Rescue Reshiram!
And that was when Lawrence’s hands started being clapped hysterically and the Collector burst out laughing once more. “Ha! Ha! Who cares about the world and what I can find out there, when I own all this?” He cried out, spreading his arms and swinging round to frame the room with them, turning his back to everyone. Then, with a brief movement, he crossed them on his chest, a witty but indeed serious tone. “You pointlessly lost yourself to beat around the bush, but I understand what you mean regardless. Let me ask you this, what made you think that I ever cared about anybody else’s reverence?” He paused with a motion of surprise. “No- it’s high time I told you everything by now. I stopped giving it a damn long ago.” The man added, his oath betraying his aura of indifference. Really, this was getting nostalgic. If only his sisters could see him now… gah, those two couldn’t, thankfully. “This world, what you call reality, has always disappointed me. More and more, day after day. Nobody can understand me, and neither I can understand anybody. I’ve slowly grown apart from people in a way I didn’t know was possible, but I… by no means regret it. Even if all the inhabitants of this planet praised me- well. At first I thought it would matter. Wouldn’t it be fancy if I were as renowned as the very Lorenzo the Magnificent? It would, I said. I made it my goal. Nevertheless, my disgust for people only got stronger. And the mere realization that I was one of them…” He bit his lower lip and smiled mischievously.
His purple globes were gazing at the window in front of them. Don’t they say that, when your life is coming to an end, it all flashes in your mind? So this was it. Lawrence turned to face his guests, suddenly composedly melancholic. Dignified until the very end.
“But when I first saw my Ancient Mew Card, when I first laid my eyes on a picture of Lugia, it ennobled me. Artefacts and Legendary Pokémon are both the most peculiar, special thing. Once I had grasped this, I was better and more special than anybody else. I stood up in this pool of mediocrity. I didn’t need appreciation and perhaps, I didn’t appreciate either. I bathed in beauty and merely used it to make this airship my locus, cutting out the outside. Even if you- I might have loved at least you, after all.” He smirked and briefly took a glimpse of Meloetta as well. “This is the answer I was looking for. All of your attempts… that’s enough. I’m done.” The Collector uttered, expecting to feel something in his throat, yet it didn’t happen. Had his heart grown so cold and distant? Lawrence was getting older. And despite his many years of collecting, he was far from fulfilling his desire yet. Capturing his pieces was a struggle, and another struggle, and even if they were to leave him be now, they’d come back to bother him the next time. If not these two, somebody else would. Lawrence was tired. Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing on the planet, not even his most wonderful wish, except…
“Lawrence the Collector doesn’t exist anymore. I’ll free the Dragon of Truth and follow you meddlers wherever, in exchange for a deal.” He took a deep breath and drew his body closer to the cage, looking down on Jareth and Hajime while he walked forward. “I’ll only proceed if you guarantee me that my pieces will receive the most deserving treatment. No less. Understood?”
(via ranger-hajime)
Rescue Reshiram!
While Jareth presented his answer, Reshiram preened his feathers as he listened. Could the dragon of truth present the answer? Though he could peer into the hearts of individuals, it was only the ones who opened themselves up to him that he could thoroughly understand. Lawrence? No. Reshiram had not even considered the thought because he had closed himself off from that man. So the white dragon was left merely guessing along with the rest.“It is who you are. The human, Lawrence III, will always be known as the collector because that is how he has presented himself to the world. It is what drives you to live, this collecting of legendary pokemon who are equally just as defined by their name as you are. To be anything different would be to cease being that man, whether it be by completing the collection or the end of your life. Your collection is what you most value because it is your life. You yourself stated that earlier.”
“Oh?” Lawrence took his gaze off Jareth and glanced at Reshiram, his lips drawing a wide grin. “Very, very close. Extremely close.” He replied, slowly and lightly clapping his hands. Well, the Dragon had been impressive, as well; the Collector wouldn’t have ever expected anybody to take in his words and even use them against him, if it could be counted as ‘against’. Especially not a Legendary Pokémon itself, and not that one, who had always refused to acknowledge the man’s reasons. His little game certainly was getting the best out of the players- on the other hand, if they were this capable on their own, he wasn’t going to give away any more hints.
“Somebody else tell me more, tell me more. You’re on the right track now, you can’t fail!” Lawrence exclaimed enthusiastically, oddly thrilled.
Rescue Reshiram!
Jareth glanced around a bit more keeping in mind the man’s answers to everyone’s questions. He didn’t want to be wrong in his answer in fear of dooming the dragon in the cage. Closing his eyes, he sorted through his thoughts as his Luxray breathed carefully from the floor. “My judgement is this.” he started.
Rising to his feet, the man looked directly toward Lawrence keeping a calm stance. The collector had thought him foolish and impulsive; which he was, but he also seemed to realize Jareth was more than just a plasma grunt. “You collect in order to understand the history of numerous things. The history of people, pokemon, the ancients, all in the hopes of uncovering the mysteries that flicker at your curiosity. You take great pride in your artifacts whether they be the ancient tablet of Mew, or the pokemon you take on. Collecting is your way of finding out your history as well. That is my decision. Whether it be wrong or right, I have answered.”
And he listened, he listened oh so carefully, staring at Jareth back in the eyes. Lawrence was actually impressed by the calmness and thoughtfulness he radiated, for many reasons; although he found his arguments slightly clichéd, he avoided teasing him on the matter, silently approving of the effort he had put in coming to an explanation. Yes, it was more out of necessity than of real interest, yet the Collector himself had been the one to put them in such a situation anyway. However, his answer was quick and sharp. “Wrong.” He steadily and only stated.
“Not completely, but wrong indeed. Of course, you guessed the easiest part- I undoubtedly value my Collection the most. Considered my boasting, it was clear, wasn’t it? But because some people even dared to say that I mistreat my pieces, I suppose you were cleverer than many.” He chuckled, folding his arms together before shrugging. “On the other hand, I cannot wholly agree with the rest, no. Quite disputable.”
Rescue Reshiram!
“I do have a question.” Rumbled Reshiram as he settled onto the floor of the cage.
He looked around the room, to the artifacts, the humans, the pokemon, and finally Lawrence. His eyes narrowed when he gazed upon that man and held back a growl as he finally asked the question.
“If you ever obtained a complete collection what would you do then?”
“Hm? You asked the best one, Dragon of Truth. Absolutely.” His face lightened up as his tone, his gestures, every single fiber of his being was filled with passion. Even if he was trying to collect himself- and his derisive voice remained unchanged. But he licked his lip again in utter satisfaction. “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you all the truth, or it would be almost the same as revealing my aim. Don’t you think? However, who knows. For the first weeks, or maybe years, I would be overwhelmed by happiness- quite naturally. I would treasure every and each moment, because it would be a dream coming true, and illusions are quick to fade. Merely this. Yet I know myself too well…” Lawrence brought two fingers to his forehead, still pensive. “Care to keep a secret, folks? I used to hardly be interested in anything. Collecting is the only thing that never fails to thrill me. If it came to an end, if there were no more pieces to gather, then I’d quickly lose my interest in the ones I got… just like I shifted once. And if I hadn’t achieved my goal by then, I’d most certainly end up being the shadow of a human being, and the end of my Collection would imply the end of Lawrence III. Well, this is only one possibility out of many, and I rambled more than I should have; another is, my wish could be granted at last, and we would live happily ever after. My thirst would be quenched, flying with my complete set till death do us part, and perhaps even hosting exhibitions from time to time. Ah!” He exclaimed, smirking, before shaking his head. “I apologize, my blabber might be baffling you. After all, it still depends, doesn’t it? So, go ahead, all of you. Judge me.”
![私が欲しいのは・・・ | ブルーナ [pixiv]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly6lhf7i3g1qfl632o1_500.jpg)
Rescue Reshiram!
The knight did glance around a bit noticing the pieces around and he began to think over what made the man shift his attention from artifacts to pokemon. With a sigh, he patted Kit’s nose with a free hand before glancing back to Lawrence. “What prompted you to shifts gears from collecting artifacts to pokemon? That is my only other question.” Jareth remarked. It was about the best kind of question to dig for info he could gather. It was up to Hajime and Reshiram now to ask the questions to get more information from Lawrence to win the task.
“Hm? Not simple Pokémon. I don’t care at all for common species.” He felt the need to chuckle and a small titter escaped his mouth; it was so much different from the previous one though. It was what of more similar to an happy laughter the Collector could manage to express at the moment. Well, he had expected he’d have to speak of his Mew Card instead, yet this was a clever question. “Now, now, let’s tell from the start. My thirst for the Legends began back in the Orange Archipelago, around twenty years ago, when I first saw a picture of Lugia. It’s been so long, would you have guessed? It used to be all about the Beast of the Sea, until I lost that early battle. You may say Lugia’s been the ignition key. However, the reason why I still continue is that… Legendary Pokémon and artifacts are of the same nature.” Lawrence paused. Wasn’t he revealing everything on his own already? Gee, he had to learn how to stop.
“Alright, this is enough.” He mumbled almost to himself. “Who’s going to be next?”
Rescue Reshiram!
Jareth glanced down to his lion companion and stroked his mane seeing him breathing slowly. He had been knocked out cold from the grabbing the bars with his fangs. The grunt refused to leave him though and remained kneeling at his side. “What were the first things you started to collect?” asked Jareth smoothly. He wasn’t sure of how to ask other questions. The one he requested would give him an idea of where to start thinking on his answer. He doubted he could give the right one however.
Kit shifted to sit beside Leo and stayed by Jareth’s side. It didn’t take the grunt long to glance out to see the sky turning colors showing the end of the day. He knew his Braviary would be wise on his own. If he couldn’t keep up with the ship, he’d wait for Jareth’s return to the dragon city.
It seemed that the noisy man had caught the hint somehow; Lawrence forgot about the outside as he turned to face him, opening his arms again to point at the cabinets all around them. It was a long story, but the time was flowing, and he’d do his best to make it brief; after all, it was merely one question out of three, and he coudn’t reveal everything just yet. “Look around” he started, “what do you see? Objects, of course. Pots, statues, weapons, artifacts of all kinds. Aren’t they wonderful? At some point I even thought about collecting exquisite paintings, but this is indeed the finest form of art, at least as far as I’m concerned.” His gaze was lingering on one of them, drawing a fond smile on his lips. “I only wanted something similar to my very first piece. Bronze, gold, nothing mattered as long as they were historic. And so, the answer to your question is archaeological finds. At this rate, anything else you need to ask?”
Rescue Reshiram!
‘I can have three questions! Three, only three.’ Meloetta was thinking now. She was sure that she had the answer, but what if she was wrong? She wanted to give her answer her all, and so she would make the best use possible of her three questions. But what would she ask? This was going to be the greatest trial of her life, and the cost would be great if she failed.
Where were they now? This didn’t look like Unova anymore.
‘I can’t ask him for the answer. He never said he’d answer these questions honestly! I’m stumped!’ This was bad. It’s like she was psyching herself out before she even began!
‘I’m sorry, Reshiram…’
“If we lose…would you consider taking me instead of Reshiram?”
He could see it had stopped snowing as the sunset was painting the sky orange, and red, and yellow, and the day was coming to an end. He had never understood the appeal of it, the so called nostalgia, because Lawrence preferred to believe in carpe diem. And his lips were curved into a pensive grimace, standing with his arms folded behind his back, while his eyes were looking at their shadow mirrored in the glass yet even farther. “Ah. You already know I want you…” He uttered thoughtful. He desired her even more than the Dragon of Truth, especially as both Kyurem and Zekrom were unavailable, leaving it an incomplete set; and he would gladly accept the swap. So what was keeping him from saying it? No, the Collector most certainly didn’t like it when things came to an end- especially because he was starting to realize how many expectations he had put, in spite of his blindfolded motto, in the uncertain future.
Lawrence recollected himself to answer jauntily; “…but I’m afraid it depends. I need to know first, I need to find out whether there is still hope for this world. Any further inquiries? This is a perhaps.” His gaze wandered again. It wasn’t a trap of sorts, he was honest enough to despise not having been able to give a proper response. Ah, that one was quite cliché! In truth, though, he couldn’t even give one to himself. Which was a terrible sign.
Rescue Reshiram!
Reshiram panted, trying to regain his strength. He looked up at the group when Lawrence put forth the rules to his “game”, a guessing game. Honestly, he had expected a game of chess or something of that sort.
Eyes darted over to Meloetta, now in her Step form and away from the arms of the collector. This comforted him and allowed him to give his two cents towards this game.
“I will… offer an answer…” He said between breaths. “I will… go last…”
“I see. You’re too sweet for your own good.” He muttered once she had stepped away. However, once they all had accepted to take part, Lawrence focused most of his attention on the game which was about to start. In particular he didn’t linger over Reshiram’s condition, but rather on his reply. “So will you go last, White Dragon? Wise of you to take the time to think over what the others say. But of course, no need to make any of you play blindly- as a little help, you will be allowed to ask question. Say, how about… three? Nonetheless, this whole room is full of clues. Please don’t focus only on the Legendaries, or the other pieces might be jealous.” Well, it was already a first hint -it’s not all about the Legends, it meant. I had to start from something smaller just like anybody else.
The Collector glanced out of the windows as the airship kept on flying over the region. “Look, isn’t the outside terribly boring?” He teased. “Let’s make this interesting, shall we.”
Rescue Reshiram!
“Well aren’t you the slowest among us? I see that. Besides, the amount of electricity around the cage is enough to kill your Luxray, and so would your Braviary. I warned you.” Lawrence quickly glanced at Jareth with contempt; although his first approach to people was often full of plain indifference, he was already starting to get on his nerves. So noisy, so arrogant, when he seemed even not to know a thing nor about the Hikokyu neither about the devices inside. Did he think that his Pokémon would make it without any effort? The same way he had used his Ninetails to attack him when he still had Meloetta in his arms, without worrying about her safety. What a fraud prince.
His ears were reached by the Relic Song and, like magic, the Collector released a deep breath as his muscles slightly loosened up. His tone got less sharp and he took his eyes off Jareth, looking at Hajime and Reshiram; all those awful feelings had left his gaze, seemingly amused or at least satisfied. But he didn’t turn to Meloetta, withdrawing his outstretched hand. It was their turn to offer theirs. Team, eh? It was something… Lawrence had never experienced all his life. His sister Faenna had tried to get him into other people, but it never worked out, and he had simply stopped caring. Explanations, excuses, relationships… he had stopped caring about everything. When people didn’t understand him, then he would ignore them, because he was fine with it. No need to give account. And yet, it was perhaps why everyone got him wrong, why the noisy man was mistakenly sure to have the whole situation under control. It was right; Lawrence had built a wall between his own perfect locus and the real world, not willing to let the latter absorb the former, destroying it. And how could he expect himself to become legend, if nobody knew who he was? What man would enter history? Anybody but his true self. It was as disgusting as being mediocre. Indeed it was being mediocre while a cheap imitation of him bathed in golden light.
“Speaking of my offer, what’s sick about it? Life is a bunch of games of life or death, truly, and besides I’m not one to break my word. As for the kind, it concerns guessing.” He cleared his throat. “The rules are fairly easy: I want each of you to think over what Collecting means and why I do it in the first place. I want you to analyze me. If any of you comes up with the exact, or an enough similar, reason, then the whole team will win. Isn’t it a reasonable challenge? Everyone can partecipate, also the Dragon of Truth. Only Meloetta has already given her opinion, unless she has changed it. Have you?” He finally addressed her, lowering his eyes to meet hers. Even if I were to disappear, a trace of me shall remain.
(via dragon-of-truth)
