Chapter 11: The Fate of the Condemned
They're trapped, Sato and April have no effective weapons or defenses against armed humans. The guards surround them and begin marching them through the hall, continuing the path Jameson lead Sato down all those years ago. They go through several electronically locked doors, which Gary opens. They arrive in a large, circular room. They're standing on a walkway several dozens of feet above the room's floor. Gary walks towards a ledge with no guard rails around it, and turns around.
"There will be no escape this time. Your rebellion ends here."
"Go ahead and kill me, I have plans even for that." April says defiantly.
But Gary just laughs.
"Who said anything about killing you? It's time for you to see what happens to those who commit crimes against Pokemon."
The floor below the ledge opens up. A pillar is rising from it. Inside is an indescribable substance, similar to corrupted computer code, but a liquid.
"The souls of those who foolishly defy us are thrown into this, to become part of it, the secret Pokemon. Pokemon number 0, Missingno!"
Missingno, the glitch Pokemon. More taboo even than Mew, Sato had never seen a word written about it. He had heard a few whispered rumors about it, the mysterious Pokemon that was said to do everything from multiplying any object it touched to destroy the Pokemon League. Even with the knowledge of Mew and the Pokemon from others regions, Sato had never expected Missingno to be real.
April looks absolutely horrified. Clearly she didn't believe in Missingno either. Panicking but at the same time trying to construct a plan, she presses against Sato and whispers.
"Take this. Don't try to figure out what it does, just make sure it's always with you."
She hands Sato a small amulet, made of bright blue stone. Sato has no idea why she chose now to give him this, but isn't free to ask.
"Merging with Missingno is simple, just jump in. Who wants to go first?" Gary asks.
"I will." April says, stepping forward. She walks towards the edge, but then turns and charges at Gary. Gary was not foolish enough to give her a clear opening this time, however. The guards have time to react, and shoot. April is hit on her right shoulder and left leg. But she fights through the pain, and grabs Gary. She pulls him towards the ledge, holding him in front of her, restrained.
"Guards, leave or I'll throw your leader into Missingno!"
It's questionable whether she could with her injuries, which are becoming worse. The guards don't respond immediately. Apparently smarter than the clichéd generic guard, they realize Gary would be much worse off by himself with two enemies in the room.
"Do it!" Gary yells at them. This is all they need, the guards promptly leave the room.
"Sato, close the door" April says.
Sato pushes a button on the wall by the doorway, sealing it off with the electronic door.
"Well April, I guess I should thank you" Gary says without a hint of fear, "I was having a hard time thinking of an excuse for my one on one battle. But you've done your part."
It happens so fast, Sato can't even say anything, let alone stop it. Gary had clearly been holding back. He breaks free, turns around, and knocks April off the ledge. Too surprised to react, she silently falls into Missingno, and is instantly consumed by it, no trace of her body remaining.
"Now that I just eliminated Number 1, I don't think Master will mind if I have the battle I always wanted." Gary says smiling, taking out a pokeball.
Sato breaks out of his trance, burning hatred consuming him.
"I'm not going to battle you, I'm going to kill you!" Sato yells at the top of his lungs. He takes off his backpack and reaches not for the Pokemon equipment, but for the gun. But Gary's too fast, he's already released a Pokemon, which flies at Sato like a bolt of lightning, and takes his backpack.
"No human weapons, this is going to be a Pokemon battle. But I don't want victory handed to me like it was in the Pokemon League."
Gary opens the backpack and takes out everything that looks like Pokemon combat equipment, sliding it over to Sato.
"It's time for the battle to begin. I'll start with Venusaur, show me if you've improved."
Sato doesn't have any choice, he'll have to fight the Pokemon. Motivated by the chance to avenge April after the battle, he focuses on defeating the Pokemon. Sato takes out the improved shield device, which covers him with Pokemon repelling energy.
"Type 1, fire. Type 2, flying." The shield changes hue. Sato takes out his energy sword and draws it. "Fire type." The sword also changes hue.
Again, razor sharp leaves fly at Sato. Sato waves his sword back and forth, leaving a fire trail behind that absorbs the leaves. Sato slashes towards Venusaur, and a crescent wave of fire flies at it. It cuts the Pokemon cleanly in half.
"So she did teach you her tricks. But the rest won't be so easy, I'm prepared. Gyarados, go!"
The gigantic flying sea serpent is released.
"Shield, type 1 dragon, type 2 water. Sword, electric type."
"Gyarados, Bite!"
The Pokemon zooms at Sato. But Sato is ready, he slashes it out of the air, the double weakness killing the Pokemon.
"Dragonite, go!"
"Sword, ice type. Shield, steel type."
The dragon Pokemon summons meteors to fall on Sato. Sato runs between them, until he's face to face with the Pokemon. He shoves the sword through the Pokemon's head, killing it.
"You know what you're doing. But you're not fighting an official Pokemon battle. So really, I have no reason to follow the rules. Let's see how you do against this." Gary says calmly with a hint of eagerness. He takes out all three of his remaining pokeballs, and throws them to the ground. All three of the legendary birds come out. Articuno, the bird of ice, Zapdos, the bird of lightning, and Moltres, the bird of fire.
But Sato already knew what to do.
"Shield, type 1 ghost, type 2 dark. Sword, neutral."
"So, you learned of the broken type combination, the one with no weakness. But I don't need one, my Pokemon will kill you!"
The Pokemon fly into the air and circle around Sato. Synchronized, they attack, sending beams of ice, lightning, and fire at him. Sato doges and aims an energy slash at one of them, but it dodges. Sato tries to put distance between himself and the birds, but they're too fast. Covered in their element, they charge at Sato like bullets. Zapdos grazes him, a painful electric current shooting through his body.
"You've injured him, go for the kill!" Gary commands.
While still recovering from the shock, Sato is hit by elemental beams from all three birds. Burning, freezing, and being electrocuted at the same time, Sato is on the verge of passing out.
"You never had any chance against the United Pokemon Society. The eight years your hiding bought you were as worthless as the person who gave them to you. Time to die."
Fury gives Sato the strength to resist fainting. Thinking back to the work he and April did on their combat equipment, he remembers how they modified his sword to mimic Pokemon elements by inserting chips from TMs of attacks from each element. The sword's system had been left open to new Pokemon moves so it could be strengthened if they found more powerful TMs. A TM, or technical machine, contained the basic energy of a certain Pokemon move, and could be used to teach that move to any Pokemon. If it can work in reverse, Sato has a plan…
Sato retracts his sword and opens the back of the hilt, exposing the innards of the machine. He turns the opening towards the attack of the three legendary birds. The hilt is shaking, being overloaded. Sato quickly turns it around and puts the cover back on. The hilt feels like it's about to explode, but Sato activates the sword to vent the energy.
Three beams come out of the hilt, fire, ice, and lightning. Sato aims the fire beam at Articuno, the ice beam at Zapdos, and the lightning beam at Moltres. All three Pokemon are hit by an element they are weak against, and fall to the ground. The excess energy gone, the sword returns to its neutral form. Still in excruciating pain, Sato manages to run to the fallen Pokemon and finish them with his sword. He has won the Pokemon battle.
"NO! NO! This… this can't…" Gary falls to his knees "This isn't happening! You can't defeat me, you can't defeat my legendaries!"
"I defeated you because you're a cowardly, selfish piece of crap." Sato spits at Gary, the rage and sorrow over April's death returning.
"My rival was stronger… my entire career, my life… none of it was real! I never did any of it!" Gary mutters in a panicking voice, his entire body shaking "Nothing, I did nothing, I never deserved any of my success! You… you… you gave me false hope! I can't handle where I am now, but because of you, I'm in too deep! I got the legendaries killed, I couldn't stop you, I can't face Master, I shouldn't have had to in the first place, it should have been you! I'm tired of your sick game, I'm ending it!"
Gary runs to the side of the walkway, but not the one over Missingno, one over the the hard steel floor 50 feet below. He puts down Sato's backpack and climbs the safety rail, diving off head first. Sato has no desire to look, to see him hit the ground. But he can't stop himself from hearing the thud of his rival taking his own life.