Chapter 43
Andy and friends began to walk down the cave once again. The slimy monsters that used to bother them were not as common anymore. In fact, their numbers were actually decreasing as they continued.
“What do you think those creatures were, anyway?”
“Well,” West said, “I think the worst case scenario is that this cave is actually alive and that we are inside its digestive system or something. I couldn’t explain why we aren’t being dissolved into nothingness, but that could just be because we haven’t reached that digestive tract yet.”
“Ah. So lets work on getting out of here, yeah?”
“After we find Vincent and Rufus.”
“Of course.”
***
Meanwhile, at the Pokeuman base, Xander was trying desperately to get in connection with the other world. With the Time Gears stolen and on the other side of the gate, it was going to be hard to assist the students he left behind in there. His efforts were futile, he tried every way he could to get the machine up and running again, but no dice.
The Bisharp secretary came over and talked to him.
“You know, I’ll bet we don’t need to worry about them.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Well, I got word that there is another way to get into the Pokemon world that a different base is looking into. Apparently if one procures enough Dimensional Gems and be good at energy channeling then they can travel through time and space into the Pokemon world.”
“...What? How would that help? Nobody can do energy channeling. That’s not possible.”
“Well, you never know. Someone out there might be able to do so.”
“Well, do you know where they are?”
“The channeller or the gems?”
“Either.”
“No to the first and the second is only conjecture.”
“So we don’t have a way to get into the Pokemon world?”
“If we could find the gems and maybe get, oh, 30 Lucarios or so we could do something about this.”
“How would we get to the right Pokemon world then?”
“I’m sorry, the right what?”
“The right Pokemon world. We can’t be sure that the world we found is the Pokemon world. There could be multiples!”
“Oh dear, I hadn’t thought of that before.”
“So we’ve got no clue where to get the things we need to get through to them, right?”
“Well, I’m sure we could find a student who could do something about it.”
“I’m not sure, I don’t think anyone short of a legendary would be able to get through to them.”
“...Phooey.”
“You’re telling me. Water?”
“Yes, please.”
***
“West, I have an idea.”
“Yes?”
“Couldn’t you use your rocket launcher to blow a hole on the top of the cave so we can see where we’re going? Or maybe even just walk above the cave?”
“Sure. We’ll give it a try. Stand back.”
West took the rocket launcher from his backpack and set it up for the ceiling. He fired, and the whole cave shook. Rocks were falling down and they ran down the tunnel to avoid getting crushed by the debris. When the commotion was over there was a pile of rocks on the ground, and the area around the hole began to leak a strange fluid.
They climbed on the rocks and gave each other boosts until they were all outside of the cave. Andy could see that there were multitudes of tunnels all about them. It seemed like they had clipped out of bounds in a video game and were seeing just the rendered assets of the tunnels and not the entire cave.
That would explain why we can see the individual tunnels.
“Which way do we go now?”
“I don’t know, let’s keep going in the direction we were headed. We have the advantage of being able to actually see where we are going now, so we won’t be lost in the cave forever.”
They continued in the direction they were going. After a long walk they noticed something peculiar in the distance. It looked like a set of stairs, and the stairs were connected to an elevated platform.
“Hey, do you all see that?”
“Yes.”
“Are we gonna go there?”
“Of course.”
As they continued walking towards the platform, figures were visible. Andy could see Vincent and Rufus up top with an energy field visible to even the untrained eye.
They hurried towards the platform. When they got to the stairs they hopped off from the top of the cave and onto the landing, where they were supposed to be let out of the cave if they decided to go through it normally. They climbed the fleet of stairs.
What they saw was otherworldly. Vincent and Rufus were surrounded by the Time Gears, which ebgan floating and circling around them. Vincent was in the middle of it while Rufus was standing to the side. It was clear the Vincent was the center of the energy.
“What do we do now?” Andy whispered.
“I don’t know,” West said, “If I had just brought my sniping gear-”
“Well, well, well, we have guests!” Vincent said, without even turning around. “I say, you all came along very quickly. Did you blow up a tunnel or something? Cheaters.”
“So you have arrived,” Rufus said, “and all in good time. Young Lucario, I see that you no longer can control aura. Very unfortunate.”
“You don’t sound very upset about it, given that the two of you were responsible.”
“I do not sound unperturbed not because I do not feel any sorrow, but because I know it is an easy fix.”
“No, not really.”
“Not by normal means. Do you know what we are doing here? Take a look around you, doesn’t the stairs and the platform look interesting to you? I’ll give you a hint; in the games it had something to do with a flute that was never released.”
Andy took a moment to think about it. A flute never released, huh? Well...I know in the Gen 4 games there was a place in Spear Pillar you couldn’t get to without a certain flute to get to Arceus, but that would mean this is…
He gasped.
“Yes,” Rufus said, “this is the Hall of Origin in it’s purest form. Here we are closest to the essence of time and space than any other area, as this was where Dialga and Palkia were created. With these Time Gears, and someone as powerful in the Aura as Vincent,” Vincent winked at them, “We are able to harness the power to become true gods!”
“Why would you want that?”
“Because we want a change. Now we shall fix all that is wrong with this and our world. And with the power of time also in our grasp, we can go back and fix the mistakes of the past. Think about it; no more wars, no more conflict or sickness, nothing.”
“But nobody would learn anything.”
“Aye, that is true, but they won’t have to. We will be the shepherds tending to our sheep. It’s not just people turning into Pokemon we want to fix. We want to fix so many other things, too.”
“How can I or any of us believe you when you had deceived us in the past?”
“Yes, I am sorry we had to deceive you so. Losing Samuel was a great loss for us. But if losses must be made to achieve peace, then so it shall be.”
“That doesn’t sound like someone who wants peace to me.”
“That is enough of the talk. Now I want us to invite you to something spectacular. I want you, Andy to join our uprising.”
“What?”
Vincent moved his arms, and Andy heard a grunt from his friends. He turned around and saw that they were being suppressed by energy. They looked like they were frozen stiff.
“I want you to join us. You’ve shown lots of promise, and as a god I know you’ll be capable of great things.” Rufus walked by them, dug into Wests backpack and retrieved the rocket launcher and handed it to Andy. “First, I need you to show us you want this power. Blow your friends away, and you can achieve a divine purpose.”
“...What kind of idiot do you take me for? That isn’t really a convincing trade.”
“You hesitated.”
“Out of-out….out of...” He never could make a comeback for that one, even if he had a good excuse to. He really hesitated because he had to process what was being said, but nobody would believe him at that point. “I had to process what you were saying.”
“Sure,” Rufus said, “But my offer still stands. You can recreate your friends later, and restore your aura abilities, too. You could even-”
“No!” Andy turned right around and shot the launcher.
The thing about using Aura Sphere is that it guided itself. All one had to do was flick their wrist after gathering the aura and it would go flying after whoever it was aimed at. No effort to aim was needed. Andy never had to aim since becoming a Lucario.
He was a horrible shot.
The rocket landed and exploded somewhere inside the circle. It threw Vincent off balance and sent tiny shards of rock flying everywhere. One of the shards grazed Vincent’s cheek and sliced it open. Crimson fluid began to drip out from it. Vincent felt the wound and looked down at his hand in disgust.
“Hey hey hey hey HEY!!! T-this is mine?! WHAT?!” Vincent got back up and began to wave his arms around some more. The circle grew tighter, excluding Rufus from the fun inside it. The ground began to rumble and the area grew darker and darker. Lightning began to strike the ground nearby.
“Vincent!” Rufus called, “What are you doing?!”
“I’ve had it! I’m in control of this boat now!”
“But we need to do this for Mr. X!”
“Mr. X! I honestly couldn’t care less about him or Pokextinction as a whole! Who even names an organization like that, anyway? If you’re trying to be the good guys then at least come up with something clever!”
“Why, you!” Rufus braced himself and launched a Hydro Pump at the Lucario. Vincent ducked, but the water disappeared when it came into contact with the Time Gears. Vincent noticed this and began laughing. Rufus tried to attack from above, but it disappeared, too. Vincent was encapsulated within a protective sphere, and he knew it. “W-what’s going on?!”
“Simple, I’ve given myself full protection from any attacks! All this power is just the start of things!”
With another raise of his hand, a lightning bolt struck near the both of them, sending them both to the ground. Vincent tried again but failed to hit his mark. “Gah, stupid thing. If I can just...oh, there we go, I think I’ve got it.”
Rufus, finally realizing what that might mean for him, began to run away.
KA-ZAP!
Lightning struck Rufus, and he fell down. Being a water type facing electricity, it did not bode well for him. He fell down to the ground, and he would not move anymore. Andy couldn’t even see him breathing anymore.
“Ugh, finally! He was getting so annoying!” He sent an Aura Sphere, this time an enormous ball of energy, onto the body. It made impact, and the body was sent out from the Hall of Origins and into the vortex below.
The ground began to quake it had begun to rent in two. Andy heard his friends being released from whatever energy was binding them in the first place.
“Guys, we gotta go now!”
“What about-”
“Can’t get ‘im, let’s move!”
All around them was complete Chaos. From behind them platforms were falling. They barely made it down the stairs when they broke and fell into the void. They hopped on top of the cave and ran as fast as they could back to where they came from. When he looked behind, Vincent was no longer able to be seen, but a large ball of light was present and firing beams from everywhere.
While he was looking back, he tripped. Josh caught him at just the right time before he could join the debris. However, from the debris Andy could see a rush of colors fly by. Blue, pink and red spheres the size of whales rushed past them. When the power faded it revealed Dialga, Palkia and Giratina coming out to destroy the threat to their realms.
Andy didn’t want to see the fight. He knew the kind of rage just one of those Pokemon carried, and having all three of them combined would mean Vincent would surely be destroyed.
They got back to the entrance, and the Dragonite was waiting there for them.
“W-what did you guys do?!”
“We gotta go, quickly!”
They all climbed onto the back of the dragon and took off. She took the term quickly to heart, as she dove straight down, and they were like a speeding bullet ripping through the air back down to where they came from. Eventually the debris was catching up to them and they had to dodge out of the way from countless rubble. Andy looked behind him and saw that Giratina, Palkia and Dialga had lost the fight and were plummeting towards the abyss of dimensions.
CRACK!
Suddenly, a piece of rock had smashed into the dragon, and all five were sent sprawling throughout the air as the exited the Scar. Andy could only remember seeing flashing lights and the rushing of wind in his ears as he fell down into the ocean.
The Pokemon world was about to change.
Next: here
Andy and friends began to walk down the cave once again. The slimy monsters that used to bother them were not as common anymore. In fact, their numbers were actually decreasing as they continued.
“What do you think those creatures were, anyway?”
“Well,” West said, “I think the worst case scenario is that this cave is actually alive and that we are inside its digestive system or something. I couldn’t explain why we aren’t being dissolved into nothingness, but that could just be because we haven’t reached that digestive tract yet.”
“Ah. So lets work on getting out of here, yeah?”
“After we find Vincent and Rufus.”
“Of course.”
***
Meanwhile, at the Pokeuman base, Xander was trying desperately to get in connection with the other world. With the Time Gears stolen and on the other side of the gate, it was going to be hard to assist the students he left behind in there. His efforts were futile, he tried every way he could to get the machine up and running again, but no dice.
The Bisharp secretary came over and talked to him.
“You know, I’ll bet we don’t need to worry about them.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Well, I got word that there is another way to get into the Pokemon world that a different base is looking into. Apparently if one procures enough Dimensional Gems and be good at energy channeling then they can travel through time and space into the Pokemon world.”
“...What? How would that help? Nobody can do energy channeling. That’s not possible.”
“Well, you never know. Someone out there might be able to do so.”
“Well, do you know where they are?”
“The channeller or the gems?”
“Either.”
“No to the first and the second is only conjecture.”
“So we don’t have a way to get into the Pokemon world?”
“If we could find the gems and maybe get, oh, 30 Lucarios or so we could do something about this.”
“How would we get to the right Pokemon world then?”
“I’m sorry, the right what?”
“The right Pokemon world. We can’t be sure that the world we found is the Pokemon world. There could be multiples!”
“Oh dear, I hadn’t thought of that before.”
“So we’ve got no clue where to get the things we need to get through to them, right?”
“Well, I’m sure we could find a student who could do something about it.”
“I’m not sure, I don’t think anyone short of a legendary would be able to get through to them.”
“...Phooey.”
“You’re telling me. Water?”
“Yes, please.”
***
“West, I have an idea.”
“Yes?”
“Couldn’t you use your rocket launcher to blow a hole on the top of the cave so we can see where we’re going? Or maybe even just walk above the cave?”
“Sure. We’ll give it a try. Stand back.”
West took the rocket launcher from his backpack and set it up for the ceiling. He fired, and the whole cave shook. Rocks were falling down and they ran down the tunnel to avoid getting crushed by the debris. When the commotion was over there was a pile of rocks on the ground, and the area around the hole began to leak a strange fluid.
They climbed on the rocks and gave each other boosts until they were all outside of the cave. Andy could see that there were multitudes of tunnels all about them. It seemed like they had clipped out of bounds in a video game and were seeing just the rendered assets of the tunnels and not the entire cave.
That would explain why we can see the individual tunnels.
“Which way do we go now?”
“I don’t know, let’s keep going in the direction we were headed. We have the advantage of being able to actually see where we are going now, so we won’t be lost in the cave forever.”
They continued in the direction they were going. After a long walk they noticed something peculiar in the distance. It looked like a set of stairs, and the stairs were connected to an elevated platform.
“Hey, do you all see that?”
“Yes.”
“Are we gonna go there?”
“Of course.”
As they continued walking towards the platform, figures were visible. Andy could see Vincent and Rufus up top with an energy field visible to even the untrained eye.
They hurried towards the platform. When they got to the stairs they hopped off from the top of the cave and onto the landing, where they were supposed to be let out of the cave if they decided to go through it normally. They climbed the fleet of stairs.
What they saw was otherworldly. Vincent and Rufus were surrounded by the Time Gears, which ebgan floating and circling around them. Vincent was in the middle of it while Rufus was standing to the side. It was clear the Vincent was the center of the energy.
“What do we do now?” Andy whispered.
“I don’t know,” West said, “If I had just brought my sniping gear-”
“Well, well, well, we have guests!” Vincent said, without even turning around. “I say, you all came along very quickly. Did you blow up a tunnel or something? Cheaters.”
“So you have arrived,” Rufus said, “and all in good time. Young Lucario, I see that you no longer can control aura. Very unfortunate.”
“You don’t sound very upset about it, given that the two of you were responsible.”
“I do not sound unperturbed not because I do not feel any sorrow, but because I know it is an easy fix.”
“No, not really.”
“Not by normal means. Do you know what we are doing here? Take a look around you, doesn’t the stairs and the platform look interesting to you? I’ll give you a hint; in the games it had something to do with a flute that was never released.”
Andy took a moment to think about it. A flute never released, huh? Well...I know in the Gen 4 games there was a place in Spear Pillar you couldn’t get to without a certain flute to get to Arceus, but that would mean this is…
He gasped.
“Yes,” Rufus said, “this is the Hall of Origin in it’s purest form. Here we are closest to the essence of time and space than any other area, as this was where Dialga and Palkia were created. With these Time Gears, and someone as powerful in the Aura as Vincent,” Vincent winked at them, “We are able to harness the power to become true gods!”
“Why would you want that?”
“Because we want a change. Now we shall fix all that is wrong with this and our world. And with the power of time also in our grasp, we can go back and fix the mistakes of the past. Think about it; no more wars, no more conflict or sickness, nothing.”
“But nobody would learn anything.”
“Aye, that is true, but they won’t have to. We will be the shepherds tending to our sheep. It’s not just people turning into Pokemon we want to fix. We want to fix so many other things, too.”
“How can I or any of us believe you when you had deceived us in the past?”
“Yes, I am sorry we had to deceive you so. Losing Samuel was a great loss for us. But if losses must be made to achieve peace, then so it shall be.”
“That doesn’t sound like someone who wants peace to me.”
“That is enough of the talk. Now I want us to invite you to something spectacular. I want you, Andy to join our uprising.”
“What?”
Vincent moved his arms, and Andy heard a grunt from his friends. He turned around and saw that they were being suppressed by energy. They looked like they were frozen stiff.
“I want you to join us. You’ve shown lots of promise, and as a god I know you’ll be capable of great things.” Rufus walked by them, dug into Wests backpack and retrieved the rocket launcher and handed it to Andy. “First, I need you to show us you want this power. Blow your friends away, and you can achieve a divine purpose.”
“...What kind of idiot do you take me for? That isn’t really a convincing trade.”
“You hesitated.”
“Out of-out….out of...” He never could make a comeback for that one, even if he had a good excuse to. He really hesitated because he had to process what was being said, but nobody would believe him at that point. “I had to process what you were saying.”
“Sure,” Rufus said, “But my offer still stands. You can recreate your friends later, and restore your aura abilities, too. You could even-”
“No!” Andy turned right around and shot the launcher.
The thing about using Aura Sphere is that it guided itself. All one had to do was flick their wrist after gathering the aura and it would go flying after whoever it was aimed at. No effort to aim was needed. Andy never had to aim since becoming a Lucario.
He was a horrible shot.
The rocket landed and exploded somewhere inside the circle. It threw Vincent off balance and sent tiny shards of rock flying everywhere. One of the shards grazed Vincent’s cheek and sliced it open. Crimson fluid began to drip out from it. Vincent felt the wound and looked down at his hand in disgust.
“Hey hey hey hey HEY!!! T-this is mine?! WHAT?!” Vincent got back up and began to wave his arms around some more. The circle grew tighter, excluding Rufus from the fun inside it. The ground began to rumble and the area grew darker and darker. Lightning began to strike the ground nearby.
“Vincent!” Rufus called, “What are you doing?!”
“I’ve had it! I’m in control of this boat now!”
“But we need to do this for Mr. X!”
“Mr. X! I honestly couldn’t care less about him or Pokextinction as a whole! Who even names an organization like that, anyway? If you’re trying to be the good guys then at least come up with something clever!”
“Why, you!” Rufus braced himself and launched a Hydro Pump at the Lucario. Vincent ducked, but the water disappeared when it came into contact with the Time Gears. Vincent noticed this and began laughing. Rufus tried to attack from above, but it disappeared, too. Vincent was encapsulated within a protective sphere, and he knew it. “W-what’s going on?!”
“Simple, I’ve given myself full protection from any attacks! All this power is just the start of things!”
With another raise of his hand, a lightning bolt struck near the both of them, sending them both to the ground. Vincent tried again but failed to hit his mark. “Gah, stupid thing. If I can just...oh, there we go, I think I’ve got it.”
Rufus, finally realizing what that might mean for him, began to run away.
KA-ZAP!
Lightning struck Rufus, and he fell down. Being a water type facing electricity, it did not bode well for him. He fell down to the ground, and he would not move anymore. Andy couldn’t even see him breathing anymore.
“Ugh, finally! He was getting so annoying!” He sent an Aura Sphere, this time an enormous ball of energy, onto the body. It made impact, and the body was sent out from the Hall of Origins and into the vortex below.
The ground began to quake it had begun to rent in two. Andy heard his friends being released from whatever energy was binding them in the first place.
“Guys, we gotta go now!”
“What about-”
“Can’t get ‘im, let’s move!”
All around them was complete Chaos. From behind them platforms were falling. They barely made it down the stairs when they broke and fell into the void. They hopped on top of the cave and ran as fast as they could back to where they came from. When he looked behind, Vincent was no longer able to be seen, but a large ball of light was present and firing beams from everywhere.
While he was looking back, he tripped. Josh caught him at just the right time before he could join the debris. However, from the debris Andy could see a rush of colors fly by. Blue, pink and red spheres the size of whales rushed past them. When the power faded it revealed Dialga, Palkia and Giratina coming out to destroy the threat to their realms.
Andy didn’t want to see the fight. He knew the kind of rage just one of those Pokemon carried, and having all three of them combined would mean Vincent would surely be destroyed.
They got back to the entrance, and the Dragonite was waiting there for them.
“W-what did you guys do?!”
“We gotta go, quickly!”
They all climbed onto the back of the dragon and took off. She took the term quickly to heart, as she dove straight down, and they were like a speeding bullet ripping through the air back down to where they came from. Eventually the debris was catching up to them and they had to dodge out of the way from countless rubble. Andy looked behind him and saw that Giratina, Palkia and Dialga had lost the fight and were plummeting towards the abyss of dimensions.
CRACK!
Suddenly, a piece of rock had smashed into the dragon, and all five were sent sprawling throughout the air as the exited the Scar. Andy could only remember seeing flashing lights and the rushing of wind in his ears as he fell down into the ocean.
The Pokemon world was about to change.
Next: here
