Life Goes On

Chapter 4
       Piercing cold tore through the trainers’ clothes as they struggled onward and downward toward the village of Glitter Gorge, which they could see, or thought they could see, a few more miles ahead.  Bruno was once again carrying Tate’s body; for the others had become too weak in the last two days since Tate died to do anything but walk.  Bruno found, to his distress, that though the snow was thinning, it was remaining as cold as ever.  ‘Poor Tate,’ he thought to himself.  ‘The first death.  He died in his own safe house, after saving us.  And poor Liza, we all know how close they were.’  Bruno looked down the steeply sloping path.  ‘I hope we don’t waste his efforts.’
       Tate was unsure of what to do.  He had been following his group, unbeknownst to them, for two days.  Would they be all right without him?  ‘I know why I’m still here,’ Tate thought.  ‘I have unfinished business.  Oh, I wish I knew what it was!  I think I have to make sure they get to Glitter Gorge safely.  I should work on getting a search party out here then.’ 
       He zoomed ahead of Bruno, who led the pitiful pack of people.  Amused at his ability to hover and go through things, he thought about contacting Liza (funny how that had slipped his mind) and then remembered he was dead.  ‘Even though I’d like to, I think getting the trainers to safety has to come first, if that is my unfinished business.  I’d never forgive myself if Bruno died of exhaustion up here carrying my body.’  He had arrived at the small trade town of Glitter Gorge.  Little more than a village of 500 people, it consisted mostly of travelling hunters, who traded their extra fur in the village of Savannah Square, south of the mountains, in a grassland.  He dearly hoped that there were a few who hadn’t left, then he remembered and hoped even more dearly for someone who could understand ghost-talk.  Good thing he was a ghost who spoke the language.  He let out a psychic blast to get the attention of anyone who could hear, but only one head turned.  It was an ancient old woman who wore a worn grey fur coat. 
       “Evelyn, is that you, my dear?  Speak, if you hear me, spirit.”  Evelyn?  Who was Evelyn?  Oh yeah, he remembered.  Evelyn was that ghost who had unfinished business too.  She supposedly haunted a forest somewhere.
       <Hello?  You know Evelyn?  Cool.  My name is Tate.>  he replied.
       “You are one of the twins from the land of the plague?”
       <What?  Oh, yes.  Yes I am.  Uh, I died a few days ago, and my unfinished business is to bring my friends to safety from the dangerous heights of Legend Peak.  Will you help me?>
       “You are the first spirit who has been so outright about speaking!  Of course I will help you, but are you sure it is your time to pass?”
       <I died, didn’t I?> he said hurriedly.  <I’m worried about them.  I need a group of at least ten ready to help.  There are seven alive, and my body also.>
       “Yes, as you command, spirit.”  She quickly called together ten sizable hunters, and led them into the mountains.


       After three days of searching, at Spirit Tate’s direction, they found the prone bodies of the seven trainers.  They had done what it is most unsafe to do in the cold—they had gone to sleep.  Alarmed, Tate ordered the hunters back to Glitter Gorge with them on the double, and by nightfall that day, Pryce and Wattson had woken up.  It turned out that without food or shelter, the cold just became too much for them. 
       “So these people just come, out of the blue, pick us up, and bring us back to their village?”  Pryce asked.
       “Yes, yes, but it would be rather a bit nicer if we could understand our rescuers.”  Wattson answered.  “The poor boy.  He could understand them, I’d bet,” he added, his face uncharacteristically downcast. 
       Around this time the others woke up, and Tate was left wondering why he was still here.  Supposedly, a ghost moved on after his or her unfinished business was completed.
       As if reading his thoughts, the old woman, leader of the town, began to speak.  In a tongue that no one but the unseen being could understand, she said, “I am assuming that this wasn’t your unfinished business, Spirit.  Would not your business be more easily finished with the help of your friends?  And your body?”
       <I know you’re just itching to try that stone on someone, Docter Frankenstein.>
       “Who?”
       <Forget it.  Look.  You can try your little trick thingie later.  I have to see my sister tonight.  How about midnight?>
       “Obviously the spirit thinks that the stone does not work.  Inform your sister of today’s events and be back by midnight.”  She had a strange gleam in her eyes that made Tate nervous.  Though she had proved herself trustworthy before, she had this thing with trying to help the spirits.  She always tried to bring them back to life with her psychic stone.  The stone rang true with legendary power, and it is said that once it actually did raise a dead man.
       Tate shot through snowdrifts and boulders with ease, and with equal ease he flew through great grasslands and finally through tall trees, to where the tiny town of Backwood stood in a clearing.  The villagers didn’t even raise their heads at the shooting star which blasted past.  But a few people peeked out of a treehouse on the left.  One was unmistakeably his distraught sister Liza, and the other, the more composed Joyah.  <Tate, is that you?>  sent the former, suddenly alive with hope.  <I can’t see you!>
       <Liza!  Oh, I know you don’t want to hear this…>
       <Yes, of course.  What was I thinking?  You’re a ghost now.>  She sounded slightly mad.  Jealous?
       <Liza, I can’t figure out what my unfinished business is,>
       <How is it?> Liza asked quickly.
       <What?>
       <Is it fun?  Because it sure isn’t any fun being here without someone to talk to, you wouldn’t believe how lonely it’s been.  The only thing that I’ve been doing all day is translating for the townspeople.  All the villagers are taking advantage of the free help, the volunteer work that the others are doing to get accepted.>  She sighed.  <Remember when we didn’t have to tell each other the events of the day?  Because we were there together?>  She stared into the empty space that was her brother, and he felt guilty.  It had only been half a week since they were separated, but now that he thought about it, it did seem like a pretty long time.
       <Liza, remember the old woman from Glitter Gorge?  I think she was named Hyla, she was the leader of the town.  Well she wants to try her stone test on me and try to bring me back to life.>
       <Well, don’t you want to come back to life?> she asked, noting his tone of voice.
       <Of course I do, but you know that it hasn’t worked in over a millennium, and even then, only once.  I’m not getting my hopes up.>
       <You know I’d teleport right over there to watch her try, but the Legendary Pokemon are powering up for some reason.  No psychic Pokemon can teleport through that interference.  Except, of course, another Legendary Pokemon.>  She sighed.  <I’d really like you to come back.> 
       He sighed before beginning again.  <She’ll try at midnight.  I still have a few hours to fly around, so I’m going back home to check on things, all right?>  Without waiting for an answer, he passed through the roof before zipping at top speed toward the west, past towering trees, rolling plains, pearl-white beaches and crystal blue waters.  After a while the water receded and he was careening over land again.  He noticed an image that reminded him of the vision he had had just a scant four days ago, in his sleep the day before the attack.  ‘So what’s new?’ he asked himself.  ‘I know they can manage without the League for a while.  It was the only choice we had.’  The vision showed what would happen:  With all hope lost, the remaining trainers of Kanto, Johto, and finally Hoenn, bravely beat the odds until Cassidy loses her patience and gives the order to kill everyone.  The vision also showed another path:  The members of the League are known to escape, and Cassidy has the time of her life choosing hostages to barter for their Pokemon and their lives.  So far, it seemed as if they were on the first path.  He saw trainers battling Team Rocket in the streets, gang members with guns and civilians aiming at them from above, Officer Jenny’s frantically trying to keep the peace, helicopters and armoured vehicles, even a few of their stupid giant robot Pokemon.  Tate shook his unseen head.  ‘They have to come back.’  He looked up.  ‘I have to come back.
       ‘But first, I have to see if anyone holds hope of our survival.  If just a few people know the truth, they will fight that much harder to stay alive.’  The spirit of Tate was fast in flitting from city to city, when finally he came to a small town called Pallet.
       ‘Pallet Town.  Ash and Gary lived here.  Someone hasn’t given up hope!’


       Tracy was having another hard day.  The past few hadn’t been any better.  He hadn’t realized how hard the Professor had it!  But finally, the Pokemon were fed, medications taken care of, all other chores were done, and he had time to sleep.  But he couldn’t.  He had this feeling that he’d miss something if he slept now.  Knowing that the League was alive didn’t make their disappearance any easier.  Since then, Team Rocket had broken into the Viridian City Gym and converted it into their headquarters.  Everyone knew that Giovanni, the former Gym Leader of Viridian, had also been the Leader of Team Rocket.  But rumour had it that he had been replaced.  By whom, nobody knew. 
       “Well, if I’m going to be staying up late I might as well call someone.  There’s bound to be someone as stressed out as I am out there.  Who do I know that stays up late?
       “Of course!  I’ve been a fool!  I’ll just call the Gym Leaders!  I’ve got the cell phone numbers of a few of them, that’s what I’ll do!’  He pulled out his address book out of a lab drawer and flipped through it.  “I’ll call Lance.  Here’s his cell number.”  He strode over to the vidphone and dialled the number.  There was an impersonal BEEP from the machine as it displayed THE DEVON CO. VIDPHONE USER YOU ARE TRYING TO CONTACT IS OUTSIDE THE CALLING AREA. 
       ‘Just great.  Well at least I know they’re safe.  The Devon calling area includes Hoenn, Kanto, Johto, the Orange Islands and the Whirl Islands.  If he’s not in any of those then I don’t know where he is.’

       Tate surveyed the scene.  ‘I don’t know who this guy is, but he seems like he knows the others pretty well if he’s got their numbers.  Well, he’s the only one I’ve found that hasn’t given up, other than Ash’s mother, one of Misty’s sisters and Brock’s family, but somehow I don’t trust them to keep the secret.  This guy seems to know for a fact that they survived, how I don’t know.  I’m going to try to communicate.’  Tate knew that if the guy had any psychic ability, he would have sensed the presence in the room.  Tate decided to go for a more obvious route.
       Diving into the computer screen, he felt different, more capable.  Before long, he was attempting to make letters appear on the transparent screen of the monitor.  He even managed to manipulate the speakers until a sharp sound emitted from them.  After this, Tracy looked up and stared as words appeared on the screen out of nowhere, and sat down to watch as Tate relayed a message.

       Do you see the letters I’m writing?  This is so cool!  Wow! 

       The message disappeared and another took its place.

       I am here on the behalf of those thought to be dead in the Indigo Plateau attack.  I believe you are the only one who still hopes for their survival.  Are you?

       Tracy was in awe as he raised his hands to the keyboard to type his response:

       Hello.  My name is Tracy.  Yes, I believe they are alive.  Ask Porygon.

       Both messages disappeared as more typing slowly made itself visible. 

       Yes, Porygon told me everything.  Just speak aloud; I can hear you, you know.

       Tracy, stunned, began to talk.  “You can hear me?  How?”

       I am here in the computer, in this room.  My name is Tate.

       Tate, one of the twins in the video, he thought.  “How can you be in the computer?”

       I can go through walls.  My spirit alone is within your computer.

       “Oh, great.  You’re dead.  That means…”

       Actually, no it doesn’t.  You think that because I am dead the others are also dead.  They aren’t.  I am the only one.

       Tracy was getting curious.  “How did you escape?”

       Teleport.

       ‘Teleport.  Smart,’ he thought sarcastically.  His mind was racing, back through the video of Oak’s conversation.  ‘The flash of light at the end, it could have been a Teleport flash.’  “So how are the others?”

       Not as good as hoped.  Our hiding place is very far away, on the other side of the world.  The trainers are separated into four groups, and the natives of the land speak another language and are distrusting of outsiders.  The only thing the natives and our trainers have in common is their hate of Team Rocket.  I must go now; it is almost midnight.  Tell no one about this, you may put many lives at risk.  The lab will be a prime target for Team Rocket.  I suggest you take the necessary precautions.

       “Wow.”  Tracey said aloud.  He couldn’t think of anything else to say.  ‘Right.  First thing in the morning, give Venusaur a briefing and find some trainers to help protect the lab.’



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       Sometime in the distant past, Giovanni sat at his desk, pleased with his work.  In the five years since he had taken over Team Rocket he had already done what no one had dared think possible: He had launched a spy satellite.  With it he had a perfect picture of anything that could be seen from the sky, with superior resolution.  He could read the headline of a newspaper on the ground, from a mile up.  And he had discovered something else extremely unusual.  Besides Kanto, Johto, some miscellaneous islands, and Hoenn, he found on the opposite side of the world another continent.  Another continent!  Imagine the possibilities!  He would send a scouting party in a ship as soon as possible.  Though he could see the continent, for some reason the resolution over the area wasn’t clear.  He could make out grasslands in the center, a volcano to the northeast, high mountains to the northwest, a desert between that and a forest to the east.  There was a rather large bay in the south, and sandy beaches lined the coast, with tropical-looking jungle here and there. 
It’s a gold mine!  Even if it’s deserted, Pokemon must abound in such an untouched place.  Like the safari zone: when people are absent, Pokemon grow strong.  And it’s just such untamed Pokemon that will help me gain control of the world!


A/N:  If you are still reading this, you have too much time on your hands.  But thank you!  Please review!