Well, here I am for the uploadapalooza I promised for the end of my school year! Enjoy!
Wigglytuff truly couldn't have come up with a simpler, yet more appropriate name for the dungeon. It was a giant cave that was surrounded and full of nothing but thick steam. Steam Cave.
The cave was made from deep red stones, moist from the hot steam around them. The ground near the Team was the same managed green grass as before, at the Clearing. There was only a light wind here, not taking much of the edge from the sun's heat.
All in all, they knew it would be unbearably hot inside. Near the entrance of the cave was a Kangaskhan Rock... that meant they really weren't the first Team to ever enter, didn't it? Did that mean the legend Chimecho told... was true? Did Uxie really live here? Did he take away the others' memories? That unspoken fear penetrated the Team... slightly paralyzing them.
This fear wasn't lost on Sevek, who noticed this fear in its entirety. He had to swallow his own fear in order to lead and he knew it. "Guys..." looking to each of the Pokemon in his Team slowly, he swallowed the lump in his throat and continued, "I know you're all scared... I'm scared... of Uxie... but... but! I'm still going through this cave! I'm still going to Fogbound Lake! If Uxie tries to pull anything, I'll give him a fight he won't soon forget! Don't give up when we're so close! We'll never get anything done if we let our fear stop us from trying!"
Shaking herself out of her fear-based stuper, Stillbreeze regained her usual boldness, "Right. I doubt Uxie can get all of us anyways! I'm with you, Sevek!"
"That, and the fact that you have to lock eyes with him for that to happen. Based off the legend Chimecho told us anyways." Ragarth pointed this out, giving the Teammates a bit more bravery for the possible confrontation. "If we don't look him in the eye, he can't wipe our memories!"
"Then I'm with you too, Sevy!" Serenity announced, her former fear invisible to her friends.
"Good. Then let's stock up on useful items first."
"Hey Sev, what about our X-Eye Seed?"
"That could buy us some time if Uxie attacks. Good thinking Rag!" The green furred Cyndaquil glowed at his Leader's praise. His dark blue eyes had a spark in them that could only be seen as pride.
"The only problem is..." Stillbreeze said, "we only have one seed. If it takes more than that..." she cut off, not wanting to say what everyone knew would come.
"Then I won't miss," Sevek was probably as serious as he ever could be in his life.
Team Sky got their equipment, including their item of salvation, from the Kangaskhan Rock, silently praying to Arceus they wouldn't meet the same fate as those before them. They moved on into Steam Cave.
Steam Cave's interior was based on an upward slope, which made sense, as it had to lead them up to the plateau. The slope was small, however, and they knew it would be a while before they made it to the top.
Water found in the cave had settled in its place a long time ago, unaffected by the slope or by gravity, it seemed. The steam that came off the water was thick and hot, making it harder to get the oxygen that the Pokemon needed. Steam Cave's stone walls were seen only through pillars of steam, and were believed to be red. The ground under them seemed to be a mixture of red and brown stones.
The native Pokemon here were mostly Fire-Type Pokemon. There were a few others, like Yanma, Shuckle, or Snubble, but they were few and far between. These Pokemon, that could be seen as either Primals or Wilds, were stronger than those in Foggy Forest. They required a little more teamwork to defeat, but were still fairly easy to beat.
Before too long, Team Sky had made it through Steam Cave into... another cave? The cave-within-a-cave was nothing but a zone with nothing in it. Nothing but stones and steam. They walked further into the zone, noticing another opening along the circular walls of the zone. Perhaps that led further up the plateau... to Fogbound Lake? The Team noticed this and decided to rest near the center of the zone.
"What is this place?" Serenity asked. Noticing her voice echoed, she playfully called out, hearing her own voice echo back at her. She smiled in delight.
"I think," Ragarth searched through what Chatot had taught him about dungeons, looking for the right memory. Finding it, he finished, "Chatot said places like these are called Midpoint. They're usually pretty calm. He said they're good places for Teams to rest before continuing through a dungeon."
Sevek nodded, about to reply to this, when he stopped, hearing something in the distance. It sounded like a faint roaring. "Uh... guys? Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Serenity asked, growing bored of the Midpoint's calmness. She yawned.
"Nevermind. It was probably just my imagination."
"Whatever you say."
"Sorry Wigglytuff, but you're going down. The treasure of Fogbound Lake will be ours! And in order to get there," Blitz grinned, his Team preparing for battle, "you need to be eliminated!"
The Perfect Apple Wigglytuff held onto was placed carefully on the ground near a pool of water. He was silent, waiting for the Magmar to attack.
Needless to say, Wigglytuff didn't wait long. Blitz, impaitient and angry, charged at him with a Thunderpunch. Crasher combined his Bubblebeam with this as Thorn used Solarbeam to make the Thunderpunch all the stronger. The Thunderpunch turned a blue-white color, showing just how powerful the attack could be. The Magmar continued his charge; Wigglytuff avoided this by sucking in a large amount of air and floating.
The elemental fist hit the ground where Wigglytuff had been, causing a massive explosion and scarring the ground. Blitz took heavy recoil damage from this attack; the electrical charge was shocking him, making him pant in anger and pain.
Crasher and Thorn didn't miss a beat. They attacked with Bubblebeam and Solarbeam, trying to give Blitz cover and trying to even the fight a little. These attacks missed Wigglytuff as well, as he exhaled and dropped to the ground.
"Stop playing with us, Wigglytuff!" Fight me like a Primal! Show me your power!" Blitz shouted to the heavens.
Wigglytuff closed his eyes and jumped into the air, rolling into a ball shape and then back down to earth in a Rollout attack. This attack hit Crasher and Thorn multiple times, while Blitz managed to avoid each one. The two bullies were knocked into the Groudon Statue and were instantly knocked out. Wigglytuff got back to his feet after this, "Blitz, do you really want it to go this way? You won't win, you know. Just leave me and my Apprentices alone."
"Never! Not until I'm finally rid of those pests from Team Sky and have Fogbound Lake's treasure!" Fiery spittle came from Blitz's mouth as he screamed in fury.
Thorn and Crasher, waking up to this, looked at each other in fear. Was Blitz going Primal? Could they still trust their Leader? Thorn got up, followed by Crasher, and stalked off into the forest, where only the Primals could possibly be a threat.
"I'm sorry Blitz; this is over. Even your Team has left you."
"What do you mean!" He chanced a glance at where his Teammates should have been, only to find nothing there. They had abandoned him. "I don't need them! I never needed those two weaklings!" He attacked with a superheated Flamethrower.
"Let's end this," Wigglytuff murmured, mostly to himself. He let out a Hyper Voice, dissolving Blitz's Flamethrower and sending the maddened Magmar into the Groudon Statue. His claws left a scar in the statue. He had lost. The battle, his Team, his sanity. All gone.
Wigglytuff moved the Magmar behind the Groudon Statue with a few Oran Berries laid next to him. He didn't really want to hurt Blitz, he just wanted to show him how pointless it was to fight then. He knew Blitz would wake up soon though. He didn't really use much power in the Hyper Voice.
Maybe he'll learn from this... I hope so... And I hope Crasher and Thorn think through this as well. Picking up his Perfect Apple, Wigglytuff munched a little, then thought, I should probably make sure Sevek's Team is okay.
"Well," Sevek asked after the Team had rested a little while at the Midpoint of Steam Cave, "are we ready to head off?"
"Yep!"
"Of course."
"Whenever you're ready Sev."
The Team was up near the entrance to Steam Cave's continuation, when a roaring noise was heard, loud and clear. GRROOHGAHRA!
"Uh! Woah!"
"Is that what you heard earlier Sevek?" Stillbreeze snapped, glaring daggers at the Totodile.
"Uh-huh."
"Wonderful."
"Wait! What do we really know about Uxie?" Ragarth asked.
"Not much. Only that he can take your memories away by locking eyes with you."
"So... what if..."
"That's... Uxie growling?" Serenity finished, fear consuming her and the others again. Her fur stood on end after another roar.
They have a good point. This is where Uixe's supposed to live after all... Crap! Sevek thought. "Then we'll just try even harder to win or convince him we're not here to cause trouble!" Ha! Yeah right! We are so dead!
They nodded at him, still not very convinced that the plan would work, but at least they had some kind of plan to fall back on right? The roar echoed throughout the cave again, still scary, but they managed to force that fear aside, moving on to the next part of Steam Cave. Sevek paused just before entering the cave. Memories coming to him again.
The dark Grovyle was walking through a dark, foggy cave with what he assumed was his infant self, a Lucario, a grey and violet Floatzel, and the golden-brown Staravia. The cave felt very cold to him. Dead, yet familiar. Silence-the only noise in the cave. The water in the cave was dark, frozen, uninviting. Every adult seemed stressed out, angry even, while Sevek himself felt kind of happy.
They passed statues of Pokemon, cold and lifeless(1) in the cave's darkness. A few Ghost-Types watched them in curiosity, but they didn't bother acting on any impulses.
Eventually, they made it to the end of the cave, a platform with a lake in the middle. Everything in this area, also, seemed frozen, lifeless, and dark.
Walking to the lake, his younger self noticed something in the lake, shattered to pieces and eroded by Time.
"What is 'at?" He pointed to the strange object.
"The remains of a Time Gear, I assume." Grovyle said, sounding very tired, and possibly sad as well.
"W'as a Tim' Gear?"
"It keeps Time stable."
"But... it's broke."
"Yes."
"So Tim's broke?"
"Something like that." Floatzel chuckled, gaining a glare from Grovyle.
"So, let's get Jade ta fix it. Then Tim' won't be broked."
"If only that would work." Grovyle said wistfully.
"Why wonnit?"
"'Cause when Time breaks Sev, you can't really fix it." Floatzel explained, losing most of his happiness at the thought.
"That's why we're stopping Time from getting broken in the past, Sevek. We need to keep Time and Space from turning to Darkness."
"I see." His younger self nodded, pretending to understand.
"Inferno's guys are coming!" Staravia announced.
"Take Sevek and go, then!"
He was jolted back to reality by another whack to the head. "Ow!"
"Focus, Sevek!"
"Okay, sorry. Let's go."
The Team continued through the dungeon. The Pokemon on this side of Steam Cave were much stronger than those on the otherside. Some were even evolved. They required a lot more attention and teamwork to defeat than the others.
The scenery was about the same as before, but with less water and less steam. At this point, it didn't take very long to reach the peak of Steam Cave.
The peak was drastically different in scenery. Red and brown stones turned into a tan-gray stone, surrounding them from the ground and curved walls around them. The open sky was a wonderful sight, despite the sun's harsh glow. A gentle wind was felt, cooling off the tired and sweaty Pokemon, despite the sun.
They were alone, weren't they? There was no sign of Uxie anywhere. Maybe further along, past the final passage just beyond them? There was something shiny coming from that direction, after all. Probably the lake.
"Ha!" Serenity laughed, "looks like it was just a legend! Uxie's not here! Heeheehee!"
"GAROORAH!" The roar came, extremely close to them. They looked up, seeing a giant gray Pokemon with a red back that had black lines etched in it. The thing's claws were huge! And its teeth were massive and sharp. It looked like a colored version of the Groudon Statue... so did this mean... Uxie wasn't here, but in his place was a Groudon?
"Oh crap!"
"Where? How? Why didn't we notice something this big before!" Ragarth shouted, trying to come up with some rational idea, despite a sudden whirlwind of fear coming over him.
"GROOHARAH!" The beast they all knew as Groudon roared, shaking the very earth with his roar.
"Wah!" Serenity hid behind Sevek; Ragarth backed off a couple of steps; Stillbreeze and Sevek were frozen in fear.
"WHY ARE YOU HERE?" Groudon boomed.
"T-t-to s-s-see F-Fogbound Lake!" Sevek stammered.
Groudon's yellow eyes showed anger at Sevek's words; the sunlight seemed harsher, more unbearable now that Groudon was angry. "I AM THE GUARDIAN OF FOGBOUND LAKE! I AM GROUDON!"
Serenity laid down, fur bristling in fear, her paws placed over her head. Ragarth was trying and failing to find comfort in his Special Band. Stillbreeze was shaking; Sevek looked ready to either pass out or run far, far away.
"W-w-we aren't here to c-cause t-trouble! I swear!"
"MANY HAVE COME WITH THE SAME STORY... BUT THEY WERE TRAITORS AND THIEVES... THEY ALL HAD TO BE PUNISHED!" Groudon closed what little space was left between him and the Team. "THOSE WHO TRESSPASS ON MY TERRITORY SHALL BE PUNISHED! GROOHARA!"
The Guild members and Chatot all had gathered at the Groudon Statue. Corphish had told them that Team Sky had discovered the path to Fogbound Lake and everyone came running. As soon as they came, they noticed a scar in the land before them, like some kind of powerful battle had taken place there. Corphish noticed the clawmarks in the Groudon Statue and shivered. What happened during his absence?
"Corphish, was all this here before?" Chimecho asked.
"Hey hey, no! I don't know what happened! This place looked really good. Untouched even. And hey hey, now there's all this damage. I hope the Guildmaster and Team Sky are okay, hey hey."
"Come along then, we'll see if they've already passed here, with any luck of course." Chatot said, leading the Apprentices to Steam Cave. Diglett and Dugtrio stopped for a little while, hearing something like a groan. They quickly scanned the area and caught up with Chatot's group.
As they made it to the entrance of the cave, they heard a massive roar. No, Dear Arceus don't have Team Sky up there. Chatot thought, suddenly filled with fear for his Guildmates. He led everyone in a run through the dungeon.
"Hey... uh Chatot?"
"Yes Bidoof?"
"I was wondering... Corphish said that statue was a Groudon, right?"
"Yes. What about it?"
"Could you tell us anything about it?"
"Of course I can. I'm like an encyclopedia, after all. Groudon is a Legendary Pokemon, said to have created continents."
"Eek! I would not want to fight something like that!" Sunflora echoed.
"What if someone were to fight a Groudon, though?" Diglett asked, not planning on even risking a fight with the Legendary.
"Out of the question! Fighting Groudon would be like throwing your life away! He's that powerful! Just like all Legendary Pokemon."
Another massive roar echoed throughout Steam Cave. The sick feeling Chatot had eariler was back... more than likely, Arceus or no, Team Sky was up there. With Groudon. They all knew this and bolted through the dungeon, hoping and praying they would be there in time.
"PREPARE TO FACE MY WRATH!"
"Move!" Sevek screamed, tackling Stillbreeze out of the way, allowing her to dodge the monster's claws. Sevek, unfortunately, was unable to move fast enough to dodge Groudon's Slash attack fully, getting slashed on the right leg. It was bleeding pretty badly from the strike, causing Sevek to collapse on the ground. Groudon towered overhead, ready to kill him.
Just when Sevek thought he was done for, closing his eyes to avoid watching his own death, Stillbreeze snapped out of her trance and saved him with one of her vines. He opened his eyes, expecting to see heaven, but instead saw Stillbreeze. He was alive!
"Th-thanks!"
"No problem. Can you move on your own?"
Testing his leg, he found it somehow still worked and nodded.
"Good. I think we have no choice but to fight this thing."
"I was afraid you were going to say that."
Groudon attacked with an intense Fire Blast; Sevek attempted to fight this fire with Water Gun. the fire evaporated most of the Water Gun, but somehow was put out by the water. Stillbreeze counterattacked while Sevek tried to catch his Razor Leaf aimed at Groudon's head, seeming to do very little damage to the monster, until one of the leaves hit his eye, causing him to roar in pain.
Ragarth finally snapped out of his terror and used Ember, again causing very little damage to the beast. In fact, it only encouraged Groudon to attack him this time. He opened his mouth and a powerful stream of mud came from it: Mud Shot. Ragarth used Quick Attack to save Serenity and himself from the attack in barely enough time. The mud actually created a small indent in the ground.
"Y-you saved me?" Serenity asked, looking at Ragarth with newfound respect.(2)
"Yeah." He replied with an embarrassed smile. "Come on, we need to help Sev and Stillbreeze!" The duo joined in the fight.
Sevek and Serenity got into a defensive pattern, while Ragarth and Stillbreeze took the offensive pattern. Surprisingly, this plan was effective, although tiring to both sides of the fight. When Ragarth tried to use Ember, he found that instead of the small embers that normally came from him, that a jet of flame came, causing actual damage to Groudon: Flamethrower. He could use Flamethrower!
When Groudon's tail was within an easy distance, Sevek hobbled onto it, much to his Teammates' surprise. An unspoken plan was given, and they knew they couldn't let Groudon know where Sevek was, otherwise his plan might fail. Slowly and painfully Sevek climbed with his injured leg. Slowly and painfully, he made it to the top of Groudon's head. He saw the monster's eye, bleeding from the leaf Stillbreeze sent at it, but honestly didn't feel any sympathy for it.
Finally, taking every Blast Seed he could from the Treasure Bag, Sevek waited for Groudon to open hs mouth. When he did, Sevek hurled the Blast Seeds with as much force as possible, every seed making its mark. There was a massive explosion inside the beast as the Blast Seeds exploded. Groudon instantly collapsed, and Sevek was thrown from its head, unable to save himself from the hard, stone ground. An audible crack was heard coming from his right leg as he hit the ground.
"SEVEK!" They all cried as they avoided the falling Groudon and raced to their friend. They, themselves were bloody messes, but ignored their injuries, for their Leader... for their friend.
The Totodile in question was cut badly on his right leg now, and even even might have broken that leg. The rest of him seemed minorly roughed up; he was a mess.
Small fiery explosions appeared all over the peak of Steam Cave, making them wonder if they would ever make it out of this place alive. Finally, mercifully, the fires vanished. Groudon seemed to have dissappeared as well.
"So then... that wasn't Groudon?" Serenity asked as Stillbreeze used Synthesis on Sevek, taking advantage of the high amount of sunlight to help her friend.
"I don't think it was... whatever it was... it's gone now." Ragarth answered. "Stillbreeze, need anything from the bag?"
"Oran Berries. Maybe a Reviver Seed too, if he's got less endurance than I think he does."
"Got it." he searched quickly for the items, giving them to Stillbreeze when he found them all.
She cut up the Oran Berries and forced them into Sevek's mouth. Even the juice from the Berries had a noticable effect, but didn't seem to wake up Sevek. When the Reviver Seed was placed in his mouth, they noticed a huge increase in the Totodile's stamina. He woke up in a daze. He seemed okay, minus the fact that his right leg was still broken. "Owww..."
Stillbreeze whacked the back of his head, "that's for scaring me to death!"
"Sorry... ah... my head..."
"Your head?" Ragarth asked, looking at his Leader's leg.
"Yeah.. Why're you asking?"
"Take a look at your leg."
Sevek did and instantly felt sick. "Wh-what happened to my leg!"
"You fell from that monster's head after you chucked those Blast Seeds in its mouth."
Looking around and noticing they were alone again, Sevek asked, "Where's... Groudon?"
"It vanished."
"How-OW!"
"It was an illusion." A small male voice answered. "Also, if you want, I can heal your injuries before sending you off."
"Who are you?" Stillbreeze asked the void.
"I am Uxie." A small flash of light blinded them, and a little gray fairy appeared. It had two tails and a yellow head with yellow eyes and levitated a small distance from the ground.
"You're Uxie?" Ragarth inquired, looking skeptical. He didn't really have any idea what Uxie was supposed to look like, but he slightly expected more than this tiny thing.
"Yes. Would you like me to heal your injuries before I send you off?"
"Sure... what?"
"Okay, hold still please." Uxie floated over to Sevek, then used his psychic abilities to fix his broken leg. Then he went over to Stillbreeze, Ragarth, and Serenity, healing their injuries as well.
"Now, before I send you off, I'm afraid I must take your memories too."
"Wait a second! We never came to cause trouble Uxie! Believe us! We only came for information, that's all!" Sevek honestly had had enough threats today for his liking. He didn't really want to lose his memories either, not when they were cropping up like they were.
"Well, and the hope for treasure," Ragarth added, "But we'll be happy to leave without that if we have to."
"Come then," Uxie concented, beconning the Pokemon to follow him beyond the peak, towards the opening leading to Fogbound Lake. They followed quickly, not wanting to get lost.
When they made it to the lake, Stillbreeze asked, "Why the Illusion Groudon?"
"I use my psychic abilities to conjure up a physical illusion. This Illusion Groudon is used to chase off most tresspassers. Those strong enough to get past it still have to go through me later. I haven't really met others like you, Team Sky. Every Pokemon that made it past my illusion only had ill intents for this place. I couldn't allow that to happen, so I started taking away their memories."
"Ah, so then Uxie, you trust us?"
"Yes, I believe I can trust you. Now, take a look at Fogbound Lake." The fairy gestured to the lake's enormity. It was dark by now, lit only by the sunset. Still, however, greens and reds and blues all surrounded the lake. Illumise and Volbeat also did their part to light the lake. When the lake's middle started to spout, the water caught some of the sun's fading light, making it all the more beautiful.
"Wow!" Serenity's eyes gleamed in wonder, watching the water change colors.
"Yes, the geyser spouts every now and then, making this beautiful scenery."
"I get it," Stillbreeze said, "the real treasure of Fogbound Lake... it must be the beautiful lake itself!"
The memories of this place, locked in eternal darkness came back to Sevek, making him shiver. "H-hey Uxie?"
"Yes?"
"Wh-was this place ever dark or frozen, like Time had stopped?"
"No. This place has never been like that, Sevek. However, if what I guard, the Time Gear in the center of the lake, were stolen or destroyed" Uxie's words caused Sevek to remember the broken Time Gear from his memories, "something to that extent might happen. That's why I'm here, to protect the Time Gear. Why do you ask, Sevek?"
"N-no reason. Sorry. But the Time Gear... it's pretty. Uxie if you want, we'll help guard it from danger too."
"Thank you for the offer Sevek, but I am just fine alone." Uxie declined kindly.
"Good work you guys!" Wigglytuff's voice called; he himself appeared shortly after.
"Who is this?" Uxie asked, starting to wonder how many Pokemon really were climbing through Steam Cave.
"Our Guildmaster. You can trust him."
The other Guildmembers appeared shortly after, shocked by the wonderous view and the sight of Uxie. They noticed the gray and yellow fairy seemed to have a growing anxiety.
"Uxie," Wigglytuff negotiated, "If you would, please allow us to keep our memories of this place. I swear, by the good name of Wigglytuff's Guild, that we won't tell anyone about what we've seen here."
Sighing, Uxie concented again. The group was allowed to watch the night come over Fogbound Lake, then decided to head back to their camp. They headed home for the Guild soon after.
Be sure to review! And check out my poll, I need help determining which fic to focus on for a while, or whether to start a new one yet!
1) And totally not statues...
2) And thus, RagarthXSernity was born
Sev: Level 18
Rag: Level 18
Breeze: Level 18
Serenity: Level 16
Silver Rank!
