Ugh… band camp. PAIN. Back to school. Meh.
Pokémon isn't mine, but the characters are.
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Picture the scene…
The Amp Plains. A wide expanse of golden grassland, home to so many Electric-types that the very ground itself is charged with Electricity.
Bordered by the Northern Desert is the west, the Mystifying Forest in the south, and the Crystal Caves in the east. Sparse trees dot the landscape, which is, as you may guess, very very flat.
Just a half mile north of the Forest's treeline, a battle wages between the forces of Burne and Circuit. Let's zoom in…
Hitmonlee and Chan find themselves locked in combat with a Sawk and Throh. The two teams trade blow for blow, block for block, neither team landing a hit. Suddenly, Chan whips his guitar off his back and plays a calm, soothing melody, joined a second later by Lee providing backup. Momentarily thrown by the sudden display, the Sawk and Throh glance at each and shrug. Sawk pulls out a wooden piccolo, Throh sits down and strums a lute, and the Hitmon brothers' jaws drop (metaphorically in the case of Lee) for a moment before their eyes narrow. The two duos' battle suddenly turns into a battle of the bands, drawing strange looks from other soldiers of both sides.
Moving on…
Blaze Wildfire slashes at a shiny Scrafty, who leaps back and runs off to find an easier opponent. Blaze grunts in disappointment.
"Wildfire!"Blaze whirled around and blocked Burnside's sword.
"You again?" Blaze parried another blow and smacked the flat of his blade against his foe's leg.
Burnside winced at the blow. "Me again." He jumped back and swung his sword in a pointless pose of intimidation. Blaze rolled his eyes.
The two traded blows, locking blades briefly only to be broken by a stray Hydro Pump.
Blaze swung lazily. "Why are you even here? You lose every time we fight. Why not just give up?"
Burnside's feathers rise slightly at the taunt. "Nice try, double," he spat through clenched… beak(?). "But it'll take more than your usual jeers to trip me up today!" He punctuated this with a double-feint.
Blaze dodged, losing only a few feathers. His eyes widened. "What's this?" he said, voice sarcastic but wavering slightly, "Focus? Not flying off the handle at an insult? Are you alright?"
Burnside chuckled. "No, no. It's just that looking at our glorious leader," he said, gagging, "I see a lot of my own flaws-"
"Admitting to yours flaws? Who are you, and what have you done with Burnside?"
"Shut up!" he snarled, kicking Blaze in the side. "You think I want to be here? You think I want to be risking my life out here, under a suicidal leader too stubborn or crazy or both to admit he's gonna lose?"
Blaze smiled. "There we go. That's more like it." He blocked an uppercut, only for Burnside to take a swipe at his sword hand and take Phoenix.
"Ha! How do you like- Ah!" Burnside dropped the fire-colored sword from his now-smoking hand. "What was that?"
Blaze scooped his sword back up off the ground. "Well, look at that. Phoenix doesn't like you."
Burnside snarled, and jumped at him.
Now we zoom back out to see that already a few Pokémon have tapped out. As soldiers fall, a green blur races through the fray and picks them up, returning them to the med-tent, regardless of whose side they're on.
Looking closer, a small, black-and-white blur jumps around the battlefield, Iron Thorns flying from its little hands
Shroud paused to catch his breath, and immediately felt the ground shake around him. He whirled around to find a savage-looking Nidoking roaring as he stands over a fallen Miltank.
Shroud pulled a couple Gravelerocks from his satchel and threw them at the Poison-type. "Hey ugly!"
Nidoking jumped and looked around. "Who did that?"
"Down here," Shroud said in a bored tone.
Nidoking looked down. "Aw, look at that. Run along, bug boy, or I'll-ow!"
A Gravelerock smacked him just below the horn. Shroud jumped up and over the Poison-type's head. Nidoking twisted around, trying to follow the little bug. "Hold still!"
"Why would I do that?"
Nidoking Roared. Shroud faltered and tripped over his useless wings. A shadow fell over him, and he rolled away as his foe Stomped the spot he'd occupied seconds earlier.
The ground rumbled for a moment. Then the ground around them collapsed.
Shroud jumped out of the hole, leaving Nidoking half-buried. There were a few shouts of surprise as pitfalls fell all over the battlefield, claiming soldiers from both armies.
Noctowl swooped down and slashed his talons across a Vileplume's flower, causing it to screech in pain. He landed and caught his breath. He was quite a bit younger than he looked, thank you, but he wasn't quite in his prime, either.
He ducked under a errant Razor Wind and grunted at the sudden movement. Hmm. The ground is a bit dangerous, it seems.
He took off again, and suddenly found himself caught in a Whirlwind. A battle-scarred Skarmory cackled at him, striking with it's razor-sharp Steel Wing.
Noctowl scowled, his eyes glowing. Skarmory stopped in mid-stroke, then shot off in the other direction, swirls in its eyes.
Noctowl steadied himself and swooped back into the action.
Several dozen Pokémon looked up and screamed as a huge green snake swooped down and swiped at Burne's army. Raquayza roared a challenge, only to chip a tooth when a huge boulder slammed into the side of his face. The dragon looked down and saw a Steelix smiling nastily at him.
The steel serpent's eyes glowed briefly, and Raquayza found himself caught in a sandstorm. The dragon banished the storm and dove at the Steelix, the two serpents coiling around the other in a frenzy.
Meanwhile, Darkrai and a pair of Sableye were managing to hold off the combined forces of Mewtwo, the two Mew, and Cressalia. Without having to focus his power elsewhere, he was a force to be reckoned with.
A Smeargle in a black beret sprinted though the throng, ducking under attacks and between legs. He skidded to a halt as a blast of water shot in front of him.
"Going somewhere?" a deep voice thundered.
Cannon's eye glowed red as he towered over the little dog-thing. The Smeargle snarled. "Get outta the way, abomination!"
Cannon's arm folded in on itself, changing into a tazer, crackling with blue electricity. "Abomination? Perhaps. But I don't like being insulted, painter."
"Ha!" The Smeargle leaped over Cannon's head, landing with a foot on each of his shoulders. "Paint this!" he yelled. He wrapped his tail around the Blastoise's neck and pulled.
His eye cycled through its various colors before settling on the default white. Cannon grabbed at the outlaw's tail, shocking himself after forgetting his hand was still changed. He grunted at the surge of electricity and forced himself to calm down.
He snapped his head back, dislodging the criminal. He sucked in a gulp of air and grabbed the Smeargle's tail with his free hand.
He lifted the outlaw so they were eye to eye. "That," he rumbled, "was unpleasant."
The Smeargle was unimpressed. "Let me tell you something, friend. I'm a Smeargle. We can learn any move, any move. All we have to do is see it once and we can copy it easily." His eyes flashed evilly. "I have nearly a hundred allies on this field today, and I know how to use Beat Up."
The Smeargle's eyes glowed orange and Cannon turned to see that about a dozen outlaws had detached themselves from their battles and were running towards him.
Cannon dropped the Smeargle on his head and popped his knuckles. "Oh boy," he said humorlessly. "This'll be fun."
The dueling storms raged overhead, and in the excitement no one noticed as the two cloud systems' focus points, around which the storms swirled, were moving.
Circuit and Burne met about a mile north of the main battle. The two locked eyes, waiting for the other to make the first move.
Their battle had already begun. Overhead, the grey thunderhead and the black ash cloud pushed against each other. Lightning flashed in the depths of both clouds, and a black snow of soot was falling over them.
Circuit's eyes drifted over towards the battle. Raquayza had started getting the upper hand against Steelix, but a Froslass had stepped in and now things weren't looking so good. Meanwhile the psychics, however, were doing better. Darkrai was still holding them off, but the four were only having to deal with him now that Cobalion was taking care of the Sableye.
"Circuit."
The General winced at the voice. He hated Pokéspeak. For some reason, whereas most Pokémon just heard plain English, when Circuit listened to Pokéspeak he heard the underlying meaning and the gibberish superimposed over each other. That is to say, he heard the English and the Pokéspeak at the same time, and it always gave him a headache.
He turned to the smoking Magmortar. "Yeah?"
"I am going to kill you."
Circuit frowned. Burne was speaking in an unnerving monotone. He didn't sound like he believed himself, but he didn't sound doubtful either. There was simply no emotion whatsoever. Circuit folded his arms.
"I'd like to see you try, fella." He popped his knuckles and raised his tails over his shoulders in the natural Electivire battle stance. Electricity arced between the glowing tips of his tails and his antennae.
Burne's smoke suddenly turned thicker, flowing off of him until he was hidden by the black fog.
Circuit raised an eyebrow, glancing from side to side.
A rumble started coming from the smog, a deep, guttural growl that made Circuit's fur rise.
And then Burne leaped out of the smoke and Fire Punched him on the face.
Forrest was nearly panicking. There were already nearly thirty patients to attend to, twenty from Burne's army, at least it's a more even fight now, and they were all unconscious and most were losing blood. The Happiny were taking care of the lesser cases, but some like Nidoking were to poisonous for them to touch, or the Bisharp, whose body cut through the bandages whenever they were tightened.
At the moment, Forrest was examining a Forretress. The steel exoskeleton was cracked in places, but it was still too solid for him to open. And that was a shame, because his X-ray Specs showed him that the little whatever-it-is was suffering from third-degree burns inside his shell.
Forrest sighed. "I really hope that thing grows back."
He charged Leaf Blade and sliced the metal shell open, blanching at the Bug-type's pale flesh (which for decency's sake will not be described. No age-old mystery solving today, folks). He rubbed a special Rawst berry ointment over the burned areas and set the Forretress down on the stretcher, taking a moment to cover its body for decency's sake.
A scream behind him made him jump. He whirled around to find that one of the outlaws had woken up, and was attacking one of the twins. The Seismitoad fired a Mud Shot at the Happiny and missed, narrowly missing another patient.
Forrest growled. "Leave the girl alone!"
Seismitoad turned to him and sneered. Ignoring the Happiny, he spat a Water Gun at a Vulpix, one of Alakazam's apprentices. The Fire-type thrashed in her sleep at the attack.
Forrest closed the distance between them in a fraction of a second, catching Seismitoad in the jaw. The outlaw was sent reeling.
I'm going to hate myself later, Forrest thought as he popped his knuckles, but I just can't help myself.
As Seismitoad recovered from the blow, Forrest grabbed him by the neck and pulled his other hand back, Leaf Blade readied.
"The doctor," he said, "is in."
"Take that, yeh daft ruffians!" Fang shouted as he slammed a group of Haunter away with his tail.
The Feraligatr felt something bump him. He looked over his shoulder and found that he and Cannon had wound up back-to-back.
"Oh, ahoy, Cap'n! How're you handlin' things?"
"Not so good," he rumbled. Cannon's shell had quite a few dents in it, and there still a few outlaws under the effects of Beat Up.
The little arc of electricity sputtered and winked out as his taser died.
"Oh, nuzlocke," Cannon cursed. His metal hand made a painful screeching noise as it changed shaped, the dents in the metal keeping some of the parts from moving into position as it reformed into a proper fist.
"Aye!" Fang barked, catching an outlaw's punch and throwing him into his ally. "I dinnae think I can keep this up much longer!"
Cannon kicked an Omastar away and readied his namesakes. "They're swarming us. We need something to throw them off balance. We need-"
"LEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOY! JEEEENKIIINS!"
The fighting came to a standstill as everyone tried to find the source of the shout. All eyes turned to the Mystifying Forest, every outlaw and explorer expecting an surprise attack.
They weren't disappointed, because Glitch and his cavalry came running in from the other direction, where the Porygon-Z had warped them onto the plains.
The battlefield erupted into chaos as a dozen outlaws went down immediately. Burne's army scrambled to regroup, but such a thing is impossible with Glitch around.
Glitch and Defect flew around the battlefield.
Glitch rammed himself into Darkrai. "By the power of Grayskull, I… have…the POWERRRR!" Glitch giggled to himself and vanished just as Darkrai swiped at him.
Insolent malware! Try that again, I-
He was cut off as a Focus Blast hit him in the back. He'd been distracted from his battle. He turned around just in time for a Mew to Iron Tail him in the face.
Glitch continued this pattern, and at the same time, the fifteen other fresh fighters he'd brought with him evened the odds out.
Cannon smiled as Honchcrow swooped down and Dark Pulsed a Liepard he'd been fighting. We may win after all. His frown came back for a moment. I wonder how the General's doing with his battle…
Circuit raised an eyebrow. When Burne punched him, there was a loud *SNAP* and suddenly Burne was on the ground clutching his hand. Circuit raised a hand to his chin and pinched out the tiny flame the blow had left in his beard.
"You done yet?"
Burne glared at him and snarled, lifting his good arm and firing a blast of flame at the Electivire.
Circuit stood in the blast for a moment, then pulled a small box from his bag. He opend it and pulled out a Ziploc bag with some sausages in it. The box unfolded in some kind of tray, and he placed a few of the hot dogs on the surface. He glanced at Burne.
"You want some?" he asked, holding the bag up.
Burne snarled and poured more heat into the fire.
"Y'sure? It's okay, they're synthetic meat."
Burne's eye twitched. With a roar of pain and rage he lifted his broken hand and added its flame to the blast. The hand bled as its shattered bones moved into firing position. Several pierced his skin, white bone standing out against the red arm.
Circuit shrugged and popped one in his mouth. He reached back into the box and grabbed what looked like a perfectly round, light blue flower with no petals to be seen. It didn't burn.
Circuit pointed the flower at Burne. It looked like it had eyes. The General grabbed the stem with his other hand and yanked.
Burne flew backwards as a gust of frigid air extinguished his flames and froze his arms solid, blocking the holes with ice.
He fell on his back and lay in pain, his body ignoring commands.
Circuit strolled over next to Burne. He stood over his foe with a look of vague interest. "What're ya doin' down there?" he said conversationally.
Burne snarled at him. "Impossible! I am more powerful than ever before! How can you shrug off my attacks so easily? How can you be so… so…"
"Nonchalant?" Circuit offered.
"…CALM?"
Circuit folded his arms and let his gaze wander over to the massive patch of burnt grass. "Let me tell you a story, Burne."
"What? You-"
"It begins about… gosh, one hunnerd and twenty years ago. On the day you killed my son."
He bent down and sat on the grass next to Burne. The monster struggled to move, but his body still wouldn't respond.
"After that day, I fell into a bit of a depression. My wife was dead, my son was dead, a war that had eaten twenty years of my life had ended just like that-" He snapped his fingers. "-and I didn't know what to do with my life, what little there was left of it. I couldn't go back to explorin,' because I'd already seen everything this world had to offer. So I wandered the world in a daze for two years. I helped people where I could, but I mostly kept to myself. I didn't have anythin' worth livin' for, and the only reason I didn't kill myself was 'cause it'd feel like a spit in the face of those that died in battle."
He sighed. "Eventually, I found myself in Pokémon Square. The town where it all began. Where me, Furnace and Drake met Lucario, and he took us on as apprentices. Where Team Storm got our badges. Where I met Electricia, my darlin' Trixie. And where the war started, when you tried to burn it to the ground."
"Where are you going with this?"
Circuit smacked him in the head. "Shut it! I'm talkin'!"
He cleared his throat. "I was a mess. My fur had started greyin' from age, and I hadn't took good care of myself those past two years. My fur was unkempt, my eyes were bloodshot, and… well, I'd've said I was scrawny, but an Electivire can't really do thin. I knew that my time was coming fast, and I was content to just wait it out.
"Then, one day, somethin' weird happened. I was sittin' in the park on my bench, like usual, when suddenly I noticed that the wind was gone, and it was really quiet all of a sudden. Lookin' around, I saw Pokémon frozen in midstep, falling leaves, floatin' in the air. And all of a sudden, someone was sittin' next to me."
Circuit looked down at his foe. Burne was staring intently at him.
"It was a red Lucario."
"Wah!" I leapt up. "Listen pal, you think you can rob an old man, then yer in fer a real fight! Put 'em up!" I stumbled slightly. I hadn't eaten in a day or two, I guess it was making me a mite unbalanced.
The Lucario smiled to himself and stood up. He grabbed my hands and lowered them. "I'm not hear to rob you, Circuit."
"How d'you know my name?"
He smirked. "I believe I'd be hard-pressed to find someone around these parts who doesn't know your name, General."
"…right." I wobbled slightly and sat back down, a bit heavily. "So what do you want?"
He offered his hand to me. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Joshua Journey. I'm here to offer you a job."
I stared at him. I took the hand and shook it slowly. "A job, eh? Sorry, I'm not an explorer no more. Team Trailblazer's in town, maybe you can catch one a them."
Journey shook his head. "No, Circuit. I'm not looking for an explorer. I'm looking for you."
"Aren't I a bit too old to have a stalker?"
He frowned. "I don't follow."
I waved it away. "Go away. I'm… I'm retired."
He looked at me sympathetically. "Circuit." He put his hand on my shoulder. "I know what you've been through. I've had similar experiences myself, but I can only barely grasp what you must feel, even after all this time."
He pulled my chin up so I could meet his eyes. "I'm here to tell you that it doesn't end here. You're life isn't over, not yet. Not if you don't want it to be."
He let go of me and turned around. "I can offer you a job that will give you new experiences, take you to exotic locations you've never even dreamed of, and most importantly, you'd once more be fighting the good fight, working to make life better for everyone."
I snorted. "Nice try, red. I've been everywhere, seen everything, won every battle."
He faced me and smiled slyly. "Care to place a wager on that?"
I folded my arms. "Why not. Show me one place in the world I never saw, and I'll consider yer offer."
His smile grew wider. "Now General… whoever said anything about this world?"
Suddenly my vision became nothing but a bright red light, and when I blinked we were somewhere else. There were trees all over, huge, freakishly tall. Then I realized that they weren't huge. I'd shrunk.
I whirled around. My tails were gone, my legs were all stubby, my antennae were gone and my ears had risen above the fur. My face had lengthened into a snout.
"What in the blazes? What happened to me?"
"You're a badger, General."
"A what?" I turned to find the voice, and if it hadn't been his red fur I wouldn't have known it was him. Now he looked like a Mightyena on its hind legs, and wearing a grey tunic or something. There was a sword strapped to his belt.
"Let me show you something." He led me through these woods until we reached the edge, and we peaked out to see a huge stone wall.
"What is this place?" I said in wonder.
"This is Loamhedge Abbey. A place of sanctuary for mice, away from all vermin and worries." He checked a pocket watch. "At least for another few years or so."
"What do you mean-" I was cut off by that red light again, and suddenly I could taste pollution. I was Electivire again, at least. Journey was human now, and wearing some kind of red clothing. He had a silvery grey belt that looked like it held all kinds of secrets.
I saw a battlefield. Humans in different uniforms were running towards each other and attacking. The boys in green suddenly dropped their weapons and flee, and a second later I saw why.
It looked like a golurk, but I think the term is robot. It was huge and bristling with guns and missiles. There a man in a hideous purple body suit in the cockpit.
"What's goin'-"
"Ssh, this is the best part."
And it was. As the purple man started shouting villain stuff about taking over the world, a young man in a red, white and blue suit carrying a round shield came running in. He gave the shield a toss, and it cut through the machine like a knife through butter.
"What is this?"
"WWII. A bit ahead of schedule… ah, never mind. This is the 2099 dimension, it's supposed to be decades fast."
"And him?"
"That is Captain America, super soldier. The man he's beating up right now is Baron Zemo."
"Not bad for a human."
"Well, he not a normal human. One more stop."
"Uh-"
Red light again. In a second I found I was that badger thing again, only this time I couldn't stand on my hind legs. Josh was that almost-Mightyena thing again, only he was a quadruped now too.
"Alright. Where's this?"
"This is the forest."
"…which one?"
"I don't know what its name is, but it is the home of the Cats of the Clans."
"The who what now?"
"They rather recently established themselves. Come."
He pushed aside a thicket and showed me what lookd like a little town. There were… dens, I later learned, and these cats, bustling around. Some were helping the older ones, others were tiny little kittens playing with a mouse. One pretty young feline was rubbing some kind of paste on a friend's wounds.
"This is…"
"Thunderclan. Eventually it will give birth to many heroes, but quite a few evils as well."
There was another flash of light and we were back in the park.
Journey was a Lucario again.
"What was all that?" I asked.
He smiled. "You're hooked I see. Those were other universes."
"Other-"
"There are over 500 universes across Reality, some similar, most vastly different. Each has their own destined heroes and villains. When one generation's story has been told, the next one begins. However," he said, smiling, "Every now and then there comes a hero whose accomplishments defy all expectation. One who rises to the call regardless of personal sacrifice, and one with the will to go on in the face of despair."
He folded his arms. "General? You're one of those heroes."
"M-Me?" I spluttered. "Are you sure? I mean, I just did what any one in my place woulda done-"
"Would they have? You faced Burne. No one else did, just you. You were the only one brave enough to face him."
"He was my best friend! No one else knew him!"
"Willing to put aside your friendship and see the monster for what he was," he said, nodding sagely.
"He killed my wife and my son. I had to-"
"And when it caused you to fall into despair, you overcame it. You stared into the abyss, and when it stared back you berated it for it."
"Someone had to do it!"
"And you're the one that did. Circuit, you've had a long life ahead of you, but my gut says it's only just begun. You are a hero, whether you believe it or not, and I would be honored if you would come with me." He grinned and stuck out his hand. "You've saved this world. What say you try saving another?"
I hesitated, then took his hand. And I smiled for the first time in years.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because. I went on and faced many foes. I worked in the sidelines, taking out threats before they became threats, and faced foes that made you look like a paragon of honor and charity."
Circuit stood and picked up the monster by the scruff of the neck.
"After fightin' you again at The Forge, and again at Dark Crater, I realized somethin'." He brought him in close. "You ain't so tough."
Circuit pulled back his arm…
The fighting, such as was left of it, came to a stand still as an earthquake shook the battlefield.
"What's going on?" Blaze yelled, struggling to keep his balane on the shaking ground.
Burnside didn't answer. He sheathed his weapon and focused on keeping his footing.
"Hoo!" Noctowl swooped down and hovered over Blaze. "It's the Guildmaster!" he shouted over the rumbling.
"What? How can you tell?"
"Don't you notice the fact theat the ground is only shaking? If this was a normal earthquake, it would be breaking up like a Hollywood couple!"
Blaze's eye twitched at the comparison. "So?"
"The shockwave came from above the surface! The Guildmaster must have punched him!"
Blaze stared at him incredulously. "Punched him?"
Noctowl turned to face where the two leaders had been moments before. "Yes. He's actually started trying now."
Blaze rolled his eyes. "I'll believe that when I see it."
"If you were close enough to see it, the sheer force of it would kill you!"
Blaze scowled. Then a thought occurred to him. "Wait…" He looked around. "Where's Burnside?"
Burne was sent flying by the blow, and landed many miles north, on a mesa standing taller than the others around it.
Amazingly, he was still conscious. He didn't know how, and frankly was a bit annoyed by it, but the only thing that he could think right now was-
"Burne!"
-Dear Arceus. I never stood a chance.
Circuit landed about ten yards from the fallen monster. The force of his landing caused the mesa to start breaking apart.
Using all his effort, Burne lifted his head to see massive, jagged cracks spreading all across the little mountaintop.
Circuit popped his knuckles and stomped his foot. The moment his foot hit the ground, a large rock burst from underneath Burne, catapulting him into Circuit's uppercut.
…
…
…
…
…
A minute or so later, Burne fell back down into Circuit's waiting grip.
The Magmortar coughed up blood. "Why…why did you never do this before? You could have ended our battle long before it ever began."
Circuit smiled. "Because I didn't want to kill you. And I still don't."
He slammed the creature into the ground, sending out another wave of cracks in the rock.
"Even after everything you did to me an' everyone else, I'm no murderer. And this is probably the point where you're supposed to talk me out of killin' you now, saying somethin' about stoopin' to your level, we're not so different, I'll become what I hate, blah, blah, blah, what a load of crap!"
He pulled Burne closed and whispered, "Burne, I hate you. I hate you with every fiber of my being. But that's not why I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you because I know full well that if I don't, you'll go on to cause more murders and suffering and all that stuff you do."
Electricity started arcing through the General's fur, leaping from antennae to tail, tail to clouds, cloud to fur.
"I've had a hundred years to think about what you've done and what I'd do if anyone like you ever popped up again." Lightning blasted the ground beside them. Circuit grimaced. "Much as I hate you, I'm not cut out for killin' folks." He tensed. "I'll try and make it quick.
Burne whimpered.
Circuit threw the warlord into the air, and the storm clouds overhead emptied their built up electricity into his body.
…
*Thump*
…
…
The cloud of ash and smoke dissipated.
…
The storm clouds cleared away. Circuit sighed and sat down.
Burne woke to unbearable pain, throbbing throughout his entire body. Smoke flowed off him, thicker than ever before, and he began panicking as he started choking on his own smoke.
"What… where am I? What is this place?"
Burne's voice echoed through out the burning, flaming tunnel that burne found himself in.
A presence entered Burne's awareness.
Lord Burne? Thief, murderer, and warlord?
Burne struggled to hear through the pain. "Y-yes?"
I felt some congratulations are in order. The voice held a hint of malicious glee in it, as though it had just played a great prank on someone.
Burne snarled. "Congratulation? For what? I lost the battle, AGAIN, and got my rear handed to me in the worst possible way! It's a miracle I survived!"
The voice laughed. It was a terrible sound, and soon it was joined by other voices laughing that sounded even worse. The sound grated against his ears.
Survive… oh, that's a good one.
Burne felt a pit of icy dread growing in the place where his heart would have occupied if he'd had one. "Where is this place?"
The flames parted to reveal a group of heavily cloaked beings. The three were wearing long, hooded black robes, and the tallest of them carried a scythe in his hand.
The tall one continued in that voice. I wasn't congratulating you on the battle, Burne. I was congratulating you for winding up deeper in Hell than any Pokémon ever has before.
"H-Hell? No…"
Oh, yes. In fact, you're even deeper than most humans. I could probably count the souls further down than you on my hands.
"No…"
Yes. The figures turned and left. Play nice and you might get moved to lesser plane. The three vanished as the fire cut off his view.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo!"
The flames closed over him, and for the first time in his existence, the fire touched him. Burne wailed at the agony. It did him no good.
No good at all.
Ooh. Dark. One more chapter left, folks!