Chapter 36 Of Ice and Fury
They skidded to a halt once inside of Opelucid. The futuristic city, lined with solar panels and digital screens and skyscrapers, was weirdly lacking in people walking the streets. It looked as if everyone were hiding and keeping to themselves. Virizion had brought him to the front of the only organic-looking building in the entire city, a building hewn from black and white stone, two dragon heads carved into the outer walls. Yet, it also looked unfinished, and yellow warning tape surrounded parts of the building. Upon approaching the door, he was met with a thin, gaunt man tapping away on his Xtransceiver.
"I'm here to challenge Gym Leader Drayden," Nate announced, clearing his throat to catch the other's attention.
He responded without looking up right away. "He's not in righ—" the Clyde started, but was cut off as soon as he looked up and saw Virizion. The pokémon snorted in his face and took a deliberate step forward. He covered part of his face with the Xtransceiver, and then carefully pulled it away to dial something on it, staring in shock at Virizion. "S-sorry… I'll call him… he's at his place right now, he's not in the gym… Honestly, he told me to just stand here and send anyone away until later…" At another snort from Virizion, he quickly added, "B-but I don't mind telling you! His place is the house just to the left of the Pokémon Center, a little way behind it… I'll call him and let him know you're on the way…"
Exchanging a look with Virizion, Nate nodded back at the Clyde. He didn't know if the man recognized Virizion or was just frightened of her, but either way, he was glad that they had gotten the information without much of a struggle. "Thank you." With that, he hopped back on, and Virizion darted down the hexagonal patterns of Opelucid's roadways until they were in a small alley between some houses and the Pokémon Center, overlooking a single, angular house. It was square and almost tiered in its design, different from the round, smooth architecture of the rest of the city. A couple of measly bushes lined the walkway to his front door. Dropping from Virizion's back, Nate left a hand to the pokémon's shoulder and looked her in her auburn eyes. "Thank you," he said, patting her on the side. "Really, I mean it…" I don't know why you're helping me. But I appreciate it. I really do.
She shook her head and made a noise that almost sounded like she wished to tell him, "No, thank you." Then, she lowered her head and shoved him forward, nudging his back harshly. He staggered forward, to the door. He clenched his jaw and then knocked. "Gym Leader Drayden?"
There was the sound of locks, more than a few, coming undone. The door cracked, and piercing, yellow eyes bored into him through the gap. "Are you the challenger that my Clyde called me about?"
"Yes," Nate growled, putting a hand firmly on the door, glaring up at Drayden. Already, Drayden's fearfulness was irritating. Why were so many people so ready to just give up? This was the Dragon-type gym leader. He'd had a fearsome reputation in the past. Now, he was cowering behind locks, refusing to even battle? Virizion moved so that she was directly at his side. Well, Nate wasn't here to play his games. "I'm here to battle you and to hear what you haven't been telling the other gym leaders."
"Here," Drayden huffed, slipping a badge through the gap in the door. It fell to the ground. "Take it and leave. Not interested in talking."
Virizion slammed a hoof to the ground and Nate jumped away just in time for her to rush forward and bring her head harshly against the door, throwing it open with her horns and tossing Drayden away from it. Unfazed by the attack save for shaking her head, Virizion proudly pranced inside. Nate snatched the badge from the ground and followed suit, holding the piece of metal in a closed fist as he leaned over the gym leader as he struggled to get back up.
"You were just about to give this to me?" Nate demanded. He had left the front door wide open in his anger. "The other gym leaders say you haven't been talking to them. Professor Juniper says that you've got to know something. Even if you don't, why aren't you talking to anybody?" Frustrated, he shook the badge and then tossed it aside. "Why don't you want to help?"
"What good will that do?" Drayden snarled as he finally stood up, brushing his wrinkled, white clothes out, rudely shouldering Nate away. His grayish hair clung to his sweaty forehead and a thick, unkempt beard obscured his mouth. His pants were black and baggy. He rushed over to the door and slammed it, and Nate gawked at the easily ten or more locks lining the back of his door. "What good will talking to them do? Let them know the same hopelessness? Know how screwed we are? They're still trying to fight. They don't need to know what I've got to say. People are struggling as it is to keep going."
"They already think we're screwed!" Nate shouted, thinking back to Bianca and Marlon in particular… How tired Skyla had been… "Whatever it is you think you're protecting them from, trust me, you aren't protecting anything!" To what Zeshi had said… This is war, Nate! "We need everyone that we can get to fight this!"
Drayden turned to face him, scowling. "Should have kicked you out before I locked the door. You don't know what the hell you're talking about." His expression fell when he saw Virizion, and he halted in place. "What… is that… Virizion?"
Virizion slammed a hoof to the ground and dipped her head tensely.
"I do know what I'm talking about, actually," Nate growled, happy to get into Gym Leader Drayden's face. "Now… Professor Juniper says that you know all there is to know about the Ancient Dragons of Unova. Gym Leader Skyla said you guys worship them or something over here. Neo Plasma says they have an Ancient Dragon of Unova. Professor Juniper and me and my friends were just in Lacunosa and she has reason to believe that legend over there, of the pokémon that was driven back into the Giant Chasm, that used to attack them all the time? The… Beast of Black Ice, I think they called it. Do you know anything about that?"
Drayden breathed in slowly and glanced fitfully between Nate and Virizion. "Kyurem…"
"What the hell is a Kyurem?" Nate pressed. "I don't have the time or the patience to play the pronoun game."
Just as Drayden went to open his mouth, the earth below them shook, and there was a crash so loud, it made Nate's ears ring. He yelped and fell to the ground, scrambling to get closer to Virizion. The pokémon raised her head and looked around wildly, eyes wide, legs beginning to tremble. Also knocked to his rear, Drayden scrabbled with his nails and feet to get closer to a wall, away from any windows as they cracked. The earth continued to shake, and more and more blasts rang out, searing Nate's ears. The glass of the windows finally was blasted away, showering the inside of the building in thousands of tiny shards. Freezing at the prospect of getting cut by them, Nate hugged Virizion tightly and whimpered as the air around them started to freeze, dropping in temperature rapidly. His breath came in hot, misty puffs. Following the gust of broken glass, showers of ice and water whipped inside, lashing the room and them both with frigidity they had never felt before.
"What the hell is going on?" Nate finally managed to croak, digging nails into Virizion's body, starting to shiver as a chunk of ice blew in through a window and landed on his shoulder. He brushed it away and gasped at how it burned his fingers with the intense coldness of it. It's cold… how is it burning me if it's cold? he thought desperately.
"I don't know!" Drayden all but wailed. Just as he did, the wall behind him split, and he narrowly rolled out of the way of a burst of icy daggers, which split the floor and stuck straight out of it like spikes. Nate swallowed hard as he imagined what they might have done had they struck Drayden instead… The gym leader, breathing heavily, scrambled to search all of his pockets until he found an Xtransceiver, cowering in the corner of the room between a wall and the stairwell leading further up the room, jostling a wooden chair out of his way. Nate wasn't sure whether to be glad or terrified that the room had so little furniture; it meant there was nothing to hide behind, but it also meant nothing much was moved around by the incessant shaking of the earth.
More blasts. More explosions. The entire wall behind Nate lurched and he froze in terror. For a horrible moment, he thought the building might come down on top of them, or that wall might crack, too, and spires of ice might come flying at his head. Yet, that didn't come, and he exhaled painfully into the bitingly cold air.
"Marlon!" Drayden barked into his Xtransceiver. "Marlon, Marlon! I need you in Opelucid right now! Something bad is going on! I—I think Neo Plasma is attacking!"
How… how would they be doing this? Nate thought briefly. Then, his thoughts shifted, to Hugh, Professor Juniper, Bianca, and even Rosa, remembering that they hadn't kept up with him and Virizion. Whatever was happening outside, they were likely still on the way to Opelucid, potentially dealing with the icy chaos out there personally… Even if Rosa hadn't left Nana's, what if the attack wasn't limited to just Opelucid…? His mouth dried and he loosened his grip from Virizion. In his eagerness to 'help' with Neo Plasma, to help Professor Juniper, to fiercely protect his new, real family, had he done exactly the opposite of what he intended to do in protecting them by leaving them to their own devices?
Panicked, he shot a look to Drayden, still arguing on the phone with Marlon—"What the fuck do you mean you're at the store? Did I ask? Get your ass over here!" Drayden snarled—and then to the door. Between him and his target was that line of bladed ice that had spilled through the wall, and shards still occasionally were flung through the opening. As the earth tremored below, the gap in the wall widened with every perilous shake.
I've got to get out there. I've got to see what's going on and make sure everyone's okay, Nate thought desperately. Shrugging Virizion off, he scrambled to his feet to lunge at the door, but a violent shake sent him crashing back to his side and he hit his elbow. Virizion bayed and stood over him, pulling him with her hooves back to where he had been before. Nate rubbed his injured elbow and glared up at her. "Let me go! I've got to get out there!"
"You'll be no use to anyone if you're dead!" Drayden bitterly called to him. Still cursing to himself, he dialed for someone else on the Xtransceiver. "Skyla!" he howled over another painfully loud crash from outside. "Opelucid's in trouble!"
Nate clutched Virizion and fought the urge to cry. He felt so helpless and afraid and… and… he clenched a fist and bashed it against the ground. Stuff like this is supposed to be over! I'm in charge of me now! I'm not supposed to be helpless anymore! I've gotta go save them! What about Opelucid? What about everyone else here?
"Thank you, thank you Skyla, oh, my Arceus," Drayden cried out in relief a few seconds later.
It felt like an eternity before the rumblings and booms from outside finally came to an end, and Nate was finally able to get to his feet. He hopped over that line of small, icy spires and scrabbled at the locks on the back of Drayden's door. Frustrated, he threw his shoulder against the door, and it still didn't give way. "Damn it!" Nate howled.
Drayden shakily limped closer to him and ushered him out the way. "There," he grumbled as he finished unlocking the door. Nate practically bowled him out of the way as he rushed outside, landing on a thick sheet of ice that sent him collapsing to his rear. He only barely avoided smashing his skull against the ground thanks to Virizion's quick assistance. She allowed him to grab onto her horns and hauled him to his feet.
In that freezing air that stung his lungs, Nate panted and looked around. Enormous towers of ice loomed above even the tallest of Opelucid's buildings, glistening and gleaming in the late afternoon sun. Gusts of cold wind whipped off them and carried glittering flakes of ice in the breeze. Citizens from Opelucid's buildings, those that weren't trapped inside by the ice, anyway, scrambled outside and screamed and gasped in collective horror and shock at what had become of their city. Nate started like he was going to move forward to help, but then a horrible, droning, whirring sound started overhead, and he swore the earth shook again. He jumped back to Virizion's back and clutched her horns tightly as a black shadow started to pass over them. Looking up, he saw what was blotting out the sun.
A black sailboat, with engines akin to jets jutting from either side, passed overhead at an agonizingly slow pace, silhouetted against the clouds it parted from its path. Gaping in horror, Nate's grip slacked on Virizion and he shook his head. "Is that… is that sailboat flying?"
His blood ran as cold as the air around him when he heard a synthesized voice boom from the sailboat's underside, as if from massive speakers. If he weren't so terrified, he might have recognized that it was Zinzolin on the other end. "Cowering, pathetic populace of Opelucid City! Your gym leader has hidden something we, Neo Plasma, need in your town! You have him to thank for this brutality! To all our brothers and sisters on our side—search this city up one side and down the other! Find those DNA Splicers! And please…" There was a pause in the announcement and an eerie silence, save for the loud whirring of the engines. "…Do have some fun."
Braviary, Skarmory, Unfezant, Noctowl, and the odd Mandibuzz then flooded from the sailboat, descending on the frozen streets, depositing tons of Neo Plasma grunts across the city. Nate, puffing for breath against the cold, glanced over his shoulder and saw that Drayden was ensuring the door to his home was shut and locked. Furious, Nate snarled above the noise, "Gym Leader Drayden! Fuck that house! We've got people to save!"
"They cannot get what's in here!" Drayden exclaimed. "But you're right, people need help, let's go!"
Nate clutched Virizion's horns tightly. "Let's go," he said.
Unexpectedly, his Poké Balls spilled open before he and Virizion had a chance to run off. Spacey withdrew a seamitar and, not waiting for his orders, rushed forward to engage a Neo Plasma grunt ordering its Braviary to attack a couple that had just wandered from their apartment building. Bitty's flowery head glowed orange and she spat a ball of light out that hovered in the air and glinted brightly—a Sunny Day, likely intending to try to melt the ice—and then she started to absorb the warmth and the light in preparation for a Solar Beam. Risk, his Unfezant, disappeared into the sky to throw some of the Flying-types still descending from the ship above off-course, forcing them to stop and battle him midair with their trainers on their backs. Crag immediately rushed after some Neo Plasma grunts as well, scissoring his claws threateningly. Zeshi barked furiously and ran in circles ahead of Nate.
We've got to stop them! Zeshi desperately exclaimed.
"They're attacking people just for the fun of it," Nate breathed. He shook his head and determinedly narrowed his eyes, clenching his jaw against the cold that made his muscles feel sore and like they didn't want to move. Loudly, he snarled, "Attack any Neo Plasma you see, everybody! Don't hold back!"
Zeshi barked excitedly and raced away, disappearing in a flash of purple. Her ability to cloak herself would be invaluable. As Virizion finally lunged forward, skidding across the ice, they targeted the Neo Plasma grunts attacking innocents and at those that were clearly trying to break into locked buildings, or those that had succeeded and were in the process of dragging the inhabitants out into Opelucid's frigid streets. Virizion would barrel toward them and then lower her head, goring them on her horns and then tossing or kicking them away.
Nate wanted so badly to go check on Hugh, Rosa, Professor Juniper, and even Bianca, but he couldn't fathom the idea of leaving Opelucid's citizens in the midst of such an attack. As he and Virizion turned their attention back to yet more grunts that spilled to the ground, he hoped to Arceus that they would just… be okay.
Ghetsis watched the battle wage below his prized ship through a room with at the bottom of the vessel whose floor was made of thick, tempered glass. Although it was frosted at the edges and not entirely transparent, it more than gave him a visual for the innocents of Opelucid, and even Gym Leader Drayden himself, scrambling in the shock and confusion of the aftermath. He limped badly without his cane and even had to catch himself from falling over a few times, but Ghetsis cared not for the dull pain in his right leg, nor the difficulty that came with breathing. Delighted by the sight below him, he wished he could have been closer, watching the terror in their eyes as his stupidly loyal followers assaulted and beat them, likely leaving many for dead. Not to mention how many would freeze to death before Drayden got his act together and the city was properly evacuated.
He could have watched that all day, just admiring his handiwork. This was what Unova had to fear him for. This was what the entire world had to fear from him. There was nobody, there was nothing, and there never would be anything, higher than he. He would stake his claim to this region and the next and he would coat it all in that indestructible ice. A desolate, broken world, but one he would find so beautiful—because it would be his. His world, his desires, his people—they were beautiful, and everything else ugly and repulsive, to be wiped from the face of the Earth.
Unova had crossed him for the last time those two years ago. He cracked a wide, Cheshire grin, though the right side of his lips refused to cooperate, and he darkly laughed. "You can't keep hiding now, Hero of Ideals," Ghetsis softly sang to himself. "Nor you, Hero of Truths… Let's stop playing this little game of ours… The Shadow Triad will bring me the DNA Splicers, and then you two are going to come running, aren't you…~?" He watched interestedly as he noticed one of the ants below him was racing around on the back of a pokémon. Perhaps a Sawsbuck. It didn't matter, whatever it was. His people would deal with it, or they wouldn't, it didn't matter. The grunts were not actually looking for the DNA Splicers, even if they believed they were. That task had been left for the Shadow Triad who most certainly would find them soon enough. In fact, this deadly attack was completely unnecessary. The Shadow Triad could have easily skulked around Opelucid until they located what he wanted, but he wanted to test Kyurem's power, and it was just so, so amusing to watch them battle so hard for something so meaningless, to fight a battle he was guaranteed to win. And this wasn't even the full extent of Kyurem's power! His nephew had informed him the pokemon would likely be able to blast its ice to the edges of Unova itself should it be ordered to do so from the insides of its original chambers in the Giant Chasm.
His thoughts wandered idly from the delicious chaos below him, back to just who exactly had betrayed him all that time ago. His wretch of a son had earned this payback on behalf of all of Unova. Yet, despite how badly that freak had fucked up his plans, Ghetsis knew that his bleeding heart would draw him to comfort Kyurem, even after it did so much horrific damage to a human city. He was a broken, twisted, stupid excuse for a human, N was; he was smart enough to understand confronting Ghetsis might as well have been suicide, yet Ghetsis knew that was exactly what his son would do. It was just a matter of time before N came running back to him.
"It's been two years, and yet, I still own you, don't I, N?" Ghetsis asked aloud to the nothingness of the glass-floored room. "And oh, Hilbert…" He licked his lips, staggering to the other end of the glassy floor. He knew that N had disappeared following his defeat at Hilbert's hands, and he knew the two were no longer in contact, but he also knew that no matter how hard Hilbert would try to outrun his destiny, he, too, would come running. He had been foolish those two years ago in his refusal to research just who exactly Hilbert was. He had not made such a mistake this time. Just as he expected to draw N back to him, he expected to draw Hilbert. Two Pidove for one stone, as they say.
Oh, how he wished he could be closer! He fretfully stamped a foot against the glass. But his broken body wouldn't allow it. Between the recent heart attack, his half-paralyzed right side, and the mystery condition that had flooded his lungs with near-suffocating fluid, such a drop in the air would kill him if exposed to it for too long. He could tolerate Kyurem's cage on the ship long enough to deal with the pokémon or his insolent nephew, but hours of exposure to the bitter cold would have been a death sentence. It was why he constantly traveled in that enormous, thick, black cloak; it was heavily insulated and kept him warm. Still, he didn't need to be closer to lust after the future of damnation he had planned for the world. It was so pleasantly within his grasp now, that new world that would smell of smoke and ice…
He almost moaned in pleasure as he watched one of the Mandibuzz one of his grunts was using divebomb an innocent Opelucid citizen, plucking them from the ground, then dropping them some forty feet from the air, lavishing the way they splattered against the icy ground. Such violence and pain was a pleasure he so rarely could indulge in, better than any sin of the flesh he could imagine. Not that he enjoyed much of that anymore, anyway. With no N, he had no use for Anthea or Concordia.
Still musing aloud to himself, he crooned, "Oh, yes, Hero of Truths… I can't wait for you to join the fun… I can't wait to teach you about daddy Vincent's little secret~"
QOTD(s): what does it mean? what does it mean? what does any of it mean? :eyes:
Also I just want to reiterate that I am SO GLAD yall are enjoying this story! Honestly, the last few chapters made me REALLY nervous because it was really diving into just how crazy this story was gonna get and just... the people coming out of the woodwork to comment on Nate's dad's death. I super appreciate you guys so much and I am so glad you have been supportive and enjoying the story. It's stuff like that that I really think inspires me to really work at and finish these chapters. I mean, I love the story and am enjoying writing it myself, but seeing what people think/react to different stuff is so nice. You guys are awesome!
On that vein though, I love how confused everyone is - means I am doing a good job at keeping my story from being too predictable while maintaining interest :P