Chapter 2: The Phantom of Scorch Gate
Two years had passed since Marie had come to Scorch Gate. During that awful time she experienced the hot blazing desert sun during the day, and horrid nightmares during the night. Many of the nightmares that Marie experienced were painful memories that were given an added aspect of terror. As a result, Marie had not had a decent night sleep in quite some time. The only good thing about Marie’s captivity, and perhaps the only thing keeping her sane, was Zorua, who during the evenings would entertain Marie by using its Illusion ability to change into other Pokemon and even the occasional human.
One particular afternoon Marie had returned to her cell after another hot day of hauling rocks. Once the guard shut the door, Marie let Zoura out of its Pokeball, which she kept close under her tattered rag of a shirt. As Marie looked around the cell while Zorua went over to the mattress, she noticed a stone cup filled with water and a blue flower near a good-sized hole where the floor met the wall.
“Who keeps leaving these things?” Marie asked Zorua. “Are you sure you don’t have anything to do with this little guy?”
Zorua made a barking noise that indicated that it knew nothing about the cup and flower. Marie had been finding a cup of water and a flower every afternoon in her cell since meeting Zorua. She had no idea who was leaving them, but she wasn’t one to turn down an extra cup of water when it presented itself. Marie drank about half the cup. The water tasted cool and clear as it always did. Wherever the water came from, it was a much better quality than the water handed out by the guards. After finishing her drink, Marie gave the rest of the water to Zorua. The two had always split whatever food and water Marie got between them.
As for the strange blue flower, Marie held onto it. Though she knew it wouldn’t last long. Every one of the flowers she had gotten quickly wilted and faded to nothing in the desert heat. But at the very least, it was something pretty for Marie to look at for a little while. Still, Marie couldn’t help but wonder just who was leaving the water and flower in the cell.
* * *
The next morning in the prison mess hall, Marie put back her food tray and tried to prepare herself for another long day under the blazing sun. As soon as she put her tray down though, she soon found herself surrounded by three other inmates. One of the three was Sharon. The other two were Sharon’s friends. One was a girl with short dark-brown hair about Sharon’s age named Cathy. The other girl was also around Sharon’s age and had short red hair and arms covered in black tattoos. Marie knew this girl as Kelly.
“Hey shrimp! We have a bone to pick with you.” Sharon said as she and her cronies advanced on Marie. “You bumped into me again yesterday with that stupid wheel barrel of yours and made me spill half my canteen! I would’ve got you for it then except there were too many guards watching. So I’m gonna pay you back right now!”
“I’m sorry, it was an accident!” Marie said in a terrified tone as she was backed against a wall with a large crack in it. “I really didn’t mean to, honest!”
“Yeah? Well you’re about to be even more sorry shrimp!” Sharon shouted as she raised her fist.
Just as Marie raised her hands in front of her face to block the attack, a glowing light-blue eye began staring at Sharon, Cathy, and Kelly. Sharon noticed the eye, causing her to stop.
“W-what is that thing?” Cathy asked with a terrified expression.
“Dunno, but I’m not staying to find out!” Kelly responded before running off. Sharon and Cathy followed soon after.
Marie lowered her hands after realizing that Sharon and the other two had run off. She looked around to see what had scared them off and found nothing, not even in the crack in the wall.
* * *
A week had passed since the strange incident with Sharon. The workday had come to an end and Marie was back in her cell, trying to relax and cool off. Though she knew it was a futile effort. Zorua soon emerged from a small hole in the wall. Marie knew that Zorua could get little exercise in the cell, so she sometimes let the little fox run around through the prison through the various holes and cracks in the walls.
“You’re finally back, I was really starting to get worried.” Marie said to Zoura. She suddenly noticed that Zorua had something in its mouth. “What do you have there little guy?”
Zorua dropped the item in front of Marie. Marie picked it up to take a closer look. The item in question was a Pokeball, but it was a Pokeball that Marie had only ever seen pictures off. The top half of the ball was purple and had two pink circles on top. Above the button of the ball was a letter M.
“This, this is a Master Ball!” Marie exclaimed. “I’ve read that this kind of Pokeball can capture any Pokemon a hundred percent of the time. Where on earth did you get it?”
Before Zorua could respond in any way, the ground suddenly shook. The floor beneath Marie and Zorua collapsed. The two fell only a few feet, finding themselves in a dark cave with only the light from the hole above shining through. After checking to see if Zorua was okay, Marie suddenly noticed a glowing light-blue eye staring at her.
“S-stay back!” Marie warned. Zorua got in front of Marie and growled at the eye. Suddenly the eye began to approach. “Don’t come any closer!”
The unknown owner of the eye continued to advance. Marie panicked and threw the Master Ball at the eye, thinking it was a rock. The ball hit and sucked in the unknown creature. It jiggled on the ground two or three times before making the noise that signaled that the capture was complete.
“So… it was a Pokemon?” Marie realized. “Well, I might as well see what I caught.”
With that, Marie picked up the ball and threw it into the light. Emerging from the ball was a shadowy black creature that hovered a few feet in the air. On its head it had hair that looked like a billowing white flame, which covered one of its light-blue eyes. Around its neck was a red growth that resembled a necklace of large beads. Its body had an hourglass shape and looked as it was made of tattered black rags.
“You’re a Darkrai!” Marie realized. “I read about you in book on Legendary Pokemon in my father’s study. You’re said to be a Pokemon that causes nightmares. Which means… you’re the reason why I’ve been having nightmares since I came here! So you’re going to torment me for something I didn’t do too, are you?”
Suddenly Zorua rubbed up against Marie’s leg. Marie looked down and saw that Zorua had a flower in its mouth, one of the strange blue flowers she had been getting with the cups of water. She looked around the floor of the cave and saw that those flowers were growing all around. It suddenly dawned on Marie just where the water and flowers had been coming from.
“Are, are you the one who’s been leaving the water and flowers every afternoon?” Marie asked Darkrai. Darkrai responded by nodding. “Well thank you, but I don’t understand why. Is it to make up for the nightmares?”
Again Darkrai nodded silently. Suddenly something else occurred to Marie. She recalled that the other inmates and even the guards did not like they had had a goodnight’s sleep.
“You don’t mean to cause these nightmares, do you?” Marie realized. Once again, Darkrai nodded. “Well, whatever reasons you have for helping for me, thank you. I’m sorry for yelling at you before. Anyway, I guess you’re my Pokemon now. Now I have to figure out how to get out of this hole.”
Suddenly Marie heard a lapping noise. She looked down and saw Zorua lapping up water from a small stream of water that was running through the cave. It didn’t take much for Marie to figure out that the stream was where Darkrai had been getting the water. Right away, Marie went over to the small stream and cupped her hands to drink some of the water from it. She drank up as much as she could.
“I haven’t had this much water in a long time!” Marie exclaimed happily. “You know this cave actually isn’t that bad. It’s nice and cool, and out of that hot sun…. But I guess I have to go back to the cell. I’m still not sure how though.”
As if on cue, Darkrai wrapped its arms around Marie’s midsection. Zorua seemed to catch onto what Darkrai was doing and jumped into Marie’s arms. Darkrai then lifted the both of them out of the hole and back into the crumbled cell.
“Wow, you’re pretty strong.” Marie said to Darkrai after it had set her on the floor. “Thanks for the help. I think you should go back into your ball now though. I don’t want the guards to find you.”
With that, Marie called Darkrai into the Master Ball. Just as she was about to call Zorua back to its own Pokeball, the door to the cell opened. In walked two female guards, followed by a short fat man with a baldhead wearing a grey suit and glasses. Marie knew this man to be the warden.
“So, I come in here checking to see what the damage was from that little tremor and I find that this is where that Zorua that I picked up a couple years has been hiding.” The warden said as he looked at Marie. “Shame on you for harboring a Pokemon! For that you will have to be punished. As for your little friend it will be confiscated.”
“No, you can’t take Zoura!” Marie cried as tears came to her face. “He’s all I have!”
The guards responded by activating the collar around Marie’s neck. The electric shock was so great that she fell to her knees. Suddenly Zoura leapt up and bit down on the collar with all its strength. Though the little fox was being shocked it would not let go and kept biting down. At last, the collar broke and snapped off Marie’s neck.
“Troublesome little fox!” the warden snapped. “I guess we’ll have to teach you both a lesson.”
The two guards then began to advance on Marie and Zorua. Marie picked up Zorua to try and shield it from the guards’ batons.
“What’s going on here?” a voice suddenly asked, causing the guards to stop.
Entering the cell was a man with slicked-back brown hair wearing an orange suit with a green vest, yellow shirt, and red tie. Walking at his side was a large cream-colored cat with black ears and a small red gem in its forehead. Marie recognized the Pokemon as a Persian.
“Oh, Giovanni.” The warden said to the stranger. “We’re just dealing with an inmate who’s harboring this one Pokemon that escaped from its cage awhile ago.”
“I see.” Giovanni said as he looked at Marie and Zorua with interest. “Isn’t this the Pokemon that you mentioned escaped two years ago?”
“Well yes, but I don’t see…” the warden began to say.
“Quite resourceful for such a child.” Giovanni cut in. “I must say that you have me intrigued young lady.”
“Who are you?” Marie asked.
“I am Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket.” Giovanni answered. “And I feel I owe you an apology. My men caused the tremor that more or less destroyed your cell. We were detonating explosives trying to find a certain Pokemon underground. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. It’s called a Darkrai, and there’s a story that says it came to this island so that only the inmates of this prison would be affected by its power to inflict nightmares. So tell me young lady, have you heard of this Pokemon before?”
“No… no I haven’t.” Marie lied.
“Oh well, I knew it would be a long shot, but I thought I’d ask anyway.” Giovanni responded. “But this trip isn’t a total lose. In addition to acquiring some rare Pokemon from my old associate the warden, I think I’ve found something that would make a fine addition to my organization. Let me make you an offer young lady, join Team Rocket and I’ll take you out of this prison. What do you say?”
One of the common aspects of hell is that one will do absolutely anything to escape it. They will commit any deed or step over any person if it means a chance of release. Marie had heard of Team Rocket as a gang of thieves that stole and abused Pokemon for money and power. Yet it seemed that joining them was their only chance of getting out of the living hell that was Scorch Gate. Plus Marie knew she couldn’t stay any longer since the warden had discovered Zorua.
“I’ll join, only if I can keep Zorua.” Marie finally answered.
“Of course my dear.” Giovanni agreed. “I wouldn’t dream of splitting you two up. After all, the two of you seem to make quite the team.”
“Alright then.” Marie agreed.
“I’ll be taking this girl and her little friend off your hands.” Giovanni told the warden.
“But Giovanni, I couldn’t possibly let you take one of the inmates.” The warden responded. “There will be questions I couldn’t answer.”
“I’ll double what I agreed to pay for the Dratini you showed me.” Giovanni offered.
“Well when you put it that way, she’s all yours.” The warden said, changing his tune in an instant. “If anyone asks, I’ll just say the girl died in an accident.”
“Then it’s settled.” Giovanni replied. “Come young lady. My chopper awaits.”
With that, Marie followed Giovanni out as she carried Zorua. Within a few minutes they were on the roof of the prison where the chopper was waiting. After they boarded, the chopper took off, taking Marie far away from Scorch Gate.
