A World Reborn - Dawn
Seema slowly roused herself from sleep. The sun entered her eyes, nearly blinding her. She rubbed her eyes as they became accustomed to the light. She felt something adjusting on her chest and looked down to see Myu still resting on her, for she had slept with him in his hollow.
She sighed to herself as she remembered what Myu had said to her to get her here with him.
It had happened on the night of Mightyena's funeral. He had requested to see her in his hollow after the funeral. She remembered the route well enough and found herself within Myu's hollow.
"Okay Myu, I'm here. Why did you need to see me?" she asked.
Myu faced her, but he seemed uncertain. "Seema, we have known each other for quite some time, don't you agree?" he asked telepathically.
"Are you kidding? We've known each other since we were babies!" Seema joked, though it was true.
"Yes, and you have become quite a beautiful woman," Myu said. If Seema didn't know him, she would have thought he was hitting on her. But it was simply how he complimented someone; no holding back. "Which brings me to something I feel I must ask first; why are you still a virgin?"
Seema blushed at how forward Myu had been. "What do you mean, how do you know I'm a virgin?"
"Your scent. All females who are claimed will have a prominent musk on them from their mate, even if it's only once," Myu explained. "This scent is absent on you, which means you have never been with a man before."
Seema stuttered as she tried to find the words. "Well, I… just… never really got intimate with anyone before," she explained. "I just couldn't bring myself to 'mate' with any man."
"Even when your species is on the brink of extinction?" Myu asked.
"Yes," Seema said. "You're not… mad about that, are you?"
"Actually, I'm very pleased," Myu said honestly. "It means there is nothing to stand in the way of what I want to say."
"Which is what?" Seema asked.
Myu fiddled with his paws, and his tail twitched in nervousness. "This is going to be rather hard to say, for I have never even attempted it before," Myu said. "I've tried to rehearse what to say to you to explain, but nothing seemed good enough. So, I guess I'll just say it."
Seema was puzzled by this. What could Myu possibly have to say that would make him this nervous? If he was nervous, someone she equated with God, then it must be big.
"Seema, I love you," Myu said. What he said took a while to worm its way into the girl's head, so her face slowly went from puzzled to shocked, which made Myu want to laugh. But he held it in, as it would only confuse her further. "I have loved you for quite some time, but I thought I could wait to say it to you. But then you left, and it broke me. I knew then that it was love. Now you've returned and that love has resurfaced, stronger than ever."
Seema eventually shook her head to rid herself of the shock. "You… love me?" she asked, as if to confirm and not to make sure it wasn't some joke.
"Yes, but I didn't realize it because I had no way of knowing what it felt like," Myu explained. "I have never, never, felt that kind of emotion before, and I have trained myself to restrict my emotions, so when I matured I didn't notice anything other than a strong desire to be with you."
Seema took a couple steps back and put one hand over her face, trying to understand this.
"I know, it's difficult to process," Myu said. "But you are, and always have been, the only one I have truly loved."
Seema looked up at him, her mind still having difficulty wrapping around what just happened. "Myu, why are you telling me this now?"
"I will have no greater opportunity than now, and I want to take the time we have left to be together, at least once," Myu said. Seema could almost hear a pleading tone.
"Say I say 'yes', what will happen?" she asked.
"Then I will ask that we bond and become mates. But I think you should know, Pokémon do not mate like Humans do. It will be unlike anything you've ever seen," Myu explained.
"And if I say 'no'?"
Myu looked saddened by that. "I will respect your decision and only ask that we remain friends."
Seema thought it over in her head. "I don't know Myu, I mean, I'm Human and you're… whatever you are."
"Mew," he told her. "And difference in species makes no difference. I can change you into whatever you desire."
"So, you can make me look like a Pokémon, but I don't know if…"
"Not look like, be. You would be a Pokémon in body and mind, just as I did to all of my children," Myu clarified.
Seema looked up at that. Could he really do that, permanently? "What Pokémon would I be?"
"Any Pokémon you desire. You could even be a new one," Myu answered.
"Any Pokémon? Completely?" she asked. Myu nodded. "Why offer me this and none of the others?"
"It isn't necessary. They can survive as they are," Myu answered.
"There's something else, isn't there?" Seema asked.
"Yes, but that's for another time," Myu said. "But I need an answer to my proposal now."
Seema thought it over in her mind. What would the others think, being in love with a Pokémon? But… they weren't really animals. They had proven on multiple occasions their capacity for higher though, and some even seemed to be smarter than Humans. And Myu was probably the wisest of them. Should she do this though? She had always thought that one day she would find that perfect match, but she had always pictured him as Human.
But as time went on and she became less naive, she doubted she would find that one for her. She had taken to dating as a means to find love, though it tended to fall flat, especially after the world ended. She had promptly decided to stop dating and never search, as no man left suited her.
But here was someone who outright confessed to loving her, and not strictly for her beauty. Better yet, it was someone she already knew, so it cut out the part about learning about him. Maybe… she could at least try. Take it slow at first, and if it didn't work out, well, maybe she could find someone else, someday.
That thought ended there, as she realized she probably didn't have much time left. She was forty-five and didn't expect to last much longer due to decreasing health. This could be her only chance at finding love, at spending what little life she had left with someone who genuinely cared for her, and maybe one day, perhaps, have a family.
She turned to face him, and Myu asked one last time. "Will you be my mate, Seema?"
"Yes." Myu brightened up a great deal at that, flying over to her. "So, how's this work?" she asked.
"Like this," was all Myu said before he kissed her on the lips.
Seema couldn't quite remember what happened after that, just that they did whatever ritual that 'bonded' them, as Myu put it, and now they were mates. In fact, this was the first night she shared his bed. Myu insisted it, as he felt they truly needed to be together for the bond to cement, especially with what was coming.
She nudged him slightly and he woke. "Morning," he said before stretching. He flew off of her, going to a bush with ripe berries. He picked a few before flying back over to her. "Here," he said as he handed her some berries. "Did you rest well?"
"You know, we're mates now, you don't have to be so formal with me," Seema said as she ate the berries.
"It's how I talk now, I can't change it. My apologies," Myu said sincerely. "I can sense the Staff comes near. It's time."
Seema stopped chewing. She looked down sadly. "Well, we'd better get ready," she said, forcing herself to cheer up.
"You get the Humans ready, I'll have Zoroark ready the Pokémon," Myu informed. "When Lucario comes, escort him to the Heart of the Tree. I shall wait there."
Seema nodded in understanding."Thanks for spending a night with me," she said.
"It was a pleasant night, the best I've had in a while," Myu said before flying off. Seema walked out of the hollow and down through the tunnels to tell the others.
Lucario, Charizard, Pidgeot, Pikachu and Infernape had spent several days trying to get back to America. They realized they had to cross an empty ocean if they went straight west, so they took the same route they used to get back from London instead. Now, after nearly another day of travel, they could see their home in the distance.
"We're almost back!" Pikachu said.
"And when we get back, Myu's gonna fix the whole world," Infernape added.
"And with the Staff of Creation that we're bringing to him," Pidgeot said. "Wonder what the new world will look like."
"Hope it's got endless forests and beautiful oceans," Pikachu said.
"I'm hoping for towering mountains to fly through," Charizard said.
"What about you Lucario? What do you think the new world will look like?" Infernape asked.
"Oh, I don't really have a preference," Lucario said, handling the Staff in his paws. "Although I do hope there's no big cities. I've come to love living in the country. And Lopunny and I were hoping that, if there's no restriction anymore, we could have another kid."
"That's nice," Pikachu said. "I wouldn't mind having a bigger family. After all, we're going to have a whole planet to repopulate."
"Wow. Never thought of that before," Pidgeot said. "We're gonna have some serious baby-making to do over the coming years."
Any further conversation was cut short when they heard a noise like thunder and Charizard swore he heard the air rip right by him. The five Pokémon looked down and saw a massive army of troops beneath them.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Pikachu blurted. The two flying Pokémon started complex aerial maneuvers just as a hail of bullets was fired at them.
"Where did they come from? And where are they going?" Infernape shrieked, holding on for dear life.
"No clue where they came from but I can tell you where they're going!" Pikachu said. Using one paw, he pointed at the mountain range that surrounded their land.
"Why would they head there? They know Myu put a protective barrier around it!" Charizard questioned.
"Oh no. I didn't realize it before!" Lucario said out loud.
"What?" Infernape asked.
"Those Humans; they came to our land after Myu put the barrier up, which means…"
"They found a way in. But how…" Pidgeot began when she remembered one Human they cut free. "The tunnel that female used to leave! They came through that!"
"And the Humans are going to invade our home by going through it!" Pikachu concluded.
"We have to get there first and warn them!" Lucario shouted.
"Ahh!" Charizard shouted out. He looked over to his right wing and saw a small hole in it.
"Charizard!" Lucario shouted in concern.
"I'm okay, it's only a little hole," Charizard grunted. They continued their maneuvers, but Charizard was starting to slow down. While the hole was small, it was painful, and the pain was distracting him from flying right. Before long, Lucario noticed the difference in speed.
"Speed up Charizard!" he shouted.
"I can't. It hurts too much." Charizard looked over to Pidgeot. "Take Lucario, get him to the Tree!"
"There's no room on my back!" she said.
"Then we'll make the room!" Infernape said, leaping on Charizard's back. Lucario jumped onto the vacant spot on Pidgeot's back. "Keep going! We'll catch up!" Infernape assured.
"Full speed, Pidgeot!" Lucario ordered. Pidgeot put on more speed and a silver trail was left behind in her wake. They both passed the mountains and they heard the bullets stop pursuing them. "Keep going!"
Pidgeot never wavered in her speed, pulling far ahead of Charizard.
"Let's just hope we're not too late," Charizard said.
"Hold fire, hold fire!" Harold shouted to the soldiers. "There's no point trying to shoot them when they're past the mountains."
"So, those are the animals we have to kill?" a soldier asked. "They're kinda… scary."
"And crafty, so be careful," Harold advised. It had taken several weeks, but he managed to get enough soldiers for an invasion of the Pokémon's land. But that had been unexpected; a small group of Pokémon outside the mountains. He had ordered them shot in case they had spotted Harold's army, but they had escaped and now would tell all the other Pokémon of the coming invasion. He could only hope that it would take them a while to form any kind of defense. "Double-time men, let's move!"
At the Tree of Beginning, the Humans and Pokémon were moving their things to be inside the Tree. Myu warned that anything outside could be obliterated, so they had to move inside. They had also been practicing for the last few days what to do in a combative scenario, and the Humans proved to be very helpful in that regard. Though many of them couldn't fight, the Pokémon could, so they were advised where the armor was weakest, how a given soldier might fight, and how to disarm their guns.
The Pokémon also set up a guard around their Nursery, where several eggs had yet to hatch and moved all their children there. The Pokémon emphasized to the Humans that no matter what happened to them, the eggs and children must survive, for they were the future.
Seema was happy to see their two races getting along. She even could see some friendships among the populace. As she looked further, she could see two dots that were growing bigger, one of them faster than the other. She eventually realized they were Pokémon and the bigger dot she recognized as the large avian Pokémon she had seen the other day. She spotted Lucario on her back, and he was holding something in his paws.
Pidgeot was coming in so fast though, that many others that spotted her thought she was going to crash into them. Just before she could slam into the ground, she flapped her mighty wings and stopped. Lucario hopped off, landing gracefully on the ground.
"Humans!" he telepathed. "We saw soldiers approaching!"
After he said that, many of the Pokémon talked to themselves, concerned that the Humans were here.
"How many did you see?" Seema asked.
"Don't know, had to flee before they shot us down. But there are a lot of them. That I do know," Lucario answered.
"Where's the dragon… um… Charizard?" Seema asked.
"A bullet got his wing. He's still on his way, but Pidgeot is faster and Infernape switched places with me," Lucario answered.
"Do you have the Staff?" she asked. Lucario answered by holding up the wood stick in his paws. "Okay, Myu needs you to bring it to the Heart of the Tree. He's shown me where it is, so follow me!" She turned and ran, Lucario behind her. "Pidgeot, Myu wants you and the others of your group to help move the children to the Nursery then guard as many passages into the Tree you can," Seema shouted back as she and Lucario entered one of the tunnels.
A few minutes later, Charizard came in, landing as best he could. Infernape hopped off and the two of them were quickly given the jobs they needed to do.
Harold and his army found the tunnel through the mountains. "This is it!" He turned to face his troops. "Now we go through this tunnel into a thriving land. The… creatures… that live here have rejected us. They think they are a superior race and can ignore us! But we are going to show them how wrong they are. We're going to invade their land and kill them all, before they have the chance to destroy us. Tonight, these animals end, and the human race survives."
Many of the soldiers cheered, ready to follow him and kill the monsters.
Deep inside the Tree, Seema and Lucario ran as fast as they could. They took every turn needed, and they found one last bend that led to the Heart.
"Yes, yes, I know."They heard Myu's voice up ahead. They turned around the bend and saw the tunnel that lead to the Heart. Though they both knew the path, neither of them had seen the Heart before. They stopped just before they could enter the large cave. It was lined with clear crystals. Myu was up at the ceiling, touching a large crystal on the roof. "Take care of her for me."
"Myu," Lucario spoke.
Myu turned to see him and his eyes fixated on the staff in Lucario's paws. "You have it." Myu said it like a statement, as if he had no doubt.
"Yes," Lucario telepathed, knowing Seema would want to know what they were saying.
"Well, enter," Myu gestured for Lucario to enter this place.
Lucario hesitated, unsure if he should. Seema could understand. She may not be a Pokémon, but she could still feel this part of the Tree. It was the most sacred ground there was, and neither she nor Lucario felt as if it was appropriate for them to even set foot there. Eventually Lucario worked up the courage, and step by step walked into this chamber.
Myu still hovered at the top, waiting for Lucario to present the Staff.
"I have the Staff of Creation, but there are several Humans marching on our home," Lucario said.
"I know, I saw it some time ago. They must not reach the Heart. If the process is interrupted, the world will forever suffer," Myu informed.
"I will stay just outside to defend you from anyone who will try to enter," Lucario said. He went to one knee, holding the Staff out.
Myu stretched an arm out, and the Staff levitated out of Lucario's paws, flying to Myu. Seema could almost have sworn that it got smaller as it got closer to Myu, befitting a being of his stature.
"Now behold, for a new dawn is upon us!" Myu declared, blue power gathering between his paws. "One world heals, and the other… dies!" With a gesture, Myu sent the staff down, landing end-first in an outcropping of crystals. "A world reborn!"
The crystal on the head of the Staff began to glow with blue-gold energy, lighting up the surrounding crystals with the same color. Then it fired a blast of blue lighting up at Myu. He became surrounded in a blue aura that matched his fur. His eyes became filled with the same color, making them blend in with the rest of his body. He shot all his limbs out and the lightning flowed out of each limb and went up and struck the crystals on the ceiling.
All the clear crystals in or out of the Tree of Beginning suddenly turned a brilliant blue, filling the night time with a blue light. Soon, every branch, stream and crystal in the Tree of Beginning glowed blue, painting the towering mountain a brilliant blue. The power rippled across the Tree of Beginning, and just as it began to glow like the moon, it fired a beam of blue up into the sky. A pulse of blue power radiated out from the beam, high in the sky, a pulse that radiated around the whole world.
Where the blue light touched, the world reacted. The continents shook and trembled and began to move, faster than they ever had, and in directions they never moved before. Earthquakes broke the ground, landslides reshaped the land, and the mountains crumbled and then rose. Volcanos rumbled and erupted, spewing forth magma from deep within the Earth.
The oceans bubbled and frothed, trembling from the underwater shockwaves as the seabed shaped and reformed. Gigantic whirlpools formed and disappeared and tsunami that grew in height and power pummeled the coasts, further destroying already decimated cities.
The air whipped and swirled as winds larger and faster than ever recorded flew across the world. Clouds formed and swirled, creating hurricanes all over the world that swept across the barren lands, depositing massive amounts of rain all over the world, purifying it of radiation and cloaking the planet in darkness.
Inside Fort Riley, everyone wondered what happened when a massive earthquake struck the base, shaking it like never before.
Judas ran through the halls, finding his way to the radio room. "Hey, what's going on?"
"Not sure," the operator told him. "I'm patching in Harold."
"What happened?" he asked. "Suddenly the sky was filled with clouds that started pouring rain!"
"We're still trying to figure out what happened," the operator said. "It seems that the tectonic plates are moving at an unusual pace. But what caused this we don't know."
Judas suspected he knew. "Myu," he breathed. "The Pokémon Myu is doing this!"
"I highly doubt one creature is capable of affecting us this way," Harold said.
"He has something; a weapon capable of altering the whole world. Some kind of staff," Judas said.
"What, like Gandalf?" a soldier sarcastically asked.
"I've seen how powerful he is. He could be doing this!" Judas insisted.
"I'm going to go along with the kid," Harold said reluctantly, as Judas had spent more time with the Pokémon. "How do we stop him?"
"I… I don't know. I couldn't learn that before he banished me," Judas said.
"Then we'll find him and kill him. We can see the Tree now," Harold reported.
"Whoa," a soldier said over the radio. "It's… glowing."
"You can't be serious," one of the other soldiers said.
"No joke. It's lit up like a Christmas tree, but it's completely blue," Harold reported. "How do we find Myu?"
"I don't know. All I do know is that he's somewhere in the tree," Judas said. "He lives in some kind of hollow high up in the tree."
"Then we'll focus on storming the Tree. We'll find this cat and shoot him until he is leaking lead," Harold said darkly.
Inside the Tree, some of the younger Pokémon were whimpering. Although they had seen storms before, none of them were anything like this.
"Mommy, I'm scared," Riolu said, held by Lopunny.
"It's okay, it's okay," she said soothingly. "Myu's protecting us. He promised so long as we stayed in the Tree, we would be safe."
"Safe from those storms," Charizard pointed out. "But what about the Humans heading this way intending to kill us?"
"Not in front of the kids!" Pidgeot reprimanded the lizard. She was sheltering several of them with her wings.
"He's right, though," Pikachu said. "We have to be ready to fight. It's only a matter of time before those Humans get here."
"Then we'd better prepare for battle," Zoroark said. "Those who can fight, get to the entrance. Those who can't, stay with the kids."
The Pokémon began separating themselves out, determining the best partners and ways to defend the nursery. After they got into position, Pikachu saw a bright light down the tunnel.
"They're here," he whispered.
"Maybe if we're real quiet, they'll just pass us by," Flygon suggested.
With this new thought in mind, they began to flatten themselves against the walls, sticking to the shadows as much as they could. They did their best to keep the children quiet, who tried their best to be as quiet in their whimpering as possible.
"Don't see anything this way," one of the soldiers reported.
"There's so many tunnels, how do we know splitting up was the best idea?" another asked.
"It was the only way to make sure we find that blue cat. Now hurry up, I want to find it first!" another said.
The Pokémon gasped when they heard that. They were looking for Myu! Pikachu looked at the soldiers walking by and knew these were only a few of them. If they found Myu, what would happen? He knew he shouldn't go out there. They had the advantage in height and were much more heavily armored than the ones in London. Plus, they were expecting a fight from something like him.
But what choice did he have?
Without thinking, he charged out and rammed into one of the soldiers, knocking him over. Before any of the other soldiers could react, he fired a bolt of electricity at another soldier, paralyzing it. Before he could do anything else, he heard a gun cock. He turned around just in time to see Zoroark slashing the gun that had been pointed at his head with shadowy claws. She slammed into the soldier, pushing him back. And just like that, the fight broke out.
Pokémon charged out of the Nursery to attack the few humans in the tunnel. Once they were knocked out, the Humans from in the Nursery picked up the fallen soldiers' guns.
"We'll protect your kids. Find the rest of these creeps and take them out," Mike said.
"You heard him Pokémon, spread out," Charizard said. "Go through every tunnel and take out every soldier you find."
In the Heart of the Tree, Myu was still being struck by the lighting that continuously poured from the Staff of Creation and out through his body. Seema and Lucario stood in one of the tunnels, watching what was going on, on guard for any soldiers.
To break the tense silence and help them relax, Lucario decided to talk to Seema. He decided to start on a topic that had been puzzling him since he returned.
"So, how long have you and Myu been mates?" he asked. Seema blushed and stuttered for a while before answering.
"How did you know?" she asked.
"I can smell his distinct scent on you," Lucario stated.
"Oh yeah, he said that would happen," Seema remembered. "Um, a few days now."
"I have to be honest, I never thought I would see Myu find a mate. He seems like the kind who would be a bachelor for life and content to be so."
"I guess he still liked me enough," Seema said.
"Still?"
"Well, actually, I knew Myu before the world ended, but that was a different life. For both of us."
"I know how you feel. I can barely remember what I looked like or was before I became Lucario," he said. "I don't think I even know what my birth name was."
Seema seemed slightly saddened but found a silver lining. "In a way, it's actually a good thing. These last twenty years have changed us so much. I don't even use my old name, cause that's not who I am anymore."
"I understand. Every Pokémon does. We all changed our names when we gained our new bodies because we knew we were going to be a different people. Myu said that changing our names was the first step towards our rebirth into true Pokémon."
"It must be nice being what you are," Seema said. "Is it nice?"
"It is. It felt weird at first, but once I accepted what I had become, I was able to adjust to this new skin. Now my tail doesn't even bother me."
Seema had to laugh at that. Lucario joined her, but it died down when he sensed a malevolent presence approach. It could only be one thing.
"Humans," he said. "Stay behind me."
Seema didn't argue as Lucario got into a fighting stance. He put his paws together before spreading them out, a green bone of energy appearing in his clenched paws. Just as the soldiers rounded the bend, Lucario ran up and whacked two of the three soldiers' guns away. He kicked the third in the gut before swinging his bone and knocking the rifle away. The soldiers tried to punch him, but he whacked one in the head with his bone, then swept the legs of another and aimed a sweeping kick at the third's head, knocking the helmet off. He then whacked him with his bone club so hard the soldier flew into the wall.
One of the others recovered and pulled out a pistol. Seema warned Lucario, and with a twirl of his bone, knocked the weapon away before hitting him with the brunt of the bone, knocking him out.
Seema looked at the damage Lucario had done. He took them all out without killing them.
"Wow! You are one serious fighting type," she said.
Lucario gave her a puzzled expression as he dispelled the bone. "Fighting type?"
Seema stuttered as she tried to find the right words, but nothing came up. "You know what, forget it."
Lucario started to walk back to her when there was a loud bang, and a stinging sensation in his shoulder forced him to cover it, before he felt a similar pain in his leg, causing him to collapse.
Seema looked up to see Harold standing there, the end of his pistol still smoking.
Judas was trying to help some of the men operate the radio, trying to make sense of the various reports coming about storms, earthquakes, tidal waves and volcanic eruptions.
"I just don't see how this many storms can form at once," one of the radio operators said.
"Myu created them," Judas insisted.
"I still don't buy your theory of magical creatures," another said.
"Let's assume what he's saying is correct, and a powerful creature created these storms," someone over the radio questioned. "How would we stop it?"
"Harold's gone into the Tree to try and kill him," Judas said. "That will stop it."
"No wait!" someone said over the radio. "If what you said is true, and a magical creature created these storms, then it would make sense that he's also controlling them."
"Your point?" one of the operators asked.
"If this… Myu… is killed, then there's nothing controlling these storms, and hurricanes of these sizes are self-sustaining. If Myu dies, then they won't vanish, they will only escalate. Our planet could bake with the heat the volcanoes are putting out, and with clouds covering every inch of the world, that heat would be trapped with nowhere to go."
"It's not just heat we have to worry about," another operator said. "With windspeeds this fast and rainfalls this strong and so many lighting strikes, everything on the surface will be obliterated. Cities, building, bases, everything will either get shredded, flooded or scorched. Everything we've built in the last forty-thousand years will be gone."
"You have to stop Harold from killing Myu. If he does, these storms will only rage out of control until the whole world is flooded, and all of human civilization is wiped away," the person from before advised.
"Kid! Raise the soldiers!" the operator told Judas.
He desperately tried, but they were too deep within the mountain to reach.
The Pokémon desperately fought against the soldiers. Disarming them of their guns proved to be smart, but it didn't render them helpless. Every soldier also had a short dagger for close quarters fighting, making them dangerous.
But the tide would turn soon enough. Pikachu had resorted to fighting one of the soldiers with his hardened tail, deflecting each swipe, but he knew he was tiring out. One swipe by the human connected with a crystal, cutting part way into it before the knife got stuck. The soldier tried to pull it free, but the crystal suddenly became yellow before it turned gelatinous and began consuming the dagger. The soldier let go of the dagger, bewildered by what he saw.
But the crystal started to take on a more creature-like shape, moving towards the soldier. It moved slow at first before suddenly lunging at the human and surrounding it in the yellow gel-like substance. The human desperately fought back, but the yellow gel-crystal slowly consumed the human before nothing was left. It then went back to its spot in the tree, become a blue crystal yet again.
Pikachu was still frozen where he had landed, unable to process what had happened. This gave a soldier the opportunity to sneak up on him. He raised his gun and prepared to shoot before the gel-like substance dropped from the ceiling, right on him. He screamed, grabbing Pikachu's attention as he desperately tried to fight back against the living gel as it consumed him. When it was done, it melted into the ground, leaving nothing behind.
All across the tree, the Pokémon's battles with the soldiers were brought to an end when the crystals came to life, taking on the shape of unrecognizable creatures to consume every soldier. No amount of cutting, running, hacking or shooting did them any good. One by one, the humans were consumed by the crystal-creatures. Nothing of them remained behind.
Harold held Seema at gunpoint, firmly placing his foot on Lucario's back to prevent the Pokémon from trying to get up.
"Step aside, Seema," Harold calmly stated.
"No."
"Step aside now!"
"I don't take orders from you anymore," Seema stated.
"Why are you doing this?" Harold demanded.
"I don't have to tell you," Seema said.
"I don't understand why you would protect that thing, and why you would pity this one," Harold said, pointing the gun at Lucario.
"If you can't understand why, then there's no point explaining," Seema said.
"Do you pity them because they're animals, or because you think they can offer you salvation?"
"They are Pokémon, and I don't think, I know. They've offered us all a chance to start over, but you don't have the sense to reason with them," Seema said.
"You can't reason with them. They're animals!" Harold shouted.
"No. They aren't animals. We're the animals in their eyes. Humans kill for petty reasons. We are a vain, slow, stupid species that can't see past their own greed," Seema said, which made Harold mad. "But Humans are a young species compared to what's been here before us, and what will be here long after. They have much to learn, and Myu offered a chance to those who were willing. But the rest of the race spent all their chances, so now they're ignored because they refuse to change."
"You associate yourself with them?" Harold questioned. "Then you are the enemy and will receive no mercy." He aimed his gun at Seema. "Let's see if your precious Pokémon come to save you, Seema."
"Actually," Seema began. "My name is Mew."
As Harold prepared to shoot, something grabbed his head and pulled so hard he missed. He stumbled around and Seema saw Hope yanking on the man's head.
"You leave my new mother alone!" the Manaphy shouted. Harold reached behind himself and managed to pull her off, but Seema rammed him hard, then grabbed one of the rifles and clubbed him with the end of it, sending him crashing against one of the crystals.
Seema grabbed Hope and held her close.
Harold got up, shards of the crystal clinging to his clothes. "You will pay for that!" he shouted before raising his gun, only to see the crystal dust on it suddenly turn to yellow gel, wrapping around the gun and enveloping it and his hand. He desperately tried to rub it off, but it only marched upwards on his arm. He grabbed his knife, and with some hesitance, tried to cut off his arm before the gel had a chance to reach his body. But the shards on his shirt and pants turned to the same gel and began to consume him. He began screaming in anger as he saw his wounded arm disappear.
Seema shielded Hope's eyes, so the young girl didn't have to see this. Harold continued to roar in anger and fear as the gel continued to envelope him. Before long, only his eyes were left and Seema saw a mix of fear and primal rage in them before they too disappeared, and Harold saw no more as his vision was consumed with yellow.
Judas continued trying to reach Harold, but he wasn't having much luck. "No good. He must be too deep in the mountain."
"Keep trying. We have to warn him," the radio operator said before the base suddenly shook.
"Sir, a lightning bolt struck the base," a soldier left behind reported. "Now there's a hole above our ammunition depot."
"If another lighting bolt strikes all that ammo," Judas said fearfully.
"Relax kid, lighting never strikes twice in the same place," the operator assured him. A rumble was heard over the base before another lightning bolt struck a box of explosives, setting off a chain of explosions that destroyed the base.
And across the whole world, everything humans had ever built was destroyed. Cities were drowned, monuments were torn apart, and all the bases that had survived the human destruction were obliterated. And like that, the planet was lifeless, save for the Pokémon and Humans inside the Tree of Beginning, which was safe in the eye of the storm.
In the Tree, the Pokémon returned to the Nursery. "That was crazy! Did your soldiers get consumed by yellow gel creatures?" Pikachu asked the others, who nodded.
"Myu must have put in that defense in advance," Pidgeot deduced.
"Oh my, the Humans in the Nursery!" Zoroark exclaimed. They started running, only to find the crowd of one-hundred thirty-one Humans surrounding the kids and eggs.
"What the heck happened?" Mike asked. "Suddenly the crystals came to life and targeted the weapons we were carrying, taking them away. We dropped them and went to the eggs and the crystals left us alone."
"Maybe Myu was protecting them," Infernape said.
"I need help!" Everyone turned to see Seema carrying a bleeding Lucario into the room.
"What happened?" Karina asked.
"Harold. He shot Lucario twice," Seema answered, laying the canine down. "Help him, please."
"I can do something," Chansey said. She walked up, holding the egg-shaped stone she kept in her pouch.
"I though you were the best fighter amongst us," Lopunny said to her mate.
"He surprised me," Lucario said. Chansey's egg started glowing as she prepared to use a healing ability she had. But then, the crystals started glowing brighter than ever, bathing the room in a blue-white light.
"What's going on?" Mike said.
"I don't know," Seema said before the crystal suddenly exploded with light. They were all forced to cover their eyes or be blinded by the crystal's radiance. Throughout the Tree, the other crystals also lit up a brilliant white.
The Humans and Pokémon desperately closed their eyes to shut out the light, but even through closed eyes, the light persisted, making the eyelids useless.
Hope watched her father, Myu, who was enveloped in a blue aura that almost seemed to be melded with his body. She had stayed behind while Seema took Lucario to be healed. Suddenly, all the crystals around her went from blue to white, becoming so bright she couldn't bear to look at them. And her father was surrounded in the same white light, which became so large that he disappeared into the white. She was forced to close her eyes to prevent them from being blinded, and eventually had to place her flippers over them to try and shut out the light, but it did little good.
Myu could feel the power radiating through and out of him, and he could feel it was almost done. Now he needed to picture the world he wanted, which was no problem. He had been imagining his world for the past twenty years. With the image in his mind, he summoned all his power, curling up into a ball. Then, he instantly uncurled, sending his power out in a blast of pure light.
The Tree turned a bright white before the light exploded out in a massive wave that covered the planet, touching every crack and crevice. The light covered the barren landscape, dispelling the turbulent storms, and left behind lush fields and trees, flowing streams and rivers, mountains and lakes across the new landscapes as the sun rose over the Tree.
And then, it was done.
Lucario slowly opened his eyes when the light passed. He sat up and looked himself over. The injuries were gone, curtesy of Chansey, who had completed her healing before collapsing. The others got up slowly, making sure no one was hurt.
"What was that?" Mike asked.
Lucario tried to come up with an answer before his rebooting senses detected something he had never felt before. A bright smile came to his face as he realized what it was.
"What is it, Lucario?" Seema asked.
"I… I feel… life," he said. "Not just here, but everywhere. I can see life across the whole world, not just in our home. It's… beautiful."
Everyone heard him, and slowly they realized what he meant. They all cheered, celebrating that the world was reborn.
The celebration was cut short when they saw the crystals turn red.
"What's that mean?" Mike asked.
"I don't know," Lucario answered.
Hope suddenly appeared, and she seemed scared.
"Hope, what is it?" Seema asked.
"It's my father," she answered. "Something's wrong with him!"
The Pokémon all took a glance at the red crystals, terror filling their hearts. They ran, Hope leading them through the Tree, the Humans behind them. She led them to the Heart, but they stopped just short of entering it. Inside, they could see Myu laying on the ground, a soft glow surrounding him.
"Help him!" Hope said from her father's side.
Lucario and Seema were the only ones able to work up the courage to walk in, going to Myu's side. Lucario gently rolled the blue Mew onto his back.
"Myu?" he asked fearfully.
Myu slowly opened his eyes, but he seemed weak. "Lucario, my old friend, I knew you'd come," he telepathed weakly.
"Myu, what's wrong?" Lucario asked telepathically so Seema could understand.
"To rebirth the world, I needed to have a great deal of power. But to do the whole world at once was beyond my abilities, so I needed the Staff of Creation to amplify them to the levels I needed," Myu said, gesturing to the Staff which laid next to him. "But even then, it takes a great amount of power to rebirth this entire world. To create life, you must give life. I am immortal, and have life to spare, but an entire planet is too much, even for me."
"What does that mean?" Lucario asked, his mind trying to reach any other conclusion other than what he knew in his heart.
"I'm dying," Myu said simply. The other Pokémon and Humans entered, surrounding him.
"No, you can't die!" Pikachu said, tears in his eyes.
"Do not fear, I will survive. But I must enter a period of hibernation, during which my body will recover the life it needs, but it will take years," Myu said.
"So, you will live," Mike said.
"But we won't have you," Zoroark said to Myu. "You can't leave us, we need you!"
Myu smiled. "You don't need me. What you have left to learn, I cannot teach." Myu looked at all the Pokémon "But the Humans need you. Pass on what you have learned to them. Teach them to live with nature, rather than abuse it. But I do not intend to leave you without guidance." Myu looked over to Seema, raising out a paw to her. "My mate, come here." Many who heard that were shocked, looking at the female as she knelt next to Myu. She grabbed his paw with only two fingers. "It is time. I must ask one last time; are you sure you want this?"
"Yes," Seema said without hesitance.
"Then… I give you this gift for you to be reborn," Myu said, one paw on the Staff of Creation. Seema was enveloped in a white light, and to the Humans surprise, she began to shrink. The Pokémon knew what was happening, as they themselves had experienced it long ago.
When the light faded, Seema was now identical to Myu, but where he was blue, she was pink. She looked over her new paws, feeling the fur across her body. It felt better than she could have thought.
Myu gasped, little specks of light rising from him. Lucario cradled him, concerned for the blue Mew. Myu raised a shaky paw, pointing it at one of the crystals. "Lay me next to that," he asked. Lucario took him over to the crystal, gently placing him down, back on the crystal. Once he did, Myu placed a paw on the crystal, and it glowed blue. Crystals began to form around Myu, slowly enveloping him.
"Now I rest, my task complete," Myu said, sounding relieved.
"No, I don't think we can do this without you," Pikachu protested. "There must be another way."
"It is time that you all move on. My children, I have guided you all for the last twenty years, but now I leave you to find your own way in the new world."
"We'll continue on," Infernape assured.
"We'll make sure your world remains the paradise you created it to be," Charizard said.
"And we will never forget you," Lucario said finally, bowing his head.
"This isn't goodbye. I'll be back," Myu said before the crystals encased him completely.
The red color in the crystals faded. They became green. The new Mew looked down sadly. Myu told her this would happen, but she didn't think it would hurt this much. She felt a hand on her back and turned to see Mike standing there.
"It's nice to see you found someone. I'm only sorry it had to end this way Seema," he said.
She turned around to face him. "It's not the end, Mike," she said telepathically. "I will see him again one day, when it's his time to return." She glanced at the crystal that held Myu before facing Mike again. "And, its Mew." She flew down to hug Hope, the Manaphy crying. "It's okay, Hope, I'll take care of you from now on. I've always wanted a daughter."
Hope leaned into the embrace, feeling comforted by her new mother. "Thank you," she whispered.
Lucario started walking out, the rest of the Humans and Pokémon following him. He reached Myu's hollow before continuing to a ledge that looked outside. They gasped when they saw the view.
For miles in every direction, the could see endless expanse of green and blue and the view didn't stop with a ring of mountains.
"Guess this is the new world," Mike said.
"Wonder what we'll find out there," Karina said.
"It's only a shame Myu isn't here to see it with us," Lucario said.
"He may not be here, but he will be watching over us," Mew assured. "So long as the world lives, Myu will live, and he will always be watching us. Always."
The Pokémon agreed, but they felt like they needed to do something. So they did the only thing that they could do; they sang. Lucario and Mew sang telepathically for the Humans, so they could sing along. And as one people, they sang.
"Peace was gone, it had been spurned
And so the world flashed and burned
For death had come in spears of white
And the world trembled in the fright
The sky was red, the ground was black
The air was filled with scrap and flack
The rain came down a sickly green
And no more hope was ever seen
Then came an awesome sight to behold
A little creature with power untold
He offered peace and a new life
With no more anger and no more strife
He turned us and saved us solely
And taught us to be pure and holy
He created a Tree that would break ground
For us, a new world soon to be found
The First gave us lessons to learn
And our spirit we now did earn
And we, the kin of his congregation
Gave rise to a whole new generation"
They paused their song, the tone going from a solem to a more joyous tone.
"Then we met ones who came before
And our hatred it then did soar
Because the world they once did blight
We turned a blind eye to their plight
But then she came and did strongly plead
That we help them in their time of need
So we tried to forgive and forget
And a friendship we forever set"
They did another pause, and the song became a lament.
"Now the world that is reborn
But at a loss we now mourn
The First rests in the Tree so deep
Until he wakes again from sleep"
End of Chapter 8
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