Jade Star Trainer
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That's not Pokemon. That's a fossil. What, we're resurrecting an extinct Pokemon? Ha ha ha!
... Wait, seriously!? Whoa, hold on! I've got to go contact the media so that they can film this historic... What do you mean "People do it all the time?"
Jade Star Trainer
"Whoa, you've been around for more than a century?" Zerobi exclaimed in a surprised manner while looking at Kabutops. Her earlier dreams and curiosities surrounding immortality suddenly awoke, making the living fossil in front of her seem more interesting than earlier. Hardly an hour had passed since they started walking away from the conflict zone with Lucas, but Zerobi had already had her mind blown several times by revelation after revelation supplied by the ancient Pokémon.
"More than several" Kabutops responded, "… Although, as I was frozen in time, I am unaware of any difference…"
"… What was that like?" Zerobi asked, ashamed by her own question's lack of structure, "I mean, like, you must've seen a lot of things."
"I've seen species alter themselves to match the balance of nature. I've seen others fail to do so and become extinct…" Kabutops said quietly and slowly while closing his eyes, "… And now, I watch my kids grow up and ridicule the bunch."
"Of course!" Kabuta suddenly burst out, "You think I'd show respect to some piece of slab who'd only see me as lunch?"
Kabutops chuckled a little, knowing that Kabuta's own mother would fit into that category if not for their family ties. He then became serious again and somewhat depressed over just having imagined such a cruel twist of fate. Unwittingly, his thoughts drifted towards memories of his past, a world of constant fear and murder where only the fittest could survive. Trying to get his mind off his frightening past, he noticed the Gallade's girly voice coming from his side, and against his better judgment decided to listen in to what the others were talking about.
"… So, yeah, I guess I see how that'd be impossible" Pikablu said with a sigh.
"Nothing is impossible!" the Gallade chimed in, "You know about the Skitty and the Wailord, right?"
"… Know about the what, now?" Lucario asked with a confused tone.
"Man, explaining everything to you is getting pretty annoying!" the Gallade burst out before sighing, "One's big, the other's small... But the small one can learn Grass Knot! It'll win every time!"
"… I think I understand less compared to one sentence ago" Lucario replied slowly as Celebi suddenly shuddered for some reason, "Keep going, I'll forget it altogether."
"You should not speak of such things in front of my daughter… Or Celebi" Kabutops told the Gallade with a disappointed stare, "… In what manner did we end up on this subject?"
"Opposable thumbs here gave us the shortest and least interesting origin story I've ever heard" Pikablu explained, for some reason keeping his arms crossed even when walking, "And Anne once told me in detail everything that happened during her time as a Metapod!"
"… Yeah…" Lucario mumbled, suddenly wobbling a little while moving forward at a slower pace than before.
"Haha, yeah!" Kabuta laughed, "My origin story is cooler, and I didn't even have any arms until three years ago!"
"… Sure was…" Lucario replied weakly while stumbling around.
"HEY!" the Gallade shouted at Lucario in an attempt to get his attention, "We're dissing you, here! Are you awake?"
"… No...?" Lucario responded, his eyes halfway closed. His mind was practically going blank from exhaustion.
"I expended much energy in your body to regenerate your cells" Celebi explained while floating up to the level of his eyes, "Normally you should rest after that… But you sprung to life almost instantly…"
"… Aw, whatever. I'm going to sleep" Lucario finally said, suddenly stopping himself and lying down on the ground. The sensation of closing his tired eyes, having something against his back and giving his legs a moment to recuperate felt almost better the good feelings Celebi constantly gave off.
"R-Right here?" Zerobi asked with surprise, "At least pull out the sleeping bag!"
"Screw formalities…" Lucario grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest, "I sleep now."
"… Honestly, it's not the worst idea I've ever heard" Pikablu said while stretching his arms above his head, "We all could use some sleep."
"Kabutops and I were sleeping inside the Pokeballs all this time" Celebi said while noticing that everyone's body was in need of anabolism, "But I understand that you all need rest. I will manage."
"I was asleep for a few centuries not that long ago" Kabutops said in response, "The fact that I even sleep at all nowadays is a waste."
"I don't think sleeping works that way…" Zerobi mumbled, looking at Lucario who had already fallen asleep.
"Now, that's how sleeping works!" Kabuta said with an amazed tone, moving closer to Lucario and poking the side of his face with her remaining scythe. The muscles in his face didn't even twitch.
"… I want to learn. I'll sleep next to him!" Kabuta exclaimed, hardly believing that Lucario had been conscious just a few seconds ago.
"Not a chance" Pikablu said bluntly before yawning, "You move around too much. He doesn't need another scar on his throat."
"You sleep with me tonight" Kabutops said bluntly, "Come on. Jump up on my back."
"… Pops, I'm much too big for that, now…" Kabuta replied with a quiet voice.
"… Indeed you are" Kabutops sighed, wondering at what point the cute little Kabuto he held in his arms just a few years ago had turned into the fully grown Kabutops in front of him now. He had been there at every step of the way, but still the transformation from a helpless little child to a battle-weary adult had escaped him. Nostalgia combined with sadness hit him as he fought off memories of the past once more, and soon his mind became clouded with worry over his son instead.
Everybody lay down on the grassy ground and chatted less and less as they felt that it was time to join Lucario in dreamland. Kabuta fell asleep next to Kabutops, shortly followed by Pikablu who was more exhausted than he had been in years. The Gallade and Celebi also went rather quickly, leaving only Kabutops and Zerobi awake since they were too worried to be able to relax.
In time, they also fell asleep, bracing themselves for whatever nightmares this day would bring.
Even so, it was Celebi that awoke a few hours later, her mind in complete turmoil as she couldn't help but give off a short scream. For a moment she felt as if she was dead, before stronger feelings of despair and agony overtook that sensation. With each passing second, these became replaced with guilt as she could sense everyone around her slowly waking up.
"… A bad dream…?" Pikablu muttered while fighting hard against actually awakening.
"… Bad…?" Celebi repeated with a rapidly beating heart, "Yes… Very bad…"
"Celebi's scream…" Kabutops groaned as he had just gotten away from his own nightmare involving an especially persistent Carracosta, "… Worst wakeup call, ever."
"Wish I could say the same… This one time, I was with this Loudred chick…" the Gallade mumbled incoherently before giving up, "… Haah, too tired. Tell you tomorrow..."
"I… I could never explain…" Celebi whispered softly yet menacingly, "The cries of millions succumbing to me as I was completely unable to d-"
"Aw, come on!" Kabuta wailed while putting her scythe over her face, "Don't tell us it! Now I'm gonna have nightmares!"
"… Forgive me…" Celebi replied with hidden frustration in her voice, feeling like she was at the brink of going insane from a simple dream, "It… It was just so horrible…"
"Just a dream" Pikablu muttered in a tired and not so reassuring way, "Not for real. Sleep."
The rest of them went back to sleep, but Lucario couldn't help but notice that Celebi was still visibly trembling. He first began wondering how they all got to be sleeping in the middle of nowhere. Then, to his disappointment, Lucario noticed that the uplifting feeling he got from being near Celebi had diminished since she woke up.
"Hey, Celebi" he said quietly while lifting his arm a little, "C'mere."
"What?" Celebi asked with a shaky voice.
"I have a cure for your nightmare problem" Lucario mumbled while signaling for her to come closer. She obeyed him and hovered right above him, glad to see that the wound on his throat was healing at a normal pace.
She barely had any time to react as Lucario suddenly stretched out his arm and grabbed her, pulling her towards him and hugging her to his chest. For an instant she thought of sending him flying, but a memory flash from the destruction she caused in her dream made her resist it and halt herself.
As he had predicted, the effects of the lively aura emanating from Celebi became even stronger the nearer she was to him, filling him with pleasurable sensations and happiness. Lucario was thoroughly enjoying himself, already starting to feel a manner of addiction to it.
"L-Let me go!" Celebi stammered, to which Lucario could only snicker.
"This is an ancient technique passed down in my family" Lucario explained while keeping a good grip of her, "It'll protect you from nightmares."
"I-I…" Celebi kept going as she calmed down, "… Really?"
"Yeah" Lucario said confidently, "Just go to sleep, now."
Celebi knew that was more easily said than done, her heightened senses making her feel utterly disgusted being so close to someone else. The Lucario's arms were constricting her by pushing her towards his chest, which was filled with hair and made her back itch, an unfamiliar and unpleasant odor striking her nostrils as the pumping and sloshing within the organic creature under her sounded like having her head pressed again heavy machinery.
Even she did not know why she was beginning to find this to be comforting.
"… What makes you think sleeping like this will protect me from anything…?" Celebi whispered defiantly, still preferring to be sleeping on her own.
"My mother used to do this when I was a kid" Lucario explained with a smile on his face, "Never had a single nightmare, sleeping like that."
"… Mother…" Celebi repeated to herself. While it was true that she had finally found a sister, a mother was something she would never get to experience again.
Thinking back to her first years in life, she remembered just how much she loved her mother. While the memories of her were beginning to fade, the sensations were as strong as ever. The feeling of being cradled in her arms, seeing her smile and being near her… These were all things that would remain in her forever, in a way more alive and in touch with her being than anything surrounding her at the moment.
And before she knew it, she was asleep once more.
- - - - - - - - -
"Oh… Look at all these strong Pokémon… I really shouldn't be here…"
"Don't worry, Astrid! They're probably more scared of you than you are of them!"
"Dr… Drat-ini…"
"I know, Dratini… They're not here, either…"
"… I don't see nothin', ya! 'Ey, tree trunk, lemme climb ya for a moment!"
"Brethren!"
"Pipe down! It's starting!"
"Heed my words on this day of days! Before we embark, let me first remind you exactly where in history we stand!"
"Remember! The initial population of this planet was not humans, but Pokémon! Our ancestors were barbaric, to say the least… Devouring each other, building upon the thought that only the strong survive…"
"We evolved past that rather quickly, which was lucky for the humans! They appeared around that time, and would not have survived long in an uncivilized world!"
"Whereas we grew diverse, they remained the same and instead grew smart… Intelligent, even. More technologically advanced. We know not exactly when, but there came a time when we Pokémon began fearing their technological advancements"
"… Hmpf. Of course! The world had never seen anything like it before! Had our ancestors known then what we know now, they would never have allowed this to happen!"
"The humans' first set of inventions? Creations used to capture and enslave Pokémon! But naďve as we were, we did not see this course of action as a threat. Generations of peace had then and has now made us oblivious to injustice."
"Some of us even found joy in being pets or being trained by the humans. We do not blame them. They are not any different from us, and they are not our enemy! However, the silent agreement between Pokémon and human has been broken by their latest assault of our kind!"
"Now, a scenario where every Pokémon falls under captivity is closer than you'd think! Some Pokémon are not meant to be captured! They have roles to fulfill in our world, and cannot spend their days as lapdogs for some teenage human!"
"But do they care? No! Foolish in their hubris and pride, they believe that they can do whatever they want without repercussions! Their idiotic struggle for more power will be the downfall of every living being!"
"We do not want a war! We do not want to enslave mankind! Our only goal is equality, a single ounce of respect from our fellow living creatures upon this planet! Most humans detest these aggressions towards our brethren, but they lack the power to do anything about it!"
"Power that WE now have assembled! The power to usurp those in charge of this pointless conflict! The power to bring change! The power to halt evil!"
"WE!"
"HAVE!"
"THE!"
"POWER!"
Jade Star Trainer
"… There might be a way" Celebi said the next day after everyone had woken up, having just gone through the events of the previous night in her head. Everyone was still groggy from having slept and didn't bother responding, leaving her to handle the talking.
"It is true that I have heard nothing about a human turning into a Pokémon…" Celebi said, Lucario seeing the monsters waking around him and rubbing his eyes twice just to make sure that he still wasn't dreaming.
"… But transformations and shapeshifting was always Mew's specialty. She might know more about this than I do" she continued while looking at Lucario.
"… Mew!?" Zerobi exclaimed as she sat up in shock, "You… You know Mew?"
"Most legendaries are surprisingly tight" Pikablu said while stretching himself, "I know, it freaked me out at first, too."
"She's my best friend" Celebi explained with the soft voice no one was expecting after her shrill scream the night before, "Rather shy… Well, more recently than before, but I'm not sure exactly why…"
"Doesn't matter" Lucario responded coolly with a short yawn, "So, what makes you think Meow knows anything about my condition?"
"Whoa!" Zerobi burst out, still shaken by this revelation, "Lucario! Mew is THE legendary legend! They say she created every Pokémon!"
"Hi hi hi..." Celebi giggled quietly with a paw covering her mouth, "Really? Why would they be saying that about her?"
"They… She…" Zerobi stammered while going through the many occult magazines in her head, trying to remember if there was ever any real factual information in them, "… Iunno, something about having the DNA of every living creature…"
"Well, she IS an expert when it comes to transformation" Celebi said happily and thought back to the many experiments they had conducted in the past, "Now that I think about it… I think she actually managed to turn into a human, once."
"Really? That does make it sound like she'd know something" Lucario admitted and finally started pay attention as he became curious about her, "Where can I find her?"
"… Oh, but I am not supposed to tell any more Pokémon about her whereabouts…" Celebi whispered slowly, "Just telling you that she exists is…"
"Tell him" Pikablu suddenly said, "It's not like she <i>can't</i> destroy him instantaneously if he does something bad."
"Dude, I totally saved you several times yesterday" Lucario said with an insulted tone while looking at Pikablu, "Where's my respect?"
"Just stating a fact" Pikablu said confidently, "… And I don't remember you actually saving me even once.
"There" Lucario muttered while pointing at Pikablu, "Just now. I saved you from a punch in the face by stopping myself."
"You're not doing wonders in convincing Celebi that you're harmless, you know" Pikablu mumbled in return, seemingly grouchy.
"She slept with me all night, she can't be <i>that</i> uncomfortable" Lucario replied with the same confidence Pikablu exhibited earlier, which soon faded as everyone looked at him strangely.
"Wait, what was that?" the Gallade asked, but was promptly ignored.
"… Must've been a dream…" Kabutops muttered to himself and crossed his arms.
"Still, even if she points you in the right direction, that won't be enough" Pikablu said while crossing his arms as well, not wanting to be outdone in display of authority, "Mew is the shyest legendary there is. You won't find her unless she wants you to."
"I know a way around that!" Celebi exclaimed cheerfully, "Lucario, do you possess an artifact of some kind?"
"… Artifact?" Lucario repeated in confusion, "Uh… Like what?"
"Anything! I can use the Miracle Eye to fill it up with my energy!" Celebi chirped while getting the impulse to whirl around in the air, but stopping herself in an attempt to retain her proper demeanor, "That way, Mew should sense my aura radiating from it and at the very least become curious enough to ask you about it!"
"Oh, that thing you did against the Tyrant-y-tard?" Lucario asked and thought back to the menacing foe that had been turned into a meteorite so easily, "That was bloody awesome, by the way."
"That is what I was hoping for!" Celebi said cheerfully, "Hmm… I missed the impact, though…"
"Don't worry, Cell…" the Gallade whispered while moving a bit closer to the small legendary, "I'll show it to you later…" The Gallade was about to show her what he meant, but had to hastily hide the camera behind his back as Pikablu gave him a curious stare.
"So!" Celebi continued, "Do you have any form of object that you regularly carry around with you?"
"… Uh…" Lucario mumbled while looking over himself and sighing, "… Not really, no."
"Lucario…" Zerobi suddenly said before pointing at his bottom, "What about your pants?"
"… My pants?" Lucario repeated, looking down again. The trousers that had initially been positively shining with cleanliness were now torn by the edges as well as dirtied by everything from blood to mud. He became fairly disgusted with them, even though they were still as functional as always and he wouldn't even have noticed it if he hadn't looked down.
"… Would that work?" he asked, reminding himself to hit a clothing store in the near future.
"I-I suppose…" Celebi stammered with surprise as she thought of a way to alter the procedure and make it work, "… Yes, yes it should! A bit thin, but at least you carry them with you all the time!"
"Hey, it's not like I've got my wardrobe or any washing machines around here!" Lucario responded with an insulted tone, confusing Celebi.
She wasted no time in performing the task as the strange colored lines from before crept over her body once more, making Lucario nervous as he imagined himself being flung miles up into the air.
"Wait, shouldn't he remove them first?" Zerobi asked.
"No, that will not be necessary" Celebi replied happily to Zerobi who gave off a grouchy expression in return, again to Celebi's confusion.
"Why were you wearing them to begin with, anyway?" Pikablu asked Lucario while taking a bite out of a berry he stole from their backpack.
"Human, remember?" Lucario replied and noticed that he had started sweating for some reason, "I've got this thing called 'modesty'!"
"Why? It's not like you've got anything to cover up!" the Gallade laughed while nudging the young Pokémon next to him, "Eh, Kabuta?"
"Hey, you shut up!" Kabuta responded with a disgusted voice before looking at Lucario shamefully, "Sorry 'bout that, I was kind of taken by the moment back then."
Lucario did not have time to respond as the lines around Celebi coiled and suddenly shot themselves directly in between his legs. Instinctively he covered himself, using his hands as protection. Luckily, he did not feel anything from the action towards his pants, which he knew helped him from needing to replace them afterwards.
The lines dissipated in an anti-climax, everyone looking at Lucario for some sort of response. He moved his legs around, feeling an odd sensation creeping up his back.
"My pants have an aura… One that's considerably greater than mine" Lucario said, smiling but showing disappointment through the tone of his voice, "… I honestly don't know how to feel about this."
"You should put them in charge" the Gallade snickered, "Let them wear you for once."
"Alright…" Lucario said while making a small hop just to see that his energetic pants wouldn't evaporate or something, "That's it?"
"That's it!" Celebi replied cheerfully, "Head towards the passage of the sun until see an absolutely humongous mountain! Go to that, and-"
"Whoa whoa, wait!" the Gallade suddenly burst out in shock, "He's not a flying-type, you're telling him to climb THAT mountain!?"
"Well…" Celebi said to herself with disdain while Lucario started wishing he had something besides his mind to take notes with, "That would be impossible, I suppose. But Mew should be able to sense your aura even if you are at the foot of it. Just go there and wait."
"Sounds good" Lucario said, wanting one last piece of confirmation from Celebi, "Are you sure Mew will be there?"
"Definitively!" she responded, "We meet there once every non-turn of the moon to experiment and have fun!"
"Alright, then… Thanks" Lucario said with a nod as he turned around and started walking, "I guess I'll be going now."
"Going…?" Zerobi repeated slowly as something clicked in her head, "Wait, you're leaving!?"
"Of course, gotta find Mew " Lucario replied quickly while bending over and picking up the backpack, "Uh, could you take care of your sleeping bag from now on? I don't feel like carrying around useless weight."
"… That's no good!" Zerobi exclaimed with a disappointed tone, "Come on, stay here! He can stay with us, right?"
"I-I suppose…" Celebi responded, not sure of how it would work out but not wanting to deny her sister's very first request.
"Decline'd" Lucario sighed, "If Mew can make me human again, I have to find her."
"Who's to say Mew can help you, anyway?" Zerobi kept going while feeling herself become angry, "If not even Celebi could, chances are slim-"
"Maybe she can, maybe she can't" Lucario interrupted while starting to get agitated as well, "The alternative is staying here, and if I do that I KNOW there's absolutely no way I'll return to being human."
"… You can't! It's much too dangerous for you to be doing this alone!" Zerobi shouted with rage, "I found you right at death's door, and that's where you'll be going if I'm not around!"
"Hmpf…" Lucario huffed coldly as he was beginning to get tired from being talked back to, "For me, there was a journey before you, and there will be one after you as well."
Zerobi stared furiously at Lucario, who stared back with silent disdain. She wasn't quite sure herself of why she had lost her temper so easily, and began worrying that she was going to go on a killing rampage again. Just to be on the safe side, she forced herself to calm down.
"Must you leave right at this moment?" Celebi asked Lucario, feeling sorry for her sister and wanting to be as supportive as possible.
"No sense in wasting any time" Lucario replied cockily while looking around him, "Besides, this crowd's too big for my taste. I could use some time alone."
"But…" Zerobi said slowly while looking at Lucario with as sad a face as she could muster, "… What about me?"
"I guess…" Lucario said bluntly, "This is our farewell."
"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I've got a solution…" Pikablu suddenly said with a surprisingly confident voice, "Lucario, build two phones and give her one."
"… Yeah!" Zerobi exclaimed happily, "That thing humans use! That way, we can stay in touch!"
"Uh… No?" Lucario answered in confusion, "I'm not an engineer, I just punch things."
"Come on! I've seen humans use phones all the time!" Zerobi continued with determination, fighting against the idea that this was truly their last meeting, "I'll help you, if that's the problem!"
"No, I honestly have no idea how to build a phone. That's just…" Lucario explained while trying to comprehend the stupidity of what he was hearing, "… Ugh. Besides, even if I did, I'd need materials not found out here in nature."
"… What kind of materials?" Zerobi kept going and feeling her determination wane.
"Hell if I know!" Lucario burst out angrily as he finally snapped, "There'd have to be, like, a radio tower, too! It's not just something you can throw together!"
Zerobi groaned in annoyance. For an instant, she thought of continuing her journey with Lucario. But the nagging curiosity that had haunted her throughout her entire life made her realize that if given the choice, she would stay with Celebi.
"Zer… I mean, sis…" Celebi whispered slowly as she noticed how troubled she was, "Come here. We need to discuss something."
Zerobi looked back at her, and sighed before the two of them moved away from the rest of the crowd. The rest stood and stared at Lucario, who preferred the way they treated before and was beginning to regret telling them about being human. Much to his chagrin, he saw the Gallade suddenly approach him with a smug smile on his face.
"Listen pal, if you're really going off alone, let me tell you the single most important advice you'll ever hear" the Gallade said in a strangely informed manner as if he was giving a lecture before suddenly contorting his face into that of a demon, "<b>HATE. ZUBAT. </b>"
"Yeah!" Kabuta chimed in, agreeing with the Gallade for once, "Winged little things swarm around you while sucking your blood, confusing you and giving out a bad experience altogether!"
"Never had a problem with them, myself…" Kabutops said while slowly shaking his head, "Voltorb on the other hand… Ugh."
"Wait, what do they do?" Lucario asked, progressively getting less motivated to go on his journey.
"Screech" Kabutops responded bluntly, "… And explode."
"… That's, like, the most horrible thing I've ever heard described!" Lucario exclaimed in horror while imagining a stick of dynamite rubbing itself against a blackboard, "What do they do then, poison you!?"
"That'd be Weedle" Pikablu mumbled and thought back to his many perilous days in Viridian Forest, "Just stay away from trouble whenever possible."
"B-But…" Lucario stammered, trying to come up with a countermeasure, "What if I roundhouse kick it?"
"Explosion" Kabutops answered quickly.
"But…" Lucario kept going, "What if I roundhouse kick it… In the face!?"
"… I don't see how you could kick it and NOT hit it in the face…" Pikablu muttered to himself.
The Gallade gave off a short laugh before putting his arm on Lucario's shoulder. Lucario twitched, remembering their earlier battle, but was pleased to notice that the arms weren't glowing and thus harmless.
"You know, just felt like warning you" the Gallade said, "You're a cool guy. I wouldn't mind going out for a drink with you one night."
"T-T-Thank y-you…?" Lucario stammered badly, receiving some very strange vibes from the slender Pokémon.
"Anyway, I've said my piece and I've done my part" the Gallade said and scratched the side of his face that was still itching from the battle, "D'you need me for anything else?"
"We're good, and always were" Pikablu replied snarkily, "Take that as a standing dis-invitation."
"Would you pronounce this thing and make it official, then…?" Kabutops asked, noticing the Gallade's subtle plea for just the same thing.
"Sure thing" Pikablu said while shrugging his shoulders, "Mission accomplished. You're all free to do what you want."
"HAHAHA! About time!" the Gallade shouted happily as he threw his arms up into the air, "Finally, it's time to update my website, blog and everything else! So long, suckers!"
The Gallade posed magnificently for a few moments. Seeing many unimpressed looks headed his way, he lowered his arms disappointedly.
"… Uh, do you guys need a ride somewhere?" he asked meekly.
"We're fine" Pikablu answered.
"Yeah" Kabuta said with a cocky voice, "Don't forget the camera, uncle sissy"
"Hah! That'll be uncle AWESOME to you once you see the feature presentation!" the Gallade replied cockily before raising his arms again, "Anyway, I'm outta here! Ciao!"
The Gallade suddenly disappeared, leaving behind a miniature implosion that startled both Lucario and Zerobi.
"But…" Kabuta whispered confusedly to herself, "… We all already saw the feature presentation..."
"Rockers" Kabutops said while putting his scythe on her head, "What have I told you about listening to uncle sissy?"
"Besides, you've already got one awesome uncle" Pikablu said with a smile, "And father… And mother… And brother…"
"True" Kabutops said while smiling to himself, "I do believe it's time for us to return home."
"I'm going back as well, to give Anne some reprieve" Pikablu said while reaching up and patting Kabuta on the back, "Good job on your first mission, kiddo."
"Thanks…" Kabuta whispered, not at all enthralled at what once would have sent her jumping for joy. Instead, she received a glint of determination in her eye as she looked over at Lucario and suddenly made a small leap towards him.
"Lucario!" she shouted, bowing her head in a show of respect few had seen, "Take me with you!"
"E… Eh?" Lucario stuttered with surprise, "W-With me? Where?"
"I've always wanted to go on a REAL adventure!" Kabuta explained while thinking about falling to her knees, but knew she would not be able to keep an upright position with only one arm, "Pops and Picks both went on an adventure… This is my best chance to have one, too!"
"Adventure!?" Pikablu yelled angrily while moving towards them and staring at Kabuta, "Are you crazy!? This idiot's heading towards certain doom!"
"I… WHAT!?" Lucario exclaimed in a worried outburst.
"What I mean, is…" Pikablu said, not breaking his eye contact with Kabuta, "You lost one arm under his watch, and you'll lose a lot more than that if you go with him."
"HEY!" Lucario shouted, "She lost it under YOUR watch! At least I did everything I could to stop it!"
"Again, you're not helping" Pikablu groaned as he felt like he could actually see all subtlety glancing by Lucario, "The next time, I'll just knock you out before starting."
"Picks, I…" Kabuta said confidently while looking back and forth between the two, "I need to do this! When I return, I'll be much stronger!"
The three of them kept bickering back and forth as tension begun to rise. Kabutops sighed and decided to move in between them, his calm demeanor almost instantly dispelling all the animosity surrounding them.
"Kabuta…" he said slowly while facing his daughter, seeing a bit of his younger self in her eyes, "… You've grown."
"Pops… I…" Kabuta stammered, not knowing what to say.
"Lucario, would you continue your journey in solace?" Kabutops said as he turned around and looked at Lucario, "Selfish as it may be, I wish to spend more time with my daughter before she is fully grown up…"
"Not a problem!" Lucario replied happily, relieved at the outcome as Kabuta was giving him the same set of strange vibes that he got from the Gallade earlier. Both Pikablu and Kabuta were half a second away from saying something to this, but stopped themselves as they noticed Celebi and Zerobi had returned. They took a step back, leaving a somewhat nervous Lucario alone in front of the two.
"Lucario…" Zerobi said slowly while facing him directly, "Is there anything I can do to get you to stay?"
"No" Lucario said bluntly on purpose, for some reason having been left unsatisfied and feeling like igniting another fight.
"But… When you are done with your quest…" Zerobi continued undauntedly, "… Will you return?" Lucario stood in silence, dropping his plans on teasing her when he noticed the sincerity in her voice. All she wanted was to be with him, and for the first time he was actually starting to feel sorry for her.
"… No" he said, knowing that in the end there was only one answer that he could give without lying.
"… I-I see…" Zerobi stammered sadly and lowered her head once more.
"Ugh… This is too painful to watch" Pikablu grumbled at Lucario with an annoyed tone, "Don't be such a hardass. You're really going to break a girl's heart, just like that?"
"Do I have a choice…?" Lucario muttered, "I'm human. No matter what, I'll never be able to see Zerobi as anything but a weird creature, and especially not a 'girl'."
"I have no way of putting this delicately, and frankly I don't care at this point" Lucario said and with a sad expression thought back to his very first encounter with a Pokémon, "… You're all animal to me. Friendly, but still animal."
"… Animal?" Pikablu repeated while crossing his arms in the usual manner, "Not sure what that means, but I'm guessing it's not good…"
"Anima…?" Zerobi said while remembering the expression from one of her occult magazines, "But… I don't understand…"
"Between eating berries, living out in the wild and being hunted by my own kind…" Lucario explained, every word tasting like another disgusting berry on his tongue, "If there's a train heading out of this life, I'm taking it."
"… Train?" Pikablu repeated, feeling like he had to parrot Lucario's every line to even understand them, "Do you EVER take anything seriously?"
"Only when I have to" Lucario responded coolly, "It's easier to deal with bad stuff when you've got a sense of humor about it."
The two of them stared each other down for a moment. While to everyone else this would seem like a hostile display, between the two of them they could see something new in the eyes of their counterpart.
Respect.
"Heh… You're an oddball, but I've befriended worse" Pikablu said with a smile as he walked up and patted Lucario's right leg, "Feel free to visit us once you've failed your mission."
"Psst…" Kabuta leaned in and whispered in Lucario's ear, "He means 'good luck'…"
"I know what it is like to be on a journey to find one's true self" Kabutops said as Pikablu backed off, "Hopefully, you will reach the same conclusion as I."
"Uh…" Kabuta mumbled while trying to make sense out of her father's sayings, "I think that means 'good luck', too."
"Yeah, I got all of that" Lucario chuckled while looking at Kabuta, "What about you?"
"I'll be… Fine" she replied with a less than confident tone in her voice, "You sure I can't come with you?"
"It wouldn't work" Lucario said quickly, "But don't worry - You're strong enough as it is. And if anyone asks, I'll tell them that you held me off with only one arm!"
"… Stupid…" Kabuta whispered to herself as she moved away from him with an angry and saddened face, "… I don't care about that…"
Lucario then looked at the tiny green Celebi floating next to the elegant black Weavile. Seeing any resemblance of family ties between them was impossible, and he silently wondered if he was not seeing it because he was not a Pokémon himself.
"Celebi" he said with courtesy, "Thanks for everything."
"You're welcome…" Celebi replied sadly, looking at Zerobi's downtrodden expression with sympathy. As the awkwardness was beginning to reach unbearable levels, Lucario felt that he had to do something about it.
"Hey hey, come on" he said while moving forward and boldly placing his hand on her shoulder, "Don't let it end like this. When did things get so awkward between us?"
"… Around the time that I almost killed you?" Zerobi replied slowly, looking at the hand on her shoulder and reliving the horrible moment.
"If this is how things are going to turn out, then you might as well have" Lucario said confidently before realizing what it sounded like outside his head, "... I mean, uh, from your perspective. Personally, I'm totally glad I didn't die."
"Lucario…" Zerobi said slowly while thinking back to their many moments together, "… I'm going to miss you. Is there really no way for you to stay?"
"Zerobi… I know you don't know me too well, but what do you expect from me?" Lucario asked in a calm manner, "I'm not a Pokémon, just a transformed man. Under regular circumstances, we wouldn't even understand each other, and that's the side of the fence I've always been on."
"… Heh" Zerobi snickered, deciding against pursuing her romance any further and instead make the best of their last few seconds together, "At the very least, I don't think I'll forget you."
"Ditto" Lucario replied cheerfully, happy to see his partner return to her former self, "Like I said, out of all these weirdoes… You're the best."
"Still, all of you…" Lucario said as he moved away from Zerobi and adjusted the backpack, "You're alright. Have good lives."
"… Just… Be careful!" Zerobi said, finally beginning to come to terms that this might be the last time she would see him, "If I hear that you were taken down five minutes after leaving…!"
"Ha ha ha!" Lucario laughed, "You take care of yourself, too." Lucario gave off a big smile before turning around, leaving his confident face as everyone's last impression.
"Pikablu! Viridian Forest!" Pikablu shouted at him, "Come around, we'll find something for you to eat that's not berries!"
"I'll get stronger, and we'll have a rematch!" Kabuta shouted as well, but felt too overcome by the moment to say what she really wanted to say, "Just… Come back, damn you!"
They watched Lucario as he left with the sun burning on his back, lighting up his yellow fur like a candle. Hearing everyone cheering for him made him feel good. When he heard them stop and start another conversation behind him, he felt the sudden urge to go back and join them. The idea of leaving them turned out to be much less strenuous to his rationality than actually doing it. But still he kept walking forward, knowing that turning around would only make it harder for all of them. Eventually he was able to erase all doubt from his mind by remembering what he really was, who he really was and why he was even there in the first place.
His newfound yet recently lost friends had already left his sight… But he knew that they would forever stay within his mind.
And so, his journey continued towards new horizons...
Jade Star Trainer
... And here they are!
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/1529/children.png
The children of the night
What music they make...!
Jade Star Trainer
The vast plains between Route 216 and Eterna City are never still. The wide stretch of rustling grass would make any trainer shudder with anticipation as well as fear, seeing how miles upon miles of wilderness meant giving up the safety of having a Pokecenter nearby.
Even Pokémon find themselves thrust into battle at a moment's notice in this area. The long strands of grass in one particular area was put into especially violent motions, twisting left and right to accommodate with the two Pokémon moving around them.
A silenced thud was heard, forcing both the Pokémon to a complete stop. The first Pokémon, a canine with blue fur and short pants is standing on one leg while slowly retracting the other one from his opponent's head. The other Pokémon, a large beetle with a long horn sticking out of his bleeding face tried to keep himself focused, but failed as the impact from the blow struck his brain and made his vision become blurry.
"Agh…" the Heracross coughed, stumbling away and falling on his backside with his legs sticking up into the air.
"Alright, that makes twenty seven" Lucario said while calmly brushing off a drop of blood that had found its way onto his leg.
"… Haahh…" the Heracross sighed as he turned to his side and got back on his feet, "… Twenty seven-what?"
"You're the twenty seventh Pokémon to attack me for absolutely no reason" Lucario continued while developing a frown, "Out with it. What's your beef with me?"
"… Beef?" the Heracross repeated with confusion in his voice, "I just wanted a refreshing battle! Haven't got anything else planned for today!"
"Damn it, get a hobby or something!" Lucario snapped angrily, "I've got more important things to do than kick you around!"
"If you don't want to fight, just run away…" the Heracross said with a pout, disappointed that he had lost.
"I would, if not for the fact that it'd probably be more exhausting than beating up weaklings like you…" Lucario mumbled before turning around, showing no fear of being attacked from behind, "I'm leaving. Oh, and I won. Give me something."
"… Uh…" the Heracross said to himself while looking around before suddenly picking up a small blue object from the ground, "… Here, have an Oran berry!"
"… I don't want it…" Lucario whispered with disdain while throwing a quick glance behind him at the blue berry.
"Oh… Well…" the Heracross exclaimed while fidgeting around, seemingly wanting to say something, "… You know, I've been kind of lonely lately. Do you mind if I tag along for a bit?"
"PISS OFF!" Lucario roared at him while turning around and clenching his fist, "You attacked me out of nowhere! You've got four seconds to get out of here before I kill you!"
The Heracross was taken off guard by this and stumbled back a bit before running away in fear, disappearing within the tall grass.
"Ugh, what a tiresome bunch…" Lucario groaned to himself, missing the Pokémon like the small penguin or purple ball that would simply admire him instead of try to fight him.
"You're the one to talk" Lucario said with a wheezy voice, trying to impersonate Zerobi.
"Yeah, I sure am! Because…" Lucario to himself with his usual voice before sighing deeply, "… Nah, it just isn't the same…" He gave up on keeping conversation with himself and began walking once more, hoping that he would find Mew before dying of boredom.
A few weeks had passed since his last goodbye to his friends, even though he wasn't sure exactly how long ago it was since he had given up on counting the days after realizing he only had three fingers on each paw. Not because he kept count with them, but because the lack of hands made him too depressed to care. He had been half a second away from buying a set of pencils in Snowpoint City before Zerobi kindly reminded him that the only way he was going to use them was with his mouth or butt.
Thinking about the past kept him going forward, but with each step he found out that he missed his friends more and more. He snickered to himself when he realized that it was mostly his fault that he was alone, rejecting them like he had rejected the Heracross earlier. But taking Zerobi with him would pretty much have ruined her life, and taking Kabuta would have ruined his life judging by the stinky look Pikablu and Kabutops gave him the moment she bowed down to him.
As he wandered and imagined what the future held in store, he slowly began to realize that he had forgotten to ask the others what Mew actually looked like. Supposedly she would be the one to find him, but that did not stop him from wondering what she was like. He envisioned a large, old creature with a deep mighty voice, something befitting of the nickname "Big M".
Night had fallen before long, most normal Pokémon going to sleep while waking up their nocturnal counterparts. Lucario felt reluctant sleeping out in the open as he had been attacked in his sleep once or twice in the past, and kept moving to find a place to lodge.
As luck would have it he came upon a small cave, consisting of little more than an entrance and a single room of darkness. While not optimal, he knew that it would give him protection from more sides than sleeping in the grass.
He had spent the long day both walking and fighting, and he felt a bit too wound up to simply lie down and rest. Thinking to himself, he tried to figure out if he was tired enough to go to sleep or not. He didn't know and settled for the latter, deciding to sit on a large rock a couple of meters away from the cave before entering it.
Staring into the sky, he couldn't help but feel that most of his problems simply melted away one by one. Even if he was no longer human, the moon would always look at him with indifference. Although his friends were far away, they were under the same sky as he was. Should everyone shun their responsibilities and the entire world come to an end, the stars would still burn on with much greater significance than anything he could possibly do.
Lucario's back became prickled as he suddenly sensed a small aura appear out of nowhere. It approached him from behind, slowing down and veering off before colliding with him. Shakily turning his head around, Lucario saw a purple figure flap its wings as it set down next to him.
"Quite the pleasant evening, no?" a meek yet dignified voice escaped the new arrival. Lucario looked at it, but had trouble seeing what it was as it kept wings as large as its entire body wrapped around itself. It had a small head with very large ears and no visible eyes, and instead of legs he saw what looked like feelers sticking out under it. Even so, its most prominent feature was without a doubt its huge mouth with large fangs sticking out of the corners.
"Uh…" Lucario mumbled and was not sure of what to say, "It sure is, Mr. Bat."
"Miss, not mister" the purple bat corrected him, "And 'Zubat', not 'Bat'."
"… Zubat?" Lucario repeated, the name hitting a familiar note in his head, "Oh yeah… Aren't you supposed to suck my blood or something?"
"No, I had my fill from a less fortunate Clefairy not long ago" the Zubat explained with a subtle smile forming on her large mouth, "I just wish to enjoy the moon this fine evening."
"That's… Not the response I expected" Lucario said, still trying to find any sort of eyes on the strange bat to look into, "I kind of thought you'd bite me or something."
"I could call for my brethren, if you would prefer that…?" she sighed, turning her head away from the moon and towards the cave.
"Heh… Why not?" Lucario scoffed while thinking back to the many horror movies he had seen in his youth, "Bats go well with a full moon."
"Indeed…" the Zubat whispered calmly before looking back at the moon, Lucario following her suite. He wanted to return to his philosophizing, but felt that it would feel a little out of place when sitting next to a sentient bat with no eyes.
"I must say…" the Zubat said after a while, "My good intentions aside, you are treating me with far more respect than regular travelers."
"Well… You're classier compared to what everyone else told me" Lucario explained while grasping the absurdity of the situation, "… Personally, I never thought I'd be enjoying a quiet view of the nightly skies with a bat."
"… It's kind of nice" the Zubat whispered while looking up at the moon, Lucario trying harder than ever to see if she actually had any eyes to view it with.
"… Why blood?" Lucario asked as his eyes fastened upon her fangs, a weak hue of red still visible on their tips.
"When it comes to nutrition, nothing beats blood" the Zubat said without looking down from the moon, "A shame, but that is the way things are."
"I had a girlfriend like that, not long ago…" Lucario muttered to himself with a nod before realizing what he had just said, "… By which I mean a friend that just happened to be a girl! Nothing else!"
Lucario expected a response from the Zubat and groaned at the thought of having to explain everything, but was surprised as she instead ignored him. It caught him slightly off guard as he resumed his own viewing of the moon, trying his best to ignore her ignoring him.
They both remained quiet, simply enjoying the moment. The long day of travelling and action had made Lucario long for some tranquility, and silently staring at the moon while sitting next to the surprisingly sophisticated bat filled him with the serenity he desired. It removed his loneliness while at the same time making him content.
"Hey, you're pretty cool" Lucario said and broke the silence while looking at her, "Want to be my pet? You can ride on my shoulder and everything."
"Can I drink your blood periodically?" the Zubat asked nonchalantly.
"… If you must…" Lucario mumbled with a shudder, staring at her very obvious fangs.
"Relax, I'm joking" the Zubat snickered mysteriously, "I hate daylight. This cave is my home for a reason."
"Hmm…" Lucario muttered disappointedly, "It was worth a try."
"Feeling lonesome, wanderer Lucario?" the Zubat asked with another subtle smile appearing on her face.
"… A bit, maybe…" Lucario admitted.
"It'll pass" the Zubat said reassuringly, "Until then, just sit and enjoy this evening."
They were about to continue their evening of solitude as the silence was suddenly broken. Sensing several auras as well as hearing loud noises coming from the cave, Lucario turned his head and was shocked at what he saw.
A human boy had just exited the cave, surrounded by a swarm of aggressive Zubats and a strange small creature surrounded by a barrier. The boy had red hair and a thin indigo jacket, the first of which was ruffled and the latter of which was in tatters with bite marks and cuts showing through, as well as a set of Pokeballs hidden within various pockets. His skin was extremely pale, but for his face which was glowing with a fiery fury.
Without hesitation, the fuming trainer plucked one of the flying creatures out of the air, and punched it repeatedly on the face before throwing it to the ground and stomping furiously upon its sad remains.
"DAMN ZUBAT-JERKS!" the trainer yelled, "BEAT IT!"
"Hi hi hi!" the tiny creature giggled while flying around while still being surrounded by a powerful barrier, "That was fun! But master Silver, why did you not simply wish them away?"
"I wish I could wish YOU away!" Silver roared, flailing his arms around in anger. The rest of the swarm became frightened by this display of violence and dispersed.
"Um…" the small being mumbled while pondering his request, "… But that's a paradox! I don't think I would ever make myself disappear!"
"What a shame…" Silver muttered, smiling as the swarm backed off. He then became concerned as they stopped not far away, regrouping for another assault in revenge of their fallen comrade. The tiny creature that had been following him around for so long suddenly moved right in front of him and stared at him with a big smile, annoying him to no end.
The tiny creature itself was unremarkable, looking a little like a human fetus with white skin. However, on its head it seemed to be wearing a yellow hat that was shaped like a star, with green tags hanging by the edges. The hat reached down behind and far below the creature like two thin cloaks hanging by its sides. It had claimed to be the legendary Jirachi, but so far Silver had seen no sign of its supposed omnipotence and was convinced that someone was simply pranking him.
"Of course…" the Zubat sighed to herself with disdain, "Such a nice evening was too good to last…"
"Uh… Are they OK?" Lucario asked with a concerned voice as he saw the stomped Zubat lie twitching on the ground, "Should we go help them?"
"Zubat are resilient" she said without batting an eye (so to speak), "Besides, they're feeding. Move close and you will most likely be their new target."
"… Wait, they all came from in there?" Lucario asked, looking at the small cave that could not possibly fit half of what just left it.
"It is much larger on the inside" the Zubat explained calmly, "It goes underground."
"Master, look!" Jirachi suddenly shouted, staring directly at Lucario and the female Zubat. Silver reluctantly turned his head away from the dangerous swarm to look at the two of them.
"Master… His pants…" Jirachi continued as he sensed a familiar yet odd sensation emanating from them, "… They're really weird!"
"Hey, I don't want to hear that coming from some… Whatever you are" Lucario quickly replied.
"No spikes…" Silver muttered as his eyes lazily scrolled over Lucario before he quickly put his hands together, "… Oh! OH!"
Silver's eyes suddenly shot open as he straightened his back. A few particularly loud screeches escaped the swarm of Zubat not far away, but Silver completely ignored them.
"PERFECT!" Silver shouted while clenching his fist with dedication.
"… You want something with me, kiddo?" Lucario asked, thinking back to all the times he performed the same action and wondered if he looked as silly.
"He's asking what you want to do with him, master!" Jirachi chimed in, translating Lucario's words for Silver.
"Tell him that I'm going to catch him!" Silver responded confidently before lowering his voice to a mutter, "… Wait, why the hell am I talking to a Pokémon through another Pokémon!?"
"Um… My master is going to catch you!" Jirachi said with a smile, quite enjoying his new role as an interpreter.
"… Like, I understand him" Lucario muttered with annoyance.
"He says he understands you, master!" Jirachi told Silver, who clenched both his fists in response.
"Shut up!" he said while pulling out a single Pokeball from under his jacket, "Screw diplomacy! Prepare yourself, Lucario!"
Silver threw a red and white Pokeball towards Lucario who wasn't sure whether he was trying to catch him or bring out one of his own Pokémon. His question was answered as the ball split open in midair, revealing a large rat-like creature. It was purple like the Zubat but in a lighter shade and with a white stomach, and had two large fangs sticking out of its mouth.
"Oh" the Zubat said indifferently as she looked at the new arrival, "A battle."
"You know, where I'm from, kids don't summon monsters" Lucario muttered while quietly lamenting over his predicament, "Although, to be honest… If they could, they probably would."
"Typical" the Zubat sighed disappointedly, "I finally find a man who will listen, and he becomes captured by a trainer right away."
"Relax" Lucario replied confidently with a shrug, "I've got this. Its aura is pitifully weak."
"He's saying you're weak, master!" Jirachi suddenly exclaimed, looking at his trainer whose eyes darkened.
"WHAT!?" Silver burst out with anger, "Rattata, bite his legs off!"
The Rattata tried to growl, but it came off as a pathetic squeak instead. It ran up to Lucario with surprising speed before throwing itself at his right leg. Lucario responded by kicking the Ratatta so hard in the face that a cheekbone cracked, one of its teeth became chipped and it flew straight up into the air. He thought about following it up and spiking it down to the ground, but sensed that it had already gone unconscious. Instead, he waited for it to come down again, after which he grabbed its tail before it struck the ground.
"… Um, to be honest, I agree with him!" Jirachi said with a worried tone as he saw that Silver's mouth was agape.
"WHAT!?" he yelled while shaking his fist at the legendary Pokémon, "Mock me again, and I'll… I mean, I wish you would never… Do that… Thing you did… Evermore!"
"… Uh, you lost me after 'wish'!" Jirachi responded, trying to make sense out of what his trainer had just said.
"The main flaw in your plan was that in your attack, you attempted to rapidly place your head right next to the destructive force of my leg" Lucario explained in an overly complicated way while waving the Ratatta in his hand back and forth, "… If you didn't see this coming, get your eyes checked."
"Speaking of 'wish', there's still one way for you to win…" Jirachi kept going while not so subtly hinting at something.
"FINE!" Silver growled "Jirachi, I wish for you to defeat that Lucario!"
"Nothing could be easier!" Jirachi giggled, moving away from his trainer as he slowly approached Lucario.
"Oh?" Lucario said cockily while holding up the Ratatta, "Want to beat this thing's flying record?"
"I already have!" Jirachi answered happily while adjusting his height so that he was on the same level as Lucario. Meanwhile, Lucario felt encumbered by the Ratatta and threw it to his side. He could barely sense any aura from his new opponent and had already started planning for something witty to say after the fight.
Jirachi settled in midair a fairly long distance away from Lucario, having found the perfect spot to start the battle from. He looked at his trainer for a moment before finally building enough confidence to begin his attack.
"Zen Headbutt!" Jirachi exclaimed cheerfully, surrounding himself with a white aura of energy before flying towards Lucario like a speeding bullet. The incredible fastness of the attack took Lucario completely off guard, the small legendary connecting with his chest before he even knew what had happened.
Lucario felt his ribs shatter and pierce the surrounding muscle tissue as an explosion of blood poured out of his mouth. The force of the attack make his toenails rattle, and was comparable to how he imagined being hit by a car would feel like. Flying back several meters, the mountain he crashed into felt like a soft bedpan compared to the blow he had just received.
He could still hear some voices surrounding him, but was too dazed to make any sense out of them. Pitifully still on the ground in a growing pool of his own blood, he waited for someone to come rescue him.
"… Zerobi…?" he mumbled, remembering that she had been reunited with her sister. Her final words of worry echoed through his head. A small penguin appeared in his mind, smiling at him before suddenly becoming abducted by the cackling silhouette of a madman. A short vision of Kabuta standing alongside with the Gallade and Pikablu showed itself afterwards, the massive wound on his chest working in contrast to the memory of Celebi's warm healing.
Slowly he realized that he was all alone. Using the last of his strength to look up, he saw what seemed like a cloud of darkness surrounding the trainer and his Pokémon. A bright, white light suddenly cut through it, sending small winged dots flying in every direction.
After that, a spinning Pokeball came flying at him, crashing into his forehead and knocking him out.
- - - - - - - - - - -
"M-Miss Rukario! Are you leaving already!?"
"..."
"No! Don't leave! Stay!"
"... Forgive me, but there is someone else out there that needs me."
"You just fought off three enemies... Surely you can't go out like this...?"
"I've... Survived worse."
"R-Rukario..."
"You shouldn't cry, Tera. I'll come back again."
"..."
"... What?"
"... Zagrim told me that Arceus painted you."
"..."
"..."
"He did."
"...!"
"... He painted you, as well."
"...?"
"Arceus is a very mighty being, with many different colors to choose from. He simply cannot settle with just one set for each Pokemon!"
"R-Really? How... How do you know?"
"... Someone very important to me told me that, once."
"...?"
"..."
"At any rate, you saved our lives. You are welcome to come back whenever you feel like it."
"..."
"Go on, Tera."
"... One more hug!"
"... Okay... But this is the last one."
Jade Star Trainer
The next chapter will be something quite different. Oh yes, commence with the trembling!
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I knew then it was not another nightmare
For only reality could be this cruel
Jade Star Trainer
Life… Life is unpredictable. We're all but ragdolls, thrown around by the hands of fate. Heck, I'm not even sure that I'll finish writing this before something happens that completely changes my situation! I might succumb to a deadly disease I knew nothing about… Get caught by some kid possessing an unhealthy obsession with the daycare center… Or a legendary Pokémon might just stumble upon my humble home!
Crazy? I'll have you know that the latter actually happened to me barely a year ago. I remember it like it was yesterday, but even so it seems like the event occurred ages ago…
Another night of… Whatever I used to do back then to kill time. Everything I did besides building the place was pointless, that's for sure. Anyway, I remember hearing a small thud right outside the hut. Nothing special, probably just a Pidgey settling down for a moment. I wasn't lonely enough to invite a complete stranger in for homemade poffins in exchange for some company…
… Alright, so maybe I was. That's not the point. The lack of wing fluttering told me that whoever had landed outside was still there, so I hastily put on my cool face and went outside, seeing if I could charm whoever it was.
My first sight told me that "whoever" was a definition that would stick with this Pokémon a while longer. On the ground was a small Pokémon, clutching her abdomen in pain. This is before I had served her any homemade poffins, mind you! She appeared to be a Grass-type, with green skin and some kind of growth stick out of her head. She had very small, barely visible wings sticking out of her back, and some kind of antennae on her forehead.
"What's wrong?" I asked to see why she was in such pain, but my words only seemed to increase it. In an instant she twitched, looking up at me with her big, blue eyes…
Ah, those eyes…! A perfection of color, placing sapphire in front of her serene green body to create a picture of harmony and purity! Crystal clear even in the middle of the night! It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and needless to say I was taken back by her response.
"W-Who are you!?" she growled between gasps, failing to make her sweet and sugary voice sound intimidating, "Go away!"
"Uh…" I stammered, being too paralyzed to do anything.
"Get out of here! Leave me alone!" she shouted and started to rise up from the ground.
"No, wait! I…" I started as I became worried that she would fly off and disappear into the night once more.
Instead, she collapsed to the ground, seemingly overtaken by pain. I hadn't noticed it before, but the crystal clarity in her eyes seemed to come from the fact that they were being cleansed by tears.
"No… Not like this…" she cried to herself, "I-I am not ready yet…"
"I'm just trying to help!" I told her with sincerity, "You look so pained… There must be something I can do!"
"There is nothing you can do…" she said with bitterness towards both me and herself, "This night will be my last…"
"Were you attacked!? Someone struck your stomach!?" I shouted out, trying to guess my way as to why she was holding her stomach so tightly, "Wait, did you ingest poison!? I have a whole stack of Antidotes right inside m-"
"I'M GIVING BIRTH, YOU DOLT!" she finally screamed at me, shutting me up. I can't exactly remember what my response was, but I'm sure it went something like this:
"Oh… Oh? Oh!" I blurted out, "YIKES!"
Hey, I thought she had just sprained her ankle or something… Alright, so far it's pretty uncool, but just wait until you see what I did next!
"That's… But… Like…" I stammered as my brain put two and two together, "… Water! And stuff! I've got it all inside!"
"Just… Leave me alone…" she responded, sounding far weaker than earlier before and shrill scream escaped her. The poor girl's voice said "no", but her writhing on the dirty soil gave off another message.
"Sure…" I said, bending over and carefully picking her up. I am a Weavile, so I had to hold her with my arms as not to get her cut with my sharp claws.
"What are you doing!?" she yelled at me, "Put me do-ARGH!"
I brought her inside my home, despite her complaining and screaming all the way. All the time I held back making any snappy retorts… Because, well, I was not the one in severe pain.
"See!?" I shouted while hiding my annoyance after finally placing her on my bed of moss and straws, "Beats the ground, doesn't it!?"
"I'll die, either way" she pouted, still protesting my actions in a sense.
"Don't say that!" I told her, "It's bad luck!"
"Luck? LUCK!?" she screamed back at me, "I'll tell you what it was, a bad f-"
"Hey, don't give up until it's over!" I interrupted her, "You really want your child to grow up in a world without a mother!?"
Hearing this seemed to calm her anger. However, I had no time to feel satisfied with myself as her anger became replaced with despair.
"… Or a father… Or anyone…" she spoke quietly, not even once having released her grip of her abdomen, "I… Will be dead before I can even see her…"
"Keep talking like that, and maybe…" I started, but halted myself when I saw that she was in much more need of reassurance than I was, "… No. I'm here with you. I won't let that happen."
"You can't stop it. No one can…" she continued with sadness, "I knew that, but still…"
She trailed off, and we were left in silence. I realized that despite my initial thoughts of bringing her inside to help her out, there was nothing I could do.
"My species… They die when they give birth" she whispered slowly while giving her own stomach a tighter grip, "My mother died giving birth to me, as her mother did with her… Not until now do I realize what she-ARGH!"
Another pang of pain suddenly struck her, tears flowing down her cheeks. No matter my many accomplishments in life, seeing this poor woman in such agony made me feel as helpless as a Magikarp.
"There… There must be something I can do to help…" I said.
"T-Too late… My powers are already disappearing…" she whispered with a weak smile as she had a dreamy stare on her face, "Can't fly… Or sense… Anything… Anymore…"
"… Sense?" I repeated while trying to figure out why she had gotten such an odd expression all of a sudden, "… You can still see me, right?"
"… Yes…" she whispered slowly, not averting her eyes from the ceiling.
"Well, as long as you see me, that means you're still alive!" I shouted right in her face as her vacant stare made me worried that she was actually dying, "And if you're alive… YOU'RE ALIVE, DAMN IT!"
She instantly snapped out of it, seemingly coming back to life. She looked at me with a surprised face before throwing her head back again, screaming from the pain.
"Sorry, but I don't think I'd be a lot of help down there…" I said, lamenting over the sharp claws only the truly ignorant would ever define as 'hands'.
"You… Why…?" she gasped before giving off a higher pitched wail than ever before.
"Water… Poffins… I'll get you anything you want!" I tried to reassure her as she suddenly lifted her arm towards me.
"No… Stay…" she whispered weakly, her arm shaking more and more with each passing second, "I… I don't want to…"
"Hey! HEY!" I shouted while carefully poking her chin, "Don't give up! Focus on me!"
"… S… Sorr…" she started, but was unable to finish as her voice finally gave out. Her eyelids fell in what seemed like slow motion as her breathing started coming in weakly. Then, her arm fell to the ground as her body suddenly turned limp.
'A turning point of fate' is a term that has remained in my life for as long as I can remember.
Seeing this woman dying before me while giving birth to a child, I was finally able to give it a definition.
Seeing those beautiful eyes brimming with life close for the last time, I was finally able to hate it.
"No! NO!" I remember shouting while halting myself from holding on to her and possibly cutting her, "I… I won't let it happen!"
The future showed me a single clear path. As such, the time had come to alter fate. A technique as forbidden as it was secret existed within me. I knew that its results would vary, and consequences could be detrimental… But I also knew that it had greater chance of success than doing nothing.
The first YEARS of learning about the technique was spent learning me that using it to steal life was wrong. WELL, DUH! They're the ones to talk, stealing away MY life by cluttering up my childhood with such stupid… At any rate, while actually using it is strictly forbidden, exceptions had been made in the past. It doesn't create or destroy life… It just… Moves it around a bit.
Whether she was already dead or just unconscious, she was lucky to not have to see anything as I used my left claw to tear up my right arm. Screaming in pain while crouched next to this girl who was literally DYING seemed a little out of place, so I grit my teeth and kept quiet. My blood was filled up with both my life and my will, and I knew I could rely on it to handle the rest as I let it drip onto her body.
Suddenly, she stopped breathing. Noticing that she was running out of time, I gave up on holding back and started rubbing my right arm against her, smearing blood all over her.
The blood seeped into her, disappearing under her skin as I started feeling woozy. Doubt struck me as I asked myself whether I should stop as to not succumb to death as well, or go all the way and be at the very least be able to save her…
My question answered itself as her eyes shot open once more.
"I… GAH!" she started, interrupting herself with a gasp of pain.
"Welcome back…" I said.
"What- AH!" she tried to continue, the pain seemingly coming on stronger than before now that she wasn't close to death anymore, "I feel- ARGH!"
"I'll explain later…" I mumbled as I sat down to recover from my blood loss. This technique, referred to as 'Blood Magic' by some, is a little too complicated to explain… So I'll just summarize this next part as 'I ordered the blood to crawl back into my veins'.
The rest of the birth went smooth
Was beautif
Alright, I'll be honest - It was hell on both of us, more so her than me I'd imagine. But when it was all said and done, we had something to show for it… In my case, her. In her case…
"What's her name?" I asked her as she was lovingly cradling a baby that looked very similar to herself.
"I… Haven't thought of that" she said with a weak smile hiding her newfound strength, "I was supposed to die… And she was supposed to inherit my name…"
"… What's your name?" I asked, trying to ignore the fact that the baby had an aura surrounding it that was rapidly changing colors, passing it off as something normal. All I knew was that I was NOT up for elongating this trying night even further.
"… Celebi" she replied, still smiling.
"Celebi…" I repeated, the name hitting a familiar note in my ears but her eyes striking a different, stronger one, "A pretty name. Can't be used enough…"
The scene will forever be burnt into my mind. Celebi, the beautiful Pokémon, lying in my bed while holding her baby close to her. Knowing that I had a hand in keeping both of them alive made me feel like the best. Still, the name left a nagging feeling in the back of my head which I couldn't shake…
"Heh, the same name as that legendary Pokémon, right?" I chuckled.
"Um…" she said while looking up at me, "About that…"
If you have ever been told by the woman you just helped deliver a baby that she's actually a legendary Pokémon, you should know my reaction well. Since you probably haven't… Well, I'll leave that part out anyway, since it's not something I'm very proud over. The good news is, I took care of her anyway, for almost a month before one of her friends (Tefay) found her and picked her up.
She could easily have left me there and then, but pleaded that I be brought with her. At the time I didn't realize that we were falling in love and thought they were going to silence me for 'knowing too much', but…
… Aw crap, I just ruined the whole romantic part, didn't I? I guess that's something you can read in HER memoirs! OK, fine, so maybe I'm not so good at expressing myself… But seriously! Living together with such a kind, beautiful, loving, intelligent, caring and fun Pokémon… You work out what happened!
To be honest… I had no chance. Just being near her was enough to bring me delight from the moment she struck me with her killing glance. She radiates and aura of love and positivity that fills me with joy every day… Literally. As a Dark-type I am unaffected by it, but the energy her body exudes is nothing compared to the happy feelings our love brings.
I'll finish up this part later, but currently Celebi is expecting our first… And her second baby. I actually dissuaded her from having another one, since... Well, I don't want anything to happen to her. But… She really loves little Celebi. She wants her to have a sister or brother so badly… I just hope…
To be honest, I am sad at heart and insecure. She's suffered enough… She tells me that we are "bound together" and that "everything will turn out fine", but… But…
… But who am I to judge her? I should be the one to trust her. These are all feelings I had better not show, I don't even know why I'm writing this… Pretty rude of me, eh? (If you're reading this - No hard feelings, sweetie. I can see that you really need me now, and as long as that's the case I won't surrender!)
Anyway, like I said I'll finish up this part later, but just know that… Celebi has made me the happiest Weavile in the whole world!
"… And that concludes the memoirs of our father" Celebi said, closing the book and using her psychic powers to put it back on the shelf.
"… That's it?" Zerobi asked while snapping out of her trance, "Wait, what happened then!?"
"You" Celebi replied with a faint smile, "Mom did not survive the second birth, and our father… Either left her or died as well."
"That's…" Zerobi muttered sadly, "… No one knows?"
"Tefay was the one found you and mother's body" Celebi explained while thinking back, "… She herself died a few years back after giving birth to Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie… Simultaneously, might I add."
"… Huu…" Zerobi shuddered at the thought, "… Am I going to die if I give birth, too?"
"Don't worry!" Celebi exclaimed with cheer, "We fairies die because our powers are transferred to our child, leaving us helpless. You had no such powers to begin with!"
"But… What about you?" Zerobi asked with concern in her voice.
"… I'm… Different…" Celebi whispered sadly to herself before perking up, "… But who needs a baby when you've got a sister?"
"Hey… Sis…" Zerobi said slowly while choosing her words carefully, "That whole 'Blood Magic' thing…"
She was worried when it came to talking about that subject. Family or not, she knew there was no way anyone (including herself) could forgive the crimes she had committed in the past. Even so, she had to know…
"Yes…" Celebi said, "I remembered that passage of the memoirs well when Pikablu told me what had happened."
"Is there any way to get rid of it?" Zerobi asked bluntly, having wished for nothing more after the destruction of Evolution's Gate.
"To be honest, I know very little about it" Celebi explained while looking at Zerobi, "I'll have to do some research… Uh, with your body."
Celebi then twitched and started waving her arms back and forth.
"Ah! That sounded creepy!" she said with a panicked look on her face, "Sorry! But that's the way-"
"I get it" Zerobi groaned, having been needlessly apologized to many times in the past week, "I don't mind. I'll do anything to fix this…"
"Then I'll get started right away!" Celebi exclaimed as she regained her usual cheerful demeanor, "Sit still for a while, so I can chart out your genetic code!"
"… How long will it take?" Zerobi asked while leaning back.
"About three days!" Celebi replied obliviously before placing her arms in front of her, "Now, be ABSOLUTELY still…"
"… Ugh…" Zerobi groaned again as she decided to lie down for the procedure. She was suddenly overcome by tiredness from the long day and her eyes closed, her mind filled to the brim with the story she had just been told…
… This nightmare seems rather familiar.
Ah, yes. Celebi… The insipid Weavile… I remember it all.
Rarely do I make my appearance. Rarely is my appearance called for. As such, I remember this event quite well.
The beautiful cycle of life and death that graces the fairy legendaries had been broken. No inherent ability, skill nor luck had ever caused such to happen. Should an army of those tiny psychics appear, my position and plans might be compromised…
Investigation as well as action was required. Monitoring her dreams for some time, I decided on the perfect time of attack - During Celebi's second birth. To bear witness to this perversion of their species… And prevent it.
Undetected I moved to their location. A primitive structure, providing no protection from me whatsoever. It is as if the other legendaries wished for me to end her as much as I did.
A Weavile stood before me. Bearing some childhood trauma from his abusive parents, and carrying with him a fear of Bug-types. Nothing that needed to be abused for this simple encounter.
"W-Who're you…?" he asked, sweet fear escaping his every pore.
"Darkrai…" I whispered slowly, acting with grace to instill him with a false sense of security, "Move…"
"I won't let you have her!" he screamed before cutting into himself. I beheld the technique of blood magic being used against me. That was a surprise. However, as he soon found out, using a technique against the being that once created it is nothing short of a fatal mistake.
"… Why…?" he whimpered after the short battle was over. I picked him up with my arms, hoping to draw more fear from him.
"Take me… Leave her al-" he started, but remembering my original purpose there I snapped him in half. His resistance was comparable to that of a twig. Blood splattered my physical manifestation, and dripped to the ground as I reverted to my original form.
Entering the primitive house, the distinct lack of anything is what struck me first. For an instant I thought that I had been tricked by the Weavile, before seeing the empty husk of Celebi in the corner, a wailing baby in her grasp.
Seems my intervention was not necessary, after all.
Observing the room to ascertain myself that the deed was done, I noticed something peculiar regarding the baby. A Dark-type, like me… No psychic abilities… No supernatural traits… Just a regular Pokémon. Had I known this would be the spawn of a dying fairy, I would never have worried myself over it.
It cried. Not out of fear, but out of instinct. Untainted by fear, untainted by the world surrounding it. Feeling that this trip had been nothing but a waste, I decided to try a little experiment. Removing the child from her corpse of a mother, I filled her up with as much darkness as I could muster. If the slaughter of today would not deter the coming generation of fairies from not dying, this hellspawn of evil most certainly would. T'was far from a pleasant evening, but…
Whose nightmare is this? No one from that encounter was left alive, except for…
…
… Ah.
My, how time flies. Enjoying your nightmare, young Weavile? Cling on to life... And you may relive it!
Jade Star Trainer
And now, for something completely different - A preview of things to come.
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/7924/gyrados.png
Behold! A Gyrados pre-evolution! Now ain't THAT something?
Boulder Trainer
I like this story.
Jade Star Trainer
Cool! Me too!
Something hurts.
… Like HELL!
I'm lying down? Hey, I can't move! What the-
"Hey, he's waking up!" someone shouts with a frightened voice, "This is bad! He'll bleed out!"
Opening my eyes, I hastily look down on my own body to see what's hurting me. The sight is… Not pretty. My torso's broken, and… Yeah, it's my blood, alright…
… I'm dying. Damn, it hurts…
"Jirachi, use Hypnosis!" a somewhat familiar voice yells.
"What was that?" another familiar voice replies, "Hmm… I could'a sworn I heard something…"
"… Jirachi, I wish for you to use Hypnosis!" the other voice says, and I remember the angry trainer who in hindsight I probably should not have underestimated and instead snapped his neck the moment he appeared.
"Your wish is my command, master!" the voice belonging to the creature responsible for my death chimes. That dirty little jerk, attacking when my guard was down! I swear… If I survive this… I'll…
…
Ahh… Wind whisks by me, soothing the pain of my wound…
… Not really, though. More like creeping into my body, and… Wait, where the hell am I now!?
"Holy crap, he's waking up again!" the voice from earlier says. I open my eyes, but all I see is a rapidly changing mixture of white and blue.
"A LEGENDARY couldn't keep him down!?" a new gruff voice shouts, "No choice! Tranquilizers!"
Tranquilizers!? Hell no, I hate those! Pain or not, just don't make me fall… Asleep… Again…
…
A bright light.
Death? Seems a bit… Familiar.
"Chansey!" a soft voice says with far too much worry in it for my tastes, "He's coming back to consciousness!"
STOP SAYING THAT! You know, death's starting to sound pretty sweet compared to this!
"We require heavy sedation!" another sweet voice says, "Everyone, use Hypnosis at once!"
I'm getting sick of this. Alright, my eyes are beginning to adjust… A hospital? Perfect. Sow me up and let's get the hell out of here.
"Don't hold back!" the first voice says, "He's built up a resistance against sleep!"
So give me a bloody medal for it. The 'bloody' part comes from hanging it around my neck in me current state, heh heh…
… I really am going to die? That sucks… Everything's… Slipping away…
…
Urr…
"He's… He's waking up!"
No kidding. How long was I out this time?
"Hmm… They said he'd be out for a week."
… That long?
"S-Security! We've got a wild Pok-"
Oh, hey… My chest! It's… It's healed!
"Shut up! Throw him in the cage!"
UGH! Hey, careful! I'm still recovering…
"There, problem solved… If you think I'm losing my reputation over this mutt…"
Lying on the cold hard ground, Lucario heard the two people behind him walk away. He tried to get up, but his limbs felt they had not been used for days and were completely powerless. Before his vision was nothing but darkness, which did not dissipate even as his sight began to improve. Turning his head in confusion he saw a large door close not far away, but it was obscured by long and thick strands of grey.
For a moment he thought that like the rest of his body his eyes had been damaged, but shifting his head a little he saw that there were in fact several tall, solid objects between himself and the door. His sight focused with each passing moment until he was able to make out that the objects were bars, slowly realizing that he was viewing the inside of a cage.
Lowering his head down to the ground, Lucario felt torn between taking a nap and simply dying. However, his lamentations were cut short as a new voice came from in front of him and let him know that he was not alone in his cell.
"… Hello?" the voice came in front of him, "New guy?" Looking up from his pathetic state, he saw what was sharing this cell with him. At first he had trouble seeing where the elongated creature began and ended, but when it suddenly uncoiled itself he could see that it had the shape of a snake. Its body carried the color of that ocean, and it had a small horn protruding from its forehead.
Lucario instinctively sprung up and was about to back away before remembering that a snake probably wouldn't talk to him if it was going to attack him. The blue serpent closed its eyes and inhaled sharply, again worrying him that its feral behavior would lead to a fight.
"… A male" the azure Pokémon said with a slightly mischievous tone before opening its eyes and looking at him, "Can you speak?"
"… Of course" Lucario answered in a cautious way.
"Then please do…" it said as something reminiscent of a frown appeared on its face, "I have been alone in here for so long…"
"…" Lucario said nothing before sitting down, the hint of genuine sadness in the snake's voice making him drop his guard, "… What're you in for?"
"… Getting caught…?" it replied with a confused voice, "What, are you in here for a reason?"
"Nah, same thing…" Lucario said with a shrug, happy to feel that his shoulders were back in place, "Do you know where we are?"
"No" the Pokémon responded quickly while shaking its head slightly, seemingly trying to wake itself up, "But humans experiment with us, so don't expect mercy of any kind."
"Experiment…" Lucario repeated bitterly before remembering more of what the snake had just said, "… Us?"
Looking around the cage, Lucario saw a small creature attached to one of the corner bars. It looked like a cocooned insect of some sort, a shell with brown color and no remarkable features. Its eyes were closed, and it was shaking irregularly, creating a weak rattling sound against the steel.
"What the… What's up with him?" Lucario asked, the shaking of the Pokémon looking both unnatural and painful.
"He's… Gone" the serpent sighed depressingly, "He's been sitting in that corner ever since I ended up here, never saying or doing anything."
The snake was now fully uncoiled and had its upper body effortlessly lifted from the ground. Lucario noticed a set of round ornaments attached under its chin as well as tail, reminding him of Zerobi's yellow jewel which she claimed to be organic. The thought of these balls being the same made him shudder.
"So…" the blue Pokémon said slowly while subtly nudging closer to Lucario, "… You're male, huh?"
"Listen, I've seen enough prison movies to know where this is heading" Lucario growled as the snake's movements had not gone unnoticed, "I may look weakened, but don't try anything. I can either be your friend, or the guy who crushes your skull."
The snake suddenly reared back in terror, Lucario realizing what he had just said and wondering if he had misread the situation.
"… Sorry. I'm not in a good mood" Lucario said slowly while looking at the frightened Pokémon.
"That's… Understandable" it replied while its expression calmed down a bit.
"Grah, I'm so hungry I could die!" Lucario suddenly burst out, his stomach growling and making him finally notice that it was like an empty pit at this point, "When and what do they feed us?"
"Never or nothing, whichever you prefer…" the Pokémon said before ending with another sigh.
"… What!?" Lucario gasped, his frustration being replaced with worry as he looked over the slender serpent, "How many days have you been here?"
"No clue. There's no 'day' or 'night' in here…" it said while lowering its upper body to the ground once more, "… Much too long. Much too long…"
They became silent after that, giving Lucario some time to check on his injuries. Quietly rustling through the fur on his chest, he noted several scars upon it, but was unsure which of them were new and which of them were old. It was as if some of his scars had been scarred!
Something felt amiss on his back, and reaching back he noticed that his backpack was gone. He thought that whoever brought him here must've taken it somewhere else. A feeling of utter dread struck him as he instantly looked down, but he became relieved to see that his pants were still there.
"… I miss the outside" the depressing creature suddenly said to itself, "Never thought that I would go from flying around the world to dying in a cage…"
"Hmm…" Lucario mumbled as something in the snake's previous statement perked his interest, "You… You can fly?"
"Yes" it answered with a nod, "I know it's rare for a Dragonair, but I've always been able to."
"Whoa…" Lucario said with amazement, "… Awesome!"
Lucario could hardly believe it until he tried to replace the giant emerald serpent in his memories with the sapphire one in front of him now. It wasn't long until the new thought was replaced with the image of himself soaring through the sky, riding a draconic steed with a shining armor and an impressive lance in his hands.
"Hey, can I ride you?" Lucario suddenly asked the Dragonair who was slightly taken aback by his boldness, "When we get out, that is! I've always wanted to be able to fly!"
"Oh…" the Dragonair said with disappointment, "Sorry, I don't think I can carry your weight."
"Give me a few weeks in here with no food and that won't be a problem…" Lucario muttered, his spirits sinking once more.
"You can ride me here anytime, you know…" the Dragonair whispered while trying to give off as seductive a look as she could muster with her waning energy.
"Nah" Lucario replied while looking up to their confinement's ceiling which was only a few feet above their heads, "I'd rather wait until we get more room… You know, if we get out…"
They both slumped down to the floor, giving up on whatever they were planning at the moment as the reality of the situation sunk in once more. It slowly dawned on Lucario that even after all his effort of dodging both master trainers and law enforcement, he had ended up in the place he had been trying to avoid all this time. He wondered if the only difference between getting caught now and having gotten caught earlier was that he wouldn't have been captured alone, and wouldn't be sharing this cage with only the serpent and strange bug-type right now.
"Hey" Lucario said as he was unable to stop himself from feeling worried, "… Do you think we're going to die?"
"I hope not" the Dragonair answered with a distressed look while trying to reassure herself, "I have a little brother out there I need to get back to."
"Huh" Lucario exclaimed without knowing how to respond, "… Bummer. Or wait, maybe that's a good thing…?"
"… Our mother was very protective of us" the Dragonair continued while still keeping her chin on the ground, "He needs a big sister like me when it comes to sneaking outside, and…"
"Ah, so you're fe…" Lucario started, but stopped himself when he remembered that so far his inability to tell Pokémon's genders had gotten him into nothing but trouble. Pissing off his only sentient cellmate seemed like a bad idea.
"… I guess this is the kind of thing mother used to warn me about…" the Dragonair whispered to herself, looking longingly beyond the steel bars.
The bars were set so tight that nothing short of liquid could escape the cage, yet were still strong enough to withstand anything she was able to conjure up. Every attempt at escape had left her with failure as well as a reduced amount of stamina, every ounce of which was now the only thing keeping her alive.
"What about you?" the Dragonair asked in yet another attempt to distract herself from her dying state, "Do you have anyone on the outside?"
"… No" is all Lucario had to say, choosing to ignore the many Pokémon he had encountered on his journey as he had at one point or another abandoned them.
"Heh" the Dragonair exclaimed quietly, "Knew it the moment I saw you."
"… Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" Lucario asked, feeling insulted for reasons unknown to himself.
"Nothing bad, just…" she said while giving off a very faint smile, "… You've got that alpha male feel about you."
The Dragonair felt herself exhausted for some reason. Not having eaten anything for so long had left her barely able to hold on to life, which in itself was a struggle due to the deep hunger that seemed to slowly be shutting down her body. She had spent a very long time in the cage just lying on the floor without anyone to talk to. She had also given up hope and placed herself in a state of hibernation, lying around like a discarded tool, but seeing another Pokémon like this had brought her back to who she once was.
"Us Pokémon, huh…" she said and sighed longingly, "We make friends and try to raise a family only to get caught and used as playthings for some human…"
"… Humans aren't that bad" Lucario suddenly said while crossing his arms, "We're… They're intelligent and civilized."
"Too intelligent. Too civilized…" the Dragonair whispered while holding her voice steady to prevent a stutter, "… You'll see what I mean once the experimenting starts…"
Little by little the fear started coming back to her. The thought of ending her life in this dark room was enough to get her heart beating in desperation once more, her eyes tearing up as a reflex when she realized just how likely that scenario was becoming.
"I-I'm so scared!" she cried desperately before lounging against Lucario, "I… I don't want it to end this way! I want to see the light of day again!"
"Ugh!" Lucario exclaimed while getting ready to throw her off at a moment's notice should she attempt to coil herself around him any further, "Calm down! I don't need you getting all touchy-feely!" Lucario noticed that her skin felt a bit raspy, and noticed that she was actually covered by very tiny scales.
"I don't know what to do!" the Dragonair wailed in desperation, "We're trapped here, and we're gonna die!"
"Listen, I know it's a long shot…" Lucario said slowly as he began to feel empathy for his fellow captive, "But I know my way around humans. If there's a way out of here, I'll find it… And if not, I'm strong enough to make one!"
"… Empty words…" the Dragonair muttered with sadness before letting go of Lucario and sinking down to the floor, "… Still better than what that Ninjask is doing, I suppose…"
"… Well, I obviously can't guarantee his safety" Lucario said with a shrug, "But you? Yeah, sure, I'll include you in my escape."
As if on cue, the door to the room they were in slowly opened. The two of them perked up as the shadow of a human entered. It was now that Lucario realized just how poorly lighted the room was outside of their cage, and he could not make out any features of the human.
Lucario knew that the scientist could not have heard of his plans for escape, but started worrying slightly more when he saw the silhouette of a Pokémon appearing behind him. He was unable to see just what kind of Pokémon it was, but it was fairly large and had an aura so intense that it made him tremble slightly.
The closer the human got to the cage, the more visible he became. It was a man, dressed in a large white robe and wearing thick glasses. However, the rest of his appearance quickly slipped through Lucario's mind when the man suddenly pulled out a small key from under his robes.
"Get ready…" Lucario mumbled while eyeing the scientist intently, "Four-eyes here will be known as 'black-eyes' very soon…"
"… I believe subjugation is required" the man suddenly said, not letting Lucario's intentions go unnoticed.
"Ugh… If he says 'Hypnosis', I think I might go crazy" Lucario muttered with disdain while scanning the layout of the room in case he got the chance to make a hasty escape.
"Looks like this one might have some psychic abilities, after all…" the scientist said quietly with a melancholic expression, "Alakazam, use Hypnosis."
"… Wait, what!?" Lucario suddenly shouted as he realized that the scientist had replied to his comment, "Hey, did you just understand what I said!?"
"He's putting us to sleep…" the Dragonair whispered sadly with tears remaining in the corner of her eyes, "It's no use…"
"Like hell it is!" Lucario burst out as flashbacks from his earlier incapacitation struck him, "I've been hit by this so many times, I've built up a resistance to it! I won't go down this time!"
He stared angrily at the odd Pokémon, before realizing that doing that might increase the attack's effect. He looked away with fists clenched and rage summoned up in his head, fighting against any drowsy feeling that might arise.
He did not feel the attack hit him, but noticed its effects after only a few seconds. He could actually feel his brain shutting down, thoughts taking a long time to connect and make sense. A few moments later he started lying down, having completely forgotten why he was fighting against his sleepiness.
Looking behind him, he saw the Dragonair's immobile body lying on the ground. An ominous feeling struck him, but was quickly overtaken by tiredness as his vision darkened even though his eyes were open, and his eyelids began to give way against his will…
When Lucario woke up, he was alone. Slowly rising to his feet while feeling a hammering headache, he noticed that he was still in the cage. Looking around he saw that his only company was the odd cocoon from earlier, still hugging the same corner with no signs of stopping its spastic movement.
"… Quit mocking me…" Lucario mumbled at it before clutching his forehead. No matter how much he resisted he had fallen asleep, and it filled him with shame as he remembered the promise he had made to the female snake.
He did not have to worry long. The door he had eyed earlier on suddenly opened as two men walked through it, carrying the Dragonair between them. Lucario saw his chance as one of them pulled out a key and unlocked the cage, and made a quick dash for them. However, his legs were still getting used to getting used, so they didn't quite register the commands from his brain and he stumbled forward.
"Here! Catch!" one of the men yelled mockingly as they threw the Dragonair at him, the light weight of the creature just barely giving him any recoil.
"Congrats!" the other man laughed while catching his breath, "Ya caught yerself a Pokémon!"
Lucario decided that the best comeback would be to introduce the man's face to his fist and close relative elbow, but by the time he had pushed the Dragonair aside and started running the cage had been locked once more, the two men disappearing through the door they arrived from.
"DAMN IT!" Lucario howled in rage before punching the floor in frustration, "So damn close…"
The Dragonair lifted its head from the ground and looked at him with a dazed expression.
"Oh well, at least you're back" Lucario snickered while feeling somewhat relieved, "I thought I was going to be stuck alone with this chatterbox forever!"
He pointed at the bug Pokémon sitting in the corner, but the Dragonair's eyes became transfixed upon his finger instead.
"Sorry, I guess I took a little nap…" Lucario said while scratching his head in embarrassment, "But the next time… I'll kick their asses for sure!"
The Dragonair still had the same frozen expression, before her eyes drifted back to the ground again.
"… It was bad, wasn't it?" Lucario asked, secretly getting a bit annoyed at not receiving an answer, "What happened?"
Again the Dragonair gave no response, and instead begun slithering backward.
"Hey…" Lucario mumbled as the ominous feeling from earlier arose once more, "Hey! Can you hear me?"
The Dragonair shuddered a bit before slumping down in the corner. A few moments later, it started shaking.
"HEY! Come on, quit messin' around! This isn't funny!" Lucario yelled as he moved towards the Dragonair and grabbed a hold of her. She continued shaking, making the raspy scaled cause a few scratches on the inside of Lucario's paws. He suddenly realized his fallacy in trying to shake some sense into her as a noise from behind distracted him. Looking around, he saw the bug Pokémon sitting in its corner, giving off the same pained spastic movements as the Dragonair.
"Oh… Oh no…" Lucario said to himself while letting go of the Dragonair, who instantly curled herelf up before resuming her trembling, "… What did they do to you?" Just a few moments ago, this creature had poured her heart out to him, dreaming of being set free to reunite with her younger brother and mother. She had looked at him with weak yet hopeful eyes when he told her he would be able to save her…
All he saw in them now was utter agony. An unending haze of suffering. These eyes were unlike anything he had ever seen before, but seemed familiar somehow…
The shocked face of Rukario as he betrayed her.
The reflection of Zerobi's empty soul as he let her kill him.
The hateful glare of Ivy as all hope faded and they began their fight to the death.
The pained expression of Kabuta as she lost her arm as he lay useless on the ground.
The panicked stare of the small penguin as he left her to suffer the same fate he was now enduring.
The cold dead eyes of the snake that had relied on him, twisting and turning worse than her body as he sits there and can do nothing about it.
It filled him with wrath unlike any other he had felt before.
"HEY!" he yelled while punching the bar in front of him with all his might, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM!? I'LL KILL YOU, YOU… YOU…"
The bar remained both intact and indifferent to his plight. Lucario felt the body in his grasp rock back and forth as he noticed his own fists were shaking in anger. Throwing all caution to the side, he summoned up his aura and focused it on his right hand before punching the steel bar once more.
Screaming in both pain and frustration while realizing that there was nothing left for him to try, he rammed his head into the hard material in front of him, immediately ceasing his opposition and ending it all.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Author here! I'm recording a voiced read of Mew's Christmas Carol. If you've got a mic, a good voice to match and, of course, the will to voice one of the characters… Nothing serious, just that it's more fun to have different voices. Besides, my "miniature pink cat" impersonation's getting rusty.
Just send a PM and a voice sample! Recording a voice sample takes like 5 seconds if you use http://vocaroo.com/
Who's laughing now?
I don't know why people aren't commenting on your stories. They are works of genius! Both stories are absolutely amazing, please continue! I just finished both the stories, and they are amazing!
Check out the forum World Beyblade Organization! It's a huge forum with over 75,000 members dedicated to the hobby of Beyblading! You can sign up here, please help this forum grow bigger every day!
Boulder Trainer
I hope lucario goes and shows the humans a lesson
Jade Star Trainer
Time for another preview!
... BWAHAHAHA! Not really! Time for something completely different!
See, some fan contacted me and asked a bunch of questions regarding Occult Magazine: Evolution's Gate, Forever Legendary, Mew's Christmas Carol and The Human Species. We ended up wasting WAY too much time on it, so in a desperate attempt to make something useful out of it...
The Pokémon Trilogy (+1)
Q&A
Now, since I'm such a worrywart, I should tell you that there are spoilers in this feature for each story, reaching as far as chapter 23 (Distressed Damsel Dragonair) in The Human Species. If you've already read that far or further, go apes.
The fan was bold, so his text will be quite the same while I'll be keeping my answers normal. Direct quotes from the stories will be in italics!
Evolution's Gate
What up with police Pokemon? Again, this is something it strikes me as weird not to have seen in the show: if Pokemon are sentient, there's no reason they couldn't be members of law enforcement or anything else, for that matter. The ethical questions of Pokemon are a big part of what I guess we could discuss, though I was planning on saving it for THS, since you seem to be getting into it anyway. Black/White and, to a lesser extent, the Mystery Dungeon series dealt with this somewhat, but I think it's interesting that you have Pokemon having their own police forces and cafes. Hmm...
What, you're gonna let that guy with a blue cap and nightstick deal with a raging Gyrados or interrogate a someone they can't understand? Pokemon criminals require Pokemon police. All police Pokemon need at least one year of training at the academy and must be assigned to a human partner for two years before being released and becoming individual members of the force. Truly a beautiful display of human-pokemon cooperation.
For the cafe you just dig a hole and squeeze a few berries. Humans normally HATE berries, so they run no risk of getting any of those troublemakers as customers.
Does kind of make me wonder what's the problem with berries (wait should that be capitalized). I can see one not liking [here I pull up Bulbapedia] a Tamato Berry or Nomel berries, but they come in five different flavors (of which dry is...apparently one) and dozens of varieties, so it should be possible to find one you like, huh...Of course, some (B/b)erries are rarer than others, and then there are some like the Oran berry which taste like everything.
Flavors are determined from the Pokemon's point of view. See Berries as dogfood. Sure, there are some people that eat them too, but they're few.
Snivy doesn't want to evolve because he'd lose his legs, right? But Servine has legs, what is the deal.
Snivy was referring to Serperior about the legs thing. He doesn't want to evolve into Servine because his arms would turn into strange leaves and make everyday life much more of a hassle.
His small form also makes him very difficult to hit in battle... Unless he's jumping at you head-on, of course!
I have to say, he and Umk (however you pronounce that) remind me of Miles Edgeworth and Dick Gumshoe from the Ace Attorney games. Are you...aware of this?
Both the duos are based off of the classic cop team-up. One's a stuck up expert while the other one's bumbling thickie with a heart of gold. They fight crime!
... In concept, anyway. Truth is, Snivy hated Umk to the point where he asked for a transfer, and then they never saw each other again... And, strangely enough, lived happily ever after!
“This is where I’d normally say ‘I got better’…” Zerobi shouted gleefully...
Oh nooooo, is this a Monty Python reference? Either that or I'm reading too much into this again.
Sure is! In the spirit of Monty Python, Zerobi HATES clichéd terms, so you hear her groaning a lot when together with Lucario.
“Problem, outlaw?” Snivy said with a smug smile on his face while crossing his arms in confidence.
And what about this? Is Smugleaf trollin'? Or am I just too fond of italics?
He put on his cool face.
One of the things I noticed while reading through EG again was that you broke the third wall a lot more than you do now...Honestly, I think that's a good thing, even though it is fun once in a while.
The THIRD wall? I broke it so badly they had to put in a fourth one! Anyway, I did, but apparently it didn't go over too well so I started using it with reservation.
Can't let things get too serious, though. The party at the end of FL is still one of my favorite parts!
Anyway, why was it necessary to have two Astrids? It certainly caused some confusion in the "epilogue" of FL. I was especially confused, since I read that before EG, so I had no idea who half the characters were! I did really like the "epilogue," though, even if I had to reread it later.
I thought it was an interesting trait. Canon-wise, Astrid is an ancient name for rock-types, the rock-eeveelution learning about it from his father (They've been isolated from civilization a few generations). He renamed himself after evolving, thinking that was the proper way to do things. His original name has yet to be revealed.
I did finally recognize that Evolution's Gate is based off the the actual cult, Heaven's Gate, though. I...guess I probably should have realized it was sort of a parody of an actual cult, though (So is there a Poke-heaven? or is evolution the highest achievement a Pokemon can expect? Come to think of it, the fossil Pokemon look like ancient animals from Earth, so there seems to be the more traditional kind of evolution at work here, somehow...Oh crap, this is a long aside).
Finally someone got the Heaven's Gate thing. It was all the hubbub when I was growing up, I thought everyone knew about that!
As for the aside... There's no heaven. When you die you go back to what you were before you were born (nothing)... Unless Celebi's around, of course!
Also, there are short term evolutions that happens anywhere between a week and instantaneously (when a Pokemon evolves), and then there's the long term evolution that is more akin to our universe.
Forever Legendary
So it has been explained where Kabutops came from, and I can accept that Astrid had a similar backstory, but what up with Armaldo? No one really seems to pay attention to the fact that he's a living fossil too.
Armaldo are from a later era, and as such not as ancient. See it as the relation between Jurassic and Cretaceous!
For that matter, the name Astrid is a common name for Rock-types (for some reason), yeah? Kind of makes me wonder why the Bouldeon was named Astrid (which I've never heard of being used as a guy's name before, poor guy) if he was born as a Normal-type. Maybe it was...DESTINY!?
Getting back to the whole name discussion, Astrid was born without a name, known as "Eevee". It wasn't until after he evolved that he gave himself the name Astrid.
Just kind of a random question here: Gallade and Snivy both have British accents, right? Obviously Snivy is classy, so he has to have a British accent, but I find it hard to imagine him with an accent, maybe just because I don't hear British accents a whole lot. Maybe I need to watch more Doctor Who...
Britain doesn't exist in the Pokemon universe. Subtle differences in speaking patterns is just something I added for the sake of the story.
A crossdressing closeted homosexual? In MY story? Well, you know what they say about guys that simply can’t find a girl… Do we ever actually see him with a girl outside of his own stories? Seems like he’d much rather hang around with Pikablu and Kabutops…
Hmm. Despite those signs, and him being completely fabulous, I also find it hard to believe Gallade's a homosexual. Who knows what years as a Ralts and Kirlia can do to you, though...
The joke is that he's had more girls than any other character in the story. Getting deeper into it, he oozes beauty to the point where both men and women are affected, even if only one of them is pursued... Hence why people make fun of him for it.
Hmm...The epilogue chapter of FL got me thinking how weird it is that every Pokemon ever lays eggs, regardless of whether or not they logically should. Come to think of it, how could Pikablu and Anne ever reproduce?
... Oh wait, they all lay eggs!? Completely forgot! How do I explain that? Hmm... Hell, the games just go "An egg has mysteriously appeared!", why can't I?
I guess some simply lay eggs and some have live births with no rhyme or reason as to who. Wait, isn't that how things are in real life?
The egg group thing was too nonsensical to include, so just about every Pokemon is a match. Seeing how Pokemon from different species can understand each other and that they are all recognized by Pokeballs there's obviously a deeper evolutionary root binding them all, so it's not THAT far off.
Mew's Christmas Carol
That’s when Mew noticed what she hadn’t earlier seen
The calcium’s electrons were not twenty, but actually nineteen!
“It’s called potassium, an element the humans created!”
Celebi continued as Mew became elated...
I didn't really think of this before, but other than being naturally occurring, pure potassium is actually super-dangerous on account of its being really reactive with water in the air.
Still a pretty rad gift, though.
Hah! Never thought anyone would catch that! None of them knew that and it had been in a bag until then, so approximately 10 seconds after the end they had to evacuate the place. This is going to lead to a reference in the future, and... Not much else, really.
I also think it's a bit weird that the Pokemon world has a Christmas, given that there was probably never a Poke-Christ. I googled "Pokemon Christmas" and all I got was an album from 2001 called Pokemon Christmas Bash (including such hits as "I'm Giving Santa a Pikachu for Christmas"). Nonetheless, it's not like people haven't pretty much always celebrated around the winter solstice.
I could make up a reason for them to be celebrating Christmas, but truth is that it's just because I entered the story into a Pokemon Christmas Contest which (surprisingly enough) had to deal with Christmas... And won first prize! Heck, every story's a contest entry except for THS, and that's just because I need to constantly edit it.
The Human Species
So, like, when the other characters say Lucario is wearing pants--they mean he's wearing actual clothes, not just his puffy leg area, right? Where might he have gotten those?
Lucario's pants are a big plot point. Maybe they're actually Mew using Transform! (WORST. TWIST. EVER.)
Whoa! I didn't know pants could be so important! Lucario is an interesting character, to be sure...come to think of it, is Rukario...an original character?
Rukario's a shiny Lucario. The only shiny in the story actually, matching their extreme rarity in the games. She kind of looks like the Swedish flag too, which is a bonus!
On a somewhat related note: what the heck do you eat when pretty much every living thing is sentient? Either you barbecue a Combusken, I guess, or you get used to the taste of berries. Come to think of it, though, in the anime I remember them eating onigiri from time to time. I'm trying to research more with Google (this is what we call "research" in the 21st century), but all I'm getting is Pokemon food products. Holy crap, they made marshmallow Pikachu!?
But Pikachu isn't weak against fire! Anyway, the speech at the end of Indomitable Father Kabutops goes into this... But yeah, since berries are enough to provide sustenance there's really no reason to kill for food.
Another thing I thought of when reading the latest chapter was how unrealistic the games are when it comes to healing injuries. Actually, I guess that's really due to them being RPGs; no one wants to wait the realistic five months after every battle for their Pokemon to make a complete recovery.
Fighting, injuries, death... I'm amazed at how media has turned these amazingly horrifying things into trivial happenings. I'm literally making things cooler by trying to keep them realistic, everything from a punch to a tidal wave...
... To a certain point, anyway. I don't think anyone'd want to read a story about Lonesome Paraplegic Lucario...
So, Pikablu is really apprehensive about being around Thunderstones since apparently he'll store his electricity in his tail and be unable to use any of his legendary-killing attacks. BUT! Some snooping around Pokedex entries tells me Raichu still store electricity in their cheek pouches, and use their tails to ground themselves (which should come in handy).
Huh? Really? Oh well, I'll attribute that to the fact that Pikablu just wants an excuse for not evolving into a fat mouse.
Lucas gasped. . . . Attempting to stand up to run away one last time, exhaustion finally overtook his body as he blacked out.
Okay, not really a question, but I just found this hilarious. So that's how it happens! I was surprised you didn't have the characters rob hi--oh wait no, they totally raid his Poke Ball belt for Celebi. Clever.
Yeah. Pikablu even stole a watch off the girl in Ilex Forest!
Hmm...so, not sure what to say about Zerobi's Song. Did you write it (and perform it) yourself? It is pretty good, but, uh...How do I say this?...It didn't really sound female in the MP3.
I was actually planning on writing tons of more songs for the story, but seeing how you're the only person to even acknowledge its existence I think I'll pass. Hey, some things work, some don't. Don't blame me for not doing what I can with the medium!
Okay, probably too early in the story to be asking who/what this "Grougaloragran" is. Still, any particular reason you picked such an odd name--or is that spoilerific as well!?
Did you try googling Grougaloragran? Anyway, it's from a dragon in Wakfu, and also the name of the Dragonite from Forever Legendary.
All of them
Well, up next is Pokemon movies and magazines. It kind of strikes me as odd that there are magazines like the occult magazine (which I guess is basically a tabloid) marketed exclusively to Pokemon. Okay, I'm probably wrong about the "exclusive" part. Still, if the Pokemon have seen the Mystery Dungeon movies, does that mean they have a separate theater? Or, do they go to a normal theater for everyone? Wouldn't they need extra-huge seats to accommodate extra-large Pokemon!? [Here I stop myself before my overthinking continues to infinity.]
No no no, no magazine or movie is ever marketed towards Pokemon. Pokemon generally don't learn how to read (and most lack arms to flip through pages or hold a pen with), so they get news from word-by-mouth or the extremely simplistic writing style of "pawprint".
Zerobi LOVES the occult and learned how to read after going through the magazines year after year (going to school helped too), and Pikablu (among others) have simply been around long enough to pick it up.
Still, all Pokemon have eyes (even Zubat) and like to watch movies, so they get a separate box without seats if they go to the theater (the smaller ones that won't set the place on fire with their tail get to use seats).
A'ight, next I have "communication." Uh...yeah. Maybe I meant to wonder why humans don't just speak Pokemon all the time? It would probably make things easier, though it must be a pain to learn to speak correctly if everything can be expressed in as few as one syllable. Writing is probably out of the question.
Have you ever talked to a person you didn't quite understand? Like, you hear what he's saying, but it's like he's from an entirely different existence then you?
... STOP POINTING AT ME! Anyway, it's like that - Pokemon understand humans fairly well, but the different speech patterns and grammar throw them off to the point where having regular conversations is out of the question.
Pokemon that spend time around humans understand them better than others, like Snivy and Lucario. Pokemon completely segregated from humans can barely understand them at all, like the Stoneon Astrid and that female Zubat (Notice how she didn't respond to anything Silver said?)
I was just thinking this morning about the oil banter from chapter 11. Hmm, Lucario does say it's compressed plants and animals...I suppose it's not that surprising that Zerobi wouldn't have heard of oil, given that she is a Pokemon...They do have cars in the Poke-world, though, so unless they're way ahead of us technologically, they probably do use oil. Apparently most oil comes from compressed algae and bacteria and such...which got me thinking about how outside of Pokerus, there doesn't seem to be any microscopic organism in the Pokeverse (what do I call this). I guess the point of this topic is...Pokemon is weird?
Cars exist, but are about as rare as unicycles are in our world. Riding Pokemon is an unbeatable form of transportation. Also, they run on berries.
Microscopic organisms exist, of course. They're the foundation of all life! They're not that different from the ones in our world, either...
Also they apparently do have guns on Pokearth, though I'm not sure if it's canon, and I'd think the names of Swords Dance and Sacred Sword have to come from somewhere.
Again, EXTREMELY rare, and pretty much useless if your opponent has anything stronger than a Squirtle.
"You're going down, Leonardo!"
*BANG*
*RICOCHET*
"Squirtle, use water gun!"
"HAHAHA! A water gun!? You make me la... Oh... OH NO! PLEASE REMEMBER ME FOR MY GOOD DEEDS AND NOT SHOOting at an innocent pokemoooon..."
*Twinkle*
Oh yeah, I never really thought poisoning would manifest itself as huge purple spikes growing out of one's back...Though, I suppose it's at least better than turning completely purple. A bit of creative freedom on your part, I guess.
They're Poison Stings! And Lucario is immune to Poison!
Like you said, it's probably for the best that you didn't really include Ash in the canon--though apparently you did include Misty and Brock, and replaced him with Red. I guess this is really more like the story from the games, with Red being the first Pokemon Master, huh? He was always based on Ash (or vice versa), what with the Pikachu, so I s'pose it all worked out.
Misty and Brock are in, but they never traveled with Red. Just a rumor in the "correct almost 10% of the time" occult magazines. Including Ash would mean including Team Rocket who builds machinery out of nothing while still being unable to handle a bloody teenager with the help of a Pokemon that can speak because he worked really hard at it.
WHAT.
One thing I've been wondering about, which applies to all of Pokemon, really, is the issue of names. It seems kind of weird that Pokemon should usually be referred to as the name of their species, even though there's obviously more than one in the world. Still, others are different: while there's Pikachu the Pikachu and Kabutops the Kabutops, there's Pikablu the Pikachu and Kabuta the Kabutops. I figure it's like with last names, where other species call them by their types, but among members of the same species call them by their names (if they have one!?). Still, I can't remember a single instance where a Pokemon wasn't called by its species name in the show. I've already said too much, though; what do you think?
Pokemon have a looser society than humans, no credit cards or IDs or all that nonsense. A Caterpie would see his one friend as "that Pikachu" and his other friend as "that other Pikachu" instead of directly naming them and do fine. Close friends usually make up nicknames for each other, though... Like Uncle Sissy!
Also, there are +600 different species of Pokemon, meaning that individual names are rarely required. More common Pokemon usually have names, while rarer one (like Kabutops) don't need one (Naming his son and daughter was Astrid's idea, who dropped the whole Aerodactyl thing eons ago).
Oh, and Pokemon have different names in different regions, to reflect their Japanese counterparts. So a Weavile can be known as a Manyula, Mienshao as Kojondo etc. Kind of like how we have latin names for flora and fauna.
Hmm...Though, that does raise the question of how one would explain away the rate at which they're finding Pokemon. Black and White's cities seem like they've been there for a long time; you'd think someone would have noticed the hundreds of new Pokemon out there. Meanwhile, I was going to ask about the Japanese names in some of the stories, but I guess I can check that off the list!
Many decades have passed since Pokemon Red/Blue, Pokemon from every region now exist pretty much everywhere. Most Pokemon don't even remember where their species first came from!
I can understand Gallade having a camera, but...where does he keep it? And how does he update his blog with only three fingers and no thumbs!? I must know!
Minimize. Bags of holding. Under his freakishly long arms. I leave out describing every one of them because, unlike everything else, that makes for a REALLY boring read...
Psychic Pokemon don't even need a keyboard to interact with computers!
I s'pose even in the games you're able to hold up to 99 of everything, so I'll give you that.
Movin' on, though: how much do you make type matchups count in your stories? It certainly seems like the characters worry about it (Zerobi is extremely careful around Fighting-types, and with good reason), but it's not like Lucario sat out the fight against the Fearsome Four (though I think at that point he was unaware of matchups).
I'm complicating it to keep battles interesting. Kabutops takes X4 damage from grass attacks because the grass sucks up the water in his body. Lucario takes extra damage from fighting abilities (not punches and kicks since Mega Punch and Kick are normal type attacks, but rather stuff like focus blast... Hence why the aura is burning him so badly), but has the speed to avoid getting hit.
To REALLY complicate things, Lucario's lack of spikes also reduces his Steel affinity, giving him less protection against many types yet less weakness towards some.
It's...unfortunate that some dual-Fighting-type Pokemon are super-affected by Fighting (like Lucario and Scraggy/Scrafty). Kinda weird how that works out.
I mean, come on! Lucario was in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it's not like he took X2 damage from every punch and kick there!
Random Musings
Hmm...If we're talking about writing, I might as well ask: do you have a favorite author?
Sadly, no. If we were to extend it beyond the range of literature I could name Eiichiro Oda and Don Rosa, just that most books I've read have been too formulaic and predictable to be called 'good'. 300 pages containing like 3-4 memorable events padded out with useless filler? It should ALL be memorable!
To be honest, I respect far more authors than I like. You know, for being able to entertain people.
I guess I'd go with Stephen King for some of his short stories and The Stand, but even he has issues. You wanted a recommendation? Try 'Skeleton Crew', that's a good one!
So! How long does it usually take for you to write a chapter of THS? Clearly, with the shorter chapters, it's less time than the others in the series. I don't know--what's your writing process, if you will?
Depends on the type of chapter, quite frankly. For chapters where the dialog is the most important, I start with that (Remorseful Vampire Zerobi). When the chapters have big fights in them, I start with the descriptions (Fearsome Four Mienfoo). When they've got both... I just write both at the same time!
While I wrote everything in order between Evo's Gate and Forever Legendary, my writing has become very splintered as of late with me jumping between chapters and just adding tiny pieces to completely different parts. It feels unorganized and makes chapters take longer to write, but all in all I think they become more streamlined that way.
It might be a bit premature, but...If this is to be your last Pokemon-themed story, what're you planning on doing afterwards, writing-wise?
Stories not involving copyrighted characters. I already have tons of great ideas, characters and events for a novel that can be published to an audience outside of the Pokemon fanbase. Heck, it will certainly end up being a much better story than anything I've done that's related to Pokemon...
... But I have too many good ideas for THS to leave it hanging, so I'll finish that one first. Stick with me after that and I'll be able to take you beyond the realms of Pokemon... And it'll be great.
Um...Here I have "generic closing question." So how's this [holding a microphone entirely too close to your face]: is there anything else you'd like to say to your adoring public?
Not really. I'm writing stories that you're reading, and so I feel we've already got a relationship far beyond that of strangers. Even though we've never met or even spoken to one another, this story and everything that comes with it connects us. It is something only you and I share!
... Well, you and I and like 3 others!
Hey, I just realized that this would serve as a pretty good Q&A chapter. Mind if I post all these questions/answers when we're done? Cutting out the... Private parts?
Oh my god no you can't cut out my private oh I see what you're saying. But yeah, that would be amazing! I do seem to have unwittingly written half of a Q&A chapter for you. Curses!
Last edited by ShadedSkies; 20th June 2011 at 2:23 PM.
Jade Star Trainer
Oh, and OF COURSE it's time for another preview. It's ALWAYS time for another preview!
http://archives.bulbagarden.net/medi..._Scientist.png
A vial of slime
A Pokeball containing Grimer
ALL FOR SCIENCE
Jade Star Trainer
Oh, and OF COURSE it's time for another preview. It's ALWAYS time for another preview!
http://archives.bulbagarden.net/medi..._Scientist.png
A vial of slime
A Pokeball containing Grimer
ALL FOR SCIENCE
Jade Star Trainer
"Tighter!" someone said, "I don't want him moving an inch!"
"What, afraid he might bite?" someone else said.
Lucario slowly regained his consciousness, relieved that he had escaped death in his sleep once more. Keeping a track of time in his windowless cell was as hopeless as the Dragonair had claimed, but his rumbling stomach told him that he had been imprisoned far too long. He could barely see, and everything he heard a strange distortion to it.
"These things can manipulate aura and do all sorts of weird stuff," the first voice said with a nervous tone.
"Like that'll do anything against good ol' steel!" the second voice said, giving one of the chains an affectionate pat as they cut into Lucario's aching wrists.
"I'm just saying, anything short of nailing his behind to the floor is unsafe," the first voice replied and followed it with a short chuckle.
Lucario's arms felt very tired, and he noticed that he was being held up by something. Peering through the darkness surrounding him, he saw that his arms were being suspended by something made out of a cold and tough material that would have felt more familiar against his knuckles than around his wrists.
"He's sedated," the thin man said before suddenly flicking Lucario's nose, "See? Completely harmless." Lucario perked up and looked in front of him with a stare of a thousand fires. All he saw was a blurred image of someone… Nothing he hadn't experienced after a night of one too many drinks.
"Hey…" the blurry person said, "… I think he likes me!"
"Come closer," Lucario whispered while faking a smile, "I'll eat your face."
Having been caged like an animal for a few days without any food had made him drop most of his usual reservations, and even with his faded vision he could tell this ugly piece of work wouldn't look much worse with half a nose. He continued musing hatred for his unknown captors for a while before the sheer energy consumption of his belly crying out for food proved too much, as he fell into unconsciousness once more.
For a short moment he experienced a dream where pulled the chains out of the walls and used them as whips and threw generic henchmen left and right. Then one of the chains suddenly turned into a blue snake while the other turned into a green vine. The vine started strangling him while the snake kept his arms apart, the vine starting to feel strangely sharp against his throat…
"A Pokémon in tatters…" a voice sounded with crystal clarity and instantly broke him away from his dream, "… What a pitiful sight."
The familiarity of the voice made Lucario think he had fallen into yet another nightmare, but slowly opening his eyes he saw that he was far worse off than that.
With hair as white as snow and a chilling expression masking his usual madness stood Brendan, hardly a foot away from the chained Pokémon. Lucario flinched instinctively, and his right shoulder began hurting as he tugged against his bindings.
"These eggheads tell me that you're a fair share more intelligent than your average critter," Brendan said coldly without changing his expression, "So if you can understand me, feel free to rattle in fear."
At the sound of this, Lucario decided to not move an inch even if it meant his death. The scene of him hanging pathetically from the ground next to Brendan's unwavering stature was not one he enjoyed, but decided not to give the trainer the pleasure of cowering and kept his head raised.
"For three days and two nights you eluded me," Brendan said in an articulate way while waving his right arm around, "Escaping my every assault… Surviving my every strategy…"
Lucario was starting to wonder if this calm and composed soul was the same sadistic madman he had fought earlier, but got his answer as Brendan suddenly grabbed a hold of his head.
"An unremarkable Lucario bested a champion… No, TWO champions…" Brendan growled as the ice in his eyes melted and was replaced by a fiery fire, "… And then you go get yourself caught by Silver's boy…!?"
"… Like it was really… My choice…" Lucario growled back and kept himself steadfast despite Brendan increasing the strength of his grip.
Suddenly, Brendan seemed to cool down as he let go of Lucario and returned his voice to the melancholic demeanor he had put on earlier.
"You brought the final confrontation between me and my lifelong rival to a standstill." he said with utter disdain in his voice, "While being chained up in here for a while is a fitting punishment, it is also a rather dull one."
Suddenly, Brendan leaned in closer to Lucario, who moved his head back in disgust, thinking he might bite him. Brendan was so near that he could count the hairs on Lucario's face, and he started smiling as he finally saw a trace of fear in the Pokémon's expression.
"When these scientists are finished with their experiments… If they poke around that hairy head of yours and find nothing but dandruff…" Brendan whispered quietly while reaching out a hand and gently stroking the frozen Lucario's head, "… You will be freed. By my hands, if necessary."
The hope that would normally have sparked within Lucario was drowned out by the sheer absurdity of the situation.
"You shall receive a day's head start before the hunt resumes..." Brendan spoke quietly as his smile grew wider and more manic, "… And that will be the last sliver of mercy you can expect from me."
The instinct to batter away this lunatic came upon Lucario in wave after wave, but his chained situation combined with his complete lack of energy gave him no other option but to stare back at Brendan. Somehow, this seemed to make both of them angrier.
"Hmpf. You look halfway dead, already…" Brendan muttered, disappointed at the lack of an outburst like the one he had gotten in their previous battle. Reaching into his pocket, he dragged out a small loaf of bread.
"Here. Keep those leg muscles from decomposing." he said, stuffing the bread into Lucario's mouth, "You are going to need them."
Lucario felt like spluttering from the intrusion, but knew that every crumb that fell to the floor would be a sliver of life lost if he didn't escape soon. The bread tasted like berries for some reason. The horrible taste was lost to him as he grouchily chewed the bread while Brendan turned around to leave.
"Wait…" Lucario said as he hastily swallowed the major part of the food he had been given, "… The penguin…"
"Let us continue this conversation on the battlefield…" Brendan said with a slightly disgusted tone, "… Prey."
The door closed behind the trainer, leaving Lucario alone again. His brain began processing this new information, before his stomach started digesting the food and he decided to take a rest instead.
"Forgive me for my earlier rudeness," a voice sounded and woke him up, "I did not realize you were THE Lucario."
Lucario opened his eyes half expecting the man that had put him under hypnosis earlier, and was surprised to see that he was right.
Bowing courteously in front of him was the man that had taken the Dragonair to her doom. Lucario's vision was still far from perfect, but as the man was so close he could distinguish that it was an unremarkable man in his thirties, dressed in a white robe and carrying glasses on his emotionless face.
"You…" Lucario wheezed weakly while noting a faint difference in the scientist in front of him. Even though he appeared the same as before, something Lucario could not quite put his finger on had changed about him. A hint of relief struck as Lucario noticed that the Pokémon with the creepy aura was no longer there.
"A Pokémon, completely immune to Pokeballs…" the scientist continued as his face remained expressionless, "Truly a collector's item… Would that be a possibility?"
"Whatever…" Lucario mumbled, the remnants of the bread combined with a lack of water not doing much to prevent a parched throat, "Set me free… Or give me some water… I'll be anything you want."
"You have sent the higher brass on a fruitless quest long enough," the scientist continued, "Perhaps your catch rate is lower than most Pokémon, but to go against modern science you still have much to acquire."
"Oh yeah…" Lucario mumbled as he spaced out and the Dragonair's demise suddenly flashed through his mind, "You're the guy who understood me… Right?" The scientist suddenly turned around and walked to the other side of the room, where Lucario saw several blinking lights.
"But before I can do anything, I need to get you under control," the scientist said while hastily sitting down on a chair, "As luck would have it, Pokeballs are far from our only means of controlling your kind."
"… Huh!?" Lucario exclaimed, suddenly feeling a coldness seep through him. Looking around the room for means of escape, he finally noticed that there was something peculiar above him.
There was a large ball of smooth material sticking out of a long stick, with several needle-like appendages protruding from the sides. No matter how hard he looked at it, he was unable to grasp why it looked like it did and what it might be used for.
"They are portable and handy, and would work perfectly fine if not for you…" the scientist kept going while seemingly looking in Lucario's direction in the darkness of the room, "This machine is not quite portable, but its capturing powers are far amplified."
"Shit…" Lucario muttered while the scientist started typing away at an unseen keyboard, "You already have me here, and yet you still want to capture me?" He was fairly indifferent to this development, due to a lack of energy as well as care. While the prospect of turning into a red light and being trapped inside such a tiny compartment was not a pleasant one, he felt it beat starving to death in a cell.
Then again, as he began analyzing the situation he realized that this is the man who took Dragonair away from the cell and turned her into what she was now. Suddenly staying put in the cell didn't seem like such a bad thing.
"See it as a Master Ball with unlimited uses… Perhaps even stronger" the scientist said calmly before pushing down a button a leaning back, "Let us find out." Instantly the strange contraption above Lucario began emitting a whirr, followed by a bright light.
"You'll regret this…" Lucario said intimidatingly, but in a voice lacking power. Slowly he began to realize that should it work, his chances of escape would be even slimmer.
"Worry not, my experiments should be over before you know it," the scientist said coldly, "Just a quick check up, and then you can go meet your new trainer."
"Oh… I can't wait" Lucario replied, suddenly getting the urge to crack his knuckles. Looking up, he saw nothing but a bright light covering up what seemed to be slightly weaker red glow above him. In his mind the glow took the shape of many different creatures, the last of which looked remarkably like Celebi.
"Should've asked what it was like…" Lucario muttered to himself before the red light suddenly exploded and engulfed him from head to toe. His normal defiance deterred at the fear of turning blind, and he closed his eyes and waited for it all to be over.
When the machine finally stopped, nothing had changed. The light was gone but both the room and Lucario were the same as before. Not even the expression of the dull scientist had altered in the slightest.
"… Indeed…" he said, "It seems that you are insistent on keeping us on this fruitless quest a little longer…"
"Haahh…" Lucario sighed, not out of relief but boredom. Going from fighting for his life and meeting many strange creatures every day to this had left an unexpected hole in his heart.
"Hmm… I am not getting the usual rush…" the scientist said with a bored sigh as the clattering on the keyboard resumed, "Let me just re-calibrate this…"
Lucario groaned and lowered his head, thinking that if he feigned death they would give him something to eat and maybe even a chance to escape. However, his body was so low on energy that when he stilled himself and closed his eyes he almost immediately fell unconscious.
The next thing he knew, the door to the room flew open. The scientist was gone, and the odd sensations of many new auras swirled around in him. The energy from the food he had been given earlier had finally entered his system, and he felt invigorated as he looked up and saw two Pokémon he had never seen before in front of him. One of them was slim and dark, while the other looked rather large and brutish in comparison.
"Lucario, I presume?" the dark one said, "I'm Zoroark, the revolutionist. I'll be rescuing you now."
- - - - - - - -
"The TV's ready... What about everyone else?"
"Ready!"
"Just do it, already!"
"... THUNDERSHOCK!"
*KRSHH*ning strike*BRRTZ*
"It's working! Ha ha ha, it's really working!"
"Keep going, keep going!"
"HNNNGGGGG!"
*SSHZTZHH*he news, I'll have to ca*KRSCH*
"Come on, we can't hear anything!"
"Your magnets are interfering with the signal! Keep them still!"
"Really? That's how they work?
"Hmm...! Like this...?"
... where a group of wild Pokemon have broken into Saff. 15 and are currently engaging local security.
"BORING! Switch to the cartoon channel!"
"Be quiet! That's not the reason we're doing this!"
Saff. 15, notable for being involved in the Sliph CO scandal many decades ago is a top-secret facility used by th*BRRZZT*
"Hey! Keep 'em steady!"
"Saff... Saff. 15!? B-But that's where they took-"
"I KNOW! Stop flailing about so we can hear what's going on!"
*FZZT* *BRZZT* as an organized attack by wild Pokemon of this scale has not occurred for several decades. Authorities *KSHH* that the nearby Mew sighting by an abandoned truck that was proven to be a hoax *SHHZH* related to this event, and investigations into the matter are…
"… Unbelievable…"
"Psst! He's busy thinking, switch to the cartoon channel!"
*KRSHH*er! Hey there, I'm up-and-coming Trainer *BRRTZ* from the backwater town of *FZZTZ*! With the help of Pokemon Professor *VRTZZ* and rival *SHRSHH*, I'm on a journey going across *CHHH* to collect all eight Pokemon League Badges and challenge the Elite Four, all while singlehandedly thwarting the schemes of the evil crime syndicate Team *GNYYZZ* and filling up a Pokedex because... Well, why not?"
"This show sucks! I wanna see Lonesome Wanderer Lucario!"
Jade Star Trainer
"Tighter!" someone said, "I don't want him moving an inch!"
"What, afraid he might bite?" someone else said.
Lucario slowly regained his consciousness, relieved that he had escaped death in his sleep once more. Keeping a track of time in his windowless cell was as hopeless as the Dragonair had claimed, but his rumbling stomach told him that he had been imprisoned far too long. He could barely see, and everything he heard a strange distortion to it.
"These things can manipulate aura and do all sorts of weird stuff," the first voice said with a nervous tone.
"Like that'll do anything against good ol' steel!" the second voice said, giving one of the chains an affectionate pat as they cut into Lucario's aching wrists.
"I'm just saying, anything short of nailing his behind to the floor is unsafe," the first voice replied and followed it with a short chuckle.
Lucario's arms felt very tired, and he noticed that he was being held up by something. Peering through the darkness surrounding him, he saw that his arms were being suspended by something made out of a cold and tough material that would have felt more familiar against his knuckles than around his wrists.
"He's sedated," the thin man said before suddenly flicking Lucario's nose, "See? Completely harmless." Lucario perked up and looked in front of him with a stare of a thousand fires. All he saw was a blurred image of someone… Nothing he hadn't experienced after a night of one too many drinks.
"Hey…" the blurry person said, "… I think he likes me!"
"Come closer," Lucario whispered while faking a smile, "I'll eat your face."
Having been caged like an animal for a few days without any food had made him drop most of his usual reservations, and even with his faded vision he could tell this ugly piece of work wouldn't look much worse with half a nose. He continued musing hatred for his unknown captors for a while before the sheer energy consumption of his belly crying out for food proved too much, as he fell into unconsciousness once more.
For a short moment he experienced a dream where pulled the chains out of the walls and used them as whips and threw generic henchmen left and right. Then one of the chains suddenly turned into a blue snake while the other turned into a green vine. The vine started strangling him while the snake kept his arms apart, the vine starting to feel strangely sharp against his throat…
"A Pokémon in tatters…" a voice sounded with crystal clarity and instantly broke him away from his dream, "… What a pitiful sight."
The familiarity of the voice made Lucario think he had fallen into yet another nightmare, but slowly opening his eyes he saw that he was far worse off than that.
With hair as white as snow and a chilling expression masking his usual madness stood Brendan, hardly a foot away from the chained Pokémon. Lucario flinched instinctively, and his right shoulder began hurting as he tugged against his bindings.
"These eggheads tell me that you're a fair share more intelligent than your average critter," Brendan said coldly without changing his expression, "So if you can understand me, feel free to rattle in fear."
At the sound of this, Lucario decided to not move an inch even if it meant his death. The scene of him hanging pathetically from the ground next to Brendan's unwavering stature was not one he enjoyed, but decided not to give the trainer the pleasure of cowering and kept his head raised.
"For three days and two nights you eluded me," Brendan said in an articulate way while waving his right arm around, "Escaping my every assault… Surviving my every strategy…"
Lucario was starting to wonder if this calm and composed soul was the same sadistic madman he had fought earlier, but got his answer as Brendan suddenly grabbed a hold of his head.
"An unremarkable Lucario bested a champion… No, TWO champions…" Brendan growled as the ice in his eyes melted and was replaced by a fiery fire, "… And then you go get yourself caught by Silver's boy…!?"
"… Like it was really… My choice…" Lucario growled back and kept himself steadfast despite Brendan increasing the strength of his grip.
Suddenly, Brendan seemed to cool down as he let go of Lucario and returned his voice to the melancholic demeanor he had put on earlier.
"You brought the final confrontation between me and my lifelong rival to a standstill." he said with utter disdain in his voice, "While being chained up in here for a while is a fitting punishment, it is also a rather dull one."
Suddenly, Brendan leaned in closer to Lucario, who moved his head back in disgust, thinking he might bite him. Brendan was so near that he could count the hairs on Lucario's face, and he started smiling as he finally saw a trace of fear in the Pokémon's expression.
"When these scientists are finished with their experiments… If they poke around that hairy head of yours and find nothing but dandruff…" Brendan whispered quietly while reaching out a hand and gently stroking the frozen Lucario's head, "… You will be freed. By my hands, if necessary."
The hope that would normally have sparked within Lucario was drowned out by the sheer absurdity of the situation.
"You shall receive a day's head start before the hunt resumes..." Brendan spoke quietly as his smile grew wider and more manic, "… And that will be the last sliver of mercy you can expect from me."
The instinct to batter away this lunatic came upon Lucario in wave after wave, but his chained situation combined with his complete lack of energy gave him no other option but to stare back at Brendan. Somehow, this seemed to make both of them angrier.
"Hmpf. You look halfway dead, already…" Brendan muttered, disappointed at the lack of an outburst like the one he had gotten in their previous battle. Reaching into his pocket, he dragged out a small loaf of bread.
"Here. Keep those leg muscles from decomposing." he said, stuffing the bread into Lucario's mouth, "You are going to need them."
Lucario felt like spluttering from the intrusion, but knew that every crumb that fell to the floor would be a sliver of life lost if he didn't escape soon. The bread tasted like berries for some reason. The horrible taste was lost to him as he grouchily chewed the bread while Brendan turned around to leave.
"Wait…" Lucario said as he hastily swallowed the major part of the food he had been given, "… The penguin…"
"Let us continue this conversation on the battlefield…" Brendan said with a slightly disgusted tone, "… Prey."
The door closed behind the trainer, leaving Lucario alone again. His brain began processing this new information, before his stomach started digesting the food and he decided to take a rest instead.
"Forgive me for my earlier rudeness," a voice sounded and woke him up, "I did not realize you were THE Lucario."
Lucario opened his eyes half expecting the man that had put him under hypnosis earlier, and was surprised to see that he was right.
Bowing courteously in front of him was the man that had taken the Dragonair to her doom. Lucario's vision was still far from perfect, but as the man was so close he could distinguish that it was an unremarkable man in his thirties, dressed in a white robe and carrying glasses on his emotionless face.
"You…" Lucario wheezed weakly while noting a faint difference in the scientist in front of him. Even though he appeared the same as before, something Lucario could not quite put his finger on had changed about him. A hint of relief struck as Lucario noticed that the Pokémon with the creepy aura was no longer there.
"A Pokémon, completely immune to Pokeballs…" the scientist continued as his face remained expressionless, "Truly a collector's item… Would that be a possibility?"
"Whatever…" Lucario mumbled, the remnants of the bread combined with a lack of water not doing much to prevent a parched throat, "Set me free… Or give me some water… I'll be anything you want."
"You have sent the higher brass on a fruitless quest long enough," the scientist continued, "Perhaps your catch rate is lower than most Pokémon, but to go against modern science you still have much to acquire."
"Oh yeah…" Lucario mumbled as he spaced out and the Dragonair's demise suddenly flashed through his mind, "You're the guy who understood me… Right?" The scientist suddenly turned around and walked to the other side of the room, where Lucario saw several blinking lights.
"But before I can do anything, I need to get you under control," the scientist said while hastily sitting down on a chair, "As luck would have it, Pokeballs are far from our only means of controlling your kind."
"… Huh!?" Lucario exclaimed, suddenly feeling a coldness seep through him. Looking around the room for means of escape, he finally noticed that there was something peculiar above him.
There was a large ball of smooth material sticking out of a long stick, with several needle-like appendages protruding from the sides. No matter how hard he looked at it, he was unable to grasp why it looked like it did and what it might be used for.
"They are portable and handy, and would work perfectly fine if not for you…" the scientist kept going while seemingly looking in Lucario's direction in the darkness of the room, "This machine is not quite portable, but its capturing powers are far amplified."
"Shit…" Lucario muttered while the scientist started typing away at an unseen keyboard, "You already have me here, and yet you still want to capture me?" He was fairly indifferent to this development, due to a lack of energy as well as care. While the prospect of turning into a red light and being trapped inside such a tiny compartment was not a pleasant one, he felt it beat starving to death in a cell.
Then again, as he began analyzing the situation he realized that this is the man who took Dragonair away from the cell and turned her into what she was now. Suddenly staying put in the cell didn't seem like such a bad thing.
"See it as a Master Ball with unlimited uses… Perhaps even stronger" the scientist said calmly before pushing down a button a leaning back, "Let us find out." Instantly the strange contraption above Lucario began emitting a whirr, followed by a bright light.
"You'll regret this…" Lucario said intimidatingly, but in a voice lacking power. Slowly he began to realize that should it work, his chances of escape would be even slimmer.
"Worry not, my experiments should be over before you know it," the scientist said coldly, "Just a quick check up, and then you can go meet your new trainer."
"Oh… I can't wait" Lucario replied, suddenly getting the urge to crack his knuckles. Looking up, he saw nothing but a bright light covering up what seemed to be slightly weaker red glow above him. In his mind the glow took the shape of many different creatures, the last of which looked remarkably like Celebi.
"Should've asked what it was like…" Lucario muttered to himself before the red light suddenly exploded and engulfed him from head to toe. His normal defiance deterred at the fear of turning blind, and he closed his eyes and waited for it all to be over.
When the machine finally stopped, nothing had changed. The light was gone but both the room and Lucario were the same as before. Not even the expression of the dull scientist had altered in the slightest.
"… Indeed…" he said, "It seems that you are insistent on keeping us on this fruitless quest a little longer…"
"Haahh…" Lucario sighed, not out of relief but boredom. Going from fighting for his life and meeting many strange creatures every day to this had left an unexpected hole in his heart.
"Hmm… I am not getting the usual rush…" the scientist said with a bored sigh as the clattering on the keyboard resumed, "Let me just re-calibrate this…"
Lucario groaned and lowered his head, thinking that if he feigned death they would give him something to eat and maybe even a chance to escape. However, his body was so low on energy that when he stilled himself and closed his eyes he almost immediately fell unconscious.
The next thing he knew, the door to the room flew open. The scientist was gone, and the odd sensations of many new auras swirled around in him. The energy from the food he had been given earlier had finally entered his system, and he felt invigorated as he looked up and saw two Pokémon he had never seen before in front of him. One of them was slim and dark, while the other looked rather large and brutish in comparison.
"Lucario, I presume?" the dark one said, "I'm Zoroark, the revolutionist. I'll be rescuing you now."
- - - - - - - -
"The TV's ready... What about everyone else?"
"Ready!"
"Just do it, already!"
"... THUNDERSHOCK!"
*KRSHH*ning strike*BRRTZ*
"It's working! Ha ha ha, it's really working!"
"Keep going, keep going!"
"HNNNGGGGG!"
*SSHZTZHH*he news, I'll have to ca*KRSCH*
"Come on, we can't hear anything!"
"Your magnets are interfering with the signal! Keep them still!"
"Really? That's how they work?
"Hmm...! Like this...?"
... where a group of wild Pokemon have broken into Saff. 15 and are currently engaging local security.
"BORING! Switch to the cartoon channel!"
"Be quiet! That's not the reason we're doing this!"
Saff. 15, notable for being involved in the Sliph CO scandal many decades ago is a top-secret facility used by th*BRRZZT*
"Hey! Keep 'em steady!"
"Saff... Saff. 15!? B-But that's where they took-"
"I KNOW! Stop flailing about so we can hear what's going on!"
*FZZT* *BRZZT* as an organized attack by wild Pokemon of this scale has not occurred for several decades. Authorities *KSHH* that the nearby Mew sighting by an abandoned truck that was proven to be a hoax *SHHZH* related to this event, and investigations into the matter are…
"… Unbelievable…"
"Psst! He's busy thinking, switch to the cartoon channel!"
*KRSHH*er! Hey there, I'm up-and-coming Trainer *BRRTZ* from the backwater town of *FZZTZ*! With the help of Pokemon Professor *VRTZZ* and rival *SHRSHH*, I'm on a journey going across *CHHH* to collect all eight Pokemon League Badges and challenge the Elite Four, all while singlehandedly thwarting the schemes of the evil crime syndicate Team *GNYYZZ* and filling up a Pokedex because... Well, why not?"
"This show sucks! I wanna see Lonesome Wanderer Lucario!"
Jade Star Trainer
The next chapter's hardly in need of a preview... But then again, it wouldn't make consistent, so here you are:
http://img694.imageshack.us/img696/7730/zoropreview.png
- Look like it's time for jailbait!
- I think you mean 'Jailbreak'.
- Huh? Nah, did that with my phone ages ago.
*Ba-thump-TISH*
Jade Star Trainer
"I trust there are no objections?" the dark one calling itself Zoroark asked with a cocky tone. It was a wolf-like humanoid who reminded Lucario a lot of himself. It had a sleek snout accompanied by beady, sharp eyes in emerald color. In contrast to Lucario's blue hairy fur it had a finer black coat, with a gigantic wild bush of red hair sticking out of its head, darkening into black by the edges. The hairdo was almost as big as the rest of its thin body, and definitively thicker. It had claws in the shape of several red spikes, not as long or intimidating as Zerobi's but seemingly more flexible and probably more dangerous.
"Poor predictable humans, always using steel…" Zoroark sighed while shaking his head and pointing to the chain holding Lucario in place, "Connor, take care of it." In response to this, the brutish one started moving with slow, heavy steps. It also had a humanoid form, but was much larger with bulging muscles and visible veins covering its body. It also had short grey beard, making it look like a peculiar mixture between a grouchy old man and a bodybuilder currently dabbling with steroids.
"If you can't walk, Connor here will carry you," Zoroark said while waving his hand towards his big partner, "… Although, I believe it would be a boon to the both of you if you could." Lucario's eyes were fastened upon Connor's hulking form as he reached out his long arms and clenched them around the chain keeping his left arm suspended. The veins over Connor's arms started pumping wildly as he grunted, the steel crumbling in his hands with a low cracking noise.
"Oh, man!" Lucario shouted, shocked by this display of power.
"Oh hey," Zoroark exclaimed with an amused tone, "He talks!"
"Of course, I…" Lucario replied before more pressing questions leapt to his mind, "… How'd you get here? Why are you helping me?"
"Tell me, have you heard anything about the revolution?" Zoroark asked with a subtle smile forming on his face.
"Probably not..." Lucario sighed, very rarely getting the chance of sounding like he was up to date on current events.
"… Well, I'll fill you in on it later…" Zoroark muttered disappointedly, "For now, let's just get out of here."
A piece of the second linked chain disappeared into Connor's hungry palms as Lucario fell to the ground, using his arms to support himself. He had expected both his arms and legs to be weaker, but he was able to stand up just fine with no unexpected effects besides a relieving feeling in his arms. His wrists were still aching though, and looking down he saw that about half a foot of chains were still dangling under his arms like a broken pair of handcuffs.
"We'll need precision work to take care of that," Zoroark said while looking at the chains, "Trust me, you do NOT want this guy operating on you."
"Wow, thanks! I owe you a handshake!" Lucario said as he saw remnants of the crumbled chains still on Connor's hand, "Let me just grab a diamond glove from somewhere…"
"You'll have to do better than that," Zoroark said with a shrug, "Nothing ever leaves Connor's grip intact, no excepti-"
"GET THEM!" a voice suddenly echoed from the open door, making the three of them cease their conversation and turn towards it.
Sharing the room with them now was two new Pokémon, both fairly small. One of them stood on four legs and had a red color to its skin, with several wine red tails perking up behind it. The other was a plant using its own thin roots as legs, supporting a big head shaped like a bell.
Standing directly outside the room was a human, shrouded by a veil of darkness.
"Stop!" the red fox screamed, "We'll fight you!"
"Why!?" Zoroark shouted back while pointing dramatically at it, "We have no intention of harming anyone, we only wish to free our brethren!" The fox flinched visibly and lacked anything resembling a comeback.
"Vulpix, use Flamethrower!" the trainer yelled and growled threateningly at them.
"Remember your heritage! Pokémon should not fight at the behest of humans!" Zoroark continued before taking a determined step forward, "We have simply chosen the wilderness! If you will not stand beside us, at the very least stand aside!"
"Vulpix, you miserable sack of tails! ATTACK!" the trainer bellowed, making the Vulpix look between him and Zoroark in confusion.
"Have it your way!" the trainer kept going before looking at the thin plant, "Bellsprout! Razor Leaf, NOW!" The Bellsprout and Vulpix both exchanged a panicked look for a moment, silently asking each other what to do.
"And you… I can see it in your eyes… What you crave most of all…" Zoroark told the grass-type as a charming smile appeared on his face, "Freedom."
"I-I…" the Bellsprout stammered with a soft voice and worried look on its face as it began fidgeting around, "How can I take the risk…?"
"Take the risk?" Zoroark sighed before shaking his head, "Sweetie… It's the chance of a lifetime!"
"Not you too!" the trainer shouted as he suddenly pulled out two Pokeballs that he recalled both the Vulpix and Bellsprout into, "Stinking idiots!"
The instant the red beam struck the two Pokémon, Zoroark made his move. Launching across the room like a ray of darkness, he extracted a small vial containing a yellow powder from the bushy red fur on his head. The trainer barely reacted as Zoroark coated his own claws with the powder and used them to lightly pierce the skin of the human's neck, just barely drawing blood.
The trainer took a surprised step backwards with a shocked expression, before suddenly falling down.
"Stun Spore," Zoroark said confidently before putting the vial back where he had extracted it from and looking at Lucario, whose expression was comparable to that of the stunned trainer, "Don't worry, he's just temporarily paralyzed."
"H-Holy shit…" Lucario stuttered astonished. Between Zoroark's ability to convince both enemies to stand down and his amazing speed, he was unsure as to what had surprised him the most. He stood frozen as he saw Zoroark bend over and pick up the Pokeballs from the stunned trainer.
"Two more," Zoroark said calmly, throwing the two Pokeballs to Connor who caught one in each hand. A shudder ran through Lucario as he imagined Connor crushing the balls with blood seeping out of them, but instead he put them into the backpack.
"Let's go, time's wasting…" Zoroark muttered before signaling for Lucario to follow him.
"Wait… How did you do that?" Lucario asked, still flabbergasted.
"I've got my way with Pokémon," Zoroark answered, not realizing that Lucario was more curious as to how he had kept a vial in his hair, "They were all captured at some point. More often than not, you'll find most of 'em still prefer the wilderness!"
They ran out of the room, Lucario getting a weird feeling from finally getting to use his legs again. Outside the door he had seen so many come and go through was nothing but a long, dreary corridor with black walls and a ceiling not very far above their heads. The only thing remarkable about this area was that three more Pokémon and trainers were standing in the middle of it.
"… Then again, the exception's fairly common, as well…" Zoroark muttered as all the trainers started shouting commands to their respective Pokémon.
"Pretty tight spot," Lucario mumbled with disdain. He sensed no intimidating aura from the Pokémon, but knew that the trainers probably possess more of them.
"Leave them to me," Zoroark said confidently with a sinister smile as he flexed his arms, "Unless, of course, you want to join in?"
"You sure?" Lucario asked, cracking his knuckles, "They might be harder to convert when they're unconscious."
"Be my guest," Zoroark answered before shrugging, "I want to see what you can do."
The two of them became quiet as the first Pokémon, a large bird holding on to a leek with one of its wings flew at Lucario, quickly slapping him in the face with it. He responded by punching the avian straight on the beak.
"A-A bloody leek!?" he shouted in surprise as the bird hunched over and covered its damaged beak, "Are you kidding me!? Finding a stick too much of a hassle, or what!?" A tiny ball of fire suddenly flew past him, lighting up the corridor as a red lizard quickly followed it and smashed into Connor's outstretched fist.
"You up for this?" Zoroark asked, throwing a quick glance to Lucario before dashing towards the third Pokémon.
"… Sure!" Lucario responded as he saw a small round object come flying at him. The vision of an aggressive Mienfoo passed through his mind as he jumped straight up and hit the ceiling. Using his arms to push away from it, he went flying down like a rocket aided by gravity and delivered a mighty stomp to the Pokémon that had been sent his way, immediately knocking it out. Stepping off the unconscious creature, he saw that it was something like a pink ball with ears and the marks of two large paws imprinted on its back.
"Not bad! Not bad at all!" Zoroark laughed after watching the whole spectacle as the large weight of Connor's fist came down upon the bird Pokémon like a hammer and knocked it out, "I'm starting to like you already!"
"Uh…" Lucario mumbled while looking at the trainers, all of which had now shared the fate of the previous one, "Did you really have to paralyze them?"
"No… I could kill them, if you'd prefer that," Zoroark huffed before hunching over and beginning to pluck Pokeballs from the defeated trainers, "Help me out, we can't have this take too long."
Lucario helped him extract Pokeballs from the immobile humans, enjoying the irony of the reverse capturing they were committing. The moment he held one of the Pokeballs in a firm grip, a pleasant sensation spread through him. A sense of adventure and accomplishment, and for a short moment he mused over the idea of saving a few Pokeballs for later, building his own personal army to keep in his pocket.
"… Heh, nah…" he snickered to himself before throwing the Pokeball to Connor. After they were finished looting Pokeballs, they started running down the long corridor again. A quick look at Zoroark told Lucario that he was glad, for some reason.
"We can't save 'em all, or we'll lose 'em all," Zoroark said while trying his best to sound serious, "The majority of their forces are away, looking for Mew. They'll be back soon, so the faster we get out of here, the better!"
"Looking for Mew?" Lucario repeated before getting hit by a memory flash, "Heh… Maybe I should join up with them?"
"Dream on!" Zoroark chuckled, "It's just a trick of mine! Like the actual Mew would really show itself!"
"Wait, so you used tricks before breaking in here with brute force…" Lucario said with a questioning voice, "Wouldn't it have been easier to use stealth to break out?"
"Not while carrying you on back. I thought you'd be out cold…" Zoroark explained while looking over Lucario, "… But you're completely fine! Hell, did you even need a rescue!?"
"Heh, like you wouldn't believe…" Lucario replied with a smile.
The strenuous movement from the earlier battle had made itself known in his arms and legs, but Lucario still felt ready for more. His energy had spiked due to the introduction of food in his system after such a long period of starvation. For half an instant he felt grateful to Brendan, deciding to minimize his gloating after his eventual victory over the insane trainer.
"Hey, listen…" Lucario said as the small penguin's fate returned to him once more, "Thanks for rescuing me, but there's a REAL troublesome guy after m-"
It was then he noticed that a very loud rumbling noise was coming from behind. Turning around in shock, he saw that it was in fact Connor, using his arms to throw himself forward to keep the same speed as the two wolves. His hands crushed the ground beneath him, making the corridor they just passed through look like a cluster bomb had been ignited.
"Hey, what kind of Pokémon is he?" Lucario asked as they turned around a corner.
"A Conkeldurr," Zoroark replied, able to cut the corner with more mobility than Lucario and slowed down a bit on purpose.
"Durr!?" Lucario repeated before getting a snide tone to his voice, "… Name fits."
"So does your head in his palms," Zoroark said with a sinister smile, "Personally, I'd keep the mocking to a minimum." Connor smashed harshly into the wall of the corner, using his own velocity to bounce back on track.
As they turned the corner and were finally out of the first corridor, Lucario groaned when he saw that yet another corridor awaiting them. His first thought of escape had been to jump out of a window, but each passageway had brought nothing but solid walls on every side.
Suddenly, Lucario and Zoroark split off from each other by sidestepping as a small rock flew at them. It went past and struck Connor's face, who headbutted it in return and caused it to split into two. Lucario saw two larger rocks ahead of them with long arms, but did not have time to examine them more carefully as Zoroark leaped over them.
"Slowpokes!" he laughed and kept on running.
"Great stepping stones!" Lucario chimed in, using one of them as a foothold as he also ran past them. The two rocks with arms turned around to follow the two, not noticing the Conkeldurr coming up behind them, picking them up and smashing them together with brutal force.
"Here!" Zoroark told Lucario, suddenly running into the wall on his right. At first he thought the Pokémon had gone mad, but Lucario saw that there was in fact a large hole in the wall, obscured by the darkness. They all ran into it, Zoroark carefully moving a thin metal cover out of the way as they ended up in a larger room.
The room was brightly lit and filled with technological equipment, working in complete contrast to the corridor that now connected them through an improvised passageway. Even so, the roof had remained at the same low altitude as in the passageways preceding it.
Directly in the middle of the room was yet another creature that looked like a large boulder, although this one had no arms and instead several hollow red appendages sticking out of it. It was completely immobile and lacked eyes, so Lucario didn't know whether it was awake or even alive.
There were several exits in the room, but apparently Zoroark knew what he was doing. He moved quickly past the strange Pokémon without making a sound, signaling for the rest to follow him.
"Haha! Eat my dust!" Lucario exclaimed cheerfully to follow up his remarks to the other rock Pokémon, accidentally alerting the Pokémon to his presence. Instantly it launched out a cache of triangular spikes at Lucario, who saw no way to dodge the attack and covered his face instinctively. Strangely enough, the few spikes that hit him seemed to just bounce off him without doing any damage, but the hasty movement of his hands had caused the chains around them to slap him on the head.
"Tread carefully," Zoroark said with a bored tone, having stopped in his tracks to wait for his team. Lucario looked beneath him and saw that the triangular shape of the spikes had caused them to stand upright, creating a field of spikes on the floor.
"Not a problem…" Lucario mumbled, taking a slow step and safety placing his foot in an open space between three of the spikes.
That's when the boulder-like Pokémon started attacking. Large spikes launched from the pipes protruding from it, heading for them. Lucario just barely managed to knock a spike away right before impact while Zoroark ducked to avoid his, but Connor was hit by one of them as it pierced his chest.
"Never mind, jump!" Zoroark commanded, "I'll make a landing!" He started kicking away the spikes surrounding the exit, Lucario quickly catching on and jumping towards him. While in midair he saw the sea of spikes he was heading toward and worried that he had jumped a bit too early, but Zoroark moved at inhuman speeds to clear away the spikes.
Lucario landed safely as the Conkeldurr landed just beside him, creating heavy shockwaves and making him stumble a bit. They exchanged a quick look before dashing through the door into safety.
"Whoa, are you OK!?" Lucario asked Connor with worry, to which he simply flexed his muscles and caused the spike to pop right of him.
"No pressure, but further failure on your part will disqualify you from many good things, including freedom…" Zoroark told Lucario with a disappointed and dark voice.
"Hey, I've been starved for weeks!" Lucario replied with an insulted tone, "Weren't you the one expecting to carry me out of here?"
"I couldn't care less about your current state," Zoroark muttered as they resumed their running, "The only thing interesting me is your potential."
Lucario had no time to inquire about this as they had entered yet another featureless corridor. Although this one seemed shorter than the previous ones, it had a confident Pokémon blocking their way…
For a moment, Lucario thought that he was seeing a human, but as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of their new area he saw that it was more of a hulking beast. It had steel-colored muscles, massive enough to give the Conkeldurr a run for his money. The most prominent feature of the fearsome warrior was the fact that it had four large arms, all seemingly eager to crush and tear anyone stupid enough to challenge it.
"Now… You face me…!" the Machamp growled intimidatingly, cracking his many knuckles against each other.
Lucario and Zoroark split off in two directions, and in an instant the Machamp's head became crushed between Lucario's elbow and Zoroark's knee.
"Empathize the 'face' part!" Lucario exclaimed gleefully.
"Maybe next time…" Zoroark muttered as the two of them moved past the Machamp, who kneeled over from the powerful attack. The Conkeldurr followed shortly after, stepping on his fellow muscle head as he made a squeaking sound, making Lucario and Zoroark look at each other with boyish smiles.
Their smiles quickly faded as they reached the end of the corridor and came upon what appeared to be a lobby, with desks and lamps everywhere. There was only one exit from this room, which was on the other side. Unfortunately, the room was absolutely PACKED with various humans and Pokémon, all staring at them with hostile intent.
"Roadblock!" Lucario shouted.
"There're too many of 'em to play around. Let me handle this alone…" Zoroark said confidently while taking a few calm steps forward, "You should probably stay back." Lucario was about to interject when he sensed an aura approaching from behind. Turning around, he saw the shamed Machamp from earlier come furiously running at them.
"Aw great, thick skull's back for more…" Lucario sighed before moving in the opposite direction of Zoroark, "Fine, but when I'm turning back around, you'd better not have been defeated!"
"Same to you…" Zoroark replied with a smile as they broke off, ready to engage their enemies.
"Foolish Lucario! You thought you had me defeated!?" the Machamp bellowed with all his fists clenched, "I'm a fighting-type with four arms! You're going down!" It stretched out its appendages, striking at both sides of Lucario's head with its two lower arms. Lucario blocked them with his elbows as a glint passed through the Machamp's eyes, getting ready to bash him down with the two remaining arms from above. However, his attack only passed through air as Lucario ducked while releasing his block, causing the four arms to all collide with each other.
"Four arms? I've beaten four ENEMIES at once!" Lucario said triumphantly before stepping down on his opponent's left foot, "That's EIGHT arms, and EIGHT legs. My only regret…" He then started pummeling away at the Machamp's exposed stomach, who tried to move back but was unable due to Lucario standing on his foot.
"… Is that you only have one head…" Lucario kept going between punches as the chains around his hands whipped around and the Machamp lowered all four of his arms to defend himself, "… For me to kick!" Lucario saw his opening and took a step back, returning with a powerful jumping kick directly to the Machamp's unprotected skull.
The room shook as Lucario spun around, seeing the roadblock unclog as Pokémon flew away in every direction. An explosion of darkness was at the epicenter of it all, reminding Lucario of the attack the Tyranitar had used earlier.
"Path's clear," Zoroark said with a confident smile, not a single movement coming from the enemies on his side of the room.
"Same here…" Lucario mumbled while looking down at the unconscious Machamp, "You know, if you need to go back for something." He moved to rejoin Zoroark at the end of the room, and ran past the silent Conkeldurr on the way.
"Bad time to turn pacifistic," Lucario muttered at him.
"He was standing by in case you needed assistance,"
"… He's not that chatty, is he?" Lucario asked, thinking back to the bug he had shared a cell with not too long ago and involuntarily remembering the Dragonair at the same time. His train of thoughts was interrupted as a Pokémon suddenly came running at them from behind. It was not the kind of thing that would have surprised him at this point, if not for its appearance.
"… Zerobi!?" Lucario exclaimed as he became frozen, instantly recognizing the black creature with the long claws. Even so, something seemed different. As she got nearer he noticed that she had sleeker look around her chest than usual, and looking down between the legs of the approaching Weavile he saw that something was indeed different.
"GAH! WHAT THE...!?" Lucario exclaimed in utter horror as his heart almost stopped at the sight of the Pokémon's apparent gender.
"Zerobi…?" Zoroark repeated slowly, not sure on whether to attack or not, "Lucario, you know this Weavile?"
"Weavile…?" Lucario responded weakly as he remembered the name of the species of his old friend, "No, uh, I was thinking about some other Weavile!"
"Hah! Think fast!" the Weavile shouted with a deep, dark voice as he lounged at Lucario, who ducked. Zoroark became pleased when he saw that Lucario now had the perfect opportunity to counter attack, but his jaw almost dropped as Lucario instead scrambled backwards.
"Look out!" Lucario shouted with terror, "Don't get any blood on him!"
"Oh, for crying out loud…" Zoroark muttered, "Connor. You're up."
Zoroark ran up to the Weavile who tried to jump to the side, but Zoroark was able to easily match his speed. He picked him up and threw him at the Conkeldurr who once again nonchalantly held out his fist and let the Weavile crash into it.
"Bad time to lose it, my friend…" Zoroark whispered calmly while grabbing a hold of Lucario's arm, pulling him to his feet.
"Uhh…" Lucario stuttered as his brain slowly unscrambled from the horrifying vision, "Sorry. Wasn't expecting that."
"We're almost out of here," Zoroark said with venom in his voice before moving toward the exit, "Come on, and try not to stumble on the way."
"You know, you go from excited to calm pretty quickly," Lucario pointed out in the hopes of getting a quick jab in, "… But you saved me, so I guess it's cool." Zoroark responded with nothing but silence, and was relieved that no one noticed the faint twitch in his face he was unable to hold back.
Another exit brought with it another room, this one far more interesting than what they had encountered so far. The ceiling was still as low as ever, but colorful tapestry and carpeting made everything appear a lot classier.
"Man, running AND kicking things is taking a toll on my legs…" Lucario complained as his feet felt nice against the soft floor, "I think I'll punch whatever comes next."
"Hold that thought…" Zoroark said as they saw two Pokémon in the middle of the room, locked in combat. One of them was suspended in midair, looking like a giant bee with huge stingers at the end of each arm. The other one was very short and had a black cloak covering its body. The cloak was battered and torn in several places, something grey and oddly familiar lying underneath.
The large insect swooped down towards the being in the cloak, who narrowly avoided the giant spikes on its hand and somehow managed to trip on the matting. Suddenly, Zoroark leapt into action as he moved swiftly across the room and grabbed a hold of the peculiar bee's throat before throwing it into a nearby wall.
"Oh! Zoroark!" the cloaked Pokémon exclaimed with a fairly feminine voice as it got up, "I-I tried to follow, b-but there w-was a W-Weavile-"
"Mission's complete," Zoroark said flatly before turning his head to the room's exit, "We're retreating."
"… Oh!" the creature exclaimed once more before nodding its head wildly, "Right!"
As quickly as they had stopped, they had started running again. Lucario was taken aback by the abruptness of it all, and eagerly eyed the new addition to their team while trying to catch a glimpse of what the hell was running beside him. From the way it moved, he could tell that it had four legs.
"… You're Lucario, right?" the new Pokémon asked, his gazes not having gone unnoticed, "I'm Astrid! Let's be friends!"
"Uh…" Lucario muttered with surprise followed quickly by blandness, "Let's not."
"W-Why!?" it stammered in response, the eyes beyond the veil of the cloak looking as if they were about to start crying.
"… Are you serious? That's not how it works!" Lucario said loudly as an image of Zerobi flashed through his mind, "Friendship built on a request is nothing but an act!"
"Astrid, befriend him on your own time," Zoroark said in the same bored tone he had taken a liking to not long ago, before replacing it with a more excited one in a heartbeat, "We're finally here!"
Looking ahead, they saw a large staircase leading up into the ceiling, covered by the beautiful sight of daylight. Lucario wanted to jump for joy, his body's cries for vitamin D about to be settled, when suddenly a Pokémon came tumbling down the stairs. It was a green a mish-mash of various flower appendages, having a bulb as a lower body and leaves instead of arms. On its head it was donning the petals of a red flower, looking like a mixture between a hat and a crown.
Even though Lucario was unable to make heads or tails out of this Pokémon, a very old memory within him sparked at the sight of it. Time stopped as he thought back to simpler times when he was able to take a break and relax instead of getting chased down every minute. The Pokémon in his mind danced around in the bright daylight, moving its body rhythmically and spreading beauty and joy in every direction.
The current Pokémon was showing a more twisted display, bending itself in strange ways as it rolled down the staircase.
"LILLIGANT!" Zoroark screamed, completely dropping his calm demeanor and running up to the fallen grass-type as Lucario snapped out of his reminiscence, "What happened!?"
"Z-Zoroark!" the broken flower stammered frightfully, "RUN! Y-You must flee!"
"Calm down!" Zoroark said as he tried to follow his own advice, "What's going on?"
"T-That Alakazam…!" the Lilligant stuttered with eyes widened in fear, "I-It'll kill us all!"
What followed was complete silence. The atmosphere in the room turned heavy as not one of them dared to make a move.
Clack.
A footstep was heard from the top of the stairs. Lucario had no idea what was causing this darkening of their world, but the frozen form of Astrid at his side told him that he was not alone in this. It impacted him in the direct opposite of what being near Celebi would.
Clack. Clack.
He saw a familiar human go down the staircase. It was the same scientist that had taken away the Dragonair and tried to capture him using an odd machine. His hands were in the pocket of his robes, descending from above like an angel. However, the current atmosphere made him more akin to an angel of death.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Floating next to him was another creature that seemed familiar somehow. Lucario's first impression was that it was a very old being, with a rugged appearance and extremely long beard. It was a humanoid with yellow and brown skin, and even though it was larger than the scientist it had a more frail appearance. A reflection in the sunlight told Lucario that it was holding some kind of utensil in each hand, momentarily reminding him of the leek-wielder from earlier.
"Your escape ends here," the scientist said out loud, but Lucario could barely hear it over the violent beating of his heart. Sensing the aura of the aged monster in front of him, he felt a power beyond that of Suicune, Raikou and Rayquaza all put together…
- - - - - - - -
"Several years passed until we finally found each other, and after hardly spending a month together..."
"So what!? I never asked for a sister! I've lived all my life without one, and I'll continue with that!"
"But… But… Our very existence is nothing short of a miracle! Fate demands that we should be together!"
"Fate kept us apart, and for better reasons than you know...!"
"… Zerobi! You cannot leave like this! I have… All my life I have dreamed of having a sister!"
"Then tell me! Tell me please why I should spend MY life fulfilling someone else's dream!?"
"…!"
"…"
"… Sis…"
"… I must go."
"…"
"Goodbye… Celebi."
Jade Star Trainer
Alright, now all the recent chapters have double spacing between quotes. I'd do the rest as well, but I'm all out of motivation!
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