The Becoming: Chapter 9

I awaken slowly to the ache of my body and the loud sounds of cracking trees and explosions in the distance.

"Hrrrgh..." I manage.

"Reason!" Gallant says, and I see the Garchomp's form leaning over me with concern.

"What happened?" I ask.

"Regigigas went berserk again...Nodi is here to battle it, though."

I sit up so suddenly that my head begins to spin with dizziness and Gallant has to steady me so that I don't fall out of the tree.

"Reason--"

"You can't let Nodi fight Regigigas!" I say, much louder than necessary.  "It isn't evil, just frustrated and longing for a challenging opponent."

"Well, Nodi will be that opponent, then," Gallant says.

"Can you see what's happening?" I whisper.  Even as I say this, I cast my emotions out towards the fight.  Nodi's aura glows like a beacon of hope, but Regigigas' aura is harsh and cold, turned into a blind and uncontrollable rage once more.

Gallant reports what she can see with her sharp eyesight.  "Nodi just used..."

"What?"

"She just used Superpower," Gallant says, the awe in her voice clear.  "I didn't know she knew a move like that."

"She's so much stronger than she lets on," I comment.

"I think she's pushing it into retreat," Gallant reports.  "Back towards the temple."  She pauses.  "Yes, yes!  It's working!"

"Can't we help her?" I ask, though I already know what the answer will be.

"She said not to interfere," Gallant murmurs.

"I wish we could help..." I say wistfully.

"Doesn't look like she needs help," Gallant says.  "Yes, it's almost back to the temple...they're very close..."  Suddenly, she lets out a small gasp.  "No!"

"What?!"

"NO!"  Gallant throws herself from the tree, and I manage to grab the end of her tail as she rushes towards where Nodi was fighting the creature.

"Gallant!" I shout.

"No, no, NO!" Gallant screams as she tears through the sky.  I catch a glimpse of what Gallant has been so panicked about.  Moments ago Nodi had been dominating the fight--until Regigigas caught her in a Crush Grip.

"Get off her!" Gallant roars, diving at the creature.  Gallant lands a Dragon Rage attack square on Regigigas' body, and the Pokémon releases Nodi from its grip before falling back into the temple.  The temple seems to sense its prisoner has returned and its entrance slams shut, sealing Regigigas back in the temple once more.

"Oh Arceus!" Gallant says as she lands clumsily, rushing towards where Nodi is lying on the ground.  I rush to Nodi's side next to her, staring down at the battered body of my teacher, my mentor, my caretaker.

"G-Gallant?" Nodi manages to choke out.  She doesn't seem to be able to focus on either of our faces.

"Shh, don't try to talk," Gallant whispers.  "You'll be okay...we'll get you back to your cave..."

"You s-stopped Regigigas?"  Nodi speaks in the merest of whispers.

"Y-yes," Gallant stammers.

Nodi gives a tiny nod of her head, and then lets out a cough.  "Good.  Then my work here is done."

"No!" Gallant says.  "Nodi, you can't--!"

"Don't worry about me," she says.  "You and Reason are strong now.  You can only move forward."

"Nodi..." I whisper.

"And you, Reason," Nodi says to me.  "Your pain transformed into strength, your abilities honed to perfection.  But you still have much to learn..."

"Nodi!" Gallant says, and I can see tears streaming down her face.  "Nodi, you can't leave us!"

"We need you," I whisper beside Gallant.

"All things must come to an end," Nodi says, her voice barely a whisper now.  "But perhaps this isn't goodbye.  Perhaps we shall meet again in another lifetime."  Her eyes slide shut even as Gallant's sobs shatter the deathly silence that has fallen over this place.  My own tears fall into the snow and onto Nodi's motionless body.  The Pokémon who gave me a second chance and a new life...gone, with her own life crushed from her.

"We'll remember her," I manage to choke out as Gallant wails her anguish at the sky.  I don't try to hold back my own tears.  Everything I am is because of Nodi.  If not for her, I would have died nameless and alone all those months ago.  Nodi gave me a purpose, an identity.  Even the name I carry belonged to her until she gave it to me, entrusting me with my own identity.

I don't know how long Gallant sobbed and I cried, but our mourning is broken by the sound of a footstep crunching on the snow.  Gallant and I turn around simultaneously, and the dark form of Snark appears behind us.

"Shown  up by you two again," he growls.  "You even got Nodi's last words."  He narrows his eyes at the body of the Nidoqueen.

Beside me, Gallant tenses.  Before I can stop her she tackles the Sneasel, slashing him and beating him and crushing him.  Her loss is channeled into anger.  I don't need my aura abilities to see that.

"You filthy Sneasel!" she screams, slamming him into the ground.  "You worthless traitor!"  A slash.  "How can you live with yourself, knowing that you did this!"  Tears stream down her face but she does not wipe them away.  She stands above the cowering Sneasel, and I sense she is ready to silence the creature forever.

"Gallant!" I say from behind her.  "Stop."

"How can I, Reason?!" she sobs.  "After what he has done to us!  To Nodi!"

"Then let him live with knowing what he did," I say evenly.  But I am not about to let the Sneasel go easily, either.

"Listen up, Snark," I say, now speaking for both Gallant and myself.  "I swear upon the plates of Arceus...that if we ever see you again, we will kill you for all the horror you caused on this day."

Snark sneers at us, and then without a word turns and races off through the snow.  Soon the shadowy trees obscure him from view.

I turn back to Gallant, who is crouched in the snow.  Slowly, I approach her.

"Come on, Gallant," I say.  "We should put Nodi to rest in a proper way."