Disclaimer; All characters, locations and aspects of this story are wholly owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, 4 Kids entertainment Etc, and their subsidiaries. No monetary compensation has been received on my part and the story was written exclusively for entertainment purposes.

Across The Distant Shore
By Silver Vulpine

“All great men were once boys and all strong women were once girls” –Japanese proverb

.             December, winter on Kumquat Island is normally a time that sees the island choked with tourists from Kanto seeking a warm retreat from the regions cool winter, and this winter was no exception. Even at this early hour of the morning the well-polished floor of the largest hotel on the island was ripe with the sounds of guests, bustling, talking, reading their morning paper and eating breakfast.
            As the clock struck 8 am one of the four elevator doors in the lobby opened to reveal the form of a tall girl. A girl with short, neck length purple hair, a black nylon jacket, a white sweater, faded jeans and an old pair of sneakers, with large spectacles that covered her vividly teal-turquoise eyes, the girl was 18 years old and her name was Lorelei.
            She walked out of the elevator with her small suitcase and got in the line in front of the front desk. A short time later she came to one of the staff members who was working the front desk.
             “I’d like to check out please.” She said in a soft plain voice, handing the young man her room key.
             “All right” said the clerk, taking the card key from her and consulting his computer. “Everything seems to be set, can we do anything else for you before you leave?”
             “Well, do you have a copy of the morning newspaper?” asked Lorelei.
             “Take mine!” came a voice that startled them both from behind the clerks back, unnoticed by either of them a tall, strongly built woman with long red hair and grey eyes had walked up to the clerk’s station. “Lorelei, I’m disappointed in you, you spend the night in my hotel and you don’t even let me know you’re here!” said the woman in an almost unnaturally loud voice.
             “I didn’t want to trouble you Luana,” said Lorelei, trying to hide that fact that Luana’s voice made her ears ring slightly.
             “Trouble?!” said Luana “Trouble?! Seeing such a great trainer again and reminiscing about a great match is far from troublesome, can I talk you into staying another night?” replied Luana.
             “Well you seem busy enough as it is, don’t you need my room for another guest?” said Lorelei.
             “Oh don’t you worry about things like that, that’s my job, I’ll just pretend that someone’s reservations got screwed up and let you stay as long as you want!” said Luana.
             “Well it’s not only that, I’m headed back to Mandarin Island south and my family is expecting me, I don’t want them to worry” said Lorelei.
             “Oh what a shame!” replied Luana in the same loud voice, by this point a good number of the people in line behind Lorelei and in the other lines were listening to the conversation, either out of curiosity or the volume of Luana’s voice. “Well next time you’re in my neck of the woods, don’t be a stranger!” finished Luana.
             “I won’t!” replied Lorelei swiftly.
             “Good” said Luana smiling “Oh yes, your paper” she said holding up the mornings newspaper
             “You mean your paper,” said Lorelei.
             “Take It!” said Luana “I insist, besides I read it already, no skin off my nose.”
             “Well all right” said Lorelei smiling reluctantly “any good news today?”
             “Yeah” said Luana “There’s finally some development on that weird pokemon that people are seeing on Kinnow Island.”
             “There is?” said Lorelei surprised, “I can’t get a straight answer out of anyone about what’s going on down there.”
             “It’s all in the article” said Luana “But unfortunately I don’t have time to tell you about it” the man in line behind Lorelei actually sighed with relief “I have some loose ends to tie up in the pastry shop, but it was great seeing you again Lorelei!” she attempted to hug Lorelei, but the Formica desk between them prevented this, then strolled through a door behind the desk that lead to some unseen hallway. Lorelei paid the bill for her brief hotel stay; her monetary assets were not amazing but good enough to keep her in reasonably good supply.
            This is Lorelei, returning after her defeat at the pokemon league to spend the holidays with her family. Lorelei could vividly remember her brief stint at the pokemon league tournament, winning battle after battle and making it to the top 32, then the top 16, the top 8, the final four, and the last battle, the last battle she had trained so hard for, she lost, her ice pokemon fell to the style and craft of a young girl named Lucy. Although she took her defeat in stride the sense of somehow, not being good enough, not being strong or skilled or whatever still lingered in her brain, the sense of walking through a future filled with nothing but grey mist seemed to be her, the fear of inadequacy is one that has and always will live in the minds of adolescences, and Lorelei is no exception.
            All of these thoughts passed in and out of Lorelei’s mind as she walked south to the ocean from Luana’s luxury hotel on Cumquat Island on that foggy grey December morning.
            This feeling of vague unease had been festering like a stagnant pond in the recesses of Lorelei’s mind ever since she graduated from high school and left to become a pokemon trainer. Lorelei’s mother insisted that even though at the age of 10 she could legally qualify as a trainer, no daughter of hers would go into the world uneducated.
Lorelei didn’t find this rule particularly irksome; she knew it only meant that her ambition to become a pokemon trainer would have to be put on hold for a few years.
             “What are a few years weighed against the rest of my life?” was her internal rationale. Unfortunately, Karen, her half sister who also harbored dreams of pokemon mastery did not share her passive view of the situation. Lorelei had graduated from high school at the age of 15, 2 full years early, meaning that her quest for pokemon trainer ship had a 2-year head start, while Karen remained behind to struggle with schoolwork. It wasn’t that Karen wasn’t intelligent, far from it; it was just that her skills lay outside the world of Academia, and the fact that she had to stay behind and study while her half sister got to run free and train as she wished was in all likelihood not a source of happiness for Karen. Lorelei was still thinking about her relationship with her sister when she arrived at the beach on the south end of Cumquat Island.
            Lorelei walked onto the beach and, unzipping the inside pocket on her jacket pulled out a small poke ball. Walking to the waters edge she brought the ball to its full size and opened it, unleashing an almost blindingly bright light, the light faded to reveal the form of a huge reptilian creature with a serpentine neck and a hard shell on it’s back.
             “Lap-ras” said the creature is a soft voice.
             “Hey old girl” said Lorelei in a pacifying voice. “I’m sorry I kept you cooped up in there so long,” she said while walking up to the creature and giving it’s long neck a hug. “Feeling up for a bit of a swim?” she asked.
             “Lap!” replied the creature in a tone that was unmistakably enthusiastic.
             “Well, since you’re so eager, lets get our flippers wet,” said Lorelei smiling.
             “Lapras!” said the creature as it began to undulate it’s large body with it’s flippers down to the water as Lorelei got on her back taking her suitcase with her. A moment later the two travelers were on their way.
             “We want to go home now,” said Lorelei to her mount “Mandarin Island south”
             “Lapras” responded the creature, and if Lapras’s had been born with more complex facial muscles than Lapras would have given Lorelei a great big smile. The morning sun reflected off of the morning water, there would be many hours of daylight before the blackness of night engulfed the water, as was Lorelei’s intention; she had made a late start of her journey yesterday when she set out from Palate Town which is why she stopped to stay on Cumquat Island. But today she had planed her travels in advance and getting an early start was part of her plan.
            Even thought the sparkling water had an undeniable beauty to it Lorelei could not help but stare at the deep abyss of water that lay below her and Lapras and once again all the fears, confusion and anxieties that she had been worried about ever since she left home, the fear of her own inadequacy as a trainer, her worries about her relationship with her family and the fear of the future. She sat hunched over on Lapras’s shell, her posture and expression made her look as if the weight of the world rested on her slender shoulders.
            Lapras, who was naturally empathetic looked over at her rider and cooed in a soft voice.
             “Huh, oh” said Lorelei, broken out of her revelry, “I’m sorry Lapras, I was just lost in thought” she said, shifting her body on Lapras’s shell so she could touch the creatures neck.
             “I know I should be more grateful for all you have done for me, I mean you are basically schlepping me and my stuff across miles and miles of ocean”. Lapras moved her head so that one of her large eyes with the big, dark pupil was looking Lorelei dead in the face. Lapras then made a noise that said to Lorelei quite plainly.
             “Don’t worry about it”, Lapras pulled her head up again and swam right on, she then raised her head into the air and started to sing in a sweet sounding voice, the melody made great strides in easing Lorelei’s anxiety, she even smiled as the sun rose in the sky and caressed her skin with its rays.
            Lorelei sat back on Lapras’s shell and looked over at her suitcase, there was something that had become caught in the zipper of one of the small outside pockets. She leaned over and opened the pocket with some difficulty to see what it was. It was the newspaper that Luana had given her that she had shoved haphazardly into her suitcase, she had left the hotel so quickly she had forgotten about it, only now did she remember that Luana had mentioned something about an article giving a good explanation about the strange events on Kinnow Island, she opened the paper and right there on the front page was an article entitled

The Rogue Pokemon of Kinnow Island

The article read:

The mysterious sightings of a pokemon of unknown species or origin on the tiny Island of Kinnow have continued with two more reported sightings in the past week. Hundreds of Orange Island residence have flocked to the small island, both to try and catch a glimpse of this rare creature and to be part of the frenzy that has whipped up in the chance to be part of what could be one of the most influential scientific discoveries in recent history. The identity of the pokemon is still under speculation even among the leading scientists who have arrived on the island and questioned witnesses for a description. There have been rumors that the pokemon in question may be Mew, a pokemon worshiped in ancient religious ceremonies and believed to be extinct, but experts have not released any theories as to what the pokemon may be. Already noted pokemon researcher Dr. Walter Alleyne has been on the island for five days with his intern Felina Ivy.

“Felina Ivy!?” Lorelei exclaimed aloud, she read and reread the sentence to see that the sunlight was not playing tricks on her eyes, could it be that her old friend from High School that she hadn’t seen in 2 years was on the island that was practically on route to where she was going now. Lorelei quickly finished reading the article.

Dr. Alleyne is expected to greet noted pokemon master Agatha Werfel later today at the makeshift research station on the island to work with local authorities in trying to uncover as much data as possible on this perplexing mystery. Meanwhile the fervor created by the sightings of this unknown creature continues to be the source of excitement and intrigue for all of those who have come to this small Island in search of an answer to this riddle.

The last of the article read, Lorelei leaned forward on Lapras’s shell and grabbed onto the creature’s neck, her head extended over the water, she craned her neck toward the horizon the pokemon was swimming towards and in the distance she saw a cloud formation that could mean only mean one thing.
             “Land” she thought to herself, her days of riding Lapras around the Orange Islands to defeat the orange crew had nurtured her oceanic navigation skills well.
             “Shamouti Island” she thought.
             “Lapras” said Lorelei.
             “Lap” replied the Pokemon.
             “Change in plans, were going to Kinnow Island, Do you remember where that is?” asked Lorelei.
             “Lapras!” replied the pokemon, and changing the direction it was swimming only slightly Lapras looked at a point on the horizon and increased the rate of it’s fin beats, churning up the wake of water she left behind her.
             “Don’t kill yourself girl,” said Lorelei “Just take your time”
             “Lapras” replies the pokemon in a soft coo, as it returned to it’s normal pace.
Even though she didn’t want over exert her armor-plated friend her heart raced with excitement at the thought of seeing her old high school companion again, in her head she was kicking herself for not having kept in touch with her. The hours passed and Lorelei withdrew a bottle of sunscreen to keep her pale skin from becoming inflamed in the rays of the midday sun, and pulled out a brown paper bag and shared her lunch with Lapras, nearly all of the remainder of the ride passed with Lorelei thinking about what Felina might say when she saw her again, the doubts and fears that had haunted her mind were pushed back into the shadows of her thoughts.
            At 4 pm Lorelei arrived at the northern stretch of Kinnow Island, after inquiring to a local where Dr. Alleyne was consulting with Agatha he said.
             “Just walk south until you hit the foot of the mountain, all the crazies have flocked there,” he said grumbling. Lorelei walked for about 45 minutes she arrived at the foot of the mountain as the man instructed, sure enough the “crazies” seemed to be here in full force, there were easily five to six hundred people dressed in everything from casual clothing to elaborate costumes, there were people selling food, water, souvenirs, information pamphlets and numerous other little trinkets and all manner of other things.
There were people holding banners, people singing, people dancing, Lorelei had not seen such excitement or festivity since the end ceremonies of the pokemon league some months ago.
            And indeed many people in the crowd recognized her, some going so far as to applaud when the saw her and ask her for autographs.
             “Are you sure you want my autograph?” asked Lorelei to a small girl as she signed her name on a small piece of paper. “I lost in my last match.”
             “I don’t care!” said the girl “I watched all your battles on TV! You were great!”
and the girl ran back to her parents squealing with delight. After signing a scant few more autographs Lorelei made her way to a big crowd that was gathered around what looked like a large tent.
             “What’s in there?” Lorelei asked a dark haired middle-aged man in the crowd.
             “That’s where the so-called experts are talking about what the mysterious pokemon might be, were all trying to get a closer look.”
             “Hmm” said Lorelei, there were easily eighty people trying to get a closer look at the tent, but if that’s where the experts were, than that’s where Felina was, so Lorelei, managing to hold on to her suitcase to the best of her ability and slowly, ever so carefully, made her way through the crowd, seeing her opportunities for movement and taking them with the utmost fluidity. A short time later she could see the front of the large tan colored tent, but now she could see what was keeping people from taking a closer look, the entrance was flanked by four burly looking guards.
            It took Lorelei just a second to recognize where she had seen those guards with there dark uniforms before, those were the guards who worked security at the pokemon league, she had seen them every day when she was there competing.
             “Well what to do know?” thought Lorelei to herself, “I can’t very well sneak in, that would be fun to try to explain away, but what other option is there?” she thought for a moment and came up with an idea, it was far from a foolproof idea but it was the best she could think of in the circumstance, she simply walked up to the guard standing closest to the door and said.
             “I need to see Felina Ivy please?” in a steady, clear voice.
             “And why do you need to see Felina Ivy?” asked the guard, not even trying to disguise the sarcasm in his voice. Lorelei thought for a split second but apparently it was a split second to long,
             “Sorry miss, but this tent is restricted,” he said, stepping forward menacingly.
             “Wait!” came a low but soft voice from the tent, and in the open flap stood Felina Ivy herself, her frame draped in a long black coat and her purple hair running down her back, she looked different from the time Lorelei last saw her, she looked somehow, older, older than she should look considering the time they spent apart, but Felina continued speaking.
             “Joe, this woman has every right to-”
             “Excuse me miss Ivy, but I only take orders from-” the guard named Joe interrupted, but he too was interrupted from a shrill voice that came from inside the tent.
             “Joe!” the guard’s attention was instantaneously taken off of Felina and Lorelei and his eyes whipped to the inside of the tent.
             “Let the young lady in,” said the voice from the inside of the tent.
             “But boss” said the guard.
             “Your disobedience irritates me!” said the stern voice. Overcome with anger the guard reluctantly let the two young women in the tent, venting his frustration on a teenage boy who tried to sneak in along with Lorelei by grabbing him by the scruff of the neck, they could hear Joe shouting unpleasant exclamations at the boy at they closed the flap.
            Lorelei stumbled trying to keep her rectangular suitcase upright and saw that inside the tent it was dark and on each side of the tent there were tables on which there were items such as thick books, computer equipment, what looked like equipment for developing film and other detritus that Lorelei did not recognize. In the center of the tent there was a table lit by a lamp hanging from the top of the tent and at the table sat three people.
             “Lorelei” said Felina, pulling Lorelei closer to the table so she was close enough to see greater detail on the faces of its occupants.
             “I want you to meet Professor Dennis Larch” she indicated a short man with red hair wearing glasses and a white lab coat sitting to the right of the other two people at the table, he smiled at Lorelei and waved affectionately.
             “My boss, Dr. Walter Alleyne” she indicated the man sitting between the two other people at the table, A tall, balding black man in his late thirties with a very thick mustache and wearing a plain white lab coat over a black sweater, Dr. Alleyne simply wore a very stern look as he looked at Lorelei.
             “Dr. Alleyne, I’ve herd of your work on pokemon classification” said Lorelei.
             “Have you?” said the Doctor, His voice was strained but it definitely bore something wearying that could have been mistrust.
             “Don’t let his charming demeanor get to you” said Felina to Lorelei “Once you get to know him he’s almost human” and the woman sitting to the far left of the table laughed, a woman in her late forties with streaks of grey running through her blonde hair and clad in a simple purple dress, and her laughter was unmistakable, it was the same voice that had barked the order at the guard and allowed her to enter, but now that she saw the source of the voice Lorelei had no trouble recognizing her.
             “And this sprightly young lady is-“ began Felina, but the woman got up from her chair and walked briskly over to the two standing women.
             “Call me Agatha,” said the woman, extending her hand in greeting which Lorelei shook.
             “Of course I know who you are, your progress at the pokemon league was most intriguing, I watched you with particular interest” said Agatha.
             “You did? Asked Lorelei.
             “Certainly I-“ began Agatha.
             “Ahem” came the voice of Dr. Alleyne “I believe we were finishing up here.”
             “I swear Walt, if you don’t watch yourself people will think you’re older than I am” and all but Dr. Alleyne laughed.
             “I suppose we could finish this here and now,” said Agatha. “We have reached a consensus that the pokemon in question is not Mew at it is bipedal and does not appear to float” All except Lorelei nodded “The possibility that it is some unknown species of ghost pokemon is also in doubt as it appears to be corporeal” again all but Lorelei nodded. “And as for my hypothesis that-“ began Agatha.
             “Oh for the love of delicious beverages Agatha” interrupted Dr. Alleyne, “If I have to hear more of your conjecture I think my head’s going to explode, I keep saying this is some psychic pokemon suffering from dementia or madness and causing these bizarre sightings with it’s powers, nothing more” finished the doctor.
             “If we are to reach an impasse than I will withdraw my theory for the sake of cooperation,” said Agatha.
             “Very good” said Dr. Alleyne “I’ll give our official statement to the press, agreed?” he asked the room at large.
             “I have no objection with the conclusion in question,” said Professor Larch
             “I suppose,” said Agatha.
             “And what about you my young student?” he asked Felina. Felina looked as if she was deep in thought then she spoke to Dr. Alleyne in a placating voice.
             “Are we sure that Agatha’s theory isn’t-” she began.              “All things being equal” said Dr. Alleyne.
             “The simplest explanation is often the best” finished Felina flatly.
             “Exactly” said Dr. Alleyne “Do you really believe in Agatha’s story of ancient sorcery?”
             “Well not strictly-” began Felina.
             “Then why are you defending it?” asked the doctor.
             “I’m not, it’s just that-” began Felina.
             “Good then that settles that,” said Dr. Alleyne. Felina wore a neutral expression that Lorelei could have sworn hid feelings of resentment.
“Joe!” Dr. Alleyne called to the guard who came inside the tent, “Has the press arrived yet?”
             “Yes sir” replied the guard,
             “Splendid, tell them we’re ready to give our statement” said Dr. Alleyne, he Professor Larch and Agatha rose from there chairs and walked out of the tent, leaving Felina and Lorelei alone.
             “Well” said Felina breaking the brief silence. “That certainly was gutsy of you to walk right up and ask to see me”
             “Well how else was I supposed to get in?” asked Lorelei, “I had no other choice.”
             “This from the shy girl who spent every possible free period in the Library with her nose buried in thick books when we were in high school?” inquired Felina. Lorelei blushed a little and said.
             “I’d like to think I’ve grown up a little”
             “Well I can’t argue that, you have come a long way since we were both little.”
             “Back when we first met in middle school,” said Lorelei.
“And puberty hit us both like an angry Graveler” said Felina, and both young women giggled.
             “Well at least we always took the sensible course of action,” said Lorelei.
             “The incident on Golden Island notwithstanding?” asked Felina. Lorelei coughed and Felina laughed.
             “Well anyway, enough of the nostalgia.” continued Felina, Lorelei was grateful for the change of subject “I see you have been pretty busy as of late, wiping the floor with lesser trainers at the last pokemon league tournament. All those long weekend training sessions from our school days seem to have paid off.”
             “It seems it didn’t pay off well enough,” said Lorelei.
             “Are you crazy?” asked Felina “You came in second, you faced trainer after trainer and you practically buried them all, and that’s certainly nothing to sneeze at.”
             “Perhaps” said Lorelei “So what have you been doing with yourself?” she asked before Felina could say anything else.
             “Well you already met the good doctor Alleyne,” she said.
             “How can you work under that guy?” asked Lorelei.
             “Well you’ve read his work and you know how brilliant he is, I doubt anyone knows more about the known species of pokemon than he does. But he knows so much that he doesn’t think that we need to put any more effort into the investigation of the possibility of unknown pokemon.” Said Felina.
             “Well are you at least learning anything under him?” asked Lorelei.
             “Oh gosh yes.” Said Felina “He knows so much it’s scary.”
             “I think it’s his mustache that makes him scary” said Lorelei and Felina laughed.
             “He doesn’t even want to grow it” said Felina, and she bent close to Lorelei’s ear and whispered “His wife makes him” and both young women broke into uproarious laughter that would have drawn attention to anyone outside the tent if they had not at that particular moment been hanging on every word being spoken by the very mustachioed man in question.
             “So how’s college?” asked Lorelei.
             “Not bad” said Felina. “I miss you & Al a lot but frankly I hope I never set foot on Mandarin Island again.”
             “Why…oh” Lorelei had said, forgetting about the less than perfect (to put it lightly) home and family that Felina came from, for Felina’s sake she only hoped that the rumors she had herd about what her parents had done were just that, rumors. Trying to change the subject, Lorelei quickly said.
             “So how long until you graduate?”
             “After my internship about another year and a half for my bachelor’s degree, then I move on to my masters,” said Felina.
             “So close to a bachelor’s degree already?” Asked Lorelei “You’re certainly making quick work of that school.”
             “Well making work of it is tiring enough” said Felina “as you can probably tell, even though I’m not much older than you, I seem to be living a lot harder” both women laughed. But at that moment the flap to the tent flew open again and the towering frame of Dr. Alleyne walked in flanked by Professor Larch and Agatha.
             “It’s time we were off Miss Ivy,” said Dr. Alleyne “My Niece will have dinner waiting”.
             “Doctor, can Lorelei come with us? Just for the night?” asked Felina.
             “Absolutely not” said Dr. Alleyne “My niece was kind enough to put us up in her house for the night so we would have a place to stay while we are here, I will not press the limits of her generosity.”
             “Oh come on doctor, you owe me” said Felina.
             “I owe you?” said Dr. Alleyne sardonically.
             “Remember when I told your wife over the video phone that the scar on your cheek was from an angry Scyther?” asked Felina. Agatha and Professor Larch looked at each other perplexedly.
             “All right! All right!” said Dr. Alleyne, she can stay with us, but for just one night, and this squares us” he added the last four words in a whisper to Felina and she gave him the smallest of nods. Agatha and Professor Larch’s curious expressions turned to Dr. Alleyne, he shook off their awkward looks by saying.
             “Well Agatha, I don’t want to hold up your departure, you said that you didn’t want to keep your friend Lance waiting.”
             “Well I did say that we had some business to tend to on Pummelo Island.” Said Agatha.
             “Well don’t let me hold you up” said Dr. Alleyne, beckoning to Felina and walking out of the tent, Felina and Lorelei hastened to obey; Lorelei dragging her suitcase behind her. The scene on the outside of the tent was much different from when Lorelei entered it, the sun, which had begun to set when she entered was below the horizon now and Dr. Alleyne pulled a flashlight out of his small bag and Lorelei hastened to pull a flashlight from the outside pocket of her suitcase.
             “It is a bit of a walk,” said Dr. Alleyne tersely and not meeting Lorelei’s face.
             “Oh I don’t mind,” said Lorelei, Dr. Alleyne gave no response.
             “Such a mild mannered doctor” said Felina.
             “Hey I’m doing her and you a favor,” said Dr. Alleyne indignantly.
             “It’s not called doing a favor,” said Felina, “its called charity.”
             “Dr. Alleyne” said Lorelei in a soft voice that did not have the slightest hint of insincerity, “I haven’t seen Felina in 2 years, seeing her again has made me sincerely happy, and I am deeply and utterly profuse with gratitude for your hospitality.” Dr. Alleyne stopped walking and turned around to look at Lorelei, he paused and said with all trace of sternness gone from his voice.
             “Well I guess for a friend of a student as promising as Felina I suppose a little hospitality is in order” he smiled, turned around and continued walking. Felina looked shocked for a second before she resumed walking; she caught up with Lorelei and whispered in her ear, “You and your SAT vocabulary.”
            Lorelei simply smiled, shrugged and continued walking, dragging her wheeled suitcase behind her.
             “Say Felina,” said Lorelei “I forgot to ask you, what did Agatha think the rogue pokemon was?” Felina opened her mouth to respond but Dr. Alleyne cut her off.
             “An unsubstantiated legend Miss Lorelei, that is all you need to know” Lorelei looked at Felina but she simply bore a weary expression that seemed to say.
             “There’s no point in arguing” Lorelei decided that if Felina thought perusing the subject was pointless then abandoning it was probably for the best. Lorelei walked with Dr. Alleyne and Felina through the twilight, discussing her stint at the pokemon league for about 15 minutes before they arrived at a small white house to the west of where they had been in the wooded foothills of the mountain. The three walkers approached the door but it sprang open when they had all walked up onto the porch, a short woman in her mid twenties with dark skin and hair with almond shaped eyes, wearing a plain white t-shirt and black sweat pants opened the door.
             “Uncle Walt!” she said in an almost lyrical voice, “I was listening to the radio, and your statement on the evening news was great, oh!” she said, suddenly realizing that there was a third person on the porch.
             “Angela” said Dr. Alleyne “This is Felina’s friend-”
             “Lorelei!” said Angela, a wide smile in which all of her shining white teeth were visible as she stepped forward to shake Lorelei’s hand. “I know who you are of course, second place in the last pokemon league, that was no small feat.”
             “You are very kind,” said Lorelei.
             “We were wondering if, if it isn’t to much of an inconvenience, the young lady needs a place to stay for the night,” said Dr. Alleyne.
             “Of course she can stay!” said Angela, “Please come in”. And the three of them walked into the small but elegant house.
             “This is a beautiful house,” said Lorelei, being unable to restring herself.
             “Oh thank you dear” said Angela “I have nothing but time to keep the place clean while I’m on my of time”
             “Off time?” said Lorelei.
             “Oh yes, I work for a law firm on the other side of the Island and this time of year they’re closed, I’m leaving with Uncle Walt on the ferry in two days so we can see the rest of the family for Christmas.” Said Angela, “But please, sit down, all of you” she said ushering them into the dining room after they had all taken off their coats and Lorelei had placed her suitcase in an unobtrusive place in the front hall. The three travelers sat down in the small dining room and an oven mitt clad Angela set a steaming pan of Lasagna on a bamboo mat in the middle of the table.
             “I hope you like my cooking Lorelei” said Angela.
             “It smells wonderful,” said Lorelei.
             “My niece has quite the culinary aptitude,” said Dr. Alleyne.
             “Oh stop it, Walt,” said Angela sitting down while placing a large bowl of Caesar Salad on the table. The four people sat at the table eating diligently, but none with more vigor than Lorelei, she had been eating processed food for far to long and the prospect of a home cooked meal made with love and care was tremendously exciting.
            After they had all finished, Lorelei and Felina helped Angela clear the table while Dr. Alleyne sat at the table and reviewed the notes he had taken from his research on the island. After the kitchen was clean Angela and her three guests sat in her living room, partially for the picturesque view of the ocean from the window that Dr. Alleyne said would help him work and partially for the comfort of having a place to sit and talk. Dr. Alleyne sat passively, still engrossed in his notes while Angela listened to Felina and Lorelei reminisce about the last two years of their lives and chimed in periodically with her observations. The conversation went on for what seemed like hours and then switched to Angela, about her life and career and how grateful Lorelei was for the room for the night.
             “Please” said Angela “It’s no trouble, Uncle Walt and Felina have been such great guests, how could I turn them down when they bring someone in need.”
             “You are so kind and generous,” said Lorelei.
             “Oh think nothing of it,” said Angela, her eyes glancing over to a clock on the wall “10:30 already, goodness, Uncle Walt you better get to bed if you want to make that meeting with that professor from Johto” said Angela.
             “I suppose I should,” said Dr. Alleyne, rising from the armchair he was sitting in, his joints straining. “So where is Lorelei going to sleep?” he asked.
             “Eh, I hadn’t really thought about that,” said Felina.
             “Well I’m in the guest room and you’ve been sleeping on the fold out bed” said Dr. Alleyne.
             “I can sleep on an armchair,” said Lorelei.
             “No!” said Felina and Angela at the same time. “You must be off your nut if you think I’m going to let my best friend sleep in an armchair” said Felina.
             “I don’t want my guest sleep on a chair,” said Angela.
             “Look, I swear I’ll be fine,” said Lorelei.
             “No you won’t” said Felina “Because I’m sleeping on the chair and you’re sleeping on the couch bed.”
             “Huh?” said Angela and Lorelei at the same time, Dr. Alleyne simply looked politely surprised.
             “I insist,” said Felina “How else am I supposed to treat my best friend? And if I hear any argument from anyone then my normally sunny demeanor shall become most unpleasant” Lorelei and Angela giggled, but it seemed that they gave in; Dr. Alleyne looked at the clock and said.
             “Well I best be off to bed”
             “Good idea” said Felina, “Lorelei I can set up your bed and get your suitcase so you can get out your night things.”
             “No” said Lorelei “You’ve done enough just by volunteering to sleep on the chair”
             “All right” said Felina with a mischievous smile on her face “But do you know how to set up the bed?”
             “Uh, no” said Lorelei, and Felina laughed “Well it’s scarcely an accurate statement to say you’re going to set it up is it?” she said, and they both laughed, Lorelei a little self consciously. Soon enough Lorelei had her bed set up and was changed into her night things, brushed her teeth and attended to her other bedtime ritual duties and was under the covers of the fold out bed talking to Felina.
             “Are you sure you’re going to be ok there?” Lorelei asked Felina as she lay in a near vertical position on the reclined armchair with a pillow and a blanket.
             “Please,” said Felina “Remember how many times I got in trouble for falling asleep in Mrs. Westheimer’s class?”
             “Well in your defense it was a useless subject,” said Lorelei and they both laughed. Angela, clad in a bathrobe came into the living room.
             “Are you girls sure your going to be all right tonight?” asked Angela.
             “Positive” said Felina.
             “And Felina dear, are you sure I can’t convince you to sleep somewhere else?” asked Angela.
             “Absolutely, your acting like I’m going to die Angela, you’ve been such a hospitable host, sleeping on a recliner for one night won’t make any ill indent on my stay whatsoever” Angela smiled and said.
             “Well all right, but tomorrow, I’m kicking uncle Walt out of the guest room and making him sleep on the couch”
             “Good luck,” said Felina, Angela smiled and said.
             “Well good night girls,” and she turned and left the room to walk upstairs
             “Goodnight!” said Felina and Lorelei in unison, the two young women stayed up for a little while talking until fatigue got the better of Felina and she began to nod off and eventually fall asleep, leaving Lorelei alone, awake, not particularly sleepy and in a strange house.
            How long Lorelei lay awake she did not know, her mind seemingly unable to ease itself into unconsciousness as it sometimes did, more frequently than she liked. Even though she had had more contact with an old friend today then she could have ever hoped for, and the kind host had given her a bed for the evening and far more than she could have hoped for she still felt uneasy, Her best friend had even slept in a chair so she could have a bed at all, did she really deserve all of this? In her heart she felt unworthy, anxious and fearful.
            Her internal anxiety coupled with the unusually loud ticking of the clock on the adjacent wall made Lorelei lie awake in a stupor of worry and unease for a long time, eventually she was somehow able to quiet her mind enough that sleep slowly came over her, her dreams were chaotic, surreal and frightening, they were the same dreams she had been having for years, even though she rarely remembered them when she was awake.
            Suddenly without explanation Lorelei’s chaotic dream changed, there came from somewhere a bizarre noise, what the noise was Lorelei had no idea, it sounded like a woman holding a high note, but could human vocal cords produce a sound that chilled the heart and made the hairs on her arms and neck stand up like that? Stirring under the covers Lorelei slowly woke up. Her head was groggy and her eyes were unfocused, she was still lying on her side with her arms folded in front of her.
            Lorelei knew she shouldn’t look at the clock but she did anyway, she lifted her upper body off the bed to get a better view at the opposite wall where the clock lay on the wall. Her eyes were still not focused to see anything in the room, she could see without her glasses but not very sharply, eventually she regained her sight and she saw the clock, it was 2:33 Am.
             “Perfect. Just perfect” Lorelei thought to herself “Now how am I supposed to get back to sleep?” but no sooner had the word sleep passed through her head than she herd the noise that had awoken her from her troubled sleep. She was so sure that the noise had just been in her dream that to hear it while awake seemed to send ice throughout her heart, her guts and parts betwixt.
            Lorelei looked for the source for the noise; it seemed to have come from the window behind the couch that faced the ocean. She raised he body and knelt so that her face was right against the window. She looked out onto the stretch of grass that lead to the ocean, and what she saw, she could not be sure what it was.
            Through the darkness of the night and the fact that she did not have her glasses on her vision was obscured, but she did see, It was a small figure, how small and how far away it was Lorelei did not know, all she could see was it’s blurry outline as it seemed to run very quickly to the woods behind the house, Lorelei struggled to grab her glasses and put them on but by the time she raised her head to the window, spectacles parched atop her nose, whatever she had seen had gone, running and disappearing behind the left of the window frame.
            The pastoral scene of the ocean in the dead of night only heightened the shock that Lorelei felt after seeing something she could barely describe let alone explain. Her heart was racing in her chest at a rate, which she could never remember it racing before.
She drew deep, rapid breaths of cool night air, but she stifled, surely she had woken Felina with all her ruckus, but turning to her she saw that she was still in her chair, sleeping as still and steadfast as if she had been carved of stone.
            Lorelei sat back down on the sofa, her back against the backrest and her long legs extended onto the bed, trying to come to terms with what she saw. She played back the memory of what she saw in her head but the more she reviewed it the more indistinct her mental image became.
            What could she do now? Try and go back to sleep? Impossible, her heart rate, even though she was calmer now was still high enough Lorelei felt she could have run for 10 miles without succumbing to fatigue. Should she wake up Felina and tell her what she saw? No, it sounded stupid to Lorelei as she thought about this option to herself, besides she had work to do tomorrow morning with Dr. Alleyne, disturbing her rest with her feeble complaints was laughable. How could she come to fully realize that she really didn’t see anything so that maybe she could get some badly needed sleep? She then came to what she realized was her only option, she slowly pulled her covers off and got out of bed.
            Quietly gathering up her shoes and flashlight she snuck down the hall, preying that she wouldn’t wake anyone, but she managed to sneak quietly enough that she didn’t have to worry about that at all.
             “I know I didn’t really see anything,” said Lorelei to herself as she laced up her shoes and put on her coat.
             “But if I did…could it have been…the rogue pokemon?” the thought came to her slowly, it may have been small enough to be some kind of pokemon, but if it was…she had never seen a pokemon, even an exceptionally fast one move like that before.
             “Well anyway” she said to herself “Don’t want to wake anyone” she thought as she opened the front door as quietly as possible and stepped out onto the porch.
            Even though Kinnow Island had a balmy, tropical climate the dead of night in winter was still reasonably cold, Lorelei became keenly aware of this as the stepped outside, the crisp, cold air filling her lungs and causing blood to flow to her nose and ears. Lorelei closed the front door, again as quietly as she could, turning on her flashlight the blue-white beam of light fell on the smooth light green paint of the front porch.
            Lorelei descended the steps onto the dry, dusty dirt road that had brought her to this house all those hours ago, kicking up dust in the darkness as she walked. Presently she became cognizant of the clear cloudless night and all the stars that she could see, both enhanced by the bone-dry winter air and being so far removed from any large source of light. The field of stars that she beheld as she craned her head upward almost drove the thought of her mysterious encounter from her mind.
            After gazing at the stars for several long unbroken moments Lorelei ran off to where she saw the creature disappear, walking briskly around to the back of the house the beam from her flashlight shined on the undergrowth from the edge of the forest that bordered the back of Angela’s house, walking past the house and up to the edge of the forest Lorelei shone her flashlight through the low growing vegetation on the forest floor, the forest was as still, silent and lifeless in the cold night as some back alley in a busy city long bereft of habitation by any living thing.
            Lorelei scanned the undergrowth for a long time with her flashlight, probing any possible hiding space that she could see with the pale beam. After a period of time that she could not measure Lorelei decided to abandon this particular area and move onto other ground for her hunt. She walked up and down the border of the forest, peering in with her light, her fruitless search continuing, not so much as a Rattata or Pidgey to disturb the stillness of the forest.
            Many other people would have given up a search like this much sooner; due largely to the cold, but the cold never bothered Lorelei. Whether it was the efficiency of her metabolic processes that provided an exothermic shield against the cold, whether it was her natural affinity with her ice pokemon or whether it was a random genetic trait, Lorelei had always been comfortable in colder climates, and it was this proficiency for working in the cold that kept Lorelei searching for her possibly nonexistent quarry.
            After searching for a long time Lorelei decided to check the spot where she was sure the thing had run into the woods and then return to the house, even though she was fond of the cold, there were limits. Lorelei began to walk over to the spot she thought the thing had run into the woods, but then something happened that made her stop in her tracks, she suddenly herd that unnerving noise again.
            Again that noise that she could not identify, her hands moved to cover her ears but she accidentally bumped herself in the head with the flashlight she was still holding in her right hand, she uttered a small yelp of pain and dropped the light, it hit the ground, the light flickered and died.
            Pain from her ears and the pain from her temple rushed into her mind, she squinted and tried to gain her composure, she knew she had to get back in the house but her legs seemed unwilling to obey. Lorelei tentatively removed her hands from her ears, the sound had gone, but it was replaced by s new sound, a soft crunching sound of dead leaves and twigs underfoot just to her left still obscured in the forest.
            Lorelei had never been paralyzed by fear, so she could not describe what it felt like, but if she had to hazard a guess, what she felt at that moment was very, very close. She knew something was walking through the forest, if it was the rogue pokemon then she couldn’t battle it, her poke balls were back in the house, and what if it was something…worse. With an effort she began to slowly walk back towards the front door but a small bush in the woods about 12 feet in front of where Lorelei was standing began to shift.
            A Creature about three feet in height walked from under the shrubbery in the direction of the ocean then stopped to stare at Lorelei who stared at the creature in turn. How Lorelei could even begin to describe the creature she did not know, while it’s small stature and large eyes gave the creature some humanity she found the way it walked repulsive, it’s bipedal locomotion made it too close to herself, too human. The creature’s skin was a pale, paper white. It had a stocky, compact torso with slim, muscular legs and long arms that ended in three dexterous fingers. And it’s head…no pokemon had a head like that, the cranium extended so far over the bottom of the head it was almost cylindrical and the eyes were shaped near enough like a human except they seemed to have a reflective, metallic quality with glowing horizontal slits for pupils. One thing was for certain this was definitely not Mew.
            The two beings stared at each other, what the diminutive humanoid was thinking was unknown, But Lorelei did not think, she could not think, all thought had left her and she could only fix an unblinking gaze at the bizarre apparition that stood before her.
            Presently Lorelei became aware of the sound of heavy feet scraping the dust on the road and then treading softly on the grass. She broke her gaze and turned her head to the right where she saw a tall, dark figure. By now her eyes were adjusted to the starlight and it only took a short time to recognize the figure, at first she thought it was Dr. Alleyne, but as she began to recognize the body shape and facial features she saw that it wasn’t Dr. Alleyne at all, it was the dark haired man from the crowd outside the tent who had told her who had occupied it.
            Lorelei wondered why this man was here of all places, and at this ungodly hour, nearly all thoughts of the creature driven from her mind. And his intentions became even more cryptic as he slowly and deliberately reached into the back pocket of his pants and withdrew a handgun.
            Lorelei felt a fresh surge of fear; Firearms were rare even among law enforcement and she had never even seen one that wasn’t in a picture or film and from what she knew of guns she guessed that the man had nothing but ill intent. The man began to slowly raise the gun, but the muzzle was not pointed at Lorelei, it was pointed at the bizarre creature that still stood between the two humans.
             “NO!” shouted Lorelei, and even in the thin, dry winter air her voice seemed to echo and seemed strangely amplified. Even in the brief time it took her to utter the single syllable seemed to linger and last, suspended in time. But the plea fell on deaf ears, the trigger was squeezed and the bullet ejected the chamber with a booming blast that reverberated and even seemed to make the foundation of the house shudder, Lorelei’s legs shook as they stood steady on the ground and her eyes moved to the creature to see what damage was done to it.
            But the bullet never touched the creature, it raised it’s frail arms over it’s face as it recoiled from the gun’s blast and the hard soil 4 inches from the creatures left foot exploded as the kinetic energy of the bullet ripped into it.
            The creature’s arm fell to its side and it raised its head and opened its mouth. And for the fourth time that night Lorelei herd that unsettling screech, but if it was at all possible this time it was worse, instead of the high, eerie note it was a low pitched, rasping, screeching scream. Now it was Lorelei and the assailants turn to bring their arms up into a defensive posture as the note continued becoming louder and louder and louder, the pain in Lorelei’s head became far sharper and caused her to clutch her ears in pain again but just when Lorelei was sure that the scream was going to split her head open, the note changed. What was once a low but powerful screech was now a deep undulating hum.
            The hum continued, unbroken and unchanging Lorelei and the man both lowered their arms and looked at the creature, it’s head and arms were extended towards the heavens. Lorelei simply looked confused but the man with a determine grimace on his face and raised his weapon again but he would not get to fire another shot. The creature brought its arms, head, and upper body swiftly to the ground as if bowing very quickly and its hum went from one long note to one single blast of sound, a wave of pure sonic energy that was so powerful that it knocked Lorelei and the man clear off their feet.
            Lorelei seemed to be suspended as she fell, the moment after her feet left the ground seemed to make her conscious of every cell in her body, temporarily free of the constraints of gravity. She felt the cold night breeze blow swiftly over her face and hands.
And her eyes, now thrown in an upwardly direction saw the vast expanse of stars that lay overhead and her gaze was still focused on the stars, even up to the millisecond before her body hit the ground. Her right shoulder took most of the impact but her already aching head skidded across the ground, grass and soil becoming entangled in her hair. Her body became still and limp as her consciousness faded and she was aware of the chill of the night no more.
            Lorelei was aware of drifting through a blue-green haze not bound by any laws or limitations. Was she dreaming? She couldn’t ever remember having a dream this calming and peace inducing. Her body seemed to elevate slowly up and up and up until she came to a semi transparent surface, behind which a bright light shone.
            The next thing Lorelei was aware of was waking up on her back in the middle of a bright sunny day; at least she thought she was awake. The pain in her head and the rest of her body was gone, she couldn’t remember being tired or sleep deprived at all and when she brought a hand to her hair it was as soft and smooth as if it were fleshly dried after a long shower, no hint of a struggle at all. Something did not seem entirely right.
            She slowly raised her body to see where she was and she was forced to choke back a gasp of surprise. She was dead in the middle of a flat, featureless field of ice that stretched, uninterrupted from horizon to horizon. The sun shone bright overhead and reflected off of the ice making the vast sheet glow in its rays. But there was something wrong with this ice as Lorelei lay upon her left hand for support she found that it was not cold to the touch, it wasn’t even cool, it was as if the ground on which she lay were made of plastic treated to look exactly like ice.
            Lorelei attempted to stand up and found that her body reacted as if she were in its physical prime; her muscles obeyed her brains commands instantly and with remarkable efficiency. But in standing up Lorelei found something else disturbing about her new environment, the ice on which she stood was not even slippery; it was like standing on solid, flat concrete.
             “This is just to weird,” said Lorelei as she looked down at the ice discouraged. Now that she had stood up she could use her height to scan for any sign of…well anything, anything that might give her some clue as to where she was or how she got there. She brought her hand over her eyes to shield them from the bright sun and began scanning the horizon. Lorelei stood scanning in every direction for many long moments until her eyes finally showed her something. Far off in one direction (she had no idea of what direction it might be in) she saw a hill jutting up from the flat ice.
             “Well it’s not much to go on” said Lorelei to herself “It’s not like theirs anything else here, maybe I can climb up it and maybe get a better picture as to where I am.” And with that single directive thought and with any sense of fear she had replaced by an unquenchable curiosity Lorelei began to walk toward the one landmark in this strange and unsettling place.
            Lorelei walked for a long time, the distant hill was far away after all, the distance seemed to be an insurmountable expanse a stretch of land that obeyed no rules of distance or time as we understand it, it was like walking a path with no end, like fighting an immortal man, the distance seemed so great. But in spite of this she, noticed that walking seemed somehow easier than it normally did, her legs seemed immune from the fatigue that a long walk would normally bring on, tendon and bone instead of giving constant mild complaint were firing on all cylinders, the weight of her torso and arms seemed almost nonexistent and she glided over the traction providing ice with the ease and grace of a male Rapidash during mating season. It was this dynamic energy that bore Lorelei across this seemingly impassible obstacle of sheer space.
            Very slowly but surely the form of the hill loomed larger and larger in the foreground in front of her as her powerful legs propelled her forward relentlessly with no thought of hunger or thirst she continued to move forward unhindered.
            Her long journey continued and at about the halfway point between where she began her journey and the point where the hill was, she couldn’t be 100% sure of this as she had nothing to judge her position by except the hill itself (the sun had not moved at all). Lorelei came upon a large, sharp piece of ice that jutted up thought the smooth surface of the flat plane. The ice was no good to climb up on and try to get a better vantage point, even though this ice also did not appear to be slippery it was at to sharp an angle to climb up on, Lorelei was far more interested in the object in the ice.
            Entombed within the ice was the body of a Pidgey, it’s wings spread as if in mid-flight. Lorelei stared at and pondered this sight for a long time. She had two simultaneous thoughts of this sight, on the one hand she thought it was a very tragic sight, this poor helpless creature was trapped, frozen forever on this bleak plane, it’s last moment of life forever locked in the cruel embrace of the cold. But on the other hand it was hauntingly beautiful this noble creature was forever immortalized as it proudly spread its wings, a permanent testament to it’s own life.
            These two thoughts chased each other in Lorelei’s mind until she realized that she was being distracted from her objective, whispering a soft goodbye intended only for the tiny bird Lorelei turned her back on the small creature and continued walking toward the hill.
            Lorelei’s pace remained constant as she walked toward the distant hill but as she drew closer her pace quickened, her anxiousness to try and discover even the most cryptic clue or vague indication of where she was intensifying. When she could at last see details of the hill she began to run, the hill was larger than she thought and was set about with jagged rocks, it looked as if a gigantic pile of rocks of random shapes had punched it’s way up through the ice that covered…wherever it is that she was.
            When Lorelei actually touched one of the rocks at the base of the hill she actually allowed herself to let out a small exclamation of glee. But her glee was soon replaced by a sense of foreboding. She had been so intent on reaching the hill that she did not even notice that as she lay her hand upon it the sun sank from the sky a small but noticeable amount, as well as dimming from it’s usual intensity slightly, she took her hand off of the rock and backed away from the hill for a few paces and the sun returned to it’s normal position and brightness. Testing if what she had just seen had really happened Lorelei walked back to the hill, this time actually standing on one for the rocks that made up the hill and indeed the sun sank towards the horizon accordingly.
             “This is very, very odd,” said Lorelei, simply gazing at the rock she stood on in astonishment. “Am I to assume that the further I climb the darker it will become?” almost expecting the silence to answer her query Lorelei listened but no sound came. Lorelei hopped down from the rock and away from the hill and she saw the sun rise back to its dominant position. Lorelei shielded her eyes and watched the sunbeams being cased on the ice and then she looked at the tall hill made up of rocks that stood behind her. She sighed very deeply and jumped on the rocks that lead up the hill.
            Lorelei moved her long limbs as best she could up and up the hill all the while the sun sank deeper and deeper toward the horizon behind her. The angle of the hill became steeper and steeper the higher she climbed, eventually forcing her to get on all fours and crawl. She pulled herself up with her arms and pushed with her legs further and further up the hill as the light around her slowly receded, slowly shrouding her and the hill in darkness.
            Lorelei’s heart raced, she could very well slip and fall if it grew much darker and she were precariously parched on a high rock. But she still, slowly, tentatively forced herself up the face of the hill as the sun sank and by the time she could see the flat top of the hill within thirty feet of her the sun sank below the horizon completely, leaving only residual light that she was sure would disappear if she moved another inch upwards.             Lorelei was very still, pensively perched holding onto the rock with all physical force of her being focused on keeping her hand holds and foot grips stable.
             “Go back down or go forward,” she said. If she went back down she could use the light to find some other vantage point but if she continued upward she may not be able to prevent some terrible accident that could end her quest of escape before anything came of it. But she hadn’t seen any other landmarks worthy of climbing on, or any landmarks for that matter in all the long time she was walking towards this hill, she determined that this hill was her only chance of salvation and gritting her teeth she forced herself upward, light slipping away all the while.
            Lorelei was coming up to the summit of the hill, now she was twenty feet from the top, but the dusk that had given way to twilight was rapidly turning into the deadest of night without any hope of the moon or stars to see by.
             “If only I hadn’t dropped my flashlight,” thought Lorelei to herself as she ascended but paused. All the daylight had gone and she was still fifteen feet from the summit, she paused wondering what she should do, what she could do. But in that time her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and she could see the vague outlines of the stones that she had been groping for to bring her upwards. She continued to climb upwards but when she was a mere ten feet from the summit what little light her eyes could see vanished completely, now she was truly stranded, in the dark, and alone on a perilous cliff.
            She took deep, cleansing breaths, forbidding her mind to slip into panic mode, which she was fighting with all of her willpower. She slowly arrived at the only conclusion that she could, the only conclusion that would get her out of this dreadful predicament. She groped blindly in the dark for another stone to pull herself up, for many seconds she groped and found nothing, then, using the one arm that she was gripping the hills face with she slowly and agonizingly lifted her entire body with it and mercifully found a stone and she used both arms to pull herself further up the black hill.
            She continued this strategy of blind groping in the dark for many minutes and she very, very slowly made progress up the hill. But when she was at last feeling the pangs of her physical limitations and the exertion on her body had all but passed the point of being intolerable she became aware of a dim blue light just over her head, she looked up to see the light extending over the flat ridge of the top of the hill and illuminating the last few stones that she could use to safely climb up.
            In the glow of the dim blue light Lorelei finally found her way to the top of the hill. Lorelei stood and looked down at the lofty rise she had just climbed and it was as dark and unreadable as staring into a bottomless well, her hope of a vantage point from which to ascertain where she was had gone from Lorelei’s mind. But she now had another concern, the source of the mysterious blue light.
            Taking her eyes off the sheer drop she had just ascended she turned her gaze to the top of the hill. Unlike the jagged stones she had climbed up the top of the hill was completely flat and was circular in shape, the only thing that was distinctive at all about the top of the hill was the source of the mysterious blue light.
            A single block of ice occupied the very middle of the hills flat summit, but this ice looked as if had been carved to resemble a mirror. The base was cragged and resembled clear, rough stone but the large, flat, rectangular protrusion in the center towered over it, it almost looked like some stone monolith, a relic from the past left by some long extinct civilization.
            Lorelei walked over to investigate this bizarre object that was glowing with the faintest blue light, she was surprised to see her reflection. Lorelei looked upon herself, the 18-year-old girl who stared back at her was much as she remembered; there were small cuts and scrapes all over her jeans and jacket from climbing the rock. But she still bore the same tall stature, the same neutral expression as if constantly contemplating some deep, unsolvable mystery. Her short purple hair shone even though the mirror’s blue light was dim and her large eyes stared into themselves from behind her spectacles.
            But suddenly her reflection began to fade; she raised her hand to the mirror as if she could somehow stop it but her reflection eventually disappeared into the measureless empty space behind the mirror. She stared at the blank space that was as smooth as a sheet of glass; it was as black as the shrouded hill that surrounded her. But the image in the mirror began to slowly change again; a blue fog filled the mirror. Lorelei was startled; the fog appeared to be only within the mirror itself, she quickly dashed to the other side of the mirror, there was no sign of the blue fog on the other side of the mirror either, whatever blue fog there was appeared to be within the mirror itself.
            Lorelei walked back to her original position in front of the mirror, the blue fog rose until it filled the entire frame but then began to slowly recede. She gazed into the mirror’s depths she continued to gaze for a moment until she saw a dark, shrouded figure walking towards her within the mirror. The figure was small and covered in a black robe but as it walked toward her the figure grew taller and taller. The figure loomed larger until it came to a pause right in front of Lorelei. The figures frame filled the entire mirror, making it taller than even Lorelei who could only stare at its dark frame in wonder and anticipation.
            The figure lifted one of its pale hands and removed the hood that covered its face. Lorelei’s heart froze in her chest, she had seen the man who stood before her before but only in an old photograph her mother had showed to her. The man had long straggly black hair and a thin, bony face and his pale skin seemed taught as it stretched over his features and his thin mouth bore yellowing teeth. But his most distinctive feature was his eyes; his eyes were large and were a vivid shade of teal-turquoise, they were Her eyes.
Lorelei knew with all certainty that she was looking into the face of Indrid Kanna, her biological father.
             “Father.” Said Lorelei to the mirror.
             “Lorelei” said the figure in the mirror; it’s voice deep, gruff and as loud as if he were standing right next to her.
             “Why?” said her father “Why did you and your mother drive me out of your lives?”
             “Drive you out?!” replied Lorelei hotly “You ran away! You took us for half of what we were worth and left us both to die on Mandarin Island!”
             “It was your mother’s neediness that drove me away” said her father; every word that he spoke was like a needle being driven into Lorelei’s back. “Your mother would never give me the freedom I needed”
             “Freedom?!” yelled Lorelei indignantly “You were supposed to be raising a child and you talk of freedom?”
             “You and your mother brought my departure upon yourselves,” said her father.              “Really?” said Lorelei “When you took half our money and gambled it all away, we were just doing that to ourselves?” she said, her voice was growing fainter; the struggle of speaking was costing her much energy.
             “Yes,” replied her father “You must live with the knowledge that it was your greed and your mothers selfishness that cost you a father.” The sting of these words was too much to bear and Lorelei fell to her knees.
             “I have a father! And his name is Simon Mahler!” yelled Lorelei, but she felt the blackness of her fathers hate spreading and when he spoke next she felt as if her heart was being clenched by some great, evil serpent.
             “That looser could have never stood up to me,” said her father “He only wanted your mother, he never cared about you.”
             “No, he was a sweet man, like you…never were” said Lorelei, her voice growing fainter, her heartbeats becoming labored as her view of the hem of her father’s cloak flashed in and out of focus in front of her hazy eyes.
             “Surrogate father or not, you must realize that I will live in your soul forever, every moment you live will be a monument to your failure as a daughter, and your mother’s failure as a human being” said her father, his venomous words were like a white hot knife ripping through her mind and heart.
             “Give up Lorelei, I have made you to be nothing” her father said as the darkness pulled ever tighter over her mind and the physical pain combined with the mental pain and became so unbearable, Lorelei wanted to scream in pain but her breath was caught in her throat.
            The serpent strangling her heart drew its coils tighter, tighter, tighter, threatening to crush it. The image of her father’s grim frown filled her head and became all she could think of, but it was replaced by a picture of her mother, she could see the soft form of her mother before her in her head, the serpent around her heart stopped squeezing.
             “No!” said Lorelei in a voice that was quiet and strained but was strong and defiant nonetheless.
             “There is no lie or mistruth you are not capable of Indrid Kanna” the serpents coils began to loosen, Her father had a confused and slightly fearful look on his face. In spite of the pain in her body Lorelei rose to her feet, walked straight over to the mirror and placed both of her hands upon it, as she pushed with every fiber of strength in her body, as she pushed she yelled as loud as she possibly could.
             “And as for creating me, you may have sired me, but you are not my father!” Fighting the pain that still coerced through her body Lorelei pushed and pushed against the mirror with every muscle in her body.
             “What are you doing?!” yelled her father but Lorelei gave no response she merely pushed while gritting her teeth and straining her face. Soon the desired result began to happen, there was a crack in the base of the mirror that Lorelei was forcing open the crack and pushing the mirror over.
             “Stop this!” yelled her father, but his commands fell on deaf ears, focusing more on one physical task then she had ever before in her life Lorelei pushed and pushed and pushed. Finally the mirror broke free of its anchor and fell towards the ground.
             “Aaaaaaaaah!” came the voice of her father from the mirror as it hit the stone floor and shattered into a thousand pieces, the serpent that had been clenching Lorelei’s heart fell from her body, withered and died.
            The pain in Lorelei’s body was gone, she felt unconquerable, and the breath that entered her lungs seemed to breathe immortality into every inch of her form. It was when this feeling of elation came to it’s strongest that the darkness that surrounded her on that high hill subsided and the sun came blaring overhead, bright and gleaming.
            Lorelei looked around her, she could see the plane of ice that stretched around her in every direction with no sign of anything but the immense plain of ice in sight, but she found that she didn’t care; the warmth of the sun caressed her body and brought warmth within her mind and heart. The rays of the high sun grew more and more powerful, she found the brighter the sun got, the more warm and happy she felt and she saw with a small sense of satisfaction that the powerful rays of the sun had melted the fragments of the mirror on the ground that she stood.
            Engulfed in an all encompassing sense of passivity and peace Lorelei looked at the sun, she found that staring directly into it did not make her eyes hurt in the slightest, even though the rays it was putting out were stronger than she had ever seen, looking at the source of these rays was no more difficult than staring into the flame of a single candle. The light from the sun became brighter and brighter and brighter, until Lorelei found herself completely surrounded in it.
             “How did you say it happened again?” a voice echoed in the distance.
             “We’re not sure, she may have passed out from the sound of the shot” came another, weary voice. The light around Lorelei began to fade, the sense of invulnerability began to fade as well, and she became aware of a pain in her head, right shoulder and arm, she also became aware of a faint beeping sound that mingled with the echoing voices.
             “How could the noise from one shot do this to someone?” came another voice, this one etched with worry and concern.
             “You ever herd what a gun blast actually sounds like up close? It’s loud” came the sound of the weary voice, this time it became more clear and sharp, as well as the beeping sound in the background.
             “Well since we’re not sure in what capacity she was injured I guess we have no way of knowing how long she will be like this” came the sound of the first voice, very flat and deep.
             “I just hope the poor girl wakes up soon” came a fourth voice, this one soft and tender.
             “How long has she been out” came the flat voice.
             “About fourteen hours now” said the weary voice, as the voices continued there conversation they became sharper, the sun’s light faded deeper and deeper into darkness, the pain she felt became more pronounced and Lorelei could at last identify what that odd beeping sound was it was an EKG machine, monitoring…someone’s heartbeat.
            When the sunlight had gone completely and all Lorelei could see was blackness she realized that her eyes were closed, she opened them but saw the slightly blurred outline of a small room, she was now fully aware of the pain in her body and in moving her head she felt that her hair was still entangled with the dirt of Angela’s back yard. She was aware of lying on a bed in the middle of the room and the four people in the room with her.
             “Lorelei! Sweetie you’re awake!” Lorelei had no trouble recognizing this voice; the near hysterical but sweet and reassuring voice was that of her mother. Elysia had risen from the chair she was sitting in and, bending over was hugging her daughter as tightly as her arms would allow.
             “Mom, Err, I still hurt a little” Lorelei said, practically between gritted teeth.
             “Oh! I’m so sorry sweetie,” said Elysia releasing her daughter.
             “That’s ok mom,” said Lorelei, “I’m just happy to see you.”
             “Oh sweetie” said Lorelei’s mother, squeezing her hand.
             “Were all happy to see you to, Kiddo” said a deeper voice as a muscular hand squeezed Lorelei’s free one. Lorelei looked into the face of the man squeezing her hand, even in the blur of her drowsy brain and her glasses less eyes she could see the face of Simon, her stepfather.
             “Daddy” said Lorelei softly, squeezing the man’s hand in return and Lorelei was sure she saw him smile.
             “See, I told you it takes more than a creep with a gun to take down the great Lorelei” said another familiar voice.
             “Is that you Felina?” asked Lorelei.
             “Man, you really are frickin blind aren’t you?” said Felina. Getting up to hand Lorelei her glasses.
             “Felina! She’s had a mild concussion,” said Lorelei’s mother in an almost scornful voice.
            “Well what kind of best friend would I be if I started making excuses for her Mrs. M?” Asked Felina. The fourth person in the room chuckled slightly but Lorelei’s parents looked concerned, in spite of the somewhat awkward atmosphere the fourth person in the room kept chuckling and said.
             “I’m just happy that the girls ok” it was Angela, she had apparently been waiting in the hospital room with her parents and Felina, possibly since she had first arrived there, the thought made Lorelei feel warm and safe, but the warm feeling was soon replaced by a fresh rush of pain to her head.
             “Err, you said I had a concussion?” said Lorelei.
             “Only a little one” said Lorelei’s mother reassuringly.
             “That, and your right arm and shoulder got a little torn up, but the doctors said you could recover if you woke up, they weren’t quite sure how long you were going to stay passed out” said Felina.
             “So I’m in the hospital now” said Lorelei.
             “The Island’s medical clinic, not quite as fancy as a normal hospital but now that your awake they should be able to fix you up” said Angela.
             “And when did you two get here?” she asked her parents who were still beside her bed.
             “Felina was kind enough to call us as soon as she and Angela found you and couldn’t revive you, we caught a morning fairy here and we’ve been here ever since” said Simon.
             “But how did I get here?” asked Lorelei “I thought you didn’t have a car Angela.”
             “I don’t, Uncle Walt carried you here” said Angela
             “He did?” asked Lorelei.
             “Of course” said Angela “He couldn’t stay of course, he had business with that man from Johto, but he was kind enough to give dear Felina here the time off to stay by your side.”
             “Perhaps I underestimated him,” said Lorelei.
             “He would be happy to hear you say that,” said Angela, smiling “He prides himself on being easy to underestimate.” Lorelei smiled in tern, but her attention was then drawn to the window, the sun was beginning to set.
             “How long did you say I was out for?” she asked.
             “It’s been about fourteen hours now” said Felina, “But we have some questions for you, how in the name of all things sacred did that man with a gun end up in the backyard with you?”
             “Did any of you see what knocked us both out?” asked Lorelei.
             “No” said Angela “I herd the shot and we all met in the front hall to go out and investigate, we did hear a weird noise but by the time we all got out in the yard all we found were you and that creepy guy passed out.”
             “So none of you saw what did that to both of us?” asked Lorelei.
             “No” said Felina and Angela simultaneously.
             “I’m somewhat curious as to that as well,” said a voice in the doorway, everyone looked around to see who had spoken, and it was Agatha.
             “Agatha?” said Lorelei and Felina at the same time.
             “What are you doing here?” Asked Felina.
             “When I herd that this young lady was hurt I knew that I had no option but to desist my northbound travels and reassure myself to her condition, and how happy I am to find her conscious.” She finished with a very big, warm smile.
             “It’s in the papers?” asked Lorelei.
             “Well I herd on the radio that an unknown assailant and a former pokemon league champ were found in a backyard, unconscious and that they were being held in a medical clinic I knew my duty was clear,” said Agatha.
             “We appreciate your concern Agatha,” said Felina “But Lorelei was just about to tell us how she arrived at her condition.”
             “Oh, of course, please child, don’t let me interrupt,” said Agatha, grabbing a spare chair and sitting down. Lorelei wasn’t sure where to start or how to tell the story, because she did not know Angela or Agatha very well she wasn’t sure how they would take what she had to say, but in the end she decided to tell the whole, unaltered story. She related everything that happened, the noise that woke her up, how she decided to investigate, the creature, the gunman, the scream that knocked her into unconsciousness, she did however leave out her vision, it did not seem relevant.
            Angela and Elysia simply looked surprised but Simon, Felina and Agatha simply looked at Lorelei deeply and appraisingly. Lorelei wondered why the three of them were taking this attitude that bordered on suspicion, but then Felina spoke.
             “Well Agatha, it seem your theory deserves a little more credence than the good Dr. Alleyne thought” Lorelei was confused.
             “You think what I saw was the rogue pokemon?” she asked.
             “It seems very probable,” said Agatha.
             “Agatha, What did you try and convince Dr. Alleyne the Rogue pokemon was?”
asked Lorelei, but it was not Lorelei that spoke but Simon.
             “What you described Lorelei sounds very close to the description of a creature from ancient mythology called an Espelcho.” He said.
             “A what?” asked Lorelei.
             “An Espelcho” said Felina, “a creature some claim is a rare or extinct species of pokemon, with a short stature and human like features.”
             “Your father and your friend are right Lorelei” said Agatha “Many ancient cultures wrote about them, but even so we have very little fossil evidence or written accounts to go on, what we know most about them comes from a legend passed down orally through a society with no written language.”
             “How does the legend go?” asked Lorelei, her curiosity peaked.
             “Supposedly there was once a tribe whose warriors were undefeatable because they used the power of the Espelcho. It was believed the Espelcho had the power to make humans come face to face with their darkest fears, anyone who emerged from the trance like state the Espelcho put them under would be free of all fear and among the strongest of warriors” Agatha finished her story and all eyes in the room were on her.
             “Well,” said Felina “We always knew Lorelei was strong, but now we know she’s warrior strong” and everyone laughed, but Lorelei’s mother looked at her daughter through concerned eyes behind her laughter. After their laughter died down a nurse came into the room.
             “Goodness!” she exclaimed, “she’s awake!”
             “You noticed,” said Felina, and Angela giggled.
             “Well, now that the patient is conscious I need to check on her” said the nurse, which she did, after Lorelei’s brief physical the nurse announced that there was no reason that Lorelei shouldn’t make a full recovery, she just needed to rest at the clinic for a few days.
             “And she can begin getting rest now” said the nurse walking back to the door and giving Felina a brief, scathing look.
             “But cant they stay a little longer?” said Lorelei.
             “Oh very well, but not more than five minutes, you need your rest.” Said the nurse. Angela sighed and got up,
             “I have to get back to the house anyway, Lorelei dear I brought your stuff.”
Angela said, pointed at Lorelei’s suitcase in the corner of the room “And I brought your pokemon” she said pointing to the bedside table where her glasses had been where Lorelei could see five pokeballs.
             “Thank you so much Angela,” said Lorelei.
             “No problem dear” said Angela “and if you’re ever in the neighborhood be sure to stop by and see me.”
             “You know I will,” said Lorelei “and be sure to thank your uncle for me,”
             “He’ll be happy to hear you’re up and well again,” said Angela “Take care of yourself dear” and Angela walked from the room.
             “Hey Felina” said Lorelei as Felina gathered her coat and made to walk from the room “Did they ever find out who that guy was with the gun?”
             “No” said Felina “He had no ID on him, and he’s still in a coma. What you saw may very well have been an Espelcho, I just hope for his sake he’s made of as strong a stuff as you” she said with a somewhat dim tone of voice. “Well on that chipper note, I have some filing to do for the good Doctor”
             “I missed you Felina,” said Lorelei.
             “It’s been way to long,” said Felina.
             “I’d invite you to our house for Christmas, but I know you wouldn’t want to come, Mandarin Island and everything” said Lorelei.
             “Doesn’t mean we can’t keep in touch” said Felina on an apparent sudden inspiration.
             “Here” she said, handing Lorelei a piece of paper “My dorm phone number.”
             “Thanks” said Lorelei, and Felina bent over to give her injured friend a hug “For everything” finished Lorelei.
             “That’s what friends do,” said Felina. At that point the nurse walked by the door and gave Felina a stern look.
             “All right! I’m going! I’m going!” said Felina exasperatedly. “Take care of yourself” said Felina to Lorelei.
             “And you” said Lorelei to Felina, both young women smiled and Felina walked out of the room.
             “Well Lorelei” said Agatha “It seems that in a roundabout way you proved that I was right.”
             “But we have to tell Dr. Alleyne that-” Began Lorelei.
             “Dr. Alleyne will never believe us,” said Agatha “And neither will anyone else.”
             “What? But why?” asked Lorelei.
             “Dr. Alleyne operates within the guidelines of science Lorelei, and now that he has made his statement to the press that the rogue pokemon was nothing more than some sick Kadabra then that will be the truth in the publics mind, regardless of whether or not it is actually factual.” Said Agatha.
             “But” interjected Lorelei.
             “The important thing, Lorelei is that we know the truth; that is all that matters” cut in Agatha, and to Lorelei’s surprise she looked at her parents and they were nodding. Lorelei was shocked that her parents took Agatha’s point of view on the matter but her shock was soothed away by the gaze of her stepfather’s wisdom and by the warmth of her mother’s heart that told her that her daughter was neither a liar nor a charlatan.
             “And my advice to you, young Lorelei, is to use what you have learned from your experience to your advantage, I was not lying when I said I watched you closely at your trials at the pokemon league, your skills are indeed great and your love for your pokemon is unquestionably there, but you seem to be held back by that one barrier that proves to be the most troublesome to break, the one you make for yourself” said Agatha.
            Lorelei sat in her bed, looking into the aged, wise face of the pokemon master that stood before her, taking in every word of what she had just said.
             “If you were indeed able to conquer your worst fear, then it stands to reason that you should now see how trivial and silly it is to live in fear,” said Agatha, now turning to leave the room.
             “The next pokemon league tournament begins in the end of August, and I expect to see you there, and in the mean time, become closer to your pokemon, and always carry with you the lesson that your vision has taught you.” And having uttered that statement, Agatha left the room, leaving Lorelei alone with her parents.
             “Were both so proud of you dear” said Lorelei’s mother.
             “Some people allow their fear to dictate every decision of their lives, It’s comforting to know I helped raise a child who can face what crushes most men to dust.” said Simon.
             “But sweetie” said Elysia, sitting down on the bed and looking right into Lorelei’s eyes. “Are you going to be ok?” her hazel eyes gazing deep into her teal-turquoise ones, and in that moment Lorelei knew. She knew that her mother knew what her deepest fear would be from the moment her father left them that day in July all those years ago.
            Lorelei did not answer immediately, she looked out the window and saw the winter sun sinking below the horizon, but she found that she did not feel the normal rush of confusion, uncertainty and fear of her own inadequacy that had been her bedfellows for so long. Gone were the feelings of fear, replaced by the sense of infinite potential that lay ahead, a sense that life could be lived in hope of possibilities instead of in fear of inevitabilities. No matter how bad things may get she saw that she could proactively work to make them better. And she saw the sunset, not as a sunset but as a promise that a new day would come.
            Lorelei turned to her mother and said.
             “Yes mom, I’m going to be ok.”
             “That’s my girl,” said her mother, gently hugging her. Simon walked to the other side of the bed to hug her as well, the family embraced for a long time and then broke apart, Lorelei’s mother said.
             “Well you need your rest sweetie, we should get back and make sure Karen is coming along all right.”
             “How is my dear sister?” asked Lorelei.
             “How do you think she’s doing?” asked Simon “She can barely sleep she’s so eager for the 24th to get here.”
             “Can’t wait to get a Teen behind her age can she?” asked Lorelei.
             “You can ask her all about it when you see her” said Elysia, “But don’t you worry about getting home quickly, you take all the time you need to recover” said Lorelei’s mother, bending down to kiss her daughter as Simon put his coat on.
             “We love you sweetie, see you soon” said both as the left the room, leaving Lorelei quite alone. She felt truly relaxed and free for the first time in her life, for as long as she could remember she had wanted to let herself flow as free as water but she had always found her spirit somehow confined, restrained. But her experience and the love from her friends and family had somehow given her permission to live as freely as she had dreamed for the first time.
             She sat in her bed, excited about the prospects of the future and growing closer to her pokemon, all the trainers they would face, all the obstacles they would overcome, and how those poor trainers at the pokemon league tournament wouldn’t stand a chance when she showed up and she somehow knew that after passing the long road of trial and sacrifice she would find pokemon mastery.
             Lorelei scooped up her poke balls lovingly into her lap, lay back in her bed and drifted off into a sleep full of joyous and wonderful dreams.
(Not) The End

This story is dedicated to you, the reader who made it this far. Of course to Porygon2, may his tireless efforts remain immortalized on the net for all of eternity. And of course to my editor and fellow pokemon aficionado, the Misty to my Psyduck, the Queen Boudicca to my Vercingetorix, my sister.