Legacies
A Sequel to Crossing
of the Paths
By MMM/AJ
A/N: Alright, here I have another punctual chunk for you all to enjoy! Now, as promised, the action finally starts up. It'll jump on you when you don't expect it though, so buckle up and be ready!
Part II - Resurrection
Chapter XVII – A14
An atmosphere of tension seemed to condense around the little condominium complex where Ashley and her companions were staying. Suddenly none of them had any reason to approach the other, and for the next hour or so, none of them did. Ashley returned to her room and watched some holo-TV.
Initially Ashley had planned to spend most of her day in the Pokemon sanctuary, but now she wasn't so sure. Tanis had told her of his plans to train with Shakara, and now he had taken a short trip to visit the General and ask if Marcos could reprogram the psi-blockers for awhile. Ashley knew that she wanted to watch the training session and perhaps have her Pokemon team watch it as well, but she couldn't be sure that it was really going to happen. She knew how strong willed the General could be, and she had her doubts about Shakara's emotional stability now as well. At any rate, she decided to stay in her room, at least until Tanis returned.
The shows that Ashley found on the holo-TV were incredibly dull. They were just as clichéd, formulaic and predictable as the shows of her time. She flipped through all twelve channels for the better part of half an hour when suddenly a news flash interrupted every channel.
"Breaking news!" a female newscaster blared, making Ashley jump. "Allied resistance members found! Members of the Mewtwo species have joined the fight against Ares!"
Ashley's blood pressure blew through the roof as she contemplated the implications of their loss of secrecy. The holo-TV began playing footage of the meeting that she, Shakara and Tanis had attended yesterday and Ashley could practically feel the shocked reactions of the rest of the colony despite the fact that she had no psychic abilities whatsoever. She heard a knock on her door and quickly turned off the holo-TV and answered it. She found Tanis on the other side and invited him in.
"Still worried about Shakara as well eh?" Tanis asked, observing Ashley's shaken expression.
"Yes, but that's not what's got me really bothered." Ashley said, sitting on a chair in front of the holo-TV.
"What is it then?" Tanis asked.
Ashley flipped on the holo-TV again, showing a video of Shakara debating with the General.
"You've hit the news." Ashley said gravely.
"Well, I don't think that's a problem unless they're casting Shakara and I in a negative light." Tanis said.
"Interviews with General Wells have given us new in-depth information on the newly dubbed 'Mewtwo Rebels'. The two of them have been fighting Ares' rule valiantly for years, and not until now have they found anyone to stand beside them." The TV blared.
"Doesn't sound like it." Ashley commented, watching as the TV showed an artist's portrayal of Tanis and Shakara locked in battle with Ares.
Tanis walked over and turned off the TV. "Not that I mind the fact that they're making me look heroic, it just seems that they're embellishing things a little bit."
Ashley scoffed. "It's TV tradition. It's been that way ever since the first solid-state model was invented." She said, rolling her eyes.
"Anyway, I managed to convince the General to let Shakara and I have the day without the psi-blockers blocking her frequency today." Tanis said.
"Really? How'd you accomplish that?" Ashley asked curiously.
"Simple, I played the 'What's best for humanity in the long run' card. I told him that it would significantly increase our chances of victory, and eventually he begrudgingly agreed." Tanis recalled.
"Are you going to start the session now?" Ashley asked.
"Pretty soon. You have to take into account the amount of time it'll take for me to talk Shakara out of her room." Tanis said, tapping his fingers on his forehead.
It was easily another half hour before Tanis finally did succeed in convincing Shakara to come out of her room. John solidly refused to even acknowledge any of them, so Tanis and Shakara decided to leave him behind. Before leaving their building, Tanis also decided that it would be best for all of them to remain unseen despite all the positive publicity they were receiving. They cloaked themselves and made their way around the outer walls of the cavern until they found a suitably large empty storage room to train in unseen.
"I'll be right back guys, I want my Pokemon team to watch the session and I want to go fetch them." Ashley said as Tanis and Shakara finished clearing what few items there were in the room.
"Do you want us to wait for you?" Tanis asked politely.
"No, go ahead and start. I'll be back in a jiffy." Ashley replied.
Walking through the now crowded city streets, Ashley found herself drawing considerably more attention that usual. She was used to drawing awed stares from trainers in her time, but that was for a completely different reason. Back then, she had earned her recognition as one of the most skilled and powerful Pokemon Masters the League had ever seen through a lot of hard work and learning, but here it felt she was getting recognized for no apparent reason. She guessed that the newscasters must have portrayed her in a heroic light as a rebel standing alongside Tanis and Shakara, and it made her feel uneasy, since she hadn't really done anything.
Reaching the sanctuary, Ashley opened the doors to see that Midnight was up to his usual tricks. He was floating in the air, just above Shiannah, taunting her with what appeared to be a fresh fish. Shiannah was jumping up in the air and snapping at him with her jaws, always falling an inch or two short.
"Midnight! Cut that out!" Ashley chided loudly.
Midnight looked over at Ashley and frowned. This was just enough of a distraction to allow Shiannah to catch him off guard and sink her teeth into his foot. Midnight and the obviously false fish both faded out, and then the upset Ghost Pokemon reappeared next to Ashley, dancing and yowling in pain and frustration. Megawatt leapt down off of Ashley's should and ran over to his big sis to give her a high five with paws high in the air.
"Alright you guys, enough is enough. I'm not going to slap anyone's wrists now though since I'm in a hurry. We're all going to go and watch a training battle between my good friends Shakara and Tanis, and I want all of you to pay close attention! Treat it as if it were you all were participating in the battle yourselves, alright?" Ashley said.
All six of the Pokemon in Ashley's team became tenser and more alert, and each of them acknowledged her seriously. Ashley then recalled all of them back into their Pokeballs, leaving Mach 5 out last.
"They weren't like that the whole time I was out, were they?" Ashley asked the serene Pidgeot.
Mach 5 nodded, and Ashley slapped her face and moaned in frustration. "I'll have to lecture them later." She said, and then recalled Mach 5 into his ball.
The walk back through the city was just as awkward as before, and when Ashley arrived back at the door to the training room, it was shaking on its hinges. A deep rumbling was rattling through the walls from the inside. Ashley opened the door to see Tanis and Shakara shooting beams of energy at a translucent image of Ares. This phantom Ares turned to look at Ashley and she instantly tumbled to the ground, having lost control of her body. The shimmering villain then raced across the room, scooped Ashley up and held a glowing energy sword to her throat.
"Surrender your minds to me now or your human friend gets it." The phantom Ares hissed.
"End simulation!" Shakara shouted, and Ashley fell over again as the ghost of Ares abruptly vanished.
"Going for behavioral realism eh?" Ashley asked, getting up and rubbing the back of her head. "Well you've made you point Shakara, and you don't need to rub it in any further."
"I'm really sorry about that!" Tanis said, rushing over to help Ashley up.
"Never mind, just make sure that I'm a part of the scenery during your next exercise." Ashley said, starting to pull the Pokeballs back off of her belt.
Shakara merely grunted in acknowledgement. Ashley ignored her and released her team and forced them to sit and pay quiet attention.
"So, explain to us how this session is being performed." Ashley requested calmly.
"Basically, Tanis and I are each giving up half of our energy to create a shadow copy of Ares to battle against. This shadow copy, when compared to either Tanis or I alone will have twice our power, simulating the situation Tanis and I will face since Ares has two pieces of the Triforce. Together Tanis and I will be able to match him, but only if we attack together in perfect tandem. Alone he could defeat us easily." Shakara said.
"So you're practicing synchronizing your attack patterns then?" Ashley asked.
"Tanis and I will link minds during battle, so we can perfectly co-ordinate our attacks without words or practice. We will be able to follow the flow of battle as it plays out and counter all my father's moves as he makes them. The only reason we need all day to train is because Tanis and I both need to adjust to the mental link enough so that my father can't break it, whether it be with distractions or with his powers" Shakara explained.
"I see. Well, go ahead and start, but make sure my team and I are totally undetectable to the shadow copy." Ashley said.
Shakara nodded and turned to face Tanis, who nodded as well. They both closed their eyes for a moment, and when they opened them Shakara's eyes glowed a slight orange and Tanis' glowed a slight red. They both blinked in unison and smiled at each other. The ghostly image of Ares materialized between them and the battle was on.
Right off the bat the shadow fired a massive beam of red energy at each of them, but Shakara and Tanis both leapt into the air in two beautifully symmetrical arcs. The energy beams fired by the copy became insubstantial before colliding with the room's walls. Tanis and Shakara met in midair above the Shadow's head and dove down at it, both forming energy blades in each paw. The shadow raised an energy shield to block their attacks, and the crackling hiss from the swords striking the shield was impressive.
Shakara and Tanis broke away and began flying around the shadow in circles, going faster and faster as they went. The shadow fired orbs of red energy at them, but missed atrociously every time. Ashley gasped as one of the attacks flew right at her faster than she could dodge, but it too phased out and passed through her harmlessly.
Tanis and Shakara were now moving fast enough to leave thin glowing energy contrails behind them as they flew, and Ashley could only see a reddish-orange blur circling the shadow. She wondered how much more of the stress of spinning at those speeds their bodies could take. The two glowing blurs then began firing orbs of energy in at the shadow, but it simply raised its shield and absorbed the attacks. When that strategy failed to work, they rose up over the shadow's head and closed together. The shadow looked up at the glowing orange-red ring about its head and began charging on orb of energy to toss up at it. Before it could however, Tanis and Shakara let go and centrifugal force flung them apart, sending them streaking through the air faster than Ashley could see. They curved around and collided with the shadow's shield using all that built up momentum to strike two earth shattering blows at once on opposite sides. The shield buckled and popped like a compressed balloon, taking most of the force of the impact. Tanis and Shakara still had enough momentum left to carry them through it and to smash swords and feet first into the shadow's body.
The shadow's torso was utterly crushed as Tanis and Shakara connected with it with both feet. The combined double sword strikes and massive collapse of its body stunned the shadow enough to prevent it from using its recover ability in time. Tanis and Shakara took the remainder of the force of the impact on their powerful leg muscles as the soles of their feet met literally inside the shadow's body. They kicked off and did perfect back flips through the air and used their energy to stop themselves once they were upright. They landed on their feet and immediately ran up to the shadow's slumped form to deliver finishing blows. Tanis got his ironic revenge by chopping off the shadow's right hand where the Triforce would be located, and Shakara chopped through the shadow's second neck, ensuring it could no longer use its powers. Then both of them then reared back and stabbed the Shadow again, Tanis' energy sword carving a burning hole in its brain, and Shakara's sword incinerating its heart. Then the ravaged husk of what was left of the shadow's body faded away, and Tanis and Shakara let their energy swords disperse and stood straight with their eyes closed. When Tanis opened his eyes, the slight red glow had vanished, and he grinned broadly.
"Well, what do you think?" Tanis asked, his voice aglow with pride.
Ashley and all six of her Pokemon sat there unmoving, their mouths hanging open in awe. Ifrit was the only one who reacted, raising its arm and giving a thumbs-up sign.
"I guess they liked it eh?" Shakara whispered, and the two of them grinned at each other.
Chapter XVIII – S4
"Are you ready?" Tanis asked quietly.
"Solid and steady." Shakara replied.
The large steel sliding double doors to the council chamber stood silently before Shakara and her company. John and Ashley stood to her left and Tanis stood to her right. The sounds of subdued discussion made it muffled through the doors and other humans around them stood watching.
The doors began opening painfully slowly, and Shakara instinctively straightened her posture. The room beyond contained a large round table with ten people sitting around it, and then a large circular section of audience seating all around the main table. A bright white circular light hung on cords above the table, and the features of all the council members came into focus.
All the council members were within the 35-60 age range, and they were all wearing some sort of formal wear. Four of them were women and the other six were men, and the wrinkles of stress and age marred all their faces. General Wells was among them, still puffing on that same weathered cigar and emitting clouds of foul smoke. Shakara stopped before the table and nodded respectfully, and the council members returned the gesture.
"On this date, the council will announce our decision on the proposed plan to defeat Ares given by Shakara et Benca." The General said, standing and putting down his cigar.
"We have deliberated this proposal for three days now, and we have finally came to a decision through the process of council vote. Councilmen and women, please repeat your votes for all to see."
"Yea." said the General and three of the women of the council.
"Nay." Said the other six members.
There was a short pause and the General frowned slightly before speaking again, "The proposal has been rejected six to four."
Shakara had needed all three days of deliberation to cool down after her incident with John, and the fact that she was able to stand before the council now was a major accomplishment for her. But, that accomplishment was about to crumble away.
"What? Rejected? Why?" Shakara asked, anger evident in her voice.
"Why? Well, for one thing we had to sacrifice four of our ships and fifty of our finest men to capture that gunship, and we're not about to just give it away to someone who just happened to wander into our colony. We certainly don't want to use it until we can be sure that a plan will work either." One of the council members said.
"There's a good enough chance to justify it! Tanis and I have trained for three days and-"
"There are too many unknowns, period. End of argument, proposal rejected." The council member rudely said, cutting Shakara off sharply.
Shakara's tail instinctively rose to a readied position as anger began spilling over in her mind. Her blades glinted deadly smooth in the white light.
"You people are so sad. Sad beyond words. If my father weren't here to make you suffer, you'd do it to yourselves. You mistreat each other, oppress, and rule with your own iron fists just like he does. As far as I'm concerned, you're no better than him!" Shakara raged.
"How dare you?" a darker skinned woman on the council screeched. "Punishment for such insults calls for imprisonment!"
Armed guards suddenly came up behind Shakara, and she turned to Tanis.
"Please, don't make it any worse by fighting with them!" Tanis practically begged.
"I won't…" Shakara said quietly, turning to face the council, "But you all will regret this." She finished venomously.
Suddenly a deep and ominous rumbling emanated from the ceiling above, and dust and bits of the ceiling tumbled down to land on everyone's heads. The hanging lights began to sway precariously and empty chairs began to rattle across the floor on their own. Soon after a muffled boom shook through the room, followed by a series of resounding crashes. The same klaxon alarm from before blared to life and red lights replaced the white.
"Alert! All military personnel prepare for action! Three of Ares' diggers have entered the city through the main cave ceiling!" a male voice yelled over an unseen PA system.
All ten of the council members instantly turned and scowled at Shakara
"What are you looking at me for?" She shouted back at them.
The rumbling came to a crescendo again and suddenly the circular hanging lights fell and crashed to the table deafeningly. Chunks of steel and stone tumbled down and everyone in the room dove for cover. Shakara saw the red steel emerging from the ceiling and immediately knew that they needed to leave. She grabbed Ashley and Tanis and pulled them out of the room.
"Where are we going?" Ashley shouted over the exceedingly loud klaxon.
"We're going to take the gunship and leave. I can't afford to be seen here amongst these human rebels or else our plan will be wrecked!" Shakara replied.
"But what about all those people? Are we just going to leave them to be slaughtered?" Tanis protested.
"The only way we can help them is if we stop Ares, and we can't do that by fighting against hordes of Acolytes here!" Shakara shouted.
John suddenly caught up with them just as they reached the end of the hallway leading from the council chamber. He handed Tanis and Shakara large grey fabric hoods and cloaks.
"So you can go unseen without having to draw attention to yourselves with your powers." He said, panting heavily.
"Many thanks friend!" Tanis said gratefully and grabbed it to put it on quickly.
Shakara wrapped her tail around her waist and pulled the hood over her head. It blocked the annoying red flashing lights out of her eyes nicely. John swiped his card and the door swished open. The scene beyond struck Shakara with fear. The three diggers had come through the ceiling and knocked down the main light fixture, plunging the cavern into darkness. The city's normally dim yellow lights had converted to red flashing mode, making the squat concrete buildings appear as though they were on fire. The diggers had landed in the city's center, knocking down several buildings and had already begun releasing Acolytes. Red and blue laser bolts peppered the streets as the two forces began clashing in the darkness.
"John, where are you going?" Ashley shouted.
Shakara turned to see that John had just started to run off when Ashley shouted.
"I'm going to fight!" John shouted back.
"No! You can come with us! Escape the Acolytes and survive!"
"I can't! It's my duty to protect my people, and I'm going to fight even if it means being captured and tortured for days! Now go and stop Ares! Maybe some of us might stand a chance of surviving if you hurry!" John shouted, then turned and ran.
Shakara pulled Ashley away and the three of them began sprinting down the metal stairways to reach the cave floor. Another explosion erupted from the hallways that lead to the council chamber, but they had made it far enough down the stairs to avoid the blast. The explosions did knock out enough anchoring bolts to free the top of the scaffolded stairs from the stone of the cave wall, and the stairs began to tilt and fall.
"Grab a hold of the bars and don't use your powers Tanis!" Shakara shouted.
The stairs stopped falling when they were at a 45 degree angle from the cave wall, and all three of the companions clung to the hand rails for dear life. There was still another 70 feet between them and a solid stone floor. Shakara's mind search desperately for a solution as her frail fingers began losing their grip on the railing. She dug her claws into the metal and swung her feet up to get a foothold.
The situation deteriorated further when a group of Acolytes appeared in the blasted-out doors of the hallway above them. They were covered in silvery cybernetic implants and carried extremely bulky laser rifles. Shakara knew that the psionic blockers were all that stood between her group of friends and a vicious mind-flaying. One of the Acolytes pointed down at them and then all the laser rifles were aimed down at them. The only things on Shakara's mind at that moment were fear of escaping alive and worrying that the Acolytes would notice her paws clinging onto the rails. Thankfully the cloak had been fastened tight around her, but it still would not conceal her two knobby fingered paws. Shakara knew that they hadn't noticed them when they started firing the laser rifles down at them.
One of the first beams fired struck a rail supporting the stairs, melting through the steel cleanly and causing the stairs to fall lurchingly down to where they caught and hung perpendicular to the cave wall. Due to this rapid fall, all the other beams missed and Shakara knew they had been lucky. But there was still a good fifty or sixty feet to the unfriendly floor below, so they weren't out of the woods yet.
"Ready to give up and have Tanis fly us to the bottom yet?" Ashley shouted.
"QUIET!" Shakara screamed, worried that the Acolytes would hear.
Shakara's mind raced, and she saw two cables still holding the stairway up, one right next to her and one next to Ashley. She got an idea and decided to bank on the hope that the stairs were still anchored at the bottom. She edged her shoulder over to the cable and sliced her shoulder-mounted blade through the cloak and then the cable. When all the weight fell on the other cable in one instant, it snapped violently and the stairs began falling again.
Just as Shakara had hoped, the anchoring at the base of the stairs kept them from falling straight down. Instead, they swung in a circular arc until they slammed into the next layers of scaffolding below, dislodging Shakara and her companions onto the study walkway.
Shakara heard a loud clang before she could get on her feet. She looked up to see that the Acolytes had just dropped rappelling lines down to the next intact level of scaffolding and were coming down the wall where the stairs had been.
"Come on, let's hurry!" she shouted, and climbed to her feet.
They managed to stay several levels below the Acolytes as they raced for the next set of stairs. They were very close to the hallway leading to the hangar now, and Shakara hoped with every inch of herself that the Acolytes hadn't gotten there first. Passing a weapons locker that had opened when the alarm was triggered, Shakara grabbed three laser rifles and tossed one each to Tanis and Ashley. She felt better having a means to defend herself that wouldn't give away her identity.
After finally reaching the cave floor, Shakara turned and fired up at the Acolytes who were still 2 stories up. Unable to raise their shields due to the psi-blockers, the Acolytes were skewered by the glowing blue beams and toppled over, unable to recover themselves either. Shakara gunned all of them down one by one, and actually enjoyed doing it. Then she turned and ran down the hallway toward the hangar. Finding the steel door at the end of the hall closed, she simply fired her laser rifle into it, melting through and making an opening for herself.
The hangar was fortunately intact, and most of the people there had already fled. One of the last remaining human ships rose up out of its docking clamps on its hover drives and soared up through the launch tunnel and out of sight as Shakara and her group mad a mad dash toward the gunship. A wave of intense heat from the human ship's engines washed over them and the lines of lights in the launch tunnel flashed as the escaping ship exited through it. Shakara felt the fur on her body tingle and stand up, and she knew that the linear inductors in the tunnels were still working. She wondered if the human ship's engines had generated a lot of radiation and if they had all been exposed to it. She realized that it didn't matter though, they probably were going to die soon anyway.
A feet ahead of them a human man, shaking with fear, tried to climb into the gunship. Shakara knew that they couldn't reach him in time to stop him from closing them out, so she leveled her laser rifle and fired. The blue beam burned a smoldering hole in the man's head and he tumbled to the floor limply. The way to freedom was now hopefully clear.
"Did you really need to shoot him in the head like that?" Ashley screamed in outrage as the alarms blared on.
"It was the only way to make sure his adrenaline wouldn't push him to climb in and close us out despite his injury, and besides, it was a lot quicker and more painless than if I had shot him in the back." Shakara said as they neared the gunship's dock.
Ashley and Tanis jumped aboard quickly, but Shakara took a quick moment to honor the man she had just killed. She flipped him over on his back crossed his arms over his chest, and closed his still shocked eyes.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, and then ducked inside the gunship.
The inside of the gunship had been modified extensively by the humans. The red paint had been painted over with olive drab, and all the seats had been ripped out and replaced with human-shaped seats. All the controls had been labeled with post-it notes and a pair of fuzzy dice had been hung from the ceiling with string and a piece of tape. Shakara ripped them down and tossed them aside, then sat in the pilot's seat. Tanis sat in the gunner's seat and Ashley was once again banished to the rear troop compartment.
Shakara flipped on all the necessary activation protocols and the warmly familiar thrumming of the engines filled her ears. She tried to take off but the gunship simply shook in place and made loud clanking and grinding sounds.
"The docking clamps are still engaged!" Tanis said in an annoyed tone and pointed to a steel switch box that had been crudely bolted to the control panel. A little piece of paper had been taped to it that read 'clamps'.
Shakara rolled her eyes and flipped the switch. One pronounced thumping clang echoed through the cockpit and they were pressed into their seats as the ship jumped into the air. Shakara eased the controls forward and she felt the electric tingle in the air as the magnetic fields automatically activated.
"You might want to buckle up!" Shakara shouted
Ashley yelped as the field grabbed the gunship and accelerated them through the tunnel.
"Are you alright?" Tanis shouted back to her.
"Bruised up but fine!" Ashley replied.
Shakara let go of the controls as the fields steered the ship up through the tunnels. They continued accelerating at a phenomenal rate, even as they entered an upward corkscrew to gain vertical distance. Soon the rows of tunnel lights were nothing but blurred streaks of light. Shakara felt their acceleration push her painfully into the human shaped seat, like someone was stacking anvils on her. Barely a minute passed before a bright white light flashed and engulfed them, and they had exited the tunnel and were flying out through open air.
As John had said, they were flying through the air at supersonic speeds at this point and the ground below them shot past in a dizzying blur. Shakara let their momentum carry them as far away from the human base as it could before they could be seen by Ares' ships. They decelerated rapidly, and Shakara slowly pulled the controls to slow them down further. They had already cleared the forest and were out over the sea, and suddenly a psychic voice entered Shakara's mind.
"We sense a human presence aboard your ship. Your ruse will not be tolerated rebels. Prepare to be destroyed."
Tanis looked over at Shakara with terror. "Tell them it's you!" he said frantically.
Shakara tried to make contact with the Acolytes, but they were blocking out all signals, including all psychic contact. It felt as if she were trying to break through a brick wall with her head. She pulled back and frowned grimly.
"We're doomed, the plan is a failure. We're not going to be able to make it to the Black River alive." Shakara said, letting go of the controls.
"What kind of talk is that?" Ashley suddenly shouted, having came up from the troop cabin.
"We're finished! Kaput! Gone with the wind! There's no point in trying!" Shakara said menacingly, getting really sick of Ashley's attitude.
Ashley suddenly grabbed the fabric of Shakara's hood and drew her closer. This human had real nerve.
"Listen! Tanis and I didn't come this far by just giving up! We stuck to it and kept trying, no matter how grim the odds got! We even destroyed half of your father's fleet during the initial invasion, thanks to our perseverance! And we're not going to give up now, are we?" She said.
"Nope." Tanis said, crossing his arms defiantly. "Better to rush out and meet death head on than to let it come to us."
Shakara sighed and pushed Ashley away. "We're not going to make it very far…" she said quietly.
"We'll make it far enough on our will to survive alone!" Tanis said heartily.
"That's the spirit!" Ashley said, patting Tanis on the back.
"Let's go, to the Black River." Tanis said, and Shakara sighed heavily one more time before gripping the controls.
A/N: Hehe, I bet this cliffhanger is intensely painful eh? Well don't worry, I'll try not to leave you hanging for to long. How are our three companions going to succeed at vanquishing Ares now? Stick around and find out! And since has now implemented a review response system, I might jump in and answer any questions you might have in your review, barring the possibility of spoilers though.
