Playthrough Nuzlocke 2: Black in Time
- Thread starter Dialkia198
- Start date
You never posted your party you have right now. The only thing I hate about Iris is that her Haxorus has Focus Sash.
I am EXTREMELY sorry about the wait. School recently started, and it kinda got in the way. But, in any case, better late than never.
Another thing: This update is mainly just expovomit, so I wouldn't blame anybody if they just skipped over it.
Next time, we fight N!
I'm glad you asked that! Yes, I most certainly will do another nuzlocke after this.zappy800 said:
Oh yeah, sorry. The only thing that really changed, though, is that Randall gained a level. Also, Iris's Haxorus? You must be thinking of B/W2.King Arceus said:
Another thing: This update is mainly just expovomit, so I wouldn't blame anybody if they just skipped over it.
One by one, my Pokemon all returned. It hadn't taken too long, maybe thirty minutes at most.
“Okay, everyone,” I said after rounding them all up, “This is it. Our final battle. From here on, we should be prepared for anything. But I know we can all pull through.”
And with that, I returned them to their Pokeballs and stepped onto the elevator platform, which shot downwards towards the room where Alder and N would no doubt be fighting right now.
And I was right. I arrived just in time to see N's Zekrom landed a finishing blow against Alder's Bouffalant, winning the battle.
“Now, don't you see, Alder?” N said smugly. “Zekrom has triumphed over your team, meaning I am now the Champion of the Unova region. Now, people cannot choose but to release their Pokemon!”
“You're wrong.” The two of them turned their heads to my direction in surprise.
“I will stop you, N.” I said with confidence.
“Ah, it's about time. I knew you'd show up sooner or later, Black, Hero of Truth.”
“Of course. Now, about that battle you wanted? You know, to prove the strength of your ideals and what not?”
“Ah, yes.” He remarked. “Well, this place is hardly a suitable battlefield... but don't worry, I always have a plan. Arise, my great castle!”
There was a slight rumbling in the ground. Then the earth started shaking more and more and more, as if there was an earthquake. Far away, I saw the jagged ramparts of what seemed to be a fortress rising up from the ground. Within minutes, an entire castle stood in the deserted wilderness behind the Pokemon League. A massive drawbridge descended from the castle, crashing through the League's roof, and eventually coming to a standstill on the floor.
“How the... okay, I've seen a lot of amazing things in my life, but a castle rising out of the ground tests my suspension of disbelief. How in the world did you do that?” I questioned.
“I'll tell you. There is a particularly large rift in the wastelands just a few miles from Anville Town. My subjects used it to transport my castle to right here. It's simple, really,” N explained, “All the rifts seem to be gateways to a different location. That one just happened to lead here. And now, I bid you adieu. Zekrom, if you please...”
From out of nowhere, Zekrom swooped down. In an amazing act of agility, N jumped up onto the dragon's back at just the right moment, landing perfectly. Zekrom zoomed up into the air and towards the castle's tallest tower.
“Not so fast!” I called, “Prime, go!”
Prime emerged from his Pokeball in a flash. He seemed to already know what I wanted to do, for a small control room-like niche opened up on his back. Surprised, I quickly squeezed myself into the strangely spacious compartment. Prime's back closed up again, and I pulled the lever that seemed to be the one to start the engine.
It did indeed start the engine, I discovered, and Prime quickly flew off into the sky. I was able to see through a slightly-corroded screen that N and Zekrom were not far ahead.
Man, this robot has everything, I thought to myself. Zekrom was only a few feet away now. I pushed a button that read '√´¨≈∆ ®ß¬, hoping it would be something good. Indeed it was, as Prime's hand formed a fist and punched Zekrom square in the jaw. However...
“Oh, come on!” I shouted, “It didn't even react!”
Actually, it did react. Zekrom turned its body towards Prime. The dragon's head started to glow, and then Zekrom flew straight towards him (and by extension, me). In a split-second, skull and steel had collided. I felt a sudden shift as Prime's rocket boosters were short-circuited by the blow.
Down and down I fell. And even though I knew the role I would have to play, for about ten seconds, I had doubts that fate would protect me.
There was a crashing noise, a harsh stop, and I felt the relieving feeling of Prime standing up, slowly but surely. The metal plates on his back opened up once again, and I stumbled out.
“Thanks, Prime,” I said, “Return.”
Prime was quickly absorbed by a beam of red light. It was then that I noticed my surroundings.
It was the room of a child; colorful wallpapers covered it head-to-toe, there were boxes full of toys, a basketball net... that had a toy train hanging over it. The more and more I looked, the less it seemed like a child's room and more like that of a person going through an excruciating amount of stress. The wallpaper was torn in places. A model train track had clearly been rampaged on, I could tell from the dents in the track pieces and, in general, how disheveled the set was. An untouched candy bar was just laying there around the shredded bits of a throw pillow.
For a few moments, I pondered who could possibly have gone through this much stress. The answer, of course, was extremely obvious.
“N...”
“Okay, everyone,” I said after rounding them all up, “This is it. Our final battle. From here on, we should be prepared for anything. But I know we can all pull through.”
And with that, I returned them to their Pokeballs and stepped onto the elevator platform, which shot downwards towards the room where Alder and N would no doubt be fighting right now.
And I was right. I arrived just in time to see N's Zekrom landed a finishing blow against Alder's Bouffalant, winning the battle.
“Now, don't you see, Alder?” N said smugly. “Zekrom has triumphed over your team, meaning I am now the Champion of the Unova region. Now, people cannot choose but to release their Pokemon!”
“You're wrong.” The two of them turned their heads to my direction in surprise.
“I will stop you, N.” I said with confidence.
“Ah, it's about time. I knew you'd show up sooner or later, Black, Hero of Truth.”
“Of course. Now, about that battle you wanted? You know, to prove the strength of your ideals and what not?”
“Ah, yes.” He remarked. “Well, this place is hardly a suitable battlefield... but don't worry, I always have a plan. Arise, my great castle!”
There was a slight rumbling in the ground. Then the earth started shaking more and more and more, as if there was an earthquake. Far away, I saw the jagged ramparts of what seemed to be a fortress rising up from the ground. Within minutes, an entire castle stood in the deserted wilderness behind the Pokemon League. A massive drawbridge descended from the castle, crashing through the League's roof, and eventually coming to a standstill on the floor.
“How the... okay, I've seen a lot of amazing things in my life, but a castle rising out of the ground tests my suspension of disbelief. How in the world did you do that?” I questioned.
“I'll tell you. There is a particularly large rift in the wastelands just a few miles from Anville Town. My subjects used it to transport my castle to right here. It's simple, really,” N explained, “All the rifts seem to be gateways to a different location. That one just happened to lead here. And now, I bid you adieu. Zekrom, if you please...”
From out of nowhere, Zekrom swooped down. In an amazing act of agility, N jumped up onto the dragon's back at just the right moment, landing perfectly. Zekrom zoomed up into the air and towards the castle's tallest tower.
“Not so fast!” I called, “Prime, go!”
Prime emerged from his Pokeball in a flash. He seemed to already know what I wanted to do, for a small control room-like niche opened up on his back. Surprised, I quickly squeezed myself into the strangely spacious compartment. Prime's back closed up again, and I pulled the lever that seemed to be the one to start the engine.
It did indeed start the engine, I discovered, and Prime quickly flew off into the sky. I was able to see through a slightly-corroded screen that N and Zekrom were not far ahead.
Man, this robot has everything, I thought to myself. Zekrom was only a few feet away now. I pushed a button that read '√´¨≈∆ ®ß¬, hoping it would be something good. Indeed it was, as Prime's hand formed a fist and punched Zekrom square in the jaw. However...
“Oh, come on!” I shouted, “It didn't even react!”
Actually, it did react. Zekrom turned its body towards Prime. The dragon's head started to glow, and then Zekrom flew straight towards him (and by extension, me). In a split-second, skull and steel had collided. I felt a sudden shift as Prime's rocket boosters were short-circuited by the blow.
Down and down I fell. And even though I knew the role I would have to play, for about ten seconds, I had doubts that fate would protect me.
There was a crashing noise, a harsh stop, and I felt the relieving feeling of Prime standing up, slowly but surely. The metal plates on his back opened up once again, and I stumbled out.
“Thanks, Prime,” I said, “Return.”
Prime was quickly absorbed by a beam of red light. It was then that I noticed my surroundings.
It was the room of a child; colorful wallpapers covered it head-to-toe, there were boxes full of toys, a basketball net... that had a toy train hanging over it. The more and more I looked, the less it seemed like a child's room and more like that of a person going through an excruciating amount of stress. The wallpaper was torn in places. A model train track had clearly been rampaged on, I could tell from the dents in the track pieces and, in general, how disheveled the set was. An untouched candy bar was just laying there around the shredded bits of a throw pillow.
For a few moments, I pondered who could possibly have gone through this much stress. The answer, of course, was extremely obvious.
“N...”
It seemed that the throne room was only a medium-sized spiral staircase from where I had crash-landed. It didn't seem too high, but with every step, I found the burden on my shoulders seem to get heavier and heavier. And why wouldn't it? My harrowing ordeal had planted the idea in my head that maybe, just maybe, there was no true timeline, no way things were guaranteed to go just because it had happened already. Once again, a whole world depended on my success.
One by one, I climbed every last step until I reached the hallway leading to N's throne. Ghetsis was standing outside the door. And I thought I wouldn't have to deal with him yet...
Warily, I approached him. I knew that Ghetsis wasn't above traps like spikes in the floor, or swinging maces on the ceiling. But surprisingly, nothing happened.
“Hello, Black. Don't worry, there are no traps,” he said, “For my plan to work, I need you alive – well, for the moment, at least.”
I remained silent. With people like Ghetsis, it's usually the best option.
“Oh? No retort? I expected better from you, Black. Well, no matter. Once my master plan comes into effect, you'll be just like your Sawsbuck: dead on the ground.”
Angered by the traumatic memories he just brought up, I brushed past him and towards the throne room – then stopped.
“Wait just a minute,” I said, turning around, “There were only two people in that cave. How do you know about Stahl?”
The vacant expression that resided on his face proved to me that my new suspicions were true.
“Of course.” I said, “Sending an undercover agent to lower morale by killing my friends. Been there, seen that.”
Ghetsis' face relaxed a bit.
“But don't think that makes you exempt, Ghetsis. You have no idea who you're dealing with. And once I've beaten N,” I said, “You're next.”
“Hah! Like you could ever defeat me.” He replied, casually walking away.
Just then, Randall popped out of his pokeball.
“Is it okay if I ask you something?”
“Sure. What is it?” I said, not sure if he was going to insult me.
“Well, I've got a plan for the next battle. But in order for that plan to work, I need a few things.”
“I'm listening.”
“Here's what I need: six X Defends, three Rare Candies, and that TM for Rock Slide.”
“Okay,” I said, rummaging around in my backpack and finding the requested items, “Here you go. But what do you need those for?”
“You'll see. Just trust me on this one. I know I haven't been particularly helpful to you... but just trust me, okay?”
“All right, Randall. Now, you'd better get back in that pokeball of yours for the time being.”
As I asked, he voluntarily returned. Now, I had some business to attend to.
[~]
I entered the spacious room to find N lounging on his golden throne.
“Ah, Black.” he said, “It took you long enough to get here. I was afraid you wouldn't arrive.”
“Enough with the talk, N. We both know why we're here.”
“Hmph. Eager to get this over with, then?” He said, standing up. “As you wish. Zekrom!”
In an instant, Zekrom smashed through the wall directly above N, a small tempest of winds blowing around the dragon as it flew. It alighted on the ground, the force of its landing and the wind combined knocking over a few pillars and tearing through beautiful tapestries on the walls and floor.
“Now, Black. Send out Reshiram so that the decisive battle of truth and ideals can begin!”
“Umm, about that-”
Before I could finish the sentence, the Light Stone I had gotten from Nacrene rose out of my bag in a shaft of inexplicable light. It floated to a point at about the exact middle of the room, and then there was a flash of light brighter than any I had ever seen. I was blinded by it. When I regained my sight, the
stone was gone. In its place was a dragon covered from head to toe in snow white feathers. Its very body seemed to radiate a great heat. I knew that this new presence was Reshiram.
“I AM AWAKENED.” The dragon said in a booming voice.
“Oh dear...” I muttered, then spoke, “Oh, mighty Reshiram, please allow me to capture you so that I may continue the fight between truth and ideals!”
“VERY WELL.” It replied, “I DO NOT WISH TO FIGHT, BUT IF THAT IS WHAT MY MASTER WISHES, I SHALL DO SO.”
“That's all I needed to know.”
I flung a quick ball at Reshiram with all my strength. Since Reshiram was willing to be captured, the ball snapped shut almost instantly.
“Finally.” N said, “Now, I repeat to you, send out Reshiram. The final step to achieving my goal of separating humans and Pokemon, the conclusive battle, is almost here!”
“N, would you please stop monologuing for a moment and listen! ..I'm not going to use Reshiram.”
N's face widened into a look of shock.
“Wh-Whaaat?! But you have to! You're the Hero of Truth! That's how it's destined to be!”
“Maybe I am the Hero of Truth. But you can understand what Pokemon say too, right? You heard what Reshiram said, right? Reshiram said it didn't want to fight.”
“Well, yes, but-”
“I'm not done. You see, Reshiram has a good reason not to want to fight. You must be familiar with the War of Two Heroes. The last time these two dragons fought, Unova was leveled. That's because they are EQUAL. Basically, it's an irresistible force meeting an immovable object. Neither one can win.”
“So, you're just throwing the match, then? But-”
“Please hold all questions until the end of the rant. Thank you. Furthermore, even if one of the dragons could win against the other, what would it prove? You used a god-like super-dragon. If you want to prove something, you have to start out with a disadvantage. Just like I will.”
Furious, N ran towards me, and stopped right beside Zekrom.
“No! You're wrong! If you won't use Reshiram, I'll destroy all your other Pokemon and make you use it! Zekrom, attack!”
Electricity started to spark around Zekrom. I knew I didn't have long before it attacked. Remembering earlier, I sent out Randall.
“Randall, if you've got a plan, now would be a nice time to put it into action!”
The Haxorus stepped forward and assumed a fighting position in front of Zekrom.
“All right, Sparky,” he said, “Let's dance.”
One by one, I climbed every last step until I reached the hallway leading to N's throne. Ghetsis was standing outside the door. And I thought I wouldn't have to deal with him yet...
Warily, I approached him. I knew that Ghetsis wasn't above traps like spikes in the floor, or swinging maces on the ceiling. But surprisingly, nothing happened.
“Hello, Black. Don't worry, there are no traps,” he said, “For my plan to work, I need you alive – well, for the moment, at least.”
I remained silent. With people like Ghetsis, it's usually the best option.
“Oh? No retort? I expected better from you, Black. Well, no matter. Once my master plan comes into effect, you'll be just like your Sawsbuck: dead on the ground.”
Angered by the traumatic memories he just brought up, I brushed past him and towards the throne room – then stopped.
“Wait just a minute,” I said, turning around, “There were only two people in that cave. How do you know about Stahl?”
The vacant expression that resided on his face proved to me that my new suspicions were true.
“Of course.” I said, “Sending an undercover agent to lower morale by killing my friends. Been there, seen that.”
Ghetsis' face relaxed a bit.
“But don't think that makes you exempt, Ghetsis. You have no idea who you're dealing with. And once I've beaten N,” I said, “You're next.”
“Hah! Like you could ever defeat me.” He replied, casually walking away.
Just then, Randall popped out of his pokeball.
“Is it okay if I ask you something?”
“Sure. What is it?” I said, not sure if he was going to insult me.
“Well, I've got a plan for the next battle. But in order for that plan to work, I need a few things.”
“I'm listening.”
“Here's what I need: six X Defends, three Rare Candies, and that TM for Rock Slide.”
“Okay,” I said, rummaging around in my backpack and finding the requested items, “Here you go. But what do you need those for?”
“You'll see. Just trust me on this one. I know I haven't been particularly helpful to you... but just trust me, okay?”
“All right, Randall. Now, you'd better get back in that pokeball of yours for the time being.”
As I asked, he voluntarily returned. Now, I had some business to attend to.
[~]
I entered the spacious room to find N lounging on his golden throne.
“Ah, Black.” he said, “It took you long enough to get here. I was afraid you wouldn't arrive.”
“Enough with the talk, N. We both know why we're here.”
“Hmph. Eager to get this over with, then?” He said, standing up. “As you wish. Zekrom!”
In an instant, Zekrom smashed through the wall directly above N, a small tempest of winds blowing around the dragon as it flew. It alighted on the ground, the force of its landing and the wind combined knocking over a few pillars and tearing through beautiful tapestries on the walls and floor.
“Now, Black. Send out Reshiram so that the decisive battle of truth and ideals can begin!”
“Umm, about that-”
Before I could finish the sentence, the Light Stone I had gotten from Nacrene rose out of my bag in a shaft of inexplicable light. It floated to a point at about the exact middle of the room, and then there was a flash of light brighter than any I had ever seen. I was blinded by it. When I regained my sight, the
stone was gone. In its place was a dragon covered from head to toe in snow white feathers. Its very body seemed to radiate a great heat. I knew that this new presence was Reshiram.
“I AM AWAKENED.” The dragon said in a booming voice.
“Oh dear...” I muttered, then spoke, “Oh, mighty Reshiram, please allow me to capture you so that I may continue the fight between truth and ideals!”
“VERY WELL.” It replied, “I DO NOT WISH TO FIGHT, BUT IF THAT IS WHAT MY MASTER WISHES, I SHALL DO SO.”
“That's all I needed to know.”
I flung a quick ball at Reshiram with all my strength. Since Reshiram was willing to be captured, the ball snapped shut almost instantly.
“Finally.” N said, “Now, I repeat to you, send out Reshiram. The final step to achieving my goal of separating humans and Pokemon, the conclusive battle, is almost here!”
“N, would you please stop monologuing for a moment and listen! ..I'm not going to use Reshiram.”
N's face widened into a look of shock.
“Wh-Whaaat?! But you have to! You're the Hero of Truth! That's how it's destined to be!”
“Maybe I am the Hero of Truth. But you can understand what Pokemon say too, right? You heard what Reshiram said, right? Reshiram said it didn't want to fight.”
“Well, yes, but-”
“I'm not done. You see, Reshiram has a good reason not to want to fight. You must be familiar with the War of Two Heroes. The last time these two dragons fought, Unova was leveled. That's because they are EQUAL. Basically, it's an irresistible force meeting an immovable object. Neither one can win.”
“So, you're just throwing the match, then? But-”
“Please hold all questions until the end of the rant. Thank you. Furthermore, even if one of the dragons could win against the other, what would it prove? You used a god-like super-dragon. If you want to prove something, you have to start out with a disadvantage. Just like I will.”
Furious, N ran towards me, and stopped right beside Zekrom.
“No! You're wrong! If you won't use Reshiram, I'll destroy all your other Pokemon and make you use it! Zekrom, attack!”
Electricity started to spark around Zekrom. I knew I didn't have long before it attacked. Remembering earlier, I sent out Randall.
“Randall, if you've got a plan, now would be a nice time to put it into action!”
The Haxorus stepped forward and assumed a fighting position in front of Zekrom.
“All right, Sparky,” he said, “Let's dance.”
Okay, I know, I did say last update that we'd be fighting N this update. And technically, we did! Just... verbally.
...Okay, I'm sorry. I'm trying to get out as many updates as I can before X and Y come out, so I wanted this one tonight. But I'll make it up to you!
I'll tell you this: My next Nuzlocke will be of Leaf Green, except not quite. It's up to you to figure out what that means, because even I don't know.
...Okay, I'm sorry. I'm trying to get out as many updates as I can before X and Y come out, so I wanted this one tonight. But I'll make it up to you!
I'll tell you this: My next Nuzlocke will be of Leaf Green, except not quite. It's up to you to figure out what that means, because even I don't know.
zappy800 said:
Well... eh, I'll just let you wait and see.
Sorry updating took so long. Once again, homework and stuff got in the way, and then on the weekend, when I finally had time, my keyboard broke, so I had to get that worked out... long story short, I just finished this a few minutes ago.
[play this music]
And so, the final clash between Truth and Ideals began.
On one side, Zekrom, a black, hulking behemoth of a dragon. Its eyes red as a ruby, its teeth like spears. With one Fusion Bolt, it could reduce half a block to rubble.
On the other side, Randall the Haxorus. His mandibles were sharper than the sharpest sword, and he attacked with the force of a hurricane.
The two dragons stared each other down. For a second, it seemed like the entire world was holding its breath.
Finally, I broke the silence. “Randall, your X Defends! Catch!” I said, throwing the capsules through the air. With great dexterity, he caught all six of them in his claws. Randall then immediately opened one of the capsules and downed the contents.
Oh, I know what he's going to do! I thought. The X Defends contained compounds that react with the cellular structure of Pokemon's skin, the end result being that their skin is temporarily strengthened. With the boosts of six X Defends combined, Randall would be able to just weather Zekrom's attacks. In short, he'd become so strong defensively that Zekrom couldn't put a dent in him!
“Defenses, huh? Well, two can play at that game! Light Screen!”
Zekrom started to concentrate and, eventually, a thin sheet of blue light divided the field.
“You're making this too easy, N. Another X Defend for me!” Randall said, guzzling down the second capsule.
“Your medicine won't save you now, little Haxorus. Zekrom, Fusion Bolt!”
I suddenly realized a major hole in the plan – what if Randall never got to finish all six of the capsules?
Lightning started to envelop Zekrom. In mere seconds, the dragon could barely even be seen, veiled by a sphere of pure electricity. Said sphere rose up into the air, further and further, and then crashed down upon Randall. The sphere retreated and then dissipated, leaving Zekrom untouched and Randall battered, but standing.
“Randall!” I said, rushing to his aid, “Are you okay?”
“I'll be fine,” he said, drinking the contents of a third capsule, “I've come too far to lose now. I've got too much to live for.”
The minutes seemed like hours, as Randall drank the remaining three X Defends, taking the black dragon's attacks head-on. At last, Randall had finished the last capsule.
“All right,” I said, “What now?”
“Now,” he replied, “Let me show you the dance of my people.”
Randall started dancing a lively dance. It wasn't like ballet or anything, not a dance recital type of dance. It was more of a tap dance in a musical, using the claws on his feet to create a sound akin to tap shoes. But the dance seemed to serve no real purpose... or did it?
“Oh. Oh!” I exclaimed, seeing the plan Randall had in mind, “Inigo, Gaius, Prime, Aeolus! Give him some support!”
The Pokemon, upon emerging, seemed to have no idea what was going on, but they started clapping for Randall anyway.
“Now, you're just mocking me!” N said, “You're not even taking me seriously! This is a battle, not Cinderella's ball! Zekrom, tear him to shreds!”
Despite Zekrom's efforts, Randall skillfully avoided every strike, continuing to dance at the same time.
“You're right, N!” he shouted back, still dancing, “In fact, this isn't a fairy tale at all! There's no strict line between good and evil. Nobody is guaranteed to win. This is real life!”
“I agree with the sentiment,” Inigo said to me, “And I always enjoy a good dance once in a while, but is this really necessary?”
“Agreed.” Aeolus said, “I see no purpose other than the humiliation.”
“Oh, just wait. Give it some time.”
“I have had ENOUGH of this! Stand up and fight me! Zekrom, Giga Impact!”
Zekrom flew towards the other side of the room and made a U-turn right before it would've hit the wall.
It was flying straight towards Randall! Finally, the moment of impact came. I reflexively shielded my eyes, but then remembered the plan. I opened my eyes again, and...
… the plan had worked.
Instead of a red smear on the floor like many might have expected, Randall was practically untouched. In fact, he had stopped Zekrom then and there. He had literally blocked the dragon from flying any further by grabbing onto its head with both hands. Randall was only being pushed back a few centimeters every couple of seconds!
[switch to this music]
“All right.” Randall said, “Now it's my turn.”
He let go of his grip on the behemoth's head and immediately ducked. As Zekrom flew past, Randall deeply raked its underside with his claws. From this, Zekrom began to waver a little, eventually coming to a harsh crash-landing on the floor. It seemed a marvel to see such a mighty beast brought low so quickly.
“No! Zekrom!” N shouted, “No. No, no, no, no! This can't be happening, Zekrom can't lose! This has got to be some sort of a nightmare!”
“Sorry, N.” I said, “The real nightmare's just beginning.”
“...You fool, Black. One way or another, my friends WILL defeat you, and my subjects shall sing my name: N, the king who freed all Pokemon forever! You're just postponing fate! Vanilluxe, put that dragon on ice!”
A strange-looking double-scoop ice cream cone materialized.
“Randall, are you sure you can handle this?” I asked.
“No need to worry. Now, N, let me tell you a little story. It's called 'The Reason Why You Are Misguided', and it goes something like this...
“Once upon a time, there was an Axew.” he told, punched the Vanilluxe in the faces, and continued, “The Axew had quite a few friends, and for a time, he was happy.”
“Hypocrite! You just said this wasn't a fairy tale! Klinklang, attack!”
The thing that had just emerged looked more like the inside of a clock than a living being. But then, remembering my experiences with Rick, I decided to put that at the back of my mind.
“It's not a fairy tale when it actually happened! Now, where was I...
“Ah, yes. But, eventually, things changed. Axew are, as you must know, a popular species among trainers. And so it was that, eventually, all the Axew's friends, one by one, were captured and taken away.” Randall smashed the Klinklang with his elbow, sending a storm of gears flying everywhere and effectively incapacitating it. Then he continued, “The Axew couldn't bear to lose any more of those he had grown close to, and so he gradually closed his heart to everything and everyone, caring only about strength.”
Inigo gasped. “You don't mean..”
“Yes. That Axew was me.”
Well. That was a twist, now wasn't it?
“Ha!” N chortled, “All you've proven is that Pokemon and humans should be separated! Carracosta, now!”
It was a giant sea turtle with a stone shell, and quite frankly, it was the most menacing thing he had sent out since Zekrom.
“I've proven that because I'm not done. Honestly, always interrupting things like that is another reason you're misguided.
“Anyway, since Black captured me, I've changed.” He punched the Carracosta directly in the jaw, knocking it out.
“No! NO! I can't fail, not now! Archeops, do something! Anything!” N wailed. He was clearly getting desperate.
The Archeops was a flying dragon-like creature. It had a wingspan of, I'd guess, about twelve feet.
“It took a lot to change me, but... eventually, some harsh words hit home and I decided it was time to turn over a new leaf.” Randall spared a quick glance towards Inigo, then pulled some medium sized rocks out of the floor with relative ease. He then threw them towards the Archeops, and they hit. Hard. Archeops fell out of the air and plummeted to the ground.
“No! All my work can't be for nothing! Zoroark, you're my last hope!”
His last hope was a black fox with a wild red mane.
“And if Pokemon and humans were separated, that never would've happened! Maybe you're right, there will always be bad trainers out there who abuse Pokemon. But in the end,” he punched the Zoroark right in the chest, “The miracles trainers cause outweigh the atrocities.”
[stop music now]
N sank to his knees, tears dripping down his face. “N-no... this can't... how...” he murmured.
I stepped over to comfort him. “I'm sorry, N. But really, Pokemon don't have to be freed for there to be peace. There will always be people out there to protect the harmony. That's just... well, the truth. And as for 'how', Randall's dancing built up enough momentum that, well, he just became unstoppable.”
“Y... You're right. I was a fool. My friends...” he looked to the fallen Pokemon scattered across the battlefield, “I'm sorry. Rest well.” He returned them to their Pokeballs.
“You know, N, the fact of the matter is that your legions of Team Plasma were actually making the situation worse.”
N turned to look at me quizzically. “What in the world do you mean? Team Plasma has been doing nothing but good.”
“Well, if you call stealing and abusing Pokemon that did nothing wrong 'good', then yeah.”
“What?! I have not been aware of such activities.”
“That is because I am the one controlling that area.” A certain man I had a great disdain for casually entered the room.
“Ah, Ghetsis.” I said, “Right on schedule.”
And so, the final clash between Truth and Ideals began.
On one side, Zekrom, a black, hulking behemoth of a dragon. Its eyes red as a ruby, its teeth like spears. With one Fusion Bolt, it could reduce half a block to rubble.
On the other side, Randall the Haxorus. His mandibles were sharper than the sharpest sword, and he attacked with the force of a hurricane.
The two dragons stared each other down. For a second, it seemed like the entire world was holding its breath.
Finally, I broke the silence. “Randall, your X Defends! Catch!” I said, throwing the capsules through the air. With great dexterity, he caught all six of them in his claws. Randall then immediately opened one of the capsules and downed the contents.
Oh, I know what he's going to do! I thought. The X Defends contained compounds that react with the cellular structure of Pokemon's skin, the end result being that their skin is temporarily strengthened. With the boosts of six X Defends combined, Randall would be able to just weather Zekrom's attacks. In short, he'd become so strong defensively that Zekrom couldn't put a dent in him!
“Defenses, huh? Well, two can play at that game! Light Screen!”
Zekrom started to concentrate and, eventually, a thin sheet of blue light divided the field.
“You're making this too easy, N. Another X Defend for me!” Randall said, guzzling down the second capsule.
“Your medicine won't save you now, little Haxorus. Zekrom, Fusion Bolt!”
I suddenly realized a major hole in the plan – what if Randall never got to finish all six of the capsules?
Lightning started to envelop Zekrom. In mere seconds, the dragon could barely even be seen, veiled by a sphere of pure electricity. Said sphere rose up into the air, further and further, and then crashed down upon Randall. The sphere retreated and then dissipated, leaving Zekrom untouched and Randall battered, but standing.
“Randall!” I said, rushing to his aid, “Are you okay?”
“I'll be fine,” he said, drinking the contents of a third capsule, “I've come too far to lose now. I've got too much to live for.”
The minutes seemed like hours, as Randall drank the remaining three X Defends, taking the black dragon's attacks head-on. At last, Randall had finished the last capsule.
“All right,” I said, “What now?”
“Now,” he replied, “Let me show you the dance of my people.”
Randall started dancing a lively dance. It wasn't like ballet or anything, not a dance recital type of dance. It was more of a tap dance in a musical, using the claws on his feet to create a sound akin to tap shoes. But the dance seemed to serve no real purpose... or did it?
“Oh. Oh!” I exclaimed, seeing the plan Randall had in mind, “Inigo, Gaius, Prime, Aeolus! Give him some support!”
The Pokemon, upon emerging, seemed to have no idea what was going on, but they started clapping for Randall anyway.
“Now, you're just mocking me!” N said, “You're not even taking me seriously! This is a battle, not Cinderella's ball! Zekrom, tear him to shreds!”
Despite Zekrom's efforts, Randall skillfully avoided every strike, continuing to dance at the same time.
“You're right, N!” he shouted back, still dancing, “In fact, this isn't a fairy tale at all! There's no strict line between good and evil. Nobody is guaranteed to win. This is real life!”
“I agree with the sentiment,” Inigo said to me, “And I always enjoy a good dance once in a while, but is this really necessary?”
“Agreed.” Aeolus said, “I see no purpose other than the humiliation.”
“Oh, just wait. Give it some time.”
“I have had ENOUGH of this! Stand up and fight me! Zekrom, Giga Impact!”
Zekrom flew towards the other side of the room and made a U-turn right before it would've hit the wall.
It was flying straight towards Randall! Finally, the moment of impact came. I reflexively shielded my eyes, but then remembered the plan. I opened my eyes again, and...
… the plan had worked.
Instead of a red smear on the floor like many might have expected, Randall was practically untouched. In fact, he had stopped Zekrom then and there. He had literally blocked the dragon from flying any further by grabbing onto its head with both hands. Randall was only being pushed back a few centimeters every couple of seconds!
[switch to this music]
“All right.” Randall said, “Now it's my turn.”
He let go of his grip on the behemoth's head and immediately ducked. As Zekrom flew past, Randall deeply raked its underside with his claws. From this, Zekrom began to waver a little, eventually coming to a harsh crash-landing on the floor. It seemed a marvel to see such a mighty beast brought low so quickly.
“No! Zekrom!” N shouted, “No. No, no, no, no! This can't be happening, Zekrom can't lose! This has got to be some sort of a nightmare!”
“Sorry, N.” I said, “The real nightmare's just beginning.”
“...You fool, Black. One way or another, my friends WILL defeat you, and my subjects shall sing my name: N, the king who freed all Pokemon forever! You're just postponing fate! Vanilluxe, put that dragon on ice!”
A strange-looking double-scoop ice cream cone materialized.
“Randall, are you sure you can handle this?” I asked.
“No need to worry. Now, N, let me tell you a little story. It's called 'The Reason Why You Are Misguided', and it goes something like this...
“Once upon a time, there was an Axew.” he told, punched the Vanilluxe in the faces, and continued, “The Axew had quite a few friends, and for a time, he was happy.”
“Hypocrite! You just said this wasn't a fairy tale! Klinklang, attack!”
The thing that had just emerged looked more like the inside of a clock than a living being. But then, remembering my experiences with Rick, I decided to put that at the back of my mind.
“It's not a fairy tale when it actually happened! Now, where was I...
“Ah, yes. But, eventually, things changed. Axew are, as you must know, a popular species among trainers. And so it was that, eventually, all the Axew's friends, one by one, were captured and taken away.” Randall smashed the Klinklang with his elbow, sending a storm of gears flying everywhere and effectively incapacitating it. Then he continued, “The Axew couldn't bear to lose any more of those he had grown close to, and so he gradually closed his heart to everything and everyone, caring only about strength.”
Inigo gasped. “You don't mean..”
“Yes. That Axew was me.”
Well. That was a twist, now wasn't it?
“Ha!” N chortled, “All you've proven is that Pokemon and humans should be separated! Carracosta, now!”
It was a giant sea turtle with a stone shell, and quite frankly, it was the most menacing thing he had sent out since Zekrom.
“I've proven that because I'm not done. Honestly, always interrupting things like that is another reason you're misguided.
“Anyway, since Black captured me, I've changed.” He punched the Carracosta directly in the jaw, knocking it out.
“No! NO! I can't fail, not now! Archeops, do something! Anything!” N wailed. He was clearly getting desperate.
The Archeops was a flying dragon-like creature. It had a wingspan of, I'd guess, about twelve feet.
“It took a lot to change me, but... eventually, some harsh words hit home and I decided it was time to turn over a new leaf.” Randall spared a quick glance towards Inigo, then pulled some medium sized rocks out of the floor with relative ease. He then threw them towards the Archeops, and they hit. Hard. Archeops fell out of the air and plummeted to the ground.
“No! All my work can't be for nothing! Zoroark, you're my last hope!”
His last hope was a black fox with a wild red mane.
“And if Pokemon and humans were separated, that never would've happened! Maybe you're right, there will always be bad trainers out there who abuse Pokemon. But in the end,” he punched the Zoroark right in the chest, “The miracles trainers cause outweigh the atrocities.”
[stop music now]
N sank to his knees, tears dripping down his face. “N-no... this can't... how...” he murmured.
I stepped over to comfort him. “I'm sorry, N. But really, Pokemon don't have to be freed for there to be peace. There will always be people out there to protect the harmony. That's just... well, the truth. And as for 'how', Randall's dancing built up enough momentum that, well, he just became unstoppable.”
“Y... You're right. I was a fool. My friends...” he looked to the fallen Pokemon scattered across the battlefield, “I'm sorry. Rest well.” He returned them to their Pokeballs.
“You know, N, the fact of the matter is that your legions of Team Plasma were actually making the situation worse.”
N turned to look at me quizzically. “What in the world do you mean? Team Plasma has been doing nothing but good.”
“Well, if you call stealing and abusing Pokemon that did nothing wrong 'good', then yeah.”
“What?! I have not been aware of such activities.”
“That is because I am the one controlling that area.” A certain man I had a great disdain for casually entered the room.
“Ah, Ghetsis.” I said, “Right on schedule.”
Yeah, Randall totally did just sweep N by himself.
All right. I have an apology to make.
For the past month or so, I've been distracted by Pokemon X. First it was beating the main story, then it was constructing the perfect team (which I am still working on doing, mind you).
Then, about a week ago, I stopped that. I figured, who was I going to battle, anyway? And so, I started working on this again.
This may seem like yet another hollow excuse. I am terribly sorry. That probably seems like another hollow apology. Again, I am sorry.
Now, this will seem like another of my lies (again, sorry), but I have every intention of completing this by New Year's. I will probably fail, but if I'm ever going to get this done, I need to set goals for myself.
That said, I have completed another chapter, in which I make references to a movie I haven't watched, 2 movies I have watched, and several other Nuzlockers who you've probably never heard of.
For the past month or so, I've been distracted by Pokemon X. First it was beating the main story, then it was constructing the perfect team (which I am still working on doing, mind you).
Then, about a week ago, I stopped that. I figured, who was I going to battle, anyway? And so, I started working on this again.
This may seem like yet another hollow excuse. I am terribly sorry. That probably seems like another hollow apology. Again, I am sorry.
Now, this will seem like another of my lies (again, sorry), but I have every intention of completing this by New Year's. I will probably fail, but if I'm ever going to get this done, I need to set goals for myself.
That said, I have completed another chapter, in which I make references to a movie I haven't watched, 2 movies I have watched, and several other Nuzlockers who you've probably never heard of.
[play this music]
After about twelve ellipses-worth of pauses, N finally broke the silence.
“Father, what are you talking about?”
“Shut your mouth, boy! You are not my son.” Ghetsis spoke, “No son of mine would lose a trainer this weak!”
“But, father, you had said that that didn't matter as long as the Pokemon were liberated!”
A scowl grew like a gaping wound across Ghetsis' face.
“Oh, did I now?” he said, “You are really too stupid, you know that? All this time, I have been feeding you LIES! How dumb would anyone be to liberate Pokemon, these vessels of enormous power! True, the common people would lose their rights to Pokemon- everybody but Team Plasma, that is. We would've used that advantage to take Unova by storm, and usher in a new age- one without liberty, or justice. Everything would've been mine – that is, if you hadn't been so incompetent!”
“No.” I said, “You were the incompetent one. If you hadn't sent your men out for those thefts, you might have actually succeeded!”
“Shut up!” Ghetsis said, “You have no place in this!”
“Old man,” I said, “I have more of a place in this than you could possibly fathom.”
“Of course, of course!” Ghetsis spoke, laughing in a way no sane man ever could, “How silly of me! You defeated N, so the blame goes to you, too!”
“Well, I didn't mean that, but-”
“Oh, so you think you can defeat me?! How?! I have cherry-picked the strongest, savagest Pokemon from all over the region! Do you hear me?! I am invincible!”
“Careful with that,” I said, “Saying that is just waiting for someone to go and prove you wrong.”
[switch to this music]
“You are doomed, boy! Nothing can save you now! Cofagrigus, kill him!”
At first sight, what was sent out seemed to be no more than a coffin, but the second glance proved otherwise. Tendrils made of pure, writhing ectoplasmic energy emerged from each side it, both ending in a deformed ghostly hand. And its eyes – oh, those blood-red eyes! - seemed to pierce right into my very soul. I had to act fast.
“Shall I?” Randall said, confidently.
“No. You should get some rest. I have another plan, anyway.”
I took the only unopened capsule from my belt- an ordinary Pokeball, nothing special. Pressing the button on the front, it opened in a flash of light and orange flame, revealing a majestic insect, a Volcarona, to be exact.
I bet you forgot about Melody, right? Well, that was her.
“Awaiting orders, Captain Black Starly!” She said heartily.
“Quiver Dance, Melody.” I replied.
What commenced wasn't so much of a dance as Randall had done not too long before – rather, it was a series of rhythmic motions, twirls, and spins. As this went on, rings of fire began to surround Melody.
“You idiotic Cofagrigus!” Ghetsis shouted, “Don't just watch, DO something! Shadow Ball!”
The ectoplasmic energy formed into a sort of an orb, which was launched across the room towards Melody – but the rings of flame connected with most of the blast, and only a small fraction of it ever reached her.
“What?! What madness is this?!” Ghetsis said in a none-too-happy voice.
“This is Unova! I plead the Fifth!” Melody buzzed. The rings of flame subsided. “Are you listening, THIS! IS! UNOVA!” A stream of fire shot out and scorched the Cofagrigus. If I remember correctly, when I fought it two years from now, it still had some burn marks across the golden plating of the coffin. In any case, it was down for the count.
“Gah! Worthless!” Ghetsis exclaimed, “Bisharp, dice that moth!”
The Bisharp seemed to be more of a mass of blades arranged in a way that made it look humanoid than a Pokemon. I shuddered to think of the horrible ways in which it could kill and quickly resolved not to give it that chance.
“Melody, another Flamethrower!”
“Roger that!” she replied. Another beam of flames shot out, torching the Bisharp where it stood. With a resounding metal clang, it hit the floor.
“No! Stupid piece of metal!” Ghetsis said, “Let's see you abuse weaknesses now! Eelektross!”
Melody's next opponent was a grotesque serpent, roughly ten feet long. A very odd magnetic field kept it levitating, just inches above the ground.
“No weakness necessary, sucker!” Melody shouted, flapping her wings to create a strange gust of what seemed to be an even stranger silver dust. Once the silver wind reached the Eelektross, it fell over and seemed to writhe in total pain. Then it stopped, but couldn't get back up, try as it may. Obviously, the dust was not a painkiller.
“Pah!” Ghetsis spat, returning the fallen eel to its ball, “Forget about neutrality, try an advantage on for size! Seismitoad!”
The emerging amphibian was just as grotesque as, if not more than, the Eelektross. Its body was covered in bulging sacs – for holding poison, I am told.
“Melody, another Silver Wind!” I bellowed. Once again, she blew forth that odd wind, and it had the same general results on the target. The Seismitoad fell over and was completely unmoving, with the exception of the occasional twitch and some shallow breathing.
“Useless! These Pokemon are completely and utterly useless! Time to bring in the big guns... Hydreigon, maul these imbeciles!”
I clearly remembered this Pokemon from my fight at Giant Chasm two years later, but something seemed different about it now. It was enraged then, but now it seemed to almost be radiating an aura of shadowy malice – almost similar to my experience with the Beeheeyem back at Victory Road, except turned up to eleven. Either way, I had a problem on my hands.
“Melody, are you sure you can handl-” I said, before being cut off by a the sound of a Volcarona with a bloodlust rushing past me.
“ROOREELOO!” I heard her buzz as she rushed headfirst to attack the Hydreigon. The dust gathered in almost a comet form around Melody as she flew, which turned out to have disastrous effects for the that Hydreigon – it was hit harder by the blast than any previous opponents had.
“No! All that money I spent to have them make this the ultimate Pokemon... he'll have to answer to me for that once I'm done with you, Black! Boufallant, end this!”
I had done the math – this afro-wearing buffalo was his last hope, whether he liked it or not.
“That's right,” I said gleefully, “end this! Melody, Flamethrower!”
Melody let loose a burst of fire that incinerated the Bouffalant's magnificent afro. Ashamed, it sheepishly ran out the door.
[turn off music]
“No. No!” Ghetsis screamed, “I can't lose now! Not to some miserable child!”
“No.” N said, “You're wrong, fa- ...Ghetsis. Black's more than just a child, he's a champion.”
An evil smirk crawled across Ghetsis' face like a Caterpie across a leaf.
“You think you've outsmarted me, boys? Think I have no options left, no escape? Well, guess again! Shadow Triad, kill them!”
From out of nowhere, the Shadow Triad, knives at the ready. I had been too preoccupied to notice any smells, so I was unprepared. We were all facing certain doom, until the unexpected happened.
“Override protocol Omega Twenty-seven Alpha Nine point Five.” I said. I don't know how I said it. The words just seemed to slip right out of my mouth. And just as suddenly, the triad's blue eyes turned a vacant gray and all motion stopped.
“What?!” Ghetsis shouted, “How did you know that they were robots?!”
Upon the word 'robots', a theory planted itself in my head. I knew not where it came from.
“It all makes sense!” I exclaimed, “The monotone voices, the invisibility – your scientists did a nice job with those cloaks refracting light, by the way – the special oil that smelled exactly like a brand of eyeliner... man, that was really brilliant, Ghetsis! Where'd you get that idea?”
“Never mind that, how did you figure it out?! My genius in having those robots manufactured was infallible! It is inconceivable that human mind could've figured it out!”
“Wait, I'm lost here,” Inigo said, confused, “What are you talking about again?”
“All right, then,” I said, “Melody, torch them, just enough to incinerate their cloaks.” Melody fired a weak ball of flame at the triad, scorching every last one of them. When the flames subsided, the cloaks had completely combusted, with the exception of a pile of ashes scattered on the brick floor, revealing three lightweight metal skeletons.
“Wait a moment,” N said, “So this means...”
“Yes. The Shadow Triad were robots all along.”
“GRAAH!” Ghetsis shouted, “This is inconceivable!”
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
“Really, Inigo?”
“What? Melody made so many references, so it's fair game for me, too.”
Meanwhile, Ghetsis continued on with his tirade.
“Some traitor must have leaked that information to you from the inside! When I get my hands on that little...” The words that followed are the type that would be replaced with exclamation marks, asterisks, and dollar signs if they were in a newspaper comic.
Shortly, Alder walked into the room, two guards behind him.
“Ah,” he said, “I see you've gotten them ready for us. We'll take it from here, Black.”
The two guards walked up to where Ghetsis was still fuming, and before he even knew it, they had handcuffs around his wrists.
“N,” Alder continued, “I know what you're going through must be very tough for you. But it would also help very much if you could testify as a witness for Ghetsis' crimes. Would you be willing to help us?”
“Wait, how did he know about this?”
“I sorta-mighta called him on my Xtranceiver on the way up here.”
“Ha!” Ghetsis laughed, “You'll never get through to him! He's a freak encased in a human body!”
“Actually,” N said, “I would be glad to help.”
“What?! No!” Ghetsis screamed as the guards and Alder dragged him away, “You'll pay for this! All of you! YOU ALL WILL PAY!”
[now play this music]
When he was gone, N finally sighed, “I'm glad that's over.”
“Me too.”
“Come on. I want to talk to you.”
I followed him along the path to his throne, the wall behind it smashed.
“You know, my whole life, I had been told that I was born to set the Pokemon free from their cruel trainers. But, ever since I met you and your Pokemon at Accumula Town, I had had doubts, nagging at the back of my mind. Your Pokemon looked so happy with you, even after only having known you for less than a day. It just boggled my mind. I guess you had a better affinity with Pokemon than I ever did.”
“Don't sell yourself short, N. Remember how your Pokemon fought valiantly by your side, even when it was clear that you were losing. They were and are loyal to you, as mine are to me.”
“That's true. In any case, when I awakened Zekrom, those doubts ceased. I thought that I had truly been chosen by fate to lead the world into a new age. I stopped caring about anything except winning. I stopped caring about my Pokemon. I was careless enough to let them all get so brutally battered... my ideals blinded me. It seems that, in the end, truth really does win against ideals, doesn't it?”
“Now hold on,” I said, “It's not that clear-cut. Your ideals about liberation are one of many truths. Likewise, my quest for truth is just another ideal. They're not separate entities, like, well, black and white, but a mix of both – gray, if you will. Which is why I'm giving you this.” I pulled one last Pokeball out of a pouch on my belt, where I had placed it for safekeeping.
“Wait... this is...”
“Yes. Reshiram's Pokeball. It's yours now.”
“But... didn't it choose you?”
“Choose me? No, it just reacted to the presence of a hero. You are more of a hero than I am, N. I was put into this role by the Pokegods above. With the exception of my battling prowess and ability to talk to Pokemon, I'm really nothing special. But you, N... you have a gift. Use it well, to resolve the tensions between Pokemon and humans without the need for liberation. You deserve Reshiram.”
“...Thank you, Black,” he said, taking Reshiram's Pokeball and opening it, “Thank you for everything.”
He climbed onto Reshiram's back.
“I don't suppose I will ever see you again, will I?” he asked.
“Don't worry,” I said, “I guarantee we will meet again somewhere down the line.”
“You're right,” N replied, “Thank you, and goodbye. Reshiram, I think we still have some time before I have to testify, and I hear Orre is nice this time of year...”
“AS YOU WISH.” Reshiram said, flying away.
“Well, everyone,” I said, turning back to my Pokemon, who had been waiting patiently, “It's finally over.”
[end music]
~
“Oh no, Locke,” the being mused, “this is only the beginning...”
END ACT I
After about twelve ellipses-worth of pauses, N finally broke the silence.
“Father, what are you talking about?”
“Shut your mouth, boy! You are not my son.” Ghetsis spoke, “No son of mine would lose a trainer this weak!”
“But, father, you had said that that didn't matter as long as the Pokemon were liberated!”
A scowl grew like a gaping wound across Ghetsis' face.
“Oh, did I now?” he said, “You are really too stupid, you know that? All this time, I have been feeding you LIES! How dumb would anyone be to liberate Pokemon, these vessels of enormous power! True, the common people would lose their rights to Pokemon- everybody but Team Plasma, that is. We would've used that advantage to take Unova by storm, and usher in a new age- one without liberty, or justice. Everything would've been mine – that is, if you hadn't been so incompetent!”
“No.” I said, “You were the incompetent one. If you hadn't sent your men out for those thefts, you might have actually succeeded!”
“Shut up!” Ghetsis said, “You have no place in this!”
“Old man,” I said, “I have more of a place in this than you could possibly fathom.”
“Of course, of course!” Ghetsis spoke, laughing in a way no sane man ever could, “How silly of me! You defeated N, so the blame goes to you, too!”
“Well, I didn't mean that, but-”
“Oh, so you think you can defeat me?! How?! I have cherry-picked the strongest, savagest Pokemon from all over the region! Do you hear me?! I am invincible!”
“Careful with that,” I said, “Saying that is just waiting for someone to go and prove you wrong.”
[switch to this music]
“You are doomed, boy! Nothing can save you now! Cofagrigus, kill him!”
At first sight, what was sent out seemed to be no more than a coffin, but the second glance proved otherwise. Tendrils made of pure, writhing ectoplasmic energy emerged from each side it, both ending in a deformed ghostly hand. And its eyes – oh, those blood-red eyes! - seemed to pierce right into my very soul. I had to act fast.
“Shall I?” Randall said, confidently.
“No. You should get some rest. I have another plan, anyway.”
I took the only unopened capsule from my belt- an ordinary Pokeball, nothing special. Pressing the button on the front, it opened in a flash of light and orange flame, revealing a majestic insect, a Volcarona, to be exact.
I bet you forgot about Melody, right? Well, that was her.
“Awaiting orders, Captain Black Starly!” She said heartily.
“Quiver Dance, Melody.” I replied.
What commenced wasn't so much of a dance as Randall had done not too long before – rather, it was a series of rhythmic motions, twirls, and spins. As this went on, rings of fire began to surround Melody.
“You idiotic Cofagrigus!” Ghetsis shouted, “Don't just watch, DO something! Shadow Ball!”
The ectoplasmic energy formed into a sort of an orb, which was launched across the room towards Melody – but the rings of flame connected with most of the blast, and only a small fraction of it ever reached her.
“What?! What madness is this?!” Ghetsis said in a none-too-happy voice.
“This is Unova! I plead the Fifth!” Melody buzzed. The rings of flame subsided. “Are you listening, THIS! IS! UNOVA!” A stream of fire shot out and scorched the Cofagrigus. If I remember correctly, when I fought it two years from now, it still had some burn marks across the golden plating of the coffin. In any case, it was down for the count.
“Gah! Worthless!” Ghetsis exclaimed, “Bisharp, dice that moth!”
The Bisharp seemed to be more of a mass of blades arranged in a way that made it look humanoid than a Pokemon. I shuddered to think of the horrible ways in which it could kill and quickly resolved not to give it that chance.
“Melody, another Flamethrower!”
“Roger that!” she replied. Another beam of flames shot out, torching the Bisharp where it stood. With a resounding metal clang, it hit the floor.
“No! Stupid piece of metal!” Ghetsis said, “Let's see you abuse weaknesses now! Eelektross!”
Melody's next opponent was a grotesque serpent, roughly ten feet long. A very odd magnetic field kept it levitating, just inches above the ground.
“No weakness necessary, sucker!” Melody shouted, flapping her wings to create a strange gust of what seemed to be an even stranger silver dust. Once the silver wind reached the Eelektross, it fell over and seemed to writhe in total pain. Then it stopped, but couldn't get back up, try as it may. Obviously, the dust was not a painkiller.
“Pah!” Ghetsis spat, returning the fallen eel to its ball, “Forget about neutrality, try an advantage on for size! Seismitoad!”
The emerging amphibian was just as grotesque as, if not more than, the Eelektross. Its body was covered in bulging sacs – for holding poison, I am told.
“Melody, another Silver Wind!” I bellowed. Once again, she blew forth that odd wind, and it had the same general results on the target. The Seismitoad fell over and was completely unmoving, with the exception of the occasional twitch and some shallow breathing.
“Useless! These Pokemon are completely and utterly useless! Time to bring in the big guns... Hydreigon, maul these imbeciles!”
I clearly remembered this Pokemon from my fight at Giant Chasm two years later, but something seemed different about it now. It was enraged then, but now it seemed to almost be radiating an aura of shadowy malice – almost similar to my experience with the Beeheeyem back at Victory Road, except turned up to eleven. Either way, I had a problem on my hands.
“Melody, are you sure you can handl-” I said, before being cut off by a the sound of a Volcarona with a bloodlust rushing past me.
“ROOREELOO!” I heard her buzz as she rushed headfirst to attack the Hydreigon. The dust gathered in almost a comet form around Melody as she flew, which turned out to have disastrous effects for the that Hydreigon – it was hit harder by the blast than any previous opponents had.
“No! All that money I spent to have them make this the ultimate Pokemon... he'll have to answer to me for that once I'm done with you, Black! Boufallant, end this!”
I had done the math – this afro-wearing buffalo was his last hope, whether he liked it or not.
“That's right,” I said gleefully, “end this! Melody, Flamethrower!”
Melody let loose a burst of fire that incinerated the Bouffalant's magnificent afro. Ashamed, it sheepishly ran out the door.
[turn off music]
“No. No!” Ghetsis screamed, “I can't lose now! Not to some miserable child!”
“No.” N said, “You're wrong, fa- ...Ghetsis. Black's more than just a child, he's a champion.”
An evil smirk crawled across Ghetsis' face like a Caterpie across a leaf.
“You think you've outsmarted me, boys? Think I have no options left, no escape? Well, guess again! Shadow Triad, kill them!”
From out of nowhere, the Shadow Triad, knives at the ready. I had been too preoccupied to notice any smells, so I was unprepared. We were all facing certain doom, until the unexpected happened.
“Override protocol Omega Twenty-seven Alpha Nine point Five.” I said. I don't know how I said it. The words just seemed to slip right out of my mouth. And just as suddenly, the triad's blue eyes turned a vacant gray and all motion stopped.
“What?!” Ghetsis shouted, “How did you know that they were robots?!”
Upon the word 'robots', a theory planted itself in my head. I knew not where it came from.
“It all makes sense!” I exclaimed, “The monotone voices, the invisibility – your scientists did a nice job with those cloaks refracting light, by the way – the special oil that smelled exactly like a brand of eyeliner... man, that was really brilliant, Ghetsis! Where'd you get that idea?”
“Never mind that, how did you figure it out?! My genius in having those robots manufactured was infallible! It is inconceivable that human mind could've figured it out!”
“Wait, I'm lost here,” Inigo said, confused, “What are you talking about again?”
“All right, then,” I said, “Melody, torch them, just enough to incinerate their cloaks.” Melody fired a weak ball of flame at the triad, scorching every last one of them. When the flames subsided, the cloaks had completely combusted, with the exception of a pile of ashes scattered on the brick floor, revealing three lightweight metal skeletons.
“Wait a moment,” N said, “So this means...”
“Yes. The Shadow Triad were robots all along.”
“GRAAH!” Ghetsis shouted, “This is inconceivable!”
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
“Really, Inigo?”
“What? Melody made so many references, so it's fair game for me, too.”
Meanwhile, Ghetsis continued on with his tirade.
“Some traitor must have leaked that information to you from the inside! When I get my hands on that little...” The words that followed are the type that would be replaced with exclamation marks, asterisks, and dollar signs if they were in a newspaper comic.
Shortly, Alder walked into the room, two guards behind him.
“Ah,” he said, “I see you've gotten them ready for us. We'll take it from here, Black.”
The two guards walked up to where Ghetsis was still fuming, and before he even knew it, they had handcuffs around his wrists.
“N,” Alder continued, “I know what you're going through must be very tough for you. But it would also help very much if you could testify as a witness for Ghetsis' crimes. Would you be willing to help us?”
“Wait, how did he know about this?”
“I sorta-mighta called him on my Xtranceiver on the way up here.”
“Ha!” Ghetsis laughed, “You'll never get through to him! He's a freak encased in a human body!”
“Actually,” N said, “I would be glad to help.”
“What?! No!” Ghetsis screamed as the guards and Alder dragged him away, “You'll pay for this! All of you! YOU ALL WILL PAY!”
[now play this music]
When he was gone, N finally sighed, “I'm glad that's over.”
“Me too.”
“Come on. I want to talk to you.”
I followed him along the path to his throne, the wall behind it smashed.
“You know, my whole life, I had been told that I was born to set the Pokemon free from their cruel trainers. But, ever since I met you and your Pokemon at Accumula Town, I had had doubts, nagging at the back of my mind. Your Pokemon looked so happy with you, even after only having known you for less than a day. It just boggled my mind. I guess you had a better affinity with Pokemon than I ever did.”
“Don't sell yourself short, N. Remember how your Pokemon fought valiantly by your side, even when it was clear that you were losing. They were and are loyal to you, as mine are to me.”
“That's true. In any case, when I awakened Zekrom, those doubts ceased. I thought that I had truly been chosen by fate to lead the world into a new age. I stopped caring about anything except winning. I stopped caring about my Pokemon. I was careless enough to let them all get so brutally battered... my ideals blinded me. It seems that, in the end, truth really does win against ideals, doesn't it?”
“Now hold on,” I said, “It's not that clear-cut. Your ideals about liberation are one of many truths. Likewise, my quest for truth is just another ideal. They're not separate entities, like, well, black and white, but a mix of both – gray, if you will. Which is why I'm giving you this.” I pulled one last Pokeball out of a pouch on my belt, where I had placed it for safekeeping.
“Wait... this is...”
“Yes. Reshiram's Pokeball. It's yours now.”
“But... didn't it choose you?”
“Choose me? No, it just reacted to the presence of a hero. You are more of a hero than I am, N. I was put into this role by the Pokegods above. With the exception of my battling prowess and ability to talk to Pokemon, I'm really nothing special. But you, N... you have a gift. Use it well, to resolve the tensions between Pokemon and humans without the need for liberation. You deserve Reshiram.”
“...Thank you, Black,” he said, taking Reshiram's Pokeball and opening it, “Thank you for everything.”
He climbed onto Reshiram's back.
“I don't suppose I will ever see you again, will I?” he asked.
“Don't worry,” I said, “I guarantee we will meet again somewhere down the line.”
“You're right,” N replied, “Thank you, and goodbye. Reshiram, I think we still have some time before I have to testify, and I hear Orre is nice this time of year...”
“AS YOU WISH.” Reshiram said, flying away.
“Well, everyone,” I said, turning back to my Pokemon, who had been waiting patiently, “It's finally over.”
[end music]
~
“Oh no, Locke,” the being mused, “this is only the beginning...”
END ACT I
Come on, you didn't really think I would end the run here, did you? I've still got to eliminate the available legendaries, not to mention defeat
The team at this point:
Inigo/Samurott lv. 54
Gaius/Krookodile lv. 54
Randall/Haxorus lv. 58
Prime/Golurk lv. 55
Aeolus/Tornadus lv. 54
Melody/Volcarona lv. 60
's team!
Also, I pulled off that single-mon sweep twice in a row. If you know where I got that idea, you get a cookie.
Also, I pulled off that single-mon sweep twice in a row. If you know where I got that idea, you get a cookie.
Inigo/Samurott lv. 54
Gaius/Krookodile lv. 54
Randall/Haxorus lv. 58
Prime/Golurk lv. 55
Aeolus/Tornadus lv. 54
Melody/Volcarona lv. 60
Dialkia made 2 updates in one week? WHAT IS THIS MADNESS
Anyway, this is another completely plot-based update, so if you want, you could just skip it.
Anyway, this is another completely plot-based update, so if you want, you could just skip it.
I spent the next two or so days at my “home” in Nuvema Town with my friends and “mother”. But on the morning of the third day, there was a rather unpleasant interruption.
That morning, as I walked down the stairs from my room, I expected nothing unusual. My “mother” had left the house to pick up some groceries, so I thought I was completely alone, with the exception of my trusted friends, my Pokemon. I was so wrong on so many levels.
I saw a man in a trench coat sitting comfortably in the living room, as if he owned the place. Probably a thief, I thought. I was just about to quietly walk back up the stairs to alert my Pokemon when the man spoke.
“Ah, Black!” he said, rising to his feet, “How good to be seeing you here this morning.”
“Excuse me, but do I know you?” I said, before my brain, slow with morning grogginess, finally made a connection. “Hey, didn't you give me Roy back in the Dreamyard?”
“Ah, yes. That was me. It's part of a routine I've been doing, making sure trainers don't lose against that first gym, then get discouraged and stop training Pokemon. The economy would suffer greatly if that were to happen. The only problem is that the job is excruciatingly boring. Anyway,” he continued, “I am Looker, representing the International Police, and I am here today to talk with you about a matter of regional, perhaps worldwide importance.”
This interested me. “Go on,” I said.
“As you wish. Last night, the criminal known as Ghetsis was broken out of a high-security prison. The infiltrator punched aside any prison guards that got in his way, tore the bars right off of Ghetsis' cell door, and walked away with him.”
“Are you sure it wasn't a Machoke or something?”
“Definitely not. Pokemon aren't allowed inside the prison, for security reasons.”
“The Shadow Triad robots, then?”
“Also a no; they were being kept, completely deactivated, in a containment facility – that is, until the same man broke them out, too.”
“All right, then. Give me a description of this man.”
“Very well. He was wearing a white lab coat and glasses, and also had blond, sort of slicked-back hair. Oh, and there was this strange, shimmering crystal helix that seemed to be attached to the top of his head.”
The words formed a picture in my mind, one of the single person in the world who I detested more than anything.
“Colress...” I said, memories of the man's crimes passing through my head like a slideshow presentation. I was fuming with rage.
“Oh, so you know this person?” Looker asked.
I really couldn't answer. My brain was going through extreme, total pain at that moment, exactly like the at the Route 5 incident only a few months earlier. I fell on the floor, writhing as the pain got worse and worse. Eventually, I was able to stutter a few words:
“Oh, great, now I've done it.”
Then my vision faded into black (no pun intended).
~
Once again, I wasn't entirely unconscious. I seemed to have been warped into some expanse of pure blackness (once again, no pun intended). The only thing I could see was my own body. I was utterly alone – that is, I thought I was.
Presently, I heard laughter, a low, chuckling noise reverberating around the area that sent chills down my very spine. Then, a voice spoke.
It said, “What have you to fight when you are your own enemy, Locke?” The voice echoed, almost as if it was in my own head.
“Who's there?! Show yourself!” I spat.
“I am right here. I always have been.”
[play this music for best effect]
I looked directly in front of me. There, where seemingly nothing had stood previously, stood a strange creature. While vaguely humanoid in shape, it had some animalistic features – a feline face, as well as a strange purple tail, and legs reminiscent of a Luxray's.
“Who the heck are you?”
“I am the reason for all of your troubles. But during my brief time in a physical form of my own, I was known as Mewtwo.”
Mew... two? I had heard legends about a rare Pokemon named Mew living on some far away island, but a Mew-two?
“I know what you are thinking,” Mewtwo said, “and I will tell you. I was genetically engineered by scientists to be a super-powered clone of Mew, to use for their own ends – as the smartest and strongest being alive, nothing would stand a chance. They experimented, they tested, they poked and prodded and electrocuted me. I grew to hate my creators, and when I saw an opportunity, I used the powers they gave me to destroy the laboratory, and ended up dying in the explosion myself.”
“But if you died, then how are you here?”
“The answer,” he said, “is you, Locke.”
“Wh-what?!”
“I had not completely died from the explosion; in the aftermath, my consciousness hung around, sort of like a ghost. If I wanted to survive and cleanse the world of the scum who made and tortured me, I needed to somewhere to grow. And that is when I found you, Locke. You had the highest intelligence of anybody in the area – even as a young child, you were the only one with a mind strong enough to suit my needs. So I latched on to your subconscious, planted myself deep in your inner mind, and there I've been waiting, for all these years.
“Eventually, not long before you began your original journey with all the eggs, I started to awaken. My powers had grown enough in the time that had passed that, in their weakest moments, I was able to reach out and drain a Pokemon's life energy, leading to them dying instead of fainting.”
“Wait, you are the reason why my Pokemon die?!”
“Oh, it gets better. At the point when you had been sent back in time, I started converting that life energy into my own power over you and your body. I've been using it to slowly manipulate and warp your DNA into a reasonable facsimile of my own.”
“I really don't believe you. I don't have a tail.”
“Oh, but you've been changing, that's for sure. Have you been experiencing sudden spikes in intelligence? Heightened senses? ...The ability to understand what Pokemon say, perhaps?”
“Well, ye- wait, that was you?!”
“Oh, yes. Sometimes, the truth hurts. Anyway, after the death of your little dog, you were so distraught that you had a weak moment, in which I was able to assume temporary control of your body. From this, I learned that in moments of extreme sadness or anger, usually triggered by a death, I could become the dominant consciousness, if only for a short amount of time. So I used some of my small psychic energy to put the enemies in an optimal place for a kill – for example, shifting the little girl's Herdier to the right angle, or moving a stone into your Sawsbuck's path. Eventually, I figured, there would come a time when I was able to assume control of this body permanently. If not, I would at least gain enough life energy to further cement my power over you from right here, in your mind.”
Despite my rapidly-growing hate for Mewtwo, I had to admit, he was doing a very good job.
“...fine. I don't see why you're telling me this much, though.”
“Because I need your help, Locke. The quickest way for me to assume control would be through direct confrontation, in which I kill you and am the only one remaining.”
“But we're standing here right now?” I interjected, “Why don't you just kill me now?”
“Because these are only projections of ourselves representing our consciousnesses. I myself have no physical form. However, there is a strange cave in the Kanto region known as the Unknown Dungeon. It is unknown because the cave warps itself to become a physical form of the enterer's subconscious. If you can go there, you will be able to fight me.”
“And what if I refuse to go?”
“Then I suppose you shall have to live out the rest of your days staying away from the violence and anger of adventure, being extremely careful that your anger doesn't flare up again. Given that simply thinking of one man sent you into a rage, I would say you don't have much of a choice. At least with my way, you have a sporting chance.”
Once again, I hated to admit it, but he was right.
“All right. Just let me out of here and back in control.”
“Oh, I'm afraid it's not that simple. You see, that Samurott of yours is watching over you during your unconsciousness. And wouldn't it be a shame if you were to 'accidentally'...”
“YOU STAY AWAY FROM HIM!” I shouted. I ran towards Mewtwo as fast as my legs could carry me, pulled my fist back, and let it fly towards his face. But then, he was gone, just as suddenly as he had appeared. A low chuckling once again resounded around me. Mewtwo left me with a few more words before I woke up:
“Remember what happens when you fight monsters, Locke...”
~
I awoke to Inigo's blue face watching over me. He was clearly startled by my sudden awakening.
“Black!” he shouted, “You're awake!”
“Inigo, it sure is great to see you!” I said, looking around, “But, umm, did anything happen while I was out?”
“Well, that Looker guy called paramedics in. I'm just glad they decided you were okay enough that they didn't drag you off to the hospital. “Just fatigue” is their explanation for it, but I'm not so sure. Your mother threw a fit when she got home, so they had to sedate her. She's over in the other room, if you're wondering.”
Just then, Looker peeked in and saw that I was awake.
“Oh, Black!” he said, “You've woken up! Thank goodness!”
“Yup. Now, first, why exactly did you feel the need to call,” I stood up and looked outside, “4 ambulances? I can see your concern, but just one would've sufficed.”
“Well, er... you see, the thing is, you remind me of a friend of mine... Well! Anyway. Was there something else you wanted to say?” he said, seeming to step around the question. I ignored it for the moment.
“Right. Second, Inigo, go and fetch the other Pokemon, and Cheren as well. See if you can't find a way to get N, too. I have something I need to say."
~
With time, they all arrived. The Pokemon, Cheren, eventually even N joined us (apparently Aeolus had begrudgingly flown over to Orre to find him). I figured it would be useful for Looker to hear this, too, so I kept him around.
“So,” Cheren said, “Exactly why are we here?”
“Because the truth needs to be told,” I said, “and I haven't exactly been telling everybody the truth.”
That morning, as I walked down the stairs from my room, I expected nothing unusual. My “mother” had left the house to pick up some groceries, so I thought I was completely alone, with the exception of my trusted friends, my Pokemon. I was so wrong on so many levels.
I saw a man in a trench coat sitting comfortably in the living room, as if he owned the place. Probably a thief, I thought. I was just about to quietly walk back up the stairs to alert my Pokemon when the man spoke.
“Ah, Black!” he said, rising to his feet, “How good to be seeing you here this morning.”
“Excuse me, but do I know you?” I said, before my brain, slow with morning grogginess, finally made a connection. “Hey, didn't you give me Roy back in the Dreamyard?”
“Ah, yes. That was me. It's part of a routine I've been doing, making sure trainers don't lose against that first gym, then get discouraged and stop training Pokemon. The economy would suffer greatly if that were to happen. The only problem is that the job is excruciatingly boring. Anyway,” he continued, “I am Looker, representing the International Police, and I am here today to talk with you about a matter of regional, perhaps worldwide importance.”
This interested me. “Go on,” I said.
“As you wish. Last night, the criminal known as Ghetsis was broken out of a high-security prison. The infiltrator punched aside any prison guards that got in his way, tore the bars right off of Ghetsis' cell door, and walked away with him.”
“Are you sure it wasn't a Machoke or something?”
“Definitely not. Pokemon aren't allowed inside the prison, for security reasons.”
“The Shadow Triad robots, then?”
“Also a no; they were being kept, completely deactivated, in a containment facility – that is, until the same man broke them out, too.”
“All right, then. Give me a description of this man.”
“Very well. He was wearing a white lab coat and glasses, and also had blond, sort of slicked-back hair. Oh, and there was this strange, shimmering crystal helix that seemed to be attached to the top of his head.”
The words formed a picture in my mind, one of the single person in the world who I detested more than anything.
“Colress...” I said, memories of the man's crimes passing through my head like a slideshow presentation. I was fuming with rage.
“Oh, so you know this person?” Looker asked.
I really couldn't answer. My brain was going through extreme, total pain at that moment, exactly like the at the Route 5 incident only a few months earlier. I fell on the floor, writhing as the pain got worse and worse. Eventually, I was able to stutter a few words:
“Oh, great, now I've done it.”
Then my vision faded into black (no pun intended).
~
Once again, I wasn't entirely unconscious. I seemed to have been warped into some expanse of pure blackness (once again, no pun intended). The only thing I could see was my own body. I was utterly alone – that is, I thought I was.
Presently, I heard laughter, a low, chuckling noise reverberating around the area that sent chills down my very spine. Then, a voice spoke.
It said, “What have you to fight when you are your own enemy, Locke?” The voice echoed, almost as if it was in my own head.
“Who's there?! Show yourself!” I spat.
“I am right here. I always have been.”
[play this music for best effect]
I looked directly in front of me. There, where seemingly nothing had stood previously, stood a strange creature. While vaguely humanoid in shape, it had some animalistic features – a feline face, as well as a strange purple tail, and legs reminiscent of a Luxray's.
“Who the heck are you?”
“I am the reason for all of your troubles. But during my brief time in a physical form of my own, I was known as Mewtwo.”
Mew... two? I had heard legends about a rare Pokemon named Mew living on some far away island, but a Mew-two?
“I know what you are thinking,” Mewtwo said, “and I will tell you. I was genetically engineered by scientists to be a super-powered clone of Mew, to use for their own ends – as the smartest and strongest being alive, nothing would stand a chance. They experimented, they tested, they poked and prodded and electrocuted me. I grew to hate my creators, and when I saw an opportunity, I used the powers they gave me to destroy the laboratory, and ended up dying in the explosion myself.”
“But if you died, then how are you here?”
“The answer,” he said, “is you, Locke.”
“Wh-what?!”
“I had not completely died from the explosion; in the aftermath, my consciousness hung around, sort of like a ghost. If I wanted to survive and cleanse the world of the scum who made and tortured me, I needed to somewhere to grow. And that is when I found you, Locke. You had the highest intelligence of anybody in the area – even as a young child, you were the only one with a mind strong enough to suit my needs. So I latched on to your subconscious, planted myself deep in your inner mind, and there I've been waiting, for all these years.
“Eventually, not long before you began your original journey with all the eggs, I started to awaken. My powers had grown enough in the time that had passed that, in their weakest moments, I was able to reach out and drain a Pokemon's life energy, leading to them dying instead of fainting.”
“Wait, you are the reason why my Pokemon die?!”
“Oh, it gets better. At the point when you had been sent back in time, I started converting that life energy into my own power over you and your body. I've been using it to slowly manipulate and warp your DNA into a reasonable facsimile of my own.”
“I really don't believe you. I don't have a tail.”
“Oh, but you've been changing, that's for sure. Have you been experiencing sudden spikes in intelligence? Heightened senses? ...The ability to understand what Pokemon say, perhaps?”
“Well, ye- wait, that was you?!”
“Oh, yes. Sometimes, the truth hurts. Anyway, after the death of your little dog, you were so distraught that you had a weak moment, in which I was able to assume temporary control of your body. From this, I learned that in moments of extreme sadness or anger, usually triggered by a death, I could become the dominant consciousness, if only for a short amount of time. So I used some of my small psychic energy to put the enemies in an optimal place for a kill – for example, shifting the little girl's Herdier to the right angle, or moving a stone into your Sawsbuck's path. Eventually, I figured, there would come a time when I was able to assume control of this body permanently. If not, I would at least gain enough life energy to further cement my power over you from right here, in your mind.”
Despite my rapidly-growing hate for Mewtwo, I had to admit, he was doing a very good job.
“...fine. I don't see why you're telling me this much, though.”
“Because I need your help, Locke. The quickest way for me to assume control would be through direct confrontation, in which I kill you and am the only one remaining.”
“But we're standing here right now?” I interjected, “Why don't you just kill me now?”
“Because these are only projections of ourselves representing our consciousnesses. I myself have no physical form. However, there is a strange cave in the Kanto region known as the Unknown Dungeon. It is unknown because the cave warps itself to become a physical form of the enterer's subconscious. If you can go there, you will be able to fight me.”
“And what if I refuse to go?”
“Then I suppose you shall have to live out the rest of your days staying away from the violence and anger of adventure, being extremely careful that your anger doesn't flare up again. Given that simply thinking of one man sent you into a rage, I would say you don't have much of a choice. At least with my way, you have a sporting chance.”
Once again, I hated to admit it, but he was right.
“All right. Just let me out of here and back in control.”
“Oh, I'm afraid it's not that simple. You see, that Samurott of yours is watching over you during your unconsciousness. And wouldn't it be a shame if you were to 'accidentally'...”
“YOU STAY AWAY FROM HIM!” I shouted. I ran towards Mewtwo as fast as my legs could carry me, pulled my fist back, and let it fly towards his face. But then, he was gone, just as suddenly as he had appeared. A low chuckling once again resounded around me. Mewtwo left me with a few more words before I woke up:
“Remember what happens when you fight monsters, Locke...”
~
I awoke to Inigo's blue face watching over me. He was clearly startled by my sudden awakening.
“Black!” he shouted, “You're awake!”
“Inigo, it sure is great to see you!” I said, looking around, “But, umm, did anything happen while I was out?”
“Well, that Looker guy called paramedics in. I'm just glad they decided you were okay enough that they didn't drag you off to the hospital. “Just fatigue” is their explanation for it, but I'm not so sure. Your mother threw a fit when she got home, so they had to sedate her. She's over in the other room, if you're wondering.”
Just then, Looker peeked in and saw that I was awake.
“Oh, Black!” he said, “You've woken up! Thank goodness!”
“Yup. Now, first, why exactly did you feel the need to call,” I stood up and looked outside, “4 ambulances? I can see your concern, but just one would've sufficed.”
“Well, er... you see, the thing is, you remind me of a friend of mine... Well! Anyway. Was there something else you wanted to say?” he said, seeming to step around the question. I ignored it for the moment.
“Right. Second, Inigo, go and fetch the other Pokemon, and Cheren as well. See if you can't find a way to get N, too. I have something I need to say."
~
With time, they all arrived. The Pokemon, Cheren, eventually even N joined us (apparently Aeolus had begrudgingly flown over to Orre to find him). I figured it would be useful for Looker to hear this, too, so I kept him around.
“So,” Cheren said, “Exactly why are we here?”
“Because the truth needs to be told,” I said, “and I haven't exactly been telling everybody the truth.”
First off, thank you to my loyal readers since the beginning of this run, Pineapple X and Reggie McGigas, for liking my post. It makes me happy to know that people are still paying attention to this.
Second, I am sorry for the delay in getting this part up. It's been a busy week for me - I've got a big powerpoint presentation due Tuesday, there was a big thing in school requiring lots of work that I had to put lots of focus on, I needed to make sure I was done with everything quickly on Thursday since I was going to see a movie with my family... it's just been crazy.
Sorry the chapter wasn't particularly long, but I really think that the next part would be better off on its own.
Second, I am sorry for the delay in getting this part up. It's been a busy week for me - I've got a big powerpoint presentation due Tuesday, there was a big thing in school requiring lots of work that I had to put lots of focus on, I needed to make sure I was done with everything quickly on Thursday since I was going to see a movie with my family... it's just been crazy.
“Brother, the boy's presence is no longer necessary to the timeline.”
“Oh? Excellent. Send them in immediately, Dialga.”
“The musketeers? Yes, Palkia.”
~
And so, on that day, my story was told, all from my seat at the gathering on Route One.
It took about an hour, all together. Luckily, there had been no unpleasant interruptions of any sort.
“And that is why,” I concluded, “I need to get back to the future.”
The entire room stayed silent for several seconds.
“Wow,” Cheren said, “That's, umm, some story.”
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
“Well, 'Locke',” he responded, “as much as I would like to believe you, there is simply no logical evidence that would make me believe that you really travelled back in time. And Kyurem? That thing is simply a myth, made by the people of Lacunosa Town as an excuse for a curfew. And even if it did exist, how would a simple Arcanine kill it?! Your story is full of holes, Black. You must've hurt your head when you fainted earlier.”
“That's right,” I said, “I have no proof except for what I know. For example, I know that you are considering applying for the position of Gym Leader in Aspertia.”
“No, I'm- wait, what?! How did you know?!”
“In the future, you got the job. And besides, the living room carpet is too soft and fluffy for me to hurt my head falling.”
“Hmm...” Looker spoke, “as a wise man said, when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. The facts present seem to add up to Black- err, Locke, being right.”
“And besides,” N said, “he's not the kind of person to lie about these things. The only problem is, how do you get back to your time?”
“Well, remember that Elgyem I told you about, Starlight? She might be able to help.”
“She might not have to,” Looker said, “You're not the only reason I'm here. Strange temporal and spacial anomalies have been picked up in Mistralton Cave, Pinwheel Forest, and Victory Road. They seem akin to the kinds witnessed at the Coronet incident, 5 years back. Perhaps you could find your answers there?”
“It could also be suicide, if I encounter one of the gods there. Their appearance at Coronet was just a shard of their true selves summoned by the Red Chain- a fragment of their power. Here, they would be able to annihilate me before they even looked at me. Still, I suppose that if that happened, it would take Mewtwo down as well, so at least I wouldn't have to deal with him anymore.”
“Oh, that's just not cool,” I heard him say inside my head.
Shut up, I thought back to him.
“Your logic is sound, Locke,” N said, “Arceus-speed. Or not, I guess, since he's the one trying to kill you.”
The last comment made everyone present chuckle a bit.
“Right. I'll be going now,” I said, walking away, before I turned around and continued, “By the way, you guys shouldn't tell not-mom about this – I'm not sure if she could handle it.”
“What do you suggest we do?” Cheren asked.
“I'll burn that bridge when I come to it. For now, just say I have some unfinished business. But you can spread the news to the Gym Leaders, Elites, and Alder.” I continued walking away. My Pokemon followed.
“Aeolus, please fly us to Mistralton Cave,” I said.
“I refuse to be used as a beast of burden.”
“All right, then, Prime, please fly us to Mistralton Cave.”
The seat on Prime's back opened up once more. I returned the others to their respective Pokeballs, climbed into the giant robot, let the hatch close, and we flew off, not knowing what we would encounter.
“Oh? Excellent. Send them in immediately, Dialga.”
“The musketeers? Yes, Palkia.”
~
And so, on that day, my story was told, all from my seat at the gathering on Route One.
It took about an hour, all together. Luckily, there had been no unpleasant interruptions of any sort.
“And that is why,” I concluded, “I need to get back to the future.”
The entire room stayed silent for several seconds.
“Wow,” Cheren said, “That's, umm, some story.”
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
“Well, 'Locke',” he responded, “as much as I would like to believe you, there is simply no logical evidence that would make me believe that you really travelled back in time. And Kyurem? That thing is simply a myth, made by the people of Lacunosa Town as an excuse for a curfew. And even if it did exist, how would a simple Arcanine kill it?! Your story is full of holes, Black. You must've hurt your head when you fainted earlier.”
“That's right,” I said, “I have no proof except for what I know. For example, I know that you are considering applying for the position of Gym Leader in Aspertia.”
“No, I'm- wait, what?! How did you know?!”
“In the future, you got the job. And besides, the living room carpet is too soft and fluffy for me to hurt my head falling.”
“Hmm...” Looker spoke, “as a wise man said, when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. The facts present seem to add up to Black- err, Locke, being right.”
“And besides,” N said, “he's not the kind of person to lie about these things. The only problem is, how do you get back to your time?”
“Well, remember that Elgyem I told you about, Starlight? She might be able to help.”
“She might not have to,” Looker said, “You're not the only reason I'm here. Strange temporal and spacial anomalies have been picked up in Mistralton Cave, Pinwheel Forest, and Victory Road. They seem akin to the kinds witnessed at the Coronet incident, 5 years back. Perhaps you could find your answers there?”
“It could also be suicide, if I encounter one of the gods there. Their appearance at Coronet was just a shard of their true selves summoned by the Red Chain- a fragment of their power. Here, they would be able to annihilate me before they even looked at me. Still, I suppose that if that happened, it would take Mewtwo down as well, so at least I wouldn't have to deal with him anymore.”
“Oh, that's just not cool,” I heard him say inside my head.
Shut up, I thought back to him.
“Your logic is sound, Locke,” N said, “Arceus-speed. Or not, I guess, since he's the one trying to kill you.”
The last comment made everyone present chuckle a bit.
“Right. I'll be going now,” I said, walking away, before I turned around and continued, “By the way, you guys shouldn't tell not-mom about this – I'm not sure if she could handle it.”
“What do you suggest we do?” Cheren asked.
“I'll burn that bridge when I come to it. For now, just say I have some unfinished business. But you can spread the news to the Gym Leaders, Elites, and Alder.” I continued walking away. My Pokemon followed.
“Aeolus, please fly us to Mistralton Cave,” I said.
“I refuse to be used as a beast of burden.”
“All right, then, Prime, please fly us to Mistralton Cave.”
The seat on Prime's back opened up once more. I returned the others to their respective Pokeballs, climbed into the giant robot, let the hatch close, and we flew off, not knowing what we would encounter.
Okay, so I'm definitely not going to get this run done by New Year's. That's a given at this point. Sorry about that. However, if nothing happens, I should be able to finish this by at least mid-February. I estimate that there are only about 8 parts left, an epilogue included.
It had seemed like forever since I had been to Mistralton Cave, where I had caught Randall. Things just changed and didn't stop, it seemed.
After the flight and Prime's landing at Route 6, I had taken some time to reminisce about old times. It had been Stahl's home, I remembered, before... I blocked the thought out of my head, for fear that Mewtwo could use it as leverage.
In any case, I soon reached the cave's mouth. The inner workings of the cave were completely shrouded by utter darkness, and who knows what was lurking in there.
I turned around to Inigo, Randall, Melody, and Gaius, who had been following me. Aeolus refused to exit his Master Ball, and Prime was simply too big.
“Randall,” I said, “would you mind guiding me through the cave? It's your habitat, so you know it better than anyone else.”
“Fair enough.”
“Everyone else, return for now.”
“All right,” Inigo said, “but if you need us, don't be afraid to ask, okay?”
They all willingly returned.
“Well, Randall,” I said, motioning towards the cave, “Allons-y!”
It took at least an hour for us to navigate the cave. Even the dazzling glow from my flashlight could barely penetrate the ominous darkness, only allowing vision about five feet ahead of us.
Near a strange indent in the cave wall, Randall stopped, looked around, sniffed at the air, then stopped again.
“Something's not right, Black- er, Locke. Sorry about that. This way.” He guided me through the enclave. It turned out that it was actually a slope of dirt and rocks – not all that uncommon in caves when stronger dragons live there, since they often use such walls for training – hence, rubble.
I wasn't expecting much from the next room except more murky blackness. Indeed, that's exactly how it was.
Until, that is, in a blinding flash of radiance, I saw several rocks sliced in two.
[press link, receive music]
In my early youth, I had been rather fond of books about history's wars - from the Kalos War, to the War of Two Heroes, all the way to the Great Rebellion that ultimately split the region of Tohjo into what was now Kanto and Johto. I especially enjoyed looking at pictures of the weaponry used in those wars, and had learned quite a bit – at the very least, enough to know that no weapon used by any known human or Pokemon could do that kind of damage. These weren't just ordinary stones you find in the garden, these were rocky outcrops, wedged firmly in the ground by millions of years of sediment, and yet, they had just snapped like toothpicks.
I pointed my flashlight to where the blow seemed to have come from, and when I did, I saw the one thing who could make cuts of that precision – one thing that I had learned about in great detail during my study of the War of Two Heroes, especially from the Battle of the Iron Stag.
“C-Cobalion?!”
“Locke,” Cobalion said, “I have nothing against you, but my masters have decreed that you must die where you stand!”
Cobalion jumped from its standing point and slashed right at me. However, one of the better side effects of being slowly transformed into a genetically modified super-mon is heightened senses and reflexes – I dodged the blow just in time.
My flashlight chose just that opportunity to begin to fizzle out. The light just stopped, then blinked back on again in a crucial second. By that time, Cobalion had moved to a different spot. I looked around in the little amount of light that the dying electric torch could spare, and there was no sign of my foe. I finally had the common sense to look over my shoulder and saw that, in the veil of darkness, Cobalion had snuck up on me from behind. The flashlight turned off again I dropped to my back to avoid the impending slash and rolled over a few times, hoping to find a more favorable position, but there was none. I was utterly doomed. My flashlight took one last gasp of metaphorical breath, turning on again so I could see Cobalion approach me, moving in for the kill.
All of a sudden, Randall came running out from the side and tackled the stag like a football player. I looked over and saw that he had Cobalion pinned down to the cave floor.
“Why have you been sent here?!” he shouted, “Why are you trying to kill him?!”
“I assume, by this point, he has told you the reason for which I am here. Forgive me, Locke.” With that, Cobalion threw Randall off and began one last charge at me. I was practically a sitting Ducklett, frozen with fear – or was it something else?
Oh, no, I thought.
“Oh, yes,” came Mewtwo's words from my mouth. Without my accord, my legs stood up. Then, my arm shot out in front of me, and was surrounded by a strange blue aura. As Cobalion charged, the aura surrounded it, until the beast was almost completely immobilized, writhing around in Mewtwo's grip – in my grip.
“I see that you have broken through, Mewtwo,” Cobalion growled.
“Indeed. Send Dialga and Palkia my regards, Cobalion.” My opponent was flung back through the cave. The blue aura gave an eerie luminescent glow to my surroundings, and I saw a swirling sight I was all too familiar with- a rift. Cobalion flew back through the hole, and I regained control of my body.
[turn off music]
My first order of business involved my guide through the cave.
“Are you okay, Randall?” I asked, walking over to where he had landed.
“Urrgh... yes, I'm fine,” he said, slowly standing up, “Go investigate that rift. I'll catch up.”
Taking his advice, I grabbed my not-dead-yet flashlight and ran over to the rift. Before I had even gotten the chance to look at it for more than a second, though, it snapped shut.
“I wonder why that happened...”
As I walked back to Randall, I stumbled upon something that had been on the ground. I looked down, and it seemed to be four squares of pottery – small, very ancient by the looks of it, and with strange markings on each side. Curious about what they could be, I picked them up and placed them in a pocket of my bag. I would be sure to have the Nacrene Museum examine them when I had a chance. But it was probably just pottery; the squares probably didn't have any significance.
Did they?
After the flight and Prime's landing at Route 6, I had taken some time to reminisce about old times. It had been Stahl's home, I remembered, before... I blocked the thought out of my head, for fear that Mewtwo could use it as leverage.
In any case, I soon reached the cave's mouth. The inner workings of the cave were completely shrouded by utter darkness, and who knows what was lurking in there.
I turned around to Inigo, Randall, Melody, and Gaius, who had been following me. Aeolus refused to exit his Master Ball, and Prime was simply too big.
“Randall,” I said, “would you mind guiding me through the cave? It's your habitat, so you know it better than anyone else.”
“Fair enough.”
“Everyone else, return for now.”
“All right,” Inigo said, “but if you need us, don't be afraid to ask, okay?”
They all willingly returned.
“Well, Randall,” I said, motioning towards the cave, “Allons-y!”
It took at least an hour for us to navigate the cave. Even the dazzling glow from my flashlight could barely penetrate the ominous darkness, only allowing vision about five feet ahead of us.
Near a strange indent in the cave wall, Randall stopped, looked around, sniffed at the air, then stopped again.
“Something's not right, Black- er, Locke. Sorry about that. This way.” He guided me through the enclave. It turned out that it was actually a slope of dirt and rocks – not all that uncommon in caves when stronger dragons live there, since they often use such walls for training – hence, rubble.
I wasn't expecting much from the next room except more murky blackness. Indeed, that's exactly how it was.
Until, that is, in a blinding flash of radiance, I saw several rocks sliced in two.
[press link, receive music]
In my early youth, I had been rather fond of books about history's wars - from the Kalos War, to the War of Two Heroes, all the way to the Great Rebellion that ultimately split the region of Tohjo into what was now Kanto and Johto. I especially enjoyed looking at pictures of the weaponry used in those wars, and had learned quite a bit – at the very least, enough to know that no weapon used by any known human or Pokemon could do that kind of damage. These weren't just ordinary stones you find in the garden, these were rocky outcrops, wedged firmly in the ground by millions of years of sediment, and yet, they had just snapped like toothpicks.
I pointed my flashlight to where the blow seemed to have come from, and when I did, I saw the one thing who could make cuts of that precision – one thing that I had learned about in great detail during my study of the War of Two Heroes, especially from the Battle of the Iron Stag.
“C-Cobalion?!”
“Locke,” Cobalion said, “I have nothing against you, but my masters have decreed that you must die where you stand!”
Cobalion jumped from its standing point and slashed right at me. However, one of the better side effects of being slowly transformed into a genetically modified super-mon is heightened senses and reflexes – I dodged the blow just in time.
My flashlight chose just that opportunity to begin to fizzle out. The light just stopped, then blinked back on again in a crucial second. By that time, Cobalion had moved to a different spot. I looked around in the little amount of light that the dying electric torch could spare, and there was no sign of my foe. I finally had the common sense to look over my shoulder and saw that, in the veil of darkness, Cobalion had snuck up on me from behind. The flashlight turned off again I dropped to my back to avoid the impending slash and rolled over a few times, hoping to find a more favorable position, but there was none. I was utterly doomed. My flashlight took one last gasp of metaphorical breath, turning on again so I could see Cobalion approach me, moving in for the kill.
All of a sudden, Randall came running out from the side and tackled the stag like a football player. I looked over and saw that he had Cobalion pinned down to the cave floor.
“Why have you been sent here?!” he shouted, “Why are you trying to kill him?!”
“I assume, by this point, he has told you the reason for which I am here. Forgive me, Locke.” With that, Cobalion threw Randall off and began one last charge at me. I was practically a sitting Ducklett, frozen with fear – or was it something else?
Oh, no, I thought.
“Oh, yes,” came Mewtwo's words from my mouth. Without my accord, my legs stood up. Then, my arm shot out in front of me, and was surrounded by a strange blue aura. As Cobalion charged, the aura surrounded it, until the beast was almost completely immobilized, writhing around in Mewtwo's grip – in my grip.
“I see that you have broken through, Mewtwo,” Cobalion growled.
“Indeed. Send Dialga and Palkia my regards, Cobalion.” My opponent was flung back through the cave. The blue aura gave an eerie luminescent glow to my surroundings, and I saw a swirling sight I was all too familiar with- a rift. Cobalion flew back through the hole, and I regained control of my body.
[turn off music]
My first order of business involved my guide through the cave.
“Are you okay, Randall?” I asked, walking over to where he had landed.
“Urrgh... yes, I'm fine,” he said, slowly standing up, “Go investigate that rift. I'll catch up.”
Taking his advice, I grabbed my not-dead-yet flashlight and ran over to the rift. Before I had even gotten the chance to look at it for more than a second, though, it snapped shut.
“I wonder why that happened...”
As I walked back to Randall, I stumbled upon something that had been on the ground. I looked down, and it seemed to be four squares of pottery – small, very ancient by the looks of it, and with strange markings on each side. Curious about what they could be, I picked them up and placed them in a pocket of my bag. I would be sure to have the Nacrene Museum examine them when I had a chance. But it was probably just pottery; the squares probably didn't have any significance.
Did they?
It's the holiday season, so I decided that it's the perfect time for alienating everyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas with a Christmas Special!
Keep in mind that this isn't going to be one of those Christmas specials that is completely ineffectual, and is just included for fun. No sir, this special is not only a major plot point, but it also provides some extra character development, mainly for Henry and Aeolus. Also, this is a huge wall of text, it being a parody of A Christmas Carol, so I wouldn't blame anyone if they didn't bother to read it.
Also, this might contain some disturbing and/or gory imagery as well as a few semi-sensitive topics, so children, the easily offended, and easily offended children might want to skip this one.
Glad that's out of the way! BTW, I may or may not have a little side project happening soon, so that might end up as a tiny distraction. Sorry.
Keep in mind that this isn't going to be one of those Christmas specials that is completely ineffectual, and is just included for fun. No sir, this special is not only a major plot point, but it also provides some extra character development, mainly for Henry and Aeolus. Also, this is a huge wall of text, it being a parody of A Christmas Carol, so I wouldn't blame anyone if they didn't bother to read it.
Also, this might contain some disturbing and/or gory imagery as well as a few semi-sensitive topics, so children, the easily offended, and easily offended children might want to skip this one.
After another hour or so of walking, Randall and I finally emerged from Mistralton Cave into the frigid December air. Snow was falling from the sky.
I immediately released the other Pokemon, except for Prime, who was still just too big.
“What took you so long?” Gaius asked.
“We... sorta nearly got killed by Cobalion.”
“Woah!” Inigo exclaimed, “I... won't bother asking if you two are okay, since you are clearly alive.”
“Actually, I think that thing broke my wrist, but it's nothing a Center can't fix.”
“Aaanyway... Aeolus, you're a god, right? Cobalion mentioned being sent by its 'masters'. Do you know anything about that?”
“Hmph... no, I don't.”
“Well, okay. Starlight might know. I'll check with her at the Pokemon Center.”
And so, I took the hike over to Driftveil. Not much to say about it, really. When I got to the center, though, that's when things got interesting.
I progressed, as normal, over to the public-use storage computer, logging on in short order. I looked at the box where Starlight was supposed to be – except she wasn't there. I looked closely. Every single Mon in my possession was there except for Starlight.
Thinking I might have moved her, I scrolled through all the other boxes, and still, no sign of her. Nothing else was missing.
“Ugh!” I said under my breath, being careful not to make a scene, “For cryin' out loud, this is why we can't have nice things! Someone must've hacked my account! Honestly, I don't have time for this, it's Christmas Eve!” I stormed off to book a hotel room for the night.
~
Inigo looked around to check on Aeolus, who had a habit of wandering off at this time of night. Sure enough, Aeolus was missing. The Samurott let out an exasperated sigh.
“All right, everyone, I'll be the first to say it – Aeolus hasn't been telling the truth to us.”
The others nodded in agreement.
“Definitely,” Randall said, “I mean, I was arrogant, but he takes it to a whole new level! By the way, Melody, sorry about calling you a mothball earlier.”
“It's okay, you overgrown Kecleon,” Melody replied, “But seriously, God of the Winds? More like God of the Windbags. He knows what we need to know, but he's too stubborn to tell us.”
“The question is,” Gaius asked, “if we can't get him to talk, how do we get our answers?”
“Simple: We find a way to make Aeolus talk.”
“And how will we do that?”
“Melody, your father could help. And Locke seems to have left his account logged on, so I'll just...” Inigo stood up on his hind legs and started haphazardly typing commands into the PC, “...let's see, this, then deposit Prime, then -oops, hope he won't be mad about that Mightyena- ah, here we go.” The Pokeball that contained Henry instantaneously materialized on the desk to the right. Inigo pressed the button on the front of the ball, then lost his balance and fell over as Henry appeared from the beam of light.
“Ah, it's good to be out of that computer!” Henry said, glancing around until he saw Melody, then continued, “Melody! Great to see you! You've certainly grown a lot. You know, I can't tell you how proud I am that you took on Ghetsis by yourself.”
“Heh, I missed you too, Dad.” The two shared a nice father-adoptive daughter hug, or at least the closest they could get to one, given that Melody had no arms and Henry only had short, stubby arms.
“Now that that reunion's out of the way,” Gaius interrupted, “Henry, do you know about the situation regarding Black – or, should I say, Locke?”
“Yep! That Elgyem told me all about it, before she, you know... vanished.”
“You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?” Inigo said, standing up on his four feet again.
“Nope, not one bit. One minute, she was there, I turn away for a second and poof! Gone like my lunch was that time when-”
“Henry. You promised you would never tell that story again. EVER.”
“All right, all right. Sheesh. Anywho, why did you call me here?”
“Are you familiar with Aeolus?” Randall asked.
“Sure I am. Green and purple, lots of clouds, sort of a scumbag, right? I hit him with a tree a few weeks ago.”
“Yeah, that's the one. We think he might be hiding important information from us that could be used to help Locke.”
“Ah, so you want me to get it out of him, eh? Easy peasy, kelpsy squeezy! I know just the thing!”
“Wow, that was quick. What do you have in mind?”
“Tell me, everybody... have you ever heard of A Christmas Carol?”
~
Aeolus levitated just above the ground in the cold, dark woodlands not far from Chargestone Cave, meditating.
He liked the frigidity, the darkness – they were calm, crisp, and most of all, they kept him sharp. Aeolus feared that this time in captivity would turn him soft. Despite the fact that he was a god, and his time with Locke would be over within a mere blink of his lifespan, Aeolus thought of the trainer's strategies as too cute, cuddly, friendship-reliant. The god always figured that battles were won by skill and strategy, as opposed to love and trust. And besides the occasional opportunity to humiliate someone else, there was no reason as to why Aeolus would ever listen to Locke.
Aeolus meditated there for several hours. It was not long past midnight. The moon had been concealed behind the Christmas Eve snow clouds. It was perfect for Aeolus – it only meant more darkness.
Suddenly, he heard a rustling in the bushes, just a few feet away. Now, I must ask you to recognize that Aeolus has never once met any of the Pokemon who were residents of the PC when he was captured, or none of what is about to happen will make any sense at all.
Aeolus looked around and saw nothing. He was about to return to his meditation when a Toxicroak, the Toxicroak being Raymond, dressed in tattered robes and glowing eerily, emerged from the bramble.
The luminescence spell was a nice touch, Henry thought to himself.
“Good evening, Aeolus,” Raymond said.
“Who do you think you are, barging in on me like that?!”
“I am the Ghost of Christmas Past,” the Toxicroak responded, “and I am here to take you on a journey down memory lane.”
Concealed in the nearby shadows, Henry mumbled an incantation in an ancient, lost language, which roughly translated to, “Show the shadows of this being's past memories, and not even the deepest, most repressed moments will escape.”
And just like that, the trees and bushes and darkness faded away to a Christmas morning in a peasant village, long, long ago.
“What witchcraft is this?!” Aeolus shouted.
“I am showing you the projections of a Christmas long gone.”
“Christmas? Humbug. Such mortal holidays are of no use to me.”
“We shall see, Aeolus. We shall see.”
This particular moment seemed to have been at a time between the founding of Unova and the War of Two Heroes. The village was bustling with the crowds of Christmastime, with a light dust of snow falling all the while.
“This.. this place was my home, so many years ago.” Aeolus said, looking around. He noticed a thin human boy, no older than seventeen years.
“And that was me! Aeolus! Aeolus!” he called out.
Wait, Henry thought, Aeolus used to be human?
“Aeolus, these are only shadows of earlier in your life. Technically, you aren't even here – they can neither see, nor hear you.”
“But, spirit... was this the Christmas when I...”
“We shall see,” Raymond replied.
The youth walked through the town square, eventually being accosted by an older, much more muscular boy, followed by another who seemed to be the median between the two.
“And those were my brothers, Zeus and,” Aeolus paused for a moment before growling, “Ares...”
“Hey, Aeolus!” the oldest of the brothers, who seemed to be Ares, yelled, “Get your bow and arrows, we're going out hunting.”
“Well, uh,” the past Aeolus said, “I'm not really sure I want to go hunting today. It's really cold, anyway, and it being Christmas and all, I'd rather just relax...” Meanwhile, Zeus was motioning behind Ares' back that Aeolus shouldn't be saying that, for his own good.
“I'm not quite sure you comprehend, Aeolus,” Ares said before slapping his younger brother across the face. The past Aeolus recoiled in pain, while the present Aeolus winced from the rush of memories that this was causing to flood through his head.
“We. Are. Going. Hunting.” Ares continued, before storming off.
“I tried to warn you,” Zeus said.
The present Aeolus sighed before saying, “This was how things always were. Our parents were dead, we were left to fend for ourselves. If either me or Zeus didn't do anything the way Ares wanted, we were beaten into line. Zeus tried as much as he could to make sure I didn't suffer, but other times...”
Gradually, the scene changed to an open field, with the three boys carrying their hunting tools.
From out of nowhere, three beasts appeared- one an orange feline, another a flying blue reptile, and the last a green falcon. Upon seeing the boys, they bolted off in opposite directions.
“The Therian beasts!” Ares said, “Perfect! I'll get that one!” He ran off after the feline.
“Aeolus, you get that bird!” Zeus shouted, “I'll find the other one!”
The past Aeolus burst into a sprint to follow the great green falcon. It was infinitely faster than him, however – Aeolus' only hope was to shoot it from a distance. He loaded a single arrow onto his bow, drew back the string, and fired – only to miss by a few yards. Noticing that it was being assailed, the falcon turned around and beat its massive wings thrice, creating a strong gust of wind that knocked Aeolus off his feet.
The bird swooped towards Aeolus faster than a tornado. In an act of desperation, the boy loaded another arrow into his bow, pulled the string back to his chin, and then released. This time, despite the nearly impossible odds, the arrow hit its mark, piercing the falcon through its heart. It plummeted down, down to a field of grass not far away.
“Ah, I see. It was the day,” the present Aeolus said to himself.
The past Aeolus ran over to see his quarry. To his surprise, the corpse was glowing with an almost blinding light. Out of curiosity, the boy touched the cadaver, and when he did, felt a surge of divine energy rushing through his body. In a blast of excruciating pain, past Aeolus found himself transformed into the form that present Aeolus was in.
“I remember this day well – the day I was reborn into this godly form. My brothers, each having also defeated their respective beasts, were also reborn, Zeus becoming the God of Thunder, and Ares becoming the God of the Land. We had no idea that we had hunted and killed gods, but by the end of the day, we had become the anthropomorphic personifications of forces of nature.”
So that's how it happened, Henry thought. He then began to use his small psychic powers to comb through Aeolus' memories, looking for the most repressed Christmas memory he had. Henry than projected his success to Raymond.
“Indeed,” Raymond said, “There was also another Christmas, hundreds of years after this day.”
Aeolus' eyes widened. “No, not that day,” he said, “Please, spirit, anything but that day.”
But it was too late. The scene had already begun to change to a stormy sky, centuries later.
Aeolus and Zeus, now well-accustomed to their new forms, were flying around through the atmosphere, causing a winter storm, per the mischievous norm.
Zeus crackled with electricity, about to strike a tree. Perhaps he was trying too hard, or was worn out, or was just unlucky. Aeolus personally believed that someone else had interfered. But whatever the reason, the electricity overloaded, and Zeus burst into flames, falling from the sky like a meteor.
“ZEUS!” the past Aeolus shouted, rushing to his brother's aid. But it was too late. By the time he had reached Zeus, the body was scorched, charred, and most of all, dead.
For the first time since he became a god oh so long ago, the past Aeolus broke down in tears. Thunder would continue to happen, after all, it was a natural phenomenon – but Zeus would never return.
And for the first time since this moment, exactly one hundred years ago, the present Aeolus broke down in tears as well.
Wow, Henry thought, this guy's backstory is more tragic than Randall's, that's for sure.
“Spirit,” he moaned, “why do you torture me with these images?! What have I done to make you angry?!”
“I told you, these are only shadows of your earlier life,” Raymond said, “Don't blame me for what they are.”
“Leave me alone, spirit,” Aeolus mumbled.
“I would not be showing this to you if you were beyond all hope. You will meet two more ghosts tonight – perhaps they can instill a complete change in you.”
“I said, LEAVE ME ALONE!”
“Very well,” Raymond said, “I was never here.”
Henry murmured a quick teleportation incantation, and just like that, Raymond had returned to the box. For the next hour, he allowed Aeolus to return to his meditation. It was about one o'clock when Henry decided it was prime time to send in the second 'ghost'.
“Yarne, you're up,” he said. The Linoone scampered off to where Aeolus was floating.
“Merry Christmas, Aeolus!” Yarne said with as much cheer as he could muster, despite being deathly afraid of the being he was approaching.
“Another ghost. Fantastic.”
“Indeed. I am the Ghost of Christmas Present. Merry Christmas, Aeolus!”
Aeolus sighed. “So, where shall we be going this time, spirit?”
“Oh, we'll be going to see the sights of the town! Did I mention that I am the Ghost of Christmas Present?”
“..yes, you did.”
“Oh, I must apologize. My mind is always stuck in the present! Merry Christmas, Aeolus!”
Henry chuckled a bit at how well Yarne was doing with his part – in part because he had inflicted a curse on the Linoone that temporarily caused his memory to be somewhat faulty.
“Well, Aeolus, follow me!” Yarne pranced off towards the town while Aeolus reluctantly followed.
I'd better go too, Henry thought to himself before silently following the two.
It wasn't long before they had all reached Driftveil. Yarne continued to guide Aeolus towards the Pokemon Center.
“Ah, I love this feeling,” Yarne said, “Don't you just love Christmas?”
“Holidays are of no use to me. They are frivolous and soft, two things I don't need or want.”
“Well, Aeolus, follow me!”
Aeolus screamed internally at the Linoone's forgetfulness.
After what seemed like an eternity for him, the two (three, counting Henry) finally arrived at the Pokemon Center.
“Go on, look in the window!” Yarne said. Reluctantly, Aeolus did so. Through the frosty glass of the window, he saw the other members of his team laughing, partying, enjoying themselves.
“Despite the fact that, in this past day, they've found out that their trainer isn't who they thought he was, they might have to fight a psychic mutant, and that the other gods are trying to kill them, they still celebrate Christmas like they always would. What's stopping you? You already knew those things, no?”
“I told you. I am a god, holidays are of no use to me. I can't afford to become soft and weak like them.”
“Soft and weak like the Volcarona that demolished an evil mastermind's team? Soft and weak like the Gengar that nearly killed you with one strike?”
Henry made a note to himself that Yarne had gotten major brownie points with him for mentioning that.
“..Enough! Show me something else.”
“All right. Well, Aeolus, follow me!” Yarne began leading Aeolus to the back of the building.
When they got there, Yarne once again motioned for the god to look in a window on the bottom floor. When he did, he saw Locke laying on the hotel bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling, sighing heavily.
“Look at how he is in anguish,” Yarne said, “Don't you realize that if you just told him what you know, you could ease his suffering, if only a little? Why don't you want to help him?”
“It is not my place to interfere in mortal affairs. I have only been forced to because that wretched boy imprisoned me!”
“Says the god who willingly caused mayhem throughout the region via windstorm – multiple times, mind you! He captured you to keep you from getting into any more trouble.”
“So you're saying I should thank my captor?” Aeolus spat.
“Not thank him – help him. Besides, maybe it could give you a chance to unravel the mystery of a certain tragic accident that occurred one hundred years ago.”
Aeolus thought about this for a moment. “... maybe. Thank you, spirit.”
“No problem! Now, I've got to run – it's Christmas, so I've got things to do, places to go! See ya!” The Linoone pranced off into the distance before Henry used another teleportation spell to send him back to the box.
“All right,” Henry said, “Now it's time to bring it on home. Go on out there, Roy!”
But nobody was there. Henry turned to face Aeolus and saw that a tall figure in a grey hooded robe had already approached him.
Oh, he's here already, Henry thought, and he did a really good job with the costume. I can barely tell if he's not really a ghost!
Suddenly, a voice came from behind Henry. It was Roy!
“Hey, I'm ready to go on,” he whispered.
“But... if you're here... who's that?” Henry said, pointing to the robed figure.
Meanwhile, Aeolus turned around to see the unknown being.
“The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, I assume?”
The figure nodded through the hood. It was impossible to tell if it was actually nodding, however, since there was no visible face – just an empty, soulless black void.
“Well, this is getting a bit too creepy for me,” Henry whispered, “Let's go inside and get some cookies and hot chocolate.” Roy nodded, and they both walked back to the interior of the center.
“Well, spirit,” Aeolus continued, “Where shall we go this time?”
The hooded being – who must have certainly been an actual ghost – raised one skeletal hand, and the bustling Driftveil City was washed away into a white expanse, and from that expanse grew a burnt wasteland. The landscape was littered with the bloodied and battered corpses of creatures that Aeolus knew all too well.
“..That's the team...” But three were missing – Locke, Inigo, and his own.
Suddenly, Aeolus heard the voice of Inigo from far away. “Stop this, Locke... I know you're still in there!” he said.
“No,” he heard Locke say. But Aeolus knew it wasn't Locke – he knew very well that this was Mewtwo talking.
“The Locke you knew is gone. I am the only one left. You will die knowing, Inigo, that nothing you could do could save your friend!”
Mewtwo used his psychic power to uproot a scorched tree – one of the few that the battle had left standing – and use that tree to crush the Samurott, killing him instantly.
“Spirit,” Aeolus gasped, “This is only future if it remains unaltered, correct? There has to be a way I can stop this carnage!”
The ghost lifted his hand, and words became etched in a nearby stone. They read:
HAVE YOU BECOME ATTATCHED TO THEM?
Aeolus hadn't realized it up until now, but a part of him – perhaps the part that was still a human – had begun to think of his team as his friends, despite his efforts to make them the opposite. They had been through thick and thin together, and they had bonded a little.
“Yes, spirit,” he said, “I have.”
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come raised his hand once more, and from the wasteland a tombstone sprouted. Scrawled on it were the words:
HERE LIES ZEUS
HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHO I WAS?
“Br.. Brother?”
The ghost nodded.
“No, of course I haven't,” Aeolus said, “You were my brother.” Aeolus suddenly realized that he had, in fact, forgotten who Zeus was.
“You were also kind, fun loving, and most of all, you didn't want me to suffer. Forgive me, Zeus. I know what I must do.”
And just like that, Aeolus snapped back to reality. He was back in Driftveil. The wasteland was gone, the corpses were gone, Mewtwo was gone, the tombstone was gone, the ghost was gone.
“Thank you, ghosts,” Aeolus said, “for because of you, I am a changed god.”
I immediately released the other Pokemon, except for Prime, who was still just too big.
“What took you so long?” Gaius asked.
“We... sorta nearly got killed by Cobalion.”
“Woah!” Inigo exclaimed, “I... won't bother asking if you two are okay, since you are clearly alive.”
“Actually, I think that thing broke my wrist, but it's nothing a Center can't fix.”
“Aaanyway... Aeolus, you're a god, right? Cobalion mentioned being sent by its 'masters'. Do you know anything about that?”
“Hmph... no, I don't.”
“Well, okay. Starlight might know. I'll check with her at the Pokemon Center.”
And so, I took the hike over to Driftveil. Not much to say about it, really. When I got to the center, though, that's when things got interesting.
I progressed, as normal, over to the public-use storage computer, logging on in short order. I looked at the box where Starlight was supposed to be – except she wasn't there. I looked closely. Every single Mon in my possession was there except for Starlight.
Thinking I might have moved her, I scrolled through all the other boxes, and still, no sign of her. Nothing else was missing.
“Ugh!” I said under my breath, being careful not to make a scene, “For cryin' out loud, this is why we can't have nice things! Someone must've hacked my account! Honestly, I don't have time for this, it's Christmas Eve!” I stormed off to book a hotel room for the night.
~
Inigo looked around to check on Aeolus, who had a habit of wandering off at this time of night. Sure enough, Aeolus was missing. The Samurott let out an exasperated sigh.
“All right, everyone, I'll be the first to say it – Aeolus hasn't been telling the truth to us.”
The others nodded in agreement.
“Definitely,” Randall said, “I mean, I was arrogant, but he takes it to a whole new level! By the way, Melody, sorry about calling you a mothball earlier.”
“It's okay, you overgrown Kecleon,” Melody replied, “But seriously, God of the Winds? More like God of the Windbags. He knows what we need to know, but he's too stubborn to tell us.”
“The question is,” Gaius asked, “if we can't get him to talk, how do we get our answers?”
“Simple: We find a way to make Aeolus talk.”
“And how will we do that?”
“Melody, your father could help. And Locke seems to have left his account logged on, so I'll just...” Inigo stood up on his hind legs and started haphazardly typing commands into the PC, “...let's see, this, then deposit Prime, then -oops, hope he won't be mad about that Mightyena- ah, here we go.” The Pokeball that contained Henry instantaneously materialized on the desk to the right. Inigo pressed the button on the front of the ball, then lost his balance and fell over as Henry appeared from the beam of light.
“Ah, it's good to be out of that computer!” Henry said, glancing around until he saw Melody, then continued, “Melody! Great to see you! You've certainly grown a lot. You know, I can't tell you how proud I am that you took on Ghetsis by yourself.”
“Heh, I missed you too, Dad.” The two shared a nice father-adoptive daughter hug, or at least the closest they could get to one, given that Melody had no arms and Henry only had short, stubby arms.
“Now that that reunion's out of the way,” Gaius interrupted, “Henry, do you know about the situation regarding Black – or, should I say, Locke?”
“Yep! That Elgyem told me all about it, before she, you know... vanished.”
“You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?” Inigo said, standing up on his four feet again.
“Nope, not one bit. One minute, she was there, I turn away for a second and poof! Gone like my lunch was that time when-”
“Henry. You promised you would never tell that story again. EVER.”
“All right, all right. Sheesh. Anywho, why did you call me here?”
“Are you familiar with Aeolus?” Randall asked.
“Sure I am. Green and purple, lots of clouds, sort of a scumbag, right? I hit him with a tree a few weeks ago.”
“Yeah, that's the one. We think he might be hiding important information from us that could be used to help Locke.”
“Ah, so you want me to get it out of him, eh? Easy peasy, kelpsy squeezy! I know just the thing!”
“Wow, that was quick. What do you have in mind?”
“Tell me, everybody... have you ever heard of A Christmas Carol?”
~
Aeolus levitated just above the ground in the cold, dark woodlands not far from Chargestone Cave, meditating.
He liked the frigidity, the darkness – they were calm, crisp, and most of all, they kept him sharp. Aeolus feared that this time in captivity would turn him soft. Despite the fact that he was a god, and his time with Locke would be over within a mere blink of his lifespan, Aeolus thought of the trainer's strategies as too cute, cuddly, friendship-reliant. The god always figured that battles were won by skill and strategy, as opposed to love and trust. And besides the occasional opportunity to humiliate someone else, there was no reason as to why Aeolus would ever listen to Locke.
Aeolus meditated there for several hours. It was not long past midnight. The moon had been concealed behind the Christmas Eve snow clouds. It was perfect for Aeolus – it only meant more darkness.
Suddenly, he heard a rustling in the bushes, just a few feet away. Now, I must ask you to recognize that Aeolus has never once met any of the Pokemon who were residents of the PC when he was captured, or none of what is about to happen will make any sense at all.
Aeolus looked around and saw nothing. He was about to return to his meditation when a Toxicroak, the Toxicroak being Raymond, dressed in tattered robes and glowing eerily, emerged from the bramble.
The luminescence spell was a nice touch, Henry thought to himself.
“Good evening, Aeolus,” Raymond said.
“Who do you think you are, barging in on me like that?!”
“I am the Ghost of Christmas Past,” the Toxicroak responded, “and I am here to take you on a journey down memory lane.”
Concealed in the nearby shadows, Henry mumbled an incantation in an ancient, lost language, which roughly translated to, “Show the shadows of this being's past memories, and not even the deepest, most repressed moments will escape.”
And just like that, the trees and bushes and darkness faded away to a Christmas morning in a peasant village, long, long ago.
“What witchcraft is this?!” Aeolus shouted.
“I am showing you the projections of a Christmas long gone.”
“Christmas? Humbug. Such mortal holidays are of no use to me.”
“We shall see, Aeolus. We shall see.”
This particular moment seemed to have been at a time between the founding of Unova and the War of Two Heroes. The village was bustling with the crowds of Christmastime, with a light dust of snow falling all the while.
“This.. this place was my home, so many years ago.” Aeolus said, looking around. He noticed a thin human boy, no older than seventeen years.
“And that was me! Aeolus! Aeolus!” he called out.
Wait, Henry thought, Aeolus used to be human?
“Aeolus, these are only shadows of earlier in your life. Technically, you aren't even here – they can neither see, nor hear you.”
“But, spirit... was this the Christmas when I...”
“We shall see,” Raymond replied.
The youth walked through the town square, eventually being accosted by an older, much more muscular boy, followed by another who seemed to be the median between the two.
“And those were my brothers, Zeus and,” Aeolus paused for a moment before growling, “Ares...”
“Hey, Aeolus!” the oldest of the brothers, who seemed to be Ares, yelled, “Get your bow and arrows, we're going out hunting.”
“Well, uh,” the past Aeolus said, “I'm not really sure I want to go hunting today. It's really cold, anyway, and it being Christmas and all, I'd rather just relax...” Meanwhile, Zeus was motioning behind Ares' back that Aeolus shouldn't be saying that, for his own good.
“I'm not quite sure you comprehend, Aeolus,” Ares said before slapping his younger brother across the face. The past Aeolus recoiled in pain, while the present Aeolus winced from the rush of memories that this was causing to flood through his head.
“We. Are. Going. Hunting.” Ares continued, before storming off.
“I tried to warn you,” Zeus said.
The present Aeolus sighed before saying, “This was how things always were. Our parents were dead, we were left to fend for ourselves. If either me or Zeus didn't do anything the way Ares wanted, we were beaten into line. Zeus tried as much as he could to make sure I didn't suffer, but other times...”
Gradually, the scene changed to an open field, with the three boys carrying their hunting tools.
From out of nowhere, three beasts appeared- one an orange feline, another a flying blue reptile, and the last a green falcon. Upon seeing the boys, they bolted off in opposite directions.
“The Therian beasts!” Ares said, “Perfect! I'll get that one!” He ran off after the feline.
“Aeolus, you get that bird!” Zeus shouted, “I'll find the other one!”
The past Aeolus burst into a sprint to follow the great green falcon. It was infinitely faster than him, however – Aeolus' only hope was to shoot it from a distance. He loaded a single arrow onto his bow, drew back the string, and fired – only to miss by a few yards. Noticing that it was being assailed, the falcon turned around and beat its massive wings thrice, creating a strong gust of wind that knocked Aeolus off his feet.
The bird swooped towards Aeolus faster than a tornado. In an act of desperation, the boy loaded another arrow into his bow, pulled the string back to his chin, and then released. This time, despite the nearly impossible odds, the arrow hit its mark, piercing the falcon through its heart. It plummeted down, down to a field of grass not far away.
“Ah, I see. It was the day,” the present Aeolus said to himself.
The past Aeolus ran over to see his quarry. To his surprise, the corpse was glowing with an almost blinding light. Out of curiosity, the boy touched the cadaver, and when he did, felt a surge of divine energy rushing through his body. In a blast of excruciating pain, past Aeolus found himself transformed into the form that present Aeolus was in.
“I remember this day well – the day I was reborn into this godly form. My brothers, each having also defeated their respective beasts, were also reborn, Zeus becoming the God of Thunder, and Ares becoming the God of the Land. We had no idea that we had hunted and killed gods, but by the end of the day, we had become the anthropomorphic personifications of forces of nature.”
So that's how it happened, Henry thought. He then began to use his small psychic powers to comb through Aeolus' memories, looking for the most repressed Christmas memory he had. Henry than projected his success to Raymond.
“Indeed,” Raymond said, “There was also another Christmas, hundreds of years after this day.”
Aeolus' eyes widened. “No, not that day,” he said, “Please, spirit, anything but that day.”
But it was too late. The scene had already begun to change to a stormy sky, centuries later.
Aeolus and Zeus, now well-accustomed to their new forms, were flying around through the atmosphere, causing a winter storm, per the mischievous norm.
Zeus crackled with electricity, about to strike a tree. Perhaps he was trying too hard, or was worn out, or was just unlucky. Aeolus personally believed that someone else had interfered. But whatever the reason, the electricity overloaded, and Zeus burst into flames, falling from the sky like a meteor.
“ZEUS!” the past Aeolus shouted, rushing to his brother's aid. But it was too late. By the time he had reached Zeus, the body was scorched, charred, and most of all, dead.
For the first time since he became a god oh so long ago, the past Aeolus broke down in tears. Thunder would continue to happen, after all, it was a natural phenomenon – but Zeus would never return.
And for the first time since this moment, exactly one hundred years ago, the present Aeolus broke down in tears as well.
Wow, Henry thought, this guy's backstory is more tragic than Randall's, that's for sure.
“Spirit,” he moaned, “why do you torture me with these images?! What have I done to make you angry?!”
“I told you, these are only shadows of your earlier life,” Raymond said, “Don't blame me for what they are.”
“Leave me alone, spirit,” Aeolus mumbled.
“I would not be showing this to you if you were beyond all hope. You will meet two more ghosts tonight – perhaps they can instill a complete change in you.”
“I said, LEAVE ME ALONE!”
“Very well,” Raymond said, “I was never here.”
Henry murmured a quick teleportation incantation, and just like that, Raymond had returned to the box. For the next hour, he allowed Aeolus to return to his meditation. It was about one o'clock when Henry decided it was prime time to send in the second 'ghost'.
“Yarne, you're up,” he said. The Linoone scampered off to where Aeolus was floating.
“Merry Christmas, Aeolus!” Yarne said with as much cheer as he could muster, despite being deathly afraid of the being he was approaching.
“Another ghost. Fantastic.”
“Indeed. I am the Ghost of Christmas Present. Merry Christmas, Aeolus!”
Aeolus sighed. “So, where shall we be going this time, spirit?”
“Oh, we'll be going to see the sights of the town! Did I mention that I am the Ghost of Christmas Present?”
“..yes, you did.”
“Oh, I must apologize. My mind is always stuck in the present! Merry Christmas, Aeolus!”
Henry chuckled a bit at how well Yarne was doing with his part – in part because he had inflicted a curse on the Linoone that temporarily caused his memory to be somewhat faulty.
“Well, Aeolus, follow me!” Yarne pranced off towards the town while Aeolus reluctantly followed.
I'd better go too, Henry thought to himself before silently following the two.
It wasn't long before they had all reached Driftveil. Yarne continued to guide Aeolus towards the Pokemon Center.
“Ah, I love this feeling,” Yarne said, “Don't you just love Christmas?”
“Holidays are of no use to me. They are frivolous and soft, two things I don't need or want.”
“Well, Aeolus, follow me!”
Aeolus screamed internally at the Linoone's forgetfulness.
After what seemed like an eternity for him, the two (three, counting Henry) finally arrived at the Pokemon Center.
“Go on, look in the window!” Yarne said. Reluctantly, Aeolus did so. Through the frosty glass of the window, he saw the other members of his team laughing, partying, enjoying themselves.
“Despite the fact that, in this past day, they've found out that their trainer isn't who they thought he was, they might have to fight a psychic mutant, and that the other gods are trying to kill them, they still celebrate Christmas like they always would. What's stopping you? You already knew those things, no?”
“I told you. I am a god, holidays are of no use to me. I can't afford to become soft and weak like them.”
“Soft and weak like the Volcarona that demolished an evil mastermind's team? Soft and weak like the Gengar that nearly killed you with one strike?”
Henry made a note to himself that Yarne had gotten major brownie points with him for mentioning that.
“..Enough! Show me something else.”
“All right. Well, Aeolus, follow me!” Yarne began leading Aeolus to the back of the building.
When they got there, Yarne once again motioned for the god to look in a window on the bottom floor. When he did, he saw Locke laying on the hotel bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling, sighing heavily.
“Look at how he is in anguish,” Yarne said, “Don't you realize that if you just told him what you know, you could ease his suffering, if only a little? Why don't you want to help him?”
“It is not my place to interfere in mortal affairs. I have only been forced to because that wretched boy imprisoned me!”
“Says the god who willingly caused mayhem throughout the region via windstorm – multiple times, mind you! He captured you to keep you from getting into any more trouble.”
“So you're saying I should thank my captor?” Aeolus spat.
“Not thank him – help him. Besides, maybe it could give you a chance to unravel the mystery of a certain tragic accident that occurred one hundred years ago.”
Aeolus thought about this for a moment. “... maybe. Thank you, spirit.”
“No problem! Now, I've got to run – it's Christmas, so I've got things to do, places to go! See ya!” The Linoone pranced off into the distance before Henry used another teleportation spell to send him back to the box.
“All right,” Henry said, “Now it's time to bring it on home. Go on out there, Roy!”
But nobody was there. Henry turned to face Aeolus and saw that a tall figure in a grey hooded robe had already approached him.
Oh, he's here already, Henry thought, and he did a really good job with the costume. I can barely tell if he's not really a ghost!
Suddenly, a voice came from behind Henry. It was Roy!
“Hey, I'm ready to go on,” he whispered.
“But... if you're here... who's that?” Henry said, pointing to the robed figure.
Meanwhile, Aeolus turned around to see the unknown being.
“The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, I assume?”
The figure nodded through the hood. It was impossible to tell if it was actually nodding, however, since there was no visible face – just an empty, soulless black void.
“Well, this is getting a bit too creepy for me,” Henry whispered, “Let's go inside and get some cookies and hot chocolate.” Roy nodded, and they both walked back to the interior of the center.
“Well, spirit,” Aeolus continued, “Where shall we go this time?”
The hooded being – who must have certainly been an actual ghost – raised one skeletal hand, and the bustling Driftveil City was washed away into a white expanse, and from that expanse grew a burnt wasteland. The landscape was littered with the bloodied and battered corpses of creatures that Aeolus knew all too well.
“..That's the team...” But three were missing – Locke, Inigo, and his own.
Suddenly, Aeolus heard the voice of Inigo from far away. “Stop this, Locke... I know you're still in there!” he said.
“No,” he heard Locke say. But Aeolus knew it wasn't Locke – he knew very well that this was Mewtwo talking.
“The Locke you knew is gone. I am the only one left. You will die knowing, Inigo, that nothing you could do could save your friend!”
Mewtwo used his psychic power to uproot a scorched tree – one of the few that the battle had left standing – and use that tree to crush the Samurott, killing him instantly.
“Spirit,” Aeolus gasped, “This is only future if it remains unaltered, correct? There has to be a way I can stop this carnage!”
The ghost lifted his hand, and words became etched in a nearby stone. They read:
HAVE YOU BECOME ATTATCHED TO THEM?
Aeolus hadn't realized it up until now, but a part of him – perhaps the part that was still a human – had begun to think of his team as his friends, despite his efforts to make them the opposite. They had been through thick and thin together, and they had bonded a little.
“Yes, spirit,” he said, “I have.”
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come raised his hand once more, and from the wasteland a tombstone sprouted. Scrawled on it were the words:
HERE LIES ZEUS
HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHO I WAS?
“Br.. Brother?”
The ghost nodded.
“No, of course I haven't,” Aeolus said, “You were my brother.” Aeolus suddenly realized that he had, in fact, forgotten who Zeus was.
“You were also kind, fun loving, and most of all, you didn't want me to suffer. Forgive me, Zeus. I know what I must do.”
And just like that, Aeolus snapped back to reality. He was back in Driftveil. The wasteland was gone, the corpses were gone, Mewtwo was gone, the tombstone was gone, the ghost was gone.
“Thank you, ghosts,” Aeolus said, “for because of you, I am a changed god.”
Glad that's out of the way! BTW, I may or may not have a little side project happening soon, so that might end up as a tiny distraction. Sorry.
All right. I've been doing a bit of thinking lately. And... while it pains me very deeply to say this, I'm not sure I have much of a choice. Basically, what I want to say is:
THE LEAF GREEN RUN IS CANCELLED.
Yes, I know it seems sudden. But I have been thinking, and I have two reasons why I need to do this. Here they are.
1. Lack of audience. Yes, I know, there are people like Pineapple X and Reggie McGigas. And there are a few people who have read this, but stopped at some point. But still, I don't really have much of an audience - heck, I have made more than half of the posts in this thread. I think that the main problem sprouts from the way I write this - whereas White 2 was somewhat funny, lighthearted, and simple, this run is dark, twisted, and convoluted. And as much as I'd like to change it back to how it was, I can't - not with how I've made the story. I guess what I'm writing isn't really what people are looking for. I do have a story to tell, and I do want to tell it, but not if nobody is going to listen.
2. I don't like the quality of my writing. I have to rush to get these chapters out as much as possible, and I really don't have that much time to focus on the details that I want to. The characters all fall into five catagories - mean guy who becomes nice, comic relief, robot, hero, and villain. I really am not happy with how I'm writing this.
So, in conclusion, I have decided to cancel the Leaf Green Nuzlocke. I will continue Black in Time, and the plot will reach its conclusion, however it will not have a third arc extending through Kanto (which makes me very sad - I have a lot of loose ends I wanted to tie together in that section of the story).
However, for those interested, I will be writing and uploading a summary of the plot I had planned out for the third arc after the run is finished. While I know that it will not be a substitute for the actual story, I hope that it will at least let whoever is reading this know what I had in store.
Thank you for your time, and sorry.
THE LEAF GREEN RUN IS CANCELLED.
Yes, I know it seems sudden. But I have been thinking, and I have two reasons why I need to do this. Here they are.
1. Lack of audience. Yes, I know, there are people like Pineapple X and Reggie McGigas. And there are a few people who have read this, but stopped at some point. But still, I don't really have much of an audience - heck, I have made more than half of the posts in this thread. I think that the main problem sprouts from the way I write this - whereas White 2 was somewhat funny, lighthearted, and simple, this run is dark, twisted, and convoluted. And as much as I'd like to change it back to how it was, I can't - not with how I've made the story. I guess what I'm writing isn't really what people are looking for. I do have a story to tell, and I do want to tell it, but not if nobody is going to listen.
2. I don't like the quality of my writing. I have to rush to get these chapters out as much as possible, and I really don't have that much time to focus on the details that I want to. The characters all fall into five catagories - mean guy who becomes nice, comic relief, robot, hero, and villain. I really am not happy with how I'm writing this.
So, in conclusion, I have decided to cancel the Leaf Green Nuzlocke. I will continue Black in Time, and the plot will reach its conclusion, however it will not have a third arc extending through Kanto (which makes me very sad - I have a lot of loose ends I wanted to tie together in that section of the story).
However, for those interested, I will be writing and uploading a summary of the plot I had planned out for the third arc after the run is finished. While I know that it will not be a substitute for the actual story, I hope that it will at least let whoever is reading this know what I had in store.
Thank you for your time, and sorry.
Oh hello, this is still a thing.
[Author's note: In case anybody is actually reading this, the perspective has changed from first person (Locke) to third person, because reasons.]
Locke awoke in the morning to the smell of burning meat in the kitchen part of his hotel room. He jumped up and ran towards the smell, thinking that Mewtwo had played a cruel prank and telekinetically turned the stove on while he was sleeping. What he saw, though, was something completely different – Aeolus was cooking what once might have been bacon, but was now simply a few smoldering, burnt crisps of meat in a frying pan. Meanwhile, Inigo was sitting next to him, apparently trying to supervise.
“No, no, no!” he said desperately, “You're burning it!”
“Am I? Forgive me, it has been centuries since I had the chance to cook anything. And I don't think your disorderly eggs turned out any better.”
“Scrambled eggs! And oh, sure, blame me for my lack of opposable thumbs,” Inigo sighed, “All right. Let's try again, maybe we can make a better batch before Locke wakes up.” He promptly turned his head towards Locke, back to the stove, and then instantly executed a perfect double take. He looked like a Stantler in headlights.
“Ermm... What are you doing?” Locke asked.
“Uhh... this was all his idea! I'm just trying to make sure he doesn't cause too much damage.”
“For your information, I am making you a 'breakfast', as people call it these days.”
Locke walked over and looked to what remained of the bacon. True, it was technically breakfast, but only in the sense that it would make anybody who ate it's taste buds break, fast. Every fiber of Locke's being wanted him to shout, 'What is this guano?!', but because of the risk of hurting Aeolus' feelings and promptly being rendered a fine red mist, he withheld from saying anything like that. Instead, he gingerly plucked a piece of the ex-bacon off of the pan, careful not to burn himself too badly, and popped it into his mouth. Locke could just feel his poor, poor taste buds withering away and dying.
“Ghk... hnnn...,” Locke moaned, eventually managing to swallow, “Gah. Uh, thanks, Aeolus, I guess.”
“You are very welcome. Also, I had prepared a Christmas card, as I have been told is customary these days. Henry said that there should be snow on it, however, it melted, and the paper fell apart shortly thereafter.”
“Um... okay? Thanks?” Locke was still in a state of bewilderment from Aeolus' sudden personality change. “So, uh, what gave you the idea of being nice all of a sudden?”
“..I came to the realization that it would be beneficial toward both of us if we were to cooperate.” Inigo started to shift around uncomfortably after this. Locke wondered why.
“In any case, I have decided to provide you with the information that you need. First of all, Cobalion. He is a member of the Musketeers, Dialga and Palkia's personal task force. They cannot sustain their true, godly forms in the mortal plane, and so send them out to do their dirty work when necessary.”
“Okay... but if I was sent back through time by the gods of two years from now, how are they sending them back here?”
“Dialga is the god of time. Figure it out.”
“But don't the gods at this current time have any say in the matter?”
“As a god of this current time, I can say that they do not. This is a special year; all the gods, with the exception of me and one or two others, are asleep.”
“And also, aren't there rules about this kind of thing? If they did this every time somebody reached the level of power that they might be overthrown, things would be going pretty nuts.”
“Indeed. However, you are a special case. No others have had a genetically engineered psychic mutant living in their head. If Mewtwo were to be released into the world... it would bring a cataclysmic war upon the world, the likes of which have never been seen before by any being, living or dead.”
“..Well. No pressure, then.”
“Indeed. No pressure. In any case, I would suggest that you hunt down the remaining Musketeers before continuing on your quest. Cobalion had its energy drained in the previous battle, and will not be in the condition to fight for some time. This leaves Virizion and Terrakion. It would be wise to defeat them now, so that they may not hound you for the remainder of your quest.”
“Sounds good.”
“Do you have any other questions?”
Locke had considered telling Aeolus about the strange pottery shards he found back at the cave, but the thought had suddenly vanished from his head.
“No. Now let's hit the road... honestly, this is a hell of a way to spend Christmas.”
~
The first spot that Aeolus guided the group to was a remote corner of Pinwheel Forest. It was easy to find their target; all they had to do was follow the path of cleanly, smoothly cut trees that were scattered about. The trail led to a small clearing, not even the size of the hotel room that Locke had just stayed in.
It was there that they saw the majestic, strangely effeminate form of Virizion, the second of the so-called 'Musketeers', emerge from the brush. Nobody knew if it was male or female. Regardless, Aeolus quickly flew forward.
“Allow me,” he said, “I have always hated this one.”
“Aeolus,” Virizion spat, “this is where your loyalties lie – not with your masters, but with this time bomb of a boy?!”
“I have no master, and there is more to this boy than you think. He will succeed in his quest.”
“His mad quest to unleash the mutant inside of him upon the world?! Aeolus, you are convicted of treason of the highest order. It is my duty to kill you and the one you protect!”
“Not if I kill you first!”
Aeolus formed a makeshift blade from the forest wind – something that was easy to do, considering he was a god – and used that blade to slash Virizion across the flank. He.. she... it yelped in pain, then collapsed.
“You.. you'll pay for this! Terrakion will destroy you!”
With that, Virizion galloped back through the shrubbery. Aeolus and Locke bounded after it, only to find that Virizion had disappeared into a rift. That rift closed in a heartbeat, leaving four strange shards of pottery behind.
“Oh, right,” Locke said, picking the pieces up, “I found four more just like these back in, uhh, Mistralton Cave. Are they at all important?”
“Hmm... perhaps. Keep them close. It is time that we found Terrakion.”
~
Their next stop was Victory Road. Locke's metaphysical scars from his last visit to this tunnel system still hadn't fully healed, but he tried his best to not think about it. He found it strange how these Musketeers had all chosen places related to deceased members of his team.
It wasn't long before they found a cave door, which seemed to be where Terrakion was. On Locke's previous visit, it had been blocked off by a boulder twice his size; now, there was simply a little pile of miscellaneous gravel and dust.
“Be careful,” Aeolus said, “Terrakion is the most dangerous of the three.”
“Let me be the judge of that,” Locke said, pressing the button on Inigo's Pokeball. The Samurott materialized instantly, already in a fighting stance.
“Well? Let's go already! I haven't gotten a chance to fight since the Elite Four!”
“Easy, Inigo, easy.”
The trio walked into the room in a single-file line, unsure of what to expect.
This new room was even smaller than the forest clearing. Standing proudly at the center was the being known as Terrakion, an imposing, muscular quadrupedal figure that looked like somebody blended a Granbull, a Rhydon, and a Tauros together and added an extra sprinkling of manliness afterwards.
“Terrakion..” Aeolus said, “You wish to fight, I suppose?”
Terrakion nodded, and then leapt into the air in an attempt to take Locke by surprise. It was far, far too late, however; Inigo had already prepared a blast of water to meet him. Terrakion was blasted through the ceiling, hitting the exact part of the rock that was keeping the colossal Durant-made tunnel system together. The entirety of Victory Road began to shake.
“Oh, great, Inigo, look what you've done!”
“What I've done?! Look what Terrakion's done!”
“Let's get out of here! EVERYBODY, EVACUATE AT ONCE!” Locke called for all to hear before taking his own advice and getting the heck out of there. Aeolus and Inigo quickly followed suit.
In the great Victory Road cave in, no lives were lost – man and 'mon alike managed to escape in time. So great was the manner of this collapse that the entirety of Victory Road had to be entirely blocked off, with the new path to the League being carved into the mountainside bordering Lacunosa Town.
“Well,” Locke said, “fine mess we've gotten ourselves into. I suggest we make like a nanab berry and split before any police officers find us.”
“But don't you remember? The police force is nearly nonexistent. Why else would we have to be the ones to fight off Team Plasma?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Wonder how I forgot. But still, we should probably get out of here.”
~
Later, at a nearby Pokemon center, Locke reclined on the couch of the room he had rented for the night, reflecting on the day's events. It certainly had been eventful, that much he knew.
Only thing was, he couldn't remember the day before.
Locke searched around in the deepest bowels of his memories, but found nothing. The last day's events had been completely wiped from his mind. In a panic, Locke released Henry from his Pokeball.
“Yeah? What can I do for you?”
“Henry, I think my memory is failing! I can't remember yesterday at all!”
“Ah, I see. Just a sec, heh.”
Henry began to psychically sift through Locke's mind, much like he had done previously to Aeolus. After finding something alarming, he immediately stopped.
“I just found something! Two somethings, in fact.”
“Well? Go on.”
“First, you have a crush on Bianca.”
“H-hey!” Locke exclaimed, blushing, “That's a lie! I don't even know anyone named Bianca.”
“That's part of the second thing... Mewtwo has been breaking down your memory.”
“Okay, not to be alarmed, but, WHAT.”
“Just what I said. I put a psychic barrier there, but... his power is growing. I don't know if he can just break through.”
“...fine. For now, I think I should just get some sleep. Good night, Henry.”
Locke awoke in the morning to the smell of burning meat in the kitchen part of his hotel room. He jumped up and ran towards the smell, thinking that Mewtwo had played a cruel prank and telekinetically turned the stove on while he was sleeping. What he saw, though, was something completely different – Aeolus was cooking what once might have been bacon, but was now simply a few smoldering, burnt crisps of meat in a frying pan. Meanwhile, Inigo was sitting next to him, apparently trying to supervise.
“No, no, no!” he said desperately, “You're burning it!”
“Am I? Forgive me, it has been centuries since I had the chance to cook anything. And I don't think your disorderly eggs turned out any better.”
“Scrambled eggs! And oh, sure, blame me for my lack of opposable thumbs,” Inigo sighed, “All right. Let's try again, maybe we can make a better batch before Locke wakes up.” He promptly turned his head towards Locke, back to the stove, and then instantly executed a perfect double take. He looked like a Stantler in headlights.
“Ermm... What are you doing?” Locke asked.
“Uhh... this was all his idea! I'm just trying to make sure he doesn't cause too much damage.”
“For your information, I am making you a 'breakfast', as people call it these days.”
Locke walked over and looked to what remained of the bacon. True, it was technically breakfast, but only in the sense that it would make anybody who ate it's taste buds break, fast. Every fiber of Locke's being wanted him to shout, 'What is this guano?!', but because of the risk of hurting Aeolus' feelings and promptly being rendered a fine red mist, he withheld from saying anything like that. Instead, he gingerly plucked a piece of the ex-bacon off of the pan, careful not to burn himself too badly, and popped it into his mouth. Locke could just feel his poor, poor taste buds withering away and dying.
“Ghk... hnnn...,” Locke moaned, eventually managing to swallow, “Gah. Uh, thanks, Aeolus, I guess.”
“You are very welcome. Also, I had prepared a Christmas card, as I have been told is customary these days. Henry said that there should be snow on it, however, it melted, and the paper fell apart shortly thereafter.”
“Um... okay? Thanks?” Locke was still in a state of bewilderment from Aeolus' sudden personality change. “So, uh, what gave you the idea of being nice all of a sudden?”
“..I came to the realization that it would be beneficial toward both of us if we were to cooperate.” Inigo started to shift around uncomfortably after this. Locke wondered why.
“In any case, I have decided to provide you with the information that you need. First of all, Cobalion. He is a member of the Musketeers, Dialga and Palkia's personal task force. They cannot sustain their true, godly forms in the mortal plane, and so send them out to do their dirty work when necessary.”
“Okay... but if I was sent back through time by the gods of two years from now, how are they sending them back here?”
“Dialga is the god of time. Figure it out.”
“But don't the gods at this current time have any say in the matter?”
“As a god of this current time, I can say that they do not. This is a special year; all the gods, with the exception of me and one or two others, are asleep.”
“And also, aren't there rules about this kind of thing? If they did this every time somebody reached the level of power that they might be overthrown, things would be going pretty nuts.”
“Indeed. However, you are a special case. No others have had a genetically engineered psychic mutant living in their head. If Mewtwo were to be released into the world... it would bring a cataclysmic war upon the world, the likes of which have never been seen before by any being, living or dead.”
“..Well. No pressure, then.”
“Indeed. No pressure. In any case, I would suggest that you hunt down the remaining Musketeers before continuing on your quest. Cobalion had its energy drained in the previous battle, and will not be in the condition to fight for some time. This leaves Virizion and Terrakion. It would be wise to defeat them now, so that they may not hound you for the remainder of your quest.”
“Sounds good.”
“Do you have any other questions?”
Locke had considered telling Aeolus about the strange pottery shards he found back at the cave, but the thought had suddenly vanished from his head.
“No. Now let's hit the road... honestly, this is a hell of a way to spend Christmas.”
~
The first spot that Aeolus guided the group to was a remote corner of Pinwheel Forest. It was easy to find their target; all they had to do was follow the path of cleanly, smoothly cut trees that were scattered about. The trail led to a small clearing, not even the size of the hotel room that Locke had just stayed in.
It was there that they saw the majestic, strangely effeminate form of Virizion, the second of the so-called 'Musketeers', emerge from the brush. Nobody knew if it was male or female. Regardless, Aeolus quickly flew forward.
“Allow me,” he said, “I have always hated this one.”
“Aeolus,” Virizion spat, “this is where your loyalties lie – not with your masters, but with this time bomb of a boy?!”
“I have no master, and there is more to this boy than you think. He will succeed in his quest.”
“His mad quest to unleash the mutant inside of him upon the world?! Aeolus, you are convicted of treason of the highest order. It is my duty to kill you and the one you protect!”
“Not if I kill you first!”
Aeolus formed a makeshift blade from the forest wind – something that was easy to do, considering he was a god – and used that blade to slash Virizion across the flank. He.. she... it yelped in pain, then collapsed.
“You.. you'll pay for this! Terrakion will destroy you!”
With that, Virizion galloped back through the shrubbery. Aeolus and Locke bounded after it, only to find that Virizion had disappeared into a rift. That rift closed in a heartbeat, leaving four strange shards of pottery behind.
“Oh, right,” Locke said, picking the pieces up, “I found four more just like these back in, uhh, Mistralton Cave. Are they at all important?”
“Hmm... perhaps. Keep them close. It is time that we found Terrakion.”
~
Their next stop was Victory Road. Locke's metaphysical scars from his last visit to this tunnel system still hadn't fully healed, but he tried his best to not think about it. He found it strange how these Musketeers had all chosen places related to deceased members of his team.
It wasn't long before they found a cave door, which seemed to be where Terrakion was. On Locke's previous visit, it had been blocked off by a boulder twice his size; now, there was simply a little pile of miscellaneous gravel and dust.
“Be careful,” Aeolus said, “Terrakion is the most dangerous of the three.”
“Let me be the judge of that,” Locke said, pressing the button on Inigo's Pokeball. The Samurott materialized instantly, already in a fighting stance.
“Well? Let's go already! I haven't gotten a chance to fight since the Elite Four!”
“Easy, Inigo, easy.”
The trio walked into the room in a single-file line, unsure of what to expect.
This new room was even smaller than the forest clearing. Standing proudly at the center was the being known as Terrakion, an imposing, muscular quadrupedal figure that looked like somebody blended a Granbull, a Rhydon, and a Tauros together and added an extra sprinkling of manliness afterwards.
“Terrakion..” Aeolus said, “You wish to fight, I suppose?”
Terrakion nodded, and then leapt into the air in an attempt to take Locke by surprise. It was far, far too late, however; Inigo had already prepared a blast of water to meet him. Terrakion was blasted through the ceiling, hitting the exact part of the rock that was keeping the colossal Durant-made tunnel system together. The entirety of Victory Road began to shake.
“Oh, great, Inigo, look what you've done!”
“What I've done?! Look what Terrakion's done!”
“Let's get out of here! EVERYBODY, EVACUATE AT ONCE!” Locke called for all to hear before taking his own advice and getting the heck out of there. Aeolus and Inigo quickly followed suit.
In the great Victory Road cave in, no lives were lost – man and 'mon alike managed to escape in time. So great was the manner of this collapse that the entirety of Victory Road had to be entirely blocked off, with the new path to the League being carved into the mountainside bordering Lacunosa Town.
“Well,” Locke said, “fine mess we've gotten ourselves into. I suggest we make like a nanab berry and split before any police officers find us.”
“But don't you remember? The police force is nearly nonexistent. Why else would we have to be the ones to fight off Team Plasma?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Wonder how I forgot. But still, we should probably get out of here.”
~
Later, at a nearby Pokemon center, Locke reclined on the couch of the room he had rented for the night, reflecting on the day's events. It certainly had been eventful, that much he knew.
Only thing was, he couldn't remember the day before.
Locke searched around in the deepest bowels of his memories, but found nothing. The last day's events had been completely wiped from his mind. In a panic, Locke released Henry from his Pokeball.
“Yeah? What can I do for you?”
“Henry, I think my memory is failing! I can't remember yesterday at all!”
“Ah, I see. Just a sec, heh.”
Henry began to psychically sift through Locke's mind, much like he had done previously to Aeolus. After finding something alarming, he immediately stopped.
“I just found something! Two somethings, in fact.”
“Well? Go on.”
“First, you have a crush on Bianca.”
“H-hey!” Locke exclaimed, blushing, “That's a lie! I don't even know anyone named Bianca.”
“That's part of the second thing... Mewtwo has been breaking down your memory.”
“Okay, not to be alarmed, but, WHAT.”
“Just what I said. I put a psychic barrier there, but... his power is growing. I don't know if he can just break through.”
“...fine. For now, I think I should just get some sleep. Good night, Henry.”
Okay, just making a few announcements. On the bright side, I'm not dead, and neither is this run. However, it might be a while before I get the chance to update again. This is because, unlike all of my updates prior to now, I'm taking the time to plan out the plot, and everything that happens through it. I figure that maybe, if I don't just throw this together at the last minute, the final, climactic moments of the run won't be like the bloated mess that is the rest of the story. It's worth a try, anyway.
Gameplay-wise, I am currently training up to defeat the mystery person from the rules. However, I have run into a bit of a problem, the likes of which will be explained when the episode arrives.
Gameplay-wise, I am currently training up to defeat the mystery person from the rules. However, I have run into a bit of a problem, the likes of which will be explained when the episode arrives.