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The Pokémon Prometheus 2 Ch. 14 by foxgamer01 (critique requested)
Ch. 14 A Mysterious World
The tour continued on, with Faith remaining quiet as Al and David continued to chat with each other. Part of her even wondered if they forgot about her, though the occasional look back by them said otherwise. Yet, she remained withdrawn, still thinking about those foxes that came to them.
The sun had reached the middle of the sky by the time they arrived at the building they stayed in. Faith wiggled her paws as she raised them, trying to regain feeling back into them. Concrete and pavement were so different from walking on dirt and grass, Faith noted with them traveling to what might be a tiny chunk of this massive city for the last five hours or so. Part of her hoped she could use the trip back to stay in her room when A-Ninetales stepped out from the building, having a foxy grin.
“Hello, Faith,” A-Ninetales said, standing onto the steps as he patted her head. “Ready for some training?”
“Huh?” Faith blinked, with her tilting her head. “What are you talking about, A-Tales?”
“You forgot? Not too surprising since it was so late last night and you weren’t focused on what I was saying, which is why I asked Al to come back around by noon.” A-Ninetales nodded to Al, who grinned even as David tilted his head. “I asked if you are willing to train on how to control your macro abilities for the next few months, and you said that you are. So, we agreed to meet up here by noon so that I can take you to another world to train on.”
“Huh?!” Faith blushed a bit as she turned away. “Now that I’m thinking about it, I do remember the whole meeting at noon part. But, still,” she bent forward, and yet she could not hide all of her nervousness, “to train with the legendary A-Tales? Who could turn down something like that?”
“Sounds good to me,” A-Ninetales said while chuckling. “So, shall we begin.”
“Sure,” Faith answered even as her paws’ soreness returned full force.
“In that case, see you later, Faith!” David said, rubbing her head fur’s curls. “Al offered to take me to the industrial complex of the city, where he works at.”
“It’ll take a few days to approve of a visitor,” Al said while kneeling down and petting her. “At least from here, it shouldn’t be too far from my workplace. Just head north of The Philosopher. No one can miss it.” He then stood up, and David followed him. “Come on. I know a couple of restaurants that serve both anthros and Pokémon.”
Soon, they head off down the sidewalk, heading south, with David crossing his arms even as he laughed, leaving Faith and A-Ninetales alone. She waved at them, only for her stomach to growl a bit, with her blushing. She turned to him with her mouth open, only for him to head north, where the space elevator stood with its imposing size. Ignoring her protesting belly, she leaped after him, and they walked single file.
“Er, why are we heading to The Philosopher?” Faith asked while tilting her head. “I thought we’ll be heading to another world.”
“We are,” A-Ninetales replied, turning back as his sea-blue eyes shined in the light. “But that is where the stations for multiverse travel is as well. Only at the very base of it, though.”
“Oh,” Faith said, turning away as the memory of the two foxes returned. “Say, A-Tales? There is something I like to ask regarding this ‘multiverse’ you bring up.” A-Ninetales nodded and waited for Faith to continue. “How are universes created?”
“It’s honestly hard to explain,” A-Ninetales said, stopping and turning around. Faith walked into him, and she stumbled back, with him laughing a bit. “I think the easiest way to explain it is that there are certain ‘base’ universes where they are various common points from each other. For example, a series of Pokémon universes like this one. But a universe can diverge and multiply because of a ‘choice’ that was made. Before you ask, choosing between one dinner over another won’t cause a universe to split into two since such small choices like that the universe can compensate around it. It has to be big choices, something that would alter the course of history, that would cause a universe to multiply.”
“So,” Faith said while standing back up, her paws shaky, “from what you’re saying, because of a big choice, I could exist in another universe, but in a different form?”
“Exactly,” A-Ninetales said with a nod. “In fact, there would likely be a universe where anthros never came. But, of course,” he rubbed his chin a bit, “the idea that you could live in there could be tricky. Especially since, the farther back the diverging point is, the more radical the changes would be.”
Faith nodded, though the vision of both that fox and A-Ninetales’s eyes burned within her head. “But is it possible for me to exist, but as a different Pokémon? For example, as an Eevee or a Growlithe?”
“Hmm, that is especially tricky. You’re asking for the far more complex info about the multiverse.” His eyes rolled back a bit as he hummed for several seconds. “It might be possible, but don’t quote me on that.”
“And you said something about ‘base’ universes.” Faith rubbed the back of her ear. “Care to explain more?”
“Like I said, there is a common pattern between universes, like Pokémon universes, much like there are many shades of the color red. But as you move farther in, the color shifts to orange or purple, much like how the universes change in its pattern.” A-Ninetales’s tails twitched a bit. “For example, as you move into the ‘orange’ shade, you’ll find that, rather than universes where Pokémon dominate the world, it’ll be like a world where anthros and Pokémon lived together in. Or a world where Pokémon become anthropomorphic. There’s a lot more to it, especially since the very laws of physics can change in another universe, but it can get harder to comprehend.” He tilted his head a bit. “Why are you asking me this? Have you encountered another version of yourself?”
“I haven’t, or at least I don’t think I haven’t,” Faith admitted, with sweat forming on the back of her head. “To be honest, I thought I encountered another version of you.”
A-Ninetales flinched, his eyes widening a bit. “You what?”
Faith hesitated, seeing him, who seemed all cool-headed and wise, turned startled and scared. “I-it’s because of the eyes,” she explained. “His eyes looked exactly like yours.”
“Exactly?” A-Ninetales’s eyes shifted from side to side. “Tell me, does that fox walk on all four, have red fur and a pink torso, and has three tails?”
“What? How did you know he was a fox?” Faith asked, and she flinched when she saw him breathe in and out quick. She leaned to him, and she touched his shoulder, even as his breathing quickened and his eyes widened more. “But other than that and the red fur, he looked nothing like your description. He is anthro with clothes, only has one tail, and has a white torso. Though the only thing that would connect you with him, though, is that he has a golden A on his belt.”
A-Ninetales rubbed his chin for a few seconds before he said, “Maybe he is yet another version of myself. But why?”
“What is the problem?” Faith asked while she took a step back. “You’re not like this. Please, tell me!”
But A-Ninetales sighed and relaxed. “Sorry. While there aren’t any hard rules against alternative selves to meet, in fact, by the multiverse’s standards, we are completely different; it still is unusual. And the fact that it’s my own alternative selves makes it really worrying.” He raised his paw up so that its tip pointed at the sky. “And when I met with that kitsune some time ago, it was chaotic. Especially with those,” he paused for a moment, “potions.”
Faith turned to the sky herself, wondering about any meaning behind those words. And about why he wasn’t explaining everything, instead keeping it vague. Almost like his ‘reasons’ to update his badge and the ‘tests’ he had her go through last night. Perhaps they were connected, but why keep it a secret? What was it that A-Ninetales has that he doesn’t want to tell?
“Again, I’m sorry,” A-Ninetales said, and Faith turned back to him. “And now that I’m thinking about it, was he alone, or did he have a companion?”
“Oh, um,” Faith thought back to the meeting. “He wasn’t. There was another, a lady fox with blackish-grey fur and blue hair, though there was some silver on her hair.”
“Hmm. Perhaps they were—” A-Ninetales said before he shook his head. “I’ll talk to Glorfindel about this. I’m sure that he’ll know the answer.”
“Sounds good to me!” Faith said with a kind smile.
A-Ninetales turned around and walked once more, though without a smile on his face. Faith’s ear twitched for a second before she turned back to the buildings towering all around them, with vehicles going from one to the next either on the ground or on air. It felt unusual to be within anthros’ territory, who were told about in tales long ago. And now that she walked among them, it felt odd that they surpassed her expectations and while proving to be nothing like the legends.
“It’s always the same,” A-Ninetales said as Faith tilted her head, half-wondering if he read her mind. “When we look back, we see famous figures larger than life, with their own troubles and how they overcome them. Or hear of a place as close as anything to a utopia. But, once we read about them from the very source or be in the very place, we found them to be just as fallible as anyone or place. But, despite that, we shouldn’t put them down for their screwups, even if they are massive, since we will just as likely make the same mistakes. The most we can do is to try to get a better understanding of them rather than raking them through fire.”
Faith nodded before she went over to his side. “I guess. Still, you have done nothing but surpassed my expectations.”
But A-Ninetales’s ears drooped. “I have my own flaws, some which you witnessed. You saw me break down in a fit of wrath and even caused some destruction. That several times cost me many friendships, though Saria helped me so much in maintaining my calmness. Kind of ironic once you see her on the job. Truth be told, I don’t like it when I break my calm front.” He shook his head. “It’s never the same once broken.”
Faith nodded and brushed his body with her own. “Don’t worry. I won’t stop supporting you.”
A-Ninetales laughed, though it was bitter. “Won’t you?” He shook his head. “I do wonder once you hear this. The truth of the matter is, while I love growing, the thing that most bothered me is that I don’t have a cap on when to stop. No matter how much you tell me to limit myself, I’ll always desire more. And, with my modified ability, I can easily get it.”
“What do you mean?” Faith asked, her ears folded to the sides.
“Here’s the scenario,” A-Ninetales said as he shut his eyes. “You can use Flamethrower on me until the fire goes out, send in countless Pokémon to do it, throw me into a volcano, or even throw me into a sun. It doesn’t matter! No matter how big I get, I can’t stop myself from wanting more.”
Faith blinked, about to open her mouth, before a vision of A-Ninetales growing in the horizon came to her head. He kept on growing, outsizing continents, the world, and even the sun. Soon, he reached the size where any planets or stars get pulled to him, and he absorbs them into his body, growing some more, consuming everything until A-Ninetales is the universe.
And he does so again to other universes.
“I-I think I understand now,” Faith said, shivering all over. “Especially why you have your badge upgraded.”
A-Ninetales didn’t reply at once, with his eyes opening up. Instead, he turned over to her, his expression a mixture of sadness and quizzical. Faith smiled at him, at which, after a few seconds, he returned.
“Yes, it is a curse that I must bear,” A-Ninetales said. “Though I want to remove it, there are few who I can trust with it. And the ones I do trust,” one of his tails poked Faith’s nose, “I wouldn’t want to burden them with it.”
Faith wondered for a second about what he meant by this burden, whether it was his lust or this thing he alluded to. But whatever the case may be, she doubted that she would get the answer from him anytime soon. So instead, she should focus on what he wished to train her on.
# #
A half-hour passed as they walked closer to The Philosopher, with its imposing size becoming far more prominent than anything she could conceive of. Soon, she spotted an opening on its side, with it a hundred feet tall and twenty-five feet wide. Yet, despite how vast it was, it’s nothing more than a dot on the space elevator itself. An anthro stood there, looking like a greener and far slimmer version of a Feraligatr. After both he and A-Ninetales talked, he walked aside and entered a booth right next to the opening. She looked inside of it, with it two hundred twenty-five feet deep, and she noticed a symbol on the floor, going from one end to another. It glowed a bit, but when Faith pressed her paw against it, she couldn’t feel any ridges or such.
“What is this?” Faith asked, tilting her head. “I have never seen anything like this.”
“I’m not sure myself,” A-Ninetales admitted, and Faith blinked at him. The symbol below them looked like a four-corner diamond, but with a spiral with four arms staring from the center. They curved so that they didn’t touch each other, met the diamond corners, and ended at the walls’ corners. “I asked the anthros about it, and they cannot explain it themselves. The data where it should’ve been in got corrupted over time. Glorfindel seemed to think this is a good luck charm since he encounters symbols in locations where multiverse travel is common. He has heard rumors that this symbol contains the light that bridges universes to each other, but he doubts it. But you never know.”
Faith nodded as she closed her eyes, letting her tails sway behind her. She felt a chill down her spine, and her stomach tightened. Though this glow doesn’t feel like energy emitting from the symbol, her instincts sensed that there’s some strange power within the markings. Yet, the only clue that there was power was the glow itself.
She opened her eyes, with A-Ninetales’s nose close to her own, and she took a step back.
“You felt that too, didn’t you?” A-Ninetales asked, and Faith nodded. “That’s why I haven’t ruled out the last option.”
Faith nodded some more, and A-Ninetales turned around and walked forward. She blushed as she turned around throughout the room, sometimes walking backward. “Even though I can see it, I still can’t believe how the anthros built all of this.”
“It is impressive, isn’t it?” A-Ninetales said with a nod. “In any case, hang tight.”
A low hum came through the room, with Faith’s ears twitching in response. She turned to A-Ninetales, who sat down with a grin. The buzz became louder, enough that Faith wanted to press her paws against her ears, and the symbol below them glowed brighter. The light grew brighter, enough that she couldn’t see anything beyond her muzzle. Yet, her eyes only widened in response.
Several seconds passed, and the light faded along with the hum. The first thing she saw was A-Ninetales, who waved at her. She turned around, no longer in a steel-grey room with a strange symbol. She took a step, feeling soil beneath her, and the air felt fresher than even back home. A breeze came to her even as she turned upwards, seeing a red sun above them.
“Where are we?” Faith asked as A-Ninetales chuckled.
“The anthros designated this planet as RD-I0074-Lo054,” A-Ninetales said, and he chuckled some more when Faith puffed her cheeks out. “RD is short for red dwarf, I0074 meant that it’s a virtually lifeless universe outside of microscopic, and Lo054 means that this planet’s livability is low. It’s also called Ares by the anthros.”
“Um, I only caught some of what you said,” Faith said as her head tilted to the side. “And I thought that most of the multiverse would be populated.”
A-Ninetales shook his head. “Even with countless universes, there will be junk universes where life cannot or has not for various reasons produce life. In fact, universes like this one out populate the ones that have a life like yours. Multiple grading systems designated what kind of universe it is, even for those not yet found. For example, A means civilization has grown so much that they spread out into multiple other universes like this one, sometimes to live in, but often to harvest for the material. But, from my own exploration, there hasn’t been anything beyond a G, which spans a few galaxies.”
Faith nodded. “It’s still rather confusing.”
“Indeed. But it’ll make the pencil pusher happy,” A-Ninetales said, and Faith tilted her head some more. He sighed and shrugged. “Bureaucracy. When it works, it sets up standards and safety for everyone to follow. After all, no one wants to go into a world where there’s no air because someone didn’t follow the proper guidelines.”
“But didn’t such a system cause such a delay in stopping giant Pokémon from rampaging through the world?” Faith asked, shaking her head. “It sounds like a mess to me.”
“Indeed. That’s one of its biggest failings,” A-Ninetales admitted with a sigh. “That it’ll put the tiny details over the bigger picture. Plus, there will be those who will twist the rules to gain power, screw over others, or both. In short, a system that sustains itself rather than serving others.
“Still, enough of pointless philosophizing and dealing with things out of our control.” A-Ninetales’s muzzle curled into a grin. “It’s time to start training. Ready?”
Faith nodded as she grinned back. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Then let us begin,” A-Ninetales said as his badge glowed and he swelled up in size, growing up to 200 feet tall. He leaned downward at Faith before he walked around her, not leaving a footprint. Then, after circling around her three times, he huffed out a jet of flames at her, with her absorbing the fire and growing up to as huge as he is. “The first thing that we should do is see how well you can walk at this size. Without,” A-Ninetales added when Faith raised her paw forward, “leaving a single footprint.”
“Y-you what?” Faith said as she blushed, with sweat forming on her head. “O-OK.”
She spun around to the side and took a step. The dirt and soil broke beneath her, her paw sinking in as she blushed deeper. She took another step, and it sunk in just as deep. A-Ninetales chuckled some more as she sweated, giving out a nervous grin. Several minutes passed, with her leaving behind several deep pawprints all around A-Ninetales.
“As you can see, you lack refinement in your walk,” A-Ninetales said even as Faith panted. “Not too surprising. In fact, I would find it more surprising if you did it in one go.”
“Y-yeah!” Faith said as she shook off the sweat. “I don’t even know how you do it!”
“You will by the time the training comes to an end. I can guarantee it,” A-Ninetales said before he slammed a couple of his tails behind him, and several boulders the size of Golurk came from behind and over his head. He extended his paw and caught them with a single paw before juggling them and wiggling them. He clutched it before he placed them in front of Faith, with them intact. “Try to pick them up without smashing them.”
“H-Huh?” Faith blinked as she looked down at the boulders placed before her. Then, as she gritted her teeth and her face reddened, she extended her paw over to them. Her paws splayed out as they encompassed the boulders, and she sighed. Her grip tightened, and it crushed the boulders into dust. “EEP!”
A-Ninetales laughed, with him leaning back. “At least it’s not a living person, is it?” He waited until she nodded. “One last trick I need to show you.” He sat down before he shrunk in size, with Faith blinking at him. His badge doesn’t glow at all, even as he shrunk down to his standard size. “I want you to compress your size.”
“What?! We can do that?!” Faith leaned down at him even as he snickered.
“Of course, we can. I told you that yesterday,” A-Ninetales said with a wide grin. “Now, try to focus.”
“Uh, O-OK,” Faith said before she closed her eyes. She hummed to herself, with her tails spread out behind her. Then, she turned her mind to her energy, feeling its far vast power against her tiny body. Her body shook a bit before she sighed, opening her eyes while still being 200 feet tall. “Sorry. I honestly don’t know how.”
“It’s no worries. But, again, I would be more surprised if you did it on the first try,” A-Ninetales said as he walked over to her paw and patted it. “I’m sure you know the point of this training, correct?”
“I-I think so?” Faith said as she lay down. “It’s to control my power, so I don’t cause needless destruction?”
“Pretty much, though there’s a bit more to this,” A-Ninetales explained as he took a step back. “Right now, you’re all power. Of course, power is important, but you need to think more flexibly. After all, if you keep up with the size business, thinking that all you need to do is be bigger than your opponent, you’ll never get far in combat. So you need to balance it out with skill.”
“With skill?” Faith tilted her head as her ears flicked a bit.
“Yes,” A-Ninetales said, and his body glowed gold. “Observed.”
At that second, he disappeared. Faith blinked before she felt a tap against one of her tails. She turned back, only to feel another tap against her neck. She growled, reaching up with one of her front paws only to find herself lifted off the ground. Again, she blinked before her back slammed against the planet, with massive cracks forming under her. Groaning, she leaned up and spotted A-Ninetales sitting in from of her, upside-down from her perspective.
“W-What did you just do?” Faith asked as she rolled over, shaking the dirt off her fur.
“I mentioned it to you yesterday, but in case you forgot, that’s an overcharge,” A-Ninetales said, his body no longer glowing. “I used some of my growth energy to boost my abilities far beyond what it’s capable of. By mastering the various ways to control my size and growth, I can defeat giants even when normal size.”
“Woah!” Faith’s eyes sparkled as she smiled wide. “That’s amazing, A-Tales! I want to do that as well!”
A-Ninetales nodded before he grew up to 200 feet tall and patted Faith on the head. “Then let us begin.”
# # #
Eight hours passed. Eight hours of grueling training, of moving and picking up boulders without leaving a tiny crack, not helped by A-Ninetales boosting her size up to 500 feet. From trying to walk without leaving a single mark to trying to compress her size from 500 feet to 300 feet. Her body, covered in sweat and dirt even as she felt every bone and muscle in her body (even those she didn’t think of) sored.
She panted, sitting in front of A-Ninetales with them surrounded by deep pawprints, smashed-up boulders, and cracked ground. She wondered how much of this world she destroyed by her training, with her half-closed eyes going left to right at the carnage she left behind. Even so, A-Ninetales laughed as he patted her front right leg.
“Overall, very shaking with room for massive improvement,” A-Ninetales said with a nod. “It’s still the first day, and I only offered you half of the training so far.”
“Oh joy,” Faith said in a flat tone, towering over A-Ninetales. “I can’t wait.”
A-Ninetales laughed as he rubbed her leg again. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s still the first day, and it took me years to learn what I taught you. Though I didn’t have anyone to teach me then.”
“Sounds like I’ll be at this for just as long,” Faith said, her bow glowing as she shrunk, leaving a giant implant from where she sat.
“Not necessarily,” A-Ninetales said as she shrunk down to his massive size, and he shrunk down as well. “You have someone to teach you the basics. And once you master them, all you need is constant practice. Heck, if you regularly trained after this is over, you could be the size of a planet and not leave a single pawprint.”
Faith sighed before she giggled, both of them their regular size. “That would be incredible if I can do it, A-Tales.”
“Yup, but it’ll take a long while until you get to that level. And besides, it’s getting late, and we should be getting something to eat,” A-Ninetales said with a grin.
Faith nodded, and she blushed as her belly growled loud, not having a meal since breakfast. “Yes, please. But how do we get back to the universe we came from?”
“Simple.” A-Ninetales reached up and pressed his badge for several seconds. “Glorfindel designed this and previous badges to use its reserves to produce the light for us to travel through the multiverse. With this, we can get back to your world.”
“But you said that there are countless universes,” Faith said even as a circle of light formed around them. “How can we find the right one?”
“Let me show you,” A-Ninetales replied.
The white light glowed brighter as it extended upwards, surrounding them before encompassing them. Faith’s eyes widened as she stood up and twisted around. The light whitened, leaving only herself and A-Ninetales visible, and she gasped. Despite the pain, she kept her eyes open.
Soon, black orbs far more massive than them appeared all around, some near and some far. She turned downwards, spotting the orbs below them, and she spun around. A black ball appeared in front of her nose and, though it looked pure black, a closer look revealed tiny white dots within and a faint blue glow. A-Ninetales laughed, gesturing to one orb with two little green specks in it, though one is lighter than the other.
“This is the multiverse, or at least how we can comprehend it,” A-Ninetales said, his gaze intent on the orb he pointed at. “This is only a shadow of the true might of multiverse, not helped by this light we’re traveling through. These orbs are, in fact, universes. But, of course, we shouldn’t stay here for long since the light is only temporary, and it can be maddening to stay here.”
“But A-Tales,” Faith asked, her breathing quickened, “how will we get back? And why are there green dots on that universe you’re looking at.”
“Those lights are, in fact, a signal,” A-Ninetales answered, the universe swelling before them. “With my badge, we can receive specific signals from my friends and loved ones, such as Glorfindel and Saria. They have specific tools, such as a badge, that can find them wherever in the multiverse. Of course, this would normally take much shorter than this since it relies upon my will, but I wish to show you the multiverse while you can. Makes sense?”
“I-I think so?” Faith replied as the light blocked vision of the universes, even the one they approached. A second later, the light faded, filling up with steel surrounding them and artificial lights shining above. She blinked, feeling cold steel beneath her and, when she turned down, she spotted the ground with the odd symbol. “We’re back?”
A-Ninetales smiled, leading out from the multiverse transporter zone and into the night sky. “We’re back.”
#
The next day, or rather the next four days, A-Ninetales came to pick up Faith before dawn and trained her until night. For the first few hours of training, rather than practice control over her strength and power when gigantic, she found herself doing activities such as running without pause or pulling an increasing amount of weight, all during standard size. Should she stop, A-Ninetales, already far more massive than her at a hundred feet, would press her entire body with a single paw for a few seconds, promising to do it even longer next time; that happened several times.
Afterward, she would rest for an hour, with him feeding her some Sitrus berries and even some Reviver Seeds if it got that bad. But once the hour passed with her only just recovering her strength, he would get her to grow in size and train her in controlling her macro powers. Then, after even more hours passed, A-Ninetales would assess how she did, good and bad, and compare it to the previous day. Then, with training done, they would return to her universe for food and rest next time.
Yet, what bothered Faith about this training wasn’t how harsh it turned out to be, with bones at their breaking point and muscles strained beyond relief, leaving her too tired to think. Instead, it was how A-Ninetales never dropped his kind and encouraging behavior. Even when he stomped on her, it was more playful than punishing. Part of her wondered if she should ask about it, but she instead kept it to herself.
By the fifth day of training, A-Ninetales said when it ended, “You should rest for a couple of days. It won’t do to train endlessly since that would likely weaken your body rather than strengthen it.”
She wanted to make a snarky remark about how bruised, dirty, and weak her body had become from the last five days, but she nodded instead.
And thus, for the next few months, Faith trained within the pattern A-Ninetales set up. By the end of the first month, every bit of muscles ached, and the fire within turned cold. Her off days she spent laying on her bed, never getting off until the end. Then, once training day began, she dragged herself off from bed, with the bones cracking and her muscles sore.
By the middle of the second month, her body adapted to the training, with her running farther and carrying heavier than she thought was possible. So when A-Ninetales stomped on her when she tripped, she found herself shrugging off what should’ve been crushing. Instead, he laughed, with Faith getting up without a problem and kept on running.
“Well done,” A-Ninetales said as his badge glowed. “Next time, I’ll go for a larger size.”
Faith’s ears flattened back, A-Ninetales growing himself to two hundred feet tall.
Still, whatever doubts that she was growing stronger and becoming more skillful quieted after that. Her pawprints at two hundred feet tall were becoming less visible, the boulders remained intact with fewer cracks, and she shrunk down to a hundred feet before stopping. A-Ninetales smiled, picking up one of the boulders with the least gaps, with a sweating Faith grinning proudly.
“See, you’re getting better!” A-Ninetales said before he fired off a jet of flames at her, with her growing to five hundred feet tall as her eyes widened. “Now, do all of that while that huge!”
Faith groaned before she walked forward, her tails crashing into cliffsides, and her paws dug deep into the ground.
Still, she couldn’t help but realize that she saw the others a few times during the training, only speaking to them at dinnertime or on days off. David, for his part, understood and instead let her be, especially during her first month. During such times, Al remained a constant guest of theirs, talking to her during supper and break days and explaining more of the anthro history.
Yet, what bothered Faith the most was how Adrian never appeared to her, no matter the hour or day. She spoke with David and Al about it, and they admitted that they hadn’t seen Adrian as well, only that he wasn’t in the hospital by her second day of training. And yet his bed looked pristine, with no one sleeping on it since they came. When she spoke to A-Ninetales, Saria, and even Glorfindel on one occasion on Adrian, they refused to explain. It was as if he got swallowed up in his own bubble, separate and inaccessible from Faith and David.
A half-hour passed as they walked closer to The Philosopher, with its imposing size becoming far more prominent than anything she could conceive of. Soon, she spotted an opening on its side, with it a hundred feet tall and twenty-five feet wide. Yet, despite how vast it was, it’s nothing more than a dot on the space elevator itself. An anthro stood there, looking like a greener and far slimmer version of a Feraligatr. After both he and A-Ninetales talked, he walked aside and entered a booth right next to the opening. She looked inside of it, with it two hundred twenty-five feet deep, and she noticed a symbol on the floor, going from one end to another. It glowed a bit, but when Faith pressed her paw against it, she couldn’t feel any ridges or such.
“What is this?” Faith asked, tilting her head. “I have never seen anything like this.”
“I’m not sure myself,” A-Ninetales admitted, and Faith blinked at him. The symbol below them looked like a four-corner diamond, but with a spiral with four arms staring from the center. They curved so that they didn’t touch each other, met the diamond corners, and ended at the walls’ corners. “I asked the anthros about it, and they cannot explain it themselves. The data where it should’ve been in got corrupted over time. Glorfindel seemed to think this is a good luck charm since he encounters symbols in locations where multiverse travel is common. He has heard rumors that this symbol contains the light that bridges universes to each other, but he doubts it. But you never know.”
Faith nodded as she closed her eyes, letting her tails sway behind her. She felt a chill down her spine, and her stomach tightened. Though this glow doesn’t feel like energy emitting from the symbol, her instincts sensed that there’s some strange power within the markings. Yet, the only clue that there was power was the glow itself.
She opened her eyes, with A-Ninetales’s nose close to her own, and she took a step back.
“You felt that too, didn’t you?” A-Ninetales asked, and Faith nodded. “That’s why I haven’t ruled out the last option.”
Faith nodded some more, and A-Ninetales turned around and walked forward. She blushed as she turned around throughout the room, sometimes walking backward. “Even though I can see it, I still can’t believe how the anthros built all of this.”
“It is impressive, isn’t it?” A-Ninetales said with a nod. “In any case, hang tight.”
A low hum came through the room, with Faith’s ears twitching in response. She turned to A-Ninetales, who sat down with a grin. The buzz became louder, enough that Faith wanted to press her paws against her ears, and the symbol below them glowed brighter. The light grew brighter, enough that she couldn’t see anything beyond her muzzle. Yet, her eyes only widened in response.
Several seconds passed, and the light faded along with the hum. The first thing she saw was A-Ninetales, who waved at her. She turned around, no longer in a steel-grey room with a strange symbol. She took a step, feeling soil beneath her, and the air felt fresher than even back home. A breeze came to her even as she turned upwards, seeing a red sun above them.
“Where are we?” Faith asked as A-Ninetales chuckled.
“The anthros designated this planet as RD-I0074-Lo054,” A-Ninetales said, and he chuckled some more when Faith puffed her cheeks out. “RD is short for red dwarf, I0074 meant that it’s a virtually lifeless universe outside of microscopic, and Lo054 means that this planet’s livability is low. It’s also called Ares by the anthros.”
“Um, I only caught some of what you said,” Faith said as her head tilted to the side. “And I thought that most of the multiverse would be populated.”
A-Ninetales shook his head. “Even with countless universes, there will be junk universes where life cannot or has not for various reasons produce life. In fact, universes like this one out populate the ones that have a life like yours. Multiple grading systems designated what kind of universe it is, even for those not yet found. For example, A means civilization has grown so much that they spread out into multiple other universes like this one, sometimes to live in, but often to harvest for the material. But, from my own exploration, there hasn’t been anything beyond a G, which spans a few galaxies.”
Faith nodded. “It’s still rather confusing.”
“Indeed. But it’ll make the pencil pusher happy,” A-Ninetales said, and Faith tilted her head some more. He sighed and shrugged. “Bureaucracy. When it works, it sets up standards and safety for everyone to follow. After all, no one wants to go into a world where there’s no air because someone didn’t follow the proper guidelines.”
“But didn’t such a system cause such a delay in stopping giant Pokémon from rampaging through the world?” Faith asked, shaking her head. “It sounds like a mess to me.”
“Indeed. That’s one of its biggest failings,” A-Ninetales admitted with a sigh. “That it’ll put the tiny details over the bigger picture. Plus, there will be those who will twist the rules to gain power, screw over others, or both. In short, a system that sustains itself rather than serving others.
“Still, enough of pointless philosophizing and dealing with things out of our control.” A-Ninetales’s muzzle curled into a grin. “It’s time to start training. Ready?”
Faith nodded as she grinned back. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Then let us begin,” A-Ninetales said as his badge glowed and he swelled up in size, growing up to 200 feet tall. He leaned downward at Faith before he walked around her, not leaving a footprint. Then, after circling around her three times, he huffed out a jet of flames at her, with her absorbing the fire and growing up to as huge as he is. “The first thing that we should do is see how well you can walk at this size. Without,” A-Ninetales added when Faith raised her paw forward, “leaving a single footprint.”
“Y-you what?” Faith said as she blushed, with sweat forming on her head. “O-OK.”
She spun around to the side and took a step. The dirt and soil broke beneath her, her paw sinking in as she blushed deeper. She took another step, and it sunk in just as deep. A-Ninetales chuckled some more as she sweated, giving out a nervous grin. Several minutes passed, with her leaving behind several deep pawprints all around A-Ninetales.
“As you can see, you lack refinement in your walk,” A-Ninetales said even as Faith panted. “Not too surprising. In fact, I would find it more surprising if you did it in one go.”
“Y-yeah!” Faith said as she shook off the sweat. “I don’t even know how you do it!”
“You will by the time the training comes to an end. I can guarantee it,” A-Ninetales said before he slammed a couple of his tails behind him, and several boulders the size of Golurk came from behind and over his head. He extended his paw and caught them with a single paw before juggling them and wiggling them. He clutched it before he placed them in front of Faith, with them intact. “Try to pick them up without smashing them.”
“H-Huh?” Faith blinked as she looked down at the boulders placed before her. Then, as she gritted her teeth and her face reddened, she extended her paw over to them. Her paws splayed out as they encompassed the boulders, and she sighed. Her grip tightened, and it crushed the boulders into dust. “EEP!”
A-Ninetales laughed, with him leaning back. “At least it’s not a living person, is it?” He waited until she nodded. “One last trick I need to show you.” He sat down before he shrunk in size, with Faith blinking at him. His badge doesn’t glow at all, even as he shrunk down to his standard size. “I want you to compress your size.”
“What?! We can do that?!” Faith leaned down at him even as he snickered.
“Of course, we can. I told you that yesterday,” A-Ninetales said with a wide grin. “Now, try to focus.”
“Uh, O-OK,” Faith said before she closed her eyes. She hummed to herself, with her tails spread out behind her. Then, she turned her mind to her energy, feeling its far vast power against her tiny body. Her body shook a bit before she sighed, opening her eyes while still being 200 feet tall. “Sorry. I honestly don’t know how.”
“It’s no worries. But, again, I would be more surprised if you did it on the first try,” A-Ninetales said as he walked over to her paw and patted it. “I’m sure you know the point of this training, correct?”
“I-I think so?” Faith said as she lay down. “It’s to control my power, so I don’t cause needless destruction?”
“Pretty much, though there’s a bit more to this,” A-Ninetales explained as he took a step back. “Right now, you’re all power. Of course, power is important, but you need to think more flexibly. After all, if you keep up with the size business, thinking that all you need to do is be bigger than your opponent, you’ll never get far in combat. So you need to balance it out with skill.”
“With skill?” Faith tilted her head as her ears flicked a bit.
“Yes,” A-Ninetales said, and his body glowed gold. “Observed.”
At that second, he disappeared. Faith blinked before she felt a tap against one of her tails. She turned back, only to feel another tap against her neck. She growled, reaching up with one of her front paws only to find herself lifted off the ground. Again, she blinked before her back slammed against the planet, with massive cracks forming under her. Groaning, she leaned up and spotted A-Ninetales sitting in from of her, upside-down from her perspective.
“W-What did you just do?” Faith asked as she rolled over, shaking the dirt off her fur.
“I mentioned it to you yesterday, but in case you forgot, that’s an overcharge,” A-Ninetales said, his body no longer glowing. “I used some of my growth energy to boost my abilities far beyond what it’s capable of. By mastering the various ways to control my size and growth, I can defeat giants even when normal size.”
“Woah!” Faith’s eyes sparkled as she smiled wide. “That’s amazing, A-Tales! I want to do that as well!”
A-Ninetales nodded before he grew up to 200 feet tall and patted Faith on the head. “Then let us begin.”
Eight hours passed. Eight hours of grueling training, of moving and picking up boulders without leaving a tiny crack, not helped by A-Ninetales boosting her size up to 500 feet. From trying to walk without leaving a single mark to trying to compress her size from 500 feet to 300 feet. Her body, covered in sweat and dirt even as she felt every bone and muscle in her body (even those she didn’t think of) sored.
She panted, sitting in front of A-Ninetales with them surrounded by deep pawprints, smashed-up boulders, and cracked ground. She wondered how much of this world she destroyed by her training, with her half-closed eyes going left to right at the carnage she left behind. Even so, A-Ninetales laughed as he patted her front right leg.
“Overall, very shaking with room for massive improvement,” A-Ninetales said with a nod. “It’s still the first day, and I only offered you half of the training so far.”
“Oh joy,” Faith said in a flat tone, towering over A-Ninetales. “I can’t wait.”
A-Ninetales laughed as he rubbed her leg again. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s still the first day, and it took me years to learn what I taught you. Though I didn’t have anyone to teach me then.”
“Sounds like I’ll be at this for just as long,” Faith said, her bow glowing as she shrunk, leaving a giant implant from where she sat.
“Not necessarily,” A-Ninetales said as she shrunk down to his massive size, and he shrunk down as well. “You have someone to teach you the basics. And once you master them, all you need is constant practice. Heck, if you regularly trained after this is over, you could be the size of a planet and not leave a single pawprint.”
Faith sighed before she giggled, both of them their regular size. “That would be incredible if I can do it, A-Tales.”
“Yup, but it’ll take a long while until you get to that level. And besides, it’s getting late, and we should be getting something to eat,” A-Ninetales said with a grin.
Faith nodded, and she blushed as her belly growled loud, not having a meal since breakfast. “Yes, please. But how do we get back to the universe we came from?”
“Simple.” A-Ninetales reached up and pressed his badge for several seconds. “Glorfindel designed this and previous badges to use its reserves to produce the light for us to travel through the multiverse. With this, we can get back to your world.”
“But you said that there are countless universes,” Faith said even as a circle of light formed around them. “How can we find the right one?”
“Let me show you,” A-Ninetales replied.
The white light glowed brighter as it extended upwards, surrounding them before encompassing them. Faith’s eyes widened as she stood up and twisted around. The light whitened, leaving only herself and A-Ninetales visible, and she gasped. Despite the pain, she kept her eyes open.
Soon, black orbs far more massive than them appeared all around, some near and some far. She turned downwards, spotting the orbs below them, and she spun around. A black ball appeared in front of her nose and, though it looked pure black, a closer look revealed tiny white dots within and a faint blue glow. A-Ninetales laughed, gesturing to one orb with two little green specks in it, though one is lighter than the other.
“This is the multiverse, or at least how we can comprehend it,” A-Ninetales said, his gaze intent on the orb he pointed at. “This is only a shadow of the true might of multiverse, not helped by this light we’re traveling through. These orbs are, in fact, universes. But, of course, we shouldn’t stay here for long since the light is only temporary, and it can be maddening to stay here.”
“But A-Tales,” Faith asked, her breathing quickened, “how will we get back? And why are there green dots on that universe you’re looking at.”
“Those lights are, in fact, a signal,” A-Ninetales answered, the universe swelling before them. “With my badge, we can receive specific signals from my friends and loved ones, such as Glorfindel and Saria. They have specific tools, such as a badge, that can find them wherever in the multiverse. Of course, this would normally take much shorter than this since it relies upon my will, but I wish to show you the multiverse while you can. Makes sense?”
“I-I think so?” Faith replied as the light blocked vision of the universes, even the one they approached. A second later, the light faded, filling up with steel surrounding them and artificial lights shining above. She blinked, feeling cold steel beneath her and, when she turned down, she spotted the ground with the odd symbol. “We’re back?”
A-Ninetales smiled, leading out from the multiverse transporter zone and into the night sky. “We’re back.”
#
The next day, or rather the next four days, A-Ninetales came to pick up Faith before dawn and trained her until night. For the first few hours of training, rather than practice control over her strength and power when gigantic, she found herself doing activities such as running without pause or pulling an increasing amount of weight, all during standard size. Should she stop, A-Ninetales, already far more massive than her at a hundred feet, would press her entire body with a single paw for a few seconds, promising to do it even longer next time; that happened several times.
Afterward, she would rest for an hour, with him feeding her some Sitrus berries and even some Reviver Seeds if it got that bad. But once the hour passed with her only just recovering her strength, he would get her to grow in size and train her in controlling her macro powers. Then, after even more hours passed, A-Ninetales would assess how she did, good and bad, and compare it to the previous day. Then, with training done, they would return to her universe for food and rest next time.
Yet, what bothered Faith about this training wasn’t how harsh it turned out to be, with bones at their breaking point and muscles strained beyond relief, leaving her too tired to think. Instead, it was how A-Ninetales never dropped his kind and encouraging behavior. Even when he stomped on her, it was more playful than punishing. Part of her wondered if she should ask about it, but she instead kept it to herself.
By the fifth day of training, A-Ninetales said when it ended, “You should rest for a couple of days. It won’t do to train endlessly since that would likely weaken your body rather than strengthen it.”
She wanted to make a snarky remark about how bruised, dirty, and weak her body had become from the last five days, but she nodded instead.
And thus, for the next few months, Faith trained within the pattern A-Ninetales set up. By the end of the first month, every bit of muscles ached, and the fire within turned cold. Her off days she spent laying on her bed, never getting off until the end. Then, once training day began, she dragged herself off from bed, with the bones cracking and her muscles sore.
By the middle of the second month, her body adapted to the training, with her running farther and carrying heavier than she thought was possible. So when A-Ninetales stomped on her when she tripped, she found herself shrugging off what should’ve been crushing. Instead, he laughed, with Faith getting up without a problem and kept on running.
“Well done,” A-Ninetales said as his badge glowed. “Next time, I’ll go for a larger size.”
Faith’s ears flattened back, A-Ninetales growing himself to two hundred feet tall.
Still, whatever doubts that she was growing stronger and becoming more skillful quieted after that. Her pawprints at two hundred feet tall were becoming less visible, the boulders remained intact with fewer cracks, and she shrunk down to a hundred feet before stopping. A-Ninetales smiled, picking up one of the boulders with the least gaps, with a sweating Faith grinning proudly.
“See, you’re getting better!” A-Ninetales said before he fired off a jet of flames at her, with her growing to five hundred feet tall as her eyes widened. “Now, do all of that while that huge!”
Faith groaned before she walked forward, her tails crashing into cliffsides, and her paws dug deep into the ground.
Still, she couldn’t help but realize that she saw the others a few times during the training, only speaking to them at dinnertime or on days off. David, for his part, understood and instead let her be, especially during her first month. During such times, Al remained a constant guest of theirs, talking to her during supper and break days and explaining more of the anthro history.
Yet, what bothered Faith the most was how Adrian never appeared to her, no matter the hour or day. She spoke with David and Al about it, and they admitted that they hadn’t seen Adrian as well, only that he wasn’t in the hospital by her second day of training. And yet his bed looked pristine, with no one sleeping on it since they came. When she spoke to A-Ninetales, Saria, and even Glorfindel on one occasion on Adrian, they refused to explain. It was as if he got swallowed up in his own bubble, separate and inaccessible from Faith and David.
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