Pokemon MD: Mirrors of Fate - Chapter Thirteen

Story by Liki Wolfspirit on SoFurry

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#14 of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Mirrors of Fate

This chapter is short, and I made it skip some time ahead without -much- detail to jump right into the final plot action. The next chapter will probably be the longest of the series though, and the last as well.


Chapter 13

I stared at him in surprise, "Mega...?" I gasped out and I felt my mouth tremble as I tried to speak, eventually finding words, "But...those were a myth?" I chuckled softly, "Just...stories that explained how Arceus had been able to stop the humans from keeping pokémon from entering his portal right? No one knew for sure what was stopping the humans..."

Psy shook his head at me, his eyes staring at me tiredly as he sighed, "No...the Mega were real...real and the only reason that the pokémon were able to flee the world of humans to begin with. We held off the attacks of the humans while the rest of our species fled through the portal."

He looked to the stone on the pedestal behind me, "That stone...is all that is left of Arceus in this world, besides the mirrors. It is the last of the Mega Stones."

"The last?" I looked back to the shiny and multicolored stone sat, the colors within it's smooth, glassy surface seemed to swirl.

"Correct...and I am its guardian, to give the stone to the one deemed worthy for it."

"And who is that? Lucian?" I looked back to Psy, who smiled as he shook his head.

"If Lucian was chosen to have it I would have arranged to bring him here instead of you. No Ruli, you are chosen to have this stone and to become the last Mega to exist."

"Me?" I gaped and shook my head, "But I'm barely trained, and I know nothing of fighting."

"The power of the stone will make you equal to that of the humans, despite your lack of training." Psy stated, "Only those of a specific blood line can use the Mega Stones...the bloodline of your father, and his father, and all those before him...has led to you as the last of that blood..."

"I'm not Ruli..." I still shook my head.

"You are Ruli enough..." The voice in the gem said then and I twitched my ears as I heard it.

"Who is that?" I asked to both Psy and the gem itself.

"That is Ruli's father..." Psy answered me, "Those of the bloodline are absorbed by the stone upon death...their essences adding to the power of the stone..." Psy floated up to the stone. "Hundreds of generations of Riolu and Lucario...all bound to this gem, unknowingly until the moment of their death."

"What is this all about Psy?" I asked him then sternly then as he floated past me. "Was all this all planned out from the beginning?" He stopped as I continued, "Am I just a pawn to you?"

"No..." Psy stated, "You are a knight to me. Too valuable to be lost so easily."

"Stop talking in riddles for once." I growled at him, "Tell me the truth straight up!"

Psy sighed and he turned his head back to me, "You want to know everything?"

I blinked as I rethought what I said, "Everything necessary about what is going on, about what has happened. How do you know the things you know?"

"My I.Q is over 1 Trillion..." Psy stated simply, "I have forseen most of these events, have forseen multiple possibilities. From this cave, I used my immense psychic power to project an image of my younger self to the outside world, and used it to perpetuate the events and actions that have led to this moment."

"An image?" I interrupted him as I heard that last part, "But you were physical, real. You had touched my head to teleport me, I felt that, and fighting Machop, you had a bruise."

Psy chuckled softly and he smiled, "It is easy to make you think I am touching you, it is easy to project an injury onto a fake body."

"Machop even grabbed you." I countered.

"Just as easy to create the illusion of physical contact to someone else too. He made to grab, I caused his hands to stop in midair just at the right moment to feel as if he made contact with a physical object, making him think he had grabbed me. It is easy to trick simple minds." Psy said still and I shook my head.

"That's craziness, why would you go through all that effort?" I stared at him, "Just how old are you?"

"I am well over twenty five thousand years old." Psy stated then, "I have been guarding this chamber since the time Arceus led us to this world. Actually, I am technically dead."

"Wait what? You're dead?"

Psy's hand pointed to the corner of the chamber then, and I turned. Darkness flooded the corner, and I approached with my bone staff raised to illuminate the corner. I approached quickly at first, until I noticed the first bits of what looked to be bone, then stepped slower, my eyes widening as slowly the skeleton of an Alakazam appeared, resting as if it could be sleeping against the corner. I scrambled back away from the sight, letting the darkness hide the bones again as I gulped.

"T-that is you?"

"Even what you see right now..." Psy said sadly, "Is but a fragment of what was left behind to continue the work. Once I finish giving you the stone, I will fade and seize to exist."

"How-how is this-" I started but found myself unable to finish.

"Arceus planned for all of this Ruli." Psy told me sternly, "He did not give Lucian his second chance for no reason. He did not allow your mind to pass through the barrier without a reason. While he is unable to stop the other humans, he planned this all out, for you. And I was to enact his plan."

"So everything has been predetermined..." I whispered and Psy shook his head again.

"Not everything...it certainly wasn't his intention for you to be gay, or for you to fall in love with an Eevee boy."

"What about Axel? Was he predetermined for this to?" I asked hurriedly.

"Everything is controlled by a bit of fate, Ruli." Psy smiled at me softly, "That is why they are called the Mirrors of Fate...but while they do give a glimpse of your future, or in your case, your past. It is the pokémon that makes that future happen in the end...Axel saw his future with one that he loved, and he decided that one was you."

"Why didn't Arceus predict what was going to happen in the human world...?" I asked, still in shock, "Why didn't he put a stop to it when he saw that?"

"Arceus is unable to read the minds and see the actions of humans...even you and Lucian were elusive to his eye as pokémon, he had to piece together the futures and pasts of others around you to find out exactly what was going to happen." Psy floated by me a moment, "To find out exactly who you truly are..." He said as he approached the gem again.

"It was purely by chance that you took over Ruli's body. Though it was foreseen yes, it was by chance...but it is no coincidence it seems, that a human would take over the body that is the last of the bloodline capable of using this gem."

I stared at the gem once more as Psy took it into the palm of his hand then, holding it up and then turning towards me. "Accept it Ruli..." He told me as he handed the gem out to me.

"Take it...feel it..." He instructed softly as I stared at him, and I couldn't help but reach out slowly as he reached out to me.

He placed the gem in my paws and removed his. I watched the gem in my paws as he moved back, floating back slightly before suddenly I slumped forward.

I gasped out in surprise as suddenly the gem in my paws weighed like three hundred pounds.

"What the heck?" I gasped to Psy as I struggled to pick the orb back up, almost having dropped it to the ground from the suddenly shift in weight.

"You must be feeling the weight of "responsibility"." Psy chuckled at me as he watched me struggle and I growled out at him while picking myself up to my feet.

I struggled to stand and brought the gem to my chest, only to grunt out in pain as it suddenly doubled it's weight. I barely managed to throw my arm back to catch myself as my legs buckled under me. My arm wobbled as I howled in pain, feeling my legs bend so awkwardly. Eventually, my legs had to move, and my footpaws fell out from under me.

I slammed against the ground, the weight of the orb smashing me into the rock as I howled out in pain. I held the orb on my chest and tried to push it away then as I shouted.

"What is going on Psy!?"

"Your ancestors test you Ruli." Psy said calmly as I struggled against the force pressing down on me. "You must prove your strength!"

"Strength does not involve lifting a thousand pounds!" I shouted out as the gem crushed down on my chest even more then. I could feel my heart beat against my own skin from the pressure, and I began to feel panicked.

"Make it stop!" I cried out to Psy, "It's going to crush me!"

"No dear friend, you must pass this test. You must pass this test or we all will fall!"

I felt my chest starting to crack, and hurriedly I pushed against the weight of the stone, pulling it to my chest spike. The metal of the spike removed a large amount of the weight, but instead now I felt my bones yelling and screaming at me as they took the weight.

I howled out in pain as the spike itself cracked a bit and I had to remove the orb from it, screaming out again as it pushed down on my body fully again.

"It's too much!!!" I yowled out to Psy as the ground around me shifted slightly, the champer shook a bit, "Make it stop or you're going to lose the last of that bloodline you spoke about!"

"There is no stopping! You must find the strength to succeed! You must, you're meant to!" Psy shouted back to me, his eyes glowing as he stared at me, a barrier of his own keeping the larger rocks from falling down onto him while several crumpled to the ground around me. I felt one strike my leg and shouted out in pain.

"Without you this world will fall!" Psy shouted at me, "Without you, we will not be able to stand up to the other world. Without you we will all...well then..." Psy suddenly paused and I tried to open my eyes at him, but he was staring back behind me.

"Ruli!" My ears twitched as I heard the voice behind me, instantly feeling my heart skip a beat.

"Axel!" I shouted back and Psy hummed thoughtfully.

"How did you push past all that psychic power...?" He asked out to Axel, who I heard bark at him and send a powerful shockwave of dark type energy at the mega pokémon. Psy easily blocked it, the five floating spoons creating a barrier in front of him.

"It took awhile to walk through it. I had to take it really slow and careful...but for Ruli I would never give up!" Axel shouted back and he shot another wave of dark energy at Psy, which was blocked again. "Now stop whatever it is you're doing to him before you crush him!"

I growled as I heard his words, realizing the same thing. I couldn't let this world lose, I couldn't let it fall. I still had to fulfill my promise!

"Graaah!" I howled as I pushed against the gem again, pushing it up off my chest finally, feeling the weight lift from my body and now settle just in my arms. I kept pushing upward, feeling the orb put even more pressure on my arms then, but I grunted and kept pushing up. I grit my teeth as I kept pushing back, slowly extending my arms fully out from my body. Axel paused in his assault as he saw me lift up the orb, and Psy hummed again thoughtfully once more.

"I see...this is the power of a pure human heart at work...just as you told me..." He brushed his beard as he watched.

I yowled in triumph as I held the orb up fully from my chest, my arms shaking as I held the orb above myself, panting heavily as I glared at the swirling lights within.

"You won't crush me!" I shouted at it, "You won't crush my heart! I will fulfill the promise I made! I will protect this world!"

The colors in the gem swirled and I heard that voice speak to me again.

"That's right...I'd be proud to truly call you my son..."

Suddenly the gem shattered in my paws, and the colored gases within covered me and I passed out instantly as I inhaled it.

________________________

"Ruli...Ruli wake up." Axel's voice spoke out to me and I groaned as I stirred awake, feeling my head pounding as I opened my eyes.

I brought a paw to my head and rubbed my forehead a moment as I blinked my eyes open, before I noticed my paw. I stared in confusion at it before bringing up my other one and turning them over back and forth in my vision. I had suddenly grown a second spike on my paws? And when did my fur change to a crimson red?

Psy's voice chuckled across the chamber at me, and I slowly lifted myself up off the ground, finding that I now also had much longer head appendages that nearly fell across my back the same length as my scarf.

I again looked at my paws, then noticed the changes to the rest of my body as well. I appeared to have grown in height considerably, and the fur of my chest had bushed out along my thighs and back behind me, covering over my tail now to flow behind me like a cape. I looked down my legs, seeing a pattern of black fur lining my still blue furred legs. I no longer had that "pant" like look to them though, instead seeing my feet ended in the same crimson fur of my footpaws. I also now had two new spikes on the tops of my feet as well now, one larger than the other at the edge of my footpaw, the smaller one closer up along my ankle.

In shock, I reached behind myself at my head appendages, pulling one of them around my shoulder into view. It was black furred and about two and a half times as long, tipped in the same crimson fur once again.

"What...What is this?" I breathed out in shock and heard Psy chuckle out at me again.

"You are now Mega..."

I looked to where his voice was coming from, the dark corner where that skeleton had been again. I summoned my staff quickly, gasping as the green glow from it nearly blinded me. Axel shouted out as well and I tried to dim down the power of the staff, finding it surprisingly easy to control as it dimmed significantly.

"Ah, your emotions control your power easily it seems. That is good." Psy's voice said happily and I turned my staff's glow to the corner of the skeleton, increasing it again at will to show the remains of the Alakazam.

Psy was not there though, only the skeleton, its eye sockets glowing eerily purple.

"My task is complete..." Psy spoke to us mentally, his voice sounding pleased. "I can finally rest..." The glow in the eyes started to fade as we watched.

"I leave the hope of this world to you now Ruli..." Psy's voice faded as well, "Please...keep it safe, and...if you ever get the chance...visit my clan...take an Abra with you in your adventures." The light in the sockets faded away to nothingness, and suddenly, the skeleton itself shattered, the bones turning to dust upon the ground.

I stared at the spot a moment longer, still trying to piece together everything that had just happened, and I stared down at my paws again, turning them over once again. I clenched them into fists and Axel turned to look at me as I was staring at my paws.

"What do you think we should do now...?" He said, "You've become...a Mega...they've always only just been legends..."

I nodded, "Yeah, I know...there were legends for humans too...I remember that now. They were few in number, but immensely powerful..." I grunted as I stood up.

"I feel..." I said I clenched a fist again, "Amazing...with...with this..." I looked down to Axel who was looking up to me from my waist, "I think we can defeat them for sure..."

__________________

Axel and I returned to the Leafeon Tower by the next day, only to find it completely abandoned.

"They must all be defending the Vaporeon Tower..." I realized. "Do you have any idea where it is?" I asked Axel.

He shook his head, "No...I have no idea, I only know it's along the west coast."

"The west coast?" I stared at him, "You mean back that way?" I pointed in the direction we had just come from. "How far is the coast?"

"It's a full week travel from here on foot, we'd have to cross through the Bad Lands." Axel said.

"Then I guess we should start moving...without Psy we don't have anyone to teleport us and no way to contact Epa..."

Axel nodded lightly, turning and he began walking back the way we came. His silence struck me hard. He had been very silent every since we had left the cave and I could tell something was off, but I didn't press it.

After two days of travel, and two day if Axel sleeping far away from me and remaining as distance as possible, I decided to try and speak to him.

As we began to settle down for the night I stayed sitting and staring up at the stars above the trees as Axel laid down with his back to me.

"Axel?" I eventually spoke out to him.

He did not answer me, so I continued, "Is something wrong? You haven't spoken to me...or...even tried to cuddle up to me...I thought after those that trail and stuff that...you know."

I heard Axel shuffle slightly, but he still did not speak. For several more minutes he did not speak, until I sighed and I whined softly.

"Axel...ever since I got this new body you haven't been speaking with me...what is wrong? Please tell me..."

Axel sniffled softly then suddenly and I shifted, tilting my head and crawled over him and leaned over to look him in the eyes. Tears were streaming down his face. Instantly, I picked him up in my arms. He did not fight me as I pulled up into my lap and hugged him fiercely. For several moments he cried in my arms as I held him there, until he finally found words to speak.

"It's...it's this form..." Axel started and he pulled away to hop off my lap and then look at me, "Psy told me, while you were knocked out...that..."

"Told you what?" I pressed.

"That this form...is only good for as long as its deemed needed...that..." Axel closed his eyes and he sniffled again, "That...you're only good for as long as deemed needed..."

I stared at him, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying..." Axel sucked in a breath, "That...once this is all over...once you save us from them...you're going to be killed..." Axel stared down at the ground, "Psy told me...that this was all part of Arceus' plan...you...were never meant for this world..." He fell silent and he cried again as I tried to digest what he said.

"You mean...?"

Axel nodded briefly, "This form...will kill you...The Mega...were legends because they sacrificed themselves...Psy's massive psychic energies as Mega Alakazam only allowed him to program and maintain a facility of his image, he didn't die of old age...this power is given to you by Arceus...when he deems your job done...he'll take it back...and...it will kill you...And I..." He cried as he sniffled, "...I couldn't bear the thought of it...I...I'm sorry...I was trying to distance myself...it hurts..."

I stared down at him still as I tried to continue thinking.

"Axel..." I held his head in my paws and I turned it to force him to look up at me.

I stared him the eyes as intensely as I could.

"I don't know what all you were told...I don't know if it's true..." I gulped softly as I tried to speak, finding my own voice breaking a bit, "But I made a promise to you, I am going to see your vision come true...and I will be there with you..."

"But I never saw you in that vision...we don't know for sure..." Axel cried still, tears dripping from his eyes as he blinked up at me.

I stared at him evenly and I took a breath, "I...will find a way..." I leaned down and kissed him then and closed my eyes. He whimpered at the kiss but he did not turn away, pushing up against me. When I broke it also had tears in my eyes as I gulped again, "I swear to you Axel...I'm not going to die..."

"Ruli..." He said sadly and he fell quiet as he buried his head in my chest and I held him once more.

We sat there together under the stars quietly together, until sleep eventually claimed us.

____________________

After two days Axel and I entered a barren wasteland, above which clouds constantly rolled and rumbled with thunder and lightning. This was the Bad Lands.

"Look, the Tower." Axel said, pointing his head to the distance.

I looked out where he was staring and saw it as well, a tall tower in the distance, dark clouds circling around it like a hurricane. Yellow lightning streaked around it in the sky, and several of the bolts seem to strike the tower directly.

"That's the Jolteon Tower isn't it?" I said, "You grew up here?"

Axel nodded, "Yup. Told you it was dreary place."

I had to agree, there were no trees here, it was a dry desert. It wasn't hot, and it looked like it was raining off and on in the distance, but yet still no plants grew on the ground here. I wondered where all the water went?

We spent the day crossing the wasteland until reaching the base of the tower. The dens of the Jolteon clan lay in ruin, massive cracks in the earth and huge rocks thrown out of place. A large part of the tower's archway was broken apart, laying in a ruined heap inside the tower itself.

"Such power..." I said softly while looking at all the destruction.

"Ruli!" Axel shouted out and I quickly ran around the tower to where Axel was standing before a large slab in the ground. The rock was perched up as a marker, and an inscription was written upon it.

"Here lay the defenders of this world from those that would do it harm. Fallen in battle at the hands of invaders, and disgraced by their brethren, who would turn their backs on the laws which they died to uphold. I swear on your honors to avenge you." Axel grimaced, "Kinetto wrote this." He determined.

"What makes you think that?" I asked, "The clear hate or the lack of vision?" I grumbled as I crossed my arms.

We paid respects just the same to the fallen Jolteon and Axel's parents before moving on.

We entered the forests at the other end of the Bad Lands and were soon greeted by a large group of Eeveelutions that were patrolling the area. They were in awe and slightly suspicious of me in the new Mega form, but eventually Axel managed to get the Espeons to teleport us to the coast, where we met up with Lucian and Epa.

"What the heck!" Lucian shouted upon seeing me, "You...where?"

"It was Psy." I told him and then began explaining to them both about what Psy had dragged me off for. I explained to them that apparently this was part of Arceus' plan, to give me the last of the power of the Megas. I didn't tell them the part which Axel had told me, that I would die after we had this all resolved.

Epa stared at me suspiciously like the rest, "When you and Axel had vanished for so long, we thought you had been captured."

I shook my head, "No, we returned to the Leafeon Tower to find it abandoned, we had no other way of contacting you."

"Actually, you could've found Mistress Chandelure and she could have sent us a message through one of the ghosts partnered with our Leafeons." Epa told us.

With a start I realized she was right and rubbed the back of my head, "That...hadn't crossed my mind..." I said and Axel looked at the ground.

"I was...distracted by everything that had happened with Psy to think about that." He added.

"At any rate." Epa said, "Ruli, please go out and assist Lucian in patrolling. Axel, I want to speak with you..."

Axel nodded and Lucian and I left them to talk alone while we walked side by side along the beach. It seemed entirely off balance, me with my new form and walking next to him, a normal Lucario.

"I still don't believe it." He said and chuckled, shaking his head, "The Mega were real. I had heard about them, but there had never been any real proof of their existence."

"Apparently they died so the other pokémon could retreat through the portal. Psy was so strong in psychic energy that he was able to project himself even while dead." I told him and shook my head.

"Hold out your paw for me. Let's test your new power a bit." Lucian said and I held my paw out to him.

He placed both his paws under mine and lifted it slightly, he examined the new spikes and hummed thoughtfully. "Your body radiates aura energy...have you tried to use any attacks yet?"

"No I haven't, I've only done this really." With my other paw I willed the green bone staff to me, it glowed brightly as I held it outwards and Lucian stared at its bright glow a moment before I managed to dim it.

"Try to focus for me and imagine you have a ball in the palm of your paw." He instructed then and I nodded, trying to do as he said, imagining I had a ball in my paw.

Suddenly, a large blue sphere appeared in the paw he was holding, swirling in energy. Lucian blinked in surprise as I did this and he shook his head and laughed, "Amazing!" He held his own paw out and seemed to concentrate hard a moment, another, much smaller blue sphere appearing in his paw after a few seconds.

He grunted as he tried to hold it steady, but it wavered visibly in the air. "My parantage...makes it difficult for me to control aura energy. The best I have mastered has been the bone rush staffs and swords." He released the sphere of energy and panted. "That's the best Aura Sphere I can make after years of training...but you..."

He stared back at the glowing ball of swirling energy in my paw, "You are able to use these abilities without really thinking about it."

"Do you remember how to use a Force Palm?" He said while he pointed at a tree.

I knew what he wanted and I rushed forward, running across the ground the short distance and striking the tree with the palm of my paw. Upon contact a short and sharp burst of energy blasted from my paw. The tree shook, leaves falling from its branches. I felt surprised myself as I stared at what I had caused. My Force Palm had blasted a huge hole in the tree itself, and made a slight impact in the tree behind it.

Several Eeveelutions rushed at the sound to check what had just happened, whispering amongst each other as they saw the destruction I could cause in one attack.

I felt their emotions, just like the one Lucario had told me back at the clan. Through the aura I felt their concern. Epa appeared soon after a large group gathered and they scattered at her command.

She looked at the tree pointedly herself and then to me and Lucian, "I suggest you exercise caution Ruli...your power is extraordinary..."

I nodded lightly at her comment and rubbed the back of my head again. "You don't need to worry Epa...I'm not going to turn on you."

"I am not worried about that." Epa said with the faintest smile on her muzzle, "The others may be, but they are just worried, this is a tense situation. Please refrain from using more attacks like that until we know our enemy's location."

I nodded briefly and suddenly an Espeon appeared beside Epa, "Epa, there's been an attack on a scout group."

"What?"

"A group has been attacked by the invaders. We just recently received word of this, they apparently killed the Espeon in the group first and then the remaining were slaughtered."

"They didn't want word getting back to us..." Epa said.

"They attacked only briefly it seemed, not enough to gather attention, but they killed the whole group. The Vaporeon member is missing though..."

"Missing a Vaporeon?" Epa said, a tone of worry in her voice as she instantly continued. "Order all remaining Vaporeon to give use Aqua Rings and for all groups to converge on the tower, quickly!"

The Espeon seemed to have been already thinking the same thing, "At once." And he vanished.

"Aqua Rings?" I asked.

"They will allow those not able to breath underwater the ability to do so for a time." Epa explained, "Come close then stand still and close yours eyes, I will teleport us to the beach just outside the Tower grounds."

Lucian and I approached and stood still as Epa reached up with her tail and touched both of our arms with the tips of her tail's two prongs. I felt that falling sensation of being teleported for a brief five seconds, before feeling my feet touch solid ground again.

"Epa!" A voice shouted out as many other Eeveelutions began to appear around us. A Vaporeon was splashing as it swam closer to the shore about two hundred yards out in the water. "The Tower! It's under attack! They somehow have Aqua Rings!"

"I knew it...they managed to signal out a group and kidnapped a Vaporeon and forced them to give them Aqua Rings." Epa snarled. "Why didn't I see that possibility? I knew they had been hiding in wait for a right moment but I didn't think this would be it."

The water around the swimming Vaporeon seemed to ripple a moment before another pokémon burst free from the waters.

"Yeah-ha!" He shouted out and my ears twitched at the voice, "Swim as fast as you can, you're not getting away little fishy!" I barely managed to glimpse his body, blue and wearing a white tunic of some kind before he shot downward at the Vaporeon like a bullet, fist out in front of itself.

He hit the water type, a huge splash and waves resulting from the impact. They both vanished and did not resurface.

"That voice." I growled out as I recognized it from so long ago. It was the voice I had heard in that dream back in Psy's hut. "That's one of the humans. He's a Sawk."

"A Sawk?" Epa asked, "What is that?"

I shook my head, "From what it seems they are not native to this continent of your world so none of you knew what he was. He's a fighting type, strong in punches."

Epa shouted out to a nearby Vaporeon, "You! Give Ruli an Aqua Ring now!"

The other Eeveelution ran up to me and he turned to touch my head with the top of his tail. I blinked as a light shimmer flowed around me, but nothing else really seemed to show that I was under its affect.

"You can now breath and move naturally underwater for about three hours." Epa told me, "Go! Stop them from getting the Mirrors and we will be right after you!"

I nodded and turned to the water, jumping into the air to dive. There was no time to think or discuss this. I had to be the front line now, I had to use this power to stop them.

I dived into the water and began to swim downward as quickly as I could.