Chapter 13 – Scraggy's Revenge

"The Alpha Guard protecting the planet is about to fall," The World Destroyer said. "Jirachi's despair gave me the power to knock it down to its last layer, which Votum herself is having trouble keeping up at this point."

"I heard all about it," Scraggy responded. "I gotta say, even for you, that was…" Scraggy couldn't bring himself to say it.

"Scraggy? Am I hearing a hint of compassion from you? Do you fail to learn how dangerous a feeling that is?"

"Oh, no, not at all, my liege. It's just… Jirachi…I kinda…you know. I liked him a little bit. I couldn't even say goodbye to him."

"You know that's against the Demon-type's ways, Scraggy. Mew, you were to have taught him that."

"Believe me, I tried to," Mew said. "I don't know why he keeps resisting that idea."

"Try harder, then! It'll help your standing after that failure of yours back at Jirachi's Comet. Failing to break into Pelame's Alpha Guard was quite a misstep, and to think it was because three of our enemies were enough to hold you back. I really thought I had trained you better than that."

"But wait!" Mew contested. "What about you? You could hardly get past the rest of them!"

"And what have I told you about implying that I do anything wrong?! And moreover implying that Pelame can stand in my way?!"

"I wasn't going to say—"

"You know, Mew, perhaps I've been too easy on you. Scraggy is evidently not the only one who needs to learn how things are supposed to work. And, seeing as we're all no longer kidding ourselves, I'll say now that whereas Scraggy is too weak, you are too strong."

Mew and Scraggy were taken aback by that statement. Mew felt a twinge of fear about what that could have meant. Two of The World Destroyer's wings extended out and grasped the two Vessels in front of her. Mew felt some of her power get taken out of her, just as Scraggy felt some power being given to him.

"There you go. The scales are balanced now. You are both my Ultimate Vessels."

"But why did you have to give some of my power to him?!" Mew demanded. "Couldn't you have taken it out of a few of the weaker Vessels, or even yourself?!"

"Well, maybe if you can get back into my good graces, you'll be the best again. But for now, you live with the punishment for disappointing me. Now, disperse, both of you."

A group consisting of Strike, Shadow, Bubbles, Blessing, Kelvin, and Magus were traveling down a riverbank.

"I can't feel my butt anymore," Bubbles whined after Shadow was done spanking him as punishment.

"Well, you should have thought of that before you made that lecherous remark at Blessing!" Shadow reprimanded. "Apologize to her!"

"Why? You'll just say I don't mean it."

"Okay, then you're grounded for the rest of today. You are not to leave my shoulders."

Bubbles groaned in frustration at his punishment, as he climbed up to his father's right shoulder. Once he got settled, he rubbed his throbbing behind to try to comfort the mild pain from his spanking.

"Take it from me, kid, you got off easy," Kelvin remarked. "At least compared to me, anyway. Your dad takes it easy on you compared to how my mother used to punish me."

"Oh, youth stories, huh?" Blessing quipped. "I could tell a lot of them, too. I've gotten into so much trouble, both my parents spanked me to my current hip size! And you wonder why I have such a huge behind!"

"Funny memory you have there," Kelvin said skeptically. "I heard you say your hip size is because of your dietary habits."

"Well, yeah, but still, I got spanked a lot."

"You two were apparently rowdy kids, then," Shadow quipped.

"I wasn't," Kelvin defended. "My mom was just easy to upset. From what dad told me, she's always had a short and violent temper."

"Really, now?" Blessing said.

"Yes. Come to think of it…" Kelvin sounded a bit solemn. "I was kinda afraid of her in my childhood. I always liked dad more. I…well…"

"You favorited your father over your mother," Shadow clarified.

"Yeah…" Kelvin reminisced. "Until about a month before Blessing and I met. Of course, mom's still scary when she's angry. But she stopped showing that anger directly at me. I just wish we had worked our problems out eight years ago, before all of this happened."

"You'll do fine," Bubbles said. "Daddy and I get along. Don't we, daddy?"

"Of course we do," Shadow answered. "But you do get on my nerves. But, then again, I embarrass you, right?"

"Yep, you do! I'm blushing already!"

"So is his rear end," Blessing whispered to Kelvin, who at that moment tripped over something.

"Grovyle?" he said. "Where'd you come from?"

No answer came, as Grovyle was unconscious. Kelvin took notice of the small Mortite dagger lodged in his lower back, just above his tail.

"Wait, Kelvin!" Magus said. Kelvin steadied his hand upon his mentor's order. "Mortite shouldn't be immediately pulled out like a Beedrill stinger. Look." Kelvin leaned closer to the object and noticed what Magus was pointing out. "We'll need to regress this crystal to how it was before it grew those thorns. Only then can it be safely removed. This is something that cannot be done without Alpha Power, so this won't be a lesson that's completely new, just a subset of an ability you already know. Use an ability called 'Alpha Regress,' and the thorns will retract back into the blade. Since that crystal is a small one, it will come easy."

"Okay," Kelvin said, getting his Alpha Amulet ready. "Alpha Regress." The Mortite dagger was enveloped in a gold glow, and its thorns retracted back into the blade.

"Pull it out now," Magus coached. "Keep using the ability while you're pulling it out, otherwise the thorns will grow back." Kelvin moved as quickly as he was told to, and the Mortite dagger was safely removed. "Cancel the ability after the dagger leaves your hand," Magus advised. Once Kelvin set the dagger down, he stopped his power, and found out why it was good that he didn't stop while it was in his hand. Immediately upon the power stopping, the thorns immediately grew back out of the dagger.

"Grovie!"

Celebi arrived just as the dagger was disposed of.

"Is he alright?" she asked, clearly worried.

"He is now," Kelvin answered. "I just removed a Mortite dagger from his lower back. I just have to patch the wound up." He then got a bottle of Sitrus Berry Juice out of his toolbox (which by this point was a makeshift First-Aid Kit) and poured a bit of it onto the wound, cleaning it and helping its recovery along. He finished by stitching the wound up with a medical thread Magus had given him.

"Why not use your Alpha Powers to stitch him up?" Bubbles asked.

"It can be dispelled by a Demon-type ability," Magus answered. "The same goes for anyone stitched up by the Demon-type equivalent."

"Hey, he's waking up!" Bubbles cried, almost bouncing off of Shadow's shoulder.

"Oh, Grovie! Thank goodness you're okay!" Celebi cried, embracing Grovyle. She turned back to Kelvin to say, "Thanks for your help! On Grovie's behalf, I'm grateful."

"Good to see you're safe, too, Celebi," Grovyle responded.

"Son, you may leave my shoulder only to make a proper introduction," Shadow said. "By the way, Grovyle, this is my son Bubbles." Bubbles hopped over to Grovyle to shake his hand.

"Hello, Grovyle," he said. "Nice to meet you."

"Wow," Blessing thought to herself. "Bubbles acting nice is such a strange sight."

"Nice to meet you, too, Bubbles," Grovyle responded. Bubbles then immediately returned to Shadow's shoulder to avoid getting into more trouble.

"Sorry about that, Grovyle," Magus said. "My brother grounded Bubbles. Shocking that parenting is the only thing he doesn't take lightly."

"Well, I don't think you'd let your child get away with making a joke about a lady's hip size, either," Shadow said. "Besides which, you don't even have any kids!"

Bubbles saw an opportunity to add to the jabbing, but decided not to in order to keep on his father's good side.

"Of course, he can joke about my hips as much as he likes," Blessing said. "After all, I'm the most beautiful one here."

"Too bad no one else except myself can see it," Kelvin joked. Blessing lightly glared at Kelvin, as if to sarcastically say "Good one."

"She did WHAT?!" Keldeo cried, not responding well to the summary of the events of Wish Day.

"As much as I hate to think this," Dusknoir added. "That's the last we'll see of Deoxys as well. The World Destroyer was unquestionably victorious that day."

"Come to think of it," Vand added. "I did feel the planet shield weakening. I don't think it can take much more. We need to reach the Alpha Sanctuary and soon!"

"I agree!" Keldeo said. "And I can't wait to stick my Sacred Sword right into that monster's heart! Of course, assuming she even has one, but still!"

"My goodness, Keldeo!" Virizion said, taken aback. "I've never heard you talk like this before!"

"Well, Virizion, I can't help it! Hearing what she did to Jirachi, I just… it… can't… AAAAHHHHHHH…!"

To Virizion's shock, Keldeo unleashed his Sacred Sword and sliced a nearby tree in half.

"Keldeo, calm down!" Virizion ordered. "If The World Destroyer is as intuitive as Dusknoir described, then this is exactly what she wants you to do!"

"Well, how can I NOT get angry at her, huh?!"

"I know, Keldeo. I'm mad at her, too. But we have to keep our emotions in check. Otherwise, our enemies will use them against us."

"I agree with Virizion, hmm?" Quagsire said. "As upsetting as Jirachi's undoing is, we, hmm, need to keep clear heads."

"Yeah! Otherwise, I'll win!"

A volley of dark energy orbs struck everyone down. Scraggy appeared and ran toward Quagsire.

"Who's fearing who now?!" he demanded. Before resuming his attack, he took a moment to deal with the only one who stood a chance against him.

"Lethargy!" he said, inflicting the curse on Vand, who couldn't avoid it this time. "All right, now that you're out of the way…" He kicked Vand out of the way and cursed the others. After that, he returned his focus on Quagsire. "No one's saving you now, tough guy! Dark Whip!"

Quagsire was barely able to dodge each lash of the whip. All except the last lash missed him. The last that did hit him hit his back, greatly slowing him down.

"Where is all this power coming from?" Vand asked himself, having awakened only to find himself unable to move. "He wasn't like this before."

"You haven't even begun fighting me yet!" Scraggy gloated. "Are you just gonna take it like a wimp?"

"Mud Shot!" Quagsire shouted, finally retaliating. Scraggy was quick, and deflected the attack. Though slowed, Quagsire was still able to dodge his own backfiring attack.

"Heart Stopper!" Scraggy shot Quagsire with a lightning blast. Being Demon-type allowed the attack to work on Quagsire, whereas normal Electric attacks would have failed. Unable to move, Quagsire was at Scraggy's mercy. Scraggy attacked with another Heart Stopper attack. He then approached his fallen foe, grasping a small Mortite dagger.

"…Scraggy… don't," Vand pleaded.

Scraggy brought the knife to Quagsire's chest and then dropped it on purpose. He then backed off.

"Well, I'm satisfied now," he gloated. "NOW who's the tough guy?! Oh, yes, it's me! That's what you get for punishing me so long ago! Now you feel the pain I felt! But now that you're beaten, I have nothing more to do here. See you later, you pathetic has-been!"

Just as Scraggy was about to teleport away, something stopped him.

"Have you really accomplished your revenge?" The World Destroyer asked, speaking directly to Scraggy's mind. "Quagsire still lives. You haven't accomplished anything yet. Finish him."

Scraggy seemed to be struggling to leave the scene. The World Destroyer wasn't letting him go anywhere.

"But… I don't want Quagsire to…" Scraggy protested weakly.

"Actually, you do!"

Something strange happened to Scraggy. He felt as if he was being controlled. His body moved itself forward against his wishes and threw a Mortite dagger at Quagsire, impaling his left leg. He then made another dagger and aimed at his target's chest. He then threw the knife. Something blocked it, though, sparing Quagsire a painful death. From behind, Vand was protecting Quagsire. He then tossed his Alpha Amulet at Scraggy.

"Alpha Warp!" The Amulet teleported Scraggy away somewhere. "Alpha Summon!" The Amulet then returned to Vand, who then reversed the Lethargy curse on himself and the others. He went over to Quagsire to try to help him.

"Scraggy… he never wanted to kill me after all," Quagsire said, sounding relieved for some reason. "You need to save him, Vand! You are the only one who can, hmm!"

"I will!" Vand responded. "But we need to save you first! Just hold on!"

In an empty field, Scraggy appeared, having been teleported away by Vand.

"Oh, thank goodness for that," he said to no one in particular. "I might have killed Quagsire by accident! But still…"

Scraggy was shocked at what he ended up doing to Quagsire before he was stopped. He would probably limp for the rest of his life. "…Oh, Quagsire… I didn't want this! I just wanted you to be afraid of me! I never wanted you dead!"

As he was lamenting, something started to happen to him. His entire body started to glow, and he began to change shape. He grew a bit taller, and grew a red headpiece. To his shock, his skirmish with Quagsire had given him a bit of experience. He had evolved into a Scrafty, though he never wanted that to happen under such drastic circumstances.

"Revenge is what you have always wanted to get on Quagsire," The World Destroyer said. "The next chance you get at accomplishing it will not be passed up. You're mine now, Scrafty."