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Disaster Falls Part 2 - Team Premonition

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    The world itself seemed to press in on him, like his very existence there was an offense to someone.

    He slowly picked himself up and looked around.

    There was nothing. Just a blank, white void where he couldn't even tell what counted as floor, where there were walls. If there was a sky. Not that he really needed to question WHERE he was. He was in the realm of Disaster.

    Most would have thought of it as being a much more ominous place. To Jace, the pressure around him was enough to demonstrate that visuals weren't everything. He didn't need to see the sort of horrors that most would expect to see in a place with that name.

    He hated it here.

    And the source of his unhappiness waited behind him, silent but for low, raspy breaths. He turned, hearing the clicking of his claws echo in his ears, not unlike they had been underground just before he passed out. There it was, a big, hulking black creature in the shaped of a beast he couldn't really comprehend. A black, bulky figure closest to resembling a Machoke, though given that it was nothing but a silhouette he couldn't make out any distinct features to tell for sure. It was as though someone had painted this figure using only one shade of black on a white canvas.

    "Do you know where you are?" it asked. A deep, somber voice. It was the same line it spoke the last time he had been there.

    "This is the world of Disaster," Jace grunted.

    "Do you know me?"

    "You're Disaster."

    "And why have you come here?"

    "Because I had to save the others, and stop Hamen."

    The creature opened its eyes, the same hollow white that the others must have seen before. They were slanted with anger. "Do not lie to me, Jasaac. You have come here to defend your stubborn pride. And in so doing, you condemn your companions to bearing witness to their own disaster."

    Jace bared his teeth, growling loudly. "You might be the god of this place, but that doesn't give you the right to act like you know what I did and give punishment for it!"

    "Do I not?" Disaster's voice boomed; though its voice had barely risen, it was as though an Exploud were amplifying it. "I see your heart. You claim to have sung your song to protect your guildmates, and yet you had already sent your companion Terp to safety in preparation. You knew from the battle that Hamen was holding back, and yet you chose to convince yourself and others that he would cause you harm if not stopped immediately. And even now you claim that your actions were noble, and not disastrous? Your song was intended to secure a criminal from escaping and earn praise for the capture, when instead you could have saved your friends the suffering of coming here, and still let them live!"

    "I didn't choose to bring them here! You did!"

    The mystical being rose up, but flinched as chains rattled and held it back. Countless shapes rustled and clanked together across its body. "You have the gall to cry foul play on my part when it was you who performed the Perish Song?" its voice rang out yet louder. "The effrontery to believe that you are more than an agent of Disaster, when this is the result your actions have wrought? Wake up, boy! Your presence is an affront to me."

    "I can't wake up until you let me go!" Jace snapped. "I've been here before, and you know it!"

    "You claim that I keep you here? Foolish boy, you have learned nothing since your last visit." The shadow raised a hand toward him. "Come. I do not hold you here against your will. If you say that I have no power over you, then prove your claim. Step forward and defeat me. If you are indeed not of my ilk, then you will stay here no longer!"

    Jace scowled, pawed at the ground. I am not a Disaster 
Pokémon, he insisted to himself. I am not some cursed animal for everyone to be afraid of.

   
He dug in his claws and surged forward, his muscles flexing as he charged toward the visage of Disaster, summoning darkness to his horn to prepare for a Night Slash. I will not be held down by old legends! I am not a danger to innocent 
Pokémon!

   
He leaped, his neck bent back in ready to swing. As he turned his head back, total defiance flashed in his eyes. "I AM NOT YOUR SERVANT!" he roared.

    Disaster's hand swung out, and the backside collided with his chest, throwing him backward and leaving him breathless and dazed. Chains and ropes surged around his body at the contact even as he dropped from midair, and he felt them tighten around him. "Fool. You cannot defeat me if you continue to deceive yourself.

    "An agent of Disaster breeds only more suffering. Begone from my sight, Jasaac Darius Ashdown! Leave with the knowledge of the world your folly will create!"

    The chains and ribbons spread to Jace's eyes and mouth, covering his body completely. He flinched from the contact but was already too heavily restrained to free himself. As the last link blinded him to the shape of Disaster still glowering at him, the world exploded from darkness into surreal color.

    He was covered in lavish robes and shining medals, standing on a hill over countless 
Pokémon of all shapes and sizes who called his name and smiled joyfully at him, as though he were a hero. He felt as heavily weighed down as he had seconds earlier, but now the weight of the things over his back wasn't remotely the worst of the horror.

    The 
Pokémon closest to him began to wither and shrink away, as though they were being drained. They didn't seem to care; still smiling even as their legs gave out on them, they collapsed to the ground and continued to shrivel up. Flying and levitating ones dropped out of the air in the same manner, all of them with horrifying grins as they cheered for Jace.

    Horrified, he stepped back and turned the other way. He had to get away from here; somehow he knew that his presence was causing this! But behind him were still more 
Pokémon, suffering the same fate. In all directions he was surrounded by a crowd that was too proud of Jace to save themselves. He had to get away!

    He ran as fast as he could down the hill and through the crowd, wincing at the touch of anyone he passed. The stupid cloak he was wearing wouldn't come off; no matter how hard he ripped at it with his claws and teeth he only succeeded in tripping himself up, exposing the nearby 
Pokémon to his presence and draining them away in seconds. Wrestling with it was only hurting the others; he had to keep moving!

    Jace couldn't move any faster, but still he pressed on. For their sake he had to get away; to save their lives! They were dying because of him!

    It felt like he ran for a lifetime through the crowds, unable to break free from everyone surrounding him, until finally he saw the edge of the crowd. He looked behind him, to see if the others were still alive. Maybe if he got far enough away then they wouldn't be harmed!

    Instead he saw a wave of 
Pokémon coming toward him, their arms held out like they wanted to embrace him. Even as he ran, they were chasing him. They wanted to be near him. Didn't they get it!? Being close to him was hurting them!

    He kept running. The grass under his feet withered away as he went. There was nothing he could do to save it, to save them.

    The earth opened up below him, and he stumbled with nowhere to stop or catch himself, only able to flail as he tumbled into an abyss, falling down, down, down into darkness. Inexplicably, he stopped.

    He struggled to control his panicked breathing. In the darkness, where no one could see him... maybe it would be all right here. Maybe nobody would get hurt if they could never find him.

    Something tickled his back, like he had a bug crawling in his fur. Frightened, he turned his head to look, even though it was too dark to see. But there was light anyway, the faint rainbow color illuminating a pair of eyes in an X shape, on a round orange head.

    It was Twerp.

    "Good to see you again, Jace!" he chittered as his snapping jaws began to shrink away.

    "NO!!" Jace reached a paw out to swat him away, to save him.

    Twerp exploded into dust.

    -------

   
He kicked his legs, frantically trying to escape! ...From something. Himself? That didn't make any sense, but what other explanation was there? The world was dying just by his being there!

    Jace's eyes snapped open. Someone was in a bed ahead of him, their back turned. Silver-gray fur, with grey-tipped ears... it looked like Felicia.

    He had woken up from the nightmare.

    Every muscle in his body was sore. After dealing with Hamen's offense in the space under that office, his visit to Disaster's realm, and then his nightmare of running endlessly, he couldn't be sure what exactly had caused it. Maybe all three, maybe just Disaster.

    It wasn't the first time he'd been there, or the first time he had that stupid nightmare. The only difference this time was...

    Twerp.

    With a groan, he forced himself to sit up and look around. He and everyone else who had fought Hamen were in a large tent, lying in cots. There was a Smeargle standing at the foot of Theodore's bed, drawing something.

    "Can you describe his face?" she asked.

    "He was... well, round in the face, like most Garbodor," came the response. "But, his antenna had metal rods coming out of them. The one on his left stuck out about a foot longer. His left eye had a rip around it, up and down. And he had big teeth - two giant fangs on the bottom and a pair of smaller ones on top."

    The canine Pokémon scribbled a bit more on the paper she was holding, and then turned it around so that Theodore could see. "Like this?"

    "Yes. That's him."

    "All right. Thank you all very much for your help. I'll have this sent to Pine and Izel's office immediately so that we can get the word out. You were all very brave, to fight someone like this even if you couldn't win."

    alora-of-hearts - JaceThinkBasic by Zero-Zivan
    " 'Get the word out'?" Jace echoed. "You mean he's not in custody?"

    "Unfortunately no," an Amaura wearing glasses stomped over from the side of Frisk's bed and cocked his head at Jace, looking annoyed. "Looks like he woke up before any of you did and ran out. It's a real shame too; sounds like this guy was never on the books to begin with. Would've been nice to bring him in and show Nuri and her pet rat that we Icebergs can handle both jobs just fine. I bet you guys fought as hard as you could, too-"

    "I could have beaten him just fine!" Jonas burst out. "If I had a few minutes longer to take him down then nobody would've had to bother with being knocked out! Slimeballs like that Garbodor with their cheap tactics and using the whole building to fight us off shouldn't be anywhere near the city, and that stupid song making us look like--"

    "Jonas!" Jay craned his neck around toward the Pignite. "Calm down! We're the Roaring Icebergs. Even if we get knocked out in a fight, we have to have the courage to keep fighting - on the battlefield. Not yelling like little kids."

    Jonas clammed up, but looked furious, especially as he looked in Jace's direction with piercing daggers in his eyes.

    Jay huffed. "Now, I got work to do to make sure the rest of our boys and girls got Rift City back in shape, and then reward that kid Twerp for his help finding you all. Jace saved your lives, guys, you should remember that."

    And with that, the Roaring Icebergs leader dismissed himself, along with the Smeargle artist.

    Jace knew better, after having been ripped into by the spirit of Disaster. As he looked around the room, he realized that everyone looked unhappy. Sad, angry. All distant.

    alora-of-hearts - JaceSadBasic by Zero-Zivan
    "Tori, Aya?" he spoke up hesitantly. "Are you okay?"

    Tori hadn't so much as looked at him since he'd woken up, and she didn't react to his words even as he called her name, either. Aya, on the other hand, looked up from her claws, having apparently been lost in thought. "What! Of course I'm fine! I'm... absolutely fine. Nothing's wrong..." the Scizor trailed off and lowered her eyes back to her bed.

    Jace couldn't have expected much better. He turned his eyes to Theodore and Jonas. "Guys? How about you?"

    "How do you think I'm feeling?" Jonas uttered with a clipped tone. His teeth were gritted together as he growled at Jace. "Is this the kind of stuff you put your teammates through? You have some sort of blood oath with--"

    "Jonas!" Theodore cried once again. "You have to stop... remember what Jay said. The Iceberg creed: never turn on another Iceberg member--"

    "He turned on us first!" Jonas growled. "Don't act like you didn't deal with the same sort of thing I did. I bet we all did."

    Jace struggled to remain calm - he absolutely did not have a blood oath to some terrible god, and in spite of the things that Disaster had said to him, then and now, he was absolutely not a malevolent creature. He did not spread suffering wherever he went. ...But he knew that he was still responsible for what happened to them all, what was making them all so unhappy.

    "I'm not a monster, and I'm not trying to hurt you. Whatever you saw, it isn't real. And it won't be unless you make the sort of terrible mistakes that lead to suffering."

    "So you knew?" Felicia asked.

    He turned to look at her bed. Felicia's back was still turned to him, and she hadn't yet sat up. But apparently she was awake. "You knew that we'd all see something bad after you finished singing?"

    Jace gritted his own teeth; until now he had hoped that they would all understand, that he could explain that the terrible visions that Disaster would give them, of fear, of sorrow, were only that. Visions, made up. Not real. Based on their reactions, it seemed that hope of reassuring them was too far gone.

    "Yes, I knew. I've seen things myself."

    Felicia at last sat up and turned her head just enough that he could see one of her eyes, flashing red and the skin around her nose wrinkled up in a subdued snarl. Red... weren't her eyes pink? Maybe it's the lighting... "You put us through that without warning us first?"

    Frisk climbed out of their bed and hurried out through the tent flaps. Jonas left shortly after, grumbling about how he needed to have time away from "bad partners".

    alora-of-hearts - JaceHurtBasic by Zero-Zivan
    Jace felt his claws digging into his bedsheets as he struggled to express and apology that they would accept. "I hate that song. It's always a last-ditch effort because of what it does to everyone who hears it. I wanted to leave because I knew - my premonition was warning me that Hamen was too strong for us. And then it ended up being too late."

    The tent flaps opened again, and Jace was astonished to see another Absol enter the room, one with a jagged dent in their horn and a scar on their left eye.

    "You should stop talking," he ordered, throwing Jace a harsh glare. "You're going to make things worse."

    Jace bristled; in four words this newcomer had already made him feel unwilling to become even remote acquaintances. "It's an apology they need to hear," he rumbled. "What do you mean by coming in here and writing me off? You have nothing to do with what happened down there."

    "I have everything to do with it," said the other Absol. "Felicia is my daughter. Through my blood, she has the Disaster gene, which makes her unstable when she gets upset. You should know this."

    Is this guy an idiot? I know that condition from back home and it has NOTHING to do with Disaster! "I know all about the condition that causes a loss of self-control, and it has nothing to do with Disaster. It's called Wild Rage, and it affects all types of Pokémon, not just ones with Absol in their bloodline. You actually expect me to sit around and let you spread false stories about our history?"

    "You're beyond help." The other feline turned away from him and looked at Felicia. "Listen to me, Felicia. Steady your breathing; focus."

    "Shut... up..." Felicia was trembling. Her eyes were still a bright blood red, but now he realized they were literally flashing. "Get out... now."

    "As much as you may not like it, I am your father, Felicia. I'm not going to stand by and watch you hurt yourself."

    alora-of-hearts - JaceAnnoyBasic by Zero-Zivan
    Jace bristled. Clearly this stranger was not welcome by his so-called daughter. "She told you to leave. I think you should listen."

    "Mind your business, boy." The other Absol gave him a scowl.

    "Both of you... shut the hell... up..." Felicia snarled, her teeth fully bared now. "Get... OUT."

    She leaped from the bed, her claws at the ready as she lunged for the newcomer. Jace reacted as quickly as he could, throwing aside his bedsheets and hurrying to catch her. Felicia had already snapped at her so-called father by the time he got down from the bed, and then he was on her, doing his best to hold her smaller body against his torso to keep her from moving. She responded by digging her teeth into his leg, hard enough to draw blood and make him wince.

    "Felicia!" Carter jumped down from his own bed and hurried over as the Eevee snarled and kicked. "Let her go, right now!"

    "What?" Jace was dumbfounded. Felicia was still kicking, snarling and snapping in his grasp; what would possibly give Carter reason to think it was safe for him to let her go? "No! She'll attack everyone in this room if I turn her loose!"

    "No she won't!" Carter began to draw close, pausing only to avoid a swipe of her claws as Felicia continued to struggle. "Felicia, please!"

    Frisk returned to the room then, taking in the scene at once and hurrying over to beat at his shoulders - the best they could do without any real strength to remove him. "Get off of her!" they yelled.

    Carter had already circled around to nuzzle Felicia's face from a side she couldn't attack him from. Meanwhile, the other Absol growled. "Give her room to breathe, all of you!"

    His command prompted the Poochyena to tackle him. "Solace!" he barked, "Felicia told you to get out!" he turned his head back to throw a glare in Jace's direction. "You too, Jace! So do it!"

    He winced as a light appeared in the scar over his own eye, but quickly returned to Felicia's side. Jace tensed briefly, but noticed that as Frisk and Carter got close to her, the growling in her throat dulled, and then stopped. Tentatively, he let go, and Felicia did not fight back.

    "You've done enough today," said Carter in a much quieter voice. "Just go."

    Jace frowned and looked around the room once more. Theodore, Aya and Tori had all retreated into themselves, and wouldn't look him in the eye. He wasn't welcome around Team Hope 'N Serenity... around any of them.

    alora-of-hearts - JaceSadBasic by Zero-Zivan
    Ignoring Solace completely, he slowly paced out of the room, fighting against his soreness and the added pain in his right leg. What had happened to them was his fault, and now there was nothing he could do to make up for the damage.

    In spite of his original goal to sign on to the guilds for his career, with making friends being low on his priority list, now he had met a plentiful number of Pokémon who he had earnestly hoped to become friends with. Now, first and foremost, he was concerned with their well-being. But they all hated him, and he had only himself to blame for that fact.

    He was alone.
Team Premonition
<<<PREVIOUS
[Team Premonition gained 5 Meobans, a TM voucher, and the Squirt Shield.]

Icons by the lovely :iconalora-of-hearts:!

We see at last what exactly happens to those who hear Jace's siren song... and it ain't pretty.

The teams involved in this story were :iconakatsukibunnyx3: Team Pugnacious:iconstormbuster:'s Team Dynasty Rangers, and :iconalora-of-hearts:'s Team Hope 'N Serenity
© 2017 - 2024 Zero-Zivan
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ColorsAreAwesome's avatar
Jace endes up making all of them feel terrible, and he feel like he is a walking disaster. No Wonder he is so closed off.

This was A rally good story, despite the sads.. Or Maybe Because of the sads. Zero is an awesome writer