Disclaimer: I own nothing. I think I wrote that before...
A/N: I finished the third chapter faster than I thought I would. Hopefully, it turned out alright. And thank you to waterangelphoenix and Smu, your reviews means a lot.
Please, enjoy the next chapter.
Immortal Deeds
And then there it was, turning around lazily
and staring at me with those inhuman
red eyes and all I could think about was
how dead I was, but it didn't kill me.
He saved me
-Anonymous
"You have to realize, Ash," Riley said, "that there is no turning back. Once we enter the Tree's domain, we're either dead or get accepted."
"I understand," I said absentmindedly, watching the sun rise above the trees, I enjoyed the light summer breeze licking the skin on my forehead. The armor I was wearing felt heavy upon my frame, having gone so long without during my training, and I adjusted it, trying to cover up the chunk missing in the right side of my abdomen.
When had it become so damaged?
"Ash…" Riley rolled his eyes. "You won't be needing that here…"
"Call it an extra insurance."
Riley sighed, and I sensed he was getting tired of my stubbornness. "It will be of no use," he said, his eyes focused on the Tree a couple hundred meters in front of us. "The Tree accepts us or it kills us – it's that simple."
"I refuse to believe that it can't be fought if necessary," I replied, because dammit I would fight it if I had to.
"And there you have the problem." Riley stopped, a cold glare turned on me, his face blotching red with anger. "You have to choose your fights. You can't keep running around playing cowboy, shooting everything that looks funny at you!"
"I'm not gonna attack it – just ready to defend myself if the need should arise."
"It's too strong for that, though," Riley said. "The Tree has been around… forever, man. It's been here since the beginning of all – what does that tell you?"
"That it's one old fucker." I frowned. "And we still don't know if that's even true. In Sinnoh they pray to Arceus, here in Kanto they pray to the Three Birds, and in another region they pray to some other superstition – I'm not gonna bow down to it just because some old geezer says it's a fucking Deity. I don't work like that. You know me…"
"Look at it." Riley gestured wildly to the Tree, his eyes looking imploringly at me. "Take a fucking look at the thing and tell me that it could not crush you at will."
I looked up at the Tree, seeing the most incredible thing in my life, but I wouldn't be shaken by its obvious might. "It's a… an imposing sight, but it's just a Tree – it can be fought if-"
"Can't you feel it?" Riley said, interrupting me. There was something almost, but not quite, manic about his eyes. They burned blue fire. "The energy – the power… can't you feel what we're about to enter?"
"Of course I can," I answered, my voice swift and sure, keeping my façade of bravado. "But I refuse to believe that you can't beat it."
"You'll never learn!" Riley whispered, shaking his head. "Come on, we've an appointment with Destiny – and she's most definitely a bitch."
We trekked onwards in silence, our eyes alert and bodies tensed as we arrived at a field of overgrown grass. I didn't have good experiences with tall grass, I still remembered the day I met Riley all those months and years ago. The memories of fire and death still bled through my mind like raw bloody murder – a hidden omen of the time to come, of the trials to face, and all the fucked up chaos I'd to conquer if I wanted to make a difference.
Fucking destiny of the Chosen One – I don't want that faith.
I don't want that suffering, man – it wanted me…
The Tree stood majestically beyond the field, its imposing form towering over us like a beacon of might. There was something magical about the thing. It drew you in, made you forget what was wrong with your life and just enjoyed the moment of silence, like nothing else mattered.
My conscience was quiet – something it hadn't been in a long time.
The size of a big fucking mountain, the trunk of the Tree shot up so high it looked like it touched outer space. Pillars of branches arched in bowed angles out from the trunk, creating cliffs of twigs. It looked like platforms, and I thought I saw a Pokémon flying off from one of the lower branches – its tail leaving a golden glow behind. I must have imagined that…
Curtains of water felt down from the lower twigs, beautiful crystal-blue drops that joined with the rivers in front of us. Clouds hugged the Tree, obscuring the top from my view. The mountains in the background looked small compared to this... Deity – yeah, Riley was right. It probably was a Deity – setting the stage for its glorious presence.
I swallowed thickly, feeling no sense in hiding my awed induced fear this time. Oh yeah, Riley, I felt the power coming of this thing alright, and it scared the shit out of me.
I tore my eyes away from the sight before it consumed me and breached the tall grass, Riley following close behind me. Together, we pushed onwards through the unknown dangers. "Keep your ears sharp, Pikachu," I said to the little Pokémon creeping at my side. "This is a perfect spot for hunters."
A quiet, high-pitched growl slipped past Pikachu's lips in response, as it crawled on all four. Briefly, it shot tendrils of electricity along its yellow fur, making it stand on end and signaling its understanding.
"Good, good." I gave the Pokémon a quick, affectionate smile before focusing on the path we were walking. Fuck, I felt exposed; this scenario seemed far too recognizable for comfort. My senses were on high alert, the Aura coursing through my body, scanning everything my eyes couldn't see; it had become capable of picking up any threat.
So far I'd found nothing worth noting. The day had been unusually quiet so far – another fucking déjà vu. I hadn't run into any wild Pokémon turned mad like the day I met Riley, but there hadn't been a single day gone by without something trying to kill me. It was how a forest worked, the strongest survives and all that shit.
So it might be silent now, but it could change in a split second, especially in an area with grass such as this. Without me, Riley would never see anything coming before it was too late.
And then it happened, the circumstances changed. It all changed so fast I caught myself thinking it had always been like that, that we'd been surrounded the whole time and I, for some odd reason, was incapable of tracking it.
Appearing out of thin air, I felt numerous creatures surround us. The grass blocked their forms for my eyes, but my Aura could see them just find, crawling like the fucking reaper amongst the grass. They circled us, a perimeter enclosed around us, and I was the only one that knew it.
I closed my eyes, and without having to focus, my Aura turned my vision blue. I followed the little beasts' progress in the grass, noticing there species and numbers, weaknesses and strengths. We were about to be attacked by some motherfuckers. Again.
Oddly enough, I didn't feel any fear about fighting them this time. I felt confident – it's all in the palms, buddy, oh yeah. I was the one who had gone through blizzard and fire to be here, I was the one who had transcended beyond my limitations. These fuckers were just some wild hunters of the forest, lazy beings who were born with their power. They hadn't tasted fear or desperation. They didn't know what it meant to fight every step of the way just to get somewhere, to be someone.
I was a radar seeking out enemies; I was a gun pulling my own trigger. If push came to shove I'd show them just what I was capable of, I would fucking destroy it all just to get a move on. I'd roll with the dice, already knowing the outcome.
We were surrounded.
We were outnumbered.
We were fucked.
And I felt fucking fantastic!
Was that a bad thing? Don't answer that…
Beyond the grassy field and heavy aroma of morning spring, trees lined along each other, providing a perfect hiding spot for lurkers. The spots were occupied by big, strong – and tasty – Ursarings. That actually scared me a little; the Ursaring specie wasn't known as a friendly one, and there was a fuck ton of them just standing there. But something wasn't right; if the Ursaring wanted to harm us they would have attacked us already. They had zero sense of strategy unless it involved tearing everything the fuck apart.
The Pokémon that circled us in the grass kept their distance, too. I felt no ill intentions coming off of them. They almost acted like…
No, it couldn't be. They were acting far too calmly, the insanity missing from their cold, dead eyes…
God, that day still haunted me.
"We're surrounded," I said, keeping my voice as low as possible so as to not startle the Pokémon nearby. "Ten feet to the nearest Pokémon. They're oddly serene."
"What?" Riley looked befuddled, his gaze moving to and fro in the grass. "I didn't hear anything…"
I waved my hand carelessly around us, feeling Riley's eyes on me. "Different Pokémon are surrounding us – mostly Bug Types – they don't seem to hold any ill intent so far. Oh, and we have a flock of Ursaring keeping watch from the trees over there," I said, my eyes closed. My Aura was doing the watching for me.
Riley looked rigid with fear behind me, scared and out of place, his eyes going back and forth in the grass – hadn't he done this before? He met me in a forest; he must have crossed ways with wild Pokémon before.
"You okay, man?" I asked.
"I had an Ursaring once," Riley said, obviously struggling to get his normal composure back. He succeed partly, his normal bland mask back to a degree. "It was killed by a group of Pokémon trainers who wanted to steal it."
"Team Rocket?" I guessed a little absentmindedly, most of my mind wondering just what the fuck was gonna happen to us this time. The Pokémon parted in front of me, opening the way to… the Tree!
And then it hit me. The Pokémon's weird behavior, the aura about them and the Tree. They were its protectors. They were judging us.
"No," Riley was saying behind me, walking closer to me than he usually did. "It was some new trainers. They thought the world belonged to them after they got their starter Pokémon."
"Their starter Pokémon was capable of killing an Ursaring?"
"Rich kids," Riley grunted. "Money talks, their starter Pokémon was a Gyarados. I think they got it from their parents. One minute they demanded I handed over my Pokémon if I knew what was good for me, the next this giant thing is tearing the place apart."
I'd seen and experienced similar things once upon a time; it felt like a different life now. It wasn't that unusual for trainers to lose control of their Pokémon, which was understandable considering the kind of power an average Pokémon had. My Butterfree's death during the Hoenn League had been pretty macabre, and that had been the result of a Pokémon disobeying its trainer.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I know how it is to lose a Pokémon."
"Don't be sorry. It just made me stronger."
I opened my eyes and looked directly at where I knew a Raticate was waiting. Concealing my wariness and fear with a cool glare, I started walking, feeling Riley move behind me. We passed through the Pokémon, their silent gazes guiding us towards our destination.
We exited the tall grass and came upon a little stream, the water flowing gentle and reflecting the morning sun. I couldn't see where it ended or where it began, but I could imagine it ran around the Tree, somehow connected to the waterfall falling above.
A line of small, black stones lay in the water, creating a little path to cross the stream. Pokémon came out of the grass and flocked around us, all of them staring at me with those seeking gazes. I caught eye with an Aipom. Normally a very mischievous Pokémon but this one looked… wise and calculating, its eyes searching my being for bad intentions. Or at least it felt that way, Drew.
Then it nodded and stepped back, and I felt like I'd just passed some test. I had. I often, even to this day, wonder why it let me past. It must have seen something even I can't see – because I certainly wouldn't have let me in.
"It's been over a thousand years," I said in a breath-less whisper, looking at the Tree. "A thousand years since man last lay eyes on this wonder, so long time since the last man stepped into this – gateway…"
"The last human who entered it became a legend," Riley said, rummaging in his pocket. "Maybe we'll be remembered, too."
Sir Aaron, I thought, watching with idle interest at Riley as he sifted through his pockets for something. He took out a small, greyish brown device and pushed on the blue button on the top of it. It beeped robotically, and I felt a small pulse of energy vibrating from it, sending it into the Tree.
We waited in silence. I looked curiously – and with growing excitement – at the device, while Riley studied the thing intently, waiting for some kind of message, it seemed. I kept my silence because it felt like one of those moments where Riley wanted to work in silence. Normally, I'd have taunted him to pass the time, for no other reason than it gave me some cheap amusement. But with the Tree right beside us I felt that alienating me with him now wouldn't be such a good idea.
The thing beeped again and the dead screen flashed to life, displaying some kind of infrastructure that I could dimly make out to be a very, very detailed map of the Tree.
I stared at the screen wide-eyed, not able to hide my excitement anymore. "What is that thing?" I whispered.
Riley, who had been staring speculative on the screen, looked up at me. "A scanning device," he said dryly.
I know that, you fucker, I thought but didn't say… this time. "Where did you buy it?" I asked, looking between the device and Riley. "Silph Co.?"
An ugly shadow passed Riley's stoic face so fast I almost didn't catch it; I almost caught the meaning behind it, too, but it didn't make any sense. Was it something I said...?
I saw raw hatred. Fucking raw hatred could burn the world if it was left unchecked, man. Raw hatred would consume everything in its path – it knew nothing but what had created it. Pain and suffering – chaos…
"No. I created it myself," he said, he tried to hide the tone of pride but I'd been around him enough to catch it.
I blinked. "I didn't know you could do that?"
Riley frowned, looking at me weirdly, his eyes holding barely concealed distrust. "What's it to you?"
I ignored his behavior; having grown used to it by now, and reached into my pocket and drew a card-shaped device out. It had a holographic center, with black circle surrounding it. I pulled at the ends, separating them from each other and revealing a blank screen display.
"I have a thing for technology," I grinned, staring affectionate at the device. "I don't use it much anymore, but it has served me well."
Riley peered at the device in my hand with interest. "Hmm, a Pokédex. Made by the esteemed Professor Samuel Oak, right?"
"Yeah… fantastic machine," I said. "It's not just a Pokédex, though."
"No?"
I smiled, shaking my head – oh, this badboy was a state-of-the-art equipment, scanning feedback functions beyond a normal Pokédex capability, and a lot of other stuff I didn't know or care about. "This little guy has a communication feature, making it capable of long distance call across the globe," I said, it could've become useful if I'd ever felt the need to use it. "It can even bypass that restriction Unova set up some years ago if necessary – without being traced, of course."
"Unova took those restrictions down a couple of months before I met you," Riley said.
"The war ended, I know." I was still smiling my goddamn lazy smile. It was a front more than anything – a fake, brave mask put on to hide how fucking scared I was of the giant thing standing in front of me. "I was just bragging. What did you do?" I asked, gesturing to the device in Riley's hand.
"I scanned the Tree," he said, showing me the display. "You're not the only one with a scanner. Here, have a look."
I took the device from Riley's hand. It was surprisingly heavy, much more than my Pokédex even though they were roughly the same size. It was made of some kind of tree, its edges held together by some form of clotted black stone, the screen seemed to be made of plastic.
It looked very primitive.
"I made it out here," Riley explained when I weighted it up and down in my hand. "I didn't have the right material or compound to minimize the weight – and no lab resources to build it with, so be careful, it's not particularly sturdy."
I nodded, sir, yes sir, looking at the screen again. It showed the Tree, tendrils running through it from bottom to top. It presented access-points, exit-points, a description of the environment inside the tree – that I understood nada of – and dots and lines that kept flickering in and out of existence.
"What are they?" I asked, indicating to the many lines and dots that kept reappearing and disappearing.
"Could be anything," Riley answered, taking back the scanning device. "Power-lines, traps, Pokémon, whatever keeps the Tree running. Energy sources that keeps the Tree safe – keep it alive."
How the fuck do you know so much, I caught myself wondering. For a man who had never been inside the Tree, and almost shrieked like a girl whenever a wild Pokémon looked at him funny, he sure knew his way around… "Those things keep the Tree alive?" I asked instead because I was too chickenshit to ask anything that mattered.
"Very, very simplified, but yes. The Tree probably has a whole failsafe-system if anything should happen to its main power source – it would surprise me if it hadn't."
I looked around us, seeing nothing and everything, friend and potential foes – a fuck ton of potential foes – this could all get down to some serious shit. The Pokémon were watching us from the Trees now, taking their distance from us to let us think… I thought. I could see Pokémon from inside the Tree, too, and behind the bushes, from the small river that ran down through the Tree, in the tall grass behind us – fucking everywhere! Waiting, calculating, analyzing us. Analyzing me…
Were we allowed to pass? Was I allowed to pass? I could see this plan get all kinds of fucked up in a few seconds if the Tree or the Pokémon protecting it didn't find me worthy.
And fuck what Riley said, I was gonna fight for it.
Judging, unblinking gazes rested heavily upon me, and I narrowed my eyes, staring back at them defiantly. I flexed my fingers and readied myself for the unexpected – or should I say the expected, because I was fucking expecting a nerve-wracking fight. Funnily, I wouldn't really mind a fight; it would be a perfect test. I could take them; I could take them all on – even the Tree.
Fuck the Tree.
The Tree…
The Tree cast its immense impression of otherworldly power upon me, as if to show just how awesome it was. The sheer size of the thing actually blocked the sunlight, leaving shadows for its protectors to hide in. The branches of Wailord proportions were swaying in a nonexistent wind, it looked like it was gonna reach for me…
I sighed, hating the awe and fear coursing through my blood at the mere sight of it; I should be immune to its power. One of its kind, not a fucking servant to a king. Definitely fuck the Tree…
In the trunk of the Tree was a giant hole caved in a conical shape, acting as an entrance to a different world beyond time and space, a gateway through Time and Space. And didn't that just sound marvelous and fantastic to you, Drew? Can someone hear my fucking prayers!
I clipped a Poké Ball from my belt and released the Pokémon inside.
Out of the brilliant white light emerged a huge, black, bipedal Pokémon covered in thick silver-colored armor, its head hidden underneath a skull from… something fucking large. Its blue eyes were shimmering with malicious intent; the thick muscles on its hind legs bulged and tensed with its every movement. My Aggron roared to life, shaking the ground beneath it, and I thought I detected some of the Pokémon move uneasily behind me. It made me smile; they shouldn't fear this Pokémon.
They should fear me.
"Hello Aggron," I said warmly, beckoning the great Pokémon down to me. It crouched down, painting with its long and dry tongue hanging out. I smiled lovingly – you heard me, Drew, lovingly – and patted the huge and benign being, mindful of the horns on the skull that leaked some kind of poison – I didn't care for a fever now. "We're about to explore this Tree here; think you can help us out?"
It nodded its head eagerly, wide-eyed in its excitement. I smiled and turned back to Riley. "Okay, I'm – what're you doing?"
Riley was breathing hard, standing some distance from me now and staring in disbelief between the Pokémon and me. "That's an – Aggron…"
I blinked and looked at my Pokémon. "Oh my fucking god, I think you might be right," I said, putting my hand in front of my mouth in abject horror. "What are we gonna do, what are we gonna do? No shit, Sherlock!"
"A fucking Aggron, Ash!" Aggron, probably not liking the tone, turned on Riley and growled, barring its teeth. There was no sign of the benign being standing there a second ago. "Woah, woah, easy – Ash you can't be serious! Recall it! You have to recall it!"
"Um…" I considered it… "No." For about two seconds. "Don't worry, it won't do anything unless I tell it to – or someone manage to piss it off enough…"
Riley looked at me like I'd grown a second head. "Have you even looked at the thing? There is a reason no Pokémon trainers catch an Aron anymore, Ash. Did you know that Aggron is the Pokémon that is statistically proved to be the most disloyal Pokémon once caught? It's the Pokémon that most often kills its master."
"Yes," I said, letting a mischievous grin playing on my lips. "That's why I knew I needed to have one."
"You're crazy." Riley shook his head, stepping far beside the growling Aggron without taking his eyes of it and walked over to the entrance. He sighed, obviously bracing himself. "Here goes nothing…"
And just like that he stepped through.
I followed him with Pikachu and Aggron by my side, and together we became the first two humans to enter the Tree of Beginning in a millennium.
I don't need a Deity to marvel at the complexity and beauty of the universe I see around me, feel around me. Remember that, man; we're all worth something. Every Pokémon and human is worth something. Remember that the next time you turn your back on someone.
The Tree had an Aura beyond mere Aura about it, something intangible and unexplainable. If I should give a satisfactory explanation it would sound along these lines: It was big and powerful, I was small and insignificant – short and to the point, Drew, short and to the fucked up bleeding matter...
I was once bit by a Seviper. After five days of agonizing pain, it died. A harmless joke… that is until you start looking for the hidden message, and let me tell you, it's not that hidden.
When you face something so great, so… otherworldly it changes you. I saw a glimpse of the Devil within me, I saw the monster lurking at the edge of my conscious, the monster I've been repressing every day since my mother past over. We are at war with madness turned real, Drew, but I wage my greatest war inside myself – and I am afraid. Because sometimes I fear the other side might be right…
I mean, take a look at what has happened in the last couple of weeks. The world keeps pushing on us without mercy, plunging us in misery and despair. And then I stood up and cried out injustice, and look what the world did. It adjusted its perfectly tailored suit, pointed its finger at me, and screamed – EVIL!
I'm not here to file a complaint, Drew; I'm not here to make friends. We're not friends; we will never be friends. Because you're everything I hate about this world. You're like those people who made it possible for someone like Giovanni to gain so much power. We've met before, you probably don't remember.
Okay, the next time you make that nervous gesture – yes, that one – the next time you flick that freakishly green hair of yours… I'm gonna snap of your hand. Got it? Good.
So… heh… let's get a move on.
I closed my eyes as we stepped into the wooden plateau, bracing myself for the coming impact of whatever protection the entrance to the Tree had, with Aura it could be anything.
Silence…
I tentatively opened my eyes and looked around. Nothing. I noted the brown wooden walls of the entrance hall, enticing blue crystals engraved into them randomly, all of them in different sizes and shapes. I could see two holes carved in the wall at the other side of the room, two rock tunnels stretching into the darkness beyond, hidden by a thin curtain of crystal-blue water that felt from a stream from somewhere I couldn't see or feel. It all had this weird aroma about it. It smelled… old and new, all at the same time. I don't know how to explain it, man, just old and new.
My Pokémon looked at me weirdly, probably wondering if the pressure was getting to me. I ignored them for now and, keeping a wary eye at my surroundings, reflexively engaged my Aura, a pulse of energy resonated from my body. The Tree did nothing, no monster came jumping from under the ground, and everything was utter silence.
Then something clicked. Like a needle hitting the floor, lights flashed and walls rumbled, as the crystals was sucked into the walls, the holes flashing blue, bathing us in a divine light.
The Tree shook so violently I almost lost my balance, man. The vibrant blue light was bending in the air like a fucking whip, reaching for us…
I wobbled unsteadily on my feet, but managed to keep my balance through the trembling. I looked around as the Tree stopped moving; noting that the crystal-blue light had found its target, and to my surprise it wasn't reaching for me. It was reaching for Riley, unnatural slow in its movement, as if taunting us.
"What's going on?" Riley asked, even though he looked like he knew exactly what was going on. He's face was ghostly white, all color quickly draining from his skin. "Ash, do something!"
"I can't," I said. The Crystal-lights changed colors, going from blue to an angry red. I became lightly frustrated – only lightly, of course, this guy had his temper under tight control…
"You know what? Fuck this!" I lifted my hand, my palm flashing blue in an instant, and shot an Aura Sphere into the red whip of light.
My blue ball struck the red light, making it flicker in and out of existence. Then the light seemed to grow a fucking mind of its own, changing target and going for me. "Oh shit!" I hunched over and braced myself, throwing my hands in front of me. A thin, shimmering blue energy field poured out of my palms, encompassing me and my companions. I protected us all, Pokémon and human.
I had tested this shield against all the fires and unstoppable forces this world could produce, Drew. Nothing, and I repeat, nothing could break this shield down when I decided to unleash, man. The shield had stood against all odds and more without breaking; it was an unrelenting force, an immoveable power. I was an otherworldly force of mother-fucking-nature!
The red light cut through my shield like it was paper.
"Ah fuck that," I said matter-of-factly before the red whip like light hit me.
I was faintly aware of my shield exploding in a rain of multiple colors, I was faintly aware of Pikachu's and Aggron's cries, I was faintly aware of Riley yelling my name as I felt to my knees. It wasn't pain that lanced through my body, just a pressure on my soul that almost pushed me to insanity.
The power, it's mind-blowing – too much…
I brought my hands to my temples, pressing down hard and biting back a scream of agony – okay, now came pain. It felt like the Tree was tearing through my very being, my very soul, pushing me beyond the brink of insanity in its scrutinizing of my mind. Cool lances of thunder-like pain shot down my spin, making me arch my body. I thought I heard my joints pop.
And then it all stopped. The blue light appeared again, replacing the red rays, and I could once again feel human… for a time.
"Huh?" I blinked, I lay on my back. When did I fall? My body… felt fine. I flexed my limps and rolled my back. Nothing. No pain, no ache – nothing. "What the fuck just happen?" I asked, blinking at the roof. There were green lianas and fresh branches hanging low from it, I noticed. And the roof wasn't wood, but black and grey rocks.
I hadn't noticed that on my entrance into the Tree. Weird…
Suddenly, my vision of the loft was blocked by a familiar face. "It seems… that you passed the Tree's test," Riley said, giving me a hand up. I took it, getting my feet easily. I narrowed my eyes; the blue light wasn't shinning at me anymore, but at the route on our left side.
It was pretty clear what the Tree wanted us to do.
"Think we can trust it?" I asked, as Riley checked his scanner.
"It appears to be the quickest way up," Riley said with no small amount of indecision in his voice. "But is it the safest, I wonder…"
"Fastest is all I need to know."
I strode confidently to the exit – all part of the mask, buddy. Show no weakness, they'll explore every weakness they can sniff out of you, man. A narrow rocky tunnel was visible behind the thin curtain of water that fell over the entrance in gentle waves. In my hands, I held two Aura Spheres, locked and loaded if I should meet any more… resistance.
The Tree wasn't gonna get me with my pants down again, I kept telling myself that I'd just been unprepared, that I still had a fucking chance.
Aggron was quick to follow its Master with Pikachu on its back, and Riley taking up the rear, holding a noticeable distance to the armored Pokémon.
I went through the flimsy liquid curtain, the water soaking my body in cool waves and I shivered in delight, feeling more happy than I'd ever felt since – wait… that was not-
"Wait! The water is – oh…"
The stream of water stopped, revealing the entrance for Riley and my Pokémon to enter. The crystals embedded in the concrete walls flashed to life, lighting up the road ahead and making the stone-walls seem alive.
Hell, they likely were alive. They were probably a different life form, man, beyond human perception. Heh, sounds familiar?
Stranger things had happen before.
Smaller things had tried to kill me before.
I've no idea, no fucking clue, man. What are we even talking about? It could have been just another tunnel; it could have been just another pathway made out of stone if it wasn't for those gems adoring the walls. They held something beautiful inside of them.
I was mesmerized without really noticing. Those stone of blue were singing to me like a pair of angels offering themselves to me on cold, lonely night. I felt humbled yet powered, I was small and of no importance yet I was part of something big and meaningful.
I know it makes no sense, but the Tree will never make sense. It was an impossibility made reality, beautiful in its simplicity, haunting in its complexity. I'm not being so vague because I want to sound mysterious. This was an ethereal setting.
But let's drop it; you clearly don't believe a word I'm saying anyway. I wish I could allow myself to be as ignorant as you, you know.
I wonder if it's really necessary with this, ah, interview. I mean, sometimes people need a dramatic example to get them to act. Maybe I should make an example out of you. No? Then stop being so fucking gullible, and start to think for yourself for change.
Stop giving me those answers, Drew! Give me your own opinion, not what Lance instructed you to say. What do you think? What do you believe in, man? Even shrinks got to have dreams, right?
You won't talk about you? Why? Ha! I'm not getting into your head? Drew, Drew, Drew, I'm already in your head.
I ducked under a low rock hanging from the roof and danced my way around the rocky ground, taking in the scratched surface of the walls and dead Pokémon corpses around me, lying like garbage against the walls.
Someone had fought here.
I wrinkled my nose at the sight and the smell. Decay filled the air, and I, tearing a piece of my shirt off, covered my nostrils. Looking ahead, I could see the tunnel going on forever, the blue light becoming an all-consuming mist a couple hundred meters ahead, hiding whatever was beyond.
The mist was Aura, just like everything else in this godforsaken place. Wait, was I pissing on Arceus territory by saying that? Ah well, we only live once.
Riley had finally joined me in the tunnel, a piece of his own clothes protecting him against the smell, his eyes narrowing against the vast fog of blue light. "Well, that's unsettling…" he said, almost trailing off. "I can't see a thing."
Why did his voice shake so goddamn much? What was he afraid of? A little light?
"I can…" I cut through the mystic blue light, my Aura tearing a hole through it easily, granting my senses a visualization of the long tunnel. "…see just fine."
My mind ran along the thin tendril of energy, almost scratching my way through the fog, as I kept an eye on the ground and walls for traps. I searched for Pokémon, too, but came up empty-handed. It was longer than I thought it would be, longer than Riley's scanner had showed – somehow I doubted it was Riley's device that was anything wrong with.
And then I was thrown out of the link. Something blocked the road, the connection, and I felt like I'd just run into a concrete wall with full force.
I groaned and twitched, feeling a fierce pounding behind my eyes, raw pain battering away in the back of my head. I let a hand through my hair, feeling blood running through my fingers.
A wound?
I opened my eyes and found the stone-roof meeting my gaze, going in and out of focus as the world swam around me.
I was lying down? Again? Yes, yes, I was.
Ah fuck it all to Hell!
Dazed and half-conscious, I rose unsteadily to my feet, feeling the back of my head throb with pain and blood. The world didn't stop swimming; spinning, if anything it got worse. A shadow passed over my face and I felt someone stand behind me, I looked over my shoulder. Riley…
Riley.
I blinked at the man, trying to figure out why my Aura couldn't detect him when he was standing right next to me. It should do it as naturally as breathing.
He's standing right next to me, I thought. Why can't I feel him?
"Ash? Ash, can you hear me? ASH!"
He sounded like he spoke from a tunnel, the voice echoing in my head.
Heh…
Speaking from a tunnel…
Oh fuck.
"Ash-"
"Yeah, yeah, fine, fine, I hear you," I muttered, pressing a hand to my forehead. "Could you keep your voice down? I'm right next to you."
"What happened?"
"I thought the Tree had accepted us," I said, getting to my feet easily, my pain erased by my growing anger.
"What happened?" Riley repeated.
"I got fucked over!" I growled, throwing my hands up. "There's something at the end of that tunnel, something I doubt will let us through willingly."
"Well, there's no other way than forward," Riley said, gesturing to the wall of tree behind us, the sealed way we went in from some minutes ago. "Although, we could go back and take the other way, I suppose…"
"No, we go this way." I didn't want to go back just to go another way, felt too much like admitting defeat. "There has got to be a reason for the Tree to put extra defense on this road."
So we went onwards, trekking through the dark tunnel bathed in dim crystal-blue light with bated breaths and alert gazes, my Aura consciously searching before rounding every corner. But my gaze kept lingering at Riley, trying to figure out why I couldn't feel the man.
"What?" Riley snapped, catching me staring at him.
"Nothing," I whispered, quickly turning my focus back on the road.
The tunnel turned steep, and I was well aware that we were making our way upwards now, through twisting tunnels and narrow corridors we climbed the Tree like it was a fucking mountain.
I hope we don't have to go all the way to the top, I thought.
I had no idea what would meet us, no idea what kind of protection that could hurt me like that from such a distance. The energy sources Riley's strange device had picked up before we entered came to mind, but I dismissed them quickly. Those energy sources had been roots infested into the ground, or sources of energy meant to give the Tree life.
This was something different, its intent all too dark and hostile. I had no fucking clue what it was, but I could feel it still, its energy growing as we grew closer to the source.
The road evened out, and while I couldn't see it with my eyes, my Aura could see the flimsy shield – so much like the one I had used against the red beam before in the entrance hall, yet different where it mattered – just fine, like I was standing right next to it.
It felt familiar, eerily so – like staring into a mirror and see your evil twin.
The shield, the weapon of destruction, was pulsing an aura of strength and intimidation at me, all but ordering me to stand down and turn around.
A sane man would have turned, should have turned. It was the only logical choice. No sense in putting your life on the line for something you weren't sure would help you. I wasn't even sure what I was going in to. Why the hell was I even there? Because a man I deep down didn't trust told me it was necessary.
Fuck, I feel like a fool telling you this story, Drew.
"Stay here," I said, turning a quick eye to my Pokémon. "Fire at everything that moves. Got it?"
Aggron rumbled an affirmative, looking, for once, completely serious. Pikachu gave an affirmative cry, too, but it looked troubled, like it wanted object. It was afraid for me.
Riley couldn't take the madness anymore. "You can't control a Pokémon like that!" he whispered furiously, gesturing madly to the Aggron. "It will kill me the moment you disappear out of sight!"
I shook my head, a haughty smirk on my lips. "No, it won't. I ordered it not to," I said.
"And it will mean absolutely nothing the moment you're gone from its line of sight!" Riley's voice was rising, echoing in the narrow tunnel. "It's a fucking Aggron, not an Alakazam! It doesn't have the brain capacity to remember your order."
"Would you keep it down," I hissed through gritted teeth. "Trust me; Aggron will do you no harm. But if you continue insulting it, I won't make any promises."
"But-but… no one can train an Aggron that well. You can't do that."
"Hey, it's me we're talking about," I grinned. "And it's not about the training," I said, "it's about making you the alpha-monster of the pack, making sure there's no doubt who calls the shots."
"How can you do that with an Aggron?" he asked, somehow able to put on a perplexed and exasperated look on his face, rolling his eyes at my words. "There're normally over thirteen feet tall and weighs God knows how much, and that one looks even bigger! It would crush you in a second – well, maybe not you…" he trailed off uncertainly, clearly not wanting to be left alone with my Pokémon.
He didn't have a choice; I'd need to do the next part alone if what I thought would happen came to pass.
"It's all about chemistry, you know, finding the yin to the yang, and all that shit."
"Fuck you," Riley spat at me.
I laughed. "No thanks. Listen… suck it up!" I cut the line with this argument, effectively ending it. We had a Tree to conquer and this man was acting like he had never seen action before. "We need to get passed this and I can't do that if I have to hold your hand the entire way."
Something in my voice must have caught Riley's attention, because the man stopped bickering and looked attentively at me. "I still don't like this," he said, looking like a stubborn child to me.
This is no time for a nervous breakdown, I thought. "I promise you, Aggron won't do you anything. He's just as well-trained as Pikachu." Well, almost…
I turned on the spot and treaded carefully towards where I could feel the awesome energy pulsating behind the mist of blue light, ignoring whatever Riley said and keeping my own awesome powers under tight control.
For now…
The walls began to close in on me on all sides, the tunnel narrowing down until I had trouble maneuvering. I felt the power of the shield in front of me running through the crystals, making my hair stand on end as I broke through the static mist. Arriving in a world of flickering maelstrom, suppressed by a dark, chaotic power, I hardened my resolve; this was definitely what had kicked me out before.
In front of me was one of the most volatile powers I had ever felt, probably sent straight from Hell to protect one of the most pure things this world knew, or didn't know – a relic of the past…
I didn't know it at the time, but this power was created by Giratina. You've never heard of that Pokémon, have you, Drew? It's the Devil Pokémon, sealed away by Arceus before mankind was even thought about by evolution.
The giant quantity of power in front of me sizzled with barely restrained power, its core flashing between crimson-red and emerald-green and crystal-blue with thick tendrils of black thunder crisscrossing over its outer layer. I stepped back and assessed my limited options, wondering for a moment if I should just blast my way through.
Well, why not?
I raised my hand and gathered the immense energy inside me, feeling it surge through my arm and hardening in a blink of an eye. An Aura Sphere appeared in my hand, blazing like a blue sun, and I locked eyes on the core of the shield, targeting it as its strong and weak point.
It made sense to me, man; it made so very much sense to me.
I took a deep breath, took aim, pulled my hand back and threw the Sphere like you would with a normal ball. It struck true, going right through the outer protective layer and into its core and-
-sputtered out of existent like a balloon losing air.
Then the core changed, surged with a newfound energy like it had absorbed my energy – it just changed all the rules I had come to accept as unbreakable, man, as impossible as hearing a Meowth start speaking English. Aura wasn't supposed to be absorbed! Dammit!
The vortex of spinning Aura expanded, quickly growing in mass and fucking power to the brink of destruction. It pushed against the walls, and stones started to fall around me. The ground beneath my feet shook and rumbled, and the whole tunnel felt like it could collapse any second.
I had no idea, no clue, no grasp of this power, and just what the fuck I was dealing with. It seemed strange that the Tree of Beginning, the Tree that stood for all life on this Earth would be protected by something so… destructive.
Well, sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. No, scratch that, you always have to fight fire with fire.
My eyes widened, my pulse jumped, and I acted on instinct, jumping back as one of the tendrils lashed out, blazing like a whip on fire. It missed me by an inch and cleaved the ground I had just been standing on in two.
That's my power, I thought, even as I dodged another shaft of green fire. My mind was burning with anger. It absorbed my fucking Aura!
The blue mist behind me began to spin, a wind howling out of nowhere. It zoomed past me, kissing my skin with its restrained power that only I could feel, and joined the core that was trying to burn me alive.
It connected and all air seemed to be sucked into the vortex for a second, before blasting me with a fearsome velocity, sending me flying flat on my ass.
I tucked and rolled with the blow on the stone ground, coming up on my knees a second later and my hands extended towards the chaos. A liquid substance poured out of my hands and came alive around me, covering the narrow path in front of me with a solid shield.
None of that flimsy shit now!
The being in front of me – and it was a being with a mind, I was sure of that – attacked me with renewed vigor, sending blast of blue energy and wisps of fire into my shield. Like a thunderstorm, I felt them hit the shield and batter away at my soul, my body shaking under the strain of the powers of Hell.
I heard someone screaming – probably myself – and smiled fiercely.
"Okay, Ketchum," I said – screamed – to myself. Give them hell!
I pushed with my body and my shield complied, pressing against the onslaught, pushing it back slowly.
The tunnel began to freeze and I could see my own breathe on the air, as I sluggishly pushed the last of my will into destroying the thing.
My shield overpowered the thing, and it screamed with fury as I swallowed it whole with my Aura. A sound, like metal grinding on metal gonged through the tunnel…
And then it was over. The wind stopped, the bleeding chaos stilled, and I released my control, my shield flicking to nothing.
I stopped screaming, too, and slumped to the ground, exhausted and drained of feelings in my limps, yet I felt great, felt alive.
Was it arrogant to believe that I could fight it head-on?
Maybe, but sometimes you have to fight fire with fire… with fire. What did I say before, Drew?
Yeah, pretty much – or something.
Whatever, man…
I stood up despite my shaking limps and fierce headache, and gazed upon the scene of our fight and what lay beyond that. There was a crater in the ground beneath where the monstrous thing had been, the implosion that had happened under my shield when the pressure became too much and the room to little had destroyed most of the ground.
Had I planned for that to happen – trap the thing in its own power?
Had I known it would happen?
I narrowed my eyes… had I?
Yes…
No…
I blinked away the fatigue. Ahead of me, I could see blissful sunlight, an end of the fucking tunnel. The crystals impaled in the walls had gone out with the Being, leaving the rocky tunnel in darkness.
I felt more than saw Riley and my Pokémon come to stand beside me.
Wait, I felt…
I turned my head sideways, groaning as my neck protested, and looked at the man. Yes! He was there. I could feel him again, see him again. Had the Being been leeching on my powers since I first encountered it in my Aura-vision? I hadn't felt anything, but it looked like it might have.
Oh well, moving on.
Wonder what's next, I thought. Lugia, I joked and sighed. Ah, hopefully not, though, it wouldn't have surprised me.
Riley shook his head at me, looking at the destruction I had made. "You just took it head on, didn't you?" he asked after a long moment.
I shrugged, seeing no point in denying it.
He sighed. "Why does that not surprise me?"
I ignored him, and turned to the sunlight just beyond the dark, narrow tunnel's ending. I couldn't see what was on the other side, but it couldn't be that bad, could it? There was sunlight, after all.
The famous last words, right?
I went out of the passageway and into the light. Aggron, with Pikachu on its shoulder, had to squeeze itself through the narrowing sides of the tunnel's end. "Was there any problems on your end?" I asked over my shoulder.
"None," Riley said. "Your Aggron is the most impressive Aggron I've ever encountered."
"I know."
We breached the sunlight, and I stopped talking and breathed out slowly. "That's something else…"
Before me was perhaps the single most amazing thing I had ever seen. We stood upon a grassy platform, suspended to the inner wall of the Tree a couple hundred meters in the air. On the ground below us ran a stream of sparkling water towards a little lake, spears of brilliant white lights shooting up into the crystal roof from gems in the water. Shooting over hundreds of feet in the air, columns of tree rose in lines on the fields beside the river, going all the way up to the roof and whatever was beyond.
But it was the thing in the center a little above us, hanging midair from the roof, which caught my gaze. Looking like a bunch of banana. Crystals – bigger than anyone I had ever seen – hung low like a chandelier between the Trees, casting a glow over the clearing.
And I could feel Aura emanating from it – oh man, what an Aura.
"Can you feel that?" I asked, staring transfixed at the Aura-crystals.
"How can I not?" Riley approached me and stopped beside me, his hand resting on my shoulder. "We've to go. Our destination should be directly above that thing."
"Okay…" What are you not telling me?
There was a cry that roared through the clearing, and I saw an Aerodactyl fly by us. Yeah, I'm not kidding, an Aerodactyl just flew by like it was a normal occurrence.
"We're being watch," I said, feeling eyes on me again and again and… "The Pokémon are watching us from… everywhere."
Riley nodded, not saying anything and leading us up the side road – the only way off the plateau we stood on. I followed the road with my eyes, and saw it twisting all the way up and through the roof, disappearing behind a wall of blackness. My senses were oddly quiet about what lay behind.
My senses told me what Riley's machine had told us before we entered, though. We were on the right way, but still…
"There is something up there – beyond the roof," I said.
"I know," Riley answered simply.
Of course you do, I thought.
We moved onwards, creeping carefully along the dirt road, but our gaze kept flickering back out over the view, more than once a flock of Pokémon caught my gaze. They looked healthy, unnaturally so. They had no scars or signs of a life spent struggling for survival. How was that?
I stopped to look at a small group of Nidoran playing in the side of the road. They stopped when I did and looked at me with inquisitive gazes. One of them – a Nidoran – crawled to me, sniffing curiously at my pants.
I reached down to pet its pinkish purple hide, mindful to not touch its horn. I doubted I could have raised it healthier myself; its skin was raw and strong.
It purred delightfully, looking up at me with its strangely intelligent red eyes. Wild Pokémon didn't usually show any sign of higher intelligence, not until they were caught and had been trained by a trainer at least.
Was it the Tree's doing?
I stood up, making the Nidoran run back to its family. They kept staring at me as I joined Riley, its parent looking at me with what looked like speculative eyes. Together we reached the oval-shaped hole in the roof of the Tree.
The darkness that laid beyond consumed whatever was in there, but I didn't want to be detested and walked through it. I couldn't penetrate the darkness with my eyes, but my Aura…
The darkness turned to blue as I focused my Aura on the world around me, everything lighting in stark clarity. What met my eyes scared the shit out of me. The shock hit me like lightning, making me go into a defensive stand as I saw just what I had stepped into, what I was up against.
It was a corridor, carved in well worked white marble, and it was leading up to a golden temple with an oval roof and an arch-shaped door, tunnels were carved into the walls, but they were guided. Pokémon lined both walls of the corridor, all with alert eyes and strong bodies. Their stands were tensed, muscles bulging under their skin. This must be the fighters, I realized. The Pokémon trained to fight in this small society inside the Tree. Their skin was marred with old and new scars from battling. But their eyes, man, their wild, animalistic eyes held the same uncommon signs of trained intelligence as all the other inhabitants, tinged with a very, very dangerous edge.
I swallowed, feeling Riley stop beside me, his hand holding tightly to my shirt so as to not get lost in the dark.
"What is it? Why did we stop?"
I took out my Poké Ball and recalled Aggron with the red beam, making Pikachu jump onto my shoulder. I knew Pikachu could see a little in the dark. I also knew that Aggron could see almost clearly, but, after some consideration, I decided that having Aggron out looked far too much like a challenge. A Pikachu was considered a much more gentle being.
I was trying to play it safe, actually using my brain for a change.
The wild Pokémon growled, one of them sounding like a computer. My head flew around like whip, I'd heard that terrible sound before. "No, surely not…"
My eyes ran along the walls, searching for the Pokémon making the specific sound. When my eyes caught the Pokémon at the back of the line near the Temple I breathed out in slight despair.
Ah fuck…
Regigigas towered over all others, its very presence and power commanding everyone's attention in the corridor. I wondered how I hadn't seen it before now. Its white, skeletal arms hang loosely down its white body, the yellow decayed flesh on its top flapped down its midriff and shoulders. I caught its gaze – or I think I did – and had to suppress a shudder, as the multi-colored, dead, dot-like eyes saw right through me.
I wondered how old this Pokémon was for a moment, even while the black strips on its body flashed yellow. I caught a glimpse of something behind it; three energy sources appeared out of nowhere and it only took an instant for me to identify them.
Regirock, Regice and Registeel all came alive behind their creator, all looking different from each other with their specific typing, and yet looking something alike.
Created in their creator's reflection, the three Pokémon all had the same lifeless, dot-like eyes and somewhat robotic appearances. The all spotted different typing, identifiable by their names, and I could hear a metallic scraping sound emanating from them.
"Is that… Regigigas?" Riley asked, his voice full of disbelieve and fear.
"Yeah…" I said, trailing off. "And the other three – ah fucking hell!"
I felt my blood boil, in fear or anger I wasn't sure, and was about to charge the four Pokémon with Charizard and Pikachu and everything else I could throw at these motherfuckers that stood between us and the temple behind them. I didn't even know what was in the temple, but if so many Pokémon were guiding it there had to be something good in there.
Then weird things started to happen around me.
The lights went on from somewhere I didn't know, and had no time to find out, blinding my eyes and forcing them closed. And then Regigigas stepped aside, apparently commanding the three others to do the same and revealed the door for us again.
"What – Riley!"
Riley had slumped down, paralyzed with evidently fear at the sight of the four Pokémon. His face had turned white and his body was shaking terribly, we were seeing madness – but he was apparently a virgin to this kind of fuck up.
He looked scared out of his mind.
"Riley? Riley… Riley!" I couldn't penetrate him, he just didn't respond, staring past me with a far-away look. "Goddammit, Riley! You were the one who wanted to do this!" I hauled him over my right shoulder, stepping with measured step past the Regigigas, making sure it didn't deceive us, as I opened the brown door whit my left shoulder.
Sometimes appearances can be deceiving, Drew. Remember that.
The Pokémon let us through, but I thought the Regigigas tried to make eye contact with me. I caught a quick look at it just before the door swung closed behind us.
It warned me – or it looked like it tried to. But what was it warning me about? There was nothing in the temple, none that I could find at least. Normally, I'd take that as a good sign, a sign I could rely on. But this place had showed me that even though I had improved there was still things that could get the drop on me.
My body tensed and I turned on the spot, feeling a mind-boggling energy appearing in the room out of nowhere. I searched everywhere in the room, using every part of my considerable power to find the source of this energy, ignoring the pitiful moans from Riley. But there were no sign of another living soul beyond Pikachu, Riley and me.
Had it really meant to warn me, I asked myself. Or did I read it wrong? No, it had definitely warned me about something. But what? There was nothing but the energy, no kinds of life form save us. The energy source was fucking everywhere.
"When will it end?" I whispered, more than a little out of breath, and my emotions running a little too high. I would sleep well tonight – dead or alive, I would sleep well. Well, the wound in my neck might have had another opinion.
"Soon…"
I jumped, my heart missing a beat, and spun on the wooden floor with an Aura Sphere ready in my palm.
I came face-to-face with Riley, almost taking his head off with my attack.
I saw red, I saw fucking blood, maybe the stress was getting to me. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? I could've taken you head off!" I whispered, trying to convey how much I considered actually doing it. This man had been nothing but trouble ever since we stepped inside this fucking tree – Tree.
"We're almost there, Ash. You're almost there, son," he whispered, his eyes growing distant and voice… prophetic. "There is no good afterlife for men who don't act in time of world crisis. Is there redemption, I wonder? For those who made it happen, for those who opened the box and peered inside it out of curiosity? Will there be a choir of angels singing my welcome? Did I make myself worthy of such a welcome? Did I redeem myself for my crimes to this word or will I wake up, burned in the fires of Hell?"
Ah, what the fuck was that? I stared at the man, forgetting for a moment the awesome power we shared the room with.
Oh, the mistakes of our lives, what could be, what would be, and the fucking stupid decisions of turning your back to the hungry Feraligatr and act as if it wasn't there.
I did it for a man who had obviously just knocked one to many screws loose. A man I had if not liked; then come to respect in some ways. Respect but never trust… "Are you with me, Riley? What crimes? What are you talking about?"
"The real question is if you're with me…" he coughed. "But then again, you never were very good at asking the right questions. Crimes indeed…"
"You're talking as if you're dying…"
"We're all dying."
Ah okay. "Look, we don't have time for this goddamn shit." I looked around the room. It was a simple decorated room. The brown wooden walls were lined with silver candles coating them, giving the room a warmth and glow that seemed inviting. At the end of the room, directly opposite was a floor-to-roof painting of a man I had never seen before. The man was wearing grey shirt and pants with a blue west over his shirt, a black cape and a blue and black hat. His hair was black and his eyes blue.
Wait, I'd seen this man, but he looked different… I searched my memories for the man's looks. There was similarities but he looked different. He looked better. The painting looked old, yet well kept, it felt old somehow.
Under the painting was a set of old stone steps, leading up to a pedestal that carried a black and white box.
"Can you feel it – the power?" Riley asked, breaking my mesmerized gaze and gaining my attention. "It's everywhere… everywhere, blocking everything else."
His eyes blazed with a fire I couldn't look away from. "Take a look at what's in the box. You were born to wear it."
Some pieces were starting to fall into place. Riley clearly knew more than he'd let on. I had a feeling we were exactly where he wanted us.
I went to the box, afraid and excited at the same time. I had a pretty good idea – no, I knew who it was in the painting – but I didn't know anything about the box. It all seemed so wrong, Riley, the Pokémon, everything was screaming for me to not listen to him, yet I felt it was my – duty to take what was inside.
I took the three steps slowly and came to stand before the box. I heard Riley having trouble rising behind me, but paid it no mind as I unclasped the golden lock. Pikachu jumped onto my shoulder again, looking down at the box with me.
My hands shook as I slowly lifted the lid, revealing the box contents. I blinked, taking the thing out and examining it closely.
It was a ring.
A silver-grey ring with black and blue dots that formed some kind of symbol I couldn't see.
It had Aura – a fuck ton of it, the little thing blazing pure energy.
With my breath held and my body shaking with barely restrained eager, I put the ring on my left finger. I didn't know why I did it, man, but something was compelling me to do it. Today it's quite clear what made me do it.
"ASH! LOOK OUT! FUCK, ARGH!"
I spun on the pedestal in time to see a Nidoking lifting Riley up and smashing him through the wall and into the next room, Riley leaving the room kicking and screaming and bleeding.
I lifted my palm on instinct, shooting an Aura Sphere into the giant Nidoking, as I unclipped Charizard's Poké Ball from my belt and Pikachu hopped down from my shoulder to join the fight.
Nothing of it mattered.
It didn't matter a goddamn thing, because before my hand had even made it half-way down to my belt, before Pikachu had even connected to the floor. Hell, before my Aura Sphere had carved a hole in Nidoking's armor and body, shooting out the other side of its body in a spray of hot, red blood, effectively taking its life, a Hyper Beam gunned us down.
It hit the floor right in front of us with such an impossible strength that it could only have been one Pokémon who made it. Looking up, even as my body was slammed against the painting and the house was shaking and crashing through the ground and into the crystals I'd admired not half an hour ago, I saw the backstabbing Regigigas.
"Fuck you, you mother-"
My insult was broken short when gravity took its hold on the half of the house me and Pikachu were in, the half of the house that was crashing into the floor below, throwing us against the roof like a rack-dolls.
I groaned as my head connected painfully to the roof, then the house tilted in its tumbling, and I was thrown head first into floor again.
I heard Pikachu cry out, but there was nothing left of me to care, nothing left of me to do anything with. I knew Pokémon, even the smaller ones like Pikachu, were usually more sturdy than humans, and Pikachu had trained hard most of its life…
It would survive. I hoped…
The world was blackening fast, even though I tried with all my being to stay awake. There was just nothing left.
Did I redeem myself for my crimes to this word?
I hadn't. I had only just begun to try, but it seemed I'd never get the chance to even finish my start.
The house tilted a final time. Hitting the roof hard again, I blacked out, seeing my hand turned weirdly grey and tingly. The hallucinations of death…
Pikachu's cries rang in my ears.
I was long dead to the world when the house hit the river on the ground below.