Draco: Alright, guys, you didn't think I was gonna leave out Symbiont, did you? Warning for the squeamish, this chapter is going to have some mildly unpleasant imagery involved.

Pokémon and protagonist © Nintendo. Character designs © Koei. Ransei © somewhere in the middle.


Ultra Kingdom - Depths of Darkness: The Lost

When Oichi came out the end of the gate, for a moment she thought she had lost her vision. What she was seeing before her couldn't possibly have been the reality of their destination; it looked for all the world like she was standing underwater. There was a sizeable expanse of emptiness before her, with small particles drifting randomly around her; after a moment, she could see that she was standing in a broad-looking cave, but the walls seemed to be made of coral, and up ahead, the cave seemed to bend, implying this was not a straightforward path.

"I've had nicer dreams," Oichi observed.

Something nudged her from the side - it was Type: Full, and as she stumbled he turned to her confrontingly.

"Okay," Oichi conceded, "I'm not hallucinating."

A woosh of wings drew her attention; Solgaleo was standing closer to the gate, and with the Ranseans all arrived Lunala had come through as well. The gate closed behind her as the Warriors and Pokémon regarded their surroundings warily; it had opened in a dead-end of the cavern, and the sun and moon were now waiting against the walls.

"Lady Evia was brought to this place?" Ranmaru muttered.

Gracia turned to Solgaleo and Lunala. "Are you two coming with us?"

Lunala shook her head.

"They're gonna stay here," Gracia relayed. "They'll come if we need them - otherwise they're just gonna crowd things."

"Enclosed area like this," Oichi admitted, "we need to be as uncrowded as we can. Alright." She turned to the cave. "Eyes peeled, everyone."

Full, Lucario, and Gothitelle led the advance, with Oichi, Ranmaru, and Gracia following behind them. Volcarona and Zoroark were next, with Okuni and Kotarō keeping their arms at the ready; Mitsunari, Kiyomasa, and Masanori were behind them, with Bisharp, Haxorus, and Krookodile bringing up the rear to avoid back-attacks. There was largely silence as they advanced, saved for their footsteps; the cave walls seemed to have a faint ambient glow to them, keeping them from being in the dark as they rounded the bend and continued further in.

It didn't take long for the cave to narrow, and shortly afterwards, they reached a branching of paths; Full prompted the procession to halt, and Gracia spoke up warily. "Um... every left path?" she suggested.

"Sounds good," Okuni murmured. "I don't want us splitting up if there's a beast we don't know here."

Unfortunately, the left-hand path didn't extend very far before stopping at a wide-open room, nearly as broad as that where they'd come in. More complications arose when they got a good look at the place - there were holes in the cave walls, which seemed to be paths with one end well above the ground.

"I really hope this isn't three dead-ends connected to other places at that altitude," Ranmaru murmured.

"Turn around?" Gracia asked.

"Might as well," Oichi conceded, turning to face the others. "Let's just-"

A sound like stone breaking cut her off; crystalline rocks descended with a ferocity and slammed into Volcarona, earning a cry of pain, and everyone started in a panic at being blindsided from above. Full roared skyward, and Oichi followed his attention to find something was descending. A bell-shaped, transluscent figure that seemed to float in the air like a fish Pokémon would underwater; numerous tentacles of varying lengths extended from around the ridge of the bell, and with a view from below it was clear that the thing was hollow.

Its descent came to a stop at the opposite wall, just low enough for everyone to have a view of the white stars that ringed its bell; then it crossed two tentacles before it and gave a cry that reverbed in the cave around them.

"A beast!" Kotarō growled.

Oichi's eyes swirled purple. "Rock and Poison!"

Gothitelle loosed a pulse, and Lucario hurled an Aura Sphere at the beast as Zoroark, Haxorus, Bisharp, and Krookodile charged towards it. The projectile hit hard, and the beast started to ascend to get out of attack range; Zoroark seized the ridges of the cave wall's coral, climbing after it, and once he was near enough he loosed a vertical Night Daze to strike the beast. Its tentacles swung forward, and Power Gems started to manifest around it... and then Gothitelle's Future Sight bombarded it, cutting it off in mid-attack and causing it to plummet.

It had yet to even land before Krookodile lunged in and Crunched its tentacles; Haxorus bombarded it with Outrage, and as soon as the dragon mist started to subside, Krookodile flung it towards Bisharp. A wicked Night Slash ripped across its bell, and the beast cried out angrily as it tried to rise; Power Gems manifested around it again, and this time they flew towards Zoroark before it was struck - this time by Full, whose claws raked down the beast's body unchanged. In the panic of being surprised by the attacker, neither Full nor Oichi had the presence of mind to equip his disc; the attack had impact, but little in the way of damage, and the beast's attack struck Zoroark off the wall, leaving him tumbling to the floor of the cave.

The beast quickly ascended, leaving Bisharp, Krookodile, and Haxorus striking at air - and, barely, not each other. Lucario hurled another Aura Sphere at the beast - yet it flickered out, the attack passing through where it had been ineffectively as it vanished into thin air.

Everyone's gaze went all around, everyone panicking. "Did we finish it?" Masanori asked.

"No," Mitsunari proclaimed. "It just... fled."

"I don't think it fled," Kiyomasa insisted, "I think it was defending itself."

Kotarō growled. "What sort of defense could let the attack-?"

Oichi's scream cut everyone off; the beast had reappeared, and had seized her. Her grip on her staff faltered as it dragged her into the air, its tentacles curling around her possessively.

Ranmaru tried to seize her leg, tried to drag her out of its capture, and found himself forced back. "OICHI!"

Bisharp made to leap after it, but Mitsunari stopped it. "Don't! You'll hit her!"

"We've gotta do something!" Masanori yelled.

Oichi seemed to vanish into the beast's grip, and it started to change.

Gracia slammed her palms against each other, and the psychic energy upon them dispersed with a crack that filled the cave.

"Solgaleo!"

The roar of the sun echoed into the cave; with a rush of radiant light, Solgaleo was suspended in the air before the beast, mane alight and void illuminated. A blazing glow manifested around him, and the beast's tentacles splayed; then he roared, loud enough to shake the entirety of the cave, and the beast cried out in a panic. Oichi fell from its grip, and Ranmaru caught her before she could hit the ground; sunlight surrounded Solgaleo as he charged forward, and he struck the beast with a connection like blade against stone.

The beast flew backwards into one of the tunnels along the cave walls, and went limp.

Everyone had more pressing concerns; Oichi was twitching, her mouth open and strangled cries emerging from her, her eyes closed so tight she seemed to be fighting something.

"Oichi!" Ranmaru tried to still her, panicking. "Oichi!"

"What's happening to her?" Okuni protested.

"She said that thing's poisonous!" Kotarō realized. "It's envenomed her!"

Ranmaru turned to her staff, lying on the floor; it was just within arm's reach, and without hesitating he reached forth, seizing it. His grip shifted up to just below the head as he brought it close to her, and water started to drip from the staff, scattering upon her face.

Oichi's eyes shot open, her mouth slammed shut, and she lurched abruptly. Ranmaru had no chance to react before she shot up from his arms, pushing him to the ground, and ran straight towards the dead-end wall. She hadn't even gotten close enough to set a hand upon it before she fell to her hands and knees, and Ranmaru closed his eyes as the sound of her retching filled the cavern, the poison being purged from her body.

When the vomiting stopped, Oichi forced herself to move aside before slumping to the ground, weak; Gracia quickly came up to her, helping her sit up, before running her psychic-coated hands down the healer's chest in an effort to ease her breathing. "Hey, hey. You alright? Talk to me. You remember me?"

"Y-Yes, Gracia," Oichi murmured. "I'm-" She closed her mouth abruptly, taking a deep breath through her nose before letting it out with a groan. "Oh, Alpha, that was awful..."

"What was that thing?" Ranmaru growled.

Solgaleo growled.

"Nihilego..." Gracia shook her head. "I never thought we'd see a beast that could do something like that to a person."

Oichi raised her gaze skyward in terror. "Evia's been in this place? We..." She closed her eyes. "We've been searching almost a year, now... and she's had to endure that?!"

Gracia set her hands on Oichi's cheeks. "What did I tell you about blaming yourself?" she reprimanded. "You're not responsible. And now that we're here, we're gonna help her, you hear me?"

"Yeah..." Oichi nodded. "Yeah, we're gonna help her."

Ranmaru handed her the staff; using it to support herself, she got to her feet. "We'll have to be duly cautious," he warned. "We can't risk one of those things taking us again."

+x+x+x+

Solgaleo again remained behind, ready to answer a call at a moment's notice; Oichi equipped Full with the Ground-type RKS disc, giving him the type advantage, and the group resumed their march, this time keeping their eyes skyward. Human disinclination to look up had endangered them once, and it wasn't about to again.

When they reached the three-way branch, they again took the next left, everyone hoping this one would bear some sort of fruit. The good news was, this one had several tunnels at ground level; the bad news, as Kotarō pointed out, was that there was barely enough room for Full to advance with his head down. They couldn't exactly make a tactical formation if they were to try and advance through them.

"Well, we've got three dead ends and no other land paths," Oichi pointed out. "We might as well take what we can get."

After some discussion, Full and Oichi elected to explore the available paths, and use the com-crystals to call the others forth once they were sure they'd found one that didn't come back to one of the other two branches of the same intersection. With Solgaleo at one branch and Lunala at the other, Oichi had no doubts as she and Full approached the end of the first one; they had gained a bit of altitude, but no so much to make their descent dangerous, and this was a fresh destination.

"We've found one," Oichi announced. "Ranmaru, you and Lucario bring up the rear."

"Fair enough," Ranmaru confirmed.

After making sure there were no Nihilego lying in wait, Full leapt down; Oichi used the coralesque formations of the walls to climb down at a slower pace, landing beside him once she was sure she could land upright. No sooner had she landed than Oichi saw something most concerning; a metal shape was lying against the wall of the cave, hooked on the ridges such that it was hidden from above.

It was a sword - it was Evia's Warlord Sword.

"What the hell?" She stepped forward, taking the blade in her left hand. "No... Please don't tell me..."

A cry sounded from nearby - not the Nihilego, but something else. A powerful shine burst out from nearby, striking Full with a shimmer to it before he had the chance to retaliate. Oichi turned, holding the weapon at the ready... yet a small, pink figure was standing there, glaring at Full. It was a Sylveon; and when it turned towards the healer, its face subsided to one of curiosity... no, of recognition.

"You're... the Eevee she found," Oichi realized. "Before I left for Nixtorm."

The Sylveon nodded, giving a low cry.

"...Is Evia alright?"


Draco: Here's the battle info for the new Ultra Beast and Eeveelution.

Nihilego
-Range: 3
-Move: Power Gem
-Ability: Beast Boost | Inferference

Power Gem (Rock)
-Attack area: three tiles one square away (i.e. Venoshock)

Sylveon
-Range:4
-Move: Dazzling Gleam
-Ability: Nurse | Share | Dodge
Evolve from Eevee: Improve Link in ? ? ?

Dazzling Gleam (Fairy)
-Attack area: three tiles in front (i.e. Icy Wind)

For Sylveon's evolution condition, see my bottomside notes on Chapter 29 discussing where the Fairy-type would fit into Ransei.