The Messanger of Time

Chapter 5: Doomed Fate

~November 3, 2006~

"I'll be back, father! I'm going to the market!"

"Alright, Vincent, be back in time for supper."

Vincent walks out the front door and looks around outside, before going off into the town to buy a few supplies.

- - - - -

"You... dared try to attack me? You're a courageous one, I must admit. And quite powerful too... But your courage also led to stupidity."

A Moltres lies on the ground, wounded as it stares up at the shadowy individual, who walks slowly towards it and kneels down. His clothes, which seemed to be charred at first, have quickly restored to normal and the burns on his body have healed.

"I'm rather tempted to end you right here. However, you may just become useful... After witnessing your power, I've decided that you are just what I need for this very situation."

The Moltres blinks and stares him in the eyes, uncertain of what he means but also somewhat nervous. He grins as he places his hand on the bird pokemon's long beak, and his eyes glow green.

"That's right, don't avert your gaze..."

The Moltres then lets out a loud squawk as its own eyes flash the same color as his, cringing and closing its eyes as its will is quickly overtaken due to its injuries, and it is forced under the individual's control.

"Heheh... That was much easier than I expected. You'll make such a good pet." His hand then glows as he spreads an energy through the pokemon, recovering it of its injuries as it opens its eyes again.

"...Come. Let us get to work." He jumps onto the Moltres' back and it squawks loudly, before lifting from the ground and taking off into the sky, leaving the Indigo Mountains.

Lucas, who had just come to the area as they left, growls a bit. "We're too late..."

A Salamence looks at him with a somewhat worried look, and he puts his hand on the dragon pokemon's neck. "It's not your fault, my friend... But we must make haste. I have a feeling that he already knows of his whereabouts."

He gets on the Salamence's back, but is then stopped by another creature. He looks towards it, then shakes his head. "I must go after him alone. If you follow, you will draw too much attention."

"...Very well then, Lucas. But be very cautious. I do not like this one bit..."

He nods slowly, then pats the Salamence and he takes off, following the individual towards the south.

- - - - -

Vincent walks back from the market, carrying two bags of groceries as he goes towards his home. Meanwhile, he is talking to James via messaging on his phone. It is something he has been doing nearly every day since he was given it as a gift. But his attention is soon drawn away as he notices several people in the area, looking towards the sky.

He stops and looks around at them, then follows their gaze as he looks up, noticing what looks like a large, flaming bird flying in the distance. After looking at it for a bit, he soon realizes what it is.

"...A Moltres? What is such a pokemon doing in a place like this?"

Another person, who overhears him, speaks up, causing him to jump a bit at the voice. "Moltres is known to fly through the skies of Kanto. But few have ever actually seen it in real life."

He looks at the person, noticing him to be a somewhat elderly man with a white lab coat. "Oh... Professor Oak, I didn't even notice you."

The pokemon professor smiles at him and nods. "Apologies, young man. I heard about this event and couldn't help but come out and see it for myself. It's a rare gift to witness the arrival of a legendary pokemon."

Vincent slowly nods, then looks back up at it, seeing that it's getting closer to the town. He hears many people speaking amongst themselves about it, but then quickly remembers what he was originally doing.

"I have to get going. My family's expecting me." Professor Oak nods and waves to him as he runs off, to the outskirts of the town. In the meantime, he is keeping his eyes on the Moltres, which seems to now be circling the town as if looking for something.

"What could it be doing...?"

- - - - -

"You certainly are legendary to these people, aren't you? Good... While we have their attention, why don't we put on a little show? If my memory serves me right, it's... there."

The individual points towards in the western part of the town, and the Moltres immediately flies towards it. However, after a short time of flying, he notices another pokemon approaching, looking closely at it and then growling.

"How did I know he would trail me here?"

- - - - -

"Oh dear... A Salamence in this area? Now that is a bit unheard of." Professor Oak looks in the direction of the two pokemon in the sky, noticing them to be over a specific part of the town now.

"It couldn't belong to the family of dragon trainers, could it? But then why is it..."

- - - - -

Vincent stares up at the two, beginning to get an unnerving feeling as he now picks up speed towards his house.

- - - - -

"Time's served you well, hasn't it Lucas?"

Lucas glares at the person from the back of the Salamence, saying nothing.

"...I've finally found the location of Vincent. Do you know what happens now?"

Lucas looks down towards the house below. "...Vincent. So it has been you, all along..."

"Took you long enough to realize, Lucas. But it's too late now. On this day, the final Temporal Messanger shall fall, and the task will come to its ultimate end."

Lucas averts his gaze back to the individual and growls. "You won't do such a thing... Salamence!"

Salamence fires a Dragonbreath at the Moltres, who swiftly dodges the attack and then the individual taps him. In response, the fire pokemon's wings flare up brightly and it releases a powerful Fire Blast towards the house before Lucas gets a chance to make another action.

- - - - -

Vincent, seeing the sudden attack by the Moltres, stops and gasps as an unbelievable occurance happens. His home has now been struck by the attack, and quickly bursts into flames.

"...This didn't just happen..."

Immediately upon instinct, he rushes to the house, seeing all three of his siblings running out. He goes over to them and throws down his bag.

"Are you all okay?"

Christina coughs a bit and pants. "I-I think so... Where's mom and dad?"

They look around, and Vincent realizes that they're still inside. "They didn't come out yet..!" He runs towards it, then stops and turns back to them. "Get Aerthos and Sierra down here! We need to put out this fire! I'll try to find mom and dad!"

They nod, then Vincent runs inside the house, looking around. "Mom! Dad! Are you in here!?"

No response is heard. He frantically searches through the rooms in search of them, until finally reaching Chrissa and Samuel's bedroom, where the two are seen lying on the ground, with burns and other injuries from the flames. He runs over to them, seeing that Samuel's are far more severe.

"Mom..? Dad, are you okay?"

Chrissa gasps a bit and looks up at him. "Vincent... Samuel... didn't make it..."

Vincent's heart drops after hearing this, and he looks at Samuel. "No... That can't be true..."

"You need to get out..."

He clenches his fists and then takes her arm, getting her to her feet and then putting her over his back to escort her out. "I'm not leaving you here, mom."

Chrissa pants and tries to hold on as Vincent walks out of the room as quickly as he can. As they go down the hallway, Chrissa begins to hear a cracking sound, and immediately acts upon it, using what energy she has to jump and kick Vincent away before the ceiling caves in.

The only thing Vincent can hear from her is a loud shriek as he falls to the floor a distance away. He quickly gets back up and looks back, seeing that she is now buried under the burning wood.

"...Dammit... Mom!"

"Vincent! There you are!"

He turns to see Larisa and Lasuno flying to him. Larisa is carrying Amber in her arms as the smaller Latias appears to be unconscious.

"We have to get out of here! The entire house is going to collapse!"

Vincent growls deeply, then looks back at the fallen wood, a tear falling from him. "I'm so sorry..."

He then turns and runs out, the others following as they make it out of the house. The ceiling above the livingroom caves in behind them as they barely escape. Vincent runs down from the patio and drops to his knees in the grass, coughing from the exposure to the smoke.

Christina and the other siblings run over to him and Melissa kneels down to him. "Did you see them in there..?"

Vincent clenches his fists in the grass, crying. "They didn't make it, Melissa..."

Christina gasps, in shock at what she heard. "What!? No! That's not possible!"

Hector looks back at the house, then growls. "What kind of cruel joke is this? I want to know who did this!"

Vincent slowly comes to his feet and turns his gaze up to the sky, where the Moltres is still flying over them. And the others look towards it as well.

- - - - -

"What a pity... He didn't die from that. I always knew you Messangers had nine lives."

Lucas growls deeply. "You inferior creature... You'll pay for that."

The individual sneers and turns back towards him. "Oh really? Come and get me then, if you're so confident."

Lucas pats Salamence, who charges forward, and the individual smirks, casting a black sword in his hands and then swinging it out, creating a powerful sheet of dark energy that flies towards them.

Salamence, unable to react to this, is struck by the energy and is knocked down. The Moltres then fires a Flamethrower and Lucas responds by creating a barrier of energy. Salamence then regains his composure, and flies forward once more. And the individual's eyes glow before he throws his hand out. " Arteriam!"

A large burst of compressed energy comes from his hand, hitting Salamence off guard, and sending him off into the sky. And the individual smirks. "Heheh... I love explosive endings."

- - - - -

Vincent growls and his body becomes engulfed in silver energy as he then focuses it, glaring up at the Moltres. The others look at him, becoming curious, and the individual turns down towards him.

"Oh..? Show me what you've got then, young Messanger." He pats the Moltres, and it charges another Fire Blast, before releasing it at full power.

Everyone ducks out of the way, but Vincent stands his ground and then releases a wave of energy to hold the attack back. He then casts a sword in his hand while maintaining the energy, and swings it out to release a blade that knocks the Fire Blast back at the Moltres.

The individual, seeing this, quickly jumps off and cloaks himself in dark energy as he fades away before the bird pokemon is struck with its own attack. It lets out a loud squawk and what seems to be a small green burst comes from its body, before it closes its eyes and shakes its head.

The spell over it is now broken, and the Moltres slowly opens its eyes, looking around and then flying off.

Vincent then falls back down after the large amount of energy he used, and the others quickly go over to him. The threat is now gone, but what happened can never be reversed. Chrissa and Samuel will never come back after this.

- - - - -

~Hours later, at sunset~

"Were you able to locate the bodies?"

The fireman nods and looks back at the remains of the house. "They're pulling them out right now. It's unfortunate that they couldn't be saved though. I feel really bad for these kids..."

Vincent, who has been sitting on the bumper of one of the fire trucks, looks towards what used to be his home and sighs. Christina looks at him, then soon gives him a tight hug, and he closes his eyes, holding back his tears.

"I couldn't save them... I was right there and I couldn't do a thing..."

"Vincent... Don't put this on yourself. You did what you could," Christina says.

He hits his fist against the truck. "But it wasn't enough!"

Melissa turns to him and smacks him. "Would you quit blaming yourself? None of us were able to stop this from happening! We all lost our parents! So quit making this just about you!"

Vincent glares at her, and she goes to sit by him. "We're all suffering from this, Vincent. But do you think mom and dad would want us to mourn over this forever? I'm sorry for hitting you, but you've got to get a hold of yourself..."

Hector comes over and looks at them. "It may not be much, but..." He places his hand around his own necklace, causing the others to glow with a yellow light, and they look at them. "Do you remember when these were given to us?"

Vincent looks back at him in silence, and Christina speaks quietly. "Mom and dad said this was our family bond... That we could never be separated with them."

Hector nods. "They'll always be with us..."

Vincent stares at him for a bit, then gets up and walks off. And Christina looks at him. "Where are you going?"

"I have to find something. I'll be back."

He then goes to the house and ducks under the caution tape surrounding it, walking inside. A nearby fireman looks at him and shouts out, "Hey, you can't go in there!"

But he ignores him and continues, going into the livingroom. He looks around, then goes to a small dresser, kneeling down to it and opening one of the drawers. He then pulls out a box and opens it, seeing the white necklace still completely intact.

"It is still here..." He takes the necklace and sets the box down, then puts it in his pocket, getting up again and looking around. The fireman runs into the house and looks at him.

"Hey, I know you're going through a lot right now, but you can't be in here. It's too dangerous."

Vincent looks at him for a moment, eventually nodding a bit and then walking back outside with him. He goes back over to the others and they look back at him.

"...I won't stay here."

Christina stares at him. "So you're really going through with it then..."

"I have no choice, Christina. I know the one who attacked us has something to do with the task. I have to find them and stop them before it's too late. Otherwise what happened will only be the beginning of something far worse."

Christina sighs and leans back against the truck. "You know, I really hate that you're a Messanger. I wish we could just live a normal life."

Vincent goes over to her and puts his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Christina... When it's all over, we can. And we'll be able to be happy. Just give it some time."

She looks at him for a bit, before finally uttering, "...Okay."

He then hugs her, then looks back at the others. Larisa then flies over to him. He looks at her curiously, noticing someone missing. "Where's Lasuno?"

"He went to take Amber to Altomare... He wants to help, but he doesn't want her to have to get involved. I'm still worried that she may have lost her memory from the fire. She didn't seem to know who any of you were when she woke up..."

Vincent sighs and shakes his head. "I hope she'll get better. But at this point, it may be for better that she doesn't know what's happening. She may try to go with us."

Larisa slowly nods. "I'm sure she'll remember eventually..."

He nods and looks back at Christina and the others. "I'm going to take the Western Forest into Johto. I want to try and get a hold of James in Cianwood. He may be able to help."

Christina nods a bit and stands up. "Alright then... I'll search around to see if I can find anything that might help. If you're going to do this, you're not doing it alone."

Melissa jumps down from the top of the truck and looks at them. "I'll go with Christina. I'm sure Aerthos and Sierra can take us to search from the sky." She looks at the two dragon pokemon nearby, who nod to her.

Hector gets up from the ground and stretches a bit. "Don't leave me out."

Christina looks at him. "But how would you get around? I don't think they can carry all three of us."

Larisa shakes her head. "Lasuno will be coming back soon... He might be able to help. I'll go with Vincent though. He shouldn't wander alone after everything that's happened..."

Vincent turns to her, almost wanting to tell her not to but knowing she's made up her mind. So he goes over to her and strokes her neck. "Just be careful, Larisa... I don't want you putting yourself in a position where you'll be in danger."

She smiles a bit and nuzzles him. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. You just worry about yourself."

He slowly nods and looks back towards the others. "Okay... So we know our course of action. Everyone just try to be safe and don't do anything rash. If you get a hint of danger, don't take any chances. From here, we're all on our own."

Christina pokes him. "I know that. You don't have to be so dramatic."

Vincent sighs. "I just don't want anything to happen to any of you, okay?"

"We'll be fine. Stop worrying so much, you'll give yourself a heart attack."

Melissa goes and hugs him, and he soon returns it. "Let's just make mom and dad proud, alright?"

He looks at her for a bit, then slowly nods and smiles. "Of course... I'll do anything for that."