Eternal Peace
The full moon was unusually bright that night… it shone with a silver radiance that lit up the forests around the Indigo Plateau. Lance and Karen, the two strongest of the Elite trainers, stood together against a beautiful leafy tree, counting the stars.
"This is impossible!" Karen laughed, leaning her head against her lover and laughing. Lance smiled, and embraced her. "But we came out here to have a good night, right?" he asked, lowering his gaze to look into her eyes. She blushed, and held him back. "Oh, Lance…"
Their faces drew nearer to one another's, slowly and dramatically. Just as they were about to come together in a kiss, a strange light held Lance in place. Karen backed away as a faint violet beam absorbed Lance's energy; his lifeless body fell to the ground.
"Lance!" she cried, stepping forward but afraid to get too close. She spun around to where to source of the light was coming from; a man stood there, holding out his hand and drawing in the multiple-colored beam of light. An abnormal violet glow emitted from below his blue headband.
He turned to her, a crazy look in his eyes. A second beam of light, bigger this time, flew from beneath his headband and hit Karen with force, sending her flying into the tree. Slowly, painfully, her soul was drained from her body, and she fell lifeless beside Lance. Morty smiled with satisfaction, taking in the last of Karen's energy and disappearing into the night.
Morty reappeared in the Burnt Tower later that night. His human body lay rested against an old support beam, looking devilishly satisfied as it slept. Morty's spirit floated above the room, accompanied by the Ghost Pokemon living in the tower.
"I knew this day would come," he laughed, looking around at his friends. "Soon, everyone will be like us… and nobody can stop me because they don't know who I am…"
The Pokemon laughed… Morty simply smiled, staring out through the walls of the tower at the full moon dangling in the starry sky. "And eternal peace will be mine."
With this, he re-entered his human form and slowly stood up, stretching his relaxed limbs. It was almost morning, and he had to get ready to open up the Ecruteak Gym. A few years ago, when the human Morty had first come into the world, the gym leader of Ecruteak City was an old man, with no children and almost no time left for his life. Morty got acquainted with the man, and soon took over as Gym Leader. The gym of Ghost Pokemon… a perfect cover- up for his true identity.
There were no challengers this day, and since it was a weekend, Morty didn't have a class to teach. Classes… the most trivial part of his act. As a gym leader, Morty was obligated to tutor the young trainers starting out in Ecruteak about the Ghost Pokemon that they would train. But today, all he could do was stand around and wait.. wait for anything that was or wasn't coming.
Just as Morty was about to take off, a challenger finally walked into the gym. It was a young girl, with flaming red hair and ocean blue eyes. Her outfit was pure black, and she looked almost mystical herself.
"Good morning," Morty said, turning on his innocent act. "Welcome to the Ecruteak Gym. My name is Morty."
"Yes, I know," she said, her deep voice almost echoing off the back walls of the gym. "My name is Taiira, the master of ghost and dark Pokemon from Lavender Town."
Morty crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You think so?" he said. "Well, you obviously haven't challenged me yet."
Taiira laughed. "I do want to challenge you, Morty," she said. "To prove that I should be the Ecruteak gym leader."
"Well I accept," he said, "and I'll prove you wrong. How about a sudden death battle? One on one."
"Great," she said. "I choose Umbreon."
Morty cringed. His ghosts had always been weak against Dark types. "Gengar, let's go," he called, sending out his strongest ghost. It faced the black cat that Taiira had sent out, nervous but confident.
Taiira smirked. "Umbreon, start strong. Faint Attack," she instructed. Immediately the cat disappeared into thin air, leaving Gengar confused.
"Gengar, disappear too! See if you can find it!" Morty said. His Pokemon became invisible, but it still couldn't see where the Umbreon was.
"Strike!" said Taiira suddenly. A black mist shot out of nowhere, hitting Gengar straight on. It became visible and fainted before Morty's eyes.
"Holy shit," he said, returning it to its ball. "One faint attack…"
"Your training is insufficient," Taiira laughed, petting her Umbreon on the forehead as it reappeared at her feet.
Morty growled. "Well, here's a badge," he said, angrily throwing her a Fog Badge. Taiira pinned the jewel to her shirt and left, her Umbreon slowly following her out the door. Morty frowned, and turned away from the door. "So what if my training isn't as good as hers," he thought to himself. "I'll show her what I do have…"
Morty retreated to the tower again that evening after closing the gym. He was still feeling angry about his loss that afternoon, and he wanted to get back at Taiira. He wanted to put her at her peace.
"I'll find her tonight," he mused as he descended the stairs into his charred dungeon. "Find her, and then the world will be free of one more useless human…
He reached the bottom floor, feeling a little bit better. But as he turned the corner and entered his little room, he saw something that he hadn't been expecting; Taiira was standing in a small beam of sunlight from a crack in the ceiling, talking with a couple of Gastly.
"Hey, what are you doing down here?" he asked.
She spun around, a bit surprised. "I'm looking for a dark spirit, Morty," she answered in an evil voice. "You know who I mean, don't you… 'Morty'?"
His eyes widened. "I don't know what you mean…"
Taiira laughed, stepping up to him. "Don't even try to play dumb," she said harshly. "I know what you are."
Morty stepped back. "How…?"
"It's so obvious," she said, rolling her eyes. "So many people die… and all of a sudden, people stop dying. Then, a kid with the power to speak to ghosts appears out of nowhere and takes the place of a Gym Leader… You're the thing that was killing people before, aren't you?"
"You're very observant," Morty said. "Too bad you won't live to squeal on me…" His forehead started glowing, and he shot Taiira's heart with a beam of draining light. But as he went to transfer the energy to the cold, his light died out. There was nothing inside her body to take.
Morty watched in amazement as Taiira's body limply dropped to the ground. Her soul wasn't inside of her, and he hadn't drained it… "Where are you?" he demanded.
"Hi, Morty," said a voice from behind him. He spun around to see Taiira… sort of. She floated before him in her true form, a ladylike spirit with long, flowing hair and a black, almost transparent dress. "You don't actually believe that I sensed you just with a lucky guess," she hissed. "I have been watching you for a long time, Morty. I have finally come to tell you that what you are doing is wrong."
"Wrong?" he cried, abandoning his human form. His true spirit confronted Taiira; he looked like a human with the features of a Gengar. Dark violet hair spiked all around his face, and his body was covered with thorns. His eyes glowed with crimson.
"What I am doing is not wrong," he continued. "I am bringing all of the spirits of this world to peace! To a place where they no longer have to fight, or deal with their emotions! They'll be at rest forever…"
"But you're doing this to make them happy, right?" she asked. "But they won't be happy! They'll just be dead and emotionless! That isn't the way to make peace! You're doing more harm than good, can't you see that?"
Morty stopped for a second, almost considering her words. Suddenly, he shook his head crazily. "You're wrong!" he said. "This is the right way, I know it!"
"Morty, no…"
"I'll fucking kill you!" he screamed, his eyes burning with rage. He sped toward her, his hands crackling with a dark energy, and hit the helpless girl with a Shadow Ball. She keeled, falling slowly toward the ground.
"Breeon!!" yelled her Umbreon, lunging at its trainer's attacker. It attempted a faint attack, but the mists flew straight through him. He raised his arm and struck the Umbreon; it hit hard against the wall and fell, nearly dead.
"Morty, please listen!" Taiira cried, holding her hands over her chest where her heart would be. He turned to her, breathing heavily with a look of pure hatred in his eyes.
"You can't tell me that I'm wrong," he said softly, lifting his hand to energize another attack. "Nobody can!" He released the shadow attack, tearing through the ribbon-like girl. The spirit ripped apart, the energy scattering everywhere. Morty drew it in, forever sealing Taiira in the afterlife.
He panted heavily, floating in place. The battle had taken so much out of him… and he still had a mess to clean up. Taiira's human body was lying dead on the ground, and the Umbreon was fainted by the wall, bleeding from the head. Morty stared at each of them, deep in thought. The more he thought about Taiira's words, the more he began to believe her. He wanted to make people happy… but all he was doing was ridding them of everything they wanted to be. And that wasn't right. But he was also taking away all of their problems, their worries… that was right!!
…Wasn't it?
Morty continued to stare at the human girl on the ground, her eyes permanently closed, heart permanently still. He had left so many people like this…
"I gave them what they needed…" he thought to himself, returning to his own human form. "I gave them peace for all eternity. No more battles… no more unhappiness… but at the same time I have taken their lives from them, the one thing that they hold the closest…"
He held his hands to his head, his mind throbbing as each thought ran through. "Am I right, or am I wrong…" Morty cried out, punching a wall. A few charred splinters of wood fell from the ceiling, scattering on the ground of the dirty tower. "I just don't… know anymore…"
A Gastly descended upon him, offering comfort. He ran his hand through the cold fog, hanging his head in confusion. "What have I done, Gastly?"
It let out a small confused cry, not exactly understanding. It had also seen things from Morty's point of view… it hadn't viewed any of Morty's actions as "wrong."
"Wait…" Morty said. Slowly, he removed his headband, revealing the dimly glowing violet eye on his forehead. "I'm leaving, Gastly," he said quietly.
"Gas?" it said, puzzled.
"It seems I was wrong," he sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "I was wrong to be taking the lives of humans, when life is what they wanted. I shall keep my dreams to myself… I'll have my eternal peace… and they'll have the dreams that they want."
At these final words, he left behind his human form, retreating to the cold. Frantically, the Gastly tried to stop him, but it was too late… Morty had forever disappeared from this realm. Gastly stared up at the wall through which his master had disappeared.
"Oh well," thought the Pokemon, smiling mischievously at the body on the ground. "I'll just take over from here…"
The full moon was unusually bright that night… it shone with a silver radiance that lit up the forests around the Indigo Plateau. Lance and Karen, the two strongest of the Elite trainers, stood together against a beautiful leafy tree, counting the stars.
"This is impossible!" Karen laughed, leaning her head against her lover and laughing. Lance smiled, and embraced her. "But we came out here to have a good night, right?" he asked, lowering his gaze to look into her eyes. She blushed, and held him back. "Oh, Lance…"
Their faces drew nearer to one another's, slowly and dramatically. Just as they were about to come together in a kiss, a strange light held Lance in place. Karen backed away as a faint violet beam absorbed Lance's energy; his lifeless body fell to the ground.
"Lance!" she cried, stepping forward but afraid to get too close. She spun around to where to source of the light was coming from; a man stood there, holding out his hand and drawing in the multiple-colored beam of light. An abnormal violet glow emitted from below his blue headband.
He turned to her, a crazy look in his eyes. A second beam of light, bigger this time, flew from beneath his headband and hit Karen with force, sending her flying into the tree. Slowly, painfully, her soul was drained from her body, and she fell lifeless beside Lance. Morty smiled with satisfaction, taking in the last of Karen's energy and disappearing into the night.
Morty reappeared in the Burnt Tower later that night. His human body lay rested against an old support beam, looking devilishly satisfied as it slept. Morty's spirit floated above the room, accompanied by the Ghost Pokemon living in the tower.
"I knew this day would come," he laughed, looking around at his friends. "Soon, everyone will be like us… and nobody can stop me because they don't know who I am…"
The Pokemon laughed… Morty simply smiled, staring out through the walls of the tower at the full moon dangling in the starry sky. "And eternal peace will be mine."
With this, he re-entered his human form and slowly stood up, stretching his relaxed limbs. It was almost morning, and he had to get ready to open up the Ecruteak Gym. A few years ago, when the human Morty had first come into the world, the gym leader of Ecruteak City was an old man, with no children and almost no time left for his life. Morty got acquainted with the man, and soon took over as Gym Leader. The gym of Ghost Pokemon… a perfect cover- up for his true identity.
There were no challengers this day, and since it was a weekend, Morty didn't have a class to teach. Classes… the most trivial part of his act. As a gym leader, Morty was obligated to tutor the young trainers starting out in Ecruteak about the Ghost Pokemon that they would train. But today, all he could do was stand around and wait.. wait for anything that was or wasn't coming.
Just as Morty was about to take off, a challenger finally walked into the gym. It was a young girl, with flaming red hair and ocean blue eyes. Her outfit was pure black, and she looked almost mystical herself.
"Good morning," Morty said, turning on his innocent act. "Welcome to the Ecruteak Gym. My name is Morty."
"Yes, I know," she said, her deep voice almost echoing off the back walls of the gym. "My name is Taiira, the master of ghost and dark Pokemon from Lavender Town."
Morty crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You think so?" he said. "Well, you obviously haven't challenged me yet."
Taiira laughed. "I do want to challenge you, Morty," she said. "To prove that I should be the Ecruteak gym leader."
"Well I accept," he said, "and I'll prove you wrong. How about a sudden death battle? One on one."
"Great," she said. "I choose Umbreon."
Morty cringed. His ghosts had always been weak against Dark types. "Gengar, let's go," he called, sending out his strongest ghost. It faced the black cat that Taiira had sent out, nervous but confident.
Taiira smirked. "Umbreon, start strong. Faint Attack," she instructed. Immediately the cat disappeared into thin air, leaving Gengar confused.
"Gengar, disappear too! See if you can find it!" Morty said. His Pokemon became invisible, but it still couldn't see where the Umbreon was.
"Strike!" said Taiira suddenly. A black mist shot out of nowhere, hitting Gengar straight on. It became visible and fainted before Morty's eyes.
"Holy shit," he said, returning it to its ball. "One faint attack…"
"Your training is insufficient," Taiira laughed, petting her Umbreon on the forehead as it reappeared at her feet.
Morty growled. "Well, here's a badge," he said, angrily throwing her a Fog Badge. Taiira pinned the jewel to her shirt and left, her Umbreon slowly following her out the door. Morty frowned, and turned away from the door. "So what if my training isn't as good as hers," he thought to himself. "I'll show her what I do have…"
Morty retreated to the tower again that evening after closing the gym. He was still feeling angry about his loss that afternoon, and he wanted to get back at Taiira. He wanted to put her at her peace.
"I'll find her tonight," he mused as he descended the stairs into his charred dungeon. "Find her, and then the world will be free of one more useless human…
He reached the bottom floor, feeling a little bit better. But as he turned the corner and entered his little room, he saw something that he hadn't been expecting; Taiira was standing in a small beam of sunlight from a crack in the ceiling, talking with a couple of Gastly.
"Hey, what are you doing down here?" he asked.
She spun around, a bit surprised. "I'm looking for a dark spirit, Morty," she answered in an evil voice. "You know who I mean, don't you… 'Morty'?"
His eyes widened. "I don't know what you mean…"
Taiira laughed, stepping up to him. "Don't even try to play dumb," she said harshly. "I know what you are."
Morty stepped back. "How…?"
"It's so obvious," she said, rolling her eyes. "So many people die… and all of a sudden, people stop dying. Then, a kid with the power to speak to ghosts appears out of nowhere and takes the place of a Gym Leader… You're the thing that was killing people before, aren't you?"
"You're very observant," Morty said. "Too bad you won't live to squeal on me…" His forehead started glowing, and he shot Taiira's heart with a beam of draining light. But as he went to transfer the energy to the cold, his light died out. There was nothing inside her body to take.
Morty watched in amazement as Taiira's body limply dropped to the ground. Her soul wasn't inside of her, and he hadn't drained it… "Where are you?" he demanded.
"Hi, Morty," said a voice from behind him. He spun around to see Taiira… sort of. She floated before him in her true form, a ladylike spirit with long, flowing hair and a black, almost transparent dress. "You don't actually believe that I sensed you just with a lucky guess," she hissed. "I have been watching you for a long time, Morty. I have finally come to tell you that what you are doing is wrong."
"Wrong?" he cried, abandoning his human form. His true spirit confronted Taiira; he looked like a human with the features of a Gengar. Dark violet hair spiked all around his face, and his body was covered with thorns. His eyes glowed with crimson.
"What I am doing is not wrong," he continued. "I am bringing all of the spirits of this world to peace! To a place where they no longer have to fight, or deal with their emotions! They'll be at rest forever…"
"But you're doing this to make them happy, right?" she asked. "But they won't be happy! They'll just be dead and emotionless! That isn't the way to make peace! You're doing more harm than good, can't you see that?"
Morty stopped for a second, almost considering her words. Suddenly, he shook his head crazily. "You're wrong!" he said. "This is the right way, I know it!"
"Morty, no…"
"I'll fucking kill you!" he screamed, his eyes burning with rage. He sped toward her, his hands crackling with a dark energy, and hit the helpless girl with a Shadow Ball. She keeled, falling slowly toward the ground.
"Breeon!!" yelled her Umbreon, lunging at its trainer's attacker. It attempted a faint attack, but the mists flew straight through him. He raised his arm and struck the Umbreon; it hit hard against the wall and fell, nearly dead.
"Morty, please listen!" Taiira cried, holding her hands over her chest where her heart would be. He turned to her, breathing heavily with a look of pure hatred in his eyes.
"You can't tell me that I'm wrong," he said softly, lifting his hand to energize another attack. "Nobody can!" He released the shadow attack, tearing through the ribbon-like girl. The spirit ripped apart, the energy scattering everywhere. Morty drew it in, forever sealing Taiira in the afterlife.
He panted heavily, floating in place. The battle had taken so much out of him… and he still had a mess to clean up. Taiira's human body was lying dead on the ground, and the Umbreon was fainted by the wall, bleeding from the head. Morty stared at each of them, deep in thought. The more he thought about Taiira's words, the more he began to believe her. He wanted to make people happy… but all he was doing was ridding them of everything they wanted to be. And that wasn't right. But he was also taking away all of their problems, their worries… that was right!!
…Wasn't it?
Morty continued to stare at the human girl on the ground, her eyes permanently closed, heart permanently still. He had left so many people like this…
"I gave them what they needed…" he thought to himself, returning to his own human form. "I gave them peace for all eternity. No more battles… no more unhappiness… but at the same time I have taken their lives from them, the one thing that they hold the closest…"
He held his hands to his head, his mind throbbing as each thought ran through. "Am I right, or am I wrong…" Morty cried out, punching a wall. A few charred splinters of wood fell from the ceiling, scattering on the ground of the dirty tower. "I just don't… know anymore…"
A Gastly descended upon him, offering comfort. He ran his hand through the cold fog, hanging his head in confusion. "What have I done, Gastly?"
It let out a small confused cry, not exactly understanding. It had also seen things from Morty's point of view… it hadn't viewed any of Morty's actions as "wrong."
"Wait…" Morty said. Slowly, he removed his headband, revealing the dimly glowing violet eye on his forehead. "I'm leaving, Gastly," he said quietly.
"Gas?" it said, puzzled.
"It seems I was wrong," he sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "I was wrong to be taking the lives of humans, when life is what they wanted. I shall keep my dreams to myself… I'll have my eternal peace… and they'll have the dreams that they want."
At these final words, he left behind his human form, retreating to the cold. Frantically, the Gastly tried to stop him, but it was too late… Morty had forever disappeared from this realm. Gastly stared up at the wall through which his master had disappeared.
"Oh well," thought the Pokemon, smiling mischievously at the body on the ground. "I'll just take over from here…"