Disclaimer: Still not mine.
A/N: You don't have to read this if you already have. I've just changed a couple of mistaskes I found. Maybe it isn't such a good idea staying up all night to finish a chapter. I think I made a few extra blunders - or I know I made some - beyond those I found while reading it through. Oh well, tell me if you find more. I know it's a bad excuse, but English isn't my mother tongue.
End of My Journey – Beginning of My Legend
Heroes are remembered.
But Legends never die.
-Riley
Have you ever felt like you were awake, but wasn't really. Have you ever felt you were somewhere, but your heart just wasn't in it? Have you ever felt you mattered when it really counted for something? That when the shit got real you were there because you could make the goddamn difference?
Have you, Drew?
You believe so? You think you matter sitting here and talking to me? You think any of this shit matters? Well, let me tell you something. It's all lies and make-believe, harsh but true. The truth is if you weren't here someone else would be talking to me. You're… replaceable.
I've felt all of the above a lot of fucking times, and every single one of them was as fake as the last – like when the authorities tells you it's gonna be alright and then one second later everything becomes chaos around you. I thought for a moment I could turn the tide, make that glorified fucking difference and save our species from extinction. Maybe I still can.
One man can make all the difference…
So who's the idiot? The politicians that fills us with meaningless bullshit just to keep themselves in office. Corrupt bastards the lot of them. Or the group of people I used to belong to, the people who just lap it all up because we don't want to face the possibility that tomorrow could be our last among the living.
What are we gonna do? If someone ever found an answer would they mind telling me before I sink too deep? Because I'm sinking, man. I'm sinking and there is nothing left of me to stop it. So you want to know how I survived, right? I can see it in your eyes, Drew; the eyes are the way into a person's soul, or something like that… I think I said that before.
But you already know, don't you? Of course you do, of course you do. I didn't at the time. I mean, how could I? I hadn't been exposed at the time, hadn't seen the light. I didn't know the sheer thrill of being in control, of being in the know.
I hadn't seen the other side of the coin, the good and the bad…
Do you want to know what immeasurable power is? You don't have to answer that, I already know you do. We all want to know what power is. Happening as we speak beyond that mirror: Misty is scratching her cheek, a far-away look on her face, her beautiful green gaze mesmerized upon my every word. Lance stands at the back of the room, back straight and arms crossed. He's frowning, Drew, and now his shuffling nervously on the spot because how the fuck do I do this, man?
Giovanni leaves the room now, saying he has business to take care of at the Gym. Goodbye, asshole. Do let the door hit you on your way out, if you please.
Where was I? Don't worry, I know – just making conversation.
Have you ever tried it, Drew? Taking control? Being the one everyone has to consider before taking action? Of course you haven't. You're just a shrink that gets pushed around by your bosses all the goddamn time, right?
Well, I'll let you in on a little secret, come closer I don't bite – you know I can't – that's it. Now hear this: Power feels good.
I just unnerved you, didn't I? Please, don't lie; I see right through that kind of thing. I have a reader inside this helmet feeding me numbers and statistics directly into my brain. Your pulse just went up twenty percent, your body temperature is rising now – you're getting uncomfortable, Drew. That sudden spike of your pulse tells me more than one hour gazing into my unblinking red stare is ever gonna tell you.
The call me Red, remember? Of course you do, heh, you're never gonna forget that now, huh? You're wondering if you'll live through this, ah, interrogation to see your wife. Your kids. You don't know if your bosses set you up to the lion, but you think they might have.
That, my friend, is immeasurable power.
I am immeasurable power – and I've barely even made a fucking dent in the surface.
Oh. The story, right, you just want my story, and with all the cutting-edge details you can squeeze out of me. You still haven't forgotten your orders, huh? Get me to give you a clue into my real identity, get a face on the man hiding behind the blood red visor of my helmet.
Well, sure. I'm just waiting for the guys in the other room to connect the dots and kick you out. Trust me; you'll be long gone when I'm done telling my story, shipped off to a place where you can never reveal any secrets.
I'd stop thinking about going home if I were you…
Don't look so surprised, it must have occurred to you that this wasn't just another day on the office.
The story, right, I keep getting sidetracked by my… human side.
I awoke to a world bathed in fire and insanity… as usual.
I heard noises, cries of pain and suffering. The world was turned ablaze to my eyes, but I wasn't really there – my mind wasn't there. My mind was… contaminated, taken over by some fierce otherworldly being hell-bent on consuming me in raw insanity.
I was looking at the abyss, Drew. It was fucking screaming at me, reaching for me to join in its black madness. It was just fire and black, fire and black everywhere. The wind howled at me like a hurricane with a target. War waged around me, and I was blind to it all.
I could smell fire, I could feel fire, and I didn't hear their screams of misery because my own was drowning them. I felt like I was falling, falling aimlessly as the lost souls do when Arceus forsakes them. Something bigger than me was gnawing at my mind, tearing it fucking asunder.
And then came the whispers.
Aura… body… Aura. AURA! The power of Aura is mine! Just who do you think you are? AURA IS MINE! GIVE ME WHAT IS MINE!
They were screaming at me, Drew. And the most fucking scary thing was that it sounded like my voice. The fire was leaving my world now, the blackness becoming never-ending. I could feel it slipping, my mind and soul being replaced by something… old.
Old and strong.
Yes! Give it to me. I've waited an eternity for this moment.
I could feel emotions not my own now, feeling, dreams and memories not my own coursing through the maelstrom of our bond. I was losing myself to the thing, and for a moment it felt good. Blissful. There was silence…
Then I saw myself, kneeling in front of a creature with so much power it made me feel dizzy. It had the shape of a centaur, but there was nothing half-human about this Pokémon. Its body was white with a gray leathery abdomen and face. It eyes were green and its pupils blood red. It had some kind of golden wheel around its body; weird markings kept flicking with its every step. The long mane behind its head was floating in midair like it was running full speed.
It was walking on the air in front of me, judging me with its godforsaken red eyes. Expect it wasn't me that was kneeling. I was looking from behind the person, a silent spectator to a memory not my own.
Then it stopped walking, rumpling something unintelligible in the back of its throat. Whatever it did must have killed something somewhere – it wasn't my memory but I could still feel the power bleeding of this thing. Its form gained a golden glow, and a very little object left its wheel, floating gently down to the kneeling man.
The man lifted his hand and grasped the object out of the air, his every movement looking like a dying man's. "Thank you, thank you – I won't let you down. I promise," he whispered with a dying breath.
The memory dissolved into blackness again. My mind was all but gone now, just a fleeting memory in my body.
Then the other being disappeared, gone so fast I caught myself thinking that I had just been imagining it all. The other being leaving my consciousness in an instant. I was myself again – alone in my body.
I felt awake now, my senses were coming back. The abyss had left me. I was alive… but how? The world was still dark, the sounds were there but there were far away. Far away like someone was whispering them from the other end of a fucking long tunnel.
Can you feel it – the power? It's everywhere… everywhere, blocking everything else.
Riley… An old memory brought to the forefront of my mind, images and sounds flashing around me.
Can you feel it – the power? It's everywhere… everywhere, blocking everything else.
Was that rapture I had detected in his voice? Longing?
Blue runes and symbols twinkled like stars on a clear night sky. My eyes were seeing the fires and fights of the real world around me and the strange blue light upon the sky at the same time, as if seeing a different world through each eye. I didn't understand any of them – didn't understand what was going on – but they kept coming and coming, and suddenly I wasn't surrounded by skies, fire and fighting, but by a very familiar blue light.
The blue translucent light consumed the void; it blinded me with its fucking intensity.
And then a red face blasted through the light, like a thunderstorm on a cloudless sky, its face dead and eyes gouged out of its eye sockets. "WAKE UP!"
I awoke with a jolt, screaming and surviving against all odds. Odds I didn't even know I'd conquered at the time.
Fuck the odds!
I sat up, still screaming bloody murder, with a labored breathe and my wet arms extended before me, Aura Spheres blazing like hellfire in both hands.
My eyes widened as something spat a Flamethrower at me. Letting my body fall sideways, I rolled away in the water from the scorching flames. The pillar of inferno speed dried my armor and singed my skin as I just barely got out of the way.
I stopped my roll with my left hand in the shallow water and pushed myself to a sitting position, pumping my attacker full with Spheres of Aura. The Spheres cut through the fires like a hot knife through butter, and whatever attacked me didn't even have time to groan before it was down. The fire stopped coming and I caught my first glimpse of my attacker.
The Heatran had taken my attack directly to the face, its skull cracked open. I saw super-hot brown blood and gore running down the fucker's face, its reddish-brown metal frame had gone limp. It had died before it even hit the waters. I was getting good at this killing thing.
Was that a good thing?
Fuck, yes! I was alive and the Heatran wasn't.
Ah fuck. Maybe it wasn't, Pokémon had feelings too, right?
I ignored the sickening sight and my damn contradicting thoughts, my eyes analyzing my surroundings as I remembered to breathe again. My Pikachu was alive – thank God! – and was fighting savagely with a huge, blue and yellow dragon, jumping and spinning and attacking faster than the twenty feet tall dragon could follow. I had never seen such a Pokémon before, but I didn't have the time to fish out my Pokédex and see if it knew the stranger.
The world was on fire!
I looked beyond Pikachu, knowing it could handle itself despite the size and power difference. I had trained it to, after all. I looked beyond the river I was crouching in. I saw the grassy fields turned ablaze by the fighting, the white-hot flames that spread far too quickly to be a natural fire. The Water Pokémon tried to clench it with their water attacks, and I found myself wondering how they would make it count when more and more of their numbers were forced to take part in the fight.
Why are they fighting? I thought. They seemed so peaceful before…
They had seemed so healthy and smart – sophisticated beyond mere Pokémon, but not anymore. At least not all of them… the fucking Tree was coming undone around me. It seemed like no matter where I went I took the fighting with me, and wasn't that a sad thought.
Sad because it's true, I thought.
The shinning pillars of trees that arched like towers over me, connecting the ground level with the roof were rotting. Groaning and breaking before my eyes, the once unmovable objects were rattling in their cages now. The once beautiful water of the rivers had been contaminated by the blood and the ooze of the burning and dying flesh.
The Tree was dying.
I felt it swift and sure, the awesome power that had acted like a vacuum when we arrived were diminishing, slowly dying in front of me.
An attack screamed at my back, and I spun about in the red river, dodging the glowing purple beam and letting it pass over my shoulder and into the inner wall of the Tree behind me.
I looked after it to make sure it hadn't hit anything vital, anything unstable. It hadn't, just the wall of Tree, a great chunk of tree had been blasted to pieces by the Hyper Beam. I fucking hated the type who attacked people with their backs turned. I hated it because it was the sensible thing to do, a thing even I, with all of my Aura and power, could be vulnerable to.
I turned around, all lazy and suave, giving my full attention with a blasé attitude to the creature before me, the creature who had dared attacking me behind my back. I saw a glimpse of what was coming, of what the world could be caught in, but I had no idea what it was or what to make of it.
At some point in the not so distant future I would, we all would.
A war wage with powers of the Old Wars turned real, turned fucking alive. The world hanging in the balance with my decisions as the deciding factor, and the shittiest thing of all, Drew, is that I have no fucking clue what to do.
The massive Rhydon that met my gaze looked insane; its eyes were laughing sheer, uncontrollable madness and its horn was spinning like a fucking rollercoaster. A little Nidorina was running by us, going towards the fires with clear intent to help out. The giant Pokémon grunted what I suppose was a laugh and wrecked its horn through the defenseless Nidorina's abdomen, piercing it like a piece of meat on a stick.
It grunted lowly in the back of its scaly throat. It looked satisfied with its kill, proud of its own efficiency and power. I could have appreciated its skills if the action hadn't been so damn cruel and brutal. It flung the twitching body aside and roared its challenge at me, the small, pinkish Pokémon crumbling in the water, moaning its dying breath and spilling even more blood into the river.
I looked at the slowly dying Pokémon; taking in just how skilled the way the Rhydon had dispatched the poor creature, hoping to find the best way to kill it. It was only trying to help, I thought, trying – and failing miserably – to control the storm of rage I felt bubbling under my skin. The Nidorina had been running towards the burning fields with a tub of water on its back, it had known no water moves, but was trying to help anyway to the best of its abilities. IT WAS ONLY TRYING TO HELP!
My anger was pounding something fierce, demanding me to serve justice. I hardened that anger into a steely resolve, calm mask etching into my once handsome face.
Now it was an ugly mask of a killer – another being entirely.
Pokémon often killed for survival. Hell, I had killed the little fuckers more often than I cared to admit for that reason, but this was something else, something utterly unacceptable. Killing for survival was one thing; Killing because you thought it was good sport was another.
They might have been Pokémon and not part of the human society, but dammit they were still living and breathing beings.
Yeah, I wanted to kill the bastard of a Rhydon.
This thing is gonna die! I thought. "You just signed your own death warrant, I hope you know that," I said calmly because it was either staying calm or going down screaming with the insane world that was trying to break me.
Keeping your head calm won battles, fighting with your head under your arm and screaming like a lunatic didn't. Pokémon Trainer's guidebook 102.
It crocked its head to the side, a look I couldn't understand crossing it animalistic features before its insane smile returned, and then it lifted its palm at me, waving me on.
To smart, I realized, it was too calculating to be wild, its body too busted up to be one of the Tree's Pokémon.
Ah, Hell, what the fuck is going on?
Explosive destruction was flung around me like it was candy, Pokémon were crying out for help, most of them dying like the little Nidorina.
At that moment it didn't mean a thing to me – nothing but the waiting Rhydon in front of me meant a fucking thing.
Drops of blood dripped from my hand as I slowly raised it towards the monstrous being. The blood wasn't my own; it belonged to all the Pokémon that had died and fallen in the water. For a moment I wondered how I had made the fall without a scratch on my body, how I could possible survive a fall like that and walk away with no damage at all.
It was just one more of those impossible things I took with me in my stride.
The Rhydon snarled low in its throat, its face hardening to an expression resembling my own, as it crouched low on its haunches, its muscles bulging with a strength that could snap my back like a twig. Its insane eyes were staring at me, a deep hunger swirling behind its red pupils.
I was being planned for dinner.
I forewent any plan and charged the laughing bastard head on; it continued laughing through its obvious surprise, firing a rushed and laughable Hyper Beam at me. I didn't even have to dodge it, the scorching beam sailing wide as I jumped on my back and slid in close, releasing the Sphere in my palm.
It tried to dodge, its body heaving with the effort of moving its heavy weight, and I thought I saw the madness leave its eyes for a second as the reality hit it.
I was better than the bastard, and it was dead meat.
It moved its right hand down in the Sphere's path; I knew it was trying to block it. I saw it as the last desperate attempt to save itself, sacrificing its hand for its life. I also knew it wouldn't mean a goddamn thing. It could have worked, sure, it wasn't a stupid plan – it was a fucking brave plan. And if the force behind my Aura Sphere wasn't unstoppable it would have worked. But the power behind it was unstoppable. My attack struck its hand and it fucking exploded, the attack vaporized blood and gore and skin and everything. The Ball of blue fire continued on, slashing a hole in its abdomen and making its blood flow into the shallow river.
The sacrifice saved its life – or at least gave it a few more moments of painful existence. I think I'd have preferred it if it was over quickly instead.
It didn't roar in agony or whimper its dying breath. It felt heavily to its knees, its shaky left arm and bleeding stub cradling its wound, all madness and insanity leaving its eyes in an instant moment of clarity. Clarity of its own actions. It suddenly looked scared and horrified, and as I gained my feet again, I wondered for a moment if I had seen something wrong.
The tortured moan of pain beside the Rhydon reminded me of what it had just done, reminded me of the monster behind the remorseful look it was sending me now. But still… something felt wrong. It eyes were different, begging, pleading me to do something.
I didn't feel particular charitable, though, and I tilted my head down to eyelevel when it crumbled completely. "What do you want?" I asked, keeping my distance. Even though it was dying, it was still a dangerous opponent.
It gestured with its head at the burning fields to my side. I looked at it strangely; did it really want me to take my eyes of it? Did I look so stupid with my overgrown berth and hair? A caveman without a brain?
I turned my eyes slowly, keeping half an eye and all of my other senses at the Rhydon, and gazed at the fields turned ablaze a couple of feet from me. It was getting warmer in here now; the Pokémon of the Tree had stopped all together trying to save it and was busy staying alive as more and more Pokémon from the outside world poured in. They wild Pokémon were all fighting and killing the Tree's Pokémon with the same crazed lust for battle the Rhydon had displayed against me not a minute ago.
It clicked for me a moment later, the pieces in the puzzle righted themselves and I knew what was happening – should have known it right from the start. I felt terrified, I was scared shitless, this wasn't supposed to fucking happen; I had thought it had ended all those months, years – whatever – ago. That I had clenched the foray before it had really begun.
"You're all controlled," I said, my mind running through the implications of my word and the adrenalin kicking into over gear. I weighted the seriousness of it all. I was gonna be fucked – we were all fucked. "I thought it had stopped…"
It nodded, somehow understanding my words. What the fuck made them so smart? They almost acted like humans. It begged me with its eyes again, but for what I had no clue, though an idea slowly sprung to mind; it wanted death – an end to its suffering. I felt a little twitch in my stomach, the damned conscious kicking in again. The little kid who had always been so fascinated with Pokémon growing up was accusing me of murder, the screams resonating in my mind.
What have you done? The voice whispered in my mind – it sounded like an eight-year-old Ash fucking Ketchum. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
I killed an innocent Pokémon, I answered the voice, and I knew that if what I feared was true then it would only be the beginning of my killing matters.
The Rhydon grunted, its pain obvious. It reminded me of Serena's Rhyhorn – and that just reminded me of Serena…
"I'm sorry… so, so sorry…" I whispered, gently pushing at its thick arms. It complied with my wishes, lifting its arms and exposing its wound to me. I pressed my hand to the wound, its warm blood pouring out over me.
I turned my palm upwards and caught the Rhydon's eyes with my own; I tried to convey the apology with my eyes before I ended its suffering. It didn't look like it understood me or maybe it just didn't feel very appreciative after I blasted its hand off.
I could understand that. I would have been pissed too, I think.
Breathing in and steeling myself, I discharged an Aura Sphere strong enough to go through reinforced steel into the wound in its abdomen. I saw the light leave its eyes the moment I released my attack, the Sphere continuing through its body and out of its neck in a spray of blood.
A fast death was a small mercy… sometimes all I could offer, but not enough – never enough… never enough, Drew.
As if the world was going in slow motion, I saw its body sail away from me, the power behind the blow taking it a couple of meters away. It landed on its back, cold eyes staring blankly against the remains of the hanging crystals.
I looked at the Nidorina the Rhydon had unwillingly attacked; hoping against all rational thoughts that it had made it, that it was still alive somehow, and something good could come out of this situation. Its form wasn't moving anymore, though, it was dead and gone.
At that moment I hated the world, hated it almost as much as I hated Giovanni. I felt small and insignificant against the destruction around me, against the never-ending annihilation a few insane Pokémon could wraith in a couple of minutes.
I knew something was making the Pokémon go mad, but what it was I had no fucking clue about. How was I to stop something I didn't even understand? Giovanni I could understand, I could see the mind behind the madness, I knew how to fight him – whether or not I could beat him was another matter, but fight him I could… and would, again and again and again and…
I sighed.
But this… there was just no end to it.
The day I met Riley, I showed I could kill hundreds of wild Pokémon in a row. Today I had gotten even more efficient at fighting and killing, but would it matter if they just kept coming? At some point one of us had to give…
Pikachu hissed beside me, breaking my gaze from the dead Nidorina and reminding me that we were under attack. I looked down at the small mouse, noting the wicked scratch on its side and the blood running from the corner of its mouth. I saw the blue and yellow dragon's corpse lie on a small area of tall grass, all bloody and burned.
The fires would swallow its corpse in a moment or two.
"Good job, Pikachu," I said out of habit rather than actually meaning it. My mind was busy searching for some way to save this situation, save the Tree.
It sensed my mood and cooed sadly, nuzzling its head to my wet pants. I bend down to give it a light pet absentmindedly, my Aura searching for some sign. What are controlling them?
Then energy spiked in the Tree like lighting, and I suddenly had this feeling that Pokémon turned insane was the least of my problems.
I had felt that energy before.
I looked up in half euphoria and half horror, seeing the enormous crystals shine brighter and brighter, even as I felt the immense energy being gathered. The Tree was coming to life to defend itself. Its intentions couldn't have been clearer if it screamed them to me.
It was gonna kill everything it considered a threat.
How did I know that? Well, Drew, I am of its kind – I can read it just as well as it can read me.
The question you should be asking is not how I could read it, but did I count as a threat to it?
I felt rather than saw all the Pokémon around me stop what they were doing. They all felt the same power I did, controlled as well as those living in the Tree. The Tree's Pokémon looked like they had just seen their savior, staring with a so obvious relief it almost looked like a human expression. The invading Pokémon didn't have as strong a reaction, but still I thought I detected a certain amount of fear
And then the crystals exploded. In a grand gesture of light and might, it blinded me with its intensity and set the fire, fields and water on fire.
Blue fire – true fire. The kind of fire that leaves cities in waste, Drew. The kind of fire Moltres belched on Vermilion City.
It didn't make any sense. Like most of what the Tree did, it was beyond my understanding. Yet there was something different, the blue light felt welcomed, my own Aura practically sang out to the blue energy, but I didn't heed my Aura. Maybe I should have, maybe that would have spared me of my pain…
Orbs of Aura fell down upon us like it was raining fucking asteroid. Some of it struck the rivers and fields, purifying the water and curing the grass and earth like Arceus himself had kissed the land. The fires that raged with an almighty fucking vengeance were put out the moment the miracle blue lights hit it all. The wild Pokémon who had poured into the Tree while I was out for the count were all now scrambling over each other to get out, heading straight at me and for the exit behind me.
I almost gulped and grabbed Pikachu, not sure if the Tree would kill us, but knowing with absolute certainty that the wild Pokémon would tramp us to death, and took off running.
I caught a glimpse of one of the Pokémon, a Heracross. It looked strong and tough, but it didn't matter to the Tree as it gunned down the defenseless Bug. Despair flashed over its wild face as the blue energy turned red upon contact, consuming it in a bubble of red mass, and ending in the earth itself swallowing the bubble.
I didn't want to know how that felt.
So I ran – oh, how I ran, man.
Reaching an oval shaped hole in the Tree, directly below the plateau I had entered from this morning, I didn't stop to look before running into the darkness. I could feel more and more of the wild Pokémon die behind me, their energies suddenly disappearing as the Tree gunned them down.
The Tree didn't touch me, and I didn't stop to look if it would. Running through a similar tunnel as the one I had walked with Riley, I saw the crystals flash up as I ran past them, lighting up the way for me.
Goddammit, Riley! I stopped abruptly and almost turned on the spot to go back. He was still in there. In all the excitement of chaos and Armageddon come true and foreign forces trying to take over my body, I had completely forgotten about him. Fuck, I've got to back!
The Tree didn't give me a choice, however, as a field of sizzling energy poured into the tunnel, covering from side-to-side and floor-to-roof, and going straight for me.
Fucking Hell! I swore in my mind. Reacting quickly, I shot orbs of destructive energy into the field, my arms flicking and thrusting as fast as I could. I turned the dark passageway alight with my awesome power.
I didn't make a dent in it, if anything I only succeeded in making it faster and stronger.
I couldn't take any more of this goddamn Tree, and its maddening hold over me. It drove me slow and accurately to the brink of my own sanity. It had all been for nothing, all this trekking and fighting for nothing, just another human being on my conscious…
I clenched my hand and screamed in raw, insane fury, slashing out with my arm. A wave of scorching blue energy crackled like lighting from my being, rocketing towards the Tree's power, its power and velocity fueled by my rage.
BOOM!
The energies exploded in a fiery combination of lights upon contact. Like a wrestling match, the two waves of potent energy fought for supremacy, my unwavering intent leading my own power on in a screaming vortex of sheer insanity. Harsh winds raged on my body, almost making me lose my footing and end my life.
A primal scream of desperation and defiance escaped my lips, as I pushed with all I had, trying to win some few precious moments so I could make a final run for it.
I was gonna run like all fucking Hell!
I pushed a final time, sending more Aura into the blazing maelstrom – then I broke the connection, watching with bated breath as my Power held itself against the Tree's might.
Not for long, I caught myself staring at the power-play. There is something about…
There is something about you, Ash Ketchum… I'd like to know what it is.
I'm not sure I want to tell, it would take all the mystery out of me.
Five seconds to detonation, I thought, shaking my head – no time for recollection now. Turning and sprinting through the tunnel, I counted the time to the explosion in my head.
Every fucking second would count if we were to make it out alive.
The crystals in the walls were flaring wildly. I didn't like to think what that could mean and therefore ignored it completely, running with a tunnel vision.
Heh… tunnel vision…
Focus, Ketchum!
Four seconds. The tunnel was becoming wider now, and I unclicked a Poké Ball, readying it for when the tunnel was big enough to fit the Pokémon inside.
Three seconds. I could feel the energy behind us reaching a critical level, the thing was gonna blow any second now! Fuck, I didn't have any more time left. I was gonna have to hope it would fit. I flung the Poké Ball as far as I could, watching and running as the brilliant light appeared and a giant dragon coalesced from it.
Two seconds. "CHARIZARD! FLY NOW!" I yelled when it had fully materialized, noting that I had gotten the Poké Ball far enough to make room for the dragon to take off.
One second. I caught the ball as it came zooming back to its master of its own accord. Charizard's muscles tensed and bulged as it moved and took off. I, with Pikachu on my shoulder hanging on for dear life, reached and jumped onto the Fire-Pokémon, almost hitting the roof of the passageway as I landed on its back and grab around its long neck.
BOOM!
The passageway shook around me as my Aura gave way for the Tree's will, an explosion thrashing the walls with its eruption, as rocks and debris fell on us. Charizard roared in surprise, a pounding wind lashing out on us from behind, rocking its body and making me tightening my grip around it. Pikachu fought of the falling rocks, batting them away with its thunder while clinging to my shoulder.
I couldn't comprehend how it could stay on and fight at the same time, but I was mighty happy it could.
Stealing a glimpse behind me, I saw the blue energy crackling with unrestrained power, ride at us like a tidal wave, consuming everything in its mindless pursue of me.
I kicked the sides of Charizard's body, signaling for it to go faster or we would be cooked meat in a second. "GO! GO! GO!" I screamed into its head for good measure.
The crimson dragon flattened its body, and I felt us pick up even more speed, spiraling through the dark and screaming tunnel with neck breaking maneuvers, the Fire-Pokémon spinning around the falling stones Pikachu didn't get.
Days of our lives, really...
We broke through the rocky corridor in record time, appearing in the sealed off Entrance Hall. I saw the curtain of water guiding the other entrance, the entrance I had entered with Riley earlier. Never breaking our pace and guiding Charizard with the barest amount of effort – the great dragon had almost read my mind – we flew straight towards the wall. I thrust my hand forward, a blue energy beam spilling from my palm, surpassing even Charizard's and Pikachu's attack as they fired at the wall, as well.
The wall crumbled under our combined onslaught, revealing the outside world in a blast of red-hot fire, sparkling sunlight and fresh smell of wet forest hitting me in stark contrast to the Hell behind me. I felt the wave eating in on us, covering the whole hall and gunning down everything that wasn't supposed to be there, and as the hall bathed in its glow, we broke free of the Tree.
Charizard shot up, gaining altitude without my order, climbing floors after floors as I hung fast tightly through the steep flight. The Tree pulsed with a vast power, sending waves after waves of blazing Aura from its trunk and into the forest, as it righted itself to what it was before I arrived and ruined it.
Before Riley arrived… damn it all to Hell!
The energy wave had stopped its pursuit, slowly fading away in the summer breeze. I took a deep breath, taking in the trees below and blue skyline above, and tried to enjoy the moment of blissful silence.
There was no silence for long – not around me, not inside of me.
It lasted a second before the events caught up with me. Riley… dead and gone, eaten by the very thing he had searched for most of his life. Had I really left him to die all alone? How could I have forgotten about him, forgotten about him after everything he did for me?
And the Pokémon – they were still being controlled. Throughout the months I had been training with Riley we never encountered another controlled beast, and I had made myself believe that it had stopped, that I had put an end to whatever was doing this.
The Rhydon – oh shit, the Rhydon – had been controlled and I hadn't seen it, not until I had already killed the damn thing. How couldn't I have seen it, it was right there in front of me?
Had I wanted to kill it? Stared myself too blind because of its actions to think through my own? You didn't survive growing up out in the small towns like I had if you didn't fight back – and by fight back I mean kill, Drew. Kill or be killed, man, kill or be killed…
I killed to survive; I started doing that as a very young man, but not out of enjoyment – never for my own pleasure… until now.
I had just been so angry – I lost control. I could barely even remember what I did now. I could only remember how good it felt, how fucking right it felt when I fought the fucking – Rhydon off.
Was I a monster? Turning into one?
I couldn't afford to think like that, the world couldn't afford me thinking like that. I walked a very thin line. Maybe I crossed it sometimes, maybe I didn't, but I had to walk it, the world wouldn't be a place worth living if I didn't risk my own soul to save it. If I turned into a monster in the process then so be it, it was a change I was willing to take. I either took the change, risking my own innocence and soul, or the world would catch fire.
And that I mean very literally, Drew.
"Damned if you don't, damned if you do…" I whispered with my body nested on Charizard's back as the dragon swayed gently in the air, flying at a steady pace towards Pallet – towards Professor Oak. "We are all damned in some way."
This would be my new start, Oak would be my new start, the new start to change the world and make everything right on this lonely road I walked. The man had his nose in everything that moved. He could help me if he would. And that was a big if because he would want answers.
Answers I was afraid to give.
"To Professor Oak, Charizard," I said, looking back at the Tree a final time. A little blue light blinked back at me from the middle of the Tree, the middle I had come crashing down with half a temple. I felt like it was sharing a secret with me, a secret I had somehow missed. "What the hell just happened…?" I said, my voice barely above a whisper in the gentle wind.
I was going home – at last, after years away.
You can see what I saw, right? Where this is going? What I've come here to tell your bosses. The power over the Pokémon. It's fucking beautiful, man, just so beautiful, but it's also so unstable that you have to wonder what kind of nut job would willingly use such power. I know who controls these beasts, and you'll, too, when I'm done with this story.
He will destroy us all, unless you all man up and help me in this fight!
Giovanni has left the building, Lance. Step in here and talk to me. This fucking girlyman you have send in here with me has no grasp of the seriousness of our situation. If we don't work together, then Saffron City will be next. There will be no city left after he's done!
What do I have against Lance, you ask? You mean, beyond the obvious? That's a good question, highly irrelevant to the current topic of our conversation but a good question nonetheless. The simple answer is that the man is a lying coward not worth the cape he's wearing. Of course there's more to it, you dimwit, I just said it was the simple answer.
Where do I go to next? Good question. I go home and begin this goddamn fight that nobody else seems to want to take part of.
Where is my home? You didn't honestly think I was just gonna come out and say it, were you? Like I was ever gonna tell you that. But I will tell you something. This is where I stop being one of you and start being one of them.
Who are them? Think about it for a minute, Drew, I'm sure you'll figure it out.
And let me tell you something; the kids on the other side of the fence have some cool toys. You have seen how the world is crumbling, right? And really what else could we have expected. This is animals with the power to leave whole cities wasted with a breath.
Animals forced by some sick fucker to do his binding while we fight and kill them because what goddamn choice do we have? We don't have a choice and that's the point. It's either kill or be killed, animal vs. animal – it's human vs. nature, Drew, and so far humans have been fucked over.
Why does he do this to the world?
You'll see, he's kinda right, in a very fucked up way. But enough about that, that's not really what I came for. I'm here to tell you a story about a man who evolved into a Legend…
The scenery was familiar, the smells were the same, and I felt like coming home – back to the only home I'd ever known. But things had changed. The town had changed; the people in it weren't the same after what I'd made happen here. The once rich and green forest surrounding Pallet was now nothing more than scorched grounds, a wasteland of charcoal earth waiting for someone to make it rise again.
Maybe one day I could make that happen, too. Maybe that was just the eight-year-old in me talking again.
Sentimental fool…
The attack on the town had been so swift and devastating that they didn't see it coming before they were dead. I didn't see it before they were all dead. Well, almost all of them, Oak would be here somewhere. I often doubted anything could bring the old man down.
But the most important change was the one I had gone through… did those words sound too self-centered? Oh well, I was damned important if you asked me. And I had changed – changed so much I doubted anybody would recognize me anyway.
Fuck what everyone thought, it was only her that mattered.
Is she still here, I thought. If she's smart then no.
She wasn't, of course.
Charizard had swung in close to the ground, Professor Oak's ranch and lab visible in the not-so-far distance, rising up like a beacon among the rest of the townhouses. The once small but cozy town was nothing but half-worked rumbles on the ground, looking as if people had tried to rebuild it after the attack, and then just left it all overnight. Few houses still stood, most of them broken and desolated. No people walked on the dirt-road below me, and I could land in peace, no sound but the wind rustling my baggy shirt.
Was this really the welcome home party for the Son of Pallet? I could see my old home from where I stood or what was left of it. The grounds of my childhood, reduced to coal and ashes. I thought that if I sniffed the air enough, if I just walked a little closer, I would see the flames again… hear the screams one more time…
But it had been years since anything screamed from behind the walls that haunted me still, only my memories screamed now – and bled. I looked away, seeing the rest of the dead town, nobody lived here anymore – nothing could live here. The small school on the end of the road was gone, rumbles from the building scattered all over the fucking place.
This was what I left behind, this was my legacy. And all because of the arrogance of a boy who thought he was on the top of the world.
Was this really a worthy welcome back to the youngest winner of a Pokémon League? The boy that had brought Pallet on the world's map?
I returned Charizard and began walking, ignoring the smell of death that still hung heavily in the air. I had a feeling it might just be my memory playing me again. My eyes set on the pinkish orange building a couple of hundred feet in front of me. It was easy to ignore, I kept telling myself, easy to just let it all fall to the back of my head and focus on my reunion with Samuel Oak. I knew the man didn't blame me, but he didn't know everything about my actions, didn't know it was me that had failed and started it all.
Sure, Pallet would have been run over at some point. That was kinda the faith of every little town to close to the nature. The town was far too unprotected out here, surrounded by far-reaching forest and oceans with wild Pokémon just around the corner. The defense measures and Pokémon Trainers were far too few and scant compared to the vast force of the world around it.
And to be completely honest, I didn't blame me for not stopping the attack. I wasn't even home when it happened.
So why was I angsting like a little pussy, you might wonder.
Heh, story for another time. I had just reached the stone steps that spiraled up to Professor Oak's house and laboratory… and the man living here.
"My god… you are alive."
I blinked, feeling overcome with strong emotions. The man in front of me looked old standing on the top of the stone steps, dressed in his white lab coat. The greying hair I remembered was completely grey now and balding in some places. This was the man who gave me Pikachu, for that alone I would always hold great affection for him, but he was also the man who gave me a home away from home when my mother got to unbearable.
I nodded, searching for a gentle and kind smile. I was not sure I found it. "Still kicking…" Still fighting…
Oak lunged for me, pulling me into a hug that made me feel warm and happy, made me forget for just a blissful moment. He broke the hug and held me at arm's length, critically eyeing me up and down. He probably noticed every damn cut and drop of blood on my clothes, he definitely noticed the raw red skin on my face and arms. I had dropped my broken armor early while flying over the sea – yeah, I knew about pollution and global warming – I was just so fucking tired and broken that I couldn't give a shit at the time.
"What in Moltres' name happened to you?"
I sighed, my weariness coming to the forefront of my mind. For the first time that day, I felt like taking a rest, a long one and never wake up again. Not a good sign when I hadn't even joined the fight. "The future, professor. The Future…"
I could see Oak didn't understand me. He had a deep, wrinkled frown on his face, lines of worry and confusing marring his forehead. Was it intentionally that I had given such cryptic answer? Well, it got his attention, didn't it?
"Let's get you inside, Ash," Oak said, leading me through the door.
"I see you have remodeled the place a bit since the last time I was here." I looked at the reinforced steel-walls, noting no personal items were adoring them. The steel vertebra that ran vertically along the room looked to be able to hold the whole structure together if the walls were to crumble. Oak explained the new safety measures to me as he led me through the corridors, I had a feeling we were going deep beneath the earth. "Looks like it could carry a hit from an Onix."
"It's should be able to sustain that and more," Oak said. "After the attack, I decided that that the place needed an overhaul."
"You're expecting another attack?"
Oak shrugged, pushing through another door and walking down a thin corridor. "What do you think?"
What did I think? "It's probably a good idea, then…"
We pushed through an average, brown wooden door and entered a room that hadn't changed much over the years I had been gone. The professor's laboratory brought me a sense of nostalgia, it was here I had gotten Pikachu – it was here it had all started. A square room that was so big that it almost didn't fit with the rest of the house. Silver-grey walls, floor and roof, sterilized equipment that lay on the workbench in the far corner of the room, a staircase spiraling up to a platform with a door leading through the wall. Computers lined the desk on the other end of the room. One of them had the power on and was running through a series of images with Pokémon. That caught my interest.
Oak saw my interest. "A new Pokémon was spotted in Cerulean a couple of weeks ago," He said, jerking his hand on the wall beside me. I turned and saw an out-of-focused picture with a greyish blob in the center.
"…wanted me to take look into it, see if I could figure out its origins," Oak was saying. I quickly focused back on him. "Apparently it's a Pokémon never seen before. Isn't it amazing that after all these years we still find new species?"
Amazing? More like frightening. I had a fascination with Pokémon when I was young, Oak had probably spoiled me with one too many tales. But ever since I became a Trainer, journeyed out into the real world and saw what a fucked up place it really was; Pokémon had become a tool rather than actually fascinating creatures. Don't get me wrong, I loved my Pokémon more than anything, but… I guess I was just not as naïve as I used to be.
Yet this sparked my interest, ignited that old fascination somewhat. "There is something about that Pokémon…" I said to no one in particular, studying the photo a little closer. I turned back to Oak. "You say it was spotted in Cerulean?"
Oak had a wistful smile on his face. "Yeah, but as I said it was weeks ago – it's probably gone by now."
Oak went behind his desk and sat down, gesturing for me to do the same. "So… what happened to you, Ash? Where have you been?"
I smiled. "Aura happened," I said. I pointed my forefinger towards the roof and made sure Oak could see. Concentrating for a second, I felt the familiar energy surging beneath my skin right before a blue ball ignited on my finger.
Oak sucked in a breath, looking suitably impressed. "Impossible…"
I admit I felt good showing of. I enjoyed the wondrous glint in Oak's eyes and reveled in the moment more than I probably should. Ah, what the hell, Aura was freaking awesome and if I couldn't brag about that I didn't have much left going for me.
"How did you manage that?" Oak asked, his head so close to my finger that the light reflected in his eyes.
I wondered for a split second about how much I should tell him, how much I could reveal, but decided to reveal everything. This was the man who had become like a father to me when my own dad didn't show any interest in me and later disappeared. If I couldn't trust him, I couldn't trust anyone.
So I told him everything, every gritty little detail about my life as a wanderer. I told him about the first years of unsuccessful travels, every lead turning out to be nothing more than smoke on the wind. I told him about the Pokémon going from wild to flat out batshit insane, attacking me with a vengeance I had never seen or heard of before. I told him about Riley, about the gruesome but highly effective training I went through with him. Then came the Tree and Oak was left breathing in awe again. The existence of the Tree made him seem like a giddy child who got all the Christmas presents that year. In the end, I told him about the journey through the Tree and all the challenges before we made it to the temple where everything went south.
"I think he was caught in there, and I just couldn't get through."
"It wasn't you fault, Ash," Oak said. "You cannot blame yourself for this." I could almost hear the word too at the end of his sentence, but he managed to hold it back.
It didn't matter however. "I don't," I said with a shrug. "But I still wish I could have done more – done something."
Oak tilted his head. "You seem to have taken his death rather well?" he said hesitatingly. "Considering you spent at least two years with him."
"You know how it is out there," I said. "People die every day. At some point you get used to lose someone, I guess." I didn't know why I was so blaisé about Riley's death. I mean, sure, we didn't quite like each other, but as I have said before I did come to respect him in someway. And I hoped he didn't have to suffer through what that Heracross had gone through.
Maybe he died in the crash, I thought. A quick, painless death.
"That's a cold attitude, Ash."
I shrugged again and ran a hand through my dirty hair. I needed a bath. I needed a haircut, too, and a shave… "Maybe, but we both know that it grows on you…"
Oak sighed. "What I don't understand is why would the Tree attack you after it let you in? Why give you access in the first place if it didn't want you there to begin with?"
"I don't think the Tree was targeting me." I looked at the the flicking screen again, noting the shape and size of the indistinct Pokémon. Why did it seem so familiar? "Actually, I'm sure the Tree wasn't targeting me, at least not when I entered."
"But you said it yourself; the Tree hunted you through the tunnel."
"Yes it did, but I didn't detect any malice in its energy signature until I panicked and started fighting back," I said. "It's possible – although I highly doubt it – that the Tree wasn't gonna hurt me before I provoked it."
Oak nodded. I could see he was as skeptical as I felt. Maybe the Tree really had regretted letting me pass and tried to repair the damage so to speak – I was still not sure why it would even let me in.
"So you didn't gain anything in the Tree?" Oak asked. "No fabled power bestowed upon you by the mighty Tree of Beginning?"
"Read the legends, too, huh?" I sighed, shaking my head and pushing some hair out of my right eye. "Unfortunately no, only this," I said and held up my hand, showing him the gray ring that I'd found lying beneath the portrait of Sir Aaron. "It stood on a pedestal like it was something special, but I haven't felt a thing since putting it on." It felt powerful, too…
"Can I see it?" Oak asked eagerly.
"Sure." I pulled the ring off and-
-the ring didn't move an inch on my finger. "What the…" I pulled again and again and again. The ring was stuck; it didn't even feel like it was moving on my finger when I pulled at it. I couldn't feel it squeeze on my finger; I couldn't even feel the fucking ring – it felt like it was… "It's stuck…"
Oak frowned. "You took it on today, right?" I nodded. "Oh. Well, er, should I get something to grease it with?"
"No, it's not stuck – it's just… stuck…"
"Okay, that explains everything."
"It's not squeezing my finger or anything," I said, beating at the stupid thing to get it off. "It's… like it's fused with my finger. It's literally stuck."
I had no idea where those words came from, but the moment they left my mouth I knew they were true. I wasn't moving at the ring but at my skin. My new ring-formed, grey skin – fucking great...
But that wasn't right, either, it was still a ring, a ring merged with my skin. I felt a little sick all of a sudden. Oak was at my side now, I was so agitated I hadn't even noticed him rising from his chair. He took my hand and looked at the ring through a magnifying glass.
"There is something written on the ring," he said.
"What does it say?" I asked, a heavy frown on my face. A few moments ago I thought the ring was just some useless remnant of the past, but now it was just a freakish remnant of the past. "How do I get it off?"
Oak handed me the magnifying glass, looking even more confused. "No idea. But have a look at this…"
I looked through the glass and saw a small sentence written in a clear blue color.
THE AURA IS WITH ME
"Oh…" I had heard Riley saying that sentence over and over, never really taking any notice of it. Why hadn't I taken any notice of it before? The sentence was mesmerizing – beautiful in its simplicity, complex in its meaning. You see what's going on, right, Drew?
"The Aura is with me…" I whispered. Then I shook my head and felt like I had just been awoken from a very short nap. I was disoriented and dazed and-
The room was blue, or something was bathing the room in blue. I looked around; searching for the source of the light, but it was everywhere. Then I looked down at the most obvious answer. The ring was ablaze with a godly blue light. I looked back at Oak, fear growing at the edge of my mind. He was staring back at me, looking just as lost, just as confused and fucking scared as I felt. Then I felt something warm and slippery glide up my arm. Oak's quick intake of breath was the only warning I got before I noticed what was going on.
I wanted to swear, to scream, but something was blocking my voice from making a sound, and I could only watch in silent horror as the ring's grey matter expanded, twisting up my arm like a snake. It covered my left hand and arm, then my shoulder was eaten by the grey skin, and by that point I felt like killing myself. Fuck, what was going on! What was happening to me? It continued, however, ignoring my emotional state and continued down my body. My abdomen rippled with the utilitarian grey weave, shadows and blue light flickered over the grey skin.
Oak was screaming something into my ear, I couldn't hear it – I was gone. He pulled with all his power at the grey skin. It hurt me. It fucking hurt me like he was pulling on my skin.
It covered all of my lower-body now, grey boots growing on my feet and grey and silver lines on my knees and thighs. Then it went up my neck and to my mouth, and goddammit I couldn't breathe. Then it covered the rest of my head, blocking my line of sight, and then my vision flickered on, going in and out of focus before settling into an inhumanly perfect vision.
Then it stopped and I could breathe again. Blue ripples and dark shadows ran along the grey skin, and I flexed my arms, watching my muscles bulge powerfully. My whole fucking body was blazing with power, blue lines of energy coursing over my new grey skin. It felt fucking great!
Then the pain came, and I screamed as my perfect vision turned black, my mind slipping away to a very familiar abyss…
This time you're mine, Ash Ketchum!