From: Karnivax <karnivax@my-deja.com> Subject: [PW!] Horror Rock Date: Saturday, June 05, 1999 11:24 AM Kyle Richter story number five! --HORROR ROCK-- Part 1 by Karnivax Kyle Richter's Aerodactyl, Grendel, made a flawless landing in the middle of what looked like a ghost town. As Kyle recalled Grendel and started wandering the town streets, Kyle found that there was not a person in sight. _Odd,_ Kyle thought. _The sun's going down, but still, I'd think a nice town like this would have a *little* activity in the evening..._ Kyle removed a Pokéball from his belt and released his talking Scyther companion, Torrasque. "I'm baaaaack!" announced Torrasque, expecting some sort of audience. But the only living being he saw was Kyle. Torrasque looked all around, wondering where the townsfolk were. All he saw were houses with the lights turned on, lots of empty parked cars, seemingly endless dusty streets, and the imposingly tall Pokémon Tower situated on the top of a nearby hill. "*This* is Cerulean City?" Torrasque asked. "Not exactly," Kyle replied. "There was a change of plans." "So where are we and why are we here?" "This is Lavender Town. On the way to Cerulean, I decided to change Grendel's course and come here instead. I want to catch one more Pokémon to make a full team of six." Torrasque looked surprised. "You want to 'catch one more?' You haven't caught *any*. All of your Pokémon were given to you. Even me." Torrasque shrugged. "And besides, what one Pokémon could be worth the trip out here?" "A ghost Pokémon," Kyle answered. "They've been known to hang out around here. They have strong psychic abilities, and they're immune to basic attacks." "And just how do you expect to catch one?" Torrasque asked. "They're weak against ground, bug and psychic-type attacks. Your Pokémon have none of those." "Don't need 'em. Leviathan and Fenris will find some way to win out," Kyle noted. "Come on, let's visit Pokémon Tower." With that Kyle pointed Torrasque in the direction of the massive tower, and the two started heading toward it. The duo had barely gone twenty feet when a loud voice shouted at them from behind, "Stop! If you value your life, you'll stay away from that tower!" Kyle and Torrasque turned around to see an elderly man heading toward them. "And why is that?" Kyle asked the man. "That tower is the home of Thanatos," the man said. "A high- level, jet-black Gengar. He terrorizes us humble townsfolk every night by making a racket like you wouldn't believe. It's said he feeds upon people's dreams." The warning did not deter Kyle in the least. He continued heading toward the Tower. "Hear that, Torrasque?" commented Kyle. "A high- level, jet-black Gengar within our reach! That's destiny calling, I gotta tell ya." "You're going to be the death of me," Torrasque snorted, and reluctantly followed Kyle. "You'll be sorry you ignored my warning," the old man shouted, as he returned to the safety of his house. Eventually Kyle and Torrasque climbed the dark, grassy hill on which the Pokémon Tower stood in all its moss-covered stone glory. Kyle walked up and knocked on the tower's rotten wooden door, and it eerily creaked open. "Cool. It's almost as if this Gengar *wants* me to catch it," Kyle remarked. "Yeah. Of course. And he's probably got a six-pack of Pepsi waiting for you in the fridge," Torrasque sarcastically grunted. Kyle headed inside the shadowy building, calling out "Anybody home?!" He then noticed that Torrasque was not following him inside. "Get yer scaly abdomen in here, Torrasque," Kyle ordered. "Uh-uh. No way," snapped Torrasque. "I'll be damned if I'm gonna waltz into some cobweb-covered rat-hole on a wild ghost chase." Kyle held up an empty Pokéball and pointed to it. "Would you rather waltz in stuffed inside this thing?" "Point duly noted," Torrasque sighed sadly. Staring down at the ground, he quietly and slowly followed Kyle into the tower. Glancing at Torrasque, Kyle then thought about his own words and realized that he was becoming just like the people he despised - trainers who acted against the will of their Pokémon. He remembered his visit to Viridian City, where he had told Torrasque that he would no longer be subject to orders. That was a promise which Kyle believed had been broken once already by his goading Torrasque into fighting a level one hundred Magmar in Pewter City. Though the fact was that Torrasque had entered the battle solely of his own accord, Kyle blamed himself for Torrasque's near death in that fight. Now Kyle felt he needed to start redeeming himself. Kyle slowly put the Pokéball away. "Y'know what? Forget it," he said to Torrasque. "Just...wait out here for me." Torrasque looked up, surprised at how Kyle had changed his mind. "You got it," he replied, smiling when he realized that Kyle had had some sort of epiphany. Torrasque sat down in front of the giant cylindrical tower and closed his eyes. Kyle headed further into the building's first floor. Suddenly Kyle heard the loud hoot of an owl from back outside the pitch-black tower. Quick as a flash, a trembling Torrasque sprinted into the building and rushed over to Kyle, eyes darting from side to side in fear. "M-m-maybe I will c-c-come with you after all," Torrasque stammered. "You're sure now?" Kyle asked. "Positive," Torrasque answered. Kyle grabbed Torrasque by one scythe, and the two of them headed up the first of many dark, creaky wooden staircases to the tower's second floor. As the two progressed along the second floor, they found numerous headstones sticking out of the floor and bearing both the names and nicknames of Pokémon. "An indoor graveyard?" commented Torrasque. "This is crazy. They couldn't have actually buried Pokémon in here." "That's a safe bet," Kyle said, brushing the cobwebs off of a headstone. "This is a marker for a Gyarados. They'd never fit one o' those in a wooden floor. It seems this place isn't so much a morgue as a memorial." Torrasque started wandering around in the dark room, which was lit only by a few shafts of light from the setting sun, which was shining through a few tiny windows. Torrasque observed the various headstones, and eventually stopped in front of an ornate marble one. "A female Scyther," Torrasque remarked. "She evidently had a wealthy trainer." He turned away. "And a ten-year life. That's long for a Scyther." Kyle was befuddled as to the reason for Torrasque's saying that when he suddenly remembered that Torrasque was six years old. "Y'know, I look back on my life and all I see is some WWF, a few violin concertos, and an incalculable number of battles," said Torrasque, a sad look forming in his blue eyes. He turned to look at Kyle. "You say I was up to my strongest only a year or so after being hatched...and yet...I wasted five more years of my life continuing to fight, thinking I was still moving up in level. More than half of my life's gone, tossed to the four winds. I don't have any sort of social life. I almost never find time to further my own intellect. I don't have any sort of vocation. I've almost completely squandered the gift of intelligence that was bestowed upon me." All Kyle said was. "I should've known this would happen." "Oh really? What's that?" "Torrasque, did you ever think about *why* you're as cultured and articulate as you are?" "Could it be because I was created in a lab? Could it be because my only 'parents' were a test tube and a room with a view?" Torrasque snapped. "There's a little more to it than that," Kyle replied, knowing it was not the best answer he could have given. "You've got a little bit of human DNA in you. It mostly went to your brain." "Your point being...?" "Well, your brain operates more like a human's than a Scyther's. And right now you're going through what we humans call a 'mid-life crisis.' You get depressed about your age when you should be making the most of the years you have left." "That's easy for you to say. You have a good fifty years ahead of you. I've got four at most." "C'mon, you're breakin' my heart here, mate," came a familiar voice from the first-floor stairway. At the top of the stairway appeared a roughly twenty-year-old Team Rocket member and his Golem sidekick. Without hesitation they started to recite their motto. The twenty-year-old started, "To bereave the wealthy of their worth..." "To subjugate the entire Earth..." "To trample upon all who stand in our path!" "To spare no insubordinates from our wrath!" "David!" "Goliath!" "Team Rocket - faster than the eye can see!" "Stand your ground or cower and flee!" the Golem ended, taking a fighting stance. --HORROR ROCK-- Part 2 by Karnivax Kyle was taken aback by David and Goliath's arrival. "What are *you* two doing here?" "One could ask you the same question," Goliath grunted. "We are here for Thanatos. So stand aside." "Sorry, ya fat tub o' gravel...you want Thanatos, you're gonna have to get past me first," Kyle snorted. "Have it your way," said David. He tossed out a Pokéball. "Marowak, I choose you!" Out of the Pokéball came a roughly four-foot-tall Marowak, holding a scythe-like bone as a weapon and wearing a metal helmet instead of the Marowak's typical bone helmet. "This here's Clavicle," David pointed out. "He can use attacks no other Marowak can, mainly because of the fact he's using a type of weapon no other Marowak uses. He's holding a Kabutops's scythe - one of the longest and densest bones in the world." "Wow. Impressive," grunted Kyle, feigning interest. "Too bad Leviathan is gonna beat him nine ways to Sunday. Dragonite, go!!!" Kyle then unleashed his soft-spoken Dragonite, Leviathan. Making use of his electronic language translator for the first time in almost two weeks, Leviathan looked at Clavicle, then looked at Kyle and commented, "Kyle? Kidding, right? Flying Pokémon against ground Pokémon. No challenge. Not worth time." Like Chinese, "Dragonitese" did not translate well to English, and Leviathan's language translator - being a beta release - lost a lot in the translation. "Yeah, I know it's not much of a fight," Kyle said to Leviathan. "But maybe you'll find some way to make it entertaining." Leviathan stepped up to Clavicle and looked down upon the Marowak, clearly displaying Leviathan's large size advantage. David simply stood with his arms crossed and a diabolical smile on his face. "Just the way I like my opponents - overconfident and dim- witted. Clavicle, use your Slash attack." Clavicle brought his weapon back with a grunt of "Maro," then swung the scythe at Leviathan like a sword, shouting, "WAAAKKK!" The bone struck Leviathan with surprising force, sending him flying backwards. Leviathan reduced seven headstones to dust as he crashed to the floor, including the female Scyther's headstone. Torrasque was just barely able to leap to safety. "Ground Pokémon very powerful," Leviathan grunted, grinning as he got back to his feet. "Things more interesting now." "Leviathan, Water Gun!" commanded Kyle. Leviathan inhaled deeply, then exhaled a stream of water at the strength of a firehose. Clavicle responded by twirling his weapon like a baton in front of himself, blocking the blast. "Marowak," Clavicle laughed. "If only Dreadite or Minax could see me now. They think they're soooo great...must take a lot o' skill to look demonic or shoot harmless Pokémon," David sarcastically remarked. "*I* should be Giovanni's favorite minion. I'm the only one in Team Rocket with any *real* skill...Clavicle, use your Super Bone Club." With that, Clavicle lunged at Leviathan and whacked him twice in the head with the dull end of the scythe. Leviathan looked stunned, but did not fall over. "Skull Bash!" was David's next command. Clavicle lowered his metal-covered head and charged like a raging bull at Leviathan. Clavicle rammed into Leviathan's gut and shoved him into the far wall, making a loud CLANG noise and destroying countless headstones on the way. After Leviathan shoved Clavicle away and recovered, he took off and started flying around the room. "Super Bonemerang!" ordered David. Clavicle threw his weapon into the air, and, though it missed Leviathan at first, the whirling bone nailed Leviathan in the back on the return trip. Leviathan's flight was cut short. The rickety wooden floor gave way as Leviathan fell to it, and he plummetted to the first floor below. Clavicle jumped down after him. "Ice Beam!" Kyle shouted through the hole in the second floor. Leviathan, lying on his back, exhaled a bright blue energy beam. Clavicle tried to block it just like how he blocked the Water Gun, but the beam simply ensnared his weapon along with his entire body in a thin layer of ice, paralyzing him. Kyle saw that the tide of the battle was finally turning in his own favor. "Leviathan! Hyper Beam, now!!!" Leviathan started to gather energy when suddenly there was an incredibly loud noise coming from the third floor. Kyle and David covered their ears as the whole tower thundered with the horrible racket. Goliath tripped and fell through the hole in the second floor, nearly flattening Clavicle. The ice layer around Clavicle shattered, and the stunned Marowak fell on his side. Leviathan was so shocked by the clatter that he fell backwards and lost control of the Hyper Beam, shooting a weakened version of it through the ceiling and nearly hitting Kyle up on the second floor. Torrasque just sat in the field of wrecked headstones and listened. "What is that noise?!" shouted David, barely even able to hear his own voice. Torrasque paused. "It sounds like...'More Human than Human!'" Everyone stopped to listen for a second, and they found that the racket was, in fact, ultra-loud electric guitar music. The air in the middle of the second floor appeared to distort, and from the distortion appeared a black Gengar - Thanatos, without a doubt - floating in the air and thrashing on a phantasmal guitar. "Very nice axe!!!" shouted Torrasque, a bit sarcastically. Thanatos stopped playing, then took a few bows. "Gengar. Gen- gar," he responded, showing a toothy grin. "*This* is Thanatos?" David asked. "All the nighttime noise he makes that terrorizes the townspeople...it's just 'horror rock?' I came all this way to catch a good-for-nothing Rob Zombie wannabe?!" Thanatos's grin turned into an angry sneer. "Gengar!!!" he shouted. He waved one hand around in a circle, and suddenly David, along with Goliath and Clavicle, began to float into the air. All three of them were levitated until they were floating within three feet of each other, and then, with a clap of his ghostly hands, Thanatos caused all three to slam into each other in midair. After that Thanatos released the trio from his telekinetic hold, and David, Goliath and Clavicle all crashed to the floor. "You haven't seen the last of us, mate!" David shrieked at Kyle. David rubbing his aching skull as he got back to his feet. He recalled Clavicle, then, with Goliath in hot pursuit, sprinted back out of the tower the same way he had come in. "Thanks for the assist," said Kyle to Thanatos. "Gen-gar," came the reply, in a way that suggested he was trying to say "no problem." "How could this deadhead be the terror of Lavender Town?" Torrasque wondered. "And what's with the allegation that he eats dreams?" "I think I know how to find out. Leviathan, get up here," Kyle called. Leviathan flew back up through the hole in the first-floor ceiling and landed on the second floor. Kyle took Leviathan's language translator and tossed it to Thanatos, who telekinetically caught it (being a ghost, he could not hold solid objects). Thanatos started talking, and from the language translator there came his explanation, presented with an Ringo Starr-like accent: "I got a bad rap, man. I don't *try* to terrorize people with me music. I play here by meself, mindin' me own business. It's not my fault that this building's like a frickin' radio tower when it comes to broadcasting sound across town. And when I get hungry, I leave the tower after sundown an' chomp down on a few people's nightmares. If anything, they should be *thankin'* me for eating those frickin' nightmares. Nightmares taste like crap, they do. Those townsfolk are bloody ingrates, all of 'em. I don't know why I waste my time helpin' 'em out." "How'd you like to really help someone out, without gettin' a bad rap?" Kyle asked. "Oh, I see what you're gettin' at. You want me to join your team," Thanatos noted. He took several seconds to ruminate. "Well, a Pokémon journey's gotta be better than hangin' around this dump. Maybe I can get me music a little more exposure, too." Thanatos strapped his ghostly guitar to his back. "Fine, y'got yourself a deal. But I ain't stayin' in no frickin' Pokéball, that's for sure." "Naturally." The main reason Kyle agreed to this was that he had no spare Pokéballs. "'Kay then. C'mon, let's get outta here 'fore the villagers start bringin' in the exorcists again." Thanatos returned the language translator to Leviathan, and Leviathan went back into his Pokéball. Then Kyle, Thanatos and Torrasque left the tower. Upon exiting the tower, the same old man from before came running up to Kyle. Thanatos turned invisible and hid behind Kyle. "We heard the awful noise stop!" the man cried happily. "You got rid of Thanatos!" "Oh, I wouldn't say that," responded Kyle. Then Thanatos popped out from behind Kyle's back and instantly became visible again, playing a chord on his guitar that was loud enough to send the old man running away as fast as his wrinkled legs could carry him. After that, Kyle released Grendel and hopped on to his back. "Now we're *really* going to Cerulean City!" announced Kyle. Grendel took off into the air like a missile, followed closely by Thanatos and a sufficiently-healed Torrasque, and left the dusty Lavender Town behind. Whoo-hah! That might be my longest fanfic yet. -------------------------------------------------- K * A * R * N * I * V * A * X "You trolls are so headstrong and predictable...you are your own worst enemies." Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't.