Life Goes on

Chapter 6

Sabrina awoke in a cold sweat. She didn’t remember this bed she was in, or the roof she was under. She sat straight up and looked around quickly before seeing Alakazam sleeping at the foot of the bed. He opened one eye to greet her solemly as he always did, with a serious, “Alakazam.” She calmed. Alakazam was calm; that meant no danger. She sighed, partially in relief, partially in dread as she began remembering bits and pieces of yesterday’s events. Alakazam contributed a few visions of his own, visions of a violet-eyed Sabrina, possessed by a spirit, speaking in tongues. She lay back in bed and covered her head with a pillow, wanting to just disappear. She couldn’t even do that anymore. Wretched Legendary Pokemon, ‘powering up,’ ‘too powerful to Teleport through.’ She got up, annoyed, and made the bed, smoothing the fur blanket before walking outside. Activity ceased as she came into view. She tried to ignore their stares as she got her bearings. Sabrina glimpsed a few of the others through windows, but as it was barely dawn, some were still sleeping.
<Sabrina, are you okay?> Liza’s now-familiar energy reached Sabrina’s mind.
<Yeah, are you okay?> her brother repeated. She groaned inwardly.
<I’m fine.> She changed the subject, noting Tate’s energy gladly. <It worked, I’m assuming, and you’re alive again, Tate?>
<Yeah! Oh, man, I’ve been on a natural high all day! I’ve been feeling so, alive! You wouldn’t believe how down in the dumps being dead makes you feel. I went back to Kanto while I was still a ghost, and everything is just like we saw it. Death, destruction, but not as much as there would have been, had the Rockets known we escaped. We can still cut it short. We have the element of surprise.>
Will’s energy sent forth a message. <Are you all right, Sabrina? I heard you last night, and then I heard someone else…>
<Yes. Something tried to take over my mind, and won. It used me to speak, then left.> She shivered unconsciously.
<Oh, yeah,> Will continued. <We finally reached land. It’s been a lukewarm greeting. First a few guys found us and tried to rough us up, but Lance’s dragons wouldn’t take that. So they brought us back to town, not too happy I’m guessing, and brought us before the town leader. He talked to us for about five minutes before he realized that we couldn’t talk back, and didn’t know what to do then. Next a guy ran up with a letter for the leader. He read it and then called a few guys to bring us dinner and then,>
Liza had an idea. <Okay, it was nice talking to you Will, bye,> she said, as a confused Will left the conversation.
<Liza, what’d ya do that for, the story was just getting interesting,> Tate complained.
<Tate, you’ve been a ghost, do you think that a spirit could have taken over Sabrina’s head?>
<Maybe. Maybe not.>
<Let’s go with maybe.> Liza thought again. Sabrina listened, curious. <Did you meet any other ghosts when you were dead?>
<No… Hyla!>
<Who?> Liza asked. The name seemed familiar.
<Remember the town leader of Glitter Gorge, Hyla? You know, that ugly old lady who understands ghost talk?>
<Yeah, the one with that magic stone that worked twice now.> Liza reminded him.
<Well when I first saw her as a ghost, she thought I was some other ghost, Evelyn.>
<Evelyn. You think she had something to do with this?>
<Maybe. If only I knew more about her…>
<Duh! Talk to Hyla! I think some of your brain cells are still dead. Hyla’s right next door to where you are!>
<Yeah, I should do that. In fact I’ll do that right now. Good-bye.> He removed himself from the conversation, and Liza followed suit, leaving Sabrina alone in her own head. She opened her eyes and closed them again, not wanting to think, or move. She needed to relax.

Tate opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a small hut, with fur mats on the floor and leather hangings on the walls. Pryce, Norman, Bruno, and Wattson dozed on the ground, under thick blankets on one side of the room. Tate quickly pulled on his borrowed coat and ran outside. He passed a few houses before arriving at a large structure with steps leading up to the door. Quietly he opened the thick wooden door, to see Hyla meditating silently on the ground. She didn’t look up as he sat down in front of her, sitting on his feet with his knees forward. He was contemplating the best way to get her attention when her eyes opened. “What does the twice-living want of me?” she asked bluntly.
“Me? Who said I wanted anything?” Tate quickly replied. Hyla made him nervous.
“Of course you want something, there is no other way you would tolerate my presence otherwise,”
He decided to get it over with. “When you first heard me as a ghost, you mistook me for Evelyn. What do you know about her?”
The woman smiled. “Ah, yes, Evelyn. You wish to hear all I know? Good.
“She was a bold one. She was born during the time of feud, the awful feud between the Imperi and Emine tribes. She travelled from the age of ten, trying beyond hope to stop the fighting. Evelyn was a peace keeper. Alas, she died in her own woods, the woods of Backwood, at the age of thirteen, during another outbreak of violence. She gave her life for peace, and soon after she died the fighting stopped. Now the only thing that can be compared to the feud is the violence between Paluz and Team Rocket. In fact, had Team Rocket not attacked, the fighting may have never stopped.” She sighed. “Team Rocket made them realize that they are all brothers, that they must stand strong and united against this new menace to defeat it. But I am getting off the subject. Evelyn’s spirit wanders; she is still a warrior of peace. She will not rest, she will not be able to rest until there is peace. That is all I know, Spirit of Two Lives.”
“Thank you,” Tate replied before rushing out the door. She seriously crept him out. Evelyn… she wanted peace, huh? Maybe…
<What’s the word, Tate?> asked Liza.
<Maybe, Liza. She’s a peacekeeper. Maybe she was trying to help.>
<Or maybe she’s an evil demon sent to kill us all.>
<Or maybe not. All she did was speak through Sabrina, right?>
<And seriously freak her out. And if Sabrina lost her cool, then it must’ve been seriously freaky.> Liza philosophised.
<Too bad Sabrina couldn’t understand her.>
<Do we even know for sure that’s who it was?>
<We’d have to be there when it happens again.> Tate announced.
<If it happens again.>
<Right.>


Lance sat on a dead log, eating his lunch of fresh fruit and vegetables. He looked around, noticing Will with his eyes closed against a tree. It was impossible to tell if he was talking to the other psycics, thinking, or just sleeping. May was typing e-mails to her father since Liza and Tate had ruled e-mails to the mainland as dangerous. Jasmine and Koga checked up on their Pokemon as Agatha sipped her tea. Whitney and Chuck finished their lunches ravenously, and Lance let his thoughts drift. ‘What are we supposed to do?’ he asked himself. ‘If we go back home, then Cassidy will finish everyone off quickly, or take loved ones hostage. If we don’t go back, they’ll die anyway from all the fighting.’ He knew that many of the trainers were trying to avoid these same thoughts as they tried to find a semblance of their former life in this strange place. What was that old adage? ‘Strangers in a strange land. Yes. We are strangers to them, and this truly is a strange land. No Trainers, no Pokeballs, no Pokecenters, no tall buildings, no cities. Very strange.’ Lance sighed and finished his lunch.
As soon as Will opened his eyes, Koga was already halfway to him. He was very concerned about his daughter after hearing about the state Tate was in. Will confirmed that she was alive and well and attacked his lunch, leaving a relieved Koga to turn to other matters.


“How about Lee, for the boy?” Ash asked.
“Not Lee. How about Allison?”
“Naw. We’re never gonna come up with any decent names,” Ash conceded. “We’re just gonna end up calling them ‘Boy’ and ‘Girl.’” He was upset. They had discussed names before, but all the names that they had liked before suddenly seemed, just, not right. They didn’t fit; they were good names, just not good names for the twins. Pikachu looked up. ‘What’s the matter with calling them ‘Boy’ and ‘Girl’?’ he wondered. ‘They seem like decent names to me.’ Pikachu thought. ‘My name is Pikachu; I am a Pikachu. His name can be Boy. What is he? A boy. She is named Girl. She is a girl. Sweet and simple.’
From outside the hut, a man watched curiously, a sad expression on his face. “He’s right there, and he has children. Even though I travelled across the world, he still manages to land right there. Do I have to tell him? And what exactly would I tell him?’
The psychic Pokemon landed lightly beside him. <What are you waiting for? He’s had to wait twenty years, now that he’s here it hardly seems fair.>
“I can’t just tell him! What would I say?”
<Hi, my name is~ Hey!> The man had smacked her behind the head.
“No!”
<Well if you won’t tell everything, then at least something. Names. He needs names for his kids. You have names, you know, the ones that never got used?>
“If it was a girl, Shawna, if it was a boy, Paul. Yes. Those names would have been for my child.”
<He needs names for his children. Go!>
“Fine! I’m going, I’m going! Quit pushing, Latias!” He was suddenly in knocking on the hut’s thin door. Ash’s head snapped up and he looked out the window, expecting Brock or Gary, who had both visited earlier. Instead he saw a man in ragged black robes, with a black beard and black hair, and tanned skin. He looked familiar…
“Uh, Misty? How do you say, ‘Come in,’ in Paluzi?”
“Just let him in, Ash. He wouldn’t come if he had nothing to say.” Ash opened the door wide to admit the forty something man into the room. He cleared his throat, put a hand to his head as if clearing a headache, and spoke. Misty looked closely at the man, he looked almost exactly like~
“It has come to my attention that you are in need of names for your newborns.”
“Waaah! You speak English?”
“Uh, yes. I do. I am here to give you a few names. The boy will be named Paul and the girl shall be Shawna.”
“Paul and Shawna. I like it,” Misty announced, as if that was all that mattered.
“They’re good names,” Ash confirmed. “Speaking of names, I’m Ash Ketchum. And this is my wife Misty. What’s your name?”
The man edged toward the door before answering. He hesitated, then replied, “They call me Hombre Nonombre. Noname man,” he added, and swiftly opened the door to let himself out. Misty smiled. Yes. The man looked almost exactly like Ash.
A/N: Review! Thanks to Topaz I have sent this in properly. Thanks Topaz!