Welcome back! To The End of Time chapter 3! In case you were wondering, there is a VERY good reason for the name ^_^
So, I really can't wait until that. And then that. If I'm being mysterious, that's the point. O.o But honestly, I really, really CAN'T wait for some plot...
So, I should get going. I want to finish this book off this year, and have it fully uploaded by November, possibly. ^_^ So, time for the chapter!
-Still no spellcheck, please don't worry about spelling mistakes-
As well, I'm extremely tired and really busy, so consider yourselves VERY lucky for this update. I'd say it's worth AT LEAST a comment. XD
---/Chapter Three - Caleb's Point of View - Chapter Three/---
I stopped speaking, and waited for the man across from me to say something.
"So, these 'goons' were attacking you for seemingly no reason?" The man across from me looked like he was enjoying the story.
"I called them goons because, well, at the time I really had no clue who they were. You see, I didn't really start the story at the right time. Maybe I should just back up a bit...
---/---
I stretch. Finally, the nice breeze buffets my figure, and I feel alive again. This wonderful feeling seems to happen every time I leave a Pokemon Center after a good night's sleep, and it always rejuvenates me. Today, I feel even more refreshed, for some reason.
I pull out my pocket-sized map, and examine it.
"Looks like the next city is north. Okay, maybe I should stock up a bit before I head out."
I look into my empty medicine bag. "Er, maybe I should make that a lot."
The PokeMart in this town is near the northern exit, so I walk down a street to get there. The neon blue roofing hurts my eyes as I get closer.
"There he is!" The shout comes from behind me, and I turn. A man and a teenager walk up to me.
"Team Rocket," says the older one. "You can come peacefully, if you make the right decision."
"Who's Team Rocket?" I ask, backing up a bit. They don't look that nice, and I don't think I want their presence.
"We're an organization that hunts down criminals like yourself," the older one replies. The teenager remains silent.
"Criminal? I'm not a criminal!" I exclaim.
"Yes, I'm sure," he said, in a nauseatingly sweet voice. "Come peacefully and we'll put you in a nice, comfy room."
"No!" I exclaim. I don't know who they are, but this is certainly getting stranger and stranger.
"Go." Two pokeballs open, and a two Pokemon appear. My pokedex, out at a moment's notice, identifies them as a houndoom as well as an absol.
"Absol! Tackle!" The teenager speaks for the first time. His absol leaps at me, and I duck out of the way.
"What are you doing!?" My eyes are wide, and I'm beginning to feel fear -real fear- for the first time in my journey.
In the teenager's eyes, I could see a tiny tint of fear just like the fear in me. Fear- of me? Why would he feel afraid of me, when he's the person attacking me?
"Go, Monferno!" I throw a pokeball, containing my first Pokemon. It had came along with two other Pokemon as a shipment from Sinnoh. I knew the Pokemon was rare, and powerful. I had picked Chimchar because of its powerful flame.
"Use Flame Wheel!" The attack had quickly become my favourite after Monferno had learned it, and I used it often.
The wheel of flame flew into the two opposing Pokemon, but the Houndoom seemed to absorb the flame, and it missed the Absol.
"Houndoom! Show it the meaning of fire! Fire Blast!"
"Absol, use your bite!"
The two attacks bombarded Monferno, causing it to cry out in pain, and faint.
"No!" I recalled it, panting heavily. As I'm about to release my other two Pokemon, I remember that in my rush to leave the Pokemon Center, I had completely forgotten to heal them.
I could see the menace in the people's eyes. I knew what they were capable of. So I sprinted to the right and straight into the forest, running for my life.
---/---
"Ah. And then that's where the chase happens, hm?" The man sitting across from me has barely moved during my re-telling of my story, and now he barely even moves his mouth to voice his question.
"Yes, that's when the chase happens. I won't bother with that again, I'll just say that they followed me until I tripped. One of them must have attacked me, because I went unconscious."
"Mm-hm. So, is that the end to the story?" He had a wry grin on his face, as if daring me to tell him something incorrect.
"No, no. Of course not. The story picks up again when I woke up."
"It began with darkness...
---/---
At first, I couldn't see. It was so dark, the blackness was everywhere. Then slowly light started to filter into my field of vision.
"Mm?" I mumble slightly, blinking a few times.
I looked around my surroundings, finding myself in a small room with three other people, each about 15 years old. They all wore normal clothing, one of them bearing the Pokemon League insignia on his classic red-and-white hat. Each one had some way of looking like a trainer, and I wondered what they were doing here.
Then, for the first time, I wondered what I was doing here. In fact, where is here?
"You're awake. That's great." The three teenagers looked bored, not at all surprised by my being here. As memories from earlier came back, I wondered if the same people had taken these teenagers and me.
"Don't be so monotonous, Haden." The one who seemed the youngest looked at me, almost sadly. "So, why are you here?"
"Why am I here!?" I felt like screaming right in his face. "Why am I here? I don't know!"
He sighed. "Well, I guess you're like Bob, here." He guestured toward the silent boy, who was facing the rock wall. "At least, you might be. Bob hasn't said a word since he walked in here. We didn't know his name, so we just made one up."
"Why am I here? Where am I?" I felt like fainting, and my heart was pounding so endlessly that it seemed to override everything else around me.
"You're in a Team Rocket prison. At least, that's an educated guess by me and Haden."
"Who is Team Rocket?"
"Well, that's a bit of a longer story." He paused slightly, thinking. "We have no clue. As to why you're here, well, that's confusing as well. You see, with my being here, I know what happened. I learned about Team Rocket from an old friend of mine. Apparently, they were an amazing corporation, filled with brilliant people striving for a better world. Unfortunately for them, when I was standing outside their building, I saw a person with a red R on his shirt abuse a Pokemon. I tried to stop him...
---/???/---
"Stop!" I darted forward, already bringing out a pokeball that contained my strongest Pokemon. "You shouldn't hurt Pokemon!"
He stopped kicking the small Caterpie, and turned toward me, a drunken smirk on his face.
"It was in my way."
"That's still no reason to hurt a Pokemon," I protested in disbelief.
"I'm from Team Rocket. I can do whatever I want. Here, let me let you in on a little secret."
I took a step backward, suspicious.
"I kidnap trainers. Like you. That's one of my jobs for Team Rocket. We are going to make a better world - without worthless people in it."
"Wait, what!?"
Just as he stepped toward me, a man came out of the Team Rocket building, running toward us, and speaking into a small radio. "Agent 214 has revealed! Backup needed!"
I turned, wanting to run, but I felt the force of a blow to my head and everything went black...
---/Caleb/---
"... And I ended up here. That was a month back, or so."
I sighed. This was just getting more confusing.
"So, you're probably here for some sort of similar reason."
"So, now what?" I look around. "What do they want to do with us?"
"Nothing, probably."
---/PRESENT/---
"... So, I won't bore you with details, but I stayed there for a week or two. It wasn't great, but there was no way to escape, it seemed. And then, well. An alarm bell rang."
"An alarm bell?" The man sitting across from me hadn't become any more tired then he was before, and I was surprised that my story was not boring him in the least.
"Yeah. An alarm, or something. That's all I can remember, except for the door swinging open with an audible bang. And then somebody, holding some recognizable pokeballs, bursting in, and jumping at me, then another at each other fellow prisoner. Then it went black...
---/Ilovetoread72/---
Hey everyone! It's me! The next little part is taken almost directly from The Rays of Dawn chapter nine, but the point of view has changed and I've added some things. As I was writing the paragraph above this, I realized that I almost had some EXTREME continuity issues, but I think I've kinda fixed them. I'll explain in the afterword! As well, hopefully this will be more detailed than the original which was featured in Gavin's POV.
Cue flashback!
---/Caleb/---
A blurry face seems to be peering at me, and I struggle to awaken. I feel as if I've been asleep for days, which is a possibility. I eventually fully snap out of the dream world and stagger to my feet, leaning against the convenient steel wall beside me.
"Ugh... Where am I?" I speak slowly, taking in the people crowded around me. I notice immediately that the small room is far too small to accomodate the people inside, so I wonder what is going on.
Another teenager stands in front of me, a hardened look on his face, and as he opens his mouth to answer my question, I notice the other people in the room seem to be dying to say something.
"You're... uh... In a Team Rocket base... a prison..."
Shaking my head, I rub my eyes in a hope to wake myself up.
"Oh... not again..." I blink a few times, and shake my head, hard.
"Again?" the teenager asks incredulously.
"Yeah. I must have been transferred from that other one... Anyway. What's your name?" I decide to get the formalities over with before I try and find out what is going on.
"Gavin." He answers bluntly.
"Ah. I'm Caleb."
"Nice to meet you," He says formally.
I grin, wanting to break the ice with a bit of a joke.
"Well, hopefully this place'll be easier to break out of than the other. I spent how many hours trying to dig a hole with a spoon? You'd think they'd just make wood flooring or something, but nooo, they have to do stone..." I can tell he knows I'm just joking, but he seems to have a bit of a disapproving look on his face. Maybe a joke wasn't the best thing, in this situation.
"Uh yeah!" He exclaims, suddenly brightening up as if struck by a brilliant idea.
He begins to look around.
"Looks like metal flooring... metal walls... metal doors... Anyone got a pokemon on them?"
Everyone shakes their head sadly.
I don't know if I should speak, or leave the silence for a moment, but I decide to aid him in his search. "Luckily, I do." I smirk, pulling out a pokeball from my large pocket.
---/Ilovetoread72/---
Well, I'd like to stick myself into here again for a VERY good reason. Sadly, I just re-read part of chapter ten from The Rays of Dawn and it seems like, being me of course, I've messed up continuity once again due to... Problems. So, if you notice that the original in Gavin's view does not match up with Caleb's view, then get over it. New usually overrides old with me, and hopefully at one point I'll get around to editing chapter ten/nine of The Rays of Dawn.
Anyway. Because I want to start doing much longer chapters, this chapter will be continued with the almost-directly copied stuff from chapter ten! Of course, the new version will hopefully be much better ^^
---/Caleb/---
The eyes of everyone in the undersized room instantly flew to my hand. Or rather, the pokeball that I was grasping with it.
"Wha?" Gavin's eyes went wide, staring at me with confusion and surprise. As well, of course, as great happiness.
"Yeah. When I was transferred, I was attacked by a Team Rocket goon. I noticed a pokeball in a small bag attached to his belt so I decided to chance it and took it as carefully -and quickly- as possible, slipping it into my pocket as I fell unconscious."
Happily, I toss it into the air, and a gray bird-like pokemon appears. I haven't seen it for a while, now, and I'm extremely happy to be reunited with my second pokemon.
"Via!"
"This is Star, my staravia. Use Aerial Ace!" I feel a rush of adrenaline as I speak the command, feeling slightly nostalgiac.
A slice of air neatly cut through the lock of the door, and an alarm didn't sound.
"Hurrah!" the people cheered.
"Okay." I grinned, feeling like a bit of a leader. Swinging the door open, I continued. "Let's head down this corridor, see where it takes us."
"Yeah," Gavin agreed. "Follow Caleb and I."
I ran out of the door, followed closely by Gavin and the rest of the people. I don't know why I took lead, but I suppose it was just because I felt like a leader.
"This way!" I shouted, and we fled through the corridors. Before we had gotten that far, an alarm sounded.
But it was coming from another part of the building.
I burst through a door, followed by the rest of the group, and we dashed into a field.
I froze. Ahead of me was a sight that was more odd than anything else.
A bunch of pokemon were frozen mid-stride, mid-leap, or mid-wing-beat.
I tried to open my mouth to shout 'Run!', to the rest of the group, but found I was, in every way, rooted to the ground.
"Mwuhahaha!" exclaimed some sort of person, wearing fancy white clothing embroidered with one plain 'R' symbol.
"I see my little trick succeeded rather well, don't you think?"
He walked up to a pokemon.
"Frozen in every way. My, my boss is plainly brilliant. I could do anything with this..." he handled something in his pocket.
"But, this would be - is, the end of all you." he guestured towards me and Caleb, the pokemon, and probably toward a group of people behind me, who as well had been frozen.
"Now, what shall I do with all you?" he mused. "I think, yes, that I should lock you up... MWUHAHAHA!!!"
---/Ilovetoread72/---
Is this chapter getting a little to long? I think I might end it here, as soon as I check the character count...
Aw, only about 13000 characters to the MWUHAHAHA. :( I was hoping for 15000... But wait! I can write a bit more! Awesome! :D
*Strikes pose* Writers for the win!
---/Present/---
The man across from me, sitting at the other end of the table, nods slightly. "So, you've encountered the freezer."
"The freezer?" I look at him strangely.
"The freezer. Most people have varying names for it, at least the ones who have escaped it's evil grasp, but I like to call it the freezer. It's a good name for something that freezes you."
"Yes, I suppose." I feel like letting my head slam into the table, but I know I should keep on talking.
"Okay. So, what happens next?" He leans, almost impossibly, closer. I continue my tale.
END---/3/---END
Long chapter.
Loong chapter.
Looong chapter.
Man, this chapter has taken forever. I think I've been writing it in segments, or something like that. I wrote a little to start it, a little another day, a little another day. I really should be working on the things I actually have to do, but procrastination is my worst enemy. I gave in.
I really liked having a buildup of chapters, but despite myself I will upload today...
BUT BEWARE! I recently sent out a fan message saying I won't be uploading for a while. This is the ONLY exception. I have not started on the next chapter. It may be a WHILE before updating.
Anyway. Just as a thought- In the Rays of Dawn versions of a few things in this chapter, some things are different. For example, in TRoD, the way Caleb got his Pokemon back is when a goon was flauting it, he nicked it, apparently. As well, in TRoD, he sees the field on his way to the Team Rocket base/prison, and then later becomes a leader because he somehow knows the way to escape. It really, actually, didn't work out, so I've changed it in this version. I might get around to editing it some other time.
Okay, so that's the end of this chapter! Tune in next time for (hopefully) another extra-long chapter!
My goal is that this book will be fifteen chapters long, just like the last three, but have MUCH more pages. It seems slightly realistic so far, but I'll have to work really hard to get long enough chapters that I can fit all that into just fifteen chapters.
And then I'm thinking of just making it one LONG book. :D A special feature. :D
Possibly fan-only. I don't know. XD
So, anyway, thus ends this chapter! Tune in next time! (See what I did there? O.o)