Pokémon Obsidian | An Orre Fanfiction

Chapter 62: The Grand Master

The only people at Orre Colosseum were security guards. They didn't see the arriving Trainers who hid behind dusty pillars. Those prepared to take on GoD had to be strong Trainers, but they also had to be agile and mentally fit. No-one was entirely sure what they would witness there. They knew they would be attacked. If GoD was so far gone, there was a chance he would lose control of his Shadow Pokémon, including Celebi. So, they chose Trainers who fit into all those categories: Laila, Aiko, Holly, Wisteria and Kazuki. The colosseum was so vast that they never saw the Altaria that landed between their hiding spots.

At 4:56PM, there was a scuffle. The security guards were knocked out by Sleep Powder. When Wisteria peered over her pillar, they were gagged and roughly tied up. Laila's Golurk used Sandstorm. That was their signal to go. When their winged Pokémon plunged to the battlefield, they were startled to find that GoD was not alone, but the person who arrived on Trip's Altaria was no ally of Cipher. Amber stared him down.

'Where is my son?'

Wheels screeched. A can hurtled at GoD's helmet. The sudden, unexpected blow knocked him over. Horace and Carlos leapt off his bike. Laila glanced at her allies. What was this? Did they predict their arrival, so Horace was pretending he wasn't GoD? Did that really matter to him at this point? The can that Horace threw was half-open. He yanked the lid off to empty Impidimp Ready Dinner over GoD. His legs were promptly swept from under him by GoD's swinging leg.

He was back on his feet. Amber fearlessly seized his shoulders.

'Where is my son?!'

'Which son?'

Horace lunged for GoD's helmet. Carlos was about to join him, but GoD reached for it himself. He yanked off the tie fixing it to his head. It clattered to the floor.

'Not this one?'

Amber's hands dropped stiffly to her sides. She absentmindedly stumbled back. It wasn't the sinking realisation that Jamie was Grand Master of Cipher that shook her from head to toe. It was how utterly cold and empty his eyes were.

'Wh-what?' Wisteria whispered, 'I thought – I thought it was Horace...'

'Horace?'

Jamie snorted. 'Horace? Well, he's no hero. I'll give you that. He's no salesman, either. This pair of bounty hunters just want the reward for handing me in.'

'Y'know, Jamie...'

Horace folded his arms. 'If that was all I wanted, I could've done it years ago. I offered to help you. I offered to go to a meeting with you, since you don't wanna go with Camden. I get you. I'm sick of feeling. Of having a conscience. But I do have one. And it wasn't gonna let you kidnap your schizophrenic brother without consequences.'

'Or Celebi,' Carlos added, 'We were making good money off of y'all, purifying those stolen Pokémon for their Trainers, until you killed off the Relic Stone. That Charizard's been waiting months!'

'I didn't kidnap Naaji. Brynlee did. So I killed her, but it won't bring him back. And now I can't turn back time to when I wasn't a murderer... which is why... XD008. Don't let us distract you.'

Time didn't need to freeze to hold his opponents back. Everyone was so frozen by the sight of him casting aside that helmet that they could only watch in horror. XD008 twirled. Laila felt sick. That was just how Celebi twirled when it saved Leon's life in the Cipher Admin Alfie movie.

Stomach-churning shock waves erupted. For a moment, all was black. As light returned, colour faded. The desert sunset was pallid grey. Outside the colosseum, the flat sands were sombre in their colourless desolation. A lone Sandshrew that wandered into the colosseum was the only thing that continued to breathe; other than GoD, the hopeless cluster of his opponents, his minions below Obsidian City and those protected by Seth's Celebi in Lyndon's bunker. Somewhere in the Sinnoh region, a lone Trainer was protected by the legendary Pokémon Dialga, but she was far too distant to understand, let alone to intervene.

'Ha... hahahahahahahahahaha!'

'You fucking twat!' Laila exploded, 'You fucking twat, Jamie! How could you?! You're not cool! You're no leader! You're a delusional fucking bastard! You killed Lavender!'

'I didn't kill Lavender. She was one of my Admins. And a damn good one at that. And I actually loved her, but that's beside the point. Soon, I won't love anyone. Let's go, XD008!'

The next shock wave tore a blinding, pulsing hole through existence itself. It hung ominously over the deserted stands. Before anyone could lunge at Jamie, he grabbed Celebi's arm. Everyone but stunned Amber hopped onto their winged Pokémon to follow. Horace's Shadow Charizard almost threw him off its back. Celebi roughly dropped Jamie at the highest tip of the colosseum's rugged, looming fingers that resembled a Snag Machine. He spread his arms. His boots, which were clearly too big, threatened to tip him over into the sizzling tear.

'Jamie!' Amber roared, 'Stop this! What in the world's gotten into you?! This isn't you! Stop it!'

'If it bothers you that much, Mum... why don't you come with me? Stop feeling. You'll thank me for it.'

'No! Are you really going to do this to us?! Take two of my kids in 24 hours?'

'The view from up here is great. I almost don't want to restart time. I like this world. Nothing moves. Nobody talks. Colour is gone... well, nobody talks except you lot, but I guess there'll always be a desperate hero. I won't care about it... soon.'

'Jamie!'

'Bye.'

Charizard lunged. Jamie fell too fast. The tear seemed so ethereal that they wondered if he would fall directly through it to the ground below, but he did not. It swallowed him as if he never existed at all.

Wisteria's Altaria collided with Charizard. Holly's Noivern narrowly dodged the plummeting Pokémon. In the midst of the panic, a blur of orange shot past them all. Laila followed her brother.

Something hit the floor. It was small, like a mere droplet in the vast colosseum, but it was as if the inanimate object was alive, because it wasn't frozen. It fell from Jamie's pocket. Amber shakily picked it up. She immediately recognised it as one of Naaji's plushies, but it wasn't another plushie of Naaji himself. It was a plushie of Jamie as GoD. Naaji knew.