Chapter 10

Fear

Arceus wasn't at his usual perch above the Guild, he was nowhere to be found but I had a feeling that he was inside. We entered and I noticed Arceus in the Mess Hall, Wigglytuff and Chatot tied up beside him. I turned to Darkrai, Umbreon and Mespirit.

"You three go check on the others," I said, feeling strangely like Gloom. "Make sure they're safe."

"No," snapped Darkrai. "We're coming in. You can't face the Creator of the Universe alone!"

"But," said Kat, "I don't even think we'd stand a chance with you with us. We would much rather, if anyone got killed, for it to be us."

"After all," added Eden, "we are the ones he wants. Once we go down, he'll stop this ridiculously immature game and go on home. Wherever that is."

They didn't budge. I frowned. There was only one way we could do this. I stepped forward.

"That's it!" I said. "We're going to have to do this the hard way. Aura Sphere!"

I blasted Umbreon as Mespirit retaliated, blasting me with a Psychic attack. Kat jumped in front of me, fighting back with a Psybeam. Eden let rip a Fire Blast, scorching Darkrai.

"I told you we won't let you take the fall for us," I said, knocking Umbreon back again.

It pained me greatly to fight my friends like this, but it was for their own good.

"We want to help," Darkrai growled.

"Will you stop being so selfish!" I cried, tears running down my cheeks.

The fighting stopped.

"You heard me! If we're killed, it's all fine and dandy, this place is saved, but what if you three die? Who will protect this place?"

"You three," said Umbreon, frowning.

"No!" I snapped, growing impatient of their ignorance. "If you're gone and we defeat Arceus, we will still be transported back to the Great Forest."

Everyone looked at me.

"I've figured it out," I said. "I think we were transported here to defeat Arceus."

"No," frowned Eden. "We were sent here by accident."

"I don't think we were," I said. "It's like when Palkia and Dialga summoned me from the future. They didn't know it was me they were summoning, I think they were just calling for someone to help. I think once they noticed Arceus was chasing them so they summoned Pokemon to help. I believe those Pokemon are the ones that joined the Rebellion."

"But you weren't sent back to where you came from," said Kat.

"That's because I don't think I've fulfilled my purpose there yet," I said. "When I was coming back from Quicksand Pit, I had this feeling. A feeling of detachment, like I was being pulled away."

"Fine," scowled Darkrai, "but if you get into trouble, we're in there."

We smiled at them as we parted. But as we entered the room, something strange happened. A sensation of floating in undisturbed water came over me, the room warped and twisted, then stopped abruptly. No-one was there. Eden, Kat, even Arceus were nowhere to be found.

My worst fear had become a reality. No one was around. My loved ones had disappeared. It was just me.

"Eden?" I called out. My voice echoed eerily around the room. "Kat?"

I closed my eyes, allowing myself to ease into the Aura State, not knowing what would happen. Nothing was there. Instead of the blue-white auras usually around Pokemon, there was an aura of purple-black that surrounded everything.

"Arceus!" I demanded. "Tell me what's going on!"

Nothing. Suddenly, there was a shrill screech as a thin tendril of blue-white aura pierced through the darkness before being thrust back out. I forced a tendril of my own aura toward that very spot, focussing with all my might. I saw a faint flicker of the other aura again. I kept pushing, every ounce of fear driving me.

It's this or loneliness, I kept telling myself.

Eventually the two tendrils locked together as I felt myself being pulled toward the connection. The floating feeling came across me again as I found myself in a blank space. And there beside me was Kat.

"Jay!" she beamed.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I was in the most horrible place where everything was dead, like my worst fear had come true."

"The same thing happened to me," I replied.

"I wanted to get out, then I remembered that we could create a connection," she said, "so I kept reaching out to you and here we are."

"Where is here?" I frowned.

"NOWHERE," Arceus' voice echoed. "ANYWHERE. EVERYWHERE. I HAVE DRAGGED YOU INTO MY BEING, CREATING YOUR WORST FEARS."

There was a flash of light and out of nowhere appeared a Gyarados. But it wasn't blue like the others. It was bright red. It roared angrily and let loose a Hydro Pump.

"Psychic!" yelled Kat, using the telekinetic attack to block the water.

I ran up to Gyarados, blasting it with a Dragon Pulse. As it fell through space, it roared.

"Hyper Beam!" it yelled.

The humongous blast flew at me with tremendous speed. It hit me hard and threw me back, winding me. Kat ran over and helped me up. I scowled at Gyarados.

"Hyper Beam!" It roared.

"Psybeam!" Kat retaliated.

"Aura Sphere!" I joined in.

The attacks smashed into each other, a huge explosion resulting.

"Ahh!" squealed Kat.

We were thrown back, the world around us rippling as the illusion set up by Arceus melted away. There, beside Kat and I, was Eden.

"So much water," she whimpered.

"Yay!" beamed Wigglytuff. "Friendly Friends! You broke the illusion!"

"Yes," said Chatot. "Well done. NOW GET US OUT OF HERE!"

"Oh," smiled Wigglytuff, "I can do that! YOOM TAH!"

There was a flash of light and Chatot and Wigglytuff were freed. Chatot frowned.

"Why didn't you do that before?" he asked.

"I forgot!" smiled Wigglytuff.

"Wigglytuff, Excalibur!"

Into the room ran Team Charm, looking worse-for-wear.

"Whats up?" asked Wigglytuff.

"It's Cyndaquil," said Lopunny grimly.