literature

Wave: Epidemic (BOOK 1 FINALE, B)

Deviation Actions

C-Mnesia's avatar
By
Published:
16.1K Views

Literature Text

Part 3.5: The Ancients
Chapter 18 (FINALE for BOOK 1): Baptism
Episode TWO: Shadow of a Sacrament


P h a s e – 6

I shouted. I ran for the demon, my blizzard of sabers charging with me. I jumped for him, propelled forward by icy wind, conjured by the tip of my tail.

With nothing of an amused look stuck on his face, he took my rush into his palm, the crucifix absent from this parry. I was locked in a state of tackle, or a failed attempt, as a freakish black barrier  kept me away, pushing back, threatening to send me back like a slingshot should I have taken any momentum away from the attack. The sabers were shattered by this barrier one at a time, leaving nothing but a Gamma girl to fly for herself. The expression on the monster's face wasn't changing any time soon. When I looked up, he looked down, blank, bored, undaunted. My wind was lost, and he drove his arm forward, the barrier shattering around me. I was thrown, drifting away.

Tumbling through the air, I grunted, inverting myself in the turmoil, head facing the ground. An accomplice of mine, if you could call an icy stalactite that, gently pushed me away from the ceiling. Something swept overhead, nearly touching my ears. It felt sharp, electric, and unholy. Moments from the black floor, I blew forth an frozen stream, creating a quarter pipe of solid ice for me to slide on, parallel with the ground once more. As I slid, I heard a crash behind me, a brief shock wave of air pushing me forward, until the slimy ground finally stopped me. I turned to the beast, who had plunged his blade into the icy ramp, now nothing but fragments. He pulled it free from the ground, flicking up sparks of purple. Not a moment too soon, he swiped at the space between us with the crucifix, letting off a followup of crescent-shaped energy. I threw myself to my belly, the wave slicing fur off of the tip of my ears. Another came. It was vertical, so I swerved to the left. A third came. It was diagonal, so I threw forth a pillar of ice. The pillar ruptured, bursting, pushing me further away. I maintained all the balance needed to stay on the sickening floor.

He was running now, the footsteps fast, reaching forward, a hypersonic noise screaming in his palm, dripping black, the crucifix held behind him. It all happened too fast. The hole in his hand opened up, taking in the world around it, warping space. I tried backing away. I tried summoning ice. Nothing worked! I was being pulled toward the anomaly, air raging, black coiling around me!

But then there was nothing. He was gone. The rift was closed, and there was no noise...

I looked in every direction I recognized. He wasn't in any of them.

A curved rift tore through me. I screamed, spun, and looked. Another sliced me from underneath. I panicked, my heart beating uncontrollably, eyes watering from the unfathomable pain each slash brought. Biting my teeth together, I lifted an icy wall from beneath me, putting up whatever I could to stop the phantasmal blows. Another dug into my back, and a fourth into my rear right light. The fifth had enough force to hurdle me into the air, where they only continued, albeit much more quickly. Soon enough, from all sides of me were streaks, slicing, lashing, digging, bleeding me of my Gamma. The cuts were breakneck, my body numbing, but the final slash never struck me. Instead, it tore through space itself, and out flew the devil, a nightmarish visual of ghouls fleeing from this hidden space, before I had nothing but his hand over my face, pressing my muzzle. Electricity jumped through my pores, eyes, nostrils, ears, mouth. I was lifted, still held by the face, before wind rushed me by, my body thrown to the dead ground. The impact was painless, but it kept me from regrowing. I couldn't freeze over again. I was shattered, leaking. I yelled, then gasped when I saw the crucifix plant itself inches from my face. He came down after it, something heavy striking the back of my head, crunching my nose into the floor. He grasped me again, his hand searing, pulling my head back. I closed my eyes. I felt wind, then pain, pain outside of pain, pain within itself, over and over, thud, thud, crack, crack, bash after bash.

He was roaring.

The roaring was getting quieter, immersed underwater.

I began wailing over it, until I emerged, my Gamma crystallizing. My body became rock hard, and then I was silent. With one more bash, I became nothing but fragments.

I remained.

I was everywhere, ice crystals glowing, hovering within the area like blue spores. Without eyes, I still saw. In fact, I saw from every angle. I felt. I heard. I smelled. I tasted. I lived, but I was still without a body to act. To fix that, I took upon my brother's Gamma to reassemble myself, each of my shards congregating far away from the fake human, who had taken a hit from the force of my freezing explosion. Score.

I became whole again, the cracks smoothing, the ice softening, the fur sprouting, the wounds nowhere. Limbs apart, I lifted my tail high and bit my lip, escaping death, living with the pain he had left me. I watched him recover. It was an unnatural recovery, his body simply bending, warping like rubber flesh to a haunting stance, so still, his face missing yet again. There was nothing but blackness in his eyes, the sockets peeled down, the mouth so sad. I shivered, stuck in place. The non-face went away, and I could move again.

He was gone again, that body turning to nothing but streaks of shadow. Ears high, I tasted a qualm, and hopped to the side. From behind me came a blade, thrust forward. He didn't leave well enough alone with that one. He swiped at me again. I blew around the attack with a gust of wind, a reversal. A quick icy saber came to me, and I used all I could, biting down onto it and swinging with my head. It met the crucifix and shattered like nothing. Then came another attack. A faulty dodge left a scrape against my left front leg, but the distance was short enough for me to retaliate with a second saber. I gave him a sloppy fake-out, darting through his legs, the icicle in my mouth tripping him up. As he fell, I remained beneath him, hopping once. He was bumped into the air. I was proud of the follow-up, which ended up being a back flip, my tail swinging into the monster like a hammer, driving him a ways away, sliding onto the floor. I threw my icicle at the last point I saw. Sure enough, it was where he landed.

Once pawpads hit the floor, I turned to make sure that everything landed as well as a last-second combo accredited. He wasn't even there anymore. I growled. My breath was getting faster, and I felt like I was only getting slower.

The floor was crawling again. I felt a dread like none other. Something was itching me and I couldn't scratch it because it wasn't there anymore—that body part. That soul part. That mind part. It was gone, but it was bothering me, festering, pestilence of the past. When ripples in the sludge disturbed my balance, I shook away, taking myself from the spot. In that spot, there was a splash, and a bladed cross emerged. I watched it as it stopped in the air, swallowing icy spit. I could have been there... again... I couldn't take my eyes off of it. Everything about it was painful, with the way the blades were so perfectly pointed, with the way something so dark could still shine, with the way it reeked of blood, marrow, and tears.

In a deluge of shady energy, he arrived at his blade quicker than any blink. With it in hand, he pulled it away from the stasis, striking into the ground, one of the three blades wedged. The move wasn't for naught—it had an afterglow in the form of plasma, shooting from the ground like pillars, a wave hurdling for me. I inhaled, puffing my cheeks out, before jumping, throwing my back above me as if prompted for a front-flip. Directly perpendicular to the ground, I released the stockpile of sheer cold in the form of a beam, gamma and ice, with enough propulsion to thrust me into the air over the oncoming fallout of attacks.

The path I soared over would've ended right on him. I braced myself, prepared to send a spear of ice straight through his heartless chest. The fumes from the black plasma obscured the already dim battlefield. When he came into view, it was a lost cause. Two points at either of my sides became hot. There was pressure. There were fingers. He caught me, defying motion, his strength keeping him steady even in the face of my speed. He had the rotten non-face. I tried to squirm and look away, his hands burning into me.

He shrieked, at first a long, raspy breath. There was a stench of decomposition, so determined to tell me that he was dead. Living dead. Once the breathy scream stopped, my ears shot high. He was holding me, but... where was his...

Brief gust. Guts against blades. Knife through flesh.

My jaw was frozen. My body was stiff again, not unlike the statue of ice I became. Something was wrong. I was still malleable. I was still in the fur. My eyes searched the evil before me, affronting me. At the chests, something conjoined us. I saw the shine of white Gamma leaking onto something dark, dripping onto the ground, mixing with the blackness, drunk into naught.  

The dripping, the Gamma, the impalement... again... all too familiar. They lied to me.

They lied to me.

Help me, Brother.

They lied.

No, I... was me... I was Nasce. I...

...was fading, but... the crystal wasn't through me. It was inside of me. My back was still there. There was no hole there. There was one in my chest. Scion had a hole in his back and his chest. By his blade, we became one...

Scion? That was your name, wasn't it?

“I am with you,” he said, the nothing-face twisting back into quasi-human. “Do you feel that? Do you feel me?”

I couldn't spit anything out. I couldn't freeze myself again. The cross was killing me... was it? It was keeping me from dying. It framed me with my own pain. I kept dripping. I kept losing Nasce.

“Feel. Become pain. Let it shape you,” he invited, my paws twitching, my heart twinging. “Bathe in carnal catabasis. It is what your 'brother' left you for. The moon will pass, and you will be left for me. An offering; my Valentine.”

“Broth-...” I puled, emptying faster than I could regenerate.

He pulled from the crucifix, backing away, taking the hilt in one hand and pinning me to the floor, the blade still within me, my flesh and icy bones sucking inward, coating the black crystal, sinking into solidity. I was melting, but not outward; instead, inward. I was melting into the crucifix. He was taking me.

I lost... more... by the second... There was a point where I felt my eyes shrivel. I shielded them with my eyelids. I was withering, wilting, losing consciousness, losing willpower, losing sen...tience... ce... s... e...

P h a s e - 7

...a light.

A light came through.

A light like a bullet.

A light with a comet tail.

It left behind a matrimony of darkness and light.

The light dove into Scion and burst out from behind. The cross disappeared in a flash. The wound was open, but the Gamma was coming together again, amalgamating back into me.

When the light reached the end of the long hallway, it erupted in a rainbow flare, visuals of butterflies taking off in every direction, leaving behind sparkling dust. The dark world around me was altering, pulsating violently, writhing in my pain.

I watched Scion, bearing two wounds in his chest, one of darkness, the other of divine light, each dripping with blight, caused from this rainbow light. He hunched over, a hand over the mysterious new damage. His fingers dipped into the light, lifting it up, as if to examine it in a well lit area. The hellish room was brighter now. I could see everything he could see.

“At last, you've dawned. Once more, 'sun',” he mused, his speech less distorted now, the mashed voices all coming together, compact, pressing into one more melodic tone. “How... strange, to remember you, but not your leash. Is it Mars who brought you? The blue boy? No..."

I growled, alarmed to find the tenacity to do so. Everything was aflame in and outside of my body, but I was so happy. I was growling. I could growl. I could still make a noise. I could still see, despite my eyes shriveling. I could still think and move. I could still mock this abomination for spouting nothing but useless nonsense when he could've been fighting me like the evil nut he was, but I... didn't think I could be...

“Valentine,” Scion directed toward me, his hand now reaching into the brutal pit that his own weapon created. “An inquiry: Do you remember the city in the sky? Did Mars speak to you? They are fragments, and they are as you: pieces of a history.” he paused, tearing something black out of his wound, a splash of deep crimson fluid erupting from him, the loose flesh of his gash flopping.

I couldn't identify the object he held, but he held it high enough for it to worry me.

Your history leads to me.

He shrilled, the black object beating, a heart throbbing in his grasp, a whirlwind escaping it, damping the room all over again, coating the walls with shadows, tendrils, vile things, closed eyes... laughter... phasic silence.

The last thing I saw was a liquid body bag build itself around the beating thing.

Just like it, I...

...I was sealing shut.

That was because I was Gamma.

I was a Gamma being who was called Nasce, because my name was Nasceon, because my brother told me so, because he told me that I was his sister, because I...

...was Nasce...







Mari-Mars


P h a s e - γ

“Hurry, go go go!” I prompted, soaring ahead of the others, or so I assumed.

My Symbi was in both hands, Solacea shining like brilliant day. Caden was with me, but, much to my dissatisfaction, our sporadic new companion had already taken her leave. Weakened from our skirmish, I groaned at the speed I had chosen for my flight, the little victini well on his way beyond me now. Oh, crap, Mars. Are you okay? I don't feel very good either, I...

Hush hush, Mari. Everything is okay. We're weak right now, but we can make it through this. Katalyn is waiting for us, isn't she? She wouldn't want us to fall too far behind.

But Mars, what did Xima mean? Hm? What's that, Mari?

She said something about leaving us with the mess, didn't she? I heard her say that. Oh, pay it no mind, While she did bring a close to our battle rather soon, Xima's far too esoteric for her own good, has she any good left. But, something has gone wrong... Xima's motives are beyond me, and I'd rather not stop to ask questions when one so adamantly blocks the path I follow.

Mmph, so you really are like Katalyn, aren't you? I should still hope so, Marius. My Symbi tells me something terrible has encroached upon our dear Katalyn. When the Symbi speaks, a skywisp should listen. It is most undesirable in the heat of battle, but I would have never suspected Xima to have... that bow... no... not now. Not the time. We must find Katalyn!

Mari and I pursued a brief search inside the hospital's lobby. We found nothing but ruin and rabble, searching high and low. I arrived at a query: Where could the girl have gone if she had but vanished without a trace into a dark room? How did these places work on this planet? Unlike this. My Symbi was screeching. I could feel its tears. Never did Symbi Solacea cry so longingly without the presence of another; that which dwelt at the bottom of the universe.

I lifted the two entities of Solacea, the batons crossing above my head. I only required their guidance. Mars? What are we doing with our arms up like this?

Solacea will bring us to the source of its unease. I do not desire to make my Symbi so uncomfortable, but that discomfort will be the key to locating Katalyn. 'Kay, so it's not the first time I've been uncomfortable with her.

Where has your sense of urgency gone, Marius, dear? This has inexplicable enormity. Katalyn could be... Don't... say it, please. Mars, just... let's go. Let's find her.

“Caden?” I sung, as to bring the boy back to us.

He did not respond. The little one was normally upbeat at the sound of my voice, based on the limited time we spent together; however, simply nothing. No answer. He was one ghost in a building of an alleged many.

“Not you, too. You have been acting unusual for such a young boy. What has happened to you, little one?” I wondered aloud.

I was forced to shake the trouble for the moment. We were to meet again in this ruined place, cramped and stinking of chemicals and goodbyes. The electrical systems were surprisingly still functional, like something was being preserved—perchance it was the building itself? Whatever may have been, I sighed, taking my Symbi from above me, stopping in midair, my snout pointed down.

...

Dear Marius, you have been awfully quiet, haven't you? Or, maybe I'm used to you thinking with me at every little decision.

Oh, yes. That's right. You...

We are here.

Our birthplace.

“I'll take us there, Mars. I remember now. Let your Symbi rest.” I spoke. Me. Marius. Yes, Marius—you are back, aren't you?

I'm back. My memory may be short lived, but I can say I have it for now. I know where Katalyn is. If she's looking for Cruce, she'd be in his room, right? Well, Marius, it is hard to say. The abnormality Solacea had read in this building was beyond my approximation. Some manner of illusion made her path appear much different than ours. It is how gamma beings trick mortals.

I don't know what Katalyn saw in here, but we're not seeing the same things. It doesn't matter. I know where she went, because I was there once. I was with Cruce. I can take us there now, so...

I did. I didn't bother with the elevator—I was a wisp now, and though the stairs seemed like the most trivial thing to a creature with no legs, the room they occupied offered a much faster ascent to the correct floor. There was an emergency door between me and the hallway leading to all of those haunted rooms. I reached for it with a feminine and fingerless, blue hand. In that hand, I saw no Symbi. Solacea didn't like me too much. I hadn't noticed when it made the call to leave my possession. Well, it wasn't mine anyway. I pulled the door back, of course being designed for pushing on the opposite side. Heavy, but I had strength aplenty in these cute little arms. Oh my, what a sweet little thought, Marius!

Heh. Not long now. I took us to the room that smelled of mistakes, so distance from the exit, the elevator. I pulled open that door, too.

The room.

It was still so cold in this room.

I had the stethoscope around my neck that night.

I had my coat on that night. I had all my gear; my clipboard was over my arm. I looked like such a doctor.

Then, I didn't, and a man with a past so confidential it was contagious, took over, dressed in white, hooded.

Cruce, a human, slept on that white bed for days now. He was breathing. He was snoring. He was alive—so what was it? What was the Wave? What was inside of you? Yeah, I still had questions. I got my memory back, so, naturally, Marius had more questions than Mari.

Marius, you're overlooking something.

Yes. I was. Looking directly over something. Someone. A Pokémon? Here? It was maimed, its body frozen. Was she the reason this room was so cold? No—she was supposed to be cold. Gah! Marius! Quickly, I must assume control! Her wounds, they... th-they're not of this world! Please! Allow me the helm. We need Solacea!



Yes...

I did that...

I let you take me over... again...

I liked you, Mars, but...

My life was over.

And it was because of you.

I'm sorry that I had to remember that. You hear my thoughts. We've been through a lot together, and not a one in this messed up place can deny any of that. I was infected in this room by this human boy, and from that day forward, I was an innocent little amnesiac. I was Mari.

O'Brien, my... mentor. What a lost cause. The man was as cold as rustic steel. He was a genius of a physician, but far from a people person—far enough to refrain from calling me a person anymore. Well, he adopted a dilemma like my own, didn't he?

I worked here as a doctor, but I never healed anyone. I wanted to heal someone, but I never had the fortune.

Mars, you... need to do that for me. Marius was an inept doctor, an inept husband, an inept father to his two sons who couldn't even call him a 'dad'. Truly, he wasn't much a person.

Dammit. Mars, take this away, please. You're the one who did it all to begin with, didn't you? You healed me. You took all the pain away, because that made your mission so much easier.



Yes. It was me. This Pokémon girl is a Gamma being, but I have cured her. Solacea has done it. Solacea cured you, too. You were in pain, so I sewed the pain shut, and now it has burst from your heart once again. I am so, so awfully sorry, mister Marius Setschur. I healed you of your memory, and in doing so, I forgot myself, as we share a body and a mind. It took me until Scion to return. Do you know what Gamma can do, Marius? It can make a new identity of you. It can replace you with a willpower that was never meant to be. It changes, and it would appear this world has become ill with change; however, I can make you Mari forever. I don't need the Symbi for that. I am Gamma now.

γ



“We actually have to lift her?!” I asked, moaning loudly. “Bwaaaaah, I'm not strong, Mars! I can't do this! She's bigger than us.”

Well, yes, but don't doubt the strength of a wisp. Weren't you there when we were fighting Xima? She was quite tough, but we held our own against her. Wisps can lift considerable weights!

“Meh, 'kay, as long as you say so. She's cold though. Is that gonna, like, kill me or something?” I pondered, looking at the white and blue fox girl.

I actually didn't even know if she was really female. She just seemed, I'unno, pretty? Maybe it was a pretty boy. Hey, I've been wrong before! Have I? Shoot, well I couldn't remember anything still. I was going to need to solve that sooner or later. Maybe this girl had some answers. Passed out in a room with a mysterious human? Yeah, I'd have bitten that hook. I hoisted her, cradling her in awkward arms. I couldn't see around her! She was like three times my size, if that, and I was holding her like a baby. A gigantic popsicle fox baby.

Wait...

“Hey, what about Cruce? We can't leave 'im here, hey.” I noted, merely stopping, marveling at how I could still fly, but it felt just as natural as flying without a load in my arms. Seriously, she was so cold...

The right people will come for him. Don't you worry, Mari. I'm sure someone is looking out for Cruce right now. If it's not Katalyn, it must be friends elsewhere. Let's go look for Caden now.

Wha...? But what about Katalyn?

I'm sure she'll turn up sometime.

...

...

...

Caden


I found it...

I found the way to his room. My mind was alive, racing with capacity, thoughts, stars... so many stars. I found stars inside of my head, but they weren't like suns. They were like water, shining, stirring into a force to be reckoned with.  I was flying at the doorway, but the hospital's dreary setting left me dry and downright disappointed at everything I'd tried to accomplish. I got away from Mari and Mars somehow. Maybe they just weren't paying attention. It was too easy. And it didn't even pay off. He wasn't here. He wasn't in the room where my head said he'd be. No Drew. No Drew here.

But there was something. Two things. Three things. There was a black bag on one of those wheeled hospital beds, half concealed by the turquoise curtain. There was also a really pungent smell. Loud, even! It was a loud smell! It made my eyes water. It was like corpse preservatives and smoke. I was all for smoke, but putting the two together made a nasty mix. It was like pudding and hot sauce, except both of those were actually good... um...

The third thing I noticed was a marking. An insignia. A symbol. It was on the floor. It was burnt into the floor, or was it stomped into the floor? It was in the shape of a long stem, flowers kind of hanging off of it, implying they had weight even against the floor. It was long, out of place, black against white hospital tile. Sure, it didn't make any sense, but I wasn't here for that. I wanted to visit Drew. When I looked up at the curtain, the long vine markings were there, too, like they'd been burnt there forever, flowers and all. I could'a sworn that I saw shadows of petals drifting down on the curtain, just like it was its own little reality.

“Mmm, is somebody there?” someone said from behind the curtain, the voice distant. She sounded so pretty. Was that Xima again? No. Didn't seem like it. I wanted to see her, but I couldn't.  

They said it in a charming, singsong way, like they knew I liked how they sounded. I looked and thought everywhere, but I couldn't find anything. Was it that Wave energy stuff? I could smell that, and it was very strong, next to all the other junk and eye-watering smells.

Well, I flew much closer to the oblong bag. Oblong? Huh. It looked like something was inside. There was a big, dirty zipper at the top of the bag. I wasn't sure how these things worked, or if I should have been touching one, but just looking at it gave me the image of a human being I recognized. She was older than me, with such a sad story to tell no one. With that unwanted thought, I grasped the zipper in both of my hand-paws, and then I pulled.

I pulled, but the zipper didn't want to relent. It kept pulling itself back up, like it didn't want me to unveil its secrets. The more I struggled, the more it seemed like that voice was mocking me, because I just couldn't summon the strength to even make the zipper budge. It was locked.

“Ah, yes. Are you daft, child? ” the voice huffed. "This is no place for you, but if you are inclined, I will present to you..."

The zipper went down, but I never pulled. It was like someone's hand went over mine. I never saw the hand, but I think I felt it. It was cold.

It descended. The bag unfolded.

There was a pale girl inside, her arms crossed, caged in her coffin. I couldn't see her lips, because they were covered by a red scarf. Her skin was white, like someone stretched over her a layer of  hazy vinyl, elastic, rough. Her hair looked like it was biting around her neck, jet black and oily. I wanted to feel if it was her, but I didn't. If I did touch her, she would have... killed me!

Katalyn!? The human Katalyn!

Her body was in here. She was asleep, but her mind was awake, watching me. Was she the one speaking to me? Of course not. That wasn't her voice. That was a voice I've never heard before, but that voice helped me undo the prison. So, why? Why did it help me? Why did it want to show me this Katalyn?

“Now, what are you, boy? Are you a Gamma being? Did you come here on account of your nose?” the echoing, pretty voice came again. “Well, it has led you astray, and needless to say, you have found  what you may or may not have been looking for."

"Drew? He's here?!" I called back.

"Drew? Ah-huhuhuhuhu!" she laughed. That laugh though. What a laugh. So nice...! "You tickle me! You'll not find Drew here, nor there, but have you looked closely enough at a Pokémon dressed with a bell at his neck, you would've made the connection."

“Where—what are you?!” I jumped, aggravated. Somehow I didn't like being talked to from nowhere. I turned away from the human body of the girl who scared me. “Are you talking about Edge? He's a thief! He took... Drew away.”

“He took nothing away, surely,” she told me. "Say, for a Gamma being, you act human. You act like someone that you're not. Amusing, that. In such respect, I would've mistaken you for Laza, but no -- ah-huhuhu -- your role differs."

"Gamma being? I'm not... that..." I whispered. My back crawled, the fur tingling, tickling, warming to a degree which I could feel. I was fire, but it was hot for me. It was too hot. I turned back. Katalyn's eyes were open, but they were different eyes. They were brighter by their appearance, but darker by their intent. They were razors, like a reptile. While they were only half-open, she was still very awake.

“You are. You are every bit the part, as I play a nephilim's, save your cloudy head,” said the vox. “I can even show you; your Cross, your flower... Why, I am sure they're here somewhere... Mmmm~... Nary the time to search."

"My Cross, what?" I whispered again.

"You'll but need to settle for 'my' Katalyn, boy. Ah-hmhmhm..." she giggled.

“K-Kat...?” I gulped, the heat of her gaze now chasing my words into my throat.

“Don't call me Kat.” she rumbled, forcibly pushing the bag's loose flaps away, her legs emerging, knees bent.

Her voice wasn't any different from human Katalyn's, but it was still so terrible to hear again. She stirred even more, pushing herself out of the bag like birth. I backed away, until I was against the wall. The doorway was right there, but the wall came first. When my hands felt the wall, I heard a laugh. It was the invisible lady's. I could feel the laughter. I could smell it.

Katalyn was seated over one end of the bed, her head low, a shadow in her face. Her hands were against her legs. She once told me about a burn on her wrist that never healed. I saw nothing there, underneath the sweater sleeve.

“Please, just... get away from me, kid. Don't listen to them. Don't listen to that voice. You're gonna live and you're gonna die. Leave it there. Don't get involved.” she said, standing up, the bones and muscles her body still sleeping with the way she moved so lethargically.

“But you're back to normal, right?! Can't we keep looking for Cruce? And your dad?”

“I can. And I will,” she answered, still, fists forming at her sides. “I think I... I just missed them both. I'm taking this on my own, now. Get away from here. Get away from Mari and Mars. Live your life.”

My chest sank when she stopped speaking. I had to keep thinking about it. I had to keep putting it through my head and letting my Gamma read it. I wasn't gonna live 'my' life at this rate.

“Go on. Go! You deaf?! I can tear those big-ass ears off and make you deaf, kid!” she threatened, stepping ahead, striking the ground with a boot.

My heart sprung into my esophagus. I let out something that sounded like a 'no', but had the inflection of 'don't'. Her face, more animal than my own, was the last human one I was ever going to see for a very long time. I fled the room.

I went back down all of those stairs, escaping.

In the lobby, I found a pink snake girl. She was called a skywisp. For some reason, she was carrying another being like me — not a victini. This one was white and blue and cold, soft, solid water.

“Mari?!” I panted, even though I didn't need to run. I was flying, but my breath was still gone. “Who is that?”

“She was hurt, so Mars healed her. But she left me with all of the lifting! Unfair, I know. Can you help me?”

“Uh-huh, but we have to get out of here right now.” I warned, displaying a premonition.

I read Mars behind Mari. Her head told me that she knew the predicament already. I obliged to the request, though. We began moving the icy Gamma into the pitch white outside world, where the sun was blinding, flying together and bearing the same weight. She told me not to do that. She told me to get away from the skywisp, but I didn't want to listen to her. I didn't want to listen to a murderer, but I still wanted to live the life that murderer told me to live.

“Did you find Katalyn?” Mari asked. I didn't want to answer, but... I needed to.

“Yes,” I said. “B-but... she wants to... be alone.”

“Are you serious? You're not telling me the truth, are you?”

“I'm not lying. She doesn't want us around her anymore.”

“So something bad happened to her. Mm, 'guess she found something out that we didn't. Maybe we should-”

“Ah-ha! Look! There they are! In the lobby! They're here!” said an eccentric young man, a bounce attached to his voice like strings, a puppet.

“Good,” said a collected lady, straight line across her snout. Looking closely enough, I saw it was her mouth. No smile. No frown. Nothing. “HX will be in a good way now. Contact them, Winston.”

“Got it, Doc Obby!”

“Please. O'Brien, if you would, Winston. But, I suppose Sam is... fine.” she corrected, cross, the new skywisp hovering next to the purple, moist dragon, both hands behind a serpentine, slender back.

She was different than Mari. Her underbelly was white, but the rest of her was gray and black. Her quills were sharper and went higher up, while two more beneath those were splayed further apart. She had something at the back of her head that flowed down to the midsection of her body, resembling a black ponytail. She was still wearing glasses, shielding soulless gray eyes.

“O'Brien...? I remember you.” Mari said, chilled.

“Flattering. I knew we would find something of remote interest here. Well, let me make it simple,” O'Brien stated. “Come with us, not as prisoners, but as collaborators again.”

“What? Wait, 'again'?! What are you--no, know what? Forget it,” Mari retaliated, the tone of her voice roused with fear and regret. “Never again! NEVER again!”

“Mari, I am changed. We can work together,” said the new wisp. She closed her eyes and revealed to us the most ambiguous smile. “No more flying away. No more life as a refugee amidst these poor, poor lost folk of Autumnridge.”

“You're the same O'Brien. There is nothing different about you.”

“Well, then, forget us. We are who we are, and who we are seems like it is getting in the way of the important things, so,” she turned to the slimy dragon, smirking, and then looked back at Mari. “Let me make you an offer.”

She lifted her arm, palm up, holding out lies to Mari.



But I stayed.



I stayed anyway.

I listened to Katalyn.



Mari and Mars went with the strangers. They left me with the frozen fox.

When the frozen fox awakened, she looked at me and asked if I was the one who saved her.

I told her that I was, because I wanted to be that one. I wanted to owe her for being who she was. She was a Gamma, like me. She was like me and like Laza. We all had the same blood. We were like siblings. We told each other our names. She said she wanted to be called Nasce, because her name was Nasceon. I told her that I wanted to be called VC, because my name was Victini. She laughed, and told me that didn't make any sense. But then she licked me on the cheek and smiled.

You saved me, she said.

You're one hell of a kid, she said.

You're okay in my book, she said.

She was so pretty.

Let's be friends, Nasce.



|PREVIOUS|||NEXT|

Alrighty, folks. So here it is: the end! Kinda. Not really. If it was really the end, that'd be terrible. xD My idea of an ending is not to completely ignore the other stuff with Bryan and Nirva and Laura and Xima. Hell no! You're not gonna get that. This is just the midpoint of the story. Nothing less~!

Again, that -EX part is coming. There's a little segue into it at the end of this chapter. Deals with a certain kitty.

Characters in this arc so far:  Mari, Mars, Brackor, Kieran, Jack, Winston, O'Brien, Scion, (Solacea), (Crossblade),
KatalynCaden,
Al, Edge, Zatch, Jack-Ki, Authorities, Old Stand,
Cruce, Xima, Laza, Scion, Katalyn?
O'Brien, Winston,
Nasce

Character Web::Mari (Skywisp) - We can do this, Mars! We can fight together! Let's show Xima who's boss!
Mars (Skywisp) - Indeed! Then we can go after Katalyn. For now, we must focus! I have... a strange feeling about what may come to pass inside that hospital. Solacea is acting up.
Caden (Victini) - Drew is here. I know it... I need to use my Gamma. I need to find him and set things right. 
Xima (Meowstic?) - Your skill in battle is marvelous, Mars. But time is short. Wait, what are you... What are you doing?! KATALYN! NO!

Katalyn (Eevee) - ...I have nothing left... to give.
Nasce (Gamma Glaceon) - I'm going to give it all! Get ready, you freak! I'm taking you out of the picture for good! Brother's counting on me!
Katalyn (Human?) - Get lost, VC. This isn't your battle anymore...

Laza (Gamma Espeon) - There was a boy, you see... that boy had a bright future ahead of him. In this world, his future cannot be realized. You, demon, stand in his path.
Cruce (Gamma Espurr) - W-wait, you can see me. Who are you? Why aren't you... telling me...? Why me?! Why is this happening to me?!
I wish things went back to the way they once were, with Topher and I... and the Circle all there. Kat, Vince, and Zatch... I miss you all.

Scion (Gamma Demon, the Body) - She was supposed to be mine. You've tainted her with your signature. Yes... she can still be one with the Crossblade.

O'Brien (Skywisp) - I am changed now, Mari. Come with me. Let us make another gentlemen's agreement.
Winston (Goodra) - I knew we'd find someone here, Obby! I had a hunch~! Everyone returns to the scene of the crime.

DISCLAIMER! I don't own Pokémon! All characters belong to me and stuff, but any Pokémon involved are of their respective owners.
© 2015 - 2024 C-Mnesia
Comments3
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
LordOcram's avatar
Wave: epidemic Book 1
Alright, so now that I've finished reading the whole of book 1, I'm gonna try and piece together a few things.
First off, the timeline.
Part 3 and 3.5 happen some time before part 1 begins, as the original stand (I think) was present on Kat's 2nd trip to the hospital. Also, the Grove hasn't been raided and the school is still populated with humans. Part 1 happened before part two because the school was still human, and obviously part 2 came last.
A few questions that really stick out to me now are left over, mostly in regard to Kat. Kat appears in both part s 1 and 2, which isn't impossible for part 1's case, as her human self did leave the hospital. My main concern is her first appearance in Part 2. As we see later in part 2, she has scion's gamma, but her first appearance in part 2 has her near a bunch of humans that were obviously not infected with Scion. One possibility I've come up with is that in the hospital her connection with Scion was either left with Nasce (and she later got re-infected), or she discovered a way to control her output of Scion's gamma. Then there's Xima, and she just seems to me like a Puppetmaster of sorts. I think she's either seen the future, or has seen this cycle play out before.
Just some final thoughts here,
When I first started rereading this, I had forgotten most of the story, except two things: Laza gives me nightmares and Kat's a badass. As I kept reading, I remembered more things, but I also discovered things that were completely new to me. Mostly subtle things, but things that tied the story together. My thoughts on Laza stayed mostly the same until Scion appeared. During the two's first encounter (and reinforced by the rest of the book) I came to this deduction: Scion is way more evil than Laza. That's pretty obvious, but despite this, I would rather have Scion's Gamma than Laza's. Scion wants everything to be filled with pain and hatred, and that's terrible, but Laza wishes to take the two things I hold dearest: My Humanity, and my Self. In fact, it was when I read this book the first time that I realized how much I would hate to lose those things. For an example, Laza takes away Kay's humanity at the sewer, and proceeds to take her Self by turning her into Nasce in the hospital. That's why Laza scares me so much, and also one of the main reasons I love this series. I can't wait to finish.