A Dragon's Tail
Tail 3: Richard's Tail - Ignorance
Tail 3-5: The Paths Crossing
"What?!" Rachael spoke with a surprised voice. "H…How did they know that we are here?!"
"…" Richard was shocked as the Charizard and the Garchomp, who were the outlaws, noticed their presence and threatened to attack them if they didn't show up right now!
"…1…2…9…"
"Onii-chan, what should we do?!" Rachael asked her brother with an anxious voice.
"…I think we must flee." Richard mumbled. "If we show up, they would kill us for sure, but if we flee… We may still have a chance to survive…"
"…6…4…7…"
'No!' Holmer suddenly spoke up through Richard's mind. 'You must show yourself up to them.'
'That's right!' Ilia spoke through Rachael's mind. 'Trust us, showing yourself to them will give you a good result!'
"B…But…" Rachael said.
"…3…8…5…"
"…Fine!"
Richard said and showed himself, along with his younger sister, Rachael, to the Garchomp and the Charizard.
"Hm! Finally!" Charizard said. "You two have eavesdropped on us from the start, right?"
"…" Richard didn't answer the Charizard's question. He just embraced Rachael, whose body was trembling with fear, softly.
"HEY YOU!" Charizard pointed his claw at Richard and Rachael. "Say something or we will—"
"Calm down, Diego." Garchomp said. "I don't care if you want to kill a peasant or a god, but you mustn't kill these guys."
"What?!" The Charizard named Diego turned his attention to the Garchomp. "Zetarus, do you have a fxxxxxg good reason for this?!"
The Garchomp named Zetarus just nodded silently, and then he approached Richard and Rachael. "As you know, both of us are outlaws who are now escaping from the justice, and since both of you already know our identity, it would be obvious for us to kill you, right?"
"WAH!" Rachael started crying as she heard the scary words from Zetarus, but Richard just stood still without saying anything. His eyes were fixed on Zetarus' face, but the sight of his usual impudence didn't appear in his eyes. Instead, the sight in his eyes right now was…
"…I see a sight of fear in your eyes, Latios." Zetarus said. "Where is the cocky sight I saw in your eyes at that junk shop?"
"…" Richard didn't say anything in response.
"Let's see..." Zetarus picked up his weapon, which is a pistol. "Which part of your body should I shoot first? Hm… Maybe your—"
"NO!"
Rachael suddenly spoke up. She then looked at Zetarus with a determined face. "Please, do not kill Onii-chan! If you want to kill any of us, please kill me instead!"
"R…Rachael! No!" Richard said.
"Hm…" Zetarus looked at Rachael, and then looked at Richard. "Actually, I changed my mind. I will let both of you live…"
"R…Really?" Rachael said.
"Rachael, do not be fooled by that guy's words." Richard spoke up before turning his attention to Zetarus. "I think that you would demand something in return for granting us a permit to escape even when we have already learned about your identity—"
Richard's words were cut off when Zetarus pointed his pistol at his face. "If you don't stop using those hard words, I will kill you right now and right here."
"…" Richard decided not to speak anymore.
"Anyway, you are really smart for knowing that we would not let you go for free." Zetarus said. "We just want to talk about the things you bought at that junk shop."
"…If you want us to give these to you." Richard showed a bag with the things he bought at the junk shop inside. "Knock it off. I will never let you have them."
"…I just want to know why you bought them." Zetarus asked. "Those ores are only useful for someone with a good crafting skill such as a blacksmith, but both of you don't look like one…"
"…I just need it to… upgrade my weapon." Richard answered.
"Really?" Diego walked up to Richard. "Then, I have something to offer to you."
"…And what is that?" Richard looked at Diego.
"Give those ores to me, and I will upgrade your weapon for you." Diego said. His offer shocked Zetarus, Rachael and even Richard.
"Y…You would do it for us?!" Rachael asked.
"You said that you will use those ores to upgrade your weapon, right?" Diego said. "But I don't think that someone so skinny such as both of you would have a good skill of crafting. So, just let me do it for you… For free, of course."
"Really?!" Rachael asked again.
"Do you really want me to say again?!" Diego spoke with a stronger voice, which startled Rachael a bit.
"…You are such a crafty Charizard, aren't you?" Richard spoke up. "Nothing in this world is free. We may get the upgraded weapons from you, but the thing you will get from us is priceless."
"W…What do you mean, Onii-chan?" Rachael asked.
"You see…" Richard picked up his weapon, the Chronicle of Twilight. "As you know, the Chronicle of Twilight required a rather complicated process in order to unseal its hidden power, and the knowledge of that process is very valuable. So, if we let this Charizard upgrade the Chronicle of Twilight for us, not only he would gain an access to the ores we bought, but he will also gain an access to a valuable knowledge of unseal a weapon's hidden power, which could be adapted to all kinds of weapon, not just the Chronicle of Twilight. And… Never mind…"
"I see…" Rachael said despite she still didn't understand half of Richard's words of explanation.
"So, what do you think?" Diego spoke up again. "This is such a good deal, isn't it?"
"…Fine. We accept your offer." Richard said.
Richard opened the Chronicle of Twilight and summoned a glowing orb from its page, and then the glowing orb moved from the page of the Chronicle of Twilight to Diego's head.
"W…What is this?!" Diego asked as the glowing orb moved closer to his head, and then it entered his head. This made something awakened in Diego's brain.
"W…Wait… I know…." Diego mumbled.
"What happened to your hollowed brain, Diego?" Zetarus asked.
"That Latios gave me knowledge of weapon upgrading." Diego said. "With this, I would be able to upgrade any weapon to its full power."
"And here..." Richard gave the Chronicle of Twilight and a bag of ores to Diego before turning his attention to Rachael. "Rachael, do you have any weapon?"
"R…Right…" Rachael said and picked something from her bag. It was an Espurr Doll. "P…Please be nice to Cathy."
"I will." Diego said and took the Chronicle of Twilight, a bag of ores and Cathy from Richard and Rachael before turning his attention to Zetarus. "Zetarus, your pistol too."
Zetarus handed over his Raider Pistol to Diego, and then Diego sat down and started working.
The sound of hammering echoed through the dark sewer of Gamma City. It was from a Charizard who was now upgrading four weapons for himself and three other Pokemon. Meanwhile, other three owners of the weapons stood not too far from him. One of them, a Garchomp, was looking at the Charizard while the other two stood a bit far from the Garchomp.
"Onii-chan, are you sure about this?" Rachael spoke up with a concerned voice. "I mean, not only they are complete strangers, but they are also outlaws… One of them is a psychopathic prisoner while the other is a gladiator… And right now, we don't have any weapon with us… What if they decide to turn on us?!"
Before Richard could answer his sister's question, Ilia spoke up first. 'Don't worry about it, Rachael. They won't do anything like that.'
"How can you be so sure, Ilia?" Rachael asked.
'Because one of them is a Garchomp, a dragon type Pokemon, and the other one is a Charizard, a Pokemon with a hidden potential of a dragon.' This time, it was Holmer who spoke up. 'We dragon type Pokemon are better than any other type of Pokemon, and with this pride in our heart, we refuse to use such a dirty trick like that.'
'…That's just like you, brother.' Ilia said. 'Well… He meant that neither of them has lied to us because he saw it in their eyes.'
Hearing those words from Holmer and Ilia made Rachael feel a bit better, but not for Richard, as he was still anxious about both of them…
And…
"…So, he was right about both of you."
A voice from the Garchomp attracted the attention of the Latios and the Latias. They then realized that Zetarus was now walking up to them.
"W…What do you mean by that?" Rachael asked.
"Hm…" Zetarus looked at both Rachael and Richard before continued speaking. "…I really don't understand the reason for both of you to put yourself in such a dangerous spot like this…"
"Sure, we actually don't want to mess up with outlaws like you or your friend over there." Richard said and looked at Diego, who still had his attention on his work. "But what choice do we have right here?!"
"…I didn't talk about that." Zetarus crossed his arms. "I talked about your pact with Legendary Pokemon."
"What?!" Both Rachael and Richard were shocked as they heard this from the Garchomp in front of them. How could this Garchomp know this?!
"W…What are you talking about?" Richard asked with a shaking voice.
"Do not try to fool me." Zetarus said. "Both of you have formed a pact with Legendary Pokemon, right?"
"H… How did you know?!" Rachael asked.
"…It takes one to know one…" Richard mumbled. "I think I know how could you tell that we have formed a pact with Legendary Pokemon. It's because… you are the same as us, right?"
"Right." Zetarus nodded. "I am also a Pokemon who has formed a pact with Legendary Pokemon."
'I knew it!' Holmer spoke up. (This time, not only Richard and Rachael, but Zetarus was also able to hear Holmer and Ilia's voice too.) 'I sensed that you are the one who has formed a pact with Legendary Pokemon, and I was right.'
"…Did you know this from the start, Lord of Blindness?" Richard asked.
'Not only him, but me too.' Ilia spoke up. 'We Legendary Pokemon could sense if a Pokemon nearby is the one who has formed a pact with Legendary Pokemon or not, and I am sure that the Legendary Pokemon that this Garchomp has formed a pact with also knew that you are the one who has formed a pact with the Legendary Pokemon too, Rachael and Richard.'
"So… That's how…" Rachael said and looked at Zetarus.
"My Dragon Legend told me that both of you are like me." Zetarus said. "And that's why I choose not to kill both of you. But… I don't understand…"
"You don't understand what?" Richard looked at Zetarus.
"…The reason I formed a pact with my Dragon Legend was because I need to stay alive in order to complete my mission, which was to kill a certain Pokemon." Zetarus said. "But both of you don't look like some kind of Pokemon with this ambition. What is your reason for forming a pact with Legendary Pokemon?"
"Well… I did it because I need to become stronger so I won't be a burden to anyone…" Rachael answered.
"And I did it because I need to uncover the knowledge of the world. Should it be a trivial fact or a huge secret that can change the world, I must learn it, and that's why." Richard answered.
"…Don't you know that forming a pact with Legendary Pokemon will curse you to lose something?" Zetarus asked again.
"I know." Rachael said. "But I don't have anything else to lose…"
"For me…" Richard said. "I may be cursed to lose something, but the thing I would gain from doing this is worth the thing I would lose."
"…Well… If you insist…" Zetarus said. "Actually, those questions I asked you earlier aren't my question, as I don't care if anyone would form a pact or not. Those questions are actually from my Dragon Legend."
"…My Dragon Legend is a Mega Latios, and my sister's Dragon Legend is a Mega Latias." Richard spoke up. "What about you? What kind of Legendary Pokemon you formed a pact with?"
Zetarus said nothing in response. He just showed Rachael and Richard the Ring of Balance he wore at his right claw. The Ring of Balance then started emitting a mysterious green light, followed by a voice that could be heard by Zetarus, Richard, Rachael, Holmer and Ilia.
'My name is Zygarde, the Order Pokemon.' Zygarde spoke up. 'I am the Dragon Legend who has formed a pact with this disgusting Garchomp. And I have never thought that I will run into another Pokemon who also formed a pact with the Legendary Pokemon so soon, and the fellow Legendary Pokemon I met are also…'
'Z…Zygarde?!' Holmer and Ilia spoke up with a shaking voice as they heard the voice of the order Pokemon.
'It's nice to see both of you again, Mega Latios and Mega Latias, or should I say, the Dragon—' Zygarde continued speaking, but the last part of his sentence was cut off by Holmer's voice.
'Lord Zygarde, I heard that you normally don't engage in a mortal's affair, do you? But why did you offer to form a pact with other Pokemon, especially that the Pokemon that you have formed a pact with is none other than an outlaw…' Holmer asked.
'…I have my own reason, Mega Latios.' Zygarde answered.
"Anyway…" Richard ignored Holmer and Zygarde's conversation and turned his attention back to Zetarus. "Garchomp, what about your friend over there?" Richard looked at Diego, who seemed like he was about. "Did he also formed a pact with a Legendary Pokemon too?"
"He? No." Zetarus answered. "Diego doesn't have any idea about a pact with Legendary Pokemon, neither he knows that I already formed one. Of course, I never told him about this because… You know… Wait a minute…" Zetarus seemed like he had just realized something. "Why did I tell all of this to you?! I am an outlaw, and both of you are complete strangers to me…"
"…So, you are truly a psychopathic criminal…" Richard said.
"Didn't I tell you to use easy-to-understand words?!" Zetarus said. "Anyway, that doesn't matter… Once my friend finished upgrading your weapons, we will go on our own way, and you will go on your own way, and we may never meet each other again."
"I think so." Richard said. "I also don't know why I waste my time with…you guys…"
As Richard, Rachael and Zetarus finished their conversation, Diego approached them. He was now holding four weapons in his paw. They were a PokeDoll, a Chronicle, a pistol and a Naginata. All of them were a bit different than their former appearances.
"Here." Diego handed over a PokeDoll to Rachael, a Chronicle to Richard and a pistol to Zetarus while keeping a Naginata to himself.
But then…
"There you are!"
Before any of them could check their newly-upgraded weapon, Rachael, Richard, Zetarus and Diego saw six Pokemon appear from the dark sewer behind Zetarus and Diego. They were an Electabuzz, a Mawile, a Bisharp, a Klang, an Electrode and a purple Kecleon.
"There they are!" Purple Kecleon said and pointed his paw at Zetarus. "He is the one who killed my brother!"
"…Well… It seemed like you are in a very bad spot right now, Garchomp." Electabuzz said before he noticed a Latios behind Zetarus. "Wait a minute… Aren't you the Latios who was with Viola and Grimlock?"
"…" Richard said nothing.
"Um… Onii-chan?" Rachael whispered to Richard. "Did you know them?"
"…They are just a bunch of idiots." Richard answered.
"Well… It seems like we hit a jackpot." Electrode said. "Let's show all of them who's boss around here!"
"…What do you think, Diego?" Zetarus asked. "Should we kill them or leave them with a pain that will not go away within the next six months?"
"I prefer the first choice." Diego answered and equipped his Naginata. "But I know that you prefer the second choice, right? Then… Let me give you one more choice, kill them in the most painful way possible."
"Sound good." Zetarus said and equipped his pistol. "Count me in."
Zetarus and Diego then both got into the offensive stance while their six opponents did the same thing.
"W…Wait!" Rachael was about to say something, but it was too late as the battle already started!
"YAH!"
"AH!"
"GARRRRR!"
"CHARRRR!"
"OUCH!"
The sound of battle echoed through the dark sewer of Gamma City. It was from a fight of two sides, a side of purple Kecleon, Electrode, Klang, Mawile, Electabuzz and Bisharp and a side of Garchomp, Charizard, Latios and Latias. However, only the Garchomp and the Charizard from the latter side that were engaged in this battle as the other two Pokemon were…
"O…Onii-chan…" Rachael spoke with a fearful voice. "W…What should we do?!"
Richard didn't answer his sister's question. Instead, all of his attention was focused on his newly-upgraded chronicle. However, right now, Richard's body was glowing yellow as if he was now storing a power within his body…
"FLAMETHROWER!" Diego roared and breathed a hot flame at the Bisharp and the purple Kecleon. This made the Bisharp immediately faint, but not for the purple Kecleon!
"CHARRR!" Diego roared again and slashed his newly-upgraded Naginata at the Bisharp's throat and cut his head from his body in the instant. However, the Charizard's attention was on the Bisharp, leaving the purple Kecleon able to attack him off-guard!
"Take this!" Purple Kecleon said and dashed up to Diego, preparing to attack him with the move Slash! But…
"GARRRR!"
The purple Kecleon's body was attacked by the Garchomp who appeared from underground. It was Zetarus who used the move Dig on him.
"AGRRRR!" Purple Kecleon roared as before he was attacked by Zetarus' Dig, he was attacked by Diego's Flamethrower, which made him become a fire type Pokemon due to his Color Change ability, and now he was attacked by Zetarus' Dig, which was a ground type move that was super-effective against him!
"AND NOW!" Zetarus pointed his newly-upgraded pistol at the purple Kecleon's head and fired two bullets at once from it at the purple Kecleon's head!
"EAH!" Rachael covered her eyes as she saw a brutal scene of the ongoing battle. Right now, Zetarus and Diego had already defeated (To be more specific, killed.) the purple Kecleon, the Bisharp and the Electrode, and they were now killing the Mawile and the Electabuzz. But… It seemed like something was missing…
"W…Wait…" Rachael realized that a group of Pokemon that attacked Zetarus and Diego consisted of a Purple Kecleon, a Bisharp, an Electrode, a Klang, a Mawile and an Electabuzz, but right now, Klang was missing!
"YOU FOOL!" Klang suddenly appeared in front of Rachael and Richard. "I WILL KILL YOU FIRST!"
"EAHAAA!" Rachael screamed, but…
"YIPPY HO!"
Before Klang could attack Rachael, Cathy suddenly woke up and continued punching Klang several times in a row!
"ARR!" Klang roared as he was punched by the Espurr Doll.
"Cathy!" Rachael said.
"Yippy Ho!" Cathy stopped attacking the Klang and revealed a cute smile at its owner.
"W…Why You?!" Klang roared and prepared to attack Rachael again when…
"…Thunderbolt!"
A bolt of thunder suddenly dropped down on the Klang's body!
"ARRRR!" Klang roared as he was attacked by the move Thunderbolt.
"Onii-chan!" Rachael said as it was her brother who attacked Klang with Thunderbolt! Also, this Thunderbolt was powered-up by Richard's Charge before, making it a very powerful attack!
"And now!" Zetarus and Diego turned their attention to the Klang after they finished killing the Electabuzz and the Mawile. They then attacked the Klang mercilessly until Klang was no longer moving! Thus ended the battle with the victory of Zetarus, Diego, Rachael and Richard.
"Phew…" Rachael sighed as the battle was finally ended. All of the Pokemon that were attacking her were killed by Zetarus and Diego mercilessly. "Thanks, Cathy, for saving my life!"
"Yippy Ho!" Cathy said before falling asleep again.
"You are such a sleepyhead…" Rachael said and picked Cathy up.
"ZZZ…" Cathy didn't respond to Rachael's calling.
"Anyway, since you are now more powerful than before, I will call you 'Cathy*', or 'Cathy Star'!" Rachael said.
"…Didn't you have a better name for your doll?" Richard asked.
"What about you, Onii-chan?" Rachael looked at her brother. "How about your newly-upgraded weapon?"
"That's right." Diego spoke up. "Are you fine with my crafting skill?"
"…Three years…" Richard mumbled. "The knowledge of three years from the Twilight Crisis to the Daybreak Crisis was unsealed by your upgrade… But… There's still knowledge 1,147 years from the Daybreak Crisis that is still sealed…"
"Hey!" Diego said with a sudden angry voice. "Couldn't you speak with the words that other Pokemon could understand easily?!"
"…I meant that the chronicle wasn't unsealed to its full potential." Richard said.
"Damn you…" Diego mumbled when he heard that Richard still used difficult words to converse with him. (But Diego actually understood what Richard said.) "If you mean that that I didn't upgrade your weapon to its full power, it was because of the ores you brought me, not because of me."
"What?" Richard looked at Diego.
"The ores you brought me are low quality ones." Diego said. "If you want to upgrade your weapon even further, you will need a higher quality ore such as Blancer and Noiria…"
"Blancer? Noiria?" Richard mumbled.
"They are the ores of the highest quality that could be found on the continent of Symmetria. It could only be found in Fireview Volcano of Fireview Kingdom." Diego explained.
"…" Richard said nothing after hearing the explanation from the Charizard. He just stared at his chronicle blankly.
"Cheer up, Onii-chan!" Rachael said. "At least you get more record of knowledge from this upgrade! That reminds me… How would you call your newly-upgraded weapon?"
"Hm…" Richard flipped the pages of his chronicle. "…Since this upgrade gave me the record of three years from Twilight Crisis to the Daybreak Crisis, I will call it 'Chronicle of Daybreak'."
"Wow! That's a cool name!" Rachael commented before she remembered something. "By the way, Onii-chan, what are the 'Twilight Crisis' and the 'Daybreak Crisis'? I heard you speak about this so many times…"
"They are the crises that had been occurring in the world of Pokemon." Richard answered. "But the detail of these two crises are quite long. I will tell you another time, okay?"
"Okay!" Rachael agreed with her brother.
"How about you, Zetarus?" Diego turned his attention to the Garchomp. "How about your weapon?"
"Great." Zetarus. "It's a bit harder to use, which is not a problem for me. However, it is able to shoot two bullets at once, making it a powerful weapon. Alright, from now on, I will call it 'Twin Bullets'…. What about you, Diego?" Zetarus turned his attention to Diego. "How about your weapon?"
"It's a bit heavier than before." Diego answered and looked at his weapon, which was a Naginata. "But it's also more powerful and more durable."
"…What about its name?" Zetarus asked with a voice that concealed a feeling of 'Is it a good idea for me to ask him this question?'
"… Its name is Bronze Naginata." Diego answered.
A moment of silence followed Diego's words. Not a single voice escaped from anyone's mouth, not even Zetarus, Rachael or Richard…
'…Just when I thought that Rachael was bad at naming her weapon…' Richard thought.
"Hm! Anyway…" Diego broke the silence with his own voice. "Now that we have finished our deal, there's no more need for us to stay here any longer."
"True." Zetarus agreed and turned his attention to Rachael and Richard. "Despite Diego and I are outlaws who are now escaping from justice, and both of you have already seen us, we will spare your life, okay?"
"…" Richard said nothing in response.
"Zetarus, let's go." Diego said. "We still have a long way to go."
Zetarus then was about to say something when Rachael spoke up first. "Um… Before you go, why don't we introduce ourselves first?"
Once again, a moment of silence followed Rachael's words. Every other Pokemon around here, Zetarus, Diego and Richard, were all uncomfortable after hearing Rachael's suggestion.
"What?" Rachael looked at Zetarus, Diego and Richard. "Did I say something wrong?"
"…Rachael…" Richard slowly spoke up. "Did you already forget who they are?"
"That's right." Diego said. "We are outlaws, and you aren't. So, why do we have to introduce ourselves to each other?!"
"That's not a good reason!" Rachael said. "Well… I understand that you two…" Rachael looked at Diego and Zetarus. "…are outlaws, but that's not a reason for us not to know each other's name."
"…Sigh…" Zetarus mumbled. "Latias… You remind me a lot of… Never mind…"
"Alright! Let's start with me!" Rachael said. "My name is Rachael Lustermist the Latias, and this Latios is my elder brother!"
"…Richard Lustermist the Latios." Richard spoke with a rude voice.
"Well… Fine…" Diego mumbled. "My name is Diego Pyrotorch the Charizard."
"And my name is Zetarus Quakersand the Garchomp."
"Quakersand? Wait a minute…" Richard seemed to realize something. "Isn't Quakersand the name of Dustorm Empire's Royal Family?"
Zetarus didn't answer Richard's question. He just shrugged his shoulder.
"…Alright, we have wasted too much time already…" Diego spoke up. "Zetarus, let's go. We still have a long way to go to reach Fireview Kingdom…"
"…Just don't make us end up in another nation again, will you?" Zetarus crossed his arms.
"Don't worry." Diego said. "It won't happen again."
"And you know what will happen if we end up getting lost again, right?" Zetarus said and revealed a crafty smile.
Diego's body shivered as he heard Zetarus' words. He quickly held on to his tail before speaking up. "D…Don't do it again, you mxxxxxxxxxxr!" (As Diego spoke the last part of his sentence, Richard quickly covered Rachael's ears so she won't hear Diego's bad word.)
"Hehehehehehe…" Zetarus let out a creepy laugh before he slowly walked away, followed by the Charizard who still held onto his tail tightly. And as he walked away, Zetarus spoke his last words to Rachael and Richard.
"…I don't know how to call this feeling, but I know that we will meet again for sure, and our next meeting may be even closer than we thought…"
To Be Continued…
Dragon of Vale: Sorry for lack of update. It was because I was busy with final exams. But at least, I plan to finish the third tail within this year and start the fourth tail in the next year.
Anyway, look who we have here… Zetarus and Diego suddenly appeared! And Richard, Rachael, Zetarus and Diego got their weapon upgraded too!
And… The most boring part of this tail was over. The rest of the third tail won't be boring as this part.
A special thanks to Ridin Valon for helping me with the error correction.