Chapter 37: Power at a cost

All of this power… all of it was Aeon's to command. Victory was certain. Aeon twirled his halberd over his head like a windmill before entering a battle stance.

No. Wait. What was he doing? His weapon was an electric/Dragon type. If he so much as cut his enemy with his spear it'd knock it out- or maybe worse.

No. He shouldn't use this weapon. A snap of his fingers should be more than enough to defeat this Titan, Aeon thought. Using his brand-new electric-powered halberd would be too much. The Flying type was clearly damaged from the attacks he and Kai's Pokémon did.

A single weak electric bolt should do the trick. So long as he held back, Bombirdier shouldn't be seriously hurt.

"You should thank me," Aeon said, raising an arm, "Normally, a stronger wild Pokémon would hunt you down until you were finished for good. But I'm not like that."

Aeon snapped his fingers- and a thin bolt of lightning came from the sky to strike the Bombirdier. The bombardier squawked in pain- and its body fell for a moment before catching itself and remaining in the sky.

Aeon narrowed his eyes and felt something that worried him- he felt irritated.

Abnormally irritated.

But that worry disappeared when the Bombirdier screeched again. Suddenly- without wanting to, Aeon snapped his fingers again with more furiosity. A stronger thunderbolt came from the sky, and Bombirdier got hit…its body fell for a moment again before it managed to keep itself in flight once again.

Aeon grit his teeth. The worry that he should have felt because his arm moving on its own was nowhere to be found. Orange and blue electricity started bouncing around his body.

"What are you doing!?" He cried. The white of his eyes suddenly became black as extreme anger came to him. "Just stay down, and get out of my territory already, you weak piece of-"

Aeon gasped. The blackness around his eyes disappeared.

"What-.." Aeon spoke with intense worry. "What's happening to me..?" Aeon said. "Why am I..?"

Aeon put one hand on his face as he heard a ringing noise only he could hear. A painful sensation started pounding his head, it felt like someone was slamming a hammer in his head.

"What's…! Happening… to me..!?" Aeon cried out as the ringing in his head became louder.

"You should be feeling the side effects of the Paradox Drive," Aeon heard Sada and Turo's voice at the same time.

"No…!" Aeon cried. "NO! What did you do!? What did you do to me…?!" Aeon screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Activating the Paradox drive gives you a massive boost in power…but at the cost of giving into primal urges…that will take over your body."

"No..!" Aeon cried out as he held his head with both of his hands. His entire body squirmed under the immense pressure he was in.

"You're going to lash out like a wild animal hunting for its prey." Sada said.

"With the mechanical enhancements of an all-powerful android.." Turo said.

Aeon looked at the Bombirdier that stubbornly stayed.

"Ugh..!" Aeon groaned. "I have to end this quickly, and...!" Aeon felt the pain in his head increase.

Ending the fight before losing control wasn't an option anymore.

"GET AWAY..!" Aeon cried. "GET AWAY! RUN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

Bombirdier's eyes widened as he saw more and more electricity pounce around Aeon's body.

"You need to run..! Please..! Heh…" Suddenly, Aeon felt an uncontrollable urge to start laughing. A crooked smile along with insane, hyena-like laughter escaped Aeon's lips.

It frightened him.

Bombirdier finally decided that it was time to fly away. Turning around, the Flying type began to run.

But it was too late.

Aeon moved like a thunderbolt- rushing past Bombirdier and punching the titan to the ground mercilessly. The Bombirdier crashed to the ground with an incredible thud.

Aeon looked down at Bombirdier with uneven and quick breaths. Every breath he took was visible and white- like he was in the arctic. Drool fell onto his lips as he bared his teeth while smiling. The whites of Aeon's eyes were black once again. He improperly held his halbird with a back-handed grip.

"This is my territory..!" Aeon cried. "THIS IS MY TERRITORY!"

Aeon shot like a rocket, laughing madly and swinging his halbird down with a single arm.

Bombardier spun its downed body to narrowly avoid the halbird that swung toward the ground. The weapon was less than half the Titan's size, yet when it touched the ground it created a tremor that rivaled its size. As the bombirdier flew off, Aeon spun his head.

"This is my territory! GET OUT! GET OUT!" Aeon's voice was now at a higher pitch. He laughed as he started running with such incredible speed that a lightning trail followed him. Looking up at the Bombirdier that was flying away and at nothing else, Aeon didn't realize the trees he was crashing through. Boulders, trees, everything that Aeon ran through were destroyed on contact.

Aeon felt like he was having an out-of-body experience. It felt like pure primal instinct had taken over his body, but not his mind. He was like a spectator, watching himself move like a feral beast with mechanical enhancements. No matter how hard he tried, Aeon couldn't regain control of his body.

Taking hold of his Halberd and holding it like a javelin, Aeon threw his weapon, then leapt to ride on top of it as he flew like a dart. Bombirdier turned its head and gasped, narrowly avoiding the spear that would have instantly destroyed it. The spear, carrying Aeon along with it, flew into the clouds…which quickly turned black.

Almost immediately, a red thunderbolt flew down and struck the Bombirdier, which screeched in pain as it flew toward the ground. Its body twirled so that its stomach was facing the sky, and almost immediately, it saw Aeon falling toward it with his hand extended.

The crazed android reached the Titan Pokemon and grabbed it by the throat.

"Get out! Get out of my Territory!" Aeon cried as he started choking the massive Titan.

Trails of blue and red lightning fell along with Aeon and his prey as they plummeted to the ground. Aeon choke-slammed the Titan onto the ground- its massive body created huge cracks on the ground along with clouds of dust.

Once the ground stopped shaking, Aeon stood up, staring at his unconscious victim while licking his lips. Raising his halberd with both hands, Aeon's eyes widened with joy.

"STOP!"

Arven's voice reached Aeon. The android spun his head around, seeing Arven and Kai's Pokemon, who all dismounted Miraidon. Miraidon, who still carried Kai's unconscious body, widened its eyes in terror.

It started backing away from Aeon with fear in its eyes… it recognized the aura radiating from the boy.

"What're you doing, man!?" Arven cried. "It's already unconscious! We can go now!"

Aeon didn't say anything, he just smiled and breathed long and heavy sighs. Arven felt goosebumps, taking notice of his brother's dark eyes.

"A-Aeon..?" Arven said.

Aeon walked toward his brother, reaching out with his empty hand. Arven took a few steps back as Quaxwell, Pawmo and Tinkatuff jumped in front of Arven.

Aeon was moaning like a zombie now, chuckling as he marched over to Arven.

"Get out… get out of my territory…" Aeon groaned.

Aeon couldn't let Arven get hurt. Never! Aeon fought harder to regain control with every step he unwillingly took.

"Wh- What happened to you..!?" Arven said. "Aeon..! Snap out of it!"

Pawmo, Tinkatuff and Quaxwell leapt after Aeon all at once. With a single swing of his weapon, Aeon sent an electric pulse that exploded outward from his body. The pulse shocked the three Pokemon and had them fall to the ground like rocks.

Aeon approached Arven while still moaning and chuckling.

"What happened to you?! Aeo-"

Aeon grabbed Arven by the neck- and raised him off his feet. Arven choked and spattered while gripping Aeon's wrist.

"Get out..! Get out of my territory.."

"A-Aeon..! You-...gotta stop..! Please..! AEON..!"

Aeon was watching all of this happen through his eyes, and was desperately trying to stop himself.

'No…!' Aeon thought. 'STOP IT! STOP IT! DON'T HURT HIM..!

Suddenly, Aeon started to scream at the very top of his lungs. Dropping his weapon and Arven, he placed both hands on his face and fell to his knees. He buried his face onto the ground as he started screaming in pain.

Paradox Drive shutting down…

Arven watched as Aeon's hair began to become…shorter. His hair was sliding back into his head like time was reversing itself. The halberd that looked like Miraidon shined blue before slowly dissolving into nothing. Aeon's entire body was squirming, his knees dragged across the dirt as he thrashed about.

"Aeon!" Arven cried, running over to Aeon and grabbing him. He pulled the boy's upper body up and hugged him, staying like glue despite his brother's thrashing and groaning. "I'm here- I'm here.. Okay? I'm here..!" Arven hugged him as tight as he could. "I won't leave you.. I'm right here.."

Aeon's body stopped thrashing, and slowly calmed down. The black in Aeon's eyes faded.

"I…" Aeon groaned. "I'm…"

"Ae-Aeon..! You're-!" Arven pulled himself away. "Are you okay? Can you stand?"

Aeon nodded, and he and his brother stood up.

"What happened?" Arven asked. "Why did you do that?"

"I- didn't mean to- I lost control of my body… I was so scared… I-..."

Arven looked clearly troubled- he had no idea how to process anything that had just happened.

"I'm just happy… that you're here…" Aeon said.

"Y-Yeah.." Arven said.

Aeon looked over Arven's shoulder, then gently pushed him away- noticing Kai's unconscious body lying on Miraidon's back. Miraidon looked like he was relieved once Aeon calmed down, no longer sensing the aura that he seemingly recognized.

"Why-" Aeon said, walking toward Miraidon. "Why is Kai still.." As Aeon tried taking another step he felt incredible weakness wash over him. He tripped onto his side.

"Aeon!?" Arven cried, rushing to Aeon once again.

Now initializing temporary shut down.

Aeon heard those words while Arven shook his body and cried his name. Arven's voice was fading into the distance, like he was shouting at him from across a tunnel and moving farther away. As Aeon trembled, he started crawling toward Kai, reaching a hand out to him.

Shutting down…

"Kai…" He groaned, before closing his eyes.

Arven was pacing back and forth outside the doors of a Pokecenter. He had dropped every single Pokemon and person in there, and was waiting. He had his cell phone on his ear.

"Pick up… pick up… you worthless excuse for a father..!" Arven moaned and looked at his phone. Professor Turo hadn't picked up for the 5th time. He dialed his phone number and did it again.

"Hello?" Turo's voice reached him, and Arven nearly gasped. Stowing away his surprise, he immediately shifted himself into rage.

"What did you do to Aeon!?" Arven cried.

Turo was silent.

"You did something to him!" Arven continued.

"...You are correct."

"What did you do!?" Arven shouted. His entire face was red with rage.

"When I went to fix #0183020201.… I amplified his sensitivity to his main power source: The Paradox Drive. Now it has access to greater power, but it comes at a cost."

"Why are you calling Aeon an 'it'?! What the heck's that number you just said- you-"

"Once it activates the Paradox drive," Turo continued on, ignoring Arven, "It'll lose control of his body, lashing out at anything it sees. You see… we had to convert the bodies of Miraidon and Koraidon into energy, and put it into its body."

"What- but Kai already has Miraidon, and Koraidon's with me- what are you talking about!?"

"We didn't use your Miraidon and Koraidon. We used the other two."

"...Other two!?" Aeon cried. "What?!"

"Yes. There were two others. We turned their bodies into energy. They were…very aggressive toward the Koraidon and Miraidon that you and Kai possess. That aggressiveness transferred over to ##0183020201.'s Paradox drive. But because I raised it's sensitivity…"

"When he uses the Paradox drive… he'll lose control of his body?!"

"Yes."

"WHY!?" Arven shouted. "Why would you do that to him?! Why!? What do you gain from this, you monster!?"

Turo said nothing.

"You piece of..! This is why you never had a wife! No wonder you had to create a robot for my brother, no sane woman in this universe would ever go anywhere near you!"

Turo turned off the phone.

If Arven wasn't in his right mind he would have thrown his phone on the ground. He only narrowly was able to stop himself from doing so. He groaned and sat down on the floor.

Turo and Sada stood in silence. Turo put his cell phone in his pocket as Sada stared at him.

"How did he respond?" Sada asked.

"As he always did." Turo said, nodding. "This timeline's on the right path."

"Excellent." Sada said.

Aeon opened his eyes. He saw the sunlight leaking from the window beside the hospital bed he lied on. He groaned and lifted himself up while placing a hand on his head.

Suddenly, a Nurse Joy opened the door to his room and raised her eyebrows.

"You're awake!" Nurse joy asked. "Usually... I'm the one who has to confirm that you're okay... but..."

Aeon closed his eyes.

System check...All green.

Aeon opened his eyes. "I'm all right," he said.

"Okay." Nurse joy smiled and nodded, holding the door for her patient. "You're free to go, then."

Aeon walked out of the room and entered a hallway. Nurse Joy told him where the exit was- and Aeon started walking toward where she pointed. But then- Aeon stopped. He turned again to the Nurse Joy.

"Nurse..." Aeon said, "Do you know where Kai's room is?"

"Kai's room? It's..." Nurse joy turned around. "Three doors down, on the right. Do you want to see him?"

Aeon nodded. He walked past the Nurse joy to go to the room. It was for the best that he and Kai were to remain distant, so that the professors wouldn't use him as a weapon. But... if Aeon could just check on Kai while he was asleep... then it'd be fine. He wouldn't know, right?

The android sighed as he went to Kai's hospital room door. He placed his hand on the door, and suddenly felt it open on its own.

The one who had opened the door from the inside was Kai, who looked like he nearly gasped. The boys' eyes met one another.

"Oh-.." Aeon said, blinking profusely. "I- uh... Are you okay?"

Kai lowered his eyes in sadness. "I'm fine," he said in a low tone.

That was when Aeon remembered what he had said to Kai. It hit him like a truck. The consequences had come for him, and the damage was already done. Kai wordlessly walked past the android boy.

Aeon lowered his head. This was for the best, he thought. He knew this in his heart, and yet...Aeon couldn't help but clench his fists and grit his teeth. He turned and followed Kai- and saw that he was quite a bit ahead of him.

The distance between them was literal and metaphorical. It felt like it took forever for them to reach the exit of the Pokécenter. The place was cold despite the bright lights shinning on the ceiling. The only sound that could be heard were the footsteps of the two boys that echoed with every step.

It's for the best, Aeon thought. It's for the best.

He knew it was for the best. But he couldn't help but fight back tears.

It's for the best. Aeon thought this to himself and repeated it like a mantra. Every time he repeated himself, it was to calm himself down, to make sure he didn't fall to his hands and knees to cry.

It's for the best. He thought. He repeated those words again and again.

It's for the best.

It's for the best.

It's for the best.

...

"Kai-" Aeon suddenly spoke. Kai stopped and turned around.

"...What?"

"I-.. just thought...to tell you... uh...I..uh..."

Aeon scratched the back of his head, clearly conflicted. Kai stared at him with confusion.

"I...wanted to say..." Aeon continued. "sorry...for being mean."

Kai sighed.

"...That's fine..." Kai said. The moment Kai turned around and kept walking- it crushed Aeon to the point of him being unable to move. Aeon fell to his knees, and Kai didn't notice with his back turned.

Usually, as a response to what Aeon said, Kai would say something cheesy- something stupid that would get the android boy riled up. Knowing Kai, he would have probably said something along the lines of, 'Pfft, you don't have to worry about how mean you are. A guy like me can take it!

And then Aeon knew he'd respond with, 'Of course you'd say that.'

Then Kai would deflect Aeon's logical conclusions as Aeon would continue to tease him.

Kai would tease him back too, by flirting with him. His advances, while obvious and cheesy...he never disliked the attention. Aeon would even entertain the idea of flirting with him back... He remembered that time when he pretended to go in for a kiss when Kai said that Aeon owed him one.

They both liked teasing each other. That was their dynamic- their thing. But now- Kai wouldn't even make a joke about Aeon had said.

And it was tearing him apart.

Aeon had said to himself that this was for the best. That it was okay that Kai was distant from him. But he was lying to himself. It wasn't for the best- because despite the number of times he's wished for it, Aeon is not a lifeless, emotionless robot.

"Kai-..!" Aeon said, standing back up. "Please wait..!"

Kai turned around, raising his eyebrows.

"What..?" He said.

Author's note: OF COURSE I'm going to end the chapter here! Cliffhangers are fun.

See ya next week!