Epilogue: Troubled Future
"May the Great Elder Chu continue to check over you, Jen." Solemnly repeated Rick, glancing at the sky. It had been a few days since Kagai had arrived in their "neighborhood" with her destructive words of sadness and things hadn't really got better since then. The arrival of the dark pokemon had ended his perfect little pikachu life, but had brought forth an era of compromises. He wasn't alone anyone at the top of forest hierarchy. Before, he had tried to lead with his cold logic, but he couldn't have such freedom nowadays. Even if Kagai was his natural enemy, he couldn't bring himself to have her killed. As much the pachirisu were hated by the pikachu, he couldn't trap them to feed Kagai either. He had an agenda to respect and to make the most out of it, he had to let go of some of the perfection for a more practical approach. At the same time, he let go of some of his logic to practice an activity he would never have done before. In front of his shrine in honor to Jen, he was praying for her to have a good life in the afterlife. It made no sense for him to do that, but it did put his soul to rest and allowed him to peacefully accomplish what needed to be done for the rest of the day.
Her death had almost destroyed him and his hopes for the future, but he held on, thanks to this little package of faith. There had been no doubt in his mind that Jen had believed in Arceus and respecting the tradition was the best homage he could have given her. The little rock he was crouched in front of was the only physical link between him and her and he respected it as much as if it was the real Jen. It wasn't any rock, though. It had took him a few hours of search around the colony to find that perfectly round and soft rock, the kind one would usually find near the sea. After he had moved it near the rock dedicated to the former elder with the help of Strongclaw, he had looked at it for a long time, thinking of the best way to honor who Jen had been. The rock was soft and nice, but it hadn't been enough. There could have been many rocks like that one and Rick had wanted that one to be unique. The method he found to make sure it would be wasn't that original, but it had required a lot of work and thinking: the first letter of her name would be carved on its surface. The ideas had been good, but its application had left much to be desired. Without the proper knowledge of letters, it took Rick at least one day to remember the letter making the "jee" sound and when he finally did…
Anyone looking at the rock and knowing who it was dedicated to would know that G wasn't exactly the letter that needed to be carved on the rock, but Rick had never been aware of his mistake and felt proud of his work. He was more than happy to have a place where he could think and focus himself early in the day.
Being done with that, Rick moved back on four paws and looked down at the small valley below. Jen might not be with him, but he knew that she would have been proud of him. Thank to him, the pokemon around his colony would be better. The chu would grow stronger, the pachirisu would as soon he would have been able to have a proper contact with them and their territory would expend eventually. Everything was far from being perfect. To allow Kagai to stay around, she needed a source of food. She could feed on the rattata, but he knew too much that she would drive them to extinction in the area and eventually force Kagai to feed on his kin. To avoid that, Rick had been forced to make a deal with her. In exchange for a place to stay and the promise that no chu would try to kill her, he promised her that she would be able to feed on some chu that would be "lost". It was a cheap and dirty tactic, but Kagai would only get the chu who were too weak and not enough of them to prevent the colony from growing stronger and in bigger numbers. Beside, having her around filled a niche that no other predator would try to take. As long Kagai was there, they would be safer.
This equilibrium would work for some time and become broken eventually, but by then, the rest of his plan would have been set in motion. His mental prowess wouldn't be limited to only one hill in the woods. His influence would grow, but that was still a long term plan. Controlling his colony was like controlling a new civilization. It would expend over time, but it was that… only time would bring out some results. There was no reason to eliminate everything around to have the fastest growth. If history had taught him one thing, it was that human's desire to control everything too quickly without caring for how much nature could give them led them to be kicked back in the face eventually. He wouldn't make the same mistake. Eventually, things would have to disappear and the map of species control over the forest would be redrawn, but once again, that laid far in the future.
To even think about laying the foundations of his plan, days to days duties were essential. His mental preparation was over and it was time to take care of his people. He would help food to be gathered, teach the pichu more lessons about life and spend some time with his son and his friend Strongclaw. Another day, he would train the soldiers to be more effective. Another week, he would try to think about a new device that could be built to improve their quality of life. Another month, he would maybe start to think about finding a mate. In the forest around his hill laid the future and he would fully be a part of it. One day, his colony, the forest, the world would know who Rick Sparktail Tortoas was.
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The sea… when you looked at it, you would only see an endless plane of blue water. This place was empty, devoid of anything particularly interesting. But when you looked under the surface, it was a new world of discoveries thatopened itself to you. At times, you think that you might have found the bottom of it, when another seafloor crevice appears and taunts you with its unexplored territories. Endless and full of mysteries… this was how Bill saw the world of science. Each time he stared at the sea via the large glass windows of his lighthouse near the coast, he saw a reflection of his life and of his work. The PC system, his most renowned invention,the thing that hadmade him a rich man today, was supposed to be the pinnacle of his life. With it, Pokémon could see any corner of the world with instantly through the world of digital transportation.
That was before project Ditto cameto the table. Paid by the army, his new laboratory was equipped with the most recent devices in the world of nanotechnology. With that, a new crevice at the bottom of the sea of knowledge could be explored. Giving Pokémon a vast view of the world wasn't enough. With this invention, people could understand what itfelt liketo be a pokémon. They would become closer to them, closer to living in harmony. A few weeks ago, his machine had been completed. At long last, it could transform a human into a Pokémon and reverse the process. But what was the price? Not only didhe fear that the army was currently using his technology in secret to make new weapons, but it had cost the life of a talented young man and one gifted trainer. It had been one year today since the day Rickhad beenturned into a pikachu and almost one year since the tracker he had implanted in his head stopped working. He would never get to know what had happened to him, nor what had happened to that poor girl who was with him. They were both classified as having disappeared and long sincepresumed dead. This was the kind of thing science also brought. Sometimes, your ship would hit a cliff and people would be hurt or die. His project had brought that… and now that it was finally completed, he didn't want to risk more lives. Why endanger more, why—
As he was lost in the blue of the sea, a beeping sound interrupted him. It was his portable GPS, which tracked many pokémon to follow their movements. When the device made a noise, it meant that he had lost signal with one tracker. Absently, he took out the device from his pocket and stared at the digital map. A quick glance at the screen told him that the tracker was 17.36 miles from the light house and located about 5 miles south of Mt. Moon. Reading the identification number of the tracker, he froze. It couldn't be… "Rick…"
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At long last, this is over. After sixteen months of work, I can call this story done. I would like to thanks everyone who made it this far and helped me with reviews. I would like to thanks Tyler for proofreading most of the chapters, K.A. for having complained and F.D. for having inspired this story and AltoGuardian for his wonderful reviews. Most of all, I would like to thank Kirby "Jem" Oak for his support and his friendship through most of the last sixteen months. There had been hard times, but he was there for me. Thanks you very much.
As for the future, I promise a new short sequel that I will start writing soon. It will be in the same chapter format as Fractured Bond, because long chapters are hard to write. Until then, I hope you all find lot of fun stories to read and enjoy.
Ciao!
-DarkPokemonLover