Deep underneath the waters of Alola, a school of Wishiwashi's were darting about in their usual paranoid methods, searching for kelp or other food. Normally, they wouldn't come down this far, but hunger was driving them downwards.
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
The school looked up, and then scattered in all directions as two behemoths swam through where they had been, heading deeper into the ocean.
"Go ahead."
"Uh… why are we listening to Giratina?" Kyogre asked, looking to Lugia as the pair left the dark blue water into the colder, black water that went deep towards the cavern floor. "I understand his knowledge when it comes to interdimensional issues, but we all agreed on banishing him. Lord Arceus claimed he was too violent to be allowed into our world."
"Well, I don't have all the answers." Lugia answered honestly as they went deeper and deeper. "But part of why I'm willing to listen to him is because both Darkrai and Mewtwo have backed up and supported his stories and potential fears. Darkrai himself met the Slayer, so I'm willing to listen if he says Giratina might be of use to us. This doesn't mean I trust Giratina, you remember what happened last time he was unleashed on this world, correct?"
"N..no." Kyogre awkwardly admitted. "I was too young when that happened, I may not have existed yet."
"Well, I'll tell you some other time, but it wasn't pretty. Now, if Giratina himself is attempting to warn us of the threat the Slayer's presence may bring, we do need to act on that information, and act quickly. He may be only acting to effectively remove what he sees as a threat, but that's still a threat."
"Right." Kyogre nodded, understanding the Ocean Guardian's reasoning. "And supposedly something down here might be able to help us with that?"
"Perhaps, perhaps not." Lugia remarked. "They wanted us to find the remains of some of the lost civilizations. I don't believe the Slayer has ever been here before, but Giratina knew the stories of him… so it's better to be safe than sorry."
"Shouldn't we be looking for the Slayer? That seems like the better course of action…"
"It may be, but how do you think people would react to an armada of what they call 'legendaries' suddenly converging on the Alola Islands?"
"And you think the Doom Slayer's presence wouldn't get a similar reaction?"
"Ha! Fair point." Lugia laughed as they reached the bottom of an inky-black abyss, swimming through what looked like a crater from a distance, but was actually another entrance. The two felt like they were flipped upside-down without warning, and when the light reappeared, they seemed to be going upwards towards it, as opposed to downwards.
"Weird…" The ancient-whale muttered. Breaching into the cavern, Lugia sighed in relief as he flapped his wings and seemed to hover in the air. It took a minute for the large pokémon's eyes to adjust to the odd lighting, but when they did, he saw what they had come for.
"Ah, there we are." He remarked, landing near a large mass of old rock. The water had effectively scrubbed away most of the writing -if there were any to begin with- but further up, the remains of a temple stood. More importantly, there were noticeable markings.
"Anything?" Kyogre called.
"One second…" Lugia muttered, leaning closer and struggling to make out the marks. "Oh. It's written in Unown…"
Kyogre sighed and dived back underwater, not knowing how long Lugia would be. He swished his tail about, but quickly grew bored. Looking around for something to do or information that would help, he saw another tunnel going under where Lugia was standing. Mostly out of curiosity, Kyogre followed the tunnel into the small cavern. This time, when he emerged in a small pool. The cave he was in here had no writing on its walls, but there was something he was not expecting…
"A human?" He muttered. No, not a human. The remains of one… at least, that's what he assumed. He couldn't think of a pokémon that would wear such odd metal sheets, and there was something rather unnerving about the helmet he saw… Shaking his head, he figured this wasn't important, and returned to Lugia, who looked to him as he re-appeared. "Anything?"
"No. Nothing of the Slayer, this merely talks of an ancient world who worshiped some inter-dimensional being called… Iccahn. I believe, it's not very clear."
Across the islands, the group was still sitting around a table, watching the stew steam and simmer after completing the first part of the trial. Apparently, they would need to have one of the 'pokémon battles' that the Slayer had heard of. He assumed this meant he would be up against Mallow's pokémon, but he wasn't sure what to expect. Cub- no, Marowak, had only been in a few fights. Same with Aron, and Magikarp… well, it was Magikarp. He also understood (begrudgingly) that this wasn't a fight between the trainers, but their pokémon. The Doom Slayer also had his mind on other things, partially what he had learned a few minutes ago in the temple.
"I understand you want to get back to our reality, but as it stands, I cannot see how that is possible." VEGA remarked, bringing up a fair point. While it was annoying, the Slayer couldn't blame anyone around him. Okay, yes, he could, but he wasn't going to. So far, Professor Burnette was the closest he had come to finding anyone or anything that even began to have the slightest bit of knowledge regarding inter-dimensional travel.
"All right!" Mallow smiled. "So… who's going first?"
Ash, Hau and the Slayer looked to one another. The Slayer not speaking (as usual) and Ash and Hau debating amongst themselves. The Slayer leaned back somewhat, lounging slightly in the chair he was seated in before giving a slight shrug, and standing up.
"Greaaattt…" Mallow mentally moaned, sweat-dropping somewhat, but rising to the challenge nonetheless. "Okay then, let's go!"
Walking towards the clearing where the battle would take place, the Slayer looked down and saw Marowak following, and holding Aron at his side. The small steel pokémon didn't exactly seem to know how to react to what was happening, and his stubby legs were waggling back and forth.
"So, normally there'd be what we call a 'Totem Pokémon', it's essentially just a super-duper big pokémon." Mallow explained as they walked. "I don't know what happened, but apparently it's been gone for a while. Maybe it's in a life cycle and the next one hasn't fully grown yet… But usually the smell of the stew brings it out!" She frowned slightly at that, before walking a few feet away from the Slayer. "Time for you to see that I can do more than just cook!" She declared chipperly. The Slayer, looked back, then pointed to Aron.
"Arr!" The tiny pokémon nodded. It's tiny feet marching out to the battle field, before looking around with a 'Okay. What now?' look on his face.
"Trevenant! Let's go!" Mallow cheered, throwing pone of the pokéballs she had out, and a bizarre tree-like being appeared. It was oddly shaped, with what looked like two mouths and a single red eye. Six roots appeared to act as its legs, and its whole body shook like a tree in the wind.
"Trevenant is feared as a 'ghost of the forest'. Lumberjacks bring along Fire types, which Trevenant hates, when they enter the forest. It is known to be vicious to those that would damage the forest, but kind to those that live in it." VEGA spoke, scanning the pokémon and adding the info to the National VEGA-Dex. "It doesn't seem like it has any particular advantages against Aron. However, I do wonder how strong Aron actually is…"
"Aron, metal claw." VEGA spoke. Aron nodded and wheeled back, creating a manifestation of a clawed hand which swiped at the tree pokémon. It held its roots up as a shield, but it was clear from its shout that the attack had the desired effect.
"Shadow claw!" Mallow ordered, and without warning, the whole area seemed to grow darker, and a purplish swipe appeared, scratching Aron, but it didn't seem to have too much effect on him. The steel pokémon growled in agitation, and seemed to shake the attack off. It waited for another order, and this time, it bolstered its defense by using its iron genetics, allowing it to become stronger. However, VEGA did notice that by doing so, Aron's overall speed seemed to drop somewhat.
As the fight continued, the small group didn't notice the man leaning against a tree off in the distance, watching the Slayer fight Mallow. At first, he was pretty underwhelmed by this supposed beasts' choice in a team, but then he studied the Slayer himself, and quickly surmised that most likely a direct attack wouldn't end too well for him or his team. He also understood what his grunts had been going on about concerning the 'human tank'.
"Well how about that…" Guzma muttered, at a bit of an odd crossroads right now. This supposed space man was very real, and had done damage to one of his grunt's Steelix. He also seemed to be claiming everywhere he went as his own turf, both of which were things Guzma had issues with. The issue now was figuring out how to get back at him… The armour he wore was clearly something different, as there was no possible way to bust through it without getting some serious back up, and Guzma didn't exactly feel like he could go one-on-one if the figure was still in that stuff. Unlike a number of villains in this world, Guzma wasn't a total idiot, and he was now questioning if even trying to fight this guy would end with his death… but at the same time, there was that girl… "Sooner or later, he's gotta get out of that armour, or he's gotta ware out eventually… but if we don't take him down in one go, we're probably gonna die…"
It took about ten minutes, but eventually, the Slayer took the victory. Aron had powered his way through a good chunk of Trevenant's defences, but was nearly knocked out as a result. The tiny steel-type was clearly reckless and itching for a fight, and didn't seem to realize the threat the ghost-tree could be. Towards the end, the Slayer called Aron back, letting Marowak take over, and the fire-type quickly took down the living tree, and the following Pokémon Mallow had to send out. It almost seemed angry over Aron's condition, and seemed to essentially be out for revenge. The flaming bone attacks burned through the remaining attacker's in no time flat, and left the Slayer as the winner. He felt good for his pokémon, but was a little annoyed when he found out there were roughly eight more to get through… he had picked up that these trials held great cultural significance to the people of Alola, and saying he didn't care would be incorrect, but… he didn't care.
It occurred to everyone that there wasn't much Mallow could do with her pokémon being TKO, so she headed back to the nearby town to get them healed, and the Slayer decided to head back as well and continue his search for a way home. Ever the excitable one, Hau followed along, no one really knew why though… Needless to say, it was kind of awkward…
"Your team worked well!" Mallow commented.
No reply.
"Aron really put up a good fight! He took Nant's hits and just kept going!"
Continuing silence.
"And your Marowak's fire bone hit dead on! That's some really good accuracy!"
"Marr." The pokémon replied, still holding Aron at its side, somewhat against the tiny pokémon's will.
The Slayer still remained quiet.
"You don't talk a lot, do you?" Mallow asked.
The Slayer shook his head.
"Do you talk at all?"
The Slayer nodded.
"Oh."
The rest of the walk was quiet. Hau and Mallow wanted to try and talk more, but it was clear the Slayer wasn't about to start talking to them, so they gave up on trying to get him to do so. It took about ten minutes, but they made it back to the nearby town, and they were approached by the young woman who had been with Mallow when the Slayer first arrived, and a man the Slayer hadn't met yet. He was shirtless, and almost seemed to be trying to challenge the Slayer from the way he reacted when he approached, but the Sayer quickly put two and two together and realized this was just him trying not to be intimidated.
"Hi…Mallow…" The smaller woman said, clearly unsettled by the Slayer.
"Hey guys." Mallow smiled. "Don't mind him, he's just checkin' out the town while I get my team healed."
"Oh, the kid beat you?" The taller man asked, looking to Hau, but was surprised when Hau shook his head.
"Not me, him."
The man looked from Hau, to the Slayer, to Mallow, to the Slayer, to Hau, to Mallow, to-
"Him?" He finally asked. "This dude's a trainer?"
Dropping his balls (ha) the Slayer's Marowak and Aron re-appeared. The former spinning his bone, igniting the ends as he did so, the later… not looking so good. The man seemed impressed, looking back up to the Slayer.
"Good choice, they're offensive fighters, but Aron's got some serious defensive capabilities when it evolves, the steel acts as tough armour."
"Oh! That reminds me!" Mallow exclaimed, something coming back to her. "Kiawe, you know Krystal, right? The one who wields stuff?"
"Yeah, she's been working on some of her art recently. Why?" Kiawe asked, then looked over at the Slayer absent-mindedly, and saw the damage on his armour, and he seemed to put two and two together. "Oh, uh… huh. She might be able to fix all that, but-"
The Slayer nodded, his body language telling him a simple message: Take me to her.
"…okay." Kiawe blinked, not wanting to anger the Slayer. "Look, you should get Aron looked at, then I'll take you to her." He remarked, raising a good point, only to see Aron has wandered over to Lana, and was looking up at her curiously. The water trial captain smiled and picked him up, patting his head.
"Aww, hi little guy." She smiled. "I can take him to the center if you want to go meet with Krystal. I'll get him healed and meet with you at her place." The small Aron in her arms looked up to the Slayer, who looked back to the Aron, as if asking if he was oaky with this, and finally, he nodded.
"Well, that settles it!" Mallow smiled. "I've gotta go finish some trial stuff with the others, when I'm done, I'll sent them your way, then we can figure out where to go from there!"
The Slayer nodded affirmatively. There was something about the green-haired woman that was almost… toxically happy, or maybe after being in hell for so long and killing waves of demons, that the first person who didn't try to kill him and actually smiled would seem abrasively friendly.
"All right, follow me." Kiawe nodded, and the two set off, Marowak following alongside them. The Slayer hoped that this 'Krystal' could patch up his armour a little bit, or give him the tools to do it himself. As they passed by a small café, a woman looked up and watched them pass. Granted, she was one in a small crowd of heads that watched, but she was the only one currently important to the story.
"Well, I can see why they seem nervous about him." Cynthia remarked, watching the Slayer and Kiawe leave. She took a sip from her iced coffee and pushed the glassed back onto her face. "He seems like he could break a man in half."
"The story says he did, millions of times. To demons." Shaymin added, his face poking out from her bag.
"What are you doing in there?" The Champion asked, confused.
"Don't wanna be seen."
"He doesn't look like he'd hurt us."
"He looks like he could kill a flower by looking at it."
Cynthia choked on her drink, trying her best to hold back a laugh at that remark. This was as close as she had gotten to the 'Doom Slayer' and she still didn't fully see what everyone was so worried about. Yes, this guy looked like he could single-handedly bench-press Groudon for a morning workout… but he didn't seem violent.
"Well, once they get back, I'll talk to Ash." Cynthia muttered. He was probably the closest thing to a 'mediator' she was going to get when it came to talking with the Slayer, so she was looking for anything that might help break the ice. Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one watching…
"This is insane…" A man muttered, watching the Slayer walk away. "Who, or what, is that thing?"
"Sir?"
"Hm? Oh, nothing." The man shook his head, flipping his red shades back on. "There's other things we need to deal with. I think it's best we don't try to get involved in this… after what happened last time, I'm in no rush to fulfill our goal…"
"Be good to her…" Another figure thought as he watched the Slayer leave. "Be better than anyone she's had in that role…"
"So that's the newcomer?" A woman asked, looking through some binoculars from the nearby docks. "Seriously? This is what's gotten everyone all worked up?"
After about five minutes, Kiawe paused, and seemed to realize something, as he turned to the Slayer, he asked:
"Do you have change of clothes?" To which the Slayer shook his head in response. "Okay… you're gonna need to get some, it's fine to be shirtless around here, and truth be told I think the women wouldn't mind… but you can be nude. At least, not on the beaches here, but that's a different sto- Oh, you're gone."
The Slayer had looked around and seen what he assumed was a typical clothing store, and headed over to it. The second he walked through the door, the air seemed to freeze as everyone turned and stared in amazement or horror at what just entered the store.
"Uh, hi?" The shopkeeper finally got out. "Do you need… help with something?"
"What do you have that is large?" VEGA asked, and the woman pointed to a rack. The Slayer nodded and walked over. He looked around, not sure what he was looking for, and not giving the slightest of Magikraps about what was considered 'fashion' to this world. But he also knew he had to wear something that he wouldn't want to burn after ten seconds. Another five minutes passed before he left, meeting up with Kiawe once more.
"You good?" His response was a nod. "All right then."
Not too far away, just on the edge of town, there was a garage that had the distinct smell of welded metal. As they approached, a woman was busy fusing pipes together to create some sculpture. But needless to say, when she saw the two approaching, she casually switched off her torch and lifted up her mask.
"Hey." She nodded. "What's up?"
"This guy… wait. What was your name?" Kiawe began but trialed off when he remembered he hadn't learnt the newcomer's name.
"The Slayer." VEGA answered, and Krystal raised her brows.
"That's dope." She smirked, looking his armour up and down. "And that's a pretty cool name too! Where'd you get this?"
"From a world you most likely do not know about." VEGA answered, knowing that the slayer didn't like talking too much about his past, or where he got the Praetor suit. His answer didn't seem to satisfy the welder, but she also could tell not to push it.
"Either way, looks like you went through hell!" She laughed, circling the Slayer, taking note of the structure and design. "I've never seen anything like this! This… this is incredible!" Normally, the Slayer didn't like being circled and inspected, but he could tell that the woman's excitement was one of passion and genuine curiosity, so he made no move to stop her.
"Yeah, but it's also in rough shape." Kiawe continued talking, uncertain of if this is what the Slayer wanted, or didn't want. Regardless, he didn't want to anger him, but since the Slayer wasn't talking, someone had to. "We were wondering if you could fix it."
Krystal's eyes lit up like it was Christmas, her face seemed to change from a laid-back, casually skeptical personality to a high-school fangirl at a boy band concert.
"REALLY!?" She exclaimed, the hopefulness clear in her eyes.
"Indeed." VEGA answered. "The structural integrity of the suit is not what it once was, and the tools we would use to repair it ourselves are… unavailable, so to say. We were hoping we could procure your services and-"
"Done!" Krystal cut the A.I. off excitedly. However, the Slayer didn't budge. In fact, it was hard to tell what he was feeling. But since this is a story, I can tell you!
Right now, the Slayer was questioning himself, looking at his armour… the same armour that he had worn through many battles in the fiery pits of hell, the armour that his withstood Barons, Mancubi, Summoners, Arch-Viles, and even the Cyber-Demon and Spider Mastermind… He had worn it for an unprecedented amount of time, and now, he felt like removing it would almost be sacrilegious. He knew that a warrior's armour was his pride, he wore it, bled in it, and would die in it, so why was simple repairs such an issue?! Then, it clicked.
The Wretch.
While the origins of the suit remain lost, even to an extent to the slayer, he remembered the entity he had encountered in hell. The one who had offered its services in exchange for its life. He also remembered that for the first time in his entire existence, in an act that he would still question the moral quandaries of… he had spared a demon.
Now, those memories, the images, the knowledge and so much more was in his armour. Or, to be more precise, his helmet. While he wasn't sure how much of it would be discoverable by the technology these people had, it wasn't a risk he wanted to take, but also knew that broken armour was as bad as no armour. He looked around, then saw a door which was clearly marked as a bathroom.
"He's kinda quiet." Krystal remarked as the Slayer left.
"The dude scares me to be honest." Kiawe admitted. "I just feel this sense of pure anger, like, constantly."
"Same." Krystal nodded in affirmation. "but I'm also picking up a sort of 'guardian' vibe. Maybe that's why he's so angry, he's just trying to protect someone."
A few minutes later, the sound of tearing fabric could be heard form behind the door, and then silence, then, the door opening. Out stepped the Slayer, now wearing a green t-shirt with sleeves that had gotten ripped at the elbow, as well as a small hole around his gut, revealing muscles, black track shorts, brown hiking boots, fingerless gloves, and what looked like a fanny pack. The only thing that didn't work was the brightly coloured Alolan shirt that the Slayer was putting on overtop the green shirt. In short, he looked like a beefy tourist who'd crack skulls with no provocation, but he also looked pretty good in it, as if this was something he had worn before. Setting the armour down, the Slayer removed a few things from it, namely his weapon bag, a chip containing information no one was to see and a picture. He looked down at the armour, then looked at Krystal. Even though he was still wearing his helmet, the anger and apprehension was visible.
"Do not take this as a threat." VEGA spoke. "But the Slayer would like to let you know of two things: one, do not attempt to remove anything from the suit, simply repair it, and two, if you attempt to steal the suit, it will not end well for you."
"Heh, sure." Krystal rolled her eyes. "Or what? I try and clone this stuff and-"
Without warning, the Slayer pulled what looked like a sleek white-and-gray rifle from behind him. the most notable thing was the blue sphere in the center of it. Taking aim, the Slayer fired a blast from his weapon, and a pile of garbage was vaporized. He did all this while staring directly into Krystal's eyes, which changed from causal indifference to ice-cold terror.
"Okay then." Krystal nodded. "Just fix, no steal."
"Again, please don't take this as any sort of personal attack. The Slayer holds this armour in very high regard, and believes you will have no problems fixing it, he is just-" VEGA began but stopped mis-sentence when he felt the Slayer's mood shift. "Never mind."
"Yeah, no problem." Krystal nodded, picking up one of the arms covers. "Huh, this'll be easier than I thought… So, what are you looking for? Flexibility? Durability?"
"Both, if possible." The A.I. nodded.
"Okay, yeah. I can do that… Ya lookin' for a new design on it?" Krystal asked, and when she felt the Slayer glare at her, she laughed: "Kidding! Doubt you could improve on this perfection… Okay… gimmie… two days, and it should be good to go!"
The Slayer frowned, now liking being armour less for two days, but also understood that this might be the best (and only) way he could get it fixed, and he reluctantly nodded.
"Awesome! See you in two days!" Krystal grinned, pulling her mask back down and heading off to get supplies. The two men looked to each other, then Kiawe began the walk back to town. It was silent, as per usual, aside from Marowak occasionally grunting or calling for… something.
"So… don't take this the wrong way, but I've never met someone who didn't look kinda stupid wearing one of those Alolan shirts…" The Fire Trial Captain began, and noted the Slayer giving him a 'Choose your next words carefully' side glance. "And somehow… you pulled it off."
He felt like the Slayer smiled, but he couldn't really tell. The rest of the walk was short, and when they returned, their small group was waiting.
"Wow…" Lana blinked, now seeing some of the Slayer's -ahem- 'features' in clear day, and not under armour. In fact, more women were looking his way than before, and the Slayer ignored all of them, partially because he didn't care, partially because they couldn't help him get home, and partially because of the Bro Code.
"What diet is he on?" Hau asked, looking to Ash, who shrugged.
"Hey, so… we know you're trying to get home, and we think we've found someone who can help!" Ash stated, getting the Slayer's attention immediately. "After we finished Mallow's trial, we were approached by this doctor, and apparently he's part of an organization that studies wormholes and other dimensions. We didn't mention you, but he seemed to know of you in some way, we think it's just because of the whole thing in Heahea…"
The Slayer nodded, signalling for Ash to continue.
"Either way, we were invited to meet one of the people who runs the place, and see the sanctuary they're building for the pokémon here. We didn't want to until we told you, because, y'know… this might be a good thing for you."
The Slayer nodded again, thinking it over. He had to play his cards carefully here… he wanted, no NEEDED to get home, like, last week. So, if this organization was studying wormholes and things like that, they'd probably be of great use to him. The issue was, he had seen what happens when humans screw with dimensional travel… and the last thing he wanted for the Alolan islands to be overrun with demons. Looking back to Hau and Ash, he nodded, then looked to Lillie.
"She's gonna help me with some stuff." Mallow said with a smile, pulling Lillie to her side. "She'll catch up with you later."
There was something in Lillie's eyes that made the Slayer question: Why? But that was of no consequence to him. He turned back to Ash and Hau, the latter grinning like an idiot.
"All right! Aether Paradise, here we come!" He cheered.
A.N. So, a few things:
One, I had no idea Mallow was anywhere from 12-19 according to the wiki. I assumed she was in her early twenties. Whoops.
Two, there's a lotta faces showing up now… some of you might be able to pick up on who's here based on the hints I dropped, but don't worry. All will be revealed soon…
Third, yes, the Praetor suit is implied to be built by humans and upgraded by the Wretch in DOOM 2016, even if it is, we're going with the 'He's had it for a long time, no one knows it's origin' story. Sorry about that, it's not the main focus here.
Fourth, next chapter, Aether Paradise! The APF has gotta have some smart folks who can help the Slayer and not cause untold chaos and pain due to their own stupid choices! This can't possibly end badly, right!?
RIGHT?!
