Misty\'s Nightmare

Authors comments:[~from 2001~] I would like to give a big thanks to Alex Warlorn (matt@lenzarts.com) for all his input on this and for taking the time to pre-read it for me. The grammar should be much better because of that. Also, this chapter is the first one that in my opinion really deserves the R rating. You have been warned. Enjoy.

Chapter 5. Last Stand

Misty's attempts to get some more sleep were doomed from the start. As much as she tried to put it out of her mind, the past three years would not let her rest. Actually, the first few weeks after the change were quite hazy. Her sisters finally came for her five hours after the horror began. They found her still on her knees in the center of the street. They had been ready to lay into her for running out on them but their recriminations faded away once they got a look at her face and the broken little body in her arms. They had to fight back tears themselves. For Misty, it was as if the best part of her died with Togepi. She felt as if the horrors of what had happened were trying to crush the rest of the life out of her. After that, the memories of the rest of the aftermath came in a series of disjointed scenes of despair. Things like Ash's frantic last call to her before the phone lines stopped working. He had a sorrowful look on his face that she imagined mirrored her own. He asked that she please take care of Squirtle and Tododile for him and that he would try to see her soon. He looked ready to say something else but her lack of response put him off and he bit it back. She honestly didn't remember if she had said anything at all to him. Her sisters must have filled in some of the details when they had answered the call because he said he was so sorry over what had happened to Togepi. He then asked if he could talk to his two pokemon alone for a minute. She brought them over to the video-phone (they were still weak and disorientated from the change) and left. Whatever he said to them must have been important because they had a solemn look on their faces when she returned. It was the last time she heard from him. The phone lines quit for good a few hours later. The other events were even more fragmented in her mind. Like the deaths of Horsee and Goldeen. One of the things that they found out almost immediately was the detrimental effect that water now had on their pokemon (the fact that one of the first things her sisters did when the change started was to get the pokemon out of the water saved a lot of lives). Horsee died slowly on land, unable to return to his watery home. Goldeen proved that horribly, when unwilling to stand dry land any longer, she flopped back into the pool and swam to the bottom. They watched helplessly as she literally dissolved into a cloud of blood. Other pokemon died after that but by this time Misty had sunk so far into her bleak shell that she hardly noticed. All the Pokemon seemed doomed anyway. They couldn't eat. Any food that they tried to keep down just came right back up and they kept getting weaker and weaker.

Misty rolled over in her sleeping bag and stared at the ruined ceiling of their shelter. She shuddered as she ran her fingers over the large scar on her wrist that was a reminder of her next somewhat clear memory. When the feeling of hopelessness became too much for her to bear, this seemed to be the only way out. She could imagine from the Horrified gaze on Polywrath's face what she must of looked like when he found her. Sitting there with the razor blade still in her hand staring blankly as her life blood flow out to make a large pool at her feet. Polywraith wouldn't let his best friend end it like this though. He slapped the blade out of her hand and started screaming at some of the other pokemon to help (at least that is what she thought that he was saying) and put his hand over the wound to stop the bleeding. The last thing that she remembered before passing out was all her pokemon crowding around her with tears in their eyes.

When she came too at the hospital, she found herself enveloped in a three-way hug by Daisy, Lily and Violet. They were very upset that they had let her sink so far without doing anything. They also had some astounding news. It seems that some of the pokemon had licked the blood off that they had got on themselves from saving her and found that they liked the taste. However this hope soon gave out to despair when the pokemon couldn't drink the blood that they got from the Cerulean city pokemon center's blood bank. Something was different. Misty herself came up with the key in a flash of inspiration. Her blood had been fresh. Her sisters almost flipped out when she left the room and came back with another razor blade (which she had been hiding in her room.) but she told them that she was just going to test a theory. She went over to polywrath (who by then was almost too weak to move), knelt down beside him and tried not to cry out too much when she slashed her arm. She then held out the dripping wound to polywrath and told him to drink. He was hesitant at first but when he did his eyes went wide and he was soon sucking on her arm greedily. Later, reports of wild (formerly) water pokemon draining the blood from victims confirmed it. The fact that she could help her pokemon seemed to bring back some of the life in her. What they were doing soon tarnished the reputation of the gym but they didn't care. Their pokemon were everything to them. And it wasn't like they were slaughtering people in the streets to help them (no matter what people thought.). It was their own sacrifice to make.

Then as Misty laid there, her thoughts returned to the more recent past. When she first set out from the ruins of Cerulean City, She was really looking forward to the fact that she might see Ash again. However, That had been before both Squirtle and Tododile had died in her defense. They had always been protective of her since the change and had become even more so after she fled her home. She told them to watch themselves but they had ignored her. She had even tried keeping them in their pokeballs but they popped out on their own whenever she was attacked. They were among the first to fall to save her. This fact had been weighting more and more on her heart in the last few days. How could she face Ash when she had failed him so completely? She didn't know how he could forgive her when she couldn't forgive herself. She was almost ready to give up hope. But then she remembered that she still had two pokemon depending on her. As long as there was that, she would struggle on to the bitter end. Besides,the way things were going, it was doubtful she would survive much longer anyway.

Suddenly, Misty was shaken out of her brooding by Starime. She sat up in her sleeping bag and asked, "What is it?" Starime pointed with one of his arms and Misty looked in that direction. The house that they were in was a fairly nice one-story brick ranch before it was ruined. The living room was good sized and had a kitchen-dining room combo on one side of it. On the opposite side, there was a hallway that she presumed lead to the bedrooms. On the wall to the right side of the hallway was the entrance way flanked on either side by windows. Starmie was pointing to the opposite wall from this. This wall had a smashed sliding-glass door that lead out to a patio. Misty could see nothing but something had changed that sent a chill down her spine. Finally, she realized that what was bothering her was that it had all of a sudden gotten very quiet outside. The night noises had stopped. Then Misty heard a noise. It was the sound of something.... No, LOTS of somthing's moving around. Whatever they were they were pretty large by the sounds they made as they came towards the house. This was not good. Misty's pulse started racing and she started to get up but Starime motioned her to stop. It was too late to hide. There was a full moon and she caught movement outside. The large shadow of something stepped in front of the space where the sliding glass door was. The outline was all too familiar to Misty. It was a Scyther. And from all the movement behind it, there was a whole pack of them outside. Starime tensed up in anticipation of a fight but Misty gently squeezed one of his arms to restrain him. This was not a battle they could hope to win. Misty, and her two pokemon were out of the moonlight and her only chance was that the Scythers had not seen them. There was a lot of debris on the floor and she hoped that they blended in with it. It was a slim chance, but maybe they would move on if they didn't sense anything inside. Misty knew enough about Scythers to know what would happen if they spotted her. While the only outside evidence of the change on them was the fact that their green color had faded to a mottled gray,like most wild pokemon, their temperament had changed dramatically for the worse. They would attack without hesitation if they thought something was inside the house and their flare for torturing their victims was well known. At least she was not as terrified of bug-types as she used to be. Misty's heart sank when the one outside the door motioned and more came fully into view. She counted at least a dozen that she could see. By this time, it was all Misty could do to keep calm. She dare not move a muscle now for fear of any motion giving them away. Thankfully, Starime understood the desperation of their predicament and was being still. However, Misty had the terrible feeling that she was forgetting something important. Then it came to her with a horrible jolt. Polywrath was still asleep! Misty started desperately thinking of something to do but at this point, the Scyther in the door way used his arm blade to clear some of the broken glass of the sliding door with a crash. Polywrath was jolted out of his sleep with a loud cry that alerted the Scythers to their presence. The one in the doorway spotted them and let out a cry to the others and they stormed inside. Misty yelled at Polywrath to get up. She tried to come up with a plan but knew it was probably hopeless. She felt wave after wave of despair trying to overcome her. Was she about to fail her last two pokemon? She cared more about that then the fact that she was probably about to die too. Then one of the Scythers charged them.

To say that Polywrath had a rude awaking was an understatement. The first thing that his sleep clouded mind was able to comprehend was an unfamiliar pokemon saying "Come on, there's prey inside!!". Then he heard Misty cry out. "POLYWRATH, WE'RE UNDER ATTACK, GET UP!!!" When he looked towards the sound of the first voice he saw numerous shadowy forms coming though the sliding glass door. He jumped up instinctively to face his attackers. One of them was already charging him. Misty ordered "Polywrath, Blood Glob NOW!!" and he spit one right in the face of the attacker. The Scyther (Polywrath finally recognized what the attackers were) Screamed in pain as the glob of acidic blood hit its face and started to sizzle. Blinded, it collapsed to the ground. The other scythers, seeing what had happened to one of their own stopped for a second to get a better gage at what they were up against. Polywrath did the same. He knew almost at once that they were in way over their head and looked at Misty for direction. What he saw made his heart sink. Misty was standing there with wide eyes. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to come up with something. She wasn't trying to run, which was good as it would be useless and expose their backs to the Scythers, but the hopelessness of the situation was definitely getting to her. The Scythers started advancing again. They had run out of time. This is when Starmie called out to him." Polywrath, get her out of here NOW!! I'll hold them up!!" This was a plan that he and Starime had worked out in advance just in case they ever got in a situation that they obviously couldn't handle. They had agreed that he was the stronger of the two and would have the best chance of protecting Misty. The problem was that there was no way Misty would go along with it so they had decided not to give her a choice in the matter. Starime cried out and flung himself at the nearest scyther. Polywrath grabbed Misty's arm and pulled her to the doorway. Misty's eyes got even wider when she realized what Starime was doing and she cried out "Starime, NOOO!!!!" and started fighting against Polywrath with all her strength. Didn't she realize that this was the only way? Of course not, it just wasn't in her nature. Misty cared for her charges more then life itself: that was just her nature. She had sacrificed everything for them. Now it was time for them to do what needed to be done to save her. Despite her frantic struggle, Polywrath was stronger and continued to pull Misty to the doorway. Misty whimpered "Starime... please... I can't loose you too", but the fight seemed to have gone out of her and she let Polywrath lead her to the door. Polywrath looked back and saw Starime hit another Scyther with a Takedown so vicious that he impaled it on one of his talons and it went down in a huge spray of blood. As Polywrath and Misty made it to the door he thought he might just get her out of this.

That was before they got outside. There were more Scythers waiting for them. Polywrath's heart leapt to his throat when he realized that they were trapped. He turned and led Misty along the outside wall of the house to keep them from being surrounded. One of the Scythers yelled out a challenge and shot towards them almost too fast to see. It was a Quick Attack. Polywrath had just enough time to push Misty out of the way and jump back as the Scyther shot though were they had been, blades slashing. But it missed. Misty, pushed hard by Polywrath, smacked her head against the wall and went down stunned. The Scyther that had attacked tried to launch another one but Polywrath nailed him with a blood gout so powerful that it slammed the Scyther into the wall of the house with a bone crunching thud and it went down in a heap. It did not get up. Polywrath then put himself between the Scythers and Misty (who was sitting by the wall trying to shake the cobwebs out of her head) and prepared for the next attack. This is when one of the Scythers called out "Get the pokemon first, then we can take our time with the human!!". From the way it held itself, it was clearly the leader of the pack. This Scyther then turned its stare to Polywrath and spat "Did you hear that SLAVE!! By the time we're done with your MASTER, she'll be begging us to kill her!!" the sadistic leer it had on its face left no doubt what horrors he had in mind for Misty. For once, Polywrath was thankful that she could not understand pokemon. Polywrath glanced back at Misty protectively and what he saw made him almost cry out in despair. Misty was just standing there. What was so upsetting was that she had the same dead look in her eyes as when Polywrath had found her three years ago after she had slit her wrist. That is when Polywrath heard Starime scream out in agony from inside the house. Then there was a Horrible wet, ripping sound that cut the scream short. From the way that Misty flinched as if struck and sank to the ground, it was obvious that she had heard Starmie die too. Polywrath was alone with Misty now and he knew that he was all that was between her and an end that would be a thing of nightmares. He had no choice. He had to do something that he swore swore to himself that he would never do. One fact of life of being a pokemon after the change was you had to live with the rage. This rage wasn't like the Rage attack. This was a seething, all devouring anger that was always lurking in his subconscious. All pokemon had to deal with it and to succumb to it was the first step to damnation. The Scythers in front of him were evidence enough of that. It was a daily struggle to keep it at bay, especially in a fight. But there was also a temptation. Polywrath could feel from the depths of his soul that it was the key to unlocking the power within him. So now with no other alternative, he let the rage sweep him up. He would brave the rage to save Misty. He just hoped for her sake that if by some miracle they survived this, he could pull himself back out of it. Misty was the world to him and now these BASTERDS in front of him were trying to HURT her. There was NO way that Polywrath allow that. He'd KILL all of them before they laid a blade on her. As he felt rational thought start to be swept away in the anger, Polywrath yelled out to his attackers. "I WON'T LET ANY OF YOU TOUCH HER, YOU HEAR MEE!!!" then he leapt at the hated enemy.

Polywrath's angry cry shook Misty out of her deepening well of despair. For the past few minutes she had been living a nightmare. She had been faced with a horrible situation and had frozen up. She watched helplessly as Starmie decided to sacrifice himself for her. When she heard him die, it was like another part of her went with him. She should have taken control of the situation but instead it had taken control of her. She felt like she had let down her two friends and that had already caused the death of one of them. Now she was sitting there impotent as the other one was fighting a desperate battle to save her. She had to do something for Polywrath. He was all she had left.

But his angry charge had taken her completely by surprise. She had never heard so much anger and hatred in his voice. Polywrath shot towards the nearest Scyther and was on top of it almost before it could react. He dodged its swiping counterattack and put his full weight into a devastating Tackle that drove the Scyther to the ground with him on top. Misty then watched aghast as Polywrath slashed his talons viciously across the Scyther's face ripping it to bloody shreds. With another angry cry he brought his two hands together and smashed them down on the Scyther's head causing it to explode like an overripe melon in a shower of blood and brains. Misty was horrified. What had gotten into him? But then she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. One of the Scythers was taking advantage of Polywrath's distraction to launch its own attack. Misty could be appalled later: now she had to help Polywrath. She jumped up and called out "Polywrath, BEHIND YOU!!!" and even through his anger her voice still seemed to get to him. Polywrath jumped out of the way and the Slash attack that was meant for him instead cut the fallen Scyther's body in half. Before Misty could even order any counter attack, Polywrath spit a Blood Glob at the Scyther that just attacked but it was able to get its blade up in time to shield its face and the glob impacted on that and the arm above it instead. However the acid still caused the Scyther to scream in pain and go down for a second. The action was happening too fast for Misty to stay on top of. She had no choice but to give up trying to direct the battle. The best thing that she could do for Polywrath now was to watch his back. Another Scyther behind Polywrath geared up for a massive attack and Misty yelled out another warning. However this attack was different. Instead of charging right in, it started spinning faster and faster with its blades outstretched. Misty recognized this as a Blade Storm attack. The scyther then started whirling towards Polywrath like a razor lined tornado. Polywrath responded with a Blood Gout but the scyther was spinning so fast that the blood was deflected by its blades. Polywrath just barely dodged the attack. But still got a nasty gash on his arm. The Scyther had no intentions of stopping though and came back at Polywrath still spinning. Polywrath responded with an attack that Misty had never seen him do before. Instead of spiting out a gout of blood, he burst forth with a beam of intense red light. The effect when the scyther was hit was that it became encased in a block of coagulated blood. The scyther stopped spinning and fell to the ground with a clunk. While this new attack was unfamiliar to Misty, she realized that it was a variant of the ice beam attack that water pokemon had used. Misty was amazed. How did Polywrath get the power to use this new attack? Then she realized that it was probably because he had fed on the Fearow yesterday. He was more powerful now then he had ever been. This revelation also made her heart sink even more. What If she had made her pokemon feed earlier? Maybe more of them would still be alive now. In her already depressed mind it was just another sign of her failure.

Then one of the Scythers called out. It was the same one that had called out earlier before Polywrath went mad. Polywrath must have understood what the Scyther was saying because he all of a sudden tensed up and jumped around to face her. That is when she saw three Scythers coming strait at HER. With her back against the wall of the house she had no place to go. Polywrath was too far away to react in time and his newfound attack could probably affect only one opponent. From the look of angry desperation on Polywrath's face, he realized it too. She thought with amazing detachment "So my life is going to end now", At least she wouldn't have to see any more of her pokemon die. But the fact that she was in part responsible for all of their deaths was a crushing burden to bear. However, Polywrath still had something to say about that and his face became even more twisted with rage. That is when he opened his mouth and let loose with a heart-rending scream that seemed to erupt from the depths of his soul. The force of the scream was so that the air actually SHIMMERED from the intensity of it in a cone starting from his mouth and ending at the Scythers. For Misty, it wasn't so much that she heard the scream as FELT it. Its dreadful power sent Misty to her knees as wave after wave of bone shattering pain shot its way though her body in time to the screams varying tone. She put her hands over her ears but that did not help. It was all Misty could do to keep from throwing up as nausea swept her up. However, no matter how bad the effect of the scream was on Misty, the effect on the advancing Scythers was far, far worse. Though her pain, Misty saw them fall to their knees and lift their heads to scream a scream that had no chance of being heard over Polywrath's. Even in the moonlight it was obvious that blood was streaming out of their eyes, nose, mouth, and all the joints in their armor. Then a huge geyser of gore spouted from each of their open mouths. When Polywrath finally stopped, they fell to the ground, twitching spastically in pools of their own blood.

The first thing that Misty saw after the scream was Polywrath stagger. It was obvious that the attack had taken a lot out of him. But then, Misty observed a blur of motion behind him and she desperately tried to yell out a warning but it was too late. She cried out in anguish as a Scyther took advantage of Polywrath's weakness and distraction to catch him totally off guard with a vicious Slash attack and then jump back. The result was devastating. It opened up a huge gash in his side that immediately caused his guts to burst forth and pool onto the ground. Polywrath's gaze turned to one of shock and then it screwed up in pain as he collapsed. Misty realized with mute horror that the attack on her had been to distract him. She was his biggest weakness and the Scythers had exploited it perfectly. Misty had never felt so terribly USED in her entire life.

As the Scythers closed in to finish him off, Polywrath tuned to look at her. What she saw in his eyes was not the fear or pain that she expected, but regret. He was blaming himself for this. Didn't he realize that the blame was all hers? She met his gaze and mouthed the words., "Its not your fault, you did all you could.". She didn't know if he understood her but a single tear started sliding down his face, sparkling in the moonlight. Then a Scyther's blade came down and he no longer had a face. The next blade ended his life.

At this point the Scythers that had been in the house came out and spotted her. They were covered in Starime's blood. They immediately came at her but the leader of the pack barked out a command and they stopped. The Scythers instead turned and joined the others that had started feasting on Polywrath. Obviously they were in no hurry to kill her. Knowing what she did about Scythers, Misty guessed that they had something "special" planned for her. Of all the emotions that she expected to flood though her, the one that actually set root in her soul was a numbness. She didn't feel much of anything at all. The small part of her that still had some spirit screamed out to get up and run. But what was the use? Even if she did escape, Misty would be at the mercy of the next pokemon that came across her. She would be just as dead in the end. And anyway, after the events of the last few minutes, she doubted that she really deserved to live. Besides, she could see that every once and a while, a Scyther would glance up from the feast in her direction. They had no intention of letting her get away. At least in a little while, the nightmare that had been the last three years of her life would end.


Well, what do you all think? I figured that it was about time I ended a chapter with a real cliffhanger. They are EVIL but I have always wanted to do one. I do like the way that this one came out. There is now officially only 1 chapter of Misty's nightmare left (I am actually amazed that I got this far.). I hope to have it out before too long but it will be another hard one to write.

BigRed


~June 7th, 2008. I guess it turned out to be harder then I thought. this was the last chapter I wrote those 6 years ago. I do have the end scripted in my mind, I just never got to putting it down on paper so to speak. for one thing I got caught up in the other fan fiction I posted on this site, "Walk the Thin Line" which I did finish. and caught a lot of flak for because of its subject matter. So much so that I got pulled off of Fan Fiction Net and my account suspended. That kind of put me off writing the conclusion to this. lets just say the something "Special" the Scythers have planned for misty is pretty evil..... This is a horror story after all.

anyway depending on what kind of reaction I get here I might try to write it again, I have it pretty well developed in my head. so stay tuned. more likely the next think I will put up is the appendix I talked about last chapter if anybody is interested. so till then enjoy what I have up so far and if you like it enough, post something about it in the forums so maybe I will get some more comments or criticism.~