“Nina.”
“Mr Fuji, what’s up?”
“Here, I would like you to have these.” The items that the elderly spectre passed over to Nina were a stack of leatherbound journals, ancient and scarred, their pages yellowed and frayed, and clearly bound together by hand in its rusticity as opposed to sothing one might find off the shelf in a book store.
Nina let out a quiet gasp and gently picked up one of the journals, running her fingers through every grain and every mark inflicted upon its use throughout the years. “This is…?”
“The culmination of my life’s work.” Fuji chuckled. “Or what’s left of it anyway. The more detailed minutia of my research had long been pilfered by Giovanni and his ilk. But I did keep personal journals of my life.” The man sputtered. “In truth, I considered just disposing of them. But I overheard what you said to Agatha about the preservation of knowledge and figured if there was ever a person I can entrust my legacy to, it would be you.”
Nina frowned. “I stand by what I said but…” She briefly flipped through the journal housing the unfiltered thoughts of a younger Fuji — that of a genius scientist maddened by grief. “The contents in these journals, they might be a bit too sensitive for public archives.”
In truth, she felt a shiver just trying to imagine the sort of taboo knowledge contained within these pages. “Science was often advanced through less than ethical ans but still…”
The example of Eduard Pernkopf’s Atlas ca to mind, a Nazi mortician who experinted on political prisoners to create a comprehensive compendium on anatomy that was still used by the surgeons of Miles’ world even in the modern era.
Fuji nodded. “I understand your reluctance. I share the sa sentint, in fact. Because while these personal logs are shy on details, there’s no telling what lunacy they might inspire. That said, if you are uncertain then I would ask that you help relay them to Blaine instead. I trust that he is erudite enough to segnt them appropriately — censor so of their more controversial contents.”
Nina replied in affirmation. “Yeah, I think I’ll do that. Maybe we can even work with Professor Elm to safely archive them afterwards.” The Johton Professor was also an avid researcher of fossils and primordial Pokemon. No doubt he would gain great insight from Fuji’s work.
Fuji smiled, his eyes steeped in regret and sorrow. “Yes, you do that. My only wish is that so good may be derived from my accursed life.” The spectre of Fuji sobbed, motes of light scattering from the corner of his eyes.
“Oh what a failure I was… a despicable wretch blinded by self-serving ambition. It was never about Amber, I realise that now… All that ti spent isolated in my lab when I should have spent more ti with her instead!” Fuji cried, his spectral form wavering, steadily shifting into his younger self as a chilling wail emanated from his being. “Oh Amber… my daughter, my light… I’m so sorry! Forgive , forgive this useless father of yours!”
Nina sighed, hands cupped against her ears to protect her hearing. “I t Amber the other day, during the course of my dream.” She chid.
“W-What?”
The girl chuckled. “She was quite the peppy gal, swindled into a date and spent the entire ti teasing .”
“A-Amber?” Fuji stuttered, mouth gaping in disbelief. “But that’s impossible, I watch her light fade before my eyes. Do you even know what that feels like?! To have to witness the demise of my own child twice over?! The helplessness! The despair!” The phantom was outraged, to think that Nina would so blatantly deceive him like this.
The girl scowled. “I can assure you that I’m not lying. In fact…” Nina produced a piece of paper and so drawing implents from her bag before handing them over to Espy. “Mind helping out here, babe?”
Nina closed her eyes, and tried to recall those fleeting images of her dream. It was all so blurry now, even the face of Miles’ parents which she had tried so desperately to hold onto. And yet, for whatever reason, Amber’s smiling visage was as vivid as ever; those radiant, deep blue eyes, translucent strands of aqua-coloured hair, and that insufferably smug grin every ti she dropped a bombshell that made Miles squirm in discomfort.
Those images were transmitted to Espy who deftly recreated them in her drawing, even taking so artistic liberties to enhance Amber’s features and make the young woman seem more sparkly than she had any right to be.
Fuji gasped. “Amber… That’s Amber…” The girl in his mories was barely five years of age. Yet the portrait before his eyes depicted a stunning beauty; a mature and healthy woman in her twenties. The phantom of a long lost future — a future that could have been and could never be.
Fuji’s visage shifted once more, into the sa caring old man that Nina first t, his silhouette fading ever so slightly.
“Amber wanted to tell you; that it’s okay to let go now, and that she’ll be waiting for you on the other side…”
“Amber… My dear Amber… All this ti, you were with all along…” Fuji reached out for the portrait as he began to fade, his translucent form slowly dissolving into fleeting specks of light. Until finally, all that remained was an empty seat and a pastel drawing atop a stack of weathered journals.
Agatha scoffed. “Pfeh. That was unnecessary.”
Nina giggled. “I an hey, it serves the sa purpose right? Better to let him pass in peace than be consud by evil spirits.”
The girl had been holding back on relaying Amber’s parting words to Mr Fuji. Because she knew what would happen the mont that she did. Those words contained a daughter’s love for her father, salvation from the only one who truly mattered — the one person who could absolve Fuji of his sins.
The Odd Keystone binding Spiritomb shook violently and the entire mansion began to tremble. It was ti — ti to put an end to this curse.
“I hope you won’t disappoint, girl. Elsewise I’ll be haunting you for the rest of your life.”
Nina laughed. “I wouldn’t mind that too much, honestly. My own personal sage in a ring. But nevermind all of that, I believe you owe Gretel so parting words as well.” She gestured towards the older girl by her side whose head was lowered in grief as droplets of tears rained down upon her tightly clenched fists.
Agatha snorted and responded with a sharp glare, which Nina took to be a signal to give them so space. So she distanced herself from the pagoda and gestured for her Pokemon to gather for a eting.
“Alright, guys, you all know your roles.”
The Pokemon all cried out in tandem. Except for Dhelmise, who was clipped to Nina’s belt. She would let the eldritch seaweed loose when it was ti. Dhelmise was a wild card, so best to treat him accordingly.
“Azzy, we’re all counting on you to keep us safe, okay?”
“Gen! Gengar!” Nina’s number one bodyguard puffed her chest up and gave it a little smack, determined to ensure her family’s safety no matter what. It was the role that she trained for and she would not allow herself to fumble at such a critical juncture.
The grounds of the mansion trembled once more and Nina frowned as she took a peek back at the pagoda, where she could see that Gretel was practically screaming at her phantom guardian.
“Es…”
“I know, Espy…” The flow of Type Energy in the mansion had been thrown into chaos. It was only a matter of ti until Spiritomb broke out and Nina’s team needed to destroy the Odd Keystone at the source before the place collapsed entirely.
Nina sighed. And gestured for her Pokemon to get ready, which largely involved Azzy splitting from Nina’s shadow and entering Nitey’s. Just in ti as well, for the grieving form of Gretel to storm off in tears.
“Get started, girl!” Agatha called. “No sense in wasting anymore ti!”
“Right then, you heard the ghost lady.” Nina pulled the Key Stone pendant out of her shirt. “Nitey, Azzy.”
“Gen!”
“Nite!”
The ga Stone on Nitey’s collar glead as the tubby orange dragon was engulfed by a cloak of shadows, one bearing the demonic visage of Azzy — the glowing Gengarite on her forehead overlapping with Nitey’s light.
After much deliberation, Nina opted not to do a double ga, even with w’s indirect support. But after perusing Agatha’s archives, she did co up with an alternative idea — one that would allow both Azzy and Nitey to ga Evolve simultaneously with minimal strain.
“Azzy fusing with Nitey’s shadow effectively puts him in a state of possession.” Nina and Nitey began dancing as her Key Stone activated. “And so long as the two of them were willing, that would allow them to fall into sync and act as one singular entity.”
Their three lights lded into a swirling helix and the shadows turned white once more. Azzy surrendered herself to Nitey’s heartbeat, fully assimilating into his shadow while Nina and Nitey fell into the sa rhythm, silent music playing in their head.
And in the aftermath, erged a black-winged ga Dragonite wreathed in a cloak of alabaster shadow. Grey-blue flas of Will-O-Wisp surrounded his divine form, flickering and shifting constantly to present the phantom mirage of a ga Gengar’s playful glower.
The world turned mute even as the trembling continued, and Nina opened her eyes once more to a world devoid of color. But this ti, instead of fighting against the ennui of Limbo, they fell deeper into it, bringing with them the rest of the team in Azzy’s protective embrace.
Azzy wasn’t strong enough to take on Spiritomb on her own. But she needn’t be. Her role had always been that of a protector — the ever-present shadow looming over Nina and her team, ready to swoop in and secure her family at a mont’s notice.
So that was what she would do. In her ga form, Azzy’s role was to empower Nitey and to shield Nina and the rest of her Pokemon against the mind-breaking Aura of Spiritomb, as well as the anathemic effects that the shadow realm had against the living.
The first to fade was the sky, replaced by a sea of abyssal black. Then, the greenery, and in their place, a lifeless waste of grey waters and gloomy tendrils.
The mansion vanished too, leaving behind an impossible geotry of liminal formations, purple flas writhing and roiling as they flowed from one node to the next, up and down, left and right and in and out. A tangible manifestation of the occult ritual underpinning Lavender Mansion’s foundation and enough visual insanity to break the mind, forcing Nina to avert her gaze.
And in the middle of that formation, where once a pagoda stood, was an unholy amalgamation of screaming revenants; human faces, all wretched and disfigured, wailing voicelessly in anguish, their silent cries like a wave of chilling hatred against Nina’s soul.
“There, in the center. That’s our goal.” Within that storm of wretched souls was the crux of the Odd Keystone — an unsettling black fla pinned by nails and wrapped in talismans.
Being in Limbo was akin to subrsing oneself in water, but void of its comforting embrace — nothing but an all encompassing pressure suffocating them from all sides, like a lone submarine amidst abyssal waters.
Nina spoke, and yet her voice was absent, just as there was no air for them to breathe. But through their long standing bonds, her Pokemon understood her intent and readied themselves for battle.
A spectre approached, looking like the faded and decrepit husk of a once glorious bouquet of purple chrysanthemums grafted onto a flaming wooden staff.
Nina recognised it to be Agatha — her true visage in spiritual form.
“This is it, child. I will hold for as long as I can manage. Destroy that keystone. Put an end to this cursed lineage…”
The girl nodded. And with a snap of her fingers, a white shadow spread like ink on paper, just as a silver moon erged within the abyssal sky, piercing through death and entropy to reveal the army of purple wisps bearing down on their fated foe.
***
Author's note:
Sorry for the lateness. I forgot to schedule the chapter.
User Comments
0 comments from readers