Ch. 2 Murdered

{Nick's point of view}

I sat in the cell waiting for something, anything to happen. I was getting anxious to know what will happen to me. Then, there was screaming. I looked through the gate to see the Gallade was gone. The other guy in the cell with me looked concerned.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"I don't know but..."

He screamed, cutting me off, "Get down!"

I dropped to the floor as a flamethrower blew through the top half of the cell. When it stopped and was safe to get up, I noticed the top half was completely gone.

'Holy crap. A flamethrower did all this?' I wondered in shock.

The guy got my attention, "Let's get out of here!" he told me.

I quickly nodded in agreement as we forced the cell door down and ran out. We looked around the camp to see half of it was on fire. Gardevoir and Gallades did their best to protect their young against whoever was attacking. What was attacking... is a different story. I looked the best I could to see strange black beings attacking the pokemon. They were human sized with black armored skin that looked like a skab that darkened from the dried decaying blood. It's eyes were a diamond rectangle shape with an empty red filling it. Their hands had five claw tipped fingers with a thin palm and wrist. They stood at about 5 feet tall with thick heads that drew up to a spike. On the back of their heads were white cloth to cover it. On their chest and elbows were pieces of rusted metal used for protection. One opened his mouth to show razor sharp blue teeth. Each held a black assault rifle or a bow and arrow.

"What the hell are those things!?" I yelled in shock.

A Gallade noticed us escaping, "The prisoners are..!" he started to yell.

"Let them! We have to urk!" A female gardevoir got hit in the right shoulder with a black arrow.

The Gallade quickly went to help her but a stream of fire blew towards him. I looked over to see a giant black and red being stomping towards them slowly. He stood at 8 feet talk with large mechanical arms and legs. A giant bubble like metal head with two red dots that glowed as his eyes acted as it's head. On his arms were black and red bulky metal with makeshift heavy duty flamethrowers attached to the back of his arms. On his legs were large pieces of metal that protected his from pokemon attacks and fire.

"We need to leave! The Marauder is destroying everything!" The Gallade yelled to the others.

"Where's Talia!?" A Gardevoir yelled.

"I don't know! She disappeared when the fighting started!" The Gallade yelled back.

The other guy started pulling me as he noticed another way out of the camp. We started running that way as those mysterious black beings continued to attack. When we got out of the camp, we started running aimlessly in the forest. After an hour, we collapsed onto our knees in exhaustion. We held ourselves up and panted with sweat dripping onto the floor.

"I think... Pant... we got away." The guy panted.

"Pant... You think so? Pant." I panted back.

He fell onto his back, "Damn... we actually got away. The name's Tailor by the way." he introduced.

"What happened to Mr. Antisocial?" I asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, well... we escaped. Home free. I can afford to be Mr. Howdy." He joked also.

We started laughing until we heard a snarl that sent shivers up our spines. We hesitantly turned to look where we came from and saw one of those things. It had a bow as a drool covered snake tongue slowly licked its lips. We slowly started to get up as it hissed at us angrily. When we stood on our legs, It let out a loud screech that resembled nails scratching on a chalkboard.

"I'm pretty sure it just alerted the others." I whispered.

"No shit Sherlock." Tailor hissed.

Red arrow feather started forcing itself out of the creature's right shoulder. It reached up with its left hand to grab it and pulled up slowly. A sickening rip could be heard as he pulled out a jagged tipped black arrow. Tailor and I both went wide eyed as we turned to quickly start running. It hissed angrily before giving chase. As we ran, I quickly jumped to run to my left. This effectively split me and Tailor up. I'd rather have one of us get away than to both be caught and killed. I hid behind a tree and heard footsteps as the thing ran by me. It started looking around as I started sneaking into a bush to hide effectively. It smelled the air for a second before turning towards my position. It pulled the arrow ready towards me. I felt my heart race as he suddenly shot the arrow and felt air as it grazed past my cheek. I heard a squeak as it quickly ran towards my bush as I looked behind me. His arrow killed a Rattata. Unable to see me, it gave a disappointed huff before walking off. I waited there for twenty minutes, hearing the sound of my own heartbeat.

'I'm... Alive.' I finally thought before getting out of the bush.

I finally got out of the bush and looked around to see I was alone, "Huh... If it followed me, then Tailor must be okay. Unless more of those things come." I whispered to myself.

Picking a random direction, I started walking. The forest seemed so... empty. It was like... nothing was alive. The trees, the plants... they were alive but nothing else was. Some bits of grass and leaves were turning white or decaying. As I continued deeper into the forest, more and more seemed to be turning white. It was... disturbing. Eventually, I found a small green pokemon. A Celebi. It laid on the floor dead with it's head and chest ripped open. It's blood and guts missing as if it was eaten by ravenous creatures.

"Whoa... what happened to this thing?" I asked aloud.

"Cough! Cough!" I heard.

I looked around quickly before spotting something nearby. I walked over to find a Gardevoir laying against a tree. She sat with her stomach bleeding as fresh tears streamed down her face. She coughed a bit until she noticed me approaching.

"Are you here to kill me?" She asked.

I sat in front of her, "No. I was hoping you'd tell me what happened... and if I can help you." I told her honestly.

"You'd help me? Why?" She asked scornfully.

"It's payment for the information you give me. What do you need?" I asked.

"10 oran berries and a Pecha berry." She told me with a pained sigh.

I stood up, "I'll get them for you." I told her.

I ran around the area looking for the berries she needed. I found about 13 oran berries on the ground, 2 pecha, 3 cheri, and a razz. The extra is for me because I was starving. I got back to her and showed her my load. She wasn't able to feed herself so I fed her. She seemed to blush as I held the berries near her mouth. In her eyes, hope sparkled and I ended up smiling to magnify that hope.

When she finished, her wounds were completely gone. She staggered to her feet before looking at me with a small smile.

"Thank you. What'd you want to know?" she asked.

"What attacked you?" I asked.

"They're some kind of monster called Spawn. We don't know where they came from but they started attacking our villages over three months ago. At first, we killed them off easily but then bigger and more powerful spawns came. Sometimes they'll say names so we assume that's what they're called. The small ones are pawns, then there's the flame throwers called Marauders. There are more but those are in the north right now." she told me.

"Hm... Well... now I know what's going on... but what to do..?" I asked myself.

"You can come with me." she told me.

"With you? To where?" I asked.

"To the south. The rest of the pokemon are gathering the remaining humans and bringing them there." She told me.

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"..." she looked down and away, "We never meant to drive you to the brink of extinction. We got... overzealous... If your all dead, then we'll have to live on knowing what we've done. We wouldn't be able to live on with that kind of guilt on our souls." She frowned.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Talia." she answered.

"Well, Talia, lets go. I sure as hell won't be able to live on my own and I think you at least owe me a safe journey." I smiled.

"Nope." she gave me an evil grin, "You asked for information. Not protection. Night night."

I found myself involuntarily falling asleep. When I woke up, I was alone. The full moon loomed overhead as it illuminated my surroundings. I felt like I was going to cry. After saving her life she... she left me for dead! Why!? I stopped crying when I heard something step on a twig. I looked around in fear until I noticed what seemed like a thousand glowing red eyes. Trees, bushes, darkness... they were everywhere. I heard heavy footsteps as a Marauder approached me.

Fire seemed to come from underneath its helmet as it looked at me, "Fire Away." It whispered as it pointed one of its flamethrowers at me.

"Wait!" someone ordered.

The Marauder stopped and turned towards a person wearing a black cloak. A necklace hung from his neck with a large Silver X attached to it. His entire body was covered as he got close enough to examine me.

After a few moments he shook his head, "He's not the one. Fire Away." he ordered.

Before I could even try to dodge, a huge stream of fire engulfed me. I screamed in agony as I felt the blazes melt my skin and bones. Every nerve in my body exploded into activity to alert me of the pain I was feeling. I died in three seconds but they were the most painful three seconds a person has ever had to experience. I'm pretty sure I became a pile of ashes...

-Dream-

I found myself laying on a beach staring up at the sky. Everything was so peaceful... so... tranquill. The temperature was perfect. The ocean waves crashed peacefully along the shore. Then... I found myself sucked through the floor floating headfirst towards nothing. What felt like water was all around me as I was sucked down. Then, I felt gravity shift as I flipped and landed on what looked like nothing. Then, an explosion of light appeared to make a large colored window appear under me. The colored window made a picture with a knight looking guy holding up two hands. On his left hand was a crazy looking girl. On his right was some black hair guy holding a huge greatsword against his shoulder. Above them were circles with people in them. What is this? In the center, a large blue bladed sword fell and stabbed the center. I looked at it in wonder until I noticed the glass started to crack. The entire thing shattered as I again started to pludge down into the darkness. As I fell, I noticed pieces of that glass started to turn black with corruption before shattering into black dust. I looked down to see a white platform rapidly approaching. I braced myself for the initial hit as I landed on my back. I grunted in pain but quickoy realized I was okay. That blue bladed sword landed into the ground a few feet from me. I flipped onto my stomach and got to my feet. When I did, I noticed a few black portals appear as those things, pawns I think, came out and glared at me. None of them had weapons but that didn't make them friendly. They hissed at me angrily before running full sprint. I decided to run for the sword but found myself tackled by one of them. It pinned me to the ground and started biting into my shoulder. I cried out in pain as I tried to get free. The other started piling on until all I saw, felt and SMELLED, was their hunger as they bit into me. I freed one of my hands and reached out feebly.

A voice shocked me as a hand grasped mine, "As long as you reach for it. Help will always be there." a tender feminine voice whispered as I found myself pulled up to my feet. The pawns were unconscious around me. This allowed me to run over to the sword and pulled it out. I faced the pawns with it pointed at their bodies. One got up and noticed me.

It snarled, "Weapon! RAAAAAAH!" It screeched to wake the others up.

I counted six as they all stared at me hungrily. I breathed heavily as my nervousness started to affect me. They all charged at me and I decided to run towards them as well. The first one jumped at me but I slid underneath him. When he was past me, I pushed myself up with my left hand and jumped over them. The one in the back prepared a swing for me. I ducked under it and started slashing him in an X motion. I twisted with a kick to the back of his right knee to twist him. I slashed his back and jumped with a spin. I extended the blade and slashed the back of his neck. On my sword, I noticed a White letter appear on it. An F. Another Pawn tried to attack from behind but I sidestepped him. He turned to me and found my sword slashing him across his chest with a V cut. The second slice sent him up as I front rolled under him. As he floated over me, I thrusted my sword up to impale his back and threw him down onto the floor. On my blade was an L next to the F. Two more of the pawns rushed me. I blocked one as it attacked from the front. The one behind me, tried to slash me with his claws. I ducked and heard his claws rake across the pawn I blocked's face. I quickly spun around and slashed vertically upwards. I flipped the blade down to thrust it behind me and impale the Pawn that got blinded. I elbowed him off my blade and sliced the Pawn vertically on his upper stomach. He shrieked in pain as I kicked him with the bottom of my foot. An O was now present next to the F and L. The remaining two Pawns rushed me from behind. I quickly turned to face them as One tried to tackle me as the other stayed back to assistance. I slashed my sword down to knock his momentum to the floor as I stepped on his back and ran towards the other Pawn. It looked shock as I thrusted my sword into his sword, picked him up, and threw him towards the others. A W was now present as the word FLOW was spelled on the blue blade.

With a sigh I whispered, "Flow style-..." I ran towards them as the remaining three stood up. I felt everything freeze around me as I went to each one and slashes an X on their chest. I ended behind them and swiped my sword aside, "X-Blade." I finished.

Blue lit X's crossed their chests as they choked in pain before falling over. With them dead, I started to examine the sword and found the word FLOW gone.

"Huh... where did I get those skills from? Is it the blade?" I found myself asked.

"The light..." I heard someone whisper.

I looked around in wonder before sighing and began my search for the 'light'.

"Great. Now I'm hearing voices. Is this some kind of joke people play before going to the afterlife? If it is, I'm not laughing and the first person to laugh is getting a nice kick to the balls." I grumbled.

As I walked, a large stone door was illuminated with a picture of Arceus indented into it. Around him floated six other pokemon. Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina were around him. Next to those stood, Mew, Celebi, and Xerneas. Arceus, Celebi, Giratina, and Mew all had cracks into them however. As for Dialga, Palkia, and Xerneas, they were perfect. Why the difference? What does it mean? I found my hand draw towards the door to touch it. The door itself started to glow as it moved aside for me.

-Stone Sanctuary-

I walked inside the stone sanctuary to find it look... perfect. Cool cut stone laid out the walls, ceiling and floor. Near the ceiling, was a set of colored glass depicting people... Important people? Underneath them, were names that I couldn't really read. On the far end of the room was an old man with a long white beard. He sat on a rotting rocking chair but seemed content with it. I walked towards him and noticed five pedestals were placed on the floor. On one of them, was a blue bracelet with a blazing blue sapphire used as the gemstone.

He noticed my approached an made a rasp chuckle, "Oh my. Look at that. Another lost soul has made it to my sanctuary."

"Lost soul? Wait, who are you?" I asked.

"Me? I am the Guardian. The Guardian of dark and the Stone Sanctuary. Who were you?" he asked.

"Were? I AM Nick." I introduced with a glare.

He seemed to laugh, "I'm sorry but that's how I tend to meet new folks. Like the others, you died. That's why I ask it that way." He chuckled.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"This is the Stone Sanctuary. The home to many destined items and spirits. You being here means something grand." he smiled.

"Something grand?" I asked.

"Yes. Four others have come before you and took their bracelets to join the Dark." he replied kindly.

"What's the Dark?" I asked.

He started doing a rasp laugh, "Oh hoh! You should know! After all, they were the ones to kill you!"

"You mean the Spawn?" I asked.

"Yes. They are the dark spawn. Creatures of the dark spawn are born in the reverse world to be locked away by Giratina. They are created by deaths caused by the cursed or through unfair circumstances. Then there are the Nobodies. Far worse than any Dark Spawn." He grinned.

"Nobodies? Ugh, your hurting my head." I groaned.

He looked at me with pale sightless eyes, "Nobodies are the embodiment of everything that shouldn't be and never can be but they are. They exist and yet they do not. They are alive because they want to when no one else does. They strive to be what they can never be. They're created by the death or occurrences in time that never should have happened. Like a child from two parents that were never meant to be. Or a person born by an outside occurrence that defied fate. An example of this was the first nobody. Dark. Followed by his brother. Michael. They were never meant to be born but a 'god' decided to interfere with mortal lives. He forced the fates of every human to change causing nobodies to form as well as Dark Spawn. He then created a prison for these nobodies and dark spawn, guarded by Giratina who is deceased. With the word in so much death and turmoil, there's enough dark beings to cause a rift in the real world. In short, it appears your doomed. Heh hahahaha." He explained with a rasp laugh.

"There's... a way to fix this right?" I asked.

He started laughing, "Yes... oh yes there is a way. Gather the pieces of Dark and go meet the pokemon of time himself. If you can do that, you can stop everything from happening. That is... if you survive! Hah hahahahaha!" he laughed darkly.

'Survive? Wait... does he mean I have to kill to get these... 'pieces of Dark?' But who do I kill? What even is a 'piece of Dark?' I wondered.

"That bracelet, along with the other four are pieces of Dark. If you get all five... heh... you'll find out. The bracelets do other things too. You'll have to learn those abilities on your own." He chuckled.

'Great. Your being a huge load of help right now Mr. Old Man.' I thought bitterly.

I turned towards the bracelet and wondered about this. Am I doing the right thing? Is this real? Well... I did die so this could just be a dream and... ah fuck it. Let's go. I grabbed the bracelet.