At Arceus' Behest Ch. 05 - Revelations
A woman with dark red hair and red cat-eyes wearing a silver high skirt watched the match on the video screen in one of the Gym Battle Viewing Rooms with great interest. There were no other people in the room with her. Very few ever watched matches in this area live, since most of the people here worked in the mines. When Roark threw the black pokeball, she pressed a button on a small radio transmitter in her pocket, and the ball exploded. She grinned wickedly as the Steelix she had traded to the young gym leader went berserk and started after the cream colored Riolu, knowing full well the chaos it created would only help her organization's cause. When she saw the trainer in the amber cloak rush towards the battle, her grin grew into a full blown cheshire cat smile. Oh this will make things even better! Trainer dies to abusive gym leader's rampaging Steelix! A wonderful development!! She watched as he threw his Riolu away from the oncoming tail swipe, taking it in his pokemon's place. He was flung against one of the large boulders. She cackled with glee as the Steelix finished him off, slashing its tail through both him and the boulder he was strewn against. The great explosion that occurred took her by surprise, and then the cameras went offline. Hmm.. wonder what happened there? Oh well, it's even better! I only expected to cause a little chaos, make that fool Roark look bad. This is just icing on the cake!
She made her way out of the gym, trying her best to put on her shocked face as she passed the few other people being shown out. When she felt she was out of earshot distance, she pulled out her cellphone and dialed a number.
"Is it done?" A male voice on the other side asked.
"Oh yes," the woman responded, "and we got some extras out of it too. Some fool trainer died trying to save his Shiny Riolu. The Steelix must have hit something unstable with its tail. There was a massive explosion. This was better than we could ever have hoped for."
"Excellent," the man drew out the ex part of the word, "the plan can only benefit from this. Return to base and await further instructions." He didn't wait for a reply, as dialtone followed immediately after.
"Oh how I love my job," she caustically whispered under her breath. Ungrateful bastard..
Roark, Tundra, and Tank reached the aftermath of the explosion before the rest of Zero's friends did. What the Gym leader saw bewildered him. Zero's glowing mechanical remains and blood covered the charred, sandy ground around him. By Arceus, what happened to this man?
If it were possible, Tundra would have turned visibly pale. Oh no... it's because of me... he.. What can I do?!! What did mom do when I broke my leg? She did something with her aura, but I don't know what! I.. I've got to try.. Tundra approached Zero's still glowing remains. They seemed to be fading. Her vision shifted, and an azure hue befell her eyes. She could see Zero's aura fading as well. The unique features of his aura, the hum of his 'heart', the bright streaks of energy along his body, they were gradually dimming. NO! He's dying! Arceus, help me! I've got to try to save him! With that prayer, she focused her aura into her palms and laid them upon his 'heart'. Upon passing through the red and white glow, the azure flames of her aura turned a bright rose colored hue. She built up her aura as much as possible. The strain on her body was taking its toll. Her eyes squinted, her face scrunched in agony, and her body shook visibly from focusing too much power at once. She released the aura built up within her, trying to focus it into the veins of energy throughout Zero's body, and there was a bright white flash that blinded everyone close by, even Tundra herself.
When the blinding display faded, Tundra blinked her eyes, trying to readjust them to the ambient light. She felt exhausted. She saw that Zero was whole again, and much smaller than she remembered, but his aura had stabilized. His 'heart' hummed like it did when she first saw him, and bright veins of energy flowed throughout his body again. She barely noticed that his aura showed something more about his body; it had another heart, this one in the same place as her own. Then there was a strange noise she had never heard before, similar to an electric pokemon charging up its element, and then the armor that Zero wore vanished. Sleek blonde hair replaced his helmet, pulled back into his pony tail, and there was a cyan colored inverted triangle on his forehead where his sensor crystal would be. His body was lean, but toned, and there were strange cyan colored circles on his hands. Only the amber cloak he wore, which somehow managed to survive the ordeal, remained. Tundra foggily wondered what had happened as she tried to push herself up off of Zero, but collapsed from exhaustion.
Everyone around saw the spectacle that had occurred. Tundra had evolved to save Zero's life, and from the look of it, she succeeded. As she tried to push herself up, she collapsed on top of him. Tank rushed over to her as quick as he could and braced her upon his shoulders, waiting for Zero's other pokemon to arrive. He then noticed Zero's armor was missing.
"Cra cranidos ni dos?" ("What happened to him?")
Roark walked toward the gathering that had formed before him, questions swirling in his mind, but unsure how to ask them.
"Well, now that you've seen him, you should know he isn't a man. He called himself a Reploid."
Roark and Tank looked at Rathien as he and Zero's other pokemon approached, even more confused at the unfamiliar word the Gallade mentioned.
"He said he was more like a machine than a human," the Gallade's voice echoed again in their minds.
Although Roark didn't fully understand what was being explained to him, he nodded. He knew that an explosion in the gym would attract attention. Judging by how this man had tried to hide his identity, he decided this would be a bad thing. Roark grabbed a radio from his jacket, "Close off the doors and don't let any of the news crews inside. If they continue asking questions, tell them there's been an environmental malfunction and we have to keep everyone out. Tell the broadcast stations we won't be showing today's matches. They've all been canceled because of the malfunction."
He looked at Rathien, "Well, he looks human to me.. Tell me more once we find out if they're going to be okay. I don't know what's happened, but nobody will buy that excuse for very long. We need to get your trai.. Zero.. and the Lucario, Tundra, to one of our wards." His hesitancy at what to say about Zero was evident. He clearly wasn't human, but he seemed to be one of the better sort, especially when you consider he sacrificed himself to save Tundra, then she evolved to heal him. It disturbed him to think of a sentient being as nothing more than a tool if it wasn't human. He never agreed with the laws on that matter. He tried to help Catziah pick Zero up, but the both of them together could barely lift the man. Roark grunted he tried to pick Zero up by his shoulders, while Catziah tried to lift him by his feet. Moving him to the exit was out of the question, let alone getting him through the winner's passage.
"Okay, now I believe you .. when you say .. this guy's a machine .. he weighs .. a lot more .. than he should.." Roark commented between breaths.
"Here, let me try," Rathien communicated psychically. He glowed a soft purple, then Zero was lifted into the air. Roark could see the strain on Rathien's face. Obviously it was much more than he was accustomed to as well. Catziah went over to Tank and helped him carry Tundra's unconscious body behind Rathien. Taiga was leaning on Blackfire for support while Midnight, Scarlet, Autumn and Trinity followed behind.
Roark finally caught his breath, "Follow me, there's a stairwell that I let the winners take that goes directly to the Pokemon Center here," he told the group while waving them forward.
"Zero, wake up.." a voice in his mind spoke to him.
X? Is that you? I can't te--
Pain. That same pain assaulted him again. It coursed through his circuits, making his muscles move of their own accord. It was almost unbearable. Zero groaned, then began to scream. It felt like his very soul was being burned by a white hot flame. He heard a loud alarm going off beside him.
"Quick, push some more pain medicine. He'll need them if he's going to stay conscious," an unfamiliar feminine voice ordered.
Within seconds he felt the agony began to subside. His breathing slowly returned to normal. The alarm ceased soon after.
"Zero, try to stay awake. We don't know if you'll return if you pass out again.." a female voice echoed in his mind.
"Ciel.. ?" he whispered silently.
"No.. It's me, Tundra," the voice responded.
He tried to open his eyes. When he did his vision was horribly blurred and unfocused, but he vaguely recognized the cream and black colored canine like face that was looking at him. Tundra's ears had grown, her muzzle was longer, and she now sported a set of black ringed dreadlocks.
"Before you say anything, I want to say I'm sorry. You wouldn't be in this position if it.. if it weren't for me..." the sadness in her words was accompanied by tears. He smiled weakly, then reached his hand up to wipe them away. His eyes widened when he felt her face. The sensation of feeling her fur through his fingers was unlike anything he had felt before. His vision began to focus, and he then realized that his hand wasn't armored. He reached for his head. He felt flesh, and hair. His helmet was missing. He ran his fingers over where his sensor crystal should be. Nothing.
A twinge of confusion laced his voice, "What happened..? I only remember throwing you to safety," he asked.
"I.. I ...." she broke down again, sobbing into his shoulder.
"Shh.. don't cry.. the important thing is you weren't hurt," he comforted her. He waited while she regained her composure, holding her close to his chest. He could feel the tears on him as she continued to cry uncontrollably, and noticed his chest was bare as well.
He heard the door open, and saw a nurse and a Chansey walking out, "We'll check on you after a while. There's a pager next to your bed if you need anything," the nurse said. He looked at her and nodded. He looked around the room he was in. He saw Rathien and Midnight, sleeping in a chair, Midnight in Rathien's lap, but none of his other friends. He was little worried, now. Where is everyone else? He thought to himself. It was a short while before Tundra regained control of her emotions.
"Zero, something happened to the others.. after we brought you here," Tundra began, "After you took that tail swipe in my place, you exploded. Somehow I managed to heal you, but you're.. different now.. you've got flesh and bones, but I can see your core still there as well. We weren't sure you were going to live. While you were passed out.. Autumn, Trinity, Blackfire, Scarlet.. Catziah.. and.. and... Taiga.... they went berserk." She began to cry again, but held her composure and continued, "So did Tank and Ridge. Somehow Ridge came back to life. Taiga, before he left, said something that didn't make any sense.. "I'm back, Zero. If X isn't here, then I'm coming for you."
The realization of what had happened began to snowball in Zero's mind, "No... Noo... Sigma, you're supposed to be dead!!!"