She gripped the cave floor and launched herself forward. She appeared in front of me in the blink of an eye, and I didn't have time to think as my body decided for me to duck to the right as a fist skimmed my cheek. She continued to throw punches, but my body reacted instantly. I like I knew her own moves before she could decide. I reached forward and placed a palm on her stomach and launched her back. She thrusted her claws into the floor to stop herself and stared at me with an even larger rage within her.
I stared at her and saw her aura clearly. I didn't even need to focus on it to see her intents and emotions. She charged forward again and threw her claws near my neck and stomach, but again I easily dodged them. Her aura showed her rage and how she wanted to see me bleed like Nora did. My heart broke at that thought and felt the resolution to this fight.
"You need to let go Koro because I have thrown you away!" Katrina yelled.
Katrina swung a claw, and I grabbed her arm. She looked me in the eye and bore her fangs at me. I looked back at her and felt sad as I looked into her black eyes. Not a single bit of light or resemblance of her original aura and eye color was there. It was like she was a different pokemon.
"LLlllllllllllooooooooooooookkkk"
I felt a small whisper of Scar in the back of my head. It was so small, barely just enough for me to hear it. Then I saw it. A small flicker of blue warm aura. It was the smallest flicker, like a spark of flame dancing from a fire into the night just before it fizzled out.
"Tttaaaaaaakkke"
I heard the small whisper of Scar fade further into the corners of my mind, but I knew what he wanted me to do. I quickly spun her and threw her away from me. As she spun through the air past my wrist spikes, her cheek grazed my metal. She landed on her feet and gazed daggers at me as a new streak of black blazed down her cheek to join the black streaks of ooze that were dried under her eyes.
I clenched my fist and felt the warmth of my blood fill my paw. I felt a pinch of worried aura spread through the room. Some from Zeina and Carter, but a new one coming from Corrina's bloody aura.
"No! Don't!" I heard Corrina begin to cry, but it was my turn to charge forward.
I quickly appeared next to Katrina who barely had enough time to turn her head to look at me as I reached up and softly put my bleeding paw against her cheek. She froze as our blood connected and I looked into her eyes as I felt myself enter her mind.
It was very different from entering Carter's mind. I stood alone this time in the darkness. My body or image was constantly shifting between a regular Lucario and Caleb's body. There was no entryway of light behind me, but I was the light. I looked around and saw the similar terrain of the darkness being lit with my radiant light, but there wasn't anything being shown to me like in Carter's mind near where I started. I took a deep breath and slowly walked forward to delve deeper into Katrina's mind.
I walked for what felt like miles but found nothing. I could hear whispers of something in the distance, but it was constantly moving or circling me. I stopped and tried to focus on the whispers and heard," You can't take her. She is mine. You can't take her. She is mine." Corrina whispered.
I felt and saw the light burn brighter within as I focused more on Corrina's voice. The whispering stopped moving around me and it sounded like she was beginning to choke on something as the light grew brighter.
"Her time in the darkness is over. It's time to look up and see the light again." I said and felt myself push with the light and the whispers echoed away.
I was left alone for mere moments before I heard the cry of a baby. I spun around and saw a grey colored image of Sir Lance's face staring down and smiling at the image. The edges of the images wisped and strained like water and inky mixing together.
"Your name will be as my sisters. Katrina." Sir Lance said.
Small blue paws reached up to try and playfully swipe at his nose.
"Heh, you certainly have the same fire that she had."
I felt warmth come from the image, but it was short lived as Sri lanced looked away and talked almost shouted at someone else. From the muffled voices that sounded like members of the council as they shouted back, and the warm aura slowly turned to a light red hue as baby crying sounded again from the image.
The inky image faded into the darkness, and I stood there thinking, but I didn't have time really to process what I saw as I saw a small Riolu run past me. She wore a large smile and almost giggled with each step. I quickly caught up to the small Riolu and watched as she jumped up into the arms of Sir Lance. He smiled as he caught her and greeted her.
"Oh, how is my little Katrina doing today? Did you read your books like I asked you to?" Sir Lance said.
Her smile faded very quickly as she did her best to cower from his gaze.
Sir Lance sighed and began walking with her in his arms.
"Do you want to be better?" He asked.
She nodded in. "Is that a yes, or a no? I need you to use your words."
"Yes." She feebly said while still keeping her gaze down.
He stopped and set her down. He raised her gaze to look her in the eye and I saw one eye was a crimson fallen eye and the other was her normal violet eye. I thought of Corrina's eyes and tried to think about what it meant, but there wasn't enough time.
"Why are you angry my dear?" Sir Lance asked as he pushed some of Katrina's tears away.
"I'm stupid." She sniffed.
"Oh, now where did you hear that word? That's not a very nice word."
"The scary Pokémon outside my room kept saying that to me when I wanted to read."
I saw Sir Lance's stature grow dark and his face grew angry for a few moments, but it quickly washed away as he looked back at her with a smile of his own. He scooped her back up and Katrina began to smile. I saw her fallen eye fade into a normal eye to match her other.
"I will talk to them, but you know what we get to do today? We get to go and visit Mama Nora. She is waiting for us, and we cannot be late now can we." He said. Katrina cheered and became excited as they walked through hallways.
I took a step forward to follow them, but they stopped in place as I walked forward. I was confused at them stopping and took back my step and both Sir Lance and small Katrina whipped their stares at me. Both with black eyes, no pupils staring back at me. In unison, they said, "You took her away from us."
The floor gave out and I began falling through the darkness. I heard Nora's voice, Sir lance's voice, and Katrina's voice whizzed past me as I fell and hit a dirt hill. There was no green in the grass. I slowly sat up and heard Nora's voice in the distance as she slowly walked up.
"My child, why have you run off?" She said to me, but I quickly realized that she wasn't talking to me, but to little Katrina sitting next to me.
Katrina held her knees to her chest as a little trickle of tears ran down her cheeks. I could see that her eyes were fallen. She turned her head away from Nora and shoved her head further into her lap.
"Did those kids hurt you?" Nora asked. I followed Nora's gaze down to the scrapes on Katrina's arms and head.
"It's because I am a monster." Katrina answered with her head still in her knees.
A side image appeared next to me with a gible, pichu, and emolga surrounded little Katrina. She looked scared as they began shoving her between each other. I heard them echo, monster, freak, and weirdo like a chant as they shoved harder and harder until Katrina tripped and scraped against the ground. Katrina sniffled and stared up at her bullies. They laughed and began mocking her for wanting to cry. Something switched in Katrina as her pupils burned a crimson red and the white in her slowly faded to black. The bullies grew quiet and slowly began stepping away.
"Hey!" I heard a different voice yell which scared the bullies enough to run away and Zeina ran up to the side of Katrina still trying to stop the bullies from their retreat.
"Are you o-" Zeina began, but stopped once she saw the almost fallen eyes.
Zeina quickly swiped at Katrina and yelled, "Get out of HERE! You MONSTER!"
Katrina scurried to her feet and ran into the forest. Nora's voice in an angry tone was yelling, but it wasn't towards Katrina and the image slowly dissipated away.
"Did those ruffians call your that? Do you believe them my child?"Nora said as she tried reaching for Katrina.
Katrina whipped her tear filled face and yelled, "I am a monster!"
Nora knelt down and scooted herself to be right next to Katrina. She slowly began rubbing Katrina's shoulders and swaying back and forth.
"Just breathe my child. I am here." She said.
After a little bit, Katrina's tears dried and her eyes returned to their original color. Nora pulled Katrina into a large hug and Katrina nuzzled into Nora's warmth.
"You are no monster to me my dear Katrina." She said, squeezing her harder in the hug.
"But you are." Nora said as she looked at me.
I watched as her eyes sunk into her skull and inky black darkness gazed back at me. Katrina stirred from within Nora's hug and broke free to jump at me. I tried to step back, but I tripped on a root and fell to the ground. I braced myself for her attack, but opened my eyes to see Sir Lance with his paw out stretched for me to grab.
I stopped for a second and watched as Katrina, now a Lucario, grabbed his paw and he pulled her up off the ground. We were in the training grounds now. She looked tired and sweat dripped form her forehead, where Sir Lance only looked like he had just started a workout.
"Let us take a short rest Katrina." He said as he walked over to their packs and grabbed their water skins. Katrina walked over to Sir Lance and grabbed her water skin to begin drinking.
"How much progress have you made in your meditation?" Sir Lance asked.
"I haven't felt the urges for a while father. My eyes no longer change when I loose my grip on my emotions." Katrina answered and took another.
I saw Sir Lance choke a little on his water as he heard her call him 'father'. He looked back at Katrina and sighed.
"Come on. We should have one more round before we conclude for today." Sir Lance said. They both faced each other and took the same stances to prepare for a match.
"I need to tell you something important Katrina." Sir Lance said as Katrina quickly formed a bone rush staff and charged forward swinging it furiously. Sir Lance easily dodged the attacks and used the last swing to shove Katrina off her feet. She rolled on her shoulder to catch her fall.
"I need you to know that I care about you and so does Nora, but we. We are not-" He began, but Katrina put up a paw to stop him from speaking.
"You aren't my real parents. I know." She said as she spun and twirled the bone rush around herself as she advanced forward.
Sir Lance tried dodging the attacks, but what Katrina said had caught his attention for a little too long as Katrina took the bone rush and took out his footing.
"I heard the guards outside of my room speak a few things about it and when I found the books about the fallen, I saw the connection from them to me."
"And what are your thoughts Katrina?" He asked from the ground as her bone rush staff rested on his chest to signify his defeat in the match.
"I knew before I called you what I did. I feel that should be a good enough answer." And she got rid of the bone rush and helped Sir Lance back to his feet.
He buckled a little and held his leg in pain.
"This blasted leg will not heal correctly." He said as Katrina helped him to stand and walk to their packs.
"Nora will not be happy with you for hurting yourself again." Katrina said and smiled up at Sir Lance. He smiled and stopped their walking to look down at Katrina. He grabbed both of her shoulders and said," Though I may not be your blood, know that we share aura Katrina, and I am proud to do so." And hugged her. She was stunned at the hug and then hugged him back almost harder than he was hugging her.
I felt a large warmth of aura pulse from both of them. I smiled and watched as they froze for a few seconds. The feeling of warmth turned to a cold winter breeze trying to stab it's cold breath into my bones. Both Sir Lance and Katrina looked at me with black eyes. They opened their mouths to say something. Only one word left in their mouths. Monster. They began chanting it at me and I felt my own anger begin to rise. I felt the heat of the light build in my chest and I yelled, "Stop!"
Everything went quiet.
Both Sir Lance and Katrina seemed to flicker and then vanish in front of me. I was left alone in the training grounds. The heat in my chest calmed down and I looked around at the training ground.
In the blink of an eye, I saw Katrina kneeling down across the clearing, her back facing me as she stared forward into the trees. This was a different place. There were more flowers and less room for training. I slowly walked up to Katrina but stopped once I saw the large flower covered dirt mound. I know where this is.
"This is where you buried her." Katrina spoke.
I looked around to see if she was speaking to anyone else, but there was no one else there. Katrina slowly turned her head to look up at me. Her eyes were fallen and there were black tears streaking down her cheeks, painting dark patterns on her face.
"What are you doing here Koro?" she asked sternly.
I was stunned and confused. I didn't know how to respond to her.
"Are you here to take away my darkness?" She almost mocked.
"Are you here to free me?"
"I am here to take away the pain." I finally said.
She stood to face me with her eyes glowing with a fiery rage.
"Pain is all I have left because of YOU!" she yelled and lunged at my throat, pushing me to the ground with her on top of me. She began to squeeze my throat making it difficult to talk to her.
"I know and I am sorry. I have done nothing but cause pain. You opened your heart to me, and I broke something. I am sorry." I said through her choking grasp.
"Sorry doesn't bring them back" she said and began to squeeze harder.
"It doesn't, but I am here with you Katrina. I care about you. I will go through this pain with you and do anything you need to help-" My throat finally closed up and the grounds grew dark around me. I felt the light slowly grow colder in my chest, but then it came back. The air rushed through my throat and straight to my lungs.
I opened my eyes to see Katrina raising her paws balled into fists, to strike down. I flinched as she brought them down, but I only felt her opened paws rest on my chest. She raised them again to strike and brought them down with the same result.
I looked up at her arms rested at her sides and she slowly began to cry. I slowly sat up and she slowly scooted down to my knees. Covered her face with her paws as she let her tears flow. I slowly wrapped my arms around her and brought her close to hug her. Her arms fell to her chest. She began to cry very hard. It was almost a wail from how much she cried and all I did was hold her.
"What will I have without this pain?" Katrina asked as she began to hiccup from her crying.
"You will have your friends. That care about you." I answered and felt the light in my chest burn hot as it spread beyond me. Zeina and Carter walked forward and smiled at us. They sat down and placed warm paws on Katrina's back.
"Even though they may be gone, we have their memories to live on with us."
Nora and Sir lance emerged from the light and knelt next to Katrina and smiled. They followed in placing paws on Katrina's back. Katrina looked up at me as I finished.
"And I will be there." I said as her tears dried, and she looked up at me.
"How do I let go?" she asked.
"You are almost done." I answered and held her head against my chest. I felt her breathing begin to slow down as she slowly rested in my chest. The w light grew brighter and slowly purged the clearing of any darkness until all we could see was light.
I opened my eyes to the warm torchlight in the cave. I looked into my paws and saw Katrina still standing in front of me. Her knees slowly gave out from under her, and I quickly moved to catch her and slowly lowered her to the ground.
She rolled her head in my arms like she was waking up from a long nap and opened her eyes. I felt relief and happiness sweep through my body as I saw her beautiful violet eyes. She looked up at me and tears began to well up.
"Y-you took it away." She said and smiled at me as she fought her exhaustion.
I smiled back but felt something jab into my back. My stomach churned a little, but I quickly shoved the feeling away.
I heard someone scream in frustration behind me. I turned to see Corrina hunched over, holding her stomach pointing at me. Her anger and rage radiated from her aura. The greninja appeared next to Corrina to hold her up as she pointed at me.
"He took her from me."
"TttTTttTTttaaakkkkkke" I barely heard. It was like the wind just tickled my ears.
I softly laid Katrina on the ground as she fell to her exhaustion. I stood and faced Corrina. The greninja let go of Corrina and stood in front of her as he watched me prepare to charge forward. It was time to face their darkness.
(Thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you are enjoying the story. If you have any questions or have something to say, please write a review. Thank you again!)