FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 28

We continued down the path through the mountains without any interruptions for the rest of the day, and stopped for the night close to a small waterfall. The water fed into a stream that flowed along the pathway, which had been risen up and a bridge built to go over it, so that you could watch the waterfall as the water flowed seamlessly under you.

Zane and the two humans still with us proceeded to set up our camp, while I and the other pokemon set to gather water to boil over the fire for our dinner that night. Though it was mostly me scooping the water in the bail while Rook would then carry it back to the campground by his teeth on the handle to have Veren empty it into the cooking pot.

When I waited for him to return with the empty bail, I watched over my other pokemon companions as they rested a bit along the waters. Silver and Blaze were still by each other, the fire type still trying to give the ever changing Eevee a bit of relief from the chilling bite he was feeling as the stone on his chest continued to change him. His fur couldn't look any more like icicles than it already did. He had gone from his silver sheen to a light blue in the change. He had to be close to evolving by now.

Shadow was curled under a tree, the fluff of his tail hanging over his nose so that I could only just barely see his eyes as he peered around, looking to me a few times as he did. Psy was leaned up against the other side of the tree, legs bent together and his hands held together in some kind of sign and I could only assume he was doing some crazy psychic type thing, probably reading all our minds again so we'd have no privacy as usual.

I towered over them all now, if they were stacked shoulder to shoulder, I probably still would be taller. It was awkward and yet at the same time, I felt oddly empowered now. Raze's death still hung over me like a leering shadow, but his body, his power...

That natural connection I could have to the Aura now gave me so much sensory information. I could tell just by looking around what was happening a good two miles away if I focused hard enough.

I closed my eyes and let the aura take me a moment, my sight flowing out my body and into the air. I looked down at myself and the others a moment, then cast my gaze across the tops of the trees.

"zzzzZZZZzzzzZZZZZZzzzZZZ..."

"What was that?" I thought, my face frowning, as I cast my mind's gaze towards the source of the sound.

"Zzzzzzzzz....come..."

All at once and against my will, my vision was suddenly yanked along the air forcefully, colliding through trees, mountains, and clouds as I zoomed miles away from my current location.

I barely saw the huge and gigantic tree before I plummeted through its surface, until I came to a spot in a dark cave below the tree's massive roots. I had to take a moment to regain my focus, having been tugged so far away from my body I felt the connection slipping quickly from the vision.

I gasped as a pair of bright yellow eyes opened in the darkness of the cave, and a slithering noise as they slowly rose into the air, their light reveling the green and black scaly skin of a towering snake.

"COME!" It hissed out at me, staring at me even though no physical part of me was there, before I zipped back to my body in an instant, the shock of it jarring me. I snapped my eyes open, gasping out and feeling my heart pounding in my chest.

"Ruli?" Rook said next to me and I jumped, turning to him quickly and nearly slapping him with the backside of my paw, but stopping just in time.

"Whoa!" he shouted, jumping back a bit as I had swung my arm, "What's wrong with you?" He snapped and growled at me and I panted a bit and I tried to think.

"N-nothing...sorry, didn't mean to..." I said lamely, the flashing eyes of the vision still filling my own thoughts as I panted.

The Absol grunted and he threw his head to the side to indicate the camp, "We're done with the water and dinner's about to get started."

I nodded to him, then turning my head behind me towards where the aura had pulled me. That tree I had gone into must have been that one Chris had told us the Paragon had left behind. From what Psy had told me and what I believed though, those yellow eyes and that voice didn't come from a pokemon who could be a paragon of anything.

__________________

I slept through the night in relative peace, though my dreams were unrecognizable, more memories of Raze carrying them to places I'd never seen before. Mountains, plains, deserts, small islands in the middle of vast oceans. How many places had Raze seen, how many things had he done?

The memories continued to carry me through unknown worlds until someone lightly kicked me in the ribs and I blinked my eyes open.

"Wha-?" I mumbled as I lifted my head from where I had been curled up to sleep, using my now bushier tail as a bit of a blanket.

Alduin, Chris' shiny Charizard loomed over me, peering down at me, his white eyes shining brightly in the night sky. He was nearly invisible save for the how his body blocked out the stars.

I rubbed my eyes and yawned softly, sitting up slowly as Chris' voice then whispered to me, "Hey," I blinked again to see the sandy haired human staring at me just as intently as his pokemon was.

"Hmmm hey?" I questioned back sleepily and folded my legs as I sat, "Why'd you wake me up?"

"To train you." Chris answered and he stood up, slapping his pant leg as he turned to tell me to follow him.

I made a confused face at his words, sitting still as he began to walk away, "Um what? Why would you train me?"

Chris turned back to me, "Cause I have noticed, that you've never had any formal training before. What moves do you know?"

"Aura Sphere, Metal Claw, Force Palm."

"There's so much more Lucarios can use, do you know how to use any of the pulse moves?"

"Oh um..." I paused a moment, "I don't..." I rubbed the back of my head a moment before I started again, "Hey though, why are you trying to train me? Zane's my trainer."

Chris looked to the sleeping human close by us in his tent, "No offense, but Zane doesn't have the experience to train you in everything that you can do. You're a mega now, your power is much stronger than normal pokemon. Given time, yes, the two of you could have discovered your power on your own, but time is something we don't have much of."

Chris reached into his pocket, and he pulled out a orange gem.

"Hey, why do you have that?" I asked, recognizing the gem as Blaze's Mega stone, but I hadn't seen it since Calamity had drained it to resurrect himself back on the island.

"I had a feeling, after Psy explained how these stones work to us, that if I kept the stone close to Alduin, it will eventually power back up."

Chris walked over to the large fire type, holding the stone up. The Charizard bowed his head down as Chris placed the chain that held the stone around his neck, the gem laid flat against his skin.

"We also can't really afford to wait for Blaze to evolve enough, so I asked Chris to let me have the stone. Blaze didn't like the idea, but he gave it up."

The stone remained dark however, but Chris didn't seem worried, "It might take awhile for it to work, so we'll see. Now, come on."

He motioned to me again to follow, and this time I didn't try to argue against him. I lifted myself up, finding myself standing nearly as tall as Alduin did. The flying fire type flapped his wings and took off into the air as I began to follow Chris. We followed along the river, the stream trickling in the silent night air.

We walked away from the camp ground down the pathway a good distance, before Chris stopped and he turned towards me.

"You ready?"

"For what? What are we going to do?"

"Training." Chris stated, and suddenly, Alduin landed in front of me, the ground shaking as he landed. The flame on the tip of his tail was roaring and Chris only grinned behind him, unshaken by the impact while I stumbled a bit.

Alduin growled at me as Chris explained, "You're going to battle me, one on one."

"What?!" I cried, waving my paws, "He's a fire type, he could seriously hurt me."

"All the more reason for you to dodge." Chris stated, "Alduin, Flame Thrower!"

The fire type in front of me reared his head back, his maw glowing bright with flame before he roared and shot out a jet of fire at me.

"Shit!" I yowled as I rolled to the side, to dodge, and then prepared to try and counterattack, but it seemed Alduin was more experienced than I was. He had stopped his attack as I had dodged, so that he could better turn his head and body to follow me, before shooting again. Alduin wasn't Blaze, he wasn't going to let someone exploit the weakness I knew he had.

I had to dive this time to get out of the way, but I felt one of the appendages from my head get singed in the air as it flowed behind me. I felt it burn painfully as I grabbed it to find it on fire, quickly patting out the flames with my paw, which also caused it to tingle at the intense heat.

"Can we slow down a bit?!" I asked in a panic as I swatted at the flames, feeling my heart racing in my chest from the sudden situation. My head began to throb to the beat of my heart.

"No slowing down for battles! Again Alduin!" The human called and the Charizard's maw glowed bright again as he inhaled.

I cursed again, and I did the only thing I believed I could do. I turned and started to run down along the river stream.

"Hey!" Chris yelled, apparently not expecting me to take the running option in this, "After him Alduin!"

I heard the loud flapping of wings as I ran away, my new body gave me powerful and lengthly strides across the ground and I looked back over my shoulder as I ran to see if I had possibly lost them with my speed.

I hadn't, Alduin was already in the air, flapping his wings and steadily catching up with me. My mind ached as I saw him, a sudden memory appearing and playing in my eyes of dozens of Charizards flying through the night air, their maws blowing streams of fire over the ground below them as groups of Lucarios fought down attacking groups of Charmanders and what I guessed was the second stage of evolution for them. The ground was tearing itself open, red hot molten lava erupting from the ground as the fire types were driving the Lucario back from the land. I heard the loud roar of Mega Charizard over all the chaos, and looked up slightly to see him flying straight at me, his maw glowing before he roared again, spewing a stream of fire so hot it glowed white straight at me.

The vision vanished right then as I gasped in surprise, having tripped over a large rock as I had been distracted. I rolled through the grass a bit and grunted as I came to a stop, scrambling back up as Alduin landed close to me, making the ground shake a bit and break as he did.

"You can't get away from me." He growled at me, and I held my head as it was throbbing with one paw as my vision kept flashing back and forth between what was actually happening in front of me, and from Raze's memories. It was almost as if that through one eye, I could see Alduin in front of me as he grinned at me while watching me, while through the other one, I saw Mega Charizard glaring me down, the entire forest burning down around us. What was happening to me? I had to end this fight.

"I won't fight y-" I started, but gasped again, partly in pain from the throbbing in my skull, gripping my head with both paws as the memory overtook me completely once more. When I looked back up, head still pounding, all I saw was Mega Charizard and the burning forest.

"You can't win!" He bellowed at me, wings unfolding before me as if to cover me in their shadow.

"I've beaten you back once I'll do it again!" I yowled back at him. I saw a blue glow at the side of my vision and soon I flung an Aura Sphere at him.

"Whoa!" Alduin's voice pierced my vision and it flashed away, just as I saw the Aura Sphere hit the tree behind him and explode, the tree quickly falling and leaning into the branches of its neighbors, snapping them apart until it crashed to the ground.

"What the heck..." Alduin whispered to himself as I panted heavily, sweat matting my fur. My head still throbbed and as he turned back to me and I saw his surprised face, I gripped my head again and howled in pain as it felt like my brain was throbbing too. I stumbled a few feet along the river, gasping and crying out until the throbbing faded enough for me to open my eyes.

I saw the river beside me, the ground at my feet was scorched and burnt. The smell of embers and sound of crackling fires surrounded me. I looked up and saw again, the forest on fire, but this time, it was so real to me. The visions were getting more and more intense.

Mega Charizard stood before me again, staring me down smugly as the fire raged around us. I gasped in pain, realizing my body was burnt and ached horribly. The pain attacked me suddenly, every bone of my body felt red hot and I fell to one knee, barely catching myself.

"This land is ours! Melt and fade Steel Type!" Mega Charizard boomed at me again and his maw glowed white once more to shoot flame at me. I raised my arms to defend myself, closing my eyes to take the hit that I knew would probably make me pass out, but heard someone call.

"No! I will protect you! Raze!"

"What?! Zul!"

I looked to see Zul stand in front of me, arms spread open just as the other mega blasted him with his flames.

"NO!" I cried, and as Zul's cry of pain sounded, I felt renewed energy surge through me, quickly holding a glowing paw out to the water.

The river beside us quivered, the water seeming to start waving from beside me, until four rings of water rose up into the air and quickly flew at Mega Charizard.

Each one hit him, water splashing over him and making him stumble back in surprise.

"Oh no! Alduin!" Zul cried out and a moment of confusion hit me before my vision blinked once more, the forest returning to normal Zul vanished, instead replaced with Chris who ran to his Charizard, now laying on the ground and shivering, the flame on the tip of his tail looking dimmer than usual.

My head throbbed again, but I ignored it as now it seemed to be less painful than it had been getting and I watched Chris work quickly as I recovered from the ordeal. He kneeled down beside Alduin's tail and he fished into his backpack quickly to find a bottle of some kind which he unscrewed, pulling free a brush from the bottle and using it to lather the fire type's tail with some kind of liquid.

The flame on Alduin's tail quickly grew brighter and Chris sighed softly, "There...you'll be okay..." And he put the bottle away as Alduin grumbled softly and laid his head down to rest, and I now realized that the grass and ground around him was completely wet.

My head throbbed once more, but only gently, as Chris turned towards me and walked up to me. "Are you okay..."

"I think so...what happened...?"

"I don't know...I heard an explosion and followed it. I caught up and you were gripping your head and yowling out in pain while stumbling along the river, but then you lifted your paw to the water and suddenly sent for rings of Water Pulse at Alduin..."

"I...what? I don't even know how to use Water Pulse."

"Well you're a Mega Lucario now...your power is natural now, you can use it without thinking probably, but what was happening to you?"

"I...I saw...Mega Charizard...the forest was burning...then Zul..." I gasped lightly as my head throbbed hard once again and I stumbled back, and Chris caught me by the arm to stop me from falling.

When I opened my eyes back up Zul was in front of me again, "Take it easy..." He said, but then my vision flashed and it was back to Chris once more, my head aching as held one paw over an eye and stared at him through the other, panting softly.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah...just...let's get out of here...please..." I whimpered and the human nodded. He called Alduin to his pokeball after making sure he would recover properly from the water and he helped me back to the camp ground, holding me up as I walked slowly, my head still pounding and a few more images flashing across my eyes of massive battles and destroyed landscapes.

Chris helped me to lay down when we got back to the camp, my body for some reason extremely exhausted even though I hadn't taken much damage from the flames. The pounding and visions had left, which I was really thankful for.

The human retired into his own tent then, and I was left to my thoughts. I turned onto my back to stare up at the night sky, but I decided that wasn't a good idea when the sight of the stars caused a brief memory to flash before my eyes of Zul staring up at the stars beside me as I sat on a cliff.

I sighed as I turned back onto my side to stare instead at Rook, but again, a vivid memory flashed across my eyes. This time, I towered over the dark types as they fled before me, scared of my physical power over them.

I closed my eyes, whining in annoyance, my head throbbing once again lightly as I tried to just ignore using my eyes at all and try to fall asleep, but before I could even start, Psy's voice rang in my head.

"You are troubled..."

I didn't answer for a moment before I decided that perhaps he could help and I answered back to him,

"Yeah..."

"The visions haunt you."

I nodded from where I laid, not sure if he was even somewhere he could see me, but he felt my emotion from the physic power he had.

"You will have to learn how to control them." He stated.

"How?" I whined out.

"You should ask the Absol. He has had his gem longer than you, and probably has gone through the same situation as you are."

I saw the wisdom in that, and nodded again. I would ask Rook for advice tomorrow. Psy said nothing more, so I tried to sleep again, but visions still played across my memory.

To try and ignore them, I recalled the creature the Aura had shown to me earlier that day. It had tried to hiss at me to come to it, what did it want?

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When I finally did fall asleep, I dreamed, once again with Raze's memories taking me through unknown worlds and locations. I walked absently through a tunnel of some kind, the walls shined with a kind of bluish glow and occasionally, I saw my reflection glide across glass like surfaces. I was a regular Lucario again, it seemed. I paused a moment to look at myself, lifting my arms and turning my body to look at each part of me. Yeah, every part was normal.

"Is there anyone here?" I asked aloud then as I stared along the caverns, but as my voice echoed down the halls, I heard it.

"zzzzzzzzzZZZzzzzz..."

"Hello?" I called out again, and the sound grew louder.

"ZZZzzZZZzzzzzZZZZZ" It was coming closer, flying down the hall at fast speeds. A slithering noise accompanied the sound, like a snake gliding through grass.

"Who's there!?" I shouted and I crouched, my paws coming up in a fighting stance I didn't know at all.

"ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz....zzzzzz.....zzz..."

The sound vanished, the slithering sound along with it, but I stayed poised as I glared down the hallway, waiting for something to happen, my heart pounding in my ears. But as timed past, I relaxed and stood straight again, paws falling to my sides as I stared down the hall still.

"Guess it was nothing..." I turned my head to the glass beside me then to smile at myself for being silly, but then I saw the yellow glowing eyes behind me, seemingly floating in the air, before a green snake creature began to show, body shimmering as it appeared. I whipped around quickly, but I wasn't able to react more than that before the snake beast's maw opened and it snapped down on me with its massive fangs. It released me just as quickly as it had struck, and dropped me to the ground as I shouted out in pain, two deep wounds having been pierced into my chest.

As I writhed in pain on the ground, the snake creature shimmered again as it vanished, leaving me to struggle. Something hot surged through my body, flowing through my veins. I yowled out as it poured through every inch of my body, the burning sensation building up inside me. I crawled on my hands and knees, blood dripping from my chest, until I reached the glass wall and I managed to claw my way up against it to lean on it.

I watched my reflection in horror, as my body transformed in the glass. I heard my bones snapping and breaking apart as they assembled new additions to my body. Two spikes began to on each side of the one already on my chest, and I felt my paws and feet ache as an extra spike grew there as well, while the ones I already had pushed outwards even more, blood trickling from the spots they emerged from. My fur changed colors, red fur etched their way across my paws and feet, while the tan growing down my body became bushier and covered my midsection and crawled up my neck, flowing down as a cape behind me, covering my tail even as my head appendages grew longer to hang close to middle of my back.

"It...poisoned me...?" I croaked out in pain, unable to hold myself up as I fell to the ground, eyes closing as I could still feel my body changing and I blacked out, wondering what fate would befall me.

I shot up from where I had been laying, yowling in fear. Zane jumped beside me as I did and I jumped myself in surprise, heart pounding in my ears again as my eyes wildly jumped from Zane and Chris.

"Easy there Ruli." Zane told me and I whipped my gaze to him, breathing heavily and slowly calming down before I realized it had all been a nightmare.

"A...a nightmare..." I breathed out and panted, rubbing my cheek with my paw. I was Mega Lucario again, which was somehow a relief.

"You seem to be having a lot of these things happening to you..." Zane said worriedly, glancing to Chris a moment and I realized he must have told him what had happened the night before.

I calmed down and held my paws as I sat there, thinking.

"I don't know...Psy told me Raze's memories would become mine but they are like, interfering with me. When I battled I got this ache in my head and memories of past battles against Mega Charizard haunted me. I looked up at the night stars and saw visions of Zul staring up at them with me. I looked at Rook and had visions of defeated dozens of dark types and taking their homes..."

"It sounds like Raze's memories are conflicting the past and future together." Zane stated and I nodded.

"And I don't have any idea how to control them at all." I whined softly.

"Maybe they will fade...given time." Chris offered, and I shrugged, he added, "When you first got his body, you didn't seem as afflicted, perhaps it's not Raze's memories that are the problem, but your own mind adjusting to the power."

Again, I could only shrug, but it seemed as possible an explanation as ever one.

"I need to talk to Rook for a bit." I said then and looked for him.

"He's with Varen at the river." Chris said while hiking his thumb over his shoulder.

I nodded and started to rise, the two humans tried to help me at first till they saw that I was already recovered enough. "I'll be fine." I chuckled lightly to them and I nodded to Zane. "I'll return with them once they are done, but I want to talk to Rook now."

"All right Ruli, we'll be packing up camp so we should be good to leave once you get back."

I nodded agian and started to walk down the path towards the river, thinking about what I would say to Rook or ask until I thought about the nightmare again and absently, I brought a paw to my chest and rubbed it, feeling over two my fur until I felt them. I stopped dead in my tracks, my paw resting over one of the two spots, a small indent in my body, my skin. A scar. I had never bothered to even examine Raze's body for any kind of injury before.

"What?" I breathed out as I rubbed the two scars repeatedly, staring down and I tried to part the fur to see the skin underneath with my paws, the fur was too thick, but I could feel them. Two wounds, right in the same spots the snake beast had struck me.

"ZZZzzzzZZZZZZ COME!!!" The voice the Aura had shown me earlier sounded in my ears and I gasped, eyes going wide as I stared ahead down the pathway, but only the wind blew across my face, the voice fading as it echoed. The creature in my dream had to be the same creature, I realized then, my heart racing in my chest as I made the connection. It wanted me to come to it...to that tree...

What did it want with me...?