Chapter 77: Within the Depths

Earlier

Greninja sat crossed legged on the top of the thick basin of the water foundation. Originally, he considered closing his eyes and relaxing to the rhythm and soothing draft that escaped his ears from time to time.

But the dirtiness to the water was bothering him, so he did something about it. It took a bit of time but he succeeded. By controlling small litters of water into his hand, he formed the fluid into a ball, pushed out all grime out onto the floor and dropped the ball back into the foundation. He repeated this process until the water was up to his standards.

He smiled under his pink tongue. He knew at some point the water will become gray again, but it was to unwind and dip his fingers into cold clean H20. The serenity didn't last long; his trusty clipboard was partially covered in dirt. He huffed and shook the grime right off.

"Gre… ninja." He never thought a lone wolf like him would be infuriated with the inability to properly communicate. Sure, he can get his message across with the use of ink but it's not ideal for every time he wants to give input. One cannot conduct a speech with few words at a time, nor ensure readability during a crisis with shaky hands.

The frog had been trying to turn things around. He heard from some of the Newcomers that all Smashers had the capacity to understand any language their brothers and sisters spoke but I took time. Apparently, the more they heard the language… the faster they intuitively understand it.

In other words: Words pass through ear; meaning remains.

The only thing he can compare it to was making the body immune from an allergy. He heard a story of a human kid overcoming his allergies from peanuts from his parents slowly introducing it to her body, so he did the same to his peers. All he did was vocalize the words on the page every time he turned the clipboard. It was an easy change but getting results will be hard. The Newcomer that came before him, said that they haven't fully understood their certain peers. They got words and sentences here and there but not enough to get the conversation going so to speak.

But yet again they weren't actively pursuing to exercise their listening skills either. More a waiting game really, just need to work on the wrist muscles. Speaking of wrist muscles...

Greninja got up from the fountain and scooped up his clipboard. He walked and walked until he got to the corridor he had been trying to find; the dark and dilapidated concrete stairs. He took out the glow stick that Gunner handed him and walked into the abyss. He descended until the inevitable rubble blocked his path.

This was one of the major entrances to the lower levels, the group has been talking about it for sometime. They didn't know what "treasures" the mall held for them down below but enough of the fighters had a feeling this was worth the effort.

The currently found new entrances leading to the unknown underground: One near the security room and the one he was currently in right now. They've focused on the former more because of proximity and had better lighting.

But luckily for him, they had made some progress in this stairwell. The stone rubble was still a pain, the mall must have had an earthquake before they arrived here. It's a miracle that the whole building didn't crumble onto its own foundation.

Greninja looked up, it seemed that plenty of the chunks were being held in place by extended wires and metal beams. The frog took a deep breath and formed two long swords made of water. He went to work.

Slicing the cables were easy as pie - if you considered moving out of the way when the boulders fell - the hardest task was taking care of those beams. He needed more firepower.

He backflipped at a comfortable distance and bent his knees. His signature shuriken formed in webbed fingers as he pushed the solid water forward. He repeated this process until the metal scrap was taken down. Relief fell upon him when a cave-in didn't come to fruition.

He was shocked to see that what he cleared was all that was needed to proceed further down. There was trash on the floor of course, but that was a mere hindrance. The lower levels were officially available to the Newcomers. Greninja needed to go back up and spread the word, but first he had to see it for himself first - making sure that it was safe to enter.

It was pure black when he reached the bottom, he had to shake the glow stick to make it glow even brighter. It was a parking garage, is that what humans called it? There were plenty of cars stuck in rows - white lines separating them all.

A small streak of light from above caught the amphibian's eye. The dimmed light came from the wall ahead of him. Greninja cautiously approached the object in curiosity. A large tunnel connected from the garage to the outside. The gate prevented him from going any further and since power is nonexistent, it's a fruitless effort. Even if the gate was opened the snow blocking the tunnel would be a headache for him to deal with… Well maybe except Fit - power of the sun and all that.

He raised his froggy chin up. The light came from a very tiny hole in the snow. Though small, it brought a sense of calm to him. he's been missing the sunlight ever since the farm. He'd prayed to Arceus that they'll find a way back to the mansion. A hot tub and martial arts can do so much for the soul.

The wire above the light made his head stop in place, he rotated his neck following the cable until it led him to a door just to the side of the stairs. The Pokemon approached the entrance, a symbol of a black bolt of lighting on a yellow plaque greeted him.

A bolt of lightning… that's the symbols used for equipment that's channeling electricity or producing electricity. This had the generator room, the place that pumped life into this cold building. Is the generator still functioning? Do they have the skills and resources necessary to make it work? Only one way to find out.

Greninja held the glow stick with the tip of his tongue as he created the water kunai in his right. He gripped the knob and twist, it wasn't locked. Slowly, he pushed the door all the way inwards and instantly found out what went wrong.

Now Greninja wasn't a mechanic much less as a human machinery expert, but he was certain that the wires, bolts and other electronic junk was supposed to be inside the generator. If killing machines was a crime, this would have been considered a first-degree murder. By Arceus, no wonder… the generator had literally been gutted and bent to hell - claw and teeth marks all over.

Claw and teeth mark; deer creatures. He shouldn't be shocked, the diary already told them beforehand that this place was overrunned. It made him nervous that there was little evidence left. If only he had a clearer picture.

Well… turns out he did. In the form of several reddish-brown streaks on the floor. He followed the trail to a humongous red stain in the middle of the parking lot, around the length of several cars.

Torn clothes were scattered around the area; more streaks came in from different directions. No… Holy- these are the survivors. They must have piled a bunch of them here and chowed down; not even a single piece of bone left.

Coming down alone was a bad idea, he had to go tell the others. He turned to the direction of the stairs and his foot bumped into something and clanged on the ground. He shined Gunner's glow stick at the object: a sniper rifle.

He looked at where the sniper was resting against, it was a table with documents on it. The frog looked around where the green light will show. He was the only soul in here, no immediate dangers around.

He eyed the papers… maybe he should at least examine them before goes back to the surface, it could be important. Stayed silent and shined the light over the papers, scanning his eyes over the words. Good thing he was a fast reader.

According to these documents, the military had been… stationed here for quite awhile. Setting up a camp for anyone wanting shelter and awaiting orders from command. They were ambushed… a majority of the people managed to escape but not everyone was so lucky. They hunkered down here and… well he knew the result of that. The rest were just trivial… stuff about storage management, names of occupants, time zones. Nothing really useful.

There was a map sandwiched between, it was the same the Gunner collected but much bigger. A red circle was drawn upon it; several gray rectangles mashed together. It matched up with the timeline of the journal, but doesn't open anything new. This circled spot may hold promise. He'll need to bring it up to the others.

They're are plenty of documents here, his backpack is too small to hold them all. So how is he going to solve this problem? He observed the area and spotted a big pink purse laying on the ground. Not a fan of the color pink, but It'll do. He grabbed the bag and stuffed it until it was completely full. He slipped it over his shoulder and grabbed the rifle as well.

The stairs on the way up were more strenuous but the frog overcame it without challenge. He re-traced his footsteps to the foundation and saw the precog, the mayor and the blue swordsman standing there in awe. Taking in his current look no doubt.

"Guys." Shulk squinted. "Am I going crazy or is Greninja carrying a sniper rifle and large pink purse? Oh he's coming now."

The amphibian walked in front of the three Smashers, carefully leaning the sniper barrel down to the floor. He reached into the purse and pulled out the glow stick. He handed it to Shulk.

"Gunner's glowstick..." Shulk said aloud.

Greninja wrote on his clipboard and turned the paper around, mouthing the words as he went along. "Here's the item I borrowed from her. Be sure it gets to her."

"Sure thing." He responded, inserted the tube in his back leg pocket. "I've been looking for you about this but I guess my question has now been replaced by another: What have you been doing?"

"Yeah and where did you get this weapon?" Sword picked up the gun and held it in his arms. "The gun stores have all been looted, or did you magically find a secret cache of more firepower?"

"Down below."

The blonde Mii perked his head, returning the gun to its original placement. "We haven't gotten that far to the lower levels yet."

"I did. The nearest staircase here had less ruble than I expected. That's why I borrowed Gunner's stick. Wanted to do some of the work myself. "

"So you found a way down?" Villager was ecstatic in mere seconds. "That's great, Greninja! Where does it lead to, huh? Buried treasure?

The Pokemon frowned and his tongue lowered a bit. "It's an underground parking garage. I only did a quick search but I found some clues that were concerning."

Shulk was breathing in slowly. "Like what?"

"The ramp leading to the outside is blocked off by a gate and snow. I found a generator but we won't be able to get it working and" Greninja closed his eyes, feeling sympathy for the poor souls that were beyond six feet under. "Many clothes were scattered around on top of a big dark stain on the ground, torn to shreds."

Sword read the words to a tee and became wide-eyed. "Clothes? That… that means Brawler's theory about the survivors being eaten are correct. Only those monsters would have the stomach for that. This is serious, if those cannibals are down there-"

Greninja held up a hand, silencing Sword. "Although, I wasn't there long. I didn't sense any of those things down there. But we should have the utmost caution when exploring the lot. We don't want a repeat of last time."

"I suppose it's about time for an emergency meeting?" Said Shulk.

"I second that. Before we round up our people..." Sword turned to Greninja. "What's with the purse?"

Greninja didn't even get a word when the fist-fighter left the shop and joined the group. "Someone says my name. Woah, when did we get a sniper?" He looked at the pink purse hanging over Greninja. "And when did you sacrifice your masculinity?"

The Pokemon rolled his eyes and handed Sword the purse. "Hm? Papers?"

"Found it by accident during my search. They're documents, written by the army that was stationed here I presumed."

"Written by the army?" Shulk already knew beforehand that the mall was occupied by special forces (according to the journal) but it's strange only now they finally have official documents. "What did it say?"

"Only had a quick read. Saw a line or two about them evacuating, most of them at least."

"This is a big find, Greninja. This might give us more information on this world. If the military doesn't have a clue on the true nature of these guys than nothing will." Sword was about to insert his hand inside the purse but stopped. "I should find a surface first Come on."

Sword and Co. went back inside the store where Mega Man was finishing up his search. When he heard the sound of multiple footsteps he dropped the empty box on the floor. "Guys, I've been searching this place but I'm afraid there's no… why does Brawler have a huge sniper rifle?"

"I bribed Santa and he suddenly decided I wasn't on his naughty list anymore." Brawler deadpanned. "And yes, I'm going to use this all it's worth."

"Don't you specialize only in hand-to-hand combat?" Asked Villager.

"Mind your own business, kid."

Sword shook his head and place the purse on the counter. "Greninja found a way underground and found a bunch of official military documents." He inserted his hand in the pouch and pulled out a handful of paper and slammed it on the wood. "We got the next best thing to a VCR."

Mega Man chuckled. "Looks like this day is going well for us after all!"

"Yeah, but we still have to read all of it, gonna be a pain. Or…" Sword turned to the blue frog. "You don't happen to know what's important or not?"

Greninja nodded. Sword gave him the floor to pick the juiciest bits. After shuffling enough of the papers, Greninja stepped to the side and wrote on the clipboard. "Like I said, only a quick look. But these are the ones that caught my eye."

Shulk went to the counter, picking up a document and two and letting his eye do the work. "Says here that some of the people weren't able to evacuate in time and tried to hold out." He lowered the paper from his face. "Didn't you say that you found torn clothes when you were down there?"

Greninja solemnly nodded, closing his eyes momentarily for respect of the dead.

Brawler cringed, then gritted his teeth lightly. "Sh*t… so I was right when I said those freaks ate them whole. You expect with how hungry they are they would just cannibals themselves. Not even Kirby or Dedede had a powerhouse of a stomach."

"You guys don't think those things are still down there?" Villager asked; the smile already faded. The thought of those monsters running around the land finding anything to stuff their bellies was a nightmare. Having some potential under the foundation - the place you're staying? Absolute horror show. "Do you think it's possible that there are some lurking around down there?"

"We will have to arrange a proper search down below when we have the chance, but I don't believe they are any of those creatures down there." Greninja said in an attempt to ease the child's mind. He was recovering so well from that incident when he was jumped in the attic. Didn't want to ruin his good day without good reason.

Wanting to change the subject, the android returned his attention to the counter. "What's this circle on the map here?" Mega Man pointed to the red oval on the map of the wide area. "Is this their base?"

Brawler squinted from a distance but got a good view of what was being discussed. "Not as big as our place, but it's decent. Must be the case."

"The documents did say they were evacuating to the nearest base. I can only pray that most of them made out alive." Greninja stated.

"Yeah..." Sword tapped his finger on the edge of the map. An idea was slowly cooking up until it was at a boil. "How far do you think the mall is from this base?"

"You want to go there? Think it will be a good idea?" Asked Mega Man.

"Think about it." Sword tried to picture the scenario for his fellow peers. "Out here, the average citizen will have a hard time surviving, because they aren't exactly equipped to dealing with these types of threats. The military is a whole different ball game! Highly trained men, tanks and helicopters, mass communication - they have better odds at fighting against the deermen."

"I don't know, Sword. Wasn't this mall overruned when the military was in control?"

"Granted, but we weren't here when it happened. This mall was primarily focused on shelter - a temporary base. Sure they had to flee, but they got away safely. That has to be a good sign they're doing something right. The point is, is that this base could still be operational. With plenty of people, walls, and guns you could survive fine in this apocalypse. If we go here and interact with them-"

"Assuming they're still alive." Said Brawler.

"Assuming they're still alive, We can go there and interact. We can get food, information and possibly a way out of here and back to our home."

"How will they help us get home?" Villager questioned.

"They could lend us a helicopter and a map so we can find the mansion. And in return we will give them shelter and aid. Both parties will benefit."

"That's "unicorn" thinking, Sword." Brawler inspected the rifle, taking out the ammo from the slot then reloading again. "There's so much that can go wrong there."

"I know that, Brawler." Sword emphasized. "A lot of things can go wrong. All the people could be dead; they might be hostile and shoot at us; we don't know where to go even if we have a helicopter. I get the deal. But this isn't sustainable."

"What isn't?" Mega Man said.

Sword gestured to the entire room - the mall. "This place. We're doing fine now but that can't last forever. We can't live here forever. Have you already forgotten why we need to return back to the mansion beside our luxurious lifestyle? Have you forgotten that the hands, the original masters of us, are back to takeover the WOT? Cause I certainly didn't. Our friends back home could be struggling to an inch of their lives all because we're not there. If Master Hand controls the WOT, he controls everything. So forgive me for the desperation for saving the entire omniverse!"

Brawler rose from the chair he was sitting on, placing the rifle against the wall. "Didn't say anything on letting the finger-fu*k winning. I want to get back as much as you do, but going to the base is a waste of time. Our car is on low gas-"

"The parking lot has spare cars. We can easily get gas from them."

"That's not-" Brawler paused and shook his head. "Look… we've been searching this mall high and low. Until today we made little progress, and even then this might be a dead end. Could just be a death trap for all we know. We all agree that we're in some uncharted place of the WOT right? So why not go to the coast, get a boat and sail until we find land? It's better than staying here. We all know that the Veterans aren't coming to get us."

Shulk heard about these Veterans alright. They were apparently here before their generation. He asked around and he learned that they have this machine that can detect Newcomers when they first appear, something about each arrival releasing energy. Excluding himself, they were all stunned to see they haven't came to get them yet. As Shulk's signature should have led them to their location.

One theory that passed around was that the Veterans were too tangled to rescue them or their machine was either destroyed or messed with. The latter was more plausible to him. Even if they were too preoccupied to go get them, they could have done something to reach out to them.

But that also means that Hands know about the machine. He hoped that theory wasn't true. All he and his teammates could do was hope the Veterans were fighting strong and doing their best to get them back. He listened back in the conversation; arguing about boats and where'd to get them. At least they're not being vehemently stubborn about it.

Suddenly his eyes went blue.

A woman with blue hair was fighting against three deermen. She decapitated two of her foes with one blow, but the last one bucked her with its horns. She yelped in pain as she landed on the hood of a military jeep. She pried herself off, leaving a sizable dent on the metal.

The woman rolled and slammed her back hard into the pavement. She got on a knee, eyeing a man in the distance with bright white hair - chanting magic spells and zapping lightning from his palm. "Robin!" She cried.

The man ran and got the woman to her feet. "Are you okay, Lucina?" He asked.

"I'm fine." She swiped her sword from the ground and brandished the blade in her hand. "There are so many..." She stared at the marching horde of monsters coming from the military hanger. All of them lusted for the taste of flesh and blood.

"My tomes cannot last much longer… where are the soldiers?!"

Deermen surrounded them in no time. An open spot in the sea of monstrosity gave them enough room to breath. The pair then pressed close against each other back-to-back. Both drew a sword from the persons just as they were swarmed.

"I know I saw a boat around here somewhere, much easier plan than going some military fortress uninvited." Brawler argued.

"The coast is too far from the mall, at least we can get to base in relative time." Replied Sword.

"Hey fella, maybe we should talk with the rest of the group first before we make a decision? I mean this is big." Suggested Villager.

"No, we have to go to the base. Now." Said Shulk. "It's urgent."

"Hey, Future Eyes. Haven't you heard the boy?" Brawler spoke to the Hom. "Group decision, you aren't the boss here."

Shulk shook his head. "No, this is a different matter. I had a vision… people fighting against the creatures-"

"You had a vision? What exactly did you see?" Wrote Greninja.

He had full attention, the group zipped their lips to hear what the friendly precog had to say. "This may seem right out of left field but… I think I saw Newcomers!"

"Don't you mean a Newcomer?" Questioned Mega Man.

Shulk shook his head, he'll have to explain it real slow. "Not just one… but two. Two different Newcomers."