Summary: No leads at this point, but could Larson and Hexy find anything to help them on their search at Mushroom Mountain after all?
Note: Enjoy. That's it.
On our way to Mushroom Mountain, I was beginning to doubt myself. I walked between both the girls thinking out loud. "Can we really do this? Can I, really do this"?
Hexy didn't know what I was talking about. "What's that? Do what"?
"Can we really find Ethan"? I told her.
She shook her head disapprovingly, "You're doubting yourself again"?
I went to speak but she continued, "Don't. Listen. I haven't gone halfway across the world to help you find this friend of yours just to hear your bitching and moaning. If you REALLY believed we couldn't find him then you would've quit by now".
I listened to her rant, "Pokemon who fuck with our heads, pokemon who steal souls, pokemon who enslave people. ALL of that we have come across so far. You even punched a Darkrai! There's NO turning back past a certain point, and this is that point. Now whether we find your friend, dead or not, I KNOW you and I are up for the challenges. Even our pokemon are I am willing to bet". She looked to Maggie, "Right Maggie"?
Maggie agreed, 'Mismagius'. I knew she was right, "Okay...okay. I won't argue with you one this anymore. You're right. We're in this for the long haul now. Until the end".
Her demeanor changed to a smile, "Now that's more like it Lars". Her stomach grumbled, "Heh, um...can we eat now"?
I released everyone for some lunch. I took Giratina and we scorched a few flying type bird pokemon out of the trees to cook them up. Besides Frillish and Banette still bickering, everyone got along. Even Maggie and Darkrai seemed to put aside their differences a little.
I took a bite of my pidgeot. Seeing Hexy dig into hers was pretty cute; she acted like she hadn't eaten in days. "Chuckle, You sure are starved huh"?
She wiped her mouth with a napkin, "Gulp. What makes you say that"?
I smiled, "You're just ravaging that drumstick is all. Heh, seeing you eat is kind of cute".
She blushed and lowered her head to the table, "You're an odd one. It's cute seeing how I eat? People say us hex maniacs are weirdos".
I shrugged, "Aren't we a pair then? Two ghost and dark type aficionados carrying around a sableye, mimikyu, mismagius, Giratina, darkrai, frillish, banette, Yveltal and a sentient computer chip".
Her playful attitude shifted. "You know, I've never quite met anyone like you". I was interested, "Oh"?
She went on, "Like I said many times. Most people just avoid my kind, let alone talk with them. Yet here you are. Just talking casually to me like I was any normal person. Even my interest in macabre doesn't seem to bother you much".
I joked, "Maybe you brainwashed me with those gorgeous swirling eyes of yours".
"Maybe", she played along. "I command you to come sit closer to me".
"Anything you want", I went with it. I took a seat next to her, and she seemed shy about it, "That's a little close. Mind scooting over a little"?
"Sorry", I apologized. She retracted her statement, "No, no, it's fine just...not right on top of me, you know"?
For the rest of the meal we just talked about trivial things, though I did tell her about how my first crush was Celebi, to which she was fine with but a little grateful I told her about the '4th' pokemon I kissed.
As we came upon the trail to Mushroom Mountain, I took out Frillish, Banette and Mimikyu this time. As we walked into the clearing we could see it clearly from the whole distance, though it was more like a large hill than a mountain.
A man called us over, "Hey, you two. Come over here". He had just been standing by the clearing so I asked, "Who are you? What are you doing here"?
He responded, "I should be saying the same. Don't you two know what this place is"?
I nodded my head, "Yeah, Mushroom Mountain. What's the big deal"?
He shook his head, "This place is dangerous, you hear me? Dangerous. My best friend Lucario was victim to this cursed place. He told me to run, and I haven't seen him in years. My other friends Tyler and Raina have been gone just as long since I had to leave them with the...the…".
I pushed him to answer, "The what"?
He shivered, "The parasect queen".
Hexy asked, "What do you mean by the 'parasect queen'?
The man freaked out, "The parasect queen goddamnit! Years ago some idiot from the Pokemon Fan Club up the mountain, hill, whatever. They brought their female parasect with them. Only this one was different...evil. They brought the parasect with them to the club but unknown to all of them. Below was already an entire colony of paras' underground".
He went on, "Usually they only tend to infect areas that create other paras', but when the parasect joined them she started planting a different kind of mushroom in ground that grew specifically on her back. Upon being planted, the paras' swarmed in some kind of frenzy, controlled by the parasect herself like some kind of hive mind. She somehow took control of the whole colony herself.
"Anyways. The paras' planted a mushroom on top of each of the dozens of club member's head, including the owner themselves. The mushroom then takes complete control over the person or even pokemon...and turns them into mind drones…zombies! I found this out the hard way".
"We ventured out here a few years ago because of stupid curiosity about the stories. We instead encountered the swarm who relentlessly attacked. My friends were first. Their eyes became glassy and completely white. Lucario tried to protect me but they were all too much for him. One shoved a mushroom on his head and he shoved me out of the clubhouse with Psychic and told me to run".
"I've been camping out here ever since, letting people know to stay away. So, for your sakes...DON'T go up there".
I sighed, "I'm sorry what happened to your friends. Maybe we can help though. Beat this parasect queen thing".
He laughed, "Hahahahahahahahahah...good luck! You'll never win, it's impossible. Those mushrooms affect EVERY living thing. Human and pokemon".
He then burst into tears and fell to his knees, "...I failed my closest friends".
I tried to level with him. "Hey? I lost my best friends too. I've been on a journey with my new friends here to find them".
The guy looked up at me, "Really"?
I told him, "Really. Look, if we can do it, we'll help your friends. If we can't, we'll at least kill this parasect to make sure this is ended".
He gave a light smile, "If you really think so...I guess I can't stop you. But if you really can...then I would be in your debt forever".
We bravely headed up the hill. "Oh, and my name is Dylan by the way", he called out.
Hexy gave her thoughts, "I've never heard of a parasect affecting people myself. This must be one unique abomination. We've got to keep our wits about us".
Though what we just heard would make us presume the place looked like hell, it didn't seem like it from the outside. A stark contrast to everything before.
The trail leading up to the hill was laden with no trees at all, but very green grass, fresh, though treaded dirt and the sky was clear blue for once. Walking up the trail though, to the right a hole sprouted up and 3 paras' came out like ants.
Mimikyu, Sableye, Frillish and Banette quickly destroyed them with their Shadow Balls. "There's probably hundreds where those came from", I noted.
We walked further up the trail, but the longer we walked, the more sprouted up. One of the little creatures hopped onto Banette and plopped a mushroom on her head, but due to being a pure ghost type, I believed she was immune to it as she phased away and the fungus just fell off.
She used her claws to cut up a bunch into messy puddles while Mimikyu, Frillish and Sableye kept their distance still with Shadow Balls.
The little paras' were small enough to be anywhere at anytime, and so it surprised no one when they tried latching onto us from every direction. "Look out", yelled Hexy.
She pushed me out of the way and socked the bug in the face as it lurched at me. "Shit. Thanks". She wiped her hand, "Don't mention it. To tell you the truth these things always disgusted me. I don't mean I'm afraid of them, I mean disgust as in they repulse me. Mushroom zombies that are slaves to the sentient fungus on their back is fucked up even for me".
I agreed with that. "I feel you. Anyways, we should try to find that queen as quick as we can and get out. Maybe if we kill her these things will stop coming after us".
We finally reached the top with the big clubhouse on it. The building was more like a really large log cabin. The wood was rotted and splintered with even holes in the walls. Reaching for the handle, it simply fell off when I tried to use it. Crack. "Great. Now what"?
Banette laughed at me then proceeded to phase through the door. A moment later it opened creakily with Banette nowhere to be seen. As we stepped in there was a light switch but no power, leaving it almost entirely dark. The only things illuminating the shadowy place were the holes in the wall and ceiling and the now opened door.
I then felt something on me. Thinking it was a paras I instinctively jumped away and began swiping at my head. Out came Banette with a smile on her face; even unzipping her mouth to laugh louder at me. I was a bit irritated given the situation.
"Why do you have to be such a bitch sometimes"? She frowned, 'Bane banette ette ban'.
I apologized. "Look. Just don't do it when we're in a situation like this, okay? You can prank me all you want when we're done here. But when something like, say, a bunch of mind controlling mushroom bugs are looking for us. I'm already paranoid as it is".
She seemed to understand and just nodded her head. The cabin was filled with assorted things. Rotted stuffed animal plushies of bulbasaurs, minuns, and alike. Strewn about were cubbies of lunch boxes and personal effects. Also along the walls were posters of gyrados', gallades and pikachus. The latter of which Mimikyu teared to pieces.
Hexy took a look at the gallade poster, which had the pokemon in a battle pose. "Whistle. A bit large around the waist, but, nice looking counterpart".
I stared at her. "What? You have an interest in pokemon that way too so don't give me that look".
There was an upstairs, and a basement to the place. The kitchen was pretty small and the only other thing on this floor. "Okay. You take Banette and Sableye upstairs to see if you can find the queen. I'll take Frillish and Mimikyu down to the basement. Sound good"? I suggested.
Hexy went along with it. "Okay. Shout if you need anything Lars". I said the same, and we split up.
Heading down the rickety stairs, Mimikyu hopped down them cutely while Frillish hovered gracefully. Drops of water leaked from the wooden boards above us. The place had nothing to it but a bunch of junk lying all over the place.
Making the rounds together, we headed behind the stairs we came down and found what could only be described as the parasect lair. A huge hole dug into the basement stone leading underground. "Alright. Better let Hexy know".
Suddenly, the three of us heard a crawling sound. Out of the dark hole crawled dozens of paras' all coming for us. We booked it up the stairs but as my pokemon made it, I was tripped up by a paras that crawled from the bottom and burst out of one of the stairs.
It grabbed me with one of it's pincers and used Spore, releasing a bunch of such which I began to choke on. "Cough, cough. Can't...breathe". Mimikyu and Frillish came down after me but she shoved Mimikyu back upstairs to help him. She sprayed water onto the mushroom on its back to stop the spores briefly.
Knocking it off of the side, she threw Shadow Balls at the horde as they crawled up the stairs. More and more came up and she began to get tired. As I ran upstairs I motioned for her to follow. A few of them then latched onto her as she became overexerted from all the attacks.
I ran down to try and help her but she shoved me back up ans shook her head. She saw she was being overwhelmed. "What are you doing"?! She smiled at me then shut the rusted door and locked it. I began to pound on it, "FRILLISH"!
Mimikyu tugged on my shirt and I realized I had to get out of there with him at least. Running into the main room I yelled out, "Hexy"!
She came down, "What's wrong"?
I tried to catch my breath, "We found...where the queen is. Huge hole...basement".
She looked around, "Where's Frillish"?
I started to tear up, "She...didn't make it".
Hexy held me. "Don't worry. We'll make this queen bitch pay".
I tried warning her as we walked over. "Wait. There's dozens, maybe hundreds all waiting behind that door".
She put an ear to it, "I don't hear anything". She looked to Banette, "Mind scouting it out"?
Banette flew through it and unlocked said door. 'Banette'. Hexy turned to me, "She says it's clear. Let's go".
We walked downstairs and to the hole. "Wow. What a hole? She joked.
I was not amused right now. "Look, I think we should put Mimikyu and Sableye in their balls".
She was skeptical, "Why? They're our only means of protection"?
I brought up, "Do you want another Spiritomb incident"?
She said nothing, so she probably got the picture. We returned our pokemon except for Banette, and I released Maggie. "Maggie and Banette should both be okay if what we saw earlier was indication".
I told Maggie everything and she didn't seem to care either way as she was happy to help us. Down the hole, Maggie grabbed a stick in the basement and lit it on fire for us to see.
The hole led to a huge but straightforward tunnel. This is when it started to get disturbing though. Walking along, we found a bunch of tinier holes. Out of one of the holes fell a skeleton, completely bare, with a paras crawling out of a hole in the skull. Maggie quickly torched it.
Hexy noticed how quiet I was. "How you holding up"?
I answered. "I'm pissed off, that how's. My second pokemon. One I held close to me has either become a mindless drone or zombie food. But like you said. I'm going to make this bitch pay".
Hexy said nothing more. The tunnel became darker but came to a point where it then began to get brighter again. The further along we went however, the more skeletons lined the walls like catacombs. But I was so determined with anger that I hardly even cared.
That doesn't mean I wasn't still surprised when we reached the exit into a huge light filled but still shadowy chamber. "Oh my God". I let out.
The place was crawling with hundreds if not thousands of paras', and paras eggs lined all along the queen we saw before us. The queen was the size of Giratina, and somewhat different looking from a usual parasect.
Her mushroom back along with her skin was entirely red minus a bunch of white and black spots on said mushroom back. She also had blue and green additional mushrooms growing out of the back itself too. She was so big though, she couldn't move anything but her claws. "TALK BUG", I shouted at it.
Hexy reminded me, "She's not a psychic type Lars. She can't say anything".
I then heard a male voice, "Yes, I can". Out from behind her came a half zombified male lucario. His eyes were glazed over white just like the queen and like Dylan had said. His fur was dirty, at least what was left of it. Patches of fur were missing all along his body, and I could see his ribs practically coming out of his sides.
He, or it, continued. "This pokemon allows me to speak through it. I used to have humans and other pokemon under my control as well, but they 'dried up'. Fortunately, you brought me another source of energy".
Frillish came out from one of the holes wish a mushroom attached to her head and her eyes glassy white as well. I clenched my fist. I was about to lose it, "Let her go you fucking monster"!
The lucario, or queen, spoke more. "No. I require her, as well as the rest of you in order to complete my mission. In fact, it's almost ready to be put into motion after all these years".
Hexy asked her out of morbid curiosity, "What are you talking about"?
She explained. "As I am sure you are already aware of. My mushrooms are special. They can control every living human and pokemon to become part of my little family. Once I have them under my control, they assist me in raising my fellow paras subjects and children".
"However, I require energy for my plan in the form of their own energy supplies. It doesn't seem to work on my fellow paras', so I must rely on outside help for it. But once I have gather enough I become larger and more effective in my final endeavor. The needs of a few, as I'm sure you've heard".
"Such things aside. I have been 'harvesting' others as you would call it and absorbing them to get larger and better grow my mushrooms. Once I am at my fullest potential, I will release the spores of my mushrooms all across Sinnoh. Once the spores release, EVERYONE in this region will be part of my family. One day perhaps all the world will be part of my family. But I'm not greedy".
"All of this said. I simply need the two of you and your other pokemon to fulfill myself. I promise it won't hurt". She tried to calm us.
Of course we all refused. "No way we're going to let you do that"!
She shook her head, "Such a shame we couldn't do it peacefully. I do so hate resistance. But at least when we are one, you will be able to fully see the goal from my perspective".
She went on, "I will try not to kill you, as I need you alive. But just remember this pain is your own decisions. Lucario, please pacify them".
The paras' then began to swarm, and I tossed out MissingNo to help Hexy and Maggie hold them off; Maggie shooting fire at them effectively. "Okay Banette, you're with me". The lucario used Aura Sphere, shooting a pale blue orb of energy at her.
It hit, but did nothing to the queen's surprise. "What"?
I grinned, "About half of his moves won't do anything to her genius. Ghost types are immune to fighting and normal. Oh and another thing, my computer chip over there as well as pure ghost types are immune to your damn mushrooms. So think that over".
"While you do that though. Banette, use Will-O-Wisp". She unzipped her mouth and spat out a whitish blue flame that began to singe the lucario for major damage.
Lucario's paws glowed white as it went in for Metal Claw. Banette avoiding the blows and even turned invisible to avoid the whole attack. "Nice one Banette. Now use Phantom Force".
Turning invisible again, she disappeared then reappeared behind the anorexic canid. She slashed into him with her claws, and he collapsed. "Wow, already? You really must've drained the poor guy you queen bitch".
She hissed, 'Parasect'! I goaded her. "What else you got"? As I said that I immediately regretted as such, because Frillish hovered over. Her empty eyes staring blankly at me. But I knew what would come next.
Frillish used Night Shade. Summoning the pink fog around Banette she began to look around paranoid and was then slashed by apparently nothing before snapping of out it.
It seemed to hurt her decent enough though. "I'm sorry Frillish. Banette, use Curse". She manifested her ghostly nail and jabbed herself in the neck with it. Frillish was immediately hurt.
Frillish then used Dark Pulse, sending black waves towards Banette. She managed to dodge the first one but was knocked back by the second.
"I know this isn't usually your thing Banette. But use Thunder". She put her hands together and they began to spark a bit, slowly then rapidly. I dripped a tear, "I'm sorry Frillish. I hope this doesn't hurt". Banette blasted her with thousands of volts, knocking her out.
I turned my attention back to the queen. "No more slaves to hide behind now. Just you, me, and her. Now fight me you overgrown fungus"!
The queen used Cross Poison, smashing down her massive claws onto Banette. It did hardly anything despite the kickback. "Wrong again", I taunted her. I then commanded Banette, "Use Psychic". She used her telekinesis to rip off two large boulders from the chamber and smash them into her for decent damage.
The queen then used Fury Cutter, once again taking her claws and stabbing Banette this time with them. But she was resistant to it so not much was done. Our turn, "Now, use Shadow Ball". Banette generated a large one overhead then tossed it into the queen.
She angrily slammed her claws onto the ground then used Fury Cutter again, this time being stronger as per the way it works. But even then Banette was still fine. "Okay. Now you use Night Shade". Blasting pink smoke at the queen's face, she began to swipe at nothing until hit by a mysterious force.
Once again she used Fury Cutter with another jab at Banette, only this time she disappeared and dodged it, canceling out any additional injuries she could do to her. I was done with this giant beast, "Okay Banette, now use Will-O-Wisp on her".
I turned to Maggie, "Maggie, you too. Use Mystical Fire". Both girl launched fire at the queen. Unzipping her mouth again and spitting the fire, it was strong enough to engulf the entire queen. Screeching out in pain she began to stand up and started slamming into the sides of the chamber.
Maggie, noticing her mouth was open from the agony, shot her fireball directly into the bug's mouth, now making it suffer internally too. As she slammed more into the cave back and forth even boulders began to collapse onto her.
With one final scream and hiss, the bug was inflamed and completely scorched, finally crashing to the ground dead.
I then went over, and feeling like another person almost, I took one of her claws and cut out a piece of her glassy eye as a memento, then shoved it into my backpack. "An eye for an eye".
"Lars"! Hexy yelled. Looking all around, the paras' all began to die off and shrivel up. The eggs she was around also started to rot. We both observed. "It looks like with her dead, the others in her 'hive mind' are going too", she stated.
Then, I heard a familiar sweet voice, 'Frill'? I looked over and saw the mushroom had fallen out and her eyes were back to normal. Disoriented, she floated back up holding her head. I ran over and immediately embraced her, "Frillish"!
She went along naturally and held me back with her smooth tentacles, the two of us cuddling. "I missed you. I thought you were gone. I...I…". This time I was the one to kiss her.
Planting my lips onto hers, it felt just as pleasant as last time, but rather than making me horny I only felt loving about it. Romantic or not I couldn't tell which one I was doing, but either way I was elated she was back.
We both heard another voice, "Dylan…"? It was the lucario. We helped him up, "You're still alive"?
He shook his head, "I suppose...hardly. Who are you? Where's Dylan"?
Me and Hexy looked to each other, "Follow us".
Leaving the godforsaken place, we brought the sickly lucario who was barely even holding onto life, back to his owner. I had also returned MissingNo but kept out Maggie and Banette as well as Frillish. As we came into eye view, the boy rubbed his eyes in disbelief, "No...Lucario"?!
The lucario too called out, "Master"?! Running to each other they emrbaced happily. Just like I had with Frillish, minus the kissing.
Dylan looked to us with a huge smile, "You found him! You actually found him. But...the others"?
I shook my head, "It was just him".
He frowned, "Well, at least one of my best friends is still alive". He petted lucario behind the ears, "I can't thank you enough. I can't ever repay you for this. I...I don't even know what to do now".
Hexy suggested, "How about you just leave this place and go back to living happily with your friend here".
He agreed, "Thank you I, thank you. If you two ever come to a place called Canaclave City, look me up".
Me and Hexy smirked at each other. The two of them then headed that direction, giving me joy just seeing how happy they were even despite both being in terrible shape. All that mattered to them was seeing each other again. A sentiment I could imagine all too well.