"If heaven and hell decide, that they both are satisfied, illuminate the no's, on their vacancy sign. If there's no one beside you, when your soul embarks, then I'll follow you into the dark" - Death Cab for Cutie "I Will Follow You into the Dark"
32 A Change of Hands
Gary stayed late that night.
Professor Rowan had already left, giving him advice to not overwork himself, but Gary had ignored the old man. He was on to something. Multiple somethings, actually.
The first, and probably more important thing he had discovered, was that there was a certain woman who lived in Oupavos by the name of Nerina Malone, who went by the pseudonym Madame Eulixia in order to conceal her identity.
Nerina was an Italian name, meaning water. He had discovered the woman by interrogating Delia Ketchum and finding out who had fathered Ash. Afterwards, he had traced Champion Cináed's heritage back and found out his mother, Adara, had died shortly after he was born. He had been raised by his aunt, Nerina, on the eastern side of Kanto. After Cináed had died as well, Nerina had moved to the place of his death, determined to find out more.
Of course, the old woman had gone slightly mad, unable to travel up the mountain where her nephew's body lay. Gary felt genuinely sorry for the poor woman, especially after the stampede had run through the town. She was now buried under her own house, and counted amongst the deaths in the town.
Nerina had kept all of Cináed's possessions, including a bracelet she'd found near the base of the mountain and claimed was his. By reviewing the old battle tapes, Gary had seen Cináed wearing a bracelet similar to the one his aunt described (believe it or not, the woman kept a log of everything she did after Cináed's death and published it online). He only wore it when he used his fire Pokemon, and they were always ridiculously powerful. Gary had watched weak fire Types trump water Types as if they were grass.
The second and more personally important thing Gary had found was a strangely new-looking photograph under his bed. It showed himself, Ash, and the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, all laughing about some inside joke. Seeing the picture had triggered some memory, but it was like trying to remember a dream. The more he thought about her, the harder it was to remember her. So he kept the picture taped to his monitor, glancing at it occasionally. She really was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.
He decided that, when Ash came back, he would ask him who she was.
*****************************************************************Paragraph Break********************************************************
Paul raced through the meadow with the Sky Warriors soaring above him. Red and Blue sprinted on either side of him, steadily panting and keeping pace. They had heard her. They knew she was in her own prison, and they wanted to make sure she stayed there.
They ran up the hill, Pokemon at the ready, when they came upon the battle scene.
Yacaeli and an Absol were locked in a deadly fight. The Sky Cat had her teeth at the white Pokemon's neck, claws digging into its shoulders. But the Absol had an equally fatal hold on her, with his horn positioned under her neck and his back legs scrabbling at her vulnerable underside.
"Come on," Red ordered, and they took off again, determined to intervene, when something darted right past them. They nearly tripped over each other, so overcome by surprise.
Paul cocked his head in confusion as the little boy stumbled and tripped down the hill, his arms windmilling as he tried to regain his balance. He had far too much speed for his control.
His dark hair was trying to pull away from his face, and his glasses bounced up and down on his nose. Finally, Max fell and rolled the rest of the way, winding up right in the middle of the battle.
The two creatures had broken apart, and were preparing to lunge at each other again. Max looked between the two leaping Pokemon in fear, and did the only thing that made sense to him.
He put his hands up.
***************************************************************Paragraph Break**********************************************************
I bounced.
No, seriously. I had been falling, falling, falling through the air, watching the ground come rushing up to meet me, when suddenly, I hit it, and I… bounced.
It was as if the ground were a trampoline. I had been plummeting towards the earth, collided with it, and then ricocheted straight back into the air. This continued for four or five more bounces, until I came to a skidding halt.
Flowers were everywhere. It seemed I was in a meadow, reminding me of Shaymin's Flower Paradise. I had left a rut in the meadow from skidding across the grass, and for some reason I was worried about how grass stained my butt was.
The bracelet had stopped impersonating a fire poker and now rested coolly on my wrist. Pikachu slid off my shoulder with his eyes spinning comically.
In the strange light, I saw Dawn's knife shining off to my left. I went over and scooped it up, gripping it tight. Where was that cat?
Something bowled into me like a cannon. "Oh dear Arceus, no! Ash, you can't be dead too! You were supposed to live! No, no, no, this isn't right!"
I looked down at the person who had attached themselves to my middle and did a double take. "May?" I said in shock.
May looked up. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were teary. She was missing her bandana. "We'll never get out now," she sobbed.
I wanted to cry, too, to sink to my knees and sob on May's shoulder, but at that very moment I heard Yacaeli. She was roaring in the distance. Her sounds reminded me of Misty, and what she did to her. I pried May off me and beckoned Pikachu. "C'mon, buddy," I said dangerously. "We have a cat to skin."
"Chu," he confirmed with an equally deadly tone.
I wasted no time wondering why May was here, nor questioning whether or not Paul would appear as well. I simply followed the vicious cries of Yacaeli with the knife held firmly in my hand.
When I reached her, I found myself gazing at one of the oddest sights I'd ever seen.
Yacaeli was fighting the Absol from earlier, trying to injure him while at the same time trying to cut the stone from around his neck. Or they had been fighting. Currently they were suspended in midair, as if being controlled by some psychic force. And then there was Max.
It wasn't his presence that confused me; it was what he was doing.
Max was standing in between them, panting with effort. Both his arms were extended, palms out. I could faintly see the air warping near his hands, like the heat of a hot day.
He was a psychic.
************************************************************My head hurts***************************************************************
Dawn stumbled around the Sky Cat's cave, clutching her wounded arm and trying her best not to break down in tears. It hurt so bad. The pain was ridiculous, like someone had taken her nerves and set them aflame.
Drew rushed to help her, repeating things Dawn had mentioned about injuries in a mumbling voice as he tried to tend to her arm. Leaf was helping Brock to his feet, her face green from the sight of his blood.
Shaymin scuttled around, once again a hedgehog with the disappearance of the sun. "Bring him over here!" he ordered. "If we can wake Suicune, we can heal him."
Desperate, Mew's eyes glowed with psychic energy. Suicune glowed purple and howled in pain, but he did not wake. "What do I do?" she wailed.
"Umbre."
Everyone froze and looked in the direction of the sleek black Pokemon. The Umbreon blinked her large yellow eyes and flicked an ear in annoyance.
"Do we bother you, Tenebri?" Mew snapped. She turned back to Suicune, firing everything she had at her fellow Legendary in a failing attempt to rouse him. "I swear by me, when I get back to Spear Pillar I'll have my daddy take you out of the evolution cycle," she spat.
The Umbreon seemed to chuckle. "Um, breon umbre," she replied.
Mew and Shaymin froze. "You wouldn't," Shaymin gasped.
"What?" Drew panicked. "Wouldn't what?"
Tenebri the Umbreon just grinned a twisted grin, and coiled her lithe figure on the floor as she prepared to wait.
***********************************************************Last day of swim tomorrow******************************************************
Yacaeli gave a throaty growl. "Foolish human," she hissed at Max. "You would dare to engage me in a battle of psychics?"
Max shook with fear. "I didn't engage anything!" he cried.
"Pikachu," I murmured, looking to my oldest friend, "she's going to break out of his hold, I know it. The instant she does, I want you to electrocute her with everything you've got."
The mouse nodded. "Pi," he agreed.
Yacaeli's eyes glowed with psychic power. "You have made a grave mistake, young human," she growled.
"Ready," I said to Pikachu. He began to crackle with electricity, probably enough to kill me if I touched him.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a group of people charging down the hill. Paul was in the lead, pokeballs already in his hands.
The instant they reached us, Yacaeli broke free. There was no way for Pikachu to attack without seriously injuring Paul and the other two people he had with him. Yacaeli grabbed Max in her paws and tossed him like a rag doll across the field. With Max gone, the Absol was also able to move again, and the two Pokemon circled each other, ready to fight again.
Giant birds came out of the sky, inky black and shining white. Their beaks were razor sharp and their screeches were bloodcurdling. They dove onto Yacaeli like flies to honey, tearing at her fur and eyes.
And this whole time, my anger was building up. I had seen the Sky Cat kill and hurt my friends, and it wasn't going to happen anymore.
I barely felt the heat on my arm, and simply ran into the fray and jumped on the devil Sky Cat. The bracelet exploded into flames, yet some part of my mind was controlling them. I could hear Cináed's voice, almost as if he were instructing me.
"Pikachu!" I yelled.
The mouse came, dodging birds, Psycho Cuts, and flames. He landed on my shoulder, and dug his claws into my flesh for a better hold. I winced, but Yacaeli lurched underneath me, and I was more concerned with holding on than the pain in my arm.
I twisted my arm, causing the flames to spin into the Sky Cat's head. She howled in pain and bounded forward. Two of the birds lost their grip on her and flew off in a flurry of feathers. I was flung to the side, dropping the dagger in an effort to stay on. My fingers curled into the nape of Yacaeli's neck, and I was not thrown off.
Pikachu had leapt into the air when the dagger had gone flying, and caught it in his little yellow paws. Yacaeli was already moving, however, and he landed hard in the grass.
I made a grab for the Sky Cat's ears, vicious and merciless, when her wings pulsed beneath me. Suddenly I was tossed in the air as she snapped out her wings and jumped into the sky. For the briefest of instants, I was falling, falling, falling, again.
It was as if my hand had a mind of its own. I managed to grab onto her back leg, yanking down hard. She wavered in the sky and tried to kick me off, but I held on. My shoulder was now blaring with pain from the force of grabbing her.
Pikachu was able to jump from the ground to my leg, dagger in his mouth. I took it from him with my free hand, which happened to be the hand with the bracelet. The knife heated up in my hand as if it was molten lava, and I plunged it into Yacaeli's leg.
She screeched in pain, whipping her head around to bite at me. But since we were in the air, this instead catapulted Pikachu and me over her and through the open space. We were soaring, and then falling, falling, falling—.
Something caught me. I looked up and saw one of the black birds gripping me in birdlike hands. "Idiot," it hissed, so that I only barely heard it.
I looked around for Yacaeli, and say her chasing us through the air. She was close enough for me to have seen the pupils of her eyes, if only there were any to see. Her moonlike eyes were glowing blue, and I thought I could see water waving in them.
Suddenly, I felt very heavy. It was as if we were being weighed down by tons and tons of water.
The bird carrying me was panting. Its wings were not moving fast enough to keep us airborne, and we were losing altitude rapidly.
Abruptly, the bird took a plunge.
We weren't just falling. We were speeding down to the ground with every intention of hitting it. I started screaming.
Then, at the very last second, the bird pulled up. My heels grazed the tips of flowers, and my heart was beating a million miles an hour. But we were alive.
Yacaeli must have seen our plan coming, because she too survived the plunge and yanked herself up in time. And her eyes glowed a very, very bright blue.
Her feet were no longer treading air. Deep blue water seemed to be forming at her paws. Suddenly, we were underwater entirely.
My bird could not fly anymore, and I could not breathe. Panic enveloped me. There was no surface. I was going to drown.
The Absol came out of nowhere, viciously raking his claws into Yacaeli's flank. She whirled around to attack him, a purple ball of energy forming between her snarling jaws.
The gem around the Absol's neck started to shimmer and glow a bloody red. Yacaeli's psychic attack dissipated in the shine of the gem, and I saw legitimate panic in her eyes.
The water around us dissolved, setting us down gently on the meadow ground. The ruby stopped glowing. The ground below us shifted, and we were no longer in the meadow. We were back in the Sky Cat's cave.
Yacaeli tried to launch herself at the Absol, but the birds held her back. "No," said the white one. "You will not harm another one of Arceus' creations."
Paul, May, and the other two people Paul had had with him were all panting on the ground. They shimmered, as if they weren't real. Max was lying on the ground of the cave, in the exact position he had landed when Yacaeli had thrown him aside.
An Umbreon that I hadn't noticed before slunk up to the Absol, her eyes glinting mischievously. It purred at the Absol, who looked ready to faint.
Suddenly, the Umbreon danced away from the Absol, cackling in a human voice. "Yes!" she exclaimed, because now I could tell it was female. She tossed the ruby up in the air, and it landed around her neck. "Yes!"
The mountain seemed to implode as water bombarded the peak from the outside. Rocks rained down on us, cascading on my head and on Max and on everyone save for the ones who had come with us from the meadow.
The rocks stopped falling, and we were bathed in awful moonlight. The peak of the mountain had completely blown apart. Water rested in puddles along the cave floor, and my stomach dropped with the thought of Misty.
"Yes," said the Umbreon again.
The Absol had a look of utter hurt and betrayal on his face. "S-sol?" it said softly.
"Do not use a pet name with me!" she snapped. "I am Tenebri! And by the end of tonight I will be the most powerful creature alive!" Her eyes never ceased to glow. "I am dark, I am psychic, and I am water! There is nothing that can stop me!"
*AN: Sorry if there are any mistakes in that last bit. I got tired of editing. The chapter took me FOREVER to write. It was killer, and my aunt is staying in the room with the computer, and she sleeps 20 hours a day minimum, so I couldn't get on it much. But I did it. Yay.
In other news, WE HAVE HIT 200! This is amazing! Thank you, everyone, so so so much! Now, I'm going to go take a nap and hope someone will cook some lamb for me. And rice. Yummmmmm.*