Chapter 6
Ignoring the pain surging through his limbs as best as he could, Ash quickly sprinted up the steps and dove for the remains. He stopped just shy of her as he saw her eyes flutter closed. The blood pooled around his shoes as he got down on his knees, soaking his pants as well. "Oh no. No. Why would this happen to such a flower?" he whispered to himself. Ashford didn't make a move, he just stood there, his eyes twitching in frustration. Cynthia was standing kneeling the two, her hands over her mouth with her eyes enlarged greatly.
Ash bent over May's body and began to cry. As he began to pick up the upper half and hold it in his arms, he heard her shallow breathing in his ear. It was cold, like that of an iceberg torn apart by the Pokémon of the sea, cold and moist, yet with a slight humidity. He held her head close as his eyes grew thick with tears. He brought his lips came close to hers before he came to his senses. I was about to kiss a corpse. Then, her breath finally stopped as well. He wiped the tears from his eyes and glared at his twin. He stood unmoving, the only sign of life was his beady, red eyes that glared into his mind. When Ash blinked, he still say the eyes, punching through his eyelids and into his brain.
He managed to put her down, stand up in a pure anger state without really showing it, and run at Ashford, who sidestepped and pulled the lever. The weight came tumbling down as he stepped under it. In a split second, he tucked and rolled out from under, and popped back up to tackle the demon. With arms extended, he grabbed onto the demon as they both came off the ground. They sprawled down on the floor before Ashford punched him in the jaw. As Ash stumbled back, he threw a punch in Ashford's stomach, but he barely even flinched. With that, Ashford grabbed Ash's head and slammed it into his own. Ash immediately fell on his ass as Ashford stood over him, scythe drawn out from the darkness.
Ash closed his eyes in anticipation for the end, but instead he heard and felt nothing. He opened his eyes to see Ashford was gone, a small cloud of dust where he once stood over his twin. He looked over at the remains of May, but they were gone as well. The only thing left in the room was the torture equipment and the two of them. He walked over to Cynthia, who reached up her hand. Ash grabbed it firmly and lifted her up onto his shoulder.
They walked past the fallen axe and rubble covered scratched up floor and through the door. Ashford was right. He was making these more and more painful, affecting more of me as well. But he's gone too far. He has hurt the other half of me, and he must be punished. The pain filled Cynthia groaned in agony as her limp legs were dragged along the ground. Ash only looked back in the room long enough to see the Arbok return from the hole with a bug Pokémon in its maw.
The heavy metal door slammed shut with a loud clunk behind him as they continued down the hallway. Now, the bricks gave off barely any light. At the end of the hallway however, a bright light shone out from the left. Nearly black heavy As the two approached them, more heavy black metal doors appeared in the low light. The cell inside wasn't lit up whatsoever. Cynthia reached into one of the duffel bags and pulled out a flashlight. Ash grabbed it in his hands and clicked on the light. The bright LED light shone into the cell, illuminating it quite well. A skeleton hung from wrist shackles in the middle of the room. The figure dangled its skeletal feet in ankle high water. The cell appeared to have you step down into the center where the water was.
Ash did the same in several of the cells. Most were basically the same. Most hung from their wrists, but some hung from their ankles and a couple from their throats. All of the cages were built the same, step down into the center and water up about ankle height. Some had arrows in them, burnt out torches were on a few walls. Swords and other weapons hung on the wall of a few. When they got about halfway down the hall, they peered into one last chamber. In it was a flesh covered body.
To be more specific, it was Brendan. He was dangling from his wrists with cuts and marks covering his body. His exposed chest was covered in burn marks, most likely from the torch. His eyes were turned up, exposing all the white of his eyes. A low flame torch was barely out of the water. A plain blade was leaned up in a corner. Suddenly, the torch went out in the room and the flashlight flickered a couple times before joining it.
Stranded in darkness, all they could hear was the breaking of chains, the loud splashes of water, the clickety clack of bones, the sound of metal on stone, the crackling of torches, and the grinding squeak of the doors. The skeletons had come alive. Ash sloshed through the water picked up the sword from the corner. As he lifted into the dim light from the hallway, the carcass of Brendan shook in his chains Ash placed Cynthia on the heightened area of the chamber and looked at the shaking body. Cynthia grabbed and started rubbing her legs to try get more feeling in them.
Loud footsteps could be heard in the hallway as Brendan managed to break down from his bonds as well. Brendan began to whip his chains around on his wrists as his eyes continued to be turned up. He twisted around and whipped his chains at Ash, who managed to stop them with the sword. "I don't want to do this." Ash stammered out as the corpse tripped closer to him. "This isn't you. Come on! Snap out of it." Brendan only stepped closer whipped Ash with his chains. Ash stumbled back then tightened his grasp. "This is for May!" He screamed as turned the blade and slammed the hilt into Brendan's chest. The creature doubled over and Ash lifted his foot into the creature's face. He held his face as he stumbled back. Before he could stand up straight again, Ash kicked him in the stomach, sending him back into the wall, unconscious.
The door then opened as the first of the skeletons stepped through. One swung down at Ash as he sidestepped left and kicked the spine out of it. It then collapse in a clatter of bones. A clash of metal was heard as another skeleton met blades with Ash. A second came tried to stab Ash in the gut, but he stepped back and brought his blade back on his right shoulder and across, slashing open the first skeleton's rib cage. The next one stepped through the clattering bones twirling his blade in his hands two times before stopping it abruptly with the blade facing Ash's face. It brought the blade up to its left shoulder and slashed as Ash hastily swung to his right, clashing blades again. He kneed the skeleton in the stomach area and shook up its bones. He then removed the skull from its body causing it to collapsed. After the sound of few more clacking bones, everything stopped.
Even though he didn't hear anything, he still knew they were outside. He couldn't just stay in the room forever though, he thought to himself. He looked back at Cynthia, who nodded in approval. Ash grasped the metal handle and pulled in open. He stepped back into the hall way to see flames shooting out in his direction. He got down on his hands and knees and crawled out from under the flames. He stood to see a skeleton with a torch in his hands. In the dim light, his skeleton was covered in burn marks from his torture.
It spit out a kerosene like substance into the torch, which caused more flames to rocket in his direction. He backed up into another skeleton and turned around. He kicked the skeleton's knee cap backwards and used the hilt to smash in his skull. He watched as the kerosene fluid splashed out from the wound. Their skulls were filled to the brim with the stuff. He brought his head down and rammed it into a skeleton's rib cage. As it collapsed, he grabbed the skull and a torch, placing the sword on the ground. He had it spit into the torch, sending a fireball surging into the cluster of bones, causing them to scatter. The last torch bearing skeleton came to the ones with chains and lit the chains ablaze. The skeletons then whipped it over their heads, forcing Ash to retreat. He turned around and saw there were none behind him. He couldn't even get close to them.
That's when he remembered he still had his Pokéballs, plus Pikachu, who reluctantly returned during the flight. He pulled out Pikachu's and threw it out into the air. "Pikachu!" It called out as it did a front flip and face planted into the ground. "Pika…" It said as it stood back up in the dim light. Then it realized what it was seeing was real and let out a frightened yelp. It was seeing the skeletons, the eyes in the bricks, and the flaming chains flying through the air. A loud whoosh was heard as one swept right over its ears.
"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!" Ash screamed as a chain came close the both of them. Pikachu's tail glowed bright white as he jumped up and slashed in at the chain. The weak, rusty links snapped with ease. The surprised skeleton in the middle stopped and let the chains drop. It looked at them for a few seconds before the now uncontrolled blaze raced up the chains and onto his bones. He instantly came back to life and jumped in fright as the flames crawled up his arms. He ran into a random cell and splashed around in the water, but didn't return.
The two left started stepping closer as the one with torch seemed to disappear. Ash became preoccupied with the battle. He ordered Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, which it used joyously to destroy the skeletons. The lightning skipped across the ground and jumped up at the skeleton on the left. He seemed to absorb the blow at first, but the over energized bones burst into toothpicks within a matter of seconds. The last one was struck with several pieces of his friend. Ash ran at it, ducked under a chain, picked up a blade from the ground, and stabbed the sword deep into the skeleton's skull. It let out a piercing scream that started demonically low, and rose to piercing banshee levels, then dropped back to mid range as it put its hands on Ash. The hands quickly fell into pieces.
He was so preoccupied he didn't see that the torch bearing skeleton had stepped into the cell Cynthia was in and grab her up. He was so soaked into the battle, he didn't see skeleton go around the corner into the final chamber or hear her calls of his name.
He did hear the breaking of a single chain in the cell across from Brendan's. He did hear the loud splash and thundering footsteps. He also saw the door kicked so hard, the rusty hinges snapped and let out a shriek as the door skittered across the floor. He also saw the heavily armored skeleton step from the chamber. He witnessed it thump across the floor and turn to him. It was wearing black armor with red trimmed samurai armor. It's helmet was adorned with large, blood red horns. It had a neck protector who's plates were black with red trim. From the only part of it that could be seen, the skeleton was yellowed with age. It had a obsidian black blade with a dark red holder on its right side. The one chain was around its right arm. There also seemed to be a little piece of metal that stuck up in front of its mouth. A small blue flame burned brightly on its tip. In a low, raspy voice it choked out, "I am it. There is no one above me. I am the greatest that once lived. I am it baby."