The Beginning of the N: Chapter 38
Zoroark AUTHOR NOTES: Sorry for taking so long to upload, been busy! Will start uploading fast again, I promise! To make up for it, I tried to make this chapter specially long! Think of the end of the tournament as end of season 1, and this an hour long episode to start off season 2, okay?
In this chapter, I decided to start using Japanese honorifics, to make it feel more anime-like. If you find it annoying, please let me know, and if you like them, please say so, so I know if I should stop using them or keep using them!“Zoroark!” shouted N, running after Zoroark.
N ran backstage, and, in such a hurry to find Zoroark, he nearly bumped right into Anthea and Concordia.
“N-chan!” they both exclaimed at the same time.
“What are you two still doing here? We have to find Zoroark!” shouted N.
Without giving them a chance to respond, N dashed right out of the building. Not really understanding what's going on, Anthea and Concordia both stood there for a few moments, then ran after their brother.
When they were outside, they could see that the city was severely damaged. There were holes in buildings, benches and objects knocked over.
“Zoroark did all this...?” asked Concordia, shocked.
“Zoroark! ZOROARK!” shouted N, running west.
“Wait up, N-chan!” said his sisters, running after him.
They came to a stop near a very large, red drawbridge spanning across the ocean. The drawbridge was raised, which prevented them from crossing.
“How are we supposed to get across? We have to find Zoroark!” said N.
“Calm down, N...first let's try to find out why the drawbridge was raised.” said Concordia, placing her hand on N's shoulder, trying to calm him down.
“Leave that to me!” said Anthea, walking over to a random old man.
“Hey, uhm, excuse me-”
“Ah! Team Plasma! Leave me alone, I aint done nothing!” screamed the frightened old man.
Anthea blinked in surprise at his reaction.
“What? I just wanted to ask you a que-”
“You Team Plasma are horrible! You even stooped as low as to send that Zoroark out to destroy Nimbasa and Driftveil City! Now the drawbridge had to be raised to keep it from escaping! Thanks to you Team Plasma, nobody can cross the bridge until that Pokemon is caught! You guys are monsters!” ranted the old man.
Anthea's eyes twitched, and she frowned at him. She didn't seem to be making out anything he was saying. Intimidated, heried to run away, but Anthea grabbed his shoulder, preventing him from getting away.
“What did you call me?” she said, in a cold, dark voice, scaring the man even more.
“Ouch! Let me go! You're hurting me!” cried the old man, trying to get away.
“Anthea! What are you doing?” asked Concordia, going over to her sister.
“Onee-san, did you not hear what this bastard just called us? He said we're monsters! We are not monsters!” shouted Anthea, increasing her grip on the mans shoulder, making him scream in pain.
“Oww! Let me go, please!” cried the old man
“Listen, you little shit! I am Anthea Harmonia, Goddess of Love, and princess of Team Plasma! And I am not a monster!” she yelled, kicking the man in his shin, causing him to fall over. “Now cut out your crap, and tell me why the damned drawbridge was raised!”
the old man started trying to crawl away, which only angered Anthea even more. She was about to kick him in the gut, but Concordia grabbed her arm, and dragged her back towards the drawbridge, letting the man get away.
“Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing? You let that bastard get away!” complained Anthea.
Concordia slapped her in the face, hard. Anthea touched her face where she was slapped, and their was a brief silence for a while.
“We don't have time for you to be batshit insane over something so trivial.” said Concordia.
“B-but since you let him get away, we don't even know why the drawbridge was raised!”
“Were you even listening? He said it was raised to prevent Zoroark from escaping. That means we can't expect it to be lowered any time soon, unless we find a way to lower it ourselves.”
N slammed his fist on the ground in frustration.
“Then we'll just have to swim across!” he said.
“But N...we can't swim, and even if we could, that is way too far a distance to cross by swimming.” said Concordia.
“Then what are we supposed to do?!” asked N, angrily.
“
Oh I have an idea!” said Victini. “
Me and Archeops can fly, remember? We'll just fly over, and find a way to lower the drawbridge! Then we can all cross and find Zoroark!” he said.
“Victini, you're a genius! But how do you plan to lower it?” asked N.
“
It'll be easy!” replied Victini.
Archeops looked worried about this. “
Uhm, I think I'll wait here.” he said.
Victini then flew across the bridge. After about ten minutes, the drawbridge was lowered.
“Victini did it!” exclaimed Anthea.
“But shouldn't he be back by now?” asked Concordia.
“Surely he's waiting on the other side for us. Come on, let's go!” said N, running across the bridge.
When they made it to the other side, they had arrived in Driftveil City. This city was even more damaged than Nimbasa City, and just about everybody in the city was panicking. There was also multiple police cars around. Victini was lying on the ground, beat up, and unconscious.
“Victini!” cried N, running over to Victini and picking him up.
“Zoroark did this to Victini...?” asked Anthea, quietly.
“Judging by all the police cars here, I'd assume the police are trying to capture Zoroark. If they do, there's no telling what they might do to him...” said Concordia, with concern.
“I'll just connect my heart to his! Then he'll surely come back!” said N.
N handed Victini to Concordia, then stood with his arms stretched out to his sides, and his eyes closed, his hair blowing in the wind. He stayed in that position for about five minutes until he realized it wasn't working.
“What's going on? Why can't I connect my heart to his?!” asked N, frustrated and confused.
“N-chan, calm down. Zoroark could be anywhere, since he can easily hide with his Illusion ability. If we're going to find him, we need to split up. If Victini got beat this badly by Zoroark, there's no way any of us stand a chance alone, so we'll have to split up in pairs.” said Concordia.
“Right...but who should go with who?” asked N.
“Whismicott, Gardevoir, and I will search South. Anthea, Whismicott, and Lilligant will search throughout the city, and N, you, Pignite, and Archeops will search Route 6.” said Concordia.
They all then split up and began searching.
Concordia and her Pokemon hadn't been searching for much more than a few minutes, when she decided to check inside a large trash can. The second she touched it, the 'trash can' showed itself as Zoroark, and immediately growled at her, slashed her face with his claws, then got an all fours and began running away.
“Don't let him get away! Whismicott, Stun Spore!” commanded Concordia, holding onto her bleeding cheek.
Before Zoroark could get away, Whismicott scattered a cloud of paralyzing powder around Zoroark, which paralyzed him, preventing him from moving.
“Now, Gardevoir, Magical Leaf! Whismicott, Leech Seed”
Gardevoir attacked Zoroark with sharp leaves that all hit him one after the other before he had a chance to re-act. Whismicott then planted seeds right under Zoroarks feet, which slowly sapped away his health, and made it harder for him to move.
Zoroark fell to his knees, hissing in pain. Concordia slowly walked over to him.
“It's alright, Zoroark, we're your friends, remember?” she said.
Not listening, Zoroark slashed his claws at Concordia's arm, which caused her arm to quickly start bleeding.
“Whismicott, Hurricane! Gardevoir, Magical Leaf!” she commanded, grimacing in pain.
Before Whismicott or Gardevoir could do anything, Zoroarks whole body began glowing red, then he swung his arms down, creating a giant dome, which sent knocked down Concordia and her Pokemon. Once the dome disappeared, there was no longer any sight of Zoroark.
“Dammit! He got away!”
..............................................................
Zoroark, who was running away from his battle against Concordia, bumped right into Anthea, knocking them both over.
“What luck! I've been looking for you for quite some time, and now you've come to me!” exclaimed Anthea.
Zoroark got on all fours, panting heavily, and growling at Anthea.
“Just come back calmly, okay? You're N-chan's best and first friend, I don't want to resort to violence with you.” said Anthea calmly, as she stood back up.
Zoroark, ignoring her, started running away, but his path was blocked by Lilligant and Gothitele.
“Lilligant, Sleep Powder!”
Before getting a chance to try running in another direction, or fighting, Zoroark was put to sleep by Lilligant.
“Great job Lilligant! Looks like we won't have to resort to violence after all. Onee-san will be so jealous that I found Zoroark and she didn't, and N-chan will be so happy. I can picture him, with tears in his eyes, hugging and thanking me over and over...” said Anthea, looking up at the sky, dreamily.
“
Uhm, Anthea...” said Gothitele, tapping Anthea's shoulder.
“Shh, I've got to call N and Concordia on the Xtranceiver to let them know we've got Zoroark.” replied Anthea, calling N and Concordia on her Xtranceiver.
“Hmm?” Anthea turned around, and saw that Zoroark had woken up, and was getting back up. “Uh-oh! Stop him!” she shouted.
Gothitele and Lilligant both attacked Zoroark at the same time, but Zoroark managed to do dodge to the side, then quickly run out of sight.
N and Concordia then both answered their Xtranceiver's.
“Anthea? Did you find Zoroark?” they both asked.
Anthea was still staring in the direction Zoroark ran off, dumfounded.
“Hey! Anthea?!” said N, in an angry voice.
“N, calm down. Anthea, what did you call for?” asked Concordia.
Anthea finally realized that they had answered their Xtranceiver's.
“Ah! Uhm, well, ah...I was wondering if you two had found him yet!” she said, scratching the back of her head.
“...No. Don't call me unless you have found him.” said N, hanging up.
“Anthea, let's both meet up with N. We're useless unless we're together.” said Concordia.
“...Okay.”
..............................................................
Anthea and Concordia both met up with N about ten minutes later. N was angry at them for not searching separate anymore, but quickly got over it and continued searching for Zoroark. After a while of them searching together, they bumped into Angie, Brad, and Mei.
“You three! Have you seen Zoroark?” asked N.
“Z-Zoroak?” asked Brad, confused.
“Zoroark has ran away, and we have to find him.” said Concordia, making a long story short.
“Do you mean Zorua...?” asked Mei, who didn't, know Zorua had evolved.
“What the hell else do you think they mean? Zorua has obviously evolved!” said Angie, slapping the back of Mei's head.
“So? Have you seen him?!” asked N, losing patience.
“N-no. We're sorry, Lord N-sama.” they said.
N sighed. “I want you three to stop whatever you're doing here, and search for Zoroark! We need as much help as we can get.” he said.
“But Lord N-sama, we have direct orders from sage Zinzolin too...” said Mei, but she was interrupted by N banging his fist on a wall.
“I don't care what one of the sages ordered you to do! I am your king, and I order you to go to find Zoroark! That is a direct order from your king, which is more important than any order from a sage!” he shouted.
“I-I'm sorry, Lord N-sama...” replied Mei, frightened to see N angry like this.
The three grunts then ran off, in search of Zoroark.
N, who was exhausted from searching for so long, sighed, and sat down on a bench. The 'bench' disappeared as soon as he tried to sit on it, resulting in him falling on his butt. Standing in front of him now, was Zoroark, who had used his Illusion ability to appear as a bench.
“Z-Zoroark!” exclaimed N, as he jumped up in surprise.
“Zoroark! We've finally found you!” said Concordia.
Zoroark growled at them.
“Lilligant, Sleep Po-” Anthea was about to tell Lilligant to put Zoroark to sleep, but N didn't let her.
“No! Don't do anything that might hurt him!” he shouted.
“But N, we don't have much choice...” replied Anthea.
N slowly stepped towards Zoroark, with his arms stretched out, but Zoroak stepped back each time he stepped forward.
“Zoroark, I don't know whats gotten into you...but please don't be afraid, it's me, N, remember?”
Zoroark growled, then slashed his claws across N's face, then backed up some more.
“Nngh...!”
“N!” cried Anthea and Concordia.
“Both of you, stay back! Pokemon take this type of damage every day. If they have to endure it, I can too!” he shouted, even tho both of his eyes were dripping in blood.
“N-chan...” said Anthea, in a quiet voice.
“Zoroark, please stop this. Please Zoroark, you're putting yourself in so much danger!” said N.
This time, Zoroark slashed his claws across N's stomach. N fell to his knees, clutching at his stomach. Blood a huge puddle of blood was visible through his white shirt.
“N! Please stop! Are you trying to get killed?!” cried Concordia, running over to N.
N stood back up, grimacing in pain, still holding onto his stomach with one hand, and with great force, pushed his sister away with one arm.
“N-chan! How can we just stand here and watch this happen to you?!” cried Anthea.
“I...I already told you, I can...I can endure this. You think this is pain? Pokemon are hurt far more than this every day. I can take at least this much...” he said, still stepping closer to Zoroark, even tho he was clearly in severe pain.
Zoroark backed up even more, growled ferociously, then charged towards N at full speed. N's arms were spread out to his sides, and he didn't even try to protect himself.
SPLASH!
N happened to be standing just a few feet away from the ocean, so both him, and Zoroark fell right in.
Anthea and Concordia both ran over, screaming N's name.
“They're both going to drown to death down there! Onee-san, what should we do? We can't let N die like this!” cried Anthea.
“I know! I know that! I, I'm going in! I'll save them! You stay here.” said Concordia, who was clearly scared out of her mind right now.
“But onee-san, you can't swim! How are you going to save them by jumping down there? You'll die! You expect me to just stay here while you throw your life away?!”
“We don't have time to look for help! What else do you expect me to do? You can't swim either, why should I let you go down there too? If I don't make it back out alive, I at least want you to live, little sister...” said Concordia.
She then jumped right into the ocean.
“CONCORDIA!!!” yelled Anthea.
Anthea dropped to her knees, crying uncontrollably.
“Why...why is all this happening so suddenly? They're going to die down there for sure. Onee-san clearly didn't think she could save N or Zoroark, she jumped down there to die with them. Why...why must I just sit here hopelessly while they die together? Am I really this useless of a sister?!” she said through sobs.
“I can't...I can't let it end like this. I'm going down there too, but unlike nee-san, I WILL save them! I'm not letting anyone die!” she said, then jumped down into the ocean.
She held her breath as well as she could, and looked around until she saw Zoroark, N, and Concordia, who were all still sinking, and completely unconscious.
Despite never having learned how to swim before, Anthea managed to swim down towards them. N was further down than Zoroark and Concordia, so she had to get them before she could get him. She grabbed them both, and tried to swim back up with them, which was no easy task, but she managed to get them both back up to land.
“That...I...I can't believe I actually...how did I do that...?” she said, breathing heavily, looking like she might suffocate.
“I have to go back down and get N now...” she said, and jumped back down.
She swam down to him as fast as she could, then grabbed him, and started swimming back up, which was even harder than getting Concordia and Zoroark up, due to how exhausted she was, but she managed to get him back to land.
When she got him back to land, she collapsed, unconscious.
To be continued...
