September 12, 2008 - Friday
To a New Paradise...
...
...
After a long, wonderous Night of NightMares, and once again confronting my evasive Mortal Enemy Cresselia... I arrive home to see my personal Messengers awaiting me. It is not often they are there to greet me from one of my normal routines...
I could not help but notice... the look on Cresselia's face as She, once again, foiled a challenge of mine.
It was a look of despair...
A look of sadness...
From what I hear, the Boy was only several miles from the city of Fortree, where he would face Gym Leader Winona... However, he decided to camp out as the Night drew in close... He sent out all his Pokemon, and the six of them... the Boy, the Charizard, the Altaria, the Ludicolo, the Absol, and even the old Steelix... slept under the stars.
The Boy told them tales of his childhood, and to his Pokemon (with the exception of his Charizard) what his adventures were in the lands of Kanto and Johto. He even confessed how he had always dreamed of becoming the greatest Pokemon Master the World had ever known... to prove to them that he was more than just a boy with wild dreams. Everyone he had known had doubted him... one of his closest friends back home in Pallet, whom says that her name is Green... his teachers, all his friends from the school he attended... But not his mother. She would encourage him, even help him during the times he doubted himself. She was the only one to believe in him... and he says because of this, he will never judge others in such a manner as all his friends and instructors did him. Not one person, not one Pokemon... even the ones beside him under the spacious night sky.
He told each individual Pokemon in his party how they meant to him... Charizard, of course, was his most loyal companion, and he loved the Creature beyond words for always being by him... the Absol, he has grown a great respect for, as it has gotten him out of tight battles with random Trainers... the Altaria, for always being so cheery even when times were tough... the Ludicolo, just for being jumpy and content with his new life, and for putting on a dancing show when things were dull... and, finally, the old Steelix. He said how he was very proud of it for being such a close partner... and how, in his eyes, he would always be the greatest leader and Steelix he had ever known...
As of yester-night, that same night he camped out... the Boy's Steelix passed away in its slumber, beside the Trainer it so loved.
And, if my ears did not fool me... there was a grin on its face. A grin that spoke years' worth of trials, accomplishments, failures... and of the new life that had been given to it, during the most challenging time in its life.
As of this morning, the Steelix was taken... in its Pokeball... back to the land of Kanto, where it would be buried in Lavender Town's Pokemon Tower... where Creatures that have lived long, bountiful lives are forever put to rest.
When such an event occurs... there is a moment of silence for all Pokemon across the World. We are all connected... and, as it is such, we honor those who have left us, as they go to a place where so many can only dream of going to one day.
Even I, the Prince of Darkness, have a code I cannot go against...
Slumber well, honorable Steelix.
Slumber well...
