A Dragon's Tail
Intermission I: Freya's Tail - Arrogance
Intermission I-1: Awakening
"…"
"… There you are."
"Hm? Well… Look who it is… I know that you are both stubborn and impertinent, but to think that you would dare to show your face here…"
"…"
"Still silent as ever, hm? Now, before I banish you, tell me the reason that brings you here."
"…Your time of redemption has come."
"Redemption? For what?"
"For the crime you have committed, and for the sin you have done in your life."
"Crime? Sin? Who do you think you are, speaking those words to me?"
"…"
"See? Don't think that I don't know. You are no longer the Hero of Legend, and so do I."
"I know…. You have already passed your power to your son."
"So do you."
"… But what I am doing right now has nothing to do with my status as the Hero of Legend."
"What you are doing? Wait, don't tell me that…"
"… Sharon, Joshua, Kamui, Ellisk, Magnus, Nyxier, Leonel, Hawkins and Rucas had already paid for their sin with their demise, leaving with only Iris, Fenrir, Zira, you and me."
"… Are you the one behind their dead?"
"… As you know, Sharon died because of the illness about a decade ago. For others, Joshua died in a duel with his son, Kamui chose to obliterate himself rather than being a living Cyborg, Ellisk sacrificed his life to save his daughter, Magnus died after losing too much power to the sea creature that possessed him, Leonel died after being possessed by the 'God of Volcano', and Rucas died in the Dragon Massacre."
"Wait a minute… How did you know all of this?"
"… I have been observing each Hero/ine of Legend for several years after I left Nyxier's side…"
"…"
"But for Nyxier and Hawkins… They insisted to continue living in the life of a sinner, so I have to be the one who 'achieve' their redemption."
"… So, you are the one who killed Hawkins, you fxxxxxg bastard…"
"…"
"And so, you came here in order to kill me, right?"
"No. I come here to achieve your redemption."
"That's still the same thing, isn't it?"
"…"
"If so, then you are wasting your time."
"…What?"
"Don't get me wrong. I mean that, no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to kill me."
"… Why?"
"… Have you ever heard about the Curse of Quakersand?"
"The Curse… of Quakersand?"
"Yes. With this curse, there's no way for you to kill me, and there are only five Pokemon that could kill me, and four of them are not capable of doing so, but the last one is."
"So… You are saying that only certain Pokemon are able to achieve your redemption?"
"Your brain is still able to function, right?"
"If that's so, then, I shall leave."
"And what are you going to do next?"
"… After omitting you out, what's left are Zira, Iris and Fenrir."
"What about you? If you are really dead-set on this stupid 'redemption' that much, why don't you start with yourself?"
"… Because my time hasn't arrived yet."
"And when?"
"… After others'."
"You arrogant bastard… No wonder why you are branded with the sin of betrayal."
"…"
"Go, Tyrus, and don't show your face to me again unless you want your time of redemption to come sooner."
"… Aren't you going to punish me for coming here and for killing your brother?"
"You bastard! I will punish you if you keep reminding me that! Moreover, we will meet again in hell anyway, so there's no need to rush."
"…Then, I bid for a farewell, Emperor Garland... No, Garland… I wish your death to be a swift and painless one."
"Farewell to you too, Tyrus. I hope that your death would be as painful as possible, and those pains will continue to linger and haunt you even after your demise."
-Meanwhile…
Symmetria, the Land of Equilibrium, was known as the only major continent that still inhabited by the creature called 'Pokemon'. However, despite being existed for at least one century, this continent still held many unsolved mysteries. One of this was the area at the center of the continent, the 'inaccessible valley covered in the roofing and eternal mist, making it almost impossible to explore this area…
However, the mystery of this area was soon solved when the entrance into the valley was discovered, which led to the inaccessible valley, or 'Valley of No Return'. This valley, not only being home to many wild Pokemon, but also the home of many Dragon type Pokemon who lived in harmony without communicating with others since the Apocalypse…
However, because of the madness within the heart of living creatures, the whole village where the Dragon type Pokemon lived was destroyed within a day, and all life here were lost…
And only twelve dragons were able to survive this massacre…
And…
Where were they right now?
-Inside the shrine…
Inside the shrine of Hidden Village of Dragon, Valley of No Return, twelve dragons were sealed here, like the whole Valley of No Return that was sealed within the protective barrier, preventing anyone from entering and exiting this area...
While it may sound bad, this very barrier was the reason why these twelve dragons were able to survive the Dragon Massacre, despite them unable to rescue anyone else…
And they were slumbering here, waiting for the day that they will awaken…
The day that they will rise again…. Like a demon risen from the pit of hell…
And now… That day had come…
"Urr..."
Among twelve dragons, one of them slowly opened his eyes, like a man after a long sleep filled with dream… Or nightmare?
"W… Where am I?" The awakening Pokemon slowly spoke up as he tried to adjust his eyes to the atmosphere of the place he was. The faint light within the shrine revealed that this Pokemon was… a Hakamo-o…
As well as the only dragons native to Hidden Village of Dragon who survived the Dragon Massacre...
"Wait…" The Hakamo-o said as he slowly looked around the place he was in, and soon he remembered that this place was… "Is this the shrine of our village? But… Why am I here? And… Huh!"
Suddenly, a memory of what happened before he fell unconscious quickly appeared in his head, like a sudden jolt of lightning that zapped his entire body, as it showed him a picture of a battle between his kinsman and the invaders, a picture the dark sky above the entire valley, a picture of several injured and dead dragons, and a picture of…
"GRANDPA!" The Hakamo-o roared like a wild beast as a picture of a Drampa being ripped and tore apart appeared in his mind. He then quickly rushed toward the entrance of the shrine, wanting to leave the shrine, but as soon as he reached the exit, he could leave this shrine as it seemed like there was something that prevented him from doing so, like a barrier…
"LET ME GO!" The Hakamo-o roared and cried as he continued punching and pummeling the barrier in vain as he tried to leave the shrine. However, no matter how hard he tried, he could…
And then…
"… Korben?"
"!" The Hakamo-o turned his attention back to the main hall of the shrine once he heard someone calling his name. This was also the moment he realized that he wasn't the only Pokemon here, as there were several Pokemon lying around on the floor of the shrine, just like him before too, and one of them, like him, had already woken up, and her attention was focused at him.
"F… Freya?!" Korben said as he approached the Flygon, who stood in the main hall of the shrine. "W… Why are we here?!"
"Well…" Freya mumbled.
"Oh, never mind it right now!" Korben roared and turned his attention back toward the exit of the shrine. "I need to go, NOW! The battle is still going on, and I need to go!"
"No… Korben…" Freya slowly spoke up with a sad voice. "The battle's already over…"
"Over?" Korben looked at the Flygon in her eyes. "What do you mean by 'over'?"
"It meant that the battle had already ended…" Freya answered.
"I… If that's so, then… Did we win?!" Korben continued asking. "A… And where's everyone else?!"
"…" This time, Freya didn't answer the question. All she did was looking around the shrine, where other dragons were lying around. Korben then noticed that they were a Dragonite, a Kingdra, a Garchomp, a Mega Charizard X, a Latios, a Latias, a Draconic Lapras, a Goodra, a Shiny Haxorus in the demonic armor suit, and…
"YOU!"
The Hakamo-o rushed toward the last Pokemon in the room after he realized that the last Pokemon was none other than the one who killed his grandfather.
"!"
Just before the Hakamo-o could reach it and attacked it, the Type: Null, who seemed like it was sleeping, suddenly woke up and jumped away to avoid the Hakamo-o's wrath.
"YOU WRETCHED BEAST!" The Hakamo-o roared at the Type: Null who stood in front of him. "I WILL KILL YOU AND MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO MY GRANDPA—"
"That's enough, Korben!"
"Hm?!" Korben and the Type: Null turned their attention toward the one who had just spoken, who was none other than Freya.
"Freya?!" Korben said. "Don't you see that too?! Don't you see this beast kill my grandfather?!"
"Yes…" Freya said. "I… I have seen them all…"
"Then why?!" Korben said.
"Because—" Freya was about to answer the Hakamo-o's question, but she was stopped by other voices from other dragons in this hall.
"Arrr… What a noisy sound…"
Freya, Korben and the Type: Null then realized that everyone else in this hall was slowly woken up from their slumber, be Xavier, Claura, Zetarus, Diego, Rachael, Richard, Anastasia and Baromyteus.
"Urrrgg…" Zetarus slowly stretched his body as he slowly stood up after he woke up.
"Yawn…" Rachael yawned as she slowly got up with the help of her elder brother. "Good morning, everyone…"
"Yawn…" Xavier yawned, but he still didn't get up "Five more hours, Claura."
"FIVE MORE HOURS?!" Claura roared into the Dragonite's ear, waking the sleeping Dragonite instantly.
"Ouch…" Xavier mumbled. "Claura, you meanie.."
"And you are such a Lazyhead, Xavier!" Claura said. "Didn't we sleep enough?"
"Sleep enough?" Zetarus said. "What do you mean by that?"
"Have you forgotten already?" Baromyteus said as he helped his younger sister stand up said.
"Forget? Oh…" Zetarus said before the memory of what happened before all of them fell asleep gradually appeared in his mind. "I see…"
"And it's REALLY necessary for someone to make a noise since the moment we woke up…" Richard spoke sarcastically.
"And so…" Anastasia spoke up. "An unknown amount of time had already passed, after that day… Right?"
"Wait…" Korben turned his attention to Anastasia. "What do you mean by that? And… Why are we all trapped in the shrine like this?!"
"…" Hearing the question of the Hakamo-o made everyone else in the main hall of the shrine look away from him, except from a certain Pokemon in the demonic armor suit.
"Sit down, boy." Baromyteus spoke up. "It's a long story… A story not for a faint of heart."
-Several Minutes Later…
Everyone in the hall, except for the Type: Null, was sitting at the center of the main hall as they slowly exchanged their story of what happened before all of them met up at the village's shrine, as well as explain what happened to the young Hakamo-o…
"No…" Korben mumbled. "It can't be…"
As the story proceeded, the Hakamo-o's body shook in fear and unbelief for what was happening to his own village, and it continued to worsen as the story went on, as if the story was a sharp spike that gradually pierced his heart.
"… Korben…"
Luckily, while the Hakamo-o's condition was getting worse, there was someone who sat just beside him and always comforted him when she saw that the Hakamo-o was about to break, and this Pokemon was the same Pokemon that stopped him from killing the Type: Null earlier.
"…And so, this is what happened." Richard finished the story.
"…" Korben said nothing even after the story ended. All he did was sit and lower his head down, as if he was about to cry, while Freya was trying to comfort him.
"Still… If I didn't experience it by myself, I wouldn't believe it…" Diego said. "It seems like just a one night sleep, but how much time had passed since that day? I couldn't fathom."
"Richard, can you tell?" Zetarus asked.
"No." Richard said. "Because the entire area within the barrier, which was the whole area of Valley of No Return, was frozen in time, there's no way that I could tell how much time had passed unless we got out of Valley of No Return or someone else from outside this area tells us."
"Great…" Baromyteus mumbled sarcastically.
"Wait a minute…" Claura spoke up. "Did you just say that the entire Valley of No Return was frozen in time? Then…"
"Yes, you are right." As if he knew what the Kingdra would say, Richard spoke up. "When the barrier dissolved, the time in the Valley of No Return will seem like only one second had already passed since that day, which would mean that…"
"… If we step outside this shrine right now, the whole village will be in the almost same condition as before we got into this shrine…" Baromyteus said. "The only different thing is there will be no invaders left in the village and the valley, only the remaining of the massacre will be left behind…"
"But…" Snow spoke up. "A few minutes ago, I went to the exit of the shrine, but I couldn't get out of here."
"What?" Everyone's attention (Except Korben and the Type: Null) was turned to the Draconic Lapras.
"I speak the truth." Snow said. "It's as if the barrier still exist, and it prevents us from leaving this shrine."
"Richard, I think you own an explanation." Claura said as she and everyone shifted their attention to the Latios.
"… If you are worried that we would be stuck here forever, then you can drop it out." Richard spoke up again. "Because the period of time that the barrier would exist isn't over yet, the barrier is still here to prevent anyone from entering and leaving Valley of No Return. However, right now, the barrier is at its weakest point, we all are allowed to regain our consciousness back."
"… If that's so…" Diego said. "How long would we have to wait here until the barrier disappeared?"
"No longer than half an hour after the first one of us wakes up." Richard answered. "However, this only applied to the barrier at the exit of the shrine, but for the barrier that surrounded the entire Valley of No Return… That would be a few hours…"
"… At least we could get out of here and do something useful soon." Xavier said.
"Speak of which…" Anastasia spoke up for the first time after the story ended. "… After we got out of here, what would we do next?"
A moment of silence occurred after the question of the Goodra ended, and it soon ended when the Dragonite spoke up.
"… The first thing is that we will have to check the condition of the village; to see how much it was destroyed by those invaders." Xavier answered.
"Waste of time." Baromyteus spoke up. "As far as I could see, the whole village was destroyed by those bastard sons of a bxxxh, so there's no other point in doing this."
"You speak as if you know a better thing to do." Claura spoke sarcastically.
"Of course." Baromyteus said and turned his attention to the Kingdra. "I am not like you who don't know what to do next."
"What?!" Claura turned her attention to the Shiny Haxorus too. "Don't just assume something like that just because you don't know what to do, you jerk!"
"P…Please!" Anastasia quickly stepped between her brother and the Kingdra to stop them from starting another quarrel. "T… This isn't a time for something like this!"
"HM!" Claura and Baromyteus crossed their arms and turned their frown face away from each other.
"Oh…" Anastasia facepalmed herself after seeing that, despite all of them had fallen asleep for an unknown amount of time, when they woke up, her brother and Claura still didn't get along with each other.
"… And so…" Xavier summarized. "The only thing we can do right now is wait until the barrier disappeared, so we could leave this place, thought I wouldn't mind sleeping a few more hundred years."
"XAVIER!" Claura roared at her cousin.
While Baromyteus, Claura and Xavier were having a 'serious' conversation about what to do next, Zetarus and Diego, who was standing on the west side of the main hall of the shrine, were also having a conversation with each other too.
"To be honest, I still can't believe that everything has just happened…" Diego said. "From our perspective, yesterday, we were having a peaceful life. I was working at the forge and getting scolded by that dumbass Damos, but now…"
"For me, I was hunting the game with the dragons of the valley…" Zetarus said. "And today, we are the one who were being hunted instead."
"And then, we all were sealed within the warding barrier for an unknown amount of time." Diego continued speaking. "I wonder how many days have passed since the day of that massacre? But… If Richard doesn't know, then there's no way that 'idiots' like both of us would know."
"Yes…" Zetarus said, however, this time, with a grim voice instead of the usual voice of him. "There's something that we will never know, despite how much we want, because it's too far for us to reach."
"Hm?" Diego looked at the Garchomp beside him, and, just for less than a second, he saw a spark in Zetarus' eyes, and it was the same spark he saw in Zetarus' eyes when they were fighting to defend the west side of the village, when Zetarus was hearing the words from the enemy's general, which had something to do with his tormented past…
"Hey… Zetarus…" Diego said as he faked hit Zetarus by mildly punching the Garchomp's face. "Be honest with me; do you want to learn about your past?"
"… Knowing my past or not is not important for me right now." Zetarus said. "It won't change anything. It won't change what happened in the past, as well as what I would do in the future. So, there's no reason for me to answer your question, Diego, unless… You let me bite your tail."
"Wait, what?" Diego said.
"Come on, Diego!" Zetarus said and licked his lip. "I promise I will be gentle… Wait, I can't promise that."
"F… FXXK OFF, YOU AXXXXXE!" Diego roared.
Meanwhile, at the east side of the main hall of the shrine, there was a Pokemon who was standing there alone without saying anything. All he did was gazing at the wall of the shrine and let the time pass slowly…
… Until someone started a conversation with him.
"Greeting again, Snow."
"Hm?" The Draconic Lapras turned his attention to the Pokemon who was standing behind him, as well as the Pokemon who had just greeted him with a gentle, which turned out to be none other than…
"… Greeting to you too, Anastasia." Snow said, but with a plain voice instead.
"How are you feeling right now, Snow?" Anastasia asked. "You have just woken up and the cruel battle soon followed…"
"…The world is cold and cruel, Anastasia." Snow answered with the same voice that showed no emotion to the Goodra.
"Right…" Anastasia said. "But I don't understand why it has to be THIS cruel…"
"…" Snow said nothing.
"Everyone in this village did nothing wrong... All they did was living a peaceful life, and yet the doom was brought for all of them." Anastasia continued speaking. "Is it because we Dragon type Pokemon are meant to repay for the crime we committed to the Pokemon in this world before the day of Apocalypse?"
"… Nonsense." Snow finally spoke up. This time, he looked into the eyes of the Goodra, revealing his strong eyes that were cloaked in a strong willpower. "What happened earlier wasn't a redemption or anything else other than a madness."
"…" Anastasia said nothing after hearing the words of the Draconic Lapras.
"… Madness is the cause of many actions in the world." Snow continued speaking. However, his sight was shifted from the Goodra to his own body, which was not a body that a 'normal' Lapras possessed. "Madness was born into everything, and we can never run away from it once it shows up, despite how much you try…"
"Snow…" Anastasia mumbled.
"… Can you please leave me alone for now, Anastasia?" Snow asked with a plain voice again without looking at the Goodra.
"O… Of course…" Anastasia said. "Then… I will take my leave here…"
After finished speaking, Anastasia started walking from where Snow was to the entrance of the main hall of the shrine, at where Claura, Xavier and Baromyteus were standing, leaving Snow alone there.
"Anastasia…" Snow mumbled softly to himself after seeing that Anastasia had already walked away from him. His scaled paw unconsciously reached to his chest, at the spot where his heart was. "I don't understand… Both you… and myself."
At the very center spot of the main hall, where the altar that Richard performed a ritual earlier was, two Pokemon were sitting there without saying anything. One of them were looking with a worried face at the other who sat beside her, who seemed to be in a much worse condition…
"Korben…" Freya softly mumbled the name of a Hakamo-o who sat beside her, who had been sitting there without saying anything after everyone else woke up. His face was lowered toward the knees that he was holding with both his arms the whole time he sat here.
"This can't be…" Korben slowly mumbling after saying nothing for several minutes. "I can't believe that all of this happened…"
"…Korben…" Freya slowly said the name of the Hakamo-o again.
"…But… That big guy would never lie…" Korben continued speaking. "So… This must be a nightmare, and I haven't woken up yet…"
"No…" Freya mumbled after hearing what the Hakamo-o said.
"Freya…" The Hakamo-o slowly turned his attention to the Flygon who sat beside her. His face and his eyes strongly suggested that he was almost broken. "Please… Tell me that this is just a nightmare… Please…"
"Korben… No…" Freya slowly answered.
"Please… Freya…" Korben continued speaking, and his eyes started to become teary. "Please… Tell me…"
"…"
"Freya?"
Instead of hearing another word from the Flygon, the Hakamo-o found that his body was softly covered in a Flygon's sudden embrace, much to his astonishment.
"Korben…" Freya slowly spoke up again. "Do you… want to let go of your… feeling?"
"Let go… of my feeling?" Korben repeated the words he had just heard. "What do you mean, Freya?"
"You know what I mean, Korben…" Freya answered. "I know what you want to do right now, so… Please… Do it."
"B… But…" Korben tried to say something, but his eyes started to become teary again after hearing the words of the Flygon.
"It's alright… Korben…" Freya continued speaking. "You don't have to think of anything else… Just do whatever you want… And don't be afraid… I am right here with you…"
"F… Freya…" Korben couldn't hold it back anymore, as the first teardrop started dropping from his eyes…
It's a teardrop… of the last survivor of Hidden Village of Dragon…
While everyone else was talking with others to pass their time, Rachael and Richard moved into the inner part of the hall, at the back of the altar, and saw that the Type: Null was there the whole time since when everyone woke up, and it was gazing at the ancient painting of two dragons that shook their paws with each other.
"… Hey" Richard spoke up, causing the Type: Null to turn its attention to the Latios and the Latias who was standing not too far from it right now.
"…" The Type: Null looked at Rachael and Richard with its gentle eyes.
"Are you alright?" Rachael asked. "I heard Korben's voice when I woke up… Did he… hurt you?"
"…" The Type: Null shook its head.
"Anyway, we am sorry for Korben's action earlier…" Rachael continued speaking.
"…" The Type: Null lowered its head down.
"Wait a minute…" Rachael spoke up again once she realized that there was something wrong with this Pokemon. "Why don't you say anything? Can't you talk?"
"…" The Type: Null nodded its head.
"Oh! No!" Rachael exclaimed. "B… But… Why?"
"…" The Type: Null didn't make any sound or gesture after hearing the Latias's next question
"… I have an answer for you, Rachael, but I am sure that you won't like it." Richard spoke up. He was now holding the yellow file that held the information regarding to 'Experiment Delta'. "First, you remember the purpose of this Pokemon's creation, right?"
"…" Rachael didn't say anything, but she nodded in response to her brother's question.
"That's the answer." Richard continued speaking. "They created this Pokemon for… that, and in order to do so, they need to add as much abilities and skills as possible while they also have to remove anything that's… unnecessary for this Pokemon to carry on its purpose, as well as anything that could lead this Pokemon to rebel against its order."
"So… That's why they made him unable to communicate with other Pokemon…" Rachael said and turned her attention back to the Type: Null. "You poor creature…"
"…" The Type: Null didn't do anything.
"By the way…" Rachael seemed to remember something about this Type: Null. "At least, do you have a name?"
"…" The Type: Null shook its head again.
"The only name they gave to this Pokemon was 'Experiment Delta', as well as the name of its specie, Type: Null." Richard said. "I doubt those corrupted idiots know how to create a decent name to their specimen."
"Then…" Rachael spoke up again to the Type: Null. "Why don't we give you one?"
"!" The Type: Null was surprised after hearing the words of the Latias.
"Great idea." Richard said. "A living creature needs a name in order to fortify their own identity, as well as to separate them from the wild beast. Also, having a name will—"
"Let's see if I can come up with a good name for you…" Rachael ignored her brother and started thinking of a good name for the Type: Null. "Hm… First, if we compare you to an animal, you look a lot like a dog—"
"Rachael…" Richard spoke up. "What's a 'dog' you say? Is there any creature called 'dog' in this world?"
"Oh!" Realizing the mistake she made, Rachael exclaimed. "But still… That's right! I should name you 'Doggy'!"
A moment of silence followed the Latias' words, as both her brother and the Type: Null seemed to be... upset by Rachael's suggestion.
"Rachael…" Richard mumbled. "I… really appreciate your help, but… I think…"
"Oh! That's right!" Rachael said. "I think Doggy is a bit too cliché and common! How about… 'Doggo'? Or maybe—"
"…Can I offer my opinion too, Rachael?" Richard spoke up.
"You?" Rachael said. "You will just either come up with something that we don't understand or put two words together to create a new one."
"Then, let me create this Type: Null's surname instead." Richard said. "After all, everyone else in this room, including both of us, has a surname that consists of two words being put together."
"Fine…" Rachael said and turned his attention to the Type: Null to pet him one more time. "But please create a good one for this cute little guy!"
"Let me see…" Richard mumbled as he opened the Chronicle of Darkside to look for an idea for the Type: Null's surname, which he soon spotted one. "Hm… I think this one is perfect for this Pokemon."
"Which one?" Rachael asked.
"Xenomask." Richard answered.
"Xenomask?" Rachael said.
"It comes from 'Xeno' and 'Mask', which I think that it would suit this Pokemon perfectly." Richard said. "What do you think—"
"It sounds so cool!" Rachael said and turned her attention to the Type: Null. "What do you think of the surname 'Xenomask'? Do you like it?"
"…" The Type: Null answered by nodding its head, as it seemed to really like the surname that Richard suggested!
"Perfect…" Richard said. "Now, the only thing left is this Pokemon's name. Rachael, your turn."
"Just wait a minute, Onii-chan!" Rachael said as she opened her bag and looked for something. She then picked something from her bag. It was a book of fairy tale about the stars…
"Rachael…" Richard said. "That's…"
"Give me a few more minute, Onii-chan!" Rachael said as she flipped through the page of this book to find a good inspiration for a name, and soon, a big smile appeared on her face!
"This one is the best!" Rachael said and turned her attention back to her elder brother. "Onii-chan, how about 'Sirius'?"
"Sirius? The name of the brightest star in the sky of the human world with the measurement using human's sight, not counting the sun, right?" Richard spoke.
"Right!" Rachael said and showed the Latios the book about the star. "This book said that Sirius is the brightest star of the Canis Major Constellation, which is the constellation in the shape of a big puppy!"
"Hm… This is not bad…" Richard commented. "Actually, it sounds quite good, and it fits this Pokemon as good as it sounds."
"Yay!" Rachael said and turned her attention to the Type: Null again. "What do you think of the name 'Sirius'? Do you like this one?"
"…" The Type: Null answered by nodding its head again, indicating that it really liked the name Rachael picked for it!
"YES!" Rachael said, and Richard just slowly nodded in agreement. "Then, from now on, your name is Sirius Xenomask the Type: Null!"
"…" The Type: Null lowered its head a bit, as if it was trying to 'record' the new 'identity' of itself, before it raised its head again and looked at both Rachael and Richard with its gentle eyes filled with a feeling of his gratitude to both of them.
"No need to thank us, Sirius." Richard spoke to the Type: Null using the name that he and his sister had just given it. "We were just doing what we should do."
"Right!" Rachael said. "After all, we are all together, so we should help each other out, right, Sirius?"
"…" Sirius gently nodded to the Latios and Latias again.
"…But for now" Richard changed the topic of the conversation. "There's something else that we should pay our attention to. Look there, both of you."
"Hm?" Rachael, as well as Sirius, turned their attention to where the Latios was guiding them, and then both of them realized that…
"Everyone…" Richard spoke up with a loud voice, turning the attention of everyone in the shrine to him. "The seal at the entrance of the shrine has been broken, and we can finally get out of this place, and learn the price of our action we committed."
To Be Continued…
Dragon of Vale: Finally, a new chapter after a hiatus. It was just that a new semester had just started here, so… Here I am…
Alright, the first thing that I want to say here is that, THIS IS THE INTERMISSION, NOT A 'TAIL', despite that the title said 'Freya's tail', because Freya will serve as the main protagonist of the whole intermission, so this can be considered as Freya's 'tail', but not a real 'tail'. Moreover, in this story, 'intermission' is different from 'interlude', so please don't confuse both of them together!
Speak of which, now, Freya has become the main protagonist of this intermission, and this intermission is named 'Arrogance'… After the Dragon Massacre at the end of the sixth tail, things couldn't go worse right after that, right?
Anyway, this intermission will follow the story of the main characters after they wake up from the hypnosis that put them into a sleep for an unknown amount of time to protect themselves from the invaders. So… How much time has passed since the day they all fell asleep? Find out soon!
By the way, there's an important thing that I will announce here. After this intermission ended, the seventh tail will follow, and at the end of every chapter from the first chapter of the seventh tail onward, there will be a Q&A session, where there will be a single question that will be asked to all main characters, and they will give their answer back, so you will learn more about them. The question can be either a simple one, such as 'What's your favorite food', to a serious one, such as 'What is your greatest fear?'. And for you, my lovely reader, you can also participate in this too!
Here's the detail regarding to the Q&A
-You can ask them ANY question, but please don't use 'bad' words, and my characters will answer your question. (But I won't confirm that someone like Baromyteus wouldn't kill you if you ask them some of 'that' questions.) If the question has already been asked or it will be a spoiler to the story, that question will be skipped.
-You can choose to either ask a question to 'all' main character or an individual question for just some certain character(s). Don't forget to tell which question is for who. (Such as 'Everyone: What's your favorite move?' or 'Zetarus: Are you gay?')
-For all questions, the characters available for Q&A right now are Korben, Claura, Xavier, Anastasia, Baromyteus, Diego, Zetarus, Rachael, Richard, Freya, Snow and Sirius. (This can be changed later in the story.)
-You can ask the question in the name of yourself or your OCs.
-You can ask them by giving the question(s) to me via either comment or PM.
-You can send me the question right after this chapter was published, and the first Q&A session will be in the first chapter of the seventh tail.
-Your question will be answered in the latter chapter, in the order of when I receive the question. If I don't have any more question or don't receive any new question when the new chapter comes out, I will ask them my question instead.
- This Q&A session will remain open until the last chapter of this story.
-You can check my profile for all of the detail about the Q&A session again, as well as for the latest detail too.
All of them are really excited to answer your question! (Well… Not really all of them, but… Whatever…) So, I hope that you all will ask a lot of questions! And… See you in the next chapter!