Chapter 12: Chaos Explained
A sliver Mew awoke. Who or what dared to wake him up? He yawned, abruptly stopping in the middle. Strangers! Strangers from outside the Valley!
The old Mew suddenly became very active, rising first to his feet and then to the air. He zipped outside of the building and found the intruders. Five were exotic-looking birds, and a sixth looked and smelled vaguely Mew-like. A limp human was in his arms.
No other Mews were in sight. The silvery one hovered up to the Mewish intruder. Telepathically, he said, {Who are you?! How did you get into the Mew Valley?!}
The birds startled slightly and looked about. The Mew-like beast said, "Relax. It's telepathy." He faced the annoyed being hovering in front of him and asked, "Are you Zhalost?"
The silver Mew hesitated before saying {Who wants to know?}
"My name is Buck. The birds' names are Apollo, Roy, Artica, Thundra, and Silverwing. This is… was Sparky. We need to see Zhalost. Are you him or not?!"
The sliver one sighed. {Yes, I am Zhalost. What do you want?}
"I've been having visions. They've been leading me and my friends to each other. Last night, a lot of weird stuff happened. I had another vision; the 'Chaos Dragons' told me to see you. And… and… our Trainer died in a stupid accident. Zhalost, the Dragons said you'd explain everything."
Zhalost's antagonistic demeanor changed dramatically. {The Chaos Dragons… yes, of course… follow me.}
He levitated away. Buck and the birds followed him through a field dotted with strange trees and plants, along a silver river, and past many confused, frightened Mews. Eventually they came to the old building Zhalost had zipped out of minutes before.
{Go in.}
The birds obeyed, but Buck hung back. Zhalost listened to the strange creature's brainwaves and discovered that the visitor was afraid of buildings. Humans made them… that was bad…
*But not this particular building. It's not human-built. It was made by honest Mews. Go on inside, but leave Sparky's body and backpack outside.*
Had Buck been older and more knowledgeable of his people's abilities, he would have recognized Zhalost's mental coaxing as coming from the ancient Mew. As it was, Buck dismissed the thoughts as his own subconscious logic and did as they told him. Zhalost smiled to himself and entered.
The interior of the building was simply a short corridor ending in a large room. The corridor was dull, but the room was a sight to behold. The ceiling was so high, Silverwing could stand to his full height and jump up and down, if that had been a thing for the Lugia to normally do. In the center of the room there was a very large, glowing emerald. Surrounding this centerpiece were seven pedestals, each with a jewel at its base; a light blue turquoise, a purple amethyst, a red ruby, a dark blue sapphire, a green emerald, a colorless diamond, and a yellow topaz. Atop the topaz's pedestal, there was a sleeping dragon that Buck recognized as Aniu.
{Each of you will stand atop a pedestal.}
The six did as they were told; Artica stood above the turquoise, Thundra chose the amethyst, Apollo the ruby, Silverwing the sapphire, Roy the emerald, and Buck the diamond. Zhalost sat on the center emerald with his legs crossed and closed his eyes.
{The story I'm about to tell you will be hard to believe. But it's true; I was there, and I remember. A long, long time ago, this Universe we live in was connected to three others by everlasting Wormholes. For time beyond even my memory, there were wars going on between the four; thus it was called the Chaos Quadverse. No creature alive was safe from the wars, except for us Mews. Our species split into four Clans, one in each 'verse, shutting ourselves off from the world in our Mew Valleys. The only contact any Mew had outside his Valley was the odd communication between the Clans.
One day, in all four valleys, non-Mew creatures broke in; however, it was clear they meant no harm to us. All of them were confused beings who had been led by psychic visions to the Valleys. The ones who came to this Valley were seven dragons. As they spent more time with us, they learned to use the source of power for the Psy-Shields that protect us; the Power Crystals that are before you. There was an identical set in one of the other Valleys; they were called Chaos Emeralds.
The seven dragons learned to use the Power Crystals to heighten their abilities. The beings in the other Valleys learned to use their resources as well. Eventually, each of these creatures developed a telepathic link with all the others. They used their newfound powers to break up disputes between cities, countries, and the four parts of the Quadverse; thus they became the Defenders of Chaos.
Years passed. Peace reigned. We Mews reentered the world. And then, without warning, several of the Defenders went mad and lost their psychic link to the others. They want on rampages; sometimes leveling entire cities. After that, things escalated and went downhill; the citizens of the Quadverse became wary of the Defenders, one of them meeting her death at their hands. The insane Defenders killed most of the others. After what I remember to be a short time, only one Defender remained who was neither dead nor insane. She lies on the Topaz's pedestal; Aniu was her name. She almost lost her sanity, but unlike the others before her, she recognized the signs and came to the Mews for help. Specifically, she came to me.
She lied down atop her pedestal, I sat down on this Greater Crystal, and I let my mind enter hers. It was awful; strange demons were in her brain, wreaking havoc. We defeated them. And, while our minds were still one, we saw the king of those demons. He taunted us from beyond Aniu's psyche in the gap between Universes; the place known as anti-space. Ragonork was his name. Evidently, he had been trapped there years and years and years ago, and was using our Quadverse to break free. He could gather energy from our wars and malicious killing. That was why he had sent his minions to destroy the Defenders; they were mucking up his plans.
When my mind returned to my body, both Aniu and I were severely shaken. It was she who came up with a plan to halt Ragonork's schemes. If the Quadverse was separated, he would have a much harder time gathering energy. She asked for the Mews' collective help, and we agreed.
All of us sent the energy of our power sources to Aniu. She used that to destroy the Wormholes, but the backlash was catastrophic. Two of the four Clans and their Valleys were completely decimated, and as for Aniu… her spirit separated form her body, but the body itself still lived.
That was 20,000 years ago. I am the last living Mew to remember firsthand these events. We have long lost contact with the other surviving Clan; to form a psychic link, you need to be in the same Universe. A few years ago… well, by my standards, a few, I had a vision involving you six and your human. Ragonork is growing restless. The Quadverse needs to reunite against him. The Chaos Defenders must rise again. And you seven, I sense, are part of that.}
Zhalost opened his eyes and looked around at the shocked Pokémon. Buck leaned slightly forward and asked, "How would my father know about all this? He's the one who stared me on my quest…"
Zhalost smiled at the young Mewtwo's ignorance. {Death brings much knowledge.}
Artica piped up, "How can we become Defenders?"
Zhalost's psychic voice once again entered their minds. {As I said, the seven dragons learned to use the Crystals here to strengthen themselves. More specifically, they learned how to draw power from the Crystals and from each other. I can perform a ceremony that will give you seven these abilities in ten minutes. Once it is done, you will have an empathetic connection with each other and will be able to send each other telepathic messages.}
Each Pokémon looked the others in the eye one by one. Thundra said what was on all on their minds. "What about Sparky? You keep saying seven."
Zhalost gave an enigmatic smile and said nothing. Buck tossed his head and said, "I'm in if you guys are."
The birds pondered for a moment, one by one agreeing with the Mewtwo.
{All right. Let's begin.}
Zhalost closed his eyes again and assumed a meditative stature, legs crossed, tiny hands held slightly in front on his muzzle with his thumb and pointer finger forming a circle, tail gently weaving in an s-curve.
{Stay perfectly still… think only of the Crystals and each other… do not be alarmed by anything…}
Zhalost's fragmented telepathy faded to nothing as he began chanting.
"Rerew-mwrowra-mew-oo-oo…"
The Greater Crystal's glow intensified more and more. Just as it looked about to explode from the brightness, seven spokes of crackling, electric energy shot from it to each Power Crystal. It was an effort on all the companions' part not to jump. The glowing energy slowly worked its way up the Pokémon, focusing slightly at their eyes and changing their eye color to that of the Crystal they stood over. Buck's glowing, white eyes looked at the sleeping dragon; she too was covered in the yellow glow of her Crystal, and behind her eyelids there was a faint sense that her eyes were glowing, as well.
Zhalost continued his solemn chanting. After several minutes, the spokes of energy flickered out of existence, and the Crystal's glow faded from the Pokémon, returning their eyes to their original colors. Buck whooped. Artica chirped. Silverwing sang. Thundra cawed. Apollo squawked. Roy roared.
And the dragon groaned.
A sliver Mew awoke. Who or what dared to wake him up? He yawned, abruptly stopping in the middle. Strangers! Strangers from outside the Valley!
The old Mew suddenly became very active, rising first to his feet and then to the air. He zipped outside of the building and found the intruders. Five were exotic-looking birds, and a sixth looked and smelled vaguely Mew-like. A limp human was in his arms.
No other Mews were in sight. The silvery one hovered up to the Mewish intruder. Telepathically, he said, {Who are you?! How did you get into the Mew Valley?!}
The birds startled slightly and looked about. The Mew-like beast said, "Relax. It's telepathy." He faced the annoyed being hovering in front of him and asked, "Are you Zhalost?"
The silver Mew hesitated before saying {Who wants to know?}
"My name is Buck. The birds' names are Apollo, Roy, Artica, Thundra, and Silverwing. This is… was Sparky. We need to see Zhalost. Are you him or not?!"
The sliver one sighed. {Yes, I am Zhalost. What do you want?}
"I've been having visions. They've been leading me and my friends to each other. Last night, a lot of weird stuff happened. I had another vision; the 'Chaos Dragons' told me to see you. And… and… our Trainer died in a stupid accident. Zhalost, the Dragons said you'd explain everything."
Zhalost's antagonistic demeanor changed dramatically. {The Chaos Dragons… yes, of course… follow me.}
He levitated away. Buck and the birds followed him through a field dotted with strange trees and plants, along a silver river, and past many confused, frightened Mews. Eventually they came to the old building Zhalost had zipped out of minutes before.
{Go in.}
The birds obeyed, but Buck hung back. Zhalost listened to the strange creature's brainwaves and discovered that the visitor was afraid of buildings. Humans made them… that was bad…
*But not this particular building. It's not human-built. It was made by honest Mews. Go on inside, but leave Sparky's body and backpack outside.*
Had Buck been older and more knowledgeable of his people's abilities, he would have recognized Zhalost's mental coaxing as coming from the ancient Mew. As it was, Buck dismissed the thoughts as his own subconscious logic and did as they told him. Zhalost smiled to himself and entered.
The interior of the building was simply a short corridor ending in a large room. The corridor was dull, but the room was a sight to behold. The ceiling was so high, Silverwing could stand to his full height and jump up and down, if that had been a thing for the Lugia to normally do. In the center of the room there was a very large, glowing emerald. Surrounding this centerpiece were seven pedestals, each with a jewel at its base; a light blue turquoise, a purple amethyst, a red ruby, a dark blue sapphire, a green emerald, a colorless diamond, and a yellow topaz. Atop the topaz's pedestal, there was a sleeping dragon that Buck recognized as Aniu.
{Each of you will stand atop a pedestal.}
The six did as they were told; Artica stood above the turquoise, Thundra chose the amethyst, Apollo the ruby, Silverwing the sapphire, Roy the emerald, and Buck the diamond. Zhalost sat on the center emerald with his legs crossed and closed his eyes.
{The story I'm about to tell you will be hard to believe. But it's true; I was there, and I remember. A long, long time ago, this Universe we live in was connected to three others by everlasting Wormholes. For time beyond even my memory, there were wars going on between the four; thus it was called the Chaos Quadverse. No creature alive was safe from the wars, except for us Mews. Our species split into four Clans, one in each 'verse, shutting ourselves off from the world in our Mew Valleys. The only contact any Mew had outside his Valley was the odd communication between the Clans.
One day, in all four valleys, non-Mew creatures broke in; however, it was clear they meant no harm to us. All of them were confused beings who had been led by psychic visions to the Valleys. The ones who came to this Valley were seven dragons. As they spent more time with us, they learned to use the source of power for the Psy-Shields that protect us; the Power Crystals that are before you. There was an identical set in one of the other Valleys; they were called Chaos Emeralds.
The seven dragons learned to use the Power Crystals to heighten their abilities. The beings in the other Valleys learned to use their resources as well. Eventually, each of these creatures developed a telepathic link with all the others. They used their newfound powers to break up disputes between cities, countries, and the four parts of the Quadverse; thus they became the Defenders of Chaos.
Years passed. Peace reigned. We Mews reentered the world. And then, without warning, several of the Defenders went mad and lost their psychic link to the others. They want on rampages; sometimes leveling entire cities. After that, things escalated and went downhill; the citizens of the Quadverse became wary of the Defenders, one of them meeting her death at their hands. The insane Defenders killed most of the others. After what I remember to be a short time, only one Defender remained who was neither dead nor insane. She lies on the Topaz's pedestal; Aniu was her name. She almost lost her sanity, but unlike the others before her, she recognized the signs and came to the Mews for help. Specifically, she came to me.
She lied down atop her pedestal, I sat down on this Greater Crystal, and I let my mind enter hers. It was awful; strange demons were in her brain, wreaking havoc. We defeated them. And, while our minds were still one, we saw the king of those demons. He taunted us from beyond Aniu's psyche in the gap between Universes; the place known as anti-space. Ragonork was his name. Evidently, he had been trapped there years and years and years ago, and was using our Quadverse to break free. He could gather energy from our wars and malicious killing. That was why he had sent his minions to destroy the Defenders; they were mucking up his plans.
When my mind returned to my body, both Aniu and I were severely shaken. It was she who came up with a plan to halt Ragonork's schemes. If the Quadverse was separated, he would have a much harder time gathering energy. She asked for the Mews' collective help, and we agreed.
All of us sent the energy of our power sources to Aniu. She used that to destroy the Wormholes, but the backlash was catastrophic. Two of the four Clans and their Valleys were completely decimated, and as for Aniu… her spirit separated form her body, but the body itself still lived.
That was 20,000 years ago. I am the last living Mew to remember firsthand these events. We have long lost contact with the other surviving Clan; to form a psychic link, you need to be in the same Universe. A few years ago… well, by my standards, a few, I had a vision involving you six and your human. Ragonork is growing restless. The Quadverse needs to reunite against him. The Chaos Defenders must rise again. And you seven, I sense, are part of that.}
Zhalost opened his eyes and looked around at the shocked Pokémon. Buck leaned slightly forward and asked, "How would my father know about all this? He's the one who stared me on my quest…"
Zhalost smiled at the young Mewtwo's ignorance. {Death brings much knowledge.}
Artica piped up, "How can we become Defenders?"
Zhalost's psychic voice once again entered their minds. {As I said, the seven dragons learned to use the Crystals here to strengthen themselves. More specifically, they learned how to draw power from the Crystals and from each other. I can perform a ceremony that will give you seven these abilities in ten minutes. Once it is done, you will have an empathetic connection with each other and will be able to send each other telepathic messages.}
Each Pokémon looked the others in the eye one by one. Thundra said what was on all on their minds. "What about Sparky? You keep saying seven."
Zhalost gave an enigmatic smile and said nothing. Buck tossed his head and said, "I'm in if you guys are."
The birds pondered for a moment, one by one agreeing with the Mewtwo.
{All right. Let's begin.}
Zhalost closed his eyes again and assumed a meditative stature, legs crossed, tiny hands held slightly in front on his muzzle with his thumb and pointer finger forming a circle, tail gently weaving in an s-curve.
{Stay perfectly still… think only of the Crystals and each other… do not be alarmed by anything…}
Zhalost's fragmented telepathy faded to nothing as he began chanting.
"Rerew-mwrowra-mew-oo-oo…"
The Greater Crystal's glow intensified more and more. Just as it looked about to explode from the brightness, seven spokes of crackling, electric energy shot from it to each Power Crystal. It was an effort on all the companions' part not to jump. The glowing energy slowly worked its way up the Pokémon, focusing slightly at their eyes and changing their eye color to that of the Crystal they stood over. Buck's glowing, white eyes looked at the sleeping dragon; she too was covered in the yellow glow of her Crystal, and behind her eyelids there was a faint sense that her eyes were glowing, as well.
Zhalost continued his solemn chanting. After several minutes, the spokes of energy flickered out of existence, and the Crystal's glow faded from the Pokémon, returning their eyes to their original colors. Buck whooped. Artica chirped. Silverwing sang. Thundra cawed. Apollo squawked. Roy roared.
And the dragon groaned.