pbPart 36- We are SO screwed./bp
I woke up when my head connected with the back of the wall. Before I had time to reach back and check for damage, the rest of me hit the floor and the wind was knocked out of my lungs. This was turning out to be a very bad day. Gasping for breath, i squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my head, climbing to my feet.
p
"What's the big idea?!" I snapped, turning on George and Myuutsu. I was surprised to see them not standing in front of me but above. They'd thrown me into a pit. Tch, big deal. I could easily fly out.
p
George laughed- his way of laughing was completely unfit for a villian. It was more of a teenagerish giggle. I narrowed my eyes. Damn, i hated that laugh teens had. It was so fake and...ugh..popular. "I believe I should be the one asking THAT question, Mantis! You and all your little friends thought you could reclaim the tower from me, and for what?"
p
Josh, the Gaki, lowered his voice do dangerous levels in the darkness. A chill went up my spine as i realized he was standing directly behind me. Something about his aura seemed more complete, too...as if he had gained strength after feeding. This was getting too creepy. "This tower does not belong to you."
p
George laughed again, this time louder. I was forced to cover my ears. Damn...just based on that laugh alone I was going to psy-blast his tongue out. "You have no IDEA the power which lurks in this building!! And no idea how to tap it! Don't make me laugh, you little children." The spikey haired man stepped away from the edge of the pit, waving a hand before disappearing, still laughing.
p
Myuutsu remained, snearing down at me. "I knew they shouldn't have put a failsafe in you too."
p
"A what?" I lashed my tail angrily around me, wondering if they'd left my pokemon with me. I was getting sick and tired of these stupid mysteries. Not only did I only have a few cryptic clues to help me, none of them directly helped my sister. I was getting SICK of it!
p
Blinking silently, Myuutsu raised her nose to the air in a superior manner. "A failsafe, you little fool. It keeps you from going insane like the rest of them."
p
Had I just been complaining about getting no where a moment ago? Forget it!! "Explain!"
p
Myuutsu's eyes narrowed as she looked down on me in the darkness, blue light glowing in their pits. "I think you're in no position to demand answers from me." I clenched my fists at my sides as she spoke. I was going to fly up there and grab her around the neck and pull her into the darkness with me if that was the way she was going to be- "Oh, and another thing. I wouldn't reccomend using your powers at the moment."
p
"Why not!" I felt someone brush past me in the darkness and the fur on my neck stood up...I couldn't see anyone down here unless I started glowing..but if Myuutsu was still speaking truth-
p
Myuutsu pointed in the darkness and a small bolt of light shot out and touched my wrists. It didn't hurt, but it lit them up for me. I could see a small electronic bracelet around each of my wrists, which now that i knew it was there, i could feel it humming against my skin. what...?
p
"Emitters," Myuutsu explained. "Developed not long ago by some other Cinnibar scientists. It restricts the use of psychic powers-" she spoke with a bored drawl in her voice. "Thus rendering you, Mantis, completely helpless."
p
With a laugh, Myuutsu too was gone, and whatever trap door was above us was suddenly slammed shut. a rain of rock dust trickled down on me and i shut my eyes and jumped away to avoid it, only to slam into someone in the darkness.
p
"OW!! Watch it! That's my foot!" Gengar's voice snapped at me as I hobbled backwards only to colide with another body.
p
::RAICHUUUUUUUU!!!:: oh no...I'd stepped on 'Zap...
p
The room was lit up with a bright electric shock which bounced off the walls. For a moment before the bolts struck me, I could see we were all here. Jasusi was bent over Kyotoshi, who was still unconcious from his fire attack, and Dad was perched on her head. Gengar and the Gaki stood in front of me, and Irin was curled up in a corner. The stone walls were high and covered in paintings...hyrogliphics...which seemed vaugely familiar...
p
i didn't have time to think about it much more, Raizap's lightning unintentionally saw to that.
p
bPart 37- Lost in the Darkness
/bp
Holding a hand over my eyes, i leaned back against the wall and slumped down. This looked bad. Utterly hopeless. Well, i couldn't say it LOOKED anything...it was too dark to see...and my head was pounding from 'Zap's thundershock.
p
A body slumped down next to me in the dark. "Mantis, I'm scared." ...It was Irin.
p
I stared upwards into the darkness to where Myuutsu and George had vanished from. "It's okay, Irin. We'll get out of here. Don't worry about it."
p
The kid keened in his throat next to me. "Not worry? Mantis, they've got these weird things on me..I can't do anything-"
p
The emiters were on Irin too then. Damn...And until Kyotoshi managed to regain conciousness, we could be stuck in the dark a very long time...I sniffed and closed my eyes. Dark inside, dark out. I wondered about my sister...Myuutsu had said I was the only one with a failsafe. That meant that all these siblings of mine as well, may well suffer my sister's fate...
p
Irin made a choking sound next to me. Was the kid crying? "Irin, please, trust me. I've been through much worse than this. We'll be alright."
p
"It's not...It isn't...Gek!" I felt a brush of air as Irin doubled over twitching and began to glow faintly. Glow...glow??
p
I leapt to my feet, gathering the small poke-person in my arms. "Gengar, Josh, Jasusi, Dad! Come quick, Irin's evolving!"
p
The glow from Irin's body lit the strange chamber, dancing against the hyrogliphics now visable. I didn't have time to think about them though. Irin's body twisted in my arms as his snout elongated, ripping at his eyes. He cried out in pain as blood streamed from the torn skin around his eyes. Blood began to streak through his hair as his ears grew, and he thrashed. Tears streaked down his face.
p
"Make it stop! Mantis please!!"
p
Gengar shied away when she saw what was happening, shaking her head. "What's doing this?"
p
The Gaki lifted his face to the walls. "The 'Glyphs...they're ancient. This chamber must be used to raise the level of pokemon...sort of like a rare candy. Irin must have gained a level during his time here."
p
This place was like a rare-candy microwave? Damn! Obviously it wasn't the same, though, if Irin was in so much pain. "He'll die if we don't do something. We've got to nuetralize the levels."
p
Jasusi brushed Irin's hair away with her wingtip, chattering. "Catch, Eerie. Catch, kree..."
p
Dad looked down from his perch on her head and meowed softly. ::I don't think there's much we can do, Mantis. Not here. The leveling's much to slow. He's going to evolve only partway...::
p
"That'll kill him!" I lost control and snapped at the meowth. "I refuse to let one of my siblings die." But it came down simply to the fact that...honestly...I had no idea what to do...
p
Raizap drooped her ears and sat on Kyotoshi's motionless body, tiny electric sparks fizzling around her cheeks from her distress. :: Isn't there anything we can do for him?::
p
I shook my head and looked down at Irin's face as the pokeperson gave a shriek of pain. "I don't know, Raizap. I don't know."
p
Gengar looked at her feet as she spoke. "Someone might."
p
We all looked up at her in shock. It didn't matter, did it? Trapped in this hole, anyone who could help wouldn't be able to help in time. "Who?" Asked the Gaki.
p
Gengar twirled her staff like a baton before pointing it directly at Raizap. "Tada!"
p
"HER?"
p
::Chu?::
p
"D'oh! Not her! Kyotoshi!" The ghost keeper smacked herself in the forehead.
p
I held Irin close against myself as I looked at Kyotoshi's unmoving body. If this room truely was like a rare candy..would he be coherent when woken up? Irin screamed again, the sound echoing off the walls, and I realized we had no choice. "Alright. Raizap, give him a wakeup shock."
p
The Raichu nodded and touched her tail to Kyotoshi's forehead. ::CHU!::
p
I crossed two of my fingers and hugged the convulsing Irin close. This would be a true gamble.
p
bPart 38- Weakness breeds Strength/bp
"JESUS FUCKIN GOD!" Kyotoshi leapt awake as Raizap's electrical bolts surged through him. In fact, he leapt so far that he slammed his head against the stone sides of the pit we were trapped in. In the faint light Irin's evolution gave us, I could see the pokeperson snarling groggily and rubbing his head.
p
::Wow,:: Dad mused aloud, ::That was like a double-blasphemous whammy.::
p
"Shut up you damn freak," Kyo growled and opened his eyes, blinking in confusion at the sight of Irin's glowing body in my arms. The little psy-pokeperson twitched again and let out an agonized moan. Spatters of blood were begining to fall as his body shape contorted and ripped at itself. "What the hell...?"
p
I lowered my eyes and shook my head, staring into the warped face of what was Irin. "We don't have much time, Kyo."
p
Kyotoshi scrambled upwards now, his hands shaking as he backed farther against the rock, palms flattened out. He was afraid, as Irin spasemed again and a painful crack resounded in the air. "Wh..what the hell's going on with him?"
p
"He's evolving," Gengar supplied calmly. The Gaki hovering just behind her simply nodded stoicly.
p
"He can't evolve, damnit. He ain't done nothin-"
p
::Chaa...::
p
I nodded to Raizap, who was motioning to teh hyrogliphics on the wall. "It's the room, Kyotoshi. Something isn't right with it, and it causes slow leveling. But apparently it's not the same as a rare candy-"
p
Kyotoshi's fur was bristling as he looked up and around himself nervously- anywhere but at Irin. "I'LL say it's not!"
p
Jasusi flared her wings and screeched, panicked. The zubat-pokeperson seemed increadably unwilling to let any of us die. "Catch, Kyo! No damn Eerie Iri- Catch!"
p
"Shhhhit..." Running a hand shakily through his hair, the growlithe-meowth person turned away from us, looking along the length of the wall before spinning back. All of us were watching him now..and Irin was running out of time. "Well what do you want ME to do about it, damnit?"
p
"Gengar said you could help."
p
"How the hell can I help, huh?" His voice was frantic now, mingling with the hight pitched shrieks from Irin. I could tell from here his hands were shaking. Kyotoshi did not cope well with responsability.
p
Gengar slitted her eyes "You know."
p
"Like hell I do!"
p
With a sudden show of her age, Gengar folded her arms and looked utterly confused at this. "Well gee...I figured you would. Now we reallyi are/i in trouble."p
"Hell with this," Kyotoshi held the sides of his head with his paws. In the faint glow of the dark, I could see his arms shaking ever so slightly. He was afraid. Very very afraid. p
Josh blinked once in the dark, his eyes opening to a glow-like state. "Evolve him."
p
Kyotoshi seemed ready to break down and cry. I nearly felt sorry for him. His voice became an almost panicked laugh. "EVOLVE him? How the hell...that'll only make it worse!"
p
I held tightly to the small poke-person as he screamed and arched his back in my arms. He wouldn't last long. "What could be worse than this?"
p
Kyotoshi stood silently, turned and stared at me. Dad looked up at him, as did the Chu. All eyes were on the most irrational member of our ragteam now.
p
"Alright," Kyotoshi finally whispered, lowering his gaze from Irin's tortured body in my arms. "Alright....I'll do my damn best. But this might not work."
p
I looked at Irin's face, blood obscuring most of his features. Shaking my head, I reminded them all. "We're running short of time."
p
A haunted look entered Kyotoshi's face as he reached hands into his pockets, bringing up fists which he kept clenched closed. "We only need a little while..."
p
Opening his hands in front of us, we could see what had been kept in his pockets. Rare candies. Kyotoshi's vice, and Irin's last hope.
p
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I woke up when my head connected with the back of the wall. Before I had time to reach back and check for damage, the rest of me hit the floor and the wind was knocked out of my lungs. This was turning out to be a very bad day. Gasping for breath, i squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my head, climbing to my feet.
p
"What's the big idea?!" I snapped, turning on George and Myuutsu. I was surprised to see them not standing in front of me but above. They'd thrown me into a pit. Tch, big deal. I could easily fly out.
p
George laughed- his way of laughing was completely unfit for a villian. It was more of a teenagerish giggle. I narrowed my eyes. Damn, i hated that laugh teens had. It was so fake and...ugh..popular. "I believe I should be the one asking THAT question, Mantis! You and all your little friends thought you could reclaim the tower from me, and for what?"
p
Josh, the Gaki, lowered his voice do dangerous levels in the darkness. A chill went up my spine as i realized he was standing directly behind me. Something about his aura seemed more complete, too...as if he had gained strength after feeding. This was getting too creepy. "This tower does not belong to you."
p
George laughed again, this time louder. I was forced to cover my ears. Damn...just based on that laugh alone I was going to psy-blast his tongue out. "You have no IDEA the power which lurks in this building!! And no idea how to tap it! Don't make me laugh, you little children." The spikey haired man stepped away from the edge of the pit, waving a hand before disappearing, still laughing.
p
Myuutsu remained, snearing down at me. "I knew they shouldn't have put a failsafe in you too."
p
"A what?" I lashed my tail angrily around me, wondering if they'd left my pokemon with me. I was getting sick and tired of these stupid mysteries. Not only did I only have a few cryptic clues to help me, none of them directly helped my sister. I was getting SICK of it!
p
Blinking silently, Myuutsu raised her nose to the air in a superior manner. "A failsafe, you little fool. It keeps you from going insane like the rest of them."
p
Had I just been complaining about getting no where a moment ago? Forget it!! "Explain!"
p
Myuutsu's eyes narrowed as she looked down on me in the darkness, blue light glowing in their pits. "I think you're in no position to demand answers from me." I clenched my fists at my sides as she spoke. I was going to fly up there and grab her around the neck and pull her into the darkness with me if that was the way she was going to be- "Oh, and another thing. I wouldn't reccomend using your powers at the moment."
p
"Why not!" I felt someone brush past me in the darkness and the fur on my neck stood up...I couldn't see anyone down here unless I started glowing..but if Myuutsu was still speaking truth-
p
Myuutsu pointed in the darkness and a small bolt of light shot out and touched my wrists. It didn't hurt, but it lit them up for me. I could see a small electronic bracelet around each of my wrists, which now that i knew it was there, i could feel it humming against my skin. what...?
p
"Emitters," Myuutsu explained. "Developed not long ago by some other Cinnibar scientists. It restricts the use of psychic powers-" she spoke with a bored drawl in her voice. "Thus rendering you, Mantis, completely helpless."
p
With a laugh, Myuutsu too was gone, and whatever trap door was above us was suddenly slammed shut. a rain of rock dust trickled down on me and i shut my eyes and jumped away to avoid it, only to slam into someone in the darkness.
p
"OW!! Watch it! That's my foot!" Gengar's voice snapped at me as I hobbled backwards only to colide with another body.
p
::RAICHUUUUUUUU!!!:: oh no...I'd stepped on 'Zap...
p
The room was lit up with a bright electric shock which bounced off the walls. For a moment before the bolts struck me, I could see we were all here. Jasusi was bent over Kyotoshi, who was still unconcious from his fire attack, and Dad was perched on her head. Gengar and the Gaki stood in front of me, and Irin was curled up in a corner. The stone walls were high and covered in paintings...hyrogliphics...which seemed vaugely familiar...
p
i didn't have time to think about it much more, Raizap's lightning unintentionally saw to that.
p
bPart 37- Lost in the Darkness
/bp
Holding a hand over my eyes, i leaned back against the wall and slumped down. This looked bad. Utterly hopeless. Well, i couldn't say it LOOKED anything...it was too dark to see...and my head was pounding from 'Zap's thundershock.
p
A body slumped down next to me in the dark. "Mantis, I'm scared." ...It was Irin.
p
I stared upwards into the darkness to where Myuutsu and George had vanished from. "It's okay, Irin. We'll get out of here. Don't worry about it."
p
The kid keened in his throat next to me. "Not worry? Mantis, they've got these weird things on me..I can't do anything-"
p
The emiters were on Irin too then. Damn...And until Kyotoshi managed to regain conciousness, we could be stuck in the dark a very long time...I sniffed and closed my eyes. Dark inside, dark out. I wondered about my sister...Myuutsu had said I was the only one with a failsafe. That meant that all these siblings of mine as well, may well suffer my sister's fate...
p
Irin made a choking sound next to me. Was the kid crying? "Irin, please, trust me. I've been through much worse than this. We'll be alright."
p
"It's not...It isn't...Gek!" I felt a brush of air as Irin doubled over twitching and began to glow faintly. Glow...glow??
p
I leapt to my feet, gathering the small poke-person in my arms. "Gengar, Josh, Jasusi, Dad! Come quick, Irin's evolving!"
p
The glow from Irin's body lit the strange chamber, dancing against the hyrogliphics now visable. I didn't have time to think about them though. Irin's body twisted in my arms as his snout elongated, ripping at his eyes. He cried out in pain as blood streamed from the torn skin around his eyes. Blood began to streak through his hair as his ears grew, and he thrashed. Tears streaked down his face.
p
"Make it stop! Mantis please!!"
p
Gengar shied away when she saw what was happening, shaking her head. "What's doing this?"
p
The Gaki lifted his face to the walls. "The 'Glyphs...they're ancient. This chamber must be used to raise the level of pokemon...sort of like a rare candy. Irin must have gained a level during his time here."
p
This place was like a rare-candy microwave? Damn! Obviously it wasn't the same, though, if Irin was in so much pain. "He'll die if we don't do something. We've got to nuetralize the levels."
p
Jasusi brushed Irin's hair away with her wingtip, chattering. "Catch, Eerie. Catch, kree..."
p
Dad looked down from his perch on her head and meowed softly. ::I don't think there's much we can do, Mantis. Not here. The leveling's much to slow. He's going to evolve only partway...::
p
"That'll kill him!" I lost control and snapped at the meowth. "I refuse to let one of my siblings die." But it came down simply to the fact that...honestly...I had no idea what to do...
p
Raizap drooped her ears and sat on Kyotoshi's motionless body, tiny electric sparks fizzling around her cheeks from her distress. :: Isn't there anything we can do for him?::
p
I shook my head and looked down at Irin's face as the pokeperson gave a shriek of pain. "I don't know, Raizap. I don't know."
p
Gengar looked at her feet as she spoke. "Someone might."
p
We all looked up at her in shock. It didn't matter, did it? Trapped in this hole, anyone who could help wouldn't be able to help in time. "Who?" Asked the Gaki.
p
Gengar twirled her staff like a baton before pointing it directly at Raizap. "Tada!"
p
"HER?"
p
::Chu?::
p
"D'oh! Not her! Kyotoshi!" The ghost keeper smacked herself in the forehead.
p
I held Irin close against myself as I looked at Kyotoshi's unmoving body. If this room truely was like a rare candy..would he be coherent when woken up? Irin screamed again, the sound echoing off the walls, and I realized we had no choice. "Alright. Raizap, give him a wakeup shock."
p
The Raichu nodded and touched her tail to Kyotoshi's forehead. ::CHU!::
p
I crossed two of my fingers and hugged the convulsing Irin close. This would be a true gamble.
p
bPart 38- Weakness breeds Strength/bp
"JESUS FUCKIN GOD!" Kyotoshi leapt awake as Raizap's electrical bolts surged through him. In fact, he leapt so far that he slammed his head against the stone sides of the pit we were trapped in. In the faint light Irin's evolution gave us, I could see the pokeperson snarling groggily and rubbing his head.
p
::Wow,:: Dad mused aloud, ::That was like a double-blasphemous whammy.::
p
"Shut up you damn freak," Kyo growled and opened his eyes, blinking in confusion at the sight of Irin's glowing body in my arms. The little psy-pokeperson twitched again and let out an agonized moan. Spatters of blood were begining to fall as his body shape contorted and ripped at itself. "What the hell...?"
p
I lowered my eyes and shook my head, staring into the warped face of what was Irin. "We don't have much time, Kyo."
p
Kyotoshi scrambled upwards now, his hands shaking as he backed farther against the rock, palms flattened out. He was afraid, as Irin spasemed again and a painful crack resounded in the air. "Wh..what the hell's going on with him?"
p
"He's evolving," Gengar supplied calmly. The Gaki hovering just behind her simply nodded stoicly.
p
"He can't evolve, damnit. He ain't done nothin-"
p
::Chaa...::
p
I nodded to Raizap, who was motioning to teh hyrogliphics on the wall. "It's the room, Kyotoshi. Something isn't right with it, and it causes slow leveling. But apparently it's not the same as a rare candy-"
p
Kyotoshi's fur was bristling as he looked up and around himself nervously- anywhere but at Irin. "I'LL say it's not!"
p
Jasusi flared her wings and screeched, panicked. The zubat-pokeperson seemed increadably unwilling to let any of us die. "Catch, Kyo! No damn Eerie Iri- Catch!"
p
"Shhhhit..." Running a hand shakily through his hair, the growlithe-meowth person turned away from us, looking along the length of the wall before spinning back. All of us were watching him now..and Irin was running out of time. "Well what do you want ME to do about it, damnit?"
p
"Gengar said you could help."
p
"How the hell can I help, huh?" His voice was frantic now, mingling with the hight pitched shrieks from Irin. I could tell from here his hands were shaking. Kyotoshi did not cope well with responsability.
p
Gengar slitted her eyes "You know."
p
"Like hell I do!"
p
With a sudden show of her age, Gengar folded her arms and looked utterly confused at this. "Well gee...I figured you would. Now we reallyi are/i in trouble."p
"Hell with this," Kyotoshi held the sides of his head with his paws. In the faint glow of the dark, I could see his arms shaking ever so slightly. He was afraid. Very very afraid. p
Josh blinked once in the dark, his eyes opening to a glow-like state. "Evolve him."
p
Kyotoshi seemed ready to break down and cry. I nearly felt sorry for him. His voice became an almost panicked laugh. "EVOLVE him? How the hell...that'll only make it worse!"
p
I held tightly to the small poke-person as he screamed and arched his back in my arms. He wouldn't last long. "What could be worse than this?"
p
Kyotoshi stood silently, turned and stared at me. Dad looked up at him, as did the Chu. All eyes were on the most irrational member of our ragteam now.
p
"Alright," Kyotoshi finally whispered, lowering his gaze from Irin's tortured body in my arms. "Alright....I'll do my damn best. But this might not work."
p
I looked at Irin's face, blood obscuring most of his features. Shaking my head, I reminded them all. "We're running short of time."
p
A haunted look entered Kyotoshi's face as he reached hands into his pockets, bringing up fists which he kept clenched closed. "We only need a little while..."
p
Opening his hands in front of us, we could see what had been kept in his pockets. Rare candies. Kyotoshi's vice, and Irin's last hope.
p
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