The Long Lived Crown

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or 'The Tower of Learning' (by Rufus Wainwright).
However, I do own all fictional characters in this story.

Reviews are always appreciated!

Contains Suggestive Themes & Language.

"Inevitably, your friends and loved ones will eventually pass on... But your fond memories of them are yours to cherish, and your fond memories, they will never die..."
-Delta

* I: Restraint *

"Blue Boy," uttered the gruff voice of a man as he sat down on the end of a sofa, opposite of where the dog-like creature he referred to as 'Blue Boy' was sitting. He positioned his rear until he was comfortable and threw his leg over the other. The man looked to be in his late teenage years; perhaps he was around nineteen or twenty years old. He took the appearance of a dirty scruff, his dark brown mullet could easily be mistaken for a dead animal if gazed upon from afar.

The man looked towards the other end of the couch at his blue 'friend' and grinned. His brown eyes full of wicked evil, his face encrusted with dried dirt. He put a finger to his chin, still staring, still grinning.

Blue Boy, only a yard and a half away, felt his trainer's eyes on him, but he continued to look at what was in front of him. Eventually, he became uncomfortable, and shifted his head slightly in the man's direction.

The man, noticing his pet's uneasiness, felt satisfied and spoke up. "I'm feelin' pretty bored. Maybe you should entertain me."

Blue Boy's long, blue ears perked up. "And how," he replied, nonchalantly.

The trainer chuckled silently. "Dance. Dance for me. I want to see how good you are at it."

The small, messy house fell quiet as the two sat on the couch. Seeing that Blue Boy wasn't moving, the man's grin faded. His eyes narrowed. "Blue Boy. Earth to Blue Boy."

Blue did not move from where he sat. He did not budge, he just continued to stare at what was in front of him apathetically. Another moment of silence passed. The man knew Blue Boy could hear him, and this made him angry. "Dance, Blue Boy," he said, forcefully.

Blue Boy sat still. Yet another moment of silence passed. He winced as the man quickly stood up. Before he knew it, the man is in his face.

"Didn't you hear me, mutt?" the man spoke through his yellow teeth. "I said dance."

Blue Boy hesitated before casually replying. "I don't dance."

The trainer smiled, as if he was somewhat fond of the dog's response. "Well, I'll be," the man cheered as he stood straight. "It's been quite a while since you last disobeyed me. You know the drill."

Blue Boy nodded, and got up to his feet. The two made their way to the front door of the house. The bright sun blinding them both as they exited the building. They stood on a wooden porch in a small neighborhood, mostly full of trailers and dilapidated houses. The house of which they both shared was small, but it had a large, grassy yard, full of worn down playground objects and small jungle gyms.

Blue Boy reluctantly got on his knees and looked up towards the trainer, who noticed the blue hound's posture and laughed.

"Man, Anubis," he cracked his knuckles with ease as he approached the dog. "You should consider yourself lucky. Who knows what you'd be going through right now if you was a girl."

It was not often that the trainer would refer to his pet by his real name. Anubis was nicknamed 'Blue Boy' for two reasons, one being that his fur was mostly blue, the other being that his trainer was extremely uncreative.

The man raised his fists. Anubis closed his eyes and waited patiently for the inevitable. The man proceeded to lash out at the dog's head and shoulders. The dog didn't try to escape or fight back, he just tried not to jerk back too much from all the blows.

The two didn't know it, but they had an audience. Just across the road was a small Jessamine bush that hadn't quite flowered yet. Inside sat a small, black cat-like animal. It had a golden ring platelet on its forehead, two more on its hind legs, another surrounding its long tail, and two more surrounding its long ears. It's bright red eyes gawked at the event taking place just across the road. 'What exactly... am I looking at, here?' it asked itself.

Finally, to the black cat's relief, the beatings ceased. Anubis shakily got back on his feet and stood there. One of his crimson-red eyes now refused to open. small bruises began to form on his shoulders and on his cheekbones. A speck of blood dripped from a small cut near his temple. The cut, though, wasn't entirely visible due to Anubis' thick fur.

The trainer relaxed his arms and looked around the neighborhood, sighing. "Do you know why I still have you?"

Anubis wiped at his bloody patch of fur. "What do you mean?"

"Do you know why I haven't gotten rid of you?"

Anubis thought about it for a second. "You use me for awing your lady friends and for doing your chores."

The man chuckled. "You're right, but there is another reason. But... I won't tell you what it is right now. You may find out in the near future." He grinned as he scanned the playground. "Listen, Blue Boy, how would'a feel if I took ya back to Egypt?"

Anubis took no notice of the man's inquiry, as it was probably a cruel joke of his. The man looked at Anubis and smiled.

"I bought airplane tickets. I didn't tell you before because I wanted to surprise you. We're leaving today!"

Anubis looked at his trainer, whose smile told him that what he was telling was true, but Anubis could see past his smile. He could see all the man's emotions with a single glance. He decided to roll with it. "...Alright, then let's go."

The man grinned as he took Anubis by the arm and led him down the steps of the porch and towards the playground, saying "All aboard!" The two of them stopped at an old, busted up sandbox.

Anubis gritted his teeth. 'How typical,' he thought to himself.

"We're here," the trainer said joyously. "Egypt!" He took from his pocket a red and white sphere. It looked to be made out of cheap plastic, as if it were a McDonald's happy meal toy. "Alright, BB, as further punishment, this is where you will be staying for a week. I'll see you in seven days." The man opened the ball and a ray of red light engulfed Anubis as he was sucked into the spherical cage. Anubis had miraculously dissipated into thin air. But how?

The man formed a small hole in the sand before placing the ball in it and covering it up. "Have fun in Egypt, you miserable mutt. In the mean time, I have some chores to do." With that, the trainer returned to his house and disappeared in the doorway.

The black cat that was hiding in the Jessamine bush was thankful that the horror had ended. 'What did I just watch? Was that blue thing willing to be beaten up by that human? No, of course not.' The cat left the bush and made his way across the road. He now sat at the border between the sidewalk and the human's lawn. 'I have to help it, but... will I be able to?' The cat pondered nervously for a few minutes. 'No... Sheesh, it can help itself. An animal of that size can easily take out any stingy human. Although... it's been trapped.' The cat had two armies clashing in his head; he didn't know what to do. 'Should I really risk my life for this strange character whom I've never even met before?'

Finally, the cat came to a final decision. "Dammit," he said as he cautiously made his way towards the sandbox, feeling the soft grass underneath him, notifying him that he was in the enemy's territory. He leaped into the box and, knowing exactly where the ball had been buried, began digging. A drop of sweat began to roll down the side of his head as he occasionally looked towards the door of the house.

Once the ball had been fully uncovered, the cat's paws tried their best to roll the ball from its hole and out of the box. The wooden barriers that held the sand in place proved to be a tough obstacle for the cat and the ball. Nuzzling the ball up the wood with his paws wasn't working out very well, so he tried to bite down on the ball with his mouth, but the ball was too large to fit. The cat had no time to laugh at this innuendo. On the ball protruded a white button. The cat managed to place his jagged teeth around the button, just barely. He shifted his head about, making sure the button was stable in his mouth. He then jumped from the sandbox and sprinted out of the yard and down the avenue. He ran for about seven minutes before he noticed the buildings becoming bigger and bigger. The small, wretched neighborhood was gradually becoming a town. The cat stopped under the awning of a bus stop. He dropped the ball from his mouth, leaving a small amount of saliva on the button. The sphere made a cheap, hollow noise as its plastic bounced against the asphalt.

The cat stared at the ball in confusion. He pushed it around a bit with his paw, studying it. He then examined the button. 'How the hell do you use these things?' the cat asked himself as he brushed off his saliva from the button. The ball then shook slightly as it popped open, releasing Anubis from its confinements. The cat leapt backwards into the air in shock.

Anubis rubbed his eyes. A sharp pain shot through his face when his paw came in contact with his bruised eye. He yelped, clutching at his face. 'Seven days already?'

The black cat looked up and down the dog's body, noting the dog's physical characteristics: It was almost entirely blue, except for its black paws and legs, its beige torso, its black shoulders, and what looked like a black, burglar-style mask surrounding its crimson colored eyes. Four black, tendril-like appendages hung from the back of its head to his shoulders. Two small, metallic spikes, showing quite an amount of luster in the sunlight, protruded from the dog's paws. If it ever backhanded someone, it would leave some serious damage. Surrounding its neck was a bushy, cream colored mane, and underneath that was another metal spike on its chest. It had a long, blue tail that wavered in the wind, its tip bent to be pointing towards the ground. Its overall body was fairly slender and well built.

'I've never seen this thing before,' thought the cat. If a human had had a threesome with a jackal and a bucket of blue paint, this would have probably been the product (obviously, this was impossible).

While the cat was sorting out all these equations in his head, Anubis was starting to panic.

"Where am I?" he questioned himself. "M-Master?" Anubis' glance fell on the black cat, their eyes met for the first time. "Hrm. Hello, little guy. Do you, by any chance, know where we are?" Anubis got on one knee, in case he seemed intimidating to the small animal.

The cat inspected the bruises on the human-jackal hybrid's body with a concerned look on his face.

"Oh," Anubis bluntly uttered. "Do they look like they're healing?"

"No. You shouldn't have let that human treat you like that."

Anubis stood up again and looked around, remembering his trainer. "Where is he? If I'm here, he has to be here, too."

The cat grew quizzical, seeing the dog so concerned about where his 'master' was. "He's not here. He's in his house, almost a mile away."

Anubis looked bewildered. "What? What do you mean?"

"I saw him abusing you. You shouldn't have let him done that and gotten away with it. After you were buried in that-uh... pseudo beach box, I dug you up and rescued you."

Anubis didn't respond, he stood still, his eyes affixed on something across the street. Finally, he spoke up. "What do you mean you rescued me? You're going to get me in so much trouble with my master. Why on Earth would you do this to me?"

The black cat glared at Anubis. "Huh? Are you kidding me? You don't need to see your master again. I-rescued-you! From him."

"No, no, no," The dog sighed and knelt down again, looking at the cat. "You wouldn't understand. What's your name? Mine's Anubis."

"A-noo-bus? Sounds exotic." The cat shook its head, annoyed with himself for becoming sidetracked . "Listen, Anubis, you're free now. You don't need to see your master anymore. No more beatings, no more dirty property, no more inbred neighborhood! You're free to explore the world now," the cat said happily.

"But my master, I can't leave him. Who knows what the consequences would be if I tried to run away. You've already gotten me into enough trouble as it is. Besides, I-I'm happy with my trainer."

'Has he been brainwashed or something?' the cat wondered. 'It may take some effort to change this poor guy's mind.' The cat eyed the blue dog up and down. This mysterious creature was one of which he had never seen before. "My name is Delta."

"Huh. That's a nice name," Anubis said, ruffling the fur on the cat's head. "...For a type of water-way." Anubis suddenly felt a peak of sadness exuding from Delta. He tried to change the subject. "Are you one of those Eevee forms?"

"Yes," Delta said. "I'm an umbreon."

"An embreon?"

"An embryo?"

"Huh?"

Delta waved it off with his paw. "So, what are you? I've never seen your kind before."

"I'm a lucario. You've probably never seen lucarios before because they're only native to Northern Africa, Northern South America, and Australia."

"Then why are you here?"

Anubis sighed and rubbed his injured temple. "I met my trainer in Egypt. He found me, captured me, and took me away from my hometown, Luxor. I've never been there since. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back." He looked around the area until he spotted the street sign. "Oh, Koshington Avenue! I know where I am. So long, Delta," he waved to the umbreon as he turned and started to make his way down the street. Down the street... back to his house.

Delta watched Anubis walk off, unable to even contemplate what was going through that crazy dog's head. Delta got up and followed the lucario. "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing? What's wrong with you?"

Anubis looked back. "What are you saying?"

"So you're just going to go back to your abusive trainer and live out the rest of your life in pain and anguish? You have a window of opportunity, here, and you're ignoring it!"

"Listen, Delta, I can understand if you can't make any sense of my ways. You probably don't have a trainer of your own, but if you did, I think you'd have a different view of the whole trainer-catch-animal ordeal. You see, when you're caught by a trainer, there's this bond that's automatically formed. A bond of inseparability and respect. Maybe my trainer doesn't respect me, but I respect him. It's just the way things work. Delta, for your own sake and future, don't screw up like I did. Don't trust anyone."

"I'm sorry, Anubis, but you sound flat out pathetic right now. You talk about how you like your master, even though you just admitted to screwing up your life by trusting this person! You clearly don't like him, you're just scared of getting caught by him after you escape, which is practically impossible; this world is so damn huge he would never be able to find you if you left."

Anubis turned to Delta and glared at him. "I don't care what you have to say," he shrilled. "I've gradually learned to spurn all emotions since my trainer caught me. I'm fine with my life, and I'm not changing it one bit."

"Then what does that make you? A hollow shell of someone who once had a great life, living in Africa?" Delta was gradually raising his voice, becoming more and more annoyed at how stubborn and senseless this dog was.

Anubis' ears perked up as something came to his mind. "Where is my orb?"

"Your orb?"

"The red and white ball that I was in, you had it, didn't you?"

Delta suddenly remembered the sphere that had released Anubis when its button was pressed against. "Oh, that thing... I think I left it by the bus st—" Delta stopped speaking. He turned to the lucario, squinting his eyes. Anubis returned the glance.

The red and white ball.

Delta did not want Anubis to suffer any more. He had only seen him get beaten one time, but surely, he must get beaten more often than that! He was not about to let this thick-skulled hound throw his life away. He somewhat cared for Anubis, and seeing the recent events that he had endured had traumatized Delta severely.

Anubis could tell what Delta was thinking. Their eyes were still glued to each other. "No, p-please," he managed to utter out. He felt a familiar sensation, one of which he hadn't felt in a long time. It made him quake where he stood.

The sensation was fear.

"Delta," Anubis pleaded, "This is what I want. You don't know the consequences of—"

"There will be no consequences if he doesn't know where you are," yelled the umbreon. He seemed loud and forceful for a creature so small.

Anubis frowned, trying to recover from his fright. "The ball is mine." In a split second, the lucario darted past Delta with such speed, it had caught the cat by surprise. Delta shook his head and hightailed it after Anubis. The bus stop was only ten meters away.

Delta had to admit, Anubis was fast, but Delta had something he didn't: Two extra legs. The cat bypassed Anubis with ease and made it to the ball.

Anubis growled as he came to a halt. Delta shielded the ball from the lucario with his body.

"Give it to me," cried Anubis.

"No," Delta replied, carefully lifting his body from the sphere. "This is for your own good." He positioned the sphere underneath him so that the button pointed towards the dog.

"I beg of you," Anubis said, resorting to pathetic pleads for mercy. "If you really want me happy..."

"I do," Delta responded as he pressed against the button with his feline equivalent of a finger. Anubis had once again miraculously disappeared, sucked inside the plastic chamber. Delta's heart pounded. He had saved a fellow animal today, but he hadn't felt like he had succeeded in earning a friend. Maybe that crazy jackal will become enlightened sooner of later. But right now, Delta had to get far away from this town - from this state. He didn't mind leaving the state. After all, he was a nomad who started his journey in Florida and since then, he headed north up the coast of America. He figured, what with this fad of bath salts and what-not, he might as well travel to Canada to get away from the constant danger of the United States.

Delta bit down on the sphere's button and made his way through the town until he found a building that looked of grandeur importance. A sign above the door read 'South Carolina, Socastee City Train Station'.

The umbreon entered the building, still carrying the ball in his mouth. A digital screen, hanging from the ceiling in the corner of the station, showed various times that trains would enter and depart. One train was for North Carolina. It was due to arrive within one hour. Delta had no problem with waiting, although he did tend to get a bit hyper active when staying in one place for a long time. He figured one hour was fine for him to handle, so he went outside the station to watch the sun set as odd looking strangers past by. Once the train had arrived, Delta boarded it, trying not to be seen by any station guards or regulators. Once Delta was on, he sat on a seat and waited for the train to depart. He released the ball from his sore teeth and placed it next to him.

"I'm sorry, Anubis," Delta mused, looking at the ball. "You'll realize that this is what you want soon enough." The umbreon watched as the landscape outside the train flew by at great speeds. Eventually, the red and orange hue in the sky faded into a dark blue hue. The rising moon, a waning gibbous, emitted its light upon the vast, rolling hills of South Carolina. Volbeat and illumise danced around the hills, seen as but little spots of light in the distance.

Delta smiled. It was as if he could feel the gene pool growing larger and larger as the train traveled further north. 'So long, South Carolina. You, unlike certain other states, will not be missed.'