AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, here it is, the final chapter. It was a fun run-I hope you all liked my story. Thanks for reading.

EDIT: I'm making a sequel! Once you're done with Storm Clouds, check it out on my deviantART account. My username is the same there as it is here, deeman45.

Artemis shot bolt after bolt at her opponent, but the Aerodactyl shrugged most of them off and dodged the rest. Doesn't anything stop this guy? Artemis thought desperately as her adversary circled in the sky above. She tried to avoid looking too much towards the sky, not wanting to drown her eyes in rain.

The Rock-type descended from the air, and Artemis shot a burst of electricity at her foe. Her attack didn't so much as even slow her opponent, and at it bore down upon her she dodged to the side, rolling across the roof of the school. Below she heard the gasps of the children she was trying to protect.

The Aerodactyl took to the air once again. So long as it controlled the skies, it had the eternal advantage; the whole open air was available to it, while Artemis was limited to the roof of one solitary building.

I'll never beat it this way, Artemis thought. I've got to lure it here somehow, get it to stay out of the sky.

"Hey-you-big-moron!" Artemis screamed, shooting multiple blasts of lightning at the Aerodatcyl. She didn't expect any to hit him, but they did have their intended effect: aggravating her opponent. "You-stupid-stupid-COWARD!"

That got him. She already knew he was a coward-why else would he hang back and let his lackeys do all the work?-and one of the most effective ways of angering a coward was calling them out on it.

The moment the taunt reached her enemy's ears, he swerved in the air, making a dive right for Artemis. Rather than preparing to jump out of the way as she normally did, the Electric-type braced herself the impact.

This is gonna hurt, she thought wryly, and then the Aerodactyl struck her. Artemis fought to keep her breath in, and she didn't resist the force of the Aerodactyl's attack, instead allowing it to sweep her along. She kept one hand firmly gripping its body to give her a hold, while she gathered electricity in her spare hand until her claws sparked. With those claws, she took a handful of the sensitive membrane of the creature's left wing…

…and ripped.

Immediately the Aerodactyl gave a shriek, accompanied by a sudden churning and tumbling of his flightpath. With only one wing to support him, he crashed into the school's rooftop. As he lay there, collapsed, Artemis grabbed his body with both claws and poured as much electricity as she could into her opponent. The Aerodactyl gave even more screams and spasmed wildly, eventually knocking Artemis away.

The Aerodactyl composed itself and rose, fixing Artemis with a death glare. "Very clever, grounding me," he said, moving his left wing with a wince. The rip in the membrane looked very nasty. "But in the long scheme of things, all you've done-besides royally pissing me off-is trap yourself in an area where I can brutalize you quickly and efficiently. Even with all those zaps and this wound slowing me down, I'm more than a match for you."

He roared and sped forward with terrible speed, seemingly unhindered by his damaged wing. His skull crashed into Artemis' torso, sending her flat on her back and making her vision swirl; suddenly he was there, titanic claws ripping into her fur and flesh, his good wing buffeting her repeatedly. Lightning flashed above as his mouth was bared in a snarl of hatred, and those terrible jaws lowered threateningly. Soon they would be tearing into her body…

Suddenly, a burst of spores met the Aerodactyl's face. The dragon reeled back, screaming as his eyes turned crimson. A small plant-like figure zoomed over her; Nightshade, obviously finished with the Weepinbell down below, was coming to her rescue. The Grass-type slammed into his opponent, but bounced off uselessly.

Of course…Artemis thought. Nightshade doesn't have any plants to control up here. He's at a major disadvantage. She struggled weakly, wishing to help her ally, but all the battle's wounds had weakened her to such a degree that she wasn't even able to right herself. She watched as Nightshade prepared another payload of spores to bombard the Aerodactyl's face with. However, as the Oddish began to use his ability, the Aerodactyl responded with a bellow and swung his good wing through the air. The wind blew away the pollen and knocked Nightshade away. Immediately the Aerodactyl was on top of the little Oddish, savaging him brutally.

Claws the size of Nightshade's own body ripped and tore. The wings beat like bludgeons. The great gaping mouth mauled the Grass-type's body mercilessly. Finally the Aerodactyl gathered Nightshade in his teeth and shook his prey before flinging him off, past the edge of the school's roof and down, down to the ground below.

As Artemis saw Nightshade hurtling past, something woke within her. Was it a second wind? Or a third? Even a fourth? Whatever happened, the Electabuzz was suddenly on her feet, howling madly. She raced towards the Aerodactyl, fueled by bloodlust. It tried to buffet her with its wings, but she ducked under the blows smoothly. She gathered energy to her fist and caught the Aerodactyl's chin with an electrical uppercut. As it flinched, she grabbed him with both claws and shocked it as much as she could: again, and again, and again.

When that was done, Artemis called on strength she never knew she had and threw her opponent bodily. The Aerodactyl struck the rooftop and skidded, struggling to right himself. As her enemy struggled on the roof, Artemis raced up to him and caught him with a headbutt. He staggered back, teetering dangerously close to the roof's edge. Artemis gathered all that remained of her body's electrical power into a huge current of energy between the nodes on her head. She sent the blast hurtling towards the Aerodactyl; he was knocked off the roof by her attack.

As he fell, his damaged wing fluttered uselessly as he tried to get himself airborne. The Aerodactyl slammed into the school's jungle gym with a painful cracking noise; the metal construct caved in under the giant pokemon's weight, and the gym's bars snapped as he was caught in a mesh of broken metal. Some of the bars pierced his hide and wings; blood slowly but indomitably crept out of the piercing wounds and trailed down the metal, mixing with rainwater.

Artemis shimmied down the drainpipe, and caught a glimpse of her foe's weak struggles in his soon-to-be grave. "This wasn't supposed to happen," the Aerodactyl whispered in a weak and fearful voice. "It wasn't supposed to be me who died…"

As the Aerodactyl went still, Artemis raced over to another pokemon lying on the ground: Nightshade. As she drew nearer, she saw just how badly the Aerodactyl had mauled the poor pokemon. He was more badly battered and bruised than she had ever seen him. Amazingly, he was not unconscious; for reasons she couldn't explain, Artemis thought that was ominous.

Nightshade's eyes were wide and staring; he gazed past his partner unblinking, not even noticing her. He was delirious in his pain.

"I've got to get up," he said, and he began struggling weakly. "I need to save them. Need to. It's my responsibility."

"Nightshade?" Artemis ventured. She forced herself to speak slowly, hoping her words would reach him that way. "Nightshade? It's me, Artemis. It's alright."

"There's children in there…I have to protect them. It's my responsibility," Nightshade said, his eyes still wide and unmoving. His mouth moved slowly.

"Nightshade, they're okay," Artemis pressed. She suppressed the desire to pick up her partner for a hug; she didn't want to aggravate any of his wounds. "Nightshade, listen, the fight's over, you saved-"

"Got to save them…got to…"

"Tuber?" Artemis whispered, and she saw the Oddish blink as he heard his old name. His eyes seemed to register her for the first time.

"…Glimmer?" he whispered. Artemis smiled at the mention of her previous name. Though she didn't dare hug Nightshade, she let her hand slip down and gently caress his leaves.

"It's me, Tuber," she replied. "Listen, it's over. The kids are safe. You saved them."

"I did?" he whispered. "They're really okay?"

"That's right. They're all alive."

"Good. Good…"

He laid there in silence. All around them, the pitter-patter of rain hitting trees, grass, and stone made noises like a tender song. It was soothing.

"Tuber?" Artemis ventured, breaking the silence. "Tuber, I know a lot has changed from the time before, but could you do something for me?"

"What?"

"Could you smile, like you used to? I've missed seeing you smile."

There was a moment were he did nothing. Then, slowly, he smiled. It looked natural on his face: warm, inviting, cheerful, spirited. It had been too long since Artemis had seen that smile.

Then it fell, as he slowly began to sob.

"Oh, Glimmer, I killed him. He's dead and it's my fault. He was my trainer, my friend-he was my brother, Glimmer, and I let him die. I let him die." He continued crying; not a full-lunged wail, or a massive stream of tears. Just slow, painful sobs.

"It's not your fault," Artemis said soothingly. "It was never your fault."

"It is," he continued in a voice tight with sorrow. "I was supposed to protect him, Glimmer. That was my job. That was my very reason for living. I killed him. It was me."

"It wasn't you," she said, and her voice was tight now too. "You did your best. You didn't kill him. You tried to save him. It isn't your fault."

There was a moment where neither pokemon said anything; Nightshade continued his small, intermittent sobs. "Do…do you forgive me, Glimmer?" he finally whispered.

She smiled. "I do."

"Do you think he will forgive me?"

"I know he will."

Nightshade sniffed, and then he was smiling again. "Thank you," he said, and then he closed his eyes, finally slipping unconscious. Artemis sat there with him; she didn't say anything more, and let the rain wash away the tears on both their faces.

-
Masque stood in City Hall, his bastion. Rain beat on the glass windows and thunder echoed through the halls. The roof, clear glass panels through which the sky was clearly visible, showed clouds like a dark steely blanket.

The man had to admit: for such a small and isolated town, the city had certainly put effort into their seat of government. The chandeliers were not real crystal, but they were at least chandeliers and certainly gave off a feeling of magnificence regardless. Portraits of various mayors and city councilpersons lined the halls, and the walls were dark wood. He actually felt himself growing fond of the place!

Giving Dan the slip had been easy enough. Goading the boy and racing through the city streets was enjoyable at first, but quickly became tiresome. Ah, well-Masque had easily ducked away and quickly made his way back to his base of operations. How long would the boy search the streets aimlessly before realizing his target had returned back home long before?

As long as I'm here, he thought, I might as well check up on Luke. Here's hoping the little gadgeteer is working hard.

He strode quietly though the building, towards the lone staircase in the back that led to Luke's makeshift workshop on the second floor. On the way, he passed the closet where he had stored his first few kills in this new world; his nose wrinkled when the smell of thick blood reached him. Blood stunk, and no matter how much you spilled, you never quite got used to the scent. But at the same time, the stink also lightened his heart-it reminded him of killing, one of the few things that Masque found to be reliably enjoyable.

Masque walked up the stairs, and pushed open the unassuming door to where Missy's brother was supposed to be working. Luke was seated in the middle of the floor, surrounded by scrap metal, junk, and assorted tools. Masque had previously sent a few of his pokemon out to salvage whatever they could from the surrounding buildings.

Nevertheless, Masque knew that if he really wanted the device to be done as quickly as possible, Luke had to be returned to his lab; something which was impossible at the moment. Luke's lab was at his house, which was likely where his family was hiding out. If Luke were to be reunited with his family, they'd try to talk him out of working with Masque-and if pokemon were sent to the boy's home to retrieve materials, the parents might die and then Luke would almost certainly refuse to build the machine. Quite the conundrum.

Luke was surrounded by tools and scraps, but not a single piece looked as though it had been touched. The red-haired young man was quivering slightly.

"What's going on?" Masque asked. He said it calmly-no need to rile up his puppet-but with significant bite in his voice as well. "You're supposed to be working. I thought we had a deal."

"The screams and cries…" Luke said in a wavering voice. "They started and I couldn't get them out of my head, even when they faded. I can't stop hearing them. What's happening to this town…?" The young man turned and Masque saw that his face was hollow and broken. He had reached that level of shock where tears and crying were completely eschewed; his face was drier than death. He was pale, very pale, and shaking. His eyes were distant and unstaring. "What's happening? What have you done?"

"I? I have done nothing," Masque said, this time with impatience. He had no time to allow useless sentimentality to disrupt his schedule. "I told you-the faster you work, the sooner I'll leave. And yet you have sat there, useless. All the people who have died, whose lives have been ruined between our deal and this moment-they are your fault. Yours! Those hard-working, adept hands of yours have been idle this whole time, and people have died because you can't be pressed to save them. If you want the screaming to stop, then get to work."

"M-my fault?" Luke whispered as his trembling became much more pronounced. "Because I haven't been working? My fault…my fault…" The redhead turned around, facing away from the door. His right hand shakily gripped a wrench while his left pulled what appeared to be an old engine near him. He slowly lowered the wrench and began tinkering with the engine. Masque shut the door, silently fuming. So much time-wasted!

However, as he returned to the ground floor, Masque's mood lightened as he recalled that no matter how fast the boy worked, nobody in the city would be saved. It would take weeks to make the machine even if Luke worked at his fastest, and Masque could only hide out in town for perhaps a day or two more before leaving; any longer, and the outside world would notice that no word had come in or out of the place. Luckily, two days was likely to be more than enough time for his pokemon to finish off most of the populace. Then, Masque would skip town, dragging Luke and his semi-completed machine along for the ride.

Masque couldn't help but imagine the sight that would greet the first outsider to come into the small town after he was done with it. They would be greeted by devastation; burned trees and houses, corpses in the streets, and everything would be awash with the scent of blood and rot. The few survivors would stagger out of wherever they had been hiding, shellshocked and weeping, and spin stories of god-like monsters that acted as engines of death. That image dominated his mind, and it made him smile. By the time he reached the closet containing the corpses, he very nearly had a spring in his step.

As Masque passed merrily past the closet, a feeling of sudden foreboding overcame him. Curious, he thought, trying to shake off the feeling. Quite curious.

However, the feeling didn't leave, and as Masque returned to the portrait hall his heart began to quicken; small bursts of fear shot through him. What is happening? he thought, trying to stay cool and rational amidst the sudden fear. What is this feeling? I feel as though something is coming…

Just as he reached the center of the portrait hall, one of the wide windows at the far end shattered.

The moment Missy's brain clicked, she knew what she had to do. Even while still running from the Scyther, she began formulating a plan. In order for it to work, she had to prey on the Scyther's biggest weakness, the one thing that had let her survive their last two confrontations: his rage.

As she raced down the slick streets, she saw a parked car on the roadside. She raced towards it and slid underneath, ducking to safety. The Scyther arrived soon after. He wiggled his blade under the vehicle, seeking his opponent, but Missy easily avoided his blind attempts to reach her. The blade withdrew, and his feet became visible, pacing back and forth madly on the street.

"Hide while you can, foolish one," he said venomously. "You can't crouch there forever. And when you come out, my blade will be waiting."

By this time Missy had easily regained the small amount of energy she had lost earlier. She was a human in mind and soul, but her body was a pokemon's, and pokemon were made of stronger stuff than humans. "How it must sting to be you," she taunted, hoping to rile him up into the same blind fury that had been his doom before. "To be such a useless pokemon."

"Useless? You dare say that to me?" Missy's rival hissed in a voice laced with hatred. "You, who cowers beneath a shield even as we speak? You, who has never done anything but run or hide? You, who-"

"I know which pokemon Masque really trusts: the one he relied on to get him out of prison. The Hypno." The Bug-type fell silent. "Your master trusted him over you."

"That," the Scyther said after a delay, "has a remarkably simple answer. The Hypno's abilities were special-no, not special, he is not better than I am-they were just…just better suited for that particular situation."

"Really?" Missy responded, trying hard to keep the momentum she had from disappearing. "Do you honestly think you couldn't have handled it?"

"I-"

"You know you could have," Missy pressed, not letting him speak. The rain drumming against the car somehow gave her assurance. She felt reckless, daredevil; if her plan failed, she would likely die. But her plan's victory had little difference. "Didn't you brag to me when we first met that you have killed humans and pokemon in abundance? That uncountable numbers had fled from you in terror? You could have broken in there handily, and killed Masque's oppressors before they knew what was happening. But you didn't-because Masque doesn't value you like you want him to. To him, you're just a tool, and not a particularly useful one at that. To him you're just a rusted, dull, blunt-"

She was cut off by a screeching sound. The Scyther was dragging his blade along the top of the car. "Lord Masque thinks highly of me," he said, and his voice had a wild and desperate edge to it; "more highly than anyone or anything else! How dare you say that? Get out from under there so I can rip you to pieces!"

"Masque thinks you're garbage," Missy said, "and do you know why? Because of me. For all your claims to be invincible, for all your bragging and pride, I've beaten you twice." The Scyther did not make a single sound. Missy pictured him standing in silence, fuming. "That's why you searched me out in this rain; not for revenge, but to prove to yourself that I'm not better than you. My victories over you eat you alive, and you know it. And even if you do kill me, even if I'm dead and gone, your damaged, imperfect blade will always be there: an eternal reminder of my triumph over you."

The Scyther roared ferociously, and suddenly a torrent of powerful blows rang as Masque's pokemon struck the car repeatedly. Missy wriggled out from under the car opposite of where he was standing and raced away, hoping that when he noticed she had slipped under his nose, his rage would be incited even further.

A primal shriek a few moments seemed to confirm her anticipations. The buzzing of his wings rang behind her. She didn't dare glance behind her; she now needed to dedicate every second to staying abreast of her rival.

The Scyther raged behind her. "Those were not triumphs! You are a weak trickster, a useless coward with nothing but empty claims! You have never triumphed over me!"

Missy sped as fast as she was able, but the Scyther still slowly gained on her. It was clear that every second she spent in the open on the streets was allowing him to catch up. She ducked into an alley, hoping the small space would restrict the Bug-type's movements enough to allow her to regain distance. Ahead of her was a soggy pile of boxes and trash; she was at the top within a few leaps, and she hit the ground soon after, continuing her dash. Soon afterwards a mighty crash met her ears. Despite her need to keep looking forward, Missy couldn't help but turn her head.

In his rage, the Scyther had not bothered trying to avoid the obstacle, instead barreling through it. He swung wildly at anything that got in his way, his blades cleaving through trash and refuse. When he caught sight of her looking at him as she ran, he snarled. "You're dead, weakling, dead!"

Missy cleared the alleyway and quickly raced along the streets. She was nearing the center of town; City Hall, the place the Hypno had said was Masque's hideout, was close. Behind her the Scyther was roaring obscenities and threats in a furious voice; from the sounds that reached her ears, he was striking out at anything that he got near to as he chased her. He was positively blind with rage. Perfect.

As City Hall loomed into view, Missy's heart rose as she realized that her plan was close to being realized-and her soul fluttered as she realized just how much peril she would be putting herself in.

As she got closer to Masque's new base of operations, Missy's paw hit a particularly slick part of the ground, and she stumbled. It was only for a moment, but that was all the Scyther needed to gain ground to be within striking distance.

"You're mine now, whelp!" he snarled, his blades reaching out. As Missy turned to face her opponent, she instinctively ducked, hoping to use her small size to her advantage. The Scyther's first swipe barely missed as she crouched low against the ground, and before he could make a second swipe, she sprung upwards. Her skull smacked into his face, and he fell back, slightly dazed. She kicked her hind paws off of his torso, and hurtled through the air towards City Hall.

Missy hit the ground running, but behind her the whirring of her enemy's wings was close. She heard the sounds of the blades slicing through air and rain, mere centimeters behind her tail. She sped onwards, as City Hall loomed into view. Fifty feet. Forty feet. Thirty. Twenty. Ten…

She launched herself off the ground, closing her eyes and lowering her head, letting her skull take most of the impact. She smashed through the wide window, and shards of glass and rain flew into the portrait hall. Before Missy landed she saw her target: Masque was standing there, taken aback, mere feet from the window. So, this was where it ended: she would not have to search the building for her foe.

The second that Missy's feet touched the ground, she quickly sped down the dark wood of the portrait hall; chandeliers glimmered above her, and portraits shot past as a blur. Behind her, she heard the whirr of the Scyther's wings and his enraged roar. As she approached Masque he took a step back in shock, and she leapt off the floor, catching herself on his coat with her fangs and claws; startled, the man tried to push her off, but he was only able to try once before the Scyther was within striking distance.

I'm about to kill somebody, Missy thought as the berserk Bug-type approached. Immediately after, another struck her. I'm about to die. The former frightened her more than the latter.

As the Bug-type lunged towards him, Masque's heart beat a tattoo in his chest from sheer terror. "No," he shrieked as his death raced to meet him, "no, wait-"

The Scyther fell upon them. His blades were like a hurricane, lashing out with terrible speed. Blows lanced Missy's body again and again and again as he howled madly, so lost in his fury that he did not even recognize his own master. As he finished his wild assault, Missy and Masque collapsed to the floor of the portrait hall, each sporting a storm of deep gashes.

"I did it!" The Scyther screamed in triumph. "I did it! I…I..." As the rage left him, the true impact of what he had just done struck Masque's chief henchman into horror. Masque was there, lying on the floor in a growing pool of blood.

"L-Lord Masque? Lord Masque!" shrieked the Scyther as he rushed to his fallen master's side. Masque's once-fine clothes were mangled with an uncountable number of tears, and blood poured onto the floor around him. His face was bare; the pearl mask was cloven in two, the pieces lying near Masque's head. One of the incisions cut right across Masque's throat; the man made weak noises as his increasingly pale face gazed upwards in disbelief.

As the Scyther knelt over the dying human, the man's eyes widened in terror as he stared past the Scyther at something unseen. "N-No," he sputtered through a blood-filled mouth. "This can't be…I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! S-Spare me…spare me!" He went limp, and fell into death.

The Scyther trembled, his mind nearly shattered by the realization that he had killed his master. "I never meant…Lord Masque, I…" He was interrupted by the sound of hooves hitting the wood floor behind him. The Scyther turned in a daze, and saw Ruby standing near the smashed-open window. The Ponyta's eyes were staring at Missy in shock.

Ruby turned her gaze to the Scyther, and her eyes tightened in fury as she saw the red stains on the Bug-type's blades. "What did you do?" she said angrily. "What did you do to her?"

Ruby charged the Scyther at full gallop, wreathing herself in flame. The Bug-type tried to dodge, but his mind was so paralyzed by shock that he only barely managed to make it in time. As he flew over her, however, Ruby caught him with a kick from her rear hooves. The Scyther spun wildly, careening into the wall of the portrait hall.

As he struggled to stand up, Ruby raced forward and smashed into him with a powerful headbutt. The Bug-type tried to retaliate with a swipe from his blade, but Ruby easily avoided it by taking a short hop backwards. The Ponyta's mane flared as she let loose a devastating stream of fire. With confusion and shock numbing his mind and his weakness to the Fire-type, Masque's favored pokemon quickly succumbed to the attack.

Ruby did not let up the blaze even when he collapsed, however, and continued torching the pokemon for several seconds. When she finally let up and turned away, the charred, blackened thing slumped against the wall was barely recognizable as something that had once been alive.

The Ponyta approached the silvery Eevee with tears forming in the corner of her eyes, but as she nuzzled Missy's body, the Eevee stirred, and Missy's eyes opened a sliver.

"R-Ruby…?" She murmured in a weak voice. "You're here…?"

"You're alive," Ruby said in a sob, "Oh, Arceus, you're alive."

"F-For now, anyway," Missy said with a wavering smile. Ruby tried to ignore the crimson patches staining her friend's silvery fur. Thunder rang in the sky above. Ruby felt the tears pouring out of her eyes, now.

"Don't talk like that," Ruby said in a voice strained by sorrow. "Don't talk like you're going to…to…" She broke off, crying.

"Ruby," Missy whispered; it hurt to do anything more than whisper. "Thanks…for putting up with me."

"D-Don't say that," Ruby said in a wail. "Don't…don't…" She cut off and took several deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down. "I'm sorry I was such a jerk to you before, Missy. And…and I always believed your story, even from the beginning."

Missy didn't respond; her eyes were closed, and her breathing sounded haggard.

The doors burst open. Dan stood there, silhouetted by rain and lightning. "Masque," he said into the hall, "I…" Dan trailed off as his eyes took in the scene. The shattered window, the scorched corpse of the Scyther, Masque lying dead on the ground, and his two pokemon.

"Storm? Oh, God, Storm!"

Dan raced to his pokemon and knelt near them. He gently scooped up Missy's body, looking down at her intently.

"I-It'll be okay, Storm…pokemon are made of stronger stuff than humans, after all…you can live through this!"

Missy opened her eyes and saw Dan staring down at her intently; above him was the glass roof of City Hall. Through the glass she saw gray clouds, distorted by the running rain.

And then it happened.

The sensation Missy had experienced before in the Hypno's visions visited her. Her body tingled and lit up; it changed into a form she had almost forgotten the feeling of. She was human again. Dan's poke ball, the one she had been caught in, made a small whirring noise as it stopped working.

"Wh-What...?" Dan said in shock. "What's going on? What's-Missy?"

Missy smiled at him. "Dan…I'm so happy I finally have the chance to talk to you…even when I thought I'd be stuck like that forever, it made me happy to think that you and I would always be…side by side…" She exhaled weakly, trailing off, and closed her eyes.

Dan knelt there, trembling; the tears running down his face put the rainy skies above to shame. After a few seconds, he looked at Ruby, who was also weeping. "Was she really Storm this whole time?" He asked. Ruby gave a tearful nod in response. Dan sobbed, cradling Missy against him. "Stupid…I'm so stupid…" he whispered. Above, rain and lightning finally began to diminish as the storm drifted on…

When Missy opened her eyes, she felt blinded; she quickly shut them again. Where am I? she thought. The overwhelming brightness of her new locale confused her. She remembered being wounded by the Scyther, and transforming in Dan's arms. The bright place, and my wounds…am I in heaven? Just as she thought that, sensations reached her; Missy felt dull aches and pains from all over her body. At the same time, she became aware of another feeling: soft sheets on her skin…

Wait, skin? Missy opened her eyes, squinting as the brightness that assaulted her eyes; she wriggled her hand out to hold in front of her face. As her vision cleared, Missy's breath left her body as she caught sight of her human hand. She tentatively wiggled the fingers, barely daring to hope that she was both human and alive. Missy realized that she was in a soft bed in a clean room with lots of medical equipment in it; the overpowering shine of the sun beamed through a window.

"Oh, you're awake, eh!" Missy turned her head to meet the familiar voice. Armor was beaming not far away from her bed; near him the other four pokemon were all huddled together, sleeping.

"I was on watch duty while we waited for you to wake up, eh," Armor said good-naturedly. "Oh, I'm supposed to wake them. Hold up, eh. HEY, YOU LOT! SHE'S AWAKE!"

The other pokemon stirred, but eagerly roused themselves when they realized Missy was awake. "You're-finally-back-YAY!" "Good to see you, Missy." "Heh, looks like I'll have to put up with you a while longer, little girl." "You should have seen me, I took down a Dragonite! Really!"

"What's this?" Missy said, bewildered. "Everyone is-oof!" She winced; trying to rise from her bed had sent sharp bursts of pain rocketing through her body. She fell back onto the mattress, blushing slightly. "Looks like I'm not all better yet," she said with a small grin.

"Yeah, you were sliced up something awful, eh," Armor said. "They brought you to a hospital but everyone thought you'd die, but then they realized that your body was handling your wounds a lot better than a human body normally would. I guess you've kept the healing ability from when you were a pokemon; that helped you survive, eh, at least until the staff here could treat you."

"Masque thankfully spared the hospital from the assault," Nightshade said. "I don't know why, but I suspect he wanted somebody around to treat him in case he was injured."

"So I kept my pokemon healing, and that's what saved me?" Missy murmured, her brows furrowed in thought. "Did I keep any other traits from being an Eevee?" She pictured herself walking around with a giant tail.

"Well," Nightshade responded, "I can think of at least one ability you kept."

"Really? What?"

"You can understand us, obviously."

Missy felt herself blushing again. She was so used to being able to understand her friends' speech that she hadn't noticed. She opened her mouth to come up with a sarcastic retort, but stopped when she saw something she had only seen a few times before-Nightshade smiling. And this wasn't the sarcastic, thin half-grin she had seen before; it looked like it belonged there, and it was warm and brotherly.

"Heh, it's so weird to see you as a genuine human, Missy," he said, still smiling. "I mean, I never doubted your story, but I'd always known you as an Eevee. It's kind of disconcerting…"

"Yeah," Missy replied, "I'm just glad I'm back to normal…well, more or less." She raised her hand to her face to study it once more. She hadn't noticed the first time, but her nails were slightly longer than she usually kept them, and they tapered into small but still noticeable points. Looks like I kept some other souvenirs from my time as an Eevee, Missy thought. There was a long, semi-healed cut on her arm; leftover from the Scyther's attack, no doubt. It seemed as though she had kept her wounds upon regaining her body as well.

"Anybody have a mirror or something? I want to see my face," she said.

"Yeah," responded Ruby, "the hospital staff left one in here; they thought you'd be interested in seeing what you look like now. Artemis, you want to grab it?"

"Sure-no-problem!" The energetic Electabuzz raced up to Missy's bed, handing her a small hand mirror with a big smile.

Missy grabbed the mirror and held it up to her face, looking tentatively at the glass. A familiar face stared back. It resembled the face she had had before, only aged a few months. Soft skin, a thin mouth, and blue eyes with long eyelashes. There were changes, however: before her journey in the pokemon world her hair had been dark, nearly black. Now it was the same stormy gray that her fur as an Eevee had been. She saw that her left ear, the same one that had been mangled by the Scyther, sported heavy scarring and looked very beat up.

She opened her mouth, examining her teeth in the glass. Like her fingernails, her canine teeth were slightly longer and certainly sharper than they had been before. As she handed the mirror back to Artemis, Missy realized that just as she had not noticed that she could still understand pokemon speech, she had also not taken into account the fact that her eyesight and hearing seemed to be identical to when she had been an Eevee; certainly, her senses were better than they had been before she left.

Still not quite human, Missy thought ruefully. But…if I still get to understand my friends, it's worth it.

"Hey," Armor said, "you wouldn't believe what happened to all of us-you remember that Alakazam, eh? Well after it tossed you into the river he and I took a little swim as well, eh, and I beat it! But then one of those big rocks smacked into me. Not fun, eh."

"One of those giant rocks hit you? Are you all right?" Armor gave a small chuckle.

"Yeah, but I was out for a while, eh, let me tell you. I managed to survive 'cause my body was mostly liquefied 'cause I'd been submerged for a while. When I came to, I was safe inside my pokeball; Mr. Dan had found me on the side of the river after the fight was over."

"In your pokeball? They didn't try and treat you or anything?"

"Of course not," Ruby said. "The doctors here don't know how to treat pokemon. And as for what happened to the rest of us, Nemo and I got into a tussle with a Dragonite before I decided to pay City Hall a visit-well, you know what happened there. Nightshade and Artemis apparently got into a large fight protecting a school."

"A school? Did all the kids make it through safe?"

"Yes," Nightshade said softly, interrupting Ruby. "Yes, they did."

"Wow," Missy said, "that all sounds amazing! You'll have to tell me about it, I bet I won't have much else to do until I'm well enough to get out of this bed…"

Missy trailed off as the door to her room opened. A small woman wearing a suit with a weathered face and short-cut gray hair stepped into her room. Strange, thought Missy, she looks familiar for some reason, but I can't place her…

"Oh," she said in surprise as recognition enlightened her mind, "M-Ms. Mayor! What are you doing here?"

The Mayor smiled. "I was just stopping by to visit everyone here-and what do you know, but our town's heroine has made a recovery. Marvelous."

"H-heroine?"

"Naturally. Just about everyone in town has heard the story about how the strange creature that nearly sacrificed its life to bring down the ringleaders of that unfortunate event was really one of our own citizens."

"Wait, everyone knows?" Missy was in a panic. "Does that mean that government agents are waiting to kidnap me once I get better?"

"No, no," the Mayor said with a chuckle. "Only townsfolk. We've decided to keep the whole affair secret-to protect you, of course, but also these fine creatures." She gestured to the pokemon. "We understand that not all of these creatures bore us ill will. The testimony of several children whose lives were saved by two of your compatriots was enough to convince most of the citizens.

"Of course, we have to account for the destruction somehow-we'll put the blame on the storm, making sure to exaggerate the degree that the river was swollen by the rain. A flood can be quite the destructive thing."

"And the…deaths? How are we going to explain those?"

The Mayor's face tightened. She bent her head and closed her eyes, a brief testament to those killed. "Wild animals," she said sorrowfully. "Marauding creatures driven into town by the floodwaters."

There was a short moment of uncomfortable silence. "What happened after Masque died?" Missy asked. "Surely that didn't incapacitate his pokemon."

"Actually," the Mayor said, "that monster of a man seemed to possess strange powers. When he was killed, a good deal of the creatures under his command stopped their rampaging as their minds became their own again. Not all, certainly, but the vast majority. Once only a handful were left still rampaging, it was easy for police and the like to subdue the rest. Dan Fawcett gathered all of that 'Masque' fellow's pokemon in strange orbs that he took from the dead man.

"Of course, we can't keep them bound in those things forever. Luke is building a machine, and with it Dan will send back the creatures to the world they came from. All except these five here."

"Luke? Is he okay? Did Masque do something to him?"

"Your brother was quite shaken, but appears to be fine now. His kidnapper wanted him to build a machine for him, I haven't quite worked out the reasons why-but your brother plans to finish the machine to send the creatures home. Then, it will be destroyed.

"…you'll be pleased to know that he's been visiting you daily, as have your parents. You probably don't know, as you've been out since before the storm broke."

"Thanks for telling me, Ms. Mayor," Missy said. She felt calmer, somehow, now that she knew what had happened. "And thanks for stopping by to visit."

The graying woman smiled. "Anytime. You are a real heroine, Melissa; a champion of your friends and neighbors. Wherever life takes you, don't forget that."

She made a respectful bow and left the room.

Missy received other visitors that day; her brother, and her parents, and even school friends who were quick to gush about how different she looked and how amazing her adventure must have been. The pokemon never left her side.

Dan never made an appearance.

That night, in the depths of her dreams, Missy found herself in a familiar location. Endless plains of mist greeted her, and in the far-off distance, there was the same black pillar she had seen in Pokemon Tower. Strangely, she didn't feel paralyzed with fear as she had before. She took a step forward and suddenly everything changed; she was an Eevee again and the blackness had become a skeleton holding a scythe. Another step and she was a small girl, while the being opposite her took the form of the statue of the deathly angel from the Tower. One more step, and Missy found that she was in the same form from the hospital room, standing opposite a smiling old man decked in old-fashioned clothing: a bowler hat, a cane, and glasses.

"Welcome, Missy," he said charmingly. "We meet again. I was glad to see that you followed my advice when leaping dimensions to your world."

"You..." Missy said, her eyebrows furrowed. "You're who I met before, in the Tower, right?"

"Correct. I suppose you need a name to call me by-Ghost-type pokemon like to call me 'Mr. Shadow'. A little too dark for my liking, but it'll do for now."

"You sound and look different than before," Missy said. "Before, you were a frightening column of darkness that spoke in a whispering voice. Now, you're just…an old man."

Mr. Shadow chuckled merrily. "I have not changed. Rather, your perception of me has changed. My form depends on the person I am addressing; before, you were frightened and desperate, and my shape mimicked that. It's been a short while since then, but you've made some important decisions; you were ready to lay your life on the line. You have no reason to be scared anymore."

"So, your shape depends on my state of mind?"

"And other things as well, like personality and the sort of life one has lived. When I appeared before Masque to take him away, the creature he saw me as was quite frightening indeed-a reflection of his own monstrosity. In the end, I'd say this form of me you see is very close to what I envision myself as. Not identical, but close."

"When you appeared to take Masque…?" Missy remembered; the vicious man, in his dying moments, had cried out in fear at something unseen. She shuddered slightly. "So, you really are Death, then." It was not a question.

"Well, yes and no. I am Death, in a way, and yet I am also something else. Even I shall die someday…and yet death will continue without me."

"I don't understand."

"Naturally. As I told you before, there are many things in this world that do not make sense, and I am one of them." The old man gave her a warm smile. "Why bother standing here like this? Let us walk." He turned and strolled away into the mist, which seemed to catch him in an almost loving embrace.

Missy hurried after him. They walked in silence. Finally, Missy spoke up. "Um, Mr. Shadow?"

"Speak freely, child."

"Am I dead?"

He laughed. "No. Not yet. Certainly not yet. Do you have another query?"

"Before, you told me that I'd only become human if I died. That fact was also in the visions the Hypno showed me. I'm not complaining, I'm very glad…but how did I regain my body ?"

"Firstly, I never said that your death would reunite you with your original form; I implied. Secondly, that is not your original form."

"It-it isn't?"

Mr. Shadow stopped walking and faced his guest. "Before your little jaunt in Kanto," he said, "did you have these?" He at her fingers with his cane, singling out Missy's new claw-like nails. "Was your hair always the color it is now? No. It's true that if you had died, you would have become human. You very nearly died, so you very nearly became human-but kept a few traits from your pokemon self. You may not have long ears, or fur, or a tail, but the differences you do have are no less great.

"The Hypno knew this. It saw in the void myriad lives you might have lived; among those it saw lives where you became what you are now. It refrained from showing you visions of those lives, because those might have given you hope."

"So," Missy said quietly, "I'm not fully human?" She stared at her pointed fingernails. Of course not. I can heal. I can understand pokemon. I have vision and hearing unlike anything any other human has ever possessed. Of course I'm not human.

"Your new form is mostly human, it is true," Mr. Shadow said kindly. "But there is a mixture of pokemon in there as well. But perhaps that bit of you was always inside, and your recent journey merely brought it to the fore."

"Is that what you're saying? That I was always part-pokemon; if not in body, then in my soul?"

"I say nothing. I am merely illuminating the possibility. In the end, the only person who can decide what you are is you, child."

Missy smiled. "Well, thanks for the illumination. I think this current body of mine is just fine. And I also think no matter what form I take, I'll always be me inside."

Mr. Shadow smiled back. "You are something special, child. It'd do for you to remember that. I suppose it's time for you to go back."

With that the mist began swirling around Missy, forming a barrier between her and Mr. Shadow. She suddenly became aware of new sensations; of sheets on her skin, and a pillow beneath her head. She struggled not to wake up.

"One more question," she said. "Just one more. Is this actually happening? Or am I dreaming?"

Mr. Shadow tipped his bowler hat. "I would tell you that it is real, except that my word alone does not guarantee something is true. For that, you'll have to discover for yourself what the truth is."

Missy opened her eyes. She was in her hospital bed; all around her in the room, the pokemon were snoozing. It was early morning.

She yawned; she still felt incredibly drowsy and the aches from her wounds made her feel tender. Suddenly, she realized her door was open just a crack; there was a shadow of a person hovering in the door's crack.

"Come in," Missy said. The door slowly opened, and a morose-looking Dan shuffled into the hospital room.

"I-I'm sorry," he said, avoiding her gaze. "I didn't want to wake you up. I've been by to see you, to apologize, but I couldn't bring myself to do it when you were awake. I didn't want that confrontation."

Missy blinked in shock. She raised herself slightly using her elbows, so that she could see Dan more evenly. "To apologize? What for?"

"For-for being a stupid, short-sighted idiot. For dragging you all over, for putting you in danger and forcing you fight, for making you sleep on cushions and eat out of a dish…"

His fists were shaking. It was clear that Dan had sunk deep into a pit of self-loathing. "Come here," Missy said, "closer. So I can speak with you."

Dan hesitated, and then with a few short steps he was at Missy's bedside. She smiled up at him. "I'm not angry," she said. "You didn't know. You acted nice and thoughtful to me and the other pokemon as well. You have your flaws, sure, but even with them I think you're smart, and brave, and wonderful."

Dan shook his head. "You can't mean that. Not after what I did to you. You can't. I'm such a-"

"Dan, don't talk about yourself like this!"

"But-"

He was close to her bedside, so she grabbed him and pulled him in for a kiss. Their lips touched, and Dan's face was pure surprise; Missy felt as though she had a whole forest's worth of butterflies dancing inside her.

She pulled her lips away from his and smiled at him. "Just shut up, Dan, okay? I don't hate you."

He blinked, and before he could do anything else, she pulled him in again. Their second kiss was longer…until it was shattered by a goofy voice.

"Woo-hoo, eh?" Missy dropped away from Dan, nearly blushing crimson as her head hit the pillow. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Armor beaming at her and Dan. Ruby appeared to be sleeping, but one eye was open a sliver, and her mouth hid the tiniest of smiles. Artemis also looked to be dozing, her chest even rhythmically rising up and down, but the Electabuzz was wearing a huge grin that certainly hadn't been there when Missy had first woken up.

Well, Missy thought ruefully, at least it was just my friends who saw. I can live with that.

Dan straightened; though he was obviously embarrassed, Missy thought it was due more to just the general situation than realizing that the pokemon had watched. "I'll just be going now," he said, excusing himself, but as he turned away Missy caught his hand in hers.

"Wait," she said, "please." She didn't say anything more, but she didn't have to. Dan gave a brief, silent nod and pulled up a chair near her bed, his hand still grasping hers.

They didn't say anything. Missy just sat there, feeling his hand in hers, listening to the breathing of her pokemon friends, watching the morning sun light up her room. Slowly, drowsiness crept up on her.

Missy had never felt more content. She closed her eyes and slowly fell asleep.

THE END