320Curse of the Lucario chap 19
This chapter is, by far, my longest chapter ever. 9,214 words! But such a large chapter comes with a price. You will see ;).
And, to help everyone visualize the meeting room that they are in, imagine that giant room in Star Wars that Senate meetings are held. It looks somewhat like that. Minus the floating platforms and center platform. Also, there are only five rooms on each level, so it's not as big as the one on Star Wars. This is the best comparison that I could think of. Hope it helps. And to those who have not watched Star Wars are just have no clue what I'm referring to, I am sorry.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. I don't claim to own it. Only the story and all original characters that I have invented.
Enjoy.
JASON'S POV
Chapter 19
The meeting began without a hitch. Once everyone gave confirmation that they were ready, done so by pressing the button with the check on it, the first topic was put on the table.
It had something to do with a migratory bird Pokemon that seemed to be oddly destructive. The one raising the topic wanted to have the country the bird Pokemon were coming from do something to lower the population. The topic stayed on the table for about ten minutes before the vote was called and the topic raiser was voted down. Apparently, that species was rather rare in that part of the world, so they were basically told to deal with it. (In a much nicer fashion.)
The two screens to the right showed the current topic raiser in their room, (from the viewpoint of the camera next to the screens), and whoever happened to be against the topic raiser. They would take turns arguing their points before the topic being put to a vote. Since the WPO tried to stay friendly with people all over the world, Jack pressed the O button, which was a neutral vote. (X meaning against and check meaning for whatever the topic may be)
Jack stayed silent for all of it, simply leaning forward and pressing the button when the vote began and settled back in his chair.
Frankly, after thirty minutes of this, my nervousness had left. Forty minutes, and I was becoming quite bored. Fifty, and I was holding back the urge to sleep.
I glanced over at Shade and saw that he was sitting up in his chair, like a freshman in his first class who has decided that he (or she) wanted the title of Valedictorian, and was paying the utmost attention to everything.
Narri, on the other hand, had drifted off to sleep while sitting up. I nearly laughed at the difference between the two. One being super attentive, the other pretending to be the same, but asleep. And me, somewhere in between.
Just as I was about to join Narri's group, a recess was called and we got a ten minute break. The sound of many people moving woke Narri up and nearly made him fall out of his chair in surprise. Shade grinned while I chuckled at Narri's embarrassed expression as he settled back into his seat.
Jack stood and stretched slightly, (giving off a surprising amount of popping noises from his stiff body), and said, "ahh. That feels good. You three stay here while I get us something to drink and a schedule."
We nodded and he left the room.
I stood and stretched, also giving off a lot of pops. Shade and Narri did the same.
While Narri had his back turned to Shade, I saw the back of Shades cloths seem to push out slightly and give off a few small pops. I realized that Jack had not been told about Shade's wings and smiled at what his reaction might be when he eventually found out.
"How are you feeling," Narri asked me as he continued to stretch, breaking the silence.
"So bored," I moaned, "I almost wish that our turn would come so I wouldn't have an excuse to stay awake. How in the world are you so interested," I asked Shade.
He shrugged and said, "it's much more interesting than what I usually do." He left it at that and I didn't push him.
The door opened and Jack came in with both drinks and a large smile.
"I found out that our turn is second after we resume the meeting," he said in a cheerful tone that had the opposite affect that you would expect of it.
I felt the knot of nervousness return at his announcement.
Shade laughed and said, "well, guess you got your wish after all."
"Yay me," I said in a deadpan tone, accepting the offered drink from Jack and taking a sip but not really tasting it.
Jack patted me on the back and said, "and I got permission to have my topic extended for an extra ten minutes. So I'll have plenty of time to talk about the threat that Team Styx is and why it is in everyone's best interest to put a stop to their activities."
I sat down, not trusting my legs that suddenly felt like jelly, and felt the fur on my neck sticking up. I noticed my hands were shaking slightly and set the cup on the ground before I spilled it.
"And there is little chance of me needing to speak, right?", I asked, my voice rising on the last words.
Jack finished the sip he had been taking and responded with a shrug.
This was not comforting.
"How are you with phone calls?", Shade piped up, surprising me.
"Uh, I usually text. But I don't get nervous when speaking over the phone, if that's what you mean." I didn't know what he was getting at, but if it had any chance of helping me, I was going to pay close attention.
"Well, why not imagine yourself speaking to someone over a phone instead of in front of thousands of people-"
"Millions, actually," Jack interrupted, unhelpfully.
"Riiight," Shade said, giving Jack an exasperated glance, "just try that. Maybe that will work."
I nodded, my brain not forthcoming with words at the moment. A loud bell was heard and Jack said, "that's the signal to get back to your room. It will be starting again in three minutes."
They took their seats and Narri whispered to me, "I'm not so sure I can keep you calm for twenty minutes straight. Ten, maybe. Fifteen, really pushing it. So try Shade's method first and tell me if you need help if it becomes too much.
I nodded, thankful for the safety net that Narri had concocted.
The black screens blinked to life and the topic before us immediately got down to business. I was both impressed and dismayed by the systematic way the topic raiser got her information across and called for a vote. Only taking up seven out of the ten minutes she had been given.
As the vote was being done, I did a mental exercise and forced everything to the backburner. At the moment, nothing was important. I was not about to be in front of thousands. (No, I would be in front of millions... Thanks a lot Jack) But that was not important.
The vote was finished and I saw the button, next to the red untouchable button, begin to blink.
I pulled myself to reality and put on the best poker face I could summon as Jack leaned forward and pressed the blinking button. I saw me, Jack, and Narri appear on the screen. Shade was too far to the left to be in the camera's line of sight and wasn't on the screen.
(Lucky)
Jack started off with the explanation that I was the one who transformed into the Lucario.
Even before Jack began to tell everyone about how Team Styx had tried to kidnap me, the room had gotten a buzzing atmosphere. Just as Jack was about to explain in more detail how Team Styx planned to use me as a WMD, I saw the light next to the screen begin to blink and Jack paused to press it.
The blank screen, where those who were against a topic would appear, showed a man with a foreign suit sitting in a chair. He immediately began to speak once he appeared in a thick accent that made it difficult to understand him.
"Excuse me, but what is this rubbish?" the whole room seemed to bristle at those words, not just Jack. Apparently this guy didn't care much for subtlety.
"It is well known that people cannot turn into Pokemon. It is also well known that the WPO has been trying to get rid of Team Styx for quite some time. I think that you have concocted this tale, just to gain support by scaring us into it."
There was a moment when the atmosphere of the room just oozed with the uncertainty that was just injected by his words. I didn't need to be proficient with the use of aura to pick up on that.
Jack didn't even skip a beat, he was probably expecting that kind of accusation.
"And why would the WPO do that? If we wanted to scare you into it, we could have just waited until the next meeting and seen what chaos Team Styx can cause between now and then. The threat is very real and Jason here is proof of that."
I managed not to twitch at my name but instead stayed calm(ish).
Jack continued before the man could speak, "the WPO have learned that Team Styx has made a device that is able to suck the aura out of Lucario and use it to power a weapon that is near the destructive power of a WMD."
The atmosphere became uneasy at those last words.
"And if Team Styx gets their hands on Jason, whose aura levels are off the charts, they will have the means to build something with the devastating ability of a weapon of mass destruction-"
"Now I know you are just making things up!", the foreign guy barked into the camera. He was really starting to piss me off.
"Team Styx has caused some damage, yes, I will admit. But it is ludicrous to even think that they would have the necessary skill or the materials needed to create such a device!"
"And when this, "ludicrous", thought becomes a reality? What then? Who will they target? What will we DO when the WPO is proven right!" Jack's voice, while calm, had developed a forceful and challenging tone.
The foreign man thought for a moment before leaning back in his seat, defeated. Jack hit the again blinking button and the screen switched to a woman in clothes that are common from where I am from. I noticed that she had no noticeable foreign accent in her words.
"We have had confirmed reports of Team Styx stealing Lucario from both trainers and from known Lucario sanctuaries. This, if nothing else, is proof that Team Styx really has created a device for taking aura. And I am sure that we are not the only ones with the same problem. There have been reports of Team Styx and other criminal elements taking Lucario, and sometimes even Riolu, from places all over the globe. Even if they are not creating weapons with these stolen Pokemon, which I have chosen to believe, they must be stopped."
Jack nodded his head in thanks and the screen went black.
"I would like to put forth a vote. The WPO wants to make the locating and the dissolving of Team Styx a matter of worldwide top priority."
The screen showing us went black and Jack leaned forward to press the button with a check on it. I realized that we had only used about eleven minutes of the twenty that we had been given and I did not have to talk during any of that. I didn't even need Narri's help to calm me down. I slumped with relief when I realized all this, but sat up quickly when the screen came back on and showed the results of the vote.
It showed that 93% of the people voting had voted for, while 4% had voted against and 3% had stayed neutral. We had won. And by a very wide margin as well.
I held back the urge to cheer and instead smiled widely. Jack slumped in his chair and sighed in relief.
"Glad that's over," he whispered to me and I nodded in agreement.
"I'm just happy I didn't have to talk. You made it seem like there was a much higher chance that I would have to than there really was," I whispered back, mildly irritated at the freaking out mode he had put me in.
"Well," Jack grinned, "at least we won. You are literally on everybody's mind right now. There is little chance that Team Styx will make a move for you with the whole world knowing what they would do with you in their possession."
I felt a mixture of nausea and elation (a very strange combination) at that sentence.
On one hand, I was almost certainly out of Team Styx's grasp, and therefore safe.
On the other hand, THE ENTIRE FREAKING WORLD WAS FOCUSING ON ME! Me! The guy who tries to lay low in class with my nose in a book 90% of the time! The guy who people forget about all the time due to my lack of standing out! The guy who people only talk to when they need help with an equation or something if they don't know me very well.
Narri shot me a strange look and said, "I'm getting mixed signals. Are you about to pass out, puke, or stand up and cheer?"
His question made me snort and Jack glared at me, so I whispered to Narri, "I'm fine. Just relieved that Team Styx is really not a problem anymore."
"Then why do you feel like you're going to throw up from fear if you are so relieved?"
"Cause I am currently the center of millions of people's attention and I do not cope well with being the center of attention in a small group," I explained to him, not even bothering to pay attention to the topic that was being discussed at the time.
Narri shrugged. "Nothing you can do about it now. Just sit back and relax."
He sat back and started paying attention to the topic. He was asleep in under two minutes.
I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the screens.
SHADE'S POV
I was glad that I didn't have to be on the screen with the other three. But my relief from that paled in comparison to the feeling I got when the vote results appeared. The whole world now knew of Team Styx's dangerous capabilities and would be working to stop my father's plans. Jason was safe, my conscience was clean, and I might be able to live a semi-normal life. This day was getting better and better.
I noticed Jason and the Lucario whispering (well, the Lucario was talking via aura, so I couldn't hear what he was saying) for a little while before turning back to the screens. The Lucario lasted for a minute and 43 seconds. (I had counted, betting that he would last at least three minutes before falling asleep. I was wrong.)
Jason lasted for almost ten minutes before nodding off. Neither me nor Jack bothered to wake them up for the remaining two hours of the meeting. I actually found it pretty interesting, but it was obvious that those two did not share the same opinion.
JASON'S POV
I guess I fell asleep, because the last thing I remember was some guy arguing against someone else about some territorial dispute involving some sort of rare mineral and a recent earthquake moving the said minerals.
I felt someone shaking my shoulder and barely kept myself from falling out of the chair out of surprise. Jack laughed at my reaction and I joined him when Narri did not manage to catch himself when Shade shook him.
Narri shot up while glaring at us, which made even Shade begin to laugh.
Before Narri could say anything, Jack got a hold of himself and said, "alright. That's enough."
We calmed down and Narri stayed silent.
"I've arranged a place for you three to stay while I join the WPO and receive new orders."
"This place will be secure, right?", Shade asked, only seconds before I would have asked a similar question.
"Yes," Jack said confidently, which made me trust that wherever he had in mind, it was safe.
Jack led us through the hallways and back to the room we had been teleported to originally. The man was there with the Kirlia and they teleported us back to where we had met them before.
Jack led us through the building and I saw that we were approaching the entrance that we had come in at.
When I saw that, I whispered to Narri, "get ready to calm me down, just in case."
Narri nodded as we went through the door. I saw the crowd of people suddenly become more active than they were a few seconds ago (it was like throwing a rock at a Beedrill hive) and flashes began blinding me even from a pretty good distance away.
I saw Shade put his hand up to block the flashes, it also had the added affect of preventing the cameras of getting a good look at his face. A clever way to stay off Team Styx's radar a little longer.
I just focused at the steps that we were making our way down to avoid looking at the crowd. This made it a little easier to stay calm and Narri didn't need to help me any.
As we reached the bottom of the steps, a particularly bright flash of light (coupled with an agonizingly loud bang) went of directly in front of us (obviously not from a camera), blinded me and caused me to stumble slightly.
I blinked rapidly as I got my balance back and saw an indistinct figure sprint to me and grab my arm hard enough to hurt.
"Teleport, now," the figure commanded and I realized what was happening far too late. Even as I tried to rip my arm out of the figures grasp, I felt the telltale signs of teleportation take hold and the ground beneath my feet disappeared.
SHADE'S POV
Maybe it was instinct that made me close my eyes at the exact moment the small can-like object landed in front of us. But whatever gave me the incentive to close my eyes helped me retain some of my eyesight when the flashbang at our feet detonated and released a debilitating wave of light and sound. I tripped and hit the ground the same moment I saw a man, with an Abra on his shoulder, run past me and grab Jason's arm.
My ears were still ringing from the blast, but I read the guys lips as he said, "Teleport, now."
I scrambled towards them on all fours, but they had already vanished before I had gotten two feet.
My father had sent his retrieval squad. And he now had Jason.
JASON'S POV
The moment I felt gravity return, another person grabbed my right arm and they shoved me to my knees.
They twisted my arms behind my back and forced me to bend over at the waist to prevent them from breaking my arms.
I was clenching my jaw to stop me from crying out from the pain. I wasn't about to let them get the satisfaction. I stared at the concrete I was kneeling on, making sure not to make a sound. It took a lot of concentration not to let my mental cursing be transmitted by my device, but I managed to keep it in my head.
"I've been after you for quite some time," a voice said and I heard someone walking closer before stopping a few yards away.
"Yeah, well I'm not too keen on you finding me," I force out and the two holding my arms twisted them even more, causing me to release a hiss from the pain.
The guy talking chuckled. "Yes, but after going through so much trouble to get a hold of you, I'm not really picky about whether or not you want to meet me."
I managed to angle my head so my right eye was somewhat facing him and said, "I'm guessing you're Devon?" He was wearing a white button up business suit and tan pants. His shoes were no-nonsense black and shiny enough to reflect any light that happened to come near it. His face had traces of Shade, so I knew I had guessed right.
He paused and said, "guess the WPO told you about me. No matter. Soon nothing will matter at all for you." He chuckled a little at that, seeming strangely happy.
Before he could say anything else, I yell, "how the hell did you cause this! Why did I transform into a Lucario!"
The two holding my arms twisted them harder for a second before letting up at Devon's command of, "wait."
He got closer, almost a yard away now, and said, "well it was on accident really. I had sent some grunts to search out areas where Lucario were known to be. They stumbled on some old temple ruins and, against orders, decided to explore. One of them foolishly knocked down a wall and found a hidden room with symbols all over the walls. They reported back and I sent a few scientists in to take a look to see if there was anything worthwhile written."
He got even closer and his voice dropped into a whisper, "and guess what those symbols said? They said that when a lot of Lucario are in danger, an ancient gift would be given to one who knows the pain of Lucario. At least, that was the gist of it."
He stood back up and his voice returned to normal levels.
"Of course, I dismissed it when it got to the part when it indicated that a person would become a Pokemon. But not two weeks after I had pulled the scientists from the temple, you showed up on the news. I didn't believe it at first, but when I considered all the Lucario I had taken, and you hitting that other Lucario, I couldn't consider it a coincidence any longer."
He turned around and the two holding my arms hoisted me to my feet and forced me forward. I saw Devon leading us a little ways ahead of us. We were in a dimly lit hallway with no other sources of light aside from the bulb every few yards.
He spoke over his shoulder as he continued to walk, "I decided that, even if it was a coincidence, you are still a Lucario. So even if you aren't overpowered with aura, you are still somewhat useful to me."
"And why me? Why was I the one to turn into a Pokemon?" I was strangely hungry for his answer and despaired for a moment when I thought he wasn't going to tell me.
"I don't know. I guess when the condition of a lot of Lucario in danger was met, you somehow activated something that gave you that ancient "gift"."
That word, gift. It brought up the memory of my dream. The one with Sir Aaron.
What was it he said? It came to me clearly through the mental fog, "Though it wasn't your fault, and since Lucario seems to really forgive you, I'm going to give you a gift that can't be returned. Not without knowing another's life. Let you know the pain of Lucario."
Sir Aaron had given me a gift. Was he somehow responsible for me turning into a Lucario? All the signs pointed towards that conclusion.
I was so occupied by my thoughts that I didn't pay attention to where we were until Devon spoke again.
"We spent almost two years building this," we had arrived in a large room about half the size of a football field. Devon was gesturing at a large machine. It towered almost thirty yards in the air and was humming ominously. I felt a strange pulling sensation in my chest, like there was a piece of metal in my body being attracted to a nearby magnet.
There were a dozen scientists on computers and standing by displays all around the large machine. There were about twenty guards standing around, so I knew escape was going to be near impossible.
"That," he turned around and gave me a smile that made me shiver, "is the device that will harness all the aura in your body and turn it into pure energy that I can use."
He turned away and waved his hand in a careless motion as he said, "put him in."
I began to struggle against the two holding my arms and yelled, "even if you use me to make a bomb, the WPO will be here pretty soon!"
This stopped Devon and he turned back to me.
"And what makes you say that?"
The two holding my arms stopped and I said, "this device that allows me to communicate," I turned my head to him, "it has a tracker in it. The WPO have probably triangulated my position by now and will have people teleporting in soon."
I didn't expect him to smile at that announcement.
"Well, your little saving grace is a good plan. Too bad this structure is at the center of a mountain. Any signal that your little tracker gives off will not be able to reach a satellite. So any ideas of, "rescue" that you have, you might as well get rid of."
He turned back around and the two shoved me to the base of the machine. I saw a big empty sphere just barely taller than me open up and they threw me in. The transparent dome shut, sealing me into the see through prison.
I punched the wall and winced when I hit something akin to concrete. I created an aura sphere and slammed it against the glass, but instead of shattering, the glass seemed to absorb the aura sphere with no noticeable harm done.
"You see?," Devon shouts from his spot next to the computers, "in a few moments, all of your aura is going to be mine!"
He pressed a button and the sphere I was in started lifting into the air. I repeatedly slammed myself against the glass, becoming more and more desperate the higher I rose.
The sphere bumped to a halt at the top of the machine and I saw Devon grinning like a maniac as the machine began to hum much louder and sparks began to emit from various places.
My prison began to glow a pale blue color and I fell with my back to the wall as my legs instantly went numb. I felt my whole body grow numb as I felt my aura being taken.
It felt as though a frozen river was coming from the deepest parts of my being and leaving through every pore in my body. I couldn't move anything, my body just didn't have the strength to overcome the immobilising numbness. I couldn't even move my head, it rested against the wall that my back was against, facing straight forward. Blinking was becoming akin to a marathon run.
I stopped trying and closed my eyes. There was little chance of me having enough strength to bust out of my prison when I couldn't do it even at normal strength. I was going to die.
My body would have all its aura drained out of it to fuel a device that would kill many many people. And I was powerless to do anything about it.
Perhaps it was my form of seeing my life flash before my eyes, but I opened my eyes to see Sir Aaron sitting on the other side of the sphere.
"This isn't what I had in mind, you know," he said with a sad smile.
I didn't have to use my mouth or tongue, so I was able to respond.
"Excuse me?"
He waved his hand around, indicating the glowing prison.
"This. I had hoped that you would use my gift to stop those who would harm any Lucario."
I had the urge to snort, but instead said, "well, I'm not exactly happy about the circumstances either."
Even if this was a hallucination, I wanted to know one thing above all.
"Why did I get turned into a Lucario? Why me?"
He leaned forward and poked my chest. (I was too numb to tell if I could feel it or not).
"Because you cared more for a Pokemon that you never even met, than yourself. You felt more worried about Lucario's wellbeing than whether you would get in trouble or be punished. It was that kind of person that I made the gift look for when it was time to be used. I sealed a little of my own aura into the gift, to help it determine who to choose." He sat back and laid his hands on his lap after saying this, waiting for my response.
I wanted to ask how he did that, sealed his aura into something, but everything was becoming more and more fuzzy and it was becoming near impossible to string thoughts together.
"But that really doesn't matter any more," he said in a resigned tone, "that's ancient history."
"I just wish I could've at least stopped them from using me as a weapon," I admitted, "I just don't want my death to cause so much pain and suffering to others."
Sir Aaron nodded in a thoughtful manner before saying, "so be it."
After those words, the machine that was killing me seemed to slack off slightly before rumbling ominously.
I heard shouting from below and an alarm began to go off. I was still mostly numb, but the machine had stopped taking my aura.
"What's going on?", I asked Sir Aaron.
"Your wish. Kind of." He smiled a real smile and vanished.
Seconds later. The machine below me, the one destined to create a bomb to kill millions, malfunctioned and overheated from all the aura it had tried to absorb at once.
SHADE'S POV
The moment Jason was taken, Jack had an emergency teleporter take us straight to the WPO and brought us to where Jason was being tracked.
"What do you mean, "there is no signal!" That tracker is top of the line, it should be able to show us where he is anywhere on the planet!"
The poor man who was operating the computer threw his hands up in helplessness.
"It can't send signals underwater or underground. They could be in some underground base," the operator suggests.
Jack paced back and forth as he instructed someone on a phone to prepare a squad for a top priority retrieval mission.
"He could already be dead-"
"He's not," Narri interrupts. "I would feel it if he died."
The computer guy gave Narri a pitying look, misunderstanding what he meant.
Jack, on the other hand, did not misunderstand, "can you feel where Jason is, Narri?"
"The general direction, yes." He pointed in the direction a little to the left of where I was standing at the moment.
I thought furiously and almost shouted, "use Narri to triangulate Jason's position!"
Jack had reached the same conclusion and dragged Narri through the building to where the squad had gathered with all the necessary Pokemon able to teleport them.
Using Narri's ability to sense the general direction of Jason's location, Jack had the teleporters bring us to different parts of the world until they had a general idea of where Jason was. We had teleported to the general area of where we assumed Jason was and Narri said that he felt that Jason was somewhat close by. Within 5 miles, at least.
The retrieval team sent out several species of large flying type Pokemon and we began flying in the direction Narri sensed Jason was.
I had a feeling the mountain was where he was, it being the only noticeable feature around, and Narri told us that he sensed Jason in that direction, so we headed to the mountain.
When we were almost three miles away from the mountain, I heard Narri gasp only seconds before the mountain exploded in a blast of pure energy. Even from three miles away, the force from the blast nearly caused the bird Pokemon to fall out of the sky.
The only thing I could compare to the blast would be that of the atomic fission variety. Nothing within a mile could possibly survive that.
I turned to Narri, who was flying to my left, and he shook his head.
"I can't feel anything. I can't sense Jason," Narri said, with tears welling up in his eyes.
I urged the Skarmory I was riding to fly faster, maybe Jason would be okay if I got there soon enough. That's what I was telling myself as I streaked through the air.
JASON'S POV
Right before the machine exploded, as I knew it was going to, I managed to look down. I saw everybody scrambling to get out of the room. Everyone, that is, except Devon Mutatin.
He stood a little ways away from the base of the machine with his fists clenched and his arms at his side. He stared at the machine with an expression of hate. That was the last expression he made as the machine detonated.
I felt all the pent up energy from the stolen aura, my stolen aura, release itself all at once.
I closed my eyes and let my head rest on the wall of my spherical prison. Who really wants to see themself die?
No. I decided I would wait until it all calmed down before opening my eyes. I hoped, in a small place in my mind, that it would be mostly painless.
I felt myself floating, much like the momentary feeling during teleportation. But because it lasted more than a moment, I knew it was not teleportation I was feeling.
Everything was peaceful. I still had my eyes closed, but a hand on my shoulder made me open my eyes. I was face to face with Sir Aaron, (we were surrounded by blue light that seemed to be pushing me gently up), and he was smiling his sad smile.
He didn't say anything, he just patted me on the shoulder, winked, and then took a few steps back before disappearing into the blue surroundings. I looked down at myself and saw that I had my human body back. My body was no longer that of a Lucario.
Before I could feel anything, disappointment, happiness, or anything else, I saw the blue surroundings begin to fade. It also stopped feeling like I was floating. In fact, I realized that I could feel the affects of gravity taking hold even as the last of the blue surroundings vanished.
Like a pebble dropped from a skyscraper, I began to fall.
SHADE'S POV
The blast was very destructive in every direction, but the brunt of the power seemed to be focused straight up into the sky. A enormous beam of blue energy was shooting out of the mountain and into the heavens for almost two minutes after the initial explosion.
I got steadily closer on the bird Pokemon, and the closer I got, the more despair I felt. Everything within a mile of the mountain had been either annihilated or sent flying at terminal velocity. The mountain itself was either gone or collapsed in on itself even as I watched.
The beam started to lose power and I saw areas where I could see clouds on the other side of the large column of energy.
I had the Skarmory start circling from a distance as the beam slowly disappeared.
Right as it vanished, I saw a limp figure as it began to fall. I really didn't think about it, I just jumped off the Pokemon and used my powerful wings to rip straight through the fabric holding it back.
JASON'S POV
Funny. I had just survived something akin to a atomic bomb. A blast that should have, in all rights, killed me. Instead, I was going to plummet to my death...
My thoughts as I processed this information?
MAKE UP YOUR MIND, ARCEUS!
I got in the skydivers position, with my chest facing the ground. I remembered the last time I had been in this position. I doubted there was a helpful trainer anywhere close by this time to save my sorry butt. If there was any around before the explosion, they were dead or far away by now.
I watched at the ground got closer, and closed my eyes to wait for impact. Not as much of a dramatic death, but hopefully it would be as quick.
I felt an impact, but it was not the ground. I felt two arms wrap around my stomach and my speed lessened in an instant. So fast, in fact, I felt something (probably a rib) pop sickeningly.
Shade, because it was he who had saved me, pulled out of the dive with just enough room to avoid clipping a tall hill.
I was speechless. Partially because I was shocked that I was still alive. Partially because Shade had squeezed most of the oxygen out of my lungs with his lifesaving aerial catch.
"You know, saving your ass is becoming a kind of trend! I'm going to start asking for pay if this keeps up!", Shade yelled so I could hear him over the sound of wind in my ears, and I laughed hysterically. Well, more like I wheezed hysterically.
The thrill of surviving not one, but two, near death experiences gave me a rush of euphoria which held back the pain. I think I was also still a bit numb from the aura that had been stolen, so that helped me feel no pain at the time.
After landing, the euphoria (and consequential adrenalin) faded and I promptly passed out from the combined forces of near asphyxiation, pain, and extreme mental fatigue.
SHADE'S POV
After nearly popping my wings out of their sockets from saving Jason, I flew a little ways to reduce our speed so I could land without crashing painfully.
The only reason I knew it was Jason is because he wore the fancy suit that had been specially made for him and still had the hole for his now non-existent chest spike.
I managed to land on a flat area that was cleared of all vegetation. The moment I landed and set Jason on the ground, he took a few unsteady steps away from me and collapsed. I rolled my eyes and made sure his head didn't hit the ground.
I used my now-ripped up jacket (courtesy of my wings) to make a pillow for Jason. As I was putting it under his head, I noticed something in his hair. I looked closer at his short brown hair with streaks of blonde running through it, and noticed something odd from the hair close to his scalp.
I sat up and shook my head with a smile. I chuckled at what I expected his expression to be like and said, "you're gonna be in for a big surprise when you wake up."
JASON'S POV
"-fine, I really wouldn't worry about him Mr and Mrs Simmons."
The voice, that sounded like it was coming from a long ways away, suddenly became clear as day by the end of the sentence and I opened my eyes.
I saw that I was in a hospital room, (I knew it was a hospital because it had all the hospital-ish stuff around, I was also in the clothes that patients wore), and that my parents were speaking to a doctor who was around the corner where my parents were standing. They had their backs to me and I tried to think of the most polite way to catch their attention without interrupting them. I sat up quietly as I listened in on their conversation.
"There is little chance of any lasting brain damage, I assure you," the doctor says and I grin slightly as I decide to finally speak.
"Well if I'm going to go bonkers, I would like a little memo beforehand," I say loud enough for them to hear me very easily. My voice, while a little softer than I was used to, seemed to work just fine. I was worried that I might have trouble talking normally, but that was quickly put to rest. The device that had allowed me to speak was not in my ear, so I promptly forgot about it.
They all paused and both my parents turned at the same time with the same surprised look on their faces. The doctor they had been speaking to walked in and acquired the same shocked face. The three of them, all lined up and with such a funny set of expressions on their faces, made me burst out laughing which broke the spell.
Both of my parents and the doctor rushed to me. My parents were making sure I was alright mentally while the doctor was writing something furiously on a notepad he had while glancing at me every few seconds or so.
After assuring my parents that I felt alright, aside from a slight ache originating from my chest (I was told later that none of my ribs had been broken, just bruised), I managed to say, "I know this is seriously cliche, but where am I?"
My mom grinned and said, "at a hospital back home. The WPO made sure you were stable before bringing you back here and letting them check to see if you were really okay."
"And?", I said with a raised eyebrow.
The doctor put down his notepad and answered.
"Aside from slight bruising on your ribs, you appear to be in perfect health. Though we haven't gotten results from your DNA test back yet, I think you will be fine."
"DNA test? What would you need to do that for?" My eyes widened when I thought the worst and I immediately looked all over my arms for blue fur or the spikes I had grown so used to.
My parents let me freak out for a few moments before smiling and deciding to take pity on me.
My dad said, "relax, you don't have any Pokemon fur or ears or any other characteristics. Well, not big ones at least."
"Well that's- wait, what do you mean?" I let my arms fall and my mom picked up a handheld mirror that was laying nearby.
I grabbed it and looked into it as it reflected my face.
It took me a moment to notice that my eyes were different. Instead of the pupil being pure black, it was dark red. Just like a Lucarios eye. The red pupil was surrounded by my usual blue eye color, that hadn't changed in the slightest. Frankly, it was a kind of cool aftereffect, and if that was all I had to worry about, then I wasn't worried at all.
"Are my eyes it?" I asked as I looked at them closely, admiring how strange they were.
Someone put their finger on the mirror and tilted it back so it angled up and reflected my hair.
I thought I imagined it at first, but when I looked at it a little more closely, I saw that most of my hair was now a light blue color that had some streaks of blonde running through it.
I ran my hand through my now blue hair, and said, "I can get used to it."
Before anyone could respond or comment on that, the door opened and another doctor came in saying, "the DNA results came in- he's awake!?" She jumped when she saw me sitting up and I rolled my eyes. Really, it was like they expected me to never wake up.
(I glanced at a calender nearby and confirmed that it had only been two days since I passed out. Nowhere near long enough to worry about a coma, in my opinion.)
"Yes yes," the male doctor said as he grabbed the results from her and glanced at them.
We waited in silence for a minute before he declared, "aside from a tiny amount of residual DNA, he is fully human. The residual DNA is nothing to worry about and shouldn't cause any problems later on in life or anytime soon. I think the only affects it will cause will be the change in hair color and red pupil. Neither of which are causes of worry."
After thanking him, he (along with the other doctor) left to give us some privacy.
I asked them about Narri and Shade. They told me that Narri was staying with them and that he was probably wandering about the hospital. He had grown bored with sitting quietly by my bed as I slept and said he wanted to stretch his legs.
Shade, they told me, was with the WPO. They assured me that he wasn't in any trouble and that they talked to him just the day before.
As they were telling me about how worried they were when they learned of my kidnapping, I was saved by the door opening to admit Narri.
"Narri!", I said loudly, interrupting them.
Narri smiled and I saw a slump in his shoulders disappear.
"I see you're awake, how are you feeling?", he asked as he made his way to a chair and sat down.
"I'm fine. And look at my eyes, they're awesome!"
"Jason!" My mom said, looking who surprised at my words.
I smiled and said, "well they are interesting. I like them. And don't you dare suggest dyeing my hair!" I added that last part when she looked up and started to open her mouth.
She sat in a chair, looking a little dejected at my words. My dad just smiled, I knew he wouldn't mind. He would think of the eyes and hair as a trade-off for becoming human and wouldn't take another look.
Narri chuckled at my reaction and said, "on another note, it seems that I do not feel any connection to you. It disappeared right after the mountain exploded. Guess something broke the connection when you turned back into a human. Oh, by the way, the WPO is going to be wondering why the mountain exploded."
As if his words summoned him into existence, Jack opened the door and walked in. Followed by Shade and a older man.
I nodded to Shade, who grinned and nodded back.
Shade sat in a chair and got comfortable as Jack and the old man came to the side of my bed.
"Hey, Jack," I greeted him and he smiled.
"I see that you are awake, good good," the old man interrupted and stepped closer, which made Jack step away to avoid being too close.
The old man extended his hand and I shook it.
"Will Stetson, pleasure to meet you Mr Simmons. If you have a little time, I would like to ask about the events that you witnessed from the point you were taken up to the present."
He said it all in a authoritative voice that told me that he wasn't about to take a no for an answer.
I shrugged and he smiled as he pulled out a device and hit a button before saying clearly, "alright, please tell me what happened after you were taken." He extended the device to me and I told them what happened.
I told them how I appeared and spoke to Devon Mutatin for a little while. I saw Jack and Will glance at each other when I mentioned him, but Shade gave no outward signs at the mention of his father.
I told them what Devon had told me and hesitated for a moment when I got to the point where my aura was being drained.
How was I going to mention Sir Aaron, a dead guy that I saw as I was dying, to them? If they didn't think I was crazy, they would probably think I was lying.
"It's okay, we can take a break if you need to," the old guy says kindly, misunderstanding my hesitation as not wanting to relive the memory instead of the real reason.
I waved my hand and said, "well, the sphere rose up in the air and my whole body went numb. I fell on my butt and about two minutes later, the machine stopped sucking the aura from my body. I looked at the ground and saw everyone except Devon running from the room as alarms began to sound. A few seconds later, the machine under me exploded. I closed my eyes right before it blew, so I'm not too sure what happened from that point until Shade caught me."
Will got a confused look and said, "wait, Shade caught you? Don't you mean a bird Pokemon caught you?"
Before I could respond, Jack said, "that's unimportant. Please continue, Jason."
I shrugged and said, "well, we landed and I guess I passed out. Next thing I know, I woke up here and you know the rest."
Will waited for a moment more before hitting another button on the device and thanking me before leaving.
Jack stepped forward and said, "thanks, the higher ups in the WPO have been wanting to know how the mountain blew up. Now, maybe, they will stop breathing down my neck."
He laughed and I took the opportunity to ask, "how is the clean up of Team Styx going?"
His face brightened and he said, "great! We've discovered three different major bases already and many other smaller installations that are connected to Team Styx. Every discovery makes more and more of Team Styx disappear."
"That's good, and what about Shade? What are you going to do with him?"
Jack looked more serious and answered, "we've decided that, like our method with yourself, Shade will appear in front of the world."
I looked at Shade and he had a slightly green expression on his face that made me laugh.
"Maybe you can borrow Narri to help you relax," I suggested before I burst out laughing.
Narri got a annoyed expression and said, "I am not a object to be borrowed!"
I waved my hand at him to calm him down.
"It was a joke, but anyways," I stopped laughing, "what about afterwards? What is Shade going to do? Go to school like a regular student?"
Jack shrugged. "I'm really not sure, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it."
I nodded, accepting his answer. Shade seemed to get a strange expression when I mentioned going to high school, but I didn't comment on it.
We discussed a few other things before the doctor came in and forced everybody out so I could get some sleep. I saw that it was late, so I didn't put up much resistance at the doctors insistence for me to go to bed.
Almost an hour after the lights had been turned off, I still wasn't able to fall asleep. The combination of random noises and lack of being tired made sleep near impossible.
As I turned over (for the hundredth time) to find a comfortable position that would hopefully provide me with the key to dreamland, I sighed and positioned myself on my back so I was staring up at the ceiling.
Out of sheer boredom, and mild curiosity, I raised my hand and remembered the feeling of creating an aura sphere. I concentrated, not really expecting anything, and was shocked when a small orb (only 1/5th the size of a normal aura sphere) appeared in my raised palm.
I smiled and brought the orb closer to my face as I said, "well this is going to be fun."
I loud crash from outside my room made me lose concentration and the resulting explosion caused a nurse to come in and begin shouting at me as I grinned like a maniac.
I wondered what other skills I still possessed even as the nurse scolded me viciously.
The possibilities that came to mind made me smile wider, which caused the nurse to slap me upside the head in annoyance.
Once she left, I concentrated and found that I could make a sphere almost half the size of an actual aura sphere.
This is going to really be fun!
THE END.
Yes, this is the end, but fret not my dear readers. I may, if you guys really want me to, write a sequel to Curse of the Lucario. Leave a review of both your opinion of my story and of whether or not I should attempt a sequel. Remember, I won't know what you want unless you tell me. If I confused you about anything or left anything out that you want to know about, send me a PM and I will answer as soon as I can. To the guests who leave questions in the reviews, remember, I cannot respond to guests questions because there is no one to send a PM to.
I want to thank all the dedicated reviewers and those who sent in suggestions and PMs, they make writing this worth it ten times over.
To those who want to write anything based off of my story, I only ask that you send me a PM asking permission so I can check it out when you post it. I will most likely say yes, so don't be shy about asking. I just ask that you give credit where it is due.
And, with heavy heart and leaden fingers, I post this final chapter.
(And cause I can't resist without saying my favorite Latin saying.)
Veni Vedi Vici. I came, I saw, I conquered.
Goodbye :).