Chapter 36

Pain

Earth 63, 2049, 8:59 AM

3rd Person POV

A procession of black cars came to a stop outside of the Ecruteak cemetery. A black oak coffin was carried by four pallbearers. Jake and Connor on the front, Z and Dana on the back. As the casket was lowered Connor simply said "he was a good man, who we owe a great deal to, he will be dearly missed." Cassie came forward first, letting a handful of dirt free from her trembling hand, her children following suit. After Dana and Connor had done the same, the ceremony ended, no one had any desire to drag this out. The cold winter air was hardly desirable.

However after everyone else had left Z saw Connor standing over the freshly buried grave, he came up to him from behind. Connor was a statue, unmoving and silent. Z knew there was little he could say to make his friend feel better, but it was worth a try.

"There was nothing you could have done, it's not your fault or anyone else's" he stated slowly.

"It is my fault, I sent him on this mission, and was too busy hiding from the fight. If I had been there with him he wouldn't have died" Connor replied somberly, his voice was devoid of emotion. Almost as if he had no energy left to convey emotions.

"That's not.." Z had no time to finish before Connor raised his hand and cut him off.

"He died for nothing, with Malcom he died protecting his students. Alex laid down his life pointlessly".

Z opened his mouth but stopped and remained silent, he had no rebuttal.

'I'm tired of burying people I care about when I wasn't around to help" Connor confessed before walking away in silence.

Z shook his head and let Connor leave, there was nothing he could say or do to alleviate his friend's sorrow. Like many others, morning the loss of Alex was all that he had the will to do.

Earth 93, 2049, 2:45 PM

3rd Person POV

"Take it" Castle grunted as he handed Giovanni the sample. After the Ark raid Giovanni had teleported all four of his airships to his headquarters. He was now upgrading them for multidimensional travel on their own. The takeover was easy, with Castle's help Giovanni had replaced nearly the entire crew with his agents in less than a year.

"Well done Castle" Giovanni said as he placed the sample on the conference table.

Castle remained silent for a moment, expecting Giovanni to say more. He finally ran out of patience and asked "I held up my end, where is my son and my wife?"

Giovanni smirked and said "oh, they were killed months ago"

"You backstabbing son of a…" Castle attempted to draw his magnum pistol but one of Giovanni's guards was more than ready. Castle felt a rush of air and looked down to see that his throat had been sliced. Giovanni's guard had slashed him and sheathed the blade in his robe in less than a second.

Castle gave Giovanni one last futile scowl before falling to the ground dead. He had learned all too late that once Giovanni had no use for a pawn, he disposed of them….

Earth 63, 2050,10:30 PM

3rd Person POV

Z was walking out of the Headmaster's building only to be met with Kelly, Charlie and the rest of the team in their combat gear. They were here in the dead of the night and were ready for a fight.

"Where are you going?' Z asked, trying to keep the situation calm.

"Giovanni's earth, and killing him" Kelly replied.

Z went wide eyed and said "no, stop, your grieving. You need to take a moment to STOP and THINK"

"Were done waiting and acting our normal lives, step aside or we will move you" Charlie threatened.

"You wouldn't…" Z's question was answered as Kelly and Charlie hit him with a thunderbolt simultaneously.

Z passed out instantly, his illusion evaporating as he hit the ground. A smoking Zoroark was face down on the pavement as Connor appeared in a flash of light.

Connor clutched his cane tightly, his students standing firm. It was clear they had no intention of giving up. Connor looked like he was about to cry, his face flashing transparent as his emotions were breaking his illusion's concentration.

"Please, don't do this" Connor begged.

"STEP ASIDE" Kelly screamed.

Connor stood his ground but did nothing else, the entire team fired attacks at him all at once. The Mason twins firing electricity while Nixillium, Lucina and Alveri fired a dark pulse, moonblast and dragon pulse respectively.

In a flash of light Connor dissipated every attack. A green Latios with a mega stone around his neck was hoving in front of them.

"This is your last warning, please stop, or I will have to make you stop" Connor pleaded.

The entire team shifted in response, they were about to fight with everything they had against their mentor. Unfortunately for them, Connor never gave them the chance. His right eye became completely black with a red vortex symbol for a pupil. His left eye was turned white with a black X for a pupil. As he activated these abilities shockwaves staggered the team, as if the mere presence of Connor's powers were overwhelming them.

Connor's black eye glowed red around its edge, within seconds an isolated cyclone had surrounded the them, it was no more than 30 feet across, perfectly spaced to contain them but not damage anything else. The team gasped in shock, they knew Connor was powerful, but never had they imagined this level of power and precision with no apparent effort on Connor's part. Then his left eye glowed white, giving the entire team a splitting headache. Z had trained them in mental barriers to avoid mind control, but Connor had just shattered all of them in one fell swoop. Normally that would have destroyed the minds of anyone who had their psychic barriers shattered so suddenly, but Connor was precise enough to do so with any permanent damage.

"SLEEP" Connor commanded, the entire team blacked out and reverted to their human forms. Connor then dispersed the cyclone and reapplied his human guise. Connor had defeated his students without even moving an inch….