FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 21

The long dragon like pokemon Chris called Rayquaza flew us down to the town after a bit more time passed to be sure that Calamity would not come back. It stayed still as I disembarked and knelt tiredly, holding Blaze and Pidove tucked in my arms. The clouds were starting to clear up, the night sky and moon shining back down on us.

"Ruli!" I heard Zane call out to me as Chris jumped down onto the ground beside me and he patted Rayquaza's side. The pokemon let out a roar and slid back into the sky effortlessly, its body slithering like a snake through grass as he vanished into the dispersing clouds.

"Are you all right?" Zane asked worriedly as he crouched down in front of me, Silver and Zorua quickly following and looking at me just as worriedly.

I panted while looking up from where I had crouched, letting Blaze and Pidove slip from my arms to roll onto the ground as I slumped. I tried to speak, but my throat was sore from the cold air from the atmosphere and it hurt to even pant. I was exhausted, I couldn't stay on my feet anymore.

Zanes arms caught me before I could hit the ground, and I found myself staring at the dirt as he held me. "Easy there..."

"We should get inside the pokemon center first." Chris stated to Zane, "Once he's rested up, we'll figure out what all happened then."

Zane looked at the other trainer, as if just now noticing he was there, and he nodded as Chris walked by him towards the red and white zoned building. Zane picked up Pidove and Charmander with one arm, and he hooked his other one under mine, helping me walk towards the center.

___________________________

The pokemon center was in a bit of disarray, but there wasn't any wait to get me some potion to help heal the slight wounds I had gotten from the cave in and my spike nearly breaking. Zane helped me to a room while the nurse took Blaze and the others to the examination room. After he assisted me to lay down on the bed and rest he went to the bathroom to take a quick shower and clean the dirt from his clothing.

I laid on the bed resting, eyes closed as I breathed in and out slowly. Raze was tired too, his energy sapped and drained from prolonging my mega transformation much longer than I'd ever used it before. I was exhausted more because of all the commotion and the slight injuries I had gotten.

"That...was really difficult..." Raze panted to me in my head after a moment and I heard the water of the bathtub starting to run.

"And he'll only get stronger..." I said, remembering what Zul had said.

"Zul..." Raze whispered sadly, mostly to himself I could tell, but he seemed strengthened by the appearance of his human companion. "If Zul was so strong that even he could protect us from that after he passed away, we can defeat Calamity, we have to strengthen ourselves, we have to find other Megas."

"We don't know where Calamity has gone..."

"That is true..." Raze said sadly, "I guess we'll have to continue what we are doing until we find him again then. Our destinies are entwined with him. Eventually...we'll find each other..."

We stayed silent a moment and I sighed lightly, opening my eyes to stare up at the ceiling, "I'm sorry about Zul Raze..."

"Don't be...there was nothing you could do. It saddens me more to think that Zul had died so young...I had believed up till now that he had lived to a good old age, and had taught the rest of human and pokemon kind the same kind of bond I had shared with him...but it seems he had been tricked and killed long before he could."

"I wonder..." I thought aloud, "How did the world go from what it was when you ruled, to what it is today, if Zul had not started the revolution?"

"I am not sure of that myself..."

___________________

When Zane came out of the bathroom he was wearing his second set of clothes, nearly the same outfit, except for he wore only a simple t-shirt and jeans. He left the rest of his clothes to dry in the bathroom and he came to sit by me on the bed.

I stirred, able to sit up at least now that I had rested a bit, the potion medicine taking away the slight aches and pains and he hugged me for a moment as I rose and I hugged him back.

"I'm glad you're okay Ruli...you were really brave to take him on like that."

"I'm glad you're okay too, I didn't expect you to get involved with Silver and Zorua like that though."

"I could tell that help was still needed, you and Fredrick weren't going to be enough." He chuckled lightly, "Besides, do you really expect me, and Silver even, to just stand by while you put yourself in harms way?"

"No." I smiled and chuckled, "I suppose I really can't expect you to do that."

"What should we do then?"

"Well..." I paused and I pulled away from the hug slowly, "I don't know, there's no way to know where Calamity went. Raze believes the only thing we can do now is to try to become stronger, and continue our journey as normal. Of course, the object still is to try and find as many other megas as we can, the more we have the more strength we have to fight against him."

"I wish we knew where Niru was, she already owns one mega."

I nodded, "I'm sure we'll run into her eventually, like Raze had said before. But also, that might mean that megas out there are in the hands of other trainers, or in other places. We need to find them all."

"Finding them all? How many are there?"

Raze spoke, "I only ever had to fight a few of them...like Mega Charizard. There are so many I cannot tell you an exact number though, there were more than I thought there was fighting Calamity that day, more than half of them I had never even seen before in my life."

I related the message to Zane, who frowned, "Then I guess we can only hope we'll eventually find them." He stood up and smiled at me, "Come on, the others are worried about you and I want to check up on Blaze, you can walk now?"

"I think so." I nodded and I stood up, only a little shakily.

Zane stayed by me as we made our way to the examination room. The nurse had Blaze resting peacefully by himself, his tail flame glowing as bright as it ever had.

"He'll be fine." She told us happily when we came closer, "The lightning only gave him a heavy zap, there was no physical damage to him."

"That's good." I said thankfully and I smiled at Blaze, but he was still out cold it seemed, his eyes closed. He was breathing regularly though, which was a good thing. I then noticed his mega gem, the bright glow was gone from the gem.

"Is Mega Charizard okay?" I asked Raze in my head.

"I don't know...his spirit was drained...if any of it remains inside the gem, he'll be fine and regain his power slowly, but if Calamity had taken all of it, he may very well be gone for good..." he said the last bit sadly, "If he is gone...there's no reason to keep the gem...but for now, we'll shall see..."

___________________

Silver was waiting for me and Zane outside the doorway to the examination room. He perked up instantly, his large white and bushy tail waving back and forth as he saw me.

"Ruli! You are amazing!"

I smiled brightly and wagged my own tail at the sight of my friend and his compliment, "Thanks Silver, you were too, I'd forgotten to congratulate you for learning that move."

"Those stars?" he blushed visibly and murred, "Fredrick called it Swift, I guess. He said it was a move garenteed to hit the target as long as I could see it." he shuffled in place, "They missed the net back in Gracel town cause I had fainted..."

"Heh it's all right though." I knelt down and patted his head lightly, kissing the smaller pokemon on his cheek before I heard another voice call out to us.

"You there, with the Lucario and Eevee! Are you Zane?" I looked up to see a tall human in slightly blue clothing making his way to the three of us.

"Y-yeah, I'm Zane." Zane responded, the obvious looking question on his face of wondering who the other person was.

"I am Curcin, I am the gym leader of this town." The taller human said as he stepped up in front of us, "I wanted to thank you for saving our town with this." He held out his palm, a badge that was shaped like a large wave sitting there.

"What? You want to just give me your gym badge?" Zane stared at the badge.

"I heard that this was why you had come to our island to begin with, and I can think of no better way to thank you, besides, your Lucario took on that beast. Though..." He seemed to examine me a moment, "From where I had been watching, I could have sworn he looked much different than he does up close."

I blushed as Curcin seemed to examine me even longer, but he stopped and continued, "Anyways, please, take the badge."

"I'd rather earn it in a battle..." Zane mumbled as he scowled.

"You could have, but that storm that beast whipped up caused some tidal waves to crash against the island, and the force of the waves destroyed the pool, and my gym as a result. This badge is the only one left, as we gym leaders only ever keep one with us at a time, the others are all washed away by the sea."

"Oh I see..." Zane stared at the badge, before he reached out and he took it, starting to smile.

"I accept then." He said, "If you believe I deserve it so much."

"That's not all." The gym leader said and he reached into his pocket, pulling free a large, blue stone that glowed brightly. "I'd also like you to have this. It's a piece of Icy Rock. I noticed you have this Eevee here, and if you'd allow, I'd like you to use this."

Zane took the rock from the taller person, "What does it do?"

"If you keep it close by this Eevee for awhile, it'll cause him to evolve into a Glaceon. Of course, if you don't want him to, you just need to keep it away from him."

"My Eevee is Shiny..." Zane looked down at Silver then, "What does a shiny Glaceon look like?"

"I couldn't tell you." He said lightly and turned to walk away, "Thank you again for saving our town Zane."

We all were left to stare at the stone and badge, and Zane pocketed the badge eventually before he looked at Silver.

"Well, what do you think bud? Want to be a Glaceon?"

"What is a Glaceon?" I asked Zane.

"It's the ice type evolution of an Eevee, they are pretty strong...there are not very many of them either. That's because these Icy Stones are pieces of rock that have been chilled to such a degree they are permanently frozen solid." Zane rolled the rock around in his hands, alternating because the rock did indeed chill his hand quite a bit.

"I know quite a bit about Eevee and their evolutions. My dad did a lot of study about them afterall..." He frowned as he was trying to remember, "The chill of an Icy Rock causes an Eevee to adapt to it, so it has the same affect as living in a chilly environment does, without actually needing to live in such a place. It's the same way a Fire stone, because of its warmth, would cause him to evolve into a Flareon, or a Water stone because of its constant wetness would cause him to become a Vaporeon."

"How long would I have to spend with it for it to do that?" Silver asked then and I translated the question to Zane.

"About three days to a week, it forces your dna to change as if you were in an artic region and you'll evolve. I'll tell you though Silver, if you do this, your body pretty much has to be in constant contact to it, and this is ah-" He swapped hands again, "Really freaking cold. You'll have to wear it like Ruli wears Raze with a necklace."

Silver seemed to think a moment, staring at the stone as Zane would still occasionally move it back and forth between his hands, until the small canine nodded "Well, if it seems the only way for me to evolve is to take on some kind of extreme condition, and it seems this is the only one we have, let's do it."

Zane nodded, and he retrieved another chain necklace he had in his backpack, tied the ice stone to it, and then wrapped it up around Silver's neck. The Eevee shivered as the rock made contact with his chest.

"Oh geeze that is really cold..." His teeth chattered a bit. It seemed to effect him more than it had Zane. "O-oo-oo m-m-an..." He shivered again and I chuckled. I could feel from his mind that even though he was really cold, he was still really excited, the thought of being able to evolve and be like me was exhilarating for him.

_____________________

We all returned to our room after getting Silver's new stone, and I was greeted by a still unfamiliar voice.

"Hi Ruli..." I looked at the beds and found the small form of Zorua there, snuggled up on the blankets, his feet tucked tightly under himself as he just seemed to be staring blankly at the wall, before he looked over to me as I looked at him.

"Hey...Zorua..."

"Shadow's fine..." He said lightly and I walked up to him. Zane took a hint on his own and he pulled Silver with him into the bathroom, the Eevee was shivering heavily now from the Icy Rock.

"Shadow?" I sat next to him on the bed lightly then, looking at him as he looked up at me, the slight red of his eyes seemed to glow a bit.

"Yeah, it was my name..." He whispered sadly. He seemed to talk really quietly, and I realized this was the first time I had really talked with him since the mansion.

"When did you wake up?"

"Not long before that thing appeared through the mountain." He said and looked me over a moment, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." I looked over my arms and legs and body a moment to double check.

"That's good...I was...worried." He said and looked away from me, looking straight ahead at the wall.

Silence followed a moment as Shadow just stared at the wall and I stared at him, trying to think of something to say, eventually I tapped the bed a bit and I started.

"So...uh...what happened when you woke?"

"Zane explained to me everything that had happened after I got knocked out." He said, "He said he has the gem I had been guarding."

He sighed and closed his eyes, "Not that it really matters...I spent three whole years in there...I guess it was true, my family wasn't coming back."

"You have a family here now though!" I tried to encourage him.

He shook his head, "No I don't...I'm a trainer's pokemon now...not a family pet..."

"It...it's like being a part of a family!" I insisted, but he merely shook his head again.

"I could see your memories..." He whispered and looked at me. "When I had you in my hypnosis..." I saw the clear blush that appeared in his cheeks as he closed his eyes.

"What you have with Zane...and Silver...that was what made me trust you back then and let you out. You...you're part of a family. I'm not, I was abandoned by mine."

"You're part of our family now Shadow..." I whined lightly and reached out with my paw to touch him, but he got up and jumped away from me.

His fur spiked and bristled visibly a moment, but he relaxed quickly, and regarded me with a fearful expression before closing his eyes again. He silently jumped down from the bed, trotted slowly over to where Zane's backpack was sitting, and found one of the pokeballs there, he tapped it and let himself get sucked into the ball, and it clicked closed as he vanished.

Zane came out of the bathroom with Silver wrapped up in a towel soon after, but the little canine was still shivering like crazy, but it was obvious his body was already reacting to the extreme climate change, the fur on his chest where the stone touched had seemed to gain some kind of spikey texture, like it was made of ice.

"He didn't talk much did he?" Zane asked me and I shook my head.

"No he didn't...I tried to tell him nearly the same thing you did, but I think he gave me that same reaction, but that was when Calamity exploded from the mountain. He helped us, so I don't think he's going to leave or anything."

I nodded lightly, and thought a moment. He said that he had seen my memories, but there was a key thing he was missing out of that. He'd seen my memories, but he hadn't felt them...

___________________________

"Hey, it's time we talked." The trainer named Chris said when we left the pokemon center soon after to catch the next ferry to the mainland. Blaze was awake, though still weak, so I had decided to carry him piggyback style, his legs tucked in my arms and his arms hugging my neck. He was waiting outside for us, and as he walked up to Zane, a large pokemon flew down from the sky and landed heavily close to him. He was huge and had wings that were twice his body width. I recognized him as a Charizard, he looked a lot like Mega Charizard had in the visions Raze had shared with me, but there was one major difference, color. The black color pattern of his body was the same as Blaze's orange, who he looked down at me on my back with a slight smile.

"Hello little tyke." He grumbled at Blaze, who blushed behind me and looked away.

Before I could even ask who he was, there was a thunderous noise as another pokemon roared out into the air and some rocks that now littered the broken mountain island flew out into the see. I leaned a bit to see around the large dragon to see another equally large pokemon who was using its large flat head to fling rocks out to sea, digging under it to get leverage before heaving it into the air. Around that one, a small blue pokemon was using jets of water to blast and roll smaller sized rocks through the town, clearing the rubble.

Chris looked at the large pokemon that had landed next to him, "This is Alduin, my Charizard, I've been traveling with him since I started my journey. Yeah, he's Shiny" He looked over his shoulder at the other too cleaning the town, "The other big one is Kyriu, a Tyrantrum and the smaller blue one is Thel, a Totodile."

"Um..." Zane started, he patted my head then, "This is Ruli, you've met him, and Blaze too." He looked at Silver, who was still wrapped up in the towel and being carried in Zane's arms, the pokemon center said that Zane could keep it for our defense of the town. "This is Silver. I have Shadow, a Zorua, but he's in his pokeball right now, he's still kinda shy."

He turned his head at Fredrick then, who was just leaving the center behind us, with Pidove standing on his arm, freshly revived from the exam room. "And that's Fredrick, he's been traveling with me."

"What was that pokemon you rode in on?" I asked then and Chris smiled.

"It was the guardian of the planet's atmosphere, the disturbance of the storm drew him towards this island."

"Was it your pokemon though?"

"Oh, no. No one can own Rayquaza. I can summon him sometimes though, with this." He reached up around his back and dug into his backpack a moment, pulling free a small flute instrument.

"Sometimes he don't respond, seems to be when he just wants to." Chris said and chuckled, putting the flute away before he continued, "Anyways, Zane, what do you know about all this?"

We made our way to the docks as Zane discussed what he knew with Chris, and he recalled all but his Charizard to their pokeballs. The large fire type took off into the air on his own at that point, leaving us to wait as he simply lazily floated about in the air above us.

When Zane finished speaking to him about Calamity, Zane nodded and hummed.

"It goes together with lots of what I've found in my journeys." He opened up his backpack again to pull free a note book, and he started to flip through the pages one at a time, before he found a spot and he stopped on it, digging for a pencil.

"Excuse me." Zane asked again, "But what is it you do, are you a trainer?"

"I was." Chris answered as he pulled free a pencil and he started making changes to his notebook while he spoke, "I stopped collecting badges and pokemon when I got Totodile, and I instead became a Pokemon Explorer."

"What does a Pokemon Explorer do?"

"There aren't very many of us, but we are much like Pokemon Professors, except we don't really do much research or stay in one place, we go where the wind takes us. I do let professors know about places I discover, so that they might later come and examine them more deeply. Typically, we find ancient ruins, find rare pokemon. I found Kyriu as a fossil and had him restored, and I found Totodile alone in a very desolate place. Since then, I've had a better aptitude for exploring lost ruins instead of battling, though I can still hold my own of course."

"What all have you seen in your travels?"

"It's not what I have seen, it's what I hope to see." Chris smiled as he scratched out something in his notes and thought a moment, then continued, "I hope to see every legendary pokemon like Rayquaza there can be, I've only seen a few, but I have so many leads."

"How did that bring you here?" Zane asked then, as the boat was starting to arrive.

"Because of these." Chris said and he flipped his notebook towards us, and me and Zane both gasped. On the two pages of the notebook he showed us, were two very well done drawings, one looking exactly like Raze, and the other, Calamity. There were other symbols and other texts written around the pictures.

"Where did you find this?" I asked while I reached out to take the notebook from him, staring at the picture of Raze and Calamity.

"Among the mountains of this region, there are caves everywhere." He let me take the notebook, "The symbols around them depict a story of some kind, until today, I've never known what they stood for, but now it seems I have my answer."

He tapped the notebook with his finger as I held it, tapping the picture of Calamity, "That, is Yveltal, or as you've called him, Calamity."

"What? It's called something different?"

"Yveltal is what he has been named by professors who've researched ruins I've uncovered." He took his notebook a moment, and he stopped on another page, "And this..." he returned the book to us, "Is Xerneas."

I looked at the picture, it showed a deer looking pokemon with large antlers and multiple lines flowing across its body. "Xerneas?" I asked Raze in my head.

"Never heard of it..." Raze commented, equally as confused as I was.

_______________________________

As we rode the boat to the mainland, Chris explained that Xerneas had appeared sometime after the Mega's defeated Yveltal, but disappeared shortly after, leaving nothing much to show its existence but a seed, which planted itself into the ground, and grew into a mighty tree.

The tree was in the corner of the region, where it stood for all time it had seemed, growing into a mighty and huge landmark. It was concealed by mountains mostly, out of sight, but it was there.

"I've heard of it." Fredrick said as we were arriving at the mainland, the boat starting to slow as we were starting to dock.

"Then we should go there and see if there is anything we can get from it." Zane decided and nodded.

"And train and battle more gym leaders as we go." I reminded him, "We need to stay strong and get stronger as well."

"Right."

We got ready to disembark, but paused as we noticed. Someone was already waiting for us. It was a small, yellow thing.

He sat cross legged on the cement of the dock, his tail flopping up and down behind him lazily as he watched the boat approach. His eyes were slanted at angles, looking like there were always closed but also always watching.

His body was skinny and lanky, arms and legs a little thin except for small bands around them and his body was a little big thicker looking. The ears atop his head were fairly long compared to his body and dropped down the back of his head just a bit.

As we docked and the boat's ramp lowered down, it ended just a few feet in front of him, and we all heard a tired sounding voice. It was like the wind was taking a deep breath of air, until we all heard a voice in our heads.

"I've been waiting for you Ruli and Zane..." There was another deep breath, "You seem to be holding my Mega..."