Parallel Hearts Chapter 12
"Sonicboom!" Fast Star spins to release a wave of energy from his tail and towards a rock. The rock breaks in half, "Water Gun," he releases a stream of water from his mouth at the remaining piece of rock. It breaks apart again, but not all of it.
"DAMMIT," he shouts in frustration and slams fist against the ground, "I've been training here for how long? And I still can't get this right! Tauros shit!" He looks around to where he's at, on the tip of the Flat Mountain. Fast Star falls to his back and looks at the almost dark sky, "I can't lose to that rat again... I can't lose to anyone at all," he closes his eyes to relax his mind and slowly drifts to deep sleep...
He opens his eyes to find himself drifting in the air, as though he's floating in water. He looks around to find nothing around him, just a white void of Arceus-knows-where. He feels warm and just doesn't move at all. He doesn't mind where he's at right now, but he has a single question, "Where am I?"
Then, the void begins to change in a red color. It slowly consumes the white around him, somewhat scaring him in the process. He can see the more this dark color consume, the darker it gets. It eventually reaches to a point where the dark color could no longer any darker and becomes black. The entire void was completely consumed all at once when the black color appears. Fast Star doesn't know why, but he's scared beyond all reasons at this point as he feels he's not alone in this dark void.
Then he sees sinister red eyes opening up and looking at the floating buizel, as though it's looking at his very soul. "Is it power in which you seek?" It says to him in a sinister voice that would send shivers to even a legendary pokemon.
The buizel looks at these eyes for a moment, thinking of that question. He seeks only power and nods to the mysterious being, it then looks very happy to the response and laughs, "close your eyes... and let the shadows consume your heart. After this, you'll never know defeat again. You'll be feared as the strongest, respected across the land as powerful as the legendaries themselves."
Fast Star's instincts tells him to get away from this thing and never wish to see it again, but then, he remembers what he did after the battle was over...
Slowly opening his eyes to consciousness and looks around. Fast Star could feel the injuries from his battle. His body was sore from the amount of elecricity traveling through his body. He grabs his head in pain as he doesn't recall the event the intense battle he had with Mega.
Then, all the memories flood into his head at once, "did I win?" Was the first thing he asks due to the fact he doesn't seem to be able to recall the last event of the fight at all no matter how hard he tries.
"No," he turns to see a rattata, "you lost in possibly the biggest struggle I've ever seen. I guess that makes Mega the strongest in the forest now."
This made him almost cry in fustration, but he doesn't want to do it in front of anybody. Despite everything hurting from bolts of electricity coursing through him, he gets up and walks away from the battle scene he and Mega created, "where are you going?"
"None of your business!" And with that, he climbed Flat Mountain and trained like nobody ever thought was possible...
Fast Star suffered the most humiliated defeat of his life that day. He ignores his instincts, "okay." He then close his eyes and feels something eating him from the inside, right at his chest! He screams in pain and agony, making the eyes have a look of enjoyment. "Oh, did I forget to mention it might hurt a little?" The last thing he heard was laughter, laughter that enjoys seeing him in pain as he reaches for help of any kind to save him...
"Meggy, want to hang out with the three of us instead of training today?" Beauty asks the already-prepared pikachu. Mega thinks about it: he could use a break after the incident with the arcanine, "sure, sounds like fun."
The four pokemon decides to go to the lake like usual, Knolla decides to play in the water along with Mega. Beauty and Rose decides to sun-bathe. They were having a good time with Mega childishly splashing water at the two sun-bathing pokemon causing them to laugh along with him.
"How come it feels like we're forgetting something?" Rose asks Beauty after they had their share of laughter.
"That's funny, I feel the same way... but why is that?"
They both already prepared lunch and set it beside them, they made new cups so Mega can juice the berries later today, so what is it that they're forgetting?
Rose sits up in wonder, "did we forget something?" She questions Mega and Knolla in concern.
"I don't think so," Mega replies and splashes more water on Knolla, who laughs and splashes back.
"I assume it's just your imagination," Knolla assures the two.
They look around in confusion on the feeling they have, every pokemon here are enjoying themselves, there aren't any predator pokemon around, the water pokemon are extra friendly today, and the weather is perfect to play... so what's so important about this feeling they have? Why in Arceus' name is it so important that it gnaws into their skulls?
Suddenly, an emolga descends from the skies as fast as it could, "Run! Stampede heading this way!"
Now it clicks as to why, "we better start running," Rose says immediately getting up, Beauty as well, Knolla and Mega gets out of the water.
Knolla takes flight to the skies, "I'll meet you guys at the hideout," and starts flying over the trees as fast as she could towards the hideout.
"She's lucky," Beauty says in fustration, running over there as well.
"What's going on?" Mega asks.
"I'll explain on the way," Rose grabs his paw and runs alongside with him.
Knolla was the first pokemon to the hideout and opens the hidden door, "I hope it's not too late for them," she says going inside to avoid the trouble that's going to happen. Beauty was second, thanks to her use of Quick Attack, and goes in as well.
"So you're telling me it's a Tauros Stampede Migration!?" Mega asks running alongside Rose, who nods in response, "and trust me, you don't want to receive the pain it's going to bring." She quickens her pace to get there before the tauros does.
They're glad to see the door more than ever before, "let's get inside quick," Mega says quickening his pace again to open the door for Rose.
Just when Rose was about to go inside, the ground starts to shake and she sees over the door a tauros stampede towards their way. Mega's reflexes takes over and he pushes her into the hideout entrance.
As Rose falls down the stairs, she sees Mega in slow motion being smashed on the side by a tauros's head, after that, the other tauros forcefully pushes the door close with their horns. She lands on her back, not believing what she just witnessed.
"What happened to Mega?" Knolla asks, flying towards her with concern.
Rose felt tears watering her eyes, blurring her vision, and cries in her paws. "I can't believe he did that... for me," was all she could muster up.
Mega was still on his side against a tauros's head, "that hurts, y'know," he complains to the bull pokemon.
"It's not my fault," the tauros responds to the complaint and continues to run as though nothing happened.
"Actually, it IS your fault, considering you're the one who hit me, and the evidence is quite literally in your face." Mega grabs one of his horns and hangs in front of his face to confront him.
"STOP!" The tauros immediately stops along with the entire cattle from behind it; causing Mega to fall in front of the stampede. His instincts tells him that it's male as the confrontaion continues. "Oh a wise guy, eh?" The tauros says, "just who the hell are you, anyway?"
Mega gets off of him and straighten himself up, "I'm Mega, Mega the Fighter," he introduces himself.
The tauros seems to be intrigued by what he says, "a fighter, eh?" He looks up and down at the little pikachu, "you seem to have the eyes and spirit of a fighter," he praises Mega, "and yet I see suffering reasons as to why."
Mega was shocked that the tauros can tell so much by just examining him, "I don't want to talk about it," he looks away from him, "I just need to get stronger."
This statement causes the tauros to laugh, "everybody needs to get stronger." This causes Mega to look back at him, "it's in our instincts to get as strong as possible... we need it to protect the ones we love," the tauros shares his wisdom with Mega... he listens to the tauros's words and thinks back to all the battles he was in.
The reasons why he fought Fast Star was because was for Rose's sake. Vespiquen was to get honey, but he still didn't want Beauty to get hurt. Then there was the arcanine... he wasn't in the fight until the end, but Rose and Beauty did fight to protect him.
He understands the tauros's wise words, "I want to get stronger to protect my entire family," the tauros says, bringing back Mega from his thoughts, "what's your reason to get stronger? Do you have someone to protect?"
These are questions even Mega couldn't answer. Mega climbs up a tree to let the tauros moving again, "it was nice talking to you, sir." After receiving a nod from the tauros, he soon nods to the others to let them know it's good to continue running.
After that, the tauros stampede continues towards their destination, after what seems like hours, the tauros stampede have all disappear... all but one anyways, it was a small compared to the others as it barely towers over Mega as he climbs down.
Mega climbs down the tree and goes up to the little one. "Are you okay?" He asks the tauros in concern, his instincts telling it's male as well.
"Because I'm too weak and tired..." the tauros huffs as he struggles to breath, "I'll never be as good as my mother or father..." he then looks at the pikachu he's talking to, "is it okay if I stay with you from now on?"
This question was completely out of nowhere and Mega doesn't want to explain to everyone else that there's a tauros living with them, but he doesn't want the tauros to be alone, "why do you want to stay with me?" Mega asks.
"Because I have this feeling you can make my wish come true."
"Which is?"
"To have an adventure of a life-time."
They carry the same dream, and Mega doesn't want to be in a way of dreams like this, "...okay," was all he could muster up before he motions him to follow to where he will be living for the time being.
As they walk, a thought gnaws on his head; he's almost out of time here in Pokeball Forest, isn't he? It's unavoidable since he's been planning this for the longest time, considering how much he had to sacrifice just to get this far.
He then thinks to the female pokemon he befriended, his first time making friends after all the years he was living. His time with them is running out and that makes him feels sad at the thought of leaving them so suddenly. His ears droops as he walks down the open forest as he sees a familiar tree in front of him. Well, time for him to spend as much time with them as possible, because soon, he'll be gone...
"Do you think Meggy's alright?" Beauty asks.
"He always does the impossible: like defeating Fast Star," Knolla answers, "just don't doubt about it, I'm sure he'll come back." Knolla makes a point, Beauty always worries about everything.
Rose really wants to juice the fruits and berries, but she ends up waiting at the door as well.
"How long does it take for the tauros stampede migration to end?" Beauty asks impatiently.
"Well, it usually ends around another-"
"Sorry to worry you guys," Mega shouts after bursting through the door and climbing down the stairs, interrupting their conversation, "I was busy making a friend."
The three pokemon girls are confused about how Mega could make friends during a Tauros Stampede Migration, "come on down, Breaker!"
Then all of a sudden, a taruos starts to go through the door, he's lucky he's a youngling or he wouldn't have fit through the door at all, but he did needed to go through the door with his head sideways due to his horns being in the way.
Mega answers that question for them... only for ANOTHER question to appear: HOW DID HE MAKES FRIENDS WITH A TAUROS?
"Mega..." Rose begins, "how did you get a tauros to be your friend?"
The now-named Breaker answers for Mega, "he and I have the same dream," he explains, "and I was done migrating from east to west every six months."
"So I decided to take him in as my friend," Mega finishes the story.
Rose speaks, "if he's going to stay here, where is he going to sleep?" That's a good question; he can't exactly fit into the stairways.
"I'll sleep here," the tauros states, "it's much more comfortable than being in a crowded group of tauros."
This causes her to sigh, she knows the food supplies for tauros is mainly grass and berries, so she can't think of a reason why he can't stay, "okay, you can stay, but no funny business."
When the Tauros Stampede Migration was officially over, the five decides to go back outside, "it seems to be mid-day already," Knolla states.
They know they have less time to play now, but they couldn't decide what to do, "why don't you guys climb on my back, and we can go to the lake?" Breaker asks, it does sound like a good idea and they decide to climb on him.
Mega was first and just simply jump on his back, Knolla was second and flies up and sits behind Mega, burying her hands and face on his back fur with a huge blush on her face, Rose hops in front of Mega and wraps his arms around her. Beauty decides to lay down on top of his head.
"Let's go," Mega shouts with enthusiasm, making Breaker run towards the lake.
Everybody that sees them couldn't believe it... a tauros. The gang decides to ignore the stares and continue their fun, Breaker decides to take a nap, Knolla decides to sun-bathe this time, while Mega is playing in the lake with Beauty and Rose.
"Marco!" Mega was it and has his eyes close as he tries to find either one of the two.
"Polo!"
"Marco!"
"Polo!"
He stops for a moment, as he feels something wavering over the water behind him, "GOT YOU!" He shouts as he turns and jumps against the pokemon behind him. The blind pikachu opens his eyes to see who he got, only to find himself laying on top of a lotad. The lotad looks up at the pikachu as he layss there with an embarrassed look on his face as he scratches his face. This makes everyone laugh, including the lotad.
"This is fun!" Beauty shouts as she turns swims around anxiously.
"Yeah, we should do this more often," Rose says as she jumps to create a splash that covered the other three in water. The laughter between the three only increases as they couldn't stop the fun.
"MEGA! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU LITTLE RAT BASTARD!?"
However, their fun had to be interrupted a second time from that sudden outburst and trees limbering down towards them, revealing Fast Star. Mega could feel something different about Fast Star this time; he could see that the buizel has been training. He sees that the buizel's muscles have increased around his arms, his tails seems to be sharper than before, and his eyes screams the pride of a true warrior. He could feel pressure within his heart that something horrible happened to the water weasel as well.
"What's the matter? Scared?" Fast Star sinisterly smiles at him as dark aura starts to surround the buizel. Mega couldn't believe what he was seeing... the dark aura his brothers warned him about, he couldn't hold back anything this time and takes off the braces from his arms.
"Fine, I'll fight," he says relieving his arms to enjoy the freedom they deserve.
As the braces falls to the water he's on, Rose sees how serious Mega is now... has he ever been this serious before? "Mega, please be careful," she says to him, making Beauty and Knolla turn to her, not aware what's happening.
"What's going on?" Beauty asks.
"I'll explain later, c'mon we have to get to safer grounds."
Breaker and Knolla looks at Mega and Fast Star, not aware as to what's happening either. They believe that a big fight is about to happen, and they gesture to Beauty and Rose to hide behind something to protect them.
Mega gets off the water and walks face-to-face with Fast Star, "I'm not going to hold back," Mega says in a serious manner, a manner nobody has ever seen before, only to get another sinister smile as before.
"Good... because this wouldn't be fun otherwise," the buizel says.
They both jump back to begin another fight, only this time... the pokemon cowered behind anything they can to protect themselves with, they know this is a serious battle.
"I'm placing my bet on-"
"SHUT UP!" The roselia that usually begins the bets was interrupted by the bidoof who got shocked from the last battle between the two. This was a sign that this battle was much more than a battle... it feels more like a death-sentence to the one who loses.
Without warning, Fast Star suddenly appears face-to-face with Mega, but before the pikachu could even react, "Ice Punch!" The buizel slams his ice-charged fist against the pikachu's stomach, "Water Gun," and musters up a stream of water from his mouth towards the short distanced Mega.
Being pushed by the stream of water he notices that his power has increased as well as his speed. Mega pins his legs against the ground to stop himself from being pushed back any further from the gushing water, only to fail and be pushed back against a familiar rock.
The water attack suddenly stops, only to see Fast Star right there as if out of nowhere, "isn't this a familiar sight, Ice Punch," and once more slam his iced-powered fist against the pikachu's stomach. This impact causes the pikachu to scream in agonizing pain.
Blood-curling screams filled the entire lake area, everyone wants to help the poor pikachu, but they're afraid of the idea having to suffer the same fate as he's having right now.
"You should've left while you had the chance, rat," Fast Star said with a sadistic smile, "because I'm gonna make you pay for making me looking like a fool."
All Mega responds to that statement is spitting a bit of blood at the buizel's face. "Spare me the pride speech, and plus, you don't need me to make you look like a fool," Mega says without any care despite his life being faded away, "I'm pretty sure no one else cares about it... I've been through worse than what your little pride has been."
This causes Fast Star to stop smiling and has eyes filled with despise and anger. He wipes the blood off his face as his scowl deepens, "that's it, you're dead."
Mega simply rolls his eyes in response with that remark, "oh yeah like I've never heard that one before," he sarcastically says, "next time come up with something a little more creative, okay?"
"Ice Punch," Fast Star raises his iced-powered fist, pulling back to aim right at Mega's face, "I hope you lived your life the way you wanted to, because I'm about to end it." Fast Star moves his fist at tremendous speed, but when he was about to end Mega's life with it... he vanishes?
Fast Star was shocked as to what just happened, Mega wasn't able to move from where he's from, then he notices blood coming from a small cut on his right cheek that wasn't there before, "what's going on?" Then he looks at the right as though he might the answer, but when he does, he sees three shadow figures.
Like the cape Mega was wearing, but Mega was on this shadow figures' right underarm. One of the shadow figures reveals to be a swinub, Diggy, the other shadow figure reveals to be a snivy, Midori. Then the last figure turns and rises to the light of the sun, revealing a treecko in a black jacket, "looks like I got here just in time."
