Seth

"Stupid trees." I grunted, shoving away the thick foliage, "Why couldn't they have stayed at a motel like normal people? Man, I hate camping, my leather jacket's gonna get totally screwed up."

Pushing away the last branches enshrouding the campsite, we stepped into the wide spacious clearing. A roaring fire cackled in the centre girt by large stones to keep it under control. Three familiar people lounged around the flames, warming themselves against the heat.

Jiang sat leaning against a fallen log, watching Tempest eagerly, as if waiting for something to happen. The trainer herself was huddled unusually close to the fire, her legs drawn up beneath her so that her chin rested against her knees. She tossed twigs and bits of grass into the blaze with her good hand, her broken one resting in her lap. Tempest watched with amusement as the twigs briefly caught alight before crumbling into ash.

Mei Ling sat cross legged against the hard trunk of a tree, her pack gaping wide open and the many cell phones she had stolen spread out in a neat line before her, "twenty-five!" She exclaimed happily, putting them back one by one into her bag.

"Is that all?" I teased.

She glanced up as we approached, grinning; "Well look at what the meowth dragged in!"

"What took you so long, Bozo?" Tempest yawned.

I managed a weary smile. Walking over to campfire I seated myself comfortably against the warmth. Mei Ling rummaged about her backpack, finally yielding a plastic water canister. "Here. Drink." Pitching it to me, I reached up, catching the bottle deftly in both hands. Unscrewing the lid, I tilted my head back, gulping down a long refreshing drink.

Aah, water never tasted so good.

"Hey! What about us?" A small voice whimpered.

Without pausing, I regarded my two new companions who had followed me and stood at the edge of the campsite. Lethe, the beautiful young woman we had met at the airport and -

"Stop slurping that drink like such commoner! A dog has more manners than you! The princess wants a drink, and the princess shall have one now you good for nothing vagabond!"

Odomp; her faithful, irritating and if not just a little bit stupid, 'royal' guard.

"Who's this overgrown bugger?" Tempest asked, eyeing the large man with suspicion.

I drank what was left of the water and sighed, burying my face into my hands, "It's a long story."

"Did you get what you had to get?" Mei Ling wondered.

"Yep." I muttered. "Sure did."

"What did Lethe forget that was so important anyway?"

I glared at the purple haired young woman who hid behind her personal baby sitter. "A frickin make-up box."

"Do not look at me like that!" She wailed, tears once again flooding her brown eyes. It was then that I noticed her accent for the first time. Rich and very formal. Aristocratic, like she had been trained in proper English speech all her life, it was definitely not the type of talk you would hear on the street, "I could not remember, I thought it was important!"

I smoothed back my blond hair, "Oh, I understand the importance of looking good, but I risked life and limb for that stupid thing."

"Insolent fool!" Odomp snapped, "How dare you speak to the Princess in such a discourteous manner!"

"Shut-up Pops, this is between me and Lethe.

"It was a Loreal!" The girl protested weakly.

"What's going on here?" Jiang glanced quizzically from me, to Lethe to Odomp, then back at me again, feeling the tension in the air like a forming thunderstorm.

I shook my head in exasperation, brushing a leaf away from my brown jacket sleeve, "I went back to the airport cause Lethe had forgotten something, but she couldn't remember exactly what. Apparently she suffers from short term memory loss, anyway getting passed the security guards and the cops was a pain in the ass. That Terrorist had created a hell of a ruckus, and they’d closed the damn airport off. Anyway, we managed to sneak into the terminal, Lethe found her 'important' thing and we were about to head off when this huge mother - "

"Say it, and die." The huge guard warned.

"Are you telling the story or am I? Anyway, after scaring the crap out of me, he insisted on following us. We got outside and Gryffon refused to carry the motherf -,"

"I'm warning you!"

"So we were forced to walk all the way here - him tagging along every inch of the way. Damn, I'm tired. Baggy eyes are not fashionable."

"And neither is a broken noise and fuzzy hair." Mei Ling added.

"Hey, this plaster will be off soon and my hair's not as bad as before," I grinned, patting a blond strand down and this time it actually stayed down, "See?"

"How did you know we'd be here?" Tempest asked.

I shrugged, “I saw the fire. Really, you think so little of my intellignce.”

"Is it just me, or does everyone here think little of your intelligence?"

"So what's the go?" Mei Ling rolled over onto her stomach, and staring at the newcomers, propped herself up onto her elbows, "Are you really a Princess?"

Lethe placed herself uncomfortably on the other end of the same fallen log on which Jiang sat. "My name is Leletheia Chan Kiyali the Seventh of the royal blood of the Kiyali Dynasty, heir to the throne of the Southern Kingdom, Kiyalinia."

"Princess!" Odomp howled, throwing himself at her feet, "You have told these foul peasants too much!" He clutched at her ankles, sobbing hysterically, "Woe is me. I have failed you! I should not have allowed these retched vermin to interrogate you so! Oh what have I done!"

Mei Ling raised an eyebrow, “I’ll have you know my father is a Baron, thankyou very much.”

"Who are you calling vermin, you dropkick! I bet you couldn't last a round in a revolving door!" Tempest snapped angrily, shaking her good fist.

"Odomp, at ease." Lethe murmured, resting her delicate hand on the top of his bowed head.

I chuckled silently, what a pathetic fool. What kind of kingdom sent cry babies to look after a King's precious daughter? I examined the huge guard. He was a middle aged man with the same strange accent as Lethe's, yet haughtier, completely dripping of arrogance. Standing at over six feet, he was taller than I was with short scruffy brown hair which you could just see from beneath the ridiculous white brimmed hat he wore. His legs and arms were skinny, like broom handles, but his chest was that of a beer barrel, large and round. His clothes were much too small for him, not to mention extremely out of date.

"Where did you get your clothes man, Suzanne Grae?"

"Silence hooligan!"

Lethe continued, "I was sent to Johto by my father to have a proper education in medicine but unfortunately... I'm afraid I got lost at the airport..."

"Bummer." Mei Ling said sleepily. "I think I'll take a nap now. I'm dead tired. Besides, we've got a busy schedule tomorrow. "

She turned over, reaching out for her pack and pulled out her sleeping bag. Crawling in, she wrapped it around herself, her back against the tree trunk.

"When are we gonna eat?" Jiang piped in.

Tempest threw a twig at him, catching him between the eyes. "You asked that last time."

She had pretty good aim with her left hand.

"Can we have rice? Rice is nice!"

“No."

"Soup? I love soup. Or how about green eggs and ham?"

"No."

"What? No, I can't have green eggs and ham, Sam I am - or no I can't have soup?"

Tempest rolled her eyes and threw another twig at him.

I watched Lethe settle down against the log, nuzzling against that protective jackass of a guard. She really was beautiful. Her short lilac hair tumbled across her face, covering an eye. She sighed wearily and drifted into sleep. Odomp all the while kept a faithful lookout for any danger.

Hmm, maybe I had been a bit harsh on Lethe. Let's see, what could I do to win her affection....

I scribbled out a plan in the dirt.

Maybe if I took her deep into this forest, lose her, get my pokemon to chase her through the trees, have secret agents to pretend they're shooting her, then while she's hurt hungry and alone -

"What are you doing Seth?" Jiang inquired, "and what are those stick figures doing?"

"Can't you see I'm busy?"

Then a dragon can swipe her up in his claws. Aliens will pop out from the sky, abduct her and dump her on an island surrounded by giant man eating fish. Some pirate dude, possibly Captain Hook, can then capture her and maybe a whale could tip the ship over, which of course will send her flying through the sky and straight into my arms, saving the day.

Hey, not bad! I patted my back, congratulating myself on my well-made plan. Damn you’re good Seth.

"What happened to the rest of your clothes? I think the store clerks ripped you off big time. They only gave you half!" The bird trainer snickered at the lilac haired girl, "Skank."

Lethe wailed, "Please! Why do you not leave me alone?"

Or maybe I could just save her from Tempest.

"How about pudding? Pudding's good!" Jiang continued.

"Will you just cut it out with the food!" I yelled, pitching a pebble at him.

Mei Ling stirred from her slumber and sat up, "How the hell can someone get a decent rest if you idiots keep screaming like a bunch of spearows?" She shook her head in exasperation. "It's been a very, very, long day and I’m really very tired."

"How about a story?" Jiang pleaded, "Or a joke! Or how about a story and a joke?"

I snorted, "You are a joke."

"I recall my father telling me bedtime stories quite often when I was younger. There was one particular tale that I distinctively remember, what was it about again? Oh do not know, cannot remember." Lethe added, "I think that was when I was still at the palace."

Odomp grabbed her hand, "Princess, do not talk to these vagabonds! You are royalty, it is not proper!"

She gave him a look that you'd give to a boy caught stealing from a cookie jar, "Odomp please, no more of this nonsense. Behave."

"Princess!" The guard gasped, hurt.

I glanced snidely at Tempest who lounged in front of the fire. Shadows danced about her pretty face as she stoked the embers of the campfire with her left hand. The cast turned a bright orange and her blue hair seemed to turn a dark green under the orange light.

"Story time!" I rubbed my hands mischeviously and cried happily, "Welcome Tempest gale to 'This is your life!' Da ta da ta daar! Now tell us about your little old self - no pun in intended of course." I added quickly as Tempest cast me a dark look.

"Why don't you start at the beginning of your seventeen year old life? Like; where the hell did you get that freaky ass power?"

The noise died to nothing as we waited for her to begin. Even Odomp and Lethe were intrigued, leaning closer so they might hear better.

Oooh, I found myself staring at Lethe in admiration, check out the package on her!

Ahem, back to the subject. I guess we'd all, bar our two new comrades, been wondering what had exactly happened those three days ago. I mean, it wasn't every day you saw a normal looking girl just pop a guy with a wave of her hand. Yeah I know, I'm under exaggerating but I guess that was my coping mechanism.

I think I'd like to stay sane thank you very much.

She finally spoke, glancing up from the fire, "My family is very poor, we live on a farm and you wouldn't believe how harsh Metone weather can be. For the past few years, there's been a great drought. Our crops have died and many of our pokemon have perished from the heat and lack of water. I guess that's part of the reason I became a trainer, my family needed money and it seemed like the only possible solution. Things went ok for a while but -,"

"You know, I'm still hung - ," Jiang began.

Before he could finish I threw another stone at him. My aim was way off and he ducked easily, but not without yelling; "I was kidding!"

"Anyway, just when you think things are getting good, life turns around and kicks you up the arse. One year, our crops were growing great and we were getting loads of money from selling them to groceries, but like I said, life turns around and kicks you, making you wonder, why the hell did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this? A bush fire began at the edge of our farm, it started on the neighbour's side but with all the plants and dry grass it caught quickly and spread onto our fields. Almost everything was destroyed and all that was left died anyway." Tempest angrily clenched her fist till her knuckles turned white, "People say it started because the day was so hot, but I had this feeling that it wasn't the case at all. Some kids were seen up there, and I'd seen them up there a couple of times before, trespassing on the neighbour's field and playing with matches. No one would believe me though. Our family was ruined. By the end of the month we were this high," She held her hand above her head, "in debt. We became so poor that we were only able to eat for three days a week."

Mei Ling gave a low whistle, "Explains why you're so small stickly."

"Yeah, I like my woman tall and voluptuous." I flashed a grin at Lethe. Totally oblivious to my flirtatious behaviour, she ignored me. Odomp shot me a look of disapproval.

"Don’t midgets always act bigger than they really are?" Jiang asked thoughtfully. "Didn't you say that to me once before Seth?"

Tempest transfixed me with a steely gaze and I gave a nervous chuckle, "Heh heh heh, Jiang's such a joker! I never said that at all! Honest! Please don't hurt me."

The bird trainer continued. "When I was about nine, a year after the fire, my mother took me into town. Our crops were doing okay, but not as well as they used to. Anyway, it was only the fourth time I'd been to town and man, was I excited." She smiled sombrely, remembering her childhood.

Wait a sec, what was this? Was I just seeing things or was that actually a tear in Tempest's eye? You've gotta be kidding. Her? Crying? No way! I thought about reaching over and squeezing her hand to reassure her, to let her know that we were here for her. I immediately rejected the ridiculous notion. I was young, handsome and God's gift to woman.

And it was going to stay that way.

Getting me face scratched off wasn’t a very pleasant prospect. Let her cry. Didn't everyone say it was good to cry anyway?

Tempest resumed her story, "I remember I was so happy and excited, thinking maybe Mum would buy me a present while she got the groceries. There were so many cars and people on that busy street we were walking down, so many men and woman in business suits, and even a mother and child like me. Suddenly a large man tackled my mother from behind. I didn't really know what was happening, but I was so scared, he just seemed to jump out from no where. I didn't know what to do so I started screaming." Her voice dropped to a whisper, and her face had gone ashen. The blue haired trainer stared numbly into the flames. The entire campsite was placid, the pop and sizzle of the fire the only sound that broke the eerie silence. I struggled to catch Tempest's voice as a solemn wind developed around us, whirling around and around.

"There were so many people nearby, I remember screaming and screaming, but no one came. Mum's groceries had spilled to the floor and the man was hitting her, I remember that when he punched her across the face, blood started to run from her lip. She was shrieking for help but everyone just hurried on by, pretending not to notice." The trainer hung her head. Her scruffy blue fringe covered her eyes. I glimpsed something shining and I realized to my dismay that it was another single tear. The crystal droplet trickled down her face and fell into her lap. I looked quizzically at Mei Ling and she nodded sadly. She'd spotted it as well.

Tempest began to tremble and her usually strong voice broke with a racking sob. She gripped a thick twig in anger. "I ran to help my mother. I think the man only wanted her bag, but she wouldn’t give it to him so he beat her. I attacked him as best I could but he hurled me away and I fell onto the pavement. Then something inside me snapped." The twig cracked in half, "A burning hatred welled up inside of me, and this happened." She lifted her plastered hand. Crackling bolts of electricity twirled about her fingers, snaking about the cast where her wrist would have been. I gaped in awe.

"Neat." Mei Ling murmured, fascinated.

Jiang's jaw dropped open. Lethe and her guard shared a bewildered glance.

The blue haired girl chuckled quietly, "What happened to that Rocket, started when I was a kid."

The bolt of electricity hopped to her other hand. "The mugger suffered third degree burns to three quarters of his body. I made the bastard pay for what he did. He fried like the fat pig he was."

The breeze picked up, wailing around the clearing, faster and faster. My plastered nose became sore, like someone was wrenching it sideways. My blonde hair whipped into my face. Lethe screamed, clutching Odomp's chest in terror. It felt like we sat inside the middle of a blender.

"Are you doing this?" Mei Ling shouted over the shrieking wind, green hair flying about her, eyes wide with fear.

Tempest nodded and immediately the gust died away.

I swore, "Freaky!"

"I don't know why or how I can do these… things. But since that day, freak storm have a way of happening when I get really mad. Scott, my brother, got struck by lightning on a clear summer day when he wouldn't give me back my tennis ball - don't worry, he's fine. Once, the shed roof was blown away when Emeleo the baby pidgey died. Stuff like this has always been happening. I always knew it was my fault but I never told anyone. Mum, never looked at me the same way she used to, and I think she was secretly glad when I’d decided to train pokemon, it meant I wouldn’t be home that often, and things would stay normal."

The entire group sat in a stupefied silence. I was speechless.

It took a while for us to regain our composure, and it seemed that the night was darker, the shadows of the surrounding trees, larger and more threatening. Mei Ling was already awash with theories and questions. I could almost hear her brain ticking like clockwork.

"Did you cause the red sky and the earth quakes?" She asked thoughtfully.

"No that wasn’t me." Tempest shook her head, “That was just some freak of nature thing, right? That’s what the news has been saying.”

Mei Ling frowned, "Happening twice? I don't know. I reckon something's up, something's going to happen. Even our pokemon feel it, I kinda doubt that what happened with the sky was just ‘some freak of nature’,"

"I do not quite follow you, what is going on?" Lethe queried, confused.

We filled her in briefly about the past week’s events.

"No City will ever be the same once you people have stampeded through it."

"Hell no!" I grinned, "But that reminds me. What the hell was Willow blubbering about? You know, the poem, thing? Now that was freaky."

"Yeah," Mei Ling mused, "I was just thinking about that. Something about 'guardians of light or might'."

" ‘Protectors of life, the children of Gi

Foretold to oppose the Evils that be

The shadow, the air, the earth, the sea,

The fire, the mind shalt set the world free

Born of the elements, guardians of life’, " Jiang chimed in.

We all stared at him.

"What?" He asked defensively.

"How the hell did you remember that?" Tempest cried.

"It's part of a Faerie Tale. All the kids around here know about that legend. My Mum told me about it when I was still a kid."

I scoffed, "'When you were still a kid'? What does that make you now?"

"You know, I' do believe I have heard something quite similar to that." Lethe mused, "Yet I cannot for the life of me remember where I heard it though. I have forgotten."

Mei Ling remarked, "You do that a lot don't you?"

Unaware of the thief's slightly insulting comment, Lethe turned to her large guard, "Odomp, do you recall anything of similarity?"

The guard shook his head, "No my Princess. I have never heard such a thing. But really, you should not concern yourself. You are much too dignified to worry about old wives tales."

"There's gotta be a connection!" Mei Ling said with growing excitement, "Jiang, what's the next part?"

The boy screwed up his face in thought. "Um, I can't really remember it, there are like five or more paragraphs to it and I can only remember the first and the second. Let's see, how did it go? 'Tis daughter of the storm, child of the skies, when fury brought forth, her power does rise - "

"Song ring through the heavens to halt earth's demise, or thus the world be doomed to die, Born of the elements, guardians of life." Mei Ling finished for him. "That's the second verse Willow said."

The thief turned excitedly to Tempest, "Don't you see? 'Daughter of the storm, child of the skies, when fury brought forth her power does rise'! It's talking about you! Whenever you get angry, your power lashes out! Well, that's mentioned in the paragraph! Your power has always been something to do with the sky, right? Lightning, wind, never any other element. What kind of coincidence is that? It's talking about an air elemental freak, and we've got one sitting right here. Who else has got that freaky ass power? It has to mean you! It's not like there are a dozen of Tempests running around."

Tempest stared incredulously at the thief. "You're pulling my leg aren't you? You expect me to believe some old kid’s story? Some faerie tale crap?" She snorted, “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Mei Ling shrugged, "It’s just a theory. Hey Jiang?"

"Hmmm?"

"What's the actual legend about?"

"Um, just about six warriors who protect the world from Armageddon. Something like that. The story’s so old no one’s quite sure where it came from."

The thief settled back down in her sleeping bag. Her arms folded back behind her head, using it as a pillow whilst she gazed up at the night sky through the canopy of darkened tree branches. "The shadow, the air, the earth, the sea, the fire, and the mind." She repeated wonderingly. "What an interesting thought. If it's true, now I'm not saying that it is, but what if - ? Nah…" She stared thoughtfully at the millions of stars winking over head. The silhouettes of the Meteor Islands hung in the distance, giants of the night.

I grinned, "I'm thinking an interesting thought at the moment. Actually, I'm thinking several interesting thoughts. You, Temp, Lethe, massage oils - OW!" I rubbed my arm where Tempest had punched me.

"You never change do you?"

"Chill out babe! I was just kidding! Man, I can't believe I'm letting a cripple beat me up - OW! Goddamnit, stop punching me! Oh well, howzabout we just sleep on it, eh? Besides, I need my beauty sleep. How else do you think I stay as gorgeous as I do?"

She rolled her eyes, "How can you look gorgeous with that big white plaster thing on your face?!"

I touched it sensitively. "What do you mean? It was broken in the name of honour! Chicks dig that heroic stuff. Besides, if a girl's not looking at my face, she'll be admiring my sexy body. That's what Gym is for Baby."

Tempest snorted, "Your body is as skinny as those stick figures you were drawing. You'd take two steps on a treadmill and you'd be immediately drowning in your own sweat."

"Chicks dig sweat too."

"What type of chicks are you talking about? Chicks as in chickens, or chicks as in newly hatched baby pokemon?"

I yawned, "I love you, Tempest, but I don't expect you to understand the ways of men."

She rolled her eyes again, muttering something beneath her breath before turning over to sleep.

I chuckled. I win again.

The sound of Jiang's snoring travelled across the campsite. I peered over at Lethe. Odomp slept soundfully at her feet. She smiled wearily at me, wrapping her full length black leather jacket around herself tightly, shivering in the cold. Patting the empty space in my sleeping bag, I winked. "Why don't you come over here honey? I'll keep you real nice and warm."

The princess raised an eyebrow, sliding off the log and nestling down beside her guard, "I do not think so."

"You’re missing out babe, you’re missing out," I paused, "Hey your Highness?"

"Yes?"

"When you go to sleep, dream of me okay?"

She shook her head, closing her eyes, her head resting on Odomp's shoulder.

I lay down, using my arm as a pillow. Fatigue embraced me in her dark arms.

I slept.