The End of Utopia

[Satoshi_Red]

A summary: A dystopian future, where masterballs have swept the wild pokemon from the earth. Not sure of rating, sorry. Probably PG-13?

/read calmly please. Starting now.

- - -

The city was barren.

Trash lifted, briefly carried by the wind, newspapers and dust, all showing signs from days long past. Not a soul was in sight.

Good. If they realized, if they realized what she held-- But no. Best not to think it. Thoughts could be read, could be heard. By them. One's mind was not private any more-- but like whispers and shadows, some thoughts could not be easily heard or seen. Silence filled the mind, and unthinking instinct took over, as easily as it came to other poor masses that roamed the streets, unseen, unheard, unfelt.

The body ducked behind a broken wall, stepping carefully past the broken glass, and sat down, glancing about like a rat.

Small, smooth hands, bony from lack of nutrition, dirty and smelly and brown, carressed a single, smooth, transparent ball. Behind the blue sheen of the surface, small gadgetry could be seen, working like clockwork, intricate and metal. There was no symbol.

Whirring of the copter, making it's daily pass was heard, and quickly the small child-- no, small and malnourished young woman, ducked under her brown-gray coat, matching the exact color of the pebbly alley. Light shone into shadows where the unfriendly sunlight did not normally dare, but soon passed over.

She was safe. It was safe.

It was tucked underneath, into her coat, and she scurried across the ground, darting on all fours, not daring to think of herself for a moment as human, not daring to think at all, lest the psychics know she was there.

Quickly she scurried across the ground, near toward the center of the familiar, broken city. Others stared at her, briefly, but their faces meant nothing to her. Like an insect, she poked at a piece of overgrown vine crawling over a mostly-intact house, and then pulled a chunk off hurriedly, running to the shadows and stuffing it in her mouth, chewing at the unutritious thing. Then she spotted a man not far from her, squating with a piece of bread, trying to go unnoticed. Glancing down at her own food, she glared at it, before leaping at him, making a furious but silent grab for his stale loaf, desperate for something marginally edible.

The skinny woman was hardly a match normally, but this man was just as skinny and starving as her, and so they tussled, biting and knocking and yanking and clawing, until bruised and satisfied, they untangled with no hard feelings and she creeped away with half a loaf of bread in her hand, chewing happily, glancing down at her other prize.

The last pokemon, free on earth, now in her grasp. The only creature normally able to run away before a single ball was thrown, before the masterballs used by them, the humans, which she viewed with disgust and respect, but only because she did not view herself as human anymore.

Suicune. How magnificent you are.

She froze, realizing. She had thought. Such was forbidden.

Cold, sweeping death reached out for her.

Quickly stuffing it away safely, she threw herself upon the ground, shrieking for forgiveness.

"I not human! Not, not! Sorry for thinking, sorry for thinking!" She ducked her head, willing herself to project the image that she believed she was not worthy to look, to see, to know. Willing herself to know that such was so, as probing tendrils touched her mind, and she heard it approach.

She felt a flying kick be applied to her stomach, and willingly she rolled over, eyes shut, nonresistant to whatever torture they would offer her.
But as soon as it had happened, they were gone.

Her eyes opened, staring first thing straight at an old paper. It exuberantly proclaimed on the front page 'First Master Balls mass produced!' on the cover, and the picture of various members of the elite, the rich, the famous, all holding one with smiles. The paper called itself the Goldenrod Ages, but she herself did not know the actual name of the city she was in. Perhaps it was that. Perhaps it was not. Now it was nameless, like all it's inhabitants. She had been born after all the rare, and then common pokemon had been swept off the earth.

The divide between upper and lower class had increased exponentionally, as the land suddenly buckled while the lucky continued to prosper. Animals unable to compete with pokemon suddenly flourished once more, tiny creatures that had slipped by the cracks of competitive notice by taking themselves down on the bottom of the food-chain. Rats and mice, real mammalian ones, toads, and cockroaches and maggots, scum and mold. Now the world was theirs, in the few places that weren't deserts.

Nameless, for that what things with no name are named, only poorly understood all this. Her reading was terrible, despite the knowledge littered around her in letter form, in clippings and scrapheaps and broken signs.

And she only understood, really, that somehow that tiny little ball, that she found on the street by chance, that she had seen the last god of the forsaken lands disappear in, was worth more than her life, was worth more than the entire rabble of animals who looked like her and looked strangely like humans, but somehow weren't more than dust.

And the young, brown or possibly black haired young woman, with her fair dirty face and nails and eyes, could not understand in the slightest all the means for which it could be meant. In fact, running through her mind was only the thought of how she might use it to get into the place.

And if not the place, perhaps it could be bartered for good food and protection? The secrets, and even the very idea of training or using the god-beast, were lost to her, closely guarded for use by the members of the place, and utterly incomprehensible to her.

When all was quiet, she dared to approach the gates.

Men and women stared at her, daring to stick their heads out, remembering well what happened last time someone went to the gates, the gates from which them walked out if they so wished, to search for the last creatures. The last time, that someone had been brutally and utterly killed, and made such an example of that not even their dust still existed in the world.

Trembling, one hand on the little ball, she knocked against the towering, over a hundred foot tall black gate.

Silence.

She cleared her throat, not having talked except to scream for ages. "E... Ellaoh? Niooh ody here?" Her voice came out almost like a cracked whisper, in garbled english, but, as she saw moments later, rather unneededly, as almost as soon as she finished talking, the doors slowly swung open, blinding light coming out from them. She trembled horribly as two darkly and well dressed figures stepped out, real live humans, standing straight and daring, she assumed, to think. A strange black stick-like device was carried by each of them, with a pointed end that could probably skewer her if they so desired.

Not a word was uttered as they turned simultaneously to face her, and one bent their stick down to poke her in the tummy, a silent demand.

Quickly, she showed them a small section of the ball, holding it protectively in her hands low against her dirty coat. Their eyes widened, and suddenly, one smiled.

"Very well, Miss..."

"Ain't gotta na 'ame." She spoke, making one almost wince at her poor grasp of language.

"Miss Joan, then." The door opened wide, and the blinding white almost swallowed her. They gently but demandingly pushed her forward, in, inward--

"Welcome to Utopia." Their voices stated, as she disappeared into the void of white.

--/ want to see more?

 

[Banov]

Wow, very good. Emotional, tense, raises a lot of intriguing questions and puts the main character in an interesting fix. Very original. Right now, the only thing I can say about it tha might be improved is the pace; this was an excellent start, yes, but as chapters go on I hope it's not going to be chapter after chapter of this same struggle.

Come to think of it, this might make an excellent short story.

I found but one mistake...

The last time, that someone had been brutally and uttered killed, and made such an example of that not even their dust still existed in the world.

You probably meant "utterly." Though that's still an awkward adverb to use there.

 

[Satoshi_Red]

heh

I guess you could say that's a word I'm used to using. I just seem to recall reading lots of sentences where 'utterly' was used. Yeah, I did mistype that one. Thanks.

No, the next chapter will be at a much faster pace... And probably like a bajillion words long or something. -_- Sometimes I hate my writing style.

I was thinking originally as leaving it as a one-shot, really... But I think I'll make it slightly longer than that.

 

[Satoshi_Red]

Dystopia

The first thing she noticed about the halls when her eyes adjusted was that they were cold. The air blowing in from outside was warm, a steamy, uncomfortable heat, and the wind disappeared the moment the doors closed.

The second thing about the halls were their height and shape. Luminous white, with lights on the sides of the walls brightly destroying every shadow. Tapestries of elegant gold, silver, and pearls decorated the walls, of such massive size that she could hardly fathom how anyone could be 'big enough' to use them, or why anyone would want to hang such pretty clothes on the wall instead of wearing them.

They walked through them, their weapons held firmly behind her back at all times. Nervously she wondered if she was going to be a human now, or if they were simply going to kill her. Her bare, shoeless feet scuffed across the smooth, unmarked floor, leaving behind a visible trail of tan and soot colored footprints.

Suddenly, the two guards turned to a dead end and walked forward. She wondered if they were mad and trying to walk through it, but they stopped and began to speak to it, which was even stranger. She noticed a strange gray little box on it, and a round black stick-box thingy with a shiny clear part. Disturbingly, it swerved to look at her.

"Requesting permission to go forward. We have a… visitor. They have a master ball with them." Their voices were smooth and, in comparison to herself, well-educated.

Just as she was prepared to run in fright, certain these human creatures were horribly insane, a weird voice broke though, which she swore came from the box.

"Permission granted."

She was startled as suddenly the ground around her moved.

Downwards they plummeted, and she leapt at the ceiling in fear, hoping to claw her way through it and escape before they crashed. Suddenly a hand grabbed at hers and pulled her down, and she shook in fear, not understanding how they could be so calm. Still, during the entire time, she clutched in one hand the blue and silver ball, so miniscule yet she dreaded
what would happen if she left it.

It all slowed to a halt, and she was yanked upward into standing by the irritated guard. He pulled her forward, and instead of another set of halls, she saw an incredibly wide room, with multiple openings and staircases, and a glass-ceiling that looked out to the sky. Trees, grass and bushes grew in nice strips, between which people would walk, milling about their own business. It was like a world inside an impossibly large building, containing within shops and parks and gardens, and even 'houses'.

But they did not go to any of those. They walked across a path surrounded by tall, glaring statues of men and women, to a towering, fascinatingly designed door, with many zoomorphic shapes engraved upon it.

A ROAR sounded out.

Her eyes widened as her head turned, a powerful flame-colored dog at least twelve feet high leaped toward her, with a mane of sheer, clean white that matched its fangs. Black stripes marked the trunk-like legs of muscle, as they pounded toward her. Her body froze, unable to move as it leaped toward her.

"Stop. Retinal, desist this."

It stopped immediately, digging its claws inward to the floor, and obediently lowered the fangs. The large tongue from it rolled, saliva flecking on to her from the sheer closeness of the mouth.

A well-dressed man came forward from behind the slobbering hound, and glanced at her for a moment as if she was an annoying speck. He wore a golden-lined blue vest, and silken white undershirt, and black, embroidered robe.

"Why did you bring me this thing?" He demanded, acting as if not only did he have the right to pretend she wasn't there or worth acknowledging, but that the very guards themselves were beneath him. Her eyes widened at this, wondering why two fellow humans treated each other this way.

They bowed their heads. "Noble Cascade, we meant no offense. This wretch holds a pokemon. You know as well as I that all the pokemon have been believed to be hunted down… Excepting one, and one only."

His eyes widened almost unperceivably quickly, before settling again into a face of cold, pretended disinterest. "Ah. So you believe she has stolen one. Very well, as lord of this estate I shall deal with it and take it from--"

"No," The guard stated, not noticing his lord's odd quickness to desire to deal privately with her. "I mean, I think she has it. The eternal wanderer, the last free legend of the earth--" The guard, who she now knew as young, spoke quickly and excitedly, hoping to curry favor.

"Do not speak such nonsense. Why do you think the elite stopped looking for him?" He scowled. "Like Mew or the hob monster that mothers tell their children stories of, it is nothing more than a myth."

The other guard, clearly with a little more sense, winced as the other continued on. "But… I heard that you saw him with your very own eyes."
Something flashed in the man's eyes, but perhaps it was imagination.

"That… Is a story, that you would do well best not to spread, young Barbados."

Barbados flinched, but nodded. Meanwhile, the large fiery dog was sniffing 'Joan', who sniffed him back while quietly listening and watching, trying to make sense of it all.

"Nonetheless," He glanced between them all, calculating something. "We will bring the matter to higher authorities." Lord Cascade smirked. "Yes… Both of you. You have done well. You are temporarily relieved from your old duties."

The guards turned, looking pleasantly surprised as they prepared to leave.

Heart beating wildly, she stood up, and walked forward, standing in front of him and waving the blue ball, and pointing at it. "What o' me o' me? Me gots poke-men. You gots poke-men. Me then humen, right? I allow to think?" She spoke in a garbled, horribly accented manner.

"What did she say?" Blinked one of the guards, unable to interpret her version of language.

The noble looked at her, surprised, as if he had almost forgotten she was there. "I suppose you may, if you've got a thought in that dirty little head of yours to think."

She nodded, head fluttering that she had not been smite on the spot. I human!

"By the elite, you stink." His nose wrinkled. "By the way, I did not dismiss you," Cascade spoke, referring to the guards this time. "I have a new task for you. Give this ignorant walking trash heap a bath and--" He looked back at her. "My word. Is that coat all you have to wear? --And get it some proper clothes."

What are nobles? She pondered. not really offended by his comments, knowing it was probably true. It not sound like 'ype of yummy thing. Like kind of hymen-- human.

Her bright brown eyes wandered once more to the dog. "What that?" She said, very slowly, figuring they were stupid if they couldn't understand plain English. It was strange how they couldn't especially when they talked so incredibly much.

"An Arcanine." The older guard stated bluntly, before leaving to carry out the lord's orders. The ceiling still seemed strange to her, blocking out the sky simply to replace with glass that could let one see the sky anyway. It seemed nonsensical.

But then, what could one expect from such strange creatures as huma-- as her own kind?

- - -

The warm metal of the ball comforted her as she listened to them, the nobles, drone on. Her hair was still wet from the bath, and she was upset they'd taken her coat away. Admittedly, what she wore now was soft and silky-- but it was not familiar, and the teal buttons confused her slightly.
Purple eyes stared at her keenly, glowing. The feline had not stopped looking at her once, and she shuddered, feeling certain it was somehow probing her mind, desiring any moment now to kill her for her audacity to think. But it did not. Instead, not even bothering to blink or stop staring, it licked a paw carefully, before placing it on the floor by its masters feet.

"It is absurd. She is one of the mere nameless- spineless creatures that drag on resources and thieve whenever allowed to exist. It is a pity one can't detect them with psychics since they don't think." She snapped back to attention, realizing they were finally discussing her self.

"What I don't understand is why you permit them on your property, Leo. And now this. Allowing one within doors-- disgusting. They aren't like us." A female voice spoke.

"On one hand, she does possess a pokemon. That makes her on par at least with some of our lowest members." Leo Cascade broke in, surprising her with his defense. "Don't you remember the old laws? Anyone with a pokemon and willing to give it to us could enter our gates and become a member of society."

"Those laws haven't been in use since the hunts. Back then, at least some of the poor rabble could still read. That was a hundred years ago, and the hunts have been called off. All the pokemon are gone. And I for one am not convinced that she possesses one." The espeon stared at her as its master spoke. From the rows of seats where she sat, she was hardly noticeable to them, but the feline, with keen eyes, could easily watch her every move.

"Yes. Why don't you convince her to give it up? After all, the law you quote, the point of it was giving up the pokemon they found, not keeping it."

"She will not." Leo sighed. "I heard that she even took it with her into the tub." Yet, strangely, Noble Cascade did not look as troubled by this as he sounded. It seemed rather false. Leo fixed the saddest, most reluctant face he could muster. "She seems rather concerned… with being treated as a human. Perhaps if I could adopt her into my house--"

A roar of outrage greeted him from the other nobles.

"Absolutely not!"

"Out of the question! She's not even sentient! You might as well adopt a candlestick."

"Hmm, I suppose that'd be fine."

"--And how exactly do you benefit from this, Lord Cascade?"

Leo tried to look insulted by this, but the momentary pleased sly look on his face canceled his efforts out. "Benefit?" He rolled the word slowly. "If this is indeed the last wild beast of the world, we should do our best to capture it into our own hands. The hunt our forefathers started will finally be finished. Better it be my lowly, humble house than yours, great Lord Reshal of House Lavender." He bowed his head.

Reshal did not look the slightest bit fooled by this, but simply fixed him with an apathetic stare. "Very well. If your house does make itself the fool…" He dropped it off, trailing the last word. "But then, you would not if you did not have good reason. Yet, I do not see a reason why I should forbade it." He admitted.

"I do. Does not one of you care that she--"

"Hold your tongue. Let us now see it, unless you intend to stall even further, Noble."

Slowly she stepped forward, cradling the ball possessively. To her, it was not worth all this. She simply wanted some food, and to not have them kill her on the spot or throw her out without some reward for her trouble.

Looking down at it, she turned it about, not knowing how to work it. Their glares made her hasty, so without much hesitation she pressed on a small, smooth silver button.

Something exploded outward, a terrible gust of force knocking her off her feet, and she stared, awed as it appeared like a mirage gaining form, ribbons whirling everywhere as large blue paws touched upon the floor. The nobles immediately stood up. An elegant massive head peered outward from the trail of flowing ribbons and wind, golden bestial eyes revealing themselves as they opened once more.

As they took everything in, the lips curled back into a snarl.

"Suicune."


- - -
…Fun so far? Shorter than I was expecting. I usually write like ten pages for a chapter.
-_- My apologies. I thought this would go faster in pacing.

 

[Ladnek]

It's very good. I like your word choise, how discriptive you are, and the story is very good, too. I enjoyed reading these two chapters. It's confusing, but in a good way. You really have a talent for this. I anticipate the next chapters.

 

[Satoshi_Red]

Thank you. I hear that people don't review a lot here, so I'm very appreciative that you went out of your way to do so. I'll get to writing a new chapter soon, but I haven't started on it because I've got something else I'm writing right now that I want to finish up. I hope I can clear up the confusion by the end of the story, 'in a good way'.

Although, could I ask you to clarify which parts are confusing? I know I meant not for everything to be completely obvious, since it is boring to be able to predict exactly where a story is going, but it would be useful.

 

[Satoshi_Red]

chapter three

Here it goes. This is much longer than the others.
----
Suicune growled, leaping forward. The crowd of nobles sitting above and their servants did not take long to realize that the pokemon had no intentions of sitting still and being admired. In a single bound of swirling ribbons and wind, it landed upon the crowd and snatched a young man by the neck. Blood dripped down from it, wetting his jaws.

"Quick, put him back!" Someone shouted as people began to move away from him, screaming.

Suicune whirled, dropping his victim, and lashed out on the leg of yet another human, and flung them against the wall. His swirling eyes turned to look upon the purple feline, as she protectively placed herself in front of her master, surrounding him and a few others in a glowing violet ball. Her master and him matched sights for a moment, before the sound of someone tripping over made Suicune turn around.

She stared in shock, uncertain how to respond as Suicune ripped a man in half. Suicune's ball rested, still in her hands, and Lord Cascade did not fail to notice this.

"Jippy, or Joan, put him back in his ball! Now!"

Hearing this, Suicune dropped his latest victim and turned to stare at her.

RELEASE ME.

RELEASE ME FROM YOUR BONDS, HUMAN.

Nobody else reacted to this, but it was not quite a psychic voice. It was more like a silent voice, impossible to describe, roaring at her from everywhere at once.

She shook, staring at him, mouth open. "But I not human…" Suddenly the memory of earlier rushed to her, the memory of her being told she was allowed to think, rushing into her mind. "Or am I?"

"What are you waiting for? Return him!"

Suicune raised his head, and gave a soul-shattering howl. Glass broke, flying everywhere, and chairs shook about the room.

Hands clasped about hers, and forced her fingers to press against the ball.
In moments, everything went still, the image of Suicune, melting in to the tiny ball.

And everyone went into an uproar.

"That was a disaster!"

"The last pokemon! It is real. The elite simply must hear of this!"

"My brother. He's dead… That WRECH killed him with her beast."

"So, this is what you were hoping for Lord Cascade." The man with the feline looked at her, a faint smirk on his face despite the incident. "I thought as much."

"I don't know what you mean." Cascade evaded the statement, trying to seem sincere. His hands gripped hers, and she looked up at him, before yanking herself away and standing back. There was something going on here, but neither figure seemed particularly trustworthy. "No one could have hoped for this incident, I'm sure."

"Oh no, of course not." He waved his hand, smiling before setting into an expressionless face. "I simply meant how fortunate it was that you should have decided to adopt this girl before discovering she held the last legend. It's almost as if you knew, and were hoping for a chance for the elite ranks yourself…" He dropped off at this last statement. "But of course, you were only hoping to do your duty as a citizen of Utopia."

"Of course." He somewhat agreed, giving a shallow dip of the head. "Well, myself and my new house member should be going now. Good day. May Utopia ever last."

"May it last." The man agreed, stroking his faithful pokemon once more.
Joan and Leo Cascade made their way out of the large room, walking down the steps and entering outside into one of those strange moving rooms. It started up after Leo pressed a button, and began to move smoothly sideways. The glass walls showed outside of it other parts of Utopia. People milled about in the eternal white world, farming and even playing games.

The image of the outside cut off as they passed through a tunnel. It hadn't been the true outside, that world was one she was beginning to think she would only ever see the sky of. It depressed her slightly. Despite the downsides to it, it had been her home once, the outside world.
Here everything was encased in a plastic bubble, literately.

Sitting down on the, surprise-surprise, white seats, she looked at her new 'father'. Although she appeared rather young, she felt that her real age was probably within a decade of his. That wasn't to say he was ancient, however. Cascade was a man in his prime, his black hair without a single speck of gray, his features without a hint of childishness roundness. They did not look much alike, even their eyes differed. Blue in contrast to her light brown.

"I suppose it could have been worse." He sighed, seeming to talk more to himself than her.

"How's? Pee died."

He groaned softly, rubbing his eyes. "People died, you mean. I suppose I will have to get you educated." He sniffed, as if he found this distasteful.

"A waste. But needed if my house is to have chance at gaining new ranking."

"Ran-kings?

"In the society of Utopia, there are the houses, and there are the elites. There are, of course, those poor and unfit for society, but these are left out of society." He glanced at her. "As you were. If you are to encounter an elite, you must treat them with the outmost courtesy. Our house is low-ranking, and as such, it would do well to be polite to the other houses as well."

She nodded, anxious to act like a proper human. There was a degree of curiosity, as well. She was only just getting used to have a name. And now she had a house and a 'family'. "Father, do have I adoptee mother?"

"Don't call me that. I have simply adopted you into my house, nothing more. My house possesses a hundred members; do not think of yourself as overly special."

She blinked, wondering what there was for her to be special about and why he should be worried, but simply decided to keep quiet. There was a bit of quiet disappointment, for excepting faint vague memories of a scruffy looking old woman, she had no actual family that she knew of.

The moving room thing stopped, and the glass doors opened wide. Two men awaited them, riding on Arcanine. The dog's tongue lolled, but it made no visible notice of her, unlike before when it had nearly attacked her.

The area they were in was already slightly familiar to her. She recognized the 'building' that she had first encountered the flaming dog at. Cascade walked to his home, and paused outside the front steps, turning to face her.

"There are several rules you must absolutely follow." He stated, beckoning her over. She walked toward him and waited patiently for him to finish.

"First, never release Suicune without permission. Second," He glanced about the area. "this entire area is House Cascadian property. You are never to leave it without permission. Thirdly, you are to obey me at all times. Understood?"

She nodded.

"Very well. At least your small brain can handle that much. You are to have lessons every day at mid-high noon sharp, and will be informed of dinnertimes. Not being on time is strictly disapproved. You are to be in bed by quarter night hours."

She began to nod, but then paused. "Bed?"

"I mean you must be asleep by then. Don't you know what a bed is?"
She shrugged. What did things and objects have to do with sleep? One just laid down and slept, naturally. It also seemed odd that she shouldn't release that weird wolf creature. Hadn't it asked to be let go? It made no sense to her. But perhaps it had been merely her imagination.

Watching Cascade go inside, she remembered that he had been hiding something from her. It made little sense to her why he should wish to hide his desire to 'gain rank', but perhaps hiding things was custom here. If she was hungry or curious, perhaps such a thing was bad to admit, even if it was terribly obvious. There must be other ways of gaining things, like 'being on time' perhaps.

For that matter… What was quarter night?

- - -

This boring. She thought petulantly.

"Now, Utopia's founding fathers were powerful men and women at their times. Not all of them were rich; back then something called a 'trainer' existed, and among the most powerful of trainers master balls were in high demand. The most obvious and easy to find legends were quickly captured. Moltres, from Victory Road, Zapdos from an abandoned 'power plant' as they called them, and Articuno from Sea Foam Island, were all captured within a decade. It was discovered that there was more than one of them…"

She droned the voice out, instead choosing to look at her new dress. It was weird to walk in, and looked strange to her. A brilliant sky blue, dappled at the edges what she had been told were the pokemon of the house crest. It made no sense to her why she needed tiny dewgong staring at her alongside embroidered marill, but she wasn't the one who had made it.

She poked them, wondering if they might leap out at her or have some special function, but they simply went on being fabric.

"Are you paying attention, miss Joan?"

She glanced up sharply. "No."

"At least you are truthful." Her teacher sighed. She was a plump woman, with a pointed nose and black hair. Like the others, she wore black and blue. "And blunt. Please pay attention this time, if you will."

"Utopia was founded as the world began to noticeably change. No one knows why, but suddenly whole areas began to become uninhabitable, droughts and floods happening more frequently in places they almost never occurred before. Luckily, the men and women who had caught powerful pokemon stepped forward, volunteering to create a safe haven. But it was not enough to simply help civilization survive as it was. They sought to reform it, making sure criminals and the non-working were not allowed to join. With their legends and dragons, they could control portions of the weather, creating artificial rains and thunderstorms within small areas, and small droughts in other areas. With it, they could create a real utopia, a perfect world, for which our world is named."

"A new calendar was invented after their first founding year, as well as many other things. The old trainer system became outclassed, pokemon being inherited more oft than not, and a hunt was called for more powerful pokemon to fix the problem outside of Utopia. But even as more pokemon were caught, the problem worsened. No one outside of Utopia could survive at a non-poverty level."

Her eyes widened. "You not able to help us?"

"That is right. Despite their efforts, despite capturing Entei, Lugia and Riaku, and every other pokemon that managed to survive, the world worsened."

Joan looked down. It was hard to believe that her kind used to be all humans once. Looking down at her ball, something occurred to her. "But have Suicune only now. Now fix?"

"Perhaps. No, the problem has likely worsened too much to be stopped. It has been a century since any attempt, after all. Who knows what the world outside--" The teacher paused, remembering who she was talking to. "Well, besides you, few have seen the world outside any more except for brief patrols who dump trash outside or who release criminals into the wastes. Nobody even really wants to go back there any more. We have no crime here, no hunger. Why go back to the way things were?"

It did not feel entirely right to Joan, but she nodded her head. She would have to look into it herself, it seemed.

- - -

"It makes no sense! The world outside has been stable for years. What do you mean you've been experiencing snow storms at my front doors?"
Joan listened as outside the doors Leonard argued with his guards.

Apparently the Cascade House was situated right by one set of the
outside gates, and therefore 'owned' the property outside despite not anything of use being there. They possessed few psychics to detect thoughts, but she recognized that it must have been their house which had ruthlessly killed the nameless ones when they annoyed them. And Leonard happened to be the head of that house.

"That's exactly it, sir. Not long after… 'Joan' was let in, the weather has been acting erratically again. Of course it is always awful, but it has not been like this exactly since the old days. It is as if it is trying to worsen again."

"That is not possible. The land is complete desert. How could it get any worse?"

"Well, the weather could get worse, in any case. I suppose the vermin outside might die off. Not a big loss."

She frowned, thinking. The nameless were out there. They usually fed off the other vermin out there and the trash that was occasionally dumped outside, but they were still etching out a small existence there, if barely.
The door swung wide, and she leapt backwards. Leonard blinked upon seeing her, and smiled. "Ah, I was just about to look for you. You are to leave for the academy; your education shall be finished up there, as you have sufficiently mastered rudimentary skills now."

Joan nodded. "Yes lord. But I couldn't help but overhear. Are… they okay?"

"Who?" He puzzled it out. "Ah. Them. Joan, you must come to accept that you are no longer like any of them. You are with a house now, and as such, a lady, not a savage. I permit you to carry the thing that first granted you entry here as a reminder, and it would be best for you not to ignore it."

"But--"

"For the best, Joan. Now get ready. Members of other houses will be there, and you must not appear the cretin in any way, for mockery will be at your back easily enough. Being a member of this house, you must not now tarnish the reputation of it. To be thankful is to desire to gain honor for our house."

Frowning, the young woman turned, going back to her room. All these rules and regulations. She remembered the days when she could have run around naked if she wished. Well, perhaps not run, but the point was the same. This place gave her the same feeling of nobody caring about what she did while telling her exactly what she was allowed and not allowed to do.

Having learned more about her duties, it seemed likely that she would be taught to use Suicune to further Leonard's purposes of gaining rank for his house. The idea of controlling the beast was strange to her. Could it even be done?

The deathly howls still haunted her mind. It had wanted to be released. But if she could somehow use it to turn things back to the way they were… To somehow use it to make everyone else human… Then she would keep it. But it did not seem like if she followed the rules that such a thing would happen any time soon. Somehow, she had to break off from living life purely by the lord of the house's rules. And perhaps the Academy, if it was far away and she was not see him again for some time, could help her do that.

She had gone a long way from simply desiring bread and water and a roof to sleep under. Perhaps Joan should have stopped while she was still ahead.

But perhaps there was still more to be gained.

But was there even more to be lost?

- - -

Year 512, U.B, at Half-Cycle

"What is your name?"

"Joan via Cascadian."

"I am Reshal the Fourth via Lavender."

She blinked. This young man's name was familiar to her. The boy had been named after the current lord of his house, and was likely the heir. Lavender was the top-most house in the immediate area. To find a higher-ranking one would require going out to another of Utopia's connecting 'regions'. She was not likely to meet many higher ranking individuals in the school, though of course some came to the Academy from farther away.
But she blinked for another reason. She recalled the long-ago incident with the release of Suicune that the older Reshal had been there.
Nonetheless she began to turn away. "I see. Pleasure to meet you. May Utopia la--"

"Wait, I wasn't done speaking to you." Reshal spoke, moving forward hurriedly.

"And what would you have to say to me? I'm a lower rank and of no consequence." She turned to look at him, raising a brow.

"As if that matters. I heard that you still hold the north wind. It is obvious to me that your house plans for you to challenge one of the ruling elite. I wish to make an alliance with you. Privately, of course." He dipped his head.

"And the rest of your house has nothing to do with this?"

"Well…" He smiled. "I did decide to offer this on my own. But I can't say it hasn't been hinted at me that I should make alliances if possible."

"Eh. I care less." Joan stated, momentarily lapsing into her former self. "I must make it to the ceremony." Stupid people and their stupid constant alliances. He looked flabbergasting as she had the audacity to walk away and continue on.

His interest piqued, she noticed that he was following her. Lovely. Well, they did have to go the same place, she supposed. The halls were a pleasant green, and the floor marble. It began to open up into a large room, with a small stadium below. Other students milled about.

"Okeene via Siebel, vs. Sherrie via Braless." A loud booming voice spoke.
Two not so dramatic figures stood on opposite sides of the field, and tossed balls. This exercise was not so much for training pokemon and teaching the students to fight but to ensure that they held proper mastery over their abilities. To be able to command lesser beings was what separated men from beast, after all.

A hooded snake rose and hissed, greeted by an alligator-like dinosaur, which snapped its jaws threateningly. Obediently, at the signal they lashed out at each other, biting down and drawing blood on one another before backing away. At command, like robots they unleashed their special abilities, poison spit versus a drizzling splash of water.

The ball at her side shook briefly, oddly warm to the touch. "Soon." She muttered.

…Release me…

She swore it whispered to her.

"Joan via Cascade vs. Reshal via Lavender." The match was over already? She broke attention away from the ball and looked down at the field. The purple serpent hissed happily, knowing that the master of it was pleased as it stood victorious over the blue crocodilian creature. None of those pokemon had ever tasted any other pleasure.

The young woman stared once more at the young man she had met only a few minutes earlier. They gave a silent nod of agreement, before tossing their master balls.

YESSSS.

Wind picked up suddenly around the field, and dust obscured the field as two obscured figures leaped upon it.

A roar sounded.

Joan squinted, trying to see, but the wind settled slightly down soon enough, and the giant purple-blue wolf hound could be seen, jaws open wide in fury. A dragon stared at it, and sniffed, giving a single beat of orange wings before giving a growl in response.

Nervousness crept in her gut as Suicune's eyes wandered toward hers within moments, the sheer accuracy of his turned gaze too astounding to be mere chance. The molten metal orbs matched hers, defiant, saying, whispering something, though perhaps she was going insane.

Are you really going to try? I won't be tamed, you know.

They seemed to mock her with that infernal gaze, but sadness lingered there as well. I want my freedom. It seemed to say to her.

"Charizard, unleash a torrent of flame."

Automatically the dragon's mouth opened, a spark flickering into existence before blowing outward and expanding into a gigantic ball of shimmering, glowing heat.

Despite not having been looking in the dragon's direction, Suicune responded immediately, leaping high and spinning toward the dragon, water forming all around him like a cloud. Ice forked about the wolf's paws, and he flung it toward the winged lizard in a shattering, rainy blizzard. The flame fizzled out upon meeting it, and, satisfied, the hound spun around and began to try to bound up the walls of the stadium.

Charizard unthinkingly shot off blasts again and again, not even reacting to the fact that they never seemed to hit. Suicune looked about for a way to escape, nearly scrapping his way up one time.

People shouted, and she bit her lip. Not again.

"Suicune, give off an ice beam."

Suicune froze, slipping from his hasty grip on the wall, and seemed to jerk about, eyes closed as if he were fighting something. The beast snarled, whirling at Charizard, and seemed to tremble as it slowly opened fangs wide and began to form a ray of terrible frost. The beam shot outwards, and Suicune seemed to squirm as if trying to get out of a hold of an imaginary opponent who was forcing his head to shoot the beam.

Charizard stumbled backwards as it hit, and Suicune immediately lurched away from where he had been standing, like it were vile.

RELEASE ME, YOU FOOL. YOU DO NOT KNOW THAT WHICH YOU ARE DOING.

The golden eyes matched hers, furious and angry. She went still. Joan was simply going insane, wasn't she? Pokemon could not speak. That was what she had been taught. Not even silently, to plead with their eyes.
Certainly not to tell her what she thought she wasn't hearing.

"A rain dance." She stated, still staring eye to eye with him. With a howl of fury, Suicune turned, filling out her command, unable to escape from this nightmare.

Each order she gave after that, Suicune seemed to tremble and fight it more, before the beast's head hung low, seemingly beaten.

The match finished.

The dragon had been no match for him.

It had to have just been the affect of the rain dance, but it seemed that there were tears coming from those yellow eyes.

You killed them.

She froze.

You killed my brothers.

And now, you will kill us all.

 

[Satoshi_Red]

Last chapter most likely

She trembled as a silent terror overtook her. In this strange language of booming, thunderous silence, every meaning underlined by the words seemed to fill her, no question was there of not understanding. Yet, incredible blankness filled her mind as Suicune disappeared inside his sphere, and the roar of the crowd deafened her in cheer. In the inverted sensations of her mind, the crowd was silent, screaming sweet nothings, no real meaning behind their words. Cold emanated from the legendary ball, and seemed to distort the world around it, and a sudden strong desire to drop it filled her.

Her hand outstretched, flexing and relaxing the grip on it-- before by force of will she whirled it into her pocket.

"Congratulations." The words went by her, unmeant and meaningless, and she smiled, feeling broken, and walked the other way.

The silence spoke to her, sounding louder than any noise she had known before, surrounding her, coming, it seemed, from the very air.

To own a legend is drive one mad. They whispered to her, the meaning dawning on her of their words. To see spoken that which is silent is now your sanity.

But still her mind refused to hear the meaning behind the words that had been spoken. What did he mean, I sentenced him, us, everyone, to die? What does he mean? We're not going to die, are we?

There was only the nagging, unspoken answer.

You know what has been done.

Listen to the noise.

And suddenly, the murmur of the crowd came back to her, and she blinked, realizing she had already walked out from the arena. The halls were empty, but behind her from the doors she could still hear people talking.

"I can't believe you beat me." Reshal stuck his head out, grinning despite his loss. "That legend must sure be something. Feel free to take me up on my earlier offer, if you like."

"Yes." A faint smile appeared on her face. "Having a legend sure is…" The smile faded. Joan straightened her stance and then proceeded to walk toward the elevators.
It was time to go home.

- - -

"Well, good news is, you've turned out perfectly healthy, nice and human. Even your mind seems to be in perfect shape. What was the reason you wanted a checkup again?"

"Ah-- to see that I haven't picked up any viruses, of course." The real reason, that she had feared she was losing her mind, could not be stated. "But did you say human?"

"Yes, human." She blinked. "As in the way you were born? Well, anyway, I shall inform Noble Cascade--"

"No need. I came as soon as I heard you arrived." Joan turned her head to look toward the office doorway. Her eyes narrowed as Leo stepped in to the room, a delighted smile upon his face. The young woman did not like the look of it; distrust filled her.

"Lord, is it true about the people outside? The--" She hesitated, then, experimentally, "--humans out there have all turned up dead from the storms?" Joan watched to see if he corrected her wording.

He did not. "It is true." He said, shortly and full of distaste for the matter. "But that was not which I wanted to speak about. You see, recently, a, you could say, offense has been occurred against my house from one of the elite. As the head, I do not have time for this, but, since you are nearly ready to leave schooling anyway and take upon adult responsibilities, I figured it best if you went…" He smirked.

So it has all been a lie. I have been human all along, from day one. But then what did I gain by joining this house? Confusion filled her, but she brushed it away. "I understand very clearly what you want me to do." He smiled at this. "And I will not do it," His smile dropped. "unless you put me in the line of inheritance. What should happen to me, I wonder, once my usefulness is outlasted or you are no longer there?"

"That's--"

"Perfectly reasonable." She narrowed her eyes at him. "I shall go fight your battles for you, once you make up you mind into the proper direction."
Don't… It whispered at the edge of her mind. She ignored it.

"Very well." He sighed as he gave in. "Go."

- - -

The glass ceiling was covered in sand, ice and bitter snow.

She stared, watching from her moving compartment as extra support was added by the workers to keep the glass from breaking as more and more sand was piled on it by the above storm. Finally they gave up and shut off the view of the outside entirely. Utopia was all alone, separate from all the world. No criminals existed, no crime, no poverty or horrible disease, where education could be afforded by all. Utopia was a place, it seemed, of perfection.

It is time to go home. It whispered again. Suicune. Had it been he who was whispering that time? She couldn't tell any more. Once, she had known, as well, who was human, and who was not. But now she knew it had all been lies. And now men outside, the ones that had raised her, were dead.

The nameless ones. Had that been those brothers Suicune had been speaking of? Many pokemon possessed no names, like the nameless ones. But it did not quite make sense.

They had once tried to reverse it. They had not possessed all the legends that time. Her ride stopped, and she hopped off the side-ways moving room. White glared at her from all around, as she entered a single, long running hall with sides of nothing but thick glass. It was dark in the tunnel, for no sunlight shone through. Only artificial light gleamed here and there, a faint, eerie red light.

Two statues greeted her. Lugia and Ho-ho.

She stepped through the threshold.

I will unite the legends once more, and reverse it back to what it once was.

Darkly dressed figures greeted her, robes flowing as if touched by wind, though none blew.

Hers and their hands simultaneously drew toward their pokemon. A lively spark seemed to shoot through her hand as she released Suicune from his ball, and a serene song she had never heard before seemed to break the air.

Lugia, a tame, dumbed down beast crafted from the old, stared with silver veined eyes. Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos, as tamely and withdrawn as pets, stood, their forms made of their pure element.

"Where are Entei and Riaku?" She narrowed her eyes, speaking as she moved forward.

"Dead."

The meaning of his words suddenly crashed down upon her, just at the moment that the battle began. That was what he meant. Entei, Riaku, his brothers, gone…
But it had to still be reversible. It had to be.

Suicune, for once, moved with rippling grace toward the singular purpose which her heart directed him. His jaws lashed and snapped, beating down first Moltres, who was vulnerable to his breath. The flaming bird crumbled into ash, and she stared in horror. Second, he laced with extreme speed and smacked into Articuno, an even match, their aura near the same. It crumbled into a powdered snow.

"Wait-- don't kill them!" She stared, dread filling her. Suicune snapped like a puppet, and jerked about in the air, reversing his stance to stare toward the four men and women. He reacted to her unconscious desire and words, in ways she herself was unaware of, the internal screaming commanding him as surely as the external one.

A single opening and closing of the eye like a shutter, and blood decorated her glossy white gown. For the first time, she saw an elite's face, a woman staring off eternally in to space, her face in death forever etched to carry the same blank expression. Shouts began to erupt, but before they even began, Suicune had torn the entrails out from them all. A man was last to go, and his face was brutally savaged before she could even begin to utter a word.

He turned to look at her, the artificial light beginning to flicker out, and the grating sound of the sands above becoming painfully noticeable.

Release me.

"We've been over this before." She closed her eyes, and tried to change the subject. "We need to get outside with the remaining legends. Then…" Then…

I may go. He stared at her, before whirling, inhaling ash and dust before giving a loud bark that shook the very floor. Lugia peered at him, blinking with a tiny stirring of comprehension, and Zapdos preened at feathers. The wolf growled, lips curling into a snarl, and gave a bigger, louder bark.

Glass shattered, and suddenly wind and rain and glass and dust hailed down on them, whirling off at the last moment as if by silent command and twirling around them. The grit and dirtiness was comfortably familiar to her, and she crawled up on to the sands above, the birds rising into the storms above.

Wind, thunder, and water mixed, affected by the very presence of the legends, but the storm did not change, it was merely prevented from hitting them where they were at full force.

"I… I don't understand."


Nothing may occur exactly the same twice. Suicune approached her, his legs sinking into the sand more and more with each step, his wind occasionally pushing him upward on to his proper feet atop the sand. His giant tongue lolled, exertion apparent in his silently heaving chest.

She glanced about, feeling, for perhaps the first time in a long time, a complete lack of fear. Calm entered her, despite the enormity of what was going on. Perhaps now her mind had truly broken. "It is because the other legends are dead, isn't it?"

You have a choice. Suicune did not answer her, still staring intently.

She sighed, sinking to her knees. Joan-- no, Nameless, felt the sand grow around her ever so slightly. But it did not bother her, though it once might have. "I want the world back the way it is supposed to be."

Utopia. It is a place that may survive the arrived storm; a place already perfect, waiting to be ruled by your hand.

She glanced at him, eyes widening.

Utopia must die.

The lure of a utopia, a perfect land, waiting for her rule of absolute power as the usurper of the elite… In contrast to a place that one held no power in, could die each day just as soon as the next, where no family or companionship awaited for her.

Yet, there was little hesitation for her. "I don't want utopia." She shook her head, a strange calmness still holding her. A desire, a nostalgic remembrance for the days of harsh old faintly filled her, competing only with all the effort she had put into making herself falsely into accepted form and the strange taste of power.

Release me.

The ball she had cradled for so long loosed from her tight grasp, and for the first time, the nameless woman felt a strange weight leave her, and the bizarre soundlessness of Suicune's words disappeared completely.

The wind, thunder, and rain that seemed to fly about protectively around the legends failed, the storm suddenly blowing past it. She choked as she sunk into the sand, getting buried as she watched the glass bubble of an unreal home break and crumble, swallowed whole by a terrible force.

It disappeared from her sight, replaced by the white canvas that was her mind, as sand blocked out every speck of her vision and the crushing weight of it consumed her. A moment of frantic movement on her part, before some part of her stilled, trying to calmly, desperately accept that she was going to die, but failing.

I don't understand. She thought pleadingly, their roles reversing as sanity filtered every change.

"Nothing can happen exactly twice."

Dizziness. Drowsily, she made one last question. What about…

"Things cannot be restored to the way they were."

She felt, though perhaps it was her imagination, Suicune himself choking as he was buried in the sands, and the very birds themselves being struck blindly from the raging sky.

"They can only be reborn."

At that moment, everything went still. The storm stopped, nothing blinking, nothing rising, only still figures lay incarcerated within their dust and powdered sand, which itself began to crumble, their very tombs shattering.

The last thing she remembered seeing, was the faint glimmer of a golden feathered phoenix, bathed in comforting light, a silhouetted pink tiny form beside it.

An… End?




"…I'm so thankful to you, Red was it? Please, take this as a gift. The proto-type master ball is now yours."

Hands reached out, and the ball was dropped upon the table.

"Do you happen to have a hammer?"

A frown. "Over there. But--"

Swiftly, the hammer was raised above the height of the pikachu and the boy, and rushed downward, smashing into the table. The complexly constructed sphere lay in a thousand shattered pieces.

Astounded silence.

"If you don't mind, sir, but I'd prefer if you never made one of those ever again."


Nothing can occur the exact same way twice.



… A… Beginning?