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The dancer hung his head low and swept his wings. His footwork was deadly silent. His heart was aching and burning bright. He needed no break. All he needed was to feel the adrenaline rush in his blood and to know that he had a place in a world where humans were viciously demanding creatures. He paused. Maybe I'm just a misfit. An endangered Pokémon.
José shivered at the sight of the girl injecting something into a flower. A poppy, like those in the meadow.
The meadow! I wonder if Maimai's alright! The thought struck him just as a shrill noise rang.
The lift doors slid open just as the girl looked up, dropping her syringe. The poppy in her hands was different. It turned black after she injected something.
"Colton! You're back? I've got some great news!" Nox waited for a reply but she never got one. "Colton?"
She watched the lift doors close and arched a brow.
José felt something sharp touch him and realised that Maimai didn't return alone. An Absol, white all over with those perceptive eyes, smiled.
"How did you come back?" José hugged her and she pecked his cheek. The Absol simply eyed the two and told them to keep the volume down.
"Boy, I was afraid, but I remembered we could always use some Chatot talk and speak the way humans speak. The spirits—"
"Shadows," the Absol interjected. "The shadows gave her the idea."
The four-legged creature licked the Baile Style Oricorio's feathers. Then, slowly, he dragged his words,"Stay safe, Oricorio."
"Who are you? Was that a threat?"
José didn't receive a response from the Pokémon but the bell from the lift chimed again.
"Colton!" This time, she saw her target. "I've good news! But who set the alarm?"
"I'll check the-"
"Don't bother. We never turn the cameras on." Nox clapped her hands and leapt around. "Anyway, I did it! Once we inject this into a flower, it turns black. It'll work once we have a little test with our yellow guest. Oh, it rhymes!"
In the shadows, the three Pokémon looked at each other. It dawned on the purple avian that her friend wasn't angry, but worried.
Now wasn't the time for words. If they made a single noise, they would be discovered. They watched as the black poppy was brought close to the Pom-Pom Style Oricorio's beak.
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Prying open the pink beak with her ugly, dirty fingers, Nox made sure the black nectar was in place. With a smile, she turned to look at Colton, who nodded at her. The girl knew her plan was working. She could not wait to see the Oricorio dance for a last time. She could not wait to steal the spotlight from those pests. After all, it was because of those pests that the dancers in Alola left, leaving only the few of them behind. She would want to gain the attention the human dancers deserve. All she had to do was to be the bane of all the Oricorio's existence.
"Leave that damned bird in the cage. Then, we'll let that filth dance under the stars."
"The two more aren't in the meadow... Did you say the alarm was set?"
"Arceus! Colton, they must be here somewhere!" A stomp of a foot, a lift of a dress, a bat of an eyelid, and Nox swivelled her head to look hard at her surroundings.
Maimai, petrified, pecked the wall and the two humans turned toward her direction.
"Now, that explains," Nox said,"all the soft noise of nuisances while I was reading. Colt, we humans are always smarter and superior to Pokémon. They're stupid to reveal their location."
José took a step back. The Absol launched a Dark Pulse at the leather chair and he thought he heard the cries of the dead Taurus intensifying into the night. Two heads snapped at the sound, then a scowl echoed.
"They're extremely stupid while we're on the other extreme of the spectrum." Crimson eyes glinted, craving the blood of an Oricorio. Colton could not only see its blood, but also taste it, gulp it down his oesophagus, and hear it churn in his stomach.
He looked up as if he could see past the walls and into the sky, where the crescent moon curved into a satisfied grin that resonated with him.
A squawk was the only other thing he heard. He smiled, and Nox chuckled. The crescent moon was more dark than light, just like the golden cage and its bird.
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It's strange how the ashes were harvested before the flames were ignited. Maimai had never been closer to the yellow avian and that was the only thought she had. She made another squawk. Then, she closed her eyes.
"I hear fear. The spirits are calling. They're afraid for me." She kept the last few words within. I hear a crescendo of fear.
The Sensu Style Oricorio knew resisting would be futile, so she wished her eyes would never open. Whatever the spirit of Moltres sparked in José, she hoped it would be passion. The spirits wouldn't be wrong.
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The shadows would always be right, as the Absol always knew. He could feel the pain, loss and fear emanating from the Baile Style Oricorio beside him. There was something else which was most intense. The feeling screamed the loudest.
It's natural. Those are his true colours. He saw fire in the avian's eyes. Wings aflame, the bird dashed into the chair and charred the Tauros' dyed skin. The leather was brown again, as if the Tauros was still alive. Only the Absol knew it wasn't alive . The shadows and spirits had a strange similarity.
They belonged to dead Pokémon, and dead Pokémon only.
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The swords were on fire as they sliced through the thick darkness. José felt more passion put into his Swords Dance, now infused in flames. Red and black twisted and exploded into his surroundings.
Burn the cages. His feet moved swiftly, tapping, fireballs circling around them.
Burn the cages. His wings were truly like a dress, an inferno, a flame vortex with him being its eye, its centre.
Burn the cages. His swords clashed and ripped the silence, robbed the human followers of their breaths and plunged into those soulless bodies. He watched as Nox and Colton leapt around to dodge the swords but scars were left.
Burn the- His heart was on fire, passion and adrenaline and vengeance rushing in his veins.
Burn. José was amused. The bars of rage were there for a reason. He thought of something that rhymed, too.
"'Human species,'" he chirped. "Reminds me of 'disease'."
"Stop."
He stopped.
The black Pom-Poms around his neck made him choke.
"Cherry dreary berry," Pachi whispered in his ears. "Let's dance with the stars."
He was about to nod and smile, but this Pachi wasn't the same Pachi. She was black, her eyes dark, and her laughter manic.
"But first, you would need some scars."
Eyes wide open, Jose's beak fell apart. "You're not Pachi."
"One last dance. Dreary weary berry. Once more, and..."
Pachi's voice trailed off. Her wings were broken, bleeding, apart. The swords were nothing to her explosive anger as she screamed a chain of meaningless words. After plucking her feathers with her feet and binding her feet together using a ring made up of her feathers, the Pom-Pom Style Oricorio fell limp into José's arms.
His swords levitated and pierced through the air. The burning corpses were no more. Two humans left.
You'll pay for this.
The nectar was closing in to Lawe. Unlike Pachi, the pink avian broke into pieces on the cold floor. She wasn't ready, wasn't resisting. Her skirt fell off. Her name, which meant the very clothing itself in another language, disappeared.
Die. I hate you.
The crescendo of anguish was mixed with growing loss and deafening fear. Soon, Maimai would be next.
The poppy never entered Maimai's mouth for she struggled in an attempt to break free. But the boy fished out a flute.
The notes were dreadfully familiar to the Absol which passed a glance at José to cover his ears.
It was the Perish Song from before.
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