"I am the desert-scape, the sand inside your hourglass
I am the torment and abuse, the damner of souls
With every eye sewn shut."
-"Dark River"
Chapter XVIII: Revelation
-Western Desert
-Weather: Alzalam-
A giant, amorphous mass of violet ink-like mass of flesh stumbled its way towards the trio, who found themselves surrounded by various aggressive shaytans that were all too eager to slash at them.
The togepi and jangmo-o both shuddered as they trembled from the cold that suddenly surrounded them. The many lifeless eyes of the shaytans that surrounded them, at least a dozen from each side. Each of them was more warped than the other, like a bunch of melted, rotten flesh that was held together by magenta crystals, forming long, sword and scythe-like tentacles of corroded tissue.
"M-Mr. Sundan- Sneasel." The togepi was quick to correct himself as he tugged on the dark-type's leg meekly, "w-what do we… do n-now…?"
The sneasel clutched his wounds, both new and dry blood staining his fur. "You tell me. You were the one who bailed us out the last time this happened…"
"That's right, Lawry!" Mirari's scarlet eyes shined with hope, "you just gotta use that light thingie and get us out of here!"
He closed his eyes for a moment, taking deep, nervous breaths as he tried his best to channel the same energy he did before, and while he was helping out Pichu and Miss Kommo-o.
Yet he couldn't even produce a shimmer. His pendant did not react whatsoever.
"I-I… I can't… make it shine… I a-am completely spent…!" He shook even more, now seeing the shaytans fully-forming around them, a strange mix of corroded flesh and magenta crystals that shone faintly even as it pierced their bodies. "W-We're trapped…!"
"Guess we'll have to settle it the old-fashioned way!" Mirari defiantly shot her dragon breath at one of the foes, searing its body, that crumbled apart, vanishing in the bright smoke created by her draconic flames.
But then, the one shaytan she attacked spun towards her with its pointy arms ready to slash the dragoness.
Sundance got ready to run towards her to stop the attack, only to be attacked himself by three other monsters, that plus the sharp pain that came from his many wounds paralyzed him right where he stood.
But then a big, red-colored tail slapped the warped being right in the head, severing it from its body and ceasing its attack on the small dragon. She then stepped on the sandy ground and caused it to rumble slightly, the tremor made the enemies cease their attack for only a moment, and the red-scaled pokémon slapped more of them away with her tail. Sundance used the opportunity to defend himself, cutting through the monsters with his ice-covered claws.
Mirari and Lawrence looked at Krookodile with surprise, Sundance just growled a her. The adult ground-type smiled, still clutching her severed hand. "I had a special escape orb saved in case something like this was to happen. It's best to assist me in getting it if you want to have any hope of getting out of here, simply running away will do no good."
Sundance was going to protest, but he saw the two wounded kids, as well as his own bleeding and bruised form. He looked around seeing as the creatures were all waiting for the much bigger one to arrive, trapping them in the middle of them all. The sneasel winced and closed his eyes, frowning. "Fine. Where?"
"Underneath the dune I exploded when I woke up earlier. I did it to spread my dark sand on the battlefield before our battle… but also to cover the fact I had my emergency supplies buried in there." She explained, wincing a bit herself, "currently, these things are not allowing me to reach there. You distract them, I'll go get it."
"Hell no, sand-swallower. I won't let you go by yourself, you'll just get it and bail first chance you get." Sundance spat, pointing a single bloody claw at her, "I'll go. You just tell me exactly where it is."
"Buried in the middle of Arceus-knows-where, in a random spot right here." She shrugged, trying to stop the bleeding from her still-open wound, "I can detect things underground, much like any ground-type worth their salt. I can't quite describe it to you where it is exactly, unless we're quite close."
One of the shaytans jumped to attack them by surprise, but Sundance countered by dodging and slashing its head right off. "Then you'll be coming with me."
As he said that, the shaytans all roared and charged at the four pokémon, quickly they started to overwhelm them with sheer numbers.
Mirari quickly ran to Lawrence's side, splitting the four in two pairs, both having to endure a large number of the aggressive warped shaytans.
"Dazzling… gleam!" Lawrence shouted, letting out a meak flash of light that was barely enough to hit three shaytans of the many, but Mirari quickly disposed of various of them using her dragon breath.
But as soon as they were defeated, they started to get back up, injuries beginning to heal instantly as their form was repaired. The ones who weren't attacked retaliated at the children by slashing and clawing at them, bruising them more as their allies recovered.
Sneasel easily got rid of four of the monsters by hacking at them with his ice-covered claws, but even as they became small, broken and frozen pieces of meat and rock, they started put themselves back together, with the rest attacking the tired ice-type, throwing him back with even more bloody bruises.
"ROOOOOOOAAAARRR!" The ground shook slightly as the giant blob got ever closer, its roar was so intense that all non-shaytans had to shield themselves from the sound however they could.
The only one that was not at all affected was Mirari, who shielded Lawrence from both the Shaytans that tormented them, as well as the sound-based attack.
"Damn… that's not working." Sundance coughed, spitting some blood on the sand. "At least the previous ones had the decency of being tactless and stupid."
"Then unfreeze my black sand, so I can make up for the fact I am literally bleeding to death without my right claw." Krookodile growled as she was forced to use her meaty tail to keep away the shaytans that assaulted her.
"That's not how that works, I can't just unmake ice. Freezing something is one thing, thwarting it out is another one entirely." Sneasel back-flipped and started to kick and swipe away at more of the endless waves of foes surrounding them. "Plus I don't want you trying anything funny with your sand traps at full power."
"Can't we just wait for the sun to melt the ice!? Shouldn't be thaaaat long!" Mirari shouted from behind the wall of shaytans splitting the group whilst using her tail, claws and breath to keep the regenerating enemies at bay, as Lawrence mustered energy to fire his weak blasts of light from afar to cover her.
"Foolish girl, we are in their domain… and as you may see, they prefer the cold." Krookodile winced in more pain, already feeling the exhaustion and blood-loss catching up to her as well, "and besides that, we are doomed if that big one reaches us. As slow as it is, by my estimates we have… 20 minutes or so."
Sundance grunted as he stared at the moving blob, it was crawling like a drunk, bloated centiskroach made of dark goo. "So in other words, time is money, and we are flat broke. Great."
"ROOOOOOAAAAARRR!" The big monster once more staggered every pokémon save for Mirari with its guttural roar, this time all the warped shaytans used this chance to slip in more and more attacks targeting them.
The jangmo-o was fortunate enough to create a protect that shielded her and Lawrence, but the older pokémon had to simply endure the abuse, earning loud groans of pain as more of their blood fell onto the sand.
"Life…blood…energy… more…!" Lawrence jumped once he heard that echoing in his head. "What the- Mirari, did you talk just now?"
She looked down at him in confusion, still focusing to keep the barrier up and blocking the shaytan's advances. "Um…. no! Stop imagining things Lawry! We gotta focus!"
He shook his head and nodded, "You're r-right, sorry… glad you're taking this seriously!"
"Of course I am! We gotta survive this if we wanna someday tell this tale!" She giggled proudly, "I can already see the super-duper awesome title I'll give to it!"
"Oh boy… you n-never dial back one bit." He smiles at her, pressing a hand on her neck and creating a gentle blue light that healed some of her small injuries. The dragon took a deep breath as she felt the light wash over her like a cold bath, bringing some of her health back. "Feeling better now?"
"I always feel good when you're around! HYYYYAHHH!" She shouted excitedly, taking a step forward with the barrier and slamming it on the shaytans, breaking through both them and her own increasing fatigue. She then broke the protect so she could follow-up with a mighty headbutt using her head-scale, and another shower of her flaming dragon-breath.
She had taken out three of them, and Lawrence tried to shoot another dazzling gleam, but it failed to really affect the foes once more, who thankfully were staggered by the surprise protect-bash.
Yet the ones who were downed immediately began to regenerate right before their eyes. Lawrence's heart sank once he saw the ones he failed to defeat recovering and jumping at him, whilst the ones that Mirari just downed were getting back up.
"HYYYAAAAAH!" The sounds of scales clanging in an intense and chaotic melody brought calm to Lawrence's heart, his friend tirelessly jumped in front of him and started to roar as she attacked the foes threatening the fairy using tooth and claw.
After he small rampage, she turned to look at him, sighing in relief once she saw he wasn't injured all that much, "Whew. Glad I made it in time! These cowards keep trying to flank us!"
Lawrence looked down, stumpy arms rubbing against his watering eyes, "I-I'm sorry, I'm not doing anything in this fight…I'm just getting in everyone's way…"
He clutched on his pendant, shaking it to try and make it glow with the power that had saved them so many times in the past, "D-Damn! If only this thing worked…! I guess I used all of the necklace and mine's energy to help Pichu and Miss Kommo-o!"
The togepi's eyes watered more, but his moping was stopped by a tail that wrapped around his petit body, and a scaly chest that pressed on his face in a tight hug, "You are getting in nobody's way. I'm just glad you're okay after that mess with Krookodile."
She licked the top of his crown with a reassuring giggle, "I'm happy to protect you, don't sweat it. Just stay behind me, okay?"
He looked up at her, and saw her bright smirk on her beak-like muzzle. Even though the sun was covered in darkness, he felt as if light was making her scales glisten, "M-Mirari… I…"
"You're the reason why I am so strong. Why I keep fighting even if by all means I should faint… Ever since what happened in that cave with that creep… I promised I wouldn't fail you again! I wasn't gonna let ya get hurt because I was too weak." She nuzzled the top of his head, "and that is why I will make up for letting you almost choke on all that sand. I'll protect you, Lawrence! Just stay near me, that is enough help! You're like the moon to me, promising the coming of dawn even if the night is dark and gloomy!"
He was speechless, he blushed and almost cried a little again. "M…Mirari that's…"
She growled once she saw the regenerating monsters making their way back to them "That's why I'll crush all of these unglies to make sure you're alright! I'll grind every single one of them to dust!"
His heart skipped a beat. Once again he failed to find the words to speak. "I-I…"
"Let's get this over with, okay? I really don't want us to meet that big, stinking garbodor that's roaring all over the place!" She pulled away from the hug and posed confidently, with her chest puffed like always, "you with me!?"
"Y-Yeah!" He couldn't help but giggle and fist-bump the air, feeling a sudden surge of energy entering his body, this time not because of some magic necklace.
But because of his friend.
"You are like an endless battery when you want to… I feel like your excess energy is rubbing off on me. I don't care how tired and scared I feel! I don't care that everything is bad, because…!" He shook his head and felt his petit, egg-shaped body get ready for what was to come. "Because I am your moon… and I will make sure you survive this bleak night with my light!"
Lawrence stood behind her, carrying a serious expression. The dragoness once more fought against the faceless horde by spinning in the air and slapping them with her tail, mixing-up with heavy headbutts and a shower of her dragon breath, being enough of a threat to make the shaytans want to focus on her instead of her friend.
The thought of her friend behind her cranked her up to heights she had never before reached. "I am a dragon-type! I am a heroine-to-be! I rock! I am Mirari, and all will know my name! But most importantly, I will not let these things touch my best friend!"
Her chest started to feel funny, her heart beat like a drum that matched the clanging of her scales as she got butterflies in her stomach.
From behind, Lawrence had his eyes closed, focusing his energy so he could transfer his life dew to her, further helping the clanging pokémon in her assault, boosting her with his healing
Despite having his eyes closed, his mind could only picture the jangmo-o. Despite not seeing her, he could feel each of her movements, every hit she landed and every slash she took. He saw a scarlet-red flame covering her, with small yellow bits that swirled around her like small thunder-waves, in the center of it a mighty azure blue flame burnt. Lawrence knew this was her, even if he had no clue how he was seeing and feeling it like he was, usually healing from afar did not result in any of this.
Lawrence gasped mentally to himself as he saw the 'flame' grow and grow the more enemies went down, the more he started at it. He was simply bewildered by the sight, "Is that… really you, Mirari? I can't look away… it's like a volcano of colors and feelings… I knew you were intense, but is this what's in your heart? My heart is beating faster just by staring… this…It's… you are…"
The jangmo-o roared in the middle of the warped shaytans, her aura covering her like a flame that burnt and spread to all those she hit, causing them to burn and melt down, taking even longer to regenerate. Her scales clanged in an even more frenetic battle-song that matched each of her roars and each blow she delivered, creating a melody so intense that made the togepi's heart beat even faster.
She didn't even think, her limbs just moved faster and faster on pure adrenaline and instinct. Mirari was like a blinking red shape that bounced from one foe to another, with her never-ending melody being the only telltale sign she was actually moving and not teleporting.
"You are… way more than a vulcano! I can't even describe you, you are just way more than anything in the world really!" He saw her red flame only growing more and more, the more of the horde she downed, the mightier it got. She was taking various hits that could easily down the togepi, yet she was brushing them off without even caring, and he was making sure to slowly refill her health with his channel. "Mirari… you really are amazing!"
Yet as the weary fairy focused too much on whatever he was witnessing, from behind one of the recovering monsters crept close to him, towering above his small form. It then used one of its newly-reformed scythe-like limbs to swipe at the fairy, who broke from his trance far too late to be able to react.
But thankfully, Mirari was quick to pick the fairy up by his crown, using her mouth to carry him whilst being extra careful not to accidentally injure her friend, finishing the shambling beast back with another tail-slap, using her claws to run through the sands in a fast pace, repositioning them both so they were closer to Sundance and Krookodile whilst the enemy she hit burnt with the fiery-red fire that covered her. Her speed was absurd, Lawrence blinked he was safe and sound, with dragon-drool all over his head.
The dragon-type settled him down, and Lawrence quickly tried to wipe some of the drool that accidentally got on him, "E-Ew ew ew… heh, t-thanks…"
He noticed that the flaring energy he saw while he channeled his healing at her was literally covering her like a flame. His eyes widened in amazement, "I… saw this before, with miss Kommo-o when we were training… hers was royal blue though!"
Mirari just smirked at Lawrence's bewildered silence, and winked at him.
"You're welcome!" She nodded with a smile, then looked at the two older pokémon.
Lawrence couldn't help but stare at her some more, she was grinning and despite all the many blood and injuries that covered her scales, her scarlet eyes shone brighter than the bonfire that covered her.
"You're… just as beautiful in person as you were in that display…" He spoke to himself, since he lacked the courage to blurt it out to her.
While the fairy daydreamed, the two older pokémon were pushing back yet another wave of the resurrecting shaytans, both panting and clutching their various wounds.
Mirari stepped up in between them, using this brief moment of calm while the shaytans regenerated, "Hey! Guys! Listen!"
"The hell- What in Giratina's name is that thing covering you!?" Sundance shouted as he decapitated more of the rotting, walking corpses that were returning, to buy them some more time. "Are you… okay, you dweeb!?"
"No clue! But nevermind that! I think I heard you two talking about getting something to let us out of here, yeah?" She headbutted another of the shapeless beings, while she felt the healing wave of Lawrence's life dew washing over her once more, "I think I came up with a plan on how to do it!"
Sundance frowned, but Krookodile was the one to answer, also in the middle of her own skirmish with the warped shaytans, "Do share, scaly quilava. It seems your grumpy, icy little Hashashin has run out of ideas that don't involve accepting my help anyway. Much like I am literally running out of blood."
"Grrr…" Sundance growled once more, but was too out of breath to properly argue back.
"I-I believe in her, Mirari has a knack f-for coming up with good plans on a p-pinch!" Lawrence declared with a smile, still channeling his healing to help mend the two older pokemon's minor wounds. "P-Plus she is literally on fire, don't think we s-should question her judgment!"
"That logic is stupid as fu-"
"Aw, thanks Lawry! You're the best!" She giggled, slapping and burning a shaytan with her tail whilst her scales kept clanging the same mad melody with each of her hasty movements, "but I didn't tell you what it was yet! I literally just came up with it after all!"
"T-They didn't need to know that…" He smiled sheepishly whilst still mending everyone's wounds with the faint blue, wave-like light of life dew occasionally firing a weak and quick focus blast ball here and there.
The two dark-types stared at them, one stoically while the other with annoyance.
"ROOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRR!" The sound of the monster's roaring was deafening by this point, they all could see its presence now a few meters from where they were stuck in.
"Screw it, nothing makes any sense anyway- Just tell us what to do already!"
-Western Desert, hours later-
Kommo-o, Pichu and the perrserker were walking for a while now, crossing the desert with all of their collective might.
Unlike the deeper parts of the western and eastern deserts, this one had bits of green sprinkled throughout, which made the view less bland. Pichu couldn't help but stare at the plants that called this desert their home, their colorful appearance sent her imagination flying.
She saw a white flower entwined with a yellow one. One was like a cloud, the other like how Pichu was told 'normal' electricity was colored.
Pichu stopped to stare at it.
"I've never seen such pretty flowers before… back in the village we didn't have many to stare at." She frowned to herself as her thoughts drifted there, "the village… I still have not asked Miss Kommo-o what exactly happened… I still don't think it's a good idea to do it until it's just me and her again…"
She kneeled and reached a paw out to touch the entwined flowers, feeling up its leaves and taking in its vibrant colors, she looked around, noticing how all other flowers were apart from one another. "No other flowers are wrapped together like these two. Yes, it was likely the result of pure chance… but I wonder…"
She noticed how one of the plants, the yellow flower, was withering and would have fallen, had it not been for the white flower wrapped around it.
"Could it be something more? A reason why I am lost in the middle of the desert? A reason why I met Lawrence? A reason why… everyone back in the village…" She stopped her train of thought. "No. Not the time. I'll… I'll make sense of this when I can talk to her better… and if I meet Mirari and Lawrence again…"
Pichu's heart fluttered once she remembered the angelic sight of her friend, carrying her in his arms and being the light on that dark cave.
She smiled to herself. "No… not if… when I meet them again, I'll make sense of this. We'll make sense of it all."
The electric rodent felt something sharp touch the back of her neck. She gasped once she left her thoughts only to see an enormous landshark with its sharp claw right on her neck.
"Don't move." He said in a growly tone, his eyes were the same reddish yellow of the sands below. She noticed a scarlet marking on his scales, running through his body like a giant scar made of paint.
Her instincts took over and she slapped his claw with her tiny paw, flipping backwards multiple times with her quick attack. The dragon-type's eyes widened, and despite being caught off guard, he quickly ran to catch her but she retaliated with a blue-colored ball of electricity that dissipated as soon as it touched the pokémon.
Pichu prepared to dodge again, but before the scalie pokémon could reach her, an even bigger dragon-type got in between the two.
Kommo-o casually slapped the gabite's claw away, making him stumble and fall face-first into the sand.
"Not bad. Though I would have expected you all to be a bit better at coordination." She pointed behind her, revealing the perrserker sitting and yawning in-between two silicobras, two trapinches and one vibrava, all groaning and with minor wounds cluttering their bodies.
"Hrrrf… I told them not to engage… you and that steel-type had your guard up…" The gabite slashed the sand underneath him, still prone. "I know better than to challenge a fully-evolved one such as you head-on…"
"So you came after me instead!?" The offended Pichu questioned, huffing. "Rude!"
Kommo-o helped the gabite up, grabbing him by the scarred fin on his back. With enough strength to carry him, but not rough enough to hurt.
"You were the only one with their guard down…" The gabite winced, and lowered both his head and tail.
"You show promise. Definitely the smarter and stealthier amongst your clanmates. Though there are areas that need improvement, should you want to be a proper ambusher." Kommo-o used her claws to brush off any leftover sand in his scales, "one of them is knowing who is the pokémon you're dealing with before you start stalking them."
The gabite tilts his head to the side. Kommo-o's blue eyes started to shine, as a flaming blue aura covered her entire body, with enough power to send a small shockwave that made several grains of sand fly around the two pokémon that she was in-between.
The younger dragon covered his eyes with his fins. He stared directly into the bright light she was producing, seeing the visage of an enormous bonfire of pure draconic energy, all surging from the already large fighting-type pokémon.
Pichu just looked away, heer small eyes couldn't bear to look into such a bright light. "So this a peek of her… at full power?"
"This is not… the first time I've seen this glow!" She remembered that powerful light. It was blurry and brief, but…
-Aquifer Catacomb, weeks earlier-
Pichu was in pain. Her body was aching, it felt like she had been ripped apart then stitched back together. Her mind was in a sea of agony and darkness, she could faintly make out voices, sounds of blasts and collisions.
"Remember! Remember our team! Remember our vows!" Kommo-o's voice was a mix of angry growls and sobbing, she could feel more punches being landed with each word she spoke, "you are a good pokémon! Better than me! Yet it is you who is reeking of this tainted energy, creating corruption wherever you step on!"
Pichu felt her 'vision' leaving her body. She could see herself laying on the ground, healed by Lawrence's, but still exhausted and burnt out.
She remembered this place. This cave. This room. It was circular, with a faint light coming from above. It had a lake… which Lawrence had fallen into…
The electric-type shivered.
Right in front of her, she saw that cloaked poké one she had landed so many blows of anger on, the one that had…
She felt that same volt of wrath reawakening in her heart. But then the melody of clanging scales broke her angry thoughts.
Clang! A punch hit the figure square in the face. Clang, clang. Two others landed in his thorn chest, then as he was launched backwards. CLANG! A kick almost broke his neck and planted him on the rocky floor.
Kommo-o stood there, with multiple bloody injuries, matching the shape's own. The dark-furred pokémon stumbled to get up, cracking his own neck as the dragon-type emitted a glow so strong that it warped the colors of the space around her, turning it all into royal blue.
Unlike her present self, Pichu's eyes were not injured by this light at all. She could look directly into the center, and she saw Kommo-o roaring in a primal display of power. She could see herself still asleep though.
"How… am I seeing this?"
Kommo-o punched the creature's face once more, causing more of its mask to crumble to dust, her burning aura burning more of its cloak as well as its fur as he was flinged and crashed on the wall, one of the spiky rocks impaled his shoulder and made him bleed even more
"You don't seem to know, do you?" Kommo-o kneeled in front of him, her blue eyes meeting his own. It was magenta at first, then it became red, then purple.
Her muzzle was struggling to say what would come next. "Mirari is-"
She could not hear what was whispered. It all got blurred. After that, everything started to shake, then an explosion completely took her for a loop.
Her vision blackened, she was laying down again, she felt a face nuzzling against her, giving her comfort as their scaly arms gave her protection.
The last thing she heard were screams, the sound of running, burning and blood. Lots of blood.
"Pichu. Pichu."
She gasped once her eyes opened up, she noticed she was being carried. By this point, this position was familiar to her.
Kommo-o was gently poking her forehead with a single of her claws as she cradled the young pokémon in her arms.
"Pichu. Hello, little one. I hope to not have interrupted you." She smiled down at Pichu as she walked.
She groggily nodded to the dragon, "It's… ok… I just… had another one of those visions… this one was from that cave… the one that provided water for the village."
"Aquifer Catacomb…" Kommo-o changed to a more stoic expression, "you really are special, little one. I truly believe I am the luckiest pokémon, to have the privilege of taking care of three unique hatchlings such as you, Lawrence and Mirari…"
The adult smiles again, "I had to train to master my gifts, and it was tough because they were given… but I promise you'll start to control yours better with time. But first…"
Kommo-o gently pets her yellow-furred head, "I would prefer that you see what comes next for yourself."
Pichu was confused, but Kommo-o only smiled brighter. "No secrets, remember? I will make sure you participate in what's to come."
She peeked around, seeing many pokémon from various shapes and sizes. At least four flygons, a noivern, five sandacondas, and various other pre-evolved pokémon. All of them were lined up side by side to one another, creating a corridor which Kommo-o, Pichu and Völsung were on, being led by that gabite from earlier.
They seemed to be surrounded by houses as well, all made of rocks coated with the very sands of the desert, made colorful by the many flowers and even patches of grass that covered the floor. It reminded Pichu of Oasis village.
Though what caught her interest was that every pokémon had those same scarlet-red markings on their bodies, and they were all staring at the trio in a mix of awe, shock and even fear.
Before Pichu could question what was happening, they stopped.
They were all in front of an enormous Garchomp, taller than even Kommo-o herself. His body was covered in wicked scars, his fins were thorn from multiple battles, and his scales had a faded color. Even still, he was muscular and each of his limbs seemed prepared for battle.
"This… is my father, the alpha pokémon of our clan." Gabite walked towards the tall dragon and stood right beside him.
Völsung immediately bowed in reverence, but Kommo-o didn't change her pose in the slightest.
"It has been a while… it is good to see you have finally returned to your people after years locked inside that pathetic prison they call a 'city'." The garchomp's rough and raspy voice almost made the Pichu jump, it was almost a scream, but it sounded too calm to be one. "Welcome home, Kommo-o, sage of the sands."
All pokémon of the village then kneeled, with their heads down. Even the huge garchomp paid his respects. Pichu gasped.
"Old friend, though I am honored by your welcome, there is a more concerning matter." She touched the garchomp's shoulder, "my daughter is in danger. The entity has taken over my partner, now the forces of darkness are after her."
-Western Desert
-Weather: Alzalam-
Lawrence, Mirari, Krookodile and Sundance are all back-to-back with one another, surrounding them are the regenerating corpses of about two dozens of the crystal-covered golems of corroded flesh, slowly reassembling themselves using the sands below.
The four pokémon were all huffing, filled to the brim with various bruises, bloody cuts, gashes and wounds. Most of the 'lesser' shaytans were finally dealt with, temporarily at least.
"So how sure of this insanity are you, really!?" Sundance huffs.
"15!"
"15 what!?" Krookodile huffs, moaning at her intense blood loss and increasing dizziness. "15%? 15 out of 15? 15 out of ten?"
"Just 15! It's my lucky number! It's the day I met Lawrence!" She cracked her neck and got in her battle stance, legs spread, muzzle open, claws ready, tail shaking and clanging her scales.
The fiery aura surrounding her still burned bright, destroying the darkness and the 'dark snow' that fell from the sky. "Interpret that as you'd like!"
"I hate you." Both Krookodile and Sundance grunted at the same time, making them both stare at one another and scowl, "oh look, now you're making me agree with him/her!" They both said in eerie sync.
"ROOOOOOAAAAAR." The giant creature was reaching them, still sluggishly dragging its inky flesh across the sands, its roars made the shaytans regenerate faster, and further stunned the fairy and the dark-types. The shaytans that were still up were surrounding the four and blocking any possible strategic exit, their wicked limbs spread, acting like deadly barriers.
"G-Guys please!" Lawrence begged, coughing some blood that stained his eggshell armor, "it's do or die! B-Believe in Mirari!"
"I mean, we literally have nothing better to try, so sure. Let's trust in the overeager, overconfident and overheating kid. What, by all the guardian spirits, could go wrong?" Krookodile rolled her eyes.
"Thanks, Krookodile! You really aren't so bad! See, Sundance? You should learn to have a little faith like her!" Mirari giggled and jumped in joy.
"DON'T CALL ME THAT IN FRONT OF- Oh who cares." The sneasel sighs and shakes his head, "we're all dead anyway. Might as well try this suicidal plan without complaining."
"That's the spirit! Now, in position everyone!" Mirari lifted her head proudly, staying in front. Krookodile took a step back and stood next to Lawrence, both more in the back. Sundance covered himself in ice, from his claws to his head like a helmet.
Krookodile started to stomp on the sandy floor with her mighty feet, using her large tail to throw some of the sand around her, moving her body so that the grains of sand formed a small sand cloud around her and the others.
Mirari's flame doubled in size, and she immediately started to run in circles around the other three, her mind focused only on going faster and faster.
Krookodile picked up her pace as well, intensifying the sand cloud so it quickly grew in size. Lawrence started to glow brightly, channeling his life dew as hard as he could to help all teammates be even more efficient at their respective roles.
Sundance was grunting as he quickly produced spikes of ice, molding them to be light but very pointy. He dropped them close to the other members, sculpting them out of thin air in a matter of moments.
Krookodile and Mirari now had molded the once semi-annoying sand cloud into an all-out mini tornado. The dragoness stopped running once the winds started getting too strong and joined the middle, where Krookodile was still weaving the sand to keep the tornado alive.
"Okay… guys… part 2… starts… now!" The jangmo-o took deep breaths as she regrouped in the middle. "Let's… do… this!"
From outside the shaytans had completely regenerated, and slowly made their way towards the mini-tornado, the wind wasn't strong enough to throw them away, just to slow down their advance.
As soon as they got halfway close, one of them was struck down by a flaming spike of ice that quickly melted the enemy back to their regenerating state.
Then came another, and another. Soon, multiple of the flaming icicle spikes were being carried by the winds, and fired like projectiles towards the shaytans, many missed, but the sheer quantity of those scarlet-colored daggers of ice made it impossible not to hit a target eventually.
From inside, Lawrence was picking the light spikes and placing them upon Mirari's blazing aura, that burnt on the ice without melting it. He then threw up, and both Mirari and Krookodile randomly fired the shots with their tails and the wind, whilst sundance restocked their supply.
Whenever an enemy was approaching unharmed, Mirari opted to instead use her dragon breath infused with her aura to finish the enemies off before they could break in the sand barrier that spun around them.
Once the wind finally died, they saw that the battlefield was littered with the icicle spikes. All the shaytans were broken, slowly attempting to sticht themselves back together.
"Now! Go! We'll take it from here!" Mirari nudged both Krookodile and Sundance, who nodded and dashed to the location the ground-type had pointed before.
"Hu… man…" Lawrence shivered once he heard that otherworldly, broken voice whisper inside his mind again. He turned around and saw the huge blob, finally near enough to attack. "must… make… whole…"
It screeched once more, and more spiky tentacles sprouted from its deformed body and tried to grapple the fairy, but Mirari was quick to block it all with her aura-infused protect.
"I don't think so!" She said, her whole body shaking to keep the protect up. "C'mon, ugly! Try your best! Just you wait, I'll give it back twice as much as you give us!"
Sundance and Krookodile ran through the dunes, back where the battle between them had first started. The sneasel looked back and saw Mirari's barrier holding on the creature's assault on the duo, "Shit. You really are something else, kid."
Krookodile then fell face-first on the floor, grunting and groaning as she clutched the bleeding stump where her claws used to be. "If you are… feeling emotional… then could you please… do something about this… fuckin' already?"
She showed him the stump, still leaking a bit of blood. "Tell me where the orb is first. You should be glad my claws freezed a bit of your flesh, else you'd be a goner."
"I'll… get you there… if you fix this damn bleeding…" She coughed, "If I die… you three will rot…I don't know how I am still breathing after all that…"
"Your species is tough, but-" Sundance was about to argue more, but then he looked behind him and saw the monstrosity still relentlessly attacking the kids.
"... Fine. Whatever." He grabbed her stump and transferred some of the cold towards it, causing her to growl and scream in agony, "Whoops. Should have told you that deep-freezing flesh is… not pleasant. Especially for you, cold-blooded pokémon."
His claws pierced and twisted her scales some more, adding even more pain to the process, before finally a big chunk of ice blocked any further bleeding. The ground-type then pointed to a spot not so-far from where they were.
Sundance left the Krookodile and sprinted towards where she pointed. He slided on the sand and quickly used his claws to dig a whole, going deeper and deeper until he found something solid. "Dead on."
"GAAAH!" Mirari shouted, her shield shattered and tossed both her and Lawrence backwards.
The fairy bounced on the floor and stumbled to bring himself up. His small, round body was aching so bad that he wasn't sure how that alone didn't make him faint.
Though when he looked up, the huge creature was close in on him. Its amorphous, shapeless form was at least fifty times his size. To say it dwarfed him would be an understatement.
Mirari got up, her aura flared once more as she shot another dragon breath, her muzzle started to burn, the inferno she spat from her mouth was covered in the reddish flames that surrounded her, and for a moment the creature stopped and started to wince as the attack seared its body.
But then, a large something hit Mirari from behind. Then it hit again. And again.
Various of the warped shaytans had finally come back, and they were hacking and slashing at Mirari, costing them their own limbs due to her aura, but still they managed to cause severe damage.
By the tenth blow, she finally fell. The monsters screeched and spasmed their bodies in grim celebration, a pool of blood formed around Mirari.
"Hu…man…cho… sen…" It croaked, "Come… join… our… supper…"
One of its tentacles shot down and slashed Lawrence's cheek, drawing more blood from him. It then used its tentacles to slowly drink it, straight from his wounds. He shouted as all of his injuries started to feel as if they were being torn open and drained all at once.
Mirari's eyes watered up. After all of that she was going to fail, again?
"Law…ry…"
Sundance pulled a bag from the floor, filled with coins and some scrolls, and even a Pecha and Cheri Berries, labeled 'favorites, touch and lose your claws'.
But what was more important at the moment was the shining golden orb in front of his eyes. It has a rune carved into it.
"'Salama'... means 'safety' in the ancient language. This is a special escape orb indeed." He placed the contents of the bag on his already existing one, then tossed the outlaw's aside.
He passed by the fallen, unconscious body of the Krookodile. For a brief moment, he thought of helping her.
"...Nah. I'll just tell the kids she died of blood loss."
His attention was taken once he saw that the barrier protecting Mirari and Lawrence had been broken whilst he was busy helping the crocodile pokémon and getting the hidden bag.
Sundance started to sprint, but a tail slapped him on the legs.
He fell prone, stumbling to try and get back up. He frantically searched for the orb on the ground, but found nothing.
"Looking for this?" Krookodile taunted, showing him the item.
"You- don't you fucking dare…" He growled. Preparing two icicles on each of his claws.
But his attention was once more aimed at the kids and the monster above. It was producing more of its ear-shattering noises, and she could hear the screams that no doubtely belonged to the children.
Krookodile lifted the orb, ready to throw it down. "I thank you for bringing even more interesting objects of obsession than me, rookie assassin. I don't know what those kids did to incur the wrath of darkness, but I ain't complaining!"
Sundance once more had a split decision to take. He threw the two icicles on the ground-type, one hit her in the shoulder, the other in her neck.
But instead of following-up and ending her once and for all, he turned around and sprinted towards the kids. Krookodile threw the orb down and vanished from the nightmare, grievously injured but alive.
Lawrence was shaking, "Don't wanna die… don't wanna die… don't wanna die…"
He turned back and saw Mirari, the red aura that was once a bonfire now was dying down, it looked more like an ember. Her eyes were closed. One of the monster's tentacles was closing in on her, ready to strike her down-
Lawrence was falling back on that dark river, this time he saw tentacles that were shining with magenta crystals slowly creeping up from the bottom of it, swallowing the light from underneath and threatening to wrap around the fairy.
But before he could be grabbed, he felt something coming from above. A ripple. Emotion. Tears.
Mirari's.
Back in reality, he saw Mirari had a single tear falling from her eye, which was quick to vanish in the dry sands.
"H-Hey, b-b-blob face!" He shouted and stuttered as loud as he could, the creature ceased all movement and 'looked' at him. "I-I m-made a promise! I m-made a promis-se to myself!"
It shifted around trying to understand the context of what the fairy was saying.
"I-I promised… I-I p-promised I…" The necklace didn't react. He couldn't use dazzling gleam, his mind was a storm of emotions and insecurities. "Urk… I can't… I can't pretend I have any self-confidence. I can't pretend I'm snarky and strong like Sundance. I can't pretend I'm brave and awesome like Mirari. I can't pretend I'm smart and logical like Pichu, nor that I am wise and collected like Miss Kommo-o… I can't even get this damn necklace to work again! I can't pretend I am anything other than this wimpy fairy… egg… thing… I am."
"B-But…" His stumpy arms stopped shaking. "There's one thing… one thing I can d-do!"
A silver glow started to cover the togepi. It grew bigger and bigger, its light rays burnt and severed the creature wherever they touched.
He opened his two arms like he did when using dazzling gleam or focus blast but this time he slammed his arms together and made the light flow around him.
"There is one thing… one thing I can try to do! One thing I know I can do!" Lawrence yelled at the top of his lungs, the silver rays that covered him started to converge and formed a huge sphere in front of him, similar to the moon.
Mirari opened one of her eyes, and for a moment she saw that brave togetic that had saved her from the darkness back in that cave.
But then she realized, it was a togepi in the center of all that light. "That's… that's Lawrence's power! That light... is... hope!"
Loud bangs could be heard as the sphere expanded more and more, until it was creating a blinding glow that already burnt it and all the warped shaytans around it. The energy started to create magenta sparks that shot all the way through the orb in the center, and even covered the togepi's body together witht he silver one.
"I WON'T FORGIVE ANYONE THAT MAKES HER CRY!"
BAAAAAAANG!
A huge blast of silver-white light was fired and created a huge hole in the creature. The massive light produced was enough to end the warped shaytans, turning them into dust and reducing their crystals to nothingness.
After the huge blast of light died down, the titanic creature was prone, convulsing and trembling erratically, its fleshy limbs falling apart and being absorbed by the sands below, melting and breaking down in a putrid display.
Lawrence was still in the same pose as he fired the move. Smoke was coming out of his body. He was stiff, he could not move. He was shaking, but he could not feel any of his limbs. His heart felt like it would stop, but he was still awake. His silver aura slowly died down, leaving only the sporadic bolts of magenta-colored aura waves that ran through the togepi's body.
The fairy then stumbled and almost fell forward as the bolts were absorbed by him, but a certain sneasel's claws caught the small pokémon at the last second.
"Hell of a show ya put there, ki- Lawrence…" He smiled at the fairy, his yellow eyes glimmered in the darkness.
"RRRROOOOoooaaaaarrrr…" The monster once more shouted, as it melted into nothing.
But from its dismembered corpse, other things started to come.
Various creatures rose and formed from the sand, a Nidoqueen, a nidoran, a crustle, a sandshrew… various normal shaytans started to emerge from the very floor after the huge creature was done melting.
And they started to ravenously devour the ink-like flesh that the big creature had left over, savoring it all like animals
"You gotta be shitting me…" Groaned the exhausted and bloody sneasel. Getting up once more and brandishing his claws, put completely and utterly unable to summon any more strength to fight another horde. "At least… they're distracted… for now…"
Mirari silently got on Sundance's side, panting loudly, with all of her limbs down, her blood still creating puddles in the sand. Her scales had a slightly more bland color. She no longer had that fiery aura to coat her and boost her energy. In fact, she had no energy to speak at all.
"Don't... push yourself too hard." He sighed and shook his head, cleaning some of the blood in his soft fur, "you've done more than enough, Mirari."
He bended his knee, staring at the scene silently. "I don't want us to be next. Gotta get those two out of here."
He got up and looked at Mirari, frowing at her sorry state. "Hm. You were never a quitter, were ya? Your willpower alone is what's keeping you on your feet."
"Well… looks like we gotta try and-" Sundance was silenced by a small projectile that hit him straight in the back of the neck, he stumbled forward and removed it. It was a small needle dripping with dark-purple poison. "A... poison sting?"
"Get away from them, ya psycho!" A bellsprout shouted, running towards Mirari and giving her a berry.
"What… you're still alive…?" Sneasel coughed, his vision got blurry as he stumbled backwards. "You… damn minions!"
"Did you think we wouldn't repay the favor?" The other bellsprout, the female, ran to Lawrence, whom Sundance had accidentally let go, and gave him a berry too. "Sorry for taking so long, our synthesis wasn't working properly due to the shifting sands."
"W-Wha…" The fairy opened his eyes, but winced as he felt the pain still stinging through his body.
"It's ok, lil' guy… we heard what that scaly, fat-mouthed, two-faced scaly bitch said. She planned to use us as bait from the start, she lied to us… about everything!" The plant shook her leaves in anger, then scowled at Sundance, "just like how he lied to you! He's not an explorer and certainly not some hero! He's a 'hashashin', or assassin, an extremist who hates us city-pokémon! They enjoy nothing more than killing our so-called 'outlaws' to sate their psychotic sense of 'justice'! Everything is punishable by death to those freaks!"
Mirari was stunned, much like Lawrence she wasn't healed enough to do much other than hear and be confused on what was happening.
Sundance coughed, the poison was taking its hold. He felt his strength being sipped away.
"No… he's… a good pokémon…" Mirari coughed, and felt her legs giving in, falling on the floor whilst the grass-type desperately tried to carry her, failling miserably due to her superior height and weight.
"Not at all! Look!" One of the bellsprouts pointed to the forming shaytans, a toothless graveler, various mangled geodude and even a sizzlipede that appeared to have every one of its limbs broken. "Those were our friends! He killed them all… now they became servants of the entity! He condemned them to wander the deserts and the dungeons as mindless slaves to the shifting sands!"
They saw many other bellsprouts, krookorok and even a few sandile. The sight of them seemed to bring pain to the two grass-types. "S-Sundance… did all of… t-this…?"
They saw some of the shaytans screeching as crystals similar to the warped ones started to form in their bodies, impaling them like knives and further changing their form. The more they ate, the more crystals grew on them. The feeding frenzy resulted in shaytans attacking and pushing other shaytans.
"'Sundance'...? Pf, must be some nickname he came up with to blend with us city-pokémon." The two bellsprouts stared at one another and nodded, one of them pulled a silver-colored escape orb with a rune carved on it, "Kids, we have to leave! Please believe-"
An icicle was fired directly into her mouth, she fell lifeless on the floor and dropped the orb.
"NO! BE-" Before the other one could even finish his sentence, another one ripped right through his body, tearing it in two.
Lawrence and Mirari's bodies were frozen. They couldn't look away, yet they didn't want to stare.
They saw the blood-soaked sneasel taking slow steps, moving towards the ecape orb that was still being held by the bellsprout's vines.
The two young pokémon now saw each of his bloody prints on the sands as more than just the result of a battle for their lives. To them both, it was now symbolic of the blood he had shed previously, just how Krookodile had warned them previously.
The bodies of the two grass-types were swallowed by the sand and quickly dissolved into sand themselves, joining their comrades in eternal torment.
He grabbed the silver item, groaning and grunting as his wobbly feet then allowed him to reach in between the kids, right in the middle of the two.
Before his legs gave in due to both poison and exhaustion, the sneasel tossed the orb on the floor, and the three vanished.
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry again for the delay, am working on my thesis for college and things got a bit crazy. Having said that, I am honored to see so much engagement happening to the story despite my less than stellar schedule. Again, I thank you all a bunch for all the reviews, faves and whatnot! This chapter in particular had to be rearranged a bit to simplify the pacing, so do forgive me if there are any horrible grammar errors that might have slippled in the process!
Oh and finally the combat scenes can take a backseat for the two parties! So all of you who dislike the action that takes a good chunk of this ark will certainly enjoy what's next in line!
Next chapter: The truth can separate, but it can also unify.
