Chapter 129: A New Dawn.
"Hey, I want a strawberry smoothie, not a mango one!"
Laying down shirtless on the sun-tan chair next to the beach on Paradiso Island, Kai sent back the order to his victim that day. Leaving the aftermath to the Avengers and the old man to Ryan, Kai was resting his mind after a long – looonnnngggg period of working and stress.
From what Ryan found out, the entrance to the hidden temple will only be opened at a specific time. So the war between races will have to wait until a later date in the future.
"B-But y-you said-"
"Bup bup bup bup…bup…bup. Your Master is always right," Kai shut down the argument and said teasingly towards Park Shin who was serving him the drink.
"Yeah, daddy is always right!" Doreen, who is next to Kai's chair, supported her father.
"Yeah, 'Daddy' is always….right," Ana said seductively as she stayed next to Doreen. She stuck close as she fell in love with Doreen's cuteness. She follows the little kid everywhere she goes.
Kai got goosebumps, but he ignored the remark as it was working in his favour.
"Hmph!" Park Shin then grabs the mango smoothie from Kai's hand and kicks up the sand at the beach in frustration.
"Doreen wants a chocolate smoothie," Kai yelled from afar at Park Shin who is going back with the drink. She glared menacingly at Kai before she surrendered to her fate.
"Where's Skye?" Kai looked around to see his other daughter was gone.
"She said she wanted to ride the dragon," Ana replied. Skye was spending a suspicious amount of time following Yelena around the island – doing crazy stuff. Eevee was also caught by Yelena and was dragged everywhere. Annika and Yinsen are taking care of the visitors – Kai didn't have to bother much.
"Hmm, I hope she won't bother Charizard much. She has been in a bad mood lately," Kai expressed his concern.
"Why?" Ana asked. She usually didn't bother the dragon, so she didn't know about it.
"Charizards…eggs… It seems to have difficulty surviving," Kai answered in a low tone.
The eggs should have hatched a long time ago. However, the life inside keeps getting weaker and weaker. Ryan, Dawn, and Kai had been checking up on the dragon. And with Dawn asleep, Ryan and Kai are taking care of the dragon on their own.
"Will the Charizard baby come out?" Doreen asked suddenly. Kai is a little torn on how to answer her. Will he tell her that death is a part of life, or will he tell her a white lie?
"Listen Doreen. The babies…" Kai wanted to tell her, but then he felt the breath of someone that has been sleeping for a long time. He turned his sight to the island's center and stared in that direction for a while.
"Dad? The babieeees?" Doreen was puzzled by her father's action. She was looking forward to looking at the baby dragon since her father said they will be living on the fun island for a while.
"...The babies will be fine…I think," Kai said with a smile towards Doreen. He ruffled her hair, causing her to get mad.
"Hey, Big Sis Ana spent hours combing this!"
"More like Aunty Ana, but sure…"
Ana heard what Kai said, and she kept her smile as she looked at him. Kai knew that he will pay for that comment later.
…
Inside the Deer God – Dawn Everstar's chamber.
"The little caterpillar finally came out from his cocoon," Hela said in a dissatisfied tone, but she was extremely glad on the inside.
The cocoon made of plant roots and branches finally opened up. The plant has been helping Dawn in his metamorphosis for a month now.
They retracted into the earth like they were never there in the first place.
"Uwaaaahhh," Dawn sat up on the bed and yawned loudly, his eyes were teary. He looked around to see Hela inside the room.
"Morning," Dawn greeted Hela casually.
"Afternoon. And it has been a month," Hela said sternly. She walked right over to his bed and sat on the edge.
"How are you feeling?" Hela is curious about what happened to Dawn, but she wanted to make sure he was safe first.
"Still sleepy," Dawn said, yawning again – slowly this time.
"What happened—Hey don't go back to sleep!" Hela said quickly as Dawn laid his head on his pillow.
"I'm not sleeping," Dawn said as he closed his eyes.
"Liar," Hela said. He lied about going to meet her in the underworld. And now he is lying again.
"I'm not lyiiiiing," Dawn said as he nudged the pillow to find a comfortable position.
"Then what are you doing right now if it isn't sleeping?" Hela asked.
Dawn was silent for a while before he answered. "....Napping."
After napping for an hour despite Hela's protests, Dawn walked outside on the island after putting on his Deer Mask. Hela walked next to him despite her fake anger at him.
"Same old place, but everything seems…different," Dawn muttered as he could feel the changes inside of him.
He can sense what the weather was going to be like today. Plant life such as flowers and grass greeted him as he walked by.
"What kind of difference?" Hela asked him, she had been waiting to ask him after he woke up.
"Like…I feel that I can do this," Dawn reached out his hand to a budding flower. It grew rapidly into a blossoming orchid after Dawn channeled his new energy toward the flower.
"And this!" He wasn't finished yet. As he kept channeling his new energy toward the flower, it grew into a gigantic 2-meter tall flower and was continuously growing.
"That's… nice?" Hela said. She didn't see the benefit of having this type of skill. 'So he awakened useless power?'
"Any other thing you can do with your divinity?" She asked. She noticed that Dawn had awakened his Divinity. Like the young gods of Asgards, she can recognize the messy use of the power.
Although for her, Dawn had awakened his power too late. The Asgardian children usually awakened it before they went into adulthood.
"I'm not sure yet…" He answered honestly. As of now, he is recording data as he goes.
At that moment, he sensed that something was coming toward him from the sky.
Charizard was flying by until she saw Dawn walking around the island. She is going there to greet him as she hasn't seen him for a while.
Landing in front of Dawn, Charizard lowered his head to greet the landlord. However, the beast feels the man is different now. He feels…like a pokemon?
"Grrrrr," Charizard growled at Dawn – but he was not hostile. He is…speaking to the man.
"Really? They did that? I will talk to them later," Dawn nodded as he heard what Charizard was talking about. The dragon is complaining to Dawn about various things – about her eggs, her partner, the newbie on the island that was always afraid of her and will freeze whenever meeting her, and so on.
"Dawn, what are you doing?" Hela was weirded out when Dawn started to talk by himself. 'Did sleeping for a long time cause him to go crazy?'
"Well…it seems my new ability includes talking with pseudo-intelligent animals…" Dawn replied casually and ignored the surprised face of the death goddess.
…
After having something to eat, Dawn and Hela walked together to the dragon's nest. Inside the forest full of life, the whisper that Dawn was hearing after waking up is clear now.
"I see, that's why…they keep saying to run huh," Dawn muttered to himself. The hidden voices had been trying to reach him multiple times. It wasn't the voice of plants or the voice of the animal. Dawn hypotheses that this voice is the voice of the earth, but he isn't sure yet of that hypothesis.
"Stop talking to yourself, What is it that you heard this time?" Hela said, dissatisfied. Dawn keeps acting mysteriously — making her want to hit him. The only reason she didn't do it is that she can't, this is her holographic projection and her main body is in the underworld.
"Something bad that can cause lots of death in this world," Dawn replied and kept walking toward the nest.
Dawn and Hela entered the nest. Charizard's partner, the Dragonite, is staying there, guarding the dozens of unhatched eggs.
"Grrr- ge reuk?" Dragonite greeted Dawn by making unintelligible noises.
"I will try to see what I can do with the eggs," Dawn patted Dragonite's head and sat down with his leg crossed on the dirt ground covered with leaves. He sat down in the middle of the eggs.
After a few minutes, Dawn was dripping with sweat. The pokemon aren't original creatures from this universe. They can survive here easily, but they can't reproduce.
However, right now Dawn is basking the eggs with his divinity, trying his hardest to make sure that the eggs can survive.
Ryan had tried to use divinity before, but he could only prolong their lives, not making them hatch – additionally, he added to their parent's suffering. He always felt guilty about it as he didn't know if his act was for him…or the creature's parents. Maybe death could've been a mercy for the eggs.
However, the desire to live is inside the DNA of every being in the universe. Death may be mercy sometimes, but people will still fight to live if they have the chance.
"Dawn, don't exhaust your divinity. It'll be hard for you to sense it and bring it back if you emptied your reserve," Hela advised Dawn calmly. She is standing next to Dawn, trying to understand his struggle for life – however, the concept eludes her.
"All living things will someday go through it. No being can escape the fate of Death," Hela said, trying to get Dawn to stop. She saw the eggs aren't responding even though Dawn is trying his hardest.
Flowers start thriving inside the nest. All of the pokemons are watching at that location as they can sense that their fate is at stake
Meowth, Dugtrio, Psyduck, Arcanine, Ponyta, Slowpoke, Mr. Mime, Tauros, Eevee(Who escaped from Yelena's grasp), Flareon, Jolteon, Vaporeon, Dratini, – all of them are coming here to support Dawn.
Charizard flew inside the nest and is staying next to her partner – anxious and restless, she is trying her hardest not to spit fire and roar loudly. She controlled herself, which is very rare for her to do so.
Surrounded by the flowers, the beast, and the eggs – Dawn's figure sitting inside the nest almost seems ethereal. The flowers start to sway gently, and so do the trees as the wind blows ever so softly.
"Give up, Dawn Everstar. They couldn't be saved," Hela said in a low tone to Dawn. She stared at the deer god who is fixated on life.
"Hela," Dawn suddenly voiced out.
"What?"
"Shut up…"
Hela was stunned and speechless by Dawn's informal way of speaking. He had never been impolite with her before.
Dawn ignored Hela and kept holding on to the little life that's left inside the eggs, trying his hardest to guide them into the living world.
The pokemon outside are making noises, howling in their special sound toward the sky, protesting their fate of being unwelcomed inside the universe.
After an hour, Dawn stopped his effort and is limping on the ground.
" I told you," Hela said to him. "No one can escape Death."
"Yeah, but is it so wrong to want to live first?" Dawn asked in exhaustion.
"Death is a part of life, and life is a part of death. These babies are lucky, they didn't have to go through this cruel cycle," Hela said with a hint of sadness in her voice.
Her words were surprising to herself. She was then shocked by her own changes. Dawn didn't realise her thoughts as he was trying to catch his breath.
'Me? I think that?'
Hela's mind is in a whirlpool of chaos. She always thought that death is a mercy. Death is a real salvation for the living. But after seeing the life struggle of these midgardians on this island in their daily life, her thoughts swayed.
Dawn said after catching his breath," Birth and death are just passages…not of life, but of time…"
"Life encompasses all, and none can truly take its place."
Not even god with life-type divinity, not the celestials, nor even the OAA. Even if their existence is an aberration - life always finds a way.
*Crack*
The still eggs started to wobble and cracks started to appear on their shells. 4 Charmander and 3 Dragonair break out from their shells. Dawn smiles as his struggle produces some results.
Hela disappeared from the island, cutting off her projection from there.
One Charmander still has half a shell on his head. It staggered with its short leg and collided with Dawn as it couldn't see where it was going.
Dawn smiles softly and helps the little baby to remove the egg shell on its head.
"Charr-?" The baby Charmander was confused as his first sight in this world is a masked man with horns.
"Nope, your mother is over there," Dawn replied to the baby and pointed to the anxious dragon.
The baby turned its attention to its mother and waddled slowly to approach her. Seeing its tail light up with fire, Dawn thought inside his mind, 'I need to fireproof the island.'
Dawn tried to search for Hela, but she wasn't there.
"Did she get pissed?" he mumbles to himself.
The pokemons outside stormed the nest to congratulate the new parents and thanked Dawn for his help. Dawn had to stay there for a while to celebrate with the pokemons before he could leave.
At the beach, Kai was notified of what was going on telepathically. He stood up abruptly from the tanning chair and announced loudly.
"The babies are here! Today's night will be a night full of celebration !!!"
The Islanders applauded after Kai announced it. He started to get ready with the special ingredient that was stocked up inside the island freezer, to create the greatest feast ever!
In the Maldives, Ryan and Gwen are playing around in the waters.
"Gwen, let's go to the island. There will be a feast tonight!" Ryan said excitedly. Gwen is confused as to how he can know it, but she brushes it off as they start leaving the ocean so they can get ready for the celebration.
Even at the feast that night Hela still didn't come back to the island, making Dawn a bit worried.
…
Underworld.
Hela is sitting on her throne, inside the castle that Dawn provided for her. Outside of the castle, a garden of grass, flowers, and trees had crawled their way from the deserted underworld ground.
Life starts to thrive there when Hela's and Dawn's blood mixed from the time he visited her.
The small forest there had stopped growing a year back. The lush forest almost dried up after the underworld forced its influence on the invading life.
A few translucent souls are dancing around Hela, returning to the death's embrace.
"I am sorry little one. You didn't make it," Hela said to the souls. Her voice is calm and steady, but her mind isn't the same.
She hasn't gotten an inhabitant for the underworld as Odin had gone back on his word to make her handle the Asgardians' afterlife matters.
No one comes by here, making this place deserted. However, now souls are coming here, but she doesn't want them to.
For the first time in her life, she felt that those souls didn't belong here. Those innocent souls should get eternal happiness, not be brought down to the underworld. She doesn't understand why did they came here.
Souls come here to be punished, but not these souls. They came here to be with Hela.
"I'm… sorry," Hela said in a low voice as she covered her face with one hand, hiding the emotion that is bubbling on the surface.
"I'm… sorry," Hela choked on her words as she apologized again. Her voice resounded all over the empty underworld
The garden outside the castle starts to sway as if it is responding to Hela's words. The dying life there starts to encroach on the underworld again. Stronger this time.
Alternate chapter title: God of Life and Goddess of Death argument.
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