Foreword: This is the suspended episode originally intended on season two. I wound up having to rewrite it to fit season three, and that explains why it wasn't up any sooner. Sorry about that. ^_^;
By the way, yes, when I came up with this episode, I had a lot of things on my mind. The Sailormoon episode with the explanation of the Moon Kingdom (can't remember the episode title at this point), the Digimon Frontier prophecy, et cetera...
***
Episode 21--
Once Upon a Time
It seemed as if everything went back to normal at last. This was, to everyone's relief, especially one girl's for one specific reason...
"Thank god I don't have to clean up after the Pokémon anymore!" Jude sighed happily upon hearing that her brother would take up some of his former duties, such as taking care of the Pokémon, again.
"Oh, you'll still be cleaning the Pokémon's quarters, young lady," Bill replied as he put a hand on her head and bent down a little so that his head was level with hers. "It's a good method of teaching self-discipline. If you work hard and focus now on little jobs like this, and you'll be prepared for the hard work and harshness of the real world later on in life."
He smirked and straightened up before letting go of her and walking out of the room.
'Like he really knows about the harshness of the real world,' Jude thought. 'He didn't HAVE to go job hunting to find a job with a lot of friggin' zeroes in the paycheck.'
She made a physical response by pulling down her eyelid.*1*
"And don't think I don't know you're pulling your eyelid down at me, young lady!" Bill called from the other room.
She let go of her eyelid and thought, 'Damn, he's good.'
~~~
Night came quickly. It was a cool, summer*2* night when the stars sparkled in the deep, black-blue heavens beside the Cheshire Cat's lopsided smile.*3* All was calm, all was quiet, even in the lighthouse. Ziggy was in sleep mode. Jude slept, dreaming of punk boys in black with tattoos up their arms. Apollo dreamt of his travels, mentally revisiting each town he went through and fighting his past opponents. Artemis dreamt of stranger things, from dancing mushrooms to rabid sock puppets. Even Ash was fast asleep beside Pikachu, dreaming of food and winning Pokémon battles... respectively.
In yet another room, the master bedroom, Bill sighed deeply, set aside the book he was reading (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde*4*), and turned off the light on the small nightstand beside his bed. He sunk down until he was flat on his back and stared at the ceiling for a bit before closing his eyes.
That's when he heard her. In the void he now saw, her voice floated into his mind, mixing with the beginning of a dream.
"Come to me..."
He knew it was Zero. She wanted to speak with him, but about what and how urgent were questions fresh in his mind.
"Shift and come to me," Zero beckoned.
"Zero," he whispered before pausing. "I'll be there in a moment."
He remained still for a moment before finally pushing himself out of his own body.
~~~
He arrived on the edge of Zero's lake. At this point, he took a look at his reflection. A Natu stared back at him.
"Welcome, Bill."
He looked up abruptly to see Zero, standing a few feet from him, in the waters of the lake.
{Zero, why did you call me?} Bill asked, blinking at her.
"I summoned you here for many reasons," she replied as she cocked her head slightly and smiled. "Mostly, it is because you must know."
{Must know what? And why haven't you called Ash, Ziggy, or Jude here as well?}
"This only concerns you."
{Anything that has to do with shifting happens to be their business as well.}
Zero smiled warmly, as if she were speaking to a child who knows too little. "Bill, this concerns your destiny especially. When the time comes, I will tell Ash as well. However, something will happen soon that requires you to know the truth of your purpose."
{My purpose...?}
"Of course."
{Go on.}
Zero turned so her side faced Bill before she went on.
"Many legends say that Ash is the Chosen One," Zero began. "Chosen by Ho-oh."
{So... He was telling the truth...} Bill's eyes widened (if a Natu's can indeed). {I've heard Professor Oak talk about Ash's claims... that he saw Ho-oh fly over a rainbow when he first started out on his Pokémon journey.}
"He did," Zero replied. "Let me go on, though. Indeed he WAS chosen, but he was not just A chosen." She walked for a few steps through the water. "There is another legend, tied with an unfufilled prophecy, stating that time and time again, there were, are, and will be, in fact, THREE chosen. The Hero, the Royal, and the Angel. The Hero, the one who ensured that there was a world left for the prophecy to take place on, had already revealed himself without knowing this, and he would be Ash. The Royal, one who already knows all there is to know about the legends and one who would protect the other two, happens to be Apollo. Finally..." Zero walked back into her original place. "The Angel. The one who will bring peace and light to this world and the only one truly strong enough to greatly damage the shadows which threaten it, rather than purify them like the other two... This time, he is you."
{Me?}
"Yes."
Bill didn't know what to say. He was just... a helper. The information guy no one ever really cared about. The... Giles of this Buffy the Vampire Slayer story. (Though, okay, the latter analogy hadn't crossed his mind.) If anything, he simply thought that the most he'd do would be to help the Angel, not to actually BE the Angel. Sure, he knew eventually, he'd achieve something great, but... THIS?
"I know it's quite overwhelming for you," Zero told him. "However, you have yet to know all there is to know. Come. Take my hand. We can start from the very beginning..."
Eager to know more, he jumped up into Zero's arms. The world faded out around them.
~~~
There was a void. Nothing yet to see.
"Many people cannot remember the time before time," Zero began. "There once was a time without Pokémon, but instead, simply animals. Unfortunately, memories have been wiped, and it was as if this time never existed, though echoes of it can be found in the structures that somehow remained standing through the years.
"I, or rather, my first incarnation, as I had been reborn many times since, had come from the original time. A time from the late second millenium to the early third. Then, I was what you concider to be... average. No special powers had been awakened inside of me. In fact, I had nothing but a great imagination and a skill with a game called Pokémon, a foreshadow of the age which is now.
"In the creation of this game, the programmers had unintentionally created a virus which triggered glitches in the game. There were those that gave those who saw it shifting powers, Missingno, and there were those who bent reality in a different way, Mysterio.*5* One certain Mysterio came to life, becoming the only true Pokémon of the time. His name, which he had given himself, was Keianos.*6*
"Keianos and I... we met through the game. He came into reality and became my friend. And one day, hand in hand, we crossed over."
{Crossed over?}
"Yes." Zero nodded as the world around the two slowly became more than void and light and color instead. "There is a point, twelve full years, that separates my original time from the one you happen to be familiar with. To some, this time is called the Beginning or Renaissance Years. To others, it is known as the Catastrophic Years. Whichever you may call it, the period was that which the heavens crashed down upon Earth.
"Each year, throughout a certain month, meteor showers occurred, carrying giant space debris made of what you know as Sun Stone, Moon Stone, and Cosmos Stone. Each shower seemed to come from the time's respective zodiac sign, giving the people a reason to name them the Revenge of the Cosmos. The Revenge of the Cosmos had been feared only after the showers that came from Scorpio during November of the first year because these stones destroyed entire cities, then sent out special forms of radiation, turning both lifeforms and inanimate objects into Pokémon.
"People were in panic. The world was thrown into chaos as civilization as I knew it was destroyed. However, Keianos and I became their hope. We had crossed a time barrier whose other side lay beside the path of the final shower -- which would strike Earth on the tenth month of the twelfth year -- crossing it just upon Neptune's orbit. We rode the debris to Earth, taking in the special magic contained within the stones.
"When we arrived on Earth, those who found us called us the Seraphim of Libra, believing us to be messengers sent from the Heavens, riding from fair Libra from which the shower came. They asked us to protect them, and with our new magic, we did. Keianos and I wished for an end to the chaos, and so, the meteors stopped coming."
Zero ran a hand over the air beside her and went into a sitting position, just as what was the ground became air. Thousands of feet of it, no less. Below them, there was an island, obviously civilized, and obviously from a time long ago.
"Because the survivors of the Years had no knowledge of how to reestablish civilization -- because they were always led by someone else -- they were confused until Keianos and I chose five leaders to direct reconstruction and establish peace with the increasingly hostile Pokémon race, who now had a sense of superiority over humans and conflicted with them and the animals unaffected by the radiation in an attempt for global control.
"What you see below you is the product of four short years under the five kings. The first prosperous civilization completely peaceful with all Pokémon, named for the legendary land of long ago. This is Neo Atlantis.
"Here is where the story began..."
~~~
It was only four short years, but Neo Atlantis was already full of culture, civilzation, and whatnot. Driven by the motivation burned into them by the five kings, construction workers from the old times rebuilt buildings into the great city which sat upon the continent. It was a city of stone supported by steel, almost like if Atlantis ever rose again in the post-Apocalypse. And in a sense, this is exactly what it was.
Because of the fact that they had all survived, there were constant celebrations. Constant gatherings to shout out how joyful and grateful all forms of life were to be alive. And on the former Halloween, there was one particular celebration.
The location was the Northern Palace, where one of the five great kings resided. In the ballroom, countless guests, both Pokémon and human, were gathered, conducting merryment until a lanky servant ran down a set of steps in the front of the room, made his way to the long table in the back, and whispered something to the king seated behind it. The king grinned and stood up.
"Attention! Attention! May I have your attention please?"
The band stopped playing. The din quieted down. All eyes turned toward the king, who stood up from his throne and raised his cup.
"We have much to be thankful for," the king announced. "Surviving, health, happiness, peace with these new, wonderous creatures called Pokémon... I myself must be thankful for my family -- including my wife and my son, Anadus..."
At this point, the king nodded to the prince, who was among the people, charming the girls with his dark eyes, general good looks, and polite conversation skills.
"...But of course," the king continued, "we must be thankful for two souls, one of which, sadly, had chosen instead to attend a celebration in the South. However, one had kept her word to come join us in our merriments tonight. Please welcome Lady Aigori."
The crowd applauded and turned to the stairs, where Zero had indeed stood in a white elfin dress with actual sleeves and no wings. Her long, thin hands drifted down and lifted up part of her skirt as she carefully made her way down to the dance floor. Her dark hair bounced slightly with each step, though still held down by a circle of small, white flowers around her head. She smiled and nodded to the band, signaling them to resume with the music. As soon as it had, however, all attention went back to merrymaking.
However, one hand drifted up to grab Zero's. Startled, she looked up and into hazel eyes and the rest of a thin face framed by brownish-blond, short hair. He was no older than early twenty-something with a thin body, looking larger than it actually was due to various layers of colored capes and clothing, topped off with a green cloak.
"Mercurius," she whispered.
"Lady Aigori, I must have a word with you as soon as possible," he told her. "Please, my lady, it's important that you take heed."
"I understand," she replied. "Perhaps we should be alone."
"Yes, this would be best," Mercurius said with a nod.
Mercurius took Zero by the hand and led her back up the stairs and through a set of curtains at the top, right into a balcony currently unused otherwise. He led her straight to the railing lining the far edge of the balcony, turned her toward him, and leaned forward, speaking quietly so as not to let anyone else hear.
"Lady Aigori, I want to tell you something that would most likely spoil the merrymaking in the ballroom."
"I don't mind," she replied, wondering what he was about to say. "Please, Mercurius, go on."
"My lady, may I ask where Keianos is currently located?" Mercurius inquired.
"He is in the Southeastern Domain, at another celebration thrown by the king there."
"That he is not," Mercurius responded. "My lady, Keianos recently found a group of thieves, murderers, and other criminals hiding in a place where, apparently, your teachings of peace, love, and hope haven't had any effect. My servants have kept an eye on him ever since I saw this through my mind's eye. Ever since that encounter, he had been questioning your teachings, wondering whether they were practical. My lady, Keianos dreams of war, and he plans on stirring trouble!"
Zero cocked her head. "But why would Keianos want to do such a thing?"
"The ideas from these dark people have contaminated his heart," Mercurius replied. "And they haven't stopped there. In turn, Keianos went to many kings on Neo Atlantis and tainted THEIR minds, and this is his reason for being in the Southeastern Domain at this point."
Mercurius straightened up and stepped away from Zero a bit.
"My lady," he said, "right now, Keianos is gathering followers. It's only a matter of time until he makes the first attempt to cover the world in darkness, just as it had been many years ago before the Renaissance Years."
"I see..." Zero bowed her head a bit. "Have you foreseen anything? Anything we could possibly do to stop Keianos forever?"
Mercurius stopped for a moment, then drew his hand under his cape. His hand went to a ring of silver tied to his belt with a small piece of rope. He undid the knot and pulled the ring out.
"My lady, this circlet was made for you," he said. "A piece of the mysterious stone which does not cause Pokémon to transform -- not the Sun Stone, nor the Moon Stone, but instead, what we now call the Cosmos Stone -- had been placed in the front. We think that perhaps you could use it to increase your power and become even stronger than Keianos. Replace your ring of flowers with this ring of silver."
Zero looked into Mercurius' face, nodded, and took off the circle of flowers around her head. Mercurius placed the ring of silver with the sapphire-colored stone in its place, positioning the stone so that it remained over the center of her forehead.
As soon as the stone was in place, Zero dropped the ring of flowers, feeling the stone's power as she was surrounded by a blue light...
~~~
"Mercurius was correct," Zero told Bill in the present. "Peace would not last long. Keianos turned against the last good king of Neo Atlantis as well as all of his subjects, including myself. All of the followers of Keianos, who not long after announced himself as Keios, fought a bloody struggle against the army of the last good kingdom and the rebels under the kingdoms ruled by newly villainous tyrants.
"I was left to fight Keios alone but found that even with the circlet containing the Cosmos Stone, I lacked such a strength to defeat this new demon fueled by darkness and the darkness in the hearts of man. I turned to three great leaders for help: Mercurius, the wise sage from the West, Anadus, the noble prince of the North, and Helena, the courageous female soldier who once served both domains of the South. They were the original three, the three who started the Circle Prophecy."
Around them, destruction and death appeared. Warriors from both sides struggled to defeat one another, not getting anywhere but on the ground, dead in a puddle of blood on rubble.
However, in the heart of the conflict, a great shadow loomed. Bill shivered, recognizing this shadow as the one in his Xatu visions. The familiar, cold feeling swelled up inside of him.
"Yes, Bill," Zero said, answering his thoughts. "That shadow is Keios, no longer the pure white being of light, love, and happiness it once was as Keianos. I, too, feel sad that this happened to him..."
At once, other voices could be heard. Noises of fighting, but mostly, in the heart, voices. Keios laughed sadistically as others screamed at him.
A young woman stepped up. Her long, dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her thin, tanned body was covered in a uniform not unlike Li Meiling's card capturing uniform.*7* Her dark brown eyes narrowed as she lifted the white bow she held in her hand and drew out one silver arrow from her quiver. She prepared for a shot, drew back the bow, and fired, sending the arrow right into Keios.
He gasped, but pulled the tiny (tiny compared to his size) arrow from his side and laughed.
"So, the little rose has thorns," the monster sneered.
"Helena, he's too strong to be attacking individually!" Anadus yelled to her before lifting his sword of pure silver. "We've all got to attack him together!"
"Well, then hurry up!" Helena replied as she drew another arrow from her quiver.
Bill's eyes were torn from this sight only by Zero's present voice once more.
"The battle went on for days," Zero recalled. "That is, until finally, Mercurius foresaw the sinking of the island, just like that of Atlantis countless millenia ago. We had to seal Keios away quickly so we could have enough time to evacuate all those on the island with innocent hearts. To do that, I lent them the power of the Cosmos Stone so that each could pool their will and light together to create a prison for Keios."
At this, three beams of light shot up into the sky and thickened until they became three light walls around Keios. These light walls leaned in and reshaped themselves until Keios was trapped within a pyramid of light.
"You cannot defeat me this easily!" Keios hissed from inside. "Nothing can hold me forever! I will escape, and when that happens, the world will be mine!"
With that, the pyramid of light shrank to the size of a PokéBall and sank into the debris of a building on Neo Atlantis, just before the earth began to shake.
"We had little time," Zero continued. "By creating a second barrier of light, no dark soul could step onto a boat and leave the island. Everyone rushed to get off the island any possible way they could, leaving the island to sink into the depths."
Around them, water appeared to cover the land at an alarming rate. Zero didn't appear worried due to the bubble she had created around herself and Bill. However, a worried expression HAD crossed her face when a tiny pyramid floated up, toward the surface...
~~~
The two were once again floating in a void. For a long time, both were silent until Bill spoke up.
{Go on, Zero,} he said. {Tell me more.}
Zero smiled at his eagerness. "The inhabitants of Neo Atlantis scattered about the world, but not before taking the legend and the prophecy foretold partially by Mercurius and partially by myself. They had carved them in many caves and preserved them on many artifacts, but each never varied in the story. The story itself, though, goes on.
"After the first battle, Helena, Anadus, and Mercurius each had offspring of their own, to each a treasure was passed as well as their respective title and destiny. From time to time, the sons and daughters of the children of the three fought side by side, sealing Keios back up if he ever escaped again. Using Helena's Helios Bow are the descendants of her son who came to form the line of the Hero and whose surname disappeared into the Ketchum name. Using the Moon Sword of Anadus are the Royals, who are the ancestors and relatives of Dagda,*8* the family of Apollo. And finally comes the children of Mercurius."
She paused.
{Go on.}
"Mercurius' case was unusual. You see, he had not one but two children, unlike Helena and Anadus, who each had one child. The first daughter received the cross that had protected Mercurius and became known as the Sealing Angel. Each time Keios was released, the first daughter in the family tree that grew from the daughter of Mercurius participated in the prophecy, using magic to attack and the cross as a defense.
"On the other hand, Mercurius had second child, a son. To this son, Mercurius gave a ball of pure energy. As the other children hid their treasures time and time again, the ball of light was placed inside the son, passed down to any second-born son following him. The chosen from this branch had always been known as the Ending Angel, possessing a great power which I will soon tell you of. Right now, you may know that this bloodline goes into the Avalon family tree."
{Avalon...?} Bill's eyes widened. {My mother's...?}
"Your mother's maiden name," Zero completed with a nod. "And you are her first son but second child, making you the Ending Angel."
{But what does that mean?}
"I will tell you, but perhaps the Circle Prophecy will explain things better...
"In times of darkness, Three will rise
One to lead, one to fight, and one to protect.
The Royal will be the first to hold the gift
The Hero will fight alongside those rarely seen
The Angel, late to come, will protect us all
Three guided by a Pixie of orgins unknown
"When the Shadow takes form and reveals himmself
The Royal and the Hero will rise to fight
It is not until after the Angel saves the Pixie
When it too will wield the sword.
When all three have united to fight as one,
Only then will the Shadow be defeated
"Far away in a distant time, the Three will do much more
The Royal will push the Shadow away
The Hero will bring its downfall
Both with their mighty swords
And the Angel will destroy it forever
Using the gift it was born to use
"The sun will shine once more in Atlantis,
And the three will wander separate ways
The Hero to wander as a warrior
The Royal to discover the skill of Atlantis
And the Angel, reaching its true meaning
To protect our kind forever more."*9*
{I still don't understand.}
Zero giggled for a moment, then grew serious and tried once more. "Sometime in the future, Apollo, Ash, and you will all gather together to fight against Keios, just like there had been struggles countless times before. However, this time around, Ash and Apollo will only weaken Keios just enough for you to use your true power -- the true gift of light inside of you -- to destroy the darkness in Keios once and for all."
Okay, now if you were Bill, and you could find something to say about this, I'm quite impressed. Unfortunately, you're not Bill, and the poor guy was overwhelmed like he hadn't been before, just by that last sentence.
And Zero wasn't even done yet.
"However, things will not be exactly as I had foreseen," Zero continued. "I first realized this when Apollo caught sight of a Missingno on Cinnabar Island and became a shifter,*10* meaning both you and Ash would have to become shifters as well to make the three of you equal. But I should have seen a much earlier sign."
{What do you mean?}
"When you were born, you were not meant to be summoned to fufill your duty as the Ending Angel," she explained. "You were meant to be, yes, a successful Pokémon researcher, but one with a peaceful life in which no knowledge of Keios' existance. Instead, the prophecy would have continued with the Sealing Angel, the first daughter of the descendants of Mercurius' daughter, whose name disappeared into the Loveland family tree."*11*
{You mean...?}
"Yes. Tess was the Sealing Angel. But she had her ancestor Mercurius' sixth sense and foresaw everything about the prophecy and the role she and the others played in it. I believe she hinted at this once."
Tess's voice echoed through the void. "You and I are destined for great things..."
Bill couldn't reply.
"Yes, she was trying to warn you about the burden she was going to place on you," Zero continued. "I still remember how she came to me that night..."
~~~
Zero's lake. Zero herself, yes, a few years younger, but perfectly preserved as a fifteen-year-old girl, stood near the shore once more. Tess appeared behind her.
"Lady Aigori," Tess addressed. "Zero..."
Zero turned around. "Hello, Tess."
"Zero, I had a dream last night," Tess stated. "In it, I saw Keios. I saw myself, many years from now. I saw so many horrible things. Zero, I don't want this horrible thing to occur over and over again. How can I stop this during this turn?"
"You can't," Zero replied. "You must pass away, handing your destiny to the current Ending Angel. I trust you know who that is."
"Of course. And I'm willing to die if it means no other will die because of Keios."
"Are you positive? There are many things to concider..."
"I'd rather die now and know that Keios will as well than remain alive and die at the hands of Keios, only to have him kill others in the future!"
Zero's eyes were wide, but then she gave Tess a soft look. "Alright. You have convinced me to allow you to do this. Give the Ending Angel your family cross, then continue on your own way. Tess, I honestly wish there would be another way in which you don't have only the option to die, but only the Sealing Angel will be--"
"--Summoned unless she is no longer living," Tess finished softly. "I know."
Zero gave her a solemn look. "You will break many hearts in doing this."
"I know."
"And still, you do not mind?"
"No."
Zero sighed and nodded. "Very well then. Farewell."
Zero turned around as Tess began to leave. Suddenly, the older girl in white thought of something else.
"Tess," Zero said. "I must tell you one more thing. Whatever you do, do NOT speak a word of this to Bill. He is far from ready to know about Keios, his destiny, myself... just about anything involved with the prophecy. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Lady Aigori."
"Good bye then, Tess..."
~~~
Bill was unable to reply to this. He stared incredulously into the void, shaken by the images of Tess. He had nearly forgotten what she looked like, and to be reminded under these circumstances...
"I'm sorry."
Bill jumped slightly, startled by Zero's voice.
{Sorry? For what?} he finally responded.
"I know it hurts, remembering her," Zero said. "I'm sorry for forcing you to do so."
He shook his head and quietly replied, {It's okay.}
"But yes, it was because of Tess's decision that you must now fufill your part of the prophecy. It is, after all, your destiny to end the cycle. To drive away the darkness once and for all. It's a great responsibility, but I have faith in you," Zero once again told Bill.
{Zero, out of curiousity,} Bill began, {What will happen if I fail?}
"You would not want to know," Zero replied with a frown. Before Bill could say anything, Zero added, "I have one more thing to show you."
{...What...?}
The void was filled with small images of places -- towns, cities, rural areas... just about everything one could think of, and all images focused on one person.
"Bill, are you aware that there are others like Ash, Apollo, and you, others who possess the gift of shifting and intend on using it for good?" Zero inquired.
{...No.}
"There are, and always has been as long as Missingno existed. Thousands of people all over the world, the very people you see in each image around us. Each very much aware of my presence, Keios' presence, and the presence of another governing body..."
The images disappeared, except for one image revealing eight cloaked figures standing next to one another in a white, marble room.
"Have you ever heard of High Rise Circle?" Zero asked.
Bill shook his head.
"No? Strange. Apollo would have said something by now," Zero muttered. "High Rise Circle is a group of elite shifter masters -- seven who act as a Parliament to all shifters, and the eighth, the leader of the group, Marcus. It is their job to keep shifters in line and to keep the shifter world secret.
"Unfortunately, many shifters answer only to them and act as their servants. Because the members of High Rise Circle are normally kind, I pay no attention to this. However, lately, there has been a problem..."
{A problem?}
Zero's hand flung out to the picture, distorting it a bit before it grew dark, changing the cloaks on seven of the members (as well as the wall behind them) to a dark color and erasing Marcus from the picture. A few moments later, behind them, a shadow with red eyes appeared. Bill gasped upon seeing this.
"Somehow, Keios entered the meeting room of High Rise Circle as they were discussing recent events against Keios, specifically, the end of our battle with Lilith," Zero explained. "It was then that Keios flooded the room and almost all of the members' minds and hearts with darkness, turning them against the only one unaffected by this sudden event, Marcus."
Zero's hand rested on her lap as she shut her eyes. Bill felt one of her hot tears fall upon his head.
"Keios then ordered the members to kill Marcus, and they obeyed him," Zero finished. "Now, Keios is using High Rise Circle to do his bidding, which means those poor, confused followers of theirs are now carrying out deeds of evil."
Zero shook her head, as if to shake off anger and sadness. "I would tell you to help me repurify High Rise Circle, but that is not your concern. Keios is after you because of your purpose to destroy him. If he manages to get you before it is time to fufill your purpose, then the hope of a peaceful world will be faint and obscure. I only ask of you to take up defense and wait for something bigger to happen."
{Something bigger? Keios will attack soon?}
"Yes, but that is not what I meant," Zero replied. "I meant... Something earlier. Something inevitable and written in the prophecy as well."
{What?}
She didn't answer him as the void around them disappeared. She stood in the waters, still holding him for awhile before setting him down again.
{Zero, please, if you can, tell me what it is I'm to wait for this time,} Bill pleaded.
Zero turned away. "I cannot say. I don't want you trying to prevent it. Return to your body. I have said all I think you need to know. If there is anything more, I will speak with you again. Until next time, Bill. Farewell."
Bill paused and stared at her back for awhile before shifting out.
Just before he had done so, he heard Zero say to herself, "I only pray that he will do well without me..."
~~~
"Wait, wait, wait... All of this happened... WHILE I WAS OFFLINE?"
Bill nodded before bracing himself, ready for an earful.
"AUGH!" Ziggy groaned. "Why didn't you get me online quickly enough!?"
Bill smirked, holding his tongue, though he was HIGHLY tempted to say, "Because I was enjoying the peace and quiet resulting from not having to hear your incessant chattering."
"Oh, well, I'll forgive you," Ziggy muttered with a fake smile. "Besides, I have my revenge."
Bill cocked his head. "What do you mean?"
Ziggy giggled. "When I realized that the storm was over and you STILL didn't get me online, I took off all of the SPAM filters on your Inbox."*12*
"What!?" Bill glared at her. "Ziggy!!"
"Serves you right for forgetting about me again!" Ziggy responded with a wide, mischievous smile.
Bill growled and got to work, deleting the piles of SPAM he received over time.
Meanwhile, Apollo leaned in the doorway of the cellar as Artemis sat on Apollo's shoulder.
"So, now he knows," Apollo muttered to his Pokémon partner. "How much longer do you think we have?"
"Not long enough," Artemis replied with a frown. "'It is not until after the Angel saves the Pixie...'"
"Hmm..." Apollo narrowed his eyes. "Does that remain true this time around, without the Sealing Angel?"
"Unfortunately yes," Artemis responded with a sigh.
***
End episode 21*13*
---
Footnotes:
*1*: By the way, in case anyone's wondering why one would do this (I know I always have when I first started loving anime), it's simply the Japanese form of a raspberry. (I would have Jude do the latter and have this involve a joke about a tongue ring, but I've decided to refrain from doing so. ^_^;)
*2*: ...I don't even know if this is a logical time or not. We can suppose it is, though I've been VERY inconsistant about time. (I've never told you this, but it's true.)
*3*: Refers to the crescent moon.
*4*: Don't worry, I'm not going to make a subtle reference to Jekyll and Hyde EVERY episode from now on. Just anytime I have "Confrontation" stuck in me head. XD (Nah. I'm not obsessed. You have yet to meet Meowthgal-san and/or Onion-tachi. ^_^;)
*5*: Otherwise known as 'M.
*6*: Pronounced kay-AH-nohs. Means nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's a name I made up. ^_^;
*7*: Yep. Card Captor Sakura (not Cardcaptors) reference. And I got lazy. ^_^;
*8*: If I can remember correctly, Dagda is a Celtic god, whose role in mythology is kinda like Jupiter's.
*9*: The reason why this doesn't rhyme (like all cliché-y prophecies do) is because the language of Neo Atlantis is a foreign language. -_-
*10*: Yep. Those Missingnos can really screw up reality. ^_^;
*11*: Right. Bill and Tess are distant cousins. VERY distant. As in, the last ancestors from both family trees who were related are dead and have been buried for a millenium or two... or three. It's not as sick as you think; EVERYONE'S related to one another in some way. (So, technically, the world is overrun with inbreds. ^_^;)
*12*: "Offline" means that the connection between the shifters and her were severed. So, Ziggy could do just about anything on Bill's computer except for pop up and talk to him, even if she was "offline."
*13*: Well, the first episode in a brand new season. ^_^ Not TOO bad... Anywho, yeah. I apologize for not making any sense with Apollo and Artemis at the end there. Trust me; it'll get clearer when I build upon it. ^_^;
By the way, yes, when I came up with this episode, I had a lot of things on my mind. The Sailormoon episode with the explanation of the Moon Kingdom (can't remember the episode title at this point), the Digimon Frontier prophecy, et cetera...
***
Episode 21--
Once Upon a Time
It seemed as if everything went back to normal at last. This was, to everyone's relief, especially one girl's for one specific reason...
"Thank god I don't have to clean up after the Pokémon anymore!" Jude sighed happily upon hearing that her brother would take up some of his former duties, such as taking care of the Pokémon, again.
"Oh, you'll still be cleaning the Pokémon's quarters, young lady," Bill replied as he put a hand on her head and bent down a little so that his head was level with hers. "It's a good method of teaching self-discipline. If you work hard and focus now on little jobs like this, and you'll be prepared for the hard work and harshness of the real world later on in life."
He smirked and straightened up before letting go of her and walking out of the room.
'Like he really knows about the harshness of the real world,' Jude thought. 'He didn't HAVE to go job hunting to find a job with a lot of friggin' zeroes in the paycheck.'
She made a physical response by pulling down her eyelid.*1*
"And don't think I don't know you're pulling your eyelid down at me, young lady!" Bill called from the other room.
She let go of her eyelid and thought, 'Damn, he's good.'
~~~
Night came quickly. It was a cool, summer*2* night when the stars sparkled in the deep, black-blue heavens beside the Cheshire Cat's lopsided smile.*3* All was calm, all was quiet, even in the lighthouse. Ziggy was in sleep mode. Jude slept, dreaming of punk boys in black with tattoos up their arms. Apollo dreamt of his travels, mentally revisiting each town he went through and fighting his past opponents. Artemis dreamt of stranger things, from dancing mushrooms to rabid sock puppets. Even Ash was fast asleep beside Pikachu, dreaming of food and winning Pokémon battles... respectively.
In yet another room, the master bedroom, Bill sighed deeply, set aside the book he was reading (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde*4*), and turned off the light on the small nightstand beside his bed. He sunk down until he was flat on his back and stared at the ceiling for a bit before closing his eyes.
That's when he heard her. In the void he now saw, her voice floated into his mind, mixing with the beginning of a dream.
"Come to me..."
He knew it was Zero. She wanted to speak with him, but about what and how urgent were questions fresh in his mind.
"Shift and come to me," Zero beckoned.
"Zero," he whispered before pausing. "I'll be there in a moment."
He remained still for a moment before finally pushing himself out of his own body.
~~~
He arrived on the edge of Zero's lake. At this point, he took a look at his reflection. A Natu stared back at him.
"Welcome, Bill."
He looked up abruptly to see Zero, standing a few feet from him, in the waters of the lake.
{Zero, why did you call me?} Bill asked, blinking at her.
"I summoned you here for many reasons," she replied as she cocked her head slightly and smiled. "Mostly, it is because you must know."
{Must know what? And why haven't you called Ash, Ziggy, or Jude here as well?}
"This only concerns you."
{Anything that has to do with shifting happens to be their business as well.}
Zero smiled warmly, as if she were speaking to a child who knows too little. "Bill, this concerns your destiny especially. When the time comes, I will tell Ash as well. However, something will happen soon that requires you to know the truth of your purpose."
{My purpose...?}
"Of course."
{Go on.}
Zero turned so her side faced Bill before she went on.
"Many legends say that Ash is the Chosen One," Zero began. "Chosen by Ho-oh."
{So... He was telling the truth...} Bill's eyes widened (if a Natu's can indeed). {I've heard Professor Oak talk about Ash's claims... that he saw Ho-oh fly over a rainbow when he first started out on his Pokémon journey.}
"He did," Zero replied. "Let me go on, though. Indeed he WAS chosen, but he was not just A chosen." She walked for a few steps through the water. "There is another legend, tied with an unfufilled prophecy, stating that time and time again, there were, are, and will be, in fact, THREE chosen. The Hero, the Royal, and the Angel. The Hero, the one who ensured that there was a world left for the prophecy to take place on, had already revealed himself without knowing this, and he would be Ash. The Royal, one who already knows all there is to know about the legends and one who would protect the other two, happens to be Apollo. Finally..." Zero walked back into her original place. "The Angel. The one who will bring peace and light to this world and the only one truly strong enough to greatly damage the shadows which threaten it, rather than purify them like the other two... This time, he is you."
{Me?}
"Yes."
Bill didn't know what to say. He was just... a helper. The information guy no one ever really cared about. The... Giles of this Buffy the Vampire Slayer story. (Though, okay, the latter analogy hadn't crossed his mind.) If anything, he simply thought that the most he'd do would be to help the Angel, not to actually BE the Angel. Sure, he knew eventually, he'd achieve something great, but... THIS?
"I know it's quite overwhelming for you," Zero told him. "However, you have yet to know all there is to know. Come. Take my hand. We can start from the very beginning..."
Eager to know more, he jumped up into Zero's arms. The world faded out around them.
~~~
There was a void. Nothing yet to see.
"Many people cannot remember the time before time," Zero began. "There once was a time without Pokémon, but instead, simply animals. Unfortunately, memories have been wiped, and it was as if this time never existed, though echoes of it can be found in the structures that somehow remained standing through the years.
"I, or rather, my first incarnation, as I had been reborn many times since, had come from the original time. A time from the late second millenium to the early third. Then, I was what you concider to be... average. No special powers had been awakened inside of me. In fact, I had nothing but a great imagination and a skill with a game called Pokémon, a foreshadow of the age which is now.
"In the creation of this game, the programmers had unintentionally created a virus which triggered glitches in the game. There were those that gave those who saw it shifting powers, Missingno, and there were those who bent reality in a different way, Mysterio.*5* One certain Mysterio came to life, becoming the only true Pokémon of the time. His name, which he had given himself, was Keianos.*6*
"Keianos and I... we met through the game. He came into reality and became my friend. And one day, hand in hand, we crossed over."
{Crossed over?}
"Yes." Zero nodded as the world around the two slowly became more than void and light and color instead. "There is a point, twelve full years, that separates my original time from the one you happen to be familiar with. To some, this time is called the Beginning or Renaissance Years. To others, it is known as the Catastrophic Years. Whichever you may call it, the period was that which the heavens crashed down upon Earth.
"Each year, throughout a certain month, meteor showers occurred, carrying giant space debris made of what you know as Sun Stone, Moon Stone, and Cosmos Stone. Each shower seemed to come from the time's respective zodiac sign, giving the people a reason to name them the Revenge of the Cosmos. The Revenge of the Cosmos had been feared only after the showers that came from Scorpio during November of the first year because these stones destroyed entire cities, then sent out special forms of radiation, turning both lifeforms and inanimate objects into Pokémon.
"People were in panic. The world was thrown into chaos as civilization as I knew it was destroyed. However, Keianos and I became their hope. We had crossed a time barrier whose other side lay beside the path of the final shower -- which would strike Earth on the tenth month of the twelfth year -- crossing it just upon Neptune's orbit. We rode the debris to Earth, taking in the special magic contained within the stones.
"When we arrived on Earth, those who found us called us the Seraphim of Libra, believing us to be messengers sent from the Heavens, riding from fair Libra from which the shower came. They asked us to protect them, and with our new magic, we did. Keianos and I wished for an end to the chaos, and so, the meteors stopped coming."
Zero ran a hand over the air beside her and went into a sitting position, just as what was the ground became air. Thousands of feet of it, no less. Below them, there was an island, obviously civilized, and obviously from a time long ago.
"Because the survivors of the Years had no knowledge of how to reestablish civilization -- because they were always led by someone else -- they were confused until Keianos and I chose five leaders to direct reconstruction and establish peace with the increasingly hostile Pokémon race, who now had a sense of superiority over humans and conflicted with them and the animals unaffected by the radiation in an attempt for global control.
"What you see below you is the product of four short years under the five kings. The first prosperous civilization completely peaceful with all Pokémon, named for the legendary land of long ago. This is Neo Atlantis.
"Here is where the story began..."
~~~
It was only four short years, but Neo Atlantis was already full of culture, civilzation, and whatnot. Driven by the motivation burned into them by the five kings, construction workers from the old times rebuilt buildings into the great city which sat upon the continent. It was a city of stone supported by steel, almost like if Atlantis ever rose again in the post-Apocalypse. And in a sense, this is exactly what it was.
Because of the fact that they had all survived, there were constant celebrations. Constant gatherings to shout out how joyful and grateful all forms of life were to be alive. And on the former Halloween, there was one particular celebration.
The location was the Northern Palace, where one of the five great kings resided. In the ballroom, countless guests, both Pokémon and human, were gathered, conducting merryment until a lanky servant ran down a set of steps in the front of the room, made his way to the long table in the back, and whispered something to the king seated behind it. The king grinned and stood up.
"Attention! Attention! May I have your attention please?"
The band stopped playing. The din quieted down. All eyes turned toward the king, who stood up from his throne and raised his cup.
"We have much to be thankful for," the king announced. "Surviving, health, happiness, peace with these new, wonderous creatures called Pokémon... I myself must be thankful for my family -- including my wife and my son, Anadus..."
At this point, the king nodded to the prince, who was among the people, charming the girls with his dark eyes, general good looks, and polite conversation skills.
"...But of course," the king continued, "we must be thankful for two souls, one of which, sadly, had chosen instead to attend a celebration in the South. However, one had kept her word to come join us in our merriments tonight. Please welcome Lady Aigori."
The crowd applauded and turned to the stairs, where Zero had indeed stood in a white elfin dress with actual sleeves and no wings. Her long, thin hands drifted down and lifted up part of her skirt as she carefully made her way down to the dance floor. Her dark hair bounced slightly with each step, though still held down by a circle of small, white flowers around her head. She smiled and nodded to the band, signaling them to resume with the music. As soon as it had, however, all attention went back to merrymaking.
However, one hand drifted up to grab Zero's. Startled, she looked up and into hazel eyes and the rest of a thin face framed by brownish-blond, short hair. He was no older than early twenty-something with a thin body, looking larger than it actually was due to various layers of colored capes and clothing, topped off with a green cloak.
"Mercurius," she whispered.
"Lady Aigori, I must have a word with you as soon as possible," he told her. "Please, my lady, it's important that you take heed."
"I understand," she replied. "Perhaps we should be alone."
"Yes, this would be best," Mercurius said with a nod.
Mercurius took Zero by the hand and led her back up the stairs and through a set of curtains at the top, right into a balcony currently unused otherwise. He led her straight to the railing lining the far edge of the balcony, turned her toward him, and leaned forward, speaking quietly so as not to let anyone else hear.
"Lady Aigori, I want to tell you something that would most likely spoil the merrymaking in the ballroom."
"I don't mind," she replied, wondering what he was about to say. "Please, Mercurius, go on."
"My lady, may I ask where Keianos is currently located?" Mercurius inquired.
"He is in the Southeastern Domain, at another celebration thrown by the king there."
"That he is not," Mercurius responded. "My lady, Keianos recently found a group of thieves, murderers, and other criminals hiding in a place where, apparently, your teachings of peace, love, and hope haven't had any effect. My servants have kept an eye on him ever since I saw this through my mind's eye. Ever since that encounter, he had been questioning your teachings, wondering whether they were practical. My lady, Keianos dreams of war, and he plans on stirring trouble!"
Zero cocked her head. "But why would Keianos want to do such a thing?"
"The ideas from these dark people have contaminated his heart," Mercurius replied. "And they haven't stopped there. In turn, Keianos went to many kings on Neo Atlantis and tainted THEIR minds, and this is his reason for being in the Southeastern Domain at this point."
Mercurius straightened up and stepped away from Zero a bit.
"My lady," he said, "right now, Keianos is gathering followers. It's only a matter of time until he makes the first attempt to cover the world in darkness, just as it had been many years ago before the Renaissance Years."
"I see..." Zero bowed her head a bit. "Have you foreseen anything? Anything we could possibly do to stop Keianos forever?"
Mercurius stopped for a moment, then drew his hand under his cape. His hand went to a ring of silver tied to his belt with a small piece of rope. He undid the knot and pulled the ring out.
"My lady, this circlet was made for you," he said. "A piece of the mysterious stone which does not cause Pokémon to transform -- not the Sun Stone, nor the Moon Stone, but instead, what we now call the Cosmos Stone -- had been placed in the front. We think that perhaps you could use it to increase your power and become even stronger than Keianos. Replace your ring of flowers with this ring of silver."
Zero looked into Mercurius' face, nodded, and took off the circle of flowers around her head. Mercurius placed the ring of silver with the sapphire-colored stone in its place, positioning the stone so that it remained over the center of her forehead.
As soon as the stone was in place, Zero dropped the ring of flowers, feeling the stone's power as she was surrounded by a blue light...
~~~
"Mercurius was correct," Zero told Bill in the present. "Peace would not last long. Keianos turned against the last good king of Neo Atlantis as well as all of his subjects, including myself. All of the followers of Keianos, who not long after announced himself as Keios, fought a bloody struggle against the army of the last good kingdom and the rebels under the kingdoms ruled by newly villainous tyrants.
"I was left to fight Keios alone but found that even with the circlet containing the Cosmos Stone, I lacked such a strength to defeat this new demon fueled by darkness and the darkness in the hearts of man. I turned to three great leaders for help: Mercurius, the wise sage from the West, Anadus, the noble prince of the North, and Helena, the courageous female soldier who once served both domains of the South. They were the original three, the three who started the Circle Prophecy."
Around them, destruction and death appeared. Warriors from both sides struggled to defeat one another, not getting anywhere but on the ground, dead in a puddle of blood on rubble.
However, in the heart of the conflict, a great shadow loomed. Bill shivered, recognizing this shadow as the one in his Xatu visions. The familiar, cold feeling swelled up inside of him.
"Yes, Bill," Zero said, answering his thoughts. "That shadow is Keios, no longer the pure white being of light, love, and happiness it once was as Keianos. I, too, feel sad that this happened to him..."
At once, other voices could be heard. Noises of fighting, but mostly, in the heart, voices. Keios laughed sadistically as others screamed at him.
A young woman stepped up. Her long, dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her thin, tanned body was covered in a uniform not unlike Li Meiling's card capturing uniform.*7* Her dark brown eyes narrowed as she lifted the white bow she held in her hand and drew out one silver arrow from her quiver. She prepared for a shot, drew back the bow, and fired, sending the arrow right into Keios.
He gasped, but pulled the tiny (tiny compared to his size) arrow from his side and laughed.
"So, the little rose has thorns," the monster sneered.
"Helena, he's too strong to be attacking individually!" Anadus yelled to her before lifting his sword of pure silver. "We've all got to attack him together!"
"Well, then hurry up!" Helena replied as she drew another arrow from her quiver.
Bill's eyes were torn from this sight only by Zero's present voice once more.
"The battle went on for days," Zero recalled. "That is, until finally, Mercurius foresaw the sinking of the island, just like that of Atlantis countless millenia ago. We had to seal Keios away quickly so we could have enough time to evacuate all those on the island with innocent hearts. To do that, I lent them the power of the Cosmos Stone so that each could pool their will and light together to create a prison for Keios."
At this, three beams of light shot up into the sky and thickened until they became three light walls around Keios. These light walls leaned in and reshaped themselves until Keios was trapped within a pyramid of light.
"You cannot defeat me this easily!" Keios hissed from inside. "Nothing can hold me forever! I will escape, and when that happens, the world will be mine!"
With that, the pyramid of light shrank to the size of a PokéBall and sank into the debris of a building on Neo Atlantis, just before the earth began to shake.
"We had little time," Zero continued. "By creating a second barrier of light, no dark soul could step onto a boat and leave the island. Everyone rushed to get off the island any possible way they could, leaving the island to sink into the depths."
Around them, water appeared to cover the land at an alarming rate. Zero didn't appear worried due to the bubble she had created around herself and Bill. However, a worried expression HAD crossed her face when a tiny pyramid floated up, toward the surface...
~~~
The two were once again floating in a void. For a long time, both were silent until Bill spoke up.
{Go on, Zero,} he said. {Tell me more.}
Zero smiled at his eagerness. "The inhabitants of Neo Atlantis scattered about the world, but not before taking the legend and the prophecy foretold partially by Mercurius and partially by myself. They had carved them in many caves and preserved them on many artifacts, but each never varied in the story. The story itself, though, goes on.
"After the first battle, Helena, Anadus, and Mercurius each had offspring of their own, to each a treasure was passed as well as their respective title and destiny. From time to time, the sons and daughters of the children of the three fought side by side, sealing Keios back up if he ever escaped again. Using Helena's Helios Bow are the descendants of her son who came to form the line of the Hero and whose surname disappeared into the Ketchum name. Using the Moon Sword of Anadus are the Royals, who are the ancestors and relatives of Dagda,*8* the family of Apollo. And finally comes the children of Mercurius."
She paused.
{Go on.}
"Mercurius' case was unusual. You see, he had not one but two children, unlike Helena and Anadus, who each had one child. The first daughter received the cross that had protected Mercurius and became known as the Sealing Angel. Each time Keios was released, the first daughter in the family tree that grew from the daughter of Mercurius participated in the prophecy, using magic to attack and the cross as a defense.
"On the other hand, Mercurius had second child, a son. To this son, Mercurius gave a ball of pure energy. As the other children hid their treasures time and time again, the ball of light was placed inside the son, passed down to any second-born son following him. The chosen from this branch had always been known as the Ending Angel, possessing a great power which I will soon tell you of. Right now, you may know that this bloodline goes into the Avalon family tree."
{Avalon...?} Bill's eyes widened. {My mother's...?}
"Your mother's maiden name," Zero completed with a nod. "And you are her first son but second child, making you the Ending Angel."
{But what does that mean?}
"I will tell you, but perhaps the Circle Prophecy will explain things better...
"In times of darkness, Three will rise
One to lead, one to fight, and one to protect.
The Royal will be the first to hold the gift
The Hero will fight alongside those rarely seen
The Angel, late to come, will protect us all
Three guided by a Pixie of orgins unknown
"When the Shadow takes form and reveals himmself
The Royal and the Hero will rise to fight
It is not until after the Angel saves the Pixie
When it too will wield the sword.
When all three have united to fight as one,
Only then will the Shadow be defeated
"Far away in a distant time, the Three will do much more
The Royal will push the Shadow away
The Hero will bring its downfall
Both with their mighty swords
And the Angel will destroy it forever
Using the gift it was born to use
"The sun will shine once more in Atlantis,
And the three will wander separate ways
The Hero to wander as a warrior
The Royal to discover the skill of Atlantis
And the Angel, reaching its true meaning
To protect our kind forever more."*9*
{I still don't understand.}
Zero giggled for a moment, then grew serious and tried once more. "Sometime in the future, Apollo, Ash, and you will all gather together to fight against Keios, just like there had been struggles countless times before. However, this time around, Ash and Apollo will only weaken Keios just enough for you to use your true power -- the true gift of light inside of you -- to destroy the darkness in Keios once and for all."
Okay, now if you were Bill, and you could find something to say about this, I'm quite impressed. Unfortunately, you're not Bill, and the poor guy was overwhelmed like he hadn't been before, just by that last sentence.
And Zero wasn't even done yet.
"However, things will not be exactly as I had foreseen," Zero continued. "I first realized this when Apollo caught sight of a Missingno on Cinnabar Island and became a shifter,*10* meaning both you and Ash would have to become shifters as well to make the three of you equal. But I should have seen a much earlier sign."
{What do you mean?}
"When you were born, you were not meant to be summoned to fufill your duty as the Ending Angel," she explained. "You were meant to be, yes, a successful Pokémon researcher, but one with a peaceful life in which no knowledge of Keios' existance. Instead, the prophecy would have continued with the Sealing Angel, the first daughter of the descendants of Mercurius' daughter, whose name disappeared into the Loveland family tree."*11*
{You mean...?}
"Yes. Tess was the Sealing Angel. But she had her ancestor Mercurius' sixth sense and foresaw everything about the prophecy and the role she and the others played in it. I believe she hinted at this once."
Tess's voice echoed through the void. "You and I are destined for great things..."
Bill couldn't reply.
"Yes, she was trying to warn you about the burden she was going to place on you," Zero continued. "I still remember how she came to me that night..."
~~~
Zero's lake. Zero herself, yes, a few years younger, but perfectly preserved as a fifteen-year-old girl, stood near the shore once more. Tess appeared behind her.
"Lady Aigori," Tess addressed. "Zero..."
Zero turned around. "Hello, Tess."
"Zero, I had a dream last night," Tess stated. "In it, I saw Keios. I saw myself, many years from now. I saw so many horrible things. Zero, I don't want this horrible thing to occur over and over again. How can I stop this during this turn?"
"You can't," Zero replied. "You must pass away, handing your destiny to the current Ending Angel. I trust you know who that is."
"Of course. And I'm willing to die if it means no other will die because of Keios."
"Are you positive? There are many things to concider..."
"I'd rather die now and know that Keios will as well than remain alive and die at the hands of Keios, only to have him kill others in the future!"
Zero's eyes were wide, but then she gave Tess a soft look. "Alright. You have convinced me to allow you to do this. Give the Ending Angel your family cross, then continue on your own way. Tess, I honestly wish there would be another way in which you don't have only the option to die, but only the Sealing Angel will be--"
"--Summoned unless she is no longer living," Tess finished softly. "I know."
Zero gave her a solemn look. "You will break many hearts in doing this."
"I know."
"And still, you do not mind?"
"No."
Zero sighed and nodded. "Very well then. Farewell."
Zero turned around as Tess began to leave. Suddenly, the older girl in white thought of something else.
"Tess," Zero said. "I must tell you one more thing. Whatever you do, do NOT speak a word of this to Bill. He is far from ready to know about Keios, his destiny, myself... just about anything involved with the prophecy. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Lady Aigori."
"Good bye then, Tess..."
~~~
Bill was unable to reply to this. He stared incredulously into the void, shaken by the images of Tess. He had nearly forgotten what she looked like, and to be reminded under these circumstances...
"I'm sorry."
Bill jumped slightly, startled by Zero's voice.
{Sorry? For what?} he finally responded.
"I know it hurts, remembering her," Zero said. "I'm sorry for forcing you to do so."
He shook his head and quietly replied, {It's okay.}
"But yes, it was because of Tess's decision that you must now fufill your part of the prophecy. It is, after all, your destiny to end the cycle. To drive away the darkness once and for all. It's a great responsibility, but I have faith in you," Zero once again told Bill.
{Zero, out of curiousity,} Bill began, {What will happen if I fail?}
"You would not want to know," Zero replied with a frown. Before Bill could say anything, Zero added, "I have one more thing to show you."
{...What...?}
The void was filled with small images of places -- towns, cities, rural areas... just about everything one could think of, and all images focused on one person.
"Bill, are you aware that there are others like Ash, Apollo, and you, others who possess the gift of shifting and intend on using it for good?" Zero inquired.
{...No.}
"There are, and always has been as long as Missingno existed. Thousands of people all over the world, the very people you see in each image around us. Each very much aware of my presence, Keios' presence, and the presence of another governing body..."
The images disappeared, except for one image revealing eight cloaked figures standing next to one another in a white, marble room.
"Have you ever heard of High Rise Circle?" Zero asked.
Bill shook his head.
"No? Strange. Apollo would have said something by now," Zero muttered. "High Rise Circle is a group of elite shifter masters -- seven who act as a Parliament to all shifters, and the eighth, the leader of the group, Marcus. It is their job to keep shifters in line and to keep the shifter world secret.
"Unfortunately, many shifters answer only to them and act as their servants. Because the members of High Rise Circle are normally kind, I pay no attention to this. However, lately, there has been a problem..."
{A problem?}
Zero's hand flung out to the picture, distorting it a bit before it grew dark, changing the cloaks on seven of the members (as well as the wall behind them) to a dark color and erasing Marcus from the picture. A few moments later, behind them, a shadow with red eyes appeared. Bill gasped upon seeing this.
"Somehow, Keios entered the meeting room of High Rise Circle as they were discussing recent events against Keios, specifically, the end of our battle with Lilith," Zero explained. "It was then that Keios flooded the room and almost all of the members' minds and hearts with darkness, turning them against the only one unaffected by this sudden event, Marcus."
Zero's hand rested on her lap as she shut her eyes. Bill felt one of her hot tears fall upon his head.
"Keios then ordered the members to kill Marcus, and they obeyed him," Zero finished. "Now, Keios is using High Rise Circle to do his bidding, which means those poor, confused followers of theirs are now carrying out deeds of evil."
Zero shook her head, as if to shake off anger and sadness. "I would tell you to help me repurify High Rise Circle, but that is not your concern. Keios is after you because of your purpose to destroy him. If he manages to get you before it is time to fufill your purpose, then the hope of a peaceful world will be faint and obscure. I only ask of you to take up defense and wait for something bigger to happen."
{Something bigger? Keios will attack soon?}
"Yes, but that is not what I meant," Zero replied. "I meant... Something earlier. Something inevitable and written in the prophecy as well."
{What?}
She didn't answer him as the void around them disappeared. She stood in the waters, still holding him for awhile before setting him down again.
{Zero, please, if you can, tell me what it is I'm to wait for this time,} Bill pleaded.
Zero turned away. "I cannot say. I don't want you trying to prevent it. Return to your body. I have said all I think you need to know. If there is anything more, I will speak with you again. Until next time, Bill. Farewell."
Bill paused and stared at her back for awhile before shifting out.
Just before he had done so, he heard Zero say to herself, "I only pray that he will do well without me..."
~~~
"Wait, wait, wait... All of this happened... WHILE I WAS OFFLINE?"
Bill nodded before bracing himself, ready for an earful.
"AUGH!" Ziggy groaned. "Why didn't you get me online quickly enough!?"
Bill smirked, holding his tongue, though he was HIGHLY tempted to say, "Because I was enjoying the peace and quiet resulting from not having to hear your incessant chattering."
"Oh, well, I'll forgive you," Ziggy muttered with a fake smile. "Besides, I have my revenge."
Bill cocked his head. "What do you mean?"
Ziggy giggled. "When I realized that the storm was over and you STILL didn't get me online, I took off all of the SPAM filters on your Inbox."*12*
"What!?" Bill glared at her. "Ziggy!!"
"Serves you right for forgetting about me again!" Ziggy responded with a wide, mischievous smile.
Bill growled and got to work, deleting the piles of SPAM he received over time.
Meanwhile, Apollo leaned in the doorway of the cellar as Artemis sat on Apollo's shoulder.
"So, now he knows," Apollo muttered to his Pokémon partner. "How much longer do you think we have?"
"Not long enough," Artemis replied with a frown. "'It is not until after the Angel saves the Pixie...'"
"Hmm..." Apollo narrowed his eyes. "Does that remain true this time around, without the Sealing Angel?"
"Unfortunately yes," Artemis responded with a sigh.
***
End episode 21*13*
---
Footnotes:
*1*: By the way, in case anyone's wondering why one would do this (I know I always have when I first started loving anime), it's simply the Japanese form of a raspberry. (I would have Jude do the latter and have this involve a joke about a tongue ring, but I've decided to refrain from doing so. ^_^;)
*2*: ...I don't even know if this is a logical time or not. We can suppose it is, though I've been VERY inconsistant about time. (I've never told you this, but it's true.)
*3*: Refers to the crescent moon.
*4*: Don't worry, I'm not going to make a subtle reference to Jekyll and Hyde EVERY episode from now on. Just anytime I have "Confrontation" stuck in me head. XD (Nah. I'm not obsessed. You have yet to meet Meowthgal-san and/or Onion-tachi. ^_^;)
*5*: Otherwise known as 'M.
*6*: Pronounced kay-AH-nohs. Means nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's a name I made up. ^_^;
*7*: Yep. Card Captor Sakura (not Cardcaptors) reference. And I got lazy. ^_^;
*8*: If I can remember correctly, Dagda is a Celtic god, whose role in mythology is kinda like Jupiter's.
*9*: The reason why this doesn't rhyme (like all cliché-y prophecies do) is because the language of Neo Atlantis is a foreign language. -_-
*10*: Yep. Those Missingnos can really screw up reality. ^_^;
*11*: Right. Bill and Tess are distant cousins. VERY distant. As in, the last ancestors from both family trees who were related are dead and have been buried for a millenium or two... or three. It's not as sick as you think; EVERYONE'S related to one another in some way. (So, technically, the world is overrun with inbreds. ^_^;)
*12*: "Offline" means that the connection between the shifters and her were severed. So, Ziggy could do just about anything on Bill's computer except for pop up and talk to him, even if she was "offline."
*13*: Well, the first episode in a brand new season. ^_^ Not TOO bad... Anywho, yeah. I apologize for not making any sense with Apollo and Artemis at the end there. Trust me; it'll get clearer when I build upon it. ^_^;