This is....how many fanfics?  I've lost count.  Doesn't matter, really,
as long as everyone enjoys them.  Now we finally leave the pokŽmon
world and go to someplace totally new.  Have a nice trip.


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City of Angels



Mewtwo once again sat in a field on a planet somewhere in space,
completely alone.  He liked the silence, the lack of voices in his
head.  Most of the time he sensed the minds of hundreds, if not
thousands of beings, especially in a place like Sylen.  It was rather
annoying to have to hear them all the time.  Now the only voice was
Mew's, and it comforted him.

Then suddenly another voice broke the stillness.  Maggie.  She was
headed his way, although he couldn't figure out what she wanted.  She
landed in front of him a few minutes later, looking very solemn.  It
was a new look for her.

Mewtwo stood up slowly.  "Yes?"

"We've got a mission," she replied.

"We?"

"Yeah, Eric wants you on this one.  He says you might be able to help."

"What's the mission?"

"I'm not sure, he just said to go to Coraen II."

Well, he didn't have anything else to do.  "Fine."  He reached behind
his right ear for the morphing device, but Maggie stopped him.

"Coraen is one of our worlds.  You don't need to morph."

"Well, small blessings."  He *really* didn't like the human body they
had provided.  Too small.

***

"Where are they going?"

"Coraen II."

"Is that where the book is?"

"Yeah."

"Open a portal to there."

"What're you going to do?"

"First I'm gonna get the book.  Then I'm gonna have to kill something."

***

Going through a portal was an exhilarating experience.  Bodies were
reduced from matter to energy, and the trip itself seemed like a
rollercoaster every step of the way.  Coming out of a portal, however,
was like diving into a pool and hitting the water with your entire
body.  Luckily, the sensation only lasted for a second, then everything
was back to normal.

Normal being the operative word on Coraen.  The first thing Mewtwo saw
was the body of a large man pinned to the wall by a very large spike
that was portruding from his stomach.  It was in plain view of just
about everyone, but no one seemed to notice it.  Eric was prodding the
body with a dagger, but stopped when he caught sight of Maggie.

"Hey, glad you could make it," he greeted.  He had lost the usual
pleasant look on his face, only to have it be replaced by a very
worried look.  "We've got a problem."

"Yes, and?" Mewtwo replied, already bored.

"And we have a big problem.  The Agency has been monitering reports of
a mass movement of vampires, zombies, and other undead and evil guys
around this city and around the country.  We think it has something to
do with the Great Ressurection."

"But that's just a fairy tale," Maggie said, obviously worried.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too, till a bunch of vampires moved into a
warehouse downtown.  The Agency thinks they're trying to ressurect a
god there."

"Then our mission is to check it out?" Mewtwo asked.

"Yeah, and stop it, if possible.  It's just gonna be that much harder
to stop a god."


They walked through the city, guided only by Eric's directions given to
him by the Agency.  They encountered even stranger sights along the
way, including a man stealing an old woman's purse in broad daylight.
Unfortunately for the mugger, the old woman slashed his face off with a
very nice pair of claws.  "What is this place?" Mewtwo inquired.

"This is what the Council calls a 'war world,'" Maggie answered.
"There's fighting and killing in the streets, and no one thinks much
about it, because it's considered normal, at least for here."

"We're here," Eric announced.

It was your basic run-down warehouse, except there was a good number of
obscenities spray-painted onto the walls.  The only thing that looked
new about the whole building was the doors.  They were made of a metal
that only Maggie recognized, and she knew it was stronger than steel.
"We're gonna have a hell of a time getting through there," she said,
pointing at the doors.

"Then we don't go through the doors," Mewtwo said simply, then fired a
wave of energy at the wall, breaking down the crumbling stone and
opening a hole big enough for all of them.

"Leave it to a giant psychic something to think of a good idea," Eric
said with a grin.

They all went inside, and as soon as they set foot inside the building,
their feet sank into more than two inches of pure dust.  There was a
foreboding about the place, like an invisible force telling them to
leave as soon as possible.  A thick odor permeated the air, one that
Eric quickly recognized.  "You smell that?"

"Smell what?" Maggie asked.

Mewtwo smelled it as well.  "Blood."

They tried to brush away the dust, but they only found the cold stone
floor.  After a few minutes, Maggie's fingers dipped below the level
of the floor, and came out bright red.  "I think I found it," she
announced.

They all gathered around the small pool of red, the odor gathering
strength.  Eric blew on the surrounding area, revealing much more
blood.  "So...what the hell is it?"

Mewtwo didn't say anything, but an idea came to mind to quickly get rid
of the rest of the dust.  Without saying a word, he rose into the air,
then released a wave of energy at the entire area of the floor, blowing
away all the dust and creating a very large dust cloud.  He brought up
a force field to protect himself, but Eric and Maggie weren't so
lucky.  They began to cough violently, then Mewtwo landed and extended
his field around them.  Once the dust cleared, they took a good look at
what was uncovered.

Trenches had been dug into the floor, how deep, they weren't sure, but
there was a definite pattern in it.  From the ground it didn't look
much like anything, but from the air it looked like a gigantic
pentagram, stretching from one end of the warehouse to another.

"O...kay.  I think we found out *where* they're gonna do it," Eric
said finally, breaking the silence.  "Now all we need to figure out is
how, who, and with which people."  He pulled a cell phone from his coat
and dialed a number.  "Hello?  Yeah, it's me."

***

Elsewhere in the city, two people stood atop a building, looking down
at the city.

"Looks like shit," one of them said.

"I know, but this is where it's supposed to happen," the other replied.

"The book is here?"

"I don't know.  I heard someone in D'gala knows."  A chirping sound
came from inside her coat, and she took out a cell phone and placed it