Chapter 34: Misery is for Free
Well that was the result I expected.
That's what I thought as I saw the massive dragon losing consciousness on the ground. Of course despite having a potent venom injected inside his neck, he was still alive and well, nothing that he can't recuperate with time, as his own energy will soon purify this damage and he will slowly heal by itself, and with the health service here, it should be even faster.
I know very well how hard it is to kill a pokemon, especially one as strong as this dragonite.
"Ouch." Iono slowly stood up from me while massaging her head.
I really don't know why, but she just decided to jump on me in the middle of nowhere, but once more it didn't look like she was trying to hurt me.
If it wasn't because she already agreed to be my friend in exchange for me filming her, I would have proposed to her to exchange it for me teaching her how to actually hurt someone.
Well it allows me to avoid remembering some unpleasant memories, so it all works out.
By the way, there still wasn't a single person who watched the live despite the fight…except if I deleted my memory for some reason.
"Are you okay Luciel?" Iono suddenly asked before reaching her hand toward me.
But before I could ask why she made such a strange gesture, she suddenly fell on top of me.
"Oof!" I couldn't stop this weird sound from leaving my mouth as her fall forced the oxygen from leaving my lungs.
At least, I didn't have to wonder why she suddenly did this, as Lance approached angrily toward our position. "IT'S YOU! IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT I LOST!!! YOU DISTRACTED ME WITH YOUR USELESS BANTER TOWARD A FAKE AUDIENCE!!!"
"Lance! Stop! This isn't what we talked about!" I heard Aaron from the audience, but I didn't give him any attention, and neither did Lance as he suddenly raised his hand as if he was preparing an attack.
Noticing it as a threat, Pandora climbed on me and prepared his own claw, which finally made Lance pause for a moment.
"You're alive?" But he resumed his movement right after. "Then it probably means you had something to do with my defeat too! You probably wanted to diminish my reputation so you could wreak havoc as you please inside the academy! Without! Anyone strong enough to stop you from doing it!"
"What do you mean? I didn't have to do anything to defeat you?" I asked in confusion, but he responded even more angrily.
"Lie! Lie done by yet another person daring to refuse my plan of peace!"
"…oh, I see! I get why you are angry, you think I stand against your goal!" I answered happily, as I realised that maybe I could still' become friends with him, or maybe at least he won't hate me. My happiness also made him stop again, as he looked at me in confusion. Well if he is confused, then it is my duty to explain it to him.
I mustered the best smile I was able to do, one that I practiced in front of the mirror while I was being used as a doll. I made it the widest I could, so everyone would understand that it was the best. "I don't care about peace, nor about war! After all, both hurt as much as the other, so feel free to cause as much pain as you need to make yourself happy, I will simply take all of it. I will even smile if you want, I can even scream! Oh, I'm sorry, you probably wouldn't like me to scream with how much you repeat everyone to stay silent toward you, so I will say nothing, see how good I am at it!" I simply stared at him with my smile, even if it started to cause pain to my cheek, I made sure to not lower the intensity for even one moment.
The weight that was on my body suddenly left, and I quick look made me able to deduce that it was because Iono was able to leave the influence of Lance's power.
Oh, that's great, it must mean that Lance understood I was innocent, so he didn't need to put any pressure on me! I'm sure that Iono must be filled with joy to finally leave my disgusting body…
…
…then why is she looking at me in horror?
Why is everyone looking at me like I am an abomination?
Why did Lance step back in fear from my words?
…this was the best smile I was able to do…was it not enough?
…or is it just me?
"Enough!" Everyone thought were distracted by Geeta who moved toward Lance with assured steps.
Even once in front of the lying body of the giant dragonite, she simply jumped onto its head and continued her walk.
The audacity of such an act made Lance change his fear for anger. But now he didn't dare to insult her. He simply gritted his teeth and accepted it despite his anger.
"You said that the reason you lost was only because you were distracted by a single referee, but wouldn't that mean that I'm better than you for winning under the same conditions?"
"That's not what I…you interpreted it wrong!"
"Of course I did, it is not for this reason that I'm better than you after all. There many more reason."
Lance immediately shut his mouth the moment he realised that any reply would only be used to ridicule him even more. But he couldn't stop himself from tightening his fist when he watched Geeta walking casually onto the back of his source of pride.
"Now, their multiple thing I could say as to why you lost to me despite having not only the stronger ability, but also the stronger pokemon." Geeta admitted while her glimmora dislocated itself from the neck of the dragonite and joined Geeta's side, whom she didn't hesitate to pet it petal.
"For most, they would say my victory was due to me using dirty tricks, such as poison to beat you." She brought her weird-shaped ball toward her glimmora, which caused it to be reabsorbed inside it.
"For other more knowledgeable individuals, your loss would be attributed to my superior experience toward you, such as my ability to convey my will to my pokemon without even speaking it to her, while your needed your whole expertise to continue, causing it to let loose when it was in panic." She added while looking at the crater right in front of Iono which was caused by its last Hyper Beam. She gazed at it for a short moment before throwing a silver coin toward it, as it immediately started to rebuild itself.
"For more compassionate spectators, my victory was simply due because my pokemon trusted in me, while you hesitated to follow your order." Geeta finally left the back of the dragon and started to walk downhill toward Lance who was slowly looking at the ground in fury.
"For more spiritual believers, the reason for your loss was simply because it was written into the stars since the start of time." Geeta commented without an ounce of mockery in her tone, which made Sabrina raise an eyebrow in surprise.
"For more foolish person, the reason you lost was because you were mean, thus you deserved to lose to me because I am the good guy or similar stupidity." This time, her tone was filled with mockery, but no one was dissatisfied with this comment.
"For one specific other, you lost because you dared to challenge me in the first place, despite knowing that in this environment, I stand higher than you." She said while looking at me, and only me.
…and she was right, that was indeed the reason Lance lost. It didn't matter if he was the smartest, or the strongest. Geeta was the dean, and he was a student, so he had to lose.
Or otherwise it would have been worthless.
"For you, the explanation for your failure is of no importance, as whatever the reason was, it simply proves that you are not worthy of your duty." Geeta finally arrived at the end of the dragonite tail and arrived right in front of Lance.
Geeta wasn't really that tall, in fact, she was only a tiny bit taller than Lance, something that would probably go away very soon with age…yet, right now…there was no other way to describe the situation other than she was towering over him. Or would it be better to say that I felt like Lance was now below her?
"But of course you will only tell yourself that for a short moment, before creating a list of excuses, for example that you would have won if you used your power, or that if you didn't underestimate me you would have won. Every reason to distract yourself from the fact that your failure here would signify that you will never be enough."
Lance started to bite his own lips with such force that he drawn out blood, And it seem that just the taste of it was enough to revive the little pride he had left, as he readjusted his head, only to be meat with Geeta own, as she was crouching right in front of him.
He barely had the time to grow confused, when he felt her putting her hand on his shoulder, but not in a humiliating way, or even an authoritative way, it was only soothing. "But for me, the reason you lost was not for these grand or small reasons, it was because of one mistake you kept making."
Geeta looked back at Lance with tenderness. "Your mistake was that you never asked for help, and it made you feel alone, but more importantly, it made you weaker…much more weaker than even I would like to admit."
"…I don't need anybody's help…it is my responsibility…and I was given the power to achieve it by myself…" Lance tried to rebuke, but there wasn't pride in his voice anymore, only a trace of regret.
"I thought the same once…or maybe I still do…I thought that as the most talented person in my region, I should be the one to take all the blame, all the responsibility, because if I weren't the one who did it, then everybody would suffer. And if there was a mistake, then there was only me to blame for not being strong enough to stop it in the first place, because if I couldn't stop it, then who else could have possibly done it?" Geeta scoffed, as if she realised how arrogant this thought was. "But it doesn't, sometimes, people may be more talented than you in a certain domain, sometimes they may be worse than you, but you see, it can never be worse than the pain you will put yourself through if you try to do everything alone."
Geeta raised herself before facing the entire audience with glee. "And this is exactly why we build this institution, so that no one has to shoulder the pain of everyone because they are under the impression that it is their duty as the most talented. As everyone who was called to pass the test thought they were under this category, but most failed. Yet more pushed a sigh of relief, that the fate of the world doesn't matter anymore, as it would be on your shoulder."
"And I know that the weight is heavy, but some of you might not, and I refuse that any of you learn it from the pain of failing while you are under my supervision! But I can't give my support if no one asks for my help…nor would it be possible if you refuse it."
Geeta finally took a deep look at Lance before sighing. "This is why I ask you this Lance Redron, please, do not make any excuse for your defeat of today, instead, use it as an excuse for finally allowing you to admit you made a mistake, that you aren't perfect. And then, you can ask for our help to better yourself and…"
"Shut up…" Geeta was interrupted in the middle of her speech by Lance, as despite not carrying any power this time, his words were enough to make her stop. "I don't care about what other people think my defeat was due to, and that includes you. You might think that your superiority over me gives you the justification to give me some kind of encouragement? Or do you want to call them insults!?"
After finally seeing the face of sadness on Geeta, Lance finally felt satisfied, as he turned back to reabsorb his dragonite inside his strange technology. "But your world didn't go into a deaf ear, instead they have gone into the brain of the wisest person since the creation of this world, so I will take your help."
Geeta's expression lit up toward his answer. "That's all that matters, as long as you're ready to ask for…
"No, you got it wrong." This time, she didn't take as kindly his interruption, but she was able to keep calm despite it. "I won't ask for help, you will give it to me whether you want it or not. Understood, you will be no different than a tool for my success, and as a tool, it is your duty to assist me on mine. So make me stronger, make me learn everything I need to know, so that one day, I can defeat you as easily as you humiliated me today!" Lance spoke his last words with spite.
"...is it really that important for you to be considered as superior? To the point where you're ready to harm yourself and your future just to satisfy this urge?"
"Once more you're proving how clueless you are. I don't need to be superior to everyone else, because I am."
"Despite that I defeated you? You saw it yourself, there's no luck involved in your defeat, we could fight again a million times and the result would always be the same."
Lance scorned at her answer. "This only proves that my pokemon was not up to the task, so I only have to train it. My standing has not changed, and my power remains unchallenged!"
"…if that's what you believe, then it's your right, but just know that your reality isn't ours. And your defeat would not change as long as you stay the same."
"Then just have to change the world.." Lance responded confidently, before turning around and leaving for the hallways.
However, Iono suddenly remembered an important detail. "Eh…wait! You forgot about the party!"
Lance stopped for an instant before looking back at her like she was stupid. "If you care so much about my presence on such banality, then you might as well ask your precious La Brava for help, apparently that's what she wants." He didn't wait for her reply and started to leave once more.
She looked confused for a moment before sulking at him. "…I only wanted to remind him…what a bas…basket full of problem!" Iono caught herself off before she could throw her insult at him in front of my camera.
"I meant to ask student Iono, but why are you asking Luciel to record you?" A calm voice suddenly reached right beside her.
Iono slowly turned her head, just to jump out in fear when she realized that Geeta was right beside her. "Awawawa, I'm sorry miss Geeta…I…" But she was able to regain her calm after her initial confusion. "Well… It's because Luciel is the only one who can transfer the recording to Pokelive…and he did it willingly too! So I didn't force him! Also, it's really important for me to make a new life now, or else my millions of fans will die with anxiety if they don't have any news from me, they would think I was eaten by a wild Poochyena!"
Geeta frowned, before looking at me instead, as if I had more credibility than Iono…which is probably true.
Because Iono lie, she doesn't have that many fans, or any actually…even if she does have one viewer now, but he's just saying mean things on the commentary right now, so I don't think he's a fan.
That's why I nodded at Geeta, who interpreted it in a positive light according to the look of satisfaction on her face.
"Very well then, but could you join back your seat, I would want to speak to all of you now…without any further commentary." Geeta said with a little trace of annoyance as she watched the hallways.
Easily understanding what she meant, Iono quickly nodded before looking back at the camera. "Well you've heard dear fan, it's time for the most brilliant lightbulb to go out, but don't worry, I will be back to shine your day once more very soon! Iono, out!"
'Go **** yourself you **** esper!'
That was the only response she received from her 'fan' before I closed the stream.
I didn't tell it to Iono of course, because otherwise she would think it was my fault that it happened in the first place…if it actually was doesn't matter either.
"Are you done?" Geeta asked one last time, before Iono quickly nodded and ran toward one of the seats available.
I of course took a seat near my roommate before watching Geeta who was taking her time analysing the other student.
What was sure was that now most of them didn't look like they wanted a party anymore, and the mood reached rock bottom.
In fact I'm sure that some of them were already attempting to leave, but a quick gaze from Geeta was enough to make them rethink their decision.
This situation came without any doubt from what Lance just did earlier, but even worse was that they feared his power…no…I'm wrong…they didn't fear his power, they dreaded their own weakness. Despite them knowing that Lance lost this match, he was still able to prove that he was stronger than most of them. So right now, the only thing stopping him from dominating them was the other archon and Geeta. But 3 of the archons already made a sign of supporting him, and two already showed their fear of getting involved against his will. Finally, while Geeta's move was indeed able to make him back away, but it was only temporally, as despite everything she said, she couldn't just go around and bully her own student…so…I'm the only one people can rely on…
But just a quick look around was enough to make me understand that they still feared me more than Lance.
…it seems even worse than yesterday…it must mean someone told them who I really was…
…well they still aren't attacking me…nor are they screaming at me…so it still better than with my progenitor…
But I held Pandora tighter inside my arm anyway…I don't know why…
"I really don't like the look on your face." Geeta suddenly said, which was enough to gather our attention once more, except that this time most of our expression was mixed with anxiety instead. "You have the same type of face as townfolk who just heard that they would have to be evacuated because the war was getting too close to their house." Geeta closed her eyes, as if she was reminiscing about this sight inside her head, before she opened her eyes again. "Sorry, this wasn't the most appropriate comparison to make right now…and you know why? Because you aren't as helpless as all of them were. You are the most talented people of every region, as among the one thousand and three hundred fifty-seven candidates present, only the sixty-two of you were able the wear this title proudly."
"Yet I'm unable to detect a single ray of pride in any of you. You've all convinced yourself that you will remain weak against this opposition and that the best thing to do would be to lower your head and kneel when he asks for it. But this is exactly the behaviour that led to the Broken War, the entire population lowering their head…and now some people don't even have one."
"This…this cannot be allowed to happen again…" Geeta said with regret clearly exposed in her voice. "This…this is the real objective of this school…we will train you so that this pointless endeavor will never happen again…but it is also for the same reason that I said that none of you were worthy of your current position. As you have the power to stand back against these oppressors, yet I never saw a head as lowered as yours."
Finally, one student couldn't take it anymore and argued back. "With all due respect miss Geeta, I don't think you understand that we simply cannot fight back against him. You might have seen it, but I'm sure you heard how he was able to incapacitate all of us in one instant, we simply can't rivalise against his power."
But Geeta didn't flinch against this argument. "What about Cynthia then? Wasn't she able to resist his power?"
"The student widened his eyes, before trying to defend his argument, but he could only stutter. "I…she…she was an excep…"
"An exception? Why would she be an exception? Because she's not an esper like you? Or maybe you will say that it is because she was exposed to such power from a young age, so she built a resistance to it? Well I am overjoyed to announce to you that you are currently blessed with the exceptional chance to be surrounded by the highest number of Archon recorded since even before the Hisui era! You can build as much resistance as you need to counter him…and I recommend that you take full advantage of it, I would prefer that these headaches are worth it."
I could see that Cynthia scowled at the mention of her name, but I'm under the impression that she was more mad that it was because Geeta only mentioned that she 'resisted' his power.
I mean, what else could it be? Her getting mad because she wasn't actually able to resist the power in the end, which resulted in me getting severely hurt in the process of saving her? That ridiculous.
"Nevertheless, how are we supposed to defeat him even if his own power wasn't a factor? He just showed that he had an alpha dragonite with him! How are we supposed to beat that?"
Geeta raised one of her eyebrows toward the question, which led to the student realising his mistake, but it was too late to reformulate. "I beat him didn't I? And I have to say that this was only rendered possible because of my own effort and training. And once more, I have great news for you, as our institution will be more than glad to assist you in this quest of getting stronger. Because I really hope that none of you thought that they would simply be able to relax here while remaining at their current strength? This is the Zenith Academy, where we will help all of our students reach the paroxysm of their power, and defy it once more."
"No! That's wrong!" Another student intervened this time, but this person made everyone feel more alert than the previous one, probably because it was Aaron, another one of these being that could oppose Lance, yet choose to join him. "Listen miss Geeta, I understand that Lance has probably caused you a lot of problems…and he does indeed deserve the humiliation you gave him. However, his duty was enforced not by his pride, but by Arceus order, so I can affirm to you that his goal to set everyone at peace is just and true. So you cannot say that we should encourage others to resist him, what we want is his peace after all, right? And if everyone truly becomes stronger than the one who has the duty to keep it…then how could we preserve it? I can trust him to stay true to them…I cannot say for everyone else in this room." He finished his argument by looking at me with disgust.
Geeta closed her eyes for a longer period of time now, as she needed to take time to think up an answer. "I cannot deny your point, but at the same time, I can doubt his competence in executing this objective in a way that is truly beneficial for the rest of humanity."
"…well I know that his way of doing things looks very excessive…but it's necessary to maintain this peace…and waving the biggest fist around is probably the best way to maintain it."
"Of course there's a better idea than this."
"…then what is it?"
"Idealization."
"Uh?" The whole room looked at her, confused at her answer even I was surprised. But mostly because I thought of the opposite, forming a single enemy for the whole population was indeed able to keep my progenitor's habitat mostly peaceful…of course I was the target of that hate…but was also the result of peace.
"You will have to be the idol of those weaker, and for that, you need to have the strength to deserve that title. That's why I hope that none of you here expected their stay here to be relaxing, as we will make sure to shape you in the form the world deserves. You don't have to become a good person either, you don't have to change your own personal goal, all you will have to do is to bring hope to everybody, that you will be there to protect them when someone harm try to harm them, and wish to be as great as you. Lance tries to do the opposite, he wants criminals to be fearful that he will find them if they dare to commit a crime, and to dissuade them from ever becoming one. It may seem similar for all of you, but there is a key difference one is based on hope, the other one is based on fear. And humanity has feared everything since the start of its creation, yet peace was never able to be kept intact, because no one can feel at peace when they are afraid. So instead, let make them hope for a better world, a world that they will be willing to create. But there must be a start for everything, and you shall be that start."
***
In a dark room, with only a modest table behind a normal chair was installed in the whole room. On the desk, multiple paperwork were piled on top of each other.
And this was what a man completely covered by the darkness was currently reading. Even in the complete darkness of the room, the man had no difficulty reading the content of the paper. On his lap was an enormous persian that was sleeping peacefully.
But the darkness was suddenly illuminated by the door of the room being opened.
The man in the shadow frowned at this action, before massaging his brow out of annoyance. "Petrel, you better have a good reason to enter my room without knocking…or else I will assume that your reason was that you wanted to enter my persian belly." The man turned around, but his face was still blocked out by the darkness, and the man who had just entered the room still felt extremely intimidated by his presence.
But at least he knew he would be fine today, as he was carrying good news. "Boss, we were able to infiltrate the strange operation the government spend so much money on."
The boss's eyes widened, before ending it with a smile. "This is indeed a good reason to disrupt me. So tell me, how did you achieve this?"
Petrel gulped before answering. "Well…I looked for every piece of media available to see if there was any trace of what it could possibly be…and there I actually found someone filming an entire event happening there!"
'Yeah, can't tell him I just clicked randomly on a live of a dirty esper to insult her, and later realise it was from the exact place that we were ordered to find.'
"What tells you that this is indeed what we were looking for?"
"Because La Prima was there…and so was an Archon!"
"…interesting…I'm expecting a full report by the end of the day, and if it satisfies me enough…well, you can expect that people now call you sir in this organization." The boss said in a good mood before turning back in his chair.
Petrel beamed with a smile before putting his fist against his chest. "Yes, boss! I promise not to disappoint you!" But before he could leave, the man in the darkness stopped him.
"Oh right, I wouldn't want the person to record this to have to stop, so make sure that no one else but us can see her future recording, am I clear?"
"Ah…yes, no problem boss…"
"Good, you can leave now." Without wasting a single more instant, the grunt left the room while making sure to close the door behind him.
Now left alone once more, the man frowned once more. 'La Prima…and an Archon…what could this place possibly want?'