Author's notes: Sorry for not updating in such a long time... damn. It almost feels like forever. This chapter took a while to do because I paid extra attention to the pace. So, here you go!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon and yada, yada, yada…
The Adventures of Hunter Chapter 25: The Power of Darkness
"This is… the original dragon that shaped Unova…" Melody stared at Kyurem in shock. "All hope is lost…"
"Indeed" Vivi agreed. "This thing is too strong, even for me".
"I guess that's my line" Blaze gulped at the sight of the chimera-like being floating above them.
"But if we don't defeat it here, we can never deliver peace to the world" Hunter growled and got into a battle stance. "We'll save our world or die trying!".
"Well said!" Lance agreed and roared. "We have to take him out. Let's go!"
He flew up in the air and launched a powerful flamethrower at Kyurem, who simply dodged and retaliated with Dragon Pulse. Lance tried to dodge, but the attack still struck him full force. The Salamence was thrown into the ground. Kyurem landed and roared, unleashing a stream of fire, which formed into an orb above his head. He threw the orb at Hunter and his friends. Blaze and Heat were the first to react and used their Fire Blast attacks to repel the Fusion Flare, while Vincent and Cold used Icy Wind to slow down Kyurem's movements. The dragon was however unfazed by their ice moves and launched a Hyper Beam at them, which knocked them back a few yards, leaving them on the ground.
"Damn it" Cloud gritted his teeth, "none of our attacks are working"
"We have to try harder" Riv said and fired a Shadow Ball from her mouth. Cloud followed up with an Aura Sphere. The two attacks combined, creating a blue energy orb with purple to black bolts flashing around it. Kyurem just growled and used his right BlackKyurem arm to smash the orb away from him and back at its users. Riv and Cloud dodged.
Meanwhile, Vivi, along with Missy got behind Kyurem and created an Inferno, which surrounded the powerful dragon. Missy used her psychic powers to keep the flames in place.
"NOW!" Vivi shouted and urged her comrades to use their attacks on Kyurem. Lance started off with Flamethrower, Blaze and Heat followed up with Fire Blast, Cloud used his Aura Sphere, Luna and Luno both used their Bullet Seeds, Riv launched another Shadow Ball, Cold and Vincent jumped on Lance's back and used their Icy Wind attacks from there. Hunter jumped up as well and fired Bullet Seed from his mouth at Kyurem. Vivi let the flames close in on Kyurem while Missy switched to Psybeam, striking the dragon in the back. Melody let out a deafening Hyper Voice attack, spurring Vivis flames on, which got larger through the wind added to them.
The attacks hit Kyurem straight on and created a large explosion.
"We got him!" Blaze exclaimed happily.
"Not quite" Cloud shook his head. "I can still see his aura"
"But all our attacks together have to have dealt some damage" Vincent said.
"This is UltimateKyurem we're talking about" Vivi said.
"We mustn't get overconfident" Melody agreed.
"Here it comes" Hunter shouted as he noticed Kyurem flying up in the air, roaring angrily and much to the horror of Hunter and his friends completely unharmed.
"All of our attacks weren't working?" Lance asked in disbelief. "How in the world are we supposed to beat this thing?!"
"If our plan works, we should be fine" Missy said.
"What plan?" Cloud asked.
"Reshiram has let herself get absorbed by Kyurem" Hunter replied. "She did that because she and Zekrom might be able to immobilize Kyurem long enough for us to defeat him"
"But for that to work, we have to distract Kyurem long enough for Reshiram to tell Zekrom about our plan" Missy added. "That's why it's not that bad that we can't deal damage to him. The only one who can is Hunter, anyway, because he can use the Sacred Sword"
"Hunter is able to use Sacred Sword?!" Melody suddenly asked. "But how?"
"We don't have time for this now" Hunter interrupted. "Kyurem's attacking!"
They noticed that Kyurem had opened his mouth and a stream of blue fire came out of it.
"Damn, it's too late!" Lance shouted. The flames were way too fast to try and dodge them.
"This is Reshiram's attack… Blue Flare" Vivi explained. "If this hits us, we're dead"
"What can we do?!" Riv asked, but before anyone could answer, the flames suddenly dissipated.
"WHY YOU…" Kyurem growled as his body started to shake violently.
"It seems that Reshiram and Zekrom succeeded" Hunter said with a light smile on his face.
"They stopped him from using the attack" Melody sighed in relief. "If only we could save them"
At that, Hunter's face fell. There was no way to save them. Reshiram had confirmed this numerous times and Hunter had to agree. Trying to save Reshiram and Zekrom was out of the question. "But if we have any doubts now… we'll never be able to fulfill their wishes" he added in his mind. Then he focused his mind on his ambitions and friends, trying to convert those wishes into power. The leaves on his wrists started to glow light blue and turned into monstrous, scythe-like blades.
"That's exactly like our Leaf Blades" Luno said. "But why are they that big?"
"That's the Sacred Sword" Melody replied. "I never thought I'd see it again"
"SO THE RUMOR WAS TRUE…" Kyurem roared and tried to attack Hunter, who rushed at him, but his body still would not listen to his will. "DAMN YOU, RESHIRAM AND ZEKROM!"
"This is it!" Hunter shouted, jumped up in the air and used both of his blades to slash Kyurem across the chest. Kyurem roared in pain and fell to the ground.
Hunter landed in front of him and was forced to his knees. "Damn it…" he huffed. "This Sacred Sword uses too much power. But this should do…" He looked at Kyurem, who groaned at stood back up. There were two large scratches across his chest and belly.
"SO YOU REALLY ARE ABLE TO USE THE SACRED SWORD?!" Kyurem asked and then chuckled. "IT SEEMS LIKE IT EXHAUSTS YOU A BIT. THIS IS NOTHING PERSONAL, BUT I'M AFRAID I HAVE TO END YOUR MISERABLE EXISTANCE NOW" He rose up one foot, letting it hover above Hunter, who at the moment was unable to move. "How did he regain control over his body?" Hunter asked himself while looked up at his imminent death.
"HUNTER!" Missy cried out and started to rush forward, but Cloud held her back.
"There's nothing we can do for him now" he said sadly.
But as soon as Kyurem wanted to stomp Hunter to death, his body started acting up again. "WHAT?!" he asked in shock as he toppled over.
"Run, Hunter!" Heat signaled and Hunter finally managed to stand back up and run away before Kyurem could fall on him.
"Are you alright?" Luna asked worriedly.
"I'm okay" Hunter nodded. "The Sacred Sword uses too much power, though. I can't quite handle it yet. I only have power left for one more at most"
"That isn't good" Lance said. "We only have this chance of killing Kyurem. If this fails, we're ended"
"We have to bet our all on this last card" Luno said sternly. "We have no other choice"
"He's right" Hunter agreed. "I'll give it one more try while Kyurem is still immobilized"
He let his leaves glow again, but this time, his Sacred Sword disappeared immediately. Hunter cried in pain and fell to his knees. "I… I can't…" he coughed.
"Hunter…" Missy looked at the Grovyle with a worried expression.
"It seems he pushed himself over the edge" Melody explained. "He has no power left in him"
Much to everyone's horror, Kyurem groaned again.
"IT SEEMS LIKE YOU'VE LOST YOUR ONLY TRUMP CARD" Kyurem chuckled as he stood back up, having regained control over his body.
"Damn it!" Lance cursed. "What can we do now?"
"We have to hold him off until Hunter has regained his powers" Vincent said. "It's the only way"
"I agree" Cold nodded slowly.
"THERE'S NO NEED FOR THAT" Kyurem roared and the sky darkened even further. "SOON, THIS WORLD WILL END!" A large black crystal suddenly descended from the middle of the blood red vortex in the sky. It was about twice as big as Kyurem's original form.
A cold shiver went down everyone's spine.
"What is that?" Cloud asked and stared at the black crystal in shock.
"That can't be…" Melody stared at the object in disbelief. "That is the Shadow Crystal! While the war between humans and Pokémon were still going on, this thing absorbed all the hatred and power of the fallen, ultimately becoming more powerful than even Arceus himself! Due to all the hatred it absorbed, the dark power inside of it was enough to create a storm that could destroy the world; the Gale of Darkness! Kyurem used the Crystal's power and immense hatred stored in there as a catalyst to forcefully create Shadow Pokémon"
"So this thing is what created the Gale of Darkness?" Hunter asked, still weakened. Melody nodded. "If Kyurem absorbs its power, it will be impossible to stop him" she concluded.
Kyurem flew up toward the Shadow Crystal, a dark purple aura coming from it and slowly surrounding Kyurem as he was pulled towards it. "THIS POWER IS MINE NOW!" he roared and started to laugh like a maniac as the Shadow Crystal was absorbed into his body, wrapping a black sphere around UltimateKyurem. When the sphere disappeared, Hunter and his group stared in shock at what Kyurem had become. He became a black shadow with glowing red eyes, though still with the silhouette of UltimateKyurem.
The black shadow that was once Kyurem stared at the friends, who knew that now, all hope for them was lost.
Kyurem started to summon a bunch of black meteors from the sky, bombarding the battlefield with them. The Dark Draco Meteor was impossible to dodge and a large explosion wrapped around the entire battlefield.
…
Hunter slowly opened his eyes and found himself floating in a vast white nothingness. No one else was around, the space lacked a floor and ceiling, it was just pure white and empty.
"Where is this place?" Hunter asked himself and slowly looked around. "Am I really…?" Pondering on the thought of him dying in Kyurem's last Draco Meteor attack, he started smiling bitterly. "Not once, not twice… no… three times" he said to himself. "Three times I have tried to save someone close to me and three times I have failed… the first time was Rita, my friend from my childhood… the second was my parents and now… my friends… Missy… I have failed them… through my weakness they died. And I died along with them, not able to live up to the honor given to me by them… I am a failure. I have failed everyone close to me…"
"That's not true!" a clear voice suddenly called out to him. To Hunter, this voice seemed strangely familiar, yet distant. As if he had heard it before, but this 'before' had been a long time ago.
"Who… who's there?" Hunter asked and pulled himself upright. Suddenly, he felt like someone or something touched his cheek. Who or whatever it was, it warmed his heart and again, that feeling was familiar. Slowly, but surely, he could make out the shapes of a Chikorita, which touched his cheek with its leaf.
"Rita? Is that… you?!" Hunter asked in disbelief as he saw his childhood friend standing right in front of him.
"You evolved, but you're still the same" Rita smiled softly. "You never changed, Hunter"
"Rita…" tears started flowing down Hunter's cheeks, moistening the leaf Rita touched them with. "You have no idea how much I missed you…"
"I know" the Chikorita still smiled at him. "I missed you, too. Death was pretty lonely and I would love to be together with you again, but I guess that has to wait a bit longer"
"What do you mean?" Hunter asked in confusion. "I died, right?"
"No" Rita slowly shook her head. "You aren't dead… at least not in a traditional sense of death. Your will still clings to life, but your soul was separated from your body and brought here"
"How do you know all these things?" Hunter shook his own head in disbelief, as Rita removed her leaf from his cheek.
"Do you still remember why I died?" she asked. Hunter looked at her, not knowing what to say.
"You… were sick" he finally managed to say. "You had an unknown disease since childhood that would eventually kill you. I still remember that day… I was so powerless…"
"It was not like you could save me in the first place" Rita said softly. "My early death was sealed ever since I was born. The promise you made to me… you couldn't have fulfilled it even if you tried. Don't take the blame for it, Hunter. This wasn't your fault"
"But I promised" Hunter shouted. "I promised I'd keep you alive somehow… but I couldn't"
"You made another promise to me, remember?" Rita suddenly asked. "You promised that you'd find a way to bring peace back to this world after you've grown a lot stronger. This promise was actually made on the moment of our first meeting"
"I do remember it" Hunter said. "The world was in chaos even back then. Both you and me lost our fathers to war and I wanted to change that. I didn't want any more Pokémon to suffer this fate. But I broke even that promise to you. Kyurem was too strong. I didn't stand a chance. I never did. Even with the Sacred Sword. It should have been a killing blow… so why could he recover from that?"
"Hunter, believe it or not but ever since I died, I watched over you" Rita explained. "I saw everything that was going on until now. ShadowKyurem, as the creature you've fought before is named, is way stronger than Kyurem alone, but… he lacks a sentient mind, thus effectively weakening him"
"What?" Hunter asked, surprised at Rita's knowledge. "He's actually weaker than before?"
Rita nodded. "He completely lost control of his powers" she explained. "His attacks might have gotten stronger, but they are completely unfocused. He's just firing them out everywhere and nowhere"
"That means there is still hope" Hunter concluded. "But… I died. And even if I lived, I'd probably be quite weak by now… I can't even use the Sacred Sword"
"Leave that to me" Rita said, winking at him. "Even though I'm just a spirit, I might be able to help you from here"
"Rita… what are you saying?" Hunter did not believe a word from her.
"The reason I died was because I had a special power too potent for my living body to subdue it. It eventually was too much for me to handle" Rita explained. "But now that I'm a ghost in a sense, I can use this power to help you and your friends"
"So the reason you died was not an illness?" Hunter asked. Rita nodded as a reply.
"It's time, Hunter" she said. "You have to finish this"
"Right" Hunter nodded.
…
Hunter's hand twitched as he slowly got up. He looked around and found his surroundings to be completely obliterated, but his friends and himself were miraculously unharmed and he knew that Rita had to have something to do with that. But strangely, Melody was missing.
Not pondering on that too much, Hunter turned towards Kyurem, who was mindlessly attacking his surroundings with black ice beams, thunderbolts and flamethrowers.
"That bastard" Cloud grunted. "He's going to destroy everything"
"Not if we can stop him" Hunter said with determination. "We can do it this time"
"Yeah, we'll save the world!" Luna shouted.
"Strange… I've never felt this powerful before" Riv said. "I'm up to any challenge"
The others gave words of motivation as well, before they got ready for their final battle against ShadowKyurem.
"Rita… this time, I'll keep my promise" Hunter said and a bright light started to envelop him. Inside this light, he got noticeably taller. The leaf on his head vanished, the two leaves that made up his tail turned into an actual tail with a strong resemblance to a tree and the leaves on his wrists turned into two straight blade-like leaves each. He had evolved into a Sceptile.
"Reshiram! Zekrom!" he shouted out towards Kyurem. "Can you hear me?!"
"We… can…!" came the combined voice of Reshiram and Zekrom from Kyurem's mouth. "Attack! Now!" Kyurem suddenly rose up in the air, reverting back to UltimateKyurem, causing the black clouds to vanish. Reshiram and Zekrom started to emerge from Kyurem's body, each sticking out left and right.
"HUNTER! NOW!" Reshiram shouted.
The leaves on Hunter's wrists started to glow brightly and reshaped into two monstrous blades. "Help me out, guys!" Hunter pleaded.
"Right" the others agreed and used their attacks on Hunters blades, which were strengthened even further. Lances Flamethrower was combined with Cold's and Vincent's Icy Wind attacks, Missy's Psychic, Luna's and Luno's Bullet Seeds, Heat's Eruption, Blaze's Fire Blast, Riv's Shadow Ball and Vivi's Inferno. The Sceptile roared loudly and jumped high into the sky, aiming directly for the immobile Kyurem in the middle of the now reformed dragon trio. "THIS IS THE END!" Hunter shouted and slashed Kyurem with both blades, immediately separating him from Reshiram and Zekrom, who regressed back to their stone forms and disappeared altogether.
Hunter landed on the ground, heavily panting from exhaustion.
"We did it" Missy said. "We defeated Kyurem!"
"Yeah" Hunter smiled, knowing that they finally brought peace to their world.
However, Kyurem was by no means dead. He was reverted back to his crippled state, large scratches and bruises all over his body and heavily bleeding. He was lying on the ground, halfway unconscious.
"Give up, Kyurem" Lance ordered. "We beat you. There's no need for you to continue fighting"
"Indeed… you bested me" Kyurem groaned. "I never thought… someone like you… could ever hope to defeat me… guess I was wrong, then?"
"You were wrong on so many levels" Riv said with disgust. "It's not even funny!"
"We finally won" Luno sat down on the ground, exhaling sharply. "Now, we can finally rest a bit"
"Not until Kyurem's dead" Lance growled, ready to deliver the final blow to Kyurem's battered body.
"You are pathetic" a dark, sinister voice suddenly spoke and the sky darkened again. Everyone, including Kyurem, looked at the sky in shock. They saw the Shadow Crystal still hovering above the ice dragon. "Did you really think you could manage to control the dark power?!" the voice, clearly coming from the Crystal, asked. "This immense hatred which was stored inside here ever since I was created… as I told you before, you overestimate yourself… scum"
The Shadow Crystal suddenly started reforming into something different.
"What's happening?" Hunter asked in shock.
"What's going on?!" Missy joined in.
"The Shadow Crystal is transforming into something!" Vivi exclaimed.
"The one whose name shalt never be spoken" Riv suddenly said. "Oh no…"
"Riv, what is it?" Cold asked. "Do you know what's going on?"
"No, I don't" the Absol replied. "But I've seen that form before… at least I heard about it…"
The crystal transformed into something closely resembling a bird with large wings which ended in something resembling hands, as was its tail, strangely enough. Its underside emitted an ominous red glow and was adorned with dark grey and black markings, which ran up to its palms. Its back was black as were the upsides of its wings and the claws on the tips of its wings and tail. It had small bird-like legs which ended in strong talons and a ruff of feathers surrounded its neck and billowed out over its neck. Its snout was black an somewhat resembled a beak, and it had four horns on its head, two larger ones facing forward, while the two in the back were thinner and protruded backwards. Its eyes were a cold blue, displaying no emotion whatsoever.
As soon as the transformation was completed, the creature let out a strong, high-pitched roar, creating a shockwave, which managed to blow everyone but Kyurem away.
"Who… are you?" Kyurem asked the creature, which looked down upon him, occasionally flapping its wings, resembling the letter "Y" while it did.
"I am your superior" the creature said. "The one behind all of your actions. You were nothing but my pawn to regain my former strength and destroy this world!"
"Your pawn?!" Kyurem roared and turned around while lifting himself up. "I'll never accept that"
"As you wish" the ominous creature smirked and spread its wings, creating numerous black spears, which flew towards Kyurem, impaling the ice dragon through pretty much everywhere. Kyurem roared in pain as he fell back to the ground with more and more spears impaling his body until no more sound could be heard.
"Did that thing just kill Kyurem?" Missy asked in disbelief.
"Effortlessly" Lance added. "And yes, it did"
"We have to get away!" Cold shouted. "HURRY!"
"There's nowhere to run!" the dark creature roared and spread its wings once again, creating a huge, swirling storm cloud in the sky which got bigger and bigger, slowly surrounding the entire Pokémon World, engulfing it in a never ending darkness.
Ominous blood red bolts of lightning burned down one forest after another, strong wind blasts caused entire towns to fly away, killing any civilians that did not manage to escape. The many lightning bolts slowly but steadily transformed the Pokémon World into a living hell. Entire continents were engulfed in hellfire and it was as if the world itself let out a deafening death scream, before everything fell silent seemingly forever.
Author's notes: BOOM! There you go! That's the end of this story!
Haha! Got you! No, this isn't the end. At least not yet. Not until it is revealed who this cruel villain is that succeeds with his plans, anyway. And we're all hoping for a happier ending, aren't we? Well, if we're really going to get one or not will be revealed next time! So, until then…
Peace out!
- Shining4Charizard