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MrTherandomguy42 — Return of the Lake Guardians: Will
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Published: 2012-04-26 21:13:38 +0000 UTC; Views: 10678; Favourites: 40; Downloads: 19
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Return of The Lake Guardians-WillAt the age of ten, kids would normally get their trainer license and start their Pokemon journey. The whole journey where one goes to collect all eight gym badges and then challenge the Pokemon League can be a very exciting experience. Not to mention the bond of friendship that several trainers have with their Pokemon. I was once excited for such an adventure, but then something tragic and unexpected happened that prevented me from doing it.
My name is... or rather was Andrew. I don't usually use that name anymore nor am I addressed by that name by anyone except for a special someone. I was a fourteen year-old boy who had an appearance that most humans would say is handsome. I remember having a height of almost 5 ½ feet, pale skin, short cyan hair, and yellow eyes. I could imagine a human girl falling for an appearance like that (save for the eye color maybe) but I actually never had a girlfriend before. I was just never interested in having a relationship with a human female. You might of guessed however that I was interested in going on a Pokemon journey. Like I said earlier, at the age of ten, most kids go on their Pokemon journeys. But when I turned ten, I decided not to go despite my previous anticipation over it. Here is the reason why.
I lived in Jubilife City with my mother who I loved very much and still do to this day. She, along with my father, cared for me throughout my childhood with love and affection towards me. They didn't even mind that I would eventually be leaving to go on my Pokemon journey once I turned ten since they, like most parents, knew that was going to happen sooner or later.
I remember being very excited for my Pokemon journey. Even up to the point of planning out my journey ahead of time. I carefully decided on what starter I would pick (I settled for Chimchar), saving up my allowance so I could buy supplies for my journey, and studying the different routes throughout Sinnoh. It was going to be the biggest adventure of my life. But then tragedy struck me and my mother.
Shortly before my 10th birthday, my father died in a car accident. He was just coming home from his day job when it happened. When we received the news, both me and my mother had took it hard. It was at my Dad's wake I realized that my Mom would be all alone if I left for my Pokemon journey. Upon the realization, I asked my her what she thought of me leaving for my Pokemon journey. She told me that she would be okay with me leaving as I had been looking forward to my journey throughout my whole childhood. But even though she was okay with me leaving, I just couldn't leave as my Mom had lost someone very important to her. It just didn't seem right for me to leave. So I decided to postpone my journey and stay with my mother. I remember when I told her that, she hugged me in response.
About four years have passed since that day and I planned to take my Pokemon journey as soon as the summer season was over. But the strange thing was that I wasn't as excited for my Pokemon journey as I was when I was ten. In fact, there was something in my mind telling me that I should stay with my mother. Over the past four years I had grown even more attached to my mother and didn't want to leave her. But I didn't want to tell my mother that myself since I thought it was a little embarrassing. Eventually I did find the willpower to tell my Mom my feelings. And not long after confessing my feelings to my mother, something incredible happened to me that I could never imagine happening. Let me tell you how it happened and what it was.
Me and my Mom were on a vacation at Sinnoh's very own Hotel Grand Lake which is a large resort that is one of Sinnoh's most popular vacationing spots. Since my Mom had a high paying job working at the Global Terminal back at the city, we were able to afford to go to all sorts of places around Sinnoh. We would usually have to drive to such places however to save money.
My story begins on the very day I got this gift. It was the last day of our vacation to Hotel Grand Lake. Tomorrow we would be packing up, checking out, and driving back to Jubilife. I myself would say that I thoroughly enjoyed our vacation as it was very relaxing and it was a nice to spend time with my mother. Apart from visiting Sunnyshore City however, we didn't really do much besides chilling out at the Hotel. However there was one more place my Mom wanted to show me.
It started when me and my Mom were hanging out at the beach. We had been there since 11:00am and it was already 3:30pm. Me and my Mom were just sitting on the beach chairs we set up right in front of the shoreline when I started a conversation.
"Hey Mom?" I began.
"Yes?" my mother responded.
"I want to talk to you about something." I added.
"What is it?" my Mom asked
"It's just that I have been thinking about my future Pokemon journey. I know it is still a few years away but are you sure you okay with me leaving?" I asked.
"Of course Andrew, you have been wanting to do this for years now. You can even start it when the summer is over if you want." my Mom said reassuringly.
"But I wouldn't want you to be alone all by yourself." I said.
"I have told you many times before, I'll be alright. You could always contact me from each Pokemon Center." said my mother.
"I still don't know. Ever since Dad passed away, I just have never had the willpower to do that." I said sadly.
"Well it is ultimately your decision on whether you would want to go or not. I am not forcing you to leave." said my Mom.
"Thanks Mom. I'll think about going this year." I said.
My Mom nodded in response with a smile on her face. I smiled back at her and then reclined my chair so I could rest my head at the end of my chair. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath which was followed by a deep sigh.
As I was relaxing and listening to the ocean waves, I thought a bit about the conversation me and my Mom just had. It wasn't that I didn't have the willpower to leave because I knew very well my Mom would be okay with me leaving. I wanted to stay with my Mom but I never had the will in my heart to tell her that myself. I didn't want to look like a fool in front of my Mom by telling her that I wanted to stay with her. But something in my mind was telling me that I shouldn't be hiding my feelings. While I was caught in an internal conflict with myself, my mother suddenly spoke.
"Andrew?" said my Mom.
I opened my eyes and snapped back to the real world as I turned my head to my mother.
"Yes Mom?" I replied.
"It's getting a little late, we should probably get back to the room about now." stated my Mom.
"Okay Mom, I'll start getting our stuff together." I said.
I went over to our cooler which was full of empty juice bottles and ice-water. I carefully dumped out the ice-water onto the sand, making the cooler easier to carry. I then put our towels into our beach bag before putting the bag over my shoulder. My mother would get our chairs and beach umbrella.
I went over to my Mom and said, "Alright then, I'll meet you at the room."
"Not without your shirt you're not." said my mother.
"Oh! Right." I said feeling a little embarrassed. I put down our cooler and opened up our beach bag and put on my shirt. "There we go!" I said out loud.
Just as I was about to head off, my Mom suddenly spoke again.
"Andrew, wait." said my mother.
I turned around and said, "Yes?"
"I haven't mentioned what we would be doing this afternoon before dinner. So far the only place we went to visit in the afternoon during our vacation is Sunnyshore City. But today, I want to go to someplace a little different. Someplace, special." my mother said.
"What place?" I asked.
"Lake Valor." my mother said.
The words just echoed through my mind. I felt as if I really wanted to go there, but I didn't know why. "I haven't thought about the lake at all during our vacation. So why is it that all of the sudden I really want to go there upon the mere mention of the place?" I thought to myself.
"Andrew are you okay?" My Mom asked in concern.
I snapped out of my trance and said, "Oh! Um, yeah I'm fine."
My mother had a look of bewilderment on her face before asking, "So then, what do you think about visiting Lake Valor?"
I paused, wondering what I should say. Something in my head told me that I should go to the lake.
"I think it's a wonderful idea! Let's go!" I said trying to sound enthusiastic
"Alright then. We will head off after we shower." said my Mom.
I nodded as me and my mother headed back towards the Resort Hotel.
–
Our walk to the Lake was nothing out of the ordinary. Me and my mother were just taking a leisurely stroll to Lake Valor. The walk was pretty nice though. The weather outside was clear skies with a cool summertime breeze, perfect for taking walks. Since it was in the middle of the afternoon and still daytime; we saw quite a few Pokemon during our walk to Lake Valor. We saw some Bibarel playing around in a puddle, a couple Staravia resting in the trees, and some Girafarig eating some grass. This was a sort of sight that trainers would normally see on their Pokemon journeys. I only know this from the knowledge I received when I became what I am now.
After we walked for about half an hour, we came out of the forest clearing and had entered Lake Valor. The place was even more beautiful than I had imagined it to be. The afternoon sun gleamed over the surface of the large body of water that was the lake, making it look very beautiful. The lake was connected to a river which led to the ocean nearby. The only sounds I heard here were the sounds of trees swaying, the river flowing, and the occasional sound of Pokemon nearby making the lake look very serene and peaceful.
I noticed that there wasn't a single house on the lake. This was probably because people respected and believed the legend of the Pokemon of willpower known as Azelf, so much so that they didn't let anyone take the property of the lake as their own.
In the center of the Lake was a cave that was situated on some rocky ground. I assumed that Azelf resided inside the cave but from what I heard of the legend, all three of the Lake Guardians actually resided in a different world and the entrance to that world existed from within each of the three lakes. It made me wonder what the cavern was for.
While me and my mother were admiring the scenery, a question suddenly popped into my head. Why did my Mom want to come here? I knew that the lake itself was a beautiful sight, but my Mom usually plans out our entire day ahead of time and this visit seemed like a last-minute decision. It almost seemed like she was told to come here. Curious about this, I decided to ask my Mom to see if I could confirm my suspicions.
I turned my head to look at my mother and spoke, "Hey Mom, can I ask you something?"
My mother took her eyes off the lake and looked towards me and said, "What is it?"
"Was there by any chance someone told you to come here?" I asked.
My Mom paused and looked nervous for a moment before answering, "Uh yes, someone at the hotel told me that this lake was beautiful and I thought it would be a good idea to show you it as well."
"Really? Who told you about it?" I asked.
My Mom was about to say something but then paused for another minute before saying, "It's not important."
I could tell my Mom was hiding something from me. But I decided to shrug it off because maybe it didn't really matter and I probably would never know even I asked her some more. I wouldn't want to end up hurting her feelings anyway.
"Did I ever tell you that you remind me of Azelf?" my mother suddenly said.
I stopped my train of thought and looked at my Mom, "I think you have actually."
"Neither me, your father, nor anyone in our family possess cyan hair and yellow eyes. Your combination of hair and eye-color always reminded my of the willpower Pokemon Azelf." my mother said smiling at me.
"I guess you're right Mom. I do resemble Azelf now that you mention it." I said.
"They say Azelf resides beneath Lake Valor." said my Mom.
"But I read somewhere that Azelf, along with Mesprit and Uxie actually reside in another world of their own." I said in response.
"Well that may be true, very few people have seen any of the Lake Guardians themselves." stated my mother.
I nodded as my Mom continued.
"As the legend goes, Azelf was created by Arceus as the Pokemon of Willpower. Everyone's own will to do things comes from Azelf who maintains the balance of willpower. They say that if anyone tries to harm Azelf, he would make it so that whoever harmed him would lose all their willpower." my Mom said.
"So that person would end up dying?" I asked.
"Eventually, yes." said my Mom.
"That sounds pretty scary. Weren't the Lake Guardians captured some time ago?" I asked.
"Yes they were actually. Sometime before you were born, an evil organization known as Team Galatic wanted to create their own universe. To do this, they needed to summon and tame the two legendary dragons of time and space known as Dialga and Palkia. The Lake Guardians had the power to tame these two legendary beasts. While the efforts of Team Galactic were thwarted by a young trainer who eventually became champion, they did manage to summon and control the two dragons. But before they were able to use them for their own selfish needs, the legendary dragon of antimatter, Giratina, interfered and ruined their plans but was also angry at humans for trying to abuse the power of the two legendary dragons. So the trainer and the three Lake Guardians went into Giratina's home, the Distortion World, and managed to calm the mighty beast. With Team Galatic's evil plans ruined and Giratina's anger settled, the three Lake Guardians returned to their homes and no one has ever seen or heard from them since." said my Mom.
"Wait. The Lake Guardians just vanished?" I asked.
"It seems that way." my mother said.
"I wonder if they are still around." I asked.
"I'm sure they are. They are probably just maintaining the balance of each of their elements." my mother reassured me.
I nodded in agreement. Feeling some need for a little alone time, I asked my mother, "Hey Mom? May I take a little walk around the lake for a bit?"
"Yes you may, but don't go too far." said my Mom.
"Alright" I said as I walked away from my mother and along the shore of the lake.
As I was walking, I thought a bit about my internal conflict with myself about me wanting to stay with my mother. "Should I tell her how I feel?" I thought to myself. My mind was telling me not to tell her but my heart was telling me that I should. I was stuck between two possible outcomes. Either she would understand my feelings or would she would be disappointed in me for either canceling my journey or not telling her the truth sooner.
"What should I do?" I thought nervously.
'Tell her...' A voice suddenly said.
I opened my eyes and looked around to see if anyone was there, but there was no one to be found. "Is anyone there?" I called out.
'Tell her...Just trust me...' I heard the voice say again.
The voice sounded familiar somehow and I could tell that it wanted me to tell my Mom the truth. My heart was telling me that I should trust this voice and confess my feelings to her. So I walked away from where I was and went towards my mother. I approached my Mom and she looked over to me.
"Andrew! I heard you calling out for someone. Did you hear something?" my mother asked.
"Never mind that, I have something very important to tell you." I said with confidence.
"What is it?" asked my mother.
"When I was ten years old, I remember being very excited for my Pokemon journey. But then Dad passed away so I decided to stay with you. After awhile you told me that you would be fine with me going on my Pokemon journey but...I just wasn't as excited for it as I used to be and I know the reason why. I should of told you this awhile ago but..." I began to say.
I was silent for a moment before I finished my sentence, "I wanted to stay with you due to me growing attached to you these past four years. You showed me much love and really cared for me. I love you Mom. And I wouldn't want to leave someone as wonderful as you until I mature into a fine adult."
We both stood silent for awhile. After many minutes past, my Mom finally spoke.
"Andrew, why didn't you just tell me how you felt in the first place?" my Mom asked.
"I thought that you would be disappointed in me if I told you the truth" I said somewhat sadly.
"Why would I be disappointed in you? There are other ways for people to make a living. Just because you don't want to be a Pokemon trainer anymore doesn't mean you can't make it through life. And I love you for who you are and I completely understand and respect your opinion. If you want to continue living with me, that's fine with me." my mother said with a smile on her face.
I was so happy to hear that. After about a minute of silence, I went up to my mother and gave her a great big hug.
"Thanks Mom." I said with tears in my eyes.
"You're welcome." my mother said while patting my back.
We hugged for quite a bit of time before we stopped. Once we stopped hugging my mother decided that we should head back to the hotel since it was getting late. I agreed and we both began to leave the lake. But before I entered the forest clearing with my mother. I looked back at Lake Valor.
"What was that voice I heard?" I thought to myself.
"Andrew! Aren't you coming?" my Mom shouted out to me.
"Yeah Mom! I'm coming!" I shouted back to my Mom. I just shook my head and went to follow my mother back to the hotel.
–
The rest of the day was pretty ordinary. We went back to the hotel, had dinner at the Seven Stars Restaurant, and went sight-seeing a bit before we called it a day. It wasn't until I went to sleep, something very interesting happened.
I had a dream that seemed to be more like a message to me (later it turned out that it was indeed a message). In the dream I was standing at Lake Valor's shore, standing several meters away from the cavern in the middle of the lake. It was all completely silent as the wind wasn't blowing and I did not hear a single Pokemon. I just stood there for awhile before I heard that same voice again.
'Come...' said the same voice I heard earlier.
Right when I heard the voice, I immediately started walking slowly towards the cavern. The strange thing is when my foot touched the water, it stayed on there without falling through. I was walking on water! I continued to walk on water until I reached the cavern. I went inside the cavern and saw what looked like a Pokemon floating in the air above me.
The Pokemon itself was about a foot tall, was hairless, and appeared to fairy-like. Its body was a grayish-blue color and the figure of it reminded me of an infant. Both sets of its limbs were very inhuman. Its legs were short and stubby, lacking toes and its arms were also short with two fingers on each arm. Two long tails protruded from its rear. Each tail ended with a small zigzag pattern followed three fins that formed what looked like a trident. In the middle of each fin there was a red gemstone that appeared to be embedded in the skin. The Pokemon had large yellow eyes with small black pupils in the center of them. The majority of the its head was cyan-colored and was cone-shaped at the top. Each side of its head had an elf ear-like protrusion that seemed to have two flaps of skin on each one. Lastly, there was a red gem embedded on the Pokemon's forehead just like the ones on its tails. I knew who the Pokemon was. He was the Pokemon of willpower, Azelf.
'Hello Andrew.' said Azelf. I noticed that Azelf wasn't speaking through his mouth but instead I was hearing his voice in my head. He was using telepathy. I tried to speak back to him but no words came out of my mouth.
'You do not need to speak now, I am only here to deliver a message.' said Azelf.
'Although I have only waited for fourteen years for this day to come, I cannot wait much longer. You were ready when you were ten, but I wanted to wait for my two siblings' humans to be ready as well.' said Azelf as he then paused.
'Come to my lake. I will explain everything when you are in my presence.' said Azelf. I stared at the fairy-like Pokemon before he spoke once more.
'Now, awaken!' said Azelf.
I immediately woke up with a scream and found myself back in my bed in our hotel room. I panted for a moment before my mother got up (who was sleeping in the bed next to mine) who was apparently awakened by my scream.
"Andrew! Is everything all right? What happened!? Did you have a really bad dream?" My mother asked.
I turned my head to my Mom before saying, "No, but I did have a dream. And it wasn't a normal one."
I explained to her about my dream with Azelf. I tried to be as detailed as possible with the dream. After I was done explaining my Mom just stared at me in shock.
"I know it sounds crazy Mom, but the dream just seemed so real!" I said.
"I don't think it sounds crazy. In fact, it actually makes a whole lot of sense to me. Remember when you asked me where I got the idea to go to Lake Valor?" my mother asked.
"Yes. Didn't someone at the hotel tell you about it?" I asked.
"Well sort of." my Mom started. "I was actually told about the lake in a dream that was much like yours."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I did not have an ordinary dream. "How exactly did the dream go?" I asked.
"Pretty much the same way yours went. Only when I went into the lake cavern and saw Azelf, he told me something along the lines that I should bring you to Lake Valor." my mother said.
"Why didn't you tell me this when I asked you?" I asked.
"I thought you wouldn't believe me. I apologize for lying to you. I myself as a mother should of known that you would probably of believed me if I told you the truth." my mother said somewhat sadly.
"It's okay, I forgive you. I also have another thing to tell you." I said.
"What?" asked my mother.
"Before I told you how I felt about my Pokemon journey and all. I heard a voice that told me to tell you the truth. I think that voice might have been Azelf." I said.
"Is that so? Well in your dream, Azelf told you that you should go to the lake right?" asked my Mom.
"Yes. Are saying that we should-" I said before my Mom interrupted.
"Yes. We should go back to the lake immediately." said my Mom.
"Alright Mom. Let's get going then!" I said.
The two of us then got all dressed in our clothes, got some Max Repels as well as other supplies that we may of needed, got our coats and shoes on, and headed out the door.
–
It was still dark out as it was midnight but we decided to walk back to the lake anyway as we both knew it was very important to do so. During our walk, we saw less Pokemon than we did last time as many of them were probably sleeping in their homes in the forest. We did however, see some Houndour and Kricketune. The night sky was also very beautiful as the stars were out as well as a full moon.
After several minutes of walking, we had finally made our way back to Lake Valor. The place itself didn't look that much different from before; except for the fact that we could see the moon's reflection on the lake's surface which made quite a beautiful sight.
The two of us just stood on the lake's shoreline, facing the cavernthat was in the center of the lake. I had my eyes on the cavern as I somehow knew that was where I was supposed to be.
"So what do we do now?" my mother asked.
"I'm not exactly sure." I started. "But something tells me that I need to get inside the lake's cavern."
"But how we are supposed to get in there?" my mother asked. "It's not like the ground isn't going to suddenly start shaking and a narrow bridge of land will be made for us."
Just as my Mom said that, the ground started shaking. I managed to keep my balance on my feet as I watched some land rise up from the bottom of the lake which formed a narrow bridge for us to walk on that led to the cavern.
Me and my Mom just stared at each others eyes in disbelief.
"Well it looks like we can get inside the cavern now." I said as I looked at my Mom.
My Mom just nodded as we both just carefully walked on the narrow bridge of land and made our way to the cavern's island. Just as we both made it to cavern, the ground shook again, and the bridge of land sank beneath the water and back to the lake's bottom. We stared at the lake for a minute before I looked into my mother's eyes and said, "Let's be on our way then."
We then went inside the cavern of the lake. The inside of the cavern was so dark that we couldn't see a thing. Me and my mother helped remedy that situation with each of us taking out a flashlight that we had in our coat pockets. We looked around the cavern for awhile; shining our flashlights at various places inside. After awhile of nothing happening, I decided to speak up.
"Hello?" I started. "I have come here as you asked. Would you mind telling us what is going on here?" I asked to no-one in particular.
'Certainly!'" a voice suddenly said.
The two of us were very surprised upon hearing a voice speak out to us. However that was nothing compared to what happened next.
Suddenly, a large sphere of light appeared out of nowhere which lit up the room. The sphere stood there shining for a few minutes before it exploded, forcing me and my Mom to shield our eyes. After the light died down (the cavern was still lit up enough for us to see however), we both put our arms down from our eyes and couldn't believe what we then saw. Floating in front of us was what appeared to be Azelf but without a physical form. I could see the outline and shape of his body but he just didn't have a body. In place where his body was was blue spiritual energy. I assumed he was just in spirit form; but why?
Me and my mother had mixed feelings of shock and amazement. As we both stood there and shock, Azelf spoke up.
'Do not be afraid. I am glad you have decided to come here.' said Azelf through telepathy.
Upon hearing his voice, I was now calmed by his presence. My mother seemed to be calmed by Azelf's presence as well.
'Very good. Now that you two are settled, allow me to introduce myself. I am the Pokemon of willpower Azelf, and guardian of Lake Valor.' said Azelf.
While we were both still calmed by Azelf's presence, we still couldn't believe that we were face-to-face with the legendary Azelf! Since he introduced himself, I decided to do the same.
"H-Hello, my name is-" I started.
'Andrew, and that is your mother Meredith. I have been watching the both of you since you were born.' interrupted Azelf.
'There is no need for words right now. I should be the one explaining why the both of you are here. The first thing the two of you may be wondering is why I am in my spiritual form rather than my physical form.' said Azelf.
As soon as he mentioned that statement, the previous thought came back to me. Why was he in his spiritual form? I knew Azelf along with the other Lake Guardians could leave their bodies without dying but why wasn't he in his physical form?
"Yes I am confused by that. Is there a reason why you aren't in your physical form?" I asked.
'I'm glad you asked that question Andrew. The truth is that I, along with Mesprit and Uxie, are actually dead.' said Azelf.
My Mom and I were shocked to hear that. While it did explain Azelf's lack of a physical form, I now wondered how he ended up like that.
"How did you die?" my mother asked.
'Well it's a long story, and it's part of the reason why I brought the both of you here. Allow me to explain.' said Azelf.
"We're listening." my mother and I both said simultaneously.
'Alright then. It all started about fourteen years ago. We three Lake Guardians were captured by an evil organization known as Team Galactic. They planned to extract the gems from our bodies to create the Red Chain in order to summon and control Dialga and Palkia so that they could destroy the world and create their own universe. We were all freed by a young trainer but Team Galactic had already succeeded in creating the Red Chain. We rushed towards Spear Pillar in order to attempt to balance . At Spear Pillar, Team Galatic's Leader managed to summon both Dialga and Palkia using the Red Chain they made from us as well as a duplicate one. We tried to counterbalance the power of the Time and Space Pokemon, but it was no use as we we only had enough power to balance out one of the two dragons. That's when Giratina stepped in.' said Azelf.
Azelf paused for a moment before he continued. 'Giratina managed to stop Team Galactic from succeeding in destroying the world, but left a portal to the Distortion World in our world.' said Azelf.
"How was that a problem?" I asked the Lake Guardian.
'If the portal to the Distortion World remained open in this world, it would eventually result warping up the reality of this world. Does that make sense to you?' asked Azelf.
I nodded as Azelf continued. 'So the young trainer that freed us, went into the Distortion World to try and calm Giratina's anger. We Lake Guardians also went into the Disortion World and assisted the trainer in getting to Giratina to calm his anger. Eventually the trainer succeeded in doing so and after all was said and done, the three of us returned to our Lakes. We thought everything was fine then. It wasn't however, not for us.' said Azelf.
"What do you mean?" asked my mother. "Are you talking about how you three died?"
'Yes. It happened while we were in the Distortion World. While me and Uxie were assisting the trainer, Mesprit decided to be a bit playful with us and played a game of what you humans call 'tag.' She got a little carried away however, and ended up getting the three of us inhale some sort of gas in the Distortion World. It first we thought it did nothing, but Uxie later told us that the gas we inhaled turned to be very lethal and could kill just about any human or Pokemon.' said Azelf.
"Wait a minute. Why didn't Uxie warn you and Mesprit about the gas when you three entered the Distortion World?" I asked Azelf.
'While Uxie is the Pokemon of knowledge and knows just about everything there is to know. Sometimes he is not sure about certain things as he has had no first-hand experience in the Distortion World until then. It wasn't until we started feeling ill when Uxie told us.' said Azelf.
"You said the gas could kill just about any Pokemon right? Does that mean it could kill Arceus too?" I asked.
'No. Uxie told us that certain legends other than Giratina would be immune to the gas. That would include the most powerful legends such as Arceus and Mew.' said Azelf.
"Okay. So what happened afterwards with you three?" I asked Azelf.
'Well, we asked Uxie if there was any way to rid us of our disease. Since Uxie was the all-knowing being, of course he said that there was a way to make a cure. Unfortunately, the cure was very difficult to make and Uxie said it would end up taking a least one-hundred years to prepare and we only had less than a year to live. So we all decided there was nothing we could do about it, and we eventually succumbed to our diseases.' Azelf said sadly.
"But if that was the case, why are you here right now?" asked my Mom.
'After we passed away, we were confronted by Arceus before we went into the afterlife. He told us that we could not just simply go on to the afterlife because our roles as the Pokemon of willpower, emotion, and knowledge respectively were too vital to this world. So he told us to find a way we could resume our roles somehow.' said Azelf.
"I assumed Uxie came up with an idea?" I asked.
'You catch on rather well Andrew. Yes, Uxie did come up with an idea to get us new bodies. He told us that if a human being were to live at least ten years with one of our essences living inside of them; we could each fuse our soul with that human and then his or her body would change into that of the respective Lake Guardian. Thus giving us back our original bodies and giving each of our humans all the powers and abilities of one of us. It would be neither one of us nor the human controlling the body, but we would be one being.' said Azelf as he then paused. 'So we each placed our essence into an unborn child and we waited fourteen years so that all three of the humans would come of age and we could get our bodies back around the same time. We all decided that I should be the one to go first.' said Azelf.
"So wait, does that mean that I-" I started.
'Yes. You are the human I placed my essence into. The human that contains one of our essences' would end having some physical traits that would make them resemble one of us a bit. Which is why you have cyan colored hair and yellow eyes.' said Azelf.
'Celebi predicted that you and your mother would be coming near my lake for a vacation. I told your mother to take you to my lake through a dream. I later did the same for you the next night. I was also the one who told you to confess your feelings about your Pokemon journey to your mother.' said Azelf.
"Did you just do that for me?" I asked Azelf.
'Yes Andrew. Mesprit, Uxie, and I all decided to watch out for our own human. I myself have developed a caring attitude towards you. I even felt sorry for you when your father died.' said Azelf.
My mother and I were both speechless after hearing that. We both knew that most legendary Pokemon would be mainly concerned about their own duties and wouldn't give much regard to mortal living things. Actually hearing a legendary Pokemon like Azelf say that he cared about me was somewhat suprising to hear. After a bit of silence, Azelf spoke up.
'So I leave you a choice Andrew. Either you and your mother leave this place and forget you ever came here or...' Azelf paused. 'I fuse my soul with yours, and you will become me.'
I didn't really know what to say. I had mixed feelings about it. One of which was sadness since I would be giving up my humanity, the only life I had ever known. But there was another feeling that I had. This feeling told me that this was my destiny and I should accept the offer.
However, many questions about this buzzed through my mind. So I decided to ask them.
"May I ask a few questions about this...change?" I asked Azelf.
'Yes you may. What do you wish to know?' asked Azelf.
"I'm assuming that there is no going back to being human right?" I asked.
'That is correct. The change is permanent. Us Lake Guardians don't even have the ability to disguise ourselves as humans.' explained Azelf.
"Will the transformation hurt at all and will I still be me?" I asked.
'I would never let any harm to come to you. Yes the transformation will be painless. You will just feel a bit uncomfortable during the changes.' said Azelf.
'And as for your other question, the answer to that is yes and no.' said Azelf.
"What do you mean?" I asked the Lake Guardian.
'Once the change is over, you will receive all my powers as well as my own memories. What it basically means is that you and I will become one being. You will still be you and I will still be me. Do you understand?' asked Azelf.
"I think so. I'm also assuming my lifespan will be increased greatly right?" I asked.
'Yes. You will be immortal as long as you stay away from dangerous or hazardous things. Since you will have my memories, I'm pretty sure you will know not to go into the Distortion World again.' said Azelf.
"I only have one more question to ask." I said. "I know that legendary Pokemon can't be invloved with any mortal beings but..."
'But what?' asked Azelf.
I stood silent for a moment before I got the courage to answer. "It's just that...me and my mother are very close and we love each other very much." I said with all my heart. "Throughout my entire life, she has loved and cared for me. I trusted her all my life and she trusted me. When I was feeling down, she was always there for me. She always supported me and I supported her when my father passed away. She is everything to me and I can't just leave her. Neither me or her would be able to stand losing each other; so I ask you this Azelf. Would my mother be able to stay with me after you and I become one?"
Azelf stood silent for a bit before he finally answered. 'As I said earlier, I have been watching you your entire life. I have seen the bond that you and your mother share and I have to say that it is quite a strong bond. Before our old bodies gave away, we would show little concern or sympathy for human beings.' stated the Lake Guardian.
"Are you saying that you legends don't care for humans at all?" asked my Mom.
'No that is not the case. We legendaries focused more on our duties and try to avoid interferring with acts of humans as much as possible. The only times we would do such a thing is when something very serious were to happen.' said Azelf.
'As I was saying, we showed little concern or sympathy for human beings before we died. The three of us never thought we would be showing any sort of concern for humans. But then came the time when we had to watch over our humans. I have already said of how I cared about you but that same sort of feeling was felt by Mesprit and Uxie as well. When I first felt that feeling, I couldn't understand it at first. Mesprit explained to me that that feeling...was love' said Azelf.
"So does that mean you will let me mother stay with me?" I asked.
'Yes Andrew, she can stay.' said Azelf.
A great feeling of happiness and joy then hit me. It was so much for me that I had tears in my eyes.
"Thank you so much Azelf! I'll glady accept your offer!" I said shedding tears of joy.
'You are very much welcome Andrew. Before we begin however, I suggest you should have one more word with your mother as it will be the last time moment you would share with her as a human and without me.' stated Azelf.
"Alright Azelf, I shall do that."
I turned to my Mom who had an expression on her face that seemed to be a mixture of emotions. I could see shock and confusion on her face but I also sensed that she might have been just as glad as I was at that moment.
"Well Mom, it looks like this is it." I said to her.
"I guess so." my mother said while shedding a tear.
"Is something wrong Mom? Why are you sad? Azelf told us that you could stay with me." I told my mother.
"It's not that, it's just that this whole thing is sort of overwhelming to me but at the same time, I feel like that this was supposed to happen eventually." said my Mom.
"What do you mean Mom? Were you told about this sometime ago?" I asked.
"Yes I was in fact. Before I was pregnant with you, I remember having a dream in which I can't recall the details of it but in the dream, a voice told me that I were to have a child that would grow up to do something very important. The next day I found out I was pregnant." my mother told me.
I didn't need to ask who the voice in my mother's dream was as it was obvious that it was Azelf.
"Well then I guess I should go through with this then. Even when I assume the role as the Pokemon of Willpower, I will still be your child right?" I asked.
"Andrew, I will always be your mother and you will always be my son. Nothing in the world could change that." my mother said sincerely.
I went over and hugged my mother and said, "Thanks Mom. I love you."
"I love you too." said my Mom.
We stopped hugging each other as I went over and faced the spiritual form of Azelf.
"Alright Azelf. Let's get started."
'Alright Andrew. We shall now be together.' said Azelf as he then flew into my body and then vanished.
Instinctively, I began to take off all the clothes I was wearing as I knew that if I didn't, I would be in a pile of my own clothes by the time the changes were over. I started with by taking off my shoes and socks, followed by my pants, then finally my shirt. I noticed that after I had finished stripping, my Mom had shielded her eyes in order to avoid seeing my naked body. With that out of the way, the changes began.
I felt a tingling sensation all throughout my body as my skin began to take a grayish blue tint. The color spread throughout my entire body and elimated any body hair I had. The skin changes stopped at my neck however as my head would be the last to change. By the time my skin stopped changing color, I noticed that I appeared to be growing shorter. I looked down to see that my legs were indeed growing shorter. Not only that, but my feet seemed to go through a bizarre change as each foot became slowly yet painlessly sucked back into each leg which made my legs all stubby and inhuman. After my legs stopped shrinking, I noticed that I was now only about a few feet tall but had a still human-looking torso that my legs weren't able to support, almost making me lose my balance.
Before I fell over however, my torso shrunk and changed a bit to accommodate my new legs. My body was now only a foot tall and my torso now seemed to slightly resemble that of the figure of an infant. I didn't look but I knew that my exterior reproductive organs had vanished from my body as Legendary Pokemon would have other ways to reproduce. Speaking of organs, my internal organs (which had already shrunk with my torso) also changed and shifted around the body. The feeling of it was very unsettling and I almost vomited from it. However I managed to hold on as my insides finished changing and the changes to my body continued.
The next changes happened to my arms as they also became shorter like my legs. I looked at my hands as the four of the fingers on each hand fused together (the only one that didn't fuse being my thumb) leaving my with two fingers for each hand. In addition, the distance from my wrist to my hand became somewhat shorter than they were before.
The transformation was more than halfway over now. As Azelf promised, the changes were completely painless. I only felt a little odd during all the changes but there was also another feeling that I had that was getting stronger with each passing moment. That feeling was happiness.
I then felt a strange feeling on my back that felt like my spine had extended but then ended up splitting into two. I looked behind me and smiled to see two long tails grow out from my rear. At the end of each was a small zigzag pattern that was followed by what appeared to be a three finned trident with a red gemstone at the center of each one.
Apart from my still-human head, I resembled the Lake Guardian Azelf in every way. I braced myself for the final changes to begin.
The grayish-blue color suprisingly didn't spread to all skin on my head. Instead, it only spread up to my ears in two specific parts under my eyes. I felt my nose flatten and vanish completely and the same thing happened to my ears. In addition, I felt my mouth shrink a little bit.
I suddenly felt my eyes sting which made me close them. As I held them closed, I could feel them grow larger a bit. When I opened them, my eyes still had the same color but were now larger and looked far from human.
I couldn't see but I certainly felt my cyan-colored hair somehow merge with my head to become skin. The color then spreaded all over the majority of my head that wasn't already grayish-blue. My head then changed shape as the sides of my head protruded out to create a pair of elf ear-like protrusions. I noticed that there existed a small patch of of grayish-blue skin on the end of each protrusion near my face. The top of my head then streched outwards to form a tip, making my head resemble a helmet of some sort. Finally the physical changes ended after a red gemstone formed on the center of my forehead.
All of the sudden I had a migrane of some sort as knowledge and memories became imprinted in my mind. All the necessities I needed to perform to function as a human being had vanished from my mind and were replaced with new ones. Ones that I needed to function as the Pokemon of willpower. I could now feel the willpower of every human and Pokemon and had the power to control it as well. I knew who I was. I was Azelf.
I looked up at my mother who was watching me the whole time I changed. As Azelf promised, I still had my human memories (along with his own) so I knew exactly who she was.
"Andrew? Is that you?" asked my mother.
I knew how to respond to that. Using my psychic powers, I leviatated myself off the ground and quickly floated up to my mother and embraced her.
'Yes Mom. It's still me.' I said through telepathy whilst smiling.
–
While it was only yesterday night since I resumed my role as the Pokemon of willpower, quite a bit has happened. I allowed my mother to live on the shore of Lake Valor by building a small cottage for her. Since I had my psychic powers back, building it only took about most of the day as opposed to a week or so.
As for my mother making a living, I managed to get a little help from Jirachi by granting a wish for my mother getting an early retirement from her job in Jubilife City (as well as informing her employers of her apparent change of address).
My relationship with my mother is still as strong as ever. Although I had duties to perform as a legendary, that would never stop me from spending some time with her each day. I still loved her and she loved me and nothing would ever change that. She is still my mother and I am still her son.
So now here I am in the world that me and my siblings (Mesprit and Uxie) reside in. Mesprit and Uxie haven't gotten their bodies back yet and I had just finished telling them how much of a success Uxie's plan was.
"Well I always knew it would turn out well." said Uxie.
"I can't agrue with that brother." I said to Uxie.
"So Azelf, you say that you have emotional attachments to that human you spoke of?" asked Mesprit.
"She was and still is my mother." I said to Mesprit.
"You mean human mother correct?" asked Uxie.
I nodded and said, "As I have told you two before, I watched my human half as a spirit and developed a deep love for him. Now that we are one, that love I had for my human half seems to of been replaced with his love for his mother who is technically also my mother."
"The love between any being and it's mother can be very strong. I myself being the Pokemon of emotion would know this." said Mesprit.
"Well my human father passed away when my human half was only ten. What can you say about the relationship between a father and his child?" I asked Mesprit.
"Well that can also be very strong; sometimes even stronger than a child's relationship with their mother. It usually depends on how much each parent loves and cares for their child. But from what I have seen, it's more common to see a strong relationship between a mother and her child. This is because the mother is the one that feeds and cares for the child when they are really young; usually more so than the father." explained Mesprit.
"I see." I said in response.
"You know, I'm impressed Mesprit." said Uxie.
Mesprit turned around to face the Pokemon of Knowledge.
"You sure know a lot about human and Pokemon relationships with their children. I am quite surprised you actually took the time to study them like that." said Uxie.
"Well I am the emotion Pokemon. While I do feel and have control over all emotions, it's easier for me to understand these emotions when you experience them first-hand. Something I managed to do over the time I was watching my human. " explained Mesprit.
"Which reminds me; can I ask a favor of you Azelf?"
"What is it Mesprit?" I asked.
"While I understand that you were able to become one with your human easily enough, I need your help in getting my human to me." said Mesprit.
"What? Why do you need my help?" I asked Mesprit.
"It's about the girl's family, they are..." started Mesprit.
"Dead?" I asked Mesprit.
"No it's not that, it's something else. I'll explain it to you tomorrow." said Mesprit.
"Hey wait a minute!" shouted Uxie.
We both turned our heads to the Pokemon of knowledge.
"What about me? I was the one who came up with this idea! Do you have something special for Mesprit or something?" questioned Uxie.
I only blushed a in response and placed my arms around my back.
"I'll take that as a yes. Well fine then! You can help help Mesprit first. Just as long as the two of you help me with my human afterwards." said Uxie.
"Why do you need our help?" asked Mesprit.
"Well first of all, my human is an orphan and second, he lives in the middle of a snowy wasteland!" shouted Uxie.
"And how do either of those things-" started Mesprit.
"Wait!" I said to Mesprit.
Mesprit turned to me when I said, "I think it's only fair that we both help Uxie after I help you since he is right, he did come up with this plan to get our bodies back."
Mesprit stood silent for a moment before she spoke up, "Alright Uxie, you win. We will both help you after Azelf helps me."
"I am very glad to hear that then." said Uxie smugly.
Mesprit just growled a bit at Uxie before turning to me. "Well you better get some rest then Azelf. Like I said before, I'll explain the situation about my human tomorrow." said Mesprit.
"Alright then. Goodnight my siblings." I said as I floated away and then curled up somewhere to rest.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Related content
Comments: 21
Another piece to critique? Sure, why not? You actually have some quality to your writing, and I can tell you put your heart and soul into your work. Let's proceed, shall we?
First of all, I absolutely love that you add a realistic edge to your Pokemon world. Yes, Pokemon and people can die. Manure occurreth, and in this case, it totally turns the protagonist's life upside-down. The typical "trainer on a journey" is replaced with someone who turned down that path for, in the end, many reasons. That alone is pretty refreshing. The TF aspect is secondary. This is one of your stronger suits, so keep going with it.
Again, however, be careful of the orphan/dead parent situations. Yes, deaths in the family happen, and yes, you do them very well, but don't use them as a crutch. If this happened in, say, a world where people got devoured my monsters on a regular basis, I could understand its prevalence. That said, props for the mundane death via car accident; it could happen to anyone, which makes the audience sympathize with the character. You do deaths in the family pretty well, but be careful of overusing it. I look forward to seeing what you do with the embodiment of Mesprit, since apparently that's something different.
(I'm tempted to ask: Does a parent dying touch you on a personal level, by any chance? You don't have to answer if you don't want to. There are people who nix the parents out of convenience, then there are people who know what it's like; ether you fall firmly into the latter box or you have a very good sense of the consequences that losing a loved one can have. )
As the previous critic pointed out, yes, padding your dialogue with body language might be a good idea. The less one's story reads like a script, the better. Plus, you could totally have fun with the sprites. e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s… " width="15" height="15" alt="
Finally, grammar. I addressed this in my previous crit. The same still applies. All you need is practice and a good editor.
Stars and reasons:
Vision: What can I say? I don't think anyone's done this before. What could've been a 'normal' Azelf TF was tossed out in favor of a touching story with sympathetic characters and a tie to the canon.
Originality: Even if Azelf TF's have been done before, this one is handled so well that I'm willing to 5/5 it.
Technique: Again...you need a good grammar book. I'd be totally willing to workshop something with you on GDocs just so that these things can be hand-fixed. Clearly spell-check is not enough.
Impact: Even with my criticisms, this still packs a wallop. I want more.
Verdict: Put it this way: I'm not a fan of the Lake Trio and I liked this. I'd be honored to collab on something with you at some point; even with all of your grammar mistakes, I've seen a lot worse, and you have that creative spirit that I'd like to see more often. Bravo.
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Ok, time for a beautiful critique I have for you and your wonderful story.
The beginning explaining Andrew's backstory was very smooth, and as the story progressed practically each part easily slid into another and the beginning, middle, and end each tied into one another perfectly. One suggestion though, when Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie were talking at the end, I would have added a little more detail to that. Use body language when they're communicating as well- not that you didn't at all, you did. but I would have done that more. For example, since Mesprit has a cheery personality, I would have wrote down her floating around upside down or something related, or whichever fits her personality best.
Either way, I love your stories and your only getting better! c:
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Meh, I'm stuck betwen a rock and a hard place deciding if this was fair or unfair.
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Yeah I doubt I will get around to continuing this. I hope you liked it though.
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On indefinite hiatus. I may get back continuing this eventually, but Change of Seasons is forever cancelled, hence why it is in my scraps.
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This... was... AWESOME! And very heartwarming at times. You certainly made an effort putting emotion into this.
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Thank you for your feedback! I really appreciate it. I also have ideas for the Mesprit one but that will still be awhile off (need to get my medication first but before that I should at least do the first four letters of my upcoming A to Z Pokemon TFs).
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What did you think of it other than that?
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This was a pretty nice read overall; the TF was well described, and Andrew's backstory was interesting as well. On the downside, I think that you might've gone overboard on exposition in places, particularly on the description of the plot points in Platinum, since most of your audience would probably have at least a passing familiarity with them.
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very, very nice job
it's a shame I'm not the type of person to really go in-depth with their comments
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Finally, it's about time. Given how long it was though, and how good this story is, it was probably worth it to a lot of people while not worth it to a lot of others. You may have lost a watcher or two, I'm not sure. I for one think this is balanced by how long it took. Perhaps if the Mespirt and Uxie ones don't take as long as this one did to fully complete, you may get watchers back/gain more watchers. It all depends on how much dedication you put into it.
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I'm on my phone so can't really write much, but wow. Just wow. I enjoyed reading this more than I can express, really. Extremely well written, good depth, narration, all that stuff....but really, it was just a wonderful little story to read.
Also, Azelf is awesome :3
Amazing work, here.
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