Chapter 56: Stone sanctuary for lost souls
A little bit past midnight
Sinnoh
Veilstone city
Weavile inserted a claw and smoothly rotated a rusting screw securing the dusty grate on the wall. Gingerly picking the grille up, it squeezed out of the shaft and dropped in the security room silently. The chamber was dim, lighted by a few flush lights set into the ceiling and the electric blue glow of the monitors. An entire bank of screens whirred and hummed and before them, a single guard sat in one of the three swivel chairs placed before the wall of screens. A lone overseer. The dark beast mingled well with the shadows, it crept forward and nimbly scrambled up the backrest. Undisturbed and satiated, the guard stretched out a hand and gulped down the remains of a lukewarm coffee and adjusted himself. All the screens showed their normal feed and the Veilstone building had a security tighter than the Pokemon's Association ever since the breaking in and stealing of the Griseous orb a few years back. The higher ups did not allow any cleaners or security guards to remain after working hours and each employee in the building, no matter how menial their task may be, had their entire background, history, family and genealogy checked up on by the officials. The Veilstone building's staff had been thoroughly investigated and equipped with special identification and so far, it remained fool proof. Yawning, he rubbed his baggy eyes and wriggled in his plush seat, the leather creaked slightly and he stilled on spying a shadowy reflection on the bottom left monitor.
Something sharp pressed into his Adam's apple. A sharp, metallic claw.
The dark pokemon held out a damp cloth and pressed it over the terrified man's nose and partially agape mouth. Perhaps the man fainted from fright before the sleep inducing toxins claimed him. A few minutes later, he slumped over and weavile shredded the rag. It searched the man and found the master keycard as well as several data chips and special digital passes. Pushing the occupied chair away, the dark type pulled in another one and hopped on it, claws hovering over a projected keyboard, it waited for further instructions.
"Well done Weavile" a disembodied voice droned from an earpiece, "now time to disable the security, I can't see what's going on so adjust the camera a little," the monster obeyed and pushed its forehead camera a little higher and activated a switch, a circle of light poured out, "hmm...Better. Now follow my orders precisely alright? We have to do this delicately, one wrong move and the building will scream and dozens of police officers will rush over and swarm the building. First, swipe in the keycard and confirm authorization, if they ask for a password, use the emergency override function, the button is to your left..."
Outside, two figures crouched in the penumbra of a skyscraper. Blue looked up and noted a cloudy sky blotting the light of the moon and plunging the environment into an abysmal darkness. A perfect night to carry out the theft of the most treasured artefact in the history of mankind. Even the street and building lights seemed to have dimmed, holding their breath in anticipation of a heinous crime. Cars rarely travelled down the streets and the few strollers who preferred to walk around in the night, were all chased home by the pregnant clouds hanging in the sky. Twirling a slim laser cutter in between her fingers, she tapped her night vision goggles and observed Silver delivering a set of instructions to his weavile. He spoke deliberately slowly and keenly perceived the proceedings with the palmtop computer strapped to his hand; and despite the moderately chilly surroundings, his face beaded with sweat. The most critical phase, if the cameras and other high fangled security devices in the Veilstone building were disrupted or jammed, they could shimmy up the main ventilator and take their prize before the night ended. One hour and thirty minutes max, the brown haired woman contemplated and smiled. She traced the exterior of the main ventilator and tried not to imagine the consequences should the ventilation shaft thin in some places and become too small for her to squeeze through.
"...Now press the other data chip to its side...yeah, just like that. Tsk, it needs fingerprint identification..." Silver muttered to himself and shifted on his haunches to make himself comfortable, fifteen minutes had already lapsed since weavile's infiltration and he urged his partner to work faster or else his sister's meticulous schedule will fall behind. "Get the unconscious man's thumb on the scanner and no! Don't slice his finger off!" Thankfully, weavile understood, it dragged the comatose man over and slapped his thumb on the scanner. A brief flash on the screen and all the lights dotted in and around the building paled considerably, on the tiny display, the red head saw two words which made him grin akin to a Cheshire cat.
Security disabled.
"Sis, we are good to go, weavile will clean up in the monitor room and meet us at the E2 junction." Blue uncurled a map and briefly gave it once over, she had the entire layout memorized already but it didn't hurt to reconfirm. The azure flute safe was located in the middle of the domicile, an archive on its right and a decontamination room to its left. The shaft ended in both rooms and bypassed the target room. She smiled, rolled up the map and thrust it into her pocket. Taking out the cutter, she expertly sheared a large space and both of them climbed in.
Suffocating. The metallic walls closed in on them and in some parts, became unbearably hot. To the duo's horror, the owners of the building concealed several button cameras in the niches of the pipe and when Silver ripped one of them out and studied it, he declared that the edifice had a second, hidden security system which relied on a remote operation and was completely detached from main security. Blue unclipped a pokeball from her body hugging latex suit (perfect for covert missions, she declared to an aghast Silver) and sent Ditty out, the pink slime crawled along the walls and deactivated the cameras by seeping into the joints and short circuiting it. Constellate's leader exhaled and slowly dragged herself forward whilst contemplating on adding another hour to their mission time. The two operatives shimmied forward without a word, only the occasional flare of orange sparks and a hiss of a bust camera broke the cumbersome silence. Up ahead, cobalt irises picked out a lighter patch in the shaft and the commander felt the blowing of a slight breeze. They arrived at E2, a bend connecting to the outside and forking to the most confidential rooms inside the Veilstone building.
Unfortunately for them, weavile didn't arrive yet and Silver spent a good precious minutes internally fuming and alternately worrying for his monster. Five minutes later, to their chagrin and relief, the dark beast shuffled forward and threw its short arms around its owner before remembering to be docile. The Johto native gave it a few words of praise and secured it back in a pokeball. With renewed determination, the two humans set off again, crawling through the tiny space and after another half an hour of fumbling about in a dark, narrow tunnel, Blue spied her destination and whipped out her pen-esque cutter. Drawing four lines, she caught the grille before it clattered to the pristine floor of the hallway. With a dexterity born from years of practice, she unfurled herself and dropped gracefully on the floor, Silver admired the way she made no sound, not even a slight tap despite her feet clad in stiletto heels. He too joined her in the obscurely lit hallway and stared at the blast doors closing up the safe leading to the Azure flute. Ditty slithered out, plopped on to its master's head and disappeared.
"All according to plan hmm?" Blue's voice echoed in the stark space and she confidently strode to the impregnable doors, "this thing is made of metal so nothing but the most corrosive of acids will corrode it. That or we can just use a keycard and a security pass to go inside." The woman chirped and slid the master keycard into the device, the screen asked for a special pass and she fed in the slim chip next. Behind her, her brother held his breath, if the thing needed a fingerprint or iris identification, he'd either have to slice a finger or gouge an eye off. Beep. The computer confirmed and the doors began to moan and grind as they opened sluggishly. Silver blinked in confusion as the interior became visible. He could see nothing, all that lay in front of him is a shroud of darkness. The sort of black which sucked a person's senses in. His sister briefly placed a hand on his shoulder and anchored him back to reality. "Don't look; this is the dark barrier I talked about, designed to make anyone who enters this place, mad. Literally. There are four pokemon manning this barricade in the shape of a pyramid and it is layered with the psychic one. I know it sounds absurd but this is how they shaped it, in between the two barriers, there is a vacuum. If one breaks and the other remains unbroken, the vacuum will activate and suck the room inside it. According to the notes Rald downloaded, it has a specific formation and we should disable it as such. Let's see...normally, the pokemon would be disabled with a slight electric shock delivered by a highly trained official and their pokemon...these shocks are also recorded with a device those monsters carry. In our case, we can do it in a much simpler manner." The red head nodded at her words and called forth his kingdra "we put them to sleep." A yawn courtesy of the water type made all the beasts occupying in the room drowsy and soon, Cleffy, protected by its natural ability of magic guard, phased through the swirling darkness and sent each formation holder into a sleep by a series of well-aimed, pressure point punches.
The beasts crumpled into a dreamless sleep and the layers of the liquescent blockade flowed away to reveal an unornamented room. Similar to the chamber of the griseous orb, this one had more than a dozen of lasers poking out of the four walls. Undeterred, the female thief marched forward and Silver followed behind cautiously. His stomach churned.
"Thanks to weavile, all the lasers are disabled," Constellate's leader murmured. Heels clacking, she climbed a set of short steps to the podium holding her prize, "finally we can have the Azure flute in our hands and the mission...Hassle free wasn't it?" Her brother nodded and came to a stop, argent irises gave the corners of the glass box a once over before he lifted it up. "I wonder how much it'll fetch on the black market; I mean the flute does not look really expensive or beau-"
They stopped breathing.
Lying on a bed of royal purple velvet, the artefact emitted a shallow sound. The tune sounded so morose and yet divine that a few tears escaped Blue's eyes. In a trance, she brushed her gloved fingers over the surface of the object and heard it utter a sigh. The flute was breathtakingly sublime and the surface of it shimmered gold, silver and in colours she couldn't describe. Scooping up the object with its velvety wrapping, the two infiltrators gaped at it in a bewitched manner, forgetting the fact that they should leave as soon as possible.
"Did you honestly think that the original Azure Flute would be in Sinnoh?" Both Blue and Silver now held their breath for an entirely different reason, "What you are holding is a magnificent replica...But I suppose it did the job of luring you two in. I have to thank Falkner and Lt. Surge later; they surely devised a formidable trap."
Trap...A trap! And they fell for it, hook, line and sinker.
Blue turned; the mesmerising effect of the fake flute suddenly shattered due to the unexpected arrival of Cynthia and a whole army of police officers as they crowded inside the room and stood guard all the way to the blast doors. A trap...She inwardly berated herself for being so short sighted. The crafty law holders left a delicious thread of information swimming around the deep web and knew that the Dex-criminals would not forego such a coveted relic. She should've listened to Silver when he hinted that everything went too easy. Letting the object drop, she watched it crumble to pieces and turned towards the blonde woman.
"Secure them!" Cynthia commanded with Virizion by her side, before any of the humans could move, the sword of justice disappeared into a whirl of wind and leaves and Blue felt tears in her suit, seconds later, the regal pokemon reappeared by its trainer's side and dropped two pokeball studded belts. "...Thank you." the lady murmured and pointed two the two convicts, "cuff them and haul them back, we will contact chief Anabel and interrogate them when she comes." The masses of police surged towards them and the two Dex-criminals squeezed against each other.
Helpless.
"Wait!" Blue screeched and held up a wavering hand, the police halted and turned towards their superior, the Kanto native grabbed Silver and pulled him forward, "do you know who this is?" she queried in a wavering tone.
"Silver...Phantom thief blah blah blah...We know he is wanted by every law official on the face of the Poke-verse" Volkner droned and apathetically slunk into the room and scratched his ear. "Now if you are done stalling for time...Please get a move on."
"Yes...Everyone knows the phantom thief Silver" the azure eyed female added and her foster brother wondered why she did this...Using him? "But did you know that he is also Team Rocket's boss...Giovanni's son as well?"
Silence. Blue revelled in their astonished expressions as they viewed him with renewed curiosity and disgust.
"Sis...Why?" his shocked whisper barely fell from his lips as his adopted sibling held him out like a prize. The petrified officers suddenly moved and closed in on him. Abruptly, Blue clasped him towards her chest and dove to the side. Commotion rang out as the duo weaved and shoved people out of the way and came to a crashing stop when a ring of pointed rocks hovered mid-waist, one of them nearly sliced Blue's abdomen open.
"Stealth rock...we were well prepared for you," Sinnoh's champion flicked her mane backwards, "you cannot escape from here, there are no windows to climb out of and if you want to make it past the arc of deadly stones, you will have to perform acrobatic feats that we humans are incapable of. Your gig is up, come quietly and we won't harm you." Turning away, the Sinnoh native failed to see Blue delivering a vicious chop when one of the police tried to pull Silver away.
"Deal...we will come with you. But!" Constellate's commander took a deep, shaky breath and her heart hammered a million beats per minute, "you cannot separate Silver away from me or I swear, I will tear everything apart!" Silver felt his ribs folding as she gripped him tighter, he felt limp and confused.
Doomed...
They were caught and doomed.
Night
Unova
Team Plasma castle
The hallways seemed to stretch on endlessly. N jogged and tried to avoid the screeching and assaults aerodactyl, which currently raged a few meters behind him, rained down on them. The ground dragon was adamant to bring them back with it and both he and Black juked left and right in order to avoid it, in fact, the only advantage of having a homicidal wrym on their tails' happened to be that it chased away any opposition. As soon as the Team Plasma grunts and occasionally, a sage spied the ancient creature chasing down two adolescents, they discreetly crept away and agreed not to interfere with the aerodactyl's meal. Those prehistoric pokemon were known for their aggression. Identical columns and rooms blurred past and N had no idea where he careered to, or where he ran from. It dawned on him that he forgot the castle's layout and now that the domicile had been completed, it only served to confuse him further. All he saw was a maze of white, frost coated walls.
Frost...The walls had frost on them so somewhere in this labyrinth of turns and rooms, Kyurem had to be hiding along with his fath- along with Ghetsis. An idea popped into his head, he needed to go towards the coldest part of the castle, taking a split second decision, he dodged to the right whilst Black went to the left.
"N!" The teen screamed, "What are you doing? Didn't we decide to go left five minutes earlier?" Aero hovered on leathery wings and contemplated which one to go after. It veered to the left and Black shrilled in indignation and fright. "Left dude...Why on earth are you...Oh, there is a cold breeze coming in from the right so Kyurem must be in there right? Cool, let's go after it and you can settle things with that creepy sage. I'll be with you every step of the way." The male threw his hands up in the air and ducked past the rock dragon as it dove down to him. Throwing the incensed living fossil a peace sign, the duo set off.
The next few corridors crawled with tendrils of mist and a heavy chill infused the area, N could see tiny particles of sparkling dust suspended in the air around them and their breaths came out in white puffs. Aero slowed down considerably and flew a good few meters behind them, it didn't want to venture in this unnatural cold and its instincts warned him to stay away. Danger, it repeated, some evil creature lurked within the corridors and it didn't understand why the two brain dead humans willingly ran towards it. Ice was its natural weakness and slowly the wyvern felt its wings freeze over. The thin screen of flesh slung from one hollow bone to the other did not warm up efficiently and with a mighty heave, Aero doubled back and resolved to put as much distance between itself and an icy tomb. Not hearing its growls any longer, Black spared a glance backwards and cheered when he saw that Red's pokemon left them. However, N didn't stop in his brisk pace and pushed forward. After taking a few more turns, the duo found themselves shivering and gazing up a set of double doors. A thick layer of ice decorated it and obscured the carvings of the doors. Like everything else in the palace, the doors were stained in a rich ivory.
N placed a hand on the door and allowed the gelid surface to bite into his skin, "Black...If you want to leave now...Please do. When I'm done settling things with Ghetsis, I will have to take responsibility for all the atrocious actions Team Plasma did. I am their king after all, I must see this through." The teen next to him replied in negative and droned a string of unrelated words. He spouted strategies and warned that Kyurem could fuse. At the moment, N didn't know what he meant and dismissed the latter's ramblings when he spied Musha crooning happily and resting on the brown haired Unovian's head. Taking a deep lungful of frigid air, the leaf haired adolescent pushed with all his might, the rime coating the hinges cracked and the door swung open smoothly. Inside the throne room, his slate irises fixated towards a cloaked man reclining haughtily on a snow white throne. N felt an angry throb go through his body, Ghetsis sneered arrogantly and next to him, Kyurem, starved and yet majestic, roared angrily and strained its bulk against iron fetters. The chamber, with its cracked pillars and floor, lacked proper windows and ice clung to it on every visible surface. Icicles dripped freezing droplets on the floor, wreaths of verglas climbed up the pillars and walls and trailed akin to frozen ivy. A cloud escaped his lips, despite everything; his throne captivated anyone who laid eyes on it. The man occupying it rose, a calculated slowness in his movements and leaned his weight on the staff, a single, bloodshot eye layered with hate pinned N and expressed utter disdain for Team Plasma's former king.
"We have no place for traitors...Natural Harmonia Gropius" Ghetsis rasped, "however, you do have something I want...you and the cocky brat standing next to you and I will acquire it at any cost. Once I have both the dragon stones in my grasp...I can rule the world! Not even those impertinent nobles of Ransei will be able to stand up to ME!" Ghetsis wheezed and Black recoiled and his patted his bag. "Now be good children and hand them over to me and no one will have to get hurt. It pains me to see you side with the opposition N, I really thought of you as my son you know." Unbeknownst to the people in the room, the shadow triad crouched in the shades of pillars and in the crevices of the room and spied on them.
"No you didn't" N fiercely whispered, Kyurem growled and struck the glacial floor with a claw, "my existence is nothing more than a tool to further your own selfish goals and you treat the entire organization the same way. I will defeat you and scatter the organization by taking responsibility for them...Team Plasma no longer exists!" The nefarious sage's eyes grew wide upon seeing the dark dragon stone in N's pale hands, the adolescent spoke a few words to it and instantaneously Zekrom materialized and shot out bolts of lightning. The sparks ran down walls, shattered ice and the fetters keeping Kyurem down. Suddenly free, the two dragons roared in tandem and the sound shockwaves brought a wall crumbling down. Ghetsis laughed madly, reached deep in his robes and brought out a small object, he held it up for the Dex-criminals to see.
"You have just dug your own grave..." he tumidly declared, "Do you know what this is? No? Of course not you ignorant fool! These are the DNA splicers I've managed to steal from Drayden...Hmpf, did you know he was part of Blackthorn City's Dragon clan? The tribe exiled him after he brought in an outsider. Enough of the history lesson." In his gnarled fingers, the splicers glowed and separated, the slices flew apart and buried itself in Zekrom's flesh. Black immediately screeched at N to take them off, alas..."too late you idiot. Anyone who knows about Kyurem knows that the dragon is incomplete...They all are, but Reshiram and Zekrom accepted their imperfections and morphed into sentient beings. The boundary pokemon could not come to terms with its hollow reality and cursed itself into this monstrosity. When combined, it shall wield a power unrivalled to any creature inhabiting this Poke-earth." N couldn't help but watch in a disheartened manner as his Zekrom wailed in pain and terror. Coils of energy erupted from the little chips and ensnared it; the electric monster flew in the air in an effort to shake them off. Instead, the bands curled around it and soon Zekrom disintegrated. With Ghetsis' revolting laughter echoing in their ears, the duo witnessed how the representation of ideals condensed into two ropes of black energy, these streams formed a double helix and surged towards Kyurem who absorbed them without restraint. The ice dragonoid morphed and once absofusion completed, it resembled something else entirely.
"What...What did you do to my ZEKROM?!" N exploded, perhaps for the first time in his life. "I can't hear him! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?"
"I see you lack the brain cells even the most dumbest of humans posses...What do you think I did with him? See for yourself." Kyurem came forth; slamming its ice encrusted hind legs on the tiles and shattering them. A black turbo replaced its formerly stumped tail and with a cackle, it ignited and blazed with blue tendrils of electricity, the dragonoid's spindly forearms elongated into two huge hands that were characteristic of Zekrom. Its wings, one black and leather and the other white and scaly, flapped in tandem and sent Musha toppling off Black's head. The extra layer of dense bone lining its maw fell away to reveal a protruded chin, the edge so pointy, it could stab someone to death. N looked into its eyes and found Zekrom's irises staring back at him.
"...H/eL...Me. Pa...I/n fu/ll" The acid green haired man recoiled, he could hear a sorrowful cry of help radiating from deep within the creature and he could hear Zekrom's pain and anguished cries for salvation. "...H/eL...Me. Pa...I/n fu/ll" it repeated over and over again and he tried to piece the incoherent words together.
"You sick moron!" Black hissed next to him, "Can't you see the creature is in pain? You fused them together! Undo the fusion immediately!"
"Silly child, why should I? The one eyed man leaned on his staff and grinned diabolically, "Black Kyurem is more powerful than before and this fusion will start to piece together its broken remains. It seems my wyvern is rather hungry, feast all you want Kyurem, because I'll need you later." Limping, Ghetsis sat himself on the throne and gleefully watched as the electric ice dragon bore down on N and opened its jaws wide. The slate eyed adolescent could smell its foul breath as it washed over his face, yet, he refused to budge. Black screamed at him again and pushed him away. A flash of brilliant white light ignited in the periphery of his vision and abruptly, he found his view of Kyurem's jaw blocked by a sea of white, creamy fur. Reshiram. Sighing, N sunk his fingers in the vast white dragon's tuft of fur and cried.
"...H/eL...Me. Pa...I/n fu/ll"
He could still hear Zekrom's warped pleas of help.
Around the same time
In another part of the castle
"It would've been wise to have a map of this place and why on earth is it getting colder?" Lack-2 irritably kicked away a piece of brown rubble and stopped, "where are seniors N and Black? I sincerely hope they aren't in the heart of this freezing fortress...Man I can't feel my fingers anymore!" The child flexed his fingers and spared a listless peek at his companion. White cautiously edged forward with an unhealthy solosis clasped safely in her arms. The gel like substance covering the pokemon thinned and its oval eyes remained perpetually shut. Treading further in the castle, they came across broken bits of construction along with a strip of newly dug earth. "This must be the way...I can already picture commander Red's Aero tearing this place up. But seriously...It's getting really cold." Silently, the two trekked through the hallways and kept an eye out. The place remained quiet as a grave and only the occasional sniff from solosis and a high pitched squeak from Pibo broke the monotony.
"I hope Black and N are all right..." White trailed off and bit her lower lip in anticipation.
"Don't worry!" her companion snorted and laced his hands behind his head, "they have two legendary dragons at their command...Who's going to maim them? If they team up, I'm sure they'd be able to plough through any adversary standing in their way so you don't have to worry for them...rather, I'd me more worried about myself because there is a member of the Team Plasma SCUM trailing me." Whipping around, he drew a slim iron rod from his pant pocket and hurled it at the ground; the spike drilled through a tile and struck the earth. "Show yourself!" Like water, several grunts and the smirking form of Zinzolin emerged from several rooms and pooled together in front of White and Lack-2.
"I see you are still the same insolent brat I met two years ago in the forest...Have you come to stop us little man? Unfortunately that won't do...our leader has already sprung all the traps and I can assure you, you have already lost." Lack-2 didn't waste time on any jibes; he sent his trusty partners out and grabbed pichu by the scruff when the tiny rodent tried to join in the battle. "A little pet?" the sage mocked, "...How cute." Shielding White from the masses, he stood before them and implored her to escape.
"And leave you here alone Lack-2? I can't do that!" She exclaimed and he shook his head.
"No, please go. And besides..." he looked at the grunts with obvious scorn, "I can handle some small fry by myself. Team Plasma needs to be whacked so hard, that they won't dare ever raise their heads from the underground again." Samurott and swanna spread out and formed a barrier between White and Zinzolin. Articulating another thanks, the chocolate haired girl bounded away and sped down the frostbitten passages, a few grunts tried to pursue her but a timely whirlwind from swanna sent them flying backwards and smashing into the opposite wall, to drive the message home, the quadrupled water type stabbed its horn next to one quivering grunt. The sage smiled at Lack-2's ferocious display and sent his cyrogonal, the floating ice creature lashed samurott with two chains of icy globules before floating safely out of way when the beast retaliated with a burst of scalding water.
White ran down the halls and took a customary glance at her surroundings. They all looked the same anyway. Her legs got numb and she berated herself on wearing only a pair of short shorts and not having the sense to pack warmer clothing. Solly, in a sort of a half hibernation in her arms, flashed feebly and she took a right turn. A spark of indignation took root deep in her chest, just because she was more of a planner and organizer didn't mean she couldn't battle. As she thought this, an army of grunts descended on her. The girl stood her ground, stared them straight in the eye...And fled. Swinging from her hip, her serperior, Amanda, hissed in a displeased manner and after a brief struggle, it broke free from its pokeball. She knew White did not fear or despise battling and the only reason her master did not command them to battle was simply because the human thought their potential for acting would decrease. Slithering to a stop before an assemblage of liepard and garbodor, the regal pokemon lifted its head and ignored the heated sputtering of its trainer. It waited patiently for a command. White repeatedly called Amanda back, however the serpent refused, it did not attack nor try to defend itself when the opposition swiped a claw over its glistening scales and drew a fine trickle of blood, the girl wanted to catch up to N and Black as soon as possible but her pokemon wanted to fight.
"Experiences Prez..." Her best friend said these words when he kidnapped her and coerced her to join the Dex-criminals. Black needed little persuading and when he saw his department sported the then Champion Red as the leader, the teenager integrated himself into the organization with stars in his eyes. She had been a bit more sceptical but opened up when her skills of planning and organizing were much praised and needed. Turning around, she trudged back to her pokemon and faced the group of sniggering grunts who bore down on her with pitied expressions. Before she finished uttering two commands, her grass snake already struck. A flurry of razor edged leaves erupted from beneath the opposition and sent them scurrying for safety, the leaves swirled, formed into a cutting tornado and swept through the hallway tearing through clothes, fur, skin and leaving thin gashes on the walls. Some of the higher levelled beasts on Team Plasma's side tried to strike back furiously, a leaf storm shredded them and White looked the other way and started contemplating the roles her savage Amanda could star in...She'd definitely be a villain, the girl bemoaned and delicately stepped over severed limbs and groaning people to continue in her quest to find her comrades.
Aero swooped over her head and she peeked upwards to see the rock type speeding outwards with a strained visage. A second later, the guttural roar of a dragon echoing from deep within the castle buffeted her ears. The passageway shook and tiny pieces of plaster dislodged and pelted her. Amanda slithered forward and White followed her courageously. No need to be afraid, she told herself, her pokemon was right next to her.
A vast chamber with partially open doors beckoned her and she stepped into an entirely different part of the palace. Heat and cold clashed with each other, one moment a block of ice formed a pillar on the floor and in the next; the ice melted to form to steam and add to the general stuffed up atmosphere commanding the room. She beheld Black, sitting atop Reshiram and shouting commands and her eyes sought out N who stood agape on the floor and followed the battle. They fought a dragon White had never seen before and her brain whirred as she pieced facts together, some sort of fusion? Still enthralled with their war, the two males failed to see how she crept in undetected and N only noticed her appearance when she tapped him on the shoulder.
Startled, the leaf haired adolescent explained to her the circumstances. "Ghetsis used some sort of DNA splicers and forced Zekrom and Kyurem to fuse together. Zekrom is trapped inside him and he is in pain. Currently, Black and Reshiram are trying to keep Black Kyurem at bay since the ice dragon wants to have us for dinner. I can't speak to it...Before, I could sense a presence and calm him down but once he fused...It's as if their minds have been torn apart and stitched together haphazardly. I don't understand what they are saying anymore." He diverted his attention back to the conflict and added, "your solosis is very sick, he keeps on mumbling about death and disasters."
"Ahahaha..." The female chuckled weakly in an effort to disperse the tension building up in her, "whatever Solly predicts...Eventually comes true but I hope that this time he's just sick and spouting nonsense. I sincerely hope so." The duo quieted down and gasped when Reshiram smacked into the side of the wall. Ghetsis held his walking stick like a conductor's baton and used it to order Kyurem around and the dragon responded with a ferocity and agility one could expect in verbal commands.
Black exhaled in pain and felt his neck. Unbroken. Good. Reshiram absorbed most of the impact and the vast white creature peeled itself off the wall and shook itself free from cement fragments. The turbo on its tail ignited, belted out a plume of flame and sent the temperature in the room to suffocatingly high degrees. A screen of mist rose and obscured the field. Reshiram kicked off from the ground and flew in the air, tumbling to avoid an arc of electricity which shot past its left, Jaws open wide, it followed Black's directions, plunged finger sized teeth into a black wing and furiously tore the appendage off Black Kyurem. The dragon roared and rampaged around the room, spilling tar-esque blood on the already slippery, wet floor. Another order had the wyvern blasting a wall of searing blue fire. It enclosed its opponent and Black watched as the ice monster doused the flames with its element. Unfortunately for it, the sacred flames did not go easily out in water and they most certainly won't vanish in the presence of ice. The tongues of cyan fire licked over and consumed Kyurem. The dragon became still and when the fire finally died out, their eyes fixated upon a burnt carcass.
Stab.
The next few surreal events happened in slow motion and changed the entire course of the fight. Kyurem was far from death and defeat and despite being scorched till the very marrow of its bones, the beast shot out a spear-like pillar of ice. The projectile, propelled by electricity, lanced right through Reshiram's thick fur and dragon hide, it slid between the ribs, through a sheet of tough muscle and came to a stop in the dragon's beating heart. The thick cardiac muscle prevented the spear from penetrating further. Its partner gawked at the red stain rapidly spreading from the left side of Reshiram's chest. The heart kept on beating for a few moments more and very suddenly it stopped. The legendary beast of truth plummeted to the floor and sent up tile fragments. Instead of sliding off the dragon, Black kept sitting on it, his fingers curled in the pokemon's fur. He felt Reshiram's leg bones shatter when it hit the cold floor and several meters away from them, their adversary regenerated an ice wing and limb and studied them with a cruel gaze.
The warmth of his partner's body rapidly faded. White and N stood dumbstruck and rooted to their spot whilst their friend slid off the mythical beast's body and struggled to turn the monster to its side. He wanted to inspect the site of the wound. Surely potions could work...No! They must work, or a revive, a max revive...Berries and herbs...Black had them all. Frantically rummaging through his bag, he brought out an entire set of healing chemicals and laid them down on the floor. Again, he pushed against Reshiram with all his might but the wrym refused to budge. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought that the monster fell asleep, but everyone knew legendary creatures were not affected by puny status effects. A pool of crimson liquid stained the floor and the dragon's glassy irises slid slightly to the left and it whimpered. Immediately, the teen rushed towards its head, stroked it affectionately and spoke words of comfort. To White's dismay, he began crying, fat tear drops falling on stained fur as the Unovian clutched and wailed miserably.
And then...
The dragon started glowing.
Ghetsis clutched his staff and swore under his breath. The spear pierced its heart so why didn't that damn creature die? Kyurem itself did not pose a pleasant sight and it took the brief reprieve to rest and regenerate. He saw N and White pleading with Black to get away from the vast white and a realization dawned on him. The stubborn teenager refused to budge and still held on to his dear companion with all his might. Fed up, N strode over and tugged him on the arm only to receive an elbow to his gut. White pulled on him and Black begged them to stay away.
"Black!" the leaf haired man wheezed, "your Reshiram is not getting better! Don't you see its reverting into its stone form? Please move away Black, you will be sucked in!"
"Listen to him Black! Please listen to N!" Solly drifted into a coma and White panted, "I don't want to lose you! BLACK!"
He didn't move, even as it shined, the brown haired male forced a max revive down the dragon's throat and the ethereal from condensed and sucked everything in, he observed N shielding and pulling a distraught White away from the affected radius. A queer sensation overtook his body and his vision blanked.
Black and Reshiram transformed into a pure white sphere. The process occurred so quickly White felt weak and dropped to the cold floor. She didn't feel real any longer and worse, when her friend deliberately allowed himself to get sucked into the stone. He was smiling.
Smiling...
Why? Didn't he want to become Unova's champion? What happened to his dreams?
"Hahahahahaaaa!" Ghetsis dissolved into a fit of chortles and rasped, "How wonderful! How truly wonderful, now I have one less brat standing in my way!" He stopped prattling and balked when N fearlessly hiked to a blackened Kyurem. "Get away from him boy! Do you also have a death wish?" A tiny quiver entered his voice when instead of attacking him; the exhausted creature stooped to his level and eyed him ponderously.
"Zekrom...I know you are in there and you have great strength...You have power to overcome and break the bonds tying you down. Kyurem...everyone believes that you are a remnant...a hollow being who needs its existence to be filled with something else. You are your own creature and you should stop craving to be whole. We are all halves, quarters and pieces...and we should learn to accept it. Your friends make you whole and simply accepting your presence amongst Zekrom and Reshiram will make you whole. You are part of them and they are part of you. So please...release Zekrom already." N trod back to White, smiled at her and grasped her by the shoulders. "White..."
"You are going to do something stupid like Black!" The female's form stiffened. "No, you are not doing anything or settling anything here, we are going back and we will take that..." she hiccupped, "...the light dragon stone with us and Commander Red will resolve this crisis. No N! Please don't be rash...I can't lose you as we-"
"I love you" N confessed abruptly, "and I'm sure Black...loved you as well. Staying in the organization taught me a lot of things. It taught me that humans and pokemon can coexist together and remain lifelong partners. I admire Black because he made me realize this and because...In the very end, he sacrificed his ambitions to be with his partner. I also learnt how to take responsibility for my mistakes and not to run away from my problems or hide from them. This..." he gestured to Ghetsis, "is my problem and as a king, I cannot let my wayward subjects do as they please. It's going to be dangerous...Please let me pr-otec...T...Y-..ou" The front of White's shirt sported a spray of blood and N slumped against her with red fluid dribbling down his mouth and a gaping hole in his chest. This time, she didn't scream...She didn't have the energy to and mutely she watched as four shadowy hands wrapped around him and dragged him backwards into a golden sarcophagus. N's corpse was neatly placed into it and the lid shut with a bang.
A nightmare...
Something roared and it sounded like it came from a distant planet. Nothing reached her ears anymore and White sat there like a puppet whose strings were cut. A volley of tears cascaded down her face and plopped rhythmically on Solly's head. The pokemon woke up and the gel coating around it thickened. The disaster it predicted finally came to pass and it did not have to fear anymore. A torrent of negative energy assaulted the newly wakened pokemon and it diffused the malevolent whispers with a psychic wave. A huge black thing landed in front and White blinked.
Zekrom...So they un-fused.
"Experiences Prez..." she saw Black's lopsided smile as he uttered those words... "let me protect you..." the expressions swam in her head and she wanted to bury herself in a corner and cry.
And cry
Cry...
But crying would do nothing. On the opposite side of the room, Ghetsis struck his cane on the floor and Kyurem responded. The Unova native wiped her tears and got up shakily. She whipped her Pokedex out and commanded: "Zekrom...Use bolt strike!" The first monolith of electric energy clashed against a dragon pulse and dissipated into the room, striking and hitting anything within its range. The second column struck true to its target and the surroundings became blindingly blue. The smell of electric burns hovered in the air and when the move completed, the occupants gazed at the shattered fragments of a glacial rock.
Kyurem...Finally at peace.
Zekrom channelled its energy towards Ghetsis...The man stood defiantly with his legion of well-trained monsters. The dragon ignored them and whaled on cofagrigus instead. A screeching din alerted the humans to the coffin pokemon being torn apart and the black dragon gently picked N's ashen body out of the casket.
Then it promptly morphed into a stone while still holding the dead body.
"The dark stone...While it may have gathered some unneeded impurities...we still have to take it. The light stone as well. I'm sure a method to awaken them exists...We just have to study up on it." The shadow triad stood up and confirmed their strategy, "I kill Ghetsis, the other grabs the light stone and you will go for the dark stone, understood?" His companions nodded, "kill anything that gets in your way." Akin to black water, they seeped out of the cracks and rushed towards their targets. A thin smile spread across the leader's face as he took sadistic pleasure on seeing the horrified look on Ghetsis face. One second: he slid the slim, assassin's sword out of an ornamented sheath, two: his target spoke rapidly and rallied his pokemon, three seconds later, a thin blade of steel served his opponents nerves and blood vessels and he jumped away in order to avoid the starburst of blood erupting from Ghetsis' neck. A glimpse told him that the dark dragon sphere was secured however his other colleague veered off course when a prehistoric creature swooped in with a brat dangling from its maw. It grabbed the light stone with one claw and the female teenager with the other and thereafter disappeared as fast as it came.
Dangling from Aero's dirt encrusted talons; White fumbled for her Xtransciever and stifled her sobs.
Dead...She informed Execution's commander.
Her friends, sucked into two respective stones...Were as good as dead.
A/N: Much thanks to CaptainAzenor for favoriting the story, I hope it continues to be a pleasant read for you. At Silver: Some romance blossoming between Whi-2 and Hugh? Heh, the romance has already blossomed. You have a point, he will keep quiet for the sake of his friends. N and Black aren't dead…they are stuck permanently in limbo. At Eevee: The goodbye sounded very sad, but if you're at least reading the story then that makes me glad :) Same to you, take care of yourself as well. At Jack54311: I like stories with grey morality, I believe it makes more sense than a story with defining 'good' and 'bad' guys. They weren't mentioned in the beginning of the arc. Heh, your question (are there any good guys in here?) just made me nod my head and pat myself on a job well done.
