Chapter 22: Dragon Slayer
Roku's P.O.V.
National Park Forest
"HaaaaAAAAAH!"
I ran forward with as much courage and strength as I could work up and jumped up, swinging my sword through the air, slicing with all of my might. The Flygon took a nasty slice across the chest, crying out in pain and falling to the ground. The sandstorm eventually died out, revealing the Flygon standing on her hind legs, in a battle stance, without a single scratch on her.
"You think that a dull sword is going to stop me?!" the shadow part of Flygon hissed. "Pathetic!"
"You haven't seen the extent of my power yet, Shadow Pokémon," I said with clenched teeth. "You will be vanquished!"
I ran at the Flygon, sword dragging the ground, and I spun around once I reached her, giving her a nice slash across the face, smashing the shields that protected her eyes. Then I got low and kicked up a cloud of sand into her exposed eyes.
"Gyaah!" she shouted, crying in pain and rubbing her eyes.
"Luna! Braixen! Riolu!" I shouted, calling them to my side. "Let's show this Shadow Pokémon the true extent of our power! SHOW NO MERCY!"
Luna launched a Swift attack, Braixen ran forward with Flame Charge, and Riolu followed with Force Palm. All three attacks hit with amazing force, sending Flygon reeling into the side of the pit, disappearing into the sand.
"Whoa…" Riolu said, aghast. "I didn't know I could hit that hard…"
"You're not the only one who hit her, genius," Braixen scoffed.
Just then, Flygon burst out of the sand, smashing all three of my Pokémon with a Dragon Tail attack. The team flew back into the side of the pit, knocked out.
"No!" I shouted, rushing to their side. "Are you guys OK?!"
None of them answered, but they were still breathing, which made me sigh with relief. Then I stood up and faced Flygon, my adrenaline pumping. I could feel the rage boiling up.
"You're gonna pay for that," I said before dashing forward, sword raised.
Flygon stood strong, her tail up in a defensive stance. I sliced, only to be blocked by the four blades on her tail. We engaged in a massive swordfight, and I could notice that the pain from my injured leg had totally left me, and I was fighting with no knowledge that any injury had been inflicted on me.
Knowing this, I almost lost focus. Flygon swept her tail at my feet, tripping me to the ground. She raised her tail and stabbed it at the ground, but not after I had already rolled out of the way.
"Your time has come to an end!" she shouted in aggravation. "Now DIE!"
"I'm not done yet!" I said, deflecting her tail away from me. I somersaulted forward and sent my sword upwards, stabbing it through her chest.
"GYAAAAAH!" she screamed as the sword pierced her chest. Right then, something odd happened. A black aura began to drain into the blade of the sword. The force of the energy was almost enough to make me lose balance. Eventually, the aura was drained, and I was shot back into the wall.
"Ughh…" I groaned, sitting up and rubbing my head. "What was that?"
The sword started to glow with the same aura that had been drained from Flygon. I felt like it was going to explode, and so I thrust it upward, the energy exploding out of it and dissipating into thin air.
"Huh…whoa…" I said, my thought train completely crashed.
"Roku! Roku!"
I snapped out of my trance and looked up at Reia, who was trying to get my attention.
"Have you found a way to get me out of this thing yet?!" I shouted.
"Move," Calem said, pulling out his Poke Ball and releasing his Charizard.
"Charizard, get my friend and his Pokémon out of the pit, would you?" Calem said calmly.
"On it," Charizard said, dropping into the pit and landing beside me. I returned my team to their Poke Balls and jumped up on to Charizard's back. He flapped his wings and lifted me out of the pit and onto the grass.
"Oh, Roku!" Reia said, running up and hugging me after I got off of Charizard's back. "I'm so glad you're safe!" Then she slapped me across the face and said, "What the hell were you thinking?!"
"Oy, don't get pissed at me!" I shouted back. "You didn't have to come for me, you know."
"Friends help each other, no matter what," Zuki said wisely. "We would've sensed that something was wrong and come to look for you anyway."
I nodded and hugged both of them. "Either way, I'm glad you did. If you hadn't, I'd be Trapinch poop."
"Urrgh…"
My attention turned back to the pit, where the Flygon was waking up.
"What?!" I shouted, pulling up my sword. "I thought she was dead!"
Flygon flew up and out of the pit, landing in front of me. She looked me straight in the eyes, before bowing down in front of me.
"Thank you for saving me," she said. "The Shadow essence almost took me over. If you hadn't had the courage to stand up to me, who knows what might have happened."
"Uh…no problem," I said leerily.
"I'm surprised you can understand me," Flygon said curiously. "Why is that?"
"It's something I've been able to do since I was a kid," I explained. "We were heading to Ecruteak before I got sidetracked and ran out here."
"Ecruteak, eh?" Flygon said. "If you want, I can get you there quickly."
"That's kind of you, but we need to move on our own," Calem said. "However, if you could get us out of the forest, that'd be great."
"Very well," Flygon said, kneeling down. "Hop up."
The four of us got onto Flygon's back. "Hold on," she yelled, before flapping her wings and airlifting us out of the forest.
Zareis' P.O.V.
Team Prime Base
Michael walked into the boss's room, completely unafraid. He didn't understand why the admins were so afraid of Zareis. To Michael, he was simply a commanding officer, not a master.
"Michael," Zareis said as Michael entered the room. "I assume the snag was successful?"
Michael dropped the Poke Ball on Zareis' desk.
"Wonderful…" Zareis said. "With Lugia in our grasp again, we can restart the Shadow Pokémon initiative with even more power!"
"You got what you wanted, Zareis," Michael said. "Now let my Pokémon go."
Zareis turned around in his chair, an evil smile on his face.
"But we're not even finished yet, my faithful admin," Zareis said cruelly.
"I am NOT your admin!" Michael snapped. "Cipher wasn't my idea! You just forced my team into it!"
"Your team wanted to be in the Cipher organization!" Zareis shot back. "YOU were the only one who seemed to not care about world domination!"
"Dominating the world by tearing Pokémon away from their Trainers?!" Michael shouted. "Pokémon were not meant to be tools of war! The way you treat them is as wrong as it gets!"
"Darkrai, get this insolent little worm out of my sight now," Zareis said, turning back around. "I've had enough of his defiance."
"Don't you turn your back on me, Zareis!" Michael shouted. Then he crumpled to the floor as Darkrai's touch put him to sleep instantly.
"It's a shame to waste good Trainers like this," Darkrai said.
"His skills are impressive, but his heart is weak," Zareis said. "I have no time for bleeding hearts like him. Take him to the dungeon with his Pokémon."
"Yes, master," Darkrai said obediently, picking Michael up and hefting him out of Zareis' office.
"Soon, the world will be flooded with Shadow Pokémon once again, just like you wanted, master," Zareis said to himself.
"Very well done, Zareis," said a dark voice inside Zareis' head. "We have the Pokémon that will help us realize our goals."
"This world will be plunged into darkness," Zareis said. "So that you may roam free once more!"
Roku's P.O.V.
National Park
"OW!"
I screamed out in pain a little as Zuki was tending to the wound on my leg.
"Take it easy, would ya?!" I shouted.
"Well, what'd you expect it to feel like?!" Zuki shot back. "Rainbows and Butterfrees?!"
As much as I wanted to fling my other leg up and kick Zuki in the face, I was actually glad to see her. After the whole fiasco with the Trapinch death pit, the Flygon flew us back to the park, for I requested that we take the road to Ecruteak on foot. My leg wasn't really that bad; it was just an ugly bite mark that drew a bit of blood. Luckily, Trapinch bites weren't poisonous, so all Zuki really had to do was stitch up the wound and apply a pain-killer to it. The Trapinch didn't bother to tear any flesh off of my calf, so I guess he just wanted a taste.
Heh, he got a taste of my sword anyway, I thought to myself. He got what he deserved.
"And…done!"
Zuki clipped the string from the needle and tied it off. I lifted up my leg and tried to move it; it responded correctly. But when I stood up and tried to walk, I fell flat on my face.
"Take it easy for a little bit, Roku," Zuki said. "The pain killer will make your leg unresponsive for 24 hours. We'll have to leave in two days."
"Alright," I said calmly. I fell back onto the bench and decided to turn in for the night.
Later that night…
The same rainbow-colored scenery. The air of mystery.
Yup, this was a dream.
"Did you like my gift?" said an all too familiar voice.
Celestrix appeared before me once again.
"What do you mean by 'gift'?" I asked nervously. Then I pulled the sword off of my back. "You mean this?"
"Yes," Celestrix replied, pulling a similar sword off her own back. "I had forged two of them in the case that you might have needed one. It was a bit too soon, but I could sense that you were in trouble, so I sent it to you."
"This sword…" I said, twirling it around flawlessly. "How can I wield it so flawlessly? And what kind of power does it actually hold?"
"I made it specifically for you, Roku," Celestrix explained. "The sword can be wielded by one who is pure of heart, and only that who wields it first. In the hands of the unworthy, it is the weight of a planet. But in your hands, it is as light as a Staraptor's feather."
I sheathed it and said, "OK, makes sense. But what about the aura-draining properties?"
"The sword was infused with my own energy," Celestrix continued. "It was meant to reverse the black aura inside any Pokémon and drain it, causing it to dissipate into the air. It's the opposite of my brother's weaponry."
"So, in a sense, I can use this to take Shihado down," I said. "But…when I fought the Flygon, the sword left no sign of injury. Why is that?"
"Well, you had no intention of taking the lives of those Pokémon, did you?" Celestrix asked.
"Of course not, but I didn't think that they were immune to steel," I said, then it hit me. "It's not made of steel, is it?"
"What did you expect from a Legendary Pokémon?" Celestrix said, laughing softly. "That sword is made from hardened energy. MY energy. The sword has the power to smite humans, that much is true. But Pokémon cannot be smote by it. In a sense, it's just like using a move on any Pokémon you attack with it."
That was kind of good, in a way.
"I have no intention of fighting Pokémon myself," I said. "That's just inhumane."
"I realize your love for Pokémon," Celestrix sighed. "But Shadow Pokémon are a different story. If they are not purified, we can't do anything to save them. It has to be you who fights them."
Celestrix was right. The sword had the power to dispel and vanquish the Shadow essence. As much as I hated to admit it, the only way to destroy the Shadow Pokémon initiative was to destroy the essence medieval style; with my sword held high and my inner hero pushing itself forward in my soul.
"…I understand," I said sullenly. "By the way, while I'm here…"
"You want me to heal your injured leg, don't you?" Celestrix said, cocking an eyebrow.
I laughed a little and said, "Well, you are technically an omnipotent being. Can't you transmit your energy here so I don't have to wait to receive my badge?"
Celestrix faked an irritated sigh and fired a beam of soft white energy at my leg. I could feel its soft warmth permeate my entire body, and within seconds, it was like nothing had ever happened in the first place.
"Thank you," I said, before she let me back into the real world.
That morning…
I woke up to see a park ranger standing over me with a worried look on his face.
"Hey, you're awake!" he said as I lifted my head up. Luna was at my feet, resting on her laurels and looking at me.
"Have fun in lala land again?" she joked.
"Even better," I said, pulling up my pant leg. Luna gasped once she saw that my leg had been completely healed. There wasn't even a scar!
"How…?!" She gasped in surprise.
"Courtesy of the omnipotent being known as Celestrix," I said, grinning. "By the way, where's the rest of the gang?"
"They went back to Goldenrod to get some supplies," she said. "They should be back any second."
Right once she said that, the group came flying in on Charizard's back, in which Calem had Mega Evolved to compensate for the extra weight. Despite being a majorly strong Pokémon, Charizard was only 5' 7". Hell, I was taller than him.
Once they landed, Charizard's energy flowed back into the Key Stone on Calem's Mega Ring, transforming Charizard back to his normal form.
"'Sup, guys?" I said, hopping off the bench and walking up to them.
"Hey, you shouldn't be walking around!" Zuki said.
I smiled and lifted my pant leg again, causing the three of them to gasp.
"I'm perfectly fine," I said. "Now, come on! We gotta hit the road!"
"Hold on, Trainers!" The ranger said. "The Bug Catching contest is on today. Would you like to participate? The winner gets a Sun Stone and keeps the last Bug Pokémon they caught."
"Hmm…sounds interesting," I said, looking at Reia. "Want to do it?"
Reia thought for a bit, then said, "Ah, what the hell? Let's do it."
Author's Note: OK, so maybe I lied a bit when I said I wasn't gonna do the contest. But Reia needed another Pokémon in her team, and I pretty much just winged it for this chapter. If it sucks, I'll understand. But it will get better, trust me.
Strato Abyss signing out.
