Chapter IV: The Accursed One
About two weeks happened with not really any noteworthy events. We did our assigned jobs as we were told. Mostly, we stuck with outlaw missions, since we seemed to have a natural talent for that sort of thing. Then, as we were talking with some of the other apprentices, something strange happened.
"-Then the giant Clamperls were trying to sink the city, so I swam right under it and plugged a leak, with just my left butt cheek," said Kevin.
"I just asked you where you got that scar and you give me a weird, totally made up story about giant Clamperls!?" I said.
"-and Cloysters," said Kevin.
"You'll have to forgive him," said Sapphire, "he's a bit of a show-off and tall tale teller."
"You didn't let me get to the part about the Sea Aipoms living in the sewers," said Kevin.
"Can I electrocute him now!?" Asked Elena.
"No," said Fluffi.
Just then a strange Pokémon ran toward us and pushed everyone else out of the way, thrust something into my hands and then ran off without a word.
"What was that about?" Asked Kevin.
"What's that you have?" Asked Fluffi.
"The Pokémon shoved it into my hands," I said as I read the paper I was handed.
When I finished reading, I grabbed Fluffi's paw.
"We've got to go," I said, "emergency team conference."
I then dragged off Fluffi into a hidden area of the guild, out of sight and earshot of everyone else.
"What is this all about?" Asked Fluffi.
"This," I said, showing Fluffi the paper.
It read: To the southwest, along the sea coast is a forgotten pirate hoard at a place called Treasure Cove. You get first dibs on the treasure.
"The rest is blank," I said.
"A pirate hoard? Seriously?" Asked Fluffi.
"It's clearly a trap."
"But what if it's not?"
"Should we inform the guildmasters?"
"And let them grab MY treasure?! No way! We'll grab our choice of the plunder then inform the guild. Come on, let's go."
Fluffi started walking out of the guild dragging me along. All the way there I kept on thinking that this was a bad idea. We journeyed along the sea coast for a few hours before we came to the place Fluffi believed was Treasure Cove. We walked around inside the dungeon until at last we came to a dead end room that was clearly overrun with ancient traps.
"Why trap this room? And why make the traps so obvious?" Asked Fluffi, "could we be near the end?"
"The traps are most likely still active," I said pointing at a nearby Crocanaw skeleton, "watch your step."
"Don't worry, I'll be care-," began Fluffi.
I pulled Fluffi to the ground as a hidden circular saw blade almost cut her head off.
"What was that about being careful?"
"Whoops! Thanks for saving my hide."
"Just look before you walk."
"Where is this treasure anyway?"
"Well, if I know anything about pirates," I said feeling around a rocky wall, "they've probably left a secret entrance right about... here."
I pressed a hidden button and a door in the rock wall opened to reveal a cave entrance.
"Let's go," said Fluffi.
We walked into the cave and dodged more traps on the way, until we emerged from the cave into a large, open air chamber. We thought nothing of it and started to continue on until we heard a distant screeching sound.
"Did you hear that?" Asked Fluffi.
I nodded my head and we both stood in place, looking around to find the source of the screech. A little while later, a flaming bird Pokémon flew at rocket speeds and landed in front of us.
"I am Moltres! Prepare to die!" Screeched the Pokémon.
Moltres used Steel Wing on Fluffi, before I could even react, sending her flying
.
"I will burn your bones to ash! Heat Wave!"
Moltres launched a wave of fire on Fluffi causing her to crash into the far wall and effectively removing her from the battle. Then, I felt something odd happen with my bowels and looked behind me to find that I had dropped about 20lbs.
"Aw man," I said.
Moltres then started charging up an attack and I knew this was it for us. My entire life flashed before my eyes. Why were there so many Tomato Berries? That's it I'm cutting down.
"Sky Att- Ow!" Screeched Moltres in pain as a lion Pokémon used Tackle on her, stopping the attack.
"Who?" I asked in relief and disbelief.
"Filthy Pyroar! You will share their fate!" Screeched Moltres.
"No time to talk, here she comes," said Pyroar.
Moltres used Steel Wing on Pyroar, but he managed to evade it with Tackle and landed a solid hit on Moltres.
"Return!" I yelled, following up on Pyroar's attack, hitting Moltres's lower torso
Moltres's body started glowing again as she started charging up her attack.
"Now, while we have a chance!" Said Pyroar.
"Fire Fang!"
"Dragon Rage!" I yelled.
Even after taking both attacks, she still kept on charging, apparently she only stopped before due to Pyroar surprising her.
"Sky Attack!" Yelled Moltres, wrapping herself in blue flame and flying at Pyroar
Pyroar took the full force of the attack, and though visibly hurt, he shrugged it off as if it was nothing.
"Ember!" Said Pyroar, blasting Moltres with a fireball and barely hurting her.
"Return!" I yelled, but missed Moltres by a mile with the attack as she flew around it
Moltres then started gathering up sunlight for Solarbeam.
"Now's our chance!" I yelled.
Pyroar used Ember and I used Dragon Rage at the same time. The Ember seemed to cloak my attack in flames. Both attacks hit Moltres doing critical damage. Then, Moltres stopped all movement and the entire dungeon started shaking.
"What in the world is happening?" Fluffi asked. I had forgotten she was still here with us.
Then Moltres started glowing a fiery red and made a loud buzzing sound. I knew what would happen now. I pushed Fluffi back on the ground and shielded her with my body. Moltres exploded in a fiery explosion. The shockwave shielded me from most of the blast and ended up knocking Fluffi and I across the room and knocked me out.
I woke up a while later with Fluffi shaking me awake. I opened my eyes and sat up, Fluffi was bruised pretty bad from the attack by Moltres, but she was clearly more concerned about me. I took the blast for Fluffi, so I supposed I looked worse than her. Pyroar was sitting a few yards away, with barely a scratch on him. He was watching us, but he shown no emotion on his face, so it was impossible to read what he was thinking. That's when I remembered.
"Moltres!" I yelled, jumping to my feet and scaring Fluffi half to death, "where is she?"
"She exploded," said Pyroar.
"So, we killed her?" I asked.
"Not quite," said Pyroar, "Moltres was never here to begin with."
"Are you crazy?" Asked Fluffi, "that Steel Wing and Heat Wave combo felt pretty real to me."
Pyroar stood up and continued, "that Moltres's name was actually Feuervogel, an Accursed One. The real Moltres lives far away on Wild Volcano far to the northwest of here."
"Feuervogel? Accursed One?" I asked.
"Right," said Pyroar, "the Accursed Ones aren't actually Pokémon, they're merely a collection of the darkest, most evil, thoughts and desires of Pokémon in the area and amplify those same thoughts and feelings until there's naught left in the hearts of those Pokémon. Not unlike the Bittercold that was destroyed a few decades ago."
Fluffi had told me about the story of the Bittercold, a physical manifestation of all the negative emotions of the world's Pokémon. She said that the only one who could stand up to it was a human turned Pokémon.
"But the Bittercold was a giant crystal, why did this one turn into Moltres?" Asked Fluffi.
"An Accursed One's form is chosen by what the local Pokémon fear the most and may change forms with time," said Pyroar, "in the case of the Bittercold, another of the Accursed Ones, what most Pokémon in the world feared was the world becoming as dark and cold as those who lived in it, so it changed into a mysterious ice crystal. This Accursed One was not quite as strong as the Bittercold, but it was an Accursed One none the less."
"Why lie to us and hide its true name?" I asked.
"An Accursed One will try to deceive you and pretend it is something it is not," said Pyroar, "this is used to increase your fear and helps to feed it."
"So any one of these Accursed Ones could become the next Bittercold," said Fluffi.
"In a way, they already are," said Pyroar, "but you are correct."
"So then, Molt- er, Feuervogel is-," I began.
"Gone," said Pyroar, "dissipated back into the dark hearts that made it come into being."
"Is this why the Pokémon of the world are so ill tempered?" I asked.
"No, the Accursed ones just amplify the feelings that already exist, the true cause lies elsewhere."
"By the way, thanks for the save back there," I said, "but, not to sound ungrateful or anything, by why are you here? Are you hunting these Accursed Ones?"
"No, I am looking for something that exists on this continent. I just happened to be here at this time and place."
"Okay," I said.
"Good luck with your adventuring and be more careful in the future," said Pyroar.
Pyroar then leapt away from the dungeon and continued on his way.
"So, it was a trap after all, just as I thought," I said, "someone wanted Feuervogel to kill us."
"It would've worked too if not for Pyroar," said Fluffi.
"Tch, saved by the plot it seems," I said.
"The plot? Of what?"
"Let's just say that I have a feeling that this is not the last we'll see of Pyroar or the Accursed Ones."
We went on to the final chamber and found the treasure, a small wealth of TMs, and claimed the ones we thought would become of use in the future and gave the rest to Sceptile and Gardevoir, who both congratulated us for finding the treasure and scolded us for falling for the trap in the first place. I gave what little description I could of the Pokémon that put us up to the trap, then we retired to our rooms early. Feuervogel whooped us good. 'Let's just say that I have a feeling that this is not the last we'll see of Pyroar or the Accursed Ones': I had no clue just how true those words were.