Riley's Self-Reflection

Between the period of March 21st 2023 and April 9th 2023, Karserus and Eragon co-wrote a Glimpse that was posted to the official Poke-Pioneers Discord server. The Glimpse details Riley's travel to the Cave of Mirrors with Lizard while Brooke, Tucker, Ralph and Noibat were travelling to see The Archivists, with the intention of evolving into a Lucario, and the trial that he underwent in pursuit of that.

## Full Glimpse

Lizard shifted uncomfortably as they regarded the mirrored surface before them, eyes drifting down to Riley standing but a few steps ahead. "Are you really sure you want to do this?" They asked the riolu, turning to look at Kommo-o hovering nearby. "We really can't go in?" The mirror only showed Riley this time, and for the riolu it would also show his human self staring back at him.

The guardian of the Cave of Mirrors nodded solemnly, patches of rust yet flaking upon their layered scales. "Yes. Speaking of which." Extending a clawed hand, the dragon regarded Riley with piercing eyes. "He cannot join you this time." One digit curled slightly, indicating the spike pendant about Riley's neck.

Riley didn't respond to either Lizard or Kommo-o right away, eyes remaining focused on the reflection before him. He had gotten so used to seeing Tiber's face in reflections seeing himself seemed almost foreign. A long moment past before he finally turned back to Liz, offing a short nod to the Salazzle. "I'm sure Liz, I have issues I need to face and ... overcome."

He glanced down to the pendant before turning his focus over to kommo-o, "So I'd be completely on my own this time?" A small shiver ran up the Riolu's spine, a twinge of fear. The fear of being alone. Something he had never been since waking up on the Plains continent. "What will happen to him if I go in there?" Riley asked as he moved back towards Liz, resting a comforting hand against their leg.

As Lizard put an arm around Riley their gaze remained fixed on Kommo-o. The old dragon hummed and tapped at his chin. "I don't know. Yet I do know he will not cease to be. Tiber does not live in that little amulet, but as guardian I must confine him. Else the trial will be skewed again." He paused, regarding Liz for a few moments. "It is your test, not his. He is not ready, nor is this the place where he must confront himself." Cryptic, but it was part of the job it seemed. "You have chosen to be ready, so all I may do is offer you passage."

The little riolu remained silent in Lizard's embrace for several more long moments, eyes moving back towards the mirror. "Right ... as long as I'm not going to be missing anyone when I come out. Don't pester kommo-o too much while I'm gone Tiber." Riley said with a attempt at humour but his tone was a dry as the air around the trio. He looked up towards Liz's face, offering a small smile, "I'll be alright Liz. I can do this. I have the two of you supporting me. How could I fail?"

"I make no promises." Tiber's voice echoed in Riley's mind in response. The revenant had been quiet during the entire trek to the cave, let alone everything that preceded this moment within. His initial response back in Savan Town when his host brought up wanting to take the trial was, predictably, an amount of incredulity and poorly-feigned annoyance. 'All that fuss for nothing' he'd said.

Liz sighed and crouched to get eye-level with Riley, giving him a worried smile to return the small one. "Come back in one piece, okay?"

Kommo-o motioned with his hand again, maintaining a wizened patience with the emotional display. They had all the time in the world, he didn't need to rush them. Though he knew all too well that sometimes aspirants might unconsciously put off their trial right at its doorstep. "Tiber will be of no issue here. If he proves troublesome I'll allow my son to think of something creative to punish him for it." He cracked a grin, chuckling mischievously.

Despite the seriousness of everything Riley chuckled ever so softly, "Kids can be scarily creative if they want to." He said before wrapping his arms around Liz and giving them a almost-too-tight hug. "I wouldnt dream about leaving you on your own Liz." He held that hug for a long while before he finally pulled away and moved back towards the mirror. Standing before it before looking back to Liz, "I promise. I'll make it back. And I'll both be in one piece and taller." Finally, Riley took a long and heavy breath and placed a hand upon the mirror.

"I don't know about t-" Tiber was cut off from his snarky comment as Riley's hand reached the surface of the mirror. It was cold, then there was a sensation of falling only for it to stop suddenly. It was like the riolu had been outside of his body this entire time and had just been shoved back into it! Senses would take time to adjust, painting the world around Riley in blurs of grey mixed with color.

It was a deeply familiar scene...a gnawing memory that had been returned before. Riley was back to being human again, at least based on the view of his hands, and was now sitting in the driver's seat of a car. Beside him was another human, an older woman. She, like the car itself, did not move; cast in shades of grey. The scene outside was still coming into focus, as if it was a memory half-remembered.

Disorientation, confusion yet lingering familiarity. It hadn't been long since he last faced this scene, but now there was more detail then ever before. This was one of the scenes that was haunting his dreams, the one memory he had of his human life.

Fear. Anxiety. Dread.

What was this? What was going to happen to make his chest tighten in terror? Riley didn't want to remember but every passing moment more details of the scene were added, colors forming in the grey. Maybe ... at least he could determine who he was with ...

And yet...she remained obscured. Her face was just out of reach, blurring no matter how hard he looked. Yet undeniably Riley knew her, she was important and at the same time her presence stabbed at his chest. While he was distracted the door on his side of the car silently opened and a metal hand reached in, plucking him free into the slowly focusing surroundings.

The Clockwork Butler. Even compared to human Riley he stood tall, stately, and imposing. He held Riley up by his...shirt? Something about the interaction was making things blur worse, skin shifting hue to reflect Riolu colors, rather than human. "Pathetic. What is it you hope to gain?" That same metallic voice from before: this was definitely the being that had managed to scare even Tiber. "Solace? Closure? You cannot erase what you have done." Riley was suddenly tossed away from the car, the nonchalant motion bearing a surprising amount of strength.

A gasping cry of shock was all that escaped Riley as he was ripped free of the car as if he was nothing more then a toy in the hand of a child. His eyes going wide in terror as the distorted colors dancing along metallic creatures head reflecting the fear right back to them. His hands grasping desperately at the arm that gripped him, trying to find some purchase to leverage himself free.

There was not a shred of doubt in Riley's mind. This was the same clockwork being he had not seen since the Shymin's island. The same being Tiber could not defeat. If it was here to kill him ... there was no way he'd survive.

With a heavy impact Riley slammed back first into the ground. "W-what are you doing here?" He grunted as he pushed himself upright, voice trembling slightly "What are you talking about?!"

"I am here to put an end to you. Failure." Stinging words from the metal adversary, their cyclopean eye gleaming crimson as it regarded Riley. "How shameful you do not recall your greatest sin." They gesticulated dismissively as they began walking slowly toward Riley. "Perhaps we should enlighten you in steps, slow as you are."

A familiar ticking began to wind up, the world around the both of them distorting even as Riley's body struggled to remain human, slowly losing that battle. "Your first truly grave mistake may be more fresh."

Riley began to retreat backwards, taking slow steps back in pace with the clockwork butlers own advances, missing the strength and power that came from his Riolu form. "Your failed vessel..." He murmured to himself, his hands reaching up and clutching over his ears, trying desperately to block out the all encompassing ticking and then piercing words from the butler himself.

Shapes and colors began to form around the pair, coalescing into the images of many pokemon. All the pokemon Riley had killed: Salazzle, arbok, lairon, braviary, and the gabite. All the pokemon Riley failed to save: Tucker, Brooke, Lizard ... But one more focused then all others, from the first time he'd seen the clockwork butler. The shaymin.

"Of all the little sins..." The butler droned, briskly overtaking the slow pace of the trembling human as their strides lengthened, moving to stand behind the Shaymin. It was almost a perfect mirror of how the scene played out once before, the twisting internals of the hollow tree forming from greens and browns. Leaning down, the sinister humanoid traced its sharp, shining fingers across the throat of the still replica of Shaymin. "...this was quite egregious, was it not?" Their tone shifted slightly; questioning, curious, but in a nettling manner.

The memories of the horrible island began to wrap around Riley like the vines that adorned the trees. He felt powerless ... he was powerless ... he couldn't save the Shaymin then and he still couldn't save them now. Riley could only watch. He could still ... only watch. Had nothing changed after all this time? Was he still just as weak and helpless as he was all that time ago? Was the mirror ... perfect? "Y-you ... what gives you the right to play God!? What gives you the right to play with the lives of pokemon?"

"We have every right. Our Master knows to do what must be done for the greater good of all. A sacrifice or two matters little when it saves the many." There was a horrendous shredding sound as the flower was once again torn from the Shaymin's neck, leaving in its wake a sparkling spray of light and scarlet. "And who are \*YOU\* to stand in our way? A failure unable to do what needs to be done. Unable to save any, ever being saved." Their voice became more intense as the ticking wound up again, faster this time. The world blurred and whirled about in a dizzying spiral, shifting to another new scene. "Thou art unable to change anything, wretched little hound, even repeated a thousand times. Just as your predecessor."

Riley watched in abject horror as he was forced to watch the Shaymin's flower torn off once more. He wanted to charge and attack the butler ... but he couldn't, he was powerless here. He wanted to yell and argue ... but he couldn't ... they were right about him. He had tried, always tried to do the right thing, to make things better, to protect and save people. But for all his power ... his efforts were more often all for naught ... or just made everything worse. The butler was right ... who was he to say what was best?

If Riley died here ... would anything really change?

As if urged forward by the human's lingering thoughs, the distorted world shifted and changed again. Showing Tucker, and the shadow scavengers. Showing his first failure.

Stepping around the scene, the butler wagged their finger back and forth like a metronome keeping time. It played out in frozen scenes: the looming mightyena, the fight, the loss, Tucker being escorted away. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Even here...you failed to protect your so-called friend. Unable to do what was necessary, even with the might of Tiber coursing through your bones! What could you hope to do against me, lacking even that?" They walked around behind Riley, his body halfway transformed into a riolu again. "So just as Tiber did you will flail and struggle and squirm, but still you shall fail."

Tears were beginning to well in Riley's eyes, the horrid memories revealing wounds that had never truly healed. A history of good intentions...being met with horrible failure. It was too much ... as much as he always tried to act strong and collected more often then not he was crying inside. Trying to steel himself with a breath he twisted his head around, his movements jittery and jolting as he tried to keep the clockwork butler in view. "I did fail ... I failed a lot." A long, shaking breath exhaled from him, "But there's nothing so called about that friend..!" The world began to distort once more, images splitting into two distinct scenes. The Zoroark's hotel ... and Salazzle's lair ...

"Is that so?" The butler leaned in, and though faceless one could imagine a cruel sneer. "And yet..." They extended their arms out openly, standing amidst the static-tinged rift between the two events. "...where were you when they needed you most? What did you do when they begged you to stop? And \*who\* suffered both times?" The scene at the hotel warped and twisted, showing images of something Riley had mostly been told of; the horrific illusory Mightyena and how it haunted poor Tucker. In Salazzle's lair was the moment it all began to come crashing down. The Clockwork fiend's fingers curled and twitched, slowly reeling the scenes forward. Movements punctuated by tiny ticks and whirrs from the bipedal machine's internal mechanisms. "Every second, every moment of your failures is known to me. Just as his were. You think yourself better? Truly...no two Vessels have been so alike!" Their tone had become sinister and cruel, whirring, scintillating metal noises underpinning their words.

Riley had always meant so well, he had always wanted to do right by other, but not even the most deluded of individuals would deny the nightmares that his actions unleashed on the world around him. "I ... I am not the same as he was. Even he wouldn't call me that." Riley's voice was shaking, doubt intertwined with his words. Even Raize had said he and Tiber were very similar. As if they story was the same ... only his was a few chapters behind. "Even if I'm not better now ... I will be. My friends, my love, and my father will make sure of that!"

"Father?" There was a sound like grinding gears as the scenes came to a halt. "Love? Friends? How are you so certain they will remain?" Bringing their hands together, the Clockwork Butler created a resounding clap like thunder. Time ticked away again, returning to the same scene as the start. The ticking slowed and it all came into focus, piece by horrifying piece. "When you cannot even stomach your own guilt?"

By now Riley's body had returned to being that of a riolu entirely, leaving him quite small compared to his surroundings. The car was still there, but it was...crumpled. The front was destroyed from an impact, and the two humans inside were collapsed toward the dashboard. One was lucky enough an airbag had activated...another was not.

As details continued to fall into place the identity of the survivor was clear. Despite the crumpled remains of the car. Despite the oozing wounds that now adorned their body, the survivor ... was Riley. Battered, bruised, bleeding, but very much alive. Step by shaking step the Riolu moved around the scene ... to see the other human ... or what was left of them. It was far from a pretty sight, but now his memory clicked in tune with the tick of the clockwork butler. The other human ... was his mother. And he was responsible for her death.

"Your own mistakes have hurt people time and again. Destined to repeat as ever.  Just as your 'father' did." Bringing one cold hand to their chest the Clockwork Butler bowed low to the riolu, that same snide tone in their voice over the ticking that had become persistent and ever-present. "Take it from one who has seen it. So submit, now, and spare all around you the catastrophe of your existence."

With tears streaming down his blue furred face the riolu's eyes remained locked onto the form of his mother. With unsteady breath shaking Riley fell to his knees, either overwhelmed by emotion or following the Clockwork butler's command. One thought bouncing through his mind, a thought once silenced through the efforts of Brooke.

"Would the world be a better place without me?"

"You know the answer." The butler's voice was cold and calculated, losing all tone outside that of one beholden to absolute logic. He stepped up behind the riolu and reached down, hands poised but inches from Riley's throat. A metallic chill seemed to radiate from them, providing a sensation like a slowly tightening collar. "For none have been made better by your presence."

Really? None at all?

No. That wasn't true at all.

Riley's eyes flashed open with a deep blue sheen. Foresight. A act of defiance against what was about to come the Riolu finally acted. Using quick attack in a attempt to combat the compressive pressure around this throat.

A clang resounded as the automata's hands were batted away, releasing the mounting pressure. A flicker of static rippled in the space, pale afterimages fading in sequence as the Clockwork Butler backed away. "You would reject a gentle end?" A hint of incredulity creeping into their words. "There is naught left but to suffer."

The riolu rubbed the back of his hand against his face, mopping up his tears before looking up to face his clockwork opponent. A defiant glint in his eyes. "Maybe all I can do is suffer. But there are pokemon who's lives I've improved and they're waiting for me outside. So I'll go through you if I have too!" His voice shook as he raised his arms defensively before him. He was afraid, terrified of this fight. But what choice did he have?

The slender creature lowered his arms, the ticking winding up again. Static tore the memory to pieces, eating holes in it like fire to reveal a familiar darkness. Like tattered photographs and fractured glass memories hovered at the border. "You would face odds known to be impossible?" This choice seemed to baffle the clockwork creature. "You know it will always be the same, you will always fail before me, just as he did. So why fight? Why prolong your suffering?"

Riley took a very slow and deep breath, trying to steady his nerves. Facing something alone even Tiber couldn't overcome, he may as well be looking death in the eye. "Everything seems impossible... until it's done." Reaching a arm forwards the Riolu conjured up his pink aura blade. The rippling energy illuminating the darkness around the combatants. "Yeah ... I know I can't defeat you. No matter how hard I try, eventually, you'll kill me. Heh ... I'd say this is hard but that's not right at all. Hard is waking up everyday and pretending everything's okay while you'll still trapped in a prison of your own mind, and telling yourself it's alright as long as everyone else is happy. Hard not knowing what you're doing, or why you bother to keep doing it. Hard, is eventually knowing nothing but anguish, when you realize how much you've done has been for nothing. But ... if I can get through all of that .. that makes the impossible a little bit easier. So ... lets find out ... just how impossible defeating you is. If you dare to try."

No hesitation was to be witnessed as with mechanical precision the Clockwork Butler attacked. He seemed to slide forward with blinding speed, the whirring of gears having ramped up to a frantic pace. Just before sharp fingertips could piece Riley's face it stopped, ticking and all. A few heavy moments passed before Riley's human self walked out from behind the butler.

He looked tired, sad, as if he hadn't slept in days and had been crying. A Riley he had seen in the mirror before...back when he was human. "If we can't forgive ourself, the least we can do is make their lives better. Right?" The reflection asked in a hoarse tone, managing a weary half-smile.

A heavy tension escaped the riolu and he sighed, the flame of determination in his eyes fading to more match the heavy gaze of his human counterpart. "Perhaps we never should forgive ourselves, we've made a lot of mistakes and many have suffered. But ... that doesn't mean that we have to have a legacy of failure. Maybe we can be a little bit better, maybe, we can be someone people would want to look up to. Even if they knew everything we've done."

Finally the Riolu moved, skirting around the butler and rasing the point of his aura blade to their chest. "If this is the real thing ... maybe we can take care of it. In this place ... maybe anything is possible."

"It's not." He sighed in somber reply, eyes turning to regard the darkly gleaming metal of the constructed foe. "We can be better. Maybe even with Liz we can forgive. Probably not...but we're never gonna forget. Forgetting would be worse..." The reflection of Riley's human form shuffled, slightly hunched in posture, touching at the border of memories. "We're not so lucky to save everyone just like that. Just means we have work to do." Another sigh, but there was a strange sort of finality to the conversation.

The Riolu's aura blade fizzled into nothing, the unnatural darkness rushing in to take its place. Riley followed his human self to the edge of the memories. "I don't think you have to worry about Liz forgiving us, they've already done that and much more." He looked up to gaze upon his human face, "The work may never end either, but we tried forgetting. And that didn't get us anywhere. But compared to what we've already managed to overcome ... forgiveness seems ... achievable."

"Then I guess this is goodbye." His human self turned to look at him, smiling with an earnestness that didn't match their weariness. "Also hello." Holding out their hand. "It's good to finally meet you, Riley." When Riley would extend a hand in turn he would find he was no longer reaching up to take it. In fact, he was fairly eye-level with his old human self. "Remember to tell Liz how you feel more. They need it."

A small smile creeped onto his face as he grasped the hand of his human self. "It's a bit like meeting a old friend isn't it? Though ... I guess I'm never going to come here again." He paused before making a small chuckle. "Heh ... I lost who I was once, I don't intend on doing so again. And Liz deserves it too ... and I think they've been waiting long enough. Don't you?"

There was a nod and the reflection's shoulders sagged as if a weight had been taken from them. "Yes. I do."

Then it was gone; the whole of the mirror space replaced by a familiar darkness of closed eyes. Riley's body was numb, sensation returning as if his mind had awakened a moment too early from slumber. His head was on something soft and warm, and the surroundings were quiet but for the occasional drip of water.

Riley squinted his eyes as he struggled to process the change in sensations, like everything he had just experienced was a dream. But one that stubbornly wasn't fading upon waking. A small groaned escaped his lips as he raised a hand to his forehead and slowly pushed himself into a upright sitting position. Just where was he now?

He would find his hands were bandaged, although in such a way that it didn't interfere with his dexterity. Similarly the sensation of some sort of wrapping around his chest became evident. "It's okay, you don't need to get up yet." Liz's soft voice reached Riley's ears, gentle arms wrapping around the lucario in a loving embrace. One thing that would be very apparent is Riley's aura-sight had become augmented by several magnitudes. Everything seemed to radiate waves of aura even though he wasn't focusing on it. Even the pendant around his neck, which pulsed slow and steady red.

Riley squinted slightly, eyes trying to adjust to light outside of the mirror. The strength of the aura around him was incredible yet not overwhelming like it was before. Was his body now able to process aura more naturally? One of his hands moved slowly to gently rest overtop of one of Liz's. "Hey Liz ... how long was I out for?" The dangles on his head swayed gently as he adjusted. He had four now, probably the reason his aura sense was stronger.

It was like stretching a set of digits you didn't know were there before. Tingly and numb at first, but quickly falling into the realm of familiarity and muscle memory as motions repeated. The dangles were, however, sensitive as Liz ended up brushing a hand over them while stroking along Riley's head. Not painful, but it was strange and new. "You were in the mirror for three days." They said somberly, reaching away beyond the lucario's vision to produce a bowl with some bread and what appeared to be some sort of...moss oatmeal?

The lucario's fur was soft, his fur was a bit longer and softer then most lucario, but not by much. Liz's words hit Riley like a bag of bricks, making him jolt just as he began to feel the fatigue that came from not having eaten in three days. "That was... three entire days?" He repeated, struggling to believe it. "It ... it didn't feel like anywhere close to that long ... Sorry Liz. You must have been worried sick about me." He glanced down at his chest and hand, he could see the shape of the spikes under the bandages. Though they seemed ... smaller then Tiber's were.

"I won't lie, I was." The salazzle smiled, looking a bit weary as well. "Kommo-o and Hakamo-o had to deal with me panicking a lot, but they kept reassuring me this was normal." The way they turned their head away and looked into the corner of the room, it seemed as though they didn't quite believe that still. Reaching again, they grabbed a wooden plate that had some berries on it, setting it nearby. "You should rest, though, and eat." Liz insisted, holding up a berry as well as the bowl to Riley.

Despite everything, Riley let out a soft chuckle. "You know, I thought we were past the days of you making sure I'm eating properly. Yet here we are again. We just both got a bit bigger since then." His movements were still slow as he got used to the changes his body underwent, but being careful as to not poke Lizard with the covered bumps on the back of his hand as he grabbed the berry. "I love you Liz."

Liz's markings flickered and rippled with fiery cerulean light as they blushed. "I-I-I l-love you too, Riley!" Their stammer returned briefly as their heart fluttered, scooting closer to let the new lucario lean on them. "W-well...you got bigger, so gotta make sure you eat right until you figure it out. If I were old me, I'd feel fat with how much I eat now..." They giggled a bit at their own expense, but the truth was their figure had become quite healthy of late!

\*\*"Mmh, but he's going to need to eat rocks or something if he's not going to get protein somewhere."\*\* Tiber's voice echoed slightly in Riley's head. Aura waves warped and contorted, forming Tiber's rough shape in Riley's vision in spite of a lack of manifestation evident. There was a clear tether binding Tiber to the pendant.

Liz didn't even need to ask, Riley wasted no time in snuggling against Liz fully and completely. Letting himself sink against Liz's form and enjoying the gentle warmth emanating from the fire type. "You might want to tell Tiber that, he's telling me to eat rocks. Which I don't think I should be doing." He said with a slight grin on his face, "I trust you behaved yourself. Or at the very least I hope you missed having me around."

Narrowing their eyes, Liz glared just in a general direction of empty space, assuming Tiber was there. Clearly unamused by the sarcastic suggestion. Tiber, meanwhile, snickered and seemed to place himself on the other side of the newly evolved pokemon. \*\*"Yeah well...it's not the same without you around. You're the only one who'll put up with my shit. Besides, now we can start training you for real!"\*\* There was a pause and the space in the aura that was Tiber seemed to slump a bit. \*\*"If...that's what you want."\*\*

Riley just chuckled and gave Liz a gentle pat to the leg. "I think I'd like that. And not just because it's nice to hear how much you care. I think, after that entire ordeal in the mirror. I think I know who I am now."

\*\*"Good."\*\* Tiber's suggested form filtered into the pendant and suffused Riley's body with a surprising warmth. \*\*"Because I'll die again before my son doesn't know how to fight like a lucario."\*\* The revenant's words would normally seem cutting, perhaps self-centered, but his presence was welcoming. He was becoming something he never thought he'd be: a mentor... a teacher... a parent.

Riley moved his free hand over the pendant and smiled to himself. "Heh, and now you don't have to worry about breaking any of my bones eh dad?" He leaned his head back against Liz's chest, "I have to focus on being a good partner to you too Liz. You deserve it after all."

Riley had a bit of a road to recovery yet. No better way than to start with a few berries now.

"I'm Riley of Team Cheer. And I'm done standing in my own way."