After weeks of procrastination, I bring you the fourth chapter! Again, please note the edit in the previous post concerning what was in the spoiler tag earlier: this chapter was split due to length, so the details I promised you would find in Chapter IV will be divided among Chapter IV
and Chapter V.
I can also assure you that Chapter V should not take as long as this installment did, as it requires less effort on my part to write.
And without further ado, I present:
CHAPTER IV: THE MONSTER REVELATION
Alex pounded on the rear window of the stolen car as it propelled the runaways through the outskirts of Oaken Falls, screaming at the top of his lungs and thrashing about violently.
“MOM! MOM! NO!”
“Alex, stop!”
Annie screamed as the boy attempted to smash the glass with his fist. Lucario turned around to see him punch it four times before crying out for his mother again in distress, the boy’s eyes nearly bursting from their sockets.
“Luc, watch the road!”
Cynthia’s hands flew to the wheel to spin it sideways, which caused the car to swerve sharply to the left. They had barely clipped a deadly guardrail along the freeway.
The Pokémon quickly muttered its apologies and tried to stay focused on the road while Annie was busy trying to grab the feverish Alex and drag him back into his seat. Her attempts were futile at first as he continued to bash the back window, smearing blood all over from his shredded knuckles.
“MOM!” he moaned as Annie yanked on his waist, sobbing and punching the glass ferociously. “Turn around! TURN AROUND! LET ME GO!”
“Alex, she’s gone!” Annie shrieked, pulling harder, tears flowing down her face. “Calm down! Please!”
The boy whipped around and socked Annie right in the kisser. The blow knocked her head against the door. Her head reeled as she gripped her nose tightly and cried out in pain.
Cynthia turned in her seat to see what the commotion was about when saw Alex unlock his door with shaking hands.
“NO, ALEX! DON’T—!”
With the car bulleting its way across wide, empty lanes, Alex flung open the car door, and without regard to the meters of asphalt blazing by before him, leapt out onto the freeway.
Cynthia screamed as she watched the boy’s legs buckle and his body slump to the ground upon contact with the asphalt just before he shot out of view. His limp figure was just disappearing in the distance as Annie sat back up, blood dripping from her left nostril and her eyes tightly knit.
“Where is he?” said the girl, coughing.
And then she opened her eyes and saw the open door flapping in the wind just before a loud bugling noise sounded from several miles away. Annie looked behind the car and saw the dot that was Alex fading with grey road while the foreboding Giratina slinked around skyscrapers and seared its way through buildings not far behind.
The former Champion in the front seat wasted no time. Her fingers slid down to her belt, where eight Pokéballs were clipped. She grabbed the third on the right side of her waist and hastily rolled down the window, her eyes watery and her make-up blotchy. While she did so, Annie leaned forward and grabbed the flailing door’s handle to slam it back shut.
“Garchomp, go get that idiot!” Cynthia shouted, tossing the Pokéball out her window.
The little sphere with black and yellow markings soared several feet behind the car before opening and spraying embers from its core. A beam shot out from the inside of its shell to the sky a moment before the Pokéball recoiled back into Cynthia’s hand extending out the window.
The beam coalesced into a series of particles that made up an indigo reptile, which spread a small pair of wings from its shoulders upon materialization and shot back down the freeway while its Trainer and the others sped in the opposite direction.
Garchomp’s hammerhead turbines whizzed mechanically as the wind passed through their slits. The orange-bellied dragon glided along a steady jet stream upon her dorsal fin-like arms, intense topaz eyes searching the road below.
Finally, Garchomp spotted the boy’s unconscious body approaching: Alex was lying spread-eagle on the road just a short distance away with scrapes and cuts visible all over his arms and face. The creature began to tier her way closer to the ground for a swift and smooth pick-up of the human.
Meanwhile, in the falling city, Giratina began ravaging the place more savagely than ever before. Screams were now audible across the expanse of the suburbs where houses were being blown to smithereens by a gravitational wave the Rogue Pokémon discharged from the flapping of its shadowy wings, a force comparable to the blast of an atomic bomb.
Farther behind, the heart of Oaken Falls had collapsed and become a decrepit wasteland of ash, bones, blood, and glass. Arms of half-living citizens crunched beneath the carnage twitched and reached above the surface just seconds before being toppled on by gargantuan steel frames that had once held towering giants together. Limbs rained down on the fissured streets, and the body count only continued to rise.
Smoke and noxious gases flooded the plain of the city and blotted out the sun, creating an atmosphere rivaling that of the infernal depths of Hell. Giratina gave a terrible screech as it munched on the corpses scattered about the massacre it had wrought, scarlet fluid and quivering intestines dripping from its sharp, black beak.
It was not as hungry as it was determined to make these people suffer to their last breath. It is what its master had willed, and so it carried on its duty with invigoration.
Now driving through the Viridian district, Lucario and Cynthia desperately searched exit signs passing overhead while Annie leaned against the back of the car, watching Giratina’s unfolding atrocities with terror and wiping her bloody nose. Saying she was worried would be an understatement.
However, she was not angry that Alex had taken out his frustration on her. On the contrary, she hoped with all her heart that the strange dragon-shark hybrid Pokémon Cynthia had released would return with the boy soon. Fear and trepidation commanded the rapid drumming of her heart, and she could hardly imagine what sort of injuries he had sustained, or even what kind of sick, twisted deaths people were suffering out there.
Annie shivered as she saw Giratina leap up from the ruins where Clear Creek Drive had once been to wreak havoc on another section of the city. She was baffled at the fact that thousands would be dead in only a matter of minutes. She felt as though she had left her body and had fallen into one of her worst nightmares. She could hardly comprehend the destruction unfurling before her very eyes.
Despite the chaos running rampant, there were two people in Oaken Falls Annie felt no remorse for: her own parents. Although Giratina was mercilessly ripping her hometown apart and taking thousands of innocent lives in the wake of its annihilation, she felt that those two had gotten their just dessert in the very end. Where had they been when she had taken her first steps? Where were they when she rode her first bike? Where were they when her period started?
Where had they been while she was maturing into an adolescent? The answer was always the same. They had shirked their duties as parents by living in retrospect and ignorance, and wasting away their days as if they would live forever.
Apparently, their days were now numbered.
But Annie’s thoughts quickly transitioned from contempt for her own parents to Alex’s devotion to his mother. When Annie had called him over to the window the night before, they had discussed Janice Gregory. When the girl had said that she seemed to be a very kind woman, Alex only half-heartedly agreed. She had been under the impression that he was indifferent to her up until the moment she found that he had socked her in the face and jumped out of the speeding car to go back for her.
What sort of relationship did he really have with her? Was it more complicated than she had thought? She had always assumed things about people, but from then on, she feared that depending on her assumptions would prove to be very dangerous in the future.
Millions were going to be slaughtered, according to Cynthia, and there was no telling what the future really had in store for them, a group who had avoided death only by a slight margin. Would they be able to keep up their luck much longer?
“I don’t see it,” Cynthia sighed, rapping on the dashboard with her fist.
<It must be further than you thought,> said Lucario, adjusting the rear-view mirror.
“What are you guys looking for?” Annie managed to croak.
“We need to take the Tohjo Falls exit,” Cynthia explained irritably. “Only problem is that I have no clue where it is along here. It’s somewhere in the Viridian district.”
“Why are we going to Johto?” Annie asked, leaning forward to face Cynthia. “You said that the Legendaries were going to wipe out the
entire human race. Johto shouldn’t any different from Kanto.”
“The Legends will come for Johto eventually, yes,” said Cynthia, “but there are several reasons why I believe that they’ll finish Kanto off before the rest. This is probably the most ‘tainted’ of all the regions, as far as cruelty toward Pokémon goes—I have to explain later; there’s obviously no time. Just believe me when I say we’ll be safer in Johto…at least, until the gods set their eyes on it.”
“Is that what they’re doing? Judging regions by how much suffering they’ve caused to Pokémon?” said Annie, slightly irked. “There are tons of people out there who don’t deserve to die! There are people still fighting for the rights of Pokémon—people like you, Cynthia!”
“Well, I’m flattered. I suppose my speech back at the Oak Estate really hit home for you,” she said somewhat cynically. “But it doesn’t make a difference to the Legendaries whether or not I or anyone else supports life for Pokémon. If what the Myth of Veilstone says is true, they’ll kill us all: women, children, everyone. There will be no discrimination.”
At those words, Cynthia crossed her arms and turned away from Annie, who was just getting ****** off at the former Champion’s stubbornness. Was she going to be treated like this every time she asked the woman a question?
Suddenly, Cynthia’s eyes lit up. She jumped to her window and gazed outside.
Garchomp was trailing through the air behind the car with Alex’s flaccid body dangling from her strong arms. However, the fighter jet build of the Pokémon could not support the extra weight much longer.
The former Champion waved her hand over to the back door of the car, signaling for Garchomp to fly in next to them. The Pokémon swiftly obeyed and jetted forward to fly parallel to the car.
“Annie, open your door. Hurry,” Cynthia urged, looking down at the unconscious boy cradled in the dragon’s arms through her open window. “And thank you so much, Garchomp.”
“Gar!” the creature responded, carefully eyeing its flight path.
Annie turned to the right side of the car and opened the door, which refused to budge at first from the heavy wind resistance. Once it was completely ajar, Garchomp growled, an obvious warning for Annie to move back. The girl had just scooted into the next seat over as ordered, just before the Pokémon hurled Alex into the cab. The boy’s head landed in Annie’s lap, bruises on his cheeks and a deep cut in his forehead. Garchomp then slammed the door shut with her dorsal-finned arm.
The girl admired the creature for a moment, never having seen so many rare Pokémon in the past few hours than ever in her entire life.
Cynthia recalled the creature back into her Ultra Ball. She then groaned and pressed two fingers against her temples to ease an oncoming migraine while Annie consulted Alex’s neck for a pulse.
“He’s alive,” she declared, sighing in relief as she felt an artery throbbing beneath his sweaty skin.
“Great,” Cynthia replied, rubbing her head and closing her eyes tightly.
Annie ignored the woman’s bitterness and instead gazed into the boy’s serene face. He had seemed so aggressive and frightening moments ago. Now that he was unconscious, he was a perfect angel.
Without realizing it, the girl began to stroke Alex’s hair lightly, snagging on bits of rock that had been imbedded in his scalp. She removed them to the best of her ability, and then cringed at the gash across his forehead.
“This is going to need bandaging soon—”
<Oh, no.>
Cynthia turned to Lucario, dismissing her migraine. Annie looked up.
Not those words again.
<It’s Giratina,> said the Pokémon, looking into the rearview mirror, eyes wide in panic. <It’s coming.>
Cynthia and Annie turned around.
Sure enough, there was Giratina’s serpentine form snaking away from Oaken Falls and heading into the Viridian district of the city. Not only that, but it seemed to be flying above the same freeway that they were traversing in their ramshackle vehicle.
“Wait a minute,” said Cynthia, turning to Lucario and placing a hand on his shoulder, “Luc…get into the right lane.”
The Pokémon turned the wheel in said direction, moving the car over to the right. Cynthia turned around.
Giratina moved in the same direction.
“S
hit,” Cynthia swore, eyes turning downward. “It’s following us.”
“Lucario! NO, WAIT!” Annie cried, poking her head between the front seats.
<What? What is it now?> Lucario demanded.
“You MISSED the exit! Oh, God—you missed it!”
The girl pointed back to where they had been before Lucario turned into the right lane. A green exit sign looming above the outstretched road labeled “Tohjo Falls Pass – 26 Kilometers” faded away into the distance where they should have taken a left.
“Oh, no! Luc, turn back around!” Cynthia screamed, banging her hands against the dash.
<I can’t! I told you, the brakes aren’t working!>
Suddenly, Giratina came soaring over the sign.
It began to pursue them, its grey body covered in soot and its head stained with blood. The heathen let out a horrible hiss, wings sweeping across the freeway. The humans in the car screamed while Lucario pushed on the gas pedal with all of his strength.
Then, without warning, the Rogue Pokémon vanished into thin air, leaving a wide expanse of freeway behind them once more.
“It’s gone!” Annie cried, relieved at the miracle.
But her foolish dreams were instantly shattered as they heard a bugling noise dead ahead.
Giratina had reappeared and was floating above the freeway in front of them, a black and violet shroud of mist spreading from its body. Then, with a loud screech, the creature unfurled its wings and sent the dark nebula crashing down upon them. Annie and Cynthia held each other as Luc jerked the wheel, trying to evade the blast.
Alex’s body fell onto the floor of the backseat area just as the vehicle barely avoided the Shadow Rush, which had scorched through the freeway’s foundation in the spot where they had been only seconds before. The ladies in the car sighed with exasperation, but were instantly thrown out of their comfort zone again when they felt a rumbling beneath their feet. At first, they thought that something was wrong with the car.
Then, they began to see cracks and fractures splitting across the road. Giratina cackled at their fate as it took flight once more into the desolate city, surely sending those humans to their demise.
In less than a minute, the freeway crumbled and lost its integrity. The road beneath the sputtering car began to tilt and slide downward. Everyone braced themselves as the vehicle went spinning out of control and the pavement below them collapsed. They went shooting through a gigantic chasm in the road, tumbling downward in a whirlwind of color and anguish.
As Annie was tossed around the backseat, she thought she saw the world outside her window being consumed by an ever-brightening light.
Then everything went black.
~*~
Darkness.
Wait, is that a tree?
No…more than one. There are many trees.
It’s a forest.
The boy looks up and sees stars twinkling through a canopy of foliage.
He hears a dripping noise. His eyes come back down to Earth, attempting to adjust to so much darkness. Moving his foot around on the ground, he can feel rubbery grass beneath his feet. Somewhere in the distance, oceanic waves are washing up on a shore.
But here, there is only a forest.
The boy takes a step forward. More grass. He squints to see what lies ahead. At first, he can only make out the silhouettes of more trees. Then, he realizes he’s in a clearing.
There’s a shallow pool of water glistening in the middle, just over a small hump of land.
The boy sees the stars reflected in its magnificence.
He runs over the small hump to the edge of the water. He gazes down into the pool.
He sees that his reflection’s tawny hair has been tossed aside, a ragged mess. His blue eyes tremble upon the sight of a deep gash on his forehead. The boy lifts a shuddering hand to touch the wound—
“You’re here,” says his reflection in a voice that does not belong to him.
The boy stumbles backward. He breathes heavily, heart racing. He hears the voice again, but dares not approach the water.
“The Monster knows you’re there,” it coos, chuckling. “But don’t worry, young child. The Monster does not wish you harm. Come back to the Monster. Let It see you again.”
The boy shivers.
“What are you?” he shouts at the water, causing ripples to flow across its surface.
“Lower your voice!” the voice from the pool cries, coughing. “Just come here!”
Suddenly, a strong gust pushes against the boy’s back. He finds himself staggering over to the shallow pond once more against his will. He keeps his eyes shut and head lifted even as his feet reach the edge.
“The Monster knows you are afraid. The Monster didn’t know you better before. It apologizes. Just look down. Open your eyes.”
The boy refuses to comply. Then, the voice moans from below.
“Please,” it says with a hint of sadness. “Please open your eyes…and look down. Do it now. Do it for the Monster.”
Without realizing it, the boy opens his eyes. He sees the stars, but can’t look down.
“Good, good,” the voice croons. “Now, please...please, let the Monster see your face.”
“Why should I?” says the boy, stuttering and continuing to stare at the stars. “You’re…you’re the one who’s been giving me nightmares. You’re the one that followed me from that old inn…in Canalave.”
“The Monster wants to help you,” says the voice. “But the Monster is sorry. Can you forgive It? Can you forgive the Monster?”
The boy listens for any screaming, any bones cracking. Nothing. He listens for the sound of ripping flesh to bombard his hearing. Nothing.
“It’s safe here,” the voice interrupts softly. “Look down.”
A morbid curiosity comes over the boy. He slowly lowers his eye level to meet the trees once again, then to the other side of the pond. Then, with one final bow, his eyes fall to the edge of the water.
A pair of aquamarine eyes stares back at him, blinking for a moment as the hush sound of waves washing up on a beach returns.
“Thank you,” the voice from the water says coolly.
The eyes look up at the boy’s face. They are eerily calming.
“You’re hurt,” says the voice.
“Yeah, my…my forehead,” the boy replies, reaching to his gash.
“No,” says the voice. “Your heart. It’s…broken.”
The boy’s eyes screw up for a moment, when out of nowhere, a wind comes rushing across the pond. The aquamarine eyes vanish in ripples, but another face begins to emerge from the small waves.
The boy stares down. Tears form in his eyes. His mother’s reflection beams up at him, pale and smiling.
“Hello, Alex,” she says quietly, eyes soulless and empty.
“Mom,” Alex sputters, dropping down to his knees and reaching toward the water.
“Good-bye, Alex…”
“No! Mom, please! Mom! Don’t go!”
But in another ripple, she ebbs away, leaving only the stars.
The boy hunches over the pond, neck craning outward and shoulders shaking. He sobs, hot tears flowing down his face and trickling into the water. Several pleas for his mother’s return escape his throat in raspy cries of agony. She does not come back.
Mother—the name you call the one who takes care of you. Mother—the name of the one you came to take for granted until it was too late.
“Mom,” Alex whispers, face scrunched up and eyes clamped tightly shut. “Mommy… Mommy…I love you…you…you can’t be gone…”
Alex’s tears continue to fall into the water. The boy does not realize it at first, but as his tear ducts begin to dry up, the darkness in the water is distilling. Tear after tear plunks the surface of the pond, unveiling the ink that hides a shape below its murky depths. It had seemed so shallow at first, but the pond is so deep now that a figure appears to be standing underwater.
The figure looks up. Although most of its body is obscured, Alex can see a long, white hood trailing from a cavity where the two aquamarines lie, watching the boy intently. Alex becomes furious.
“Why are you torturing me?” the boy cries, sobbing. “Why are you making me suffer?”
“I’m not making you suffer. They’re
making you suffer, just like they made me,” says the figure below the water, its voice low and harsh. “They called me the Monster. Look what they’ve done to me. Do you see what I’ve become?”
Then, the figure begins to rise. Alex steps back, heart racing and tears still trailing down his cheeks.
He watches as a pitch-black creature transcends the pond without ever breaking the surface. Its hourglass-shaped body hovers on a gnarled skirt, and a red crest resembling a pair of jagged jaws rests upon its rounded shoulders. Two sets of claws hang from its shoulders like limp daggers.
The white, wispy hood over its sharp eyes wags in the subtle breeze.
<I want to help you, Alex Gregory,> says the creature, holding out its claws to the boy.
“Help me what?” asks the boy, trembling.
<To learn the truth,> says the Monster, gliding closer to him. <You cannot fight them on your own.>
As the creature advances upon Alex, the boy starts to step back.
“What are you talking about?” Alex cries, wiping his face. “I’m not fighting anyone!”
<But the fight has already begun,> says the Monster, reaching its claws out to the boy.
“No, get away from me! Get away from me! GET AWAY FROM—!”
The creature thrusts its palm against Alex’s loose lips, muffling screams that arise from his throat. The boy becomes paralyzed as the Monster stares into his eyes with intensity.
<Allow me to bestow my gift,> it says quietly.
Suddenly, dark, black veins start to spread across Alex’s face from where the Monster’s hand rests. The boy’s eyes roll back into his head as an overwhelming cold takes hold of him, a cold which soon crawls down his very spine.
<You will see the truth,> says the Monster, increasing the pressure of its palm against the boy’s mouth as the black veins overtake his trembling face. <You will see the memories and dreams of those closest to you—just as I see them.>
The Monster tilts it head curiously as it watches Alex’s blackened face twitching. The whites of the boy’s eyes glaze over in madness.
<Can you hear me, Alex Gregory?> the creature asks, eyes narrowed. <You are about to witness the origin of my eternal suffering.>
The blood vessels in Alex’s eyes begin to burst, red billowing across them like curtains. His head throbs with a sweltering pain. In his mind, he begs for death.
<You are about to enter my
dream,> says the Monster. <My
nightmare.>
Alex’s vision pales from scarlet to black. The throbbing ceases. The boy closes his eyes.
The sound of the ocean fades away. The sounds of the swaying trees and the Monster’s voice evanesce.
For a moment, there is silence.
And then Alex opens his eyes once more.
His sight is filled with the bright glare of twilight on the horizon of a great mountain range. He blinks rapidly, trying to take in the light of the scene. He’s standing on top of a mountain himself. He soon sees the other snow-capped peaks surrounding him with shrouds of mist encircling their tips. He turns his head from west to north to east, spotting three shimmering lakes off in the distance.
They’re beautiful.
Then, a hush murmur of voices approaches from behind. The boy tries to turn his head to look, but he retains no control. He is trapped in the skin of another body.
But whose body?
<Good evening, brother.>
Suddenly, Alex is wheeled around by an unseen force. He feels his neck crack from the tremendous strain pulling on him, and he feels himself cry out loud.
But his cry is not his own. It is something of harmonic bells chiming together to form a wail like no other. This body of his writhes around helplessly, unable to break free from the force keeping him at bay.
Now assembled in front of him on this lonely cliff is a group of dark silhouettes, tall and daunting in the pale light of dusk. There are four of them—three of which stand on either side of a central figure, whose physique appears smaller and more slender than the rest.
The figure lets out a triumphant laugh, the sound of bells trumpeting from its mouth.
It sounds just like his own cry.
What’s going on?
<What is the meaning of this, Arceus?> a regal voice sounds from Alex’s mind. <Unhand me at once!>
<I am afraid I cannot do such a thing,> says the central figure, a long hood-like appendage above its head flailing in the wind. <You see, brother, you are under arrest for crimes too horrific to speak of.>
<Crimes? What crimes? I have done nothing out of the conduct of the Council’s bidding! This is not like you!> Alex’s voice cries.
Then, the three larger figures guarding Arceus shift and growl as they hear a whizzing noise heading directly toward their position at the peak of the mountain.
Arceus remains still even as a new figure arrives, hovering from the sky down between Alex and the dark group. Its body resembles that of a feline with stub-like ears, long, padded rabbit’s feet, and an elongated tail of elegance that ends in an oval-shaped tip.
<My Lord, what is this all about?> the new creature shouts in a clearly feminine voice, and an incredibly infuriated one at that. <I came as soon as I heard from the others of your intentions!>
<What intentions? My Lady, what has he said?> Alex’s voice begs of the cat-like creature.
The new arrival turns toward Alex, facing him with shining sapphire eyes.
<He intends to destroy you!>
<Enough, Mew,> says Arceus, taking a step forward.
Mew turns around and faces the God Pokémon, who glares at her intensely from the confines of his graceful hood. The golden chakra wheel pinned to his abdomen gleams in the twilight.
<I will not destroy him. I will merely do what Destiny wills me to do,> he barks, not attempting to mask his anger. <There can only be one of Us on this planet.>
<This is NOT your jurisdiction to uphold, Arceus
!> Mew screams, flying toward the God and sneering into his shrouded face. <I
hold jurisdiction over all living things, including our own kin! You cannot make a decision over Arciadra’s fate without my approval, nor without the rest of the Council’s approval!>
<I may do as I please, Mew,> Arceus slowly replies.
<What has happened to you?> Mew weeps, grabbing the equine creature’s head and holding it with shaking paws. <My Lord, I have heard whispers of mutiny, but have thought nothing of them—until now! Why should you be compelled to punish your own flesh and blood? Why are you doing this to your own brother?>
<Although we shared the same womb inside the Celestial Egg,> Arceus spits, <it was I who was destined to govern this world and maintain its laws. Arciadra and I cannot rule as equals. There cannot be two of Us.>
<Arceus! Brother! What are you going to do?> Arciadra cries, Alex feeling his body thrashing about wildly. <What are you going to do?>
Mew turns her head toward Alex just as Arceus also looks up to meet his sibling’s painful gaze with glowing green eyes.
<I am sending you to another realm,> the God declares, earning a few humble roars from the titans standing beside him. <There, you will reign over the dreams of those pathetic humans. Do as you wish, for they matter little to me.>
<How DARE you!> Mew screams, whipping around and facing Arceus. <How DARE you call my own creations pathetic
!>
Arceus merely snuffs at the little Legendary’s remark.
<If it was my decision, I would have never allowed another race of sentient beings to inhabit my world,> the God replies heartlessly. <But since they are already here as a result of the foolish abuse of your powers, I must wait for a sufficient excuse to wipe them out completely.>
Mew eyes Arceus with unadulterated hatred.
<The Council would never comply with such a terrible notion,> she hisses.
<My friends here beg to differ,> Arceus replies.
The four titans guarding the God roar once more in approval. Arciadra’s body quivers in fright. Alex can feel his heart racing at a thousand beats per minute. The cold-blooded God Pokémon stares down the floating pink cat.
<Mew,> says Arceus, <I hereby charge you with treason and send you into exile, never to return to Mount Coronet again.>
<NO!> Mew shouts as an aura of azure fire sets her tiny body ablaze.
Arceus merely watches as a sphere of psychokinetic energy begins pulsating from the cat’s body.
<YOU TREACHEROUS DOG! YOU UNFAITHFUL COWARD—>
Then, Arceus quickly stamps its foreleg. In a blink of light, the irate Mew disappears.
Arceus then glances up at Arciadra with utter loathing.
<Giratina,> says the God to one of the titans, unsympathetic in tone, <come forward.>
Alex feels Arciadra’s heart drop as the all too familiar Renegade Pokémon stomps into view, six leviathan legs supporting its giant centipede-like body and heavily armored head.
<I am in all things obedient to your wishes, Master Arceus,> Giratina croons in a high, chilling voice, clicking its beak and spreading its vile wings before Arciadra.
<Take the Monster out of my sight,> the God commands, glaring across the cliff at Alex. <Let him know the meaning of misery.>
<If it pleases you, my Lord,> Giratina screeches.
Then, before Alex can recollect the entire scene preceding Arceus’ final judgment, Giratina sends a wave of violet energy crashing into Arciadra. The blast throws the betrayed god into a vortex of flames and darkness. A distant voice chuckles.
<Let him rot in Hell.>
Alex feels himself tumbling, tumbling deeper into the depths of a dimension void of light.
A howling wind whistles in his ears, causing his eardrums to pop.
Blood trickles from the lobes resting above his head.
But the pain suddenly subsides.
The howling wind is gone.
It is replaced by the rhythmic ambience of ocean waves and trees swaying.
<Open your eyes.>
Alex quickly does as the voice says, and finds himself standing in front of the Monster, face-to-face. He is back in the forest again. The moon is still hovering above the clearing, just as before.
“You’re…you were…a god?” Alex stutters, trying to grasp the mind trip he just took. “You were a Legendary Pokémon?”
The Monster blinks. The creature then swivels around toward the pond and bows its head.
<I was once Arciadra, the brother of Arceus, Lord of the Beginning,> says the poor creature in its deep, curdled voice. <I was his equal. We were cut from the same cloth, as it were.>
Alex stares at the creature for a minute, dumbfounded.
Then, he takes a step forward, unsure of what to do next.
“But he betrayed you,” Alex remarks, approaching the Monster’s back. “I saw it. I was there, like I was in your body the entire time.”
<Yes,> says the creature, sighing. <You relived my worst memory.>
“And so he sent you to this…realm of dreams?” Alex asks, walking around the creature to stand by its side. “Where I saw the cathedral, and the black towers?”
<Yes.>
“But why were you torturing people?” says the boy with a hint of wariness.
The creature turns its sad head toward him.
<When you’ve been locked away in a world of dreams—and nightmares—for centuries,> he replies coolly, <everything is downside-up. You lose all traces of sanity left in you…and become something of a nightmare yourself.>
Alex surveys the Monster’s hourglass-shaped body and the red spikes jutting around its collarbone. The creature catches his gaze.
<I haven’t always look like this,> it says, hood over its eyes flapping quietly. <I used to look very much like my brother…until he sent me to that god-forsaken place.>
“Wait a minute,” Alex says, moving his head around and staring at the surrounding scenery. “Aren’t we there? Aren’t we in the realm of nightmares now?”
<No, Alex Gregory. We are within the confines of your fragile mind,> the Monster replies. <You remember that night at the Harbor Inn well enough, don’t you? It was I who interrupted your sleep and invaded your mind, through a gateway that connected my world to yours.>
The boy remains silent for a moment.
“It was your voice, then,” Alex says, trembling at the memory of that horrible night. “You…you…”
<Yes?>
“You wanted to rip me…you wanted to tear my soul apart. That’s what you said.”
<I beg of you, Alex, forgive me,> says the Monster, turning to the boy, pleading with him. <Anything you’ve heard in the past was not Arciadra speaking. That was not me. That was the Monster, a product of my decaying consciousness.>
Alex stares at the pitch-black creature incredulously.
<Listen. Spending the past few days in your mind, happening upon all your memories and feelings, has reawakened my own,> it says, reaching out to Alex and placing its claws on his shoulder. <You opened a door in me that I never thought would be opened again. You saved me, Alex.>
“But you
invaded my mind,” the boy replies, frightened, but livid. “I never asked to be the residence for a Legendary Pokémon.”
<But I can help you,> says the creature.
Alex looks at the Monster. He looks skeptical.
“How?”
<Hone the gift I have given you,> says the creature. <Learn to see into the minds of your colleagues. Only then can I be restored.>
The Monster takes its claws off of Alex’s shoulder and balls them into a fist.
<We can stop the oncoming bloodshed. When you and I are one, not even Arceus will be able to stop us.>
Alex’s eyes widen. He glares at the creature.
“So that’s
what this is all about,” says the boy, snickering. “Revenge. You want to use me as a vessel to my world so you can take Arceus down.”
<Don’t you see, Alex Gregory?> the Monster cries, holding up its arms. <It was Arceus who wrote the Myth of Veilstone. I know you are familiar with it. It was all in here.>
The creature leans forward and points to the boy’s forehead. Alex shudders.
<Didn’t you see Arceus’ contempt for the human race?> said the Monster, gliding back and forth at the edge of the pond. <He knew the humans would cross the line eventually, and he would be there when they did, more than eager to pull the trigger. He is the one who has declared war on your people, rather than negotiate a peaceful settlement with them.>
Alex lets the information sink in. It all makes sense now. With Mew, the Guardian of Life, out of the picture, Arceus would be free to do as he pleased. He would get the human-less world he always dreamed of.
“The Council that Mew mentioned,” Alex says, staring up at the starry sky. “Is it an assembly of some sort?”
<Yes. The Council is an assembly of the gods, or the Legendaries, as your people call them,> the creature replies, crossing its arms. <To my knowledge, they have not met since the world was created. They have all taken roost in various parts of your world, falling into deep slumbers; sleeping after their heavy toil was complete—until Arceus called upon them from the Hall of Origin once more.>
“Hall of Origin?”
<The meeting place of the Council, at the summit of Mount Coronet in the Sinnoh region.>
“But aren’t any of the Legendaries opposed to Arceus’ plans?” Alex asks, brow furrowed. “Will no one object?”
<Never underestimate Arceus,> the Monster warns the boy, wagging a claw at him. <He is God. Fighting him would be like an ant trying to fight you
…unless…you were his equal.”
The creature unfolds its arms. Alex looks at it, realization creeping in.
“You’re his brother...his equal,” the boy says. “And you’re...the only one who can stop him?”
The wraith nods.
<You need me to save your precious people,> says the Monster.
“And you need me
to get back at Arceus,” says Alex. “But what happens after you’ve stopped him?”
<I will overthrow him and reform the land in accordance with my beliefs. You won’t see me rendering cities to ash to solve the problems of the world.>
“But what about me?” Alex asks, bowing his head. “My mom is…gone. Who will I go back to? I don’t have a home anymore.”
The boy bites his lip, restraining tears as the memory of his mother, oblivious to the destruction behind her, standing on the porch, waiting for him, flooded his mind.
Suddenly, he hears screaming. He remembers flinging the car door open.
He wanted to go back to her, to save her.
But it was too late…
<You forget easily, boy,> says the creature. <Do you not have one parent that survives?>
Alex blinked at the Monster.
Suddenly, it all became so clear.
His father was still alive. But he was all the way in Olivine City…in Johto.
Johto.
Where Cynthia, Lucario, Annie, and he were last headed.
The boy suddenly feels the dark creature that was once Arciadra grasp his chin and lift it to look into his sweet, blue eyes.
<It’s time for you to go back, Alex Gregory.>
The Monster then turns the boy’s head toward the pond. It leans over and whispers.
<Go forth. At night, hone your new ability. You will know how to use it when the occasion presents itself.>
Alex looks down at his reflection and that of the Monster in the water at his feet.
“Will I see you again?” Alex asks, never taking his eyes off of the Monster’s reflection.
And for a moment, he thought he caught a glimpse of the creature smiling beneath that mysterious hood.
<Most assuredly,> it replies, placing its arm around the boy. <We will return here after you have completed your—let us call it—training. Yes. Then, we will become one.>
The creature then relinquishes its grip on Alex and encourages him to step into the pond.
<Return to your world now. Immerse yourself. You will discover much.>
The boy obeys and slowly walks into the pond. He expects the water to slosh beneath his feet, but instead finds himself stumbling into something deeper.
Something much deeper than he knows…
<Oh, and…Alex.>
The boy turns around. The creature is gone.
<What happened here is exclusively between you and me,> said the disembodied voice of Arciadra amongst the trees. <Tell no one of our secret, lest the world should fall into greater peril.>
And before Alex knows it, the water has already reached up to his neck.
The boy then takes a deep breath, and plunges into darkness below.
He becomes consumed by it.
~*~
The freeway was completely decimated.
Anyone attempting to enter Oaken Falls would find themselves whirling off a cliff of rubble and smashed road signs and into an area overgrown with maples and mossy vegetation beneath the place where the road once stood.
The screams and the tears had stopped just as quickly as they had come: Giratina was nowhere to be found amidst the ruins of the cold, shivering metropolis, leaving only automated alarms and the crackling of thousands of fires to eat up the silence.
Not a single soul had been exempt from Giratina’s butchery.
Except her.
Deep within the forgotten woods below that lonesome freeway, a frail old woman garbed in rags and leaves jabbed her knotty walking stick in the direction of a large branch protruding from the side of a massive tree. She barked unintelligibly as ashes came falling through the cross-woven canopy onto her head. When no response came, the woman barked again.
A blue Pokémon answered her primitive call, emerging from the thicket on webbed feet with a linen cloth wrapped around its head like a turban. A hint of blood trickled down the side of its duck-like bill. Paranoia reverberated in its ruby eyes.
The old woman growled from behind her wooden mask. The Golduck turned toward her, noticing she had mud clotted in her graying red hair, which flowed down to her back.
“Nah! Heh!” the woman moaned weakly, jabbing her stick at the tree again.
The Golduck blinked, and then glanced up at the branch she was motioning to.
The Pokémon’s heart fluttered.
Rocking slowly upon the creaking tree limb was what appeared to be a rusty hunk of metal with wheels attached to it, which spun helplessly against a transparent road. Not only that, but there appeared to be something inside the trashed car—something that almost looked like another Pokémon.
As the elderly woman let out another garbled slur of incomprehensible words, Golduck stepped into the shadow of the teetering car trapped in the tree above, avoiding the broken glass and oil slick upon the grass so that it could stand in a position with the vehicle clearly in sight.
The Pokémon lifted its webbed hands to the sides of its turban, closing its red eyes and humming softly. Soon, a purple light beneath the linen around its head silhouetted the folds of the material and began to course its way down the rest of Golduck’s body.
In the tree, the vehicle gave a violent shake just before the same purple light consumed it entirely. Golduck began concentrating all of its thoughts on the car’s mass, sending waves of telekinetic energy into its hull, trying to communicate with the fabric of atoms, from which all things are made.
Then, the car lurched forward a bit. The strain was so heavy on Golduck’s mind that it felt as though its brain had been trampled by a herd of Tauros. Watching the Pokémon’s cringing face and sensing its despair, the old woman gave a whoop, as if to cheer it on. Golduck gave a grunt to acknowledge her support.
Taking a deep breath, Golduck began to squeeze its head with even more pressure. The purple flames now dancing outside the car’s form flared a few inches as Golduck moved it closer to the edge of the branch with its mind.
Just a little further...
Suddenly, the branch gave way and snapped off the tree like a twig. Golduck’s eyes flashed open as the car came tumbling to the ground—
Then, pupils dilated, Golduck watched as the vehicle stopped and suspended itself in midair, the foot-long grass blades tickling the underbelly of the rusty chariot.
With its remaining mental stamina, the Golduck pulled its arms away from its head and lulled the car down like a flight conductor orchestrating a safe landing for it upon the grass. Immediately after touchdown, the Pokémon collapsed onto the soil and rolled onto its back, sharp bill open to allow air to flow into its lungs.
The masked woman limped over to her faithful friend and patted it on the stomach. However, she let it rest for a moment and regain its strength while she stepped forward and investigated the car.
She poked her wooden mask into the open window the driver’s side and sniffed the interior before laying eyes on the creature in the driver’s seat. Its head had fallen back against the moldy chair, long, narrow, dog-like snout pointed up. In the backseat were two children pinned against the passenger’s side by a long, metal rod that had shot through the trunk and into the cab. Several Pokéballs were scattered on the floorboard at their feet.
Then, the woman spotted a fourth body in the vehicle with its blonde head smashed against the dashboard and arms draped limply at its sides. She scurried over to the other side of the car and quickly opened the door.
She lifted up the head of the last stranger and peered into the gaunt, bruised face of Cynthia Athanasiadi.
The woman let out a stifled cry and dropped her stick before rushing away from the car, hands flailing in the air.
“Gawl-dock! Nell nee! Ah, how! Ah how!”
~*~
(Continued in Next Post)