Chapter 31 (Part 1)
Ah, so the forums have finally let me on. Well guys, this is what you've all been waiting for. I'll reply to posts after the chapter because I'm sure you would rather read it first. XD I just want to dedicate this chapter to everyone who has read, commented and supported Fate and Destiny of Friends over the last few years. If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't have found my ability to write creatively like this.
In particular, I would like to pay special thanks to:
Peach, Brian Powell, ~Mist~, Cloud Strife, Cap. D. Blue, Cerulean Girl, Moonlusion, shadow_shipper, Hypershell, Hakajin, Blazing Charmander, el_toro, xsweet_peax, Cyndaquil, gladdecease, Kaori, Stacee, Kaiviti, ~Coral, The Red Butterfly, Melody, WaterTrainer243, pokemon4eva and Chris for their priceless friendship and support you've give me in life and for this fic over the last four years. You guys are the best! Please don't be offended if your name wasn't in this list! All of my readers are special to me and value each and every one of you as individuals and as friends. ^_^ I hope we can get to know each other as well as the friendships I have made over the last four years.
Anyway, I won't keep you any longer. Thank you all again for your support and I hope you enjoy the chapter! I warn you now: this chapter is the first of two parts: explanation and consequences. Personally, I don't like this chapter but I prefer the finale. Reviews and criticism always welcome! Enjoy!
Chapter 31 – Till Death Do Us Part…
May leaned over Misty to inspect the view from the blimp window. They were travelling over the sea connecting Houen to Kanto and had already passed an hour of their journey in light conversation. Delia had explained to the group that she wouldn’t be accompanying them back to Cerulean but that she and Professor Oak were going to continue on back to Pallet, as he had received an urgent call from a friend in “Sinnoh”.
“Attention passengers,” an overhead voice echoed throughout the blimp. “I’m afraid that we must make an emergency stop on Pummelo Island, for technical reasons. We assure you that you are in no immediate danger and should remain comfortable in your seats until we land. Our attendants will direct you to the nearest rest points and will inform you of what will happen as the blimp is inspected. Thank you for your cooperation and we apologise for the inconvenience.”
Misty looked towards Ash with a puzzled expression.
“Isn’t Pummelo Island where you won the Orange League, Ash?” She queried.
Ash nodded excitedly as Pikachu gave a cry of agreement. He rummaged in his bag and pulled out the picture of Misty and himself that Pikachu had shown him in the changing rooms before his match.
“Do you remember this picture, Misty?” Ash asked her. “It was the one Tracey took after I’d won my match against Rudy! I wonder what happened to all the pictures that Tracey took after we fell off Lapras?”
Misty shared his curiosity as the blimp descended but replied that she didn’t know and that perhaps they should confront Tracey about it when they reached Cerulean. They turned their attention to May escorting a disheartened Brock to the refreshments counter, who had had to leave his beloved Cassie behind in Ever Grande City, as she was still committed to her work on the beach for the rest of the summer. Regardless, Cassie had assured him that she would return to him as soon as her contract has expired and that they would keep in contact in the meantime.
Brock sipped distractedly on his drink with May offering words of comfort as she watched the rest of the group from their stools. Delia and Professor Oak were engrossed in animated conversation before they were distracted by Max chasing Pikachu and LuvDisc around their seating area and passed Ash and Misty. The pair appeared to be giggling at a joke, which caused May to feel a twang of uncertainty at the happinees she felt for them.
“Attention passengers.” The overhead voice resonated throughout the blimp again. “We have now arrived on Pummelo Island. Please disembark through the nearest exit and wait to be advised by one of attendants for further instructions.”
Misty quickly recalled LuvDisc to its ball as Pikachu ran up Ash’s arm to take its usual perch on his shoulder. The group huddled together and walked down the ramp out into the crisp sunshine, with the waves softly lapping up against the cliff-face next to where they had landed. A young man dressed in a bright blue uniform waved to them to follow him towards a long white hut; the whole of the front side decorated with plastic curving windows. He opened a door to admit them through and ushered them to sit down on the plastic white seats in front of them.
“Hello, and welcome to Pummelo Island.” The man greeted them warmly. “As you know, your blimp needs to have some examinations and possibly some repairs, so we estimate that the waiting time will be about two hours before you can leave for the Kanto Coast BlimpPad. We are fortunate enough to have two Orange Championship matches taking place today, so you are welcome to watch them while you wait, at no extra cost.”
At this point, he withdrew several special passes from his pockets and distributed them amongst the group.
“If you could meet us back here in two hours, we will most likely be able to continue your journey to the Kanto Coast but we hope that this has not been too distressful for you and we apologise profoundly for the inconvenience.”
The group thanked him and made their way out the opposite entrance that led to the Pummelo Town Centre so that they could decide what they wanted to do. Delia and Professor Oak said that they would go and wait in the hut for a while and that the group should go and take in the sights of the Island. Ash proposed that he show everyone his record in the “Hall of Heroes” and since no one else had visited the island except Misty, it was agreed that the pair would be the groups’ guides. As they walked through the quaint little town, it became apparent that the deserted atmosphere was a result of the anticipated matches, which all the townspeople appeared to have gone to watch. The coliseum stood proudly on top of the hill in the distance, emitting cheers of support and excitement as it appeared that the first match had already begun.
The group raced eagerly through the streets towards the stadium only to find, as the guard outside explained, that the match had reached its interval to allow both Drake, the Orange League Champion, and the challenger to recuperate from the intensity of the battle.
“How are they both doing so far?” May curiously asked the guard.
“Both contenders have three Pokemon left.” The guard replied formally. “They will resume their match in half an hour.”
The group thanked the guard and made their way towards the “Hall of Heroes”, where Ash was persistent to show off his placed amongst the Orange League Champions. As they approached the aging building, they saw two older teenagers entering before them to inspect the monuments of previous champions. The group silently walked passed them gazing at a particularly old monument and towards the newer selection, where Ash’s small coloured photo stood out prominently amongst the others against a large tablet marking his Pokemon’s footprints. It was clear that a few more people had been victorious against Drake since Ash had challenged him, as the winners began to circle around the room. The group huddled around Ash’s position in the circle and smiled down upon his victorious expression at winning the Championship.
“You’re Ash, aren’t you?” A soft voice asked behind them.
The group turned around to see the pair who had been previously viewing the older monument smiling at them. The girl walked towards him with a smile and held out her hand to shake Ash’s.
“My name’s Marina.” She said as she pushed her prominent red hair away from her face with her free hand.
Ash looked up at her and guessed that she must be around Brock’s age, if not slightly older, as the young man accompanying her also walked towards them with a smile. He was taller than Marina by a fair margin and introduced himself as Alex, whilst catching sight of Misty and grinning.
“You must be Misty.” He said with a knowing glance. “I hear your temper could rival Marina’s.”
Marina shot him a dirty look and directed her attention back to the puzzled group.
“We’ve been travelling around the Orange Islands together and have heard a lot about Misty and Ash. You’re very famous here.”
It was apparent that Ash’s ego had swollen to the point of puffing out his chest and adopted a cheeky grin at her words.
“Well, I can’t help it if the public adores me.” He replied with a drawn-out sigh. “After all, I
did win the Orange League Championship
and the Houen League…”
Marina and Alex smiled impressively at him and then invited the group to inspect the old stone tablet and photo they had previously been viewing. Marina explained to them that the man in the picture was her father when he won the Orange League, but it was Alex who had found it and told her.
“It gives me hope.” She said fondly and directed her sheepish gaze towards Alex. “To be the best that I can be.”
“That’s so romantic!” May squealed dreamily as she caught sight of the way Marina and Alex were gazing at each other.
“So… what else have you heard about us?” Misty piped up eventually.
“Oh, just that you two have an incredibly close connection and that everyone else in the archipelago knows what it is and that you two don’t.” Alex said casually as he admired the ceiling. “We better be heading off, Marina. We don’t want to miss the second half of the match.”
Marina nodded in understanding, took a deep breath and said fond goodbyes to the group before leaving with Alex. The others waved enthusiastically after them but Brock seemed to have fallen in some type of trance and began floating after Marina and Alex. The trio disappeared behind the side of the entrance, where the others distinctly heard Brock declare “did you know you’re absolutely gorgeous?” to which they heard a heavy thud and Brock came skidding back into the chamber, knocking Max over in his path.
“I THOUGHT YOU WERE HEAD-OVER-HILLS-IN-LOVE WITH CASSIE?” Misty screamed angrily in his face.
Brock remained motionlessly on the floor as May attempted to pull her brother from underneath him. Brock sat up spontaneously, rubbed his chin and looked at Misty.
“I am but she was stunning…” He replied dreamily.
Misty slapped him across the face.
“You are unbelievable!” She screamed.
Brock shook his head in shock.
“I am fine.” He nodded to himself. “I am in love with Cassie.” He nodded again.
“I guess he can’t help it if Cassie’s not around.” May pondered thoughtfully. “Well, they do say you can ‘look but don’t touch’”.
Misty folded her arms irritably. “That’s not the point. You should be faithful no matter what the temptations.”
“Yeah, like you’re a fine example.” May muttered under her breath.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.” May replied innocently and helped Max to his feet.
His pocket started ringing, making him panic that his PokeTech was broken but after frantically pulling it out of his pocket, he realised that he was receiving a call. Professor Oak appeared on the screen to tell them that the blimp was fine and that the needle on the fuel gage had disconnected so they were recalling all passengers back to the blimp for take off. He explained that there was a blimp leaving now and another one would be leaving in just over an hour for those who couldn’t be contacted, so it was up to them which one the wanted to board.
Eager to get to Cerulean, the group agreed to meet their elders at the hut as soon as possible to board the earlier blimp. They took one last look at Ash’s place amongst the Champions and sped out of the building and back through the town, where the sun was beginning to set behind the vast ocean in the distance. A large crowd of passengers were gathered around the white hut waiting to board the blimp as they caught sight of the professor and Mrs Ketchum waiting to one side.
***
“Are you sure you don’t want to go home first, Ash?” Mrs Ketchum asked her son as the walked towards the dividing paths between Pallet Town, Pewter City and Cerulean City.
Ash smiled at her.
“The last time I was at these crossroads, I had to say goodbye to Brock and Misty.” He replied. “This time, Misty has to leave and we’re all going with her. It’s urgent that she gets back and we can always come back to Pallet on her day off.”
Mrs Ketchum nodded in understanding and got back into the four-by-four with Professor Oak.
“I’ll send Tracey over in the morning, Misty. I’m sure Daisy would appreciate his help.” Professor Oak said as he waved goodbye to the group with Delia.
“Take care, everyone!” She cried as they drove off.
“Bye, Mom!” Ash cried with Pikachu on his shoulder, waving both his arms in the air.
“Bye, honey! Let me know if you need more clean underwear!” She cried as she disappeared into the distance.
Ash face-faulted in embarrassment.
They walked along the path to Cerulean and saw the city coming into view. It was beginning to get dark as they ventured through the quiet streets, following Misty through a short-cut side-alley to the gym. May and Max looked impressed by the front of the gym as Misty felt a small grin form as she realised she was home. Brock walked over to the poster board and observed the new attraction.
“Looks like you’ll be playing a mermaid again, Misty.” He stated knowingly as she walked over to him.
She sighed in frustration and commented ambiguously that she had had enough of mermaid tales. She walked around the side of the locked-up gym and to a house beside it, which had a few lights glowing from some of the windows. Misty walked up to the door and knocked until it slowly opened. Expecting to see someone in front of her, she looked down in surprise to see a small little girl with fawn shoulder-length flowing hair, and wearing a bright peach-coloured dress. Her piercing green eyes narrowed as she observed the group waiting at the door, then opened it widely and cleared her throat, adjusted the peachy bow in her hair, then with her hands behind her back, addressed them formally.
“May I help you?”
“Primrose?” Misty shouted in alarm. “What are you doing here?”
Primrose cleared her throat again.
“I am here to add more to my acting CV by playing the part of the mermaid in Cousin Daisy’s play.” She continued formally and rocked back on her heels. “Now why are you here?”
Misty felt her temper rising.
“I’m here to play the mermaid in Daisy’s play.” She replied through gritted teeth.
“I don’t think so.” Primrose said with a sigh. “You best be on your way.”
“But I live here!”
“
Nooo… Daisy’s says you live in the gym.” She threw a set of keys to Misty. “Enjoy!”
With that, she shut the door in Misty’s face, which became set with anger and attempted to kick down the door. Brock and Ash attempted to restrain her as she began lashing out screaming wildly that she’d teach that little brat not to mess with her.
“She’s just a kid!” Ash argued as he tried to calm Misty down.
“That little brat is a nightmare!” She screamed in his face. “She causes nothing but trouble!”
The door opened to reveal Daisy looking surprised to see Misty being held back by Ash and Brock.
“Like, all you had to do was knock on the door instead of screaming your head off.” Daisy said with her arms folded.
Seeing that Misty was about to burst again, Brock and Ash led her to one side while May and Max explained what had happened. Daisy seemed confused and said that Primrose was up in the spare room but ushered the group into the living room where Lily and Violet were talking over a cup of coffee. They greeted the group warmly as they were introduced to May and Max, who Daisy said would be perfect for their parts in the play.
“What do you mean?” Misty asked. “They’re just here for a visit. I thought you just wanted me back?”
“Well, since all you friends are here and you said that they were on vacation, why can’t they play parts? I like, didn’t hire extra actors because I thought they’d want to do it if they had the chance.”
May and Max nodded eagerly.
“Oh wow! I’m going to be on stage!” May squealed excitedly.
Agreeing to discuss the play in detail tomorrow, it was decided that May would share Misty’s room in the gym and Brock, Max and Ash would use the other spare room next door to them.
“I’d give you Misty’s old room upstairs but Primrose has kinda taken over.” Daisy explained sheepishly and wished them all good night as they walked towards the gym.
“So how come you live in the gym and not with your sisters, in the house?” May asked Misty curiously.
“We just fought so much that I moved into one of the rooms above the gym to get away from them. I’ve just stayed there ever since.” Misty replied wearily as memories of her sisters’ bullying began to surface.
Misty opened the back door of the gym and allowed everyone to walk through before locking it behind her. They walked around the famous Cerulean pool that Max and May watched excitedly as some of the Water Pokemon were practicing tricks in the water. When they saw Misty, they swam over to greet her. A broad smile spread across her face as she laughed and couldn’t resist the urge to join them. She released her Water Pokemon from their balls, Gyarados roaring proudly as Corsola, LuvDisc and Staryu jumped happily into the pool, with Psyduck grabbing a floating ring and lounged in it on the surface. Kicking off her shoes, she dove neatly into the pool where they surrounded her affectionately with the other Pokemon. She swam powerfully through the waters, taking in the freedom it gave her spirit and how natural it felt for her. Staryu swam in front of her, urging her to take hold as it sped through the waters with the other Pokemon following. Taking out her ponytail, she kicked towards the surface as Gyarados launched a powerful fountain of water beneath her feet. She sped to the surface, broke the waters and balanced on the fountain of water beneath her, as her friends applauded. Diving back into the water, she swam towards her friends as Brock helped her out.
“That was awesome, Misty!” Max said, impressed by her talents.
“I’ve missed being home.” She sighed calmly as she took a towel from a hidden cupboard to dry her soaking form.
She led the group away from the diving board to the opposite end of the pool through the large opening that led back up to the main reception area. Once there, she walked towards an ascending set of stairs and stopped at the first flight to admit them through a door labelled “Private”. The room consisted of two large sofas and a TV with an open kitchen at the far end and another set of stairs to Misty’s left. Wearily, she walked up the stairs to a corridor with three doors and opened one for the boys to enter.
“The door opposite yours is our room and the one at the end of the corridor is the bathroom.” She explained to her friends. “Is anyone hungry?”
“I’m starving!” Ash exclaimed happily at the prospect of food as Pikachu chirped excitedly on his shoulder.
“I’ll get started!” Brock said enthusiastically as he walked back down the stairs towards the kitchen.
Misty smiled gratefully and opened the other door to allow May through into her bedroom. May looked around the water themed room, where a “Pokemon Dolls Set” sat proudly against a wall near a fluffy blue rug, which leaned ended by Misty’s bed that was decorated with the ocean waves. She walked across the wooden floor towards a photo set in a wooden blue frame above the bed of Ash, Misty and Brock all sitting together on a bank with Pikachu and Togepi in front of them. They all beamed at her watching them, as May noticed how close Ash and Misty were, with Misty’s head almost resting on Ash’s shoulder. She noticed the collection of photos on her bedside table of her adventures with her friends; most of them with Ash. She turned around quickly when she saw Misty dragging in a mattress from the other room and moved over to help her pull it through.
“You’re room’s lovely.” May said as she continued to take in the atmosphere while Misty set up a spare bed. “You can really tell that you love Water Pokemon.”
Misty smiled at her as she stood up from fixing the sheets to the mattress.
“Your plushie collection is really cute, too.” May set with a grin as she eyed the pile of Water Pokemon toys at the foot of Misty’s bed.
In a panic, Misty attempted to shove them under the bed with the excuse that they were Primrose’s and that she’d probably left them there. May giggled understandingly. Misty opened her wardrobe next to her bookcase and told May that she could hang up her outfits in it if she wished. Leaving her to unpack, Misty walked through to the boys’ room to see how they were progressing. Max had already claimed the large single bed, leaving Ash and Brock to occupy the bunk bed. He was unpacking Brock’s and his own stuff when he saw Misty enter and smiled at her.
“Your gym is SO cool!” He exclaimed excitedly. “Can I see all your Pokemon in the morning?”
Misty laughed and assured him that she would by giving him an opportunity to interact with the Pokemon in the pool. Unable to contain his ecstasy, he thanked her repeatedly and ran to tell May. Ash came out of the bathroom as Max ran passed him, almost knocking him off his feet. He saw Misty standing in the doorway of his room and invited her to join him in the kitchen to help Brock with dinner. She nodded and followed him, turning on the TV as she walked passed. A news bulletin came on to deliver the headlines for the local area. Brock was hovered over a large pan full of a steaming hot liquid that he decided to throw some more carrots into.
“Brock! You know how much I hate carrots!” Misty exclaimed in a panic.
“You won’t even taste them, Misty.” He replied casually.
She looked unconvinced and began pouring out some steaming cocoa into mugs. She rummaged in one of the cupboards and pulled out some marshmallows that she dropped into each of the mugs.
“Now I know I had some Pokemon Chow around here somewhere…” She mumbled. “Ah! Here it is!”
She pulled out a yellow tin with a lightning bolt on it and poured the contents into a bowl.
“Here ya go, Pikachu!” She said happily as the Pokemon jumped off Ash’s shoulder and on to hers as she held up a piece for it to eat. “Is it still good?”
It cried out happily, so she set the bowl on the floor by the kitchen table as it hopped down to eat its meal. She began to lay out the spoons for their soup on the table until she saw Ash staring intently at the TV screen.
“What’s wrong, Ash?” She asked.
“It says that Wallace received the Key of Sootopolis City for his generous donations and for opening his family’s private art gallery to the public.” He replied and scratched his head.
“Why is that a problem?”
“Because he opened the gallery the day he visited you and took you to that old building, but he was also at the party he held for all the guests who came to the opening. What’s up with that? They must have made a mistake, right? He can’t have just teleported back and forth.”
He laughed at the possibility. Confused and slightly unnerved by this news, Misty remarked that he was probably right and that they shouldn’t worry about it. Brock called out to them that their stew was ready and began serving up portions on plates that Ash and Misty distributed around the table. Max and May appeared from the stairs and took their places around the table as their food steamed in front of them. All of them ate their food eagerly except Misty, who seemed to be lost in thought as she stirred her dinner around her plate. Wallace had said that he could perform an ancient type of magic – could it allowed him to have temporarily transported himself from his party to tell her about the secret scroll? Anything seemed possible with him. Trying not to let it bother her, she explained to the others that she felt weary and was going to head to bed early and that she would see them in the morning.
“Is she all right, Ash?” May asked her friend quietly as Misty left.
“Yeah, she’s fine.” He nodded lazily as he patted his full stomach with Pikachu dozing on his lap.
“I think we should all head off to bed as well.” Brock said to the others. “It sounds like we’ll have a busy day tomorrow and it would be good for us to have an early night.”
They quickly cleared up the plates and turned off the TV and lights as they made their way up the stairs to the corridor to their bedrooms. Whispering good night, May quietly opened her door to see Misty sound asleep on the made-up bed, leaving her bed free for her friend. She turned the nightstand on as she changed into her pyjamas and quietly crept into bed, staring in detail at the photo frames that covered Misty’s bedside table and the new addition of the painting Wallace had made her propped up against it, as she turned off the nightlight.
***
“This is awesome!” Max shouted in delight as Misty’s Staryu took him at full speed around the pool.
“Hold your breath!” Misty shouted from the edge of the pool as Staryu dove underwater with Max to see the other Pokemon.
She was dressed in a dark green halter neck bikini with her legs draped over the edge of the pool; Corsola and LuvDisc playfully dancing in front of her. May walked towards her in a pink and yellow bikini and sat down beside her.
“Do you want to join him?” Misty asked her politely.
May shook her head and smiled.
“I’m fine. I’ll just watch for now.”
“You know, Misty, it’s not like you to be wearing a bikini and not be sunbathing or in the water. What’s wrong with this picture?”
Misty turned around to see her good friend hovering over her, dressed in blue swim shorts and a white sleeveless T-shirt.
“Tracey!” She said happily and stood up to greet him. “Professor Oak said that you’d stop by.”
He nodded happily and explained that he was here to help out with the play, mainly backstage.
“I hope Daisy doesn’t start fantasising about us playing a mermaid and prince again.” He said sheepishly and held his hands behind his head.
“Oh, have you two dated then?” May asked innocently.
“No way! S/he likes someone else!” They replied in unison and looked at each other in embarrassment.
“Oh, Re-ally?” May asked with an amused grin.
“Which reminds me, what happened to those pictures you took of Ash and me after we fell of Lapras in the Orange Islands?” Misty queried Tracey and folded her arms curiously.
“Is that Primrose over there?” He asked innocently and pointed to the other side of the pool.
“I don’t know why she keeps saying that she’s going to be the mermaid when that’s clearly
my part.” She said boldly from the other side of the pool.
Misty glared at Primrose with her hair covered by a flowing mass of red hair, identical to her cousin’s, with two pink seashells covering her chest and a green mermaid tail covering her from the waist down. She dove neatly into the pool and swam over to Misty.
“You are clearly not worthy for the part.” She said and began swimming with one of the Goldeen.
Misty grinded her teeth and made to jump in the water after her before Tracey pulled her back and calmed her down. Ash and Brock emerged from the corridor leading to the pool and walked over to greet Tracey. Daisy walked in shortly after them and told them, in an excited tone, that she wanted to discuss the storyline for the play with them.
“OK, like, this is the coolest love story ever!” She cried out and waved the scripts around in the air. “There’s like, this little princess, Primrose, who is engaged to be married to this little prince, that’s Max, and they’re like, kinda in love, or at least the princess is but the prince is too young and thinks girls are icky.” She began to explain as she gave them all a script.
Primrose came out of the water and undid her tail to reveal matching pink swim shorts to her bikini and took hold of the script Daisy handed to her. She looked at her part and began swooning to a freaked out Max about how they needed to portray their love.
“They’re naturals at these parts.” Misty whispered sarcastically to Tracey.
“Then the princess has to make a journey to the prince’s island but there’s a huge storm and she doesn’t make it to the lifeboats and ends up swirling around the sea. Then all the Pokemon of the sea try to help this girl to survive but she’s slowly dying at the bottom of the sea so they like, all start crying and turn her into a mermaid so that she can live! The girl realises that she can’t go back so she lives happily with the Water Pokemon and they all play games and then it’s all happy. Then, there’s another storm and like, there’s this guy swirling around in the water, so the mermaid saves him and takes him to the nearest beach she can find, which happens to be his home! He sees her and is mesmerised by her beauty and wants to see her again but then he realises that she’s a mermaid and can’t come on land, so they agree to meet in secret in the water tunnels of his castle.”
By this point, Daisy began jumping up and down on the spot and grabbed Ash and Misty by the arm and swung them towards each other.
“That’s you guys!” She squealed. “Misty will play the mermaid as an older girl and Ash will play the Prince, who’s actually Max’s character grown up! Isn’t this exciting? But then it gets better! The Prince is actually betrothed to another Princess to keep peace between the lands of his people and their neighbours and there’s this really cute scene where the Prince and mermaid meet up again and she shows him her underwater world but when they get back to the castle, he explains to her that he’s engaged to someone else but he’s madly in love with her.”
“This is confusing.” Misty sighed in frustration. “So what is the Prince going to do about it?”
“Well, he like, meets up with the other Princess, that’s you May! And tells her that, no offence, but he’s madly in love with this other girl and she’s happy too because she likes someone else! So the Prince goes back to the mermaid, who is sad because she can’t come on land but then she explains to the Prince that all the Water Pokemon transformed her into a mermaid, so maybe they can transform her back! So they go to the Water Pokemon, they change her back and it turns out the Princesses are actually sisters so there’s no upset about the peace treaty and everyone lives happily ever after!”
Daisy clapped her hands in delight and beamed at the group’s puzzled faces.
“It seems a bit long.” Max pointed out.
“And the ending is cheesy.” Primrose piped up. “And why is my part only small? I want a feature length part!”
“Like, you can be one of the extras in the castle scenes!” Daisy replied casually. “You can do some dance or something.”
Primrose seemed unconvinced.
OK, so now the names of your characters! Max, you’re going to be the Young Prince Christophor; Primrose, you’re going to be the Young Princess Annina; Ash, you’re Prince Christophor; Misty, Princess Annina; May, you’re Princess Amara, Brock you’re Prince Christophor’s good friend, Silex…”
“Silex?” Misty questioned out loud.
“Yeah, it was like, the only name in the book I actually liked.” Daisy replied airily. “I’ll be the narrator, Tracey can be the King, Lily will be the Queen and Violet will be Annina’s and Amara’s mother – the other Queen. Everybody know their parts?”
Tracey looked unsure that he was no longer doing backstage work until Daisy assure him that his part was small and that he would need to help her with the backstage work after he’d played his part. Everyone nodded in agreement with Daisy’s casting except Misty, who stayed behind to talk to her sister about the “book” whilst everyone else went with Tracey to collect their costumes. When she asked where Daisy had got it from, her sister replied that it was in the Cerulean Library but she said that it had been put on the wrong shelf because it was really old compared to the others.
“I need to return it anyway.” Daisy said thoughtfully.
“I’ll return it!” Misty replied hastily and Daisy told her that she’d left it behind the counter at the reception desk. “But make sure you’re not too long because we’ve got rehearsals!” She shouted after her as Misty put on a pair of mini shorts and her yellow crop top to cover her bikini, picked her shoes up by the door and ran towards the reception.
“Where are you going, Misty?” Ash called after her as he tried to fasten a cape over his regular clothes.
“To return a library book!” She shouted in response and grabbed her backpack whilst running out of the sliding doors without a backwards glance.
***
“The ancient library?” The receptionist repeated.
“Yes, do you know if it explains anything about
oppidum caeruli?” I don’t know where it is.” Misty replied hastily as she held the book against her chest.
The receptionist chuckled and took the book from Misty, opening it to the first page.
“You should know where that is Misty.” She replied politely. “It’s Cerulean City’s ancient name in Latin before it became the city it is now. It was known as
oppidum caeruli, which translates to ‘Cerulean Town’ or literally, “The Town of Cerulean.” I’m surprised you didn’t know that. Surely you know that Cerulean is the Birthplace Of Water Trainers?”
The thought had already clicked in Misty’s mind. Wallace’s uses of the term echoed in her head; at the party on the ship…
So you are from the Sensational Cerulean City? Where the birth of water trainers began? In the secret area after she’d been given the scroll…
Promise me! It is also know as the Birth Place of Water Trainers… How could she not have made the connection before?
“So Cinereus was born in Cerulean City?” Misty pondered thoughtfully as she recalled Wallace’s words from inside the cave.
The Prince, who was mentioned in the legend, lived in the castle on this island, though his other home was a place, in Latin, called oppidum caeruli in the region now known as Kanto. He often spent his summers here and his winters training in the home of his birth…
He had moved from his birth town of Cerulean City to Ever Grande City… which was at the time linked to Kanto, where the people were fighting over Sootopolis with the people of Houen…
“This is too confusing.” Misty sighed, rubbing the tension building in her head. “Does the ancient library have any records on someone called Cinereus in oppidum caeruli?”
The receptionist typed into her computer and shook her head. She explained that the only reference to “Cinereus” was in the book that she was holding, which was a translation of some ancient texts that had disappeared in a fire a few decades ago. Misty’s face fell at this news but the librarian assured her that she could have unlimited access to the ancient library to see if she could find anything else for her research. Thanking the receptionist for her help, Misty took the key from her and walked down a small flight of steps that had been roped off from the public. The walls slowly aged as she descended, distinctly marking the modernised building from the former chambers of the library before it. An old oak door with iron hinges marked the end of the corridor with the shadows of a blazing torch in an iron casket hovering over it. Misty placed the wrought iron key into the lock and turned it until it clicked, opening it to reveal a large room with a few glass windows to allow the light in for the desks underneath them. Misty walked around the dusty room, looking for clues in the titles of the books lined on the shelves in front of her. Although the books were old, none of them seemed to date back to the period she wanted, so she turned to the book that Daisy had taken out, hoping that it would give her some answers, since the story also involved a “Silex”. Her eyes widened as she read.
Although the ancient scrolls were lost, this book contains a collection of ancient fairy tales that circulated the Kanto region, translated from an old diary found in Sootopolis.
Misty frowned. If the scrolls had been lost, then how had Wallace managed to get hold of one? She read on:
The diary belonged to an unnamed young woman who explains that she told these “true” fairy tales to her children and grandchildren. The entries were written in Latin, which the woman detailed was appropriate for preserving the story for her children, who all learnt Latin and became their favourite method of learning the language. The diary consisted of six different stories, all focused in areas with an aquatic history, namely: Cerulean City, Sootopolis City, Ever Grande City, Pacifilog, and Pastoria City…
Misty flipped to the Ever Grande City chapter but was distracted when an old piece of parchment fell onto the floor. It had but a few words on it but the significance of the words made Misty’s heart skip a beat.
Nebulosa and Cinereus – Praestigia Vaporeonis = Misconceptions of Vaporeons.
Anyone who had seen the piece of paper would have probably discarded it thinking it was someone’s used notes but Misty’s mind buzzed as she remembered Wallace pulling out “Misconceptions of Vaporeons” from the shelf in Ever Grande City to reveal the secret chamber. Could it have the same effect here? Frantically she looked around for a book with a match title, scanning the bookshelves with a keen eye until in the very corner, a small and worn bookcase leaned against the wall next to a tapestry with a lit torch. She bent down and found a thin book labelled “Praestigia Vaporeonis” and pulled it, only to find it locked in the book shelf as she heard movement beside her. She watched the tapestry flicker gracefully with the air blowing behind it and Misty carefully pushed it aside to reveal a dark staircase leading down to another chamber. Feeling as if nothing else could surprise her, Misty made her way down the stone stairs with the torch in one hand and the book in the other as a voice whispered:
You have found it…
***
woo!
