Chapter 10
It occurred to me that this was getting long, word wise. Were I to decidedly print it all out spacing and chapter breaks included, I would have 50+ pages. So yeah... no wonder receiving reviews takes longer. xD
Doggy ass. Even now I wonder why that in particular rang in my head as my life flashed before my very eyes. However, it wasn't one of those flashbacks like in the movies, where everything goes as a movie; it was quite literally a flash of white, a few images appearing here and there, and then reality hitting again. I had no idea that Cynthia could even use aura, but she could, and with a raised arm and a glowing aura sphere, was readying to finish the fight.
I did the instinctive thing that a sixteen year old about to get owned by a fierce opponent would do; I closed my eyes and awaited the end. A roar sounded, however, and as the heat of the aura sphere could be felt near my face, it vanished, Cynthia's weight was removed from me, and there was another roar. The second time, however, the roar shook the ground, and alerted to me that it was safe to reopen my eyes.
High above, swirling purple clouds parted where a blue and silver creature descended, roaring quite fiercely. Behind it emerged a pink and white beast, also roaring, followed finally by a somewhat more elegantly descending deity that literally radiated authority. And when it spoke, I felt compelled to listen, although I would have much rather paid attention to reactions nearby.
"Listen all of you!" Arceus shouted, "Go home and do not leave your homes, no matter what you hear outside." "Easy for you to say," a large, actually rather humanoid looking creature said, emerging from practically nowhere, "your home isn't under threat." Arceus shot Regigas quite the fierce look, growled a bit, then turned back towards everyone else. "Return to your homes, and I shall undo the damage done here."
Surprisingly enough, despite shuffling and some hesitance, practically everyone went on to do their thing. Save for Cynthia, who was now on the ground, two lucario, one out cold on the ground and the other pinned down by Keniblaze, and of course yours truly staring stunned and in awe into the sky. Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, and Regigas quickly gathered around, and I couldn't help but feel irritated that most of my gear was still in Team Snagem's hands.
"Thanks for saving my hide back there," I muttered gently as Cynthia began shaking off whatever had forced her off in the first place. Arceus ignored me and much rather asked Cynthia, "How are you feeling?" Oh, yeah, the guy who got attacked is just feeling peachy, so let's ask the one who was doing the owning! Man, life just was not fair sometimes! "Still quite... Out of it really," Cynthia grumbled as she staggered to her feet, "I don't know what came over me." "I do, but those details can wait," Arceus said, "any other shadows should be coming around now."
Apparently when he said shadows, he meant any shadow pokémon, because the two lucario Keniblaze had been facing started either stirring (the one on the ground) or calming down (the pinned one). It didn't take me long to figure out which one was her original lucario and the one that she was supposedly just training. "What happened to them?" I asked Arceus, "I mean, really, were they all turned into shadow pokémon or trainers or whatever?"
With all the nerve of the animal body, Arceus ignored me once again, checking Cynthia for any further injuries. It was Regigas who answered. "Technically, not by your definition no they weren't, "it explained, "it is a long story to tell, but right now we have a region to save." "Well, our main focus really was finding Giratina and Shade," Dialga silently added, "but we got sidetracked when there were four aura spheres going on in the same general location." Ah, that explained what caught their attention.
"Alright Arceus, I'm fine," Cynthia growled as Arceus gave her a fifth look-over, "you need to go ahead and focus on those who have been injured all over the region." "Do I look like God to you?" Arceus stated bluntly, "Because if so, I may need to change my appearance." "Well, I'm sure you are not here just to snap us all out of our moods." "No, but you do need to realize that I am not a miracle worker nowadays..." "Alright then fine then, I just wanted to make you aware that you are wasting time right now." By this point it occurred to me that any prisoners would probably be wondering what in the world was going on, but as I saw Wes walking in this general direction with Cambray and a large group of prisoners and a bunch of random stuff, it occurred to me that obviously I had nothing to be concerned about as far as prisoners were concerned.
"Well well, the cavalry is here!" Wes joked as he took in the presence of so many Sinnoh legends, "now we can start reclaiming what is ours." "Not quite," Palkia corrected, "we are not here to win your war." "Now hold on a second, this thing started with you all!" I accused, "Now you are saying that this is 'our' war when you are the ones who started this from the get-go?" Arceus suddenly reared towards me, literally making me jump a few feet back. "Listen Jack, I really could care less who can be considered to be blamed here, but you had best check your own backyard before you dare call out the status of mine!" Arceus practically hissed, his spittle practically knocking me from my feet.
I didn't know what that was supposed to mean, but Arceus, along with his deity friends, mumbled farewell something, then left almost the same way they arrived. I was now left with Cynthia, Keniblaze, and two lucario. Wes and the prisoners had already begun leaving, and anyone else that would have been here clearly was long gone. I decided it was best to patch things up first with the trainer. However, before doing that, I spotted a lone backpack that had been randomly left where the mass of prisoners once stood. I went over to it, nabbed it, found pretty much all my stuff still inside, then went over to patch things up with Cynthia.
"Yeah, about that..." "It is alright Jack; I thoroughly enjoyed beating the shit out of you." "Not a single stain of crap left my crack." "It is an expression."" I know, but I am merely pointing out the fact that you failed..."" Just apologize and we can get this over with." "Tell me again how I am so deeply involved in this and why I am the one supposed to apologize?" "The higher ups who ordered this include quite the number coming from your family." "So blame me for what my bloodline did?" "Fine, maybe that is unfair; let's go Cinlaria, Lucas."
Lucas was on his feet quickly, then growled at Keniblaze, who seemed to have been chatting with Cinlaria during this whole exchange, and returned to Cynthia's side. Keniblaze finished muttering something, Cinlaria growled in a rather friendly, almost cute manner, then the two parted, Keniblaze smirking as he approached me. "Well, this will be quite the story to tell once we get our party together..." he announced." "Gang is all here," I announced as I checked the pokéballs on my belt, "let's make tracks!"
As the last rays of sunlight vanished over the horizon, Arctic whimpered gently. Paralyzed, incapable of movement, Zap had zapped him near mercilessly, although Arctic had thought a few beams of ice would have stopped the tenacious bird pokémon. Once again, he had been proved wrong.
Zap snickered as he chewed various Oran berries, retrieved from constant runners. "You see Arctic, I am sorry it had to happen the way it did, but that is just the way it is in the real world," Zap explained, "the weak are dominated, and the strong thrive." "I guess that would explain why I was still chosen as trio leader," Molten cackled as the fiery bird made his appearance, appearing to be a yellow colored, bird shaped sun with red trails.
"Ah, what took you so long?" Zap asked, "let me guess; you got lost, or decided to pick on a Gengar for messing with a helpless human?" Molten glared at Zap as it corrected, "Quite actually, I came to teach you a lesson about messing with Arctic." "You cannot protect Arctic forever bro," Zap stated, "Arctic needs to be capable of defeating me with ease. His type advantage should have brought him the win."
Molten overlooked a greatly bruised, cut, and burned Arctic with a careful eye. "How do you like my handiwork?" Zap boasted, "I should personally have embedded my initials." Molten snapped his beak, and then flapped his wings frantically. "Listen Zap, I don't want to have to put you down like the mad beast you have become..." Molten warned, "But do not think I am above that." "You think you're bad?" goaded Zap, "then bring it on fire bird!"
Molten, knowing that directly attacking Zap would resulting in a shocking repercussion, inhaled, then exhaled bright orange flames towards Zap. Zap easily dodged the attack, and then screeched into the air, announcing the battle. Static electricity began surrounding Zap as he began maneuvering past Molten's flames towards Molten's stationary self. Molten ceased his flames just in time for Zap to dive down towards him in full electric glory.
Just as it seemed as if Molten would be brought down, the bird suddenly flashed a bright white light, and as Zap supposedly made contact with Molten, it was repelled, flying halfway across the coliseum into one of the columns. Pokémon scattered as the bird landed roughly on the ground as Molten bellowed, "Come on Zap, surely you haven't forgotten how to use that head of yours!" Zap shook its head furiously and returned to its feet.
Beating Molten, who probably used mirror coat against it, was not going to be as easy as beating Arctic, unless of course Zap could use his electric attacks. And unfortunately, the strongest of his attacks couldn't be used right now, as he either needed a lightning storm or launch an attack that could result in another painful counter-attack from Molten. Zap eventually figured that he couldn't use his type advantage right now; he needed to instead work with his inner bird.
Molten stared down Zap as once again it began charging towards him at full flight speed. However, since Zap was not surrounded in electricity, Molten could very well expect a flying attributed move, which meant that his brother had learned quickly about this particular fight. Molten took to the air, and then dove down towards Zap, the two headed for a straight head on collision.
Prior to the two actually crashing into each other, Zap suddenly began sparking. In the middle of an attack, Zap figured that there was no chance that Molten would be capable of using mirror coat to deflect him so strongly this time. Molten much rather opened his beak and unleashed orange-red flames that soon engulfed the sparking Zapdos in fire. Despite the intensity of the heat, seemingly amplified by his own electric attack, Zap continued on his course, eventually striking Molten right below his neck. Molten cried out in both shock and surprise, and then tumbled towards the ground.
Zap, wincing from the serious burns all over its body, quickly descended towards his fallen foe. Cautiously, Zap landed next to Molten, who was sending sparks onto the ground. "Well, look how the mighty have fallen," Zap teased as he placed his foot upon Molten's neck, "I suppose I can't risk you burning the feathers off of me, so I guess I'd best finish this..." Zap suddenly grew rigid, its pupils growing small, its wings stiffly frozen into place. Molten smiled, easily removing Zap's foot from his person, resulting in the rigid Zap to fall to the ground like a statue.
"Indeed, look how the mighty have fallen," Molten spat, nailing Zap in his open beak, "I'm sure you are wondering how that happened." Zap could only gurgle in response as a shocked Arctic looked towards Molten in surprise. "Extrasensory has quite the nasty effect on the high strung," Molten explained while walking around Zap, "but of course, since you prefer to always zap your opponents or kill them with that beak of yours, you wouldn't have taken note of that fact that I didn't forget that move." Zap gurgled once again, this time rather irately as it stared down Molten. "Now listen up!" Molten shouted to the onlookers, "This bird will remain here till the sun rises yet again. Unless you wish to join your jackass leader, I suggest you release the humans and their pokémon."
There were protests, but as Molten shot blue flames into the air, most began quickly shuffling to obey. Molten then looked towards Arctic. "Arceus has returned," Molten sighed, "and when he finds us, he is not going to be happy. Once you are restored, link up with Suicune on Citidark Island for extraction." "Extraction? Where to?" Arctic asked, "I am not going back to the islands without you and Zap." Molten chuckled. "You are not going back to the islands; on my way here, I met up with a certain man who seems to know much about some secret opponents who so far have been screwing with our trio master. I want you to meet up with this man, trainer I might add, Suicune, and another so that you can explain to Shade and Rita what is going on."
"But why me in particular?" Arctic asked, "I was defeated... By Zap of all creatures..." "Let it go for now Arctic," Molten ordered, "you have the rest of your life for a rematch; right now, I need you to do this thing. Lugia is in grave danger. Lugia always took an odd liking to you, so you may be needed when all hell breaks loose." Arctic, unwilling to continue to argue, nodded, and as Molten began screeching orders here and there, Arctic took one last look at Zap. A single move did that... Arctic mused thoughtfully over as clefairy gathered with strange plants...
Ho-Oh suddenly awoke to a very startled sounding noise. Peeking open an eye, Ho-Oh managed to spot Uxie, a shocked expression on its face. This was a new thing for a being that supposedly knew everything. "What is the matter Uxie?" Azelf inquired, "It is most unlike you to be shocked." "Arceus has done something unexpected," Uxie explained, "he has officially come to Orre to intervene. And you all know who he brought along."
Rita had seemingly nodded off, but the second Ho-Oh dared stretch a wing, Rita's eyes turned to slits, a slight glow being given off as she revealed her continued vigil. Were it not for shame, Ho-Oh would have fled by now, but something was keeping her here. Something continued to keep Ho-Oh here, but she didn't know what... Till quite suddenly a familiar pair of eyes appeared.
Even in the dark cave, it was not hard to see glowing red eyes; in fact, even a human could have probably spotted the red orbs. However, what confused Ho-Oh was who those eyes belong to. "It's okay Suicune, I know you've been there for the past five minutes," Rita grumbled, "I'm sure you came to speak with your trio master." Well what a shocker; without even looking, Rita had managed to identify Suicune... Who shouldn't be here of all places!
Suicune led Ho-Oh outside the cave, and as Ho-Oh disappeared from sight, the light tension seemed to be released from the cave. Apparently she had made Rita tense, and as a result, the entire room took on that feeling. "What's up?" Ho-Oh inquired, somewhat mellow after her nap, "Suicune, is there something wrong?"
Suicune glanced to Ho-Oh, and without warning, suddenly began wailing, burying its entire head into Ho-Oh's feathered torso. Confused, yet concerned, Ho-Oh decided to let Suicune get her piece out before pushing for further details.
Suicune finished, wiped her muzzle with her paws, then gently said, "I... I don't know what to do." "Well, for one thing, once Arceus..." Ho-Oh began until a sudden chill ran up her spine. She went rigid, body entirely straight, her head set in attention. Eventually getting over the intense feeling, Ho-Oh continued, "Well, now that Arceus seems to be here, I suppose we'd best find Entei and Raikou and regroup with him." "I found them," Suicune quietly reported, "I found them just one floor up." Well then, that made things easier; chances were that was Raikou who shrieked after realizing where he had been dumped. "Alright then, let's go get them!" Ho-Oh suggested, "Rita has been keeping her eye on me ever since I was brought here."
As Ho-Oh managed to physically relax her body, which went rigid whenever Arceus made an appearance within the region she was in, she noted the look of withholding within Suicune's face. "Suicune, come on out with it, what is wrong?" Ho-Oh impatiently demanded, "Tell me this very instant!" "Raikou and Entei..." Suicune started, "the two of them..." Suicune was not going quite fast enough for Ho-Oh, so she decided to intervene. "The two of them were fighting again? That only means that they have been uninjured." "They mated!" Suicune half shouted, half blurted out, angrily staring down Ho-Oh, "Alright? They firkin mated with each other!"
A gasp was heard from the cave entrance, and as Ho-Oh for the first time noticed that they were actually rather close to the entrance and its nosy inhabitants. The darkening sky above aided the suddenly darkened mood, the crashing waves on the igneous rock that was the island's makeup representing the sudden force that had been brought down to Ho-Oh. Mated? That was... Impossible! If anything, Raikou and Entei were just simply incompatible as friendlies... What reason would they have had to mate? Or even get that close to each other without tackling?
Ho-Oh nearly lost her balance as the reality of the situation sunk in. If two of her legendary charges had mated, then that left an odd one out; not only that, Arceus would tan her a few darker shades of red for allowing this to happen. "Are you sure?" stammered Ho-Oh, "are you absolutely sure?" "Yes," Suicune confirmed, still staring down Ho-Oh, "the real question is, what you will do about it?"
'Star bright, star light, grant me this one wish; I wish to bend power to my greatest wielding, to become a beacon for the people I so desire to protect... Give me the power to defend my ever changing friend!' These words continued to haunt Mewtwo even as the search for the red Kyogre continued. Latios and Latias, both inverses in their natural respective colors, joined him. They had searched all of the major waterways of Orre, which really only meant they had checked the ocean area near Orre. No sign of him. Not a single fin.
Worst of all, Latios every now and again would attempt to probe his mind, gently, most likely in an attempt to discover what he did that made Gislea's spirit so furious. Of course, once Arceus found out that he had a direct hand in the death of one of his ancients; it was not going to be a pretty picture for him that was certain. Especially if red Kyogre was also eaten; that would be double trouble, as he would be reprimanded by both his enemies and his allies.
As a result, Mewtwo found it to be of paramount importance to find Kyogre. "Any sign of him?" Mewtwo asked once again as the trio of searchers flew over the ocean, "anything?" "I am afraid not," Latias reported, "we should split up." "We have a killer Lugia somewhere probably just waiting for us to do that," Latios objected, "we can take her if we are together; separately, we are sitting ducks." "What about Shade?" Mewtwo inquired, "Where is he?" "Ever since Rita and Shade left the underground cavern with Groudon, I have not been able to detect him at all," Latios grumbled, "it would seem that some powerful psychics do not want us to locate him."
Mewtwo suddenly stopped, then began hovering over the water. "This endless searching will do no good," Mewtwo retorted, "we need a new tactic." "I'm open to ideas!" Latias exclaimed, "Maybe we can try to bring him to us!" "Or better yet, keep moving," Latios warned, "he is fleeing out of terror, which means that he is likely not going to be slowing down anytime soon." Mewtwo chuckled as the two ancient eon pokémon flew down to his level. "Nightfall," Mewtwo sighed as he noticed the sun's final rays vanishing, "there is no way we can find him in the dark." "Then let's go back!" Latios half shouted, "We might as well make base in Gateon Port; the place was nigh deserted last time we were there."
Mewtwo nodded, and the trio vanished in teleport, unaware that a frightened legendary was practically directly below them. "I knew it was a bad idea!" Kyogre murmured, "Man, she is not going to be happy at all once we meet in Arceus' hall as spirits... In fact, I think I might be getting deported..." Kyogre continued to frantically swim downwards, completely in tuned to any sounds that the ocean dared to present as danger.
Without warning, Kyogre suddenly felt restricted, incapable of movement, almost as if being slowly crushed. Kyogre yelped as a flash of white covered his vision. Practically ready to scream, Kyogre began flailing, but to no avail as it grew weaker and weaker from some unseen force draining its energy. "Shush, it's going to be okay Kyogre," a voice crooned, "it is going to be okay. My daughter won't eat you as long as you cooperate." As the last bits of ocean depth vanishes from Kyogre's vision, and the reality that it was trapped forced the shaking ancient to close his eyes fearfully.
"Now listen carefully Kyogre," the voice crooned once again in a soothing tone, "I know what you want, and that is to live. And for that, I will need you to release your fear." "Easy for you to say Gislea," Kyogre whispered, "you have the upper fin here." The voice cackled, "Listen, Arceus is going to try to finish what he started, the second he finds Uxie and Shade. Now, you can surrender all allegiances save for yourself and me, live, and thrive in an ocean where food is in constant supply. OR..." "Or what?" Kyogre dared asked, "Or what?" "Or you can join Latios, Latias, and Mewtwo in providing energy for my resurrection," the voice answered, "or, if I do not deem you so worthy, I can use you as bait. Your choice really."
Arceus contemplated, attempting to extend his aura throughout the Orre region. Atop of Mount Battle, a war torn and weary battle arena his stage, he focused on the entire region, searching for Shade. For some odd reason, all of Citidark Island was completely cloaked; that meant that the Lake Guardians and more importantly Giratina had to be there. Dialga and Palkia briefly appeared to land on the circular platform, the stars shining above combined with the moon illuminating quite eerily the 100th platform of Mount Battle.
"It makes sense that they would be on Citidark Island," Palkia stated, "Zap seems to have been taken down by Molten, but there are some more disturbing news to report." "Well?" Arceus asked impatiently, "make your report before Zekrom and Reshiram make theirs. The four of you talking at once actually does give me a headache." "Lugia is near Orre," Dialga sighed, "worst of all, Gislea is there too." "Impossible, Gislea is dead." "I hate to break it to you Arceus, but ghosts do exist," Palkia retorted, "not only that we are talking about a really pissed off ghost." "Surely she can't still be sore that I would work with the humans just to bring her and Shade down is she?"
"I think you can answer that yourself Arceus," a shadowy figure said, "for you know that you can destroy the body, but not the soul." Arceus opened his eyes briefly, and then said in greeting, "Hello Darkrai, I was beginning to wonder when you would show up. Did you bring her here?" "Well, it was either that or continue to let her wreak havoc in my realm," Darkrai explained, "and if she would have done that, you would have quite the ghostly foe on after you." "He already does," Reshiram said as it arrived on the scene, "Gislea's presence is more than a bit ghostly nowadays." "Indeed," Zekrom reported, "we managed to shake things up in Pyrite while Molten was gone, but since you specifically said don't slaughter or massacre, we couldn't really uproot them." Arceus sighed, and then turned towards the group.
"Shade is no longer top priority, and Mewtwo is a small fry compared to our changing target," Arceus announced, "at all costs we have to stop Gislea!" "How?" Dialga said, "Without Jirachi, we can't exactly wish her out of existence, and since Celebi is a bit out of it, there will be nothing keeping her mind off of vengeance." "And of course we have Team Snagem mobilizing," Palkia sighed, "but that is a human organization..." "Willfully playing straight into Gislea's wings," Arceus sighed, "whether we like it or not, we need to do something about them too." "But Arceus, we have never gotten directly involved in a situation involving human criminal syndicates," Zekrom said, "intervention may very well cause..." "Failing to intervene has gotten us this far!" Arceus snapped, "We need to do something! Pokémon and humans chatting with each other is no accident, and until I discover how in the world it was done..."
"Wait a second," Reshiram exclaimed, "not even you know how they did that?" "I am not even sure a faction did this!" Arceus cried in frustration, "With Uxie literally not responding to me, it is just that much harder to get to the bottom of this!" "Hm, I am getting contact from our agent," Dialga reported, "it seems that Mewtwo is not who we think he is." "What do you mean?" Palkia inquired, "What exactly is that supposed to mean?" "Connect the dots," Dialga retorted, "if Mewtwo is not the artificially created mewtwo that we have been keeping tabs on ever since the Rocket Massacre, then who in the hell do you think this is?" "Where is our mew?" Zekrom suddenly asked Arceus.
"Currently slumbering at Spear Pillar along with Celebi!" Arceus answered, "But what do you mean 'our' mew? There has always been only one mew." An awkward silence brought Arceus' eyes to slits. "Haven't there been?" "Well..." Reshiram started, attracting looks also from Dialga and Palkia, "not quite..." Arceus gritted his teeth, cursing Uxie to the Reverse World for not being communicative when he needed it most. "Well, I guess the elephant in the room is," Palkia blurted, "is this just another thing that you have been unaware of ever since Giratina left you?"
Palkia very quickly realized why no one else brought it up. A flash and the next thing Palkia knew it was on its back at the psychological and physical mercy of Arceus. "You and I both know that has nothing to do with this!" Arceus spat fiercely, "dare to speak of it again and you will regret it!" Palkia said nothing, but the increased pressure on its body very quickly rectified the situation. "Crystal clear sir," gagged Palkia, "Giratina leaving your side had nothing to do with..." Arceus roared, pressed down ever harder on Palkia, and was probably prepared to kill it when Dialga, Zekrom, and Reshiram intervened.
As Zekrom in particular held the pokémon physically, Reshiram tried to weaken Arceus' aura pressure on Palkia, while Dialga tried to get Palkia away from Arceus. Eventually, the two were separated, and as Arceus calmed down, the fiery flames of fury in his eyes clearly made the message clear; do not even mention, or think moreover, of Arceus and Giratina's unfortunate separation, no matter how relevant it was to solving the latest issue...
I almost hate to break the story, but up next is another 'history' chapter. I felt the time was appropriate to do so, especially with the latest happenings with Arceus. And yeah, I haven't COMPLETELY forgotten about my prologue that stated that Jack was telling the story. Do not worry about that unless I conclude the entire story without telling you.