From: Magic T. Dragon <cvilagi@mindspring.com> Subject: [PW!] Blind Faith Date: Thursday, November 04, 1999 2:35 PM [OOC: Wow, I can't BELIEVE how long it's been since I last wrote. I've been energetic and semi-motivated lately, so there hopefully won't be a long break after this story.] [last time: Tenchi and Natasha traveled to Saffron City, where Tenchi got a Nidoking from the fighting dojo.] Natasha laughed and hugged Tenchi as they walked to Saffron's hotel. The months since she'd met him had blurred by. How many had it been? Four, maybe five? No, it had to be more... She was silent as they checked into the hotel. Tenchi yawned and flopped over onto the bed, not surprisingly still exhausted from the 'incident' in Celadon's now demolished chapel. "I'm gonna get some sleep..." Natasha nodded. "I'm going to get cleaned up." She silently crept into the bathroom and released Charizard for company. The dragon roared a yawn and stretched her freshly healed wings. She stared vacantly at the wall for a moment before closing her eyes. With a sigh, Natasha stepped in front of the mirror and inspected her latest injuries. Finding several scratches around her ankle, she found a nearly empty bottle of rubbing alcohol and some gauze under the sink and cleaned it up, wincing. /~Master, are you all right?~/ 'Yes, yes. I'll be fine. Don't worry.' She started to reach for a box of bandages, but a sharp pain in her left arm stopped her. She rolled up her sleeve to find a fairly large gash, which had clearly done a lot of bleeding. "Oh, damnit! This is *never* gonna heal! At least, without leaving a huge scar..." /~It isn't as bad as it looks, master. Even if it does scar, it's high enough that a T-shirt would cover it.~/ Natasha blinked. 'You can... see it? But--' /~I can see it because you can.~/ 'You can see my thoughts?! You couldn't before...' /~I always could, but blocking out real images was far too difficult to be practical. Now, there are no images to block.~/ Natasha slapped her forehead. "Of course... why am I always the last to figure these things out?" She finished wrapping the wound, returned Charizard to her Pokeball, and stepped out of the bathroom. As she did, hazy images flashed before her eyes. Screams, metal, blood, and silence. Dazed, she leaned against the wall for a moment before waking Tenchi. He glanced around, confused. "What... is it..." "We have to go back to Celadon, now." "Celadon? Why?" Natasha paused. "I don't know. Come on..." They quickly boarded a Pidgeot and flew to Celadon. Natasha didn't even notice as they glided over her former home. ----- "...and if you don't have the money in three days, I'll get it back my own way." The gruff voice laughed briefly before the line went dead. Natasha's mother hung up slowly, shaken. Not paying for her Pokeweed for months had come back around, and hit hard. Frantic, she leapt up and paced in the living room. "Three days! I can't get that kind of money in three days. They'll kill me, just like the others. No, worse..." She dove for the phone and punched in a number, mumbling a prayer for an answer. Thankfully, she got one. "Selina? This is Gillian. I know... I know it's been a long time since I called you! Yes, I'm sorry! Could you please come over here? Right now? Oh, thank Goddish... thank you..." --Natasha V.