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Part 8: The Dark King...
Black exits his room and floats over to the table where
Mewtwo, Alen, and Glen are. "So, you also know about them?" Alen
looks a little surprised; it was the first time he had heard him speak.
"I always thought you were mute... oh well. Yes,
we do know about the card." Alen felt a little uneasy. He sensed
a very odd and old presence now that the dragonair spoke. Mewtwo stepped
forward in Black's direction.
"You, your name is Black and you are older even than me.
I thought dragonair had a maximum age of about ten-thousand years, but you
are much older." Mewtwo then kneels on one hand and one knee and bows.
"You have my respect for attaining such age naturally. I did not kneel
earlier because I do not like doing such honors in front of unsuspecting
guests." He stood back up. "So, will you share your vast knowledge
with them, or-"
"Yes, I am waiting for the right time. I must speak
with Adrian outside. I must show him the past as I have seen it," the
deep, resonate voice interrupted; the voice of Black.
"What is it that-"
"This matter cannot be discussed with you, Alen, nor you,
Glen. I will take my leave now, and see Adrian. I thank you,
Mewtwo, for the honorific. It is not everyday that anyone meets one
such as I, even if I have been with part of this family line since it first
began. The earth is giving Adrian protection by having all of us magical
creatures get caught in the net that is his family's line of blood since
its conception. I am afraid that Adrian is the last of this pedigree,
and then it will be over." Black begins to float up through the skylight
and out to the forest. Alen was shivering.
"The chill of evil is around him. Why is it that
I could not sense it before?"
"Because he did not let you." Mewtwo answered.
"It is said that a pokémon's mental powers grow with age. His
age surpasses mine by at least one-hundred times. He may not have come
from this world, since nothing could have existed here that long ago."
Glen begins to grin with an idea.
"It look like you not only one who is interested in Adrian's
well being. Could it be that Black will start something that will trigger
something and make something make Adrian do something.... weird?!?"
Glen questioned almost jokingly.
"An interesting thought," Mewtwo answered, thinking on
it. Alen was still confused.
*****
"Aahhhh... nothing like fresh meat!" Charla had
finally captured her prey and began feasting. Black began to come into
view. Charla glanced up and saw him floating toward her. She
quickly flamed the blood off her body and knelt on one hand and one knee
as he floated in front of her. "Lord Black! It is good to see
that you are moving again," she said in a very 'lady'-like manner.
The dragonair stopped in front of her.
"Carry on with your meal... I see that it took you long
enough to capture it." He started to float above the trees.
"Lord, have a safe trip," Charla said up to the dragonair.
He nodded and continued his flight to Adrian.
Alen's eyes grew wide. "I just heard Charla calling
the dragonair 'Lord' Black! Why did she call him that?" Alen's
mind could 'hear' beyond any normal hearing, and actually heard Charla yell
'Lord Black.' Mewtwo almost looked surprised, but didn't.
"What do you expect? But, of course, you do not
know the stories." Alen knew that as true; he had never heard of any
dragonair named Black.
"But she never called him that whenever he would come
out of his pokéball to get a check up."
"That is because he asked her not to in front of the others.
He asked the others that knew of him to also not mention it. There
are many myths about his life that are told by different elder pokémon.
The charizard's version is different than the blastoise' and so on.
When I first probed their minds, I found that each of them that knew these
stories were worried about that dragonair. He is the subject of the
stories, but they cannot ask him about them, because he is extremely old
and is considered an elder to all pokémon. But he let me probe
part of his mind. Those stories are true. All the different versions
are just different times in his life."
"So what are these stories, I've never heard them."
Mewtwo psychically sends all the stories into Alen's mind. Alen begins
to concentrate, going through the new memories as if he lived them.
"....I feel weak..... So many different things.... How could
he have lived a life like this? It just doesn't seem possible..."
*****
Adrian and Ollie are sitting and staring out at the sea
from a small shore line. The waters were very calm. "This is
such a strange place, isn't it Ollie?"
"Yup. So many things happened. I just wish
we were home."
"I do too, but I suppose this place will just have to
be it for right now." Black is slowly floating his way toward Adrian.
He could be seen if Adrian turned around and looked up a little. Adrian,
instead, looked at the sand. Ollie was clawing at the sand, making
shallow pits that filled in a second later. Adrian grabbed some sand
into his hand and let it run through his fingers. "It's just like water,
only not wet."
Black stops and hovers behind some trees. He wants
to know what Adrian will do next.
Ollie began gathering some sand into a pile. It
never got taller than up to his chin. Adrian decided to add to Ollie's
pile, making it slowly rise above the cat. He then leaned against it.
"Seems pretty strong," Adrian said as he used it like a recliner. He
palmed some more sand. 'I wonder,' he thought. He slowly concentrated
on the sand trying to make it levitate about his hand, but nothing was happening.
Black could sense Adrian's psychic strength reaching toward the sand, but
it wasn't very strong.
'Just a little further, Adrian. Just a little further...,'
Black silently encouraged.
By the time Adrian's head started to turn red, the sand
jumped from his hand. "Woh!" The sand landed on the ground silently.
Small waves began to splash playfully on the shore.
"I saw it," Ollie stated, "I saw the sand jump!"
"I think I'm going about this the wrong way. I concentrated
on the sand really hard, but it only gave me a small response. It was
easier when I used telepathy to talk to everyone, or when I lifted the plate.
Why is this so much harder?"
'That's it Adrian: question it.' Black continued
to wait.
"Well, the plate was one thing, right? That would
mean that each grain of sand in my hand was lifted on its own. That's
it! I need to be able to move them as a group, like one thing, like
the plate. What do you think Ollie?" The cat walks out in front
of him.
"It sounds okay, but do you think you can do that yet?"
Adrian nods.
"I can try..." He scoops up some more sand and begins
to concentrate on the sand. His eyes flash green, and the pile in his
hand begins to rise. He moves his hand away and leaves the sand clump
suspended in mid-air.
"Ooooo. You did it! But can you shape it?"
Ollie's tail raised and started to wave with happiness.
"I wonder if I can." Adrian closed his eyes and
envisioned the clump as a cube. When he opened his eyes, the clump
was a small, compact cube. In his excitement, he lost his concentration
and the clump fell and dispersed. "Hmmm..." He scooped up some
more sand. He concentrated. The sand levitated up and started
to move. The shape began to change into an ameba-like blob. '...yes!'
He held his hand out and tried to control the blob of sand's direction of
movement. At first the blob hovered in one spot and continuously changed
its shape like a lava lamp, but Adrian's eyes flashed red and his aggresion
started to kick in. He swatted the blob from the air. Ollie jumped
behind the big pile of sand, cowaring. Adrian stood up and held out
his hand toward the big pile of sand. He clenched his fist then thrust
it up. The pile rose with as much force. He turned and faced
the sea with the pile hovering above the water. He then began to reshape
it. A perfect ball was formed. It then started to stretch until
it was the thickness of a single grain of sand. His eyes flashed red
again. The sand began to take on a shape that was a very complex pattern
of ridges and valleys that seemed to repeat themselves at any point.
Ollie is left in awe. Black's eyes widen.
'Yes, you have done it Adrian!' He begins to float
toward Adrian again.
Adrian begins to smile. He then forms a large ring
with the sand. Ollie walks forward and tries to bat at the sand in
the usual cat manner of curiosity. Adrian begins to laugh a little
as Ollie reaches for the ring to try to grab it. Ollie jumps and grabs
on. The sand ring seems to hold him up. Adrian then moves the
ring to be above the ground instead of the water. Ollie lets go.
Black stops behind Adrian and circles to face him.
"You are learning how to manipulate the sand very well."
Adrian drops the sand and looks up at Black. He
was surprised to see him, and could now feel what Alen felt. Ollie
ran and hid behind Adrian.
"Do not be so frightened Oliver, I pose no threat to you
nor Adrian. I am here to tell you the passed history of humanity and
the magical creatures you call pokémon. Will you allow me to
tell you the past?" Adrian looks at him, trying to look into his eyes,
but cannot find them in the dark pools for eyes the dragonair had.
"Yes, you may tell me," he said slowly. Black's
voice rumbles.
"Thank you, Adrian. You will never forget what it
is you will hear from me...."
*****
"It is possible, because some of that I know to be true."
Mewtwo reassuring Alen that the stories must be true. "I remember when
some of these events happen. Others happened before my time, but I
place no doubt in them."
"These stories are unreal! How could one pokémon
have seen and done all those things and still be alive and moving?!
It just doesn't seem right." Glen begins to smile.
"Because he not really pokymon. Dat must be only
reason, eh?" Mewtwo almost agrees.
"He is pokémon, but just not the same kind of pokémon
that exists today. He must be from a time when pokémon were
new, since he called them 'magical creatures.' Somehow, I know why
he is what he is." Alen and Glen are puzzled.
"When pokémon were new?" they both asked.
Mewtwo nods.
"Humans have existed longer then I once thought now, because
Black was there." Glen looks a little frightened.
"You don't mean that... that..."
"Yes."
*****
Adrian sits and listens as Black speaks. Ollie is
also interested in what he has to say. Black's voice has such a deep
pitch that the sands rattle lightly as he talks. He spoke of times
when the earth was newly formed, of how the first things lived and died.
He was not actually there, it was history he was told when he was young.
He then talks of how humans first came.
"Humans are an interesting animal to talk about.
They don't have any major abilities besides their brains and how they use
them. A really weak species of animals yet they can do things no animal
can." Adrian is astonished so far. He continues to listen as
Ollie is slowly giving in to his usual catnap at about this time of the day.
"One could say that humans were just jealous of how all the other animals
had special abilities and of how they only lived a life of 'eat, sleep, live.'
Humans cannot just 'eat, sleep, live,' no, they must invent. Because
they invent, the fires of a new future arose." Ollie begins to roll
himself into a little ball in Adrian's lap. "Man set out to change
his environment. He cannot live like the other animals, so he invented
a new way of living. He invented a heat source by accident. He
was mashing some nuts on a rock when he caused a spark to fly from the rock
to some nearby twigs and they caught fire. He used this fire to heat
himself during the long cold winters and to cook his food, since cold meat
is very hard to eat. He invented tools that would make cutting open
an animal very easy. He used these tool to cut trees and invented shelter
where there was none. As time passed, they continued to invent.
Shovels, axes, clubs, spears, bows and arrows, until they figured that some
materials could be melted and then shaped. They made copper and iron
based weapons, as well as copper and iron based sheeting for shelter and
physical protection. No animal was a match for the human, except for
himself. Wars broke out for territory and females, just like how the
animals brawl for the same. After much bloodshed, the leaders of these
fighting nations agreed that fighting would not solve their problems.
One nation was created when the daughters and sons of one were wed to the
sons and daughters of the other." Ollie is fully asleep and purring
softly. "You, Adrian, are a true descendant from that uneasy truce."
Adrian's eyes suddenly widen.
"How? How could I be a descendant of them?"
Black's voice continues.
"Each of the couples had many sons and daughters, but
all were separated at birth except two. The other children never knew
who their family was. This was intentional, so that the nation would
not get separated by jealosy in the family. Each of the couples had
done this, and many children, dozens, were given to other families."
"Dozens?"
"Yes, there were initially sixteen couples."
"How could the two leaders have so many children?"
"They did because times were different. Having more
children meant your family would last through the ages. That was what
they intended, but something very strange was taking place. The couples
had the same number of boys as girls, and somehow they found each other."
Adrian looks a little disgusted.
"Incest?"
"If that is the word for it, yes. Brothers unwittingly
married sisters. But, as I said, times were different. Back then,
inbreeding did not cause the babe to be deformed. The new couples would
then have more children, but the same number of boys and girls. This
continued for generations, but stopped when the current generation had exactly
six-hundred and sixteen. All the couples had the exact same number
of children, and would continue to have either one or two children each generation.
Soon the families unwittingly moved to different parts of the world.
The one nation that had existed was now broken into small parts, each looked
after by different people. Your ancestors never knew that they were
actually related, until Man invented a machine that could make a sort of
genetic finger print out of a piece of skin. This can reunite long separated
families as well as track crime. It was mandatory in this new age that
everyone be identified. When everyone was done, the machine compiled
the data into a world database and began sending letters and faxes and electronic
mail to families who were separated, as well as arrest warrants and fines
for those who committed crimes. When your ancestors finally gathered,
they noticed something strange about each other." Black looks to the
sky; it was after noon. Adrian is anxious for Black to continue.
Black senses this and continues. "Each man looked the same. Each
woman looked the same. When they introduced their children, the children
also shared this strange aspect. Every other couple had come from a
different part of the world, yet everyone was the same. After the gathering,
they each left to their part of the world and continued their lives as if
nothing happened. This continued all throughout history, they simply
continued their lives, unwittingly crossing paths when the time comes to
continue the family line. They finally get back together and lived
in an underground city. The regions they had lived in were fighting,
so they escaped it all together. Human society declined after much
time. Nearly all the machines they had built had been destroyed by
a sudden global disaster. Two large nations were at war when they sent atomic
devices at each other. The blasts from such explosions was so great
that all the animals and plant life had been destroyed. Only your ancestry
survived. They survived by living in an underground city and relying
on underground farms that used sun-lamps powered from the many boiling lakes
and aquefers underground. They were watching their televisions when
everything blanked out. All communication was dead. They were
frightened of what could have happened, so they continued to live underground
for several more generations. When they finally went to the surface,
everything was gone. Some were sent to try and find machines.
They found heaps of machines that still worked and started by rebuilding
plant-life. There were machines that were used to cultivate the earth
for farming. They used those machines to plant the seeds of trees and
to also grow food. They found machines that had the genetic make up
of many different kinds of animals. Since none of the animals lived
through the blast, they used the machine to create new ones, but they would
change them some. They wanted to be able to contain them in small orbs
so that they could preserve life if something like this were to ever happen
again. They called them 'Pocket Monsters,' or Pokémon."
Adrian's eyes widen.
"You mean pokémon were made by humans?!"
Then Adrian thinks a little more. They were made by my ancestors?
"Yes, pokémon were invented to repopulate the earth
with animals. They created thousands of different kinds, but some died
out as others evolved. Well, they thought they did the world some good.
They planted the plants to clear up the atmosphere. They made the animals
to inhabit the earth. The only thing that there was not a whole lot
of was humans. They had a remedy for that too. They were able
to salvage one of the machines the held the genetic data of the people, but
they didn't want to recreate the existing humanity. Plus, they needed
to make machines to nurture the infants once they were born, since humans
cannot take care of themselves when they are newborn. The animals were
not a problem, but rebuilding humanity would be. After many generations,
the machines were ready to take and accelerate the growth of humanity.
They tried to suppress the urges that make humans violent. They did
some other alterations to them, those of which you can see on your television.
There were initially more pokémon than humans, so your ancestry invented
the capture orb, or your typical pokéball of today. And so,
this gave the new humans something to do so that the pokémon would
never die out. The new humans formed new societies, and large nations
after many generations. Your ancestors finally went out and lived in
the different places that humans of the time had inhabited. They had
split into two groups and went around. These societies seemed like
they had always existed, yet they didn't. Humanity would continue to
exist, but would always have a decline followed by a rise. What Mewtwo
said about humanity resembling a sine wave is true, but a sine wave is the
same forever. Humanity continues to change." Black looks up to
check the time. The sun is on it's way to the horizon. Adrian
leans back on his hands.
"So I am the last real human?" Black shakes his
head.
"There are six left. Your great-grandmother, your
mother, and you and another three. They are the opposite. A great-grandfather,
a father, and his daughter. In fact, the daughter is the same age you
are, and is hearing the same story you are." Adrian is puzzled.
"You mean, there's another dragonair like yourself talking
to another kid like me, only it's a girl?" Black nods.
*****
Alen looks at Glen, who looks back at Alen. Mewtwo
is not surprised at their conclusion.
"Humans started all of this." Glen begins to smile.
"HA HAH! So all of us WERE created. Eh, it
not big deal." Mewtwo almost looks furious at Glen's last comment,
but doesn't.
Maro walks in from one the doors. He seems shaken
as he approaches the three. Charla also returns, but through the skylight.
Something had also shaken her.
"Something's messing with my head.... I can't think straight..."
Maro began saying between breaths as he stumbles forward. 'Seems he
ate some of the fruit,' Mewtwo thought. Upon mental probing, Maro had
gotten sick from eating a particular fruit from a certain tree.
"Are you alright, Maro?" Charla asked as she landed.
Maro looked at her and leaned on his bone club.
"Stomach feels like... fire," he finally said, "It looked
soooo gooood when I saw it...."
"Are you prepared, Maro?" Mewtwo asked sharply.
Maro nodded; he knew in the back of his mind what Mewtwo was going to do.
Mewtwo's eyes glowed as he teleported the contents of Maro's stomach to a
sealed container in a closed off room. "There, you should feel fine
within a day. It is a good thing you got yourself here so quickly.
Another few minutes and you would have lost sanity from the pain."
Maro fell over on his back.
"I can't believe I ate it."
"Actually, some of the fruits and trees here do not exist
outside this island anymore. The fruit you ate gives off a strong scent
to attract its victims. The seed only takes root in the victim's dead
carcass not long after ingestion."
"That's more then I needed know..." Maro weezed as he
grabbed his belly and curled into a ball.
*****
"In fact, it is almost time for you to meet them and your
great-grandmother," Black's voice rumbled. Ollie woke up. Adrian
picked Ollie off his lap and stood up.
"Here?"
"No, in another place in two days. By then you will
be able to travel there." Adrian looked confused.
"I'll be able to travel there? You mean... alone..?"
Black nodded.
"The sun has finally set. We should get back to
his house and rest." Black floated up and then straight to Mewtwo's
castle. 'House,' Adrian thought, 'only a house?'
"Let's go back," Ollie said softly. Adrian began
to walk back through the now dark forest. He concentrated on a light
source of some kind. He envisioned a something like a light bulb.
His eyes flashed white and a soft source of light came into existance in
front of him. As he walked, the light source followed like a balloon
tied to string. "I didn't think it would get so dark...."
"Don't worry, kitty," Adrian said as he picked him up
in his arms. The sound of footsteps was heard in the distance.
Must be some of Charla's prey, Adrian thought. Ollie began to shiver.
"Ollie," Adrian whispered, "stay quiet. I'm going to stop the radience."
The ball of light began to wither until it shined no light. Adrian
concentrated. His eyes flashed a purple-ish color. He began to
float above the ground towards the castle without making any sound.
More footsteps could be heard in the distance. Adrian continued moving
forward. His mind wondering what it is exactly is moving. His
question was about to be answered.
"....master.....," a hoarse voice whispered. Adrian
almost jumped. It came from in front of him. "....lord.....,"
it whispered again. Adrian regained his wits.
"Y-you mean me?" he asked quietly. The creature
in front of him moved closer, but was still too dark to see what it was.
"....you are not what you are told....." Ollie shivers.
"....he is not what you think, either.....," the creature said as a long,
shadowy claw could be seen pointing at Ollie.
"Who or what are you?" Adrian asked the creature.
The creature came closer.
"....I do not think I can answer that question easily.
You will remember who I am soon....." The creature seemed to have vanished.
No footsteps could be heard. Adrian thought some on it, but decided
not to think too hard. He continued on his walk, recreating a light
source.
"Am I not what you think?" Ollie asked, lightly, almost
jokingly. Adrian looked at his meowth and smiled.
"Well, aside from the fact that your fur isn't beige,
you're just a normal, sleepy kitty, and I'm glad." Adrian stroked the
cat's fur. Ollie began to purr softly. 'His house' could now
be seen as Adrian left the forested area. It's windmills were spinning
slowly. Light could be seen shining through the doorways, cutting the
darkness. As they got closer, Adrian let go of his light source, and
walked in.
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