CHAPTER II: ARE WE REALLY THAT DIFFERENT?
It started out as a normal day for Regice, Registeel and I. Regice decided to stay on the higher level that morning, on the "leaves" of the tree. Registeel instantly called the tunnels, leaving me to patrol the outer parts, which meant actually going outside the tree itself, but still within the suburbs. It made sense; after all I was the only one who could dig underground, so I could do my job much faster.
After splitting up, I started to dig to my location, but as I went, I thought...
Why... Why did those humans have to do that? We never meant any harm to them, at least not at the time, and they still captured us and intended to seal us away forever. Why...
How did we both exist? What happened to survival of the fittest? Surely we Pokémon, both by sheer numbers and power, were more powerful, right? Did we not deserve to be the one to exist, and not them as well? They were humans, after all, which meant they were the enemy.
My thoughts were broken midway through my digging as I sensed the very thing I had been thinking about only a small distance away – humans! I only realized their presence because, well after digging through earth for thousands of years, you develop special skills.
From here, all I could tell was that there were five humans, one of them holding a Bonsly, along with a Lucario. Were they holding those other Pokémon prisoner? Whether they were or not, I changed direction and started to dig towards where they were, which was on open ground just outside one of the tunnels to the Tree of Beginning.
As I approached, the Lucario suddenly ran around and then stood very still, using his aura. He could sense me coming! As one of the humans came closer to him, I considered turning back, but I quickly decided against it. I concentrated even harder, and aimed straight for the human near the Lucario.
Half a second before I reached the surface of the ground, the Lucario turned around and tackled the human out of the way. Blast! Nonetheless, I exploded out of the ground like a drill, leaving a swirling cloud of brown dust in my wake.
'You won't get away,' I grunted. As the dust faded away, I popped outwards, getting a proper visual glimpse of the scene below.
The Lucario and the human he had tackled out of my attack's range got up, and the human was a young male, with a red cap, a blue hoodie, black gloves, and light blue jeans and sneakers. Of the four other humans, one was a teenage black male, with purely brown clothes, albeit of different shades. One was a younger boy in a green shirt and brown shorts, with navy hair. There was a girl in red and blue, with a patterned red bandanna. The final person was an adult female in a purple leotard, with gelled hair and several pieces of nanotechnology. There was a big yellow jeep behind them.
As the four humans that were together gasped at my appearance, I landed behind the jeep with a THUNK, which shocked the Bonsly enough to make it stop running around in panic.
'Get away from here!' I said, as I placed my chopped arms under the yellow vehicle and raised it up. The four humans backed off slightly as I raised it up. When I flashed my dots, they ran to the side, around the rockface.
'A Regirock!' cried the adult female, as I tossed the yellow vehicle forward. It landed none too smoothly, shaking somewhat. I stomped forwards, beside it, and powered up a Hyper Beam.
'Not so fast!' I yelled, launching the Hyper Beam straight at all six of them. However, in my haste to eliminate them quickly, the yellow beam missed, instead hitting the rock wall behind them, which was engulfed in a cloud of black smoke.
'Hurry, this way!' said the adult female, pointing to the trench that ran between the two clifffaces. She and all the other humans bar the one with the Lucario ran off.
I stomped around the yellow vehicle, blinking the Braille dots on my head.
'This is for you, Regigigas!' I snarled, launching another Hyper Beam straight at the pair of them. At the same moment, the Lucario charged up a ball of blue aura energy between its palms before it tossed it at me.
It connected with my Hyper Beam, halting it. I put all my effort into the beam, but the Aura Sphere forced the Hyper Beam back towards me, until it connected with my head, engulfing my upper body in another cloud of black smoke, obscuring my vision.
As the smoke started to drift off my body, I was left to ponder one thing only: why did that Lucario, a fellow Pokémon, side with those humans? Had they tricked him? There was no way he would have willingly sided with humans, obviously. I felt it my duty to free Pokémon under the wrath of humans. As well as trying to get those humans... I would also try to free that Lucario.
The smoke finally drifted off my body, and I saw that they were well into the trench. They were running, so I wouldn't be able to catch up with them on foot.
'We're not done yet,' I muttered, before I dug underground again, leaving a tunnel of upturned earth in my wake.
We most certainly were not. The struggle between humans and Pokémon would never end. Not until humans were extinct. If we ever got back to Regigigas... maybe we could set that as our new goal. To try and eliminate humans off the face of our world.
But first things first...
I was tunneling back underground to catch up with them. However, I couldn't get too close, or that Lucario would sense me coming, and they'd avoid me again. Until I could free him, I had no choice but to defeat him, than eliminate the humans. Then the Lucario would be free.
I was closing in on the humans, who were walking up a stone tunnel inside the tree. But then I sensed two other humans.
'There's something about this place that is making me absolutely gay!' said an adult female voice, at the start of one of the tunnels that let from the bottom area up to higher levels within the Tree. They were only a few seconds away. I instantly turned towards them.
'Yes, you're right Jess,' said a similar voice, but a male one. 'I know what you mean; I'm having the time of my life too! It's a blast –'
I broke through the ground (making his words rather ironic), creating another cloud of brown dust which enveloped both them and me. I stood up fully, blinking the Braille dots on my face, while the dust faded away.
Both of them were young, in plain white uniforms with a red R on their shirts. The female had really long curving purple hair and small green ball earrings, while the male had simple blue hair. At the sight of me, they covered backwards, stuttering inconsistently and clutching each other's hands. And the female said she was gay...
'Uncle!' spluttered the blue-haired male.
'You can't escape,' I also spluttered. 'For I am... Regirock!'
They tripped backwards in their haste to avoid me. I dug my arms under the ground a small bit and then, in the name of Regigigas, I moved them upwards, throwing rocks I unearthed from the ground straight at them.
Yelling in panic, they dodged, barley missing the rocks which buried themselves in the earth. I ran as fast as my short stubby legs would allow me to run as they sprinted to the side and ran up a different tunnel.
Running after them in the tunnel, which sloped upwards really quickly and was lit slightly by the blue crystals sticking out of the floor, walls and ceiling, I shot another Hyper Beam straight at them. As I intended, it missed, instead hitting the ceiling above them.
Several rocks collapsed downwards, sending two blue crystals flipping in spirals past me, and sealing off the tunnel upwards. They slowly turned around to me again, and cowered down onto the floor, looking nothing short of petrified. As I stepped closer to them...
Registeel suddenly stepped out of a side tunnel behind me. While I was surprised at his appearance, I was also thankful for it.
'There was a small yellow flying robot back there,' blinked Registeel through his seven red dots on his "face."
'Probably dispatched by those five humans I saw earlier,' I blinked back, watching as Registeel stepped closer to the two humans.
Registeel lit up his right hand, and he then swung the Metal Claw straight at the two humans. They tripped and ducked, and Registeel's silver claw swung through the caved-in wall, which collapsed upon contact. Upon seeing the tunnel open again, the two humans got up and ran down the tunnel. Registeel slowly turned to face me.
'Way,' I snorted at him. Not bothering to respond, he jogged up the tunnel as fast as his small legs would carry him, with me right behind him.
Light was at the end of the sloping tunnel. We came out onto an elevated rockface in a cavern, with long luminous blue crystals extending everywhere. Down below us were the two humans we had been chasing, along with the five I had seen earlier and that Lucario.
'Resistance is useless,' drummed Registeel, charging up a Hyper Beam of his own on his seven red dots. As we stepped to the edge, Registeel unleashed the yellow beam, which surged downwards and blew up one of the crystal paths leading off the cliffface they were on. They cringed backwards at the smoke drifted around the place. The Lucario quickly leapt up and landed on the only remaining crystal path.
'Quickly, this way!' he said. The two new humans ran up first.
'Oh yeah!' stammered the purple haired one.
'Don't need to ask twice,' stammered the blue haired one simultaneously. 'Please don't fail me now!'
'That's a Registeel!' said the kid in the green shirt, running past the Lucario, with the red-clothed one behind him. As the brown-vested one, the red-capped one, and the adult female in the purple jumpsuit ran past, the Lucario charged up another sphere of blue energy.
Making our characteristic sounds, Registeel and I leapt down from where we had been. Just as we landed down with a thud, the Lucario flung the Aura Sphere at the ground at our feet, again engulfing us in dust.
The dust quickly faded, and we stepped out of it. The humans were just vanishing into the tunnel at the end of the crystal, and the Lucario was charging up another Aura Sphere.
'Hold on a sec!' said Registeel, as he powered up another Hyper Beam. Yet again, the Lucario threw forwards the blue of aura just as Registeel used his Hyper Beam attack. The two attacks met in mid air, and then exploded, engulfing us in brown smoke.
By the time the brown smoke faded, the Lucario was gone. Without pausing, Registeel and I stumped our way up the crystal bridge, eventually coming to the opening at the end. We went down the dark tunnel, seeing white light at the end.
We came out onto a long, thin stone bridge, leading across a gigantic ravine, with sky all the way to the right, and plants sticking out of the rock wall on the other side. At the other end was the Lucario. As Registeel put one foot in front of the other, and I did the same, he flung another Aura Sphere, not at us, but at the centre of the bridge.
It blew up, the center fragments falling down amidst the dust.
'Well, this blows,' bellowed Registeel. While the dust drifted away, he put his right foot forward on the edge of the side we were on, and a fragment of the rock fell down. We were cut off from following them. The Lucario stood up, and then sprinted into the tunnel at the other side.
'What now?' I asked Registeel. But before he could respond, we were interrupted.
'Allow me.'
It was Regice, on the grass ledge high above us. We stood back, and she shot forwards a steady Ice Beam, building up the gap across to the other side again. Within seconds, the bridge was complete.
'Thanks,' I said, before Registeel and I walked across the ice section of the bridge.
'I'll try and ambush them from another path,' said Regice back, before she floated away out of our visible sight. Mere moments later, we were at the other side, and then in the tunnel.
As soon as we were in semi-darkness, penetrated only by the luminous blue crystals around us, I shoved my way past Registeel. If you wanted something done, you had to do it yourself.
We paved our way down the tunnel, until finally we spotted the humans again, not looking at us. The two ones that were originally apart from them were gone.
I them made the mistake of swinging my arm down into the ground, which created enough dust and noise to alert them to our arrival.
'Don't try running away,' I muttered, leaning forwards.
'Yeah, what he said,' said Registeel, leaning around me. The humans started to back away, while the Lucario built up another Aura Sphere.
'Run for it!' cried the one in the brown vest, as the blue jackal shot the Aura Sphere at us. As before, it enveloped Registeel and me in grey smoke. As we stepped out of it, the humans were already getting smaller down the tunnel.
Registeel and I were going down the tunnel as fast as we could, but we were losing them. After a while, they were out of sight, but we kept going. We had to. If we didn't defeat those humans, we had no hope of Mew transporting Registeel, Regice and I back to Sinnoh to finally reawaken our master. And also to get those humans – for other humans imprisoning Regigigas and transporting us across an ocean to this region.
Suddenly, we were catching up, as we could see them again. The adult female was next to the Lucario, and the four others were in front.
'I guess Pokémon aren't considered dangerous,' remarked the adult female, just as we drew closer.
'Here's dangerous for you!' I yelled, unleashing another Hyper Beam straight at them. But they ran for it, and my yellow beam ended up hitting the floor instead, scattering more smoke along the passage.
Registeel and I approached the smoke as it drifted away. When it was gone, I saw that only the human in the hoodie and the Lucario was still there. Now there was a Corphish and a Grovyle in front of the human, braced for battle. Where had they come from? Were they also under the control of that human?
As we stepped closer, the human took command.
'Grovyle, Bullet Seed, and Corphish, Bubblebeam!'
The two Pokémon did what he said. The Corphish opened its claws and shot multi-colored bubbles at Registeel, while the Grovyle opened its mouth and shot several yellow energy bullets at myself. We brought our arms up, blocking the attacks, until finally they hit each other and, once again, engulfed us in gray smoke.
We moved out of this and into the chamber, but they were already making their way along a tunnel opposite the one we came out of. The human was still in sight.
'Hey you,' he teased at us, 'bet you can't catch us!' He then turned tail and ran after his companions.
We had pursued them as fast as we could, but we had lost them. We... had failed. There was no way Mew would ever teleport us back to Sinnoh if we failed to vanquish the first intruders to the Tree of Beginning since we arrived here.
Was this it? Were Regice, Registeel and I destined to simply be stuck in this region, and never see Regigigas again? We hadn't seen him for centuries, and not a day had gone by where I didn't think about him.
I was suddenly shaken out of my thoughts by Registeel and myself wandering into a brightly lit chamber. Along with several big crystals around the room, there was a circular line of crystals at the top of the room, through which white light was shining.
Without warning, Registeel put out his arm to stop me.
'Hold on,' he said. Confused, I waited. He poised himself at the side of the big blue crystal he was behind. And then –
Registeel slid around the crystal, just as the Lucario came up in front of him. Lucario skidded to a stop, just as Registeel grabbed Lucario with his arms and lifted his up, the blue jackal grunting out.
'Lucario!' cried the voice of the human from around the crystal. I stomped my way around the other side, just in time to see that human, along with the adult female, get engulfed in two red blobs that appeared out of nowhere. The Pikachu that had been on the kid's shoulders got knocked off, and turned around to see the two humans squirming in the churning red blobs, as his cap got knocked aside two. Behind them were the Corphish, Grovyle, Meowth and – Mew. Mew was with them?
'Ash!' grunted Lucario. Struggling to escape Registeel's grip, lightning of aura shot out from his body, but Registeel hold didn't slacken.
Unable to escape, the adult female pulled her arms out of the red blob, holding two small metal capsules, with the top half red and the bottom half silver. She opened them, and white light shot out of the balls. The white light hit the ground, materialized into two shapes, and then burst open to reveal two Weavile.
'Wea?' they said, looking up at her, as her arms got pulled in, and all the crystals around turned the same red hue as the blobs.
'I'm afraid this is goodbye,' she said sadly, as the red blob finally engulfed her head, and then shrunk down.
'Wea?' said the two Weavile again moving up to the red blob just as it shrunk into the ground, leaving nothing behind, and the crystals turned back to blue.
Meanwhile, the human called Ash strained, but finally tossed up two of the metal capsules himself. White light shot out of them, hit the ground, and materialized into a Swellow and a Phanphy. They both grunted the first parts of their names, as Ash's left arm got pulled in.
'Pika pi!' said the Pikachu, looking up at Ash.
'Pikachu,' said the human, as the red blob churned around him. 'You can't save me, just take care of yourself, and all the others. I'll miss you buddy. I love you –'
The red blob engulfed his head, and started to snake up his arm, while the crystals turned red again. Pikachu jumped forwards and grabbed his arm, straining to pull it out. The Grovyle and Phanphy grabbed the Pikachu's waist, as he started to get pulled in, and tried to yank him out as the red blob shrunk downwards. The Corphish and Swellow watched in agony, the Meowth had his claws on his face and his mouth open, and Mew was swinging back and forth above them.
'Ash!' grunted Lucario again. He strained, and broke out of Registeel's grip. He lowered his arms as the jackal sprinted forwards to the group, but they he stood up in shock.
The Grovyle and Phanphy finally pulled Pikachu out, as the blob vanished into thin air. They let him down as he started at the space where the blob had been. All ten of the Pokémon, along with Registeel and I, were looking at that point, just as the crystals finally changed back to their normal luminous blue shade.
'Pi...' muttered the Pikachu, shaking his head, while Lucario watched with disbelief. 'Pika...'
The Swellow and Phanphy were also sad, with the Phanphy leaking two small tears.
The Grovyle clenched his eyes shut, while the Corphish's eyes were watering up. 'Corphish...'
Pikachu leaked numerous small tears out of his eyes for a few seconds, and then he broke down. He and the human's four Pokémon mourned sadly, while the Meowth, the two Weavile and the Lucario just stated oddly.
They felt sadness at the removal of that Ash. Was it possible they weren't under his control? Could it be that they actually cared for him? Had Registeel and I done something wrong?
Mew then picked up the human hat, which had been on the ground a few feet away, and floated over to the others.
'Mew... Mew mew?'
'Pika pika,' wept the Pikachu, looking down at the ground again, as his eyes continued to leak water, while the others looked on sadly. 'Pika pi...'
'Mew...' said Mew slowly, while she bobbed up and down in the air slightly, surveying Pikachu with a look of odd wonder.
Pikachu sobbed endlessly, breaking up every few seconds. Pikachu actually cared for Ash. Does that mean that... those humans weren't bad? Come to think, they never attacked us, except to defend from out attacks...
Just as Pikachu started to control his sobbing, Mew stopped floating up and down and hovered very still, closing her eyes, and concentrating.
'Mew,' she drummed, as she started to glow with a tint of a bright green outline all around her body. As the other Pokémon watched with curiosity, she floated down to ground, put the hat down, and then hovered up to the top of one of the crystals, clenching her small hands on it.
The green energy around her body started to surge through the crystal, making it beat from a subtle green to an insanely bright green. As we watched, the green spread through the various crystals around the room, finally engulfing the circular line of crystals at the top of the chamber.
Registeel and I sensed the other crystals throughout the tree, and even in the area around the Tree of Beginning, turning the same green. Mew was overriding the Tree of Beginning's immune system, and instructing it to reverse what it had done. There was only one logical explanation.
These humans were not bad.
While the crystals in the room continued to glow brightly in the green shade of light, something happened in front of the Pokémon.
The blobs reappeared from the ground in front of them, now the same shade of bright green as the crystals around us. They churned up and over, before the one in front of the two Weavile fell down again, leaving the adult female behind.
She looked up, puzzled that she was back. The two Weavile flung themselves upon her, hugging her in smiling delight. She let out a small laugh as were happy.
In front of the other Pokémon, the final green blob churned around, and then melted down into the ground, leaving behind Ash, who looked dazed. Right then, Regice appeared at the entrance of the tunnel behind us. We didn't need to say anything to her, for she kept quiet and watched with us.
Ash looked up, also puzzled. His eyes then fell upon Pikachu.
'Pika pi!' cried Pikachu, leaping upon Ash's upper torso.
'Pikachu!' he said in delight, before Phanphy and Corphish also leapt upon, him, knocking him over. They rolled about on the same spot, laughing, while the Grovyle and Swellow looked on proudly.
'I love you guys too,' he said, while the Pokémon said their name in happy voices. While this was happening, Lucario looked on with the faintest smile on his face. He too was happy at the return of the humans. That proved it. These humans were no threat.
'We're not needed here,' I said to Regice and Registeel.
'Let's go,' said Regice, turning around and going back through the tunnel we had entered this room by. I followed after her, moving by my small feet, while Registeel came behind me on his small stumps. Regice floated ahead of us, for she always hovered just a few inches off the ground, and was a much faster mover then Registeel or myself.
We left them and went into another section of the Tree until they were gone. There was a brief huge problem which almost endangered the Tree and Mew (and, also, our only chance of ever seeing Regigigas again), but Mew said that the Lucario sacrificed himself to stop the crisis and save the tree.
Afterwards, we felt we had waited long enough, and we politely reminded Mew about transporting us back to Sinnoh. After some minor persuasion, she agreed to teleport Regice, Registeel and I back to the Snowpoint Temple tomorrow. She'd give us one day to get ready.
Right now, the three of us were in the bottom chamber of the Tree, where most of the native Pokémon dwelled. We watched and observed the still water, wondering what we would do when we went back tomorrow.
We would awaken Regigigas; there was no question about that. But would we then try to purge this planet of all humans? Those humans that originally brought us here would be long dead by now.
And if I'd learned one thing... it was that not all humans were bad.
'Are you going to tell us what you eat now?' I suddenly said to Registeel, causing him to look over at me. Regice also glanced over from his other side, regarding the two of us with vague curiosity.
'Well,' chuckled Registeel, 'that's my secret.'
'Figures,' muttered Regice.
Watch the movie after reading this - it'll help you understand the events that the Regis don't see, and to interlink all the scenes that they appeared in.
Whew! 4,841 words! That's my longest chapter ever! It was worth it, though - this is one of my best-written works yet. This is probably it for this fic, so don't expect any more, unless I get a LOT more hits and reviews, at least 17 reviews.