereby keeping him from desiring to steal the Time Crystal." She smiled. "And you kept the majority of those boys from turning into misfits, who would wreck havoc upon pokemon and humans alike."

Tuesday frowned. "We couldn't have changed all that much just by talking to a bunch of kids."

Celebi grinned. "I assure you, you did. True, there are still a great many humans out there with cruel intentions, but Team Rocket had about five fewer members thanks to your interference."

Team Rocket, Tuesday mused, but then said, "There were seven boys, plus Lionel."

Celebi nodded. "Yes. Before your interference, one of the boys was killed not two years after that day, when he was protecting a Sentret and her cubs from a flock of Beedrill, and no one would come to his aid." She looked at Jaima. "The other boy fell in love and started a family. He was less effected by your interference, as his path was already deeply set."

"So, the other boy?"

Celebi shook her head at Tuesday's ever-curious nature. "When he protected the Sentret and her cubs, he was aided by his group of friends. It was Lionel and his pokemon, however, which drove the Beedrill off. His most powerful pokemon being his Linoone." She grinned at Tuesday's happy smile. "Your memories aren't full, I imagine."

"Things are... blurry," Tuesday admitted, narrowing her eyes as though to better see the past. "I know what happened, but... it's like it was a fantasy."

"You changed the distant past, changing it so that Lionel never became a thief and never stole the Time Crystal. When that was successful, you were immediately transported back to the present. In essence, none of what you went through ever happened. It was like a dream." Her antennae wilted for a moment. "Or, at points, a nightmare."

Tuesday looked down at the still sleeping form of Tempest, at the same time that Jaima reached up and touched the two pokeballs that he had lost for a time. He looked at though he wanted to call them out, but was afraid that if he tried, he wouldn't be able.

"I'm going to take you back," Celebi said, interrupting Jaima's indecision.

Tuesday gave her a funny look. "I thought that was it, and everything was fine."

Celebi nodded. "There really isn't need," she admitted, "but I think I should. There are some things which we believe would be beneficial for you to know." She paused. "And there is a soul which should not be lost."

Tuesday looked down at her belt. "Wraith," she whispered.

Celebi nodded. "There is no need to take you back through the Old World," she admitted. "Flametail never attacked the town, because she was never kept from her nest. We will start at Littleroot, however."

"I'm not going to have to wear that stupid witch's outfit again, am I?" Tuesday asked.

The world around them began to turn white, and she heard Celebi giggle. "I thought you looked cute."

"Oh, shut up..."

They reappeared before a familiar stage, but they were standing further back from the crowd. A young girl was standing up on the platform, dressed in a hideous witch's outfit, complete with carrot-stick nose. She was bound, as Tuesday had been, but appeared to be quite frightened at her predicament.

Poor girl had wet her knickers.

"She's a witch!" the men were crying, brandishing their torches and pitchforks menacingly.

A man stepped up onto the stage, dressed in a snazzy uniform that the thief had been wearing. It fit this man better, though, as he wasn't nearly popping out of it. The man was tall, with a thick grey moustache and beard, as well as a head full of thick grey hair. He walked straight and tall, obviously a well-trained soldier, but, for some reason, he reminded Tuesday of a hound dog.

It was probably the drooping cheeks.

They watched as the events unfolded almost exactly as they had when Tuesday was standing up on the platform. The real general, however, seemed a bit more intelligent (he obviously had been doing this a long time), but also more understanding. In fact, it appeared that he wasn't so much a Witch Hunter, as he was someone trying to keep the peace.

The crowd bickered back and forth and they fought over whether the woman would float in a river, but then the psyduck farmer was called forth and determined that the woman weighed more than a psyduck and, therefore, wasn't a witch.

She was promptly released.

Tuesday shook her head at the exclamations of disappointment from some members of the crowd, who were obviously far too ready to burn someone. Had someone invented the idea of a barbeque, yet? That might forestall the desire to roast humans.

"That was a little close, Larissa."

Tuesday and Jaima turned, learning slightly around the corner to see the woman accused of being a witch walking beside the general. They glanced at each other curiously, before turning back to the scene.

"I know, Joseph, I know," Larissa replied, turning to face him. "I don't know what I'd do if you weren't her."

"Why, isn't it obvious?" he asked, smiling at her. "You would burn, my love." He caressed her cheek lightly with a hand.

Yuck! the still young and rather immature version of Tuesday's mind demanded. The other part, however, which admitted adamantly its love of the romantic era, gave a happy sigh, and received a kick.

"You're just going to have to stick around, then, my dear," Larissa replied. She pulled a small stick out of her cloak and held it daintily between her thumb and forefinger. "Ready, my love?"

"Always," he replied, kissing her softly on the lips.

With a smile, she tapped the thin stick to his nose lightly. There was a flash of white light and a thrumming sound, like a charge in the air. When Tuesday and Jaima had blinked away their momentary blindness, they saw a pure-black Espeon standing where the general had been just moments ago. As they watched, he hopped onto the back of a broomstick, upon which Larissa was sitting. With a smile at smile at the feline and a replying meow, the broom rose into the air and the two zoomed off into the night sky.

Tuesday blinked after them, as Jaima muttered, "Well, that's not something you see everyday."

Celebi giggled at their reaction, the sound calling their attention back. "Next," she said, as the white light began to surround them, "Rome."



When they reappeared this time, they were sitting amongst a crowd in the stands surrounding the Colosseum. Tuesday twitched at finding that she was nearly being sat on by another man. "Celebi, why isn't anyone freaking out about our sudden appearance?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Celebi assured her. "We're outside of time at the moment. You can see everything that's going on, but you're not physically here." She grinned at Tuesday's awestruck look. "Think of it as something like Astral Projection."

Experimentally, Tuesday moved to touch the man sitting next to her, and waved her hand right through his head.

"Now that," she commented, "is disturbing."

"CHEAT!" someone screamed loudly, causing them to jump. Tuesday and Jaima whipped their heads around to see the familiar form of Aquillus standing in the center of the Colosseum. His opponent, an equally large man with a small army of fallen pokemon surrounding him, was pointing a finger accusingly at him. "There is no way you could have possibly defeated me! Even a hellhorse could not have stood a chance against the great power of the King of the Sea!"

Jaima, who had better eyes than Tuesday, picked out the creature that the man was talking about. "It's a Wartortle," he commented. "That would have easily beaten the Ponyta."

Tuesday hmmed thoughtfully. "So, the potion was still used."

"Lionel was smart," Celebi admitted. "He kept things generally the same, as far as Littleroot and Rome went. He probably would have succeeded,if not for you two and your equally strong knowledge of the modern world. And your faith in each other."

"So, it was the advisor who drugged the Ponyta."

"Yes, and he will be imprisoned, as Lionel was going to be. Minerva will, again, take his place."

"What about her?" Jaima asked, turning to Celebi. "Wouldn't having her in the past affect the time stream?"

"Normally, yes," Celebi admitted, "but there were circumstances that caused Minnie' interference to benefit the time stream." She bowed her head. "I can't go into great detail, but I can tell you that Minerva would not have survived in her own timeline. She came back to this time and replaced the girl who was originally the chef's servant, and eventual advisor to the emperor."

"What happened to the original girl?" Tuesday asked.

"She died," Celebi admitted, "through effects caused by a folding of both time and space. Because of the circumstances, it was impossible to manipulate time and go back and save her." She looked away. "As it was with your respective deaths."

Both Tuesday and Jaima went silent, each pondering those three attempts. Tuesday fingered the charged pokeball that contained Tempest, while Jaima held both Shadow and Mercury's pokeballs in his hands.

Celebi admitted, "Minerva's staying in the past was a choice made on her part, which kept time itself from unraveling. Her choice gave her a new chance at life, but also, as a greater prize, saved the world and time itself." She gave a wistful smile. "I'm not sure even she is aware of that."

They, like the rest of the crowd, watched from a distance as the emperor's advisor was taken into custody by the guards, and Aquillus was called up to the emperor's stands. Celebi's wings began to flutter as she rose into the air.

"There is one more thing to be done," she said. Tuesday let out a cry of surprise, as she and Jaima abruptly rose into the air. Celebi giggled. "Come on." The two were psychically pulled after Celebi, as the faerie pokemon flew over to where the emperor sat on his throne. They landed gracefully, invisible to all eyes.

Except Minerva's, Tuesday noted, catching the girl's quick, discrete glance in their direction.

"This creature cannot be allowed to exist within this world," the emperor was saying. "It is an abomination and must be destroyed!"

"If I might make a suggestion, sire?" Minerva asked, stepping forward.

"Of course, my new advisor," the emperor replied proudly.

Minerva bowed in gratitude. "If it should please you, sire, allow me to dispose of the beast. I can speak with the Fates and ask their forgiveness for this creature having ever been called to our world. Perhaps they will be certain that it never returns, if I offer them its soul in the proper fashion."

"Wonderful!" the emperor exclaimed. "This will keep us from suffering at the hands of the gods. Do as you will, my advisor. Nigellus, hand over the beast."

Begrudgingly, Aquillus handed over the stone pokeball to Minerva. She bowed gracefully to the emperor, before turning and walking out of the room.

Silently, Celebi, Jaima, and Tuesday followed.

When they had turned a corner, all pretenses faded and Minerva let out a delighted cry and hugged Celebi tightly. "Oh, I missed you!" she declared.

"I didn't miss you so much, Minnie," Celebi admitted, "since I only saw you about ten minutes after this."

Minerva pouted. "Celebi, that's not fair. You're not allowed to be omniscient around us puny mortals."

Celebi giggled. "Minerva, this is Jaima and Tuesday. You met them in an alternate timeline, which they fixed so it didn't have to occur." She grinned at Minerva's eyeroll. Tuesday gathered that this was a common joke between them. "Tuesday will be taking the Ponyta, as she has already promised it a home."

"Good," Minerva said, handing the pokeball over to Tuesday. "I was worried for a moment. I really didn't want them to kill it, but I couldn't think of any way to free it without being caught, until you showed up."

"Don't worry," Tuesday said, clipping the pokeball onto her belt, "Wraith will be safe with me."

Minerva smiled. "That's good to know." She turned back to Celebi. "You're leaving, then?"

"I have to get these two home," Celebi said. "They've had quite the adventure, and I think we all deserve a rest."

Minerva smiled. "Take one, then, but come and visit me."

"I will, Minnie, I will. Enjoy yourself."

And then the world faded to white, and they disappeared again.



When Tuesday opened her eyes, they were standing on a road next to a filthy sign that read "Welcome to Lenoilia City." Tuesday blinked.

"I think this should make up for all the time you could have been traveling," Celebi admitted, floating behind their heads. She was gazing past them, into the town, but also beyond it... beyond time. She shook her head softly. "There are many years left in misery, before this town can find peace again."

"Will it find peace?" Jaima asked.

Celebi looked at him for a moment. "If people want it badly enough," she admitted after a time. She looked between the both of them, seeing them as they were, and seeing them as they would be. She smiled. "I'm going to miss you two."

Tuesday grinned. "Me, too, Celebi," she said.

Jaima nodded. "This was quite an adventure."

"Someone should write a book about it," Tuesday admitted with mock-weariness.

"Well," Celebi said, "you changed a lot of things in the past." She grinned. "Some things stuck."

Tuesday frowned at her, and Jaima asked, "What do you mean?"

"Nothing," Celebi said, "just that the ring has passed to Mordor. Your journey is complete, Frodo. Sam."

"Wait a second!" Tuesday demanded, her face in utter pain from the smile spreading across from it. "Tell me that we weren't overheard by the Tolkien."

"Okay," Celebi said. "You weren't overheard by the Tolkien." Then, she flashed them a mischievous grin, and was gone.

Tuesday stared at the place where she had been but moments before. "I think... actually, I don't quite know what to think." She turned and looked at Jaima. "Which person do you suppose was Tolkien? I want to remember, so I know that I got to meet him. Sort of. The Tolkien. Oh my god..."

Jaima laughed at her, shaking his head from side to side. He put an arm around her shoulder as he began to walk into the town. After everything that they had been through, even the filthy state of the city seemed more cheerful than it had the first time around. Maybe it was because they had seen true horrors, horrors that they had never expected to bear witness to, much less be a part of. Maybe it was because they had faced trials and ages that no one else in this era could boast.

"Excuse me," someone said politely, nearly bumping to Tuesday when they rounded a corner. She stepped out of the way as she looked up at the man, catching sight of a large build and a face full of kindness and a deep familiarity.

The sound of running footsteps alerted Tuesday and Jaima, and they stepped out of the way as three young men raced after the first man.

"Hey, Lionel, wait up!" one of them yelled.

Tuesday and Jaima stared after the three men, as they caught up with the man who had, in one branch of choices, become a thief who stole Time itself. As they watched the four friends kidding with each other, both of them shared a smile. They knew why, at the moment, Lenoilia didn't look like a lost cause.

It was because they had been a part of something great, something terrible, something terrifyingly real, and despite all variants of possible outcomes, they had learned that Time had one consistency:

Hope was never truly lost.