Pokemon: Storm Clouds Ch. 2

Missy was trying to keep up, her unfamiliar Eevee legs trotting shakily as she followed Blaine and Dan.  Her fight with the Muk had put a stop to her emotional breakdown, and now her mind was in a dizzy shocked state.  She registered that she had somehow been transported to a place that should only exist in a work of fiction -- the world of pokemon -- and that she had been turned into a pokemon along for the ride.  Her brother’s best friend, Dan Fawcett, had also been transported to this place, but had not been transformed like she had; he seemed oblivious to the fact that Missy was trotting behind him in the furry form she was in.

Dan seemed to be taking this entire process in stride; he had astutely observed Blaine catch the Muk that had been attacking her, and had immediately begun conversing with the man, who was leading him out of the old abandoned building.

“So,” Blaine was saying, “you’ve honestly never seen even a single pokemon before in your life?”

“That’s right,” responded Dan with as much enthusiasm as the cynical boy could muster; the young man was not so naïve as to simply begin telling random strangers he was from another universe, but he could not curb the astonishment he felt at seeing this world in the tangible flesh.  “That battle was the first I’ve ever seen of real pokemon.”

“Ah,” mused Blaine, absentmindedly rubbing his bald head.  “So, that Eevee following us doesn’t belong to you?”

Dan gave a start and turned around to look at Missy, who gave a confused look back at him; he hadn’t realized she was following them.

“Um,” he said sheepishly, “no.”

“What an oddly colored specimen,” muttered Blaine, looking back at Missy.   Missy dimly remembered the Muk making comments about how odd her fur color was: primarily gray with some silver parts as well.  It seemed to be the first thing everyone noticed about her.

“Yeah,” said Dan, “when I came to, she and the Muk were just sort of fighting.  I don’t know how long I was out, so she could have been there for a while; I don’t know why she’s following us, either.”

“You were knocked unconscious?  Do you remember anything unusual?”

Dan realized that the conversation could take a dangerous turn.  Trying to stall, he said, “Unusual like what, exactly?”

“Well, the whole reason I was here was that somebody reported a long series of colored light coming from the top floor of this mansion…”

“Oh!” said Dan in realization.  “We’re in Cinnabar’s pokemon mansion!”

Blaine gave the young man an odd look.  “How,” he began, “could you possibly arrive on the top floor of the mansion without knowing where you were?”

Dan, understanding that he had backed himself into a corner, decided to tell Blaine the truth…or, at least, part of the truth.  “Well,” he said, “I was at my friend Luke’s house, in his basement really, to see this machine he’s been building.”

As Blaine nodded with comprehension, Dan felt confident that the Gym Leader would believe his story: the world of pokemon was more fantastic than Dan’s home world, the “real world”, and stuff like this would be taken in stride.

“Luke’s machine did something, and spat out this weird sphere-looking thing, that’s when his sister Missy--“

Suddenly, Dan stopped, as he concluded something he should have earlier.

“Missy!  Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh NO!  Listen, have you seen a girl of fifteen with dark hair?!” Dan suddenly began questioning Blaine.

He’s talking about me, thought Missy blankly as Blaine tried to calm the young man down.

“What are babbling about?!” Yelled Blaine in confusion.  “What happened?!”

“Long story short, she touched the sphere and I was transported here; she must be here too!”

“Are you certain?” Blaine asked.

“Of course!  I was just a bystander, she’s the one who touched the thing!  If it happened to me, there’s no way she escaped it!  I’ve got to look for her; she might have been attacked by wild pokemon!”

I’m the one who touched the sphere, continued Missy’s dreamy, foggy train of thought.  Of course I would be here too.  But, he doesn’t have fur like I do.  Probably because he was a ‘bystander’, while I was the one who touched it.  That’s why he’s okay.  Oh, now he’s going to go look for me…

While she was thinking this, her mind was light and airy, but there was a nagging panic at the back of her head.  I’m here,  she found herself thinking.  I’m here, Dan.  Her light-headedness was clearing up…I’m right here!  Right in front of you!

She came back to reality.  I’m a pokemon, she realized.  </i>I’m in the pokemon world.  Dan thinks I’m still human and he’s looking for me!  DAN!  I’M RIGHT HERE!</i>

“VEE!”  Said Missy, breaking out of her shock and running up to Dan.  “EEVEE VEE!”

“Listen, we have to go ba--WHOA!” Dan said suddenly as the grey Eevee leapt on top of him.

“Eevee!  Eev eev eevee!  Vee Eevee VEE!”  said the little grey Eevee looking down at his face with intent, as Blaine pulled her up.

“What’d she attack me for?” said Dan, standing back up and looking over at Missy, who was squirming in Blaine’s hands.

“I don’t think she did, son,” said Blaine, trying to calm Missy down.  “I think that she’s trying to tell you something, and got a little too excited.”

“Maybe she overheard what I was saying about Missy?” Dan mused.  “Do you think she’s in here, little one?”

Missy let off another string of growls in answer as Blaine responded, “I don’t think that’s likely.  Remember that I found you on the top floor; I searched the rest of the mansion before I got there, and not a single person to be found.  If your friend is here, she probably recovered and headed into town before I got here.

“Now then,” Blaine said, putting Missy back onto the floor, “you just run along now, little Eevee, and try not to get into any more fights with dangerous poison pokemon, ok?”  He tried patting her on the head, but Missy was not too appreciative and ran off, growling.

“I will make you understand,” she muttered.

---

She covertly followed Blaine and Dan into town, keeping track of them by their scent, and listening in on their conversation through the use of her hyper-sensitive hearing; from what she gathered, Blaine was going to let Dan stay at his manor the next couple of days as they searched ‘Cinnabar Island’ (she assumed that was the name of the town) for her.  All she needed to do was sneak in, get Dan’s attention, and find a computer or something similar and type down her real identity.

Tracking the duo through town was more difficult.  Missy didn’t know very much about the pokemon universe--having only seen a few episodes of the television show when she was younger and never playing any of the games--but she could tell her coloration was unique, which would likely make her a prime target for ‘capturing’ or whatever they called it.

Finally arriving at Blaine’s manor, she weaseled her way under the gate and snuck past the gardeners.  She saw what looked like a stable, and realized that was her best bet of getting inside: if Blaine’s pokemon were kept in there, there was likely a door of some kind that allowed them in and out.

She tried to walk in, only to find that she was staring at a number of fire pokemon, all of whom stopped whatever it was they were doing and stared at her curiously.

“Why, look,” said a large dog-like creature with enormous jaws in a roaring laugh, “a stray wandered in!”

“Oh, hush,” said another creature: a fox-like being with fur that almost looked like it was on fire, with big black eyes.  “You Arcanine are always so crude.  Hello dear,” she said stepping towards Missy with a kind smile, “My name’s Marilith.  I used to be an Eevee like you; are you hungry?” she said, motioning towards a bowl of repulsive pokemon food.

“Hey,” came a cocky voice from the corner, “I know you!”  As Missy turned to look in that direction, she saw the odd flaming horse--the “Ponyta” called Ruby--that had escorted Blaine through the mansion earlier.  “You’re that little fighter that Sir Blaine had me save earlier!  What’re you doing here?  Come to offer me thanks?”

“No,” said Missy with ground teeth as Ruby looked down with derision towards her, “I want to go inside.”

At that, the Arcanine gave a massive roar of a laugh, Marilith gave a sad sigh, and Ruby gave a bleat of a snicker.  “Why would we ever let a little tramp like you into Sir Blaine’s house?” Ruby sneered.  “He’s busy with an important guest right now!”

“I know,” responded Missy, trying to keep her cool; she didn’t have time to banter with these creatures.  “I’m here to see him.”

“Oh!” Marilith interjected.  “He wouldn’t happen to be your trainer, by chance?”

“No, that’s not right,” said Ruby before Missy could respond, “I overheard Sir Blaine and the boy talking from my pokeball.  He doesn’t own her.”

“Of course he doesn’t!” Missy said angrily.  “I’m human!”

There was a very awkward silence, which the Arcanine broke by finally saying, “Pull the other one!”

“No you’re not,” said Ruby, giving a harsh look at Missy.

“Yes, I am!  I’m that girl he was looking for!  I came here, and when I woke up, I wasn’t, I wasn’t…”

And here her throat choked up, and she whispered the last part:  “...human anymore…”

Blaine’s pokemon looked on in ponderous silence, and then Marilith said, “She certainly does seem sad, the little dear; why don’t we help her?”

“Oh,” said Ruby, “You just want to help her because she’s an Eevee and you’re a Flareon.  Think of how much trouble we’ll be in!”

“I agree with Marilith,” The Arcanine argued. “Our trainer is a Gym Leader, sworn to help those in need.  How justifiable is it for us to be his pokemon if we don’t follow his example?”

Ruby sighed.  “Fine,” she said, nodding towards a flap in the wall, “go through here.  I swear if I get in trouble you’ll pay.”

Missy gave the fire pokemon some brief thanks and went through the door.

Where would Dan and that old man be? She found herself wondering.  Actually, I need to find some sort of computer or typewriter first; if they see me they’ll just kick me out.

So, Missy began an exploration of Blaine’s manor.  Sneaking upstairs, she eventually found what she assumed to be his bedroom.  There must be an office around here somewhere…There!  A computer!  But as she got near and saw the keyboard, she suddenly grew discouraged.

She didn’t recognize any of the symbols on the keyboard.

These… Missy thought, These aren’t English letters, are they?  They…they must not speak English here!

But if they didn’t speak English, how could she understand what they were saying?  Then Missy realized that if she understood the language of pokemon, and her brain translated it into English for her comprehension, perhaps the same thing was happening with whatever language the humans spoke.  But apparently, this knowledge of translation didn’t extend to writing…

This was too much.  Missy let out a high-pitched growling scream, and collapsed, sobbing.  She heard footsteps and yelling behind her, but she didn’t care, even though Blaine’s staff was gathering about her in confusion.  Then, she could hear their feet parting, and heard the familiar voices of Blaine and Dan.

“How did she get in here?”  That was Dan.

“Why did she get in here is a better question,” mused Blaine.

Missy didn’t care that she barely knew him, that he was only her older brother’s silent and ephemeral friend, that he didn’t know it was her; Dan offered a sense of familiarity in this nightmare of a world.  She slowly walked over to him, still crying, hating the fact that she moved on all fours, and buried her face in his levi-covered leg, needing something to cry on.

Dan looked at Blaine with discomfort, obviously clueless as to what he needed to do.  

“Maybe,” offered Blaine with hesitation, “Maybe she wants you to be her trainer?”

“Is that it?” Dan asked down at the grey and silver Eevee burying her face into his jeans, “Do you want to be my pokemon?”  And he reached down to pet her.

He’s going to catch me, whispered a malicious little voice in the back of Missy’s head.

“NO!” she screamed through her tears, biting Dan’s hand.  As he drew it back with a yelp, she jumped back and stared at his face, fur bristling and mouth emitting a growl.

“I am not a pokemon,” she said with low, fierce emphasis, “and I refuse to allow you to treat me like one.  I…will not…be treated like a common animal!”

The people present couldn’t understand a word she was saying, and one of the manor’s attendants whispered to Blaine, “Should we contact the Dangerous Pokemon Patrol, sir?”

“No,” said Blaine, “I do not think violence is in this creature’s nature; it’s obviously upset about something.”  Leaning down, he addressed Missy directly.  “Do you want to be caught by this young man?” He said.

How does he expect me to reply?  Missy wondered before an idea struck her.  She vigorously shook her head.

“But do you still want to spend time with him?”  Blaine asked again.

Missy thought about it.  Did she want to spend time with Dan?  In fact, would he even allow her around, now that she had bit him?  It suddenly stuck her an action foreign to her, biting somebody.  It went against her personality, it was not something she would do.  It’s not something a human would do.  The thought came unbidden to her mind.  She gave a shudder and shook the thought from her mentality.  I can’t afford to think like that, She chided herself.

She answered Blaine’s question with a nod.

“Well, that’s all settled,” Blaine said happily, noticing that Missy’s bite hadn’t seemed to have done any significant damage to Dan’s hand.  “Back to dinner!”  And the whole entourage left to go downstairs to the dining room.  Confused as to whether she should be following or not, she tentatively trailed at the back of the procession.

Reaching the dining room, she caught sight of heaps of wonderfully prepared food piled ahead of her.  She made a beeline for the table, fully appreciating for the first time just how hungry she was, but then one of Blaine’s maids picked her up and set near a dish on the floor filled with the same pokemon food she had seen in Marilith’s bowl.  She gave a disgusted sniff, before realizing that rejecting it and attempting to get at the food at the table wouldn’t help her situation at all.  She consigned herself to eating the food, which didn’t taste all too bad…but it certainly wasn’t what she wanted.

As they ate, Dan and Blaine were conversing.  “I guess I’ll just let her accompany me over the next couple of days,” Dan was saying, looking over at Missy.  “I don’t really understand how a pokemon could want to spend time with humans without being trained by one,” he sighed.  “And, I was happy at the thought that I might get to have my first pokemon…”

At this, Blaine got an enlightened look on his face.  He immediately cleared the table, and asked Dan to follow him to his training center, ordering his pokemon to be sent there.  Missy, having eaten enough of the pokemon food as she could stomach, followed them.  

In the center, Blaine asked Dan with seriousness, “Do you really want to be a pokemon trainer?”

“Um, yeah…” Dan said confusedly, not sure what was going on.

“Then, take this, boy!  Your first pokemon!”  And with that, Blaine pulled out a Great Ball from his coat and gave it to the teen, who looked down at the Great Ball in his hand with astonishment.  

“You’re…you’re really giving this to me?!” asked Dan.

“Of course!” Blaine said with a wink.  “I wasn’t planning on keeping that one anyways; I only train fire pokemon, after all.”

Dan opened the ball to release…the Muk that Missy had fought against earlier that day!

Dan didn’t seem to be fazed by the fact that his first pokemon was a walking pile of toxins.  He bent down, with a soft smile on his face, his eyes observing through the messy brown locks of hair that hung over his face.  “Hello there,” he said, trying to calm the Muk that was looking around in confusion.  “My name’s Dan, and I’ll be your new trainer.”

“Do you plan on giving it a nickname?” asked one of Blaine’s attendants.

“Yeah,” said Dan with a smile.  “I’ll call you…Armor.  Because Muk have such high defenses:  Armor your name shall be!”

“Good!” said Blaine.  “Now we battle!”

That jerked Dan out of his euphoria.  “A battle right NOW?!” He said with confusion.  “Against a Gym Leader?”

Blaine smiled, saying, “Dive headfirst into the difficult parts: you’ll grow all the faster.  Marilith!  Come here!”

The Flareon left her place from among Blaine’s pokemon and took a battle stance opposite Armor.

Missy wandered over to Blaine’s other pokemon and asked a Charmander (one of the few pokemon species she recognized): “Is it really safe for that pokemon to battle Marilith?  He was only defeated a few hours ago!”

“Oh, there’s no question that Marilith will wipe the floor with him,” came a sneering voice from behind: Ruby had made her appearance.  “Of course, even at full power, that Muk wouldn’t be able to beat even the lowliest of Sir Blaine’s pokemon.  Only a truly pathetic, infantile, WEAK pokemon could lose to that thing.”  As Ruby gave Missy a vicious smile, Missy knew the Ponyta was taunting her: She herself had been nearly defeated by Armor a few hours prior.

In the amount of time it took to have that conversation, Armor was soundly trounced by Blaine’s Flareon.  “I’m sorry, dearest,” Marilith apologized with a grandmotherly smile.  “I did try to ease up.”

“Oh, that’s fine, eh,” responded the Muk before Dan recalled him.  “No hard feelings.”

“I lost,” mused Dan sullenly.

“Of course you did!” Blaine noted cheerfully.  “The first step to the attainment of power is the realization that there are those more powerful than you!”

Dan nodded, and asked, “I’m bushed.  Where is the guest bedroom?”

Blaine’s attendants showed the young man where to stay.  Missy followed, and found that they had prepared a small cushion like a cat-bed on the floor for her to sleep on.  Missy looked away embarrassedly as Dan changed into his pajamas; before he climbed into bed, he bent down and stroked Missy’s grey fur, muttering, “What should I call you?  Even if I don’t train you, I can’t keep calling you ‘Eevee’.”

Missy didn’t bother responding, she was feeling drowsy with the cushion beneath her and Dan’s hand running through her fur.

“I know!  Since your fur is so grey, like a thundercloud, I’ll call you Storm!  How about that?”

That’s not my name, she thought drowsily.  “My name is Missy,” she muttered sleepily, not caring that he couldn’t understand her.

“I’m glad you like it,” Dan said contentedly, misreading her remark.  He stopped petting her, and climbed into his bed.  As Missy drifted off to sleep, she heard him mutter, “Let this not be a dream…”

That’s exactly the opposite of what I wish… she thought as she slipped into dreams.

---

The next morning, Missy woke up early like she always did.  Giving a yawn, she muttered, “What an odd dream…”

But as she tried to stand up, she fell over backwards; it hadn’t been a dream.  She was still Storm, the little grey Eevee.

She cried again, but softer and for a shorter length this time.

That morning, after breakfast, Dan searched Cinnabar looking for Missy, unaware she was trotting by his side with dark and tumultuous thoughts.  After lunch, he gave up the search, headed back to Blaine’s mansion, and spent the day training with Armor and learning more about the pokemon world (it was substantially different in reality than in any fictional form he had encountered it in.)

Aftter Blaine returned from his work at the Gym and everyone ate dinner, Dan held a series of battles against Blaine’s attendants, finally managing to steal one win.

And that’s how the routine went for the next couple of weeks.  After waking up, Dan and Missy spent the mornings uselessly combing the streets for information on Missy’s whereabouts; Missy sometimes cried in the morning, and sometimes not.  Afternoons were spent studying and training (Missy eventually began training herself, if only to show Ruby she wasn’t such a weakling) and evenings were spent with Dan and Armor challenging various members of Blaine’s household and, if they grew daring, Blaine himself.  Although Dan and Armor’s battling prowess increased significantly as the days passed, neither of them were capable of so much as scratching Blaine.  Missy didn’t participate in the battling, however, being more than content with wearing away her sorrow and confusion through rigorous training.

Eventually, Dan voiced his opinion to Blaine over dinner that he didn’t think Missy was on the island.

“ I suppose maybe it was only me who was transported here, and not her,” he said one evening.

“I agree,” said Blaine.  “You must have searched the town and the old mansion fifty times over by now; she isn’t here.”

Think again, thought Missy sullenly as she chewed the bland pokemon food.

“I suppose I’d better go about finding a way to get back home,” said Dan.

“So, where exactly is it you’re from?” Blaine asked.  “You never did say any specifics.  I’d be happy to arrange transportation for you.  Do you live somewhere in Kanto?  Or, maybe in another region; Hoenn or Fiore, perhaps?”

Dan gave a sigh.  It was time to tell Blaine the truth: no use in lying now.

“I don’t think you can help me get home,” he said in a low voice.  “Please listen to what I have to say.

“I come from another world.”

TO BE CONTINUED…