Chapter 19: So Long Hero
1/3/20
1:00 am
Darkness Headquarters 15F
*20 Minutes Remaining*
After Cord's idea of killing my and Cord's shadow, I for some reason could feel a faint, soft touch coming from my left cheek. Wonder where that's coming from…
"Keep it coming..." someone said, even though I could barely make it out. That same touch became harder to feel like someone softly tapped my face. My right eye peeked open and the first thing I noticed was an eyeball on fire. As if no one saw me, I closed my eyes again, knowing I made it out of the Grey Area…
'Wait, where's Cord? I-I can't feel him anywhere.'
"Again!"
The attack got even harder, waking my entire body up now. I sighed mentally. 'I guess I can't worry about Cord for now since what was going on.'
"Finish!"
I was being attacked, and I couldn't move.
The final attack hit my pressure point from the gut, causing me to open my eyes and gasp for air. Since whoever's there knows I'm awake, I finally looked around to where I was. Metal restrains were blocking me from using my arms, legs, and even my tail from moving. Trust me, I tried…
"…How did he get out of the Grey area so quickly?"
I finally looked in front of me and noticed Bisharp, and his hand was pressing on my belly. Behind him, a black, shadow-like Pokémon was staring at me with his cold blue eyes.
Darkrai…
"Are you done bullying me around, Bisharp?" He stared right at me before backing a few steps, still giving a stern face. "…Surprised, aren't you?" I said breaking the dark silence around me.
"Bisharp," Darkrai said moving forward. "go get 23… I'm going to have a little talk…"
Bisharp nodded. "Yes sir…" He took a few steps before reaching the door… Suddenly, Bisharp quickly turned around to fire a Dark Pulse at me and started running.
I, meanwhile, took all the damage, which made a bruise in my shoulder. "You should learn how to control him…" I joked.
Darkrai chuckled as he moved forward to me. "I actually wanted him to do that…" he said with a smirk soon after. "That was probably the fastest time I've seen someone get out of the Grey Area in a long time… Explain how you got out."
A grin came out of my mouth. "I'm flattered… But I'm in no position to talk, no?" My head moved around to show the restrains on me.
He rolled his eyes. "You will talk." His eyes start glowing red. "Whether you want to or not."
My eyes started closing and opening at will. "What are you…" I yawned and somehow closed my eyes to start sleeping. Darkrai touched me in the head and momentarily after and started projecting a nightmare that always hate seeing every night. I don't really want to explain the dream fully, only that it was about Cord being found in the real-world dead and me being arrested for it...
I woke up a few moments after me screaming, which made Darkrai jump back. "Ass! You're a fucking ass!" I said to him for seeing my privacy.
Darkrai meanwhile took a few steps back to sit on a chair… "You and Cord are human?" He said slowly. A large gulp came over my mouth when he said that, causing him to smirk. "That would explain why Cord didn't know anything when he arrived…"
"You're wrong. I'm the only human in this team. Cord's never been a human, and never will be." After a few moments of thinking, Darkrai looked up to me and sorta took the lie I told him.
"Okay…" He said moving his head up to me. "Let's say you are the only human here… How long have you been in Universe 3?"
"An entire week." I said playing along to this. My tail starts showing bits of silver as I gather my strength to use Iron Tail.
Darkrai stands up and starts pacing around. "If you been in this world for a week, what makes you think you have the guts to stand against me?" He asked turning at me and giving a squint.
'Jig's up!' I fully made an Iron Tail to break all the restrains with one swoop. 'Leavo!' Turbo Boost was activated, and I launched myself to give a Quick Attack…
I thought the attack would hit—because he wasn't moving—but I ended up going through Darkrai's entire body. As my landing approached, a cold feeling went down my spine as Darkrai launched me to the door perpendicular to me. "Great, he can be faster than Turbo Boost…" I mumbled to myself while deactivating Turbo Boost.
As I slid down to the floor, Darkrai gave a quick chukle before folding folding his arms and watch myself get back up. "If it makes you feel better, I almost forgot about your Leavo, whatever it's called." He said floating into the air. "You want another shot? I'll see you in the roof." Darkrai zoomed to the next floor, almost breaking the sound barrier…
A large groan came from my mouth as I now felt the aftereffects of Darkrai's full-on blow… My eyes turned to next to me when I noticed an Oran Berry, a paper with some writing on it, and a pen. A gave a quick chuckle before groaning. "Thank you, Harmony…" I said starting to eat the berry.
Manny, I have an idea that might help you defeat Darkrai… Write down a song you find amazing in your opinion.
As I finished up the berry, I slowly wrote down my answer so they can understand how terrible my handwriting is. I took a deep breath when I exited the door to start running.
The paper and pen meanwhile, slowly faded back to where it came from…
Meanwhile:
1:08 am
Council Meeting Room
*12 Minutes Remaining*
As the two tiny Mythical Pokémon were setting up an invisible speaker, a pen landed on Harmony's paw while the paper slowly floated on to Jirachi's pointy head. "Remind me again why Dialga made this idea?" He said picking the paper and giving it to Harmony.
"I told you, in a few minutes, there will that that much time remaining in this song, and the only Pokémon who has this stopwatch is Manny." She grabbed the paper and chuckled when looking at it. "Darkrai's probably going to follow cleanup protocol, which means we need to get them out of here." From the paper, she teleported for three seconds to get something before coming back with a vinyl. "And I hope the song will do that."
Luckily, Jirachi zoomed to the library and grabbed an antique turntable. No one really used this, so it was really collecting dust before Jirachi grabbed it. "Alright let's get this installed."
"Guys!" Abby and Chris were pulled from the building already as a precaution, so they were keeping watch of the projector. "Bisharp's back."
Everyone moved back to the screen, where the room where Cord was still sleeping was being shown. "Looks like you're a deep sleeper," Bisharp said chuckling after. After a few moments, he heard a soft buzzing sound coming from the corner of the room—which was the place the camera was in.
"Uh oh…" Jirachi said, speaking for everyone. As he turned around to the corner, the bubble on Cord's nose popped, waking him up. Meanwhile, Bisharp didn't notice, as he was too focus on the camera, and didn't notice Cord getting on top of his floating tail and using Volt Tackle on him until the last second.
Cord rammed him into the corner, knocking him out at the same time. "…Take that, bitch." He mumbled to himself before groaning in pain.
"Abby, Chris. I'll be right back." Harmony used Teleport to get to Cord's room.
1:15 am
Darkness Headquarters 17F (Roof)
*5 Minutes Remaining*
I took a deep breath in the final steps when I finally reached the roof of Darkness Headquarters. "Alright… I'm here." I yell out to no one. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me." A dark shadow appeared on the floor which made me move slightly closer before turning on Turbo Boost.
The shadow slowly rose from the ground, revealing Darkrai about to fire off an attack. I got into my ready stance and started looking at his hands, which were about to fire off. A few moments later, I would be right, as he fired with his two hands a Dark Pulse…
And I could feel the attack shake the entire building to its core when I dodged.
"What the…" I said before starting to move at Darkrai. He launched his signature move, Dark Void at my voice making me start to roll away with each attack. Iron Tail was used for me to swipe Darkrai backwards to fire a Thunderbolt.
Somehow, the Thunderbolt passed through him, and he threw a Shadow Ball about three times the size that Abby and Chris would fire… I wasn't even surprised when the attack hit me because it was so fast.
I fell to the floor and deactivated Turbo Boost. While my hearing went in and out, I could hear Darkrai chuckled and say, "It pays to have Double Team."
Meanwhile:
1:16 am
Darkness Headquarters 15F
*4 Minutes Remaining*
"Let me get this straight." Cord said to Harmony as her and Jirachi were finishing setting up the speaker and turntable in the next room. "You're using that song—which I have no idea what it is even—to signal Manny to get out? He doesn't even know that this place is gonna disappear!"
"That's where you come in." Harmony said. "You're going to teleport to nearby the roof and grab Manny just before the song finishes!"
Cord sighed. "I only have one Teleport left in me. So either you Teleport me up there, or I'm gonna have to…" He paused himself for Harmony to stare at him and eventually sighed. "I'll get on it." Cord started floating away from the room, to start finding the stairs nearby.
Harmony meanwhile moved back to Jirachi as he finished setting everything and just needed to place the vinyl in the turntable. "Manny is losing right now… You think the song might help?"
Harmony shrugged. "Let's find out, shall we!?" She flipped the vinyl into the turntable and pressed play. As the stylus moved to the vinyl, Harmony and Jirachi both broke the wall and high-five Teleported away…
1:17 am
Darkness Headquarters 17F (Roof)
*3 Minutes Remaining*
As I slowly woke myself up from being slightly unconscious, I could hear the very first beats coming from the song I chose starting, bringing life back into my soul. Darkrai's head raised when the song was being played, making him very confused. I meanwhile quickly stood up and gave a grin. "Like it?"
"What the heck is this?" Darkrai asked taking a step back.
"What? You never heard what a human song sounds like?" I asked tilting my head sarcastically. "You're in for a real treat then." My eyes quickly turned blue as I activated Turbo Boost, and Darkrai got ready to slow down for a counterattack. "Let's go!" I knew there was a complete difference than all the other times I used Turbo Boost… I wanted to hear the entire song in normal speed.
When I charged at Darkrai, I was still going my same speed, but time didn't slow down.
This startled him, and I gave my first contact with him using Iron Tail. A flurry of punches came soon after, following the lyrics' speed.
Needless to say, I keep in check
She was a bad-bad, nevertheless
Callin' it quits now, baby, I'm a wreck
Crash at my place, baby, you're a wreck
Needless to say, I'm keeping in check
She was a bad-bad, nevertheless
Callin' it quits now, baby, I'm a wreck
Crash at my place, baby, you're a wreck
Around this time, Darkrai fired a Dark Pulse for me to back away from him, and it slightly worked. I ended up quickly firing a Thunderbolt as a distraction and throwing an Electro Ball nearby his… area. The attack hurt…
A lot.
I calmly waited for him to get back up from the ground while closing my eyes.
Ooh-ooh, some things you just can't refuse
She wanna ride me like a cruise and I'm not tryna lose
As the chorus played, I used Quick Attack to charge at him before trying to use Iron Tail. The attack would miss and Darkrai grabbed me and tossed me around like a ragdoll. In the end, he threw me towards the edge, where I barely held on. I for some reason decided to sing along this next part as I slowly moved up. "Every time I'm leavin' on ya
"You don't make it easy, no
"Wish I could be there for ya
"Give me a reason to, oh."
I lip synced the next part as my body decided to activate Turbo Boost. I fired an Electro Ball quickly and started circling around Darkrai. His eyes followed me circling and decided to fire a few Shadow Balls at once. When I barely dodged them all, Quick Attack was used to headbutt Darkrai and make him unbalanced. I took a quick breather. "I know you're scared of the unknown
"You don't wanna be alone
"I know I always come and go
"But it's out of my control."
The second chorus made me for some reason thrust an Electro Ball to the ground, which made the entire roof lift a few feet. I started giving punches to Darkrai again, which worked at first… But this time he finally dodged them all and used Dark Pulse, making me get launched to the air. And I cursed silently when the song neared the end.
You're the sunflower, you're the sunflower
"You really got on my nerves…" A Shadow Ball formed in his left hand. "Now you're gonna die."
As soon as the last note hit, an explosion happened on Darkrai's, which caused him to yell in pain. He flopped down and my vision saw that made be chuckle and cry at the same time.
It was Cord, and he somehow used Thunder Punch.
"Welcome back to the land of the living?" I said chuckling soon after. I slowly got myself standing up a few moments later, of course after a few groans.
Darkrai chuckled soon after. "You all know… This isn't over." When Cord was about to grab him, he faded away from this entire building.
"Where did he go?" I said touching the floor. He didn't turn invisible because he would have been felt there.
"I don't think we should worry about that now. We got to get out of here!"
I tilted my head. "Why are you saying..." I looked down to realize the roof was disappearing as well. "That!" Cord barely bent down to grab me by the paw and held me on for me to avoid certain death. "…Let's get outta here." I said quickly.
Cord quickly nodded and used Teleport… And I fell asleep.
12/25/19
8:00 am
?
I could hear an alarm clock beeping in the distance, making me groan loudly. "Shut up…" I mumbled before moving myself to turn it off... Wait, alarm clock?! My eyes opened to notice the same alarm clock I woke to everyday was with me… "I'm…" I looked at my paws, which were hands with skin now. "I'm back? Was that all a dream?" My phone next to me started ringing weirdly, having the 8-bit Pokémon theme playing. The only person who has this contact is Cord…
My hand immediately moved to pick up the phone, and I moved it toward my old ear. "Hello?"
"…Hey Manny."
My eyes widened. "Abby? Is that you?!" I could tell that whoever was there was chuckling.
"Yes, it is me, Manny. I told you we were going to talk about that."
I cleared my throat and closed the door. "Look, I know that what I was gonna saying was pretty stupid, but—."
"I'm gonna stop you right there," Abby said, stunning me very quickly. "…I honestly don't mind!"
"You… don't mind?" I said. She could hear the confused tone I was making.
"I'm saying, when you come back, I'd like to give it a shot!"
She couldn't tell, but I was blushing hard from that. "T-Thanks Abby…" My face soon after turned into a confused one. "Wait, when?" I knock came into my window which made me turn to see a female with pink hair and blue eyes staring right at me. "Hold on…" I said placing the phone down and opening the window.
"Manny," The girl said in a familiar voice. "Please don't leave me in the New Jersey cold again." She started walking in and put the call on speaker.
"Excuse me, who are you?" I said closing the window.
The girl sighed and used her hand to lift me in the air. "This enough proof for you?"
"Harmony?" I said while she put me down. "What are you doing here?!"
Harmony sighed and sat down while someone spoke on the phone. "I think we can answer that together." My attention turned to the phone as I immediately recognized the voice.
"Cord… Now I know I'm not crazy." A chuckle came out my mouth soon after. "Am I gonna come back soon?"
Harmony and—probably—Cord shrugged. "We got to find someone from the Darkness first before we can bring you back… Even then I need the Council's approval."
Cord probably knew that she was gonna say that. "Manny, open your drawer that has your DS." With a confused face, I slowly opened it to see a vinyl with a certain badge sticking on top of it…
"You're giving me this?" I questioned. I could hear Cord start laughing.
"Why not? They always have more in the guild…"
My mouth was hung open when I sat next to the phone. "So this entire adventure wasn't a dream then?"
Cord paused himself to think about what he was going to say and had the most confidence I've ever seen someone have with this statement. "Of course, that was a dream. But who says dreams aren't real?"
The doorknob was shaking, trying to open the door. "Gotta go! I'll see you later Manny." Harmony said using Teleport… Guess humans can use those if they were part Pokémon.
"…Talk later, Manny." Cord hung up the phone just as soon as my mom opened the door.
"Manny, why did you lock the door for a second?" she asked to me.
"Sorry mom… We're going to see Phoenix today, aren't we?" I asked.
She nodded. "You always say it's the best way to take your mind of something…" She left the room for me to get dressed.
I looked outside… It was snowing, like the afternoon Cord disappeared, which kinda made me teary eyed. "Heh…" I said holding the guild badge on my hand. "Happy third-year anniversary Cord…"
I know that you are proud.
*Game File Saved*