[Part 1]
They had about a week to prepare for the departure. For Inabayama, it meant having a week to fully recover - which she was able to do with the help of Pokemon from the village. Mostly because some of these Pokemon had abilities that improved someone's recovery. Turns out, having a permanent settlement meant it was a good idea for SOMEONE to specialise in healing. And not just for human settlements either! Shocking, truly.
Meanwhile Hiei was spending time bidding her farewells to the place she spent a century of her life at. She was… Less available during said week, only coming down the mountain for a short while, as if to check if Inabayama was doing okay, or to show that SHE is okay (the dragon honestly hoped that was the case).
It was a day before the departure that Hiei finally decided to have a longer talk.
"We'll have to avoid human attention not to waste any efforts on unnecessary struggle. Travel away from the roads, sneak past towns," the Gardevoir stated.
"Uh… Yeah, I'm usually fairly good at that sneaky stuff. If I'm not unlucky, that is. Like that day I got here," the dragon winced, "Also, I have no idea how much the humans changed since you got secluded here, but I'm pretty up to date with how to avoid their attention these days."
"Guess I'll have to rely on you then. How is your recovery?"
"All healed up! Pretty sure I'd easily crush that human asshole with all six of his pets if he got here now!"
That… Might've been a tad wrong thing to say. There was no dangerous glint in the Gardevoir's eyes, but they glazed over for a few moments, as if her mind jumped back to that night. To that mechanical abomination. To that feeling of wrongness. To-
"Good." Hiei nodded, then rising into the air, "Follow me. I want to show you."
[Part 2]
Despite her powerful, massive build, the dragon's steps were unusually light. It was as if she was afraid of disturbing the half-broken stairs and the dead quiet greenery leading all the way to the top.
She was also silent.
Hiei appreciated that.
Their collaborative quiet had lasted for most of their ascend, until the last stretch of the staircase, where Inabayama stumbled, fell at a weird angle, and splayed across uneven rocks.
"Ooof! W… What?.." she tried to stand up, and nearly toppled over herself, scooting a few steps up "How?.."
Oh, right. She forgot about that.
Floating closer, Hiei offered the Goodra her hand, which the dragon took after just a few moments of hesitation. With that, the King of the Mountain extended her own gravitational field, allowing Inabayama to stand upright again.
"Don't let go of my hand. The higher we are, the greater will be the consequences"
"What was that?" the dragon inquired, following Hiei.
"Gravity," was the short answer. Still, she thought it was only proper to elaborate, "It is a universal force that, on the most noticeable scale, causes you to fall back down whenever you jump. The more massive something is, the bigger its gravitational pull is. Normally, the only source of perceivable gravity is the ground beneath your feet, since the world is much more massive than anything else on it. However, this force permeates everything in the Universe, and there is gravity within everything you can see and touch. Even within you, there is a similar force that keeps your entire being together, albeit its mechanisms differ slightly from regular gravity. And my kind could control gravity."
"So… You created something really gravitational up that mountain, and it draws things stronger than the ground does?" the Goodra thought for a second, then glancing to the sides "Did you also exclude the trees and all from that gravity so that they don't fly that way?"
"I did."
"Oh, wait…" suddenly, a revelation had struck Inabayama, "Did you cancel the not-gravity holding those humans together? You know, in the village? And that night too?"
Now, wasn't that surprising. The dragon might not have had centuries of experience and knowledge that the King of the Mountain possessed, but she was able to deduce so much from the information given to her. Once again, Hiei couldn't help her slight, yet growing, smile.
"Exactly. Aside from whatever they were carrying, and their blood. Also, I had to shield everything around them, since the process would be harmful to their surroundings otherwise."
"I get the 'whatever they were carrying', they had captured Pokemon on them. Why the blood though?"
"So that it wouldn't look like they were simply teleported, or displaced."
"Huh. Why didn't you ungravitate the yellow mouse though?"
"Doing so removes the victim from the world, and from the food chain, rendering that existence all but useless. Humans have already removed themselves from the food chain, and I have no qualms with adhering to this particular wish of theirs, at least for now. That Pokemon, on the other hand, could still be someone's food," the Gardevoir explained, then stopping, "We are almost there."
[Part 3]
Inabayama couldn't be more grateful for that night attack stopping her from attempting to climb the mountain to check on the Gardevoir.
If the dragon ever tried to come up here by herself, it would all but guarantee that she'd die even without Hiei lifting a clawed finger. Now, as she was permitted to have a glance upon the scene, she understood that perfectly.
In front of her was yet another half-broken human building. This one was several stories high, and big enough to house a hundred Inabayamas with reasonable amount of space for every single one. The windows were long since broken, and if the dragon could muster a guess, the power was also long since gone. The walls were covered in cracks and vines, with occasional claw marks here and there.
It was a mere ghost of days long gone, its hollowed out visage a monument to the fleeting futility of the former glory.
And right above it, not even ruffling the leaves off the canopy, was the embodiment of Death itself.
A perfect orb of the deepest, most unearthly shade of black was floating just above the roof, its horrifying magnificence illuminating the building in broken, wrong-looking light. Despite everything that encircled this orb being unaffected by its pull, the world itself twisted around its sinister form, trying to stay as far away as possible.
"It's beautiful…" Inabayama managed "Is this?-"
"Black hole. The heaviest state of matter in existence. If you were affected by its force, you would be pulled in and painfully broken into tiniest parts before you could even blink," the Gardevoir said impassively, at which the dragon squeezed her hand just a tad bit tighter, "It also takes care of the pesky human technology."
"How?.."
"It does not just affect what you can touch. Energy, even the one you can not see, is also pulled in. Even light, which is the fastest thing in existence. The sphere is actually much smaller than it looks, but its visible radius is the border at which even the light is unable to escape," the King of the Mountain turned her scarlet gaze to Inabayama, "Some of the human technology uses flying invisible energy to function. Most of it also uses electricity. Both are warped or blocked on this mountain. That night, we were just somewhat unlucky since that thing was resistant enough not to shut down at that distance. If this black hole was to disappear, the humans would be here within a few days at most. If I were to leave it unattended instead, it would spiral out of control, and start eating into the world, growing larger and stronger, until there is nothing left. So once I leave, it has to disappear."
At that, Hiei pulled the dragon slightly, leading her into the building.
Inside, there was a series of half-empty, broken corridors filled with their own rubble. Mere ruins of what they were, solemn in their complete and utter silence. Long ago, it was probably a heavily fortified labyrinth they'd have to navigate for a long time before they reached their destination. Yet now, Hiei led the dragon through a path that followed straight to the heart of the building, any obstacles in its way demolished, possibly decades ago. Their goal was at the very end of this path.
It was not a room, but a clearing in the middle of the building. Its space bit through the flesh of surrounding rooms and floors, leaving a large, almost spherical wound that reached up to and through the very roof, opening a perfect view on the unnatural visage of Death.
And right underneath that visage, was a lone, mighty tree, its canopy filling the air with the most beautiful shade of pink.
"We're here."
So… This is what Hiei wanted to show her.
"Is this her grave?.. Beneath the tree?.."
"Yes. Back then, it was the best way I could think of. I just decided to watch over her grave for as long as I am able to. But nothing lasts forever. I didn't think of what would happen once I am no longer here, no longer standing guard. Of what humans would do if- WHEN they come"
"They'll disturb her grave, huh"
"One way, or another. They might turn this place into a sort of a twisted mecca, a place for humans to visit for their own amusement, to disturb and disrespect at their leisure. They might raze it to the ground, placing a new worthless monument of steel and stone here. Worst of all, they might unearth her remains, and find a way to bring my kin back from the dead, so it could serve their endless needs once more. Neither of these options is something I want for her"
The dragon nodded. She knew that she wouldn't want any of that to happen to HER OWN grave, if she ever got one.
"If I did not have to worry about being found, I'd hold a grand funeral pyre for her. Set the mountain ablaze, as a last service to its memory, then release its protection against the black hole, rending it all apart, and extinguishing the entire thing in the end. But…"
"But the humans would notice a mountain right outside their city being lit on fire, and then annihilated. Then they will look for the source," Inabayama concluded. To be honest, this was quite a conundrum - finding a way for their departure to feel like a satisfying closure, while shaking the humans off their tail. Especially since Hiei wanted to erase the entire mountain. … Huh. This was certainly an idea, "You know, we could hold something similar enough. And it would even stop humans in their tracks"
At that, she had Hiei's undivided attention.
"I'm listening."