Hello everybody! Duffle back once more with another chapter. No announcements this time, so let's hop right in!
Chapter 10: Caught in the Spider's Web
As the webs started to fall off of everybody, Jolteon quickly stretched.
"Oh MAN it feels good to be free again." Jolteon was starting to jump up and down.
"Yeah, I agree. Spider webs are just not my style…" Sylveon added.
Espeon rolled her eyes. "That's all very clever, but we have a problem." All the Eeveelutions looked at her as she pointed to Flareon. "What're we gonna do about him?"
Jolteon walked up to her. "You're gonna cover him while we go take out the leader of whatever this place is."
Espeon was taken aback. "What?! You can't leave me here alone."
Vaporeon shook her head. "Sorry, but we can't have you holding us back anymore. Whenever you're around bugs, you start to hinder us, and we can't afford to do that."
Espeon looked at all their faces before sighing and sitting next to Flareon's body. "Ugh…"
The Eeveelutions turned around and ran, but not before she caught a sad glance from Umbreon. Espeon just scowled at him. So much for not leaving me by myself… She thought. But she knew Umbreon was going to ignore her.
As the group walked deeper down into the cave-y area, Glaceon couldn't help but have her head down.
"Guys, do you really think we should just leave her like that? She's still a part of our group…" She said.
Sylveon shook her head. "Darling, as much as I'd love to have us all work as a group, it'd be too dangerous to leave poor Flareon alone. Besides, it's not like she'd want to do this anyways."
Umbreon was stuck in his own thoughts as well. He couldn't help but feel a twang of guilt within himself for leaving Espeon behind. Of course, he knew it was for the greater good in the end. She was scared to death and he liked free movement. But he had this strange feeling, this feeling he hadn't had in awhile. This feeling of… loneliness. Espeon was the one person who he could really talk to, and when she wasn't around, he was just… lost in thought. And when he got lost in thought, he could always feel this creeping sadness. The sadness of being alone and abandoned. One that he's felt all his life.
As this thought hit him, Umbreon suddenly halted in place. The other Eeveelutions stopped and turned back to him. Sylveon noticed something was wrong right away, but she opted to say nothing at first, if not to upset Umbreon.
"Umbreon, what's the hold up, man? We've gotta get out of here quickly or else we'll be overwhelmed!" Jolteon exclaimed.
Umbreon just shook his head and slowly started moving backwards. Glaceon raised an eyebrow. Umbreon was acting really strange all of a sudden…
Sylveon knew what was going on, so she finally decided to step in. "Umbreon, sweetie, is there something wrong?" Umbreon slowly nodded his head. He turned towards the direction they came in from and started to walk towards it. Jolteon became furious.
"Don't tell me you're going back there… Umbreon, don't do this to us!" Jolteon was gonna run towards him but Vaporeon stopped Jolteon from doing so.
"Chill out, Thunder Dog! Let him do what he wants. If he thinks he needs to do this, he's gonna do it. So shut up and keep walking."
Jolteon just stared at her blankly before nodding. ...Thunder Dog?
Espeon started pacing back and forth, in mixture of both worry and panic. She was worried about absolutely everything at this point, and she couldn't help it. She just… hated those disgusting bugs! And now they had captured all of them…
To make matters worse, she wasn't exactly sure of what the others were doing. For all she knew, more bugs could just come through the tunnel and attack her there. Flareon's out for the count and no one's here to protect her. Just fantastic. Espeon sighed and lay down on her stomach. This has been turning into one awful day, and she was sure everybody hated her at this point. She started to cry a little bit, letting her emotions get the better of her.
Hey, Espeon, why are you crying? Espeon looked up to see Umbreon walking back into the room. Espeon couldn't believe that he was coming back… Was this real?
You usually never let your emotions get the better of you. What's going on?
Umbreon, I… I don't know. I'm just so scared and sad and everything's gone down the hole and I can't do anything about it because I'm too useless to do anything. Espeon collapsed a little bit as Umbreon walked over.
Espeon, listen to me. You're definitely not worthless, I can definitely vouch for that. You are one of the only people I can talk to and you're always there for me. I'm sorry about before, but I'm here to fix what I did…
Umbreon… Espeon brought her head up and smiled. Thank you, it means a lot to me that you'd do this.
Trust me, it's nothing.
As they finished their talk, Flareon groaned and started to open his eyes. "Huh… Espeon? Umbreon? What're you two doing here…? And where are we?"
They looked at each other before Espeon spoke up. "Well, after you got knocked out, we appear to have been taken into a prison of some sort. As for why we're here, the rest of the group seems to have gotten ahead of us, so they're going to get a bit of a head start on us."
Flareon quickly got up and shook his head. "Then we've got no time to waste, let's go!"
The other two nodded as they ran through the tunnel.
The group slowly approached the end of the cave as Glaceon put a paw up, signalling everyone to stop. She peered over the corner and saw two Ariadoses guarding the entrance to the jail area. She moved her head a little closer to listen to what they were saying.
"So did ya hear? We've got 3 of the shards now, what with those Eevees losing their 2."
"Well, what d'you think the boss is gonna do with em? Use em for decoration?"
"Of course not, you dimwit! He's gonna sell em for money, and we'll finally be out of this forsaken swamp. No more swampy waters for me, I tell ya. The second I can get out of this place, I am."
"I think yer right there, lad."
"Of course I am, lad."
Jolteon walked up to Glaceon. "So, what're those two goons talking about?"
Glaceon held up a paw once more. "Give me a second." She breathed out a stream of ice which covered the two guards, freezing them solid. She turned back to Jolteon. "Okay, so it looks like the leader, presumably the Goliosopod that attacked Flareon, has a Green Orb shard. He's trying to get the shards to sell them and profit off of it. That way, they can move out of the swamp with his little bug army or whatever, and then live their life happily. Y'know, the usual bad guy stuff."
The rest of the group just gave her a weird look and nodded.
Vaporeon spoke up first. "Either way, he has our shards along with another one, so we need to take him out."
Leafeon looked at her. "And how are we supposed to do that? Our type advantage is currently cuddled away thinking about rainbows or whatever, and any other possible coverage we could have is currently too scared to even move."
"Well maybe you should put your chin up and face it like a man!" Jolteon said. All the girls glared at him, as he shrunk a little bit. Nice going, buddy.
Sylveon walked in front of the group. "No worries, everybody. I will take the front. Those nasty bugs can't do a lot of damage to me, and as long as I don't get caught in a String Shot or Sticky Web, I should be fine."
The group nodded and slowly exited the entrance and into the main corridor. As they weaved in and out of the corridors, Leafeon couldn't help but feel a little worried. Never mind the type disadvantage and all that, she was used to it after training with Flareon all the time. It was more the fact that she was starting to feel… out of place. Like this was just some sort of story and she put herself in. She'd have to talk to Glaceon about that later…
Eventually, the group found themselves in what seemed to be the throne room. There were some trees scattered around the place, along with guards lining the halls, looking at them but not attacking.
"Guys… I have a bad feeling about this…" Leafeon said.
"Yeah… Be careful." Glaceon replied.
Suddenly, multiple bug pokemon swarmed the halls. Volbeats and the Paras family started lighting up as their leader appeared underneath the lights, lifting his arms up.
"Welcome to my domain! I sure hope you enjoy your stay here while you can!" the Pokemon shouted.
Glaceon leaned over to Sylveon. "Sylveon, what kind of Pokemon is that? I've never seen it before…"
"I… I think it's some kind of Ultra Beast... "
Glaceon looked shocked. "Ultra Beast? What's that?"
"I don't know much but apparently it's a special type of Pokemon, one that isn't native to our world. I've overheard Alakazam talking about it with Espeon a lot, but I never thought I'd see it here…"
The Ultra Beast just chuckled. "Well then, since you seem to know what I am, allow me to tell you who I am. My name is Buzzwole, the strongest bug type on this planet!" Buzzwole looked at the group. "And even though I am a bug, you will be the ones getting squashed today!"
Jolteon just groaned. "Ugh, we get it, you're a bug! Can we just kick each others' butts now?"
Buzzwole narrowed his eyes. "Patience, friend. You can accept defeat soon enough. But let me ask you something… Did you all really think this was a good idea?"
The group took in their surroundings. From all sides, they were completely surrounded. The entrance was blocked off as well, meaning there was no escape. It seemed as though even more of them were coming out every second.
"This is the land of bugs! Our numbers increase on a quick scale, so you'll know that our powers far outstrip your own! Take one of us down, and ten more come out!"
The Goliosopod scowled. This is nothing like we should be… What happened to us?
A Wimpod started to crawl out, but Goliosopod urged it to go back behind. "It's too dangerous out here. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you…"
"B-But Dad, I wanna fight too…"
Goliosopod shook his head. "Once I go out to fight, you may tag along. But for now, it seems we have this all under control."
The bug army rushed at the Eeveelutions as the fight began. A couple of bugs tried to swoop in from the skies, but Glaceon froze them in an instant with her Blizzard. "Guys, I'll try and cover the skies. Stick together and try to take out the ones on the ground. Spread attacks work best here!"
Everyone nodded and went into the battle. Sylveon began throwing out Dazzling Gleams while Leafeon covered her back with Leaf Storms. A Beedrill tried to swoop in and hit Sylveon with Poison Jab, but Jolteon blasted it away with Thunder.
"Tidal Wave!" Vaporeon sparked with a familiar green energy and let out a powerful Tidal Wave, sweeping through the room and taking out a whole group of bugs. The main corridor seemed clear, and Vaporeon smirked.
"Hah! Take that you stupid bugs!" Her smirk instantly disappeared as the bugs all got up and looked at her. "Wha… How…"
Buzzwole laughed. "You think we wouldn't be prepared for your attacks? Of course, you of all people wouldn't be one to think ahead…"
Vaporeon growled. "You take that back!" She shot a powerful Hydro Pump which Buzzwole simply protected.
"You explorers are running my patience. Bugs! Take them out, now!" The bugs charged towards the group once more.
Sylveon took a step back. "I think we might've made a mistake here…"
Flareon, Espeon, and Umbreon were all running through the corridors. The sounds of the far off battle were echoing through the halls. They had no time to stop and listen, and it just made Flareon run faster. C'mon guys, you gotta be okay. Don't you dare lose!
As they began to reach the end, Flareon peered over and saw the door in which the battle was going on. "Guys!" He ran towards them, despite Espeon calling out to him.
"Flareon, wait!" Espeon's eyes began to widen as she saw the battle in front of her. She started to freak out a little bit before Umbreon put a paw on her shoulder.
It's gonna be fine. I'm right here. Umbreon thought. Espeon smiled and gulped.
You're right. Let's do this thing. Espeon thought back, both of them rushing in there to help their friends.
"Guys!"
The Eevee Group quickly looked back and saw Flareon rush into the room.
"Flareon! Boy am I glad to see you!" Glaceon said.
Flareon's body was covered in green lightning as he blasted his attack. "Sacred Fire!" Flareon's mouth opened as he blasted blue flames straight at the bugs, incinerating them all. Almost all of them fell over with swirls in their eyes.
"Tch." Buzzwole said. "You think you've won? Think again! You stand no chance, NO CHANCE!"
Right on cue, multiple bugs started flowing into the corridor, replacing the last group that was just defeated.
"There… are more of them? I put everything I had into that…" Flareon said.
Jolteon looked at Flareon. "Dude, I don't know how long we can keep this up… I'm already super tired…"
Flareon nodded. "This is bad…"
Espeon and Umbreon ran into the room. "Everyone, we're here!" Espeon cried out.
Vaporeon looked back and scowled. "Great… As if we didn't have enough to worry about as is…."
Espeon was a little hurt by this, but it was completely overshadowed by the amount of bugs in the room. She started shaking, eyes as wide as saucers. A Scizor flew through the air and was aiming straight at Espeon, but Umbreon pushed her out of the way, taking the attack and flying through the air. Espeon looked shocked as Umbreon was left on the ground. She looked around, seeing all of her friends in trouble. Her fear was starting to fade and was being replaced by a new feeling… This feeling started to swell up, threatening to burst as Espeon grit her teeth.
"You… You dirty, insignificant, vile, disgusting little bugs…" Espeon glared at Buzzwole. "HOW DARE YOU HURT MY FRIENDS!"
The bright shard next to Buzzwole began to glow brightly and violently as it sparked all around.
"W-What the-?! What is this?!" The green lightning flew towards Espeon, and as it connected with her, she let out a blood curdling scream.
"PSYCHO BOOST!" Espeon's body became enveloped in a bright purple light. She could feel this new power flowing through her body as all the bugs stared in shock.
"I WILL END ALL OF YOU! DIIIIIIIIIIE!" Espeon unleashed her psychic powers and knocked all of the bugs, Goliosopod and Buzzwole included, to the ground.
"Say goodnight! Zen Cutter!" Espeon's gem glowed as a blade like beam appeared in front of her forehead before shooting towards Buzzwole, blasting him and knocking him unconscious. All the bugs were shocked as they slithered away in fear.
The Eeveelutions were all staring in shock at this new power as the aura around Espeon began to fade.
"I… Am I awake right now? I feel like I'm having a fever dream…" Flareon sputtered.
Umbreon got up and walked towards Espeon. I knew you could do it.
Umbreon, you were the one who helped me through everything. I'm sorry about what I said before, you're really special to me. Thank you.
They both smiled and nuzzled each other, receiving a loud Awwwww from the other Eeveelutions. They both rolled their eyes, but they kept smiling either way.
Jolteon shook his fur. "Alright, I think it's time we leave before anymore bugs come after us."
Flareon stuffed the 3 shards into his bag. "I don't know, Espeon can easily handle them now. What d'you say?"
Espeon turned towards the entrance. "You know, I think I've had enough of bugs for a while."
Glaceon and Leafeon smirked. "Amen to that!" they said in unison as the group walked out.
End of Chapter 10
Woah man, that was quite the doozy of a chapter! I honestly did not expect it to be this long, but I think you guys deserve a bit of a longer chapter after the absences I've taken. Anyways, if you liked the chapter, make sure to follow or favorite the chapter, as it makes me know you like the story and it keeps you updated. If you have any feedback, you can of course drop a review and I'll make sure to keep your feedback in mind for later chapters. Either way, this is DuffleGamer signing out. Deuces!