Child of Thorns - A Pokemon Sinnoh Reimagining

Unfortunately, with all the power in the world at my disposal, I also gained the kind of knowledge that would have prevented me from doing this in the first place. But I had little time to consider that as reality broke apart above me.

The sky cracked. The sun was snuffed out as though it were the flame of a candle. A deep, impossible darkness rolled over the sky, swallowing everything in its path.

Nothingness. Chaos. That from which all was born. I looked up at the darkness and from within it, a pair of eyes opened, looking down at me.

It was the first time I'd felt true terror.

I raised my hands toward the sky, but neither time nor space nor the power of a god could affect Nothingness, and as such, nothing happened. That darkness began to bleed down toward me. I could slowly feel the power of Dialga and Palkia being siphoned away from me. I knew that if I didn't stop this, all would be swallowed into Chaos.

It shames me to admit it, but it took the end of the world for me to finally do the right thing.

"I know you've never listened to my advice, not once, but…"

Nausea boiled in Inyssa's stomach at the very sound of her sister's voice.

"…this isn't something you can get out of by whimpering and apologizing later. We don't have to fight. Just give me Uxie and save yourself the trouble." Shadi's eyes narrowed as she said that. "You know how this went last time."

It was like a piece of cloth had been lifted from her eyes. Before, Inyssa could have believed there was some warmth or concern in her sister's statement, but now… it was so obvious. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid.

Her Pokemon growled and snarled at Shadi, but she raised a hand to stop them.

"You just want to make this easier for yourself," she replied. "Don't insult my intelligence by pretending you give a shit about me."

Shadi chuckled, though her lips didn't form anything like a smile. "You've always been an ungrateful brat. If I really didn't care about you, I would've destroyed both you and Barry back in that cruise ship, and taken both Lake siblings for myself. Instead, I let you go with a warning. What do you call that if not mercy?"

Inyssa's reply was immediate. "Guilt."

Shadi's expression froze, the lines around her eyes stiffening.

"Excuse me?"

"I remember. Those six months. Everything you said… Everything you did." She emphasized that last word, the corners of her eyes shaking as she spoke. "You abused mom and I."

That word certainly got a reaction. Shadi flinched as though it had slapped her across the face. The shadows rising from her cape began to move and coil more erratically without her noticing.

"That's an awfully big word to be throwing around," she whispered, danger clear in her voice. "You have no idea…"

"I do." Inyssa grabbed one hand with the other to prevent them from shaking. "I know what you had to go through. I know how frustrating it must've been for you. But the way you treated us… the things you did…"

Impossibly, the already frigid hail falling around them felt like it got even colder by the glint of Shadi's eyes alone.

"Johanna deserved all of it," she said, tone sharp and frigid. "She's a waste of space. A parasite."

"And what about me?" asked Inyssa. "Did I also deserve everything you did to me?"

As she heard that, Shadi looked as though she was struggling not to look away from her sister's eyes. Her lips pursed into a pale line.

"That's why I made sure you couldn't remember any of that," she argued. " You could've gone the rest of your life not remembering. Not hurting. You could've just… let go. But you chose to come back to it."

"I did," said Inyssa. "Because you'd left a hole where those memories had been."

"No one forced you to do this, Niss. It's not my fault you can't live without pain to cling onto," shrugged Shadi. "I did what I could because I cared about you. But if you can't see th–"

Laughter erupted from Inyssa. Cold, bitter, yet so overpowering that she couldn't help but place both hands over her stomach, limbs shaking with the effort to keep it down. Both her Pokemon and Shadi simply stared in surprise. But Inyssa couldn't help it. It was just… it was all so funny.

"God… You are so full of shit." She finally managed to catch her breath, wiping a tear of laughter from her face. "It's incredible. I really must've been blind not to see it before."

Still smiling from ear to ear, Inyssa looked up at a clearly uncomfortably Shadi, and shook her head.

"You… Ha, you erased my memories… To help me? Come on; you'd think you could come up with a better lie than that."

Shadi stammered. "I…"

"You did it because you felt guilty." As she said that last word, all joy and laughter left her face. Her smile died on her lips. "Because you feared I might break or get tired of you abusing me. That I might go to mom or Sarah and tell them what you'd done."

Her sister's expression didn't change, but she looked as though she were stopping herself from swallowing.

"You took those memories away because you were scared and ashamed of what you've done," Inyssa spat out. "Like a kid wetting the bed and hiding the sheets in the closet."

Shadows bled under Shadi's feet as she took a step forward, her only hand forming a tight fist. Her lips curled into something that was nothing like a smile. The night pulsed like a heartbeat around her. Inyssa felt the wave of dizziness wash over her, but the golden, crackling coat of light around her protected her from the full brunt of it. Her Pokemon didn't seem very affected either.

"It's not gonna be that easy," said Inyssa. "They know not to look into your eyes. And that trick won't work on me now that I've unlocked all of Uxie's power."

"Yeah, I'm done having this conversation with you, in case you haven't noticed," Shadi replied, voice low and raspy. "Here."

Light pooled from the Pokeball that appeared in her hand, falling to the ground and materializing into a form Inyssa knew very well.

A Kricketune identical to Shadi now stood across her, baring her scythes with a cold, serious look in her eyes. Inyssa's Pokemon froze at the sight. She might have as well, had she not known which member of her sister's team this was, and had she not expected Shadi to save it for her specifically.

"Your Ditto… Patches." A smile formed on her lips. "Let me guess. Teaching me a lesson by beating me with my own team, giving me a taste of my own medicine, something like that?"

Despite herself, Shadi smiled as well.

"Mostly I just want him to get your team out of the way," she said. "So that I can take care of you personally."

Patches took a step forward, his form shifting slightly, as though his body were nothing but a shimmering heat haze. Inyssa swallowed. Outside of Midir, he had to be the trickiest of her sister's Pokemon to fight, which meant it was about time she started working on her plan.

"Kuro! Johnny!" Both Pokemon turned to look at her, the latter only doing it once his brain had processed what was happening. "Leave. Go help Maylene and Candice; you'll be more useful with them."

Kuro snarled and growled in protest, and Johnny's expression, while not changing much, did show the subtlest hints of defiance. Good. Just like they had practiced.

"Neither of you will be able to fight well in such a small space," she argued. "And it'll be difficult for me to command five Pokemon at once. Now go!"

The two of them protested a bit further, but in the end they had no choice but to obey their trainer. Defeated, they left down the stairs toward the base of the tower. Though not before looking back one last time, like Inyssa had instructed them to in order to make this look more realistic.

Eh. Seven out of ten on the acting front, I'd say.

"Well, that's the good thing about Pokemon," said Uxie. "Even when they're bad actors, humans will find it hard to notice."

Across from them, Shadi had raised her eyebrows, impressed.

"How… noble of you," she said, trying not to smile. "Is that what you intended? To look noble? Because I have to say–"

"Shadi, Swords Dance!" Inyssa cried out. "Bret, jump on Steven's back!"

They moved quickly and in perfect unison. Shadi fell to one knee and crossed her scythes in front of her, a dark, red aura covering her body. Patches jumped forward on instinct, trying to stop her. But a sudden, powerful gust of wind sent him stumbling back as Steven took off with a bat of his wings, Bret riding on his back.

"Kgh." Shadi squinted and raised a hand to cover her eyes. "Just going for it, eh? I respect that."

"Power Style: Obsidian Overture!" Inyssa threw her hand forward, her scream echoing around her. "Do not give her an inch! Steven, Bret! You two support her from the air and stop him from trying to morph into something else!"

Her sister blinked, brow furrowing. "Obsidian wha–?"

Shadi disappeared into a blur, and she did not touch the ground again for quite some time. She slashed at Patches in an X. The Ditto raised his own scythes to block the attack but suddenly his opponent wasn't there anymore, a sudden air current shooting up from her previous location. Shadi materialized behind him, seemingly out of nowhere.

The impact sent him flying forward, a scorching slash blooming on his back. Steven and Bret swooped down to intercept him but Patches rolled onto his feet and readied an X-Scissor to interc–

Shadi slammed into him with tremendous strength, knocking him off balance. Just then, a rain of knife-sharp leaves fell upon him with the speed of bullets, and a second after Steven's wing slammed against his stomach, sending him flying back, almost over the edge of the roof.

And all throughout that, her sister hadn't blinked once. The look upon her face would have brought a smile to Inyssa's face on any other occasion.

"Well I'll be damned," she whispered to herself. "I gotta give it to you, sis. Only someone as crazy as you could turn a Kricketune of all things into a competitively viable Pokemon. I'm starting to not mind so much the fact that you named her after me."

"I named her after the person I thought you were," Inyssa spat back. "She's my strongest Pokemon. And she's going to kick your ass."

"Heh." Shadi shook her head. "You're right… I was trying to make fun of you before, by making Patches turn into that. But you have gotten stronger since last time, haven't you? I guess it's time we stop fucking around and actually get serious." Her eyes gleamed maliciously as she said that. She threw her hand forward. "Patches… You know the drill. Turn into something we can beat them with."

Inyssa held her breath, heart pounding, as Patches' body morphed and shifted, the disgusting pink mass turning into something else.

Come on, she thought, anxiously. Come on, make him turn into…

The batting of wings was heard. An enormous, winged creature with bright red plumage shot up into the sky, flames licking at every inch of his body. He had turned into a Talonflame.

It was really, really hard not to laugh triumphantly, but somehow Inyssa managed to keep her poker face.

"A fire-type…" observed Uxie. "Seems that luck is on our side tonight."

Luck? Why do you think I chose to leave these three Pokemon with me? she thought. Though I admit that I wasn't completely sure…

Shadi pointed at Steven and Bret. "Get rid of those two first. The Kricketune won't be able to follow."

Patches shot through the sky like a bullet, leaving a trail of flames behind him. Inyssa tried to force her smile down.

"Dodge and keep providing support! And Shadi…!" She threw her hand up toward the sky. "Flight Style: Emerald Ecclesia!"

Inyssa wished she could've seen the look upon Patches' face as the Kricketune he thought he was safe from started jumping off the air itself, rapidly making her way up to him.

"How'd…" Shadi frowned for a moment, but then realization dawned on her. "Ah… I see. Using the kinetic energy absorption from Bide… Clever." There was no pride or warmth in her voice as she said that. "Patches, use your speed to your advantage and focus on the other two! She'll run out of kinetic energy soon!"

Another breath of relief that Inyssa had to gulp down. Yes, she didn't want to beat Patches just yet. She needed him to attack as many times as possible, shooting the heat of his flames as high into the air as he could. Enma had already shot up a fair amount of heat, but she didn't think that would be enough. This was the only way…

"Steven, keep the high ground! Bret, pelt him with Magical Leaf!" she yelled out. "Shadi, intercept as many attacks as you can and absorb them!"

Even with her eyesight enhanced, it was hard to follow the wild and frenetic dance of wind and flame, impacts reverberating through the air, bursts of heat burning away the hail, sending flurries of melting snow raining down around them. Steven and Shadi were following the plan. They continuously put themselves above Patches so that the heat of his flames would rise up into the sky. Only a little bit more, then–

Something moved in the edge of her vision.

"Inyssa!"

An enormous, clawed hand made of shadows closed around the spot where she'd been an instant before. Inyssa materialized a few feet to the right. The place where the pebble currently resting inside that hand had been.

She swallowed; that had been a close one. If she hadn't imbued part of her memory into as many things as she could find on the roof of the tower, she might've been done right there.

"You didn't forget about me, did you?"

Inyssa scoffed. "Never again."

A chuckle left Shadi's lips. Her shadow arm retreated back into the inside of her cloak, and for a second her eyes seemed to narrow in pain. The blue of her eyes flickered on and off.

She's spreading herself too thin, thought Inyssa. Between making those portals and controlling all those people below, she must be running dry.

"What shall we do, then?" asked Uxie? "Push her so hard that she is forced to release her hold on the civilians below or take advantage of the fact that she can't use too much of her power against us?"

Inyssa knew the answer, though she wasn't particularly thrilled about it. She remembered their last battle on the S.S Anne, how Shadi had put all those people in danger just to fuck with her head. How she'd shamed her for not being able to put the safety of others above her own fear and doubt.

Not this time, she thought, placing her hands together. Her body crackled with power.

Thanks to her enhanced senses, she could hear high above when Shadi couldn't. Air beginning to thin. Thunder starting to crackle. A storm cloud forming above the hail, born from the immense amounts of heat sent upwards. Soon, her weapon would be fully forged.

In the meantime, all she had to do was disguise it.

"You told me you shouldn't have to feel guilt for what you've done," she growled. "Let's see if that's true."

She shot her eyes wide open, sending through them as much of Uxie's power as she was capable of. Immediately, the world around them changed. Like in a dream, reality melted away and reformed into something different, a familiar scene from long ago, inside a house that they both knew very well.

Shadi's mouth gaped slightly at the sight. They were back in Twinleaf, in the living room of their own house. And there outside the door leading to Shadi's room, younger versions of themselves stood next to each other, the older girl strongly grabbing onto the younger's wrist.

"Are you mocking me!?

"N-no! I…!"

"If I want the help of a stupid high-school girl I'll ask for it. And trust me, I'm never going to ask for it!"

"P-please…"

A shadow of unease passed over the real Shadi's face, though she was quick to conceal it. She swallowed, then turned to Inyssa.

"Is this your master plan?" she asked, though the mockery in her voice sounded forced. "You intend to make me realize the error of my ways by trapping the both of us in a memory?"

It was hard to talk while maintaining two illusions of such complexity at once, but she somehow managed.

"You've been using your powers for… more than three years," she whispered with effort. "I unlocked them less than an hour ago. I'm not beating you with brute strength, I know that."

"And what? Do you think psychological warfare like this will work?"

To that, Inyssa simply smiled and nudged her head to the side, toward the scene unfolding before them.

"I-it hurts! Please…"

The discomfort on Shadi's face as she heard that was clear as water, something she herself seemed to notice, judging by the way she grit her teeth a moment after.

"Enough."

This time Inyssa saw it coming. As the shadow arm made an arc toward her, all she had to do was kneel and it passed over her, ruffling her hair.

"Pretty slow. I didn't even need to teleport to dodge it," she taunted her. "You might want to consider giving it your all against me instead of fighting two battles at once."

Shadi scoffed. "Keep talking. That's all you're good for, it seems."

"Not anymore."

She took a deep breath and concentrated. The world changed around them once more, a new memory unfolding before them. Young Inyssa stood next to a kneeling Shadi, her body shaking with pain and exhaustion.

"I'm… I'm sorry. I d-didn't know and because of us… I'm so sorry…"

"No, you're not. If you really were sorry then you'd do something about it."

Shadi made a face again. Inyssa smiled; she'd made sure not to block out the sounds of the hail and the battle raging around them, as to not make her sister suspicious. There was only one sound she was trying to block with this illusion.

"You… How ungrateful can you be?" asked Shadi, throwing her hand to the side. Heat was beginning rise up her voice. "I took all this away just so you could live happily. Why did you come back to it?"

"Because this pain is a part of me," replied Inyssa. "And so are you, the real Shadi. I'm never letting you steal yourself from me again."

"I did it to protect you!"

"You can try hiding the truth all you want, but I'm not going to let you. I'll remember you, all of you, the good and bad, even if the pain of it tears me apart from the inside." Her eyes narrowed into a scowl. "Because unlike you, I can live with the mistakes I've made."

Shadi scoffed, ears and nose starting to turn red with anger.

"None of what you're saying makes any sense," she said. "I know for a fact that you were happier once I left. You grew up healthy. You became a trainer like you always wanted! So tell me, how is it my fault that you had all that going for you and still managed to fuck up so badly!?"

"Y-you still think I hate you. That I didn't want you around." Inyssa's voice shook a bit as she said that, lower lip quivering. "Yeah… that would've been better for me. Healthier. But you meant so much to me. When you went away, leaving that empty spot inside of me…" She breathed in deep, closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, their light became one with the memory around her. "Here. Let me show you."

The world changed a third and final time. Not because Inyssa didn't think she could show yet another memory if she wanted to, but because this was the most painful one she had. She almost closed her eyes and covered her ears as to not see it again. But no… That was a chance Shadi could use to attack her. She had to keep herself calm, even if…

A sob got caught in her throat at the mere sight before her. Shadi's eyes shot wide open. They were inside their house once more, in the kitchen. A young Inyssa leaned against the sink, looking down at a bottle of pills with empty, colorless eyes. Her body was covered in dirt, snow and a multitude of bruises. Dry blood stuck to her lips and right eyebrow.

Tears welled up in her eyes. Every muscle in her body shook violently.

"S-stop this," whispered Shadi, uselessly trying to sound calm. "If you're trying to…"

"I-I'm sorry…"

The sheer, naked misery in the girl's voice was enough to make Shadi flinch. Her lips pressed into thin, pale lines.

"Shadi… Barry… I'm s-so sorry." A sound halfway between a hiccup and a sob left her lips. "I c-can't take it anymore."

With a quick, sudden motion, she took the bottle to her lips.

Shadi gasped as though in pain and looked away, eyes shutting tight. It was her chance. Her final weapon wasn't ready yet, but…

"Now!"

The memory disappeared around them, and from within appeared Steven, flying down toward Shadi like a bullet. She realized her mistake too late. Cursing under her breath, she took a step back but was too slow to dodge as the Staravia slammed his wing against her stomach. Spit flew out of her mouth as she was thrown back, collapsing in a heap on the floor a few feet back. A few inches more and she'd have gone over the edge.

Steven fell back to her side, accompanied by his two Pokemon companions. Patches flew toward his master, trying to help her up. Inyssa breathed in, feeling her heart as though it were caught in a vice. That last memory… it'd been too much for her, but it was necessary to distract Shadi. But unless Steven had hit the exact right spot…

Her answer came before she could fully think the question in her head. The shadows around Shadi began to shake and trash. She got up to her feet and looked up, the look upon her face nothing short of spine-chilling.

Steven had missed. The Dread Plate was still intact inside her pocket.

But even worse, she'd lost all hopes of delaying or distracting her sister a second longer.

"I'm… done. Playing around." Shadi's voice was laced with something dark and cold as she spoke, her face a mask of fury. "Patches. Extreme Speed."

There was no time to react. The Ditto assumed the form of a Lucario in an instant, and then he wasn't there anymore. There was a sharp sound as he traveled forward like a bullet. Inyssa felt his presence alongside them, but couldn't even turn her head before the next order was given.

"Explosion."

By the time Inyssa turned around, Patches was an Electrode the size of her torso. His body began to glow a bright white before he even touched the ground.

"INYSSA!" Uxie screamed in her mind.

She moved by instinct, raising her hands toward the Pokemon. The air around her shimmered as a psychic barrier materialized between them.

Then came the flash, followed by the impact. Her hearing numbed. Pain shot up all throughout her body and the world around her was dark and blurry, a mess of black and small, dancing dots of white.

She was on her back, lying on the ground. That makeshift barrier had stopped most of the impact, but–

"GHK!"

Shadi's foot came down on top of her chest, making her spit out what little air she'd managed to breathe in. Her vision swam again. The blurry silhouette of her sister appeared above her, looking down at her.

All but her eyes were pure shadow. Her braid had been undone and now her hair flowed free behind her like a crown of dark tendrils. A flurry of snowflakes rained around her, looking as though the light of the world itself were bleeding out, leaving behind a putrid carcass of darkness.

"You're entirely wrong about the way this all works, sis."

The sound of her voice terrified Inyssa to her core. She felt paralyzed. A part of her screamed at her to move out of the way or fight back or… anything. She wasn't the little girl scared of her powerful big sister anymore. She'd moved past that. Seen the truth and understood that all of Shadi's power over her was a simple illusion.

But if she knew that… then why couldn't she move? Why did the Shadi before her seem so different, so much more horrifying than the woman she'd been talking to until now?

Why did she feel like she was about to die?

"Did you really think it would be that easy?" asked Shadi, barely above a whisper. "You'd regain your memories, find the truth and strike me down right after delivering a speech on how much you've grown, on how you've finally surpassed me? And what happens after that? Everyone laughs and dances and goes home, happily ever after? Sorry to break it to you, but life isn't a fairy tale. Triumph, glory, happiness… they're not a prize to be claimed and kept forever."

Her boot pressed more strongly against Inyssa's chest. She gasped, eyes shooting wide open with pain, her breathing coming in ragged and sharp.

"You put so much effort to gain things that mean nothing. You care so much about how others see you or feel about you. Like your stupid trick just now. If you'd really gotten over me, you wouldn't have needed to reassert yourself in such a way." Her lips curled into something almost like a smile. "I have it. The truth. Do you want to hear it, Inyssa?"

There was no way she could answer, but even if she could she doubted she could've found the words. Icy fear gripped every cell in her body.

"The truth… is that there is more than we could ever hope to know. More than what gods or legendary Pokemon could ever see with their own eyes, with all the time in the world at their disposal." She spoke with a calm, passionate voice, almost like she were whispering sweet nothings to the ear of someone she loved. "When I was younger… I dreamed while being fully awake. I dreamed that I flew through the sky. I dreamed that there were no horizons around me, and what met my gaze at the end of the world was the end of the world itself. And there I saw… so many things. Things only one free of time, space and death could see. Mountains being tossed around by the wind. Flames boiling the sea into steam. Thunder breaking continents like glass. I saw the sun burst like a soap bubble and the moon disintegrate as though it were made of dust. And yet none of it affected me. I looked from above like a patient Murkrow hovering above a battlefield, seeing it for the feast it'll soon become. I was the only one left to hear the last silence fall upon the corpse of everything."

Inyssa didn't realize that she hadn't breathed for a few seconds, too distracted, too unnerved by the loving, uncanny tone of her sister's voice.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful, how exhilarating such a sight is? No, of course you don't. None of you do." Shadi shook her head, seeming disappointed. "It was like being something beyond everything. Compared to that… what worth is the touch of a lover's lips against your own? The sound of a friend's laughter? The unconditional love of a father? Or…" She looked down at Inyssa, face suddenly expressionless. "… The smile of a sister you thought you loved?"

At the sound of that, tears began to well up in Inyssa's eyes. A sob left her lips. And Shadi did not seem to care in the slightest.

"I'm sorry. But this is a fight you never had a chance of winning."

Shadi pressed harder against her chest, and tendrils of darkness began spreading from her foot throughout Inyssa's chest. A pained gasp left her lips. Cold. It felt so cold and sharp and…

The light in her eyes flickered on and off. The whole world felt numb and blurry.

U-Uxie…

"Inyssa!

I'm… I'm sor–

Something whistled through the air. Shadi looked up suddenly, and letting out a gasp she jumped back as quickly as she could just before the blade of the scythe cut her in two.

Inyssa blinked, dazed and confused. What had just happened?

"Y-you!?" screamed Shadi .

"Ah… Just in the nick of time."

The shock of hearing that voice was enough to force Inyssa to push herself up to a sitting position. Eyes wide and golden again, she looked up at the person who'd just appeared. Her mouth gaped.

Mars looked back at her and winked. She held an unconscious Steven under her arm.

"This little guy went over the edge. Lucky I was climbing up; otherwise he would've been toast," she said, letting him fall next to Inyssa. "Anyway, sorry to interrupt the family reunion. But I heard you were in town and… well, I couldn't resist the temptation to pay you a visit."