FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 14

I found myself holding my breath as I swam and eventually I tried to force my body to relax and breathed in the water. As I inhaled I felt only air enter my nose and lungs however. The Aqua Ring filtered the water like the gills of a fish. I felt light in the water too, the power of the water type move giving me the same benefits as a resident of the ocean while I had it.

I saw the Vaporeon Tower in the distance, situated around a magnificent coral reef. A small explosion rippled through the water from the tower, and the tower leaned slightly as the coral around it broke apart, pieces of ocean plant life floating up from where they had been perched in the coral. Dozens of wild fish fled the area as well, and a few dozen Vaporeon were blasted through the water. I landed in the corals and hid behind a large purple rock.

"Hahahaha! You really think you can stop us!?" I heard a voice shout out in the waters, voice shrill and high pitched, clear as if we were actually on land. On a nearby rock, a dark purple shadow seemed to appear atop it. I recognized it quickly as he stood, twitching in place and giving a mad cackle. A Sableye, bigger than most others that my general knowledge told me.

He cackled, his arms raised up above his head as he jumped in place doing a small dance, "Nasty nasty!" He laughed, holding his stomach then as he bellowed.

"Vale! I told you to calm yourself." Called another voice, notably female in tone.. A Zoroak appeared next to him then, shimmering into place as if having been invisible. "Becoming a Sableye has caused your mind to rot."

"Wrong! Wrong!" The Sableye jumped up and down a bit in place, then stood, his body twitching rapidly as if he was unable to stand still at all. "Must destroy!"

"Enough!" The Zoroak barked and drew a fist back and she slashed at him. Her claws phased through the Sableye, whose name I now assumed was Vale.

He cackled madly again and pointed and laughed at the Zoroak, "Silly! Silly! You can't touch me! No one can!"

Another explosion rocked the coral, and another large piece of it broke off and began to float up in the water.

"Karmen!" The voice of the Sawk from earlier shouted out then as he swam up from the coral. "Finally broke in!"

"Excellent. Let's move before the Eeveelutions mass up." The Zoroak who I deduced now was named Karmen began to swim, and the Sableye followed quickly. I watched quietly as the three of them vanished into a cave that the Sawk had blasted open. I waited a few moments before I started to swim after them, entering the cave.

I swam through it as it went down then took a twisted turn around to start swimming upwards. I surfaced out of the water in a dimly lit cave, the only light being what managed to come up through the water. I looked around quickly, but the three invading pokémon were not in the immediate area. The cave seemed to continue forward into the cliffs of the coral and I pulled myself up out of the water slowly.

I put my paw on the wall and started to walk slowly through the darkness, stumbling slightly.

"Need some help?" A pleasant and familiar voice asked and the darkness around me was suddenly lifted into a purple glow and looked over my shoulder to see Mistress Chandelure.

"Mistress?" I asked in surprise, "How..."

"Been following you since I vanished at the trail deary..." She hummed back to me gently, "Was waiting for this moment. Psy was difficult to convince about this."

"What do you mean?"

"I knew one of them was a ghost type."

"You mean the Sableye?"

Mistress Chandelure nodded and her eyes narrowed, "He's been breaking a lot of rules, possessing without making deals, killing even. I was alerted to him by others thinking one of my own ghosts was out of control, and after learning about you being human and everything, I deduced he was one of them. I'm certain he possessed the Vaporeon that has given them Aqua Rings. You'll need a ghost type to fight a ghost type, as you saw earlier, you can't harm him unless you had some psychic power."

"Do you think you can handle that?" I asked worriedly, "He's a human, he came here super powerful..."

"I will be fine..." Mistress Chandelure said. "Let's go forward. To the final battle...we must protect this world Ruli."

________________

Mistress Chandelure and I followed the tunnel further into the cliffs, and wondered if by now if we were actually under the mainland again. Her flames lit the way as I walked slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible as she floated behind me.

Suddenly she dimmed her flames, "They are near." She whispered and as we continued creeping forward I began to hear voices.

"So pleasant of them to round up all the mirrors for us." I heard the Zoroak say smugly.

"Stupid! Stupid!" Vale's voice responded.

"How do you break them?" The Sawk's voice then asked, "I've been trying and trying to break the one from the Jolteon Tower with everything I can think of."

"Not worried about breaking them yet Cane. I just want to move them to a different location."

I approached and peered over the edge of the rocky wall. There were the six mirrors from the towers, everyone of them. Each looked exactly the same, save for what I now noticed to be symbols etched along the rims. Then there were the three invaders. Karmen was reaching forward with her paw and touched the rim of one of the mirrors, and suddenly, slowly, it began to vanish. I acted on instinct, I had to stop them. I stomped out from behind my cover.

"Stop right there!"

The Sableye and Sawk turned in surprise to face me, but while I believed I caught them off guard, the Zoroak did not stop what she was doing.

The mirror completely vanished as she chuckled, "Well if it isn't the poster boy. Been keeping an eye on you-" She turned then and her eyes went wide as she saw me. "What!?"

I grinned slightly, clearly she had not been aware of my newfound form.

"He-He's become..." The Sawk, Cane, stuttered as I summoned my bone staff and spun it around it bit.

"Bad! Very bad!" Vale stammered with him.

"How did you get that power!" Karmen shouted out and she marched to stand in front of them both.

"You didn't think Arceus really didn't have a plan for all this, did you?" I grinned at her and pointed my staff at them all. "Surrender! You've lost!"

Karmen laughed, "Surrender!? Stupid boy. I don't know how you may have gotten that power, but you're still untrained and as weak as when we sent you here. You were a expendable, even if you managed to get through the barrier unharmed, you would have been the first to die. Cannon fodder." She grinned smugly.

"Attack you fools!" Karman shouted at Cane and Vale beside her, turning around and she moved back to the mirrors.

"Yes! Yes! Weak and untrained! Weak and untrained!" Vale chanted as he jumped up and down a bit, laughing, then he crouched down on all fours and Cane took a fighting stance. Vale's legs and body twitched and he screeched, "Die, DIE!"

He and the Sawk suddenly dashed out at me, their speed was fast, but in this body, with the power given to me, I could keep up. I dodged the Sawk's initial punch and jumped over a follow up kick. Vale appeared in the air then, laughing his insane laugh again as he flew down, slashing his clawed hands wildly.

I spun my staff in the air to deflect him, causing him to jump away as he landed and suddenly a purple glow surrounded him and then Mistress Chandelure appeared from behind the rocky wall behind me.

"You have been very naughty..." She said darkly while floating towards him.

I continued to clash with Cane as I heard Vale shouting at the Mistress, "Nasty Nasty! You let me go!"

The Mistress merely continued to float towards him, her voice holding her stern tone, "You and I...are going to have a chat..."

With that both of them vanished.

"Vale!" Cane shouted and he kicked out at me again. I blocked with my staff, released it, grabbing his foot with both my paws. I spun and threw him. He crashed against the wall and slid down, catching himself with a hand and leg to kneel, briefly winded.

I took this moment to summon an Aura Sphere and threw it at Karman. The attack flew through her though as she was reaching out to one of the mirrors. It exploded on the other side of the cave behind her. Her image turned and grinned at me, before fading away and suddenly she spoke from the other end of the row of mirrors.

"Fool." She chuckled and touched the mirror, and it began to vanish like the first. I growled and threw another sphere at her, but it too phased through her,the image of her body shimmering to fade away and she reappeared again at the mirror just next to it, touching it as well and it began to also fade.

"Stop it!" I yowled and I made to dive at her, passing through her body again and skidding along the ground.

"She's not there Ruli!" I heard yet another familiar voice behind me then and I looked up to see Lucian as he was running into the cave behind me, "She's right here!" He jumped up and kicked out at empty air. His foot found contact though, and Karmen yelled out as she was kicked, appearing suddenly and skidding a few yards across the ground as Lucian landed.

The Lucario flicked his paws briefly, his two bone swords appearing in them as he grinned. "Can't hide from me Karmen. I see through your illusions with this eye." His Absol eye was glowing dark purple.

"You!" Karmen shouted out in rage and she instantly dove at Lucian. She clashed against his swords and then kicked out, Lucian was unable to keep up, flying back as the Zoroark howled. Lucian impacted the wall, his swords falling out of his paws. Before he could even start sliding down, Karman was there and had him by the neck. Unlike Morgana, Karmen was not going to hold back.

"Gck!" Lucian gagged, his paws grabbing hold of Karmen's arm as she lifted him up in the air.

"Lucian!" I shouted and rose to run to him, but suddenly felt my arms get grabbed from behind. Cane had risen from my attack and had snuck up behind me while I had been distracted. He held my arms in a lock, planting his feet firmly.

Lucian struggled to free himself as Karmen held him in the air still, growling loudly. Suddenly, she grinned and laughed, and both I and Lucian stared in surprise. "How...touching!" She sneered. "Father and son found each other it seems!"

"What...are you talking about?" Lucian struggled to say as he squirmed, his paws grabbing at her arm repeatedly.

Karmen tilted her head, a look of clear confusion on her face, before she bellowed in laughter. "You don't know?!"

Karmen turned to hold Lucian out to me, "Behold Ruli, or rather, Zane! Do you know who this is!?" I blinked as I heard that name, it flashed through my head and suddenly I remembered several things about my human life, as if hearing that name had unlocked nearly everything, including...

"My father...his name...Lucian..." I whispered as I stared at the other Lucario, who looked down at me as he hung in the air, eyes filling with shock as he heard what I said.

"That's right!" Karmen said with glee as with her other paw, she jabbed Lucian on the cheek.

"How...how?" Lucian stammered and Karmen seemed more than happy to explain.

"Remember that sample you left behind before going in the teleportor Lucian, forty years ago? You think Morgana would have really not have attempted it? Sixteen years ago she used it to bear your child, then had HIM!" She cackled again and slapped her leg repeatedly.

"To think you didn't know!? Didn't you feel it?" She asked him, then to me she said, "Welcome to the family kid! I'm your aunt, on your mother's side!"

I gaped at her, "W-what?"

"And I'm your cousin." Cane said behind me, "And Vale's your Uncle."

"So...Morgana is-"

"Your MOM!" Karmen shouted in glee behind me and now Cane was also laughing at the situation. Lucian and I continued to stare at one another.

"M-Morgana...did she...know?" He croaked out to Karmen, his paws returning to clench at her paw around his neck.

"That not only was her husband betraying her but her son as well?" Karmen shook her head, "No, she had no idea. Probably didn't even realize who the Lucario she was attacking was." She then eyed me and sneered, "Oh Zane Zane Zane...You were so WILLING to be the test subject for the teleportors second use. Morgana didn't want you to do it, she wanted to go herself, but I overruled her. I needed her alive, you were expendable."

Karmen put her paw on her chest as she shook her head, Lucian struggling again to free himself in vain, gagging. "She was...SO distraught when your test went wrong as well. She came here fully prepared to do everything to save our world, she was the strongest of us all. Then," She turned Lucian around and lowered him to growl in his face, "You appeared...and seeing you fighting to save this world now...she gave up...and let herself DIE by your hand." With this, she threw him up into the air directly above her.

She pulled her fist back as Lucian swung around, trying to regain his balance, but too late. Three long purple claws appeared on her fist, and she lifted it up above her as Lucian fell to impale him.

"Lucian!" I shouted to him. He saw the claws, tried to redirect his fall, but he couldn't. With a sickening splat, he became impaled on the claws.

"NOOOO!" I tried to wriggle free of Cane's grip, but he kicked the back of my knees, which made me fall to them. He kept hold my arms, holding them behind myself and then he put one foot on my back to hold me down.

Karmen lowered her paw slowly to put Lucian face to face with her again, as the Lucario's mouth hung open, blood swelled from his wound and leaked down his body and onto her arm and paw under him. She growled in his face, his eyes locking onto her as she whispered, "And now you'll die by mine...say hi to Morgana for me..."

With that, she released her claws, and without them to keep him impaled on her paw, Lucian slid and fell to his side on the ground, blood quickly pooling around him.

"Lucian!" I struggled again and Karmen stepped away and moved back to the mirrors, waving her paw to Cane.

"Let the poor fools grieve, we'll be done here before their even done."

Cane suddenly released me, and I scrambled over to the fallen pokémon. Quickly putting him in my arms. My paws glowed green by themselves, I wasn't sure what they were doing, but I looked down at Lucian as I held him and he looked up at me. He coughed, spitting up blood.

"If I had...known...All this time I thought you were his son..." He groaned out to me and I shook my head.

"Stop stop...don't speak..." I whined, blinking my eyes, finding them full of tears. They fell to his bloodied fur, matting it as I sniffled over him.

But he didn't listen, "Zane...It was the name Morgana and I had already picked...if we had a boy...we were going to have a child...after taking this world..." He said and he looked up at me, his muzzle shaking as he managed to smile, "You...have...to save this world. You still...have other promises to keep." He coughed again, and when he looked back up at me I could tell he was fading quick, his one good eye becoming just as cloudy like the other one.

"No...No..." I shook my head, flinging tears around and my head tendrils whipping back and forth, the glow of my paws increasing in brightness. "Not without you...Lucian...Dad...I just found out you're still alive...I just remembered everything...Mom told me you had died years ago but...I had volunteered...because I wanted to find you...I believed without a doubt that somewhere in this world you were alive...please..."

He grunted, and his arm rose, bringing his paw to my cheek and stopping my furious head shaking. His thumb wiped away the tears as he still smiled up at me.

"Despite...that I never knew...I want you to know...I...I..." His voice failed him as he got a bit of a sleepy look, but his mouth worded the last of the words. His arm fell suddenly and he closed his eyes, his head falling back as his whole body slacked in my arms.

My paws stopped glowing and tears continued to stream unbidden from my eyes, dripping to the rocky ground and wetting more of Lucian's fur as I held him still. Slowly, I placed him on his back on the ground, standing up and looking down upon him as I cried.

"I love you too...Dad..." I responded to him then.

"How touching." An uninvited voice interrupted me and Cane kicked me in the back of the knees again, making me fall to them once more. He wrangled my arms back once more, leaving me in just the right position to hang over Lucian's body. I hung there, unable to fight. Sadness flooded me. What was the point now? I might have remembered everything...but had lost everything too...

"Never liked him anyway." Cane said, rattling on as if I was listening. "He was righteous cot. Kept trying to say we didn't need to get the whole world, just a few million pokémon to repopulate ours."

I growled, "Better off than you it seems. I would die than call you family."

"I might be willing to give you that pleasure." Cane said and he put his fist up against the back of my skull, "Just one good hard smack right here."

"Go on then." I growled back at him, tears still streaming down my face. I didn't want to do this anymore, I just wanted to get away from it.

He removed his fist, and I closed my eyes.

"Say hi to everyone for me." Cane told me, and then I felt it. His fist collided with the back of my skull and I fell over Lucian's body, feeling myself fade nearly instantly.

___________________

"Hey...wake up." A voice, unfamiliar to me, spoke to me. At the same time, an insistent prodding at my shoulder, like someone was kicking me. "Wake up. Damn quitter."

I grumbled as I struggled to open my eyes. A bright light shined down over me, making me squint and bring up my paws to shield it. My paws were still crimson furred, I was still Mega it seemed. I expected to ache, but I felt no pain from the back of my head at all.

A figure peered over me and into my vision blocking the harsh light and I removed my paw to see a Riolu standing over me, his arms folded and his leg moving as he kept kicking me.

"Yeah you. Get up." He snarled down at me, "I'm the lazy one."

I slowly brought a paw under myself to push myself up, sitting and I looked around a moment. We were in a lush, green forest. I quickly realized it as the same clearing I had first woke up in from the coast town, in Ruli's body.

"Can't believe after everything we've been through, you'd give up like that." The Riolu chastised me as I looked around, then I looked to him. He was level with me as I was sitting, his eyes boring into mine intently and accusingly.

I tilted my head as he still had his arms crossed, tapping his footpaw on the ground impatiently and scowling at me.

"Ruli?" I asked and he rolled his eyes, his entire head also rolling with them it seemed.

"Duh." He stated back and growled again, "Really? That wasn't obvious?"

I grimaced slightly and looked around again, "Where..."

"We're dead." He stated again simply, "You killed both of us and doomed the world, way to go."

"What...but...you..." I started, confused, bewildered, and caught of guard by his attitude.

"Oh please. I've been in there the whole time, just in the backseat of your head." He reached and punched the side of my head roughly a few times. He growled and turned, walking a bit away from me and putting his arms behind his head instead, sighing heavily.

"You got us killed..." He said it again, "Can't freaking believe it. I was putting trust in you, serves me right, should've known better than to trust anyone. Got me far enough in the coast town anyway." He was talking to himself now and I stood up shakily at first, listening to him as he kept walking around, eyes closed.

"Shouldn't have allowed you to take control. Nope...not even at HIS behest. Should have told him to go fuck himself but heck, even I couldn't say no to the ALL MIGHTY ARCEUS."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ah you don't remember everything huh? Just what made you chicken out huh?" Ruli returned his attention to me. "Freakin idiot."

I growled and barked at him, but he didn't even flinch.

"Really?" He scoffed as he raised an eyebrow at me, "You can't hurt me here. We're dead."

I growled still, "Pangoro and the rest were right, you really are a brat."

"Least I never quit before." He said back pointedly and I couldn't help but wince. A bit of silence fell as the Riolu sneered as he saw my reaction and then he stretched out in front of me, "Lucky for you...I'm not gonna let you quit so easy."

"Huh?"

"The afterlife only needs one soul. One of us can go back." Ruli said, and I instantly knew what he was saying.

"No way, I'm not going back."

"Oh yes you are." Ruli shot a glare a me again and I opened my mouth to speak, but he continued "And I'm gonna give you five good reasons why you are."

"One!" He said quickly before I could speak again, "You really think after everything you've done, that world wants the OLD Ruli back? You said it yourself, I'm a brat. Every single friend you made I would have turned against me in one day. I go only for me, myself, and I." He pointed at himself as he said the last part.

"Two! Whichever one of us goes back, we get to keep the power of the Mega. That power in my hands?" Ruli shook his paws in front of himself, "Heck no, I'd go on rampages, it's only responsible of me to not do it."

"Three! You were the one that has earned that body, not me, you were the one that did all the training with Lucian, I would have thrown in the towel on the first hour and told him to go fuck himself too. Damn the fact that he was my father's friend or whatever!"

I opened my mouth again, this time to tell him off for insulting Lucian but he kept going, "Four!" This time, he paused a moment, and he looked right into my eyes, "You love him...You made a promise to him..." His voice fell oddly bashful now, much different then the chiding he had been giving me.

I blinked as I wondered what he meant, then realized. Axel. In my grief, I completely forgot about him. Sadness at the fact hit me hard and I realized my mistake. I was dead...I broke my promise.

"A-Axel..." I whispered softly.

Ruli nodded in front of me, "That's right. Don't forget him. Don't you ever, ever forget him again. You might have remembered who you were Zane...but that doesn't change what you have done, the promises you have made as Ruli, as me...You promised him, and he is counting on you...they all are."

Ruli stepped up to me, reaching up and he took hold of my paws in his, looking up at me still. "The fifth reason?" He started and he smiled up at me, "I'm...happy...that you took over, heh. You were a much better son than I...I'm not THAT selfish as to push you out now..."

Ruli released my paws then and he turned, walking away from me. "Go back Zane...fight...save this world...save Axel...save the world our fathers fought for."

"But what about you?" I said suddenly and reached out in reaction. He stopped walking then, and I found myself crying once again.

"Why does this have to be like this? Why do you have to give yourself up for me?"

"So emotional..." Ruli said back lightly, "Relax. I want to do this. Besides..." He looked back at me and smiled, and I could see tears sparkling down his own cheeks, "In another world...in another life...we might know each other again. I'd like that to be on good terms that time."

He turned his head back to the forest in front of him, "Goodbye Zane..." He said and then walked again, entering the bush with a slight rustle, and then seeming to vanish.

I looked up to the sky again, feeling something welling up inside me then. The bright light from the sky grew blinding and I had to close my eyes.

_____________________

"Stupid boy." I heard Karmen's voice scoff and I grimaced slightly, keeping my eyes closed as I felt myself coming back to my senses. I laid atop of Lucian's body, the spike of his chest poking against my stomach. "Coward couldn't handle his emotions."

I grunted as I pushed my paws under me, opening my eyes and pushing myself up away from Lucian's form.

"What?" Cane said behind me, agast, "But...impossible! I just checked his pulse! He was dead!"

"Hit him again fool!" Karmen screeched.

I heard shuffling behind me, and I snapped back with my paw and grabbed his arm. I gripped it tight, hearing and feeling his bones snap and crack in my grip.

"AHHH!" Cane shouted in pain as I held him. I stared down at Lucian's face. He seemed so peaceful.

"How!" Karmen shouted by the mirrors. "How are you alive?!"

I turned my head to her, my eyes glowing bright red, blue lines of aura energy began to etch themselves along my body, tracing along the black stripes that lined my face like a mask, my arms and legs and torso.

"I made a promise." I growled at her and then I wretched Cane through the air again, throwing him once more to the cave wall. I didn't stop there this time though. I concentrated, bringing my paws together and creating a massive amount of energy in my paws, the light gathering into a ball between them.

"Rarrrrwwww!" I yowled as I held it out in front of me, a beam of aura energy firing from my palms and blasting Cane against the rocks. He shouted out as the energy engulfed him. I continued to shout with him as I kept the beam going, until his cries faded and I continued for a good few moments to make sure the job was done before releasing the energy.

The beam had drilled a massive hole through the ground, a tiny dot of light visible at the very end of the tunnel. It had blasted all the way out to the world outside.

I turned slowly to Karmen, who was now backing away quickly. Three mirrors remained hanging in the air around her.

"Ho-how...you killed him...my son..." Her voice stammered in shock.

"Just as you killed my father." I stated back and started to walk towards her, leaving blue glowing paw prints in the rock where I stepped.

"Stay back!" Karmen shouted and her claws appeared on both paws now. "I'll kill you just the same I did him!"

"Try it." I said back as I summoned my staff to my paws, the green glow contrasting the blue along my body.

"AHHHH!" She shouted as she dove at me. I blocked her attack, parried it really, making her recoil. I stood at the ready, not attacking her, staring her down. We traded blows for minutes. She had lost her cool. Her attacks were clumsy now, unpracticed. Her rage and anger drove her.

"Raaahhh!" She attacked again, swinging her claws down. I held up my staff to block, grunting slightly from the impact and she held her ground in front of me, claws raking down against my staff still as we glared at each other.

"I'll send you to the afterlife personally!" She sneered at me and I grinned.

"No...we will." I said softly to her and she looked at me in confusion, and suddenly her body was lifted up into the air, a pink glow surrounding her body.

"What!?" She shouted and looked around, noticing then the massive amount of Eeveelutions that were standing in a row behind me, inside the tunnel I had blasted open. I had felt them during our fighting, as they had been climbing through the hole.

Axel stood at the front, and Epa appeared beside him, her eyes glowing brightly, as well as every single Espeon in the crowd behind her. I held my staff beside myself as I looked up silently at Karmen and she glared down at me.

"You think all your friends can keep me here?" She spat at me and her body began to glow dark purple, the pink glow surrounding her fading and she started to fall slowly.

"You're facing all of us now!" Axel shouted back and his yellow rings began to glow.

"Umbreon Clan!" I heard the dark voice of the Umbreon Elder follow as all the Umbreon began to glow as well, augmenting the power of their Espeon allies. The pink glow around the Zoroark grew brighter.

"Leafeon Clan!" I heard Chora shout out in the crowd, and hundreds of green energy balls flew over my head to smash against Karmen. She shouted out in surprise and pain, her purple glow stopping as the Espeon's hold was now too much.

"Flareon Clan!" The Flareon Elder shouted, and dozens more fireballs flew past me, exploding as they impacted Karmen.

"Rahhh! Pitiful attacks!" she barked out at us as the smoked cleared, burns and small gashes bleeding along her body.

"Glaceon Clan!"

"Vaporeon Clan!"

Together, the Vaporeon and Glaceon fired ice beams and waterguns, creating a massive slab of ice that smashed Karmen into the rock wall, the huge slap then falling apart and bouncing harmlessly off the mirrors. The Espeons held Karmen still in place against the rock.

Fifteen Jolteon strode up to stand beside me, the newly elected Jolteon Elder next to me.

"This..." he said softly while the Jolteon bristled and started to crackle with electrical energy, "Is for the fallen of the Jolteon Clan..."

They all fired thunderbolts at Karmen, zapping her continously. She shouted out in pain as they continued, unrelenting.

"Then this!" I shouted out and jumped up between the bolts, pulling back my paw as I flew up at her. Her eyes went wild as she saw me, and I could feel the deep anger and rage radiating from her.

"This is for Lucian, Morgana, and Ruli!" I summoned as large an aura sphere that I could as I howled at her, then struck her in the chest.

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"Where are the rest of the mirrors?" Epa asked several hours later to a captured Sablye. After burying Karmen and Lucian, Mistress Chandelure had reappeared, claiming that the Sablye/human had been rehabilitated. She did not disclose how she did this exactly claiming it was a ghost type only secret, but explaining that in becoming a ghost type, Vane has subjected himself to the rule of a Mistress in our world.

Epa did not press the issue that Vane was a human, as a ghost type, Vane was immortal, and there was nothing we could do to him, but it was good to see that Mistress Chandelure could force control on him as Mistress of the continent.

"Hidden Hidden!" Vane stated back, twitching in place where he stood just under the Mistress. "Sent far away! In mountains!"

"Mountains? The Lucario Clan's?"

"No no!" Vane said, "Different Mountains."

"Where?" Epa asked again.

"Don't know." Vane twitched, "Was not allowed to know."

"We'll get everyone searching all mountains right away." Epa said then, and soon after Mistress Chandelure and Vane were dismissed, both vanishing from sight.

"We might have to consider that they moved them to a whole other continent..." Epa said thoughtfully to me then and I nodded.

"I'll help in any way I can." putting a paw to my chest and bowing. I had stopped glowing, but remained in Mega form, my scarf again bundled around my neck.

Epa nodded, and she stared at me for a moment. I felt confusion emanating from her and I stood straight again. "Something wrong?"

"Axel told me...that the power of the Mega...would fade once this was over. Then why...?" She paused as I nodded in understanding.

"I don't think I can really explain it to you..." I said simply and Epa stared at me again, a moment of silence passing as we looked at each other, and then she nodded.

"Very well. But then...from what you explained already what should we call you? Ruli, or Zane?" I had told everyone about what had been revealed in the cave, but I told no one about Ruli's sacrifice to let me live and try again at what I had failed to do. I was keeping that locked up tight in my mind, it was private and no one needed to know that. Not even Epa could penetrate my thoughts now.

I thought about her question hard a moment though, but in the end I kept to what I already knew, "Just stick with what we know...Zane ceased to exist when he became Ruli...I am and always will be...Ruli."

_________________________

I walked alone through the coast town several days later. It was empty at the moment. Pangoro had taken the whole town out for a giant celebration. I had joined in the fun for awhile and retold tales of the fight, but eventually managed to break off as I knew Axel was going to arrive soon.

And just as I was reaching the edge of the rocky coast, Axel appeared with an Espeon beside him.

"Thank you." Axel told the Espeon, "I'll be fine now...I'll send word if I find out anything. I promise."

The Espeon bowed its head, "Farewell Prince Axel." And the Espeon teleported back from wherever they had come from.

"Back to being Prince Axel are we?" I smiled at Axel as he came beside me to sit down. I sat down with him then and we gazed out over the sea before us.

"They unbanished me." Axel said then and I looked over at him.

"That's a good thing right?" I asked, "They let you back in and acknowledge what you did for them."

Axel nodded, "But I told them I didn't want to be part of the clan, I asked for voluntary exile, but they wouldn't give it to me." He smiled and he wagged his tail, "So...I'm banished again."

"What?" I raised my eyebrows in suspicion. "Yet, they helped to teleport you here?"

"Hmmhmm. Epa understood my desire, so she made me a deal. I can get help from the clans if I need it still, but I have to stay at your side and help you if you're ever called to help them. I'm your personal assistant." He giggled as he looked at me and I laughed.

I reached out and grabbed him and pulled him to me. I kissed him lovingly then, murring happily as he tried to cuddle up against me.

"Naw Axel." I smiled at him as I pulled away from the kiss. "You're my mate. I told you I promised to make your vision come true, yeah?"

He smiled back at me and nodded, tail wagging behind himself rapidly, "Yeah."

And now, it seemed, as happy as I felt with him there with me, that it was going to come true for sure now.

To Be Continued.