Crescendo | Pokémon Short Story

Revelation Dance

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José never covered his ears. He was enraged, and mentally caged. In no way could he think straight. Limp birds. Lifeless humans. Guilt.

A ram was all it took. The Disaster Pokémon held the Oricorio down with his paws. Cooing, José shook his head.

Was it all my fault? The flamenco dancer hated the Absol for holding him back. He needed revenge as much as he wanted it. He would make those humans pay for what they did.

Was it all my fault? The quadruped thought back to all the times he tried to stop catastrophes. How did it always come to this? He thought of how fast-paced everything was for all the times he stepped in. If I didn't poke my nose into this affair, things wouldn't have turned out this way, would they?

All José wanted was to be caged. He could imagine how it felt like but he could never experience the burst of anger, the temptation of self-mutilation, all the kinds of feelings Pachi must have felt even if she fainted. He wanted to be stripped of his freedom.

Hopping to the left, he lifted his wings, letting himself be devoured by the flames. To feed the fire, to be the fire, that was all he wanted at the moment.

Skipping to the right, he clapped his wings. He clucked,"Humans are far too superior and intelligent. They wish to start and end things fast, impatient in their advanced world. We are but a mere species born to be enslaved by them. As a Pokémon, I would have to entertain them in their circus and playground."

Setting his eyes on Maimai, he could only hope that she was resisting.

The Dark-type behind him stood in the shadows. Absol watched José dance frantically. He lifted his head and let the whispers of the shadows fill his ears. The spirits were talking to the Sensu Style Oricorio as well, he could see. The strange thing was that they spoke the same things.

"Before they came, everything was fine. When those bestial creatures arrived, we were poached, hunted, endangered. Some were extinct, others fossilised." The shadows grew wings as they spoke. The spirits were singing. "Wouldn't you want to know?"

"Know..." Maimai and the Absol said. Maimai's eyes were closed, her breath gradually slipping away, her ears perked up when she thought she heard more voices. The horned creature glared at the flamenco dancer.

José charged towards Colton, his ears bleeding. The Perish Song screamed, screeched and scratched his wings apart. Red feathers fell from his body. A nasty caw escaped his beak. A peck on Colton's groin made the flute drop. José's eyes were red, as deep and dark as the boy's.

"H-Help." It was too late. The Perish Song looped in his head. The bird would soon meet his fate, but he wanted that towering girl dead.

"What a turn of events. Soon, I'll dance. Soon, you'll dance the wrong moves." Nox raised her chin and stepped on José's feathers. "Once we rid of you, you shall be gone. She'll be happy too."

A kick flung the bird to the wall, and as he fell, he left a blood trail.

"Know thy enemy, know thyself." The spirits sang and the shadows danced. Absol glanced at Maimai, and she looked back. Tears streamed down their faces.

Vengeance? Maimai swivelled her head, her wings wiping her eyes. But the tears kept flowing. Didn't the spirit of Moltres give it passion? Weren't the spirits right?

This is all my fault. The Absol headed over to lick the flamenco dancer. When he looked up, he took a step back.

"Colton? Dancers? We'll rule the-" Nox looked around her, particularly at the crimson-eyed boy whose eyes were now glassy. "I-I'm alone?"

She collapsed onto her knees. Her dress was ripped apart and her nails were chipped off.

"It's all my fault. Colton, didn't we promise to waltz under the stars and be famous together? Didn't we?" Her voice made a rapid decrescendo. "Didn't you say red and black are compatible?"

Swallowing hard, her eyes shifted to the blood stain on her black silk dress. She thought she heard the laments of the dozen Sewaddle. She felt sick.

As tears messed her makeup, the tears on her dress grew bigger, like streaks of lightning.

She let herself sink in the crescendo of sorrow and guilt.

The Absol faced the Sensu Style Oricorio. She glared at the broken wings of a once free flamenco dancer. Her gaze hardened on the pile of feathers. Turning to see the black blood of a pink avian, she sniffed. Her eyes widened at Pachi, who tried resisting till the end. But the light will still fade in the darkness.

Self-mutilation, explosive bursts of anger, hatred and jealousy. The sufferings of a caged bird were etched in her mind. She heard distress calls.

Of all the words Maimai caught, it had to be the girl's last sentence. It reminded her of José. She recalled his calls, his wings, his freedom and fame in the eyes of humans and Pokémon. The thought of self-mutilation reached her mind but she knew the spirits wouldn't allow that. She wouldn't want to be like them.

Our names are unique, but our fate is nothing special. She pecked her wings and sat down.

"So, what are your plans?" The Absol queried.

"Acceptance."

"I don't understand."

"Accepting death."

"Don't you want-"

"Revenge?" Maimai's cheeks were flushed. "Never."

"The shadows are whispering something."

Maimai was about to tell him off for changing the subject but she heard the spirits' words too.

Separating red feathers from black ones, she tried to distract herself. It wasn't true.

"I hear queer. Not true." She mumbled to herself as she flew to Lawe and Pachi's bodies. She collected grey feathers in a pile and formed a circle with pink feathers. Facing the grey pile, she stepped into the circle, with the red feathers on her left and the black ones on her right.

With her eyes shut tight, she raised her fan and tiptoed. When her irises opened, she inhaled. Her words tumbled out slowly,"Do you really want this?"

"Fire and ash are more compatible than red and black, no?"

She chirped and danced to the music of silence. Her movements were in sync with the girl, spreading her wings and stepping out of the pink circle. Nox picked up her book and tore it into halves. As white pages and purple feathers fell, the two inched closer, engaging in a waltz, stepping on each other's toes deliberately and repeatedly. The Absol watched silently, howling when they fell onto each other, never to wake up again.

"Sleeping beauties, when awake, will live in a fabricated reality of happily-ever-after. Life is no fairytale, still."