Off Screen Post
heat abnormal - Part Three (Final Part)
Content Warning(s): Post-apocalyptic themes/imagery, possession/mind control, parasitism, non-lethal injury.
//If the the Pokemon Sun and Moon main story makes you uncomfortable, it is recommended that you do not read this post.
The Beast runs. How long has it been running? Who knows; maybe five minutes, or ten, or maybe it’s been hours. It doesn’t particularly care; it is a Beast. An amalgamation, a manmade horror easily comprehended; It is a jacked fucking attempt at making God, having horribly failed in the process. It is nothing more than a consequence, just like how the battlefield that surrounds it is nothing more than a consequence.
04 stares into the sky; the dark, gelled mass that holds the boy is massive. He looks so small compared to it; compared to both of them. He floats, limp in it’s hold, scowling down at the chaos. 04 can vaguely feel the heat of electricity crackling in the distance behind, a flash of purple is the venom of a lethal Poison Jab. Maybe it should stop, maybe it should focus less on avoiding the attacks and maybe even help their recipients, but it doesn’t, because up in the sky is it’s goal and it’s purpose. Up in the sky is the very creature it was born to kill and the boy it has tasked itself with protecting.
As it runs, the mask cuts into 04’s neck; it hurts. It can’t remember the last time it felt air on it’s face. It would all be easier without it, but there’s no way for it’s chains to crack, so it howls instead as it races towards it’s trainer.
---
Aspen stares down at the battlefield, at the people and Pokemon and the orange flash of what he feels must be called the Blade. Something courses through his veins, something that pricks in his mind as something Wrong, as Something dangerous and noxious, but the Something is too blissful, too numb for him to particularly care. All these different battles seem so meaningless, so… small to him, but he doesn’t know where the thought comes from.
I’m so tired.
I might as well…
He wants to close his eyes, to relax, to let the bittersweet taste in on his tongue and the pleasant paralysis take hold of him forever. His vision blurs, and his eyes grow all the more dead until an unholy screech of a howl cuts into his hearing. It’s so loud, it’s louder than Miguel was, and it’s absolutely ear-grating. His eyes snap open, his exhaustion forgotten as he lets out a pained, strangled scream at the sound, excruciating and familiar in a way he can’t name.
NO-
NO-
The bliss, the paralysis, the numbness that brough him such relief is ripped from him as he screams again, the sound of that sacreligious cacophony of pure desperation reaching his ears and making him feel as though they are bleeding.
His eyes focus and they feel wet. His face feels wet.
What is this? Where am I? What’s going-
Everything is fine. I am fine.
That ever familiar pinch in his neck suddenly comes back, and everything goes dark.
---
04’s howl and Aspen’s scream both echo throughout the ruined city, and suddenly all eyes are up towards the sky and every gaze focuses on the gelatinous monster holding him in it’s grasp.
There he is; there is the boy they came in searching for, kicking and screaming, in what can only be the worst pain he’s experienced in his life.
His eyes are filled with tears.
Aspen’s eyes are filled with tears.
He is alive until he isn’t; as quickly as life returned to him, it leaves, and he goes fully limp.
The Beast, the [DATA EXPUNGED] makes a quiet sound and only runs faster, despite the surging pain every step brings. There he is, there is it’s trainer, so close yet so far. It runs and runs and it keeps running; that’s all it can do, that’s all it’s ever known, yet as it runs, not away from the boy but towards him, it can’t help but grow more and more aware of the sound of something cracking in it’s ear and the near blinding light that emanates from it’s chest.
Memories race through the beast’s mind, as though being sorted into files, into a new system; memories of joy and laughter, of pain and accidents, of quiet, winced affection and gentle, calloused hands.
As the light grows brighter and the cracking grows louder, 04 can think of nothing but it’s trainer and-
For just a moment, everything goes dark.
It can hear Aspen’s voice.
What do you say, bud?
The setting comes back as quickly as it left; everything is the same. The sun is still that wretched scarlet, the sounds of every battle in the ruin forming a horrid, terrifying symphony of desperation, the smell of chalky ash and bone and faint blood seeping into it’s nose and the overbearing, overwhelming suffocating heat continues to bare down on it’s talons and body and face–
It feels the air on it’s face. Everything is clearer, it’s senses are sharper, it no longer hurts and suddenly, 04 understands what the cracking noise and light was.
Leaving the remnants of the mask behind, 04 sprints with a newfound vigor; energy seeps into it’s bones as it locks onto it’s target.
Information about the dark, gelatinous mass that’s kept it’s trainer trapped in this hell comes to it naturally, memories of fights in never partook in playing in it’s mind like there’s no tomorrow, because there isn’t a tomorrow if it can’t get him back.
The Silvally runs, and it runs, and it runs, and it runs, and without an ounce of hesitation, it leaps into the air, eyes trained, not on the Infection, but on Aspen.
Talons and fangs and a crest rip through gelatin, the attack unleashed with every ounce of strength in it’s body; it near-tackles the Infection to the ground, ripping it away from it’s trainer; as they hit the ground, it resists the urge to continue to tear at the monster that took Aspen, but turns back to see him falling to the ground, all alone.
He looks so small; he seems to float in mid-air for just a moment, and for that moment, haloed by the sun, Aspen looks nearly divine.
04 runs towards him again, reaching him just in time to catch the boy, unconscious and limp on it’s back.
It wastes no time, sprinting through the wreckage, straight towards the Ultra Wormhole–straight towards home.
"Aw shit,” says Miguel, watching it all. Below them Celcity shifts uncomfortably.
"Everyone, we gotta get outta here now,” they look around at the rest of them.
Esper stands stock still, her head swiveling around as she speaks in a panicked tone, "What? Why? What's happening? I can't see anything out of my range. what's happening??"
"Aspen's fuckass thing is running back to the portal," Maple says, pulling herself over a ledge.
She lets out a sharp whistle, and Dash wastes no time trotting over to his rider. As he moves past Maple, she grabs a hold of him and pulls herself up onto him, the Cyclizar not slowing to a stop until they've both made it back to everyone else.
Jaime does a quick glance at everyone in the group to ensure that they’re all present and accounted for. Returning his Indeedee and his Croagunk to their Pokeballs, he says, “I think it’s time we did the same.”
He doesn’t want to spend another minute in this hell, not with the sounds of Ultra Beast cries beginning to surround the city.
The boy whistles for Momoto and Estrella to come to his side. The Cyclizar and the Espathra are both quite bruised and battered from their respective fights, but they trot to his side with newfound vigor and determination. They’re getting out of here alive.
“Momoto,” Jaime turns to his Cyclizar, “Help Esper and Victoria onto your saddle,” he moves to mount his Espathra, “I’ll take Estrella.”
Momoto nods and leaps to the girls’ side, and Victoria grabs Esper’s wrist to help lead her to Momoto, “Let’s go.”
Miguel looks around, trotting over to Maple and Dash while the others get situated, "Hey, Maple, what do you say to some good ol' distraction tactics? Keep the Beasts busy while everyone makes a break for it?"
Maple looks at everyone then back to Miguel with a smile, "I'm up for the world's first Cyclizar race to involve Ultra Beasts if you're up for it."
Miguel reaches down into their saddle bag and winces for a moment. Damn wound. Gonna have to get that one patched up. They pull out two rods, and throw one to Maple.
"Here, catch," They extend out their own with a smirk, electricity crackling off the end, "Extendable cattle prods."
Jaime glances back at Maple and Miguel, hesitation etched onto his face. “Right… well, if you two are doing that, then I’ll be taking the girls back to safety.”
He adjusted the hat on his head and said to them, “Don’t fall too far behind.”
And with that, Estrella and Momoto dashed off to the distance, taking Jaime, Esper, and Victoria with them.
Maple watches the others leave, taking a few test swings of the cattle prod. She'd ask where Miguel got this, but she's pretty sure she doesn't want to know.
"Well, wouldn't want to keep them waiting, would we?" She asks Miguel, a smirk forming on her face. Maple doesn't give Miguel a chance to respond before she sends Dash running in the opposite direction from the portal, loudly hollering to get any remaining Ultra Beasts attention.
Joy lights up in Miguel's chest even despite the shit situation, thinking to themselves, Oh, we are so fucking back.
Sprinting across the battlefield, 04 finds the weight of Aspen across its back to be almost comforting.
It can hear Jaime, Victoria, and Esper following behind them on the Espathra and the other Cyclizar. It trusts that Maple and Miguel will follow behind them.
As the Beast Type: Null Type: Full Silvally reaches the Wormhole, it can feel white hot warmth pulsing from it.
This is it.
It looks back, gazing at the five of them, who’d come into the Ruin to get Aspen. It glances at the boy on its back, just to make sure he’s still there. He looks better; his skin’s already gained some warmth to it. That’s good, isn’t it?
…
04 steps into the Wormhole.
It’s time to go home.