I'm still here!
Still going strong. Still writing. Just taking my time with it. Hopefully that shows in the finished product.
We're truly in the home stretch now. Three more chapters. I know I said this last year, but I really hope to finish by this time next year.
Anyways, our usual thanks to deerestlove for betaing. This wouldn't be possible without them.
That should be it. Thanks everyone. Hope you enjoy.
Smoke thickened as we descended the stone fortress's steps, nearly smothering the harsh, artificial light. The smoke had no scent. It had no taste. But I could feel it, a cool oiliness, a phantom residue it seemed to leave behind on all that it touched. I could feel it on the ground, in my fur, but when I checked them they were perfectly clean and dry.
We tried to stay low, where the air was clearer, but with each step we took the air grew thicker, and the haze drifted lower. All too soon we were crawling on our bellies, chins scraping across the ground. The haze hovered only inches above my nose.
"This is ridiculous," I muttered as we inched along step-by-step. I could hardly see anything from this angle. If Smoke had wanted, he could have come along and stabbed both of us in the back before we even noticed. "We can't keep going like this."
Eve pulled her scarf from her bag again, tying it tightly over her nose and mouth before cautiously getting to her feet. "It isn't too bad actually. It isn't hard to breathe, not like normal smoke."
"Are you feeling okay?" I asked, still on the floor. It took every ounce of my willpower not to tackle her to the ground again. I hated laying helplessly on the floor as she took this risk, but I knew why she did it. Of the two of us, she was expendable. I had to keep going.
"I feel fine. But I'm not breathing in much at the moment." She looked around thoughtfully before beginning to untie the scarf.
"What are you doing?" I panicked.
"You said it yourself, we cannot just crawl around. We have Pecha and Chesto, or if worse comes to worst you can send me back to Candice. But we have to know what we're dealing with." Before I could raise a protest she tossed the scarf to me and took a deep breath.
I quickly tied the scarf around my own face, keeping an eye on Eve the whole time in case something happened to her. But no. Eve took in one deep breath, then another, and another. Still nothing happened. "Everything alright?" I asked.
She shrugged. "Well, I'm not dead or asleep. That is reassuring." She placed a paw to her chest and shuddered. "I can feel it. In here. It doesn't seem dangerous—yet, at least. A little heavy, and cold…"
I took a deep breath, holding it as I got to my feet. I held out as long as I could, not trusting the haze even with the scarf on, but eventually I needed another breath. It was like the smoke wasn't even there. There was no tickle in my throat, no suffocating lack of oxygen. My heart was pounding, my adrenaline spiking, but I had nothing to defend against. No visible threat other than an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach.
No, not in my stomach. Alongside my anxious breathing and my pounding heartbeat I felt something else. A regular pulse of heat thrumming through my chest, like a second heartbeat alongside my own. The Dreamstone. I didn't hear a voice, but I could feel an intent, a warning in the sensation.
What did I need to do, though? A warning wasn't helpful if I didn't know what to do with it. I forced myself to stop and think. This smoke wasn't poison and it wasn't putting us to sleep. So what else could it be? And then I realized, and I cursed myself for missing the obvious. I pulled a bottle from my bag, quickly extracting the cork. The water within hissed and frothed as it came in contact with the smoke.
Eve regarded the bottle, and then stared at me, looking like she was going to be sick. "It's… in me…" she shuddered. "What is Smoke trying to do?"
"I don't know," I admitted, "but at least this is something we have a cure for." I held the bottle out to her.
She took it reluctantly, holding it away from her like I'd just handed her an angry Ekans. "This won't be fun, will it?"
I grimaced in sympathy. "If Shane and Sparkle are anything to judge by…" it wasn't fair that she had to go through this, especially since she was trying to protect me.
"Cheers," Eve sighed, quickly choking down a sip. "Best get it over with." She waited, tense as a Decidueye's bowstring. Then she doubled over, coughing and retching violently. Thank Arceus her heaving wasn't nearly as violent as the others' had been, but her body still shook from the strain. It lasted barely a minute before she spat out a tiny smear of blackness which quickly evaporated. Eve's legs shook as she straightened up, only for them to collapse beneath her.
"Are you alright?" I said jumping forward to catch her. She rested against me for a brief moment, panting.
"Well that was… unpleasant," Eve moaned. "I'm understanding why Shane fainted. With how much of that he had in his system, it must have been excruciating." She shook her head, taking a few more deep breaths. "And draining. Damn." She slowly got to her feet, finding that they at least supported her again.
Hmm. "If it was that bad for you, imagine how bad it has to be for Smoke." I could feel my heart start to race. "We know he has to have at least twenty times what Shane had. The strain itself might be enough to kill him. All we'd have to do is —"
"— Get him to drink water?" Eve laughed weakly. "And how do you propose we do that? It's not like it's his element. He'd probably have more control over it than we would."
"It's worth a shot, at least," I sighed. This was already going to be hard. Maybe even impossible. And what little hope I had found was slowly fading away. "I guess that means it's my turn," I said, pulling out the bottle again. I mentally reached back, untying the scarf and letting it fall away from my face. I held my breath as I quickly lifted the bottle and took a sip. The water was cool, but as it passed down my throat, I felt a sudden flare of heat. The heat pooled in my stomach before suddenly surging out through my whole body. I gasped at the sensation, but it faded almost as quickly as it had appeared. "We probably should have done that earlier," I muttered to myself as I returned the bottle to my bag.
"I didn't think Smoke would try to infect us." Eve grumbled. "What is he planning with this?" She gestured to the haze around us.
"I don't know," I said. "Maybe he has some power over those he infects? Or maybe he wants to drain his attackers like he did Sparkle and the others." My stomach twisted at that thought. "We should get going."
The haze only grew thicker as we continued. It was like walking the streets of Festive town after sunset. The lights mounted near the ceiling cast small cones of illumination across the corridor. Everything else was steeped in shadow. There were no doors down here, just a long stretches of cold gray stone.
The walls fell away. We had passed beneath a square doorway before I'd noticed it. I could only assume that this was the meeting room Shane and Moon had mentioned. It was circular, like the courtyard directly overhead. I couldn't see the ceiling through the fog, but the faint lights arrayed over it made it seem flat. The chamber was twice as wide as it was tall, but the ceiling still towered about twenty feet overhead. There were seven other doorways aside from the one we'd entered through arranged like points on a compass. The cardinal doors were larger and seemed to lead to corridors like the ones we'd come through. In between were smaller doors, made of metal and looking like they'd take more than Blast Seed oil to get through. I guessed those were safe rooms or vaults, places to protect Smoke and the other leaders in case of attacks like this one. Obviously, they were unused now.
A massive circular table like the one the Expedition Society had met around sat in the center of the room with several plush chairs around it. Lights lined the ceiling, rendered dim and slightly yellowed by the haze. Still, it was just enough to see by—except in the very center of the room, in the middle of the hollow table, where a dome of swirling smoke refused to let in any light. Small tendrils extended from it, drifting lazily. Deep within its heart, I could just make out the silhouette of a tall figure sitting cross-legged with his hands pressed together.
Eve and I paused in the doorway, reluctant to move forward. The Greninja knew we were there — I had no doubt about that — but he made no move to stand. No move to even acknowledge our presence.
"What is he doing?" Eve whispered. In the deathly silence of the chamber her voice seemed a deafening hiss.
I didn't dare voice it, but this quiet, dismissive reception unnerved me more than an ambush would have. "He's waiting for us to make the first move," I said, not bothering to keep my voice low. I just hoped that Smoke couldn't hear the tremor in it.
I made to take another step into the room, but Eve grabbed my leg with her tail. "Slink, wait." She glanced nervously at Smoke before fixing her eyes on me. "Just… before we do this…" She couldn't seem to find any words appropriate for what she wanted to say. I knew she wanted to stay positive; I knew she wanted to believe that we could both make it out of here okay. But now, faced with the reality of the situation, I could understand her fear. I leaned in and pressed my forehead to hers. No words needed to be said. I didn't need to hear them. Her gem radiated warmth against my fur, and she closed her eyes, reveling in the contact.
"Thank you," I eventually whispered.
"For what?" she replied, leaning back to regard me curiously.
"For being here with me. For not making me do this alone. For helping me get here in the first place."
"I just hope that I can get you past this," she said, turning back to where Smoke sat waiting.
"We will get past this," I amended. "Together."
Smoke didn't move as we approached, he remained in his meditative pose, legs crossed and arms folded. He didn't even seem to breathe. The cloud around him though grew more agitated, more and more tendrils lashing out, swirling faster in some invisible tempest. The closer we got, the thicker the haze became. It rolled over us like fog, obscuring and revealing the room around us in turns. My fur stood on end as blew past me, keeping an eye on Smoke and the door whenever either became visible.
How can we possibly fight in this? I thought, expecting to feel a blade at my throat at any moment. I strained my ears, desperately searching for any indication of movement. My Dreamstone-enhanced Psychic senses tingled as I waited for a flicker of thought. But even they weren't enough. The fog rolled away again, and suddenly Smoke was gone.
My pulse accelerated; cold adrenaline flooded my veins. I wanted to move, to shield myself and Eve, to run, but it felt like my feet were rooted to the floor. I closed my eyes, taking deep breaths. When I opened them again, Smoke stood ten feet from us, arms crossed, with a blade in both hands.
"The Fennekin and the Espeon." His voice was deafening in the absolute silence. Still deep and resonant, but also strained in a way I couldn't quite place. "I was beginning to think that you weren't going to make it." He tucked his blades back against his forearms, the water quickly absorbed into his skin leaving his hands free. "Now we can begin."
A sharp hiss split the air as Eve struck. An iron spike shot right at Smoke's head, about to end this before it could even begin. But he plucked the spike from the air mere inches from his face and rolled forward, moving faster than I could react. He ended up standing over Eve with the spike pressed against her throat.
"Perhaps I should end this here? I only need the Fennekin." Smoke mused. "And here I was thinking that we could have a civil conversation."
"Like the one you had with the Pokemon upstairs!" Eve snarled. Beyond my own shock, I had to be impressed with her bravado. Only a slight tremble in her back legs betrayed her terror.
"Oh, so you came in through the South doors," Smoke leered. He stood up, thankfully pulling the spike away from Eve's throat and tossing it aside. "Obviously I couldn't have planned for that. What a remarkable coincidence. But it is a wonderful warning, wouldn't you say?"
"How could you?" I'd finally found my voice. "Those Pokemon believed in you. They trusted you!" I'd always known how vile Smoke was, but seeing him emotionlessly gloat over the death of his people made me sick.
"They tried to desert," Smoke said coldly. "They posed a threat. Your friend Leopold and that traitor Shane are proof enough of that."
"Were they a threat," I snapped, "or were you just desperate not to lose your Dark Matter?" He did his best not to react, but I saw it. The tiniest twitch in his eye, the slight curve of a lip into a grimace. "You must have been desperate if you were so willing to kill off so many of your little incubators."
Smoke narrowed his eyes. "You're smarter than I gave you credit for. I won't make that mistake again. But no matter, soon enough it won't make a difference. Neither of you will be leaving this room." He snapped his fingers, and an ear-rending screech filled the air.
Clanging metal echoed around the room as shuttered metal doors like the ones upstairs started lowering across the exits. It took everything I had not to bolt for one of them. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flicker of movement by one of the doors, two figures slipping in underneath the shutters before they slammed closed with a final boom. I could just barely make them out amongst the gloom. Thankfully Smoke's attention was fixed on us.
"Why haven't you just done it?" I asked doing my best to keep attention on me. I had no idea who these Pokemon were, or what their plan might be. But their best chance was to keep Smoke occupied. "Why let us in in the first place? We know you had teams in place."
Smoke gave a haughty smile. "You were necessary, Fennekin. I would have thought that was obvious. You're the one destined to defeat me, after all. Or maybe I will get to show the world that even fate has no hold on me." He moved suddenly, slashing the air with his hand. I flinched back instinctively, throwing up a rudimentary shield, but it wasn't an attack. With his movement, the smoke stopped swirling and hung dead in the air. I could feel it pressing down on me from all sides. Shadowy tendrils clung to his back and shoulders. He wanted me to be intimidated; he wanted me to be afraid.
But I wasn't. Not now. The pulsing heat in my chest, a heartbeat beside my own, helped reassure me. I wasn't alone and this wasn't just for me. This was for my family, for Xen and Ash, for Shane's mother, and for the scores of Pokemon upstairs. Power thrummed through me as I reached out and caught the tip of his tongue in my mental grip. His eyes widened at the sensation, one he'd probably never felt before, but it was too late for him to do anything. I pulled, hard, spinning him around and forcing him to his hands and knees.
"I think you're going to get exactly what fate has in store for you," I snarled.
"You found it then," Smoke said sounding genuinely surprised. "By my count you were still one key short. No matter, do you really think it will be enough to stop me?" He raised his head slowly.
His tongue had come unraveled from his neck, revealing the scar that Shane had told us about. Except it wasn't just a scar. The red marks that had peeked out from beneath his tongue crawled up his neck, growing darker, covered in thick ropes of scar tissue. And in the center, just beneath his larynx, a ragged hole had been punched in his throat, the dark hollow rasping with each breath. The edges of the wound shimmered like a mirage. "Impressive isn't it? This 'gift' your family left me with. I admit, I admired their tenacity. Too bad it was the last thing they ever did."
I stared at him stunned, the fire within me roaring. But I forced myself to remain calm. Let him keep talking. Wait for an opening.
He held his hand out to us, regarding it for a moment before suddenly bringing his other hand around and slashing his palm open with a blade of water. I saw only the merest flash of a grimace cross his face from the pain. But most of my attention was focused on his hand. Blood dripped from the wound, spilling from between his fingers. One heartbeat, then another. With each pulse the blood got thicker and darker. Even the blood that had already been shed seemed to curdle, curling back over itself into a denser blob. It continued to darken until it became indistinguishable from his skin. He closed his hand, water spilling from his fist, and when he opened it again the wound was gone. There was no scar, no mark, no sign that it had ever been there.
"Healing is one of the most remarkable powers my gift granted me." He cupped his throat, briefly hiding the gaping hole from sight. "But even it can only do so much. When your kin attacked, I didn't have enough." Idly he ran a finger along the ragged lips of the wound. "I should be dead, but I refused. With what little I had, I held myself together until I could reach the Umbreon. But by then, I was too late to fix it. But I could replenish the blood I was losing. It could sustain me." His next words were little more than a whisper. "But fighting entropy has always been a losing battle. It takes more than I have to keep me alive, and even the entire Hatred together couldn't keep up."
He'd said more than he meant to, I was certain of that. But he didn't seem to regret the words. For a moment, he sagged, shoulders slumping forward, arms falling limply to his sides. "What I'd been working towards for decades, you and yours would have dismantled in one night."
"And who is to blame for that?" I snarled.
He stood again, tightly wrapping his tongue around his throat and hiding his wound once again. His face reforming into stony expressionlessness. "No matter. After today, none of that will matter. I will regrow the Hatred, even better than before."
A wave of cold washed over me at his words. There was a triumph in them, but also venom. As if reacting to his mood, the smoke around us grew agitated again, swirling volatilely before rushing upwards. The lights above were completely doused, leaving us in a murky twilight.
Then I heard it. Running footsteps in the darkness. Without the smoke, the two other Pokemon were exposed. I had no idea of their plan, but I had to help if I could. Roaring flames burst to life around me, forcing even Eve to take a step back. I used Psychic to scoop up the flames that boiled from my shoulders, shaping it into a pair of rings before me. Smoke smiled at the display, crouching down into a fighting stance. I had his undivided attention.
"Is it that time already? I had hoped to savor this moment, but I guess we might as well —" Crash! Smoke jerked forward as something slammed into him from behind, a wave of water splashing over his shoulders. He roared, turning to strike at whomever had hit him, but the small figure slid between Smoke's legs without even breaking their stride. My stomach twisted as a dozen emotions shot through me in less than a second: anger, fear, happiness, and dread as Vix emerged from the haze.
She rushed over to us, checking over her shoulder at Smoke. The Greninja roared in pain. As he turned, I could see several large shards of glass buried in his skin. The water hissed as it touched his skin, tiny wisps of Dark Matter evaporated from the cuts. He fell to his knees, teeth bared from the pain.
Vix slowed as she finally reached us, staying just out of reach. She held her head high and tried to look calm, but her tails drooped behind her and she refused to meet my eyes.
"Leo and Lucy were supposed to be keeping an eye on you," Eve said.
"I must have slipped away while they were busy," Vix shrugged. "I think they were doing fine without me."
I opened my mouth to respond, though I didn't quite know what I wanted to say. But before I could, Vix cut across me. "Dad, please I…I'm not going. No matter what you say, I'm not going to wait around and just hope that you come back. I will never do that again, not when I can help you! Not when I can protect you!" Despite her bravado, she had reached the edge of her courage in confronting me.
But what to say to that? How to express the fear that threatened to choke me at the idea of her in danger?
And how to describe the pride I felt?
"We are going to have a very long conversation when we get home," I said finally. Vix perked up immediately, understanding that while I wasn't happy, I wasn't going to force her to leave. "You stick with one of us at all times. No charging in on your own anymore." If we were going to do this, we had to do this right.
I waited for Eve to chime in—surely she had something to say—but she wasn't looking at Vix or me. Something else had grabbed her attention. The other Pokemon that had slipped in approached, giving Smoke a far wider berth than Vix had. Their body glowed with blue light that easily cut through the darkness. "Shane?"
The Umbreon moved closer, looking more uncomfortable than anything. He hefted an ill-fitting yellow bag on his shoulder with a shrug. "It's not like I could let the girl come alone."
"Shane, you shouldn't be here," Eve insisted.
"Well, I am," he replied. "If we're still alive at the end of all this, you can file a complaint with Kegan." He looked past her. "Besides, we have bigger problems."
The Greninja was getting back to his feet. Glass shards smeared with blood littered the ground around him. The blood dripping from them was darkening, but much slower than before. It was probably too much to hope that the water would have purged him. With a wave of his hand, the water still dripping from his skin cascaded down his back, along his arm, and formed into a knife the length of his forearm. It hissed against his palm still, but he didn't seem to care.
"Trust me. Don't trust me." Shane snapped. "I'm here, so either take my help or get out of my way."
Smoke advanced on the four of us, swinging his blade experimentally as he did. "The navigator and the traitor as well. Seems fate is on my side after all."
"Did you ask fate to get your ass kicked?" Vix asked. "That was for my mother, you slimy feral!"
The clouds above rumbled like actual stormclouds, a low rolling noise that made the ground tremble. Even rain began to fall. No, not rain, dust, dull gray, like the stone the chamber was formed from. It poured from the clouds in fits and starts, in time with the dull rumbling. Thicker sand streamed to the ground, while the lighter stuff hung in the air.
Smoke grinned, looking up. A stream of sand cascaded over his face, leaving a gray-white stripe across his body. "And so it begins."
He stooped low and burst into a sprint, moving towards us faster than I would have believed possible. The shadowy tendrils clinging to his back spread out like wings. I stepped forward; the Dreamstone blazed in my chest as I raised a Psychic barrier, just in time to catch the frog. The blade of water he held splattered against it, his body slamming to a halt mere feet from me.
"Go," I shouted to the others. I could feel cracks forming in my barrier as Smoke pounded against it. Doing my best to retain my concentration, I wrapped the barrier around Smoke. "Take cover!" I was vaguely aware of movement off to my left, a flash of lavender in the corner of my eye, but I felt a presence remaining behind me. Still I held my barrier, containing Smoke as best I could, until a pulse of shadow shattered it, and Smoke he turned his attention to me.
A burst of water knocked me off balance, painfully cold. I blinked away the water to see Smoke looming over me, poised to strike. I was frozen. Every muscle in my body was screaming at me to duck, to force him back with Fire or Psychic. But I couldn't. The blade fell, coming for my throat—
Something slammed into my side. The blade nicked my thigh as I fell, which snapped me back to reality. I scrambled back, hardly feeling the pain from my wound, but I shouldn't have worried. Shane stood between me and Smoke, hackles raised.
Smoke leveled his blade at the Umbreon, the water tinted pink from blood. The two Dark types stared each other down for a moment, hesitating. "So this is how it ends, traitor?"
"I'm the traitor?" Shane snarled. He charged at Smoke, shadows trailing from his body. "Whatever happened to protecting those that society threw away?" His claws glowed purple as he raked three deep lines into Smoke's chest. "What happened to building a community, a safe place?"
Smoke flinched back, seeming more wounded by the words than the attacks. "Everything I did was for the Dream! You're the one who walked away!" Smoke ducked another swipe and kicked out, striking Shane in the stomach and driving the air from his lungs. He sputtered and coughed, stumbling back as Smoke stabbed at him, nearly taking off the tip of his ear.
I scrambled to my feet, unconcerned with offense, simply trying to get out of the way of the dueling pair. I kept waiting for a moment, a burst of flame or a psychic nudge that could knock Smoke off balance, but the pair was moving so quickly I didn't dare.
"You're the one who turned the Ambitious Dream into this!" Shane coughed. "You're the one that insisted we go after Slink. I thought that was the night that had changed you, when this became about you rather than about us, but no. You've always had this darkness inside." Smoke raised his blade again and took careful aim.
I reached out desperately, catching Smoke's wrist with a tendril of thought. His arm came to a halt midswing. His head turned, red eyes flashing as they fixed on me. He raised his other hand, a ball of shadow building in his palm. A sharp hiss split the air and then Smoke roared, dropping his blade. The darkness dissipated as he pulled his arms close to his chest, the hand that had been holding the blade bloodied, impaled by an iron spike.
Eve and Vix had all but vanished into the gloom, retreating to what could be considered a safe distance. Though with Smoke I doubted anywhere in this room could be considered safe. Eve had the right idea, keeping her distance, keeping Smoke guessing. Another bolt hissed through the air from a completely different direction than the last, headed towards Smoke's neck. At the last moment, the Greninja stepped aside, slapping the spike from the air. As it clattered to the ground a new, shorter, blade formed in his hand.
Shane took advantage of Smoke's brief distraction. "You're the one who killed so many. So many who didn't have to die!" Shane threw himself at Smoke again and again, body encased in darkness, doing what he could to keep him on the defense. Smoke stumbled back from each blow. The darkness burrowed into him, causing pain without actually hurting him. Clouds of Dark Matter swirled around him, searching for a wound to heal. "Quake!" Bam! "Stanley!" Bam! "Katie!" Bam! "Why did they have to die! You were supposed to protect them!"
"Because of you!" Smoke hissed. Shane flinched, missing a step, and Smoke pounced on the mistake. His blade scraped across the stone floor before biting deep into Shane's shoulder. "You forced my hand. I knew you were going for the Society. I couldn't afford the Dark Matter to move the base again. I…I regret it."
"No, you don't." Shane hissed through the pain. He snapped out, catching Smoke's wrist between his fangs. There was a nasty crunch before Smoke ripped his arm away, skin shredded and hand hanging limp."It's so easy to say, but you've never meant it. Not with our people. Not with Slink's family. And not with my mother! Why did she have to die?"
Shane lunged again, but his shoulder refused to support him. Blood soaked his foreleg as he stumbled off-balance. Smoke easily caught him by the throat, lifting him up so that he was eye to eye with Smoke. "The Hatred was better with you in it. I needed your pain. Your passion." Smoke growled. There seemed to be sadness in his voice. "I did what I had to do." He lifted his other hand, the wrist straightening and skin re-knitting.
"I know. And I'm sorry for it." Shane gasped.
Thock! Thock! Thock! Three more of Eve's bolts slammed into Smoke, two in his shoulders and the third in his calf. His body jerked as each one hit, but Smoke wasn't deterred. He raised his hand, forefinger extended, and jabbed it firmly into Shane's chest before tossing the Umbron aside.
The Umbreon landed on his side and didn't move again. He seemed frozen, wide fearful eyes fixed on me as deep gray stone crept from the point Smoke had touched. I couldn't look away even as his horrified expression froze on his face. My mind twitched towards the bottles in my bag. I had to help, I had to —
Smoke planted himself between me and Shane, kneeling to rip the spike from his thigh. He either didn't notice or care that he'd widened the wound in the process, knowing that in a moment he'd be none the worse for his fight with Shane. Fear crawled up my throat as he turned to me, a manic grin on his face.
The clouds above rumbled again, roiling as their master stepped towards me. More dust cascaded from above, followed by a pattering of clacks as a volley of rocks the size of Oran berries spilled from the clouds like raindrops.
The Dreamstone blazed within my chest almost hotter than the Flames coating my skin. There was a sense of comfort, a sense of strength that came with it. The floor around me sizzled with heat, tiny tongues of flame flickering around my paws.
I sculpted the flames with my mind, creating the usual rings. Smoke's eyes widened. He rushed at me, hoping to beat me to the punch, but he'd hardly taken two steps before a beam of flames flared from the rings, washing over him. I had to keep him at a distance; that was my only chance of winning.
Smoke slashed through the curtain of flames with a burst of steam, skin dry and cracked, splotched with deep red burns. He threw a shuriken at me, but a tiny puff of flame made it vanish with a hiss. A rock struck my shoulder, stinging, but I hardly noticed. I wouldn't let it break my concentration.
The air before Smoke thickened and darkened before tendrils of shadow burst out like a firework. I swiped my paw across the ground, conjuring a wall of Flames, but the shadows punched right through. I stumbled back, dodging a few and directing my fire at any that got too close. They struck like snakes, lunging at my ankles and shoulders whenever my back was turned. Thankfully a more direct burst of Fire forced them to dissipate.
I saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye. My body wouldn't move fast enough. I leapt aside just as Smoke's hand slammed down. I felt his fingertips just brush through my fur, thankfully not brushing deep enough to touch my skin. A ring of Dark Matter burst from his palm when he hit the ground, swirling chaotically for a moment before rising to join the dark clouds above. He hissed, and for a brief moment his skin turned gray.
He didn't pause; blades sprouted from both of his hands as he lunged at me. I ducked the first swing, blowing a burst of flame into his stomach. He didn't flinch. Another precise slash nearly caught me in the neck. I fell to my belly feeling it whistle inches away from the tips of my ears. I launched myself from the ground with all four legs, slamming into Smoke's chest. The force at least made him stumble back a few steps.
Water splashed around me; blasts of darkness singed my fur in their passing. It was a delicate dance, one I barely had time to think about. One wrong move and I was dead. But Lucy had trained me for this. Move fast, anticipate his attacks. It was the only way to stay alive. I did my best to get back at him whenever I saw an opening. A puff of Fire in his face when he lunged too far, a burst of Psychic against his side after a particularly wide swing.
It wasn't enough, though. I was slowing down, and what little damage I had been able to do to him had already vanished. A fight against entropy wasn't one I could win. Sooner or later I was going to make a mistake.
The curtain of flames behind Smoke parted for a moment, a silhouette flying through the inferno. They twisted in midair before flinging themselves downwards, bringing a blazing fan of tails over in an arc and slamming them into his head.
Any lesser 'mon would have collapsed unconscious from such a blow. Even Smoke staggered beneath, it falling to his knees, his blades splashing to the ground. Vix landed gracefully, hurrying to take her place at my side. "I thought I told you not to come charging in on your own."
"Blame mom. She couldn't get a good shot. Heads up!" A jet of water etched a line in the stone between Vix and me. Smoke was getting back to his feet, angrier and more desperate than ever. Then, as if to make matters worse, there was a solid thunk behind me. I didn't dare take my eyes off Smoke to see what it was, but I could feel my skin prickle, the fur on the nape of my neck standing on end. Had someone else entered the room?
I didn't have to wait long for the answer. A stone the size of my head crashed to the ground next to Smoke, cracking in half from the impact. Then another. Then another. Each impact rattled the ground, rattled me. The chamber was collapsing under the relentless churning of the Dark Matter. I could only imagine what was happening in the courtyard above. The ground shaking, cracks forming, deepening, and widening. Tiny gouts of dark matter hissing from the rifts…
With a dawning sense of horror, I realized what Smoke was planning. But I hardly had time to process it. Smoke's victory was at hand. We were running out of time. He exploded with darkness, clouds of dark matter bursting from him in a screaming wave. I was swept up in it, my concentration snapped, the Dreamstone fading as Fire and Psychic wrestled for control. Then I slammed to the ground, my breath forced from my lungs. I closed my eyes, fighting for breath. When the storm passed, I opened my eyes again to find Smoke standing over me, his hand clasped around my throat.
I wriggled desperately beneath his grip. Fire boiled within me, but I couldn't draw enough breath to let it out.
"Dad, no!" Vix screamed. She dove at the Greninja, her body wreathed in flame like I had taught her. He snatched her from the air, ignoring the flames searing his hand, and threw her. She tumbled through the air, before slamming into the wall. She let out a scream before she slid to the floor, unconscious.
Smoke turned his attention back to me. He crouched over me, forefinger extended, slowly lowering towards my chest. He leaned in, hissing in my ear. "Not. Even. Fate."
Fire roared within me; it felt like I was going to pass out from the sheer force of it. "I thought you'd have learned by now. Don't touch my family!" I hissed. Some small, sane part of my mind was wrestling to keep it under control, but so much I wanted to let it out. How easy would it be to lose myself to it? To rip and tear into Smoke with my teeth and claws as my fire cremated whatever remained, but no. I forced it down. Fire wouldn't get me out of this. Hell, Psychic probably couldn't get me out of this.
Smoke's arm snapped up, snatching an iron spike from the air, before tossing it to the ground. "No more of that, Espeon. I'll deal with you later." At his words, Fire flared within me again, but I forced it down. Not yet. Not yet. I forced myself into Psychic even as Smoke lowered his hand towards me again. But he was interrupted as a small stone smacked into his shoulder.
Smoke turned his head this time, and I followed his gaze. A small halo of small stones orbited her head. Her leather sash lay abandoned on the floor, completely empty of spikes. "Let him go!" She shouted.
Smoke laughed, but he didn't loosen his grip on me for a second. "Really, is that all you have left. Hmph. Ridiculous."
"Of course it isn't," Eve grinned. She closed her eyes, her gem exploded with light, cutting through the gloom like the beam of a lighthouse. Dust around her feet began to swirl, caught up in her Psychic power. The fist-sized rocks around her head spun faster, and even larger ones began to tremble.
Smoke loosened his grip, just slightly. All of his attention was fixed on Eve. It was now or never. Finally, I released the Psychic power I had been building up. The bolt of thought flew faster than Smoke could react, striking right between his eyes and driving deep into his mind.
I was in darkness, floating through a storm of thought. Images flashed before me like bolts of lightning. Myself, turned to stone, my statue reduced to rubble. The Base erupting like a volcano, dark clouds spewing miles into the air.
I watched a shadow fall over the Fire continent. And it wasn't water falling from those dark clouds onto the unsuspecting Pokemon below.
I wrenched myself back into my own head. Smoke had let me go. He cradled his head in both hands, fingers digging in to his skin. I scrambled out from under him, feeling sluggish, like I was moving in slow motion. "No, no, no," Smoke snarled, "get out! Get out of my head." Off to the side, I saw Eve nearly collapse. The rocks around her settling. Her bluff had bought us just enough time. It was up to me now.
"Get out!" Smoke roared again.
I was back in the storm, but now its rage was directed at me. Wind tossed me about like a rag doll, clouds pressing in on me with unbearable pressure. Every time they hit, it felt like I had been plunged into ice water. Torturous cold washing through me. This was his world? The constant screaming of the Dark Matter, feeding off of his pain… his Hatred.
"Slink!" I was vaguely aware of Eve's voice calling out from beyond the storm. More flashes of thought tore through me like lightning. Smoke regaining his feet. Smoke stumbling towards me blindly. I tried to pull back, to return to my body to defend myself, but I couldn't. The storm had me trapped.
Something warm filled me, a mind joining my own. I clung to it desperately, like I'd been given solid ground to brace against. "Come on Slink, come on! Fight it!" Eve's voice. The warmth surged within me, and my fur started to glow.. The storm seemed to lose all its punch. The light was a barrier that the dark clouds couldn't break. I wasn't about to give up, I would not give up. Not when there were Pokemon I loved counting on me. I would not fail them. Not again.
Never again.
I could feel the Dreamstone now, its power blazing within me. I poured that power into Smoke, pushing deeper into his mind. The dark clouds shrank back before me, evaporating in my glow. The Dark Matter screamed as my light sliced through it. I kept Eve and Vix in mind, kept the light growing.
Suddenly I was back, staring down Smoke in the real world. My fur glowed just as brightly as it had in his head, like a beam of sunlight cutting through his clouds. Smoke stumbled back from me, his mask dropping completely. He was scared.
Eve took the opportunity. She was little more than a purple blur as she dashed for the other side of the room. Whether she was headed for Shane or Vix, I had no idea. It was at that moment that the room gave another rumble. A deep thunderous crack that resonated deep within my bones. I didn't have time to scream a warning as a rock tumbled through the Dark Matter, directly above her.
She tripped, skidding across the floor. Her mind vanished from mine as I felt a massive pulse of Psychic energy from her, everything she had. The boulder froze for a moment in midair, cracks spiderwebbing over it from the force of the blow. Then it fell the last few feet, barely missing Eve, but catching her leg.
Her scream was louder than the rumble had been, shaking me even deeper than the impact had. My light flickered, dying for a brief moment, as I redirected all of my power to Eve. The rock shuddered as the full force of the Dreamstone slammed into it, lifting it just a few feet before tossing it aside. But before I could go to her, Smoke struck.
It was a desperate attack, a burst of dark energy that I hardly felt. It might have hurt me, but in that moment I couldn't be bothered to care. I glowed brighter as I turned to face him again. Energy flooded from me like a beam of sunlight, the flood of heat took my breath away. Clouds of Dark Matter swirled around Smoke, trying to defend him, but I cut right through them. The Greninja struggled and fought, but he couldn't match what was in my heart and mind. Every single thought focused on the ones I loved. He sank to his knees beneath the weight, mouth open in a scream that never left his throat.
The Dreamstone was too hot, even for me. It burned excruciatingly within my chest. It took everything I had to hold him down, but what good would that do? There was still a bottle of water in my bag, but I doubted I had anything left to deliver it.
Then, from the lingering darkness, Shane appeared. He leapt onto Smoke's back, claws digging into his skin. A brown bag, Eve's brown bag, hung from his shoulder. He kicked at Smoke's ribs, trying to get his footing as he plunged a paw into Eve's bag and pulled out a small glass bottle. Smoke redoubled his efforts, struggling against my power, but it did him no good as Shane brought the bottle around, water splashing against Smoke's tongue.
And then, Smoke gulped.
He realized what he'd done just a second too late. He surged to his feet wrenching himself free of me, throwing Shane from his back in the process. The bottle smashed against the ground, water spraying everywhere. But before Smoke could take a single step more, he doubled over like he'd been punched in the gut. He collapsed to his hands and knees, breath coming in sharp, labored, pants. And then he exploded.
Darkness burst from him, finding any means it could to vacate his body. It poured from his gaping mouth, shot from his nose, and dripped from his eyes. It oozed from his skin, splashing into a growing pool around him. It even poured from the wound on his neck, starting black, but lightening as it went on until the liquid had turned a gruesome shade of red. A ragged scream tore from him as the Dark Matter left, evaporating in the open air. The clouds above ceased their churning, almost seeming to stop and watch their master.
It went on like that for minute after minute. My legs shook beneath me, about to collapse. I was utterly exhausted, mentally and physically, but I kept my eyes on Smoke the entire time. Everything we had sacrificed, all the blood that had been spilled was for this moment.
Then slowly, it faded away—the scream as well as the Dark Matter. The flow tapered off to nothing. That is, other than the flow from his neck. Smoke raised his head, meeting my eyes for just a moment, before they rolled up into his head and he collapsed.
I waited a heartbeat. Two. But the Greninja didn't move. He never would again. Finally I let myself go. My legs turned to liquid. I hit the ground, but I was too numb to feel it. The Dreamstone's searing heat had vanished, but I still felt a dull ache in my chest. Eve had described burns to me before, and I think now I understood what they felt like.
The room was brighter now that the clouds had vanished. The ceiling was a mess of jagged stone and dangling wires. Cracks spiderwebbed over the stone, many wide enough that sunlight trickled in from above. I shivered at the sight of it. How close had we come to disaster? Even now, it looked like it could collapse beneath a feather's touch.
Shane moved to me, giving Smoke's body a wide berth. His movements were stiff, and he looked even more exhausted than I felt. "Slink, are you alright?"
"I think so." My voice was a dull rasp. I still technically had water in my bag, but I didn't have the energy to even reach into my bag. "How are you…?"
"Alive?" He shuddered. "Eve. She managed to get a bottle to me after that rock hit her." He grimaced.
"Is she alright?" The Fire inside me wasn't dead after all. I forced myself to my feet, though my body didn't respond as quickly as I would have hoped.
"Her leg is in bad shape, and I think she passed out from the pain. She's alive at least."
I let out a breath, though I forced myself to remain standing. Thank Arceus. Shane hovered a few steps away, unsure if I'd be comfortable closer, but also afraid I was going to collapse. "I'm fine," I reassured him."
"Slink, I —"
The ground trembled, heaving beneath me like we had been caught in an earthquake. Shane's voice seemed to disappear in his throat, as we struggled to remain standing.
Crash. A stone twice my size crashed to the ground between us and Smoke.
Crash.
Crash!
CRASH!
The chamber was collapsing. I turned instantly, my stomach twisting into knots. Where were Eve and Vix? I could see Eve, just off to my left, lying next to that boulder. She seemed to still be unconscious. I knew Vix was off to the right somewhere by the wall. I paused for a heartbeat. Two, staring at Eve, knowing what she would want me to do.
I bolted right, screaming over my shoulder: "Get Eve!" My body screamed in exhaustion as I pushed it harder. The Dreamstone flickered to life within me, the tiniest hint of warmth, but it was enough.
There, a splash of red-brown against the gray. She was sitting up, though she seemed dazed. She stared glassily at the ceiling, only watching as it fell to pieces around her. I dove, snatching her scruff in my mouth before bolting once more for the center.
Deadly rain crashed to the ground around me. My limited Psychic was consumed, giving me paltry warning of imminent death. I just had to keep moving, keep moving, keep—
A veritable mountain impacted mere feet in front of me. I crashed into it at full speed, slumping to the ground at its base. I didn't have the energy to rise anymore, I merely threw myself over Vix, hoping it would be enough. I made for a pitiful shield, but Vix pressed her face into my fur, squeezing me tightly with her tails. At least she could draw some comfort. I closed my eyes too, holding my breath as the world fell apart around us. What little energy I had left I formed into a Psychic barrier overhead. It wouldn't catch one of the big rocks, but it was all I had. We had to make it through this. We didn't come this far just to die to falling rocks!
And then I heard a cry. My eyes flew open, my eyes searching this hellscape. A flicker of movement caught my eye amongst the dust and falling rubble. Shane was in better shape than any of the rest of us were, but even he was having trouble moving Eve. She was awake at least, but with one useless leg dragging behind her, she could only move so fast.
It seemed to happen in slow motion, something I would never forget. She turned her head in that moment, as though she had felt my gaze upon her. Her purple eyes locked onto mine for just the briefest moment before the ceiling above her finally collapsed, burying her in stone.
"EVE!"