Pokémon Obsidian | An Orre Fanfiction

Chapter 33: Power

In the depths of Obsidian City, atop one of the towers that only stopped rising as it was blocked by the cavern's damp roof, a muffled commotion drifted from GoD's office. There was no-one else in there. He was throwing and breaking things, screaming his lungs out, at himself. His trousers were torn to shreds. His own blood, gushing from old scars ripped open again, soaked the floor's shiny tiles.

Ardos was the only Admin present in the neighbouring offices to hear it. He was, as usual, listening in to their enemies. At first, he thought GoD must have removed Leucosia from her cell to beat her, but her grating voice was louder than his. She wasn't there. When the windows smashed, there was no doubt he was indeed roaring at himself. Ardos pulled off his headphones. He knocked and let himself in.

'Grand Master. What in the world is the matter?'

GoD spun to face him. He stopped screaming, switching to his regular, cocky tone so abruptly, it was impossible to imagine he was responsible for destroying his own office.

'Have you ever wondered why you're doing this?'

The fresh wounds on GoD's legs told Ardos he was not hearing things. They were self-inflicted. The knife in his own hands was drenched in blood.

'Because right now, I have no fucking idea. Rhetorical question. I know you're a one-track mind psychopath.'

There was a long pause. 'I have.'

'I didn't know you spoke sarcasm.'

'I am not being remotely sarcastic, Grand Master. Sarcasm is a waste of breath.'

'What good will it do me?'

GoD gestured to the blanket of starry lights, like the underground sky, stretched out beyond the shattered windows. Its existence underground was like a metaphor. Cipher could thrive, but only in eternal darkness. Light could never re-enter their lives, as natural light would never reach the cavern.

'Is it even worth it if I'm a shell of myself?'

'I, too, am a shell of myself. But I shall die knowing Cipher lives because I devoted my life to it. I will live forever in Cipher.'

'Is that really what you want to die assured of, Ardos? Because I don't think it's all I want to die knowing. I'm telling you, you're senile. You haven't strangled me yet.'

'I do not answer back to a Grand Master worthy of respect. That is not how I was raised. It is the respect my father would have retained if he chose not to cowtow to spineless, sentimental Eldes.'

'You're a shell, huh? I never knew you were anything but what you are now.'

I wouldn't have rescued you if I had.

'Grand Master. Know that I tell you this because you are the only person I trust to lead Cipher after my death. I do not want or need sympathy or pity.'

Sounds like that might be exactly what's wrong with you, but OK.

'I was raised to respect authority, no matter the personal cost. Both my mother and father instilled that into me. So when my mother, who demanded that respect, suddenly left because Father... Grand Master Greevil's... goals became uncomfortable for her...'

Didn't she have no idea your dad founded a criminal syndicate? It didn't 'become uncomfortable' for her.

'As you know, the marriage was arranged. She could respect that... a life with a man she did not love... but she could not respect his authority... or even the own authority she imposed as a mother. That was when my suspicions were confirmed. Those who impose supposedly altruistic authority are liars. They are self-serving. That child who had such an effect on my father and Eldes... Michael Mesquite... at such a young age, even he was self-serving. That is why I did not hesitate to suggest blowing up Citadark Isle with the child still on it. There are no heroes. When people do "good" things... they do them because they cannot accept themselves otherwise.'

'There are "good" people. I don't want to be one of them. I want to be the emotionless psychopath you are. I want to stop feeling.'

'In time, you will. That is why I am telling you I was not always this way. When my mother abandoned me, I experienced genuine distress. With each following betrayal, my discomfort diminished. Flickers of distress remained when my father chose self-serving sentimentalism, but by the time Leden and Lumir betrayed me, I felt only disgust.'

'Ever been disgusted with yourself?'

'No. Even when I experienced distress, I knew it was misplaced. I knew I would quash it. There was no reason for me to judge myself, as there is no reason for you to ever be disgusted with yourself, Grand Master. You have chosen Cipher. That is transparently clear. You are young. Your journey towards world domination is in its juvenescence. Doubts are natural. Do not judge yourself for them.'

But that's not why I judge myself. I judge myself for what I do. For being the Grand Master you're so proud of. I told you. I want to stop feeling. It's hardly self-serving when I don't ask to feel. It's just there. And it's in my way.

'So why do you do it, Ardos? Because it's self-serving to do otherwise?'

'Because I am one of the few people who understands that self-serving nobility is a plague. A plague that, as long as it remains unchecked, prevents humanity reaching its full potential.'

Ardos gestured, as GoD did, to the city his boss intermittently glanced back at.

'The average lifespan of a species is one million years. If we continue at this rate, humanity will not even last a million years. Civilisation certainly will not. But imagine if this could last forever. If our species was immortal... and if Cipher was responsible. If you and I were responsible, for we are Cipher.'

Then you're doing exactly what you're criticising. You're doing what you do for the future of humanity... but that isn't why you're doing it, Ardos. Maybe after all these years of convincing yourself, you believe it is. But it's not.

'I don't even know why I'm confiding in you of all people. But I don't know why you're pretending to be nice to me, either.'

'Because we are the same.'

You really are senile, or just plain stupid. We are not the same. We never will be. You care about something bigger than yourself. Humanity. Cipher. You want to take over the world for the abstract concept of 'Cipher,' because Cipher is all that's left of your dad, who was dead to you from the moment he chose light over darkness. It's all that's left of the futile shreds of hope for you not becoming an emotionless, Cipher-obsessed robot.

How ironic. How very ironic, Cipher Admin Ardos. You are what you are because it's your only connection to what you've convinced yourself you despise, because you were too weak to become that yourself.

You don't understand. You, of all people, don't understand. I expected you to give me cartoon villain-esque advice. Instead, you revealed how pathetic you truly are, but thanks for that. It reminds me exactly why I'm doing this.

I don't want to take over the world for Cipher. Your daddy's old criminal syndicate is only my means of getting there. I couldn't care less about humanity.

I will take over the world for me.

For my own callous, selfish hunger for power.