Author: The Eater of Worlds
Keeper of the Blue Flame
For Mega Dude, who always believes that heros should make a comeback.
Even though it was freezing cold in the cave, James was sweating bullets. He could feel the rope straining under his hands as his partner lowered him to a small, damp ledge.
After what felt like hours, his feet finally touched the soft limestone. He pulled a small flashlight off of his utility belt and proceeded to look around, sweeping the cave's crevices for signs of life.
There had been rumors that this secluded cavern held all manners of rare and unusual Pokemon, from Golbat to Golem, and possible an Onix evolution! That was why the boss had sent them, that and the rumor that the cave contained ancient treasure.
"Jesse!" He called up to his partner, "Can you throw down that batch of Pokeballs?" She obliged, dropping a bag of red and white spheres to his precarious perch.
There was a rumble kind of like a passing subway train as an Onix passed, tunneling under the earth somewhere close by. Fortunately, Giovanni had supplied him with a Slobro to handle the Poison and Ground types that lived here. They had finally fallen into the Boss's good graces, he thought.
He was dead wrong. The real reason they had been picked over their teammates was not any sort of skill on the field. Rather, none had ever returned alive or sane from this cave, and the Boss would rather send some Rockets he found expendble.
As James wandered the cave's narrow passages, he noticed that the walls were covered in some sort of hyroglyphs. Scetchy, primative drawing adorned the strange text. He ran his hand along a stone panel.
The panel depicted several scenes, the first of a man holding up a stone, surrounded by lines that could have been a glow or an aura. In the next the same, or a similar glowing man exiting a cave and getting shot full of arrows. In the next, another glowing man falling off of a cliff. In the final quarter, a man (who wasn't glowing) being eaten by an Arcanine.
James brushed some dust off of the next panel, hoping that one might show the way to the fabled treasure of the cave. He leaned in with his flashlight, one hand on the panel for support. Without warning, the ancient panel (this one decorated in a hand motif) crumbled beneath his fingers.
"Aaaiiiiaah!" The blue-haired Rocket as he fell forward into the newly-exposed channel. He flapped his arms in an attempt to keep balance, to no avail. As he tumbled through the black, he was vaguely aware that he dropped his flashlight. There was a distant cry from Jesse, asking if he was alright, and a pleasent humming much closer.
He heard the flashlight clatter as it hit, then hit the ground himself. There was an explosion of light, then darkness.
~`~`~`~
The first thing James thought when he woke up was that his flashlight was still on. When he looked around, however, he found the cave was glowing with it's own phospheresence. The second thing he thought was that he needed an Asprin.
Slowly pulling himself to his shakey feet, he found the cavern he was in to be enormous. The cave walls were casting a pale blue light and appeared to be...pulsating.
The typical strand of hair fell betweeen his eyes, he brushed it away. His fingers came back warm and wet. A look at his reflection in a pool of water showed the liquid was blood from the large gash on his forehead. At his feet, where he had ben laying after the fall, there was another puddle, but this one of crimson blood.
He was bleeding to death. If he didn't get help soon, he was going to die here, alone in some strange cave. If only he were home, or at HQ, or anywhere but here! Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a glimmer.
A huge gem, about the size of his fist, was balanced on a macabre pedistel of bones. He walked over and picked it up. There was a jolt, like a shock from Pikachu, and then he passed out again.
~`~`~`~
The flouresent lights burned his eyes, and his thoughts were clouded by the confusion of waking up where he didn't expect to. In a few minutes, it sunk in that he was in a hospital bed, surrounded by people.
"He's waking up!" An excited voice exclaimed. He turned his head to look at the speaker. Even though his vision was slightly blurred by heavey sleep, he could make out farmilliar red hair and deep blue eyes.
"Jesse?" He asked quietly. Ignoring the throbing of his head, james pulled himself into a sitting position.
"Oh, heavens no! I had that little tramp thrown out. It's me, your darlin' Jessibell."
"What?! How could you? She's a friend of mine! One of the only ones I have."
"James, dear." His mother said from the other side of the room, "That girl was a bad influence on you, getting you into that dreadfull Team Rocket, even! And besides, she's common."
"Running around with thieves and hussies! What if someone had found out? You could have ruined the family name!"
"I don't care about the family name! Can't you see that?" James fumed, swinging his legs over the edge of his hospital bed. "Don't you think I left home for a reason?" There was a stunned silence.
"Don't you think you're being unreasonable?" His mother scolded, trying to regain control of the situation.
"Unreasonable?!? You three have been controling my life since I was born! I don't have to take this. Nothing's wrong with me, I'm getting out of here."
"Listen here, young man!" His dad exclaimed, rising out of his chair, "If you don't stay here and marry Jessibell I'll- I'll turn you in to the police!"
"You care to much about your precious reputation to do that." James scoffed, gathering up his few things. At the front desk, they had no choice but to release him. Despite the blood on him when he was admitted, there wasn't a scratch on him.
As he walked down the street to the hotel where he and Jesse were originally to stay, he was nearly in a rage. How dare they pull another of thier stupid-
"Hey! James!" He almost didn't hear Jesse call from across the street. "Come over here!"
"Sure, hold on." James waited for the crossing light to turn, then started to jog over. But either luck or fate had decided this day would take another strange turn.
A grey van came careening around the corner, it's occupant chatting busily on a car phone. James was focused on Jesse, oblivious. By the time he noticed the oncoming vehicle, and by the time the driver hit the brakes, nothing could save the stunned Rocket.
Every second was in vivid detail to Jesse, watching from the sidelines. When James was struck, rather than flying forward with inertia, he was pulled beneath the wheels. There was a dull thud as one or more of his bones snapped, and a red streak on the pavement from skin and tissue being grated off like a tomato.
She tried to run off for help, but terror had pinned her to the spot. The man from the car opened his door to veiw the carnage, and promptly passed out. Jess attempted again to pull her eyes away from her mangled partner, but again failed. This time it was not out of fear, but a strange mix of confusion, wonder, and disgust.
In a thin mist of red, blood from the road and James's wounds started enshrouding his twisted body. Slowly, his torn muscles and sinew started to reform, and the lacerations in his skin started to pull together. As he started to breath again, she could trace the cloud as it flowed in and out of his mouth and lungs, healing his internal organs.
"Are you alright?" Jesse questioned nervously as James sat up and looked around. He turned towards her ans stood.
"Sure! What happened? Was I hit?" His red-haired partner ran over and pulled him off the street.
"Yes. I need to talk to you for a second..." James cocked his head to the side in a confused-dog manner. He inspected the red flecks on his outfit with the same bewiledered look.
"Did I black out? I'm not hurt. In fact, it's beenmonths since I've felt this good."
"That's what I'm worried about. You should be dead right now. About ten minutes ago, you were smeared across Booth street. You- how do I say this?- pulled back together. It's eiree."
"All I remember is feeling like I was under water. It was like someone was above me, calling, but a hand was pulling me down. Suddenly, I was being pushed back up. The other hand loosened it's hold, then let go. And there's something else."
"What's that?"
"The voice was yours, Jesse."
As she started to respond, a groan came from the slightly dented grey van. The driver groggily stumbled out.
"Is he? Did I- kill him?"
"He's right here, you idiot." The female Rocket hissed. "You feel asleep at the the wheel. If we had crossed a minute earlier, we might have been killed!"
"But I... saw his dead body... I felt the car hit him."
"I think you need to see a doctor." James added. "And get some more sleep before you go out onto the road." The man nodded and hopped back behind the wheel, not once noticing the bent and dented fender.
"You know, this could be a really good thing for us." Jesse smiled, and evil hint to her voice. Her initial shcok of loosing James had passed.
"I think I see what you mean..." He grined back.
~`~`~`~
James whistled a happy tune, pretending to be oblivious to the heavy construction going on around him. He strolled merrily past Machamps and their owners moving large boulders and carrying metal beams. Carefully, he positioned himself behind a fighting Pokemon who was chucking boulders.
"Champ?" the body-builder questioned and turned around as it heard the strange crunch. A black-booted foot stuck out from under one of the larger rocks.
"Son of a-" It's trainer began in fear as he jogged over. "Chester, what did you do?" As if on cue, (And, unbeknownst to the trainer, it was) a van shaped like a police Growlithe pulled up to the scene of the accident.
"Oh my! This is just terrible! Sir, do you have a license for that Machamp?" That surprised the construction worker, he had expected the officer to want to help the victim first. Reluctantly, he handed over his Pokedex. The Jenny went to the van, to authenticate his license, she said.
In reality, the "Jenny" was none other than Team Rocket's Jesse. While she was suposedly checking his background, she was using his Pokedex to pick and withdraw Pokemon from his PC.
"You check out." She reported, handing back the small red computer. "I'll get this man to a hospital immediatly." With that, she drug her partner into the van and drove off.
"I am never doing that again." James announced from the back of the van. He sat up and rubbed his side.
"Quit your whining. You're fine." Jesse replied, simultaniously driving and changing back into her uniform.
"That doesn't stop it from hurting. Try getting crushed to death, and see if you want to try it again."
"Whatever. In any case, we just got three new pokemon for the boss. And they're good ones, too. A Golem, a Venomoth, and... Oh! A Poliwhirl!"
"Yipee-skipee." He grumbled. "Hey, wait a minute... where's Meowth? I haven't seen him since the begining of the mission."
"Oh, he's preparing for our next job." His partner responded, like it was no big deal.
What!? You can't mean... I don't even know how many times I can do this! And I'm starting to get tired here."
"Relax. It's the last time we're doing it today. I promise."
~`~`~`~
James slept the rest of the way to the secluded strip mall where Meowth was planning their next heist. Meowth was sittiong on the curb, cleaning his paws as he waited.
"Took ya long enough." The tan cat hissed. "I don't know how you intend to pull dis one off, but ya better make it good. Da boss will have your hide when he finds out ya screwed up the cave job."
"Don't worry." Jesse said with a malicious laugh. "If nothing else, the show is worth it." James shot her a glare. "I was kidding. Sheesh."
"Whadaya think of that car, Jimmy?" Meowth questioned.
"It's pretty nice, Moonroof, fuzzy dice... I like it." He replied.
"Great!" Jesse exclaimed, pushing him in front of it. There was a loud thud, and the screech of tires. The frightened and startled driver's door flew open, and the nervous, rabbit-like person ran over.
"Are you okay?" He frantically aske, putting a hand on James's shoulder. No responce.
"You killed him! You killed my fiance`!" Jesse gasped, rushing over with Meowth in her arms. "Why don't we-" she started to launch into her carefully rehearsed speach, only to be interrupted.
"I know CPR. I'll try and get him back. Go call a paramedic." As the driver started to pump on James's chest, a thin red mist was already starting to gather. Suddenly, one of her partner's cuts sealed shut. The man trying to resusitate him stopped.
"You know thsi would happen, didn't you..." He said, in almost a whisper as another gash closed. "He has to be.." He trailed off.
"Has to be what?" Jesse growled, hands on her hips."
"I'm Randal Mansly, historian and mythology expert. I think that you're dealing with a supernatural phenomenom here."
"What do you mean?"
" If this is what I think it is, we should go somewhere more private to discuss this. Peel your friend up and bring him along."
"That was tasteless." Meowth commented. "So, just what is this?'
"Well, I've only seen something like this once. It was a local legend, but it's been long forgotten."
"You still haven't answered our question." Jesse hisssed impatiently.
"I could be wrong, but I think that he just might be the keeper of the blue flame."
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