Book II: Impending Twililight
Chapter 105: Doesn't make sense
Point of View Annie
"How… How is this even possible?!" I exclaimed at the lucario, but I kept my eyes on the slithering serpent God. The creature remained still, and stared off into the distance. Even though the creature looked as if he had green hexagonal shaped scales for eyes, I could tell the creature was out of it.
Zylen stepped back as his posture remained tense and ready to move in an instant. "This can't be real…" the zoroark whispered to himself.
Mandus remained calm, along with all the other pokemon that were his followers.
"Why are you showing us this?" I asked the lucario.
"I already told you, we want your help on interrogating Zygarde's mind," The lucario answered.
"A Legendary though!?" Zylen rose his voice. "Seriously, it's one thing to renounce your faith towards a God, but doing this, what are you even planning?!"
"Changing the world," the lucario answered. "Now Annie, will you help us?"
My body remained still as the question came up 'am I actually going to help him? This is crazy.' I turned towards the lucario, his crimson eyes stared me down, demanding an answer this instant. "I need to know why you're doing this. I can't just do something like that without good reasons," I told the lucario.
"Very well," Mandus nodded, "I'll tell you why we're doing this, but no matter what your answer is, I need the two of you to swear your secrecy."
"I can agree to that," I nodded. Mandus then turned towards Zylen, who remained silent.
"Well?" Mandus pushed.
"Your reason better be good. I'll keep quiet," the zoroark agreed.
"We pokemon that have united to fight against this world are share a lot in common, even if it may not appear that way," Mandus began. "All of us share a kindred hatred towards what this world has become. Each of us had something ripped from us by this world. Family, pride, and who we are.
"In the beginning Arceus created the world, and then gave birth to the Legendaries to guide this world. Because of the Legendaries this world only knows one thing: pain. Now, in today's age, they have neglected their duties to protect us. I have decided, if they won't stop this world from burning, then I'll take matters into my own hands. I'll protect this world. However, I can't do it with my own power, I need to harvest the power of the Legendaries and make it my own."
"And that's your reasoning behind this?" I questioned the lucario.
"You may not understand our pain, but each of us have been through a lot in our lives. And through these hardships the same dream was born in all of us, a new world where pokemon don't have to live in fear, a world of peace not violence, but sadly, such a world is only attainable through violence. This is our reason, now I ask for your answer."
"Annie… what're you going to do?" Zylen asked me.
My hand rose to my chin as I thought of the whole situation. While I didn't feel comfortable doing this, I did owe Mandus, even if it wasn't much, but at the same time I was very curious what awaited in the mind of a Legendary being.
"I'll help. But don't get me wrong, I'm not really interested in your plan, sounds a bit crazy honestly… But, I am interested in what a Legendary knows, so for that, I'll help just this once."
"Very well, you two can begin when you're ready," Mandus nodded as he moved away from the Legendary and headed towards the edge of the cliff.
The albino espeon glanced at me as he gestured for me to come towards him, "I'm ready when you are, just be ready to exhaust your mind."
"Yeah-Yeah, I'm not exactly an ameteur," I said as I walked towards the serpent.
"I'm just curious, but how experienced are you at going through memories? Have you ever cracked the mind of dark types?" the espeon asked.
"Yeah, I actually used Zylen to practice on," Without looking, I pointed towards the zoroark behind me.
The espeon tilted his head. "It's different when someone just lets you, versus when someone doesn't want you too-"
"There was nothing consensual about it! She literally held me down and went into my mind, all while I was trying to throw her off!" Zylen snapped at me.
A smile crept onto my face from the thought of the memory of us two fighting, back when we were both unevolved. "Oh, you're still mad over that?"
"Yes I'm still mad! You learned every secret I had!"
"Tss, why are you so angry, not like you didn't get back at me or anything."
"Can you two just sto-"
"Yeah, and then you just gave me third degree burns after!"
"Hey, that's only because you took my form and went around embarrassing me!" I piped up, feeling this becoming more personal by the word.
"Enough!" Mandus's voice boomed through the air. "Do I have to separate you two like children?!"
"Zylen started it," I muttered as my arms crossed and I turned my head from the zoroark.
"I swear, sometimes you act like a kid," the zoroark snorted.
"Can we just start this already, I've got things to do." I turned towards the espeon, completely ignoring the moody zoroark.
"Yeah… I'd be more than happy to start if you're actually ready now…" The espeon replied.
"Okay, let's do this then."
"Alright, but I need to make it clear that you know your objective. We are looking for something on the location of Xerneas and any of the other Legendaries, is that clear?" The albino spoke slowly, as if I was hard of hearing or something.
"No… can you dumb it down a bit, I think you're asking too much."
"Are you seriou-"
"Yes, I'm kidding, I'll find info on your Xerneas Legendary, and what ever else I can on all the other Legendaries." Vincent stared at me with a serious gaze, but he rolled his eyes and turned towards the Legendary.
"Just please, for the love of Arceus don't screw this up."
"Oh the irony in what you said," my voice chimed as I sat down cross legged in front of Zygarde. The albino eeveelution sat down next to me, but kept arm's length from me. "Well, let's do this," I whispered to myself as I interlocked my fingers together and concentrated. Slowly, I closed my eyes and began to concentrate. I searched for the Legendaries mind, and for a moment I didn't find it, but then my mind sensed my target. I inhaled a deep breath as I began to enter his mind, but then something felt like it was blocking me from intercepting it.
My teeth clamped down as I tried to break this invisible barrier that wouldn't allow me to get in. It was similar to the barrier that protected dark types, but this one was harder to sense, yet stronger than any mind I've ever intercepted. I continued to concentrate, until a migraine began in my head.
"This isn't working," I muttered as I stopped trying and opened my eyes, and they widened all the way as the scene I was in completely changed from what I remembered.
"What is this?" I asked as I quickly jumped to my feet and turned in every direction in what appeared to be a white void. I continued to turn back and forth in every direction, looking for something that wasn't endless white.
"Hello!?" I called out, but the only response was the echo of my voice. "Did… did I screw up my head or something… No… please, please don't tell me I did that!" I frantically spoke as my hands clasped my head and I fell to my knees. "I just need to find a way to fix this, maybe I'm… Arceus, I don't even know what this is!" My grip on my skull tightened as my head slouched down. My eyes met with a reflection on the white ground, mirroring myself in what looked like the reflection of something in water, but it was just an endless white void.
"Zylen… please do something."
"No one will hear your cries from within here," A deep voice boomed throughout the void. Quickly, I jumped up onto my feet and withdrew the stick in my tail. A flame lit at its tip and I stood ready for combat.
"Hey, don't be creepy, show yourself!" I yelled back at the voice.
"Many pokemon have stood where you are now, but all were mere tools for us to manipulate as we pleased."
"What are you talking about?"
"Braixen that dares to attempt to break into my mind, what business do you have with me?" the booming voice echoed through the white void.
"I was looking for answers," I told the voice, hoping that this would help me somehow.
"Who do you serve. the lucario, yourself, or another?"
"Who are you, answer my question or I have nothing to say," I demanded.
"Very well," the voice replied. A black sphere formed under the waterlike floor, slowly it expanded until it was huge, then it slowly emerged to the surface. The black sphere began to change its shape, into something like a snake.
"Zygarde…" I said to myself, as the darkness took on that form, but it remained black, and the darkness appeared to be somewhat inky, and his form appeared as if it was melting.
"It appears you aren't completely ignorant, for a mere mortal," the voice echoed.
"What have you done to me, and why are you doing whatever this is to me?"
"Your mind resides within mine as of now. It is a gift us greater beings posses. We can contact those we view as admirable."
"And what, I'm admirable in your eyes, 'great one'?"
"No need to be snide, foolish braixen. Throughout my existence I have met many wise delphox's, but even the most naive cubs knew their place when in the presence of a god."
"You talk a lot, and this endless plain isn't big enough for the both of our big mouths, so if you have something to say, say it."
While I couldn't make out the color of the creatures eyes, I couldn't help but feel a powerful gaze being shot towards me. "Foolish Braixen, I wish to ask a favor of you, if done your act against me shall be forgive-"
"I don't need your forgiveness, thank you very much," I piped up towards the serpent..
"Silence!" The voice roared so loud that my ears rang. My hands quickly moved over my ears as my head pulsed with a migraine.
"You will know your place," the voice venomously demeaned me.
"What do you want from me?" I nervously asked as I moved my hands from my ears.
"Burn the white espeon to ash, leave nothing."
"W-What?! I'm not going to kill someone, or at least not without a reason. If you want to be free fine, but killing him isn't the only solution."
"Foolish mortal, that espeon isn't what you think him to be. I didn't come to realize it until after my capture and being linked with him, but a dark fire lingers within the espeon. And if this fire isn't put out, it will one day grow and this world will burn to ash."
"Okay… I'm not really following, how is an espeon going to do all of this… I mean, maybe if Mandus keeps up what he's doing, but I doubt a puny espeon is a threat-"
"That lucario and his followers are all pawns of a much more heinous puppeteer. End the espeon. If not the consequences will be unimaginable."
"I still don't understand, why?"
"The less you know, the safer you are little braixen, now do what your god tells you," the serpent ordered.
"Hold on, I'm helping you, so you can help me," I sternly told the Legendary.
"Hmmf, and what makes a mortal think she has the right to make demands? Most mortals would be grateful that I found them worthy," The creature scoffed.
"Yeah, well I'm not worthy. Truth be told, I don't think you're asking me this because you have a choice, I think I'm your only candidate,' I quipped out. The creature remained silent, but a small sneer formed because I knew I was right. I was very quick to notice that this 'god' was very fast to make impulsive remarks and demean everyone at the first chance he got.
"You're quite the impetuous braixen," Zygarde grumbled towards me, "But there was truth in what you said, I do need you. So, what would a braixen want from a greater being?"
The sneer on my maw widened, "Where is Xerneas?" I bluntly asked.
"The Legendary of everlasting life can be found in a vast forest near the small town of Snowbelle. Deep within the forest she hides, in an area very few pokemon have ventured too."
"Wait, you're just telling me what I want just like that?!" I said in surprise as my jaw dropped.
"I have no love for the other Legendaries, and my duty is to protect the ecosystem. While Xerneas may be put in danger, it is a risk I will take to protect the world as a whole."
"So, wait, if you want the espeon dead so badly, why not just bring him in here like me?"
"It is already hard enough to keep him from accessing my memories, bringing him within my mind on this level would make it possible for him to permanently change me."
"I'm sorry, I still don't get this, what exactly is so dangerous about that espeon?"
"Child, the less you know, the safer you are. Now go, a deal is a deal."
I opened my mouth to say more, but suddenly a strong force pulled me back. Everything faded to black and before I knew it I fell unconscious.
"Annie, wake up, Annie. Arceus, what's wrong with her!?" A familiar voice echoed from above me. My eyes cracked open to see a zoroark cradling me in his arms above the ground.
"Annie?!" the zoroark shouted in surprise.
"W-what happened?" I asked Zylen as his grip tightened on my side, and the back of my head.
"We were hoping you would know! The espeon gave up on Zygarde, and then you wouldn't wake up afterwards." Zylen frantically spoke as his grip continued to tighten. "You really had me scared Annie, I thought maybe your head got messed up or something."
"I don't know what happened, I just passed out, sorry…" I lied to everyone, "But, I did manage to get what we needed."
"No way you one upped Vince!" the quilava piped up, his flames sputtering in outrage.
"Where is Xerneas then, we need to know," the espeon asked as he walked into the corner of my sight. My head slowly turned towards the white eeveelution and a frown formed… While my hands weren't exactly clean, I wasn't okay with just killing him for that small bit of info.
"Annie, it's important that we know," The espeon pried.
"Xerneas is hidden within the forest near Snowbelle, that's all I know," I dryly answered the espeon.
"You're positive?" the espeon asked. I gave one weak nod in response.
"Alright, sorry I doubted you from the start."
"It's fine," I said, before I looked up at Zylen, "Anyways, we need to go Zylen."
"Are you guys done with us now?" Zylen looked towards Mandus.
The lucario gave a nod towards the two of us and Zylen stood up with me in his arms.
"Hey, you know I can stand, right?" I acted up as I began to squirm free.
"Alright, I wasn't sure, sorry." Zylen released me and I didn't waste a single second on walking towards the cliff. Zylen walked up beside me and stared off towards the city below. I glanced at the zoroark for a second, before I leaned in close to whispering distance.
"Can you get us back to your hangout asap?" I whispered to him.
"Yeah, but is there a particular reason to why?"
"Seriously, just get us there fast," I urgently whispered into his ear.
"Alright," Zylen accepted, and then his body flashed a bright purple and his form morphed into a pidgeot. "Let's go," the avian said as he lowered his body towards the ground.
'I'm going to hate myself for this,' I thought as my stomach began to grow quessy from the thought of flying. I exhaled a long breath as I climbed onto his back and wrapped my arms as far as I could around his neck.
"Hang tight," he warned as he dove off the cliff side and headed straight down, gaining more momentum with each passing second.
'Arceus, please-please-please don't let me die!' I screamed inside my head. My eyes shut and my grip tightened around his neck as I felt myself being blown back from his body. Zylen continued to fall directly towards the ground, and I opened my eyes to see the ground below. I let out a high pitched squeal just as Zylen brought us both up and soared through the sky with bullet like speed.
"Can you not fly like a nut, please!?" I screamed as Zylen picked up his speed.
"You said asap, this is asap!" Zylen yelled back at me.
"You know I get airsick to begin with!"
"Hey, wanna see me do some barrel rolls?" Zylen asked as he looked back with a evil smile.
"No! Please, Arceus don't!" I begged.
"Hang on tight Annie!" Zylen shouted.
"Zylen noooooooooo!" suddenly I felt everything around me spin as a strong force tried to push me off of Zylen. My head grew dizzy just as Zylen ended his midair roll.
"I… I hate you so much," I cried towards him.
"Relax, I'm just having fun, besides, we're almost there," Zylen laughed as he flew in a straight line for once in his damn life. Despite the fact that I knew the view would be amazing, I refused to look anywhere near the ground, so instead I clenched my eyes shut and kept telling myself that it would be over soon.
After around three minutes, Zylen swooped down and landed on the ground. "Alright, we're here, you can let go now," Zylen told me. My eyes opened and verified that we were back on the safety of the ground. Slowly, I allowed myself to slide off of the avian and touch down on the ground. Upon first contact, I nearly fell down, due to my legs feeling like jello.
"Zylen…" I said out loud as the zoroark shifted back to his original form.
"Yeah?" he asked as he walked towards me to help me up.
"You're an ass!" I yelled as I sprang off the ground and kneed the zoroark in the gut. The dark type exhaled all of the air in his body as his let out a loud gasp and fell to his knees. His head hung low as he hugged his stomach.
"I… I had that coming," he panted out.
"Seriously, I wanted to talk about something important and you pull that?! No wonder you can't hold a girlfriend if you're constantly doing shit like that!"
"Oh just shut the fuck up! It was a joke, I'm sorry I didn't sense your mood! You said get back quickly, and I'm sorry I wanted to have a little fun with you on the way!"
"Yeah, well…" I began, but I just had to stop myself. "Listen, sorry I said that, it was uncalled for. I just don't like flying, and then I got something on my mind."
"Yeah, I don't appreciate the remarks about my personal life. As for the barrel rolls, I'm not sorry, it was worth getting kneed in the gut, you should have heard yourself scream," Zylen let out a winded laugh.
"Well… Alright, looking back at it, it was funny," I admitted. "Now, can we please talk somewhere privately?"
"Yeah, sure," Zylen said as he stood up off the ground. I turned towards the club to see a long line of pokemon staring at us, all frozen in confusion. I felt a blush appearing on my face, but I just nervously smiled at everyone as I flagged a small wave.
"Forget them, let's get inside," Zylen told me.
The two of us made our way into the club and headed towards Zylen's VIP room. Once inside the room, I locked the door behind us, and Zylen sat down on the couch and pulled out a cigarette.
"Hey annie, give me a light?"
I glanced towards Zylen as he held out the cigarette. I extended my hand out, and with a snap of my fingers the tip of it lit up.
"Thanks," he smiled as he proceeded to smoke it. "So, you mentioned an important talk, so what is it? Are you pregnant or something?"
"No… that wouldn't happen to begin with and you know that," I awkwardly answered. "Seriously though, can I have your more serious side, this is serious!"
"Okay, okay, what's up?" Zylen sat forward and gave me his full attention.
I inhaled a deep breath and began to frantically tell him what happened to me, "Okay earlier when I passed out I didn't really pass out, or something weird happened at least. That Legendary somehow sucked me into his head and began speaking all cryptically and I honestly don't even think the poor thing knew what he was saying. Then he starts demanding me to kill that espeon, he said something about a dark flame inside the espeon, which doesn't even make sense because he's a psychic, not a fire type! I don't even know what to make out of half of this, because he was the one who also told me where to find Xerneas, and I just told them where Xerneas-"
"Okay, just stop-stop-stop!" Zylen cut me off. "For one you're talking too fast, and I can't understand what on earth you're talking about. Secondly, did you say that Legendary talked to you?"
"Yes! That's what I wanted to tell you this whole time, Zygarde wants me to kill that espeon. He also said that espeon would be the end of the world or something like that, but he was talking so cryptically I couldn't tell if he's just trying to get me to free him or actually stop something bad from happening! I mean seriously, a Legendary just talked to me, or maybe I'm actually crazier than everyone thought!"
"Holy mother of Mew," Zylen replied as the cigarette fell from his mouth and onto the table. "And you're sure this happened?"
"Yes!"
"Oh Arceus… ummm, so are you actually going to kill the espeon?' Zylen nervously asked.
"Ummm, probably not honestly… I think Zygarde was just desperate to get out, but what if he was right and I should do it?"
"You want my honest opinion?" Zylen asked.
"Yeah," I nodded.
"Alrighty, Zygarde doesn't know where you live… he doesn't know how to find you, and even then you'll have all of Genesis plus me to back you up. So, just mind your own business and go on living your life."
"Ummm… I don't know if that's the kind of advice I was looking for. I mean this Legendary could kill me if he's pissed off at me for ignoring him."
"Well, then you have two other options. A: you kill the espeon, B: you make sure that that espeon never loses control of Zygarde. Other than that you just keep your head low."
"Ughh… this is so frustrating, I really don't have time for this crap, like seriously I don't want to be involved with this stuff any further," I pouted as I walked towards the couch Zylen was on and fell onto it. Slowly, I allowed myself to slide to a laying position until my body rested against Zylen's side.
"Yeah… I say that every day," Zylen said with a yawn.
It didn't take long after Zylen's yawn for the two of us to pass out sleeping. I didn't awake till night, but I didn't have much time to waste once I woke up. I said my goodbye to Zylen and I made my journey back to the Genesis base. Zylen did offer me a ride back, but after last time I had to turn him down.
From the club Zylen hung out in it was around a six hour trip. It wasn't until dawn that I actually made it back to my base. I made my way in through the hidden entrance, the guards checked me and made sure I was who I said I was, and I was back in my temporary home. Silently, I walked down the halls of the Genesis facility. I made my way to the lower part of the facility and went to my room in the pokemon living quarters. I moved down a narrow hall until I reached my door. I held my wrist up to a scanner and the chip in my wrist confirmed who I was and the door opened.
I entered my small room, which had enough room for a mattress, a small mini fridge, and a separate room for a bathroom. Once inside, I walked towards the mattress in the corner and collapse on it. I buried my head in one of my fluffy pillows and I let out a loud groan that was muffled. Once I let that out of my system I reached my hand around the upper right corner of my mattress until I found the phone. Without looking I dialed the speed dial button for room service. The phone rang once before someone picked up.
"Yeah… can I get some chicken tenders, fries, and a cherry soda…" I said before the voice could even greet me. "Oh, and some honey mustard," I quickly added. "As for payment just use my account that is linked with this number," I said, before I hung up. Usually, I wasn't this pushy and rude to others, but at the moment I was just too stressed and tired to even try. While lying on my front side, I reached between the mattress and wall until I found a small hardback book. I crawled up into a sitting position and leaned against the wall with my knees up, and the book resting on them.
I opened the book to the first page and revealed the small photo album I had of my life before everything changed. It was at stressful times like this I skimmed through this photo album and reflected on my better days, back when I still had family.
While it was strange for a pokemon to have a camera, for some reason Mom had one. I held onto it because it was one of the few hobbies I had while I was with Flare. I remembered that I used to take the thing with me on missions and I'd take these cool pictures of the world to show Flare. While I enjoyed the hobby of photography while I could, I wouldn't want to take pictures now because I really wouldn't want to remember these days…
The first ten pictures of the album was before Flare was born. Most of the photos were of me and my Delphox Mother. Later, the photos were directed towards Flare and I, of course I didn't really pick up this hobby until I evolved and I had a set of hands to hold the camera with. Many of the pictures varied, most of which were dumb silly photos we took together on our spare time. I remembered he and I liked to take the dumbest photos possible and laugh at them… Yeah, my brother and I were pretty dumb when we were together, but it was fun.
Whenever I looked at this photo album, it made me wonder what kind of pokemon Flare turned out to be. Did he turn his life around, did he continue his life as criminal, or maybe now he fights against crime? Maybe Flare could be with a normal family. Every day my thoughts went towards Flare, it was something I wanted to know so insatiably, yet I'm forbidden to have contact or to know anything about my brother.
Chapter End
Thanks to genericgamer207 for editing.