Jul 29, 2008
Fighting
Fighting
Actually, If you still can't see the link, don;t you remember the spellblading from Machinations?
Somewhere near Lake Valor…
A girl with long blue hair was lying among the trees on the ground with her back to a stump. She was wearing sunglasses, but it was more of a fashion statement since the trees blocked out most of the sunlight. She was reading her Pokedex when her cell phone started to ring. She picked it up, and opened it up to chat, bringing the phone up to her ear.
“Crystal here. What’s up?...yeah, I sent Suicune off to grab him, she should be back any second now…No, Seth, for the last time, I don’t need your help finding him, I know where he is…Damnit, Seth, I don’t want to talk to Drake right now, he’s on my bad list…Look, Seth, as much as I would ‘love’ to have you come here and show off Ares, you’d only piss Devan off and cause him to run off. Look, I know how much you want to help, but...What?! He disappeared without a trace? How long has he been missing…That long, huh? I’m surprised I didn’t notice. Well, at least Zach doesn’t know about him. He’d be shocked to know he has a brother, and not only that, but a man who was once the Champion of Hoenn…”
Suddenly, a vortex of water appeared before her, and Suicune and a white-haired boy, a little younger than she was, appeared out of the vortex. He looked very perturbed, and started yelling once the vortex died down. He was carrying his goods, and shouldering a small Riolu that looked a little frightened.
“Goddamn it! I swear, why is it that wherever the fuck I go, people manage to piss me off even more than I already am?! Can’t I ever just be left alone for twenty-four hours without having to deal with someone else? ‘Please, sir, save my child!’ ‘Here, boy, could you help me with this load?’ I’m fucking human, yet everyone seems to think I’m some kind of fucking superhero!” He seemed to go on, and after the superhero comment, Crystal tuned out and went back to her phone conversation.
“Yeah, that was Devan. Suicune just got back with him, and he’s a little angry at the moment. Look, Seth, I’m going to have to go now. Good luck with finding Steven…you’re going to need all the help you can get finding him. Bye.” She hung up the phone, and looked at Devan, who was still rambling.
“…and that’s not all! No, to top it all off, I’ve been tracked by that white bitch!” he yelled, tearing a piece of paper off of his hoodie and crumpling it into a ball, throwing it out into the trees.
“That’s littering, you know,” Crystal informed him.
“Oh, do you think I fucking ca…Wait, how long have you been sitting there?” Devan said, suddenly calming down. “And who are you?”
“Glad you asked. My name’s Christina Ray, Champion of Johto. But you can call me…”
“Crystal,” Devan finished for her. “Crystal, the Unown Ruins decipherer, the Trainer of the Untamable Suicune, Johto’s only champion. As if I haven’t heard of you before. Well, it’s nice meeting you, but I’ve gotta get going…”
“Wow. The only other person who wasn’t surprised when they first met me was Zach, and even HE was surprised when I showed him Suicune. Why are you leaving so soon? Don’t you want to get to know me?” she asked.
“Unlike other people, I have…Wait, Zach? Zach Stone? Damn, it’s true, then. You ‘elite’ trainers all hang around each other. Well, that doesn’t matter to me. I’ve got my own business to take care of. And if I ever see that bastard again, I’ll show him what it means to ‘be a hero.’”
Crystal looked shocked. “Wow. So how do you know Zach? He’s never talked about you around me…”
Devan spat on the ground. “He got in my way when he ‘raided’ a Team Aqua base. I was there on a mission to find and interrogate someone of the Syndicate, and he got away because of the commotion Zach had caused! I can’t forgive him for that; not only did he destroy a very good chance for the Avokii to take another swipe at the Syndicate, but he also caused my Dad to send another assassin out to get me! I’ve had it with him AND with my Dad!”
Crystal had an upset look on her face. “What kind of father would send an assassin out to kill his own kid?” she asked.
“The kind that don’t like Pokemon, and believe that their son is the reason his wife ran out on him to go chase after Pokemon,” Devan replied. “That’s the kind. Are we done yet, or can I leave? I have to go call him and tell him I’m leaving the family; I’ve had all I can stand of his pompous ass!”
“Listen, Devan, I think you need to calm down,” Crystal said, “You’re gonna end up hurting someone if you don’t.”
Devan sighed and looked to the ground. He could feel the rage dying in his chest, but he still felt quite a bit angry at the fact he still couldn’t get rid of his father. Not only that, he had a lead from Master Donovan that his mom was in Canalave…Why did he have to wait again? All he wanted to do was go see her, and let her know he was alright.
“Listen, Crystal,” Devan started. “I’m sorry that I got so worked up over this. I’ve got to go make that call, though. I’m afraid my dad is gonna send a few assassins my way, anyways, and I don’t want you to get caught up in it.”
Crystal looked a tad confused. “Why would he send more assassins?” she asked him.
Devan grunted. “I didn’t do something for him. He wanted me to destroy a house of a rival family, and because the two masters of an Avokii are their Sensei and their father, I ‘had’ to follow orders. However, my father has lost all honorability within the Avokii council after sending assassins to take me out, so I’m still an Avokii whether I listen to him or not.”
“That’s horrible!” Crystal exclaimed. “How could a father be so cruel to his child?”
Devan didn’t have an answer to this question. However, there was no need. A strange floating light had charged towards them, and had tackled Suicune. Suicune and the blobby light went speeding into the little Riolu, who in turn went flying into a nearby tree, where she hit the tree upside-down and slowly slid down the trunk, hitting her head on the ground, dazed and dizzy from the whole experience.
“SUI-SUI!” the light squeaked with excitement. “How are you, Sui-sui?! I haven’t seen you in FOR-EV-ER!” The light died away suddenly, and in its place was a small blue floating critter with a deep blue head three protruding spikes going in different directions.
“Azelf, get your bubbly butt off of me before I…” Suicune started.
Azelf didn’t give her time to finish her sentence. He shoved a stubby hand into her mouth. “Silence! There’s more important matters that we must discuss,” he stated, with a cutely faked hint of mystery in his voice. “Our soon-to-be High Master Devan has a looooong journey ahead of him, and he needs to know a few important details,” he informed them all.
“Mmph ommph ummph mmph ummph mmphmm!!” Suicune retorted, but could not seem to make any word understandable due to Azelf’s hand stuck in her maw.
Over by the tree, the little Riolu was now sitting upright, rubbing her head in pain. “Owwie…” she moaned.
Devan was at a loss for words and was standing mouth agape utterly shocked at the whole experience, and Crystal was rolling on the ground, laughing hysterically, tears streaming down her face.
“Hahahahaa…oh man, it’s been awhile, Azelf,” she said, finally regaining her composure somewhat. “How’s it going?”
“Shush!” Azelf said, taking his other hand and putting a finger over his mouth. “Devan, you’re in a hurry, right?”
“Kinda, yeah,” Devan replied. “I wanted to go make a call to my da…”
“Okie dokie then!” Azelf interrupted once again. “I’ll keep these guys here for you. We’ll be at the lake when you return. There’s a resort nearby you can go make your call from. Oh, and by the way…there’s someone there that you probably will or will not want to see, I don’t know which. Bring that person back with you,” Azelf instructed him.
“Whatever,” Devan said, and turned to leave.
“Wait!” Crystal yelled. “How do we know you’re gonna come back here?” she asked Devan. “You’re not gonna leave us here, are you?”
Devan thought for a moment. “I guess I never thought about it. Oh, well, I guess it’s too late to shirk myself out of this task, so I guess I’ll have to stick it out. I’ll see you guys soon,” he said, waving back to them and leaving. The little Riolu got up and dashed to his side, where she turned around and waved goodbye. Then they left.
Weird… Crystal thought to herself. My report said he didn’t like Pokemon because of an incident with an Arcanine when he was ten. Why would he have a Riolu…?
“MRRRPH OMPH MMR GRRMPH!” Suicune cried, her voice still muffled by Azelf’s hand.
“No, I’m not gonna take my hand out!” Azelf replied, somehow knowing subconsciously what she had asked. “You’re just gonna yell at me again!”
Crystal sighed. The next few hours were going to be very long, indeed…
“…So what’s your name, master?” the Riolu asked him. Devan winced at the word “master;” he didn’t like being in charge of anything but his own life. Now he had a young Riolu to take care of, and he wished he could return to the days when he traveled alone. Now he would probably never travel alone again…
“My name’s Devan,” he finally replied to her, a little annoyed that she was paying so much attention to him.
“Okay,” she replied. “So, Master Devan, may I…”
Devan snapped. “Look, if we’re going to travel together, I’m going to lay down a few rules. Rule one: Don’t call me ‘master.’ I am master of nothing, and I probably never will be ‘master’ of anything. Rule two: We’re only traveling together because I was forced into this. I never had a Pokemon, and as far as I’m concerned, I never will. When this is all over, you can leave me so I can be alone again. Rule three: Don’t EVER touch me! I don’t want to have to make contact with you or ANYONE unless I’m forced to! Got it?” he scolded the Riolu.
The Riolu was surprised at the sudden scolding, and sadly replied, “Yes, Devan.” She then hung her head low, and began to sniffle, keeping a steady distance back behind Devan.
A few minutes passed, and they reached the resort. Plenty of people were around, and there was tons of hustle and bustle around the area. Devan snorted, and headed toward the main building. They were bound to have a phone with video feedback there…
Devan and the Riolu entered, and Devan went up to the front desk. The front desk greeter, a girl with short green hair, got up. “Welcome to Grand Lake Resort! How may I help you, sir?” she asked, with a bubbly manner.
“I just need to use a phone,” Devan informed her.
“Oh. Well, the phone’s over there,” she pointed, pointing to the front waiting room. “It’s free of charge, and it’s available for anyone to use. Will you be staying with us tonight?” she asked.
“No. I only came here to use the phone,” Devan said rather gloomily. “I’m broke either way, so even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to stay here,” he informed her.
“That’s a shame,” the girl replied. “Well, good luck with whatever it is you’re off to do, sir!”
“Uh, thanks, I guess,” Devan said, turning around and heading towards the phone.
Marcus was training his daughter, Kimi, in the ways of the Ariss. He was proud of her accomplishments; she was already seven years old, and she was learning how to become a great assassin already. He smiled; he knew that the Granvurios line would someday be reborn, and he was the right man to do it.
Suddenly, the phone rang inside. “Hang on, Kimi, Daddy’s gonna go answer the phone, okay?” he informed her. “I want you to keep practicing with the picks. You’re getting quite good at aiming them,” he complimented her.
“Thanks, Daddy!” she replied, continuing with her target practice. Marcus smiled. She would be one of his finest students one day, just like her older sister. And not like her failure of a brother who can’t follow a single simple order. He hated his boy…not only was he an Avokii, one of the most respected positions of their village, but he shared the blood of a “Pokemon lover,” of all people. He couldn’t stand him. However, having an Avokii soldier to do his every bidding was grand, since he could kill anyone. And because of the training his son went through, he had to listen to him.
He answered the phone, and his faced flushed to see his own son, Devan, staring back at him from Grand Lake Resort near Lake Valor. “What do you want? I’m in the middle of training your sister, Kimi! This had better be important, boy!”
Devan shuddered. He remembered his long forgotten fear of his father, a fear that was grinded into his being from the constant torment he had endured from his dad. But he was stronger now. He knew he could win arguments now, and show his dad that he wasn’t one to be controlled.
“I’m calling, Dad, because I quit. I’m leaving the family. I’m tired of putting up with you, and…”
“WHAT?!” Marcus interrupted. “How dare you! You can’t leave the family! You belong to me! I am your father, and I…”
“…have no control over me. Not anymore,” Devan finished for him. “I hate putting up with your crap. I don’t enjoy killing people and intimidating your enemies just so that you can spread your hatred of Pokemon throughout the world. I don’t hate them anymore, Dad. I can at least somewhat stand them. And because of what you have done to me and to Mom, I’m not gonna let you order me around anymore. I’m no longer a member of the Granvurios line; I am now my own man,” Devan finished, taking out his family trinket. He took out his runed knife, swashed a few symbols in the air, and the trinket exploded into particles of shiny gold dust.
“You…I don’t believe this,” Marcus stuttered. “You think you can just sully your family name, just drag it about around the dirt with no regard? Well, Devan, I’m ashamed. I’m so ashamed that I don’t want to deal with this anymore. Expect a visit from some old friends, Devan. I’m also done with you. Have fun in the afterlife.”
“You think you can stop me, Dad?!” Devan started into a rage. “You think that if you can’t keep me on your leash that you might as well erase my existence from this world? Well, Dad, you’re gonna wish you’d never done that. When I’m finished with my little mission I’ve been recruited for, and after I’ve found Mom, I’m gonna come after you! And you’d better be ready, Dad, because after what you’ve done to me and to Mom, don’t expect any mercy from me!” Devan yelled, hanging up once he was done.
Marcus stood there for a moment. His face was blank. He was thinking about what to do next. He raised his hand, and dialed a few numbers. The receiver picked up, and he heard a familiar female voice. “Hi, Dad, what’s up?”
“Mavi, it’s your father. Your younger brother has finally hit my last nerve. I want you to take him out for me. He’s in your area; in a resort at Valor Lake. Take the rest of the Ariss initiates with you and take him out and any bystander nearby. I don’t want the news of a killing on my hands right now.
Mavi grinned wickedly. Finally, a chance to prove to Father that she was better than that wretched Devan! “Sure, Dad, I can do that for you. No problem at all…”
Devan turned around from the phone booth. He was angry, but he also felt pretty good about himself. He had finally cut the leash, and he was free. Sure, he’d be chased again, but this was normal for him. The situation wasn’t unusual, really, just a minor setback. He finally smiled after a long time of anger. He finally felt happy.
“Alright, let’s go,” he commanded the Riolu. She was a little happier to see he was in a better mood, but she didn’t stick too close to him out of fear of receiving another angry outburst from Devan.
Devan walked outside, the Riolu tailing behind him. He sniffed, and smiled. He was free! “Goodbye, Dad, hello freedom!” he muttered to himself.
“So did you call your dad?” the Riolu asked, finally gathering up enough courage to ask.
“Yeah, it did. Thanks for asking,” Devan replied cheerfully.
“Why doesn’t your daddy like you?” the Riolu asked him innocently.
“Well…” Devan thought, “It probably has to do something with…” He stopped cold in his tracks. He noticed a familiar figure lying on a beach chair on the beach.
“I don’t fucking believe it. I was just talking about him, and there he is…” Devan said menacingly.
“Who, your dad?” the Riolu asked.
“No, not exactly,” Devan growled. “The guy I thought I would never see again: Zach Stone,” he said, taking out his rune knife. “I’m going to give him a little hello gift. I want you to go find a safe place to hide for a while. When the fight’s over, come find me…” he said, twirling his knife in his fingers.
Katherine, an Absol, was lying next to her mate, Zach, on a lounge chair on the beach. She was wearing circular sunglasses, and sipping a straw in a glass of lemonade in her right paw. Her legs were crossed, and her left leg bounced up and down contently.
Her mate, Zach, her male trainer with white hair and a black streak that went down his bangs, was watching his other Pokemon play on the beach. He was wearing white material pants, and a white jacket with a black undershirt, to mach his mate’s coloration. One of his new additions, an Empoleon named Jerod, was fitting in just fine, ever since he let Trent tag along with May. He heard that they were getting along just fine, and he wasn’t surprised. He knew Trent would take good care of May. As for Jerod, he received the Empoleon when he was still a little Piplup. Since then, he and Jerod went through all of the Gym battles together. When Jerod finally evolved from a Prinplup into an Empoleon, he was shocked to find out his little penguin became a steel-armored soldier. Since his arrival to the Sinnoh region from Hoenn, he had been catching new Pokemon to train, since he left everybody else but Katherine, his Ninetails named Fara, and his Delcatty, Kiki. He now had many new additions to the group: Venus, a Luxray, whom he had caught when she was still a Shinx. Since her evolution a few weeks back, she and Kat had begun to fight a lot. Zach couldn’t figure out why, but guessed it had to do with conflicting personalities. Then there was his Lopunny, Caesar, whom he had caught when he was a Buneary. Caesar was a little weird…he was a pretty boy, but at the same time, a tough guy. Zach felt like he knew a lot about Caesar, but at the same time, he felt like he was learning new things about him every day. Then there was his Driftblim, Astro. Astro was a little strange, and didn’t say much. When he did, it was usually too deep for Zach to understand or even comprehend, or it was completely random and inappropriate for the moment. Finally, there was his Gabite, Kris. She was incredibly energetic, and just loved to dig holes. Zach sometimes thought that Kris loved to dig holes a little TOO much. His older Pokemon, Fara, was lounging out in the middle of the sand, sunning herself. Then there was his Delcatty, Kiki. Kiki had matured a lot since Zach first caught her, but at the same time, he felt Kiki was becoming more immature as time passed. Kiki, like Fara, was out sunning herself. He watched his newer Pokemon play on the beach, and couldn’t help but smile. They were all doing better than ever, but something else was bothering him. He felt as if he left something unfinished…
“Wow, Master, seven badges! One more, and the Sinnoh Elite four will feel my claws sink into their flesh!” Katherine exclaimed, flexing her claws on her left paw. She wore an evil grin on her face, and Zach could tell she couldn’t wait until they got back to work once they were done with the vacation.
“You seem a little eager too eager to get back to business, don’t you, Kat?” Zach asked. “I know you want to hurry this vacation up, but the others need a break. They all aren’t a high level 80 like you are, so they can’t keep up with your level.”
Kat scoffed, and knew he was right. Even Fara, who was nearing the 70’s in levels, would not be enough to keep up with her level, and knew that even Fara needed a break, although Fara was only along for the ride this time. The others were the ones doing all the fighting and battling for Zach, and so was she. She did, however, think it was about time they took a break. They all needed it. So she went back to sipping her lemonade, but stopped when she heard a weird noise.
“Hey, do you hear that? It sounds like a mix of a hum and an ahh…” Kat said.
“No, I don’t…” Zach replied. He sat up, and looked around. Then he looked under him, and saw a strange light emanating from under him. “What the he…” he gasped.
The light underneath him suddenly exploded and sent Zach, his chair, and a good amount of sand up into the air. He landed with a thud on the ground, and his other Pokemon who were playing nearby stopped what they were doing to look over.
Kat looked around, and looked behind her, where she saw a boy with white hair and icy-blue eyes, clutching a runed dagger, which was glowing and emanating the same noise she heard under Zach’s chair. He was grinning maliciously, and for some reason, this awakened an unknown fear from deep inside Kat. She remembered this feeling…she felt it back when she and Zach raided the Aqua base. But why was she feeling this fear now? It didn’t make sense to her…
Zach got up, and brushed the sand off of his pants. He obviously wasn’t too harmed by the incident, and was a little shaken at most. “Well, that wasn’t very nice,” he muttered. He then looked over to the boy standing over in the sand, and noticed his blade was glowing. “And to what pleasure do I owe that little demonstration, mister…?”
The boy growled, and his malicious grin turned into a scowl. “Don’t play fucking games with me, Zach. I know you know why I’m here. I didn’t get a chance to finish you off in the Aqua base, and I’m going to finish what I started! You ruined it…my only chance for the Avokii to get back at the Organization! And now you’re gonna pay for it!” he said, cutting his hand on his dagger and letting the blood dribble down onto it. “First seal, release!” he yelled.
There was a short flash from his dagger, which had now elongated into a short katana. “I’ve been waiting for four years for this moment, Zach, and you’re gonna wish you never met me!” he rasped, a crazed look entering his face. “I’ve been the ridicule of every single one of my Master’s other students, and trust me, when I’m done with you, you’ll wish you had never set foot into that base!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m not gonna take any punishment sitting down,” Zach replied. “And you never told me your name…” he said to the boy.
“What, you don’t remember?” the boy growled at him. “It’s Devan! But it’s not going to matter…I shouldn’t have helped you that day, and now I’m going to make things right again!”
Zach stopped. He remembered Devan now…he had a small run-in with him when he raided the Aqua base about four years back. “Look, Devan, I’m gonna warn you now, you’re making a huge mistake…” Zach warned him.
“{PFFFFT!} Yeah right! The only mistake I made was letting you get away without a ‘goodbye’ gift from me!” Devan yelled, flipping Zach off.
Zach looked down at the necklace with a Dread plate attached to it he had received a long time ago. Supposedly, it was once owned by a Pokemon, but for now, he thought he’d use it for himself. He knew his teacher would normally disapprove of using his abilities against a fellow human being, but he had no choice. He knew Devan was on a level of his own, and the only thing that could beat him was his Absol training. “Fine, Devan, if it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get. Kat, take the others a good distance from here,” he ordered his somewhat confused Absol. He then took out a small charm bracelet. The charm was a strange, ringed shape with four prongs sticking out of it. However, the outer ring didn’t meet in two places opposite of each other, the same distance away from the prongs.
“Okay, Kiki, come over here!” he then shouted to his Delcatty. “You wanna come after me, Devan? Let’s see what you’ve got.” His Delcatty used a strange form of Secret Power on the sand, turning it into a sword of glass. A strange glow came from his necklace, and his energy swirled into the glass sword, giving it a dark glow. “Thanks, Kiki,” he thanked his Delcatty, who in turn meowed and left to return to the others.
“Alright, I’ve waited long enough!” Devan yelled, as he charged at Zach, his runeblade now glowing and cracking with energy. He jumped into the air, and sliced his blade in the direction of Zach’s shoulder, but did not make contact with anything. Knowing he had missed, he landed, skidding into the sand. He got up, and charged once again at Zach, who was grinning ear to ear. This in turn served to somehow provoke Devan into rage, and he started furiously swinging his Runeblade at Zach. Zach effortlessly dodged every single strike, and simply pushed Devan over with the hilt of the glass sword.
Devan picked himself back up. He struck out once again at Zach, who had taken a single step to the left and dodged. Devan struck at him again, and Zach weaved in the other direction. Then Zach made another move that shocked Devan: He disappeared! Devan glanced around for him, and was shocked when a voice behind him called his name.
“Hey, I’m over here!” Zach yelled, and was standing around the area where Devan had sent him flying into the air. Devan jolted around and sprinted once again towards his target, furiously weaving his blade in a dance of strikes. Every strike Devan threw at Zach was parried and returned with Zach’s own blade. Devan backed off. This was going to be tougher than he thought…Zach’s blade was unusual. Not only could he block the runeblade effortlessly, but he had the advantage in this fight. Not only that, but the glass sword would’ve normally broken by now. Something was up. He guessed it had to do with the glow that the sword took on, but right now it didn’t matter. He started to regain his composure, and suddenly Zach started weaving in and out. DAMN it! Devan thought to himself, wiping a fresh trickle of blood dribbling down his chin. It’s like he knows what I’m throwing out at him… like he knows my every move. Well, let’s see him dodge this one… he assured himself, and swiped a symbol in the air. He then slammed his Runeblade into the sand, sending a tidal wave of sand towards Zach.
Zach stopped weaving when he saw the large wave, and easily spun his glass blade in front of him to cut a hole in the sand, letting the wave harmlessly fly over him out into the ocean. Devan cursed under his breath. Damn…I’m about out of options now… he thought to himself.
“Wow, you’ve got a lot of power, Devan, I’ll give you that,” Zach complimented Devan, wiping the sweat off of his brow. “However, you’re striking without thinking. It’s way too easy to counter all of your attacks. And I’m afraid I’m tiring of this little bout. Someone innocent is bound to get hurt, so I’m ending this.”
“Kiki, come over here, and bring my bag,” Zach called to his cat. Kiki came over, and mewed questioningly to her master. “Okay, Kiki, I need my secret weapon,” he whispered to her. The dark glow disappeared from Zach’s sword, and Kiki returned the glass to sand. She handed him his bag, which she had dragged over with her tail. He reached in, and pulled out a strange, black tonfa-like weapon. It had a strange blade that poked out of it. It began to glow in a similar fashion as the glass sword he had used when he held it, and he slashed the air a bit to test it out. The air, to his satisfaction, made a few swishing noises. “Okay, Devan. I normally don’t use this, but you’re an exception. This is my Dread Horn, my special weapon. It will finish our fight, and hopefully you’ll listen to me once this is all over. I don’t really want to fight you, and I want to know why you’re so angry…”
Devan snickered. “Why do you want to know why I’m so angry? Well, fine, I guess I’ll tell you. It’s because you have what I don’t. And I despise people like you for it.” Devan struck his blade out. It had lost its former energy, but due to this strike, its former energy had been replenished. “I would love to kill you, but it seems that’s not going to happen. I’m not good enough. However, I think I’m going to try to prove to you that there’s no way in hell you can beat me!”
Zach was struck by this statement. How was he so cocky, even after knowing he wasn’t powerful enough to win the fight? This confused Zach, but he decided now was not the time to be wondering about things like this. He stretched out his horn, and charged at a speed faster than Devan could even anticipate. He began his barrage of attacks, and Devan, try as he could, could only block a few of the many strikes. Devan could already feel fatigue grip him, and he knew that he needed to do something before he was knocked out cold. He quickly forged a symbol, and struck his blade directly beneath himself. Sand exploded, and Devan disappeared.
“Where’d you go, Devan? That’s a really sneaky trick…” Zach muttered to himself. He looked around, and couldn’t see where Devan had gone. Suddenly, Devan exploded out of the same spot he had disappeared, and went flying into the air. Zach saw this, and after a split second, he jumped up into the air to join him. Devan wasn’t expecting this, and was met with another barrage of strikes from Zach’s horn.
Where do I recognize that horn from… Devan thought. Oh yeah…it’s an Absol horn. This guy’s like some kind of human Absol… Devan fell to the ground. Zach neatly landed on his feet, where he was cheered on by his Pokemon. Devan could hear their cheers, and this built up his old rage. He got up, and started his own fury of strikes, at a speed of which Zach had not seen of Devan yet. However, it wasn’t fast enough, and Devan could only get a few strikes in. Then, out of nowhere, Devan shoved the side of his blade into Zach. It exploded, and sent Zach a few feet back.
Zach then noticed something he couldn’t believe. Those strikes were making a symbol! That’s creative, and tough to do with a blade. However, I’m going to finish this. Someone’s going to get hurt soon, I know it… Zach got up, and dashed at an unmatched speed again. However, he was charging up his horn. His horn began to pulse, and the pulse slowly accelerated to a point of climax. At this climaxing point, Devan struck out in front of him, in the direction of Devan. A black blade of pure energy flew out toward Devan.
“SHIT!” Devan yelled, bringing his blade up to defend himself from the oncoming strike. The attack hit his blade, and began to push him back at slightly a slower speed than the attack was already going. Damn…is it already over? Devan thought, as he crashed into a nearby grassy hill, the blade exploding as its remnants tore up his flesh.
Zach watched, and grinned. It was finally over! He didn’t like fighting, but at least nobody was hurt. They had managed to gather a crowd nearby, and they cheered as he turned to bow to them. Suddenly, a small girl screamed, and pointed out towards the direction of the fight. Everyone gasped, and Zach turned around to see a bloody, bruised, and torn up Devan slowly coming toward him, the crazed grin that had once been on his face returned.
“What…how did you get up after that…?” Zach asked, in utter awe.
“Is that all you have, Zach?” Devan mocked, chuckling maniacally. “I’ve had to deal with many people ten times more powerful than you, one of them being my goddamned father. Just because you can block most of my strikes doesn’t mean you can beat me. I was expecting more of your horn, but…”
Suddenly, there was another scream. A small group of black clad figures had surrounded the onlookers, and another two had rounded up Zach’s Pokemon, and had caged them all.
“Well, well, well…Devan, you’ve been quite a naughty boy, haven’t you? You’ve pissed off Daddy again…” a female voice cooed to Devan.
“No…Not now! I don’t need this right now! I’m…” Devan started to crumble, as he fell to the sand, clutching his head. “You can’t be here…it’s impossible…”
“Oh, I’m here, little brother. And Daddy isn’t happy with how you’ve been acting. You broke your leash, and now you need to be disciplined one final time,” the owner of the voice said, stepping out of a group of trees on a hill. “I’m afraid that I’m not only going to have to kill you, I’ll have to kill all the onlookers as well.”
“Mavi…” Devan whimpered. “No…there’s no way I can beat her, not in this shape…”
“What the fuck?! Why do you want to kill everybody?!” Zach yelled, obviously pissed that the girl said she had to take everybody out. “And what are you going to do with my Pokemon? They didn’t do anything to you!”
Devan was beginning to weep. He’d had enough. It was way too much to deal with…his father, his mother, his sister, Zach Stone, Suicune, the Riolu, the bitch in white, and finally, worst of all, Arceus. He didn’t want to deal with any of this anymore. He wished it would all just go away…He picked up his blade, and readied himself to take his own life, and save everyone else from being killed.
Then, a small paw touched his thigh. He looked over, and saw the Riolu, his Riolu, touching his thigh. He hadn’t gotten a real chance to notice her…how cute she looked, how he could get lost in her red eyes, and the beautiful necklace with the Mark of Arceus that adorned her neck. However, he couldn’t keep himself out of her eyes, and found himself coming back to them every few seconds.
“Please, Devan,” the Riolu begged. “Please don’t do this to yourself. I know I didn’t get a chance to know you too well, and I know that you don’t like me all that much. And I know you probably wish you were dead right now, but…Please, I don’t want to lose you…then I’ll be alone again, just like when my mommy and daddy died…” she whimpered. “Please…”
With one last word, she began to weep on his thigh. She was weeping…weeping for him! No one else had ever wept for him before…why was she, a Pokemon whom he had scolded out of his own selfishness, weeping right now for him? Why her? Why did she choose him? Devan let loose, and grabbed her. He began to grip her to his chest. He never wanted to let her go.
“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…I didn’t mean to be so mean before…I hope you can forgive me…” he begged, tears streaming down his face, dripping onto the little Riolu’s head.
The Riolu, surprised, looked up at him. She then smiled, tears flooded in her eyes. “I forgive you, Devan. Thank you for accepting me…”
Suddenly, something strange happened. Devan’s rage died inside his chest. Something began to build in his body. He could feel it…power coursing through his veins. He could feel his wounds beginning to close, and he knew what he had to do. He set down the Riolu, and picked up his Runeblade.
“Second seal, release…” he muttered, and a large flash of light enveloped him.
Actually, If you still can't see the link, don;t you remember the spellblading from Machinations?
Somewhere near Lake Valor…
A girl with long blue hair was lying among the trees on the ground with her back to a stump. She was wearing sunglasses, but it was more of a fashion statement since the trees blocked out most of the sunlight. She was reading her Pokedex when her cell phone started to ring. She picked it up, and opened it up to chat, bringing the phone up to her ear.
“Crystal here. What’s up?...yeah, I sent Suicune off to grab him, she should be back any second now…No, Seth, for the last time, I don’t need your help finding him, I know where he is…Damnit, Seth, I don’t want to talk to Drake right now, he’s on my bad list…Look, Seth, as much as I would ‘love’ to have you come here and show off Ares, you’d only piss Devan off and cause him to run off. Look, I know how much you want to help, but...What?! He disappeared without a trace? How long has he been missing…That long, huh? I’m surprised I didn’t notice. Well, at least Zach doesn’t know about him. He’d be shocked to know he has a brother, and not only that, but a man who was once the Champion of Hoenn…”
Suddenly, a vortex of water appeared before her, and Suicune and a white-haired boy, a little younger than she was, appeared out of the vortex. He looked very perturbed, and started yelling once the vortex died down. He was carrying his goods, and shouldering a small Riolu that looked a little frightened.
“Goddamn it! I swear, why is it that wherever the fuck I go, people manage to piss me off even more than I already am?! Can’t I ever just be left alone for twenty-four hours without having to deal with someone else? ‘Please, sir, save my child!’ ‘Here, boy, could you help me with this load?’ I’m fucking human, yet everyone seems to think I’m some kind of fucking superhero!” He seemed to go on, and after the superhero comment, Crystal tuned out and went back to her phone conversation.
“Yeah, that was Devan. Suicune just got back with him, and he’s a little angry at the moment. Look, Seth, I’m going to have to go now. Good luck with finding Steven…you’re going to need all the help you can get finding him. Bye.” She hung up the phone, and looked at Devan, who was still rambling.
“…and that’s not all! No, to top it all off, I’ve been tracked by that white bitch!” he yelled, tearing a piece of paper off of his hoodie and crumpling it into a ball, throwing it out into the trees.
“That’s littering, you know,” Crystal informed him.
“Oh, do you think I fucking ca…Wait, how long have you been sitting there?” Devan said, suddenly calming down. “And who are you?”
“Glad you asked. My name’s Christina Ray, Champion of Johto. But you can call me…”
“Crystal,” Devan finished for her. “Crystal, the Unown Ruins decipherer, the Trainer of the Untamable Suicune, Johto’s only champion. As if I haven’t heard of you before. Well, it’s nice meeting you, but I’ve gotta get going…”
“Wow. The only other person who wasn’t surprised when they first met me was Zach, and even HE was surprised when I showed him Suicune. Why are you leaving so soon? Don’t you want to get to know me?” she asked.
“Unlike other people, I have…Wait, Zach? Zach Stone? Damn, it’s true, then. You ‘elite’ trainers all hang around each other. Well, that doesn’t matter to me. I’ve got my own business to take care of. And if I ever see that bastard again, I’ll show him what it means to ‘be a hero.’”
Crystal looked shocked. “Wow. So how do you know Zach? He’s never talked about you around me…”
Devan spat on the ground. “He got in my way when he ‘raided’ a Team Aqua base. I was there on a mission to find and interrogate someone of the Syndicate, and he got away because of the commotion Zach had caused! I can’t forgive him for that; not only did he destroy a very good chance for the Avokii to take another swipe at the Syndicate, but he also caused my Dad to send another assassin out to get me! I’ve had it with him AND with my Dad!”
Crystal had an upset look on her face. “What kind of father would send an assassin out to kill his own kid?” she asked.
“The kind that don’t like Pokemon, and believe that their son is the reason his wife ran out on him to go chase after Pokemon,” Devan replied. “That’s the kind. Are we done yet, or can I leave? I have to go call him and tell him I’m leaving the family; I’ve had all I can stand of his pompous ass!”
“Listen, Devan, I think you need to calm down,” Crystal said, “You’re gonna end up hurting someone if you don’t.”
Devan sighed and looked to the ground. He could feel the rage dying in his chest, but he still felt quite a bit angry at the fact he still couldn’t get rid of his father. Not only that, he had a lead from Master Donovan that his mom was in Canalave…Why did he have to wait again? All he wanted to do was go see her, and let her know he was alright.
“Listen, Crystal,” Devan started. “I’m sorry that I got so worked up over this. I’ve got to go make that call, though. I’m afraid my dad is gonna send a few assassins my way, anyways, and I don’t want you to get caught up in it.”
Crystal looked a tad confused. “Why would he send more assassins?” she asked him.
Devan grunted. “I didn’t do something for him. He wanted me to destroy a house of a rival family, and because the two masters of an Avokii are their Sensei and their father, I ‘had’ to follow orders. However, my father has lost all honorability within the Avokii council after sending assassins to take me out, so I’m still an Avokii whether I listen to him or not.”
“That’s horrible!” Crystal exclaimed. “How could a father be so cruel to his child?”
Devan didn’t have an answer to this question. However, there was no need. A strange floating light had charged towards them, and had tackled Suicune. Suicune and the blobby light went speeding into the little Riolu, who in turn went flying into a nearby tree, where she hit the tree upside-down and slowly slid down the trunk, hitting her head on the ground, dazed and dizzy from the whole experience.
“SUI-SUI!” the light squeaked with excitement. “How are you, Sui-sui?! I haven’t seen you in FOR-EV-ER!” The light died away suddenly, and in its place was a small blue floating critter with a deep blue head three protruding spikes going in different directions.
“Azelf, get your bubbly butt off of me before I…” Suicune started.
Azelf didn’t give her time to finish her sentence. He shoved a stubby hand into her mouth. “Silence! There’s more important matters that we must discuss,” he stated, with a cutely faked hint of mystery in his voice. “Our soon-to-be High Master Devan has a looooong journey ahead of him, and he needs to know a few important details,” he informed them all.
“Mmph ommph ummph mmph ummph mmphmm!!” Suicune retorted, but could not seem to make any word understandable due to Azelf’s hand stuck in her maw.
Over by the tree, the little Riolu was now sitting upright, rubbing her head in pain. “Owwie…” she moaned.
Devan was at a loss for words and was standing mouth agape utterly shocked at the whole experience, and Crystal was rolling on the ground, laughing hysterically, tears streaming down her face.
“Hahahahaa…oh man, it’s been awhile, Azelf,” she said, finally regaining her composure somewhat. “How’s it going?”
“Shush!” Azelf said, taking his other hand and putting a finger over his mouth. “Devan, you’re in a hurry, right?”
“Kinda, yeah,” Devan replied. “I wanted to go make a call to my da…”
“Okie dokie then!” Azelf interrupted once again. “I’ll keep these guys here for you. We’ll be at the lake when you return. There’s a resort nearby you can go make your call from. Oh, and by the way…there’s someone there that you probably will or will not want to see, I don’t know which. Bring that person back with you,” Azelf instructed him.
“Whatever,” Devan said, and turned to leave.
“Wait!” Crystal yelled. “How do we know you’re gonna come back here?” she asked Devan. “You’re not gonna leave us here, are you?”
Devan thought for a moment. “I guess I never thought about it. Oh, well, I guess it’s too late to shirk myself out of this task, so I guess I’ll have to stick it out. I’ll see you guys soon,” he said, waving back to them and leaving. The little Riolu got up and dashed to his side, where she turned around and waved goodbye. Then they left.
Weird… Crystal thought to herself. My report said he didn’t like Pokemon because of an incident with an Arcanine when he was ten. Why would he have a Riolu…?
“MRRRPH OMPH MMR GRRMPH!” Suicune cried, her voice still muffled by Azelf’s hand.
“No, I’m not gonna take my hand out!” Azelf replied, somehow knowing subconsciously what she had asked. “You’re just gonna yell at me again!”
Crystal sighed. The next few hours were going to be very long, indeed…
“…So what’s your name, master?” the Riolu asked him. Devan winced at the word “master;” he didn’t like being in charge of anything but his own life. Now he had a young Riolu to take care of, and he wished he could return to the days when he traveled alone. Now he would probably never travel alone again…
“My name’s Devan,” he finally replied to her, a little annoyed that she was paying so much attention to him.
“Okay,” she replied. “So, Master Devan, may I…”
Devan snapped. “Look, if we’re going to travel together, I’m going to lay down a few rules. Rule one: Don’t call me ‘master.’ I am master of nothing, and I probably never will be ‘master’ of anything. Rule two: We’re only traveling together because I was forced into this. I never had a Pokemon, and as far as I’m concerned, I never will. When this is all over, you can leave me so I can be alone again. Rule three: Don’t EVER touch me! I don’t want to have to make contact with you or ANYONE unless I’m forced to! Got it?” he scolded the Riolu.
The Riolu was surprised at the sudden scolding, and sadly replied, “Yes, Devan.” She then hung her head low, and began to sniffle, keeping a steady distance back behind Devan.
A few minutes passed, and they reached the resort. Plenty of people were around, and there was tons of hustle and bustle around the area. Devan snorted, and headed toward the main building. They were bound to have a phone with video feedback there…
Devan and the Riolu entered, and Devan went up to the front desk. The front desk greeter, a girl with short green hair, got up. “Welcome to Grand Lake Resort! How may I help you, sir?” she asked, with a bubbly manner.
“I just need to use a phone,” Devan informed her.
“Oh. Well, the phone’s over there,” she pointed, pointing to the front waiting room. “It’s free of charge, and it’s available for anyone to use. Will you be staying with us tonight?” she asked.
“No. I only came here to use the phone,” Devan said rather gloomily. “I’m broke either way, so even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to stay here,” he informed her.
“That’s a shame,” the girl replied. “Well, good luck with whatever it is you’re off to do, sir!”
“Uh, thanks, I guess,” Devan said, turning around and heading towards the phone.
Marcus was training his daughter, Kimi, in the ways of the Ariss. He was proud of her accomplishments; she was already seven years old, and she was learning how to become a great assassin already. He smiled; he knew that the Granvurios line would someday be reborn, and he was the right man to do it.
Suddenly, the phone rang inside. “Hang on, Kimi, Daddy’s gonna go answer the phone, okay?” he informed her. “I want you to keep practicing with the picks. You’re getting quite good at aiming them,” he complimented her.
“Thanks, Daddy!” she replied, continuing with her target practice. Marcus smiled. She would be one of his finest students one day, just like her older sister. And not like her failure of a brother who can’t follow a single simple order. He hated his boy…not only was he an Avokii, one of the most respected positions of their village, but he shared the blood of a “Pokemon lover,” of all people. He couldn’t stand him. However, having an Avokii soldier to do his every bidding was grand, since he could kill anyone. And because of the training his son went through, he had to listen to him.
He answered the phone, and his faced flushed to see his own son, Devan, staring back at him from Grand Lake Resort near Lake Valor. “What do you want? I’m in the middle of training your sister, Kimi! This had better be important, boy!”
Devan shuddered. He remembered his long forgotten fear of his father, a fear that was grinded into his being from the constant torment he had endured from his dad. But he was stronger now. He knew he could win arguments now, and show his dad that he wasn’t one to be controlled.
“I’m calling, Dad, because I quit. I’m leaving the family. I’m tired of putting up with you, and…”
“WHAT?!” Marcus interrupted. “How dare you! You can’t leave the family! You belong to me! I am your father, and I…”
“…have no control over me. Not anymore,” Devan finished for him. “I hate putting up with your crap. I don’t enjoy killing people and intimidating your enemies just so that you can spread your hatred of Pokemon throughout the world. I don’t hate them anymore, Dad. I can at least somewhat stand them. And because of what you have done to me and to Mom, I’m not gonna let you order me around anymore. I’m no longer a member of the Granvurios line; I am now my own man,” Devan finished, taking out his family trinket. He took out his runed knife, swashed a few symbols in the air, and the trinket exploded into particles of shiny gold dust.
“You…I don’t believe this,” Marcus stuttered. “You think you can just sully your family name, just drag it about around the dirt with no regard? Well, Devan, I’m ashamed. I’m so ashamed that I don’t want to deal with this anymore. Expect a visit from some old friends, Devan. I’m also done with you. Have fun in the afterlife.”
“You think you can stop me, Dad?!” Devan started into a rage. “You think that if you can’t keep me on your leash that you might as well erase my existence from this world? Well, Dad, you’re gonna wish you’d never done that. When I’m finished with my little mission I’ve been recruited for, and after I’ve found Mom, I’m gonna come after you! And you’d better be ready, Dad, because after what you’ve done to me and to Mom, don’t expect any mercy from me!” Devan yelled, hanging up once he was done.
Marcus stood there for a moment. His face was blank. He was thinking about what to do next. He raised his hand, and dialed a few numbers. The receiver picked up, and he heard a familiar female voice. “Hi, Dad, what’s up?”
“Mavi, it’s your father. Your younger brother has finally hit my last nerve. I want you to take him out for me. He’s in your area; in a resort at Valor Lake. Take the rest of the Ariss initiates with you and take him out and any bystander nearby. I don’t want the news of a killing on my hands right now.
Mavi grinned wickedly. Finally, a chance to prove to Father that she was better than that wretched Devan! “Sure, Dad, I can do that for you. No problem at all…”
Devan turned around from the phone booth. He was angry, but he also felt pretty good about himself. He had finally cut the leash, and he was free. Sure, he’d be chased again, but this was normal for him. The situation wasn’t unusual, really, just a minor setback. He finally smiled after a long time of anger. He finally felt happy.
“Alright, let’s go,” he commanded the Riolu. She was a little happier to see he was in a better mood, but she didn’t stick too close to him out of fear of receiving another angry outburst from Devan.
Devan walked outside, the Riolu tailing behind him. He sniffed, and smiled. He was free! “Goodbye, Dad, hello freedom!” he muttered to himself.
“So did you call your dad?” the Riolu asked, finally gathering up enough courage to ask.
“Yeah, it did. Thanks for asking,” Devan replied cheerfully.
“Why doesn’t your daddy like you?” the Riolu asked him innocently.
“Well…” Devan thought, “It probably has to do something with…” He stopped cold in his tracks. He noticed a familiar figure lying on a beach chair on the beach.
“I don’t fucking believe it. I was just talking about him, and there he is…” Devan said menacingly.
“Who, your dad?” the Riolu asked.
“No, not exactly,” Devan growled. “The guy I thought I would never see again: Zach Stone,” he said, taking out his rune knife. “I’m going to give him a little hello gift. I want you to go find a safe place to hide for a while. When the fight’s over, come find me…” he said, twirling his knife in his fingers.
Katherine, an Absol, was lying next to her mate, Zach, on a lounge chair on the beach. She was wearing circular sunglasses, and sipping a straw in a glass of lemonade in her right paw. Her legs were crossed, and her left leg bounced up and down contently.
Her mate, Zach, her male trainer with white hair and a black streak that went down his bangs, was watching his other Pokemon play on the beach. He was wearing white material pants, and a white jacket with a black undershirt, to mach his mate’s coloration. One of his new additions, an Empoleon named Jerod, was fitting in just fine, ever since he let Trent tag along with May. He heard that they were getting along just fine, and he wasn’t surprised. He knew Trent would take good care of May. As for Jerod, he received the Empoleon when he was still a little Piplup. Since then, he and Jerod went through all of the Gym battles together. When Jerod finally evolved from a Prinplup into an Empoleon, he was shocked to find out his little penguin became a steel-armored soldier. Since his arrival to the Sinnoh region from Hoenn, he had been catching new Pokemon to train, since he left everybody else but Katherine, his Ninetails named Fara, and his Delcatty, Kiki. He now had many new additions to the group: Venus, a Luxray, whom he had caught when she was still a Shinx. Since her evolution a few weeks back, she and Kat had begun to fight a lot. Zach couldn’t figure out why, but guessed it had to do with conflicting personalities. Then there was his Lopunny, Caesar, whom he had caught when he was a Buneary. Caesar was a little weird…he was a pretty boy, but at the same time, a tough guy. Zach felt like he knew a lot about Caesar, but at the same time, he felt like he was learning new things about him every day. Then there was his Driftblim, Astro. Astro was a little strange, and didn’t say much. When he did, it was usually too deep for Zach to understand or even comprehend, or it was completely random and inappropriate for the moment. Finally, there was his Gabite, Kris. She was incredibly energetic, and just loved to dig holes. Zach sometimes thought that Kris loved to dig holes a little TOO much. His older Pokemon, Fara, was lounging out in the middle of the sand, sunning herself. Then there was his Delcatty, Kiki. Kiki had matured a lot since Zach first caught her, but at the same time, he felt Kiki was becoming more immature as time passed. Kiki, like Fara, was out sunning herself. He watched his newer Pokemon play on the beach, and couldn’t help but smile. They were all doing better than ever, but something else was bothering him. He felt as if he left something unfinished…
“Wow, Master, seven badges! One more, and the Sinnoh Elite four will feel my claws sink into their flesh!” Katherine exclaimed, flexing her claws on her left paw. She wore an evil grin on her face, and Zach could tell she couldn’t wait until they got back to work once they were done with the vacation.
“You seem a little eager too eager to get back to business, don’t you, Kat?” Zach asked. “I know you want to hurry this vacation up, but the others need a break. They all aren’t a high level 80 like you are, so they can’t keep up with your level.”
Kat scoffed, and knew he was right. Even Fara, who was nearing the 70’s in levels, would not be enough to keep up with her level, and knew that even Fara needed a break, although Fara was only along for the ride this time. The others were the ones doing all the fighting and battling for Zach, and so was she. She did, however, think it was about time they took a break. They all needed it. So she went back to sipping her lemonade, but stopped when she heard a weird noise.
“Hey, do you hear that? It sounds like a mix of a hum and an ahh…” Kat said.
“No, I don’t…” Zach replied. He sat up, and looked around. Then he looked under him, and saw a strange light emanating from under him. “What the he…” he gasped.
The light underneath him suddenly exploded and sent Zach, his chair, and a good amount of sand up into the air. He landed with a thud on the ground, and his other Pokemon who were playing nearby stopped what they were doing to look over.
Kat looked around, and looked behind her, where she saw a boy with white hair and icy-blue eyes, clutching a runed dagger, which was glowing and emanating the same noise she heard under Zach’s chair. He was grinning maliciously, and for some reason, this awakened an unknown fear from deep inside Kat. She remembered this feeling…she felt it back when she and Zach raided the Aqua base. But why was she feeling this fear now? It didn’t make sense to her…
Zach got up, and brushed the sand off of his pants. He obviously wasn’t too harmed by the incident, and was a little shaken at most. “Well, that wasn’t very nice,” he muttered. He then looked over to the boy standing over in the sand, and noticed his blade was glowing. “And to what pleasure do I owe that little demonstration, mister…?”
The boy growled, and his malicious grin turned into a scowl. “Don’t play fucking games with me, Zach. I know you know why I’m here. I didn’t get a chance to finish you off in the Aqua base, and I’m going to finish what I started! You ruined it…my only chance for the Avokii to get back at the Organization! And now you’re gonna pay for it!” he said, cutting his hand on his dagger and letting the blood dribble down onto it. “First seal, release!” he yelled.
There was a short flash from his dagger, which had now elongated into a short katana. “I’ve been waiting for four years for this moment, Zach, and you’re gonna wish you never met me!” he rasped, a crazed look entering his face. “I’ve been the ridicule of every single one of my Master’s other students, and trust me, when I’m done with you, you’ll wish you had never set foot into that base!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m not gonna take any punishment sitting down,” Zach replied. “And you never told me your name…” he said to the boy.
“What, you don’t remember?” the boy growled at him. “It’s Devan! But it’s not going to matter…I shouldn’t have helped you that day, and now I’m going to make things right again!”
Zach stopped. He remembered Devan now…he had a small run-in with him when he raided the Aqua base about four years back. “Look, Devan, I’m gonna warn you now, you’re making a huge mistake…” Zach warned him.
“{PFFFFT!} Yeah right! The only mistake I made was letting you get away without a ‘goodbye’ gift from me!” Devan yelled, flipping Zach off.
Zach looked down at the necklace with a Dread plate attached to it he had received a long time ago. Supposedly, it was once owned by a Pokemon, but for now, he thought he’d use it for himself. He knew his teacher would normally disapprove of using his abilities against a fellow human being, but he had no choice. He knew Devan was on a level of his own, and the only thing that could beat him was his Absol training. “Fine, Devan, if it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get. Kat, take the others a good distance from here,” he ordered his somewhat confused Absol. He then took out a small charm bracelet. The charm was a strange, ringed shape with four prongs sticking out of it. However, the outer ring didn’t meet in two places opposite of each other, the same distance away from the prongs.
“Okay, Kiki, come over here!” he then shouted to his Delcatty. “You wanna come after me, Devan? Let’s see what you’ve got.” His Delcatty used a strange form of Secret Power on the sand, turning it into a sword of glass. A strange glow came from his necklace, and his energy swirled into the glass sword, giving it a dark glow. “Thanks, Kiki,” he thanked his Delcatty, who in turn meowed and left to return to the others.
“Alright, I’ve waited long enough!” Devan yelled, as he charged at Zach, his runeblade now glowing and cracking with energy. He jumped into the air, and sliced his blade in the direction of Zach’s shoulder, but did not make contact with anything. Knowing he had missed, he landed, skidding into the sand. He got up, and charged once again at Zach, who was grinning ear to ear. This in turn served to somehow provoke Devan into rage, and he started furiously swinging his Runeblade at Zach. Zach effortlessly dodged every single strike, and simply pushed Devan over with the hilt of the glass sword.
Devan picked himself back up. He struck out once again at Zach, who had taken a single step to the left and dodged. Devan struck at him again, and Zach weaved in the other direction. Then Zach made another move that shocked Devan: He disappeared! Devan glanced around for him, and was shocked when a voice behind him called his name.
“Hey, I’m over here!” Zach yelled, and was standing around the area where Devan had sent him flying into the air. Devan jolted around and sprinted once again towards his target, furiously weaving his blade in a dance of strikes. Every strike Devan threw at Zach was parried and returned with Zach’s own blade. Devan backed off. This was going to be tougher than he thought…Zach’s blade was unusual. Not only could he block the runeblade effortlessly, but he had the advantage in this fight. Not only that, but the glass sword would’ve normally broken by now. Something was up. He guessed it had to do with the glow that the sword took on, but right now it didn’t matter. He started to regain his composure, and suddenly Zach started weaving in and out. DAMN it! Devan thought to himself, wiping a fresh trickle of blood dribbling down his chin. It’s like he knows what I’m throwing out at him… like he knows my every move. Well, let’s see him dodge this one… he assured himself, and swiped a symbol in the air. He then slammed his Runeblade into the sand, sending a tidal wave of sand towards Zach.
Zach stopped weaving when he saw the large wave, and easily spun his glass blade in front of him to cut a hole in the sand, letting the wave harmlessly fly over him out into the ocean. Devan cursed under his breath. Damn…I’m about out of options now… he thought to himself.
“Wow, you’ve got a lot of power, Devan, I’ll give you that,” Zach complimented Devan, wiping the sweat off of his brow. “However, you’re striking without thinking. It’s way too easy to counter all of your attacks. And I’m afraid I’m tiring of this little bout. Someone innocent is bound to get hurt, so I’m ending this.”
“Kiki, come over here, and bring my bag,” Zach called to his cat. Kiki came over, and mewed questioningly to her master. “Okay, Kiki, I need my secret weapon,” he whispered to her. The dark glow disappeared from Zach’s sword, and Kiki returned the glass to sand. She handed him his bag, which she had dragged over with her tail. He reached in, and pulled out a strange, black tonfa-like weapon. It had a strange blade that poked out of it. It began to glow in a similar fashion as the glass sword he had used when he held it, and he slashed the air a bit to test it out. The air, to his satisfaction, made a few swishing noises. “Okay, Devan. I normally don’t use this, but you’re an exception. This is my Dread Horn, my special weapon. It will finish our fight, and hopefully you’ll listen to me once this is all over. I don’t really want to fight you, and I want to know why you’re so angry…”
Devan snickered. “Why do you want to know why I’m so angry? Well, fine, I guess I’ll tell you. It’s because you have what I don’t. And I despise people like you for it.” Devan struck his blade out. It had lost its former energy, but due to this strike, its former energy had been replenished. “I would love to kill you, but it seems that’s not going to happen. I’m not good enough. However, I think I’m going to try to prove to you that there’s no way in hell you can beat me!”
Zach was struck by this statement. How was he so cocky, even after knowing he wasn’t powerful enough to win the fight? This confused Zach, but he decided now was not the time to be wondering about things like this. He stretched out his horn, and charged at a speed faster than Devan could even anticipate. He began his barrage of attacks, and Devan, try as he could, could only block a few of the many strikes. Devan could already feel fatigue grip him, and he knew that he needed to do something before he was knocked out cold. He quickly forged a symbol, and struck his blade directly beneath himself. Sand exploded, and Devan disappeared.
“Where’d you go, Devan? That’s a really sneaky trick…” Zach muttered to himself. He looked around, and couldn’t see where Devan had gone. Suddenly, Devan exploded out of the same spot he had disappeared, and went flying into the air. Zach saw this, and after a split second, he jumped up into the air to join him. Devan wasn’t expecting this, and was met with another barrage of strikes from Zach’s horn.
Where do I recognize that horn from… Devan thought. Oh yeah…it’s an Absol horn. This guy’s like some kind of human Absol… Devan fell to the ground. Zach neatly landed on his feet, where he was cheered on by his Pokemon. Devan could hear their cheers, and this built up his old rage. He got up, and started his own fury of strikes, at a speed of which Zach had not seen of Devan yet. However, it wasn’t fast enough, and Devan could only get a few strikes in. Then, out of nowhere, Devan shoved the side of his blade into Zach. It exploded, and sent Zach a few feet back.
Zach then noticed something he couldn’t believe. Those strikes were making a symbol! That’s creative, and tough to do with a blade. However, I’m going to finish this. Someone’s going to get hurt soon, I know it… Zach got up, and dashed at an unmatched speed again. However, he was charging up his horn. His horn began to pulse, and the pulse slowly accelerated to a point of climax. At this climaxing point, Devan struck out in front of him, in the direction of Devan. A black blade of pure energy flew out toward Devan.
“SHIT!” Devan yelled, bringing his blade up to defend himself from the oncoming strike. The attack hit his blade, and began to push him back at slightly a slower speed than the attack was already going. Damn…is it already over? Devan thought, as he crashed into a nearby grassy hill, the blade exploding as its remnants tore up his flesh.
Zach watched, and grinned. It was finally over! He didn’t like fighting, but at least nobody was hurt. They had managed to gather a crowd nearby, and they cheered as he turned to bow to them. Suddenly, a small girl screamed, and pointed out towards the direction of the fight. Everyone gasped, and Zach turned around to see a bloody, bruised, and torn up Devan slowly coming toward him, the crazed grin that had once been on his face returned.
“What…how did you get up after that…?” Zach asked, in utter awe.
“Is that all you have, Zach?” Devan mocked, chuckling maniacally. “I’ve had to deal with many people ten times more powerful than you, one of them being my goddamned father. Just because you can block most of my strikes doesn’t mean you can beat me. I was expecting more of your horn, but…”
Suddenly, there was another scream. A small group of black clad figures had surrounded the onlookers, and another two had rounded up Zach’s Pokemon, and had caged them all.
“Well, well, well…Devan, you’ve been quite a naughty boy, haven’t you? You’ve pissed off Daddy again…” a female voice cooed to Devan.
“No…Not now! I don’t need this right now! I’m…” Devan started to crumble, as he fell to the sand, clutching his head. “You can’t be here…it’s impossible…”
“Oh, I’m here, little brother. And Daddy isn’t happy with how you’ve been acting. You broke your leash, and now you need to be disciplined one final time,” the owner of the voice said, stepping out of a group of trees on a hill. “I’m afraid that I’m not only going to have to kill you, I’ll have to kill all the onlookers as well.”
“Mavi…” Devan whimpered. “No…there’s no way I can beat her, not in this shape…”
“What the fuck?! Why do you want to kill everybody?!” Zach yelled, obviously pissed that the girl said she had to take everybody out. “And what are you going to do with my Pokemon? They didn’t do anything to you!”
Devan was beginning to weep. He’d had enough. It was way too much to deal with…his father, his mother, his sister, Zach Stone, Suicune, the Riolu, the bitch in white, and finally, worst of all, Arceus. He didn’t want to deal with any of this anymore. He wished it would all just go away…He picked up his blade, and readied himself to take his own life, and save everyone else from being killed.
Then, a small paw touched his thigh. He looked over, and saw the Riolu, his Riolu, touching his thigh. He hadn’t gotten a real chance to notice her…how cute she looked, how he could get lost in her red eyes, and the beautiful necklace with the Mark of Arceus that adorned her neck. However, he couldn’t keep himself out of her eyes, and found himself coming back to them every few seconds.
“Please, Devan,” the Riolu begged. “Please don’t do this to yourself. I know I didn’t get a chance to know you too well, and I know that you don’t like me all that much. And I know you probably wish you were dead right now, but…Please, I don’t want to lose you…then I’ll be alone again, just like when my mommy and daddy died…” she whimpered. “Please…”
With one last word, she began to weep on his thigh. She was weeping…weeping for him! No one else had ever wept for him before…why was she, a Pokemon whom he had scolded out of his own selfishness, weeping right now for him? Why her? Why did she choose him? Devan let loose, and grabbed her. He began to grip her to his chest. He never wanted to let her go.
“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…I didn’t mean to be so mean before…I hope you can forgive me…” he begged, tears streaming down his face, dripping onto the little Riolu’s head.
The Riolu, surprised, looked up at him. She then smiled, tears flooded in her eyes. “I forgive you, Devan. Thank you for accepting me…”
Suddenly, something strange happened. Devan’s rage died inside his chest. Something began to build in his body. He could feel it…power coursing through his veins. He could feel his wounds beginning to close, and he knew what he had to do. He set down the Riolu, and picked up his Runeblade.
“Second seal, release…” he muttered, and a large flash of light enveloped him.
Incomplete Explanations
Devan woke up. He opened his eyes, and could only see light and fuzzy shades of what looked like light fixtures and objects around the room he was now in. He couldn’t tell where he was or what had just happened to him. He then remembered the conversation he had just had with Arceus. What did he mean by that incredibly cryptic statement, the one about keys and doorways? Thinking about it only made his head hurt, and for some reason, his chest. He then noticed that he could feel something on his chest. He looked up, and saw a pair of large red eyes staring back at him.
“Are you okay?” the owner of the eyes asked him. “You were talking in your sleep.”
Devan could only reply with a groan, resulting from just coming out of the anesthesia. He felt extremely light-headed, as if he had been hyperventilating nonstop for the past hour and a half. The rest of his body felt oddly clean, as if it had been flushed out. He looked around the rest of the room, only to be interrupted by the pair of red eyes again.
“Hello? I asked if you were okay,” Red Eyes stated, curious as to why Devan did not answer back.
Devan tried to reply to the question, but could only muster a cough. He tried to point at his throat to make her try to understand, but his arms were limp, and he could do nothing to move them.
Another voice spoke up. It sounded very feminine and had a soothing quality to it, which reminded Devan somehow of a loving mother. “Little one, he’s coming out of anesthesia right now. He’ll be able to answer you soon enough. I’m sorry, Devan, but Arceus said I had to take her to you as soon as possible. You remember me, don’t you?” she asked him. She then padded up to his bedside where he could see her.
Devan not only recognized her, but was so shocked to see her that he shot up in his bed launching the little creature with red eyes to the other side, where it landed with an “oof.”
“S…suicune…” he muttered. A thousand questions flooded his mind. He wanted to ask her about everything that had just happened to him that day: why Arceus chose him, of all people, to carry out his mission, what she had been up to since their fateful run-in in Johto, why she brought the little Pokemon to him…but he couldn’t find his voice.
“Wow, what a surprise, Devan. It’s a miracle you recognize me after two years. I thought you would have forgotten me by now. The reason I’m here is because Arceus asked me to bring you something…” She then padded over to the red-eyed, blue and black colored Pokemon sitting on his bed rubbing its little head and picked it up. She then placed it on the floor, and continued to speak. “This little Riolu is a gift from Arceus, and she is your soon-to-be partner. Arceus has gone through a lot of hard work to find this perfect partner for you, Devan, so please treat her well. I don’t want to have to come after you if something has happened to her.”
The Riolu, noticing her lack of input in the conversation, lost interest and began to explore the room they were in. She would stop once in a while to return her attention back to Suicune and Devan to see where the conversation was going, but after a short moment or two lose interest and return to her exploration.
Devan stared at Suicune for a moment. “I don’t travel with others. Rule number one of the Arcbound: Avokii will not bind to other’s wills.”
Suicune snorted. “Devan, if the founder of the Arcbound heard you say that, he would slap you upside the head. The Avokii of the Arcbound weren’t only meant to travel with other humans, they were also meant to have pokemon as partners. I was a partner to one once…but that was a long time ago. As for that rule, it was made during the time that the guilty ones were among us.”
“Whatever. What I meant to say was that I don’t travel with anyone else, Suicune. When I did travel with someone, it was always to cover my identity. You know how many enemies we Avokii have out there,” Devan explained.
Suicune shrugged, and gave an uninterested glance at Devan before turning around. "It's not your choice, Devan. Arceus told me to give her to you, and that you should take care of her. That's why I'm here..."
“Wait…why would you of all Pokemon leave Johto to give me a Riolu? There has to be another reason you’re here, and I’m guessing it’s something pretty important, otherwise I would probably be talking to someone or something else,” Devan stated.
“There is,” Suicune replied, as she turned back to face him. “I have come here to explain to you what Arceus could not, due to your little meeting being cutting off so early. However, I am at somewhat of a loss as to exactly what he wanted me to tell you. As you may already know, I am one of the three Oracles of Arceus: Suicune, the Water Oracle. The other two are Entei, the Fire Oracle, and Raikou, the Thunder Oracle. All three of us have a direct mental connection with Arceus, as well as links with each other. However, several days ago, we lost the ability to communicate with Arceus. Not even his first children, the Guardians of Paradise, have been able to speak with him. The only way we know he’s still alive are messages he has sent to all of us. However, he has cut the connection before any of us could respond to him. We, his oracles, are very concerned that something has happened to Arceus. Even if nothing truly ‘happened’ to him, there must be some reason why he cut contact with us. ”
“Ever think he just grew tired of you guys and just didn’t want to talk to anyone?” Devan asked, receiving a malicious glare from Suicune in return.
“Devan, this is serious,” Suicune scolded him. “If something…rather, ANYTHING…happens to Arceus, something terrible is bound to be the result. If control of Arceus somehow happened to fall into the wrong hands, it could result in world domination, or even worse, Armageddon.”
“Okay, so…why was I dragged into all of this?” Devan asked.
Suicune shook her head. “I can’t tell you that. He wants you to figure it out. His orders for me were simple enough: ‘Find Devan, give him what he needs, and help him on the journey that I have unwillingly forced upon him. However, he needs to figure out on his own what I want him to do.’ That’s all he asked of me. I received his message two days ago, but the strange thing is that it was the last message he has sent to anyone. Until he talked with you today, that is. I wish I could tell you everything, but I have my orders. I can only give you this tablet he wished you to have and Zephyr. However, I cannot help you just yet. There’s a rather urgent matter I must attend to. I wish I could stay to help you out, but for now you’re on your own. Don’t let your guard down…there are people that wish you dead, some for reasons beyond your comprehension. If you find who you’re looking for and they don’t know who you are, just show them the mark on your left hand. They’ll know what to do then.”
She turned around again to leave, but muttered one last thing to Devan. “If it’s any consolation, I can see why he chose you. You look just like Taris did when he was your age: the same snowy-white wild hair that flows down the front of your shoulders, the same body frame, and even the same shape of your face…the only difference is your icy-blue eyes. His were red,” she told him. She then erupted in a vortex of water and disappeared.
Devan sighed. “Who the hell is Taris?” he asked himself, not expecting an answer in return. He then looked at his left hand, and noticed a strange mark on it. It was a weird ring-shaped symbol, similar to that of Arceus’ ring on his lower torso. He wondered if it would wash off, and then thought it was probably an inkless tattoo of some sort; it would be bound to his skin probably for the rest of his life, even if he wanted to be rid of it. He didn’t know how to begin this whole trip.
“Great, now what do I do?” he then asked the Riolu, who was playing with a strange tablet with writing chiseled into it.
“I dunno,” she replied. “I think she wants you to have this though. She gave it to me and told me to give it to you when she was done talking to you. I don’t know what it’s for, but it is sure fun to play with,” she stated.
He picked up the tablet. “Huh…for Mako, the ball maker. Sunnyshore market…” he read. “Great, just what I wanted. A goose chase. Fucking wonderful,” he complained. He got out of bed and began to pack his stuff, taking the tablet from the Riolu and shoving it into his bag next to the strange flute he had “found” when he woke up from his Genesis dream.
“Get up, and let’s get going,” he said to the Riolu. “We need to get out of here as soon as possible. This place is making me sick, and I don’t want to run into anybody else on the way out…”
Then, a group of seven people burst into the room: a few old men, some wrinkled and liver-spotted, others probably in their early 60’s. One of that group, however, was a young woman, who looked like she had just entered into her 20’s. She had milky-white eyes, and Devan seemed to get lost in them when he returned her stare, as well as hair as white as his; if not, possibly even whiter. Accompanying the strange men and woman was the girl that had rescued him. they were all wearing what looked like brown priestly robes (aside from the girl, who was wearing the same ceremonial garbs she had been wearing earlier), and the young woman with the white eyes was wearing a pitch white Miko gown. The room, as surprisingly small as it seemed, took up most of the room, which seemed to piss off Devan more than he already had been.
“Oh, great. Just what I needed…What do you people want from me now? Can’t you just leave me the fuck alone?!”
“Watch your tongue, lad,” one of them spoke up. He had white facial hair covering most of his face, and his eyelids were so wrinkly it was almost like his eyes weren’t open. What hair he had left went down his back to about his neck; it didn’t look trimmed, and Devan could tell he probably didn’t want to bother loosing the only hair he had left (other than the large amount covering his face). “We only came here because we were worried about your health. But this young lady here says she heard you muttering a name which hasn’t been heard outside this town in decades…”
“Well, she heard wrong, elder. Can I leave now?” Devan interrupted. “I have to make an important call, and I’ve got a long trip ahead of me.”
“Sit, Avokii,” one of the old men ordered. “Elder Tobara is the Head Priest of this village, and demands respect from…”
“He doesn’t need to be scolded, Ansem, he just needs to be examined.”
…I don’t have time for this, Devan thought to himself. “Sorry, but I’m in a hurry. Later.” He picked up his bags, the Riolu, and the tablets she had pulled out while they were locked in conversation. He took out his dagger, slashed a symbol in the air, and stuck it to the wall, which caused an explosion upon impact. The old men only looked on as the white woman disappeared, and reappeared on the other side of the wall Devan had just demolished.
“Wha…where’d you…how’d…” Devan stuttered in utter disbelief. “I don’t have time for you! Get out of my way!”
“Speak to Tobara first. Then we’ll let you be on your way,” the woman insisted. “I don’t want to have to hurt you.”
“It will be quick, Devan, I promise,” the elder encouraged him. “I only need to see your left hand…”
“You want my left hand?!” Devan yelled, beginning to go into rage from enduring the seemingly unending annoyance. “Here! Here’s Arceus’ damn symbol! Now let me go, Suicune bothered me enough today already, and I don’t want to have to deal with you any…”
Devan didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence. Suicune appeared in a flash of water, and yelled for Devan. Devan ran over to her with all of his goods, and they disappeared as quickly as Suicune appeared. A strange rune flew through the water, and the white woman slowly lowered her hand.
“I’ve got them tracked, Tobara. They won’t get far before I catch up with them,” she informed him.
“Don’t hurt them too much, Shiiba. Just make sure to bring Devan back. He has a huge responsibility that he needs to take care of for this village…” the elder warned her.
“I won’t, Elder, I won’t…”
“Are you okay?” the owner of the eyes asked him. “You were talking in your sleep.”
Devan could only reply with a groan, resulting from just coming out of the anesthesia. He felt extremely light-headed, as if he had been hyperventilating nonstop for the past hour and a half. The rest of his body felt oddly clean, as if it had been flushed out. He looked around the rest of the room, only to be interrupted by the pair of red eyes again.
“Hello? I asked if you were okay,” Red Eyes stated, curious as to why Devan did not answer back.
Devan tried to reply to the question, but could only muster a cough. He tried to point at his throat to make her try to understand, but his arms were limp, and he could do nothing to move them.
Another voice spoke up. It sounded very feminine and had a soothing quality to it, which reminded Devan somehow of a loving mother. “Little one, he’s coming out of anesthesia right now. He’ll be able to answer you soon enough. I’m sorry, Devan, but Arceus said I had to take her to you as soon as possible. You remember me, don’t you?” she asked him. She then padded up to his bedside where he could see her.
Devan not only recognized her, but was so shocked to see her that he shot up in his bed launching the little creature with red eyes to the other side, where it landed with an “oof.”
“S…suicune…” he muttered. A thousand questions flooded his mind. He wanted to ask her about everything that had just happened to him that day: why Arceus chose him, of all people, to carry out his mission, what she had been up to since their fateful run-in in Johto, why she brought the little Pokemon to him…but he couldn’t find his voice.
“Wow, what a surprise, Devan. It’s a miracle you recognize me after two years. I thought you would have forgotten me by now. The reason I’m here is because Arceus asked me to bring you something…” She then padded over to the red-eyed, blue and black colored Pokemon sitting on his bed rubbing its little head and picked it up. She then placed it on the floor, and continued to speak. “This little Riolu is a gift from Arceus, and she is your soon-to-be partner. Arceus has gone through a lot of hard work to find this perfect partner for you, Devan, so please treat her well. I don’t want to have to come after you if something has happened to her.”
The Riolu, noticing her lack of input in the conversation, lost interest and began to explore the room they were in. She would stop once in a while to return her attention back to Suicune and Devan to see where the conversation was going, but after a short moment or two lose interest and return to her exploration.
Devan stared at Suicune for a moment. “I don’t travel with others. Rule number one of the Arcbound: Avokii will not bind to other’s wills.”
Suicune snorted. “Devan, if the founder of the Arcbound heard you say that, he would slap you upside the head. The Avokii of the Arcbound weren’t only meant to travel with other humans, they were also meant to have pokemon as partners. I was a partner to one once…but that was a long time ago. As for that rule, it was made during the time that the guilty ones were among us.”
“Whatever. What I meant to say was that I don’t travel with anyone else, Suicune. When I did travel with someone, it was always to cover my identity. You know how many enemies we Avokii have out there,” Devan explained.
Suicune shrugged, and gave an uninterested glance at Devan before turning around. "It's not your choice, Devan. Arceus told me to give her to you, and that you should take care of her. That's why I'm here..."
“Wait…why would you of all Pokemon leave Johto to give me a Riolu? There has to be another reason you’re here, and I’m guessing it’s something pretty important, otherwise I would probably be talking to someone or something else,” Devan stated.
“There is,” Suicune replied, as she turned back to face him. “I have come here to explain to you what Arceus could not, due to your little meeting being cutting off so early. However, I am at somewhat of a loss as to exactly what he wanted me to tell you. As you may already know, I am one of the three Oracles of Arceus: Suicune, the Water Oracle. The other two are Entei, the Fire Oracle, and Raikou, the Thunder Oracle. All three of us have a direct mental connection with Arceus, as well as links with each other. However, several days ago, we lost the ability to communicate with Arceus. Not even his first children, the Guardians of Paradise, have been able to speak with him. The only way we know he’s still alive are messages he has sent to all of us. However, he has cut the connection before any of us could respond to him. We, his oracles, are very concerned that something has happened to Arceus. Even if nothing truly ‘happened’ to him, there must be some reason why he cut contact with us. ”
“Ever think he just grew tired of you guys and just didn’t want to talk to anyone?” Devan asked, receiving a malicious glare from Suicune in return.
“Devan, this is serious,” Suicune scolded him. “If something…rather, ANYTHING…happens to Arceus, something terrible is bound to be the result. If control of Arceus somehow happened to fall into the wrong hands, it could result in world domination, or even worse, Armageddon.”
“Okay, so…why was I dragged into all of this?” Devan asked.
Suicune shook her head. “I can’t tell you that. He wants you to figure it out. His orders for me were simple enough: ‘Find Devan, give him what he needs, and help him on the journey that I have unwillingly forced upon him. However, he needs to figure out on his own what I want him to do.’ That’s all he asked of me. I received his message two days ago, but the strange thing is that it was the last message he has sent to anyone. Until he talked with you today, that is. I wish I could tell you everything, but I have my orders. I can only give you this tablet he wished you to have and Zephyr. However, I cannot help you just yet. There’s a rather urgent matter I must attend to. I wish I could stay to help you out, but for now you’re on your own. Don’t let your guard down…there are people that wish you dead, some for reasons beyond your comprehension. If you find who you’re looking for and they don’t know who you are, just show them the mark on your left hand. They’ll know what to do then.”
She turned around again to leave, but muttered one last thing to Devan. “If it’s any consolation, I can see why he chose you. You look just like Taris did when he was your age: the same snowy-white wild hair that flows down the front of your shoulders, the same body frame, and even the same shape of your face…the only difference is your icy-blue eyes. His were red,” she told him. She then erupted in a vortex of water and disappeared.
Devan sighed. “Who the hell is Taris?” he asked himself, not expecting an answer in return. He then looked at his left hand, and noticed a strange mark on it. It was a weird ring-shaped symbol, similar to that of Arceus’ ring on his lower torso. He wondered if it would wash off, and then thought it was probably an inkless tattoo of some sort; it would be bound to his skin probably for the rest of his life, even if he wanted to be rid of it. He didn’t know how to begin this whole trip.
“Great, now what do I do?” he then asked the Riolu, who was playing with a strange tablet with writing chiseled into it.
“I dunno,” she replied. “I think she wants you to have this though. She gave it to me and told me to give it to you when she was done talking to you. I don’t know what it’s for, but it is sure fun to play with,” she stated.
He picked up the tablet. “Huh…for Mako, the ball maker. Sunnyshore market…” he read. “Great, just what I wanted. A goose chase. Fucking wonderful,” he complained. He got out of bed and began to pack his stuff, taking the tablet from the Riolu and shoving it into his bag next to the strange flute he had “found” when he woke up from his Genesis dream.
“Get up, and let’s get going,” he said to the Riolu. “We need to get out of here as soon as possible. This place is making me sick, and I don’t want to run into anybody else on the way out…”
Then, a group of seven people burst into the room: a few old men, some wrinkled and liver-spotted, others probably in their early 60’s. One of that group, however, was a young woman, who looked like she had just entered into her 20’s. She had milky-white eyes, and Devan seemed to get lost in them when he returned her stare, as well as hair as white as his; if not, possibly even whiter. Accompanying the strange men and woman was the girl that had rescued him. they were all wearing what looked like brown priestly robes (aside from the girl, who was wearing the same ceremonial garbs she had been wearing earlier), and the young woman with the white eyes was wearing a pitch white Miko gown. The room, as surprisingly small as it seemed, took up most of the room, which seemed to piss off Devan more than he already had been.
“Oh, great. Just what I needed…What do you people want from me now? Can’t you just leave me the fuck alone?!”
“Watch your tongue, lad,” one of them spoke up. He had white facial hair covering most of his face, and his eyelids were so wrinkly it was almost like his eyes weren’t open. What hair he had left went down his back to about his neck; it didn’t look trimmed, and Devan could tell he probably didn’t want to bother loosing the only hair he had left (other than the large amount covering his face). “We only came here because we were worried about your health. But this young lady here says she heard you muttering a name which hasn’t been heard outside this town in decades…”
“Well, she heard wrong, elder. Can I leave now?” Devan interrupted. “I have to make an important call, and I’ve got a long trip ahead of me.”
“Sit, Avokii,” one of the old men ordered. “Elder Tobara is the Head Priest of this village, and demands respect from…”
“He doesn’t need to be scolded, Ansem, he just needs to be examined.”
…I don’t have time for this, Devan thought to himself. “Sorry, but I’m in a hurry. Later.” He picked up his bags, the Riolu, and the tablets she had pulled out while they were locked in conversation. He took out his dagger, slashed a symbol in the air, and stuck it to the wall, which caused an explosion upon impact. The old men only looked on as the white woman disappeared, and reappeared on the other side of the wall Devan had just demolished.
“Wha…where’d you…how’d…” Devan stuttered in utter disbelief. “I don’t have time for you! Get out of my way!”
“Speak to Tobara first. Then we’ll let you be on your way,” the woman insisted. “I don’t want to have to hurt you.”
“It will be quick, Devan, I promise,” the elder encouraged him. “I only need to see your left hand…”
“You want my left hand?!” Devan yelled, beginning to go into rage from enduring the seemingly unending annoyance. “Here! Here’s Arceus’ damn symbol! Now let me go, Suicune bothered me enough today already, and I don’t want to have to deal with you any…”
Devan didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence. Suicune appeared in a flash of water, and yelled for Devan. Devan ran over to her with all of his goods, and they disappeared as quickly as Suicune appeared. A strange rune flew through the water, and the white woman slowly lowered her hand.
“I’ve got them tracked, Tobara. They won’t get far before I catch up with them,” she informed him.
“Don’t hurt them too much, Shiiba. Just make sure to bring Devan back. He has a huge responsibility that he needs to take care of for this village…” the elder warned her.
“I won’t, Elder, I won’t…”
Vision of the Beautiful Being
Vision of the Beautiful Being
Devan woke up drenched in sweat. He was outside, and was lying on what seemed like a pile of leaves and dirt. He got up to his feet, and began to brush off the remnants that stuck to his baggy jeans. From what he could tell, he was somewhere in the Sinnoh region; he just couldn’t remember where. The only thing he could remember before he fell asleep was running into a strange Pokemon, and then seeing a bright flash and passing out. Then there was the dream he had. He didn’t believe in myths, much less the one of the creation of Pokemon. He didn't even like Pokemon. But something bugged him about the dream; he normally had dreams of his old girlfriend, and the moments they shared together before she was killed by the Syndicate of Nicea.
Those bastards, he thought to himself. Those bastards don’t deserve to live. I should have killed Rath when I had the chance two days ago…but there’s something about him that I just can’t set my finger on. He doesn’t seem to agree with the Elder Council of Nicea, but I don’t think he’s about to disobey them. At least, not yet, anyways.
He then noticed he was clenching something in his right hand, which looked like a long, silvery-white flute. However, he also noticed that it had a strange gleam to it. Where the hell did this come from? he wondered. Although he was against taking random, suspicious items, something told him he should hold onto this strange artifact. He carefully stashed it into his bag, in between his clothes and his map, which he regretfully never used. I guess it would explain why I find myself lost all the time, he thought to himself, as he zipped up his bag. He then slung the bag over his shoulder and decided to head towards the nearby town. He decided he would ask around to see if anyone saw anything suspicious last night. He felt nervous just standing around in the forest, like something was watching him from a distance.
Something was watching him from a distance. It licked its lips hungrily, knowing that it would finally have a meal after several days of a lack of humans passing by. It swooped down to charge at its next tasty meal, and then…
Devan flipped and landed on top of his predator. He pulled out his rune knife, and stuck it into the back of the Pokemon that had decided to make him its dinner. His strike was successful, and hit directly in his pursuer’s heart, in between the ribs of the rib cage. The Pokemon howled, and lost its balance. It began to fall, and Devan decided he shouldn't stay on its back. He jumped off with plenty of time to spare. The Pokemon hit the ground with a sickening thud, landing head first. Devan landed gracefully nearby. He then took a look at the bloodthirsty beast. It was a Gliscor, but something was wrong with it. For one, Gliscors don't hunt for humans, and were not very territorial. For one to attack a human like this was completely unheard of. The other thing Devan noticed was the strange coloring of the dead Pokemon. Its normal shade of purple was incredibly dull, and strange black lines ran across its normally gleaming body, which in comparison looked like cracks in a sidewalk. Its eyes were a deep red instead of its usual yellow, and its fangs were a lot longer than the normal Gliscor’s. Its tail was drenched in acid, which was very unusual, because Gliscors’ stingers are usually poisonous, not acidic. He decided that letting its body lay around for the next Pokemon or human to get infected with whatever disease or virus it had caught was a bad idea.
Devan took out a lighter. He stacked a few twigs and leaves around the dead Pokemon, and lit the tinder, creamating the dead body of the strange Gliscor.
Then something strange happened. The dead Gliscor began to howl, and its body began to writhe and twitch uncontrollably. Suddenly, a strange black goop flew out of the Gliscor's mouth. It landed next to Devan with a splat, and jiggled for a few seconds. It then began to reconstitute itself. Devan acted fast. He reached for a branch, caught it on fire from the Gliscor (or, rather, what was left of it), and stabbed the gelatinous blob with it. The blob shivered for a second, and then began to consume the branch, fire and all. Ohhh, shit, that’s not good… Devan thought to himself. The blob then made a screeching noise, and made a leap for him. It fell onto his face, and began to make its way down his throat. Is this it… he thought to himself. Is this how I am to die, by a miscellaneous blob of unknown origin?
Devan started to lose consciousness. His vision started to blur, and he was feeling very weak. His body couldn’t support him anymore, and he crumpled to the ground, landing on a dead tree stump. Shit… he thought to himself. This is what I get for fooling around with a strange Pokemon. I guess I should’ve paid more attention to why that Gliscor was acting so strangely…
He then began to gag, and started to throw up. The blob which had forced him to consume itself had come out liquidized, and was now bubbling like a puddle of acid on the ground. It began to dissipate, and was eventually no more. This confused Devan greatly. Why would that…thing…attack him and then get itself killed?
Devan noticed he was back to normal, and decided it would probably be a good idea to go get a checkup at a nearby hospital. He once again picked himself up, and continued on his way.
Devan finally reached a nearby villiage. He saw that some sort of festival was going on nearby, and spat on the ground. “I hate festivals…” he muttered to himself, and began to walk into town. He was focusing on the festival, and noticed people dressed up in ancient garbs and clothes that he had never seen before.
THUD!! Devan fell over. Apparently, he had ran into a young girl, about his age, headed towards the festival. “Ow, watch where you’re going!” she yelled. “I don’t like running into people, much less when I’m holding things! You could’ve made me drop something important.”
“Erm, sorry…” Devan replied, still not sure of what exactly had just happened. He got up, and offered a hand to the girl, who was still on the ground. She blushed, and grabbed his hand and pulled herself up. She was carrying what looked like gourds and a small pumpkin, and was looking rather flustered after being knocked over so suddenly.
“Yeah, it’s okay. You’re not from around here, are you?” she asked him.
“No,” Devan replied. “I’m from a country called Pian. I’m not used to the culture on this continent, and I’m traveling to meet an old friend of mine who moved to Canalave City this past year.”
“Pian? Never heard of it,” the girl replied. “But you’re far away from Canalave. This is Mavo Villiage, a small community just north of Valor Lakefront. We came here to live a simpler life with our Pokemon and our ancestors. It’s going to be a long trip for you before you reach Canalave.” She then studied him, and a confused look crossed her face. “Say, why don’t you have any Pokemon? Aren’t you old enough to be a Trainer?”
Devan glared at the girl. She didn’t know how rude she was being, but he wasn’t about to let her off the hook just because she was being completely ignorant. “Look, I don’t travel with Pokemon because they would just slow me down. I can’t spend extra time looking after them, just to have them not look after me. Plus, I don’t trust those little demons, anyway. They’re too unreliable.”
The girl then returned the glare Devan had started giving her, looking utterly abhorred at what had just come out of his mouth. “Well, SOR-RY! I just assumed that because you were traveling by yourself, you would at least have a Pokemon or two to help you out! I don’t understand why people would want to walk alone in a continent filled with wilderness and wild Pokemon. It’s just plain stupid.”
Devan sighed. This girl didn’t even know what he was. He then felt a tinge of guilt because she wouldn’t have been so “ignorant” if she had known. He then felt even worse when he remembered that his "job" was specific to Pian, and hadn't been very well known outside of his home.
“I’m sorry; you don’t know what I am,” Devan apologized. “I’m an Avokii. I don’t need to have Pokemon with me to defend myself. I would only put them at risk.”
Now the girl was confused even more. “Huh? I don’t understand…”
“You probably wouldn’t,” Devan replied. “It’s a little confusing, and even I haven’t figured everything out yet. All I can tell you is that I went through special training, and don’t need a Pokemon to bail me out of a difficult situation.”
The girl now had an emphatic look on her face. “Aren’t you ever lonely, when you’re all alone out in the wild with no one to keep you company?”
Yeah, I do, and much too often, Devan thought to himself. He was now looking at the ground, and was clutching his knife’s handle with his left hand. It wasn’t that he was worried that someone was going to come after him…he just clutched his knife whenever he felt upset. It seemed to make him feel a little better when he did this. However, he didn’t want to let her know this. Men aren’t supposed to show there's something wrong. It made them look weak. Or so his parents had taught him...
Devan suddenly began to cough, and blood splattered out of his mouth. He was loosing his vision again, and was beginning to feel very nauseous. He was about to fall over when he felt an arm grab a hold of his torso.
“Oh my god! Are you okay?! Hang on, I'll take you to the Pokemon Center! You're going to be alright!”
Devan stopped coughing long enough to ask her a question that made him feel nervous. “Wait…there’s no hospital here?”
“No,” she replied. “There’s a hospital up north in Veilstone, but we don’t have the time to run up there and get some help. You need treatment right away.”
Devan was about to ask her another question, but began to cough up more blood and mucous liquids. He knew he shouldn’t have stopped to talk to the girl, but he was glad he did, otherwise he might not have made it over to the Center, much less find it.
They walked into the center, Devan supported by the village girl. There were a few trainers and Pokemon who watched the strange boy walk in, but tried not to attract his attention. Nurse Joy was at the counter talking to her Chansey when she noticed the boy with blood dribbled down his neck and chest. “Oh my!” she exclaimed. “What happened to you? Chansey, go get a stretcher! We need to get him into emergency care right away!”
“Chansey!” the Chansey replied, waddling off to fetch the stretcher. Joy then walked hastily around the counter, and lay the boy down on the floor. She then started to clean him up when he began to cough.
“Help me turn him on his side,” she said to the girl who brought him in. “He could either choke or drown in his own blood, but he can get some drainage when he’s not on his back.”
“O-okay…” the girl stuttered.
“Do you know what happened to this young man to make him start choking up blood like this?” Joy asked the girl.
“N-no. I wasn’t even aware that he was sick when he ran into me. He seemed fine, and all of the sudden, right after I asked him a question, he started choking up blood like this. It didn’t seem like anything was wrong with him beforehand…”
“Alright, that’s fine, then,” Joy replied to the girl. “May I ask your name?”
“Lacy. Lacy Ashino,” the girl replied. “I’m not sure what his name is, but I’m pretty certain he has one.”
“Well, I am too, but I don’t think this is the right time to ask him, do you?” Joy asked her. “He can hardly speak with all that blood he’s coughing up. I’m worried that he may loose too much blood before we get a chance to help him out.”
Chansey finally made it back with the stretcher. She and Nurse joy then picked up Devan, and carefully set him onto the stretcher. Chansey then began to roll the stretcher into the back hallway, where she and Nurse Joy headed toward emergency care. As she left, Lacy put a hand over her mouth. She couldn’t believe this was happening…not today. Today was special; he should’ve been watching over everybody, preventing things like this from happening…
Devan was lying in an empty white void. He could hear distant memories; voices that had haunted him from his childhood, sounds that chilled him to the very bone, and even short flashes of images from moments in his life he had wished he didn't ever want to see again. All of this still scared him. He wished he could just make it all away, just make it so he could forget…
“Do you really want to forget those memories, Devan?” a familiar voice asked him. "They're important. They've made you into who you are today. And those memories are going to be very important soon enough..."
The images and sounds stopped at the moment the voice started speaking, which scared Devan more than he already was. He leapt up to his feet, but for some odd reason, he wasn’t standing on anything. “Who…who are you?”
A chair materialized right before him. “Sit,” the voice commanded. Devan wasn’t in a position to either argue or bargain with the voice, so he decided sitting may be the only option.
He sat, and once again asked, “Who are you?”
A figure appeared before him…a bright, silver, godly figure with golden feet and red eyes. Green circles accentuated his face around his eyes and cheeks. His very presence made Devan feel at peace, and an urge to cry out due to the beauty of the shining creature began to build up inside his chest.
“A…Arceus…” he stammered.
“In the flesh and fur,” Arceus stated. “Well…maybe not ‘in the flesh and fur,’ more of ‘in the spirit’ since I'm not actually here. I'm speaking to you through long-range telepathy and image transfer. Through this I can communicate efficiently and allow you to understand my feelings.”
“Why…why are you here? And better yet, where are we?” Devan asked him.
Arceus thought for a moment, then answered him back with another question. “What do you remember before you came here?” he asked, hoping Devan would at least get the hint.
Devan was completely lost, and his mind went blank. He couldn’t think straight, but all of a sudden, everything came back to him. “I passed out, didn’t I?”
“Not exactly,” Arceus responded. “You were put under something you humans call ‘Anes…Aneas…Anuss…’”
“Anesthesia?”
“Yes! That. Anesthesia. I apologize, I’m feeling a little under the weather. As you can tell, I’m…”
Devan interrupted him. “Wait, you’re really real? How do I know I'm not tripped out on some drug the Syndicate gave me that makes me have strange hallucinations?”
Arceus couldn’t say anything. It’s not that he lost his train of thought, or he forgot what to say, he just couldn’t. The human’s question had shocked him, and he was once again reminded how the human race had almost completely forgotten about him and his children. If it wasn’t for the people of Mavo Village, the whole world would have completely forgotten who or where he was. He had only hoped that Devan would forgive him for what he was about to do…
“Devan, I really need your help. I’m in a dimensional pocket outside of your space, up on top of the Spear Pillar in Mount Coronet.”
“Wait,” Devan interrupted. “The Spear Pillar doesn’t exist. There’s no way it could. I thought it was only a legend…”
Arceus sighed. “Devan, you have to understand…The people of the Sinnoh region don’t want tourists flocking in from everywhere to take a look at the Spear Pillar. That’s how people get hurt. And worst of all, that’s how the greed that has entered into some of your people's hearts take control of some of the most powerful Pokemon on the planet.”
“Like what Team Galactic tried to do with Dialga and Palkia?” Devan asked.
“…Somewhat,” Arceus explained. “The ones that I am worried about do not only want us, they want our power and strength. When they steal our powers, they will find a way to be rid of us and return to their home, where they will prepare for galactic domination.”
“…Say what now?” Devan asked. He seemed utterly confused, and Arceus was worried that this would happen. He had hoped that Devan could at least comprehend what was going on, but he guessed that it was too much to ask of him. He only hoped that Devan believed him after he explained all of this to him.
“Devan, as you can tell, I am not originally from your planet. I came here seeking refuge from a world where my kind was hunted for our incredible reality-bending prowess. We all escaped, and most of us went off into different directions. Because of specific abilities I have gained through some of the stops I made on my way to Earth, I have learned the secret to immortality and the secrets to creating intelligent life. I also learned how to transfer some of my power and abilities to those that I have given life to.”
“So you’re saying you’re pretty much the father of all Pokemon?” Devan asked. He found it rather hard to believe. Then again, he had heard of many more far fetched stories of where Pokemon originally came from. Although, now the crazy scientists who tried to prove that Pokemon came from space didn't seem so crazy anymore.
“Pretty much," Arceus responded. "Although there were a few problems I hadn’t thought about beforehand…I jumped into my plans too quickly. I made my children, the Pokemon, without thinking too hard as to what it would not only do to my body, but to this whole planet as well. I had bound my children not only to me, but to the elements and positions that I had given them when I first created them, over three-thousand years ago. Not only that, I bound them to your people without noticing how corrupted they can become. Because of my carelessness, I did a number on my body, and now I need someone to help me not only regain my former strength, but to ready my children for the upcoming disaster I failed to prevent…”
Devan was beyond confused. He got up out of his chair, which disappeared after he walked a few steps away from it. “Disaster? I don’t understand, Arceus. Other than a few minor skirmishes between certain groups and crime syndicates, there's no war or natural disasters. There hasn't been for the last two-hundred years! I don’t think there’s anything we need to worry about.”
Again, Arceus sighed. He wished he didn’t have to explain this to Devan, but they weren’t ready to be bound to each other just yet. Devan still had to start what Arceus failed to finish properly. The only problem was that he didn’t know how much time the planet had left, and the clock was still ticking.
Then Arceus noticed something. He couldn’t believe it, but he caught it out of the corner of his eye: a tracing spell. “We’re being watched, Devan. I need to go. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to come find me. I can’t afford to let them know where I am.”
Arceus turned around. He looked like he was about to start crying, but Devan noticed that Arceus also looked like he had faith in him. With one final bound, he disappeared into the void of nothingness. His smooth voice rang through Devan’s head, ending their meeting together. “The gift is the key to open the door to your answers. Now all you need is to find the doorway.”
Then everything went black.
Devan woke up drenched in sweat. He was outside, and was lying on what seemed like a pile of leaves and dirt. He got up to his feet, and began to brush off the remnants that stuck to his baggy jeans. From what he could tell, he was somewhere in the Sinnoh region; he just couldn’t remember where. The only thing he could remember before he fell asleep was running into a strange Pokemon, and then seeing a bright flash and passing out. Then there was the dream he had. He didn’t believe in myths, much less the one of the creation of Pokemon. He didn't even like Pokemon. But something bugged him about the dream; he normally had dreams of his old girlfriend, and the moments they shared together before she was killed by the Syndicate of Nicea.
Those bastards, he thought to himself. Those bastards don’t deserve to live. I should have killed Rath when I had the chance two days ago…but there’s something about him that I just can’t set my finger on. He doesn’t seem to agree with the Elder Council of Nicea, but I don’t think he’s about to disobey them. At least, not yet, anyways.
He then noticed he was clenching something in his right hand, which looked like a long, silvery-white flute. However, he also noticed that it had a strange gleam to it. Where the hell did this come from? he wondered. Although he was against taking random, suspicious items, something told him he should hold onto this strange artifact. He carefully stashed it into his bag, in between his clothes and his map, which he regretfully never used. I guess it would explain why I find myself lost all the time, he thought to himself, as he zipped up his bag. He then slung the bag over his shoulder and decided to head towards the nearby town. He decided he would ask around to see if anyone saw anything suspicious last night. He felt nervous just standing around in the forest, like something was watching him from a distance.
Something was watching him from a distance. It licked its lips hungrily, knowing that it would finally have a meal after several days of a lack of humans passing by. It swooped down to charge at its next tasty meal, and then…
Devan flipped and landed on top of his predator. He pulled out his rune knife, and stuck it into the back of the Pokemon that had decided to make him its dinner. His strike was successful, and hit directly in his pursuer’s heart, in between the ribs of the rib cage. The Pokemon howled, and lost its balance. It began to fall, and Devan decided he shouldn't stay on its back. He jumped off with plenty of time to spare. The Pokemon hit the ground with a sickening thud, landing head first. Devan landed gracefully nearby. He then took a look at the bloodthirsty beast. It was a Gliscor, but something was wrong with it. For one, Gliscors don't hunt for humans, and were not very territorial. For one to attack a human like this was completely unheard of. The other thing Devan noticed was the strange coloring of the dead Pokemon. Its normal shade of purple was incredibly dull, and strange black lines ran across its normally gleaming body, which in comparison looked like cracks in a sidewalk. Its eyes were a deep red instead of its usual yellow, and its fangs were a lot longer than the normal Gliscor’s. Its tail was drenched in acid, which was very unusual, because Gliscors’ stingers are usually poisonous, not acidic. He decided that letting its body lay around for the next Pokemon or human to get infected with whatever disease or virus it had caught was a bad idea.
Devan took out a lighter. He stacked a few twigs and leaves around the dead Pokemon, and lit the tinder, creamating the dead body of the strange Gliscor.
Then something strange happened. The dead Gliscor began to howl, and its body began to writhe and twitch uncontrollably. Suddenly, a strange black goop flew out of the Gliscor's mouth. It landed next to Devan with a splat, and jiggled for a few seconds. It then began to reconstitute itself. Devan acted fast. He reached for a branch, caught it on fire from the Gliscor (or, rather, what was left of it), and stabbed the gelatinous blob with it. The blob shivered for a second, and then began to consume the branch, fire and all. Ohhh, shit, that’s not good… Devan thought to himself. The blob then made a screeching noise, and made a leap for him. It fell onto his face, and began to make its way down his throat. Is this it… he thought to himself. Is this how I am to die, by a miscellaneous blob of unknown origin?
Devan started to lose consciousness. His vision started to blur, and he was feeling very weak. His body couldn’t support him anymore, and he crumpled to the ground, landing on a dead tree stump. Shit… he thought to himself. This is what I get for fooling around with a strange Pokemon. I guess I should’ve paid more attention to why that Gliscor was acting so strangely…
He then began to gag, and started to throw up. The blob which had forced him to consume itself had come out liquidized, and was now bubbling like a puddle of acid on the ground. It began to dissipate, and was eventually no more. This confused Devan greatly. Why would that…thing…attack him and then get itself killed?
Devan noticed he was back to normal, and decided it would probably be a good idea to go get a checkup at a nearby hospital. He once again picked himself up, and continued on his way.
Devan finally reached a nearby villiage. He saw that some sort of festival was going on nearby, and spat on the ground. “I hate festivals…” he muttered to himself, and began to walk into town. He was focusing on the festival, and noticed people dressed up in ancient garbs and clothes that he had never seen before.
THUD!! Devan fell over. Apparently, he had ran into a young girl, about his age, headed towards the festival. “Ow, watch where you’re going!” she yelled. “I don’t like running into people, much less when I’m holding things! You could’ve made me drop something important.”
“Erm, sorry…” Devan replied, still not sure of what exactly had just happened. He got up, and offered a hand to the girl, who was still on the ground. She blushed, and grabbed his hand and pulled herself up. She was carrying what looked like gourds and a small pumpkin, and was looking rather flustered after being knocked over so suddenly.
“Yeah, it’s okay. You’re not from around here, are you?” she asked him.
“No,” Devan replied. “I’m from a country called Pian. I’m not used to the culture on this continent, and I’m traveling to meet an old friend of mine who moved to Canalave City this past year.”
“Pian? Never heard of it,” the girl replied. “But you’re far away from Canalave. This is Mavo Villiage, a small community just north of Valor Lakefront. We came here to live a simpler life with our Pokemon and our ancestors. It’s going to be a long trip for you before you reach Canalave.” She then studied him, and a confused look crossed her face. “Say, why don’t you have any Pokemon? Aren’t you old enough to be a Trainer?”
Devan glared at the girl. She didn’t know how rude she was being, but he wasn’t about to let her off the hook just because she was being completely ignorant. “Look, I don’t travel with Pokemon because they would just slow me down. I can’t spend extra time looking after them, just to have them not look after me. Plus, I don’t trust those little demons, anyway. They’re too unreliable.”
The girl then returned the glare Devan had started giving her, looking utterly abhorred at what had just come out of his mouth. “Well, SOR-RY! I just assumed that because you were traveling by yourself, you would at least have a Pokemon or two to help you out! I don’t understand why people would want to walk alone in a continent filled with wilderness and wild Pokemon. It’s just plain stupid.”
Devan sighed. This girl didn’t even know what he was. He then felt a tinge of guilt because she wouldn’t have been so “ignorant” if she had known. He then felt even worse when he remembered that his "job" was specific to Pian, and hadn't been very well known outside of his home.
“I’m sorry; you don’t know what I am,” Devan apologized. “I’m an Avokii. I don’t need to have Pokemon with me to defend myself. I would only put them at risk.”
Now the girl was confused even more. “Huh? I don’t understand…”
“You probably wouldn’t,” Devan replied. “It’s a little confusing, and even I haven’t figured everything out yet. All I can tell you is that I went through special training, and don’t need a Pokemon to bail me out of a difficult situation.”
The girl now had an emphatic look on her face. “Aren’t you ever lonely, when you’re all alone out in the wild with no one to keep you company?”
Yeah, I do, and much too often, Devan thought to himself. He was now looking at the ground, and was clutching his knife’s handle with his left hand. It wasn’t that he was worried that someone was going to come after him…he just clutched his knife whenever he felt upset. It seemed to make him feel a little better when he did this. However, he didn’t want to let her know this. Men aren’t supposed to show there's something wrong. It made them look weak. Or so his parents had taught him...
Devan suddenly began to cough, and blood splattered out of his mouth. He was loosing his vision again, and was beginning to feel very nauseous. He was about to fall over when he felt an arm grab a hold of his torso.
“Oh my god! Are you okay?! Hang on, I'll take you to the Pokemon Center! You're going to be alright!”
Devan stopped coughing long enough to ask her a question that made him feel nervous. “Wait…there’s no hospital here?”
“No,” she replied. “There’s a hospital up north in Veilstone, but we don’t have the time to run up there and get some help. You need treatment right away.”
Devan was about to ask her another question, but began to cough up more blood and mucous liquids. He knew he shouldn’t have stopped to talk to the girl, but he was glad he did, otherwise he might not have made it over to the Center, much less find it.
They walked into the center, Devan supported by the village girl. There were a few trainers and Pokemon who watched the strange boy walk in, but tried not to attract his attention. Nurse Joy was at the counter talking to her Chansey when she noticed the boy with blood dribbled down his neck and chest. “Oh my!” she exclaimed. “What happened to you? Chansey, go get a stretcher! We need to get him into emergency care right away!”
“Chansey!” the Chansey replied, waddling off to fetch the stretcher. Joy then walked hastily around the counter, and lay the boy down on the floor. She then started to clean him up when he began to cough.
“Help me turn him on his side,” she said to the girl who brought him in. “He could either choke or drown in his own blood, but he can get some drainage when he’s not on his back.”
“O-okay…” the girl stuttered.
“Do you know what happened to this young man to make him start choking up blood like this?” Joy asked the girl.
“N-no. I wasn’t even aware that he was sick when he ran into me. He seemed fine, and all of the sudden, right after I asked him a question, he started choking up blood like this. It didn’t seem like anything was wrong with him beforehand…”
“Alright, that’s fine, then,” Joy replied to the girl. “May I ask your name?”
“Lacy. Lacy Ashino,” the girl replied. “I’m not sure what his name is, but I’m pretty certain he has one.”
“Well, I am too, but I don’t think this is the right time to ask him, do you?” Joy asked her. “He can hardly speak with all that blood he’s coughing up. I’m worried that he may loose too much blood before we get a chance to help him out.”
Chansey finally made it back with the stretcher. She and Nurse joy then picked up Devan, and carefully set him onto the stretcher. Chansey then began to roll the stretcher into the back hallway, where she and Nurse Joy headed toward emergency care. As she left, Lacy put a hand over her mouth. She couldn’t believe this was happening…not today. Today was special; he should’ve been watching over everybody, preventing things like this from happening…
Devan was lying in an empty white void. He could hear distant memories; voices that had haunted him from his childhood, sounds that chilled him to the very bone, and even short flashes of images from moments in his life he had wished he didn't ever want to see again. All of this still scared him. He wished he could just make it all away, just make it so he could forget…
“Do you really want to forget those memories, Devan?” a familiar voice asked him. "They're important. They've made you into who you are today. And those memories are going to be very important soon enough..."
The images and sounds stopped at the moment the voice started speaking, which scared Devan more than he already was. He leapt up to his feet, but for some odd reason, he wasn’t standing on anything. “Who…who are you?”
A chair materialized right before him. “Sit,” the voice commanded. Devan wasn’t in a position to either argue or bargain with the voice, so he decided sitting may be the only option.
He sat, and once again asked, “Who are you?”
A figure appeared before him…a bright, silver, godly figure with golden feet and red eyes. Green circles accentuated his face around his eyes and cheeks. His very presence made Devan feel at peace, and an urge to cry out due to the beauty of the shining creature began to build up inside his chest.
“A…Arceus…” he stammered.
“In the flesh and fur,” Arceus stated. “Well…maybe not ‘in the flesh and fur,’ more of ‘in the spirit’ since I'm not actually here. I'm speaking to you through long-range telepathy and image transfer. Through this I can communicate efficiently and allow you to understand my feelings.”
“Why…why are you here? And better yet, where are we?” Devan asked him.
Arceus thought for a moment, then answered him back with another question. “What do you remember before you came here?” he asked, hoping Devan would at least get the hint.
Devan was completely lost, and his mind went blank. He couldn’t think straight, but all of a sudden, everything came back to him. “I passed out, didn’t I?”
“Not exactly,” Arceus responded. “You were put under something you humans call ‘Anes…Aneas…Anuss…’”
“Anesthesia?”
“Yes! That. Anesthesia. I apologize, I’m feeling a little under the weather. As you can tell, I’m…”
Devan interrupted him. “Wait, you’re really real? How do I know I'm not tripped out on some drug the Syndicate gave me that makes me have strange hallucinations?”
Arceus couldn’t say anything. It’s not that he lost his train of thought, or he forgot what to say, he just couldn’t. The human’s question had shocked him, and he was once again reminded how the human race had almost completely forgotten about him and his children. If it wasn’t for the people of Mavo Village, the whole world would have completely forgotten who or where he was. He had only hoped that Devan would forgive him for what he was about to do…
“Devan, I really need your help. I’m in a dimensional pocket outside of your space, up on top of the Spear Pillar in Mount Coronet.”
“Wait,” Devan interrupted. “The Spear Pillar doesn’t exist. There’s no way it could. I thought it was only a legend…”
Arceus sighed. “Devan, you have to understand…The people of the Sinnoh region don’t want tourists flocking in from everywhere to take a look at the Spear Pillar. That’s how people get hurt. And worst of all, that’s how the greed that has entered into some of your people's hearts take control of some of the most powerful Pokemon on the planet.”
“Like what Team Galactic tried to do with Dialga and Palkia?” Devan asked.
“…Somewhat,” Arceus explained. “The ones that I am worried about do not only want us, they want our power and strength. When they steal our powers, they will find a way to be rid of us and return to their home, where they will prepare for galactic domination.”
“…Say what now?” Devan asked. He seemed utterly confused, and Arceus was worried that this would happen. He had hoped that Devan could at least comprehend what was going on, but he guessed that it was too much to ask of him. He only hoped that Devan believed him after he explained all of this to him.
“Devan, as you can tell, I am not originally from your planet. I came here seeking refuge from a world where my kind was hunted for our incredible reality-bending prowess. We all escaped, and most of us went off into different directions. Because of specific abilities I have gained through some of the stops I made on my way to Earth, I have learned the secret to immortality and the secrets to creating intelligent life. I also learned how to transfer some of my power and abilities to those that I have given life to.”
“So you’re saying you’re pretty much the father of all Pokemon?” Devan asked. He found it rather hard to believe. Then again, he had heard of many more far fetched stories of where Pokemon originally came from. Although, now the crazy scientists who tried to prove that Pokemon came from space didn't seem so crazy anymore.
“Pretty much," Arceus responded. "Although there were a few problems I hadn’t thought about beforehand…I jumped into my plans too quickly. I made my children, the Pokemon, without thinking too hard as to what it would not only do to my body, but to this whole planet as well. I had bound my children not only to me, but to the elements and positions that I had given them when I first created them, over three-thousand years ago. Not only that, I bound them to your people without noticing how corrupted they can become. Because of my carelessness, I did a number on my body, and now I need someone to help me not only regain my former strength, but to ready my children for the upcoming disaster I failed to prevent…”
Devan was beyond confused. He got up out of his chair, which disappeared after he walked a few steps away from it. “Disaster? I don’t understand, Arceus. Other than a few minor skirmishes between certain groups and crime syndicates, there's no war or natural disasters. There hasn't been for the last two-hundred years! I don’t think there’s anything we need to worry about.”
Again, Arceus sighed. He wished he didn’t have to explain this to Devan, but they weren’t ready to be bound to each other just yet. Devan still had to start what Arceus failed to finish properly. The only problem was that he didn’t know how much time the planet had left, and the clock was still ticking.
Then Arceus noticed something. He couldn’t believe it, but he caught it out of the corner of his eye: a tracing spell. “We’re being watched, Devan. I need to go. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to come find me. I can’t afford to let them know where I am.”
Arceus turned around. He looked like he was about to start crying, but Devan noticed that Arceus also looked like he had faith in him. With one final bound, he disappeared into the void of nothingness. His smooth voice rang through Devan’s head, ending their meeting together. “The gift is the key to open the door to your answers. Now all you need is to find the doorway.”
Then everything went black.
Viriati
Anyone who has read Machination will find that the story has an unsatisfactory ending...
Well, this is a sequel, and once again it has an unsatifactory ending.
The Viriati
The silver-furred majestic creature stared out into the void. He was floating into the nothingness of space. Around him were several planets, one of those being a planet his people called Paradise. It was his next choice, a home away from the violence and the destruction of his kind on his planet. The Viriati, as the other sentient race called themselves, sought to rid the planet of his race once they found out how truly powerful they were. The Viriati were incredibly jealous of this power, and sought their vengeance through their modern science and natural attunement to magic. They would want nothing more than the powers he and his kind shared. So they cursed his race, causing them to only be able to communicate through their own names and telekinesis, as well as a few other methods they would soon develop on their own.
The creature arrived to the spot on a moon of a deep blue and green planet. His eyes, and the green spots on his face, began to glow. He looked onto the planet, and thought it was devoid of life, other than one race on the entire planet. He saw that it was exactly what he was looking for. He took a deep breath in, and sighed. He then took a second look onto the planet. This was going to be difficult. Not only had the evolution of the planet just started, he noticed that the species turned out to have great potential. He had hoped that they could coexist; unlike what they were able to do with the Viriati. He then made his decision: Paradise was exactly what he was looking for.
He bounded off of the moon, and gracefully entered the atmosphere of the planet. It was absolutely perfect for life. He altered his lungs that could use the oxygen around him, instead of the hydrogen of space, to energize his blood. He found a cave, and decided to start his work there. He took another deep breath, this time one of oxygen and musk from the damp cave. He noticed feelings he had never experienced before; a touch of nervousness, and a bit of happiness from finding Paradise so far away from what he once called home.
He then observed the inhabitants of Paradise. He noticed that the creatures of this planet not only needed oxygen, but needed water and other nutrients found in the foods they ate to survive. So, to create his first children, he would have to bind them to powers that determined the universe. His golden arms stretched out from the ring on his back, and began to glow. He started carving drawings into the cave walls, and found it necessary to add subtle details underneath each of the species, written out in his own language. His arms then stretched outside the cave, and began gathering random material. The arms came back, filled with the precious substances he could start his children’s life with. He created a mound of dirt, and shot his arms filled with life-giving nutrients into it. Then, a bright flash of light blinded the whole planet, and his first children were born.
His children gasped their first breaths. They looked around, and were experiencing their own thoughts. The creature smiled, and began to talk to them.
“Children of my flesh and blood, I have found a new home. I have created you not only to protect parts of this planet, but also parts of reality. I will bind you to one of my many elements, as well as give you a very special job. These jobs will be to protect not only the position I give you, but to protect the other inhabitants of this planet as well.”
He then turned to the three of his largest children, all of which had incredibly powerful statures. One was a blue, four legged creature, another one had silvery plates covering its entire body. The final one had a gray body and a golden head, with six feet and an incredibly long neck. “My children, you will be given important positions due to your incredible power. I need you to protect things that are not bound only to this planet, but to the entire universe we live in. These Laws of the Universe are very special, and must be taken care of with great delicacy,” he explained to them. To the blue one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Dialga. You shall be the protectorate of time, guarding it from tampering and preventing the catastrophe of paradox. I shall bind you to my essences of dragon and steel.” To the silver, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Palkia. You shall be the protector of space, protecting this dimension and preventing tears to alternate universes. I shall bind you to my essences of water and dragon.” To the gray one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Giratina. You will be the guardian of the dead, watching over my children of the ghost and the spirits of the inhabitants of this world, ensuring no harm will come to their spirit, and directing them to the afterlife. I shall bind you to my essences of dragon and ghost.”
He then turned to another three of his children, whom were arguing amongst themselves. “My children, you will be given the positions of becoming the guardians of this earth. Because of the nature of these positions, you must not fight amongst yourselves, and you must prevent invaders from the outside to ruin our beloved Paradise. As well, you must prevent our beloved Paradise from collapsing in upon itself for any reason,” he explained to them. To the dark blue manta-like one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Kyogre. You shall become the guardian of the waters of this planet, protecting the waters and the creatures that live on it. I shall bind you to my essence of water.” To the red dinosaur-like one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Groudon, protector of the land, and guardian of the earth. You shall protect the inhabitants of the land, and also protect it from any harm that may come to it. I shall bind you to my essence of the earth.” And, to the long green dragon, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Rayquaza, guardian of this planet and its skies. If any one of my children should fight amongst each other, you will intervene, and quell their anger. You must, as well, protect anything and everything on this planet from harm or destruction. Because of the importance of your job, I shall bind you to my essences of dragon and flight.”
He then turned to two of his children, a green one with antennae, and a light blue and yellow one with a star-shape on his head. “My children, your powers are great, but the jobs you shall hold shall be very loose and may be done as you see fit. You must promise me, though, that you would not do anything that I myself would not approve of,” he explained to them. To the green one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Celebi, guardian of the forests and the plants. Because of the nature of your job, you shall be looked over by Dialga and share a fraction of his power, so that you may travel through time to protect the plant life of this planet. You will be bound to my essences of plant and psychic.” To the blue one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Jirachi, guardian of fortune. I shall give you the power of the stars, as well as the ability to grant any wish or desire to my children and the inhabitants of this planet. I shall bind you to my essences of steel and psychic.”
He then turned to three of his children, who were small and looked similar to one another, and only stood out due to different colored markings on each of them. “My children, the inhabitants of this planet need to become like us, to understand what life really is. I want you to give them your gifts, as well as protect my three children whom are guarding the Laws of the Universe. Because of this, you may stay wherever you wish,” he explained to them. To the one with the yellowish colorings, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Uxie, the Being of Knowledge. I shall give you the power to give and take knowledge and wisdom to the inhabitants of this planet, as well as the position to protect the knowledge of all beings. Because of this, you shall be bound to my essence of psychic.” To the one with reddish colorings, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Mespirit, the Being of Emotion. I shall give you the ability to teach the inhabitants of this planet emotions as well as empathy for others. Because of this, the inhabitants will be able to understand us on a certain level, and may be able to create relationships with us. I shall bind you to my essence of psychic.” To the one with bluish colorings, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Azelf, the Being of Willpower. The inhabitants of this planet cannot stand up for themselves. I want you to teach them how to fight for themselves, as well as protect the weaker ones whom cannot. I shall bind you to my essence of psychic.”
He then turned to two of his children, who looked like complete opposites. “My children, these inhabitants cannot sleep well. I want you to give them visions, memories, or even ideas as they sleep. I want you to reside over these jobs, and give these experiences to both my children and the inhabitants of this world.” To the pink, birdlike one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Cresselia, the Watcher from the Full moon. You shall give good visions, otherwise called dreams, to everyone of this world. I want you to protect them and make sure they are safe in their sleep. I shall bind you to my essence of Psychic.” To the dark, foreboding one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Darkrai, Eternal Overseer of the New moon. I will have you not only preside over nightmares, but also protect the dream realm from harm. Because of this, you may work with Cresselia to the best of your ability. I shall bind you to my essence of darkness.”
He then created 16 plates, and sealed an essence of his into each of them. Suddenly, a bright light flashed from each of the plates, enveloping his children. The power he had just given to his children was immense, and drained a lot of his own energy. There was only one thing left for him to do, and he decided he could no longer stay with them.
“I am sorry, my children, but I must leave. Once I have sealed the fate of the inhabitants of this planet to ours, I shall go to the nearby mountain and rest. I will create an instrument called the Heaven’s Pipe, which will create a doorway into my resting place for the inhabitants of this world to contact me.”
His children began to weep, for they had just met their father, and there was a chance they could never see him again. They did not want him to go; they had so many questions they wanted to ask of him. The one named Jirachi was the only one to step forward to ask.
“Father, we will not forget of what you have done for us. You gave us each a great power and gave us all names to set us apart, but we desperately want to know what we should call you.”
He beamed at his child, and responded, “Since you are curious, I shall let you know my name. It is Arceus. I have come to this planet seeking salvation from a world far away where our kind is not wanted. To prevent my loneliness, I have created all of you, and I have given you all the ability to contact me. If you need me, just call me, and I will come to you. Do not weep, for I shall return to this world once I am well again. I love you all, my children, and I am sorry I have to leave on such a sad note. But I must go rest and regain my power…I fear that we may not be safe just yet.”
There was another flash, and the Heaven’s Pipe rested by Jirachi’s feet. And with that, Arceus left, the very essence of grace and beauty that his children had felt they had known before they were even created. With a bound, Arceus flew towards the mountain.
Arceus had gone some way, but for some reason, he decided to stop. He could hear what sounded like crying. Although he was surprised that Mespirit had already begun his work just a few short moments after he had left, he decided it was his responsibility to find out what was wrong. He looked down, and saw a small girl from the planet huddled in the trees. She was young, and was quivering uncontrollably. He was deeply moved inside, and he could not stand to have his neighbors so upset already. He landed a few feet away from her, and walked over towards her. He lay down and craned his long neck down to bring his head to her level.
“Little one, why are you crying?” he asked her.
She looked up, alarmed. Fear shone upon her face, and her whole being turned from sadness to absolute fear. But when she laid her eyes on his divine presence, sadness returned to her face. She then leapt up, wrapped her arms around him, and began to bawl.
“I…Please…I don’t know what’s happening to me…One second I was in the darkness, and then…This flash of light covered over me, and now…Now I’m so lonely, I don’t know why…Please, help me…”
Arceus felt pity for the poor girl. Mespirit, who had given her emotions, had given her complete emotion, including the pain and fear of loneliness. Now she was alone in this world, with no other life but the trees around her. Arceus knew that he couldn’t let her stay alone. He had a little bit of material left from making his children. He then made a decision he knew could eventually be fatal to not only him but to his children as well…
“Do not cry, for I have the solution to your problem,” he told her. He then gathered up a mound of dirt and leaves. The girl watched on, no longer crying, and was curious as to what he was doing. She watched as he then inserted his golden arms into the mound, and a great light flashed. The girl screamed, and shut her eyes. When she opened them, he was standing next to a strange, pink, bubbly floating creature.
“Young one, I have created the perfect partner for your kind. I call them…Pokemon. You shall take care of them, and they in return will take care of you. You shall no longer be lonely; instead, you may call on her whenever you wish. But I must warn you…If you neglect to take care of them, I am certain they will only return you sadness and a miserable outcome.
The girl’s eyes widened, and she hugged the Pokemon, who in turn made a cry that sounded like a “myu.” She then looked at Arceus, and then back at her new friend, who was already cuddling with her new partner.
“Oh kind and beautiful one…is she really mine? Can I really keep her? If that is the case, I can not thank you enough, but I wish to return the favor somehow…” she asked of him.
Arceus could only look back and smile. “Young one, I am not from this place. I have come here seeking refuge from a place that I was not welcome. But I have also come to this place without your people’s permission. Because of that, I give you the gift of these Pokemon so that they may be your partners. I gave them to you so that they may one day create a world of eternal peace, where everyone is welcome. I only wish you luck in your life. And as far as returning the favor…I owed your people. And now, I believe we are about even, except for one more detail that is bothering me.”
Arceus then crafted many strange slates of stone. He carved pictures and words into them in his own language, but he felt that it was necessary. He then told the girl, “Please take these, and put them somewhere safe. When the time comes, your people may have a use for them and can then easily befriend my children, the Pokemon. They will only aid in my dream that our kinds can someday live together in complete harmony.” With that, Arceus left for his mountain temple, where he then fell into a deep slumber.
Everything then faded to white, and the voice of Arceus spoke out. “And now, Devan, your story is just beginning…”
Well, this is a sequel, and once again it has an unsatifactory ending.
The Viriati
The silver-furred majestic creature stared out into the void. He was floating into the nothingness of space. Around him were several planets, one of those being a planet his people called Paradise. It was his next choice, a home away from the violence and the destruction of his kind on his planet. The Viriati, as the other sentient race called themselves, sought to rid the planet of his race once they found out how truly powerful they were. The Viriati were incredibly jealous of this power, and sought their vengeance through their modern science and natural attunement to magic. They would want nothing more than the powers he and his kind shared. So they cursed his race, causing them to only be able to communicate through their own names and telekinesis, as well as a few other methods they would soon develop on their own.
The creature arrived to the spot on a moon of a deep blue and green planet. His eyes, and the green spots on his face, began to glow. He looked onto the planet, and thought it was devoid of life, other than one race on the entire planet. He saw that it was exactly what he was looking for. He took a deep breath in, and sighed. He then took a second look onto the planet. This was going to be difficult. Not only had the evolution of the planet just started, he noticed that the species turned out to have great potential. He had hoped that they could coexist; unlike what they were able to do with the Viriati. He then made his decision: Paradise was exactly what he was looking for.
He bounded off of the moon, and gracefully entered the atmosphere of the planet. It was absolutely perfect for life. He altered his lungs that could use the oxygen around him, instead of the hydrogen of space, to energize his blood. He found a cave, and decided to start his work there. He took another deep breath, this time one of oxygen and musk from the damp cave. He noticed feelings he had never experienced before; a touch of nervousness, and a bit of happiness from finding Paradise so far away from what he once called home.
He then observed the inhabitants of Paradise. He noticed that the creatures of this planet not only needed oxygen, but needed water and other nutrients found in the foods they ate to survive. So, to create his first children, he would have to bind them to powers that determined the universe. His golden arms stretched out from the ring on his back, and began to glow. He started carving drawings into the cave walls, and found it necessary to add subtle details underneath each of the species, written out in his own language. His arms then stretched outside the cave, and began gathering random material. The arms came back, filled with the precious substances he could start his children’s life with. He created a mound of dirt, and shot his arms filled with life-giving nutrients into it. Then, a bright flash of light blinded the whole planet, and his first children were born.
His children gasped their first breaths. They looked around, and were experiencing their own thoughts. The creature smiled, and began to talk to them.
“Children of my flesh and blood, I have found a new home. I have created you not only to protect parts of this planet, but also parts of reality. I will bind you to one of my many elements, as well as give you a very special job. These jobs will be to protect not only the position I give you, but to protect the other inhabitants of this planet as well.”
He then turned to the three of his largest children, all of which had incredibly powerful statures. One was a blue, four legged creature, another one had silvery plates covering its entire body. The final one had a gray body and a golden head, with six feet and an incredibly long neck. “My children, you will be given important positions due to your incredible power. I need you to protect things that are not bound only to this planet, but to the entire universe we live in. These Laws of the Universe are very special, and must be taken care of with great delicacy,” he explained to them. To the blue one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Dialga. You shall be the protectorate of time, guarding it from tampering and preventing the catastrophe of paradox. I shall bind you to my essences of dragon and steel.” To the silver, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Palkia. You shall be the protector of space, protecting this dimension and preventing tears to alternate universes. I shall bind you to my essences of water and dragon.” To the gray one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Giratina. You will be the guardian of the dead, watching over my children of the ghost and the spirits of the inhabitants of this world, ensuring no harm will come to their spirit, and directing them to the afterlife. I shall bind you to my essences of dragon and ghost.”
He then turned to another three of his children, whom were arguing amongst themselves. “My children, you will be given the positions of becoming the guardians of this earth. Because of the nature of these positions, you must not fight amongst yourselves, and you must prevent invaders from the outside to ruin our beloved Paradise. As well, you must prevent our beloved Paradise from collapsing in upon itself for any reason,” he explained to them. To the dark blue manta-like one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Kyogre. You shall become the guardian of the waters of this planet, protecting the waters and the creatures that live on it. I shall bind you to my essence of water.” To the red dinosaur-like one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Groudon, protector of the land, and guardian of the earth. You shall protect the inhabitants of the land, and also protect it from any harm that may come to it. I shall bind you to my essence of the earth.” And, to the long green dragon, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Rayquaza, guardian of this planet and its skies. If any one of my children should fight amongst each other, you will intervene, and quell their anger. You must, as well, protect anything and everything on this planet from harm or destruction. Because of the importance of your job, I shall bind you to my essences of dragon and flight.”
He then turned to two of his children, a green one with antennae, and a light blue and yellow one with a star-shape on his head. “My children, your powers are great, but the jobs you shall hold shall be very loose and may be done as you see fit. You must promise me, though, that you would not do anything that I myself would not approve of,” he explained to them. To the green one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Celebi, guardian of the forests and the plants. Because of the nature of your job, you shall be looked over by Dialga and share a fraction of his power, so that you may travel through time to protect the plant life of this planet. You will be bound to my essences of plant and psychic.” To the blue one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Jirachi, guardian of fortune. I shall give you the power of the stars, as well as the ability to grant any wish or desire to my children and the inhabitants of this planet. I shall bind you to my essences of steel and psychic.”
He then turned to three of his children, who were small and looked similar to one another, and only stood out due to different colored markings on each of them. “My children, the inhabitants of this planet need to become like us, to understand what life really is. I want you to give them your gifts, as well as protect my three children whom are guarding the Laws of the Universe. Because of this, you may stay wherever you wish,” he explained to them. To the one with the yellowish colorings, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Uxie, the Being of Knowledge. I shall give you the power to give and take knowledge and wisdom to the inhabitants of this planet, as well as the position to protect the knowledge of all beings. Because of this, you shall be bound to my essence of psychic.” To the one with reddish colorings, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Mespirit, the Being of Emotion. I shall give you the ability to teach the inhabitants of this planet emotions as well as empathy for others. Because of this, the inhabitants will be able to understand us on a certain level, and may be able to create relationships with us. I shall bind you to my essence of psychic.” To the one with bluish colorings, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Azelf, the Being of Willpower. The inhabitants of this planet cannot stand up for themselves. I want you to teach them how to fight for themselves, as well as protect the weaker ones whom cannot. I shall bind you to my essence of psychic.”
He then turned to two of his children, who looked like complete opposites. “My children, these inhabitants cannot sleep well. I want you to give them visions, memories, or even ideas as they sleep. I want you to reside over these jobs, and give these experiences to both my children and the inhabitants of this world.” To the pink, birdlike one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Cresselia, the Watcher from the Full moon. You shall give good visions, otherwise called dreams, to everyone of this world. I want you to protect them and make sure they are safe in their sleep. I shall bind you to my essence of Psychic.” To the dark, foreboding one, he announced, “You, my child, shall be called Darkrai, Eternal Overseer of the New moon. I will have you not only preside over nightmares, but also protect the dream realm from harm. Because of this, you may work with Cresselia to the best of your ability. I shall bind you to my essence of darkness.”
He then created 16 plates, and sealed an essence of his into each of them. Suddenly, a bright light flashed from each of the plates, enveloping his children. The power he had just given to his children was immense, and drained a lot of his own energy. There was only one thing left for him to do, and he decided he could no longer stay with them.
“I am sorry, my children, but I must leave. Once I have sealed the fate of the inhabitants of this planet to ours, I shall go to the nearby mountain and rest. I will create an instrument called the Heaven’s Pipe, which will create a doorway into my resting place for the inhabitants of this world to contact me.”
His children began to weep, for they had just met their father, and there was a chance they could never see him again. They did not want him to go; they had so many questions they wanted to ask of him. The one named Jirachi was the only one to step forward to ask.
“Father, we will not forget of what you have done for us. You gave us each a great power and gave us all names to set us apart, but we desperately want to know what we should call you.”
He beamed at his child, and responded, “Since you are curious, I shall let you know my name. It is Arceus. I have come to this planet seeking salvation from a world far away where our kind is not wanted. To prevent my loneliness, I have created all of you, and I have given you all the ability to contact me. If you need me, just call me, and I will come to you. Do not weep, for I shall return to this world once I am well again. I love you all, my children, and I am sorry I have to leave on such a sad note. But I must go rest and regain my power…I fear that we may not be safe just yet.”
There was another flash, and the Heaven’s Pipe rested by Jirachi’s feet. And with that, Arceus left, the very essence of grace and beauty that his children had felt they had known before they were even created. With a bound, Arceus flew towards the mountain.
Arceus had gone some way, but for some reason, he decided to stop. He could hear what sounded like crying. Although he was surprised that Mespirit had already begun his work just a few short moments after he had left, he decided it was his responsibility to find out what was wrong. He looked down, and saw a small girl from the planet huddled in the trees. She was young, and was quivering uncontrollably. He was deeply moved inside, and he could not stand to have his neighbors so upset already. He landed a few feet away from her, and walked over towards her. He lay down and craned his long neck down to bring his head to her level.
“Little one, why are you crying?” he asked her.
She looked up, alarmed. Fear shone upon her face, and her whole being turned from sadness to absolute fear. But when she laid her eyes on his divine presence, sadness returned to her face. She then leapt up, wrapped her arms around him, and began to bawl.
“I…Please…I don’t know what’s happening to me…One second I was in the darkness, and then…This flash of light covered over me, and now…Now I’m so lonely, I don’t know why…Please, help me…”
Arceus felt pity for the poor girl. Mespirit, who had given her emotions, had given her complete emotion, including the pain and fear of loneliness. Now she was alone in this world, with no other life but the trees around her. Arceus knew that he couldn’t let her stay alone. He had a little bit of material left from making his children. He then made a decision he knew could eventually be fatal to not only him but to his children as well…
“Do not cry, for I have the solution to your problem,” he told her. He then gathered up a mound of dirt and leaves. The girl watched on, no longer crying, and was curious as to what he was doing. She watched as he then inserted his golden arms into the mound, and a great light flashed. The girl screamed, and shut her eyes. When she opened them, he was standing next to a strange, pink, bubbly floating creature.
“Young one, I have created the perfect partner for your kind. I call them…Pokemon. You shall take care of them, and they in return will take care of you. You shall no longer be lonely; instead, you may call on her whenever you wish. But I must warn you…If you neglect to take care of them, I am certain they will only return you sadness and a miserable outcome.
The girl’s eyes widened, and she hugged the Pokemon, who in turn made a cry that sounded like a “myu.” She then looked at Arceus, and then back at her new friend, who was already cuddling with her new partner.
“Oh kind and beautiful one…is she really mine? Can I really keep her? If that is the case, I can not thank you enough, but I wish to return the favor somehow…” she asked of him.
Arceus could only look back and smile. “Young one, I am not from this place. I have come here seeking refuge from a place that I was not welcome. But I have also come to this place without your people’s permission. Because of that, I give you the gift of these Pokemon so that they may be your partners. I gave them to you so that they may one day create a world of eternal peace, where everyone is welcome. I only wish you luck in your life. And as far as returning the favor…I owed your people. And now, I believe we are about even, except for one more detail that is bothering me.”
Arceus then crafted many strange slates of stone. He carved pictures and words into them in his own language, but he felt that it was necessary. He then told the girl, “Please take these, and put them somewhere safe. When the time comes, your people may have a use for them and can then easily befriend my children, the Pokemon. They will only aid in my dream that our kinds can someday live together in complete harmony.” With that, Arceus left for his mountain temple, where he then fell into a deep slumber.
Everything then faded to white, and the voice of Arceus spoke out. “And now, Devan, your story is just beginning…”
Blog Cleanup
I'll clean up the blog starting today. No more long sick stories, only commision writing. Heh.
Jul 25, 2008
Shadows Of Almia and Platinum
Two new games coming out and I've played them! Haha. No, it's just a developer's trial.
Quite fun, those, but I still hate Ranger series. Also, I've seen Giratina and the sky bouquet. It was nice, but why the hell call it Dialga vs Palkia vs Giratina if Palkia dosen't appear?
Quite fun, those, but I still hate Ranger series. Also, I've seen Giratina and the sky bouquet. It was nice, but why the hell call it Dialga vs Palkia vs Giratina if Palkia dosen't appear?
Jul 23, 2008
Poetry
Since we're doing poetry now, I don't see why not give it a shot?
A dozen roses I gave to you.
A dozen roses, not one or two.
But a bouquet of flowers just from me.
The roses are red and as beautiful as ever,
But one is different from the rest, and it’s meaning I’ll endeavor.
It is just like the others in that it is red.
It is surrounded by the rest - next to your bed.
In the vase with others all beautifully cut.
If I told you it was fake you would call a bluff.
Let me tell you what it means.
It does not mean our love is fake;
Something so perfect can not be a mistake.
It represents my endless love.
It is ever so pure and as white as a dove.
When I gave you those dozen roses, this is what I said that night.
“I will love you until the last rose left has wilted and died.”
I will love you forever no matter the conditions.
Just as this weather proof rose - colored with dye.
Nothing will ever change the way I feel.
As long as I have you and my love in your heart,
I will love you always.
I will never depart.
A dozen roses I gave to you that special day.
-Now down to the very last rose-
I told you the truth and I would never lie.
I will love you for ever; every night and every day.
A dozen roses I gave to you.
A dozen roses, not one or two.
But a bouquet of flowers just from me.
The roses are red and as beautiful as ever,
But one is different from the rest, and it’s meaning I’ll endeavor.
It is just like the others in that it is red.
It is surrounded by the rest - next to your bed.
In the vase with others all beautifully cut.
If I told you it was fake you would call a bluff.
Let me tell you what it means.
It does not mean our love is fake;
Something so perfect can not be a mistake.
It represents my endless love.
It is ever so pure and as white as a dove.
When I gave you those dozen roses, this is what I said that night.
“I will love you until the last rose left has wilted and died.”
I will love you forever no matter the conditions.
Just as this weather proof rose - colored with dye.
Nothing will ever change the way I feel.
As long as I have you and my love in your heart,
I will love you always.
I will never depart.
A dozen roses I gave to you that special day.
-Now down to the very last rose-
I told you the truth and I would never lie.
I will love you for ever; every night and every day.
Subconscious tears
There is a woman I see at night,
I watch as she dances in the moon's bright light.
I go to hold her in my tight embrace,
As I look deep into her ruby eyes and her sweet loving face.
I close my eyes as a tear of happiness rolls down my cheek,
Wishing this night would last for week upon weeks.
I open my eyes so that I can see the bright smile I know is on her face,
Only to find myself lying in my bed in my own little place.
I search franticly for my love but to no avail.
With only memories left of this wonderful tale.
I wish this gloomy day would soon come to an end,
So that I may dream, and shed a tear of joy, once again.
I watch as she dances in the moon's bright light.
I go to hold her in my tight embrace,
As I look deep into her ruby eyes and her sweet loving face.
I close my eyes as a tear of happiness rolls down my cheek,
Wishing this night would last for week upon weeks.
I open my eyes so that I can see the bright smile I know is on her face,
Only to find myself lying in my bed in my own little place.
I search franticly for my love but to no avail.
With only memories left of this wonderful tale.
I wish this gloomy day would soon come to an end,
So that I may dream, and shed a tear of joy, once again.
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