DarkFoxKit: Yay, another update. Also, I only have one more treatment to go and I'm free!
Traveling Master: *Throws confetti* I know it's early to celebrate, but after spending so long doing surgery and such, I think you deserve at least an early celebration.
DarkFoxKit: Thanks. Though I'm hoping that after this last treatment I won't suddenly need more or something. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst as they say. I'll also have appointments every few months to make sure the tumor is actually gone.
Traveling Master: Better to be safe than sorry. On a side note, happy Thanksgiving everyone. I know it was yesterday, but considering how much food is normally left, I feel the whole weekend ends up being Thanksgiving. Hope everyone had a good time with their friends and family.
DarkFoxKit: And we hope this new chapter helped made your Thanksgiving a little better. :3 Alright, let's head on to the chapter, I'm sure everyone's tired of waiting.
Chapter 34: A Dark Secret
Dust really didn't like the situation he found himself in. He and Shab were hiding inside a crate, in some kind of secret lab, with a Mawile holding Berry hostage. Not only that, but Cliff and Phantom were being held hostage in another crate as well. If they made one false move, they were dead, game over.
"I already told you that I don't know where the others are, we split up!" Berry snapped. "Let Cliff and Phantom go, they're only children."
"It's because they are children that they are getting special treatment, unlike the others," Patricia laughed. "Plus, they wouldn't really satisfy my hunger, you couldn't even call them a snack. Though, those two can grow to be powerful Pokemon one day, as for now, I'll be holding on to them for safe keeping."
Patricia paused, enjoying the glare that Berry was giving her.
"So, since you don't know where the others are, let's try another question. You know it's very rude sneaking in other Pokemon's rooms, so how much did you learn before I walked in on your little snooping?~" Patricia asked.
"I know that you're the one responsible for kidnapping the missing Pokemon, and draining them of their vitality and power," Berry growled.
"Guilty~" Patricia smiled. "But at this point, it's pretty obvious."
"But I don't understand why and how you're doing it," Berry spoke up. "Mawile don't learn any type of draining moves… do they? And even still, why are you doing it?"
"Oh, so you want to know the how and why? Well I doubt a Goomy like you could fully comprehend exactly how all this was possible, but I'll try to simplify it for my special guest~" Patricia taunted.
Berry frowned, she didn't like that Patricia was implying that she was too stupid to understand her motives or how she was able to drain others.
"You are not wrong, Mawile normally can't learn any draining moves naturally, though we can learn Draining Kiss, I can tell you now that's not the method used for draining these missing Pokemon. In the past Pokemon were limited to their base form, base movesets, and such. But something we as Pokemon seem to do is adapt to changes over time. Let's use you for an example. Tell me, does that mean every Goomy is capable of pulling off some of the attacks you did? Like forming a Dragon made of water?" Patricia asked.
Berry frowned. "I don't know. As you said, I was raised by a family of Quagsire. I don't know a lot of other Goomy."
"Yes, I was rather surprised when I found out about that, at first I was starting to wonder if maybe being raised by a Quagsire is what led to your unique strengths. Though once he returns, I'm sure he'll learn more about your biology. Now I've come across a few Goomy in the past, and none of them compare to what you are capable of. Do you get what I'm saying? Or am I going to fast for you?~" Patricia asked with a condescending tone.
"Stop treating me like I can't understand what you're saying!" Berry snapped. "Though I see you're playing the pronoun game with me. This 'he' must be that other voice you were talking to before, the one who 'put you in charge' while he decides to leave for a while."
"Oh yes, I must admit, it's very fortunate for you that he had to leave for the time being. Though it did give us a chance to meet officially. Oh you are going to love him, he has a way of...bringing out the best of others. He's a genius, someone who really knows the Pokemon body. His ambition and desire to unlock all the secrets of the Pokemon are very admirable. He was the one who created the method for draining others so efficiently," Patricia explained, praising her master.
Berry's antennae twitched a little, and she eyed a certain crate in the room. She turned her attention back to the Mawile. "Is that why he's interested in me? Because of my outbursts?"
"It was something we've never seen before. If it wasn't for his orders to keep you preserved until he came back, I would've drained you the moment I had caught you," Patricia said slowly, relishing the thought. "Speaking of draining, you are still wondering exactly how it's done. Though despite your earlier claim, I really do doubt you would fully understand it. Nothing against you personally, but not many others could even fathom the designs of his machine. So how about I show you how the Jaws of Life work?" Patricia asked rhetorically.
"Don't you dare use it on Cliff or Phantom!" Berry warned.
"Calm yourself, little dragon, like I said earlier, they wouldn't even have enough energy to serve up a meal. I was thinking more of someone else from your guild. I actually had one in mind, in fact. Out of all the others, he rather got on my nerves, almost wrecking the entire arena. Plus, despite our research, we couldn't find out much about that Charmeleon, so I'm rather curious to see how much I'll be able to drain him. Oh just thinking about it is making my stomach growl," Patricia stated while smacking her lips.
Berry's eyes widened. "Al…"
"Looks like there is a brain in that gooey head of yours after all," Patricia taunted.
Berry glared, insulted. "When have I ever demonstrated that I was stupid?"
"Well considering you almost killed Team Volcano, it seemed as though you were acting very wild. Unless you were aware of what you were doing, then I'll take back what I said and you'll actually turn out to be this somewhat intelligent Goomy who was aware of her actions. I mean, I've done my fair share of violence before, but I was aware of what I was doing, and I did all of it willingly. Are you telling me you actually were willing to end Team Volcano's lives, over a simple match? Makes me wonder who the real villain is~" Patricia sneered.
Dust had to grab onto Shab again before the Feebas could tackle his way out of the crate through sheer rage. Dust was counting his lucky stars that Shab wasn't a Magikarp, or he'd evolve out of anger by now.
"How dare she call my sweet Berry an idiot. Berry's the smartest girl I've met. Being wild doesn't mean being stupid, you'd have to be smart to survive in the wild," Shab hissed angrily, seething.
Berry looked like she wanted to argue, but Patricia's words cut through her deeper than any teeth or claws could.
"But I think I've gone long enough, you asked how, and why. I'll show you how it's done. As for why, I'll leave that for when he comes back," Patricia stated before walking away from the table.
With Berry still trapped between her jaws, Patricia went to one side of the lab as she reached for a lever. As she pulled it, Berry saw something being lowered down from the ceiling. Berry had no idea what she was looking at. It looked like some sort of giant machine, one end had a long tube with hoses attached. The hoses themselves seemed to lead to the other side of the machine, which had large containers. Right now each of the containers were empty, but Berry had guessed that whatever this machine did, it used those containers to store whatever it drained. Berry then saw a faded yellow G symbol on the machine's side. Once the machine stopped, Berry noticed that the tube was above one of the tables. On closer look she saw that the table had straps and clamps, most likely to hold down any Pokemon unfortunate enough to be trapped there.
Patricia walked to the machine, patting its side as she admired it. "Say hello to the Jaws of Life."
Berry's body shivered just looking at the machine. There was a strong sense of 'wrongness' coming from this machine.
"When we found this machine, it was old and rusted. In fact, we weren't sure if it would work anymore when we brought it here," Patricia began. "But, my master, always so determined and unwilling to give up, decided to try to get the machine working again."
"You found this machine?" The Goomy asked, surprised. "You didn't build it yourself?"
"My master may be a genius, but that can only take one so far. We are limited to the resources we have, and only recently have begun to scratch the surface of our past," Patricia explained before smiling. "So the Jaws of Life are able to drain the vitality of those unfortunate enough to be our victims. It then stores all the energy it drains into those containers. But that alone wouldn't be enough. So my master experimented for countless days, researching the substance drained from Pokemon, trying to figure out how to best optimize its uses."
Dust couldn't believe what he was seeing, if it wasn't for the fact that he was still holding Shab back, and that any wrong move they made could cause ill doom for Berry, he would've most likely been taking relentless notes about the machine. He recalled seeing an image of the machine drawn in the folder he had read earlier, but he wasn't expecting such a big machine. He felt both fascinated and terrified as he heard Patricia explain the machine to Berry.
"We started off with Wild Pokemon, and while the machine did yield some good results, it wasn't until we tested it on our first civilized subject. The things others would do to provide for their children. We promised the Togekiss that if she assisted us with our project, we would pay her well, so that her son would never have to worry about going hungry again. Though if she knew what our real project was, she probably wouldn't have been so willing. Oh, don't worry about the child, we did keep our promise, the authorities do make sure to take care of those who are unfortunate enough to lose their only parent~" Patricia laughed.
Berry paled. "You killed her?! I thought the machine only drains the Pokemon and makes them tired, not outright kill them!"
"Well she was our first civilized test subject. Wild Pokemon, despite being far more stronger, didn't yield as much energy when being drained. Perhaps it was due to being more in tune with their wild side, or perhaps lacking a sentient thought is what kept them from being fully drained. Even now, we haven't truly figured it out. But when we first used it on that Togekiss, well it looks like the machine worked too well. We've gotten more energy then we would've if we used 10 Wild Pokemon. Unfortunately, by the time we realized what was happening, it was too late, all the energy, strength, and vitality was drained from the Togekiss. But it's thanks to that incident that we were able to perfect the machine," Patricia smiled as she admired the machine.
"You and your master are sick," Berry hissed in disgust.
"Oh, you're just saying that~" Patricia taunted. "Wait until you see it in action. Now it's time for a demonstration. After I'm finished with the Charmeleon, I'll let you pick the next subject. How does that sound?"
"I would never pick anyone to be your unfortunate victim. What even happens to the Pokemon you drain long term? Would they ever recover or have you stunted their power and strength permanently?" Berry questioned.
"Looks like you are smarter than you look, or you just happen to be asking the right questions. We discovered that those who are drained can make a recovery, if they seek medical help within 24 hours. But after that, with each passing hour, their body and mind soon become stunted. And by the time they are found, they are basically empty shells of their former selves. We learned that mixing a Sitrus and Lum Berry together helps rejuvenate the body, and if they are kept under constant care, they make a relatively well recovery. But of course we can't really be having that, or else everyone would be telling our little secrets," Patricia explained.
Berry frowned. "I can't believe you would willingly permanently stunt a Pokemon's growth just for power."
"I don't see why you're so upset about this. It's not better in the wild. Pokemon eat each other to survive and get stronger all the time. Even civilian Pokemon aren't completely innocent from this either," The Mawile pointed out. "At least my way doesn't outright kill them… well, most of them."
Berry then began to get an idea. She knew, however, that it was a very risky idea. But she needed to protect Al and everyone else as long as she could until Dust or Shab did something to stop Patricia and her madness for power.
"Why bother wasting your time sucking Al dry since he was just brought in here? He might need some time to… soften up and marinate in his dreams before his energy becomes tastier for you," Berry said, hoping that actually was the case as she was only guessing. "But you have me right here, right now, in your grasp. You could suck my power, including that big outburst you saw me use during the tournament. Your boss would never know, you could always give me the medical treatment to bring me back before he knew what you did."
As Berry gave her suggestion, she noticed that Patricia's mouth was salivating at the thought. The Mawile tried to hide it, but Berry could feel her shaking from the mere thought. She then noticed Patricia had seemingly forgotten about Berry for the moment as she mumbled to herself. Patricia's jaws were drooling and dripping more over her body, which Berry was very disgusted by, but she knew her plan was working.
"Oh it's so tempting...but Master said to keep her preserved. But she makes a very good point, I can easily drain her for myself and have her fully recovered by the time he gets back. He'd never know. But...I can't….I shouldn't….But just thinking about it…" Patricia mumbled on.
Berry wasn't sure if a Mawile's jaws could taste the same way their normal mouths could, but to try to push Patricia over the edge, Berry began to rub herself against the jaw's tongue. "Come on, I'm already nice and soft, as well as fresh for you. Why wait when you could have me all to yourself right now?"
Patricia couldn't take it anymore, she felt Berry's slime against her jaw's tongue, and the taste alone was giving her a pleasant sensation. Before Berry could even react, Patricia suddenly spit her out onto the table with the straps.
What is Berry doing? Why is she tempting that power nut to drain her? Dust frowned in worry, seeing Berry was already on the table with the straps.
Dust had to clamp a claw over Shab's mouth before he could call out for Berry in worry. This only caused the Feebas to struggle harder, however. Dust hated feeling so helpless while his partner was putting herself in danger.
"What should we do?" A familiar voice suddenly asked, which made Dust almost jump, his blade nearly hitting the crate's lid. "S-sorry, didn't mean to startle you."
"It's fine," Dust whispered, relieved to see it was Spooks.
"I say we jump out now and save Berry," Shab angrily whispered.
"We can't just jump out, there's too much at risk. We'd end up making things worse," Dust explained.
"And if we do nothing it will be too late," Shab hissed.
"My sister and friend are unconscious in that other crate," Spooks whispered. "I think Berry's trying to protect them and the others that were brought in here by offering herself to Patricia."
Think Dust, what are your options. We can wait, but then it might be too late. We could try jumping now, and while we have the advantage, something tells me we would still be outmatched by this Mawile. If we could somehow get the upper hand, maybe wake up the others, but how… the second we leave this crate, we'll be seen! Dust thought to himself, trying to think of a solution. But then an idea came to mind. He thought about all that Patricia had said, recalled what he read in the folder about the Jaws of life, remembering Shab and the strange liquid. It was all coming together, and it all came down to one variable.
"I have a plan. And Spooks, you are the key to it all, because you're the only one here who can do this without being seen. This is what I need you to do…" Dust started as he whispered his plan to Spooks and Shab.
Berry grunted at her restraints. It was very tight on her, so much so that it was making it a little hard for her to breathe.
"Not even your goo will be able to help you slip out of these restraints," Patricia snickered. "They were made for all sorts of Pokemon."
Berry glared up at the Mawile. "Well… you did want to show me a demonstration… what better way than for it to be up close and personal, right?"
"I am loving your enthusiasm right now!" Patricia smiled. "It's a shame, really. I have no idea what my master plans on doing to you, but I am grateful that you are so willing to be drained right now~" Patricia smiled.
"You're doing me a favor. I wanted to get rid of these unusual powers since I first discovered them, and especially after I almost killed Team Volcano with it," Berry answered, though her antennae sensed movement, she was hoping to keep Patricia's attention on her.
"Not everyone was meant for power, dear. Perhaps when he takes you away, you'll get the chance to see what real power is. Maybe you'll come to regret what you lost in the future. That is if he keeps you alive long enough to see it. Now, I should warn you, while most of our subjects are unconscious at the initial start, by the time they wake up, they hardly feel anything. I can't say the same for you, since you are willing to be drained. So do your best to prepare yourself, it won't be long until the pain goes away~" Patricia grinned.
The Mawile then started flipping some switches on the machine as it roared to life. The machine gave an eerie green glow as the lights started to turn on. Berry heard a type of suction noise coming from the end of the tube as Patricia started lowering it towards her mouth. As it got closer and closer, some of her slime started getting sucked up into the tube.
Spooks used his scythe-like hands to try to pick up one of the vials on the table while Patricia was distracted with Berry. He knew he didn't have much time before the machine started to suck the Goomy dry. Once Spooks managed to get a good grip on the vial, he quickly flew towards the body chambers the Pokemon brought the other Teams into. Spooks could see the chambers were releasing some kind of mist or smoke that was likely keeping the Pokemon inside asleep.
Spooks knew he only had time to release one Pokemon. And that one Pokemon needed to be strong enough to stop that machine. The Dreepy stopped in front of one of the chambers, looking at the sleeping Charmeleon. Nobody else had shown such raw, destructive power as much as Al did, well, other than Berry in her outbursts, and maybe the Gyarados from Team Crimson Raiders, but she wasn't here right now. Spooks quickly pushed the release button on the control panel next to Al's chamber with his head.
The chamber started opening up after it stopped releasing the sleeping mist. Spooks was flying around impatiently. Come on, come on, hurry up!
Finally the chamber had fully opened, letting some of the mist go out. Spooks made sure to take a deep breath before entering with the vial between his scythe-like hands. Spooks was rather glad that Al was currently snoring with his mouth wide open, it made it easier for him to get the vial to his mouth. Tipping the vial to one side, Spooks watch the liquid go down the Charmeleon's mouth, making sure to empty the entire vial before leaving the chamber.
Breathing once more, he looked back at the Charmeleon, waiting for him to wake up. Come on Al, please wake up.
After a couple seconds, the Charmeleon still had not stirred. Spooks took another breath and entered the chamber so that he could try to wake Al up. He started shaking his head, even going so far as hitting his face as hard as he could, but no matter how hard he tried, the Charmeleon refused to wake up.
Spooks exited the chamber and fell to the ground, feeling hopeless. He didn't know what else to do, Dust was counting on him. The others were counting on him, and yet he failed. Spooks was about to start crying when he suddenly heard a loud rumbling. The noise was so sudden that he immediately went invisible, thinking that it might have been Patricia. But when he saw no sign of the Mawile, he noticed the rumbling was coming from Al's chamber.
Taking another deep breath, Spooks entered the chamber and saw that Al was still asleep, but he noticed the rumbling was coming from the Charmeleon's stomach. Spooks was getting hopeful as he got closer to Al's face, watching for any signs of him waking up. When the Dreepy was eye level with Al, the Charmeleon's eyes suddenly shot wide open as he suddenly jumped out of the chamber, almost hitting Spooks in the process.
Al's body was slightly twitching, as his head kept turning around, looking at one thing to another. He was sniffing the air, his mind was racing, his tail flame was burning hotter than ever, his body full of energy. Al then heard a squeaking sound that caught his attention. Looking to where he heard it, his eyes suddenly narrowed when he saw Berry looking scared as this big machine's hose thing was right over her mouth. A Mawile was standing nearby, grinning like a hungry wild Pokemon.
A deep growl came from Al's throat at seeing Berry in trouble, though at the moment, he wasn't thinking about Berry as a fellow guildmate, or even another Pokemon in trouble. Right now his instincts were telling him as though a kin of his was in danger and that he must protect her no matter what. Spooks was rather surprised at how Al was acting, but he began to race towards Berry and Patricia. The little Dreepy could only hope that meant Al was going to save Berry.
Berry shut her eyes as her lips were now touching the hose of the machine.
"Don't worry, it will all be over before you even know it-" Patricia started, when she suddenly felt intense heat coming from behind.
Patricia then turned around just as a Charmeleon crashed towards the machine, his body covered in flames as he went full force against the Jaws of Life. As Al launched the machine off the ceiling, knocking it to the ground, he continued attacking the machine, pounding against it, clawing away using Dragon Claw as he ripped the machine apart, piece by piece. Tables were knocked over from the parts he threw off, notes caught on fire from the flames coming off his body.
"WHAT THE DISTORTION WORLD!?" Patricia screeched in shock and anger.
The machine stopped working, though it was still being torn by the flaming Charmeleon. Berry was looking up in confusion. If this was Al, she had never seen him this way before.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Patricia shouted before leaping at Al, her jaws wide open.
"Al, look out!" Berry shouted, hoping the Charmeleon would listen.
Patricia brought her jaws down towards Al, who at the last second turned around and used his left forearm to catch her jaws. Blood ran down Al's arm as the teeth sank into Al's flesh. Despite being angry, Patricia was grinning, glad that she'd get to punish Al. But then her expression changed when she felt her jaw being forcibly moved to the side. She then saw Al's face, and only saw rage behind his eyes. A deep growl comes from Al's throat as he used his other arm to get a firm grip on Patricia's jaws. He looked at Berry for a brief moment. It was a short moment, but Berry thought Al was looking at her… differently than he would look at just another guild member or something. Berry couldn't quite figure out what it was though. Al turned his attention back on Patricia as anger returned to his eyes.
Having a firm grip on Patricia, Al turned towards the exit as flames erupted from his body once more. Before Patricia could react, Al suddenly started dragging her body towards the exit as he went up the stairs.
"Let go of me you stupid lizard!" Berry heard Patricia shout as Al took her farther and farther away.
Berry didn't know exactly how it happened, but she was glad that Al had somehow come to her rescue. Her antennae suddenly started twitching as she sensed moving around her. She then saw Spooks suddenly appear as he became visible.
"Okay! I guess the plan worked!" Spooks called out.
"I knew it would work, but wasn't expecting it to work so well!" Berry heard a familiar voice call out.
Dust and Shab could finally leave the crate. Shab immediately swam through the air over to Berry, and started nudging her. "Are you okay, my precious Berry? That Mawile didn't hurt you, did you?"
"Other than being in her big mouth jaws for a while, and almost getting my vitality sucked, I'm actually pretty good," Berry answered. "Though I'd appreciate it if you all could get this restraint off of me."
"Right!" Dust exclaimed as he started working on the restraints. While doing so, he decided to ask Berry some questions. "So how did you end up getting caught by Patricia? And what happened to Trixx and Kuro?"
"I don't know what happened to Trixx and Kuro. They squished me into this small hole we found in the storage room. We could hear voices on the other side, but we couldn't hear what they were saying. Kuro got this brilliant idea to smoosh me through the hole so I could hear the voices on the other side. I did hear them, but I could only get out one way. So I squeezed myself out into the other room when I was sure the voices were gone. I did some snooping around in the room, since I was sure it belonged to the kidnapper… Well, I was right, it did. And unfortunately, the kidnapper came back while I was still in the room, and caught me." Berry frowned. "I hadn't seen Trixx or Kuro since."
"Well hopefully they are safe. We actually managed to find this underground lab thanks to Tippi. Remember that dead end we came across last time with Emerald? Well turns out there was a secret panel on the wall that was barely visible to the naked eye. Even if you were looking directly at it, you would hardly notice it. Spooks then went through the wall and opened it up for us. We then discovered the lab, along with all the other missing Pokemon, including Emerald and her friends," Dust explained. "It was just shortly after Team Silkwing had gotten everyone else out that Spooks warned us about Patricia and the others, so we hid in that crate."
"So that's how you ended up here," Berry noted, Shab was still checking her over.
Spooks flew over to them. "I'll admit, I was worried I may have chosen wrong when I decided to wake up Al to try to save you. He wasn't being responsive at first, and then when he did wake up, he was acting… weird."
"It looked like he was acting more on instinct than anything, almost like a wild Pokemon," Shab stated.
"Yeah… when he looked at me while destroying the machine, at first I was worried he was going to come after me next," Berry admitted, a little shaken up. "But when he looked at me again, it reminded me of how my mother used to look at me when the other Pokemon were making fun of me."
"Interesting, perhaps wild Pokemon have that instinct to protect someone close to them," Dust speculated. "So since Al was going off purely his instinct, maybe he still recognized you as a fellow guildmate."
"It felt more than that…" Berry frowned. "... We… could be right in our guess that Al is Calcifer… and that he is my biological father."
Dust, Berry and Shab all went quiet at the thought of Al being Berry's potential biological father. Spooks was rather confused.
"Wait, I thought your parents were Quagsire, how can Al be your father? I mean, no offense to Al, but...he's Al," Spooks asked.
"I wasn't actually born as a Wooper, Spooks… even though I thought I was. Meaning my mom and dad aren't my actual parents," Berry explained.
"But why do you think Al could be your father?" Spooks asked once more.
"We have reason to believe it has to do with his past," Dust spoke up. "But we can explain later, for now we should try to find the others, see if they are okay."
"Do you think Al is going to be okay?" Spooks asked.
"Maybe, he's tough, he can survive quite a lot," Shab assured. "But we should find a way to get everyone else out of here before Patricia or her boss comes back, whoever her boss is."
"He definitely sounds dangerous," Berry shivered. "I wouldn't want to meet him. But how are we going to get everyone else out of their chambers? It might take a while before they wake up. And… I'd rather not force feed them whatever is in those vials."
Spooks frowned before he looked over at the crate Cliff and Phantom were being kept in. "You leave that to me. You guys need to make sure Patricia gets arrested for what she's done."
"Are you sure, Spooks?" Dust asked.
"I know I'm not the bravest, that my sister would be better suited to handle this. I know that I cry a lot, and easily get scared, but I'm going to do everything that I can to make sure that my sister and the others are safe. So you can trust me to take care of them while you handle Patricia," Spooks answered with confidence.
Berry smiled at hearing Spooks' declaration. "You have the heart of a Crusader, Spooks. Despite being scared, you're still willing to help however you can."
"I couldn't have said it better myself, Berry." Shab smiled.
"We'll come back and help out as soon as we're sure Patricia is arrested," Dust promised.
"You better hurry, I don't know how long Al will keep her busy," The Dreepy remarked.
"If anything, I think we should be more worried about Al. By the time we get there I'm sure Patricia will be knocked out cold," Dust somewhat joked.
Berry quickly slithered onto the Absol's back, with Shab hopping onto Berry's head. With his two teammates on his back, Dust hurried up the stairs, following the flames, and the sound of screaming. Even though Dust had joked about Patricia being knocked out cold, part of him was actually rather worried.
If Al was acting like a wild Pokemon and is finished dealing with Patricia, does that mean we'll have to try to stop him too? Can't imagine fighting Al when he's wild like that. Dust thought to himself as he continued to follow the trail of fire left behind.
However, as Dust came out from the underground lab, he was surprised by glowing blue stones that were popping out from the floor, ceiling, and walls. There were some red scales, and maybe bits of blood on the stones. There was also some blood on the floor, likely whoever got stabbed or hit by these glowing stones were bleeding, but was still fighting.
"What… are these glowing stones?" Shab asked in worry.
"We better find Al fast, something tells me that Patricia might know some kind of Rock type attack," Dust noted before continuing on.
They could hear the sound of a battle getting louder and louder as they got closer to the arena. As they rounded a corner Dust suddenly bumped into someone, causing his heart to race. He quickly got up in a defensive position, thinking it might have been one of those Pokemon working under Patricia, but then relief came to his face as he recognized who he had bumped into.
"Talon, you almost gave me a heart attack," Dust smiled as he greeted the leader of Team Silkwing.
"We've gotta stop bumping into each other like this. You about ran me over," Talon chuckled.
"How are the others?" Shab asked.
"We took them to the medical room to get treated. Dr. Perfume is working on them, though he's rather surprised at how drained they are. It isn't natural," Ivy answered. "We thought we'd come back to the lab now that they're taken care of to see what else we could find."
"Then we saw a lot of fire and stones coming out everywhere…" Tippi said nervously, then she noticed someone. "Berry? When did you get back?"
"I was captured by the kidnapper and taken to the lab. Dust, Shab, and Spooks saved me from getting drained," Berry answered quickly. "They brought in the rest of the teams from the Unity Guild, they're all unconscious in a chamber that's keeping them asleep right now. Spooks used some kind of liquid in one of the vials in the lab to wake up Al, but he suddenly went wild and started attacking the kidnapper."
"Wait, so you guys saw who the kidnapper was then?" Ivy asked.
"Yeah," Dust nodded. "It was Patricia the Mawile."
"You mean the announcer?" Talon asked, sounding surprised.
"It's always the last one you suspect…" Tippi muttered.
"I kinda always thought that Mawile had a hungry look in her eyes whenever we battled. Though I just figured it's because of that huge jaw on her head," The Snivy remarked.
"Speaking of battles, we better check on Al, we know he's strong, but we don't know what Patricia is capable of," Dust suggested. "Together we should be able to take Patricia down."
"Be careful, there are more stones along the way. Tippi and I… well, we don't do well against stones." Talon frowned.
"Don't worry, the stones aren't aimed at us," Berry assured.
"I think those stones were just left behind during Al and Patricia's fight. They didn't seem to do anything when we got near them, so we should be fine," Dust added.
"Alright, then lead the way," Talon replied.
Dust ran forward with Talon and Tippi flying behind him. Ivy was easily able to keep up with Dust since she was fast on her own. They could see more and more stones, as well as burnt objects the further they went. There were more scales and blood as well, which was really concerning. It was especially creepy due to it being late at night, and no other Pokemon was around.
Finally, all of the damages led them to the doors into the arena. Berry stiffened, her antennae raised up high. "Something's wrong… I suddenly sensed a high spike in power…"
"Do you think Al might've gotten completely wild?" Dust asked.
"What would happen if a civilized Pokemon goes completely wild?" Tippi nervously asked.
"Considering that wild Pokemon tend to be stronger than civilized ones, as well thinking about how wild Al already is...we might have to end up trying to stop Al ourselves," Dust explained.
"That… sounds like… fun?" Ivy frowned, being a Grass type, she really didn't like being around fire.
"No…" Berry spoke up. "This doesn't feel like Al…"
Suddenly, Berry frowned more. "The spike in power is gone, but… I can't sense Al anymore."
Dust had been so worried about facing Al, it never occurred to him that the Charmeleon could lose. After hearing what Berry had said, he gulped before reaching for the doors. After opening the doors to the arena, Dust and the others were shocked by what they saw. Countless stones were all around the arena, while flames covered most of the battlefield, with some of the stones being on fire themselves.
At the center of the arena, was Patricia and Al themselves. Patricia stood in front of the Charmeleon, who was lying face down on the ground. Al's tail flame was dangerously dim and small, he was bleeding out from several wounds. Patricia had some burnt wounds, but she looked fine otherwise.
Patricia then noticed Dust and the others before addressing the empty stadium."Alright folks, you made it just in time. You might have missed the intense battle between Al of the Unity Guild and myself, but it looks like we got some new contenders joining us tonight! Introducing Team Night Tide, who because of their leader, lost in the Quarter Finals! And we can't forget the tournament's winners, Team Silkwing, who only won cause their opponents had severely underestimated them. Will they be able to win against me? I hope you are all excited cause I sure am!"
Dust was a bit confused as to why the Mawile was announcing when there was no audience to announce to.
"I have to admit, the Charmeleon put up quite a fight. I think I'll have to save him for later~" Patricia grinned.
Before anyone could ask, the Mawile turned around, letting her jaw open wide and started to pick up the unconscious Al into it. Berry looked a bit sick, having been inside Patricia's jaw herself.
"What is she doing?" Tippi questioned in worry. "Is she going to hold Al in her jaw?"
"I don't see how that would help her, but with all that extra weight it could help us-" Dust started until he saw what Patricia started doing.
Patricia tilted up her jaw, then the bulge inside that was Al started to go down, and slowly disappearing. Everyone watched in shock and disgust as there was a loud gulping sound. When the bulge disappeared, the jaw opened up a little bit, licking out its tongue in satisfaction, and there was no sign of Al anymore.
"Ah… that was delicious~" Patricia grinned.
Talon had a wing over his beak, looking like he was about to throw up, his feathers were very ruffled up. Tippi looked more concerned for Talon than sick. Ivy was just staring in shock, unable to form words.
Berry was very still, realizing how easily that could've been her instead of Al. And Al was gone, he was there, and now he was eaten. Just like that Seviper back in the Waterfall Cavern. Shab had to float to the side of Berry to keep her from falling off of Dust. The Absol had read before how certain wild Pokemon ate their prey, but never in his lifetime would he see a civilized Pokemon consume another civilized one. If it wasn't for his dark skin, the others would've seen how pale he would've been right now.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, someone had the guts to speak up.
"What did you do to Al!?" Ivy demanded.
"He was fighting like a Wild Pokemon. And you know what happens when two predators fight each other, right? The loser ends up as the winner's meal~" Patricia answered.
"So you... really were the one who's... been sucking energy... out from Pokemon," The Starly spoke up, still looking quite sick.
"Give it up for the Starly's observation skills," Patricia condescendingly replied. "Wanna state the obvious some more?"
"She's pretty rude too," Ivy remarked.
"You're not going to get away with this, you know that, right?" Berry glared, now angry seeing how one of her guild members just got eaten. "You're facing against two teams of Crusaders who made it far in the tournament. Not to mention Al had likely weakened you a good bit."
"Then what are you waiting for?" Patricia asked with open arms. "And since we are in the tournament, I'll show some sportsmanship too. All you have to do is beat me, right here, in the arena. And the prize for winning? Well not only will you clear your guildmaster's name, but as a bonus you might be able the Charmeleon's life. Though I suggest you hurry, don't know how long until he's fully digested~"
"Be careful, this could be a trap," Shab warned. "I know we need to save Al as quickly as possible, but we can't be too hasty or we'd end up next on her menu."
"We should approach her from different sides so she can't hit all of us at once," Talon suggested, though he looked like he was trying to keep a hold on himself.
"Try to relax a little, Talon…" Tippi said quietly.
"Together, we should be able to beat her and save Al before it's too late.," Dust added.
"I know…" Talon replied, shaking his head a bit to try to shake the feeling away. "We can do this, for Al and for Chihiro."
Despite outnumbering Patricia, Dust and the others did still feel uneasy, but they knew they had no choice. Walking down to the arena, both teams took their position, with Dust facing Patricia as Berry and Shab were on his back. Talon made sure to get on the Mawile left side while Tippi and Ivy took her right, with the Snivy riding on top of Tippi. Seeing that they were almost ready, Patricia shouted out loud, despite the stadium being completely empty.
"Alright folks, you've waited long enough, but the bonus round is almost ready to begin. But before we start, I think we should raise the stakes just a bit!" Patricia shouted.
Before anyone could ask what Patricia meant, vines suddenly shot out from the sides and grabbed Ivy off her back. Tippi was about to go assist her partner when a strong gust blew her back. Talon saw that there was now a Beutifly blocking Tippi's path while an Ivysaur held Ivy tightly between their vines. Talon was about to attack the Ivysaur when he suddenly heard something coming straight for him. At the last second he flapped his wings and pushed himself back, barely dodging a dive bomb attack. The assailant quickly flapped its wings as it flew back up to face Talon. The Starly glared at the Swellow, seeing that it was not going to let him pass to help his friends.
"You didn't really think I'd let both teams attack me at once, did you? That wouldn't be very sporting," Patricia stated. "I will only allow one team to face me. Team Silkwing, since you were the winners of the tournament, you get the honor of facing three of my boss's vine picked Pokemon he had trained himself. I also made sure to pick the ones who are similar to the three of you to make it more fair. As for Team Night Tide… hehe, I want them to be all mine~"
Berry shivered, seeing Patricia looking at her specifically.
"You are not going to suck Berry dry, you monster!" Shab snapped. "And you're definitely not eating her next!"
"Very interesting choice of words~" Patricia grinned. "But honestly, between me and her, I think we both know who the real monster is. She admitted it herself, she wanted to rid herself of those powers, you should be grateful that I'm willing to drain someone who's kind are usually known to be weak."
"It's true that I don't want these powers, these strange outbursts that make me go wild… but I'd rather not give them to you," Berry glared. "Nor do I want to give them to your boss. Not if you plan on misusing them."
"I would simply use your powers for my own, as for my master, even I can't guess what he would do once he has your powers, though I look forward to it," Patricia replied.
Dust frowned. "Enough of talking, let's get right to the part where we kick your butt!"
"Dust… we need to be careful," Berry warned. "A Mawile is part Steel and part Fairy. My Sludge Bomb and DragonBreath can't do anything to her, and your Iron Tail will only do neutral damage."
"I know, our best shot is to focus on defending and counter attacking with our other attacks. Despite all her boasting, it's like you said, Al did a good number on her. The three of us might be able to take her down if we're careful," Dust replied.
"We'll need to try to get her to spit up Al as soon as possible," Berry whispered.
"It's possible to get a Pokemon to spit up their meal they had just eaten… but I don't think it'll be easy," Shab warned.
"We have to at least try before we lose Al forever." Berry frowned.
"I do have an idea," Dust spoke up. "From the books I've read and the lessons Dr. Perfume has taught me, the Pokemon body, specifically the stomach can be both incredible but also fragile. And Berry, I believe you might be the key to freeing Al."
"Me?" Berry blinked, surprised. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, Patricia just ate an entire Pokemon. Normally when a Wild Pokemon consumes a Pokemon that is either the same size or larger, they have to take the time to rest, give their stomach a chance to digest their food," Dust started off as he remembered how Patricia reacted from seeing Berry tempting her. "Remember how she was reacting when she tasted your slime, Berry? All that stimulation to the stomach can become overbearing, even a Snorlax needs a chance to give their stomach a break."
"Hold on! Are you suggesting that we let that monster eat Berry?!" Shab asked, almost tempted to smack Dust with his tail fin.
"No! I would never suggest that, but Berry might be able to get her riled up, lose her focus. We might be able to turn Patricia's stomach against her," Dust explained. "We might be able to make Patricia sick enough to throw up Al."
"I hope this plan of yours works, Dust, I'd rather not be next on the menu," Berry said nervously.
"Don't worry, we are only trying to stimulate Patricia's stomach through her senses. It's like when you've eaten and you're completely full, but then you smell some delicious food. But because your stomach is already filled, instead of wanting to eat more, you'll end up feeling more and more nauseous. Though I do suggest that you stay clear of her giant jaws, or else you might actually end up getting eaten," Dust warned.
"Whenever you're ready to get started, come at me, I'll be generous and let you make the first move," Patricia announced.
"So you want me to get close to her face so she would be forced to smell my slime but keep away from her jaws?" Berry asked to make sure she knew what to do.
"I know it sounds complicated, but I think it's the best shot we got so far," Dust answered. "You can count on us to make sure you won't get eaten."
"Please, please be careful, Berry," Shab said in worry.
"I'll… I'll be fine… I hope…" Berry said. "Dust, buck me towards Patricia."
"Alright, here goes nothing!" Dust shouted as he bucked Berry off his back.
Patricia was surprised by Dust suddenly bucking the Goomy off of his back, if anything she thought he'd keep her far away from Patricia. Berry came in for a Body Slam on Patricia's face. This caused Patricia to move around from being suddenly blinded by the Goomy's squishy body. Patricia's jaws started flailing around, trying to nip at Berry, who was trying to flatten herself away from the jaws.
"Is it working!?" Berry yelled, fearful of the jaws.
"Get off me, you stupid piece of slime!" Patricia shouted, trying to get Berry off, but then some of Berry's slime got in her mouth. "Though...this isn't so bad~"
"Shab, while she's distracted, we need to focus all our attacks on Patricia's stomach," Dust explained as he started rushing towards the Mawile.
"Then we better hurry before Berry does end up getting swallowed!" Shab replied frantically.
Dust started using Faint Attack as he aimed for Patricia's stomach. The Mawile managed to pull Berry off her face, only to see Dust was about to use his horn to attack her. Patricia was about to jump out of the way, only for Berry to use Water Pulse against her face, giving Dust the chance to make contact with Patricia's stomach. Using all the force he could muster, Dust pushed Patricia back as Berry managed to slip out of her grasp.
"Berry are you alright?" Shab asked, hopping off Dust to check on Berry.
"Y-yeah, she wasn't able to get to me thankfully," Berry answered, a little shaken up.
Dust frowned when he noticed Patricia wasn't throwing up Al after that hit to her stomach. Patricia grinned at the Absol. "Silly little Absol, did you really think hitting me in the stomach would be enough to get me to spit up your precious Charmeleon? My body is made of steel, you would have to try a lot harder than that to get me to throw up. Though you're more than welcomed to try again, I rather enjoyed tasting your little Goomy friend again."
"I was hoping that it would work, but it doesn't look like it's working. Do either of you happen to have any ideas?" Dust asked Shab and Berry.
Berry and Shab frowned.
Meanwhile, Team Silkwing were having a rough time with their own battle. Tippi and the Beautifly were having a Silver Wind battle against each other, creating a twister of silvery spikey winds. Tippi was starting to tire out though, while the Beautifly didn't seem to be slowing down.
Ivy was mostly dodging the Ivysaur's Sludge Bomb attacks. She knew she wouldn't last long if one of those Sludge Bombs hit her. Ivy was fast, but she couldn't stay on the defensive forever.
As for Talon, the poor Starly was off his game. He had been unable to focus on the battle, which was a huge detriment as the Swellow was bigger and stronger than he was. Though seeing Talon was not on his A-game, the Swellow decided to toy with the poor Starly.
"You're pretty pitiful for a bird Pokemon," Swellow stated after hitting Talon with another Quick Attack.
Talon groaned, having taken a beating. "Don't… don't underestimate… me…"
"Well clearly you're not all focused. I suggest you do better, I'm not sure how long your friends may last against my associates," The Swellow grinned.
Talon glared, but memories kept clouding his mind and his battle skills. He kept remembering how Patricia swallowed Al, and that memory led into how that Serperior a while back ate his entire family, and how helpless he had been to stop it, and how he could've joined them if Chihiro hadn't saved him when she did. Talon snapped out of the memory when he felt a wing slapping him across the area, and he hit the ground pretty hard.
"When I was told that we would be facing the winners of the tournament, I was actually looking forward to this fight, but I can't help but wonder how you even managed to win, much less be a leader," The Swellow taunted.
Talon groaned, pushing himself up to his talons. Ivy and Tippi noticed their leader was struggling. They had to do something, but they were busy trying to deal with their own opponents.
"Hey! Don't take your eyes off your opponent!" Beautifly snapped when Tippi looked over at Talon.
"You don't understand, Talon is in no condition to fight as he is now!" Tippi shouted.
"And you think worrying about him is gonna stop this fight? By the way, what is a Butterfree like yourself working with a Bird Pokemon in the first place?" The Beautifly asked. "I have to work with that Swellow, we were specifically chosen, though if it were up to me I'd keep my distance from that Swellow. So what's your reason?"
"Talon is my friend and my leader! I don't care if he's a bird, we've been the best of friends since we became a team!" Tippi stated.
"And not once did you ever occur to you that he could've eaten you? Even been tempted to try?" Beautfily asked.
"He's had plenty of opportunities to do that when I was a Caterpie, and especially when I was a Metapod. But he didn't, he never looked at me like I was his next meal. He just looked at me with caring eyes. He always gave me a ride even when he was tired, even when he didn't need to," Tippi answered. "Talon… can't even eat live bugs anymore without feeling sick anyways."
"Either you both are foolish, or both very trusting, but I can respect that. It's nice knowing that there's at least some Birds out there who don't treat every bug they see as their next meal," Beautifly commented, looking a bit remorseful. "It's too bad you and the others won't be getting out of here. It's either you or us."
Beautifly flapped her wings quickly, creating sharp winds at Tippi. Tippi let out a yell of pain, getting hit by Air Cutter.
Ivy knew that she had to do something fast, she could only dodge for so long. And her teammates needed help. The Ivysaur may be a lot slower than she was, but he was very persistent. He wouldn't stop shooting out Sludge Bomb from his poisonous pink flower at her.
"As fun as it is dodging your Sludge Bombs, you mind toning it down a bit?!" Ivy shouted as she dodged another Sludge Bomb.
"Why would I do that when I'm trying to hit you?" Ivysaur growled.
"So what, you gonna keep using the same move until you run out of energy to do so? Seems pretty stupid to me. I can keep on dodging while you waste your energy," Ivy bluffed.
Ivysaur smirked. "Fine then, let's make this more fun."
Ivysaur shot out several vines at Ivy to try to grab her.
Me and my big mouth… The Snivy gulped.
Meanwhile, with Team Night Tide, Dust, Berry, and Shab were trying to dodge Patricia's jaws as she was trying to use a Crunch attack on them. Even though Dust was Dark type, that Crunch attack looked painful for even him to take.
"Come now, is dodging all you are capable of? What happened to all your battle strategies? Your offensive attacks?" Patricia asked. "You won't be able to save your friend if you keep dodging."
Dust growled before firing an Ice Beam at Patricia. He knew it wouldn't be very effective against the Mawile, but he hoped to at least slow her down a bit. But just Dust fired his Ice Beam, Patricia turned around as the jaws behind her head opened up. To Dust's surprise the Mawile's jaws ended up swallowing the Ice Beam. Patricia patted her stomach, enjoying the ice attack.
"Did… did she just… eat your Ice Beam?" Berry stared in disbelief and disgust.
"...I...I didn't know she could do that," Dust answered, still shocked at what he saw.
"Thanks, though if you keep that up, I might end up with a brain freeze~" Patricia smiled.
"She's just… full of surprises, isn't she?" Shab frowned.
"Hmm, since you were kind enough to give me a free meal, how about I return the favor?" Patricia asked.
Patricia's jaw opened once more as the insides started to give of a bright blue glow. Then to Team Night Tide's surprise, a type of energy attack erupts from the jaws as the attack shot right towards them. Dust barely had enough time to dodge the attack and was even more surprised when he saw that the spot there was previously at was now frozen.
Berry paled, knowing if she had been hit by that attack, she wouldn't be conscious right now.
"H-how? Mawile are not supposed to be able to swallow or shoot back other's special attack?" Dust asked, both amazed and terrified at what he saw.
"Like I said, my master is a genius when it comes to the Pokemon body. But if you're impressed with this, well...if you manage to survive long enough, I might show you another surprise~" Patricia grinned.
"I don't think we can take anymore surprises…" Shab groaned.
Berry frowned, the battle was going on for too long, if it went on any longer, they may lose Al. Especially since Patricia had been moving around a lot, which would make her body more likely to digest her meal to give her more energy.
"Dust, try bucking me at Patricia again, we need to get Al out of her stomach before we focus on actually fighting her," Berry spoke up to the Absol.
"Are you sure? This time she might be expecting it," Dust warned.
"I'm with Dust, we shouldn't risk it," Shab added.
"We have to at least try," Berry said. "Maybe I can get her to open her jaws more, and maybe Dust and Shab can force more attacks into her mouth. Like Dust said, if she eats too much, she's more likely to vomit."
"I don't know…" Dust frowned.
"Please? We need to save Al as soon as possible!" Berry begged, looking at Dust with her small yet adorable eyes.
Dust was still doubtful, but Berry was right, Al didn't have much time, and maybe this time their original plan would work.
"Alright, ready?" Dust asked as he prepared to buck Berry off.
Berry nodded, prompting Dust to launch Berry off his back towards Patricia. Shab watched in worry as the Goomy was heading towards the Mawile. However, seeing the Goomy being launched at her, Patricia turned around and opened her jaws wide. Dust, Shab, and Berry all gasped in shock as Berry landed right in Patricia's open jaws. Berry started to struggle as Patricia closed her jaws around the Goomy.
"Berry! No!" Shab yelled as he was about to swim towards Patricia to try to save his beloved, but Dust quickly stopped him.
"If you go now, you'll get eaten too!" Dust warned.
"I don't care! Berry is about to be that messed up Mawile's lunch!" Shab snapped.
"Oh, she tastes even better than I imagine~" Patricia's mouth was salivating as she lifted up her jaws and swallowed the Goomy down. "Thanks for the free meal, you really made my day~"
Berry yelped as she slipped down Patricia's throat. Is this what it's like to be eaten alive?
The Goomy was then squeezed into a bigger, fleshy, wet chamber. She landed on something warm and solid, that also got a groan. Berry gasped, realizing she had landed on Al, who was, thankfully, still in one piece. His tail still had his fire, though it was pretty small and dim. Though thanks to Al's fire, Berry could see the inside of the stomach she was in.
"Ugh… this is disgusting…" Berry gagged. Great, now I'm in here too… how are we supposed to escape this Mawile's belly?
Patricia's stomach started to squeeze Berry and Al against each other, making it a bit hard for Berry to breathe.
Oh gosh, this is so tight! I think Patricia overate when she ate me… Wait… overeating… Dust did say that eating too much would make her more likely to throw up. Berry realized. Maybe if I could wake Al up, he might be able to move around enough to get Patricia sick. My own movements wouldn't be enough, I need someone strong and wild like Al to shake up Patricia's stomach.
Berry tried to nudge Al, hoping to wake him up. "Al? Can you wake up? Please?"
"...Can...can…" Al mumbled, forcing Berry to get even closer to hear him. "...Can...I get a second serving?"
"Ugh… I don't believe this… Al gets eaten alive and he dreams about eating…" Berry groaned. "I probably never want to eat again after this… now I know what a real berry feels like…" And sadly, I don't have any Reviver Seeds with me to wake him up. What am I going to do now?
Berry yelped as she felt a lot of movement, likely Patricia moving around while fighting with her teammates. Suddenly Berry felt something wet splash against her body and she realized that it was water. Berry made sure to use her body to protect Al's tail flame from the water, luckily for her, as quickly as the water came, it all suddenly got sucked back out from where it came.
Shab must've used Water Pulse, only for Patricia to swallow and spit it back out. Berry noted, before getting an idea. Though Patricia can eat a lot, her stomach isn't endless, it does have its limit. What if I filled her stomach up with water? Let's see her eat anymore after that!
Berry summoned a small rain cloud over herself, and it started raining, though she was careful to keep the cloud away from Al's tail, she didn't want to accidentally hurt the Charmeleon. While the Charmander line's tail flames didn't usually go out due to water or some other outside force, it would still weaken them greatly if water were to touch their tail flames. While Berry had the small rain filling up Patricia's stomach with water, the Goomy began to help it along by spitting out her own water as well. While it wasn't quite Water Pulse, it was still enough to start filling up Patricia's stomach.
When the water was getting higher, Berry swam under Al's tail to lift it up with her head, trying to keep his tail flame above the water as much as possible, before she continued to spit out water into Patricia's belly, making the water flow up, and expanding the stomach more and more.
Meanwhile, outside of Patricia's belly, Patricia stopped all of a sudden, and began to groan while holding her stomach.
"I think something is wrong," Dust said, noticing Patricia's sudden groaning.
"...What...what are you doing?" Patricia asked while looking down at her stomach.
Patricia then held her mouth closed, as though she was about to throw up. Dust then noticed that her jaws were clamped tight, as though it was trying to prevent something from coming out. Dust then realized what was going on with Patricia's stomach.
"It's Berry! It's gotta be her!" Shab smiled, seeming to have figured it out as well. "She's filling up that Mawile's belly!"
"Then let's help her some more!" Dust shouted as he charged towards Patricia with Shab on his back.
Patricia saw Dust and Shab coming towards her and tried to move out of the way, but her stomach felt another surge, preventing her from moving. Dust saw this chance and used Iron Tail while Shab used Tackle, both aiming their attacks at Patricia's stomach.
"No no no! Stop, if you hit me there I'll-" Patricia shouted, only to having to hold her mouth shut again as she felt something trying to push its way out.
Dust and Shab made contact with Patricia's stomach, sending her body flying back a few feet. Despite not being super effective against Patricia, the two attacks caused her a lot of pain. She got up slowly, and for a moment all the pain in her stomach seemed to have stopped. She laughed for a moment, thinking she was alright now, but suddenly a more powerful sensation came to her stomach.
Dust and Shab watched as the Mawile held her mouth shut as her jaw was trying hard to stay closed, but it was starting to bulge more and more. Unable to hold it any longer, Patricia and her jaw both let loose the contents of their mouth as streams of water came flowing out. Patricia couldn't stop as she fell to her knees, her jaw seeming to push out more and more water. Then two bulges started coming out of Patricia's jaws. Patricia's eyes shot wide open as she realized what was happening and tried to close her jaw, but it was already too late, the two bulges ended up being shot out from her jaw, the force throwing her body to the ground.
Water, an unconscious Charmeleon, and a Goomy all came tumbling out of Patricia's jaws. Berry groaned, while she normally liked being wet, she hated that she was likely covered in not just water, but some of Patricia's stomach acid.
"Berry! You're alright!" Shab quickly swam off of Dust's back and hurried over to Berry, not at all caring that she just came out of a stomach. "I was so worried about you!"
"It looks like you were able to save Al too," Dust said in relief, seeing that Al was outside of Patricia's belly now.
"Yes… and if we survive this… I'm going to need at least three baths tonight…" Berry groaned, looking quite sick.
Back with Team Silkwing, Tippi was getting tired from battling with the Beautifly, who kept countering most of her moves with a strong Gust attack. Ivy was getting tired as well, she couldn't keep dodging forever. Team Silkwing were built upon teamwork, individually, they weren't that powerful on their own.
Talon was on the ground, weak, and battered. However, while the Swellow was just toying with him at this point, the Starly noticed the Mawile just threw up Berry and Al, as well as a lot of water. They're alive?
"What did I say about losing focus? If you're not even gonna try, I might as well just end this now," The Swellow taunted.
Talon realized that his own team needed him more than ever, and here he was being weak because he couldn't stop freaking out over what Patricia did to Al. Seeing how Berry had boldly gotten herself eaten, and ended up saving not just herself but Al as well had renewed the Starly's determination. Tippi… Ivy… forgive me. I had been a weak leader… but I promise to make up for that right now!
Talon opened his wings as the Swellow was coming in for another attack.
"So you've finally decided to take this seriously? Well it's too late now, you're about to drop, little bird," Swellow taunted.
Talon's body glowed with a strong red aura as the Swellow was getting closer, then Talon flew up right under the Swellow's stomach, smashing into him. Swellow's eyes went wide as pain suddenly overtook his body, bruises began to appear all over him, and suddenly it was much harder for him to fly. Talon grinned as the Swellow fell to the ground at the sudden pain and weakness.
"Heh… you feel that pain? All of that came from you," Talon remarked. "Thanks for the powered up Endeavor."
"You cheeky little punk," The Swellow grunted as he tried to hold his ground.
Talon didn't hesitate to fly at the fallen Swellow, leaving a silver streak behind him. With a quick hit to the Swellow's chest, the bigger bird fell to the ground, unconscious. Now that the Swellow was out of the way, Talon continued using Quick Attack and flew at the Beautifly that was giving Tippi trouble. The Beautifly was taken by surprise by Talon's sudden attack and flinched back a bit, before Talon's body was covered in red aura again before using Endeavor by slamming into the Beautifly's body. Beautifly began falling from the Endeavor before Talon flew towards the Ivysaur that was giving Ivy problems. Narrowing his eyes, Talon came in at the Ivysaur with Aerial Ace, stopping the evolved Grass and Poison type's relentless attack on Ivy, before using Endeavor on the Ivysaur as well, weakening him to the point of almost being unable to move.
Surprised at first, both Tippi and Ivy took this opportunity to finish off their opponent, with Tippi using Silverwind and Ivy using Twister. Despite Silverwind not being very effective against Beautifly, because of Talon's previous Endeavor attack, Tippi's attack was able to knock Beautifly unconscious. Ivysaur stood less of a chance as the Twister attack sent his body flying against the wall, resulting in him being knocked out.
"Thanks Talon, though it would've been nice if you'd done that earlier," Ivy thanked.
"Sorry… I had trouble concentrating earlier…" Talon apologized, panting.
Tippi landed beside Talon. "I'm glad you were able to come back to your senses before you got knocked out, Talon. Ivy, you better give him an Oran Berry or two, Talon needs to be at full strength before we help Team Night Tide with Patricia."
Talon nodded as Ivy reached inside their bag to grab an Oran Berry. "They managed to save Al."
"That's great, how did they do it?" Ivy asked as Talon was eating the Oran Berry.
"I'm not too sure. I just know Berry got herself eaten, then Patricia threw her, Al, and a bunch of water up," Talon answered, feeling relieved that his wounds were healing.
"Hold up, I think I heard you wrong. Did you just say Berry got herself eaten?" Ivy asked. "Dang, that must have taken some serious guts to do."
"Whatever happened, we'll have to ask Team Night Tide later. We need to get in there and help them," Tippi spoke up.
"Yes, let's go!" Talon agreed.
Talon, Tippi, and Ivy hurried over to the arena, joining up with Team Night Tide. Patricia was growling as she was still coughing up some water. Dust had to get Al somewhere safe and out of the way since he was still unconscious. Thankfully, despite having all that water on him, Al's tail flame was still burning strong.
Dust started heading towards the entrance where they previously entered earlier, seeing how it was the farthest from Patricia. After setting Al down, Dust went to check his vitals, using his claws on Al's wrist. After a couple of seconds he was relieved and impressed to see that Al was doing okay. The Charmeleon was simply unconscious, though Dust was surprised that Al was still asleep after all he just went through.
"After this is over, you have to let me do some research on you," Dust commented before heading back to the others.
"You… you three were able to take down those Pokemon my master had enhanced?" Patricia frowned, seeing Team Silkwing had joined up with Team Night Tide.
"We're not winners of the tournament for nothing, you know, even if it was for Silver Rank and under," Talon remarked.
"Glad you guys could join us," Berry chuckled slightly, still a bit grossed out from her escapade.
"Don't think this is over! No one makes me give up my meal and gets away with it!" Patricia growled, still holding her stomach.
"Give it up, Patricia," Talon replied. "You're outnumbered, and exhausted after dealing with Al and Berry."
"Oh… oooooh, you'd think so, huh?" Patricia grinned despite her apparent stomachache. "You know, I haven't even begun to show you the true horror of my power. Thanks to a little hidden secret my master and I made right under this very arena."
"Hidden secret?" Shab frowned.
"What secret? What's under the arena?" Ivy demanded.
"If you mean the Jaws of Life, we've already seen it. And I recall Al doing quite the number on it," Dust explained.
"You're an idiot if you think the Jaws of Life was the only machine we had!" Patricia snapped, losing her patience. "Why do you think we're able to test how strong these Pokemon are who participate in the tournament? We don't bother going after the weak ones after all. We've been tweaking and working on this beauty for years, until it's finally been perfected. But we can't risk having everyone discover it, which was why I forbid anyone from destroying the arena, and why that Charmeleon got on my nerves when he almost did just that."
Patricia put a hand on the arena, and the arena began to open up, acting like a giant sliding door. Everyone else quickly backed away, getting away from the opening. A large, tall machine came up from underneath the stage. Above the machine was something glowing, it looked like a rock of some kind. The rock itself appeared to be glowing with power.
"What… what is that?" Berry asked in surprise.
"Another little gift the humans left in the past. Something that took my Master months to even get working. This...this is what true power looks like," Patricia answered as she entered the machine.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Talon questioned.
"You will see, and it will be the last thing all of you will ever see!" The Mawile grinned before she flipped a switch on the machine.
The rock that was glowing above the machine was now shining brightly, pumping power into Patricia directly. Patricia glowed brightly as a sphere began to surround her body. Everyone in the area could feel the energy coming from Patricia and the rock. The sphere around Patricia soon shattered, leaving a much different looking Mawile in her place. Everyone paled as they saw Patricia's new form. Before when her single jaw was intimidating enough, she now had two giant jaws attached to her head, each with sharp teeth, bigger compared to how she previously looked, she also now had pink on her legs, and the tips of the sleeves of her arms, looking both beautiful and deadly. Saliva was dripping from her jaws as Patricia took a moment to enjoy everyone's expression.
"W-what the!? What happened!?" Talon asked in shock.
"Did… did Patricia just evolve?" Tippi questioned, confused.
"I thought Mawile couldn't evolve!" Shab said in shock.
"Normally they can't...but...there is one form they can take...But that's impossible," Dust replied.
"Wh-what do you mean, Dust? What happened to Patricia?" Berry asked worriedly.
Dust gulped as he recalled all those times he spent in the library, reading anything concerning the humans and Pokemon of the past, how it was said they were capable of doing great and terrifying things. He thought since there were hardly any records, hardly any information regarding the humans, Dust figured that any methods they used in the past were lost. But now, with his own eyes, Dust was witnessing the impossible.
"She…" Dust gulped once more before continuing. "She Mega Evolved."
"Very good, Dust," Patricia said in a condescending tone. "Yes, I have indeed Mega Evolved through the miracle of this machine and this piece of the meteorite that had fallen on this planet thousands of years ago. It had been slowly siphoning energy from the fighters that had been participating in this tournament for decades, including yours. And now it has more than enough power to Mega Evolve me into this glorious form! And now I will consume all of you!"
"Look out! Here she comes!" Ivy shouted as Patricia charged towards them at breaknecking speed.
Star Capricorn: Traveling Master: Heh, glad that we were able to grab your attention like this. Dust and Shab are quite in the predicament, but those two are smart. They'll hopefully come up with something to help Berry.
FoxyKhai0209: DarkFoxKit: Sorry, we're still trying to figure out our writing schedule since it's still pretty messed up. We're lucky to get in two days of writing a week right now.
Yes, this Jaws of Life is quite the threat. As for the Mawile, she was never a 'traitor', she was just a secretive bad guy. XP
Star Sagittarius: Traveling Master: Oof, if you don't like Patricia now, wait till later, it gets better.
Star Scorpio: DarkFoxKit: Yup. Though I suppose the answer to your question was answered in this chapter.
Cosmo Light: Traveling Master: Heh, really glad that you enjoyed the chapter. It was something me and DF have been building up to for a while now. Also, love the Among Us reference. Patricia is the imposter, but that still leaves the other one. Maybe it's Trixx, maybe it's someone else who's also been acting suspicious. Who's to say?
DarkFoxKit: Yeah, Shab had been educated a lot, and his time as a wild Pokemon does give him 'street' knowledge that Dust and Berry lack. Dust is more booksmarts. Berry is… well, she's more of the common sense type of smart.
Yeah, Carrie would definitely go full motherly rage if she found out what Patricia was doing with Cliff and Phantom.
Dust is awkward as all heck. XD Poor guy.
Thank you for your words of encouragement.
Lonelyboi69: Traveling Master: Heh, it was definitely a new experience for Dust. Honestly have no idea if we plan on doing something like that again in the future, but who knows, seeing Dust so flustered was very amusing.
Dust: For you! I hope I don't have to go through that again!
Traveling Master: Heh, only time will tell. And the only reason why we left it on a cliffhanger was because there's so much that is gonna happen. As you probably have already read, trying to put all that into one chapter would've made it waaaaaaay too long. But this way, we managed to leave on a very suspenseful end. Glad you liked the chapter and me and DF will try to write when we can. Thanks for the support!
Greatest Guy: DarkFoxKit: *Squints eyes* Not that I could ever tell with these things, but was that a Haiku? And yes, it is a bad situation, and Chihiro isn't here to appreciate puns right now either.
Traveling Master: You know it's serious when there are no puns to be made. That's how serious it can get.
Guest #1: DarkFoxKit: Nice to see we did a good job keeping Patricia's identity a secret until the reveal. Originally, we didn't use a Zorua to deliver food, it was actually going to be a female Absol. But then I thought it would be far too convenient for them to have the exact Pokemon they needed to deliver them food, and decided to try using a Zorua for that. And Team Night Tide were just hoping nobody would look at Dust in the eyes.
Yeah, Cliff and Phantom are being used as hostage, though they're currently asleep. And you bring up a lot of good points.
Al is pretty dang furious, though for different reasons.
Thank you for your words of encouragement.
Jewel moonstone: Traveling Master: Heh, glad that we were able to surprise you. And we got more to come.
Guest #2: Traveling Master: Not bad ideas, cause going against a Fairy and Steel type is going to be very difficult for Team Night Tide. Guess you'll just have to wait and see if Team Night Tide hopefully finds some new moves.
Guest #3: Traveling Master: ...Love the enthusiasm, and hopefully Team Night Tide will teach Patricia a lesson or two.
Guest #4: DarkFoxKit: Hello, and welcome new reader. It's always nice to know a new reader is enjoying a story we wrote. At the beginning, we will admit to not being very in sync yet, and we felt we had to explain how things worked before we could really focus on the plot itself. But we're happy that the later chapters have been a big improvement.
Originally, Trixx wasn't going to be a Zorua, she was going to be a real female Absol. But we decided it would be better to use a Zorua instead since it would've felt too convenient for them to have a specific female Absol serving them food. As for Trixx knowing Dust's name but not the others, the team leaders are usually better known than their teams. Most people wouldn't pay attention to the teams themselves unless they have a favorite.
Yeah, we did a pretty good job making sure Patricia wasn't obviously the villain, and I'm glad we did. It's good you started to suspect her in the chapter she was revealed to be the villain, that's what we were going for, to show something wasn't quite right with Patricia. We won't say who the other accomplice is unless the chapter itself does. As for the Persian… hehe.
The Moonfox Collective: Traveling Master: Well, Patricia wasn't always like that. But we'll tackle her past later in the future. As for Serperior or Servine, we did mention how the second accomplice had a slithery like figure. So those are good guesses, just gonna have to wait and see if you were right about them.
Reading this chapter, you've probably now know what the Jaws of Life are. But that's a very accurate description, so good on ya. Heh, and good to know that you are patient with our story. Me and DF do try to write when we can, it just depends on our schedule and such. But again, thanks for your continued patience and support. We've been building up to this moment of the tournament arc, so we hope you enjoy what's to come.
