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Literature Text
"Disaster"
Too late.
We were too late.
If only I hadn't been so arrogant…so foolish…
"My God, Absol…"
Joe stopped talking immediately when he saw me. I realized that tears had begun leaking from my eyes. I quickly wiped my face with my foreleg and tried to compose myself. I could not afford to become emotionally compromised, not now.
"We can grieve for them later; right now we need to focus." I said, as much for my own benefit as for his.
He nodded, though I could tell he was shaken to the core by what surrounded us. He tried to distract himself by directing his attention to a nearby pile of reddish dust. He ran his still-gloved finger through it, then set his bag on the ground and began rummaging through it for something.
"I assume this is the same substance that burned you?" he said.
The burns on my side twinged. "Yes. What are you doing?" I asked as he pulled his oldest, dirtiest cooking pot from the bag.
"Testing a theory," he replied, scooping up some of the dust into the pot. Purposefully directing his gaze away from the small, bluish forms that lay all around us, he took the dust over to a small rock and dumped it out. He then retrieved a strip of the silvery metal that had been intermingled with the red dust and stuck it in the pile.
"I just really hope I'm wrong about this," he said as he reached into his pocket and took out his windproof camping lighter. He pressed the button. The device emitted a loud click, but nothing happened.
"Oh, come on…" he clicked the lighter a few more times, then turned it over and looked through a small window set in its base. "Dammit, I'm out of fuel. Absol, try and light that metal strip for me. Just make sure you don't stand too close."
I stepped forward and focused my mind on the silvery strip. Reaching deep within myself for the heat source I used to power all of my fire attacks, I spat a small stream of flame at the end of the piece of metal. It ignited and burned with a white light so intense that I could not look directly at it. I quickly backed away from the pile of dust just as the flame reached it. The dust erupted into flames that began to melt through the surface of the rock.
Joe lowered his arm from in front of his eyes as the flames died down, and studied the partially-melted rock. "Thermite."
"What?" I asked, having never heard that word before.
"It's a mixture of rust and powdered aluminum that burns at over four thousand degrees, mostly used for industrial welding and demolition. Someone set this fire deliberately. But why? And why didn't the Lucario and Riolu just leave?"
I began to think about this, but another piece of metal, yellow this time, glinted in the corner of my eye, distracting me from my thoughts. I moved over to it and carefully blew away some of the ash. It was a small brass tube, closed on one end. A spent ammunition cartrige. I whipped up a small whirlwind which cleared away all of the soot in a large area around us, revealing several dozen more shells.
I forced myself to glance over at the nearest Lucario. His burns were not bad enough to have been fatal, but several jagged holes had been torn through his chest. His normally cream-colored fur was stained with silver-grey blood.
"Because by the time the fire was set, they were already dead." I said. "Look."
Joe's eyes widened. "Jesus…" he uttered softly. "They were murdered. All of them."
"Still, that doesn't explain how whatever killed them was able to get close enough to do it, or why I didn't see any bodies when I searched the glade right after the fire."
"I have a theory about that, actually. I think maybe that flower..."
Suddenly he froze. "Did you hear that?"
"What?"
"SSSH! Listen!"
I stood completely still, but I heard nothing.
Wait…there was something. It was a small voice that I heard not with my ears, but with my mind. It was so faint that I could not understand it. I tried to shut out all stray thoughts, and focus solely on the voice.
…help…
"That's the same voice that woke me up last night!" He closed his eyes and extended an arm. I knew that he was using his Aura senses to scan the area for signs of life. He slowly turned on the spot, then stopped with his hand pointed at a large fallen tree, all that remained of the massive oak that had stood in the center of the glade. His eyes snapped open. "There! There's something alive trapped under that tree! Absol, clear it away, quickly!" He began sprinting towards it.
My heart filled with hope. Maybe something good would come of this after all. I focused my will on the fallen tree and began slashing wildly at the air with my claws. The tree almost seemed to groan in pain as it was shredded by shimmering blades of psychic energy. Joe immediately began throwing aside chunks of wood and digging frantically through the layer of soot and ash underneath.
"Help me!" he cried out. "Whatever this is, its Aura is so weak I can barely sense it; we need to find it, fast!"
I moved to join him, but he suddenly stopped digging and straightened up slowly, a small, bluish form cradled in his arms. It had severe burns over much of its body and a deep gash ran along the length of its arm. Its left earflap was practically gone, shredded by gunfire.
But it was alive. Somehow, against all odds, this single Riolu had survived.
Joe carried the unconscious Pokémon over to his bag. "Absol, see if you can get one of our blankets," he said. I tugged the zipper open with my claw and reached my head into the bag to snag our checkered picnic blanket with my horn. I brought the blanket within Joe's reach and watched as he carefully wrapped the Riolu in it. Once he was finished, he started digging through his medical kit.
"I'm not sure there's much I can do for him, Absol," he said softly. "I don't have anything I can use to effectively treat such severe and widespread injuries. If we could get him to a Pokémon Center they might be able to help him, but the terrain between here and Celestic Town is too rough. We'd never make it in time."
I felt as though a stone had just been dropped into my stomach. The horrible sense of foreboding I always felt at the approach of a calamity grew stronger with every passing moment.
"How...how long does he have?" I stammered.
Joe dabbed at the young Riolu's forehead with a damp cloth. "There's no way to be sure, but I'd say no more than an hour."
I blinked through the tears now flowing freely down my face, not even attempting to stem their flow. Who could have committed such horrible crimes? What possible motive could they have for slaughtering so many innocent families?
Why couldn't we save them?
"Isn't there anything you can do for him? There must be a way to help him!" Crimson sparks began dancing around my claws as my frustration began to erode away my ability to control my powers.
"I wish there was, Absol, but all I can do at this point is try to make him more comfortable," Joe said, retrieving a small syringe from his medicine case and injecting it into the unconscious Riolu's neck. Some of the swelling around his burns began to recede. "This Full Heal will help lessen his the pain somewhat, but I don't have the medical training or tools to heal such extensive injuries."
"Can't you..." I froze. The sense of foreboding I had been feeling had suddenly escalated.
Joe looked up from the Riolu. "What is it, Absol?"
"We are in danger."
I surveyed the area carefully.
A shrouded figure was crouched on a small ledge protruding from the cliff face.
"Look out!" Joe covered the Riolu's body with his own and I threw up a Protect field around both of us just as the figure sprayed the area with gunfire. There was a series of loud pings as the bullets bounced harmlessly off the glowing green energy field, but I knew I couldn't hold the shield in place for long.
"Run, I'll cover you!" I shouted. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Joe scoop up the Riolu and scramble to get behind what remained of the fallen tree as I fired a Hyper Beam at the cliff above the figure. The orange beam shrieked through the air and struck the rock face with a massive explosion. The man screamed as the blast knocked him from the ledge and he plummeted to the ground.
I slowly crossed the clearing to where he had fallen. One of his legs was broken, but he was still alive.
I directed all of my focus to his mind, making sure that he could hear me even without the benefit of Joe's abilities.
"Why?"
The man sneered.
"You can't stop us. We will slaughter you all like the animals you are."
All of the rage I had been suppressing suddenly erupted to the surface. My vision narrowed and my heart pounded in my ears. I raised my right paw, my claws shimmering with an eerie red light.
"Wait, NO!" he screamed in panic. I savored the look of absolute terror on his face, letting it feed my power.
Then I ripped him apart.
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This chapter is written from the point of view of Absol. In it, he and Joe discover a survivor, but they may be too late to save him.
Preview art is an anime screenshot with enhanced colors.
Pokémon © Nintendo
Next Chapter: [link]
© 2011 - 2024 chammy3760
Comments3
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It's very understandable that Absol is so furious that he kills that chap immediately, though I think it'll prove a bad mistake. They could've gained a lot of information from him.