//------------------------------// // Chp. 9 - ...But Unbreakable // Story: Indomitable // by Slendy //------------------------------// "I don't get it." Zen blinked "How can you 'not' get it?" A female voice asked, dumbfounded "How can its bones be made of steel? Wouldn't that like... make him a statue? At the very least metal detectors would become a pain," Zen insisted, tapping a finger to the phone It showed a picture of the Aura Pokemon, Lucario, and his wiki page that Zen's best friend insisted on showing him. Pokemon wasn't really his thing, but recently he had asked his friends on the big craze and so here he was, walking aimlessly through-out town with her glued to his side. Rika was a redhead with gold eyes that make the sun blush. her hair fell to her lower back and would constantly whip Zen in the face when she turned, though this was just about every day since childhood, and the two couldn't be more opposite. Zen was, for lack of a better word, blunt and antisocial, while Rika shared a more upbeat and charismatic personality, despite this, the two were close enough to be confused for siblings, and those that believed otherwise were given the middle-finger salute. With a smile and sigh, Rika scrolled. "With these bones, he could swing Bone Rush with a PSI of roughly 56000!" Her eyes glimmered with stars as always Zen rolled his eyes but smirked. "You got that from a, very debatable, source of information," Rika froze mid-rebuttal, eyes wide as Zen patted her back down off her toes. "And your opinion is quite bias, you love Lucario." "I... can't... revoke that..." She body deflated, Zen merely shoved his hands into his pockets "Still sounds like a ton of fun, I'll give it a try later," That was met with a bone-crushing hug. "P-please, need breath!" Her smile grew, "You're the best! Oh-oh-oh, pick--MMPH!" A hand planted itself on her mouth. Zen gazed back at her Zen sighed, running a hand through his white hair, "Once I finish my hunts against Arch-Tempered Xeno'jiiva," He smiled. "Want in?" She licked his hand, forcing him to remove it. "Knew you needed me," She stuck her tongue out. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to smile for the world as I crush your speed record." Zen flattened his gaze. "Oh hardy-har, that's a laugh." Rika ran ahead, giggling in a way that meant she was either hiding something or had something planned, and with an irate groan from Zen he knew it to be both. "What are you -- Rika, watch where you're stepping -- planning, you look awfully like that cat that swallowed a pigeon--" "Canary." Rika corrected He waved her off. "Not the point, point is -- Hey, watch it! Rika!!" Zen's focus snapped, his hand reaching out for her to stop walking backward Her gaze swung left, and realization took too long to worm its way into her mind, as Zen's chest burned to pump strength into his legs. He dashed forward, reaching out to Rika while the blare of metal beast roared between them, his sight solely on the girl as white and red flashed in his eyes, melting away into black. ~---~ Everything was numb again. Zen came to quite quickly despite feeling as though the world used him as a basketball. His eyes immediately scanned the white walls of a hospital room. Almost frantically he gave his body a once over, noting the several bandages wrapped around mainly his right side, thankfully, he was still able to stand, though with a degree of effort to primarily balance on his left. "W...what happened, Rika... where..." His answer came from the door opening, revealing a typical nurse who just blinked at his miraculous recovery. Slowly, Zen went from confused to a steady, hardened glare, his chest twisting. "What. Happened?" "Please sit, let me at least ensure everything is okay first." He compiled to her demands, despite wearing a scowl The nurse took a moment to give Zen a check-up, then sternly gave him the news, and watched as his eyes shook, while his expression shattered. ~---~ "Rika!" Zen came bursting through the open door, pushing off the nurse that tried to stop him from reaching her side They had suffered a near-fatal crash, while Zen was badly wounded he would make a steady recovery, though they had no idea how he survived with average body type. Rika, on the other hand, was not as fortunate. The nurse gave him the details, several shattered bones, internal bleeding, all of which were irreparable, the fact she was alive now was again by some herculean leap in logic. "Zen..." Summer blinked, watching her brother place his hands on the railing of Rika's bed "Rika.." Hazily, gold met silver once more. "Please, you can fight this, alright!? Don't give up now... don't die on me!" "...Zen... I'm sorry..." Her voice rasped, her frown struggling to move. "If I had been more careful, then you..." "Don't say that! I don't regret it, jumping in to save you!" Tears built in his eyes, his knuckles white. "You idiot, you always bump into everything when you do that... it bloody annoys me how many times I have to apologize for you!" He snapped. "But I don't care... it was always fun seeing the looks on their faces." His eyes quickly met hers again, "I'd never like doing that if you weren't so stubborn to be my friend... I am who I am now because of you, don't you see!? So please... please don't leave me..." He bowed his head, voice cracking on the last phrase No one could tell what either one was thinking, all of them held back their emotions for them both, trying their hardest to keep a sense of peace for the terminal girl who's life softly ticked away. With a great deal of pain, Rika endured it all for them, for her hand to gently cup Zen's cheek, lifting his head to see her smile and a familiar, brilliant warmth in her eyes. "...You'll be okay, I... know you're an amazing person, you'll be the happiest person in the world... I've seen it... there's... no room for doubt... not in that future," Tears fell down her arm, and Zen's voice broke under his tears. "Move forward... regret nothing... and smile." Rika's smile remained, eyes lifting to the ceiling. "Keep smiling through tears..." Summer finally broke down, hands over her mouth, Taka buried her head against someone else's shoulder, "For a life without joy... in times of sorrow... is no... fun..." The light flickered from her eyes, but beneath the mask... stood a toothy smile. [Zen's POV] "...ze... please we need y... Zen!!" My paw reached to ruffle the lilac mane that was draped over my snout, ticking it. Yui blinked, clearly surprised as her eyes blinked away tears. "Heh... sorry... lost... thoughts... all good." I sat up, noting that Acidic Glavenus was still going on a complete rampage, and now Glaceon and Eevee were resting behind a purple barrier erected by a unicorn of the same color. Some of the pegasi were trying to either distract or attack the monster but his blue-tinted tail came too close to severing a limb. It wasn't going to stop, now on its last legs, a Glavenus or any kind won't ever come out of an enraged state. Yui's gaze drifted between us and the monster. "This is by far the worst we've seen, I'm... not sure how to beat it," Her eyes met mine and I just 'booped' her nose, seeing her blush a little at my chuckle, though it was hoarse. "I'm glad you're okay, but this--" "I know... I'll go clean this up, like always," I murmured, pushing up quickly while slapping myself across the face with Life Dew, it didn't relieve the pain but no more bleeding. "Keep the Eevees safe, right now..." I flexed my claws. "I'm very angry." I tuned out anything that protested or made noise, instead, my aura flowed greatly and with enough intensity to visible leak from my body, a light blue wave of my emotions spilled, and from the mass of etheral energy came a set of blue swords, they only lasted a second but now my very bones felt stronger and combined with my own dark thoughts that too increased my Special Attack. If only I had noticed the glare of crimson under my scarf. "𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐡!!" The Umbreon suddenly crashed against Glavenus' tail-edge, causing the cracks to worsen while he seemed to suffer the recoil, landing in a heap of stone and thatch. The Wyvern turned to face him, tail curved toward its face for an overhead slash. All anyone heard was the clap of thunder that broke apart the road. My staff slammed into Acidic's jawbone, spinning the staff up and over the head for a clank, vaulting over a thrust of the tail while bringing the aura staff crashing down, gouging out its left eye. Crossing my staff through its neck I slid under its legs, avoiding its sweeping blade. I spun around, firing an aura sphere to blind it, immediately entering Quick Attack as my body ricocheted off the buildings, hacking away at the scales with a hyper Bone Rush. Glavenus roared, stomping on one foot to flip its body down, slamming me back into the ground as I struggled to hold back the weight of the tail, feeling a hot liquid spit from my gashes. Hot-white sparks flew, even while water and ice struck the monster's hide. Snarling, I dug my feet through the soil, pushing up with my staff to rush forward, skating my staff over the tail-edge, pushing the blade to my right Glavenus lost its footing while I slapped the staff to my back, channeling a powerful palm-heel strike to the link of the tail. Bone broke, Acidic screeched while rolling across the ground, the large katana-blade embedded beside me. Rushing the recovering Wyvern I impelled the staff forward, prodding his scales with each concussive strike like a hammer to an anvil, clank after clank broke through the scaly armor. Holding my staff firm, I derailed its acidic tail away, the pool of sulfur missed completely, I snorted, repeating the action a second later to its follow-up slam. The acid froze, my fist collided with its open maw, breaking a number of teeth while freezing its mouth shut. A literal torrent of ice collided with a large supersonic wave of water, both disorientating and locking the Glavenus in place as frubbles glopped together by the toes. The brute Wyvern struggled to free itself, even swinging acid franticly to melt it away, my nostrils filled with a putrid smell of the acid, but I was still venting, and yet I held a toothy grin. This was starting to get me fired up! I jumped from its sweeping attack, bubbling scores of acid seeped into the soil. My feet held onto the roof, my staff reappearing. Finally, its eye locked with mine again interest had turned to desperation, buried in its remaining eye was the deepest level of a roaring fire. Despite what it's done, it too was starting to resemble its counterpart, metaphorically of course. But enough analyzing... "𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐭, 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰!" I blinked away, the tail lodged in the house's roof. My paw pressed to the ground, my body soaring across the space at breakneck speeds. The blade dislodged, debris masking the murderous aura of the attack, or tried to. Raising my left paw I erected Quick Guard, seeing the tail shatter the weak shield but it missed, tumbling under the dripping limb my legs screamed, going faster than I've gone to date. Sliding my legs booted forth a large rock, weakening the knees and bringing the head lower for me to run up the side of. It flung its head back, launching me high as I fired two aura spheres, seeing blue light break apart the horns, exposing the weakened head beneath. From below, that Eevee was sprinting through its careless stomping, tail a solid grey. Clearly, we had the right idea, my staff in-paw I drove it down with both my feet, pushing every ounce of power I had built up for a final blow. Acidic Glavenus roared with its tail poised to the gathering of ponies. A silver comet struck with the uppercut of steel. Both forces met with a tremendous collision, breaking the sound barrier between the mandible and skull of the Wyvern. The combined effort left the monster reeling in agony, its roar died in its throat with a strained moan before it slowly slumped against the rubble it caused, I landed with my staff spun out of existence, the Eevee landed perfectly atop my head with a cute little 'oofh'. Each hot lungful of air was worth it, seeing the damage left in the wake of this rampage, while said cause lay behind us, motionless while the remnants of that sulphuric acid dripped onto the dirt under it. Not how I imagined my arrival to Ponyville, but certainly rememberable. The Eevee bounced off my head, just as the others gathered close, and Yui pushed past the purple egghead herself, Twilight, who was eyeing both the monster and me with awe. My breathing was ragged and hoarse, and I felt a wave of displeasurable sickness course through me. "I... think it did more damage than I realized... the acid I mean..." My thoughts were starting to blur as everyone gasped at my coughing, my paw lifted to reveal a stain of crimson as I wiped my muzzle, smiling weakly. |Oh... that's unfortunate...| Today had finally taken its toll on me, as many voices cried out, but it was blurs and smudges as my body refused to move, all I wanted... was to sleep... yeah... I'll... talk later... buddy... To Be Continued...