The Story (cont.)

The Story Continues

Secrets Revealed!

Hey! Are you still with us and followin' along? ^_^ Well, now it starts getting really confusing, so I hope you don't mind keeping your mind open. And no, we are NOT SICK MINDED PEOPLE!!! Although responses to one of the many ideas sparked up could prove OTHERWISE...

Justin: I like the idea of THIS happening, tho!
Krissy: You EVIL TWISTED SICK-MINDED PERSON!!!

Rashi stood, half angered, half amazed.
*drip*
He felt a cool drop on his head and looked up as rain began pouring down upon them.
"Go for cover!!!" They both began giggling profucialy once they found a hollowed out tree to hide in. After they calmed down a bit, Rashi got a serious look on his face. He turned to Iñaki.
"Iñaki," he began.
"Yeah Rashi?" She looked at him, wonderingly.
"Well...I think I should let you know more about me, since you seem to care for my wellbeing and all..." He paused to collect his thoughts."Well... I just think that you should know, before we get any closer emotionally, that well...I'm gay." He looked at her waiting for a shocked response. Instead, she offered up a heart felt smile.
"Its okay, Rashi. I appreciate you telling me." She smiled and leaned forward to give him a hug. Rashi looked outside at the sky and realized it was letting up. Soon, the clouds dissappeared to reveal a gorgeously clear sky full of stars and moons.
"I love how beuatiful the moons are." Rashi commented . Iñaki smilingly agreed. "Lets camp here tongiht,k Iñaki?" She nodded in agreement, as did Eve. They set out thier sleeping bags and turned in for the night. Who knows what will be waiting for the heros on the third day of who knows how many of this mysterious journey.

Iñaki awoke before the sun rose, and looked over at Rashi. He was sleeping peacefully, a dopey grin on his face.
'It must be nice to be able to dream,' she thought to herself. She quietly left his side and went to a small hill a little ways away from the tree. Iñaki looked back and smiled as Eve curled closer to Rashi. She sat down on the hill and closed her eyes. Maybe if she concentrated hard enough...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DoRean opened his eyes from his meditation.
'They're near...' He rose to his feet and mounted the horse that was grazing silently nearby. He felt a steady pulse... Someone was trying to call out beyond the Realm of the Dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rashi's eyes flew open, and he sat up quickly, knocking Eve a little ways away from him.
"Sorry."
"Ee..." Rashi got up quickly and headed over to where Iñaki was sitting.
"Iñaki. Iñaki!" She opened her eyes and looked into his worried ones.
"What? What's wrong?"
"We need to move. Now."
"Why? I was just..."
"DoRean or Morian can probably track us if we use and magick at all. We have to move!" The two took off away from the site and did their best to cover their tracks. They came to a small woodland area and hid in the trees, going from branch to branch to confuse the trail. Once they were a good deal away, Rashi looked at Iñaki sternly.
"Iñaki, what were you thinking?"
"I don't know... I just..."
"I'm sorry Jadeite died, I really am. But you can't do this! You could put us all in jeopardy!"
"I'm sorry... I just..." She looked up at him, seemingly only barely holding back tears. Rashi held her close to him, trying to comfort her.
"It's okay to cry, y'know."
"No, it's not. I can not cry. I must be strong for him."
"Iñaki..."
"No. I won't cry! I won't!" She broke away from him, barely stifling a sniffle. "I have never cried in the short life I've lived. Master Jadeite never once cried, not even when I was killed so long ago... I shouldn't cry for his death. I must avenge it."
"Iñaki, you can't just not cry. You need to express your feelings! If you keep them bottled up, they'll destroy you. Surely you realize this."
"I don't care! I'll not cry, not now, not ever... I can't... My Master would not..."
"...Iñaki... I... I hate to ask, but... What, exactly, did Morian mean, 'the way you helped your master'? If you don't want to tell me it's fine..."
"No..." Iñaki shook her head and looked to the ground. "I should tell you. You seem to trust me, as you told me your secret. Well, if someone is keeping a secret, it's not easy to trust them..." She took a deep breath, then turned to Rashi, looking him in the eyes.
"Rashi, in my dimnsion, in my world... I'm not... I'm..." She sighed. "Let me start from the beginning...

"Over a thousand years ago, there was a kingdom on the moon, the beautiful Silver Millenium. It was ruled by Queen Serenity, a kind, fair queen. Her daughter, Princess Serenity, fell in love with a prince from Earth, Prince Endymion. Well, one woman, a woman from Earth, Beryl by name, was also in love with Prince Endymion, but the Prince loved Serenity. So, to get the Moon Princess out of the way, she rallied the Earth against the Moon and was given the power to fight them by a dark force, known to all only as the Negaforce.

"Beryl became queen and servant of the Negaverse. She fought with vigor and had nearly won, but Queen Serenity summoned all of her strength to lock Queen Beryl and her minions away, and succeeded. Everyone from the Silver Millenium had been killed, so Queen Serenity sent them all to the future to be reborn on Earth.

"Well, those from the Negaverse who died were also reborn, but that happend later. In the middle of the fighting, Jadeite, my master, and Queen Beryl's three other Demon Genrals, found and began training apprentices to take over if they should fall. The Demon Generals had originally fought under the leadership of Prince Endymion, but they were taken over to the Negaverse by Queen Beryl.

"Prince Endymion knew they had been won over, but he wished to save them, nonetheless. As he was dying, and as I was fleeing by order of my Master, Endymion stopped me and begged me to save them, for he did not believe they would be reborn. He was fallen and it was his final plea, so I could not refuse.

"I cast a spell on four stones, and as each of the four Genrals died, their souls were called into the rock for which they were named: Jadeite, Zoicite, Nephlite, Malachite. I told Endymion that whatever the time or place, these rocks would find their way to him, and he could restore their souls.

"The spell was not complete on the last stone before the last of the Generals were killed, and before I could do a counter spell on the last rock, the Jadeite rock, a soldier came behind me and killed me.

"We were all reborn, including the four Demon Generals, who were once again won over to the Negaverse by the returned Queen Beryl. Prince Endymion, who had not yet recovered his memories, found the stones and released the souls without realizing he'd done so. The spell had worked and all the souls went back to their rightful bodies...except one. Master Jadeite's soul was trapped in the rock, and there was no way to get it out. His soul never returned to his body...

"Just before he told me to flee, he said... He said he loved me, and that was why I was to run away. He said if I lived, he could come back. Well, I died, and in my new life on Earth, I did not awaken until Master Jadeite found me near the bottom of the Tokyo Tower in Japan. I had no idea who or where I was, I had no childhood memories... So, he took me in and trained me. He was later killed by Queen Beryl for failing to destroy the Sailor Scouts, who were the protectors of Princess Serenity, and once the Negaverse had seemingly fallen to the Scouts, my three comrades and I regained our own memories.

"I have never forgiven myself, though my Master says not to worry," she ended, looking away from Rashi. "You see, I'm not a good person in my own dimension, I am evil. And I was afraid..."
"You were afraid that if I knew I wouldn't trust you?" She nodded, still not looking at him. She looked up surprised when she felt him embrace her.
"Iñaki, I don't care what you were like in your dimension. We're not in your dimension, and you've shown no reason for me not to trust you." Iñaki smailed slightly.
"Thank you Rashi, my friend." The two stood, embracing each other, for a while, Eve looking at them in confusion. She shrugged when they started moving again, and the two walked in silence, contemplting the secrets now revealed.

Rashi and Iñaki walked silently for awhile. After about an hour, they came to see a small town on the horizon, looking at each other with joyed faces, they dashed toward it.Once they reached the town, they saw the sign:
"Welcome to Ambrosia City - Where Zues oversees new beginnings"
"Hmm...kewl!" Rashi said, and headed for the biggest building there.

Once they got to the building, the realized it was a Laboratory. Prof. Willow's Lab, actually. They went inside.
"Why hello, strangers! I'm Professer Willow, but you can call me Prof.! What can I do ya' for?" Rashi and Iñaki eyed him for a moment.
"I dont know, we just wanted to check out the different places in this to--" Eve jumped out from behind Rashi.
"EEEVVEEEEE!!!"
"OH! You have an Eevee!! How marvelous!!!" Prof. exclaimed, "Do you have any other pokemon!?"
"Why yes, I have this Xatu I just caught!" Rashi released it from its pokeball and the prof went extatic. He turned to Iñaki, "How about you young lady? Have YOU any pokemon?"
"Nn-no, why?" She was a bit shocked.
" Why, dont you know?! Everyone who comes to Ambrosia city should have at least ONE pokemon!! Here," he handed her five pokeballs and motioned for her to come with him. "You may have one of these!! Don't worry, I dont need them anymore, they were stray and I was nursing them back to heath. They're fine now, so you may take one."

Iñaki looked at the three pokemon, each one eyeing her with curiosity. One was a... Well, it looked like a cross between a lizard and a mole and had fire sprouting from its back. Another appeared to be made of rock, and the third looked like a purple gas cloud with a black ball hovering inside of it.
"Ghastly..." The creature stared at her intently for a moment, then looked to the other two pokemon. They were shying away from Iñaki, as though they were afraid of her. Iñaki went over to the rock-like creature to get a better look at it, but it manuvered away from her, as did the fire creature.
"I guess I'll take the... um..." She looks to Rashi, who went over to her, Prof. staring at them strangely.
"Rashi, which one is the gas cloud?"
"Ghastly," he replied, trying his hardest not to start laughing.
"I'll take the Ghastly." The creature blinked, then seemed to shrug, as if it didn't really care.
"Very good," Prof. said, a smile returning to his face. "I think you may have a little trouble with it, unfortunately. It really hasn't seemed very interested in doing anything at all."
"Oh, don't worry Prof.," Rashi said, a teasing grin on his face. "I'm sure Ghastly and Iñaki will get along just fine."
"Oh, good! Well, I hope the young lady doesn't mind that she can't cuddle Ghastly too well, seeing as he's a ghost pokemon. Now, do you want to name your Ghastly, my dear?" Iñaki blinked.
"Name it?"
"Why sure! Your friend named his Eevee Eve. What will you call your Ghastly?"
"Well..." She looked at the gas cloud again, and considered that as a name for it, but didn't think it would amuse Prof. or the pokemon. "How about... Mist?" The pokemon seemed to raise an eyebrow at her, and she shrugged.
"Mist? What a splendid name!"
[This guy seems all too eager and happy to get rid of this creature.]
[Well, he did say it was difficult.]
[*mental sigh*]
"So, why don't you just capture it and you can be on your way, okay?"
"Uh... Sure..." Iñaki took one of the pokeballs out of Rashi's bag and pressed the small button in the center of it, causing it to increase in size. She looked at Rashi questioningly, who motioned for her to throw the ball at the creature and press the button again. She nodded, still unsure, and did as he'd motioned, pressing the button just as the ball left her hand. The ball opened and pulled the Ghastly inside it, closing tightly behind. She stared at is as the ball rocked back and forth a couple of times, and smiled a bit when the pokemon did not come back out.
"Very good! You have just caught your first Pokemon!" Iñaki picked up the ball and pressed the button again. The ball opened and the creature came out. It had a cheesy grin on its face. Iñaki placed the ball back in Rashi's bag and turned to "Mist".
"If you don't like your name, I can rename you later." Mist nodded in agreement, and followed her over to Rashi.
"You... You're not going to keep it in the pokeball?" Prof. seemed frightened and a bit shocked.
"Well, no. If it doesn't cause any problems, I have no reason to lock it away. And by the way..." She turned and looked at Prof. "Is it male or female? I don't want to go everywhere calling it "it" all the time."
"Uh... It's a male Ghastly, but..."
"Thanks. Well, see ya' round! Rashi, can we get something to eat now?"
"Uh... Sure. Bye, Prof.!"

When they were outside, Rashi turned to Iñaki.
"That was rude. Why did you rush us out of there so quick?"
"I don't know... I had a weird feeling... Like he was hiding something or he was watching us..."

Rashi and Iñaki and the pokemon all eyed each other, then finally shrugged thier shoulders.
"I guess we'll figure it out somwtime, right Eve?" Eve jumped and cooed. "Hey! Lets head over to that pokemon center and get a bite to eat,k?" The pokemon and Iñaki agreed heartily, and they all set off for the pokemon center on the edge of town.

****************
Meanwhile...
****************

[She took it?] a deep voice bellowed.
"She had no choice, my Liege."
[Goooood...]
"Why was it so important for her to have the Ghastly, m'lord?"
[You'll see Miatsa...you'll see...] The voice laughd maniacally.

***************
back at the pokemon center
***************

"Hey! Look it's a Chancy!!" A large pink blob turned around and smiled.
"Chancee!!" it screeched lovingly.
"Hey chancy, think we could get a qick bite to eat?"
"Chanc-ch-chanceeeee!!!" it cooed and motioned for them to follow it. It lead them down a long hallway. Halfway down the hallway:
"LOOK!" Rashi stoped abruptly in front of a poster, startling all. "A Pokemon league!! we just HAVE to compete in it Iñaki!!" She smiled and agreed, amused by his child like state.
"Thats a great idea!" a high-pitched, kind voice came from behind. "If you like, I can sign you up after you eat, okay?" Rashi turned toward the voice to see a Nurse Joy. He smiled and agreed.

After they ate, Rashi, Iñaki and the pokemon followed Nurse Joy to the front desk. There, she gave them a guide to the pokemon cities/gyms, and updated Rashis pokedex so he was qualified.
"YEA!" he exclaimed. "I'm gonna win!!" Nurse joy and Iñaki laughed. "Now, the first gym is in the next town, Tealeave City. The gym leader is named Mortisan. She uses pink pokemon!" Rashi stood up.
"Pink pokemon?"
"Yes," Nurse joy repleid, "She only uses pink pokemon. That's how some of the gym leaders here work. Some use only one type, some use only one color!" She giggled. "Don't worry, Rashi. You'll do fine. Well I have to go now, and you should get going soon too. If you leave now, you'll make it to Tealeave City by dark and can stay at the pokemon center there for the night. I'll call ahead and make sure they're ready,okay?"
"Thanx Nurse Joy! Lets go guys!" Rashi exclaimed as he began heading out the door. Once outside, they all stopped.
"Rashi, do you fe--"
"Yeah, Iñaki...I feel it... It's like someone is watching us. Lets go now!" Rashi scooped up Eve and began to run for the gates, Iñaki and Mist close at hand...

[Rashi, get a goofy grin on your face and laugh. Make up some stupid reason, I don't care what, but let our wathcer know we know he's watching.] Rashi stopped and turned around, and Iñaki stopped a few feet behind him. Rashi put on the goofiest grin yet, and stuck his tongue out at her.
"Nyah, nyah! Can't catch me!" He took off down the road laughing his head off, leaving Iñaki stupified for a moment. She shrugged.
"What the hell..." She took off after him shouting, "WANNA BET?!"
[Iñaki, it's still watching.]
[I know. Act like it's not there.]
"YAGH!" Iñaki jumped and managed to grab Rashi's ankle, causing him to fall to the ground.
"YAGH-OOF! HEY! Iñaki, you cheated!"
"What? How did I cheat?"
"You're supposed to TAG me, not trip me!"
"I did tag," Inaki said, smiling a bit. "You just happened to trip in the process. You're IT." And she took off running. Rashi got to his feet and started after her. Mist and Eve were close behind, but neither one was too happy about this game of tag. Rashi managed to catch up to Iñaki, and then pulled ahead a few feet. He stopped and turned when he was a bit ahead of her, his arms outstretched. Iñaki's eyes widened, and she tried to stop and turn, but she ended up sliding into his arms and knocking them both down. They both started laughing, forgetting about their tag game. Eve and Mist caught up, both out of breath and glaring at their trainers.
"Wow..." Rashi said between laughing and catching his breath, "I haven't...had...that much fun since...I was a little kid!" And he fell back to laughing again. Iñaki just shook her head, her laughter subsiding a little.
"If we do anymore running like that," she said as soon as she'd caught her breath, a smile still on her face, "we won't make it to Tealeave by dark."
"Yeah, you're right," Rashi said, still trying to supress his laughter.
"Rashi, breathe. You'll suffocate yourself from laughing too much." Iñaki's comment didn't help, as Rashi started laughing anew. Eve looked at Rashi, confused, and nudged him with her nose. Rashi petted her head and finally managed to stand up without falling from laughing. Then he turned and fell once again, this time laughing hard enough to cause tears to fall from his eyes.
"Now what?" Iñaki sighed.
"L-Look behind you!!" Iñaki turned to see a town just below them, and threw up her hands, exasperation taking over.
"I give up!" Rashi got up and was finally able to walk again, leading the way into the town. The presence was no longer behind them, but it wasn't quite gone...

They arrived in Tealeave City around 7:30, just as one of the suns was setting. As soon as they got into town, they walked past the gym, almost missing it.
"Rashi, it's the gym! Look! It's still open!!!" Iñaki exclaimed as Rashi meandered past it. He stopped abruptly and ran in the doors.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Rashi called, hoping for an answer.
"Why yes, we're here. Name please?" A beuatiful woman with blue and pink striped hair walked out from around the corner.
"Rashi Koherea." He haned her his pokedex. She looked at it and nodded.
"Follow me," she replied. They followed her to a large room, the battle area. "The gym leader will be out soon." The woman left. Rashi and Iñaki stood there for a moment, waiting. A few moments later the gym leader came out.
"Ready?!" she exclaimed.
[She doesn't look to happy, Rashi. Be careful.]
[Okay.]
"Yeah, I'M READY! EVE, GO!!!" Eve jumped out in front of him.
"Good! Snubble, go!!" A snubble came out of its pokeball and stood in the arena opposite Eve.
"Eve, tackle attack!" Eve tackled it, but missed.
"Snubble, bite attack!" The snubble tired to bite Eve but also missed.
"Eve, swift attack!!" Eve began running around the snubble swiftly in a large circle, and then slowly decreased the circle size until she was continuously hitting the snubble. It flew out of the circle and landed at its trainer's feet, unconcious.
"Snubble, NO! ALL RIGHT, THATS IT!!" She returned snubble and drew another ball. "Miltank, GO!" A large cow-like thing appeared. "Rollout attack, NOW!" The miltank rolled into a ball and headed straight for Eve.
"Eve, jump on top of it!" Eve jumped up onto the miltank and looked like a circus bear, balancing on a ball.
"Get it off you miltank!"
"Millll!!!" The creature tried to swerve but faild to remove Eve. The leader gasped.
"Okay, Eve, cause it to tilt even MORE!" Eve began forcing its tilt, so the miltank was soon almost on its side. "Now, bodyslam straight down!" Eve did so, and the miltank went berserk. It flew in all directions, a reaction caused by its spinning. Finally it landed at the leaders feet.
"Y-you beat me!!!!" She began crying and threw a badge at Rashi. He caught it in midair as the leader ran off crying. The same young lady whom showed them to the arena walked them out.
"Don't worry," she said "She's just a sore loser. You did great!! Your Eve it tuff stuff! well, good luck in the league. Oh," she turned to Iñaki "If you'd like to challenge the leader, you should wait till tomorrow. We're closing now, and well... You saw her," she laughed. "Well good night. The Pokemon Center should be about three blocks away, okay? Bye!" They left and began walking toward the PC in extatic silence.

"So, you gonna challenge her?" Rashi looked at Iñaki questioningly. Iñaki shrugged.
"I still don't know what I'm doing. I don't understand the concept of fighting these creatures."
"It shows skill!"
"Like a sport?"
"Well, sort of... But not..." Rashi blinked. "Y'know, I never really thought about it before. I guess it's done for a sense of accomplishment." He shrugged and continued walking, a very pleased Eve following closely behind. Iñaki looked back to Mist, who was kind of lagging.
"Hey, you okay, Mist?"
"Ghast..." The creature shook it's "head" as it caught up to her.
"Rashi!" Rashi came back to Iñaki and Mist.
"Yeah?"
"I think something's wrong with Mist. He says he's not okay."
"We should get him to the Pokemon Center. They'll know what to do." Iñaki nodded and moved to see if she could pick Mist up. She was surprised when she was actually able to hold him.
BUH-BOOM Iñaki and Rashi looked up as it started pouring down rain. They began running toward the PC as fast as they could. Eve hopped onto Rashi's shoulder before they took off. Nurse Joy looked up as they entered the building.
"Oh, hello! You must be Rashi! Oh dear, you're both soaked! We have a hot springs out back if you'd like to get warmed up, and your clothes will be washed!"
"Um... Can you look at my Pokemon first please? I think something's wrong with it."
"Hmm? Oh! A Ghastly, how cute! Come right this way!" Nurse Joy led them to a counter with many of the pink, egg-shaped pokemon running around.
"Wow, look at all the Chansey!" Iñaki looked over at Rashi's excited face, but for the first time wasn't comforted by it. Nurse Joy motioned for Iñaki to put Mist on an examining table.
"Now, don't worry. We'll find out what's wrong and fix your Pokemon right up! But for now, why don't you children go warm up in the hot springs, okay? Oh! And you can leave your Eevee with one of these Chansey and they'll see that it gets fed and taken care of!"
[Now SHE is too perky.]
[Don't be so judgemental, Iñaki.]
"Thank you, Nurse Joy!" Iñaki and Rashi headed off toward the hot springs, following the signs to the bath house.
"There doesn't seem to be anyone else here, does there?" Rashi turned to look questioningly at Iñaki.
"No, not really. Why?"
"Well, the last Pokemon Center had a lot of people in it. I'm almost afraid to be separated here because there's no one here."
"Don't worry about it. The Men's bath house is right next to the Women's."
"I don't see why it matters..."
"Modesty's sake, I guess." Rashi shrugged. Each entered their own bath house and got undressed. Rashi put a towel about his waist and went in, while Iñaki grabbed her towel and inspected everything before entereing the spring. After making sure no one was there, she set the towel down on the side of the spring and settled into the water.
"Hey Iñaki! Can you hear me?!" Iñaki glaced over at the wall and smiled.
"No, not at all!"
"Really?! Maybe I sould YELL LOUDER!!"
"Rashi, you're a nut."
"What kind?"
"I dunno. My favorite nut it the almond."
"Okay, then I'm an ALMOND!!" He laughed and then fell silent, enjoying the warm water. Iñaki closed her eyes to meditate. But she still thought something was not quite right... Her eyes flashed open suddenly.
"AGH!!" Rashi looked at the wall dividing the hot springs in two.
"Iñaki? Iñaki! Answer me! IÑAKI!!"
"RASHI!! HE--"
SPLASH

"Iñaki!! IÑAKI!!!" Rashi jumped onto the wall and tried to climb over it. Once atop the divider, Iñaki was no where to be seen. He dove into the water and searched for soemthing...anything...but all he found was her pen thing.
"I-Iñaki..." he began to weep. "I HAVE TO FIND HER!" He jumped out of the water and into the changing room. Changing quickly, he dashed out into the lobby to find Nurse Joy, Eve, and Mist. But they were nowhere to be found. He checked all of the examination rooms. But no luck.
KUUURASSH
A loud sound came from outside. He ran out back to see a large van trying to leave. It had somehow gotten stuck on a cage. He ran up to it and started questioning the driver.
"Where's Nurse Joy? Where's Iñaki, where are Eve and Mist? ANSWER ME PUNK!" The drive was wearing a black leather jumpsuit and had bright pink hair. He looked at Rashi and got out of the car. His partner followed.
"Punk huh?" he laughed "I think it's time we show this runt how to respect others, what do you say, Jeen?" They started walking toward Rashi.
"I don't THINK SO!" Rashi called on his wand and got out the calm card. "You WILL tell me what you know!" he released the Calm card and it set the two into a sort of trance. They said that THEY had Eve and Mist, but knew nothing of Iñaki. Rashi recovered the pokemon, and decided to set out to find Iñaki. He went back to the bath houe and found a secret tunnel behind a wall... As soon as he opened it...

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Rashi turned in the direction of the scream, following it through a maze of corridors. There seemed to be no end to the maze until...

Rashi stared in fascinated horror at the sight before him. Iñaki was unconscious and chained against a wall. All around the room were what seemed like millions upon millions of bones, and not too far from Iñaki was what looked like an altar...covered...in...
Rashi decided that he'd rather not ralph while Iñaki was in danger. He moved behind a small pillar nearer the altar than he cared to be. Beside it were three black-cloaked figures. They lowered their hoods and lo and behold, it was none other than... (DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!!) Nurse Joy and the two pokemon thieves?! Rashi blinked.
"Wow. I never imagined Nurse Joy to be the cult type."
"What have we this time, Joy?"
"Oh, a delightful little girl, Jim." Nurse Joy still seemed as cheery as ever, considering all the... uh... not-so-cheery atmospheric discharge around her.
"Good. And she is a virgin still? She hasn't been fooling around with that boy has she?"
"No, not at all. She's much too nice a girl to do something like that! Oh, come now, must you question me? I've always been right before!"
"Well this time your wrong!" Rashi jumped from behind the table, feeling his face go very red.
"Who are you?"
'I can't believe I'm about to say this...'
"I am... Her... I AM HER LOVER!!" The three black-clad figures all stared at him, eyes twitching and veins popping from their foreheads.
"But... I thought Morian said..."
"Well, she was wrong then, wasn't she?!" Rashi put a rather stupid fake smile on his face, seriously wishing they hadn't ignored Iñaki's worrying.
"Look kid," Nurse Joy said, keeping her sweetness steady, "I'm sure you really care about your friend, and that's a comendable trait, especially since you risk your reputation by claiming something like that, but we really are busy now, so if you don't mind..."
"Lady, I don't care what you think. Hell, I don't care if I'm lying or not! This is sick! All of this!!"
"Hey, it's not my fault. The current player just watched the first four episodes of Fushigi Yugi and is in a really strange mood. I have no idea what's going on here." Nurse Joy, Jeen and Jim all looked up toward the ceiling, wondering when the madness would stop...

Krissy: *blink, looks at screen* Um... *heh heh* ON WITH THE STORY!!!

Rashi sighed from exasperation, then pulled out his notebook and began sketching in it. The three sacrifice-ees all stared at him.
"Hey, kid, what are you doing?"
"Putting an end to this madness." He tore the page out of his notebook and folded it up in the shape of a card.
"This is a one-time-use-only card." Rashi threw the card before him.

"I call upon the mystic star,
ancient forces near and far,
Sanity card,
discard no former mind of fright,
and draw new powers
From my might!
REALEASE!!!!!!"

Krissy: *blink* Okay, more sane now. Shall we continue?

"And you're sure she's still a virgin? She hasn't been messin' around with that boy, has she?"
"No, of course not. I have proof of that."
"Good. Then bring her." The man earlier called Jeen moved over to the still-unconscious-and-in-a-state-of-undress Iñaki and unlocked her chains. He picked her up and placed her on the altar.
"Damn shame to waste such a beautiful girl with such a beautiful body, isn't it Jim?"
"Yeah, sure is."
"Will you two please keep your sick fantasies to yourself!" Nurse Joy no longer had her sweet and cheery attitude. In fact, she was quite scary and completely the opposite of what she usually was.
"Hey, c'mon Joy. We're just kiddin' around."
"It's not funny. Besides, it's nearly midnight. Where's the cerimonial knife?" Jeen pulled a sharp, curved, rather painful looking blade from his belt and handed it to Nurse Joy. She had a crazed expression on her face as she chanted in some weird language.
"And now, to strengthen us and give us eternal youth, we sacrifice this girl, number ten thousand!" She raised the knife high above her head, laughing with insane malevolence.
"NO!" Rashi came out from behind the pillar, running straight for Nurse Joy. Jeen and Jim both got up to stop him, but Rashi stopped before reaching them and pulled out his wand, summoning the power of the Sword card. The card spirit knocked the knife from Nurse Joy's hands and easily sliced through all three cultists. Rashi quickly replaced his wand and ran over to Iñaki.
"Iñaki? Iñaki! Wake up! Please, open your eyes!!" Iñaki's eys slowly opened, and she smiled slightly when she saw Rashi. Rashi lifted her into his arms embracing her tightly.
"Iñaki, thank God you're okay..."
"Rashi..." Inaki fell unconscious once more in Rashi's arms. He looked over to the pillar where Mist and Eve were still hiding.
"C'mon, let's get out of this town." Rashi ran back into the bath house on the women's side and quickly put Iñaki's clothes into his bag. He'd let her wash and redress once they were far away from this town. He ran swiftly through the night, Mist and Eve close at hand, making good time and ground. When he was sure they were a safe distance, the sun had just started to rise, and he set Iñaki down near a tree in the small forest he'd run to. He lay down next to her to keep her warm until she woke, praying that she would not remember what happened...

Rashi didn't get much sleep, he sat up waitng for Iñaki to awaken. When she did, she looked at him.
"What hapend Rashi?"
"I... I dont know." Rashi thought for a second, and realized he couldn't remeber anything but sitting here, feeling worried. "I think you were sick, or soemthing." He looked around. "I guess we're out of TeaLeave city but... How??!!" he looked at the sky, as he and Iñaki watched the sunrise...

Iñaki sat out in the sun, allowing her hair to dry as she tried to remember the events from the day before.
"Rashi won his first badge... Then we headed for the Pokemon Center... Then we were far out of Tealeave... No, wait... Something happened at the Pokemon Center... But what..."
"Maybe," Rashi said, coming to sit beside her, "if we don't remember, it's probably best that we don't try." "But, Rashi, something happened to us. Don't you want to know? What if we were injected with some kind of drug or poison? Or..."
"Or what if we just not worry about it?" Rashi had an unfamiliar edge to his voice. He knew what had happened and had pushed it to the back of his mind. He didn't want to remember. Iñaki sighed and gave up.
"Maybe it'll come to me..."

As the morning drew on, Eve and Mist got restless. They went around chasing each other, trying to find some way to use their energy. Rashi was cooking something over a fire. Iñaki moved away a bit and sat down. She closed her eyes and focused her mind, letting all thoughts leave. Rashi looked over at Iñaki, shaking his head a bit.
'Maybe I should take up meditation...' "AGH!" Iñaki fell backwards, moving away from where she had been sitting.
"Iñaki?" She backed up into his arms and grabbed his shirt, an unknown emotion on her face. It wasn't quite fear, but...
"Oh gods, Rashi!! There's something coming! I don't know what but it's coming! Oh gods!"
"Iñaki, get a hold of yourself!" Rashi shook her fiercely, calming her hysterics, but her expression didn't change. "Now, tell me slowly. What happened? What did you see?"
"I... I'm not sure... I don't know what it was... A-A dark, evil cloud... Pure black... Overshadowing me and... Oh gods... Rashi, something's coming. We need to leave now! But that wasn't it... It... I-It m-moved on to you and... And it surrounded you and... When it left you were just... just a pile of dust... A-And your wand was on top of the dust pile... A-And... I..." She looked up at him, her expression slowly fading from frightened visionary to confused girl. "Rashi... I-I don't remember anymore..." Rashi helped Iñaki shakily to her feet, embracing her to try and steady her. Though her expression was normal once again, her eyes were still wild.
"It's okay. It'd gone now. Don't worry..."
"Rashi, I have never feared anything in my life... But I am very, very frightened of whatever that was. And what scares me more is that I think it's a warning... Something is going to happen. And I don't know what it is..."

Rashi held her tightly.
"It's ok." he looked down at her and kissed her heartliy. She gladly accepted. Then his kiss became hungrier and became forceful...

Just as a fair warning, this next part is rather...disturbing. This is a milder version of it. It's also a lot shorter. If you are at least 17 years of age and/or are of a maturity level of an adult and think you can handle a badly written, not-so-mild version of this next part, here's a link to it. Remember, you have been warned. We will not be held responsible for any nightmares you may get from reading this. Not that it's that well done. In fact, it's rather poorly done. But you've been warned, nonetheless.

Rashi sat up and shook his head. He looked around the forest, confused.
"Iñaki?" She wasn't near the small stream... Rashi jumped up, suddenly very worried, and looked around the area.
"Iñaki! Answer me!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rashi's gentle kiss had slowly become more passionate, more forceful. Iñaki broke away.
"Rashi, what..." His lips found hers again, but they were no longer Rashi's. DoRean pulled back, a wicked smile on his face.
"So, we meet again, my dear..."
"Oh gods... No..." Iñaki try to squirm out of his grasp but was unable to. He pinned her to the ground, a wild look in his eyes.
"And now you're mine."
"RASHI!!" She couldn't breathe; she couldn't move. Her body stiffened as his hands moved down her arms. He laughed softly but cruelly.
"Please... Oh gods please don't do this..."
"I'll do as I please."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"RASHI!" Rashi turned in the direction of his name. It was faint, very distant.
"Iñaki..." He ran, Eve and Mist close behind him. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Where was she?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DoRean looked down at the girl.
"Now let's see what your friend can do to help you. Not that it matters. It's too late now anyway." He turned and disappeared, leaving Iñaki staring at the sky, her eyes wide. Rashi came running up a few minutes too late. He walked over to her slowly.
"Iñaki." He whispered her name, but got no response. He reached his hand out to touch her shoulder. As soon as his fingers made contact with her shoulder, her eyes became wild and she screamed, curling up into a ball.
"NO! STAY AWAY! DON'T TOUCH ME!"
"Iñaki! IÑAKI!" Rashi pried her out of the ball and held her close to himself. She grasped on to him as though she were afraid to let go.
"Oh gods... Rashi..." Iñaki's body was shaking in his arms, like she was cold...or scared...
"Iñaki. Ssh. It's okay now. You're okay..."
"No I'm not... Oh gods I'm so dirty..."
"What happened? Where...are your clothes?"
"DoRean..." She barely mentioned his name and she went into a bout of hysterical screaming, her body shaking more violently. Rashi calmed her down, speaking softly in soothing tones.
"It's okay. What did he do?" Iñaki shook head into his chest, her eyes still wild. She seemed on the verge of tears, but they had not come yet.
"Hands... All-All over me... He... NO! RASHI!"
"Sh-sh. I'm here. It's okay..." Rashi's eyes suddenly got very wide.
"So dirty... So dirty..."
"Iñaki, did he... He didn't... Did he...?" The question was soft and hard to get out. Rashi was sickened by the thought of it, but all the elements were there...
"NO! STAY AWAY!! Oh gods... Yes..." This last word was whispered in answer to his question. Rashi's embrace tightened a bit around Iñaki, sick anger slowly rising through him. His eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Don't worry," he told her, his voice filled with a calm rage. "I'll make sure her never ever does this again." Iñaki whimpered quietly in his arms, her eyes were still wide and she hadn't blinked the entire time. Slowly her breathing became more steady and her muscles relaxed. She fell asleep in Rashi's warm embrace, and Rashi fell asleep with his anger still brewing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DoRe looked down at the two sitting on the ground. "They're still children. They should not be exposed to things like this." He pulled a card from mid-air. "Amnesia." The card spirit was a gentle-looking creature, it's golden eyes wide, awaiting it's task.
"Take away their memories from the past few days. Let them remember no further back than entering that gym to win Rashi's badge." The spirit nodded and flew down to the sleeping pair. It first restored Iñaki's clothes and pendant, then it flew around them, casting it's spell, erasing memories of terror and pain and blood...

Surprise!