Post by Mr. Game & Watch on Dec 24, 2019 20:48:29 GMT -8
‘Twas the night before Toy Day. An almost mystical air filled the streets of the Life Sphere, a holiday whimsy warming the hearts of many when the temperatures were at their coldest. Even the chilly winds and artificially festive snow didn’t deter the citizens from frolicking through the town. From the well-to-do neighborhoods of Brightwing Lane to the otherwise sketchy alleys of the Black Market, carolers went from house to house to spread the joys of the holidays, singing classic tunes about Jingle and his gift giving ways.
All was merry and bright, save for the barren den of a single man. Not a lonely man, mind you, but a secluded one, nonetheless. While everyone else was lavishing in the holiday spirit, Shade only wished to rest the night away. He laid on his wooden floorboards without so much as a pillow or blanket, he slept like a corpse in a coffin. Comfort was not a necessity but sleeping the correct number of hours was. He had contracts to fulfill the next day and far be it from him to be rendered inefficient by not following his regimen. A contracted assassin without the proper stamina to back him up was a dead assassin.
An eye twitched open at the sound of a creaking floorboard. It arose from outside his apartment, from a plank that Shade had designed as an early warning mechanism to alert him of someone approaching his door. He had many enemies in the Life Sphere; however, they didn’t sneak up on him, he wouldn’t allow it. He was the one that lurked within their shadows.
Shade reverberated from his resting position and onto the ceiling, crawling along like a spider toward the door. A knock echoed from the door. He had no idea who it was who sought him out, but they were about to receive a gruesome surprise. The ninja drew a kunai from his belt and crept closer to the door to listen in and get a better idea of what lurked on the other side. The noises of throat clearing, and a group of shuffling feet suggested carolers. Well, at least one of them was going to leave without their vocal cords then.
The ninja creaked the door ajar with a nudge of his fingers. Apparently, this was inviting enough for one of the figures from outside to complete the gesture and open the door fully. As soon as the dark figure stepped into the room, Shade launched his weapon with a flick of his wrist and great precision.
Shade’s head flinched in surprise. The dagger had phased through their body without them so much as noticing. Perhaps his eyes were playing tricks on him and he somehow missed the target. In which case, there was more than one way to subdue the perpetrator. He leapt off the ceiling and descended on the mysterious figure in a tackling motion. Much like his kunai, he simply phased straight through and fell flat on the floor.
Once the man of mystery was in the center of the room, the door slammed shut like a gust of wind forced it closed. The cloaked figure turned around to view his flat faced assaulter and removed his hood. It revealed a bush of white frazzled hair, a style not too different from Shade’s.
Being one that was quick to action, Shade scrambled back to his feet to prepare himself for another assault, but he froze in place when he gazed upon a familiar face. One so familiar, it almost looked exactly like his own. It was another member of the Shadow Triad. This did not put him at ease, but it was certainly a curious sight. Based on his confident stance and posture, Shade was able to deduce which of his brothers the masked figure was. “Umbra” he stated neutrally, more so acknowledging his identity than being curious about it.
The man threw his arms up in a celebratory manner “baby brother!” he exclaimed as soaked in the surroundings, or lack there of. “Been years, but you haven’t grown a week. Nobody uses those edgy code names anymore” he dismissed with a wave of his hand before wandering to a nearby wall. He inspected the mishmash of papers and maps pasted to it. He tried to follow the information, but it was so scattered one might think he was trying to follow the trail of a Mythical Pokemon.
Shade silently and calmly followed his brother. His gait didn’t suggest it, but he had an inkling of pride in his work. “It all leads to our master’s location. All that’s left is to acquire some transportation and Ghetsis will show this planet what true leadership is.”
Umbra’s head twisted the full way around to look at his brother. “Our master?”
The sight of his brother performing something so unnatural irked his gaze. “We swore an oath, ‘til death becomes us” he replied with uncertainty.
The rest of Umbra’s body shifted around to face Shade in a blur of darkness. “So unobservant” he bemoaned as he shook his head. The cloak surrounding his body blew off like a cloud of dust, revealing his impaled and beaten torso. “I have become death! Look upon me brother! Betrayed by my own Pokemon!”
The gruesome injuries on their own did not faze the assassin, lining them up with the face of his brother though… it was certainly enough to make him weak in the knees. Shade had to peer away, but he shook his head and return his gaze to his brother’s eyes. “Impossible! Your Pokemon were subservient to you. You were a strong trainer, you could control them.”
“In death you learn a great many things you are told are lies. Listen to me, my brother, the powers of generosity are at their strongest during this season. What I give you is not a material gift, but the chance to mend your ways before your fate echoes my own.”
Shade’s gaze altered to one of disbelief. He began to look at the apparition of his brother from different angles. “You’re a hologram. Umbra wouldn’t speak of such drivel” Shade dismissed as he turned away from the false figure.
The apparition sprouted from the ground in front of Shade, preventing him from walking away. “Believe what you will! But when the clock-” Umbra attempted to warn as he pointed a blank wall. He searched the room once again and sighed. “You know, a little furniture wouldn’t kill you, must you rely on my hand-me-downs?” he questioned as a clock materialized on the wall. “When the clock strikes you will be visited by three spirits, heed their lessons and save yourself from a fate such as mine!” With that final announcement, Umbra’s body swirled into a tornado of darkness until it dissipated and vanished into thin air.
Shade looked rather annoyed. Clearly, his location has been compromised and someone was trying to mess with him. No matter, he had more than one safehouse around the Life Sphere, but the biggest issue of all was his sleep schedule going out of wack because someone thought it’d be funny to Scrooge him. The man threw open his window and stealthily leapt to the next building over. He scattered halfway across town, dipping and slinking through many a passageway to ensure he would not be followed.
Once the Pokemon Trainer arrived at his destination, he meditated for a bit to allow his heartrate to drop and promptly went to sleep on an equally hard, but different floor.
The clock struck. The chime of the ghostly construct reawakened the assassin into a world of darkness. Shade couldn’t so much as see his hands in front of him. He didn’t need his sense of sight to know that he was somehow back at his first apartment. Without a moment of hesitation, Shade pulled out a kunai and attentively listened to his surroundings.
Shade’s ears perked at the sound of a hum, like the engine of a machine. Soon, a red light lit up the room, a small bulb flickering like a candle’s flame. It moved toward Shade, revealing a robotic figure at its source. “This unit is A.I.M.” the sage synthetic stated. “This unit is designated as the manifestation of time’s past. It is this unit’s prime directive to showcase events from unit Shade’s past as they happened and provide him with new perspectives. Will unit Shade comply?” A dagger phased through its glass eyes. “This unit will accept opposition as compliance.”
Before Shade could rush the ROB rip-off, clearly not learning from past experiences, the source of light extinguished, returning him to darkness.
The darkness faded out as the duo soon found themselves in the bright, sunshiny courtyard of a rather rundown estate. The gardens were blossoming with greenery, that was without doubt, but the building at the center of it all looked like it was a bit of a fixer upper. It was one of welfare, likely an orphanage. One that was all too familiar to Shade.
After getting an eyeful of the familiar fairgrounds, he turned to the robot with a rage burning behind his eyes. “What do you want from me?” Shade asked in disbelief. All these images of his past life, someone had to dig up a lot of information on him. For what purpose? And why were they toying with him like this?
“Objective: enlightenment” it stated clearly before turning about and hovering along the ground. “Follow.” Its trajectory suggested that it was headed toward the backyard.
Shade remained where he was, glaring at the machine as it moved. Out of a strange compulsion, likely A.I.M.’s spiritual influence nudging him along so that he wouldn’t miss the scene that he was brought back in time to witness.
The backyard was characterized as an open grassy plain that was bordered by a rather dense forest. The chapel-like building overshadowed most of the area, but there was one child who was playing outside of the shade. The child had a mass of white swept back hair with a bright red flower pinned next to his ear. He wore bright coloured clothing, though they were tattered a bit, very likely that he was not their first owner. While it was difficult to tell at first glance, he was not alone. The naturally camouflaged Petilil was amongst the greenery.
“Okie dokie, Petilil! Time to show the judges your stuff!” the child squeaked with excitement. There were no real judges in the area, but it was clear that it was play. That didn’t stop the tiny plant from shyly cowering. The child expanded his arms to the sky. “C’mon! Magical Leaf, like we practiced!” The little creature hopped and blew a whirlwind of leaves, all of which flashing with a variety of beautiful colours. “Awesome!”
Shade looked to A.I.M. from the corner of his eye. “That’s not me” he stated blandly.
“Commencing facial recognition sequence” it replied whilst locking its vision onto the little boy in the distance.
Shade merely placed his hand to block A.I.M.’s optics. “My brothers and I look nearly identical, it could be either one of them” he calmly reasoned.
A.I.M.’s head twisted around and aimed toward the building, focusing on a specific window. “Unit Shade’s brothers currently signing scholarships to promote their upcoming gym challenges. Unidentified unit could only logically be unit Shade.”
The assassin watched his younger self frolicking through the fields, only to trip on his own feet and fall flat on his face. “What is this supposed to teach me?” Shade asked impatiently.
Without warning, the wind would slowly pickup clumps of sand until it evolved into a full-blown sandstorm. The young Shade turned his head toward the forest, barely capable of keeping his eyes open. Even without his full vision, he could easily make out the stampeding figure approaching him, that of a Tyranitar. The child stumbled off the ground and began to run in the opposite direction, his Pokemon though, it narrowly followed. The child’s stubby legs weren’t capable of out speeding the stomping titan, Petilil recognized this. In defiance, the tiny bulb Pokemon turned to face the creature and unleashed a stream of petals at the monster’s ankles. With the aid of the sandstorm, the plant matter merely bounced off the creature’s impenetrable skin.
It accomplished one thing though, the Tyranitar stopped in its tracks, towering over the grass-type with malice. The rock skinned dinosaur let out a roar of power and slammed its jaws shut, allowing the echoing crunch to make shockwaves across the fields. Petilil’s boldness quickly altered to quivering fear. The adult Shade tried to tackle the bulb creature out of the way from sheer desperation, but his ghostly status meant that he phased straight through.
The rock lizard punted the tiny creature away and continued its rampage. Its mighty stomps formed tremors in its wake. The pseudo-legendary did not cease until it reached the orphanage, Mega Punching straight through the wall and nearly causing the whole complex to crumble with one swing. The hole it created allowed two smaller Pokemon to leap out and strike at the rampaging monster. A Shelmet spitting Acid and a Shuppet spewing a Will-O-Wisp from its mouth.
The two brothers retreated from the building while their Pokemon distracted the beast. They immediately rushed toward child Shade’s location and picked him off the ground. They tried to escape the storm, but the silhouette of Tyranitar was the only solace they found. The creature stomped its foot, the force of which summoned a boulder to shoot out of the earth and into its hands.
Before it could splatter the cowering children underneath its boulder, a Focused Blast of energy shot out from seemingly nowhere and struck the beast in the back. While it could normally take quite the punishment, this Ki-based bullet was far beyond its limits in terms of raw power. It fell over in defeat, the sand stream following directly after.
The trio of children gasped for clean air, their disturbed expressions spelling out their realization of how close they were to death. Before they could dust themselves off though, a three-headed dragon descended from the sky, more specifically the direction where the blast originated.
The Hydreigon was intimidating enough, but a green haired man in robes entered the scene from another direction. He held a cane in one hand and the collar of a child he was dragging behind him. Ghetsis stood proudly but calculating, looking down upon the trio of white-haired children. “I shouldn’t have to apologize for the mistakes of another, but it’ll be more than what you’ll get from this blubbering mess” he explained as he thrust the child he was dragging forward.
The child’s whole body was whimpering and shaking uncontrollably, tears rolling down his face. “I’m so sorry, I tried to-” he muttered, though much less coherently with gasps and snorts.
“Tried to!? You own a Tyranitar!” Ghetsis exclaimed before looking to the trio of children. “Answer me this, should such a weak trainer have access to a creature that could do all of this?” he quizzed the children as he raised his arms, to re-illustrate the destruction levied against the orphanage.
The children appeared to still be in shock about the situation. They gazed around and shook their heads nervously.
A smile grew on the man’s face. “Ah, smart children. Much smarter than most adults” Ghetsis applauded. His grimace returned as he gazed back at the child who caused this all. “I think a jury full of your victims is more than a fair jury for the likes of you. For everyone’s safety, your Tyranitar is coming with me.”
The adult Shade looked upon this scene from afar, almost in awe of his master. “He adopted us after the orphanage was condemned. He saved our lives twice over” Shade muttered to A.I.M. with silent pride. “Regardless of the supposed terrible things he’s done, the Shadow Triad vowed to never forget that he made us what we are today.”
A.I.M. turned to face Shade. “Unit Ghetsis made you what you are today, correct. Inquiry: the term manufactured may be a more fitting phrase” the machine explained before turning about and wheeling itself toward the forest. “Units Shadow and Umbra were local prodigies. It was believed that either one or both would challenge the Champion later in life. Unit Ghetsis saw potential.”
Shade followed the robot past the treeline. “And?” the ninja muttered dismissively.
The machine was analyzing their surroundings until its sensors detected that they were in the exact location necessary. It stopped in its tracks. “As a child, Unit Shade only experienced one half of the story.” The light atop of A.I.M.’s head flared once more, basking the surrounding area in light before it was replaced with darkness. The darkness only consumed the land for a mere second before returning their surroundings back to normal. “Five minutes before the attack.”
The duo were no longer alone in the forest, Ghetsis and the child that he would arrive with in tow were standing side by side with one another, seemingly without any sort of conflict. “All you need do is cry uncontrollably, I will see to the rest” the robed man commanded with a Pokeball gripped in his hand.
Once he received a nod of understanding from his underling, he tossed out the capsule and released the Tyranitar. The hulking beast stood militantly, waiting for orders. “You know what to do. Kill the youngest one if necessary. Death can be an excellent motivator” Ghetsis mused wisely as he pointed to the fields beyond the treeline. The creature bowed its head in acknowledgement and shook its body in rage, going from loyal servant to berserker in a mere second.
Shade appeared unaffected. “I see your true motivation. You placed me in this holographic world to brainwash me. My loyalty to Ghetsis is without question. Your false images won’t stop me from freeing my master from his icy prison” he spoke in a moment of clarity.
“This unit is presenting the past as it happened. Whether unit Shade wants to believe history played out the way it did is unit Shade’s decision. This unit requests to ask unit Shade a vital question. If unit Ghetsis did not arrange the attack, what was he doing at the orphanage?”
Shade crossed his arms. “He was flying overhead. He noticed the unusual sandstorm and went to investigate. I take his word before yours.”
The sage synthetic looked to Shade with its reflective eyes. “How fortunate that unit Ghetsis was flying over your airspace at the absolute correct time. Given unit Ghetsis’s history of manipulation, perhaps this was his single moment of true heroism” the machine stated coldly.
Shade looked away, shaking his head. “Manipulate these pictures of the past all you want, I’m unaffected” he noted defiantly, as though he were a proud hostage not giving into his captor’s demands.
A.I.M. tapped the underside of its optic chamber, as though it were rubbing its chin inquisitively. “The past is what you make of it. Unit Shade can only view the past as it was presented to him. Perhaps this is the least efficient method” the machine thought aloud.
The bulb atop A.I.M.’s cranium exploded with light, soon becoming a black hole that sucked in the surroundings. Shade would be thrust back into the cold darkness, unaware of where he was or where he was going.
The clock struck again, forcing Shade out of his slumber. He gasped for breath through his cloth mask, his head darting around the room to ensure that he was back in his empty apartment. He would have claimed it all as a dream if not for the ghostly clock ticking away on his wall. The gauntlet was not over yet, Umbra claimed there would be three ghosts and so far, he only met one. Their attempts at manipulation were transparent, so Shade had no fear of succumbing to their word, but who knows what their next tactic would be.
As Shade stood there wondering, his ears picked up on a heavy metal soundtrack humming in the distance. Who was playing such loud music at this time of night? His answer would come in the form of the Blue Falcon crashing through his wall, though its ghostly properties meant that the wall remained intact. The F-Zero racer screeched to a halt in front of the assassin, its hood popping open to reveal the chief of police himself, Captain Falcon. “Ch-yes! All of the cool entrances none of the property damage!” he claimed with a fist pump.
Captain Falcon performed a two-finger salute. “Before you ask, I’m the man of the hour, the spirit of time as it presently proceeds.”
Shade looked on without even the slightest sense of curiosity. “And the Life Sphere’s Police Chief, putting the final nail in the coffin about this being nothing but a ploy to have me cooperate within your society. Is this guise of spirits and time manipulation really necessary?”
“The bells and whistles are always necessary! You think we put racing stripes and fire decals on our rides because they make us go faster? Well, sometimes they do, but that’s not the point! I’m here to give you a lift around the Life Sphere! Give you a little peek on how this season of giving is celebrated all around the city because, let’s be real, we’re not finding any of that here” he continued excitedly. He scooted over, allowing room for his co-pilot to take a seat. He even lightly patted the space next to him with a welcoming visage. “Hop in!”
Having flashbacks to the time they invaded Black Shadow’s base of operations, Shade shook his head with a wide-eyed expression. “If you think I’m setting foot in that metal death can again, you’re sadly mistaken.”
Captain Falcon sighed in disappointment, the glass canopy closing. The engines revved and the machine rammed forward, colliding with Shade. Instead of turning him into roadkill though, the incorporeal car absorbed him into its mass and seated him next to Captain Falcon. “Oh good! You changed your mind!” he announced with great vigor. “First stop, Aether Paradise!”
Shade sat rather unenthusiastically; a fist firmly planted against his cheek.
While the F-Zero racer was the fastest of its kind, the duo arrived at their destination much faster than they normally should have. The world outside the canopy was nothing more than motion blur until the vehicle stopped, halfway immerged into the outside wall of the indoor reserve. From their vantage point, the duo could make out most of the reserve, though they were excellently positioned over a craggy section that had a certain armoured Pokemon resting there.
Bisharp was sat upon a rock just beneath the artificial craggy hill, the perfect environment for tough skinned Pokemon like him. He looked pensive and focused, though his gaze fell upon nothing. Beside him was a beaten and broken sandbag, dressed in familiar attire (a mop on its head and a black bandana just underneath its eyes). He was not idle though, he delicately sharpening the edges of his arm blades by scraping them against one another.
Captain Falcon looked over to Shade. “That one’s yours, right?” he asked in an uncertain manner.
Shade rolled his eyes. “Why would I ever want to own such an insubordinate subordinate? Maybe if it could actually fight its own battles, it would be worth training into obedience.” Shade had watched Bisharp Sunshine Stadium match from afar and was not impressed by his traitorous turncoat fleeing the premises with its tail between its legs. The creature was clearly a lost cause without his guidance.
The Police Chief’s expression altered to one of concern. “You think you might be a bit harsh on him?”
“Pokemon require a harsh environment to become the strongest they can be. If they buckle under pressure like that creature down there does, they aren’t worth the investment. All these children think that Pokemon are meant to be their friends, they don’t understand the responsibilities of owning one, let alone six.”
The two returned their attention to the lonely Pokemon below. Though, he wouldn’t remain alone for long. A tiny Lotad waddled onto the scene, its rain dish cap holding a little gift. Bisharp’s stare remained a mile long, barely noticing the lily pad creature’s approach until it nudged his metallic hoof. It offered a smile and bowed its head to present the present. Bisharp anxiously refused with a wave of his hand, but the Lotad merely nudged forth in refusal.
Bisharp picked the present off the creature’s head and placed it on his lap. His face remained neutral as he unwrapped the gift. With the paper out of the way, it was revealed to be a tiny flower crown, clearly handmade by the grass-type. The metallic creature held it out in front of him, not sure what he was supposed to do with it. Cautiously, he placed the crown on his head spike, looking to the gift-giver for their approval.
The Lotad bounced off the ground with absolute joy. It nodded its head over to another direction, sputtering something in its language before scuttering off quickly.
A slight smile grew on Bisharp’s face. He got up from his position. Before he could walk off, his gaze fell upon the ruptured punching bag. He threw his hand in dismissal and carried on, following the tiny creature.
“Sometimes you just need your bros, y’know?” the captain piped up. “You worked your Pokemon to the bone, and where are they now? Gone. They weren’t a team, they weren’t a family, they were a task force, emotionless and empty. I make time for my employees, go out for some brewskis, and grow connections that make us more than soulless machines.”
Shade continued to stare blankly, clearly not paying much attention, if any at all. “All I see is weakness and inviting yourself to be manipulated” he scoffed simply.
Captain Falcon returned a plain expression. “Maybe you project too much.”
Before lingering too long, the captain pulled his hovercraft into reverse and the scenery outside the canopy reverted to the wild motion blurs. The duo remained in silence until they reached their next destination. The vehicle crashed halfway through a room in the Lightweather Hospital. Stationed in the room was the trophy of a Volcarona, a series of machines and gauges hooked up to it. It was left in the dark, no nurses or doctors in the vicinity. Just a lone trophy in what seemed like a closet.
“Another one of yours, I’m sure” Captain Falcon stated, pointing with an open hand. “The Nurse Joys stationed here pulled some strings to keep her in intensive care, but without her trainer’s approval and consent they can’t house her here forever. New patients are admitted everyday, this Volcarona will be deemed a lost cause and transferred to Aether Paradise. Lightweather is the leading expert on this trophy-lock phenomenon, so if its ever going to be cured, it’ll be here.”
“You know as well as I do that I’m a fugitive, if I show my face at Lightweather it will mean the end of me and my career.”
Captain Falcon looked to Shade and shrugged. “Priorities” he added simply. With that said, the vehicle pulled away once more.
The flurry of speed lines did not last as long as previous, the duo returning to their point of origin. The canopy popped open and the seat ejected both Shade and Captain Falcon. They landed gracefully given both of their athleticism, however, Shade stumble backwards a bit, noticing that he landed directly on top of his physical form of body. “What am I doing…?” the man trailed off in confusion, pointing to his sleeping body.
The Police Chief looked equally befuddled before slapping himself on the helmet. “That’s right! We’re not done here yet!” he announced with enlightenment. Captain Falcon reached for the physical Shade’s belt and retrieved an incorporeal copy of the Pokeball found there. Through sheer force of will, the ball grew until it was equal in size to its occupant. Like a projection, the captain placed the copied object in space and gave it a light tap. The metal bauble became transparent and showed the image of the Lilligant within, frozen and scrunched up in a resting position.
“How long do you think she’s been like that? My back’s aching just looking at it” the captain curiously asked as he placed his hands on his lower back.
Shade gazed upon the Pokemon with his first look of sympathy during the entire night. “Ever since I returned from the digital world” he answered somberly. “Months. I haven’t kept track.”
Captain Falcon’s mouth quirked curiously. “And in your crack team of commandoes, what purpose does this one serve? Bisharp’s too weak, Volcarona is an afterthought, but this one you keep on you, despite never using her and refusing to let her free for months.”
Shade glared at the officer. “The world is too dangerous” he stated simply before drawing his eyes back on his lifelong companion.
“I thought Pokemon needed a harsh environment to become the strongest they can be?”
The assassin froze into silence. He turned away from the projection of his Pokemon and shook his head. “Quit wasting my time” he dismissed without looking at the captain. He approached the wall with the ghostly clock, it was near to striking the next hour. He leapt to snatch the object off.
Before he could do anything with the device, the clock released a gonging sound. A darkness erupted, engulfing the entire room until it was pitch black. A series of tiny amber lights glowed from behind Shade. They rose like the undead from their grave. “Just in time” a gravelly, robotic voice stated.
Shade tossed the clock into the darkness like a frisbee and prepared himself into a battle stance. “I’ve passed the last two trials without issue. You won’t wear me down either! Give up on your quest and neither of us will have to waste any more time!” He shouted into the void as the amber lights had disappeared.
“Time is not simply wasted” the voice echoed back in. “Everything you do moves forward along with it, every moment builds up to the next one. I am the manifestation of time that is yet to come, the unforeseeable future given form. If you continue down the path you chose to follow, your fate will come to this.”
As the voice spoke, the surroundings swirled from pure darkness to a graveyard environment. Shade was stumbling over tombstones as the transition took place. His aimless wandering had him soon collide with the skeletal cyborg, Ghor. The amber lights were a match to the ones he spotted in the darkness, so clearly this was the new figure to exposit morality. Shade glared at him, but Ghor’s face remained fixed to one direction. “Well, let’s hear it then” he mouthed blandly.
Ghor’s locked gazed didn’t falter, he merely pointed to a gravestone and silently waited.
Shade gave the grave a quick once over, looking back to the cyborg without any change of heart. “I die in the future. How unexpected” he dismissed with a wave of his hand.
Ghor continued to point.
While he was ready to give up, Shade gave the grave another quick inspection and saw the name inscribed on it. It wasn’t his, but rather his Lilligant’s. He approached closer, dropping to his knees and bowing his head. The name was not all, the date inscribed was less than a month from the present day. “This matters little… they can be replaced” he spoke without confidence in his own words. He thought that if he said it, he would believe it, but his dead stare was not that of a believer.
Ghor’s arm lowered. “Precisely. At least she fulfilled her purpose. Following you to the pits of hell to retrieve your master, only for you to come back empty handed. An empty death for an empty creature.”
“Yes…” Shade trailed off with even worse apathy than he had previously. He sat there silently for a good minute before Ghor placed a hand on his shoulder.
“There’s more to observe” he stated coldly. The backdrop warped from the graveyard to a random alleyway within the Life Sphere. The location meant nothing to Shade, but he was still in the process of recovering from the death of his companion. He gazed around for what he was supposed to see but found nothing on initial inspection. There was a shivering homeless-looking man, but given that they were within a slum, that wasn’t an uncommon sight. The cyborg pointed to the dishevelled man.
Upon closer inspection, he had an uncanny resemblance to Shade. The hair, hidden face, and general body structure matched up, but he was missing the limbs on the left side of his body and whatever else he had gone completely to disrepair.
“Following the death of Lilligant, you resorted to experimenting with the creature you abducted from Black Shadow’s lair. In your attempts to reprogram it, it disintegrated with an acid that ate away at your left arm and leg. Without Pokemon, allies, or your own agility, you lost your ability to take command of your life. You weren’t given the chance to recover.”
As the cyborg finished speaking, Bisharp entered the alley. It stomped over to the future Shade’s location, cracking its mitt-like fingers. The crippled Shade spotted the creature approaching him and attempted to scuffle away, but it was to no avail. The Pokemon lifted his old master off the ground and pinned him against a wall. A gear grinding laugh erupted from its mouth.
A swift series of jabs softened up his foe, but a mighty toss was what knocked the wind out of the elder Shade. He wheezed and gasped for mercy, but Bisharp just kept coming. A well-placed kick gave the retired assassin a little bit more airtime, but the crash down was even worse than before. The dishevelled man grabbed a nearby wall and attempted to pull himself up one last time out of desperation. “You’re… pathetic” he bolstered within a breath of his life.
The Bisharp grabbed Shade by the collar of his shirt and gazed upon the state of his old master with a brief scan of his body. The tight fist in his other hand broke apart. Not out of pity, but out of shame of how low and unsatisfactory this form of revenge was. The creature dropped Shade and simply walked away.
The ghostly apparition of Shade fell to complete silence. His dead eyed expression said all that words simply could not. Ghor offered no guidance and stood next to Shade patiently. “Are these the shadows of things that will be, or things that may be only?” Shade asked, slightly choked up.
“The future is built upon the choices we make, though outside circumstances are still a factor. If you do not enact the necessary changes though, this will be your future. You can count on it” Ghor answered with ease.
Shade nodded his head, regrettably looking back upon the broken twisted version of himself barely gasping for life on the floor of the alley. Ghor gripped Shade’s shoulder once more and reality warped around them until it transitioned into complete darkness.
At the crack of dawn, Shade awoke in his original apartment and not the backup safehouse he retreated to after coming face to face with Umbra’s ghost. The ghost clock was gone, and nothing seemed to be askew. It couldn’t have possibly been a dream, it felt all too real. Legitimacy no longer mattered.
Shade hopped out of ‘bed’ and scurried to the wall that held all his information of Ghetsis’s location. He tore the maps and reference points off and crumpled them into an incoherent wad without any source of remorse or regret. Out the window the accursed trash went.
He stood in the middle of the empty room and stared at the Pokeball in his hand. He gazed upon it for a good minute or so before tossing it forward and allowing the creature within to freely come out. Lilligant would not be given the opportunity to so much as stretch her leafy arms before Shade hugged her tightly. “…I’m sorry” he muttered with complete sincerity.
Lilligant was almost dumbfounded by her trainer’s uncharacteristic show of emotion. Ever since the way of the assassin consumed his life, moments like these were exclusively shrouded in memories. She didn’t question or prod though, she wrapped her leafy arms around him as well, happy to have her trainer back.
All was merry and bright, save for the barren den of a single man. Not a lonely man, mind you, but a secluded one, nonetheless. While everyone else was lavishing in the holiday spirit, Shade only wished to rest the night away. He laid on his wooden floorboards without so much as a pillow or blanket, he slept like a corpse in a coffin. Comfort was not a necessity but sleeping the correct number of hours was. He had contracts to fulfill the next day and far be it from him to be rendered inefficient by not following his regimen. A contracted assassin without the proper stamina to back him up was a dead assassin.
An eye twitched open at the sound of a creaking floorboard. It arose from outside his apartment, from a plank that Shade had designed as an early warning mechanism to alert him of someone approaching his door. He had many enemies in the Life Sphere; however, they didn’t sneak up on him, he wouldn’t allow it. He was the one that lurked within their shadows.
Shade reverberated from his resting position and onto the ceiling, crawling along like a spider toward the door. A knock echoed from the door. He had no idea who it was who sought him out, but they were about to receive a gruesome surprise. The ninja drew a kunai from his belt and crept closer to the door to listen in and get a better idea of what lurked on the other side. The noises of throat clearing, and a group of shuffling feet suggested carolers. Well, at least one of them was going to leave without their vocal cords then.
The ninja creaked the door ajar with a nudge of his fingers. Apparently, this was inviting enough for one of the figures from outside to complete the gesture and open the door fully. As soon as the dark figure stepped into the room, Shade launched his weapon with a flick of his wrist and great precision.
Shade’s head flinched in surprise. The dagger had phased through their body without them so much as noticing. Perhaps his eyes were playing tricks on him and he somehow missed the target. In which case, there was more than one way to subdue the perpetrator. He leapt off the ceiling and descended on the mysterious figure in a tackling motion. Much like his kunai, he simply phased straight through and fell flat on the floor.
Once the man of mystery was in the center of the room, the door slammed shut like a gust of wind forced it closed. The cloaked figure turned around to view his flat faced assaulter and removed his hood. It revealed a bush of white frazzled hair, a style not too different from Shade’s.
Being one that was quick to action, Shade scrambled back to his feet to prepare himself for another assault, but he froze in place when he gazed upon a familiar face. One so familiar, it almost looked exactly like his own. It was another member of the Shadow Triad. This did not put him at ease, but it was certainly a curious sight. Based on his confident stance and posture, Shade was able to deduce which of his brothers the masked figure was. “Umbra” he stated neutrally, more so acknowledging his identity than being curious about it.
The man threw his arms up in a celebratory manner “baby brother!” he exclaimed as soaked in the surroundings, or lack there of. “Been years, but you haven’t grown a week. Nobody uses those edgy code names anymore” he dismissed with a wave of his hand before wandering to a nearby wall. He inspected the mishmash of papers and maps pasted to it. He tried to follow the information, but it was so scattered one might think he was trying to follow the trail of a Mythical Pokemon.
Shade silently and calmly followed his brother. His gait didn’t suggest it, but he had an inkling of pride in his work. “It all leads to our master’s location. All that’s left is to acquire some transportation and Ghetsis will show this planet what true leadership is.”
Umbra’s head twisted the full way around to look at his brother. “Our master?”
The sight of his brother performing something so unnatural irked his gaze. “We swore an oath, ‘til death becomes us” he replied with uncertainty.
The rest of Umbra’s body shifted around to face Shade in a blur of darkness. “So unobservant” he bemoaned as he shook his head. The cloak surrounding his body blew off like a cloud of dust, revealing his impaled and beaten torso. “I have become death! Look upon me brother! Betrayed by my own Pokemon!”
The gruesome injuries on their own did not faze the assassin, lining them up with the face of his brother though… it was certainly enough to make him weak in the knees. Shade had to peer away, but he shook his head and return his gaze to his brother’s eyes. “Impossible! Your Pokemon were subservient to you. You were a strong trainer, you could control them.”
“In death you learn a great many things you are told are lies. Listen to me, my brother, the powers of generosity are at their strongest during this season. What I give you is not a material gift, but the chance to mend your ways before your fate echoes my own.”
Shade’s gaze altered to one of disbelief. He began to look at the apparition of his brother from different angles. “You’re a hologram. Umbra wouldn’t speak of such drivel” Shade dismissed as he turned away from the false figure.
The apparition sprouted from the ground in front of Shade, preventing him from walking away. “Believe what you will! But when the clock-” Umbra attempted to warn as he pointed a blank wall. He searched the room once again and sighed. “You know, a little furniture wouldn’t kill you, must you rely on my hand-me-downs?” he questioned as a clock materialized on the wall. “When the clock strikes you will be visited by three spirits, heed their lessons and save yourself from a fate such as mine!” With that final announcement, Umbra’s body swirled into a tornado of darkness until it dissipated and vanished into thin air.
Shade looked rather annoyed. Clearly, his location has been compromised and someone was trying to mess with him. No matter, he had more than one safehouse around the Life Sphere, but the biggest issue of all was his sleep schedule going out of wack because someone thought it’d be funny to Scrooge him. The man threw open his window and stealthily leapt to the next building over. He scattered halfway across town, dipping and slinking through many a passageway to ensure he would not be followed.
Once the Pokemon Trainer arrived at his destination, he meditated for a bit to allow his heartrate to drop and promptly went to sleep on an equally hard, but different floor.
The clock struck. The chime of the ghostly construct reawakened the assassin into a world of darkness. Shade couldn’t so much as see his hands in front of him. He didn’t need his sense of sight to know that he was somehow back at his first apartment. Without a moment of hesitation, Shade pulled out a kunai and attentively listened to his surroundings.
Shade’s ears perked at the sound of a hum, like the engine of a machine. Soon, a red light lit up the room, a small bulb flickering like a candle’s flame. It moved toward Shade, revealing a robotic figure at its source. “This unit is A.I.M.” the sage synthetic stated. “This unit is designated as the manifestation of time’s past. It is this unit’s prime directive to showcase events from unit Shade’s past as they happened and provide him with new perspectives. Will unit Shade comply?” A dagger phased through its glass eyes. “This unit will accept opposition as compliance.”
Before Shade could rush the ROB rip-off, clearly not learning from past experiences, the source of light extinguished, returning him to darkness.
The darkness faded out as the duo soon found themselves in the bright, sunshiny courtyard of a rather rundown estate. The gardens were blossoming with greenery, that was without doubt, but the building at the center of it all looked like it was a bit of a fixer upper. It was one of welfare, likely an orphanage. One that was all too familiar to Shade.
After getting an eyeful of the familiar fairgrounds, he turned to the robot with a rage burning behind his eyes. “What do you want from me?” Shade asked in disbelief. All these images of his past life, someone had to dig up a lot of information on him. For what purpose? And why were they toying with him like this?
“Objective: enlightenment” it stated clearly before turning about and hovering along the ground. “Follow.” Its trajectory suggested that it was headed toward the backyard.
Shade remained where he was, glaring at the machine as it moved. Out of a strange compulsion, likely A.I.M.’s spiritual influence nudging him along so that he wouldn’t miss the scene that he was brought back in time to witness.
The backyard was characterized as an open grassy plain that was bordered by a rather dense forest. The chapel-like building overshadowed most of the area, but there was one child who was playing outside of the shade. The child had a mass of white swept back hair with a bright red flower pinned next to his ear. He wore bright coloured clothing, though they were tattered a bit, very likely that he was not their first owner. While it was difficult to tell at first glance, he was not alone. The naturally camouflaged Petilil was amongst the greenery.
“Okie dokie, Petilil! Time to show the judges your stuff!” the child squeaked with excitement. There were no real judges in the area, but it was clear that it was play. That didn’t stop the tiny plant from shyly cowering. The child expanded his arms to the sky. “C’mon! Magical Leaf, like we practiced!” The little creature hopped and blew a whirlwind of leaves, all of which flashing with a variety of beautiful colours. “Awesome!”
Shade looked to A.I.M. from the corner of his eye. “That’s not me” he stated blandly.
“Commencing facial recognition sequence” it replied whilst locking its vision onto the little boy in the distance.
Shade merely placed his hand to block A.I.M.’s optics. “My brothers and I look nearly identical, it could be either one of them” he calmly reasoned.
A.I.M.’s head twisted around and aimed toward the building, focusing on a specific window. “Unit Shade’s brothers currently signing scholarships to promote their upcoming gym challenges. Unidentified unit could only logically be unit Shade.”
The assassin watched his younger self frolicking through the fields, only to trip on his own feet and fall flat on his face. “What is this supposed to teach me?” Shade asked impatiently.
Without warning, the wind would slowly pickup clumps of sand until it evolved into a full-blown sandstorm. The young Shade turned his head toward the forest, barely capable of keeping his eyes open. Even without his full vision, he could easily make out the stampeding figure approaching him, that of a Tyranitar. The child stumbled off the ground and began to run in the opposite direction, his Pokemon though, it narrowly followed. The child’s stubby legs weren’t capable of out speeding the stomping titan, Petilil recognized this. In defiance, the tiny bulb Pokemon turned to face the creature and unleashed a stream of petals at the monster’s ankles. With the aid of the sandstorm, the plant matter merely bounced off the creature’s impenetrable skin.
It accomplished one thing though, the Tyranitar stopped in its tracks, towering over the grass-type with malice. The rock skinned dinosaur let out a roar of power and slammed its jaws shut, allowing the echoing crunch to make shockwaves across the fields. Petilil’s boldness quickly altered to quivering fear. The adult Shade tried to tackle the bulb creature out of the way from sheer desperation, but his ghostly status meant that he phased straight through.
The rock lizard punted the tiny creature away and continued its rampage. Its mighty stomps formed tremors in its wake. The pseudo-legendary did not cease until it reached the orphanage, Mega Punching straight through the wall and nearly causing the whole complex to crumble with one swing. The hole it created allowed two smaller Pokemon to leap out and strike at the rampaging monster. A Shelmet spitting Acid and a Shuppet spewing a Will-O-Wisp from its mouth.
The two brothers retreated from the building while their Pokemon distracted the beast. They immediately rushed toward child Shade’s location and picked him off the ground. They tried to escape the storm, but the silhouette of Tyranitar was the only solace they found. The creature stomped its foot, the force of which summoned a boulder to shoot out of the earth and into its hands.
Before it could splatter the cowering children underneath its boulder, a Focused Blast of energy shot out from seemingly nowhere and struck the beast in the back. While it could normally take quite the punishment, this Ki-based bullet was far beyond its limits in terms of raw power. It fell over in defeat, the sand stream following directly after.
The trio of children gasped for clean air, their disturbed expressions spelling out their realization of how close they were to death. Before they could dust themselves off though, a three-headed dragon descended from the sky, more specifically the direction where the blast originated.
The Hydreigon was intimidating enough, but a green haired man in robes entered the scene from another direction. He held a cane in one hand and the collar of a child he was dragging behind him. Ghetsis stood proudly but calculating, looking down upon the trio of white-haired children. “I shouldn’t have to apologize for the mistakes of another, but it’ll be more than what you’ll get from this blubbering mess” he explained as he thrust the child he was dragging forward.
The child’s whole body was whimpering and shaking uncontrollably, tears rolling down his face. “I’m so sorry, I tried to-” he muttered, though much less coherently with gasps and snorts.
“Tried to!? You own a Tyranitar!” Ghetsis exclaimed before looking to the trio of children. “Answer me this, should such a weak trainer have access to a creature that could do all of this?” he quizzed the children as he raised his arms, to re-illustrate the destruction levied against the orphanage.
The children appeared to still be in shock about the situation. They gazed around and shook their heads nervously.
A smile grew on the man’s face. “Ah, smart children. Much smarter than most adults” Ghetsis applauded. His grimace returned as he gazed back at the child who caused this all. “I think a jury full of your victims is more than a fair jury for the likes of you. For everyone’s safety, your Tyranitar is coming with me.”
The adult Shade looked upon this scene from afar, almost in awe of his master. “He adopted us after the orphanage was condemned. He saved our lives twice over” Shade muttered to A.I.M. with silent pride. “Regardless of the supposed terrible things he’s done, the Shadow Triad vowed to never forget that he made us what we are today.”
A.I.M. turned to face Shade. “Unit Ghetsis made you what you are today, correct. Inquiry: the term manufactured may be a more fitting phrase” the machine explained before turning about and wheeling itself toward the forest. “Units Shadow and Umbra were local prodigies. It was believed that either one or both would challenge the Champion later in life. Unit Ghetsis saw potential.”
Shade followed the robot past the treeline. “And?” the ninja muttered dismissively.
The machine was analyzing their surroundings until its sensors detected that they were in the exact location necessary. It stopped in its tracks. “As a child, Unit Shade only experienced one half of the story.” The light atop of A.I.M.’s head flared once more, basking the surrounding area in light before it was replaced with darkness. The darkness only consumed the land for a mere second before returning their surroundings back to normal. “Five minutes before the attack.”
The duo were no longer alone in the forest, Ghetsis and the child that he would arrive with in tow were standing side by side with one another, seemingly without any sort of conflict. “All you need do is cry uncontrollably, I will see to the rest” the robed man commanded with a Pokeball gripped in his hand.
Once he received a nod of understanding from his underling, he tossed out the capsule and released the Tyranitar. The hulking beast stood militantly, waiting for orders. “You know what to do. Kill the youngest one if necessary. Death can be an excellent motivator” Ghetsis mused wisely as he pointed to the fields beyond the treeline. The creature bowed its head in acknowledgement and shook its body in rage, going from loyal servant to berserker in a mere second.
Shade appeared unaffected. “I see your true motivation. You placed me in this holographic world to brainwash me. My loyalty to Ghetsis is without question. Your false images won’t stop me from freeing my master from his icy prison” he spoke in a moment of clarity.
“This unit is presenting the past as it happened. Whether unit Shade wants to believe history played out the way it did is unit Shade’s decision. This unit requests to ask unit Shade a vital question. If unit Ghetsis did not arrange the attack, what was he doing at the orphanage?”
Shade crossed his arms. “He was flying overhead. He noticed the unusual sandstorm and went to investigate. I take his word before yours.”
The sage synthetic looked to Shade with its reflective eyes. “How fortunate that unit Ghetsis was flying over your airspace at the absolute correct time. Given unit Ghetsis’s history of manipulation, perhaps this was his single moment of true heroism” the machine stated coldly.
Shade looked away, shaking his head. “Manipulate these pictures of the past all you want, I’m unaffected” he noted defiantly, as though he were a proud hostage not giving into his captor’s demands.
A.I.M. tapped the underside of its optic chamber, as though it were rubbing its chin inquisitively. “The past is what you make of it. Unit Shade can only view the past as it was presented to him. Perhaps this is the least efficient method” the machine thought aloud.
The bulb atop A.I.M.’s cranium exploded with light, soon becoming a black hole that sucked in the surroundings. Shade would be thrust back into the cold darkness, unaware of where he was or where he was going.
The clock struck again, forcing Shade out of his slumber. He gasped for breath through his cloth mask, his head darting around the room to ensure that he was back in his empty apartment. He would have claimed it all as a dream if not for the ghostly clock ticking away on his wall. The gauntlet was not over yet, Umbra claimed there would be three ghosts and so far, he only met one. Their attempts at manipulation were transparent, so Shade had no fear of succumbing to their word, but who knows what their next tactic would be.
As Shade stood there wondering, his ears picked up on a heavy metal soundtrack humming in the distance. Who was playing such loud music at this time of night? His answer would come in the form of the Blue Falcon crashing through his wall, though its ghostly properties meant that the wall remained intact. The F-Zero racer screeched to a halt in front of the assassin, its hood popping open to reveal the chief of police himself, Captain Falcon. “Ch-yes! All of the cool entrances none of the property damage!” he claimed with a fist pump.
Captain Falcon performed a two-finger salute. “Before you ask, I’m the man of the hour, the spirit of time as it presently proceeds.”
Shade looked on without even the slightest sense of curiosity. “And the Life Sphere’s Police Chief, putting the final nail in the coffin about this being nothing but a ploy to have me cooperate within your society. Is this guise of spirits and time manipulation really necessary?”
“The bells and whistles are always necessary! You think we put racing stripes and fire decals on our rides because they make us go faster? Well, sometimes they do, but that’s not the point! I’m here to give you a lift around the Life Sphere! Give you a little peek on how this season of giving is celebrated all around the city because, let’s be real, we’re not finding any of that here” he continued excitedly. He scooted over, allowing room for his co-pilot to take a seat. He even lightly patted the space next to him with a welcoming visage. “Hop in!”
Having flashbacks to the time they invaded Black Shadow’s base of operations, Shade shook his head with a wide-eyed expression. “If you think I’m setting foot in that metal death can again, you’re sadly mistaken.”
Captain Falcon sighed in disappointment, the glass canopy closing. The engines revved and the machine rammed forward, colliding with Shade. Instead of turning him into roadkill though, the incorporeal car absorbed him into its mass and seated him next to Captain Falcon. “Oh good! You changed your mind!” he announced with great vigor. “First stop, Aether Paradise!”
Shade sat rather unenthusiastically; a fist firmly planted against his cheek.
While the F-Zero racer was the fastest of its kind, the duo arrived at their destination much faster than they normally should have. The world outside the canopy was nothing more than motion blur until the vehicle stopped, halfway immerged into the outside wall of the indoor reserve. From their vantage point, the duo could make out most of the reserve, though they were excellently positioned over a craggy section that had a certain armoured Pokemon resting there.
Bisharp was sat upon a rock just beneath the artificial craggy hill, the perfect environment for tough skinned Pokemon like him. He looked pensive and focused, though his gaze fell upon nothing. Beside him was a beaten and broken sandbag, dressed in familiar attire (a mop on its head and a black bandana just underneath its eyes). He was not idle though, he delicately sharpening the edges of his arm blades by scraping them against one another.
Captain Falcon looked over to Shade. “That one’s yours, right?” he asked in an uncertain manner.
Shade rolled his eyes. “Why would I ever want to own such an insubordinate subordinate? Maybe if it could actually fight its own battles, it would be worth training into obedience.” Shade had watched Bisharp Sunshine Stadium match from afar and was not impressed by his traitorous turncoat fleeing the premises with its tail between its legs. The creature was clearly a lost cause without his guidance.
The Police Chief’s expression altered to one of concern. “You think you might be a bit harsh on him?”
“Pokemon require a harsh environment to become the strongest they can be. If they buckle under pressure like that creature down there does, they aren’t worth the investment. All these children think that Pokemon are meant to be their friends, they don’t understand the responsibilities of owning one, let alone six.”
The two returned their attention to the lonely Pokemon below. Though, he wouldn’t remain alone for long. A tiny Lotad waddled onto the scene, its rain dish cap holding a little gift. Bisharp’s stare remained a mile long, barely noticing the lily pad creature’s approach until it nudged his metallic hoof. It offered a smile and bowed its head to present the present. Bisharp anxiously refused with a wave of his hand, but the Lotad merely nudged forth in refusal.
Bisharp picked the present off the creature’s head and placed it on his lap. His face remained neutral as he unwrapped the gift. With the paper out of the way, it was revealed to be a tiny flower crown, clearly handmade by the grass-type. The metallic creature held it out in front of him, not sure what he was supposed to do with it. Cautiously, he placed the crown on his head spike, looking to the gift-giver for their approval.
The Lotad bounced off the ground with absolute joy. It nodded its head over to another direction, sputtering something in its language before scuttering off quickly.
A slight smile grew on Bisharp’s face. He got up from his position. Before he could walk off, his gaze fell upon the ruptured punching bag. He threw his hand in dismissal and carried on, following the tiny creature.
“Sometimes you just need your bros, y’know?” the captain piped up. “You worked your Pokemon to the bone, and where are they now? Gone. They weren’t a team, they weren’t a family, they were a task force, emotionless and empty. I make time for my employees, go out for some brewskis, and grow connections that make us more than soulless machines.”
Shade continued to stare blankly, clearly not paying much attention, if any at all. “All I see is weakness and inviting yourself to be manipulated” he scoffed simply.
Captain Falcon returned a plain expression. “Maybe you project too much.”
Before lingering too long, the captain pulled his hovercraft into reverse and the scenery outside the canopy reverted to the wild motion blurs. The duo remained in silence until they reached their next destination. The vehicle crashed halfway through a room in the Lightweather Hospital. Stationed in the room was the trophy of a Volcarona, a series of machines and gauges hooked up to it. It was left in the dark, no nurses or doctors in the vicinity. Just a lone trophy in what seemed like a closet.
“Another one of yours, I’m sure” Captain Falcon stated, pointing with an open hand. “The Nurse Joys stationed here pulled some strings to keep her in intensive care, but without her trainer’s approval and consent they can’t house her here forever. New patients are admitted everyday, this Volcarona will be deemed a lost cause and transferred to Aether Paradise. Lightweather is the leading expert on this trophy-lock phenomenon, so if its ever going to be cured, it’ll be here.”
“You know as well as I do that I’m a fugitive, if I show my face at Lightweather it will mean the end of me and my career.”
Captain Falcon looked to Shade and shrugged. “Priorities” he added simply. With that said, the vehicle pulled away once more.
The flurry of speed lines did not last as long as previous, the duo returning to their point of origin. The canopy popped open and the seat ejected both Shade and Captain Falcon. They landed gracefully given both of their athleticism, however, Shade stumble backwards a bit, noticing that he landed directly on top of his physical form of body. “What am I doing…?” the man trailed off in confusion, pointing to his sleeping body.
The Police Chief looked equally befuddled before slapping himself on the helmet. “That’s right! We’re not done here yet!” he announced with enlightenment. Captain Falcon reached for the physical Shade’s belt and retrieved an incorporeal copy of the Pokeball found there. Through sheer force of will, the ball grew until it was equal in size to its occupant. Like a projection, the captain placed the copied object in space and gave it a light tap. The metal bauble became transparent and showed the image of the Lilligant within, frozen and scrunched up in a resting position.
“How long do you think she’s been like that? My back’s aching just looking at it” the captain curiously asked as he placed his hands on his lower back.
Shade gazed upon the Pokemon with his first look of sympathy during the entire night. “Ever since I returned from the digital world” he answered somberly. “Months. I haven’t kept track.”
Captain Falcon’s mouth quirked curiously. “And in your crack team of commandoes, what purpose does this one serve? Bisharp’s too weak, Volcarona is an afterthought, but this one you keep on you, despite never using her and refusing to let her free for months.”
Shade glared at the officer. “The world is too dangerous” he stated simply before drawing his eyes back on his lifelong companion.
“I thought Pokemon needed a harsh environment to become the strongest they can be?”
The assassin froze into silence. He turned away from the projection of his Pokemon and shook his head. “Quit wasting my time” he dismissed without looking at the captain. He approached the wall with the ghostly clock, it was near to striking the next hour. He leapt to snatch the object off.
Before he could do anything with the device, the clock released a gonging sound. A darkness erupted, engulfing the entire room until it was pitch black. A series of tiny amber lights glowed from behind Shade. They rose like the undead from their grave. “Just in time” a gravelly, robotic voice stated.
Shade tossed the clock into the darkness like a frisbee and prepared himself into a battle stance. “I’ve passed the last two trials without issue. You won’t wear me down either! Give up on your quest and neither of us will have to waste any more time!” He shouted into the void as the amber lights had disappeared.
“Time is not simply wasted” the voice echoed back in. “Everything you do moves forward along with it, every moment builds up to the next one. I am the manifestation of time that is yet to come, the unforeseeable future given form. If you continue down the path you chose to follow, your fate will come to this.”
As the voice spoke, the surroundings swirled from pure darkness to a graveyard environment. Shade was stumbling over tombstones as the transition took place. His aimless wandering had him soon collide with the skeletal cyborg, Ghor. The amber lights were a match to the ones he spotted in the darkness, so clearly this was the new figure to exposit morality. Shade glared at him, but Ghor’s face remained fixed to one direction. “Well, let’s hear it then” he mouthed blandly.
Ghor’s locked gazed didn’t falter, he merely pointed to a gravestone and silently waited.
Shade gave the grave a quick once over, looking back to the cyborg without any change of heart. “I die in the future. How unexpected” he dismissed with a wave of his hand.
Ghor continued to point.
While he was ready to give up, Shade gave the grave another quick inspection and saw the name inscribed on it. It wasn’t his, but rather his Lilligant’s. He approached closer, dropping to his knees and bowing his head. The name was not all, the date inscribed was less than a month from the present day. “This matters little… they can be replaced” he spoke without confidence in his own words. He thought that if he said it, he would believe it, but his dead stare was not that of a believer.
Ghor’s arm lowered. “Precisely. At least she fulfilled her purpose. Following you to the pits of hell to retrieve your master, only for you to come back empty handed. An empty death for an empty creature.”
“Yes…” Shade trailed off with even worse apathy than he had previously. He sat there silently for a good minute before Ghor placed a hand on his shoulder.
“There’s more to observe” he stated coldly. The backdrop warped from the graveyard to a random alleyway within the Life Sphere. The location meant nothing to Shade, but he was still in the process of recovering from the death of his companion. He gazed around for what he was supposed to see but found nothing on initial inspection. There was a shivering homeless-looking man, but given that they were within a slum, that wasn’t an uncommon sight. The cyborg pointed to the dishevelled man.
Upon closer inspection, he had an uncanny resemblance to Shade. The hair, hidden face, and general body structure matched up, but he was missing the limbs on the left side of his body and whatever else he had gone completely to disrepair.
“Following the death of Lilligant, you resorted to experimenting with the creature you abducted from Black Shadow’s lair. In your attempts to reprogram it, it disintegrated with an acid that ate away at your left arm and leg. Without Pokemon, allies, or your own agility, you lost your ability to take command of your life. You weren’t given the chance to recover.”
As the cyborg finished speaking, Bisharp entered the alley. It stomped over to the future Shade’s location, cracking its mitt-like fingers. The crippled Shade spotted the creature approaching him and attempted to scuffle away, but it was to no avail. The Pokemon lifted his old master off the ground and pinned him against a wall. A gear grinding laugh erupted from its mouth.
A swift series of jabs softened up his foe, but a mighty toss was what knocked the wind out of the elder Shade. He wheezed and gasped for mercy, but Bisharp just kept coming. A well-placed kick gave the retired assassin a little bit more airtime, but the crash down was even worse than before. The dishevelled man grabbed a nearby wall and attempted to pull himself up one last time out of desperation. “You’re… pathetic” he bolstered within a breath of his life.
The Bisharp grabbed Shade by the collar of his shirt and gazed upon the state of his old master with a brief scan of his body. The tight fist in his other hand broke apart. Not out of pity, but out of shame of how low and unsatisfactory this form of revenge was. The creature dropped Shade and simply walked away.
The ghostly apparition of Shade fell to complete silence. His dead eyed expression said all that words simply could not. Ghor offered no guidance and stood next to Shade patiently. “Are these the shadows of things that will be, or things that may be only?” Shade asked, slightly choked up.
“The future is built upon the choices we make, though outside circumstances are still a factor. If you do not enact the necessary changes though, this will be your future. You can count on it” Ghor answered with ease.
Shade nodded his head, regrettably looking back upon the broken twisted version of himself barely gasping for life on the floor of the alley. Ghor gripped Shade’s shoulder once more and reality warped around them until it transitioned into complete darkness.
At the crack of dawn, Shade awoke in his original apartment and not the backup safehouse he retreated to after coming face to face with Umbra’s ghost. The ghost clock was gone, and nothing seemed to be askew. It couldn’t have possibly been a dream, it felt all too real. Legitimacy no longer mattered.
Shade hopped out of ‘bed’ and scurried to the wall that held all his information of Ghetsis’s location. He tore the maps and reference points off and crumpled them into an incoherent wad without any source of remorse or regret. Out the window the accursed trash went.
He stood in the middle of the empty room and stared at the Pokeball in his hand. He gazed upon it for a good minute or so before tossing it forward and allowing the creature within to freely come out. Lilligant would not be given the opportunity to so much as stretch her leafy arms before Shade hugged her tightly. “…I’m sorry” he muttered with complete sincerity.
Lilligant was almost dumbfounded by her trainer’s uncharacteristic show of emotion. Ever since the way of the assassin consumed his life, moments like these were exclusively shrouded in memories. She didn’t question or prod though, she wrapped her leafy arms around him as well, happy to have her trainer back.