The Story of Team Fate - An Explorers of Sky Fanfiction
Chapter 26 - Vision Going Hazy
Author's POV
We interrupt this chapter before it even begins for some exposition! Again!
And once more, this exposition has nothing to do with the Sightseers, and will probably not make much sense right away. But regardless, exposition time!
Every being, even if this being is not a Pokemon, has a will. A will to accomplish a certain task. Even multiple of them. This task can range from something simple to an overwhelming feat, but if there's a will, then perseverance and sheer will to accomplish will bring make this task accomplishable.
There is also the possibility that certain tasks will remain unaccomplished due to say, death. And thus 'unfinished business' comes into play. Even with the physical form of a being taken away by death and or, say, their own body crumbling due to dangerously prolonged periods of being frozen in time, their spirit will be fired up by their will to accomplish and do whatever they can to accomplish their task.
Long story short, you plan something, be it to protect a certain Shinx and Vulpix or plan a certain undying vengeance, but you don't achieve it and die. But if your will to accomplish this task is strong enough, then your ghost or spirit will come back to accomplish this task. Something like that.
While this whole story might seem completely irrelevant and pointless, it's important. And will probably make more sense later on.
Probably.
Hours(?) later, Sealed Ruin
After an undefinable amount of time sleeping, Sparks and I followed Grovyle down the path next to the hill and head down to enter the frozen village place, which apparently Grovyle called 'Sealed Ruins'.
I feel my paw stepping onto the dirt path, the eerie yet familiar feeling of paths used for civilization coming to me. Slowly, the three of us walk through the place, passing by what looks like several small crumbled houses and an arched grey wooden gateway as we go. We walk into a much larger open area with more of the small crumbled structures. I start to feel uneasy.
Why… why do I feel like we're being watched? It's… it's scaring me…
"I… I'm not the only one who's starting to feel uneasy here… right?" I speak up, breaking the haunting silence around us.
"You're not the only one…" Sparks replies, holding my paw.
Past the arched grey gateway, we pass through what looks like crumbled remains of more buildings.
"I know what you mean… Though… I have felt this eerie and haunting feeling before…" Grovyle says. "It's… familiar to me, somehow…"
Then, as if on cue, an unfamiliar cackling voice booms through the air.
"Hee hee hee! It's about time the hostile spirits of this place got their revenge!" The voice booms threateningly, seemingly aimed towards us. I start to feel myself tremble in fear.
"What in the name of Arceus was that?!" Sparks exclaims, sounding panicked.
"Curses! I should've known it was him!" Grovyle exclaims, running ahead. "Run, you two!" Run if you don't want to die!"
"W-What?!" I cry out.
"Who's 'him'?! What are we running from?!" Sparks cries out.
Then, we look behind us to see several dark, hazy shadows start to form. They then start to form shapes I recognize to be Pokemon, but the sudden fear coursing through me keeps me from identifying each of them one by one. Red eyes form on all the hazy shadowy Pokemon figures, all staring at us threateningly. The hazy shadow that formed a red-eyed Gyarados roars at us, sounding eerily distorted. The rest of the hazy shadow Pokemon start to run in our direction.
"Run!" Sparks cries out.
We both break into mad dashes, rushing ahead as I feel sudden emotions of fear and adrenaline, mostly fear.
What… what are these shadowy haze Pokemon?!
I take a brief look behind me only to see a hazy Gliscor swooping at me, but I step to the side to dodge just in time. I see Sparks dodge a tackling Umbreon shadow.
"S-Sparks! Where are we running to, anyway?" I manage to blurt out to him, jumping over what looks like a String Shot attack from an Ariados I see behind me. I attempt to fire a Flamethrower back at the hazy Ariados, but my attack only phases through it.
I… I can't even attack them! My attack didn't even hurt it!
I remain standing still in shock for a brief moment, but I snap back to my senses when I feel a rush of pain come to my face as the Ariados knocks me away with a painful jab of one of its pointed legs.
"O-Ow…" I groan, sliding across the dirt ground. I quickly manage to get up, only to see a hazy Raticate behind me.
Oh no…
The Raticate lunges at me with its claws, and I instinctively attempt to dash away from the attack. However, I dash away a second to late, and I stumble onto the ground from the painful impact of the hazy Raticate's claws with my torso.
Luckily, even with the damage of the attacks I had to endure, I still manage to get up. However, I find myself surrounded by more of the threatening hazy shadows.
"S-Sparks! Help!" I call out desperately, the hazy figures closing in.
Sparks' POV
Where did these hazy Pokemon come from, anyway?! And why are they attacking us?!
Cornered against a rocky wall by the onslaught of attacks by the hazy shadows pursuing me, I try to keep my Charge shield up as I feel the recoil of several hazy attacks bouncing against it. I attempt to sneak a glance past my shield, but quickly duck back behind my shield in time to avoid a hazy Razor Leaf fired at my head by a small shadowy figure.
I find myself slowly getting pushed back closer against the rock wall behind me, getting even more cornered as my shield continues to take blows. My Charge shield starts to push against my face as my back gets closed against the rocky wall behind me, the two opposite sides threatening to come together and crush me.
The impact of all these attacks against my shield is pushing me closer against this wall! At this rate, I'm going to get squished against this wall! I need to think of a way out!
I start to contemplate making a dash away from my shield, but that's when I take one more quick glance at the rock wall behind me. An idea comes to me.
It… it doesn't look too slanted… I can work with this. It's a bit of a risk, but it's all I have to work with right now… and I don't feel like getting crushed into a Shinx sandwich for these hazy Pokemon to eat… I don't feel like getting eaten, either… My encounter with Manectric was enough…
I try to keep my paws fixated on the ground as the attacks pummeling my Charge shield push me back against the rock wall at a dangerously claustrophobic rate.
Okay… I better pull this off quick, or else I'm done for!
I ready my slightly hurt limbs, preparing myself, then quickly absorb my Charge shield, allowing me a quick glance at the hazy Pokemon attempting to corner me. Using the previously absorbed electricity, I immediately let out a bigger Charge shield forward pushing the hazy Pokemon back a bit and giving me more distance away from the hazy shadows. With more distance opened up for me, I turn around to face the wall. Using Quick Attack speed, I dash at the wall and manage to use the agility to run up it, then quickly jump against it and over the Pokemon attempting cornering me. I manage to perform a backflip and land on my feet on the other side of the hazy shadowy Pokemon, finally away from the claustrophobic space between my Charge shield and the rock wall.
Huh. I finally managed to perform a backflip. Looks like Violet was right when she said that I could do one if I tried hard enough. I think, starting to feel accomplished with myself. Wait… speaking of Violet, where is she? I… I think we got separated when I dodged that Umbreon's Quick Attack…
That's when I hear Violet's scream.
"S-Sparks! Help!"
"Violet?! Where… where are you?!" I call out worriedly.
I am only answered by more screams and the sounds of Pokemon attacking, making me even more worried. I try to look around for where Violet is, only to see the shadowy Pokemon chasing me from before attempt to attack me from behind again. I step away from a Shadow Ball aimed towards me from a hazy Gengar and run away from the other Pokemon firing their attacks at me, while also trying to find where Violet is.
Then, after dodging another Razor Leaf from behind, I find another group of hazy Pokemon ahead attempting to attack an individual, and I instantly know that's where Violet is.
"Hang on, Violet! I'm coming!" I call out, hoping she's still alive.
Quickly, I put one of my front paws into my Treasure Bag as I continue to run and fish out a random Seed, its type still unfamiliar to me. As I start to run closer to the group of hazy shadows attacking Violet, I toss the item into my mouth, saving it for later.
This Seed is either a Blast Seed or a Heal Seed… I better hope I'm lucky this time…
Using Quick Attack speed once again, I rush closer to the group of hazy Pokémon ahead and farther away from the ones chasing me from behind. Getting closer, I find myself able to clearly make out what's in front of me: A group of several hazy Pokémon attempting to lunge at Violet, who I can see is just as injured as I am and is desperately trying to dodge the attacks aimed at her.
"Violet! I'm here!" I attempt to call out with the item still in my mouth.
Lunging, I manage to jump in between Violet and her attackers and face the latter. I bite into the Seed hard with my fangs and open my mouth, unleashing the flames from the Blast Seed at Violet's hazy attackers.
Except no flames came out. All I feel is the slightly soothing effect of the Seed's taste tending to my nonexistent status condition as I swallow it.
A feeling of painful regret comes over me as I immediately realize.
Shoot! I got the wrong Seed!
I snap out of my trance of regret when I see a hazy Crobat and Butterfree fire attacks of Air Slash and Psybeam, respectively. I react fast and manage to block their attacks with a Charge shield. I absorb the electricity, use it to set up a bigger and sturdier electricity shield, then absorb it once again and let it out as a wide dome-shaped barrier shielding both me and Violet, wide enough to block the attacks of all of Violet's attackers while also blocking off attacks from the hazy Pokémon that were just pursuing me.
Thank Arceus I managed to set up this dome shield in time… This should hold them off long enough for me to think of another plan… I can't believe I managed to recover from picking the wrong Seed… I sigh from the rapid series of actions I just pulled off, feeling slightly drained. I start to feel several attacks attempt to break my shield, but it remains standing.
I turn around to see Violet lying on the ground, looking somewhat conscious.
"Violet? Are you okay?" I ask, walking up to her and looking into her terrified brown eyes. I try to help her up, but she twitches when I try to touch her.
"S-Sparks… help…" She says weakly. "There… there was a Butterfree… it paralyzed me with Stun Spore…"
"You're paralyzed? Um… wait, I think I have something for that…" I reply, putting my paw back into my bag. I pull out another Seed.
This better not be the wrong Seed…
"Here, Violet… This should help you… I hope." I try to say in a reassuring tone, gently pushing the Seed into her mouth.
I sigh in relief as she stops twitching shortly afterwards.
Thank Arceus… I gave Violet the correct item… I gave her the Heal Seed…
As I finish helping Violet up, I look into her eyes now that she's in a slightly recovered state. I smile at her, and to my relief, she smiles back.
"Thank Arceus you're okay…" I say to her. "Those hazy shadows really did a number on you too, huh?"
"Sparks… thank you…" Violet says. She then wraps her paws around my neck, hugging me. I wrap my paws around her neck and scarf as well, hugging her as well.
After a few moments of relieving and comforting silence hugging, I suddenly feel the harsh recoil of several attacks attempting to pierce through my shield, startling the both of us and making us break from each other's embrace.
"We can't stay here in my Charge dome for long…" I say, starting to think. "If there's anything I know from personal experience, it's that these shields are far from invincible…"
"So… so what do we do now? Do… do we just try to make a mad dash for it?" Violet asks.
"I don't think a mad dash would help either of us… Blindly running with the risk of getting ambushed by whatever these shadow Pokemon are doesn't sound like it'll end well for us… And even if we do manage to escape from this, the only Pokemon willing to guide us through the future is nowhere to be seen…"
"Oh… Wait, where did Grovyle go, anyway?" Violet questions. "Do… do you think he just left us here to die?"
"I hope not… I'll… I'll try to think of an escape plan, don't worry…" I say, struggling to think.
Come on… we've come this far… I need to think of something! How are we going to get out of this?!
My train of thought struggles to move along from the distracting sounds of my Charge dome getting battered on from the outside.
Argh… I can't think with all this noise! And this trembling ground doesn't help, either!
Wait, trembling ground?
"S-Sparks! What's going on?!" Violet asks me, sounding panicked as she tries to keep her footing.
"Brace yourself! I think something's trying to reach us from underground!" I exclaim, instinctively getting into battle stance.
Trying to keep my footing while also trying to keep my Charge dome up, the trembling beneath us is starting to get stronger.
With a grey cloud of dust, a figure rises up from the ground in front of Violet and I, and I feel myself calm down as I instantly recognize the green.
"Grovyle! You didn't abandon us!" I say, feeling relieved.
"Did you really think I'd leave you two here to die? I have a sense of morality too, you know!" Grovyle says. "I was already in the forest ahead when I suddenly noticed that you weren't following me, but I wasn't sure how to get back to find you. However, that's when this Pokemon came to help me find you. The weirdest thing is, while this Pokemon said very little and I knew nothing about her, I just had an instinct that she knew you somehow!"
"Wait, what? Who… who's this Pokemon you're talking about?" Violet asks.
Then, as if on cue, a second grey dust cloud erupts out of the ground, and it clears up a bit to reveal a hazy shadowy Pokemon figure.
"Oh no! It's one of those hazy Pokemon!" I cry out, getting into battle stance once more.
"True… but this one isn't one of the dangerous ones from before…" Grovyle says.
The dust cloud clears up a bit more to reveal a hazy Sandslash, but instead of the usual threatening red eyes that all the other hazy Pokemon had, this Sandslash has bright blue eyes that stands out in the grey around us, the blue emitting a strangely comforting aura.
"You're… you're not dangerous? You're not going to hurt us?" I ask carefully.
The Sandslash then pauses for a second, then tilts its head in confusion. Oh, sorry, according to Grovyle, 'she' tilts 'her' head in confusion.
"Uh… hi." Violet says nervously.
The Sandslash then turns to face Violet, and then innocently waves a claw in a gesture that's saying hello.
"So… so I take it that you're not a talker?" Violet asks, her voice starting to sound more at ease.
The Sandslash then appears to look pleased for a moment, then nods happily.
"Who… who exactly are you, Sandslash?" I ask cautiously.
My question makes the Sandslash turn to face me, staring at me with her blank but strangely comforting blue eyes. She then extends a claw in my direction, as if waiting for me to place my paw on hers.
"You… you want me to touch your claw?" I ask, slightly confused.
The Sandslash nods slowly.
"Listen to her, Sparks. I have a feeling that she might know something." Grovyle tells me.
"Er… okay then."
I do as Grovyle instructed, and place my paw on the Sandslash's claw.
A familiar headache comes to me.
Looks like it's Dimensional Scream time…
The usual sensation of my limbs going numb happens once again, and I enter my half-unconscious vision-like state of darkness again. Then, sudden colourful images flash in front of my eyes, rapidly flashing but being melded into my memory.
Then I hear voices, more specifically, two of them. They seem to be conversing with each other. The two voices are rapidly switching between one another, but like the images, they end up recognizable to my mind.
Wait… isn't that Ninetales' voice?
"I'm Ninetales." I hear her voice in my head as the image of her talking to a blue-eyed Sandshrew flashes in my mind.
"By the way, my name is Sammy."' Judging from the Sandshrew being the only other Pokemon in the image with Ninetales, I assume that this Sandshrew is Sammy.
The conversation between the two continues for a bit, and I find myself intrigued.
Author's POV
With the banging sound of more devastating attacks attempting in vain to break down Sparks' Charge dome, the Shinx snaps out of his vision, Grovyle, Violet, and hazy Sammy waiting in anticipation.
"Shinx… uh, I mean, Sparks… what was that?" Grovyle asks, confused at Sparks' sudden blacking out.
"Oh, wait… you don't know about this, Grovyle. Um… it's a long story, which I'll have to explain later. Long story short, I had a vision." Sparks replies.
'Wait, a vision?!' Grovyle thinks, surprised. 'Hmm… wait. Maybe I shouldn't be too quick to assume. I'll ask questions later, once we're out of this mess.'
"Sparks, what did you see?" Violet asks.
Sparks then turns to face hazy Sammy.
"Sandslash… your name is Sammy, right?" Sparks questions. "You were the Sandshrew who Ninetales talked to, and I'm assuming she told you about my ability to experience visions and requested you to protect Violet and I?"
Hazy Sammy nods excitedly, pleased that Sparks knows the full story.
"W-Wait, my Mom asked you to protect us?" Violet asks, surprised.
Sammy then turns to face Violet and nods.
"Wow…" Violet responds.
The conversation then gets interrupted when a heavy blow strikes the Charge dome, creating a loud crashing sound that startles the four.
"We better think of something quick. I can feel it… This shield is going to break any second." Sparks says, recovering from the shock of the crashing noise.
"I know the path out of here. When the shield breaks, follow me." Grovyle speaks up.
Then, the Charge dome dissipates from another heavy blow, and the four quickly jump out of the way from the slamming of a hazy Gyarados' tail.
"Okay, you three! The shield's broken; follow me!" Grovyle instructs. Sparks and Violet then proceed to follow after the Grass type, but Sammy stays behind.
"Wait, Sammy! Sammy, why are you staying behind?" Violet calls out, taking a quick glance at the Sandslash behind her.
"Sammy, follow us! What are you doing?!" Sparks calls out.
The hazy Sandslash merely gestures for Sparks, Violet, and Grovyle to keep on going. She then turns back to face the group of red-eyed hazy Pokemon.
A single shrill voice cries out to Sparks and Violet.
"I made a promise. I will keep that promise. It's the least I could do for that Apple Ninetales gave me. I hope I've done my job."
The hazy Gyarados from before attempts to dash past Sammy towards Vioparks and Grovyle, but the Sandslash intercepts by blocking it off with a semi-hazy, semi-rocky pillar of rock. Hazy Sammy continues summoning hazy rock pillars and blocks off the rest of the hazy Pokemon attempting to reach and or fire attacks past her.
"SAMMY!" Sparks and Violet cry out, stopping to look back at Sammy's closed off wall of hazy rock pillars.
"She… she'll be fine!" Grovyle exclaims to the two from ahead. "Don't worry; she'll only be distracted for a bit! Now let's go! The path out of here is just ahead!"
"B-But she… she helped us!" Violet stutters. "We… we can't just leave her-"
A crashing sound is heard as a hazy Shadow Ball manages to topple over one of the pillars of Sammy's wall.
"Violet… I know… I want to go back… but we still don't have any chance of beating all those hazy Pokemon… whatever they are…" Sparks says, holding onto Violet's paw.
A hazy Fire Blast erupts behind Vioparks, toppling over more of what used to be Sammy's wall.
"Sparks! Violet! Come on!" Grovyle exclaims from ahead, impatiently waiting for the two.
"We… we need to go now, Violet. I'm sorry… There's nothing we can do…" Sparks continues trying to persuade Violet.
"Well… if… if you say so, Sparks…" Violet gives in.
Just as an Earthquake attack topples the last of Sammy's pillars, Sparks grabs Violet's paw and pulls her and follows Grovyle past another one arched gateway, the three of them managing to escape from the hazy shadows lagging behind them.
NOTE: And alas, thus ends the chapter of the little Sandslash that could. But other than that, Grovyle seemed to react to Sparks' sudden vision, and probably knows something about the hazy shadowy Pokemon. Hopefully the action in this chapter ended up well. If this chapter was enjoyable, then kindly leave a review on your way out; it helps! Thank you so much for reading this, and I hope you have a good day!
-flareon71