Chapter 31 – Friends

Team Annihilation Reborn HQ – 40TH Floor – Espeon's POV

After climbing the collapsed stairwell almost nonstop I had finally made it to the fortieth floor of Team Annihilation Reborn HQ. Shiny Latias was sighted up on the rooftop before we made our move against this building and the controlled soldiers. "Just one last descent up and the final battle will truly begin, perhaps our most dangerous battle yet, the battle that will decide the fate of this region if not the entire planet." I thought as I advanced further through the floor to eventually find the elevator to the roof and would wait for Zackary there while catching my breath after that tiresome climb. I wouldn't have been this tired if I wasn't hit by the drones before, so all I had to do was sit and wait for Zackary to show up to heal up and feel energized for the final battle.

I couldn't sense any threat or life on the final floor, only floors below me and one I detected up on the roof I assumed was Shiny Latias. "Getting closer to the bitch… I can feel her presence. I don't sense any soldiers on this floor or above, she intends to fight on her own. I don't have that much experience on fighting without any sight, so I may have to leave the fighting to him while I search for Latias… wherever she may be. I hope you're okay Latias. Stay strong, we are almost there."

I stopped, I caught a scent nearby I was familiar with very close to the elevator to the rooftop. I approached to find the scent was stronger there, but I didn't enter it just yet, I had to wait for Zackary. Aqua had told us Shiny Latias was going to be up there on the rooftop, walking in and pressing the button of the elevator and I would be walking to my death.

Going back to the scent, the scent was somewhat pleasant and yet the other wasn't. There was two scents I had picked up. I decided to stay in that area and wait for Zackary to show up rather than leave to find him, it was better to wait for him instead of prolonging our separation.

Knowing he was getting closer I couldn't help but wonder what that familiar scent was… it was like the smell of vanilla mixed with blood. "Whoever that is up there… I know it from someplace… I can't risk going into the Dark Place to try and find out how I know that scent, gotta use head for that. Now let's see…" I said out loud to myself, "Gathering people and Pokemon I knew, their scents, smelling of water like Zackary, cut grass for Bayleef, metallic water for Dewott, ice cream for Aqua." Then it hit me, with my eyes wide I looked in the direction of the elevator, it was Latias up there on the roof possibly bleeding up there. Then I turned my head at the sound of something approach, it was a Pokemon I thought was Zackary, but instead it was the other scent I had picked up so close to the elevator, it was her looking right at me and trapping me with her ability.

"Well, well, look who it is, I haven't seen you in… six years when we last met, me fighting against my sister, Zack just finishing off Cornelius, then you showed up and did this to my face." Shiny Latias glared right in front of me while keeping me up in the air showing me the many scars covering her face I gave her at the last battle we had. "But after you did this you fled like a coward. That halted everything for me, I had to rest for a while but also control more victims as my soldiers for my army. Now that you are in my grasp, the one Pokemon I find the most annoying, the first Pokemon I want killed before Zack is right where I want you." I opened my mouth to speak, but she immediately commanded with a harsh voice.

"I command you to cease breathing." She smirked as I felt my throat closing up preventing air from entering my lungs. "Funny isn't it? The loudmouthed Espeon who has travelled with that foolish Dewott for many years can't call me… what was it you called me? A Shiny Bitch did you say?" She scratched the back of my neck digging her claws into me. "All of my soldiers working for me are people and Pokemon I plucked from the streets, from their homes all controlled by me to help me kill little pests like you! And I have a suspicious feeling you will be one of mine before you die. Because I will use you before you die."

"Fuck you! If you think I am going to work alongside you, you can drop dead, Shiny Bitch!" I glared at her, but in return it only made her smile more as she stabbed me with her claws into my back, not deep enough to be fatal, only piercing the skin and drawing out some blood. But I didn't wince as much or show any fear or that I was hurt, I didn't want to be seen as weak before her. "The second I am free from you, you stupid Latias, I will slit your long neck with my claws just like I cut up your face up on that rooftop of Team Doom six years ago, only this time I ain't going to run away. I'll happily watch you bleed out knowing your reign of terror ends once and for all." I was lacking oxygen; I felt my lungs ache for some air, but I still held on. "Once you free me from your control, I will fuck you up!"

"I have fought strong opponents, I have fought average. I have squashed weak opponents with ease laughing as they try to land a direct hit against me, so slow. Facing them and defeating them all was so easy and effortless like breathing. Young or old, those that cannot come close to my strength such as humans cower before me before I strike upon them a fatal strike, but if they are deemed worthy to me I add them to my army. I have faced Pokemon with types harmful to me, and yet I killed them with ease anyway. Facing you, now this is just pathetic. A waste of my time."

I spat out some blood from my mouth, and chuckled. "You think you're all that? A big strong Pokemon no one can defeat? You are wrong if you think you are unstoppable. We will defeat you, Zackary will kill you and your stupid dream to rule this world along with it… h-how do you like that thought? Huh? The very Pokemon you have wanted in your grasp for so long, the one needed to help you rule this world will be the one to end you once and for all and send you to hell where you belong! Reunited with that old man you call a father Juro!" I stumbled back a little after feeling dizzy in the head. Looking down at the ground beneath me I saw a pool of blood, my own blood.

"Hmph! I predict with how Zack has been so far, the long road he has travelled, the enemies he has faced, the friends he has failed to protect," she pointed at me with her blood soaked claw. "all to reach me, the very Pokemon who made him who he is today; my weapon to be controlled and to kill all who dare oppose me, his anger will get the best of him causing him to lose control forcing him to look me in the eyes and I will hurt him a little before I control him for good. Once I control him, which child do you think he will mourn for more after I make him kill them? His Oshawott children who he has only ever communicated to them through a monitor? Or do you think he'll shed another tear for Midnight; his daughter he thought was already dead? I suppose the Oshawott's since he knew them longer." She chuckled.

"What an evil bitch you are!" I coughed out a small droplet of blood. "I predict once Zackary stabs your black heart you won't be laughing anymore. Your plan to rule the world will ultimately end with you dead."

"I could kill you right here and now. But I find watching my victims suffer before they die much more satisfying than just plainly straight up killing them instantly. Instant deaths do not suit me well." She sighed. "With Zack's mother however… I wish I could have found a way to keep her alive longer, but with you and Zack in the kitchen and very close to me I acted too hastily and ended up killing the human by breaking her weak little neck. The look on Zack's face when he heard her neck snap… it was delightful."

"You're so fucked up… out of all the Pokemon and villains we have faced on all of our journeys… you are the most evil and vilest of them all." I spat out some blood on the floor, difficult on finding the strength and flee from this bitch. Flee, now that was something I rarely ever did when faced with a foe or two. I thought of Zackary walking together like we did on our journey through a forest, talking of happier times. "Why are these memories showing up? Oh… is this how it happens? Is this what it's like for everyone who will die? The last thought was of Zackary… before I die… n-no, I can't let that happen, I have to kill this bitch first… save Zackary and Latias… pester Bent some more until he makes me the protagonist in his first book… number one seller across the globe… now that'll be nice… ooh, I don't feel good…" I grunted, feeling my ribs crunch a little when I moved a little.

"I'll take that as a compliment. But in my view I am a hero. I am simply controlling this world so all will be truly at peace. First I just need to eradicate Zack's friends, family and allies before they take away my world from me. Once I do that, I will be looked upon as a hero to the world by all species of life, perhaps be seen as a goddess. It will be so beautiful." She looked down at me with that same smile plastered on her scarred face.

"Insane bitch." I gasped, not caring anymore what I said to her, if I were to die by the bitch right then and there, then I would have to go all out first. Finding the strength I looked up at her, staring into her eyes. Try all I could, there was only little strength in me left for a simple move to use, but I didn't use it yet. So I let her have it with a happy smile on my face. "You are not a goddess, you'll never be one. You evil bitch!"

"I'm insane?" She tilted her head. "No I'm not. Am I evil? I am not. I am fighting for control over this corrupted world; this disease infected world has suffered long enough, so I will cure it." Both of us turned towards the empty corridor. Both of us had sensed Zackary approaching. With her Psychic grip she turned my head to make me look up at her. Our eyes met. "Now Espeon, our time is almost up. Zack Raines is on this very floor now slowly approaching, he must be getting tired already… poor thing. In the meantime you and I will do battle. Depending on how well you do may result on your survival. So be a dear and… DO YOUR BEST!" She yelled that last part using her Psychic to slam me down on the cold hard floor face first.

I stood up and attacked with all the strength I had left hoping to at least inflict some damage to the bitch before I was defeated by her, Psychic there, a Confusion attack here all missed due to her high speed and my weakened state. Every time I attacked her she would dodge out of the way and get close to me briefly before backing up before I could attack her at close range, like she was mocking me for how slow I was.

I used Psychic to hurl some chunks of stone from the wall at her, try to aim where she would go if I did throw them at her, but she was too fast, and I was too slow to react when Shiny Latias moved in on me.

"I was originally going to control you to fight Zack as my little puppet set to commit suicide after two minutes of fighting knowing he would never fight you, he would try to save you, but I want to be the one to kill you." She laughed as she used her Psychic to throw me up at the ceiling before letting go and allowing me to fall to the floor. With her claw, she prepared Dragon Claw and viciously slashed at the back of my head with her attacks in between each word. "A weak thing you are needs to learn her place in this world!" I lay there on the ground too weak to move. I felt… hmm, I couldn't feel any pain, it was numb. I knew I was bleeding a lot from Shiny Latias' attacks, I felt her claws cut deep into my flesh but no pain. I felt numb all over. Maybe because of how hard Shiny Latias threw me up at the ceiling and back down to the ground. Then the numbness faded away and the pain surged throughout my body, as if each part of me was on fire.

I coughed up blood, trying to find the strength I had left inside to get back up and continue with the fight, hoping to weaken her a little before Zackary showed up. Suddenly, I felt a tight grip wrapped around my throat as I was held up by Shiny Latias' Psychic, choking me tightly with her move.

"Aw, poor little Espeon is about to die, a pathetic death if you ask me. You can cry if you want, I won't laugh… too much." She chuckled, but I didn't look her in the eyes, instead I tried to find something to throw at her or use to injure her. "I gave you a fighting chance to come at me with all of your strength, a chance to fight me without my ability from preventing you from fighting, weakening your moves granting you a better chance at survival. I wanted to see how strong you were Espeon, to see if you were truly worthy of living in my world… but the results; you are weak and you deserves to die-" While she was talking, ignoring what the bitch was saying, I was focusing on hitting her finally, so after looking around the room carefully, I found a huge rock on the ground beside the elevator doors and picked it up using my Psychic with barely any strength to pick it up and throwing it at her head. The rock hit the side of her face inflicting some good damage to the bitch and this freeing me from her grip, but no matter how much I tried to move, using Psychic to lift and throw the rock as hard as I could at the Latias was just about it for me, my last move I ever used…

"H-how do you like that, you bitch?" I coughed, looking up at the bleeding face of the Latias recovering slowly from the attack, but glaring at me with a look that told me 'I will kill you' but I didn't care, at least I got her in the end. "I scratched up your face up on that rooftop of your stupid Team Doom giving you a scar on your face, and n-now I have cut your face up again with that rock… this so-called weak Espeon has already scared you twice, sucks to be you." I chuckled, smiling through the pain as it shot through my entire body all of a sudden, smiling as the Latias held me up with her Psychic so our faces were inches apart, me with a smiling face and her with a vicious glare, even when she used Dragon Claw with her paw, I just continued smiling not caring what would happen afterwards, and I just accepted it.

I ran as fast as I could through the broken down the long and narrow corridors as I heard fighting somewhere on the floor. Espeon was up on this floor somewhere, I had to find her and together we could fight Shiny Latias together, get out of here together.

As soon as I turned a corner I stopped, the fighting had now stopped. The floor I was on was now silent. I continued to run again to the next corner down the corridor that had a sigh pointing to the left reading 'Elevator' and when I got there, I turned and saw a Pokemon there on her side in a pool of blood. "Espeon!" I ran over and knelt beside her as she gasped and coughed up a dangerous amount of blood. I was horrified at what I was saw, but relieved to find Espeon was still alive. My first act was to stop the bleeding as much as I could while reaching for my bag to get a potion or anything to help stop the bleeding.

"Z-Zack…?" She opened her eyes and looked at me, shivering and tearing up. I held her paw and stroked her ears to comfort her.

"I'm here, don't worry I got this!" I said while shaking, worried at how much blood she was losing, but I tried to calm myself down to do all I could to save her life.

Espeon shook her head and weakly pushed my paw away from her wound. "N-no… d-don't bother…"

"E-Espeon, I can help you. I've got potions in my bag, I can stop the bleeding! J-just give me-" My paws were shaking even more as I reached down to open my bag to find anything to help stop the bleeding, anything to save Espeon's life, but then Espeon pushed my paws away with hers, shaking her head.

"Z-Zackary… look at me…" She weakly said looking into my eyes before looking down at her deep wound across her chest, blood gushing out. "With this w-wound, I know I won't m-make it, and you k-know it too… she's up on the rooftop of this place. The e-elevator over there c-can take you to it. T-that's where she is… t-the bitch! And I think L-Latias is up there… you gotta go and save her… I'm… I'm going to die, so leave me!"

"Espeon I-I don't want you to die…" I sniffed, slowly realizing my friend was nearing her death. I looked at her injuries, three large stab wounds in her chest, Dragon Claw was what I thought after she told me Shiny Latias and she fought. The injury was really bad, she was bleeding a lot, and I didn't have any more medical items with me or something to stop the bleeding. "I want to save you… please, let me help. I can go back and get-" Espeon stopped me with her paw against my mouth.

"I won't m-make it… I'll bleed out and die before help a-arrives." She coughed up blood, the sight of her like this had hurt, I wanted to do something, anything to help save her. I looked around the small area, hoping and praying I would find something useful in there, a Potion to help ease the pain, a radio to call in for some help, anything to stop this.

I looked into her eyes, to find calmness in them, "I don't… I don't feel the pain as much… as I-I did." She chuckled weakly. "I don't want this to be the last thing I tell y-you, I want to tell you so much… p-please let me… I just wanted… I just wanted to… to tell you something, Z-Zackary."

I held her close, "What is it Espeon?" She looked up at me, her head moving up slowly closer to mine, and she leaned up to me and kissed me softly before resting her head against the wall. She cracked a smile and lightly chuckled "Heh… I have… a-always wanted to do that… Do you remember… when we were travelling through t-time and we met that old w-woman in the tower?" I nodded, remembering when the old woman who was disguised as Arceus at the time and told us our fortunes. "S-she told me t-that I would die in the arms of someone I loved…" she smiled lightly, closing her eyes. "I thought it t-to be silly… I was never i-interested in love. Me being infertile made it so, I felt unwanted… But the years w-we have spent t-together Zackary, they were the best years of my life… I'm happy that y-you were my friend Zackary, my best f-friend… you made me feel wanted."

What do you say to someone in this situation, your friend, a family member, the last ever moment you have with them hitting you like that? What to say, what to tell them. Something that means a lot to them, to let them know they were loved. Then at that moment I remembered the first time Espeon had taught me how to use Psychic for the first time. "Thank you… thank you for being there for me, for teaching me how to use Psychic type moves all those years ago when this form was my life. If not for you, I would've been lost. With this power you h-have taught me, it will not go to waste."

"Z-Zackary… m-my apprentice…" she laughed a little, her breathing was slowing down. "I-I taught you how t-to use Psychic, you became s-strong over these p-past few years. I believe you can do this. Y-you… can…" She smiled one last time and lightly shoved me back in the direction of the elevator. "Zackary, don't you dare look back at me… continue on, face the bitch… kill that monster and save Latias… I believe in y-you… Z-Zackary… you can do it." I stood up, and reluctantly I turned away from her and walked into the elevator as it opened upon approach, using my Psychic to press the button for the rooftop, still not looking back at Espeon.

Before the elevator doors closed, I noticed her at the corner of my eye; I looked back against her wishes and saw Espeon on the ground laying still, her eyes now closed and body now lying still on the floor. She had succumbed to her wounds and died. I'm not sure when she died; me walking towards the elevator, a second before looking back at her, or in between.

Memories of Espeon and the times we had for some reason played inside my head. Memories of happier times, her wishes for the future, to finally meet her parents within the Hoenn region

I knelt down on the elevator floor and broke down crying over the loss of my friend.

Slowly within my mind I heard the voices rise in volume all demanding that I should kill. If I lose control during the fight against her, then Shiny Latias will win and all of this would've been for nothing.

To be continued…

Trivia:

Espeon originally died in Pokemon Dreams 03 – Doom in a similar manner as she did in this chapter. I wanted to keep her character in longer to expand upon her character more rather than just kill her off.