The third bonus and 'last' of Arc 2's Bonus Chapters. Hah. Jokes on you, this ended up being too long, so I'm doing a fourth one! Unlike the others, I didn't say what this one would be, but we're here now.
It's everyone's favourite female canine, Keira the Legendary Lucario! Woo, ahh! I can hear the cheers and shouts of glee already.
Heh. The identity of the character this chapter would be focusing on wasn't really why I kept it hidden, rather the set-up. See, the other four Bonus Chapters have been backstories! But we're not here to see Keira's; we'll get to that another time, perhaps.
No, this isn't a backstory. Rather… you could think of it as a prologue to Arc 3, as it starts right after Darkrai is defeated! Rai and Mane's chapters sort of were the same since they were telling their lives to Azumarill in this same period, but the bulk of those chapters were backstory. This isn't.
This is Keira doing some stuff!
Let's get to it.
The Dream shattered, and Keira's eyes snapped open.
She rose from the bed she had been laid upon, a little too fast. Muscles that hadn't moved in over two weeks immediately protested, cramping up and causing her to grunt out a scoff of pain.
She turned her head, ignoring the sparks of pain, shooting up and down her spine and swung her legs off the bed. It was a nice height, perfect for her to bend them down gently. It still was grinding agony to move her legs, but Keira made do.
"Cara?" she said.
She was in a room, small and sterile and real in ways The Dream couldn't duplicate. There was that distant, woody smell. Distant sounds of clamour and tension met her ears. The room was an ugly little box; the ache in her legs was too real.
And Carapace was in the room with her. He was slumped over on the ground, softly groaning and rousing himself from whatever sleep had taken him as well. Based on his sprawled-out position, she guessed that he'd fallen into The Dream while standing next to her. There were scuff marks on the floor from where he had fallen.
Metallic exoskeleton clanged on the wooden ground as Carapace, the scizor, student of Lucario, pulled himself up to one knee. "Lucario?" he asked, voice raw with thirst.
She was by his side in an instant, kneeling to steady the scizor who looked like he was about to topple over. "Here," she said, pulling his arm around her neck and hoisting them both up. His shell was dull and felt rough, any worse, and it'd start to flake.
She didn't like that.
Keira carefully walked Carapace out of the room they had been in, mind racing over what might be going on, but she banished the thoughts to focus on him.
They left a sterile room to enter a sterile corridor. She'd almost guess they were in a hospital, Cara would be that much of a worrier to take her to one, but it didn't smell quite right. This was sterile out of bureaucracy rather than cleanliness.
There were pokémon moving about, and it took less than a few seconds for them to be noticed. Gasps rang out, and the three pokémon in sight froze, a magby, smoochum, and treecko.
It only took them another moment to flinch out of shock and move towards them, babbling out.
"Oh, thank the legends."
"Lucario's awake! Treecko, go inform Xatu know!"
"Right, right, right, right, right." Treecko ran off as the other two ran forwards.
"We need some help," Keira said as the two baby pokémon came close, but not too close. Cara was sagging in her grip, and she glared at them, hoping to snap them out of that star-eyed reverence they were hitting her with. "Scizor is in strong need of water."
"I'll go get some!" Smoochum effectively shrieked and began to run off.
"Hang on!" Keira snapped, and she froze so fast she fell over. "Make some ice, you." She looked at magby. "Thaw it."
Shivering, Smoochum complied, and Magby succeeded in not setting the floor on fire. Smoochum made a cup of ice as well, and they were able to get them some water.
Keira held it to Cara's mouth while they began making more water, crushing the ice for him to suck on after he had swallowed the water. They continued until more pokémon came barrelling towards them, including, thankfully, an audino.
The next few minutes passed in a blur to Keira. She held onto Cara until a chansey also arrived with a Xatu and had Xatu levitate Cara into a medical room for Audino and Chansey to help him.
She couldn't loiter around to watch, and through insistence and pleading looks, she was drawn out and into some big room with a lot of chairs, tables, even cubicles that drowsy Psychic-types were occupying.
She found some water herself, and by the time the world stopped spinning, Keira found herself with a few pokémon staring at her with a mixture of awe, relief, and hope.
Xatu, Archeops, and Gengar.
Her eyes flicked up to the footprint rune-scribed signs lovingly built into the building.
Pokémon Exploration Team Federation
HAPPI.
"So, this is what Cara did after Darkrai sniped me," Keira mused. She had witnessed the shattering of The Dream, being one of the few pokémon aware enough even to notice. How reality itself splintered like a panel of ice before shattering. It took less time than it took for a neuron to fire, but at the moment, she had seen it.
"They did it, heh. Little bastards are heroes two times over."
"So." Keira looked over the three. "Tell me what's going on."
While the pokémon from before had needed the patented Legendary Glare to behave, these three could at least rein it in to act professional.
It was Xatu who spoke. "Ah, Legendary Lucario. Some time ago, it's currently believed to be 16 days. Scizor reports you had been trapped in an unwakeable nightmare. He sought sanctuary with us, the Pokémon Exploration Team Federation and we, of course, obliged. However, over the weeks, more pokémon began falling unconscious, unable to be roused through any means."
Archeops cut in there, continuing as Xatu paused. "Such things are happening all over the continent! And worse, ferals are leaving dungeons and attacking!"
"Our resources are stretched thin," Gengar added. "But now that you've awoken, Scizor too, and everyone else, we should be able to get on top of this!"
Keira glanced over all three. "The Dreamworld I was trapped in has been destroyed. Hopefully, that means Darkrai has been stopped permanently as well. Every pokémon across the world who he trapped should have awoken with me."
She stepped forwards, walking past the three. "However, ferals? That's a problem. With the time I, and many others, have been unconscious, there will be a lot of weakness. We've got to coordinate efforts to save vulnerable towns."
Sharing nods, the three joined her as Keira stepped into the Psychic Network.
Not literally, but the heart of the network was here. Close to the centre of the continent, the Pokémon Exploration Team Federation had the largest number of Psychic-types attuned into the network. There was never less than five. Everywhere else was offshoots, but they were the core that ensured it never was out of reach.
And the poor pokémon were being run ragged. Many had only just woken up themselves, weak from hunger and thirst from the few pokémon who had to feed and water the many, but they were professionals, and the network was lighting up.
In a whole new panic, pokémon who were asleep were waking up and calling for help as hunger, confusion, and ferals ravaged the towns.
Keira was not a Psychic-type. She could not access the network. Still, she could do some of her part, and her flaring aura may have been one of the original inspirations for the network.
She sat with Abra and Claydol and Elgyem and Espeon and others. Hearing the plights that Harrow Town, Nether Village, Overlook Pass, Siyaca, and Moreloom were all facing, providing advice, support, and on two occasions, her physical presence.
"H-Hang on, please, you must speak slower; I can't. Yes. Yes. Yes, I understand. How many? Get to a safe place; don't put yourself-how many? Okay, OKAY!"
Keira had noticed the mounting panic of Kirlia, down in a corner and drew in. She'd been moving and aiding for hours, but she felt fine. Better, even. She'd never slept that long in her life, especially not in the last eight decades. She could go all night, she decided, and more.
"What's the situation?" she asked, coming to Kirlia. Kirlia's look of stress turned to one of terror briefly when she realised who was asking her.
"W-Woobat from S-S-Sev, ah. Yes, yes. It's okay. I have Lucario. The Legendary Lucario here; she's asked me what the situation is. Can you, yes, yes, THAT Lucario."
Keira waited for Kirlia to collect herself a little, she could almost feel the feedback Kirlia had received upon telling Woobat that she was here.
"O-Oh gosh. Woobat of Sevella says that everyone in town is only just waking up, and ferals were attacking while they were asleep. It's… oh gosh. AH!"
Kirlia flinched back as something painful came across the network. "AH!"
Keira grabbed her shoulder and steadied her as Kirlia shuddered into a sobbing shake, she wasn't quite crying, but she was close. She'd been working non-stop for weeks, never having fallen asleep like the others.
"Sevella?" Keira asked. Kirlia managed a nod. "Tell Woobat I am coming."
Keira broke off into a run, tracking down one of the teleporters that were also being run ragged to get her to Sevella. She wouldn't go personally to help anywhere, but she did NOT like what she heard from there.
A feral horde had descended on the farming village of Sevella like a plague of locusts. The town, a blotch of colour among rocky crags, had weathered the assault as well as it could with everyone asleep. In their homes, thankfully.
Fires were burning, and homes were crumbling as pokémon screamed for help. The ferals had rampaged like a natural disaster, recounting ancient fears.
There had been a time where ferals left dungeons much more readily. Where attacks like this weren't a once-in-a-lifetime event.
The world had largely forgotten that, but Keira hadn't.
There was a reason ferals stopped leaving dungeons, after all.
With Bone and Dark and Dragon and Steel, Keira was a whirlwind of destruction. They were no Palkia, and numbers meant nothing to her if they were senseless and disorganised.
She stopped a home from collapsing on top of a family, holding the roof up with shining bones and creating a path for a family to flee. She met tooth and claw with metal and fury and sent monsters back the way they had come.
She hit one feral dragonite so hard it blinked, clutched its head, and she moved on, seeing a storm of reason returning to its mind. The rest, she'd bear the burden of their lost lives.
Night, as it had already been night when she arrived, turned to day as shaymin arrived, and Keira nodded to them. They had been in contact with the federation while she was away, forging that bond anew to supply help to the continent. She respected the shaymin.
With pokémon on hand to help, she stepped out and returned to headquarters, returned to helping and guiding and not sleeping.
Kirlia, too, wasn't sleeping. Once again, she encountered a situation so dire that Keira herself stepped out to resolve it before any more lives could be lost.
She wasn't sure then how long they'd been stamping out fires and fixing problems. Kirlia couldn't keep her head up, and Keira realised that she'd been with the little pokémon for a couple days.
"Don't you need to sleep?" Keira asked. Things had grown quieter; pokémon in the Psychic Network had traded out to others, taking the chance to sleep. Kirlia had no.
"N-N-No?" Kirlia yawned. Keira was fairly sure the stuttering was exhaustion rather than nerves by this point.
"Go to sleep. Turns out you need it. Especially a Psychic like you." Keira stood. "Come on." She pulled Kirlia into her arms, and the Fairy squeaked as she was pulled to The Legendary Lucario's chest.
Not in the mood for a debate, she carried Kirlia to a room.
"L-L-Lucario?" Kirlia managed after Keira dumped her on a bed. "Don't you need to sleep too?"
"Not the worst attempt I've heard of getting me into bed with someone," Keira said dryly, and Kirlia nearly fainted from embarrassment. "Go to sleep, Kirlia."
"W-Will you stay, just for a little while?" Kirlia asked. Keira paused at the door and glanced back, meeting her eyes.
There was nervousness, fear of asking and being rejected, and that same old tension that had been in her eyes since the start. Kirlia had seen nearly everyone here fall asleep and not wake up. Keira wondered how long she'd actually stayed awake.
Nodding, she leaned against the wall and waited for Kirlia to make herself comfortable on the tiny little bed until her breathing evened out and her body relaxed.
She almost looked like she'd melt into the bed, her body relaxing a great deal of stress away that she'd been carrying.
Keira did wait around a little longer, casting curious looks at Kirlia before shaking her head and walking out. Her aura tassels were beginning to rise and tingle.
She knew what that meant.
Hurrying, Keira found a private closet before the surge peaked, and she felt a wave of aura burst out of her body. For a few moments, she could see everything and everyone within fifty kilometres.
Couldn't shut her eyes to shut it out.
Keira seized against the wall as she was overburdened with dozens of pokémon's fear and stress at once.
She felt like she could cry, that she could die, that she wanted to run away, that she had to help, that she couldn't help, that she missed Bloom, that Crystal was cute, she should talk to Gengar, she was scared someone would be hurt, she wanted to sleep, she dreamed of flying, she dreamed of crying. She saw and felt so much, too much, all at once.
Even worse was the ferals. The dungeons nearby, with ferals that hadn't left. She sensed their crawling madness, what little remained of them, of hunger, violence, sex, fear, desperation. Desperation. Desperation, HELP!
The door to the closet broke as she knocked it off its hinges, running full stop. Pokémon had to get out of her way lest she ran straight through them. Keira burst through the doors to the Federation and bolted for the dungeon she had sensed that from.
Her legs felt like they could split apart at any moment, they probably could, but she was used to that.
The aura flares were weakening, growing shorter. She entered the dungeon; she began to lose them. She hung on as long as she could, but she couldn't affect her aura at all. Once it surged, she couldn't control it, and she couldn't hold onto it either.
Relying on the sense of hearing, sight, smell, she flew through the dungeon. She crushed ferals in her path and brokered her way to where a chimchar, a treecko, and a ralts were huddling together.
They witnessed her arrival in awe. Like an angel from heaven, striking an ariados down before it could finish them off.
"What injuries do you have?" Keira heard herself asking, and she saw herself tending to the worst wound on the chimchar. She led them out of the dungeon and took them to the Federation for better medical attention.
Afterwards, she walked to the room she had woken up in and fainted.
The worst of Darkrai's chaos had been thwarted, and when Keira woke up next, things were a little less chaotic.
"You really do need to not do this to yourself," Cara chastised, sitting with Keira at her bed. Apparently, she had been moved from her room to the medical area after they found her slumped over her bed and unresponsive.
She'd been fine, just a little bit of exhaustion. She slept like the dead, the undead that is.
"You could have said 'don't do that again' Cara. Why'd you say it in the most roundabout way possible?" Keira grinned back. "I'm fine, honestly," she added, laughing at his disbelieving look. "I could almost thank Darkrai. Haven't slept that long… ever. Needed a good nap. You know, if it wasn't for all the chaos and mayhem going on. How are you?"
"I am the one who's fine," Cara replied. "You had quite the overreaction to my state."
"Your shell was peeling!"
"Out of stress, not dehydration. I admit I did get a little sick due to worrying over you. Stress isn't good yada-yada."
She shook her head fondly at him and got out of bed. Cara gave her a dubious look, but Keira didn't waver or stumble as she walked. A little extra rest had done her good.
"Um, Miss Legendary Lucario?" Audino said, noticing his patient was out and about.
"I'm off," Keira said, not slowing down. "Feel fine—no unusual pain. No dizziness. I saw a zubat, a houndoom, and myself in the blotches. I'm off."
Looking reasonably alarmed at what she said, Audino looked to Carapace for help, but the student of The Legendary Lucario shrugged and followed after her.
"Um, please don't strain yourself at least," Audino called after them.
With the pokémon less disorientated from The Dream but still cycling in and out, there were fewer pokémon running around the white halls then there were the last few times she'd walked around.
"Do you know your way around here?" Keira asked. "Because I have no fucking idea. I was running on auto before."
Rolling his eyes, Cara stepped ahead of her and led her to the War Room or whatever they called it.
Keira peered suspiciously at the sign.
Auditorium
She decided that 'War Room' sounded better.
"Yo, Xatu!" Keira said as they entered. Xatu was not there, and so she looked foolish as literally every eye in the room besides Cara turned to her.
"…Gengar then," Keira settled, spotting the other vaguely remembered pokémon from the other day. "This room should be renamed the War Room."
Gengar immediately nodded. "Hee-hee, I agree. You're wise, great Lucario.
Too many eyes were on her. Over a dozen pokémon connected to the Psychic Network, an ocean of thought and communication, yet all of them had slipped out to look at her.
"Gengar, let us talk. Scizor… find someone to help."
Cara walked off to the teleporters, running ragged, as Keira went further into the room. The eyes followed her; no pokémon was making a peep, but eventually slipped back into the network. She noted one pokémon, a kirlia, lingering on her longer than the others and a vague memory about that one floated up.
"The Psychic Network is nearly at full capacity again," Gengar explained as Keira convened with her. "From Treasure Town to The Cliff to Sandy Valley and Seabrook. Pokémon are back."
"The continent has woken up then?" Gengar nodded. "Fucking fantastic. We'll need to get someone to Treasure Town to find out exactly what went down."
"Already being taken care of." Gengar nodded, pleased to be ahead of the game. "Staraptor has flown out. We didn't want to reduce our network capacity at all. After ensuring they did not need help first, of course."
"Very good. Alright, what about these feral hordes? How is the situation there?"
Gengar's smile dimmed a little. "Not ideal, of course," she explained. "So many leaving dungeons at once is unheard of! It's too early to be sure, but there has been some discussion across the network that after pokémon awoke, the ferals' cohesion seemed to break. If Darkrai was controlling them, that control must have broken as soon as this mass dream did."
"Still dangerous, though."
Gengar nodded. "Through the Shaymin, yourself, and what pokémon we have been able to send out, the danger to life and livelihood has been reduced with several towns liberated. Some towns have not yet connected to the Network… we are sending out those we can, but Abra and Kadabra are getting utterly exhausted. We've asked for teleporters to come here, but none have yet."
"Tell those who can spare it that I have asked," Keira said. Gengar nodded eagerly. "Alright." She glanced back to the Network pokémon. "I'm going to go back out."
Gengar's smile twitched again. "You aren't going to stay here?"
Keira glanced back at her, eyes narrowing slightly. "You seem to have a good handle on things. I can do much more in the field than by telling pokémon to do what they're already doing."
Gengar nodded, and Keira stepped out. She didn't get far before Kirlia called her. "L-Lucario!?" she cried, and Keira swept to her side without thinking.
"What is it?" Keira asked, kneeling with the pokémon. She briefly touched her shoulder but almost flinched back, letting go quickly from the sensation she felt.
"I just wanted to thank you," Kirlia said. Keira nodded as if she understood. She had a vague few memories of rushing about with a kirlia close. She assumed this was the same. It might just be a general 'Thanks for being the best pokémon ever', and that wouldn't be the first time.
"Thank you for staying with me until I was asleep," Kirlia continued to the jealousy of her peers. "That meant a lot."
"Don't mention it," Keira said. "Seriously."
"O-Of course, and. AH!" Kirlia flinched. "Oh dear, yes, yes, I hear you. Oh, thank Luca- ah? Oh. Oh! Yes, I can help. I have Lucario with me. She can help you!"
Kirlia looked up to her, eyes shining. "Slowking of Clear Lake. They've contacted us! But they are in danger, a large group of ferals is attacking, the townsfolk are safe at the moment in the trees, but the ferals have damaged a lot of the lower town."
Keira nodded. "Clear Lake. Got it. Are there injuries?"
Kirlia asked and got a quick answer. "Yes, quite a few. Please, he's, yes, she-yes. Yes, she's coming."
Keira stood up and raced off but froze at the door. "Damn. KIRLIA! Show me where the teleporters are." Kirlia immediately got up and raced after her.
Seconds later, Keira wondered why she hadn't asked Gengar to show her, but it was too late now. Kirlia led her through a few corridors before sweeping a door open with a telekinetic push and gestured. "In there!"
An exhausted Kadabra looked up as she entered. He was so tired that the usual relief and reverence didn't even touch his eyes.
"Can you take me to Clear Lake?" Keira asked. Kadabra took more than a few seconds to answer.
"I'll need a boost," he said. Kirlia, who was loitering and looking in, immediately jumped to aid again.
"I can help!" she cried, racing in. Kadabra nodded and took her hands, and squinted his eyes.
"I can't close them," he said. "Or else I'll fall asleep."
Frowning, Keira entered the ring and waited. She could almost feel the headache Kadabra was experiencing or was that just her own eternal headache?
It took minutes of sitting, and her legs were aching before Power flared, and the three of them disappeared.
Clear Lake was nestled near the base of a mountain and had enormous trees dotting the landscape where pokémon had made a village. The lake itself was as clear as it was said to be, the trees growing large over centuries.
Keira was pretty sure she remembered coming here when the trees were not nearly so large. The town had been built initially on the ground, and remnants of that remained. Shops and other buildings, things like that still remained on the ground. The homes and community had moved above ground into the titanic trees.
There wasn't much left of the trading part of town, various ferals having rampaged through it. She drew her Aura Blade and took to battle. Even Kadabra found a spark of eagerness in watching as The Legendary Lucario fulfilled ancient oaths.
A rally cheer began rising from above as Keira tore into the ferals. A foot kicked a canine pokémon into a tree. A blow from the blade struck a dustox out of the sky. Waves of Dark Energy blasted pokémon off their feet and sent them cowering. She sent a slugma into the lake, avoiding burning herself by launching it with a bone instead.
Realising a bigger predator had arrived, the ferals broke and fled. Keira struck a few that were close by down, and the others ran for the dungeons. Or anywhere.
The cheers grew louder, and a few pokémon carefully came down. One of which was an elder slowking.
"I never thought I'd see you again," he said, through wizened lips. Keira blinked as he bowed, the old, cracking crown nearly touching the ground.
"There is no need to bow, Slowking. There was never."
Chuckling, he rose with some assistance from a servine. "That's what you said last time. Ah, I remember it so well. Thank you, Lucario. You promised to come if we called, and you have. Thank you, thank you."
Pokémon began repeating his thanks, crying out in joy. Kirlia was beaming, and Kadabra was taking a nap, and Keira felt incredibly exposed.
She didn't let discomfort show, waving off thanks and having the injured brought to her. She wasn't a healer like a chansey or audino, but she could impart a Heal Pulse at the very least. It would tide a few over until their healer was able to assist them.
No one was seriously injured, which Keira was grateful for. She was not as grateful for the ceaseless adoration. She barely remembered the place, Slowking saying she had promised to return if they needed help… well, that did sound familiar.
An old ache made itself known in her body. Not in her legs, or her back, or her neck. It was something in her chest. How many times had she made that oath?
Thousands of times.
Smiling and waving their gratitude off, which was enough to make a shaymin blush at this point, Keira returned to Kadabra, and they left for the Federation.
Kirlia stuck close even as they returned to the War Room. Keira noted with some amusement that the name had already been changed with a roughly-cut plank of wood with the new name.
Keira didn't mind the clingy pokémon and sat with her as she continued delving into the network to help. Kirlia didn't take as many breaks as the others; Keira had to prompt her too. She wasn't sure if she was simply so devoted to helping, or she wanted to impress The Legendary Lucario.
Kirlia looked earnest, so she hoped it was the former.
A major break came when the Clefable and Lilligant Guild's got into contact within minutes of each other. Blackstone Village had fought off an actual army of feral pokémon and hadn't had the time or ability to call out for help until Mayor Indeedee found enough of a reprieve.
While Lilligant's Rescue Guild had simply been too far away to immediately reach, Gengar had been right that connections have been remade across the continent, and Gothitelle was communicating with them.
With the additional monpower there and Cara's return from his own salvation work, Keira decided it was time to leave.
Three days she had stuck with the Federation after a continent-spanning emergency.
"What?" Cara asked, dumbstruck after Keira told him her plans. "What?" he repeated, blinking in blunt shock.
"I'm going," Keira repeated. "Things are steady here, so I'm going."
"Steady? Hang on." Cara raised a pincer to halt her words. "Steady. They only just, only JUST have had a reprieve. Who knows what else could go wrong?"
"They'll be able to handle it."
"That's not the point," Cara argued. "You're here, and you can do a LOT for them! More than anyone else could. Why are you leaving? The biggest network is here, teleporters too? There's no lack of pokémon to find to help. Who do you think you're going to find when rushing off blind?"
"I'm going to Treasure Town," Keira said.
"You're not patient enough to wait for Staraptor?"
"That's not why I'm going," Keira answered. "Although, I do want to hear what went down personally. I'm going. They don't need me."
"I just… don't understand," Cara said, staring at her in genuine confusion. "Lucario, there is so much you can still do here. Maybe you aren't NEEDED, but your aid would still be invaluable."
"They need to be able to do it without me," she replied easily. "Already too many pokémon are looking to me to guide them. I'm here to steady the boat, not steer it. It's time for me to move on."
Cara shook his head in bafflement, still not understanding. "You… you would never have left when I knew you before," he said, voice taking on an accusatory tone. "You've changed."
Keira raised an eyebrow and almost laughed. Almost. "I knew you over forty years ago, Cara," she pointed out. "You've been gone far longer than we knew each other before. People change, Cara. And forty years is a long time to change someone."
"I just… I don't believe that this is the right thing to do," he said softly. He withdrew his pincers, almost huddling them to himself and staring at her with just… she couldn't name the expression. It'd be too painful to even try. "The Lucario I knew would do everything she had to help, to save, to protect, to guide. You were always… 'sarcastic' about things, but you were earnest. What happened to you to change you like this?"
He sounded heartbroken like she had suffered some terrible loss. His eyes flickered as he came to his own conclusion. She had lost him.
"Cara," Keira said, voice hardening as she saw him coming to silent conclusions. "The world was different back then. Things were rougher; times were tougher. Ferals attacked more often; there were more Shadow Pokémon. Towns weren't as connected, the Psychic Network was small, places were still so much more isolated, dungeons seemed so much more dangerous."
She sighed. "The world needed a bigger safety net, someone to push them in the right direction a little more. I was less of a crutch then. But things HAVE changed, for the better even. I'm not needed, and I'm not helping by sticking around. I'll take this place backwards; already, pokémon are looking to me before one of their actual leaders."
He still looked troubled, but something was beginning to come to an understanding.
She sighed again, needing to add something. "I'm bonding with Kirlia," she admitted. "That bond," she added when Cara's expression was most amusingly dubious.
It took a moment, but realisation dawned, and his mouth fell open. "Ah."
"Right." She nodded. "I won't harm Kirlia like that, not with that. That's not the main reason I'm leaving, but it is a reason."
"Would that really be so bad?" Cara asked but fell silent when Keira's look was nothing but murder.
"Don't you fucking remember?" she snapped, searing heat entering her voice. "Not again. Never again. I hurt Felix enough to even think of letting it happen again. And then to Kirlia too? I ruined Dancer. I'm not harming her as well."
"I'm still having trouble getting to know the new you," Cara said ruefully. "I know you still have your heart, but it's just… we travelled together, helping everyone until they were helped."
"It's not like it's the first time I've changed," Keira said. "I was different before I met you as well. I'm old, Cara. Old as fuck."
"And… what were you like before?"
"Before… heh." She smiled, closing her eyes. "Well, I used to be an angry little shit. Everything was terrible; life was pain, usual cub angst. I hated everything. But after bonding with the stupidest kid on the playground, it changed a bit."
Her eyes were still closed, there were still lines around her eyes, but in an instant, she looked decades younger. "I was still angry, but he tempered me a bit. I didn't really know the full extent of why until later, that fucking aura bond fucked him. But at least I started putting that anger towards more useful things."
"I had suffered." Her eyes opened again, and the age returned. The centuries of living. "I can joke about it because it's easier, but my early life was really fucked up. I had no control; I couldn't protect those who mattered. I couldn't even protect myself. So, I decided I would. I would protect Felix. I would protect our teammates. I would protect everyone. Haah." She shook her head at her own youthful foolishness.
"The first life lesson I knew was that bad things happened. The next one was that you can't protect everyone. No matter how strong you are. I thought I'd get strong, be the strongest, but… there was always someone stronger."
Her lips pursed. "Always someone that could hurt you. And we also got teammates who had already been hurt. I couldn't protect myself from my past pain, and I certainly couldn't change their pasts either. Friends and family were being hurt before I knew them; I couldn't protect them from that. I couldn't protect anyone. No matter how strong you are, you can't be everywhere."
She leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms and staring off into space. "And, in the end, I couldn't even do the bare minimum and NOT hurt them." Keira smiled then, and all Cara wanted to do was hug her. Tears had hit her eyes.
She said it so simply, so bluntly, that there was no room for arguments or cries against it. It was a simple fact, spoken into stone by The Legendary Lucario.
No one loathed you for your mistakes more than yourself.
She pushed off from the wall. "Then I came here. Arceus gave me another chance, and I never seem to learn from my mistakes. I had a chance for a new start, to really do some good, and I just did the same thing."
She shrugged. "I'd save a village from a flood, or a feral, or a Shadow, or SOMETHING. I'd stay, I'd teach them to be strong, to work together, to explore and thrive." She formed a Bone Rush and swung it against nothing. "But I didn't. I didn't teach them that. They already had those skills. All I did was feed my ego and build a culture of dependence. On me."
Cara desperately wanted to say something but talking to Keira on a rant was like jumping into a moving river.
"They depended on me," she continued, getting heated again, "but others needed help, so I'd leave. But I couldn't leave them with nothing, so I gave them permission, the ability, to contact me when they needed help. It might take a month, a year, 59 years. Who the fuck knows? Slowking did. But eventually, I'd get called back. I'd return. I'd save them again, teach them again, teach them to rely on me, depend on me, again."
"And I'd leave," she growled. "I'd find someone new to save, and the cycle would start again. Eventually, I found myself inundated with cries for help, I'd be racing over the land to come in as a saviour, but it got harder and harder."
"I was getting exhausted, sick, worn down. I'm not omnipotent; I doubt anything is. I killed Palkia; I saw Arceus be brought to Its knees." Cara raised his eyes in surprise. He'd never heard of THAT. "If even they aren't, then nothing can be. Pokémon and towns and villages would all be crying out for help, and I began to realise that I'd done it again. It took a lot longer to realise it this time, decades rather than months, but I did. I stopped answering, but then they'd panic. They wondered why I left them and began to fall apart, so I'd return."
And then the sadness returned. She slumped against the wall and slowly began to slide until she was on her tail. "It got worse. Civilisation and communication meant disputes. Disputes that they'd drag me into. I'd saved two towns; they came to loathe each other. Wanting to wipe each other out. They both asked for my favour, for my blessing, for my assistance. What was I to do?"
She looked at him then, like he could tell her what she should have done. "One village was far more powerful than the other, if I did nothing, then the other village would be destroyed, but if I intervened, then I was choosing sides. Proving one side 'right'. I was paralysed, and pokémon died because of me."
Cara hated the look. As it only reminded him of what she ranted and swore and 'joked' about. That everyone saw her as a leader. When did Keira get to turn to someone and ask to be told what to do? What should be done? When did she not have the weight of lives resting entirely on her?
"So, I began to pull back. I couldn't do it so suddenly; the world had become distressingly dependent. I was vaulted, worshipped even. That's terrifying." She met his eyes. "Fucking terrifying."
"I pulled back. Slowly. I came less, I did less, I acted up, I behaved strangely. I'd vanish for years at a time, answering nothing, showing up randomly. I'd still do what I could. I'd hunt Shadow Pokémon, rescue pokémon from dungeons. I wouldn't tell those who I was, but a lot of them figured it out anyway. I mean, look at me." She gestured down at her greying fur. "It's obvious who I am."
"I was in the middle of this when you found me," Keira explained. "You dogged me. Tracked me. Convinced me. You just didn't realise it since I'd still help if someone directly asked me. That's what my method changed to. Specific requests, personal ones."
She laughed at herself, a bitter sound. "I still couldn't bring myself to refuse those, assuming they were as benign as I was comfortable with. I hate to admit it, but I like being needed. I like being liked. I like being respected. I like being able to protect since I was never truly able to do it before. But even now, I can't. Do you get that?"
Cara didn't even know what to say as she stared up at him. Eventually, he made a vague, shrugging gesture. "Too much protection, and they grow too reliant," Keira explained. "They stagnate. They turn to me for all answers and then cry foul when I tell them to do it themselves."
"It's better these days," she sighed, looking down at the wall. "I'm almost a myth to most pokémon now, a spectacle rather than a crutch. Things are going well. I can step back. I can help where I can help, and I can also step back when things are on track. They don't need me here."
She smirked. "They want me, for sure. I know I can continue helping. But… then what? They will always be something I can do here to help. My name, my word, my experience can all do so much. But they must be able to do it on their own. And they can. I don't want to cause them to take a step back, to look to me for everything when they are more than capable of doing it on their own."
Cara nodded. "Alright. I understand. You're going now, then?"
Keira nodded, rant melting away to quiet exhaustion. "You can stay if you want, but I'm going." She said it with something heavier, and he edged away from the door.
"Very well." He nodded, shouldering the mental weight she'd tossed on him. "Lead the way, teacher."
Keira snorted at him. "For the millionth time, call me Keira, you fucking smartass."
Cara almost smirked at her; he knew she hated to be called teacher in the way she hated her ego being challenged. That she actually loved it, but only because she could argue with someone for it.
They left without telling anyone. It wasn't Keira's way to announce her departure. Carapace felt bad about leaving them high and dry, but he knew Keira would return if they did need help. It was her way. She said she'd teach them to sink or swim, but she was always ready to dive down and save someone from drowning.
To Treasure Town, they travelled.
They took the long road travelled.
Cara wasn't stupid. He knew Keira better than anyone else did. For all her words, as much as she meant them, she still valued helping. They could have taken a teleporter with ease as if anyone in the Federation would refuse her.
They walked. And so, they ran through towns that were recovering and gave them a bolster. They explored through dungeons where pokémon had taken to hiding, or simply getting lost in, and saved them.
They didn't stop, not for very long at least—something Cara did notice as different. Keira's path was unhalting, she knew the roads well, and they ran through as many towns as they could while still getting closer.
Took nearly two months for them to arrive in Treasure Town. Thanks to dungeon speed bypassing some land.
"Damn," Keira whistled as she stepped in. "I hadn't seen the place after Palkia."
"You had been put straight into a nightmare world."
"And then, what, a feral horde attacked this place?"
"Right."
She had been there when the guild had been destroyed, heard it crumble as a pokémon died to save his son. The body of Palkia had been removed from the clearing she, Armaldo, and Wigglytuff had slain it in. A simple grave had been made for the legend.
Palkia's tossing of the sea onto town had damaged the buildings, and then a feral horde had descended on the place. Even two and a half months after the chaos had unleashed itself on this place, the town was still recovering.
The shops had been rebuilt. Some made out of the ruins of their old buildings and held a rustic charm. Others had been built anew and held a shinier, sleeker expression for the town.
The dojo had survived both assaults on the town well, which Keira was pleased to see. She had plans for that.
As had become a common sight in Treasure Town, pokémon were running back and forth, moving supplies and resources to continue building and cleaning. Part of the ground had been wrecked entirely and had been cleared, creating a small cove that a Lapras Port was being built into.
Capim Town was the main port of this side of the continent, but there was no reason Treasure Town couldn't have one too.
Lapras would be happier, at least. He had a certain level of freedom to design the port for his work in saving the world twice. The concept was strange but nice for a pokémon who hadn't ever really had riches or possessions.
It had been nice spending time and helping pokémon with Carapace again. She wished she could have spent more time with him rather than losing him for forty plus years.
She debated telling him that.
For now, however, she had business and pleasure to get done. In whatever order she wanted.
Stepping into Treasure Town, all eyes turned to Lucario and Scizor.
"Treasure Towner's," Keira boomed. "Bring me, Team Ion."
To a mixture of disappointment and relief, they didn't rush to obey her. Most pokémon glanced around, returned to their work, but a few did break off to find Team Ion.
She still received a lot of pokémon coming up to her and thanking her for what she had done. Perhaps being dropped into The Dream as well broke some of the illusion of Lucario.
Or maybe killing Palkia left them feeling weird? Who knew?
It didn't take long, though. Team Ion wasn't far, and Keira formed two Bone Rush as they approached.
"Team Ion," she began as the whole town stopped at the sight of a move being used in town. Her voice was low but carried, almost a growl. "I came here to battle you once, and a god died instead. But. You're not getting out of this."
She grinned and slammed the bones together, forming her Aura Blade. She twirled it once before pointing it at them. "En Garde, Team Ion."
"I-Here-Hello?" Scout spluttered as Rai and Mane bristled.
"Dojo, actually." Keira gestured with a thumb. She spotted Marowak looking strange. "That okay with you?"
"The Legendary Lucario desires to use my dojo?" Marowak whispered, he nodded rapidly. "Of course. Of course." Then he fainted from glee.
Keira and Cara stared at the twitching Marowak. "Ookaay. Scizor, make sure he doesn't swallow his tongue or something." She turned back to Team Ion, sharing whispers. "I'll give you… ten minutes. I expect you in there, though. Not a moment later."
And with that, she walked off, tail wagging at the idea of fighting someone again. She had clashed with Cara a few times as he had recovered from his deep freeze, but that was just light training.
She was hungry for an actual battle.
It didn't take long, but Team Ion took that ten minutes on the dot to make her wait. The door to the dojo opened, and three adorable kitties entered. Scout had retrieved their Treasure Bag, Rai had rubbed his fur on them both to generate some static electricity, and Mane was breathing out sparks as his inner fire flared.
There was no need for talk. They knew she'd come back for them eventually. Keira formed her staff again and readied it.
"Ready?" Keira asked, pointing her Bone Rush.
Team Ion nodded. She smirked and gestured. "Come."
Rai and Mane immediately jumped off, speeding with glinting light to cross the battlefield. Keira stomped her feet, and a wave of darkness blasted along the ground in every direction.
Rai and Mane, going too quickly, were flipped over and tumbled along the ground. Scout saw the wave coming and jumped, pricking a paw and tossing a Shadow Ball.
Keira shifted her head slightly and avoided it right as Rai and Mane reached her, rolling like tumbleweeds. She formed a new Bone Rush, lengthening it rapidly to slam the ends into them, sending them flying.
Eying Scout, she bent her leg and then raced off. The footsteps thundered as Keira rapidly approached, raising the Bone Rush to slam down. Scout's claws on both paws lengthened into sabres, and he crossed them right as she swung.
His Night Slash formed out of a memory of frustration, shattered on impact but jarred her swing just enough for him to flinch backwards and out of the way. The bone hit the ground and then bounced as Keira swung it back up. This time he couldn't avoid it, and the end of the staff cracked against his jaw.
Scout yelled in pain as he was launched into the air, head snapping back from the brutal strike. Keira faded the bone and began forming a vortex of burning purple energy before electricity struck her from behind.
She barely twitched as lightning crackled over her body, failing to break the forming pulse in her paws. She spun around and tossed the Dragon Pulse, exploding the Fire Blast coming for her. From within the smoke, the clash of attacks created came Rai, leaping through crackling with lightning.
His tail shone white and then silvery, and he did a flip, aiming his steel-hard tail at Keira's steel-hard head. She caught him in both paws and spun again, tossing him at the only-now falling Scout. She turned on the ball of her foot again as Mane's second Fire Blast came for her and leapt over it.
As she flipped, Mane tried again. A scattering of flames couldn't be stopped as easily, and Keira braced her way through the Ember, the flames almost bouncing off as glints of light met and bounced the fires.
She landed and raced for Mane. He yelped and tried to avoid her, but she was far too quick and battered him with her staff, knocking him back, then up, then straight into a wall.
"That's gonna leave a mark," she whistled as Mane slid down the ball.
"So's this."
She spun again, bone raising to block a Night Slash. She smirked as Scout kicked off from her sturdiness. "Shouldn't talk," she said. "You lost the element of surprise."
Scout huffed at her and tried again. She raised an eyebrow, defending with her bone as he struck again and again and again. One Night Slash, then two, split them into six, then back into two. He was a lot faster than she had expected, it took a lot just to avoid being speared, and his rapid swipes were nicking her legs.
She swung out suddenly, aiming to bash him in the gut, but he limbo'd under it. She twirled the staff around, going for a clothesline bash to his ribs, but he pushed off with an arm and managed to flip over it, striking out with a Night Slash from his foot that hit her right in the chest.
She jumped back, putting some space as Scout got on two feet again and nicked his paw, forming another Shadow Ball. He tossed it as she saw what was going on behind him.
Bone broke the Shadow Ball, then she raised the Ground-type construct and spun it rapidly as a lightning strike's worth of electricity came for her.
The heat was so intense she could see the fur on her paws singing just from deflecting it with Bone Rush. Oh wait, that was actual fire. Mane had gotten up and was nailing her from behind with an Ember attack, panting hard as Scout ran for him.
Their Treasure Bag laid open near Rai, and Keira put the pieces together.
She swung out sharply with her staff and dispelled the last of the electricity. Rai came rushing for her, and she ran for him.
This was not ideal for Rai.
He yelped as he saw her charging him and tried to shift gears and evade. She tagged him, and he was sent rolling. With him taken care of for the moment, she turned to the other two. Scout had given Mane the oran berry he had in his paw, and Mane was shaking the pain off.
"You're faster than I expected," she called as Scout went for Rai next. "Quick Seed?"
Scout chuckled and nodded, giving Rai the other berry.
"Respect." She nodded. "Now." She faded the staff and began building some Dark thoughts. "See if you can handle this."
A roiling, writhing, mass of rings squirmed in her hands as the Dark Pulse formed. Keira had many dark thoughts to share.
Team Ion froze up as the power of darkness drowned the light of the room, and all that was left was the glowing power of The Legendary Lucario. And a glowing Rai who stood between her and the others.
"Stay firm," she called and then unleashed it.
Light returned in a thunderclap as Rai unleashed a Charged Thunderbolt. Rings exploded in every direction as lightning met emotion. Waves of Dark Energy washed out, knocking Mane down, forcing Scout back, but Rai held himself together through it.
Despite how much Power he put into the attack, he could see the battle was being lost. Rings were going everywhere, but there was just more and more and more.
All the power he had couldn't stop it, only slow it. He could see his electricity being forced back and back, but he took a breath, grit his teeth, and counted on all his Charge's from earlier, meaning anything.
Rai's lightning was overwhelmed, and he disappeared in an all-consuming mass of blackness. Scout and Mane yelled out his name, but it was lost over the roaring in their ears.
The dojo's windows had shattered from the force, and holes were in the walls from the deflected rings.
Keira sighed out, the attack ceasing and slumped slightly. The darkness faded, and Rai was revealed.
He was still standing.
His legs were ramrod straight and trembling, he was breathing like he'd just been drowned and revived, and his head and tail were limp.
"Wow. He actually took that," Keira said, genuinely impressed. Rai coughed pitifully and then dropped to the ground. "Respect."
"I'll give you some time," Scout said, tossing the bag to Mane. "Get Rai up."
He came bounding for Keira on all fours, and she stepped back into a fighting stance, forming her staff anew.
"Don't you get bored of that?" Scout asked, leaping up and clashing with the Bone Rush with his Night Slash.
"Don't you get bored of being a bitch?" Keira reported and broke her own staff, removing his ability to kick off. He yelped in mid-air, and she grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the ground before he exploded from the forming Dragon Pulse in that paw.
Scout groaned. "I thought that was you."
Keira snorted and grabbed his tail. "You're so funny. You should hear me laughing. Ha. Ha. Ha."
Scout seized up and swung himself with her grip on his tail, claws coming out and clamping onto her head. His koban flashed, and he met Keira's eyes.
Hypnosis needed some level of eye contact after all.
If eyes were the window to the soul, then hypnosis was a battle between his and hers. He met Keira's willpower with his own and was almost drowned in the vastness of her.
"Gah," Scout yelped, breaking the connection immediately. Saniya had once said that the difficulty in trying to hold Keira down with Psychic was similar to holding time together during the battle of Dialga and Primal Dialga.
Scout didn't really believe that. But just trying a Hypnosis nearly knocked himself out.
Keira smirked as Scout's claws loosened and threw him off her, forming a quick pulse to blast him out of the sky.
Before she could, she was once again struck by a Thunderbolt. This time it hit her eye.
"FUCK!" she bellowed, flinching back from that hit.
Scout had done as he had said and bought some time; Rai was up. He was tilting a little. Even with the oran and sitrus berries, he was about to faint, but he had enough to nail Keira that one more time.
Scout landed as Mane came barrelling in, maw burning with flames. Keira was rubbing her eyes, trying to remember how to see as a Fire Blast sent her flying.
"Are we actually winning?" Mane panted as Keira tumbled on the ground.
"I wouldn't count on it," Scout said, head pounding from his attempt to put Keira to sleep. "Okay. Plan. YOU hold her off; I've got a thing to get." He ran back for the back as Mane squeaked in disagreement with that idea.
He turned back to Keira. "And she's up," he said; she was not looking happy either. "Great."
"Okay, fire cat," Keira snarled. There was a hint of a smile on her face, though. "Let's dance."
Scout ignored the sounds of flesh being pounded and yells of pain as he dove for the bag and pulled out as much as he could, looking for the stuff.
By the time he turned around, Mane was beaten, bruised, and tossed next to Rai.
"Okay, horny cat one and secretly horny cat two are dealt with." She cracked her neck and grinned at Scout. Her fur was charred, wounds on her legs, drops of blood on her chest, but she looked like she could go thirty more rounds.
Scout bit down on another Quick Seed and palmed two others, and stepped into combat with Keira.
He knew he had no chance to actually beat her. Why Keira wanted to fight them, he wasn't sure. None of THEM were humans. But if she wanted a fight, he'd damn well give her one.
Keira was able to match his speed, knowing that he'd taken a boost. Claws met bones. His sabres shattered, and her staffs splintered. Scout wasn't weak, but he wasn't able to do any lasting damage to her either.
With one seed hidden in his paw, he managed to get in close and hit her with his own 'Force Palm'. The blast seed sent Keira, and himself, careening back, arm jarred like nothing else but her torso smoking with burned fur. His left arm went numb, and he feared he'd dislocated it.
That was fine, however.
He formed a Shadow Ball and threw it. It was popped. He formed another and another, barraging Keira with as many as he could. She formed a Dark Pulse and splintered them entirely, Scout just barely dodging the worst of it.
He formed another Shadow Ball, this time with his right paw. The seed within that paw was burned and splintered in it. The effect would be diluted, but she wouldn't have to eat the seed to be hit with its effects now.
He ran in, almost as fast as Rai and Mane's Quick Attack with his numb left paw forming a Night Slash. She broke it and nearly broke his arm, but he swung around with the other and hit her in the face with the Shadow Ball.
"Pffft, BLAH. What was that?" Keira coughed as she was also hit in the face with some sort of powder. "What did you… ugh, that was a sleep seed, wasn't it?"
Her eyes were already blinking dopily, and Keira kicked him back almost half-heartedly. She yawned. "You did your research then," she said, beginning to sag. Her eyes were blinking a lot. One of them was awfully red from getting a jolt of lightning earlier.
"Whatever." She kicked the ground and blasted a fast pulse of darkness in it. Scout was too slow to avoid it, he'd gotten some of the splashback from his own Sleep Shadow Ball, and she nailed him with a follow-up Dragon Pulse.
He crashed near Rai and Mane and fell limp. She yawned again, dropped to her knees, and smirked. "Heh, not bad." And then she hit the ground and began to snore.
The seeds effect wouldn't last for too long, but as things were quiet and townsfolk peered in, it looked like it was a draw.
A cheer went up through the town, and pokémon came in to give aid to the brave fighters.
Okay.
So, originally this was going to be… you know, ONE chapter. However, it was going to be SO LONG. I got to an earlier point and thought, 'wow, maybe I should split it?' and then I got here and was like. "Oh. 10,000 words, and I'm maybe halfway? Yeah, better split it."
So, here we are! Four Bonus Chapters rather than two/part one and part two of the prologue to Arc 3.
I have finally done the Keira vs Team Ion battle! I remade it from the original that a few may have seen, made it a little more even. Keira IS strong, undoubtedly the strongest opponent they've ever properly faced, but they're hardly weak.
Hope you enjoyed this dose of Keira, and we'll be getting even more soon! A BUNCH of talking in the next one, and we know how long my dialogue can get. Maybe it won't be as long as I think. I won't post this until I'm at least mostly done with the next one, just in case.
For now, though, see you! The hiatus is nearly over!