The Darkest Hour (Part 2): Guardian Merge
"The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn."
-Anonymous
May was dead.
It all happened so fast...so easily...
Drew knelt on one knee. His weight on his left leg and hand, while his right leg lay limp.
He stayed by her colorless body, breaths coming in rasps. His hands shook and his eyes were wide and unblinking.
"If I...if…" He began to stutter incoherent sentences as her sightless eyes stared up at his face.
The abyss in her eyes pulled him in until he began to fall. He crumpled to the ground, screaming into his hands.
Suicune raised his head and howled into the sky.
Dark clouds gathered above and rain began to pour from the sky, mingling with the tears that streamed down his face.
Something suddenly overcame him and he stood up despite the pain, fists clenched.
It's not over… not yet.
Drew let out a roar and Suicune began to glow.
Lighting descended from the sky and struck in front of Suicune.
Blue flames blazed along the ground from Suicune's feet to Drew's. The flames erupted into pillars and crashed together, smashing Drew between them.
Suicune slowly became part of the fire until his shape was no longer there.
Drew emerged from the flames, eyes closed, but far from tranquil, his rage was made visible by his aura, blazing blue from his body like the fire that had just engulfed him.
In the darkest hour, four will become two.
Guardian Merge!
His teeth had all sharpened, but a single, particularly long fang had taken the place of his left canine. His nails turned black and grew sharp. Suicune's white ribbons had wrapped itself around his wrists and the purple clouds now flowed from his shoulders like a cape. White diamonds appeared on his forearms. On the area spanning the middle of Drew's chest down to his mid-abdomen, was the crystal that Suicune carried on his head. It seemed to have a life of it's own, luminescent water flowing inside it.
Drew's eyes snapped open, revealing Suicune's eyes, but with blue irises and white pupils. Vengefulness flamed within the depths of their blue.
Drew could no longer see like he used to. Instead, everything was blue. Alive with the glowing of aura. He could sense the movement of everything around him, from the tiniest Joltik that scuttled up a tree, to Lugia, who was fighting Darkrai's army a thousand miles under the sea.
"Ready Suicune?"
The crystal pulsed in response.
Drew took off, running over the puddles, the water catching fire wherever he stepped.
Latias found May as Drew and Suicune left, she collapsed, watching them go. "...Arceus, protect them both."
Latias curled beside May in tears, holding the egg close in her arms. Still feeling the effect of the severed Aura Bond.
"How is this supposed to help us now?" Latias sobbed, looking at the plain shell. "Why did Roserade and Blaziken insist on me bringing this here? A Guardian is dead. There's no winning this battle. All we can do now is delay our destruction..."
She laid her head down in the grass, her eyes half closed. She felt the rain beat slowly against her body. It was comforting, almost like a lullaby. She felt her aura beginning to dull. The severed Bond was like a gaping, bleeding wound in her soul.
I don't think I can fight anymore.
Latias gritted her teeth as another wave of pain washed over her body.
Forgive me. It hurts too much to move.
Drew found Brendan standing in the middle of a burnt park, kicking a corpse aside.
Drew charged full speed, taking Brendan by the neck.
"You bastard," Drew growled through clenched teeth. "I'm going to gut you alive and strangle you with your own entrails."
Brendan's angry expression melted into one of amusement. "So May is dead?" he laughed in gasps. "Thank Arceus!"
Drew tightened his grip, his knuckles going white. "You're sick!"
Brendan kicked Drew hard in the stomach, making him loosen his grip just enough to allow Brendan to escape.
"I see you've got a whole new look." Brendan rubbed his neck. "I hope it's not all purely cosmetic!" Eight shadowy arms burst from Brendan's back. They flew forward in a flurry of punches.
Drew reflexively raised his arms to protect himself and a blue sphere formed around him, shielding him from the assault.
"Tsk. You're stronger." Brendan cracked his neck.
An aurora beam exploded forward from the crystal on Drew's torso, catching Brendan by surprise. It collided with an explosion, sending him flying backwards through the air. He landed heavily, skidding across the dirt until his back hit a tree.
"F**k. That hurt." Brendan got up slowly, gripping his side. He smirked and wiggled a finger at Drew. "Tsk tsk. Didn't anyone teach you to play nice?"
Drew charged again, his raised fist igniting with blue fire.
Brendan blocked it, suspending Drew's fist with three of his arms. "You're faster now too...You almost got me there." Brendan gritted his teeth, trembling with the effort of holding Drew in place. "How annoying." His eyes flashed red and a shadow arm came around to punch Drew in the stomach.
Drew gasped, stumbling backwards.
The arm grabbed Drew by the neck before he had time to react and threw him into the ground. The force of impact created a crater around his body. Drew groaned, wishing he had time to heal himself.
Brendan marched up to him. "I want to end you with my own two hands."
Drew forced himself up."Not before I end you first."
The water from the river behind him rushed forward, engulfing Brendan in its fury. The water began to spin ferociously, tossing him around like a ragdoll.
"Burn in Hell!" Drew screamed. Lightning descended from the dark clouds hanging heavily above, striking the water tornado with a flash. The sound of thunder and the flash of light filled the sky.
Waves of electricity ran along the surface of the water. Brendan screamed, thrashing violently before slowing, then stopping completely.
Drew encased Brendan's body in ice, returning the excess water to the river.
The blazing aura disappeared from around Drew, and his pupils turned from white back to black. His body and soul had to recharge, but this did not stop him from taking out the rest of his anger on Brendan's waterlogged body.
Brendan began to cough, head hung low, as Drew delivered a massive kick to the side of his face.
Drew continued to torment him.
Brendan retched, puddles of clear water tainted red with blood stained the grass.
"I'm done with you. Let me just end your pathetic life," Drew spat, raising his claws.
Brendan looked up slowly, the look on his face snapped Drew out of his fury. His silver eyes were glazed over and fresh tears rolled down his already soaked face.
"Drew. Please. Help...me..."
A shadowy hand stuck Brendan, knocking the precious little amount of life that was still in him, like a candle snuffed out by a pinch.
A dark figure rose from the void that suddenly appeared before Drew.
Darkrai.
"Hmph. So we meet again. Guardian."
"You!" Drew stepped back. Terrified to his core, but angry all at once.
"Poor little pawn," Darkrai flicked Brendan's forehead. "His stupid human emotions got him killed."
Drew frowned.
"You thought he had just gone crazy, didn't you?" Darkrai circled Drew with slow strides, looking down on him condescendingly. "Ha. The poor man was just so heartbroken. A single promise to help him get over his lost love was enough for him to give himself up to me entirely."
Drew's eyes widened. All this time, he had hated Brendan. Hated him for faults that were not his own. Hated him for loving May.
"You don't stand a chance against me," Darkrai scoffs after a moment, flying up. "Didn't Hogosha tell you that already?"
"No, because it isn't true. He's trained us to defeat you! " Drew said firmly. "He believes in us. I know it!"
"Us?" Darkrai laughed. "You mean you and the female Guardian? Did you forget? She is dead."
Drew clenched his fists. If I can't beat you...I'll put you to sleep for another thousand years.
"The fault of Brendan will be your own." Darkrai's eyes gleamed.
Drew made a deep-throated growl. "I won't let myself die before I rid the world of you."
"How cute. You believe you can change the course of fate. Hogosha withheld the truth from you." Darkrai put his hands behind his back, his one visible eye narrowing. "It's your destiny, you see. It's written in the very stars themselves... that you will die, this night, before the sun rises."
"Bulls**t." Drew bared his teeth.
"Aren't you curious as to why the previous Guardians had never written of their stories themselves?"
Drew said nothing. He didn't want to be right.
"It's because they died. I killed them." Darkrai leered down at Drew. "The story is always the same. Only the names change."
Drew felt his heart stop, just for a moment. The seven pairs of Guardians before him and May had perished before they could defeat Darkrai for good. And now, May was gone and he was alone. If 15 Guardians couldn't defeat Darkrai, how could he?
"It's over. Your destiny has been written and fulfilled over and over again long before you were born!" Darkrai grabbed him, throwing him up into the air and spiked him back into the ground.
Drew hit the grass, dirt erupting around him. He suddenly grew aware of his physical state. He felt tired. So very tired...
The words he had spoken with such conviction just moments earlier suddenly meant nothing. Who was he kidding? He wasn't going to win. He had no reason to fight now. He was too weak. Even Suicune was unresponsive.
The strength had filled him earlier was only the ever fleeting appetite for revenge.
His wounds stung, his limbs trembled, and blood and sweat dripped down his face.
He didn't move.
He was resigning to his fate.
"Hmph. You are wiser than I thought." Darkrai extended his legs, placing his feet on the ground. "As reward, I shall make your death quick and painless."
Drew shut his eyes tight.
I'm so sorry Hogosha...I'm not as strong as the others must've been. I can't do it alone. May...I'll see you again soon. I wasn't ready for this.
Moments later, Drew was still laying on the bloodstained grass, breathing, hurting.
"What? You aren't supposed to be alive!" Darkrai hissed.
"I refuse to accept my fate. We'll write our own destinies!"
Drew opened his eyes, raising them.
His breath hitched.
Red wings, white horns, the body of a woman.
Standing in front of him, arms flung open, a sphere of aura protecting him, was…
May.
But how?
She looked back, revealing her startling, golden dragon eyes, and smiled. "Forget me not?"
Drew blinked back tears, dizzy at the sight of her alive. Smiling at him. Talking to him. He was suddenly taken back to when he was 16 years old.
"I can't believe you're going to Kalos." May sighed.
"I'm sorry May, it's just some of us like to chase success." Drew flipped his hair.
"Screw you." She punched him. "I will actually miss you okay?"
There was silence.
"I'll miss you too." Drew admitted.
May picked a light blue flower and smiled, holding it up to Drew. "Forget me not?"
Eventually, he smiled back and replied: "forget you, I shall not."
Latias' breathing grew hoarse as she shut her eyes, waiting for the pain to end.
A bright light suddenly struck her eyelids.
No, I don't want to die. Not like this. I must talk to Master Arceus.
She forced her eyes open, only to discover that she wasn't in the Hall of Origin, the bright light was the egg, glowing in her arms.
She stared at it, slack-jawed.
The egg cracked, forming a pattern on the shell - the Guardian Sign. White light exploded from the cracks, splintering the shell.
A light green and yellow Torchic emerged from the egg. It's crest was made of leaves.
It said nothing. It walked over to May and released a flurry of white fire, engulfing her body completely.
"Wait!" Latias cried. "What are you doing?"
"Like the Phoenix, behold, from ash scorched by fire, she shall rise again."
Latias felt a surge of Aura flow back into her body.
Is...is Torchic…
The flames spun themselves into the ground, leaving a circle of burnt grass and May, standing in the middle, looking down at her hands. Her robe was still tattered, but her wounds were sealed, leaving scars in their wake. The color had returned to her skin.
Latias looked for the Torchic, but in its place was simply a ring of singed grass.
Torchic surrendered its aura…
"Latias," May said, snapping Latias out of her shock. "I hear them. Blaziken and Roserade."
Latias blinked.
"They're telling me to fight. To rewrite our destiny." May looked at Latias. "And I understand." She walked towards Latias and held out her hand. "It's been an endless cycle of death, and only to stall the corruption of the Dark Aura. This time. We are going to stop it for good. We are going to win."
Latias nodded, reaching her hand out to May's until they met.
"This is not what I had planned," Darkrai's gaze flicked from Drew to May. "No matter. Arceus isn't the only one who can create life. Time to wake up Brendan."
An unsettling violet hue surrounded Darkrai as his eyes closed.
A horrible stench came from behind May and Drew. They turned, horrified by what they saw.
Brendan's soaked head had begun to move, facing towards the sky. His bloody mouth opened, exhaling smoke laced with a putrid odor. His eyes were wide open and completely black.
The ice encasing him broke completely, sending shards in all directions.
Brendan stood up, his jaw slack, unsettling noises coming from his mouth. A red circle, probably his pupil, appeared in his black eyes. It glowed eerily.
Long horns grew from his skull, pointing towards the stars. A black, forked tail appeared and white bone grew around his torso.
He looked like a…
"Mega Houndoom," Darkrai said. "My favorite of the mega evolutions."
May and Drew gave each other a wide-eyed look.
"I am too weak to merge him with a legendary. So I used the next best thing." Darkrai examined his claws. "Unfortunately, the particular Houndoom I summoned had just died. It's body is decomposing on Brendan as we speak. Tsk. My power is reckless at times."
May covered her mouth, willing herself not to vomit. Life? The only thing created here was more death.
"May?"
"I'm fine Drew, it's just...the smell." Her eyes began to water.
The white ribbon around Drew's wrists unraveled itself. The smoothest cloth May had ever encountered wrapped itself around her nose and mouth. It filled her nostrils with the smell of cool wind and clean water.
Drew's face was covered too, the absence of the horrible smell seemed to renew his strength.
"Enough." Darkrai snapped his fingers. Brendan lumbered to his side. "Your demise is now!" Brendan launched forward, running on all fours like a dog. He opened his mouth to reveal a full set of sharp teeth.
May and Drew split up, Brendan decided to chase after May.
"Brendan stop this!" May yelled, canines snapping at her.
"Brendan is dead!" He wheezed.
May grabbed his horns and flew into the air before flinging him downwards. Drew fired an aurora beam, causing a huge explosion.
Brendan was left in the center of the crater, his breath was ragged. "Stop this...I don't want to fight...stop this…"
"Pathetic, even now your emotions are getting the better of you?" Darkrai flew over to the crater. "What a waste of energy. You're useless to me." He forced Brendan deeper into the ground and buried him.
May and Drew could only watch as Brendan choked on the dirt, Darkrai standing atop it. The dirt mound moved for a few moments as he struggled beneath it, before becoming completely still.
"I hated him, but nobody deserves a death like that." Drew thought as Darkrai laughed.
"I'm bored of these little baby games we're playing." Darkrai turned his eye to them. "The new moon is out, and the sky is dark. The only star that's shining is me." He rose up, the wind morphing into a gale.
Darkrai suddenly began to grow, his torso and his head merging into one, a thousand eyes opening along his body, with one huge eye in the center. His arms ripped themselves from his body and multiplied; two large arms, one on his right and one on his left; and eighteen smaller hands, each held a warped plate of stained glass of a certain color. He looked like a true nightmare come to life. A huge grin sliced across his morphed abdomen below his largest eye. His needle-like teeth gleaming in the dark.
May stumbled backwards in horror, tripping on her own feet as she ogled at the towering sight before her. Drew found it impossible to move, paralyzed in fear.
"That's...that can't be Darkrai anymore…" May managed to choke out.
"This is better." The creature said in the most hideous voice anyone could imagine. "I've been stuck in that pipsqueak body for a thousand years. About time I came back to say hello." It flexed its fingers, all eyes shifting to stare at May and Drew. "I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Akuyami. Your lives end here."
Akuyami, the fabled King of Demons, the Anti-Arceus. The myth is that he was a creation of Arceus - a protector of the night - but eventually became thirsty for power. He was replaced by Darkrai and Cresselia. He swore to take his revenge and stole Arceus' original plates, warping them into his own. Arceus has since been forced to live in a weakened state, looking for a way to gain back his original power.
"We don't stand a chance...Not against that." Drew could feel his blood run cold. This is why the guardians never won. Akuyami was nearly equal in power to Arceus.
"We have to try." May said, taking Drew's hand. He could feel her shaking, but her eyes were on Akuyami - defiant. Drew's expression became determined.
"I like the fire in your eyes. It is always such a joy to play with my meals." Akuyami laughed. "You will not live to tell the tale, but I will give you a feast worthy of telling." He fired blast of dark aura at both of them. They shielded, but felt the heavy blow.
"We have to find a way to defeat him." Drew thought, jumping sideways to avoid Akuyami's arm as it slammed into the ground beside him. "He's the Anti-Arceus. How did Arceus lose his power?" Drew glanced up, his eyes landing on the warped plates. "The plates! We have to break them!"
"May!" Drew attempted to reach her telepathically.
"Drew?" She responded.
He was surprised to see that it had worked, and clearly, so was May.
"We need to break Akuyami's plates."
"How?"
"Remember that move Hogosha taught us? It's kinda like assist?" Drew thought back to their training.
"The one where we channel our pokémon's moves?"
"Yeah. Each plate is a different type. We need to hit it with a move that type is weak against."
"Okay, I take the left and you take the right," May replied.
As Akuyami's arm slammed down in front of her, she jumped and ran up his arm. "Gardevoir! Toxic!" She fired the poison into the pink plate with all of her might. It cracked, but didn't break. "Dammit!" She hissed under her breath, as she retreated.
"Oh, you're getting clever are you?" Akuyami snarled, clearly feeling the damage.
"Maybe if we both attack together, we can break a plate immediately," Drew suggested.
"You're right."
"Let's go for the Flying plate. The gray one on the left."
Akuyami fired short spurts of dark aura at them, they both dodged as well as they could. When he became agitated, he slammed both of his giant fists down. Drew sprinted around the fist and sprung up, level with the Flying plate.
"Gardevoir! Teleport!" May immediately warped beside Drew.
"Suicune! Ice beam!"
"Milotic! Blizzard!"
Both of their attacks collided with the plate, shattering it.
"AAAAGH!" Akuyami howled.
"It's working!" May gasped.
There might be hope for them after all.
The fight went on for hours, both May and Drew tediously breaking each plate. They were growing tired, and their injuries were racking up, but luckily, Akuyami grew weaker and weaker after each plate, making the next an easier target. It felt like they had fought for days when they were finally down to the last plate - the ultramarine Dragon plate.
Akuyami was rapidly losing energy. He had fallen to the ground, eyes half lidded.
May and Drew nodded at each other.
"Flygon! Dragon pulse!"
"Gardevoir! Moonblast!"
Akuyami flinched as the moves collided with the plate, shattering it into shards that littered the grass. Akuyami began to shake violently. Roaring, he launched himself into the air. His mouth began to open wider, revealing a pit of darkness, a dark that was blacker than the starless night.
May and Drew were dumbfounded as everything around them began to get sucked into Akuyami.
"He's trying to absorb more aura!" Drew yelled over the gust.
They both dug into the ground holding on for dear life.
"What do we do now?" May cried.
"It is dangerous to absorb a large amount of aura at once. Absorbing the amount of aura found in the average adult human in less than a second will kill anything."
Hogosha's words echoed in Drew's mind.
"May."
"Yeah?"
He looked at her, really looked at her, taking in every detail of her face. She was sweaty and covered in dirt, and merged with Latias. She couldn't be more different than her normal self than she was at this moment. Yet all Drew could see was her light smile and her sparkling blue eyes. "I want you to promise me something.
"Drew, you're scaring me." Concern and fright flashed in her eyes.
"Can you please just promise me something?"
She nodded, and it seemed like everything around them was silent. They were the only people in the world, and the only thing they could hear was each other.
"Promise me you will never let go, no matter what."
"What? Why? What are you going to -"
Drew shook his head. "Never let go. No matter what." He said firmly.
Her eyebrows knitted together, then she sighed. "No matter what," she repeated, nodding her head.
"Good girl." He smirked, but then his lips softened into a smile. "I love you."
His last words were so quiet May almost didn't hear them, but she did.
As Drew let go, spiraling into the vortex, May almost wished she hadn't heard him say those three words. Because her response to them clung to the back of her throat as she felt her heart tear in two. She wanted to scream after him, but the words seemed to block her voice, leaving her to only stare in dismay.
There was a brilliant flash of blue light that filled Akuyami's mouth, before the light pierced through his body. Light burst out in all directions, shining like the most beautiful star in the entire universe.
May shielded her eyes until the light faded, leaving nothing behind.
May stood up on unsteady legs. There was nothing left of Akuyami. Only the broken shards of glass, the burnt grass, and May's bleeding wounds were evidence of their battle.
There was nothing left of Drew either. Only the hole she felt in her heart.
She knelt and felt herself and Latias separate, leaving them both gasping.
"We must find the others," Latias said.
"We have to find Drew." May got up again, brushing the grass from her hands.
"Drew could not have survived surrendering his aura like that…" Latias spoke gently.
"No! I will find him," May snapped. She turned and walked deeper into the park, leaving Latias behind to watch her sadly.
May wandered through the trees, having no success. She screamed in frustration then closed her eyes. She could sense the aura around her.
"That's it!" She thought. "I can find Drew's aura."
She closed her eyes and focused on finding Drew. She could sense a faint trace ahead of her.
She continued walking.
She followed her senses to a riverbank, and found Drew laying beside the river, half of his body floating in the water.
She rushed to him and dragged his body out of the river. She knelt on the wet stones, cradling him. "Drew, we did it!" She smiled. "Drew...you can wake up now…" His face remained expressionless, and her smile faded. "Drew?"
She suddenly realized how cold his body felt in her arms.