Hey guys, NightFall here with the next chapter of HDD. Well, we're here at last, the final chapter of season two, more or less. Like I've said for a while, I'm going to take a small break from this story after I'm done to attempt a new story featuring a greater concentration of elements from the side games. That won't mean, though, that this story is going to be completely forgotten. In a perfect world, I'd update this story twice a month, or every two weeks with a chapter of the new story placed in between, and that would start up in January of next year. Consider it my New Year's Resolution that I definitely won't be able to keep. So, in the meantime, it's just going to be this for a while, wondering when I'm going to update next and when that sale on torches and pitchforks is going to be. Anyway, final chapter of the four parts, the dorm heads have come to realize the Don has captured the legendary Regice, and now the only one who can face off against them is the ultimate member of the Underground. Get ready for a long haul.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKÉMON, BECAUSE IF I DID, GHOSTS AND DRAGONS WOULD NOT BE WEAK TO THEMSELVES.
Chapter 52: Killing the Truth, Part 4
Have you ever heard the phrase "a little part of yourself dies"? Chances are people talk about this whenever they refer to something they've done wrong and it sticks with them for a good amount of time. However, it doesn't just have to refer to something they've done wrong, and can also mean something they just let linger inside of them. Feelings of regret, guilt, anguish, angst, and passed experiences can often be a problem most struggle with for most of their adult life. That one time you decided to break the rule, or didn't say something when you should have. Sometimes the little sins we commit are the ones that stay with us because he got away with it. We're never reprimanded for the things we did wrong, and because of it we tend to think on them more. If I got away with that much, what else can I get away with; that's usually the question people ask. However, the question that will eventually come into mind is if I got away with that, is this why there's so much injustice in the world? Is this why our world is full of these evils? Because sometimes we get away with the littlest things?
It was like he had no form, that cloak flapping madly in the wind around them. The way it moved in and out with each step he made, this Reaper looked like he really was the same as the element he prided himself on. The underground battlers were amazed at his physique, or lack thereof, some of them having only seen him once before. For Diego and Yuriko, however, it wasn't so much impressive as it was infuriating. As he made another step forward, the fairy trainer quickly lunged forward, his fist outstretched, Reaper just watching it stoically.
"Togekiss!" the masked battler's former teammate shouted. "Destroy him!"
The flying pokémon quickly lost interest in the psychic and fighting trainer's pokémon and rushed at Lampent and its partner. The ghost pokémon remained motionless, a black covered hand shooting out of the cloak directly above its head. Reaper's fingers looked as though they were dancing over his pokémon until they became rigid and tense, Lampent looking as though its body had just been invaded by something, falling limp in midair. Unfazed by his tactics, the fairy and flying mix released two identical blast of slicing air at them, Reaper slowly placing his hand in front of him.
With a single lift of his head from beneath the cloak, the underground battler pulled down his middle and ring fingers. Somehow accepting that as an order, Lampent released a small spark of fire, at first appearing to do nothing until an explosion of heat and blazing inferno was sent out from its body. The warmth of the powerful Heat Wave attack melted and evaporated the snow directly underneath, engulfing both Air Slash attacks and blasting against Togekiss' body. The immense pressure wasn't something the flying pokémon was used to, Lampent rising higher into the air so it was now above its opponents, never once breaking focus on its attack.
Now looking down on its opponent, the Lampent known as Hades increased the exertion of power, pinning Togekiss to the ground, the flames spreading out to the other piles of snow, the entirety of their battlefield looking withered and scorched. Togekiss' wings stayed outstretched while lying on its stomach, Diablo grinding his teeth together while returning.
"Are you done?" Reaper asked, his deep voice almost terrifying they others watching.
"What are you planning to do?" the fairy trainer questioned in return.
"While you two have forgotten your place in the Underground, I have kept to mine," the cloaked figured responded. "We were supposed to be the ones to keep order, and I am merely keeping to that purpose. The Underground does not attack outsiders, and if the Don has forgotten that fundamental, I intend to engage him this day."
"Can't let you do that," a voice said from behind, Alyssa flipping her knife end over end looking at him. "Besides, I still want a bit of payback for when you stole that from us," she smirked, looking over at the pitch dark tool in his palm. "So tell me, Reaper-sama. What does your blood taste like?" she questioned, licking the broadside of her blade.
"Come and find out," the ghost trainer challenged, Diablo about to stop it until Blade sped past him, her weakened Murkrow flying beside, Reaper bring the scythe up to a ready position.
The others watched in wild anxiousness as the assassin threw her knife perfectly towards him, the sharpest point of the blade aimed for what she assumed would be his heart. Almost instinctively, Judai was about to jump out in front of it, still knowing who it was inside, but the mere presence of Reaper kept him from moving in the slightest. His worry was still there as the knife grew increasingly closer, but was surprised by the sound of metal clanging together. In wonder, the dorm heads saw the wide blade of the scythe flip the knife over his head and into the ground behind him. From their angle, it barely even looked like he'd moved; a simple movement mixed with the blades steady momentum was all it took.
"But my bro's afraid of blades and stuff like that," Judai reminded himself, thinking back to the summer when his hair was cut and battled that Scyther. He then turned up to look at Reaper, and remembered something else, equally as important. "That's right…he's not my bro right now. When he puts on that stupid cloak, he doesn't even count as human."
True to that, Reaper made the next move, racing through the snow towards Alyssa and her Murkrow, Lampent following after him. The underground assassin grinded her teeth and threw another knife from her coat, only for a more dynamic, purposeful swing to come from the scythe, flicking it away into a nearby tree. Out of instinct, Alyssa jumped back away from Reaper, ordering her Murkrow to attack. However, just as it was about to, Reaper cast out his hand, Lampent looking as though it were thrown from where it floated and ended directly in front of the bird pokémon.
The hollow look in its eye mixed with that distant voice made Murkrow flinch slightly, fatally so, as Lampent released another Heat Wave, blasting the dark and flying type against the snow. As the flames subsided, Murkrow barely had the strength to get up, giving a giant flap of its wings to create a wind gust, Reaper still moving towards Blade.
Just as Murkrow's trainer prepared another knife, the wind gust caught the sides of her opponent's cloak and everyone watched in anticipation as the hood fell from his head. From behind where the dorm heads were, all they saw was that black cloak, flapping madly in the air as Reaper descended, but from the other side, they were treated to a different vision, surprising even Diego and Yuriko. What they saw was a person who had no face. His entire body clad in the same black of his cloak, covering his head like a sack, his form so clouded by the snow and height, it was near impossible to figure out how big he was.
But from Alyssa's point of view, he was a giant. With his cloak cast out to the side, it made it seem as though he had wings, but not the angelic feathery wings. Rather, they were demonic, ragged, torn wings that swallowed up the sunlight around them, projecting a giant shadow over her entire body. Looking into what she could only assume were his eyes, the underground battler heard his hollow breath through the wind that chilled her to the bone. Even the other members of the Don's group were as shocked by his physical appearance. In those few seconds he was in the air, it felt like an eternity had passed when he finally came back to earth.
He held out the scythe, pointing it directly at her, and just waited for her reaction to it all.
"W-What are you?" she suddenly asked, Reaper remaining silent as he took another step forward. "Does that kind of person even know how to bleed?"
"Then let me have a crack at him," Kazuo suddenly said, his Ninjask speeding across the snow towards Lampent, with its pincers burning with dark energy. "I know I can move faster than your fire this time!" he shouted confidently.
"Patience is its own reward," Reaper said, Lampent appearing to prepare another Heat Wave attack, but before it could release the attack, the bug pokémon's massive claws were already upon it. "And there's more than one way to attack," he finished, quickly pulling back on his head as Lampent held in all of the fiery power so it erupted all around it. Now encased in its own fire, the ghost and fire mix waited for Ninjask to attack, only for the bug type's own rationality to take over. "Fool."
With a drop of a single finger, Lampent was compelled to release a tiny burst of fire, striking Ninjask in its stomach and send it hurdling towards the ground at Shinobi's feet. Unwilling to give up, the young battler readied his Pinsir's pokéball, Yin-Yang placing a hand on his shoulder.
"He's beyond you," she warned, taking a few steps forward, returning Shiftry and bringing out her Scrafty. "I've waited a long time for this, Reaper. You seem to have a new source of power, but why waste it on these pathetic, boring people?" she questioned, placing her foot on Amira's back, and pushing her into the snow, Reaper showing no reaction, but Natsu flinching inside. "Why are you protecting them?" she asked, clearly baiting him.
At first, the cloaked figure said nothing, Yin-Yang sneering, figuring she'd beaten him. "I don't need a reason to help people. Wasn't our goal in the Underground to do just that? Were we not the ones who vowed to protect the pokémon used in these battles? Is it possible you thought more of your own revenge than our original goal? You say I betrayed you, but my conscience is clear on what I did. Is yours clear now?"
"Heh," Yuriko sounded. "My battles with you have broken my mind. Because of you I can only see the world in those two absolutes. I have nothing to look back to. The Underground was supposed to be a haven for people who had no more place to go, and you're to one who deserted it!" she yelled, Scrafty's entire body radiating with energy, increasing its muscle strength. "Right now, we're finally going to have battle, one where the playing field is finally level."
"By that reason, should I not battle Hyde?" Reaper questioned, the rose haired woman reacting her name, seated in the snow behind the Prince's wheelchair. "By comparison, she is the closest to me in rank, especially after our teammate proved so disappointing," he said, his words stinging at Diego.
"You're not my type," she said. "You're too sad and lonely to be worth hurting. My own pathology keeps it so I can only hurt those dumb alpha males. You, at the very least, have some perspective."
"In that case," Yin-Yang started, suddenly within attacking distance from Reaper, the ghost trainer quickly bringing his hand up for Lampent, the oldest of the Hell Spawns now faced with her former partner's strongest pokémon. "He doesn't scare me, you know." At that sound, Scrafty sped in with its fists bathed in a pure dark energy, about to crash down on top of the ghost type.
"He's not supposed to," Reaper responded. "She is…," he said distantly, Yuriko confused for the one second it took for a Dazzling Gleam attack to speed across the field, directly impacting with the fighting and dark mix.
"What?!" she questioned, looking over and saw Amira weakly standing up, Kadabra still conscious enough to fight some more, holding its spoon out as though in challenge. "Are you finally becoming interesting again?" she asked, beginning to walk over towards the psychic trainer. "Now I get two interesting people to battle?"
Reaper watched both women as his eyes from beneath his mask fell on Amira. Her eyes glanced over at him, almost with disgust, Natsu inside feeling every bit of that, but took a deep breath, sounding like a hollow moan from within the cloak. With both his hands out of his cloak, casting them both to the side, the black armor he wore now visible, Reaper waited for Yin-Yang to make a move, her Shiftry having now joined the battle again.
In one second, everything exploded, Kadabra teleporting in between both dark types while using the same Dazzling Gleam, blasting Scrafty closer to Amira and Shiftry towards Lampent. As though it were coordinated, Lampent's Heat Wave was the next attack, completely engulfing the grass pokémon, and sending it back towards Kadabra, another fairy attack doing the same to Scrafty.
"Ally Switch," Amira commanded quietly, her entire body trembling as a ring of light surrounded both her and Reaper's pokémon.
Suddenly, the two had disappeared, reappearing where their partner had previously stood, with the original targets barreling towards them. Once again, Lampent used its fire capabilities and Kadabra its acquired fairy techniques, launching both pokémon towards each other in the very center of the battlefield. Yuriko still looked like she was in ecstasy, the most euphoric look on her face as her pokémon were continually beaten with no chance to make a counter attack.
With the two opposing pokémon in the very center, Lampent and Kadabra took places on opposite ends. Both dark types tried to get back to their feet, but instead felt the full pressure of Kadabra's psychic power, the spectators noticing the spotlight stare in its eye. With the Miracle Eye in place, the psychic pokémon's Twisted Spoon was placed directly in their path. The Psychic attack growing in it started radiating from the spoon long before it was ready to be used. Both dark types and even some of the trainers could feel themselves being lifted off of the ground a bit.
"Hades, make them burn," Reaper said, a final Heat Wave attack coming from the ghost and fire mix, engulfing both of Yin-Yang's pokémon, leaving them more than weakened for Kadabra's fully prepared attack.
"Psychic…" Amira said as though hissing, her pokémon having to hold onto its spoon with both hands to keep it from losing control. Suddenly, the ground directly in front of was upturned and destroyed in waves before reaching both of the helpless opponents. "Send them away…"
True to that order, Kadabra's Psychic attack caused such an explosion when it reached both Shiftry and Scrafty, the two were shot like from a cannon into the nearby forested areas. The other underground battlers looked between the psychic dorm head and Yin-Yang, seeing her body tremble for a few seconds when they thought they heard her whimpering. At first it sounded like crying, but then grew louder and louder into full blown laughter.
"Yes!" she shouted. "This is what I've been waiting for! Someone who can be beat me so decisively, I have to use this," she said, holding out another pokéball, Reaper himself taking a step back as Diego did the same. "I'm not letting this battle end ever! Give me more, give it all to me. That rage and hatred you have for me, Amira!"
The psychic dorm head stayed silent, and just waited for the battle to commence, Kadabra using a Recover, most of its wounds starting to heal. With its energy back, the psi pokémon took a ready stance, its pupils gleaming with another Miracle Eye attack. Yuriko sneered as she passively dropped the pokéball to the ground, and then waited for the reaction from everyone else to come. However, at first, the only thing to pop out of the capsule was a small stone, a few notches cut into it, but nothing too terrifying.
"Time to play!" she shouted in a singsong voice, a small purple mass beginning to form from the top hole in the rock until it spiraled out of control, cackling like an old witch until it became a full on roar, staring down its opponent. "Spiritomb, we finally met someone so interesting."
At the sound of that one word, Spiritomb focused its entire gaze on Amira, Natsu wanting to just jump in its path knowing it would always be fascinated with him, but something about him in the cloak kept his feet from moving. The psychic trainer and her first pokémon, however, merely stared back it, Kadabra's Miracle Eye scanning over Spiritomb, and then prepared an attack. However, just as it was beginning to form in the well of its spoon, Kadabra was completely knocked off its feet by the ghost and dark mix's entire body stretching from its place in the keystone.
"This battle must cease immediately!" Reaper shouted, holding his scythe at the ready, feeling a touch on his gloved hand from someone else. Looking down, he saw the fairy trainer that used to be his best friend, shaking his head.
"You can't stop them now," he said. "These two people see something in each other that's going to make them battle like this until one of them literally can't move anymore. You'd just become a nuisance to them."
"You've calmed down," Natsu voice broke through, only loud enough for the two of them to hear. "Any reason why?"
"I felt something when you attacked earlier," the Spanish trainer admitted. "It felt like I was back in that forest; training with you to become the people we are today. Even though you beat me again, I can't fault you for being stronger even with a pokémon that was exhausted from earlier. Sure there isn't anything I can do to stop you from going to him?"
"You couldn't stop me before," Natsu answered, his voice slowly becoming like the Reaper's again.
"No, I guess I couldn't." And with that, Reaper took a single step, and then sped away from the group in front of the school building, some of the students watching in amazement as the trail of fire from Lampent's body followed them. Diego looked back over at Kadabra and Spiritomb about to go at it, a part of his mind still focused on that stupid little kid he helped rescue five years ago.
As Reaper continued down towards where the Don left to, he came across Seviper and Quagsire deadlocked in battle with Escavalier. The bug and steel pokémon looked forward to see the ghost trainer staring back at him as did Gibson and Yue from their windows. The underground's top swung the scythe around his body and then struck it on the ground, Escavalier blindsided by a sudden shot of fire from Lampent directly behind. Just from the single impact, Phantom's pokémon was launched from where it was battling, far until it hit a nearby lamppost, immediately knocking it out.
Shocked by his sudden appearance, Yue couldn't bring herself to speak up at all, Gibson just staring down at him. The poison trainer just watched and waited, Reaper turning to face her with his nonexistent face, a small smirk coming across the third year student's face. Without a single word, she recalled Seviper to her pokéball and walked back inside, Phantom's face still on her television screen.
"May as well get off and let me get back to my game," she said. "Your knight in shining armor just got his passport stamped for the first flight the hell out of here."
"Is it true then?" the young woman asked. "Is it really the Reaper?"
"Why should I care?" the poison trainer questioned as a reply. "Not like I'm ever gonna battle him. You guys have your thing going on, and I'm just gonna remain blissfully ignorant."
"Do you honestly think that can work?" Phantom asked.
"Eh, it's worked so far," Gibson answered, the screen turning black for a second, and then returning to the first-person perspective of her video game, Golbat watching her concerned. "Try not to worry about things so much. In my life, I've learned it's best to never get involved. That's the only way you end up regretting anything." As she continued playing, her eyes drifted to the window again, a though coming to her mind as her smile grew, her teeth showing.
Down nearer to the bug dorm, bursts of water spouted out from Kaoru's Lombre, already deep into the battle between him and the Gemini Twins. As Beautifly swooped down to strike at the grass and water mix, the grass dorm head smirked, flicking up a small berry that was immediately caught in his Simisage's teeth from behind. Without even waiting for the attack to charge up, the grass pokémon jumped back into the air, and just as the Natural Gift came into full view bashed its opponent far away from the battlefield with Dustox quickly taking its place.
The bug and poison type flapped its wings as quick as it could make a small Whirlwind to send both pokémon back to their trainer, Kaoru's smile grew and his Whimsicott appeared from the side. The fairy pokémon ran directly into the cyclone forming in front of them, rotating its own body even faster than its opponent, creating a swirling vortex in the opposite direction. With the combating twisters merged together, the opposing winds impacted with each other dissipating into the air until the two completely canceled each other out.
With only a gentle breeze flying past the trainers, Kaoru's smile remained constant while staring at the pair of twins. Their grins, as well, stayed plastered on their faces as both of their own grass pokémon jumped into the fray, Vileplume taking the lead with a spraying of acid towards the dorm head's team. With a simple step to the side, Kaoru snapped his fingers, and once again, a small berry flew from his grip and directly into Simisage's mouth.
After the trademark crunch on the fruit, the grass pokémon's eyes shot open with a light pink gleam from them. With its fists at the ready, the primate threw one punch into the air just as the Acid attack approached them. From its punch however, waves of psychic energy brought on by the small berry shot out, almost acting as a barrier, the poison attack splattering across it before blasting out to the sides.
As the threat disappeared, Lombre jumped out from behind Simisage, unleashing a frigid Ice Beam at the two grass pokémon, Bellossom swaying into its path with a protective barrier all around it. As the shield absorbed the attack, Simisage once again jumped back out, and this time forced its fist straight into the ground. At first, neither twin knew what was happening, and waited for the final result. Suddenly, giant boulders popped out of the ground, battering the Protect attack constantly until it depleted its energy.
Bellossom tried its best to place another one up, but the overuse of the tactic only caused a small flicker of a shield for them, Lombre already on their side. Vileplume looked to the other and saw Whimsicott, Simisage tightening its fist in the ground to cause even more boulders to heave up, and down around them, blocking any easy escape. Another of the two rocks then flew up and bashed into both of the underground battlers' bug pokémon, keeping them from interference.
Of the two grass types, it was the fairy type to move first, appearing next to the small ditch its opponents were in. Suddenly, it began running around them faster and faster, causing the wind speeds to pick up again, the two pokémon finding themselves lifted up a bit before Lombre eyed them evilly. Without mercy, the water mix released another Ice Beam, impacting with them both, some of the ice freezing the debris and small rocks caught up in the increasingly faster Hurricane.
As the attack became a full cyclone filled with frozen shrapnel, the twins watched in amazement as Kaoru's smile never once faltered, Whimsicott's feet screeching along the ground after it was finally done. The twister remained for another thirty seconds and then slowly ended, depositing the two disoriented grass types in the snowy terrain, all of Kaoru's pokémon staring back at the twins, their trainer in the center of it all.
"Impressive," the two said in unison.
"Not really," the grass trainer admitted. "Had I been left at one, I doubt it would've gone so well. For some reason, I have real problems letting my pokémon battle by themselves. I guess I just feel more secure when I have someone else to rely on."
"Such is the story of a weakling's life," a raspy voice said from the sidelines, the dorm head and underground members turning to the shadows where the Don stood, taking in a puff of his cigarette, Regice floating next to him unfeeling and robotic. "Only one who is unconfident in his own abilities would feel comfortable in such a specific setting. And yet there are other reasons why you irk me so, Mr. Hayashi. Do you know why that is?"
"Well, the Archangels gave me some kind of reason before New Years," Kaoru remembered, not necessarily fazed by his presence, but confused by it. "They said because I'm too content, too happy, I don't have an Aura, and that scares you. It challenges your beliefs too well."
"On the contrary," the Don started. "Your lack of Aura, while troubling from a certain standpoint, is not the current reason for why you irritate me. Like Mr. Misaki, you defy my expectations for somebody like you. Cast aside into a special group all to yourself, and not once have you ever felt anything for it. It's as if you have less feeling in your body than even I. You feel no isolation despite being heralded as a paragon impossible to reach. You constantly smile, but never to hide anything, you truly only can't bring yourself to break it."
"I've just always figured nothing is worth tearing myself up over," the grass dorm head responded. "I keep everything on the surface because I just don't think it's worth it to hide things from your friends."
"None of your actions have any selfishness in them whatsoever," the Don continued. "Sometimes I have to question your humanity. Everything you do is for the sake of another, never for yourself."
"I am a weird guy, and maybe that's why Satori-chan thinks it's boring to take pictures of me, because I always look the same from every angle you see me," Kaoru added on. "From a first glance at me, I'm the most boring person in the world because there's nothing hidden about who I am."
"And yet you have power," the underground boss noticed, seeing the battered state of his subordinates pokémon just as they were being returned, presumably from shame. "Power doesn't come as a natural talent, and must be cultivated. It must be fostered into becoming what it was always meant to be. What motivation did you have for becoming this powerful with your pokémon?"
"Guess I just felt like it is all," the student figured, a burst of ice shooting out and completely freezing Lombre upon impact, his smile still there, but his eyes in shock at the encased pokémon.
"You are the very kind of person I hate the most, Kaoru Hayashi," the Don said like a snake in that low whisper. "You have nothing to motivate you to become the man you are outside of a simple desire you have, and you expect me to believe it."
"Sadly for you, not everyone has to be entirely complex," Kaoru fired back. "Sometimes the surface is as deep as you need to go."
"Then let's see you prove this power you boast," the villain challenged, Regice pointing both of its arms at Simisage and Whimsicott, a sudden wind beginning to roar from behind, the Gemini quickly ducking off to the side. "Show me that deep meaning is truly irrelevant!"
Without another sound, a powerful Blizzard began riding on the air currents to the grass pokémon, Simisage trying to jump above the debris carried with it as Whimsicott began spiraling directly in front of it, hoping its Hurricane would deflect some of it. However, as the winds began to spin from the cottonweed's rotation, the quick drop in temperature just from Regice's presence caused some of it to freeze. Slowly, the entire funnel created was completely frozen, glistening in the sunshine peeking through the clouds. Just like before, with Kaname's Houndour, Regice punched through the frigid wall to its opponent, giving it no chance to escape.
With just its arm pushed into the veritable coffin, Regice released an Ice Beam attack that immediately caught Whimsicott, the giant hunk of ice that was his pokémon shooting out from air pressure to Kaoru's feet. His smile was in disbelief, looking between the two chunks that kept his pokémon unconscious, only Simisage left. The pure grass type sneered and buried its arm into the ground, another series of rocks shooting out into the sky, aimed directly at the legendary ice type.
Barely looking up, the two hexagonal arms from Regice lifted up, and the Rock Slide attack seemed to just spontaneously freeze. The boulders continued falling, but with their icy coverings, Regice merely took them in its fingers, and then the two it had caught shattered before their eyes. Another two stones fell at the ice pokémon's sides, and were immediately tossed back at Simisage, the first easily dodged, but the second expertly thrown into its path just as it had stopped.
After the rock had the grass pokémon trapped against the side of the bug dorm, Regice quickly sped across the frigid environment, and had its arm already pointed at Simisage. Before trainer or pokémon could realize what'd happened, all of Kaoru's pokémon were large, jagged spheres of ice, the very touch of the frozen substance painful to touch. The Don barely moved a muscle, and pushed himself off the tree, snuffing out his cigarette in the snow beneath him. Looking over at Regice, the ice type began moving to the door, about to rip it open.
Suddenly, a blast of fire shot out, and impacted with the golem. Without time to set up a defense, the burning flames felt like needles being stuck into its back. Both the Don and his pokémon turned around and saw the cloaked figure of the Reaper. A smile came across the Don's face to see that mysterious man with his Lampent, its mouth still steaming from the use of its Flame Burst.
"So, we meet again, my old friend," the Don said, about to walk into the light, only for a warning shot from the fire type to keep him at bay. "I see we still have some…shall we say resentments."
"The very sight of you makes the Underground seem blacker and more sinful every time, you cur," the Reaper spoke, Kaoru's reaction to his voice like most others you heard it for the first time. "Today, the two of us will finish our feud."
"Today? So soon?" the Don questioned, his tone sounded like he was mocking a child. "Sadly, Reaper, this battle cannot end for quite some time. I only have used one of these," he said, showing off the gold and silver pokéballs he had Shinobi steal. "No, this won't end until I'm satisfied with each of my materials."
"You refer to the students here?" Reaper asked.
"Precisely," the underground boss answered. "Each of those children are still quite raw, and until they've been refined by the trials I place in their paths, I will never stop this battle. And sadly, it won't be by your hand this will all come to an end. That choice will be made by one of two people, and, well, I'm standing right here."
"Who's the other?" the underground's top battler interrogated further.
"Well that all depends on who is able to actually defeat me," the Don smirked, the ghost trainer immediately confused by that. He wanted someone to beat him? "And it seems like someone is about to stake their claim now."
The members of the Underground turned around, the small figure of the normal type Minccino running at them making Reaper dodge past it when it swatted its tail at him. After missing him, the rodent pokémon turned its attention to Regice, the ice pokémon already speeding past everyone else to both of its opponents. Taking the initiative, Lampent floated in between the Archangel's and the Don's pokémon, spiraling while releasing its Heat Wave. The flames licked at the ground, melting even more of the stone, some of it remaining as small pools of water.
From instinct, Regice put up a frigid wall to defend itself, Minccino covering itself in a protective barrier. Everything fell eerily quiet after that, the Reaper looking to both sides as the white robed figurehead of the Archangel Corps arrived.
"Ah, Sera, so you were able to join us," the Don commented. "It would seem children in cloaks are what I attract nowadays," he joked, the distant look in Seraphim's eyes a bit different from what he was used to. "So you were purified. I guess you won't be as snarky, at least for a while. They've reset your personality so you'll be better prepared for me, huh?" he questioned, hearing a near metallic clang as Regice slid across the snow, Minccino's tail gleaming a silvery color, most likely from an Iron Tail.
"That pokémon was able to freeze even straight fire," Natsu said to himself. "How was Minccino able to handle that?"
"Seraphim, the angels of the holy flames, protector to the throne of the Almighty," the oldest of them said in passing. "You live up to your name very well, my dear girl. But in the end, will it save you from this? Regice, entertain our friends."
The ice pokémon immediately got back up and bashed its arm into the ground, the drop in temperature making the puddles and the snow itself to freeze into a perfect sheet of ice. After it passed under Minccino, the normal pokémon found it increasingly difficult to keep its balance. Now, Regice was on the ground, skating across the ice perfectly, its mere presence causing giant spikes to shoot upwards, trying to impale Lampent as it prepared more fire attacks. The flames coming off of the ghost pokémon's body began melting through some of the frozen structures, even the scythe Reaper held enough to melt some of it from the blazing shear.
However, as Regice got closer to the two unevolved pokémon, it was Minccino to make the first move, jumping into the air, and twirling around with its tail stretched out in another Iron Tail. This time, though, the legendary ice type put up its arm in defense, the ice comprising its body becoming hard as steel, the reverberating sound from the two echoing into the deeper parts of the school grounds, some of the dorm heads from afar able to hear it. Just as the normal type separated from its opponent, Lampent took its place, spewing flames in all directions, melting most of the newly created ice, returning the ground to its grassy state.
With a better sense of balance, the normal type ran up, and slid directly under Regice, swinging its tail at its legs, hoping to sweep it out from underneath. However, the earlier setup move kept it solid, a single step from the golem refreezing the ground, and with a single motion, swatted Lampent from the sky and down to the ground. As the ghost pokémon flew along the ground, it impacted with Minccino, stunning them both as the Don lit another cigarette and let out a huge trail of smoke.
"Bulldoze them," he ordered calmly, Regice burying its own body to the midsection, and then immediately rocketed through the ground, tackling both pokémon off to different sides of the field. While in midair, Lampent noticed Regice pointing its arm at it, releasing a continuous beam of frigid energy, helpless to defend itself. Upon impact, the fire type fell to the ground near Reaper's feet as the cloaked man made no reaction, but Natsu surely did.
"So it would seem even the great Reaper is but a mere mortal," the Don noticed, Regice still in a close quarter battle with Minccino. "In the face of pokémon who have achieved godhood in legends, you can do nothing but writhe in your own weakness. Everything you've been able to accomplish is merely because you scare so many people. Take away their fear of you, and I'm sure you're no better than a scared little kid, crying for your mother to save you. By comparison, the one willing to show their face in battle is the more powerful one."
Seraphim still hadn't said anything as she watched, her eyes glanced over at Reaper and the exhausted Lampent. With no one watching her, she folded her hands together, and whispered something under her breath, a slow breeze coming from all around her and into the distance. Her gaze focused back on Regice, the iceberg pokémon battling ferociously against her Minccino, the difference in size allowing her pokémon to move much more agile. However, the power the two boasted was far from equal. One clean hit could easily knock her pokémon out, especially if the legends about this behemoth were true.
With little warning, Minccino bashed its tail on the ground, cracking some of the rocky surfaces still visible, chucking them at Regice as some kind of shrapnel attack, easily cast aside by the ice pokémon. After swatting the telegraphed attacks, the ice pokémon saw the rodent running up to it, smacking the larger opponent in the stomach, sending it sliding back along the ground. At that speed and power, it probably would've knocked the wind out of it if that was even possible.
Natsu instead just watched from the confines of his cloak at the battle. He was amazed at this little girl no older than him who could battle so effortlessly, and yet not seem to care about the outcome. It was as if she knew what the Don said earlier about this not being the final battle. With Lampent almost out of commission, Reaper took a seat in the snow leaned up against a tree, closing his eyes, and entering his own consciousness. All around was nothing but mist against a pitch dark sky, no stars or moon, just the blackness and emptiness of it all. Sitting across from the cloaked figure was his own true identity, Natsu with his legs closed in, keeping himself wrapped up, Lampent in the very center.
"Greatest fighter in the Underground, huh?" the Reaper scoffed. "All it takes is a legendary to defeat us. I guess we are no different from any other trainer."
"Is that really so bad?" Natsu wondered, his head resting on his knees, looking off to the side. "I've wanted to be just a regular trainer from the day my dad threw me out. I don't even know why I had to become you in the first place. I doubt the Gemini would've let me die in the Labyrinth."
"The alternative being that you become an outlet for the rage and oppression of everyone in the Underground," the masked man rebutted. "Had I not attached to you, you would be no more coherent than the Don's man the Prince is now. In the end it will always be because of me that you are able to at least live some form of life. You've found people who love and respect you. You can't say that isn't in part of the gifts I imparted to you."
"Gifts?" the ghost trainer questioned. "You can't say that being you has been a complete walk on easy street. The number of people who got hurt by getting in between us and someone who wanted to battle, or the times we've had to run from the police are gifts? From my own point of view, this has been nothing but a curse. If I wasn't trying to be so brave, the Don would never have tried to exact any kind of revenge on either of us."
"In my experience, there's no such thing as 'trying' to be brave," the underground battler brought up. "You either are or you aren't, there's really no middle ground to be on. And to your credit, it has taken bravery to make me increasingly more obsolete. You locked me away for months because of how afraid you were of your friends finding out, but the minute they left, you relapsed. Your safety net was gone, and you fell deep into the madness you concocted for yourself. You, boy, tried to reject me for so long, and you thought it would be so easy to get away from me."
"Can you blame me?" Natsu asked, lifting his head up to stare back at his own reflection in a cloak. "I realized the minute those twins took me in the first place that I was never going to live a normal life. I would either be a slave or a master. I guess I picked the worse option," he said, staring back at the empty face, both now holding the black scythe.
"Even after you're fully able to leave the Underground, my voice will still be in this head for years until your death," Reaper informed, bringing the scythe down in front of Natsu, the young trainer matching it. "So why not make the most out of what I offer you? Grant me full power over this body, and I promise the Don will leave this place without ever coming close to your body."
"Why wouldn't you want me to be hurt? Isn't that what you thrive on? My adrenaline and my excitement," Natsu figured, the Reaper just chuckling at that.
"Your body is different," he said, a long distant breath coming from his mouth. "It deserves to be cared for. You've given me the life of a person who lives beyond the confines of my garb. You've shown me other worlds to reside in, and for that reason, I will take care of this body we share. But you must first be willing every now and again to relinquish control, whether the cloak is on your body or not," he offered, clanging the black metal against Natsu's copy of the weapon. "Do we have an accord?"
Natsu didn't say anything at first, and then looked at the Lampent they shared as trainers. Its power was slowly returning as the student's blade came closer. "Fine," he agreed, returning the same tap from the shear to the other, Natsu's eyes opening from the inside of the cloak, and looked out into the battlefield.
Regice and Minccino were still exchanging blows, the normal type's attacks still not doing much or any damage, and the ice pokémon too slow and cumbersome to land a decent hit. The two were evenly matched, Natsu wondering what it would be like if they had similar pokémon battling each other. Who would even get a leg up on that match? Seeing that he had risen again, the Don sneered and slowly brought out another gold item from his pocket, Seraphim eyeing it carefully.
"So you've finally joined the world of the living, have you, Reaper?" the Don mocked. "Then you will have to forgive me for giving a little experiment. From my experiment with Mr. Matsushita, it's become apparent this device," he started, bringing out what could only be described as Pandora's Box. "This device allows whoever gazes into its light to be affected by their Aura's true limitless potential, amplifying their overall virtue into something new and truly amazing. From Matsushita's Bravery came Heroism. I wonder what the Reaper's quality of Death becomes when taken to the nth degree." Natsu flinched in his own mind at the thought of the Don knowing his shared Aura with the Reaper.
Looking between both male trainers, Sera noticed there was something different about Reaper. His hands were more relaxed on the shaft of the weapon, and then quickly disappeared into a blowing wind mixed with the snow. As he reappeared in front of the Don, the villain quickly flipped the box open so his empty face was staring into the light. However, a single tap from the Reaper Scythe immediately closed the box with absolutely no effect whatsoever. The Don looked down in amazement, but found himself blindsided when the Reaper made a quick swing upward.
The tiniest of attacks sent the box flying through the air, arching as it fell, Seraphim holding out her hands and soon the cold metal touched her, and she quickly closed in. A small tear ran down her cheek as she collapsed into the snow.
"My box," she said, slowly running her fingers over the intricate design. "I finally have my box back. Minccino, I don't want to battle today," she called out, the normal type bouncing off of Regice, and back to its trainer's side.
"I guess that leaves just the two of us," the Reaper said confidently, the Don clearly unhappy about losing the relic. "Hades, Heat Wave!" he ordered, Lampent appearing out of the sky with a rain of fiery breath towards the ice pokémon.
All Regice had to do was wave its hand over its head, and the entire blaze was turned into a crystallized curve that fell to the ground. With that bit of ammo, the legendary pokémon stomped on the ground, shattering it into millions of pieces, sending it out entirely at Lampent with its Blizzard attack. Some of the debris even started going to Reaper, the underground battler merely jumping back while blocking some of it expertly with his weapon.
"I may have lost the Pandora's Box, but your firepower is still entirely too weak to come close to damaging Regice," the Don boasted, the Reaper noticing a single drop of sweat falling from his chin, a smile coming across his face, followed by confusion when the temperature around them started to rise.
"Now!" a familiar voice rang out, streams of fire from Monferno, Torkoal, Charmeleon, Houndour, and any of the other dorm heads' pokémon that could use that persuasion of attack flowing down towards the two pokémon. "Ya need firepower?! Let us give it all to ya!" Judai shouted, the Reaper turning to him as Natsu on the inside was in shock at what his best friend was doing. "Just get this over with…"
At first, the fire attacks against Regice were easily deflected, the ice pokémon able to either turn it into the same ice as before, or swat it away towards Lampent. However, on the ghost pokémon's side, the fire kept swelling up around it, most of it trying to find its way into its body. The flames started becoming more attracted to the pokémon known as Hades, and were now completely focused on it, the Don finally seeing the plan they were trying to pull off.
"Flash Fire!"
As the entirety of the flames had finally been absorbed, it looked as if Lampent was coughing, as though choking after eating too much. Flames were spewing out of its mouth with each breath and it was beginning to lose control. Suddenly, Reaper's hand lazily came out and his fingers tensed up, Lampent willingly coming under the control of the Puppet Master. Fully realizing the extent of its power, the Don commanded Regice, the ice pokémon releasing another Blizzard attack at Lampent, the snow and ice about to pelt at it until a wet feel struck its crystalline body.
The snow and ice almost impossible to melt was doing just that, quickly turning to its liquid and then gaseous form. Lampent's body was radiating heat so powerful even the Reaper had to step back away from it, and with one swift movement of his hand, identical to the one Natsu made before, the tiniest of sparks appeared out of Lampent's mouth.
The flicker landed directly underneath the legendary pokémon, and seemed to fizzle out in the snow. Regice watched carefully, and then, like an explosion, a giant pillar of fire appeared from the ground, instantly catching the ice pokémon up inside it. The swirling vortex carried the golem up about twenty feet, the immense pressure alone enough to damage it. Sweat began dropping to the ground from its body, instantly evaporating only inches away from where it fell.
"The true power of the Reaper," the Don watched in amazement. "As if you command the fires of Hell itself." The Reaper said nothing, even the dorm heads in shock how much power that Lampent could exude, especially those who knew who it really was under that mask.
As the Inferno attack slowly dissipated, Regice fell to the ground in a heap, its body still drenched in its own sweat. Having used most of its power, Lampent began to fall back to the ground exhausted, the ice pokémon about to take it as an opportunity to strike, only for a red light to come over it. Looking back, the Don was returning it back to its pokéball, the golem's eyes becoming dimmer as though a computer powering down.
"Truly impressive," the Don said, a bit in disbelief. "Maybe you are one of the people destined to defeat me. I look forward to the day when the Aura I truly need is fully cultivated." He turned away, and tapped his ear where a communicator probably was. "We're leaving," he said quickly, walking backwards into the shadows, somehow disappearing entirely.
The other underground battlers, the Gemini, Shinobi, Blade, Hyde, Phantom, and Yin-Yang, however disdainfully, left their battles and posts, and in a mere few minutes, it was if everything was just over. The only remnants of anything were the scorch marks on the ground, the earth all torn up, almost all of the dorm heads standing around the Reaper, Kaname the one to step out. At first, Natsu figured he was going to reprimand him, call him out as the same monster as the rest of them. However, to the surprise of just about everyone, including Judai and Natsu, he lowered his head in a respectful bow.
"Thank you," the dark trainer said confidently. "If it weren't for you, I don't think we could've gotten through this as well as we did in retrospect. Some of our members aren't here, and because of that, we've lost some of our power. I think you made up for all of it. Thank you for saving us," he said, the Reaper looking into the distance where Amira was, her Kadabra battered beyond belief, not even having the strength to recover itself.
"If the fates allow it," the Reaper started, looking off at the rest of the students in the school building. "You'll never have to see me again."
"What?" Judai questioned, about to reach out for him, another wall of fire appearing to stop him, just like before after they got back and saw Natsu.
"This will have to be our goodbye forever," the underground battler said. "You won't have to be involved in the Underground ever again." And with that, the fire spiraled around him, and when it disappeared, the Reaper was gone.
The others looked around in amazement, Natsu already out of the cloak far away from any of them, the only thing in his hand was that accursed scythe. He turned around and began walking away, only to meet Diego staring back at him.
"Do you think that's going to change anything?" he asked, Natsu moving to walk past him. "Since he's found such a concentration of Auras here, do you think he's going to just leave them alone if you're not there."
"He'll want me first," the ghost trainer said, beginning to walk again. "This gives them time to prepare. I won't let them be my shield anymore."
"I'm starting to wonder who the greater coward is," the fairy trainer spoke. "You for hiding behind that cloak and running away from all your problems, or the Reaper for hiding behind his powers, and not realizing if he wanted it, he could've had all the help in the world. The Reaper had friends once, but I guess in the end all he does is desert them. But does Natsu Kohashigawa desert his friends?" he asked, Natsu swinging the scythe all the way around him, cutting through some tree branches, Diego noticing a few tears falling from his eyes.
"Do you think that just because I left you with that straight face, I didn't cry myself to sleep every night thinking about the two people who saved me?!" he shouted, Diego taking a step back. "Don't think that those people down there made any less impact that you two did! This is going to hurt me for the rest of my life!"
With that, Natsu ran off into the distance, Diego trying to bring a smile to his face and chuckle, but found that he couldn't. Had he just been overreacting this entire time? Was everything he wanted to hurt Natsu for nothing but his own pride and oversensitivity?
Back at the school, the dorm heads were still reeling from what had happened. Most of them were still jetlagged, Amira especially exhausted after having battled Yin-Yang for what felt like an eternity. Seated the furthest from anyone, Satori looked into her camera, the contraption having been on a continuous timer during that entire battle, most likely when they were first attacked. Judai was by her as well, just looking forward with a menacingly angry face. As she continued looking through pictures, she came across one that was before anything else, right when they got back to the school, a much less grim sight staring back at her.
"It kinda looks like dancing," the ground trainer suddenly said, her classmate turning to her. "The way your friend battles," she reiterated, passing off the camera to him and moving through the pictures to show him. "He and his pokémon move like they're in perfect synch, kinda like when two people are dancing. Take it out of context, and it's actually somewhat beautiful."
Judai stared at the pictures, and went through each faster and faster, the quick transitions having a similar effect of a flipbook. As if Natsu was moving on the screen in still images, the way he moved his arms in conjunction with Lampent's movements, it did look choreographed. Seeing how intent the two first years were, Amira hobbled towards them with Maaya supporting her. She looked over their shoulders as saw the same thing. Like Satori said, had they not seen the anger and rage behind his movements, it was stunning and enchanting. That haunting feeling mixed with those graceful movements. Strange, the more they looked at it, the more their smiles began to grow.
"We need to talk to the little brat," the fighting trainer said, about to help Amira forward when they looked up, and remembered Seraphim was still there, Jiro definitely remembering her from when they met in Kanto.
"I need to talk to Natsu-kun first," she said, cradling the small box the Don had stolen. "We've already explained our position," she continued, both of her commanders appearing behind her. "This place is no longer safe for him. We will be taking him now."
"And what makes ya think ya have any right to take the first crack at my bro?" Judai asked, Monferno weakly standing back up as it stared down the opposing Tyrantrum.
"You have no recourse," Cherubim bluntly stated. "Your pokémon are defeated, your bodies are still under a great physical strain, and even if your conditions were optimal, we are better trained fighters compared to mere students."
"Besides," Ophanim chimed in, placing her hand on Seraphim's head. "You're not going to deny our leader what she wants."
"Or what, she'll have a tantrum?" Maaya mocked, Florges folding its arms as the door to the bug dorm suddenly jiggled open.
On the other end, Takeru finally appeared from his dwelling, looking around at the wreckage, and the looming battle, and the rather stacked odds against his classmates. His eyes twitched uncontrollably, and noticed the diminutive general of the Archangels and gave a slight bow to her in greeting.
"High Seraphim, it's interesting to finally meet you in person," he said, the others looking at him in disbelief, none of them knowing his prior connection to the group.
"Are you Takeru-kun?" the white-haired girl asked. "Are you the one who used us to find out secrets? Cherubim and Ophanim were telling me about you, and that you should be punished for your misdeeds."
"In that case, I'll close the door," the bug trainer said with a grin, quickly stopped by Minccino's tail. "Hmm, guess it wouldn't be good to tell you that I let Natsu go off to think a bit, huh?" he questioned, a slightly more smug sneer across his face, Ophanim almost swearing under her breath as Cherubim's Tyrantrum roared furiously at him. "I don't scare too easily, so what else have you got?" he challenged, holding a pokéball behind his back.
"Where did you send Natsu-kun?" Seraphim asked patiently.
"Like I said, we talked for a bit, and I sent him off outside to think about things," the dorm head explained. "Made sure he was away from all the action. I was afraid he might try to help out, and we all know how every reacted to his little display. He probably didn't feel very wanted at that point," he continued, his eye falling on Judai, the fire trainer looking away for that brief second. "So right now, he could be in Nimbasa City, he may even be thinking about an extended holiday with his family. Who really knows by this point?" he kept babbling, walking out towards the Archangels, Tyrantrum about to attack him, only for a single movement of his eye to send it back. However, in that movement, it was if something actually struck it.
As he walked past the dragon type, the pokéball shrank in his hand, and back onto his belt. He then started to go past Florges, the fairy type about to release a powerful attack, only to flinch from something breaking its concentration.
"My question to you three is why you don't think we can protect him just fine," he started, the tone of voice he was now sporting sending a shiver up Maaya's spine. "Personally, I think we've done well so far. It's as if you all waited to make this big spectacle when you made for yourselves three months worth of opportunity. You're worse than a certain classmate of mine who doesn't see the value in starting work early. But you know, instead of trying to make a spectacle by creating a big production out of everything, maybe you should remember the value in the little things," he continued on, Cherubim's and Ophanim's pokémon about to come at him, only for a streak to run across the sky, and strike both of them before they even knew it. "As a bug trainer, I have to see the value in pokémon others see as mere training fodder. An easy target to help practice moves on is all my element is seen as. But what used to scare people about bug types is their otherworldly appearance," he finished, the streak continuing in front of both evolved pokémon, and then screeching along the ground in front of Takeru, Accelgor staring at the Archangels.
"That's the Phantom's pokémon!" Ophanim accused.
"Yes and no," Takeru started up once more. "You see, Accelgor is an old friend, and we had something of a falling out, but there's one thing we can agree on. You lot aren't our allies. And sadly, one of the definitions of enemy is the absence of that quality. If you are not my ally then you are in fact my enemy. Would you like a demonstration of what's going to happen from now on if you ever try to butt in and do something of your own accord against us again?" he asked, the two commanders ordering their pokémon to attack them both. "Accelgor, you get ten more seconds," his voice dropped, and in just a fraction of one of those, the bug pokémon was gone.
Time seemed to stop around Accelgor for a while, moving at a relatively moderate pace while the rest of the world moved hundreds of time slower. Moving in between both pokémon, time sped back up, and Accelgor moved like a flash of lightning, releasing the high-pitched shriek of its Bug Buzz attack. The noise burned into the pokémon's ear drums for only a second as they were both blasted off in different directions.
Using the next second to think, Accelgor ran at Tyrantrum while it was still falling, a small green ball of energy charging in the space of another two seconds. At the third, the Energy Ball was released and the dragon pokémon was almost buried into the ground. Five seconds passed.
Within the next second, the bug pokémon came upon Florges still falling through the air, two swirling mass of snow turning into water now at both of its hands. For another three whole seconds, the liquid turned into sharp, multi-pointed projectiles constantly thrown at the fairy type, each one faster than the last, sending it quickly into the snow bank. Nine seconds passed.
In the final second it was allowed outside, Accelgor simply barreled its way through the air, tackling Minccino and launching it past its trainer. After that, the bug type rebounded off of the normal type and directly into Takeru's outstretched pokéball. With the use of the U-Turn, Accelgor's pokéball knocked Mothim's out, and the bug and flying type randomly fluttered above its trainer's head, Takeru just smirking at the three of them. Ten seconds passed.
"Now, consider this when you leave this place," he began. "I'm nowhere near at the full strength I could be at. So for as much as you call yourselves superior because we're just students, try to remember that we have much more of a stake in this than you lot do. You just invited yourselves to this party, and now, we're finally going to throw you out. Isn't that right?" he asked, turning his head, Tyrantrum looking up to see a burst of multi-colored energy shooting out at it.
"Just needed to catch my second wind," the dragon trainer said from the sidelines, Vibrava madly flapping above her. "And even if I am late for this party, I can still send the three of you packing. As long as I stand for Natsu's family in his mind, for as long as he thinks of me as part of his family, no matter how long he wants to call me that title, I can find the strength to move past it all." The words of the Gemini echoed one more time in her mind, "sister fails once, sister fails always." However, this time, she just shook them away. "This time, the sister will win."
With the other two pokémon too weak to battle, Minccino jumped back into the fray, an obvious wound on its head from Accelgor, and ran at Vibrava, holding its tail outstretched, about to smack it. However, with the full swing completed, the normal type instead found itself stuck in the dragon pokémon's jaw, Sienna looking forward at Seraphim with her eyes steeled.
"That reset helped to teach me something," Sienna continued. "If I'm going to protect my family, no matter what the relation, I'm going to have to be willing to lose some morals for their sake. And that means I'm going to have to learn every now and again to be ruthless," she said, her eyes burning with the same anger Natsu felt at the very beginning of all of this. "Vibrava, Hyper Beam."
With the solemn order, the dragon and ground mix's mouth radiated energy so powerful it almost blinded its opponent still stuck within the jaws. Helpless to defend, Minccino was blasted by the attack, impaling it against the ground as it fell from Vibrava's grip, twitching on the ground as Sienna, true to her vow, just looked down with a cold expression.
"Sometimes for the sake of people you love, you have to be willing to do something they may come to hate you for," was all she said as the ground around Minccino had been reduced to a rubble-filled crater. "And in the end, you find victory and security in scaring who you love. Even if I hate this new person I'm going to become, somewhere down the line I may come to accept the choices I make today. But if it's to protect any of the students here that are part of my family, I'm going to make this clear. This is my home, my family, and my haven, and if you're going to come here and destroy that, then you are not welcome here. Vibrava, give them a warning."
Turning away, looking at Kaname with a depressed look, Sienna could feel the terrifying rumblings of something falling from the sky, like meteors as they pummeled the three pokémon. Even if it did no damage to Florges, the intense shocks of its Draco Meteor caused it to lose balance, unable to mount a counterattack. With craters all over the school's courtyard, Ophanim was about to advance forward, her pokémon finally able to stand after the attack had finished.
"Hold," she heard Seraphim order. "It's not the time to battle them. In this state, we can't fight our way to Natsu-kun. Just relax for a few days. You've both done extremely well."
With that, the young girl flipped her cloak over to the dorm heads, and the trio left, the wind blowing behind them. Finally, everything was over. It didn't even seem real how much had happened. But then, maybe not every last issue was over.
"Senpai," Judai started, looking over at Takeru. "What'd ya tell me bro to get him thinkin'?" he asked, the bug trainer's own mind reeling back about an hour ago before the Reaper first appeared on the field.
"Not that it's a competition, but I think my story can be a bit harder to hear," he said, Natsu just looking back at him from the shadowed corner, staring dead. "But if you really want to know," he started up, looking out his window, able to see where Phantom's Escavalier was battling Seviper and Quagsire. "I don't think now's the best time to tell you everything, but maybe just the basics."
"I've got nowhere to go," the ghost trainer said distantly.
"How much do you know about Phantom?" the bug trainer started out, sitting down, facing Natsu with his back hunched over and hands folded.
"Only stories," he answered. "She doesn't come to battles physically. One story said she hijacked an entire warehouse through the internet, and her pokémon defeated everyone inside. Anyone who couldn't get out was found by the cops. To people who stand up for the truth of the Underground, she's considered a hero, at least until she allied with the Don."
"Her real name is Elena Sanchez," Takeru suddenly said, Natsu looking up. "She's seventeen, hails from Celestic, and her first pokémon was a Karrablast. She used to run a gang called the Phantom Force, which is probably where she came up with the name, and she turned to the Underground as a safe haven when she was fourteen," he listed off, never once breaking eye contact with Natsu, the ghost trainer astounded. "I know all of this because she was once my best friend. But in the end, we had a falling out similar to yours with Diablo. Do you really want to hear the full story?" he asked, Natsu slowly nodding.
"When I was young, people used to tease me about my eye condition," the bug trainer began again, his entire body now shadowed as he looked into his own past, a child in his classroom throwing a ball of paper at him. "Along with having a Shelmet as my first pokémon from my parent's business trip, they started to call me the same thing Maaya does now. Only something told me they weren't doing it as an endearment. Elena was a student from Unova that transferred into our class," he said, his mind trailing into his entire flashback.
"Class, this is Elena Sanchez, she'll be joining our class from today, so I want to make sure you're nice to her, okay?" the teacher asked, the rest giving a round of affirmation, some of the boys next to Takeru commenting that she was actually kind of cute. "And for a little extra excitement, she's also been given her trainer's license, and she's brought her pokémon into class."
The rest of the students cheered at this, Takeru just watching lazily, writing everything down he saw to keep his condition satisfied. At his side, about as half-asleep as he was, the small armored bug looked at the girl and then slowly lifted its head to see something appearing from behind. As soon as it came into full view, the girls in the class gave a chorus of disgust, the boys immediately laughing at her when the blue colored Karrablast showed up.
"What?" she asked, looking at Karrablast for some kind of answer.
"That disgusting thing is your pokémon?" one of the boys questioned in return, the teacher trying to keep everyone calm. "You're worse than our bug boy! At least he's as gross as his pokémon. You just disappointed all of us."
"Hmm," Elena started, looking over at Takeru, noticing his eyes twitching while looking at her. "I think he's kinda cute," she said, her pokémon chirping at the sight of its counterpart Shelmet. "Do you wanna be my friend, Takeru?"
"What?" the bug trainer asked, the boys all still jeering as the two stared at each other. Eventually, though, the girl's temper got the better of her, and she gave a small click with her tongue. Suddenly, Karrablast shot forward like a cannon, its horn outstretched, and quickly sliced through the metal legs of their desks and chairs, all of them falling over.
Without mercy, Elena directed her pokémon to the boy who called her out in particular, the student trying to shield himself when he heard the bug pokémon's horn impact with something else. Looking up, he saw Takeru's Shelmet holding back the devilish pokémon, pushing it back so it was launched into the air and back to Elena. Everyone was amazed at Takeru, especially the guy who was about to become the victim, his eyes still moving around as he looked up at the new girl. Her face was still smiling amidst her attempt at violence.
"What's wrong? Didn't you want to hurt them just a little?" she asked.
"Not really," Takeru said, Shelmet returning to his side. "I refuse to sink to their level of harassment just because they can't see the subtle beauty in bug types."
"Hmm," the young girl sounded, the teacher behind them both twitching with a ruler in her hand.
"POKÉMON BATTLES ARE PROHIBITED IN THE CLASSROOM! BOTH OF YOU, STAND OUTSIDE!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, both Elena and Takeru thrown out of the class and into the hallway. The two landed on the ground, the future dorm head moving to wall to just close his eyes.
"Huh, first day, and I'm already in trouble," Elena said. "My mom's gonna kill me."
"Count your blessings," Takeru quickly returned. "My parents are both out of town for business. I'd be lucky if they ever took an interest in what I was doing. They did get me Shelmet, so it kinda balances itself out."
"So you're all by yourself for a while?" the brunette asked, Takeru nodding, refitting his hat. "This is perfect! Hey, can I come to your house until I'm sure my mom won't blow up at me for acting out at another school?" she quickly asked.
"Are you high?" the young boy, probably not even ten years old, asked. "Why even attack him in the first place. You and I are the only people with pokémon in the class, not even the teacher has her license."
"So we're kinda special in there, huh?" Elena reasoned.
"You'd think, but let's face it, with pokémon like ours, popularity shouldn't be on your priorities list," Takeru replied. "Kids our age don't know what kind of choices they're going to make in the coming years when they get their own pokémon. They'll figure out to stop hating a pokémon for its aesthetic appeal and learn the kind of pokémon they're most compatible with."
"Guess we're just early bloomers," the young girl said. "You're pretty smart, Takeru. So, how about it, can I come over to your house after school?" she asked again, a small smile coming across the bug trainer's face as he took in an easy breath and held out his hand for her.
"Sure," he said with a gentle smile.
"Elena was the first person I ever met that didn't care about what kind of pokémon I trainer, or what I was like," the present bug trainer continued for his underclassman. "I guess you could say she was the very first friend I ever had. Two years after that, she helped create the Phantom Force, and I followed her like a trained pokémon follows its master. We mostly just did hacking jobs, exposing obvious criminals and money wiring schemes. We just hated being forced into categories and how everything was stacked against some people. Granted we never went public. Nobody would believe a bunch of twelve and thirteen year olds could hack into most secure servers."
"So why'd you leave her?" Natsu asked, knowing that there was probably more between them than he was letting on.
"When we were fourteen, Elena got into a fight at school and was expelled," Takeru continued. "Her mother officially disowned her and I took her in and helped her get back on her feet. But she wanted to do things a different way, and we started doing our jobs in the Phantom Force in a moral gray area. I wanted to help her, even if that meant doing something that was wrong. But more than that, Elena had changed. She was violent, abrasive, and sometimes even abusive to other people in our ranks. She started to get more interested in learning how to hack, and spent all her time on jobs and robberies. She wasn't the little girl that agreed to be my friend."
"How'd you get away from her?" the ghost trainer asked.
"That's a story for another time," the bug dorm head answered. "But I think I should explain what it should be that you take away from that story."
"What do you mean?"
"Right now, there are battles going on outside that you should be fighting to help protect your friends," he said, looking at his computer, Natsu seeing one of the battles on the screen between the Underground and the dorm heads. "When my friend started to change and become somebody I didn't know anymore, I clung onto the memory of who she used to be, and used that as an excuse to run away. She's the way she is now because of me, and now I can't even be in the same room as her to help when she's in trouble."
"What's your point?" Natsu asked.
"My point is…," he started, slapping Natsu across the cheek. "You still have the chance to keep your friends from changing in the way they think about you. If you just leave it at that, cowering away because you can't own up and admit who you are, you're going to end up like Elena and I. I was too afraid to do anything because I knew she was different. She became the monster of the Underground and now I know it's almost hopeless to get her back. Don't waste your time here feeling sorry for yourself," he began, holding out his hand as something flew into the room, the large blade of the Reaper Scythe stuck into the ground in front of Natsu. "Get out there, and show them what that part of you can do."
Looking up at the top of the shaft of the weapon, Natsu saw his cloak, flapping madly in the open window, everything Takeru just said starting to sink in. Even if his friends hated him, at least he still had the power to save them this time around. He slowly reached for the cloak, and looked back at his upperclassman.
"Thank you, senpai," he said, pulling it over his body. "This time, I'll protect you guys." And with that, Natsu all but disappeared, and only the terrifying presence of Reaper remained.
"Just something," Takeru finally answered Judai back in the present time.
"But where would he go to think?" the ground trainer asked from the side.
A million options raced through their minds. Kaname, Sienna, Ame, Amira, and Maaya all drawing a blank until Judai lowered his head in thought, and then lifted it up in one motion.
"I know where he went," he said, and immediately ran off into the snow. "At least wait for me before ya go, bro." The other dorm heads all followed after him, even the ones that had just joined them, or watched from their windows, the rest of the students wondering where they were headed.
Deposited in the snow all around them, the small building with a small grave marker out front stood overlooking the steeple-topped school building. Inside the assisted living home, with the elderly residents watching him carefully, Natsu sat in his normal spot, looking down at the chessboard, only a single pawn advanced forward. The ghost trainer let out a small sigh, and looked up at the empty chair, almost as though he were expecting his old friend's ghost to continue the game with him.
"You always gave me advice about what I should do in these situations, Jii-chan," he said, giving a low sigh as he looked up at the ceiling. "Now without you, I don't know what to do." As he just stayed seated, he could hear somebody pick up the chess piece on the opposite side, and place it down confidently, making him look forward.
"Can't say I've ever played much of this game, but maybe I can figure it out from how you play," Gabriel's familiar voice said, staring in front of Natsu, a small smile on his face as he met his underclassman's eye. "It's good to see you again, Kohashigawa. But given the fact you're here means you probably have some kind of problem you don't want others to know about, huh?"
"I-I'm thinking about leaving the school," Natsu said weakly, looking down at the ground, just moving another of his pawns forward.
"I'm not so sure Yamada or Saruwatari would let you," the rock trainer said in passing. "If you don't mind my asking, why're you thinking about leaving? Everyone else would probably be disappointed if you did."
"They saw something that I'm really embarrassed about, and I didn't want them to know," the ghost dorm head said, watching Gabriel fumble over which piece to move next. "I knew it would end up scaring them to see me like that, and now I can't show my face to them ever again. What am I supposed to say to them when all they can think about when they see me is what I can do and how terrifying it is? How can they ever trust me again?"
"Oh, so you're keeping a secret?" Gabriel asked, Natsu nodding. "Join the club, we've got jackets. You do know that secrets aren't exactly as rare an occurrence as say a perfect diamond, right? Heck, if you didn't have any secrets, I'd figure something was really wrong with you."
"Aren't you mad that I'm hiding something from you?" Natsu asked cautiously, moving his bishop across the board to take one of his upperclassman's pieces.
"Okay," Gabriel started, leaning over the table. "Let me ask you this: have you ever killed anybody?" he asked, Natsu shaking his head. "Okay, how about this: have you ever caused an international incident?" Once more, a negative response. "Okay, one more: does your secret make us at any more risk than we already are with these Underground whackos?"
That one made Natsu think for a while. Even if he wasn't the Reaper, there was still a chance that the Don would find them because of his belief in Aura. Even if he wasn't the Reaper, he'd still have been part of the Underground after Diego and Yuriko saved him.
"N-No," he said in realization. "No, it d-doesn't."
"In that case, I don't see why I should care so much about it," the rock trainer responded. "Look, as hard as it may be to believe, we all keep secrets. We don't tell each other absolutely everything. It means we know you can at least be trusted to hide something we tell you in confidence. I'm sure that whatever you can do is scary in the sense it's unexpected, but do you really think that leaving is going to solve the fact that we're still going to be targets of this maniac."
"B-But if I leave, then he'd still have to come after me first," Natsu tried to reason, keeping his head low, not noticing a group of sixteen people walking into the front door. "If I'm gone, it gives you the chance to get ready for what's coming. And if I'm gone, then that means you won't have to always take care of me. Even if my secret doesn't make you any less of targets to him, I'm still causing you all so much trouble."
"Kohashigawa," Gabriel tried to start up, Natsu shaking his head immediately after, small droplets of water falling from his eyes.
"I can't be the reason you're all getting hurt by them," he kept going, the other dorm heads all listening intently in varying degrees based on who it was. "Because I came to this school, you've all been forced to treat me like a charity case, and protect me when things get dangerous. I can't let you keep doing that for me. I want to be the one that does something for you guys, too. And this is the only thing I can think to do. So if you guys, in your hearts, really wanted me to just disappear," he started, lifting up his head to reveal his tear stained eyes. "I wouldn't try to fight you on it. I just want to keep you guys safe."
"Then you're a damn fool," the rock dorm head said, Natsu flinching as he lowered his head back down. "All of us would rather you be happy and in danger with us than miserable and in danger all by yourself while we're still safe. Don't think for a second that just because you think this is the only thing you can do that it means we're going to let you do it."
Before either of the two could say anything, somebody rushed up and wrapped their arms around his head, pulling him close. Barely able to open his eyes, he could tell from the trembling and breath it was Amira.
"Don't disappear…," she said quietly, lightly kissing the top of his head through her own tears. "Please don't disappear from us."
"Yeah, let's face it, school would be a lot more boring if I didn't have someone to torture every day," Maaya said from the side.
"You didn't get to hear it, but Sienna made quite the stirring speech about protecting her family," Kaname explained, the dragon trainer turning a bit red. "You really shouldn't disappoint people like that."
"Besides, the whole puppet master thing looks really cool when you put the right music to it," Ame said, giving Natsu a hard slap on the back, pushing him and Amira closer together, the ghost trainer looking up to see his friend and classmate, Judai keeping his arms folded, trying not to look at him as the psychic trainer helped him up.
"H-Hey, Judai," Natsu managed to say awkwardly.
"Yo," was all the fire trainer could muster.
"U-Um, I-I'm sorry you had to see something like that," the two continued, trying to make small talk before somebody patted them both on the back. Both looked behind them and saw Satori grabbing their hands, and putting them together.
"Just admit you're friends again," she said. "I think everyone's getting tired of seeing you two act like a couple on their first date."
Hesitantly, Judai gripped harder on Natsu's hand, and started to shake it up and down, Natsu's smile returning as a small trail of tears showed through again.
"It's been a while, bro," Judai said.
"Yeah, I can't wait to hear about your trip," the ghost trainer said in reply, the other ten dorm heads at the school when Natsu first showed up almost tackling him to the ground, glad this entire issue was finally laid to rest. The twelve laughed at everything, Natsu back in the chair, tears of joy still in his eyes through it all.
As she returned to the back of the room, Satori and the other dorm heads that just got back to the school. "So he's the kid that changed them all," she noticed, a smile coming across her face at the friendship Judai and Natsu had, a small part of her still a bit jealous of their relationship.
"I'll have to check him out later," Yue brought up. "I'm not convinced of anyone who became the dorm head just by being the only one in their dorm."
"He's a nice kid when you get to know him," Ame chimed in. "Just don't sneak into his dorm and eat all his food in the middle of the night. He's not so cute when he sees something like that."
"I'm glad someone like that became so attached to June-chan," Kaoru said with his normal smile. "Ryuzaki-san is going to be something of a roadblock, though."
"Humph," Gibson sounded. "He'll be good for a few laughs like the rest of you."
The only one who didn't automatically say something was Diego. He'd been watching Natsu ever since he first got into the home. He gave a large sigh, and looked off into the distance at the school building still visible. "I'll say this, you stupid kid. You found one hell of a new home. These people were able to keep you from leaving this time. It's going to be almost sad when this all comes to a close. I won't lie, I may not be ready for this to be over just yet." A smile came across his face, and he looked up at the sky, the clouds moving across it as the snow finally stopped falling, and in the coming months towards the end of the school year, the most interesting and powerful adventures were yet to come.
Season Two Main Cast:
Natsu Kohashigawa: Lampent, Golurk, and Pumpkaboo. NightFall-sensei
Judai Ryuzaki: Monferno, Torkoal, and Charmeleon. Jexo
Satori Edamura: Excadrill, Hippowdon, and Swinub. The Lunar Lioness
Maaya Yoshida: Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, and Hitmontop. Emmausgirl94
Amira Khumalo: Kirlia, Duosion, and Kadabra. Invox
Takeru Sanjero: Mothim, Heracross, and Accelgor. Moth's Aflame
Mitsuta "Mitsu" Ichihana: Glaceon, Sneasel, and Amaura. WrittenWhim
Mika Saito: Ledian, Pidgeot, and Noibat. Cyanide the Sneasel
Jiro Matsushita: Bibarel, Tauros, and Kecleon. GoldenfeatherKyru
June Kurosaki: Lairon, Skarmory, and Klefki. Lady Island Rose
Kaoru Hayashi: Simisage, Whimsicott, and Lombre. JJun
Diego Martinez: Dedenne, Togekiss, and Clefairy. NightFall-sensei
Kaname Misaki: Sableye, Absol, and Houndour. Ariesbird
Sienna Smith: Vibrava, Fraxure, and Dragonair. Fluttersong
Ame Yoshoki: Manectric, Electrode, and Magneton. StattStatt
Gabriel Volantis: Archeops, Carracosta, and Carbink. WereDragon EX
Yue Yoshigami: Wartortle, Quagsire, and Gyarados. Jexo
Gibson Beswick: Golbat, Seviper, and Scolipede. Detonator Liberation
Chapter Fifty-Two and Season Two COMPLETE! Ow, my fingers hurt. I'd make a joke, but seriously, 15000 WORDS?! Sadly, this isn't even my longest chapter, but this is the one I feel the most satisfied about. More time really does help with that, even if it is one fourth more of your normal story length. Well, that's it, the second season is finally done. We had battles, secrets being revealed, battles, emotions running high, battles, revelations, and did I mention battles? Wow, so many battles. Anyway, like I said, I really have no problems with this chapter outside of a few things being rushed, you know, in this 15000 words chapter. Man I have a sad existence. Anyway, thanks for reading it through to this point, and for now I'm going to be taking an actual official break from this story, not like the breaks I take in between chapters that last as long as this next break is supposed to take, so nothing's really changed. At any rate, the next season will start after the New Year, and I already have an idea for the first few chapters and the actual arc for this one. If you guys read any school life manga, you know what's coming. Anyway, again thanks for reading.
And speaking of, for those interested in a bit of new reading, and maybe some of you who may have not yet gotten to submit an OC to one of my stories, I'm going to have a new story. I've talked about this one since I started this four part chapter, and I'm almost ready to upload. First off, there are a few kinks to work out, and I want to give me normal readers the chance to read this first, so they don't miss their chance to make a character for my new story. So, for that reason, the next story will be up in the next 24 hour period, so if you want to just wait for it patiently, or follow me as an author to see when it's coming, do what you want. Keep in mind that if you think this chapter is long, get ready for a bit of extra reading with what I assure is an actual prologue, no matter what the word count says. Anyway, it's been great writing these past two seasons, and I can't wait to continue this story in the coming year. For those of you reading my new story tomorrow, I say thanks for reading and I'll see you tomorrow, and for those that are just sticking with this, until we meet again next year, I say to you ja na.
