Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or its characters.
Author's Notes: Here it is, the second part of of the duo-chapters. Took a little longer than what I anticipated, but better late than never (or a sloppy plot).
"The silence of an afflicted soul is louder than an agonizing scream…" Rayquaza's deep voice ringed within his guardian's mind; Brendan's barely lit ruby shining eyes flickered with a glint of emerald gleam. "Speak your mind, young one."
This has been happening for a while now, but as soon as Brendan hears the emerald dragon king whispering inside his head, an annoyed scowl twists his expression. "What is the point?" The young guardian spoke in response.
"The bitterness in your voice… Do you harbor resentment against me?" Rayquaza said back, his voice in a never-changing tone, never showing anger or any other ill feelings.
Brendan rolled his eyes to the side, his gazing resting upon the little mess of clothes and old photos at the free spot of his couch. Those photos, the old mementos of his earlier life, he and his artificially created twin have spent hours just going through then, just remembering stuff that both shared, but only one lived. That little thought brought a bit more sourness to his mouth.
"Choosing to reveal what I saw, was and still is the correct procedure. Do not twist your reasoning and direct your anger at me, for I only brought you the truth."
"And why is that right, huh?" Brendan lashed out; he swiped his right hand to the side, bashing the side of his fist against the stack of photos. "You could just keep quiet for a day and then I… We would not have to sit on this horrible sensation of imminent doom."
"It is not easy, Brendan. I know it; I felt it. However, you are not normal. Your mirrored-self is not either. At the turning point of your destiny, both of you will feel it; there is no avoiding it, there is no ignoring it. When nothingness comes, Ruby or Sapphire, the chosen eyes will stare right at it." Rayquaza stopped, but a lingering echo of his voice remained for a moment, just settling Brendan's nerves a little bit more before he continued. "By telling you the truth, I have forced you to face this now, to make up your mind and resolve right here, away in your safe space. For when the time comes, even a single spare moment is a luxury we shall not have."
A slight snort followed the dragon's speech, his young protégée clearly not satisfied with those words. "Either here or at the edge of a volcano, facing your own death is just as hard and unsettling." He sighed, feeling more defeated than he ever felt in his entire life. "Even worse is the feeling that I might not die and someone else may takes that blow… You know what is tearing me apart from the inside out, Rayquaza?" Brendan pulled himself up, quickly letting out a long and harsh gush of air. "Is that deep down, I am hoping that fate may choose the other one."
"…" A steady flow of low breathing sang inside the young trainer's mind, the ancient Pokémon looking for better words, but finding none.
"Your prophecy is enough to show how selfish and little I am. That scares me; that disgusts me to no end. And you know what? You should be scared too." Brendan paused for a moment, his eyes traveling to the open window of his living room, the little noises coming from the outside picking his curiosity. "If the ruby eyes are the one staring death… My selfishness may spell doom to everyone."
"That will not happen. Your heart is the core of unbound courage, your spirit a fountain of power in itself. When I looked upon you at our first encounter, I found a champion of-"
"Please stop." Brendan cut the emerald deity very quickly. The side of his head is already throbbing with slight pain, and the dragon words are only making it worse. "I appreciate your confidence in me. But today, just let me drown at my own sorrows."
A cold silence reigned within the room and inside Brendan's head. This private quietness was Rayquaza's response to Brendan's plea. In this serene atmosphere, the young brown-haired man quietly walked to the window, the subtle noises getting louder and louder to him.
With the stars of a late evening as their witness, a large group of playful characters is spending their free time cozying themselves in each other companies.
Outside the small and secluded house, a carefree Spiegel is sitting on the ground with a large group of Pokémon circling around him. Mostly are wild Pokémon who were just nearby and decided to get closer and talk with the young human, but also some of his own friends, the members of Brendan's team.
Naito, the large Honchkrow, is quietly watching the commotion. His perceiving eyes always almost fixated on the smiling trainer, who somehow seems so interesting to him.
Layla and Aster are all over Spiegel. The two who were the wariest of him at the first glance when they walked outside, but quickly they warmed up to him and instantly started to question him all about him and why he looks so much like Brendan.
Ekkisu just sat on the grass, back against the wall and just one eye staring at the blue-eyed boy. While he appears to be disinterested and aloof to anything spare his sleeping thoughts, he also didn't glance away even for a moment.
Violen is another story; the prideful Gallade is the one keeping the most distance away from the group. While grumpily snorting, both arms folded and face turned away; the psychic fighter is just outside because his curiosity is taking the best of him; if not for that he would have just walked away.
"Yo, Brendan. Why don't you come to join us?" Spiegel noticed his twin watching and happily called him over.
A brief smile crossed Brendan's smile. "I don't think so… Today is about you, no? Look at them, they are all around you."
"That's because I am the only one here. Stop being shy and just come over here."
With just a bit of insistence from Spiegel's part convinced Brendan to come out and sit on the grass inside the cheering circle of Pokémon. Aster jumped on his lap as soon as his backside settled on the ground, the little pink-ball of happiness snuggled all around him; his little girl telling all excited about the likeness about her daddy and hew new friend.
"Aren't you scared at all?" Brendan asked Spiegel. The ruby-eyed boy caressing Asper's head with a sweet touch of his hands. "You know, Spiegel… I am sorry… After all that… after everything we did to each other, said to each other. I didn't want this."
Spiegel promptly frowned, his spring lively grin waving a bit as he stared at his twin. "I don't believe him.' He replied seriously. "I may be biased against that blasted dragon, but I don't believe him."
Now, Brendan is the one frowning. "Rayquaza has no reason to lie… Tomorrow, for everyone that we love…" He pressed one hand closer to Aster, the sudden embrace startling her a bit, making the little Whismur look up and tilt her head a tad bit confused.
"Doesn't matter." Spiegel shot out, his frown disappeared and a bright smirk taking its place. "Everything will be all right, just trust me. Tomorrow will suck, that is true. But the day after that will be a lot better." He pointed down at Aster and she looked at him, jumped down at the grassy-ground and waved one hand at him. "On that day, we can get together and talk like this again... I think… I think that would be nice."
Brendan watched his twin with a fascinated look in his eyes; just hearing Spiegel talking about it, another day, another way, another chance. It feels his heart with hope that in the end, things will be all right; that in the end, they both get to live… just thinking about that.
"Yeah… That would be very nice."
Being the one leading the charge and the trainer responsible for the emerald dragon, Zinnia was the last one to jump off Rayquaza's back, the draconid girl landing in all her brazen manner close to Brendan; her classic Lorekeeper's cloak flapping wildly with the rash winds.
"You guys okay there?" She asked Brendan, also giving Silver a short glance.
The red-haired gave her one of his stern grunts while Brendan responded with a reserved smile.
"Surprisingly enough, no one has appeared to deter us." The brown-haired champion responded. "Maybe the wailing of the winds stormed over the sounds of our arrival."
Silver let out a low snort, his head shaking with that suggestion. "Our arrival is neither much hidden or a secret. That dragon of yours is almost the same size as the lower hull of this ship, even if Giovanni himself had not seen it, one of his cameras must have spotted us."
Zinnia quickly called Rayquaza back to her pristine white Poké-Ball, then shifted her attention to the already grumpy new companion of hers. "Then, what's up with the cold shoulders on their part? Maybe they're prepping a trap or ambush?"
"Whatever it is, we will charge right through." Brendan replied, taking his place in front of the other two. "If Rainbow Rocket wants to meet us in a rigged battlefield, we have no time to go around it."
The young red-haired let his eyes stare at Brendan's broad back, his features softening a bit as a brief smirk appeared on his lips. "That sounded just like Ethan." He said with an amused tone of voice. "Maybe he has rubbed a bit too much on you. He is the one that likes to do brave and stupid things."
"Hah, maybe he has." Brendan turned his head to the side, giving Silver a spare glance. "But just a little bit." With that, the young ruby-eyed boy turned to face the closed gates at the massive open court on the back of the ship and began to step closer to it.
Watching her boyfriend brimming with confidence and even a little bit of that young naivety of before, brought a huge smile to Zinnia's face. 'Look at him shining so much in front of everyone. That's the guy I fell for.' With her gaze focused on his form, and some spare glances to his butt, the brazen Lorekeeper followed her champion.
Getting close to the giant metal gates, Brendan pressed his hands against it and in a vain attempt to test the sturdiness of those barriers he pushed with full strength on both arms. "No good, doesn't even budge." He said with a small frown.
"If you could bring those doors down with your hands I would be shocked and amazed." Zinnia said to him, a small little grin on her lips. "Should we get back on Rayquaza and look for an easier entrance?" In the middle of her sentence, she was already reaching for the Poké-Ball inside one of her pockets.
"No. We don't have the time." Brendan replied in all seriousness. Giving his girlfriend a stern glance, he pointed to a spot at the side, away from the massive gateway. "Zinnia, step aside for a moment, please."
Zinnia eyed him with a raised brow but did as he asked anyway. Silver quickly walked next to her and studied the young champion with the same curiosity that Zinnia has.
'Will it work?' Brendan let the question flow in the sea of his thoughts.
'Put your mind into it and focus, then you should be able to do it.' Groudon's voice echoed inside his mind as a response. 'Remember, we have been bounded in more ways than you can imagine.'
"Okay… just focus…" Brendan said behind his breath. The red-eyed youth stepped forward, putting himself in between both sides of the heavy metal gates. Closing his eyes and letting his breathing flow at a steady pace, Brendan focused on that little tingle that is now always present inside of him. That small flickering erupted into a spark and then exploded into a rush of power; from his chest, a glooming wave of light came to life and traveled hastily to both of his arms.
Letting out a powerful shout, Brendan pushed both hands against the locked gate in the same manner as before. However, differently from the last time; now his arms pushed forward and thought, those gates flying in like they were shot by a canon, leaving the way open and the inside hall twisted in a complete mess.
Witnessing a 'normal' human tearing down a pair of gates that not even a burly Pokémon would be able to, left both Zinnia and Silver awestruck. As Silver just stared towards Brendan while blinking a few times too many, Zinnia let out a very loud squeal. Rushing toward and then leaping at her lover's back, the draconid girl wrapped her arms around him with a few silly giggles escaping from her.
"That was so cool! What? Why? How did you do it?" She said, her voice roaring right next to Brendan's left ear, making the poor guy shiver with a bit of discomfort.
"A little perk that I have now." He replied with a smug grin, even giving a wink to her. "Guardian's thing." He finished with a shrug.
Silver quietly approached the couple, even walking pass then and analyzing the damage Brendan has just done to those gates. "Groudon's power?" He asked the other male trainer, his gaze still fixed forward.
"Yeah, something like that." Brendan replied; patting Zinnia's back for the girl to unlatch herself out of him.
Pondering that information for a bit, Silver remained in silence for a couple of seconds, one hand curled tight and pressed against his lower lip. Without saying anything more, the red-haired young man just shook his head and proceeded forward, wandering inside the giant floating ship.
"What's up with him?" Zinnia asked, giving an odd-look at Silver's direction.
"Dunno, but he looked upset about it." Brendan shrugged again. "Let him be, he was always odd, even with Ethan by his side. Let's just get in and get this over with."
Zinnia smiled, swinging her right arm back and then forward, she promptly smacked Brendan on his back shooting the young champion forward. "Right behind you, mister strong arms." She laughed as Brendan stumbled his way inside the ship; now with a few new crazy ideas floating inside her head, the wild Lorekeeper followed them inside the unknown territory.
After taking down the first hurdle in their path, the trio of trainers crossed the halls and levels of the floating fortress with extreme ease. At first, Zinnia and Brendan cheered the fact that they had managed to cross the fifth and the fourth-highest levels without encountering even a single member of the criminal organization.
However, soon that ecstatic feeling began to turn into a dread sensation that something is definitely right. Midway the third level, they noticed the continuum absence of any signs of life. Not a trainer, not a Pokémon, not even a faint sound of footsteps echoing on the background; their entire surrounding is filled with the noises of the engine and the constant beeping sound of a low siren.
Reaching a double door to the bridge and command room; Brendan, Zinnia, and Silver all shared a few nervous glances. If what Silver knows of this vessel is true, then someone has to be inside this room, that or this ship would eventually crash without anyone steering its course.
Gulping down the chilling sensation threatening to crawl on his senses, Brendan steeled his nerves and pushed the doors open.
The three of them rushed inside, Poké-Balls in hand and arms at ready to fight. Yet, as their eyes scanned the spaces around them, not even a shadow is there to be seen. At this moment of confusion and doubt over the situation, a creaking sound alarmed the trio before any of them could say anything.
At the forward center of the room, the command seat began to turn, on its padded arm one pair of fingers tapping down with a calculative and rhythmic sound, mimicking the one of the now louder siren at the back of the room.
A sharp and cold pair of onyx eyes stared down at the newcomers, the one of said glare humming in a happy tone as he acknowledges their presence.
"Young Brendan… We meet again." Giovanni spoke with his stern voice.
"Giovanni!" Brendan replied with a glare of his own. Silver and Zinnia both added their own glares and mean looks, all three somewhat hesitating to take even a step forward.
"You brought friends this time, huh? Lorekeeper Zinnia and my own son, Silver." The mastermind behind Hoenn's invasion chuckled at the young challengers appearing before him. "What a unique team of people, most intriguing indeed."
Zinnia's glare transformed into a confused frown. "You know about me?" She asked with a faint trembling in her words. Taking the fact that her crazy endeavors almost always bring her to the most secluded places and how much she lays low in her 'job' assisting Max, she can't possibly figure out how this person knows about her.
Yet, there is Giovanni grinning casually at her question and confusion. "I know a lot of things about you, Lorekeeper. But your amazing theory was the reason behind my interest in you and later on Hoenn." Casually smiling at his own words, Giovanni just waved one hand in front of him, as to dismiss his own speech. "Alas, that is a detail we should let slide for now."
Taking the initiate and even breaking the invisible chains that were holding everyone in their places, Brendan stepped forward, his glare deepening at Giovanni's insinuation towards Zinnia. "How can you be so calm and collect? How can you smile so freely when you are tearing my region apart? I don't know what is wrong with you Giovanni, but I will stop you now!"
Not really affected by Brendan's words, Giovanni just shook his head, clicking his tongue and waving one finger in front of him. "Have you learn from your mistake, young Guardian? Or will your aggressive temperament get the better of you yet again?" The imposing man asked, his expression quickly changing to a serious frown. "How can you know how deep the wounds of Hoenn goes, if you know nothing about its current situation?" He asked in a clear mocking tone.
Brendan stepped forward again, teeth greeting and his gears roaring to jump at that man and beat him up for everything he did.
"Stop messing around Giovanni!" Silver's voice stormed loudly, the red-haired stomped past Brendan, stopping just shy of the first step towards the stairs up to Giovanni's pedestal. "You're so narrow-minded that your only objective in life is to stand above other people? To put them down and build your little altar above them?" He snarled angrily at his own father. "How much of a lunatic are you?"
"Stop barking your emotions like a feral Pokémon." Giovanni replied with a stern tone but with a fierce glare. "You've been raised better than that."
"Raised… better…?" Silver stood staring at his father, completely baffled. "RAISED?! You dirty piece of-" A firm grasp clapped the red-haired on his shoulder, forcing him to glance back to see a stern-looking Brendan standing next to him, his gaze all to focused on the other man in front of them both.
"Fine, Giovanni. I will give in, what's your plan?" Brendan asked surprisingly calm and collected, despite his aggravated look.
An appreciative smirk appeared on the older man's lips. "So you've learned from your past mistakes. Good, a patient listener is the one who learns the most." Silver was ready to push Brendan away and lunge at his old man, but Brendan's strong grip on him held him in place. "Say, do any of you know what a Pokémon Master is?"
"One that is considered the strongest trainer?" Zinnia jumped with her concept of the answer.
Brendan glanced at his lover and then back at Giovanni. "A trainer who is capable of understanding each and every Pokémon."
Giovanni chuckled at both answers but remained for making any commentary just settling to look at Silver and waiting for a reply from the red-haired. As Silver just growled and glared at him, Giovanni shook his head and continued. "Your concept of Pokémon is wrong, so it does not surprise me that you got such juvenile vision on this matter. Pokémon were, are, and will always be, the most powerful tool on human history. Ever evolving, ever-changing and adapting. Pokémon are in its core a meaning from which a person strives to attain greatness."
Giovanni's monologue brought a grimace to the trio's expression. Zinnia frowning and shaking her head in disapproval, with Brendan staring at the man with a heated scowl.
"They are living beings, with feelings and dreams of their own." Brendan spat back. "From my point of view, you are the one with a juvenile thought process."
"Such brazen stupidity. Pokémon are only willingly serving us because we evolved to be their masters. You are the living example of this fact; A human who has conquered a beast capable of destroying the planet." Giovanni swung one arm in front of him, his gestures getting more erratic as more heated his speech become. "A Pokémon Master is who, by his own hands and ambitions, is capable of using Pokémon to their fullest potential. Not in a stupid battle against an opponent, not in an idealistic dream of mutual and perfect coexistence. A true Pokémon Master is able to shape history with his power; and I, Giovanni, will prove what really means to hold that title."
"By taking over Hoenn and ruling over people with fear?" Brendan replied, disgust oozing out from his words. "That will never work Giovanni! Hoenn is more than a simple piece of land; Hoenn is made by everyone that lives here; Pokémon and Trainers! And Hoenn will reclaim its freedom today."
"Heh…. Hahahahahaha!" Taking all three by surprise yet again, Giovanni burst in a fit of laughter, Brendan heartfelt words made little to dissuade the man. "Oh, young Brendan, you can have Hoenn all to yourself, I don't care. This land was never my goal, only a means to an end." For the first time since the beginning of their exchange, Giovanni got up from his seat, the imposing man getting to the edge of the long staircase, his gaze looking down to the young defenders.
"What… What do you mean by that? If Hoenn was never your object, why attack us and bring such chaos to our lives?" Brendan asked.
"Distraction, obviously." Giovanni replied with no remorse, his tone of voice suggesting that he is almost bored. "It is very easy to do everything you want without creating suspicion when half of the region is burning and crashing around you. And our research was everything but quiet, then, to avoid another incident of a brave young guardian dismantling my team before our great apex… well, a few cities had to burn."
"Cities burning… PEOPLE DYING!" Silver shouted, his face twisting in pure anger, but his red shining eyes showing a little tingle of sadness in them, almost remorseful in a way. "What is so important for you to make a monstrous choice like that?"
"People died… yes… Where would the progress of humanity be without the sacrifice of some?" This time Giovanni responded with a bit of sympathy in his speech, something that only made his son even angrier. "To answer your question and quell the curiosity of you three, I shall enlighten you on our pathway to the future." The man clad in all black and grey turned on his heel, his long ended coat swinging on the air in his smooth movement. After disappearing from sight, behind his overly big and fancy chair, he quickly returned with a glowing orb on his right hand.
This little ball of light is akin to Kyogre and Groudon's primal orbs, but this one devoid of a specific color like the previous four. Shining with a rainbow of layers upon layers of lights, this orb is smaller and hypnotically beautiful, sharing its most prominent colors between white and black.
"I present to you, project Orpheus." Giovanni proudly announced the name of the object on his hands. "The key and the gateway to new worlds."
"Travelling to new worlds?" Zinnia said staring at the shining thing. "Are you nuts?"
"Quite the opposite, Lorekeeper. I've never been more lucid than now." Giovanni chuckled in his response, his fingers trailing on the sphere's surface with a strange delight. Giovanni got back on his seat, his gaze barely parting away from the little orb as he continued to speak to his audience. "Imagine my shock when I learned about multiple dimensions and worlds that coexist with our own. It was then that everything clicked inside my mind. Sinnoh's powers of creation, a sparkling rainbow road to another world, and Hoenn's primal orbs, keys of absolute control from which you can subdue even the Primal Titans… combine the two and you have my golden ticket to success."
"Then you learned how to 'cross worlds' and decided to siege the land to steal the orbs?" Brendan asked right back, his gaze also never leaving the glowing thing.
"For quite a long time I've been familiar with the ancient knowledge about the crossing of worlds. However, Sinnoh's legends only speak of a world of chaos and darkness, a distorted world." Speaking in perfect clarity, the onyx-eyed criminal mastermind brought his eyes back to the young champion, a serious expression masking his face. "I could've easily stolen the orbs and dealt with everything back in Kanto or even at Sinnoh. However, that would not solve my problem of destination. Hoenn's mirrored reality is another matter, though. A world made of a reflection of our own, but different in every way… Without even Pokémon… Imagine a location so green and unexplored. That it's my dream."
"Hoenn's reflection... You want to use Dialga and Palkia to open a portal here?" Brendan stepped forward, climbing up in the long stairs. "Rayquaza told me about them, they are the keepers of origination."
"You can't do that!" Zinnia let her voice storm loudly inside the large room. "The legends of Sinnoh, I heard them, I read about them in my time there… If you mess with time and space, you will break the seal to a great evil."
"Giratina…" Brendan followed where his girlfriend stopped. "I heard enough Giovanni. I've been warned about this. I will not allow you to go forward with your plan."
"Allow me?" Giovanni snorted. "Haven't you noticed? You three crossed my entire ship, yet have not encountered even a single member of my organization. Brendan… Orpheus has been activated since two hours ago." He stood up from his chair, getting a tight grip on the orb. "By this moment Rainbow Rocket is already setting foothold on our new world, there is nothing you can do about it."
The young ruby-eyed champion faltered, his wobbling legs almost causing him to slip and fall down the steps he has climbed.
"He is bluffing!" Silver said in desperation. "If this Orpheus was working as he claims it works, he would not be here."
"Blood of my blood, yet you know so little about me." Giovanni mocked his son, the older man standing in an overly dramatic pose, with one hand covering his face. "The moment I took Orpheus in my hands and sent my underlings forward to their mission, I felt a terrible pull at the back of my head. Something desperately trying to rip and gash the walls of our world, my arms are still trembling with that dreading sensation. However, despite this being ceaseless attempts to make through, it cannot pierce through the veil while Orpheus is here."
"So, what? You've been here keeping this thing away? Holding this monster back like a selfless hero?" Silver spat angrily at his old man. Yet as much as he scowls and roars, the red-haired young man shows no signs of rushing up towards his father as he did before.
"Selfless Hero? Haha! I never knew you could tell jokes, Silver." Giovanni snorted yet again, giving his son another mocking look. "I stayed here exactly because of this imminent threat. Orpheus is now the anchor, which grounds this world to the others but also keeps this place safe. The moment I take my first step onto the new world with this little thing in my hands, that anchor will be no more."
Brendan quickly pulled his Poké-Ball back to his hand, his pose changing right back to a firm stance. "Then that settles it. Neither you or this thing leaves Hoenn."
"Too bad… I still had things I wish to talk with you." With a quick snap of his fingers, Giovanni commanded the orb in his hand and with that sounds the orb's light died out, a small light wave enveloped the room, making the other three cover their eyes from that. "I will not face you, Brendan. Long-time has passed since I learned my lesson. You can't challenge a guardian, they will always persevere, they will never falter and the more you push them to their limits… the stronger they get." Like the setting light of the sun in the early evening, Giovanni's body began to fade, giving in as if he was dissolving into the air. "In respect for our little dispute, I have held Giratina's coming until your arrival. But now, he is all yours." More and more, the older man began to fade, but his point both of his legs have disappeared, leaving only his torso and part of his face. "Don't fail, Guardian! The world is depending on you."
"Wait! Giovanni!" Silver climbed those steps at light's speed. The red-haired barely missed the last vestige of his father as he jumped on the spot where Giovanni once stood. "GODDAMMIT!"
The entire aircraft began to tremble, no; the entire world began to tremble from the moment Giovanni vanished. From the massive winds on the side and the windshield at the forefront, they could see a sudden night falling on the region, taking away all the light as if someone had snuffed out the sun itself.
"Woaaahh! What is happening?!" Zinnia cried out, desperately trying to keep standing as the ship began to barrel forward with increased speed.
"Giovanni… you COWARD!" Silver roared at the top of his lungs. "He set us up. Look!" He pointed to the front of the ship and despite the darkness taking over the world outside, they can still see the familiar shape of the monstrous big tower. "This thing is probably rigged to crash against the Sky Pillar." Displaying a feline-like display of dexterity, Silver jumped from the top of Giovanni's altar, landing right next to Zinnia but quickly bolting to the exit. "Come on, we need to bail, NOW!"
A single exchange of glances between Zinnia and Brendan was enough for the two to communicate. The draconid girl dashed right after Silver, her attention never leaving the image of her boyfriend, even if he is just a few steps behind her.
With the red-haired as the leader, the trio charge pass the hallways and levels that they traveled before, some missteps here and other bumps against the trembling walls there. Despite their desperate battle against time, they managed to get on the same gateway that Brendan blew open a few minutes ago and from there they arrived on the open space at the back of the ship.
With Rayquaza in her care, Zinnia quickly reached for the Poké-Ball in her pockets. However, as her eyes traveled upwards, her body froze instantly, hers and everybody else's. It would be impossible for anyone sane to not simply stop functioning for the moment, to just stare with mouths agape, because…
The sun is gone.
Ys Origin OST – Termination ====== ( watch?v=6duvDvwDmyU )
Strangeness is a common word on this young trainer's dictionary. To mingle with the odd and embrace the unusual is a familiar ritual to the raven-hared youth, yet even his eccentric life didn't prepare him enough to gaze upon the sight in front of him.
Hoenn has been torn in half, almost in the literal sense of the word. An impossibly massive dome of pure darkness is enveloping everything from the edge of Lilycove City to the now ranging wild waters of the ocean at the southeast side of the region. This stain of black is slowly expanding in a grueling pace but with a merciless non-stop fashion.
"W-what… What is that?!" Ethan's voice echoed with a piercing ring onto Lugia's ears.
If not for his own shock Lugia would have growled in protest of the young guardian's painful voice. The giant silver bird stared at the moving abyss taking control of the land, for the second time in his life feeling a chilling sensation crawling up his back.
"I've never seen anything quite like that." Lugia replied quietly, his apprehension somewhat well-hidden but still not invisible for his human companion. "Can you feel it, Ethan? This sickening sensation creeping in?"
"Aa… Like a string attached to my body, pulling me forward." His golden eyes glared at the moving blackness, a frown following a low whistle. "As if my soul was being sucked by that thing."
If Ethan's analogy was rhetoric or not doesn't really matter, as Lugia nodded his head, the giant Pokémon moving his wings faster and faster at each passing moment, in a struggle to keep his body in place despite the flow carrying them forward.
"It seems that we failed." Lugia spoke in a rare, affected way of speaking, the cold-faced Pokémon showing his own frustration with his words. "Despite our struggle, the fiend has been unleashed."
"Not yet! The moment we give up is the moment that we fail entirely."
Is this his own 'curse' taking place inside his chest, or it is only the whim of his own youthfulness? Ethan can barely distinguish the difference anymore. That thing is terrifying, even the mighty Lugia is feeling the weight of such a catastrophic image upon his eyes, yet Ethan feels exactly the opposite. Seeing that expanding sphere of darkness in front of him just fills the young guardian with nothing but determination.
"Lugia." Ethan called out, patting the giant beast on the back of his neck with one hand. "Let's go forward. If you are scared, just ignore those feelings and put your focus on me. Trust me, as I trust you."
"…" The giant silvered legendary glanced backward, getting a brief view of Ethan's face. For a while, he stood in silence, taking in his companion's words. "Don't spill nonsense, brat. It would take a lot more than that to scare me." Lugia replied with a grumpy snort, but his sincere grin betraying his tough act.
Ethan smiled in response, taking his proper spot on Lugia's back. With a soft push with the palm of his hand, the young trainer commanded the legendary bird forward and Lugia flew right in. Taking strength on Ethan's ever-burning courage, the duo swept head-on against the enlarging darkness, both sucking their breath as Lugia approached the blackened walls.
Getting so close that they are inches away from it, Ethan can see from what this is gigantic sphere is made of. A thin layer of fog, a black veil made of pure negative energies, swirling and traveling in this up-climbing flow like an opposite waterfall.
When Lugia finally clashed against this dome, they discovered that this thing is not only for the looks and for scares. At first, Lugia bounced right back, pushed away by an unstoppable force. He felt no pain or stress over his body, only the 'softness' of the fog, which felt a lot like rubber.
Taking distance and even more speed at this next attempt, Lugia rammed against the same spot yet again; fighting and pushing his way in, not letting that strange force get a hold of his momentum and push them back again. After a very hard scuffle with the rubbery thing, the tip of his head pierced the veil, and as if that served as the key, the force which was so desperately trying to push them back just stopped, now instead sucking both of them inside with a powerful vacuum.
"We made it!" Ethan cheered as they were tossed inside the 'night-fall' land. "This is still Hoenn, right?" He glanced at the area in front of him, barely being able to see anything past the nightmarish darkness.
"Up ahead, I can see that giant tower from before." Lugia pointed with his head to a faint silhouette at the back.
Without being asked to do it, he flapped his wings rapidly, flying at a high speed towards the Sky Pillar. As they approached the structure, another figure appeared from within the dark; Giovanni's flying aircraft, slowly descending towards the tower, tip down and aimed at the summit like a straight arrow locked in its target.
Lugia flew in, swooping below the ship and doing a flip to the side to pull ahead and get in front of the thing.
"Can you blow it up?" Ethan asked.
"Should I blow it up?" Lugia replied with a concerned tone. "What if there still somebody in there."
"Nobody is there and even if there was someone in there, they will just get squished to death when this thing collapses against the tower." Ethan stared that the glossy windows at the front, looking for any signs of people but sadly seeing nothing. "If you can do it, just explode this thing! If we let it fall, it will explode on the island, we don't know what will do to the rest of the area around it."
Lugia watched the aircraft loom in closer and closer against the tower. He had to make a choice and quickly; so in the lack of confidence in his own suggestion, he followed what Ethan proposed. Opening his mouth, Johto's Lord of the Sea began to draw his power in a pure ball of energy. The wind howling and the sea crashing with waves after waves in the wake of its master call.
Aim locked and resolve made, Lugia rocked his head forward, ready to unleash his destructive power against the falling machinery. It was then, that something even more incredible happened.
The ship vanished.
That massive flying structure, made of metal simply disappeared. However, it did not fade away like a simple drop of water inside of a half-full bucket; right as Lugia was ready to blow it to bits, a chunk of black just erupted at the tip of the ship, in the blink of an eye, this wall of darkness surrounded the ship and just consumed it like it was nothing.
"You saw that?" Ethan asked with a shocked expression.
That was not all. This piece of oblivion still stood there, flying in the air, getting flat as a plank of wood and turning straight to face the two. From within that board of darkness, two massive red eyes appeared, staring down at Lugia with a hungering rage ready to devour and destroy.
"That is…"
"Giratina?!"
It was then that Giratina let its voice out, a roar so fierce and powerful that even the still lingering clouds on the sky scattered away, the earth trembled as if the world was being ripped apart in its core and any other sound apart from this monstrous screech just disappeared.
A pair of onyx tinged wings, with sharp red blades at its edge, spread on the darkened sky above. Golden, grey and black, with a violent burst of power, a body took form right in front of Lugia; a body that is twice as bigger than his, larger and more threatening in every other way. A dragon with three sets of legs waving wildly without support, a monster with a killer intent so powerful that even his glance was enough to force Lugia to move backward.
"Ethan, JUM-"
Before Lugia could finish his sentence, his entire body just went flying downwards, spiraling out of control against the top of the Sky Pillar. Giratina from where he was standing unleashed a black tendril of energy, this monstrous new member of his body tackling the silver bird out of the sky in one single hit.
Brendan, Zinnia, and Silver barely had the time to jump and hug one of the decrepit pillars at the summit of the tower, before a massive white body came crashing upon the place.
"Ethan!" Silver shouted from the top of his voice. The red-haired shivered with just the after-image of what he saw.
The ruby-eyed trainer made a move to jump over to the newly open crater at the center of the floor, but his head turned around in pure instinct, his gaze spotting the massive creature flying down towards them.
"Zinnia, Go!" He called to his lover and immediately, waved to the air.
"What?! No, I will not leave." She protested angrily, not even paying attention to the looming shadow descending upon them.
Brendan gritted his teeth, he has no time to argue or explain anything for her right now. "Rayquaza!" He shouted again, taking out the accursed black Poké-Ball from one of his pockets.
Responding to his heated words, the lord of the skies broke himself out of his round 'prison'. The sudden show of light startling Zinnia as the Poké-Ball just jumped out of her hands and exploded on its own, letting Rayquaza out. Imagine the draconid's girl surprise, when she noticed that the tower's grounds were far below now and that her feet are standing upon the giant back of Hoenn's deity, with Silver standing a few paces behind her.
"Brendan! I will not leave you here." She screeched even louder, reading herself to jump out of Rayquaza's back.
"You don't need to." Brendan replied with his own raised voice. "We can't all fight on top of Rayquaza. Just stay with him and take the sky."
Any spare time he had to convince Zinnia just expired when Giratina crash-landed at the tip of Sky Pillar, the entire structure shaking and wobbling with the force of the Pokémon's body. Brendan in an outburst reaction tossed his Poké-Ball forward, letting Groudon out right in front of him.
"Gooo!" He shouted loudly, his words getting Rayquaza to fly up into the air and Groudon to charge against Giratina.
Once more the Sky Pillar trembled, now at the clash of the giants. Groudon in his original primal form tackled, pushed and even bit at the side of Giratina's massive form. However, even in his most desperate struggle, the molten titan managed to burn and even pierce the skin of the massive grey dragon, but Giratina didn't move an inch from where he landed.
For their initial clash against one another, Giratina just received everything his challenger had to throw at him. The beast winced and growled heavily as Groudon magma-heated teeth sung onto his flesh, a large gush appearing on the upper side of his left just above his first leg. As his own impassive body stopped Groudon's charge, Giratina did a long swing of his neck whipping his own head next to Groudon's face as his legs pressed forward.
The trembling of the tower only got worse, Giratina unstoppable advance continued to go forward, pushing and trampling upon anything on its path, the molten titan included.
Brendan and Groudon both felt dumbstruck at the ridiculousness of the scene. The red Primal, in almost every single instance before was the unstoppable force wreaking havoc upon the land, stomping, and marching mercilessly in his destructive path. Now he looks like a piece of garbage being handled like nothing by the dragon twice his size, who keeps pushing and tackling the molten giant body's every moment closer to the gaping crater where Lugia fell.
"Groudon, you have to push him back!" Brendan shouted from the back.
"Hg…. What… Gah…. YOU THINK I'M DOING?" Roared the red titan. His feet grinding against the floor harshly as his body is being pushed and tackled backward, the giant hole getting closer and closer to him. It was then that a small thump echoed at his back, followed by the tickling sensation of something crawling up his body. "Have you lost your mind?! Get off me, Brendan!"
"Shut it! You're clearing losing this one." Brendan continued to climb upon Groudon's back, the heat of the primal's back instantly making him sweat and even making his throat try. Yet, it is not unbearable like the last time he attempted this; maybe his 'infusion' with the red orb has made him immune or at least resistant to the blazing inferno that is Groudon's body.
"And – Hg!" Groudon's head bobbed harshly upwards with a fiercer push of the grey demon. The crimson giant stomping his right foot against an elevated part of the floor, taking small support in it and getting enough moment to stop Giratina in its rampage. "How are you going to help, exactly?"
As Groudon growled his last word of complaint, the whoosh of object grazed the side of his head. One of the half-broken pillars at the side of the summit just came in flying and bashed itself against Giratina's head, breaking into a thousand pieces but also damaging the abyss devourer just enough for Groudon to push it back for the first time.
"Like that!" Replied Brendan all too triumphantly, the ruby-eyed youth is standing atop of Groudon's broad neck, a smug smirk on his face. Glancing upwards to the boy who so recklessly has joined the battle, Groudon also grinned, feeling a strange comfort of the support coming from this human.
Their victory, however, was short-lived. Giratina immediately brushed off the dazedness clouding his eyes; the powerful dragon roaring like a clap of thunder, his deep red eyes glaring with a hungering fury at the red giant. Letting out his destructive power fly from his body, Giratina pushed forward again, tackling Groudon with even more force.
Once again Groudon felt his body getting trash backward like a worthless piece of rock, but as his feet began to grind against the trembling floor yet again, he felt a part of himself, a surge of his own powers come to life without his command or even instincts. From above, three other pillars came flying in, all the crashing down upon Giratina, forcing the dragon back yet again.
With the dust of that impact settling in, Groudon understood how much Brendan would influence this battle. While he is all too preoccupied with his physical contest against that unbelievably strong fiend, Brendan acts as the beacon to use and direct his power over the land, granting him an equal footing on this battle.
That, however, is a concept that Giratina itself does not share with the red primal. This time don't even taking the moment to rage and shout about the place, the grey menace jumped against its foe with dazzling speed. As Groudon pushed and Brendan began to weave the loose pieces of masonry around them, a flurry of dark tendrils erupted from the ground. These dark members flushing against Groudon with a fervor of a bloodlust fiend; each tendril pushing, slashing and bashing on Groudon, and at each hit, the primal got pushed back three times harder than before.
Proving how much of a kill-intended his mindset is, Giratina only elevated his number of attacks after noticing a slight opening on his opponent's part.
It was then, right before Groudon got pushed into the pit in the middle of the tower that a spiral-beam of white energy descended from the sky. Violent gushes of wind vibrated and echoed from within this flow of energy, flickers of lightning spreading down as that massive ray simply crushed Giratina's form against the floor.
"Brendan!" Zinnia shouted from above, getting the young champion's attention. "We go your back from up here. So, beat that thing down!" Ridding on the great Rayquaza's back, the energetic Lorekeeper swoop above the tower's tip, an apprehensive Silver still accompanying her on the length of the green dragon.
"Aided by the usurper… such disgrace." Groudon complained with a low voice, hiding the little appreciation he feels for having been saved from a pretty bad fall.
"Aided by our friends." Brendan corrected. "But you would have complained even if was Kyogre helping out, wouldn't you?"
"Gah… That would be even worse." This time Groudon outright roared up to the sky, even the thought of working together with his aquatic nemesis made his dormant rage flare right up again.
"Pain…" A deep voice ringed from within the whitish fog that surrounds the place where Rayquaza unleashed his power. This voice much deeper and colder than even Groudon's body-shaking voice. "This pain pales against my hundred ones." With the view clearing up and the white smoke clearing away, the owner of said voice stood up, eyes never more focused and rilled up. "Ever reaching, ever consuming, the abyss doesn't forgive… The abyss doesn't forget."
"It talks?!" Brendan stood above Groudon with wide-open eyes, staring at the trembling dragon.
"Cower in fear mortals. The abyss has come, for I am your OBLIVION!" Responding to his deafening drums of a roar, a pool of light-consuming darkness expanded on the ground across Sky Pillar's summit. From within this expanding void, a fan of members exploded upwards; this time, not sleazy thin tendrils, but an army of dark claws, which are bigger and wider than Groudon's extensive body.
The first set of claws who erupted from below detached themselves from the tread of shadow linking them to the pool. They kept going and flying at full speed after the emerald deity soaring the sky. Rayquaza had to fly at the top of his speed to avoid being pierced by the numerous sharp projectiles aiming at him, even then, the powerful dragon winced and growled as a few ones manage to graze the side of his long serpentine body.
The second volley of attack didn't follow the same pattern. These ones surfed on the 'ocean' of shadows available to them, feeling a lot faster with their links still attached to their source. Jumping out like hungry piranhas, the first three claws scraped Groudon at the side of each arm, taking out the titan's balance. Following that, a flurry of five more claws exploded from bellow with flash-like speed. All five exploding heavily on the primal's chest, the strike reaching him with enough force to take Groudon's feet out of the ground and launch his body straight ahead to the pit at the center.
As Groudon and Brendan reached the space above the crater, a massive hurricane exploded from bellow. The sheer force of these winds is strong enough to hold and push the molten titan back to firm ground at the side.
From within this cloudy-white storm, a bruised Lugia charge forward, his white body covered with dust and some ugly wounds. At his back an equally bruised and beat Ethan, holding with both hands at hid companion's back. Despite the white legendary leaving his own typhoon, the things never lose power, instead, it only grew wider and wilder.
"Have a taste of this, you son of a bi-" Ethan's voice vanished behind the sound of that explosive current of air turning and lashing on upon Giratina's body. Once again, the tower in its entirety felt the hit of another legendary attack, this time, half of the higher structures stumbling and falling down to the sea far, far below.
"Ethan!" Brendan cheered as Lugia landed at the spot next to Groudon.
"Hey there, champ." The gold-eyed boy glanced at his friend with a bright smirk on his lips. "Wanna little help with our angry friend?"
Another screech escaped Giratina's mouth when another one of Rayquaza's beam of energy exploded on top of him, leaving the exiled Pokémon no time to get his bearings after getting washed away by a giant tornado. Yet, despite the combination of world-shaking attacks completely knocking him out of his feet, Giratina quickly pulled himself back up on his feet yet again.
"Godammit! Doesn't matter how much we hit that thing it just keeps getting back up." Brendan cursed loudly, his gaze firm on the furious devil in front of them.
While Giratina stands as tall and stronger as when first the landed on the tower, a little detail changed about him. A small flickering of dark light, gathering just behind him, a very tiny change in the air around the grey dragon. A changing that escaped everyone's eyes, everyone's but Ethan's.
"I got this, man." Ethan declared with his usual self-confidence. "We got this…" He looked back to Brendan and seeing the little confusion on the red-eyes boy's face; the raven-haired swung his right arm high, showing a glowing white orb in his hand.
"That is!?"
"Yeah, Dialga's orb thingy." Ethan replied. "He gave me a warning, more like a hint. This little thing here, this is the key to push Giratina back to the scary hell it came from."
"So you know how to defeat this?" Brendan beamed happily.
"Not really, haha." Ethan's goofy reply instantly deflated his brown-haired friend. "I just feel it, you know? Holding this orb in my hands… I get the feeling of what to do, not really how, but I know that I can beat this monster."
"If you're that confident… then let's do this." Brendan felt his own flames burning high again; Groudon stepping forward as if reading what his guardian is thinking. "Whatever you need to do, we will cover you up."
"Thanks, champ." Ethan beamed. "Just keep him occupied for long enough, we will hit him with something that would demolish even Ho-Oh… please don't tell him that." Setting his friend off to clash against the angry exiled Pokémon yet again, Ethan settled his forehead against the soft feathers of Lugia's back. "You trust me, right?" He whispered quietly.
"…" Lugia continued to watch the fierce battle between Groudon and Giratina, but his true attention directed at the calm words of his partner. "Maybe I do." For the first time in his long life, the mighty lord of the sea is feeling abashed, even embarrassed by the closeness of him and his human companion.
Ethan grinned. "Thank you. That means a lot, Lugia." He pulled himself back, a completely serious expression washing his face anew of emotions. "Put everything on this one, unleash the last inch of power you have inside."
"If I do that…"
"I know, but it will not matter." Ethan responded sternly. "After hitting him with our own rage, you can go ahead and sleep for a while. I will take care of the rest."
"As you wish, Guardian." Lugia closed his eyes and took a long, calm breath.
Sitting with complete serene concentration, Lugia began to channel every bit of power at the core of his being. At his back, Ethan pressed one hand at his body, helping and guiding that raw energy into a single point. Their hearts beating as one, their beings crossing into one another and sipping on each other presence. This level of connection is overwhelming, for both of them, yet so powerful that is making Lugia and Ethan glow with its intensity.
Ethan's gold eyes shot wide open, their glow overflowing, and their light so strong that pushed its boundaries of their sockets. "Brendan!" He called out to his friend with a loud and fierce shout. "Get away from it, NOW!"
Brendan nodded without looking back. He swung his arms in the air, and from the island ground way down at the side of Sky Pillar, huge boulders flew up. Controlling the power of nature as if he is bending the earth, the young trainer brought up a rain of rocks and threw them at Giratina, giving Groudon enough space to leap away from the overpowered dragon.
That was it, a clean line between Lugia and Giratina has appeared, opening the silvered bird to get a clear shot at his target. With that, Lugia opened his mouth and all the power he had stored in his chest came flowing right out of him. Having his voice as the trigger, a storm, smaller in size than the last one but ten times stronger in its intensity, raged on. Gushes of winds sharper than razor blades and studier than pure diamond, this horizontal hurricane didn't just clash upon Giratina, this thing completely engulfed the grey dragon, not leaving even a piece of it out of that destructive mayhem.
By the time Lugia's ranging winds had died out, the northern tip of Sky Pillar had disappeared as it had never existed before. The sheer brutality of the Lord of the Sea's attack was so great, that even Giratina's giant dome of darkness felt the brunt of it; with a large chunk had evaporated, forming a giant circle in its surface where the sunlight freely shined inside.
Soaring in the sky with his ever-watchful eyes, Rayquaza felt struck by that monstrous display of power. The emerald dragon had never held Johto's deities in high regard, yet Lugia had managed to surprise him with something that could easily fell him in battle if he ever let that hit his body.
Still, where Lugia showed an offensive power akin to the great dragon's level, the white bird has not the same type of resilience or stamina. Right after letting out his power free, his eyes shut down and his body landed against the floor; his body completely taken by exhaustion, to which Ethan jumped to the side and called his friend back to his Poké-Ball.
The receiver of said ability has finally shown himself once again. The sight of Giratina at this shape is one that defies logic, half of his body is gone, completely turned to a liquid mush, while to the other half is all wrinkled and contorted. Oozing from his wounds is not the usual red of blood, but instead an inky black liquid that refuses to obey gravity and fall. This goop that is leaking from his body began to rise up and recollect itself on the shredded spot, reforming his body anew.
Being in such a deformed state, Giratina has little power to control the maelstrom forming behind him. That strange phenomenon from before, now gaining a lot of moment and power in the exiled one's weakness. A vortex of blackened energy popped up, its sole objective being to pull Giratina back to where he belongs.
"Not yet…" Ethan whispered to himself. "This is not over yet. Brendan, watch my back!"
Charging without a sign of fear in his eyes, the golden guardian went for the 'kill', holding his right arm forward, trusting that orb onto Giratina's way.
This whole turning of events took the massive dragon by surprise. Not even in his lifetime of imprisonment he had dreamed of anything capable of doing that to him, in reality, not even the being responsible for his exile has ever able to damage his body so badly. So a new sentiment flourished inside the herald of hatred for the first time, desperation.
Giratina's mangled body pulled itself together in an instant, the grey dragon rushing his steps forward in his resistance against the call of his prison. In his moment of despair, he opened his mouth and a deafening screech slipped from his dark lips. To say that the world trembled yet again would be too little to define what is happening; it felt as the reality itself began to take a different shape. In a way, that is exactly what happened next.
A massive hole opened up in the sky right above the Sky Pillar. One of the many pools of darkness he had created before, but this time no tendrils or claws poured from inside. This time, the tip of a metallic structure appeared, then half of it and right next the entire aircraft of the Rainbow Rocket came to existed yet again, right above Ethan and Brendan.
Giratina shouted once more, this time, less desperate and more violent.
Ethan stopped in his tracks; eyes wide open like a saucer, staring right up to the human-made 'meteor' ready to crash upon his head. He felt so out of his normal self that any motor function of his body stopped to work properly as if he had been eject from his own self. It was not until Brendan slid to his side and pulled him down, that the golden-eyed youth got back to his senses.
"Hold your head down!" Brendan commanded. "I will try to keep us safe."
With that said, Groudon stepped behind both trainers, the red giant putting him above them and shielding his own head with massive rock-made shields coming out of his arms. Brendan moved his own arms around and created a giant barrier around all three of them.
Burning up in furious hatred, Giratina made no motion or effort to guard itself against the impact. The beast only rushed the metallic ship to fall even quicker, releasing a maddening war cry, which caused its dark portal to pulse with energy and shoot the entire ship like a torpedo down the tower.
From that point forward, Giovanni's flying piece of work came crashing in a violent explosion on top of the Sky Pillar. Either be by all the components inside the ship, by Giratina's influence or by Groudon's own powers, what really matters is that a terrifying explosion swallowed the island.
Giratina, Groudon, Ethan, and Brendan… All of them got engulfed inside that catastrophic impact.
Persona 3 'The Journey' – The Battle for Everyone's Souls ====== ( watch?v=lbhz0O0dAyk )
A heavy cough pulled the strings of his mind back to consciousness, the sultry air filling his lungs with the bits of dust causing him to cough yet again, harder and rougher this time. Even opening his eyes is a struggle, but his golden gems fought their way into the gaze of the foggy world in front of them. Ethan tried to speak, but his throat is so dry that even the elevation of his breathing made him wince in pain.
He tried to pull himself up, only to hit his back against some wreckage, which luckily for him, is being held high enough from his body by a stack of deformed and crushed rocks. So, crawling his way outside that mess of everything pilled up on top of each other, Ethan got face landed into the moist sands next to the water.
"Brendan…" He tried to shout, but yet voice would not come out with enough strength to reach the ground beneath his feet. Groggily stumbling his way on top of the debris of old masonry, metal, and even solid stones; Ethan reached the highest point on the island again, which is not very far from the sea level. His eyes calmly scanned the area around him, looking for the massive structure that was Sky Pillar, but only finding it remains all scattered across the place.
With utter exhaustion knocking on the door, he felt his stamina giving in and his knees slamming down against the sharp and pointy rocks on the ground. Groaning in pain, Ethan shook his head three times to stay awake, but only when another explosion erupted a bit ahead, that his senses got high alerted again.
A beam of dark light erupted skywards, Giratina swinging its head and opening its mouth even wider to enlarge the beam. His target flying at such high speed that is almost impossible to reach it with a single attack. So, the grey dragon spread its giant black wings, commanding several rifts to open around Rayquaza and unleash a storm of claws that cascaded into a flurry of attacks, trying to grab the emerald dragon.
As swift as Rayquaza is, two of the claws managed to get a hold of his body by the end tail. This painfully strong grip slowing down his pace allowed several others to latch onto him and ensnare the mighty Pokémon in place.
Dark red eyes sparkling with a murderous glow, Giratina trashed its head onto Rayquaza's direction, a devilish delight appearing in its features with the imminent success of its attack. To the abyssal invader's surprise, Groudon's molten-heated claw swiped in from the right, clashing against Giratina's face right from below and forcing the dragon to miss its target.
Giratina wailed, screamed and roared all at the same time. The beast turned its gaze down to the red primal but quickly felt its eyes averting back to the sky as a massive pillar of rock erupted from below and rocketed its head upwards again.
Ethan watched with a certain degree of disbelief as Groudon began to pummel Giratina down with a merciless repertoire of slashes, bites and the occasional hammering with giant boulders. The dragon that was holding the upper hand against three legendaries at the same time, is now being pressured by just Groudon. Using the rest of its power to suppress the ever-growing vortex trying to pull his body back to exile, Giratina has little to nothing to throw back at his opponent.
It was then that Ethan saw a lonely figure standing fairly close to the fight of the mighty beasts up ahead. A silent Brendan, head hanging low and a very familiar white orb sparkling brightly at the hold of his right hand.
The golden-eyed champion tried to run towards his friend, a growing ill-sensation bursting inside of his chest. With his feet moving so fast, but his senses not following, Ethan eventually fell face flat against the rough surface, bruising his face even more.
"Brendan…" He tried to shout again, but a soft whisper came out.
He saw the ruby-eyed boy talking, at least his jaws are moving and his arms are gesturing at someone, something… but there is nobody there.
Ethan clenched his teeth; he forced his body up again but his surge of strength leaving him as soon as his knees got support against some rocks. "BRENDAN!" His voice finally mustered enough force to echo all around the island, but effort making Ethan hack and cough even rougher.
Hearing the sound of his friend's voice, Brendan turned around. His ruby eyes showing some signs of change; in fact, his left one is an entire color altogether, a slight deep green with a tint of blue shivering around his pupil. The brown-haired champion looked at his bruised comrade and a gentle smile appeared on his lips. He said nothing, not even a word slipped through his lips; but the genuine grateful expression showing on his face is more telling than an entire sentence.
Feverish desperation rushed into Ethan's chest, he tried to get up again, but only managed to hit the ground with his chin. He raised his head just to see Brendan turn around and run at full speed towards the trashing grey dragon.
Reaching Giratina in a more minute, Brendan surprised everyone who is watching the scene unfold. He slid past down the dragon's dark wings and jumped on his feet right behind Giratina. Right then, he leaped forward yet again, thrusting his arm forward, the young trainer hit that growing vortex with the glowing orb.
Like a fragile soap bubble, the little round thing popped, its light pouring inside that blackened vacuum creating a small puddle of white inside that sea of darkness. Then from the center of that turmoil a sharp beam of white shoot out, everything caught in its path simply evaporating into nothing, that including the airborne young man who caused that reaction.
A spear made of light pierced at the back of the giant grey dragon, taking out a chilling scream out of the desperate monster. Giratina trashed, rolled and tried to fly away, but its body slowly getting dragged inside that vortex which was threatening to swallow him from the start. Its right wing was the first thing to touch that spiral of darkness, the thing just turning into little grains of shadowy ashes and getting sucked into the abyss yet again. In its final struggle Giratina turned around and tried to blow that rift with a beam of pure energy; the attack hit and exploded, but only served to enlarge the hungry void, making the process way faster.
In the end, a bright show of light ended everything, the vortex disappeared and the dome of darkness which blocked the sun going with it.
Gathering himself up, Ethan stumbled forward. He walked and walked, his hands trembling and his eyes in shock. A few steps away from where Brendan disappeared, he fell to his knees again.
"What…" He gritted his teeth. "What have you done?" His words exhaling a grim tone, a subtly anger boiling up inside of him. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" He asked again, his golden eyes fixated on a small round object lying on the ground.
It was then, that a different pair of boots landed on the broken island. This newcomer casually walked over and grabbed the Poké-Ball on the ground. The last member of Giovanni's enforcers looked at his prize with a wicked grin on his lips.
He glanced at Ethan and chuckled. "I've just won." Josh said with dark delight.
How long has it been?
Opening his blue eyes and gazing at the clear sky above him, that was the first question popping on his head. Stirring with an aching body, Spiegel rolled over, pushing his hand against a broad blue surface and getting up on his feet yet again.
"You're awake… finally." Kyogre's voice ringed from up ahead.
"Where… are we?" A sleepy Spiegel asked, rubbing the back of his head with a lazy motion. Studying his surroundings, the not-so-dead doppelganger saw the form of four Pokémon, all spread across Kyogre's back, each sleeping and tired after their ordeal. A soft smile broke his lips apart after seeing everyone is safe and sound together with him.
"Not too far from Hoenn." The blue titan responded. "But don't get too happy yet, I felt the world tremble three times where you were asleep. Something dangerous is happening there."
"The world trembling?" Spiegel's dazedness quickly snapped away. "Why didn't you wake me up? Come on, we need to go over there and-"
"Sp… Spiegel?" Brendan's voice echoed inside his head, just like Kyogre communicates with him when they are apart from each other. "Can you hear me? I think you can. Heh, every day I learn something new in this Guardian thingy."
"Brendan?" Spiegel looked around, trying to see someone that is not really there.
"I don't have much time, so hear me out. Just like Rayquaza said, I am staring death right in its face… it's weird to feel like this."
"No… No, no, no, NO!" Spiegel grabbed the side of his head, his expression changing to a pained grimace. "It's me. Come on, it was supposed to be me."
"Stay with me, Spiegel. I need you to promise me something." Brendan's voice carried a soothing feeling to them, a feeling that managed to grip Spiegel back into reality again, even if for just a moment. "Father, Mother and our baby sister, July. They will need you, don't be a jerk like me, don't push yourself away from our family."
By this point, Spiegel's face is already a mess of tears. His head swinging from one side to another in denial.
"Gosh, the league… Steven… Stay strong for them too, okay?" Brendan paused for a moment, a brief sigh interrupting his words. "Zinnia and Aster, they will need you the most. Please tell them that I love them… I love them more than anything."
"NO DAMMIT! You tell them, you live and take care of everyone. That was our deal." Spiegel shouted. "Please… don't."
"See you later, little brother."
As their connection faded away, Spiegel gaged in his words. He fell to his knees and began to say an absurd amount of incoherent gibberish, his body rocking back and forward, now both hands grasping at the side of his head, in his pain he didn't even notice how his broken arm began to move like it was nothing.
"Brat? Kid, compose yourself!" Kyogre called out to him, but the titan's voice failed to reach him. "Spiegel, listen to my voic-"
"AAAAAAHHHHHH! HGH... GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Wailing like a banshee, Spiegel sprung his upper body forward, his forehead bashing onto Kyogre's hard skin. A light gush opened on the doppelganger pale skin, the leaking blood running down and marking a line from the top of his head onto the bridge of his nose. His eyes turned completely white for a moment, then from that emptiness a sharp green gloom sprung to life, his pupils changing in a scary way, getting a more slit form akin to a reptile. "SHUT UP, SHUUUUT UUP!"
At that moment, all four Pokémon who were sleeping jumped right back up. Their eyes slowly opening just to show the same green light that is burning on Spiegel's sockets. Even Kyogre after trying to peek inside his guardian's mind, felt himself getting lost and swallowed by that wild turmoil of emotions; the blue titan lost the bright yellow color of his eyes, instead getting the same form of domination that the other four fell under those green eyes.
After minutes of screaming and outright insane behavior on the doppelganger's part, he suddenly stopped. With his head still pressed onto Kyogre's back, Spiegel stopped moving, stopped talking and almost seemed as if he had stopped breathing. In that chilling silence, Kyogre slowly began to move, his head turning and aiming at his home region sitting far away on the horizon.
On a side note: I would like to give you guys a little sneak-peek onto the ending of the arc that is coming with the next chapter. Nothing too much, just a some words and a preview of what will come.
Solitude is the way of the fallen.
Twisted, confused…
A lack of motivation is the stain that fogs its mind.
A fog-drenched in madness, a key to chaos, which should never get clear.
For when dark clouded-eyes opens themselves to reality.
A lonely feather shall grace the earth.
The black quill of the unspoken prelude.
To the birth of the world's enemy.
Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII - The World's Enemy ===== ( watch?v=4T7FlxbO50Y )
If you are liking the story so far, please leave a review. :)
Reviews:
Mallory S Nocturne chapter 33 . Nov 12 – Looks like his time has not come yet.
Mr MogiGaming chapter 33 . Nov 12 – Nop, nobody is getting sucked into that awful place... okay maybe Giratina, who knows?
To answer an old question of yours, Maxie together with Team Magma has ventured to this new land. This is the very first idea I had when making this story. As you can notice, I've chosen to give Giovanni's organization the name "Rainbow Rocket" and no "Team Rocket", because I kinda wanted to make a little connection from this story to the one in Ultra Sun/Moon, with all thing of him is going everywhere making people join his new crazy team.