From: Mobius101 <mobius101@aol.compactpika> Subject: [PW!] [NC] To The Stars Above! (continuation of Bottled Rockets) Date: Thursday, April 22, 1999 12:04 AM written by Adrian Tymes: >"Three things capable of many tasks. But the one task they can not >perform, is to separate themselves. They can not leave a piece of >themselves behind. And, without that, they can not act as a rocket. >There is no way they can leave orbit, once stranded there." He >chuckled. "You know what a pain Mimic and Doppler have been. Today, >they...and their kin..." Giovanni was very careful not to say 'Seth', >as he knew a few of his crew still regarded Seth as human out of >ignorance of the past month's discoveries. "...cease to be a problem." > >The sound that next came from him ranked a 9.5 on the Evil Mastermind >Diabolical Laughter scale, mainly because it quickly spread to his crew. > *** "Finally, it's another door!" Aerie gazed with gratitude upon the oval-shaped portal. Her eyes gleamed and sparkled. "I was beginning to think we'd be trapped in this corridor forever!" Jessie pushed on it with one hand. "At least it *looks* like a door....it doesn't appear to open." She gave it a hard kick, but only succeeded in throwing her footing off momentarily. "They don't call this the bottle from heck for nothin' y'know." "Let's try together," Aerie suggested. Both women raised a boot off the floor and slammed them as hard as they could against the glassy door. It shimmered and vibrated in response. Nothing more. Aerie pulled at her hair. "We're all going to die!" 'Meowth' stood behind them, his arms crossed, eyes closed, and looking a mite irritated with the two of them. "Weaklings....." "Well I don't see you helping Meowth!" Jessie snapped back at him. 'Meowth' snickered and walked past them. He pushed the door open and walked on through. "Well, c'mon ladies, we don't have all day!" "How does he keep doing that?" Jessie stuttered. Aerie ran through the door before Jessie. Upon stepping out, she gave a shout of joyful surprise. "Seth!" Jessie and Slasher immediately looked in after her. There was Seth, now in his regular form, and Meowth staring at them as if they couldn't believe their eyes. Jessie had a feeling it had to do with the door pretty much appearing out of nowhere. She stepped through after Aerie. "It's about time we found you!" "Purrrsian!" Slasher bounded in purring happily. "You're alright!" Aerie laughed, running up and hugging Seth tightly. Catching on that they were real, Seth smiled and hugged back. "Yeah, I'm glad to see you guys too! Have you seen my parents anywhere in here?" Aerie closed her eyes and shook her head. "Nothing....we were lucky we were able to find you!" Meowth blinked and looked up at Jessie. "You're here too? Hey, who's the gal?" He thumbed over at Aerie. Aerie looked down at Meowth. "You know who I am, Meowth...." Meowth scratched his ear in thought. "No....I don't think I've ever seen you before...." Aerie gave Jessie a confused look. "Do you think the altitude has gotten to him?" Jessie had her eyes locked firmly onto Meowth. Then she walked around scanning the room with her eyes. "No. I think someone else may have gotten us." Seth frowned inwardly and released Aerie slightly. He turned his head to the side as if he could hear some faint sound. "Doppler's been here. We have to find my parents and get off this bottle somehow!" *** After being dragged through Diet Coke by a Persian, Maria and James finally opened their eyes to find themselves in an open corridor. Maria looked back at the Persian. It was just standing there now, staring at them with those secretive almond eyes. With a look of mystification, Maria reached her hand out to it. "Slasher?" James grabbed her arm back in alarm. "Don't!" "James!" She frowned back at him. When she turned back again, it was just in time to see the curled tip of the Persian's tail glide back into the seamless surface of the bottle. She sighed. "Why did you do that?" "I don't know....I just didn't think it was a good idea." James frowned to himself. "C'mon, we need to get out of here." He pulled her to her feet. They were in a maze of corners in a far distant niche of the bottle. Giving each other an uncertain look, they began their way through. Their distorted reflections on these curved corners made the whole place resemble a kind of mad funhouse. And considering the nature of the bottle, it wasn't too far off. *** "So your friends have joined you. How convient." Seth and company looked up in surprise. Up on the high wall, a screen had flickered to life. Giovanni looked down at them with a cruel smile. "Just stay there, we'll get to you soon enough." "Giovanni! Where are my parents! I'm sick of these games!" Seth shouted. He hadn't taken a good look around, but he knew that the doors had all disappeared. They were trapped. "Don't worry about them. It's your own hide I would be worried about now." He leaned forward on something. "If your parents had taught you anything useful, you would know that a Rocket always takes care of themselves first." Seth broke away from the others and ran a few steps towards the screen. "Rockets....what do you know about Rockets!?" He yelled in anger. Giovanni's eyes became cold. "I created them.....I know everything." Seth was shaking all over in rage. "I know this isn't how it should be....Rockets weren't meant to be the way you've made them..." He looked back at the others behind him. "Jessie...Aerie...Meowth...." He searched them with his eyes. "I know now....this wasn't what I wanted...it isn't the way it was supposed to be. And I know it wasn't what you thought it was when you got involved either, was it?" His gaze fell on Jessie and Meowth. "He lied to you too didn't he?" Slasher sat in silence, his tail curled around him. Jessie wouldn't meet his eyes at all. Meowth looked afraid. Aerie was about to say something when Seth turned around and faced Giovanni again. "You use people....take their lives and destroy them for your own perverted purposes!" He cried. "I won't let you do it to anyone else ever again, you hear me!? I won't let you poison another family ever again!!" Giovanni considered him with an air of boredom. "Are you finished?" "NO! I still want my parents!" Closing his eyes with smile, he tapped his finger on his arm. "Are you sure about that son? Would that shut you up?" Suddenly feeling hesitant, Seth paused. "Well..." Jessie looked up sharply with a look of dread. "Seth...!" "Yes, I want to see them." Seth watched Giovanni with despair. Part of him didn't want to know know....another part knew that he had to. "Giovanni, let me." "Remember...you asked for it." Giovanni's image flashed away from the screen. It was replaced a moment later by a camera view of a room somewhere in the bottle. A rapidly shrinking room. And in the middle of it all was Maria and James huddled together in terror. The fear on their faces was mirrored in Seth's shrinking pupils. They began screaming and the anguished cries filled the room until.... "NOOOOO!!!!" Seth shrieked. He collapsed to the floor and covered his face trying to rid himself of the images. "Purrrr...." Slasher sunk to the floor beside him sadly. Jessie was silent. She just stared straight ahead at nothing in particular. It was as if a switch in her mind had been shut off. Meowth hugged onto her leg bawling. Jessie's eyes fell onto Seth who was now quiet, though she could see his back shaking softly. Closing her eyes tightly, Aerie bent down behind Seth and gently wrapped her arms around him. She lay her cheek against his back. She could feel the pain radiating from him...but there was nothing more she could do about it. Giovanni had apparently abandoned them now with no way out. *** Elsewhere, different kind of cries echoed through the crystalline bottle. "This place never ends! We're doomed!" "Well, at least we aren't stuck in that room anymore," Maria said, looking back briefly. The place echoed a lot, but the sound of following footsteps was creepy. "I wonder who those people were that got us out of there." "They looked like..." James looked a little pale. "I know. But it couldn't have been..." "Then who?" "I don't know, but..." Just then there was a sparkle in the corner of her eye. Turning around, she backtracked a few steps to find a small round transparent window. Pressing her hands to the surface, she looked out to see a kaleidoscope of stars. And just below.....a beautiful blue aura that surrounded the Earth. Her mouth opened slightly in awe and a touch of fear. They were in space....how could they possibly escape now? "Maria?" A hand fell lightly on her shoulder and she turned around to see James. He smiled down on her and looked out as well. "A long way from home, aren't we?" She held him close. "Yeah, but at least the view is pretty." 'James' let his hand drift down the back of her long black hair. "Yeah..." Dark brown eyes suddenly searched his face curiously. He seemed so calm now... "James?" Something within her was shouting with mixed signals....this was familiar though she couldn't remember why. She found him searching her eyes with an intensity she had never seen before, almost as if he were recording every last detail. His own eyes seemed almost sad, though she couldn't be certain. She felt them press closer, and as he tenderly brought his hand up around her cheek she realized that his eyes weren't his own. It should have panicked her, but for some reason she felt as if somehow something was right. She was so lost in his eyes that she wasn't sure when the kiss started. With their arms tight around each other and their lips very much occupied, she was vaguely unprepared when she heard a quiet voice in the corner of her mind. #Fate is a cruel trickster. I should know.# #Who are you?# The response started as a clear thought, but quickly turned into a jumble of emotion that she couldn't decipher. Then eyes still closed, 'James' pulled away. He looked into her face with those strange eyes. His hand drew away from her face with a caress. "I'm sorry." Maria blinked. Even though she had countless questions, she couldn't bring herself to speak. He stood for a moment gazing at her and for a moment it looked as if he were going to say something else. Then then with a pained smile he turned and walked away. Blinking back tears she couldn't understand, Maria ran the other way. Turning a corner, she ran into James. "Maria? What happened to you?" he asked in confusion. Down the corridor, he thought he saw one of his reflections vanish into a wall, but ignored the oddity to tend to the woman in front of him. She just hugged him tight, crying against his shoulder. When she wouldn't answer him, James just held her. He could feel her sense of loss, but didn't ask anymore questions. He had a feeling it was best he didn't. *** Meanwhile, elsewhere in the ship, Doppler in the guise of a Rocket wandered about Giovanni's control center, humming a little tune. He smiled as he casually walked to the back and began calling up various screens. A little adjustment here and there and he cleared the systems again. Giovanni was busy gloating over his victory over Seth and crew though his monitor. Now whistling to himself, Doppler strolled on past Giovanni once again and disappeared into one of the chairs. His eyes lit a bright yellow and were the last thing to disappear. "This isn't going to go quite as you expect it to, *sir*," He snickered to himself. TBC? Thanks for the help Adrian! ^.^ ::tags him with that margarine-net:: hehe! ~Maria R "Psy yie yie..." ------------------------- Tha webber: http://hamstergirl.cjb.net/ ----------- "Taking Pokemon straight from your pockets, With the power of the stars, it's Maria Rocket!" -My corny PW! motto ^.^; ------ TEOTWAWKI