WISHES
Chapter One - Ethereal
Darkness. All you see is darkness.
It stretches in all directions infinitely, not a hint of light available to ease your sight. You try to open and close your eyes, but your vision doesn’t change – all you see is a void, a never-ending abyss of, literally, nothingness.
You begin to feel afraid. What brought you to such a depressing vision? Several thoughts begin to dance around your mind: Is this the experience of being blind, of all the color and shape and depth of life being taken away from your eyes? Is this what it feels to have nothingness as the only object that fills your vision? Why experience such emptiness? Why experience such terror?
But that soon changes as you see a speck of light in the distance. It is extremely small, comparable to the little dots you see in the night sky. Despite its size, you feel relaxed seeing it, the insignificant but noticeable white stain on the black sheet breaking the terrifyingly never-ending sight of emptiness.
You begin to walk towards it, and it is only then you realize that you aren’t standing on solid ground. You move your feet sideways, but the presence of a floor isn’t felt, the usual solidity being replaced by what you can only imagine as air.
Am I floating? You ask, but your mind shelves the thought as you walk – or float, you aren’t really sure – towards that speck of light. It doesn’t seem to be getting nearer, but you don’t care. It sure beats emptiness, and right now, you’d do anything to get out of it.
Suddenly the speck of light becomes bigger. It doubles in size, turning from the size of a white dot in the night sky to the size of a ping-pong ball. A second passes, and it has widened into a golf ball. Another second goes by, and its size is comparable to that of a baseball. You turn around to see the nothingness, but you see that more of the white specs appear, and they begin to grow bigger, too. You look in all directions and see more and more of the growing white specs, some of them stopping to the size of a golf ball, but others already the size of a basketball and continuing to grow. You stand firmly on your feet – though you are unsure how you do so because you’ve made up your mind that you are floating – completely in awe and confusion of what was going on.
To make things more confusing, one of the bigger spheres of light explodes, and you instinctively run away. You see that it has broken down into several small white dots, around the size of the first one you saw only minutes ago, and these begin to grow bigger as well. Before you get the chance to marvel at the spectacle, several other spheres of light burst as well, and you run – or, at least, make the action of running with your feet – after each detonation, making up your mind that you needed to get out of this place – whatever it was – as soon as possible.
You make several turns and u-turns, but everywhere you go you see a sphere of light bursting, or about to burst. Even when you look down, you see the void extending beneath you beginning to have white specks of light that continue to grow and grow, and some are already about to explode. Your confusion is now replaced by fear, these exploding spheres of whiteness certainly not the most welcome replacement to the infinite blackness. Every explosion you see or feel makes your heart beat faster out of anxiety; you think,
what have I gotten myself into?
And then, randomly, you stop running – or whatever it is that you were doing – and check your surroundings. You look around you, and you see that the spheres have suddenly stopped exploding. You then see an impressive spectacle – an almost structured mixing of blackness and whiteness, kind of like a jigsaw puzzle.
No, you think,
not a jigsaw puzzle. It looks exactly like outer space.
And, indeed, what extended in all directions – even beneath you, and this was certainly what made you dumbstruck ever since you looked down – was the same void, the same infinite blackness, but now with clusters of white spheres of different sizes. It was, as you had thought, a three-dimensional rendering of outer space, and the white spheres of light were, in effect, the heavenly bodies – planets, stars, galaxies, everything.
Your fear is suddenly replaced by sheer awe, and you take a moment to take in the magnificence of the sight. You were never a fan of astronomy – in fact, you honestly couldn’t care less – but something about this strikes you.
Sublimity, you think, and perhaps you are right – beauty cannot possibly capture the rawness of what you see before you.
Then you hear a sound. It is only now you realize that you have not heard anything at all, ever since you arrived at this…place, if it could be classified as such. It’s a soft, gentle sound, similar to the chiming of a bell. It becomes a little louder, but it maintains the hushed, soothing tone, as if it was placed there simply to calm you down.
If that’s the case, it’s working, you say to yourself.
And then you see another speck through the infinite space. This catches your eye because it is neither black nor white; it is gray. You actually see the distortion it makes to the otherwise perfect background, how its being off-color disrupts the harmony of the sight that you admired. This gray speck, though, is seen to move closer and closer to you, and then you see that it is accompanied by yet another color: orange. A bright orange, like fire, and it looks like it is engulfing the silver speck, but most of it is trailing right behind it.
You realize what it is, and you begin to run.
You feel it coming closer and closer, and you run as fast as you can through the spheres of light. At one point it seems like you were stepping on one, but you had no time to stop and wonder how that was possible. You run as fast as you can, but you can feel how useless it is as you feel it getting nearer, and nearer, and nearer…
You only have a second to turn around and see the sheer size of the comet as your vision suddenly turns to black.
~^~
July 4
“Luxray! Use Thunder Fang!”
The black and blue lioness ran hastily towards its opponent, a white feline-like Pokemon with a black scythe both on his forehead and on his tail. The former’s fangs suddenly become charged with electricity, and the latter realized too little too late that he was the target of such a fearsome sight as the former’s fangs plunged through his torso.
He let out a cry, flailing as he felt the surge of electricity enter him. He shrieked in pain as he felt his body beginning to go numb, and the fangs that were piercing through his skin became harder to bear. As soon as the lioness released him from the deadly situation, he scampered away from the Luxray and her trainer, not wanting to be in the presence of such a fearsome opponent at all.
“Hah, Altair’s fared much better than that weakling.”
The trainer, a woman that was around a month away from turning twenty, had a knack for defeating Absol, both wild and trained, with her Luxray, for Absol was her brother Altair’s signature Pokemon, and she knew that the best way to beat Altair’s Absol was to practice on other Absol. It was the only reason why she would make an effort to venture to the summit of Mt. Coronet; she hated having to dress up in stocky snow gear: a thick brown fur coat over several other layers of long-sleeved shirts; matching cargo pants and snow boots that was around a fourth of her weight; a belt that had three Pokeballs clipped on it; a black bonnet that covered her auburn hair, along with black snow goggles that protected her sapphire eyes; and finally, a huge brown backpack that contained other necessities and emergency equipment, enough to last her a night in the relentless snow of Mt. Coronet’s peak.
The trainer, her name known to only a select few – Mira Star – patted her Luxray on the mane, to which the Pokemon replied with a soft growl.
“That’s my girl,” Mira told the lioness as she withdrew a cookie from one of the pockets of her knapsack and gave it to her Pokemon, which the Luxray hastily chewed and swallowed. “You’ve become faster after evolving, Luxray, and your attacks seem to be stronger, too!”
The Luxray lay on her stomach, her fur keeping her warm from the sudden contact with the snowy ground, and let her trainer stroke her mane as she listened to her encouraging words. “I know I hadn’t been training with you a lot recently, and you can thank my siblings for that, by the way, but you should know that seeing you kicking a
ss in battling is always a thrill.”
The lioness growled in acknowledgment as she rubbed her head on her trainer’s body, her trainer becoming surprised at the sudden gesture. “Woah there, Luxray. Your mane’s much thicker now, so your head-rubbing’s becoming a bit too uncomfortable.”
Feeling the lioness’ dejection from her statement, Mira suddenly squeezed the cheeks of her Luxray, much to her Pokemon’s surprise. The Luxray let out a surge of electricity in reply, literally shocking Mira, but the trainer was quite accustomed to the nature of electricity, something given to her by the magnet-shaped locket that hung around her neck and was being covered by the many layers of clothes she now donned. This locket, one she had never removed for as long as she could remember, gave her the power to control electricity and the ability to wield electric-type attacks that were usually exclusive to certain Pokemon. Consequently, her seven other siblings – she found out that she was the eighth of eight siblings the same day she found out about the powers her Magnet locket possessed – were able to do the same with seven other Pokemon types, donning seven other lockets and being seven other anomalies.
Something she only found out about three years ago.
And what a reveal that was, she thought as she continued to play with the Luxray’s fur, absorbing the electric jolts that the Pokemon randomly emitted. The Luxray growled happily at her trainer’s actions, appreciating the playfulness after the intense training they had both undergone for the past few hours. Trekking Mt. Coronet was definitely no easy feat, having to go through treacherous conditions: the chilly darkness of the caverns, the daunting effort of climbing rocks, the packs of wild Pokemon suddenly swarming them – they particularly hated the Golbat – it was exhausting both physically and mentally. But the Luxray knew that it was all part of the rigorous training that made her evolve, and that in the end, the exhaustive effort both of them put in was all worth it. The Luxray believed in the capabilities of her trainer, and she was thankful that the feeling was mutual.
Their celebration was cut short, however, when they heard a screeching sound from above.
Mira looked around the sky, partly colored by deep oranges and reds brought about by the July sunrise, but one could still see the little white specks that dotted the night sky mere hours ago. Amidst the brilliant view of color, Mira could see a little gray dot that stood out from what was displayed on the sky, though it was surrounded by a kind of yellowish glow. It was a magnificent sight in itself, an anomaly standing out against the black and orange and red of the sky. A few blinks and she realized what it was; a few more, she realized it was falling straight towards her.
She began to run.
The Luxray growled as she heard Mira shouting at her, commanding her to run as her trainer ran past her, wondering why she would do such a thing. Instinctively she looked around, but saw no approaching wild Pokemon or any threats of danger. The Pokemon then looked up and saw the same gray speck, only it was now several times bigger. The lioness immediately got the message and ran towards her trainer, and when she had caught up, Mira instinctively jumped on the Luxray’s back and commanded her Pokemon to run as fast as she could. “We need to get away!
Now!”
The image of the comet burning her upon its contact with Mt. Coronet’s peak raced through her mind, and she was suddenly reminded of a nightmare that had recently plagued one of her nights. It was awkward, to say the least – it consisted of white spheres that grew and exploded, and at the end being burned by one of these spheres that surged straight towards her. The last thing she wanted was for that nightmare to be prophetic.
They raced towards the rocky and snowy terrain of the summit as the comet’s descent became recognizably faster and the searing sound it made became noticeably louder. As the snow-filled emptiness stretched away from them in all directions, Mira knew that they wouldn’t reach one of the mountain’s caverns in time to protect themselves from the comet’s explosion. In a span of thirty seconds, she commanded her Luxray to stay put, convincing her Pokemon that they would both be fine, and recalled her to her Pokeball. Clipping the Pokeball on her belt, she found a small burrow-like structure she assumed to contain to several Pokemon, but whatever called it home was the least of her concerns. She hastily entered it and scrambled to summon an electromagnetic barrier that blocked the entrance and protected her from whatever there was outside. She hurriedly engulfed herself within the barrier, and after testing its solidity, huddled her whole body like a ball and closed her eyes.
She suddenly felt a huge wave around her as the magnitude of the comet’s contact with the mountain peak sent chills down her spine. She felt an intense rumbling, as if the entire burrow was going to collapse on her. Parts of her electrical barrier began to break as piles after piles of snow blasted around her, the claustrophobic situation becoming a little too much for Mira as tears began falling from her eyes. But these tears were not purely out of terror or fear, nor were they simply out of depression.
She also felt, and she wasn’t sure why she would feel such a thing given the intensity and danger of the situation, some sort of awe.
~^~
Knock, knock.
The man wasn’t expecting visitors today. The man wasn’t expecting visitors
period.
And so early, too! He thought.
Knock, knock.
“Coming!” He shouted. The man hated visitors, to say the least, but he was also taught to be courteous.
Opening the door, she was greeted by a fairly tall lady in her early thirties. She wore a simple dark blue dress, donning a black coat around her shoulders and a black scarf around her neck, which covered a necklace with a teardrop-shaped trinket. Stockings and snow-stained boots of the same color covered her legs and feet. Her long, wavy black hair flowed nicely around her face as dark sapphire eyes greeted him with glee.
“Polaris! So good to see you!”
She immediately went in and hugged him, covering his plain white shirt and cargo shorts with snow. He was a few inches taller than her, his calm, young-looking face masking the fact that he was already in his mid-thirties. He had icy blue hair and eyes of the same shade, adding to how peculiar he looked as a whole. He had a fairly built body, though it wasn’t as well-defined as it used to be. Around his neck was a locket similar to his visitor’s, only instead of a teardrop, the object it had was shaped like an iceberg.
“It’s been a long time, Vega. How are you?”
The man quickly let his visitor in, noticing from her little actions that she wasn’t too fond of the cold atmosphere. He hurriedly closed the door as she removed her scarf and ran her hand across her hair.
“I’m fine, Polaris. But I came here to ask you that very same question. How’s it like going solo again? Has it been treating you well?”
Polaris Star, the fifth of eight siblings, had always wanted to live a simple, solitary life up in the secluded areas of Snowpoint City. He preferred the safety given to him by his solitude – safety that, he felt, he would never attain if he got involved with his siblings, something that was proven to him in the events that had happened three years ago. He didn’t want the danger or the drama or the misunderstanding, or any of the ridiculousness that ran through the family. All he wanted was a normal life, and if that meant being somewhat disconnected with his siblings – though he didn’t really want the situation to reach that far – then so be it.
“It’s better than three years ago, to say the least,” he replied as he sauntered over to his kitchen to fix two cups of coffee for both of them. Calling Polaris’s house simple was an understatement; it had a bed, a bathroom, a table with four chairs, a clothes cabinet full of no more than ten of every piece of clothing he would ever need, a second cabinet full of his hunting gear and emergency supplies, a lighting fixture on the ceiling, a small television set, and a kitchen with a stove, a sink, a pantry, and a refrigerator – all the bare necessities, one may say. “I have everything I need,” he continued as he came back from the kitchen and offered her one of the mugs, “and I feel safe up here with my Pokemon.”
“That’s good to hear, and thank you,” Vega said softly as she took the mug and blew over the warm coffee. Vega Star, the sixth of the eight siblings, was the opposite of Polaris in more ways than one. She valued family more than anything after the death of her mother. Consequently, she was now living with her niece, her nephew, and three of her siblings in a simple bungalow in Sunyshore lent to her by one of her best friends. Like Polaris, she was severely affected by what had happened three years ago, but in contrast, she used this as a clutch in her attempt to unite their family, or what was left of it, which was one of the reasons why she was in her older brother’s house at that very moment.
“It’s nice being safe up here, Polaris,” Vega continued as she took a long sip from her mug, “but wouldn’t you rather stay with us? We all miss you so much, especially Nashira, who really wants to have more conversations with you that don’t require both of you to be behind bars. And Tyl, who told me that he wanted a more enjoyable uncle than Altair. And, well, me, because I’d really appreciate an older brother in the house, and the other two aren’t really available.”
“I’m flattered, Vega.” Polaris replied in the most sincere way he possibly could, trying to hide the annoyance he felt after being asked the same question over and over again. “But I really do prefer staying up here, alone, being only with my Pokemon. I know the place isn’t all that, but it’s enough for me. It’s home.”
He could see the disappointment in her eyes, knowing that she wanted the exact opposite of what he just said. He felt pretty bad for her, and he hated himself a little after realizing that it was only dawn, and he could’ve ruined her entire day because of his idiotic self. Still, he saw the effort she made to hide that disappointment, mustering up a small smile and telling him “that’s fine. I’m happy that my older brother’s happy, and that’s enough for me.”
“I’m sorry, Vega,” he said. “I know you want all of us to be together, but I’m happy with how I’m living now, and I think visiting you guys every Christmas is already a fair deal.”
“Chara says it’s too infrequent,” Vega said in a matter-of-fact tone. “And I happen to agree with her.”
“But you’ll always agree with ten-year-old kids,” Polaris taunted.
“She’s turning twelve.”
“That’s not too big a difference,” he laughed as he finished all of the contents of his mug. “But, if you insist, do you want me to visit you guys more often?”
“Do I even need to answer that question?” Vega said in a more cheerful tone as she finished her own mug of coffee and gave it to Polaris. He took the two mugs to the kitchen and rinsed them on the sink as he said, “Okay, when do you want me to visit, then?”
“How about every eighth of August?” She proposed. “That’s Mira’s birthday, and I’m sure I don’t have to remind you why that date is special for all of us.”
“Is it coz it’s Mira’s birthday?” He said mockingly, to which Vega replied with her tongue stuck out. She then wrapped her scarf around her neck and stood up, motioning towards the door and telling her brother that she needed to go back home.
“It was a pleasure to have you here, Vega,” Polaris said with a bright smile.
“It was a pleasure visiting, Polaris,” Vega replied enthusiastically. “Remember, Eighth of August in Sunyshore! I’m inviting everyone!”
“
Everyone?” Polaris asked, stressing each syllable of the word.
“…okay, maybe not everyone,” Vega said, rolling her eyes. “But you know what I mean!”
She was standing right outside Polaris’s house when she suddenly remembered one other reason why she visited her older brother in the first place.
“Oh wow, I almost forgot!” She blurted out. “Before I go, I was gonna ask you if you could visit Rana when she campaigns here in Snowpoint tomorrow morning.”
“Oh, right. I heard that friend of yours was doing well in this year’s elections. Isn’t she the really hot one?”
“What the hell, Polaris,” Rana said in an annoyed tone as she gave Polaris a “look”. “You’re talking about my friend, here. One of my
best friends.”
“I’m sorry!” Polaris apologized in between laughs. ”But, hey, if you look hot on a television screen that has static as the backdrop, then that’s really saying something about you. And being on TV almost twenty-four seven doesn’t hurt, either.”
“…whatever, okay, so can you please visit her for me?” Vega requested, choosing to ignore that last comment.
“Why don’t you visit her yourself?” He asked back. “Wouldn’t it make more sense if her best friend was there to support her?”
“It would,” Vega replied with a frustrated tone, “and I did. But that’s the problem – all the pictures taken by the paparazzi of me with Rana are giving the public the wrong signal.”
“In what way?” Polaris asked, one of his eyebrows raised.
“They think we’re, uhh,
more than friends.”
The face Polaris made was a mixture of entertainment, arousal, and several other things, but it was soon doused by a blast of water from her palms. Polaris couldn’t help but laugh at the paparazzi’s generalization of her sister having a lesbian relationship with her best friend; he found the fickleness of the public pitifully amusing, and the possibility of Vega and Rana’s relationship disturbingly fascinating.
“It’s not funny!” she shouted defensively as Polaris tried to calm down, but couldn’t help but force out one last chuckle before he saw Vega’s sapphire eyes stare him down.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he said with a wide grin, “but woah, that was real funny.”
“Whatever,” Vega said in an irritated tone. “So do I take that as a yes? Just tell her that you’re my brother and I’m sure she’ll let you in.”
“Oh would I like to get in on that-“
Before he knew it, he saw a huge wave coming straight towards him. He raised both of his palms and concentrated, and in a second all the drops of water turned into snow, blanketing him with the icy powder instead of drowning in the strong deluge. The sudden solidifying of her attack shocked Vega, but her surprised expression soon turned to a determined smile.
She extended her palms and out poured a surge of bubbles charging towards her older brother, engulfing him in a coat of rapidly expanding bubbles. Trying to control the situation as the bubbles continued to immobilize him, he summoned several small icicle spears from beneath him, popping the bubbles one by one and dousing his body with a sticky coat of water. Raising his right arm, the icicle spears stopped in midair, and making a slamming motion they all charged towards his younger sister, to which she instinctively replied by summoning a cascading wall of water in front of her that effortlessly absorbed all the icicle spears.
They were about to make their next moves, Vega’s hands engulfed in bubble cases and icicle spikes bursting out of Polaris’ palms, when they heard a screeching sound echo through the sky.
The two Stars looked at the brightly-colored horizon as they saw a gray speck falling towards the peak of Mt. Coronet. It looked like it was engulfed in a vibrant yellowish hue, but it was too far to tell. Both Polaris and Vega simply observed it with curiosity as they felt a sudden wave of awe wash over them, something neither of them could fully explain. They watched on as it made contact with the mountain’s apex, resulting in a brilliant show of colors as it visibly sent shock waves across the summit.
“Woah,” Polaris said with mouth agape, “this feels just like a dream I recently had.”
Vega suddenly turned around and looked Polaris straight in the eye. “Oh my god, did you have that nightmare too?”
“If you’re referring to the one with the trippy white spheres,” Polaris replied, “then yes.”
“That’s exactly what I’m referring to,” Vega said in amazement. “So I wasn’t the only one to dream such a weird dream!”
“So if you and I dreamt it, then that means…”
“There’s a high chance that the others did, too,” Vega finished hastily. “I’ll be sure to ask Nashira and Altair and Mira when I get home…”
She suddenly let out a worried scream, her eyes wide open, as she came to a sudden realization.
“Oh my god!” Vega blurted out.
“What’s wrong?” Polaris asked, concerned.
“Mira!” Vega answered worriedly. “She’s in the summit of Mt. Coronet right now!”
~^~
The comet’s descent was a sight to behold. Early birds from almost every city in the region, save for Sunyshore, Floarama, Sandgem, and Twinleaf acted as spectators to the brilliant show that only blessed Sinnoh once every one thousand years.
One particular onlooker in Solaceon had a different reaction to the spectacle, as he stood outside his modest bungalow and watched the comet’s explosion with an indescribable confidence rather than a sense of wonder.
“As expected,” he muttered under his breath as he retreated into his home.
“I cannot wait for our meeting, master.”
