17.

The MɅster of Electric-Types


Ginter grinned at his opponent, as round as he was tall and shimmering bright as the sun.

Lord Electrode grinned back. His wooden hide was whittled with a great toothy smile, while two tiny black sprouts served as eyes. He rocked steadily. Bristled with static. Rumbled like a thundercloud was alive inside his hollow body.

Then the wood creaked and flexed until the spherical creature was scowling.

And with a buzzing and throbbing, he prepared to shoot a fizzling Thunderbolt right into Ginter's chest.

This time, Cyllene couldn't spring out to save him. A stinging sensation popped down her spine, and she gripped the straps of the pack, ducking as low as she could in the grass. She peered up with wide, eyes, too stunned to even yell.

Move. MOVE. Why are you just standing there!?

Ginter refused to move an inch. Now the old man set his jaw, greasy gray hair all standing on end and the muscles of his face twitching. He had cast his right arm forward, two fingers aiming slightly above where the frenzied Electrode rocked. As soon as the world flashed, his left hand clenched into a tight, trembling fist.

"TAKE IT!" he barked.

Raichu leapt forward, then up where the fingers were pointed. He wasn't too quick, but still the Thunderbolt collided with his body with a crackling BOOM! He squealed in excitement, tail whipping side-to-side like a wayward aurora. Strings of static scattered everywhere. Sparks flashed and skittered into the grass like burning stars.

Ginter flinched at that. His chest moved rapidly beneath the coat and apron. His mouth was slightly agape as he traced the streaks of light — where they fell, where they forked and merged and wriggled and split the air. His head was trembling on the neck, muscles writhing and fighting to keep absolutely still.

Raichu seemed to hover in midair while Ginter's fingers adjusted just slightly. Knuckles jerking, palm tilting, hand steadily forming into a cup that he sliced downward, pinky tapping his left hip while the left hand swung behind him and tightened even further.

Could Raichu really feel his heartbeat within those gnarled fingers, and move in accordance? Every twitch was all so slight and practiced, and seemingly meaningless. Cyllene had so many questions, if Ginter survived and was keen on answering.

She hoped for both.

"IRON TAIL!"

Raichu spiraled down. His tail stiffened and flashed a bright white, then cut hard against the ball's wide forehead. The impact left Electrode wobbling and Raichu bouncing back to Ginter's feet.

Now Ginter looked startled. "That was supposed to knock it backwards and rolling! Why did you hold back—!? ACCURSED!"

Electrode was rolling forward again, less focused on squashing the coot than in bowling down those gates and searching for the sleepwalker hiding within the village.

The right arm shot out again. Stiff and cracking at the elbow.

"THUNDERBOLT AND HOLD IT!"

"Rai-Rai-chuuuuuuu!"

A searing arc of lightning bit at the rising moonlight, and then the two Pokémon erupted. Electrode's gold corona spluttered, every wiggling string of static straightening to a point. Raichu squealed again, more in pain this time than excitement. His body puffed up, muscles tight and swollen with the electricity he channeled. His attack struck Electrode dead between the eyes. The sprouts smoked. The wooden teeth clenched and creaked.

"Hold," Ginter said. He opened his left hand, splaying the fingers and slowly lifting it palm-upwards. His own teeth were gritted, lips too numb to conceal them.

His battle partner protested. His ears flattened. Electrode's current was traveling back along the arc — so powerfully that even the energized Raichu was overwhelmed.

"YOU ARE A CONDUIT, NOT A RESISTOR! WHAT HE GIVES YOU, YOU GIVE RIGHT BACK STRONGER! NOW HOLD!"

Cyllene shivered where she lay. Abra popped into existence above her head. When it felt the ambient energy, it disappeared again. She could see it hovering far up above where Ginter stood shaking.

The old man was shaking in rhythm, she realized. His boots were bolted to the ground, but his breath pulsed visibly with the sound of Electrode's rumbling.

Static spiked down her spine again. Hot and itching. She dug at the dewy grass. Her fingers tingled. What was a master of Electric-types? Someone who didn't just brave lightning, but craved it? Ginter looked tense, yes, but not yet tired. Not yet reeling.

Ginter was grounded. It was Raichu who was out of sync. The little creature strained to handle the shocking exchange. The higher Ginter lifted his left hand, the louder he squealed, power flowing jerkily into the arc. Jolting crooked. Hitting haphazardly. When the left hand reached as high as Ginter could force it above his head, the right darted forth and pointed between Electrode's eyes.

"Stronger. STRONGER! RAICHU, USE RISING VOLTAGE!"

"Rai-CHUUUUUU!"

Cyllene squeezed her eyes shut. Every blade of grass beneath her fingers became electric, sharpening and jabbing at her nerves. Lord Electrode ground his teeth, sputtering and crackling in the darkness until the whole of the Obsidian Fieldlands was lit with his fury. The light and heat seemed to last ages, at last fading and dying to a flicker, then the same harsh golden glow beyond closed eyelids that stained her strained mind blue.

The scene revealed itself steadily from smoke. Raichu lay fainted in the center of a rippling ring of ash. Electrode was still awake and well and agitated, the wooden lips stretching so far as to buckle and pucker into gnarls in the corners. Still, it was stunned, rocking erratically while its frenzied aura flashed and wavered.

Waves of plasma broke off, rocketing into the night and bursting into showers of sparks. The dew steamed. Fires flickered. Cyllene nodded to Abra high up in the air, and Abra nodded back.

She braced herself, then felt the wind knocked from her lungs as her stomach was squeezed into nothingness and spat back out inches from where she could smell that musty cold sweat again.

"Hold your breath and watch your head," she told Ginter, offering her hand.

He shook his head. "Don't touch me."

"Ginter, I don't want to watch you die."

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Ginter warned, but Cyllene was too quick in her nervousness. She grabbed Ginter's left hand and screamed when a shock shot up her arm, prickling her shoulder and back like hundreds of burning pins. Every muscle locked up and throbbed. Her skull rattled. Her ribs hitched, blood frayed, vision turned to swimming stars.

Ginter shook her off — because in her paralysis she couldn't let go — and watched her fall stiff and twitching at his boots.

"AC… ACURS…DAMMIT!"

Static flickered across Cyllene's pale face, pooling in the skin beneath her high, sharp cheekbones. It was bluish and glittering and delicate and pretty, and strangely silent amidst the crackling of everything else. She'd seen him flickering with static and grabbed him anyway. On impulse, Ginter thought.

Had she been following his advice?

If I could be young again…

No. That was impossible. Ginter threw himself on his knees, wrenching the pack away from her shoulders. Something warm and damp smeared against his left hand as he brushed the torn fabric of her gi.

Blood.

Cyllene's blood.

Someone had stabbed her.

The old man could barely process it. His heartbeat spiked the moment he felt Cyllene's injured shoulder rolling naturally — or as naturally as it could in her state. The ambient energy heightened. He could feel Electrode's hollow breathing less than fifty feet away, current coiling up tight like one seriously twisted wire.

And then a different energy. A cold, strange, magic kind of energy that stole his breath away. The earth shook beneath his knees. The storm above the mountain thrashed, edges of the scar tearing just a little bit wider. Like the universe was picking at its scabs.

Lord Electrode's golden aura flared. There seemed to be three of him now — or twenty-seven — or seventy-seven — then just one again. A small hand grabbed Ginter's shoulder from behind in a steely grip.

"Go on. You're not getting any younger. Throw yourself directly into the current, and see if you survive."

"Let's not get personal," Ginter snarled, his heartbeat stalling. He hated this part of every night. When she'd "wake up" and start telling him things. Mean things. Eerie things. He looked back to see her staring at him with perfect clarity in her large sky-blue eyes. Completely calm. Not jittering. Not frightened. Just stiff and emotionless, like he was the problem.

"Everyone fears death. Even someone like you."

"Pah! What in the world would you know about someone like me?"

It was a fair question. One he shouldn't have asked, because the sleepwalking Cyllene's slight smile faded. She took off the cap and placed it back over his head, brim-forwards, sharply pulling it down to cover his still-twitching face.

"You are a liar," she said.

Hearing it in her voice made him want to bite lightning and die.

Electrode was rolling slowly toward them, stalking prey. Ginter's heart thundered in his chest. He took Shinx's Poké Ball out of his pocket and unlatched it, cursing and sweating when Cyllene stood up behind him, motionless and staring blankly at the wooden sun like she couldn't feel its radiating heat. The earth trembled again. Smaller wounds were opening up in the sky, spitting down globs of hazy purple light that transformed the treeless waste. Towering, glittering forests with leaves that tinkled in the wind like bells appeared — if only for an instant. Then all was dead and dry and fiery again.

"Nothing can remain," Cyllene said softly. "Not even you."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Ginter whispered, right hand grasping at his chest. He tried to focus on Shinx coalescing before him. The tiny blue Pokémon standing against the man-sized ball of fire and plasma. He cast his left forward, splaying the fingers.

"SPARK!"

Shinx looked back at him. There was a fierceness in his eyes, but no will to fight. He was indignant. Betrayed that his master would send him out against such a deadly foe.

Electrode rolled closer.

"SPARK!" Ginter roared. "CHARGE BEAM! THUNDER FANG! SHOCKWAVE! COME ON, REMEMBER!"

He tapped his knuckles against his heart. Grounded his boots. Narrowed his eyes and stared straight into the light, only wincing slightly while his body hummed and fought to equalize. He could feel his ears popping and his whiskers biting as they sharpened. It was just as had happened to Raichu — the current was too strong. Beyond that thrill, straight into aching and anxious tremors.

"Weak," said Not-Cyllene. "Pathetic old man. Your body can't take it anymore."

"Then why don't you help? Or you, Abra. You want to teleport a giant electric bomb before it rolls over your trainer?"

Abra was floating erratically, suffering from its own harsh shock. But luckily its hide was more durable than human flesh, and at the sound of its name its ears perked up and its eyes opened, molten gold quivering in the light.

It popped right to Cyllene, curled its claws under her armpits, and popped away again, reappearing a hundred feet up, squeaking as it used a weak Psychic aura to keep itself and her afloat.

"Also an option," Ginter said.

Yet no safer. Electrode rolled over so its face was pointed straight upwards. With a deep rumble, it began to charge a Thunderbolt. Abra popped again. Popped again. Its tail wriggled as it felt the electric aura reaching higher. It dodged one Thunderbolt, then another. It couldn't keep airborne for long…

Warden tsubakI had climbed into the nearest watchtower, laughing crazily at the cruel display.

"So! You can withstand the power of lightning!" he called down to Ginter. "But can she? You'll be in a lot of trouble, woe, and grief if you let that woman die, Ginkgo. Kamado's got a suit of armor and foot odor!"

Ginter hoisted the pack onto his back, at least to give him some extra weight.

"Feed, Milord! Destroy her!"

"NO! NO ONE IS GETTING DESTROYED!" cried Ginter. He splayed the fingers of both hands, wrists and muscles burning with strain. He took in a deep breath, then huffed it out hotly through his nose.

Shinx's golden eyes were wide. He jittered weakly — but a faint string of current. Ginter traced the outline of his partner's static with his eyes and with his heart. He could pick it out like a single star — one tiny pinprick of light in an ocean of crackling distraction.

"We can do this, Shinx. Don't you remember my heartbeat?"

He placed both hands over his chest, clenching the palms and squeezing as if they were paws.

"Do you remember my spark? Our spark?"

The star-shaped tail began to light. Shinx's fur spiked. His ears twitched, and he jumped at the noise when Electrode shot another Thunderbolt off into the sky. Ginter flinched again. It was all impulse at this point. In his current state, Shinx couldn't possibly…

"I know it's hard! I know you're confused! But you have to remember who we were together! How we fought together! How we won together! We were unstoppable!"

He ripped his sleeve back, baring the twisted scar to the night. His left hand convulsed at the itching that coursed along the warped old skin.

"Don't you remember how I got this!?"

Shinx's tail glowed brighter. Golden eyes settled on the trembling hand and the raw pink scar, then traveled upwards, to the bearded face. A face too weary to lift a smile. A desperate face, with crooked bottom teeth — still gritted in hope, if a crazed one.

SPLAT!

Both man and Pokémon flinched this time, at the small sound that parted the golden aura and sent Lord Electrode fizzling on his axis.

"What…"

The old man's spine went stiff, even with the heavy pack. Eiffel Laventon was now standing far too close to the frenzied Noble. In one arm was a melting pile of mud balls. Clumsily he snatched them up and was flinging them toward the "giant electric bomb."

"PROFESSOR! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

Eiffel turned to look at him in disgust. "Helping you, by the looks of it! (SPLAT!) "My Captain is about to die, and you seem (SPLAT!) a lot more concerned with showmanship!"

There goes your faith in me as well, Ginter wanted to yell back. Curse everything. Curse everything. I won't help you. You idiot. You imbecile. If you knew who I used to be. If you knew the power I used to wield. If you knew what I have in my pack at this very moment, you'd genuflect and beg for my protection.

The professor was still chucking mud balls at the Great Lord Electrode, hastening ever closer to where it rocked and shot Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt at Abra and Cyllene. Warden tsubakI cackled with delight. Shinx was shuddering. The earth rumbled once more as the purple pustules broke open all over the sky and summoned memories no living person in Hisui could validate.

But Ginter said nothing. He was more mature than that. Much, much too mature. In the ten seconds it had taken Eiffel to nearly press his muddy arms into a hug around the great sizzling orb, the merchant had traced Electrode's currents down to their tiny feathered ends.

A place where the mud interrupted the flow.

The professor's stance.

There, and there, and there again…

Shinx…

Of course!

Ginter nodded. He sucked in a deep breath, letting the static quiver and expand within his lungs. Every hair stood on end. Every heartbeat throbbed with power. Then in one great swoop, the old man swung his left hand up and out so forcefully that he lost his balance and toppled over onto his back. Blue eyes grew sharp. Old bones ached. Reeling now, he opened his fingers and barked a strange command to Shinx.

"AMP! AMP! BAY! WATTAGE AMP! BIM! BAY! WATTAGE BIM BIM BAY! WATTAGE AMP-A-DO BIM BAY! WATT!"

This time, Shinx listened.

Tiny fangs glistened as the little one roared. His body exploded with raw electric power. Blue as midnight, shuddering like falling stars, but not flickering out. Not dying. Only strengthening. Only rising. Electric. Magnetic. Rising. Rising. Rising. RISING!

"WATT!"

His partner whipped his head back with pleasure. His body began to pulse and throb as he shot a new arc of lightning into Lord Electrode's forehead. The two Pokémon connected with a deafening jolt. As before, Electrode spun and spun, sending his current back along to meet with Shinx's deadly little volley. Blue and gold bled together splendidly, sparkling unnaturally.

"HOLD!"

There was a feline grin. The gentle crunch of claws digging into parched earth. The ragged, buzzing breathing of a man too old for fun like this. Fingers splayed and rising up slowly, as far as he could push them.

"JUST A LITTLE MORE!"

Shinx purred with the rumble of his own growing current. Rapidly growing. Twitch. Swell. Twitch. Grow. Muscle was pouring onto his frame from nowhere, velvety black skin exposed and stretching beneath blue fur before more of it sprouted in seconds. A cascading night-black mane rushed from the top of his head around his ears to frame his cheeks. His muzzle popped and pushed forward, bone crackling as it hardened around a deadly new set of fangs.

His paws spread wider. Thickening. Broadening. Bubbling up to five times their size.

His tail pushed longer. Whipping. Spiking. Brightening into a star-shaped beacon that blinded.

Ginter looked on in awe, then in quiet pride. A sigh of nothing but relief escaped his lips, and he clenched his fingers to a fist once more.

"Rising Voltage, Luxio," he said calmly, static feeling warm and tingly and pleasurable as it rattled in his ribs.

Luxio snarled. The glittering arc buckled, then broke as blue overpowered gold. The lightning bolt sent Electrode careening back, rolling and tumbling a magnificent distance away from the gates. Once more, his golden aura shuddered and spat. Once more, the smoke was curling.

Ginter huffed, pushing himself up onto his knees. He scanned the sky, then cupped both hands around his lips.

"Bring her down safely, Abra!"

The little creature nodded, popping into existence right near him. Ginter pointed. "There. Where the residual current is weakest." And Abra lay Cyllene carefully down in the grass.

"Perfect. Now, as Electrode is stunned, go and touch the place where his current is stunted by the mud. I want you to teleport him into the muddiest river you know. Let him roll and roll and cover himself in slop, just like Cyllene's plan for the villagers. That should stop him from discharging. Can you do this?"

Abra didn't respond. It merely disappeared, popping out right above Electrode and pressing a tentative paw to his side. Seconds later, it vanished.

The field of static began to dissipate, smoke and gold all fading. When it was gone, Ginter flopped down next to a silent and sleeping Cyllene.

"Ginter…?"

Cyllene!

"Cyllene," he rasped. She was awake! She was alive. She was fine. She was looking at him without that dreaded malice.

"Did you…"

"No," he said, pulling the brim of his cap down to hide his tears from the moonlight. "No, I couldn't defeat him. His strength is legendary. But he won't be back for you tonight. I can assure you. Cyllene… you're safe…"

She smiled up at him, shifting a bit as a cold breeze blew past. Static or no static, he wanted to reach out and hug her close, squeeze her tight, whisper gently over and over that everything would be fine, that he'd followed his promise, that curses or not, he would protect her until death had its way. Because she was like a blue bolt of lightning that pushed a bandit into a fire for him. Because she was under a dark and ugly curse, just like him. Because she wasn't afraid of a shock — or was — and tried it anyway — in a way he found simply…

Electrifying…

But that was…

Ginter bolted up, horrified at everything. He gripped the straps of his pack. Shaking now. Reeling. Clutching his forehead and moaning as all the pain and dizziness flooded in again. His ribs burned. His guts were twisting up with nausea. He stared at the gray remains of burnt grass with haunted eyes, then down at his limp left arm and the scar that marred it.

Luxio padded over, purring and rubbing his sparking mane against Ginter's cheeks. The professor wandered over, too, as well as a few of the guardsmen, to retrieve him and Cyllene from the ruin.

"Up now," Eiffel goaded, gesturing, not going to catch a shock if the risk existed.

"W-what?"

"Oh, do wake up, won't you? I said 'up now,' hero. Some Master of Electric-types. Devil of a Ginkgo Man, I'll call you. I say, now you're the one fooling with me. I'm sure you'll say you used a magic spell to make Shinx evolve into Luxio!"

"He did?" said Cyllene, marveling as well as she could in her weakness.

"Well, sure I did," Ginter growled up at the hapless naturalist. "If that's what you think."

Eiffel threw up his hands, simply offended at that, and walked away back toward the village gates.

"He deserves credit for helping," Ginter told Cyllene. Then he said, "Careful now. No need to push it. You're injured. Your shoulder. The shock…"

She was pushing it, already standing while his headache spiked and his vision blurred further. Ginter hugged his knees and buried his face in his breeches. The thrill of a difficult battle wasn't supposed to hurt afterwards. He could understand exhaustion and a ragged pulse, but not pain and weakness and throbbing flesh and a stomach that hurt so bad he was crying in front of her…

He didn't hear Cyllene gasp or shout or order something about the infirmary. Words like hero and sorcerer and diamond in the rough meant nothing.

All of that should've been obvious enough, if anyone knew the truth.

So the old man sobbed, exasperated.


the feelings I breathe are the feelings I live...


~N~

The battle is won...?

And after two weeks the chapter is here. (I would've written it ages ago, but my best friend is getting married soon and I'm getting dragged along on the adventure...)

THIS FIC IS NOW ALSO BEING CROSSPOSTED TO AO3! If you would rather follow it there, you can find it under my pseuds scrivenernoodz!

Published by Syntax-N on FanFiction . net and by scrivenernoodz on Ao3 September 2nd, 2023. Thanks for reading!