"But we stick to honor because it is the right thing to do. If you don't honor your own words, can you even trust yourself? Honor is our truth, conviction, our ideals. If you abandon either, you are abandoning yourself."
"It's in your reach, if you want it back. The upside of being a matter of belief is that you can always recover it."
"Sometimes, the best thing to do in the long term is stick to your beliefs, even if it’s hard or you get hated for it."
“So ask yourself, and be honest with yourself: is this what you really want? To throw away your beliefs because a lot of others are? The way I see it, you can be better than that.”
"But we're not so different. We all have a desire to protect others, whether that be from urban sprawl, or dangerous gym puzzles."
"Now, are you going to continue being unsafe to yourself? Or will you protect others, just as you have done before?"
"Because that's what gives you the power to choose," she said. "If everyone acted out of fear, or only out of instinct, what kind of world would it be? How would we be able to protect what we loved? Doing something difficult when we could do something easy always matters. That's what we talked about the last time we met. You do remember, don't you?"
"Did you expect that everyone else would break the rules when you did? They didn't because they had something to stand for. You cheated to win... But still lost to us because you were fighting just for the sake of winning. Everyone else was fighting to save you, no matter if it was done honourably or not. It's not how you fight that makes it honourable... It's who or what you do it for. "
The air hung heavy with tension. Keldeo looked from each member of the group to the next as they spoke, eyes narrowed, full of judgement and scrutiny. Testing and prodding for weakness in their statements.
"Honor is not just rules and restrictions. It is conduct and conviction," Chef Flygon said quietly. "The strength to rise above and hold yourself to a higher standard. No matter what your opponent does."
Clink finally moved up to be closer to Keldeo. "I... I may not be a great fighter, but my convictions and honor..." They drew closer, their voice softening, pleading. "I will never surrender them again. Honor is all about rising above. It's something you do not to look good for others, but for
yourself."
They pointed with the tip of their keyring at Keldeo. "
You were the one who taught me that. To stand firm. Just because it is something created doesn't make it lesser."
Keldeo's legs trembled and he squeezed his eyes shut. It was as if he were exterting a great effort, torn in two. The light from his horn stump flickered, then went dead. Letting his head fall, Keldeo stared at the murky water before looking up, first at Codex, then Mightyena. His gaze was hollow as he opened his snout and whispered in a raspy voice.
"I do remember."
Keldeo's Resolve: 0
His body sagged and he took a step back. "I always remembered but it is as if those memories were clouded... What..." he shook his head again. "What have I
done?" All at once he reared up and threw back his head as he gave a great cry. Unbridled, righteous anger at himself. His hooves
slammed back into the hard ground and splashed up water. Then he heaved and gagged, stamping his hooves and then-
Something became visible around Keldeo, like smoke making visible light. Spectral purple chains around his neck and body, there for barely a heartbeat before they were gone again. And then Keldeo began to change. For those familiar with the legend, it was the shift from Resolute form to his ordinary form.
Yet the transformation didn't look
ordinary at all. It was like something was
leeching off him, like a snake shedding scales. A sludging, darkened aura that oozed down his body before dissipating. A boiling slurry of wicked, toxic emotions, desires pushed to their most extremes... The process left behind a slightly smaller Keldeo, in his normal form. Minus his horn. His colors had returned to normal as well, though they were a bit darker and still stained with patches of strange color.
The effort of repelling the taint left him weakened, and he swayed for a moment, caught himself, then took the berry from Breve and downed it swiftly.
"Keldeo?" Clink said tentatively. There was a hope, in their demeanor. And a searching energy, as if expecting a dramatic declaration of some kind, that whatever force that compelled them was gone, that he had been mind controlled by some evil entity. It didn't come.
When Keldeo spoke, his voice was low. Weary. "Yes Clink. It is I. I am... free..." the word caught in his throat and he turned away, at a loss for words. Perhaps
free was not quite the word he sought. "I am... myself, that is."
A heavy silence fell. His gaze shifted to his broken horn, a woeful look flashing through his eyes before he hid it. Keldeo looked deeply disturbed and uncomfortable, and for a brief moment even looked as if he were ready to take off. Emotions swirled through him like a stormy ocean. Relief, guilt, disdain for himself, and admiration, for the pokemon who'd stood against him. At least now though, they were tempered and cool.
Then he bowed. Long and deep, the tip of his snout touching the water. "I owe you all my deepest gratitude and apologies." The words came stilted, tempered by shame, but deeply genuine all the same. When he rose, his expression was masked, and his emotions guarded. He held his head high, trying to compose himself. His arrogance, at least, was gone.
His gaze fell on Nova. "You were right. To abandon honor is to abandon oneself..." He turned to look at Codex, then the others. "Thank you, for reminding me that it can be regained. I should have been a protector, and yet I... I chose the worst of all. Cowardice. To toss aside my own convictions because I could not handle the harder path." His remorseful gaze fell on Breve and Nori, before lingering on Mightyena. "My words cannot express proper thanks for the strength it took to stand against me." He smiled at Pixels, then gently took the scarf she'd given him in his mouth, and handed it back. His eyes shone with sorrow and gratitude.
Then he turned and dipped his head to Sada. "And the courage to take up arms," he added meaningfully to her, bowing once again, this time half way. Warrior to warrior. For a human to fight him was quite absurd. Well, save for the absurd bravado he knew Nate had.
His conscience sounded weighed down, and his demeanor was reigned in as he continued. "I believe the least I can offer you is answers."
"We accepted your challenge, and by our honor, overcame it. What happened, then, that made you turn your back on yours?" She made a gesture at the horn still in Drapion's claw. "By what power did you come across this? And was it forced upon you, or did you willingly abandon your beliefs?"
He turned to Kirsten, eyeing the remaining horn with disgust. "I wish with all of my being that I could truthfully say something besieged me. Forced this affliction upon on me and controlled me." His head hung. "That is not entirely true. That horn, however, was a result of my affliction. Not the cause."
Pacing away, he turned his back for a moment to gaze upwards. "My memories are as tainted haze, but I recall still the sting of loss. Training with my teachers." The other Swords. There was hidden regret mixed with bitterness in how he spoke of that, as if there was more to the story. "And a moment of cowardly doubt as I retreated here to rest. Believing that if I'd simply tossed aside my own honor that I could have claimed victory. That was when..." His brow furrowed and he shook his head before turning back to Kirsten, his gaze lingering on the horn.
"Of the rest, I am uncertain, but I remember an offer... a temptation... And a torrent of such strong emotion that I found it easier to give into the tide than fight back." He shuddered and swished his tail. Overhead the sun was finally beginning to shine again as the clouds began to fade.
