FSE

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Chapter 12

Enzlo's plan required much thinking and preparation, along with a lot of communication with the Espeon and Umbreon clan so that he could understand how illusion and dark type energy worked in this world, but he was finally ready to enact it. It was damn convoluted and would take all his energy then some...but he believed this would work.

He made everyone else but Rook on The New Era aware of what he intended to do during the three weeks up to now. Keeping the wolf busy with practicing on his orb of rocks and assisting Timburr in repairing the holes with what wood had been stored in the compartments of the lower floor; even though this practice would no longer help the Lycanroc, Enzlo knew, it at least kept him busy and distracted so the Abra could instead spend most of his time meditating and gathering a massive amount of energy within himself, coalescing it within his body till the point that he felt like he would explode. As an Abra not of this world and of the Corsova clan, even his power and control of life energy could strike awe in most pokemon of this world, and he was going to show it today.

As for Rook, the pillar only reminded the poor rock type about his inability to control his power, and he silently and solemnly focused his effort on trying to form any kind of weapon out of the ball of rocks, unaware of the plan that was being created between the others on the ship for him.

As the sun rose on this day, four or so after they had finally shifted their course into a northeastern direction, he had decided it would be the day to enact their plan. While the Lycanroc was still sleeping right now, Enzlo sat on the railing on the top floor and looked out upon the open ocean in front of them. Ruli and Nether stood behind him, watching and fully on board with his plan since the day he had told them what he intended to do. It would cost them another day of their journey, but the potential reward would be worth the cost, they determined.

Lifting his arms up into the air, Enzlo's eyes and paws glowed a bright purple as he would cast his power out and began to build his illusion...

___________________

"Hey Rook! Wake up!" Nether said while he gently shook the Lycanroc's back, leaning over him.

"Hm-huh?" Rook grumbled as he blinked his eyes open, fighting back his sleep and blearily looking at the fire type hovering over him somewhat too close.

"W-what is it Captain...?" He asked groggily, reaching up a paw to rub one of his eyes. For some reason the leaf curtain to his room's window was closed right now, leaving it someone dark inside even though it was the middle of the day. He just assumed Enzlo had done it.

"You should come see this, come to the top floor! It'll be better if you see it for yourself!" The fire lizard smiled and then suddenly he leaned in and gave the Lycanroc a quick little kiss on his cheek.

This made Rook pause and his eyes widened a little, "What was that for...?" He asked in question, staring into the Typhplosion's eyes.

"That was simply because you're damn cute when sleeping and waking up, and because I've wanted to for some time now." The Captain snickered and then rolled up onto his feet to stand over the Lycanroc. "Now come on! Up! Your captain commands it!" He snickered further.

"All right, all right." Rook let out a short chuckle while sitting up, rubbing his other eye and then picking himself up from where he would often sleep on the floor next to Enzlo's bed.

Nether led him back through the hallways and up the stairs to the top floor, but before he even got to the top stair Rook already froze in place halfway up as he saw what Nether was so eager for him to see.

"It's an uncharted island!" Nether exclaimed happily while spreading his body and arms out in the air, fire erupting from his back. Rook took in the large land that sprawled out in front of them, with a mountain towering over a lush, dense and jungly forest and smoke coming out of the top of it, the opening at the top pointed somewhat towards the raft. Was it an active volcano? The jungle stretched out for much of the island and along the shoreline, while the mountain sat on the far end. Whatever eruptions it had in the past, it seemed like the result caused the stretch of land in front of it while the ocean met its back.

Enzlo was at the railing, his tail gently swaying left and right with Ruli standing just beside him, the Mega Lucario's arms crossed and eyes closed. As Rook continued to step up onto the top floor he continued to take in the majestic jungle that stretched out in front of their raft.

They were already tethered to the shoreline by a line of rope it seemed, connected to a grappling hook. New Era bobbed gently in the water just a few dozen yards off the beachy sands that quickly gave way to the jungle. Rook's ears flicked as he heard the calls of many pokemon on the island.

"There's pokemon here?" Rook asked as he stepped up behind Enzlo, and Ruli opened his eyes to look at him.

"Yes, but they are more than likely all feral." He said, "So keep your guard up when we enter."

"Wait, we're going on it?" Rook said, even though the knowledge had his tail wagging. It would be the first land they'd seen since they had first set off. Still though, more questions jumped into his head, "Can we afford to? We...I already cost us time before." He said the last part with a little resignation, and then frowned, "Also, what do you mean by feral?"

"It's a pokemon who hasn't had much interaction with other, sociable pokemon like those at the coast town." Ruli stated, and explained further. "They are rather rare and only found in very remote places where no one lives. As they grow and develop and evolve, without any of that common societal ties, they become savage and act mostly on instinct and self-preservation and will often attack on sight."

"Most Ferals you see these days are just the offspring of other Ferals, but you may sometimes hear of one that was an abandoned child of someone who didn't want the egg, or rather abandoned by a female who became pregnant before they were mated to someone in those clans. Those that still follow those rules anyway." Nether would shrug as he walked around the Lycanroc.

For some reason, Nether's words made Ruli's paw flex on his arm as he growled out. "When my father was brought into this world years ahead of myself...he was brought into this world as a halfbreed Lucario, with his mother being raped by a Feral Absol in the mountains near the Lucario Clan. She was exiled and she shortly died being unable to fend for herself, and he himself, while allowed to stay with the clan, was also exiled sometime after...as the Absol eye he had caused the clan misfortune..."

"Oof..." The Typhlosion reached up and rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry mate, didn't mean anything..."

"Of course..." The Mega Lucario said softly, turning around to face the island again, "It was mostly to give Rook a bit more background on how Ferals and often, those who may breed with them, are looked at by the clans..."

Ruli peered out upon the island next to Enzlo as he then asked, "So, what do you think we're looking at here?"

Enzlo's eyes were glowing a very bright purple, looking straight into the jungle in front of them as he said back, "Flying types, mostly, and that's not really a surprise. They've been living off the berries and fruits of the trees here it seems. They shouldn't bother us, but there does appear to be some kind of cave system by that mountain. The jungle is so thick and full of vegetation that I can't sense very well beyond that."

"So wait, we are going on it?" Rook asked, repeating the same question from before since he hadn't actually gotten an answer to it. "What about our timeframe getting to the other continent?"

"This is an uncharted island!" Nether exclaimed excitedly in response, but then said further, "Exploring it is not only practically a requirement as a seafarer, but it will give my boys another chance to rest. They've been taking shifts going nonstop the last three weeks and it's starting to seriously wear down on our overall speed."

"And if we take some time, we can gather wood to replenish what was used in the repairs before, and maybe get a new surplus of food. I think everyone here could use a good moment on solid land too." Ruli added up, but then Enzlo's tail flicked.

"No." He stated quickly to Ruli's words, "Before we let everyone enjoy getting their feet on the ground, we need to make sure there's not going to be any actual danger, and just trying to sense it here isn't enough. Rook, Myself, and Ruli will go ashore alone and scout out to the base of the mountain at least. I am curious about the tunnels more than the jungle. Anything could have made those and be living here."

The Mega Lucario hummed lightly, "Point...then let's get ourselves ashore and start. We agreed to do this but it's still a day of travel being used up. Sooner we find what we can and take what we want the faster we can continue." And then he walked over to where the rope was tied to the raft and began to pull them in.

Enzlo floated up into the air and turned around, his eyes still glowing a bright purple for some reason as he came to stop in front of Rook. "And for you, you can get yourself a new rock coat hopefully, so that you can attune it to your energy before we reach the continent."

Rook wagged his tail happily at this, and he eagerly waited for them to reach the shore as Ruli pulled them in steadily, looking back up at the smoking mountain with a wide smile.

_______________________

As soon as Rook jumped from the raft and stepped foot onto the shore, he frowned, looking down and staring at his feet.

"I...can't feel the ground..." He said, lifting up his footpaw and looking at the bottom of his pad, then patting it back down upon the sandy shore that met the water a few times. Specks of the sand clung to the underside of his footpaw, but he couldn't sense them.

"What do you mean? Feels normal to me." Ruli said a few steps in front of him, looking back over his shoulder.

"No I mean...I can feel that it's uh...there like, physically, but I can't sense it." Rook tried to explain and he knelt. He put his paw on the ground, brushing his paw through the grains of sand as it glowed yellow and he tried to channel his power into the tiny rocks, but they just didn't accept his energy. He frowned further, flicking his ears, "I can't infuse my energy into the rocks or ground for some reason..."

"It's infused with something else's energy already." Enzlo said, floating up beside him, his eyes still glowing a bright purple. "Something here may actually be responsible for the volcano and therefore, the resulting land is attuned to it."

Rook lifted his head where he was crouching at the Abra, "Why are you still using your power for Enzlo?"

"I'm keeping my senses aware...we have no idea what may be on this island. I may not sense anything right now, but it is better to be safe than sorry." The Abra simply explained, and then he floated over and then plopped himself right down onto Rook's shoulders and neck. "Given that, if you don't mind, I believe I will let you do the walking for me."

"Hehe, ya all right." Rook nodded, standing up and accepting the explanation Enzlo gave him. "But I guess that means I won't be getting a new rock coat here..." He said sadly. He started to step forward to join Ruli at the line of trees and thick vines of jungle.

"Then it's a good thing I brought this along." Enzlo said after his first few steps, and then Rook would suddenly see the rock ball bring itself in front of his face from behind.

"Oh come on!" Rook instantly grumbled, but he lifted up his paws and took the ball of rocks into it, the purple glow of Enzlo being replaced by his own yellow as he took it, "I thought we were exploring!" He whined, continuing up the slightly angled shore to the treeline to stand next to Ruli.

"And it's a good opportunity for you to learn to ignore most distractions while channeling your power." Enzlo chidded at him, but Rook felt the playful amusement the psychic felt at the wolf's own annoyance. Rook's ears flicked back as he huffed, accepting his task of practicing and trying to get the sphere of rock to form a weapon. He knew there was no point in trying to get out of it.

"I'll take the lead, keep right behind me Rook." Ruli said, summoning a blue glowing bone sword in his paw and starting to slash through the vines, and this only kind of made Rook jealous as he followed through the thick brush behind the Mega Lucario.

Occasionally they had to pause as Ruli hacked his way through particularly dense foliage, and Rook would take that time to fidget with his ball of rocks, sifting it from the shape of an arrow, square, triangle, and circle, all the while trying to envision any kind of weapon he could with it, but whenever he tried to put forth his will into making something he thought he had a good picture of in his head, the rocks just failed to obey, shifting into some other kind of awkward looking shape that didn't resemble it at all.

"Grrrrr why...? Why is it doing that...? Why won't it just listen?" Rook growled to himself as he followed Ruli through the jungle, and then he heard a loud squawk up above them and he and Ruli both would look up.

In the trees above, perching upon a thick branch of one of the trees, was a large flying type pokemon with a huge, colorful peak. Its head was turned to the side so that one of it's huge eyes could glare down at the trio of pokemon on the ground below it, before it quickly turned it's head directly towards them and the end of its beak opened up into a large hole, pointing it more towards Rook and Enzlo.

"Watch it!" Ruli barked, and he jumped in front of the other two just before the bird squawked. "That's a feral!"

"TUUUCAN!!!" A flurry of small, round seeds fired from the opening in its beak without warning.

Ruli lifted up his sword, the hilt that he gripped in his paw extended quickly until it resembled more of a staff and then he began to spin it in his paw rapidly while holding it up in front of himself and the others.

The Bullet Seeds made loud 'Ping! Pang! Tack! Zing!' noises as Ruli's staff deflected them and they ricocheted off into the forest in front of them.

"I got it!" Rook shouted out, and he tossed the ball of rocks up into the air and then swiped his paw forward. The ball followed his desire and shot itself at the Toucannon while it was still in the middle of shooting, and its long beak proved to be its weakness, unable to clearly see the danger shooting straight towards itself.

*Whack!*

Rook's rock ball slammed against the bird's body and it let out a loud squawk of surprise as it was knocked off its perch, fell a few dozen feet down the air, before it managed to catch the air with its wings and it flew away with another loud squawk, "TOU!!! TOU!!!"

"Ow, damn...it got me with a few of those." Ruli snarled, his other paw now ruffling through his fur where there was a visible mark on his body, where the bullet seeds had exploded on contact with his body. There really were only a few of them though, and he brushed his fur lightly with his paw after a bit of examining the marks, "I'm okay though, it was decently weak as a feral..."

"Keep an eye out for others." Enzlo said from a top Rook's head, as Ruli's staff would return to its sword form in his paw and he began to slash through the foliage again.

Rook lifted his paw and his ball of rock's came hurtling back through the air at him and he caught it, and held it up with narrowed eyes as he stared at it and followed Ruli through the forest again. That was very strange...there was a short moment there where, when his ball had hit the bird's body, it hadn't immediately reacted, as if the bird itself had been just a stationary object...

"This island is infused with some special kind of energy, that is for sure." Enzlo stated, reading the Lycanroc's thoughts. "Even that Tuocannon had some of it in their body, that's why it was able to even resist your sphere for that brief moment, but it still couldn't just ignore your energy since it was weak to it."

"Why couldn't you sense it before it cawed?" Rook asked, not really understanding why this question popped into his head, and then for some reason, Ruli tripped in front of him.

"Fucking vine!" He shouted quickly, kicking his footpaw, but then suddenly the vine around his leg went taught and pulled on the Mega Lucario's footpaw. Ruli shouted as he was suddenly flipped upside and lifted up into the air by a thick blue vine. His bone sword fell from his paw and would fade away before it hit the ground. "AAAHHHH!!!"

"Tang!!!" A new pokemon's voice suddenly called out from the nearby trees, and then the ground shook as a large Tangrowth appeared about a dozen feet deeper in the jungle next to them, and stomped through the bushes towards them once. "Tangrowth!" It was twice as big as others that Rook remembered seeing during his time in the labs.

"Holy Arceus, that's a big Tangrowth!" Rook shouted, stepping back once as Ruli was flicked into the air, tossed away almost like a ragdoll and out of sight from them into the dense jungle.

"What your feet!" Enzlo shouted, and Rook looked down just in time to see that a few blue tentacles were slithering along the ground at either side of him. Rook jumped up backwards in the air, and those tentacles snapped up off the ground but grabbed nothing but air as they reacted too late.

As Rook landed back onto the ground, an Aura Sphere came hurtling through the bushes and vines from the direction Ruli had been tossed. It slammed against the Tangrowth and then exploded in a large, smokey blue explosion, the large mass of tentacles letting out a loud shout. "TANGRWO!!!"

Not wanting to let the big pokemon recover and resume its assault, Rook followed up Ruli's attack with his rock orb, first throwing it up into the air above the Tangrowth and then slamming his yellow glowing paws downward. It crashed down against the top of the pokemon's head and it slumped forward, but then it's eyes opened back up and glared at the Lycanroc.

"Na uh! Not letting up!" Rook smirked, his eyes glowing, and he raised his paws.

"Tang!" The large mass of tentacles shouted as Rook's rock ball lifted up off the back of its head, and it clearly began to ready another attack while lifting up another few tentacles, but not before Rook could swing his paws back downwards again.

*SMACK!* The Tangrowth stumbled as Rook's rock ball smashed against its head once more, and then Rook lifted his paws only slightly and then crashed them back down firmly, making the ball crash against the back of its head once more right after. *CRACK!*

"Take a nap!" Rook shouted as he lifted his paws up high a final time, and grinned while twisting his claws in the air. The rock sphere shifted to change shape into the arrow form he had perfected with it, and then he slammed it down one more time.

*WHACK!!!* The rock sphere smashed the pointed end of itself upon the back of the Tangrowth's head one last time and the big pokemon finally seemed unable to take anymore, letting out a low cry of "Taaaannnngggg..." as it fell forward and passed out, its tentacles falling still as they remained spread across the floor of the jungle.

Rook's ball of rock slowly returned to his paw as he carefully watched the large pokemon, and only turned his head to call out once he was sure it was knocked out, "Ruli!?"

"Yeah! I hear ya! Did you take it down already?" The Lucario's voice shouted back through the jungle. "Can you make your way to me? There's a large clearing here that it tossed me into that leads right up to the volcano!"

"All right! Just...uh..." Rook stepped up to the wall of vines and thick foliage that blocked his way forward. "Oh geez..." He said this last part much more softly as he examined the thick jungle.

"Use your claws?" Enzlo said with a chuckle, and he made a snipping motion with two of his fingers in Rook's head fur.

Rook frowned and he brought his claws and clicked them together, then reached in and tried to cut through the vines with his claws, but that didn't prove very effective. While they tore into it, that was far too much effort.

"Okay um..." Rook began to reconsider calling out to Ruli and asking the Mega Lucario to cut a path to him instead, but Enzlo lightly slapped his head.

"He just got flung about a hundred feet, ya really gonna ask him that?"

"Urf...no I suppose not..." Rook sighed and he looked then towards his ball of rocks, and he had an idea. "Okay, let's try..."

Snipping motion...

"All right...visualize the energy...and then control its motion..." Rook mumbled to himself mostly as he tried to peel apart the rocks of his sphere into a scissors like shape. The sphere quivered as Rook tried to shape the rocks to follow what he had in mind, but instead of forming a mouth like scissors like he intended, his rocks opened up like the maw of a canine beast, forming rows of sharp looking 'teeth'

Rook frowned at this, but he clenched his paw and the jaws of the ball chomped close with a quick 'snap!' and then he shrugged, relaxing the hold to open up the jaws again and then bringing it back towards the vines.

'Chomp!' his sphere just snapped apart several of the vines all at once as the jaws would bite through them. Rook was just confused, but he accepted this new form that his rocks had taken. Scissors equals teeth apparently.

With this, Rook steadily bit and chomped his way through the jungle towards where he had heard Ruli earlier, and a few minutes later he could see the clearing beyond the jungle. His ball took its last few chomps and then returned to just being a sphere as Rook stepped into the clearing, the ground at his paws turning from lush, marshy feeling vines and grass to flat, smooth and somewhat warm obsidian rock.

Ruli was standing a few more dozen feet ahead of them, looking up at the mouth of the volcano that was towering over them. There was a quiet, soft rumble here from the active mountain, but Rook didn't know if that meant it would erupt soon or was just quietly smoldering.

"Check out those tunnels." Ruli said as the Lycanroc came closer, pointing out across the bumpy layers of obsidian that led up to a series of large holes that bored right into the side of the mountain, quickly dipping downwards. Their size was enormous. "I hope whatever carved those isn't still here..."

"Only one way to find out." Rook said and he began to walk forward. Ruli watched him stepping closer to the tunnels, a moment of surprise appearing on his face before he started to follow after the Lycanroc.

Approaching one of the large holes, Rook examined the wall as he came closer to it, reaching up one paw while the other held his ball of rocks. The wall was smooth, and he could see some circular indentations carved into the stone by whatever pokemon had probably made the tunnels.

"Something very powerful carved out these passages..." He mused, rubbing his paw across it, "It must be whatever you had mentioned before Enzlo, because I can't sense the rock here either..."

Together, Rook and Ruli took several more steps deeper into the tunnel. The Lycanroc peered into the darkness ahead of them, but even his own night vision couldn't see any end to the tunnel's length.

"Keep your wits about you." Ruli said behind Rook, "We've already seen that the ferals here are no joke."

"I know, they're great challenges." Rook answered, a bit of a grin forming on his muzzle. He had always liked to fight back on his island, but the only real pokemon he got much of a challenge from had been that Graveller that Ruli had also encountered, and the crusty boulder often refused to fight him...because he knew he would lose. All the other native pokemon that lived on or visited his island were much the same. No one wanted to fight him because they knew they didn't stand a chance.

"Challenges?" Ruli questioned, a bit of a smirk appearing on his own muzzle, "I didn't figure you for a battle junkie Rook, ya seem so passive."

Rook's grin faded slightly as he thought for a moment, reaching and running his paw along the curves of the tunnel's walls again. "When I was held in the labs...they pitted me in battles against others every few days, drugged up and super charged pokemon like...Well, almost like myself. They didn't have the same level of power as I did, and it was temporary. The drugs wore off, their energy depleted...they'd pass out without me even touching them..." Rook recalled many of his opponents slumping suddenly in the middle of him dodging their attempts to attack.

"It annoyed Jack to no end that I refused to directly fight." Rook continued to recount, "He would sometimes poison me out of his anger at first, but I believe shortly after he gave up trying, he could not force it. I remember one day he told me I was lucky that they couldn't get good results if he just used a Salazzle mixture that commanded me to fight rather than to breed. Apparently they tried it once that I can't remember, and I savagely went at the pokemon with claws and teeth as if my power had just abandoned me."

"Your power felt your desire to be protected, so that is the kind of abilities it provided you with. Your fur, and even the few attacks you did use for entrapping your enemies." Enzlo spoke up from atop the Lycanroc's head, and Rook frowned further in thought to that. "You've never thought of your power as a force for attacking, and that is only one of the reasons why you are finding it so difficult to master."

"One of the reasons?" Rook echoed, stopping their walk into the tunnel, "What do you mean?"

"Rook, over the last few months of your training, I've learned quite a lot about your power, and I no longer believe it is something that you can train into mastering like Ruli trained himself. It is something you need to desire, something you need to feel."

This explanation only made Rook frown further, "My desire and feeling to train it isn't enough? Then why have I been messing with that damn ball still?"

Enzlo chuckled, "No, it really isn't. I'm hoping you will learn my meaning soon...keep talking about your battles in the lab, why did you refuse to fight? Was it just because you knew it annoyed Jack?"

"At first..." Rook admitted, still a little miffed about the psychic's lack of explanation. "But...like that first Mighteyana...I could tell a lot of the pokemon being brought before me were being forced...drugged and sent into frenzies they themselves probably had no memory of like when I was forced into breeding those females. I...didn't want to hurt them. At the same time though, I looked forward to those battles, I began viewing it as challenges of my defense and took more pride in being undamageable..."

"And that is exactly what I'm meaning." Enzlo stated, "You didn't want to hurt them, so your power did not do so. Do you understand that?"

"I...think so..." Rook said, as he really did understand that and it did make sense. "But that doesn't explain Oscar, I...I don't...I didn't want to kill him."

"Rook..." Enzlo sighed, "He had strength enough to bypass your defenses. It was your first time being put into such a situation and you did react on instinct. That was not your fault, Oscar himself knows that. Think about your fight with Ruli in the forest, where you were put into much the same kind of situation." The Lucario's ears flicked a bit as Enzlo continued on, "He pushed you, even taunted you and told you to stop holding back, and for a brief time, you did stop. You felt only what I suspect will be the first of many things your power can provide you, that weapon you began to feel in your paw. But at the last second, doubts and fear about what your power is capable of set in and you pulled away from it. You need to stop your fear, it still holds you back."

"But how can't I? After Oscar...and just a few weeks ago! Even when unconscious, my power puts others in danger!" Rook snarled and he suddenly punched the wall next to him, causing the stone to crack from the power of his punch.

"I am not so sure..." Enzlo hummed lightly, observing the cracks the Lycanroc had created. "The raft had been shaking for quite some time before your pillar pierced the ship, and it wasn't until later that Nether brought up something that I had not considered. The water." He paused for a moment, and Ruli perked.

While Rook didn't understand what Enzlo meant, the Mega Lucario stammered, "Th-...that's true...the water..."

Rook looked back at Ruli and narrowed his eyes, and while he knew it may not get him an answer to his thoughts, he asked anyway, "What about the water?"

"It didn't create waves." Enzlo stated simply, then explained to the Lycanroc, the realization dawning upon Rook as he did. "Somehow, your power caused a pillar to erupt up through the entire ocean from its floor, and we tried to see how far deep it reached, but we didn't dare try to have Riley continue to dive into the sheer abyss of the ocean. There was no telling just how deep your power reached to pull the ocean floor up. At the speed that it did, it didn't disturb the water anymore than to cause some light shaking upon the surface, and even after crashing up through the raft, its force somehow did not create some kind of tidal wave effect like it logically should have."

Rook's eyes were wide at this point, as the Abra only kept going, speculating. "This further observation may be explained a few ways...but what I believe to be the most likely, is that your power used its rock type energy to push a bubble up through the water, small enough for it to punch upward atop of the spire, and then dissipated it as neared water's surface, reducing its impact and causing less of a wave in reaction. The other possibility is less likely, but with how I now believe your power and energy function is possible, is that your life energy is not just connected to that of Rock Type, but to Nature itself, and it functions in tandem with your surroundings to achieve desired results."

Enzlo paused a moment as Rook tried to understand what this may mean, and the Psychic answered this new confusion by trying to clarify, "Either way, your power reacted in such a way as to do two things; save you from the terror and torment that you had been placed under because of the Perish Song Ritural, which, in the moment, it reacted to your desire to be rescued, and second was to also reduce the actual impact it caused upon the raft. And that in of itself can be explained one of two ways, the first is that you subconsciously exerted a will while passed out to protect us, the second is since you view us as friends and allies, your power did this because it can sense, or is controlled somehow, by your feelings."

"wha-what does that all mean? Am I in control...? Or aren't I?" Rook asked in question, only half able to follow the explanation.

"The answer is yes and no." Enzlo stated. "Rook, your power is your own, it reacts to what you request, yet exerts a will of its own that still follows your desires...down to your very heart. Something holds you back from unleashing your inner strength. Whether that is your fear, your regret, or your lack of confidence in your control or something else...only you can confront it, but we are here to support you, you are not alone. I am here to support you, not just through this, but through anything in your life even after we stop Jack. I meant what I told you...I love you."

Ruli's ears flicked again when he heard Enzlo say this out loud, and a small smirk appeared on his muzzle while he would look off to the side a moment and fold his arms.

"Enzlo..." Rook began to say softly, his ears falling back as a different kind of feeling settled into his chest, and yet still the Psychic continued on.

"Your Oran Berry farm..." Enzlo said lightly, "Is that still what you want to do at the end of this?"

"I..." Rook started, but then found himself pausing again. The Oran Berry farm had just been a kind of fun idea that popped into his head, he didn't really know what exactly he planned to do after everything was said and done...

"Whatever you want to do. Your life was nothing but terror and misery for years in the labs, you deserve to be able to do whatever you want, see whatever you wish." Enzlo continued to say. "Become whatever you wish, this world is a new life for you and me."

For some reason, a new, dark thought entered Rook's mind, and that warm feeling in his chest was quickly pushed out by an icy cold grip upon his heart. "Even if by chance I get a feeling of enjoyment from killing Jack...?" At this, silence was the answer he received, and Rook sighed, "What if do end up losing control and I keep on killing-"

"You won't." Ruli was the one who answered it, fixing the Lycanroc with a piercing glare suddenly.

"And what if I do?!?!" Rook shouted back loudly, and he punched the stone wall beside him again, busting his entire fist and forearm straight through the rock like it was a spear, his claws held out like such. A few large cracks broke through the cave's floor and up along the ceiling a bit. "Fucking hell! You all speak about it like it won't happen! You give me a bunch of technical explanations about why my power acts the way it does! Nothing is ever just pure good though!"

The Lycanroc's mane chittered and clattered, except for the immediate fur around Enzlo, which remained as still as could be, acting like a chair for him. This fact was lost on the Lycanroc as he growled and huffed, his eyes glowing brightly as he kept going off, "None of you understand!! Everything that I went through in the labs! Everything that Jack put me through to grow this power in me! How can it just be explained away with that kind of analysis!? How can you be so sure that after I kill Jack I won't become some kind of beastly terror!?"

Suddenly, Rook tore his arm and claws free of the wall and then he punched with his other arm, stabbing through the cave wall again, and then he did it again, and again, and again. Much like how Enzlo had his own breakdown on the raft, now the Lycanroc was having his own, so suddenly and experiencing so many different thoughts. Each punch Rook stabbed a different part of the cave's wall, drilling a hole into it.

"I'm scared! I'm so scared!" Rook howled, "I'm scared because even while doing this, I don't feel pain! I don't even feel a small bit of exhaustion! I'm scared because in truth, I LOVE to fight others! I love the rush it gives me! If I kill Jack, if I feel the rush of satisfaction that I believe UTTERLY DESTROYING HIM WILL GIVE ME!!!" He shouted this last part while lifting up his paws and clenching them together and then smashing them into the hole he made. He shattered through the wall a good few feet as if he was breaking apart styrofoam. He finally paused, his mane no longer clattering but now his entire body just shaking, and his glowing eyes gripped tightly closed, except this only half dimmed the bright light that shined through them still.

Through ragged panting, not because of any form of exhaustion, but because he was hyperventilating, the wolf drooled out in a softer volume. "I'm so tired of facts...because I can't stop myself from worrying about the possibility that I'll...I'll want more afterwards...that anyone from that point on in my life that upsets me for...any little thing...that I'll just...flick them aside...that I'll become the monster he had wanted me to become. I can envision it so perfectly."

Suddenly Enzlo placed his paw upon the top of the Lycan's nose, leaned over his head slightly and with his other paw gripping one of his ears firmly. The psychic said no words, but Rook paused at the touch of the Abra upon his muzzle. "You can see it too right Enzlo...?"

"Rook..." Enzlo said lightly, and he couldn't really say much more because he could. The picture was so vivid...

Rook could see himself just walking slowly through a village distinctly like that of the Coast Town, eyes glowing, fur clicking and chattering and that yellow glow pouring from himself as he would summon huge boulders up from the ground around him and smash the homes of the residences...while behind him, several spires of pointed stalagmites remained in the background with impaled bodies upon them, thankfully silhouetted and unrecognizable by the darkness of the envisioned thought's nighttime setting. He showed no emotion other than a large grin across his muzzle, paws lifted up as he summoned more boulders from the ground around him.

"I...I don't want to become that...yet I can see it so clearly..." Rook clenched a paw, and suddenly a new rumbling began to grow within the tunnel. "See I can't even control this here!"

"That's not you." Enzlo said sharply, his tone suddenly far more serious and his paws both gripped the sides of Rook's head and then forced him to look back down the tunnel, as the rumbling grew harder.

The cracked ceiling let loose several small boulders as a loud roar shook through the cavern. "LIIIIIX!!!!"

Ruli took a few steps back. "I think we should...get out while we can."

"Agreed. Run!" Enzlo slapped Rook's cheek once and the Lycanroc, his tantrum and emotions forgotten in the face of impending danger, turned and began to run with the Mega Lucario back down the tunnel the way they had walked in.

"STTTTTLLLLLLLIIIIXXX!!!!" The roar behind them sounded again, and Rook dared to turn his head and look behind them. His own glowing eyes widened as he beheld the massive eyes that glared at both him and Ruli, the light from the entrance of the tunnel reflected off of the deep blue eyes of a massive Steelix, pointed parts of its body rotating to carve against the walls of the tunnel as it burrowed faster and faster towards them.

As the Steelix came closer along the tunnel, the cracks that Rook had caused along the ceiling finally gave way and the tunnel began to collapse, closing the tunnel. The Steelix was forced to stop its charging with another roar and this allowed Rook and Ruli time enough to exit the tunnel just before the large rock worm slammed through the blockade and then continued charging after them.

The Steelix slithered out of the cave and curled itself just outside of it as Ruli and Rook were about halfway to the jungle line. It lifted its tail and roared again before it slammed it down in front of itself, one of its large spikes piercing through the obsidian rock. A fissure broke through the rock towards the pair of running pokemon and both of them tripped as the bed of solidified lava shattered under their feet.

A part of the ground just in front of Rook in particular slammed upwards and smashed across his entire front body, making him grunt and fall backwards upon the broken up rubble, and flinging Enzlo off his back several yards.

"Ow!" Rook shouted, rubbing his snout as he fell backwards. That hurt far more than he thought it should! Without his coat of rocks making his fur stronger he was far more vulnerable than he realized.

"Lix!" The Steelix growled out and suddenly Enzlo also shouted.

"Ahhh! Fuck!"

Rook looked back behind himself as Ruli stood back up, and the both of them watched in stunned surprise as the rock worm had the Abra wrapped up tightly with the very tip of its tail where the linking peebles were smaller, but still rather large. They slithered around the much smaller psychic in a twisting coil, slowly wrapping him up more and more.

"Rook! Ruli!" Enzlo shouted and struggled, but the Steelix's body continued to wrap around the small psychic until it swallowed him up entirely.

"Enzlo!" Ruli shouted out, his bone swords appearing in his paws and he sprinted across the broken up ground, yelling out and jumping at the Steelix's tail into the air.

The large metal worm met Ruli's attack by swinging the wrapped up tail at him, and a loud 'CRACK' echoed across the valley as Ruli's swords bounced right off the Steelix's body, and the Steelix just slammed Ruli backwards and sent the Mega flying into the jungle.

Rook watched this and watched as Ruli was sent flying, "No!" and he began to run forward before the Steelix fixed its gaze upon him and he froze in place.

"Shit..." He growled while standing firmly in place, his paws flexing into fists and he pondered. All he had was the damn ball of rocks...and it had been scattered across the field when he had been tossed by the ground breaking. The island itself didn't respond to his power, and he guessed that it was because it was totally infused by the energy of this massive Steelix.

"Rook!" Enzlo's voice shouted out to him in his mind, and the Lycanroc shouted back.

"Enzlo!" Rook growled, his eyes glowing brightly as he looked right into the eyes of the massive Steelix as it rose up into the air as high as it could. "Let him go you stupid worm!"

The large feral merely growled and Enzlo shouted out in his mind again, "It's useless Rook, it's feral! It doesn't understand you at-AAAAA!!!" The psychic's mental sentence gave way to a just barely audible scream as the wrapped up tail clenched around him.

"Enzlo!" Rook shouted again, looking around. Ruli was still in the jungle, perhaps somehow stuck or otherwise hurt! He had nothing to use! "Damnit! What can I do!?"

"T-trust your power Rook! You must attack!" Enzlo would shout in his mind again.

"With what!?" Rook snarled, staring at the Steelix again, the large worm glaring down at him with gleaming teeth showing and the middle part of its body starting to rotate faster and faster. It was preparing to attack.

"With what you have! You have to stop holding yourself back! You-ARRRRG!" Enzlo shouted out again in pain, as the Steelix's tail tightened again while it began to pull itself back, straightening out along the ground in front of the Lycanroc.

"No! Stop hurting him!" Rook shouted, his fists clenching and his eyes glowing brightly as he bared his teeth at the Steelix. His chest began to glow brightly and his mane of fur started to burst with the yellow energy over his head. Rook stared down the Steelix, and for a short moment, the feral actually seemed to reconsider the action it was about to take as the Lycanroc's power began to burst from him.

"Let...him...go..." Rook growled again, and he took a few steps forward. The Lycanroc was scared, yet he refused to let it show. Enzlo was in pain, he was in trouble. He had to save him, but what could he do? How could he fight when this very land would not react to his power?

"Use what you have!!!" Enzlo shouted again in his mind, "You have to trust your power! Trust yourself!"

"I don't know what you're meaning!" Rook shouted back frantically. "There's no move in existence I can do right now!"

"Just...stop thinking so hard, and just...DO IT!" And then the tail tightened again, "AAAAAHHH!!!"

"NO!" Rook didn't know what he was doing, but he began running forward. The Steelix roared and then pulled back its head low and then plowed itself forward at him in response.

Rook didn't know what was happening, he had no idea how he could do it, but he only could think about two things; he had to save Enzlo, had to take out this threat! The Lycanroc held out his arm at his side as he ran towards the rock worm, his fierce gaze focused so intently upon the Steelix that he didn't realize how the rocks from the rock ball had flown towards him from around the large feral pokemon and began to swirl around his paw.

"RAAAAAAAA!!!" Rook howled as he ran at the Steelix and he gripped his paw. He distinctly felt something firm in his grip, and the sound of hard, rough crackling to his right and then a buzzing hum, but his eyes remained fixated on the Steelix's own as they both rushed each other. Just before it would've been too late to change course, Rook jumped to the left and he held out his arm, slashing his paw across what one could consider the pokemon's neck and then starting to run alongside it. The Steelix wasn't able to change its own course as nimbly as him, and it just continued to barrel past Rook as the Lycanroc ran along its side. The Steelix let out a loud roar that shifted halfway through into a painful screeching noise.

Rook believed that he was only dashing his claws across the Steelix's body, as he felt no resistance, but his mind was only in the moment that he didn't really know what was going on, only that there was a loud kind of sizzling noise as he ran along the Steelix, and that it continued until he neared its tail and as he neared the bundled up coil that had trapped Enzlo he swung his paw upwards and there was final 'SCRZZT!' as he flung his right paw up into the air, and then the rumbling crash of the Steelix's body upon the ground.

Rook stopped, panting, as the Steelix dragged forward along the ground a few more dozen feet. His ears rang from the loud screech and the noise he had just been hearing as he ran alongside the large feral, but he quickly focused upon the coil of metal like rocks that had coiled around Enzlo. It slowly unfurled and the Abra appeared, large portions of his body looking bruised but breathing and his eyes still glowing bright purple.

"Enzlo!" Rook shouted, only barely able to even hear himself as the ringing continued into his ears and dashed up to the freed psychic. He kneeled down beside him, his left paw reaching out to hold the Abra's head up slightly. "Enzlo are you okay!?"

"I...yeah...a little crushed and bruised up...but I'll be okay, much less worse than what I did to my own arms." Enzlo grinned suddenly and he chuckled, "Rook, you did it."

Rook let out a thankful sigh at first, but then frowned at the psychic. "Did what...?"

Enzlo pointed with one of his paws towards Rook's right paw, "Look. You did it."

Rook looked to his right paw, and his eyes went wide at what he saw himself holding in it.

It was a sword...he was holding a sword.

It looked crude and jagged all across its length, bumpy and uneven as if literally made of rock. Brown and dark along the back of the blade, while the edge gleamed a sharp, metal looking silver with a bright yellow glow. The continued humming noise Rook had been hearing had been this edge, and through his paw gripping the hilt, he could feel the incredible vibration of it. The hilt itself had a grip that felt like it was naturally made for his own paw and claws to hold, and a guard just above his claws had a part that pointed out along the first few inches of the sharp blade. This was meant to be used in fighting another opponent that had a weapon, to disarm them after clashing blades.

However, Rook himself didn't quite take in these details, instead looking up slowly towards the body of the Steelix and noticing the huge, bleeding gash that stretched from close to its head and all the way across its long body. Ruli's own attack had bounced right off its body...but somehow, Rook's weapon had simply cut right into the Steelix's literal metal body and into the fleshy inner organs of its insides. It was already long dead...these kinds of wounds were not normal for pokemon to endure...

Rook's eyes widened and he stammered, his muzzle opening and closing as he took it in. "No...N-no. I-I..."

Suddenly both of Enzlo's paws touched the sides of Rook's muzzle and forced him to look at the Abra, and Rook stared into the soft purple glow as the psychic sternly told him, "Don't! It was...a feral, it wouldn't have shown you any mercy, and it would've killed me too..."

"I...I killed it..." Rook only stammered further, gripping the hilt of the sword in his hand tightly as his paw shook a bit.

"Rook...I know how you feel, but you have nothing to be ashamed of. You never, ever have." The Abra stared directly into his eyes. "Look at me..."

Rook's eyes wavered but he focused upon the Abra's eyes. His own shimmered brightly as the Lycanroc struggled to understand what he'd just done and just barely holding back the wave of despair he could feel rushing towards him with the realization that he had killed once more.

"I want you to obey this one word, and I promise you that later, you will feel better. Okay? Promise me you won't resist...you need to trust me, and you do, yes?" Enzlo asked him, the Lycanroc nodded once somewhat numbly, and then a purple stream of energy connected between his and Enzlo's eyes. Rook heard Enzlo's voice in his head whisper a single, soft word to him.

"Sleep..."

Instantly Rook slumped forward slightly, his eyes closing as he fell into a deep hypnosis of sleep. His paw opened and the sword clattered to the ground next to him, and almost immediately it disintegrated into a cloud of small rocks and dust, and then this cloud slowly started flickering up through the air towards Rook's mane and would bury itself deep within the fur.

Enzlo held the Lycanroc's head with his paws gently as Rook completely relaxed within the deep sleep that Enzlo's hypnosis placed him under. Enzlo was glad Rook allowed himself to fall so deep, as he knew that with his time in the labs and the forced training that he had been put through, the Lycanroc could have easily resisted the hypnotic command if he had wished it.

"I'm so proud of you Rook..." Enzlo said lightly, carefully holding the canine's head and bringing him down to lay on the ground fully. The glow of the Lycanroc's body and arms faded quickly until he was simply resting very peacefully. "I know you don't understand what just happened, but you did it...and hopefully once you wake up...I can keep you from falling back into that despair."

The Steelix's body began to also vanish, dissipating into a shower of purple sparks that floated up and scattered upon the open air. A little after this had begun, Ruli stepped out from the jungle where he had been tossed, as the vines and trees and grass at his feet began to also emit these purple sparks.

He smirked and began to dash across the slowly fading land. Without saying anything to either the Psychic or the Lycanroc, he picked up Rook and hoisted him over one shoulder and then began to carry him quickly back to the boat. Enzlo floated up and was flying just as quickly beside the Lucario, brushing off his legs as the marks and bruises he had simply vanished from his body.

"So...a success?" Ruli smiled at the psychic.

"A rousing one...now though, to help him learn why such things are an okay thing for him to have and use..."

"Do you believe that he can become what he was fearing?" Ruli asked lightly.

"Do you?" Enzlo asked Ruli.

The Mega Lucario shook his head, "Not one bit. There is darkness...in everyone, but if he holds any, it is very minimal...I believe his fear is unfounded."

"Then you do not truly understand him...you are right, there is darkness in pokemon and human alike. Rook is not the only one who wishes Jack dead, this is true, no one would possibly view him killing Jack as negative. But Jack is more to Rook than just an evil villain. He was his caretaker, often visiting him and taking him to see amazing things. Whenever Rook looked upon him as a Rockruff, he was given the vision of a caring young man who just wanted the best for his pokemon. And perhaps...that was true...Jack wanted Rook to be so powerful, nothing would stand in his way. But his reason for wanting it was wrong."

Ruli's black lines across his body began to glow a bright blue as he increased his speed so that they could reach the raft as they rushed without issue through vines and trees as if they didn't exist. And obviously because nothing really ever had been real on this island, that was why Rook could not sense anything from it. Enzlo would have to tell Rook what he had done...whether tricking the Lycanroc into briefly believing he had really killed a pokemon eased his hurt over the act or would infuriate him, Enzlo did not know. He had his reasons for doing this...and he hoped Rook would understand them as necessary.

"For Rook though...it is not that simple. Jack's crime to him is not in just being bad, it is of harm, deep betrayal, and complete isolation. What he told is true, he can see himself becoming that bad, because now that he has seen that his power is capable of killing, just like Jack had always told him he wanted, along with it being Oscar...broke the Lycanroc''s trust in his own power. He is afraid that if he lets the rage and lust for vengeance he feels towards Jack drive him, and kills Jack, it will mar his soul or mind for the rest of his life. Because, deep down, Rook loved Jack, once upon a time, and you know as well as I right now, if you lose those kinds of connections, you can't move on unless you ask why."

"Then...let us have...group therapy..." Ruli suddenly said firmly, nodding his head.

"I'd like to talk to him myself first, for several different reasons, if you do not mind." Enzlo stated. "But I cannot see any reason to not have such a thing anyway after speaking to him no matter his response to this. Perhaps if hearing it from myself is too painful for him to forgive, perhaps such a thing in which he sees how everyone else was in on it too will get him to forgive me...and us of course..."

"Understood." Ruli said with a slight smirk, as they would leap from the shore line and Ruli simply ran across the rope that still was connected to the island as it continued to slowly disintegrate, but once Ruli was back on the top floor of the raft, where Captain Nether was waiting at the wheel.

"We're off boys!" He shouted, and Ruli would form a Metal Claw over his paw and cut the line, which one of the Buizel's scooped up and would swim back up through the opening in the bottom of the raft.

Ruli quickly placed Rook into the bed as the island outside would shortly and utterly fade away from existence. It all had never been real, all an illusion cast by Enzlo upon the Lycanroc, and upon everyone else on the ship with their permission. He had been storing energy that long for that. Enzlo waited for the Lycanroc to waken beside him, leaning on the window sill and gazing up at the half full moon and smiling.

________________________

"Great Jack! Great Jack! T-terrible news!"

Jack narrowed his eyes and his ears immediately flicked backward, while he rapidly tapped away upon something held in his hand. "What is it...Vane?" The Weavile's voice growled out.

"Word has spread spread! The Avenger awakens their power! Sword that slash killed a gigantic Steelix!"

"My friend, that island was an illusion made by the Abra, it was not real, remember? Rook's new weapon will prove dull when put against what we have in store for him..." The Weavile sneered while peering into the window of a device. "It's time to press their hand...the armies outside have waited long enough for my new...heh, team..."

"So...proceed forward onto plan after first?"

"Yes my disturbed friend, I trust you can handle things here on your own. Let us see how many of those pokemon out there are not affected by greed..." And Jack tapped a final button upon his small device. "Begin the assaults..."

The ghost type vanished and Jack frowned, grimacing deeply. "These blasted mirrors confound me...I see my past, the moment Rook first evolved...not my future, what does that mean?! What possible importance does Rook's creation have to do with Arceus...? Why was it he who took notice of one pokemon like Rook so as to defy their pokeball...?"

Jack snarled, "Rook is no longer my pokemon, that is true, but there are other ways of control. Is that not correct?" Jack sneered. "Poor Enzlo, Poor Rook, shame on them both. Their sudden high pulses of concentrated life energy made it very easy to track your progress. After kidnapping those Eeveelutions, creating that storm was simple, but for some reason, the sea seemed to resist the storm. The wind only wanted to go in one direction."

"A side effect of not having Air Type energy involved." His smart mind immediately confirmed, "Storm's are a weakness, disperses blizzards...perhaps an acceptable weakness, fort still impenetrable from the outside...except for Rook's digging capabilities. But...with what I could soon have, perhaps still safe."

"Then enough planning. What if I need to kill Rook? I know he is killable." Jack clicked his claws together, the uniquely shaped claws perfect for snapping heads, Jack had quickly learned...The Jolteon's head had popped so easily...the pokemon of this world were weak...without burden. Unfit to be injected with more energy. But Rook, and perhaps Enzlo or that Riley kid who had undermined him, perhaps with Oscar right there with him. Everyone else had betrayed him, he was alone...but there were other people, humans on the other side of these mirrors, he could feel it. Starving, humans...humans dying to rotting plagues.

"This is our punishment..." Jack said softly, "But I will not take it lying down at the feet of the god of pokemon, because I...am not a pokemon." Jack's eyes glowed a bright blue as suddenly an orb or swirling snow surrounded him. "Ice, Blizzard, Xspecial, Layer. Shield, Expand, Iron Defense, Minimize." And then suddenly, the swirling ball of snow shrunk down into a small ball within Jack's out held claws.

"If I do one thing then, I shall make yours feel the same pain for as long as I can last...as a Devil...if need be."

The small ball suddenly exploded out into a blasting white blizzard, pure snow pelting out in every direction, burying Jack in snow within the small cave he had been using for his ranting.

___________________

Outside the mountain he was hiding in itself, clouds began to swirl and form rapidly around the tip. The cloud rumbled and thundered, and shortly after pure ice swirled with whirlwinds powerful enough to cut a pokemon to ribbons. When this sudden blizzard capped the mountain in which Jack was in, the flying pokemon within those groups were forced to retreat much farther away from ground based pokemon. Several others were not as lucky, their bodies falling from the air and to the ground...

Ice spears of frozen water, some near ice would be flung from the edge of the storm and tore through most of the ground based groups. Most suddenly became frozen in place, encased in large blocks of ice. Others...suddenly went insane, claiming to have heard a voice in their head offering them power, and when they accepted it, they lost their minds, their eyes glowing brightly and beginning to attack others with wild abandon.

Mass confusion ensued. No one knew who was in charge of who anymore, the chain of command broke across multiple parts of the chain. The only thing that stopped this was finding the line the blizzard could not reach. Once outside the blizzard, those who had gone insane stopped. They were quickly detained to prevent them from harming those around them again. New base camps and battle lines would be drawn...

"Do not lose hope!" was the cry, "For the Avenger was Awakened...

And so a message was sent through the psychic's to the Espeon across the world. With responses coming back within seconds between leaders of the New World Continent and the Eeveelutions Elemental Alliance.

"Your contract is accepted, send your elemental forces, Jack's power has exceeded his power limit. If we do not kill him now..."

"We have been told what we will do. As have you, do you still object to what the mirrors have shown?"

"As long as it is the Mirrors that have willed it..."

"It is."

"Then we accept the need. Again, your contract is accepted."

"Hehe, I'm excited to hear what he'll want..."

"Confidence in him, we have as well...though...worry some for his overzealous-ness...but they will find his way."