Return To Festival Island

Return To Festival Island

The next year was a blur. From talk shows, to training; Katie, or Lorelei, as the pokemon had come to call her, had became renowned for her less then orthodox training methods and her less then normal party.
As the Gengar, who once controlled an entire town, was trained to fight and taught to love, it grew a hardened shell to go along with its softened heart. At first glance one would often mistake it for a Cloyster, but Katie's Gengar was powerful. A curiosity to be desired by all. Gengars psychic beam, came out in bubbles which furthered the confusion as to weather it was a Cloyster or Gengar. It was been Gengar's teleport that had taken Katie back to Pewter to pick up the next notable wonder in her party, Wigglytuff.
One night, after Katie had won her fifth badge, she received a call from the pokecenter back in Pewter. They had been fallowing her journey on the news, and demanded she come back and take the homicidal Igglybuff from their care. Katie felt a strange combination of reluctance and excitement but accepted the challenge. She trained Igglybuff to fight and evolved it to the Wigglytuff it is today.
Then there was Seabreeze, the ghost Dewgong. After her sixth gym badge, the ghost Seel evolved into a ghost Dewgong, attracting obscene amounts of attention from the previous story about her Lapres, Dolly.
Dolly had put out a fire station set ablaze by members of Team Rocket. What the public had never heard about that story, was that Star, her Clefairy and Fable, her Vaporeon, along with the rarely mentioned Igglybuff the Wartortle; had helped officers bust team rocket for their crimes.

Today, we find our hero off on a new journey. Recently, she had accepted an offer to join the elite four, but first she had to finish off some business.
"Lorelei!" Screamed a herd of swarming reporters as Katie took Lapres out of its Pokeball and into the waters outside Pallet town. "Where are you going?"
"What about rumors that....""Have you read the ne...." All at the same time the reporters yelled their questions, none of which Katie cared to answer "Is it true you da...""What do you think o....""What do you say to criti...."
Katie hoped on Dolly's back and headed away from shore. The reporters voices faded as Katie moved further from the shore.
"Peace and quite" She murmured to Dolly. Dolly nodded her head in agreement.
After a few hours, they finally arrived on Festival Island. In the year Katie had been gone, the island had changed.
The vines had grown further, each one seemed to reach out in an attempt to snatch Katie and shove her into the never ending darkness of what lay beneath it. The unkempt paths had grown more rocky, full of deeper potholes and new hills. Katie's foot got caught in a pothole, she looked up to notice tiny paws in the distance. She stood up and dusted herself off, once again observing the islands deformed shadows. Katie ventured passed it all, ignoring the shadows, knowing where she was going. The path had become a hill that got steeper with each step closer to the abandoned town. She got to the top of the hill and removed the vines which blocked the view below. The town seemed to had sunken as if a hole in the steep hills which surrounded it. There was no way to walk down the incline, so Katie slid through the crab grass down into the abandoned village.
The abandoned town was hugged tightly by new overgrowth. The town hall sat covered in  lifeless  brown vines with very little of the original eerie gray peaking through. A large dead tree poked through the crumbling ceiling. The stairs once crumbling, now broke in half, falling into itself. The boards on the windows and doors had been pushed out through holes, vines seeping out from behind the boards reaching for the ground and swaying slowly in the gentle wind. The vandalized Mr. Mime in the empty graffiti filled fountain leaned in for a kiss from the Jynx once there, now no where in site.
The "Y" fallen from the gym was crushed by the "G" which had fallen on top of it. The gym's doorway was blocked by the "M" which had fallen into the stairs, planting itself firmly onto the ground. Katie felt something beneath her feet, she moved her feet and looked down; the sign which once stated
"Festival Island Gym
Conch Badge: A badge of fun and courage"

Now rested on the ground, the other half that said "R.I.P Festival Island" had been ripped off and was sloppily nailed to a near by tree.
The pillars that once held up a porch in front of the Pokemon Center, had fallen. As if the roof had decided to give up, it now slanted in toward the doorway; leaving only a small entrance to the inside of the building infested with overgrown vines riddled with wilted flowers. The crumbling stairs had been replaced with a tower of oddly shaped rocks staked on top of each other.
In an attempt not to break the town, Katie grabbed the elevated porch and pulled herself up to the doorway. The porch creaked under her footsteps as she slowly walked into the center. With a single hand, she removed the brown vines. The vines fell and seemed to sigh upon her entry.
"Chansey?" Katie called out. The abandoned equipment that once stood behind the desk, had been thrown into the stable counter. Now it looked as if it was emerging from the wooden surface from the beneath granite block that supported it. The rusted chrome of the old equipment reached for the wall but couldn't reach as if retreating in fear.  Moss grew from the ground merging itself with wax dripping from the candles, they engulfed the wall as if in constant competition with each other to see who could cover more wall.
A Meowth, which had limbs growing from its head due to the lack of a body; tumbled from a hole in the ceiling, rolled off of the rusted equipment and proceeded to stagger passed Katie. She watched it slowly limp out the door. Katie walked to the stairs. The railing of the staircase now slanted downward falling into the uneven stairs which were only supported by rusty nails and more out of service equipment, formally behind the counter. Near the top of the staircase, there was a stair missing. Katie peered inside the the void the missing stair had left, a dull twitch marked the only movement of an other wise pitch black. It was evidence that Pokemon had fallen in there. Katie took a deep breath and moved over the stair entering the dimly lit second floor of the Pokemon center.
Katie walked past the beds full of dead and deformed Pokemon. In the middle of the room was the hole the Meowth had fallen through, she looked through it only to see the same entrance room from a new angle. Katie stood back up and continued walking. There was a hole with a ladder at the other side of the room. Katie climbed down the rickety ladder and jumped when it didn't when it didn't reach the bottom.
"Chansey?" Katie called as she walked towards the room where her and Katie had had their first conversation. Katie peered into the room from the doorway. The table where she had once sat across from Chansey was overturned, all the legs on the chairs were broken and Chansey's note pad lay under the desk. Katie walked into the room, bent down and picked up the note pad.
"Chansey?" She called standing up. She slid the pad into her pocket and walked back to the hall
"Chansey?" She cupped her hands over her mouth as she walked down the dark corridor.
Behind one of the doors, there was the vague sound of laughter, she walked faster towards the sound. As she got closer the sound grew louder. Katie put her ear up to one of the doors and listened to the laughter for a minute before opening the door. Katie stumbled into the dimly lit room. From the moonlight that shone through the broken window Katie saw Chansey's silhouette holding what seemed to be a baby in the air, in front of a bed which was the only piece of furniture in the room.
"Chance! Chance!" Chansey cooed happily at the baby. The baby giggled in response
"Chansey?" Katie said
Chansey turned around and smiled. She put the baby back in the crib and stepped out of the shadow. "Chance! Chance!" Chansey smiled hugging Katie. Katie hugged back. After they had finished hugging Chansey stepped back and put her hands in her pouch, a puzzled expression came across her face, "Chance?" She mumbled rummaging through her pouch. Katie took the notepad out her pocket and held it out in front of Chansey.
"Looking for this?" Katie said smiling. Chansey grabbed the notepad and instantly began writing, then handed it back to Katie
"You came back!" read the pad
Katie smiled, handing the note pad back to Chansey "Of course! How could I forget about this place" Katie looked around for a second"What happened? everything seems even more damaged"
Chansey started writing but stopped abruptly. She grabbed Katie's hand and pulled her into the corner behind the crib, grabbing the baby as her and Katie crouched  behind the bed.
"What's happening?" Katie whispered. But then she heard it. A sharp banging noise and two people talking.
"There's more in here" A gruff voice said as they passed the door
Katie looked down. Chansey had placed the pad in front of Katie, it read "Team Rocket". Katie turned to Chansey who was holding the baby, rocking it to sleep. On closer inspection Katie realized it wasn't a baby, it was a Smoochum. Not a deformed Smoochum either, a normal Smoochum. With normal features, no extra limbs, no missing eyes, it was normal. Katie watched Chansey cradle the small thing in her arms.
"Got 'em" Said the gruff voice again, this time the footsteps were going away "We gotta bring 'em back to the boss. Dem cosmetics won't test 'emselves"
Chansey looked up to see they were gone. She stood up and put the Smoochum back in the crib. She rabbed Katie's hand again and pulled her up. She wrote on the pad as she took Katie to the room across the hall.
She handed the pad to Katie upon entering "'They took them'?" Katie read out loud. Chansey ran around the room checking all the beds before coming back to Katie and taking back the pad. She scribbled something down "They use the pokemon to test cosmetics".
Chansey took Katie by the hand again then took her upstairs through the ladder she had climbed down. She ran around the second floor, Katie walked slowly behind her, all the pokemon who were there before were gone.
Chansey and Katie climbed back down the ladder and walked into the room where they had their first conversation. Chansey lifted the table up and put it back the way it once was, before Katie could say anything, Chansey gave the pad to Katie "Wait here" it read. When she put the pad away from her face she saw Chansey waddle into the other room to grab the crib. She came back, carrying the crib. She took Smoochum out of the crib and turned the crib over. She stood and motioned for Katie to sit. Katie sat down on the overturned crib and slid the notepad back across the table.
Chansey began writing vigorously, she slid the pad back
"Take Smoochum. Your her only hope for survival. She's normal, she can't survive here. Team rocket will take her for sure"
Katie looked up at Chansey "I....I don't know what to say" she stuttered sliding the pad back
All of the sudden, there were footsteps again.
"I forgot something, boss" Said the gruff voice
Chansey handed Smoochum out across the table to Katie and motioned for her to duck down. Katie held the Smoochum in her arms. Chansey had no where to hide. The footsteps got closer then they stopped.
"Well, well, looks like we missed one"  Chuckled the gruff voice. There was a loud pop and Katie saw Chanseys notepad drop to the floor, fallowed by a loud dragging noise, as if someone was dragging an oven against the floor.
"Chance! Chance!" Chansey cried. The footsteps went into the next room then came back out again. "If there was one there...." The gruff voice trailed off, as Katie could see the black combat boots in front of her. She closed her eyes, certain he would find her.
"Nothing here" He said disappointed as he headed back into the hall. Katie opened her eyes and poked her head out from behind the table, just in time to see Chansey being dragged off shouting "Chance! Chance! Chance!"
"Shut up" Snapped the man with the gruff voice
"Chance! Chance!" Chansey cried before being kicked by the man. Chansey's cries faded into the distance.

And then there was silence. A long silence, all of which Smoochum and Katie were gripped by fear. When the silence was finally broken by the hushed sound of motorboats through the trees outside, Katie stood up, Smoochum in hand.

She bent down to pick up the notepad with one hand. She sat down at the table and began scrolling through it. The majority of the pad was blank but from in the last thirty pages Chansey had drawn a few drawings illustrating various aspects of her life. She drew herself taking care of the pokemon, hiding from team rocket, but in the very back there was a drawing of Chansey with a female stick figure. Both Chansey and the stick figure were smiling on what seemed to be a hill. Katie gasped and closed the note book.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out the note that Chansey had given her when she left to the Kanto; "Don't forget me". The paper was crumpled and a single tear fell onto it. Katie sniffled and rubbed her nose, she gently folded the paper and put it back in her pocket.
She looked at Smoochum and tried to smile.
"Well Smoochum, looks like its just you and me....For now" She sniffled
Smoochum curiously smiled and patted Katie's arm. Katie couldn't help but smile back.

Katie left that night with Smoochum, never to return Festival Island, and as soon returned to civilization, she became Lorelei, the pokemon master. But she would never forget Chansey and to this day, if you look at her from behind you can see the outline of a notepad in her back pocket.

Our hero will never forget Festival Island as she trains her pokemon to new heights of greatness.

The End