"There's a great big hole behind this town. A long time ago, a huge meteorite fell from the sky and made the big hole. A very scary monster was hiding inside the meteorite! People say the monster appeared in the village at night, with a freezing wind, and it stole away people and Pokémon...
So the villagers built big walls to keep the monster out and made a rule that no one could go out after dark.
Wether you believe it or not is up to you...
But even now the people of this town stay inside after dark. The old stories and legends continue to influence our lives."
-Lacunosa Town elder.
We were once one.
"All is calm. All is peace. All is good."
I yearn for the simpler days of old when we -no, I, used to roam free across this lands, though I know that's never to be. Can you remember the glorious feeling of the wind embracing our -my- skin? Scales and fur mixed together, ice and flame entwined? Can you still see the electricity crackling in our -my- wake? The jovial roars we echoed to the heavens above?
And then I saw them. Humans they were, but their hearts were as white as ours -as mine. Calmness and hope. Courage and kindness. Friendship and wisdom.
Truth and Ideals.
They fascinated us -I. Different but alike. So young and so wise. They watched us with eyes of gold and souls of bronze. I fascinated them. The ever so graceful dragon. The combined elements. An old being with a young spirit.
They ruled and I followed. How could I not, when they let their people with justice and fairness?
They laughed and I soared with happiness. How could I not, if our bond had strengthened to the point of reading each other?
They loved me and I purred my joy. How could I not, when I had found what I didn't know I was missing? When I had found family?
They turned their gazes towards different points in the horizon and I ignored it. How could I not, when they had such innocence, such pure souls? When they valued each other more than anything else? When they were us and we -I- was them?
"All is calm. All is peace. All is good."
Until it was not.
War. A small word that had many ramifications. It turns blood against blood, kin against kin, love against love. I did everything I could to stop them. Arceus knows that I gave it everything to avoid the wounds, the poison, that came when watching my heroes engaged in combat.
War has two sides.
Who was I to follow in the battlefield? How could I wound someone who I held close to my heart? Were my thunderous rays directed to the oldest? Was my blazing fire scorching the youngest? Or was my freezing breath kept caged in my jaws, where it could hurt no-one?
Truth and Ideals.
It is a matter of us, not of I.
Truth versus Ideals.
I refuse to accept that idea. I am who I am and that's they way it is.
They need us. We promised to follow them, to protect them, to kill if necessary.
No! That's all wrong! We -I- are the dragon of balance! This is how our creator wants us to be! We are dishonoring the one who gave us life by following that line of thought!
They need us.
I won't let you.
You have no choice.
There's always a choice.
Us.
I.
The pain was horrendous. It was a torture so excruciating that I can still feel my bones morphing, my flesh snapping, fur and scales ripping apart, flame and lightning untangling from their core of ice. It lasted a lifetime but it was over in a heartbeat. Truth and Ideals roared, victorious, to then fly back to their heroes.
One was now two, but it was three.
That night, I keened. I cried to the stars begging, pleading for my other halves to return to me. I called them, sending my frosty breath as a signal for them to find me. I never moved, eyes focused on the distant battlefield. Somewhere, I still hoped for them to see the errors of their ways, to become balance once again, to come back to me.
They never did.
I watched them in their bloodlust. I stared, terrified of their -my, our- power. The land soon was a raging inferno, the sky an electrified hell. They bit and clawed and burned and shocked and roared and killed and I stood there transfixed. How can this be? We are balance, we are peace, we are justice. But we were not.
And then it was over.
The stones fell like meteorites from the heavens, black and white and red and blue. My heroes -their heroes- wept, having realized what they did. I brushed them with my muzzle, asking them what we were going to do. They stared and I stared back.
"There's nothing for any of us," they said.
"We are monsters," they cried.
"Farewell, friend."
I roared for them to come back, to guide me again, to make me one and not three.
They never looked back.
I followed their trail. I had promised to protect them, to care for them, to be there. For years I walked without rest, my wings too fragile to carry my weight. Life was starting to grow again, but I couldn't stop to admire it. I had a mission.
I walked days and nights. Pokémon would often wander by my side for a few hours before parting ways. Humans took one glance at me and ran away in fear. I never blamed them.
And then, one day, the trail disappeared.
My outraged roars were only drowned by my wounded moans. What was I to do now? Lost and incomplete. A shadow. A ghost. A leftover.
Hollow.
Days were weeks and then years and decades. Seasons flew by, colors and scents. Centuries took their toll on mortal life and I stood statued, a shell absent to the flashes of day and night. The wandering souls were nothing anymore, just blurs of smells and sensations lost to their own dimensions and rhythms.
And then one day, one cold, cold day, my wings unfolded. Instinct roared for me to climb, to ascend, to soar until the horizon turned black and the burning white lights surrounded my trail. Past the clouds I went, answering an ancient calling long forgotten. There was no electricity crackling in my wake nor flames dancing like a whirlwind, but the rush of joy was the same I remembered. Higher and higher my impulse took me until then...
My wings folded again, panic raising like a vine engulfing a tree. I howled for help that would never arrive. As my body plummeted like a falling star, the irony of the situation mocked my subconscious. The end would come like the slumber of Truth and Ideals, it seemed. Life has a way of taking its toll on mistakes of the past in the most unfortunate times in the present.
And then ice broke free of the caged trap that were my jaws, twirling around me like transparent Arboks. It twisted and turned until my skin was trapped under layers and layers of it, protected against both wind and ground. The contact with land was a rough one, dampened slightly by my cage. I left the trail in the woods of a fallen meteorite, my body rolling and twisting until the momentum was broken. One of my wings fell along the way, leaving it as a stubborn stub of what once was a magnificent limb.
I ignore how much time passed as I laid there. Sometimes I could hear something nearby, but it never compelled me to look for the source. Once again I was left alone and lost.
"Pid."
The small gray bird sang to me from a nearby branch, big eyes shining with curiosity. I blinked at it, raising my head in surprise. The movement made the bird screech, curiosity replaced by fear. Was I that horrible to look at? Was nothing of the Dragon of Balance left in me?
The Pidove took flight quickly, tiny feathers ruffled.
"Don't go!," I begged.
"I don't want to be alone!," I howled.
"Stop!," I roared.
The bird stopped in mid-flight, body engulfed in a block of ice. I cooed in happiness, rushing to curl around the frozen Pokémon. I had a friend! I was no longer alone!
My heavy head fell to the newly frozen valley in a deep slumber for the first time in eons.
"Flapper?"
The high-pitched call awoke me from my pleasant dreams. I was quite surprised my rest was not plagued by monstrous nightmares, but my pondering could wait. A young human child appeared in my line of sight, a Liepard following her protectively. A caretaker, maybe?
"Flapper, where are you?"
She was so small, so pure. Her heart was true like my old heroes. Maybe she could be my friend too?
"Flapper! Come out! Fla-"
The feline hissed at me, back arched and fur bristled to appear more menacing. The human child uttered a horrified cry, her eyes frozen to the Pidove. She knew my friend? Great! The could all stay with me, then.
"What have you done to Flapper? Y-You monster..."
Monster? I was not a monster.
Ice materialized around the child, encaging her like the Pidove. The Liepard snarled, leaping at me in the beginnings of a Night Slash. The fluid leap of the purple feline was forever frozen as Glaciate caught up with him.
I sat nearby, contemplating my newest friends. I had not interacted with humans in decades, but I knew that they were as social as Lillipup. Maybe my friend would need more company.
The human settlement was not as far away as I thought. It had unfamiliar infrastructure and the clothing resembled nothing I had seen in my -our- days as protector of the Kings. The terrified cries of both humans and Pokémons greeted me as I left the forest. Frost crept past the human settlements with each step I took. Everything was a blur of colors and fear.
Flamethrower scorched my neck. I stumbled and roared in surprise, blinking at the old Arcanine that barked at me menacingly, human companion yelling orders at her. What a curious pair, I thought.
The canine ran at me, flames sliding off her mouth as she readied her fiery attack. I decided that she would be a good friend with the Pidove back home, so I snatched the Arcanine up by the scruff and trapped the human adult with my claws. Two new friends to keep me company!
Years and years passed until the settlement build up a barrier that prevented me from returning. I never understood why, we were friends after all. Resigned at not having any more human friends, I started befriending the local Pokémon. They too started avoiding me soon enough.
My friends kept me company, though I still felt alone. Sometimes I howl to the stars, calling for the two that were me to remember, to embrace their origins. They haven't returned yet but I know they will one day. When they come back we can take off to the horizon again, ice and fire and lightning dancing as it was meant to be. We would feel the wind caressing our skin and fur and feather again as we breezed past the clouds. We would roar our joy to the moon like we did for all those eons, we would sing to the burning stars in the distance, we would soar towards the sun. We would be black and white and grey and yellow and red and blue.
We would become whole again.