Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

The Hopeless War

Prologue

The liquid dew on the faded green grass reflected the brilliance of the rising sun like small diamonds, glistening so blissfully unaware of the carnage that had taken place just beyond them. With a soundless signal, charging feet and paws trampled the grass with a battle cry that split the eerie silence, descending upon the smoldering remains of what was once a peaceful village. A group of black mutated monsters that were once Pokemon looked up from the remains of the village with equal amounts of hatred and bloodlust. Roaring in return to the battle cry they abandoned the desecrated bodies on which they had been feasting on and attacked, hurling themselves against their attackers with wild fury.

A muscular red fox with a fluffy yellow tail ran at the forefront of the charge, plowing through the ash ridden ground with long powerful strides. A huge bird of prey with wings as black as night shot from the wreckage ahead, its wickedly curved talons poised to tear into the flesh of its enemies. Without breaking stride the red fox opened its fanged mouth and shot a torrent of intense fire at the speeding Swellow, turning the bird into a flaming comet of fire and ash before the fox tore apart the burning feathers. A Sandslash emerged from under the earth behind the Flareon, claws already sweeping in their deadly arc before a bulky Machoke, a comrade of the Flareon grappled with his own foe.

Undeterred, the Flareon charged forward fearlessly, barking orders to his strike force as the two parties met with a chorus of deadly sounds. Amongst the chaos, a human like wolf with jet black fur stuck at the Flareon, knocking the fox off balance with a spiked fist. Rolling to its feet expertly, the fire fox dodged a sphere of cracking black lightning and retaliated with another blast of intense fire. The Lucario's dodge put it too close to the Flareon and the fox made its long fluffy tail suddenly become as strong as steel and smashed the Shadow Lucario away with a powerful spinning strike. The Shadow had no time to recover before the fox's clawed paws pinned its foe forcefully to the ground. The Shadow struggled but the fox was too strong. Without giving the monster a chance to mock him with his last words, the Flareon opened its maw to shoot incinerating flames as it roared,

"Burn in hell demon!"

As quickly as it started the battle was over, the corpses of the unnatural Pokemon already beginning to crumple into ash. The few who had attempted to flee were cut down from above by aerial forces. For once, the advantage had been with the pure Pokemon, a victory that had arrived too late. The uproar of battle faded, leaving only that deathly silence that inevitably follows any battle. The small village, which only yesterday had been a peaceful place, was now nothing but smoldering ruins. Half eaten corpses lined the Village, and the strong Flareon averted his eyes from the gruesome scene. He had been too late, the demons had reached the village first. They had relied on him to save them and he had failed. A Raichu walked up to him and sat on his haunches beside his friend, not caring about the ash that was getting on his short orange fur.

"I've told everyone to look for survivors, you should get some rest." Said the Raichu.

"I'm fine." He argued, getting up to join in the search. Despite the fact that he had traveled through most of the night in an attempt to save the small community of Pokemon, he had been too late in coordinating the large force he had brought with him. He saw the burning smoke and the desecrated bodies as his fault, another failure among many.

The majority of the shelters were gone, either demolished or burned to the ground, sometimes with its inhabitants still trapped inside. Even the homes made underground were not spared from the destruction, it was a horrible sight. The brutality the Shadows employed was appalling, they had attacked everyone without mercy, even the children and kits.

"At least they all were not turned into shadows." Sadly thought the red fox. The Flareon and the Raichu came across a small den burrowed into a small mound. He was too small to enter the burrow himself, but the stench of death dispelled any hope of a survivor. Suddenly a Shadow Ekans shot from the hole, fangs bared to deliver its lethal poison. In a flash the Flareon's paws caught the black scaly head and slammed it into the earth with a sharp twist and a sickening crack. The black snake went limp, and started dissolving into ash..

Turning away, he nearly tripped on the dead body of an eevee kit that had been pulled out of its burrow before being killed. The Flareon bowed his head reverently at the sight of the barren lump of fur, whispering a quick prayer to the dead kit. No sooner had he finished uttering the last words when a massive Flygon suddenly dive bombed out of the sky and landed with a thud that made the earth shake in front of the pair.

The Flareon and the Raichu did not even flinch as the green dragon landed in front of them. The Flareon sat on his haunches, awaiting his comrade's report.

"Base camp was attacked an hour before dawn. We were able to fend them off with few casualties, but a lot of out supplies and tents were destroyed." The dragon reported. The Flareon flicked his large tail as if asking him to continue, showing no emotion.

"I'm sorry sir, there were no survivors." The dragon said with a military tone that did little to mask the emotion in the desert guardians voice.

"Tell everyone to move the camp a mile south. The soldiers will have to sleep outside until we can find another human ruin. Later we will have to relocate again." The fire type ordered, knowing that even though it was a hassle moving the huge base camp, the small change in location would provide a measure of cover until they could relocate again. He had wanted to stay longer in this part, but he knew that they must move on. With a flick of his large fluffy tail, the Flygon took a dramatic take off, ruffling the Flareon's flame colored fur with the wind. He sat where he was a moment longer before swiftly turning around, hiding his emotions to everyone but himself..

"We can't go on like this. Everyday they get stronger and we get weaker, small victories like this mean nothing."

Even though it was nearly noon by this time, he couldn't feel the suns rays. As the Dark Matter in the air had increased over the years, the sky was seldom uncovered from the thin layer of clouds, and the giant clouds of smoke formed an impenetrable shield against the light. In some areas where there were thousands of Shadows, the Dark Matter in the air was so thick that the day was almost indistinguishable from night, or so the storytellers had exaggerated, but the fact remained that things were getting worse.

With his Raichu friend still in tow, he searched around the devastated area until he came to what appeared to be a larger burrow, one that belonged to an Eevee family by the smell. The entrance looked as if it had been smaller before something destroyed it and opened the families home up to the invader. Walking inside, the smell of blood hit his nose like a wall. It was everywhere, the horrible smell of death so dense it was sickening. Two of the lumps in the room were so desecrated even their own species was indistinguishable, being simply a small one and a large on. Following a trail of blood, it lead him back outside and beyond. The Flareon quickened his pace, maybe someone had survived after all. He followed the trail until it lead to the body of a male Espeon, more than likely the father of the murdered family. Murmuring the quick prayer he had known since his days as a kit, he smelled the air once more, trying desperately to see if someone was still there, but the smell of blood only met his nose.

Determined, he still pressed on, now tracking the hurried paw prints left in the soft ground. Yet his search was fruitless, and the red fox finally turned around as if to give up and return home when his large red ear twitched from a sound.

"Do you hear that?" he asked his Raichu partner who shook his head. The Flareon stopped what he was doing and concentrated, swiveling his large ears to pinpoint the sound he had heard. For a few minutes nothing happened before the Flareon rapidly spun around and strode towards the forest. As the Flareon tracked the sound and got closer, the Raichu heard it too. It was a soft, whimpering sound as if in pain. The sound lead to a large rock next to a tree. A furry brown leg was sticking out from under the stone. The Flareon sniffed it, smelling the life still remaining and hearing the whimpering from under the rock. Muscles bulging, the Flareon grabbed the rock and flipped it over to reveal the contents underneath.

A small eevee was lying on the ground unconscious but whimpering, tearstains under its closed eyes. One of the brown fox's front legs was badly broken at the joint, bearing gashes as if from teeth. A savage bite mark was on its neck above the mane of cream colored fur, still bleeding weakly. Someone had dug a small depression in the ground and trapped the eevee there, probably a Shadow who was intending to come back after we moved on. There were a number of minor injuries all over the brown fur of the eevee, a few baring blood and a large bruise forming behind its ears from some attack that had knocked it into unconsciousness. Even worse, among the blood and grime on its coat, there was another disgusting fluid on the eevee's haunches and hind legs.

Absolutely disgusted The Raichu turned away while the Flareon reached down and grasped the unconscious form by the loose folds of skin around its scruff. He shook the eevee from side to side, trying to clean its fur from the grime and trying to wake the unconscious bundle of fur up, but only the former worked. Through his large ears he could hear the eevee's heartbeat; she was alive, at least for the moment until she bled out too much. It was doubtful she would survive much longer in her condition, even if she got help fast enough.

The Flareon walked back to rejoin with his shocked companions, carrying the only survivor. Somewhere from the shadows, a pair of malevolent glowing red eyes watched this. They glared at the Flareon with hatred for a moment before fading away, a silent vow of vengeance whispered as the black bloodstained claws retreated.