Chapter Two: The Last Alakazam

Sage stared out the window to the forest that surrounded the tower. He was supposed to do an hour of reading, but he had read every book in the library at least three times. Plus, Brellia was out getting food, and he hadn't seen the wizard all day, so what they didn't know couldn't hurt them. If he climbed out the window right now, he could probably scale down, walk around a bit and be back before anyone noticed.

Sage steeled himself and placed a foot on the windowsill.

You are supposed to be reading, came the wizard's voice, directly into Sage's mind. The young man jumped with shock, nearly falling forward and then very far down.

"You promised you wouldn't do that anymore!" shouted Sage.

The door to the library squeaked open. The wizard, stood in the doorway wearing a silk dressing gown with two spoons in its breast pocket. He stroked his moustache and gave Sage a knowing stare. "And you promised you would give up this ridiculous plan to scale the tower. You are aware there is a telekinetic barrier surrounding the entire building, so you wouldn't get very far even if you did manage to get down there. I have explained the barrier to you 47 times."

"Brellia gets through the barrier."

The wizard rolled its eyes, "Brellia is exempt-" one of the wizards long, pointed ears flicked as something rustled under Sage's jumper. "What was that?"

"Nothing."

"You are as skilful a liar as you are an escape artist. Show me what you have under your jumper."

Sage groaned before pulling a large piece of dead, scaley, orange skin from under his top.

"Is that Brellia's skin?"

"She malted last week."

The wizard cracked a wry smile, "You were going to try and trick the barrier by carrying Brellia's skin with you. That is very clever." The wizard turned around and left the room. "It wouldn't have worked though. Now get reading!"

Sage let out a strained, performative cry, and stomped towards one of the bookshelves. He pulled out 'Legends of How the World Began' for the sixth time and slumped into a chair. He skipped to the second chapter and tried to settle in.

Chapter Two: The Guardian.

The tale varies in its specifics depending on the culture in question, but most cultures follow the creation of the universe, the world, and mortal life, by the great god (or gods) with the creation of The Guardian.

Seeing the beauty of creation, but fearful of its fragility and wild nature, the great god created a creature of pure and incorruptible spirit, but also of incomparable power. Some versions of the legend go so far as to claim that the great god made this entity even more powerful than itself. The justification for such an action is that this creature would act as a check and balance for all divine and legendary beings, even the great god.

What is particularly interesting about The Guardian legend is the characters total absence from subsequent legends. After the legend of the creature's origin there are no tales or myths which give examples of the creature's exploits. It is assumed that The Guardian is so illusive and subtle that its protection and defence of the world and its inhabitants goes unnoticed.

"If you're out there guardian, please come and defend me from this never ending boredom!" Sage put the book down and stood up. He paced the room, huffing, before stopping in front of the huge, gold framed mirror that sat between two of the bookcases. He was a slight boy, short, baby-faced, fair haired and slender. The clothes he wore didn't really fit, they were all a little too large – his jumper, his trousers, his socks; he was sure his shoes would be too big if he had any shoes. But the wizard had decided he didn't need shoes, so…

He knew why his clothes were too big; it was because Brellia had made them all, and dragons' hands aren't really suited to delicate work. But she did her best and he appreciated it. He couldn't not appreciate it. Brellia and the wizard had given up pretty much everything to protect him. Sage had never known his mother or father; he was a baby when they died in the war. The wizard had promised his mother he would keep him safe, and Brelia had promised to keep the wizard safe. So here they were, in this old stone tower in the middle of a forest, hiding from… Sage wasn't clear on exactly what or who they were hiding from.

The bad people won, that's what the wizard had said, and now there is nowhere they do not control. Except for here. Here, for now, we are safe. You are safe.

Lost in his thoughts, wandering aimlessly around the room, a chill went up Sage's spine. At first he wasn't sure what had happened, and then he realised. He had caught something outside the window with the corner of his eye. Something was looking at him.

Walking slowly to the window Sage saw it again. There was some kind of huge bird perched on a tree, far off in the distance, and it was definitely looking at him. Now its not that Sage was afraid of birds, it was that it shouldn't have been able to see him. The tower was invisible. But there it was, out there, a little blurry, but definitely looking right at him.

They held each other's gazes for a few more moments, and then the bird flew away.

Sage stood silently, trying to decide whether this was an appropriate time to panic. He came to the conclusion that it was.

"WIZARD!" he wailed, tunning out of the room and down the corridor. "BIRD! BIRD SAW ME! BIRD COULD SEE ME! WIZAAARD!"

Galloping up a set of stairs, Sage crashed into the wizard's office. "What did I say about knocking?"

"BIRD SAW ME!"

The wizard's office was not somewhere Sage liked to be. The wizard didn't like Sage being there either. The huge stones which formed the tower walls were completely covered by maps and charts, illustrations of strange creatures, tacked on annotations, torn pages stolen from books, posters, flags, indiscernible blueprints, and all of it in a language Sage could not read. Huge cabinets filled with papers crowded what little open space there was, two tables always covered with objects Sage could not name and the wizard would not explain stood overburdened near his chair. And worst of all was the computer, the only thing in there Sage had questioned and the wizard had named. But he had done nothing more than name it - that growling, light filled box, that seemed alive but clearly wasn't.

Some of it the wizard had brought with him when they first came to the tower. Most of it Brellia had scavenged on her missions to outside world; she'd say she was going to find food and she'd come back with a broken machine, or a sketch of some monster, or a list of numbers with no context.

Sage tried not to think about how little the wizard told him. More than that, he tried not to guess what all this stuff was for. Most of all, he tried not to get in the wizard's way. Because the wizard was definitely working on something, and whatever it was it had to be important.

But this was an exception, this he needed to know.

"A bird saw you?" he asked resignedly. Before Sage could answer the wizard's eyes flickered. "A bird saw you from outside, are you sure? How big was it?"

"It was far away but I think it was pretty big."

"Are you sure it saw you?!"

Sage hesitated, "pretty sure."

The wizard grabbed Sage by the shoulders, his large, yellow hands gripping with three powerful fingers. "You do not have the luxury of being pretty sure. Did it see you or not?"

"What happens if I say yes and then it turns out I'm wrong?"

The wizard loosened his grip and softened his expression. "Sage, what have I been teaching you about intuition? What do we do with our instincts?"

"We open the door for them."

"And when we doubt?"

"We breath, and we return to the place where doubt has not been."

"What number am I thinking of?"

"64.2"

"Very good. Did the bird see you?"

"Yes."

"Again, very good, but this is in fact very bad." The wizard pulled away and began to pace around what little space there was.

Sage did not know how to process the fact that the wizard seemed scared. The wizard didn't get scared. The wizard was the most intelligent being in the world; he had to be, otherwise they would never have lasted this long. The wizard could teleport, he could read minds, he could move objects without touching them and turn things invisisble, he could heal wounds just asking them to do so.

That's when it cracked.

Sage felt sick.

If the wizard was so powerful, why was it always Brellia who went out to find things? Who was the wizard hiding from?

Sage hated these questions, he wished he'd never thought of them. He should have just stayed in the nook and read. If he had been sat in the nook reading the bird would never have seen him.

"What do we do?" Sage started choking. "What do- I- I can't breathe. Oh god, I can't- bre-"

The wizard rushed over to him and placed a hand on his forehead. "It's okay, you're okay, you're just having a panic attack." The wizard's eyes began to glow bright white, and Sage could feel the fear and tension leave his body.

"I felt like I was going to die."

"None of us are going to die, not today. But we may have to leave."

Sage felt his stomach lurch. "Leave? What, forever?

The wizard sighed and sat down in his chair. He stroked his moustache nervously and looked at the floor. Sage could feel his reality beginning to give way; all the demons he had dropped down mental mineshafts had survived the fall and learned to climb. All he had wanted was to walk around the forest for a bit. He didn't want this, whatever it was, he knew for certain he didn't want it.

The wizard lifted his gaze and looked at Sage. "I'm afraid I have not been entirely candid with you, my boy. I have perhaps acted selfishly in my attempts to shield you from the true precariousness of our situation. I may have infantilised you to ease my own burden. What is more, I feared if you knew the true extent of things there would be no stopping you from leaving. I apologise."

Sage fidgeted nervously, the wizard was still being vague; he wasn't sure exactly what the wizard meant. Perhaps that was the point; the wizard had kept Sage stupid so he wouldn't get in the way. His stomach lurched again. That couldn't be it. The wizard wouldn't have treat him like a pet.

"There is more, Sage." The wizard took a deep breath, exhaling so much shame Sage felt it softly landing on his skin. "You cannot read the writing in this room."

"You never taught me this language."

"I did, Sage. I have been using my abilities to obfuscate the words. It is the same language you read every day."

Sage clenched his jaw so hard he almost gave himself a cramp. "What else?"

"Some of the books in the library have been edited."

"Edited or you were using your powers to keep me from seeing certain things."

"That would be the more accurate way to describe the process."

Sage had never had his heart broken before. In the books he read it was always romantic partners who broke each other's heart. He didn't know it was possible for a guardian to do so. But he was pretty sure his was breaking.

"You're my teacher, you're like a father to me, and you've been manipulating my mind behind my back, for years… How could you do that? I thought wizards were supposed to be good guys."

The wizard messaged his brow, unable to do anything else. Eventually he said, "You call me a wizard because there was a wizard in your favourite bedtime story as a child. And when you got older and I started to introduce you to my abilities, you thought that meant I was one. But I am not a wizard, Sage, I am what is called a Pokemon."

"Pokemon?"

"It is an umbrella term for a wide variety of intelligent organisms that display, what you might call supernatural abilities. Some breathe fire, some are even made from fire, some can move things with their minds, others can generate plant growth at near incomprehensible speeds.

"For most of recorded history humans and Pokemon have lived in relative cooperation; some cultures reside in close proximity but mostly keep to themselves, some are nations with equal citizenship for both human and Pokemon, both fulfilling necessary roles in society. We have always been so entangled that isolated societies with only one group are incredibly rare. Now this is not to say we have never come to blows or had difficulties, but there had never been a war. The wars that had happened tended to have near equal ratios of humans and Pokemon on each side. That is until twenty five years ago, when the most powerful Pokemon in existence decided struggling for equality or equity was not the proper way. No, instead, this entity decided Pokemon were the rightful rulers of the earth and humans were born to be subservient to them.

To our great shame most Pokemon adopted this ideology. Not all, but most. In fact only one species of Pokemon sided with humanity in their entirety. My species, the Alakazam. And for this we were exterminated. I am the last Alakazam."

Sage felt his mind boiling over, raging with insight and anger. He needed to hear more, and yet every word was agony.

The last Alakazam clenched his fists in discomfort. "Your mother gave you to me because she already knew I planned to go into hiding. She made me promise, on her deathbed, that I would take you with me, so you wouldn't grow up in a world that saw you as a slave. This tower was never built to protect you, Sage. It was built to protect me. I did what I could, raising you. I gave you the best education I was able to, opened your mind to psychic potential, in which regard you have exceeded all my expectations. And first and foremost, I tried to keep you content. I have never had a child, I am not human, I do not process information or emotions as you do, and so it has been difficult learning how to fulfil your needs, or what even those needs are."

Sage snapped; he felt every hour of lonely isolation, every prolonged minute of useless boredom, every sunset with nothing to say for itself, he felt them ticking past like a symphony of muted, lazy excuses. And then they fermented. The boredom, the quiet, the monotony, they bubbled and soured and gleefully became anger. "Needs, well I need to not be lied to by the person who is supposed to be my guardian. So, all this time, all these years, I didn't need to be here at all. You kept me here because my mother was scared I might struggle. Okay, but I might have made friends too. I might have gone on adventures. I might have had my first kiss and danced and went swimming. I might not have been locked in a tower with-" Sage laughed, which made him cry, which made him laugh again. "I'm such a fucking idiot."

"You are not. And watch your language."

"No, fuck you, I am a fucking idiot. I literally, I literally believed I lived in a tower with a wizard and a dragon." Sage turned around and punched a cabinet. "How dare you? The world is full of crazy creatures with magical powers, and I didn't know. The war my parents died in was fighting against these creatures because they decided they deserve to rule the world, and I didn't know. The most powerful being in the whole world is out there, turning everything into a nightmare, and on top of that they want you dead, and- they're looking for you, aren't they – they are actively hunting you and I didn't know." Sage wanted to scream, to pick up one of the pieces of scrap metal lying on the table and bludgeon his mentor to death with it. "You're a piece of work."

"Sage, my entire species, my people, are dead. All my friends are either dead or in prison. I watched my beautiful world turn into a slaughterhouse and I could not stop it. I am not immune to grief, or loneliness, or pressure. I took you in because I made a promise to someone I cared for deeply. But I was in no fit state to raise a child. I am not a wizard, I am just an Alakazam. The last Alakazam. And I have been scared every day for twenty years. None of this excuses the wrongs I have done you. But please, do not think I didn't try."

Sage scoffed. "You didn't try hard enough."

They remained in silence then, seconds turning to minutes, coming close to an hour. The vacuum of Sage's ignorance pulled everything good he had ever felt inside of it. And there, in the fathomless depths dug by Alakazam's lies, his heart broke.

"So now what, I have to keep following you round, do what you say, even after this?"

Alakazam shook his head with sad concern and festering shame. "You do not have to do anything. But if the government has found us, or someone likely to inform them has, you will not last long out there alone."

"I thought they wanted you."

"And they will use you to get me."

Sage sat on the floor with back to the wall, totally defeated. "Where will we go?"

"There are still those who hold out hope this darkness may pass… who are willing to fight to make their hope a reality. We must find them."

Sage sighed, unable to trust that Alakazam could do anything anymore. It was like something mythical had died in his arms, something profound and unique, as weird as it was awe inspiring, coughed its last without dignity or ceremony, slick with its own fluids, inconsequential and impossible to get back. How could someone so bright leave such a stain in such a short time?

And Sage was going to climb down the tower this morning.

"You don't know where they are, do you?"

"If they were easy to find they'd be dead." Alakazam tried to lean forward to reassure Sage, but the young man ignored him. "I have some ideas of where to start looking."

It was then that something exploded outside. The entire tower shook, dust falling from the ceiling, maps falling to the floor. There was a second explosion and the sound of metal screeching.

The despondent pair looked at each other before speaking in unison. "Brellia!"

Sage made for the door but hesitated when he saw Alakazam facing the wall. He pulled the spoons from his dressing gown, one in each hand, and punched them forward. The wall erupted, stone flying into the open distance before halting in mid-air.

They could see now; Breliia was in a dog fight.

Impressed by Alakazams display of force, but trying not to show it, Sage shouted, "So if you're an Alakazam what does that make Brellia."

Alakazam turned his head and smirked at Sage, that magnificent beast is a Charizard. He twitched one hand and a collection of heavy stones, still hovering, catapulted through the air. "And the only friend I have left."

Brellia was in a struggle against three huge birds that seemed to be made of metal. Their wings resembled huge fans constructed of sword blades, their heads were jagged helms, their talons serrated tridents. They were faster than Brellia, but not as fast as Alakazam's boulders. With a mighty crash two huge slabs of stone pulverised one of the birds, its metal wings bending out of shape, and forcing it to the ground.

"What are those things?"

"Skarmory," replied Alakazm, as he grew very still, his eyes beginning to glow.

Brellia, assaulted on both sides by hit and run attacks, suddenly dropped her wings. She began to plummet, just as the Skarmory reached her. Opening her mouth she let loose a stream of flame so intense Sage could feel the heat wave from inside.

Both Skarmory were caught in the conflagration, totally consumed by the flames. You could not see them for the magnitude of the fire, but you could hear them, screeching inside that torrent of blinding heat.

Alakazam chuckled, "Metal does go soft so easily." As the flames subsided and Brellia span, stretching out her wings once more and swooping away, Alakazam put his hands together, gave out an almighty cry and pulled them apart. The Skarmory rent in two, tearing like tin foil playthings. Their fracturing bodies became silver confetti as they fell to the ground, pieces scattered and lost across the forest floor.

Alakazam turned around, "I believe we have officially outstayed our welcome."

Sage granted him one small smile, "I was getting bored of this place anyway."