smash_logs | Reset Everything to Zero--the Red Chain plot part two!

The man pulled in a breath, watching the other for a moment before speaking. "Very well. I offered you salvation and forgiveness and you turned away. You know your fate."

He reached for his Crobat's pokéball. It had been knocked out during the battle with Arceus, but the strength of conviction that had enabled its evolution would permit it to battle again for a short time, especially with his remaining Full Restore.

"...Come at me with all you have!" he declared, releasing the tired bat in a flurry of four wings and immediately using the medicine. He had nothing else in reserve. This would have to be enough. Nothing could stand in his way again.

Knuckles grit his teeth. He wasn't familiar with the species beyond that it was some sort of bat. He hated that he had to fight a Pokemon who was just following orders.

".....Bat. I'm sorry about this. My beef isn't with you but with your trainer... I'm afraid I can't hold back, though."

However, his first strike wasn't directed at Crobat. It was directed at the ground below his feet. There was no way he was going to let Cyrus off so lightly as to just face his Pokemon. His fists slammed hard into the earth and it quaked beneath them, a small, localized earthquake causing the concrete and turf under both their feet to rise and fall in sharp waves.

Cyrus held his ground. Crobat was unaffected and looked almost annoyed that its time was being wasted.

But that would set them on even attacks, with neither scoring a hit in the first round. Crobat attempted the same move that it had begun with on Arceus--Confuse Ray.

With attention on the battle, Cyrus shoved his shaking hands behind his back. He never wanted to fight an ally, but just as Saturn had willingly forsaken a position in the new creation, so had Knuckles, and it had to be done.

But Saturn had not fought against Cyrus's plan, for all his opposition, and had simply withdrew his involvement. So Saturn was left alive. To do otherwise would have been needless violence. Those who were willing to put themselves in the way of that ultimate goal had to be eliminated.

Knuckles had little intention of striking Crobat if it could be avoided. He saw the beam of light eminate from it and did the instinctive thing - he started to dig.

Knuckles could move through the earth with great efficiency and speed. Some had commented he moved through the earth like a fish moved through water, and while he wouldn't exactly agree with that entirely, it was a close approximation.

He almost literally dissapeared from the field of view and in doing so, he dodged the attack.

That was unexpected. If Knuckles's action worked anything like the pokémon attack Dig, he could emerge nearly anywhere on the battlefield but would likely target Crobat.

But Cyrus also knew Knuckles. The echidina would try to avoid direct combat if at all possible. Which may have been why he had selected that move to begin with, as it wouldn't hit a flying type.

And Cyrus had no choice to assume that the action would work similar to that. Crobat's speed would mean that it would act first, before Knuckles emerged, so he signaled that it should use Bite to fill the time.

That intricate dance of how attacks worked in turns...that was something else that would be entirely restructured. But for the time being, he had to work within the narrow confines of the present world.

Unfortunately, Knuckles' attacks weren't bound by many of the same rules as Pokemon attacks. He was no Pokemon. And whether Dig would hit flying types or not was not his concern. Despite saying he wasn't going to hold back, he had a few moves up his sleeve that might end this with intimidation over injury.

The ground in front of Cyrus erupted, plumes of dirt and stone and concrete lancing into the sky around a large boulder. It was about eight feet tall and almost as large around - it weighed many tons and Knuckles had rocketed it into the air. He hurled it... not at Cyrus, but at a spot about three feet to his left so it had no danger of striking him. It was his Meteor Crush attack and was one of his very last resorts in any given situation.

"You're gonna have to catch the next one bare handed unless you stop this madness!" he yelled as the rock left his hands.

The boulder crashed into the ground a few feet from Cyrus, the man escaping most of the impact but being blasted with small pebbles from the blow. "You have no intention of harming me," he pointed out, "or you would not have missed. Crobat, strike."

The bat nearly smirked as it bit down on Knuckles in a Poison Fang attack.

"ARGH!"

Damn - that thing had sharp teeth. He felt them slice into his skin through his fur and he hissed, instinctively reaching for the beast, strong hands closing around purple flesh.

"Don't underestimate me! I don't WANT to harm you... but I can and I will if I have to! I've given you chances, Cyrus. When all's said and done and I win, I don't wanna have your blood on my hands without knowing I gave you every opportunity to turn it around!"

He didn't want to kill anyone ever again. But it might be that he had to add one more to his body count. Just one more enemy to the list. It made him sick to the stomach just thinking about it. He let the bat go with his left hand only and started swinging it into the bat's face, holding on with his right. He wasn't pulling his punches this time - they were the same punches that had Groudon staggering backwards. The ground cracked beneath them and dust was kicked into the air.

"You have mispercieved your future. That is simply it; you will not win. Because I will not lose."

Knuckles talked bit, but Cyrus knew. Those conversations they'd had had given the man quite a bit of insight--Knuckles had killed, but it wore at him deeply to the point where he had stated that he did not want to be forgiven.

And Cyrus would grant that, because he believed that Knuckles would not want to decay to that point again.

It was a fight that Cyrus didn't want either. The very thought of acting in violence was reprehensible to him, and was a foundation of his very plan. But he forged ahead without regret, because as reprehensible as it was to know that he may very well have to kill Knuckles, it would be unforgivable to let himself be stopped and have all be lost for the world.

Crobat staggered about in the air, fluttering weakly before firing off one last-ditch attack--another Confuse Ray.

"I WILL win!" Knuckles snarled defiantly, his muzzle crinkled, his teeth bared. "I have to... While there's a drop of blood in my veins and a whisper of breath in my chest, I will fight. Not because I want to... but because I have to."

Of course, this small sputter of angry speech gave Crobat's attack time to land. Knuckles staggered backwards a little, suddenly unsure of his footing. It must be some sort of Psychic type attack... but the bat was failing. He could see that. It's wingbeats were weak and unsteady. Even now as he tried to keep his keel even, he felt bad for it... it was only doing as it was bid. Under many other circumstances, he was sure they could have been friends, even. He always had enjoyed the company of bats, after all.

He concentrated a second, gathering his will to propel himself forward at a run. He was just going to dispense with the formalities and punch Cyrus in the gut. Screw messing around with the bat, screw talking, screw trying to reason this out... if his one-time ally was so hell bent on his destruction along with everything else? Maybe a good old fashioned bashing was what he needed.

It took only a moment for Cyrus to realize what Knuckles was doing. How irregular! But entirely feasable for one so accustomed to warfare.

He was able to dodge, helped by the Confuse status inflicted on his opponent. His shield was nearly down and Confuse would wear off soon enough, so he had to act fast.

"I expected this! That you would descend into violence despite talk of peace! You accuse me of becoming what I hate and yet you embody all of it! This hypocracy, this foolishness...Do you believe that you are justified? That you may speak one thing and act the opposite? I will not permit this either! I will have order!"

But Cyrus had never been a physical fighter. He was able to use pokémon because their natural fights were far less violent than those found in humans, and whenever his fists had spoken for him, he had found that violent part of himself, that part that he had long struggled to keep at bay, overwhelming him. If he stuck, he would be lost for the time being. If he did not, he would lose everything.

His fists balled, but he wouldn't strike unless struck first.

"Hypocrite yourself!" Knuckles snarled in reply. "YOU talk of peace yet you're going to try and KILL Billions of innocents! I fight, but I fight to PROTECT life, not to take it!"

He took another swing, his fist flickering into flames as it grazed the other's jacket. He was still unsteady on his feet and couldn't aim right.

"This morning I might wind up beating up one man... You on the other hand are trying to snuff out EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD. You're just like the Aparoids... just like the Black Arms... but instead of coming from beyond the stars, you're just a home-grown menace."

He advanced again, fist aglow with flame once more, he took another swing - this time, it was on course to connect if Cyrus couldn't dodge it.

"The universe itself kills all that it hosts! It is expected, dismissed as the life cycle!" He tried to dodge, and avoided the brunt of the attack, but the blow still landed under his rib cage. Something cracked, and Cyrus cried out, falling to his knees.

But it was an easily survivable wound. Far less severe than even accidental injuries he had suffered during his experiments. "...You're pulling your punches. Your emotions hold you back from what you know is the only thing that will stop me."

He staggered up, trying to avoid putting pressure on his right side. "My will is superior to yours. My devotion is absolute. If I still possessed emotion--" and for him to deny it now, knowing that Knuckles knew full well otherwise! "--I would be horrified at the toll as well. But it is what must happen so I forge ahead! This universe will end regardless of me, so I must control that end to shape the new creation! Come at me! Come at me if you believe you could do better! If you can surpass the man who will be a god!"

"You're no GOD... You're just a Man. I've fought Gods, Cyrus, and I didn't HAVE to pull my punches! Ask Groudon what these hands can do - she'll tell you!"

He advanced, fists still clenched. "If I wanted to kill you, it wouldn't takle much effort. But even now, with so much at stake, I don't want to do it. You're right. But THAT is my strength of will. Many others, if they had the kind of strength I do, would see this as an easy fix. They would have aimed that boulder right the first time and would be done with you by now."

He took another swing, aiming for Cyrus' left side this time.

This time he was able to dodge, but the shooting pain in his right side forced another cry from the would-be apotheist. He crumpled to the ground, briefly unable to move.

But he could speak. "Then you must rise to stand against me again and again, and--nngh!--I need triumph only once..."

It was starting to sink in. Cyrus may not win, just as he lost before. No, not lost, simply redirected.

And he would have to redirect yet again.

"That's fine. It's what I do. I haven't killed Eggman yet either, even though there are times I'll admit to thinking about it. I could. I could kill you now if I really took a mind to do it - I shatter boulders with these fists. You might be thick headed, but your skull ain't a boulder."

Rather than press onward and hit him again, Knuckles just crossed his arms and sighed. "Now. You need to fix things. You're pretty much done... I think in Chess they call this a checkmate, right?"

Cyrus shakily rose to his knees, arms wobbling against the ground. "...Check, perhaps. But not checkmate. And if that were true--nngh--I will simply reset the board. I am not the king or the pawn, but the player..."

But it was taking all his will to finish speaking. He shook his head.

...and spotted the Red Chain where Arceus had repelled it. If he could grab onto it, he could take that power once and for all.

"Aren't you listening? You're done. Finished. You can barely get on your feet... and you want to be a GOD!? Pal, not trying to be overly mean here? But that ain't happening. I can hit you again if you need more convincin' but I'd prefer not to iffn we can avoid that."

He hadn't noticed the red chain himself, but if Cyrus made a move for it, it was without doubt he could reach it first.

"Just tell me how to stop this, alright? Tell me how to stop it and we can see about getting this whole thing cleared up. I'll help you to the nurse, get those injuries seen to... the whole works."

Though he was struggling to stand, Cyrus stopped as he heard Knuckles. This was compassion. This was what had made that trainer so strong. And he could sense that strength was as deeply rooted as it had been in her.

But as then, it was founded on illusion. "...how wasteful..." he murmured as he drew himself up as solidly as he could. "...Such emotions are mere illusions. And like all illusions, they fade over time until death banishes them forever." It was word for word what he had said to that girl, that moment mulled over in his mind ever since. She was truly strong, as was Knuckles, but it was a castle of shaky foundation. It could not stand. It could not last.

"...You are my enemy and yet you offer such things?" He deviated there. In that place years ago, he had simply told that trainer that it didn't matter, because she would never understand. But Knuckles had understood, hadn't he? No, that was another illusion.

Cyrus's hand came to his wounded side. "I will not let this dream end. I will not let it be overcome. The world I dream of will exist at any cost, and you have already shown your weakness."

He made a few staggering steps towards the Red Chain, or at least in its general direction, and managed to fake that he was wandering towards a nearby tree to lean against it.

Knuckles just sighed.

"Yeah, alright. Fine, Cyrus. Whatever you say. I'M the weak one despite YOU bein' the guy staggering around."

He placed himself in front of Cyrus, very inconveniently between him and the red chain. Knuckles didn't know it was there - he simply wanted to be able to look Cyrus in the eye.

"I think we're probably runnin' out of time and you're talking in circles... You gotta tell me how to end this or all we're gonna wind up with is a destroyed world. You're not a God, Cyrus... you were born a man and you're gonna die a man. You just need to decide if you wanna die today along with everyone else, or you wanna live to see tomorrow."

"Physical weakness cannot...nngh...be compared..." There was more he wanted to add but couldn't. His strength had to be saved for that last-ditch grab for the Red Chain. He couldn't fail. And he couldn't be hasty either.

"Sure it can, dumbass." Knuckles replied, crossing his arms. "You ever see Arceus stumbling around like this, leaning on trees? Heck, when I was wailing on Groudon? She retreated and she still did it with plumes of lava and earthquakes and I bet most other Gods would be the same. I'm sorry to tell you this, Cyrus.... but you can't be a God if you get staggered by one punch from a Mortal like me, especially not when I'm not going all out. It just plain ole don't work that way."

He uncrossed his arms, placing them on his hips, like a Father scolding a disobediant child.

"I'm gonna ask you one more time - this process. How do we turn it off?"

Minor gods had, he knew. Those like Shaymin and Manaphy could be easily affected, and easily defeated. But they were more akin to nature spirits, though they were recognized as gods.

And he wasn't a god yet. Not just yet, and he couldn't endanger that.

Though he could remain standing for a bit longer, he flopped to the ground, wincing as his knees hit the pavement. The Red Chain was just out of his reach at this point, and he would have to get past Knuckles to grab it.

"...there is only one way," he hissed.

"Then you tell me what it is." Knuckles replied, placing a hand firmly on the man's shoulder. Not squeezing hard enough to hurt him, but hard enough to remind him that there could be pain involved if it came to that.

"You tell me what it is right now."

"Only I can stop it..." He was the only one with the knowledge and experience to do so! Of course he was the only one!

"Release me and I will show you..."

Reset Everything to Zero--the Red Chain plot part two!

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