Ch.61: Shadows Drown in the Squall! Rise of the New Rebels!
"How do you keep dragging me into these situations?"
"One doesn't get the hottest scoop without some intrepid reporting, Ritchie!"
"Perhaps, but second only to a dead reporter."
The Alolan Graveler and Bergmite duo poked their heads out from around the corner of a ruined shop, torn to the ground with the walls barely standing. A strong heat came from the inside, crackling and hissing, from the onyx-colored flames burning away the shop's contents. A similar heat sizzled through the streets, an aftermath to a flyby attack, leaving the dirt paths scorched black and bubbling like swamp water.
As their eyes scanned across the rooftops, they saw shadows looming and scouting above. Phantoms of pitch black mist with solid, blood red eyes that searched the ruined town with their predatory stares. The eyes of beasts hunting their prey, but not for sustenance. These were the eyes of a beast hunting to instill fear into their cornered prey, waiting to rip them to shreds.
All the more reason why the little Bergmite wanted nothing to do with it.
"Palmer, seriously, we need to leave before we're found," Ritchie insisted.
"You're not thinking like a reporter. We are the beacons of the West Gale Regional Paper, and it is our sacred duty to deliver the news to the people in these trying times."
"Doesn't take much effort to look out their window and make that judgment call for themselves," Ritchie said with a growl. "Do you not remember that we were captured by crazy bandits not too long ago? I still have the nightmares over it, and now you're insisting we catch some big story while there's killer ghosts haunting the place?"
"Now you're getting it!" Palmer exclaimed.
Ritchie tackled the variant Graveler to the ground and covered his mouth. They looked up as a shadow passed by their location. For a moment, they thought they saw its red eyes peering down at them. No cover of darkness would be enough to hide them from a creature composed of the stuff, and a second of pure terror flashed their entire lives through their minds. Fortunately, the shadow continued on its patrol without a second glance.
Ritchie sighed and stepped off his partner. "We really need to leave."
Palmer peeked his head out and glared. "Even if I wanted to, that might be a bit difficult."
"Oh no, what happened?" Ritchie reluctantly poked his head out.
As if flying shadows wasn't the bane of their afternoon, other creatures composed of nightmare fuel roamed the burnt streets. Pokémon infused with darkness, molded into apocalyptic terrors mutated by unearthly forces. There were far too many to count or identify, but these monsters lumbered the streets like hulking giants with their alternate appendages.
A Heracross with an elongated horn ripped with purple crystal. A Lickitung with a disgustingly long and thorny tongue that swished through the air and sprayed a goopy, black saliva. A lumbering Snorlax-looking creature with a giant, vertical mouth split down its stomach with rows and rows of serrated teeth inside.
And so many more. So much that it turned Ritchie's stomach.
"I think I'm going to be sick," he groaned.
"Well, try to keep it in or they'll hear us," Palmer said. Once he saw no one was looking down their way, he pushed Ritchie and sprinted to their new hiding spot across the street. They ducked around the corner of a building and took a breath. Palmer brought out his notepad and pencil and wrote, "Worse than imaginable, for the Earth Zone has become a hotspot for shadows to rain terror upon the helpless Pokémon."
"Not. Helping," Ritchie grumbled.
"If my life must be at risk, I want to at least get the story…before East Gale Regional steals it from me!" he growled, though under his breath this time.
"You're hopeless."
They stiffed as something shattered nearby. They turned just as glass rained down on the ground, coming from the second floor of a two-story building. They heard rumbling and stomping upstairs. If they strained their hearing enough, they could hear two people arguing. A man and a woman, presumably.
"What's going on up there?" Palmer asked.
"I don't know, but if they keep it up, there's going to be a whole swarm of darkness descending on us." Ritchie beelined into the building followed by Palmer.
They raced through the shop, knocking over mannequins and pushing aside tables. It appeared to be a tailor shop. They found the stairs and raced up them, just in time to see a Conkeldurr and a Gardevoir wrestling each other for a rifle. Based on the size of the gun and the large guard around the trigger, it likely belonged to the muscular Pokémon. Signs of discharge could be seen from the mystical steam emanating from the barrel.
"We can't just abandon our town. We need to stay and fight!" Conkeldurr yelled.
"You are actually insane!" Gardevoir yelled back. "We can hide out in here forever. Those things could find us any minute now, and you just want to fight them? You'll be torn to shreds!"
"Better to die a good fight than die like a coward!"
"Cowards live longer lives for a reason!"
Ritchie ran over to them and shouted (quietly, mind you), "Both of you, cut it out! You're both going to draw them over if you keep arguing like this!"
His shout seemed to bring the two back into reality. They blinked at each other, looked at the rifle, then back to each other with sadden expressions. Gardevoir let go of the gun and rubbed her arm. "Sorry, dear."
Conkeldurr sighed and set it aside. "I'm sorry, too. I've just been so—"
"I know. I've been feeling anxious, too."
"I'm not surprised." They and Ritchie turned to Palmer as he gazed out the window. "You can tell those things are getting strong with the way everyone's acting. My reporter instincts tell me these shadows are influencing behavior through just their presence. They're creating fear wherever they go, and fear leads to paranoia, and paranoia leads to anger."
Ritchie's eyes widened. "You figured that out?"
"Well, either that, or everyone has no common sense anymore. Though, I suppose it'd be too much to say the shadows are the sole cause. Perhaps it's a bit of both, with a dash of innate fear boosting it along." The Alolan Graveler shrugged. "Point is, if you let it get to you, it'll effect you. Why else do you think I've been trying to stay optimistic?"
Ritchie glared. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"
"I thought it was obvious."
Ritchie facepalmed.
Conkeldurr glared at the pair. "I'm sorry, who are you?"
Palmer grinned. "Palmer and Ritchie of the West Gale Regional Paper, here to document the carnage of the shadows and the downfall of Pokémon kind."
"Potential downfall, you wingnut," Ritchie groaned. "And there's no downfall."
"Says the guy who was freaking out not five minutes ago."
"You weren't helping with the anxiety!"
Gardevoir sighed and covered her face. She wept softly into her hands. "This is terrible. Just terrible."
Conkeldurr sat on the floor and crossed his arms. "I just opened this shop last year, and now everything's up in smokes. There goes my dream of becoming a tailor."
Palmer raised his brow. "Wait, you own this shop? Doesn't seem like the kind of occupation for a—" Ritchie headbutted him in the side. "Right, right. Keep my opinions to myself."
Ritchie sighed. "Well, staying here isn't a good idea. We should evacuate while we still can."
Conkeldurr lifted his head and glared. "No way. There are still innocent people hiding out in their homes. Those things have been hovering through the sky waiting for someone to come out and put up a fight. They're taunting us. We've already lost a few townsfolk who tried to flee."
"I still say defending what little we have left is a waste of time," Gardevoir said. "It's better to leave while we still can and hope to rebuild from the ashes."
"There's going to be nothing but ashes so long as those things keep burning everything down."
"But we can't beat them. You don't have magic, and I've never used mine for anything other than simple tricks. I never trained it for fighting. I'd be lucky to tickle one of those things with what little I can conjure into a blast."
"Just because I don't have magic doesn't mean I can't fight for myself." He pointed at his rifle which finally cooled down. "I bought magically-charged rounds for this very reason. One blast will incinerate the heads from their shoulders."
"Maybe one, but there's hundreds of those things. And they can reform if you don't blow them up enough." Gardevoir covered her face and shuddered. "Just face it, we're doomed. Nothing but doomed, doomed, doomed."
Palmer glared. "Man, this woman is a downer."
"Do you have an off button?" Ritchie mumbled.
"I'm not the one wallowing in despair." Palmer pointed out the window. "Besides, we can totally escape. We managed to sneak into town, so we just do the exact same thing in reverse."
"They'll have eyes in the sky, you moron," Ritchie growled. "We were barely able to get through without getting divebombed. How do you propose we get out now?"
Palmer grinned. "My friend, with a little ingenuity, anything is possible."
Meanwhile…
High above in the sky, a shape pierced through the dense clouds like an axe, dragging itself through the water vapor as it descended from cover. The shadow hidden within emerged slowly, the hull of dark blue metal dripping from the moisture surrounding it. The bottom of the ship emitted blue waves from six large circles, a mechanism keeping the ship aloft. As the back slowly appeared, thrusters burned white hot flame as it moved the vessel forward.
The ship continued dipping below the cloud cover, streaks of vapor streaming off the ship like air current. The front of ship proudly displayed the serpentine visage of an Arbok. A wooden fixture melded to the metal ship and coated with a clear sheen to protect it from the moisture. The last to appear from the clouds were the masts proudly displaying their sails. Purely decoration to complete the look of the vessel as air slid off the material like water on a Ducklett's back.
The center of the sail bared the image of a black skull with a wide grin with sharp teeth. A smile similar to a certain Pokémon.
A Gallade standing at the front of the ship peered through his telescope and scanned the land. He glared upon spotting smoke in the distance.
"Well, well, well. We've got another one." He closed his telescope and turned to the Barbaracle manning the wheel. "Town up ahead! Under heavy fire, it looks like. Major shadow attack."
"Aye, setting coordinates!" the Barbaracle yelled, fiddling with a device mounted by the wheel. A grid appeared on the screen and mapped out the path ahead. He grabbed a horn connected into the ship and spoke into it. "Man your stations everyone! We're going hunting for shadows!"
Excitement sounded below deck with feet scurrying around, grabbing weapons and setting up the ship for attack. The Gallade jumped onto the bowsprit and extended his elbow blades. He rolled his neck, cracking a few bones, and sat himself down.
"You think we'll get anything out of these jokers?" he asked aloud.
"Probably not, but we're taking our revenge one way or another," the Barbaracle said. "They need to be exterminated for everything they've put us through."
"I couldn't agree more."
The two pirates turned as a third figure stepped onto the deck. This wasn't just some crewmate, however. Both pirates stood upright and gestured to the newcomer as he walked across the deck. Hidden beneath his large coat, which he wore like a cloak, metal struck down on the floor with each step. Particles of sand seemed to dance around him.
Bearing the face of the jolly roger, the captain flashed a menacing grin as he stared at the distant town ahead. "They'll see just how deadly we pirates are. Every last one of them."
"This was your brilliant plan?"
"Genius, isn't it? I know!"
"Maybe we should've stayed in the shop after all."
As shadows scoured the streets for Pokémon to slaughter, four were eluding their detection. Whenever a shadow flew by and briefly left a section of town vulnerable, a crate would lift itself off the ground with five pairs of feet shuffling along quietly. Whenever a shadow came by for its next round, the crate would immediately drop down and stay close to the buildings to avoid suspicion.
Palmer peeked through the eyeholes he punched through the wood and laughed. "Those simpleminded killing machines don't know we're right under their noses. Ha! Once again, my brilliant reporting instincts have allowed me to evade danger for a hot scoop."
Ritchie glared up at him. "Hiding from Pokémon to spy on them and get a story is one thing, but we're using this to determine our futures why? We're risking everything on the effectiveness of the shadows deciding not to rip this crate to pieces?"
"Wars were never won without taking risks."
"What wars are you referencing? Because there is a good chance they didn't end the way you're imagining."
Conkeldurr groaned. "Will you two be quiet? We're in enough hot water wandering out here."
"Relax," Palmer said. "We'll exit through the town limits and book it into the mountains."
"And you're sure they won't see us running away out in the open?" Gardevoir asked.
"Not entirely." Palmer heard audible facepalms within the crate. "Have a little faith in me. I've been dodging security guards and suspects for years."
"This is why the boss insisted on you taking time off after this happened, because he knew you would pull stunts like this," Ritchie grumbled.
"I believe you mean to say he secretly told me to continue hunting for the hot scoops during a regional crisis."
"That is not what he said, that's what you imagined he said."
"You say tomato, I say—"
The group stopped to the sound of a scream. They dropped the crate, and Palmer peeked through the eyeholes to see a Jigglypuff running out into the open. He gasped as shadows flew out from around the corner and dove on her. She managed to sidestep two, but the third swiped her legs out with its ghost tail and sent her rolling into the group's cover.
The shadows dropped down and crawled toward the cowering Jigglypuff on their hands, snickering. "Death to all you filthy mortals," the shadows hissed.
Jigglypuff backed into the crate, her legs trembling beneath her. "P-Please, leave me alone! I didn't do anything!" The shadows laughed her off as their ghost tails morphed into giant, clawed hands, reading to sink their claws through her.
Palmer backed from the eyeholes. "Shit, they're going to tear this thing open."
"And that woman, too!" Ritchie hissed.
"You know what I mean!"
Conkeldurr growled. "Oh, screw this. We're doing it my way."
Gardevoir gasped. "Dear, don't—"
Just as the shadows thrusted their clawed hands at the Jigglypuff, the crate bounced up into the air. The shadows stopped for only a second to look. That one second was all Conkeldurr needed to raise his rifle and blow the middle shadow to pieces. The bullet ripped through its ethereal body and tore it to ribbons. The two remaining shadows shrieked and retreated into the air.
"Where do you think you're going?!" Conkeldurr yelled. He fired a second round and destroyed another one. He fired a third round, but the last shadow shaped its body to let it pass through. "Stand still!" He fired over and over at the shadow as it kept twisting its body around the bullets.
Ritchie pushed the Jigglypuff to her feet and yelled, "Run, now!" She yelped and darted off the street. He headbutted Palmer forward. "We need to leave, now!"
"Uh, right!"
Once Conkeldurr ran out of bullets, the shadow morphed its arm into a blade and slashed the ground in front of the fleeing reporters. A wall of black flame rose up and pushed them. "No escape!" the shadow hissed.
Palmer squeaked and raised his hands. "Take my money! Anything but my beautiful face!"
Ritchie glared. "Oh, now you start acting like a coward?!"
"This is not the time, Rich!"
The shadow dove on the group with its bladed arms and came in swinging like a circular saw. Conkeldurr quickly raised his rifle and pushed back on the spinning shadow. It easily split his rifle in two, but stopped it enough for the muscular Pokémon to deliver a heavy punch to the side. His fist passed through and disrupted the shadow's form into wisps.
The shadow roared and started reforming itself. "No Pokémon can best the darkness—"
BANG!
A bullet rang out past Conkeldurr and blew the partially reformed shadow into nothingness. He and the reporters turned to Gardevoir, armed with the broken rifle trembling in her arms. Though the barrel was destroyed, the firing mechanism still worked, and the shadow was just close enough to make the impact effective.
"Oh…Oh my…" Gardevoir dropped the rifle and fell to her knees. "I saw my life flash before my eyes."
Conkeldurr knelt down and patted her back. "One hell of a shot, though, love."
Palmer blinked and looked around, seeing the worst was over. He straightened up and laughed heartily. "I told you we would be fine!"
Ritchie glared. "Says the guy who nearly wetted himself."
Palmer waved him off. "Bah! Those shadows were a piece of cake. I bet we can take on the rest with our eyes close—"
A tongue shot out from an alleyway and coiled around the unsuspecting group. Before they could flee or duck, it grappled around them and lifted them high in the air. They struggled to squirm out, but stopped as their struggling met with resistance. They looked and saw the tongue was covered in thorny bumps that dug into the skin as they shifted, even through Palmer's rock skin and Ritchie's ice armor.
"Okay, maybe I do need an off button," Palmer mumbled fearfully.
They looked down and saw the corrupted Lickitung from earlier, along with the corrupted Heracross and Snorlax, laughing at the ensnared group. They weren't the only ones, though, as more of the corrupted monsters advanced onto the street, swarming them from all sides. The shadows appeared from the rooftops like a murder of Murkrow, their cackles carrying across the town like a haunting chorus.
Palmer gulped. "Uh, I don't suppose any of you are willing to spare us in exchange for an exclusive interview?"
"Ha. Ha. Ha." The group looked down and watched as some of the corrupted Pokémon made way for another new corrupted. Immediately, there was something different about this one.
It was a Blastoise, with black and purple skin that looked like it was oozing darkness. Red piercing eyes that bore holes into the fearful group, and gnarly claws that looked like could rip and tear flesh with ribbons of it hanging off. Like all the corrupted Pokémon, the shadows modified a part of his body: the shell cannons. They were reshaped with a more beastly aesthetic, the ends of the barrels shaped like lion manes and energy visibly flowing through his shell like a fuel tank.
They could feel the raw power of this creature's presence. The way even the shadows addressed this corrupted monstrosity, he must've been the acting leader of this raid.
"Worthless creatures," the corrupted Blastoise said. "To think I was once a part of your worthless species. But I've seen the truth in darkness. I've evolved beyond my mortal coil, and here you are, trapped at our mercy. A fruitless act of rebellion against the true masters of this world. This world shall sink within a flood of darkness forever—"
"Ah, ah, ah, slow down!" The Blastoise's eyes widened as Palmer, despite the situation he was in, was writing everything down in his notepad. "Fruitless…act of rebellion…" he mumbled to himself. He pointed his pencil at the corrupted turtle. "Is that a direct quote from you? If so, can I get a name?"
"…" Blastoise's eye twitched. "You…You're being held against your will here."
"So, is that a no on the name?"
Blastoise growled and stomped his foot down. "I rejected my mortality, fool! I no longer have any use for a name—"
"Okay, I'll just make one." Palmer went back to his notepad. "Direct quote from…Bob, the corrupted Blastoise? No, I need a better hook than that. Blast? Eh, uninspired. Oh, wait!" He scribbled a name down. "Obsidian, the Blastoise that rejected his pokemanity!"
The corrupted Blastoise narrowed his eyes. "…Shit, I kind of like that name."
Palmer grinned. "You're welcome—GAH!" The corrupted Lickitung squeezed the group harder, causing Palmer to drop his notepad. "No!"
Obsidian aimed his cannon and fired a ball of crackling purple at the notepad. It instantly vaporized to dust while the attack carried on, burning holes through buildings in its way. It ended with an explosion in the distance, tearing a building to the ground and rupturing it into dust. The group looked down in horror as the corrupted Blastoise straightened up.
"Dare not mock my newfound divinity," Obsidian said as energy leaked from his twin barrels. "You stand before the new gods of this world. A new age of darkness where we live supreme. A perfect world molded in the image of the great Shadow King. You who reject his gift of enlightenment shall be given a most merciless death. There is no room in his new world for such weakness."
Gardevoir gulped. "P-Please spare us! We're not here to fight! We just want to leave!"
Obsidian smirked. "Yes, continue with your pitiful pleas as you stare into the end." He aimed one cannon at the ensnared group and charged the barrel with dark energy. "Let me hear you squeal."
Palmer and Ritchie clung to each other and shivered with fear. Conkeldurr managed to pull his arm free and held it in front of his wife, glaring defiantly at the cannon. The energy built up slowly, forming into a condensed ball of pure destructive power. The crackling energy streaked through the air, grazing against their skin in the harsh purple glow.
"Now…PERISH!"
The attack fired and completely engulfed the ensnared Pokémon. They couldn't even scream as the blast ripped the bodies to shreds, breaking them down atom by atom and reducing them to dust. The shadows and corrupted Pokémon averted their eyes against the intense glow. Only the corrupted Lickitung squealed in pain as his tongue was scorched to ashes.
The light faded with a lingering cloud of dust in the air. Obsidian waved his hand across the dust and smirked. "No one defies the darkness. Let that be a lesson to all other Pokémon, for they are weak to the mortal coil—"
"You really need to shut up."
Obsidian's eyes widened, as did the other corrupted Pokémon. He whipped his head around and saw a Gallade leaning against his shell coolly. Adorned in a dusty brown jacket, black pants, and a teal bandana tied around his neck, he stared at the shadows without a hint of fear to his face.
He straightened up and glared up at the stunned Blastoise. "Underneath all that edge and bravado, you're just another punk who thinks he's all that." He pointed up at the roofs.
Obsidian followed his finger and gasped, spotting the reporters and the couple standing shakily above them, and not reduced to dust. "Wait, what?! How—"
"You made a mistake crossing us, you know," the Gallade, Graham, said. "You shouldn't have made an enemy of the Desert Beasts."
The name struck a chord inside the corrupted turtle's mind. Without thinking, he threw a hard punch at the pirate in anger. With a snap of his fingers, Graham vanished and reappeared next to the startled Pokémon.
Palmer dropped to his knees and panted. "I…I thought I was dead."
Graham shook his head. "That's not happening. No one's going to die here, except for these freaks."
Obsidian growled. "Shadows, kill him!"
The umbric specters shot into the air and divebombed Graham with bladed claws. Graham clicked his fingers again and disappeared with the rescued group.
"Where did he go?!" Shadow Heracross yelled.
Before Obsidian could voice his answer, his eyes darted up to the sky, and whatever remained of a heart stopped. Breaking through the clouds and descending upon the invaded town was a pirate ship bearing the symbol of a smiling skull. A familiar symbol warned about to all shadows and corrupted Pokémon should they ever see it.
"The…Desert Beasts," he growled.
Several Pokémon jumped overboard and dove into the city, some skillfully rebounding off rooftops and others descending with parachutes. Shadows instantly sprang into action and soared toward the newcomers, but they disappeared as quickly as they landed.
"They vanished?" a shadow hissed.
"Death to you."
A flash of green passed through a dozen shadows. They could barely turn their heads to see a Grovyle with a scar over his closed left eye, wielding two katanas in hand. Just as they acknowledged his presence, they exploded into shadowy ribbons, several dozen slashes ripping through each of them instantly.
The Grovyle, Drake, straightened up and swiped his swords, cleansing them of the lingering darkness coating their metal. "You've brought dishonor with your actions. We bring retribution."
A corrupted Scizor jumped onto the rooftops and charged him with his spiked pincers. "You filthy scum! You dare oppose us?"
Drake sheathed his swords, still clutching the hilts, and sidestepped the corrupted insect's punches. Frustrated, Shadow Scizor kept throwing out faster and faster punches while Drake made the smallest adjustments in his stance to dodge them. His eye sharpened, and he whipped his swords from their scabbards, cutting through the corrupted Scizor's midsection and severing him from the waist. The dying scream of the bug faded as he toppled into the street.
Obsidian bared his teeth. "Somebody kill him!"
"I got it!" the corrupted Heracross exclaimed, swinging his horn and firing crystal darts. Drake deflected the crystals as he jumped down to the other side of the building. "He flees like a coward—"
RIIIIP!
Shadow Heracross spewed black blood from his mouth. He looked down and came face-to-face with a Togetic, her stare filled with bloodthirsty delight and a presence of pure malice. She dug her battle claws through his abdomen, tearing deep into the flesh.
Leigh, ex-assassin Togetic, smirked. "You should've followed his example." She slashed through and tore the corrupted beetle apart. She landed and threw his oozing carcass into a hoard of shadow divebombing her. "Rip and tear…until there's nothing left!" She laughed maniacally as she drove through the shadows like a drill, sending their shadowy hides scattering through the wind.
Obsidian backed away, his teeth clattering against his will. "Th-These creatures…! So ruthless!" He growled and thrust his hand forward. "Kill them!"
Shadows rose up from his own and chased after the Togetic. She fluttered her wings and took off into the sky, slicing through shadows as they closed in on her. Obsidian aimed his cannon, charged up a blast as he watched her movements, and fired.
Lightning struck from the horizon and pierced his attack out of the sky. Obsidian watched as the lightning bolt ripped the energy apart and curved down onto his position. He quickly tucked inside his shell as the lightning touched down, lighting up all the shadows and corrupted Pokémon around him.
Banama the Raichu and Lyra the Zangoose popped onto the rooftops and dashed across them. "I prefer you didn't try to roast my crewmate!" Banama yelled down. Lyra nodded firmly in agreement.
Shadows rose up around the rooftops, charging energy between their hands, and fired beams of darkness onto the two. Lyra jumped in front of Banama and squeezed her concertina. A sonic barrier extended around them and pushed the magic back into the shadows. Banama jumped out from behind her and unleashed a violent streak of lightning from his body. It incinerated the shadows instantly with only their dying screams lingering.
Banama relaxed himself as his fur crackled with excess power. "They weren't so tough." He smirked at Lyra. "Thanks for the save."
Lyra blushed with an embarrassed smile, hiding her face behind her instrument.
Obsidian pulled himself from his shell. "Where do you blasted pirates keep coming from?!" He fired from both his cannons.
Lyra quickly produced a second barrier. The beams smashed into it and sent the two flying off the roof. Banama grabbed Lyra's waist and dove out of sight into another street.
Obsidian gritted his teeth and looked up to the sky, where the airship loomed over their heads. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Any corrupted who can fly, hear my message! Tear that metal avian out of the sky! We will hunt for the land prey.
Corrupted forms of Mandibuzz, Golurk, and Drifblim took to the skies. A corrupted squadron of Falinks rode on the Shadow Golurk's back, stomping their feet in anticipation. Dozens of shadows trailed behind them, readying their claws and magic.
"Eliminate," the corrupted golem stated. It retracted its hand into its arm, forming its cannon arm, and fired a dark purple laser at the ship.
The beam struck an invisible force and dissipated around the ship. The flying team split apart and fired magical attacks from all sides. Their beams impacted the invisible force surrounding the ship, unable to penetrate the hull. The corrupted Mandibuzz dove, sharpening her wings' feathers, and slashed across the ship. No effect either.
"A forcefield?" Shadow Mandibuzz gasped. "Impossible! How did these pirates acquire something so strong? They were practically dirt poor the last time they were seen."
Windows in the hull suddenly sprung open, and weapons rolled out into the open. They weren't cannons, however. They were shaped like gatling guns, and no one seemed to be operating them. They moved on their own and scanned the skies, eventually locking onto their airborne targets with their laser sights.
Shadow Mandibuzz gasped. "Evasive maneuvers!"
Bullets of blue magic fired from the guns, soaring towards the corrupted Pokémon. Whether by wing, jet, or floatation, they doubled their efforts to evade the scorching bullets of light, zigzagging across the sky with close shaves to the body.
The corrupted Falinks leader shielded himself as a straight bullet blasted his face. He uncovered himself and gasped, feeling the stinging burn of the attack against his shields. "Are these even the same pirates from before?!"
"Haha! That's the ticket!" Pain Train the Klefki exclaimed, watching the carnage from behind one of the guns. "You're totally freaking them out!"
Smith the Simisear nervously looked through the window to watch as well. "You are scarily good at using these, Ray."
They both turned around to acknowledge the gunner himself. He piloted from a chair linked to each of the guns, all connected to a crystal ball that manually controlled them via thought, and with a visor connected to the apparatus. He could see everything the guns saw. With his superior paw-to-eye coordination and reaction time, no one could escape his sight in the skies.
Ray, a full-grown Luxio, smirked as he traced his paws across the orb. "Oh, you haven't seen anything yet. Let's see how long they can fly through the sun's skies before they crash and burn."
The corrupted Drifblim expelled shadowy winds to propel himself through the stream of magic bullets. Whenever a bullet came too close, he deflated and constricted his body to squeeze around them, then reinflated himself in a snap.
"It's tough, but if we keep our cool, we should be able to close in on the ship!" Shadow Drifblim announced. "Focus on dodging the bullet streams and you should be—"
Two of the bullet streams suddenly whiffed into each other, causing their bullets to ricochet of one another. Two bullets bounced off and pierced through the unaware Shadow Drifblim. His eyes were wide in shock as dark mist expelled from his wounds.
"W…What just—" Now completely in the open, the bullet streams riddled him with holes, tearing his twisted body to shreds. The leaking hiss of his internal gas was the last sound heard of him as he fluttered out of the sky.
Shadow Mandibuzz sneered and beat her wings faster to get around a slew of ricocheting bullets. "They're changing tactics!"
Shadow Golurk soared closer to the ship and shielded itself against the bullets. They didn't pierce the body, but were slowly carving into it. "That forcefield must be disrupting magic from entering. Perhaps it cannot stop a live being from entering."
"Worth of a shot!" Shadow Falinks, Leader, exclaimed. "Men! Charge!" The squadron raced off the golem's back and dove toward the ship. They passed through the invisible barrier without resistance and landed on the main deck. Leader laughed. "We've infiltrated them. Rip this metal bird out of the sky."
"Sir, yes, sir!" his fellow Falinks cried.
As they took their first step forward, a ball of magic ripped through their blind spot and blasted one of the Falinks out of formation. Leader and his remaining squad watched as their comrade flew off the deck, careening down ablaze in hot magic.
"Ye spooky freaks have a lot to learn about us pirates." They turned and spotted the Crawdaunt, Julius, scuttling out of hiding, twisting his left arm's pincer cannon. He grinned devilishly. "We hold one hell of a grudge."
Leader glared. "You've got to be—men, kill him!"
"Sir, yes, sir!" The four remaining Shadow Falinks stomped their feet and charged at the lobster.
"Yo-hohohoho!" Julius pulled a rope attached to the ship and slingshot himself into the air. He aimed his cannon and fired several shots on the evil squadron.
The Falinks raised their shields against the raining blasts. More footsteps ran across the deck, and the Primeape, Fulke, cracked his club against one of the Falinks and threw them across the deck.
"You want more?!" He stopped down on his pegleg and whacked another one over the edge of the ship. "I've got plenty for all of you!"
The two remaining Falinks tried to attack him, extending crystal horns from their helmets, but chains sprouted out of the deck and pulled them down. They struggled within the bindings, unable to shake themselves loose. They looked up and met with the annoyed stare of Pain Train.
"Get the hell off our ship." He flicked his spindly arms and sent the two flying overboard.
Leader backed away with his legs buckling under him. "This…This isn't happening. You're just Pokémon. Normal, worthless Poké—"
Something pierced through his body. Leader spat blood and doubled over, eyes widening in terror. He looked down at the hole that mysteriously opened up in his chest. He could feel something digging through, twisting his shadowy insides.
"W…What…?"
Light shimmered in front of him. He looked up as a form appeared in front of him, of a Tyrogue wearing a golden gauntlet on his right arm. The black gem lodged inside the gauntlet had stopped glowing while the orange gem continued to. His other arm was shaped as a spear, which poked out on the other side of Leader's back.
Tyrone the Tyrogue scrunched his face in pain. "Jerks." He pulled his arm out and let the remaining Falinks fall over. His arm shaped back to normal. He clenched his right arm and grunted. "Hurts so much…" He looked up and glared at the corrupted Mandibuzz and Golurk circling around the ship.
Shadow Mandibuzz, as she dodged through the continuous bullet streams, called out, "We need to get to safety! Retreat for now!"
Just as they started breaking away from the ship, two harpoons fired from the ship and pierced through both of them. They gawked in pain, anchored to the skies as the harpoons dug through their bodies. They followed the line down with their eyes, leading them to the quarterdeck. The helmsman, Jones the Barbaracle, had two harpoon guns under his arms.
"Where do you think you're going?" Jones growled. "I just rebuilt this damn ship from the ground up, and you said something about tearing it down?" He gripped the cannons and twisted his body. "Like hell I'll give you the chance!"
The vulture and golem flew at the mercy of the angry barnacle titan, screaming as he slammed the two into each other behind the ship. Jones stomped his feet, whipped the pair into the air, and pulled them back down. They crashed down on the quarterdeck in front of Jones, who dropped the harpoon guns and drew his cutlasses into both his hands and his shoulder arms.
"Get the hell off my ship!" He charged the pair, thrusting his swords forward.
Shadow Mandibuzz scrambled to her feet. "But you're the one who threw us—" Jones didn't let her speak and stabbed through her body.
Shadow Golurk tried to stand and fire from it arm cannon, but Jones tossed two cutlasses through the golem's eyes. It roared, trying in vain to pluck the blades out with its bulky fingers, but Jones charged and dropkicked the golem over the quarterdeck.
He looked over the edge and watched the golem plummeted back toward the ground. With a huff, he said, "That…was for the Wasteland."
Shadows streaked across the town in search of the pirates. One by one, a shadow would be clipped out of the sky without warning. Gunshots fired from all directions, ripping them to shreds with light bullets. Shadows started sticking close to the ground for better cover.
"Why they so difficult to find?!" a shadow snarled.
"Don't lose your heads!" a Shadow Shiftry, whose hair was a flow of crystal quills, yelled. "They're trying to scare us. They need to use fear because they're so weak! They don't have the guts to—"
A knife plunged into the corrupted Pokémon's shoulder and knocked him down into the street. He kicked off the ground and flipped back onto his feet. He reached for the knife to pull it free, except…
"Stop."
A compulsion struck Shadow Shiftry, compelling him to freeze. Not a single muscle could twitch, even as he struggled to move his body. He was frozen in place, unable to move anything but his eyes. He looked up and saw a Banette hanging upside-down off the edge of a roof.
"Sorry, we're you in the middle of something?" the Banette, Cheshire, asked with a sadistic grin.
Shadow Shiftry growled deep within his throat, but couldn't speak the threats bubbling in his mind. The shadows alongside him stood by in confusion at the corrupted Pokémon's sudden rigidity.
Cheshire dropped himself and landed on the ground. "Now that I have your attention…" He clicked his fingers. "Kill your fellow shadows."
Shadow Shiftry's eyes widened, feeling a spark of control shooting through his body. His quills stood on end and fired into the shadows. Unprepared for the backstab, the shadows were sniped out of the air and shredded to pieces. Only a few could escape the onslaught. One shadow braved through the storm of quills and sliced across Shadow Shiftry's shoulder, ripping the knife out.
He seized control of his body once more, quivering as the strange sensation pushed itself out. He glared furiously at the smug Cheshire and charged at him, twisting his leaf hands into swords. "You evil, little shit!"
Cheshire backstepped from a swing, snickering through his zipped lips. "I'm evil? Now that's funny."
Cutlasses suddenly appeared from thin air and stabbed Shadow Shiftry several times over in the back. Black blood shot out like water from a leaky pipe. Shadow Shiftry stumbled forward, trembled onto one knee, and glared over his shoulder as a Zoroark appeared from nowhere.
Zerif, armed with a dozen cutlasses and a teddy bear sitting inside his mane, glared down at the corrupted creature. "You haven't seen how evil we can be."
Shadow Shiftry growled. "Shadows! Get them!"
The remaining shadows divebombed the pair, but a Golduck and Scrafty sprung out of hiding. Malcolm the Golduck cracked his fist across a shadow's face, then obliterated another with a blank point flintlock blast. He grabbed hold of a shadow's face and grinded it across the ground as they landed.
Rico the Scrafty kicked several into the street, landed on his hands, and delivered a flurry of breakdancing kicks into the stunned specters. He flipped back onto his feet, whipped out his flintlocks, and lit them up with blank point light bullets.
Malcolm sneered. "I wanted a crack at that loser, not these stupid ink stains."
Rico pocketed his flintlocks. "By all means, have your fun."
Shadow Shiftry stiffened his quill-covered mane. "Stay back, or I'll—" Malcolm shot him through the cheek. The corrupted Pokémon wailed in pain as his healing factor tried to patch him up, but the skin burned as it tried to fix itself. "What…What did you do to me?! Why isn't my healing factor working?!"
Malcolm holstered his gun and approached the squirming creature. "We've had a lot of time on our hands, and our captain had all the time in the world to figure out what makes you tick." He smirked and cracked his knuckles. "But that's no substitute for a well-deserve butt-kicking."
Feared filled the corrupted Pokémon's face as Malcolm threw the first punch. A slow and painful death awaited him at the Golduck's mercy.
Obsidian stumbled around in a panic, hearing the screams of shadows and his fellow enlightened brethren succumbing to the onslaught of the pirates. Whenever he aimed his cannons in one direction, another scream wailed from the other. He couldn't concentrate on where to fire, too flustered to think.
"We can't be losing," he growled. "This isn't right. We're supposed to be the next step to evolution! The darkness is the only path to enlightenment!"
"I couldn't agree more." Obsidian froze, feeling an unnerving presence behind him. "But we Desert Beasts walk a different path of darkness. That is to steal all the treasure of the world and live like kings without a kingdom. The ultimate freedom."
Obsidian craned his neck and stared in horror at the Darmanitan draped in a blue coat, wearing a teal bandana around his large neck and white, long-sleeved shirt with a black vest. On his right hand was a bulky, golden gauntlet five times the width of his arm, its fingers clenching into the ground.
Obsidian clenched his teeth. "Arid…of the Sand."
Arid flashed his signature grin at the monster. "You look tense. When's the last time a Blastoise has ever been afraid of a Darmanitan? Are you that scared of me, you disgusting monster?"
"You…!" Obsidian roared and fired a spray of energy shots from his cannons.
Arid sidestepped through the stream, then raised his hand. Sand spikes shot out from under the corrupted tortoise and drove into his body. Obsidian's shell kept the spikes from penetrating, but more sand formed into spikes hovering around him. He ducked his limbs and head in as sand spikes bombarded down on his body.
Arid twisted the sand spikes into a whirlwind and blasted Obsidian into the air. Fist clenched, he punched the ground, commanding the whirlwind to smash the sheltered tortoise straight through the earth.
"GAH!" Obsidian cried, emerging from his shell with a bloody cough. He righted himself up and fired twin shots from his cannons.
Arid snapped his fingers and nullified the blasts with a sand wall. He thrusted his hand forward, commanding a sandstorm forward. Obsidian braced himself as the sand blasted into him. The rough particles scratched at his skin, inducing miniature tears across the body that multiplied rapidly. Within five seconds of the storm, bloody cuts opened up over his body.
"I've had a lot of time to mull over my last dance with the shadows," Arid said. "Your Shadow King was quite the adversary, one I wouldn't have thought of opposing in my lifetime. But that's the funny thing about hatred, it can often make those little insecurities invalid. I've had nothing but fantasies of his end to look forward to. A mere puppet like yourself is good practice to see how far I've come."
Obsidian growled. "Shut…UP!" He fired another blast at Arid.
He raised a sand wall and blocked the blast. "How pitifully predictable. You shadows, so quick to rage and fury."
Obsidian dropped to his hands and tucked his cannons and legs inside his shell. Through the leg holes of the shell, propulsive energy shot out and launched him forward like a missile. He braced inside his shell and smashed through Arid's sand wall.
Arid dodged the flying tortoise and watched him soar up the sky. "Though, you do make these fights awfully tricky." He whipped up another sandstorm with a swipe of his hand, sending the twister after the airborne shadow monster.
Obsidian appeared from his shell and fired twin beams into the sandstorm. The dense whirlwind clashed with the dark energy in a stalemate before dispersing into a shockwave. Obsidian fired his thrusters again and zipped through the sky, firing a continuous stream on the ground.
Arid swiped his hand and engulfed himself in a dense sandstorm. The beams scorched the surface of the storm, but slowly pushed into the epicenter. Obsidian increased his output and pierced through, rupturing the earth on a shadowy explosion.
Obsidian smirked. "Not so tough now, Arid of the Sand?"
The smoke suddenly broke apart, twin sand streams firing at the airborne tortoise. He gasped and retreated into his shell before being swallowed inside the sand. He braced himself as the sand carried him back down to the ground, driving him deep below. The ground crumbled around the sand, increasing its mass, and drilled into his shell.
"Get. OFF!" Obsidian released an energy pulse from his shell and blew the sand away. He pulled himself out of the crater and panted. "You think…I will be bested by sand? Huh?!" He picked himself up and roared at the sky. "You are nothing, Arid of the Sand! Face me like a man—"
BANG!
Obsidian gasped blood as a sand spire shot from the ground and impaled his chest. His dark blood oozed and mixed inside the dense sand, hissing as it tried to repair his torso. He glanced up to the sound of a whirlwind and saw Arid riding above in a sand cloud.
"You're no man." Arid snapped his fingers, forming sand pellets from the air. With a flick of his finger, the pellets rained down like bullets.
Obsidian retracted his head inside his shell and covered it. He bit back a scream as the pellets pierced through his arms. His eyes widened as he felt the sand breaking apart inside his arms, then screamed as pain flare up within. His arms blew apart in thousands of lacerations with sand and black blood spewing out.
"You're just an insect." Arid clenched his fist and skewered sand spikes through Obsidian's neck.
"AAAAHHHH!" Obsidian roared. He gritted his teeth and reconstituted his arm. He clawed the sand spikes out of his neck, then retreated into his shell. "Lousy pirates! DIE!" He spun and released a volley of energy shots from his shell. They arced through the air like meteors and careened toward the ground.
Arid swiped his hand and conjured a whirlwind. Sand formed above his head, condensing into a giant awning over the street. The magic shots crashed down on the sand, rippling across the surface. Cracks in the sand instantly sealed up, and burnt sand was replaced with new grains.
"Dust Devil Twister." Arid clenched his fist and threw a punch at the sky. A twist of sand shot out from the sand awning and trapped Obsidian inside. With a twist of his wrist, Arid directed the twister to drive Obsidian straight through the sand awning and smash him right in front of the pirate captain. "I'll turn you into paste."
Obsidian screamed through the sand twister as the tiny particles lacerated his skin, spraying blow through the wind. He gritted his teeth and glared through the sand. "Not. YET!" He opened his cannons and jammed them through the ground.
Realizing what was happening, Arid shielded himself with sand as the ground split open with dark magic. The explosion ripped the street to shreds and threw Arid against a building. Debris crashed down on top of Arid and pinned him to the ground.
Obsidian picked himself up and panted as his injuries slowly healed. He snarled at the downed Darmanitan and marched up to him. "When will you worthless Pokémon learn to give up? I have up my pokemanity because I saw the true path to enlightenment. What do you pirates get out of this?"
Arid tried to stand up, but the debris kept him pinned down tight. Obsidian punched through and dug his claws into Arid's back, picking up him. He tried to raised his arm, but Obsidian grabbed it by the shoulder and, to Arid's shock, ripped his arm off.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!" Arid covered his bleeding wound as his severed arm and the Harenae Gauntlet clattered across the ground.
"Why would you give up on this?" Obsidian clutched Arid's throat and pinned him up against the wall. "Your so-called true freedom could've been achieved by liberating yourselves from the mortal coil. You could've had it all. You're no heroes. You're filthy, worthless, disgusting pirates. What do you think is going to change after today? What do you get out of playing a hero, you wretched Darmanitan?!"
Arid's face twisted with pain, but he forced his smile to stay strong. "Who said…we were being heroes?"
"Eh?"
Arid squeezed his bleeding arm. "I'm not doing this…to earn someone's approval, but there's a code true pirates live by. You made one big mistake: your boss tried to kill my nemesis."
Obsidian glared. "What?"
"Just like my captain before me, it seems we have this…obsession with doing battle with Ravenfields. How strange, and yet strangely poetic. It's like poetry. Everything rhymes and must follow a pattern to make something beautiful. You know something, I've…enjoyed my battles with Wes Ravenfield. I want to live as the greatest pirate ever, just like my captain, and his captain before him. I want to rule the skies…" He glared up at the tortoise. "And I refuse to let that feeling of joy and frustration be anchored down by your oppressive darkness."
Obsidian softened his glare, but scoffed nonetheless. "You're so pathetic." He clenched his fist and formed a spike out of his knuckles. "I'll enjoy parading your corpse around for your crew."
Arid laughed hoarsely. "You know what's truly pathetic?"
"Tch, what—" Obsidian's eyes wandered to Arid's severed arm and widened. The entire arm was collapsing into a pile of sand. Flesh, blood, and even the gauntlet were disintegrating into sand. He quickly turned back to Arid and watched his body fall apart. The color drained from his fur, turning into beige-colored sand. Everything fell, but Arid's haunting grin.
"I've been on the other side of town this whole time."
The ground burst open under Obsidian and launched high into the air with a geyser of sand. He quickly threw the sand clone aside and retracted his legs, boosting himself out of the geyser. He looked through the streets frantically for Arid.
"Where…Where is he?! Where are you?!" He stopped his panicked searched and looked to the edge of town. The colored drained from his shadow-filled face. "You've…got to be kidding me."
Sand whipped up at the very edge of town, circling the perimeter, and rose up. A cyclone of sand wrapped around and blanketed the town in an impenetrable fog. Obsidian watched it climb higher up into the air, reaching higher than the Wasteland itself. The cyclone closed in from the top, obstructing the sky. Nothing but sand surrounded the town.
Obsidian started coughing violently and grabbed his throat. "So…dry," he gasped. "So…AGH!" He spat blood out, but was horrified to see it come out as black dust. "What…What is this?"
A booming laughter echoed above him. He spun around and stared up in terror as the giant, sand-colored face of Arid appeared on the surface of the cyclone, grinning down at him. "How does it feel to be so insignificant, monster? How does it feel to tremble on your knees to a mortal?"
Obsidian clenched his teeth. "Screw you!" He fired several magic shots from his cannons, but the sandstorm swallowed them up instantly. "What are you?!"
"I am Arid of the Sand." the projection boomed down to him. "I am no simple pirate captain. I am the pirate KING!"
The sandstorm picked up speed and shredded Obsidian's body. He growled and focused on his healing factor. "Pirate king or what, you can't kill me! Your puny attacks won't kill me in a million—" A sand spike shot through his shell from behind, sticking out through his chest. "Gah…wha…?" He looked down and gasped. "This is…!"
A black sand spike penetrated through his body, and he could sense the dark magic channeling within it. He winced as a searing pain sizzled beneath the skin. He looked around his body and saw his cuts not closing up. In fact, they were getting worse.
"I've had several months focused on my revenge," Arid's voice boomed. "Thanks to my witch, Cheshire, I have full control of my own shadow. I can control the darkness into a sand through my gauntlet, and it allowed me access to a few new tricks. For instance, I can use the sand to counteract your healing factors."
Obsidian gasped. "WHAT?!"
"I made sure to coat my crew's weapons with small traces of the dark sand. Your brethren are being slaughtered as we speak, and they won't have the luxury of rising from the dead any time soon."
"You…You're a monster!"
The sand projection smirked. "Dust to dust, ashes to ashes. It takes a monster to kill monsters."
Obsidian felt sand clinging to skin. He tried to scrape it off, but more clung to his hands. His eyes widened as sand collected around him, coating over his body. "What are you doing?! STOP!" He flailed through the air, trying to swipe the sand out of the air, but it kept coming in droves. "Stop it, stop it!"
"I wonder if those puny mortals said the same thing during your killing spree."
Obsidian roared and aimed his cannons. "DAMN YOU!" He fired, but his cannons exploded off his shell. Sand had crawled inside and clogged up the barrel, which then started wrapping around Obsidian. "No! You wretched pirate—" The sand engulfed his head.
The sand built up around him, shaping into a giant sphere hovering over the town. Townsfolks poked their heads out from their homes and watched as the giant sand ball grew in size, almost as large as a small hill.
"Giant Sand Funeral."
Pressure exuded on the sand ball and condensed on itself. The air rippled around it as it slowly compressed its size to the limit. The sand crackled and hissed from the immense strain, crushing itself and everything inside the sphere. Eventually, it reached its limit and compressed itself down to half the original size.
The sand sphere broke apart and scattered off into the sandstorm. Eventually, something fell out of the sphere and plummeted back to the ground, landing in the center of town.
If no one were there to witness it, no one would've been able to recognize the corrupted Blastoise from the pile of black goo and tiny particles of shell fragments.
Arid, standing on the edge of town, snapped his fingers and dispersed the sandstorm away from the city, returning fresh daylight to everyone. He glared over his shoulder. "Tch. You weren't even worth my presence."
He heard a break in the air and face forward as Graham teleported in front of him, along with the reporters and the startled couple. "A little overkill on the dramatics, Captain," Graham said.
Arid scoffed. "They didn't deserve an ounce of respect."
"Uh, s-sir?"
"Hm?" The pirate captain looked down at the quivering Alolan Graveler, who held a pencil and notepad in hand. "What?"
"Um…W-West G-G-Gale Regional Paper. C-C-Can I get a statement? You're…the Desert Beasts, right?"
Arid narrowed his eyes. "Yes."
Palmer gulped. "Why is an infamous pirate crew who worked with the shadows fighting against them?"
Arid closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, then smirked. "Heh. Let's just say I owe a plucky Umbreon a favor."