Ancient Ways
Dark Chapter: The Labyrinth and the Beast
Luna wandered on, plodding slowly as if in a trance, She had no idea how long she had been in the maze, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered, nothing was different. All the walls were the same, the turns were meaningless, the intersections were indistinguishable from each other. All the maze was as one. No entrance, no exit, no escape, no hope. Despair washed over Luna as she staggered on. Left. Right. Left. Right. The steps took to an unending pattern. Onward she walked, she had given up pondering how long she was in the maze or what to do next. It was pointless, nothing changed.
Once, it seemed so long ago, she had been in a rush to get through the Labyrinth. Now, the memory of why became fuzzy and vague. Something important, something urgent... Luna had a inkling of a thought go through her head, then, just as the maze nearly extinguished it the thought blazed up again. "ECLIPSE!" She yelled, realizing with horror how close she had come to losing herself entirely to the labyrinth. "Eclipse is in trouble, and I'm lolly-gagging around here! What is WRONG with me?" She stopped to think, she couldn't let the maze defeat her again, there HAD to be a way out. Suddenly she realized that the Labyrinth was like the tunnels that the townspeople stayed away from, and she knew how to get around in those! Maybe if it was the same here...
She decided to try it, and so she stood completely still and focused, envisioning her destination. Unfortunately, because she had no clue what Triplex's lair looked like, she just had to envision Eclipse and hope the tunnel led to him. Then, the image firm in her mind, she continued down the path. After five turns the walls of the tunnel changed, where once they were solid uneven rock, they had changed to steely, flat surfaces with sharp turns. At last, the tunnel opened into a large domed area with green, blue, and red lights on the walls at regular intervals. This had to be it. The Lair of Triplex. She looked around for Eclipse, but could not find him anywhere. The room was completely open and yet neither Eclipse nor Triplex could be found. Maybe she went the wrong way? She turned around to head out, but found that the door had disappeared! Startled, she backed up a few steps. Then the shock wave hit her.
"ROOOOOOOOAAAAR!" The ground shook and Triplex's cry of anger hit Luna like a missile. She whipped around again and there it was in all its fearsome and terrifying glory. Triplex, the triad titanium terror. She almost took a second to appreciate her mental alliteration, but Triplex apparently wasn't as keen when it came to liking poetry. He didn't hesitate to attack with Iron Tail. Luna scampered away as fast as she could and the attack hit the wall with a vibrating CRASH. The noise bounced off the walls and assaulted her ears, causing her to lose focus. Her vision blurred as the noise slowly faded away, she only barely leaped and rolled aside before Triplex's follow up attack came. The Flash Cannon hit the wall and once again the ringing began. It was so aggravating! She couldn't focus or see clearly or... WHAP! One of Triplex's head ran into her in a devastating and mildly barbaric Headbutt. She hit the wall hard and it was no surprise to her to hear the ringing start again. She was close to fainting and subsequently becoming a flattened corpse, when she heard a voice call out from somewhere beyond the ringing cacophony. "Luna! Up here!" It was Eclipse! Not believing the miracle she looked up and saw him in an alcove in the ceiling above.
"Luna, you have to get up here!" He kept calling to her.
"HOW?" She called back, "Your way up there and I'm down here!"
"C'mon, use your head! What is the tallest thing in the room?"
She dodged another attack, barely, and realized that Triplex was large enough that his heads were only a little lower than the ledge. She began to form an idea, a crazy idea, over the discord of the ringing. Then she took action. Triplex tried Headbutt again, but this time instead of dodging to the side Luna jumped on top of his head and poked one of his six eyes. He roared and reared upward, flinging Luna into the air in the process. She landed on the ledge where Eclipse was, a perfect landing.
"Where have you been?" She asked him anxiously.
"Long story. Right now, we have to find a way to deal with huge Mr. Tin Cans down there. His sensors are actually really bad, he probably won't even notice us at all up here." Eclipse then looked at Luna in the eyes before asking, "So, any ideas?"
Luna thought for a bit about what she knew about Triplex and what Metagross had said before about how to beat him. Then she said, "Yeah, I've got one. It's a bit tricky, though. You ready?" At a nod from him she said, "Then listen up and let's bring those losers down!"
