Tag List: @
Sai; @
Thabet; @
Stellar Haze; @
Cosmos; @
Flonne;
We're slowly but safely approaching the end of part one. I'd also like to thank Sai, my beta, once again as he's been a tremendous help in my writing. Thanks man! :)
Essence of Life - Our Fates Entangled (3)
“Agility!”
In the wake of a frustrating argument with Gabriel, a seemingly never-ending rush of anger overwhelmed him; in disbelief over his selfish actions, Riley had made the decision of releasing his wild emotions in a passionate battle, nonetheless, an exclusive gym battle - a match against the sturdy rock type user, Brock. Despite the fact he knew his chances weren't great given the circumstances, he decided to go for it as Scyther - one astoundingly agile Pokémon who had quickly become a trusted member of his team engaged in a ferocious battle against his adamantly looking Geodude, a Pokémon whose strength surpassed the one of any regular Pokémon.
Upon Riley’s command, the vividly green, human-sized praying mantis relaxed every possible muscle of his body allowing strange energy to overflow his lively, cream-colored wings and sharply clawed legs. Scyther’s speed suddenly rose; completely exceeding Riley's expectations, the bug moved at untraceable speed. He soon found himself roaming the seemingly natural rocky field in unbelievable speed doing his best not to encounter one of the tough boulders which seemed to be present at almost each and every spot of the rocky arena.
Riley smiled excitedly while Brock kept his composure.
Proceeding with numerous glowing, completely furious strikes as deadly as one of his scythes, Geodude found itself more hurt with each of bug's attacks in unawareness of the move dealing more damage with each hit. Riley was aware of that, though, and so was Brock who knew that it was too late for him to come up with any viable strategy. The rock hard creature pursued for balance as it fiercely submerged its hand under the field soon finding itself wielding a massive rock; it prepared itself to launch the attack at the opponent. Geodude's intentions ended up being futile however as Scyther's skills vastly surpassed his own.
The final as well as the finishing strike soon followed, leading to the rock's complete destruction and Geodude's inevitable downfall. The major amount of damage had taken its toll and thus, the Pokémon fainted.
“Geodude is unable to battle! Riley’s Scyther is the winner!”
Slightly feeling relaxation soften his anger, he grinned smugly over his triumphant success. All it took was a combination of speed and power but he still knew that the true star of Brock’s team had yet to be unveiled; the hardcore, rock diamond - a peculiar creature of even more peculiar abilities.
“Geodude, you did well!” Brock exclaimed calmly withdrawing his partner in a lustrous outburst of red light; he suddenly faced Riley with his dark, epicanthic eyes. Despite the fact he had just lost, Brock looked as adamant as always and his attitude only gave away extraordinary composure and sole confidence in his gym leader skills.
“You've proven to be quite competent so far, young challenger, however - how will you fare against this?” He enlarged his second Poké Ball getting ready to throw it out.
“Let the second battle commence!” the man known as referee shouted prompting Brock to yell unexpectedly.
“Onix! Show them what true power means!”
Following one single throw, an outrageous roar wiped the grin off Riley’s face forcing to him realize how much of a lethal threat this Pokémon would present; the elongated beast superficially composed of nothing but mere dark gray rocks spread its intimidation across the field upon slamming its tail to summon a vicious sandstorm. In the moment of Onix's overwhelming emergence, it seemed to Riley as if everything was a lost. He had lost his confidence for a moment, he had lost his arrogance in a spur of the moment.
His Scyther calmly turned around merely nodding to Riley - to his trainer, his first partner. Riley suddenly smiled again; of course he would win, his Scyther was one tough piece of work.
The sandstorm brewed allowing its intensity to influence every single being present on the field. The referee moved away, placing dark goggles over his eyes; he didn't seem fazed, in fact, it all seemed to be a natural occurrence to him. And let alone to Brock, whose stance expressed stronger willpower more than ever - he didn't move a single inch as his bestial creature seemed to reign over the field.
"Alright Scyther, we can do this. Put more focus at your speed once more, Agility!"
Sadly however, Riley's plans would turn out to be useless this time around. The wicked sandstorm grew stronger within the following minutes disabling Scyther from moving any faster. Trickles of sand affected Scyther before he could shield his eyes from the sandy dust forcing his movements to cease. Onix, who had remained immobile until that point, made its first move as the single thing Riley could see coming out of the rush of sandstorm was a bug type being completely carried away by the sheer strength of Onix's metallic tail. Finding itself thrown outside of the arena, Scyther took a moment to regain his strength.
"If only Sandstorm would stop ..." Riley muttered. "You alright?"
Scyther merely nodded before rushing back in the heat of the battle.
"Use Double Team!" The bug type obeyed suddenly splitting himself in several, eerily identical copies.
"Agility and then Fury Cutter!"
The creature obeyed as his master commanded; using the sheer advantage of his speed, the creature wasted no time before surrounding the boulder Pokémon with its copies, which suddenly proceeded with shielding their eyes. Onix was slow, or at least that's what Riley believed, as evident by the sole mass of its body - such heavy amount of rocks couldn't have amounted well for its speed.
Wrong again.
"Onix, Rock Polish!"
Riley clenched his teeth furiously as he witnessed the brightly shining creature move with swift pace across the arena. The illusions collided canceling each other until the last Scyther remained standing, much to his initial shock. With an unrestrained shout, the petrous snake soon unleashed its fury transforming its energy into a mystical rage. The peculiarly wild blue flames engulfed the rocky field leading their destruction across the shattered boulders defying even the sandstorm itself - the unlucky scythed Pokémon could only imagine the doomed fate that would befall him.
The fire suddenly ceased revealing the only true victor on the field - the Pokémon and its trainer, the creature and its master. Once again, Onix let out an inhuman shout before retreating to the other side.
"Scyther is unable to battle! Brock's Onix is the winner! Therefore, the victor of this gym match is the Pewter city gym leader - Yamamoto Brock!"
"Come back, Scyther. You did well," his smile faded as he withdrew his Pokémon.
"This was a good match, you did well," Brock remarked extending his arm for a handshake. Riley calmly glared at him before suddenly turning away.
"Apparently, not well enough," he muttered before suddenly heading towards the exit.
Riley wasn't satisfied, but at least he was calm once again. Those were the words in which he sought contentment but to no avail. Even Riley knew that now, that he was on his own, all the stuff he could have had if he had stayed by his father's side would remain out of his reach. He couldn't get everything he wanted anymore, but that was okay, he told himself, because he was a free man now with boundless freedom.
And freedom had no price.
*
The people of Pewter had slowly began to calm themselves by the time she was out of the clinic; the heat of the tense day slowly faded as the seemingly immortal star above slowly moved across the colorful sky, the sky which slowly found itself decorated in bright reddish tones. It was better that way, she thought.
She couldn't understand their panic.
Their troubles would remain a mystery to her.
"They will never suffer as much as I did," Marissa muttered repeatedly drawing Vulpix's attention. She carefully stroked her mildly warm fur feeling the coziness draw her into a tempting sleep. She was tired and yet she couldn't rest. Wandering from one point to another, although confused in her inability to relocate her home, Marissa was fond of the increasing silence that slowly crept its way into the solid streets of this city.
No people that could hurt her.
No people that could recognize her.
"What do I do, Vulpix?" She bent down finding herself facing, once again, her pupil-less eyes. "Tell me, if I look into your eyes, if I look into your soul - will you tell me where my parents are?"
"Vul," The creature of soft pelt could simply raise her paws placing them above her chest. She got no answer and yet she felt warm happiness reach out from her. Why was that? Was Vulpix making her happy?
"Vulpix," her ears twitched as a response to the sudden noise.
"What is it?"
Before she could understand the animosity of the situation, Marissa suddenly fell back leaning on her hands as an enigmatic character emerged behind Vulpix's back sending her flying with an invisible force. The man of long, surprisingly dark hair glared at her with his intimidating eyes. The moment seemed to last for an eternity as she peered into his face, the depth of his bottomless eyes.
"Say, do you remember me, Original?"
The man from before, that's all that she could think of as she remained motionless.
"Now, let us go once again," he said violently grabbing her hand. He remained calm for a second before turning around to witness his Alakazam completely frozen.
"Teleport!" He yelled once again, but his Pokémon didn't do anything.
Sudden pain rushed through his body as he felt Marissa bite him infuriatingly deep into his skin. She rushed towards her fire type who was once again standing on her feet.
"I'm afraid your Pokémon doesn't take ‘Imprison’ quite well, does he?"
She put a smile on her face; seeing his face fill out with rage was a satisfying reaction. The man wasted no time however as ominous spheres entangled in eerie shadows emerged out of tips of Alakazam's mysterious spoons. Before she could even express her command, Vulpix's spontaneous reaction led to ignition as devastating flames engulfed the dark spheres swallowing them entirely. He frowned merely crossing his hands; Alakazam seemed to act on his own even without his trainer's commands.
"You will pay for what you did!"
Confusion, fear, but mostly pain; those were the emotions than ran wild through her heart and soul. Pain developed into hatred, hatred transformed into rage; she could feel her heart racing wildly as her inner outrage swallowed what was left of her emotions.
Marissa wasn't a victim anymore.
She was a monster, a monster they created.
"Kill him! Fire Spin on both of them!"
Vulpix obeyed without hesitation forming whirling flames from the insides of her body. Alakazam found himself prepared as a glowing sphere shielded both of them from melting. In unusual feeling of serenity, the humanoid-like Pokémon crossed his spoons followed by his master's vicious grin. She stepped back in fright though nothing seemed to emerge; no destructing attacks seemed to threaten them.
"Vulpix, use -" she exclaimed before realizing what was truly going on. Slightly behind her, Vulpix was struggling as a strange shine glimpsed from her body. The mystical fox Pokémon let out a cry as cracking bone noises ensued after a minute of helpless twitching.
"No, please don't hurt her!"
The man chuckled slightly pushing his hand away. At his command, as if launched by a projectile, an invisible force penetrated Vulpix through the air connecting her with a nearby stone wall causing it to crumble in aftermath of her afflicting impact.
"No!"
Her desire to run after Vulpix remained futile as a sudden force suddenly led the teenage to mysteriously float in the middle of thin air. She grabbed her throat in feeling of suffocation; a feeling of agony which soon vanished followed by a striking aches in her head.
"Please, not again!"
"Oh, so you do remember?" He remarked finding himself protected by a glowing shield once again.
Her memories shifted back and forth, from the times she could remember, times she gladly remembered to those she wished to forget. The devastating pain made Marissa herself question the mystery behind her survival; she questioned her ability to remain conscious despite all the agony she was suffering through. She remembered that day once again, the day she was stolen from her family, the day she was brought into that facility.
Perhaps, she could push away the pain like she did once.
Push it away; unleash it like she already did before.
With tremendous effort, she opened her eyes deciding to focus all her pain and suffer onto one man, the one who was making her go through this whole ordeal; the one man who was meant to pay.
Pain… Pain, once again, this time completely unbearable.
She screamed her lungs out, just like that day, she would scream until her heart would stop beating.
Then suddenly, everything stopped.
Following her abrupt fall on the ground, she exhaled as if pain left with each breath of hers. She looked in front of her seeing her enemy who was suddenly lying on the floor.
She saw the Pokémon who was barely leaning on his knees.
And lastly, she saw a teenage boy, a boy with an intimidating, red lizard by his side. She didn't know the boy, nor did she want to, but the boy looked angry beyond belief and his face didn't seem to express anything else but rage. Little did she know, but she was completely right. The boy was furious once again.
"Attacking helpless young girls, huh?"
The boy of a messy, somewhat long blonde hair clenched his fists while feeling the satisfaction of his decision. Managing to attack them from the back, his Charmeleon had managed to cease the incident by unleashing his furious metallic claws at the criminal and his Pokémon. He grinned smugly upon the sight of blood leaking from the man's back; the scratch was small but deep enough to cause moderate bleeding to a human. The man grumped in pain before reaching from Alakazam's hands.
Alakazam merely nodded before disappearing in a sparkle of blue light with him by his side.
"Are you okay?" Riley proceeded to ask but he was too late.
The girl was nowhere to be seen.
To Be Continued...
