What can I say? I do prefer to plan ahead.
And you know eventually, I may very well run out of ideas. Of course, by then, there'll be more books than Pokemon. . . . Speaking of which -- when I get my copy of Black 2, this thread'll be on a hiatus. It should give Phoenix plenty of time to catch up.
CHAPTER FOUR:
Cloak's Curiosity Weakness
Cloak travelled behind Abomination for several moments in abject silence. One could literally feel the friction between the two. Once they were friends, when they were young. But they grew apart when Cloak lost all in Abomination's arrogance and imporportionate ego. Whatever deflated his ego had to go. Cloak had done this several times, unaware of his former friend's decent into bullying. Cloak could not abide by that, but he also couldn't help but to pity the poor, foolish creature before him. His sheer arrogance and constant need to have his ego stroked had left him with very few, if any, friends. He was never as powerful as he thought he should be, and he was, Cloak guessed, jealous of Cloak's mastery over the elements. Abomination's lust for power is another thing that makes him so pitifully weak.
Cloak knew he wasn't without faults of his own, but supposed his biggest weakness was his feline curiosity, a trait all feline creatures, be them Realm Walker or Realm Dweller, possessed. That's the thing with Realm Walkers -- they have weaknesses, but they are always intangible -- that is to say, not physical. Sure, Cloak had freely expressed a dislike of loud sounds or extremely odoriferous things, but those weren't his true weakness.
With all this introspection, Cloak and Abomination walked on. And on. And on. Cloak was starting to become suspicious, his gut telling him that something was very wrong.
"You don't know where June and Alan are, do you?" Cloak said, voice like shattered ice.
"Yes, I do!" Abomination protested, with mock offense. "Their there. Just beyond --"
Cloak stopped walking and glared at Abomination with feelings of the deepest loathing. Cloak hated himself for falling into such a clumsy trap. Abomination clearly had wanted Cloak to arrive at a particular location. But why?
"You lied to me," Cloak said, voice colder than Pluto.
"Nuh-huh!" Abomination protested stupidly.
"And I was fool enough to think you trustworthy with any information," Cloak said, tone not changing. Sage would have rebuked Cloak severely had he been alive.
"What I said is true! June and, uh, Ellen are just, uh," he stammered.
"You can't even keep the names straight," Cloak noted, giving Abomination that heavy-lidded look. "There is no June, Ellen, or Alan."
"Wha -- yes, there are! And if you don't follow me --"
"Oh, shut up, you jabbering knave. I see now you just said 'Ken' and 'Anna' at random. And I trusted that you were being truthful." Cloak snarled. "I have done foolish things before, but --"
Cloak facepalmed as he shook his head.
"You're going over there whether you want to or not." Abomination said, his voice threatening now. But Cloak wasn't feeling fear, at all. Abomination, at his core, was a bully. And a bully is virtually powerless if one doesn't feed him fear.
"And just who's gonna make me? You, Abomination? You, who could not defeat an eleven-year-old girl? What chance can you have against me without the stolen powers of the Twelve?"
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!! AND THAT PUNK KID HAD AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE!!"
"Oh, stop your whining." Cloak snapped.
"That's far enough, though, dear," a voice said. Cloak needn't turn around. He knew who it was.
