Ch.37: Treacherous Intervention! Take Command, Callista the Witch!

With the approach of the shadow army hastening, Tony performed an evaluation of their defenses as his thieves raced around the camp. They gathered their weapons and took position on the towers stationed at the four corners of the camp. Others grabbed rolls of barbed mesh and wrapped it around the perimeter as a defensive gate. Though it wouldn't stop their foes, it was the best that had for barriers.

Still, it compared not to the stash of weaponry stolen from repeated raids against the Anguis Organization. Magical weaponry of varying types loaded and ready for warfare. They were armed with bombs, rifles, crossbows, explosive glyphs, and more. Tony made sure they were thorough when cleaning out the organization's caches.

"Good, good," he muttered to himself. "We'll let those monsters think this is a war of attrition before I swoop in and end their miserable lives." He looked up to the sky and smirked as lightning crackled above. He raised his arm and felt the sparks travel up to his fingertips. "I can feel your thirst for destruction, my friend. Shall we quench it with the corpses of our most hated enemy who plagues Mysto in this eternal dance of good vs. evil? I know you're just as excited as I am."

"Boss!" Tony turned to one of the nearby towers and saw Hendrix the Linoone waving him over.

Tony formed a Nebula Rider under his feet and flew up to him. "What?"

"I wanted to update you on the approaching army. They're about fifteen minutes from our firing range."

Tony smirked. "Excellent. I take it the hidden mortars are operational?"

"We have them primed and loaded with the blaze rounds. Once those shells exploded on top of them, they'll be covered head to toe in a napalm-like substance. They should take care of their heavy hitters and put them at a disadvantage."

Tony snickered through clenched teeth. "Perfect. Simply perfect." He held his hand out, ordering Hendrix to pass him the binoculars. He held them vertically over his one eye and looked into the distance.

He focused in on his main prize leading the army of darkness. Taking the lead was a hulking beast bulging with powerful muscles and snarling like some sort of rapid Arcanine. Tony couldn't help but laugh at its dimwitted expression. Just from where he was, their leading general looked like he had to breathe several tanks worth of air just to keep moving, like a Snorlax finally learning the concept of walking for once in their life.

"That mouth-breathing mutt's their general? What a load!" Tony threw his head back and laughed. "Aren't they supposed to be the terrors of Mysto? That's the best they can send against me? Ha! And I thought this would be a challenge."

Hendrix gulped. "Boss, maybe we should be careful. I have a bad feeling about that thing—" Tony tossed the binoculars back into his hands, nearly causing Hendrix to fumble them off the tower.

"Please. There's literally nothing they have that I can't torch. But if we're just here to do things efficiently, I wouldn't be monologuing how awesome I am. So instead, we'll let them think it's an even fight before I crush them beneath my feet. Simple, straight to the point, and gets the message across."

"That doesn't sound terribly efficient."

Tony smirked. "Who cares about all of that when making fools out of them will be all the sweeter? Keep watch of their advance, and remember to give the signal to fire once they're in range."

Hendrix sighed and saluted. "Aye, Boss."

Tony jumped off the tower, landed back on the ground, and marched back to his tent. This is going to be FUN.

Callista lazily tapped on the floor of her cage, listening to the clinking and clattering of feet racing around outside preparing for what would surely be a glorious, potentially lethal bloodbath of a battle. It took all her willpower to refrain from busting out the cage herself. Any one of her demons could smash this feeble cage to pieces. She only humored Tony's arrangements to monitor his state—and for her own personal safety, both from Tony and the group that previously hunted her.

Whatever did become of that group was beyond her. It was a miracle she evaded them up until getting captured, but being in familiar company, despite the unpleasant and uncharacteristically hostile behavior, sounded better than being hunted by a bunch of random bounty hunters.

Her imprisonment also gave her an eternity of time to consider her situation. Perhaps the suppression of her darkness was a sign of a second chance, though she still harbored on her previous actions. What forgiveness was there even if she could prevent a war? Rebelling against the shadows certainly wouldn't do her favors beyond being branded and executed as a traitor, though she wasn't as passive as the late Wendrake who went into hiding.

She pitied Wendrake, or rather Morgan as he is remembered. He spent five hundred years harboring regret in his heart. One might imagine the toll that brought to a heavy heart. Callista still hadn't felt the weight of her guilt crush her into paste. Did that make her apathetic or was the shock taking an abysmally long time to settle? Questions for later.

She didn't wholly understand it herself, but perhaps her refusal to bust of the cage came as a sign of pity for Tony's deterioration from suave, cool thief into a mad replica of her former ally. The world would do better without a second Aeternus, regardless of Tony's denial.

She looked at the dreamcatcher hidden under her, then huffed. One last chance, and that's it.

Right on time, too, as Tony pushed open the curtains and marched towards his war table. That's what he called it, but it was just an ordinary dining table. He leaned into it and looked down at the map sitting on top, likely reviewing the battleplan once more for himself.

Here goes nothing. Callista cleared her throat and stood up.

"Sapienti, we need to talk," she stated firmly.

Tony brushed her off. "Not now, Callista, I'm busy. You can have your witty banter later."

Callista huffed. "You of all people would revel in such entertainment, but now isn't the time or place. I'm growing deeply concerned about your state of mind. I'd be mad to think you weren't eating had I not watch you down expired beans for the last couple of days, but you've gone and spiraled into a world of lunacy I didn't think any crazy man would deem too far. And yet, here we stand with this conversation."

"Let me worry about how I take care of myself, Callista, and you just stay quiet."

Callista hissed. "Did my tale not reach you? I didn't tell you that just to share campfire stories. And what happened to that offer to join the Maelstrom Thieves?"

"The threat of battle doesn't give us much time to work out your application. Though, feel free to give your answer now. Perhaps your witch powers will give us an edge. Unneeded, of course, but welcomed. It'll set an example as to what happens when you cross the Maelstrom Thieves."

Callista's eyes dipped down into a dangerous glare. "You really didn't get the point of my tale, did you?"

"I took away plenty."

"You're supposed to be the self-reliant one of your feeble party, right? I know for a fact you still have empathy. Unless that's the key. You're so set into your revenge, you force those emotions and doubts down. How unexpectedly foolish of you."

"You of all creatures should know the dangers of emotions."

"I lived for five hundred years unable to truly feel empathy, Sapienti, and looking back with a clear head makes the memories painful." Callista glared at the cage floor. "Don't go down the same path as the witch in my tale. You could do so much more with that wit and talent of yours. You're a remarkable intelligent young man wasting his potential on some feeble power trip. You're risking everything just to prove Puck right, playing right into his hands like the little puppet he made you into—"

"I am NOT Aeternus!" Tony snapped with a crack of thunder exploded from outside. He turned and scowled at the trapped Ariados. "He's a dirty plague that needs to be expunged for everyone's sake! No one will care if he's dead, especially me! Am I wrong in saying that?!"

Callista shook her head. "No, but are you willing to go through with this as you are? You may think you're in control, but look at yourself. Have you even been sleeping since you started this little gang of yours? I can faintly see the rings under your eye."

"I'm FINE!" Tony roared, stomping his foot down followed by another thunderclap.

"Sapienti, you need to rest—"

"I need to prepare for battle! Nothing else!"

Callista covered her head and growled. "You are so freakin' stubborn. All that potential as a leader to these kids and you're wasting in on some petty revenge quest! If this is the best we have for Mysto's future, you're doomed to die like the rest of us!"

"I have everything under control! I have the power to keep everyone in line!"

"What is power without the wisdom to use it?! You knew that better than anyone I've faced, but you threw it all away for this! Do you really think Puck would be stupid enough to send a monster that can be overcome with brute force? He wants you all dead, and fighting like a bunch of power-hungry animals will only get you killed, along with those kids!"

"That doesn't stop bastards like Griffin from slashing down anything that gets in his way, or literal goddesses like Gwyn from having infinite power at her fingertips, or Wes from being some descendant of a powerful magician clan!" Tony snapped. "I'm just some nobody from a broken home!"

"A nobody who would do everything in his power to protect his family!" Callista snapped. "How long until you close off your heart to even them? Would you really not give a damn if I turned your precious baby sister into my personal puppet?"

"Don't you dare joke around like that!"

"You're too mixed up and conflicted to wage war, much less give me advice on what's funny or not!" Callista stepped up to the front of the cage. "Who are you, Tony Sapienti? Who the hell are you?!"

Tony's eye widened for the briefest of seconds before dipping into a furious glare. "Lady, I'm not in the mood for your crap, so you can either buzz off or—" He paused as Callista suddenly collapsed onto the cage floor and started coughing. She grasped her neck as if she were in pain. Tony squinted suspiciously. "The hell's gotten into you?"

Callista shakily glared up at him. "Y-You're the one feeding me sh-shitty food, you tell…t-tell…" She lurched her head forward and heaved a wet cough, spraying red onto the floor.

Tony cautiously approached the cage. "I didn't even know you could get food poisoning. Well, that'll be a freakin' mess if everyone else caught something." He rolled his eye as Callista rolled around and coughed in a dramatic display of pain, reaching toward the roof of her prison in a desperate plea to the heavens that would no doubt forsaken her welcome. "Seriously?"

"S-So hard…to breathe…" Callista coughed again, but took Tony by surprise when black bile spilled out from her mandibles.

"What the—" he gasped. He pulled a key from his back pocket and opened the cage. "What the hell was in our food?" He threw the cage door open and helped Callista to her feet. "Hey, stay with me!"

"I-I'm sorry…" Callista wheezed.

"Just hold still and let me look you over." He placed a hand on her forehead. "You don't feel like you're burning up. Can you describe your symptoms?"

"I…feel a throbbing in my…head."

"How bad?"

"Some…Something…" She lifted her head and whispered close to his ear, "Something like this."

Tony barely caught the metallic fist flying into his peripherals, but was helpless as it clobbered him across the face and threw him into the back of the cage. Callista skittered out and kicked the cage shut behind her before throwing her dreamcatcher on top of the cage, shooting a few webs to anchor it down.

Tony recovered immediately after and glared at the fading form of the demonic black knight standing behind the spider witch. "You bitch!" He pulled out his scalchops and lunged at the cage door. "I'll hack you to pieces!" He sliced into the bars, but felt himself thrown back by an irresistible force. "AGH!"

An aquamarine aura vibrated off the bars and cascaded around the cage in a veil of light. Callista skittered around the cage, giving Tony the stink eye. "Though she was a child, I did trick Gwyn into eating a cursed cookie and even pretended to be a kind civilian to her mother. You think I can't pretend to have food poisoning?"

Tony picked himself up and rubbed the back of his head. "Convincing," he growled. "Right down to the fake blood."

"Oh, that was real." Callista formed black fog around herself. "Demon's blood and bile. Disgusting, but effective. Though, I imagine the old Sapienti would've saw right through that ruse no problem."

Tony banged on the bars and watched the aquamarine aura vibrate off it. "What did you do?"

"Just because I sold my soul for some contracts doesn't mean I can't perform actual witchcraft. It's a sealing enchantment. That dreamcatcher I've been weaving was just a disguise for the rune I was crafting. A couple of your hairs sewn in and a suitable vessel to attach it to, and you have an inescapable cage that reflects your energy back inside."

Tony raised his hand. "Have you forgotten I have other means of attacking?" He snapped his fingers, only to tense from a horrible ringing splitting through his eardrums. "AAAAAAGH!" He collapsed onto his side and covered his ears.

Callista rolled her eyes. "You still have to send a signal with your magic to call down lightning, remember? Ergo, reflects back at you."

"You freakin' bitch!" Tony snarled.

"I told you, I could've broken out at any time. This is just an unfortunate time to do so."

Tony rose onto his knees, prepared to chew her out, but stopped as Wolf entered the tent. "Wolf!" he yelled. "Kill her, and get me out of here! Now!"

His eye widened as Wolf walked up and joined by Callista's side, sharing a somber look with him. He took a deep breath and said, "Sorry Boss, but we can't let you lead the army with the way you are. It's becoming too much."

Tony slammed his fists against the bars. "You traitor! After everything I've done for you and those miscreants!"

Callista scoffed. "Some leader you are if that's how you view your underlings. We're leaving you in there to cool off while we dispatch the shadow army properly. We don't need you getting in the way and causing more trouble for the lot of us."

"Are you usurping me of my position?!" Tony snapped.

"I'm keeping these kids from being expendable weapons of war," Callista countered. "Perhaps if you weren't so glued to a hopeless future, you'd have enough sense to see just how effed up you really are! Get it through that thick skull of yours, Sapienti! Whether or not you are becoming Aeternus, you're certainly going down the road of a monster no better than I was!"

"You—" he tried to get in, but Callista continued her rant.

"I've done many horrible things that I have to live with until I die! I'm not letting you make the same mistakes! I'm beyond redemption, but you aren't!" She jabbed the bars angrily. "It's time for you to ask the bigger questions, Sapienti! Who are you, and what do you want? Do you want to be trapped by the weight of your failings, or do you want to live as you truly are? Free as a storm! Fast as lightning! Unrestricted by the laws of truth!"

Tony gripped the bars, trying to move his mouth and scream at her. He was so riled up with rage, he couldn't force himself to open his mouth. His jaw felt unbearably tense, aching his teeth. Sparks surged off his body, causing his fur and whiskers to stand on end.

Callista scoffed, then skittered out of the tent. "Come on, kid. We've got some explaining to do."

Wolf went to follow her, but flinched as Tony slammed his fists against the cage bars. He tried not to face his boss and focused on following Callista outside.

"Wolf, get back here! WOLF! Let me out!" Tony snarled, slamming his fists even harder into the bars. He could feel the beginnings of bruising in them. "Wolf, I swear, if you don't let me out of here, I'll kill yo—"

Tony's blood turned cold as he stared blankly out from the cage. His fingers uncurled, and his arms drifted limply to the floor.

"…I just heard myself out loud."

A horn sounded over the camp, ordering the thieves to the high tower it cried out from. To their shock, Callista stood at the top, joined with Wolf at her side. Though word of their coup had circumvented through camp, somehow evading Tony's ears, to actually see their former prisoner free and moving about was quite the surprise.

Callista stamped her leg down on the stool provided to her and looked down at the thieves. "Listen up! As of now, the Maelstrom Thieves are under new management until further notice. Sapienti is unfit to lead a team on his own, especially a group of youngsters like yourselves. So, from here on out, I'm taking over."

Murmurs of skepticism rang through their numbers, most still not totally on board working with the spider given her apparent history with their boss. Callista expected this much, given her history, but shrugged it off.

"Think of me as you will, but our enemy is of a greater threat than me. You're all still whelps learning to hold guns and experiencing the horrors of war. For that, I can't allow any of you to partake in this nightmare without a stable hand guiding you forward. Sapienti may have the entire Storm Zone at his beck and call, but I possess the dark forces of the Underworld to do my bidding. Regardless of the shadows' strengths, I'm more than a match for them."

Wolf leaned over the tower's railing and continued, "We'll carry out the plan as set before, but this time we'll play it safe. No one's going in head first and risking their lives. You worry about defending the camp, and Callista and I will destroy their forces on the frontlines. This is our moment to fight back and show those shadows even the weakest of us can stand up and fight!"

Callista nodded. "So, pick up a rifle, man the mortars, ready the charms, and prepare for battle! Mark my words, no one's dying on this day except the gloom and doom of our future!"

The thieves raised their fists and cried out, "YEEEEAH!"

"Now break!" Callista ordered.

The thieves scrambled to their positions, grabbing rifles, equipment, and everything they'll need. Some dropped down into concealed holes in the ground, others brought down the tents to reveal their secret weapons for the worst of the advancing forces. Callista had to admit, for all of Tony's mad talk, he certainly prepared everyone for one hell of a destructive finish.

Callista nodded at Wolf. "You sure you can handle the front lines?"

Wolf glared and raised his aura around himself. "I've been doing this for months now. I'll burn these jerks to ashes."

Callista hissed in delight. "Good. In that case, let me introduce you rookies to my friends."

Thunder boomed over the land, striking down from the clouds and from the march of the shadows advancing towards the camp. Famine sluggishly led the advance, breathing with a disgusting, guttural noise as a black, viscous saliva dripped from his open maw. He could taste the air and all the flesh squirming around inside the small camp. So much fuel to consume, so much to destroy.

A pair of Shadow Pokémon stepped up beside Famine, a Steelix and a Greedent. The Shadow Steelix had purple crystal growing from his jet black body, taking the shape of spikes, while the Greedent tail took the shape of a large, furry hand made up entirely of a cluster of smaller, furry hands. Individual fingers pumped in preparation to grab unfortunate victims.

A shadow slithered onto Famine's back. "General Famine, the camp has quieted significantly. The enemy is in waiting."

Famine snarled, digging his claws into the ground. A disgusting chittering of teeth clanked within his trash compactor of a mouth.

The shadow nodded, then signaled to the lesser shadow troops behind them. Famine and his two Shadow Pokémon stopped and allowed the army to advance ahead, shaping their limbs into bladed weapons. A flying squadron took to the sky and charged up dark magic between their hands to bombard the campsite.

"We fire at your command, General Famine," the shadow stated.

A slimy tongue crawled from the beast's cavernous maw, gliding along the hundreds of rows of teeth, and licked his chops with a voracious appetite bubbling beneath its stomach. He inhaled the air, once again tasting the presence of flesh in the distance, but picked up another scent, much weaker and masked within the stormy atmosphere.

Something grainy. An earthy taste unlike the rest of the ground beneath his feet. Something buried in the camp. Another inhale detected the presence of heat, a tiny flame on a wooden match.

Famine snarled his findings.

"Black powder, General?" the shadow asked. "What are you talking about—" The shadow's eyes widened as Famine curled his large body up into a tight ball and planted himself firmly into the ground. "Wha—"

A horn cried out from the camp, garnering the army's attention, followed by a chorus of explosions going off simultaneously. The searing of hot metal whistled through the air as streaks of bright smoke whizzed out from the camp in wide arcs. The shadows all narrowed their eyes and tightened their vision of the comets.

What flew through the air could only be described as flaming metal sparkling like fireworks, perhaps hastily made cannonballs, but that's not what stood out about them. Given enough time to study the rotating spheres of light, they could see the glyphs slapped onto their sides, each adding to the cannonballs' hot red glow. Dozens upon dozens of these sparking cannonballs came down at an arc, perfectly lined up on their location.

"Evasive maneuvers!" the Shadow Steelix called out before slithering to safety.

The shadow army dispersed as flaming wreckage came down on them. Impacting with the ground caused the attached glyphs to flash and released a blinding explosion that ripped the cannonball shells to pieces. The earlier theory of these cannonballs being hastily-made scraps of metal became all the more plausible as shards of metal scattered from the individual explosions and ruptured through any creature unfortunate enough to be caught close to the blasts.

Shadows were ripped to shreds, and possessed Anguis grunts found their shadow bodies being torn apart with hunks of metal piercing into various parts of their bodies. The fliers were the only group that evaded the explosions completely unscathed while those farther in the back of the army used their brethren as meat shields. One unfortunate soul even got a whole cannonball to the face.

All but Famine scrambled for their lives as the immobile behemoth's armor tanked the explosions, all while remaining perfectly snug inside his curled state. Not even the rumbling of outside could shake the monster's nerves, only fuel its appetite for destruction that his meal was putting up a fight. Perhaps he'll leave his army to do the work so they can tire out the food. It'll be much more succulent once the prey start squirming from exhaustion.

The bombardment halted, leaving the ground riddled in scorched metal and flecks of shadow. The possessed grunts picked themselves up and twisted their mangled limbs back into a comprehensive shape while the less fortunate had their shadows melt off their body, curtesy of an unresponsive host. The metal beneath their heat was red hot and active. Stepping on it would singe their soles off.

In response, the shadows bolted straight for the camp, elongating their limbs into claws, blades, saws, and whatever they could imagine, set on eviscerating their attackers to ribbons.

However, that was only the first wave. The shadows gasped as multiple Pokémon appeared out of hiding behind the fences and watchtowers armed with stolen rifles. With hardly time to spare, the thieves took aim and fired into the wave of shadow all at once.

The combined wall of bullets ripped holes through the shadows, accompanied by the sonic boom of the magically charged bullets that left a visible light trail piercing their phantom bodies. The bullets continued their course before striking the physical bodies of the grunts, some withstanding and others being thrown back from critical shots.

Wolf jumped out of hiding and landed on top of the watchtower. "Fire again!"

The thieves reloaded fast and fired their second shots before the shadows had time to react. The second wave ripped the first of the shadows apart, scattering their wispy bodies across the air before vanishing into the aether. Those who withstood the first wave were thrown back as bullets dug through them, ripping into their organs that were only saved by the speedy regeneration of their shadow layers.

A cluster of bullets pinged off Famine's armor plating, leaving the curled-up beast completely unharmed and unbothered. His Steelix and Greedent soldiers nodded to each other and took lead of the army standing behind them, charging toward the camp.

"Fire again!" Wolf ordered.

The third wave didn't go quite as well. Before they fired, the enhanced Steelix raised his tail and slammed it into the ground. Right as bullets left their barrels, an array of purple crystal shot from the ground and walled off the bullets, which harmlessly pinged off much like their general's armor.

Once the third wave of firing ended, Steelix plunged his tail into the ground and unleashed a wave of crystal heading straight for the camp, ripping open a fissure through the ground.

Wolf kicked off the watchtower and shouted, "Scatter, now!"

The thieves broke off into separated directions as the crystal wave broke through their fence and tore into their camp. The group manning the mortars ran away as a wall of crystal shot past them and demolished their hidden mortars and ammunition.

The thieves ran off in a panic as shadows swarmed into the camp. They fired into the phantoms in their best attempt to keep them at bay, but a straight up fight on their own would spell their swift and painful demise. They had hoped Plan A would be their salvation, but now it was time for Plan B: unconventional warfare.

Everyone ran through the secret tunnels in the ground, barely avoiding magic blasts firing down on them. The shadows circled around the holes and charged up beams to flood the underground only to be shot through the ground by magic bullets.

Miniature bullet holes split open from the ground as the underground thieves wildly fired into the ceilings of their tunnels guided either by their own or their peers' magical senses. Though the shadows could see their auras, they couldn't see those without magic, thus they were the ones mainly holding the guns.

The Shadow Greedent bounded into the campsite, scratching his belly lazily. "What? Are these things seriously letting a bunch of kids screw with—" A bullet fired from the ground and ripped through his left cheek. "YOW!" He covered the self-mending cheek and huffed. "You know what? Forget I said anything."

The corrupted squirrel dropped to all fours, cracked his neck, and raised his grotesque tail. The individual hands making up the tail split off into several elongated arms and arched through the air similarly to the mortar shower. The hands dove into the large holes in the ground and went searching for the underground mischief makers.

Screaming and bullet fire sounded from underground as hands started clawing and grabbing at the young thieves. Greedent smirked as he felt a few hands snatch some ankles. "Rip them apart, boys!" He whipped his tails out and threw an Inkay, Pawniard, and Tyrogue into the air.

The shadows turned their glowing fingers on the children and fired dark beams. Inkay and Tyrogue narrowly avoided the thin beams, but Pawniard had to block with his arms. The beam exploded against him and threw him out of the air like a smoking meteorite, crashing down on a tent. A crackle of blue magic shimmered and cracked over his body, barely protecting him from a fatal blast.

The shadows aimed at the remaining two, but Wolf swooped from the air and kicked the phantom pair with a superheated kick, instantly incinerating their heads off.

"I won't let any more of my friends die from you scum!" Wolf yelled.

Greedent tracked the flying Raboot and glared. "So, that's the powerhouse Raboot that's been causing the boss trouble the last several months. Turn your attention onto that brat! Kill him!"

The shadows ignored the underground thieves and fired their magic at the fleeing Raboot. Wolf weaved through their beams with consecutive explosions from his feet propelling him faster through the camp, leaving a scorching trail in the ground as he skimmed across the surface.

"You freaks don't scare me!" Wolf yelled. "I'm the strongest magician in the Storm Zone!" He increased his propulsion and arched toward the sky. "Solaris Fury!" A miniature sun appeared under his blazing feet. He kicked it into the cluster of shadows, bowling through them like melting butter.

The shadows gathered above Wolf and fired down Spears of Darkness: Dusk Rain. Wolf turned up his flames and evaded the rain of spears while the underground thieves continued firing through the dirt. Heads exploded off the phantoms and left them is wisp clusters.

A bulky, misshapen shadow creature descended on Wolf while he wasn't looking and locked him into a tight death hug. "ACK!" Wolf cried as powerful, muscular arms squeezed around his chest.

Greedent smirked. "Good. Make sure that brat's nice and dead."

Wolf growled as he tried to squirm from the monster's grip. "Get your hands off me!"

The monster just laughed and squeezed down tighter. He gripped Wolf's head with his giant, meaty fingers and slowly twisted it. Wolf stopped squirming and looked up at the dark clouds. He couldn't see the sun, but he could feel its position over the course of the day. It was still early in the morning.

Still a way off from the strike of noon, but it doesn't matter. Wolf closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As he exhaled, a thick steam sprayed from his nostrils, causing the air to heat up.

The monster stopped twisting Wolf's neck and squinted. "What the?! Why's it all foggy?"

"Morning Lion: First Form!"

Suddenly, a tremendous deal of heat exploded from between the monster's arms. He looked down at his prey and saw him wrapped in a thin layer of magic, turning his fur and clothes bright orange. The monster felt his arms sizzling, then bubbling, before exploding with flame.

"AAAAHHHH!" The monster released Wolf and waved his arms around frantically. He tried to pat out the flames, but it worsened the heat. "AH! It's just getting worse!"

"Solaris Piercer!" Crimson heat wrapped around Wolf's leg as he propelled himself forward and drove his foot through the shadow monster. The creature recoiled with a bloodcurdling scream as a powerful light exploded on contact. Wolf put more force into his kick and threw the screaming monster through the camp, smashing it through the fence.

Greedent rubbed his chin as Wolf ascended into the air. "Not bad, kid. I can see why you've been a handful for the boss. Still…" He pulled his tail hands from the ground and sharpened their individual fingertips into claws with blood red, crystal-like tips. "I'm more of a handful." Droves of hands stretched toward the airborne Raboot.

Hendrix popped his head out of the ground and gasped. "Wolf! Look out!"

Sensing the attack and hearing Hendrix's cry, Wolf shot his propulsion skyward and careened down, narrowly avoiding the hands. "Yikes! Helios Booster!" He aimed his feet down and slowed his fall with extra propulsion, then shot toward the corrupted squirrel.

Greedent formed a wall of arms in front of himself before Wolf's foot connected. The mass of black arms burned away from the impact, but there were too many to make a clean break through. If Wolf had more time and proper training, a wall of darkness like this would be nothing but paper to be incinerated.

Dozens of hands arced around the wall and seized Wolf by the limbs, ankles, wrists, waist, and neck. He flinched as their claws dug into his skin. His aura defended against them, but he felt a trickle of blood escaping, no doubt evaporating from the heat being given off from his body.

"Morning Lion: Second Form!"

A flash of light burst from Wolf's body. The sudden increase in temperature torched the hands off, allowing Wolf to break free and put some distance away from Greedent. He dragged his feet against the ground and caught himself, leaving a black trail behind him.

Greedent lowered his tail arms and grinned. "This is new."

The orange glow around Wolf intensified, now with solid, flame-like tuff of fur appearing on his cheeks, ears, and heels. The ground beneath his feet melted and bubbled quicker than before.

I need to be careful, Wolf thought. Everyone's below ground, and any tiers higher than Second Form could be catastrophic. He dug his fingers into the ground, mirroring a runner's stance before a 100m sprint. This should be plenty, though.

"Solaris Stampede!"

A white hot flash of heat exploded from Wolf's heels. As fast as they ignited, Wolf closed the distance and rammed his foot into Greedent's stomach. Greedent vomited black bile that burnt up against Wolf's heated aura. They both shot out of the camp and barreled through a dozen shadow monsters that caught fire from proximity alone.

Wolf kicked off Greedent and spiked his head into the ground before flipping away. Greedent pulled himself out of the ground, staggering as a white and orange glow of heat burnt on the front of his body. Touching it increased the agonizing pain he was already feeling a hundredfold.

He growled, then glared at the curled ball of armor still sitting in place. "General Famine! Your assistance, please!"

The beast didn't respond and remained curled up.

Wolf smirked. "Some lazy general you have there. While he's sitting on the sidelines, I'm keeping my forces safe."

Greedent straightened up and brushed some dirt off his shoulder. "Our general doesn't waste his time with pests like you. That kind of grunt work is reserved for us."

"Us?" Wolf repeated. Something clicked inside his head as a shadow casted over him. "Oh crap—"

Wolf barely propelled himself away from the line of crystal shooting up from the ground. He flinched as shards of crystal scraped against his foot before being reduced to ash. He dragged himself to a stop, then propelled away again as Steelix slammed his tail down.

"Perish," the Steelix grunted. The crystals jutting off his body fired off like missiles and came down on Wolf in large, unavoidable clusters.

Wolf dropped to his hands and started spinning. "Solaris Circus!" A ring of fire surrounded his body before breaking out into ribbons of superheated magic. They slapped across the crystal missiles and caused them to explode prematurely. Greedent and Steelix retreated out of the flame ribbons' range.

"I've got to hand it to you, kid, you're tough!" Greedent raised his tail. "But we're tough!" The hands of his tail morphed and rose over the flaming ribbons, shaping into a large, demonic claw. With a whip of his tail, the hand slammed down atop the flames, instantly extinguishing them. He curled the fingers, digging out some ground, and lifted Wolf up.

Heat poured from within the mound of dirt until Wolf popped his head free. He tried to escape, but Greedent squeezed down tighter until he had Wolf locked between two massive fingers pressing against his sides. Wolf poured out the heat, but the enlarged shadow hand took more than any individual hand could and healed it off just as fast. Shadows dissolved, but rapidly replaced and pressed down harder.

"Let. Me. Go!" Wolf yelled, pressing his hands down on the massive claws and trying to push himself free.

Greedent smirked. "Skewer the pest."

Steelix raised his tail and grew purple crystal from the tip. It shaped itself into a thin, pointed spear, its tip gleaming from the light being produced off Wolf. The young Raboot gasped, then squirmed harder in his dirt prison. He tried activating Helios Booster, but the dirt didn't give him enough room to combust flames and launch himself, effectively snuffing them out.

I'm a decent distance away from the camp, so no harm in turning up the tier, right?

"Kill him!" Greedent ordered. Steelix nodded and thrusted his spear tail at Wolf with speeds the Raboot thief could've never predicted from the large steel snake. In a desperate plea for salvation in the precious second he had left, he started up his spell.

"Morning Lion: Third—"

Suddenly, mere centimeters from reaching his face, the tail exploded apart, as did the crystal spear. Wolf was understandably surprised and relieved to watch the tail blow apart so unexpectedly, secretly scared out of his mind from how close the spear came to his face, but his surprise turned to bafflement. Not from why the tail exploded, but how.

Steelix and Greedent were equally surprised by the state of the destruction. Rather than the steel snake's tail shattering into an assortment of randomly shaped pieces, it blew apart into individual, perfectly cut cubes. Ignoring the corrupted black blood gushing from his partners tail, Greedent looked for the source of the attack.

"How…How could these brats project power like that? What are they, devils?"

"They aren't," a chilling voice sounded from behind. "I am."

Greedent barely turned in time to see the red fist bash him across the face and knock him into his stunned partner. He landed on his face, then looked up with a start at the red-skinned, three-eyed demon with bladed knuckles wrapped around his fists and bouncing on his misshapen toes like a boxer.

Regardless of the literal demon in front of him, his shock turned to horror at the black smog connected to the demon, and the figure emitting the smog. A cloaked Ariados whose mandibles chittered with what could be interpreted as amusement.

Greedent stood up and staggered back into Steelix. "No way! You're…You're…!"

"Callista, the Witch of Darkness?!" Steelix gasped.

If anyone had been paying attention, they would've noticed a slight tremor from the curled behemoth nearby.

Callista stepped forward, joining by Matzhal's side. "I told you to aim for the head," she grumbled.

"You told me to save the Raboot, for whatever daft reason," Matzhal argued. "Seemed more efficient."

Callista sighed. "Please, as if that puny crystal would've harmed the boy." Despite the mistrust, Wolf felt oddly touched by her sentiment.

From Steelix's announcement, a cluster of shadows ceased fighting and turned to analyze the revelation of their missing herald. Chattered and groans of disbelief sounded from the phantoms, a panic arising as to why their respected superior just turned one of her demons against their army. Her allies.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Greedent exploded in confusion and fury. "Mistress Callista, where have you been?! Why did you attack us?!"

Callista narrowed her eyes and scoffed. "I figured Puck's experimentation has left you nimrods braindead, so allow me to make this crystal clear. I, stay with me now, have stepped out of the abyss."

"What?!" they gasped.

Callista laughed. "You're right, too poetic. Let's go with…I'm betraying you. Matzhal, kill them."

Matzhal kicked forward and slammed his fist into the dazed squirrel. He grabbed Greedent's scruff to keep him in place and started bashing into his head with his free fist. The beatdown didn't last long as Steelix recovered from his shock and slammed his tail across Matzhal, throwing him off of Greedent.

The smog enveloped Matzhal before he hit the ground and returned him to the Underworld. Smog billowed around Callista to summon another demon.

Greedent massaged his face as it started regenerating and sneered at the spider witch. "This is clearly some sort of trick! No, not a trick! Those dastards!" He pointed at Callista and exclaimed, "Team Ravenfield has clearly brainwashed you into doing their bidding! Dastards! Monsters! Inconceivable!"

"Funny. Usually it's denial, then anger, not the other way around," Callista grumbled. "Whatever." She lurched her head forward, commanding a jet of smog to fire forward. "Rip their flesh apart, Ergan!"

A dull white, tiger-like beast with six legs, a barbed tail, and a wide maw with exposed fangs dove out of the smog and sank its teeth into Greedent's neck. Greedent balled his tailed into six fists and pummeled into the beast before ripping him off. A chunk of flesh was taken out from his neck.

Ergan landed on its paws and swallowed the piece of flesh in one bite. It lunged at Greedent again, but he used his tails to lift himself over the beast and out of its range. "To be turned on by Mistress Callista," he growled as his neck regenerated. "It's the work of madness. Perhaps the work of that Mew and her potions!"

Callista hissed. "There's no mind control potions, you dumbass." She paused, then tapped her chin. "Although, closest you would get is a love potion—" She skittered to the side and barely avoided a hand shooting out at her. "Oi! Watch it!"

Greedent pointed to his partner. "Do something! Master Aeternus will want her captured!" Steelix nodded and lunged at Callista, who dodged away from a tail slam.

"Hey buddy!" Greedent's eyes widened as a bright glow shined over his head. "Forget about me!" He covered his hand as his enlarged shadow hand exploded open, then took a kick to the face from Wolf's Solaris Piercer. "Guess you were so focused on her that you weakened the strength of that hand by accident!"

Greedent suppressed the pain burning across his face and summoned more tails to bash the glowing Raboot off. "Away with you, filthy creature!"

Wolf spun himself out to catch his balance, then rocketed back into Greedent with a superheated kick. "Nova Flash!" The crackle of magic shot from the impact, emitting bolts of heat that scorched the ground and the corrupted squirrel. Wolf's footprint burned into Greedent's chest.

Meanwhile, Callista swept through the battlefield and weaved through Steelix's repeated tail slams. The steel snake lifted his ruptured tail and grew crystal wrapped in black shadow webbing. It took the shape of a crystal sword surrounded in a dark haze. He spun his body around, then whipped his tail at Callista.

"Kogomor!" Callista jumped into the awaiting arms of her tengu-like demon, who fired a wind blast to propel themselves high up in the air. Steelix's tail cleaved a slab of earth from the ground and sent shockwaves rippling for meters, splitting fissures open.

"He looks tough, Mistress Callista!" Kogomor squawked.

Callista glared. "Get me in close."

"By your command!" He grabbed her front leg, spun her around, and threw her with the extra force of his steel fan.

Callista recalled Kogomor, then spat web into Steelix's face. The corrupted snake roared and shook his head while Callista swung herself around, flying up on top of his head. She projected her smog and summoned the gaseous reaper to her side, with his newly repaired, double-ended scythe.

The reaper groaned. "What is it this time, Mistress? Another feast to keep me from enjoying?"

Callista spat webs onto her legs to keep herself from being flung off the rampaging Steelix. "Ozaran, I don't want you eating his soul!"

Ozaran clattered his jawbone angrily. "What has gotten into you recently? I can't even enjoy a nice meal any—"

"However," she continued, "You're free to eat half of it."

"…Wait, really?"

Callista nodded. "I don't care if he's killed, but I don't want his soul erased."

Ozaran grinned excitedly, then spun his double-bladed scythe. "I'll take what I can get!" He shot down and sliced across Steelix's face. A thin, blue trail of flameless smoke jettisoned from the spectral wound.

"AAAAAGH!" Steelix cried. He fired off numerous crystal missiles at Ozaran, who laughed as they passed right through him.

"Yes, yes! Fight for your life! It enriches the soul with despair!" He twirled his scythe with a dexterous fiddling of his bony fingers, then threw it like a sawblade. The scythe passed through Steelix's body like a ghost, but exploded a vast leakage of soul from the back.

"AAAAHH!" Steelix screamed.

Ozaran swirled around and scooped up a handful of soul, shoveling it into his mouth. "Oh yes~! This was so worth the way! I've never eaten the soul of a corrupted Pokémon before!" His grin grew wider. "This is richer than anything I've ever eaten! Shadow and Pokémon infused into one, a delectable platter filled with delicious despair!"

"B-B-Bastard!" Steelix roared, swinging his crystal tail at him. It passed through the gaseous reaper ineffectively.

Ozaran snapped his fingers and called back his scythe. "Mistress Callista, I take back everything I said about you! Give me more of these corrupted sinners! I don't give a shit what side you're on anymore! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Oh great, I gave him an addiction, Callista inwardly groaned.

Steelix desperately slashed at the energetic reaper, all attacks rendered ineffective from his target's non-physical body. Moreover, with each passing strike, more soul leaked from his body, thus weakening his stamina dramatically. Orazan laughed his nonexistent lungs off as he chowed down on the soul spewing from the corrupted snake's body, like a chocolate fountain turned up to ten.

"More! I need more!" Ozaran cackled. He went in for his twentieth bite, but Callista reeled him back in. "Agh! Mistress?!"

"You're draining him dry," Callista scolded. "There's plenty more to feast on. This is just the appetizer."

Ozaran pouted. "Oh, fine…"

Steelix panted heavily, barely able to stand up straight. He had to curl his lower body to rest in. Various spectral cuts leaked out from his body, sapping him of most of his stamina. He could barely keep his eyes open. "You…traitor," he growled.

Callista glared. "I was never your ally."

"I beg to differ," Ozaran quipped as he swiped his finger across some soul leaking from the head and licked it like cake batter. "But hey, I'm not complaining."

Greedent and Wolf's collision came to a stop once they saw Steelix on his last breath. He was our heavy hitter! Greedent gasped. Mistress Callista's arsenal is unparalleled.

Wolf smirked. "Nice job, you old witch!"

Callista hissed amusedly. "And to you as well, hotshot. Now…" Callista stabbed into the Steelix's head and dragged it in a circle, tracing out a visible line. "Though I have no interest using your soul for current, I'm sure I have other uses for you. I regrettably have one other elite demon who could benefit from a more benevolent post-soul extraction."

Greedent bared his teeth. Mistress Callista's a Ritualist and a Summoner. She can't be allowed to play with souls. "Shadows, stop her!"

Swarms of shadows descended on Callista, but Ozaran ripped into them faster than they could screech. He collected a handful of shadow essence and bit into it like an apple. "Mmm! Not as delicious as the appetizer, but I can work with this."

Callista traced out the circle, then slammed her legs down on it. Her eyes blazed blue with the spirit circle. "Tcartxe dna Niatnoc. Tcartxe dna Niatnoc. Tcartxe dna Niatnoc …" She chanted as the leaking soul converged into the spirit circle.

Greedent launched himself with his tails toward Callista. "What are you up to?!"

"Nova Flash!" Wolf appeared in his line of sight and spike him back down with a crackling kick. He glared back at Callista. You better not be up to something evil, witch.

The soul gathered inside the circle, then transferred into Callista, who stretched open her mandibles and inhaled the soul energy. A long, continuous inhale sucking in the Steelix's life force as she watched his willpower steadily draining away.

Callista scanned the battlegrounds, picking out the individual soldiers of the shadow army. I'll have Ozaran butcher half their forces before I start sucking up their souls. After that, I can use my little surprise. At the rate we're going, we might actually win this battle. What a joke, Puck. Your little monster's nothing more than a—

"Mistress Callista!"

BAM!

Callista's head rattled as Ozaran grabbed her by the cloak and pulled her off Steelix's head—or what remained of it. It took Callista a moment to adjust her eyes to the sudden pulling, but once they refocused, she gazed upon the horrific scene that could've very well been her end.

Callista had one distinct disadvantage from losing her shadow magic: she couldn't sense shadows anymore, from phantoms to possessors. Of course, she got around this with someone like Ozaran watching her back, otherwise a single misstep could mean her end. Perhaps it was her newfound empathy clouding the cold logic she lived with for five hundred years, but she feared to say she was off her game.

She severely underestimated the lazy general's horrible power.

Ozaran had pulled Callista from a grizzly fate. The Steelix she perched herself on to steal soul from no longer had such a perch. His large head, once covered in clusters of crystals, now bared a gaping, cavernous hole. Perhaps a hole wasn't the best description, for the entire center of the face and everything above it was instantly destroyed, making what remained resemble a jagged 'U'.

Wolf hung in the air, gaping at the steel snake's horrifying execution, completely forgetting about the corrupted Greedent. He blinked and missed the whole thing, like the monster's head had always been carved out and he was only just noticing. That…That's just not right.

Callista and Ozaran gawked at the steel snake as it collapsed lifelessly to the ground, the remainder of its soul energy flooding out from the body. They and Wolf turned their attention to the creature responsible, currently grinding their teeth together and munching on something noticeably metallic.

Famine finished his meal, then turned around. Crystal shards stuck to his underbite like he finished eating a sloppy meal. His tongue rolled out and slobbered across his entire maw, lapping up the leftovers. Wolf nearly vomited when he saw the crystal and steel bits stuck inside the behemoth's walls of teeth. They chittered like shredder blades and sank the leftovers to grind them to dust.

Once he finished cleaning himself, Famine took his attack stance and snarled at the dumbstruck trio, barking something incoherent with a vehement tone.

"Allow me to offer a translation," Greedent spoke up for the confused trio. Ignoring his burns, he rose to his feet and smirked at them.

"I am Famine. I came here for Sapienti, but my appetite craves this new meal. My appetite knows no bounds and must be satiated. Please, accept my invitation and join me for breakfast."