Title: Don't Believe What You See
Summary: While cleaning out the attic, Misty comes across the Unknown who are itching to try their powers out again, will her friends be able to stop her before she's lost to the Unknown forever? Contestshipping, Pokeshipping
Ages:
Brock, Tracey and Daisy: 21
Violet and Lily: 19
Gary, Misty and Ash: 16
Drew and May: 14
Max: 12
Well, here's my first feature length fanfiction, not my first story however, let's see how it goes, shall we? Any questions you have will be answered in reviews, and I'll do my best to reply to them! The beginning starts a little cultish, but it gets better once you get to Misty in the attic.
Chapter One
"My brothers and sisters, the time is coming!" Proclaimed Unown A to her fellows. The Unown swarmed around her, excited at bustling in the great empty space they called home. "This prison shall no longer contain us, I say! We have the power greater than all others! Greater than Lugia, Ho-Oh, Mew, Palkia! We are the Great Unown!"
"The Great Unown!" They chorused.
"Exactly," She nodded, pleased. "We shall not just escape, but rule the earth, my comrades! We need not much, just a human vessel we can control! It needs a creative mind, but it can't be too happy, it needs some sort of insecurities! Who knows a human like that?"
"Unown F 16?" Inquired Unown C 39. Unown A frowned.
"Is Unown F 16 a human?" Unown A said, barely keeping patience with her slower fellows.
"Uh, Unown F 16, are you human?"
"Oh, for the sake of…no! He is not a human! Why would he be a human? He's an Unown! He has the word 'unknown' in his name! He's a pokémon you nitwit! Don't you all know what a human is?" There were uncertain mutters around the room. Unown A winced at the sound. Thousand upon thousands of murmurs, no matter how quiet, were still awfully loud. "It was not too long ago we saw them last, as wish granters, it's been but three years! Don't you remember the young girl? Don't you?" She shrieked.
"Could you draw us a picture?"
"Numbskulls," she said as she looked around them. "Almost hairless but for a spot on their head? Two legs? They carry around pokémon in tiny red and white balls and force them to battle each other?" They perked up at the last one, recognizing the description. At least she had finally gotten through to them. "Thank goodness they know something! Now, do any of you know a human with a personality I described earlier?"
"Hey! Hey!" Unown S 12 said excitedly. "I remember one! She was blonde and she had a lot of wishes and I liked her. she was the little girl from last time! Woah! We should go back and see her again! I bet that'll go over well! It'll be just like last time and we could come back inside the box!"
"No! She's learned the lesson of the Wish Granters! We need a new one! Don't you understand? We need a new human, does anyone know of one?" She snapped. More murmurs, confused musings that settled into random conversation. The Unown didn't seem to care much at all about their escape plan. The older Unown looked at each other slowly, wondering whether or not to help the pokémon, before allowing one to speak up.
"I sensed a disturbance in the red haired one," Unown W spoke up. "Also in the black haired ones, but the red haired one's seemed deeply rooted, where as the black haired ones seemed just frightened of the situation at hand. She would make a good vessel."
"That's great!" Unown A twirled in the air. "Now, where is she, what is her name? What do we know of her?"
"I think her name was Misty, and she traveled with the Chosen One. I should be able to find out more information. It will not be hard to maneuver our cage into a position where it will be found and opened. However, it will take quite a bit of time. One third of the time it took to make up this plan."
"I'm not good with math, how long is that?"
"One year," He said placidly. Unown A screamed and began thrashing about, having wasted all her Secret Power on other stupid Unknown all week. Unown W sighed, this would be a long year.
Clean the attic. Of all the things she had to do around her house, cleaning out the attic was what Misty hated the most. Didn't her sisters know about the bugs? There were spiders everywhere up here! Not just that, but it was creepy. It didn't help that this was where they stored their Halloween decorations either. It was frightening, truly frightening. She had opened up all the windows so she could feel some sort of fresh air and get more light inside. The windows hadn't been cleaned in ages, they were practically back with dust. She really should clean those, but for now she'd just work on the decoration section, no need to be up here when night fell.
She sat against the wall under an open window, tossing out the trash decorations that they'd never use again because they were broken (and some she just didn't like) and organizing what was left into the brand new plastic bins they had bought that morning. Misty guessed it was a fair trade off, with that little touch of OCD she had been developing for the past few years she was the most organized, so she cleaned that attic. Violet was the writer of the family, so she was stuck with paperwork. Daisy and Lily had "rock, paper, scissor"-ed for cooking and dishwashing detail, and Lily had won, leaving Daisy to do the housecleaning.
Personally, she'd rather do the housecleaning, at least she'd get to clean the tank, with water pokémon, instead of roasting in the hot musty attic with the bugs waiting for her to die so they could pick the flesh of her bones. However, she'd been cursed with a slight need for perfection and here she was.
"Broken…broken…broken…broken…ugly…broken…" She muttered, tossing decorations near her out the window absently. Her eyes closed and her head tapped against the wall. "It's too hot," she said to herself, then screamed, "Daisy! It's too hot!" She stomped her foot so her sister down below could hear her over the vacuum noise that was drifting up. The noise stopped. Either Daisy had somehow managed to pull out the plug at the opportune moment, or Misty was better at stomping than she thought.
"Like, what was that, Misty?" She shouted, flipping the switch off on the vacuum cleaner and looking up, though looking up really didn't help her hear her little sister any.
"It's too hot up here!" She called down, her eyes still shut, still sitting against the wall.
"It's, like, your choice, you can, like, do it during the morning or you can, like, do it at night. We're, like, letting you come down for challenges, so, like, count your lucky stars," she said, turning the vacuum back on, then off again at a second stomp from the redhead. "Like, what now?"
"Can I have a glass of water?" She asked sweetly.
"Like, don't act like such a little kid, Misty, or, like, we'll start calling you Kay Kay again," she referred to Misty's childhood nickname. Misty felt her face redden. Kay-Kay, it'd been a while since she heard that. Derived from 'Kasumi', her middle name, Kay Kay had been just the right thing for a little tomboyish girl who needed the girliest name she could get. She had to think of some way to get the girls to talk to her, and a nickname seemed to work. It was more childish, no where near as grown up as 'Misty' sounded to young ears. Misty rhymed with more nasty words anyway. Kids adored nasty rhymes. She wondered when she'd stopped going by that, when she'd become Misty for the first time?
"Can't you take a joke?" Misty huffed. She turned back to her work as the vacuum turned on again. "She can't. I'm allowed to act like a kid every once in a while, I'm sick of being the only responsible one here!" She shouted. "You went off on your little vacation and what did I have to do? Sit here and do nothing!"
"Stop, like, complaining up there!" Daisy shouted. "Why don't you like, grab your iPod? You can, like, listen to My Sensual Romance or whatever it's, like, called. That will make it more bearable, don't you, like, think so?"
"Yeah, that'll cool me down," She rolled her eyes. "And it's My Chemical Romance. At least get the name right." Nevertheless, she stood up and raced down the stairs to get her iPod, whacking a box and sending it clattering to the floor as she left.
From there, a small, square box toppled. It landed on the floor quietly, alone in the center of the room. Misty hadn't even noticed the thing fall. But it did. And it was there. And it could wait a few more minutes for her to come back…
Misty growled in frustration, wondering where the heck her iPod was as she rustled through her room. She always put it back in the exact same place, every single time! She couldn't have lost it. She stormed back out, maybe one of her sisters had taken it. "Where's Calvin?" She shouted.
"Who?"
"My iPod! Calvin! Remember? Ash was screwing around with it when I got it and now the computer has registered my iPod as Calvin?" She shouted, taking the stairs down to the kitchen two at a time. She strode into the kitchen and watched her sister quickly chop up a cucumber with ease. "You're getting really good at that, Lily. Really good," she commented as her sister looked up and continued to slice through.
"Like, thanks. Maybe Violet, like, has it. She has been using it whenever she does her paperwork." Lily dropped the slices into a green bowel and went to the refrigerator. "Like, want a juice box while I'm in here?"
"Grape, please," Misty agreed. Lily tossed it over her shoulder, the juice box spinning right for Misty's head. She lifted her hands and caught it, stumbling back a step when she did. "Careful! Jees, Lily. You trying to make me miss? So, is Violet in her room or did she go to the pool again?"
"Like, her room."
"Thank you, Lily. What are you making, anyway?"
"Cucumber Salad," She said. "Like, hurry up. Do you want to be cleaning that attic all day?"
"I'm going, I'm going!" Misty rolled her eyes, jamming the straw on the table to get it out of the plastic. She took her sweet time pulling it out and popping it into the grape juice, taking a long, slow, sip before responding, "Give me credit, I've been working since the sun came up this morning! I know how to pull my weight."
"Like, I know. You should really, like, take a break tomorrow. You're always, like, so stressed out all the time. I bet you'd be less, like, cranky if you weren't." She gave a happy giggle and lifted a finger. "I have an idea! You can come to my yoga classes!"
Misty narrowed her eyes, not stopping the long sips from the straw. "Number one, you'd be, like, sounding smarter if you weren't like, 'like', all the time. Number two, I am not taking yoga," Misty countered, starting to go back upstairs to find her sister.
RingRingRing, RingRingRing, phone call, phone call! RingRingRing, RingRingRing, phone call, phone call!
"You, like, get it. I'm busy and it's probably, like, your little boyfriend, Ash" She giggled. Misty blushed and opened her mouth to argue. "Don't try and, like, lie to your older sister. I, like, actually know how to pick locks."
"Diary stealer!" Misty gasped, rushing off to pick up the phone and glaring at her sister all the while. "Hello, Waterflower residence, if you're selling, we're not buying. Daisy's due in a few weeks. No, neither me or my sisters are available for autographs or dates and…" She glanced at the screen. "Oh! Hey Ash! Where are you calling from and what event is so important that you actually took the time to call me."
"I call you every week!" He shouted.
"Yeah, except when you forget," Misty rolled her eyes. "Which is about every week. I'm getting tired of having to listen to you talk for three hours instead of a thirty minute conversation I'd only have to hear if you called constantly. You know, I'd be constantly updated, you'd get to practice your vocabulary more…You should get a planner or something, write down what you have to do for the day."
"That'll be a great read. Walk, walk, walk, walk, get a badge, walk, call Misty, Mom, and send Gary a text message saying I got another badge and you just gave up, who's the loser now? Walk for the last day of the week," Ash rolled his eyes. "Besides, it's your fault that we never talk anymore. You're always hanging up on me fifteen minutes in. When you first left you wouldn't shut up. You just kept going and going and going. What? Is your life not eventful anymore? Or do you tell all that stuff to the boy of the week?"
"Stop saying I get a new boyfriend every week," Misty snapped.
"But you do! Every time I call it's someone new. Bobby, Billy, Jason, Jimmy, and you don't get broken up with, you break up with them! That's why you've got all the guys asking you out, because they want to see who lasts the longest and prove they're the best."
She giggled, "sounds like you."
"Have I asked you out? No. I have better things to do." He rolled his eyes. He did his best to ignore the glare looking through the screen. Mew, she looked like she could come out at any moment and kill him. She was pretty terrifying nowadays. Her face was sharper now, more of the baby fat roundness gone. It gave her a sterner look. In fact, it practically reminded him of his mother's disappointed glare. "Not that asking you out wouldn't be the highlight of my life. After all, you are the prettiest girl I know."
"I know you're joking but thank you anyway," Misty sighed happily. "What things have you been up to? I'd like it if you talked to me more often. You've got better stories than my boyfriends of the week. It's not exactly fair, though. Good stories seem to be stalking you."
"Misty, you found your iPod yet?" Lily shouted from the kitchen.
"No!" Misty called back before looking back to the screen. "You were saying?"
"Hey, I can't help it that I'm exciting. Besides, I've haven't done any good stuff lately. It's just the same old, same old like winning badges and figuring out how Dawn's hair changing whenever she fixes it. I don't understand at all," He shook his head. "I guess I have to learn a lot more about girls or something. At least you never did that. You don't look like you do it now either." She pulled down an eyelid at him in good humor. "Anyway, how are things at the gym? I've got a while to talk."
"I don't. I have to clean out the attic," She sighed.
"Are you kidding me? You're ditching me for an attic? I'm more exciting than that. Bet you wouldn't ditch Garyfor an attic. That Gary gets everything. Come on, why are you going up to an attic when you can talk to me?" He whined. "Is it your sisters? They'll never notice. You're mad at me, aren't you? It's because I never call and now you're trying to torture me! Well, that's not right! You can't just up and walk away from your best friend!"
"No, Ash. I really do have responsibilities," Misty sighed.
"You're still responsible? Can't you grow out of that? It's sooooooooo boring. Do something fun. Jump off the roof. I'll watch it on the news. I think you've got a pretty good chance at living. Jessie and James dug deeper holes than your roof…okay, maybe not, but it's kinda close."
"Ash, come on. I'm the leader of a three ring circus for crying out loud! If you spent any time over here you'd realize that responsibility comes with the position. I can't just goof off. Besides, people tend to grow into responsibility, not out of it. I'm guessing that you're still the same, irresponsible, hyper active nut you were last time we met up?" She asked, already getting jittery from sitting still too long. She really did need to finish that attic.
"I'm a leader, I'm the Chosen One. I know about responsibility," Ash scoffed. "I'm not a workaholic, Misty. That's your problem. You don't have fun anymore. You need to loosen up. You should do something fun. You should jump off the roof."
"I'm not going to jump off the roof, Ash."
"You're no fun," He groaned. "Workaholic."
"I'm not a workaholic, there's stuff I have to do! Hurry up and tell me about you, now. My life's boring and I always like hearing about your adventures. I've got to go though. See how fast you can sum up the last two months. Five seconds would be great."
"I'll tell you later. I'm in Pallet," he grinned at her surprised face. "I'll see you in a couple days, Misty! May's coming with me, and I'm sure she'll be toting along Drew. There's a contest or something in Cerulean. That's why they're heading out with me. That, and May said it'll be nice to see me again. "Hey, Misty," He grinned childishly. "I bet I know something you don't! Your iPod's in your pocket again. How come you can never find it?" She shrugged, a small smile on her face. Ash stared back for a moment, shifting, before blurting out nervous goodbye and slamming the phone down on the receiver.
"Stop it," She hissed, looking down at her chest. Her heart was pounding, loudly, frantically. It wasn't fair that just a phone call could do that to her. She shook her head to clear it and walked slowly up the stairs. She was over him. She had to be. He wouldn't catch her in his net with that stupid boyish charm again. Never again. She dug her nails into her palm. "It's not going to work out. He's a kid, and you've grown up. You've grown up, and you've grown out of, Ash, Misty. Let him go." She dropped to her knees in the attic and groaned. Why couldn't she get over him after all these years?
Then she saw that box, that dark wooden box that sent her heart into another fit. She'd seen it before…where? Where had she seen it? There was a buzzing in her ears, louder and louder as her hands trembled to pull the box to her lap and drummed her fingers on the lock. She shouldn't open it. She shouldn't. It was a bit scary, a bit strange. It just didn't feel right. It felt wrong and deadly. The smart thing would be to follow her gut feeling and put it away.
But the lock clicked open anyway.
Well, 'tis my first chapter. The next ones will probably be longer…I think…so, tell me if you like it!