Chapter 24
A Failed Success
As the week passed Zero, Furno, and Quill threw themselves into their training, determined to prove to Stride that his trust was well placed. After they completed their missions, they practically took over Monty's training facilities, even if Monty couldn't help them personally. They pushed themselves to their limits, determined to get stronger so that they were never put in a situation like the one with Morpheus. Orion was more than happy to offer his assistance when Monty was unavailable despite his supposed vacation. While his help was greatly appreciated, Zero couldn't help but feel slightly off put by Orion's help. Zero was still wary of the Lucario due to his request to not inform Stride of him learning final gambit.
Currently Team Dawn Breaker were looking over the available missions on the mission board along with Stride. Despite basically giving them free reign to in regards to choosing what mission to take, he was still their to offer advice when needed.
"Do you think this one's good, Stride?" Furno asked, showing Stride a paper.
"I told you before, Furno. You three decide what mission to take," Stride said. "You three are your own team. I cannot make your decisions for you."
"But we're not asking you to choose our mission, we're just asking for your opinion," Quill said cheekily.
Stride laughed out loud at that. "Heh, fair enough, young Quilladin. Fair enough." Stride took the sheet and quickly scanned over the the mission objective. "It says here that you'd be rescuing a Watchog that went missing in Relic Catacomb."
"Relic Catacomb?" Zero asked.
"It used to be a series of catacombs that existed under an old research facility. Apparently there was something at the bottom of the catacombs, hence why the facility was built in the first place. When the place turned into dungeon, it became too dangerous for the researcher to continue. It's a fairly recent dungeon. So recent that no one has ventured to the end. There are, however, rumors that some kind of treasure exists at the end of the dungeon. That's probably the reason the missing Pokémon ventured into the dungeon in the first place."
"Hmm... What kind of Pokémon are there?"
"The dungeon primarily contains a few rock types, like most caverns and caves, though it is also reported that Bronzor also dwell in the dungeon."
"That doesn't sound so bad," Quill said to Zero. "You and I can handle the rock types and Furno can deal with the Bronzor and Beldum."
"What do you think, Furno?" Zero asked. "You'd be at the most risk if we were to go."
Furno mulled it over for a few seconds before giving his friend a determined smile. "I'll be fine. Let's go!"
"Then it's decided," Zero said with a smile. "We head for Relic Catacomb first thing in the morning!"
-Resistance-
Early the next day Team Dawn Breaker found themselves in front of the ruins. Broken stone gray walls surrounded what appeared to be the remnants of what they assumed to be the research facility that Stride spoke of. The building was completely caved in, all but one of the walls had completely fallen-though the one wall still standing was partially destroyed. Carefully treading through the wreckage and entered the shattered building.
Inside the broken building there was one shelf with a single worn out book. Curious, Zero walked over to one of the books and flipped through the pages. Unfortunately, the words were to faded to read.
"Whatcha' got there, Zero?" Quill asked.
"A book, it must have been left by the researchers when they were leaving, though the words are too faded to..." He trailed off as he found a page with a single sentence that was actually legible. "Hang on, I can read this part!"
"What's it say?"
"It says 'the treasures dwell with... To retrieve one must prove themselves. The guardians exist within...', the rest is too smudged to read."
"Pieces? I wonder what it means by that."
"Guys, we don't have time to read treasure books. We have a mission to do," Furno called, snapping the duo from their thoughts.
"Right, sorry Furno," Zero said sheepishly, pocketing the small book for a later time. "So where's the entrance to the dungeon."
"My pokés on the giant hole in the middle of the room," Quill said, gesturing to the gaping hole in the center of the room.
"How'd I not notice that," Zero muttered under his breath. Walking over to the hole, Zero saw a staircase that led to what looked to be a basement, however Zero noticed a slight shimmer in the air, indicating a distortion of space. "Looks like this is it. Let's go!"
Relic Catacomb B1
When the group entered the catacombs they immediately noticed the silence the permeated the dungeon. Unlike their previous dungeons where there was always either the sound of wild Pokémon or wind, it was completely silent. It was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.
"Well, this is weird," Zero whispered, unconsciously not wanting to disturb the silence.
"Yeah, it's unnerving how quiet it is," Furno commented, nervously looking around.
"This could pose as a problem," Quill said, suddenly serious.
"What do you mean, Quill?" Furno asked.
"Because it's so quiet, wild Pokémon will be attracted to the sounds we make. Especially considering that most of the Pokémon here float."
No sooner had he said this, a Geodude suddenly barreled into the room that they, giving off a roar that sounded like someone was gargling marbles. The Geodude then curled itself into a ball and rolled towards the group at startling speeds. Zero immediately took initiative and jumped in front of the speeding Geodude and held out his hands as if to catch the Pokémon. The rolling Geodude slammed into Zero, causing him to grunt in exertion as he was pushed back a couple feet before he was able to stop himself and hold the still rolling Geodude in place. There was a flash of light from Zero's paws as he used a dual force palm attack as he was holding the Geodude.
The Geodude flew across the room before slamming into the wall. It gave a pained groan before it collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.
"I take it that that's what you're talking about," Zero commented, shaking his paws to rid himself of the burning pain of having basically rock spin rapidly in his paws.
"Yep, we should probably get out of here now before more Pokémon become attracted to the explosion," Quill said, glancing at the entrances to the room.
"Good plan," Zero agreed, leading his team down a random hallway, taking extra care to be as quiet as possible.
-Resistance-
Relic Catacomb B5
As the group traveled they took care to be as quiet as they could be, something that was very difficult considering it was dead silent in the dungeon. Since they did not know what floor to find Watchog on, they had to search the entire floor, leading them to fight multiple Pokémon-though they had not seen Beldum or Bronzor yet. So far they were able to defeat them with relative ease, but they were constantly fighting, meaning they would eventually tire out. The trio entered the next floor cautiously in case there was a Pokémon already in the room, but were still surprised to see that the layout had changed.
Instead of the stone gray walls that the trio had become accustomed to, the walls were now a dull brown mud-like color. The strangest thing about the new layout were the engravings that stretched along the walls.
"What the..." Zero trailed off as he observed the carvings. They looked like the footprints of Pokémon, but they were arranged in such a way that led Zero to believe that they weren't simple impressions in the stone.
"These look like footprint runes," Quill commented, inspecting the walls. Upon seeing Zero and Furno's imploring looks, he elaborated. "They used to be our form of writing before unknown script was invented by humans several hundred years ago."
"Humans created unknown script?" Zero asked in interest.
"So the legend goes," was Quill's nonchalant answer.
"Can you read them?" Furno asked.
"What do I look like? Some kind of archaeologist?" Quill joked.
"So they don't have a class for that in the division's training program?" Furno asked jokingly
Quill raised an eyebrow, a small smile on his face. "Sorry to disappoint, but we don't learn everything during our training program."
"And here I was thinking that your were a fountain a wisdom."
"Guys, could you save the sarcastic comments for after we complete this mission," Zero interrupted, causing the duo to blush.
"Sorry, Zero," they chorused.
"Why do I have to be the mature one?" Zero grumbled under his breath.
"HEY!" Zero couldn't help but chuckle at his friends. He turned to head down a hallway, but was stopped when something hard and metallic slammed into his chest.
Zero hit the ground with a grunt, completely caught unprepared by the attack. Looking up he saw a floating blue-green medal like Pokémon with six spherical protrusions around the rim and two glowing yellow eyes that were glaring at the Riolu.
With a metallic chiming sound, the Pokémon dashed towards Zero, forcing him to roll out of the way as to not be hit again.
"That's a Bronzor!" Quill exclaimed. "So they do live here."
"Less gawking, more fighting," Zero said, charging up a vacuum wave and hurling it at the floating steel-psychic type. Unfortunately, the Bronzor was able to dodge the attack and became even angrier at Zero. Its eyes flashed blue and Zero suddenly felt the familiar feeling of being weightless before pain shot through his body.
"Zero!" Furno shouted before blasting the Bronzor away with a well place flamethrower.
The Bronzor gave a shrill cry as the flames licked at its body, causing it to concentration and drop Zero. Quill then finished off the bronze Pokémon by firing off a pin missile attack, sending the Pokémon into blissful unconsciousness.
"Thanks," Zero said, getting to his feet, the pain passing.
"See, we I can be mature," Quill commented in a slightly smug way. "I don't know about Furno though..."
"Not the time, Quill!" Furno grumbled. "We need to get out before more Pokémon show up!"
"Too late," Zero commented, pointing to the hallway where a Geodude, Roggenrola, and Drilbur had just entered.
"Why us?" Furno moaned.
-Resistance-
After dealing with the three Pokémon, the trio made their way through the dungeon. They found the stairs in the third room they checked, but opted to continue, unsure if the Watchog was on that floor or not. They were gearing up to go to head back to the stair room when a terrified yell echoed through the catacombs.
"GAAAH!"
"You guys hear that?" Zero asked.
"Yeah, that must have been Watchog," Furno said, furrowing his eyebrows in worry and determination.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Quill said.
The trio quickly ran through the twisting hallways, following the distressed screams of who they assumed to be the missing Pokémon. Following the shouts and screams, the trio entered a rather spacious room and saw a Watchog-most likely their client-cowering in a corner with a large blue-green bell-like floating towards them.
"Th-That's a Bronzong!" Quill gasped. "They're the evolved form of Bronzor. They're known for their high defensive capabilities!"
"Well it's attacking our client, so it needs to be dealt with!" Zero said, hurling a vacuum wave at the Bronzong.
The wave of blue wind cut through the air and slammed into the Bronzong's unguarded back, causing it to falter in the air. The large Pokémon slowly turned to face the trio and glared-not that one could tell since its eyes looked like they were painted on. The two arms on its head glowed a dull blue before it started to spin like a top.
"Gyro ball! Look out!" Quill called out just as the spinning top that was the Bronzong flew towards them, forcing them to scatter.
Zero quickly regained his footing and dashed towards the Bronzong with a quick attack. Unfortunately, being a steel type, normal moves like quick attack barely did anything and Zero bounced for the Bronzong's metal body with a light ping. The Bronzong turned towards the slightly dazed Riolu and tackled him, sending him careening through the air.
Before the Bronzong could pursue Zero, Furno slammed into it with a flame wheel, causing it to give out a slightly robotic screech. With the Bronzong currently indisposed, Quill made his way to his leader and helped him to his feet.
"Normal type moves aren't effective against steel types, remember?"
"I do now," Zero groaned, getting to his feet, causing Quill to chuckle before he ran at the Bronzong.
Just as Quill reached the Bronzong it had just fired an eye beam-which he recognized as an extrasensory attack-at Furno, sending the poor Chimchar flying. Seeing his friend get hit, he glared at the larger Pokémon and raised his arm. It glowed bright white before he slammed it into the Bronzong's side. Following up with his attack he fired a close range pin missile attack at the Bronzong, causing a small explosion to encompass the two.
Unable to see, Quill did not have enough time to react when two glowing eyes and the extrasensory attack that came from them. Quill cried out in pain as the twin beams slammed into his chest. He burst from the smoke cloud and slammed into the ground.
The Bronzong floated out of the remnants, eyes trained on Quill. It then lifted its body so that the bottom of its bell-like body was facing Quill. A silver glow emanated from the bell before a large blast of metallic energy cut through the air towards Quill. Thankfully, Quill recovered enough to dodge the approaching flash cannon -which carved a rather large hole into the stone floor.
It was then that Furno blasted the floating Pokémon with a torrent of flames. The Bronzong screeched in pain before falling towards the ground. Just before the Pokémon fell to the ground it caught itself, though it was floating haphazardly. Before it could fully recover, Zero dashed at its exposed back and slammed a force palm into the Pokémon's metal body. With a flash of light, and a final pained screech, the Bronzong fell unto the ground, creating a loud metallic echo when its metal body hit solid stone.
"Phew! That was intense," Quill commented dryly.
"You okay, Quill?" Furno asked, helping his friend to his feet.
"Yeah, nothing an oran berry won't fix."
"Um, excuse me!" The trio jumped at the unfamiliar voice having completely forgotten about the other Pokémon in the room. They turned and saw the Watchog with his arms crossed, tapping his foot impatiently.
"Oh, right! Are you okay, sir?" Furno asked.
"Oh, I'm perfectly fine," the Watchog. "I've just had a run in with a powerful Pokémon! How do you think I am?!"
"I'm... sorry sir?" Furno said uncertainly. "Do you want an oran berry."
"No, I didn't get hit," the Watchog said, waving his hand dismissively before walking over to one of the walls.
"Um... sir?" Quill asked tentatively.
"Quiet! I'm trying to focus!" the Watchog snapped.
"Um... we were sent here to rescue you," Zero tried.
"Rescue me? Whatever for?" the Watchog asked, not turning away from the wall.
"Well you have been in here for three days without any contact."
"Really? It's been that long? Though I suppose the flow of time is different within a mystery dungeon. Another thing I'll have to research once I am done here..." The Watchog continued to murmur under his breath as he continued to look at the footprint runes on the wall.
"What do you mean by 'research'?" Quill questioned.
"Hmm? You mean you don't know who I am?!" the Watchog asked in shock. He spun around and faced the group, glaring slightly. "I'll have you know that I am Professor Tiberius! The top most researcher on mystery dungeons!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...You're kidding, right?" At the trio's silence, Tiberius rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Why did I have to get stuck with a bunch of kids? I study dungeons and how they're formed!"
"Have you discovered why they form?" Zero asked curiously.
"The professor shot a dirty look at Zero, thinking that the young Riolu was mocking him. "No, I haven't! No one has!" he growled angrily. "Anyway, as you can see, I'm fine, so leave me to my work."
The trio looked at each other in uncertainty. "Um, we can't exactly do that," Furno managed to say.
"Well I'm not leaving until I get to the end of this dungeon!" Tiberius bit back. "It is imperative to my research that I reach the end of this dungeon. I believe that I will be closer to a reason behind the spontaneous creation of mystery dungeons by reaching the end of this dungeon."
"But we were sent to-"
"To rescue me, I know, but, as you can see, I am in no need of rescue."
"This coming from the one that was about to be crushed by a Bronzong," Quill muttered under his breath, though Tiberius heard him.
"I admit, I was...blindsided by that...thing. And it has been tough for a normal type like me to traverse this dungeon. That and I came ill-prepared..." He trailed off, his gaze roaming over the trio before him. "Hmm...that could work."
"What could work?" Furno asked.
"I've decided, you three will accompany me as I go through this dungeon!"
"Wh-What?!" Furno stuttered.
"Since you cannot leave me here alone and I refuse to leave until I get to the end of this dungeon, you three will protect me until I get through the dungeon!"
"Um..." Furno glanced at his teammates. "Guys?"
"Are mission is to bring him back and since he won't leave, this would be the best course of action," Zero pointed out.
"Then I guess we follow," Quill said, earning nods from his teammates. He then turned around and gave Tiberius a smile. "You have just enlisted Team Dawn Breaker."
"Hmph, great, a bunch of kids," he grumbled only to give an unmanly squeak when he saw several wild Pokémon enter the room. "Well don't just stand there!" he shouted at the resistance team. "Protect me!"
-Resistance-
Relic Catacomb B10
The now group of four continued through the dungeon at a much slower pace than Team Dawn Breaker would've liked. Tiberius would stop every five minutes to either observe the various footprint runes or to complain about something. The Watchog would always find something to complain about, be it how tired he was or that the team's constant fighting distracted him from his work. All in all, the irritating professor was slowly getting on the group's last nerve.
"Hold on a second!" Tiberius said, gasping and sweating from exertion-though he had hardly done anything. "Let's rest here for a moment."
"We already took a break a few minutes ago," Quill said through gritted teeth.
"Well excuse me for not being as accustomed to traversing dungeons as you three," Tiberius griped, sitting defiantly on the ground, his arms crossed with a scowl on his face.
Quill looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped short when Zero placed a calming paw on his shoulder. "We can stop for five minutes, but after that we need to keep going," he said, giving Quill a meaningful look.
"Fine," Quill relented with a huff.
"I'm hungry, give me something!" Tiberius demanded.
"You've already gone through most of our food and you refuse to eat the stuff we find here in the dungeon," Furno grumbled.
"Of course not! That food's unsanitary!"
"When you're hungry you'll eat what you can," Quill said seriously, though he pulled out an apple all the same.
"Hmph." Tiberius rudely snatched the apple from Quill and, once again, began to observe the walls.
"Do you know what they say?" Furno asked conversationally.
"Of course I do! What do you take me for? A Slowpoke?" Tiberius sneered.
"Well, what do they say?" Zero said, irritated at the way Tiberius was talking to Furno.
With a huff, Tiberius redirected his attention to the walls. "From what I've seen they all repeat the same thing. 'The treasure of stone exists within these walls, guarded by the guardian of the same stone of the chamber'."
Treasure?! Zero thought, exchanging glances with Quill. Could it be one of the treasure mentioned in the book I found?
"I don't expect you hatchlings to understand the gravity of those words, but the treasure spoken of could very well hold the secrets to the formation of mystery dungeons."
"How so?" Furno asked curiously.
Tiberius actually blushed at Furno's question. "Well...you see...I don't exactly... You wouldn't understand," he spluttered.
"Try us," Quill challenged, barely suppressing his smirk.
"I...I don't have time to explain such a complicated concept to a bunch of hatchlings!"
"Yet you trust those 'hatchlings' to guide you through a dangerous dungeon?" Zero couldn't help but remark.
"L-Let's just go! I want to get the heck out of this place as soon as possible!" Tiberius said, standing abruptly and walking down the hallway we came from.
"We came from there!" Quill said, not even looking at the Watchog.
"I knew that!" Tiberius shouted, coming back and going the other way, a furious blush on his face. Not five seconds later, his terrified shriek could be heard. "ARE YOU THREE HATCHLINGS COMING OR NOT?!"
The trio sighed before hurrying towards the irate professor. After another ten minutes, and several more wild Pokémon -which Tiberius, once again, did not help with-, they found the next set of stairs and entered the next floor.
Relic Catacomb Chamber
As soon as the quartet entered the next floor, they immediately noted that this floor was different than the others. For one thing, it was only one circular room with no stairs. The walls had the same footprint runes on them that were present along the walls of the previous floors.
"This appears to be the final floor of the dungeon," Tiberius commented looking around. "But where's the treasure?" He began to look around tapping the walls and overturning random stones. "WHERE THE HELL IS IT?!"
He kicked the wall in frustration causing him to cry out in pain. "ARCEUS DAMMIT!" he screamed. "After all that effort, after fighting all those Pokémon and there's NOTHING HERE!"
"Him fighting? We did all the fighting," Quill whispered to his teammates, earning him a smack on the arm from Furno.
"All that work, for nothing." Tiberius then sunk to his knees in despair. "The mystery behind mystery dungeon continues to allude me. I fear that I will never be able to discover the secrets."
Zero could actually see tears begin to well up in the Watchog's eyes-not to mention the waves of despair and sadness that emanated from the lookout Pokémon -and he felt bad for him. He was about to try and comfort the saddened professor when a loud robotic voice echoed through the chamber.
"HAVE YOU COME FOR THE TREASURE OF RELIC CATACOMB?" The four Pokémon jumped at the sudden voice.
"Wh-Who's there?!" Tiberius demanded.
"IF YOU HAVE COME FOR THE TREASURE, THAN YOU MUST PROVE YOURSELVES!" A bright light engulfed the entire room, forcing the quartet to avert their eyes. When the light faded they could see a large stone golem made of white and orange stone with a strange pattern of dots shaped like an 'H' on its head.
"Th-That's...that's..." Tiberius tried to say, but he couldn't finish.
"Regirock," Quill whispered in horror.
The dots on Regirock flashed in a random pattern before it rose its arms into the air and let out a robotic roar. "TO EARN THE TREASURE, YOU MUST DEFEAT ME!"
"B-But w-we don't want th-the treasure," Tiberius stuttered in an attempt to reason with the large golem. "We're just passing through so you don't have to-"
He was cut off by another robotic roar and a stone fist hurling towards him. With an undignified yelp, the Watchog scurried away to avoid the fist as it slammed into the ground, causing the entire chamber to shake.
"Looks like there's no reasoning with it," Zero said grimly, shifting into a fighting stance. "We have to fight our way out of this."
"Are you crazy?!" Tiberius squeaked. "Regirock is one of the legendary Pokémon! There's no way we can beat it!"
"Do you have a better idea?!" Zero growled, not taking his eyes of the rock peak Pokémon.
"We go back the way we came!"
"For someone who studies mystery dungeons for a living, you're pretty ignorant regarding their layout," Quill said. "You can't go back through a dungeon, you can only go forward and we can't do that with a giant rock monster standing in our way."
"Well how were you going to get me out in the first place?!" Tiberius demanded.
"We were going to use an escape orb, but-"
"THEN USE IT!"
"If you'd let me finish then you'd know that I need to go through the bag to get it and I doubt big gray and stony would give me the chance!" Quill replied angrily.
"We'll stall it while you while you grab the orb," Zero told Quill. "Ready, guys?"
"As ready as I'm gonna get," Furno said nervously, getting ready to fight regardless.
"WHAT?! You expect me to fight THAT?!" Tiberius shouted, though he was ignored.
"RAAH!" Regirock roared before summoning several stones around its body and fired them at the group.
"MOVE!" Zero shout, grabbing Tiberius and jumping to the side, his teammates following his lead.
"GAAH! GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Tiberius screeched, causing Zero to wince as it was right next to his ear.
Zero quickly put Tiberius down and charged the giant Pokémon and hit it in the leg with a force palm. Regirock grunted, but gave no other indication that it felt the super effective attack. Regirock looked down at the smaller Pokémon and raised it stone fist. It took on a light blue sheen and with a roar, it brought it down with a swift swing. Zero quickly rolled to the side, avoiding the hammer arm, though he fell to his knees from he shock wave generated by the attack hitting the ground. Regirock reared back its fist to attempt another attack against Zero, but was blindsided by a torrent of flames.
Regirock turned towards Furno -which were still spewing from his mouth- and created a large sphere of silvery energy. It then fired the sphere, causing it to tear through the flames and slam into the ground in front of Furno. With a loud boom Furno was sent flying from the force of the explosion. He slammed into the wall and slumped to the ground with a pained groan.
Seeing his friend in trouble, Zero fired a vacuum wave at Regirock in hopes to gain its attention. Fortunately -or unfortunately- when the attack hit Regirock's back it paused and turned back towards Zero. With a roar it used stone edge again and fired a barrage of sharpened stones at Zero. Using quick attack, Zero avoided the attacks and ran towards Regirock. Channeling shadow energy into his paw and slashed Regirock's leg, chipping off a bit of rock, but doing not doing much damage. Canceling his shadow claw, Zero quickly dove to the side to avoid another hammer arm from the rock type legendary.
The ground on Regirock's left cracked before breaking as Furno burst from the ground and slammed into Regirock. However, like his and Zero's previous attacks, Regirock seemed unfazed. Swinging around, Regirock was able to clip Furno with its arm, sending Furno to the ground. Furno managed to catch himself and managed to turn it into a roll, allowing him to avoid an ancient power attack.
At the other side of the room, Quill was frantically searching through the pack to find the escape orb that they needed.
"Scanner orb, slumber orb..." Quill muttered, shifting through the various orbs that were in the bag. "Why do we have all these, we don't even use them!"
"What taking so long?!" Tiberius demanded.
"We have a lot of orbs to shift through!" Quill snapped in irritation.
"Well hurry up and get me out of here!"
"Will you-! Wait, here it is! I found it!" Quill cried triumphantly, pulling out the desired orb.
"Give me that!"
Before Quill could react, the orb was ripped from his hands.
"The hell, Tiberius?!" Quill shouted.
"Sorry, but I'm more important. I have to survive to continue my work!" Quill tried to grab the orb from the Watchog, but Tiberius danced out of the way. "If you survive, you'll realize the depth of my research."
In a flash of light, Tiberius activated the escape orb and escaped the dungeon.
Quill could only stare in horror at the spot where the Watchog disappeared from. He was completely bewildered by the selfishness of the Watchog. His mind was in so much turmoil he did not notice the encroaching shadow.
"QUILL, LOOK OUT!" Quill jumped at the sound of Furno's voice. Looking up he yelped in surprise as when he noticed Regirock looming over him, a ring of stones circling it. With a roar, Regirock fired the stones at Quill, was barely able to dodge, unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for their pack. The stone edge slammed into the pack, shredding through the padded fabric and burying any salvageable items under a pile of earth.
"The pack," Quill said in horror.
"Snap out of it!" Zero shouted as he tackled Quill out of the way of a hammer arm.
The Regirock got ready to preform another hammer arm, but was stopped when Furno slammed into it with a flame wheel, momentarily distracting it.
"Quill, you've got to get your head in the game!" Zero said, helping his teammate to his feet.
"But the pack.."
"We can't worry about that now, we need to beat this thing so we can get out of here!" Zero snapped. "We can worry about the pack, and that jerk of a Watchog, after we beat Regirock!"
"R-Right," Quill agreed with a nod, steeling himself up for a fight.
Zero nodded and turned back to Regirock just as it hit Furno with an ancient power, eliciting a pained scream from Furno. Both Quill and Zero responded by firing an seed bomb and vacuum wave respectively at Regirock before it could attack Furno again.
The Regirock stumbled forward from the force of the attacks, but quickly shook it off and turned towards the duo. It then gave off a strange series of beeps before charging up a large amount of purple energy. With a robotic roar, Regirock shot a large beam of energy at the duo. Even though the two managed to jump to the side, the explosion from the attack sent the two flying across the room.
Taking advantage of the pause that Regirock had to take after releasing the amount of energy required for the hyper beam, Furno slammed into the back of Regirock's left knee with another flame wheel. Regirock stumbled slightly from the impact, but remained standing. It raised its arm to crush Furno, but was stopped when another vacuum wave slammed into its arm. It was then hit in the face by another seed bomb, causing it to stumble slightly.
Before it could recover, Zero ran forward with the aid of quick attack and slammed into its leg with a force palm. Between the force of the force palm mixed with the momentum gained from the quick attack, Regirock's leg was blown back, causing the Pokémon to fall to the ground. As it got up it it was hit by a mix of flames and multiple vines that lashed across the legendary's body.
Regirock got to its feet, though it looked slightly haggard, the continuous attacks beginning to take affect on the large Pokémon.
"He's weakening!" Quill shouted happily.
"Keep it up!" Zero said
The Regirock turned towards the group and, though it had no face, they trio could practically feel the rage emanating from the stone peak Pokémon -Zero being the most affected. With an angry roar, Regirock's body took on a silvery sheen before it faded.
"Crap, that was iron defense," Quill grunted in annoyance. "It'll be able to take more hits now!"
"And it was already to damage before," Furno groaned, dodging another ancient power.
"Then we just have to hit harder!" Zero said, dashing forward and hitting the Regirock with a force palm.
Regirock roared before using stone edge, this time spreading the stones out all over the room instead of a single place. Zero and Quill managed to dodge the the stones, but Furno -who had taken a lot of damage already- could only dodge a few stones before he was hit. Furno cried out in pain as he was practically buried under the sharpened stones.
"Furno!" Quill and Zero shouted, running towards their downed teammate. Before they could make it to him, Regirock spun around with surprising speed and slammed into them with a hammer arm.
Zero landed on his back and skidded across the floor while Quill was able use vine whip and grasp Regirock's arm to stop his fall. He then pulled himself to the arm with the vines and slammed Regirock in the face with twin needle arms, causing Regirock to stumble backwards. However, as Quill was falling back towards the ground, Regirock recovered enough to fire off a point blank hyper beam at Quill.
Not even getting the chance to cry out in shock, Quill was blasted into the ground, a large explosion ensuing upon impact. When the smoke cleared, Quill could be seen laying in a crater, motionless. Regirock raised its foot in order to stomp Quill, but was stopped when a vacuum wave hit its face.
Regirock stumbled back in surprise more than pain and turned its attention towards Zero. Zero growled and ran at Regirock, dodging its stone edge attack, and leaping into the air, delivering a strong force palm to Regirock's midsection. Unfortunately for the former human, Regirock wasn't as effected by his attack as he hoped and was knocked to the ground by a hammer arm.
Zero caught himself on his paws and knees and just barely rolled out of the way in time to dodge Regirock's foot. Zero gritted his teeth as he was forced to leap back to avoid a hammer arm that smashed into the ground where Zero once stood.
He looked up at the Regirock with wavering defiance. His teammates, while regaining consciousness, were in no shape to fight. Regirock had taken a substantial amount of damage, but it still stood strong.
This isn't good, Zero thought to himself. It's taking so many attacks, but it's still standing! If this keeps up... He looked at his teammates, the hopeless feeling magnifying when he saw how injured they were. No, I refuse to let them fall here! Even at the cost of my own life, I will protect them!
Determination filled Zero's eyes, his wavering confidence strengthening as he stared down the approaching Regirock. Looks like I have no choice. I've got to use that move...
The Regirock raised its arm over the stationary Pokémon, gearing up for a final hammer arm. Furno, by this time, had managed to get himself out of the rocks and looked around just in time to see Regirock's descend towards a still stationary Zero.
"ZERO!" Furno shouted futility, unable to do anything as Regirock met its mark and slammed into Zero, creating a small dust cloud from the force of the attack.
Furno placed his hands over his mouth, eyes full of shock, sadness, and horror. Tears began to well up in his eyes, believing that his teammate and first friend had just been crushed. He could feel rage begin to encompass his mind as a familiar power began to well up within him. Just before he unleashed this power the sound of grunting reached his ears. When the dust cleared Furno was shocked out of his rage when he saw Zero on one knee, holding up Regirock's arm.
"Zero!" Furno shouted in shock and relief, happy that his friend was okay. His smile then shifted into a frown when he noticed a thin layer of wispy blue aura.
"GRAH!" Zero roared, pushing with all his might against that arm, pushing it off him and causing Regirock to stumble.
Not wasting a moment, Zero leapt at the Regirock and punched in its midsection. There was a loud cracking sound as formed around the area where Zero punched. Regirock screeched in pain before launching an ancient power at Zero. As the attack barreled towards the empowered Riolu he tensed before lashing out with his arm and batting the attack away, allowing it to harmlessly explode. Growling lowly, Zero dashed towards Regirock again and kicked it in the leg, causing more cracks.
Regirock fell to a knee from the attack, its leg damaged severely. With a roar, Regirock summoned another ring of stones and fired them at Zero. Zero expertly dodged the attacks with speed and grace that he did not normally possess. Maneuvering through the stones, Zero delivered another swift punch, this time to Regirock's arm, which he tried to use to block the attack.
With a mechanical grunt, Regirock swung its arm, catapulting Zero away from it. Zero landed gracefully, and charged at the legendary with speeds that rivaled his quick attack and slammed into its already damaged leg.
With a roar of pain, Regirock swung its arm and nailed Zero with a hammer arm, sending the smaller Pokémon flying through the air. Zero slammed into the wall, but got up quickly and growled. He made to run at the Regirock, but stumbled when he felt a sudden pain lance through his body.
Damn, the strain is starting to take its toll, Zero thought, wincing in pain as another wave of pain shot through him. I need to end this, now!
With that, Zero charged the large Pokémon, ignoring the pain in his body. Regirock summoned another wave of stones, but like last time, Zero avoid each one. Regirock then swung another hammer arm at Zero as he approached. Zero deftly leapt into the air, avoiding the attack, and channeled all his remaining energy into his right paw, causing a large mass of blue aura to cover it. With a shout, Zero rammed his fist into Regirock's face with an obscene amount of force. An explosion erupted from the point of contact, the force of which sent Regirock careening back, its face covered in cracks and craters.
Zero landed on the ground and fell to one knee, gasping in exertion. With a loud thud that shook the chamber. Zero stared at the Regirock's downed form as if expecting the golem to get to its feet, but it didn't.
"You did it!" Zero suddenly pitched forward when an excited fire type tackled him from behind. "You really did it!"
"Jeez, what they hell was that?!" The duo turned and saw Quill climbing out of the crater.
"Quill! You're okay!" Furno said happily.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm alive. Sore, but alive. But ignore that for a moment." He then turned to Zero and addressed him. "Again, I ask what they hell was that?"
"Final...gambit," Zero rasped out, completely exhausted.
"I've heard about that move. That was incredibly risky!" Quill admonished, frowning uncharacteristically.
"No...choice."
"I know but-"
Whatever Quill was going to say was lost when Regirock's body suddenly erupted in light, blinding the trio. When the light faded the trio saw a orange glowing orb resting in the spot where Regirock once was.
"What's that?" Furno asked.
"I don't know," Quill replied.
"Could it be the treasure?" Zero asked.
"Maybe..."
"Zero!" Furno shouted suddenly. "You're paw!"
Zero glanced at his paw and saw that the fur was matted down with blood, which was steadily dripping on the ground. The bone nub that protruded from his paw was cracked in several places. Zero suddenly felt faint as what little energy he had left him. His vision darkened as he pitched forward, the voices of his concerned teammates being the last thing he heard before all he knew was darkness.
Author's Notes
Hey guys! AuraFighter here. I just wanted to apologize for not updating my stories in about two weeks. My computer keyboard decided it didn't want to work. It turns out that my laptop had a bad motherboard and it would cost too much to replace so I had to get a new laptop. Anyway, I'm back to updating once a week. Thank you all for your continued support and feel free to leave a review.