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Act 2: The Spreading Darkness

Chapter 6: A Learning Experience

Shapes take form as I open my eyes and let out a monstrous yawn, a sound I'm quite famous and revered for. I'd slept in the bus for a little over five hours and then at our makeshift campsite for a few less than that. The concussion must have been what had made me so exhausted and out of it; a blow to the head can sometimes end in a coma, so I should probably count my lucky stars, however few they are and however fast they're currently spinning. Turning over in my sleeping bag like a fat worm doing a barrel roll, my eyes work their way through the night's darkness and follow the glow of Ed's well kept campfire. Tossing in another log is Ed, a scowl deepening the frown lines on his face, as he fumbles through a conversation with Maylene. Add some air quotes to the word 'fumbles', because that girl is just plain difficult to talk to. Though I couldn't yet make out what words were leaving their lips, I could see the small Riolu's muzzle moving as the flames danced across the ground and its two occupants. Unzipping my cocoon, I stagger to my feet and nearly fall back down as a headache or three rush to my attention. Alright, so standing up is a no-no; I get it. Gritting my teeth like a manly man, I ignore them and shamble over to my cohorts; possibly to enter the conversation, but more than likely to contribute nothing and simply stare awkwardly.

Oh yeah, the king of socialization, that's me.

"Would it be too much to ask for some more of those painkillers, Ed?" I groaned as I sat down beside him; the hard, rocky surface not at all inviting. "I see stars, man, and I'm not talking about the one's in the sky."

Rolling his eyes as though he were seconds away from telling me to either walk it off or rub some dirt in it, he grunted in return, "Sure thing."

"Thanks." I muttered back.

As Ed took to his feet and paced back over to the bus, Maylene turned to face me and transformed the plain, old, ordinary silence into an incredibly awkward one as she stared vacantly in my general direction. Her blind, empty eyes focused upon nothing in particular, but maintained firm upon me as she said softly, "In stark contrast to the calamity that we weathered mere hours ago, this quiet night seems almost a luxury. I quite prefer the serene sounds of these barren, grassy plains as opposed to those of that chaotic battlefield and the unearthly enemies that filled it brim."

See what I mean? What child goes around saying stuff like that? Weird.

Still, I couldn't help but reply with, "I agree wholeheartedly. Soft breezes and crickets chirping are a Hell of a lot more soothing than screams and death wails."

"How are you feeling?" Questions the petite canine after a brief pause.

"Well, I did just ask for more pain pills, so not very well." I responded gruffly.

"That is not what I meant." States Maylene with a curious tilt of her head. "How are you feeling now that your powers have manifested, even if accidentally and not at will?"

Taken aback for a second, I glare down at my own clenched fists and sneer, "If I have the strength to take down something as horrifying as that Hellion, then why in the world couldn't I have done it before? We lost a good man on our way here and I just know that if I could have shot bolts of lightning back there at the train yard, he just might have made it out alive."

Jabbing me in the back of my shoulder, Ed tosses me a small pharmaceutical bottle and says with a grimace, "They took Will by surprise, Alan; they shot him from almost a football field away. Are you telling me that with the power to control electricity you could have preempted it from happening somehow? Because if that's what you're saying, then shut up. By the time we knew what had happened, he was already dead. Lightning or not, you couldn't have saved him."

Standing up to meet his eyes, I exclaim, "But~

And that's when Ed's fist came to cut me off, sticking me hard in the gut. Doubling over and short of breath, I proceeded to leer up at him through one eye and attempted to curse something more than a little unkind.

"But nothing." Growls the sapphire turtle. "We failed him and there's nothing that can be done about it. You weren't the only one, asshole. I failed him too; I failed him miserably. No lightning, lasers, fire balls, or explosions could have stopped that bullet; nothing could have." Lighting a cigarette and puffing on it for a moment, he adds, "As unfair as it is, it's in the past and you should stop dwelling on it. Will might be dead, but we're still very much alive. There's no way in this or any other world that we can save him now, none, but there are plenty of ways we can avenge him. First and foremost, and this is what you SHOULD be focusing on, we can kill the bastard responsible for all of this."

"L-Lucius Miaulez Deux." I hissed in between huffs and puffs.

"That's right." Returns the big guy as he pulls me back to my feet and brushes off my shoulders. "Look, I'm sorry that it came to that, but I'm not going to listen to you whine; I'm just not. Even if you have to force it, adhere to your tough-guy stereotype, okay?"

"Alright, I got'cha." I answer back with a sharp smirk. "Sarcasm and insults; that's all you'll here from me."

"Perfect." Ed grunts as a wry smile crawls across his ugly mug.

What would I do without the big bastard? I mean, really?

Looking up towards the starry sky and the massive full moon that almost appeared as though, for what it's worth mentioning, it might have been looking back down towards us, I felt a mixture of different things sloshing around in my mind. I knew Ed was right; I knew that I couldn't have saved the rookie from that bullet. However, that didn't mean that the ability to throw lightning bolts like Zeus or Odin wouldn't have come in handy regardless. At the very least, I could have helped out more that I had back there; I could have put down that Hellion before the situation got dicey. I could have handled the other side of the terminal rather than forcing Roger and Mikey to. With the power to shoot streams of electricity, I doubt there's much that I COULDN'T do.

Turning to face Maylene, I rub my now tender stomach with one hand and ask the question I'd been pondering, "As strange as this may sound, I just want you to hear me out, alright? I have no idea how I did whatever it was that I did back there; no idea at all. In stark contrast, you seem to be some kind of master when it comes to throwing around superpowers. Now I know it's kind of unheard of for a preteen to teach a middle-aged man how to do anything outside of how to play a video game or how to operate a cellphone, but is there any way you might be able to train me or teach me how to use my powers?"

Almost immediately, the small cub bluntly replies, "No." She then takes a sip from a bottle of water and then extrapolates further, "I merely wield my own wizardry. Your powers are fundamentally different from my own; I cannot teach you proper mastery of them."

"Well, what about those two?" I exclaim, pointing towards her siblings sleeping a few feet away. "Roger fought with a certain level of energy and ferocity, I'll give him that, but there's just no way that the timid little Vulpix over there learned how to throw fireballs and summon up raging infernos all on his own. I saw him in action; he's a greenhorn wandering around in a warrior's world and it shows in every way. The poor kid shook and trembled at the mere mentioning of combat; you can't tell me that he came into those powers all on his own."

"And what makes you think that it was I who trained them?" Inquires the pint-sized Riolu.

"I don't know!" I bark back, throwing my hands up into the air out of frustration. "There's just something about you, something different and ominous. You're blind and yet you seem to be able to see, you're thirty years too young to be acting as stoic and stilted as you do, and you're more powerful than everyone else here put together. It's not nearly as strong, but I keep getting the same vibes from you as I do from Kiev, whenever the fat bastard decides to show his face, and that alone speaks volumes."

"I do admit, my words and actions do not befit my age at times." Chuckles the girl.

"At times?" I spit sarcastically. "Try never."

"Irrelevant." Sighs Maylene, waving her hand in dismissal of my groundless opinions. "They came to a realization of their own abilities at their own separate paces, much like you are beginning to now. They took their time, they paced themselves, and they did not rush the process. If you ever wish to fully understand yourself and the powers that you possess, then you will stop this foolishness now and regain your composure."

What the Hell? Who does this girl think she is, my mother?

Sneering, I popped some of the painkillers into my mouth and gulped them down, then growled, "Fine, fine, I get it already." Turning to face Ed, I question irately, "What about you? You've been avoiding talking about this ever since we left Saffron, but now's probably as good a time to talk about magic, witchcraft, and superpowers as we're likely going to get. From what she just said, neither of you can help me hone my skills, but that doesn't make me any less curious. So, Ed, care to share?"

Rubbing his chin, the cerulean turtle replies, "It isn't like I'm able to do much more than what you've already seen me do."

"Oh, you mean you can't do much more than fire a HUGE FUCKING LASER?" I growl, heavy on the poisonously sardonic sarcasm. "Yeah, I agree, that's pretty useless; I doubt anything like that could ever bail our asses out of the fire."

Giving me the single finger salute, Ed barks, "Fine, I'll come clean! You don't have to be such a jackass about it!"

Smirking, I retort, "Apparently, I do."

"Whatever." He sighs, rubbing at his chin as per the usual. "I've had certain... gifts... for a long time now. I discovered them about three years ago while in the middle of a camping trip near the base of Mt. Moon. A swarm of Beedrill came out of nowhere and threatened to turn me into the worlds largest shishkabab; turtle flavored with EXTRA insect venom. I tried making a run for it, but just like the failed escape scene in every horror movie set in the backwoods or a forest, I tripped over a root and fell flat on my face. Rolling over onto my back, I got the best view in the world of a small swarm of sharp stingers approaching me; I might have cried, I'm not sure. Regardless, the Beedrill were closing in fast and I knew that I was done for. Or at least, I thought that I was done for. I say that because that's when it happened; that's when things got crazy. I felt a sudden pressure in my back and heard a slight clicking sound as something opened and pushed me a few inches up off of the ground. I turned my head to get a look at what was going on back there and just imagine my surprise when what I see are two gleaming, chrome-colored cannons."

With widened eyes, I mutter, "Wait a minute... Are you about to say what I think you're going to say?"

"Yeah, I am." Responds the Chief, wincing noticeably. "The avalanche that destroyed more than a third of the mountainside and blocked off the roadways for two solid weeks was caused by yours truly." Leaning back, Ed closes his eyes and covers his face with one hand. "Thank god or the gods or fucking Satan or whoever that it all happened in such a desolate, isolated area. It still scares me to think about what might have happened had I discovered those cannons while on the job, while in the center of a big city with thousands upon thousands of lives and collateral damage to take into consideration. It would have been a disaster beyond disasters."

Stunned, I just sat there for a few seconds with a dropped jaw. That incident had been on the news for more than a month; some kind of freak accident or explosion having nearly destroyed an entire mountain. And here I was, suddenly told that Ed had been the one to cause it.

"Wow." I finally managed. "And did you plan on keeping this a secret forever?"

Drumming his fingers along his knee, the massive reptile replies, "To be brutally honest, had my life just played out normally, the way it WAS going, then I'd have probably taken those secrets with me to my grave. But with the tailspin the world's suddenly gone into and all of the crazy shit I've seen over the past day and a half, I did plan on telling you eventually; I just needed to clear my head and finally get my bearings straightened out."

"Are there any other powers that we should maybe know about?" I ask tactlessly. "Can you fly and pass through walls too?"

"Haha, very funny." Spits Ed irately. "No, not much else. I can shoot a bunch of different things out of the guns, but controlling what I WANT to shoot and what I END UP shooting has always been a bit of a problem; really hit and miss. Beams of ice, jets of water, rays of light, pure heat energy; there's a lot that I can do, but no real way to effectively control when and how I do it." Fumbling yet another crumpled cigarettes from his pants pocket, he lights it, puffs on it for a moment or two, and then continues, "And let's not forget what happens to me after I do manage an attack successfully. I won't be much use in battle if I'm spending all of my time passed out like a log in the background."

Shrugging my shoulders, I reply, "Well, maybe you should get some practice in."

"After the incident, I started to heading out to Mt. Moon at least twice a month to do just that; ensure that I wouldn't randomly misfire in the middle of dinner or something, ya know?" Sighs the big turtle in between puffs on his cancer stick. Being the envious kind of guy, it took me about three seconds before my steely will finally broke and I was forced to mooch one as well. Ah, sweet nicotine; sweet, sweet addiction.

Bluntly, I retort, "Ed, I think it's safe to assume that your schedule has been effectively cleared."

"I concur." Agrees Maylene.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Muses the giant turtle as he flicks aside the spent butt.

"The answer is quite simple." Responds Maylene knowingly. "Though I am understandably unfamiliar with your powers, I can only assume that frequent usage of them and dutiful practice would assist in a better comprehension of them. You would likely gain better control over your ability to manipulate the energies and matters that you fire."

"Hey, wait a minute!" I exclaim. "Didn't you say that you couldn't help us train or sharpen our skills?"

To which the little girl retorts, "Again, I cannot do for you what you yourself should do. I can, however, still offer advice on the subject. But be aware; my advice is of course all based upon mere speculations, so it may not be of the utmost use."

"Still, advice is advice." I say as I toss my used cigarette down too. "Otherwise we'd be starting from square one regardless."

"True." Adds Ed.

Going silent for a long while, Maylene takes to her hindpaws and stands, then immediately paces several steps away. Turning once more to face both Ed and I, she narrows her sightless eyes into two hard, thin lines; a grave expression adorning an otherwise innocuous face. She looked stern and harsh, like a strict instructor; like what we'd essentially just asked her to look like.

"Again, I will admit to you something." States the stoic child. "It was something of a lie when I told you that I had nothing to do with Mikey's training."

"Ya think?" I laughed.

"True to my word, I know little to nothing about the nature of his powers, but I do know MUCH about the nature of devoted practice and trial and error." Added the girl with a rightfully proud smile. "Give enough effort and eventually you shall be rewarded. That is now and has always been my philosophy and I did all I could to instill that very same alma mater into both of my brothers. I will not take all of the credit, or even a sizable amount for that matter, but I do believe that my tutelage pushed them in the right direction at least more than once."

"Then why the hesitation when I asked for you to train me?" I questioned promptly. "Aside from the little guy's cowardice and the other one's excessive energy, they seemed to have turned out alright. In my opinion, you did a pretty good job."

Nodding her head, but turning away, she returns, "Sadly, the same cannot be said of my other brother."

Uh-oh, time for some painful memories to be shared. Instantly, both Ed and I shut our yaps and gave the girl our undivided attention.

"I assume that it is only all too obvious that neither Roger nor Mikey are of blood relation to me, yes?" Questioned the young cub.

With as little effort as possible, Ed grunts in reply, "Well, the fact that you're the only one here who's descended from the Lucario Clan kind of gives that away, so yeah."

Nodding once, Maylene waved a hand in a gesture that called for silence and stood there contemplating. Her face became troubled and strained, like that of a rescue worker who'd faced too many failed rescue attempts.

"My true brother, Kale, was once counted amongst our ranks." She muttered morosely, staring up towards the sky that she couldn't see. "The whole lot of us were orphans and things such as cruelty, abandonment, and rejection had become common complacencies in our lives. We lived day to day and rarely had the proper necessities to sustain our lives at full health and vigor; Mikey in particular was often ill and required near constant care. Strangely, though I'd also been afflicted with this damned blindness, I'd also inherited many of my detached family's hidden talents and powers; I'd gained the power to re-tip the scales that had once been tipped out of my favor. With these abilities, those that you bore witness to not long ago, I took to bettering myself and those that sought sanctuary under my wing. Over time, I even gained the power to see things, or at least the outlines of things, through a variation of sight not dissimilar to that of natural optics. The things that I see are not seen through my eyes though, but are more or less seen through my mind; I sense and feel the auras of all living things, sentient or mindless, and can judge my environments by the movements of my own aura spreading across them. Similar, I suppose, to echolocation, but I feel my surroundings rather than hearing the sounds bouncing off of them." Looking back towards us, her face a stoic mask, she added, "Many of us had come from harsh worlds of our own. Roger suffered the fists, sticks, and stones of his elders as he grew up, never quite good enough to live up to the image that his father had always dreamed his son to be, and was under constant scrutiny for being what those around him deemed a failure. Mikey was abused as well, but sexually instead, by his stepfather while his mothers eyes were conveniently averted, and gradually withdrew from the world into the shell of fear and anxiety that he still suffers from today. Anna, one of our fallen friends, had been abandoned by her family during a flood; they simply couldn't afford to feed a child at the time and found the wilderness a more suitable habitat for her. Steven, another of our deceased, had been homeless since birth and survived since infancy in the arms of other homeless. And lastly Kale, like I, had been outcast and ostracized from his home when our father committed suicide and forever dishonored our family. The Lucario Clan, much like the other warrior tribes of notable fame, is one of pointless honor and pride, and the thought of an upstanding and revered elder taking his own life was more of a disgrace to the clan than anything else imaginable; they buried him under a nameless tombstone, removed his plaque from the mantle of the elders, and called for a vote to have his family removed from the village. The vote passed successfully and his entire family, his two children alone, were sent into the frigid night." Gritting her teeth, she stayed silent for a tense few seconds and then relaxed enough to say, "And yet I thank them. From the bottom of my furious, vengeful heart, I thank them. Had they not sent me away, both Roger and Mikey may not have survived the years to follow. As strong as Roger is, there were days when he would cower, as any young boy would, and there were days when he would simply cry for hours on end. In being wronged by those that I had once placed my trust in, I was able to help others in whom I truly can trust and love. That betrayal set into motion the rest of my life and for that I can only give the utmost thanks."

Jesus Christ, what kind of saint was I dealing with here?

"With the powers that I had eventually come to possess, I became our group's leader by necessity. I protected and defended our weaker brothers and sisters on multiple occasions from many an attacker; wild animals, drunks, and thieves all seemed to have a similar hatred for helpless children. Though older, larger, and physically stronger than I, my brother's skills were far less sharpened than mine. He did well as a physical combatant when brute strength was all that was needed, but often found himself in more than a few sticky situations when finesse and prowess were the main requirements. For his sake, I took it upon myself to teach him, just as I had done for both Roger and Mikey, but his pride and stubbornness worked against his progress and eventually worked against his willingness to be my student at all. He felt mortified to be demoted to the position of apprentice, especially when the master who's wing he was to train under was that of his younger sister." Gulping down yet another drink of water, though clearly doing so to hide an expression of remorse that was nigh impossible to hold a facade against, Maylene hid behind the shadows facing away from the fire as she continued. "Perhaps it was partly my fault, perhaps it was entirely his, and perhaps the fault lies with some unknown third force; regardless, my brother abandoned us in little more than a year's time and set out to find someone truly great whom might accept him as their pupil. I in no way see myself as great or mighty, nor could I lie to my brother and tell him that I was such, and thus was I unable to persuade him to stay. I have since then abandoned my position as a teacher and have opted to simply offer advice to those who seek it." With her tone becoming nearly self-loathing, she murmured, "It was weak of me, I know, but the fear of failing the others as an instructor, just as I had failed my brother, and then losing them as well kept me from performing the job that I may well have been born into this world to do. For five long, lonely years, they were all that I had to call family; I couldn't bare to lose them after having already lost the only blood relation that I had left in this world."

I can't begin to tell you how hard I winced. I might as well have just asked the girl to punch herself in the nose; those memories must have been more painful than any actual pain she'd ever experienced, and I didn't doubt for a second that the pint-sized Riolu had experienced some SERIOUS pain on more than one occasion. Glancing over towards Ed, who's normally desert-like eyes looked on the verge of tears, I silently begged the big guy to think of something to say. Thankfully, the Chief stood up a second later, brushed off his pants, and took a deep breath in preparation for what he had to say.

Oh gods and goddesses, thank you, Ed.

"Kid, you can rest assured that neither Alan or I will do such a thing." Firmly states the large turtle; his voice taking on something of a fatherly tone. "The end of the world is upon us; I can say with utmost certainty that my pride will not get in the way of my survival. If there is anything, anything at all, that you can teach me, then please do. Right Alan?"

With the ice broken, I stood up from my spot on the ground and took to the child's side.

"Well, given that I plan on staying in as large a group as possible, in hopes of not getting smashed and stabbed to death of course, you can pretty much bet your tiny ass that I'm not going to just jet out on you like that." I say bluntly, walking over and putting a hand on the small girl's shoulder. Surprisingly, though I'd expect it from any other child all the same, she was trembling. "So how about you be more of a hands-on instructor for us? Methinks two simpletons like Ed and I could really use the help; the kind of help that swings the ruler when we fuck up and just offers not to use the ruler when we get things right."

With a slight smile, she shoots back, "I can't say that I was too severe with the boys during daily exercises, but I suppose I can augment my instruction techniques to fit whatever type of learning curve you wish."

"I'm thinking the 'boot camp' kind of learning curve." Ed smirked. "We need a tutor who isn't afraid to smack us around a bit and we need to learn in a little under three weeks ago."

Laughing merrily, a cute expression that fit the girl much better than her usual grimness, Maylene retorts, "Very well then, but I shan't hold back. We'll start tomorrow, and I expect you both to rise with the sun and the morning's natural alarm, the birds. Though I know little of your powers, I know of several basic training techniques that should still result in a general understanding of your fundamental abilities. Prepare yourselves now and head off to bed as soon as you can; I will remain awake and keep guard."

"Need some coffee?" Questions Ed with a smile.

Tilting her head, Maylene replies, "Though I've fasted for days on end without food or water and still managed to maintain my focus, a small boost couldn't hurt."

"Then consider it done." Finishes the large man as he heads off towards the bus and our supplies of caffeinated ambrosia.

Padding off in the opposite direction, back towards my sleeping bag, I mull over the night's events in my still throbbing head. It was more than obvious from the beginning that Maylene had both the ability and the knowledge to teach Ed and I at least SOMETHING about how to control and manipulate our abilities, though I hadn't known beforehand why the girl was so hesitant to do so. I'll admit, taking your brother on as your pupil and then subsequently losing him to what I can only refer to as 'The Dark Side' sounds like an excellent reason to me why one would rather not play the role of martial arts master anymore, but this was most certainly not the time for second thoughts or backpedaling, and I damn well needed someone to teach me. At least we succeeded in convincing her, now all we needed to do was learn from her.

Tomorrow's another day right? Time to start breaking rocks with my fists and performing flying dropkicks. Bruce Lee, eat your heart out.