No, no, your fine. But the reason I can't think that is because I can't remember which version of 'its' is supposed to have the apostrophe, since they both have equal tight to have it. Understand what I mean yet?
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Through the Thunder and the Lightning
- Thread starter Brutaka
- Start date
No, no, your fine. But the reason I can't think that is because I can't remember which version of 'its' is supposed to have the apostrophe, since they both have equal tight to have it. Understand what I mean yet?
Well, I know that now, but I always forget. Because possessive words have an apostrophe, and so does contractions. Maybe its because it is a possessive pronoun? He and She become His and Hers, so I guess that warrants 'its' strangeness. Ugh, English is such a stupid language.
Sorry for making you for so long, I had AVT to get through and tests and home work and blah blah blah blah...
"Raichu..." I growled, "put her down!"
April struggled against Raichu's tail, but her arms couldn’t gain the leverage to overcome its strength.
"What's the matter? Are you jealous, Sparky? No? Well, regardless, this isn't about you." Raichu turned his focus to April, still struggling to free herself. "You know, I've always liked you. I've shown my affection for you. And what do I get? Denial! A slap to the face! Well, no more. See, I got a new girl. One that appreciates all the care I give her."
"Aw, Raichu, no need to get sentimental over me," the Sneasel said with a sly grin.
"It's true, sweetie," Raichu said, winking at her.
"Can we get to the point already? I'm waiting for the part where you let April go," I said rudely.
"Hey! I'm being perfectly polite with you. April, on the other hand, has some justice coming to her. Well, maybe not justice. Revenge would a better word."
"Let...me...go!" April muttered with emotion.
"Always the impatient one. Won’t even let me monologue. But I'll get to my point. For the past five years, I longed for you. But you never showed anything back. It hurt. It hurt a lot. You'll never be able to feel the pain like I did, but I can try!" With that last line, my eyes grew wide as a current of electricity burst down his tail and into April.
"Gyaaah!" April screamed. Normally, Electric-type attacks wouldn't harm other Electric-types much. April's partial Flying affinity, however, caused the attack to hurt much more.
"April! Raichu, let her go now!" I tried running up to Raichu, but Sneasel and Raichu's other partner, a Houndour, stepped in the way.
"No you don't! We have explicit orders not to let you through," Sneasel said.
"Out of my way!" I cried. I charged up some electricity, cheeks cackling, and grabbed the Sneasel's arms. The charge carried, but it didn't faze her. She threw me backwards.
"You're gonna have to do better than that, Sparky!" she cackled.
I got to my feet just in time to dodge Houndour’s burst of fire.
"Ayeeh!" April screamed again as the charge was increased. I could do nothing but watch, as my attacks did nothing to harm Sneasel or Houndour. April had the worst look of anguish on her face. It tore me up to watch her like that and not being able to do anything about it. Then, with one final silent scream, she passed out.
Raichu stopped the attack and tossed her over his partners. "Ha! Weakling. You can have her back now." She landed - painfully - next to me. I ran over to her and tried to wake her. She was very much alive but she was unresponsive.
"Raichu!" Hot tears stung my eyes. "How dare you hurt her!"
"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?" he mocked.
"I...I...I'll destroy you!"
He simply laughed.. His partners followed his example.
Tears made my sight blurry. I noticed shortly however, that my vision was tinged an electric shade of blue. Power surged from some unknown recess of energy. A blue aura of electricity was visible around me. It felt really good, but I wasn't focused on that. I was also able to remember most of this clearly, unlike my first time back in the forest near Uxie's pond against the Mankey.
Raichu and company had stopped laughing. They had focus in their eyes and a battle stance ready. They also looked slightly confused, as if they hadn't expected someone like me to appear to be so powerful.
Sneasel took the first step towards me, claws brandished. I launched a huge bolt of blue lightning that threw Sneasel back nearly ten feet. She was unconscious before she hit the ground. The long-range lightning attack was odd, in retrospect, because the only Electric-typed move I knew was Spark. Spark was a contact-only technique.
Houndour was surprised by my attack, but he then breathed in so as to prepare for a move of his own. As he blew fire at me, I launched another lightning bolt at him. It canceled out the fire and hit him square in the chest. He was also blasted backwards and landed near Sneasel. He struggled to get up and he fell back down in the end.
Raichu look worried for a moment, but then he smirked. "Heh, at least you're not the weakling I seen back in the cafe. But I'm an Electric-type; what are you going to do to me? I've got this in the bag."
He launched a large bolt of lightning at me, though not as large as mine. As soon it hit me, it simply was absorbed into my electrical aura. His eyes went wide with shock.
"No! That's not possible!" Raichu uttered in disbelief.
I ignored his comment and launched a continuous beam of lightning at Raichu. It struck him and the stream of electrical energy poured over him. He winced, but he didn't appear to be getting hurt.
"I-Is that all you got? Weak," Raichu murmured, though he couldn't launch his own attack that way.
I increased the voltage and he took a step back. He spread his legs and lowered his body. His stance kept him from getting launched backwards, but his face showed that his stamina was diminishing.
"I...won't be beaten...by you!" It was all talk though. He couldn't fight the stream of pure electricity that was pouring over him.
I dumped all of my power into electric beam. His stance faltered and with a look of agony he was launched backwards. He joined the two of his partners in being collapsed on the ground.
"S-Sparky...? Ungh..." April moaned from behind me. Instantly, my electrical aura vanished, the mysterious power withdrew, and my vision returned to normal. I ran over to her and helped her up. She had to lean on me to even stand though.
"What was...all that, Sparky? You were...all blue. You...were shooting...attacks! I've never heard of a Pachirisu that could suddenly...erk..be that powerful out of nowhere. Other Pokemon, maybe...but not... " April still had an air of disbelief as she struggled to speak.
"I don't know how I do it. But whenever I...I see you get hurt, this power just sprouts from seemingly nothing. My actions are all being guided, I guess you could say, by some other thing. I don't know what."
"Wait, so this happened before?"
"Yeah, back when we got attacked by those Mankey. When you were knocked out, the power came over me like it did this time. I didn't have as much control that time though. In fact, I largely had no idea what I was doing. This time it was a lot clearer. Still, I was largely fueled by rage from what Raichu did to you."
"Sparky--" April was about to say something, but she was cut off.
"Hello? Is everyone all right?" a voice said from outside the alley. It was Lucario and the two Pawniards. "Oh, good heavens, what happened?"
"It was a set-up. Sneasel was working with Raichu. Sneasel stole my item and then taunted me into following her," I explained.
"But, who is this Raichu? I've never seen him before," Lucario asked.
"A slime-ball that keeps following me around. He keeps trying to win me over. As if I'd ever go out with him." April squinted her eyes at Raichu while she spoke.
"I see...So, Raichu was one of the Salvage Springs refugees, like you two? That makes sense. But how did he get into touch with Sneasel, a criminal who was already wanted before he arrived? Not only that, but why? And who's this Houndour? And why are they hurt? Did you two beat them? And why are you so injured?" Lucario directed the last of the rapidly fired questions at April.
"Well, from what I've seen, Raichu and Sneasel are a couple now. Raichu lured us here to give my friend...revenge, I guess. She was severely injured and knocked out. I guess I went a little crazy and zapped them. And then they ended up like that," I tried to answer.
"Wait, you attacked them? And then they just fell like that? But how did you beat Raichu? I wouldn't imagine that...someone of your stature...could be so...powerful." Lucario was trying his hardest to keep from offending me, that much was easy to see.
I squinted at him, but I shook it off. "I'm not sure. I don't know how it works."
"How does what work?"
"The...power. I dunno. All I know is that when either me or my friend here are in trouble, I get way stronger. No idea why."
"I see. That's very strange, I've never heard of that before." Lucario looked at Raichu, who was being tied up by a Pawniard and a Pansage that had shown up recently. Sneasel and Houndour were already bound. Lucario turned to his fellow police Pokemon. "All right, take them back to the office for questioning."
As the three still semi-conscious Pokemon were lead out of the alley, Lucario noticed something where Sneasel had landed. "Oh!" he exclaimed as he picked it up. "Pachirisu, is this yours?"
Lucario handed me a shiny object. It was Uxie's pin! "This is it! That's incredible. She must have still had it on her. Oh, but Lucario, my name is Shane."
"Shane, huh? Name's aren't too common, seeing as they're usually reserved for special Pokemon. Like your friend there. I bet she's got a name."
"April! My name is April." She had finally been able to stand on her feet, but she still looked in pain. I handed her another Oran Berry, which she nibbled on.
"It's her coloring. Seeing a copper-furred Emolga is a once in a lifetime chance."
"Oh, Lucario, I know I'm awesome, but come on." April grinned, her regular attitude cutting through her pain.
"The point is Shane, why do you have a name? You don't look any different than other Pachirisu. No offense, of course."
"Er, I can't really tell you...It isn't that I want to keep it a secret, but you would never believe me anyways."
"I believed you..." April whispered. I swallowed and gave a small nod.
Lucario frowned. "How do you know I wouldn't believe you? I've seen a lot of crazy things."
"Well..." I took a look around. No one else was still in the alley. "Okay, I'll tell you. Though I know I said I don't care to keep it a secret, b-but don't tell anyone. Please?"
"Shane, I'm the Sheriff - you can trust me."
And so, I told Sheriff Lucario my story. I left out any...complications between April and I, but I made sure to cover everything else. He frowned at the beginning, but it softened out towards the end. There was still that spark of disbelief in his eyes; I could see it.
"And so that's it. You don't believe me, do you."
"Well, um, it's not that I don't believe you, it's just...okay, I'm skeptical, sorry. It just sounds so far out there..."
"I understand. I wouldn't believe me either." I was disappointed, of course. If the Sheriff wouldn't believe me, who would?
Lucario sighed. Then his eyes grew wide and he blinked a few times, as if he suddenly had a revelation.
"What?" I asked him.
"Nothing...It's just that...There are legends about two times that human had been turned into a Pokemon. In both stories, that hero had saved the world."
"I heard about that. Uxie told me the story about the falling star."
"Oh, so you've heard it? That was the first legend. The second legend spoke of when time was threatened. A hero had been turned into a Pokemon, collected all the time gears, and restored Temporal Tower."
"Interesting...but what does that have to do with me?"
"Well, in both events, a human had been turned into a Pokemon. They each had a native Pokemon partner, much like you do, Shane. Both of them appeared in the time of great need as well. The first one saved the world from a meteor -- what they called a falling star. The second one saved the world from an eternal darkness that would have been caused by the paralysis of time."
"Meteor...paralysis of time..." I muttered. "Wait! Are you implying that the world is danger right now? What's happening?"
"Perhaps. I don't know much about it. Uxie would be able to tell you better. His siblings as well. Come on, I'll take you to them." He waved for us to follow him, and we left the alley. Uxie has siblings? Huh. I assisted April as we walked since she was still drained. The Oran Berries she was eating were helping, but the process was slow.
Outside the alley, the world continued on as if nothing had happen. Perhaps it’s because to them, nothing truly had happened. To them, no one was brutally shocked into unconsciousness before their eyes. They did, however, notice Sheriff Lucario and they abruptly moved out of his path. He nodded to people who made eye contact and continued on his way. Before us, in the distance, loomed a large dome-shaped building.
“Is that where we’re going?” April wondered.
“That’s right. That’s the council building. It’s where our Elder resides. He’s meeting with Uxie in there,” Lucario explained.
Up close, the building only had a dome-shaped roof. The building itself was cylindrical, with columns circling the outer wall. The huge door was wide open and the darkness inside loomed before us. The whispers of discussion leaked out.
“Quiet as we enter the chambers. I suspect they are in a heated session,” Lucario warned. We nodded.
Inside the building was only a single room. It was large and was capable of seating many Pokemon around a huge, wooden central table. The inside walls of the chamber were inset with columns at regular intervals, just as the outside had been. The columns were made of a stark white stone that sharply contrasted the deep wood that the rest of the wall was made of. The columns also sported square lamps that lit the room similarly to the crystals from the hotel. The roof had a skylight that let the midday sun pour over the table.
Currently, only three Pokemon were present. On the very left of us was Uxie, who held his arms crossed and wore the look of perpetual thought that he always seemed to have. On the very right was a Pokemon who looked very similar to Uxie. The only main differences were that it’s eyes were open and instead of a gold, bowl-shaped hair design on it’s head, it sported four long, pink tendrils coming from the top of it’s head. Directly across from us was another Pokemon that appeared similar to Uxie. This was also had open eyes, which had a passionate fire in them. It’s hair-like pattern was blue, and looked like a triangular hat that extended past the sides of it’s face.
“Uxie, we have enough wards. Treasure City is hundreds of years old,” said the blue, masculine-voiced one, gesturing towards Uxie.
“But something like this hasn’t happened since the Time Crisis! Salvage Springs was...flattened! And I couldn’t stop it. Mesprit,” he pointed to the pink Pokemon, “you couldn’t stop your town from being destroyed either, could you?”
“N-no. I tried to put a barrier up, I really did, but it wasn’t powerful enough. Tornadus...and Thundurus...they blew Medarn Falls apart.” Mesprit sounded female and very emotional, like she was on the verge of tears.
“But why would Z be trying to destroy these pointless towns? Not to offend either of you, but they’re tiny.” Azelf sounded suspicious.
Uxie, on the other hand, made it seem like it was obvious. “Sure, they’re tiny. But they are incredibly strategic. Those are Treasure City’s closest neighbors! And they’ve been swept aside. Now the path is wide open and Z can smash us into oblivion.”
“He has a point...” Mesprit said gently.
Azelf blinked. He rested his mouth on his hand in thought. “That makes a lot of sense actually. We need to contact General R.”
“I know it seems bleak, but do we really need to ally ourselves in this? Being...His children...doesn’t that mean we should be neutral?” Uxie spoke the words, but he didn’t seem entirely committed.
“Oh, come on! We all know Dialga is allied to Z! If anyone shouldn’t be taking sides, it’s those three.”
“And if R is going to have any hope of winning, we’ll have to help, Uxie. We can offset Dialga, you know that.”
“Does that mean we should though? Father typically doesn’t like us to intervene in much...” Uxie’s argument was falling apart.
“Oh, forget about Him! Are we going to live the rest of eternity fearing His watch? Now’s the time to act! Now...Uxie. Are you onboard yet?”
Uxie stared at the center of the table long and hard. Finally: “Fine. I’m in.”
Azelf smirked. “Good. Now, brother,” he looked at Uxie, “sister,” he looked at Mesprit, “let us call General R. We will tell him that we have decided to join his cause. But he has to help us. Treasure City will be targeted before too long, if what you two say is correct.” He then looked directly at me for the first time in the whole meeting. “And who might you be?”
Uxie look at us as if he didn’t even realise we were here. “Oh, that’s Shane. And April. It looks like you’re hurt, April. Are you alright? And Sheriff Lucario. I wasn’t expecting you either.”
Lucario started. “These two say they have something for you. They went through quite a bit of trouble to get it back. In fact, they were attacked in an alleyway in an attempt to retrieve the stolen object.”
“For me?” Azelf wondered.
“No, for me, is that right?” Uxie asked.
I nodded. “May I...?” Uxie motioned for me to come up to him. I made sure April wouldn’t fall over before I left her and I approached Uxie. I rummaged through the salvage bag and pulled out the golden artifact. Azelf and Mesprit gasped collectively.
“Uxie!? You lost that!? Do you know what could have happened?” Azelf was clearly flustered. His eyebrows were furrowed and he held a snarl.
“I can’t even...” Mesprit mumbled.
Uxie frowned. “Yes, yes, I misplaced it. Important thing is, is that it’s here. No harm done.”
“‘No harm done’...bah, sometimes, I just have no idea where your head is Uxie.” Azelf mumbled, touching his hand to his forehead.
“Uxie, what exactly is this?” I asked, handing it over to him. He took it, turning it over in his grasp.
“Just an item. Every...er, legendary being has it.” Uxie used his psychic powers to levitate it out in front of him, and with a flash, it was gone.
“Wah! Where’d it go?” I uttered abruptly.
“Relax. I still have it. I can get it whenever I want, I just don’t have to carry it this way.”
“So all of you have one too?” I asked Azelf and Mesprit.
Mesprit nodded. Azelf added, “Yes, though typically we don’t lose them...” He glared at Uxie.
Uxie threw his hands up. “Okay, okay, we get it. Can we at least get to the matter at hand?”
“Yeah, what were you guys talking about when I came in?” I asked.
Azelf hesitated. Then he looked at me. “Tell me, what do you know of the war?”
“War?”
“Oh, I see. Have you heard the terms ‘Master Z’ or ‘General R’ anywhere?” Azelf questioned.
Spiritomb’s voice echoed inside my mind, It’s DEFILEMENT! General Z promised us that if we didn’t join General R’s side, we’d be safe. We’d be left in peace. IT’S TREASON!. And then to Moltres, It was a necessary win though. Uxie didn't want to join with Master Z, so we attacked. General R was at least smart enough to send in opposition...
“A couple times,” I admitted. “We had found and defeated a Spiritomb in a cave near Salvage Springs. It had apparently been promised that if it did not associate with General R, he would be left in peace. You can imagine how angry he’d been when his cave opened up and Salvage teams started invading.”
“Moltres mentioned something too.” April muttered.
“Moltres? Were you there when Salvage Springs was attacked?” Azelf looked intrigued now.
Uxie answered for us. “Shane and April were residents. I assumed they had fled with the rest of the population, but they couldn’t have if they were close enough to hear the birds conversing.”
“We got trapped inside that cave with the Spiritomb. The opening had closed again. Apparently, the birds had blasted a hole in the ceiling of the cave and we escaped. Moltres was gloating with the other birds. He commented on how they were going to let the whole city burn since Uxie didn’t join them. Them being Master Z and company, I would assume,” I explained thoroughly.
“I see. Well, as you should have probably pieced together now, we are in the middle of war. Most of the region follows General R, otherwise known as Reshiram, and a smaller group follows Master Z, who is Zekrom. Not many remain neutral.” Azelf crossed his arms as he finished speaking.
“A war? Why? What are they fighting over?” Could this be the calamity Lucario was hinting about earlier?
Azelf waved it off. “Reshiram and Zekrom are always warring. Usually they do it with a human companion. Apparently they realised that neither ever won that way. So they fled here and decided to continue the fight without a human partner.”
A large questioned surfaced in my mind. “Why does anyone join them then? If it’s just a personal conflict, then how did they get any followers?”
Uxie grimaced. “Power...protection, who knows?”
“Well that’s just-” I was cut off mid-sentence by a loud, high pitched wail in the distance.
Lucario stood tall. “The siren!”
Mesprit buried her face into her hands. “Oh no, it’s already starting...” she moaned.
Azelf looked wide-eyed at Uxie. “Hurry! Patch Reshiram through! We can’t hold them off alone...”
Uxie placed his fingertips on his temples. Then he glowed with a purple hue. Once it faded, he nodded at Azelf.
“Alright, R got our message. Now we have to hold the opposition until his forces can get through.” Uxie seemed worried despite the incoming help.
“Well, come on, let’s go!” Azelf yelled. The three sprites rushed out of their places a left the council room. Lucario followed.
I looked at April. “You’re still tired. Don’t you think you should stay here?”
“What? I’m not gonna sit around while you go battle some awesome Pokemon!” She shoved me off. She grimaced as she took a step. A few steps later, she looked dizzy and tipped over. I rushed to catch her.
“You can’t possibly go further. Just wait here, please?”
She made a pouty face, lips pursed. “Fine.” I lead her over to one of the council chairs and helped her in it. I gave her an Oran berry. She took it reluctantly.
“I’ll be back before you know it!” I promised, then ran out the door.
Outside, Pokemon were running every which way, and they all look frantic. Lucario was talking to a terrified Lombre. He was wringing his hands as he spoke.
“...just terrible! Three large Pokemon are approaching the city. The north, east, and south gates...” The Pokemon trembled. Without another word, the Lombre ran off in a seemingly random direction.
“I wonder what could have spooked him so much.” Lucario pondered aloud.
“Dunno. Should we find out?” I asked.
“Might as well. The Northern gate is the closest.” Lucario pointed north, and we proceeded. Uxie and the others were nowhere nearby. They must be at the gates already.
Even in a panicked state, the citizens knew to clear the way for Sheriff Lucario when he was running. He was fast, but I could keep up. The northern gate was near identical to the eastern gate that I had arrived through originally. Past the gate was a dense forest. The city Pokemon had apparently cleared away from the gate, so it was deserted besides Lucario and I. Then I noticed Mesprit, who was floating under the gate.
Faintly, I was aware of a rather annoying sound. It was reminiscent to stone grinding away at another stone. I squinted at the dense part of the vegetation. A large humanoid creature appeared to be skating( or something like that) towards the front gate. With a burst of speed it jumped and landed in front of Mesprit.
The Pokemon was easily as tall as the gate and appeared to be made of stone. Many stones, actually. Rather than a head, it sported an angular rock of a different shade between his shoulders. That rock had a number of holes in the shape of a “H”. The dots glowed red, but flickered to yellow every so often.
“Regirock...” Mesprit growled. Instantly, she held her hands out in front of her. They glowed pink, like her head, and with a dramatic flair, she created a pink sphere between her palms. She twirled and flung the sphere at high speed towards the Regirock. The entire time, the rock golem remained expressionless. I wasn’t even sure if it could show emotion.
The sphere connected with the body of Regirock, and began to expand. Soon, Regirock was surrounded by a pink bubble. “Yes!” Mesprit cheered. Then she gasped as a large shape approached behind Regirock.
The shape was easily two to three times taller the rock humanoid. It was mostly white and it was very slow. This one was similar to Regirock in shape, but it had hands (with three fingers), and a different pattern of dots.
Mesprit shuttered. “Oh no...R-R-Regigigas!”
The Regigigas stood motionless behind Regirock. Then, it’s dots glowed orange and a similarly colored sphere appeared in front of it. The suddenly shot a burst of orange light into the city. It struck a building which exploded into flames and collapsed.
Mesprit charged green spheres between her hands and launched them at the behemoth, but appeared to do nothing.
Regigigas gathered the orange sphere together again, the light from his facial dots feeding the attack, and launched another huge beam of energy. It hurled, straight and true, at one of the largest buildings in Treasure City: the council hall!
~~~~~~~~~~~
Gotta love them cliffhangers.
Thankfully, this might very well be the last we'll see of Raichu. Maybe. Eh, who am I kidding?
Though, something to note:
Definitely my best chapter, I have to say. Then again, it did go through three excellent beta readers. My thanks to you three, you know who you are!
Chapter 11
Spirit
Spirit
"Raichu..." I growled, "put her down!"
April struggled against Raichu's tail, but her arms couldn’t gain the leverage to overcome its strength.
"What's the matter? Are you jealous, Sparky? No? Well, regardless, this isn't about you." Raichu turned his focus to April, still struggling to free herself. "You know, I've always liked you. I've shown my affection for you. And what do I get? Denial! A slap to the face! Well, no more. See, I got a new girl. One that appreciates all the care I give her."
"Aw, Raichu, no need to get sentimental over me," the Sneasel said with a sly grin.
"It's true, sweetie," Raichu said, winking at her.
"Can we get to the point already? I'm waiting for the part where you let April go," I said rudely.
"Hey! I'm being perfectly polite with you. April, on the other hand, has some justice coming to her. Well, maybe not justice. Revenge would a better word."
"Let...me...go!" April muttered with emotion.
"Always the impatient one. Won’t even let me monologue. But I'll get to my point. For the past five years, I longed for you. But you never showed anything back. It hurt. It hurt a lot. You'll never be able to feel the pain like I did, but I can try!" With that last line, my eyes grew wide as a current of electricity burst down his tail and into April.
"Gyaaah!" April screamed. Normally, Electric-type attacks wouldn't harm other Electric-types much. April's partial Flying affinity, however, caused the attack to hurt much more.
"April! Raichu, let her go now!" I tried running up to Raichu, but Sneasel and Raichu's other partner, a Houndour, stepped in the way.
"No you don't! We have explicit orders not to let you through," Sneasel said.
"Out of my way!" I cried. I charged up some electricity, cheeks cackling, and grabbed the Sneasel's arms. The charge carried, but it didn't faze her. She threw me backwards.
"You're gonna have to do better than that, Sparky!" she cackled.
I got to my feet just in time to dodge Houndour’s burst of fire.
"Ayeeh!" April screamed again as the charge was increased. I could do nothing but watch, as my attacks did nothing to harm Sneasel or Houndour. April had the worst look of anguish on her face. It tore me up to watch her like that and not being able to do anything about it. Then, with one final silent scream, she passed out.
Raichu stopped the attack and tossed her over his partners. "Ha! Weakling. You can have her back now." She landed - painfully - next to me. I ran over to her and tried to wake her. She was very much alive but she was unresponsive.
"Raichu!" Hot tears stung my eyes. "How dare you hurt her!"
"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?" he mocked.
"I...I...I'll destroy you!"
He simply laughed.. His partners followed his example.
Tears made my sight blurry. I noticed shortly however, that my vision was tinged an electric shade of blue. Power surged from some unknown recess of energy. A blue aura of electricity was visible around me. It felt really good, but I wasn't focused on that. I was also able to remember most of this clearly, unlike my first time back in the forest near Uxie's pond against the Mankey.
Raichu and company had stopped laughing. They had focus in their eyes and a battle stance ready. They also looked slightly confused, as if they hadn't expected someone like me to appear to be so powerful.
Sneasel took the first step towards me, claws brandished. I launched a huge bolt of blue lightning that threw Sneasel back nearly ten feet. She was unconscious before she hit the ground. The long-range lightning attack was odd, in retrospect, because the only Electric-typed move I knew was Spark. Spark was a contact-only technique.
Houndour was surprised by my attack, but he then breathed in so as to prepare for a move of his own. As he blew fire at me, I launched another lightning bolt at him. It canceled out the fire and hit him square in the chest. He was also blasted backwards and landed near Sneasel. He struggled to get up and he fell back down in the end.
Raichu look worried for a moment, but then he smirked. "Heh, at least you're not the weakling I seen back in the cafe. But I'm an Electric-type; what are you going to do to me? I've got this in the bag."
He launched a large bolt of lightning at me, though not as large as mine. As soon it hit me, it simply was absorbed into my electrical aura. His eyes went wide with shock.
"No! That's not possible!" Raichu uttered in disbelief.
I ignored his comment and launched a continuous beam of lightning at Raichu. It struck him and the stream of electrical energy poured over him. He winced, but he didn't appear to be getting hurt.
"I-Is that all you got? Weak," Raichu murmured, though he couldn't launch his own attack that way.
I increased the voltage and he took a step back. He spread his legs and lowered his body. His stance kept him from getting launched backwards, but his face showed that his stamina was diminishing.
"I...won't be beaten...by you!" It was all talk though. He couldn't fight the stream of pure electricity that was pouring over him.
I dumped all of my power into electric beam. His stance faltered and with a look of agony he was launched backwards. He joined the two of his partners in being collapsed on the ground.
"S-Sparky...? Ungh..." April moaned from behind me. Instantly, my electrical aura vanished, the mysterious power withdrew, and my vision returned to normal. I ran over to her and helped her up. She had to lean on me to even stand though.
"What was...all that, Sparky? You were...all blue. You...were shooting...attacks! I've never heard of a Pachirisu that could suddenly...erk..be that powerful out of nowhere. Other Pokemon, maybe...but not... " April still had an air of disbelief as she struggled to speak.
"I don't know how I do it. But whenever I...I see you get hurt, this power just sprouts from seemingly nothing. My actions are all being guided, I guess you could say, by some other thing. I don't know what."
"Wait, so this happened before?"
"Yeah, back when we got attacked by those Mankey. When you were knocked out, the power came over me like it did this time. I didn't have as much control that time though. In fact, I largely had no idea what I was doing. This time it was a lot clearer. Still, I was largely fueled by rage from what Raichu did to you."
"Sparky--" April was about to say something, but she was cut off.
"Hello? Is everyone all right?" a voice said from outside the alley. It was Lucario and the two Pawniards. "Oh, good heavens, what happened?"
"It was a set-up. Sneasel was working with Raichu. Sneasel stole my item and then taunted me into following her," I explained.
"But, who is this Raichu? I've never seen him before," Lucario asked.
"A slime-ball that keeps following me around. He keeps trying to win me over. As if I'd ever go out with him." April squinted her eyes at Raichu while she spoke.
"I see...So, Raichu was one of the Salvage Springs refugees, like you two? That makes sense. But how did he get into touch with Sneasel, a criminal who was already wanted before he arrived? Not only that, but why? And who's this Houndour? And why are they hurt? Did you two beat them? And why are you so injured?" Lucario directed the last of the rapidly fired questions at April.
"Well, from what I've seen, Raichu and Sneasel are a couple now. Raichu lured us here to give my friend...revenge, I guess. She was severely injured and knocked out. I guess I went a little crazy and zapped them. And then they ended up like that," I tried to answer.
"Wait, you attacked them? And then they just fell like that? But how did you beat Raichu? I wouldn't imagine that...someone of your stature...could be so...powerful." Lucario was trying his hardest to keep from offending me, that much was easy to see.
I squinted at him, but I shook it off. "I'm not sure. I don't know how it works."
"How does what work?"
"The...power. I dunno. All I know is that when either me or my friend here are in trouble, I get way stronger. No idea why."
"I see. That's very strange, I've never heard of that before." Lucario looked at Raichu, who was being tied up by a Pawniard and a Pansage that had shown up recently. Sneasel and Houndour were already bound. Lucario turned to his fellow police Pokemon. "All right, take them back to the office for questioning."
As the three still semi-conscious Pokemon were lead out of the alley, Lucario noticed something where Sneasel had landed. "Oh!" he exclaimed as he picked it up. "Pachirisu, is this yours?"
Lucario handed me a shiny object. It was Uxie's pin! "This is it! That's incredible. She must have still had it on her. Oh, but Lucario, my name is Shane."
"Shane, huh? Name's aren't too common, seeing as they're usually reserved for special Pokemon. Like your friend there. I bet she's got a name."
"April! My name is April." She had finally been able to stand on her feet, but she still looked in pain. I handed her another Oran Berry, which she nibbled on.
"It's her coloring. Seeing a copper-furred Emolga is a once in a lifetime chance."
"Oh, Lucario, I know I'm awesome, but come on." April grinned, her regular attitude cutting through her pain.
"The point is Shane, why do you have a name? You don't look any different than other Pachirisu. No offense, of course."
"Er, I can't really tell you...It isn't that I want to keep it a secret, but you would never believe me anyways."
"I believed you..." April whispered. I swallowed and gave a small nod.
Lucario frowned. "How do you know I wouldn't believe you? I've seen a lot of crazy things."
"Well..." I took a look around. No one else was still in the alley. "Okay, I'll tell you. Though I know I said I don't care to keep it a secret, b-but don't tell anyone. Please?"
"Shane, I'm the Sheriff - you can trust me."
And so, I told Sheriff Lucario my story. I left out any...complications between April and I, but I made sure to cover everything else. He frowned at the beginning, but it softened out towards the end. There was still that spark of disbelief in his eyes; I could see it.
"And so that's it. You don't believe me, do you."
"Well, um, it's not that I don't believe you, it's just...okay, I'm skeptical, sorry. It just sounds so far out there..."
"I understand. I wouldn't believe me either." I was disappointed, of course. If the Sheriff wouldn't believe me, who would?
Lucario sighed. Then his eyes grew wide and he blinked a few times, as if he suddenly had a revelation.
"What?" I asked him.
"Nothing...It's just that...There are legends about two times that human had been turned into a Pokemon. In both stories, that hero had saved the world."
"I heard about that. Uxie told me the story about the falling star."
"Oh, so you've heard it? That was the first legend. The second legend spoke of when time was threatened. A hero had been turned into a Pokemon, collected all the time gears, and restored Temporal Tower."
"Interesting...but what does that have to do with me?"
"Well, in both events, a human had been turned into a Pokemon. They each had a native Pokemon partner, much like you do, Shane. Both of them appeared in the time of great need as well. The first one saved the world from a meteor -- what they called a falling star. The second one saved the world from an eternal darkness that would have been caused by the paralysis of time."
"Meteor...paralysis of time..." I muttered. "Wait! Are you implying that the world is danger right now? What's happening?"
"Perhaps. I don't know much about it. Uxie would be able to tell you better. His siblings as well. Come on, I'll take you to them." He waved for us to follow him, and we left the alley. Uxie has siblings? Huh. I assisted April as we walked since she was still drained. The Oran Berries she was eating were helping, but the process was slow.
Outside the alley, the world continued on as if nothing had happen. Perhaps it’s because to them, nothing truly had happened. To them, no one was brutally shocked into unconsciousness before their eyes. They did, however, notice Sheriff Lucario and they abruptly moved out of his path. He nodded to people who made eye contact and continued on his way. Before us, in the distance, loomed a large dome-shaped building.
“Is that where we’re going?” April wondered.
“That’s right. That’s the council building. It’s where our Elder resides. He’s meeting with Uxie in there,” Lucario explained.
Up close, the building only had a dome-shaped roof. The building itself was cylindrical, with columns circling the outer wall. The huge door was wide open and the darkness inside loomed before us. The whispers of discussion leaked out.
“Quiet as we enter the chambers. I suspect they are in a heated session,” Lucario warned. We nodded.
Inside the building was only a single room. It was large and was capable of seating many Pokemon around a huge, wooden central table. The inside walls of the chamber were inset with columns at regular intervals, just as the outside had been. The columns were made of a stark white stone that sharply contrasted the deep wood that the rest of the wall was made of. The columns also sported square lamps that lit the room similarly to the crystals from the hotel. The roof had a skylight that let the midday sun pour over the table.
Currently, only three Pokemon were present. On the very left of us was Uxie, who held his arms crossed and wore the look of perpetual thought that he always seemed to have. On the very right was a Pokemon who looked very similar to Uxie. The only main differences were that it’s eyes were open and instead of a gold, bowl-shaped hair design on it’s head, it sported four long, pink tendrils coming from the top of it’s head. Directly across from us was another Pokemon that appeared similar to Uxie. This was also had open eyes, which had a passionate fire in them. It’s hair-like pattern was blue, and looked like a triangular hat that extended past the sides of it’s face.
“Uxie, we have enough wards. Treasure City is hundreds of years old,” said the blue, masculine-voiced one, gesturing towards Uxie.
“But something like this hasn’t happened since the Time Crisis! Salvage Springs was...flattened! And I couldn’t stop it. Mesprit,” he pointed to the pink Pokemon, “you couldn’t stop your town from being destroyed either, could you?”
“N-no. I tried to put a barrier up, I really did, but it wasn’t powerful enough. Tornadus...and Thundurus...they blew Medarn Falls apart.” Mesprit sounded female and very emotional, like she was on the verge of tears.
“But why would Z be trying to destroy these pointless towns? Not to offend either of you, but they’re tiny.” Azelf sounded suspicious.
Uxie, on the other hand, made it seem like it was obvious. “Sure, they’re tiny. But they are incredibly strategic. Those are Treasure City’s closest neighbors! And they’ve been swept aside. Now the path is wide open and Z can smash us into oblivion.”
“He has a point...” Mesprit said gently.
Azelf blinked. He rested his mouth on his hand in thought. “That makes a lot of sense actually. We need to contact General R.”
“I know it seems bleak, but do we really need to ally ourselves in this? Being...His children...doesn’t that mean we should be neutral?” Uxie spoke the words, but he didn’t seem entirely committed.
“Oh, come on! We all know Dialga is allied to Z! If anyone shouldn’t be taking sides, it’s those three.”
“And if R is going to have any hope of winning, we’ll have to help, Uxie. We can offset Dialga, you know that.”
“Does that mean we should though? Father typically doesn’t like us to intervene in much...” Uxie’s argument was falling apart.
“Oh, forget about Him! Are we going to live the rest of eternity fearing His watch? Now’s the time to act! Now...Uxie. Are you onboard yet?”
Uxie stared at the center of the table long and hard. Finally: “Fine. I’m in.”
Azelf smirked. “Good. Now, brother,” he looked at Uxie, “sister,” he looked at Mesprit, “let us call General R. We will tell him that we have decided to join his cause. But he has to help us. Treasure City will be targeted before too long, if what you two say is correct.” He then looked directly at me for the first time in the whole meeting. “And who might you be?”
Uxie look at us as if he didn’t even realise we were here. “Oh, that’s Shane. And April. It looks like you’re hurt, April. Are you alright? And Sheriff Lucario. I wasn’t expecting you either.”
Lucario started. “These two say they have something for you. They went through quite a bit of trouble to get it back. In fact, they were attacked in an alleyway in an attempt to retrieve the stolen object.”
“For me?” Azelf wondered.
“No, for me, is that right?” Uxie asked.
I nodded. “May I...?” Uxie motioned for me to come up to him. I made sure April wouldn’t fall over before I left her and I approached Uxie. I rummaged through the salvage bag and pulled out the golden artifact. Azelf and Mesprit gasped collectively.
“Uxie!? You lost that!? Do you know what could have happened?” Azelf was clearly flustered. His eyebrows were furrowed and he held a snarl.
“I can’t even...” Mesprit mumbled.
Uxie frowned. “Yes, yes, I misplaced it. Important thing is, is that it’s here. No harm done.”
“‘No harm done’...bah, sometimes, I just have no idea where your head is Uxie.” Azelf mumbled, touching his hand to his forehead.
“Uxie, what exactly is this?” I asked, handing it over to him. He took it, turning it over in his grasp.
“Just an item. Every...er, legendary being has it.” Uxie used his psychic powers to levitate it out in front of him, and with a flash, it was gone.
“Wah! Where’d it go?” I uttered abruptly.
“Relax. I still have it. I can get it whenever I want, I just don’t have to carry it this way.”
“So all of you have one too?” I asked Azelf and Mesprit.
Mesprit nodded. Azelf added, “Yes, though typically we don’t lose them...” He glared at Uxie.
Uxie threw his hands up. “Okay, okay, we get it. Can we at least get to the matter at hand?”
“Yeah, what were you guys talking about when I came in?” I asked.
Azelf hesitated. Then he looked at me. “Tell me, what do you know of the war?”
“War?”
“Oh, I see. Have you heard the terms ‘Master Z’ or ‘General R’ anywhere?” Azelf questioned.
Spiritomb’s voice echoed inside my mind, It’s DEFILEMENT! General Z promised us that if we didn’t join General R’s side, we’d be safe. We’d be left in peace. IT’S TREASON!. And then to Moltres, It was a necessary win though. Uxie didn't want to join with Master Z, so we attacked. General R was at least smart enough to send in opposition...
“A couple times,” I admitted. “We had found and defeated a Spiritomb in a cave near Salvage Springs. It had apparently been promised that if it did not associate with General R, he would be left in peace. You can imagine how angry he’d been when his cave opened up and Salvage teams started invading.”
“Moltres mentioned something too.” April muttered.
“Moltres? Were you there when Salvage Springs was attacked?” Azelf looked intrigued now.
Uxie answered for us. “Shane and April were residents. I assumed they had fled with the rest of the population, but they couldn’t have if they were close enough to hear the birds conversing.”
“We got trapped inside that cave with the Spiritomb. The opening had closed again. Apparently, the birds had blasted a hole in the ceiling of the cave and we escaped. Moltres was gloating with the other birds. He commented on how they were going to let the whole city burn since Uxie didn’t join them. Them being Master Z and company, I would assume,” I explained thoroughly.
“I see. Well, as you should have probably pieced together now, we are in the middle of war. Most of the region follows General R, otherwise known as Reshiram, and a smaller group follows Master Z, who is Zekrom. Not many remain neutral.” Azelf crossed his arms as he finished speaking.
“A war? Why? What are they fighting over?” Could this be the calamity Lucario was hinting about earlier?
Azelf waved it off. “Reshiram and Zekrom are always warring. Usually they do it with a human companion. Apparently they realised that neither ever won that way. So they fled here and decided to continue the fight without a human partner.”
A large questioned surfaced in my mind. “Why does anyone join them then? If it’s just a personal conflict, then how did they get any followers?”
Uxie grimaced. “Power...protection, who knows?”
“Well that’s just-” I was cut off mid-sentence by a loud, high pitched wail in the distance.
Lucario stood tall. “The siren!”
Mesprit buried her face into her hands. “Oh no, it’s already starting...” she moaned.
Azelf looked wide-eyed at Uxie. “Hurry! Patch Reshiram through! We can’t hold them off alone...”
Uxie placed his fingertips on his temples. Then he glowed with a purple hue. Once it faded, he nodded at Azelf.
“Alright, R got our message. Now we have to hold the opposition until his forces can get through.” Uxie seemed worried despite the incoming help.
“Well, come on, let’s go!” Azelf yelled. The three sprites rushed out of their places a left the council room. Lucario followed.
I looked at April. “You’re still tired. Don’t you think you should stay here?”
“What? I’m not gonna sit around while you go battle some awesome Pokemon!” She shoved me off. She grimaced as she took a step. A few steps later, she looked dizzy and tipped over. I rushed to catch her.
“You can’t possibly go further. Just wait here, please?”
She made a pouty face, lips pursed. “Fine.” I lead her over to one of the council chairs and helped her in it. I gave her an Oran berry. She took it reluctantly.
“I’ll be back before you know it!” I promised, then ran out the door.
Outside, Pokemon were running every which way, and they all look frantic. Lucario was talking to a terrified Lombre. He was wringing his hands as he spoke.
“...just terrible! Three large Pokemon are approaching the city. The north, east, and south gates...” The Pokemon trembled. Without another word, the Lombre ran off in a seemingly random direction.
“I wonder what could have spooked him so much.” Lucario pondered aloud.
“Dunno. Should we find out?” I asked.
“Might as well. The Northern gate is the closest.” Lucario pointed north, and we proceeded. Uxie and the others were nowhere nearby. They must be at the gates already.
Even in a panicked state, the citizens knew to clear the way for Sheriff Lucario when he was running. He was fast, but I could keep up. The northern gate was near identical to the eastern gate that I had arrived through originally. Past the gate was a dense forest. The city Pokemon had apparently cleared away from the gate, so it was deserted besides Lucario and I. Then I noticed Mesprit, who was floating under the gate.
Faintly, I was aware of a rather annoying sound. It was reminiscent to stone grinding away at another stone. I squinted at the dense part of the vegetation. A large humanoid creature appeared to be skating( or something like that) towards the front gate. With a burst of speed it jumped and landed in front of Mesprit.
The Pokemon was easily as tall as the gate and appeared to be made of stone. Many stones, actually. Rather than a head, it sported an angular rock of a different shade between his shoulders. That rock had a number of holes in the shape of a “H”. The dots glowed red, but flickered to yellow every so often.
“Regirock...” Mesprit growled. Instantly, she held her hands out in front of her. They glowed pink, like her head, and with a dramatic flair, she created a pink sphere between her palms. She twirled and flung the sphere at high speed towards the Regirock. The entire time, the rock golem remained expressionless. I wasn’t even sure if it could show emotion.
The sphere connected with the body of Regirock, and began to expand. Soon, Regirock was surrounded by a pink bubble. “Yes!” Mesprit cheered. Then she gasped as a large shape approached behind Regirock.
The shape was easily two to three times taller the rock humanoid. It was mostly white and it was very slow. This one was similar to Regirock in shape, but it had hands (with three fingers), and a different pattern of dots.
Mesprit shuttered. “Oh no...R-R-Regigigas!”
The Regigigas stood motionless behind Regirock. Then, it’s dots glowed orange and a similarly colored sphere appeared in front of it. The suddenly shot a burst of orange light into the city. It struck a building which exploded into flames and collapsed.
Mesprit charged green spheres between her hands and launched them at the behemoth, but appeared to do nothing.
Regigigas gathered the orange sphere together again, the light from his facial dots feeding the attack, and launched another huge beam of energy. It hurled, straight and true, at one of the largest buildings in Treasure City: the council hall!
~~~~~~~~~~~
Gotta love them cliffhangers.
Thankfully, this might very well be the last we'll see of Raichu. Maybe. Eh, who am I kidding?
Though, something to note:
The writer of this post gets to have the pride to know that they influenced the beginnings of this chapter, however slightly. That post is what actually led to having Raichu and Sneasel be a couple. Not even joking. I looked up their egg groups, seen that they were compatible, and away I went.
Definitely my best chapter, I have to say. Then again, it did go through three excellent beta readers. My thanks to you three, you know who you are!
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Cometstarlight
What do I do now?
Amazing. Absolutely amazing and a great note to come back to writing on : )
The only 'mistake' if you can even call it that was this line here-
I'm sure you meant, "I'll be back before you know it!" But seriously, that's my only nitpicking spelling/grammar issue I have. The rest of the chapter had a great amount of character development and a little window of who Reshiram and Zekrom are in this story. Can't wait to see your next entry.
Speaking of which...if you could put me on the notification list for when you post new chapters, I would appreciate it
The only 'mistake' if you can even call it that was this line here-
I'm sure you meant, "I'll be back before you know it!" But seriously, that's my only nitpicking spelling/grammar issue I have. The rest of the chapter had a great amount of character development and a little window of who Reshiram and Zekrom are in this story. Can't wait to see your next entry.
Speaking of which...if you could put me on the notification list for when you post new chapters, I would appreciate it
jireh the provider
Video Game Designer
Oh Shane. get ready to lose your future love life! save her fast! May as well PM me too. I just like your story, especially the involvement to reshiram and zekrom.
Yeah. It wasn't a break, moreorless, I've just been busy and since I had to write two chapters of AVT to get that one kickstarted...
But Im glad you like it.
Fixed. And yes, I needed to start integrating R and Z into. I was planning this bit for a little while...
Will do!
Sure, Ill put you on the pm list.
Sorry for the double post guys, but I need to make a notice to my readers:
2012 is almost over. This story has been amazing and getting better everyday. I hope it keeps getting better.
But I'll get to the point. The Fan Fiction Awards are about to start. To all of my readers, even the silent ones, I encourage you to vote.
It would be self-centered to tell you to vote for me, so instead, just go and vote. We need as many of you as we can to nominate and vote. That will make these awards successful. So once the Nomination thread is made, go for it.
We as writers put out these stories for you to read, and so all we ask of you is this one thing.
Happy voting!
2012 is almost over. This story has been amazing and getting better everyday. I hope it keeps getting better.
But I'll get to the point. The Fan Fiction Awards are about to start. To all of my readers, even the silent ones, I encourage you to vote.
It would be self-centered to tell you to vote for me, so instead, just go and vote. We need as many of you as we can to nominate and vote. That will make these awards successful. So once the Nomination thread is made, go for it.
We as writers put out these stories for you to read, and so all we ask of you is this one thing.
Happy voting!
Not bad, not bad. I saw very few errors, and I must say, the fact that you used your readers' crazy ideas is a nice thing to do. It gives those who may have no impact on it have at least a small input to your story.
I assume that you meant to put the word "you" in there.
I look forward to more from you man, keep up the good work!
I assume that you meant to put the word "you" in there.
I look forward to more from you man, keep up the good work!
Well, of course I READ everyone's responses. And it was a cool idea, I have to admit.
Fixed.
Will do.
Also, the nominations thread is up everybody, link is in my sig. GO NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITE FICS! DO IT! DO IT NAO!
Why is it that Master Z has almost all the legendary Pokemon on his side? I mean first The Legendary Birds then the Creation trio then The two Kamis and now the Regis! I think he has a Major advantage since he has only Legendaries on his side while Reshiram only has Azelf, Uxie and Mesprit. But I guess the two main characters have to fight Master Z's army in some ways. I mean a Skitty could beat Dialga. Why couldn't they as well?
But enough about me. I like the story so far. I am excited to see the next chapter.
ME WANTS NEW CHAPTER!!
But yeah.........
So Dormant;429; signing off..
But enough about me. I like the story so far. I am excited to see the next chapter.
ME WANTS NEW CHAPTER!!
But yeah.........
So Dormant;429; signing off..
Here's a secret: He doesn't.
Teehee. Well, Z has most of the Legendaries that have shown up so far...
Oh, and he doesn't have the Creation trio. He just has Dialga.
So far, it's:
Master Z
Kyurem
Dialga
Tornados
Thundurus
Moltres
Zapdos
Articuno
Regirock
Registeel
Regice
Regigigas
and
General R
Azelf
Uxie
Mesprit
So yeah, it seems bad now, but don't worry too much about it.
Thats a very good point. Though a Pachi and an Emolga wouldnt be that good against an Electric/Dragon. Just saying. Though thats no different than Skitty v Dialga, but still.
It's coming! Eventually...
But I'm glad you like it!
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Sorry for the wait. The really, really, really long wait. But enough babble, read the chapter!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Foggy Woods seemed like eons ago. In all actuality, it had only been a couple of days - a week at most. But time and memory are so subjective that none of that makes any difference. So many events happened between then and now. Sure, there were happy times. But there were so many more sad times. And frightening times. And times where I just wanted to go away and give up. Game over; I lose. Better luck next time. The whole misadventure made me wonder if there really wasn't some omnipotent being out there. If there was, he obviously had no care for me. Either way, I was on my own.
It's times like this - times where the only thing you rely on is about to be completely and utterly obliterated and there's nothing you can do about it - where your senses dull, time seems to slow, and you're left thinking this melodramatic babble.
I should have let her come. April was still in the building. Dear Arceus, why did I leave her? That building was about to be destroyed in a blazing energy blast. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I turned away. I couldn't watch. My fault...always my fault... A strange metallic noise sounded in the distance, but I paid no attention to it. As much as I tried to ignore everything, I was still listening for that explosion. I didn’t care for whatever that was. Raw energy coursed through my body for the third time in only a few days and it felt like I could bend the universe to my whim. It’s a shame that I could only make slightly bigger lightning bolts with it, though.
It's amazing how many thoughts you can squeeze into a few seconds.
The distant explosion that I was waiting for never came. Instead, a considerably less distant explosion burst in the middle of the forest path before me. The white light seared my eyes and I shut them quickly. I opened them again a few moments later, but all I could see was the same, frightening white. Am I dead? Did I die?
No, I hadn't died. My vision started to recover as I blinked several times. Through the remaining white dots that clouded my vision, I saw Regigigas down on one of his massive knees. He held himself up with a single arm and was eerily still. I turned to look at his target. Atop the still-intact Council Hall's roof stood a small, glowing figure that wasn't there before, though from this distance I couldn't make out who the savior was. The four-legged creature began hopping atop the city structures and was apparently heading this way.
A female voice cried out and pulled my attention back to the battle. Mesprit threw her arms out defensively as she was shoved a few feet backwards. It seemed that Regirock had broken his magenta prison. Unfortunately, my pent-up power had drained back to wherever it came from after seeing that April wasn't in immediate danger anymore. Because of that, I was absolutely no help whatsoever. As if I ever was.
Mesprit, however, was determined to make a difference. She formed green spheres in her palms as energy leaked out of her small fingertips to fuel the attack. With a sudden palm thrust outward, the quartet of Energy Balls blasted Regirock in the face. While a huge cloud of dust had emerged where they hit, the golem seemed unfazed by the seemingly powerful attack.
"W-what!? No way!" Mesprit was extremely worried now; her eyes were wide with shock. She grimaced for a moment, then set her gaze with a fiery determination. "No," she uttered in defiance. She put her palms together as her hands glowed with a bright light. As she pulled them apart, an orb of brown energy formed between her fingers. "I will not let another town be destroyed!" The sphere glowed brilliantly and grew rapidly. "Not now!" Her face grimaced with pain from the expenditure of the large amount of energy. The sphere was now larger than she was and lit up the forest more than the present noonday sun. The energy was blowing dust everywhere and roared like thunder. It hurt my sensitive ears, but I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't care. "Not ever!" She released the Focus Blast with a shove forward. It struck Regirock dead-on, and I was blasted into a nearby tree. I crumpled to the ground - hurt, but awake. I painfully lifted my head to see Mesprit bite the dust, utterly exhausted.
Regirock had different ideas. He had fallen onto a single knee, much like his master had done, but he was still conscious.
"No..." Mesprit moaned softly before blacking out.
Regigigas and Regirock both stood back up. Sheriff Lucario, who had been standing among the trees as I had, was scared stiff. It looked like he was muttering something, but I was too far away to hear it. His eyebrows turned down in determination, shook off the fear, and ran onto the path. He dragged Mesprit to the sidelines before staring down his opponents.
Lucario threw his arms out as if he were holding a staff. And then suddenly he was, as a translucent, blue, bone-like stick appeared in his grip. He charged Regirock and struck his head with the staff's right end. Keeping up the momentum, Lucario expertly beat Regirock down with a volley of furious blows. The rock golem held his ground well and slammed the ground with his fist when the Sheriff had let up the attack for a few moments. A crack snaked its way across the battlefield and fractured the ground below Lucario's feet. Yellow energy proceeded flowed through the cracks and exploded beneath him. Lucario cried in pain and collapsed.
Behind the rock golem, Regigigas charged up his orange beam again. My veins turned icy as I realized he was probably going to attack the hall again. No! Oh, please let that guy- My ramblings of thought were cut short by a prideful, male voice.
"Tsk, tsk. General R sure isn't gonna be happy about this." The four-legged creature from before stood atop the gate leading into town. As the beam from the behemoth was fired, the cream and blue colored pony deflected it with a glowing horn that sprouted from his head. Regigigas fell to his knees again as the burst hit his body. "Leaving Idealis was a bad idea."
Unwilling to lose, the master golem picked himself up and launched a huge, white sphere from his palm. The heroic horse deflected it just like he did with the beams. Regigigas bounced it back with a quick flick of his wrist. He was somehow much more agile than he was a few moments ago. The quadruped smirked and sent the sphere back again, his red mane flowing with his movements. The fight quickly escalated into an impressive game of dead man’s volley. Neither side was giving an inch, but the horse frowned when Regirock readied an attack. His eye pattern glowed white and small orange sphere formed before them. Mesprit and Lucario were still out cold, and what was I supposed to do? Luckily, I didn’t have to do anything because a blur of green rushed by Regirock. In the same instance, the orange ball dissipated as the golem fell abruptly. Standing over him was a large, green and cream, deer-like Pokemon. He raised his head proudly, as if it was only natural that’d he won so easily.
"Keldeo! How are you doing up there?" the green Pokemon asked. He had a male voice, regardless of the fact that he looked quite feminine.
"Just fine! This guy-" Keldeo paused to deflect the ball again. "Virizion! Can you - ngh - distract him? I can’t - agh - keep this up forever!"
"But of course!" Virizion smiled playfully at the behemoth. Regigigas was so busy concentrating on the his game of volleyball that he didn't notice Virizion running up to him. Or even if he did, he didn't react. The green deer’s horns which extended out of the sides of his face glowed white as he neared his target. With a graceful, passing slash, Regigigas was brought down to a single knee again. Unable to reflect the blast, the golem took the full force of his own power for a third and final time. Regigigas, king of the Regis, fell flat on his front.
I gave a sigh of relief as Keldeo jumped to ground. Virizion decided to formally greet Keldeo now that the danger was temporarily nullified. The two four-legged creatures bowed their necks to each other. Virizion lifted his head first.
"Nice battling back there. Not everyday that we get to fight another legend. And we got to take on the King of the Golems. A full blown Praetor! It was... magnificent!" Virizion spoke with flamboyance and vigor.
"It was pretty cool. Oh, hey, what’s news on Cobalion and Terrakion?" Keldeo sounded much younger than Virizion and spoke casually.
"They had a much easier time of things, actually. What with them facing only Registeel or Regice and all. In fact, Regice had already been defeated by the time we showed up!"
"What, really?"
"Yes, that Azelf is strong. Took it down himself. Not sure how." Virizion shook his head slightly. They glanced at the two golems lying motionless at the ground, then back to the city. Together, the slowly walked toward the Council Hall. "Another victory to add to the pile. I just hope it was the right thing to do."
"Hey! Of course it was!" Keldeo hopped in front of Virizion and stared at him fiercely. "These enemy Pokemon were sent by Zekrom to capture, even destroy, this huge, awesome city! We stopped them. So we must be the good guys!"
Verizion smiled at him, but even from around the tree I was standing near I could tell his mind was leagues away. "Keldeo, someday..." he began. After a brief sigh, he continued. "Someday, you’ll learn the world is never quite so... evenly divided. There's no real good guys and bad guys. We’re all just Pokemon fighting for a reason. We may fight for truth, but who's to say that we shouldn't be fighting for ideals? Or maybe we should have just stayed out of it entirely."
"But, but..." Keldeo’s gaze dropped. His brow was furrowed and his mouth was a frown. "I mean, this feels right to me. So we're okay, right?"
"Heh, I dunno kid. But if it feels right to you, then I guess it’s okay. Now come on, into the city. These two will be out for a good long while, so I wouldn’t worry about them." Virizion nodded towards the city and the two quadrupeds continued on their way.
My gaze wandered from the heroes and saw Mesprit leaning against a tree on the other side of the beaten path where Lucario left her. Her eyes were closed, but she didn’t look too bad. I stretched a bit, since I was fairly sore from being thrown into a tree, and walked over to Mesprit.
"Hey, Mesprit, you okay?" I asked, nudging her shoulder. Her eyes fluttered beneath their lids and she opened them after a short while.
"Shane? Yeah, I think so. Where did - Oh." She looked at Regirock, then to Regigigas. "What happened to them?"
"Two Pokemon - Keldeo and Virizion, I think they were called - helped out. They beat him. Virizion took out Regirock in one blow and then helped Keldeo beat the bigger one. Lucario tried to beat Regirock after you fell, but he didn't do much," I explained and finished with a gesture towards the unconscious Sheriff in the middle of the path.
"Oh! I hope he's okay. We'll have to send someone out here." Her demeanor changed to one of frustration. "I still can’t believe I couldn’t even scratch the thing! How could I be so weak!?" She still had the energy to express herself thoroughly, it seemed.
"Hey, you didn’t seem weak to me! Your last attack sent me flying and I wasn’t even your target!"
"Yeah. Oh, and sorry about that. Still didn’t do a thing to that hunk of rock though." She pounded her small fist against the ground in frustration.
"Don’t feel bad. I didn’t do anything either!"
"That doesn't make me feel better."
"Sorry." I scratched an area under my right cheek pouch awkwardly.
"At least they're down now. Well..." Mesprit paused, grunted, and managed to levitate herself into the air. "Grr, let’s go. We should meet up with my brothers." I noticed she was having a tough time of just floating around, but she was determined to hold herself up.
"Are you sure you’re fine?"
"Yes!" Mesprit said defensively. "I’m just tired. They didn’t even attack me."
I frowned but decided that I couldn’t help her anymore than I’ve already tried. I walked slowly to make sure I didn’t leave her behind (I was sore anyways). We were just outside the gates of the city, so we didn’t have very far to go.
There was a large commotion in front of the Council Hall when we arrived. Standing before them were Azelf and Uxie who attempting to calm the crowd down. Virizion and Keldeo stood behind them. There were also three figures I didn't recognize. One was a blue and gray, goat-like Pokemon with pointed, yellow horns. He looked aged and wise. The one next to him was shorter and looked like a bull with brown horns pointing down with the angle of his face. He smirked confidently. The last stranger was floating behind him. The small, pink, cat-like Pokemon was apparently bored and had decided to keep itself busy by creating small, magenta-colored bubbles on its fingers and then playfully popping them.
The crowd was mostly upset because Regigigas had knocked over that tall building earlier. Not only did this destroy many Pokemon's homes, but it also injured many citizens. No one was killed, thankfully. Azelf assured that the town was going to fine and that General R had agreed to cover the costs to have the tower and houses rebuilt. After much urging, the mob dispersed and the citizens mostly went on with their lives.
I followed Mesprit over to the elders and the other Pokemon I didn't know. Uxie looked tired but healthy. "Are you okay, Mesprit?" Uxie asked as he floated over to help her.
"I'm fine. Just tired. I put all my energy into fighting those golems. Didn't work though. They beat me." She whispered the last bit, ashamed of her defeat.
"So I heard. Good thing we joined Verum, huh?" Azelf said smugly and nudged Uxie with his elbow.
Uxie made an exasperated sigh. "Yes, yes. Honestly, you are such a child."
"You're one to talk, Mr. I-scare-innocent-citizens-to-get-payback-for-taunting-me." Azelf teased in rebuttal.
Uxie paled. "You know about that?"
"Yes, I know about that. Impressive rendition of the Renegade though."
"Who told you I used Giratina's illusion?"
Azelf chuckled. "You just did! For someone who knows everything, you sure are gullible."
"Would you two stop it!" Mesprit floated between them and pushed them apart. "Not with The Swords of Justice watching!"
"Oh yeah, they're still here," Azelf muttered and turned to face the Swords. Mesprit rolled her eyes and took her place next to him.
Uxie shrugged and addressed their saviors. "Thank you for your assistance on such short notice. It was remarkable that you got here so fast."
The blue goat spoke first. "You are welcome. We are always happy to help. As for how we responded so quickly..." He gave a small nod towards the pink cat floating behind them. "Colonel Mew was able to help with that. Her teleportation powers are proving to be quite useful."
The cat inattentively waved the formal compliment away with her paw. "Just doing my job, General." She went back to haphazardly manipulating a small bubble with psychic powers. It raced around her body and she smiled as it passed by her vision. Squinting, she aimed for the energy sphere and popped it with a quick swipe of her claws.
"Yes, well, we are all grateful nonetheless." Cobalion paused as if he remembered something. "Oh, yes, didn't you have something Keldeo needed to know?"
Mew went blank for a moment. Then she must of realized what she had forgotten and all her bubbles popped simultaneously. "Oh yeah! That’s what I came back for, duh." She cleared her throat. In her most professional voice, she announced, "Lieutenant Colonel Keldeo, General of the Army Reshiram has decided to recognize your rapidly growing skill and talent. Your actions here today benefit all of Verum, no, all of Telmani. It is for this reason that he has decided to promote you. Congratulations, Colonel Keldeo!"
As the rest of the Swords of Justice cheered, I suddenly realized that I was still standing here listening to their entire conversation. It was a little rude and out of line, but all this talk of Verum and Colonels and things had aroused my curiosity. I silently excused myself and ran into the Council Hall to do what I should have done originally: find April.
The copper-furred Emolga was still sitting where I left her, drumming her fingers against the table. April raised her head when she noticed me.
"Oh, you’re back. I was-" April was cut off when I suddenly hugged her very tightly. "Ugh! This is nice and all, but I'm still bruised and in pain here!"
I released her and muttered, "Sorry."
"Did something happen out there? Did I miss a good fight?"
I recounted the exciting tale that took place mere minutes ago, conveniently leaving out the bit about how my entire reality seemed to break apart when the Hall (more specifically, April) was threatened.
"They knocked out Mesprit? Wow. And if it wasn't for Keldeo... I might not be here. See! This is why I should have gone with you!" April pounded her small fist on the table. "I always miss out on everything!"
"As if going in your condition would have been any better. The backlash from Mesprit's last attack would have knocked you out."
"Nu-uh! You survived it, so why wouldn't I?" She crossed her arms and stared angrily at me. Despite myself, I found the pose quite cute. Dang it, not this again.
I sighed. "Look, you were injured and I didn't want anything to happen to you. I don't entirely know how this power burst works yet, and I was afraid that-"
"That, what? That you couldn't protect me? I can protect myself! I'm not some defenseless artifact that needs saving all the time. I was actually born a Pokemon, unlike you." April jumped off her chair with a huff. She walked outside and I hurried after her. She continued talking, knowing I would follow her. "And you know, that's still something I'm having a hard time believing. I know I said I believed you earlier, but I was only saying that to..." She looked conflicted, as if she didn't know whether to continue or not.
Matching her pace, I calmly replied, "To not offend me? Why? I don't think I'd be offended. I mean, if I were anyone else, I wouldn't believe me either."
"Because I like you, okay? You already know that. But honestly, a human waking up as a Pokemon? It sounds a little crazy." She rounded a sharp corner and hurried down another street.
"It's happened before. Uxie and Lucario said it's happened twice. And where are we going anyways?"
"Yeah, but that was over a hundred years ago. We have statues dedicated to those heroes! They're really nice, actually. But I'm sorry to say, you don't fit the bill."
"What do you mean? I can be impressive. As impressive as an foot-tall squirrel can be anyways."
"So, basically, not at all." From her calmer expression, I could tell that her temper was beginning to diffuse. Despite the fact that she ignored my question about our destination, I now knew where we were going.
As I followed April through the front doors of the Treasure Hotel, I asked, "What's with all anger, anyways? What did I do?"
She was about to answer when Gothitelle interrupted her. "Excuse me, Miss?"
April blinked. "Yes?"
"You only paid for a single night, so you will have to pay again for another night. The room doesn't expire for another few hours, but I thought you should know." The receptionist gave a curt nod and a generic smile.
"Ugh." April pulled out her small purse from under her wing and searched through the coins. "Shoot. I don't have enough money, Sparky."
"What are we supposed to do now?"
"Normally, I'd suggest that we go do a salvage job. But we're too tired to do that. Maybe we could ask Uxie?" She put her purse back under her wing.
"It's worth a shot, I guess. We did find that thing for him, so maybe he'll help us out." I shrugged.
~~~~~~
After making the trek all the way back to the Council Hall, the sky was starting to darken. Keldeo and his buddies were gone, presumably to fight for justice elsewhere. Pawniard were now stationed at the Hall doors, but they simply nodded as we approached the building. The three pixies were making casual conversation as we walked in. Uxie noticed us immediately.
"Oh, Shane and April. I'm glad you showed up again."
"You are?" I asked.
"Well, I'm always glad to see you, but yes. I need to thank you more appropriately for retrieving my item for me. And since we're friends, I'll give you each a favor."
"I didn't think Legendary Pokemon could hand out wishes like a genie," April said with a small giggle.
Azelf frowned. "We don't. Uxie is being nice."
Uxie scratched his chin. "They aren't wishes. Just if you ever need anything, then let me know. We may be small, but we can do a lot."
"'We'? What's this 'we' you speak of? They didn't help me." Azelf crossed his arms leaned back in his chair.
Mesprit sighed. "I can help you, if you want."
"Thank you, Mesprit, for not being a jerk." Uxie directed that last bit at Azelf, who threw his arms out as if to say 'What? I didn't do anything'. The golden-haired sprite, annoyed with his brother, looked back at us. "So. What did you two come in here for?"
"Actually, we were planning on asking for some help anyways."
"Alright, tell me what you need, Shane."
"Well, the fire that burned down Salvage Springs also ruined most of our, er, April's money and the stuff she had in the storage too. So now we can't afford the hotel room we were staying at anymore. We were kinda hoping that you had somewhere for us to stay while we get back on our feet."
"Oh my. You know, I actually have a spare room out back if you want. You'd be sharing the house with me, though."
"Well, if you're sure that we won’t be a bother, then that'd be fine."
"It's no trouble, really. So I suppose that's settled." Uxie paused for a moment. "April, do have a favor you'd like to ask of me?"
The Emolga, who had been silent for most of this time, responded, "Well, I kinda do. But I don't know if Sparky here will be okay with."
"Just say it. I don't think I'll mind," I said reassuringly.
"Well, okay. See, for the past few days, Sparky and I have been arguing on and off. I think it's because we don't quite... get each other, you know? There's something we're both hiding from each other, but neither of us want to say it out loud. Since you three are the embodiment for spirit, I figure you could help. Do you think you could help us understand each other better?"
I swallowed. "I didn't realize there was a problem... Why didn’t you say anything?"
“I didn’t want to say it out loud. But I gave you plenty of hints. That’s what all the fights were about. See what I mean? We’re never on the same page.”
Uxie thought for a moment. "Well, from experience, I found that the best way to get through this is with talking. But that's boring and will end up with a lot of awkward sentences and half-truths. So I take it that you don't want a simply therapy session, do you?"
April shook her head. I wonder where this is going. It doesn't sound very good... I thought.
"In that case, I have an idea." He looked at his sister. "Hey, Mesprit! Care to come over here? I need you for something." Once Mesprit floated her way across the room, Uxie addressed April again. "So what I'm planning on doing is taking both of your spirits and let them, um, mingle, I guess you could say. It'll only be for a few moments, but it will get across most of your defining memories and ideals."
That sounds horrifying! My thoughts must of made it onto my face because Uxie gave a chuckle. "It's really not that bad. It will feel like a dream, albeit it a vivid one. It won’t hurt a bit either. Besides, we know what we're doing. This our element. The chances of any negative side-effects are very slim."
"Why does that not comfort me?" I muttered.
April grabbed paw and whispered, "I think we should do it."
"Why? Is it really that important?" As I finished my question, I looked at April directly in the eyes. That was a mistake. There was no point refusing anything after seeing the sadness mixed with hope swirling in her gray-brown eyes. After a sigh of resignation, I turned to Uxie. "Alright, alright, I'll do it."
He laughed. "Okay then. Here, sit down. We'll have to put you to sleep first."
We both took our seats and I felt cold with the kind of irrational fear you get when waiting for your doctor appointment. Doctor appointment? Oh, whatever.
Mesprit floated in front of us and clear her throat. "If I could get you two to look me directly in the eye, that'd be great.” We obliged and suddenly her iris's turned florescent blue. I tried to maintain eye contact, but it was becoming harder and harder to keep my eyelids open. The last thought I had before succumbing to the sleep was, I should have asked if they’ve done this before. At first, it was completely black.
Then the dreams started.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Again, sorry for the wait. It was hard to get it past the halfway point, but thanks to some random line of motivation, I managed to keep going.
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of TTL! Ch 13, To Understand Another is on it’s way!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 12
Battle of Treasure City
Battle of Treasure City
Foggy Woods seemed like eons ago. In all actuality, it had only been a couple of days - a week at most. But time and memory are so subjective that none of that makes any difference. So many events happened between then and now. Sure, there were happy times. But there were so many more sad times. And frightening times. And times where I just wanted to go away and give up. Game over; I lose. Better luck next time. The whole misadventure made me wonder if there really wasn't some omnipotent being out there. If there was, he obviously had no care for me. Either way, I was on my own.
It's times like this - times where the only thing you rely on is about to be completely and utterly obliterated and there's nothing you can do about it - where your senses dull, time seems to slow, and you're left thinking this melodramatic babble.
I should have let her come. April was still in the building. Dear Arceus, why did I leave her? That building was about to be destroyed in a blazing energy blast. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I turned away. I couldn't watch. My fault...always my fault... A strange metallic noise sounded in the distance, but I paid no attention to it. As much as I tried to ignore everything, I was still listening for that explosion. I didn’t care for whatever that was. Raw energy coursed through my body for the third time in only a few days and it felt like I could bend the universe to my whim. It’s a shame that I could only make slightly bigger lightning bolts with it, though.
It's amazing how many thoughts you can squeeze into a few seconds.
The distant explosion that I was waiting for never came. Instead, a considerably less distant explosion burst in the middle of the forest path before me. The white light seared my eyes and I shut them quickly. I opened them again a few moments later, but all I could see was the same, frightening white. Am I dead? Did I die?
No, I hadn't died. My vision started to recover as I blinked several times. Through the remaining white dots that clouded my vision, I saw Regigigas down on one of his massive knees. He held himself up with a single arm and was eerily still. I turned to look at his target. Atop the still-intact Council Hall's roof stood a small, glowing figure that wasn't there before, though from this distance I couldn't make out who the savior was. The four-legged creature began hopping atop the city structures and was apparently heading this way.
A female voice cried out and pulled my attention back to the battle. Mesprit threw her arms out defensively as she was shoved a few feet backwards. It seemed that Regirock had broken his magenta prison. Unfortunately, my pent-up power had drained back to wherever it came from after seeing that April wasn't in immediate danger anymore. Because of that, I was absolutely no help whatsoever. As if I ever was.
Mesprit, however, was determined to make a difference. She formed green spheres in her palms as energy leaked out of her small fingertips to fuel the attack. With a sudden palm thrust outward, the quartet of Energy Balls blasted Regirock in the face. While a huge cloud of dust had emerged where they hit, the golem seemed unfazed by the seemingly powerful attack.
"W-what!? No way!" Mesprit was extremely worried now; her eyes were wide with shock. She grimaced for a moment, then set her gaze with a fiery determination. "No," she uttered in defiance. She put her palms together as her hands glowed with a bright light. As she pulled them apart, an orb of brown energy formed between her fingers. "I will not let another town be destroyed!" The sphere glowed brilliantly and grew rapidly. "Not now!" Her face grimaced with pain from the expenditure of the large amount of energy. The sphere was now larger than she was and lit up the forest more than the present noonday sun. The energy was blowing dust everywhere and roared like thunder. It hurt my sensitive ears, but I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't care. "Not ever!" She released the Focus Blast with a shove forward. It struck Regirock dead-on, and I was blasted into a nearby tree. I crumpled to the ground - hurt, but awake. I painfully lifted my head to see Mesprit bite the dust, utterly exhausted.
Regirock had different ideas. He had fallen onto a single knee, much like his master had done, but he was still conscious.
"No..." Mesprit moaned softly before blacking out.
Regigigas and Regirock both stood back up. Sheriff Lucario, who had been standing among the trees as I had, was scared stiff. It looked like he was muttering something, but I was too far away to hear it. His eyebrows turned down in determination, shook off the fear, and ran onto the path. He dragged Mesprit to the sidelines before staring down his opponents.
Lucario threw his arms out as if he were holding a staff. And then suddenly he was, as a translucent, blue, bone-like stick appeared in his grip. He charged Regirock and struck his head with the staff's right end. Keeping up the momentum, Lucario expertly beat Regirock down with a volley of furious blows. The rock golem held his ground well and slammed the ground with his fist when the Sheriff had let up the attack for a few moments. A crack snaked its way across the battlefield and fractured the ground below Lucario's feet. Yellow energy proceeded flowed through the cracks and exploded beneath him. Lucario cried in pain and collapsed.
Behind the rock golem, Regigigas charged up his orange beam again. My veins turned icy as I realized he was probably going to attack the hall again. No! Oh, please let that guy- My ramblings of thought were cut short by a prideful, male voice.
"Tsk, tsk. General R sure isn't gonna be happy about this." The four-legged creature from before stood atop the gate leading into town. As the beam from the behemoth was fired, the cream and blue colored pony deflected it with a glowing horn that sprouted from his head. Regigigas fell to his knees again as the burst hit his body. "Leaving Idealis was a bad idea."
Unwilling to lose, the master golem picked himself up and launched a huge, white sphere from his palm. The heroic horse deflected it just like he did with the beams. Regigigas bounced it back with a quick flick of his wrist. He was somehow much more agile than he was a few moments ago. The quadruped smirked and sent the sphere back again, his red mane flowing with his movements. The fight quickly escalated into an impressive game of dead man’s volley. Neither side was giving an inch, but the horse frowned when Regirock readied an attack. His eye pattern glowed white and small orange sphere formed before them. Mesprit and Lucario were still out cold, and what was I supposed to do? Luckily, I didn’t have to do anything because a blur of green rushed by Regirock. In the same instance, the orange ball dissipated as the golem fell abruptly. Standing over him was a large, green and cream, deer-like Pokemon. He raised his head proudly, as if it was only natural that’d he won so easily.
"Keldeo! How are you doing up there?" the green Pokemon asked. He had a male voice, regardless of the fact that he looked quite feminine.
"Just fine! This guy-" Keldeo paused to deflect the ball again. "Virizion! Can you - ngh - distract him? I can’t - agh - keep this up forever!"
"But of course!" Virizion smiled playfully at the behemoth. Regigigas was so busy concentrating on the his game of volleyball that he didn't notice Virizion running up to him. Or even if he did, he didn't react. The green deer’s horns which extended out of the sides of his face glowed white as he neared his target. With a graceful, passing slash, Regigigas was brought down to a single knee again. Unable to reflect the blast, the golem took the full force of his own power for a third and final time. Regigigas, king of the Regis, fell flat on his front.
I gave a sigh of relief as Keldeo jumped to ground. Virizion decided to formally greet Keldeo now that the danger was temporarily nullified. The two four-legged creatures bowed their necks to each other. Virizion lifted his head first.
"Nice battling back there. Not everyday that we get to fight another legend. And we got to take on the King of the Golems. A full blown Praetor! It was... magnificent!" Virizion spoke with flamboyance and vigor.
"It was pretty cool. Oh, hey, what’s news on Cobalion and Terrakion?" Keldeo sounded much younger than Virizion and spoke casually.
"They had a much easier time of things, actually. What with them facing only Registeel or Regice and all. In fact, Regice had already been defeated by the time we showed up!"
"What, really?"
"Yes, that Azelf is strong. Took it down himself. Not sure how." Virizion shook his head slightly. They glanced at the two golems lying motionless at the ground, then back to the city. Together, the slowly walked toward the Council Hall. "Another victory to add to the pile. I just hope it was the right thing to do."
"Hey! Of course it was!" Keldeo hopped in front of Virizion and stared at him fiercely. "These enemy Pokemon were sent by Zekrom to capture, even destroy, this huge, awesome city! We stopped them. So we must be the good guys!"
Verizion smiled at him, but even from around the tree I was standing near I could tell his mind was leagues away. "Keldeo, someday..." he began. After a brief sigh, he continued. "Someday, you’ll learn the world is never quite so... evenly divided. There's no real good guys and bad guys. We’re all just Pokemon fighting for a reason. We may fight for truth, but who's to say that we shouldn't be fighting for ideals? Or maybe we should have just stayed out of it entirely."
"But, but..." Keldeo’s gaze dropped. His brow was furrowed and his mouth was a frown. "I mean, this feels right to me. So we're okay, right?"
"Heh, I dunno kid. But if it feels right to you, then I guess it’s okay. Now come on, into the city. These two will be out for a good long while, so I wouldn’t worry about them." Virizion nodded towards the city and the two quadrupeds continued on their way.
My gaze wandered from the heroes and saw Mesprit leaning against a tree on the other side of the beaten path where Lucario left her. Her eyes were closed, but she didn’t look too bad. I stretched a bit, since I was fairly sore from being thrown into a tree, and walked over to Mesprit.
"Hey, Mesprit, you okay?" I asked, nudging her shoulder. Her eyes fluttered beneath their lids and she opened them after a short while.
"Shane? Yeah, I think so. Where did - Oh." She looked at Regirock, then to Regigigas. "What happened to them?"
"Two Pokemon - Keldeo and Virizion, I think they were called - helped out. They beat him. Virizion took out Regirock in one blow and then helped Keldeo beat the bigger one. Lucario tried to beat Regirock after you fell, but he didn't do much," I explained and finished with a gesture towards the unconscious Sheriff in the middle of the path.
"Oh! I hope he's okay. We'll have to send someone out here." Her demeanor changed to one of frustration. "I still can’t believe I couldn’t even scratch the thing! How could I be so weak!?" She still had the energy to express herself thoroughly, it seemed.
"Hey, you didn’t seem weak to me! Your last attack sent me flying and I wasn’t even your target!"
"Yeah. Oh, and sorry about that. Still didn’t do a thing to that hunk of rock though." She pounded her small fist against the ground in frustration.
"Don’t feel bad. I didn’t do anything either!"
"That doesn't make me feel better."
"Sorry." I scratched an area under my right cheek pouch awkwardly.
"At least they're down now. Well..." Mesprit paused, grunted, and managed to levitate herself into the air. "Grr, let’s go. We should meet up with my brothers." I noticed she was having a tough time of just floating around, but she was determined to hold herself up.
"Are you sure you’re fine?"
"Yes!" Mesprit said defensively. "I’m just tired. They didn’t even attack me."
I frowned but decided that I couldn’t help her anymore than I’ve already tried. I walked slowly to make sure I didn’t leave her behind (I was sore anyways). We were just outside the gates of the city, so we didn’t have very far to go.
There was a large commotion in front of the Council Hall when we arrived. Standing before them were Azelf and Uxie who attempting to calm the crowd down. Virizion and Keldeo stood behind them. There were also three figures I didn't recognize. One was a blue and gray, goat-like Pokemon with pointed, yellow horns. He looked aged and wise. The one next to him was shorter and looked like a bull with brown horns pointing down with the angle of his face. He smirked confidently. The last stranger was floating behind him. The small, pink, cat-like Pokemon was apparently bored and had decided to keep itself busy by creating small, magenta-colored bubbles on its fingers and then playfully popping them.
The crowd was mostly upset because Regigigas had knocked over that tall building earlier. Not only did this destroy many Pokemon's homes, but it also injured many citizens. No one was killed, thankfully. Azelf assured that the town was going to fine and that General R had agreed to cover the costs to have the tower and houses rebuilt. After much urging, the mob dispersed and the citizens mostly went on with their lives.
I followed Mesprit over to the elders and the other Pokemon I didn't know. Uxie looked tired but healthy. "Are you okay, Mesprit?" Uxie asked as he floated over to help her.
"I'm fine. Just tired. I put all my energy into fighting those golems. Didn't work though. They beat me." She whispered the last bit, ashamed of her defeat.
"So I heard. Good thing we joined Verum, huh?" Azelf said smugly and nudged Uxie with his elbow.
Uxie made an exasperated sigh. "Yes, yes. Honestly, you are such a child."
"You're one to talk, Mr. I-scare-innocent-citizens-to-get-payback-for-taunting-me." Azelf teased in rebuttal.
Uxie paled. "You know about that?"
"Yes, I know about that. Impressive rendition of the Renegade though."
"Who told you I used Giratina's illusion?"
Azelf chuckled. "You just did! For someone who knows everything, you sure are gullible."
"Would you two stop it!" Mesprit floated between them and pushed them apart. "Not with The Swords of Justice watching!"
"Oh yeah, they're still here," Azelf muttered and turned to face the Swords. Mesprit rolled her eyes and took her place next to him.
Uxie shrugged and addressed their saviors. "Thank you for your assistance on such short notice. It was remarkable that you got here so fast."
The blue goat spoke first. "You are welcome. We are always happy to help. As for how we responded so quickly..." He gave a small nod towards the pink cat floating behind them. "Colonel Mew was able to help with that. Her teleportation powers are proving to be quite useful."
The cat inattentively waved the formal compliment away with her paw. "Just doing my job, General." She went back to haphazardly manipulating a small bubble with psychic powers. It raced around her body and she smiled as it passed by her vision. Squinting, she aimed for the energy sphere and popped it with a quick swipe of her claws.
"Yes, well, we are all grateful nonetheless." Cobalion paused as if he remembered something. "Oh, yes, didn't you have something Keldeo needed to know?"
Mew went blank for a moment. Then she must of realized what she had forgotten and all her bubbles popped simultaneously. "Oh yeah! That’s what I came back for, duh." She cleared her throat. In her most professional voice, she announced, "Lieutenant Colonel Keldeo, General of the Army Reshiram has decided to recognize your rapidly growing skill and talent. Your actions here today benefit all of Verum, no, all of Telmani. It is for this reason that he has decided to promote you. Congratulations, Colonel Keldeo!"
As the rest of the Swords of Justice cheered, I suddenly realized that I was still standing here listening to their entire conversation. It was a little rude and out of line, but all this talk of Verum and Colonels and things had aroused my curiosity. I silently excused myself and ran into the Council Hall to do what I should have done originally: find April.
The copper-furred Emolga was still sitting where I left her, drumming her fingers against the table. April raised her head when she noticed me.
"Oh, you’re back. I was-" April was cut off when I suddenly hugged her very tightly. "Ugh! This is nice and all, but I'm still bruised and in pain here!"
I released her and muttered, "Sorry."
"Did something happen out there? Did I miss a good fight?"
I recounted the exciting tale that took place mere minutes ago, conveniently leaving out the bit about how my entire reality seemed to break apart when the Hall (more specifically, April) was threatened.
"They knocked out Mesprit? Wow. And if it wasn't for Keldeo... I might not be here. See! This is why I should have gone with you!" April pounded her small fist on the table. "I always miss out on everything!"
"As if going in your condition would have been any better. The backlash from Mesprit's last attack would have knocked you out."
"Nu-uh! You survived it, so why wouldn't I?" She crossed her arms and stared angrily at me. Despite myself, I found the pose quite cute. Dang it, not this again.
I sighed. "Look, you were injured and I didn't want anything to happen to you. I don't entirely know how this power burst works yet, and I was afraid that-"
"That, what? That you couldn't protect me? I can protect myself! I'm not some defenseless artifact that needs saving all the time. I was actually born a Pokemon, unlike you." April jumped off her chair with a huff. She walked outside and I hurried after her. She continued talking, knowing I would follow her. "And you know, that's still something I'm having a hard time believing. I know I said I believed you earlier, but I was only saying that to..." She looked conflicted, as if she didn't know whether to continue or not.
Matching her pace, I calmly replied, "To not offend me? Why? I don't think I'd be offended. I mean, if I were anyone else, I wouldn't believe me either."
"Because I like you, okay? You already know that. But honestly, a human waking up as a Pokemon? It sounds a little crazy." She rounded a sharp corner and hurried down another street.
"It's happened before. Uxie and Lucario said it's happened twice. And where are we going anyways?"
"Yeah, but that was over a hundred years ago. We have statues dedicated to those heroes! They're really nice, actually. But I'm sorry to say, you don't fit the bill."
"What do you mean? I can be impressive. As impressive as an foot-tall squirrel can be anyways."
"So, basically, not at all." From her calmer expression, I could tell that her temper was beginning to diffuse. Despite the fact that she ignored my question about our destination, I now knew where we were going.
As I followed April through the front doors of the Treasure Hotel, I asked, "What's with all anger, anyways? What did I do?"
She was about to answer when Gothitelle interrupted her. "Excuse me, Miss?"
April blinked. "Yes?"
"You only paid for a single night, so you will have to pay again for another night. The room doesn't expire for another few hours, but I thought you should know." The receptionist gave a curt nod and a generic smile.
"Ugh." April pulled out her small purse from under her wing and searched through the coins. "Shoot. I don't have enough money, Sparky."
"What are we supposed to do now?"
"Normally, I'd suggest that we go do a salvage job. But we're too tired to do that. Maybe we could ask Uxie?" She put her purse back under her wing.
"It's worth a shot, I guess. We did find that thing for him, so maybe he'll help us out." I shrugged.
~~~~~~
After making the trek all the way back to the Council Hall, the sky was starting to darken. Keldeo and his buddies were gone, presumably to fight for justice elsewhere. Pawniard were now stationed at the Hall doors, but they simply nodded as we approached the building. The three pixies were making casual conversation as we walked in. Uxie noticed us immediately.
"Oh, Shane and April. I'm glad you showed up again."
"You are?" I asked.
"Well, I'm always glad to see you, but yes. I need to thank you more appropriately for retrieving my item for me. And since we're friends, I'll give you each a favor."
"I didn't think Legendary Pokemon could hand out wishes like a genie," April said with a small giggle.
Azelf frowned. "We don't. Uxie is being nice."
Uxie scratched his chin. "They aren't wishes. Just if you ever need anything, then let me know. We may be small, but we can do a lot."
"'We'? What's this 'we' you speak of? They didn't help me." Azelf crossed his arms leaned back in his chair.
Mesprit sighed. "I can help you, if you want."
"Thank you, Mesprit, for not being a jerk." Uxie directed that last bit at Azelf, who threw his arms out as if to say 'What? I didn't do anything'. The golden-haired sprite, annoyed with his brother, looked back at us. "So. What did you two come in here for?"
"Actually, we were planning on asking for some help anyways."
"Alright, tell me what you need, Shane."
"Well, the fire that burned down Salvage Springs also ruined most of our, er, April's money and the stuff she had in the storage too. So now we can't afford the hotel room we were staying at anymore. We were kinda hoping that you had somewhere for us to stay while we get back on our feet."
"Oh my. You know, I actually have a spare room out back if you want. You'd be sharing the house with me, though."
"Well, if you're sure that we won’t be a bother, then that'd be fine."
"It's no trouble, really. So I suppose that's settled." Uxie paused for a moment. "April, do have a favor you'd like to ask of me?"
The Emolga, who had been silent for most of this time, responded, "Well, I kinda do. But I don't know if Sparky here will be okay with."
"Just say it. I don't think I'll mind," I said reassuringly.
"Well, okay. See, for the past few days, Sparky and I have been arguing on and off. I think it's because we don't quite... get each other, you know? There's something we're both hiding from each other, but neither of us want to say it out loud. Since you three are the embodiment for spirit, I figure you could help. Do you think you could help us understand each other better?"
I swallowed. "I didn't realize there was a problem... Why didn’t you say anything?"
“I didn’t want to say it out loud. But I gave you plenty of hints. That’s what all the fights were about. See what I mean? We’re never on the same page.”
Uxie thought for a moment. "Well, from experience, I found that the best way to get through this is with talking. But that's boring and will end up with a lot of awkward sentences and half-truths. So I take it that you don't want a simply therapy session, do you?"
April shook her head. I wonder where this is going. It doesn't sound very good... I thought.
"In that case, I have an idea." He looked at his sister. "Hey, Mesprit! Care to come over here? I need you for something." Once Mesprit floated her way across the room, Uxie addressed April again. "So what I'm planning on doing is taking both of your spirits and let them, um, mingle, I guess you could say. It'll only be for a few moments, but it will get across most of your defining memories and ideals."
That sounds horrifying! My thoughts must of made it onto my face because Uxie gave a chuckle. "It's really not that bad. It will feel like a dream, albeit it a vivid one. It won’t hurt a bit either. Besides, we know what we're doing. This our element. The chances of any negative side-effects are very slim."
"Why does that not comfort me?" I muttered.
April grabbed paw and whispered, "I think we should do it."
"Why? Is it really that important?" As I finished my question, I looked at April directly in the eyes. That was a mistake. There was no point refusing anything after seeing the sadness mixed with hope swirling in her gray-brown eyes. After a sigh of resignation, I turned to Uxie. "Alright, alright, I'll do it."
He laughed. "Okay then. Here, sit down. We'll have to put you to sleep first."
We both took our seats and I felt cold with the kind of irrational fear you get when waiting for your doctor appointment. Doctor appointment? Oh, whatever.
Mesprit floated in front of us and clear her throat. "If I could get you two to look me directly in the eye, that'd be great.” We obliged and suddenly her iris's turned florescent blue. I tried to maintain eye contact, but it was becoming harder and harder to keep my eyelids open. The last thought I had before succumbing to the sleep was, I should have asked if they’ve done this before. At first, it was completely black.
Then the dreams started.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Again, sorry for the wait. It was hard to get it past the halfway point, but thanks to some random line of motivation, I managed to keep going.
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of TTL! Ch 13, To Understand Another is on it’s way!
JFought
Sloooowly writing...
New reader! *thumbs up*
Interesting story. I like how the rivalry in between Reshiram and Zekrom is shown more deeply. Not even their rivalry in the games, anime, and manga combined could amount to the level of intensity in between the two shown here. Not to mention that Shane's powers are very interesting. I think I know where they came from, as it is semi-obvious, but I'm not gonna say.
When it comes to grammer, early on I can still find mistakes. Chapter 12 was the only chapter so far that didn't have a too noticible mistake in it. You also greatly improved on battle scenes as you went on. So far, Chapter 12 is the best since grammer was near perfect (as far as I could see at first glance) and the battle scene felt real smooth.
Long story short, I like this fan-fic and am excited to see more.
Interesting story. I like how the rivalry in between Reshiram and Zekrom is shown more deeply. Not even their rivalry in the games, anime, and manga combined could amount to the level of intensity in between the two shown here. Not to mention that Shane's powers are very interesting. I think I know where they came from, as it is semi-obvious, but I'm not gonna say.
When it comes to grammer, early on I can still find mistakes. Chapter 12 was the only chapter so far that didn't have a too noticible mistake in it. You also greatly improved on battle scenes as you went on. So far, Chapter 12 is the best since grammer was near perfect (as far as I could see at first glance) and the battle scene felt real smooth.
Long story short, I like this fan-fic and am excited to see more.
Awesome! Hi!
Do you now? That's cool, reader theories are cool. d(^_^d)
Oh yeah. I didn't get beta readers until Chapter... 10 I think. Anything before that wasn't that great either. It makes me uncomfortable every time I think about it, but Im not going to go back and fixing it until I finish fixing The Gift and AVT.
Chapter 12 had the most scrutiny by my own eyes, as I was staring at the half-finished doc whenever I wanted inspiration. So the first half was rewrittten many times until I liked it. It also had three Beta Readers, one of which is a new beta reader for me.
Thanks! In that case, would you like to go on the PM list?
JFought
Sloooowly writing...
Sure, why not. I don't mind.
jireh the provider
Video Game Designer
Whew. Its been a really long while since I've been reading here. I mean, I only got like 10% of the next chapter, of my main story on my banner, finished no thanks to Adobe Photoshop projects and more ... ugh ... Calculus. I hate that latter subject. Anyways:
You know the fun thing about the PMD series? It's in fact that you can actually make the hero/ine and the partner a couple. The way Uxie triggered Sparky's attention and panic. For one, I think the relationship between the two electric mice after the treatment will become ... complicated. This is why I actually like the PMD series since I can imagine both protagonists getting married in the end. Doesn't it feel like this series has a "The Sims" like theme in a small degree?
I mean ... ask yourself every now and then, why did the protagonists of the series never wanted to return to their human lives? It's because they love their partner the most, the one who helped you the most. From acquaintanceship, to friendship, to best friends, and at last, to an official couple.
You know the fun thing about the PMD series? It's in fact that you can actually make the hero/ine and the partner a couple. The way Uxie triggered Sparky's attention and panic. For one, I think the relationship between the two electric mice after the treatment will become ... complicated. This is why I actually like the PMD series since I can imagine both protagonists getting married in the end. Doesn't it feel like this series has a "The Sims" like theme in a small degree?
I mean ... ask yourself every now and then, why did the protagonists of the series never wanted to return to their human lives? It's because they love their partner the most, the one who helped you the most. From acquaintanceship, to friendship, to best friends, and at last, to an official couple.
Well, of course you could. But you could do that with any video game ever, because fan fiction sorta stretches the story to fit your needs.
Well, they're squirrels, actually. Not mice. And yes, there will be some interesting implications of what theyre about to do.
Although Shane is only worried in the way people are worried before, say surgery. He's worried that it's too risky or unnecessary.
While I dont believe Pokemon have an official marriage system besides announcing that they are each other's "mates", I could easily see this being the case. Especially in PMD2, if not PMD1.
Well, keep in mind that it's only in PMD1 that the player character actually chooses to stay. He begins to return, but on the journey back he wills himself back to the PMD world.
In PMD2, your hero character dies. More or less, anyways, as you are completely wiped from existence as the world that you came from is erased. Dialga brought you back when your partner still kept the great sadness over a few months. He owed you a favor anyways.
When you're brought back, you are brought back as a Pokemon, because thats form your partner wants. Not only that, but with the dark future never have existing, there'd be no world for him to return as a human anyways.
Often times, I imagine PMD fics would often allow their main characters the choice to stay or go, and I'd assume that they'd always choose to stay.
Shane will be offered that choice, but because of a lot of stuff that happens later, either choice would seem rational to us. So I guess you'll have to wait and see for that one.
I'm actually waiting for a fic one day that actually has the main character return home. I'm actually looking at Knightfall right now, as Leo has been through so much crud and surely will continue to be thrown in more crud that I wouldnt blame him for leaving.
jireh the provider
Video Game Designer
Well, I DID read one PMD fanfic where the Heroine returns to a human. It also fits given the right conditions to the planned plot. A good ending one perhaps. For me, on my own understanding, if the protagonit ever wanted to become a human, it has to be very rational. It would normally have a conflict between its human mind and pokemon instincts
By the way, I bet you're aware of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Gates to Infinity's release. I will be buying that and a 3ds when I got the savings for it.
Yes, time has been crud for me for the past 3 to 5 weeks too. I couldn't do fast progress in my works too like you guys. but now, I got a 4 day vacation thanks to the Lenten Season.
Guess what!? Is it Chapter 13, you ask? No, sadly. ;_;
Instead, I have an announcement! It's TTL's 1 year anniversary!
Yay!
Coincidentally, I'm rewriting TTL! And on this day, 1 year from when it was originally posted, I am posting the new Prologue! I'll be editing it into the first post so please, go and read it! It is drastically different than the original. In fact, most of the chapters following will be changed dramatically, so reading them is highly advisable.
I'll also be sending a PM out to everyone on the PM List each time a chapter is rewritten.
So away we go!
Instead, I have an announcement! It's TTL's 1 year anniversary!
Yay!
Coincidentally, I'm rewriting TTL! And on this day, 1 year from when it was originally posted, I am posting the new Prologue! I'll be editing it into the first post so please, go and read it! It is drastically different than the original. In fact, most of the chapters following will be changed dramatically, so reading them is highly advisable.
I'll also be sending a PM out to everyone on the PM List each time a chapter is rewritten.
So away we go!
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