Four Paws and One Last Tale

Chapter 23: Ace

Walking on what looked like pink clouds we traversed Palkia's dimension. The place was huge a maze of open twisting pathways leading in every direction; some paths even led up and others down.

Glair and I led the way as we searched for Arceus' plates. Jacob was walking behind us, carrying Pixie. She didn't like it, but the truth is, she's very pregnant. Those kids are coming soon. I chuckled; I hadn't met them yet, but I was sure that the little scamps would bring a smile to my face. I pushed the thought from my mind and refocused on the task at hand.

None of us could explain it, but the power of the plates, we can feel them, drawing us in.

After walking what felt like hours walking across this infernal cotton candy, and after telling Glair not to eat it several times, we finally found what we were looking for. A single pathway stretched out far beyond the others. At the end was a circular platform on which Arceus' plates lay in a small pile. The plates were thin, but long; easily held in Jacob's hand.

Approaching the plates, I felt myself drawn into two in-particular. One was an electric yellow, the other was a sky blue. It was hard to tear my eyes away from the plates, but I could see Glair eyeing the blue one. I handed it to her. She marvelled at the Sky plate and the Earth Plate.

I couldn't help myself. "Those suit you," I told Glair.

I thought she blushed, but I couldn't be sure. "Wow lover boy, you and your silver tongue. You do know how to make a girl feel special."

"I'm glad, because to me you're very special."

Glair didn't have any sly comments or flirtatious teasing for that. She looked away.

"How do we get all these back to Arceus?" Pixie asked. "There's too many to carry."

Jacob was obviously perplexed by the same question, but he quickly improvised a solution. Placing Pixie gently on the ground he pulled off the jacket he'd been wearing. He inverted the sleeves, twisted the hoodie, tied a knot and a moment later he'd made a backpack. Piling the plates into the bag Jacob swung it onto his back.

"Let's get going," he said.

I followed Jacob alongside Pixie and Glair as we began walking back the way we came, but the second the plates left the circular platform the entire dimension seemed to shake. The violent quaking lasted about ten seconds, and then, silence.

Jacob looked around worriedly. "We need to leave. Now." He began running. I ran after him. Pixie and Glair were beside me.

There was a rumbling noise as pathways everywhere twisted and changed direction. They all began sloping upwards, before wrapping back around: As if they were trying to trap us within a hollow ball of pink cloud-like stuff.

The menacing clouds slowly drew closer. One flipped and suddenly blocked our path. Seeing the obstacle Jacob jumped off the platform we were running on. He fell through the sky before landing on a different path below. Glair grabbed Pixie, we jumped off and glided after him.

Jacob skidded to stop. All around pathways snaked towards us, all of them were intent on preventing us from leaving.

"We've got no choice, we'll have to keep dodging until Lunala gets here," said Jacob. He was breathing heavily. He been running hard, though we'd been running harder. Our short legs struggled to keep up with him.

"Alright, everyone up."

Jacob picked Pixie up. Placing her half in his bag she clung around his neck. He gestured to his shoulders. I leapt onto one and Glair climbed the other.

I almost laughed; he would've looked incredibly funny if this wasn't terrifying. Taking a moment to observe what was happening Jacob took a deep breath and sprinted away. Pathways behind us slowly gained ground, drawing closer. Jacob saw them.

"Ace! Glair!"

As he shouted, he leapt from the path. Gripping his shoulders Glair and I spread our capes, the wind caught them and slowed our descent. We landed, and he kept running.

A long path stretched out straight before us. As Jacob ran, it began sloping upwards until it became a sheer cliff. Jacob didn't slow. He ran harder and faster. Sprinting up the slope he jumped and gripped it with his fingers. Suddenly, he let go and we fell downwards. Angling his feet, he slid down the slope and came up running, but now he was running straight back towards the mess that was trying to kill us.

Arrows of cloud shot at us, Jacob did his best to dodge, but occasionally one would strike him. The arrows exploded sharply on impact. He winced in pain, but never broke his stride.

Jacob ran, dodge, ducked and weaved. A cloud shot out in front of us. Jacob vaulted the low wall, but there was no ground on the other side, and we fell. Glair and I went to work, angling the fall towards the nearest path.

We narrowly made it. Jacob kept running, but he was obviously tiring.

Looking ahead, the path before us stretched out long and straight. Eventually dropping away into the perpetual abyss of space. The clouds were quickly gaining us. Any longer and we'd surely suffer a unique and terrible fate. Beside me, I heard Glair's wild laughter.

"I fail to see the humour in this!" I shouted.

"I laugh when I'm scared!"

"But you're always laughing!"

Glair was silent for a moment; she looked lost in thought.

"Luca, you know how I kept teasing you and saying that you love me?"

"You're bringing this up now!?"

"Well I kinda have to, I mean, it's not like we can talk about it later."

"That's dark but I guess I see your point. Okay, yes. Yes, I know how you keep teasing me and saying that stuff. It's kinda hard to miss."

"Heh, I guess so. You know, you never actually said that you love me."

"Your point being?"

"You never said it, but... I love you too." Glair smiled sadly. "Take care of 'em for me."

Glair jumped from Jacob's shoulder and landed on the path behind us. Standing alone, she faced the terrible pink vortex. She launched a volley of attacks. The pink pathways of death froze every time they were struck, but she was gravely outnumbered. The clouds surged forwards in a terrible onslaught. Glair drove them back: Poison Sting, Double Hit, Whirlwind, but it never stopped. They kept coming.

The adrenaline coursed through Jacob's veins; he kept running. Hearing a loud screech, he looked to his right and spotted Lunala flying quickly towards us. Leaping from the path he landed on her back as she passed underneath. Circling back around, Lunala flew towards Glair.

I watched as Glair was struck by a pink arrow. A terrible blow to the stomach belted her upwards. Lunala flew upwards, opening a wormhole behind Gligar. Glair watched as we quickly approached, and she saw something the rest of us couldn't.

A tendril of pink cloud reaching out. It was going to catch us. we weren't going to make it. Glair flipped in the air. She dove straight towards us, but instead of landing on Lunala's back Glair shot past. Her claws glowed white and she sliced through the tendril before it could grab Debby.

Glair was smashed as clouds pummelled her brutally. They sharpened like needles and skewered her all over. A limp and lifeless body, was the last thing I saw of her. If peace came at this high a price, was it really worth it? As Lunala flew through Ultra Space I found myself thinking; 'First Tertle, then Glair... who's next?'