Fei and Keldeo walked side by side together down the halls of the lounging quarters with white towels that dripped with their sweat wrapped around their necks. Fei grabbed the right end of the towel and wiped his forehead. He glanced towards Keldeo with a smile that brimmed with exhaustion on his face.
“That was quite the intense training session we had back there.” He stated with a semblance of panting in his voice.
“Agreed. My muscles feel sore from bucking that mithril training dummy and jogging. Then there was the fact that we engaged in a bit of a fierce sparring session.” With a cheerful exhale of air, Keldeo responded.
Walking down the corner beyond the hallway, the duo came across Saraid and Iosac engaging in a conversation. A large smile spread on Iosac’s face and Saraid’s eyes narrowed with disgust.
“So that’s how I stuffed all of that vinegar and baking soda inside of Crisp Chitin’s closet without letting either of the components touch each other until he opened the door!” Iosac cheerfully stated.
“And how did Crisp Chitin react to this little prank of yours again?” Saraid responded with an aggravated tone.
Iosac shut his eyes and flashed a happy smile. He pointed towards a black changeling covered from head to toe in white and sizzling baking soda. Crisp Chitin let out a fierce scowl directed towards Iosac.
“I swear to Deus, if you ever stuff my closet with baking soda and vinegar again…” He threatened.
“Awww get a sense of humor ya dry shite.” Iosac responded.
Crisp Chitin shook his head in disapproval and walked off. Iosac directed his attention back towards Saraid, who looked at him with deadpan eyes and straight lips.
“Ya had to go there, Iosac? Ya didn’t need to insult him you know.”
“Well what do ya expect? He has no sense of humor in his funny bones. I did him a favor there.”
Saying these words, Iosac’s eyes drifted towards Fei and Keldeo. His eyes widened and his lips quivered with excitement. He pointed towards Keldeo with an ecstatic series of points.
“Blimey! It’s a freaking Keldeo, Saraid! An actual freaking Keldeo that is right next to me!” He shouted.
Saraid looked towards Keldeo and Fei with listless eyes.
“Yes, it’s a Keldeo and his Mienshao friend. What else is new?” She asked.
Iosac rushed towards Keldeo and dropped in front of him. Keldeo’s eyes widened from the shock. He took a step back and lifted his right front hoof with a wary motion. He looked towards the left and right.
“Ummm… hello there… do I know you?” He asked with a timid tone.
Iosac pointed towards Keldeo and grinned with a burst of enthusiasm shaking down his entire body.
“No, but I know all about you! You are an absolute legend! You are a heroic Legendary Pokémon that has fought off hordes of nasty beasts and malicious beings in the name of justice!” He shouted with an idyllic tone. “Can I have your autograph?!”
Keldeo’s nerves froze at the mention of Iosac’s request. Looking to his left and right, beads of cold sweat broke out from his face.
“An autograph? No one has ever asked me for an autograph before…” He responded. “Are you sure I am as heroic as you depict with your words? I don’t think I’ve done anything too important to deserve such accolades.”
“¡Mierda santo! Is that a Keldeo?!” Phasing her molecular structure through a nearby wall, Inge shouted. “Dude, you are a freaking legend!”
Keldeo rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. He looked towards Fei’s direction with pleading irises.
“A little help here Fei?” He asked.
Fei held up his hands towards Iosac and Inge with stern eyes.
“I appreciate the enthusiasm of the both of you, but allow for Keldeo and I to rest before you bombard him with multiple questions and praises. We just had a strenuous training regimen today, and we are very exhausted.”
Inge narrowed her eyes and flashed a glare that pierced into Fei’s eyes. She turned to her side and folded her upper limbs.
“Fine. I’ll just… go play some Super 8-Bit Sisters then. It’s the closest substitute to another game we have in our world anyways.” She stated.
“Ummm… alright then. I don’t have the time to play video games either way.” Keldeo responded in a tone with a bit more strength and force in it than normal.
Inge’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and her limbs fell down to her single lower limb. She glanced towards Keldeo with disbelieving eyes and hovered towards him. Keldeo’s eyes widened from the distance closed and took a step back. A nervous chuckle emerged from his mouth.
“What’s with your scary look? You are awfully close to my face right now.” He stammered out.
“You don’t have time for video games?!” Inge shouted with a hysterical shudder of her body. “Video games are a way of life! Video games are a way to see if the one you love truly loves you or not! How can you not have time for video games?!”
“Look Miss, I appreciate your concern for me but now you make me sound like I am a bad stallion, errr, Pokémon for not even giving video games a try! I don’t have to play video games now do I?” With his eyes gripped with tenacity and his lower lip curved against his bottom teeth, Keldeo responded with an aggravated tone.
Iosac’s fluff dropped an inch upon hearing Keldeo’s words and seeing Inge’s eyes turning into a scowl of pure anger. Fei felt the tension between Keldeo and Inge singe the fur on his body. He backed away from the two Pokémon and edged closer towards Iosac.
“Something tells me that this is going to end violently.” Fei forecasted.
“Ya don’t need words to tell me that. Inge gets very angry at those who don’t take the time to play video games. She’s a fine piece of work that lassie.” Iosac responded with a shaken tone.
Volts of vicious sparks burst between Inge and Keldeo’s eyes. The two Pokémon growled with the fear factor that would bring even a mountain of a beast down to its knees.
“You are selfish for not dedicating your time to play video games! I can’t believe I even wasted my breath on someone like you!” Inge shouted.
“Oh, so now you are judging me based on how I devote my time?! And you call me selfish on top of that?! Well aren’t you all jumbled up? Discord had more of a sense of lawful order than you do you kooky virtual bird thing!” Keldeo retorted back.
The heat in the room escalated to volcanic temperatures. Rarity walked out of a door way by the corner and gazed at the vocal fight erupting between Keldeo and Inge. She shut her eyes, placed her right front hoof on the bridge of flesh between them and exhaled a calming sigh. Her horn ignited in a crystal blue color, bringing forth a gray-tinted haze above the arguing Pokémon. Their stares towards each other faltered and they looked upwards.
“Cool haze. Where did that come from?” Inge asked.
Rarity cleared her throat, directing the attention of everyone in the corner to her. A relieved smile cracked upon Keldeo’s face. He took his steps towards her with an air of nobility around him, giving him the appearance that the argument never happened. Rarity looked into his eyes and formed a smile robbed of her breath. Keldeo treaded his lips onto her lips and locked them together for the brief second they shared. Their eyes narrowed at the embrace of their lips. They split apart.
“I can feel that you were a bit upset at the moment, my Mystic Swordsman.”
“A bit. I didn’t get too carried away, but I’m glad that you cast that spell on me.” Keldeo spoke with a smooth voice.
Iosac looked at Keldeo and Rarity with his head cocked and his pupils towards the side. His jaw slacked.
“Is a Legendary Pokémon… romantically involved with an Equusian?” He asked within a localized tone.
“Does this surprise you?” Fei asked with a knowing smile curved on his face. “The two have known each other for a long time now.”
Iosac turned towards Fei and stomped his right foot on the ground.
“Of course it does! It’s almost unheard of for a Legendary Pokémon to stoop so low as getting romantically involved with a lesser being!” Iosac shouted out.
“Excuse me?!” Looking towards Iosac with her eyes raging with shock, Rarity questioned.
The fibers that made up Iosac’s spine chilled to their core. He stood in his place and glanced towards Rarity with shock.
“You heard all of that, didn’t you?” He whimpered out with a shrinking tone.
With each step forming a steam vent in the floor, Rarity stomped her way towards Iosac. Iosac cowered behind his fluff and shook with an uncontrollable motion. Rarity huffed out several heated gusts of air from her chest. Looking at the frightened Iosac, her breathing slowed down and calmed to a chilled degree. Blinking, the red aggression in her eyes became replaced with a calming cool.
“Please do not say that again, Iosac. What you said was not nice in the slightest and can get someone really hurt. It would be mainly you on the receiving end of that pain, but others can also be hurt by those words. I’m just telling you this for your own benefit.” She said with a lucid tone.
“Umm… thank you for not hurting me Rarity. I’m sorry for making that comment. It just caught me by surprise.” Iosac apologized.
Fei pulled on the collar of his uniform and directed his attention towards Rarity. A relieved smile appeared on his face.
“I am thankful that you defused two potential fights by your own hand slash hoof. I did not want to see any unauthorized violence break out in here.”
“Have more faith in my lady-like mannerisms, Fei. I am perfectly capable of controlling myself.” With her eyes shut and her right front hoof placed on her chest with her head tilted up in pride, Rarity proclaimed. “Oh, Professor Gentian was looking for you and Keldeo. He says that it is urgent.”
“Well that is interesting. I wonder what he has for us.”
Inge and Iosac’s heads jumped at the sound of the news. Inge’s eyes rose to a zenith of joy and a wide smile appeared on Iosacs face.
“Can we come too?! I’ve always wanted to go on a mission with you guys!” He pleaded.
“You might need us crack Aces on your team.” Inge suggested.
“Well, you two are ‘crack’ Aces alright.” Fei joked. “But, if you are as qualified as you say you are, I think you should come with us.”
“Hooray!” Waving her upper limbs, Inge proclaimed.
She phased her particles through the wall to the right. Keldeo stared at the wall where Inge vanished through with a cocked head and dazed eyes.
“That girl seriously needs some help.”
Professor Gentian stood by Tesla’s side. The two scientists examined a wire-frame grid that emitted sonar waves that echoed with a viral green color. Professor Gentian’s ears jumped upon listening to the door lift open. He and Tesla turned around, examining Rarity, Fei, Keldeo, Inge and Iosac enter the lab. A warm smile appeared on his face.
“It has been quite a while since we last saw each other, has it not?” He asked with an inviting tone.
“I heard you asked for us, Professor. Did you discover something new?” Fei questioned.
Professor Gentian turned towards the wire-framed map and pointed to it with his right fan.
“Take a look for yourself.”
The horde of operatives clustered around the table and examined the topography of the simulated land. A series of waves echoed out from the highest point on the map.
“So what is this? It looks strange.” Iosac questioned.
“This is a section of Keldeo’s home world. More specifically, it is around Kurisutaru. I’ve been keeping tabs on this particular set of space for a while now and it seems like I was right in doing so.” Professor Gentian explained.
“It does seem like there is a disturbance there, but what does it mean?” Keldeo asked.
“That’s what I want you to find out. It might be related to you, but it might also be a complete dud. Regardless, we wouldn’t know unless if we check right?”
Inge leaped up with her eyelids curled up in joy. She leaped and flipped her upper limbs with an excited motion. She leaped around the room with sporadic energy in her steps.
“Woohoo! We’re going to another world again!”
Fei shook his head and smacked his hand against his face. With his nerves riding along the lines of unease, Keldeo glanced towards Inge’s path of movement.
“Please calm yourself Inge. My nerves are already frizzled up as it is right now. I don’t need you worsening their anxiety.” He pleaded.
Professor Gentian shook his head and let out an uneasy sigh.
“I’ll get the portal link established.”
Walking through the swirling vortex of green, blue and yellow, Rarity spearheaded the group of five. She looked behind her and eyed Inge and Iosac forcing their upper limbs through the walls of the portal. She shut her eyes and shook her head.
“Are you alright?” Putting his right hand on Rarity’s left shoulder, Fei asked.
“I’m alright. I’m just feeling a bit uneasy.” Rarity responded.
“Uneasy?”
“Yes. From what I’ve heard about this world, looking upon its ruined state can change a life. I am not sure if I could handle something like that.”
Fei retracted his arm back and placed it across his chest.
“I know just how you feel. I had my doubts when I’ve seen the world for myself. It definitely is not a world for the weak of heart to see, but you are definitely not weak of heart. The initial shock is shocking, but you will get over it. I know I did.”
“I’ll trust your word on it.”
With renewed confidence under her hide, Rarity blinked and forced a smile on her face. The swirling colors of the hallway climaxed into a gateway of pure light. On instinct, everyone shut their eyes and averted their gazes from the light. With the shines running against their eyelids gone, the operatives returned their sights forward and opened their eyes. In doing so, the shadowed land of emptiness and desolation filled their gazes. A deep frown curled on Iosac’s face.
“What is this place? It doesn’t look very lively.” He asked with a voice that stemmed with concern.
“This used to be my home world.” Uttering his words with profound melancholy, Keldeo responded.
Inge’s upper limbs dropped down to the floor. Her beak slumped down to her neck.
“A world of Pokémon… left in this state? But how?” She asked with a broken voice.
Keldeo averted his gaze from Inge and gritted his teeth with an anxious movement. The muscles of his throat clenched, stopping his heart from rising out of its place.
“All I know is that a being known as the Demiurge destroyed it. I have no idea how, but it must have been powerful enough to devastate this world to this extent.”
Iosac crossed his arms. A nasty scowl formed over his eyes and his chin tucked itself in for his pout.
“Well this Demiurge sounds like a real jerk. If I ever see this guy, I’m going to give him the pranking of his or her life.” He threatened.
“I’m pretty sure that anyone that could do this to the land would not care for your pranks, Iosac.” Fei stated.
“I know… but this guy destroyed an entire world meant for Pokémon. I could’ve had my alternate universe counterpart living here! What if he was turned into a revenant?!”
“Don’t worry, Iosac.” Through her shattered voice, Inge stated. “I’m sure he must have escaped somehow… You are just too resourceful to fall for something like Armageddon or Ragnorok or what other words there are for the end as we know it.”
“May we please just get onto our objective? This world’s atmosphere isn’t too pleasant to be inside of.” With a mix of impatience and sadness in her voice, Rarity requested.
Fei pulled out a rectangular device colored in red out of his suit’s pocket and pointed it towards the acropolis. The light towards the opposite end of the device flashed with a brilliant yellow. Fei glanced towards the acropolis with a shaky right hand.
“So it seems like the disturbance is coming from there. I only wonder what it could be.”
“I am not sure, but we have to try to look inside of it.” Keldeo said.
The group of five headed through the streets of the abandoned Kurisutaru. Fei’s eyes glanced towards Keldeo, who rubbed the fronts of his hooves with his teeth gritted in anxiety and his head cocked away with a fearful glint in his eyes.
“Are you alright? You do not look too good.” Fei asked.
“I’m just afraid that some more memories of this place would come up again. The last set of memories regarding this place was painful to bear. I’m afraid that I’m going to have another panic attack.” Keldeo let out with his tone strangled in fear.
“If anything happens to you, I’ll make sure to bring you back to reality.”
Rarity placed her left front hoof upon Keldeo’s right front ankle and glanced onto his eyes. Looking into her eyes, Keldeo felt his anxiety melt away.
“I promised you that we would help gather your memories. I will always be willing to help if you are willing to continue forwards. Do not be afraid, because you do not have to handle this alone.” Rarity consoled.
“Alright… I will do so. I wanted to do this, so there will be no stopping me.”
Pointing towards a large and ornate entrance to a ruined ornate building, Fei’s device vibrated and resonated with a loud alarm. The walls of the temple eroded over the passage of time. Their color faded away into a dull gray. Two crafted impressions in the ground that surrounded the walkway into the building appeared devoid of any previous substance that it would have had. Inge rubbed the top of her body with her upper limbs.
“Ohhhh… I have a terrible feeling about this.” She said.
“What makes you say that, Inge?” Rarity asked with peaked interest in her voice.
“Call it a gamer’s intuition, but important landmarks such as this usually lead into a climactic moment that we have to prepare for.” She voiced with her eyelids dropped a quarter away down her eyes.
“That’s just some superstition you have, Inge. This place has been dead for a long time now… right?” With an uneasy giggle and his forehead breaking out in a cold sweat, Iosac responded.
“Has it ever been wrong, Iosac?”
“…No it hasn’t.”
Fei shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. He took his first steps towards the entrance of the ornate building. Rarity looked over her left shoulder, glancing towards Iosac’s shivering body and Inge’s anxious eyes. Taking a deep breath and exhaling it, Keldeo followed Fei into the entrance of the building.
“Are you two going to wait out here while Fei, Keldeo and I go inside?” Rarity asked with a chipper tone. “You might never know what sorts of cosmic horrors are lurking out here.”
“Nah. We’re fine! I think…” Iosac responded with an unassured tone.
“Yeah! I wouldn’t mind standing guard out here for any cosmic horrors.” Inge replied.
Rarity shrugged her shoulders and flashed a smile.
“Suit yourselves then.”
Saying these words, she walked towards the entrance of the building and left Inge and Iosac alone. Iosac glanced towards Inge with an anxious frown plastered onto his face.
“Ummm… was she kidding about the whole cosmic horror thing? I mean, this is a dead world right? Cosmic horrors don’t lurk here right?!” He asked.
“From some of the horror novels I’ve read, dead worlds like this make perfect homes for cosmic horrors. It provides a good hiding spot for them and allows them to be undisturbed by others.” Inge explained.
Iosac grabbed Inge’s right upper limb with his left upper limb with a hasty movement and pulled on it.
“Let’s hurry inside with the others! I hear that cosmic horrors are not a fan of pranks!”
Within the depths of the building, a handcrafted stained glass dome affixed into the stone ceiling caught Fei’s eyes. Looking directly below it, his eyes gazed upon a raised platform with a star system and multiple planets with runes carved into each planetary figure that revolved on the multiple lines of orbit around an even larger sphere. He walked up the steps and treaded his left hand upon the marble platform. The device in his right hand vibrated with a violent shake.
“Interesting…” In bated breath, he mused to himself.
“Did you find anything Fei?” Walking into the ruined building, Keldeo asked.
Fei turned around and hopped down the steps of the platform. He stopped before Keldeo and Rarity and held out his device.
“It seems that whatever this carving is, the device is picking up some heavy signals from this. The design also looks very familiar to me, even if it has some more added features.” He explained.
“You’ve seen something like this before?” Rarity questioned.
Fei waved to both Keldeo and Rarity and turned around. The trio walked up the steps on top of the raised platform and looked down on carved slab. He pointed towards the largest circle in the center, and then moved his index finger towards the three circles on the next tier. Three triangles filled in the space between the three tiers.
“This diagram represents Arceus and the two trinities that are closely related to him. The circles on this next tier represent the Dialga, Palkia and Giratina. Respectively, they control the aspects of time, space and dimensions. Meanwhile, the three triangles between them represent the aspects of sapience granted to life. Mesprit commands emotion, Uxie commands knowledge and Azelf commands willpower.” He explained.
“But there are more spheres and orbits around these features. What could that possibly mean?” Rarity asked.
“That I am not sure. This was an interesting find, but it might seem like it is a dud.” Fei responded.
Looking upon the diagram with his eyes, a throbbing grip clamped itself upon the temples of Keldeo’s head. Bringing his left front hoof up to his forehead, he rubbed his left temple with a circular motion. His left eye shut itself and his right eye winced with a sporadic movement. His legs wobbled underneath the weight of his body.
Looking towards his direction, Rarity’s smile of intrigue washed away into a frown of concern. She wrapped her right front leg around Keldeo’s right front leg and stroked the back of his neck with a consoling speed. Fei’s eyes widened at the sight of Keldeo’s pain. He rushed towards Keldeo’s left side and placed his right hand on his left shoulder, pinning him in place.
“Keldeo, are you alright?” Rarity asked.
“That stupid diagram is hurting my head but I don’t know why.” Keldeo retorted with a strained voice.
Fei looked behind him and saw Iosac and Inge burst from the entrance of the building with swift speed. Eyeing the lack of intent to stop within the two, his chest stopped moving and he drew his hands away from Keldeo. He held them out and shook them in an effort to derail them. Inge and Iosac bumped into the group of three operatives before them.
With force applied on his hind side, Keldeo stepped forwards onto the slab of stone. A sword-shaped crest within one of the farther-distanced oscillations glowed with a deep blue color. His headache exploded into a full-out migraine. Pressing both hooves against his head, he shouted in pure agony.
“Keldeo!” Fei and Rarity shouted in unison. The two operatives ran onto the platform by his side. Inge and Iosac followed on their tails.
The entire platform began glowing with a white light that broke the darkness of the world and enshrouded the group of Pokémon and Rarity. Their sight whited out.
Rarity’s eyes slowed into an open. With the vision of the world around her restored, she found herself lying upon the same stone slab she stood upon moments ago. On careful inspection, the slab looked renewed, almost if it was never damaged. On the ground, she saw Fei, Keldeo, Inge and Iosac lying on the ground.
Her ears picked up the sound of water rushing into the pool around the platform and her eyes detected the white light that illuminated the area. She let her gaze upon a statue of a qilin-like creature with a darker-colored underside hoisted upon a pedestal at the center of the area. Its four pointed hooves tipped themselves in gold and a cross-like golden wheel affixed itself around the statue’s abdomen.
“Exactly what kind of creature is that statue based off of?” Rarity whispered out.
Further examining the room, she looked above and saw the same stain-glassed window above the platform. The marble pillars each had a green vine entangling it from the bottom.
A clamor of waking groans sounded out behind her. She turned towards the group. A smile of relief overcame her. She walked up the steps and sat on the ground with a patient stance. Keldeo, Fei, Inge and Iosac all opened their eyes and pushed themselves off the ground.
“Who turned on all of the lights?” Fei asked.
“That was a weird feeling. Let’s do it again!” Iosac shouted.
“It felt like I got up after an intense gaming session. Just what exactly did that platform do?” Rubbing her head with her right upper limb, Inge asked.
Keldeo blinked three times. A wave of nostalgia overcame him.
“I don’t know why, but it feels like I know this place.” He said.
“I had that same feeling too. Most of the structures in here seem to be similar to the ones we’ve seen back in Kurisutaru except that all of these look as though they were taken care of.” Rarity noted.
Keldeo narrowed his eyes and let out a tired frown.
“We should probably look around a bit.” He suggested.
Shaking the grasp of exhaustion clinging onto their bodies, the group descended from the steps and headed towards the exit of the building. Upon stepping out of the building, Fei’s eyes picked up on two pools that surrounded the walkway. They were filled with purified water running in from a pipeline. His eyes widened with shock.
“Are you sure that this isn’t Kurisutaru? Because I could have sworn that there were pools like this back there.” Fei questioned with an anxious stun in his voice.
“I never said that. I just said that it feels like Kurisutaru.” Keldeo answered back. “Yet, I can’t help but feel that this actually is Kurisutaru. But…”
He looked upwards and gazed into the crystal blue sky, where only few wisps of clouds tagged onto the clear sky. Gazing forwards, he saw a trio of green-coated fawns with cream-colored bottoms and yellow flowers growing out of their foreheads. The fawns played along the city’s streets with large smiles on their faces.
“Summer-colored Deerlings over there…” Fei stated, pointing to the trio of Deerlings. He then moved his finger towards two large and gray humanoids carrying a large crystal pillar over their right shoulder with their ripped arms. They each had black tights wrapped around their lap and golden championship belts around their waist. “…and there are some Machokes over there.”
Rarity looked into the sky, where she gazed upon the sight of a pale yellow rodent with a black and bolt-shaped tail, black-tipped ears and pink cheeks riding upon a giant yellow bee with gray-purple limbs and sharp needles for forearms. Feeling the wind blow against their bodies, the two Pokémon each wielded large smiles on their faces.
“I don’t think I have ever seen something like that up there.” Pointing into the sky, Rarity noted.
“That’s because you don’t. Beedrills tend to be very nasty Pokémon in nature and while Pichus can be mischievous, they know that Beedrills should not be messed around with.” Iosac explained.
Towards Inge’s right, she set her gaze on a pink cloud of cotton candy with its tongue sticking out that stood on its darker pink-colored feet. It faced an orange and brown piglet and a pink and cream kitten with a perpetual smile on its face. With an audible conversation passing amongst their group, the trio of Pokémon laughed. Inge marked her way towards the group.
“Ummm… excuse me, but do you three know where we are?” She asked.
The trio of Pokémon gazed towards Inge with curious smiles on their faces. The cloud hopped over towards her and looked up to her face with a grateful grin.
“You look very unusual for a Pokémon, but look very strong too! You are in the city of Kurisutaru!” It answered with closed eyes and an enthusiastic voice.
“I thought you would know that. After all, not many Pokémon would come here without knowing what this city is.” The piglet answered in a youthful and rough accent.
“If you want, we can give you a tour of the town Miss.” The kitten offered.
“Hold on one moment!” Inge responded.
She hovered towards her group with a stunned expression on her face. Fei approached her with his eyes crooked in curiosity.
“You look a bit out there right now, Inge. What did the Swirlix, Tepig and Skitty over there tell you?” He asked.
“It turns out that this is indeed Kurisutaru.”
Upon hearing Inge’s words, all of the jaws of the entire group dropped to the ground.