Pokemon: Storm Clouds Ch. 19

Missy fearfully walked through the mist, her paws seemingly padding on nothing.  Her ears were pressed flat against her head; she could feel her heartbeat throbbing painfully in the scar she had received beneath Saffron.

"H-Hello?"  She whispered.  There was no answer.  She still tentatively wandered through the plane, glancing this way and that with worry.  "Anyone…there?"

Yes.

Missy nearly leaped out of her skin, letting out a short yelp.

"Wh-Who are you?  Where are you?"  She said, a little louder this time.  She felt herself tensing, and realized she had been preparing for battle unconsciously; she forced herself to loosen up.  Whatever was out there, it was unlikely an Eevee would be any good against it, and she didn't want to antagonize it.

Move forward.  You shall arrive soon enough.  Do you spy the pinpoint of darkness in the mist?  Go towards the dark.

Missy took a few slow steps forward, squinting.  There…if she looked hard enough, there was a hint of shadow in the concealing mist, a blackness that penetrated the fog.  Gulping, she slowly headed towards it.

The shadow got bigger the more she moved; it was twice the size of Dan when the ethereal voice rang out once again.

Stop.  That is enough.  She stopped, and stared at the massive shadow.  She got the feeling that it was looking at her.

Welcome, child…welcome…Missy…

---

"MISSY-where-are-you-please-come-back-this-is-not-funny!"  Artemis called out quickly.  The Electabuzz's face was contorted with worry.  Missy had just run off after randomly yelling, and they had lost track of her very quickly.  They decided to split up to try and find her, but so far the search was not going well.

The other pokemon branched out across the floor, dodging between tombstones and looking around worriedly.  Artemis walked around a corner and saw Ruby staring down a pair of viciously grinning Haunter.

"I asked you nicely," Ruby growled.  "I won't be so cordial again.  You said you saw her.  Where did she go?!"

"Ruby!  Ruby!  What's-going-on-"  Artemis exclaimed, running up to her comrade.

"Artemis," Ruby said, cutting the Electric-type off.  "I'm glad you're here.  Maybe you can help me bully some sense into these lunatics.  They saw Missy, or so they say, but whenever I ask them where she went they just start laughing."

Artemis contorted her face into a frown.  "Well-I-bet-even-Ghost-types-aren't-too-fond-of-lightning-bolts!"  She began charging up energy between the nodes on her head.

One of the Haunter gave a start and floated off, but the other simply stood his ground, chortling madly.  "A brawl in this sacred place?" He whispered the words slowly, with malice.  "Be careful; if you show no respect to the dead, they will respond in kind."

Ruby's face paled, and Artemis slowly let the electricity fall away.  The Haunter grinned even wider.

"That's much better.  Now then…the silvery little Eevee.  Yes, we saw her sure as day itself.  We also saw where she went."  He bent in closely and spoke in a low voice, so that they had to strain to hear.  "She went into the mist."

"'The mist?'  That's damn well useless!  This whole stupid Tower is covered in the stuff!"  Ruby shot at him with venom.

The Haunter shook his head, tsking, as one would to a naughty child.  "Not that mist.  That mist leads to a…different mist, if you will.  Endless mist.  Never been there myself; never want to.  That's where Mr. Shadow lives."

"Mr. Shadow?" Ruby said.  Artemis thought she sounded incredulous…and, yet, worried.

"Just a nickname we Ghost-type pokemon have given to it.  Believe me, the moniker doesn't do the thing justice.  But when it shows up, the mist comes too, and the true ghosts get agitated…This time, it arrived not long after you did.  Seemed to take an interest in that Eevee.  Yes, I saw her run off into the mist…and Mr. Shadow was leading her."

"Ruby," Artemis said after a pause.  Her voice was shaking, and she spoke slowly-which, for her, meant speaking at the pace everyone else did.  "D'you think that might have been what Missy was talking about?  When she said a strange voice was talking to her?"

Ruby gave a slow, pained nod while the Haunter cackled.  "Oh, Mr. Shadow actually spoke to her?!  That's never happened before!  How delicious!"  He broke off into more cackling.

"Artemis," Ruby said quickly, "we've got to get back and tell the others.  We can go together, find some way into this mist place, rescue-"

"Go into the mist?!"  The Haunter interrupted viciously.  "That's a sure way to never get in!  Nobody ever goes into the mist on purpose, no matter how hard or often they try!  The only way in is by accident, or with the help of Mr. Shadow."

"No," Ruby breathed.  "That can't be.  You're lying."  The Ghost-type just grinned wider than ever.

"Wait," Artemis said, "if-nobody's-ever-been-there-on-purpose-then-the-only-way-you-could-know-so-much-about-it-is-if-somebody-came-back!"

The Haunter nodded.  "You're correct, my motor-mouthed little friend.  But I wouldn't bank on it.  It's not known to happen often."  He cackled maliciously, fading away; his voice rang in a mocking echo.  "So sorry about your loss."

The two pokemon stood there for a moment before Ruby began brusquely issuing orders.  "I still say we head back.  Inform the others.  Then we search.  We can't give up on her; not when we're so close.  Not yet.  She's got to be here somewhere."

Artemis nodded.  They couldn't give up.  Not until their team was whole again.

---

"What are you?"  Missy asked.  "How do you know my name?"

What am I?  A decent question, child.  Let us just say am neither human nor pokemon, and leave the answer there.  For your name, I simply know it.

"That makes no sense," Missy accused.

Many things in these worlds do not make sense.  I am one of them.  I simply am, and I simply know.  That is the truth, and that is all the answer anyone shall ever receive.

Missy stared up at the pillar of shadow.  It was the most frightening thing she had ever seen in her entire life…yet, somehow, it felt strangely calming at the same time.  The being was right: it did not make sense.

"You're the one who led me here aren't you?  That talking shadow I saw in the Tower."  It didn't respond; she took that as an agreement.  "Why did you bring me here?  What do you want with me?"

You interested me, it said.  I've been watching you for a while.  You are highly unique, child; a girl, lost between the worlds, trapped in another form?  I wanted to see the twists and turns your life would take.

Yes, I know of the myriad worlds, the darkness said, noticing the shocked look on her face.  I've been to them all…touched them all, in my own way.  And here you are, at the end of your journey, ready to throw yourself into the abyss to return to your world and your body.  When I saw you enter the Tower-my domain-I could not continue hiding myself.

The shadow resumed silence.

"What-" Missy stopped.  It had already demonstrated it would not tell her what it was.  "How-" She stopped again.

"I'd like to go back," she said, finally.

Perhaps you shall, the shadow said, and perhaps not.  It is not up to me.  Tell me, stormy one, what shall you do should you return to the world of your birth still in the form you are in?  What then?  Where will your mourning take you?

"I…don't know.  It would be too terrible to bear," Missy said morosely.  "When…no, if that happens, I'll deal with it when the time comes.

"…listen, shadow creature or whatever you are," she continued, "you're very creepy, but don't seem to be…what's the word…um, hostile?  So, if you've been to so many different worlds, then maybe you know whether or not that will turn me back to normal?  Or whether there's another way that might work?"

It is true I grasp every world in my own manner, the pillar of blackness told her; it almost sounded amused.  But, asides from myself, I know of few constants.  The journey back home might change you; it might not.  There are other methods I have seen that might work; or, they might do nothing, or leave you trapped in your furred form forever.  There are few constants.  Only me.

…Though, one seems to work more often than not.  There are legends and fairy tales in your world about people cursed into different forms, are there not?  Depending on the tale, some revert to normal when kissing a princess, or by a witch's mystical pendant.  Others spend their whole lives changed.  Of these, I recall the Greek tales of both Caeneus and Cadmus, who were transformed.  They both returned to their birth forms…

…upon their death.

Missy's heartbeat became painful once again.  "What did you say?"

I think you might return to normal should you approach death.

Missy tried to stop shaking.  "I think…I…That's not very encouraging."

Indeed, the darkness said, in a voice that might almost have been wistful, Few find death encouraging.

"I'll have to find another method than that, then," she said.

Perhaps…perhaps…If you do not appreciate my knowledge, perhaps here is something more concrete for you.  The path home you seek does lie in the top of my Tower.  The top floor is riddled with ancient treasures from a long-dead civilization of this world.  In one unassuming room, you will find a unique arch; you'll know it when you see it.  Have your fiery friend set it alight; then, it can be used to bridge the gap between worlds.

"Really?!"  Missy exclaimed excitedly.  "Thank you, thank you so much!"  She made as though to step towards the darkness, but its voice suddenly grew terrible, and fear erupted in her heart again.

DO NOT COME CLOSER.</b>  Missy shrunk back, fearfully.

That's better, the pillar of night said, its voice level again.  Our exchange is over; I must send you back.

"But," Missy, still frightened from its previous outburst, said in a quivering voice, "I thought you said my return would be up to me?"

It was, child.  And is.  Do not try to understand; as I said, many things in these worlds make no sense, and I am one of them.

Suddenly the mist was gone, and Missy was falling through infinite blackness.  Above, she saw the pillar, and with other blackness to compare it to, realized it was more dark than she had given it credit for.  It was night itself, blacker than the shadow around it, and however she fell, it did not seem to change in size, but rather grew to consume all other darkness.

One more thing, the eerie voice said one last time.  Now it sounded blunted, more distant.  Green represents your world.  Try to remember that.

As she fell endlessly, Missy felt her mind waver; she was falling into unconsciousness.  Soon, only the ultimate blackness of the shadowy pillar remained in her wavering vision.

"What…" she whispered sleepily, "what are you…?"

As her eyes closed, she glimpsed the blackness separating, forming a dread cloak around a pale, white, grinning skeleton holding a wicked scythe…

---

Missy woke up with a start.  She shivered.  That had been a horrible dream.  She tried to rise and stretch, but nearly fell; she had not been sleeping on the ground, but in the outstretched arms of a statue.  A glimpse from her peripheral vision registered myriad stone wings.

An angel, She thought bemusedly.  Nowhere better to fall asleep in a haunted tower than someplace where you have a guardian angel.

As she leapt down and turned to face the statue, her breath caught.

The statue was of a smiling, warm-faced woman in lustrous robes with glorious feathered wings stretching forth an inviting hand…on the right side.  On the left, the face was a twisted skull, its clothes were tatters of dark marble, its wings were rotting and decayed, and the hand-the one Missy had cradled her head in-was cruel, skeletal bone.

Missy shivered.  "An angel of death," she whispered to herself.  Perhaps not the choicest place to sleep after all.  She looked around; she was certain she was back in Pokemon Tower, as she saw rows and rows of headstones.  The mist was gone; so were the writhing shadows that Nightshade had suspected to be the ghosts of pokemon.

True ghosts… Missy thought.  Was that what that thing was?  She thought back to that pillar of darkness, and shuddered.  No.  That…being…was not aggressive, in fact it was almost cordial, but…I felt such a wave of fear and pain coming from it that I…No!  That was just a dream, Missy.  Just a dream.  You just got too scared when climbing the Tower, and got paranoid and chased something that wasn't there, and then got lost and eventually fell asleep in a…very creepy statue.

She shook her head.  Well, whatever had happened, she was here now, and it was time to find her friends.  She wandered through the mazes of tombs looking for the stairs leading upwards, trying not to let the fact that she was wandering alone through a graveyard get to her.  She ran into what appeared to be dead ends several times, boxed in by tombstones, but eventually reached a staircase that led to the floor below.

"Well," she muttered to herself, "I suppose that I'll just have to reach the opposite wall.  I suppose now I know which way not to go."

As she turned, her sensitive Eevee ears picked up the sound of a pokemon conversation down below.  She normally wouldn't have given it any thought-there were wild pokemon here just like everywhere else, after all-but she distinctly heard one of the sentences end with "eh".

"No way," Missy whispered, before bounding down the stairs as quickly as she could muster.  "Armor!  Armor!"  She reached the floor below and heard shouting to her left.  She raced down a corridor of tombstones, and turned a corner to run right into the Muk himself!

"Missy!" He boomed in his deep basso voice.  "We found you, eh!  You need to stop running off like that!  You're gonna give us all heart attacks!"  He wasn't alone: Nemo was with him.

"Missy!  You're really all right!"  The Seadra said, beaming.  "What happened, where did you go?"

"Oh, I thought I saw something and I ran off into the mist," she said.  "I must have gotten lost, and I eventually fell asleep in the arms of a statue."

"Well, you must have been really, really lost," Nemo said confusedly, "because how else could you get three floors higher than you had originally been, especially when you ran off in the direction of the stairs leading down?"

"What?"  Missy said.  "I'm higher than when I started?"

"Yeah," Armor replied.  "This is two floors above where you first ran off, and since you came from the floor above this one…well, eh, Mister Dan and the rest of us searched the whole building from where you first ran off clear down to the bottom floor.  The channelers-those ladies are weird, eh!-said they hadn't noticed a gray Eevee, so Mister Dan didn't think you had left the building, and he sent us out to comb the upper levels for you; guess he figured you must have slipped past us to the upstairs, eh?  And looks like he was right!"

"We should be getting back to the rendezvous point," Nemo said.  "It's almost time."  The trio of pokemon headed back down to where Missy had separated from the group.  Ruby and Artemis were already there.

"OH-MY-GOSH-OH-MY-GOSH-IT'S-MISSY-IT'S-REALLY-MISSY-SHE'S-ALL-RIGHT!!!"  Artemis squealed loudly; the hyper Electabuzz raced over and caught Missy in a sweeping hug.  "You-really-need-to-stop-running-away-all-the-time-you-hear?"

"Heh," Missy said around mouthfuls of yellow fur, "I missed you too, Artemis."

"We were worried, little girl," Ruby said once Artemis finally let Missy go.  "You care to explain what exactly made you run off like an idiot?"

Missy shifted uncomfortably, but took the verbal reprimand.  She had acted stupidly, after all.  "Oh, I thought I, er, saw something, so I ran off, and got lost in the mist, and, um, fell asleep."

Ruby let out an exasperated, and yet relieved, bleat.  "I knew that Haunter was a liar!  The way he told it, you had been led off to some mist place by a monster called Mr. Shadow."

Missy blinked.  Remembrance of the dream flashed through her head.  "Well, I'm here now, anyways," she said.  Any further conversation was cut off by a sudden cry.

"STORM!"  Missy made an about-face; Dan was racing down towards the group, Nightshade at his heels.

When he reached down, the brunette teen knelt and smiled down at the gray-furred Eevee.  "Of all the places to get lost in, you had to pick here, Storm?  I'm not letting you all out of my sight from now on.  Come on," he said, offering his shoulder to her, "I know you've already turned me down once, but how about it this time?"

Missy contemplated for a brief moment before hopping up.  Dan straightened, and she felt precarious for the smallest of seconds, but as he began walking, she got used to it and balanced easily.  The rest of the pokemon followed behind.  They didn't say anything, but Missy caught look of their faces: Armor was wearing a big goofy grin, Artemis and Nemo were positively beaming, Ruby wore a small smile of approval, and even Nightshade had upgraded to a tiny smirk.

Missy felt her face warming up; but her crush on Dan was no secret, so why should she care what they thought?  She nuzzled against his cheek.

"Heh, thanks, Storm," he said.  "Just you wait till we get back to my homeworld.  I can't wait to introduce you and all the rest to my family.  It'll be crazy!  You'll love them, Storm.  God, it's been forever since I've seen them.

"…It's been a while since I've met you, hasn't it?  Remember?  I woke up and you and Armor were fighting.  You followed Blaine and I back to his mansion even though you had no reason to.  You were so moody back then; you even bit me, do you remember?"  Missy did remember.  She had grappled for so long trying to decide whether that action, and others, were a mark of Eevee instincts taking over, or whether they were just dark traits she had always had, brought to the surface during her trials.  Deep down, she suspected the latter.

"Heh, if you look close, you can still see the tiny scars."  Dan continued speaking as they wandered through the upper levels of the tower.  Without the mist and the wayward spirits, it seemed almost…peaceful.  "You stayed with me, but you wouldn't let me catch you.  Hell, you wouldn't even let me train you at first.  We went to Celadon and we had your first battle against Erika's Bellsprout; you won, of course, even though I hardly gave you any instructions.  Then we were separated when I decided to give in to my stupidity and invade the Rocket base.  God, I was scared for you.  I was scared for all of you.  Then we battled Rico and somehow we won!  I remember when you took down Tower, I was so, so proud."  Missy had been less than proud.  She remembered that fight through a red veil of rage.  She had attacked the Graveler with a viciousness approaching bloodlust.

"But Rico caught you.  Oh, God, it hurts even now remembering that.  I wanted to scream.  We pulled through thanks to Nemo-who knew he had it in him!-and I took you back from Rico.  I even broke his nose."

Dan shook his head once more.  "That's when we invaded Saffron with Suzanne and Erika, remember?  We found out Rico's identity as a double agent, and got separated.  Giovanni got the jump on us and made us fight for our freedom, remember?  But we won!  Thanks to you!  Oh, I remember watching you in that last fight, sure you were going to die, sure that I was going to die, and Erika, and all us civilians.  That's how you got that wound, isn't it," he mused, briefly touching her scarred ear, "defending us.  Even when Giovanni betrayed us, you stuck around and protected me till we were separated.

"Then, when we all recuperated, we headed to Viridian.  That's where we found Giovanni's body.  That shook us all up a bit.  Don't tell anyone else, Storm, but…I had nightmares.  Then Blaine talked some sense into me and…here we are.

"You know, Storm, I'm really…really grateful for you.  For all my pokemon, but you especially.  You were in a way the first pokemon I really connected with-I was rooting for you back in your battle against Armor, remember?-and even though you acted like you hated me at first, we've really grown to be close partners.  I'm proud, Storm."

Missy realized she was smiling, but also crying.  He was proud of her-as his partner, as his pokemon.  But pride wasn't good enough.  She loved him.  Oh, God, she loved him.  And he didn't know.  She sniffed, and tried to stop.  No use crying now.  Not when they were so close.  So close to home.

Dan ascended the final flight of stairs, and Missy abruptly gasped.  The top floor was the most wondrous thing she had ever seen.

There were no tombstones anywhere.  The floor was dark marble, and the windows tall, magnificent stained glass.  Stone pillers were carved with twisting, fantastic designs.

"Wow…" Missy breathed.  She leapt off of Dan's shoulder and tentatively pawed her way across the cold floor.  The others were similarly awed.

"This place really was built by those who carved that coliseum," Nightshade was saying.  His voice was pure awe.  "I'd always known that, it's just…I never thought to see something like this in the Tower of the Dead."

The magnificence was lost on Dan.  "Pretty sights, gang," he said.  "But remember: spread out and look for anything suspicious."  The pokemon fanned outwards.

That first room, it turned out, was just a foyer for the others, which were even grander.  Missy wandered awestruck through one room made entirely of crystal.  She passed through another where the walls displayed a wonderfully painted picture of a youthful child in ancient garb, playing with two pokemon while his smiling parents looked on.  The next was made entirely of black marble, with small gemstones stuck in the rounded ceiling to imitate stars.  They made up constellations which would never have been found in Missy's world.  In another chamber, she found Ruby staring at a massive tree made of stone.  Despite being carved from rock, it somehow gave off a soft, alluring scent.

"I could live here," Ruby breathed; she sounded not quite herself.  "This perfume alone could sustain me."  Missy shook her head with amusement and walked on.

In the next room, she stopped dead.  The next chamber was small, and the walls and pillars and ceiling were plain, unlike the others.  And yet, that made it seem more important, somehow.  In the center of the room was a stone arch.

It was massive, half again as tall as a human man and wide enough to fit a very large person.  It was simple, unassuming stone, but it was carved to look like there were thorny branches spiraling around it.

Missy's heart leapt.  This was it.  In one unassuming room, you will find a unique arch; you'll know it when you see it.  No, that was a dream.  It had to have been a dream!

Still, she had to at least try.  "Ruby," she called out.  "Ruby!  Come here!"

The Ponyta wandered in, looking irritable.  "What, what is it, little girl?  I was really enjoying that room with the scented tree."

"I want you to-"  What was it again?  "-what I mean is, could you use your fire on this thing?"

Ruby snorted.  "We're here to find a way home for you, not destroy ancient artifacts.  Take your pyromania somewhere else."

"No, please, I just…I have this feeling.  The arch'll be fine.  Please, this could be it!"

Ruby rolled her eyes.  "Fine, fine, but just a little bit."   She shot a small burst of fire at the arch.  "There, happ-"  She stopped.  The stonework of the arch absorbed her flame, and where it has soaked up the fire, the stone glowed for a bit.  A tiny carved rose bloomed among the stone vines.

The two pokemon were silent for several seconds.  "…Whoa."  Ruby said, breaking the silence.  She tentatively put forth more fire, a larger amount this time; as before, the flame was gobbled up by the glowing stone, and more roses opened themselves amongst the stony thorns.

Ruby kept at it.  Eventually, the roses drowned out the thorns, and the whole archway glowed-and it did not stop glowing.  The air inside the arch suddenly shimmered.

Ruby took an involuntary half-step back.  Missy stared.

"This is it," she shouted.  "This is it!  Guys!  Guys!  Come here, come here, quick!"

Her cries ("Vee!  Eevee!  Vee, Vee!") reverberated throughout the ancient chambers.  Everyone else rushed into the room.  They all stared.

"You've done it Storm," Dan congratulated.  "You've done it!  This is the way home!  Well, everyone, we don't know what will happened when we go through that arch, so I guess it's back to your poke ba-"

"ELECTABUZZ!

"Muk muk muk!"

"Nyta."

"Seadra?  Seadra Seadra, Seadra!"

"Vee</b>, Eevee."

The pokemon all raised a cacophony, except for Nightshade, who just glared.  Dan backed down, his hands up defensively.

"Jeez, guys, I'll let you come through personally, calm down."  Dan steeled himself.

"Well…maybe we should hold hands, or paws, or something?  No?  Well, everyone stay close together."  Taking a deep breath in, Dan took a small step forward, halted for just a moment, then walked briskly into the arch, his eyes clenched shut.  He vanished once he touched the shimmering air.

Missy raced after him.  The others were not far behind.

---

Missy floated in a void filled with thousands of points of light, each a different color than the last.  There were more colors than she could have ever thought existed.  Colors so wild and vivid they could not be real.  Colors she could not name, colors that would never have a name.

Her body felt sluggish, unresponsive.  She tried to move; it was hard.  She felt half-asleep.  Nemo drifted by, his eyes shut, breathing heavily.  Armor, out of sight, grumbled something; his voice echoed strangely, his words lost and indiscernible.

Ruby floated past, staring at a point of light intensely; it was a vivid pink.  Suddenly, she drew back, shuddering.

Strange… Missy thought bemusedly.  She picked a point; its color was gold, somewhat, but also crimson, and with a little bit of shadow and rain mixed in.  She stared at it; it seemed to pull her in.  To call to her.  She thought, if she really wanted to, she could head to that point of light.  She willed her sluggish body to move, to head towards the oddly-colored light.  She focused on it, and her head was assaulted with images.

A man with red hair and glasses sold his soul.  A boy wept over the death of his sister.  Thousands died as stones rained from the heavens.  A warrior bargained with a brusque-looking woman, who was riding a horse.  A great weapon devoured an army in the sky, killing the force of life itself as it did so.

She pulled back, wincing.  That was not the world she wanted.  She looked again.  To another point of light, this one a simple soft blue.  She remembered the pain of the sudden assault of the events of a world.  And yet…she felt herself compelled…

A great evil slept beneath a mountain, while the nearby town knew not the destruction that waited for it.  A sorcerer sought immortality, and broke the very laws of nature in the name of good.  A crying girl fought off an attacker, in a forest; the girl was not human.  A man forsook his clan and his life, to live with wolves.

She pulled back again.  Oh, it hurt.  She drifted, not daring to fall for the allure of the lights again.  Suddenly, she heard a strange crescendo of a whimper.  Forcing herself to twist around, she saw Nemo, staring at a light; he did not, and from the looks of things could not, move his eyes from it.  He was shaking.

"Nemo?" she said.  Her voice was slurred.  It didn't sound like itself.  "Nemo, look away.  Nemo, look away, please.  Nemo!"  She sobbed, because he didn't hear her.  She forced herself to look at his point of light.  It was gray and brown, but it also had the color of…music?

A gang member lied to his brother, a decision that would endanger two worlds.  A monster lumbered towards a manor.  A small fairy died, but then didn't at the same time.  A demon feared humans more than anything else in the world.  The proper rulers of the earth fled underground, weeping as creatures of mud devoured the world.

She forced herself away.  "Nemo, that is not our world."  As she watched him, Nemo suddenly began shimmering at the edges.  "No!  Nemo, no!  Stop!  She swam uncomfortably through the abyss.  More parts of the Seadra began to shimmer.  He made pathetic, pleading noises now.  "Nemo!  NEMO!"

She plowed into him forcing him to cry out in surprise; he blinked, and then hurriedly turned his face away from the point of light, sobbing uncontrollably.

Missy floated through the abyss.  Time was nothing here.  How long did she do nothing?  A second?  Ten seconds?  A year?  Centuries?   Forever?   She closed her eyes and dreamed; when she opened them, a speck of green was floating lazily by.

Green.

Green represents your world.  Try to remember that.

Her mind burst through the stifling haze of the place.  She remembered what that strange being said.  Did she dare?  She reached for the point…

A trio of children prayed while a man prowled in their house.  A man with a bow shot an apple off a boy's head.  A great fleet headed to destroy an island, but was turned aside by a hurricane.  Two brothers fought one another, one in blue and one in gray; both were destroyed by cannonfire.  A bully wandered home to be beaten by his drunken father.  Men died like cattle, covered in horrible black boils.

Missy wanted to pull away, it hurt so bad, but she forced herself to continue.

A man they called 'the Bard' lost his son Hamnet, and years later wrote the greatest play the world had ever seen.  A mad artist tore off his own ear.  Children played under the sun.  A woman was accused of murdering her own baby; an entire country condemned her guilty.  A man flew a kite in a storm, hoping lightning would light up the key attached to the string.  Dark-skinned islanders threw off one empire in favor of another.

"This is it," she whispered.  She felt that it was.  The pain was different from the other lights; she knew that pain.  There was hope, and love, both familiar, behind the pain as well.  "Everyone!"  She cried out as best she could, without losing focus of the green light.  It seemed nearer, somehow.  "This way!  This is the world!  Follow my voice!  Everyone!"

A man with tuberculosis shot an archduke, and the world changed forever.  A janitor banged on the door of a bank, and went home to hang himself.  An inventor discovered one thousand ways not to make a lightbulb.  A flag was planted on the moon.  The most feared army in the world refused to fire on its own citizens.

Everyone was crowding around her now, she realized.  Everyone was there.  Dan looked intent.  He could not understand her like the others could.  She could only hope he figured it out, and mimicked the pokemon.  "Look at the green light," she said before suddenly gasping.  Parts of her were starting to shimmer, and that hurt even more than concentrating.  "Don't let up, don't let go," she gasped.  Speech, the pain, and concentrating on the light were taking their toll on her.  "Keep at it-Aaahhhhh!!!!"

A madman banged down doors with an axe.  A burly human wearing nothing but a loincloth put a sharp rock at the end of a stick, and became the greatest hunter his tribe had ever seen.  High priests carefully embalmed the ruler they had worshipped as a god.  A car drove alongside the ocean.  A great ship struck an iceberg.  Millions died under a red banner displaying a swastika.

Missy's whole body hurt now, and shimmered now.  Suddenly the void was not there, and the lights were not there, and her friends were not there.  There was only pain, and only for the briefest of moments.  She fell unconscious.

---

Dan slowly, painfully stirred.  He forced himself up.  His whole body was pain incarnate.  He had heard the distorted cries of his pokemon, and saw them staring intently at a light; Storm had been looking odd, and the others did too.  He had followed their example.

It had hurt; his mind had been assaulted with images and events.  Some he knew from history, some looked familiar to him though he could not name them, and some seemed unimportant, a slice of life from one of the billions who had walked, and would walk, this planet.

He stretched, and looked around.  It was nighttime.  He looked up at the stars, and almost wept: familiar constellations.  The wind on his skin was the wind of his childhood.  The earth beneath his feet was the greatest thing he had ever known.

"I'm home," he said, and realized he was crying after all.  He didn't care.  "I'm home!"

TO BE CONTINUED…