FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 15.

"Have you heard the latest news?"

"What latest news? Everyone's already aware of so much that when they say 'latest' it isn't really -the- latest."

"Gossip and rumors are spreading all over the closer they get...I don't know what to believe anymore."

The seven Eeveelution clan elders were gathered together within a large wooden building, a centerpiece fireplace providing warmth from the cold of the night. Ever since Jack's blizzard had hit, the nearby region's nights had become chilly...the land around the mountain was starting to react to the intense chill. The only beings capable of traversing the now blizzard like conditions safely were ice types and those somewhat resistant to the intense chill like fire and steel types.

The bright lights of towns and their warm fires kept the chill mostly at bay, where they existed. In this large shack, close to the edge of the blizzard, the Eeveelution leaders held a short meeting before they would make their way as a group towards the other ends of the continent where, in just four more days time, the raft would arrive. Hundreds of pokemon from all over the continent were beginning journey's to the port city it was set to arrive at. Of course...this was a ruse of information planted by the Eeveelutions, in truth, the raft would arrive about two hundred miles north of that city.

"We must keep our focus on what we are aware of and know to be true." Epa stated from where she was floating at the top of their circle around the fire. "To let other information bog down our decisions and command of our forces would be too detrimental to our efforts."

"If what I heard is true, it would only serve to help!" The Jolteon Elder who had asked about this news stated. "Someone out there is claiming to know Rook's biggest weakness."

"What are they claiming it to be?" The Umbreon Elder drooled out, clearly unbelieving that any such rumors held any weight.

"Obsidian Rock, they say he can't break through it even though he's a Lycanroc."

There was a small moment of silence before the Flareon Elder stated, "You must be joking...please at least -try- to be better than Kinecto..."

"Focus." Epa sighed with a shake of her head, "Keeping news of their actual arrival point appears to have been successful though, perhaps the number of false rumors has been a blessing in disguise."

"Or the plans of our fellows leading the New World."

"I find it strange that we work together...yet we have been keeping information from each other this whole time..." Clora, the Leafeon Elder said with a sigh of her own.

"Trust between our two governing bodies is not something easily established or grown, but once Jack is dealt with, I believe it can be quickly formed, with the plans that we have already set forth with them and they've agreed to." The Umbreon Elder confidently stated.

"A new set of laws and regulations to promote the development and growth of more intricate towns and cities on our own lands...I am unsure how to feel about it." The Vaporeon Elder scowled. "To allow so many pokemon so close to the wild lands we have guarded for so long..."

"It is a huge step...but I long believed we were ready for this new 'evolution', years before Zane had come to our world. His arrival and the existence of his family and the danger they had posed had significantly distracted me from it." Epa nodded lightly, "Since the thousands of years in the past where only a small two million number of pokemon entered this world, the number of pokemon on this world has grown vastly. Here on the Continent of Pentariver, they have cultivated the land to support themselves despite their vast numbers, but recently, as the population swells beyond what was easily supported, more pokemon are forced to make the harder choices of leaving their families here to travel the seas or attempt to settle on the Continent of Wilds. To continue to close off our own Continent of Origin would be a huge folly that I will not let us be remembered for."

"Particularly if what Enzlo told us three months ago turns out to be true..." The Jolteon Elder lowered his head while folding his ears back.

Epa nodded as well, "So let us make our plans as the Council of Eeveelutions...to become the Eeveelutions Elemental Alliance."

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Rook's footpaw made a satisfying crunch upon the grass of the Continent of Pantariver, and he stretched out as shortly after him, the Timburr child jumped off behind him.

"So this is Pentariver..." Rook hummed, kneeling down to run his paw across the grass and along the ground just under it. He could feel through this land with his power freely, unlike what Enzlo's illusion reality had felt like, it felt natural and aglow with its own purpose. "The area around here feels untouched for some time."

"We choose to land here rather than at any of the cities or towns, in fact the purposely placed rumor of our arrival being at a place south of here should keep most locals away, and potentially trick Jack." Ruli said from where he stood on the land already, having been one of the first to disembark.

Enzlo popped into existence atop Rook's head, his mane of fur almost instantly reacted to provide him a seat there. "Yes, the council of Eeveelutions is set to teleport here to us shortly to meet us here as well as someone who leads the local form of government here."

"Welcome to the Continent of Pentariver!" Captain Nether shouted as he jumped from the top floor of The New Era to land with a heavy shake in front of everyone. "So named for the five rivers that flow across it, splitting it into five distinct parts and joining in the center where there is a large lake. The lake itself is a deep gorge that supposedly goes to the center of the planet! So they say anyway, no one can dive that far down to confirm if it has a bottom hehe!"

"Have you been here before?" Rook asked the Typhlosion with a smile.

"Four times, I frequent the Continent of Origin more, pirating the coast remember? At least around the north western coastline where the Eeveelutions allowed most settlers. Ruli's own town is the southernmost of the stretch across that coast. The folks up north need the protection from Feral flying and water types, while Ruli's town's proximity to the Leafeon tower affords them their protection."

Nether snickered and rubbed his head, "This is actually the first time I've set foot on the land here, the locals don't take kindly to pirates, so those four times we did come here my boys and I were quickly chased away."

"Unlike where the presence of the Eeveelutions kept peace," The Espeon started to explain, "the pokemon of the land here have created a kind of militia group they call a "Guild" to keep peace. There is one for each of the five different split lands, but most of their rules and laws are all the same. No killing, no stealing, no battles without consent. That kind of stuff. If there is ever a dispute on if something is wrong, the leaders of the five guilds get together to decide and make the decision into law."

A sudden new voice entered the conversation. It was low and somewhat sharpened to the ears of the newcomers as it stated, "The joining of our governing bodies with the Eeveelutions shows a new age on the horizon..." And suddenly, a large Ursarang shuffled out from a large bush just inside the forest in front of them. "Our way of life has become...too much like the human world most have mentioned."

"Pokemon work on farms for a wage of shiny golden coins we call 'Poké' that are mined from the mountains of the regions." He continued gruffly as he looked at Rook in particular. "The miners make their wage in mining the gold. Bankers, bakers, farmers, peace keepers like the guilds, there are many professions. Markets and stores where pokemon sell wears and other goods for the Poke."

"Definitely sounds like a human place...where there is money there is greed..." Rook frowned. "Who are you by the way?"

The Ursarang nodded and then bowed, "I am the leader of the guild of this region. Our region is known as Foresthaven, as our land is mostly that of wooded areas and small plain clearings. I am known simply as "Claw". It is a pleasure to meet you, Rook."

The bear pulled back up straight as he continued, "And you are not wrong, greed is a consistent force that we all fight against. What living being does not desire more food?"

Rook continued to frown and he let out a hum, because in this case, he knew the bear was correct. Rook always wanted more Oran Berries when they were available...

"We strive to maintain our balance with the nature around us so that, as long as we can continue to survive in harmony, it will last for as long as needed. Our laws are those of our ancestors who saw truth in the ways of a society like those humans created before Jack's greed made it worse. It is sustainable, when done properly."

"And that is why there has been animosity with our Continent of Origin, where we Eeveelutions guarded the Mirrors. Their protection was deemed important, and therefore we turned away most pokemon who attempted to settle on our lands and ignored the issues of those other lands. All but those of known reputations for strength and honor like the Lucario Clan were forbidden from being in our land." The Espeon nodded, "But those eras of distrust have been long and unfounded, we have never faced threat to the Mirrors from fellow pokemon, it's time to let our land be everyone's."

"Why the sudden change of heart now though?" Rook tilted his head.

"It's because of the recent events that have forced us to address these issues." The Eeveelution confirmed, "We can no longer let ourselves be stagnant."

Rook narrowed his eyes at the explanation he got from everyone. Something about it felt very off to him. Why was this the first they'd been hearing of these decisions? Then again, he realized, he had not been a part of this world before, what the pokemon did before his arrival was not much of his concern. If this was the route they wanted to take now though, he was fine with it.

"I would love to show you the way our society has grown." Claw said, his eyes looking down to the Eeveelution with a smile, "Your leaders are already here of course, and will be meeting us soon, but for now, please follow me, there is a small town nearby that has been trusted with giving you a base to work from."

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The group arrived at a small town of about six buildings in total about two hours of walking later, and Claw showed them into the largest. Within, the circle of the Eeveelutions elders were in the middle of discussion, but the moment the door opened their talking was quick to fade as their attention was grabbed by their arrival.

"Oh good, finally everyone is here!" The Flareon shouted as he stood up, shaking his big and fluffy mane.

One by one, the arriving party filled into the building. Enzlo floated up towards Epa and dipped his head, "We have finally arrived...and plans did go as desired. Rook has his power under control, he's ready to fight."

"That's good, we have been at a stand still with his army for days." Epa sighed, "The hypnotized pokemon do nothing but glare at us from a distance upon the walls of his ice fortress."

"Uh...guys...Enzlo?" The young Jolteon's voice mumbled lightly. He'd just spent the last few hours being treated kind of naively by the other Elders that his voice was soft in trying to speak up.

"What Zeno geeze..." Chora huffed with a roll of her eyes as she and a few of the other Elder's looked to him.

The Jolteon's ears twitched, half folding back and half irritated. "Where...-IS- Rook?"

"What?" Ruli huffed, "He's right behind m-" He stopped as he turned around, seeing no Lycanroc behind him.

"He didn't even walk in with you!" Zeno barked, his coat bristling.

"What?!" Enzlo shouted, suddenly rushing on his feet past Ruli and leaning out the doorway, looking left, then right, trying to recall, and it filled him with a sense of dread as he realized...the last time he had seen Rook was just as they left where they had anchored ship...

"No...no no no..." he hadn't been watching...they left the boat...he had been with them...he hadn't even looked back for the last two hours! "ROOK!"

He was nowhere to be seen. Enzlo's eyes glowed brightly as he cast out his mind. No...

"I can't sense him." Enzlo said, his voice filled with dread further, that could only mean that a ghost type was near Rook, jamming his sensing...Vane... "No....no no no...nononononononono..." Panic overtook the Psychic type, something that rarely happened unless he was truly caught off guard.

"Ruli, you go that way!" Enzlo shouted, as he pointed to the left slightly into the forests around them. "Riley! You go that way!" He pointed to the right. "Neather! Check back towards the ship! I'll go this way, FIND HIM!!!"

The four pokemon rapidly split up in four different directions. Epa attempted to call out to Enzlo, trying to offer their own assistance, but the Psychic type was already floating at a rapid speed away and into the forest, while the others dashed off too, starting to shout out Rook's name rapidly.

Unfortunately...they were not the only pokemon in the area after all. There were still locals in the forest who had their homes inside trees or tree houses or dens farther out from towns and the cities that heard them. Because of this...even just as their efforts were starting, the news already started to spread upon the wind.

Rook had vanished...

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"Heheheheh! Stupid brat aura dog, betrayer of own kind! Blood tie still useful! Don't even notice his own shadow!"

Rook groaned as he blinked his eyes open, vision blurry, a dull throbbing in his head and a burning sensation in his nose. He felt multiple tiny hands all over his body, carrying him.

"What...happened...?" He mumbled out, the last thing he remembered was walking silently just behind Ruli at the back of the group and then...the most marvelous smell...

"Ah! No no now rocky dog, we not arrive get to location yet!...sleepy dreamy gas!" And suddenly a jar was shoved up against his snout. Rook jerked in reaction, along with being forced to inhale the smoke inside the container. That smell again...lavender with a hint of mint...so calming...the fog instantly clouded over his mind like a thick blanket and his head dipped back down as he passed out again...

_______________________

"Nonono..." Enzlo yammered again between rapid panting breaths, leaning for a moment against a tree.

"This can't be happening...this..." Enzlo held one hand over one eye as both of them were glowing his bright purple. He felt a gentle prod at the back of his mind; someone attempting to psychically reach him. He allowed the other mind in.

"Hehehehehehe stupid traitor Abra. Notice he gone?!"

"VANE!" Enzlo shouted out in rage back at the ghost. He had contacted him!? No...that meant... "Where is he!?"

"More better things to think worry about you may see have!" Vane's chaotic words answered him, before the Sableye cut his link form his own end before Enzlo could try to follow it.

But it had been enough time for the Abra to at least tell something. "That way..." Enzlo stared into the trees to his north, and then began to run.

____________________

Suddenly...many things began to happen all at once...

___________________

"They're marching!! The Possessed are marching!!" The booming voice of a Loudred shouted from the lookout perch of a camp near the base of the blizzard covered mountain.

And then...that perch was suddenly launched up into the air by a pillar erupting out of the ground. A pillar of lava. The Loudred would land upon the grassy plain as he tumbled out of the perch, to then shortly be consumed in liquid heat as more fissures opened up, the ground splitting open under the base of one of the log houses there to swallow it.

All around the mountain, the bases that had been placed at the edges of its blizzard experienced different attacks. While this one was consumed in fire, another was assaulted by lightning from the sky above, striking many to kill instantly, another torn apart by winds strong enough to lift an Onyx, the winds simply dropping them to their deaths...one close to the coastline south of the mountain was quickly flooded by the waters of the ocean, the waves suddenly raging against the land.

"The world itself turns against us!!!"

"What is happening?!"

There was no answer...panic and confusion ensued among the guild pokemon. They were woefully unprepared for their opponent...

_____________________

Many attempts to contact him were being made...but Enzlo ignored them all, instantly shoving them aside as he ran through the forest.

"Enzlo!" The voice of Ruli finally made him pause, the Abra stopping himself to see the Mega Lucario running up to him.

"Why are you ignoring them?!" He growled at the psychic. "They need your help!"

"Rook-"

"Rook can take care of himself!" Ruli snarled, "Answer the fucking calls!"

"Tsch!" The Abra grit his teeth and finally allowed the connections he felt repeatedly prodding at his mind to connect.

"Enzlo!" Epa shouted, her voice frantic and frightened. The mental images of everything that was suddenly happening flew through his head and Enzlo stumbled, his arm and paw catching the tree he was next to.

Fire...Lightning...Air...Water...Ice...

"No...no...this...he..." The Abra's eyes opened up wide, blue glow instead of purple. His eyes snapped up to Ruli.

"Ruli...can I trust you to find him...find Rook? He's north...somewhere...somewhere hidden...follow the emotion of...hopelessness." His voice had gained a bit of echoing quality to it. The gaze that looked at Ruli sent him a quick mental message, a plan.

Ruli stared down at the Abra as the knowledge flowed into him, his eyes narrowed only slightly in recognition. This was no longer Enzlo he was talking to. "Yes, I will find him, I promise you."

And the Abra teleported, blinking from the spot. Ruli gripped his paws tight into fists and called upon his own power, not that of Mega Lucario, but just a Lucario, that of to see Aura...his eyes glowed green as he peered north. "Hopelessness..." He fixated upon something with his vision, and then dashed away.

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Jack marched just slightlly in front of the Possessed, leading them through the searing wind of his blizzard as they marched eastward from his mountain fortress. The blizzard followed him. Pokemon at the edges were forced to keep retreating further away, unable to penetrate the sheer cold and destruction of ice, leaving trees bare and stripped...life given death in a short instant of sheer cold...

Jack came to a stop as he sensed it, a sneer growing over his muzzle. A few seconds later, the short 'vsh' sound of a pokemon teleporting in front of him.

"Jack..." The Abra's echoing voice said lightly, standing in the middle of the rushing blizzard like he had always been there without care of the cold, eyes glowing bright blue as they stared towards the Weavile's bright red.

"Tod." He simply answered back, knowing exactly who he was looking at. "Overwhelmed him did I?"

"You force your will upon the Elements...at the cost of your own self..."

"Do I?" Jack sneered, and he turned slightly, his paw reached to one of the Possessed next to him, his paw touched the chest of the Vaporeon he had corrupted. That bright red core in his own chest started to beat rapidly, and the Vaporeon shouted out in pain, a bright pink glow of her own appearing in her chest, a string of the light connected to Jack's palm.

Her body...mummified...once bright blue skin suddenly draining of life energy until she looked like a saggy, gray rag, the light within her chest moving instead towards Jack's palm. Her shout trailed off into a low kind of cooing the further she was drained, until she would let out a quiet whimper, "For none and all..." and then she slumped forward with an idle 'flump' and shortly after, her body was encased in a block of ice by the blizzard...the several other possessed pokemon standing just behind her didn't even react.

"I think -they- do it themselves..." Jack sneered, pulling his paw back and staring at the small bit of essence she had created for him, a glowing orb of light within his grip. "In worlds where nothing is ever achieved...what use is giving yourself to others anyway?"

"You mock their dreams..." Tod said sadly.

"Do I!? What about MY DREAMS!?" Jack shouted, and he pulled his hand back and flung the sphere up into the sky. It exploded out, a shower of sparkles that fled through the air. The blizzard suddenly gained in strength, growing larger.

"Don't you get it Tod?" Jack laughed, "There is no point to it! All words! All worlds built upon them? They are ALL destined to be forgotten! WE DRIFT IN DARKNESS! UNSEEN!" His shouts were booming, but in the rush of the blizzard, only Tod would hear it... "When I sat before those old fucking "Gods" and they JUDGED ME LIKE THEY WERE ME!? Told me my dreams, my desires, were WRONG FOR THE WORLD I WAS IN!? AND THEN THEY DARED TO TRY AND PITY ME!?"

Jack shouted at Tod, gnashing his blade like fingers together. "And YOU!" He pointed at the Abra, "You stood there behind me! SILENT!"

In the rushing wind of the blizzard, a moment of silence passed while Tod closed his eyes, the accusation hit home and he took a quick and short breath, letting it out in a puff of hot air that almost instantly seemed to crystalize. The cold...he suddenly felt it. He wrapped his arms around himself, hands holding each other's arms and rubbing.

"Y-you're right...I...I kept my voice...I shouldn't have..."

Jack paused, his eyes blinking a few times and his claw lowering slightly. Tod continued, now shivering slightly through his words.

"You...were one of my friends Jack. You...you know how I was, before I got Enzlo...but...that light show you put on that night...I really liked it. I wish I...I wish we both...had gone with you too...they were wrong..."

Jack's fur quivered, a rush of foreign feeling he received from the words was quickly masked over by rage, his eyes shaking, "AND YET YOU STOOD THERE!"

The Weaville suddenly charged, leaping across the snow covered land like it was just grass to himself, raising up his right arm and his claws extended out with dark energy as a Shadow Claw. "AND NOW YOU LIKE ALL OF THEM WILL DIE!"

"Reality Projection!" Tod's eyes snapped back open as he lifted his hands up, the huge ball of blue energy that suddenly filled the air between the two just as Jack jumped at him and the Weavile fell into it.

________________________________

Jack suddenly was no longer a Weaville. He opened his eyes and blinked in confusion as he saw human hands and arms, and then as he looked around, he quickly realized where he was. The rustic tent with a campfire in the middle, across from him sitting five grizzled looking old men...Everyone wearing white robes...

The Ceremony...he was 10 again...

"No."

His head snapped up as he saw them, his five "Elders". Rage filled his mind, but as desperately as he tried to scream, no words left his mouth.

"You will not be going on your journey..." The elder in front of him stated, sitting cross legged as maddingly "Wise" as they liked to look. The four other elders, two sitting at each of his sides nodded in agreement.

"You'll be given your companion and that is all, until you learn where it is you are wrong."

At this, the newly hatched Rockruff was placed in front of him on a blanket by another member of the clan.

Rage boiled in him...but...that Rockruff...Jack looked down upon him. Rook...the sense of calm he felt when looking at him...

"Fine..." Jack snarled out finally, his hands reaching for the pup and then taking him, pulling him close. He stood up sharply, turned around while holding the Rockruff to his chest, the small pokemon letting out a sleepy rumble... "I now denounce you and this clan..."

The sudden pout of whispering and mumbling all around him made him grit his teeth, and he continued, "You sit there and you tell me my dream is "wrong" with no factual proof...I will not be a part of this...goodbye."

"I'm going with him." Another member, a big burly man stood up.

"M-me too!" A woman with bright purple hair stood up with him.

"And...I..."

Jack snapped his head to the side in surprise. He had expected those two to follow him...but...

"Tod..." Another voice in the back of the tent snarled out, their arm holding onto Tod's, trying to pull him back to sit. "What the heck are you doing?" Another clan member tugged at his other sleeve, "Honey, sit down."

Tod shrugged the arms off from himself, standing up and stepping forward, the white robes he wore shuffling. "I'd rather never get my pokemon companion than...see you make this decision...that's not fair." Tod glared at the five men across the fire then as well. The other members of the clan were whispering between each other rapidly now, seeing the usual quiet and strange Tod suddenly so loud and vocal...

The five shuffled, the one in the middle leaning back and looking to his sides at the gazes of the other two. Tod stepped around the sitting clan members that had been in front of him to come to stand in front of Jack, his hand reaching out to him.

"I liked your light show...I want you to show it again..." He said, his face though, like it always had, showed no emotion.

Jack lunged...and a sickening 'SPLAT' sounded, as suddenly...

Tod's eyes bulged, blood spurting out from his mouth as he coughed and looked down.

Jack looked up at him as Tod's blue eyes looked down, his own eyes glowing maddingly red, and suddenly Tod's began to glow a slight red too as Jack cackled.

"So...TOUCHING." He twisted the knife he suddenly held in his hands into Tod's ribcage, pain lancing up through the boy's chest.

Then, the entire crowd and the tent vanished. Except for two.

"Jack! Don't do this!" Oscar's voice sounded next to his right shoulder, "Look at what you end up doing to the world!"

"Think about what you did to Rook! Look at what you made him!" Lilian's voice shouted next at his left.

Jack looked down, the ground under them had turned into a sickly black tarred ooze rather than the healthy and bright foliage it had been just a moment ago...and the pokemon he had been holding onto a moment ago...had became the dagger he now twisted into Tod's heart...his face and the look of pain upon the blade at being turned into such a weapon...

"Wh...no...that's...not true...I..."

He snarled, anger boiled into him, the presence of Lilian and Oscar was suddenly flung aside, "BETRAYERS!!! HAHAHAHA I KNEW IT!!!"

His face snatched back up to look into Tod's eyes, as now, it wasn't a dagger he twisted into Tod, it was a hook...and Tod felt it...it latched into his heart, but then...

"Jack...I...please..." The very tug upon his soul that he felt... "We only..."

"You never understood -me- Tod..." Jack whispered lightly, "I only ever did everything I've ever done...-for- Rook...for the pokemon who those bastards sentenced to my punishment alongside me...a punishment -he- was born into...and that...that was why...it was so damn UNFAIR!!! SO TELL ME!!! TELL ME WHY I SHOULDN'T!!! YOU STILL ARE A PART OF THEM!!! YOU STILL USE THE POWER LIKE ME!!! YOU'LL JOIN ME THIS HELL!!!"

Jack's body began to sink into the black tarred ooze under him, as it began to sink under him and swallow his body into darkness...and with that hook connected to Tod's soul, he pulled him down into the dark with him...

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Thunder rolled through the dark clouds above the forest as Ruli rushed through it.

"Hopelessness...hopelessness..." Ruli continued to say it, his glowing green eyes focused on the strand of grey color among the other roiling ones he could see flowing in the air. "Rage...it's everywhere..." it made the grey strand so hard to see...it had suddenly just boiled over through the calmness of blue that usually was in the air of the world...now the strand was embedded in the sea of red that filled the air. It threatened to overcome even him. It all flowed out from the blizzard, from its center, the colors Ruli could see of the emotion there...

Axel...he stood next to the source of the rage...a core of caged blue and orange with a mix of yellow...Sadness mixed with the expectations placed upon him by his clan that the Eevee had grown his life around before he found Ruli, where the yellow came from...the dark red of the rage around him threatened to overcome the core...

Ruli squeezed his eyes shut, tears dropping from his eyes. "No...don't look...focus on Rook...follow the strand...he showed you his plan...come on..."

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Rook woke up and sat up quickly, as he felt instantly the way the ground around him felt. He jumped from the stone slate he had been apparently laying on and attempted to reach out through the ground right away. What was happening? He felt it quickly...chaos...

Rook felt the tearing of the ground as the lava broke up through it, searing hot fire poured from the openings...the sharp cracks of the lightning lashing upon the stone as it struck down upon the land from the clouds above, breaking it slowly apart...Water tearing at its edges, Ice locking it into place...Air tearing trees from their roots...

So much pain.

"You're killing the planet! STOP!" Rook shouted at the ceiling, his paws glowing yellow from his channeling.

"No one can hear you..."

The soft voice next to him made him jump, and Rook looked to his right to see the purple lined body glowing in the soft dark next to him, where light shining upon an underground pool of water gave just enough light for him to see her.

A Salazzle.

Rook's heart immediately jumped in his chest, and he took a huge intake of breath, clamping his muzzle with both hands. His scarf jumped to life around his neck, both ends of the long cloth wrapping several times around his muzzle.

"Whmf r m!" He shouted out, but his meaning was lost with how he wrapped that scarf around his jawline.

"Hehehe you don't have to do that silly...I have no...intention of doing that to you...I don't want to." The giggling she had started to slowly faded into silence as she looked down.

Rook's eyes narrowed, unsure...but...the way she looked seemed so sad and he didn't detect any falseness in her voice...he let out the breath he had taken slowly in a sigh as he forced the scarf to unwrap from his muzzle and lowered his arms. "Sorry...but...do you know what's going on?"

"It's Jack...starting his assault." She answered.

"Then...I have to go." Rook started to move away from her.

"No you don't." She said quickly, her eyes flashing towards him, a puff of smoke coming out of her mouth.

Rook's scarf was quick to wrap around his muzzle on its own again, her suddenness making him jump back to place. "Yoump said you woumpht!"

She sighed, "I can't help the smoke...I only make it in a way that...makes you do as I say...we all do." She held her hands together as she sat on the stone. "Sorry..." she tried to say while keeping her muzzle somewhat more closed, so that Rook did not see any smoke. "I...could understand why seeing it would make someone like you so...upset..."

His scarf remained wrapped around his muzzle this time, but it loosened enough that Rook could speak clearly, letting his muzzle part to speak.

But at the moment, he didn't even really know what to say...he settled with; "Who are you?"

"I'm Lily...hi there, Rook. Heh...don't be surprised, this whole world knows your name by now." She gave a light smile. "I brought you here...well...my boys did hehehe."

"Mistress." The three Salandit were next to show themselves, their own slightly glowing bodies just a little less visible in the space beyond in the cave. But Rook's eyes were adjusting pretty quickly now, and they added a glow of his own to the darkness as a Midnight Lycanroc.

He growled lowly at the Salazzle. "Did...Jack...are you -with- him?" it was the best way he could give his question, and the series of thoughts that had led him to it.

Though it seemed she took the question an entirely different way, "Oh fuck no! Sleazeball...not my type, at all..." She growled, "Look...I know your thoughts, you look at me and this situation and you're thinking "Oh this was quick! Already getting abducted by the local Salazzle for their Harem minutes after you set foot here!"

She huffed, folding her arms, "I didn't do this to you! It was that Sableye! I think Jack called him Vane. Well I mean...I..." Lily suddenly slumped, "I guess I did have to make the "Sleeping" gas he used to knock you out with...I just...it is...still 'Nice' to have you here to myself hehe. I get to hover you all over the heads of the other Salazzle."

"But what if -I- Don't want it?" Rook growled, his ears folding back over his head.

"That's perfectly fine. You're all right if I just -pretend- otherwise though yes?" Sallazle fixed him with a sly grin. "That's all I need, is the claim." She fiddled her fingers together as she held her hands then, "I uh...honestly am not interested either hehe." She grinned slyly then.

"You're..." Rook took a moment to process that. "Not interested...?"

"Oh well...I mean..." Lily giggled, "Don't get me wrong here...you're physically prime as a male Lycanroc, that is true, you are attractive but..." She smiled, her eyes looking up to the ceiling and grinning, "That's not my 'cup of tea' see?" She giggled it out.

He looked down a moment in thought, many things occurred to him, but he kind of decided he didn't need to pry further. "Oh...okay. Um...then why won't you let me leave?"

At his question, Lily's smile faded slightly, "Jack...he...told me to keep you out of the fighting. It was the condition on which I rescued my boys...he kidnapped them and Vane told me he was going to kill them if I didn't come see him. It was there he told me he only did that just so he could guarantee that I'd come, said he'd never hurt my boys and spoke about how he knew how important a Harem was to a Salazzle." She started giggling again then though. "Too bad! If he'd picked one of the other bitches here on the continent his idea might have worked!"

Rook's eyes widened, "But...you...still won't let me leave?"

"That was the condition, and I keep my word." She narrowed her eyes, "Agreements to a Salazzle are clear...But don't worry...too much? I'm sure someone is coming for you. Right?"

"Someone's already been here the whole time." At this, a pair of red and white eyes, and several orange candles sparked up in the darkness around them. Riley stepped out into the light provided by Rook's eyes, and then the yellow and blue eyes of several more Litwicks brightened up the cave.

"Rook, you're coming with me. We'll be running into Ruli on the way, and then I'm getting the both of you to the Blizzard..."

"What's happening out there?" Rook asked.

"It is better you not know...and just see..." Riley whispered, and he lifted his shadowy hand up to him. "She won't stop us from leaving, she was told to keep you from leaving, but nothing about stopping others from rescuing you. Salazzles keep their words in agreements..."

"It's how anyone gets anywhere in a world built in words and contracts hon!" Lily giggled. "But before you go..."

Lily stood up, her tail sliding gracefully behind herself while the three Salandits came to run around her legs a bit, stopping near her when she would stand just in front of Rook. The Lycanroc had leaned back just slightly.

Lily smiled, "Will you trust me?" She asked lightly, looking into the Lycanroc's eyes.

Rook thought, was there any reason he believed he couldn't at this point? And so he nodded his head, "Yes..."

With a short intake of breath, Lily smiled, and then she exhaled smoke over the Lycanroc's head as she whispered, "You can feel your own self...your own lust and desire...let no one tell you otherwise, unless...for fun hehe."

Rook blinked rapidly...his body...he...felt nothing new. But that...there was a clearness in his head now, like something had been lifted from his awareness.

"You're free of all that dreadful conditioning he did to you now." Lily smiled slyly, and the Lycanroc blushed as he felt a rush fill him, "Hehe, seems it worked well, but sorry, still not interested."

With a click of her fingers, Lily turned to the right and began to vanish into the darkness of the cave, "Oh but, this is just a request that I'm sure you'll fulfill" She snapped as she and her Salandite walked away. "Kick that damn jackel's ass! And I'm referring to Jack!"

Rook couldn't help it, he grinned and snickered, his sheath slightly swollen. "Whoa...okay...so that's arousal...hehe..." He reached up to rub the back of his head, shouting back out into the darkness, "If he's doing anything as bad as I think he is...I will!"

"Before we go, there is something you must see." Riley said, and he pulled something out of a pouch that he had strapped around his waist, the item that he had possessed as a human spirit to become a ghost pokemon...he pulled a shining stone out from it and he held it up to Rook.

Rook knew what it was, he smiled. It was a piece of Obsidian Rock.

"I'm ready." Rook nodded at Riley, and he quickly took the Marshadows paw without any more thought, and with a blink, they and all the Litwicks melted into the darkness once more.

________________________

Ruli slumped to his knees... "No...No...that..."

The strand of grey...he couldn't see it anymore. His entire vision went grey...

He had looked...and now that hopelessness...

His world...the humans there...drowning in darkness...

"No..."

"We won't let that happen..." Rook growled next to him suddenly, but Ruli's mind was already lost.

"That's right...we live on." Riley's smokey hand rested onto the Mega Lucario's shoulder. "They will too..." In his other hand, Riley showed him a bright light...Ruli's eyes regained their green light and he smiled.

"That's right..." Rook snickered, "The Bases of the Corsova! Now I know why it's repeated over and over!"

_______________________

"Jack..." Tod said gently as they floated together in the dark...

"I can keep you here as long as I need...you know it..." Jack kept his eyes squeezed shut.

"Hehe...fine..."

_____________________

"Jack!!!!" Rook shouted out into the blizzard, where it had stopped expanding, the swirling air and ice and wind was powerful, the trees where being whipped back enough that their branches were bending.

"I can't go in..." Riley's voice said, where his 'body' had been reduced to a small flame over which the pouch was wrapped around. "I'll be blown away..."

"It's just us then..." Rook said, looking to Ruli.

The Mega Lucario had, for some reason, remained deathly silent, but he looked to Rook and smiled with a nod, his eyes glowing a bright green and blue now. Sadness and Happiness are perfectly mixed. The smile was almost immediately to fade, the Mega Lucario's face falling back to a passive expression as he focused back upon the blizzard in front of them, and then began to shove himself forward into the pure white storm, his shape vanishing.

Rook looked to Riley, "Ready the Elemental Alliance." He said simply before he stepped in through the edge of the storm as well, and the pair vanished into the white.

_________________

"Hey Jack..."

"Will you just be silent?!"

"Ya see that light...?"

"What?"

*

__________________

"TELL ME WHY I SHOULDN'T!!!"

"Jack..." Rook whispered, holding onto that piece of Obsidian Rock tightly to his chest.

"Don't...Don't do this..." Ruli mumbled next to Rook. "He...this...I...I..."

"You don't know what he needs..." Rook glared at the Mega Lucario next to him.

They had reached the middle of the Blizzard, where they were met with a most gruesome sight. Jack had a Shadow Claw halfway pierced through the Abra's chest...this wound was not normal for pokemon to endure...the Abra had his hands clasped tightly upon the Weavilles temples, his own eyes glowing a bright blue and a grin on his muzzle. They seemed locked in place, but every so often, the Weaville shouted again "TELL ME WHY I SHOULDN'T!!!", and the Shadow Claw dug in another bit before the Abra made a grunting noise and they froze again.

They'd seen it happen a few times, and now the Abra had started grinning. Rook had noticed this.

"Tod...or Enzlo...is still aware of us. He's got Jack locked...but yes...Jack's winning. Because he speaks a truth...and Enzlo has no answer...but I -think- I do."

And so...the next time he knew Jack was going to animate again, Rook grasped onto his shoulder.

____________________

"Because they weren't you either..."

Jack stumbled, falling flat faced into the dirt of the tent as its ground suddenly appeared under him and Tod's body vanished after his screaming question. The moment at which he had made his move to stab Tod, he was shoved aside, their stalemate ended by the interruption of another.

"And I'm not you too..."

Rook snarled down at the ten year old human with blue streaked hair as he shouted. "EVEN YOU!? I PROMISED YOU THE WORLD!"

"NO!" Rook shouted back, before he pulled his paw back somewhat, then stopped himself, and he looked down, "You promised me adventure..."

He opened his paw, to show the Obsidian Stone to Jack. "Do you remember?"

____________________

Jack fell into the blizzard covered ground, his eyes suddenly filled with yellow. Enzlo fell to the ground and now, Rook stood over the Weaville with his paw raised up about to strike and then they had frozen again. Enzlo however, remained free.

However, his eyes no longer glowed blue, now they glowed purple. He scrambled up just as Ruli came to hug around him, the coldness of the Blizzard would otherwise kill the Abra, but the psychic didn't seem to care as he shouted, "NO! Let me go! TOD!!"

"It has to be!" Ruli shouted. "He knows his failure! This was his answer! He showed me!"

This made Enzlo slowly come to a stop, as now pain registered in his body, something he hadn't been feeling because the Mega Lucario had already pouring his own life energy into the bleeding psychic type with Healing Pulse, but the Abra just hadn't been aware of it in his panic, as the blizzard around them suddenly and rapidly dissipated.

_________________

"Elemental Alliance, make your moves." Riley said through the telepathic link he held with Epa and the other Eeveelutions through her..

"I'm still really iffy on all this...this is all a plan made by a human..." That was the Umbreon Elder. "Darkness consumes all humans..."

"Indeed it does, yet here one stands with you in pokemon form...I accepted my darkness...darkness of revenge." Riley said back. "Would you deny your own Darkness Dark Type Pokemon?"

"Point..." The elder wryly admitted.

Groups of Eeveelutions began to be teleported through the raging continent. Jolteon's began to attract the lightning strikes of the storms to themselves, their ability to simply take in the energy to protect others as they made their way to safety, while warriors rushed towards the mountain where the Mirrors were being held.

____________________

"Rook...I..."

"You didn't promise me the world Jack...you just promised me adventures...I don't want this..."

"Then..."

"Jack...hehe...It shouldn't have been about me, it was your life...I just wanted to be in it too."

"It's too late to restart..."

"So...you know how it has to go?"

"I...think so..." Jack smiled and chuckled. "No...I don't..."

"Then just follow what I do~" Rook snickered next to him.

___________________

Reality Projection: projects an illusion that makes an alternate reality into a pocket of space in the size of an orb of whatever is desired, the gate to which is cut through matter to preserve the original reality on the "Opposite" side of the gate. Within this pocket time and space can be altered by its user differently than that around it. To those outside the pocket, the reality remains frozen, while within it, time and space could feasibly be stretched out...into what feels like years.

How long did Tod and Jack float in darkness while all this happened? Eh, does that matter? It felt like a long time. What matters is an explanation to what was going on yes? what happens now that the bubble shatters...?

As explanation: Tod through Enzlo's body used the Move Reality Projection, and Enzlo beside him, could "Pick up and project" Jack's own memory to him, and then he inserted himself into it, and showed him what he had wished he had done. To show Jack an alternate reality...one in which Tod stood up for him in the ceremony, and declared that he would take his own companion pokemon and leave the clan as well, and go on their own adventure together, to see the world how they wanted to see it.

But...Jack's anger was too strong, they could not even get to that part before he tore through the illusion with his own will, and latched upon Tod's soul as he did...the frantic and somewhat freaky attempts of showing him how Rook had been turned into a weapon was Enzlo's attempt to show him how the Abra himself viewed Jack. But even then...it hadn't been enough.

They were not him.

Will you see Jack and Rook's conversation fully...?

Nope, it's way too long to write...not gonna happen. Also really kind of personal feeling...yikes. Don't think either of them would like me writing it.

Anyways yes, this was an Authors note...and me being weird.

As for next, eh, see it.

___________________

The frozen bubble shattered against Rook's power like glass, and his arm continued to swing downward, throwing the piece of Obsidian Rock at Jack's face. It bounced off his forehead, the icy blue weasel opening his eyelids slowly as he realized he hadn't been slain... The Weaville's eyes glowing now a dark blue as he sneered at him, the Blizzard started back up, but this time, it began to rapidly shrink down, the raging winds closing in upon Jack, Enzlo, Rook, and Ruli.

"Remember?" Rook asked.

"Hehe...I suppose I do...but it's way too late to turn back~" His half sang and his voice had gained the echoing quality like Tod's had, "Vane's at the Mirrors right now and..."

And just then, the Ice Fortress he had created exploded outward, as pure white light cascaded out from the Mirrors. The light encapsulated Jack's little sphere of a blizzard.

__________________

Aw damn I suppose there is just one last thing I do want to explain...what the Mirrors are. They're Arceus' Elemental Plates, specifically one for each of the Types of Eeveelution, simply disguised by ghost types as Mirrors~ Their connection to pokemon life and yadayada lets them show them their future things and it being backwards and showing them a moment in their past is what I felt was fun for a human to see that was all. Ghost Pokemon are VERY IMPORTANT HERE. Hehe.

Anyways, given that they are made from these plates, they also act like magnets to elemental forces. It took a long time for Jack to figure out that these were like this, but he began to observe different things as he studied and had the pokemon he possessed throw different things at them, mainly that they absorbed certain elements, deflected others, and while it would heal quickly, would get damaged even slightly chipping.

Knowledge of pokemon had become mainly lost to those humans of the future, who only saw Mirrors. But Jack was of the Corsova, he knew how nature worked, he knew how to discern what something -was-. And then he simply exerted his will over the items, as a human, and gained command of the Elements.

But how does one actually shatter the Mirrors...?

Yeah getting to that.

_______________________

Vane sneered up at the Mirrors as he channeled his spirit into them. Jack had shown him many things...explained many things, things he would never have understood as a human, but as a pokemon...!

"HEHEHEHEH! DECAY!!! DECAY!!!"

The mirrors were slowly covered in black ooze, corroding into nothing but a mushy black paste that dripped down to the ground, where it plopped and dripped and slowly seemed to spread into the very ground, just sliding out like a goo across the land. The more land it covered, the bigger the puddle grew, stretching up as more drops fell upon it.

"Yes! Yes! The things that infest MY world! They exist here too! You've just hidden it and fed it so small amounts to barely exist!"

"Stop!"

"Hiss...rotten Eeveelutions."

"Hehe, yay, we have been good at our jobs."

"Hehe, turn around, little Gremlin..."

Vane turned around, the widelike grin never leaving his face even though suddenly he felt dread and fear...

The Legendaries...all of them...they either stood or hovered there in a large group in the massive cave Jack had been keeping the Mirrors in.

"How how long have you b-beeen there?!" He screeched.

"Long enough to know you're not a good human..." Keldeo called out, his hooves scratching at the icy cave floor next to his siblings.

"Stop what you're doing Vane, you may yet have a place here..." Darkrai's dark echo's whispered into the ghost's ears.

Vane shivered, that grin still never leaving his face. He started to giggle. "Hehehe...Heheheehe. Vane knows...Vane knows!!!" From behind his back, he pulled a gem...

"Vane KNOWS his place in THIS WORLD!!!" He crushed it in his hand.

____________________

"Hehe...they thought I wasn't aware of them there?" Jack snickered as he was told the news, his hands tied up tightly in vines that were glowing a bright green, however, he was still running with Rook while Enzlo rode in his fur, rushing up the mountain with huge strides, leaping from rock to rock face that seemed to spring out of the mountain itself. Streaks of white light were slicing up into the air, leaving black lines that seemed to 'knit' back together through the air with color, the sound of jolting electricity and a sound like that of rapidly freezing liquid followed this action.

Rook kept reaching out with his yellow glowing paws with each jump he made, the Weaville kept jumping after them, as a purple lasso was wrapped around that tightened around him as Enzlo snarled. "You killed Tod!"

"I did not! He simply called out for help! Rook had the answer! He's perfectly fine!"

Rook grimaced, "Shut it! Both of you!"

"You have so much explaining to do!" Enzlo shouted, at the both of them they felt. Jack only cackled while Rook kind of smirked.

"It would take too long.(!)" Rook said and Jack shouted back at the same.