Chapter 38 United Unova
Hil and Cheren held tightly to each other as they crossed the bridge. Although it was broad and sturdy, as if it were made of some sort of steel, Hil still felt like he might fall off it at any given moment, and he clung to Cheren's hands with something of a vice grip. Maybe that had something to do with the frightening, eerily detailed wooden effigies of the gym leaders, Elite Four, and Alder that projected off each bridge's end toward the castle at an angle. Each was carved into a cross of sorts, and each had a different emotion contorted on their knotted, wooden visages. Behind the crude crosses, ringed structures were affixed to the wooden sculptures, and Hil recognized it as the symbol for the ring depicted surrounding Arceus' torso in all the artwork he'd ever seen. He half-expected the sculptures to spring to life or burst into flame as they approached the opening to the castle yawning before them, but the effigies remained unsettlingly static. Already racked with guilt and sadness over the possible dark outcome of the coming encounter with N, the sight of the crucified effigies only brought that nauseated feeling back stronger than ever. Hil swallowed repeatedly against the uncomfortable sensation.
The inside of the castle seemed incredibly dark until his eyes adjusted to the light. He realized that outside was growing quite dark, in reality, and the chandeliers inside the castle's walls spilled harsh white light across him and Cheren. The inside of the castle was unlike anything Hil had ever seen. The floor was tiled with deep blue, iridescent squares, the walls a brilliant ivory marble, trimmed with a pale yellow that looked like well-aged gold. He didn't have long to distractedly admire the stylistic design of the interior, however, because standing in a line ahead of him and Cheren were six of Team Plasma's Seven Sages. Although Hil couldn't have told anyone who the other six were, he noticed right away that Ghetsis was not amongst them.
Noodle pulled up to Hil's right and hissed angrily at the Sages. His head jerked violently after, and he suddenly began to rub the injured side of his face against his tail. Hil worriedly pulled at him to try to stop him in case he made the cut even worse. Wincing as he spotted the deep gash in Noodle's skull again, still steadily dripping viscous green liquid, Hil began to dig in his bag for a Hyper Potion. Cheren stepped guardedly ahead of him and asked the Sages what they wanted with a firm, fierce tone.
Hil finally located one of the purplish spray bottles and glazed the side of Noodle's face with the substance. He hissed and threw his head back as if it stung, but the dark green fluid finally quit flowing. Satisfied, Hil stashed the Hyper Potion away again and hugged Noodle's neck tightly. The Serperior returned the gesture, but once again, his head jerked to the side, dragging Hil by the shoulders with the unintended motion. His heart pumped faster as he realized the Hyper Potion must have not healed Noodle all the way… Cheren had told him that it was exceptionally rare for that to happen, and usually meant something irreversible had occurred… He desperately hoped he hadn't dragged Noodle into a dangerous situation where he would be permanently injured… He couldn't even handle the thought and decided to believe it would all be fine once he was taken to a Pokémon Center properly. Still clinging to Noodle's frame, Hil glanced to see what was unfolding between the Sages and Cheren. His breath hitched in his throat as he saw the six men converging on his friend, each holding a Poké Ball in their bony fingers, and each announcing something different as they stepped forward in unison.
Hil frantically dug through his backpack again until he found the Light Stone. He squeezed that stupid rock between his palms and shook it violently. "Please!" he begged. "Please do something other than just glow!"
As he implored the Light Stone to react, to unfurl into the legendary Reshiram, he heard the Sages make their speeches.
"Those in accord with Fate are preserved. Those who rebel against Fate perish."
"Reshiram, please," Hil was panting, "please. Unova needs your help…"
"When the Way is forgotten, duty and justice appear."
Noodle leaned closer and nudged the stone with his nose. Still it merely pulsed orange.
"One can lose the forest for the trees."
Hil tried a different approach. "Reshiram, I need you." Still nothing.
"If you make a mistake and do not correct it, that is a second mistake."
"Zekrom needs you," Hil tried something different.
"Superior men understand what is right. Inferior men understand what will sell."
Hil stared intently at the stone in his grasp as it flashed and undulated with that amber essence, silently willing for anything to happen… he had run out of verbal pleas.
"There are not two suns in the sky, nor two sovereigns over the people."
"Hil! Anything?" Cheren called as he shrank away from the Sages convening on him.
"Nothing," Hil admitted defeatedly.
"If anything happened to our king, it would be disastrous," a Sage in a maroon robe said coyly. "It would ruin Ghetsis' perfect plan. Our Lord N will be disappointed, but we will defeat you here, New Hero of Truths."
A Sage with a desaturated, blue cloak went to lunge at Cheren and toss a Poké Ball. Hil jumped back to his full height and started to point for Noodle to protect him, but strands of silk suddenly encased the blue-cloaked Sage. The String Shot wrapped about his entire body, strapping his arms to his torso, and he collapsed in a hilarious cocoon of silken threads against the glossy tiles beneath them. He squirmed against the restraints and looked more like a Venipede than a man doing so.
"Didn't I warn you not to expect me to stand idly by again? Such pesky Sages…"
Cheren and Hil both craned their necks over their shoulders and grinned like madmen as Burgh appeared from the shadows of the outside world, his Leavanny strutting at his side. He sauntered like he was on a catwalk, his green eyes narrowed knowingly at the Sages ahead of them, a hand raised tauntingly. Indescribable relief flooded Hil and he hollered, "Gym Leader Burgh!"
Burgh waved cheerfully at him and as he cleared the entrance, a Zebstrika barreled in behind him. It galloped valiantly around the room and circled the Sages, herding them into tight formation to avoid its crushing hooves. Elesa was straddling its back, and once she was happy with where the Sages were, she brought her Zebstrika to a pause in front of Hil and Cheren. She winked at them. "Ignoring Team Plasma… now that would be a terrible thing for us gym leaders to do…" she drawled, mischievously beaming at the rattled Sages.
"Gym Leader Elesa, thank you!" Hil gasped, clasping his hands almost in a gesture of a prayer. Cheren nodded vigorously in agreement. Hil wouldn't have known, but Cheren's relief was more than just being glad at having backup. He knew Hil well enough to know that having more people cheering him on would make ascending this accursed castle far easier.
"Well, can ya manage that?" Clay blustered as he, too, appeared from the darkness. He strolled over to the lined-up Sages, up to one in a dark green cloak, and shrugged. "Say, ain't you that Zinzolin fella from the Cold Storage?" The Sage gave a slow, uncertain nod. Clay grunted in acknowledgment and made like he was going to turn away, but then over the course of a split second, he reared his right arm back, twirled his wrist, and brought it crashing forward across the Sage's nose. There was a horrible crunching noise and blood poured from beneath the Sage's hand as he covered his face. Clay flexed his hand after as if he had hurt himself with the force of the blow. Hil and Cheren both broke into fitful giggles as they watched the Sage reel. Clay chuckled, "Been wantin' to do that for a while. Damn, that felt good. Consider that me feelin' generous considerin' how y'all were threatenin' my whole city of innocents. I'll save the real payback for that wretched boss o' yours."
A Watchog skidded into the room and rushed at a Sage in a brighter green cloak. He yelped at the sight of it and hid behind the bleeding Sage, who batted him away in aggravation. Lenora's loud guffaws echoed around the room as she, too, entered the scene. "Aw, c'mon, not a fan of Watchog anymore?"
"Not since it took a chunk out of my arm, you barbarian!" the hiding Sage barked.
"That's rich, coming from you guys," Elesa snorted.
The gym leaders, minus Cilan, Chili, and Cress, along with Iris, fell into a line in front of the Sages. They playfully bantered amongst one another as all those without a pokémon out already sent one forth. As he overlooked the group, the unsteadiness in Hil's mind eased, the guilt ebbing away. There was still the sharp worry that he had injured a member of the Elite Four, and he still worried greatly about N, but something about seeing them arrive to help… made that feeling not so crippling anymore.
"Accursed gym leaders!" one of the Sages snarled.
"There sure are a lot of us," Skyla teasingly mused, "I wonder how this is gonna go for you guys?"
"Holder of the Light Stone!" Drayden gruffly shouted from the far end of the formation. "Please, go on, and put an end to this once and for all!"
"Don't worry about us!" Iris piped up cheerfully. She grinned at Cheren and Hil as her Haxorus loomed over her left shoulder. "Go! You can do this!"
"I am, I am," Hil sputtered at last, still in awe. Now, he felt like his chaotic emotions were going to make him cry in embarrassed happiness. The guilty worry over the Elite Four crossed his mind again, and he raised his trembling voice. "Are the Elite Four okay?"
"Everyone back at the League is fine, Alder made sure to check," Lenora answered him curtly. "Now, go! Stop N!"
He felt his knees go weak. Thank Arceus, oh, thank Arceus, they're okay… It felt like a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders as he was given the good news. They're okay. They're all okay…
"Yeah, go, Hil!"
"Onward, Hero of Truths!"
"Save Unova!"
Their assault of encouraging, rallying cries made his heart swell and his jaw clench. He had never felt so alive… and now, it was guiltless, knowing everyone in the League had survived the rising of the castle.
Okay.
So, he didn't know if he was too late to save N.
His problems with Alder were a totally separate issue he could deal with following this. He had to take this day one step at a time. He couldn't afford to think that far ahead yet.
Maybe even if others didn't learn from the suffering Team Plasma wrought upon Unova… he swept a gaze across the gym leaders, Iris, Cheren, and Noodle. Maybe… maybe just saving them was enough. He thought back to Church and how cozy and wonderful it had been curled up against his shoulder, the pleasant warmth that he had felt from nothing else… Maybe just keeping them happy and with their pokémon was reason enough, even if N wasn't part of the equation. He pondered that internally for a few seconds and then shook the thoughts out of his head in alarm when the image of Church was abruptly replaced in his mindscape with N. He felt an intense shame burn through him. You're trying to save people, to save him, and show him there's more to the world than what Ghetsis showed him! Not get him into bed with you, Hil! he mentally chided himself. Besides! He's so much older and you already have Church—ugh, just do it for your friends! Not every shred of affection from a guy is gonna lead to more, you know.
So, do it for his friends he would. "Thank you all," Hil declared across the room. With a determined nod at Cheren, he and his friend booked it for a stairwell leading further up the massive, daunting castle. He stowed the Light Stone back away into his backpack as he tossed it over his shoulder. He didn't know why Reshiram still refused to react… but he decided he didn't care if it did or not. He was determined to give this his best shot. No matter what.
They were stopped on the second floor as two members of the Shadow Triad appeared before them. They were silent at first and only moved their heads to gesture toward a room a little down the glittering hallway. One brushed his long, unkempt white hair from his face. "Lord N wishes to have you heal your pokémon before you battle him," one whispered huskily.
The other was the one with the clear, smooth voice. "You'll find Lord N's caretakers, Anthea and Concordia, in that room."
"His… caretakers?" Cheren questioned dumbly. "What do you mean?"
"You should talk to them," the husky-voiced one muttered. "You may understand the King of Team Plasma better then."
"Lord N is very misunderstood," the smooth-talking one supplemented. The two Shadow Triad members shared a look between themselves. Smooth-Talker murmured, "We recognize that there is more to him than we understand. Perhaps there is something more to him you can figure out."
With that, they both vanished, and Hil gulped. "What else could there possibly be?" he laughed nervously.
"Well, your team definitely needs healing," Cheren sighed. "So, we should still go into that room and talk to these caretakers of his, or whatever they are…"
Hil glanced to Noodle and watched as his head jolted unnaturally to the left. He just barely resisted the urge to chew his lip anxiously. "Yeah, I agree. I need to heal my team up, and Noodle's still really hurt…"
He and Cheren entered the room the Shadow Triad had gestured to. Inside, they found an oddly quaint scene considering where they were at. Two women, one pink- and the other blond-haired, eyed them curiously as they entered. Beyond them, a fireplace gave off soft embers, an ornate wooden table filled most of the room, two pillars held the roof above them, and two small statues of Unfezant on podiums lined the entrance to the room. After a few seconds of awkward staring between the two women and Hil and Cheren, the pink-haired woman waved an arm to invite them in.
"The Shadow Triad informed us you'd be coming," the pink-haired girl said softly. "Welcome. My name is Anthea. That," she gestured to the blond woman, "is my sister, Concordia."
Hil nodded slowly. "They said you could heal us up…?"
"Yes… we have medicine here," Anthea whispered.
Concordia gestured to the large table behind them. "Feel free to let your pokémon free here. We will do all we can."
Hil wasted no time in encouraging Noodle onto the table. He also let Lucky, Sleepy, and Crest free. The Liepard curled up and started licking at her wounded forelegs right away, while Sleepy and Crest curiously took in their surroundings.
"The Shadow Triad called you two N's caretakers…" Cheren tilted his head at them. "What did they mean by that?"
Anthea and Concordia shared a look with one another, and then Anthea heaved a momentous sigh. "Lord N would call us just that. His caretakers. Lord Ghetsis has even tried to get him to call us his sisters… Though we are nearly twice his age."
"But Lord Ghetsis helped us long before N ever came along." Concordia sounded almost wistful.
"But I have faith in you, and in Lord N," Anthea smiled wide. She closed her eyes in a blissful expression. "Lord N is my son… it's so nice to finally say that aloud. Lord Ghetsis doesn't let me acknowledge it."
"You… what?" Hil stumbled over his words in shock. He recalled something N had told him long ago. This just didn't make sense… "But N said… he was found in the woods… left to… what?"
"Lord Ghetsis is a master of deception," Concordia chimed in with a stern edge to her tone.
"He is N's father," Anthea said tersely. "Everyone has spent too much time in this castle. I am so glad for you two to have come along. Regardless of what happens today…" she chuckled lightly. "At least I'll be able to tell my son's story. Tell my story."
Her deep magenta eyes met Hil's dark brown ones. "I want to share my truth with you, New Hero of Truths."