CHAPTER 163 - It Whimpers

"Out of my fucking way," I swore.

"I'm afraid we can't do that," Lane said.

"You can't beat me."

"The Elder must survive," Reggie shook his head. "Drapion, Pin Missile!"

"Umbreon, stick to the shadows and target her."

Drapion flexed, and its segments ground against each other. Bright, sharp needles exploded outward in every direction before homing toward me. Umbreon clipped into the floor and disappeared.

So much for talking, then. I only had a few seconds to think. Honey maybe had two more Protects left in him, and I didn't want to waste those before reaching Shiftry.

"Princess, you're on protection duty. Angel, grab me and Ancient Power the Drapion. Sunshine, Bulldoze and get that Umbreon out of the floor—"

The Pin Missiles were already there. Togetic lifted a disc-like shape out of the ground and stretched it until it covered me. The missiles crashed against the flat rock without breaking through. Another, larger boulder shot out toward Drapion, who dug its legs into the dark ground and grabbed it in its pincers. Turtonator exhaled and slammed its foot against the floor. Small pockets of molten rocks jutted out of the ground around us and burned the darkness away. Jellicent drenched me in cold water for the heat, but it was still uncomfortably hot. Umbreon let out an ethereal bark, but it was already behind me. It jumped out of the floor with its claws dripping in poison, aiming directly at me.

Its attack fell through when Buddy hit it with Hex. Angel pulled me away and Umbreon fell onto the floor. Turtonator placed a foot on its abdomen and began burning, but I raised a hand. These people were puppets of Shiftry, they deserved a chance.

"Surrender. It's not you I'm after."

"Drapion, Venoshock!"

"Umbreon!"

The dark type sunk into the floor and I sighed. My mercy had been a mistake, but it wouldn't be just to kill Shiftry's unwilling puppets. Still, I couldn't afford to hold back now.

"I gave you a chance."

Drapion belched, and then spat out liquid poison toward me again. So sloppy. They weren't even trying to win.

"Flamethrower."

Turtonator immediately let a stream of flames loose, and the poison simply evaporated away.

"Sunshine go and deal with that Drapion, we'll take care of Umbreon. Try not to kill it. Or them," I said. Now that I knew that Umbreon wasn't invulnerable in its shadow state, Buddy would be able to deal with it. "Buddy, you're up. Track it and force it up."

The water type nodded and sank into the floor. A single Hex, and it would be in too much pain to stay hidden.

I frowned when Turtonator began to charge a Flash Cannon, only this one was abnormally small. The fire type grunted, and the tiny beam severed Drapion's arm.

"Drapion, no!" Reggie screamed. My eyes widened, bringing me out of my Shiftry-induced daze for a single moment. He'd broken through Shiftry's spell for an instant, but his face returned to a neutral expression immediately afterward.

I hadn't known that Sunshine could do that. Umbreon let out an infuriated hiss-bark and jumped, slashing across Turtonator's shell. If we hadn't been behind him, he would have been able to blow up. Again, a Pokemon was making a mistake due to its attachment to another.

A quick, weakened Thunderbolt from Honey shocked Umbreon, who began to jitter and convulse. Five drills stabbed into the dark type like nails, and Buddy emerged right next to him and finished it off with Hex.

Drapion was missing an arm, and Umbreon had fainted. They couldn't stop me any longer, but I wanted to give them one last chance.

"I recommend recalling your Drapion. It can grow its arm back at a Pokemon Center thanks to Ditto cells, but right now all it's doing is bleeding out. It'll die."

Reggie's face twisted in worry. He was hesitating.

"Reggie! The Elder told us to fight to the last!" Lane screamed.

I impatiently tapped my foot against the floor. "I don't have that much time. Hurry or I'm killing it."

The man grimaced as he recalled his Pokemon. Lane looked at him with a devastated look of pure betrayal, and my team and I began to walk toward the mansion. I hesitantly placed a foot above Turtonator's bulldozed area, which was still too hot to walk on. Buddy sprayed a path with water and cooled it off enough for me to step on.

"It's not like it would have made any difference," I said. "He made the correct choice that spared as many lives as possible."

Lane snarled as she ran toward the mansion's entrance, blocking the way with her arms extended out as if that would stop me.

"Please! Don't go! The Elder's all we have!"

"When his influence on your mind is gone, you'll realize that what you were doing before today wasn't living, but serving," I said. "Angel."

The grass type knocked her away, and she shrieked, tears streaming down her face as she desperately begged for me not to go inside. I ignored her, but she followed me.

"He's all I have," she repeated as she clung to my leg. "Please."

It was strange, how they spoke of Shiftry like it was their savior instead of their oppressor. What state was it in right now? Harry had called it catatonic, but I expected it to be stronger than Weavile when he turned back to normal. Since his domain would disappear, I'd only have to buy time for the League to Teleport or fly in. I stopped my Pokemon from blowing her up with a gesture and kicked her off. The mansion hadn't changed at all since I had last stepped foot inside of it. I expected the darkness to be stronger here, but it was almost… weaker somehow. It wasn't as difficult to breathe, and my voice had regained some of its pitch. The strange substance on the floor wasn't as thick and it was easier to walk.

"Angel, tie her up and detach the vine," I said. "Harry. Where are Shiftry and Roland? The top floor?"

Lane screamed as Tangrowth wrapped her entire body, leaving only her head for her to breathe.

"The top floor only has one room, and that's Shiftry's. Roland should be on the second," he said. Now that I could slightly see color, his face was dangerously pale, and his voice was weak. I wasn't a doctor, but he was close to dying if I had to guess. I needed to hurry this up. Dying here would mean that he'd be getting off lightly.

I slowly stepped through the foyer. I had to be safe here, there could be traps.

"Can you just… leave me here?" Harry coughed. "I know I won't make it out. I've given you everything… I'll even take a spear through the head."

"No, you're sticking around," I said, not even sparing him a look.

"I cooperated."

"You did. That doesn't mean you deserve the easy way out," I said. I knew Sunshine was staring daggers at me now, but at this point, he was probably focused on getting us out of here. I didn't know if it was because the dark had dampened his want for revenge, or if he cared more for us than he admitted.

I slowly climbed the creaky steps to the second floor. Honey and Princess flanked me while Buddy was in front thanks to his regenerative capabilities. Angel pushed himself up the stairs with his vines behind me, and Sunshine did the same. We were all exhausted, but this was the final push. One more battle, and we'd be freed.

And the magnitude of what I had done these last few hours would sink in. It was strange, to stare disaster in the eye. To know it was coming. To know how terrible it would make me feel, and yet not be able to bring myself to worry about it.

"Well met, Grace Pastel," a soft voice said. My head whirred toward it, and I easily recognized Roland Hunter, the man who I had mistaken for the elder during our visit. He turned toward the third floor. "And Harry, I suppose. Are you here to kill everything Shiftry has built?"

"Yes. Are you going to do anything about it?"

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"It's not like I can," he shrugged with a sad sigh. "Why don't you go and see it then? Shiftry's room."

I frowned. Unlike Lane or even Reggie, he didn't seem to be panicking at all. I made my way to the third floor and bit my lip when I saw what awaited me. A huge barrier made out of the abyss blocked the walls and entrance to Shiftry's room. Five League Trainers lay in the hallway, their bodies completely lifeless and their usual uniforms full of blood.

"Break through," I told my team.

No moves made even a dent. Power Whip, Shadow Ball, Water Pulse, Ancient Power, not even Dazzling Gleam or Sunshine's Flamethrower worked.

"You will not break through. Shiftry knows what he is doing."

I clenched a fist. I had been so close. So close to finishing this.

But I wasn't strong enough. I ordered Angel to drop Harry on the floor and leaned against the wall, trying to come up with any ideas. No matter how much I racked my brain, no answers came up. If I couldn't brute force it with Sunshine or use type effectiveness with Dazzling Gleam or Fairy Wind, then nothing I had would work.

"What will you do now?" Roland asked with faint signs of his soft-spoken voice.

"Why are you talking to me?"

"Indulge me a little."

"I don't owe you anything. Stop bothering me, or my Pokemon will make you."

"I know many things about Cyrus," he nonchalantly said. "And I know you wouldn't pass on that. Just have a little conversation with me. Call it a man's last wish."

Right. I had almost completely forgotten that he'd been friends with Cyrus long ago. At least I had gained something by being here.

"What makes you think I couldn't get it out of you?" I said. "Or that the League won't just do it themselves?"

"We aren't all as weak as Harry," he smirked. Harry didn't even have the energy to retort. "And aren't you curious?"

I bit my tongue. "Fine."

The older man sat on the stairs and began to speak, facing away from me. "If I asked you what darkness was, what would you answer?"

"I'd answer whatever Shiftry's been doing. Faded colors, muted emotions, cutting off type energy… it's a lot."

"Ah, indeed it is to some extent. It can also be other things, but it is what Shiftry sees it as, and so it is what his domain is," Roland started. "At their core, each kind of type energy serves a purpose, and that purpose can sometimes be stretched to such extent that it becomes unrecognizable. There are the easy concepts, like fire, water and grass, and the more abstract ones like fairy, dragon and ghost. Dark is a part of the latter, and at its core, its purpose is to bring the world back to a blank slate. Before the universe came into existence, there was nothing. That nothing is what the dark type wants to return to."

I nodded. "I called it neutrality, but I guess that works. Get to the point."

"Why? We have nothing but time."

"Because I didn't come here for a lesson. Get to Cyrus."

Roland smirked. "When there is enough dark type energy around an area, it will start to return the world to a blank slate, like you saw with Solaceon, although Shiftry's visualization of it had some quirks that don't fit the definition, like the heavy air and the dark floor. You also saw the effect it has on the human psyche."

"I feel nothing," I agreed, staring at the corpses littering the hall. "I know it's not supposed to be that way, but I can't bring myself to even care about it."

"There's a bit more to it than that. Before turning you into an emotionless person, you will slowly start to lose your outer traits, little by little until your true self is laid bare for all to see. For a few hours, that is what you will be. Cyrus was obsessed with dark type energy in his young age— which is how we met… around twenty-two years ago now. He used to be quite a well-traveled man, and he sought out ways to explain his… affliction. Back then, he believed dark type energy could be it, or at least heavy exposure to it as an infant."

"Affliction?" I asked.

"Cyrus has never felt anything in his entire life. No love for his late parents, no anger, no frustration, there is nothing in his head but pure pragmatism. He is a brilliant man, and Shiftry allowed him to spend a few months with us thanks to our unlikely connection."

"But unlike you, Cyrus is like this because of something else, not Shiftry," I said.

"Well, I believe him to simply be a sociopath," Roland said as a matter of fact. "But he wouldn't take that answer. He thought there was something wrong with the world and not him, and he wanted to reshape it in his image."

I swallowed. Even with Shiftry's domain, I still felt a twinge of nervousness about the topic of Team Galactic's leader.

"You know, before he left, he told me that he felt a connection to our family," Roland said. "That he didn't have to pretend with me. All of his life, he had faked every single word. An exhausting way to live. I tried to get him to stay with us. I called him my first friend."

"And he left?"

"He looked at me like I was insane," Roland continued. "He called me a fake with the iciest tone I had ever heard and left without looking back. Apparently, the fact that I felt genuine friendship with him meant that I couldn't possibly understand him at all. That means that his blankness is so potent that he feels even less than us."

"How did you reconnect? Harry here told me that you were in contact."

"Oh that didn't happen until around three years ago. Cyrus came to our land again and asked for our support in his cause with Team Galactic. Shiftry had taken a personal liking to him before, so there was no way for us to refuse. I assume Harry told you about Team Galactic's ambition for him?"

"I did," Harry weakly answered.

"I was content to help Cyrus, but he had… conversations with Shiftry that I wasn't privy to that got him agitated. I had never seen him like this my entire life. There was genuine excitement in the Elder's eyes. I couldn't believe it."

"Some other deal was made," I declared. "And you weren't a part of it. None of you were."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, that is all I know. I do not know Cyrus' true goal, but I know that he is not the kind of man to commit terrorism for the sake of destruction, and he would not care about taking over the region either. He wants something deeper. What that is? Your guess is as good as mine."

I paused for a few seconds. "Why say all this? Why give up all of that information on Cyrus willingly?"

"Because when Shiftry asked us to call him for help when the League came to our land, he said that we had served our purpose and abandoned us. The Elder was devastated to the point of tears… and that was the exact moment when Solaceon was hit by the dark. Shiftry was fooled and he simply couldn't take it anymore. I am a loyal servant, and Cyrus hurt my master. I will give information on him, but not anything else."

"Yeah? Well as soon as the League breaks through, your master's dying and your memory's getting extracted," I said.

Roland chuckled, which was weirdly alien.

"My apologies. That was a reflex I trained myself to do," he said. "Our family will be destroyed, but Shiftry will live on. The League has use for him."

"What? After all of this? Why?"

"Do you know what lies east of Solaceon?" He asked. I shook my head. "Shiftry has been keeping them dormant. The Unown. Without him, they will wake up and warp reality around Solaceon to their liking— and maybe even all of Sinnoh."

"What the hell is an Unown?"

"They're—"

I heard steps reverberate through the hall. People were walking up the stairs, and I knew that there was no way it could be Reggie. Lane was tied up… so who was coming?

She was dressed in black from head to toe and exuded power wherever she walked. Her faded blonde hair flew in the small amount of wind expunged by Shiftry's barrier. She was just as tall as I remembered— around six feet, and she towered over the man who followed her. Faded green hair with a tuft gelled upward, along with huge green eyes that were lighter than mine. The woman was accompanied by her Lucario. It was spotless, like it had never seen battle before, and yet I knew the rumors of what it was capable of. The younger man by a Heracross, whose huge horn was enough to impale me at least eight times, if not more. They were followed by six League Trainers— veterans that looked to be in their thirties or forties.

"Good evening Roland," the woman said.

The Champion Cynthia and Aaron of the Elite Four were here.

Without as much as a change in expression, Roland Hunter bit down on something and crumpled to the floor like a leaf. He had killed himself before the League could get their hands on him.

"Ah, man, what a waste," Aaron sighed.

Cynthia shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Get started on the barrier."

I gulped, unable to find the words. Aaron and his Herracross confidently strode up to Shiftry's barrier, and the man squinted, softly touching at the darkness as if he was looking for a specific point. Cynthia stared at her dead League Trainers and sighed before turning to me and my team. Even Sunshine's cocky attitude evaporated when she stared into his eyes. Lucario looked into mine, and it was almost like it felt sorry for me. Two of the League Trainers took Harry Rodriguez away.

"Grace Pastel," Cynthia smiled. "It has been a while, hasn't it?"

"I—yes," I said. "How did you even get in here? The wall on the outside…"

"It took a while, but Aaron found a weakness to the southeast of the city that materialized a few minutes ago and we forced a gate open. I suspect you stepping inside the mansion had something to do with that. League Trainers are pouring into Solaceon now. Without you, it would have taken Aaron at least a day to figure out where to enter from. It's a lot easier now that the surface area to scan is smaller."

I didn't understand how Aaron knew where the wall's weaknesses were, but I wasn't about to question the Champion's words or an Elite Four member's skills.

"What does me stepping inside have to do with any of this? Why would I have an effect on Shiftry?"

"Oh, he's a coward, so he no doubt panicked and reinforced his room instead of the outside," she smirked. "That usually meant that he was easy to negotiate with, but cowards can also be unpredictable. It's a good thing you didn't make it through though. Weakened or not, Shiftry would have killed you."

My eye twitched, and I glanced at Roland's corpse. "I don't know about that. Will he get off lightly then?"

"No. His time has come," Cynthia said, her face darkening. Roland had been completely wrong. My hand trembled as terror enveloped me— but only for a second. "Why don't you come and see? Lucario will protect you. How bad are her wounds?"

The steel type's eyes shone bright blue, and he held out his hand toward me before turning back to Cynthia.

"Good," she smiled. "So?"

"Me? Isn't this confidential?"

"You've done a lot for us, Grace," Cynthia said. "And there will be some questioning, which you must be used to at this point. But that's not the only reason. I have much to talk about with you and—"

"Cynthia, I found it!" Aaron yelled. He crouched and sunk his hand into the darkness with a strange, analytic stare. "It's right here."

"We will talk later," Cynthia said. She walked toward the wall of darkness, and I quickly followed her. It was hard to keep up with her huge strides, especially with how tired I was. I recalled Honey, Angel and Buddy, but I let Sunshine and Princess stay. He would at least get to watch this, and I didn't feel safe without Togetic.

"You do the honors, or me?" Aaron asked.

The Champion nodded. "Lucario?"

The fighting type inhaled sharply and its fist—

What—

What happened? The wall of darkness was already collapsing? I hadn't even seen it move! Some variation of Extreme Speed combined with a fighting type move? Or was it something else? Cynthia, Aaron and the four remaining League trainers stepped into the room, and I followed.

It was only the second time I was seeing Shiftry, but it was still as regal as ever. Beautifully carved wood, hair adorned with golden hairpins like a crown and tied into locks.

And it was sitting in a fetal position, waiting for its death. It drew upon ragged breaths, tired from maintaining its domain for so long upon such a large area, but the darkness didn't collapse immediately as I thought it would. In fact, it strengthened, and the abyss grew taller, going up to my knees. Shiftry, meanwhile, seemed to be able to float on it.

"Good evening," Cynthia calmly said. "It is about time we speak, Shiftry."

The grass type stood up and prepared to fight, but we all knew how it would go.

Even Shiftry.