Chapter 17: A New Ability
"This…is the Chosen's Respite?"
The group had managed to reach the building. They could not comprehend its structure. The tall black tower consisted of no windows, an opened entrance, and black fires emerging out of the concrete blocks. Its structure looked like eight blocks stacked up in a mess. It did not match their expectation as they thought it should be a ruin shrouded in light. Paul had a second thought of entering that tower.
He said, "I think…we should buy more Wands before going into the door. We never know who is lurking in there!"
Solestral argued, "Hey! You are the one who said that we might find answers on how to explore Mirage Water Cave Mystery Dungeon! Besides, I have questions of my own too. Let's budge in!"
Inside the tower's ground floor, it was lit by floating fires near the wall of the black-coloured room. There was also a white spiral staircase with the floating fires near the wall to light up the way. At the centre of the room, there was a thin brown book on the golden stand. Paul peered over the book. It titled 'A Pact Made by Two Worlds'. He flipped opened the book. It had only two pages. He read:
In ancient times, two beings who were the representatives of their homeworld managed to see each other in The Realm of Wishes. One was an ape-like spirit, and the other was the God of Pokémon. They had discussed a lot of their times on their planet, as well as their troubles. They met each other every day, until one day, the God of Pokémon said that they could not meet each other for a hundred years for the realm had become unstable because of their power. The desperate spirit begged It not to go as he was afraid that the world could not be peaceful without Its guidance. So, the God of Pokémon promised him that It would send its chosen ones to help with the problems of this world, and they would return when they had completed the missions. In exchange, the God of Pokémon asked the spirit to choose his chosen ones to give aid to Its world. To solve the dilemma of the interaction of the beings of the other world, they will be given a form that exists in that world. Also, to prevent the instability of the realm, the chosen ones can only be sent to the other world for every five years. The ape-like spirit agreed to the God of Pokémon's terms. And so, he made a list of his descendants and passed it to the God of Pokémon that he had selected to help him. As what to do with the list, he let the God of Pokémon decide with it. The God of Pokémon also passed him the list. Together, they created the prophecy in their world so that should the world is in peril, there will always be hope to save it.
The current prophecy in the World of Origin in this world is:
By the will of the spirit resided in the other world, Solestral, the chosen one, shall come by a request of a Guardian. She will have her memories sealed for her safety and have the ability that no other beings in this world have. However, this creature cannot do it alone. Forming a team of her preference will help her stay on task to save the world. And extra help will assist her to lessen the burden of her mission.
"…and that's about it," Paul ended the story.
Solestral was baffled. "What the? I was called into this world because of this prophecy? Who wrote this stuff? It was not fair for me to be summoned without my consent! Ahem!" she cleared her throat and continued speaking, "Anyway, where is the clue on helping us explore the aquatic Mystery Dungeon?"
Paul replied, "Maybe we need to climb the stairs to the next floor? Maybe we can get the help we need. But I feel something ominous to see a white staircase in the black tower…"
"Let's tread carefully," cautioned Normad.
The group climbed the stairs. As they reached the second floor, they spotted a black door without a doorknob. They pushed the door open and were flabbergasted. There was a false blue sky that with clouds moving around and a fake background of grassy hills. At the centre of it was a small pond with a water fountain. The water fountain was a pile of rocks stacked up and had water oozing from the top. Surrounding the pond was short grass without any cattail plants, but there were water plants at the bottom of the pond. Paul turned to Solestral and stuttered.
"As…as much as I want to go in…and enjoy a swim. I think we should keep going."
Solestral smirked. "Oh, oh? Are you sure that you don't want to dip in pristine water? Isn't this is your ideal habitat?" she stopped joking and spoke slightly seriously, "But yeah, let's keep going. Who knows what we are gonna find next?"
The other rooms on other floors amazed them even more. The third floor had a room with grass and some trees and flowers. The fourth floor had a crater garden with Berry plants. The fifth floor had a white room for mediation. The sixth floor had a training room with Substitute monsters that can move and used element attacks. The seventh floor had a Warp Tile. The board placed beside it stated that the Warp Tile could warp anyone to any destination, and that raised Solestral's suspicion whether it was true. Otherwise, she thought the rooms that she had been to were paradises where the heroes could take a break from their ordeals, despite the gloomy exterior of the tower.
Once they reached the final floor, they found themselves in a dark room. Before the group could take a step further, the floating flames appeared, dancing around at the edge of the room. At the centre of the room was a female fox humanoid with orange flaming ears, yellow-coloured face and the same colour for the upper torso, and the rest of the body was black. She kindly welcomed them with a smile.
"Hello, chosen heroine and her friends. Welcome to The Chosen's Respite. My name is Eterna the Delphox. I can help you to make your 'Saving the World' mission easier by bestowing skills to go through tough terrains and defeating tough enemies. What will it be?"
Solestral felt contented that she addressed as a heroine as only the hero would save the world even when the odds stacked against her. Though, she admitted that she did not have the 'hero attitude' as she would complain when she needed to do additional work that she disliked. She stopped herself from thinking about it and walked closer to Eterna.
The black kitten replied, "Hi, Madam Eterna. I am wondering whether you can help us able to breathe underwater. We want to explore Mirage Water Cave Mystery Dungeon, which is a water world. And since you have mentioned about tough enemies, we would like to have the skill to defeat Mega-Evolved Pokémon like Pinnacle and Blazar."
"Ah. For your first request, I can help you to cope in that Mystery Dungeon's terrain. How about this?"
She snapped her fingers, and rainbow-coloured sparkles rained down on the group. The group felt some warmth from the sparkles until they dissipated. Eterna spoke.
"I have blessed you and your friends with All-Terrain Mobility. No matter which terrain you are in, you won't experience any negative effects from the area. However, it won't block anything that can crush you, like a falling boulder. Since this skill will make any explorations too easy to complete, it will cease after you have saved the world." She paused for a while before she continued to speak. "Alright, as for your other request. I have heard of these two Mega Pokémon. Apparently, from what I had investigated, their Mega-Evolved forms have not ended since they were granted Mega Evolution."
"What?!" exclaimed Solestral, "Who is that being that blessed them this power?"
"I cannot discern who it is, unfortunately. At least, I know what you need to defeat the two Mega-Evolved Pokémon. But the problem is…"
Eterna summoned her staff on her right hand. It was a tall black fire-proofed wooden stick with a flame design as its head, and a rounded tip at the bottom. She waved her wand. Two black flames with white ends engulfed the surprised Paul and Normad. Solestral heard the blue tortoise and the big owl screamed in pain. She was horrified and confused about what had happened until she saw the mage grinning at her maliciously.
The mage said, "Now then, what will you do to help them, heroine?"
"What…what did you do to my friends?" started Solestral.
"I'm sending them to the afterlife because I despise you all!"
Eterna used her staff to create a barrage of black flames at Solestral. The black kitten managed to dodge all the attacks, but the black flames did not disappear. Instead, they chased after her. Solestral then used Flamethrower at the black flames, but the black flames managed to break through and enveloped her. The black flames did not hurt her physically, but instead, she felt Eterna's negative thoughts flooding in her mind. The thoughts were in phases that intertwined with each other, and they hurt the black kitten's mentally. She felt that her mind was about to break. Nonetheless, she knew that she had to break free from the black flames. With determination, she managed to step out from the flames. To her surprise, the flames did not chase her. With her mind cleared from those negative thoughts, she noticed that Paul and Normad were still shrouded in the black flames. She shouted at them.
"Paul! Normad! Get out of the flames! They are just messing with your minds!"
But she heard no response to her words. Instead, they kept on screaming about the pain inflicted in their heads. Solestral eyed at Eterna angrily. She took out a Slumber Wand and waved it at the mage. The pink sparkles from the Wand flew towards the mage. However, she destroyed the sparkles with just a swing of her staff. The black kitten was frustrated that the Wand's effect failed to activate again, but she didn't lose hope. She ran towards her friends and tackled them out of the flames. Paul and Normad relieved that their ordeals were over and they thanked Solestral for her aid.
"Whew… Any more than that and I would probably turn into a Gastly…" said Paul.
Normad agreed and replied, "It was…unbearable that I could not even move my body. Why does Madam Eterna…resent us? She was…nice to us a moment ago."
Eterna moaned, "Because I hate you all for many reasons. That's it! I shall get rid of all the Pokémon on Sereni!"
She slammed the bottom of her staff on the floor. All of a sudden, Paul and Normad collapsed on the floor. She smirked at their bodies and said.
"Ah, much better! Now I don't need to hear their yapping anymore."
Solestral was distraught and anguished as she saw Paul and Normad motionless on the fall. She shouted at Eterna in tears.
"Screwdanae! How could you…"
The mage laughed, "Ha! It is your fault that you are powerless to save them. But don't worry, you will join them soon enough!"
The black kitten stood her ground and said, "I won't let you succeed! I will defeat you!"
Solestral's body began to shine in golden light. She dashed towards Eterna so fast that the mage could not conjure a barrier in time. The black kitten then slammed onto the mage. Eterna flinched from the attack as Solestral pushed her towards the wall, but the mage managed to recover and retaliated with Psychic to send the black kitten away from her. As Eterna was in the process of creating a tide of black flames at Solestral, she saw Paul and Normad covered in golden light too. The mage smiled and cancelled her attack. Solestral was oblivious of what was happening with her friends. She ran closer to Eterna and used Bite on her right leg. The mage cried in pain, but then she stopped and told her.
"Whew. That is enough bad acting from me. Heroine, you can cease your attack. I shall wake your friends up now."
"Wuy wo I truss you in this?" replied Solestral with her teeth still sinking into Eterna's right leg.
The mage nodded with a grin and spoke, "Well, indeed you shouldn't after I had attacked you. But didn't you had spotted something unusual from my attacks? I was testing you. If I was serious, you and your friends would not be alive anymore."
Eterna slammed the bottom of her staff once more. Paul and Normad immediately woke up and stood on their feet. They looked bewildered of their bodies coated in golden light. And they saw the black kitten shrouded in golden light as well still biting Eterna's right leg.
"Wait, Solestral!" said Paul, "We are fine! You can stop your attack on Madam Eterna!"
The black kitten was surprised by the blue tortoise's voice that she unintentionally bit Eterna's right leg with more pressure till she felt something shattered in her mouth. She stopped biting her and spat out the shards. She noticed that the shards on the ground were translucent, and when she looked up at the mage, she was astonished to see there was no blood oozing out from the wound. Instead, the black kitten saw a dark void in it. The mage spoke.
"I apologise that I have to threaten you and harm your friends to unlock your other hidden ability. Your new ability is very powerful, heroine, to be able to injure me. I believe that using your new ability will pose a challenge to those Mega-Evolved Pokémon. At last, I have granted your two wishes." Then, she made her staff disappeared and sat on the floor to take a breather.
Solestral, Paul and Normad walked towards her and sat down as well. The black kitten could not comprehend why Eterna had to provoke her to gain a new ability, so she asked her a question.
"Why does unlocking my other ability requires you to push me to a corner? I could have thought that you had intended to end me. And your wound was…weird. What are you?"
Eterna broke her shell to reveal her ghostly form and said, "This is what I am, heroine. I am a deceased Delphox. By the request of The One Who Dwells Above, I am bound to this tower to help you. I created a shell so that I can interact with physical things. As for your new ability, I can feel that power in you only activates when your friends are in trouble. That is why I had to induce fear into you to awaken this ability."
Solestral was amazed. "Is that the reason why you have to do that? But, after I have heard your explanation, I didn't know that my 2nd ability is a buff move. Yeah, I believe this new ability can help us take down Pinnacle and that black dragon!"
"Umm, Madam Eterna?" asked Paul, "Not to be rude to you but, I would like to know what the black flames are. I am sure that no other Delphoxes can create flames that don't burn and torment us in our minds…"
"As what you have said, those flames are capable are doing those stuff. Those flames are called Inundation Flames as I could summon a torrent of black flames and they cannot be extinguished unless I wanted to..." Suddenly, Eterna was silent for a while with her eyes widen. She then spoke to them urgently, "I am sorry, but the three of you must leave this place immediately. I have sensed someone that you know is in danger in Icy Crisp Forest, near Broad Mountain Spines, at the west side of Starlif Continent. I shall lead all of you to the Teleportation Room."
"And who is that someone that we need to save? Isn't our mission should take priority?" asked Solestral.
The mage winked at them and said, "I am not going to spoil it for you. But what I can say saving that Pokémon will be advantageous for your mission. Now cease your new ability. It can be strenuous to keep it active."
The black kitten sighed and managed to deactivate her second ability, "Fine. I will take your word for it. You have been a great help to me after all."
Eterna grinned and replied, "Your gratitude is much appreciated, heroine. Let's make our way to the Teleportation Room, shall we?"
Once the group reached the room, Solestral, Paul and Normad walked onto the Warp Tile. The mage then activated the Tile. Solestral shrugged and said, "I guess soaking in the pond will have to wait, Paul! Let's come back after we are done with the mission!"
Paul tried to hide his embarrassment and replied. "You do not need to say that I want to soak in the pond in front of Madam Eterna, Solestral!"
The mage responded with a little chuckle, "Haha. Alright, this is it then. I wish you all the best for the mission, heroine and her friends." Next, she commanded the Warp Tile, "Destination: Icy Crisp Forest!"
As the group was in the process of teleporting, Eterna told the black kitten, "It is good to have friends, especially for those who can understand you."
Before Solestral could inquire why the mage had mentioned about that, she and her friends warped to their destination.