Pokémon: Above the Top-Chapter 283: Return

The deck seemed much smaller. The Wingull in the sky made no sound at all.

He turned his gaze to the smiling Makie, then to the chair she sat on.

"I'm inside the painting!"

Boom!

The moment he spoke, everything around him shattered into fragments and disappeared.

Everything except Makie, still seated in her chair. The surroundings had changed again.

It was a limitless space, pale pink in color and strangely beautiful.

"Sato, you've seen everything that's happened now."

"You... can talk?" Sato trembled all over, quickly turning to Makie.

Until now, her expression hadn't changed, and Sato had assumed she was part of the painting.

"You discovered you were inside the painting, so now I can speak. You've seen it all, haven't you?" Makie asked again.

"Yeah. Where's my partner, Gengar?"

Sato nodded, but his mind was already searching for Gengar. 'Why was it missing again?'

"Don't worry. Gengar is fine. If you help me, it will get exactly what you both came here looking for... and more."

Makie never stood up. She just kept talking, still smiling all the while.

Sato pressed his lips together. The way Makie acted... honestly, it was kind of creepy.

"What do you want me to do?"

"It's simple. Shatter this space... and kill me," Makie said, smiling.

"..."

"Actually, it's the same thing. If the space breaks, I'll die too," she quickly added, afraid Sato might refuse.

"I've been trapped here too long. So long I've lost count of how many times I went insane... only to slowly regain my sanity. Smeargle is dead. Even Misdreavus is dead. I want to die too... but I just can't." Makie was still smiling, but her eyes had turned red.

Sato didn't know how to describe what he felt. He had seen everything that happened before Makie's fall.

And now she was trapped in this strange space, at least for thousands of years.

What she had experienced inside... he couldn't imagine, let alone understand.

But seeing the intense desire to die in her eyes, Sato suddenly felt a pang of sorrow.

"What do you want me to do, exactly?"

"It's simple. Use your special ability... break this cursed place."

"How do you know I have a special ability?" Sato was stunned.

"Live long enough, and you learn a few things. Your special power... it's on the same level as the one controlling this space," Makie said plainly.

"The same level?"

Sato was shocked. His Dark Energy... was actually on par with Palkia's power?

That was a bit reckless.

But how was he supposed to destroy this space? Was he supposed to just release his Dark Energy and start pounding the ground?

"Use your special ability, attack any part of this space. That should work... I think."

The uncertain tone left Sato momentarily stunned. After thinking it over, he covered his hands in Dark Energy and then...

Started punching the ground.

Duang!

Duang!

Duang!

After several strikes, Sato realized he couldn't replenish his Dark Energy here. Every bit he used was gone for good.

Even so, his crude punches were effective. The first hit alone produced a sound like shattering glass.

After several more, cracks were clearly forming beneath him.

One more punch!

Crash!

Sato smashed a large hole into the ground. As he stared in surprise, the pink walls of the space began to fracture rapidly, crumbling away.

"Quick, jump out! Gengar is already outside. Tell it to hurry and absorb the energy from this place!"

"What about you?" Sato crouched by the hole and saw that even the chair beneath Makie was breaking apart along with the space.

"I told you. Once this space is destroyed, I'll die too. Don't blame yourself, I should be thanking you for setting me free."

As she spoke, Makie's feet began to shatter like glass, vanishing with the space.

"You really don't want to leave? If you did, maybe you could find your boyfriend's grave. At least pay your respects."

"Just go. Death is the only release for me now. That boyfriend... I can't even remember his face anymore."

Even knowing she was about to die, Makie kept smiling.

But when Sato mentioned the painter, she could no longer hold it in. She hunched over, covering her face, overwhelmed by regret for forgetting what he looked like.

"Sato, please... just go..." she whispered, never raising her head again.

Sato watched as half of Makie's body vanished.

A tightness clenched his chest. In the end, he slowly jumped down into the hole.

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And once again, that damn white light.

When Sato finally felt the solid floor beneath his feet, he realized he was back on the ghost ship. He opened his eyes and looked up.

The painting on the wall was fading away. Gengar now floated in front of it, cross-legged, rapidly absorbing the pink pale energy that had once belonged to Palkia.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Crash!

Sato turned around, the room's door had been slammed open by a horde of Ghost-type Pokémon, all of them rushing toward Gengar like mad.

Clearly, the disappearance of the painting had pushed them over the edge.

Until now, everyone had only been fighting for a little bit of the leaking energy, taking their time.

But Gengar? It went and swallowed the whole thing!

Sato's scalp tingled as he watched the overwhelming number of Ghost-types pour in.

Without a second thought, he released all his Pokémon.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

Five flashes of red light burst out: Zoroark, Sharpedo, Umbreon, Cacturne, and Ariados appeared before Sato.

The battle was about to begin!