Book II: Impending Twilight
Chapter 137: Final hours till dusk
For a while there was nothing but darkness. An eternal abyss that I had fallen into. There was no way of knowing when I would finally hit the bottom, and for all I knew this would be the rest of my eternity. The idea would have made my heart sink, if the zorua hadn't ripped the only one I had straight from my chest. How long I fell, I wasn't sure. An hour could have easily felt like a day when I couldn't see a single thing. The thought of this never ending dug deeper into my empty chest, making me anxious.
This can't be it, right?
Just then a boom of light came, one so brilliant that my eyes couldn't help but squint. The explosion of light did die down, but for a moment I was left blinded for a second. To my surprise, I found myself on hard stone. It was a crumbling floor beneath my clawed feet, but I was just happy to be on a solid ground that I wanted to drop down and hug the ground in gratitude. I was tempted to, but my attention was far more attracted to the only source of light in the room. It came out from a water-well that sat at the center of the room. My skin got goosebumps just looking at it, but it wasn't an ordinary well, there were strange creatures surrounding it. They weren't demons as far as I could tell, but they were more like shadowy ghosts of other pokemon. Not one said a word, they just faced the well, some had been on there knees, others were praying, but the one thing they all had in common was their silence.
I walked towards the well, feeling something strong pulling me in. I went one slow baby step at a time until the unease in my stomach was too much, but I was more than determined to see what was inside. As I drew nearer, I couldn't help but tremble, and fidgeting my claws together. It didn't take more than a few steps before I lowered down more and more and was eventually reduced to crawling crawling. The stone ground was gritty, mostly crumbling away and hard against my chest as I pulled myself along, I was sure by the time I stood my whole front side would be covered in debris and dust from the crumbling floor.
I reached the well and my claws grabbed at the top of the bricks to hoist myself up and look down. There was in fact water below, but it was just out of the reach of my hands. But more notably this water illuminated with a peculiar light, something that didn't seem like it was from the mortal world I knew. It was divine, That's the only way I could think the explain it. Down below I could make out a charmander looking back, one that was unscathed but stuck with a sickening look plastered to his face.
"Arceus…" I whispered as my claws dug into the ledge and started to feel a bit of a sting from my chest supporting my weight over the bricks. I felt sick just looking down at it, I wasn't sure why, but I did. I had seen plenty of freaky things in my days, so why would I be afraid of some glowing water that I could see my charmander-self reflected in? Or was that it? Was it the way those scared child-like eyes looked back at me, or was I looking at some kind of monster.
'What am I?' I asked, the question haunting my mind. I could ask myself that one all day long, and I'd never come up with an answer I wanted to hear. I was a lot of things but satisfied was not one of them.
I allowed myself to slide down from the well's wall and fell onto my rear. I exhaled a sigh and looked about the room, finding that there had been no other meaning to this prison. There were six faces to the room, four walls, a ceiling and a floor that had the well at the center. None of the walls had anything of significance, and all were covered in shadows that were pushed back by the light coming from the well. Even the ghosts that haunted this room felt insignificant, like they were all trapped here just as I am now. Maybe I was a ghost to them too?
Time lost its value as I waited in the room. I was more than sure that a whole day had passed at one point, yet I never felt sleepy, or hungry, definitely bored, but never any physical weaknesses. I didn't even have so much as a rock to throw around, nor a TV, games, a friend. It was just me, my thoughts, these walls, that well and my ghost buddies.
Then, something caught me by surprise. My head rose up slowly from the ground I had been lying on to see one of the shades standing at the ledge of the well. It looked like a tiny cubone, but I wasn't sure. He held both his hands over his face that was without a skull. It looked as if he was taking a moment to contemplate something and then he just allowed himself to lean forward a bit and fell.
I scurried up onto my feet and got to the well so I could see what had happened to the little guy, but when I looked over there was nothing. He had vanished. Surely if he had tried swimming down he'd drown at some point and the body would come up, or maybe since he was a ghost he just fell right through and continued on into another black abyss.
Who knows… I don't.
I laid back down onto my side and rested my head over my arm.
"Why don't you move on?" a voice whispered in my mind. For a moment I wasn't even sure if I heard the voice. I got up once again and looked about the room, spinning and turning like one of those children top toys. It wasn't until I started to feel dizzy that I realized that I was starting to lose my mind. Personally, I didn't care if I had came up with an imaginary friend, I needed someone to talk to, this was excruciating.
"And why would I jump in? If I do, I'll die."
"Die, but how? How can you die again when you're already dead?"
"Okay, well what if I end up at the bottom of the well and I can never get out? I'll be trapped there forever!"
"You're already trapped here, until long after your friend Lucy dies, to after every last pokemon of your generation ends. Centuries after every dragon pokemon fades from the annals of history, and even beyond when our world fades to dust."
"Wow… you like really know how to make me feel like shit, good job you, great freaking job dude!" I clap my hands slowly for the voice. "I'm glad this is what I get!"
"But there is one way to escape an eternity of entrapment here."
"Okay… it's the well, isn't it?"
"It's the well," the voice seemed almost happy. "But…"
"There's a catch, huh?"
"That's no ordinary well, you know that."
"Well no duh."
"When you jump down there are only two things that will happen, you will pass through the water and move on to the next life, whatever that may be, or, well, I did say you can't die again."
"So what, I'll be trapped under water?"
The voice held off its response for a moment, but did eventually continue, "You'll completely fade away from existence. Aiden will be nothing more than a memory with no soul to move on."
"And how do I know if I'll be erased or not?!" My stomach started to churn once more. Leaving was all I really wanted at this point, but to be eradicated from existence was something I couldn't even comprehend.
"Only those humans and pokemon that are worthy of moving on may pass, which is chosen based off the actions of your past mortal life."
I didn't utter a word when he said that. When I realized everything came down to the kind of pokemon I was I didn't want to say anything, because in truth I wasn't sure what kind of pokemon I was.
"Wait… how would I know if I'm good or not? I mean the whole idea of good and bad is just ideas society and people strung together so we don't all kill each other I thought."
No response ever came, and no matter how much I tried to call out and ask the voice once more for guidance I found that I was still alone. The choice had been laid out in front of me, spend the rest of my existence in this pitiful room or gamble my very existence off the things I did in my previous life. The choice weighed heavily over my shoulder and I fell to my side and pulled my legs in and hugged them. I buried my face in and let out a long-muffled scream. Tears ran down from my eyes and leaked down onto the stone flooring, and for a while the room was filled with nothing but the wet sobs and chokes of my crying.
I couldn't make this decision, it was some kind of god that was supposed to do that for me. And even then I always thought I would be given one chance to repent and feel bad. Instead, all I was given was the right to feel bad and pass my own judgement.
Was I a good pokemon? There was NO way. I did horrible things to that group of pokemon just to get David back. For the love of Arceus I even bashed that poor jolteon's skull in with a rock and aided in the abduction of that emo umbreon Black! If that wasn't bad enough, that jolteon died… Arceus, it was my fault too. She had probably been left out on the street and some Genesis pokemon found and killed her, and if not that maybe the area was demolished in that battle and she was crushed. Perhaps the blow to the head made her brain hemorrhage and she died like that, or worst of all Genesis abducted her and experimented on her until she was some freak like myself… Only she wouldn't have been able to escape, she would have endured that suffering until the day she either killed herself or her body gave out and she died.
No way, there's no way that I'm getting through that well alive! I killed a pokemon, hell I even tried killing David's dad in an illusionary world, then tried killing Lucy too! Then there were the other pokemon I killed since my change, and I even liked killing them!
When the recollections became too much I screamed at the top of my lungs until my voice cracked and gave out. All that was left of this pathetic charmander was a sobering mess.
"This is it…" I uttered to myself. "The rest of my life is here in this room, because I'm too afraid for everything to end."
I clenched my eyes shut and just wished I would wake up from this mess, that Lucy would be there holding me, maybe our lips would meet, but most of all I'd realize that all of this was just some dream or a part of that illusion. Maybe Lucy somehow found a way to kill Rhys, then my death wasn't real, just a lie to scare me… But that wasn't going to happen, and I knew that.
"Maybe… just maybe I did some good things that outweighed the bad?" That's stupid to even think, I killed people, life is supposedly sacred and how many lives did I end? I counted the faces in my head, getting up to three before forcing myself to stop. It didn't matter how many good things I did, I was a terrible pokemon and that was that.
"I'll rot here like I deserve to…" I said in a weak voice.
As I waited for my eternity to pass, I wondered if Kana ended up here? Or was this only a cruel joke for the sinful like me? Either way, I wondered how she felt, or even David for that matter. I was sure David would have easily been able to make the jump, he was a good guy, and the jolteon seemed nice too. Neither seemed to be bad, so they had nothing to fear. The same could be said for every other pokemon I murdered, how hard was it for them to take that jump into the water below?
"I just want to go home…" I whispered, but I knew this was my home now.
"You know… you don't always have to choose the answers in front of you, right?" My hands pushed over the ground just to push myself up a bit to look around the room.
"A-are you the same thing from before?"
"Yes, Aiden," the voice quickly answered. "And we know each other through odd circumstances to say the least…"
"Oh… so are we friends," I almost felt a smile creeping on my face before something heartbreaking crossed my mind, "Or… are you one of the pokemon I hurt."
"I don't know if friends really is the word, but you're not the one who hurt me."
I tried to ponder whose voice that was, but no matter how hard I scanned through my mind I couldn't put a face to it, it wasn't even familiar.
"Who are you?"
"Oh me?" the voice almost sounded embarrassed. "I'm nobody anymore really, not that you're much more than me now, but what matters is that I can give you one chance to get closure."
"Closure?" I asked as I cocked my head a bit.
"You probably should realize this, but there is no big spooky-dooky well when we die, it's a cool concept, but just cruel."
"Then what is this place, I can't stand being here another second? I want out!"
"I'm no expert, but I'm guessing it's a manifestation of all the guilt you're feeling. You're obviously not okay with dying."
"NO WHO WOULD BE!" I shouted at the voice.
"Aye, most pokemon aren't okay with it when their time comes, but, that's why your mind made this place. Anyways, look, neither of us have a lot of time, I've somewhat come to be okay with you, so I'm going to give you one chance to get closure, but you need to do it."
"Do what?" I played dumb, but I knew he meant the well… "I don't want to."
"You must, there is no other way, time's running out, Aiden."
I pushed myself the rest of the way up onto my feet and started towards the well. I didn't want to do this, but really I knew whether he was telling the truth or not that I had to. I needed to accept what I did at some point and take responsibility. Besides, spending the rest of forever here would really suck.
I walked towards the well, and made the slow process of climbing up on top of the ledge and cautiously standing on wobbly feet that struggled to keep their balance from the anxiety. All around me the shadows watched as I made my final decision, their stares almost making me a bit uncomfortable. Something was weird about them, and it wasn't the whole ghost thing, but who they were. Then, it hit me, they were all the pokemon I had murdered in cold blood, from that poor jolteon to that salandit I strangled to death. I frowned at the sight, realizing now that none had jumped into the well because I probably never gave any of the pokemon a chance to come to terms with themselves in the real world. I took that from each and every one of them…
But then who was the cubone who had jumped in? I remembered every face I hurt, and I couldn't recollect one cubone. Or maybe, it was the old me. It didn't look a lot like a cubone when I thought about it. It could be the me who died a long time ago the day I jumped in that lake to end it all… That charmander back then wasn't afraid of what would happen when he jumped, he was perfectly fine with the life he lived and ready to move on… Unlike me now, who had killed the old me through my actions of how far I would go to get my human back.
"Arceus, why did I let things get this bad?!" I yelled at myself. "It wasn't the people who killed David, nor was it the Crimson Dawn, or anyone else." I took in a deep breath as my eyes widened. "I just had to accept what had happened, and none of this would have occurred. My life probably would still suck to an extent being a wild pokemon, but I'd be free from all this if I accepted it all those years ago!" I couldn't help but laugh at myself, it was so stupid when said aloud, the answer was so simple but so hard to see. I killed myself in more than one way by being so absorbed in my grief that it dragged me into all of this, and I let people take advantage of me.
I looked down into the well once more, meeting the warm smile of my reflection, a strong charmander who was more than ready to risk his life.
"I'm ready," I said as I leaned forward and let my weight carry me down. And for a moment it was almost as if I was standing on that peer again on that rainy day. I had given up and allowed myself to fall, but here I was again falling, but instead of a frown I was sneering at how proud I was of myself and for a moment it almost felt like I was a great charizard flying through the air.
When I splashed into the water every sense in my body was instantly numbed and I felt paralyzed, but the water wasn't a breath taking cold as it was last time, no, it was comfortably warm, like the warmth that would radiate from David's hand. I never felt the urge to swim up, and no matter the consequence I was going to accept this.
Where I expected everything to fade to nothing, I instead was met with another bright book, one that bled life into the world around me as colors bloomed and I was brought back to the world of the living. This time things were different though.
I stood off to the side where no one was watching, right where I had left off with things. Rhys clenched at my heart as he held it up to his eye level and squeezed the blood from it like a lemon. My body was nothing more than a lifeless husk on the ground, eyes wide open in terror, mouth still agape from the scream I had wanted to let out as he defiled my chest.
It was a bit shocking to see myself detached from my body, and made me wonder just what I was now as I held up my hand. It certainly wasn't the normal hand of a living creature, but instead a shadowy appendage was made up of multiple wispy black flames. My hands resembled a charmeleon, and were sharp jagged points that were made for tearing pokemon to shreds. My lower body looked just the same as a charmeleon too, just all shadowy and made of the deforming wisps. My tail though had no noticeable flame, although now it almost looked as if I was composed of a shadowy flame.
Lucy was still watching on in horror, completely unaware of my presence. Her hands trembled as she tried to get up from the ground. A vine slid out from her shoulder and applied pressure over the wound on her neck. When she had fully stood she was unable to move from her spot, her eyes still stuck on my lifeless husk.
"Y-you monster!" Lucy shouted at him. "After everything I've sacrificed for you, and… and you-" the snivy dropped down again as tears began to well up in her eyes.
"Monster?" Rhys said distastefully. "Child, I have seen the true monsters of this world, and you're foolish to even group me in-"
"You've become a monster to stop another monster, that's it!" Lucy said as she tried to stand once more, but her body was too weak from her wounds.
Rhys shook his head, "I can't bear to deal with this anymore, you're completely ignorant to how much this hurts me." Rhys flexed the claws of his hands as he walked through the meadow of flowers towards her. "But, I can't let my emotions get in the way." The zoroark rose his claws up above the snivy. There was a moment where she looked up to see his blood stained claws glistening in the moonlight and then the blur of his final blow coming down.
But I never let that ending happen. I swooped in as fast as my new body would allow me to and caught his forearm and held it tight between my claws. The zoroark's eye popped open wide, almost cartoonishly as he realized I wasn't finished yet.
"Jeez, it's almost like this is a testament from Arceus saying that you should stop being a little shit, huh Rhys?" I winked my eye at the zoroark before socking him in the jaw with a right hook. The fox staggered back three steps, but I closed the gap with my knee ramming into his stomach. The zoroark spat every bit of air from his lungs up, but when I grabbed him by the shoulders, I firmly told him, "So does this shit hurt now?" I slammed my forehead into the bridge of his nose and he flew to the ground but managed to carry his weight into a roll and came out on all fours.
"How are you alive, I ripped you to pieces!"
"Daw shit, I don't even know at this point. Just some crazy plot convenience I guess, that or some god really wanted to catch all of you by surprise." I leered at Rhys as I walked towards him. "Oh, and speaking of gods and what not, by the time I'm done with you, you'll be praying to any god that'll listen that you wish you never existed. So, expect worse than your own heart getting ripped out."
"That doesn't even make sense, your heart was ripped from your chest!" Rhys shouted once more, but then his eyes flickered at some kind of sudden insight. "Unless…" Suddenly the zoroark was smirking and seemed awestruck by what came to his mind, "My, my, out of all the experiments I have seen done by Genesis, I would have never imagined this was possible."
"You going to share?"
"That ghost they forced you with, you're solely surviving off its life force, in other words you've discarded your visage and became a ghost pokemon."
"Oh, neat, kinda like cats and there nine-lives, except I got two, sorta."
"Aiden?" A voice nervously spoke from my left. I pried my stare from the zoroark to look over and see Lucy staring at me in shock. "I… I thought you were dead."
"More alive than ever, really," I smiled at Lucy. "But hey, I got to finish taking care of this scrub, so if you'll excuse me." I glared back at Rhys.
"Don't get cocky just because you've managed to surprise me with an unexpected trick." Suddenly Rhys's voice was wracked with fury as he lashed out, "You go on ahead and keep coming back, because I'll always be here to send you back!"
"Have it your way."
The two of us narrowed our glares in on each other, neither of us budging an inch in fear. There was a slight breeze, which was the only thing that dared come between the two of us, but even as it tapered off there was nothing left. Just the two of us, and our final battle.
The zoroark snarled and pounced at me with his claw arched back. I in response inhaled a deep breath and shot a flamethrower at the zoroark. His eyes widened at the sight of the black flames coming at him, but he conjured another zoroark by his side. It grabbed at him and spun with him in his arm before letting him go and fly to the left and away from my attack. The illusion was instantly incinerated by the time the real Rhys landed into a roll on the ground.
His legs moved at a quick speed towards me, so fast I didn't even have time for another flame attack. Suddenly, his arm shifted shapes into a black scythers bladed appendage. He jabbed the blade at my chest and I only managed to step far enough back to avoid all but the point that stabbed into my core. It didn't hurt, but it lacerated the shadows that made up my body and a faint amount of darkness started to escape me. For a moment I thought I was going to deflate like a Balloon, but my body formed back together. It was a bit unnerving to see such a process, but I shook my head and remembered our fight just on time to dodge another swing.
His quick succession of attacks moved in no real pattern or rhythm, which made keeping up next to impossible. While my ghostly form was far more agile than a normal charmeleon, I felt his attacks getting closer with each swing. I jumped over an attack aimed at my feet, then ducked under a horizontal swing, but he didn't tire, and his swings forced me to dodge from the left and then to the right repeatedly. Suddenly, the back of my foot got caught on a rock. My weight shifted backwards, and I lost my balance. The zoroark's teeth showed as his lips curled into a smirk. He crouched low before shooting up from his spot and was over me before I could even hit the ground.
"Shi-" was all I managed before his claw plunged at my chest. There was little resistance as his claws tore clean through my shadowy chest and didn't stop until his claws found the grownd below my back. The zoroark lifted me into the air, my body dangling in his grip. For a moment my eyes closed, and I thought that was it, game over. But really, I felt no pain, nor that chill I felt before my last death, everything felt okay. My eyes opened to find that the zoroark was awestruck again and with a scowl he gritted his teeth together. It was a good look for him, one I couldn't help but smile at with a bit of pride that I made the great Rhys furious once more.
"Well, well, well, looks like I'm now the unkillable one here." My hand grabbed at his wrist and I dug my claws into his forearm. My chest which still had his arm through it began to heal around his limb, almost merging us together into an abominable creation. His hand pushed at my shoulder and strained every muscle he had in his arms in a futile attempt to undo what I had done.
"Let go of me!"
His pleas meant nothing and I found that the zoroark was nothing more than a child terrified of its nightmares. He yanked and thrashed with us together, but it was all meaningless. If anything, it gave me a chance to collect my thoughts, and in that brief bit I had a moment of insight. Like earlier when I managed to use confuse to make those pokemon kill each other, I realized I had more abilities I hadn't tapped into yet.
"I'm curious." My claws tore into his flesh and made his arm pour that wondrous crimson I had grown to love so much. It didn't take more than a few seconds for the zoroark's bravado to falter as he let out a yell, a sonata for myself. Suddenly my dark essence was tunneling its way into his vein, being absorbed into his blood flow and making his muscles tighten up.
"What are you doing?!"
The process happened faster than I thought it would as my entire being channeled itself into him. It almost looked as if my entire being was sucked inside of the zoroark in a way that should have made him explode in a bloody mess. There was a cold chill and a loud shriek from the zoroark as I invaded him.
There was a falling feeling, like I fell into another abyss. I hadn't a single idea of what I had done to the zoroark, or how I even knew to do it, but here I was, tumbling through the false zoroark's soul heading to Arceus knows where. Or so I thought it was his soul, I had no proof to back it up, but something in my mind just unconsciously told me that it was. Like an instinct that told me I needed to eat, drink, screw, sleep, it just came naturally to me.
As my eyes drifted about the abyss, I found myself looking downward towards a faint light. It almost looked like a mini sun that I was heading towards at an alarming speed.. I wondered if I'd burn up in its radiance, or if like the last time I saw a big boom of light it'd take me somewhere new. I didn't have long to ponder, and I fell into the whiteness of the light, but just in that instant I fell in it had ended.
My eyes burned for a moment as the light was burned into my retina. I rubbed at my eyes and trying to make out all the odd shapes and blurs around me, but when I had reclaimed my sight I found that I wasn't anywhere mundane. The world had still been a never ending black void, but all around me were these weird things. They were like movies playing that floated in the air, each acting as windows into another world. Each one held a different scene in them, all focusing on a zorua and stretched back for as far as I could see. Some of them were connected, almost like a long strand of that old fashioned film stuff you'd put in an old projector, and others were separate. More interestingly, some were shattered into pieces and distorted, some even had chains wrapped around them with massive padlocks.
I gave a whistle at the sight. This had to be his memories and looking at all the scenes was like looking into the night sky filled with infinite stars, except each one here was a separate memory. Luckily, there was a floor here. Strangely enough it turned out to be a giant shard of glass that was stationary in the abyss. These massive shards were scattered all about, some far apart, some closer and forming little bridges of broken shards that would be like playing hopscotch to get across. I could only imagine what would happen if I missed my jump and fell down into the never-ending darkness. For now, it was something I didn't want to ponder, if I truly was in the zorua's memories, then I was going to fuck his shit up for killing me.
"Get ready you stupid fox, because you're soooo screwed!" I threw my fist into the air as I ran along the large island of glass I was on. Not too far ahead there was another island I could easily reach, I just had to jump between a few broken shards.
I ran to the edge of my current island and leapt to a smaller piece that was just big enough for me to comfortably stand. The shard dropped a bit as my weight was over it, and for a moment I feared I'd sink into the abyss, but it then bobbed up and back down until it was back at its original spot. I took in a deep breath of relief. I then jumped to the next one, and the same thing happened, and then the next, and the following, until I was ready to jump to the next main island. It was a bit higher up, and when I jumped at it I had to grab onto the ledge with my two hands and my feet dangling in mid air. Suddenly my arms felt fragile and weak, my body wasn't as strong as I had remembered. My mind was wracked with thoughts of falling down in the abyss, forever falling and being trapped in the zorua. The fear pumped a new adrenaline through me and I started to pull myself up, but just then a large crack split across the area I was clinging to.
"Oh bugger" I thought aloud as the crack grew and finally broke off. Things moved in slow motion as I started to make my descent down into nothingness, but suddenly something grabbed my arm. My body dangled to the left and right as I looked up to see something shadowy through the glass. I gave a strong pull and I was rose just enough to grab the ledge and help with my ascent back up. When I was over the ledge I ran to the center of the island and collapsed to my back. I sucked in a deep breath of relief like I did earlier, but then I realized that someone had just saved me, but when my head rose up I found that I was all alone.
"Hello?" I called out, but nobody responded, it was just me in this lonely canvas of memories. I clapped both of my hands against my cheeks and shook my head. I was beginning to feel fatigued, while it wasn't in the same way a mortal body would give out, it was more like I was becoming more detached from everything, almost similar to getting tired even, and not only that my spiritual body wasn't moving the same anymore. It felt slower, I should have easily been able to pull myself up there. I sat and rubbed at my temple for a minute, I guessed I needed some rest, but that was going to have to wait for now.
I stood from the ground and looked at the giant movie that was playing in the air. It was almost creepy how it looked like a 3D movie that I could just reach my hand into, almost like a rift to somewhere else. Inside I could see Rhys, he was talking to some human about something. His ears were flattened against his head and his eyes never dared leave the ground as the human spoke down to him. About what though? Most interestingly, the zorua was a child at this point, couldn't have been older than 15 as he didn't even look like he was fully grown.
Slowly, I reached my hand towards the memory and it hovered just inches over it for a few seconds. I swallowed one last breath before reaching my hand out. I felt a tickling sensation all around my hand and before I could figure out what was going on I felt a rushing feeling in my head. All at once I was pulled into the memory, but it didn't go as I thought it would. Everything moved fast, the knowledge running through my head as I saw everything the zorua's little cranium had in it. I didn't only see the conversation he was having, but I learned who Rhys was, I knew his secrets, his likes, dislikes and most of all, I knew why he had gone to such great lengths to do the things he has. Everything made sense now.
Before I knew it I was back out in the nexus of memories. I had been sprawled out on the ground, coming in and out of consciousness. Above me I could see the memory playing out again, still trapped in an endless loop. Though, now I knew that I didn't just access one memory, but all of them. It was like sticking my hand into a high current river and exposing it to all the water that ran along my hand, but instead of water I was exposing myself to all of his memories.
I crawled up onto my hands and knees. When I found my strength so weak that I could barely stand, I knew for sure that I was nearing my limit. I wasn't sure what would happen if it went on, whether I'd fade into a coma and need to recharge, or if I'd just disappear. Regardless, I knew I didn't have time to dwell on what was going on with me, I needed to finish what I started.
"This is unbelievable," I said to myself as I looked throughout the memories. Seeing the condition of the more special memories made a bit more sense now, I could see why some were locked up, and others were in pieces. This zorua wasn't what I thought he was, and thinking about it made me unsure of what I wanted to do now. Him and I weren't so different I realized, we were both normal pokemon that were turned into freaks… and all he wanted was a chance for revenge. He was a monster no less, but I wasn't sure if he truly was the bad guy in the end, and if there had to be one it was no doubt the human, Ghost. He was responsible for what was going on now, the reason the world was in the state it is now.
"So, what are you going to do? Times ticking away, Aiden," a voice spoke, making me jump. I spun around to find the other entity here, but again there was nothing. If I had a heart I knew it'd be throbbing in my chest, but instead I felt anxious, like I had to find some form of closure on this issue.
"Who's there, no more games, just show yourself!?" I shouted out into the abyss. I tried to find something in the abyss, but I truly was alone, or so I thought.
"Not there… no not over to your left either," the voice mocked me as I looked around. "Try down."
"Down?" I rose a brow as my head looked towards my feet to see my shadow in the glass floor. It was an ordinary shadow, or it was until the shadow's head split open in three spots to form two circles and a crescent with little spiky teeth. Other than the facial features, my shadow had almost remained the same, but then it moved to cross its arms.
"What the-"
"Hell?" the shadow finished for me.
"Yeah… like Arceus what-"
"I'm a part of you," the shadow answered, "Sorry… we're kind of the same entity now, so to an extent I know everything you think and know, though I feel this connection is more one way since you don't know a lot about me."
"You're a part of me? I don't recall letting any parasitic monsters possessing my shadow." And for whatever reason, I didn't feel afraid of the shadow. I knew it was supernatural, but he didn't seem like an enemy and instead more of a friend.
The shadow shook his head and spoke with disappointment, "Aiden, Aiden, Aiden, I know you weren't always the brightest of pokemon, but surely you can put two and two together, I mean we've been together a short while now. Even if the circumstances are stupid."
"Stupid?" I scratched at my head and found that my shadow didn't move with me and it was its own entity.
"Jeez, I overestimated you. Fire types really don't have the best IQ's"
"Rude…"
The shadow shrugged, "Anyhoo, I actually do not have a name to introduce myself with," the shadow started, "But, you might remember some sableye that you got spliced with? Maybe? You better or I won't forgive you." The shadow placed his hands over his hips, and despite his lack of real facial expressions I could tell he was giving me a very accusing look.
I flinched back. I realized what he was getting at all of a sudden, and the idea was unbelievable. I never imagined that the sableye I was spliced with was alive all this time, living within me an watching me. It did raise the question of why he was choosing now to show his face to me.
"Yep, that's right lizard-boy," The shadow's grin grew. "I'm that sableye those arse-holes threw in you, and now I'm your shadow. Or, at least in this world, I don't think I'll actually manifest outside of here."
"This doesn't even make sense…"
"Doesn't have to, just know you can't destroy a ghost that easily, it's just now I'm kind of haunting you I guess. I mean before everything that has happened I was silent, but then that zorua killed you and…" The shadow suddenly went quiet and that grin he had slipped away. "Look. There is only one reason you're still alive right now, and that's because the two of us were merged together. Right now you're alive through me, but how long do you think I can keep you like this?"
I felt a shudder run through me. It was clear now that this was the reason I had been feeling weaker and weaker.
"Keeping you here is literally eating me away, I'm not able to keep us both living forever, but you need to also realize that I'm stuck to you too, meaning that without you, I can't live."
"So then, that means that we're both on limited time because eventually you're going to run out of energy?"
The shadow slowly nodded, "Yeah, 'fraid so, and once my energy runs out I'll fade away, and that'll be that, I'll die, and you'll die, the end, GG."
It was a hard blow to realize that I hadn't escaped my end for long. It hurt really, I thought I was going to be able to enjoy my life as an abominable ghost demon, but even that was asking too much. Now as my shadow said, time was ticking away, and I wasn't even sure if I had enough time to save Lucy. It hurt to know this, and I grabbed at my face and wanted to break down here if it was even possible in this form.
"Hey, hey, don't look too down bud, I mean you've had some rough waters, but a good chunk of your life wasn't all that bad, right?"
I didn't remove my hands from my face. He was right, a good chunk of it had been good, it was really only my most recent year that was awful, and before that everything wasn't too bad. David and I had a lot of fun during the time we had. Even the shitty year I had was somewhat better with Lucy around, but it was just a shame that things had to end like this.
The sableye spoke again, "Yeah, your life wasn't bad, see? I mean you had friends, a girlfriend, almost another one too. See, I do know everything about you, and that's why I can say with confidence that your life wasn't the trainwreck my life was.
"And who even are you?"
"Well, there isn't really a lot to tell. Genesis created me, I had this scientist guy that was kind of like a dad to me for a while. Though, after a while that bond was broken when they started experimenting on me, then that's all I ever knew. One day they threw us together, and ta-da, here I am. Not that wonderful of a story, because there isn't a lot to tell unless you want to get into the pain I endured. My point is, at least you knew what it was like to be free and to make your own choices, all I ever knew was the life Genesis gave me."
I spread my fingers apart to look down at the shadow to see a deep frown form over his face. Somehow he had sounded so nonchalant about the whole thing, yet despite it being a corny looking frown on an emoji, I could just tell how much it hurt him. Maybe it was that connection he spoke of, or maybe I just knew because I know how it feels to hurt bad.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what to say."
The shadow shrugged, "Now, now, I didn't tell you that to make you feel guilty, that was not my purpose. I just want you to realize that at least you can still smile about the past, and besides, our time isn't up yet." The shadows frown turned to a sneer, "So now that leaves the question of what we're going to do about our zorua friend here. The choice is all yours."
I pressed my hands tightly against my forehead, "I don't know… It's like I know him now, I've seen everything about him. He's not as bad as I thought, but he still does terrible things. If I leave him be, he probably will be the one to end Genesis."
"Right, and that would be wonderful I think."
"But at the same time, he still needs to be stopped, so maybe it's just better that we finish what we started."
The shadow nodded once, "Heh, it's not my battle, but I've stuck with you this far, and really it's always been amusing watching you and your antics."
I allowed my hands to drop and tried to stand up straight and not appear to mopey during my final hours. "Thanks," I smiled and forced my classic toothy grin out. "Alright, it's showtime!" I flexed my left claws out and ran forward at the memory that was in front of me. My arm went back and I raked it down at the glowing picture, but then something slammed into my side and I rolled to the ground.
I was quick to get back up on my feet and to my surprise I found a zorua staring me down, his eyes glued on me and still punishing his teeth by gnashing them together.
"You've gotta be kidding me," I said as I inhaled a deep breath and shot out a fireball at the zorua. Rhys shifted shapes into a vaporeon and countered my attack with a well placed hydro pump attack. Steam dispersed into the air as the two attacks exploded against each other.
"Just get out of my way," I said as I crept through the steam and looked around for my fox friend. Nothing happened for nearly a minute and that lead me to wanting to know what Rhys was scheming. If things weren't bad enough already, I felt myself becoming sleepy and my legs were struggling to support me. Time was ticking, and there was nowhere near enough of it left.
"Aiden, listen," my shadow whispered from below. I gave him a quick glance of acknowledgement before returning my glare upward. "I know what you were thinking right there, and you're absolutely right, you're practically out of time. You won't beat Rhys like this…"
"Then what do I do?" I questioned him, before the fog parted away and Rhys pounced through it. I dodged left and attempted to swipe my claws at him as he passed, but I lagged and missed. This mistake Rhys acted on and when he landed he raked his claws down towards my center. My left arm rose to cover my face and when his claws met my shadowy appendage it was ripped apart. Now the limb was all distorted at where my forearm was. It almost looked like a dark wispy flame was burning at where my lost limb was. I didn't have long to focus on the attack before the zoroark's knee met my gut and I lurched forward. His claws swung upward and ripped into the left side of my face and I flung back and landed on my back.
'This sucks,' I thought as I could see the distortion on the left side of my face, probably leaving a large chunk of my face missing. I rolled to my side and used my only arm to aid me back up onto my feet, but my strength quickly gave out and I fell flat on my chest.
"Seems this is the end," Rhys said as he slowly sauntered towards me. He didn't come to a stop until he was leering directly down at me. With my only good eye I could make out that cold look in his eyes, that look that said it all. He was willing to go to any length just to have his revenge for the life Ghost had forced him into. I knew he didn't really want to kill me, but he didn't really care either. I was just another face for him to cut down.
"Is it worth it?" I asked the false zoroark. "Killing all these innocents to get back at him?"
"Hmm?" Rhys cocked his head to the side before frowning, "How much did you see now?"
"Everything I could." I pushed myself onto my side and look up at him with a smirk. "I know your little dark secret now, and why you're doing all of this."
Rhys scoffed as he pressed up foot down onto my only good arm. "And tell me, how does the truth make you feel? Can you not see that if he lives then terrible things will come?"
"Don't cover up the truth," I said in a low voice, "You and I both know you don't truly care about what happens to this world."
"Oh?" The illusionist crouched down closer to my level. "Well, I suppose you're right. I don't really care whether Isaac accomplishes his dream, or if the destruction of the world follows in the wake of my actions. It's all pointless, and you know it."
I gave a weak nod and couldn't help but smirk at how focused he was on our conversation, it was an odd change. "Yeah, I sadly know that now…"
"I don't truly care about killing you, really it pained me to make that choice with Lucy, but I have no choice when I can't trust my allies. Unfortunately, it had to be like this, I think you two could have really made each other happy given enough time."
He was damn right about that last part, Lucy and I could have had a happy life if we just ran away. We could have gone anywhere in the whole wide world and I would not have cared at all, so long as I was with her. Although, it was my obsessive personality that was going to get the both of us killed now, that's one regret I hated.
"Well, you still have a choice with Lucy. She might never forgive you, but really if you just exile her she'll never have a chance of getting close to you. Plus, she's strong, so I'm sure she'll do the smart thing and get over this."
"Perhaps," Rhys placed a claw over his chin, "Perhaps not, but maybe that's one thing we can agree on, that maybe I can spare her life and-" Rhys suddenly froze, his eyes popped open wide as his hand moved over his neck. I wasn't sure what was going on, but when the pressure of foot moved from my arm I pulled it free and struggled to my feet.
"What's going on?" I asked as I reached my hand out to the zoroark, but suddenly everything melted away and I felt something pulling on me. My head started to spin and my vision went black. This had to be it, this had to be my end. But, then what was going on with Rhys?
Nothing made sense, until a new setting was painted before me with a mixture of dark colors and low lighting. It was surprising to find that I had ended up back in the basement of the manor, but what stood out more than anything was the zorua that was being strangled. Sharp thorns dug into his neck as he tried to claw at the vines around his cut up neck. A bit more pressure and the thorns started to tear into his neck.
I spun back to see that it was none other than Lucy who was behind ripping the two of us out of Rhys's mind.
"Lucy!" I shouted as I rushed to her. As I limped to her I looked down at my right palm to still see that I was nothing but a shadowy ghost, and then I felt my foot hit something solid. I stopped in my tracks and looked down to see my dead body looking up at me. It hurt to see my altered charmeleon body on the ground with a ripped open chest, but also that none of it was part of the illusion, it really was over.
"Die!" Lucy shouted as her vines started to twist around Rhys neck in what would end his life. I reached my hand out to stop her, but my limb halted when I realized that she deserved the right to kill him. He might have had a vendetta to fuel his actions, but in the end he was still a terrible pokemon.
The fox started to thrash in in her grasp as he tried to gasp for air, and just as I thought he was going to die from the slow death something happened. Another canine pokemon leapt in front of Rhys and brought her claws down with a pink energy emitting from them and in an instant the vines were severed and fell dead on the floor. Rhys gasps out for air as two ribbons came from the sylveon to cover the lacerations over his neck.
"Lucy, how could you?" the sylveon shuddered in anger, "And just what in the Hell is this abominable demon?"
"Lily…" Lucy said distastefully. "I swear to god if you don't get the hell out of my way now you'll die right there with him."
"Oh really?" Lily snorted. "I don't know what that thing is with you, but it looks pathetic and like it's dwindling away like a dying candle, and you yourself look like you've been through the ringer. So, what, you think you're going to intimidate me? Just laughable, Lucy, really laughable."
Lucy curled her leafy hands up into fists as she leered at the sylveon, but her curled fists fell limp when more pokemon approached the scene by the sylveon.
"Wonderful," Lucy grumbled as we quickly became out numbered. I wasn't waiting to find out how long we'd last in this fight and grabbed at the servine's hand.
"We're going!" I pulled Lucy in the opposite direction of our enemies. My legs were slow, but compared to Lucy's stubby feet I was still faster.
"After them!" Lily screamed as we made our escape. I spun around and inhaled a deep breath before spitting out a massive flamethrower made up of black flames. The pokemon that set after us flinched back and shielded themselves as the flames started to eat away at the basement, despite it being made of mostly stone. This was more than enough time for the two of us to run for the stairs leading up to the main floor.
When we came out from the basement I paused as I looked around, suddenly the little memorization I had of the area was all scrambled up.
"Go left!" Lucy shoved me in the direction and we continued on that way until we found a window. I didn't even hesitate on smashing the glass out with my fist, nor did I ask when my arm grabbed Lucy and I jumped through the window with her firmly in my arms. I set her down once we landed in the snow and for a moment she gave me an annoyed look.
"Look, I didn't want you cutting yourself, and I'm a ghost so I can't really get anymore messed up than I am. Now let's go." Lucy and I both agreed on that subject and before I ran off with her I let out another flamethrower at the way we came out. This time the flames spreaded much quicker as it had much easier material to eat away at. It'd no doubt keep any pursuers busy, unless they wanted the whole place to burn to the ground with their dying leader.
With that final obstruction completed nothing stood in our way as we fled the WPA base.
An hour had to pass at the very least. I wasn't sure, but what I did know was that the sun was nearing the horizon and it felt like at any minute I was going to go poof and disappear into nothingness. At the very least if I did die here, at least I was going to die with a beautiful view of the entire forest. It was easy to see from up here seeing as Lucy and I had made our way up a large hill that was almost mountainous.
"Lucy, I need to stop," I called to the servine who had taken the lead.
"Stop? How can we, the WPA is going to be after us for a long time after what we did!?"
I shook my head, and just then my left knee gave out. I thought I was going to fall to the ground, but Lucy closed the gap between us and grabbed me with her vines and held me tightly against her.
"Aiden, what's wrong?" The servine was suddenly sounded very concerned as her voice became shaky. "Look, it's fine, we'll stop if you're tired."
I shook my head once more as I placed my hand over her shoulder for balance. "Lucy… There's something we need to talk about."
The servine's hey stared at my for a moment, and it wasn't until she blinked that she moved me over by a tree that I was able to lean against. She joined by my side and the two of us leaned into each other. I could only imagine how strange the two of us looked snuggled up against each other, a bloodied servine with deep cuts and a shadowy demon that was fading from this world. It almost seemed poetic, if that's even how it works.
From here the two of us were able to look out at the sun setting over the horizon. A strong mixture of red and oranges bled into the sky and were slowly being eaten away by the darkness of the night sky. It was sad to think that this sunset would be my last, and the closing page of my entire life.
"You're going to be okay, right?" Lucy broke the silence as her vine gently touched my chin and turned my stare to her.
Her red eyes were filled with so much worry over my state, and it was strange seeing such a look on her. That caring look made me smile for a second, but I couldn't hold it when I remembered that this was it, that was the last smile I'd probably ever had, and her face was my last as well.
"I really wish I could say I would be fine, but it's not possible for me to stay here for much longer."
Lucy hand grabbed at my arm and tightly squeezed it, "No, you can't just talk like that, Aiden, we can think of something. I know we can, you don't have to die here." I knew she was about to add on more, but instead of listening I moved my finger over her lips.
"Shhh, it's okay, it sucks, but I'm okay with this." I tried to sound as content with the situation as I could, but in truth I really wasn't… This all felt very short lived, like I was cheated out of my happy ending.
I gave a sigh and gave Lucy a long stare, "Look, I'm sorry I don't have long, but there's something I learned about Rhys when I entered into his body during our fight." At the end my voice was growing weak and nearly became a whisper.
Lucy didn't interrupt me, instead she sat and listened, giving me my final moments to tell her the truth of what was really going on. I leaned in close to Lucy and whispered to her everything I had learned about Rhys, what was really going on and what his goals were. By the time I was nearly done with what I had to say the servine was beginning to tremble.
"Do you understand what I told you?" I asked.
She gave a single nod of her head, "But what am I supposed to do with all of that?"
I would have shrugged, but my body was hardly moving at this point. The only reason I had managed to stay up was because Lucy had given me her shoulder to lean on.
"I don't know, you're pretty smart so I think that knowledge is best in your hands."
There was a moment of silence between the two of us and we both looked out to the horizon to see that most of the sun had sunk under the trees far out.
"So, are you excited to see David and Ivy again?" Lucy asked, her voice starting to become frail.
The question made me remember that if an afterlife did await me then maybe not everything was over in a way. Surely, I could play all the games I wanted with David and go on all sorts of adventures with Ivy.
"Well, sure, I haven't seen the two of them in forever, so I can't wait to tell them of all the crazy stuff that's happened since then."
"Yeah…" Lucy's voice became hollow, "But I'm sure they've been watching you this whole time, if they could."
Yeah, well…" My voice faded off a bit as I started to feel like I was drifting away and I felt like I was floating in space almost. "I'll see soon enough." The last thing I felt was Lucy's hand tightening around my wrist, but only for her fingers to phase through me. What followed was an absolute darkness. It was a shame it had come so fast, I had at least wanted to tell her one last time that I loved her so much, to let her know that I didn't regret dying for her.
But maybe… just maybe she knew that, right?
Chapter end
Author Note: I'm going to miss that fucker... He was probably one of my favorite character's to write. Chapter only took me forever because I tried fitting another whole POV on top of this and this chapter would've been over twice the length XD, also doesn't help that I rewrote this chapter 2.3 times.