Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Adventurers of the Universe

The Mightiest of All (Part Five)

"Guh!" I heavily exhale as I surface with Daikama on my back. "Phoo..."

I get on Lapras and set down my brother. "How could you..." I mumble, staring at him.

"You say something?" Lani asks. I shake my head no.

"Okaaaay... Lapras? Could we set sail for the Grass Continent?" Lani checks.

"Sure thing." Lapras agrees.

The sun sets and Lani finally falls asleep. I lay awake and stare at the stars.

"I'm sorry..." I think hear Daikama say.

I turn my head towards him, but he's either still unconscious or fast asleep.

Arceus do I wish he actually was able to have said that.

I sigh and close my eyes.

...

"What do you mean, there's nothing you can do?!" I hear Lani shouting. I open an eye. 

We're in a small, grey room with one door and no windows, except for one looking into a smaller room where Daikama sits quietly. Lani is angry with an Exploud.

"YOU REALLY WANT TO SHOUT WITH ME?!!!!" The Exploud blares. "I TELL YOU, NOTHING WE'VE TRIED WORKS!!!! YOU WANNA TAKE THE ENERGY OUT OF THE GUY, GO IN THERE AND DO IT YOURSELF!!!!"

"Fine! Maybe I will!" Lani stomps over to me and grabs me. "Let's go, Zeke. These Treasure Town buffoons can't help us."

I release myself from her grip and walk into the smaller room where Daikama sits. I close the door behind me.

"Hey."

His rainbow scythe blinks in and out of existence. "Whadda you want?"

"I wanted to ask you some questions." I say truthfully. "Is that fine?"

"Okay, shoot." He says in a mildly annoyed tone.

"First off, why did you try and do this? Ya know, gather power to kill the God of Creation?"

"I... I made a promise. To someone that I barely knew, and always wish you could've met..." He looks at the floor and sighs. "That's all. I gave them my word, and I always follow through."

"Alright, I guess it's on to the next question. Why'd you destroy Baram Town and our ship?"

"Ship? Baram? I don't know what you mean." He says. As he answers, I sense that he is being honest.

"How? How could you not know? You killed hundreds of people in a week!"

"I... did..?" His eyes widen so much they look like they could pop out any second. "No... it can't be... I... He wouldn't break his promise... would he?"

"Who, brother?" I ask. "Who broke their promise?"

I've never seen my brother, before or after he became who he is now, like this. Scared out of his mind, like he'll implode if he continues.

"I couldn't have... no... released... free... power... no... no, no, no!" He shakes and tries to control his breathing. "I... released him... I..."

"Who did you release?" I ask.

"Did I say anything to you?! Anything at all?! When I attacked your ship, when I destroyed Baram?! Did I say anything?!"

I look back on those past events. "Yeah... you did..."

"What? What was it?!"

"You called me a pathetic runt. Multiple times during the two events. It sucked... Then you showed respect for a traditional Zora clan duel. And... you agreed when I called you a demon."

"...Demon?" Daikama's left arm suddenly gets cut open by an unseen force and starts bleeding. "Oh, Ezekiel... I'm so sorry."

Cuts like the first begin appearing all over Daikama, and he conjures his Infinity Scythe. This time, it's bigger than any item or weapon I'd ever seen, and bends to cover a whole lot of the room. He balls it up until it looks like a rainbow oran berry. "Brother... Take... this... and use it... for me... and for mom..."

I take it from him and the energy flows straight into me. Daikama groans, screams, screeches, for minutes. Any colour that was in him fades into the darkest black imaginable, until he's like a shadow of a Zoroark with glowing red eyes.

Then there's silence.

I walk out of the room.

"Let's go." I say. Lani nods and follows.

We walk out of the outer room and into a large room underground. We find and climb a ladder that takes us up and out. We step out of the small tent that the ladder puts us in, and over a bamboo grate with a deep pit under it. Down the many steps that connect this place to the beach. I get on Lapras and Lani follows. We leave this place.

"What... happened in there?"

I close my eyes and concentrate. The ball of Rainbow Infinity appears in front of me and floats in the air.

"Someone gave my brother this power." I say. "Years ago, when he left. They corrupted him. We ought to crush this someone."

Lani sighs. "Zeke?"

"Yeah?"

"This is crazy. Like we're gonna find some sort of demonic loan shark that gives power in exchange for one's free will." She says.

I take a deep breath and look at the sunset at the other end of the endless expanse of sea.

"That's exactly what we're going to do."