Author's Note: Hello there! :D
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What?
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OH RIGHT! I haven't posted anything new in two years!
Well, you know, I've had a lot of free time lately because of the quarantine and all that... anyway, point is, I've got a new chapter right here for you. I've also decided to go back and update my older chapters. I'll be doing that directly after posting this new chapter. I've gone back and changed quite a bit. The story itself is the same, for the most part, but the thing is that I've been writing this story for nearly ten years now. I started this when I was in high school back in 2011, and I wound up the nerve to start posting chapters in 2013. A person's writing style, heck sometimes everything about a person, changes in that amount of time. Since then, I've graduated high school, worked two jobs, started college, and moved in with my girlfriend. I'm not the same person, and the way I write isn't the same either. So, I went back and I fixed all the continuity problems I could find. I reworked some chapters entirely, and I think, overall, that I improved this story 100 percent. After months of being stuck at home, and writing and rewriting, I'm finally ready to post these reworked chapters, and I've been working on more content as well. I currently have written up to Chapter 25, with that chapter being a few pages in already. My plan is to upload one new chapter a week. I may have them written already, but the point of uploading them for you all to read is to receive feedback, and I cherish that feedback. I want to take your suggestions and incorporate them into my existing writing if I can, and to do that I have to give you time to review. So, I'll upload this new chapter, update the old chapters, and then a week from now I will upload the next chapter, that includes any revisions you may have helped inspire. I have a clear goal in mind for this story, I've said before that I have the rest of it planned out, but now I have it set in stone. I have notes about how it will go. I have events set in place and I know now exactly how I want them to happen. The rest is just putting it on paper that's appealing to people to read. I'll be honest. I don't know how much I'll be able to continue writing new chapters soon. My final semester of college is coming (woo!) and I'm going to be swamped, especially since my courses are online now. I know you all have dealt with long wait times before between chapters, and so for (hopefully) the last time, I ask that you be patient, and take the time to read and review my story. I very much appreciate it. Thank you!
TL;DR: I've updated the older chapters. If you're reading this, and you haven't re-read chapters 1-19 after 8/14/20, please go back and read them. I'll be posting the next chapter in a week. Bear with me, and please review! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
A vast colorful landscape is set before me. I know I am sleeping, and yet my mind is awake. The colors swirl around me just like the last time I was here, only this time I know that they are coming, and I embrace it. Gardevoir's voice enters my mind, her voice in my head isn't so much in my head as it is in front of my consciousness in this colorful space we exist in.
"Seth." She calls my name gently, like she's trying not to startle me. My voice is stuck, like its physically catching in my throat, but my throat doesn't exist. Nothing exists except the colors and the sound of her voice.
"Gardevoir" I manage, gasping as the word comes out. It feels like I broken through a dam, and the water now flows freely. The words come easier now. "We're back, in our special place."
"Yes, if we concentrate maybe we can have more time tonight, and we can try to start building our own little world." Her voice is light, energetic. The room swirls with light pinks and yellows as her emotions affect our environment. I see the colors shift, but not with my actual eyes. I see it with my mind, I can feel it all with my mind. It's like she's awakening my dormant psychic ability.
"This is almost like lucid dreaming, but better. It's like co-op lucid dreaming." I muse, the swirling colors making me feel as elated as she does. She is silent for a second, but I can tell that if we were in our bodies she would be smiling at me. I think about the act of smiling, concentrating on the muscles I would use to do it, if I had muscles. I can feel something then, like a tug directly below my consciousness, where my mouth would be if the position in this space where my consciousness lies would be about where my head rests on my physical shoulders.
"We are truly one now, Seth." Her voice is sultry and loving. The rooms swirls with deep reds and purples. The mood changes in this room with our feelings, and I can feel it affecting me. The love I already feel for Gardevoir being multiplied by her own. "I want to be with you forever. I want to know everything about you."
"I want that too, Gardevoir." I respond, my voice echoing slightly in this room as I speak. The reds and purples swirling around us grow more intense and shrink closer to us. I focus on that small tug below my mind and I can feel it again. It feels almost like I'm moving a mouth that isn't mine but is still attached to me.
"We can talk about anything, we can learn everything about each other. If you try, you can see my thoughts like I see yours." The reds and purples recede a little as our conversation changes in subject. "Try it, ask me something you don't know about me."
I think about her words for a second, trying to think of something I don't know about her. I realize that I've asked her about a lot of things, but if any of my knowledge of her is scant, it's the knowledge of what her life was like before we met.
"Tell me about what it was like to be a wild Pokemon." I ask, my voice reverberating around the room, in an echo-y, psychic sort of way. She doesn't answer for a while, she must be thinking about how to tell me. The colors in the room start to change again as she thinks, and soon I'm able to see her thoughts. Its almost like water trickling out of a pitcher, it starts slowly, but if you keep turning it, the water pours out quickly. The thoughts start to materialize in the room, the faintest outlines of images from her childhood. I can see lots of greens and darkness, it must be the forest between Petalburg and Oldale. The colors in the room shift through a rainbow of colors as the thoughts continue to spill out.
"I'll show you." She finally replies to my inquisition, and then suddenly everything is black.
When I open my eyes, I'm on the ground in a vast forest. There are trees everywhere around me, but everything is in a fog, like it doesn't actually exist but it's in front of me so I'm forced to believe it's true. I realize that even if I was sitting, I still wouldn't be as low to the ground as I am now. My view changes, and I can see that my eyes are connected to a small, white body. It's almost like a VR movie where my viewpoint is the main character; I can see whats going on around me, but I can't move or change where I'm looking. I realize I must be experiencing Gardevoir's memories.
As I look around, a tall Pokémon comes to meet me. It is green and white, with a large red protrusion sticking out of its chest. It seems like I should know this Pokémon, but it doesn't wear a dress, and its elbows look sharp and protrude backwards into what seems like attached swords. It almost seems like a male version of a Gardevoir, even though I was sure that Gardevoir can be male or female. As it approaches me, I can feel a presence in my head like when Gardevoir talks to me outside of our dream connection. Feelings of warmth and joy spread thorough me, and a sound comes out of this new body's mouth. The tall Pokémon smiles at me, and lifts me into his arms. We spin around as he throws me in the air and catches me. We're playing. The sounds coming out of my mouth are ones of laughter and surprise.
After a short while, the Pokémon carries me away, and we approach more Pokémon, this time there are a few Ralts and then I see Gardevoir. They're all sitting by a large pile of berries, and she's playing with the Ralts like they're her children. The tall Pokémon that is like a male Gardevoir sets me down near the others and I get a better look at Gardevoir. It's not her. This Gardevoir is different. She looks older somehow, and her face is more narrow. Her hands look slimmer and the three protrusions on the side of her head look longer and slimmer. Is this, Gardevoir's mother? If so, then the tall Pokémon that carried me over must be Gardevoir's father?
Suddenly, there's a loud sound like a bang. The other Gardevoir and the male Gardevoir-like Pokémon shoot up in surprise, and immediately they start grabbing the Ralts. I get scooped up in a hurry and then we're running. What could that sound have been? Gardevoir in the memory must be curious as well, as I start stretching out around her father's shoulder as he is running to get a better look.
Eventually, we come to a stop behind a tree and I get set down. Gardevoir's mother and father are breathing heavily. It seems like whatever happened has passed, letting us get away for now. Gardevoir's father stands up again after setting me and Gardevoir's siblings down. He looks around cautiously and then looks at Gardevoir's mother who makes a concerned face at him and makes a sound like bells that is deeper then the ones I'm used to. He nods, and then he runs off, keeping an eye on his surroundings.
In an instant, I can tell that a long time passes. Gardevoir in the memory grows bored of sitting around for so long, and hungry because of the meal that we never had. Gardevoir's mother grows to look more and more worried, looking around for her father more frantically.
Gardevoir's mother stands up and looks at us, her expression bleak. Mentally, she projects images of this spot and essentially is telling us to stay put. She floats off timidly, taking peeks back at us. Eventually she's out of sight. Gardevoir's siblings are playing still, but Gardevoir in the memory starts looking around for food.
The memory takes me into a large bush, in the search for food. As soon as I enter the bush everything goes black all around me, and I can tell the memory is at an end.
I shoot up in bed. The bright light of the morning sun pouring in through the windows. I'm sweaty and startled, but not nearly as much as the first time. I'm not breathing hard, just awake much more quickly than normal. Gardevoir wakes up next to me less violently. She sits up and wraps her arms around my shoulders from the side of me and rubs her face into my shoulder lovingly and longingly. I smile down at her and stroke her green hair.
"That was a memory, right?" I ask privately. She nods into my shoulder, a little solemnly. "And those were your parents?"
"Yes. That was the last memory I have of them." Her voice is steady in my head, sad, but steady. Like she's accepted that they are gone a long time ago.
"What happened after that?" I ask, my mental voice soothing.
"I got lost, and I survived on my own for, I think, a long time. Until I met you." She tells me, her head slowly raising from my shoulder so that her eyes can find mine.
"The woods by Petalburg must be much larger than I originally thought." I wonder into her mind, my tone curious.
"That's not where I was originally from. I found my way there. In my attempts to find my family I ended up in that area." She tells me, kissing my face. I wrap my arms around her and hold her to me. I kiss her cheek in response.
"I'm sorry Gardevoir, I had no idea you went through all of that." My voice is sincere.
"It's OK. I learned a lot when I was lost, and then I was able to find you." She has accepted that her parents are gone. I can tell that she accepted it a long time ago. I'm glad she was able to share that with me, though. I feel like I know her much better now, like we've connected on yet another level. We hold each other closely, lost in our hug and I start to concentrate on her mind and realize that I can read what she's thinking. Its strange, and hard to determine, as her mind doesn't work in words like mine does. The words she developed were made for me, to bridge the communication gap between us. Her actual thoughts are in color and pictures and sound, and if I focus and close my eyes, I can still see the room around us, but from her eyes and not mine. She pulls away from our embrace, needing the bathroom. I can tell from her thoughts. As she recedes, my concentration falters and my view of her mind is gone. It seems that physical contact bolsters this effect.
"I love you, Gardevoir." I say simply as she gets off the bed. She smiles at me, with actual happiness in her eyes.
"I love you too, Seth." She quickly comes in closer to me and kisses me on the lips before she floats off to the bathroom.
Once May is up and we're all ready to leave, we check out of the Pokécenter and head out of the safari zone.
The ferry to Mt. Pyre is only a short walk away from the safari zone entrance, as it sits near the lake that Mt. Pyre is on. We head to the ticket booth and buy our ferry tickets from a nice, older woman who regards us with curiosity, and a little suspicion. Mt. Pyre is a Pokémon graveyard, and I suppose she doesn't see that many younger people making the voyage. I'm actually hoping to see some ghost Pokémon. If I can manage to catch one, I might be able to add a powerful Pokémon to my team.
The ferry ride over takes only about fifteen minutes. We go around the base of the mountain to the side opposite the safari zone, where the entrance is. The boat docks and we pile off with a group of 4 or 5 other people who took the ferry with us. We didn't talk to them very much on the ride over, they all seemed a little distant and sad. Seeing them makes us feel sorry for them. They are probably coming here to mourn.
As we make our way inside the hollowed out mountain, I can feel some sort of presence watching us. I look around to try and spot the source of the feeling, and Gardevoir instantly starts looking around with me. Our bond is stronger than ever, and I'm sure she read my mind and sensed the presence as well. I take her hand slowly, my eyes searching the inside of the mountain. I spot something floating up near the ceiling of the first floor. It looks like some sort of hooded figure, floating in the center of the room. Its back is turned to us, but it looks human from where we're standing. It looks like a short, hunched over person in a black hooded robe. I freeze when I see it, and Gardevoir's eyes find where mine are already fixed.
And then it's gone. Just as quickly as I noticed it, it disappears. I blink a few times, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up a little in response to what I saw. It just vanished. Like it turned invisible instantaneously. I look at Gardevoir expectantly, my eyes wide with mild fear.
"Did you see it?" I ask, simply. She nods at me, her eyes growing wider as well. I try to relax. It had to have been just a ghost type Pokémon playing tricks on us. "It was probably just a Pokémon."
Gardevoir nods at me again, this time slower. Her eyes soften a little bit, but I can still feel a bit of unease coming from her. May, however, doesn't seem to have noticed anything and strolls forward in front of us, blissfully unaware. She's looking around at all of the gravestones and looking a bit wary, but she clearly didn't see the apparition that Gardevoir and I did.
"May." I whisper to her, catching up and touching her shoulder with my free hand, as Gardevoir and I are still holding hands. She turns to me, expectantly.
"Be careful. I think I just saw a ghost-type Pokémon." I say quietly.
"Oh, OK. Let's hurry through here and get to the summit." She says, her voice laced with a bit of anxiety at my words.
We hurry to the stairs and begin climbing. The inside of the mountain is a graveyard. There are hundreds of tombstones arranged in neat rows across each of the six floors that lead to the summit. On each floor, we can see many people, all praying or standing by a grave, some speaking quietly to themselves or the grave, some weeping silently as they mourn over someone they lost, and a few people crying violently and begging for their loved one to return to them. I can't help but feel more and more depressed as we climb. Gardevoir can sense it, and I can feel her mood shifting southward as well as we continue, obviously affected by this place. I squeeze her hand in mine. No one is paying attention to us here, and if they are then they would most likely not think twice about me comforting her.
I can see images in my head, of Pokémon and trainers playing happily together, and then they change slowly into images of the trainers crying over their Pokémon's grave. I know the images are coming from Gardevoir, but I don't think she means for me to see them. The physical contact of her hand in mine must be bolstering the psychic bond we share, and giving me a glimpse of her mind, like it did this morning. I can tell that she can sense the other's misery, but the images I'm getting from her aren't their thoughts or memories. They're scenarios she's creating based on what she's seeing. Her powers just keep growing, to the point now where it seems like she's bestowed a certain amount of mind reading ability to me.
If she has anything to say about my thoughts about this new ability I've gained, she doesn't show it. She must be too distracted by all of the negative feelings here.
After a while, we finally reach the outer part of the mountain that leads to the summit, coming out of another entryway and out into the bright sun shining overhead. Its like a cleanser, the bright light vaporizing the depression we all felt as we ascended the inside of the mountain. The air is thinner here, I can tell immediately. We are very high up.
We keep climbing, following the winding path upward onto the foggy summit. As we approach the very peak of the mountain, we can see a set of marble stairs leading up to some sort of altar. Three people are standing together at the altar, two of them seem to be an elderly couple and the other one is younger with a flash of red hair.
My heart drops at the sight of him. I stop dead in my tracks. We're too close to run now. All he has to do is turn around and he'll see us. Gardevoir clings to my side as she realizes what I've just realized, and even May stops walking.
"I told you, I can handle it! I'm going to be the best no matter what! I thought you'd be proud of me!" Redhead suddenly shouts. The elderly woman says something we can't hear to him and he scoffs. He turns on his heel to walk away and visibly flinches when he sees us. His face twists up in disgust for a second, and then I see his eyes linger on Gardevoir's mended tear in her dress and his evil little smirk splits his face. An explosion of anger surges through me, and I tense immediately. The only reason I don't lunge at him is because Gardevoir is holding my hand so tightly. He flinches a little at my reaction, surprising me. Maybe he's not as tough as he leads on. He shakes his head and walks away from the elderly couple. He keeps on walking, skulking away, clearly still angry from what the elderly woman said to him, and reeling from my reaction. He walks past us, giving me a wide berth, muttering "I don't have time for this" under his breath.
I'm a little shocked by his reaction. Maybe I scared him so bad he didn't even think about finishing our battle. He couldn't even bring himself to say something horrible to me. Maybe he's not as confident in himself as he seems to be.
Redhead disappears into the fog behind us, descending the mountain down the same path we just came up.
I audibly exhale my breath in relief, my muscles relaxing. I'm still angry, but at least I don't have to fight him. I can feel Gardevoir soften at my side as well, resting her head on my shoulder momentarily before standing back up straight at my side, her hand squeezing mine.
"That was kind of weird." May says, looking back towards where he stalked off to.
"Yeah, he didn't even say anything to us." I mutter.
The elderly couple have noticed us now as well, and are smiling as best as they can despite Redhead souring the mood. We approach them slowly, examining the altar behind them.
It is a strange looking architectural thing, looking more like an art piece than a place of worship or reverence. There are three marble pillars in a triangle formation. The one that creates the top point of the triangle is taller than the other two. They seem to be concave at the top of the pillar, like something might fit inside, or rest on top. There is a semi-circular pedestal that curves outward from the base of the triangle, the outermost part of the curve facing the stairs leading up to it. The pedestal looks to be made of marble as well, and there is a small slab of marble on the ground behind the center of it, creating a platform someone could stand on to deliver speeches or prayers from behind the pedestal.
"Hello there, young travelers. Welcome to the summit of Mt. Pyre. This place is a place of worship to the legendary Pokémon of the Hoenn region, Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza, who are said to have formed the lands and oceans with their endless fighting." The elderly woman speaks to us in a loud, clear tone, raising her arms above her head as she speaks.
"Hello. We came to learn about the legendary Pokémon and see the red and blue orbs that are said to control them." May answers, her inner Pokémon researcher showing herself in a rare display of Pokémon knowledge that she infallibly learned from her father. The elderly man's smile falls at her words.
"I'm sorry, but the red and blue orbs are not for the public eye. If they were to get into the wrong hands then it could spell a serious disaster for the entire region." He explains, his hands moving slowly as he articulates. May shrinks a little, obviously disappointed. This was why she wanted to come up here.
"Oh... I was really excited to see them. My father would've been really happy if I could have gotten pictures of them." May sighs, her voice breathy. "He's a Pokémon Professor." She adds quickly.
"You are Professor Birch's daughter then?" The old woman asks, the surprise in her voice apparent. May nods, slightly hopeful again.
"I suppose we could show them to you, for research." The old woman acquiesces. She starts heading toward the pedestal, and I notice a small lock box near the base of it. She picks it up and pulls out a small key that is attached to a necklace she is wearing under her shirt. She inserts the key and unlocks the box, and then ambles slowly back over to us. She faces the box toward us and lifts the lid, revealing two glowing red and blue orbs sitting delicately on a soft pillow. They look to be made of glass, the colors inside them swirling gently around and producing a faint light. The blue one looks almost like the sky during the day, with white swirling in with the blue, while the red looks like a deep, red-orange sunset. May smiles in excitement, and starts to take off her bag to get out a camera. I feel an inexplicable chill as we examine the orbs, like eyes on my back. It makes me shiver for a second until I turn, pretending to be nonchalant, and see nothing behind me. I turn back to the orbs as May finds her camera buried deep in her overflowing pack and pulls it out.
After May has her pictures, the old woman locks the box again and replaces it back near the pedestal.
"So, do you all know our grandson, Sammy?" The old man asks us, smiling pleasantly at us. Sammy?
"You mean Redhead?" I ask, not thinking. The old couple gives me a look, and I look away, a little ashamed.
"Well, yes, he does have red hair, and the way he looked at you all before he left made me think that you all know each other. In truth, he's not really our grandson, but we helped to look after him after his parents died. He's actually the son of our nephew, Neil, and his wife Elaine, God rest their souls." As the old man speaks about Redhead's, I mean Sammy's, family, the old woman closes her eyes in a small prayer. I didn't know his parents were gone, and if these two helped to raise him then it could have happened when he was younger, but no matter the age, losing your parents is hard. Despite my better judgement, I feel the slightest amount of pity for him.
"We know him, a little. I've had a few Pokémon battles with him." I reply, answering her question finally, watching my tone. I don't want to get into our history with them right now.
"Oh that's nice. We're so worried about him. That temper of his has always gotten him into trouble." The old lady sighs, crossing her arms and bringing one hand to her face.
"And now he's gone off and gotten caught up in some old legends." The old man chimes in, looking as lost in thought as his wife. I suddenly start to wonder just how few visitors these two get up here at the summit.
"He told us that he caught a legendary Pokémon and he's planning on catching two more." The old lady continues. "He said it was one of the 'regis'. Those are just made up old stories about the legendary titans of the Hoenn region. The only real legendary Pokémon are the ones whose orbs we keep safe here."
My eyes flick to Gardevoir and then to May, they both look at me, suspicion in their eyes.
"So there are more of those terrifying monsters he caught in that cave. He can't be doing anything good with those Pokémon." May's voice says seriously in my mind.
"No." I agree, mentally. "And I think we're the only ones who can stop him."