Chapter 55: At the End

At first glance one would assume this to be a normal mud pit, but that would prove to be a costly mistake. Beneath the seemingly calm surface were small whip-like tentacles that were waiting to grab and drag their next victim under, which is just what recently occurred moments before. However, one struggle wasn't done yet as a sudden blue light flashed over the mud pit. At that moment the mud appeared to be come solid, almost as if frozen. Seconds later a Hyper Beam blasted through the frozen mud. Finally, after an epic struggle for survival, Firefly's head emerged from the hole. The winged Vulpix gasped for air as she pulled herself from the hole and onto the bank.

"F-Finally!" she gasped. "Thought… I was… going… to die.." The entire ordeal had left her wiped out. From using Sheer Cold to freeze the mud pit to the Hyper Beam she used to blast a hole to get free Firefly's energy reserves were empty. Her body was screaming in pain, begging her to remain still and rest. She was tempted to do just that, but in the back of her mind she knew that she had to keep moving or she'd never accomplish what she set out to do. With that in mind she willed herself to her feet, doing her best to ignore the pain shooting through every nerve in her body.

"I-Ignore… the pain," she told herself. "S-Stay focused… on the t-task… at h-hand…" Her body begged for rest, but she pressed on anyway, determined to reach her destination.


It had been a few minutes since Firefly left the mud pit, but due to her exhaustion it felt more like hours. Her body was stiff and felt like it weighed tons. Her legs felt heavy and she had difficulty keeping her eyes opened.

"I… I can't… I have to rest…" Overcome by her weariness Firefly plopped down on the ground and slowly shut her eyes. After all, she figured no harm could come from a short power nap. Her nap, though, soon turned into a deep sleep, which came with a terrifying nightmare…


Everywhere she looked Firefly was faced with the same scene. Ruination… despair… death… everywhere she looked was devoid of life.

"W-What happened here?" she wondered.

"I happened…" Firefly spun around and came face-to-face with the being who claimed responsibility for everything.

"S-Saturnine!" Firefly gasped.

"That's right. All this beautiful destruction was my doing," she bragged.

"But… But how? You can only appear when…"

"Whenever you get angry enough? Not anymore, I'm afraid," she interrupted. "Come now, Firefly. Do you really believe my powers to be that weak? I've grown stronger over the years… and now I'm ready to claim what is rightfully mine."

"W-What's that?" the Vulpix stuttered.

"What else… you!" The next thing Firefly knew Saturnine's mouth went through a drastic change, growing in size until it was easily five times its original size.

"W-What are you…" Firefly stuttered.

"Rather than me inside of you… I want you inside of me!" Saturnine's voice boomed all around. Before Firefly could react Saturnine's tongue shout out of her mouth and wrapped around her neck.

"N-No! Let me go!" Firefly demanded. She clawed and scratched at the tongue, but Saturnine refused to let go. Instead she began pulling the smaller Pokémon Towards her gaping jaws.

"Let go of me now!" Firefly barked.

"From where I'm standing you're in no position to make demands of me!" Saturnine retorted. The two vixens were locked in a tug-o-war, but as it dragged on Saturnine began to gain the upper hand as she slowly began to drag Firefly towards her mouth.

"You'll be mine soon enough!" Saturnine gloated. Firefly did everything she could to get free. She even tried to go airborne, but Saturnine simply pulled her back down to the ground.

"You may as well surrender, Firefly! You're only delaying the inevitable!" Saturnine stated.

"N-Never! I'll never surrender! I'll fight to the very end!" Firefly declared.

"Looking at your current situation that may be sooner than you realize!" Saturnine said. Her statement was proving to be true, for with each moment that passed Firefly was pulled closer and closer to the gaping jaws. Despite this Firefly continued to struggle.

"It's no use!" Saturnine barked.

"No! I can't give up!" Firefly declared.

"It doesn't matter! You're mine now!" Firefly stared up as Saturnine's massive jaws loomed over her.

"Say goodbye!"

"No!"


Firefly's eyes snapped open as she bolted up, gasping for air. She looked around, fearing that her life was still in danger. Thankfully she was still within the cave, but something about her dream had her concerned.

"That… was no ordinary dream," she thought. "It was… more like a… a vision. A vision of what's to come should I fail." She knew that failure was not an option, so with that thought in mind she willed herself back to her feet. That, however, was the easy part. As soon as she was upright her body began to ache all over again, nothing more than her wing.

"D-Damn… must not have rested long enough," Firefly groaned. "Still… I have to go on." Even though her body rebelled with constant pangs of pain Firefly continued on, determined to see this through to the end.


Firefly had traveled quite a ways away from the mud pit. Despite this her body's fatigue was starting to get to be too much for her. Each step took a greater toll on her than the previous, bringing her closer and closer to collapsing.

"Oh… Oh man… I don't know… how much further… I can… push… myself," she panted. Despite wanting to stop her will kept her from doing so, urging her on as she grew closer to her destination.

"Heh… curse my determination," she joked. After taking a short breather she prepared to set off again. She looked around to see where to go next, but the only path she saw was the one she just came from.

"How did I come to a dead end?" she wondered. With nowhere else to go she considered backtracking to see if she missed anything when…

"Someone help me!" Firefly's ears shot up as she began to search for the source of the cry for help.

"Hello? Is someone out there?" she called.

"Yes! Help me! Please!" a panicked female voice replied. At that moment Firefly was able to pinpoint the location of whoever was in distress.

"Sorry body, but I can't ignore this!" Pushing her own pain and fatigue aside she rushed towards the voice. Within moments a pit came into view.

"That pit wasn't there just now," she said. Regardless of that it was clear that was where the cries for help were originating from. She ran to the edge and looked down.

"This pit is a…" What she thought was an ordinary pit was in actuality a Trapinch pit. At the bottom of the pit was a rather large Trapinch who had his jaws clamped tightly onto the hind leg of an Umbreon. The Umbreon was clawing at the side of the pit to try and free herself, but no matter what she did she couldn't get loose.

"At this rate it's only a matter of time before that Trapinch gets her," Firefly said. She got a close to the edge as she could and reached down towards her.

"Grab my paw!" The Umbreon looked up and saw Firefly reaching down towards her. She then reached out towards the winged Vulpix, their paws only inches apart.

"Almost… there!" Firefly groaned. The tips of their paws were nearly touching. Then, with one lunge, Firefly grasped the Umbreon's paw.

"Gotcha!" she shouted. "Hold on tight!" Firefly attempted to pull the Umbreon free, but the Trapinch had no intention of giving up his prey so easily. With a clear strength advantage he pulled the Umbreon further into the pit, threatening to take Firefly down as well.

"No!" the Umbreon screamed.

"Man… he's stronger than I though!" Firefly grunted. It soon became clear that if she wanted to free the Umbreon then she'd need to rely on something other than strength.

"There's got to be something I can use to get an advantage, but what?" She glanced around and spotted a rather large boulder sitting on the other side of the pit. It was close enough to the edge that a strong enough attack would send it falling into the pit.

"That's my only shot," Firefly stated. She took aim and fired a Flamethrower at the ground beneath the boulder. The attack struck and blew away some of the dirt beneath the boulder, but it wasn't enough to get the massive rock to fall.

"Oh, come on!" Firefly griped. She was so focused on the boulder that she almost didn't notice that the Trapinch had pulled her and the Umbreon further into the pit.

"No, he's going get us!" the Umbreon shrieked. This brought Firefly's attention back to the current crisis. She tried pulling back, but she had been pulled too far down to get any good footing.

"No… good! I can't… get… my footing!" she grunted. With that in mind she looked back at the boulder.

"Only… one shot left!" She fired a Shadow Ball at the boulder, not taking time to aim this time. The attack struck the ground beneath the boulder once again, this time blowing away a large amount of dirt from beneath it. With nothing supporting it the boulder tumbled into the pit. The noise of the boulder falling into the pit got the Trapinch's attention. When he looked back and saw what was coming his way he panicked and quickly burrowed underground, releasing the Umbreon in the process.

"Okay, let's get you out of there!" Firefly called. It was quite easy to pull the Umbreon from the pit. Once she the two of them glanced back down into it, seeing the boulder that now covered the bottom, trapping the Trapinch beneath it.

"He won't be attacking anyone else ever again," Firefly said. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yes… I'm fine," the Umbreon replied. "Thank you, Firefly."

"You're welcome. I couldn't just…" Firefly paused and looked at the Umbreon with a shocked expression on her face.

"What? Was it something I said?" the Umbreon wondered.

"How… do you know my name?" Firefly inquired. At that moment the Umbreon appeared to become nervous.

"You… told me?" she answered, her reply almost sounding like a question.

"No I didn't. I was too busy saving you," Firefly argued. "Now, how do you know who I am?" Right then it was clear that the Umbreon has revealed something she wasn't supposed to. Rather that continued denial a smile appeared on her face.

"Guess the Skitty's out of the bag now," she sighed. "The truth is I was sent here to wait on you, Firefly?"

"Sent? By who?" Firefly inquired.

"The Elder Council," the Umbreon answered.

"T-The Elder Council?" Firefly gasped.

"That's right. They sent me to wait for you so I could test you, and I'm happy to say you passed with flying colors!" the Umbreon explained.

"So the Elder Council sent you… uh…" Right then the Umbreon bonked herself on her head.

"Oh boy, how forgetful can I get. Here I am knowing who you are but you don't have a clue who I am," she said. "My name's Twilight."

"A pleasure," Firefly replied. "So, Twilight, the Elder Council sent you here to test me. What kind of test is… or should I say 'was' it?"

"Why, that little spat just now with that Trapinch," Twilight revealed. "To tell you the truth I was never in any real danger."

"Never in any real danger? I'm sorry, but from what I saw the danger you were in was very real," Firefly argued. "In fact I'm surprised that Trapinch hasn't… what the?"

"What is it, Firefly?" Twilight inquired.

"T-The hole! It's gone!" True to what she was saying there was no sign of a Trapinch hole every being present. Where it used to be the ground was flat.

"B-But… I know there was a Trapinch hole there! What's going on?" she yelled. Before she went crazy Twilight stepped forward to offer an explanation.

"It's rather simple, really," she stated. "You see, that was just an illusion I created as part of the test."

"An illusion?" Firefly questioned. "Seemed a bit real to be just an illusion."

"That's the thing. I have the power to make my illusions appear to be so real you'd think they were," Twilight explained. "In fact…" To prove her point she decided to conjure up another illusion. Her yellow rings glowed briefly as a small lake appeared behind her.

"Huh? Where did that lake come from?" Firefly asked.

"I made it," Twilight confessed. Moments later a Tentacruel surfaced, waving a few of his tentacles in the air.

"H-Hey, watch out!" Firefly warned.

"Trust me, I'm not in any danger," Twilight reassured. "In fact, watch this." Firefly looked on as she laid down, stretching her legs out. Shortly after the Tentacruel glared down at her. Then, in the blink of an eye, two tentacles shot forward and wrapped around Twilight's legs. Firefly gasped in shock and was about to go help her, but the Umbreon simply waved her off.

"I told you, I'm not in any danger. See." To Firefly's surprise Twilight was right. The Tentacruel was trying to pull the Umbreon into the water, but no matter how hard he pulled Twilight didn't move.

"Now do you believe me?" Twilight asked. Firefly nodded, unable to find her voice at the moment. Twilight stood up, the illusion instantly fading.

"That's… incredible," Firefly commented.

"Thank you. I've been working on that ability for a long time," Twilight said. "So, shall we get moving?"

"Moving? Where? There aren't any other paths besides the one I just came from," Firefly stated.

"That's where you're wrong. Observe." Once again her rings glowed. Moments later a tunnel opened up ahead of them, shocking Firefly.

"Wait… you mean…"

"That's right," Twilight said with a smile. "I was using my ability to hide the tunnel."

"Now I'm convinced your abilities are powerful," Firefly commented. Twilight smiled at the praise she was getting.

"Come on. We've still got a bit of walking to do." With the Umbreon in the lead the two of them traveled down the tunnel, Firefly's final destination getting close with each step.


"So you do that for every Pokémon that comes here?" Firefly questioned. She was currently listening to Twilight explain how she tests Pokémon who enter the cave.

"That's right. I'm responsible for determining if they are worthy of continuing on," she explained. "If they stop and try to help me then they're worthy and can continue on. But if they ignore me and let me perish then they are deemed unworthy and are immediately sent back to the mouth of the cave."

"So if they don't help you they have to start all over from the beginning," Firefly assumed.

"That's right. Of course some parts of the test are as forgiving, as you've discovered already," Twilight pointed out.

"You can say that again. I'm still surprised I made it out of that mud pit alive," she said.

"Which is more than I can say for that Lopunny," Twilight commented. Firefly looked at her.

"You… know about that?" she asked.

"I sensed what happened," Twilight answered.

"I see," Firefly sighed, remembering what happened. The two walked in silence for a while when Firefly suddenly cringed after taking a step.

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked.

"The pain… it's returning," Firefly spoke. "I guess… the adrenaline… is wearing off."

"Well, we can't have that," Twilight said. "Fortunately I know something that'll have you back up to speed in no time."

"W-What?" Firefly asked. Twilight looked off to the side towards what appeared to be a solid rock wall. Again her rings glowed, making the rock wall vanish to reveal a small pond.

"Take a dip in the water. It'll cure anything that's ailing you," Twilight explained. Though the pain in her body was becoming more and more prominent she did as Twilight suggested. Slowly she made her way to the pond. Right as she reached it she looked down. The water was clear, allowing her to see right down to the bottom.

"Go on. Hop in," Twilight suggested.

"What have I got to lose?" Firefly thought. Carefully she took a few steps into the water. Immediately she began to feel the pain being washed away.

"Wow… I don't know what's in this water, but Twilight was right." She walked further into the pond, feeling better with each step she took. Once she reached the middle she dove under, sighing as she felt the healing waters wash over her body.

"I could stay down here forever… but then I'd never complete what I set out to do." Feeling much better than she did mere moments ago Firefly surfaced Once she reached dry land she shook the excess water off her body and stretched. She felt great. Even her broken wing was fully healed.

"What did I tell you," Twilight said.

"You weren't kidding. That water made me feel great!" Firefly exclaimed.

"Well I had to have you in perfect condition for what was to come," Twilight explained. That comment piqued Firefly's curiosity.

"What do you mean? What's about to happen?" she inquired.

"You'll see," Twilight replied. Before Firefly could question her further the Umbreon continued ahead. Firefly quickly caught up to her, but before she could continue her questioning a light appeared from up ahead.

"Great! We've reached the end!" Twilight exclaimed. Firefly had to shield her eyes briefly. Once they finished adjusting to the light Firefly was able to see where she had been lead.

"T-This is!" With a smile on her face Twilight turned to Firefly and spoke three words.

"Welcome to Pokétopia."


Finaly, after suffering through the trials of the cave, Firefly finds herself in Pokétopia, the legendary city she read about in the ancient tome that Giovanni held. Now that she's here, what's next? Find out in the next chapter of Firefly: Queen of the New Breed!

Please review