The Immortal Flame

This story takes place in first person. Sorry if the first chapter seems odd. It will get better the more chapters I introduce. (note the character can speak to Pokemon.)

Chapter 1: The Guardian

It was a calm night with the moon and stars shining brightly. The vast forest surrounding me only made slight rustles in the wind. The wind was giving a gentle blow to the north. The night seemed so peaceful and the sky was switching between different hues of grey. The moon was at quarter phase with a healthy green arc around it. All of nature seemed to enjoy this night and so did I, my aura flowing calmly. The silence broke as a quiet tune came. The single click of a krickitot started a soft beat. Soon many of these krickitot gathered and started an one instrument symphony. It didn't take long for the krickitune to find their young and add a drum beat to the symphony. Soon the night was filled with the tunes of bug pokémon. They each added a part to this grand sympathy. Soon this sympathy filled my spirit with ease and I looked up to the night sky. A soft wave of aura pulsed in me and I knew my master, my friend, had just looked to it. I bend my knees and sat down in a position, which I knew well. My legs were crossed, one foot underneath each knee. I sat listening to the serenity of the bugs' serenade. I bent forward, hearing the folding of my clothes, to reach for the instrument around my neck. I held it up and admired the craftsmanship before I brought it to my lips. This instrument, my ocarina, rested lightly in my hands. I rested my fingers on each note. I let out a soft blow of my breath before joining the symphony in the bugs' serenade.

I didn't play for long, because I wanted to see the state of this place. I'm an aura guardian and it is my duty to protect this place. I am Kuneru Uchiki, an aura guardian raised by lucario. I wore a standard guardian outfit. The outfit was made of: a brimmed hat, undershirt with an aura amplifying stone, a blue jacket, belt, pants, and black combat boots. Although, the most important piece was my black gloves studded with aura controlling crystals. As I wore this, I not only gained respect from humans but pokémon as well. I have to live within a strict moral code and can never use my aura for bad purposes. It took years for me to earn my title, and many enduring fights. This has improved my life and made my parents proud. My job now, to protect this place, is my sole duty.

I straightened out my legs as I slowly stood out of my position. I brushed dirt off my pants and looked around. The forest hasn't been this peaceful recently. Lately all the plants have started to die. All of the pokémon have turned to each other because of it. I turned my gaze and started intently at the brown grass.

"It's the middle of spring, why are you dying?"

I bent down and plucked a dead blade of grass from the soft, rich soil. I put it in the middle of my glove and surrounded it with my aura. The bright blue light didn't seem to rejuvenate of help the blade of grass. My mind went to questioning as it dissolved in my hand.

How strange, when I read it, it seemed to be perfectly okay. What would cause these plants to die when nothing is wrong with them?

My mind only questioned over this enduring problem. I didn't know it would be answered. My life would change after that. The serenade suddenly stopped…

I turned to the direction at which the song started. All I saw was the krickitune gathering their young, and all the bug pokémon started to buzz. They all gathered into one swarm.

"What's happening!"

I yelled to only be answered by an immense swarm of bug pokémon flying at me. I didn't have time to react as the swarm hit me. Each bug pokémon that hit me pushed me down and started to rip my skin. Fresh wounds were opened and pain filled me.

"Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggghhhhh!"

The pain coursed through my body as I was pushed into a trench. The pain had forced my eyes closed, blinding me and I couldn't brace myself for the fall. I hit the ground and heard a crack come from my arm. This pain came greater than the last.

"MY ARMMMMMM!..."

The last yell took out my breath, and I could not seem to breathe well. The pain caused my body to stiffen and my breaths shorten. My eyes were closed shut by the pain that I felt. This pain seemed to last for hours. The pain slowly dying down, I forced open my eyes to see that the swarm was still flying over me. It finds that I had been laying there for only a few minutes. I looked down at my now damaged and motionless body, and tried to think of the situation. I tried to raise my shoulder, only to have my eyes forced shut by pain again…

I waited a minute to open my eyes again. This time I noticed my arm. I looked at it and knew it was broken; luckily my bones did not break out of my skin. I looked forward and let out a painful sigh. Then I realized something, the trench I was in seemed a bit odd. It looked like a machine dug it, but was a little too sloppy. There are only two things that can make a trench such as this: a steelix or an excadrill. Both will never stop until the job is done. They rampage through both dirt and stone, crushing everything they touch. No rock stands a chance against these two, and neither would my body in the way. The ground started to tremble…

I grew scared as the rocks on the ground started to jump. The puddle of blood, which formed from my wounds, started splattering and vibrating everywhere. My skin started to shake and the pain of my wounds increased. My skin felt like it was being ripped even further. I tried to howl in pain, hoping it would stop, but nothing escaped my lips. The pain only increased as dirt was flying into my wounds. This whole time I had painfully held my eyes open, watching for worse to come. I howled again, only to be muffled. The amount of blood pouring from my body increased. I watched my damaged body become worse. By now the blood had stuck my clothes to my skin. My body had become stone. My head was now stuck facing the incoming disaster. My eyes could only look in that direction. Then I saw a moving pile of dirt being plowed towards me. The dirt flying everywhere destroyed the remaining small plants around the trench. This now felt and sounded like an earthquake, and the pain to great. My aura dropped with my eyes and I passed out. Everything was blank and it felt like I was sleeping. Like most black-outs it felt like a second. The crushing plow reached me and snapped me awake. It was inches from me, and then time seemed to slow down. Energy rushed into me as I placed my palm on the ground. My aura flared around me and it formed a dome around my general area. This was the aura dome, a lucario's form of protection. The moving mountain of earth hit the dome and flow over it. I saw a silver shine come from this mountain of dirt as it flew over it. A ground shaking crash caught my focus and I lost the dome. Dust filled the air only stinging my wounds further. For an odd reason I didn't care for the pain. The light of my aura reflected back at me from something of a metallic color. Through the dirt I saw a yellow gaze of unforgiving eyes. I closed my eyes and saw through my aura the beast in front of me. Bright yellow eyes, a gleaming silver body, the form of a serpent, the multiple segments of its steel body, and the unique structure of a shovel head and pickaxe spikes on its body, it was a steelix. Its aura had turned red as it was bracing for a challenge. It raised and pulled back its head, before it threw it forward with an earsplitting screech. The screech's sound forced my eyes open and I grasped my head to cover my ears. Forgetting the pain now, I knew I had to defend myself; I stood up and faced the beast. My eyes showed the eagerness to fight. The steelix saw this and glared back. This was the universal sigh for battle, deadly eye-contact. This was the start of a battle.

I was caught off guard. The steelix came up and swung its oversized tail. Iron tail, the name of this move, is easy to dodge when facing such a large foe. I jumped backward just inches from contact. As to my surprise it used the force and came in for a headbutt. Thinking fast on my feet I flipped and landed straight on its head. My bad arm landed first onto its metal head and the pain filled me again.

"Argghh…"

I knew that I couldn't yell, as it would take too much time. The steelix reacted at that instant and used its already swinging tail to swat me off its head. Again this hit my arm, and I was flung into a wall of the trench. The steelix faced me and raised its head, preparing to bite. A bite from a steelix right now would only lead to certain death. With my good arm, I stuck my palm out in its biting path. I started to charge my aura in the center of my palm. Its head came down, aiming for my now exposed arm. One of its teeth hit my palm and the aura became an explosion. This was force palm, a move in which the user thrusts a palm full of energy at an opponent which explodes on impact. The steelix's head was thrown back from the explosion and came crashing behind it. The steelix curled into a wheel and used this to roll up the trench wall then back down towards me. Known as roll-out, where the user bundles up and uses its weight and momentum to roll over and crush foes. It came straight at me. I closed my eyes and focused. I felt myself split in two and come back together behind it. This move was known as double team, where the user splits itself into illusions to make the user harder to hit. I came back together and countered with an aura sphere. Aura sphere is a move which the user focuses its aura into a sphere and launches it as a high speed projectile. It exploded directly on the rolling steelix's back, and sent it crashing into the dirt. The steelix grunted before passing out. Knowing that my enemy was gone I looked back to my damaged body. I only looked at my arm and that's all it took for all the pain to come rushing back. I fell down to the ground like before. The pain stiffened my muscles. It seemed that the only parts of my body that weren't severely injured were my only good arm and my legs. The torn thick pants were the only reason my legs survived. The dust from the battle had started to settle. I could see where the steelix plowed through the dirt. The ground was torn, much like my body. The dirt, which was freshly tilled, started to fill these gashes in the ground. This gave me a thought on how I am to treat my wounds. I could use heal pulse, but the thought of dirt staying under my skin bothered me. It would only lead to infection.

(I need water…)

Water is exactly what I needed. Soon my wounds would become infected if they aren't cleansed. Plus from the loss of blood and my recent battle, I risk the seriousness of dehydration. That thought bothered me also. There was a chance I could die here. Thoughts ran through my mind.

(Death…..death is the end for all life….it comes to almost all…but I'm not going to let it take me.)

This determination brought strength back to my arm and legs. I stood up. I then glared to the top of the trench.

"If I could get up there, then I could search for water."

I heard a sound behind me…

The steelix that I battled earlier was moving around a bit. This was warning me of his waking. It soon grumbled and raised its head a little. I braced myself and stood ready for an attack. It turned its head in my direction and then dropped its head back onto the ground. I was now showing aura around my skin.

Pikku: "aggg… What was that for?"

The steelix's voice calmed me and I dropped my guard.

"You almost ran over me!"

The steelix looked at me and anger filled his aura again.

Pikku: "You didn't have to beat me up!"

The steelix tried to get up but failed. I looked at him and shot him a glare.

"I had to keep myself from dying!"

I grabbed my arm and pointed to my wounds. This caused pain to shoot up my body. The steelix rejected my answer and proclaimed its right again.

Pikku: "You made the first strike, sending me flying! I had no other choice but to defend myself!"

The pain scorched my nerves and my anger was replaced by pain.

"I was…going to die if I didn't…do that…"

My breathing was getting heavy and the steelix noticed.

Pikku: "Are you okay? I didn't hurt you that badly did I?"

I only shook my head no and then I collapsed on the ground again. The unspeakable pain came back and forced my body to twitch in pain. The steelix started to slide in my direction, with its body damaged as well. He stopped in front of me and tried to raise his head.

Pikku: "What did this to you?"

I looked at him with my crimson eyes filled with pain, and only seemed to let out one word.

"Bugs…"

The steelix not normally fearful of bugs looked at me with concern. This is odd because most steel types think of bug pokémon as harmless annoyances. He seemed to understand my situation.

Pikku: "Was it the recent swarm?"

I could only nod before the steelix examined my wounds.

Pikku: "They got you pretty bad, didn't they? You're going to need some water to wash out those wounds."

My arm had started to bleed again and I knew I needed water.

Pikku: "You're bleeding out pretty fast! You're going to need more than just water."

This startled me. Steelix don't bleed so how would it know what I needed. The steelix actually seemed to act like a human. It made me wonder how it knew so much. I decided to ask, but the pain silenced me. Then the steelix did something that truly surprised me.

Pikku: "I know where a pack of audino is. Get on my back. If we don't hurry then your arm will have to be cut off."

No steelix offers a human to ride on its back. Who is he? A better question would be, what is he? The steelix lowered his head to mine and started before saying:

Pikku: "I'm going to need you to use heal pulse on me. Can you do it?"

How did this steelix know that I could use this, I don't know. Knowing my situation I raised my hand and made a healing aura come out. I touched his face and sent a heal pulse through him. He no longer showed pain and raised his head high in the air. His neck bent and he started to plunge his head towards me. I felt my life drop.

(Could he be trying to kill me?)

I wanted to regret healing him, but then his head flung downward. To my surprise, his head landed right in front of me and dug underneath the earth. The ground below me shook and I felt the earth below me moving. At one moment he flung his head out of the dirt below me. He did it so carefully that I was resting on top of his head. He turn his head and faced down his trench.

Pikku: "Are you ready?"

His tail started to spin and I knew what was about to happen.

Earth began to rumble as the steelix sped up his tail. Rocks turned to dirt and dirt to dust. Soon we were moving forward. I was riding on a steelix. The steelix was much like a train, slow at first but powerful. Even the vibrations coming off him resembled a train. We started to gain speed and I looked to the forest passing by. Without the bug pokémon it seemed empty. I had a feeling, the feeling that disaster was coming. This feeling urged me to look towards where the swarm came. At first I dismissed it, but as I looked back I heard a loud crackle. The steelix caught notice of this, but focused on his destination. Then there was an explosion…

A tree that we had just passed blew up behind us. Splinters and parts of the tree flew in our direction. The steelix reacted by raising me higher in the air. The parts of the tree hit two segments of the steelix's turning body. These were soon tore apart and buried under the dirt. The steelix reacted and started to speed up.

Pikku: "Try to brace yourself! We are getting out of here!"

The steelix speed up at an amazing pace. Rocks and dirt were being flung into the air. A cloud of dirt like I saw just before, started to form around us. The vibrations coming off the steelix increased, and my wounds started to open again. The steelix, defying instinct, kept its head its head high at these speeds. It was trying to prevent dirt from throwing me off its head. The forest became a blur as more explosions came from behind us. It was only the speed of steelix's movements that kept the explosions at bay. Soon it all changed. The explosions caught up with us. By this time I was bleeding all over the steelix's head. I looked behind us and saw our attacker. Fear came to me as I found out that our pursuer was the legendary Genesect. It was using its vents below its cannon as jet propulsion to keep up to us. I checked again, not believing it was Genesect. The red lens eyes, the powerful techno cannon on its back, the purple exoskeleton, and the four limbed insect form only proved that it was Genesect. Its aura only showed hatred, and it was taking it out on us. Apparently steelix already knew this and was slapping Genesect with its tail to send the cannon blasts flying away from us. I was lucky to see this legendary pokémon, but in this situation it was horrible to encounter it. One of its techno blasts with the right drive would end us. Then the genesect started to glow. The thrust becomes faster making more propulsion. Genesect was preparing to use extreme speed. This is a move in which one becomes as fast as lightening and attacks the opponent at high speeds. It flew upward and attacked.

Genesect: "I have you now you thieves!"

Genesect crosses its arms and dashes at lightning speed. Its claws uncross at the steelix's face, cutting grooves into the steel.

Pikku: "Nooooo….argh…."

Genesect had threw me and the steelix into a wall of the trench. It tried to brace myself for the impact, but my wounds prevented it. I hit the wall and saw rock shatter, and my left arm, the good arm met the rock. I felt my arm crush against the rock. My whole body felt the pain and I yelled.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

I fell out of the rock wall and headed for the trench bottom. With no arms I was unable to brace myself. I hit the ground hard. The pain took me. My aura dropped and everything went black. I passed out…