The Power of the Key
I held on tight. Nothing could pry me off of Ryan. He was alright; it didn't matter how he recovered.
"Um, Shonta?" Ryan asked. "Shirt."
"Hmm?"
"I have…your shirt."
I let go of him and took the shirt from his hand, my face feeling hot. The shirt was torn from the collar, but it wasn't going to reveal too much. "How did you get here?"
"Char gave me a ride here."
"Char? But Ripper…"
"Had a stroke of bad luck. He was able to recover."
"But how?"
"One of Char's friends healed him and the rest of us. However, it's game over for him if he gets injured again."
"Where is he?"
"He's with Feather dueling with Ripper on the other side of the field."
Cinder stepped forward. "How do you feel, Shonta?"
"Surprisingly fine," I told him. I heard the trees rustle beside me. Artemis leaped out from them and ran to my side.
"You're here in one piece! I thought I would never see you again," she sniffed. She looked at the Aurora Key around my neck. "Is this the thing that Ripper has been looking for? What does it do?"
"I don't know, but we're going to find out soon." I looked up at Reaper, his blades still stained with my brother's blood. "You know you're in a lot of trouble," I said to him.
"I'm sorry," Reaper simply stated.
"I'll deal with you later. First we have to free Raikou, Enigma and Athena." I stood up and ran to the crystallized Pokemon, the others following me. I inspected the crystals, trying to think of a way to free them. I put my hands up to the Raikou crystal. "Help me, big guy."
"Stay away from them!" I heard Ripper yell behind me. I looked and saw a black Scizor standing at an attack position.
"Great! Just when I thought you couldn't get any creepier!" I groaned loudly.
With Ripper were Feather and a Char in his Charmeleon form. Feather was on the ground, one of her wings limp. "You're alright!" Feather called out.
Char looked at me. "Get away from here, Shonta!" he shouted out.
"I'm not going anywhere!" I shouted back.
"Suit yourself!" Ripper said. He stood still for a second and disappeared before any of us saw him move a muscle.
Growing scared, I felt adrenaline pump through my veins. My senses got noticeably sharper: I could hear the grass rustle from Ripper changing directions, I could smell scents of all kinds, and I could see him. At first I could only capture a glimpse of him when he stopped to change directions, but as I heard him get closer, I could see him as if he was in slow motion. No, not in real slow motion; he was still fast, but I could still track his movements. He was circling us, occasionally changing direction while looking for an opening to attack me. I kept my eyes on him. Whoa, Matrix moment, I thought to myself.
He stopped zigzagging and rushed straight for me. I looked behind him and saw that Feather was trying to reach him. She wouldn't make it in time. I stared in Ripper's eyes as he got closer. I had to do something! He was now only three feet away from me. Two feet. One foot. I swung at him, hoping I would do the same thing to him that I did to Reaper. It worked. I felt electricity spread all over my right arm and concentrate in my fist, which made it transfer to Ripper's forehead as my punch connected.
The slow motion stopped as my punch sent the once again invisible Ripper flying into a tree. All of us only saw a trail of flying dirt rush into a tree and tree bark shatter, revealing a dazed and sparking Ripper. We all looked at Ripper with wide eyes and open mouths.
"What just happened?" Ryan asked after a moment of silence.
"It looks like someone shocked him," Artemis said. "No one here knows electric attacks, though. At least, I don't think so."
Char rushed over. "That's not true, Artemis. It looks like Shonta is starting to use the Key's power."
"Is this what the Aurora Key can do?" I asked him. I watched Feather hop over to us, her wing still dragging on the ground.
"Beats me. We better get these guys out of this crystal before Ripper gets up."
"How do I do that?"
"Like I said, beats me."
"You're no help," I muttered. I put my hands up to the crystal containing Raikou again. "How do you activate the Aurora Crystals by will?"
"You concentrate on what you want the Crystal to do, and it senses your wish and does it. But it has to be able to do it; different kinds of Crystals do different things."
"I hope mine can break this crystal." I closed my eyes and pictured in my mind the crystal encasing Raikou. Nothing so far.
"Shonta, are you having any luck?" I heard Ryan ask me.
"Hey, don't rush me when I'm concentrating," I told him.
"Well, concentrate faster! Ripper's coming to!" he yelled.
I tried not to open my eyes, but I still could imagine Ripper standing up, getting ready to charge us. No, don't think about that! Concentrate on freeing Raikou! I told myself. My mind once more pictured the crystal. Still nothing at first, but I started to feel the warmth of the Aurora Key's glow. The crystal in my mind started to crack. My ears picked up a sound like an egg hatching.
"Hey, it's working!" I heard Feather say happily.
I concentrated harder, visualizing more cracks appearing in the crystal. I finally opened my eyes and saw cracks slowly racing from the bottom to the top of the crystal. I kept my hands on the crystal while I inspected the group. Cinder was starting to panic as Ripper slowly stood up.
"Cinder, we need to keep Ripper down. Let's combine our Flamethrowers," Char said calmly. Cinder nodded and unleashed a Flamethrower on Ripper, Char joining in. Ripper was knocked back down to the ground. "Cinder and I will keep Ripper at bay as long as we can. You concentrate on releasing Raikou and the others, Shonta."
I took me a minute to notice two things: that I had completely took my mind and my hands off of the crystals and that I could still hear the crystal cracking even though I wasn't touching it. Cracks completely covered the crystal, from Raikou's head to his toes, which gave me a thought: Raikou was in mid-pounce when he was crystallized. If he broke free while I was practically under him…
"I'm going to back up now," I quietly said to Ryan while listening to the crystal crack some more.
"Why?" he asked me.
"Because I don't want Raikou to land on me when he breaks out. Heck, I don't to be near him period." I kept my eyes on Raikou, watching the cracks in the crystal grow. Raikou's eyes glow and his muscles started to move. He would be out any second now.
"If you still want to do that, you better do that now!" Ryan panicked, his eyes glued to Raikou's crystal. We turned and started to run away from the crystal. Artemis and Feather turned away from Cinder and Char and looked at us.
"What are you doing?" Artemis yelled at us.
"Get away from Raikou! He's about to break out!" I yelled back.
"What about Enigma and Athena?" Feather asked me.
"I'll get to them later! I just don't want to be in Raikou's way when he goes on a rampage!" My heart leaped at a sudden loud sound; the crystal had shattered. It burst into shards that scattered all over the field.
Raikou dropped to all fours and shook, shaking off the rest of the shards. Whoever didn't back away from Raikou was sitting on the ground and staring at him. Ripper glared at him, opening and closing his pincers in anticipation. "So that human freed you. I will make sure you are beyond saving this time!" He dashed forward towards Raikou, moving too fast for any of us to see. I didn't go into Matrix mode this time, so I could just cross my fingers and hope that Raikou could withstand his attack.
Raikou jumped sideways and swiped the air with one of his massive paws. We saw something similar to when I gave Ripper a Thunderpunch, only we found out that Raikou hit Ripper's back, making him sail backwards into a tree. The impact made him lie there, gasping for air.
I gathered up my courage and jogged over to Raikou's side. "Are you okay?" I quietly asked him. He nodded and casually walked over to Ripper, who was still down. Raikou raised a paw and brought it down on Ripper's back, making Ripper scream out in pain.
"Ooh, that must've hurt," Ryan said from behind. "I hope Raikou rips him apart."
"It looks like that's exactly what he has in mind," Reaper said as he walked to us.
"Cry for mercy!" Raikou roared, his paw still on Ripper's back.
"Never," Ripper said in a strained voice. He gave another scream of pain as Raikou stomped on his back again. I stood where I was, wincing.
"You will pay for your deeds!" Raikou roared. He slowly pushed down on Ripper's back.
"What good will that do?" Artemis wondered out loud. "He's a steel-type."
I heard a painful screeching sound, like nails on a chalkboard. Raikou was scraping his claws on Ripper. "Exactly why he should stop that!" I shouted.
Artemis whimpered from the sound. "Why don't you tell him that?" she asked me.
I walked over to Raikou with my hands covering my ears. "Hey big guy, think you can stop that sound? You're kind of torturing us, too."
"Don't address me that way, human," he growled at me.
"Yes, sir," I said meekly. He sure changed his attitude quickly. I looked down at Ripper's Umbra Crystal. "I just need to get this thing." I reached down and ripped the Crystal necklace from Ripper's neck. It glowed a fierce black and burned my hand. I gave a small shriek and dropped it. It fell to the ground and started to spin. I reached down and tried to grab it, but it hopped out of my grasp. Still glowing black, it stood on its pointed end.
"What's going on?" I asked, my eyes fixated on the Umbra Crystal.
Ripper laughed evilly. "It is signaling to the other crystals. You are going to get what you deserve: an eternity in crystal!"
"Stop them!" Raikou commanded me.
I watched the field sparkle from the shards of the crystal that had once imprisoned Raikou. "How?" I asked frantically.
"You must stop the Umbra Crystal," he growled.
I reached out for the Umbra Crystal, but it once more evaded my grasp. I gave a yell of frustration and quickly snatched it. It burned me again, but I was not going to let go this time. I held on tightly. My Aurora Key glowed brightly.
Why are you doing this?
The glow intensified. The Umbra Crystal got hotter and glowed brighter as well.
Stop hurting everyone!
The crystal shards started to float in midair, twinkling white.
Stop messing up everyone's life!
The shards' glow turned from white to black, heeding the Umbra Crystal's command. My hand should've been smoking from its heat.
Please stop!
The shards shot towards me. It was too late.
"STOP!" I cried out of desperation. The Aurora Key's glow got so bright it illuminated the entire field and blinded me. I closed my eyes and held onto the Umbra Crystal.
For one minute, I felt like the world was put on pause.