Pimp: Yay for plot! Xxxx
Blazikenz: Sure thing Add my skype – 18 Xx
Black-Phinoex: Cruel and bitchy ;D And you're about to see! Thanks for the feedback! Xx
Amalgam: Thanks Well, not even I know where he is right now but you can certainly shoot N after reading this chapter Xx
Guest: Yup…I'd prefer a little more feedback than just 'whoa' Xx
NARGA: Lol I'm so evil XD Either way, another twist now, since I need more tension and conflict for the plot! Xxx
Zav: Then we kill the Batman…THIS is why I love you, bro! XD AND YES, YOU GOT THE COOKIES! XD Xxxxxx
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I had a sinking feeling when I saw my group in the Pokémon Center waiting area, along with Zavender. N had his head in his hands with Skye gripping his shoulder, a concerned look on his face. Caz had been crying, her eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot. Sora looked lost in his own thoughts. Lance was on the phone, his face grim. Zavender looked worred, a continuous frown creasing his brow.
Lorne gripped my hand as Angel touched my shoulder. "What are you going to do?" asked the Serperior.
I bit my lip. "I don't know. I can't exactly turn up and say 'hey, I'm not dead but Valerian is', can I?"
Angel made a thoughtful sound. "It would be better for them if they thought you were dead. They are distractions that will stop you from discovering Arceus' Plates," he said glumly. "I know they are your friends, Riley, but this is something too dangerous to get them involved in."
I shook my head. "I already thought N was dead once. I won't make him suffer the way I did." My voice was cool steel, which I hadn't expected. "Alright, I'm going in."
I stepped out from behind the pillar and casually walked over to the group. None of them noticed, too engrossed in thinking I was dead to notice my quiet footsteps on the tiled floor. I put on a small smile. "Holy fucking shit, you lot look like someone died," I teased.
Every head turned to me with a shocked expression. N was instantly out of his seat, grabbing my upper arms and shaking me. "Where the fuck have you been?!" he snarled, his eyes completely filled with tears. "Where were you, Riley?!"
I shoved him back, pressing my lips together in a firm line. "Don't you dare give me that. You have no right. Everyone else, on the other hand, let the 'jump on Riley's head' session begin."
Caz shot up and punched me square in the jaw with a haymaker punch nobody would expect from someone her size. "You bitch! You had me worried sick!" she snapped before hugging me so tight I was convinced she would bruise my ribs. "Arcues, Riley, I was so scared something had happened to you!"
I hugged her back, trying not to sob my heart out. "I'm okay, you little whore," I teased, tempted to punch her back but repressing the urge.
"What happened?" Zavender demanded, his expression stoic. "After that Pokémon jumped in front of you, you went mad and disappeared, then we all woke up here. That Latios is in the ICU with his sister and Camille hasn't messaged us."
I sighed and let go of Caz. Behind Zavender, N was red-faced and more stern than I had ever seen him. Looks like his free spirit was locked away at the moment. I returned my gaze to Zavender. "Valerian's dead," I said, biting my lip to keep from crying. "He jumped in front of me to stop the knife from going into my chest. The Absol is Angel, by the way. He got me back here."
Angel stepped forward. "We need to speak somewhere private about the things going on right now," he said, giving Zavender a look that dared him to argue. "Does anyone have a room here?"
"I got us a suite," Lance said, holding up a key card. "We can talk there. It's all soundproofed."
"Alright," Angel nodded and allowed Lance to lead the way.
During the short walk, nobody said a thing. It didn't surprise me – of course, when someone turns up and says 'hey, I'm not dead', it's always a point for awkward silences. All the while, N was giving me the most violent look that said he was either going to literally kill me, or fuck me so hard I wouldn't be able to walk for the next week. I glared back at him in a way I hoped said 'yeah, motherfucker, trying to make me feel bad about letting you think I was dead for a few hours when you did it to me for nearly two years'.
Once we had all entered Lance's suite, I sat in the only chair alone, sincerely not wanting to speak to N, let alone allow him to touch me. Angel stood while Lorne pointedly placed me on his lap.
"Riley knows what I'm about to tell you," Angel began, addressing everyone. "After Valerian died, the Legendary Dogs, Entei, Raikou and Suicune, came to her. They gave her information about her role as the Valkyrie of Arceus."
"The what?" Zavender asked, frowning deeply.
Angel nodded at me. "Riley was chosen by Arceus to be her Valkyrie. Its part of the mythology Professor Cedric Juniper discovered at the Sinjoh Ruins. He's still deciphering it but I know the legendary by heart. The Valkyrie is the partial embodiment of Arceus herself, who wields a measure of her power – I think it may be why she is able to bond strongly with even the most stubborn of Pokémon."
"That's true," Lorne said, pointing at Angel.
Angel nodded. "As the Valkyrie, Riley has certain responsibilities that not even she knows of. Her primary duty is to keep the Crucible safe, but she has to find it first, along with Arceus' Plates, which give her power over each type of Pokémon. While the Crucible is not within her reach, it is in danger, since Giratina, the Great Destroyer, can easily corrupt it."
"Hang on, wait," I said, frowning. "If Giratina wants to corrupt the Crucible, why did he tell me to find the Plates? Why did he give me the ability to see them inside the Pokémon they have bonded with?"
Angel shook his head gravely. "Do not, under any circumstances, trust Giratina, Riley. He has a motive for everything he does and he certainly does not want to stay locked in the Distortion World." He paused for a moment. "Since, I gather, he comes to you in your dreams, when he gave you the ability to see the Plates, what did he do?"
I blushed slightly. "He kissed me."
The look on the Absol's face fell. "This is bad," he muttered, then louder added, "The Kiss of Giratina is the worst thing to be given. With each Plate you find, you will become poisoned. How many have you found?"
I bit my lip. "Two – Fire and Water."
"Who are they?" Caz asked, shocked.
"Osian and Blair," I murmured, a sinking feeling in my gut.
"Fuck," Angel growled. "I am so sorry to say this, Riley, but you need to keep all of the Pokémon that hold the Plates away from you. You need to put Osian and Blair into that storage system you Trainers use. Otherwise, prolonged contact with them will worsen the poisoning."
"What happens if I find all the Plates?" I asked, truly not wanting to know the answer.
Angel was silent for a good twenty seconds before he spoke. "You are going to die," he said sombrely. "If you keep the Plates with you once you find them, it happens very fast, but keeping them in Storage once you have established a bond with them will significantly slow the process. The symptoms of this particular poison are quite nasty. First, you start coughing a lot more, eventually coughing up blood. Your eyes will change from their current colour to black, including the whites. Your skin will begin to itch and peel as if you have sunburn and become burned, soon charred and blackened in places. Your hair will begin to fall out and grow back black. The worst thing about this poison is that it induces toxicities in your organs, which begin to erode them until they are nothing. It burns you from the inside out, including the carbon monoxide poisoning of your lungs."
I sat there, frozen. "Is there no cure?"
"That I know of, the only cure for it is an ancient flower that has never been discovered by human scientists," he replied. "Back in the times of Pokelantis, it grew everywhere, but Giratina destroyed almost all of them." He bit his lower lip. "If I were to ask Atlantis, Lascar and Raijin for their assistance, I could find it much quicker – quicker still if they in turn asked others."
"Who are Atlantis, Lascar and Raijin?" Zavender asked.
"The Suicune, Entei and Raikou Angel mentioned before," I informed him. "They all knew Valerian when he was much younger and Victini were not extinct."
Angel's mouth was pressed into a fine line. "Should things become dire, I will take you to the Spirit of the Forest. Although Loki and Sena are difficult to find, I will do everything I can to notify them of your situation."
"Loki and Sena?" I asked.
"The Celebi royals," he said bluntly. "Celebi time travel sporadically but those two have always been their rulers. They vowed to aid the Valkyrie a long time ago and if I should find even an ordinary Celebi, they will at least attempt to help rid your body of the poison, which, might I add, is extremely painful."
I curled up in Lorne's lap, allowing my best friend to wrap his arms around me. "I've decided. I will find the Plates and transfer the Pokémon they are contained in to the Juniper lab in Unova or the Oak lab in Pallet Town once I have bonded with them. Anyone who comes with me should know that Nicolai Fane is still alive and he has hoards of Pokémon under his sick mind control, so it's going to be dangerous."
"Not to mention the fact that you have to find the other two Apostles," Angel added. At the confused looks and questions, he explained about how he, a Riolu and a Ralts are the Apostles of Arceus, not the human men who had been her consorts after she locked Giratina away and how the myths painted Arceus as quite a slutty goddess.
I nodded. "First objective, then. Find the Plates, bond and store. Then we can work on finding the other two Apostles." I looked at N, whose fury had not been quelled, and then at the rest of my friends. "If anyone doesn't want to come with me, I understand. I don't want to get you hurt, but it's your choice."
"I'm in," Caz said firmly. "You're my best friend and I'm not backing down without a fight."
"So am I," Skye added. "If my best friend and girlfriend are going, I am as well."
"Same for me," Sora interrupted. "Not gonna let my twin get himself mauled by something."
Everyone but N agreed. He sat there, glowering at me like a spoilt child.
"Not coming then?" I asked, my heart sinking.
He turned his face away, his jaw tense. "No."
That single word was all it took to break my heart. Instead of bursting into tears, I stood and looked at Angel. "We're getting a room," I said, striving for nonchalance. I wouldn't let them see my heartbreak. Well, Caz was used to it, but the rest of them were not.
I left the suite with Lorne and Angel hot on my heels. I booked into a random room, not caring how many beds it had – four, it turned out – or whether or not there was room service – which there was. I requested that Angel and Lorne return to their Pokéballs as I got into my pyjamas.
My chest hurt. It hurt so much that I couldn't help but cough in an attempt to ease the pain. My hand came back with a small spatter of spit and blood. It was already happening and N didn't seem to care. I thought to myself that I was better off thinking he was dead. I would have been better off being left to die in that fire.
I recognized the death-wishing well. It had happened often when I had first thought that N was dead. I was correct, however. He had no right to be angry at me for allowing him to think I was dead for a day when he had done it to me for twenty-one months, and then he sulks like a child without a dessert. I guess I was finally beginning to see what he was truly like.
