Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Shadows of Ganderosa
Chapter 28
As Cold as Death
(Two weeks ago: Giratina's Isle, Neutral Territory)
Arlon lied flat on his back in his cell like he always did, feeling unnerved and intrigued at the same time while he thought about the only thing he ever had on his mind.
The naïve fool. I wonder how you feel right now? I did kill your friend. Are you still angry about it? He sat upright in his cell and looked at his room.
There was the marks along the wall from an old prisoner who had edged the stone ever so slightly so he could count the days that went by. So far, Arlon had counted three-hundred of them before giving up. The entire room was made out of the strongest stone Ganderosa could provide. The only entrance and exit was the reinforced door that had a window of bars near the top. There weren't many prisoners here, so it was disturbingly quiet; though Arlon didn't mind. The quiet just meant he had a better atmosphere to think.
Arlon got off of the wooden slab his captors called a bed, hung to the wall by a chain leaving his plank suspended off the ground. He walked to the single window he had against the wall. Arlon looked out at the small island he was on. The only thing here was the prison, surrounded by water that went on for five miles before stopping at some land that was barely recognizable from here.
"Hey, freak." a pokemon called out. Arlon didn't look back. He didn't recognize the voice, but he had a pretty good guess that it was the idiot guard, trying to get a rise out of him for his burns. "Freak!" the guard called out again. He was more forceful this time. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!"
"I don't think I will," Arlon rebelled. The guard yanked on the shiftree's shackle that was attached to his left arm, forcing him to turn. "Right..." he sighed, looking at his captor. He was faced with a new guard he didn't recognize: a poliwrath. But it didn't matter to him; he was just another guard with the same brutal tendencies to accidentally bruise their inmates.
The shiftree looked over his body once more to see the four shackles that were on his body: two for his arms and two for his feet. They were there to connect him to the cell, though the guards had the idea of stringing them through the door's window to turn any inmate to, as Arlon put it, dance like an over-sized puppet.
"Maybe..." Arlon began. "Maybe I'll give these shackles to you once I escape." No, not even that works anymore. The joys of feeling has been deprived of me. Now, I can't even make myself smile from threats; not while I'm in this cage. Not while I know I won't be able to truly make Dillan suffer! Not even Logan can help me while I'm in here...
"You have a guest." the prison guard said.
"A guest?" Arlon asked. He felt a little joy begin to come back to him. "How stupid do you think I look?" He dashed to the door and slammed his body into it, giving the guard the crazy-eye through the window. The guard recoiled and looked at Arlon as though he was insane. "When I get out of here, you will know what I will never feel!"
"Save your breath, Arlon," a proud voice commanded.
"Sir," the poliwrath said quickly. He turned left on his feet and saluted to a pokemon Arlon couldn't see.
"Leave us," the proud voice ordered.
"I can't do that, sir," the poliwrath said.
"You are disobeying a direct order," the voice said. "Leave us, now."
The poliwrath didn't argue again. The pokemon disappearing behind the metal door was the last thing Arlon saw before being slammed in the chest. Arlon doubled backwards from the force before looking at the door again. A small hole had opened up in the middle of the door where a stick had been shoved through, most likely for the very purpose it was just used for. The door gave a "clank" and opened revealing a massive, round figure standing before the shiftree with wings and a purple cape draped over his shoulders.
"You made a mistake sending that guard away, tubby." Arlon insulted with a grin.
"Save your breath," King Judah said with a slight scowl as he entered the room. The dragonite shut the door without taking an eye off of Arlon. "You will only talk when I tell you to; do you understand?"
"I don't take orders from you," Arlon said. "Pretty soon, you'll be begging me to let you live."
Judah grabbed Arlon's arm-chains and yanked him towards him. Judah then shoved Arlon into the wall and planted his leg in the shiftree's chest. Judah, with the force of the wall, made a very tight situation. Arlon exhaled sharply.
"If you think you cannot suffer," Judah said. "You are mistaken; I can and will get compliance from you. Do I make myself clear?"
"Forcing me... into..." Arlon said through short breaths. "A rock... and a fat place? Only one... pokemon... scares me... You're not it..."
The king scowled at the shiftree. "Allow me to change your perception."
Arlon began smiling. "Why are you here?" he asked, regaining his breath. "Are you trying to kill me with your weak threats?"
Judah scowled deeply at Arlon, their faces inches from each other. Arlon could feel Judah's breath on his nose.
"Cold. Hearted. Slacker." Judah said slowly, articulating each syllable.
The two pokemon stared at each other - Arlon was still grinning while Judah continued scowling - for nearly three minutes. Arlon thought about the phrase Judah had said. Cold hearted slacker. It was very familiar to him. His smile began dissipating as he recalled why he knew those words. "Cold hearted slacker.." he thought out loud. His eyes tightened into an intense stare.
"Why are you surprised?" Judah asked, walking away from Arlon. "Did you seriously think I would walk into a cell with a convicted murderer, knowing nothing about his past?"
"No one knows that," Arlon said flatly, stunned by Judah's knowledge. "No one."
"I do," Judah said. "I know everything about you. For instance:
"You grew up in Kadence Forest with the Nuzleaf Tribe. I know that you hated your father. The reason for this is because your father would always tell you one thing: "Kieth, you cold hearted slacker". It did not matter what you did. It did not matter how many back-breaking hours you spent trying to gain your father's affections; somehow you would upset him, meaning he would call you the cold hearted slacker. You ended up hating anyone who did not have to work for what they loved because no matter how hard you tried, you could never get your father's approval." Arlon grimaced. "That is when you joined the nuzleaf on their mission. That is when you joined Reform."
Arlon looked at Judah with complete awe. "How do you know that name?!" He was in absolute shocked. No one on the outside should know that name: especially not him!
"Now that I have your compliance," Judah said, ignoring Arlon's comment and shocked expression, "Let me ask you something I have had on my mind."
Judah strode over towards the barred window. He stared out at the sunlight that peered into the cell before saying, "A few weeks ago, I received a letter alerting me that a group of nuzleaf came through the Alkan territory carrying a precious cargo. It has come to my attention that this cargo is not just any other trading resource, but my people."
"Fat fool," Arlon said quietly, still shocked by what Judah had said to him earlier. "You have no idea what you're getting involved in."
"I have a theory;" Judah told him, "Although, I do not have the whole picture. I have a canvas, but no paint. I want you to provide me with that paint."
"And why would I freely give it to you?" Arlon asked.
Judah smiled at the shiftree. "The guards tell me there is one thing you truly desire; something I can give you that, in your current position, you will never be able to posses."
"If you're talking about my sense of feeling-"
"No," Judah said, "I cannot deliver that, and you know it; no one is that strong. Although, I know one other thing you truly desire: something I can give to you."
Arlon smiled. "What exactly are you offering?"
Judah looked at Arlon with a glint of malice. "You know very well what I am referring to, no? All you need to do is agree to my terms."
Arlon's face grew into a malicious sneer. Not a bad offer, fatty... Not bad at all...
(Two weeks later: Alkan Islands, Alka)
"She's dead, Ryan," Dillan said, his eyes watering from the pit of despair growing in his chest. His lower jaw quivered merely from saying those words.
"What?" Ryan said, taken aback by what Dillan had said. His eyes focused on Dillan's face with an intense, questioning stare.
"Grace is dead," Dillan said again. His heart slammed against his chest harder from those words.
"Wasn't that fun?" a cheerful voice asked. Dillan looked over Ryan's shoulder and found Arlon leaning against the wall in the corner of the inn's room. He was behind Ryan's bed, a wide grin on his face as he stared at Dillan. "I never knew your mind could be so fun!"
"Dilla-" Ryan said with empathy in his voice.
"Shut up!" Dillan shouted at Arlon. He slapped his fins to the side of his head in an attempt at blocking Arlon's voice out of his head.
"That doesn't work, Dillan!" Arlon said gleefully. He fazed through Ryan's bed as if it was nothing, walking to the gabite. "Not while I'm still breathing! Your sister on the other hand..."
Dillan shot up from the bed and darted towards the door. He didn't care if he couldn't open it with his claws. He would bust it down if he had to if it meant getting away from Arlon. Lucky for him, the door gave a "click" and it opened. Hazel was at the door with wide eyes. Dillan didn't even realize what he was about to do. His emotions were like a fog, keeping his mind seconds behind the world around him. Dillan plowed past Hazel, shoving her out of his way .He then turned the corner quickly and made his way down the hall.
"Dillan!" Hazel called out.
"You can't run from yourself, Dillan!" Arlon shouted from the doorway. "Why run from me?"
"Leave me alone!" Dillan shouted as he reached the end of the hallway. He dashed down the stairs and tore his way out of the building.
Dillan was on auto-pilot. The moment he stepped outside, he felt the burst of cold air hit his scales. It didn't help that the sun wasn't up yet. Even with the chilly touch of the night on his scales, Dillan didn't care. He darted through the town, not thinking about where he was going. He didn't care. Not even the thought about leaving his friends in the inn bothered him. All he wanted to do was run - run from his pain - from that single, agonizing memory that bombarded his mind in waves of emotion. That single scene continued to play in his mind. Over and over again he had seen the doctor come so close to telling him what had happened to Grace. So many times he wished to know what was wrong. Now that he knew, Dillan wanted to forget all over again.
"No!" Dillan shouted, remembering the doctor's words.
"She has a tumor." the doctor's words echoed in Dillan's head.
"It's not true!" Dillan turned a street corner and dashed out of the town, out into the snowy plains. "It can't be true!"
"She has two weeks."
"She's still alive; she has to be!"
Dillan ran for a few more minutes. The wind seemed to pick up around him. Snow flakes started falling from the sky, slowly drifting like icy tears towards the ground. The gabite began climbing a hill of snow, ignoring the numbing fire that seemed to attack his feet.
"Why didn't I try?" Dillan shouted. "I didn't even try to get back: not once!" The streaks of water that fell down Dillan's trembling cheeks began to cling like ice to his scales.
The gabite felt a dull pain in his toes. He began falling forwards, the snow coming closer to his face. It felt like white blanket collide with his body.. The gabite, laying face-first in the snow, didn't try to get up. He just started weeping into the ice.
"Dillan," a voice so horrible to Dillan, the only words that could come close to describing it was horrifyingly sickening beyond all reasoning, said from behind him, "You're the most pathetic looking lump I've ever seen. What your friends in you, I can't seem to figure out. I mean, you've been trying to find out what happened to your sister for a while; now that you know, you would rather forget? You're the saddest creature I've ever had the displeasure of knowing!"
Dillan ignored the shiftree. He didn't care: not for him or anything. He felt so alone that he just wanted to lay there in the snow and die.
"You win," Dillan said through the sniffling. "I quit."
Dillan listened for a few seconds, waiting for Arlon's come back, his attempt to get a rise out of the gabite. The only thing he heard was the wind. He sat there for a few more seconds. What's he doing? Why isn't he saying anything? A few more seconds passed. The silence began messing with his head. Dillan began pushing himself out of the snow. His muscles began to burn from moving them, but he didn't care; he wanted to get a good look at Arlon.
The shiftree was standing there. It was unnerving to see he didn't have a smile on his face. His eyebrows were knitted together. He had a small frown on his face as he stared at Dillan. The shiftree's mane didn't seem to flow in the wind which was beginning to pick up and threw more snow in the air.
"You quit?" Arlon asked as the left side of his lip curled into a snarl. "You just... quit?"
"I'm done," Dillan said flatly. "I'm done with this mission I'm on. I'm done with having to spend each day without knowing what other awful thing is going to happen to me. I'm done with all of the..." Dillan's voice trailed off. Tears began to make their way down Dillan's face again in another stream. "I'm done with all of the pain..."
The only noise present for the next few seconds was the wind. The horizon was undefinable due to all of the snow in the air. "You're done?" Arlon asked sternly. "You're... done?"
Dillan watched the shiftree's face. It began to slowly contort. Dillan felt his heart begin to slow. He had never seen such a horrific sight as the one he was witnessing. The burns on Arlon's face began stretching across his cheeks as his mouth grew wider and wider until it ended at a stretched and unnatural grimace of hate. His brow-line came to rest on top of his eyes, giving him a hate-filled scowl.
"No, Dillan," Arlon said menacingly. "You're not done. I haven't had my fill of your suffering yet."
"D-do whatever you want," Dillan stuttered, beginning to feel the fear in his chest rise. "I'm d-done."
Arlon's face went into a cold smile accompanied by a shrill laugh; his laughter echoed into the snow storm that raged on around them.
"Fine," Arlon said as he turned left, looking away from the gabite. His eye rotated and began staring at Dillan through the corner of his left eye. "You can say that all you like, but we know the truth; there is no running from pain. It always exists in some form. Even at your weakest moment when you realize there is nothing left for you in life, pain comes to take you. For example: I'm positive your sister screamed in agony before she died."
Dillan's chest felt as though a sword had been driven through it, removed, then stabbed again. He stared at the shiftree. His eyes sharpened on the pokemon. His mouth warped into a snarl.
"What did you say?" Dillan asked angrily, tears still steaming out of his eyes and down his face.
"I wonder if she called your name before she died, thinking about the possibilities on why you left her alone in her final hours. What do you think she said?"
Dillan felt every painful emotion come out in a single burst of raw energy. He shot up from the ground in a split second. Arlon didn't seem to pay any attention to the angry shouts of his opponent. The gabite tore through the snow, focusing on his fin as it began glowing and extending into a "dragon claw". He slashed at Arlon several times. His fin sliced through the shiftree, doing no visible damage; but Dillan didn't care. He was so angry and devastated that he wanted to take everything out on the one pokemon he knew he would never be able to forgive.
"Murderer!" Dillan blared in pure anger. "Coward! Why can't you just leave me alone?"
"You forgot executioner," Arlon said with a grin.
Dillan felt his arms seize up. He unintentionally stopped his slashes, but the energy of his movement sent him forwards into the snow. He began tumbling down the hill, feeling nothing whatsoever: not the continuous abuse from his fins being bent under his own weight, or the shock of the ground when he hit the bottom of the hill. The gabite felt the world around him spin without his body. His eye lids started to get heavy.
"Oh, no!" a voice gasped. Dillan couldn't tell if it was a stranger or someone he knew. The only thing he could do was close his eyes as the world got dark around him and he drifted away into unconsciousness.
"Hey," a voice called out. Dillan opened his eyes slowly, the pain in his body taking its toll on him. He couldn't see anything. The world around him seemed blurry. What he could make out was the white background and some source of light in the middle of the room. "You awake, yet?"
"What?" Dillan asked groggily. Is this another dream? "Grace?" His vision began clearing the more he stared. The white background came into focus.
The gabite found himself sitting in a round room with icy walls. He noticed he felt warm. That's when he spotted the fire sitting in the middle of the room casting light on the walls.
"Buddy." a voice called out from Dillan's left. A tan paw moved in front of Dillan's vision. Its fingers moved together and made a "click" sound as they snapped together. "Over here."
Dillan looked to his left to find a mouse-like head staring at him. It had red eyes with white circles that looked like pupils. A pair of dark-grey circles sat above the pokemon's eyes and below its round ears. There was also a pair of tan, short, puffy whiskers stringing off of its cheeks. Its body was thin at the top and came down to a bulky pair of thighs. Brick-red arms came off the body with flabby skin that hung like massive, rounded sleeves. The pokemon's paws were tan and small in comparison to its arms. The creature's brick-red legs stretched off of its thighs and ended at little feet. Its tail came off of its body and ended at a brick-red part creating two separate ends.
"Right here," the mienfoo said. Dillan guessed it was a girl due to the higher voice. "You're not hurt or anything, right? Better not be hypothermia."
"You're not..." Dillan said as his voice drifted. He hung his head sadly. Grace... He remembered what had happened to her. He remembered the dream and Arlon. He also remembered falling in the snow and blacking out.
"So..." the mienfoo asked as she cranked her head from left to right slowly as if waiting for a response. "You're good, right?"
"Where are we?" Dillan asked with a frown.
"In my cave," the mienfoo said as if proud of this little room. She put her paw on her chest confidently before saying, "Made it myself for some quick shelter. Hope you like it."
"Who are you?" Dillan asked out of curiosity, not courtesy.
"Well, I'm not Grace or whatever you said before," She stood up and looked at Dillan with a raised eyebrow and a smile of confidence. She stuck out her chest and put her right paw over her heart. "My name is Valery G: at your service."
"G?" Dillan asked.
"Yep," Valery said. "The G. stands for..." she trailed off. Her eyes drifted around the room as she thought of an answer.
"Never mind," Dillan said as he shook his head sadly. "It doesn't matter."
"Well, sure it does!" the mienfoo announced with a scowl. "I mean, I did save you and all; at the very least I owe you my name." She stared at the ceiling for a few seconds making Dillan feel uncomfortable with the situation. All he wanted to do was run away and keep on running.
"I'm sorry," Dillan said. "Thank you for the help, but I need to go."
The mienfoo snapped her fingers together. "The G. stands for gregarious." She stood proudly as if waiting for Dillan's approval.
"Gregarious?" Dillan asked.
"Yep," Valery stated.
It doesn't matter. "Again, it was nice meeting you, but I'm going to leave now."
"What's the hurry?" Valery asked. "Got someplace you need to be?"
Dillan didn't answer. He just stood up and turned towards a hole in the wall he guessed was the exit. He walked towards it but was stopped by Valery who quickly jumped in his way.
"You can't go out there!" Valery shouted with wide eyes. She sounded almost scared.
"Why not?" Dillan asked.
"It isn't safe! We're in the middle of a White Hole!"
"I'm trying to be nice," Dillan said, "But you're making it very difficult. I've just been through a lot and I want to be alone right now."
"Fine!" Valery said with a nervous smile. "I'll make you a separate room. You can be alone there if you want, but you can't go out there right now!"
Dillan was tired of the whole situation. All of it felt like nonsense. "Why do you care so much?"
"What?" Valery asked. "Why do I..." She thought about the question for a few seconds. Her cheeks started to go red. "I... um... can't say..."
"Fine," Dillan said. "But I'm leaving whether you like it or not."
Valery put her head up proudly, her eyes shooting daggers at Dillan sternly. She stepped backwards, blocking the exit. "Well, I'm not moving!"
"Suit yourself," Dillan said. He threw himself head-first at the ground and began digging quickly. The moment he was in the ground, he felt something was missing. Dillan tried to sense what was around him, but he couldn't. Where's my miracle sense? The only thing he could see was the room above him. Other than that, everything looked like static, as if something was bombarding the environment around him, preventing him from seeing anything outside the room.
Even with this being the case, Dillan didn't care; he only needed to get on the other side of Valery. He focused on the little passageway leading towards the outside. The gabite looked upwards and began shoveling a mixture of ice, dirt, and snow behind him. He came up in a second between Valery and the exit.
"Wait!" Valery shouted from behind Dillan. He didn't pay anymore attention to the mienfoo. All he wanted was to leave.
Dillan was about to exit the cave when he felt his feet being swept out from under him. The gabite tumbled to the side and fell onto the right side of the cave. He looked back at Valery who was scowling at him.
"I'm warning you right now," Dillan said sternly. "Let me leave, or this is going to get very ugly."
"Uglier than that?" Valery said as she pointed towards the exit. Dillan looked out of the cave.
His eyes widened in astonishment. He stared outside and wondered why he hadn't noticed it before. The raging winds whistled loudly as they tossed snow around through the air creating a white veil that Dillan couldn't see through.
"That's..." Dillan said with wonder, "A massive blizzard."
"A White Hole," Valery corrected. "In the Alkan Islands, there are small pockets of powerful wind that travel across the islands throwing snow in the air. That creates massive snow-storms... or at least, that's what I've heard. Most pokemon can't survive in that weather; let alone you, being a dragon and ground-type and all." Dillan stared out at the storm outside of his small cave. As much as I don't want to be here... Could I risk going out in that weather? "What's got you so worked up anyways?" Dillan didn't answer. "Earlier, you thought I was someone you knew, right? You said the name, 'Grace'. Who-"
"That's not your business," Dillan snapped coldly.
Valery grinned. "Someone close to you, then. I get it; protecting the ones you love can be hard."
Dillan felt his heart sting at those words. He felt his eyes start to sting as he continued staring at the storm of white. I can't stay here... I need to get away. What would Ryan do in this situation? He'd probably blast his way through the storm, that's what. And Hazel? Well, she'd stay here where it's safe... Or would she? I guess it depends on who this pokemon is.
The gabite blinked multiple times until he got his eyes under control before turning to Valery and asking, "So, who are you exactly?"
"Valery G." Valery said. "I already told you."
"But who do you work for?" Dillan asked.
"That depends on you," the mienfoo said with a raised eyebrow. "The last I heard, Dillan the gabite worked for the Guild and not Team Armageddon, so why wear their colors?"
Dillan stared at Valery in shock. "You know me?" he asked. "How?"
Valery's eyes widened. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but she didn't. That changed very quickly. Her face tightened into a grimace. Her legs collapsed from underneath her as she got onto her knees. The mienfoo slapped her right paw to her left arm as she gave a yelp of pain.
"No no no no!" Valery said to herself worriedly. Dillan watched as blood began to trickle down her right paw in droplets. "I'm sorry! Please don't do it again! I won't say anything else; just no more!"
"Are you alright?" Dillan said quickly as he took a quick step towards Valery. He knelt down. "What's wrong?"
"Stop, please!" Valery shouted. "Don't say anything else, Dillan!"
Dillan looked at Valery's left arm. He saw a slash that went up the flab of skin. From what Dillan could tell, it didn't seem deep; then again, he wasn't a doctor. It did, however, seem familiar to the gabite.
"Wait," Dillan said, realizing where he'd seen that kind of slash before. "That cut's just like-"
"Stop!" Valery shouted fearfully. "No more! Just shut up, or you'll get me in more trouble!"
"So you're not with the Guild or Team Armageddon," Dillan said. "That wound proves it. You're with Reya."
"I swear to Giratina himself I'll smack you if you say one more thing that relates to who I am!"
"Alright," Dillan agreed. But that does tell me who you are. If you're working with Reya, then I can trust you.
"If you say so," a familiarly cold voice said to Dillan's left. "Or should I say, 'if you think so'?" He turned to see the shiftree leaning against the wall.
The gabite scowled at Arlon, but tried not to pay any attention to him. Instead, he looked at Valery and said, "You can use my bandanna as a bandage."
"It's alright," Valery said. "It isn't bleeding too much, so it isn't deep. I'll be fine without it."
"Or she'll die like your sister," Arlon told Dillan.
Stop toying with me.
"But you make it so easy! It's to die for; and I bet your sister experienced it first-hand."
I'll kill you, coward.
"Ha!" Arlon walked away from the wall and knelt down next to Valery. "You're forgetting that I'm in your head." He leaned next to Valery's ear and shouted as loud as he could. It was ear-splitting. Dillan slapped his fins on his ears to block out the shouts as fast as he could. Valery, however, didn't seem affected by the noise. She just stared with knitted eyebrows.
"What?" the mienfoo asked. "Is something wrong?"
Arlon stopped shouting and said, "See? In your head."
"I need to leave," Dillan said quickly. He turned towards the exit once more. To his amazement, the storm had gone down. The gabite moved from the cave and outside.
"I wouldn't do that," Arlon said. "You're just going to get hurt."
"Leave me alone!" Dillan shouted.
"Dillan, wait!" Valery called after him. He felt a paw grip his ankle.
Dillan didn't listen. Valery's grip wasn't very strong, so he just shook her off of him and continued. He stepped out of the hole and into the open air.
It felt very cold outside, though Dillan was getting use to it. He found that he was on a hill of snow, presumably the same hill he tumbled down earlier. The sky was clear and the sun seemed to be at its peak above him. Dillan found that at the bottom of the hill was the town he and his friends were in earlier. What was it called? Frost Island Village? Wait a minute...
"How long was I out?" Dillan asked himself.
"A few hours," Valery said as she came out of the hole, still cradling her left arm in her right.
"What about the storm?" Dillan asked as he turned to face Valery.
"Some pokemon told me that it's a natural phenomenon. The storm doesn't have a set starting or stopping point out here; it could last from five minutes to two days."
"Which means you could die from one spouting out." Arlon announced from behind Dillan. The gabite jumped and slashed his claw around. Arlon was hit, but didn't seem affected by the attack as it passed through him. Valery, however, jumped from the sudden – seemingly random – attack.
"What's gotten into you?" Valery shouted from shock.
"Yes, Dillan," Arlon said in a mockingly worried tone. "What has gotten into you?"
"I'm leaving," Dillan said to Arlon. He began walking down the hill.
"Not until you explain what's going on." Valery stated.
"Tell her what's wrong, Dillan," Arlon said. "Say I'm in your head. See where it'll get you."
The gabite stopped in his tracks and turned towards Arlon. "Alright," he said. Worst case scenario, she thinks I'm crazy in which case she'll probably be either too worried to leave my side, or too freaked out to stay near me. Nothing more than that. Dillan turned towards Valery and said, "My biggest enemy is sanding right next to me, being a constant reminder of my sister."
"Dead sister," Arlon corrected. "You're welcome."
"You mean, Arlon?" Valery asked.
Dillan was taken aback. He stared at Valery with a slacken jaw.
"Ooh, she's good!" Arlon announced. "On second thought, just leave."
"How do you know that?" Dillan asked.
"I can't say," Valery told Dillan, bringing her left arm into view. "But, I think I know how to help you." She let go of her left arm and pressed her paws together. Valery's body became enveloped in a yellow light. Her eyes shut together forcefully as if she was concentrating.
"Cute," Arlon said. "The girl thinks she can attack me. Dillan, please tell her that she can't hurt me?"
"I see you, Logan," Valery said.
"Logan?" Dillan asked. "His name is Arlon."
"Uh-oh," Arlon said. Dillan looked at the shiftree. His brow line was scrunched as if he was worried, though he still wore a smile. "Time to leave."
"Not so fast!" Valery shouted. She turned around and began darting up the hill. She knelt down quickly and shouted, "Jump Kick!" She leaped from the ground and launched herself high into the air. Dillan watched as she flew towards a blue pokemon he hadn't seen before.
It was a small pokemon with blue skin. It had a round head with two pointed ears that seemed fused together on the top of its head. The pokemon had what appeared to be a hole in the middle of its head where its nose would be, leaving what looked like a heart-shaped hole. A mane of grey fur was present around the pokemon's neck. Its blue, round body came to little, black feet that hung from its front. A couple of tails wound together from the bottom of the pokemon until they parted for a few inches. The tails then came together at their tips making a heart. Its black bat-wings came off of the pokemon's body and flapped frantically as it tried to get away from the mienfoo.
"Hello, Logan!" Valery shouted gleefully as she planted her foot in the swoobat's face. The bat pokemon – presumably Logan – gave a cry of pain as he shot down towards the snow.
"Here's where I take my leave, Dillan," Arlon said. Dillan looked over at the shiftree. "but I promise to torture you some other time." Arlon gave a sneer as he seemed to vaporize into thin air. In seconds, the shiftree was gone. What the-
"No! stop!" a male voice shouted from Valery's direction.
"Stop whining," Valery said. Dillan looked towards the voice. Valery grabbed Logan by the tail and began dragging him towards Dillan.
"Who's that?" Dillan asked.
"Reya gave you a list, right?" Valery asked, swinging Logan around by the tail until he was facing Dillan. "She gave you a list of the Enemy's members?" A roar could be heard from the sky. Valery winced at it and put her head down fearfully. "I'm sorry! He already knows I'm with you, so I didn't think it mattered!"
"Who are you talking to?" Dillan asked. "And who's that?"
"She can't tell you," Logan said. "Isn't that right, 'protector'?"
"Th-this," Valery stuttered, still shaken up by the roar in the sky. "Is one of Arlon's l-little slaves. He's the reason Arlon's been in your h-head."
"What?" Dillan asked. "How?"
"I'm friggin' magical," Logan snapped.
"He's a psychic type," Valery said, starting to regain some of her courage. "Most of the time, not even psychic pokemon can get into your head, but this guy isn't like most cases."
"How so?" Dillan asked.
"I'm not sure," Valery said. She looked at Logan and asked, "Mind sharing that info with us?"
"Sure, sweetheart," Logan said. " I'll tell you over a nice cup of tea. And while I'm at it, why don't I tell you the big master plan, too?"
"Do you like the ability to fly?" Valery asked. "Or would you prefer to walk on your stumps you call feet?"
"You think I'm scared of you?" Logan laughed. "What are you, twelve? Thirteen?"
"You're psychic, right?" Valery said. "Can't you find out?"
"Sweet-cheeks, astral-projection and mind-reading are two entirely different things."
"So you've been the one in my head?" Dillan asked. "What about Arlon?"
"Are you mentally challenged or something?" Logan asked. "Arlon can't even fly without help, let alone put his own consciousness into another living being."
"So how do you do it?"
"Why don't you ask her?" Logan said as he bobbed his head, beckoning Dillan to look behind him. The gabite turned around expecting to see someone, though he didn't see anything.
"He's just messing with you," Valery told the gabite.
"Arlon was right!" Logan said with glee. "You're too easy to fool!"
"Shut it," Valery said as she planted her fist in the back of the swoobat's head.
"Hey!" Dillan scolded. "Don't hit it!"
Valery looked at Dillan dumbfounded by what he said. "What?" she asked.
"Don't hurt him!" Dillan said again.
"You know what really hurts?" Logan asked. "Being called it!"
"Why?" Valery asked slowly. "He's the bad guy."
"That doesn't give you the right to hurt him!" Dillan said.
"My job isn't to protect him," Valery said.
"You're suppose to protect me, then?" Dillan asked.
Valery sighed and looked at the sky. "It wasn't me!" she shouted. She then looked at Dillan and said, "Besides, this scum-sucker's been in your head for weeks."
Wait. "You've been in my head for weeks..." Dillan said to himself.
"Man, you're slow," Logan said.
"Then all the times Arlon's been in my dreams..." Dillan said, realizing what that meant.
"Give the boy a prize!" Logan announced.
"You're the reason I saw..."
Logan looked at Dillan. As the seconds passed, Dillan's brow-line tightened into a flaring scowl. His lip bean twitching. Logan, however, started shaking. "W-wait a minute, buddy."
"You showed me her," Dillan said angrily.
"Let's talk about this!" Logan shouted fearfully.
"Showed you who?" Valery asked.
"I begged for Arlon to let me go!" Dillan shouted. "Reya told me not to see that memory, yet!"
Valery looked at Dillan with confusion for a few seconds before recognition dawned on her face. "Oh, no..." she said quietly.
"He made me do it!" Logan said. "He was going to kill me if I didn't!"
"Arlon's in jail, liar!" Dillan shouted.
"Then how was he in your mind?" Logan asked.
"Through you," Dillan said sternly. "Which means it's your fault!"
Multiple emotions were running through the gabite's head. The pain from Grace's death was back. He wanted to shout at the sky. He wanted to shout at Valery. He wanted to shout at Arlon: no, that's not it. He wanted to do more to Arlon. Dillan wanted to attack Arlon; he wanted to make sure the shiftree couldn't hurt anyone ever again. He wanted to attack Logan. He wanted to attack Jake. He wanted to lash out at anyone he considered to be a threat. And at the same time, he didn't. Something inside of him told him not to.
"Dillan, wait!" Valery shouted.
"I'm done!" Dillan shouted. "I'm done with everything in this crappy world!"
Logan gave a sigh of relief. Valery reeled her fist back which made Logan cower. However, she didn't seem to care. The mienfoo whacked him in the side of the head. Logan's eyes rolled up into the back of his head as he passed out. Valery then ran over to Dillan.
"What did you see?" Valery asked. "What did Arlon show you?"
Dillan looked at Valery. His eyes started to water up. "He showed me my sister!" Dillan shouted. "He showed me her in a hospital bed, begging for me to stay with her! He showed me her fear, but that didn't affect me! I was too focused on what came next!"
"Which is?" Valery asked. She grabbed Dillan by the arm. "What did you see?"
"She's dead!" Dillan shouted. Valery looked at Dillan with knitted eyebrows, widened eyes, and a sympathetic frown. "A brain tumor killed her!"
"Dillan, that's not your fault," Valery said.
"You seem to know a lot about me," Dillan said sharply. "So, what happened to Grace? She's not dead, is she?."
"Why not?" Valery asked.
"Because she's my past!" Dillan shouted. "She's the only thing I can remember that actually means something to me: the only tie to who I was!"
"So what?" Valery asked. Her tone started became a little harsh. "You're gonna give up all because some girl died?"
"No," Dillan said flatly. "I keep being told she's dead, but there isn't anything that truly proves it. I didn't see it."
Valery looked at Dillan for a few seconds before a smile came to her face. "Really?" she asked. "I don't think you're going to let this go, right? You want proof?"
"She's not dead," Dillan said.
Valery sighed. She looked up at the sky for a few seconds. There was a low roar that echoed across the hill-side. "Are you-" Valery shouted. There was another roar tat cut her off. Valery sighed before saying, "Alright, then." She turned towards Dillan and said, "Get down on your left side."
Dillan got onto his left side without question and lied down in the snow. It felt colder than standing up, making his body shiver.
"Now what?" Dillan asked.
"You're going to hate this next part," Valery said. "Just touch your crystal."
Dillan moved his claw towards his crystal. He touched it lightly. Immediately, there was a green glow that shot out from the stone. Dillan felt pressure on his mind, as if something was being forced upon it. He gave a cry of pain.
"Give it a-" Valery said.
Dillan didn't hear the rest of that sentence. Almost immediately, he felt as though he was turned inside-out. His mind seemed to be shot out from the pressure on his own body and blown into a black void. As he moved through the void, a picture came to his mind.
The image was very clear to him, clearer than anything he had ever seen before. Dillan looked on at a scene with three tan creatures. They were dressed in different clothing that covered most of their bodies, though it didn't seem strange to Dillan. It seemed familiar.
The creatures were standing next to a bed. In the bed lied another creature dressed in a white and pink, polka dot gown, though it looked as though the creature had lost pigment in her skin. Dillan recognized her instantaneously through some sort of seventh-sense. Maybe it was the black, curly hair that parted at the bangs and drifted down to her shoulders. Maybe it was the scar on her cheek. Maybe it was the short nose she had. Whatever it was, Dillan recognized her as Grace.
There was a small creature over her, gripping her hand. He had short, black hair that was combed over to the side. He had blue eyes that were overflowing with tears. The creature had a nose like Grace's, short. The creature's teeth were uneven as if he needed braces badly. Dillan knew that was him.
"There." Valery said. Dillan looked to his left to see Valery was floating next to him, staring at Dillan's memory. "I'm really sorry, but Grace died in that hospital bed."
"But..." Dillan said.
"Hey." Valery said. She grabbed Dillan's arm. "Did you think you weren't there for her in her final hours?"
"You're in my head?" Dillan asked.
"Lucky guess," Valery told him with a light smile. "Anyways, look down there."
Dillan looked back at the scene. His human-side was still crying over Grace's lifeless body.
"What about it?" Dillan asked. His lip began to quiver.
"You were with her up until the end," Valery told Dillan softly.
Dillan felt everything beginning to shift. He felt himself start to turn inside-out again as he drifted back into reality.
The gabite opened his eyes and sat up quickly. He looked forwards to see Valery sitting on the ground. The one thing he saw missing was Logan.
"Where's-" Dillan tried to say.
"Not important right now," Valery told the gabite. "What you need to focus on is you."
"Meaning?" Dillan asked.
"You told me you have no connection to your past," Valery told the gabite. Dillan didn't answer. "You're probably feeling alone right now, right?" Dillan, again, didn't answer. "I'll take that as a 'yes'. I'm not suppose to tell you this, but you need to rely on your friends."
"You're not allowed to tell me that?" Dillan asked.
"Yeah," Valery said. "I'm not sure why, but whatever. You need to know that you're not alone. You've got friends, so use them."
"How does that help me deal with my past?" Dillan asked, tears coming to his eyes.
"You're not thinking about the bigger picture," Valery told him. "Why does the past matter?"
Dillan thought about the question. "Uh..." he said.
"That part's easy," Valery told him. "It's there to shape who you are, right?"
"I guess..." Dillan told her.
"Well, you're lucky on this part. Most people react to things because of their past. It becomes a part of them. You, however, don't have that. That means your future isn't influenced by what happened before. As a result, you get to choose what happens next of your own accord. Even better, you have friends that will help you out, so you don't have to ever worry."
"But my past-"
"Your past only exists to draw on." Valery said again. "You don't have to draw on that because you have no past, so stop thinking about it. Rely on your friends."
Dillan thought about it. "But what about Grace?" he asked. "She still dies..."
"Tell me, Dillan," Valery said. "Do you think Grace would like you to dwell on everything? Do you think that she wants to hinder you because you remembered her?"
"No..."
"Exactly. She's gone and there's nothing you can do to stop it. So, stop remembering her as a sad part in your life. Remember her as a good part. She was in your life to help you, and I'm positive she did; don't let her hinder you, alright?"
Dillan thought about Valery's words. She's right, I can't deny that. Remember Grace as a good part... but... "I can't remember anything about her..." Dillan said sadly as tears began streaming down his cheeks.
"Stop," Valery said empathetically. "You're still dwelling on the bad. You know she was your sister and you loved her. What's more than that? So you might not be able to remember the good memories. They only exist to help you remember the good feelings that came with the person. If you can already remember the good feelings, then why have memories at all? As long as you loved her and vice versa, it doesn't matter if you remember everything about her."
"But how do I forget the pain?" Dillan asked, voice beginning to quiver.
"The pain always exists:" Valery said. "Always. The only thing you can do is move on and focus on the good."
"Move on..." Dillan said. He took a deep breath. "Move on..."
"That's all anyone can do," Valery said again. "Sure there's going to be times where you'll remember her or when her memories catch you off guard. You'll be sad, and that isn't a bad thing; you just need to focus on the good that she brought to you, alright?"
"Alright," Dillan told the mienfoo. "I'll try." As sad as I am that Grace is dead, Valery's right. I need to move on. I need to look towards the future. Dillan whipped the tears off of his cheeks and gave a sincere smile to Valery. "Thank you."
Valery winked at Dillan. "No problem." There was a roar across the sky.
"You can't tell me what that is, right?"
She stood up. "Nope." she said with a wink at Dillan. "Anyways, I need to move on. Got stuff that I need to do. You should go back to your friends."
"Wait," Dillan said. "I have a question."
"What is it?" Valery asked.
"Why am I here in this world?"
She gave a light laugh. "You had to ask that, didn't you?" Valery took a deep breath. "You remember the prophecy, right? Well, that's why. You're one of the pokemon in that prophecy. I'm not completely sure how the prophecy comes true, when it happens, or why, but it's going to come true whether we like it or not, and apparently all the signs point to it happening soon."
"Signs?"
"There are some... strange... nesses... that are happening. Dillan, you're here to make sure the prophecy comes true in the good-guys' favor rather than the Enemy's."
Valery gave a wave and ran towards the hole she had made in the side of the hill.
"Wait!" Dillan called out. "What if that 'Logan' guy shows up again?"
"You know what you're looking for," Valery shouted back. "You'll be fine." With that, she disappeared into the hole.
Dillan turned towards the foot of the mountain. He saw the town ahead. That's where my friends are. If I need to start focusing on my friends, then that's where I need to be.
Dillan started walking towards the town below. He knew that the memory of Grace would never be a happy one. It would always hurt him to remember her, but Valery was right. He needed to focus on the good Grace brought instead of the bad. He needed to remember her for the joyful person she was to him instead of a knife in his heart that would always cut into his emotions. He needed to remember her as his sister that he loved. That's what Grace needed to be for him.
(Author's Notes)
Well, crap... I have been hard-pressed to release this chapter. It's been very hard revising this thing and what-not to make sure I'm not giving too much away about the plot and stuff before the reveal, so I've been rewriting and revising this chapter over and over again, which is why I didn't get it released on time (not to mention all the time I've been spending on my other story). I'm really sorry for the wait, but I'll make it up to you guys! I want to release another chapter this Friday and then one more the week after that to make up for the wait. Anyways, I'm very sorry for the wait!
Shout-out to "spray and be dead" and "superwolf12365" for following/favoriting the story! Thank you guys so much! It means a lot to me that you guys like the story enough to keep reading it!
That's all for this chapter! Thanks for reading! I'll see you guys Friday!
