Taurus

Year after year, things turned out the same way. What made it particularly dreaded was the fact that it always left at least one person weeping over a closed casket. And of course, the casket had to be closed, always - otherwise the person or people who attended the funeral might have been driven beyond mere tears in expressing their sorrow.

They came from the looming mountains beyond the Evil Forest, the Metagross did. No one knew how many of them there actually were, just that they came round just before winter set in, as autumn's last leaves were falling.

It would all start with the whole forest going silent. Ledian, Kricketune, Kricketot... all of them would immediately halt their nocturnal symphonies when the Metagross neared. Then the sounds of trees collapsing would carry through the silent night. And then... the Metagross would reach the village, Psychic powers being used to scout out their potential prey for the night. Truly, winter rendered them into a pack of bloodthirsty monsters who only cared to fill their stomachs with some warm flesh, to keep them warm during the viciously cold snowy spells.

Old. Young. Male. Female. It didn't matter; all were equal before the Metagross.

However, some people did make it past the bloody nights when the Steel Psychics fed - Miss Koh the elderly schoolteacher and Jack the charcoal man were practially assured of survival every year. But then again, the old lady's Arcanine was aging just as fast as she was, and Jack's Golem was too slow to ever be a powerhouse in a fight. Well, Jack also had a Scyther that helped him to fell trees, but the mantis-like Pokemon wouldn't have stood a chance against the metal-armored Metagross.

So when darkness fell during the final days of autumn, the townsfolk would sleep fitfully, not knowing if they would wake up the next morning.

xxx

"The last leaves will be falling soon," came a voice from behind Jack's back, as he started to head out into the Evil Forest, "Are you sure you'll be alright going in there alone?"

"I have Goruugu and Katana," Jack replied, turning around to see Miss Koh standing not twenty feet away from him, "They should be enough to handle any punks in the forest."

"That is for certain, but what if-"

"If the Metagross come, Goruugu should be able to keep them at bay with his Fire Punches. It worked that one time when they tried to eat me."

"I worry for you, Jack. Already my Mac is too old to defend anyone but himself and yours truly... Should you fall, there'd be nothing left of us come winter."

"I'll be back before tomorrow, Miss," he said with a small smile, "They wouldn't come so early now, would they? The cold winds haven't even started blowing yet."

The old lady nodded solemnly, stepping forward to hug him tightly, "Well, I'll be on guard till tomorrow, then. Have a safe trip, Jack."

"Thank you, ma'am."

xxx

Felling trees in the Evil Forest was not an easy task; one had to know what Pokemon marked certain portions of the forest as their territory, and which trees could be chopped down without angering any indigenous specimens. A swarm of rioting Kricketune could be brutal, a trio of furious Skarmory would be deadly, and one angered Drapion would equal disaster. The forest was a Pokemon-eat-Pokemon world in itself, and even the fittest were not guaranteed to survive.

Jack had learned the tricks of the charcoal trade from his father, who had been the town's charcoal man before him. It was always safest to look for areas where the trees grew dense and where the bark was whole - Pokemon habitats tended to have wider gaps between trees, and claws were often used to indicate territorial boundaries. Sometimes, old claw marks would be gouged out and new markings forced into place; this signified the demise of the area's previous inhabitant(s). So he would use Katana's acute eyesight to locate such 'safe' spots, and proceed to harvest up to four suitable trees in one go. Goruugu would carry the logs to the cave where he made his charcoal, and if help was needed, Katan would easily slice up the logs into smaller chunks so that even he could aid in the transporting process.

Normally, the Metagross would only emerge from their mountain dens about three days after his final pre-winter harvest. Normally, they would only appear once he was back in town. To his knowledge, there wasn't a single year where they had broken their macabre timetable of sorts.

Alas, that little piece of knowledge couldn't be faulted for the chilling gales that fleetingly assaulted the mountains a few days earlier than normal that year. Red eyes snapped open, and stiff limbs clanked as they were stretched. Metal shrank when cooled, and Steel-type Pokemon were no exception to that one law of physics. Ignoring the feeling of their skins contracting on their heavy bodies, the Metagross awoke, and slowly began moving towards the opening of the caverns which formed their dens.

xxx

It was somewhere close to sunset when Jack, Goruugu, and Katana made it within a mile of the town. Although they could have probably made the journey back in another five hours, they decided to chance a night in the forest. After all, the Pidgey and Spearow were still flying high, so the cold gusts obviously hadn't yet settled in over them.

"Guys, we'll spend the night in here. Is that alright with you two?"

"Go? Golem..."

"Scy!"

"I know it's unsafe, but traveling in the dark could mean us wandering into Shiftry or even Scizor territory. I was thinking about that cave we spotted the last time."

"Scyther?"

"Golem."

"Goruugu remembers, see? It's about a quarter-mile back, but it's sheltered enough. We could easily pile up the logs at the entrance for safety."

"Lem! Golem go."

"Hmmm... Never did think of that. You still know how to use Thunderpunch, right?"

"Go."

"Katana, you still know Swords Dance and Fury Cutter?"

"Ther!"

"We'll just scare the bats out if there are any, then. I'll club any who try to attack me, so just take care of yourselves."

With nods of assent, the two Pokemon followed their master back in retracing their steps, towards a small cave which he had discovered the last time they were out for charcoal-wood.

xxx

That night, the Metagross made their way through the dense foliage, cutting a barren path through the undergrowth. Other wild Pokemon scattered before them, fleeing for their very lives. One unfortunate Ledian was crushed by the hundred-pound legs of a Metagross, only to be rapidly and bloodily chewed up by the Psychic creature's ventrally-located mouth. Even the Drapion and Scizor warily backed away from the seven Metagross making their way towards the small human town at the edge of the forest. All of them except for the Drapion and Shiftry felt brief touches of Psychic probes in their minds as the predatory Pokemon searched for prey that would put up minimal resistance.

When some of the Metagross chanced upon three minds sleeping lightly in a cave not three miles from their present location, two abruptly deviated from their path towards the village.

If a detour meant an appetizer... the humans did have a saying about 'the more the merrier', didn't they?

xxx

Jack was awoken by a thundering crash coming from somewhere outside the mouth of the cave. Katana, slightly more alert than his master, was already up and in a fighting stance facing the cave's mouth. Goruugu was soundly asleep, his head and limbs tucked into his rock-layered shell. Still somewhat dazed, the charcoal man picked up his little gas lantern, and looked warily at the entrance.

"What was that?"

"Scy..." growled the mantis Pokemon, as the logs they had stacked at the cave mouth trembled, "Scyther!"

"Metagross? But it isn't- How? Goruugu, wake up!"

As the turtle-like Rock Pokemon slowly stirred, the topmost log was forcefully ripped away from the cave's entrance, snapping cleanly in two. The broken wood levitated briefly before flying into the cave, towards the trio taking shelter inside.

"Duck!"

"GOLEM!" bellowed the groggy Golem, fists igniting as it stood before its master. With three incredibly fast Fire Punches, it decimated the flying log pieces, "Go!"

"Inside? But we don't know how deep this cave runs!"

"Scyther scy!"

"Goruugu, guard our backs! Katana and I will see how deep the cave goes!"

"Well, well, well," came a telepathic voice, "A three-course appetizer. Indeed appealing, I must say."

With that, a Metagross burst through the log barrier, long metal limbs tearing through the wood as though it was tissue paper. Behind it, another one was visible, red eyes glowing with a crazed hunger. Goruugu the Golem ignited his fists once again, even as Jack and Katana fled deeper into the cave, guided only by the faint lantern light.

xxx

"Scy!"

"It goes deep, huh? We'll need to go back for Goruugu now."

"Scyther?"

"Yeah, we do. He's your brother!" the Bug-type Pokemon hissed with disdain, causing Jack to shake his head, "The tunnel here is too narrow for the Metagross to pass through. We'll be safe once we retrieve Goruugu."

With that, he led his Scyther back towards the cave's outer portion.

xxx

Goruugu panted with exhaustion as he battled the bigger of the two Metagross. The narrow cave entrance had made it possible for only one of them to enter, and the second one seemed to waiting outside while this one tried to kill him. Of course, with his rock-solid physique, that was probably harder than the monster would've liked it to be. He hit the Steel-type with a Fire Punch right between the eyes, dazzling and weakening the massive Pokemon.

"Guh- get out of my waaay!" screeched the Psychic, some bits of audible sound blending in with its mental voice as its skin was superheated by the flaming attacks.

"GOLEM! GO!"

With that, Goruugu dished out a massively overpowered right hook straight towards the Metagross' equivalent of a face. A resounding CRACK! echoed in the cave, as his fist smashed cleanly through the rigid metal skin of the other Pokemon. Its legs crumpled beneath it, and it fell to the ground in a lifeless heap, pungent bodily fluids gushing out of its ruptured cranium. The Golem felt too tired to even continue holding up his megaton body, but another Psychic voice cut into his thoughts smoothly.

"Impressive. Though I do owe my comrade one thing at the very least; it softened you up for me."

Goruugu felt rather than heard the air before him rippling, and an unnaturally forceful gust of wind slammed into his head, knocking him out cold. Even as he collapsed to the ground, the second Metagross lazily strode into the cave and eyed the fallen Rock/Ground type, stepping over the body of its fallen kin casually.

"Pah, Golems and their stupid shells... so tedious to eat..." the Psychic commented to no one, "But still, no use wasting good meat."

As it raised its forelegs to smash the Golem's shell open, a deliciously human voice shouted at it.

"Get away from him!"

Looking up, the Metagross saw the feeble human and its insect pet approaching slowly, holding a small lamp of some sort.

"I shall do as I please, human. It was unwise to return here."

"Don't- don't you dare hurt him! Or-"

"Or what?" laughed the Metagross cruelly, as it looked the human in the eye, "So WHAT if I did THIS?"

Without any hesitation, it brought its raised limbs down upon Goruugu's shell. Jack screamed in horror as did Katana, as the Golem's head was cleanly severed at the neck, the shell being split open like an overripe melon hit by a slingshot. Dark blood oozed out of the dead Pokemon's remains, and the Metagross turned to face them once again.

"With some Psychic power reinforcing my physical strength, your Golem's shell is nothing. All I needed to do was to knock it out, and focus my energy."

"You... You... MONSTER!"

"Ask a pig what they think of a human, or a cow. See what they say, you hypocrite. And now... it is YOUR TURN!" Metagross cackled, as its gore-drenched legs stepped over Goruugu's corpse, enjoying the look of sheer shock on the human's face.

"NOT IF I COULD HELP IT!" boomed a deep voice from somewhere behind the Metagross, causing it to do an abrupt about-face in surprise. As soon as it was facing the newcomer, an incredibly powerful attack was driven down onto the top of its head. Its head was flattened like a tin can, and its legs snapped like twigs as a second, sideways blow was dealt out to it.

Jack and Katana stepped back in panic, as they watched the strange... thing that had once been a dead Metagross walk slowly towards them. It still resembled a Metagross in certain aspects, but now walked on two legs, and had some new bodily parts. All in all, the creature looked like a bizarre hybrid of a Metagross' organic steel skin and a Golem's rock-plated armor.

"Who- what are you?"

"I AM GORUUGU," replied the creature in a thundering voice, "THOUGH THIS NEW BODY IS MUCH BETTER IN A FIGHT THAN MY FORMER ONE, I MUST SAY."

"Scyther? Scy scy!"

"OH, I'M DEAD ALL RIGHT; MY BODY'S RIGHT THERE. BUT ALL I REMEMBERED BEFORE THIS WAS WANTING TO DEFEND OUR TRAINER, AND... HERE I AM."

"Goruugu... What are you?"

"... I HONESTLY DO NOT KNOW."

"Scyther!"

"Hmmm, he does look like a humanoid Bronzong..."

"I DON'T FEEL ANY PSYCHIC POWERS IN ME," declared Goruugu, now examining his new body with interest, "THOUGH IT LOOKS LIKE I'M A CROSS BETWEEN GOLEM AND METAGROSS."

"We'll let a scholar know when we get back, then... If anyone's still alive to relay the message, that is."

"Ther?"

"I FEEL... MUCH STRONGER NOW. MAYBE WE COULD STILL SAVE THE TOWN."

"We're too far!"

"FEAR NOT, MY FRIENDS. CLIMB ON MY BACK, AND WE'LL SEE JUST HOW FAST THIS NEW BODY OF MINE CAN MOVE."

As Jack and Katana climbed onto the massive, golem-like creature's shoulders, Jack wrapped his arms about his old partner's neck tightly, hugging him for all it was worth.

"I'm glad you're still alive, Goruugu."

"Scyther," buzzed Katana happily, as it playfully poked at its companion's head.

"AS AM I, JACK," rumbled Goruugu slowly, as he smashed his way through the cave's narrow mouth and began to run, "AS AM I."