Welcome back to "The Void" series!
I decided against doing the Matt and Parker Chronicles, I wanted to continue the main story. Matt and Parker are going to be a bigger part of "Driving Hope" than "Into the Void". You'll get plenty of them then. Trust me
A few things to expect from "Driving Hope":
-Longer chapters (meaning more substance)
-More subplots (because there were only two in last book)
-More interesting concepts
-Final Fantasy characters (This isn't going to be marked as a cross-over, so I'll give special recognition to the Final Fantasy characters in each chapter they appear in.)
Here's what I expect from "Driving Hope":
-Reviews
-Improving my writing style
To new readers: I highly recommend you read the first book, "Into the Void" first, the first 13 chapters have decent writing, but you'll notice that the writing and plot improves as the chapters go on. If you wish to read it, it's on my profile. You'll be utterly confused if you don't, mind you, I refuse to give recaps.
I DO NOT OWN POKEMON!
Now please, enjoy the first chapter of "Driving Hope"!
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Driving Hope
Book 2 of "The Void" series
By: Thunderstarter
Chapter 1: The Staircase to Nowhere/Escape!
If Sean had ever seen the color black before, it wasn't it. This was black. It was so black that he couldn't feel Suicune under him, he couldn't feel Julie grabbing onto his waist. His only assurance that he hadn't been lost into The Void was that he was still conscious. And even that idea was a longshot.
"Hello?" Sean yelled. He couldn't hear his voice. He panicked. He flailed his arms around, trying to touch something, or someone. He trust his arms downward, Suicune wasn't there. He fell back in order to fall into Julie, she wasn't there.
"HELLO?" Sean yelled at the top of his lungs, or he thought he did. He still couldn't hear himself. He picked at his ears; maybe earwax was getting in the way of his hearing. He knew it wouldn't work, but he tried it anyway.
Sean felt an icy chill go up his body, starting at his toes. It was as if he was slowly being placed into a pool of liquid nitrogen. Thousands of needles stabbed at his toes, then thousands more at his ankles, his femur, he tried to scream as they slowly ascended his body, but nothing happened. How could this be happening? Where was he?
Slowly but surely the needles ascended, in a desperate attempt to see what was going on, Sean summoned his twin daggers and lit them up with electricity. As suddenly as the light was there, it was gone again. Sean couldn't see what was going on. He let out a scream of agony as the needles reached his waist.
He fought to stay awake; he couldn't give in to whatever was happening. He was starting to lose energy. He couldn't see himself. Was he dead? Was there really a Heaven? Or did he just go to Hell? Was he being encased in ice in the lowest circle just like Dante said the worst sinners would?
It was too late to find out. The needles had reached his neck, and his throat started to close. He began to rely solely on breathing through his nose, but when the needles reached his lips it was becoming impossible to breathe.
He was dying. This was the end. He went through so much pain, hardships, victories, and tragedies to die when he entered The Void.
Sean tried to stay awake…if he really was awake. But it was over. His whole body was being stabbed by thousands of tiny needles. It was so cold. He wanted to go home. He wanted to give up. If this is what the whole void was going to be like, he would never make it.
Sean lost consciousness.
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"What now?" Parker asked, staring directly into The Void which his friends had just jumped into. He wondered if they were alright.
We continue the fight here, Mew said, we have to keep the world safe for when the others get back.
"How long will that be?" asked Matt.
It could be any amount of time, Mew said, they could be back in a few seconds, a few days, months, years, decades, or millennia. Time in The Void flows differently and a lot less consistently than here. What is a few seconds to them could be a year for us, or vice versa.
"Mew," Parker said, "What happens if we die before they come back?"
We'll have an army fighting for us by that time, I'm sure. Plus, the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if we lost before you two died…or you died fighting in our final battle.
"Wait a second!" Matt yelled, "You don't think we can do this?"
Not alone. With the other four here, yes. They couldn't do it without you, either. All six of you need to be together in order for our side to be victorious, and even that's a long shot. Celebi's forces are growing, she has the Black Hand on her side now, and I have reports coming in from Jirachi that she's teaming up with the terrorists, the ones who started this whole mess.
"Why are you being so negative?" Parker asked, he got close to Mew and looked him in the eye, "Why don't you think we're going to win? And even if we're not, why are you telling us this? Do you think it's going to demoralize us? Whose side are you on?"
I only tell you what you need to know. Mew said, Don't worry. I'm on your side.
"Whatever." Parker said. He climbed onto Entei, "Win or lose, I'm going to fight until I die protecting humans."
That's the only thing you can do right now.
Matt climbed onto Raikou. He shot a thought to the legendary dog, What's up with Mew?
He's basically giving you a prediction like a fortune teller would. Mew does that at random points of time.
"I've never heard of that." Matt whispered to himself, he looked at Raikou, What do you think?
I don't think I care. I'm with you guys until the end.
Matt smiled, Right.
Suddenly, a loud crack came from the void. Matt and Parker's heads snapped towards the swirling vortex to see that it had turned blue, then black again. It expanded a little, causing Matt, Parker, and Mew to take a few steps back with the other pokemon.
"What just happened?" Matt asked.
Mew spoke up, When The Void turns blue, someone has just passed the trial for entering. It's different for everyone; it was our way of making sure humans wouldn't get inside without proper reason.
"How do you pass your test?" Parker asked.
You don't give up. Mew said. If you do, you will suffer an eternity of torment.
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Sean saw fire. He saw death, not just of his friends, but of angels. He saw meteors with wings attached to them fall from the ash-colored clouds. He saw the grass beneath him on fire, the sky was blood red. Before him he saw Jordan's decapitated head on a stake, his eyes covered by flies.
He tried to scream, but there was no sound.
He heard a horrid scream and turned to his left and saw Jo being eaten alive by a swarm of locusts. Megan had tried to help, but her bones already lay bare before him. He tried to run to help her, but he couldn't move.
He looked up in agony and saw Julie sitting comfortably on an ashen cloud above him; an aura of evil surrounded her. She was wearing a dark black cloak that went down her ankles; a bright red pentagram lay in the center. She smiled a devilish smile at him and pointed to his feet. He looked down to see that he was standing in a pile of bodies of dead children, innocent faces torn in half and smashed, tiny arms and legs lay around him. He looked in his right hand and saw a bloody scimitar there. He looked up at Julie, she laughed at him.
Had he killed these children?
No!
Sean looked up at Julie. That wasn't her.
He looked forward. That wasn't Jordan's head.
He looked to Jo, that wasn't her.
He screamed at the top of his lungs, finally able to speak, "I SEE THROUGH YOUR ILLUSIONS!" he threw down his scimitar and looked up at Julie, "WHO ARE YOU? REVEAL YOURSELF, DEMON!"
The fake Julie laughed and disappeared. The bodies of the children and his friends did as well. The firey ground beneath him gave way.
He looked down and fell into the abyss.
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The portal glowed blue once again.
"That's two." Matt said. The void expanded even more. Mew was studying it.
Parker walked over to the limp body of Clayton, his evil smile still spread across his face. Parker shuddered. He called out his Vibrava and sat there studying him with it. He looked at his pokemon, it nodded. A small but fast puff of air shot at Clayton, it hit him in the heart.
Nothing happened. Parker checked the man's pulse, there was nothing.
"What just happened?" Matt asked, walking over to Parker.
"I killed Clayton."
"WHAT?" Matt yelled, "You just killed him? How?"
"Vibrava shot a sonic boom at his heart."
Parker, Clayton is now doomed to an eternity in The Void, you realize that, right?
"I didn't at the time," Parker said, "But I knew that once he woke up from The Void…if he ever did, that he would only be a problem to us in the future. We would've killed him in the end, I'm sure."
"Parker! That's not right!" Matt yelled, "We can't kill people; that's not our goal! We're trying to save the world and convince it that we're the good guys, going around killing people won't prove that point!"
"Then I guess we're already screwed then, huh?" Parker said, spinning around to face Matt, "All we've been doing this whole time is killing! Guards, pokemon…Mewtwo…you name it, we've killed it at one point. Our path to victory has an effect in which destruction follows in our wake! We can't avoid that!"
Matt stepped back and looked down, "I…"
"You know I'm right, too!" Parker yelled, "We're on the brink of warMatt, everyone can tell that! Celebi just got three legends on her side for the price of one! Lugia has probably joined her, too, making it four! Not only that, but we're missing four of the six people needed to win! We have no other choice but to kill whoever tries to impede us! That's what we've been doing all along!"
The portal glowed blue again, it expanded. A red aura began to emit from it.
Mew went over to Matt and Parker, as much as I'd hate to interrupt this…discussion…it looks like The Void is going to expand! We have to hurry!
"Hurry and what?" Matt asked. His response was a headbutt from Raikou that threw him on top of the legend's back.
Raikou explained; Leave! The Void is becoming unstable, it will rapidly expand until it can contain all of the matter inside! It was at a perfect balance until Darkrai, Giratina and Rayquaza broke free of The Void. There was space to fill after they left, but the combined amount of matter of the four and their pokemon is putting The Void over the limit, and as it expands and gets more matter, it will need more and more space to contain it!
Parker had gotten on Entei after Raikou's explanation. The group sprinted away from The Void, Mew trailing behind them. The two boys saw the army standing there; the Cleansers were surveying the field, and they knew that in the end, none of it mattered. They would all be sucked into The Void.
Matt looked at Mew, "Can you teleport us, by any chance?"
Mew shook his head, Not by The Void. The only person that can teleport anybody anywhere when they're near The Void is Darkrai, for he uses The Void to teleport. It's complicated, but it was a way to make it harder to escape The Void.
It was at that point, when the group was only a few hundred yards away; that The Void turned blue once more. A loud crack emitted that could be heard for miles away, much like an atom bomb's impact could be felt.
The Void began to expand.
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Jordan woke up.
He could finally see.
Jordan was laying on a marble platform that seemed to float on nothing. He didn't know how high he was, all he could see before him was Kyuubii, still asleep from entering The Void. He pushed himself up, his hands feeling the extreme cold of the marble before him, and straightened up. Now able to see above his pokemon, he could see that he was in fact on a very large marble platform. Jo lay a few feet from him, Megan right next to her. Sean and Julie were asleep right next to Suicune. Around them was nothing but the darkest black anyone could ever imagine.
He noticed that the platform jutted out at a point to his right. We walked over to inspect it and found a spiraling staircase going deeper into The Void. It didn't look like it hand an ending, it seemed to go on forever. He swallowed hard. He looked around, there was no other way out or forward.
Jordan was startled when a pair of hands went around his waist, "Watcha lookin' at?"
Jordan, knowing it was Jo, smiled and put his hands on hers, "This staircase…" he said ominously, a twinge of fear in his voice, "I don't see an end…"
There isn't one. Suicune said, walking towards the staircase, it's the Staircase to Nowhere. We're getting to the bottom.
"I thought you just said there wasn't an end?" Jo said.
And I stick to my word. There isn't a bottom to the staircase, but there is to The Void, you just have to know when to take a leap of faith and jump off. If you go past the bottom of The Void, you are sucked into a limbo. It's a way to keep intruders out.
"Works for me." Julie said, walking in front of a now-awake Sean, "When do we go down?"
"As soon as Megan…" Sean began, but was interrupted by a loud noise.
"Pika!" Megan cheered, jumping up on Jo's head. Kyuubii was now awake, Jordan was petting her head.
We walk down, no mounting. Single file. I'll go in front, then it's Jordan, Julie, Jo, and finally Sean. Jo, Megan needs to go into your backpack and Kyuubii needs to go back into her Pokeball, Jordan.
"Got it" Jordan and Jo said at once, their Pokemon returning to their respective places.
Let's go. Suicune said, and they began their descent.
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"Watch out!" Yelled Paker as bullets whizzed by Matt, only to be deflected by the wind barrier he had set up.
"Christ." Matt said, "To think that even though The Void is right behind us they're STILL trying to kill us?"
I don't think they know that it's behind us, even. These buildings provide great cover for The Void.Raikou said.
Sure enough, screams of Black Hand soldiers could be heard behind them.
"Ah, the sweet sounds of victory." Parker said. Matt shook his head.
They had been running for about ten minutes by this point, and there wasn't much to worry about except turning onto the right street. Most traffic was gone by this point and there weren't that many Black Hand soldiers far away from Michigan Avenue. The worst part for the group was to hear the screams of children being sucked into The Void; their innocent voices asking for their parents to help them, only to be answered by a never-ending darkness.
They were so far ahead of The Void at this point that the feeling of urgency had left. The Void expanded slowly but surely, and with Raikou and Entei's lightning-fast speeds, there's no way they would've been sucked in unless they slammed into a wall and were knocked out.
-One Hour Later—
They were two miles from Chicago now, and The Void had stopped expanding. A tired Raikou and Entei dropped to the ground as Matt and Parker got off.
"Thank you" the two boys said to the beasts. They looked back at Chicago.
The city was almost entirely sucked in by The Void.
Parker gulped, "All of those people…"
"All two million of them." Matt said. He shook his head, "Godspeed, Sean, Jordan, Jo and Julie. We need your help."
Mew looked at Mat;I still have my contact with the military. I'll go check in on them and make arrangements for us to move to another city.
"Right" Matt said, nodding his head.
Goodbye, then. Mew said. In a flash, he was gone.
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A DAY late! I'm so sorry! T.T
I didn't even do the Matt and Parker chronicles .
That's mainly because I've been so busy; I skipped straight to Driving Hope.
Hope you all liked it! I will try at least weekly updates as time allows!
Next Chapter: The President Will See You Now