"The Resistance Creed"
The poem just never seemed to end.
After more than two hours of trying to cram a few stanzas of the blasted Creed-code into their heads, Char and Saura were already stricken with terrible headaches.
"Ho, oh, miracle? Lessons learned and… lives retold," Saura recited.
"Something, something… It's the way we live by what we know," Char answered.
"Well, apparently we don't know this poem," Saura grumbled, rubbing his forehead against the wall. "I don't know how everyone else gets it. It just… doesn't make any sense."
Saura read the next stanza of the creed. He read slowly, enunciating every word in hopes they would stick in his memory. The words were unpredictable and meaningless. At times it consisted of random words thrown together in a rhyming manner, and at other times it hinted at some vague silhouettes of meaning. To Char, it was the most uninteresting thing he'd ever seen in the entire division base, even worse than the formal papers and rulebooks he had been given to read due to being a team leader.
It was going to take quite a while for him to garner enough interest to actually remember any of it, not to mention the fact that he couldn't actually read the text; they were in that strange Pokémon-footprint language he was not yet literate with.
"You're doing it wrong," a voice suddenly called from the other side of the room.
Char and Saura turned to meet a Zangoose. It was lounging against the far wall, reading the tablets alongside them. Its white fur camouflaged the creature against the marble-colored walls of the room.
"There's a trick to it," the Zangoose mumbled. "It's not just a poem. It's a song."
"A song? I don't see how," Saura said, looking over the stone tablets. "There's no rhythm. It's just a big pile of words…"
"There is rhythm," the Zangoose assured. "You just have to find it. Listen."
The Zangoose closed its eyes and, to their surprise, began humming. In spite of its low, raspy voice, the melody it sang was clear. It was a mysterious tune, somehow sad and touching…
Opening its eyes again to read from the tablets, the Zangoose started to sing.
Freedom, peace, and war,
Our fathers lived through once before,
Freedom, peace of mind,
One dream to live for all mankind.
Our lives sing the song, destiny goes on,
Light for the ones astray,
Those who have lost the way.
Our lives come to be, truth and mystery,
Fools that we now believe,
And lies we were meant to see.
Ho, oh, miracle,
Lessons learned and lives retold,
Ho, oh, tales of old,
It's how we live by what we know.
The tale never dies, legend, it abides,
Fears that we come to know,
Sorrows we ignore.
Dispelled, trapped in time, power in its prime,
One who has paid the price,
The final sacrifice.
Ho, oh, ebb and flow,
Time will tell if all will hold.
Ho, oh, tears of woe,
Our time is here before we know.
Our foes fill the sky, darker than meets the eye,
Watching until the dawn,
And from the light, withdrawn.
They wait for the sign, dawn of the coming time
Power sustains their greed
for only the one they need.
Ho, oh, miracle
Stars in darkness shine and glow,
Ho, oh, golden moon,
light the way through dark and gloom!
We stand on the spire, sheltered from the fire.
Timing is all we need
for efforts to all succeed.
A beast to be slain, fighting to end the reign,
Sorrow for what's been done,
we stand, in the end, as one.
Lay low, wait and grow,
Seeds of strength to reap and sew.
Lay low, keep ahold,
Await the day of fate untold.
Our call is our key, greatest mystery
Legends we call our friends
and foes to make amends.
The waves in the sea, sound and majesty,
Prayers to beckon the lord
through him, all is restored.
Freedom, each their own,
Perched upon the silver throne.
Freedom from the grave,
This is how the Hero lived.
The last is the first, breaking through the curse
Holes open in the sky,
We watch, and we wonder why.
The last turns to dust, words without the trust,
Futile is our attempt
To turn and reverse the past.
Ho, oh, run away,
Seek the victory to repay.
See, now, how we've known
in the end, we are alone.
Hypnotized by the song, Char was surprised when it ended.
"Does that help?" the Zangoose rasped. "That's how it's supposed to sound. Once I learned that, it helped. I'm learning the song fast now."
"I'm impressed," Saura said with a sincere smile. "Now it's hard to forget that melody. Thank you!"
"Good to hear it," the Zangoose said. "Anyway, I'm Zachel, trainee on Team Carrier. Nice to meet you."
(The lyrics are sung to "Great Canyon" From Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red / Blue Rescue Team.)