So I originally wrote this as the description for the picture up on top there for deviantart. It was just supposed to be a poem or a short scene but then it didn't want to be done and this happened. I own nothing here, pokemon stuff is owned by nintendo and Ruby Destiny Rescue Rangers (where the screenshot and scene come from) is owned by JAGOLD. Enjoy!


There I was. On the top of the Tower of Fate. On top of the world. Or, one would think this was the top of the tower...I'd climbed the stairs and gotten here. It sure didn't look like a building though. It looked like outer space, but the ground was solid beneath my feet...it couldn't be.

This was the place they called DESTINY. I'd been here before, when I had defeated the shadow the first time.

The shadow...the shadow that called itself Giratina and consumed Pokemon's souls in darkness. It was because of this shadow that both the human and Pokemon worlds were out of balance. And I believe it was the reason I and my friends were turned into Pokemon, to defeat the shadow and restore balance.

My friends weren't with me at that moment, though. They were on the lower floors, fighting off the elemental guardians and guardian dragons. They had all been consumed by darkness and were made to fight anyone who dared stand in Giratina's way. The Pokemon who normally resided in the tower had lost all reason as well, and attacked anything that moved. Some of them even sang their Perish Song or Exploded in a self destruct, taking their own lives in hopes it would do some damage.

DESTINY was a very quiet place...the only sound was a wind that didn't exist blowing through a room I couldn't see and then disappearing into the vast nothing all around. There was a thin mist that came up to my waste, though if I were in human form, it would probably only come to my ankle. Then there were the stars...the hundreds of thousands of twinkling stars. They were everywhere, above, below, on what might be walls, I even walked into them. In other circumstances they might have felt warm but...even the stars were drained of their energy. They still shined...but they were cold, little delicate ice crystals that writhed and melted at the heat my body gave off.

Slowly, slowly, I took a step forward. Another one...another. I looked around and found myself disoriented. I could no longer tell where I had been, the stairs were gone. The only thing left was me and endless darkness lit up by endless stars.

At that moment I very much wished I hadn't come here alone. I wished I'd taken at least one of my friends with me. Better yet, I wished I'd never even gotten out of bed on my birthday...never gone to the party...never been turned into a Pikachu. God, that seemed like a long time ago. Maybe I hadn't...maybe I had stayed in bed...maybe this was all just a dream. I wished that, I wished that very much, but I knew it wasn't true. This was very real.

I continued to walk forward. My breathing and my heartbeat were loud in my ears, even louder than they might be, I had very sensitive ears in this body. There was no telling if I was even going toward anything important. The way I was going, it was more likely something important was going to find me. I made sure my footfalls were light. I didn't dare to talk. I made as little noise as possible. It felt like if I were to make any sudden noises or be any louder than I already was something would...break. Something delicate and fragile about this place that couldn't be disturbed or else it would be destroyed, and destroy me along with it.

Nothing seemed to change as I walked...it was quite possible I hadn't actually gone anywhere. How much time had passed? A few minutes? Hours? Days? Years? How were my friends doing? Had they already beaten the guardians. Had they been defeated...? No. I forced the thought out of my mind. My friends were fine, they had to be. They were strong. I had had the honor of being in a rescue team with them...helping people out...defending the innocent...finding my human friends that had turned into Pokemon as well...training at Steelix's guild...and now...restoring balance to the world. I knew from experience just how hard it would be to bring them down. I had to focus on what I was doing.

This was not only a matter of saving the world. Giratina had captured a very dear friend of mine. Jagold...the only one of us who hadn't joined the rescue team. Very smart, very strategic, he reminded me of a character my friend roleplayed as once, Hero. That character had met his doom trying to protect people but being far outnumbered...again I pushed the thought out of my mind.

I thought...maybe...an outline of...something? I squinted my eyes, they might just be playing tricks on me. I wanted to see something so took nothing and said it was something. Nevertheless I walked towards it...I couldn't make myself run...I might scare it off...I might break something. I kept walking...and the thing didn't disappear. It was an outline...it was a Sandslash...it was Jagold.

He didn't make a sound...he didn't move a muscle. He didn't seem to notice I was there, he didn't seem to see at all...his eyes were unfocused. I swallowed and spoke, taking a chance that the whole world would collapse on me.

"...Jagold?"

My voice seemed to break him out of his trance. His eyes regained their focus and he stared at me. His eyes were begging, pleading for me to help him. He was in pain...I could tell. I knew Jagold...he was strong, his inner strength topped any of ours, the fact that he could even snap out of it proved that. To think that someone as strong as him was breaking down inside...his eyes...to have one's soul eaten by darkness...it must be pure horror and torture unimaginable. Despite how he silently begged me to end the pain with his eyes, that's how it was, silent. He couldn't seem to move or talk or do anything else. We stared at each other for a long time, then I went closer to him.

"I'm so sorry..."

I gave him a hug. As a Sandslash, he had very hard, spiky armor plates on his back, but I didn't care.

Suddenly I was knocked back by an unseen force. I got up and looked. There was now a massive black thing behind Jagold. A thing that was darker than the vacuum that surrounded us, a thing that consumed the stars that had the nerve to occupy the same space it did.

A thing with red eyes.

Jagold's eyes widened in fear and pain...unspeakable pain. That is, until the shadow opened it's eyes. When it opened it's eyes, Jagold's eyes darkened. They lost their reflective light, all emotion gone. They were dead. Now they were nothing but hollow black orbs reflecting the darkness that ruled within him. He never even had a chance.

He directed his eyes toward me without looking. He raised a claw. A fight...that was what was to happen next...a battle over Jagold's soul. I had fought the shadow before, but...this...this wasn't right. I couldn't fight my friend, not like this. I had to though...I had to.

I charged up electricity and his claw started to glow. We would fight...then I would defeat the shadow. DESTINY would collapse upon itself and all three of us would quietly be gotten rid of. I'd met my DESTINY, so to speak. And in the end I would have indeed saved the world, but met my own destruction. Jagold lunged at me, and I unleashed a bolt of lightning.

At that moment I was very glad I hadn't brought anyone with me.


Ok so that's not really what happens in rescue rangers. I was listening to Mystery Dungeons explorers of sky soundtrack while writing this and I have mystery dungeon feels, so the whole self sacrificial thing kinda made it's way in there, ya know? Hope you liked this, please review.