To Ventus, whose tale of legendary birds inspired me to ride on the wings of silver.
To Aleron's Sword, let's see if we can't finish at least one of these.
ACT I: Pledge
Cody tried his best to pay attention in class, he really did, but the slow ticking clock behind the teacher was just far more appealing to him right now. 10 minutes left by now. He had planned it all out; ten minutes before the final bell, which would mean the end of Friday, meaning the weekend, meaning another week closer to the end of the school year.
There was no more denying it, between the warm sunny mornings, the long days, and the buzz in the air, summer was approaching, and fast too. For Provincetown, that meant everything. The beach town thrived in the summer, whether it be students and families out and about, or even visiting tourists, there was always something to do here for fun. Summer vacation was fast approaching, only one week away by now.
Eight minutes now. Cody could tell even the teacher was disinterested at this point, they were going to forget this over the summer anyways, and most of the other students were quietly talking amongst themselves for their summer plans. Mostly trips to the beaches to work on tans, some wanting to pick up new hobbies or try new sports, some even discussing travel plans; limited considering most of them were only juniors. None of it really interested Cody, he already had his summer plan figured out to a tee. Stay inside all day, playing the new expansion to the game that came out over the summer with his online guild friends. It explained his lanky, pasty white complexion, but he didn't exactly care, he wasn't trying to impress anyone.
Five minutes now. The talking amongst the students grew to the point where it seemed the teacher stopped talking. Cody took this as an opportunity to slip his phone out of his khaki pocket and check his messages, as he had guessed, his phone was silently buzzing from his guild chat about the first game they were aiming for, an expansion to a game they played regularly. It came out today, and the plan was to play through it during the weekend.
One minute now, Cody slipped the phone back into his pocket, getting ready to grab his denim jacket, he found himself needing the fur line on it even as they approached summer, his body wasn't exactly the best at retaining heat. He was already slipping it on as the bell rang, throwing everything into his satchel and moving for the door. He took one step out into the deluge of students all trying to get out when one in particular shoved him against the lockers lining the wall, knocking the wind from his lung as he slid to the ground with a groan.
"Watch it, nerd!" the guy who shoved him said, earning a laugh from his entourage. Cody could barely make out the stocky, brown haired boy who shoved him. He recognized him, his on again off again jock bully, Terrence. A muscle head who had his foot in just about every sports team you could think of; and the star of them too. It was hard to tell if the push was on purpose or not.
Cody was surprised to see a girl stop and help him up. He watched in stunned silence as she helped him back up, the girl had a long auburn ponytail and was dressed in a very summery dress of pink and greens. She wordlessly smiled and nodded at him, moving back into the crowd of cackling girls. He recognized her, class president, rich preppy girl, Vera. That was probably just some publicity stunt for her senior year presidency rather than genuinely wanting to help.
That killed Cody's mood, but at least he didn't have to worry about it for the next couple of days, then soon after, a whole summer. He was quick to brush himself off and make his way out of school, lest he be trampled by the eager crowd.
A quick walk home later and Cody threw his satchel away in his room, it was small but functional, with a double bed and a desk where he did schoolwork and gaming. He plopped himself in front of his computer and turned it on. He grabbed his phone and opened up his guild's chat again.
"Hey guys! I'm home."
With that, the guild's group chat buzzed about how happy they were to see him, all excited to start playing their game, all of them were waiting for him. With a few clicks, Cody was already downloading the game, ready and eager to play with his online friends.
"Downloading now. Ready to kick some ass?"
"What's your user tag gonna be? So we can add ya?" one of his friends asked.
"What it always is. Swissigar."
"Gonna make a new character? Or keep your old one?" the same friend asked.
"We still need a melee guy who can buff you all. So I'm staying with the crusader."
Cody leaned back in his chair, smiling as the download bar appeared. It was a big expansion, but even then, it would take an hour at the most for it to download completely. Cody wanted the perfect evening for this and opted to get things ready. A bottle of freshly filtered water with ice, turning the lights off, and lastly, closing the blinds to his window for that complete dark exposure.
That's when Cody noticed it, just as he was about to close the blinds, a blue streak dash across the sky from a light blue hole in the sky; he almost missed it, on account of the fact that the sky was bright blue and cloudless. He watched the mysterious blue streak shoot across the sky and to his horror, aim directly for his house. He inhaled sharply and backed away from the window, waiting for the inevitable, and yet it never came. He saw the streak move down, landing in his backyard without a sound. He cautiously approached the window again and looked down, seeing the blue light land in the center of his backyard, not to far away from the toolshed.
"What in the world…-?" Cody muttered to himself, looking at his computer screen for a minute, the download was still going on, and would be for a while. Cody bit his lip, and put on his jacket as he stepped out of his room.
To Cody's amazement, the ball of light in his backyard was beginning to dim, showing the outline of something in the center. He gingerly opened the door to the backyard then closed it behind him. A part of him was almost relieved he was the only seeing this, he was the only kid on his street, and most of the adults were still at work. He didn't think he had it in him to explain exactly what was happening, especially considering he was just as clueless.
A chill ran up Cody's spine, the world seemed to grow quiet and still as it was only him and this mysteriously orb of light in his small backyard. He could see it clearer now. Whatever was inside the orb was a quadruped of some sort, with a long thick mane and a horn on its head.
"A unicorn? Couldn't this have fallen into the backyard of an 8-year old girl or something?" Cody sighed. Seeing that the light from the orb had officially died down. Cody apprehensively extended his hand to touch it, flinching as he suspected there may be heat to it or something, but to his relief, it was cold as ice to the touch, then shattered shortly afterwards. He backed up, looking down on the cream and blue unicorn creature in the sphere, the mane a fierce orange color. Cody saw it breathing, so it was alive at least, but he had never seen anything like this before. Unicorns weren't supposed to exist, let alone unicorns colored like that!
Cody cocked his head and noticed the unicorn creature had brought something with it. Three medallions, one a deep cobalt blue, one an earthy brown, and the other a pleasant green and pink. Cody apprehensively reached out once more, wishing to inspect them. When he noticed the creature began to stir.
Their eyes locked for a moment before the creature jumped back, medallions in its mouth as it threateningly aimed it's horn at Cody. Cody threw his hands up in the air in surrender, he didn't want to fight some space unicorn.
That's when Cody noticed the creature looking up at the sky high in horror. He dared to turn around and was greeted by a blast of icy wind; it was almost a good thing he had brought his jacket. The blue skies of summer vanished as thick billowing clouds of gray formed almost instantaneously. It was a sudden blizzard, on the cusp of summer vacation.
"I know you are here, swordsman!" Cody gripped his head in agony, brought to his knees as he heard the booming voice pierce his mind. The creature with the medallions backed up, it was afraid of this...whatever it was "I will ensure no one opposes me this time!" snow began to tear across the sky forming into wisps that whipped like snakes down to where they were, scanning the earth below.
Cody gasped and panted for air, finally able to think straight without that commanding voice in his head. He looked to the creature, to the sky, then to the toolshed. He hobbled forward, mind still racking from a headache as the unicorn looked to him "In here…" he rasped, to which the creature tentatively followed inside. Cody slammed the door behind him, traces of snow making its way inside as the two of them tried their best to rest in the toolshed. There were no windows, so Cody could only assume how bad it was getting by how strongly the wind was picking up.
"Surrender the swordsman to me, humans!" the voice pierced Cody once again, grabbing his temples to push the thoughts out of his head. He looked back at the unicorn...the swordsman through stifled breath, the chill beginning to pierce his back. The unicorn looked at him with a look that belayed its anger, Cody could tell this thing was scared, the way it trembled wasn't because of the cold.
"Take it easy." Cody groaned, sitting up properly now. "I'm not gonna turn you in...even if it would make this easier for me...I could get back to my game...summer vacation… and forget all about you." The unicorns gaze hardened on Cody for a moment, jaw loosening, making the medallions dangle in his grasp "But I'm not gonna put you through...whatever he plans to do to you."
A split second later, one of the medallions was flying at Cody, he yelped and barely managed to catch it before it struck him in the face.
"Why?" a new voice entered his mind, young, scared and confused. Cody looked to the creature locked in the tool shed with him.
"Did you just…-!?"
"Why are you helping me?" the creature asked again. Cody looked down at the medallion, then back at the creature.
"I just...I don't know. I don't wanna think about what he'd do to you?" Cody asked himself more than stated. The creature stared him down for a moment longer before putting the other medallions down.
"We have found you, Keldeo!" the voice from before sounded again, it didn't hurt Cody as much as the previous times, so that was something at least.
"If you really want to help. Put that on." this creature, Keldeo huffed, hiding the other medallions deeper in the shed. Cody eyed the one he was holding, it was the cobalt blue one from before. Without much else convincing, he quickly slipped the medallion on, a chilled feeling ran through him, as if he had just touched cold metal.
"Okay…" Cody muttered "Now what?"
"I… don't know."
"What!?" Cody yelled.
"I don't know!" Keldeo snapped back "That was the first time I ever used that kind of power, I don't know what happens after that. I don't know what to do!" Keldeo continued, louder than he probably meant to. The banging on the door grew louder.
Cody was beginning to panic too now. A human stood no chance against whatever was banging against the door, he thought maybe the creature could offer some kind of protection, but if neither of them knew what to do, then maybe surrendering it would be easier. Surrendering the small scared and confused creature from another world to the unknown entity that would do god knows what to it.
The spark of a thought entered Cody's mind "Someone has to stay strong right now...and I guess that someone has to be…me...-!?" he muttered, gripping the medallion as it began to glow a strong blue that enveloped the toolshed.
Cody sat there in silence before suddenly feeling hot. He took off his coat in a panic and discovered he was sprouting a thick tuft of white fur. Before succumbing to tremendous pain he felt a small amount of hair grow above his lips; they were large enough to show Cody he had grown thin strands of black hair. Then he doubled over in pain. He looked at his hand as he saw his five fingers merge into a single black and gray hoof. He felt the same happen to his other hand and feet. He felt his arms and legs ache as they began to stretch and turn blue. He felt plates shoot out of his shoulders; he looked over and saw they were a dirty yellow. His neck began to elongate and turn blue while his face stretched out and changed color to light blue and black. He collapsed to the floor when he felt horns tear through his skull, making long, yellow horns. When Cody was cognizant enough to stand up again, he was a couple of feet taller, his head striking the roof of the shed and his horns getting stuck in there.
"Horns!?" Cody scrambled to fall again, landing right in front of Keldeo, who was looking at Cody in utter surprise, like he was about to cry.
"Cobalion?" Keldeo murmured.
"Who the heck is Cobalion!?" Cody scrambled back up to his feet, absolutely not used to being on all fours.
Keldeo sighed, shaking his head "Right." Keldeo moved past Cody and looked at the door, splinters beginning to fly off of it "Well. I hope you're ready for a fight."
"Wait…-!" Cody began, but he watched in horror as Keldeo turned to kick the doors down to the toolshed.
Cody gulped audibly to what greeted him on the other side of the shed door. The storm continued to rage on, worsening from what he could tell. Ice sculptures draconic in feature had surrounded the shed; they walked on two legs with what appeared to be blades sticking out of the sides of their mouth, some were large and some were small. To his benefit though, none were taller than him though. Keldeo was quick to charge out and kick the smaller ones to pieces; deftly dodging out of the way of the larger ones in order to topple them and break them.
Cody stumbled out of the shed, breaking a few on impact, scrambling to stand up, he took out a couple more. Even Cody knew his luck had officially run out with that stumble, because the ice dragons were quick to pile on top of him, clawing at him deeply. He was surprised to feel water in the snowstorm as he saw Keldeo dash over him sending the ice sculptures into the nearby fence.
"Focus, Cobalion!" Keldeo said, kicking a few more ice dragons away.
"It's Cody!" Cody shot back, accidentally stepping on an ice dragon and shattering it "And cut me some slack! This is the first time I've had to run on four legs in a body twice my size…" Cody tried to replicate how Keldeo kicked, taking a couple more ice sculptures with him, and almost the shed.
"You mean you don't remember anything?" Keldo sidestepped and kicked the head off of one of the dragons.
"Should I?" Cody responded, goring one with his horns and sending it off to the side. There was a moment of respite when the two looked at each other, before they realized that the moment turned into a minute. Keldeo looked around as Cody tried to get the hang of walking properly, only to fall face first in the wet mud of the backyard.
"Great…" Cody muttered, only to be shushed by Keldeo.
"This ends now, Keldeo!" the same voice as before sounded, Cody remained unphased this time as the storm whipped up one last time, sending another ice sculpture larger than the others, and to Cody's horror, taller than him too. The blades on the sides of its mouth had turned into axes on this lean bipedal dragon statue. With a roar that sounded like cracking ice, it swung its tail around. Keldeo managed to dodge easily, but Cody had to fall over in order to avoid getting struck.
"Get up!" Keldeo said, making Cody scramble to his hooves, another slam of the creature's tail split the two up. To Cody's surprise he actually managed to not topple that time.
"Progress…" Cody muttered amidst the adrenaline rush "So now what?"
"I'm thinking about it…" Keldeo muttered, the ice sculpture was focusing on Keldeo, causing him to dance and dodge out of the way.
Cody wanted to act, but he could barely move around as he could without stumbling into him, and while a take down sounded like a good idea, he didn't know how effective it would be.
That's when he saw it, the ground froze up and Keldeo landed on a particularly strong patch of ice, causing him to slip and slide right in front of the dragon statue, who began to bear down for the attack.
Cody charged forward gracefully considering his stumbling from before; nothing like a near death experience to be a good trainer. Instinct carried him forward, then feeling the strength to protect kept him going. His hooves began to glow with a strong light. He leapt at the ice statue, prancing on him with his glowing hooves. Chunks of ice broke away from the statue as it threw Cody off.
"That was metal claw!" Keldeo struggled to stand up in the icy conditions, sighing as he saw Cody shake the glow away from his hooves "Maybe this won't be completely hopeless."
"You know…-!" Cody almost snapped back, but the whack of a heavy icy tail sent him reeling backwards.
"Cobalion!" Keldeo tried to rush to Cody's side only to be sent sprawling from one of the mouth axes. Cody watched as the ice statue loomed over Keldeo.
"Once I return you to my realm. I will rip the power from your other and end this once and for all. What hope did you have against me, Keldeo?" Cody heard the voice again, rather than finish off Keldeo, it grabbed it by the mane, the storm began to pick up, including the statue and Keldeo.
Cody concentrated, his glowing hooves acting like spikes on the frozen floor; he took a knee as he stood up though, having hurt himself from the previous attack. But he knew he had to do something, he heard the voice, once the creature was captured, he was next.
"Let him go…" Cody groaned, but the statue did not turn, beginning to rise off the ground. Cody stood up now, gritting his teeth "Let him go." he said again, and again no response. He charged at the ice statue, the glow in his hooves fading as he felt something emerge from his forehead, a bright blue beam of energy that pierced the dragon statue, dragging it back down to the earth "Let Keldeo go!" he said in a voice that was his, but in a commanding tone that was new to him. He lifted his head up, splitting the statue in two, and making it drop Keldeo. The statue shattered, and Keldeo looked at him in awe.
"...Sacred Sword…" Keldeo managed, standing back up, the moment fading as Cody shook his head around in a vain hope to turn it off. The two of them looked up, the clouds in the sky finally fading as the wind and snow died down.
"You will regret standing against me!" the voice said as the blue sky from the summer finally made itself known again "I will return for Keldeo, and the powers he has given you. I will not allow you to slip through my grasp." and with that, the storm was gone, the world returned to a bright and sunny day, as if nothing happened.
Cody looked to Keldo, the blue glow from his forehead finally gone. He then looked around at the battlefield that was his backyard. His vision was going blurry from overexertion.
"Cobalion?" Keldeo rushed forward to his side, but the little unicorn wasn't enough to stop Cody from toppling over.
"Man...mom's gonna...kill me…" Cody muttered as he fell on his side, the last thing he saw before passing out was Keldeo looking over him.
"Cody!"
In addition to that undeniable screech from his concerned mother, Cody's whole body was sore and barely able to move beyond a flinch. When he was picked up and held in a tight hug, the pain came flooding back to him, in addition to what happened before. How was his mother holding him when he was a giant blue deer thing? How did his mother even know it was him when he was a giant blue deer thing?
"Aren't you…-?" Cody managed to break free and fell on his butt, rubbing a sizable lump on his head with his hand. Cody looked at his hand with a mystified expression. He looked around the backyard, there was definitely evidence of something happening here "What…-?"
"It must have been that blizzard that hit. There were reports of hail, large pieces too. Some said they were the size of babies in some spots here..." Cody's mother helped him up, groaning from the strain, and sore from what happened "You must have taken a big one to the head. Thank god the skin didn't break, or worse…"
"Yeah…" Cody looked around, there were definitely signs of the battle from before, but the storm clouds were gone, and that creature, Keldeo, was gone too. Cody reached for his chest, cursing under his breath as he realized he was no longer wearing the medallion; Keldeo must have taken it when he passed out. And judging by how the sun was already beginning to set, he was out for a long time, meaning Keldeo was long gone.
"Let's get you inside." his mom said, and Cody was all too eager to step inside.
After his mom lectured him to stay awake for a while to ensure he didn't have a concussion, he went back into his room. He sat on the edge of his bed, eyes wide as he tried to process everything that had happened. Keldeo, that strange unicorn creature, the ice statues, the voice in the sky, the blizzard. At this point...he wasn't even sure if it was real or not. The bruise on his head and the soreness was real, but what if it was just a sudden blizzard...in summertime…
Cody sighed, pulling out his phone and looking at the screen. His eyes shot open in panic as he looked at all the notifications from the guild group chat, asking where he was. He looked at the time on his phone and groaned, he was out for hours. He swiped his phone open and opened the group chat.
"Where did you go, Swissigar? We're waiting for you!" one message from a couple hours of go read; Most messages were in annoyance at his absence.
"Sorry guys…" Cody paused. How likely were they to believe that he helped a unicorn that fell out of the sky fight off a bunch of ice sculptures by turning into a blue deer thing? He continued typing "Weather got bad here. Hail knocked me out." he expected that to be a good, and valid excuse to tide them over. But those that did respond barely seemed to care. Cody snorted, he expected a little more empathy from his friends. He'd known them for so long. His mom told him to stay up, he was going to stay up. He booted up the game, it had been waiting on the startup screen for a couple of hours. He was about to start up the game when his phone went off again. It wasn't the group chat this time, it was a direct message.
"Hey, just hopped on and heard what happened. You okay?" Cody looked between his phone and the game. If they were going to act like that to him, they could wait. He closed the game and opened the group chat on his computer rather than his phone. He recognized this user from the group chat, his tag was Aleron, he was never on all that much.
"Yeah, just gotta stay up for a while. Gotta make sure it isn't a concussion." Cody replied, leaning back in his chair.
"Sounds rough. I just got back from work myself. Was gonna log on for a bit before crashing," Aleron replied.
"I didn't know you worked." Cody answered.
"Because nobody bothers to ask lol." Cody snorted, that was true.
"So then...what do you do?" Cody asked.
"Clerk at a grocery store. Nothing glamorous." Aleron replied.
"Sounds fun!" Cody grinned.
"It really isn't. But it's a job." Aleron replied "But what about you? What happened exactly?"
Cody smiled "Hailstorm, at least that's what mom says. I honestly don't remember too much." A lie, but better than sounding crazy "The shed got really banged up though. So I…-!" Cody stopped typing, eyes wide in realization.
The shed. Before he passed out, he hid in the shed with the creature, and the creature had hidden the other medallions there too.
Cody jumped from his seat and ran downstairs, he ignored the summer chill in the evening as he made it right to the shed, still banged up. He threw the doors open and looked up, a promising start, there were two holes in the roof, about the size of two horns. He looked deeper into the shed and rummaged around. Stifling a gasp as he pulled out the brown and the green medallions. Keldeo had forgotten them.
"Oh my god it, wasn't a dream." Cody stuffed the medallions into his jacket pocket and made his way back upstairs. Thank goodness his mother went to bed early, otherwise this would have been an awkward conversation. He looked back over his computer.
"Still there?" Aleron had asked a couple minutes ago.
"I gotta go. Thanks for the chat. See you later." Cody typed quickly, logging out. Cody grabbed a pen and paper and began writing. Hopefully Keldeo knew how to read.
"I have the medallions. Meet me at the beach."
Cody slipped out of his house again, placing the note in the shed with the medallions in his satchel and making his way to the beachline.
In hindsight, Cody should have been more specific about which part of the beach he was heading too. The beachline in Provincetown was large, and there were a large number of people partying on the beach tonight. But hopefully Keldeo would be able to spot him...all alone...in the dark...on the far corner of a beach...still assuming it could read.
"Oh my god, this was a terrible idea." Cody said to himself. He sighed as he looked out over the open sea. For as long as he lived in a coastal town, he never spent much time at the beach, preferring his time spent online with his friends, he didn't have much going for him here.
Cody reached into his satchel and pulled out the medallions. In the moonlight he could see them gleam with a lustrous shine. His mind returned to a couple of hours ago, when he was handed one of them and transformed into that thing to fight off the ice dragon statues.
"Cobalion…" that's what Keldeo had called him when he transformed. Could the others transform people too? He tried putting on one of the others on a whim and focused, but nothing happened. He slipped it off and placed beside him on his satchel.
That's when Cody saw him, standing on the water with an intense glare that could be seen even through the moonlit sky. It was the unicorn creature, Keldeo. Cody bit back a gasp as the two locked eyes for a moment; he could see the last medallion in his mouth. Keldeo walked on water and approached Cody.
"The medallions. Now!" Keldeo demanded. Cody scooted away from his satchel and pointed to the two. Keldeo eyes him cautiously as he grabbed the last two. Inspecting them curiously.
"How are you feeling?" Cody hated the silence and needed to break it.
"Better now." Keldeo sighed, looking back to Cody, also beginning to walk away.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Cody asked again, standing up.
"Away from here." Keldeo responded plainly.
"Hold on!" Cody said again, grimacing as he got his feet wet in the water where Keldeo was standing "You saw what happened there. I put on one of those medallions and I transformed. I can help you fight back...whatever that was."
"You'll get yourself killed is what will happen." Keldeo huffed back "We stopped Kyurem's attacks because we got lucky. I guess he's weaker in this world, and that's why the worst he sent was just ice dragons."
Cody flinched, dying didn't sound fun, but he stood his ground "So you think it's fair to take…this Kyurem on alone?" Cody was stepping deeper into the water, up to his ankles now "I don't know where you came from or what your deal is but you're alone, and you stuck your neck out for me by giving me that medallion in the first place." Keldeo looked at him curiously "And I was always taught to repay the favor in kind. You helped me. I want to help you."
Keldeo finally turned to face Cody, eyeing him up and down before snorting "Take away the medallion and what are you? Some scrawny human who doesn't stand a fighting chance against what's about to happen."
Keldeo had a point, what place did a gamer nerd have in a battle like this "I'm the scrawny human who knows this world better than you do." Keldeo's glare hardened, the wind picking up "Let me help you, and I can try and…-!?"
"Try…" Keldeo scoffed "There's no trying with this. Only doing." The wind grew stronger, a cold chill in the air. "I may be a stranger here but I'm not about to risk everything on someone pretending at being a hero." Keldeo growled back, Cody winced, going red in the cheeks. The wind became harder and harder to ignore.
"There you are, swordsman." Cody and Keldeo turned around to the third voice that sounded in the sky. The two looked up at the creature; it appeared to be a large bird, in the moonlight, one could make out the purple and green coloration on it. Tufts of white that looked like clouds swirled on and around. But most unsettling of all was the dark aura that swirled around the creature "Master Kyurem wants you to return, and to dispose of the human you convinced to help you." With a mighty flap of its wings, it sent a spiraling gust of air towards the two.
Keldeo prepared to brace himself, but to his surprise, Cody shoved him out of the way. The two splashing into the water as the wind blasted behind them. Keldeo and Cody quickly got out of the water and turned to face this creature. Keldeo looked between the creature and Cody. The human was right, this isn't something he can do alone, he risked his life, twice now, to ensure his safety.
"Put the medallion on." He threw the amulet at Cody who scrambled to catch it. He looked to Keldeo, nodded, then slipped it on.
In a flash of light Cody was Cobalion once more, looking up at the flying creature with an intense gaze. He may not have known how to use this body to its fullest, but it was better than Keldeo taking this thing on alone.
"So what is that thing?" Cody asked, Keldeo stepped forward.
"Tornadus, incarnation of wind. Corrupted by Kyurem." Keldeo gasped as another gust of wind was launched at them, making the two side-step out of the way.
"So we just gotta ground him then." Cody said, taking a couple steps back experimentally. With newfound strength and speed. He charged and jumped at Tornadus, only for Tornadus to hit him with a gust of wind point blank. Cody made a crater in the sand as he landed back down.
"So what was the plan there?" Keldeo asked.
"...Ground him…" Cody groaned, getting back up.
"Well, you're onto something with that…'' Keldeo gasped as the two were enveloped in a tornado on the beach, wrapping the two in a sandstorm. While Keldeo coughed and squinted, Cobalion seemed mostly unfazed. When he saw Tornadus' silhouette pierce through the tornado in an attempt to strike Keldeo. Cobalion was the first to react and send the bird away with a metal claw.
"How could I…-?" Cody asked, watching Tornadus skid across the sand.
"You're part steel type…" Keldeo coughed, clearing his eyes out "That's why the sandstorm didn't bother you."
"Works for me. Rush him!" Cody and Keldeo charged at the downed bird. Keldeo enveloped himself in water and sped ahead of Cody, ramming Tornadus at full force. As the bird attempted to flap Keldeo away, Cody raked him across the back with his shining hooves.
A powerful screech stopped the two from attacking, then sent flying backwards blades of air came down and struck them. Cody stood his ground, skidding slightly across the sand, but Keldeo was sent flying backwards and landing with a thud.
"Keldeo!" Cobalion tried to rush to him to help him back up, but more cuts of air blasted up sand, blocking him. Tornadus flew through the rising sand and grabbed Cody by the neck, choking him as they skid across the beach.
"Master Kyurem stated that only Keldeo needed to be returned alive." Tornadus spoke, his grip tightening around Cody "You on the other hand...I am unsure how you came back, Cobalion. But…-!" Tornadus screeched as a beam of bubbles struck him in the back. Cody gasped and shot up, coughing as he regained his ability to breath.
"Are you okay?" Keldeo asked.
"Yeah...yeah…" Cody coughed. Looking at Tornadus stand up, summoning more cuts of air.
"Remember that thing you did? When you summoned the Sacred Sword?" Keldeo asked, bracing himself.
"You mean the blue horn thing?" Cody asked.
A long pause, then a sigh "Yes, the blue horn thing. That should be enough power to take Tornadus down."
"Okay. We'll use it together then." Cody nodded.
Another long pause "I...don't know how to summon it."
Cody looked down at Keldeo, but shook his head and faced Tornadus again, this wasn't the time to berate Keldeo "Okay...just give me time to see if I can activate it again then." Keldeo nodded, charging ahead in a stream of water, deftly dodging the blades of air that Tornadus launched.
Cody tried his best to concentrate, but between the battle, and the life or death situation, he was finding it hard to focus on activating a power he barely understood. Getting his hooves to glow was easy enough, why couldn't he get his forehead to glow?
Cody snapped back to reality when Keldeo was sent sprawling before him, he couldn't distract Tornadus for long. Keldeo tried to stand back up, but merely fell back into the sand.
Protecting him. That powerful desire to protect Keldeo sparked the Sacred Sword to appear the first time. Cody watched more blades of air cut through the night sky at him, but he leapt over Keldeo, and just as he had hoped, his forehead began to glow, and a long blue beam of light formed from it, with a swipe of the blade, Cody was able to cut the blades of air into nothing. With a powerful call, Cody charged forward, sword pointed at Tornadus. He managed to deftly dodge the incoming blades of air that came at him.
"I won't let you hurt him!" Cody proclaimed once again in a tone that wasn't his. Tornadus cawed back and attempted to fly into the air with one mighty flap of its wings, but Cody was quick to jump and spike it back into the ground. With one more sure strike, the sword slashed across Tornadus' chest, cutting it open.
Cody backed up, panting in shock as he looked over the defeated Tornadus. He did it. He actually did it! He could stand up to these creatures and protect himself, and above all…!
Cody whipped back around, looking at the still unconscious form of Keldeo. Cody ran towards him, nearly tripping as his form returned to that of his human self. He slid in the sand and shook to Keldeo, who got up shortly afterwards.
"I'm fine. I'm fine…" Keldeo tried to stand up, but ended up leaning into Cody "Where's…-?" Keldeo stopped as the two looked at Tornadus, gray smoke emanating from the cut that Cody had made as his form began to vanish.
"I will not be made a fool again." Tornadus spoke, but the voice was that of the other voice, Cody had to assume this was Kyurem "You have been marked, human. And I will ensure you and your world suffer a fate you cannot fathom…" With that, Tornadus vanished in a wisp of cold storm clouds, disappearing into the night sky, leaving Cody and Keldeo alone.
Cody and Keldeo sat together on the beach for a while after the fight in silence. Occasionally daring a glance at the other, hoping to gauge the other's reaction. Cody sat huddled in on himself, still sore from the fight. While Keldeo lay down beside Cody.
"You know…" Keldeo finally spoke looking out over the horizon "I think this is the first time I've felt relaxed since coming here."
"Yeah…" Cody really wasn't sure what else to say. He looked to Keldeo, then he grabbed the medallion, Keldeo hadn't asked for it back yet, and he assumed that was coming up "Guess you want this back now, right?" He dangled the medallion between Keldeo and himself.
Keldeo looked at it for a minute then looked down "No. I think you should hold on to it." Keldeo stood up.
Cody couldn't help but smile at the thought, but quickly bit the smile down, he didn't want to look too excited "Why do you say that?"
"You're right. I can't do this alone. I don't know this world, I can hardly defend myself, and I can't even use Sacred Sword like you can." Keldeo nodded "I need all the help I can to get back home and take down Kyurem. And if you're offering your help…-!"
"Which I am." Cody interjected, standing up.
"Then I have to take it. For a chance to set things right." Keldeo managed a smile at Cody, the smile was returned now.
"Alright, then I guess we're partners." Cody nodded, putting the medallion back on and grabbing his satchel.
"Before that though. When I became a swordsman like Cobalion and the others. I had to take a pledge." Keldeo walked forward onto the water "Will you take the pledge?"
Cody looked at Keldeo and thought, he was in too deep now. Kyurem said it best, he was marked now because of Keldeo. If this monster thought he was a swordsman like Keldeo, then he might as well make it official.
Cody gripped his medallion, transforming into Cobalion once again. He couldn't help but smirk as he saw Keldeo's eyes gleam in the moonlight as he finished transforming. He concentrated, able to bring out his Sacred Sword easily now.
"Is there any formal wording to this or…?" Cody asked.
Keldeo swallowed "Whatever feels natural…"
Cody nodded, thinking "Until you can make your way home and stop Kyurem. I pledge to protect you, and all that may be threatened by him." Cody faltered, chuckling as the Sacred Sword faded "How was that?"
Keldeo nodded "Perfect."
