Chapter 40
On that night Andy was awake on his bed. For a tiring day he really didn’t feel like sleeping. He had never really gotten an opportunity to explore for a little, and he really wanted to know what would be outside the boundaries. He thought that maybe they would give them a tour of the world and roam for a little bit when the mission was done. Except, knowing the group he was travelling with, how much of a chance was that going to be?
Soon he lost the battle of staying in bed and left the room. He quietly slipped past the residents of the village and his friends as he walked to the wilderness. Once he had gotten to be a safe distance away from everyone else and he relaxed. Before him was a vast expanse of the open world to discover. No flashlight was necessary, just the light of the moon and his aura sensors for whatever situation required of it.
The vast openness of the area was astounding to him. Without much thought he crouched into a running position.
3…
2…
1…
Go!
He sprinted off towards the unknown.
The hills soon turned into very gorgeous plains. The grass went from being small to almost being as tall as he was. He paid attention to the sound every footstep made on the grass. He would occasionally find a wild Pokemon that he just jumped over. They would wake up confused but then go back to sleep.
This all felt very good for Andy. He felt like he was a real Pokemon running through the grass. It all felt natural for him, like this was where he was supposed to be. No Pokeumans or Pokextinction, no bases, secret operations, PRT, nothing of the modern world. For a minute it felt like his primitive instincts had taken over. He was an animal running through the flora. It was all a feeling of bliss to him.
He kept running until he was in a clearing again. When he was out of the grass he was flooded with some disorientation and he returned to rational thinking. In the middle of it all he saw a slender figure covered in shadow. He cautiously approached it until he recognized it as a familiar face.
Bonnie was standing in the field. She was looking up towards the sky and didn’t notice Andy until he had started walking up to her. She turned towards him and jumped for a moment before she recognized who he was.
“Oh hello. Your name was Andy, right?”
“That’s me. And you must be Bonnie.”
“Geez, have we forgotten each other’s names already?”
“Well, a lot of stuff did go down, plus you were thought a spy for some time…”
“Oh yeah. I guess that would do it.” She looked around for a moment before looking at him again. “You don’t think I’m really a spy, do you?”
“Not really,” Andy said in a reassuring tone, “I’ve had enough bashes with Vincent to know that he seems to always have a trick up his sleeve. If you say you weren’t a spy, I currently have no hard evidence to deem you otherwise. Innocent until proven guilty, you know?”
“You’re way too nice, you know that?”
Andy sighed. “That’s not the first time someone’s told me that.”
Bonnie silently nodded her head. She looked back up to the sky as she was tapping his shoulder. “Have you seen the sky? There’s absolutely no light pollution when everyone is asleep in this world. It’s beautiful.”
Andy looked up at the sky. She was right, it all was absolutely beautiful. There were whole new constellations that Andy did not recognize, and the galaxy was brand new. It all was wonderful.
“Actually, I’ve been staring at the sky for a while and my neck feels like it’s about to break.” She starting moving down towards the ground. “Wanna join me down here?”
“Sure.”
They laid under the sky. Andy tried to put his hands behind his head…but had forgotten that he had spikes sticking out the back of his hands. He tried to find a comfortable position until he just said “screw it” and thrust the spikes into the dirt. He put on a fake smiled as if everything was fine.
After a few minutes of silence Andy could hear Bonnie shifting somewhat.
“After all of this is over,” she asked, “what will you do?”
“I’m not too sure myself. I mean, this is going to be crazy. The future will change forever. I can barely remain calm without thinking about all of the things that will happen.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, I don’t know exactly, but the thought of a more unified future is awesome, no? With dimension-hopping technology, Pokextinction and Pokeumans working together, the universe is just waiting to be explored, and our own homes will improve in vast ways!”
“…That does sound good…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you really think everything will be peaceful? Like is it really going to be a utopia like you make it sound like?”
“Well…no, not really. This is just one problem that’s getting solved. It’ll take over a thousand problems solved before our home world will be perfect and happy.”
“If it’s supposed to be so good how come nobody has worked on it until now?”
“People have a funny way of not caring about something until it begins to affect them.”
“You have a point there. It’s just a little scary.”
“What’s so scary about a paradise?”
“I’m not sure how to describe it but…well, if things were a paradise, what more would happen? What will improve, what can we work towards? I don’t know about you, but a world where there are no problems is scarier than a world with an abundance of problems.”
“Right. Because in a world where there are no problems…”
“…Nothing happens.”
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing we have a long way to go until total paradise, right?”
“Agreed.”
They sat under the stars. Andy just didn’t feel tired. He reflected on what he had just heard. In a way, Bonnie was right. Now he was thinking. What would he do if nothing happened? Nobody to save, nothing to fix, everything would be just fine.
Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
“Do you think the village is the only thing in this world?”
“Highly doubtful. There’s got to be something across the sea, right?”
“That sounds exciting. Once we’ve captured Mr. X we should explore.”
“That sounds nice.”
They lay there still fixated on the stars. Then without thinking Andy gave a huge yawn. He could feel the sleepiness creeping up on him.
“I think this is the time for me to turn in.”
“Of course. I’m gonna wait under here for a while.”
“Alright. Just don’t stay out too long!”
“I won’t.”
“Alright. Good night.” Andy turned away from where he was last at and took off running. He felt warm inside. It was a really good talk. Andy liked those a lot.
When he cleared the field he saw nothing in front of him. He looked to his right. He had overshot the path by a lot! Thankfully he could see the village. Not too bad of a walk. Then it took Andy about 5 seconds until he realized he was now standing in front of the portal they came in through. It was secured by Pokextinction grunts and some RVs. How those things got into the world Andy had no idea, but it felt good knowing the portal was in good hands.
He looked inside and saw the interior of the office. It was looking a lot more cleaned up than usual. Somebody was tending to it while they were gone. Maybe it was the Bisharp. He began wondering if there were posts on the other side of the portal as well.
The other side…
Andy felt a temptation to go through the portal. As much as he liked the idea, he didn’t want to see the problem resolved. Bonnie’s words stuck to him. He didn’t want to see them succeed. That would make him useless, and that was a feeling he hated most of all. Andy felt like forgetting it all and going through the portal. At least he would be out of there, and not witness the end of his purpose.
He was ashamed to admit he had thoughts of sabotaging the traps set up. He could rig them to not work. Then Mr. X could come and dominate his friends. They’d have a reason to fight. But Andy knew better. If he did that he would affect more than whoever was in the world with them. It would affect everyone. He couldn’t do that for a selfish purpose.
He shook his head and turned away. He would see this through all the way to the end. Even if it meant he no longer had a purpose, he wanted to see his friends happy. He went back to the village and into his bed.
***
“Everyone, wake up! Today’s the day, we have an estimated time! He’s gonna come soon!”
Andy woke up to find his friends already climbing out of their beds. Despite his late-night expedition, he felt very refreshed. He got out of the bed and headed for the site. He grabbed a small breakfast of a Oran Berry sandwich on his way out.
At the site many grunts were performing last second checks to make sure everything was working. Rufus was making orders to everyone while Sam talked with West. Xander was checking to make sure everyone was there. Decidueye and many other Pokemon took their positions on the high ground.
“This is perfect! We’re at an advantage in almost every way! We have the high ground, the element of surprise…perfect!” West said. He was excitedly pointing out all of the strategies being used in the upcoming battle. Sam came over and hushed him down as they all got into positions. Sam had made one more sweep to make sure that everything was set and ready. They could afford a mistake at this rate. Rufus had ordered the grunts by ranks and experience to different places. The snipers were positioned around the cliff face out of sight, and the infantry were closer to the calculated moment of entry. The Pokeumans were positioned between them, so they couldn’t go out first and the snipers wouldn’t hit them.
“Where did Xander and Troy go?”
“Since the operations are now taken care of,” Sam said, “Rufus dismissed them to be back at the base. You’ll be joining them pretty soon, I believe.”
“Do you think we could explore this world once we’re done?”
“It depends on what the Decidueye and Xander say. Personally, I’d be interested in exploring as well.”
“Sounds like a plan!”
Now all was still. The traps were set, weapons were at the ready, all of the Pokemon, whether native or otherworldly, did stretches. This would be it. It’s going to be the final battle.
“Guys,” Claire said, “Do you see what this means?!”
“We won!”
“Yeah…” Josh said, “I…I guess we did.”
“What will our lives be like after defeating X?”
“I dunno. That’s going to be something to think about.”
Andy thought for amoment. “…Oh, good jobs.”
“Oh c’mon,” West said, “We need to think big! I’m thinking flying cars!”
“What is this, Back to the Future?” Claire piped, “I’m thinking dates. Holy cow, can you imagine how many people will line up at our doors to go out with us? That is what I’m most excited for!”
“Geez,” Josh said, “I can’t believe I’m surrounded by nerds!” Everybody started laughing and having a good time. Andy was in a state of peace.
The aura around the place began to stir. Andy began seeing sparks. They started off as just reactions with a great reaction time between them until they became more closer together to form a portal. It began to grow wider and wider.
“Get ready!” Sam called behind him. Andy heard the grunts shuffling into position.
Andy saw a figure coming from the portal. By its unique shape he could tell it was a Mewtwo. He and his friends began readying themselves.
The figure moved out of the portal and into the area. As it stepped out the portal closed behind it. Now that the lights show was over Andy saw the visitor.
It was a life sized Mewtwo doll, with X’s sown over the eyes. Andy lowered his attack at the strange twist. The doll just stood there. Then there was a loud bang that made Andy jump. The heart area of the doll exploded and a flag that said “Pow!” emerged from its chest. It fell over onto the sand.
“Boink!” A blurred figure zoomed by everyone and landed in the middle of the circle. It jumped around for a little as it settled.
It was Vincent.
“Ha, ha! Showtime! Grunts!”
Almost every grunt shuffled around and started firing at everyone. Vincent lifted a button and pushed it. All of the traps set went off at once. Rather, they all exploded in a fiery inferno. Andy was caught in the blast. He was on fire. He couldn’t think, the pain was searing. He ran over to the sand and rolled over to put himself out. Then he felt great pressure on his back and he was stuck on the beach, all of the air being forced out of him. He tried to get up, but he couldn’t. He was momentarily paralyzed, but not how the games treated it. In the games the worse that happened was a slower speed and maybe a skipped turn. This was real. He couldn’t move. Not at all.
From down below he saw the carnage. Compared to what was happening to his companions he was lucky it was only a green laser or a heavy organism that downed him. Pokemon were falling left and right. All of the lasers were set to red. Vincent was definitely not playing around this time. He wanted a body count. Andy couldn’t see Claire, West or Josh.
I really hope they got out of there.
Decidueye was a pro at battling. He leaped from grunt to grunt firing an arrow he would materialize and send. For being at a tactical disadvantage the chief was a beast. He also saw some of the grunts trying to fight against their companions. Maybe they were the ones who genuinely wanted to save the Pokemon. It wouldn’t’ve mattered anyway as they were quickly felled.
Andy saw chaos all around. He couldn’t move his head but he knew all around him Pokemon were falling. He felt it with the thuds on the ground and the screams all around. Vincent stood in the middle of it laughing.
Sam jumped down from the cliffside behind Vincent.
“Vincent! Where did you come from?!”
“Huh? I came from where I was supposed to come from! Oh dear…looks like someone missed the mission briefing!”
“You mean…we never intended to make a change after all?!”
“Nope! Big R set you all up! I gotta say, it was a mighty fine idea!”
“You can’t be serious!”
“Mm-hm!”
“Then I command you, Vincent, stop this!”
“Make me!” Vincent blew raspberries at Sam.
Sam pulled out two stones. “This is your last chance, stop this!”
“Ooh, little kid’s gonna pelt me with pebbles! Go ahead, do your worst!”
The two stones began glowing, and soon Sam starting glowing as well. Andy felt an overwhelming amount of power flowing to him. The power began gaining physical form in the shape of a crystalline orb around Sam. Then it exploded. The two stones had now disappeared and Sam’s shape had altered significantly. Andy immediately recognized what it was.
This is Mega Evolution!
Vincent rushed in to land a punch. He didn’t make more than three steps before he was lifted off the ground. Sam was moving his arms in all kinds of directions, and Vincent was tossed, twisted and slammed in so many ways he was more like a rag doll than a Pokemon. Vincent gasped with every hit. Then he was thrown onto a cliff face. Sam tossed his spoons that dug into the side to keep him in that exact position. Sam pulled a huge boulder from the cliff and began to hit Vincent with it over and over in a speed Andy couldn’t even comprehend.
Andy was stunned. Sam’s normally calm and collected disposition was cast aside in favor of what he was witnessing. It was amazing and frightening all at once.
When the boulder was reduced to just pebbles the spoons returned to Sam and Vincent fell to the ground. Sam was panting heavily, not out of exhaustion but seemingly out of trying not to fly off the handle more.
“Grr…s-stop this now, Vincent! Grr, hrr...”
Vincent weakly stood up.
“No way! You little punk…you can’t throw me around and expect it to change a thing!”
“Grr-hr-hr…No, I can’t, but I’m gonna keep you here until you do.”
“Why now! Why would you do something about that?”
“Because I love you.”
…Oh man!
“…No you don’t.”
“Yes I do.”
“Give me proof.”
“You are my son.”
Holy cow!
“So?”
“I love you because you are my child.”
“Just because you feel you need to?”
“No, because I genuinely love you.”
Andy could feel the aura energies around Sam begin to soften. The rage was now replaced with thing Andy could only describe as what grief and love felt like. There was a kind of flash and Sam was back to normal. The two orbs fell to his side.
“Come here. I made a mistake bringing us into this mess. You and I, we can go and find a new life,” at this point Andy felt Vincent some hint of sorrow, “We’ll leave Pokextinction and put anything Pokeuman related behind us. We’ll find a secluded place where we can roam together without any rings,” Andy could swear he saw tears beginning to form in Vincent’s eyes, “I’ll remarry and you can have a new Mom. We can be happy and forget the bad things if you will just stop this.”
Sam lifted up his arms in an invitation for a hug. Everything was silent except for the fires that were burning nearby and the waves crashing against the beach. They waited for about ten seconds before anything happened. Andy almost jumped when he heard some high-pitched sound. It was Vincent wailing as he ran to his father with open arms. He closed the distance between them and moved for an embrace.
Vincent suddenly flickered away. Andy’s heart began to race, that was Double Team! He tried to yell to warn him, but his paralyzed jaw made communications difficult.
“Tham! Ge ou o da…” It was too late. Andy saw the gray blur soar downward and landed a powerful punch on Sam. He collapsed to the ground.
“Wa da…”
“Meteor Mash, punk! Ha ha! Now, a normal Lucario can’t learn it without a Smeargle parent…unless you’re on my level!” Then he began landing blow after blow after blow on Sam. Vincent was clearly not trying to knock him out. He kept going and going, landing blow after blow after blow. When he was finally done, Andy saw nothing more than ground meat.
“Huff, huff…Don’t worry,” Vincent said to something Andy could only barely identify as the Alakazam’s head, “If Big R asks, I’ll just tell him you were gonna spill the beans before our full plan could move into action.”
Soon Andy saw the Feraligatr leap down from the cliff, landing like nobody’s business. Vincent jumped back in surprise. “He was gonna tell everyone what we were doing!”
“Good job. We’ve lost an skilled comrade, but it’s all for our goals. I trust you are ready?”
“Ready!” A grunt came over with a case that looked very familiar to Andy.
“Wha…Thime Ears?”
“Yupperooni! So, since you’re kind of unable to do anything, I’ll fill ya in. We decided that instead of getting them ourselves we’d let you all get them for us…and then propose a truce so we’d be real close to the gears instead! Then we’d take you all down, bring our posse, drain the gears of the powers and become gods the likes Arceus can’t even handle, the usual! Now then…”
The grunt opened the case. Rufus grabbed them and walked in front of Vincent. The gray Lucario closed his eyes and concentrated. Andy felt the aura changing around him, the likes of which he had never seen before. He tried to fight the paralysis and get up. It had weakened to the point Andy could stand for about two seconds before he flopped over again like a sad rag doll, facing the sky.
The gears were lifted off of their pile one by one until they were in a large circle around Vincent. Andy’s head strangely began feeling sore in reaction to there events. Power was growing around the place as the gears began glowing. Normally this kind of experience would shatter any Lucario, but Vincent was taking it like Andy did with his Aura Spheres; easy as breathing.
The very force of the channeling seemed to damage the world to it’s core. The ground was shaking, trees were blistering and the fires were put out. Andy could’ve sworn the world was crying. Everything seemed to be going out of order with the current events.
Then there was a faint sound of something shattering. He thought he was hearing things at first but with the increasing intensity he knew that was really happening. A strange line appeared on the sky. It could’ve passed as a cloud if it weren’t suddenly branching off in random directions. It had suddenly occurred to Andy what was going on. The shattering sound, the crack-like shapes, the sky was literally being torn apart.
With a headache that was getting worse and worse and the phenomenal horrors happening Andy wanted to bury himself under a mountain to save himself from all of this. For the first time in his entirety as a Pokeuman, he was desperately wishing this was all some kind of dream that took a turn for the worse.
With the sky now having a complete fracture, it was splitting apart. Inside Andy could see a large amount of energy that spiked the headache to unbearable measures. He wanted to scream, but the paralysis wouldn’t let him. He heard Vincent laugh. He knew the pain he was inflicting involuntarily and enjoyed it.
Andy had to see the events that would follow…but with the headache, his senses going crazy and the battle beforehand, he blacked out. He sank into the darkness as he heard Vincent’s continued cackling.
***
Andy did not remember anything that happened after that. He could only feel the surroundings that had changed. The grainy beach that he had lied on was now replaced with soft material, the sun beating on him was replaced with a cool environment. He even felt his fur having been brushed to remove the sand. His headache was gone too.
Something felt odd. The world felt silent and nothing really seemed alive. He couldn’t feel the vibe or the presence of anything. It was all just complete darkness to him, which had never happened since he became a Lucario.
He moved his body to the upright position, and felt a clothlike material falling off. He was relieved when the paralysis was gone. He kept his eyes closed, afraid of what he might see if he opened them. He decided that he’d give it a try. Because the aura seemed to disappear, he couldn’t keep his eyes closed forever.
He opened his eyes and saw himself back in the room he was given. Everything was calm, almost like it was that morning. West, Josh and Claire were gone, and their beds were neatly made.
Was all of that really a dream? No, not something that intense.
He stood up from the bed, and he felt something strange on the back of his head. He ignored it for now and moved towards the window to look up towards the sky. His worse fears had been confirmed.
There was now a giant fracture in the sky. The giant fracture seemed to have a swirl of colors and patterns going off in every direction. It was a thing of uncanny beauty and terror. Andy couldn’t recognize what it was, and it was frightening. Not like a fear of heights and spiders, but an unknown kind of feeling.
Bewildered, Andy took a step back. He began scratching his head, but his nails kept bumping into some foreign object that seemed to be attached to him. It felt soft and round.
What is going on?
Andy began to have some troubling thoughts. He put his hands behind his head and felt the dreadlock looking appendages on the back of his head.
1, 2, 3…3…wait, where’s the last one?!
Andy was just hoping by waving his arms around some more he could somehow find the fourth missing lock, but he couldn’t find it. His heart began pounding as he felt his fear becoming a reality.
The door clicked and began opening. A Blissey was walking in, obviously searching for a new check-up to carry out. She saw the Lucario standing with his hands on his neck, a panicked look on his face and hyperventilating.
“…Oh. Um, good morning.” The Blissey said. “I’m just here to do a check on you. Now, if I could have you sit down…”
“What happened to me?”
“Sir, I need you to calm down-”
“WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!” The poor Blissey looked absolutely startled. Andy had never shouted to loudly before, and he even scared himself a little with how loud his voice was. “Oh, I’m sorry-” There were more footsteps outside and more people came in. They were his friends, West, Claire and Josh. A part of him was happy to see them, another wanted to scream at them to get out. He didn’t want them to see him in what he thought was a humiliating state.
“Sir, you’re hyperventilating. Please just calm down, take a seat, and I’ll explain things to you.” Andy took some stabilizing breaths as the nurse did some checks on him. Although he couldn’t sense them, he knew his friends were moving behind him. The bed mattress sinking confirmed that they were all taking seats behind him.
Once they were done the nurse retrieved a mirror and handed it to Andy. “You were handling an overwhelming amount of aura energy at the beach. You know how if you stand too close to an audio source too loud you come down with a permanent hearing loss? Lucario’s have that with aura. Now, what you experienced was an otherworldly amount of energy, but…it has happened before.”
Andy held the mirror up to his head to see the damage. The black appendages on the back of his head were shriveled up and looked as if they were torched. There were bits of burnt fur around them. The soft spot was a patch, covering the base where one of his locks used to be.
“The excess amount of energy has permanently made it impossible to read or manipulate aura energy. The inside sensor behind the left ear ruptured, and we had to surgically remove the remaining tissue.”
Andy’s heart sank. He was overcome with a wave of despair and grief as he sank his head into his lap. Now he looked like a freak; what Lucario has three dead sensors anyway?
Claire sat next to him and put an arm over his shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay, there are worse things you could rupture-”
“Shut up, Claire!” Andy yelled as he swatted her hand away. She looked hurt and alarmed, and a Andy began feeling bad. “Ah, I’m sorry, I just…I, uh…”
The Blissey got up and moved towards his friends. “I’d recommend you wait for him to cope with the loss of an appendage first. I’m sorry, but the three of you can’t stay here.” They gave a silent nod in agreement as they walked outside the room, and the Blissey closed the door.
When he was sure everyone was gone, he buried the pillow in his face and cried. He wanted his friends to be there, but he also wanted to be alone. He wanted to go out and get Vincent for what he did, but he also wanted to go home and let somebody else do it. He wished that had never happened, but he also wished none of this had ever happened. If it weren’t for the awful luck he had he could’ve lived as a normal person going to school and not having to deal with something like this. Being a clone of some other unlucky chump who became a Pokeuman didn’t sound bad to him either.
He didn’t want to think anymore. Now all he wanted to do was to ditch the Lucario act and go home.
MAKE ANDY FORGET AURA SPHERE?
>YES NO
1,2,3…TA DA!
ANDY FORGOT AURA SPHERE!
Next: here
On that night Andy was awake on his bed. For a tiring day he really didn’t feel like sleeping. He had never really gotten an opportunity to explore for a little, and he really wanted to know what would be outside the boundaries. He thought that maybe they would give them a tour of the world and roam for a little bit when the mission was done. Except, knowing the group he was travelling with, how much of a chance was that going to be?
Soon he lost the battle of staying in bed and left the room. He quietly slipped past the residents of the village and his friends as he walked to the wilderness. Once he had gotten to be a safe distance away from everyone else and he relaxed. Before him was a vast expanse of the open world to discover. No flashlight was necessary, just the light of the moon and his aura sensors for whatever situation required of it.
The vast openness of the area was astounding to him. Without much thought he crouched into a running position.
3…
2…
1…
Go!
He sprinted off towards the unknown.
The hills soon turned into very gorgeous plains. The grass went from being small to almost being as tall as he was. He paid attention to the sound every footstep made on the grass. He would occasionally find a wild Pokemon that he just jumped over. They would wake up confused but then go back to sleep.
This all felt very good for Andy. He felt like he was a real Pokemon running through the grass. It all felt natural for him, like this was where he was supposed to be. No Pokeumans or Pokextinction, no bases, secret operations, PRT, nothing of the modern world. For a minute it felt like his primitive instincts had taken over. He was an animal running through the flora. It was all a feeling of bliss to him.
He kept running until he was in a clearing again. When he was out of the grass he was flooded with some disorientation and he returned to rational thinking. In the middle of it all he saw a slender figure covered in shadow. He cautiously approached it until he recognized it as a familiar face.
Bonnie was standing in the field. She was looking up towards the sky and didn’t notice Andy until he had started walking up to her. She turned towards him and jumped for a moment before she recognized who he was.
“Oh hello. Your name was Andy, right?”
“That’s me. And you must be Bonnie.”
“Geez, have we forgotten each other’s names already?”
“Well, a lot of stuff did go down, plus you were thought a spy for some time…”
“Oh yeah. I guess that would do it.” She looked around for a moment before looking at him again. “You don’t think I’m really a spy, do you?”
“Not really,” Andy said in a reassuring tone, “I’ve had enough bashes with Vincent to know that he seems to always have a trick up his sleeve. If you say you weren’t a spy, I currently have no hard evidence to deem you otherwise. Innocent until proven guilty, you know?”
“You’re way too nice, you know that?”
Andy sighed. “That’s not the first time someone’s told me that.”
Bonnie silently nodded her head. She looked back up to the sky as she was tapping his shoulder. “Have you seen the sky? There’s absolutely no light pollution when everyone is asleep in this world. It’s beautiful.”
Andy looked up at the sky. She was right, it all was absolutely beautiful. There were whole new constellations that Andy did not recognize, and the galaxy was brand new. It all was wonderful.
“Actually, I’ve been staring at the sky for a while and my neck feels like it’s about to break.” She starting moving down towards the ground. “Wanna join me down here?”
“Sure.”
They laid under the sky. Andy tried to put his hands behind his head…but had forgotten that he had spikes sticking out the back of his hands. He tried to find a comfortable position until he just said “screw it” and thrust the spikes into the dirt. He put on a fake smiled as if everything was fine.
After a few minutes of silence Andy could hear Bonnie shifting somewhat.
“After all of this is over,” she asked, “what will you do?”
“I’m not too sure myself. I mean, this is going to be crazy. The future will change forever. I can barely remain calm without thinking about all of the things that will happen.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, I don’t know exactly, but the thought of a more unified future is awesome, no? With dimension-hopping technology, Pokextinction and Pokeumans working together, the universe is just waiting to be explored, and our own homes will improve in vast ways!”
“…That does sound good…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you really think everything will be peaceful? Like is it really going to be a utopia like you make it sound like?”
“Well…no, not really. This is just one problem that’s getting solved. It’ll take over a thousand problems solved before our home world will be perfect and happy.”
“If it’s supposed to be so good how come nobody has worked on it until now?”
“People have a funny way of not caring about something until it begins to affect them.”
“You have a point there. It’s just a little scary.”
“What’s so scary about a paradise?”
“I’m not sure how to describe it but…well, if things were a paradise, what more would happen? What will improve, what can we work towards? I don’t know about you, but a world where there are no problems is scarier than a world with an abundance of problems.”
“Right. Because in a world where there are no problems…”
“…Nothing happens.”
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing we have a long way to go until total paradise, right?”
“Agreed.”
They sat under the stars. Andy just didn’t feel tired. He reflected on what he had just heard. In a way, Bonnie was right. Now he was thinking. What would he do if nothing happened? Nobody to save, nothing to fix, everything would be just fine.
Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
“Do you think the village is the only thing in this world?”
“Highly doubtful. There’s got to be something across the sea, right?”
“That sounds exciting. Once we’ve captured Mr. X we should explore.”
“That sounds nice.”
They lay there still fixated on the stars. Then without thinking Andy gave a huge yawn. He could feel the sleepiness creeping up on him.
“I think this is the time for me to turn in.”
“Of course. I’m gonna wait under here for a while.”
“Alright. Just don’t stay out too long!”
“I won’t.”
“Alright. Good night.” Andy turned away from where he was last at and took off running. He felt warm inside. It was a really good talk. Andy liked those a lot.
When he cleared the field he saw nothing in front of him. He looked to his right. He had overshot the path by a lot! Thankfully he could see the village. Not too bad of a walk. Then it took Andy about 5 seconds until he realized he was now standing in front of the portal they came in through. It was secured by Pokextinction grunts and some RVs. How those things got into the world Andy had no idea, but it felt good knowing the portal was in good hands.
He looked inside and saw the interior of the office. It was looking a lot more cleaned up than usual. Somebody was tending to it while they were gone. Maybe it was the Bisharp. He began wondering if there were posts on the other side of the portal as well.
The other side…
Andy felt a temptation to go through the portal. As much as he liked the idea, he didn’t want to see the problem resolved. Bonnie’s words stuck to him. He didn’t want to see them succeed. That would make him useless, and that was a feeling he hated most of all. Andy felt like forgetting it all and going through the portal. At least he would be out of there, and not witness the end of his purpose.
He was ashamed to admit he had thoughts of sabotaging the traps set up. He could rig them to not work. Then Mr. X could come and dominate his friends. They’d have a reason to fight. But Andy knew better. If he did that he would affect more than whoever was in the world with them. It would affect everyone. He couldn’t do that for a selfish purpose.
He shook his head and turned away. He would see this through all the way to the end. Even if it meant he no longer had a purpose, he wanted to see his friends happy. He went back to the village and into his bed.
***
“Everyone, wake up! Today’s the day, we have an estimated time! He’s gonna come soon!”
Andy woke up to find his friends already climbing out of their beds. Despite his late-night expedition, he felt very refreshed. He got out of the bed and headed for the site. He grabbed a small breakfast of a Oran Berry sandwich on his way out.
At the site many grunts were performing last second checks to make sure everything was working. Rufus was making orders to everyone while Sam talked with West. Xander was checking to make sure everyone was there. Decidueye and many other Pokemon took their positions on the high ground.
“This is perfect! We’re at an advantage in almost every way! We have the high ground, the element of surprise…perfect!” West said. He was excitedly pointing out all of the strategies being used in the upcoming battle. Sam came over and hushed him down as they all got into positions. Sam had made one more sweep to make sure that everything was set and ready. They could afford a mistake at this rate. Rufus had ordered the grunts by ranks and experience to different places. The snipers were positioned around the cliff face out of sight, and the infantry were closer to the calculated moment of entry. The Pokeumans were positioned between them, so they couldn’t go out first and the snipers wouldn’t hit them.
“Where did Xander and Troy go?”
“Since the operations are now taken care of,” Sam said, “Rufus dismissed them to be back at the base. You’ll be joining them pretty soon, I believe.”
“Do you think we could explore this world once we’re done?”
“It depends on what the Decidueye and Xander say. Personally, I’d be interested in exploring as well.”
“Sounds like a plan!”
Now all was still. The traps were set, weapons were at the ready, all of the Pokemon, whether native or otherworldly, did stretches. This would be it. It’s going to be the final battle.
“Guys,” Claire said, “Do you see what this means?!”
“We won!”
“Yeah…” Josh said, “I…I guess we did.”
“What will our lives be like after defeating X?”
“I dunno. That’s going to be something to think about.”
Andy thought for amoment. “…Oh, good jobs.”
“Oh c’mon,” West said, “We need to think big! I’m thinking flying cars!”
“What is this, Back to the Future?” Claire piped, “I’m thinking dates. Holy cow, can you imagine how many people will line up at our doors to go out with us? That is what I’m most excited for!”
“Geez,” Josh said, “I can’t believe I’m surrounded by nerds!” Everybody started laughing and having a good time. Andy was in a state of peace.
The aura around the place began to stir. Andy began seeing sparks. They started off as just reactions with a great reaction time between them until they became more closer together to form a portal. It began to grow wider and wider.
“Get ready!” Sam called behind him. Andy heard the grunts shuffling into position.
Andy saw a figure coming from the portal. By its unique shape he could tell it was a Mewtwo. He and his friends began readying themselves.
The figure moved out of the portal and into the area. As it stepped out the portal closed behind it. Now that the lights show was over Andy saw the visitor.
It was a life sized Mewtwo doll, with X’s sown over the eyes. Andy lowered his attack at the strange twist. The doll just stood there. Then there was a loud bang that made Andy jump. The heart area of the doll exploded and a flag that said “Pow!” emerged from its chest. It fell over onto the sand.
“Boink!” A blurred figure zoomed by everyone and landed in the middle of the circle. It jumped around for a little as it settled.
It was Vincent.
“Ha, ha! Showtime! Grunts!”
Almost every grunt shuffled around and started firing at everyone. Vincent lifted a button and pushed it. All of the traps set went off at once. Rather, they all exploded in a fiery inferno. Andy was caught in the blast. He was on fire. He couldn’t think, the pain was searing. He ran over to the sand and rolled over to put himself out. Then he felt great pressure on his back and he was stuck on the beach, all of the air being forced out of him. He tried to get up, but he couldn’t. He was momentarily paralyzed, but not how the games treated it. In the games the worse that happened was a slower speed and maybe a skipped turn. This was real. He couldn’t move. Not at all.
From down below he saw the carnage. Compared to what was happening to his companions he was lucky it was only a green laser or a heavy organism that downed him. Pokemon were falling left and right. All of the lasers were set to red. Vincent was definitely not playing around this time. He wanted a body count. Andy couldn’t see Claire, West or Josh.
I really hope they got out of there.
Decidueye was a pro at battling. He leaped from grunt to grunt firing an arrow he would materialize and send. For being at a tactical disadvantage the chief was a beast. He also saw some of the grunts trying to fight against their companions. Maybe they were the ones who genuinely wanted to save the Pokemon. It wouldn’t’ve mattered anyway as they were quickly felled.
Andy saw chaos all around. He couldn’t move his head but he knew all around him Pokemon were falling. He felt it with the thuds on the ground and the screams all around. Vincent stood in the middle of it laughing.
Sam jumped down from the cliffside behind Vincent.
“Vincent! Where did you come from?!”
“Huh? I came from where I was supposed to come from! Oh dear…looks like someone missed the mission briefing!”
“You mean…we never intended to make a change after all?!”
“Nope! Big R set you all up! I gotta say, it was a mighty fine idea!”
“You can’t be serious!”
“Mm-hm!”
“Then I command you, Vincent, stop this!”
“Make me!” Vincent blew raspberries at Sam.
Sam pulled out two stones. “This is your last chance, stop this!”
“Ooh, little kid’s gonna pelt me with pebbles! Go ahead, do your worst!”
The two stones began glowing, and soon Sam starting glowing as well. Andy felt an overwhelming amount of power flowing to him. The power began gaining physical form in the shape of a crystalline orb around Sam. Then it exploded. The two stones had now disappeared and Sam’s shape had altered significantly. Andy immediately recognized what it was.
This is Mega Evolution!
Vincent rushed in to land a punch. He didn’t make more than three steps before he was lifted off the ground. Sam was moving his arms in all kinds of directions, and Vincent was tossed, twisted and slammed in so many ways he was more like a rag doll than a Pokemon. Vincent gasped with every hit. Then he was thrown onto a cliff face. Sam tossed his spoons that dug into the side to keep him in that exact position. Sam pulled a huge boulder from the cliff and began to hit Vincent with it over and over in a speed Andy couldn’t even comprehend.
Andy was stunned. Sam’s normally calm and collected disposition was cast aside in favor of what he was witnessing. It was amazing and frightening all at once.
When the boulder was reduced to just pebbles the spoons returned to Sam and Vincent fell to the ground. Sam was panting heavily, not out of exhaustion but seemingly out of trying not to fly off the handle more.
“Grr…s-stop this now, Vincent! Grr, hrr...”
Vincent weakly stood up.
“No way! You little punk…you can’t throw me around and expect it to change a thing!”
“Grr-hr-hr…No, I can’t, but I’m gonna keep you here until you do.”
“Why now! Why would you do something about that?”
“Because I love you.”
…Oh man!
“…No you don’t.”
“Yes I do.”
“Give me proof.”
“You are my son.”
Holy cow!
“So?”
“I love you because you are my child.”
“Just because you feel you need to?”
“No, because I genuinely love you.”
Andy could feel the aura energies around Sam begin to soften. The rage was now replaced with thing Andy could only describe as what grief and love felt like. There was a kind of flash and Sam was back to normal. The two orbs fell to his side.
“Come here. I made a mistake bringing us into this mess. You and I, we can go and find a new life,” at this point Andy felt Vincent some hint of sorrow, “We’ll leave Pokextinction and put anything Pokeuman related behind us. We’ll find a secluded place where we can roam together without any rings,” Andy could swear he saw tears beginning to form in Vincent’s eyes, “I’ll remarry and you can have a new Mom. We can be happy and forget the bad things if you will just stop this.”
Sam lifted up his arms in an invitation for a hug. Everything was silent except for the fires that were burning nearby and the waves crashing against the beach. They waited for about ten seconds before anything happened. Andy almost jumped when he heard some high-pitched sound. It was Vincent wailing as he ran to his father with open arms. He closed the distance between them and moved for an embrace.
Vincent suddenly flickered away. Andy’s heart began to race, that was Double Team! He tried to yell to warn him, but his paralyzed jaw made communications difficult.
“Tham! Ge ou o da…” It was too late. Andy saw the gray blur soar downward and landed a powerful punch on Sam. He collapsed to the ground.
“Wa da…”
“Meteor Mash, punk! Ha ha! Now, a normal Lucario can’t learn it without a Smeargle parent…unless you’re on my level!” Then he began landing blow after blow after blow on Sam. Vincent was clearly not trying to knock him out. He kept going and going, landing blow after blow after blow. When he was finally done, Andy saw nothing more than ground meat.
“Huff, huff…Don’t worry,” Vincent said to something Andy could only barely identify as the Alakazam’s head, “If Big R asks, I’ll just tell him you were gonna spill the beans before our full plan could move into action.”
Soon Andy saw the Feraligatr leap down from the cliff, landing like nobody’s business. Vincent jumped back in surprise. “He was gonna tell everyone what we were doing!”
“Good job. We’ve lost an skilled comrade, but it’s all for our goals. I trust you are ready?”
“Ready!” A grunt came over with a case that looked very familiar to Andy.
“Wha…Thime Ears?”
“Yupperooni! So, since you’re kind of unable to do anything, I’ll fill ya in. We decided that instead of getting them ourselves we’d let you all get them for us…and then propose a truce so we’d be real close to the gears instead! Then we’d take you all down, bring our posse, drain the gears of the powers and become gods the likes Arceus can’t even handle, the usual! Now then…”
The grunt opened the case. Rufus grabbed them and walked in front of Vincent. The gray Lucario closed his eyes and concentrated. Andy felt the aura changing around him, the likes of which he had never seen before. He tried to fight the paralysis and get up. It had weakened to the point Andy could stand for about two seconds before he flopped over again like a sad rag doll, facing the sky.
The gears were lifted off of their pile one by one until they were in a large circle around Vincent. Andy’s head strangely began feeling sore in reaction to there events. Power was growing around the place as the gears began glowing. Normally this kind of experience would shatter any Lucario, but Vincent was taking it like Andy did with his Aura Spheres; easy as breathing.
The very force of the channeling seemed to damage the world to it’s core. The ground was shaking, trees were blistering and the fires were put out. Andy could’ve sworn the world was crying. Everything seemed to be going out of order with the current events.
Then there was a faint sound of something shattering. He thought he was hearing things at first but with the increasing intensity he knew that was really happening. A strange line appeared on the sky. It could’ve passed as a cloud if it weren’t suddenly branching off in random directions. It had suddenly occurred to Andy what was going on. The shattering sound, the crack-like shapes, the sky was literally being torn apart.
With a headache that was getting worse and worse and the phenomenal horrors happening Andy wanted to bury himself under a mountain to save himself from all of this. For the first time in his entirety as a Pokeuman, he was desperately wishing this was all some kind of dream that took a turn for the worse.
With the sky now having a complete fracture, it was splitting apart. Inside Andy could see a large amount of energy that spiked the headache to unbearable measures. He wanted to scream, but the paralysis wouldn’t let him. He heard Vincent laugh. He knew the pain he was inflicting involuntarily and enjoyed it.
Andy had to see the events that would follow…but with the headache, his senses going crazy and the battle beforehand, he blacked out. He sank into the darkness as he heard Vincent’s continued cackling.
***
Andy did not remember anything that happened after that. He could only feel the surroundings that had changed. The grainy beach that he had lied on was now replaced with soft material, the sun beating on him was replaced with a cool environment. He even felt his fur having been brushed to remove the sand. His headache was gone too.
Something felt odd. The world felt silent and nothing really seemed alive. He couldn’t feel the vibe or the presence of anything. It was all just complete darkness to him, which had never happened since he became a Lucario.
He moved his body to the upright position, and felt a clothlike material falling off. He was relieved when the paralysis was gone. He kept his eyes closed, afraid of what he might see if he opened them. He decided that he’d give it a try. Because the aura seemed to disappear, he couldn’t keep his eyes closed forever.
He opened his eyes and saw himself back in the room he was given. Everything was calm, almost like it was that morning. West, Josh and Claire were gone, and their beds were neatly made.
Was all of that really a dream? No, not something that intense.
He stood up from the bed, and he felt something strange on the back of his head. He ignored it for now and moved towards the window to look up towards the sky. His worse fears had been confirmed.
There was now a giant fracture in the sky. The giant fracture seemed to have a swirl of colors and patterns going off in every direction. It was a thing of uncanny beauty and terror. Andy couldn’t recognize what it was, and it was frightening. Not like a fear of heights and spiders, but an unknown kind of feeling.
Bewildered, Andy took a step back. He began scratching his head, but his nails kept bumping into some foreign object that seemed to be attached to him. It felt soft and round.
What is going on?
Andy began to have some troubling thoughts. He put his hands behind his head and felt the dreadlock looking appendages on the back of his head.
1, 2, 3…3…wait, where’s the last one?!
Andy was just hoping by waving his arms around some more he could somehow find the fourth missing lock, but he couldn’t find it. His heart began pounding as he felt his fear becoming a reality.
The door clicked and began opening. A Blissey was walking in, obviously searching for a new check-up to carry out. She saw the Lucario standing with his hands on his neck, a panicked look on his face and hyperventilating.
“…Oh. Um, good morning.” The Blissey said. “I’m just here to do a check on you. Now, if I could have you sit down…”
“What happened to me?”
“Sir, I need you to calm down-”
“WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!” The poor Blissey looked absolutely startled. Andy had never shouted to loudly before, and he even scared himself a little with how loud his voice was. “Oh, I’m sorry-” There were more footsteps outside and more people came in. They were his friends, West, Claire and Josh. A part of him was happy to see them, another wanted to scream at them to get out. He didn’t want them to see him in what he thought was a humiliating state.
“Sir, you’re hyperventilating. Please just calm down, take a seat, and I’ll explain things to you.” Andy took some stabilizing breaths as the nurse did some checks on him. Although he couldn’t sense them, he knew his friends were moving behind him. The bed mattress sinking confirmed that they were all taking seats behind him.
Once they were done the nurse retrieved a mirror and handed it to Andy. “You were handling an overwhelming amount of aura energy at the beach. You know how if you stand too close to an audio source too loud you come down with a permanent hearing loss? Lucario’s have that with aura. Now, what you experienced was an otherworldly amount of energy, but…it has happened before.”
Andy held the mirror up to his head to see the damage. The black appendages on the back of his head were shriveled up and looked as if they were torched. There were bits of burnt fur around them. The soft spot was a patch, covering the base where one of his locks used to be.
“The excess amount of energy has permanently made it impossible to read or manipulate aura energy. The inside sensor behind the left ear ruptured, and we had to surgically remove the remaining tissue.”
Andy’s heart sank. He was overcome with a wave of despair and grief as he sank his head into his lap. Now he looked like a freak; what Lucario has three dead sensors anyway?
Claire sat next to him and put an arm over his shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay, there are worse things you could rupture-”
“Shut up, Claire!” Andy yelled as he swatted her hand away. She looked hurt and alarmed, and a Andy began feeling bad. “Ah, I’m sorry, I just…I, uh…”
The Blissey got up and moved towards his friends. “I’d recommend you wait for him to cope with the loss of an appendage first. I’m sorry, but the three of you can’t stay here.” They gave a silent nod in agreement as they walked outside the room, and the Blissey closed the door.
When he was sure everyone was gone, he buried the pillow in his face and cried. He wanted his friends to be there, but he also wanted to be alone. He wanted to go out and get Vincent for what he did, but he also wanted to go home and let somebody else do it. He wished that had never happened, but he also wished none of this had ever happened. If it weren’t for the awful luck he had he could’ve lived as a normal person going to school and not having to deal with something like this. Being a clone of some other unlucky chump who became a Pokeuman didn’t sound bad to him either.
He didn’t want to think anymore. Now all he wanted to do was to ditch the Lucario act and go home.
MAKE ANDY FORGET AURA SPHERE?
>YES NO
1,2,3…TA DA!
ANDY FORGOT AURA SPHERE!
Next: here
