![[Desolate Divine]'s Avatar](image.php?u=53&dateline=1611628577 "[Desolate Divine]'s Avatar")
Chapter 1
“Jacob, we’re running out of time.” L said to me. With the arrival of himself and Bianca, it was obvious that our groups path were all splitting for a final time.
“I know. We’ll go in a minute.” I replied, before turning to face Lucian, wondering how to address the situation. It would take a miracle for everyone standing here to see eachother again once this is over.
“I know we’ve had our differences… But I just want to say good luck. I hope you can save your brother. But even if you can’t… Well, I hope we can talk about what happens next over a beer once this is over…”
“You too man.” Lucian replied, before pulling me in for a hug, “Despite everything, it’s been good having you with us. Hopefully we do see each-other again under better circumstances…”
I nodded, still trying to come to terms with this. A year ago, I was about to finish school. I never knew that everything would change like this. What I’d become…
I noticed Brettles give Lucian a massive bear-hug, and them chat, as I made my way to Kya, who was starting to tear up. I pulled her into an embrace. Even though I hadn’t known her for long, it was a sad goodbye. Kya would be putting herself at risk more than anyone, by facing Donny.
“Thank you for everything.” I whispered to her, “You always understood me, even when I didn’t make it easy.”
“You have your darkness Jacob, but you have a good heart..” Kya said quietly, “Just don’t lose yourself in the darkness.”
“I’ll try.”
Before making my way back to L, I made my way to Joseph, who was talking to Bianca.
“So you’re going somewhere different also?” I asked him.
“I can’t explain it, and I’d sound insane if I did.” Joseph explained, “But I think this is the best chance we have, and I need to try and take it.”
“That’s fair enough.” I replied, before offering my hand to shake, “We all have our parts to play, and we don’t know where they lead.”
Joseph shook my hand.
“Let’s just hope this isn’t the end.”
After saying my final goodbye, I made my way back to Brettles, Laura and L.
“Jacob, we really have to go…” L said.
“I know. I’m ready.” I replied, “For anything…”
It wasn’t long before Brettles, Laura and myself were on Latios’ back, and Joseph on Latias, one of flying north-east, and the other flying south-east to Ever Grande City.
Regardless of who was going where, we were all well aware that this could be the last time we see each other, and if it wasn’t, none of us would come back the same…
Chapter 2
We arrived at Mossdeep a little under half an hour later. Whilst a boat would have taken hours, Latios flew at the speed of a jet plane, with us only held on by his telekinetic powers. Whilst this was something that I’d dreamt of doing for a long time, now having tried it, I could happily say I never want to fly on Latios at that speed ever again...
As we landed in the city gardens, I made my way to the nearest bush and proceeded to vomit. Whilst normal air travel was okay for me, travelling faster than the speed of sound tended to upset my stomach.
“Weak stomach soldier?” came a familiar voice with a laugh from behind me.
I wiped my face before getting up and turning to face my old team-mate Magnus. Somehow, he had gotten bigger. He wore a military uniform, and the amount of stripes on his shoulder had increased since we last saw him. Military life was what he was made for. Not babysitting loose-cannon teenagers.
“Super-sonic flight tends to do that to you.” I explained, “How did you know we were here?”
“The sonic boom gave you away. Granted, I am impressed that you have befriended a legendary Pokemon like Latios.” Magnus replied, before turning to Brettles.
“Brettles, I wish we could have caught up under better circumstances.” Magnus said, before shaking his hand.
“So you know about Sootopoolis?” Brettles asked.
“I got the report a few hours ago. Sootopoolis has fallen to the shadows, and it’ll take a miracle to save it.” Magnus replied, “My superiors are still trying to figure out how to respond.”
“We just came from there.” Brettles explained solemnly, “And if it’s a miracle they need, they should be lucky they have a god with them.”
“Then why come here?” Magnus asked, “Especially with Latios? It seems the team there will need all the support they can get?”
“Trust me, Mossdeep needs us here…” I replied, “This is the beginning of the end. Something just as bad, if not worse, is on its way…”
“How do you know?” Magnus asked, “If what you say is true, we need the military to mobilize.”
“You wouldn’t believe us if we told you.” Brettles explained, “But the military won’t be able to do much. The thing that destroyed the buildings here a few days ago will be back, and much worse…”
Magnus nodded grimly, before noticing Laura.
“I’m sorry, I don’t believe we have met.” Magnus said to Laura, “Shawn Steele. But you can call me Magnus.”
“Laura.” Laura said quietly. She was trying to hide it, but was terrified about what was coming. I didn’t blame her. She was only fifteen and it was scary to know that in a few short hours, Mossdeep would be in ruins…
“And where do you fit into this Laura?” Magnus asked.
“She’s my sister…” I replied, “And unfortunately, events outside of our control have made her a part of this.”
“We really should get moving.” Brettles interjected, “We can’t stand around here all day, and need to prepare. Let’s get to the Pokemon Centre, and come up with some sort of plan. Or at least heal our Pokemon, and get on the same page if we have time for nothing else.”
“Brettles is right.” Latios, now his human form L, replied, “I can feel it. Deoxys birth is coming.”
We made our way to the Pokemon Centre, where we quickly adjusted our Pokemon for what was to come. Whilst part of me wanted to put all my Pokemon in the PC so they’d stand a chance of surviving, I knew I’d need them. That and Gwaine would not forgive me for not letting him do his part.
In the end I settled for Gwaine, Mushu, Sparks, Skipper, Shruikan and Stryker. As I did this, I pulled an item out of my bag that I had for that long that I couldn’t even remember where I got it. I had been saving it, but felt like there wasn’t going to be a better time than this. I let Stryker out of his Pokeball.
The Scyther appeared in front of me and looked at me cautiously. When I got him, he had been beaten and didn’t trust people. Now he didn’t attack me on sight, and followed commands, however the distrust was still there.
“I’ve been saving this for when the time is right.” I said to the Scyther, giving it the Metal Coat, “But honestly, this might be the end. I know you don’t trust me, but if you can bring yourself to fight alongside me, this might help.”
Stryker looked sternly at me for a moment, before his expression changed to one of gratitude. He placed the Metal Coat on the ground, before tapping it with the end of his scythe. There was a flash of light, as the Metal Coat seemed to explode and wrap itself around Scyther, as he changed shape. When the light dissipated, Stryker the Scizor looked at me confidently.
“Thank you…” I said, before calling him back to his ball.
I remembered which Pokemon I had during my visions, and intentionally didn’t bring some of them. Whilst things had changed, and I knew the visions weren’t going to be exact, I figured the main points would be the same. I figured if I wanted these events to have the least collateral, I’d have to try and use what I knew to my advantage.
I made my way to a table where Brettles, Magnus, Laura and L sat discussing what was to come.
“So where do you need to go?” Magnus asked, as Brettles made his way to the PC to do some last minute team changes.
“I am not sure exactly.” I replied, “Some sort of underground lab. Deep and well hidden.”
“Well, we all know who we need to find if we wanna find this place.” Brettles shouted across from the PC.
“I know…” I replied, “I was just hoping there was another way other than seeing him…”
“Come on man…” Came another painfully familiar voice, “You know I love seeing my favorite douchebag…”
I turned to face the front door, the newcomer who had just walked through. Dash.
“Please tell me you have some idea of where we are going?” I asked, cringing at the thought of working with Dash, even for this potentially final mission.
“If it is digital, I can find it.” Dash replied, “And in fact, I already have. I was about to head there, before DL2 warned me of the space center computers detecting something approaching Mossdeep at high speed. And what do I find? You guys…”
“So what is it we’re dealing with exactly?” Magnus asked, pulling a tablet out of his bag and taking notes.
“An underground research facility.” Dash explained, “Built and run by the Songbird cult. It’s where they develop methods or corrupting Pokemon, and seizing control over Legendary Pokemon.”
Dash put his wrist on the table, as the watch containing DL2 projected holograms of buildings into the air, which we soon recognized as Mossdeep. The map centred on the Pokemon Centre, before Dash moved his hands across, pulling the map into view of the Gym. A few hundred meters away from the gym, it revealed a straight tunnel going directly into the earth below.
“This place is deep. Like deep enough that I almost didn’t find it. The only thing that made it detectable was the elevator. The circuitry in it is detectable once it gets closer to the surface.” Dash explained, as he pulled down on the map, following the shaft to an elaborate looking network of rooms deep underground. “I think it also benefits them keeping it down that low, as it makes it harder to escape.”
“But why Mossdeep?” Brettles asked, as he got back from the PC, “It’s one of Hoenn’s most busy cities, and especially after what happened last time we were here, it’d be hard to hide anything. Wouldn’t they be better being somewhere far from civilization where they aren’t going to be found?”
“Because they have no intention of running…” Magnus replied solemnly, “The water surrounding Mossdeep is too shallow for ships to get close outside of the ports, and there is a clear view in almost any direction of the sky. If it comes to it, it is easier for them to take control of the island and defend it than it would be to run.”
“He’s right, but there’s something else.” Dash explained, “A facility like this needs a lot of power to run. And Mossdeep is home to one of the biggest consumers of electricity in all of Hoenn…”
“The Space Centre…” I muttered, “But how could they be siphoning power from the centre without someone noticing?”
“My guess is they have someone on the inside to cover up when it gets noticed how much power they’re using.” Dash explained.
“So what’s the plan?” Magnus asked.
I looked at Dash.
“They need all the stones to create Deoxys, right?” I asked Dash, who nodded in reply.
“We have four out of five with us now, and if they’re starting the end-game, my guess is they have the fifth.” I explained, “Dash, you take our stones, and hide them. Even if it’s just burying them in someone’s backyard. I don’t expect that to stop them, and we don’t have time to hide them properly. Our best bet is buying some time before Deoxys becomes a problem, and using that time to cripple this operation.”
I pulled my stone out of my bag, and gestured for Laura and Brettles to do the same, handing them to Dash.
“Jacob, we’re running out of time…” said a voice who I’d almost forgotten about.
L.
It didn’t take a genius to see he was on edge. Whilst we all knew the end was coming, that was from previous knowledge. L could sense it, and was starting to get anxious.
I thought about all this for a moment. Our visions didn’t show L being here with us, which meant he either wasn’t with us before the events shown happened, or he was and he didn’t make it.
“L, can you please do us a favour?” I asked.
“I get the feeling you’ll be asking me not to accompany you to this lab…” L replied.
“Whilst the s*** hits the fan where we are, the s*** will also hit the fan here on the surface.” I explained, “And I want you to check on a friend of ours who is in the hospital. Try and help her when things go south. Clea Blackburn.”
“Jacob, are you sure?” Brettles asked, “Having Latios on our side when we face Deoxys could make a big difference for the outcome.”
“If our visions are accurate, the real fight won’t happen until we return to the surface.” I explained, “I’d rather L be waiting for us here when that happens.”
“He’s right.” L interjected, “I’ll keep an eye on Clea, and do what I can when things go downhill.”
“Thanks L.” I said, “We appreciate it.”
L shook my hand before standing up.
“See you on the other side.” L said.
“You mean when the s***’s hit the fan?” I asked jokingly.
“Yeah, that’d be it.”
L made his way out, as did Dash, who was going to hide the stones and meet us at the entrance to the facility, whilst we made our final preparations. Preparations to dive into hell itself.
As we did this, I noticed Brettles in the corner of the room, and made my way over.
“Let me make this incredibly clear…” I said to him coldly, “I know you don’t want to kill Deoxys, but more than that, I don’t want it hurting any more people, and will do whatever it takes to make sure that doesn’t happen. So if you get in my way, I swear, I won’t hesitate to cut you down if it means I still have a shot at killing this thing. Are we clear?”
I half expected him to get his Alakazam out and have it relocate me or something immature, but instead he remained silent. Now wasn’t the time for petty revenge.
“I’ll take that as I yes.” I said, before noticing Magnus approaching.
“So soldier. You’re leading this mission.” Magnus said, “Are you ready?”
“I’m ready.” I replied, “Let’s end this, once and for all...”
Chapter 3
“Lucian, we’ve gotta find cover, and come up with some sort of plan.” Kya said to me, as everyone else flew off on the Eon Pokemon, “At least something so we aren’t going in blind.”
“You’re right,” I replied, “We’re sitting ducks out here, and between the two of us, we can be a pretty big hindrance to them.”
Sootopoolis looked like a war-zone, and we had arrived just after things went south. The city itself was built in the flooded crater, created by a meteor, and from where we stood on the edge, we could see most of the city. Whilst the initial attack was ‘over,’ Sootopoolis was now controlled by the Songbird cult, and whilst the city was falling apart, they were more focused on keeping control. Especially around the Cave of Origin. Whilst there were cultists, Team Magma, and Shadow Pokemon patrolling the streets, the outskirts were practically empty. Either way, it was mid-afternoon and whilst we were trying to hide, we weren’t overly hard to see.
“Look over there” I said to Kya, pointing to a cluster of houses, “They’re all close together, and end up near the Cave of Origin. What if we get into the outer one, and try and sneak through?”
Kya frowned slightly, however remained silent.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. It wasn’t like her to keep to herself, so this concerned me.
“It sounds crazy, but I don’t want to move too far from the entrance cave.” Kya replied, “I feel like something is coming, but I don’t know what. Something to help us…”
“What do you thi-” I began, before being cut off by a loud roar, coming from the Cave of Origin.
“Donny…” Kya muttered, “He must be in his true form…”
I thought about it again, before replying.
“Right now, our first priority is to get into cover and come up with a plan.” I explained to Kya, “If they get to you, we have no chance of stopping them, and the fact that Groudon is in the cave, and not out here causing chaos means that they have more planned than this. I think we still have a little time.”
Kya nodded in agreement, before we made our way across the outskirts of the town, attempting to find cover.
It wasn’t long before we came across our first obstacle. A Shadow Pokemon in a narrow alley. Shadow Manectric.
The pokemon saw the two of us, and began growling.
“Shut it up before it gives us away.” Kya hissed. I quickly grabbed Frost’s Pokeball, and let the Greninja free, who instantly leapt into the air, attempting to land on the Manectric.
The Shadow Pokemon leapt out of the way, before launching a Thunderbolt attack, which Frost narrowly avoided. However it was too late. Before Frost could respond, Manectric let out an ear piercing howl.
“End this! Now!” I shouted at Frost, as I heard noises not too far away moving closer.
Frost seemed to melt into the shadows surrounding him, confusing the Shadow Pokemon, before reforming underneath it, and knocking it into the air.
“Water Shruikan!” I yelled to the Greninja. A liquid throwing star appeared in Frost’s hand, which he then launched at the Manectric. The attack threw it into a nearby wall, knocking it out.
“Run!” I exclaimed to Kya, as I called Frost back to his Pokeball. We had been compromised, and if we didn’t find somewhere to hide soon, we were dead.
We ran towards the end of the alley, however our path was soon blocked by a Shadow Mightyena.
I grabbed another Pokeball, however before I could call out the Pokemon, a silver blur flew into the Shadow Pokemon knocking it against the wall, where it lay unmoving. There was a flash of light as the Pokemon, which we could now see was a Skarmory, was called back to its trainer.
“If you want to stand a chance of surviving, you need to get off the streets.” Came a voice from around the corner, as the trainer stepped into view. Whilst it took me a second to recognize him through the blood and bruises, he still held the same air of authority. The authority of the leader of the Elite Four. Steven Stone.
“Steven?” I asked, “I’m Lucian, and this is Kya. We’re friends of Max.”
“I know who you are, but this is no time to talk.” He replied, “We need to get off the streets now.”
We followed Steven, as he ran down a nearby street, and eventually into an abandoned house.
“Stay away from the doors and windows.” Steven whispered, as he quickly checked the house, and made sure we were alone. After a few minutes, the sounds from outside disappeared, and whoever was looking for us seemed to have gone. Steven silently beckoned us towards the basement.
The room was small and simple. On one wall, a TV and on the other two, two couches. Steven walked over, before collapsing onto one of the couches like a sack of potatoes, in sheer exhaustion. After a moment when he saw me still standing, he gestured to the other couch.
“Standing is only gonna tire you out, and this is gonna be the last chance for a while to have any sort of rest.” Steven said.
Kya and I both moved to the other couch, slightly unnerved by how relaxed he seemed.
“Isn’t the basement a bad idea?” I asked, “There’s only one entrance. If they find us, we’re trapped.”
“They won’t find us.” Steven replied, “They won’t even look.”
“How can you be so certain?” Kya replied.
“The only ones that saw you were two Shadow Pokemon. If any of the cultists or Magma thugs saw you, I’d be saying otherwise, but really, they have no idea who or what knocked out those two Pokemon, when it happened and whether they’re still around.” Steven explained, “At least here, we won’t be heard from outside. And if you two are here, then I guess there is some explaining to do.”
“So how did you know who we were?” I asked.
“Max tipped me off that there was a group of trainers who were kicking up dust with the shadow cult, Team Magma and Aqua, and even befriending a few of the Legendary Pokemon.” Steven explained, “I sensed Latios and Latias arriving and leaving here a little while ago, and figured that you’d be involved with that. But I wasn’t expecting to see you...”
His gaze turned to Kya as he said those last words, though the we struggled to figure out what he was implying.
“So it was them that tipped you off. Not me?” Kya asked, “I’d have thought that my presence here of all places would have been the one to get your attention…”
“Oh really?” Steven asked, “And why is that?”
“A Kyogre tends to feel pretty at home in this place.” Kya replied.
Steven looked confused for a moment, before smiling.
“You’re telling me that you’re Kyogre?” Steven asked, bordering on disbelief.
“You think I’m lying?” Kya asked, almost offended.
“Kya, is it?” Steven asked, to which she nodded.
Steven was quiet for a second.
“No, I don’t.” Steven explained, “I think your importance and your role in all of this surpasses even your own understanding.”
Kya looked at him confused before I interjected.
“All this aside, we need a plan.” I explained, “The Songbird Cult and Team Magma have borderline levelled this place, and have Donny in the Cave of Origin, but seem to be waiting for something.”
“Donny?” Steven asked.
“Groudon.” Kya replied, surprised that this man who claimed to have sensed Latios and Latias, didn’t know who Donny was.
“Right. So they’re waiting for something.” Steven muttered, “And I think I know what. Tell me, Kya, how much do you know about yourself and Donny? What your role is?”
“My role?” Kya asked, “I guess it’s to prevent Groudon from causing droughts and drying up the earth’s water?”
“So your role is to protect the world from Groudon’s abilities?” Steven asked, “That’s half of the story.”
“What’s the other half?” I asked, curious as to what he was getting at.
“Like it is Kyogre’s role to prevent Groudon abusing its power, it is Groudon’s role to do the same to Kyogre.” Steven explained, “However there is a third element to this dynamic.”
“Rayquaza…” Kyogre muttered…
“The legends state that when Groudon and Kyogre reach their eventual stalemate, Rayquaza is the one to end it.” Steven explained, “The only plan I can think of is that corrupting Rayquaza is their goal, and to draw it out, they need you and Groudon to be in battle. But it doesn’t make sense because Groudon isn’t affecting the weather right now.”
“If Groudon were intensifying the sunlight, that’d be enough to draw Kyogre out to battle it, and eventually draw in Rayquaza.” Steven explained, “However they are keeping it in the Cave of Origin, and just holding the city hostage. It doesn’t make sense.”
“No, I think it does.” I explained, “Groudon is literally on a tiny slab of land in the middle of the ocean. That and Groudon is huge. It’s big and slow. Let’s say they let it out of the cave now, and Kyogre doesn’t arrive to fight it for four hours. You have Legendary Trainers, Elite Four, people like you, taking it on, weakening it.”
“They don’t know you’re here Kya.” I said, “And until they do, they’re not gonna risk Groudon being too weak to fight you. It is their trump card. I mean, what’s the point of drawing out Rayquaza if you’ve already beaten Groudon and then them?”
Steven looked at me with a slight look of amusement. He seemed to know something we didn’t, however before I could ask, Kya spoke up.
“So the real fight begins when we show our hand?” Kya asked.
“It seems like it.” I responded.
“If that’s the case, then I say we wait.” Kya explained, “I told you before, something is coming. I can feel it, but I don’t know what. Whatever it is though, I’d rather know before we do anything.”
Steven smiled.
“I can feel it to. You’re right.” Steven explained, “This battle between you and Groudon benefits them either way. Let’s put it off until we have to and see what the circumstances allow when the time comes.”
“So we wai-” I began, before getting cut off by another loud roar. This one however was different. It sounded more draconic, and as if it came from the sky.
“What the hell…” Steven muttered, before running up the stairs.
Kya and I followed him, and found him by a window, looking into the sky.
Flying above the city was a large, green, serpentine Pokemon. It let off another roar, as a ball of light appeared between its jaws, and shot into a nearby building. We were knocked back from the window by the force, as it shattered, and Steven looked in disbelief.
“This doesn’t make sense!” He shouted, “Why is Rayquaza already here?”
“Something’s wrong…” Kya said, “Rayquaza acts out of duty. Their plan for it involved its responsibility to stop myself and Donny. But this… This is pure rage…”
We watched as Rayquaza prepared another attack…
Chapter 4
“Do you know what exactly you’re looking for Joseph?” Bianca asked me as I had a quick look around.
For a supposed city, Ever Grande wasn’t overly grand, or much of a city. Instead it was a Pokemon Centre, and a few shacks. A few hundred meters away was the entrance to a large cave that seemed to cover most of the island. Victory Road.
“I am not too sure.” I replied, trying to think of the best way to explain this without sounding insane.
“In the past, I have drawn pictures which have later turned out to be real events that have come to pass.” I explained, “However there have been a lot of seemingly normal ones that I have done over the years, which now, are seeming to correlate to something…”
I walked over, and pulled out my sketchpad, showing Bianca some images which on their own seemed inconspicuous, however seemed to be linking to this moment.
The first depicted a person, showing from their shoulders down to their waist, holding a glowing blue egg.
“I drew this years ago, and now that I look back, that is Lucian with Kya’s egg.” I explained before turning to another, this time, depicting a city burning. A city built into the edges of a crater in the ocean.
“I had never seen Sootopoolis before, and had only had it described to me.” I continued, “However for some reason, I decided to draw it burning, and this is exactly what we saw when we arrived.”
The third image hit much closer to home. It showed a small town a top a waterfall, and if one looked closely, they could almost see a Pokemon shaped like a jet, flying towards the top.
“Okay, I know what you mean.” Bianca explained, “And I think I know why.”
“What do you think is going on?” I asked.
“I can’t say too much, as I think you are about to be tested.” Bianca replied, “I will say this. There is only one being capable of knowing events like this, and influencing the past the way it has been. But if what I believe is true, then what is coming next is something you must face without me.”
I frowned at the thought. I knew that whatever I was going to face was going to be tough from the get go, however it had brought me comfort to know Bianca would be by my side. But now, that wasn’t an option.
“Is there anything else you can tell me?” I asked, “What kind of test this is?”
Bianca was silent for a second as she thought.
“This will be a test that will show you yourself, and force you to move beyond that.” Bianca replied, “My brother gave Jacob a similar test after he had that fight with you, however this is going to be much more difficult.”
I thought about this for a second. What could being shown myself mean?
Bianca turned to look towards Sootopoolis. In the afternoon light, smoke could be seen in the sky from here, and based on how panicked the others were about Mossdeep, by the time this is over, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was smoke pouring from the north as well.
“We don’t have much time.” Bianca replied, “For what you are about to go through to not be in vain, you must get moving.”
I nodded, before thanking Bianca for her help, and making my way into the entrance of the cave.
As I made my way further into the cave, the light provided by the outside grew dimmer and dimmer, causing me to pull a torch out of my bag.
Whilst the cave was massive, luckily it was fairly straightforward. Occasionally the walls would close in, providing little space, however there was only one path, which was easy to follow.
After about half an of walking, I came to what seemed like a dead end. I shone the torch around, and found a small hole in the wall, which seemed like the only way forward. I could fit through, however would be crawling on my stomach.
I got down on my knees, before lying down, and making my way into the hole, and moving forward. I could feel the walls around me scraping against me, sometimes growing wider, and sometimes narrower.
I had been crawling for a few minutes, before my torch flickered, then turned off.
Whilst I knew that this wasn’t normal, seeing as I had charged it the last time we were at a Pokemon Centre, I wasn’t surprised. With what Bianca had been said, I had known to expect the unexpected. This wasn’t an accident.
I continued crawling forward, practically blind, before seeing what looked like a dim light at the end of the tunnel. I continued to crawl, following the light, as it got closer, and the exit from this small crawl space got closer. Finally, I reached the end, crawling out, and feeling relief from my joints as I stretched them. It took me a few moments to realize I was being watched.
I stood in a large cavern, light by flaming torches around the edges. At the opposite end of the cavern was what looked like another tunnel, and between it and myself stood a bald man, with a tuft of red hair, who looked as if he was dressed like a pimp. It was unnerving, the way he stood there, staring at me.
“Are you the person I was supposed to find?” I shouted out, slightly cautious about this man. With everything going on, I wouldn’t be surprised if our enemies had already found this place.
“One of.” He replied, “However I am not your end goal.”
“One of what?” I asked, “And what is my end goal?”
The man grinned at me, which put me even more on edge.
“My name is Sidney. The first trainer of the Elite Four.”
I was shocked hearing this. Every trainer knew of the Elite Four. The four strongest trainers in the region, second only to the champion themself, and anyone else who managed to defeat them. To defeat the Elite Four and their Champion is something that separates the trainers from the legends. Yet, here he was, hiding in a cave...
“We need you outside.” I explained, “Sootopoolis has fallen, and Mossdeep is going to become ground-zero in a matter of hours. And by this time tomorrow, Hoenn will be devastated.”
Sidney was silent.
“My place is here.”
I was shocked for a second. I must have misheard him…
“But Hoenn needs you?!” I replied, sounding more desperate.
“No…” Sidney replied, “My place, is here…”
“What the f***?” I shouted, “You’re a member of the Elite Four, and I reckon you aren’t the only one here! Yet you’re hiding in a cave like a f***ing coward?! What do you mean your place is here?!”
“My place is here.” Sidney replied, “My role in this is to see if you’re worthy to pass me.”
I felt the rage build up inside me.
“To see if I’m worthy?!” I yelled, “Worthy of what, you arrogant p****?! I’m the one who came here to try and f***ing do something! And I find you sitting with your thumb planted firmly up your a** in this cave, telling me I need to be tested to see if I am worthy?”
“I can see you don’t understand.” Sidney said, before smiling condescendingly, “However, if you’d like to know more, you must pass my challenge.”
As he said those final words, the rage didn’t dissipate.
“You’re wasting time we don’t have!” I shouted, “Hoenn is going to fall!”
“Regardless of circumstances, you cannot pass without being tested” Sidney replied, “The one you seek won’t allow it.”
Whilst he was being unreasonable, I had little choice but to take him at his word. He made it clear that the only way I would get past him and get any answers would be to pass his challenge.
“What is this challenge then?” I asked irritably.
“A battle.” Sidney replied, grabbing a Pokeball, “Of Pokemon and of the soul.”
Sidney let out his first Pokemon, Absol.
I sighed, before letting out my first Pokemon, Hope. The Gardevoir appeared in a flash of light, staring intently at the foe in front of it.
Sidney didn’t seem to give any sort of command, before Absol leapt towards Hope, attempting to slash. Instead Sidney addressed me.
“You have shown me that you’re blinded by your rage.” Sidney explained, “You came here, being told you’d be challenged. However the first person you encounter, your actions towards them are based on rage.”
Hope dodged another attack, however Absol seemed to expect this, before using Takedown and knocking Hope back. As this happened, an image flashed before my mind. Bianca explaining to me what might happen in the cave, that I may be tested.
“You let your anger cause you to forget about your purpose here.”
As Hope took another hit, another image flashed across my mind, showing me screaming at Sidney for refusing to abandon his post.
“You have let your anger cause division between yourself and your teammates.”
Absol used Night Slash, hitting Hope and knocking her to the ground. Another image flashed across my mind of myself fighting with Jacob back on Mt. Chimney.
“You got involved in a conflict that wasn’t your own.”
The next image showed what caused that fight. Myself yelling at Jacob for a snide comment he made at Brettles.
“You even hurt yourself when the anger was there, and you had no idea what to do about it.”
Hope took another hit, and I saw myself after Colden was taken, smashing my hand against a nearby tree until it was bloodied and broken. I was beginning to see what Sidney was saying.
“I can’t make you come with me, and I don’t agree with you waiting here.” I shouted back, “But I’m sure as hell not turning back! Not now!”
Hope let off a Dazzling Gleam, which knocked Absol back against the wall. There was a flash of light, as the torches on the edge of the room went out. Instantly, my flashlight turned back on, and Sidney and his Absol were both gone.
Inside my head, I heard Sidney’s voice, one last time.
“Let your experience drive you to do be a solution. Not another problem.”
As this happened, I was starting to understand what Bianca was saying, when she said I’d be facing a test that would show me myself. Sidney had showed me another side to my anger, and shown me the truth. The hard truth. And as I called Hope back and made my way into the next tunnel, I felt a little scared at the thought of what was to come…
Chapter 5
“This is it.” I said to the others as we made our way to the small cliff face that Dash had explained to us before.
Whilst it looked fairly natural, and didn’t arouse enough suspicion to warrant a second glance on its own, when one knew what was behind it, they could see the slight difference between the natural cliff face, and the false rock that stood before us.
“How long ‘til Dash arrives?” Brettles asked as he and Magnus caught up to Laura and myself.
“Shouldn’t be long now. He said he had a place in mind for the stones.” Laura replied, “He left the Pokemon Centre before us, and it’s not like we can get in here without him.”
“And don’t you forget it…” came Dash’s voice from behind Magnus and Brettles, “I thought for sure you guys would have noticed me behind you…”
Dash made his way over to the false cliff face, and pulled out his laptop.
“So how are you gonna get us in this place?” I asked, “You said everything is deep down and that you couldn’t pick it up from here.”
“I don’t think your small mind could understand.” Dash replied, trying to incite a reaction. Whilst I wasn’t in the mood for his s***, I also wasn’t in the mood for a fight with a teammate right now, whether I liked the arrangement or not.
“Enlighten me anyway.”
Dash looked at me, slightly surprised at the lack of an outburst, before shrugging it off.
“To find it originally, there are two ways. Locally, or via the Internet. But the Internet is huge and these guys would be able to mask their trail easy, so finding them that way wouldn’t be easy, which meant I was limited to finding them locally.” Dash explained as he typed away, “And that was a pain in the a**. However I knew they were located around here, and had enough computers monitoring scanners. So when something new would show up, then disappear, it tipped me off. I traced it back to here, then when the elevator was near the surface, and I had the opportunity to connect to their network through it, I left a bug in their system. One that I could connect to through the internet from somewhere else, and gain access.”
As he finished that sentence there was a mechanical whir as the false cliff face seemed to slide into itself and reveal an elevator door, which soon opened.
“It can only fit three people, so it will be two trips.” Dash replied, “I should probably go second, so that I can call it back remotely.”
“I’ll stay with Dash.” Magnus offered.
“No.” I replied quickly, “In terms of dealing with any people down there, you’re our best bet. I don’t want us to get out of this elevator and end up in a room with a few cultists. You go first with Laura and Brettles, and I’ll take the second lift down with Dash.”
Brettles grimaced at the thought of Dash and I alone in a confined space.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” He asked.
“Yeah, you’ve seen what monkey gets like without his banana.” Dash responded sarcastically.
“If it’s the difference between one less of us getting killed in there, I can put up with him for a few minutes alone.” I retorted.
Magnus nodded, before making his way into the elevator.
“You’ve grown a lot soldier.” He said, “You’re still a lot like you used to be, but you’ve matured as well.”
Whilst I didn’t show it, I couldn’t help but appreciate the compliment. Considering Magnus and I struggled to see eye to eye back when we started, it showed how much things had changed for both of us.
The lift doors closed, and for a few minutes, Dash and I sat in silence. Eventually it was broken by him.
“They just reached the bottom.” He explained, “The lift will be quicker getting here without the weight, but they’re on their own for about ten minutes.”
I nodded as I waited for the lift to arrive. Before long, the false cliff face disappeared again revealing the lift. As we both stepped in I heard Dash sigh.
“It isn’t an encounter with Jacob without some form of anger issues.” He muttered, sounding bored.
“Maybe I just have bigger things on my mind.” I replied coldly, “Maybe you should too, as opposed to just s***-stirring…”
Dash rolled his eyes, as the elevator went down.
The silence was awkward to say the least. Whilst people generally had rivals, they were usually friendly. Dash on the other hand was a few stops off being an enemy to me. And here I was, stuck in an elevator with him, down to what will probably be my death.
“You know it wasn’t always like this…” I muttered.
“Like what?” Dash replied coldly.
“Us hating each other.” I explained, “I remember back in Petalburg, when we first met, you were the one who had my back when I got into s**t with Craig.”
Dash laughed to himself.
“Yeah, I did. I also believed in Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy.”
He was silent for a minute, before finally speaking up again, for the first time in a long time, sounding serious.
“I mean, what? Do you expect to get my girlfriend arrested because of something stupid you did, and it all to be normal again?” Dash replied, “Or to join Team Magma, and then change your mind and everything be chill?”
Whilst I always knew that he resented me for these things, I was surprised to hear him talk about it in a way that wasn’t just an insult.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t make any mistakes.” I replied, “I made a f*** tonne. Some which cost people their lives.”
“No s*** a**hole…” Dash muttered.
“And that is something I’ve had to live with, and try and forgive myself for. And some days that’s impossible.” I explained, “I know I’ve f***ed up, and I don’t expect you to forgive me for all of it. But fact is, what we’re walking into is bigger than any mistake I’ve made, and if we want to survive this, we need to have eachothers backs.”
I sighed at the thought of what I was going to say next.
“Even if you annoy the living s*** out of me, and I’d be quite happy to never see you again once this is over, I don’t want any more people to die because of all this. Yourself included.” I said, “I’ll have your back. And maybe it might be helpful if you had mine.”
Dash was silent as the lift reached the bottom, and the doors opened, revealing an empty room, the only occupants being Brettles, Magnus and Laura.
“No trouble?” I asked Magnus, as I drew Titan from its sheath. Magnus looked slightly concerned at the thought of me with a weapon, however quickly dismissed it.
“Nothing yet.” Magnus replied, “But I doubt it’ll stay that way.”
“I’d put money on it.” I muttered to myself, before letting Gwaine out of the Pokeball. He had a brief look around, before recognizing this place as the place from the visions.
“This is it, isn’t it…” Gwaine said to me telepathically.
“Let’s get going.” Brettles chimed in, “The longer we stand around here, the more chance we have of getting caught.”
“So what is the plan exactly?” Laura asked as we made our way into the next room.
“Deoxys being created is inevitable.” I replied, “However the technology down here is evil. Used to corrupt good Pokemon. Whilst Deoxys is a key part of their plan, I’d assume that corrupting masses of Pokemon is also a major part. Whatever they have down here to do that, we need to destroy it.”
“This way, losers.” Dash muttered irritably, taking the lead, and walking slightly further ahead.. Whilst he always seemed to be in a s*** stirring mood, this was different. He seemed angry, and did ever since the elevator. Maybe deep down he agreed, but didn’t like that.
“What’s his problem?” Laura asked quietly.
“If we survive this, I’ll fill you in.” I replied.
Before anything else could be said, the sound of a siren filled the room. The doorway that Dash had just passed was now blocked by a metal security door, a dozen or so cultists flooded the room we were in from surrounding rooms.
I slashed at one, cutting him across the chest and causing him to drop, before, lunging the blade into another, as Magnus fired his sidearm into a third.
“If you value her life, you will drop your weapons…” Came a loud, authoritative voice.
I turned to face the owner of it, and found Laura held against him, with a knife held to her throat.
“F***...” I muttered to myself, as I dropped Titan, and Magnus did the same.
Our weapons were collected as Laura was shoved into us, before we were pushed in the direction of one of the other rooms.
“Come…” the head-cultist commanded, “We have somebody who would very much like to meet you…
******
As L walked through the halls of Mossdeep General Hospital, the consistent, metronome like beeping of the heart-monitors in the rooms on either side, were audible all down the hall.
Whilst he hadn’t met Clea, being a god had its perks, and he didn’t require any assistance in finding her. However he was concerned when he got closer to her room and heard the quicker pace of a heart monitor.
When he realized it was her room, he ran, and burst in, shocked to find she wasn’t alone. Standing by her bed was a figure he had never met, but as a god, knew any day.
Chime. The guardian of dimensions.
“I can’t say I’m not surprised to see you here…” L muttered, as he entered the room, and moved over to Clea’s bed, and grabbing the folder with her information. “I knew things were bad, but I didn’t realize it was bad enough for you to be involved…”
Chime was silent for a second, before speaking up.
“When an innocent life is at stake based on my actions, I’d be a monster to not be involved…” Chime muttered to himself.
L looked at Chime slightly confused, and at the display showing Clea’s vitals. Her record said she was stable and making a full recovery, however she seemed to be doing otherwise.
“Did you do this?” L asked, somewhat shocked.
“Inadvertently, yes.” Chime replied, before sighing, “I take it you are aware of the timelines converging?”
“To a degree.” L replied, “I know that a timeline that this world used to follow is being replaced with another, and in some cases, people are disappearing…”
“You’re right.” Chime explained, “However one of the people who disappeared carried a lot of collateral damage…”
I looked at Chime, feeling nothing but confusion, until he spoke one word. A name.
Meghan.
Even among us Legendary Pokemon, Meghan was renowned. The Legendary Trainer with such a close bond with her partner, that they practically were linked.
“I foresaw Meghan being erased from this timeline, and whilst humans would have lost their memory of her, we wouldn’t.” Chime replied, “And if the bond with Rayquaza had have been broken, then it would have rampaged, and caused more damage than the Songbird Cult.”
“Chime, what did you do…” L asked seriously.
“I did all I could think to do. Just before Meghan was erased, I put part of her soul into a human compatible enough to partner with Rayquaza. A descendant from the ancient Draconoid Tribe. Clea. Through Meghan, she is now linked to Rayquaza. Enough to keep him calm.” Chime explained, “And for awhile, it worked. However Clea got hurt, and in this state, the link was draining her strength, slowly killing her, which Rayquaza can feel.”
“Where is Rayquaza now?” L asked.
“Currently attacking Sootopoolis City…”
I looked back at Clea. I could sense the life leaving her by the second. She didn’t have long.
“I must go, and break every rule that has ever been created for me.” Chime explained, “My actions have caused Rayquaza to rampage, and in turn, it will kill her. I must do whatever it takes to stop it.”
I turned to face Chime, however he was already gone.
*****
For a few more minutes, we were dragged through the facility, and whilst I was struggling and trying to break loose, that wasn’t my intention. Instead I was slowing us down enough for me to memorize which way we came so that we could get out later.
Before too long, we were brought to a large room, which contained at the far end, a large tank, full of liquid, big enough to fit a human in, or a human sized Pokemon… On the edge of the room was another large machine which looked like a small platform with shackles, and some sort of beam emitting machine pointed at it. My guess was this was what they used to corrupt the Shadow Pokemon.
In front of that tank stood a man dressed in a sharp suit, with a smug grin on his face. As we were brought in, we were forced to our knees as he glanced over us.
“I guess I have you three to thank.” the man replied, “It would have taken me years to find those stones. However they have a way of calling to their partners, and I am so thankful they did.”
“Who are you?” Magnus asked, “Are you the one in charge of the Songbird cult?”
The man laughed.
“No. I am the head of an organization called Cipher. You can call me Genesis.” he explained, “As for the Songbird cult, they’re partners of ours in this crusade. They have the knowledge of how to harness shadow energy, and focus it into Pokemon and humans, whilst we have the funds and resources to allow that to happen at a much larger scale. It’s an arrangement that is beneficial for both of us.”
“Why?” I asked, infuriated, “What possible reason could you have for doing this?”
Genesis grinned at me.
“Control.” Genesis explained, “Shadow Pokemon are the ultimate weapons, and with them, we will bring the world to its knees. But first, well, you have practically delivered the strongest weapon of all.”
Whilst I was expecting to be searched for the stone, instead, Genesis beckoned to a nearby door. It opened, and as it did, a familiar face walked out.
“You f***ing lying sack of s***...” I spat at Dash who walked out, bearing a container with the four stones.
“When the battle is going to be lost, it helps to be on the winning side…” Dash replied.
I looked over at Magnus who was seething, and Brettles who seemed to be in shock more than anything else.
Genesis walked over to a cabinet at the back of the room, and opened it, pulling out a fifth stone. He held it with a cloth, making sure not to touch it against his skin.
“We are lucky we found this when we did. If you hadn’t have let Dash scan your stone, and told him about the hallucinations, I’d have made the same mistake you did.” Genesis explained, “But now, I am ready. Dash, give them their stones.”
Dash walked past us, using a cloth to place each of the stones at myself, Brettles and Laura’s feet, before standing a few feet to my left..
“We are all going to witness this moment together.” Genesis replied, as he readied his hand to touch his stone, as did Dash. “One… Two… Three…”
Whilst part of me didn’t want to give him the satisfaction but knew that any knowledge of the future could prove useful. As they touched the stone, I did the same.
I opened my eyes, looking up at the lights of the room we were in.
“Jacob, are you alright?” Laura asked me, “What did you see?”
I didn’t reply, but heard Genesis laughing to himself.
“So I was right. This moment right here… This is where it all begins!”
All of the stones were taken from us again, as well as Dash’s, and placed in the tank with Genesis’ stone. They began to glow, as did the whole tank, and a humanoid shape began to form. Deoxys.
“In mere minutes, Deoxys will come to life, born as a Shadow Pokemon, and under my command.” Genesis gloated, “But we still have some time. Why not have some fun?”
Genesis nodded towards Gwaine, as one of the cultists pulled out an orb, which caused the Gallade to wince in pain. It seemed to be putting out a loud psychic signal, which only Gwaine could hear. He was forced into the machine on the edge of the room…
The vision ended.
I opened my eyes, looking up at the lights of the room we were in.
“Jacob, are you alright?” Laura asked me, “What did you see?”
I didn’t reply, but heard Genesis laughing to himself.
This was it. The beginning of the end. The first of the visions, coming to pass.
“So I was right. This moment right here… This is where it all begins!”
All of the stones were taken from us again, as well as Dash’s, and placed in the tank with Genesis’ stone. They began to glow, as did the whole tank, and a humanoid shape began to form. Deoxys.
“In mere minutes, Deoxys will come to life, born as a Shadow Pokemon, and under my command.” Genesis gloated, “But we still have some time. Why not have some fun?”
Genesis nodded towards Gwaine, as one of the cultists pulled out an orb, which caused the Gallade to wince in pain. It seemed to be putting out a loud psychic signal, which only Gwaine could hear. He was forced into the machine on the edge of the room…
“Don’t you f***ing dare.” I shouted at Genesis, causing him to laugh even more.
“Turn on the machine!” He shouted.
As one of the cultists went to turn it on, I felt a bump against my wrist. A psychic attempt to hit my watch. Whilst it wasn’t as refined and accurate as usual, it was enough. The bump triggered the Key-Stone hidden in the watch, causing Gwaine to explode into a ball of light.
It was enough to distract everyone for a second. I grabbed my butterfly knife, and stabbed in into Dash’s hamstring, causing him to scream in pain, as Gwaine created a telekinetic blast, powerful enough to destroy the machine encasing him, and crack the glass tank that held the now formed Deoxys. Liquid began to gush out, as Genesis screamed about it not being ready.
“Catch!” said Gwaine’s voice in my head, as Magnus perked up as well, seemingly hearing the same thing. A second later, my sword, and Magnus’ handgun were thrown across the air.
I caught the sword, as Dash hobbled away, and quickly cut down one of the cultists in the room, as Magnus shot another two of them. Before we could continue, there was a bang, as glass was thrown from the tank that housed Deoxys. It floated out of the tank, staring intently at us. Genesis smiled.
“I guess it wasn’t too early after all…” Genesis laughed, “Deoxys, kill them all…”
Chapter 6
It wasn’t too long before I found myself in another room, lit like the first. I walked in, and again, felt myself being watched. At the opposite end of the room, between myself and the exit, stood another trainer.
“I’m assuming you’re another one of the Elite Four?” I asked, still keeping my distance. Whilst I kind of had an idea of what these guys were doing, I didn’t trust them.
“Yes, I am.” came a female’s voice. She stepped out into the light, revealing herself to be a trainer not much older than myself. Her skin was tanned, and her hair short. “I am Phoebe of the Elite Four, and I am here to test you.”
I grabbed Fang’s Pokeball, and let the Mightyena out, who immediately started growling at Phoebe.
“I accept your challenge.”
Phoebe let out her first Pokemon, Dusknoir, who like Sidney before, didn’t wait for a command to make its first attack. As it fought, Phoebe spoke.
“You’re part of a team, aren’t you Joseph?” She asked.
“I am.” I replied, “The reason I am here is to make sure there is still a team when all of this is over.”
“But your team is much bigger than who you’re currently fighting with, isn’t it?”
Dusknoir launched a Shadow Ball at Fang, which he quickly dodged.
“Your team was so large that it was separated into three groups. Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald.”
I saw us being briefed of our first task, when Team Emerald was formed. I saw all of the original Team Emerald, and the files we were shown detailing Team Ruby, where I now recognized Jacob and Brettles, and Team Sapphire, with Dash and Craig.
“Yet now, those of you left are small enough that you needed to combine.”
I saw us as we were in Mossdeep before Deoxys showed up. Myself, Lucian, Clea, Jacob, Brettles and Dash. From a group of over thirty people, down to half a dozen of us in the end.
“Tell me Joseph… What happened to everyone else…”
Fang took a hit, before launching himself onto Dusknoir and attempting to maul it. I felt myself begin to tear up.
“They left. They couldn’t take it.” I said, knowing deep down it wasn’t true.
“Really? They all left?” Phoebe asked, “Why aren’t you telling me the truth?”
I was silent for a second.
“Because I don’t want to find out how many of us didn’t make it!” I shouted, “I don’t wanna find out that there was someone else we couldn’t save!”
Suddenly a mass of images appeared in my head.
Jacob screaming as he watched his friend give his life to let them all live. Scope.
The guy who tagged along with us at the start of our journey, being slaughtered by the Songbird cultists. Tommy.
Lucian’s brother tied to a post, trying to fight the shadow energy being forced into him. Colden.
The hyperactive Team Sapphire guy, who joined us for a little while outside of Lavaridge Town, cornered by Shadow Pokemon
Craig.
A man who I had only seen in the Team Ruby files, strapped to an operating table, and screaming as he was experimented on. Ginji
The girl who started the journey with us, sitting in the darkest corner of a cave, shaking in fear, hiding behind her arms from whatever was around her. Emma.
“The sad yet beautiful reality of life is that at some point, it comes to an end.” Phoebe explained, “And whilst that doesn’t make their untimely deaths any less tragic, it shows just how little time we have, and how much we need to make that count. Even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice.”
Dusknoir threw Fang off, who landed on his feet, and leapt back at the ghost type.
“But sadly, the circumstances of some deaths are so unfortunate and unfair, that it can be hard to move past them.
This time, I saw Clea lying in a hospital bed, eyes closed and convulsing as L sat beside the bed, distraught and helpless to prevent the inevitable.
“The heartache you feel now, is only just beginning…”
I stood in shock. Clea was stable and recovering when we left, but something has happened to change that. And there was nothing we could do to save her…
“But you will need to be strong. Time to mourn is not a luxury we have right now.”
I fell to my knees, and started to sob. Clea had been my best friend the last nine months, and she was about to die with only a stranger by her side. Her family won’t even know what has happened to her.
Suddenly the lights went out, and Fang yelped in confusion, before walking over to me. Phoebe and her Dusknoir had disappeared. All that was left of them was a voice in my head.
“Death is certain and inevitable. The best we can do is make it mean something in the end.”
I knelt there for a few minutes, thinking of the rest of my team. I was in Victory Road on this mission. I was safe here, and chances are, I could be the only one of us to make it out alive.
What did I do to deserve this chance to survive? Why…”
Chapter 7
“Whatever our plan was, things have changed.” Steven shouted, as we ran out of the house, barely avoiding being hit by one of Rayquaza’s attacks, “And we can only assume theirs have changed as well.”
“We have to get to the Cave of Origin.” Steven continued, “Rayquaza is here and not in it’s right state of mind-”
There was a loud crash as the entrance to the cave collapsed, and a giant red Pokemon stepped out. One that looked like it belonged in my nightmares…
Groudon.
“And now it is facing against Groudon. If we don’t end this now, they will corrupt it!” Steven shouted, “Kya, if you really are Kyogre, you’re going to need to face Groudon soon!”
He had that tone of voice again, as if he didn’t believe she was Kyogre, yet somehow hoping he was wrong at the same time.
“Whatever is coming, better get its a** here quickly!” I shouted, as I avoided some falling debris from another attack from Rayquaza.
As Groudon got further out of the cave, the sunlight got hotter and hotter, and I could already feel my skin burning.
I looked up at Groudon, who opened its mouth, launching a green beam at Rayquaza, who until now, didn’t seem to notice it.
The Solar Beam hit, causing Rayquaza to shriek in pain, before launching itself at extreme speed into Groudon, knocking it back against the cave, causing more of it to collapse, before flying back into the air.
Rayquaza attempted to dive down for another attack, however as it got close to hitting Groudon, sharp blades erupted from the earth, striking it and causing it to fall back.
Suddenly our path was blocked by a cultist. After a few more seconds, there were more on either side of us. We were trapped.
I went to grab a pokeball before Steven spoke up.
“Don’t.” He said, “You and Kya have more important things to do. I’ll deal with them.”
“Steven, you’re outnumbered and they’re all Shadow Pokemon!” Kya interjected, “They’ll kill you!”
“Us League Champs tend to be made of pretty tough stuff.” Steven replied, before letting out his first Pokemon. The Skarmory flew into the Cultist blocking our path, knocking him aside.
“Now go!” Steven shouted. I grabbed Kya’s hand and we ran through the new gap, continuing towards the cave of Origin.
As the cave and Groudon got closer to us, Kya spoke up in shock.
“Wait, Lucian…” she said, stopping, “That’s not Donny.”
“What are you talking about? Of course that’s Donny!” I said, “Why do you say that?”
“Because I can sense Groudon, and I can also sense Donny. They are two separate beings…” Kya replied.
“So what, you mean to tell me that there are two Groudon?” I shouted.
“No, I don’t think so. But I don’t know what this means!” Kya replied.
I looked at Groudon who had just launched another attack at Rayquaza which it barely missed. The Cave of Origin wasn’t far from us now.
“We have to keep moving! We can figure this out later!” I said, “If they corrupt Rayquaza, then it doesn’t matter if they have ten Groudon. This will be over.”
I pulled Kya who was still shocked and confused.
As we turned the next corner, it was a straight run to the cave, and in the entrance I saw a group of cultists. However there were three in the group that stood out to me the most. Colden, Raiden and Donny.
I let Frost out of his Pokeball who leapt to a nearby building and from there made his way towards the cultists, knocking most of them out, before being knocked back by a blast from Colden.
“Welcome to the end, brother.” Colden shouted out gleefully, “You’re just in time.”
There was a loud crash, as Rayquaza used its Draco Meteor attack, and large meteorites fell from the sky, crashing into Groudon.
“I’d call this the end for you!” I shouted back, “I don’t think Groudon is capable of taking down Rayquaza one against one! Were you relying on Kya here being involved in this as well?”
Before Colden could reply, Kya stepped forward.
“Donny!” she shouted, “What is going on? If that thing is here, what are you?!”
Donny smiled for a second.
“You really don’t know, what I am? What we are?” Donny asked.
“We?” Kya asked, sounding worried, “You and I are nothing alike.”
“You thought that I was Groudon, and you were Kyogre, didn’t you?” he laughed, “Don’t worry, I thought the same until I was shown the truth by the shadows…”
“What truth?!” Kya shouted back, her voice cracking under the stress.
I had flashbacks to Steven’s comments. Implying she wasn’t Kyogre, but something else. He knew, but he didn’t tell us… Why?
“Groudon may have the upper hand now,” Colden explained, “But we have one card left up our sleeve.”
Donny smiled at us, before closing his eyes. Suddenly he erupted into a red light, which then merged with Groudon, causing it to glow even brighter. By the time the light disappeared, Groudon had grown another ten feet, and seemed to have magma flowing through the gaps in its armour.
“Groudon and Kyogre are ancient beings, with power that grew dormant, before separating from them.” Colden explained, “Donny is the energy that reverts Groudon to its original, more powerful form.”
Groudon opened its jaw, and spat a large jet of flame at Rayquaza, causing it to recoil, as the sun became somehow even hotter.
I looked at Kya, who had gone pale. Her whole identity had been a lie.
“I’m not Kyogre…” she muttered to herself, “How am I supposed to beat him if I’m not even who I thought I was.”
“We don’t have time for this!” I shouted, “So what, you aren’t Kyogre?! This changes nothing!”
I pointed at Raiden and Colden.
“They still need to be stopped. Rayquaza can handle itself.” I said, “We still have work to do!”
******
L watched helplessly as Clea’s convulsions became worse. They began shortly after Chime left, and had progressed to the point where she was shaking the monitoring equipment loose.
An alarm went off once her vitals began to drop, and L knew that the room would be flooded with doctors any moment. He quickly turned invisible and stood in the corner of the room, watching and unable to do anything to prevent her death. As long as this link between her and Rayquaza existed, and Rayquaza was rampaging, her time would be coming to an end.
Doctors rushed in, and attempted to strap her to the bed, and try and stabilize her, however there was nothing they could do. Even though a matter of hours ago, she was recovering, they were losing her and there was no explanation.
After a few minutes, the convulsions slowed down, as the heart rate monitor slowed down, and Clea took her last breath.
However the nightmare was far from over. There was a scream from outside, causing L to look out the window. From the sea, earth and sky, hundreds of Shadow Pokemon were emerging. The attack on Mossdeep had begun.
Using a telekinetic blast, L knocked the window out of its frame, before diving through, and changing form in mid-air. Jacob had said, the s*** was going to hit the fan on the surface, and he was right...
******
Before we could say anything else, Rayquaza roared again, sounding as if it were in immense pain. However the last attack that Groudon used had missed.
“Something’s really wrong.” Kya said, “Whatever was hurting Rayquaza before, has become a lot worse.”
Suddenly, Rayquaza opened its mouth and let off a Hyper Beam. I ran at Kya, tackling her to the ground to avoid the attack, as it passed us, and took out a dozen houses, before hitting Groudon.
Debris rained down on us, only missing because of Kya placing a barrier above us.
I looked around and grabbed anything I could use as a weapon, which ended up being an iron bar that was a bit of reinforcement, and running towards Colden and Raiden.
“Colden!” I shouted, “This ends now! You and me. We are finishing this!”
Colden laughed before pointing one of his hands at me. A beam of dark energy shot out, however fizzled out when it got within a meter of me, leaving Colden confused.
“I told you about that damn Greninja!” Raiden shouted irritably, pointing at Frost who had just landed behind me.
I grinned at their frustration.
“Frost blocks out your shadow powers Colden, and without them, neither of you stand a chance of taking him or me down.”
“We will find a way…” Colden said coldly, letting out a Pokemon. My heart broke when I saw the Shadow Blaziken. The starter he got back when he started was corrupted, just like its trainer.
Rain let out a Sceptile, that hadn't been corrupted however was loyal to its trainer and wouldn't hesitate fighting an old friend.
Frost was the only thing stopping them from killing me so he was my last resort. I let Prin out of his ball.
“Bring it on.” I shouted, however before anything else could happen, something took us all by surprise.
Raindrops. At first a single drop on the back of my neck, then more. I looked back at Kya who was smiling.
“I told you something was coming...” She said, “Kyogre is here…”
Chapter 8
“Deoxys… Kill them all…”
I watched intently at the Shadow Pokemon.who stared at us with cold, dead eyes, waiting for it to strike.
In a flash its arms turned into long tentacle like appendages, impaling Genesis. His body fell limp to the ground as Deoxys removed its arm.
I expected it to fly at me however instead, it seemed to stop and bend over…
“It’s in pain!” Gwaine shouted telepathically, “It came out too early! Now’s your chance!”
I moved towards it to finish this but had Brettles step in the way.
“Stop! Jacob!” Brettles shouted, “So far it’s only hurt that Genesis guy! If you catch it you may be able to tame it!”
“Get out of my way Brettles!” I yelled, “We have seen what it is capable of! I’m not taking that risk!”
“We don’t even know if these visions will come to pass!”
“For f***’s sake Brettles, the first one already has!” I screamed at him, “We don’t have time for this! I told you what would happen if you got in my way!”
“I’m not going to let you murder this Pokemon!” Brettles shouted.
“So be it…”
I flicked Titan clockwise, before slicing up, cutting him up the side of the torso. Painful enough to make him flinch, and get him out of my way, but not enough to permanently injure him or prevent him from escaping.
Once he was down, I ran at Deoxys, lunging my blade towards the gemstone in its chest.
For a second, I thought I had hit it. I had won. However then I saw the slight gap between the tip of my blade and the gemstone.
I felt myself lifted up into the air by Deoxys’ telekinesis, as it stood up, and its arm changed again, readying to attack.
I tried to close my eyes but couldn't. The fear held me in place.
Deoxys lunged forward to attack, however was stopped by a light blue barrier. I looked over and saw Gwaine holding his hand up, and his eyes glowing. A split second later there was another telekinetic blast, knocking Deoxys back against the wall, and releasing its grip on me.
“Run!” Gwaine shouted, before letting off a Focus Blast at Deoxys.
Magnus helped Brettles up, as we ran from the room. As we got through the first door, I called back Gwaine, before hitting the alarm button, causing the metal security door to shut down behind us.
******
Mossdeep was ground-zero. Buildings were destroyed and burning, as hordes of Shadow Pokemon caused chaos, attacking anything or anyone in sight.
Latios used a Psychic attack, knocking two of them into a concrete beam that was still standing in the rubble, knocking them both unconscious, before turning around and firing a Dragon Breath into the one creeping up behind him.
There was a loud roar from the sky, causing Latios to look up, expecting the worst. When he saw Lugia fly over, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Lewis! What took you so long?” Latios telepathically shouted out to the Lugia, “Last I heard you were hiding out in some pocket-dimension?”
Lugia opened its mouth, revealing a light orange glow, exploding into a powerful beam. The Aeroblast carved a trench through the road, knocking out a dozen Shadow Pokemon.
“I couldn’t let you have all the fun L.” Lugia replied, “I’ve been biding my time, waiting for the right moment to reveal myself. No point getting myself killed.”
“Just leaving that to us non-uber Legendaries, I see.”
Lugia flew up high, before diving down towards the ground, pulling out at the last second, and flying across the ground with a telekinetic barrier, knocking Shadow Pokemon away left, right and centre.
“I wouldn’t say that.” Lugia replied.
******
“Everyone get in!” I shouted. Once Magnus, Brettles and Laura were through I hit the button, closing the security door. I had done this with the last five doors we had gone through.
“I’d be saying ’Good work soldier’, but I am still not sure about how I feel about what you did to Brettles…” Magnus muttered, somewhat in shock.
“If one of your fellow soldiers got in the way of you protecting people, would you stand by and let them?” I asked coldly.
“That’s the reason why I say I’m not sure, and I haven’t just hit you…” Magnus replied, sounding torn. Brettles remained silent, probably in shock from me taking him down.
“Either way, you can thank Gwaine for the escape. It was his quick thinking to go Mega and use that as the distraction we needed.” I explained.
The conversation wasn’t exactly like the vision. In the vision, Brettles and I hadn’t conflicted over how to deal with Deoxys. However the skeleton of it was the same. And I think half the reason Brettles was silent was because he knew what was coming.
I felt the ground beneath shake and the first of the doors crack in the distance. Whilst the doors were tough, I doubt they were designed to hold back a Shadow Deoxys…
Laura ran to the elevator, and pressed the button to open the door, however we now faced another dilemma which myself, Laura and Brettles knew the answer to. Only three of us could fit in the elevator.
“You guys go…” Brettles said anxiously, “I will take it up when it comes back down next…”
He said that but we knew he knew that he wouldn’t be taking that elevator…
Whilst in the vision I argued with him, now I wasn’t. If he didn’t get in my way, I might have killed Deoxys. He made a decision and gambled the rest of Hoenn on it. And now the consequences were revealing themselves.
There was a crack as Deoxys got through the second door.
“Come on man…” Magnus said, his usual tough demeanor gone. Whilst he hadn’t seen what we had seen, the silence in the room, and the tone of Brettles voice was enough to show that we all knew this was the last time we’d see Brettles.
Before anyone else could speak up, Brettles let out his Alakazam, who levitated us into the elevator, though I showed no resistance. There was another crack as the third door was broken, and the elevator doors closed, sending us up to the surface.
We got to the surface, and quickly got out of the elevator, stepping out into a city that was now a wasteland. Buildings were burning and falling apart. As soon as the doors closed, we heard it return to the lab. Brettles must have pressed the button. He was still alive.
A few minutes later, the elevator returned to the surface. Knowing what was coming, I covered Laura’s eyes.
The doors opened, revealing Brettles lying against the back wall of the elevator, pinned to it by the metal beam that had been impaled through his chest. His body was covered with burns, and his once cheerful and lively face was now slouched downward and lifeless.
Whilst in the vision, I melted down, too much had happened since. This was the result of his own actions and with everything going on right now, time for mourning isn’t a luxury we currently have…
Magnus was silent and in shock at the sight of his friend. I think out of all of us Team Ruby people who he was overseeing, he was closest to Brettles, and this hit him hard.
“Come on, we have to go.” I muttered, “If the elevator is here, Deoxys will be here soon as well.”
Before Magnus could reply, I heard the howl of a Shadow Pokemon. It was letting the others know where we were. Laura was the first to speak up...
“Run…”
Chapter 9
It took me a little while to bring myself to leave that room after I found out about Clea. I wanted to stay longer and mourn. However I still had a job to do.
After a few more tunnels, I found myself face to face with the next member of the Elite Four.
“I’m Glacia of the Elite Four.” the woman said, as she stood out into the light. She was a blonde woman, who looked to be in her late thirties, wearing a purple dress. Floating beside her was a Froslass.
I sent out my next Pokemon. Blaziken.
“Let’s get this over with…” I muttered. Right now, these challenges are all that stand in the way of me and whatever it is I am supposed to be finding. Something that may help us actually come out of this alive.
As Froslass and Blaziken began their battle, Glacia spoke up, however unlike her predecessors, she seemed a little more concerned about me in the here-and-now.
“Your comment before. Let’s get this over with. What makes you say that?”
“The world is falling apart around us, and I’ve come here to try and find answers.” I replied, “I was told I’d be tested before I’d find those answers, but it is getting to the point where my friends are out there risking their lives, trying to do something, whilst I am hiding in a cave, with a bunch of people trying to give me psychological help.”
“So you feel like your time is being wasted?” Glacia asked, “Even if this may potentially help you personally?”
Blaziken took a hit from Froslass’ Ice Beam, however quickly melted it, before launching back with a Blaze Kick.
“The way things are now, we need to stop thinking about ourselves.” I replied coldly, “Stop wasting time pandering around about feelings, and actually do whatever it takes to stop this.”
“Even if it means killing someone dear to you?” Glacia asked, “Look at your teammate in Sootopoolis. He is fighting his battle against his own brother…”
“We have no other choice.” I yelled, “Either Colden dies, or Hoenn falls. Lucian knows that.”
“What if Lucian didn’t?” Glacia asked, “What if he had the opportunity to kill Colden, but let it slip, hoping there was some other way?”
“Then he’d be an idiot!” I shouted at Glacia, “To risk thousands of lives for the sake of one is sheer stupidity! How can we save on life, knowing that thousands of people will be wiped out, and still call ourselves good people?”
“Your teammates in Mossdeep just faced this same predicament…”
Blaziken took a hit, and a series of images flashed before my eyes. Deoxys hunched over in pain, and Jacob about to kill it, before being stopped by Brettles. Jacob cutting Brettles down to take the chance to kill Deoxys, but running out of time and failing. Jacob, Magnus and Laura escaping, and Brettles dying at Deoxys hands.
“Brettles is dead?” I asked, hoping it to be an illusion. First Clea and now Brettles.
“Brettles believed that there was a way to spare Deoxys and others not die, and he took the chance.” Glacia explained.
“And he paid for that with his life.” I replied, “I hated how he and Jacob argued about it, but he paid for that choice with his life.”
“Are you really that apathetic that you think he deserved to die for that?” Glacia asked, her tone now suddenly colder.
“No!” I replied, horrified at the accusation, “I just think he was mistaken.”
“By whose standards? Yours?” Glacia shouted, “You make your claims that Brettles death was the result of his own decision, yet how can you know that if they didn’t attempt to capture the Pokemon, that they wouldn’t have succeeded?”
“I… I can’t…” I replied.
“The truth is, the amount of knowledge you possess is like a grain of sand.” Glacia replied, “There is so much you don’t know, yet you expect others to act based on the minute amount you do know.”
As Blaziken landed another hit, I saw an image of Brettles lifeless body, pinned against an elevator wall, burnt and bloodied.
“Whilst Brettles may have given his life, he showed wisdom by not basing his decisions purely off of what he does know.” Glacia explained, “He was willing to take the risk to save another’s life, even if all logic and reason said otherwise.”
“And look how that worked out!” I shouted back, “Had he let Jacob kill Deoxys, then he might still be alive.”
“There was no guarantee that Jacob would have been able to kill it. The die had been cast, so we can’t say anything for certain.” Glacia replied, “But even when you base your decisions off of what you know, do you always get it right?”
I remained silent.
“So what about Lucian? What should he do?” Glacia asked, “Would you think any less of him if he spared his brother?”
“I… I don’t know…”
“Killing him may be the most direct way of ending this conflict.” Glacia replied, “But what’s to say that there is absolutely no other way?”
“There is nothing…”
With those words, Glacia and Froslass disappeared, except for one last statement.
“Killing Colden, or sparing him, Lucian can only do what he thinks to be right. No more, no less.”
Chapter 10
“Meghan?” Chime asked the girl sitting at a table in a Pokemon Centre. Doing this was going against everything that he knew of his role. However desperate times called for desperate measures.
The girl had been reading a book, most likely waiting for her Pokemon to be healed. She looked up at the mention of her name.
“Have we met before?” the tall brunette asked, looking at Chime, slightly confused.
“No, we haven’t.” Chime replied, “But I know you’re destined for great things… And I need your help…”
Chime’s role as the Guardian of the Dimensions was one that refrained from becoming directly involved, unless absolutely necessary. And pulling a person from their own timeline to fulfil their role in another was something that had never been done. It was forbidden, however now, it was a necessity.
“My help?” Meghan asked, “I’ll never turn down flattery, but what can I help you with?”
This was the difficult part. Convincing her of the impossible.
“This is one of many parallel worlds, and it is my task to make sure that they stay on course.” Chime explained, “In another world, you were one of the people who kept it on course, however, for some reason, you and a few other people were erased. Now that world is on the brink of collapse, and we need you to stand a chance of it surviving…”
Meghan looked at Chime, trying not to laugh. He knew this would probably happen.
“What’s your name, stranger?” Meghan asked.
“Chime.”
“You know that this sounds completely insane, right?” Meghan replied, “Are you sure there hasn’t been any substance abuse going on?”
“I understand that.” Chime explained, “All I have is the hope that you will be willing to give me a chance to prove what I am saying is true.”
“And why would I do that?” Meghan asked, curiously. Chime could see that a tiny part of her wanted to believe him. He just needed to give her a reason.
“Because I know you’re the sort of person who can’t just stand by and let people get hurt.” Chime explained, “There are two paths you can take. You could give me a chance. If you’re right and I am crazy, you go about your night and there is nothing different. If you’re wrong and I am legit, then you help save an entire timeline.”
“Or you can not help. If you’re right, there is no consequence. But if you’re wrong, countless innocent people die…” Chime said, “Are you really willing to take that risk?”
Meghan looked at him with an expression of deep thought. Finally, she spoke.
“What do I need to do?”
******
There was a crash of waves as Kyogre emerged from the waters of Sootopoolis City, before engaging Groudon. By this point, the rain had become torrential, reducing visibility to all of us. Kya stood in awe of the Legendary Pokemon.
Meanwhile, I continued the fight against Raiden and Colden. Whilst Prin managed to take down both Colden’s Shadow Blaziken, and Raiden’s Sceptile, I had to pull it back. I sent out my next Pokemon, Gabite, as Colden sent out a Shadow Mightyena, and Raiden his Meowstic.
“Dig!” I shouted, causing Gabite to dive into the earth, and dig underground. A few moments later, he appeared under Mightyena, grabbing it, and pulling it into the earth below. However when he tried to do the same to Meowstic, was held in their air by its telekinetic power.
“Fight it!” I shouted, as Gabite wrestled against it, however his movement began to grow minimal as Meowstic’s telekinetic grip tightened, before it launched Gabite into the nearby cave wall, causing it to collapse onto him.
“No!” I shouted, as Colden began to laugh.
“You’re running out of Pokemon!” He said, “Maybe you should let us have a play with that Greninja of yours…”
I went to grab another Pokeball, however felt the ground rumble underneath me. A few moments later, Meowstic was pulled underground, and from a nearby hole emerged a Garchomp.
“Earthquake!” I shouted. Garchomp roared, as the ground beneath us started to shake, knocking out both Pokemon in the ground.
“You were saying, Colden?” I shouted back at my brother, causing him to have a look of fury.
Before he could respond, there was a roar of pain that came from Rayquaza, as it took another Precipice Blade attack, right before being hit by another Solar Beam. The green dragon crash landed onto the crater’s edge at the opposite side of the city, as Groudon focused its attention on Kyogre. I looked at Kya who was watching from the waters edge…
******
As Chime and Meghan stepped out of the portal, and into Sootopoolis city, Meghan gasped at the sight that beheld her.
Sootopoolis had become the battleground for three titans waging war against one another, with the battle itself being forced by an evil that Hoenn had never seen before.
“So what is it exactly you need me to do?” Meghan asked, sounding nervous.
“In this world, Rayquaza is your partner, and you two share a bond like no other.” Chime replied, “The Meghan of this world is gone, and Rayquaza is shocked and confused. It has walked into a trap, and is fighting based off pure instinct and rage. If it doesn’t focus now, it will be corrupted, and this will be the end. It needs you.”
There was a roar of pain from Rayquaza, as it fell from the sky, crash landing on the edge of Sootopoolis.
“Go!” Chime shouted, “Show it you are here! Show it you will fight alongside it!”
Meghan nodded, before turning to make her way to Rayquaza.
******
“Keep them back.” I said to Frost, as I made my way to Kya. I looked back to see more of Colden’s Shadow Pokemon try to take down Frost to avail.
“Kyogre won’t last long…” Kya said to me anxiously, “Without Rayquaza, it is now fighting alone against Groudon and Donny…”
“It will have to hold its ground until I can beat Colden.” I replied, “There’s nothing we can do…”
“No, there is something…” Kya said, “I am to Kyogre, what Donny is to Groudon.”
“You mean you can merge with it?” I asked, “Revert it to its ancient state?”
“I can.” Kya explained, “But at a cost.”
I saw tears start to appear in her eyes.
“Donny isn’t there anymore. I can’t sense him. It is just Groudon.” Kya explained, “And if I merge with Kyogre, I’ll disappear as well...”
I was silent at those words. Whilst I knew that it might be necessary, I didn’t want to see Kya leave. Not like this.
“There is still a chance.” I said, “We can still win this without you doing this. Just give me a chance to make that happen. Kyogre can handle itself…”
Before Kya could answer, I heard Frost cry out in pain as it took a hit.
“I have to go, just promise me you won’t do it unless we have no other choice!” I shouted, as I ran back. I didn’t hear her response, but didn’t have time to wait for it.
“Frost, get back!” I shouted as I sent out my next Pokemon, Pyro the shiny Typhlosion.
“Well isn’t this a surprise…” Colden muttered, “Using my own Pokemon against me…”
“You aren’t my brother anymore Colden, and Pyro isn’t your Pokemon.” I shouted back, as a Gardevoir and a Shadow Dragonite entered the battlefield.
Pyro growled at its old trainer, as sparks ignited its back.
“Flame Wheel!” I shouted. Pyro leapt forward, tackling the Gardevoir to the ground, intentionally landing on its back and launching a Flamethrower at the Shadow Dragonite.
There was a boom, as Gardevoir used a telekinetic blast, launching Pyro into the air, causing him to land a few meters away from them.
“Dragon Claw!” Colden shouted, as the Shadow Dragonite flew at Pyro, knocking it back with a slash from its claws.
“Get closer to Gardevoir!” I yelled out to Pyro. The Typhlosion avoided an attack from Dragonite, and ran at the Gardevoir, with Dragonite hot on its tail.
“Blast Burn, then Overheat!” I shouted, at the Typhlosion. This had to work, because it was going to take most of Pyro’s strength to pull off.
The flames on his back intensified, and with a flash of light, sent jets of flame into the area surrounding him, striking the two enemy Pokemon, before a second jet erupted, this time exploding, knocking both the Pokemon to the ground, unmoving.
There was another roar, as Kyogre took a hit and screamed in pain. Red could be seen in the water, as blood began to pour from the wounds created by Groudon’s Precipice Blades attack. However that wasn't what scared me. It was the sad smile on Kya’s face, as she mouthed a final word.
Goodbye…
Chapter 11
“Run…” Laura said, staring in horror at the wave of Shadow Pokemon making their way toward us.
The city surrounding us had changed so much in less than an hour. Whilst before, there were damaged buildings from the last incident with Deoxys, it paled in comparison to this.
There wasn’t a single building untouched. All of them were either crumbling, burning, or both.
There was a loud roar from above, causing me to look up, and see something I wasn’t expecting.
“Lewis!” I shouted, upon seeing the blue and silver, legendary bird. The Lugia flew above me, letting off an Aeroblast attack at a nearby horde of Shadow Pokemon.
“My golf clubs better be saving your sorry *ss…” said a telepathic voice in my head.
None of our visions showed L present, which meant him being here was something I was grateful for. But to have Lugia here as well, meant that maybe we might survive this. I saw it ly to the other side of the island, and begin battling against another horde of Shadow Pokemon, before Magnus caught my attention.
“Over here!” Magnus shouted, gesturing to a nearby trench that had been created by Lugia’s attack. We made the mad dash for the trench, trying to avoid being hit by a stray attack from Lugia or Latios.
“We don’t have long until Deoxys reaches the surface!” Magnus explained, “And if we want to kill this thing, it’ll be a lot easier with a few less Shadow Pokemon breathing down our necks. We have to take down as many as possible before it arrives.”
“You mean kill them?” Laura asked, “Aren’t they able to be purified?”
“Not if there is nobody left to purify them.” I muttered, “I don’t like it any more than you do, but right now, the only guaranteed way to make sure they don’t prevent us from stopping Deoxys is to take them down, permanently if we have to.”
“Jacob’s right.” Magnus replied, “I don’t like it, but Jacob is right.”
“Laura, stay here. When I give the signal, run for the beach, and fly out of here.” I explained.
Laura looked horrified at the thought.
“No, I’m not running away and leaving you behind to die!” Laura yelled, “I knew what I was getting into from the start! If you’re staying to fight, I’m doing the same!”
“Laura, what the hell are you going to do?” I shouted back, “You’re unarmed, and inexperienced! You’d lose your whole team to one of these Pokemon, then it’d kill you!”
Laura opened her mouth to reply, before I cut her off.
“Wait here ‘til I give the signal, then run. No buts.” I said, “Am I clear?”
Laura stared at me angrily, and remained silent.
“Am I f***ing clear?” I shouted…
Laura was silent for a second more before speaking up.
“You better not get yourself killed out there…” she muttered.
I wanted to make some sort of joke about how that wouldn’t happen, but I couldn’t bring myself to make that sort of promise. As far as I knew, this was the end for me. I just didn’t want it being the end for her as well.
“Let’s do this.” I said to Magnus, as I started climbing out of the trench.
“I hope for both our sakes, you know how to use that sword, soldier…” Magnus shouted.
I laughed before drawing it from its sheath.
“Lugia up there trained me in using it.” I replied, as I let all my Pokemon out of their Pokeballs “And I made it by melting down his golf clubs.”
“Well, if we survive this, I’d be eager to hear that story.” Magnus laughed as he climbed out of the trench. He quickly let his team out of their Pokeballs, before pulling out an assault rifle he had strapped to his back. I’m glad that if I had anyone by my side for this, it was him.
My team consisted of Gwaine the Light-Type Gallade, Mushu the Charizard, Sparks the Rotom, Skipper the Swampert, Shruikan the Absol and Stryker the Scizor.
“Well guys, it’s been an honour.” I replied, before looking at Magnus and his team. Surrounding him were a Swampert, Gardevoir, Delphox, Weavile, Sableye and Torterra.
“Same goes for you Magnus.” I shouted out, “I’m glad that if I’m ending this with anyone, it’s you.”
“This isn’t over yet soldier!”
Before we knew it, the next wave of Shadow Pokemon hit. We stood with our backs against the cliff that was the edge of the island, ready to make the first move.
“On me!” I shouted to Gwaine, as he went Mega again. Whilst I might be armed, I was still vulnerable to Pokemon attacks, and needed his telepathic link and psychic barriers to make sure I wasn’t electrocuted in the first ten seconds.
The first Pokemon to attack me was a Shadow Seviper. I jumped back narrowly missing being hit by its fangs, before spinning Titan around, and slicing off its head. Not too far away, Magnus was shooting down a Vigoroth that had made him its target, and just wouldn’t seem to go down.
Whilst we were focusing pretty hard on not being killed, my main goal was to clear a path, and keep an eye out for a break in the attack where Laura could slip out to the beach. However trying to spot that whilst not being mauled to death by a Shadow Pokemon wasn’t the easiest of tasks.
After what felt like forever, I heard a cry of pain from one of my Pokemon, as it took a lethal attack. I spun around to see Mushu lying on the ground, with a Shadow Houndoom, tearing into his neck.
“No!” I screamed at the Pokemon, capturing its attention. I got Mushu as a gift back in Rustboro after I helped Magnus retrieve something stolen from the head of Devon, in the first week of training Pokemon. And now he was gone.
The Shadow Houndoom ran at me, barking, before letting of a flamethrower. Like clockwork, it was stopped by a telekinetic barrier by Gwaine, who had saved my skin multiple times in this confrontation.
Enraged by the loss of my Charizard, I slashed across the Houndooms face, blinding it in both eyes, before reversing my grip on the blade, and stabbing it downwards through its back, killing it.
Mushu was the first to fall, and wasn’t the last. A few minutes later, Magnus’ Torterra took one too many hits and finally fell, as did his Gardevoir. Before too long, Stryker, who hadn’t even been in his evolved form for a day, fell at the hands of a Shadow Magmortar.
I heard a roar, and turned to see a Shadow Aggron, charging towards me.
I turned to run, tripping on the corpse of the Shadow Pokemon I just killed, before realizing this was the end. Not facing Deoxys, but instead murdered by an armoured Pokemon that my blade won’t do a thing to stop.
I closed my eyes, expecting it to be painful, before feeling a sharp pain in my side, as if I’d been kicked, throwing me across the ground, where I landed a few meters away.
I opened my eyes to see the Shadow Aggron attempting to stand up, with the limp and lifeless body of Skipper, my Swampert, in its shadow. My starter Pokemon, who had seen me in danger, and knocked me out of the way, taking the crushing blow instead.
I ran at the Aggron, aware that I wasn’t probably going to even scratch it, but just wanting to hurt it in some way anyway. I was a matter of feet away, before Gwaine hit it with a Close Combat, knocking it to the ground a few meters away.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Gwaine shouted in my head, “He died to save you, and you almost made it mean absolutely nothing!”
Before I had a chance to respond, something rushed past me at high speed, knocking myself and a bunch of Shadow Pokemon to the ground.
I got up to see Latios, hovering in front of us. It let out a cry, as a purple aura appeared around it, and a purple light in its mouth, erupting into a beam and knocking down a dozen Shadow Pokemon.
“Where’s Clea?” I asked, “Is she alright?”
“She didn’t make it…” Latios replied telepathically, “We lost her just before the Shadow Pokemon showed up.”
“For f***’s sake!” I shouted, putting my hand up against my face. All of the casualties, it was something I expected, but not something I was ever prepared for.
Before I could say anything else, there was a loud bang, as a purple light erupted into the sky from where the hidden elevator was. Our time was up.
“Laura! Run!” I shouted to my sister, who was still in the trench. Break or no break, if she didn’t get out of here now, she didn’t stand a chance. I checked to see if she was leaving, before looking back again at where the light came from.
Slowly, something rose out of the hole in the ground. Its eyes stared blankly at us, with no emotion or thought. This thing wasn’t a Pokemon. It was a killing machine. It had no soul.
“L, cover my back, keep the Shadow Pokemon off my a**.” I said.
“What and let you take this thing alone?”
“I’ve got half my team still, and if I weaken it, you’re more likely to finish it off than the other way around.” I replied, “You’re a God. I’m just a loose-cannon from Lilycove.”
“Jacob, look out!” Magnus shouted, as Deoxys flew into the air. Suddenly there was a high pitched whistle as a small light appeared near its gemstone, erupting into a dark purple beam of light, which tore through Magnus, killing him instantly. The first vision had been fulfilled.
“Jacob, run!” Came a voice from behind me. I looked behind me to see Latios fighting back the waves of Shadow Pokemon, and Laura standing behind a rock, looking at me in horror. A few meters behind her however was somebody else. Dash. The traitor. He looked at me for a moment, before limping away. I felt a deep hatred inside me start to burn, however forced it aside.
“Get out of here!” I shouted, “There’s nothing you can do!”
“Look out!” Laura screamed.
I looked up and saw Deoxys descending on me at high speeds.
Instinctively, I raised Titan to block, knowing full well it would do nothing.
Deoxys arm morphed into sharp looking tentacles, as it reached point blank range, milliseconds away from striking.
“Jacob!” said a voice inside my head, before there was a flash of light. Before I even realized what he was doing, Gwaine teleported in front of me, as the tentacle like appendages pierced his torso.
“Gwaine!” I shouted.
Gwaine’s eyes glowed blue for a split second, as he used the last of his energy to create a telekinetic blast, knocking Deoxys back, as Gwaine fell like a ragdoll to the ground beneath us.
I heard a roar and watched as Deoxys narrowly avoided an Aeroblast from Lugia. The two Pokemon began to battle, narrowly avoiding one-another, and savagely attacking.
I looked down at Gwaine, who was barely breathing.
“Gwaine…” I said, hoping he could still hear me, as my tears started to fill my eyes. I was about to lose my best friend.
“Why the hell did you do that?” I wept.
“I was saving your sorry *ss.” Gwaine said, though he sounded quiet and weak, “And I’d do it again if I could.”
I wept as I felt his breathing grow weaker.
“Deoxys can’t be allowed to leave this place.” Gwaine said, “Whatever it takes, you need to stop it.”
I remained silent, knowing what came next.
“Goodbye Jacob…”
For the first time in a long time, I felt Gwaine’s presence in my mind disappear. Something that was so familiar, now gone, and left me feeling like something was missing.
I looked up to where Deoxys was, and saw it knock Lugia out of the sky, before launching another attack. This time the purple beam hit Latios, before moving through the Shadow Pokemon, and hitting Laura and Dash, killing them all instantly.
I wanted to mourn. I wanted to weep for my fallen comrades. For my sister. My friends. But I had spent too much time doing that already. This had to end.
Deoxys descended to ground level, just off the edge of the cliff. Not having any plan whatsoever, and not knowing how I was going to pull this off, I ran at the Shadow Pokemon, with Titan ready to strike.
Leaping off the cliff edge, I screamed, as I attempted to drive the blade into the gemstone in its chest.
For a second, it almost seemed like I’d pull it off. However just as I was about to hit it, I stopped in mid-air, hitting some form of psychic barrier, and floating in the air, as if held by a giant invisible hand.
Deoxys levitated a matter of feet from where I was, as I felt its psychic grip tighten. I felt my spine snap under the pressure, and screamed in pain, as it floated closer. Before I could even close my eyes, its tentacles had pierced my torso, before it let go of its grip, and I fell into the water beneath. I felt liquid enter my lungs, as everything went dark.
I had failed.
Chapter 12
“One more…” I muttered to myself, as I made my way through Victory Road. I had faced three of the Elite Four, and assumed I had passed their challenges. Only one left, and if logic is anything to go off, chances are they will be the hardest.
I found myself in a room identical to the other three, and watched as the figure at the end stood out into the light.
It was a man who looked to be in his sixties that revealed himself. He was dressed in worn and tattered clothes, and looked to be a captain of a ship. However his eyes seemed to be that of someone who has seen too much.
“I am Drake of the Elite Four, and will be giving you your final challenge.”
I stepped forward, letting out my Altaria. I was done talking. I needed to see what I had come for.
Drake let out his Pokemon, a Salamence, which immediately began to attack Altaria.
“Why are you here, trainer?” Drake shouted.
“I think you know why I am here…” I replied irritably.
“Then say it!”
“I’m here to find a way to help my friends!” I shouted angrily, “I’m here to try and keep them alive whilst they save Hoenn! But somehow I am stuck wasting my time fighting you and your friends!”
Drake ignored the last comment, speaking up again.
“What will you do if you fail?” he asked.
I felt an anger rise up in me.
“I will cross that bridge when I come to it.”
“Well I am asking you now!” Drake replied, “What will you do if you fail?”
Altaria took a hit from a Dragon Claw, before falling back and using Dragon Dance.
“I don’t know!” I shouted, “I haven’t thought of that!”
“Why not?’ Drake asked, “You said yourself that this is a waste of your time? How can you be sure you will find what you’re looking for?”
“I can’t.”
“Then why won’t you think about what will happen if you fail?”
“Because I don’t want to!” I yelled.
Altaria leapt at the Salamence, using Dragon Breath, hitting it square in the chest.
“I don’t want to think about it because it scares me, okay?” I shouted at Drake, “Is that what you want to hear?”
“I don’t want to hear anything.” Drake replied, “I want you to be honest with yourself.”
Altaria dodged another attack, before flying up to the ceiling of the cavern, Salamence right on her tail.
“If you fail here, there is every chance that you will need to go back and face the same things they’re facing.” Drake explained, “You may even have to face them.”
The thought shocked me. Having to fight my friends terrified me.
“That won’t happen…”
“Are you sure?” Drake asked, “Look at Colden. And now Raiden. What happens if the same thing happens to Lucian? Or Jacob? Even Kya?”
I was silent, as Altaria made another attempt to attack Salamence.
“If it comes to it, will you be able to stop your friends?” Drake asked.
I watched as Salamence dodged Altaria’s attack before returning with its own counterattack.
“I said, ‘If it comes to it, will you be able to stop your friends?’” Drake asked again.
“I don’t know.” I replied, “I don’t want to think about it. It scares the s*** out of me.”
I was quiet for a second, thinking of how to explain myself.
“But, I’ll try to.” I explained, “Not because, I want to, but because there are bigger things than me and my fears. If they fall, and I need to stop them, I will stop them.”
As I had this revelation, I expected the lights to go out and Drake to disappear. However this time was different. Whilst Drake and his Salamence did disappear, there was a blinding light as something appeared in front of me. A large white, centaur like Pokemon, standing at over ten feet tall.
It looked down at me, striking fear, however bringing a sense of hope. I now knew what Bianca was talking about. Who had been using my drawings to bring me to this place.
Arceus
Chapter 13
”Goodbye…”
Those were Kya’s final words as she transformed into a bright blue light, which then merged with Kyogre, causing it to change.
“No!” I shouted, as Kya disappeared. Within moments, Kyogre had transformed. It was now larger, with similar glowing patterns across its body to Groudon.
“All alone now, brother.” Colden laughed, “It’s okay. You will be with her soon enough…”
“You sick b******...” I muttered.
Before Colden had a chance to respond, there was a roar of pain from Groudon, as Kyogre launched a powerful water attack at it, much bigger than anything it could muster before. A few seconds later, it blew a cold breath at the Groudon, chilling it to its core… Sheer Cold.
Whilst Colden was distracted, I quickly let out my remaining Pokemon.
“This ends now.” I said, “Cover me from any Pokemon attacks. Frost, watch my back, and keep them from using any shadow powers…”
I adjusted my grip on the bar I grabbed earlier, before running at Colden. This had to end, now…
*****
“I am about to get eaten by Rayquaza…” Meghan muttered to herself as she climbed across the rubble, trying to get to the unconscious Legendary Pokemon, “I am about to get eaten because a crazy man from another dimension told me that Rayquaza needs me…”
Meghan continued muttering to herself, climbing around a rocky outcrop, and finding herself face to face with Rayquaza.
“Please don’t eat me…” Meghan muttered to herself, before cautiously walking over to the dragon.
As she stood in front of its head, she took a deep breath, before speaking.
“Rayquaza…” she said quietly, half hoping it didn’t hear her. It remained unmoving. Whilst deep down she was relieved, she knew that she came here for a reason.
“Rayquaza! You need to get back up!” she shouted. The Pokemon opened its eyes, and seemed to recognize her, however was still unmoving, and groaned in pain.
“Look! I know you’ve already fought, and I know you’re hurting! But this isn’t over!” Meghan said to the Pokemon, “You need to keep fighting! Otherwise, Hoenn will suffer for it.”
Rayquaza roared in defiance, before growling at Meghan. She continued to pray to Arceus that Rayquaza wouldn’t eat her, before swallowing her fear, and speaking up again.
“Look, I know I’m not your partner. And I know I wasn’t here before.” Meghan replied, “But she’s not here, and I am! And damn it, we need to be out there, doing something!”
“I know I’m not much.” Meghan said softly, putting her hand out, “But this time, you’ll have me…”
Rayquaza’s eyes focused on Meghan, as it lifted its head, and rested its forehead against the palm of Meghan’s hand. There was a spark, as Meghan felt something shift inside of her, and Rayquaza erupted into a bright light…
*****
I ran at Colden, with Frost on my tail.
As I reached him, he attempted to punch me with his right arm, which I quickly stopped with my left, before throwing a punch myself with my free arm, hitting him in gut. Whilst that would be enough to wind most people, Colden just laughed, before pulling a knife from his belt, and lunging at me.
I avoided the attack, though was forced to step back, as Colden stepped towards me. I looked over to see Raiden ordering his Pokemon to take down Frost, knowing it was the one thing that stopped them from having the advantage over me in this fight.
“Come on Lucian.” Colden shouted condescendingly, “You’re letting the Greninja take all the fun out of this.”
I scowled at the remark, as Colden leapt at me, attempting another attack with the knife. I grabbed his forearm with me left hand, before punching him in the face with my right, then using the iron bar in my right hand to hit him across the head. Whilst he should have been knocked out, instead he just stood there laughing.
Before I could respond, I saw out of the corner of my eye, Raiden running at me, quickly ducking to avoid the hit, however being struck by the follow up.
I felt Raiden grab me by the shirt, with his shadow-powered right arm, lifting me into the air, before throwing me into the ground. Before Raiden could finish me off, Colden spoke up, distracting him. He seemed to be focused on Rayquaza, who had been knocked out a few minutes earlier.
I looked over to see Rayquaza glowing, and a person who looked to be about my age, holding her hand against it.
“What the hell is she doing?” Raiden asked.
“I don’t know…” Colden replied, “But Rayquaza is Mega-Evolving!”
The light engulfing Rayquaza became turned into a flash, which was enough to distract Colden and Raiden further. I turned over and kicked Raiden’s feet out from underneath him, knocking him to the ground, before looking over at Rayquaza. It had grown, and now had gold glowing tendrils flowing from its fins. It roared, before unleashing another attack on Groudon.
In my moments distraction, Colden took the opportunity to try and attack me, launching himself at me, and knocking me to the ground, however not without me grabbing him and pulling him down with me. I rolled over, pulling him onto his back, before punching him in the face, getting up only to dodge Raidens next attack.
I jumped backwards, avoiding the first punch, however wasn’t quick enough to avoid the second, this one being from his right arm. It was like taking a freight train to the head, as I was knocked to the ground, losing all the strength to move.
I looked over at my Pokemon to see all of them but Frost still and unmoving. Frost was barely able to stand, and just managing to avoid being hit.
I was helpless as Colden picked me up, and pulled me to my feet, before revealing his knife.
“You’re right Lucian…” Colden said with a smirk, “This ends NOW.”
I felt the blade pierce the skin in my chest, as I fell to the ground. As I lay there in pain, I looked at Raiden who looked at me as if he was conflicted. As if deep down, part of him didn’t like to see me die.
My vision went black as I watched Raiden’s expression slowly turn to one of horror and guilt…
Chapter 14
“Arceus…” I muttered to myself as I looked up at the Pokemon floating in the air in front of me. It seemed to emanate enough light to fill every corner of this cavern.
“Joseph…”
The voice wasn’t audible, but in my head. Arceus must have been using telepathy.
“Did I get here in time?” I shouted to the Pokemon. If I was too late, then all of this was for nothing.
“Are my friends still alive?” I asked, hoping that it wasn’t too late.
I felt a surge of energy as images rushed through my head. I saw Clea having convulsions in a hospital bed, before drawing her final breath. I saw Brettles, bloodied and burnt, hurled against the back wall of an elevator, before being pinned to it, impaled by a metal beam thrown at high speeds. I saw Kya become one with a Kyogre, giving her life to do so. I saw Jacob launching himself at Deoxys trying to kill it, before being stopped in mid air and stabbed by it, falling into the water below, and I saw Lucian, being pulled off the ground by Colden, who then stuck a knife into his torso.
I looked up at Arceus as tears formed in my eyes.
“All of them are dead?” I asked.
“Yes…”
“Then why bring me here?” I shouted angrily, “If you’re all knowing, and can make me draw things that haven’t happened yet, why bring me here if they’re only going to die before I can get to you?”
I looked at the Legendary Pokemon angrily.
“I could have been with them and helped them!” I shouted, “I could have saved them! So why waste my f***ing time, and bring me here?”
There was silence as Arceus stared at me.
“Answer me!”
“For one to learn what it takes to succeed… One must also fail…”
I looked at the Pokemon in confusion?
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“To relive the past, with knowledge of what happens next is the dream of men…”
“And the gift I offer your friends…”
Suddenly the meaning of what it said earlier hit me. ’To learn what it takes to succeed, one must also fail…’
“So they couldn’t have have survived it straight away…” I asked, “But if they had another chance, a do-over, they can win this?”
“For them sacrificing themselves, and for you passing my tests, this is what I offer...”
I went to speak again, however was cut off.
“However, it comes at a price…”
I remained silent, concerned at what the cost will be.
“To give them more time, it must be taken from somewhere else...”
“You mean, I need to give up the rest of my time?” I asked, “The cost for them to have another chance is my life?”
”Yes…”
Whilst the thought of death scared me, especially when I am expecting it, I knew what I had to do. Everybody else gave their life for this cause. Now it was my turn to make it mean something…
“I’ll do it.”
Arceus looked down at me curiously.
“Such a decision cannot be made lightly....”
“They made that decision the moment we split up.” I replied, “Now it’s time for me to make that decision…”
The room began to glow brighter, as everything around me turned white. Eventually all I could see was myself and Arceus.
“You have done everything you can. Now it is up to your friends…”
Chapter 15
I opened my eyes to a loud bang, as a purple light erupted from the ground into the sky, from the hole where the hidden elevator was.
“Laura! Run!” I shouted to my sister, who was still in the trench. Break or no break, if she didn’t get out of here now, she didn’t stand a chance. I checked to see if she was leaving, before looking back again at where the light came from.
Slowly, something rose out of the hole in the ground. Its eyes stared blankly at us, with no emotion or thought. This thing wasn’t a Pokemon. It was a killing machine. It had no soul.
As I thought about this, I realized that this had happened before. I had memories of this already. Of me failing to stop Deoxys. If I am not crazy, the next thing to happen will be…
“L, cover my back, keep the Shadow Pokemon off my a**.” I said.
“What and let you take this thing alone?”
“I’ve got half my team still, and if I weaken it, you’re more likely to finish it off than the other way around.” I replied, “You’re a God. I’m just a loose-cannon from Lilycove.”
“Jacob, look out!” Magnus shouted, as Deoxys flew into the air. Suddenly there was a high pitched whistle as a small light appeared near its gemstone, erupting into a dark purple beam of light, which tore through Magnus, killing him instantly. The first vision had been fulfilled.
So this had happened before. I was right. But for some reason, I had another chance to do this. To make it right.
“Jacob, run!” Came a voice from behind me. I looked behind me to see Latios fighting back the waves of Shadow Pokemon, and Laura standing behind a rock, looking at me in horror. But something was different. Last time Dash was behind her. Now he wasn’t.
“Get out of here!” I shouted, “There’s nothing you can do!”
“Look out!” Laura screamed.
I looked up and saw Deoxys descending on me at high speeds.
Instinctively, I raised Titan to block, knowing full well it would do nothing.
Deoxys arm morphed into sharp looking tentacles, as it reached point blank range, milliseconds away from striking.
This was the moment when Gwaine sacrificed himself to save me. I closed my eyes, expecting to hear his voice in my head for the last time. I hear Deoxys peirce something, and this time, a scream of pain.
I open my eyes and look between myself and Deoxys, to see Dash, impaled on its tentacles. I looked to my left to see Gwaine being held in place by Dash’s Gardevoir, who looked at us in horror. She mustn’t have known what he was about to do.
“Hold it off for as long as you can!” I shouted at Gwaine, shocked at what had just happened.
There was a telekinetic blast, knocking Deoxys back, as Gwaine, Lugia and the other Pokemon nearby kept Deoxys preoccupied.
“What the f*** Dash?!” I shouted, “You idiot! Why did you do that?!”
Dash laughed to himself, slightly.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t get it too? The sense that all this had already happened?” Dash asked, “All the memories of things yet to come? I figured all of us got it...”
“But why?”
“You always were thick…” Dash muttered to himself, “I have a way to kill Deoxys, but didn’t think we’d be able to do it here, so tried to leave with it, to kill it another time. But we both saw how that went down…”
Dash raised his hand to reveal a thin plastic film that appeared to have wires running through it.
“I knew that if I can’t get off this island without being killed in the process, then the only way to end this, is to kill it now.” Dash replied, “Either way, I was going to die. At least this way, I might stand a chance of doing some good.”
“No, you can’t do this…” I said, starting to tear up, “You can’t do this you f***ing a**hole! You can’t stab us in the back, and help them bring Deoxys into the world, only to get the guilts, and realize if you’re going to die, you might as well go out looking like a hero!”
“You really don’t get it, do you, douchebag?” Dash asked, laughing weakly, “I was never with them. I only tagged along with them to find out how to stop them.”
“Bulls***...” I muttered.
“I had my computer hooked up the the tank they brought Deoxys to life in, and was scanning it as they did it.” Dash explained, coughing up blood, “That film is designed to put out an electrical frequency that can get through its psychic barriers, and cause it to denature. One hit and it will fall to pieces. The only way I could get the information necessary to kill it, was to let them create it first. I knew you’d never be on board with that. Too f***ing pigheaded.”
I was silent. Dash actually thought this whole thing through. He even gave himself a longer and more painful death, just to try and beat this thing.
“Hey, douchebag…” Dash said softly.
“Yeah Dash…”
“F*** this thing up enough for the both of us, okay?”
I couldn’t help but laugh, whilst choking on tears.
“Sure thing Dash. With your help, this motherf***er won’t know what hit it…”
Dash went silent, and soon after, stopped breathing. He had gone.
I took the film from Dash and wrapped it around the hilt of my sword. Instantly, I felt the hum of electricity running through my body.
I looked up to where Deoxys was, and saw it knock Lugia out of the sky, before launching another attack. This time the purple beam hit Latios, before moving through the Shadow Pokemon, and hitting Laura, killing them all instantly.
I wanted to mourn. I wanted to weep for my fallen comrades. For my sister. My friends. But I had spent too much time doing that already. This had to end, and now I could end it.
Deoxys descended to ground level, just off the edge of the cliff. I knew what I had to do.
I readied Titan, before running to the cliff edge. When I reached the ledge, I leapt forward, and with both hands, swung Titan downwards, aiming for Deoxys head.
I felt a slight resistance in the air, as the blade hit a psychic barrier, however, like Dash had said, the electrical signal disrupted it, causing the sword to cut through through it like a hot knife through butter.
As I felt Deoxys tendrils impale me, the blade hit the top of Deoxys head, and cut downwards, stopping in the middle of the gemstone in its chest, and in the split second between that and us both falling towards the ocean beneath us, I saw the light leave Deoxys eyes.
We plummeted from the cliff edge towards the ocean, and as I expected to hit the water, there was a flash of light, and I found myself lying on the ground looking up at Gwaine.
“Nice timing with the teleport…” I coughed, as I felt my strength leaving me. “I thought this was going to be a lot less comfortable for a second.
Gwaine remained silent, as he tried to put pressure on the stab wounds and slow the bleeding.
“Don’t bother.” I muttered, “The closest hospital is Lilycove, and I doubt there is anyone here still alive. I knew what I was walking into. Let’s just enjoy our last moments.”
“Don’t say that…”
I looked over at Gwaine who had tears forming in his eyes.
“We had a good run Gwaine.” I said, trying to hide how much pain I was in, “You saved my skin more times than I like to remember.”
“Thirty-seven.” Gwaine said ”Thirty-seven times.”
I laughed at the fact that Gwaine had actually kept track…
“Well whataya know.” I replied, “Either way, I’m glad it was you by my side. Made for a lot more fun…”
“It was…”
“Take care of Phoebe for me, okay?” I asked, my words now starting to slow, “Don’t let her be too depressed about me, but don’t let her forget me either…”
“I don’t think anybody could forget you…” Gwaine replied.
“Good… I’d hate that…”
I closed my eyes as everything started to turn white....
Chapter 16
“I don’t know…” Colden said, “But Rayquaza is Mega-Evolving!”
I opened my eyes and was hit with a massive sense of deja vu. This had happened before. I knew it.
The light engulfing Rayquaza became turned into a flash, which was enough to distract Colden and Raiden further. I turned over and kicked Raiden’s feet out from underneath him, knocking him to the ground, before looking over at Rayquaza. It had grown, and now had gold glowing tendrils flowing from its fins. It roared, before unleashing another attack on Groudon.
In my moments distraction, Colden took the opportunity to try and attack me, launching himself at me, and knocking me to the ground, however not without me grabbing him and pulling him down with me. I rolled over, pulling him onto his back, before punching him in the face, getting up only to dodge Raidens next attack.
I jumped backwards, avoiding the first punch, however wasn’t quick enough to avoid the second, this one being from his right arm. It grabbed me by the shirt, picking me up and pushing me into a nearby wall.
“It’s me. Rain. Keep struggling and act normal.”
For a second I was shocked to hear this, before remembering the last thing I saw before Colden killed me. The shock was enough to bring Rain back to the surface.
Rain lifted me up and pinned me to the ground.
“I can drain the Shadow energy from Colden and kill him, once and for all.” Rain whispered, “But I can’t do it with that Greninja out.”
I felt Rain take a pokeball from my belt, before picking me up and throwing me to the ground again, before walking back to Colden.
“I got this.” Rain said, tossing the Pokeball to Colden, “No more Greninja.”
“Thank you Raiden…” Colden replied with a smile, “Or should I say Rain…”
Almost instantly, Colden’s Shadow Pokemon turned on Rain’s team.
“I don’t know what caused you to switch with Raiden, but I knew the moment you did.” Colden said, crushing Frost’s Pokeball in his hand, “I could have put it in the Pokeball, but that could come back later to bite me…”
I looked at my Pokemon, and all of them bar Frost were knocked out, seeing as nothing had changed for them.
“Finish it off!” Colden shouted.
Colden’s Shadow Jolteon leapt at Frost, biting into it using Thunder Fang, leaving it unmoving on the ground. I had to look away when the rest of the Shadow Pokemon leapt at Frost and started tearing him to pieces…
“I can feel my strength returning as we speak…” Colden said, “How great it is to not be inhibited by that damn Pokem-”
Whatever he was going to say was cut off by Rayquaza firing another attack at Groudon, knocking the Pokemon back against the Cave of Origin. Before it could get back up, a blue light appeared in the water by Kyogre, as four large jets of water launched into Groudon. Finally, Rayquaza hit it with a Dragon Pulse, finally knocking the Legendary Pokemon unconscious.
Rain didn’t need a second opportunity, leaping towards Colden, swinging his shadow-fuelled arm at him. I turned to face the Shadow Pokemon, however Rain’s team had taken the last of them out. Colden raised his hand, and shot a beam of purple light, which Rain blocked with the palm of his hand, seeming to absorb it.
I grabbed the iron bar, and whilst Colden was distracted with Rain, and swung it at the back of his legs, hitting him behind the knees, causing him to drop to the ground, however not without feeling a sharp pain in my stomach.
I stepped back, and looked down to find Colden’s knife wedged into my stomach.
In a quick movement, Rain grabbed Colden’s arm with his left hand, then place his right over Colden’s face.
“Lucian was right. This is over.” Rain muttered, as Colden started to scream. The shadow energy that was keeping him alive could be seen flowing from Colden’s body into Rain’s arm. As the last of it drained from his body, Colden’s body went still, as Rain collapsed next to him. I ripped the knife out of my stomach before approaching him.
“Is it gone?” I asked, “The shadow energy?”
“We’ll, it’s not in him anymore…” Rain muttered, “That’s one problem solved…”
Before I could ask what he was talking about, I was interrupted by the sound of someone gasping.
Rain and I looked in shock at Colden. His eyes were open, and though it was weak, he was breathing...
“I thought you got the shadow energy out of him?!” I said to Rain.
“I did!”
“Lucian… Where are we?” Colden asked weakly, “What happened?”
I sat next to Colden and couldn’t help but smile.
“We’re in Sootopoolis City.” I explained, “Things got a bit messy…”
“Geez…” Colden said, his breathing starting to sound weaker.
Suddenly, I remembered something.
I looked over at my Pokemon who lay either injured or worse nearby.
“Pyro!” I shouted desperately, “Pyro! Wake up!”
I looked at the unmoving Typhlosion, hoping for the love of Arceus that it was still alive.
After a few more seconds, I saw it twitch, before rolling over, to look at me. It was injured and exhausted, but it was alive. Meanwhile, I felt my strength leaving me as I lost blood from the knife wound.
“Pyro, come here.” I shouted, “Quickly.”
The Typhlosion managed to stand, and began limping over to where we were.
Colden’s breathing was becoming weaker by the second. A smile appeared on his face when Pyro sat next to him.
“Remember this little guy Colden?” I asked, “He’s grown a bit.”
“How could I forget?” Colden laughed, “Thanks for taking care of him. I always knew you would…”
Colden’s eyes closed as his chest stopped moving. For so long the shadow energy was all that kept him alive. Without that, I was lucky to have these few minutes with him at all.
I wiped the tears from my eyes as Rain spoke up.
“I wish all of this was over. I really do. But it’s not…” Rain muttered.
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to not think about the pain.
“I can’t hold this much shadow energy.” Rain explained, “It will either take over, or escape. It is weakening me, and if you don’t do something soon, we will have a whole world of trouble on our hands…”
“By do something… Do you mean kill you?” I asked.
“I’m sorry to ask this Lucian. I really am.” Rain replied, “If I die, and there is nothing nearby for the shadow energy to escape to, it will die with me. But right now I am holding it off best I can, and there are three Legendary Pokemon nearby who could get infected.”
I began to realize what Rain was asking. He pointed to the water nearby that made up the centre of the city.
“I don’t have long. A minute at most. If I’m not at the bottom by then, then everything we did today will be for nothing…” Rain said, “We will be worse off than before, and I don’t have the strength to get there myself.”
I could feel my strength leaving me and knew what this meant. For me to take Rain down there, I’d not be coming back up.
“I’m sorry Lucian.” Rain said, “All of our water types are dead or too weak to do it. It has to be you.”
I sighed, as I weakly stood up, and made my way over to Rain, helping him stand, before walking into the waters edge.
“Thank you…”
I wrapped one of my arms around Rain’s torso, before diving down into the water, pulling him with me.
As we dove down, I felt myself getting weaker by the second, however forced myself to keep going. Getting Rain as deep as possible was the only thing preventing this whole ordeal being for nothing.
After a minute, I felt Rain start to struggle as he ran out of air, however tightened my grip, and kept diving. As we reached the bottom I felt him go limp, and the last of my strength leave me, as I closed my eyes one last time, and everything started to go white…
Chapter 17
You open your eyes and find yourself face to face with Arceus.
“You gave so much to save so many.” Arceus says, “I wish I could return you to your world, however that isn’t possible. However you understood that when you gave your life for this cause”
“So what I can offer you is this.”
“There is a world, much like your own, with one difference being that these horrible events never took place. If you desire, you can live the life of yourself there.”
“Or you can work alongside Chime, as a Guardian of the Dimensions, to help prevent catastrophes like this from happening again.”
“The choice is yours. You have earned it.”
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08-22-2018, 03:05 AM #2
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Last edited by [Desolate Divine]; 07-01-2019 at 12:42 PM.
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