Chapter Seven: To Love One Is To Loose One
The truck made a stop back at the camp. Lt. Samuel hopped out, with that crooked smile still plastered on his face. He observed the people around him as he casually began to walk to one of the shacks. It was the same one James entered earlier.
* * *
In the damp basement, Jessie and Meowth sat there, with a gloom hanging over them. Jessie, holding onto her legs, began to wonder.
Are we going to get out of here? Is this the end? I hope James is alright...
She burrowed her head in her arms. Meowth, seeing this, crawled over to her. He sat next to her, with a sad look in his face, 'Jessie?' He softly said...
'Yes?' She answered, nothing more but a whisper.
'Are you okay?'
She shook her head, 'No, I'm not. I want to get out of here. We have to, Meowth, we shouldn't be here. We need to leave... and find James... I just hope he's alright.'
Meowth placed his paw on her shoulder, 'Jess, dun' worry, we are gonna get outta here. I bet James is fine, honest...' He sighed, 'I hope.'
Footsteps echoed down the stairs. Meowth and Jessie glimpsed up. Lt. Samuel appeared from the cornor and walked towards the cell door. He smirked at them. They answered with a frown.
'You two all good?' He asked.
'What do you care?' Jessie said harshly.
'Coz I got some news for you... it's about your friend...'
Jessie and Meowth turned their attention to him, interested entirely, 'What about him?' Jessie asked, her sapphire eyes glising with water.
'Just came down here to let you know...' He made the tension grow intentionally, 'your friend is dead.'
Dead.
The word pierced right through Jessie, and her heart sank like an anchor. It filled with heartbreaking sorrow. Dead, She thought, sadly...'Dead?' The word echoed through her mind.
'Uhuh.. hate to break it to you.. but don't worry, you'll be joinning him soon, anyway.' Samuel turned around and began to walk up the stairs.
James.. you can't be dead.. no..
'No..' She whispered. Tears began to fall from her soft cheeks. Meowth sat there, shocked. 'He can't be...' He said, avoiding the 'fact'. 'He isn't, he can't be.'
Please.. you can't be.. James..
Upon hearing his name in a familiar, friendly voice, James found himself surrounded in white. All was just white, apart from himself. There was nothing around him. No sound. Nothing.
'James.' The voice returned, except, it wasn't the same voice, it was... different.
'Who said my name?' James asked, confused.
'We did.' James kept turning, trying to find the person. No one. 'Do not fear us. We need your help. Forever we have been discovered by wandering outcasts, stealing our belongings and our souls. You are desperate as we are. We have borrowed your body for now... ours is being held with those warriors.. you must help us..'
'Who are you?'
'We are the souls of this civilization - the remnants. You must help us...'
'What can I do to help?'
'You must go to their resting place, persuade them to leave as soon as possible through words. If they do not cooperate, we will take action...'
'Will I die?'
'No, you will not, not if we are in you. We will remain in you, a carrier, until we are back in our bodies - the sphere.'
'What does the sphere do?'
'The Sphere of the Sun was a given power from nature herself. But to abuse it, can destroy everything. The sphere is all that is left of us. It is the remains of our city.'
'I must get the sphere back?'
'Yes. As the Guardian of the Sphere, it was in our right to protect it. With your words of honesty, we did not see a theif, but a man... in need as we are... this is our promise. The sphere's power must not be forseen once again, or it could cause destruction upon this world... human, and Pokémon alike...'
'I'll go back to the camp, tell them to leave, retrieve the sphere, save my friends.'
'You must bring the sphere back here.'
'I will.'
'You must. The fate of this world is in your hands, James, we must get it back.....'
* * *
James once again awoke, surrounded by mist, and the bodies of the soldiers who suffered a terrible fate. He arose, and remembering what he must do, he headed back to the camp.
I never thought in my life I would have to do something like this. I'm no hero... I'm just, a normal human being...
* * *
He returned back to the camp. The soldiers didn't know of his prescence yet.
'I don't know if I can do this,' James told the Remnants.
'You can.. you must.. approach them... have no fear, we are protecting you.'
He took a deep breath, and with all the courage he had in him, began to walk towards the entrance.The soldiers saw him coming, and began to aim their guns at James. Trusting the voices, he didn't stop walking.
'Halt, boy!' One of them commanded.
He didn't answer, in reply, he kept on walking.
'I order you to halt!'
James shook his head.
'We will open fire!' He warned.
James ignored him and continued into the camp.
'Fire-'
'No!' Someone yelled. Lt. Samuel appeared from one of the shacks. James stopped in the middle of the camp. Samuel approached him with disbelieve that this man was still standing - alive. 'You're meant to be dead, boy.'
'Tell him. Convince him, James.'
'I've come here to tell you all,' He paused. Samuel stopped infront of him, waiting for the end of his sentance, 'to leave.'
Samuel and the other soldiers laughed. 'Ha, what makes you think we're leaving?'
'Because I'm telling you to.' They laughed even harder.
'You can't tell me what to do, I tell myself what to do.'
'You must all leave now. Before you do, you must hand me the sphere back.' There was fear seen in James' eyes, but he wasn't going to run now... those voice, they needed him.
'No way! That's my sphere. It belongs to me.' Samuel stood beside James, and pointed towards the shack, 'as do they...'
Yells could be heard, and two soldiers came out, holding a woman and feline in their grasps. 'Let me go!' The redhead yelled.
Jessie, Meowth!
Jessie saw the azure haired man watching them. A sudden flutter of joy englufed her. A smile appeared. 'James!' She shouted, with disbelieve that her teamate was still alive.
'Jimmy! You're alive!' Meowth shouted with relief.
'Let them go.' James ordered. Samuel starred at him.
'You really think I will?'
'You'd better.' James warned, 'and you'd better leave this place too.'
A scowl corssed Samuels face, 'You threating me, James?' He unseathed a large combat knife, and waved it in James' face. 'You better not be, 'coz if you are, my metallic friend here'll be in your gut in a second.'
'Do not back down. Do not fear him. We are protecting you.'
'I'm not afraid of you.' James said, all fear gone in his eyes.
'Aren't you, now?' Thinking of plunging the knife into James, he didn't, and he turned his back to him and walked towards his prisoners. He gestured his hand, and the soldiers aimed their guns at James again.
'James!' Jessie screamed in fear of her friend's life.
James glanced at the soldiers, watching them load their guns, and smiled.
'We can take it from here...'
The soldiers fired their guns, unaware of what they'll be expecting.
Jessie turned her head away, not waiting to see her friend be killed. Meowth copied. The soldiers stopped firing, and to be suprised that their taget was still standing. Samuel, mouth agate, stood there, seeing him still standing and unharmed.
James glanced up at Samuel and smirked.
James' eyes turned bright red. The soldiers yelped, and they were tossed through the air. He casually began to appraoch Samuel.
'Fire!' Samuel commanded. The soldiers tried once again, but their rifles suddenly snapped in half. An aura of transparent fire appeared around James. Jessie looked, in amazment, and what she was seeing. What.. is.. happening, she thought, watching the scene.
Samuel took steps back whenever James moved closer, 'Stay away!'
'Is a Pokémon possesing him?' Meowth asked Jessie, who ignored his question. Her eyes were glued to the fight. All the soldiers were on the floor in pain. Suddenly, a distorted and unearthly voice came out off James' mouth.
'For centuries we had been disturbed by people like you, taking our only belongings, destroying our buildings and doing this with no guilt in your heart. As the Guardian of the Sphere, we command you hand us over the sphere at once, mortal...'
'What are you?' He asked, avoiding the command given.
'We are your demise. Give us the sphere.' James lifted his arm and opened his hand, waiting for the sphere to be given.
'No, I won't, and you can't make me!' Samuel lifted his knife and ran at James, ready for the attack.
'James!' Jessie screamed.
Samuel's knife was parried by another metallic item - a long spear. 'Hand over the sphere now.'
'No.' He repeated to attack James, and he kept parrying his attacks.
'What is going on, Jess?' Meowth asked.
'I don't know...' She said honestly.
James then kicked Samuel in the leg, which brought him to his knees, then flung the blunt end of the spear into Samuel's face, causing him to fall onto the floor. Blood trickled down the side of the soldier's forehead.
'So be it. You have one hour to retrieve the sphere back to the temple, or you shall meet the bitter end on the point of a blade.'
'We shall return again..'
The force of the Remnants disappeared from James, and the normal human being was back in his body. His firey eyes returned to their harlequin colour.
Samuel arose from his blow. 'What was that then?' He asked, mockingly.
No you, can't be gone.. not now. I need you, I'm in trouble.
James' fear returned, Am I no longer protected? he thought. Samuel walked towards him with the knife. 'Care to answer the question, then? Or do I have to force it out of you?'
Am I still protected? Remnants, Guardian, where did you go? This isn't a good time to take a break! I need you! Please return!
'Okay, the second one then.' Without any warning whatsoever, James felt a peircing pain through his stomach.
'James, no!' Jessie screamed, crying.
James glanced down. Samuel's hand was agaisnt James' stomach. There was a sudden pause, and a chilly breeze flowed through the air. Samuel began to pull his hand away, and appeared something shiny, and metallic, encrusted with red. As the thought came to James' mind, he knew then that he had been stabbed.
'You're fault, boy.' Samuel took two steps back. Blood began to cry out of the wound. The pain brought James to his knees. He held the wound, trying to not let the blood out. The agony was too much to bare.
No, this can't be happening, this just can't be...
'No! James!' Meowth yelled, struggling to free himself.
'You basterd!' Jessie screamed at Samuel. He turned to face her, a scar running across the side of his eye. 'Do you want to say that again?' He turned to face back to the dying man, and kicked him in the face. James fell onto his back, with a throbbing pain in his face. Blood poured from his mouth.
Too much.. I can't.. this is the end...
James could feel his senses leaving him. He suddenly felt the icy coldness. His limbs went numb. His heart raced rapidly... with the only strength left in him, he glanced up at Jessie, tears in her eyes, heart broken...
Jessie..
And the darkness took him...
* * *
You can't be dead, Jessie thought, I need you...
Samuel circled the motionless body, and smiled. 'Not so tough now, are you?' He looked at his soldiers, still wounded from earlier. 'Take him to the waterfall and toss his body into the river.'
'Yes, sir.' They began to lift James' body, and headed off outside the camp.
Jessie and Meowth looked, full of complete pain and remorse of their friend's lose.
'I'll get you for this,' Jessie said to Samuel, softly but with rage.
'Oh will you now? I'd love to see that, girl. Take them back to the cells.'
The soldiers dragged Jessie and Meowth away.
Samuel inhaled, and exhaled with releif. He touched the scar on his forehead, and sighed, 'Maybe a bit of company would satisfy you, James? Don't worry, I'll give her to you shortly...'
* * *
The soldier's came to the edge of a large cliff near a waterfall. They began to sway the corpse, ready for the toss. They let him go, and watched as his body disappeared in the distance, with a quiet splash at the end. They then turned to leave.
* * *
James body began to sink into the darkness below. His azure hair swaying gently by the water. He was to meet the abyss....
'We have returned to you, James.'
The voice echoed in the water...
'They will meet their end...'
From the depths of the water, James' eye opened, and out came a glow of red...
