Whelp, that took way longer than it had to, mostly because of how I wanted to take care of the fights in this chapter, which went through several rewrites sadly… also, uni started up again, and that ate up a bunch of time.
Either way, it's out, so we're still going! Let's take some time to look at the reviews…
Sees only one Huh… Well not as many as I had expected, hopefully I see more for next chapter! As always, don't be afraid to drop a comment or throw some speculation!
TheOrangeLord: Like this! Perhaps that could be the case, it has been left ambiguous for a reason, but there is obviously a remnant of him in this world… whether or not that allows for a return or merely a reference… we shall see.
And that would be it! Again, sorry for the delay, I will try to be more consistent with these updates. Enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 13
The Throne
A fallen star and harbingers of doom clash.
Might is everything. Without it, you can't do anything in this world, and instead the world shall do what it wants with you. This much was clear in the Garchomp's head as he walked into the lone village located in the valley. Behind him, the pokémon that he'd been provided for this mission, opting to take them along instead of his six bodyguards. If there were to be casualties, he'd rather it be these goons than his own men. He glanced at the village, it's lonely houses, the broken, burnt up bridge hanging down in the middle, the unsettling stillness, windmills silently turning above them.
From what they could tell at the current time, the village was almost abandoned, only a few signs of life remained, the inhabitants hiding from the lightning onslaught that had rained down upon the land just a few hours ago, an onslaught his men and himself had evaded by burrowing underground, and dragging those other followers underneath with them. They were no fools. and had obeyed almost immediately, and followed his every command without questioning. It made them valuable assets, but little more. Blindly following a leader could only get an army so far, and he's using them appropriately. They kept walking, across the bridges, and towards the only house that had anyone standing outside, a lone Aegislash, tensing up and drawing its bladed arm immediately, holding his shield in the other.
"Halt! Strangers are not allowed in these lands! Turn around this instant or-" Some of the Garchomp's men were more than ready to attack, but the towering monster that lead them simply rose a hand, and halted their advances. He then turned to the Aegislash, and bowed.
"Our apologies for coming into your lands without an invitation, but we wish to hold an audience with your leader." He rose up. "Time is of the essence. We have little to waste, and much to speak about, regarding the curse that flays these lands."
"You shall have no audience!" He didn't back off, holding that shield before him. "Our elder has no need to meet with ones such as you… so many strangers just today. It seems none of them were to be trusted after all!"
"Now, I assure you, we have nothing to do with these strangers that have arrived before us." He rose his hands as a sign of peace, and showing they didn't mean harm. "What they offered you was either tribute, or asked questions. We offer a favour, a gift even, a proposal to lift the curse upon these lands and let you live your lives in peace without the menace that rains down from the heavens."
"How do you know of such a thing, stranger?!"
"We travelled through the badlands, and were almost struck by those bolts. The rumors of these lands filled in the rest. The air here is viced, charged with malice. You have lived and stayed in it for far longer than anyone should have." He bowed, again. "I come here to offer a permanent solution to this. I promise, that I have no intentions to use violence against you, your elder, or your people."
"Your words do not line up with the mon that stands behind you." He pointed to those followers, who, as he'd feared, were much more feisty than he'd anticipated, and were questioning why they didn't just take what they came here for by force. "Can you vouch for them?"
"I shall not, but instead remind them of the vow they made upon coming along, and that I may vouch for their removal should we return empty handed or otherwise on unsatisfactory terms." That single threat seemed to get everyone to stand straight, and stop their muttering and murmuring behind him.
"Your words remind them of a dark threat, one that you no doubt serve."
"I serve no one, my friend. Only my own, and those who pay the toll. My current 'contractor', has done so, but I assure you that he had no specifications to what should happen to your village."
"Then why should I consider that you will not raze us to the ground after you are done?"
"Too bothersome to speak and discuss the terms of your salvation to then betray you at the last moment and destroy this rather beautiful village simply out of wickedness. The mere fact I stand here, before you, hands above my head, attempting to reach a deal and have not instead destroyed this village already or attempted to attack it is proof enough. We gave away our element of surprise in the hopes of reaching an agreement."
"And what would happen should we deny you?" At this point, the Garchomp smiled, shaking his head.
"Believe me my friend: you will not."
A few minutes later, he came in through the curtain of papers, to find the elder ready to speak with him, an uneasy Aegislash floating besides him, and an aggressive-looking Excadrill on the other side. The Elder invited him to sit down before them, a mirror image of what Tharmius himself had done previously. But instead of sitting before him, he kneeled down, and bowed. "My thanks, for inviting me to your home."
"You were not invited, you essentially forced yourself upon us." The Garchomp glared at the Excadrill, the elder once again raising a hand to appease them.
"Now, now… let us not keep our guest waiting, as he seems to have a proposal for us… surely, if we are to talk, and reach an agreement, we can get this done with as soon as possible?"
"Of course. I'll keep this simple, then, lay out my proposal, and after that we may debate: my men and I have come today to rid your people and lands of the curse that was placed upon them by the strange metal fragment that no doubt landed and still remains here. No, there is no need, or rather use on trying to hide this information from me: I know of this."
"Who told you then?! No one from the village is allowed to divulge such information!"
"Your Aegislash friend is quite shaken… I would recommend you advice him to calm down, Elder… as for how I know, it's quite obvious in the air: the Miasma coils and extends its tendrils upward from the valley beneath, the bolts of lightning that struck the ground earlier were hellbent on smiting us. Not a cloud in the sky until they suddenly came, then vanished just as quickly. Obvious, really."
"So what? Just because you know of this does not mean you have the tools or ways of fixing this issue."
At the Drillbur's comment, the Garchomp smiled. "Ah, but I do my friend. I have dealt with such things in the past, and know what must be done, and who can grab and take it away from these lands… in particular, I would be the one to do so. For you see…" He showed them the back of his left hand, where an emblem, much like the one they'd seen on Team Star earlier, specifically that Krokorok, could be seen. "I live among the accursed, the ones who touched the pieces of power and remained unchanged, and sane."
"By the ancients, yet another… what are you all." The trio in front of him was apprehended at the sight, knowing know that fighting this man was a lost cause, much like Tharmius.
"I am, as I said, one who touched one of those fragments and lived past it… We call those fragments Essence Shards, just to make it easier for us to identify them. When a creature grasps a shard, the energy that is contained within flows into their bodies, and charges them with power beyond their wildest dreams… but that energy, is like a rope of sorts, and suddenly you will have two forces pulling at you at the same time so to say. And if the rope is not strong enough… it will snap. That balancing act is between the power you wield and your will. Should your will not be strong enough, along with your body, one will snap: go mad with the power, or transform into a monster. I believe what happened in this village years ago was a case of the latter." He sat down properly. "Your silence provides all the answers I seek."
"What do you intend to do to our tribe?" The Elder inquired, challenging the dragon-ground type.
"Nothing. One who has grabbed a fragment and managed to control the power, such as I have, cannot be affected by either another fragment's power, or the decay that the monsters bring about. A protection, of sorts, from this kind of harm, along with the powers that the shards provide, to smite those creatures. I intend to remove the shard, and let the monster that hides behind be dealt with soon after, lifting the curse from your lands."
They muttered among themselves, debating, the Elder nodding, or shaking his head. "You seem to know a lot about these shards. What you say may be true, but what reason do we have to trust you? What would you gain from obtaining such a power?"
"As I said, I have nothing to gain, for I already possess all the power I could ever need… none can stand up against my might, but there are others who would rather keep these shards from falling into the wrong hands… you have no doubt possibly met them. Interlopers, others interested in this power… they know not what they are playing with, and could unleash a disaster of the same or higher magnitude than the one you endured. The only thing I would truly gain would be monetary compensation, and you earn peace of mind, and our protection from outside forces."
"Outside forces?"
"The outside world is… changing, or at least is soon going to change. A storm is brewing on the horizon, once more. Two sleeping giants are awakening, and are readying for confrontation. Should this come to fruition, wouldn't you rather lay on one side of the conflict, to avoid total annihilation from both sides?"
"You're asking us to participate in a war then!"
"It will be a war unlike any that this world has seen, or rather could be… It's more of a warning, if anything. I vow to send some of my most trusted warriors to keep you safe from either side, should it be necessary. My contract asks of me to retrieve the shard, but does not specify making these sorts of deals."
"So this is something you're doing on the side, without the supervision of your hirer? What guarantee have we if he would decide to strike against us?"
"My own. My business and his own are intrinsically linked: seeking to destroy or otherwise harm him would end up causing self-damage… I made sure of that." The more he spoke, the more advantageous the deal sounded. And those were his intentions. None of what he'd said was a lie… but he hadn't necessarily told the entire truth either. The Elder and his trusted men didn't need to know that though, and he let them debate and talk with each other for as long as they needed.
After much debating and asking for more specific information, the trio once again sat down before him: the Excadrill seemed unconvinced, the Aegislash was far more appeased, and the Elder had once again returned to his peaceful demeanour. "After much discussion… we have decided to take your offer. You have a strange energy about you, the power that pulses from your body can match that monster's, overcome it even… We have long lived in fear, suffering and cowering from the curse that plagued these lands. But we accept your deal on the condition that if we should once again, be attacked and your methods ineffective at ending the monster, we shall seal it again. And you with it."
"I am willing to accept that risk. I understand your concern, but it shall not be necessary." The Garchomp nodded, and stretched a hand out to seal the deal. The Excadrill and Aegislash shot their elder one last glance, whilst he seemed to doubt himself as he extended his hand, but something about the Garchomp before them exuded a kind of pressure that made it clear that he was being civilized and speaking not because it was his only tool, but because he'd rather avoid unnecessary, tiresome and redundant violence. It was this pressure that made the elder raise his hand, once again, and go to meet the Garchomp's…
"Maximilian, sir!" One of the followers, a Mankey, suddenly burst in, surprising everyone and stopping them before the deal was sealed. "A Shinx has just come out running from one of the caves, and is heading for the valley!"
"A Shinx?" The elder's eyes widened, and the mole pokémon stood up and rushed outside. "The outsiders… they wouldn't…"
"You never did say you had other visitors."
"I did not know it would bother you, or that it would come to this… what were they doing, which cave?"
His protegé burst in again, and confirmed their fears: she'd just come from the graveyard. Their hallowed lands, once again, sullied and trespassed upon. But time was of the essence, they had to follow her to valley, and interrogate her! "She moves quite fast, slippery devil she is!" The Garchomp, Maximilian, walked outside and looked over the edge. There she was, riding down the elevator… vomiting. It clearly wasn't normal, and wherever she was going, she was being driven forth by some unknown force. Time was still of the essence, pacing across the bridge and trailing after her, his men following close, and the Elder and his trusted bodyguards behind them.
As they got onto the elevator, she went into a cave behind the waterfall, much to the tribe member's shock, and took off running as soon as the elevator reached the bottom. "Boss, that was…"
"I know." Max didn't glance at those lackeys. He already knew who it was, but whatever she was doing, she was no doubt playing with a type of power she knew nothing about. A roar followed her entry into the cave, the Aegislash shouting and ordering that they sought cover. An instant later they'd know why, as bolts of electricity surged out of the cave and went everywhere, breaking and burning up the elevator they'd just used to go down, several large wooden platforms smashing to splinters. Max just stood there, the splinters bouncing off his scales, the bolts aiming towards him and smashing against a slab of rock that rose out of the earth with just a simple stomp of his foot, protecting himself and his lackeys.
As the lightning died down, he was the first to go in, approaching slowly, and entering the room. The shrine was torn to shreds, lightning coiled in a dark, insidious cloud above his head, and on the ground, a battered, tired Shinx lay, her right paw glowing intensely, blue, yellow and white bolts coursing through her fur, twitching sometimes, her eyes glazed over, on the throws of fainting… or dying, perhaps. He chuckled, amused, as he spotted the fragment laying in front, approaching slowly. "A shame… he would've loved to see you again." He crouched down in front of the fragment and Lucy.
"He really liked to talk about you, how you could've helped us out, contributed to something bigger. You got a bad hand in life, he claimed, the deck stacked against the both of you… Looks like you took on a bigger challenge than you were able to." He grasped the metal fragment, and as he suspected, nothing happened. Nothing would happen to him. He was one of those lucky few, unlike the Shinx before him. "I don't know if you can hear me anymore, but what awaits you now is death, be it your own, or the lives of all that live in these lands…" He looked upward. "Along with whoever you used to be." He smiled. "We never did close that deal after all, and I was never told to get rid of any Rebscura that threatened the area."
He stood up, expecting something, anything, but that didn't seem to be the case, and the glow and electricity on her body didn't seem to die down, escalating in fact. He supposed that was his cue to leave. "I'll give your family the news." And with that, he'd stand up and turn his back on her, leaving the cave, and walking out to the increasingly better lit up valley. Outside, the half a dozen followers awaited eagerly, most of them shifting around uncomfortable, the valley no doubt having its effect on them. The Sceptile and Grumpig were the only ones unaffected, the others, a Magmortar, a Tyrogue, Granbull and Bellossom seemed to be glancing around nervously. The Excadrill approached, his arms crossed, looking at the fragment he now held in his hands, and the fact he was unaffected, nay, unchanged. "It is done."
"Is it now? And what about the foreigner? The Shinx?" Max began walking, almost as if he was ignoring him.
"She touched the fragment. She will either die… or become another one of those things." The Excadrill's face went pale, and rushed to him.
"You didn't get rid of her?! She'll kill all of us! That wasn't a part of the deal!" The Garchomp just ignored him, and in a fit of rage, the steel type jumped at him, brandishing those steel claws. In the blink of an eye, the Garchomp would turn around, and while he was in the air, deflected his claw with his forearm blade, then kicked the side of his face, sending him crashing into a wall, cracking and breaking it apart, the Excadrill letting out a howl before he fell to the ground, fainted.
"The deal we never closed, you mean? You did not tell me that there were other foreigners… that changes things. Be sure, that these people will help you just the way I did… and should they fail and die, then trust me, all will be lost for you, I, and everyone else."
"You lying bastard!" The Aegislash took a swing at his neck with deadly accuracy.
She felt nothing, she was floating in what seemed like empty space, all of it was black, her body was numb, and tired, shuddering and twitching as she regained herself. Was she dead? The last thing she remembered was being hurled against a wall, lightning, and a scream, everything else beyond that point was blurry, and confusing. She tried to move her body, but none of it responded, she couldn't feel anything either, like she was just a mind floating in nothingness. And she couldn't close her eyes. That didn't work either, as if they were constantly open. She began to fear the worse, opening a mouth she lacked to emit a scream that wouldn't be heard.
"What is it that you wish?"
She would freeze up, that voice came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It was the same voice that had haunted her whilst she
"Ran away. You claim yourself to be a coward now, but you have been one for far longer than you can imagine. Do you not agree?"
She didn't know who this was, but she couldn't answer, she hadn't even finished that though, and they'd somehow answered.
"I am the origin, the beginning, the reason for your existence."
God, then?
"Nonsense. Your vision is limited. You are narrow, your whole life has been nothing but an endless hallway, and you have crashed into a wall. No way to go through, only around."
She grew angry, and wanted to scream, lash out and attack whatever it was that was around her, nothing but hatred, and contempt, born from fear and confusion assaulted her. The voice let her be whilst her anger died down, glancing around nervously once again, thinking that she was now alone forever.
"Nothing shall be forever. None are alone. Change will happen. You must change."
What kind of change? A positive, or a negative one? There were so many questions, yet she didn't get any of the answers!
"You have no need for answers. Only this: you must change, grow stronger. Grow faster. For the sake of those around you."
They were starting to speak as if this was some sort of grand scheme of fate.
"It is not. Life will go on without you. You will die. Be buried. Your friends will die. Be mourned. The world shall burn, reduced to ashes, return to sand, and from the blood, new things will rise. You are nothing. Become something. Change."
Whatever comfort she wanted, she wouldn't find it there, and after waiting for more, she got nothing. A sensation in her mind, like a veil being lifted, but still, nothingness awaited her. She tried to think, tried to remember. Before she grabbed that fragment, she'd thought of his last words, his wish for her to join him further ahead. In a better place. Another life, so to speak… Was this it? The chance she'd been waiting for? Would she meet him now? But there was so much to pay… her mind trailed to the place that she'd been before then, her friends, her words. Elly… and Zed… the looks of betrayal on their faces, the way they'd been hurt… it hurt her as well. That was something she wanted to change. She'd already been wanting to change it!
She could feel her senses returning, her vision becoming gray, as it became a bit more white, as her resolve started to come through… she was going to continue. She was going to keep on running. She wasn't going to let anyone or anything keep her from her goals… this time, she knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to keep moving, get to her friends, and keep on working and using whatever fame she'd get… to find her brother. She was going to do it, catch up, and reunite and get to have a family… someone who actually cared for her.
And then, Lucy's eyes snapped open.
The Aegislash's blade was caught by his claw, swung around, and slammed into the ground, but before he could deliver another blow, an intense light emanated from the cave, blinding them all momentarily. "It's begun!" He was about to give his men the order to retreat… when a bolt of lightning surged out from behind the water, something black moving at lightning speeds, smashing against the Grumpig, a bolt smiting the Sceptile, then vaulted and dashed by the Bellosom, cuts appearing on his chest, the Tyrogue being sent sliding backwards, and both the Magmortar and Granbull were blown away.
Alarmed, he rose his wrist blades in front of him, blocking the attack… what he saw was a Luxio with emerald eyes growling at him, her tail glowing yellow, electricity coursing through his arms as he pushed her away, but the pointy star at the end of her tail hooked to his blades, and made her spin away and backwards, against the wall, landing and even sticking to it for a few seconds before jumping and swinging her tail, shooting lightning from it until she landed. Where before she would've winced from the fall, he saw a faint electric glow surround her paws as she landed, snarling and glaring at him just fine.
Her blue fur was a shade darker, the usually yellow bands around her forearms were green, same as her eyes, focused and staring at him intensely. To finish it all off, the glow around her right front paw had died down, and now he could see, plain as day, another emblem. The Aegislash and the Elder stared at her in awe, whilst Maximilian regained his composure. "Alright… you are the fucker that walked into the cave just earlier… who the hell were you talking about?!"
"Just when I thought you'd gotten out of our way, you come back from the dead… and it seems like you've acquired more power…" He chuckled. "It seems then, that I shall have to fight. I cannot allow someone such as yourself to gain more power!" He stood straight, towering over her, even with her slightly increased stature, but she didn't back down. From her right though, she could hear some groans, and howls as the Granbull charged her down.
She attempted to dash backwards and away… but as she moved, she'd see that while her movements were unchanged… his were slower. That first attack had almost been instinctual, she'd just let her body do its thing, but now she could tell things had changed. The change in speed was barely noticeable, but there it was, enough time for her to continue dashing backwards as the Magmortar's flamethrower roared out from her left, and coated the grass she'd just been standing in flames. She saw the embers lick away, fizzle and then die down, sliding as she moved much faster than she had anticipated, almost tripping on a rock, the effect vanishing almost instantly.
"What the…" Unfortunately, that single moment of doubt was everything Maximilian needed to smash his fist right against her face. Even with that brutal hit however, which should've fractured her skull and nearly killed her, she was sent flying but only got a nasty nose bleed, landing on the grass, as that electricity around her body faded.
"How did you… Impossible, I hit you straight! You should be dead right now!" She sat down and rubbed her face, groaning and pretty much alive.
(Caffeine - RWBY)
"Well… I ain't… aaah fuck my nose!" She was holding her face, getting her paws bloodied up, only tasting and smelling blood, glaring at him. "You're gonna pay for that you scaly son of a bitch!" She stomped and electricity coursed through her, sparks flying everywhere as she let out another howl, then took off forward, leaving a trail of electricity behind her. The Magmortar and Granbull where at the head again, and the other lackeys followed closely, the fire type blowing fire that she vaulted over, sliding under the vicious left hook from the fairy type, slicing at his leg with her claws, shocking and cutting in, the action moving as normal for her, but for them she'd be moving at blinding speeds, but the moment she slowed down, everyone would go back to normal, getting caught by a kick from the Tyrogue, and yet again, some kind of electricity protected her from taking the full damage, landing on her stomach, shaking her head, and rushing ahead once again.
This time, she noticed the differences between moving faster and slower, and finally understood: she was moving faster, and everything slowed down because of that, but the moment she decelerated, they'd all go back! Changing directions was a no go, so now it was a matter of reacting and finding her way through without stopping! She laughed, her fatal weakness gone, or at least she'd think so! "Let's go you fuckers!" She blitzed through them, tail swinging, slamming into the Bellossom, shocking him and flying against the Tyrogue, firing a bolt to electrocute them, snarling and taking a bite out of the Granbull's shoulder as she vaulted, feeling his body moving with her motion, and being flung at Maximilian, grabbing him and intercepting a bolt, then rushing forward at her.
His speed almost matched hers, his movements faster than the others, but now visible, landing on her back and sliding under his hook, using her tail to grab to his leg, and swing around and under his legs, kicking up and spinning, electricity coating her tail almost like a buzzsaw, forcing him to block effortlessly, by the Magmortar would be caught and electrocuted. Four of them were hit, and the other two were confused, but still held their ground. As strong as she was now, she didn't seem anywhere close to beating all seven of them, even as she roared and charged again, having to pick speed and spinning, using her tail to blitz through the group again, throwing those on the ground and tripping the rest, then quickly as she spun blasted all them with lightning, with one single bolt, it would bounce between the six of them, whilst Maximilian jumped up, then brought his fist down, destroying the ground around them, and making her trip and go off flying against a wall.
At those speeds, before she would've broken her spine, but although she felt the hit, she was mostly fine, groaning sore… and still stuck to the wall. She felt her hairs being pulled against it, tiny pebbles magnetized and floating around her. Whatever little iron and metal there was, it was keeping her glued to the wall. She burst out laughing in excitement, silenced as she saw rocks being launched at her, almost like cannon balls, rolling and taking running horizontally. It was the most disorienting thing, and ended up tripping and falling off the wall as a rock smashed in front of her, and down to the ground, that electricity around her vanishing as it took another hit. And with her protection gone, Max lunged forward, forearm blades ready… "It's over!"
(Stop the music)
Before he could reach her however, what felt like the impossible happened: someone stepped in between his mighty fist, and her body, a claw that made the ground shape, a shockwave blowing leaves, grass, and the unaware Luxio away with its unfathomable power, just a sign of what would've hit her if that claw hadn't intervened… As for the pokémon that had saved her in question, she looked up to find the most unlikely saviour of all: Tharmius, clad in his judge robes, making her eyes widen like plates, and also in Max's case, his face drain of all colour.
"Tharmius?! What…"
"Your friends. Go to their side." He simply ordered, her head snapping over to the tunnel, then back at the bipedal pokémon in front of her, both exuding an intimidating presence.
"The hell do you think you're doing ordering me around?!"
"Oh I am not ordering you around… it is merely a recommendation, before they die at the hands of whatever monster you have stumbled upon in those hallowed lands. I shall handle things here."
"Tharmius! We finally meet!"
"Likewise, Maximilian."
"So you know of me?"
"I know your goals and your reputation yes… and who it is you work for, you monster." Whilst they talked out like that, Tharmius gripping and holding that arm, both of their hands shaking as they forced each other back and forth, Lucy took her chance to regrettably follow Tharmius' advice. If he got beat up, she didn't care, he was an asshole anyways!
"You know what, I'm just gonna run off and go where I'm actually needed!" She took off running with no further question, the Garchomp shoving his way past Tharmius and trying to catch up, but the Dragon type would catch up fast, trailing past him and punching straight, Max blocking the strike and countering with a kick, which Tharmius met with his own, both of them sliding backwards and away from each other due to the shockwaves, making the ground tremble and groan.
"Hmmm… I don't have time for this."
"I'm afraid you will not leave this place alive. Much less chase after that exploration team, or deliver that fragment to your master." He appeared relaxed, guard dropped, whilst the ground type was ready for combat. However, that look of worry on his face turned to relief when he whistled, and the six lackeys that he'd been bossing around all jumped in at once. Six against one, Tharmius dodging and weaving, backing away from the Granbull's fist, the Magmortar showering the ground in flames and the Sceptile covering it in vines, making the whole area impossible to step in, Tyrogue and Grumpig throwing rocks and the Bellossom supporting with razor sharp leaves.
He moved faster than they could see, smacking and blocking the projectiles effortlessly, the group cutting him off from catching up to Maximilian, who ran over to another one of those lifts, cutting one of the ropes and letting the tension shoot him upward and out of the valley, much to Tharmius' grimace, glaring at the half a dozen followers before him. "Give it up, it's six against one, and soon our boss will come back with his men! The only one who won't leave this valley alive will be yourself!"
He looked at them, silent, straight, unflinching, wind blowing by, robes flapping in the wind, his eyes focused on them, nothing but cold contempt behind them. Not an ounce of pity. The eyes of death. Nervous, the Magmortar blasted him with flames, the Bellosom and Sceptile covering the ground in vines, making the entire area enveloped in nothing but crimson pillars as the Grumpig rose them up. He simply vaulted to a higher ledge, the flames casting light upon him, his shadow stretching and looming over the valley, encroaching upon them, purple fickles of energy coursing through his arms and eyes. The air grew heavier, his silence making them lose their nerve. "What's wrong, cat got your tongue, asshole?! Come down, we'll retake what w-"
"Silence." He rose a claw. "Filth like you deserve no words, no justice, no love. Your words are empty, drip-fed into your minds by those who you blindly follow to commit murders, atrocities, and mayhem. Nothing but husks, nothing but evil, coated in self-pity, thinking you are fighting a just war, or claiming they had no choice… All while using it to justify killing innocents." He rose his claws, his scales coiling down into his robes. "I shall show you the slaughter you carried out. The true price to pay for a war, the lives you forfeited when you made the choice to kill. The justice that you sought for your people, I shall dole down upon you, and indulge in it, for I know that which I am: a sword, guided by a purpose. And I shall willingly do what must be done." He jumped off the ledge at them, the rocks shattering under his feet, directly at that group.
A few minutes earlier...
"All of you just need to leave me alone! I've always been living like this, and I can sure as hell keep it up!" Lucy scoffed and turned away from them, ignoring a wounded Zed, and an offended Elly, the Zorua unable to understand what she was saying, but fearing exactly why she was acting like that. He was just… scared, scared of trying to help her, only to mess it up and worsen the situation. Elly meanwhile was just plain scared, confused and angered, from her point of view, feeling that she was being blamed for something she had no control over.
Zed took the initiative and took a step forward as began walking past one of those paper curtains. "Lucy wait, come back pleas-" His voice was cut off because of what happened next, the events unfolding having gone unnoticed by Lucy, as the papers had deafened her: that strange wind picked up once more, stronger than ever, and something blitzed into the square they were in.
The only reason they survived, due to that thing's sheer insane speed, was Sam's swift reaction, hardening his scales in the blink of an eye, and taking the brunt of the hit… and the rest of it sent him crashing into the others, some of his scales on his right shoulder and side shattering and digging into his flesh, drawing blood as they all went flying, and scattered, the creature gone the instant they realized something had happened. For Lucy, it would look as if they had simply vanished, more of those papers flapping as they saw a light blitzing and flying away from them, chasing after Lucy, zipping around.
Elly didn't get much more as she crashed and landed on her side, letting out a scream of pain, her body sore, but thankfully hadn't broken anything, quickly returning to standing up, and moving towards one of those pillars, placing her back against it. She was a nervous wreck, looking around frantically, looking for her friends, breathing and trying to calm herself down, quickly taking a glance under the next curtains, and started to move. Remembering the rough direction in which the others had flown off, she took running north, hoping to find one of her companions among the receding shadows, courtesy of the rising sun.
As she moved, the minutes went by, and she found nothing. Fearing she might've skipped someone, she walked back, and as she did, and walked into one of those scares… she'd spot something shiny and white slip behind some curtains, this time much more slowly, and calmly, swinging a bit. Her blood froze in her veins, falling back and away from whatever that thing was, no doubt the culprit of them being split apart. Her telepathy was rendered useless thanks to those papers, panting, as she sat down, catching her breath and looking around frantically. She could see something moving between the papers: something massive, giving off a golden sheen, glowing, inching towards her location, quickly moving and getting on the other side of the pillar.
She was scared beyond belief at this point, isolated and alone, and seeing that creature come into the square she'd just been in. She'd spot what looked like a white skull, with sunken eyes, staring right at her. Her eyes widened, and glued herself to the wall, her brain rushing to try and find a solution, and in a moment of clarity, she'd bring out her dark matter, cover herself in it, like a sphere, and use her shadow magic… and waited, as everything was dark within. She still heard nothing, panting, trying to calm her breathing… and then a screeching noise, a loud humming filling the air as she held her breath, keeping the mirage protection. Whatever it was, it was there, right on top of her, and wasn't moving. A childish giggle ran through the air, right on top of her… before it screeched, and a deafening explosion surrounded her, then silence. She waited for a long time, before dropping just a bit of her dark matter: it was gone, yet another trail of hot glass on the floor, concentrated all around her. It had almost discovered her… so how had she…
"Elly." She'd let out a scream and turn to her side, finding… Zed, of all pokémon, standing there, the Eevee hugging him. "I saw you hiding like that in that sphere, I managed to trick it, but it won't be gone for long."
"Zed, you're a lifesaver… did you see it?"
"N-no, not well enough, I didn't want to go completely in here, I just moved the papers and made some noise… it's going to be flying in that direction, but we need to go." He was trying to keep a brave face and get her to move, and it worked, the Eevee rising up and the two of them sticking close to each other, running through, and away from the direction in which they'd sent that strange monster. As they ran, minutes flowing by, the two of them tried their hardest to avoid speaking about Lucy, but it was obvious that it was eating them up, they wanted to talk and figure out what had happened, and where everything had gone wrong, where she was, if she was ok… so many questions rushing through their minds, yet at that very moment they had to focus on their own survival, and to find the others.
As they kept running and moving, they eventually bumped straight into Nox, who'd been running just the same, letting out a shout. "Fuck! You… Gah, you scared the shit out of me!"
"Speak for yourself! Where's Sam?" He shrugged, essentially responding to her question, glancing around. "We need to find him, we could r-"
"Look out!" Zed pounced her and Nox rolled out of the way as the ground type lizard shot through the curtains and slid past them and into another square. Without so much as a doubt, they ran after him, finding him three more squares away, standing up on shaky legs, coughing up some bloody, several cuts and broken scales on his chest and forearms.
"Sam!" He glanced up at his name being called, finding Elly leading the trio once again.
"The hell…? You guys didn't leave me behind?!" He sounded surprised and… relieved, happy even, before he would turn his behaviour around. "Well at least you lot ain't a bunch of a-holes… Where's the sparky bitch?"
"We don't know, she's missing still."
"You think she ran back to the village to ask for help? Last I remember she was on her way there, and she didn't get thrown off by that thing, so she might have a chance." Elly nodded, thinking the same as Nox, which meant that they would most likely get some help eventually. "We need to bounce though, we can't even tell what the hell that thing is, it's moving too fast."
"It hits fuckin' hard too… My scales are getting busted up taking hits from that fucker." Seeing the absolutely massive Krokorok roughed up like that was foreboding all on its own, but he looked demoralized as well, never a good sign. It was impossible to find their way back too, at the very least without outright revealing their position to that thing once again. Still, seeing no other solution, Zed transformed again and flew upward, Elly wishing him to be careful. He could barely get his head above the curtains and look around before a beam of light surged from their left, and almost incinerated him, diving back down and quickly taking off running in the opposite direction.
"This way! Go go go!" They took to running once again, but this time with those lasers firing and trying to strike them down, hitting the ground mere inches from them, one of them hitting Nox's leg, and to his surprise it didn't outright incinerate it, but it burnt up his fur, making him scream as he got up again and took to running, limping slightly.
"We're going to get nailed like this!"
"To the right! Now!" They quickly dived to the side, the beams missing them as they kept on running. Through the curtains, moving and shaking from the ripples of the attacks, they could see them continue, and endless barrage before they suddenly stopped. They didn't stop running however… but not long after, the ground would begin shaking, and the sky would seemingly darken. The air would be filled with that eerie humming that Elly had heard, but accompanied by a song, a melancholic, eery song, ghostly almost, sung by that same childish voice that had been giggling earlier.
After that, the ground groaned and shook, and a blinding light came in from the left, the group looking on in terror as it burnt and seemingly turned everything in its way to ashes: a large beam sweeping the area, and coming from their left. Without skipping a beat, the Krokorok would order them to get right next to him, and began to dig and make a hole, spewing and kicking dirt and rock out, Elly helping him out, and before long, they had a sufficiently large hole for them all to duck in, just in time for the beam to sweep above them, the four of them sitting still as a feminine scream was heard, then deafening buzzing, light blinding them from above… and then it all faded away, and slowly moved before falling mostly silent, rocks rolling and rumbling around them.
As they stood up, they saw why: the pillars that had been caught in the blast were either rubble or had been partially burnt through, spires of glass and burnt sand all around them, glistening and shimmering around them as the entire area around them had been turned into a strange multi-colored landscape, light bouncing between the glass fragments. Sam and Elly were the first ones out, whilst Zed went to check on the burn on Nox's leg: not something Cherri berries wouldn't be able to heal later, but the fact he of all fire types had been burnt was telling of the power behind those beams.
As they climbed out of the hole, attempting to catch their breaths, another screech signalled the thing's approach, an ominous blur rocketing towards them… promptly interrupted by a single bolt of lightning, crackling against its side, and to their surprise, sending it spiralling and flying area of the graveyard. They swung their heads to the side, and spotted the Luxio approaching, her emerald eyes a dead giveaway of who she was. "Shit, I got here just in time!"
"Lucy!" Zed cried out of her, and Elly smiled as she saw her friend. She glanced back at them, and instead of having a bitter remark, or something optimistic, she just looked down at the ground, yet the lasting smiles on her friend's eyes allowed her to lift her spirits. At that point, a crash through another spire snapped their minds back to the matter at hand, the crash kicking up dust, and obscuring the view of the creature briefly, the group reuniting, Elly, Sam and Lucy at the front, whilst Nox and Zed took the back.
(Lunatic Ray - Devil May Cry 5)
Several feather like cylinders flew and floated around it, sticking and folding underneath skeletal wings, returning to their normal position and turning them angelic, three pairs, one on each side of a large abdomen like metallic body, a frame with glass that revealed the body was hollowed out, white mist swirling within, the wings connected with the midsection and then where a head should be, it stopped short, three rings with notches floating above its head, descending and phasing through the wings, inscriptions on their outer sides. A glass dome was all that it had, in the shape of a head, and now they could see that sullen child like white face staring back, before sinking into that mist, and letting out another screech, the feather like boosters spraying energy all over the sand, turning it to glass from the sheer heat, then blitzing them again.
The group rolled out of the way just in time. "What the FUCK is that?!" Sam voiced what was going through everyone's heads. The easiest answer would be a Rebscura, but it felt like anything but one of those monsters, screeching and flying around, leaving a trail of those white embers, everything falling into place.
"I don't know, but we have to destroy it, that thing can't leave this place in one piece!" The destruction it had caused in the area was reason enough, as it charged Elly and Sam again, fixated on destroying them above the others. Elly made the fatal mistake of bringing up her psychic and dark matter barriers, only for them to be torn to shreds, making her scream in agony, saved only by Sam's tackle to the ground. They all recoiled from the wind pressure, but Lucy took off running first. She'd been able to shoot it out of that state earlier, should she catch up, she could do it again, and give her companions a fighting chance!
All of them now regrouped and with a splitting headache, Elly recovered the drops of dark matter scattered about to remake her dark matter. Lucy chased and followed the robotic abomination as it flew around the large expanse, speeding up as it charged against her friends, and fired a bolt. The wings would glow and overload, driving it straight into a pillar, boulders and dust obscuring their view as a screech filled the air. Instants later, lasers fired at the Luxio with pinpoint accuracy, but it had left its front wide open for Nox to blast in. Fire spewed from his maw as he ran by, jumping over a sweeping wing as the feathers he coated in flames overloaded and exploded, but those were only three out of the sixty odd strange metal cylinders.
Half of them flew over to the rings whilst the rest returned to the main body, screeching as it flew up and held itself above ground level, raining arrows of light on the group. Elly served as a protection against the projectiles, Lucy and Nox offering supportive fire besides her, before they were blinded by a glow from above. They quickly ran away and to the sides, a beam of light raining from the ring positioned on top of them. And before they could reach, the other two flew at them, like glowing sawblades with white teeth, the team dodging whilst Lucy ran behind the creature and took cover behind a pillar, peltering its back with bolts of lightning. Anything they did to the main body barely left a scratch, even if they hit those glass panels. "We're not even putting a dent on this thing!"
"We need to try and get closer and hit it with something hard! Sam!"
"What?!" He was too busy dodging as best he could, his massive size complicating things, until he got fed up. Looking at one of those sawblades, he hardened his scales and held his arms out, outright grabbing the thing as it burned into his scales and skin. But he held on, as he spun and then threw it back to the creature. The impact sounded like several bells hitting together at once, and the creature fell. "Now!" Without a moment to lose, the group charged in, Lucy and Nox firing and covering the group with their electricity and fire respectively. Zed, transformed into a Riolu, grabbed one of the feathers and began smashing the dome with it, managing to get some cracks. Elly followed up with a large dark matter fist, and then Sam came in, roaring and smashing his fists into the embedded yet. Larger cracks appeared, but the dome withstood the impact, the creature's shape within the metal shell was still undefined, but now spiralling and moving around erratically.
"Shit, it looks pissed!" Another screech deafened the Houndour as he spoke, sending the entire group flying away in different directions as the creature slowly began floating up. The three rings lined up underneath it, the sky growing darker once again as it eclipsed the sun with its own eerie glow. That horrible chill went down their spines once again, and before long they took to running in a panic. The beam that followed was stronger than the one it had used to sweep the area, molten rock and glass shards flying everywhere, Elly using her dark matter to protect herself and Zed, whilst Sam grabbed Nox and used himself as a shield.
Still, nothing could defend him against the sheer heat from the rocks, burning into his skin and showing he wasn't invincible to others, and to himself, shocked. More light arrows rained down, Elly having to turtle and hunker down whilst Lucy was forced to run, and Sam still providing a shield for Nox. "You'll kill yourself, you fucking dumbass! Keep moving!" Even as he shouted, the ground type showed his tenacity, withstanding the beams, and leaving his scales smoking and the skin underneath charred… but somehow alive. And he looked utterly pissed off.
Lucy was hit by a loose shard fragment, stabbing her side and although it was a superficial wound, with no organ damage, it made her stop as running and moving her legs became insanely painful. Still, she needed to run, limping at this point, but still going faster than the others could see, whilst some shards went through Elly's dark matter, too sharp for the ever weakening barrier to withstand. Though Zed transformed into a Graveler, his arms were cut up, and her forelegs had a shard stab right through them, embedding itself and making her scream.
As the barrage ended, it became clear that they couldn't allow that thing to fire it again, a large ditch on the ground, several meters long and wide being yet another grim reminder. And it seemed ready to fire another one, as it began charging up again. "Stop it!" The team began moving again, Nox taking point as he blasted towards and over the pit, managing to grab on to the edge of one of the rings, sneaking up and past it, over and under the next two. Elly used her psychic to pick up several rocks and make a pathway for him to run up, using her dark matter to make a water barrier in the ditch.
"Sam, run and jump on that trampoline!"
"The fuck?!" He was running right at the monster, and saw the barrier. "That fucking dinky thing?! You gone nuts, bitch?!"
"Just do it you scaly asshole!" She didn't feel like convincing him, and he could tell… given they seemed to know what they were doing, he complied, jumping on it… and shooting upward. It was like a trampoline, taking all that motion and weight and putting it into shooting the Krokorok up and into one of those rings, grabbing onto them and yanking it down. The entire thing groaned and leaned to the side, delaying the beam, before the dark matter returned to fist form, and grabbed the other end, Nox blowing fire into the midsection between the two opposing forces.
The metal weakened and snapped, throwing the metal monster to the ground, where Sam would repeatedly use the ring fragment to viscerally bludgeon the creature, screaming bloody murder. Striking its body, making it slide around, shockwaves blasting from it, before he saw that cracked dome. He roared and slammed one of the ends into the feather-booster still embedded, then forcefully using it as a lever and yanking it. The result was the demon shattering into a million pieces and the ring being destroyed and bent out of shape. Whatever that metal was, it was harder than anything they'd ever seen, and the Krokorok had managed to bend, break and shatter it all in the span of a few seconds.
As the monster screeched, the Krokorok kept going, still on the ground, he punched and smashed his fists into the abdomen, cracking the glass panels and causing more and more damage… but his outburst was brought to a swift end as something white shot out of the inside through the broken dome. It smashed into his side, sending him flying through the air and over the massive ditch. "Sam!" Nox was targeted next, his concern for the ground type ending just as quickly as the creature sliced and struck at him from within its broken shell. The white transitioned to a crimson, veiny red as it became more and more deformed, but its shape defining itself as it was exposed to the outside.
As the creature rose up again, piloting that strange metal cocoon was a grotesque, long necked humanoid with a malformed wing on its right shoulder, an overgrown tendril infested arm on its left, and rows of eyes on its chest, screeching through a gaping maw where the head would be, taking off flying again into the air. The friction would force it slow down enough to be reacted to by most anyone, giving them a chance to regroup as it flew away to come from another angle. Zed ran to Sam to check on him and the damage, whilst Lucy ran up to Elly, Nox blasting over, the duo checking on the Eevee, who could no longer walk.
She was busy pilling the glass out of her leg with her psychic, succeeding and quickly putting a bandage over her leg, using the supplies they had in their bag. After she treated that, she turned to Lucy and quickly covered her wound with long bandages, using her dark matter to patch her up as best she could. "Haah! Fuck, hurry we don't have much time! It's coming!"
"I'm going as fast as I can!" With all that she needed out the bag, she threw it to Nox, and ordered he take it to Zed and Sam. "Lucy, can you run and carry me?"
"With this wound?!" She saw that she was being serious. "What have you got in mind?"
"Just catch up to that thing, and we'll attack it from the side, bring it down, and finish it!" With the plan established, she climbed up onto her friend's back, and she took off after the machine like monster, wincing and groaning the whole way. Nox landed right besides a huffing Sam as Zed tried to get him to stand down, but his obstinance won out in the end, standing up with a nasty gash across his left side. As he hardened his scales, it covered the wound and stopped the bleeding, with every move seemed to stab the scales into the tender flesh, drawing shouts of pain. Nothing was stopping him now though, determined to end it now.
The girls tracked and found the creature as it was rushing the trio of males, catching up as Lucy fired bolts again, this time proving much less effective. But what ended up being effective was the dark matter blade Elly shot at its exposed chest, stabbing one of the eyes out. As she swung back for another pass however, it sliced at them with its wings, forcing Lucy to slide and topple, throwing the two of them to the ground, but also the creature embedding its wing to the ground, snapping it out of shape. Quickly reacting, Elly reached with a dark matter hand, grabbed and pulled with that and her psychic powers, ripping it off, then stabbing it in the back with the same metal. It proved effective, puncturing the armor, and making it take longer to take off. Time Sam took to grab the tail end of that shell, and pull it down.
As it tried to take off again, Elly's dark matter held on to its other wings, and Lucy and Nox began blasting the feathers with their energy. As the boosters exploded, the wings were torn off, Sam screaming in agony as he was forced to hold his ground and the creature screeched, beginning to fire arrows and stop the boosters. Elly quickly blocked them with her dark matter. "Now!" With the call, Sam pulled back, roaring as he slung the entire creature above him, and threw him to another pillar, shattering it to pieces. More dust was kicked up, but Elly started hopping towards it. Using her dark matter for cover, and her companions providing support, she broke through the cloud of dust, blocking a visceral swing from that grotesque arm with a psychic blade.
As if on instinct, her dark matter slid under her paws, and threw her forward, travelling with her as she vaulted over two lasers, and landed in front of the main body, stabbing forward with a longer dark matter sword, howling out as she grabbed it with her fangs, and jumped up. The sword cut through the middle of creature like butter, spilling blood everywhere as she finished it off with grace.
(Stop the music)
Several long screeches and flailing of its limbs followed before the separate ends of that monsters real form fell to the sides, and slumped against the metal shell, dead. Its feathers whirred and floated around ominously before shutting down, and falling to the ground motionless, its wings flapping down gently, and screeching as they touched the floor. The blood emanating from that thing was of a blackish hue, but still red, like that of a living being's. However, not long after it ceased moving, all of the organical parts, including the blood that coated the Eevee, started to fall apart, turning brown then gray, and then falling into dust, blown away by the wind, leaving only that shell.
After it was all gone, they all either sat down or laid back to relax and catch their breaths, all of them utterly exhausted or wounded to the point where walking or running without the adrenaline pumping through their bodies was nigh impossible. Sam, as they'd soon find out, as Zed walked over to him and patched up that nasty looking cut, wasn't one of them: he didn't do so much as groan when alcohol was poured into the wound to clean it, and the bandages reapplied, standing back up, and although walking with a strange limp, he seemed perfectly fine, even if bruised, battered and bleeding. "I'm focusing on the more serious wounds, so we can go back to the village, then to Pontavicel to get some proper treatment."
"Ugh, where's Vincent when you need him…"
"Far away, hopefully! Last thing we need is him to start grilling us about being too careless or just be a dickhead!" Lucy hissed as her wound was cleaned. "Besides, we're fine, we'll be back to tip top shape in no time."
"He did save your life…" Zed patted and adjusted the bandages around her body carefully. It was a bit of a rush job, but it'd do for the time being. "I think that should be everything." Lucy tried to stand up, wincing, but otherwise, able to keep herself stable. In her new form, she was bigger than Zed was by just a few centimeters, enough for her to reach down and caress his head, then pull him into a hug. No words were exchanged between the two… just a silent embrace. Nox and Elly opted to stay quiet, but Sam would begin laughing and roaring.
"Hooo yeah! We did it, we killed… whatever that thing was! Fuckin' unstoppable I'm tellin' ya, there ain't nothin' stoppin' us!" He kept pumping his fists, very much excited after their victory over… whatever the hell that thing had been. Whilst his enthusiasm was shared by the others, they weren't so outward.
"Yeah we did… but it was still a very close call." Elly found the Krokorok smiling at her, as they caught their breath, then made their way back into the tunnel and back to the village. "You know, you lot are quite good at this shit. You done this before, haven't cha."
"Well… pretty sure even someone like you knows who Team Star is." He looked at them, shocked.
"Get the fuck out." They all stared at him. "For real? Wow… So wait, you're the boss?" He looked at Elly. "I thought you has a Riolu for a leader? That's the dude I was about to beat up back in Crimsand, roight? Where's he at then?"
"Wounded from fighting another of those things."
"Oh shit. He alright?" The concern he showed seemed… genuine, before he coughed. "Asking just so I can beat his ass later, and I don't feel bad about it. Gotta have that rematch, after all."
"Right… and yeah, he's recovering, hence why we came here without him or the rest of our friends." He nodded absentmindedly, looking back at Lucy.
"So ya evolved while you were runnin' away or somethin'?"
"Oh what the… What do you care what I was doing?! Point is I evolved, I've got new powers, and we beat that thing all thanks to me!"
"Ya think I'm gonna bend down and kiss your paws you've got another fuckin' thing coming." Lucy scoffed and looked away… but Zed nuzzled and hugged her, having some issues since she was just so much larger now… but she helped him and didn't complain. "Anyways, that's fuckin' weird, you left and you came back with another of these dang things." He looked at his emblem, and sure enough, Lucy now had one herself. "How'd you do it?"
Lucy retold what had happened, from the moment they'd been thrown away, to her coming back. It couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes in total, and a lot had happened in a short span of time. "...and I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to drop."
"Don't do that just yet, we're going to get chewed out by the villagers for trespassing on their sacred grounds."
"Then just fuckin' tell 'em to go look at the big ol' remains of that piece of shit thing." Sam's suggestion was simple, but it would definitely work to get some heat off of them.
As they approached the end of the tunnel, they were expecting someone to be there to receive them… instead, nothing but an eerie silence greeted them. "It's… really quiet over here, isn't it?" Nox's observation only helped to make everyone more stressed out, specially Lucy.
"When I left, Tharmius was fighting with those assholes… ya think something happ-" A screech, the sound of metal scraping against rock pierced their ears. Lucy's electricity sparked up all on its own, being pulled in a direction, and letting out a scream as she could feel herself almost being ripped off the ground! Sam's quick reaction time ended with her being grabbed and pulled back as the cause of this phenomenon showed itself.
A ball of electricity, swirling in insane, epileptic patterns crossed the entrance, layers of metal covering and protecting it. The same feeling that they all had when they fought the Parasite and the Hunter crashed into them: that was a Rebscura. "What the fuck is that?!" Sam gripped and kept Lucy from being pulled into the monster by the insane magnetic field that surged from it.
Before they got a chance to explain the situation to Sam however, the creature, or rather the metal shifted to its right, and then something violently crashed into it, ripping out stone and sending it tumbling to the bottom of the valley. And now standing before them, and without a scratch on him, was Tharmius. He peered into the cave, spotting them inside. "Move." He commanded, and jumped down, leaving them all slack jawed. Without skipping a beat, Elly rushed to the edge, chunks of metal flying off with streams of electricity connecting them to the main body, attempting to impale and slice Tharmius.
Again, he moved and struck at the creature, the team taking to one of the elevators and trying to down to assist him. "Another one of those things?!" Sam sounded exhausted, and they were all pretty hopeless that they could go for another fight against such a monster.
"No, this thing… this is a Rebscura… and it's a very dangerous one too… My electricity is going crazy, and it feels like I'm being pulled like a magnet." Lucy was trying to keep herself still, her wound still keeping her from moving too swiftly. Another crash and the monster would be smashed into the wall, followed by Tharmius rebounding from the opposite wall and crashing into it, tearing into the metal shell to reveal the shining interior. He placed his claws together and fired a quick barrage of purple aura spheres, blowing it up from the inside out, making the elevator swing and groan as metal burst out all around them. Elly's quick intervention with her dark matter kept them from getting hurt, but blocked their view for just a bit.
When they could see again, and they touched the ground, everything was covered in a cloud of dust, three figures fighting. As they cleared, Tharmius stood in the middle, his cloak perfectly fine as electricity sparked from either side, the dust clearing to reveal two tiger like creatures: one with red stripes, the other with blue, grotesque and deformed, with several spikes surging with electricity, and several cuts from which that black goop oozed. They both roared, and their furs would go from black to golden, and attempted to join back into the bigger sphere with Tharmius in between.
"Dang it, we're going to have to fight again! Sam, Nox to th-" Elly would soon figure out it wasn't necessary: even though the electricity was enough to drag Lucy across the floor again, Tharmius didn't budge. Bolts hit his cloak, searing and burning it, but the scales underneath were untouched, electricity bouncing and surging across them to his claws, as he spun… and reversed the polarity. The electricity they tried to use to kill him was now used against them, pulled to his claws violently, were he gripped their heads, then spun once again, allowing them to join… but with his fists serving as the main force, crushing their heads and skulls with a sickening snap, and ending the fight before they could even come up with a strategy.
The shockwave that followed the crunch fell into silence as he let go of those lifeless bodies, letting them fall to the ground and walked away and towards Team Star. Behind him, the remains crackled with electricity before it all surged upward and toward the sky, to leave the valley forever. He glanced at the group, and once he was a few feet away, stopped and spoke. "It seems I was not the only one who fought against one of these creatures today." They all stood there in silence, and in shock.
"How did… how did you do that?" Elly was the first to gather up her thoughts, and manage to speak her mind. He simply glanced back at where the Rebscura had been, and looked at her. "Just… what are you?" And to this, she only received a sincere, yet sinister smile as a response.
"God's wrath, given flesh."
"Not long after, the tribe's members all came out of their hiding spots, and once they saw the monster was gone, they celebrated that their curse was lifted. We were about to get kicked out by the tribe's leader, but…"
"But?" Eric asked again, having been told of everything that had happened once they'd been allowed to rest in one of the village's houses. They were all simply resting, no celebration was happening. There was much to be done to repair the damage that had been sustained during Tharmius' and their fights.
"He stepped in between, said that we too had tackled a deadly opponent, and as proof he lead them to their graveyard. Obviously that… thing's shell was there still, so we were immediately cleared of trying to steal or rob a tomb or something."
"All's well that ends well then. You killed two of those things, and though you didn't get that fragment, you still avoided the deaths of hundreds. Imagine if those things had gotten out and to the rest of the region."
"That's the thing… I don't think we were even necessary there… Eric, he killed one of those things alone. He barely had a scratch on him, and we almost died when we fought them."
"Well… we can't be sure it wasn't weakened, or at the very least, wasn't as powerful as either the Parasite or the Hunter… would've liked to see him deal with either of those alone." His words, while comforting, did little to ease the turmoil within Elly's heart at that time, sighing in defeat.
"I guess… regardless, we're going to be heading back soon. I already reported on what happened, and a special unit has been dispatched. The entire area has been declared a disaster zone, and I don't blame them. I just hope that they accept the help."
"I'm sure they will, they won't be that stupid." Elly sighed. "I can't wait for you to get home. I've gotten a lot better these past few days, I-"
"You better have not started training again!" Her accusation was met with silence from the other end of the psychic link.
"Hmmm? What's that Jake? Yeah, I'm coming! Sorry honey got to g-"
"Eric don't you dare leave on that! Eric!" She huffed, and rolled her eyes. He was going to get an earful when she got home… which would most likely be preceded by a comforting hug. She could go for one right now, like the one Zed and Lucy were enjoying. The two of them were spending a lot of time talking, and trying to clear their minds on what had happened earlier. She peered into the room, the duo looking at her.
"Excuse me, do you mind?" Lucy asked in a somewhat annoyed, but joking tone nonetheless.
"Oh I don't think you have any right to sass me after your display just earlier Lucy."
"Yeah, honey… I think she deserves some answers."
"And an apology…" Lucy sighed. "Sorry for being such a massive bitch earlier."
"Oh, you do that all the time… but I'll take your apology now." She bumped her shoulder with her smiling. "Finally have the guts to say what's been on your mind?" She nodded, and Elly gave her friends some space for her to vent out everything: her feelings about her father, many things which she'd already told Zed, her relationship with her parents…
"I've just never felt like either of them loved me, that I was some sort of mistake on someone's part, and they couldn't decide who was to blame. That got to me, and my brother. And when he left… well it only got worse."
"I can see why he'd do it… But to leave like that…" She couldn't approve or condemn his reaction to the decaying relationship of their parents. "And you think he's out there looking for you?" Lucy nodded. "Then I'm sure we'll find him sometime in the future, we just need to keep pressing and asking."
"More like start, I'd been putting it off for ages… I was just scared to move on, and see what awaited. I guess… I was growing complacent, being here with you guys, but part of me wanting to go look for him, because I felt compelled to… and seeing my family like that really drove that point home, made me feel like I'd been wasting my time… But there was even more to it." She glanced at Zed, and he sighed in defeat.
"What else?"
"That I hadn't been completely honest, or tried to support her as much as I should've… Because I know how it felt like, to have a dysfunctional family and be caught in the middle of it. Except, in my case… the conflict was started with my brother."
"Wait, you had a brother?" Elly's question was responded with a nod. "You never told us."
"I never wanted to bring him up again. I was a shiny born to normal parents, he was normal, and back in the day, in Unova, if you were shiny you were less than dirt. My parents knew better and raised me as best as they could… but he made my life hell. She patted his back, hugging him. "Hey now… I'm supposed to be the one offering support here…"
"Oh shush, you… you dumb mummy." The return of that nickname made all of three of them chuckle. Only one missing was Eric, and the original group would be back together again. "Still, your mother didn't…" Zed shook his head.
"She always denied it, until the very last day. I came from this continent, Unova, and as you can see… they aren't exactly keen to shinies."
"I've heard stories about it." Elly cut in, looking at Lucy. "That there have been cases of normal coloured pokémon parents having shiny or differently coloured children. It's apparently due to some dormant genes from a shiny ancestor that came out at random."
"Wow… That must be like, a one in a million kind of thing."
"It is. I'm sorry to hear about all of that Zed." He shook his head, smiling.
"It's ok, seriously… I'm glad to see that things are a lot more relaxed over here too. I was scared, coming over, that I would be going back to that same society… then again, we were only in Pontavicel, not further inland." The images of those plantations and manors loomed on their minds. "But anyways: from now, I want us to be honest with each other Lucy, if you want to talk about something, have something on your mind that's worrying you, or just… well, want to talk in private, I'm there for you, ok?" He'd gripped her paws as he spoke, the Luxio looking at him with a blush, then hugging him and kissing him.
Elly couldn't help but giggle, earning herself a glare from the two of them. "Sorry, it's just… Well, it's what Eric and I do all of the time, you know?" She stood up. "But alright, I'll give you some time to be alone and talk. I'll come around later to tell you when we're leaving, ok? Don't go doing something that takes too long to finish!" They all knew what she meant, the Luxio murring and looking at her mate.
"Oh with me, it doesn't take long~" Her sultry tone made Zed blush and swallow nervously. She opted to leave those two alone, and headed back to the main room, closing the door behind her. They no longer had a guard, since there no longer was danger outside, but they opted to remain inside and rest up. The only one who was defying that was Sam, who despite the severity of his wounds, after Zed properly treated him, he seemed to act as if nothing had happened, packing his bags.
"Oh, you're leaving already?" Elly asked as she came into the room. Nox was also there, on a chair, talking with Sam.
"Hm? Oh yea, was just tellin' Nox here: I stick around with you lot, I'd get all caught up with the guild back in Pontavicel, and I ain't gonna get locked up against for a night just so I can bust out." He tied up the bag, filled with food, water and some other commodities he'd 'borrowed' from the house.
"Well, if that's the case, if you came with us we could try and make a case, say you ended up helping us with the… creature, and maybe you could get a reduced sentence. Also, if you have some vouching for you and saying that you weren't the instigator…"
"Was the instigator though." He glared at her. "Ya'll are pretty scummy for being with the law, y'know?" His critique stung the Eevee's conscience, but he quickly followed up. "Don't mean no disrespect… To be honest, it don't take much to realize that the whole thing's just a bunch of bullcrap, specially here. Unova's fuckin' burstin' at the seams with all those Hoennian plantations, and there's some shinies in there too, for good measure."
Nox shifted uncomfortably upon hearing that. "What a bunch of assholes… can't believe nobody's doing anything about it."
"From what I've read, the towns here protect those plantations because of the income and business they produce."
"That ain't all of it though. Whole continent's got a dark side to it, even grimier than the shit you see here on the surface: assassinations, muggings, thieving, kidnapping, arson… All because of the organizations running the place from the shadows. Pontavicel, as good as it looks, has always been a breeding ground for that sort of stuff. There's a reason they set up the guild there, for cryin' out loud."
"To catch those kinds of operations? What kind of mafia are we talking about?" Elly's question seemed to fall on deaf ears as Sam finished his preparations.
"Big one. That's all I'll say on the matter… anyways, don't need nobody stickin' their necks out for me. I know how to handle meself out there, always done it like in the past, and it's always worked out, so shouldn't be too difficult. Given what happened in the last two days though, and… that fuckin' tough ass costumer out there, I don't think I'll stick around in this continent for long."
"Don't blame you, we too like to avoid him. He doesn't bring anything but bad news, wherever he goes."
"Yeah. have to admit, I'd be fucking running for the hills if I were in that guy's sights though."
"Don't remind us!" Nox shuddered when the Krokorok said that. "He fucking took out one of those things all by himself."
"Yeah, and we keep telling ourselves that maybe it wasn't as strong as the last, but that's obviously a lie, all things considered." They all remained quiet for a few more seconds, before Sam clicked his tongue.
"Well, I'll leave you guys with that. I got my own issues to solve, but if we run into each other, make sure that Riolu is with ya'll, ya hear? I wanna beat his ass back."
"He barely even did anything, you picked the fight with him!" Elly replied in annoyance, the Ground type shaking a claw, then waving back. Elly and Nox said their goodbyes, and the Krokorok left the house. "And there he goes… what a character."
"Yeah, what a character alright… y'know, I don't think we would've pulled through without 'im. You see what he did to that thing?" He'd bludgeoned it almost to death, giving her a chance to deliver the coup de grace.
"Of course I did… we'll have to keep an eye on him, and on that Garchomp we were told about… From what Lucy said, they took one of those metal fragments. So that means they are with the Pursuer and his goons."
"Not great news to hear they got one of those shards… wonder what they'll do with it." An eerie silence hung over their heads. Nobody knew for sure, and that's what scared them the most. But given what they'd already seen those fragments do… it couldn't be anything good.
The moon light bounced off the mauled and deformed shell of the machine like being Team Star had dispatched. The tribe's sacred grounds had been disturbed and irreparably damaged by it… as such, they were doing their hardest to asses just how much had been lost. Tharmius had convinced them to tag along, should something happen or any stragglers be left behind. After what he'd done to Maximillian's followers, the Elder had been understandably tame in front of him, and so were his advisors. The blood curdling screams echoed still in their minds, the fact that no remains had been found after the scuffle with the Rebscura were telling.
And yet, there he stood, without a scratch, looking at that shell, the Excadrill looking from afar. He might've aided them, and appeared as an ally, but at what cost? His ways, his words, and his actions spoke of only one type of pokémon: one that could tear the world asunder to fulfill his goals, or bring about an age of prosperity. And he stood between the two paths, impassive, his choice made, but ambiguous nonetheless. Thinking more of the issue made a chill run down his spine, rushing to aid the villagers whilst Tharmius slowly turned his head to watch him run away.
"To think that you would lead us to our prize, and yet once again it eludes us." He looked at the former shell. "Your mere existence is troubling: are you a remnant of the past, or a sign of things to come? Whichever you may be, we are resolved, our goals are laid out before us, no matter the cost." He crouched and drew his claws across the surface. They didn't make a dent, until he put aura into them, and would being to scratch them. "You are not invincible, not before our might." He looked skyward.
"As useful as you were, you failed to draw them out completely… and Team Star and Elizabeth remain alive. The investment we made was perhaps too steep for the results we got. But at least we now comprehend their strategy, and have identified a weakness." He spoke aloud, drawing his conclusions, then moved to the head area, placing a claw on the broken glass dome. "Rest now, for your duty and that of your kin is fulfilled." He turned around, and walked to the villagers to aid in the repairs and damage assessment. "Next time, it shall be the doll's time to shine."
Not all is what it seems! We're nearing the end of this "first act" so to say, expect things to start picking up from here on out!