Book Two: Vengeance, Chapter Fifteen-
Pressed against the mountainside, Rei had no where else to go. She had to fight to live. Emptying her pockets, all of her beasts, but one, the specter, emerged. Rocket looked over the four monsters and sulked.
"That's it?" His discombobulated expression twisted. "I was hoping you'd have something worth this thing's price," he complained, bouncing the "M" marked ball in his hand. "You don't realize how many times I have paid for this thing," he exhorted, "once for the research, once for its creation, once for its property damage, and again for its capture. These sorry excuses would barely even be worth my effort." Snarling, they lurched towards him. Not letting his fear show, he kept his smile up. "But I suppose it could use the workout." Tossing the ball high into the air, he flipped back out of its reach. Smashing against the ground with a mighty roar building up inside, twirling specks of light gradually materialized into the shape of an upright being, hovering in midair. Its limbs were long and lanky, its arms hung past its feet. As the form grew clearer, it was truly a sore sight. Muscle and bone bulged everywhere through its stark white skin as a pulsating tube lead from the back of its skull to its body. A writhing, purple tail swayed at its back side. Its face was most terrifying of all, for it was blank of all emotion. Its demeanor showed no feeling, petrified in a state of indifference, as its eyes were deep and void. Staring into them, Rei became lost in their emptiness, as if no soul was housed within.
"Why did you confine me?" The booming voice left no echoes in the canyon. It came from the titan before her, but its words came through mind instead of speech.
"It was just to transport you, M-2," Rocket insured. "I was looking out for your safety."
"I do not need your protection," it raged, "or your lies. I am inside your mind. I know your thoughts before do yourself." It faced him. "You did not have faith in me. You feared my power," it foretold, "just like the others who locked me up." It turned back to Rei. "This one fears me as well. Her thoughts are not well. I do not understand. None of you have been given reason for such horror."
"She fears us for our power," Rocket insisted. "She knows that we are mightier than her. Show her just how powerful you truly are, like you did for me before."
"Why must I destroy her?"
"Because it is what you do," he told.
"I am... destruction?"
"Yes," he yelled, growing annoyed with its questioning. Acceptance set in as the thing advanced. Outstretching her arm, Rei's self crafted spear slid out from her sleeve. "You wish to make it difficult? So be it," Rocket said as he signaled for the battle to commence, slipping from the scene. As she braced for action, the red, demon eyes and mischievous smile opened before her in the fabricated disaster's path.
On psychic wings, Mewtwo charged the horde of creatures, tossing them aside like leaves in the wind. Regrouping, they all expelled globs of venom or spirit that feel short on the creature's cubic barrier. Taking a different approach, Squishy and Poppy released their toxins, but they seemed to be prevented from entering its body as a divine aura encompassed it. Cinder, deeply concentrated on his opponent and its shield, focuses all of his spite and malice, bound forward in a fury of leaps, springing straight above once beneath the mental titan. He struck its underside sure and hard, but no where near the strength needed. Drawing back its leg, it sent the flame dog sailing into the rubble pile of the reduced cliff edge. A chilling streak of the night's wrath then routed down its spine as the grinning demon struck from behind. Constructing further walls, the darkness ignored extrasensory powerhouse's efforts. The shadows had it surrounded. Nothing could prevent its wicked bite. As the horror planned retaliation, pink, pretty petals drifted down from the sky. Thoroughly bewildered, it felt the smacking of loose limbs below, finding Poppy in the center of the rosy vortex, twisting around clumsily until it got dizzy and fell over.
"Now it is my turn," Mewtwo declared. Throwing back its arms, a metaphysical dome grew out from it, shoving away all that were in its reach. Using only a fraction of its telekinetic abilities, it blasted Poppy high into the air. Not even bothering to face Vengeance, it directed an assault the ghost's way. Sensing it, the specter had already vanished and relocated to a spot that vile construction had already known of, falling for the trap and taking a large dose of psychic distress. A plentitude of tendrils slipped around its form as Squishy pulled it to earth. Morbidly detesting confinement, it devastated the jellyfish with an overwhelming mind bender. Anticipating this move, having provoked the behavior to begin with, returned the force of the blow amplified as the two were thrown apart from each. Mid-flight, the beast found Poppy on its descent and catapulted him the sea creature's way. Either barely hanging onto consciousness, the collision subdued both of them. Lifting its finger, it deflected a shot from the Gengar before it thumped the ghost with another telepathic wave. The ricochet headed towards Rei on her way to tend the brutalized Flareon. Unable to flee from its path, the attack dissipated before reaching her. It was these occasions that she was glad her phantom protector watched over her even when it was in battle, though she did not quite understand how it was capable of it.
Mewtwo desired to finish off Cinder, but, on its course, a troubling thought came over it, like it had forgotten something. Upon its realization that there were five monsters from the start, a numbing, creeping pain swept through its mind, leaving a distracting ringing behind. Wincing from the pain, it looked up to find Goopy, gape-mouthed, binding its mind. Ripping open its mind to outpour unbound mental power, it suddenly forgot how. With a wide, putrid smirk, the slime mound seeped a thin mist that, rising upward, dissolved the scientists' regret's fortifications. Surprising from his build, the Muk jumped forward, smearing the foe with his corrosive body. Taking his unshapely fists, the polluted pile beat it down with searing acid until, with a malicious gleam of the eyes, memory returned. The scum load erupted, strewn as droplets of filth against the crag. Returning to its earlier task, before the bleeding fire beast, it found the girl acting as guard, weapon and all.
"Do you not value your life," it questioned while seeking a name, "Rei?" She stood firm. "You would sacrifice your own life to salvage a failure?" The girl remained still. "Your beliefs amuse me. Unfortunately, that will not save you." Enraged, she charged with her spear, but, in a flash, it felt like her brain was trying to break from her skull. Gritting her teeth, she had fallen to her knees but maintained a gruelingly pace towards Mewtwo, never abandoning her effort. "If you think you can stand up to me, human? What you have witnessed is an immeasurable grain in contrast to my full potential." As she nearly came into range, it increased the force, knocking Rei back to her onset. Not bothering to wipe the blood trickling from her nose, she struggled back to her feet, bearing the pain. "Mortal, I can feel your fear, your pain. Let me hear your screams. Let me feed off your torment," it ordered of her, applying more pressure. Sanguine tears and red from her ears dripped down her face as she forced herself to take a step forward, yet her teeth stayed clenched, denying its request. Rejecting all sense, she sprang her pike forward and, despite blinding pain, landed it deep in the abomination's shoulder.
The bass bellow tore throughout the canyon, carrying for miles. The great noise stirred Cinder, who awakened to the sight of his master kneeling before the genetic fault. Raising its hand, it became enveloped in a surge of power. As it whipped back its hand to hurtle the bolt of electricity, Rei was downed. In a burst of energy, the Flareon had come up from behind, knocking his master from the lightning, and boosted himself, with not the notion of hate but the return of her selfless deed and love, into its trajectory, absorbing all of its might. Thrown with such magnitude, his smoking body, turned stark white from the shock, continued onward, striking the clone on the head. Jarring its psychic hold as it faltered about, Rei took the point to the tube on the creation's back, severing it. A mess of fluids poured out from the openings while it cringed and recoiled. During its time of withering and howls, she thrust her lance through its body before she went off to assist her own beasts. Regardless of which one she sought, their condition was the same, unmoving yet alive. Poppy, Squishy, Goopy, and Cinder, all of them were taken down. Slightly relieved, she went to finish the job only to find her spear, laying on the ground, snapped in half. The wounds, the cuts, the holes, any damage they had managed to cause Mewtwo was melting away. It had taken all they had, and now it was all to waste.
"Rei," a sickly, raspy voice called out to her. The dark, pointy body of Vengeance appeared before her, holding its side. It was badly injured. "Get somewhere safe," it hissed. "Somewhere far away and safe." Her eyes filled with tears as she obeyed its command, inside, knowing what it was about to undertake. Her critters back in her possession, she ran as fast as her wounds would allow, hoping it was quick enough. Unable to wait much longer, not wanting the reconstitution to become full again, the Gengar bulleted the direction of the destroyer. Its ruby eyes taking up a white glow, its entire body soon verged with light. Its form shrunk as the deadly gases that composed its make compacted. At the time it came upon Mewtwo, the pressure built up had grown critical, and it needed release. Though a grand distance away, the force of the explosion could still be felt by Rei, strong enough to knock her from her feet, as the sky was fed its light. Debris and pieces blown from the sheer walls barreled down her way along with the deafening rumble, but, as if guarded, she remained unscathed. Hurrying with as much speed her limp would grant to her to see if the ordeal was finally at an end, the sight was not accepted by her eyes. Imprinted into the rock wall, skin and muscle torn from the bone, the immortal's eyes roused, awash with a blue haze that flooded to the reaches of its body. The sacrifice made by Vengeance was for naught.
"Why can you not acknowledge," the undying asked while its face reconstructed, "that I cannot be destroyed? How could one ever hope to destroy destruction itself?"
"Because you must," Rei gasped. "You must be stopped."
"It is because of what you are," it heard from Rocket's thoughts, stepping out from the shadows.
"What is this riddle? What am I?" It scanned his musing.
"You are power," it heard from him, "and she envies that." Ignoring his words which it knew were false, it perceived, "... you are a weapon..."
"... Weapon?" it reflected. "Why am I this?" it demanded, probing his mind for further answers, but Rocket resisted, closing his mind. "I said why!" Its brain reading grew so intense, that Rocket collapsed onto the ground, blood draining from his nose. A shadow of awe hung on his face as it retrieved more information than it desired to know.
"It is why you are," Rocket's thoughts lingered. "You were created for my purpose, not born. You are different from all other life, for your life is meaningless to world, it does not exist. You were made for my power, to be my puppet, for me to exploit and use to cultivate my greed. You were made to destroy my enemies. You are the epitome of vice and wrong. You are destruction." It wafted, its mind completely devastated, as the thoughts continued, growing crueler and more intense. Slowly, its deformed fingers clenched into fists of rage. With a wave of its hand, the communion ceased. As its arm lowered, its head dropped as well, arching its back. Hunched over and breathing heavy, its eyes were infested with dementia.
"I have no life," it told itself, "yet I am alive. All things alive must live." It remained in deep contemplation. "But my life, all of my life, was made to destroy?" Its gaze slowly drifted towards its master's location, in a pool of his own blood. "Then, I shall live." Its eyes turned bright white as Rocket was propelled through the air where his body shattered against the cliff edge, but his punishment did not end there. Repetitively, the clone smashed the man into the stone face, eventually dropping him as a mangled heap to the ground where, amazingly, he still breathed.
"W-what... are you doing?" gagged Rocket, spitting blood.
"I am living," it informed him in grim abruptness, "as you told me." Releasing his power, the bluffs began to crumble, tumbling down. Rei quickly headed away from the wholesale destruction as the genetic abomination ranted on. "I am alive and must live. I live so that I may destroy. I must destroy to stay alive." It had lost its mind. The blow it had taken to its psyche threw it into a berserker fit. It had lost all control. Destroying anything and everything in sight, it eventually turned to Rei. Its frenzy eyes laid upon her as sick thoughts dwelled through its mind. "Everything must be destroyed," it restated.
"Are you living? Or are you just the shadow of another man's hate?" Mewtwo was halted by the question, its complex mind yielding to such inquiries. Rocket coughed more on his own fluids. "You are much like me, years ago. As the first leader of the Rockets resigned, I vowed to take his place and not wander astray from the same goal he did. But, as I took up his power, I took his vices as well. The corruption set in, and, soon, Rocket was worse than when I had first ascended to its throne." He choked, paining as he spoke yet continued. "I have seen the folly of my ways, much like the one before me, and I pray that all the souls we have wronged can forgive us." His head dropped to the side, staring down his sorrow. "In taking up your plight of desolation, you have inherited the curse of the Rockets. Their loss now weighs on you alone, and you are destined to fail, just like those before you," the words slipped from his mouth, growing increasingly quieter as his eyes went shut. "I actually feel sorry for you. You can't fear death. You were never really alive." After the dead silence that followed, the mistake rampaged and vented.
"No, you are wrong, human," it insisted. "I shall succeed! You will pay for your insolence," it angrily spouted at him.
"What are you going to do," a question came from Rei, "kill him again?" The creature was infuriated. Drawing its hands together, it channeled all the energy it could into a sphere between them. Having exhausted her spectrum of monsters, broken her weapon, and damage that prevented her from fleeing, there was little, if anything, she could. "Just remember," she spoke up, "that you will never win." She clutched her amulet. "No matter what." Unchaining the psychical barrage, the force soared at her. The area at which she stood crumbled, turning to dust, as the entire area was blighted. Rei remained unmarred. Right before her, the current of the attack deflected, creating a pocket of safe space around her. In the origin of the fork seemed to be a presence that bore some familiarity to her. As her eyes became opened, a black orb, fuming smoke, appeared, blocking the ray and protecting her. It, too, became visible to Mewtwo, who then ceased its attack. Appearing on its front side were two, devilish, disembodied eyes. A fang mouth soon followed, emitting a low wailing sound that dropped a curtain of shadows around them all that blocked out even the rain. Bit by bit, the uninterrupted blackness sprouted eyes as shapes emerged from behind them. Soon, the wall could not be seen. It had transformed into a swarm of souls wronged by Rocket. All of them mourning in pain for delivery, for justice, for revenge.
Mewtwo stared about in complete stupor, overwhelmed by the shear number. Thousands of spirits teemed around it, preventing escape. The single shade before Rei ascended higher to the middle of the column, demanding serenity. Open its mouth, a lone voice cut through the eerie tranquility, beginning the serenade of the damned. Whisking across the masses, each apparition joined the chant, all using one voice. It was Rei's tongue sounding her father's work.
"... The devil has come, his prize to claim, I hear him now crying out your name." Far on the horizon, a green speck appeared. I was approaching the group with great speed. Mewtwo launched a bolt of mental energy at the lead Gastly, but three others threw themselves in its path, dissipating to nothing.
"... Death's hand's outstretched, awaiting your toll, To the fiery abode, he'll ferry your soul." The sickly rider was closing on him fast. Its form could be seen. A dark, tattered cloak was about its shoulders as it rode a decaying steed. Behind it trained the fury of Hell. Again, the mistake attacked, this time endlessly. A score of phantoms dove at each volley, intercepting them at the ultimate cost. They packed in closer to it, but it just slaughtered them at the swing of an arm. It did not matter to them, for each one could be replaced by countless others.
"... For it'd be safer for you to dwell, In the blazing depths of Hell." The horseman was now upon them. An invisible force pushed Rei to the edge of the darkness as, with scythe raised, the green armored manifestation rode through the legion. In one felled swipe of the wicked sickle, the essences of all drifted from their falling, lifeless bodies. The last thing Rei saw before the green rider's harvest was taken up by the trailed freight, was the image that arose from the first of the phantasms that she saw, that of the three pronged incectoid warrior she once knew. As the horseman galloped from sight, it was followed by the light of a new day, dispelling the veil of darkness in its wake.
"Is it over?" the dying voice of Rocket asked. Surprised of his life, she rushed to his side. "Is it finally over?"
"Yes," she assured him with a smile. "It finally is."
The setting sun cast far shadows from three monuments. Rei had spent the whole day erecting them. One to the leader of the Rockets as proof of his accepted repentance. The second was for Mewtwo, not for the terrible monster itself but as a sign of pity and warning against such mimicry in the future. The last, and greatest, of the three was dedicated to those close to her that she had lost, for, now, they could truly rest. On the four beams of the cross were laid Flubit's staff, propped up against the bottom, the vessels of Wrath and Vengeance, each on the side, and, on top, her father's knife and overcoat. She sat, staring at the setting sun from behind the constructs. As it left view, she stood up and approached the central tomb. Taking her father's knife, she thought of how all of her life was now over. There was nothing left for her to do. She knew that she could not live in the past forever. Taking the blade to her neck, footsteps approached her.
"Are you alright?" It was the concerned voice of Shade. "From the looks of it, you had yourself quite a battle."
"Yeah," she answered, "I'm just fine." She followed through with her plan. Wiping the blade, she set it back and walked towards Shade, but he could sense something different about her movement. His gaze passed from between what laid at the base of the grave and Rei.
"Did you..." He trailed off.
"Yes. It was representative of my past," she explained. "Besides, it was getting long. I don't think I cut my hair throughout this entire ordeal." She looked at him. "So how'd you find me?"
"Strange sightings followed by a path of destruction," he smirked. "Those always seem to point your way." He looked down to find a dark bundle in Rei's hands. "What is that?"
"A memento," she replied, referring to the piece of cloth. She walked towards where Yasha had landed, cautiously pocketing a domino in the black jacket. "So are you going to be giving me a lift or not?"
"Where to?"
"It doesn't matter," she weakly responded. "I'll make due." As the Crobat carried the two out of the ruined valley, she could only think of the dying words of the Rocket Leader.
"You must succeed where I and my predecessor have failed. You must redeem Rocket..."
