Remember? -A Pokémon Story-

Chapter 18

Your stomach drops as the words leave his mouth. You can feel your dad's hand softly grab your arm as he steps in front of you, protectively.

Neutralize?

Does he mean..?

"What do you mean 'neutralize'?" Ash questions, his innocence showing.

"Terminate, eliminate, eradicate, nullify," Dulse lists with a metallic voice. Ash has a confused look on his face, not understanding.

"(Y/N) cannot live anymore. Her existence is destructive," Phyco says coldly.

Ash looks stunned; fear is evident on his face. Professor Kukui puts his arm in front of Ash, protectively pushing him behind.

Your dad's grip tightens as he shields you from their view. This movement unfortunately catches the attention of one of the men. He looks over at you, noticing your attempts to remain hidden.

You peek over your dad's arm, looking up at the man, and he stares deep into your eyes.

You can't see any life in them. They look cold and dead.

"We would much appreciate your cooperation," he says, lacking emotion.

Cato lets out a low growl from beside you, but the men pay no attention to him.

"Will you come quietly?" Dulse asks you flatly. You tense up as their cold eyes bore into your skin.

"She's not going anywhere," your dad says, answering for you. Phyco and Dulse straighten up, their facial expressions hardening.

"(Y/N) will be taken back to Ultra Megalopolis for extermination," Dulse says with a lower voice.

"Over my dead body," your dad spits back, holding onto you even tighter. Phyco stares at him with a dead look in his eye.

"We do not wish to increase the death toll in order to preserve the balance, but we will do whatever it takes," Phyco says, his voice laced with venom.

In that moment, a huge jolt of pain shoots through your head, causing you to cry out as your legs give out from underneath you. Clutching your head, you curl up into a ball on the floor.

You can hear your dad frantically calling your name, but it sounds like it's underwater. You feel his hands on your arm, trying to give you some sort of comfort.

Your heart races, and with each beat, a throbbing pain beats through your skull. You groan, holding your head in your hands.

Your body starts aching. Everything feels hot. 

It feels like your blood is literally boiling in your veins. 

The hot pain spreads all over the inside of your body, making you cry out as your limbs convulse, your back arching up off the ground.

"She's farther along than we initially thought," one of the men state coldly.

Cato whines and nudges his head against your hair.

"What did you do to her?!" you hear Kukui shout, causing an extra jolt to stab through your skull.

"Nothing," you hear a metallic voice say, "This is the work of the universe fixing itself."

"I swear to Arceus if you don't tell us what's going on I'm going to kick your a-" 

You cry out and interrupt your dad's threat, the searing pain blossoming in your body worsening.

"Ultra Beast DNA is incredibly toxic to any creature that comes into contact with it. The longer it sits in (Y/N)'s bloodstream, the more it poisons her," you hear Phyco roughly explain.

"The added problem of excess electricity in her veins from UB-03 Lighting, aka 'Xurkitree', just makes things worse for her, since the human body isn't capable of withstanding that much electricity," Phyco says, "the combination of the two is basically burning her body from the inside out."

"If (Y/N) comes with us, she will be neutralized quickly and painlessly. But, even if she doesn't, she will still die. And trust me when I say it will be a very long and painful end," Dulse says, letting the last few words roll off his tongue slowly for emphasis.

"Plus, the longer you wait it out, the more unbalanced the universes becomes. Eventually, it will get to the point where she will cause permanent damage, even after she dies," Phyco adds.

You take in his words, trying to wrap your head around them.

It's weird listening to someone explain in great detail how you are going to die.

You open one eye to see your dad above you, clutching your arm. He looks down and you can see tears brimming in his glossy eyes.

Despite the pain, you sit up, leaning on one arm to keep your balance. You cough a few times, feeling your dad's arms around your shoulders.

You look up at the men, wincing.

"What kind of damage will I cause?" you sputter. Phyco looks down at you, coldly.

"Enough to change the way of life for everybody," he starts, "Ultra Space will become unstable, causing realities to crack, destroying basic laws of physics, and disrupting nature. People and Pokémon will perish because of you."

You look to the side, guilt wracking your mind.

"And there's no way to get it out of her?" your dad pleads, his voice cracking at the end.

"Negative. If there was, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Dulse states.

You look up to your dad. He's staring at the ground, mouth slightly open, and his eyebrows are furrowed. He's desperately trying to find a way out of this that doesn't involve your death.

"What if something stronger is injected into her blood to cure the poisonous DNA?" he asks. The two men falter for a moment, but quickly return to their confident stances.

"It would have to be incredibly strong, more powerful than an Ultra Beast, and finding that would take too long. We're already out of time," Phyco says.

"But-" your dad starts, however, he's interrupted by a shrill whine and a powerful gust that appears out of nowhere.

You look up to see a wormhole open behind Phyco and Dulse. The gust strengthens and your dad's grip on you starts to loosen, pushing him away. 

The two men make their way towards you, unfazed by the gust.

Looking over your shoulder, you see the wind push your dad away, tearing you from his grasp. 

"(Y/N)!" you hear your dad shout.

A cold set of hands grabs you under your armpits, picking you up. Dulse roughly carries you in his arms, turning to exit through the wormhole.

You can hear everyone calling out to you from behind. Tears prick the corners of your eyes.

You flail weakly in his arms, unable to break free. You lift your head and reach out behind you.

"Dad!" you scream out, frightened. You can see him and Cato frantically trying to push against the gust, along with the others, but the wind is too strong.

"(Y/N)! I'll find y-" he says, but his words are cut off.

Everything spins, and it feels like you're falling. The wormhole colors are blinding, and the intense pressure makes everything worse.

The burning pain becomes too much, and you can feel yourself slipping away.

The colors bleed around you, and the familiar cold of the unconscious wraps around your mind, pulling you into the darkness.