A/N: Happy Birthday, everyone! Well..., to me~
Surprise, surprise. An update one week early? Yes. I wanted to do something special for my birthday and show my appreciation to the people who actually reads this. I never expected this tale to hit 10,000 views nor did I expect to see the number of readers increase. It puts a tear to my eyes, it really does. :,)
With the snow storm and cold that has been terrorizing two-thirds of the states (I live in the United States), might as well sit down, drink something warm and read something, right? I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm gonna stop writing the 'certain things to note' bit unless we hit a chapter with a flashback of some sort. It's gotten too redundant.
Next chapter will be up on February 6th, following the two-week schedule.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. It's owned by Game Freak. 'Nuff said.
"...If you have everything the world can give - pleasure, possessions, power - but lack peace of mind, you can never be happy." -Dada Vaswani
Chapter 14: A Crestfallen Aurora
Aurora and Chi-Chi reappeared right in front of the Santalune City Pokémon Center. She looked around and noticed that the teens weren't back yet. Aurora looked at the horizon and noticed that the sun was still fairly high in the sky. She decided to head inside the Pokémon Center. She noticed Nurse Joy standing at the front desk with her Wigglytuff. It put a smile on her face considering where Nurse Joy was this morning. She waved to the nurse and the nurse waved back. She decided to walk towards the front desk.
"Hello again, Aurora. Do you need your Pokémon healed?" Nurse Joy asked her.
"No, I'm fine. Thank you for the offer. "Aurora passed. "Can I use the backyard for some training?"
"Of course! Just go behind the front desk and you should be there." Nurse Joy replied. Aurora thanked her and was about to head out, but Nurse Joy stopped her. "If your Pokémon gets hurt while training, you can always come back and heal them. I'll be happy to help you."
"Appreciated. Thank you, Joy." Aurora said as she walked outside. The battlefield was where she felt at home. She threw out all of her Pokémon. Chari, Rio, Suzie, and Kaiyu all greeted her warmly. Kairyu was the first to speak.
"Hello! What do you need?" He asked.
"I really don't need anything, actually. Ash, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie hasn't returned yet, so I want to use this time to train. I want to train Rio and train myself as well. If I'm going to use my aura, I'm going to need help hiding it. Since aura guardians and psychics are two sides of the same coin, I want to use one of those advantages. Can you guys work together to create a barrier similar to if I had turned into aura? I want us to seem invisible to the untrained eye." Aurora explained.
All of her partners nodded in response. Everyone but Rio walked on the differing edges of the battlefield. Chari, Chi-Chi, and Suzie raised up their claws in the air. Kairyu raised his tail into the air. Closing their eyes and concentrating all of them created a special aura that shot up into the air. The four beams of aura combined and spread to cover the entire battlefield. All of them looked a little bit weakened afterward.
"Are you guys alright?" Aurora looked slightly concerned.
"Don't worry… Aurora. We're… fine." Suzie called out.
Aurora nodded and turned her attention to Rio. They both walked to the middle of the field and got into a battle stance. Rio smirked while Aurora looked hesitant. Outside of Chari, Rio stood the best chance at catching her off guard while sparring. They both looked hesitant to attack first. Aurora was proud of Rio's patience. Many opponents would try to rush her down. She decided to initiate things herself. She emulated Bone Rush in her hands. The aura flowed through her as a long staff like bone materialized in her hands. She approached the fighting type at a quickened pace, wanting to strike.
Rio waited and listened. He closed his eyes and concentrated. His four black appendages rose high in the air as everything around him looked like aura. He saw Aurora's yellow aura and the rest of his compadres had varying colors. Chari was fiery red, Suzie was aquamarine, Kairyu was beige, and Chi-Chi was crimson red. He easily flipped out of the way to dodge. Aurora once again swung her bone club, but this time towards his feet. Rio jumped the minute she swung and once again dodged it. Aurora kept on swinging at the Lucario and he kept on dodging all of them easily. Eventually, Rio began to block each strike with his paws. Then, he grabbed Aurora's bone club and they both struggled to overtake the other.
Rio opened his eyes and glared at Aurora. Aurora gasped in surprise, then smirked. Since Rio was around the size of an average Lucario and Aurora was the size of a slightly above average adult woman, she thought the effort was very impressive. It was hard to overtake a larger opponent. In response, she destroyed her own bone club before he could overtake her. She used the momentum to knock Rio off balance. She created another bone club, but Rio got up and created his own Bone Rush. Aurora smiled when she saw him parry her attack with his own. They both started to get into a rhythm of attacking.
Chari crossed her arms in observation, "So tricky! That was smart. Aurora's always thinks ahead when she's getting into it."
"Please, I would have predicted that Bone Rush disappearing." Chi-Chi crossed her arms with slight arrogance.
"Yeah, in a hundred years." Kairyu snorted. The comment earned a growl from the electric type.
"Whatever. It doesn't matter. Rio is starting to pull away. They've both really improved with technique. He's forcing her to be more defensive when she clearly likes to be offensive. It's throwing her on a loop." Chi-Chi noted seriously. They all became quiet for a few minutes watching the combatants' movements. Rio was being highly aggressive with his attacks. It was obvious that he had caught her off guard and Aurora was forced to parry every single attack. Neither of them looked hurt, but Rio looked like he was in the better position.
"That's true…" Suzie nodded with agreement.
"Other than Rio and Happy, Chari can and has beaten Aurora while sparring by herself," Kairyu noted.
"That's because I'm the best," Chari said, pumping her fist into her chest proudly.
"Hey, that's not true!" Chi-Chi hissed.
"It's not true, but in a fair fight, she would absolutely annihilate all us, especially if she attacks when her eyes are intense. She is the Aspect of Strength for a reason." Kairyu acknowledged.
"Can't deny that one, either…" Suzie agreed quietly. Chi-Chi groaned and frowned, but she didn't deny it. Chari stopped looking arrogant and smiled bashfully. She was flattered that they thought she was the strongest.
"Hey… you know I would never want to hurt you guys. Physical strength is only half of the Aspect. Spiritual strength is just as important. Besides, I'd say the only one in this party that would have a chance to defeat me in a one vs. one fight is probably Kairyu… and that's if he evolves." Chari looked at the dragon type. Kairyu scowled and turned his head up. All the party members knew about Kairyu's feelings about evolution and they could all feel his annoyance.
"That isn't going to happen. Evolution is sacred and not to be taken granted. Once you evolve, you can't get your original form back. I like this form, thank you very much. I want to win battles to prove that you don't need to evolve to get stronger and have been doing that for years. I can grow stronger in this form. The only reason why I would ever evolve… in a MILLION years… is to protect Aurora. That's it!" Kairyu growled.
Chari raised her claws up in relenting. Even though she didn't mind Kairyu in his current form, she always felt like he was wasting his potential. Kairyu was already a powerful Dragonair able to hold his own extremely well. She could imagine him as an even more powerful Dragonite. The thought made her giddy with excitement, but then she sighed when she remembered Kairyu would always remain adamant about the topic. Aurora defended Kairyu every time one of the partners made this point and has shown full support of Kairyu staying the way he is. She also didn't mind if he evolved; she believed it was the Pokémon's decision, not the trainer's decision to evolve.
"You definitely prove why you are the Aspect of Individuality. You wouldn't change for anything." Chari noted. Kairyu made a small smile in response. Chari began to think about something else and said in a quiet voice, "Even though I have beaten Aurora while we spared, we all know she would absolutely destroy us all one on one when she's battling seriously. I'm really afraid if she attacks us as Aru."
"We all are, Chari. We would just have to work together to… you know… knock her out. It's hard, but it's certainly not impossible. Even aura guardians can't take a proper blow to their heads well while stunned. We'd just have to work together… there's no other way." Suzie heard Chari and responded. Chari nodded, but she was dreading it. All of the partners were dreading the confrontation. They shook their heads as they focused their attention back to Aurora and Rio. They shifted into using their hands/paws.
"No more aura, Rio," Aurora said in a stern voice. All of them got a shiver from the seriousness in her tone. They looked worriedly at the Aura Pokémon. True to what Chari said, Aurora began to pull away when they started to battle each other directly. Rio threw a punch to Aurora's underside, but Aurora blocked it with her arms and responded with a pivot kick to his stomach. Rio landed on his back and promptly got back up. Aurora got into a boxer's position. She kept her chin low and her fists high. Her feet were slightly apart, but she was always moving. She eyed Rio's every twitch and movement. Although they were sparring, all of her Aspects knew that Aurora was taking this much more seriously than before.
With a growl, Rio rushed down his trainer, throwing multiple strikes at her. However, Aurora was quick and nimble. She ducked under each attempt and dodged Rio's efforts to hit her. She kept the same stance the entire time, properly retaliating only when Rio left himself open. Rio could barely keep up. Eventually, Aurora sacrificed all of her defense to land one great offensive. While Rio left himself open, Aurora hit him with a screwball uppercut. Rio hissed as he got knocked upward. Aurora was about to follow up her assault when she sensed something off. Rio suddenly stopped attacking and looked shocked. He stayed still, stagnant to everything around him, including his trainer. All of her Pokemon soon adopted the same face as the Lucario. Aurora scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, then turned to see why he stopped. She gasped and paled slightly at what she saw.
She saw a short elderly man, looking to be in his sixties or seventies looking at her with an arrogant grin. He had a long white beard, but piercing blue eyes. He wore a completely casual clothing with a striped yellow and white shirt and beige shorts. He also was wearing a matching yellow hoodie that was slightly open. He was beaming arrogantly. He was standing at the edge of the battlefield with his arms crossed, almost as if he had waited for the perfect opportunity to interrupt Aurora's sparring match.
"Those were some wonderful moves, Aurora. I wonder if I'll even show you mine…" He grinned and slowly clapped mockingly.
"Charles Malladus…" Aurora growled in an incredibly low voice. She clenched her fists tightly as steam started to come out from them.
"Aurora Ketchum," Charles spoke in an amused tone.
"Whatever do I owe the pleasure to seeing your ugly mug?" She demanded contemptuously.
"Haha. Love the humor." The older man chuckled dryly. "I'm glad you find pleasure in seeing me directly. I don't just show myself to just anyone, you know. You should be feeling honored."
"How presumptuous. We both know how much I want to burn your face off. The last thing I feel is honored. After all, I imagine you're trying to read my thoughts as I speak. Just seeing you makes me want to throttle you. It is a bit suspicious that you're here now." Aurora pointed out. "Why the hell are you here?!"
Charles didn't respond and proceeded to raise his hand. Aurora gasped as he lifted her up with his telekinetically and held her high in the air. All of her partners was about to attack, but Charles waved his other hand. All of them were immediately returned to their Poké Balls in the blink of an eye. Aurora's eyes shook with shock and fear. She'd never seen any psychic forcefully return five powerful Pokémon back in their balls at once. All of her Poké Balls were shaking ferociously, trying to aid their trainer, but to no avail. He overrode all of their wills in the cusp of a second. Aurora struggled to be free. Her loathing could be seen from her glare. Charles once again smirked.
"I don't like to be disrespected, especially by upstarts like you, dear," Charles said calmly.
"I don't like for my or Ash's life to be tampered with by impudent psychics, but I guess we both can't have what we want, can we?" Aurora retorted. Charles laughed vigorously as he extended out his hand. Aurora felt an intense shock coursing through her entire body. She wailed in pain as she remembered the painful memories she had under the similar situation. Her body shook as her resolve to escape intensified. She would not get put down. Charles looked slightly surprised, but scoffed at the effort. He eventually stopped shocking her. Her body sizzled as it became limp. Aurora showed how feisty she was by glaring at him as if nothing happened.
"I can have what I want, while you can have table scraps. I always get what I want, but I suppose I can throw you a bone. How does that sound?" Charles snorted.
"What are you on about?" Aurora curtly responded with very little patience.
"I do wonder… where are your precious young one and his little tramp?" Charles said with a hint of mocking.
"Ash… Serena…" Aurora whispered under her breath. She closed her eyes and tried to get a sense of where Ash's aura was because his was more familiar. She could sense that he was still in Santalune City. Serena, Pikachu, and Happy was with them as well. She had to stifle a sigh of relief; she was thankful for their safety. However, she kept an angry expression to keep the old man thinking he had her. It was easy to pull off considering she actually was very angry. She hissed crossly, "Where is he?!"
"Wouldn't you like to know that little tidbit?" Charles snorted. He laughed, "It's all a part of the plan, really. We waited for you to separate from Ash, we take him, wipe his memory of you again and kill you. It's all quite simple. Now that you've made that mistake… you'll feel the recessions of it." Charles shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. Aurora once again screamed as she took another electric shock. She clenched her teeth together as her body shook. Moving against Charles's will, Aurora managed to snap her fingers lightly and bring them outward. A lone aura sphere formed and was aimed at the old psychic's torso. The attack landed its mark and the elder grunted in slight pain.
His concentration breaking was all that Aurora needed. With her body shaking, she closed her eyes and let her aura coarse through her veins. Dark aura visibly protruded from her. Aurora looked slightly crazed and demonic as she broke off from Charles's grip. Aurora took a moment to dispel the dark aura out from her body before it influenced her to do something she normally wouldn't do.
"Blasted aura guardian…" Charles once again tried to trap her in his psychic grip, but Aurora sidestepped and turned her body into aura. Charles was caught off guard, but he was not deterred. He knew she would come out eventually, lest her body burn from the inside. He was not expecting another aura sphere approaching him from point-blank. He grunted as he took another hit. He growled as he realized what she was doing.
"Why are you after me if Ash is separated from me? You clearly planned this ambush." Aurora's voice sounded odd while she was pure aura. Her voice was nowhere, but everywhere at once. He couldn't pick up on where she was. He looked around him and concentrated. Every time Aurora shot an aura sphere at him, he stopped and deflected it to a random direction in the air. Aurora noticed her strategy wasn't working anymore, so she revealed herself once again. She created her bone club and growled ferally. Charles grew weary of the younger guardian. They circled around each other, wondering when the other would attack.
"Why would I go for the weaker threat first? While he isn't trained, he's an easy target, but not with you in the picture. Even if I captured him, you'd go after him and get rid of all our progress by rescuing him. Might as well prevent that scenario from happening by killing you right now. Maybe after I kill you, he'll find out who you really are to him. That will be fun. You know… crushing his dreams…. taking all of his integrity… beating him with an inch of his life… that in the like. Don't worry... I'll make sure he'll have the constant feeling that everything is his fault..." Charles cackled maliciously.
One of Aurora's eyes twitched and her hair grew tensed up slightly upon hearing that. Aurora knew he was aiming the statement at her and she could hear his taunting tone. She could feel his relishing on his past victory against her and it made her sick. She didn't want Ash to go through what she went through. Charles reminding her of the past was an insult and they both knew it.
She growled, "If you ever lay a hand on Ashton again I swear I will be the one to beat you with an inch of your life, heal you and beat you again! Keep your grimy mitts away from him!"
"How sadistic. I would expect that from your counterbalance, not you. What will you do about it?" Charles continued to smirk arrogantly. Aurora answered by created Bone Rush in her hands and moving at a speed the old man didn't expect. She swung her club at the elder. Charles cartwheeled out of the way, but noticed the ground cracked when she missed. He shuddered at the strength of the furious guardian. Aurora once again tried to strike Charles down with her bone club, but Charles was too quick. He dodged every single attempt Aurora made at his head.
Aurora growled at the old man's nimble nature. Even though he looked frail, she definitely didn't let looks deceive her. She found herself begrudgingly impressed with his agility. She knew it wasn't only him. Aurora was aware that the Zurui developed technology to attempt to allow psychics to match a guardian's natural strength and speed. She wouldn't be surprised if he was wearing the contraption right now. She felt she was at a disadvantage. Twirling her bone club in the air, the middle-aged guardian used the momentum to slam the weapon down on the ground. Charles began to levitate from the ground in response. From the same club, she shot lines of fire into the air and Charles teleported to dodge every single attack. Aurora jumped up to meet him in the air, but Charles brought out his hand. Gasping, Aurora felt her body once again stopped by Charles's power. Charles noticed Aurora squirming more furiously than ever before. He could see the rage seething in her eyes.
Her eyes had a red gleam and Charles could see the hate coming from both sides of her. Once again, Aurora broke out of the elder's control and tried to fight him fist against fist. However, Charles wasn't stupid. He knew of Aurora's mix of martial arts and boxing in her fighting style when fighting without aura. He knew he wouldn't compete with her youthfulness should he fight her without his power and they both knew it. Aurora tried multiple times to strike him down at his pressure points, but each time her fingers grazed his skin, she got shocked and was forced to retract back. She shrugged off the shocks as minor nuisances, but they added up quickly. Charles not only had mastery of the electricity around him, he also had mastery over his own electricity inside him. He spoke as he was dodging Aurora's strikes.
"Ooh… I must have hit a nerve if you're trying this hard to get to me. Very well. I'm not going to play your game, insolent whelp. You're going to play mine. Time. To. Play!" Charles raised his hands in the air. Aurora felt a sharp pain all over her body as she was suspended in the air. She could tell that this wasn't the same psychic grip that she escaped from before. She couldn't move at all. Charles forced her to come in front of him. He slapped her repeatedly in the face to the point where Aurora's cheeks were as red as an apple. Aurora spat in his face in response. Charles hissed at the spit and wiped it off.
"Even after all of that, you still show resistance. How can you still move? I affected your nerves. They're under my control!" Charles barked.
"Control… is subjective… to will. Why… shouldn't I… be able… to move? Not… enough… control… over me, you…. old… bastard…" Aurora coughed out. Just talking was an arduous task due to Charles's stronger hold on her. She had never been this intensely locked in someone's grip before. She started to laugh quietly at the old man. It was a low, toneless laugh, but it was full of taunting. She could see his composure slipping.
"Silence!" Charles slapped her once again. Aurora grunted in pain, but her expression did not change. Aurora continued to laugh softly. Her hands began to shake slightly the more Charles was flustered. She noticed this, but made it as discreet she could. She just needed one hand to move.
"Tell me your secret! How can you still move? Why do Ketchums have the ability to resist Nyxcipher?! Why can psychic-guardian hybrids able to do the same? I know you know the answer because you're still somehow resisting me." He pressed. He tried to probe her mind, but Aurora's head was like an impenetrable fortress. Instead of her thoughts moving through electrical impulses like a regular human, Aurora made her thoughts just like waves. Her thoughts were moving in her aura. Since Charles was not an aura guardian, he could not read Aurora's aura and decipher it. It pissed him off no end that he couldn't look into her mind. Aurora also couldn't read Charles's mind lest she get shocked immediately. They both didn't know what the other would do.
"Aru… temporary truce?" Aurora asked Aru directly.
"Why should I help you now?" Aru immediately responded somewhat apathetically.
"Two reasons. We'll die to this wrinkly old fool and Ash is in danger because of said wrinkly old fool. What more reason do you need? Temporary truce?" Aurora provided and tried again. Aurora could tell that Aru was deep in thought. She sighed as she reached her decision.
"Temporary truce. Ash is more important to me than dying, but… I suppose we can settle our differences for now. Let's wail on his ass." Aru decided. If Aurora could nod, she would, but Charles had her occupied. Aurora closed her eyes and opened them again. When she opened them, her right eye was yellow while the left eye was red. Charles stopped floating in surprise and his concentration snapped. Aurora landed on her feet and she had her fists curled up tightly. It was her turn to have an amused smirk.
Charles knew Aurora could change her eyes to red; her counterbalance was more deadly. When she had her red eyes, she adopted an entirely new persona that would actually kill him if she had the chance. When one eye was yellow and the other red, Aurora became more capricious. Her technique expanded to be much more dangerous than normal. He knew that Ash had the potential to do the same thing based on what Shelia told him. Seeing things like this from the Ketchums frightened him, but excited him all the same. He'd only seen Aurora like this one other time. She had defended herself valiantly and that was nine years ago. She had still been no match for him. He grew nervous as he remembered he had been in a group before. Now, he's all by himself with this mystery of an enraged woman.
"Wouldn't you like to know that little tidbit?" Aurora and Aru spoke harmoniously together.
"You little...! Tell me… or I'll make your brain explode from the inside out!" Charles roared. Charles tried to slap her again, but Aurora stopped his hand cold with a flick of her own hand. Charles looked at her in disbelief. Aurora smirked as she punched him with an uppercut. The force was enough to knock him up into the air and onto the ground. All of his arrogance washed away from his face.
"Temper, temper… Charles. Curiosity does kill the Turkit sometimes, it seems." She giggled. "You know the reason the Ketchums are still alive even after all the bullcrap you and your relatives have put us through? Determination and will. Nyxcipher will never break us. We will stop you from completely reviving him. And if I can't stop you… I know that Ash will. He will find out about you eventually and if he's anything like me, I promise he'll be gunning for you."
Charles recovered from the ground and hissed at the woman. He got up and started to run towards her, completely maddened. He would force her to spit out the information. He seethed with rage, "I will kill you, Aurora Alexandra Ketchum!" Aurora prepped herself and smirked.
"Go ahead and try then. Let's go, just one on two." Aurora said with both of her eyes glowing their respective colors. She intercepted him easily and used her physical strength against the old man. Aurora lifted him up into the air. Charles didn't look amused. He grabbed her arms and thoroughly shocked her. He noticed that she wasn't taking the electricity as well as she had been before. In response, Aurora lit Charles up in a blue blaze. Charles was surrounded with fire. He wailed in pain. They threw each other of off of one another to convalesce.
Aurora was the first to recover. She slowly raised her hands in the air. As her hands raised, pure aura converted into fire. Then, she pushed the firewall towards him. Charles barely had any time to react as it exploded upon contact. His body was blown back. Aurora didn't stop her assault there. She expanded her arms wide and created sixteen aura spheres around herself. Charles' eyes grew wide. He remembered her being able to create only eight spheres at once. Then, she created another bone club in her hands. She flashed a devilish grin as she approached him at a speed that he couldn't keep up with. She began striking him with her bone club. Hard.
Charles grunted in pain as he took each and every hit. He could feel the strain of the attacks starting to affect his suit. If he got hit a few more times, the suit he was wearing would combust and he wouldn't stand a chance against her in direct combat. He struggled to get away from Aurora, but Aurora kept pace with the fleeing old man. They both knew that Aurora had the upper hand. Charles began to counter the best way he could, Aurora used the aura spheres surrounding her defensively. Each time Charles almost landed a hit on her, an aura sphere took the hit for her until all of them was gone. She only had a finite amount of energy left and she wouldn't waste any more than she needed to.
Aurora coarsely grabbed Charles by his hoodie and lifted him up into the air. Since Aurora was of slightly above average stature and Charles was short, she used their height difference to their advantage. She used her free hand to dig into his hoodie and take out the device that was aiding him in their battle. It looked like a small exoskeleton device that would fit perfectly to his body. Aurora took a glance at the suit. It creeped her out slightly, but she shook her head. She tossed Charles at the ground like he was a rag doll. Then, she crushed the suit in her hands. Charles looked enraged, but was backing away slowly. Aurora noticed this and snapped her fingers. Charles became completely enveloped in her aura grip.
Charles was now in the same situation he put Aurora in earlier. He found it unsettling that she disarmed him like this. He found her two different eyes unsettling, too. One eye looked like she was ready to end him right then and there, while the other was hesitant. Her overall expression looked like it was leaning towards the former.
"Funny how things can change in a blink of an eye, doesn't it? You don't have anyone else to bail you out this time." Aurora started to pant in fatigue. Charles was puzzled. Aurora had amazing stamina, but now she was tired very quickly. Something was off. Her voice couldn't hide her exhaustion.
"Don't think you've won, runt. I'm merely a distraction. Even though I can't take Ash myself, I've enlisted two of my grunts to do it for me. You've still lost." Charles smirked at her. Aurora scrunched her eyebrows together in slight worry, then maintained a neutral expression.
"I'm calling your bluff. We both know he's still in the city." She growled.
"Try me." Charles continued to smile.
Suddenly, they both heard an ear-hurdling scream. Then, they saw a huge explosion of pink light shot into the sky. Two shadowy figures were blown away in the sky. Eventually, they became a twinkle in the sky. Both Aurora and Charles sweat-dropped upon seeing it. Charles was the first to piece together what happened.
"I... recognize that pink light. Why did we just see that? I forced all of her Pokémon to return in their Poke Balls, though. Wait a second…" Charles thought about when he returned Aurora's partners in their capsules. Aurora was never known to hold one Pokémon in when her others were out. She would have her entire party out at once, only one Pokémon out, or none of them out at all. In Hokori, Aurora would sometimes even have her entire party out at once while one of them battles just so that they would learn more. She never did this during an official Champion match or tournament play, though. When he first caught Aurora off guard, he didn't notice anything off, but now he realized he returned only five Pokémon… and that her Sylveon was missing.
"Your Sylveon. Where is it?!" He growled.
"My what? I don't own a Sylveon. Judging by your pissed-off expression, I think you may know where one is." Aurora winked with her yellow eye. Aurora spun a Poke Ball in her hand with a pink ribbon tied to it and giggled. She then opened it and revealed there was nothing inside. Charles glared daggers at her.
"The one contingency I failed to account for... and it's biting me in the ass. With those two idiots out of commission, this mission is a failure. That Sylveon might have kept Ash save from us, but it only prolonged the inevitable. Still, I will not leave until this Champion is dethroned and decapitated. I don't care how strong she thinks she is; I'm going to finish what I started!" He scowled in his thoughts.
Charles's eyes began to twitch. Aurora felt a fuzzy feeling in her brain. She started to feel dizzy. The red eye glowered while the yellow eye remained neutral. She knew exactly what Charles was trying to do, and it was working. He used the aura grip's ability for the user to share auras to his advantage. Even though he overall didn't know as much about aura as he did his psychic abilities, he did know a lot about the aura grip and how to nullify it. When sharing aura and using the grip, an aura user is more vulnerable to telekinetic attacks aimed for distortion. Aurora eventually released her grasp on Charles to stop the wooziness. The dizziness immediately subsided.
Charles cupped his hands together and focused nearly all of psychic energy into a specific point. Then, the energy materialized and expanded into a visible shape. It resembled a mighty white sword. The hilt fit perfectly in his hands, almost as if it was made for him. It looked like the type of weapon you'd never expect an elderly man to wield, but Charles was not a normal elderly man by any means. Since he was psychic, he didn't let age limitations stopped him from doing what he wanted. It was a quality Aurora respected, but hated in this case.
Both of Aurora's eyes began to glow. She growled as she materialized her aura. From both of her hands, she focused her aura into a specific shape. The shape resembled Bone Rush. Unlike her previous Bone Rush emulations, this one was glowing an intense yellow. Charles furrowed his eyebrows in surprise.
"You aren't wielding your sword. Why? Do you honestly think I'm weak?" Charles roared with outrage. Aurora shook her head immediately.
"Quite the opposite. As your opponent, I have to respect a strong adversary." Aurora said with a small smile. Charles scoffed the compliment. She began to twirl the bone club in her hands. They circled around each other. Charles gripped the hilt of his sword even tighter, carefully eyeing Aurora's movements. He didn't know what to expect with her. Both eyes maintained a neutral expression. Aurora pointed her bone club at him and frowned, "I forfeited my right the moment I let Mew concede it the next generation. That's alright… I'll make sure you'll feel the sting of my aura."
"And I'll make sure you won't be alive by the end of our exchange!" Charles suddenly lunged forward with a speed she didn't expect.
Aurora's surprise morphed into interest as she easily parried the strike. Her entire demeanor changed. The minute she looked at the old man again, he knew was fighting someone completely different. Charles could tell in Aurora's eyes that the warrior in her was just unleashed. Since the Ketchum family were the first aura guardians, Mew instilled in them a warrior instinct that is only activated when they are facing someone they respect or want to beat badly. Being the first psychics, Malladuses were the same way initially, but they suppressed that warrior instinct over the course of time. She looked at him with clouded eyes and split her bone club into two.
Aurora became very aggressive with her dual bone clubs. She used one weapon for offense and the other for defense. Charles quickly grew frustrated at the situation. Aurora wouldn't let him get a hit on her. He felt like he was fighting and fending off two separate people simultaneously. Every time Charles attempted to land a move with his weapon, Aurora blocked it and counterattacked harder. Charles was quickly becoming overwhelmed from up close, so decided to move far away from her, but still recover his ground.
Aurora scowled at the fleeting old man. She followed him everywhere he went. She swung her bone club every time she got near him, but Charles was still too nimble. Eventually, he settled for teleporting away each time she got near. Aurora hated this little chase of cat and mouse, but there was relatively nothing she could do about it. Instead of wasting her energy to chase him down, Aurora decided to stand still and close her eyes. She concentrated deeply, trying to trace Charles's life signature. She also took the opportunity to contact Aru.
"Aru, I have no idea how long the allegiance has lasted, but I don't want to take a chance to be a sitting duck. I think I can handle him from here. Thank you for helping me." Aurora chimed with appreciation. Aru snorted.
"I didn't agree to help to help you, Aurora. I agreed to help Ash. We have him on the ropes. Do not screw up." Aru growled. Aurora felt Aru's presence diminish from her mind. She once again felt like half of herself was gone. She ignored the feeling and focused on Charles again. Though her aura was not nearly as potent, her endurance was better. She was banking on her endurance outlasting Charles's as she felt they were evenly matched.
Charles noticed her idleness and decided now would be the time to counter her. From his fingertips, he created a blast of electricity to shot it at her. Aurora still had her eyes closed. Her ear twitched. She turned in the direction of the electric attack, recreated her bone club and twirled it around. The electricity illuminated the aura made weapon and she fought the pressure of the attack. Then, Aurora threw the weapon as if it was a boomerang in the direction the electricity came from. Charles yelped as he barely dodged the speedy lightning infused bone club. Charles found himself begrudgingly impressed with Aurora's reaction speed. When she opened her eyes, he had to stifle a gasp. Her eyes were back to normal.
He stated smugly, "Lost control of your counterbalance, eh?"
"Aru isn't one to be controlled. She's just as much as an individual as I am. You can't treat someone like a puppet, unlike some people." Aurora snorted as she recreated another bone club. Charles once again created his sword and they stuck head-on. The aged psychic noticed that her aura wasn't flaring as much as before, but she wasn't panting anymore. He knew she was trying to play the endurance game. He was relieved that her eyes were back to normal; he wasn't sure if he could keep up.
"What the hell? You actually mean that?!" Aru stated in shock abruptly. Aurora gasped in surprise and scowled inwardly. Aurora had barely parried one of Charles's strikes. Aurora growled at her inopportune counterbalance.
"Seriously? Now's not the time to ask, but yes, I meant what I said. I don't want to control you. I want us both to be free in our body. Now please don't distract me right now..." Aurora pleaded as she blocked herself from her other side. With her concentration fully on Charles, she could focus better.
"Puppets always have some use, young guardian: to serve their masters. It's called strategy." Charles attempted a jump strike. Aurora held her weapon horizontally and took the force of the attack. Aurora was surprised at the old man's strength and quickly figured never to underestimate it.
"I… understand strategy… in combat, Charles." Aurora grunted as the surprisingly strong old man's sword became closer and closer to slicing her head. Aurora roared as she pushed him back and retaliated with a slice of her own. Charles flipped out of the way easily. Not giving her any chance to breathe, Charles immediately attempted to strike her down. Aurora blocked the strike easily with her recreated bone club. He scowled once again at her reflexes. Aurora glowered at him, "I respect even your underhanded tactics, but what did you to your counterbalance?" Aurora made a wide slice at Charles' stomach, but she only inflicted a small cut. He could tell she made the tiny cut deliberately. He hissed at the taunting injury. "You torture him and make him your own servant. You try to blot him out even though he will always be a part of you. Charlie never deserved that."
"You don't mention his name! You never knew him!" Charles said in pure rage.
He sliced Aurora's left arm and blood was gushing out. A sharp breath escaped her lips, but she didn't let the blood dropping on the ground stop her from fighting. Aurora wanted to hold her arm, but Charles wouldn't give her enough time to heal herself. He became more aggressive with his sword, dying to inflict more injuries. Charles's eyes were murderous. Aurora's eyes were hardened. She wasn't nearly as crippled as he thought. As Aurora was right handed, she was still able to counter each strike. However, Charles forced her on the defensive and slowed her reaction speed.
She wouldn't stand for it any longer. Eventually, Aurora narrowed her eyes and the tip of her bone club adjusted its shape. It became sharp, like a spear. When Charles went in too deep for a slash, Aurora caught his sword by the tip with her left hand. Her hand was also wounded from the touch, but she didn't care. Her hardened eyes turned cold when she stabbed Charles in the shoulder with her spear. The tip protruded on the other side with blood on it. They pushed off one another to try to suppress their injuries.
"Charlie should have been your friend… your ally… your… brother. I don't know how he is nowadays, but I know he isn't someone to be suppressed or controlled." Aurora said passionately. The small cut on her hand was now healed, but the cut on her arm was not. It was no longer bleeding, but the cut was still there and was in intense pain. Aurora shook her head and brought her hands forth. "I don't want us to fight. You don't have to do this."
"Screw your sweet talk. I ain't buying it. Aura guardians and psychics have been fighting for millennia. What difference does now make?" Charles took out the bone spear out from his shoulder and hissed in pain. Immediately when he took it out, it shimmered back into Aurora's hands. Aurora gripped the weapon tightly and narrowed her eyes.
"We're in a modern age where humans work together with Pokémon. What's the point of this fighting? Nyxcipher only seeks to make himself complete so history can repeat itself. You're just his pawn." Aurora argued.
"What are you then? I know you're just Mew's lapdog. You blindly follow what she says even though she's bringing doom to this world." Charles retorted.
"Mew tries her best to keep the world in balance! Heck, she's the one who created all of our ancestors. Why would she want to doom the same world she helped to shape? We may not live in a perfect world, but it's a lot better than it was before. Humans and Pokémon actually coexist together in this world." Aurora stated.
"You actually believe what that pink crap tells you? A shame you believe the most unpredictable god's lies." Charles snorted.
"Mew does follow her own agenda. All legendary Pokémon follow their own agendas. I won't deny that. What makes you think Nyxcipher is going to help you once he's complete? Once he used you, he'll throw you away like complete shit. It's a shame you believe the more untrustworthy Pokémon." Aurora growled. Aurora noticed that Charles's wound also was no longer bleeding as well, but he was speaking in a pained tone. She sighed.
"You say Charlie should have been my ally? I'll force him to be my ally. Let's see how you like it when it's two against one." Charles growled. His right eye turned a dark brown while his left eye remained blue. Aurora braced herself, then gasped. She noticed that the brown eye was just… there. There was a dearth of expression coming it and that unnerved the ebony haired guardian. Aurora could feel her stomach drop. Aru seemed even more frightened than she did.
"Charlie… What did you do to him…? He… he doesn't even look alive anymore!" Aurora said with horror.
"Charlie and Charles. Me and me. Oh, I'm still alive Aurora. Very alive and well. You should be worried about staying alive yourself." Charles gripped his sword tighter. Aurora continued to look appalled.
"Your counterbalance isn't even your counterbalance anymore! Counterbalances are meant to be part of you. You may not agree with them from time to time, but that's how it's supposed to be. In people, there will be different sides to us. Nice sides… mean sides… apathetic sides. That's just how it is. When Mew created the primordial guardians and psychics, she made us have two contrasting personalities to aid us in developing our powers. She wanted us strong. In later humans, she didn't include counterbalances fearing it was too much to handle, but she kept us anyway. We were blessed to stay on this world because of her, despite our differences. You… you threw all that out the window. You've desensitized yourself to the point of no return. I can't sense Charlie in your psychic allegiance and if he is, you're suppressing him somehow." Aurora shook her head sadly.
"Aurora… I… can't... fight him…" Both of the old man's eyes turned brown. They had a tiny spark left in them, but had a lack of expression... similar to a zombie. He seemed mostly dead.
"Charlie…? Why is your life signature so low? What did he do to you?" Aurora recognized the weaker tone, but expressed shock. She didn't expect to see the brown eyed psychic in the flesh, but based on from his voice, she could tell he didn't have much time to chat.
"I've given up fighting him many years ago. I decided to let things ride out and hope for the best. I know Charles is wrong, but there's nothing I can do about it." He shrugged forlornly.
"You can always do something about it. Whether your heart is into it… that's something I can't control. You gotta have something left in you." Aurora pleaded.
"You don't know what's he's done to himself to make him the sole controller. There's just no point in fighting him, Aurora. Charles is going to kill you and possibly me when he comes back out. It makes me sad because I actually do see promise in you. We could've been friends. Unfortunately, Charles don't quite see the world the same as I do. If you need to kill me, I certainly don't hold it against you." Charlie stated in a tired voice, but still made a small smile.
Aurora closed her eyes and gripped her weapon tighter. The bone spear began to glow yellow and the tip grew sharper. Charlie closed his eyes and raised his hands in relenting. Aurora looked at him with cold eyes, but then looked away. She closed her eyes and slammed the tip of the spear on the ground. Eventually, Aurora decided to make her weapon disappear into nothing. She shook her head and continued to look away from the brown eyed psychic. Seeing nothing had happened, Charlie opened his eyes and looked at her bemused.
"No…"
"No…?"
"No. I didn't do it before and I'm not going to do it now." Aurora stated firmly.
"I have to admit, I'm surprised. I thought you hated me." Charlie admitted.
"I do hate you… well… a part of you. I hate the actions you've done as your balance. That's only natural for what you did to me and Ash as Charles." Aurora answered candidly. The old man had an accepting smile.
"Fair enough. You've always had a good heart. It only makes me sad to see Charles want to rip that heart in two just because you stand the best chance in getting in his way. I only came out to show you I'm still… well… conscious. He has to keep me conscious to continue to use his psychic abilities. You don't have much time left to end me. I appreciate your sentiment, but I really think you should just end both our sufferings. I… feel his anger. It's extraordinarily difficult to keep in, even as I speak to you." Charlie said sadly.
"I used to think that was the right thing… killing you. Now… I'm positive it's not. You prove everything have some good in them and that's reason enough to preserve anything. I'll simply knock you out and send to wherever you came from. Nothing more. Please, once you awake, you gotta regain the same fire I saw you have when I was a little girl. The venerable Charlie. The confident Charlie I still look up to now." Aurora gently smiled.
"Things change, Aurora. Remember that…" Charlie stated, but then had an intense pain in his head. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. His white hair began to spike up in agony. Aurora looked horrified, but flipped away from the elder. She growled as she summoned her bone club once again and scowled from a safe distance. The old man opened his blue eyes and they were glowing white in pure hatred. He smirked maliciously, "…when I end your life!"
"…" Aurora merely stared him down with a neutral expression.
"I can't believe that fool broke off from my control just to speak to you. Pathetic. I'll never know what he sees in you. I do know that your merciful nature will cost you your life." Charles said as his right eye once again turned brown. Aurora gripped her weapon even tighter and tried to hide her anxiety. Charles sensed this and smirked. "Your fear… it brings me joy, whelp."
Aurora continued to stare down the man she despised. Despite her turbulent emotions, she didn't give him any satisfaction. She was still transfixed about Charlie and his deadened eyes. Charles's right eye still had that undead look to it and it freaked her out. She had to look past it in order to concentrate. She may have been handicap from her injury, but she would never give in to the white-haired man. Charles acted as if the stab wound she inflicted wasn't bothering him much at all and that perplexed her.
Charles wouldn't give her enough time to contemplate on her musings. He created dual white swords out of his energy, except they were thinner than the solitary sword. She only noticed that he was beginning to pant. She realized she had limited time, but she could stall him if he didn't prove too much for her. She banked on her endurance.
Charles suddenly teleported away from the battlefield. Aurora's guard was kept high and her eyes began to glow a faint yellow. She looked around for any signs of the master psychic. Her left ear wiggled and her head moved twenty degrees. She held her bone club as defensively as she could. Abruptly, Charles appeared out of nowhere, but Aurora was ready. She blocked Charles's slice easily. Charles once again disappeared.
This time, Charles appeared with a quickness that Aurora didn't expect. He started to land hits on her. Each time he hit her, she gained a new cut on her clothes and on her body. Her body became littered with more and more wounds the more she couldn't react. Even with her normally amazing reaction time, she couldn't react to Charles's speed when he was like this. Aurora tried to move away, but she realized there was nothing to move away from when he vanished. She couldn't sense his aura while he was teleporting and that infuriated her. The next time Charles reappeared, she noticed that he appeared briefly for a split second before reappearing slightly off from where Aurora anticipated. He reappeared right behind her and sliced into her back.
Aurora hissed and fell on her knees. She was struggling to ignore all the built up pain. She was sweating, but she immediately got up, bloodied and all. Aurora knew she couldn't take much more of just defending. She knew she needed to take a stand. She could feel her counterbalance agree with her. She made a war cry as her left eye once again turned red. Everything became much more precise to her and time seemingly moved slowly. She could feel the wind distort very slightly to her right. She was tempted to move to her right, but her other side looked just as compelling. She trusted her gut and went left.
Much to Charles's dismay, Aurora went left, block his strike and grabbed his shoulder before he would teleport away again. She trapped him in her aura grip, preventing his escape. They both were fighting on an equal ground once again, but Aurora held the advantage. Charles looked incredibly flustered, "How did you out-predict me? Guardians can't predict the future! You should have gone right!"
"There are multiple possibilities to one's future. I am the visible representation of two different perspectives. I represent two different futures of the same woman. It was about a fifty-fifty which direction I would face to counter you while fully conscious." She responded. "I grow tired of our exchange. I do not wish to kill you and I find this fight pointless. Beating around a dead Rapidash never did anyone favors."
"Why you little-"
"We could stop this right now. You can head back to the Hokori region. I don't want either of us to gets hurt past what's happened already." Aurora offered once while holding her left arm. She stared into the stab wound she inflicted before. She had a harder time keeping him still and found herself begrudgingly impressed with the elder again.
"As if I'm going to allow you to teach him any more than you have already! We know of that brat's ability to learn battle tactics extraordinarily quickly. I will not allow you to use that in training his aura!" Charles once again used his psychic powers to daze and confuse Aurora's mind. Even with both sides of the Ketchum conscious, she found it impossible to maintain her stance. Charles broke out of the grip and tackled her down on the ground.
Before Aurora could properly react, Charles poured all of his energy into one attack. Holding her down and glaring at her callously, he electrocuted her entire body from point range. Aurora wailed in agony. The memories started to surge her back into similar situations. She thought about her father holding her down and shocking her and another time where she was shocked from close range. She refused to go down and used those bad memories to her advantage. For the first time in the entire fight, Aurora's eyes grew primal.
Aurora's will to survive manifested fully. Aurora gripped both of Charles's arms and crushed them with all of her strength. Charles hissed in pain, but continued shocking her. Charles could hear his bones cracking from the force of Aurora's grip. To raise the intensity, Aurora lit Charles up in a blue blaze. She coldly watched as Charles's grip on her tapered off and he was beginning to lose consciousness. Seeing the weakened psychic on top of her, she kicked him off of her.
Getting up first, she stepped on the old man's back to prevent him from getting up. Then, she grabbed him by his neck and began to squeeze tightly. Charles was quickly beginning to lose air. Her murderous eyes showed no signs of the Aurora he was used to. It showed no signs of her counterbalance either. It was the eyes of a cold and efficient fighting machine.
"Enough already!" Aurora bellowed with narrowed eyes. Charles glared at her with just as much hatred, but knew his air was fading fast. Through his eyes, she could see a reflection of herself. She grew scared of herself as she realized what she was about to do. Aurora had more control out of the two sides conscious. She dropped the crippled psychic on the ground harshly. She said with a shaky voice, "I… I don't want this fighting to continue…. I… won't continue. I… I..."
"Don't just knock him out. This is the perfect opportunity to end him. Do it." A third voice suddenly loomed in Aurora's head.
"That voice…" Aurora visibly lost color in her face.
"Aurora, listen to me. You may never get this opportunity again. Kill him while you've left him vulnerable." The voice droned.
"You've been invading my dreams! How are you in my head?! I thought I would only need to deal with you in my dreams!" Aurora held on to her head. Charles attempted to retaliate while she was preoccupied, but he was trapped once again in her aura grip. He wondered how she was doing that. He tried to distort her senses again, but it seemed to not have any effect. She was already lost her own head.
"Aurora, what are you talking about? I don't hear anything." Aru said. "I can't hold him by myself for much longer."
"You can't hear him? Why can't you hear him? I know something is invading our head. Am I crazy?" Aurora questioned in a frightened voice.
"Kill the psychic. End him. This is your only chance!" The voice persisted.
"Get out of my head!" Aurora ordered.
"Aurora, calm down! Now is not the time to get paranoid!" Aru pleaded with her balance. Those pleas were beginning to fall on deaf ears.
"Kill the psychic…"
"GET OUT!"
"You are spineless… when you are hesitant."
"Please get out of my head…" Aurora began to entreat in soft mumbles. It spooked her counterbalance to hear Aurora reduced to such a surrendering murmur. Aru thought Aurora had been hallucinating, but realized whatever was in their head was affecting her deeply… and she knew exactly what Pokémon it was. There was only one Pokémon Aurora legitimately feared enough to act this way… Nyxcipher.
"Aurora! We can't stay fully conscious if you begin to act like this! Get a hold of yourself and ignore him!" Aru roared, but she knew she wasn't getting through. She was at a lost at what to do. At this point, Aurora couldn't hear Aru. Just the dragon's voice. Her tormentor's voice.
"You are worthless… when you aren't savage," The voice continued to persist.
"Please stop it…"
"You are weak… when you are merciful. When you don't hold back, you are strong. Relentless."
"Please…" She didn't know how to respond at this point.
"Kill. It's in your blood. It's in your heart…" The voice continued to drone those three sentences until she snapped.
"No! I won't do it! I won't fall for that same dark temptation like in my dreams. I just can't!" All signs of Aurora's rationality vanished in her shrill shrieks.
"If you won't follow your instinct, then you are even more predictable than I thought. Human empathy is so exploitable even to this day," The voice sneered. At this point, the voice made itself audible for Aru, feeling as though his job was done. She seemed just as scared as her balance. "Enjoy being killed by my revivor, my crestfallen Aurora."
"Aurora! Please, break away from his voice! He's not real! Don't believe he's real!" Aru screamed, but seemed to be trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince Aurora. She tried to get through to Aurora, but the balance did not answer.
Aurora wanted to answer, but she couldn't. She was too caught up with the voice she heard. She was petrified. She was physically shaking her head, but mentally, her mind was muddled. Aru could feel her balance's emotions spiraling out of control. She couldn't keep up being conscious with Aurora; her emotions were too much to take. Their disagreement severed their proper connection and Aru could no longer be conscious at the same time as Aurora. As a result, Aurora's red eye began to flicker. Eventually, it went completely yellow and only Aurora was conscious. The aura grip on Charles also subsided.
Charles was severely weakened from Aurora's bone crushing grip and fire and barely managed to stand himself back up. He was panting heavily and his mark revealed itself. It was a five pointed black star that was on his forehead. It began to glow white. His entire body was sizzling, trying to heal off the effect of the burns Aurora inflicted on him. There was too much for him to take, but his adept healing was enough to dull his entire body down to just mild pain. He could barely breathe or feel his arms. His psychic energy wasn't flowing as well as a result. His determination was the only thing that kept him standing. His hatred was his only remaining resolve to keep moving.
He couldn't think about anything else but killing the immobilized guardian before him. His body burnt, his pride tarnished, he was determined to see her pay. He didn't understand why she had stopped choking him, but he didn't care. Her loss and his gain. Just taking a step was such an arduous task because he knew that almost all of his psychic energy was gone with that one electrical blast. He had no idea how the ebony haired woman managed to withstand the magnitude of his shock from close range and wasn't keen on finding out. His one objective was clear: kill Aurora Ketchum.
Aurora looked like she was in pain. Holding her head and closing her eyes, she tried to make the foreign voice in her mind to stop. It kept telling her to do the deed. It kept telling her to give in her darker inhibitions and her more savage temptations. She wanted the urging to stop. Her body became immersed in a dark purple aura, trying to fight the voice's demands. Part of her wanted to concede. Concede to the poignant voice that had been haunting her in her sleep. Concede to the dark temptation stirring inside of her. Concede to just to make it stop. Her moral judgment prevented her from acting on the voice's whims.
Aurora was also feeling very fatigued, both in her spat with Charles and fighting off the Pokemon constantly reciting the same ominous message of murder. Her aura was lower than it had been for a long time. She could barely keep standing, clutching her head because of her energy depletion. Even though she had summoned enough strength to push Charles off of her; that was merely her adrenaline running. Now that her adrenaline subsided, she was beginning to feel the repercussions of it. Her knees were shaking and her entire body was quivering.
Charles was a bit fearful of the dark aura erect around Aurora, but relaxed immediately when he noticed that she was still immobile. He hissed as he tried to raise his arms. The damage was done, but he ignored his pain to raise two fingers together. They both were aimed squarely at Aurora. His fingers were shaky, but his aim was true.
Aurora opened her eyes and noticed the two fingers pointed at her. She barely had time to react to the energy beginning to crackle through the old man's fingertips. In a blink of the eye, Charles shot another blast of electricity at her, but this time, it resembled blue lightning. Aurora had no more energy to fight the electric assault. The blast knocked her on the ground. Aurora's marks appeared and were glowing faintly. Charles winced in slight pain, but smirked slightly in triumph.
Aurora's body was shaking, but she didn't have enough strength to get up. Her vision was blurry and she could barely observe the old man coming to her. Charles slowly approached her collapsed body and whispered in her ear, "How does it feel to be put in your place?"
Despite the situation, Aurora moved her right hand and slapped him. The slap hurt immensely and had a lot of force behind it, but it wasn't enough to knock him off balance. Hissing, Charles grabbed her at her shoulders and looked at dead in her eyes. Aurora glared back defiantly. He gave her another close ranged shock, but Aurora had no more energy to counter him. She wailed in agony, trying to take the shock, but eventually, she stopped screaming. Seeing his work was done, he tossed her on the floor. Charles's eyes turned back to blue. Aurora's marks stopped glowing and her breath grew slow.
A/N: Don't you just love cliffhangers? A nice birthday gift, don't you agree? :3
Next Chapter: Shattered
~SPG123~