Spirits of the Shattered
Prologue
Broken promise, broken body, broken mind.
He walks on through the fog and the darkness, holding his only companion in his arms. Dirt smothers his sandals and his face, but nothing matters to him except the fragile being that he cradles. His eyes water at the sight of this fading friend. Gengar must be saved.
It is too late for the moon and too early for the sun, or maybe the cosmos is simply distraught at the sight of this out-of-line occurrence. The ferry is not running to the cemetery, so he grabs a crowbar and breaks free one of the tiny, wooden skiffs used for single visitors.
Gengar has nearly no mass; the particles of its body are melding with the mist, and its face is loose and vulnerable with unconsciousness. He must focus to keep Gengar's body from falling apart completely; he has the skill with which to turn a ghost pokémon into a physical being, though this power will not work much longer. The man is sobbing by the time he enters Mt. Pyre.
"Almost there, Manji," he manages to utter. Gengar is all he has left, his anchor to living happily, his only friend.
The madman emerges at the upper section of the mountain graveyard. A haze devours every object, but he knows where to go. He has always known.
Souls are raging around him. He can feel their presence, their fury at his disturbance, yet he knows they will soon be far angrier. Their power is about to be stolen.
There he stands in a secret, secluded area where no one has ventured in decades. The dying pokémon is placed in the center of the location, and the man carefully lights a candle. His body shudders; he fully comprehends that what he is doing is wrong, but he doesn't care. He wants Gengar back.
"Manji, don't go. I'm keeping you here. Fight back!" he whispers to his friend. With precision and flexibility he crouches into the lotus position. Words of a chant slide from his lips.
I'm going to save you, Manji. But they are both already lost forever.
xXxXxXx
I cannot move.
Today is my third day as a trainer. I was on top of the world for the past two days, of course, with the newfound sense of freedom that I received along with my first pokémon, a defiant treecko, and the one I caught recently, a lotad. I was extremely overconfident.
That is why I did not use my better judgment when deciding on whether to go through Petalburg Woods today. Thunderstorms were in the forecast for the late afternoon. It was an hour or so past noon, and the trek through the tiny forest would only last about thirty minutes. An early drizzle would not bother me anyway.
However, I did not plan on stepping on a shroomish halfway through. The tiny thing shot a plume of powder in my face, and the spores flew up my nose, in my eyes, and onto the front of my body.
As the fungus-like pokémon scurried away, I felt a tingling sensation. Not five seconds later had I gone numb, and I collapsed in an odd position into a section of the taller grass. I was too surprised to fight against it.
I then realized that the shroomish had used stun spore on me.
I panicked, attempting to thrash around and get the feeling back into my muscles. The numbness quickly subsided but left something worse in its wake. A sharp pain shot through any joint that I tried to move.
Then it began to rain.
And so, here I am, lying in the heart of a tiny, dank forest. Water falls in waves, but the occasional booming of thunder is much more disconcerting. I will not move from this position; I am not the type of person that can fight pain very well. The stabbing ache will not leave.
The time has definitely gotten away from me. I left the pokémon center after midday, but I traveled in Petalburg Woods for a good twenty or so minutes. But after being paralyzed, I had no way of telling time. Minutes feel like hours when one is in stuck on a forest floor.
With the less-than-clear eyesight I have at the moment, I see a shadow shifting in the thicker tree line. The dark shape is none too big, but…it could be a crouching pokémon. Or anything like that. I try to dismiss the idea, but my mind is running rampant now. I'm paralyzed in a forest during a particularly powerful storm, and I have no way of communicating with anybody. My two pokémon are not very obedient yet, and I can't even get to their capsules at the moment.
I am nearly helpless if something were to attack me.
Fear grips me. I push the thoughts from my mind, hoping to calm myself, but now everything I see is a threat. Shifting branches, leaning shadows, flashes of lightning in the distance…all out to get me.
A sharp noise pierces the air: a howl.
My heart is beating wildly now. I shove my elbows into the ground with a wince. I close my eyes, hoping that it will calm me. The blackness behind my eyelids fills with terrible images.
Pushing past the agony, I use any energy left in my body to lean into a sitting position. The work has made me lightheaded—or is it from the pain? I begin to wonder if I've been poisoned and not paralyzed.
My eyes catch a sharp movement to my left. From underneath the trees, two small eyes stare at me.
I scream.
There is hardly any order in my mind now. I don't care if it hurts; just getmeoutofhere.
With the adrenaline shooting into my veins, I vault back up to my feet and run. The ache changes into a distant throb, a memory compared to the mental distress I feel now.
Run
Gasp
Slip
Fall
Getbackupnow
Escape
Dizzy. I slow down from the sprint, trying not to faint. I can hardly breathe anymore. Too much runningscreamingcrying. I just want to be out. My limbs are aching so badly that they're nearly numb.
Lightning strikes near me. Thousands of shadows stare at me, little red eyes watching my every move.
Go
Don't stop
I can't. If I keep going, I'll pass out. My feet are dragging sluggishly, protesting against my will. My body hurts. I don't even know why anymore…
Boom
I jump forward, the extremely loud thunder scaring me even more since no lightning came to announce it. And I hit something smooth and wet and dense.
"Ow," I rasp, my throat raw. I crumple to the floor. It's just too much.
I've given up.
The dim lights fade away, and my hearing slowly disappears…but I hear one last thing…
A voice…
"Hello?"
xXxXxXx
AN: Whoa. This story has been pending within my head for about a month now, and it's finally written out now. This feels great. A huge thank you to Stolloss for beta-ing it (though it is not in concrete if he will continue to beta this). And another thanks to mah frand Abbie for previewing it and telling me all the words that I left out/messed up after editing.
So, yes, this will be an OC fic. Most of them are mine, but my peeps from the forum, The Awesome Club, helped me out and gave me a few OCs to work with. Yes, that was shameless advertisement, and I'm saying that you should go check it out. And I'm asking for characters on the forum, so if you feel like it, I'm fine with you helping me out there. *nodnod*
Thanks for reading, my readers. I hope you stick around for the next installment, hopefully coming soon~
~~I.D.