I apologize about my slow-timing. But hey, it's not the first time I've been a tiny (or a little more than tiny) bit inactive.
Chapter 21 is the first of the last 9 chapters of Book One of "The Void" series. Enjoy!
UPDATE: I JUST realized that fanfiction removes my diving lines between paragraphs (you know, when events switch and all that...) so I'm sorry if this had been hard to read. This seems new as I remember the dashes being registered before. I'll do my best to fix this, but until then, BEAR WITH ME! Please?
Chapter 21: The Cost of War
That next morning was horrible. Sean woke up, Lunar beside him, under a large maple tree. Jordan was close by, under another tree a few feet away. Julie was with Jo in a tent they erected in the middle of the two, and Matt and Parker found some spots next to the river.
In fact, they hadn't really moved from the spot their conversation took place last night. All of the vegetation was relatively close to the river (which made sense ecologically) and the seven were up late. Suicune had informed Sean that he would leave early in the morning to confirm their departure route, and that he would be back by noon. Sean pulled out his poketch and saw that it was 11:30AM. The seven didn't have much time to talk or say good-bye.
This is what made that day suck.
Sean had rested well the night before; he got up carefully as to not wake Lunar and stretched. His body was a little stiff, but he felt fantastic compared to the morning before, the one where they were chased by Mewtwo.
Sean walked over to the river and splashed some water in his face, letting the cool liquid wake him up. He brushed some through his hair and proceeded to Julie and Jo's tent. He opened the zipper loudly so they would wake up. He was welcomed by a groan, "Whaaaatttt?".
"Wakey wakey. No complaining, we slept in late. That means you, Jo." Sean said, laughing as he walked away.
Julie, who had been silent, turned over to face Jo, "We really should get up."
"Five more minutes"
Julie poked her in the side and she jolted straight up from the shock, letting out an "Ah!". Julie started laughing wildly as Jo punched her elbow, "Don't do that!"
"You had to get up!"
Meanwhile, Sean, Jordan, Matt, and Parker were all outside starting a fire for brunch. Parker pulled out some eggs he bought (kept cool in an icy sphere made by Bubbles) and cracked them open over a skillet, which he then put on over the fire. The eggs were being made sunny side up, and the sheer sound of them cooking was enough to make the two girls' mouths water.
Jo sprinted out of the tent (with Megan) to get the food. Julie stayed behind for a second. She pulled out her backpack and fumbled around in it. She pulled out a white Polaroid, on it was a picture of her dead twin brother.
"I can't believe…I saw you last night…in my dreams…" Julie said to herself, "you're…"
…supposed to be dead" said Julie, sitting on a bench in a beautiful garden, Tulips had sprouted all around her. The garden was spectacular, bursting with color and life. She didn't observe too closely, though, the only thing she could focus on was her brother, Luis, standing in front of her.
"I am dead, remember?" He said, taking a seat next to her, "But I've come to your dreams once before, and now I am here to guide you."
Julie looked at him inquisitively, "Not to sound rude, but how are you supposed to help?
Luis wasn't affected at all by this question, "Guidance. God has made it my burden to help you out to make up for what I did to you."
Julie was disgusted, "So this is so you can get into heaven, not to help your sister with whom you had an unbreakable bond with?"
Luis shook his head, "I wouldn't be able to get into heaven without being sincere. Now look, you're at a turning point right now in this battle. You can leave now and save yourself, forget about Mew and live a normal life, or go with everybody else and face every hardship that comes along."
Julie shrugged, " I can walk off whenever I want, and I don't want to now. I have to…my dream…I…I mean…I feel that if we win this battle…you know…"
Luis shook his head again, sighing, "That's the thing. If you continue, there's no turning back. You're going to need to think of your future, and whether or not you are willing to risk your life for a dream that might not even come true. You need to consider if you're ever going to want to leave at any point during your journey, and how badly you're going to want to leave."
Julie looked at him, "You know my dream?
"I'm your brother."
Julie looked down, embarrassed. Of course he knew."I really think that I can pull off my dream if we win this battle."
"Only if you succeed."
"I will."
Her brother looked away, "Julie…"
"What? What is it, Luis?" Julie asked.'
Her brother now had a solemn look on his face, "If you continue, you're going to die."
A tear ran down Julie's eye…would she really die if she continued? Has her fate been pre-determined? Will she fail to accomplish her task and work towards her dream? How could she stop this? What about Sean? What about everyone else? What about her family?
What about the world?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a yell from Sean, "Hey! Lazy! Get your butt outta bed before we eat all the eggs! Jo's vicious!" At that moment she heard a yell from Sean and a loud THUD followed by laughter.
"Ass!" Jo yelled.
Julie smiled and thought to herself, I may not know what lies ahead, but for now, I guess I can just live in the moment.
She stood up and walked out of the tent, and she knew that regardless of the resolve she had just made, that her brother's news would haunt her. It would haunt her, she knew, until the day she died.
Brunch was over, Jordan fell back onto a nearby tree stump, "Ugh, I'm so full. Where did we get all of those eggs, anyway?"
"Same place we got all the other food. There are plenty of markets by the falls. It's all about location." Parker said.
"You're pretty smart," Jo said, "It's too bad that…well…we've been through so much and now we're being ripped apart."
"It's necessary though," said Matt, "How much you wanna bet Celebi is on her way to recruiting the other two dogs?"
Nobody responded, they knew he was right.
At that moment they heard a nearby bark, they looked to the north and saw Suicune rapidly gaining in on their position. They all stood up and said their goodbyes.
Jo turned to Parker, "Thanks for sticking with us."
"My pleasure. Don't worry, I know we'll see each other again." said Parker.
Matt was hugging Julie, who said, "I can't believe how brave you are. You really surprised me."
"You're really tough." Matt said, "You'll be fine."
At that, Matt and Parker walked to each other, faced each other, and then looked at the other four.
"This is it." Parker said.
"Good luck." Sean said, "Wait, I have something." He reached into his pack and found his old GBA link cable and handed it to Matt, "I know it's an odd thing to have, but it may help your Graveler evolve."
"Thanks a lot, Sean." Matt said, taking the cable and putting it in his pack. The two started to walk away, they turned around and waved to see everyone, including their pokemon, waving back.
As soon as they disappeared Suicune arrived behind the four, Alright. I have our way to the mountain. There's a slight problem, though.
"What is it?" Jordan asked.
The Cleansers have the whole area occupied.
"What exactly are we up against, then?" Sean asked after a long silence, "The Cleansers seem to have gone international."
Not exactly. It is to my understanding that Celebi tipped them off. Said Suicune.
"That bitch is going to give us Hell, isn't she?" Julie asked. Suicune nodded. Everybody sighed.
Celebi never lost until you four came along. She isn't going to let this go, ever.
"Well, she won't win again as long as we're around. What's the plan?" Jordan said.
I'm going to create an icy wind to throw them off. I then want Jordan and Kyuubii to set the forest around them ablaze. The combination of hot and cold will disorient them, and I predict a few knockouts. We'll storm them at that point, and take them all out.
"What are we trying to get to, anyway?" Jo asked.
A way-crystal that only I may activate. Let's go.
The area surrounding the way-crystal was anything but inviting. First off, it was surrounded by a variety of terrain, almost like it was put in layers. First, poison-barbed bushes surrounded the perimeter of the crystal's area. Inside there were two more layers; one layer of an almost quicksand-like mud pit that one could easily get exhausted and drown in. The last layer was filled with jagged rocks, many of them. These ranged in size from small pebbles to gigantic boulders.
Each layer was the size of a football field.
Many humans have tried to get through to the center of this area, and most had failed. Only the fit ones have ever made it to the center, but they still found nothing there, and many died there due to unwillingness to go back. Modern-day flight technology allowed for easy entrance to the center, but again, nothing was there. It was an ingenious design by Mew to make sure nobody discovered where he rested.
The four friends were determined to be the first humans to discover it.
The Cleansers had not wanted to travel into what Suicune called the circle of erasure. So, their defenses were solely meant to prevent anyone from even entering the poison barbs. They had set up automatic turrets all around the layers, and there were guerilla troops stationed all over the woods around it. Suicune said they had everything from sniper rifles to shotguns and that they seemed determined to kill anyone who walked by.
Sean and Jo were with Suicune, all of their pokemon out of their pokeballs (excluding Happiny) and Jordan and Julie were off in another area close by. Their signal was a sudden drop in temperature, Suicune said it would be hard not to notice.
Sean jumped onto Suicune's back, he could just barely see a turret through the thick brush of the trees. They weren't seen due to Shade's Night Shade attack, which had cloaked them.
"Suicune, will an icy wind be enough?" Jo asked.
If not, a blizzard is completely acceptable. Suicune said.
Sean was getting anxious, "Can we PLEASE get this over with?"
If that is what you wish.
"That's Entei's line." Jo said.
He stole it from me. ICY WIND!
A horribly cold gust of wind ripped through the forest. The grass frosted over, and shouts of discontent were heard from the troops ahead. Sean could see the auto-turrets beginning to malfunction.
"Get ready." Sean said to his pokemon, his Umbreon and Scyther braced themselves in attack position. Suicune looked determined.
A minute passed, and the wind's effect was wearing off, Jo began to get worried, "What's taking them so…"
"PIKA!"
Megan ran into the direction of a huge blaze to their right. The forest was being cooked, pokemon could be seen scrambling to get away from the fire, it seemed that she was trying to help them. It briefly reminded Jo of the cost this war will bring on the entire world.
Cries of fear and anger could be heard coming from the Cleanser's outpost. The heat-seeking turrets went haywire and fired in every direction, eventually knocking each of them down with their own bullets and killing a few Cleansers.
"MOVE!" Sean yelled. Lunar and Blade sprinted into different directions while Sean and Suicune charged the front, Suicune creating a wall of reflect to deflect any bullets. Sean's adrenaline began to pump, they were charging into a potential death trap, and Sean was thrilled all the same.
Jordan jumped on his Ninetales' back and continued to set fire to the forest. He saw flaming bodies falling out of the trees, screams of anguish filled his ears. He didn't know where Julie went; they split up when he began the forest fire. He sprinted all through the woods surrounding the crystal, setting fire to anything green in sight. Most of the pokemon in the forest got the message with the icy wind Suicune set out, but even still, some pokemon remained.
As Jordan was riding through, he saw a struggling Poochyena walk by him. It was severely burned, and it was about to die. Jordan turned Kyuubii around, stopping his torching of the wood, and headed back to the pooch. The forest all around him was filled with dancing flames. He saw nothing but red until he saw the collapsed Poochyena right next to a burning tree.
Jordan jumped off Kyuubii and grabbed the Poochyena into his arms right before the tree it was next to collapsed. He jumped back onto Kyuubii and rode on, but this time not setting any more wood on fire. He was trying to escape his own blaze.
He checked the Poochyena's pulse, it was weak, but Jordan thought it still had a chance. He reached into his pack and pulled out an oran berry. He gingerly opened the pooch's mouth and placed it in, forcing the pokemon to swallow it.
"That will have to last you for now." Jordan sighed, he pulled out a pokeball, "I'm not going to let you die." He tapped the button of the pokeball onto the pooch and let it go in.
It wiggled in his hand, once, twice, three times.
"You're safe now." Jordan said as he directed Kyuubii into the center of the fray.