Story Notes:
Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon
Escaping Distortion
The cringing and scorned landscape curls in exposure to this man's presence. Every fiber of his body is relaxed and tense, energy of his mental dexterity and physical vigor surges through his darkened veins. His glare holds no quarter as his retinas burn blackened holes of potential threat deep into the mind of the renegade Pokémon causing Giratina to flinch and avert his eyes. Instead he looks down at Vecransyh,
"Calling for reinforcements are we prince?" Vecransyh rolls over on to his stomach and blood flows out of his mouth, the sides of his head rest in the puddle of his red water as he begins to slip out of consciousness, pain the only thing that tethers him to this world. Giratina snorts and a burst of blackened purple smoke shoots from the slits in his face. He then looked up and stares in Crowe's general direction,
"You look ridiculous boy, standing in a fighting position as if you would try to battle me; your jokes bore me."
"For your form you present no intimidation you weak filth. I won't even honor your position of defection from Palkia and Dialga. You hold no power over me and you speak with fear behind your words." Giratina's eyes widen as the rage of insults begins to well up inside him. He turns his massive figure toward Crowe and extends his wings to create a more intimidating gust of wind. He slams his massive foot into the dirt and roars at Crowe, but he does nothing,
"YOU THINK YOU COULD EVEN SURVIVE ONE OF MY ATTACKS?! YOU ARE HUMAN SCUM! WE POKEMON ARE SUPERIOR TO YOU IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE, YOU'D DIE FROM EVEN MY WEAKEST ASSULT!"
"Only the truly weak allow trivial things such as words to make their rage show its face. You disappoint me, and this will go much too quickly." Crowe leaps forward into the air, hundreds of feet in the air, much more than any human or Pokémon could. He throws down a Pokéball and it smashes into the ground releasing a very calm looking Machamp with all his arms folded and his eyes closed, in constant meditation. Crowe speaks in the air as he begins his decent, "No quarter." The Machamp opens his eyes and throws one of his arms out behind him in a chop faster than the human eye can track. It slams into Giratina's leg with a sickening crack. Giratina lets out a tremendous roar of pain as he begins to fall when Crowe smashes into Giratina's back, and the ground underneath Giratina crumbles and falls through, causing Crowe and Giratina to fall to the platform below. Crowe jumps off of the creatures back before it hits, but Giratina slams into the ground hard, and another crack rings out through the distorted air. With a roar of pain Giratina swings a massive wing towards Crowe creating a dark purple wind to fly at him. Crowe slams his feet into the ground and the wind flies past him, not fazing him in the slightest. Crowe lets out a grunt, and slams his fist into the ground creating a tremor that cracks the platform down the middle. The crack shoots towards Giratina, and a huge rock bursts from the ground from the tremor smashing Giratina in the neck and causing him to be thrown into the air. Giratina takes the opportunity, and begins to change form, his broken legs glow white, and merge into his stomach. His wings grow larger, more dragon-like, and his faceplate becomes more arrow-like. Giratina begin to fly away, but Crowe jumps toward Giratina with tremendous force, and grabs onto his back, gripping his wing sockets. Crowe body tenses as his grip tightens, and he began twisting. With a wrenching, splicing sound, Giratina's wings crumple and he begins to fall towards another platform. Crowe jumps off, and Giratina crashes into the ground, his wings twitching slightly as dark blood seeps from the half broken wing sockets on his back. Giratina writhes in pain on the ground, twisting and roaring as his blood red eyes look with hatred upon Crowe's figure. Crowe walks slowly towards Giratina and slams his foot into Giratina's neck causing him to cough up dark blood violently, "You may not know who I am, and I like it that way, however, the timing isn't right. You could have created Armageddon by following your foolish dark mind. Your eagerness has cost you dearly, and you now see what I can do, so you had best be patient, or this will happen again, and I swear to you I WILL kill you." Giratina's eyes close tightly as he deals with his pain and his hatred grows,
"WH-...WHAT THE HELL DO YOU...MEAN?!" Crowe kneels down beside Giratina's head,
"I am here to prevent the unpreventable; I am the prophecy to aid all other prophecies. I have been granted with power to stop those who abuse it. Do not cross my path, and I won't cross yours." Crowe goes back up the platforms and returns his Machamp to his ball. He then walks over to Vecransyh, as the time of recovery had allowed Vecransyh to regain consciousness. Vecransyh looked up at his rescuer,
"You...defeated Giratina?" Crowe says nothing, but he raises his arm, and points at the small, fading portal that was their only way out of the Distortion World. Vecransyh stands up quickly, and limps over towards the portal but it's too small for him to fit through. He turns back to see Crowe walking towards him, his hands glowing with a red energy. He puts his hands on the sides of the portal, and pulls them apart, ripping the portal open bigger. Vecransyh breathes a sigh of relief and looks back at Crowe, "Thank you; you saved me so I can see my friends again. What is your name?"
"Crowe."
"Crowe...thanks, I owe you one and I promise I won't let Giratina ever take me over to his side."
"Fool. There's nothing you can offer me that I can't already do or have. And you WILL join Giratina, fate has declared it." Vecransyh looks shocked and confused at this,
"Wait...what do you mean?! You just defeated him, why would you save me if I'm supposed to join him?!" Crowe looks him directly in the eye, causing Vec to flinch a little.
"Shut up, you were not supposed to join him YET. The next time he attacks you, I won't be there, you could try to get stronger, and try to resist, but it would be a futile effort because you will join him." With that Crowe lifts his leg, and kicks Vec in the stomach causing him to fly into the portal.
Vecransyh lands with a thud on the cold pavement of the alleyway he had been in when Giratina had brought him to the distortion world. He looks up into the night sky and a soft smile appears on his face as he feels the soft raindrops caress his wounded and bloody body,
"I forgot... just how nice the rain felt... how long has it been...? Days? Months?" Vecransyh closes his eyes slipping out of consciousness as a figure leans down to him and lays a hand on the wound on his stomach. The figure examines Vecransyh's unconscious body for a few moments before it stands up and slides down her hood. With the removal of her hood two small black ears stand up on top of her head. Her face is that of a human girl with many characteristics of an Umbreon but the rings on her cheeks and ears are aglow with a soft light blue color. She is dawned in a very dark purple robe similar to Neo's and her hood has two draw-strings of a shimmering rainbow color. She slides her hood back on and kneels down scooping up the unconscious boy into her arms and starts walking towards the Pokemon center completely unfazed by his weight although she looks a great deal younger then Vecransyh.
As the doors to the center slide open the girl peers into the only semi-lit lobby and looks around cautiously before she takes a step inside. She looks at a clock on the wall and notices that it's near 2 A.M. She walks over to one of the couches near the front desk and sets Vecransyh down before she disappears up the staircase at the left side of the lobby opposite the desk.
Neo slowly opens his eyes and looks over to the door sleepily as he hears a few knocks,
"Who is it...?"
"It's me Neo, open up." Neo blinks a few times and stands up sliding out of his bed. He walks over to the door and undoes the chain lock before opening it and looking at the girl with a yawn,
"Oh, sorry Luna I thought you were Angela for a second. What's up?"
"I found him." Neo looks at the girl curiously,
"Found who?"
"Him. The kid all those people have been talking about. The one who's been gone for two days." She raises one of her blood-soaked hands and looks at it then back to Neo, "He's in bad shape." Neo becomes wide-awake at the news,
"So did you get him into the emergency room?!" The girl shakes her head and looks down slightly,
"Neo, you know how I feel about interacting with people I don't know personally..." Neo sighs,
"So you need me to check him into the emergency room for you?" Luna nods her head and looks up at him,
"Yes... sorry..." Neo shakes his head and places his hand on Luna's shoulder,
"Hey, it's okay. You've already done more then enough. Maybe sometime tomorrow you could introduce yourself to his friends? I'm sure they would like to know who rescued him." Luna is silent for a moment before speaking,
"I'll try... but if I start to feel uncomfortable I'll leave." Neo nods,
"Of course. So where did you leave him?"
"On the couch in front of the desk." With that Luna disappears into the blackness of the hallway and is lost from view as Neo returns to his room and dawns his black robe. Neo gets Vecransyh checked into the emergency room and returns to his room after finding out that there would be no chance of a fatality.
Vecransyh slowly opens his eyes but squeezes them shut for a moment before blinking a few times trying to get his vision to adjust to the light of the room he's in. His hand moves down his chest a small ways before he winces in pain and lifts up the blanket covering him revealing his entire upper torso and a few portions of his legs and arms in full bandages, He looks around the room too weak to do much else and smiles slightly as he feels the comforting softness of the pillow under his head and sees the white walls of his recovery room,
"Well this seems familiar... but am I in Sunnyshore?" Just then Nurse Joy walks in and smiles slightly when she sees Vecransyh awake,
"Well it's good to see you're awake. We did X-rays of the damaged parts of your body and it turns out that nothing serious was damaged. You should be back to your old self in a few days. It seems that you have a strangely high amount of recovery energy in your body which is why you'll be healing so fast. It'll be gone after you've recovered though so no being reckless thinking you'll instantly recover." The nurse winks at him and Vecransyh smiles lightly and nods wincing slightly in pain,
"Thanks but... where am I? Am I in Sunnyshore?" The nurse nods happily,
"Yes, you're in Sunnyshore city. None of your friends know that you're here though would you like me to tell them?" Vecransyh blinks at the odd comment and gives the nurse a questioning look,
"Why weren't they told?"
"Well, the robed boy who brought you in told me to ask you if and when you wanted me too."
(So... Neo found me in that alley?) Vecransyh blinks a few times, "Yes, please tell them that I'm alive and well as far as health goes. I don't' want anyone other then Xylina and Yakira to see me in this condition though so only allow them in please." The nurse nods with another smile and heads out of the room leaving Vecransyh to look back up at the ceiling, "Okay... so I got out of the portal back where I went into it but I still don't know how long I had to endure that torture... I'm sure I can spare them the details... but... how did I escape that place...? I just can't remember anything after hearing Giratina say... wait a minute... reinforcements?! Was someone else there?!" Vecransyh grips his head when he feels it start throbbing and he closes his eyes trying to not focus on the pain, "Well... I'll alive and that's all that matters..." Vecransyh falls back into unconsciousness a few moments later from the throbbing of his wounded body.
A few minutes later the group has gathered in the couch-circle and Stratos strums on his guitar with a few pages of sheet music balanced on his crossed legs. Kazamaru looks over to the emergency room doors with a scowl,
"Gone for two days and we don't even get to visit... that's cold man." Mawile looks down and shakes her head a few times,
"You just don't understand Kaza." Kazamaru looks at her and raises an eyebrow,
"And what do I not understand?" She sighs and looks up at Kazamaru angrily,
"He was taken into the reverse world by Giratina for two days!! If he's not dead then just imagine the state he's in right now! He doesn't want us to he him like he is..." Kazamaru looks down,
"Sorry... but why did Xylina and Yakira get to see him then?" Scarlet shrugs,
"Maybe he just wants their company for a while. Must have been horrible for him in that place."
The two ghost Pokemon lie on either side of the unconscious Vecransyh looking towards him with an arm across his chest,
"Hey, Xylina?"
"Yeah?"
"When's your baby gonna be born?"
"Around six more months."
"Did you find out the gender?" Xylina smiles happily,
"Yeah, it's going to be a boy."
"Must be nice..."
"Hm...?"
"To have that joy. Knowing that you'll soon be a parent." Xylina is silent for a moment as she lets out a sigh,
"You'll get your chance. We're going back to Hearthome as soon as Vecransyh's up and about again. The nurse said it should only be a few days so you can try again when we get there, how does that sound?" Yakira giggles lightly,
"That sounds like a plan. Hopefully we won't have to try for the entire eight months but if that's what it takes I'm sure he won't mind. I certainly wouldn't." The two girls look over to the door when they hear someone speak,
"How is he?" Mawile walks into the room and hops up onto the bed looking at Vecransyh. Xylina looks back to Vecransyh,
"The nurse said he'll be in bed for a few days... wait... how did you get in here?" Xylina looks back to Mawile as she says this and Mawile simply smiles,
"I'm small so it's really easy for me to sneak past anyone who's tall." Yakira looks over to her,
"Hey, remember when I asked you if you had a name?" Mawile nods raising an eyebrow suspiciously,
"Yeah...? Why?"
"Vecransyh could name you if you wanted. He named me and Xylina." Mawile is silent for a moment as she looks at Vecransyh before a soft smile appears on her face,
"I'd like that."
"I'll get on it then." The three girls jump when they hear Vecransyh speak and he opens his eyes smiling at the three, "You three are pretty loud ya know." Xylina and Yakira both smile and hug him and Vecransyh winces slightly, "Okay, okay, not too tight I'm still in a lot of pain." Mawile sits down and props herself back on her arms laying on her black jaws,
"So what happened with Giratina? How did you escape?" Vecransyh shakes his head and closes his eyes,
"I can't remember really... I think my mind just stopped registering after a few hours of that torture. Xylina? Yakira?" The two girls look up at him with slightly guilty looks,
"There's a second part of the prophecy about me joining Giratina and becoming the lord of demons." They both nod and Yakira speaks,
"Sorry we didn't tell you when we should have. It's just that we both hoped that Giratina would never find you... but you resisted him for two days."
"It felt like months... he would stab me and then heal me afterwards and every couple of hours he would ask me if I'd had enough but I would always say no..." Vecransyh opens his eyes with a smile, "Anyway that's all in the past and hopefully we won't have to deal with Giratina anymore." Xylina tilts her head as she looks at Vecransyh,
"So who found you?"
"Apparently it was Neo but his robe looked different. It was a weird purple color and it had these rainbow crystals on its strings on the hood. Didn't seem to suit him is all." Xylina smiles,
"That was Luna then; Neo's daughter." Vecransyh gives her an odd look,
"And you know this how?"
"She's been sitting next to Neo in the lobby for a while but we came in here a few minutes ago. She hadn't said a word the entire time."
Stratos looks over at Luna as she simply looks down listening to everything going on around her and blinks a few times as he looks over at Neo,
"Oh hey Neo! You promised we could see your face next time we saw you!" Luna says nothing and is suddenly enveloped in a dark portal of energy and disappears, "What was that?"
"She does that whenever she feels uncomfortable." Neo raises his hand to the top of his hood and scratches his head, "I did say that though didn't I?" Neo raise his other hand to his hood and slides it down revealing his face. He looks much like a human boy with all of the characteristics of an Umbreon, "Tuh-duh. And before you ask no, I'm not an Umbreon I got turned into this a long time ago. I'd rather not go into details." Neo brings one of his hand up to his ear and flicks it a few times, "I love these ears though." Stratos smiles brightly,
"Wow that's really cool!" Neo looks over to Tara's Umbreon,
"Yeah well anthromorphic Umbreons are apparently in existence now so I can use that as an excuse whenever someone sees my face." Stratos lifts his guitar from his waist and places it on the side of the couch looking around at everyone,
"Hey, I'm gonna go outside for a bit to get some air." No-one objects and the Lucario walks out the front doors of the Pokemon center.
Once outside Stratos stretches his arms out taking in a deep breath as small portions of his fur reflects the sun and he soon begins walking through the city, "Man, that's a tricky song... I'm sure I can learn it in eight months though." Stratos walks for around twenty minutes before her head up to the ruins of the Sunnyshore gym, "Regardless of how much damage it did that attack still looked really cool... hey..." Stratos looks over and sees Luna facing the ocean letting her robe flow behind her in the wind, "Luna...?" The girl jumps and spins around facing him and she looks around quickly and Stratos tilts his head, "You okay?" Luna doesn't respond as Stratos begins walking towards her slowly. When he gets within a few feet of her she envelopes herself in the dark portal again but Stratos throws his paw forward grabbing her hand negating the teleport, "Please don't run away, I just want to talk..." Luna looks down at the paw around her wrist and takes his paw in her hands,
"Your touch... it's so gentle." Stratos blushes as he looks at her,
"W-what...?" He shivers as she runs her hand up his arm to his right ear and rubs it slightly,
"But I know how much power you have... I watched your battle in this place but you're not even close to as strong as me." Stratos blinks,
"Come again?" Luna giggles,
"You heard me kid. You're not as strong as I am." Stratos takes a step back and his paws begin to glow silver,
"Is that a challenge?" Luna takes a few steps back and slides her hood down looking at Stratos with a smirk,
"You bet it is." Stratos blinks a few times as he looks at her face,
"Wow..." Luna blinks,
"What?"
"You're so pretty." Luna is silent for a moment as she looks at her hand,
"Pretty...? I'm a mons..."
"Too bad I have to beat you!" Luna looks up at Stratos and smirks as he hands become cloaked in dark energy,
"We'll see about that little guy." Stratos raises his paw,
"Umm... we're the same size."
"So we're both not very tall. I'll just call you kid." Stratos lunges towards her,
"My name is Stratos!!" Luna jumps a few feet into the air and slams her heel into the back of his head sending him face-first into the ground,
"You battle to hastily. You should take your time." Stratos jumps up enraged and grabs her in a crush grip before throwing her into the air and forming a small Sacred Fire in one paw and Aeroblast in the other and brings them behind himself fusing them into an aura sphere,
"And you should never take your eyes off of your opponent!!" Luna appears behind Stratos and punches him hard in the back sending him flying forward,
"Neither should you." Stratos vaults on his front paw and double-back flips facing her and grits his teeth, "You also expel much too much energy in your attacks. Short, small bursts of energy would suit you much better." Stratos runs towards her and dodges a punch before he uppercuts her and throws an aura sphere that explodes on impact. Stratos feels a tap on his shoulder and squeezes his eyes shut before feeling a kick in his back making him fall forward. He rolls over only to have Luna put her foot on his chest and look down at him with an orb of shadow energy in her hand, "Check mate kid." Stratos looks up at her out of breath and closes his eyes awaiting the inevitable blast of energy. Instead he feels the foot lift off of him and he opens his eyes looking up at the outstretched hand on Luna,
"Wha..?"
"You didn't think I was trying to kill you did you?" Stratos takes the hand and stands up brushing himself off,
"Are you going to be fighting in the Pokemon league?" Luna gives him an odd look,
"I wasn't really planning on it but I suppose I could." She smirks, "Hoping for another shot at beating me?" Stratos nods,
"Well, yeah. I was hoping we could have another fight after I finish my training in the time between now and the tournament. Hey..." Luna tilts her head,
"Yeah?"
"Do you think... it would be okay... if I... went with you and Neo and trained?" Luna folds her arms as she looks at Stratos,
"I don't see any reason why not. I think I have a lot to offer you as far as fighting goes. You'd have to ask your mother though; Neo too." Stratos nods happily,
"Okay! I'll go ask now!" Stratos then runs away towards the Pokemon center and Luna looks back down at her hand,
"Me...? Pretty?"
Two days pass and the group all stands at the exit of the city. Tara looks around at everyone,
"Where'd Onym go?" Kazamaru looks over at her,
"He went ahead to the Pokemon league." Tara nods,
"Okay. So let's make sure we're all in order here. We will all meet at the Pokemon league in exactly eight months from today. Vecransyh, Xylina, Yakira and... what's your name again?" Mawile smiles happily,
"Victoria." Tara nods,
"Vecransyh, Xylina, Yakira and Victoria will be going to Hearthome city till Vecransyh's son is born, Kazamaru and Scarlet are going to Canalave city to do whatever they need to do, I will be training independently, Latias, Latios, Arcanine, Swampert, Ren, Roze, and Azura will be going to Altomare and finally, Stratos will be training with Neo and Luna. Alrighty everyone!! Let's head out!!"
"Calling for reinforcements are we prince?" Vecransyh rolls over on to his stomach and blood flows out of his mouth, the sides of his head rest in the puddle of his red water as he begins to slip out of consciousness, pain the only thing that tethers him to this world. Giratina snorts and a burst of blackened purple smoke shoots from the slits in his face. He then looked up and stares in Crowe's general direction,
"You look ridiculous boy, standing in a fighting position as if you would try to battle me; your jokes bore me."
"For your form you present no intimidation you weak filth. I won't even honor your position of defection from Palkia and Dialga. You hold no power over me and you speak with fear behind your words." Giratina's eyes widen as the rage of insults begins to well up inside him. He turns his massive figure toward Crowe and extends his wings to create a more intimidating gust of wind. He slams his massive foot into the dirt and roars at Crowe, but he does nothing,
"YOU THINK YOU COULD EVEN SURVIVE ONE OF MY ATTACKS?! YOU ARE HUMAN SCUM! WE POKEMON ARE SUPERIOR TO YOU IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE, YOU'D DIE FROM EVEN MY WEAKEST ASSULT!"
"Only the truly weak allow trivial things such as words to make their rage show its face. You disappoint me, and this will go much too quickly." Crowe leaps forward into the air, hundreds of feet in the air, much more than any human or Pokémon could. He throws down a Pokéball and it smashes into the ground releasing a very calm looking Machamp with all his arms folded and his eyes closed, in constant meditation. Crowe speaks in the air as he begins his decent, "No quarter." The Machamp opens his eyes and throws one of his arms out behind him in a chop faster than the human eye can track. It slams into Giratina's leg with a sickening crack. Giratina lets out a tremendous roar of pain as he begins to fall when Crowe smashes into Giratina's back, and the ground underneath Giratina crumbles and falls through, causing Crowe and Giratina to fall to the platform below. Crowe jumps off of the creatures back before it hits, but Giratina slams into the ground hard, and another crack rings out through the distorted air. With a roar of pain Giratina swings a massive wing towards Crowe creating a dark purple wind to fly at him. Crowe slams his feet into the ground and the wind flies past him, not fazing him in the slightest. Crowe lets out a grunt, and slams his fist into the ground creating a tremor that cracks the platform down the middle. The crack shoots towards Giratina, and a huge rock bursts from the ground from the tremor smashing Giratina in the neck and causing him to be thrown into the air. Giratina takes the opportunity, and begins to change form, his broken legs glow white, and merge into his stomach. His wings grow larger, more dragon-like, and his faceplate becomes more arrow-like. Giratina begin to fly away, but Crowe jumps toward Giratina with tremendous force, and grabs onto his back, gripping his wing sockets. Crowe body tenses as his grip tightens, and he began twisting. With a wrenching, splicing sound, Giratina's wings crumple and he begins to fall towards another platform. Crowe jumps off, and Giratina crashes into the ground, his wings twitching slightly as dark blood seeps from the half broken wing sockets on his back. Giratina writhes in pain on the ground, twisting and roaring as his blood red eyes look with hatred upon Crowe's figure. Crowe walks slowly towards Giratina and slams his foot into Giratina's neck causing him to cough up dark blood violently, "You may not know who I am, and I like it that way, however, the timing isn't right. You could have created Armageddon by following your foolish dark mind. Your eagerness has cost you dearly, and you now see what I can do, so you had best be patient, or this will happen again, and I swear to you I WILL kill you." Giratina's eyes close tightly as he deals with his pain and his hatred grows,
"WH-...WHAT THE HELL DO YOU...MEAN?!" Crowe kneels down beside Giratina's head,
"I am here to prevent the unpreventable; I am the prophecy to aid all other prophecies. I have been granted with power to stop those who abuse it. Do not cross my path, and I won't cross yours." Crowe goes back up the platforms and returns his Machamp to his ball. He then walks over to Vecransyh, as the time of recovery had allowed Vecransyh to regain consciousness. Vecransyh looked up at his rescuer,
"You...defeated Giratina?" Crowe says nothing, but he raises his arm, and points at the small, fading portal that was their only way out of the Distortion World. Vecransyh stands up quickly, and limps over towards the portal but it's too small for him to fit through. He turns back to see Crowe walking towards him, his hands glowing with a red energy. He puts his hands on the sides of the portal, and pulls them apart, ripping the portal open bigger. Vecransyh breathes a sigh of relief and looks back at Crowe, "Thank you; you saved me so I can see my friends again. What is your name?"
"Crowe."
"Crowe...thanks, I owe you one and I promise I won't let Giratina ever take me over to his side."
"Fool. There's nothing you can offer me that I can't already do or have. And you WILL join Giratina, fate has declared it." Vecransyh looks shocked and confused at this,
"Wait...what do you mean?! You just defeated him, why would you save me if I'm supposed to join him?!" Crowe looks him directly in the eye, causing Vec to flinch a little.
"Shut up, you were not supposed to join him YET. The next time he attacks you, I won't be there, you could try to get stronger, and try to resist, but it would be a futile effort because you will join him." With that Crowe lifts his leg, and kicks Vec in the stomach causing him to fly into the portal.
Vecransyh lands with a thud on the cold pavement of the alleyway he had been in when Giratina had brought him to the distortion world. He looks up into the night sky and a soft smile appears on his face as he feels the soft raindrops caress his wounded and bloody body,
"I forgot... just how nice the rain felt... how long has it been...? Days? Months?" Vecransyh closes his eyes slipping out of consciousness as a figure leans down to him and lays a hand on the wound on his stomach. The figure examines Vecransyh's unconscious body for a few moments before it stands up and slides down her hood. With the removal of her hood two small black ears stand up on top of her head. Her face is that of a human girl with many characteristics of an Umbreon but the rings on her cheeks and ears are aglow with a soft light blue color. She is dawned in a very dark purple robe similar to Neo's and her hood has two draw-strings of a shimmering rainbow color. She slides her hood back on and kneels down scooping up the unconscious boy into her arms and starts walking towards the Pokemon center completely unfazed by his weight although she looks a great deal younger then Vecransyh.
As the doors to the center slide open the girl peers into the only semi-lit lobby and looks around cautiously before she takes a step inside. She looks at a clock on the wall and notices that it's near 2 A.M. She walks over to one of the couches near the front desk and sets Vecransyh down before she disappears up the staircase at the left side of the lobby opposite the desk.
Neo slowly opens his eyes and looks over to the door sleepily as he hears a few knocks,
"Who is it...?"
"It's me Neo, open up." Neo blinks a few times and stands up sliding out of his bed. He walks over to the door and undoes the chain lock before opening it and looking at the girl with a yawn,
"Oh, sorry Luna I thought you were Angela for a second. What's up?"
"I found him." Neo looks at the girl curiously,
"Found who?"
"Him. The kid all those people have been talking about. The one who's been gone for two days." She raises one of her blood-soaked hands and looks at it then back to Neo, "He's in bad shape." Neo becomes wide-awake at the news,
"So did you get him into the emergency room?!" The girl shakes her head and looks down slightly,
"Neo, you know how I feel about interacting with people I don't know personally..." Neo sighs,
"So you need me to check him into the emergency room for you?" Luna nods her head and looks up at him,
"Yes... sorry..." Neo shakes his head and places his hand on Luna's shoulder,
"Hey, it's okay. You've already done more then enough. Maybe sometime tomorrow you could introduce yourself to his friends? I'm sure they would like to know who rescued him." Luna is silent for a moment before speaking,
"I'll try... but if I start to feel uncomfortable I'll leave." Neo nods,
"Of course. So where did you leave him?"
"On the couch in front of the desk." With that Luna disappears into the blackness of the hallway and is lost from view as Neo returns to his room and dawns his black robe. Neo gets Vecransyh checked into the emergency room and returns to his room after finding out that there would be no chance of a fatality.
Vecransyh slowly opens his eyes but squeezes them shut for a moment before blinking a few times trying to get his vision to adjust to the light of the room he's in. His hand moves down his chest a small ways before he winces in pain and lifts up the blanket covering him revealing his entire upper torso and a few portions of his legs and arms in full bandages, He looks around the room too weak to do much else and smiles slightly as he feels the comforting softness of the pillow under his head and sees the white walls of his recovery room,
"Well this seems familiar... but am I in Sunnyshore?" Just then Nurse Joy walks in and smiles slightly when she sees Vecransyh awake,
"Well it's good to see you're awake. We did X-rays of the damaged parts of your body and it turns out that nothing serious was damaged. You should be back to your old self in a few days. It seems that you have a strangely high amount of recovery energy in your body which is why you'll be healing so fast. It'll be gone after you've recovered though so no being reckless thinking you'll instantly recover." The nurse winks at him and Vecransyh smiles lightly and nods wincing slightly in pain,
"Thanks but... where am I? Am I in Sunnyshore?" The nurse nods happily,
"Yes, you're in Sunnyshore city. None of your friends know that you're here though would you like me to tell them?" Vecransyh blinks at the odd comment and gives the nurse a questioning look,
"Why weren't they told?"
"Well, the robed boy who brought you in told me to ask you if and when you wanted me too."
(So... Neo found me in that alley?) Vecransyh blinks a few times, "Yes, please tell them that I'm alive and well as far as health goes. I don't' want anyone other then Xylina and Yakira to see me in this condition though so only allow them in please." The nurse nods with another smile and heads out of the room leaving Vecransyh to look back up at the ceiling, "Okay... so I got out of the portal back where I went into it but I still don't know how long I had to endure that torture... I'm sure I can spare them the details... but... how did I escape that place...? I just can't remember anything after hearing Giratina say... wait a minute... reinforcements?! Was someone else there?!" Vecransyh grips his head when he feels it start throbbing and he closes his eyes trying to not focus on the pain, "Well... I'll alive and that's all that matters..." Vecransyh falls back into unconsciousness a few moments later from the throbbing of his wounded body.
A few minutes later the group has gathered in the couch-circle and Stratos strums on his guitar with a few pages of sheet music balanced on his crossed legs. Kazamaru looks over to the emergency room doors with a scowl,
"Gone for two days and we don't even get to visit... that's cold man." Mawile looks down and shakes her head a few times,
"You just don't understand Kaza." Kazamaru looks at her and raises an eyebrow,
"And what do I not understand?" She sighs and looks up at Kazamaru angrily,
"He was taken into the reverse world by Giratina for two days!! If he's not dead then just imagine the state he's in right now! He doesn't want us to he him like he is..." Kazamaru looks down,
"Sorry... but why did Xylina and Yakira get to see him then?" Scarlet shrugs,
"Maybe he just wants their company for a while. Must have been horrible for him in that place."
The two ghost Pokemon lie on either side of the unconscious Vecransyh looking towards him with an arm across his chest,
"Hey, Xylina?"
"Yeah?"
"When's your baby gonna be born?"
"Around six more months."
"Did you find out the gender?" Xylina smiles happily,
"Yeah, it's going to be a boy."
"Must be nice..."
"Hm...?"
"To have that joy. Knowing that you'll soon be a parent." Xylina is silent for a moment as she lets out a sigh,
"You'll get your chance. We're going back to Hearthome as soon as Vecransyh's up and about again. The nurse said it should only be a few days so you can try again when we get there, how does that sound?" Yakira giggles lightly,
"That sounds like a plan. Hopefully we won't have to try for the entire eight months but if that's what it takes I'm sure he won't mind. I certainly wouldn't." The two girls look over to the door when they hear someone speak,
"How is he?" Mawile walks into the room and hops up onto the bed looking at Vecransyh. Xylina looks back to Vecransyh,
"The nurse said he'll be in bed for a few days... wait... how did you get in here?" Xylina looks back to Mawile as she says this and Mawile simply smiles,
"I'm small so it's really easy for me to sneak past anyone who's tall." Yakira looks over to her,
"Hey, remember when I asked you if you had a name?" Mawile nods raising an eyebrow suspiciously,
"Yeah...? Why?"
"Vecransyh could name you if you wanted. He named me and Xylina." Mawile is silent for a moment as she looks at Vecransyh before a soft smile appears on her face,
"I'd like that."
"I'll get on it then." The three girls jump when they hear Vecransyh speak and he opens his eyes smiling at the three, "You three are pretty loud ya know." Xylina and Yakira both smile and hug him and Vecransyh winces slightly, "Okay, okay, not too tight I'm still in a lot of pain." Mawile sits down and props herself back on her arms laying on her black jaws,
"So what happened with Giratina? How did you escape?" Vecransyh shakes his head and closes his eyes,
"I can't remember really... I think my mind just stopped registering after a few hours of that torture. Xylina? Yakira?" The two girls look up at him with slightly guilty looks,
"There's a second part of the prophecy about me joining Giratina and becoming the lord of demons." They both nod and Yakira speaks,
"Sorry we didn't tell you when we should have. It's just that we both hoped that Giratina would never find you... but you resisted him for two days."
"It felt like months... he would stab me and then heal me afterwards and every couple of hours he would ask me if I'd had enough but I would always say no..." Vecransyh opens his eyes with a smile, "Anyway that's all in the past and hopefully we won't have to deal with Giratina anymore." Xylina tilts her head as she looks at Vecransyh,
"So who found you?"
"Apparently it was Neo but his robe looked different. It was a weird purple color and it had these rainbow crystals on its strings on the hood. Didn't seem to suit him is all." Xylina smiles,
"That was Luna then; Neo's daughter." Vecransyh gives her an odd look,
"And you know this how?"
"She's been sitting next to Neo in the lobby for a while but we came in here a few minutes ago. She hadn't said a word the entire time."
Stratos looks over at Luna as she simply looks down listening to everything going on around her and blinks a few times as he looks over at Neo,
"Oh hey Neo! You promised we could see your face next time we saw you!" Luna says nothing and is suddenly enveloped in a dark portal of energy and disappears, "What was that?"
"She does that whenever she feels uncomfortable." Neo raises his hand to the top of his hood and scratches his head, "I did say that though didn't I?" Neo raise his other hand to his hood and slides it down revealing his face. He looks much like a human boy with all of the characteristics of an Umbreon, "Tuh-duh. And before you ask no, I'm not an Umbreon I got turned into this a long time ago. I'd rather not go into details." Neo brings one of his hand up to his ear and flicks it a few times, "I love these ears though." Stratos smiles brightly,
"Wow that's really cool!" Neo looks over to Tara's Umbreon,
"Yeah well anthromorphic Umbreons are apparently in existence now so I can use that as an excuse whenever someone sees my face." Stratos lifts his guitar from his waist and places it on the side of the couch looking around at everyone,
"Hey, I'm gonna go outside for a bit to get some air." No-one objects and the Lucario walks out the front doors of the Pokemon center.
Once outside Stratos stretches his arms out taking in a deep breath as small portions of his fur reflects the sun and he soon begins walking through the city, "Man, that's a tricky song... I'm sure I can learn it in eight months though." Stratos walks for around twenty minutes before her head up to the ruins of the Sunnyshore gym, "Regardless of how much damage it did that attack still looked really cool... hey..." Stratos looks over and sees Luna facing the ocean letting her robe flow behind her in the wind, "Luna...?" The girl jumps and spins around facing him and she looks around quickly and Stratos tilts his head, "You okay?" Luna doesn't respond as Stratos begins walking towards her slowly. When he gets within a few feet of her she envelopes herself in the dark portal again but Stratos throws his paw forward grabbing her hand negating the teleport, "Please don't run away, I just want to talk..." Luna looks down at the paw around her wrist and takes his paw in her hands,
"Your touch... it's so gentle." Stratos blushes as he looks at her,
"W-what...?" He shivers as she runs her hand up his arm to his right ear and rubs it slightly,
"But I know how much power you have... I watched your battle in this place but you're not even close to as strong as me." Stratos blinks,
"Come again?" Luna giggles,
"You heard me kid. You're not as strong as I am." Stratos takes a step back and his paws begin to glow silver,
"Is that a challenge?" Luna takes a few steps back and slides her hood down looking at Stratos with a smirk,
"You bet it is." Stratos blinks a few times as he looks at her face,
"Wow..." Luna blinks,
"What?"
"You're so pretty." Luna is silent for a moment as she looks at her hand,
"Pretty...? I'm a mons..."
"Too bad I have to beat you!" Luna looks up at Stratos and smirks as he hands become cloaked in dark energy,
"We'll see about that little guy." Stratos raises his paw,
"Umm... we're the same size."
"So we're both not very tall. I'll just call you kid." Stratos lunges towards her,
"My name is Stratos!!" Luna jumps a few feet into the air and slams her heel into the back of his head sending him face-first into the ground,
"You battle to hastily. You should take your time." Stratos jumps up enraged and grabs her in a crush grip before throwing her into the air and forming a small Sacred Fire in one paw and Aeroblast in the other and brings them behind himself fusing them into an aura sphere,
"And you should never take your eyes off of your opponent!!" Luna appears behind Stratos and punches him hard in the back sending him flying forward,
"Neither should you." Stratos vaults on his front paw and double-back flips facing her and grits his teeth, "You also expel much too much energy in your attacks. Short, small bursts of energy would suit you much better." Stratos runs towards her and dodges a punch before he uppercuts her and throws an aura sphere that explodes on impact. Stratos feels a tap on his shoulder and squeezes his eyes shut before feeling a kick in his back making him fall forward. He rolls over only to have Luna put her foot on his chest and look down at him with an orb of shadow energy in her hand, "Check mate kid." Stratos looks up at her out of breath and closes his eyes awaiting the inevitable blast of energy. Instead he feels the foot lift off of him and he opens his eyes looking up at the outstretched hand on Luna,
"Wha..?"
"You didn't think I was trying to kill you did you?" Stratos takes the hand and stands up brushing himself off,
"Are you going to be fighting in the Pokemon league?" Luna gives him an odd look,
"I wasn't really planning on it but I suppose I could." She smirks, "Hoping for another shot at beating me?" Stratos nods,
"Well, yeah. I was hoping we could have another fight after I finish my training in the time between now and the tournament. Hey..." Luna tilts her head,
"Yeah?"
"Do you think... it would be okay... if I... went with you and Neo and trained?" Luna folds her arms as she looks at Stratos,
"I don't see any reason why not. I think I have a lot to offer you as far as fighting goes. You'd have to ask your mother though; Neo too." Stratos nods happily,
"Okay! I'll go ask now!" Stratos then runs away towards the Pokemon center and Luna looks back down at her hand,
"Me...? Pretty?"
Two days pass and the group all stands at the exit of the city. Tara looks around at everyone,
"Where'd Onym go?" Kazamaru looks over at her,
"He went ahead to the Pokemon league." Tara nods,
"Okay. So let's make sure we're all in order here. We will all meet at the Pokemon league in exactly eight months from today. Vecransyh, Xylina, Yakira and... what's your name again?" Mawile smiles happily,
"Victoria." Tara nods,
"Vecransyh, Xylina, Yakira and Victoria will be going to Hearthome city till Vecransyh's son is born, Kazamaru and Scarlet are going to Canalave city to do whatever they need to do, I will be training independently, Latias, Latios, Arcanine, Swampert, Ren, Roze, and Azura will be going to Altomare and finally, Stratos will be training with Neo and Luna. Alrighty everyone!! Let's head out!!"