Chapter 10
The Ugly Truth
So they are the ones that were sent here to defeat the lord of shadow and distortion… I just hope that they can succeed in their role that has been granted to them, I must warn them of the coming dangers. No one must get in the way of their true goal and safety of this world.
"This hurts so bad...is it morning already?" Chance opened one of his red eyes to see if the sun had risen, but there was no sun. In fact there was nothing at all. He looked left, nothing was there. He looked right, again nothing but the perpetual darkness that surrounded him. He found himself able to stand up perfectly yet pain was still there. He couldn't grasp any sort of logic that could explain where he was. Could he be in a dark room? No he could see himself so that couldn't be it. Suddenly as if coming from all direction, a voice spoke loudly "Please you can't leave us dad...not yet, we don't want you to leave..." "Huh? Who's there?" "Please dad, don't leave us...don't leave..." this time the voice came from behind him. He turned around and saw three small Eevees of various colors. They were crying and, if only for a moment, Chance felt as if he knew all of them. He walked towards them in the blackness that surrounded him. Each step seeming to do nothing as his distance from them seemed to never change. "Hey are you three ok? Where is your father?" he yelled to them over the silence. They did not answer but instead shed more tears as a new figure formed behind them. The figure was easily recognizable to him. The Pokémon was a Leafeon, quite a beautiful Leafeon to be put bluntly. He obviously knew that she was a girl. With orange and burnt red colors instead of the normal forest green, she seemed to resemble the autumn season itself. He found himself staring intently at her; he could feel the pit of his stomach start to turn, in a good way. She turned to all of the younglings and began to speak very softly, motherly in fact. "He's gone kids... dads gone..." she shed only a few tears just as Chance's eye lids began to became very heavy "no, not yet! who are...you..." he reopened is eyes as he awoke much earlier than expected , so early in the morning that the sun just started to peak out from behind the mountains.
He laid there on his side and gave a quiet whimper to see if at least someone else was awake. No one budged. But even though the pain had returned in full, he now had some new questions that needed to be answered. He ever so slowly crawled over to the woven basket full of food and began to eat as the sun finally casted its blue sky over the region. Zoei was the first to wake up and see that Chance was 'walking' around, and immediately yelled at him for it "What the hell do you think you're doing! That injury doesn't look even an ounce better so why are you moving?!" she yelled just loud enough for him to hear, but not enough to wake the others. "You, bed, now!" Zoei ordered. Chance glanced at her and raised a brow before wincing at a quick pain spike "it's not that bad really! Ow..." Zoei glared at him "Oh really? Well then if I touch it, it shouldn't hurt right? WRONG!" Zoei snapped wrapping her two vine like arms around him while making sure to not touch the affected area and put him back in his bed. For being a small bulbasuar, she was actually surprisingly strong despite the small size and looked very angry today for whatever reason. "Now look here Chance, when the others wake up I'm going to take Aaron into treasure town to see if Chansey has any sort of medical supplies to see if we can't get that wound to heal faster. We might bring Chansey along as well to see what she has to say about it so I want you to not move at all alright?" Chance's face became a little irritated and he spoke sarcastically "And if I want to eat something you expect me to just wait it out? Or do I need to ask permission!" she disregarded the rude attitude as if it was nothing "That or ask Terry to stay behind to tend to you while we are gone. Just please stay here" he rolled his eyes "You sounded just like my mother..." Zoei's eyes became enraged "And how would you know! You haven't seen them for years! NONE OF US HAVE!" she practically screamed the words out at the top of her lungs waking everyone else up from their pleasant dreams. Some of them being more pleasurable than others.
Chance bent his ears back and curled up cowering. What was with her? Did he strike a nerve? Of course he did, and the most sensitive one of them all. He stared at Zoei's eyes, each one showed pain and sorrow but she dared not show any emotion. When Aaron stood on all fours she dragged him close behind her all the way into town. Chance turned to Terry and shrugged who then shrugged back. It's not like he meant to say anything wrong, He knew it was a touchy subject but it was a slip of the tongue you see. He turned again to his fiery friend "hey mind getting me some food? I'm starving..." Chance exclaimed as his stomach rumbled fiercely and without mercy. Terry chuckled to himself as he grabbed the half eaten berry that Chance had been eating before Zoei forcefully placed him back in his bed. He began to toss it up and down in his hand as he played catch with it. "Come on Terry just hand it here. It's not like you're going to eat anything I've touched" Chance said frowning and trying to reach for it. Terry tore off a piece on the opposite side and ate it "of course I will, as long as you haven't touched the side I'm eating off of" he said tossing the rest to him. Greedily, he began devouring the rest of what was left.
As the day rolled on, everyone except for Chance and Terry was out and about doing what they normally did during the off days. When late afternoon's orange tint covered the sky and no one had yet to come back, Chance began to feel worried and the scar on his side began to sting. He went over with Terry's help and grabbed the last lum berry in the basket and swallowed it. The stinging went away, but only for a few moments and it came back worse than before. "So you're the humans that were transported here..." the two Pokémon shot around completely shocked and surprised that they heard a foreign voice from inside their home. "Who's there? Show yourself! Ngh..." Chance fell to the floor from the hot pain at his side only to quickly stand back up with help from Terry. As if by command, a figure revealed itself from behind one of the clay teeth of Sharpedo's bluff. Both of them recognized the Pokémon but could not remember the name, nor did they know if this stranger was friendly or not. Terry flared up a dragon claw, ready to defend his wounded companion if this stranger threated them. The Pokémon raised its hand in prevention "I am not here to fight you, nor am I your enemy." "Who are you then? And tell us why your here." Chance asked as his Charmander friend extinguished his dragon claw. The stranger continued to stare at them with a blank expression while hovering above the ground, then it looked around the room "Where are your other friends? They will need to hear this as well." The Pokémon clearly ignored Chance's demand for information. Chance could feel his fur start to flare up, mostly the fur on his back; he despised being ignored. For a split second chance felt himself lose control of his body. Terry and the stranger noticed it as well; they saw his red eyes go white as his body twitched slightly while he stood upright. The stranger was the first to act as if it knew what this thing was "you will not take this human you fiend! Not while I live!" it yelled launching a psychic sphere that enveloped Chance and completely stunned the Charmander with surprise.
"What the hell are you doing? Stop it!" Terry yelled trying to break the sphere with dragon claw. With the use of psychic, the Pokémon picked up Terry and suspended him in the air near itself telling him to be quiet. He listened but hesitantly. Watching the pink orb Terry began to notice it turn purple then shatter right in front of them, leaving what was supposed to be his best friend standing there unharmed with purple colored static appearing every few seconds. Chance grinned "you can't get rid of me Mewtwo…you should know that by now." The voice did not belong to the body it was emanated from. Its origin was much darker than that. Mewtwo scowled and glared at Chance "I might not be more powerful than you, but you still do not yet possess the power you need to return! Not even enough to take control of this human Giratina." Giratina gave a dark devilish laugh "Not yet my dear Mewtwo, but with every Pokémon my servants take control over…My power grows. Even now my influence has conquered regions around this world. You can't stop the forces of darkness and distortion! I will recreate this world in my image! And anyone's attempt to stop me will only result in their own death…" Mewtwo smiled before responding "you know that these are the ones foretold in the prophecy of you, you must know that, all of them are here and they will end your rule and send you back to your hellish world from winch you hide in." Giratina made Chance's expression go blank "I have known of this meeting for some time and I will warn you, this human has power that has yet to be awakened, an evil power. Power that if I had at my disposal, I would become more powerful than that coward of a god Arceus and would twist this poor souls mind into a killing machine that would only serve me… one way or another I will have what I seek and I won't let anyone get in my way!" with what he had to say finished, Giratina gave Chance control over his body.
Chance shook violently, trying to stand on his legs that felt like jello. "Hey! Are you alright buddy?" the Umbreon regained his footing "yes I'm alright…what happened to me?" Mewtwo came closer to Chance and looked into his eyes, they appeared to have regained their red color "he's clear of his influence Charmander, and to quell your concern your body was temporarily taken control of by the lord of distortion known as Giratina. This is not good…the problem is accelerating to quickly, tell me has this happened before?" Chance was puzzled "Has what happened before?" Mewtwo grew impatient with his lack of acknowledgement "have you attacked anyone close to you recently, Or over the past few years? Did you feel anything when you were first transported here" he tried to recall anything that might be of any help to answer the question. Then it hit him, that time at Marowak's dojo when everyone claimed that he had attacked them without any heads up. He explained the whole affair at that time to Mewtwo who's concern grew even more "I see…" he said "so it is your anger that allows him passage… you must be careful Chance." The Umbreon's suspicion grew even more "what do you mean? I don't understand any of this…" Mewtwo closed his eyes and spoke "then let me start from the very beginning so that you will." Both Terry and Chance sat down "since the very beginning of the distortion world's creation, which was created by the god Pokémon Arceus when he created the world you lay upon. Its guardian Giratina has made many attempts to have control over his world and this world. Throughout history Giratina has made several attempts to forcefully take control, all ending in failure. During the last assault on this world that happened over a hundred thousand years, Arceus had defeated him when he tried to battle him and almost succeeded in striping him of all his powers. But the coward had retreated back to his world threw a portal in which he sealed behind him preventing Arceus from following him. From then till now Giratina has been growing stronger and stronger by possessing the inhabitants of this world and devouring their distorted souls as fuel for himself so that they would not resist his demands." Terry interrupted Mewtwo. "I'll admit that this is bad and all, but what does this have to do with us?" "I was getting to that" Mewtwo said "I'm sorry, please continue" he nodded "in order to make sure that when the next time Giratina attacked here that he would be destroyed would be to summon those that bared certain quality's. In doing so Arceus had to sacrifice a majority of the life plates that kept him alive leaving him with only one left. The plates were scattered into space to gather those who would become the chosen ones. Even now Arceus has not fully regained his own strength and would be no match for Giratina on his own when the time for the final match was to come upon him. This is why you two and the others were summoned here, to fulfill the role that has been given to you. This is also the reason why all of you bear the markings you do, because each plate that matches your type is a part of you. They are imbedded in your bodies and your soul, protecting you against the elements and guiding you till you complete your world altering task." Chance was dumbfounded "and what will happen when we save this world?" he asked "Than everything shall return to the side of peace and those under Giratina's influence would no longer be controlled but…" "But what Mewtwo? What else?" Terry asked "than you would have only a small amount of time to say your goodbyes to everyone here that you had met, before you would be transported back to your own world with no memory of what had happened here. As if nothing had happened at all." Mewtwo said will this slightest hint of despair in his voice, yet he didn't show it "however Chance, until that time comes you must try to never become overwhelmed with emotion. Every time that you do allows Giratina to prey at your mind, allowing him to get closer to this evil power that resides within you and have you awakened as someone that you never thought you could ever be. You would no longer be recognizable to your friends and would become the largest threat to all of those who you care for and love...it's time for me to leave, I've said far too much" Terry tried to grab Mewtwo by his tail as he began to float away "Wait! We have more questions that need answering!" Mewtwo again lifted Terry off the ground and placed him over next to his friend "I shall return when you need me most, but do not worry yourselves, I shall be watching over you until then..." he then teleported out of the den to an unknown location.
Terry turned to his mortified companion, who was scared by this new information about himself "dark power… power that Giratina would need to come back is inside me…" Terry approached him, but was shoved aside. "Chance there is no way you could do anything terribly evil, regardless of what Mewtwo said" Chance's eyes seemed to darken "do you know what happened at the dojo a few days before we found you…" he spoke slowly. "You just explained to Mewtwo that you attacked everyone there." Chance turned to him "I didn't just attacked them…I had attempted to kill them and had Jacob not knocked me out I most likely would have" he sighed "and what's worse of all is that it actually felt good to try, to have that kind of power" Terry rubbed the back of his head and sighed. This was going to be a tough one to keep under control, not only did His Umbreon friend possess the one power that Giratina wants to have for himself, but also his dark side would come out of him every time he became overly emotional. Terry knew that he was very short tempered and easily persuaded, maybe he would go so far as gullible, but he was still his longtime partner and he wouldn't allow him to become some demented killing machine used for self-gain. Only a few moments later the two heard footsteps coming down the clay staircase, they made their way to the base of the stairs and saw Zoei and Aaron coming down along with the only nurse in town close behind. Chance was told to lie down in his bed and have Nurse Chansey take a look at what she was dealing with. Chansey studied the gash that had partly healed up and was scaring "well you won't have any fur in this area for a little while after I'm done, just thought I should let you know alright? Can you two hold him down? This is going to sting like a bitch" Zoei and Terry walked over and held Chance's forepaws down to make sure he wouldn't move while Chansey did her thing. The rounded pink Pokémon took the egg that was in her pouch and began to say a few words that didn't make any sense to Chance, she then broke the white egg above the wound and what looked like some sort of powder fell onto it. The moment it connected to his skin it felt like lava had been poured over him as torture. He began to wiggle around to try and break free of his friend's grasps as he cried out in agony "keep him still! It won't work if he keeps moving around!" Chansey yelled out angrily. Tightening their grip around the Umbreon they finally subdued him, allowing Chansey to continue her work. Within moments the pain had gone away and Chance stopped trying to break free from his friends "there now isn't that better?" the nurse asked him "y-yes it is" he replied obviously embarrassed from his child like behavior "hey don't look so embarrassed, everyone that gets the egg as treatment normally behave that way, it's rare that someone doesn't" Chance nodded his head at the nurse as she turned and walked up the stairs. It was a little funny however, Chansey looked like she barely fit through the door way and resembled a giant rock blocking the way until she started ascending the staircase.
"Oh excuse us Chansey!" a voice from outside was heard saying. Again more steps were heard descending the stairs; however this time it was rest of the gang who had just gotten back from an afternoon lunch, seeing as that there were little crumbs of food on everyone. "Guys guess what!" Michael yelled holding out a white envelope "what's that?" Zoei said taking the letter from his grasp. Jacob couldn't hold in his excitement "it's an expedition notice to all rescue teams in the area! The guild just east of here is making a long trip over to fog bound lake and has invited all rescue teams to participate! You know that guild named Wiggilytuff's guild?" "So? Why is this important to us?" Aaron asked sitting on his hay bed, trying to catch some Z's. Jacob gave him a quick death glare "because this could help us out with the money issue that we are having, just look at the pay it gives for assistance" Zoei tore open the top of the envelope and a shocked look appeared on her green bulbasuar face "holy shit! That's a lot of Poke!" Terry became interested; he looked at the amount on the note and was also stunned "Whoa 15,000 poke? They are offering that much?" Chance however wasn't interested in the slightest. "Listen, how about you guys go? I'll stay here and tend to our home, make sure no one loots it if they stumble upon the entrance." They all looked confused, why wouldn't he want to go with them? "Are you sure? This is the opportunity of a life time for all of us including you." Michael explained but it still didn't persuade Chance. Terry became concerned; he didn't think it was a good idea to leave him alone when they just learned what he could do if turned to Giratina's will. However Chance gave him a nod symbolizing that he knew what he was doing and Terry didn't argue. He asked what time they left and the note explained that they would leave for three more days; they all agreed that this would be a good time to stock up on items. So as such they grabbed what money they had left and rushed off to the shop to see what was on the market.