Chapter 38

Beyond the Rainbow

Part 1

As we made our way to Anistar City, and the Gym therein, we decided to take a break for some lunch. Midway between the meal, Clemont asked us what we thought of the soup he served. Apparently, it was a new recipe he had come up with while he was away that brief time a while back, involving Berry Juice as a base along with Big Mushrooms.

"It's so yummy!" said Magearna between bites.

"This food is the best!" James added. "You're really a fantastic chef!"

Most of our Pokemon were earring separately. Meowth tried to snag a bite of Pancham's food, but the latter shoved him away, knocking over Dedenne's bowl by accident. The Antenna Pokemon thought Meowth did that on purpose, so he retaliated with a Thunder Shock.

Diancie helped Meowth up. 'You can have some of my food of you wish,' she offered. 'I feel pretty full right now anyway.' Goodra made the same offer to Dedenne.

Both Meowth and Dedenne were quick to accept. "Thanks a lot, palley!"

Ash and I looked at our two Pokemon with pride. They had come a long way since we found them so long ago.

Shortly afterwards, it was time for us to go. We were just finishing up with our packing, when suddenly, Squishy looked up. 'Something's coming!'

We all looked in the same direction that he was, some of us protecting others. For a moment, there was nothing, but then, we saw something big and red come down from the mountains. It seemed to be expelling a large steam from… I think those were its arms? As it touched down, it roared loudly at us and joined its arms together above its back.

"Is that a Pokemon?" Serena asked in concern. Dexter was quick to answer.

Volcanion
The Steam Pokemon
A Fire and Water-type
It expels internal steam from the arms on its back. It has enough power to blow away a mountain.

"...but this Pokemon was declared extinct over a thousand years ago!" Dexter concluded.

"Well, then that is one angry fossil!" Ash argued. Then he sent out his Pikachu to face it. Clemont did the same with Lucky and Diggersby. Per Dexter's suggestion, I sent Diancie over to face the red giant, as she seem to have the type advantage. And just as we were about to Mega Evolve our partners…

'Pabi!' Diancie yelled with joy. She hobbled over as fast as she could and wrapped her arms around the Volcanion's head in a hug. 'I knew you'd find me! I just knew it!'

'For you, I would come through fire and high water…' said the Volcanion.

I stepped up to the two. "You're Pabi?!" I asked.

The creature glared at me. 'Stay back, Beast Hunter!'

Diancie got between us. 'Don't be so rude! These are-!'

'"Rude?"' he interrupted. 'They're gonna wish for "rude" when I'm through with them! They're Beast Hunters, Diancie, and Beast Hunters cannot be trusted!'

'Well, these ones can! They've been taking care of me this whole time. They're my friends!'

This only made him even more mad. 'WHAT?! You're friends with these monsters? That only makes it worse!'

Magearna stepped up to it. "Please, we don't want any trouble-!"

'Stay out of this, iron nuisance!' Pabi snarled, scaring Magearna behind her adopted parents. He then addressed the rest of us. 'Listen up! I'll tell you just once! I will NEVER trust Beast Hunters! And Pokémon like you who cozy up to them, you're even less deserving of my trust! You all have souls as black as Oblivion!'

At last, Meowth lost his patience. "Well," he remarked, "at least I can say we HAVE souls!"

'You little pipsqueak! You asked for it!' Pabi then aimed his gigantic arms at us. We all shielded ourselves as best as we could…

…but nothing happened…

I looked up to see that the blue outlines on Pabi's arms had turned red. Looking flustered, he dipped them in the river. "Um… what's he doing?"

Dexter started to explain it to me. "Volcanion's arms store water from external sources for ammunition. If it runs out, it becomes weak."

As Pabi refilled his cannon-like arms, Pikachu noticed something. Not too far away, another Pokemon we never saw before weakly wandered over. Dexter quickly analyzed it.

Phantump
The Stump Pokémon
A Grass and Ghost-type
Phantump come from rotting tree stumps that have been possessed by spirits. Lonely forests are their preferred habitat.

I looked at the image and the Phantump before me. The color of both heads were completely different from each other. I would later learn that this Phantump was a Shiny Pokemon, a rare kind of Pokemon with a different coloration to what is usual for its species. It looked like someone had attacked it recently, and for good reason…

…someone was attacking it! Some guy in a truck wheeled in and saw all of us. He smiled evilly. "Well, lookie at this cookie! I'm gonna make a fortune!"

Pabi snarled. 'Another Beast Hunter?'

Ash snarled. "Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!" His partner fired one off…

…but the poacher moved his truck out of the way, headed straight for us. "I'll fix all of you!"

'No, you won't!' From the pores on his arms, Pabi expelled a tremendous amount of steam. The fog was so thick that no one could see anything, especially not the poacher. There was a loud sound of crunching metal, and when the fog settled, we saw that the poacher ran into a large rock that stood nearby.

Then I started to look around, making sure that everyone else was okay. It was only seconds before I realized something… Pabi had disappeared as well as Diancie and the wild Phantump. "They were just here a minute ago," Clemont commented.

"They couldn't have gone far in that instant!" James added.

Then Ash got an idea. Pulling out one of his PokeBalls, he released his Pseudo-Legendary friend into the open. "Goodra, you and Diancie came from the same place, right? Can you take us there?"

The big one nodded in affirmative. But before we left, we had to do something with that poacher. We pulled him out of the driver's seat and into the bed of his truck. Then Jessie and James tied him down, tying part of him to his flatbed cage.

"Hey! What're you doing?" the poacher asked. "You can't just leave me here!"

"Relax," I told him. "Officer Jenny will swing by soon to pick you up…"

It took a bit of maneuvering - through the forests, over the mountains, and across somewhat treacherous rivers. But at last we made it to the land where Diancie and Goodra were born. It was a remote highland far removed from any human settlement. We'll call it the Nebel Plateau.

"Goodra? This is where you live?" asked Ash as we looked around.

"It's so beautiful…" Bonnie added. "And look at the Pokemon! So cute!"

However, as we approached the area, the surrounding Pokemon began to scatter. Many of them hid behind the trees, rocks and bushes, while others glared at us, as though to warn us to back off.

"It doesn't look like anyone here trusts us at all," James commented. "I wonder why…?"

The Pseudo-Legendary stepped up to them and gave off a friendly wave. "Goodra! Goodra Goo Goodra!"

While many of them were still hesitant, one in particular stepped forward courageously - a Wooper. When Goodra saw the little one, he smiled widely and spoke to it. The Wooper returned the smile and hopped into his arms in an embrace. Apparently, the Wooper was one of Goodra's friends from before it came to our care. At that instant, several of the scared Pokemon came out to greet Goodra. They were all happy to see their little Goomy friend now fully evolved.

As we made our way further in, we came across Diancie, Pabi and the Shiny Phantump. The big red one carefully laid the injured one on a mossy rock. Diancie noticed us approaching them. She hobbled over, grabbed my hand and wanted me to come closer. 'Phantump is still hurt,' she told me. 'Can you help?'

"Absolutely!" I told her with a smile.

But before we could do anything, the Volcanion galloped right between us and it. 'Stay back!' he threatened. 'Unless you want to end up worse than this one!'

'Pabi!' Diancie scolded. 'Don't be so angry. They just want to help…'

'They're Beast Hunters, Diancie! They can't be trusted!'

'I trust them!' she told him. 'They have always protected me while I was gone. They helped me to become stronger. They kept their promise not to leave my side until I was safely home. So please, if only once, trust me about them…'

He tried to argue against her, but every time, he hesitated. It was as if he knew she was right. At last, he gave up. 'Oh, by the Original One… Fine. But I'm not taking my eyes off them.'

We all took our time to treat Phantump's injuries. We took every precaution we could to ensure its safety. I applied a potion or two to the obvious wounds, while Serena bandaged them to help it heal faster.

Soon, Clemont took a closer look to ensure we did not miss anything. After about ten seconds… "Phantump should be fine now. It just needs to rest and recover its strength."

Pabi then carefully laid it under a nearby tree. ''Forget all the bad times, Phantump. You're in a safe place now, with food and friends. Sleep now…' Then he looked back at us. 'Anyway, you helped Diancie home like she said you promised. Leave now!'

This made most of us mad, especially Ash. "Even after all that happened? After everything we did for you, without asking anything in return?"

'Doesn't change anything,' Pabi insisted.

"It does so!"

'Does not!'

"Listen," he tried in a more optimistic approach, "we don't want to cause any kind of trouble. We helped Diancie because we want to protect Pokemon, and be friends with them. That's one of the first rules of being a Pokemon Trainer - learn how to make them feel safe." Pikachu chirped in agreement.

Pabi literally blew off some steam. 'Spare me your petty lies, or I'll throw you over the mountain!'

Diancie stepped between them, facing her guardian in anger. 'You can try!'

I could tell that Pabi could not harm Diancie even if he wanted to. He blew some steam out through his nostrils, then turned toward a cave that stood nearby. 'I'm going to sleep…'

Diancie sighed. 'I'm sorry about Pabi, everyone. He's stubborn, but only because he cares.' she explained. 'It's getting late. Pabi says never to go wandering about when it gets dark.'

"I guess we're staying here for the night," Cocoa commented.

In the meantime, Diancie suggested that we show the Pokemon of the valley what Diancie sees in us, which we wholeheartedly agreed to. All of us released our Pokemon into the open to play. While the wild Pokemon were hesitant at first, they would soon grow to like us. It was not long before everyone in the valley would join in the fun.

Everyone, that was, except for one…

*Pabi's POV*

It had been a long day… longer than I care to think about. True, Diancie and Goomy now Goodra had come home, at long last, but she brought some of those wretched Beast Hunters with them. I do not know what those Beast Hunters did to make them worthy of her trust, but they would not be earning mine anytime soon.

I forced them to stay in my cave to ensure they left the rest of the valley alone. They all seemed to be asleep, but I was not. I could not chance them sneaking out to wreak havoc. Before midnight, I left the bowels of my cave for some fresh air. It was a clear night - the moon was new, and the stars were plentiful. I sat at the mouth of my cave, breathing in the mountain breeze and admiring the night sky.

"The stars sure are pretty out here…"

'What the-?' I looked to my right to see the one they called Magearna beside me. Somehow, she came out while I was not looking. 'You can move on your own? I mean, without your master's consent?'

"Well, of course I can move. I'm my own person, you know," she told me. "And for your information, he's not my master. He's my Daddy."

'Your father? Doubt it…'

"I don't lie. He said I was his daughter; that makes him my Daddy." I shrugged as I listened to her. "Can you tell me why you don't trust us? Sure, we're different, but we're not bad people."

I fell silent for a moment. I did not want to share anything, but I had a feeling she would not take 'no' for an answer… 'My people were the first to live in the mountains. Back then, we were a peaceful kind who ate the fruit of the trees and laid in the sun, debating philosophy, and enjoying the great gift of life. Then the Beast Hunters invaded from the east. Their leader, one they called Veofum, slaughtered most of my friends and kin. Those who survived were enslaved, not for work, mind you, but for sport. Caging and torturing us seemed to amuse him. I survived only because of a cataclysmic event from a higher power.' I closed my eyes as I remembered those dark times… 'Once, there were many… now, there is only one…'

I could tell that Magearna looked upset. "I'm sorry…"

I then looked down at the life sleeping across the valley. 'Most the Pokémon here have been wounded by the selfishness and lies of Beast Hunters. Though they seem at peace now, their wounds are deeply rooted. That's why I will never trust Beast Hunters. Pokémon are incapable of lying… but Beast Hunters are and do!'

She stood up. "I can't speak for every Beast Hun-! I mean, for every human, but these humans don't lie. Especially not my Mommy and Daddy."

'Then why do you call them your parents? They're Beast Hunters, and you're…' I was not sure what she was, but the fact still remained. '…you have nothing in common!'

"That's being related. We may not be related, but we're still a family."

'Yeah? What's the difference?'

She smiled as she answered. "Love… Love is the difference. They listen to me. They protect and cherish me, and I cherish them. Just like how you cherish Diancie, and Goodra and all the Pokemon who live here. They are your family, too."

I did not say it, but I had to admit she did have a point. I shrugged it off and looked out. 'Before the others get used to you, I want you to leave. And the sooner, the better. Though I am grateful for what you did for Diancie and Goodra.'

But before she could reply, a large rumble shook the area. Everyone in the valley woke up, including the Beast Hunters. 'Was that an earthquake?' asked the small green one.

"We aren't near any fault lines," the one called Clemont commented.

"Look!" The Lopunny pointed to the north. Atop one of the mountains rose a hideous black smoke, darker than even the night. "Is that a volcano?"

"Mountains don't just erupt into volcanoes," he replied. "Whatever that is, it isn't natural."

*Brianna's POV*

Fearing the potential of fire, Bonnie and Magearna led most of the valley to the far side of the lake for their safety. Every other human headed toward alongside Pabi and several of the strongest Water and Ground-type Pokemon who lived nearby. We were determined to contain the unknown danger lurking up there.

As we approached the source of the smoke, I began to sense something… oddly familiar.

Minutes before midnight, we made it to the top of the mountain. The peak was in fact a large crater, and the black smoke seeped from the cracks at the center. The cracks grew larger, more smoke seeped out, and then… something else emerged. It looked like a cocoon of sorts, but it was definitely the largest one I had ever seen.

"No… it can't be…" Serena gasped. She and Ash remembered this thing from their past life as Aila and Jan.

"What?" asked James. "Can't be what?"

Ash answered for her. "The Beast of Destruction!"

The cocoon began to break open, the pieces of its shell turning into what looked like wings and a tail. It flapped its wings and tail hard to emerge from the crater. As it reached our level, it saw us and screeched so loudly, it was said to have been heard from Anistar City.

"Yveltal!"

STAY TUNED...