The Crimson Dragonite
Chapter 7
"The End Has Many Forms"
By: Shadow~Of~Shadows
Author's
Notes: Here's the end of TCD. I hope
you enjoyed this story. If you'd like a
sequel, I'm open to suggestions. Thanks
for reading!
Disclaimer:
Shadow doesn't own Pokemon. She just
chooses to write stories about it/them.
-~-
The
small fleet of flying Pokemon reached the main ship and let off their passengers
then went to help the legendary birds. It wouldn't be much longer, by the looks of the fleet.
Maria
raced along the deck of the ship, looking for a door in. She'd been on this ship before, and that
simple fact shocked her desperately. She kicked in a door and tapped in a code on a panel, the motioned for
Merlin to come in behind her. Shadow
managed to slip in behind him before the door closed.
Lyra
stood on the deck, feeling hopelessly alone. Blood hovered nearby, ready to take off if needed. It was boring.
Maria
slipped further into the bowels of the ship, tapping out passcodes as she
went. Merlin followed her dutifully,
and before long, they'd reached the inner workings of the ship. The only thing was that it had been
easy. Terribly easy.
The
main screen lit up and Giovanni gave the two ex-Rockets a serious look. He then smirked and reached for a large red
button on a panel. "Well well well." He
said, his tone of voice loaded with sarcasm and mockery as his fingers idly
twitched back and forth over the button.
Merlin
nearly swore. They'd come this far just
to be outdone. Just then he felt,
rather than heard, something slip away. Shadow! Of course!
"Sir."
Merlin said, hiding all expressions.
"Merlin,
Merlin, Merlin. What did I tell you?"
Giovanni said. "That if you ever ran
away…"
Merlin
looked at the floor. Maria stared at
her friend in bewilderment.
"And
you, Maria. You know what I said would
happen. It can still happen."
Maria
looked up, a horrified expression filling her face. They both watched as Giovanni's fingertips danced mere
millimeters from the button's surface.
Just
then a wire shorted out somewhere in the computer banks, followed by a rabid
cascade of blue sparks that sizzled over the computer panel. Fully half of the screens turned dark, and
the missile-warning screen suddenly shut off. Shadow had done her job.
Giovanni,
furious, punched the button. Nothing
happened. The two teens sighed in
relief.
Just
then, evil laughter sounded from before them. They looked up in horror and saw the impossible.
"Leafeon!"
they both shouted at the same time. They looked at each other, then back at Giovanni, their hearts torn.
"One
false move and this Pokemon dies. I
want you to hook up those missiles again, and then destroy the legendary
ring. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"
Giovanni said in his most quiet and deadly tone.
"Yes
sir." Merlin said through gritted teeth. The two teens got to work quickly.
-~-
Outside, Lyra got cold as Articuno made yet another
dive nearby. Just then Blood's head
perked up.
"Danger." He said quietly. "We're in danger! Chaos
is coming!"
"Chaos?" Lyra asked. She jumped onto Blood's back and sank close to his naturally hot
skin to guard against the chill. "What
kind of chaos?"
"What kind? It's all the same." Blood said, and then swung his head around. Lyra made sure Rex was safe in hi Pokeball,
then looked up at the nearby legendary ring. Until just a short while before, that had been her home. The thought gave her a funny jolt.
Just then a screech came from above. A giant golden Pokemon dropped from the
clouds and flapped his great wings once, then twice. Lyra and Blood were knocked back against the ship by the sheer
force of the gust.
"Warning! Go
warn your friends that what they hope against is an ILLUSION!" he screeched. "Go! Tell them now, or the world will go!"
Lyra, horrified by the might and the aura of the
Pokemon, leapt onto the deck again and ran towards the door Maria had entered
earlier. It sprang open under her hand
as if by magic. She ran through and
proceeded to run through the bowels of the ship.
It was just taking so much time!
-~-
Merlin hooked two more wires together. It was nearly complete. One more pair of wires…there they went. Hooked together perfectly.
Maria turned to look at Giovanni. "It's done." She said.
Giovanni smirked and leaned forward a bit just as
Lyra burst into the doors.
"It's an illusion! What you're hoping against is an illusion!" she shrieked. Maria, Merlin, and Giovanni all rocked back,
but Merlin's quick mind digested the equation and he reached forward, taking
hold of all the wires and jerking them out just as Giovanni slammed on the
button.
After a moment of darkness, an explosion rang out
and knocked the ship aside. The three
teenagers were slammed viciously against one side of the boat.
"We didn't make it." Merlin said, paler than ever.
"Leafeon…" Maria whispered quietly.
"Blood! No! Blood!" Lyra shouted. She
lurched to her feet and ran up the crazily tilting stairs. Maria and Merlin followed her path with
their eyes, and then ran after her. Shadow leapt out of a nearby closet and followed them as the ship listed
terribly to one side.
The three emerged on the tilting deck to find
missiles flaring off from the ships and being destroyed by legendary Pokemon
left and right. Blasts of different
powers and strengths hit the missiles, knocking them off course or making them
explode early. The results devastated the
fleet but not the world. Lyra looked
hopeful, and just at that moment Blood flew to destroy a missile.
Something was different about this one; it was a bit
bigger and had a flashing light near the end. Lyra noticed a moment too late as Blood hit the thing with a fire blast
and the resulting explosion threw him back into the fleet, impaling him
hopelessly on a pile of jagged metal.
"NO!" she screamed. She would have leapt into the water to swim to him if Merlin had not
gently grabbed her arm to stay her progress. She watched, tears dripping from her eyes, as the legendary Pokemon
quickly mopped up the scene.
At long last, the golden Pokemon flew by again, and
she screamed at him as loudly as she could. He turned one giant black-ringed eye to look at her just as a pink
creature flickered into existence and floated nearby.
"My…Blood! Blood!" she said, pointing. The
two Pokemon turned and, upon seeing the dying Dragonite, lurched horribly in
their progress and rushed over to him. Just as they turned aside, two more Dragonites appeared, a black one and
one that was clear and see-through, like diamonds.
"Blood!" she screamed one last time, leaning half
over the rail, trying to get as close to her Pokemon as she could. The crimson colored Dragonite tilted his
head and looked at her hazily from such a far distance away and then closed his
eyes. It was the end.
The black and crystal Dragonites observed the whole
affair with a calm look, and then landed beside their son. They looked once more to Lyra, then back at
the dying Dragonite. Then, with solemn
voices raised high, they began to chant a spell.
As the spell wore on, the legendary Pokemon gathered
around, though whether it was to offer their power to the Dragonites or simply
to watch, no human could tell. At long
last, the spell was done, with a soundless explosion and a flash of bright
light.
The first change was so obvious that almost all of
them didn't even notice straight off. When they did their jaws dropped. The Legendary Ring was gone. In
its place stood a perfectly normal island.
The second change stood shakily on his now human
legs and looked up and around at the legendary Pokemon circling him, running a
hand through his crimson-colored hair nervously. His black eyes took in his human body and clothing with mild
disbelief before the Pokemon cleared their throats as one to speak. The Black Dragonite spoke first.
"You are and were our son. You were the crimson Dragonite and you would have been legendary
had you remained alive. However, you
died, and the devotion of a human saved you. Her wishes allowed us to create a human form for you. Pokemon blood, the blood of dragons, swims
in your veins, but you are human as well. Live on as the Crimson Dragonite in memory only, for you are now only an
Illusion of a Dragon. Join the humans
who are now your kin, Illusi Dracon.
The Crystal Dragonite swept Blood, no, Illusi to the
now stationary boat deck. He stepped
shakily onto it, not trusting his weak human legs and not having a tail to
balance with. Suddenly, he felt
something hit him, and hit him hard.
Lyra had launched herself at the boy who was once
her Pokemon and now clung to him with a single-minded desperation, determined
to never let go. Unfortunately, Illusi
needed to breathe, and finally was forced to try and pry her away. She stepped back, a bit embarrassed, and the
humans looked around at the sky, the island, and the ocean. The legendary Pokemon faded one by one,
going out with distinctive cries. The
Black and Crystal Dragonites were last, and waved goodbye to their once-son as
they left.
Illusi had no choice but to sit down hard.
"So." Merlin asked, as cheerily as he could manage, "What's
it like being a Pokemon?"
-~-
Illusi quickly became good friends with Merlin and Maria and didn't complain when he had to ride with the other three humans and Shadow on the back of an Aerodactyl. It seemed that cheating death had given him a brand-new outlook on life and he wasn't wasting it.
The friends met up with the rest of Merlin's gang
and the whole troupe went to the island to meet up with the locals, who were
gathering on the beaches, hushed and afraid. The whole ocean spread before them, something previously unseen.
Lyra leapt off of the Aerodactyl's back and ran to
find her family. They were soon found
and despite their chastising her for not wearing a proper dress, they were
really quite happy to have her back.
"I made it. I escaped." Lyra said proudly. The
people of the island laughed, even as they led her and her friends off to have
some dinner.
-~-
"…and so that's really what's been going on all this time." Merlin finished, looking around at the surprised and shocked faces that surrounded the table. He shrugged and took another bite of the roasted meat on the table. He hadn't had food this good for quite a while. "I'm sorry it came so suddenly."
"No." one of the elders said. "It was for the best I think."
"Well, we'll be going after we sleep a bit I figure…" Merlin started.
"I'm staying here." Lyra announced quietly. Merlin and Maria looked at her in astonishment, but just then Illusi spoke too.
"If Lyra is staying here, I will as well." He said. The others sighed and nodded. It would probably be for the best.
-~-
About a month later, Merlin and Maria headed back towards the Legendary Island to visit their friends.
"You know, you never told me how you knew about Leafeon." Maria told her partner as they were flying along.
"Well…it's a long story…but mainly the story goes that my parents were in league with yours—don't look so shocked…I know about your real parents, yes. Anyway, there were two Leafeons created, not just one." He finished.
Maria sighed, and then wrapped her arms a bit tighter around Merlin's waist. "Well, nice to know there's somebody out there with the same problem as me." She said with a slight chuckle.
"Problem?" Merlin said innocently. "Mine's a perfect DEAR…"
"Oh quiet, you." Maria said again as the Aerodactyl flew onward into the evening sky.
-~-
The End
-~-
Supplemental Author's Notes:
I don't know if I'm going to be writing another Pokemon fanfic apart from the possible sequel to this one, and I'll only write a sequel to this one if I get enough positive feedback. I'm much more attached to the Gundam Wing and Escaflowne fandoms now, but I will continue writing Pokemon if I get more positive feedback! If you prefer email, feel free to drop me a line at lonelyshadow42@yahoo.com and I'll read your comments there. Anyway, it's been great, see you later!
~Shadow