RE: Legendary Tales [Part V up(dated)]
I finished and revised Part VI a little early, so I'm going to go ahead and surprise you guys. Enjoy! :3
Warning: Character Death
The room was dark, for the most part, with slight sunlight filtering in through a crack in the door. It seemed a bit more cramped than usual, but that was likely due to the fact that nothing was visible. Rayquaza was sure that once there was light in the room, it would feel much more spacious.
He was sitting in the familiar space of Arceus’s ‘office.’ It was not technically an office; however, Arceus and Rayquaza called it that because they believed it was the best way to describe the room. If not referred to this way, they would call it the ‘meetingplace,’ as it was where they met up whenever one needed something from the other, whether it was a favor, consolation, or simply someone to talk to. Rayquaza was in the room on this particular day because he had been called there by Arceus. He did not yet know what was in mind for whatever meeting they would have, but he waited patiently in the dark, eager to find out.
The door swung open suddenly and quickly. Light immediately filled the room, almost blinding Rayquaza. He shielded his eyes by closing them, as his arms were far too thin to do so.
“Good afternoon, Rayquaza,” Arceus’s voice boomed.
“Good afternoon, master,” Rayquaza stuttered, still recovering from the sudden light. “I was called here?”
“Yes.” Arceus nodded, proceeding to close the door. The room stayed bright.
“For what reason?” Rayquaza asked. He could barely see Arceus—he was squinting, as his eyes still hurt.
“Well, Rayquaza…” the god sat down in his chair, putting his hooves on the desk in front of him. “You see, my power is dwindling.”
Rayquaza gasped.
“What? That is not possible!” he shouted. Arceus quickly quieted him.
“Once again,” he began, “my power is dwindling, and I must find a way to restore it. Otherwise, no pokémon whatsoever will respect my authority any longer, and I shall become obsolete.” He sighed.
“Hm…” Rayquaza thought for a moment. “Would a power supply work?” He chuckled at his own joke. Arceus did not.
“This is serious, Rayquaza. I need a way to regain power.”
“Why don’t you kill other pokémon and take their energy?” Rayquaza suggested, still in a joking manner.
Arceus’s face lit up, but he quickly calmed himself down to maintain his image in Rayquaza’s mind.
“I don’t think we are able to come up with a good method at the moment,” he said, “we shall meet on this again at a later time.”
Rayquaza nodded quickly.
“You may go.”
He let his body hit the floor and slithered out of the room. As soon as the last of his tail had disappeared around the corner of the doorway, the door shut and the lights died.
It would work, wouldn’t it? Arceus asked himself inside his head.
If you were to kill the others… yes, that would give you much energy. And you already know who you’re going to kill, don’t you? Of course…
He smirked, chuckling to the empty room.
***
Manaphy yawned, showing off his bright red tongue to the mirror. He was not ready to go to sleep, albeit extremely tired out from a stressful day at his workplace. Manaphy worked from the inside to prevent corruption of the town’s government. This particular day had been especially hectic, as almost none of the government officials had showed up to do their respective work, and Manaphy had been swamped.
Despite this, though, he did not want the next day to happen, as he was not looking forward to the legendary council meeting that was planned. He had a burning hatred for Arceus. The deity constantly blamed him for all the failures to end government corruption during the meetings, simply because Manaphy was the sole woker in that department of the council. Manaphy was also unaware that he was not the only legendary pokémon who disliked Arceus. Based on what he observed, he believed everyone except for him loved their self-proclaimed ‘master,’ who favored only a select few, and those few did absolutely nothing.
Because of his hatred for Arceus, Manaphy also had an irrationally extreme dislike for the council meetings, which was, in turn, his reason for dreading the next morning’s. He had also failed to finish his work, something he knew he would, of course, get into trouble for.
He sighed and walked over to the light switch, quickly flipping it and then jumping onto his soft bed. He received a warm welcome from the soft sheets lining it and the pillow located at near the headboard. Smiling, he realized he would have an easier time drifting off to sleep than he had originally thought.
Before the idea could completely sink in, though, he heard faint footsteps outside his door. His heart pounded against his chest, seemingly eager to escape. He sat up frantically. When he heard nothing but the soft ticking of the clock, he decided the footsteps had simply been in his imagination. When he lied down again, though, he heard them, louder this time and approaching
his room.
He pulled the blankets off of himself in an absurdly quick manner and leaped out of the bed, reaching blindly for the nearest flashlight. There was none.
The volume of the footsteps was increasing steadily, louder and louder, until finally, Manaphy could make out a slight silhouette standing in his doorway.
“Arceus,” he said under his breath. He meant the name both as a curse and as identification.
The four-legged figure nodded slowly. Its head seemed to be in two places at once, with one of the heads more transparent than the others.
Manaphy blinked quickly, and his vision quickly cleared up.
Before he could say anything more, though, a searing white light illuminated the blue pokémon’s body for a split second. He tried to scream, but there was no time. All there was for the poor legendary was excruciating pain, seeming to exist longer than it actually did, and then—nothing. There was no black that met his eyes when the lids fell over them, nor red to show light passing through. There was no longer any feeling throughout his body. His eyeballs rolled back into his head as Arceus kicked his lifeless body aside carelessly.
Manaphy never showed up at the Legendary Council meeting the next morning.