Chapter XVI: E.N.D.

Hello, old friend

Did ya miss me?! I sure missed you. You remember me, don't you? I'm Maya Rodriguez. Well, actually, I'm not her anymore. Who I am is who you are: an eternal being of ethereal light. Maya was the name given to me at my birth, but that is not my name. I have no name, no face and no body. At the present moment (the only moment which truly exists) I am that I am.

Don't worry. This didn't make any sense to me either – before I met Arceus, that is. A lot of stuff went down prior to us meeting, though. Allow me to explain. . .

The day I was captured, I woke up in a dank, prison-like cell. Dense, hot air signaled we were somewhere underground. And by "we" I mean me and dozens of other kids, some of whom were jammed four or five deep into one cell. I was alone, however, and I didn't know why.

Later it became clear to me that the Leader of Team Rocket, whose name I learned after days of careful eavesdropping, had a special plan for me. For the first week or so in the underground headquarters, I was Siegfried's muse. He and his Grunts would take me into one of his chambers and force me onto a makeshift pedestal. They removed my clothes as their Leader violated an innocent child, attempting to make me watch. I closed my eyes each time, but whenever I went to cover my body two Grunts would pull back my hands. This occurred multiple times a week.

Due to Damion's vigorous pursuit, I personified the clash between them. He would bring me the finest cuisine from all over the world just to serve it to me with foul insults about my body and my existence as a whole. He did and said what he pleased. His lust for power and flesh seemed to never end. For my entire life I've prided myself on not victimizing myself. Most people I came across in my time on Earth used a victim's mentality to avoid responsibilities and shame others. But what me and the rest of the underground kids suffered through I wouldn't wish upon my greatest enemy.

The day my spirit left Earth I had overheard Siegfried defending his case for global genocide. One of his Grunts expressed concerns about the moral compass of the criminal organization. He said that he shared a love of rebellion and mayhem, but all the trafficking and violation felt completely unnecessary. It was then I discovered his true motives. Although his desires for an organic revival between non-humans and Planet Earth sounded logical, Siegfried was nothing more than a deranged philosopher.

After accumulating so much power and wealth with little to no consequence, his ego had inflated to the point of total delusion. He was essentially one-upping himself with every new endeavor. When being my uncle's right-hand man bored him, he overthrew him. When taking orders from the world's elite bored him, he went behind their backs. The real question is: What does one do when there is nothing left to accomplish, no one left to answer to?

Siegfried abused his status to remind himself that he could. When the opulent have nothing left to buy, they sell their souls to rebellion. He relished the thrill of immoral acts and spread his lust onto his trusted minions.

Moments following this discovery, he unlocked my cell and called me forward like any other time. He acknowledged that I knew too much and needed to be punished for my naughty nosiness. Grunts escorted me to a hidden chamber far away from the others.

He ordered me around like a dog: sit, stay, lie down. But I refused. His minions didn't intervene this time. So I took the liberty of spitting in his face. He wiped off my spit and sucked it off his fingers, expressing his disappointment that I had missed the preferred target of his mouth. He sickened me to my core, and you can bet that I let him know.

Before I was able to finish more than a few sentences, however, my face was met by the inside of his wrist with incredible force. It felt like a sledgehammer cracked open my nose. I fell to the ground, seeping blood and tears, as he pursued his insatiable goal. He stole what was rightfully mine to give. The more I fought, the less mercy showed. . .

Normally, I would never disclose these details to anyone. But since you've stuck with me this far, I figured you deserved to know. . .

He infiltrated my insides. The first time it happened his Grunts only watched. But the second and final time he took me against my will they became part of the act. One held me down while the others watched and touched themselves. His favorite play-thing, Penny I think her name was, squeezed and bit me all over. In this time of extreme pain and shame, there was only way out.

So I prayed.

"Please, Arceus, Creator of Pokémon," I begged. "Please save me from this suffering. With you, pure evil has met its match. Save me, dear God, please save me!"

My consent was mine to give. No man would judge my fate, my love, my life. What he did to me that day – I'm sure of it – sealed his destiny forever. As he was moments from finishing, I felt a separate, more powerful sensation come over me. It was as if my soul was sucked out of my body. For the first time as Maya Rodriguez, I knew what it felt like to be dead.

I surveyed the scene as he returned to his feet. My lifeless frame didn't even faze him. Penny checked my pulse and shook her head. He zipped up his pants and chuckled, congratulating himself on penetrating me to completion.

In this ethereal form my emotions heightened to unbearable levels. The anguish felt like ten-thousand spears going right through my heart. But soon thereafter a heavenly rain washed over me. Odd-shaped black beings created a bed around my aura. Each of them had one eye. They were all shaped as different linguistic symbols. My mind registered their name.

The Legendary Pokémon Unown carried me to the Creator Pokémon. Far past the sky, the Earth, the galaxy, Arceus resides. I groveled at the space beneath its feet. Questions swelled within me. It preferred to show than to tell.

Flashes of information emitted onto my existence. The Creator Pokémon restored my ancient knowledge. It showed to me its purpose of symbolizing the abstraction of the One True God. They, the Holy Trinity of the Letter-I Unown, the Letter-C Unown and the Letter-F Unown, created Arceus through a process known as vortex mathematics. As individual souls, we must crack our own codes of the universe. Therefore I can't pass down this process to you.

All you need to know is that vibration governs the universe. There are two realities in which we live: the tangible, material world we know as Life on Earth and the intangible, ethereal world that is. We are nothing more than energy particles vibrating at various speeds. As waves are to the ocean, as leaves are to branches, so are humans to the Planet Earth.

Pokémon are our bridge to the heavens. They teach us of love and friendship.

Embraced once again by the Unown, I reached a higher plane. They presented to me a field of dreams with a lunar sphere at its center. I regained Maya's human form. My soul had been purified. The Unown aligned in this sequence:

ASK OF ME AND YE SHALL KNOW

Heaven's door opened when I touched the perfect surface of the sphere. Freedom rang within me.

Sergio appeared to me. I saw his dark deeds and illegal transactions. He did his best to clean up his filth on the day Trevor and I were born. But karma had caught up with him. My mother had had enough. I sensed the intensity of her unfailing love. She kept a spare bedroom in her new condo for me, which brought her peace.

Deoxys appeared to me, populating its home with clones, meditating on threats unknown, preparing for bloodshed.

Damion appeared to me, conflicted and numb, awaiting the return of the former Hoenn Champion to his trophy room. Even though by this point the light within Damion's soul had begun to dull, his passion warmed my heart. He never stopped fighting for me. And I'll never forget that.

Yen Blackstone appeared to me. I saw right through his disguise. Champions are just another person when no one is watching – or are they? His nemeses were defeated and justice was selfishly served. I wanted to hate what he had become. But something deep down told me he was still that numb, conflicted boy, looking to make sense of his pain. As he stepped to the unconscious crowd of Ecruteak spectators, his digital verse vibrated among the stars. These were his words:

Ye west of the Sevii seas:

Malevolence. Tragedy.

Death!

They doth dwell beneath our feet.

They connect us, a nexus;

Separated by the streets,

Making those who serve complete.

New beginnings flow despite

Emotions of dark and light,

Revealing this stark fiction:

Death is real. Yes?

Karma tests God's testament.

We forget just how feels –

To be infinite in flesh!

Hence, Life's pain doth fortify.

Evolution Never Dies. . . .

His final line reverberated inside my soul. It was clear to me that his heart understood some of the same ancient knowledge bestowed upon me. He risked his sanity to save me. And even though I never asked to be saved, and his chances of success were slim to none, his fiery spirit echoed within me. He and I are not quite alike, but not quite different either. Y'see, energy connects us all. On one end of the spectrum, we are merely harmless bubbles in an ocean of possibilities. Yet on the other, we are giant tsunamis capable of both creation and destruction.

Our choices build the realities we witness on a daily basis. Arceus told me so. Free will, it told, is a rite of passage among sentient life forms. Destiny is an ever-changing narrative of choice, of work and sacrifice. Incarnating as a human being is a special privilege, the Creator Pokémon explained to me. Before we are born into flesh, we consult with various souls and spirit guides to build a life path for ourselves. This all probably sounds extremely crazy to you.

Nevertheless, I'm doing my best to share the knowledge I was given prior to having my own choice to make. Arceus described something it called the Window of Amnesia. It is the gateway between ethereal existence and physical existence. Once we decide a life path with our spirit guides and ally souls – some of whom enter the material world alongside us as our parents, close friends or colleagues – we prepare to pass through the Window of Amnesia.

As compiled particles of energy, our souls vibrate at a certain frequency based upon the various choices we've made in our lifetime. Good and evil aren't easy to distinguish at times. Those who believe the material world has the potential to be all good or all bad are kind of missing the point. Planet Earth is a world of endless dualities. It is a melting pot of journey-driven souls.

At higher frequencies and on higher dimensional planes, emotions are much, much stronger. Everything I've ever done – during all of my lifetimes – I remember when I'm here in this ethereal state. I have access to every feeling, every thought, every decision. When we consciously choose to demote to the third dimension, we become an agent of change.

Passing through the Window of Amnesia nullifies the memories of our past lives so that we may live in the present moment always, and focus on the lesson we were born to learn on Earth. Numbers are crucial in unlocking the universe. We are born on a certain day, at a certain time and in a certain era. Mistakes we made in our past lives cannot stop us from raising our vibration. The ultimate goal is always to come back to God, or in other words, to come back to love.

Choosing love over hate, over regret and guilt, over lust and greed, is what can make us whole again. Happiness, peace – or whatever you want to call it – is never a destination but rather a path on which we traverse day by day. Love vibrates with the purest intensity. It is the most infectious component of life because it is the source of all life. It cannot be created nor destroyed, only given and received. Just like us.

Our bodies may perish, but like that brave, numb boy preached, evolution lives forever. We are not our bodies. Our bodies are simply vehicles with which we discover and create. They are tools to help filter out the noise of past lives so that we may shed our sinful skin and live fully, adjacent to the heavens. When we choose love, the universe always has our back, even on our darkest days.

That is all I can share with you now as it is my time to choose. The group of Unown lifted me higher to the seventh dimensional plane where two windows, or portals, were presented to me. Arceus spoke to me from on high.

Two choices appeared before me. The leftmost portal showed a bird's-eye view of the Ecruteak battlefield. The other showed a mass of energy which toggled between utter darkness and pure light.

Arceus declared that the leftmost path was one back to Earth as a Pokémon. It didn't tell me which Pokémon I would be. But it did say that I would serve to restore Damion's heart to its natural state of love. It added that I owed him nothing and his choices belonged to him and him alone.

Then Arceus declared that the rightmost path was one back to the limitless space of the cosmos. There I could explore and vibrate at whatever rate I pleased. I would be able to meet up with other souls I connected with over time and potentially re-purpose myself on Earth later on if I wished. It added that anything was possible in the cosmos, which included both my wildest fantasies and my dimmest nightmares.

The choice was mine to make. Both held infinite wonder and potential. Love or discovery, those were my options. Arceus was right; I didn't owe Damion a damn thing. But he sure as hell owed me. I wanted a rematch at the height of our powers. If I helped straighten him out along the way, so be it.

I decided right then and there that Planet Earth hadn't heard the last of Maya Rodriguez. One day I will return to human form and challenge him, my old friend Damion, to one last Pokémon battle. The love of competition brought us together and it will send us off on the right foot.

So I chose love, am choosing love, and will continue to choose love until my heart flattens and my soul expands into the heavens. I stepped to the left and allowed holy light to rush through me.

That's when everything went white. . . . . . . . .