Chapter Thirty-Seven: Into the Shadows

"...And so his family and breeders will choose his mate... He will never get to fall in love, he'll never kiss a girl a really loves, he'll live unhappily ever after with someone he doesn't love. And the worst thing is, he thinks it's just great... He thinks it's his duty to his ancestors and descendants and is very adamant about it."

Capella nodded. "I see," she spoke back softly, so the the others didn't hear the conversation. "I didn't know things were like that for Octa. I suppose I should be lucky my family never went went around telling me whom I could and couldn't love, despite our claim to great ancestry. I can really understand why you'd feel so bad about it."

"It's just... I've had all that joy of falling in love with Aqua, her falling in love with me, kissing her and all. The thought that Octa won't ever get to experience that... I want him to experience the same kind of happiness I have. I mean, he's my best friend, and he really deserves that sort of thing. But you know, I can tell if I argued about it with him, it'd just turn into a really nasty and bitter argument and he wouldn't be convinced anyway... But I can't just stand by and let him throw his happiness away either."

Capella surprised Boreas with a quick, friendly hug by wrapping around him. "Cheer up, Boreas. Remember that it's not an immediate problem right now. While he isn't actually in love, and probably never has been, it's easy for him to just write it off and assume he can go without it. But when he actually falls in love, it'll be a lot harder to keep to his 'duty' and there's a good chance he'll depart from family tradition."

That would cheer Boreas up, if not for one thing: "But surely his ancestors show he won't? If they did it like this for 34 generations, surely many of them have fallen in love with others than their chosen mate, and yet they ended up with the one their family and breeders chose. Why would Octa be any different?"

"First of all," said Capella, "Octa is not his ancestors. He likes to pretend he is, but he isn't. It's not his ancestors who are relevant, but him. Secondly, his ancestors didn't have you and me as friends. Because when Octa falls in love I'm going to do everything in my power to convince him to jump at it and not let family tradition stand in the way of his happiness. I'm sure you'll do the same."

That made Boreas feel much better. "Yeah, yeah, I will. But do you think we could convince him? He's very adamant about this kind of thing and you know he doesn't change his mind quickly."

Capella nodded. "True, his convictions can be as strong as a mountain's foundations. But surely you've realised by now that love is powerful enough to move mountains? Especially when we give it a bit of an extra push."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am. Love conquers all, Boreas. I'm sure it can even melt our friend's cold heart with its flames. We can't do anything about it now on our own, but I guarantee you that when he falls in love we only need to give him that little extra push he'll need to make the right choice."

"Yeah, we will. You really know how to give someone hope, you know? You're such a great friend."

"Thank you. That's a very nice thing to say."

–

"We're being followed," Selene whispered in Boreas' ear.

They had been in Chargestone Cave for a week now, and Boreas still marvelled at everything in the cave. The rocks held afloat by electromagnetism were only the beginning of the wonders of Chargestone Cave. The walls themselves glowed with a weak, pulsating blue light making flash lights unnecessary. Electric charges ran through the rock, and on occasion they would jump out in massive lightning bolts. The charge in the air made Boreas' fur stand on edge more often than not. The cave was quite rocky too, and they had to climb up and down rockfaces often. It was easy to forget his lovesickness in such an exciting surrounding.

"Followed, eh?" Boreas asked the floaty-brained Murkrow jocularly, "by what?"

"I'm not sure," she whispered, "but I think they're invisible in a way."

Boreas smiled at his silly friend. "Invisible in a way?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure how to explain it... I think they really are as visible as you or me, but are just very good at seeming so uninteresting our brains just ignore them as somebody else's problem... The only reason I even noticed them at all was that I just happened to be surprised by one in the corner of my eye, but when I looked at it directly I couldn't even see it any more... I've seen them in the corners of my eyes a couple times since."

Boreas smiled disbelievingly. "Invisible people who are not really invisible? Oh, those guys. Don't worry, they're just here to see if I would make a good member for the Invisible People who are Really Quite Visible club. I sent my application in a few days ago."

"Really? Can I join too?"

"I'll tell them you want to join if they accept me."

"Oh, that'd be so- Hold on, you're not serious, are you? I think I've heard of this... It's called saw-cast-him, right?"

Boreas nodded. "Yeah, I was being sarcastic."

"So no club for invisible people?" Selene said sadly.

"I'm afraid not. But why don't you go warn Lucius about the invisible people?"

"I'll do that, thanks! He'll want to know this." She flew off.

"Heh, invisible people," Boreas chuckled, "this magnetic field must be making her brain even fuzzier than normal."

But then he had to swallow his laughs: three very visible masked people were suddenly around Black, one of them with a knife on his throat.

"Ah!" Black yelped, "Who are you? What do you want?"

Boreas wanted to help, but realised he couldn't do that without risking Black's life. He saw the same helplessness in his companions.

"Come," said one of the masked men. Black had no choice but to follow them. They walked him around a corner, where a huge TV-screen was built in the wall. Suddenly the masked men were gone.

"Wow, you forced me to walk five metres I would've walked by myself anyway. That was so incredibly useful."

"There's a TV in this wall," remarked Boreas. He frowned. "Why is there a TV in the wall?"

The TV turned on seemingly by itself. Boreas startled, seeing the faces of the five Sages they had met and two others. Ghetsis stood in the front, smiling like a car salesman about to rip you off, and the other six stood in a row behind him, their coloured robes looking like a rainbow.

The goateed Zinzolin stood on the left of the screen in his purple robes. Boreas shuddered at the memories of his Seviper eating him alive. Next to him stood the bald old Gorm in his blue robes. Boreas remembered how he had nearly been executed under water by his Kingdra. All the way on the right of the screen was the greying blond Rood in his red robes. Boreas remembered the pain as flames consumed his flesh during the battle against him. Next to him stood the moustached Bronius, in his brown robes (though they seemed more of a dark orange now). Boreas was reminded of the time he'd spent locked up with his legs broken and how Thomas had breathed his last breath in front of him, his neck broken.

The final two sages stood in the middle. The one on the left was thin as a skeleton, had a long beard and wore green robes. The one on the right was very fat, had a sleazy moustache, and wore yellow robes. Standing next to each other, they looked almost exactly like the number 10.

Six of them were grinning maliciously, while Zinzolin simply stared in a mixture of anger and sorrow.

"Hello, Black," spoke Ghetsis. "I believe you know most of my friends already, but let me introduce the two you have never met. These are Ryoku, master of the grass-type, and Giallo, master of the steel-type. We are the Seven Sages. I believe it's time to tell you how I created Team Plasma."

He began pacing in front of the other Sages. "It's thirty years ago by now... I had a dream. I saw a world where pokémon and people were free to reach their full potential. Free to develop themselves to the fullest, without interference from the weak humans, free to use their power however they liked. You see, our world is a very imperfect one... Worthless humans hold back both pokémon and the few worthy, intelligent, powerful humans from reaching their full potential... Pokémon and some people have great potential, but the other humans... They're weak. They have no ambition, no spine, no drive, no dreams! They capture pokémon and use them for futile contests and fake battles, stifling their potential forever. And they do the same to humans who show potential, they are forced not to use their power to their fullest, but to consider the wishes and needs of the weak... This is evil. It was a terrible realisation. The mighty should rule, be revered by the weak! They, or should I say we, should be in charge of the planet, not the weak! We alone can make our dreams and ambitions true, and rule in the best way possible. In the end, it would even be better for the weak.

I realised I was one of the mighty... But by myself, I could never change the world. I would need to seek allies worthy of my friendship. And so I travelled the world for years, seeking out the most powerful trainers on the planet... Sadly, most of them didn't agree with me, brainwashed as they were by the weak... But I forged a powerful friendship with the six who did agree with me. I convinced them their various positions as Elite Fours, Champions, and pokémon masters were not worthy of them and their pokémon, so they all left their posts... To join me. We realised that even with the power the seven of us wielded together, we were still not powerful enough to bend the world to our will... So we planned. We found a perfect plan to allow pokémon and people to unleash their full potential! And we realised we'd need the legendary pokémon of Unova for it. But the legendary dragon would only appear to a 'hero'. Unfortunately our ambition, our might, our very potential disqualified all of us for it... We needed someone pure of heart, someone weak, yet strong in a way, with ambition like us, but willing to waste their ambition on others. And so we decided on a plan: I would concei-"

Suddenly the skeleton-like Ryoku stepped forward. "Ghetsis, I think you had better not tell him of this yet. Just in case."

Ghetsis nodded. "You are right, my friend. This information is too valuable." He turned back to the camera. "I will not tell you the entire story today. You will likely never hear it, but I may tell you the rest later. If there is a later for you, which I highly doubt. You see, after more than twenty years of planning, we initiated the penultimate stages of our plan a year ago. All seemed to go well... But then Rood here returned from his operations on Route 3 with startling news... He had been defeated. Defeated by an outnumbering force using foul trickery and cheating, but it was still defeat... A hard hit to all of us. And soon, Gorm followed. We realised you, who were involved in both incidents, were a threat. A very minor one, but still a threat. So Bronius decided to take care of you when you reached his city... Sadly, he had mercy on you and it led to the temporary downfall of our operations there... Zinzolin made the same error when you reached Driftveil, and three of his pokémon died for it. It is clear by now, you are not be an ordinary trainer. It seems you mainly won through luck and trickery, but it is still impressive. We have decided to take you seriously.

And, at the same time, our lord N reported he had met you, and he thought you might be the other hero... He wanted us to test you. N is what I raised him to be, naïve and dramatic. He believes you will defeat any threat we send your way, because it's destiny that you... Well, I can't tell you yet. But we take another view. Even if you are the other hero, that will not save you. We have the power to change any destiny we want! Therefore, I want to inform you this is the final day of your life. Ryoku is waiting for this recording to finish to attack you. He will not show you, or your pokémon any mercy. There will be no cages or wounds involved this time. Only graves. This is regrettable, but necessary. Farewell, Black."

The TV turned off by itself. Footsteps approached after a moment. Ryoku looked even thinner in real life than he did on the recording. He looked like a green-clad, bearded skeleton, very spidery. Behind him followed six pokémon; a Ferrothorn, a Lilligant, a Cradily, an Exeggcutor, a Tangrowth, and a Shiftry. There was no mercy in any of their eyes, just determination.

"It is useless to flee," spoke Ryoku in a Japanese accent, "there is no escape. The Shadow Triad would stop you."

Black's pokémon formed a protective line before him. "So, you're just planning to kill me?" Black asked.

"You gladuated from a minor annoyance to a major threat when you murdered three of Zinzolin's pokémon, Black. We have no choice but to eliminate you and your pokémon."

"And for what? For your ridiculous idea of allowing yourselves to reach your full potential? I thought you were simply misguided before, but now I see you're just seven egomaniacs who thirst for power. The whole pokémon liberation business is just a distraction from your real goals, isn't it?"

"Silence, boy. I won't argue with you about this. There's no use, as you'll soon be dead."

"Why not simply get your invisible guys to kill me, then?"

"Because we believe you deserve to die like this. You have a promise of power. That promise deserves to be extinguished in a worthy manner; by one even more powerful, namely, rather than by a knife in the back or a cut throat. Secondly, because this is a personal matter. You have interfered with our plans and murdered three pokémon of a very close friend of mine, it seems only fitting I should be the one to end your interference for good. Sayonora, Black. Kougeki Kaishi!"

–

FEEDBACK: UNKNOWN: Q: Aw, poor lovesick Boreas. I could probably relate to that. Maybe.

Personally, honestly, and truthfully: I don't really like Toxica's character, but I think Octa should at least give her a shot. I think Octa shouldn't be so stuck up about his 'honor' and 'royal blood ancestor tradition' BS, but as you enlightened me before, it's just the way they are. Can't change his ways... or, can he? Dun Dun Duuun!

A: Well, there is such a thing as character development. I didn't really mean the characters would never change at all when I answered your question, just that they wouldn't change in completely fundamental ways. Though I'm not saying he will lighten up with this nonsense either, just that there's a possibility.

"The Bulbafinatic": Q: AWESOME. It's pretty impressive how you give each character their own little personality, and Boreas rocks, too.

A: Thank you.

Q: Did you maybe use a writing scheme based off of the Warriors series? Not that that's a bad thing. I love that series, too.

A: No, never heard of it. I basically just write down the story that's in my head.

Q: Can't wait to read about Aqua and Boreas, and maybe, hopefully, they'll travel together for a little while.

A: Well, by the time you read this you probably read how that is sadly an impossibilty for now.