A/N: It is recommended that all previous chapters are read before this point.
Audino Agatha felt warm and cozy, but still, something was wrong. She didn't put much effort into thinking about it right away, but then realized that she didn't fall asleep in her bed upright. She tried to bring her arms up to her face, but ended up wriggling against a rough, dry surface keeping her arms down.
She was hanging in some kind of tight cocoon.
She opened her blue eyes and sharp ears, the latter to the gentle, constant roar of rushing water. It stung to open her eyes, but she realized that her body was surrounded by rope, and that it tied her around a silvery gray rock.
Above her, Agatha spears of the same color of rock hung down from a rocky ceiling. Water dripped off some of them, but she couldn't hear over the sound of a waterfall coming from behind her. Below, water outlined a smooth cave floor as it flowed further into the darkness.
Her head clicked to the right when she heard a closeby voice. It echoed through the cave.
"Oh dammit," a gritty voice said, "not again!"
Another sharp, pointed rock stood next to her. Tied upright to it like her, a Furret struggled and wiggled around, only this one had a crisp, gold fur in place of her species' usual dark brown. Her hazel eyes looked dazed, but started to light up.
Abigail looked around and took everything in frantically. Her vision spun around. She stopped on the flash of pink and pale color.
Next to her on another rock, she saw an Audino tied by strong ropes like she was. Abigail could barely make out red and pink scars across her body and strong muscles.
"Who are you?" Abigail asked. "Where are we?"
"Well," Audino said, "I don't know..."
Abigail noted her Veritan accent, but continued to keep her head on a swivel. If her own situation was anything to guess by, she probably didn't know anything.
"Dang it," Abigail voiced, "this is so uncomfortable."
"Yah, I think I know what you mean."
Abigail's eyes widened when she heard Aaron's voice. She turned her head up and saw shiny Zorua Aaron hanging from two arms that were attached to the ceiling by ropes, swaying in the air.
Buizel Zen and Quilava Gawain were next to him, also hanging by their arms. They were both shaking.
"For crying out loud. Get in line."
Meowstic Markus drew attention to himself with his voice. He hung by ropes even further above them all by an arm and a leg. If he adjusted himself awkwardly, he could see the vibrant blue and white waterfall behind the rocks. He looked down and made eye contact with Aaron.
"Markus...!?" Aaron asked.
"Sup."
"Markus..." Aaron growled.
"Markus!?"
Markus' ears stood straight in response to the older, strained voice. Through the darkness, he saw a square, metal cage with multiple chains hanging from the ceiling. A Mightyena peered at him through the bars.
"Dad?" Markus asked. "Wait..."
Markus' eyes were starting to adjust to the light. A Serperior, Samurott, Typhlosion, and Medicham were all with him in the cage.
"Wait... You guys?"
"Hey, Agatha."
Audino Agatha looked straight down past her body. She could barely make out the top of the Lopunny's head, but she was sure he was tied like she was.
"Luke," Agatha said, "what's going on?"
"I made an oopsie..."
"What about our deal?"
"Oh, it's the same deal," Luke said. "Just kind of ride or die now. Let's try and get free here..."
"What do you two know!?"
Agatha winced a little at Furret's commanding voice.
"Hey, we're all in this together, so relax!"
"Even I'm not relaxed," Markus said, "uhm, anyone got a plan? How did we get here?"
"I can't move!" Abigail complained. "Meowstic up there! Get out and then untie us!"
"I can't. This rope's special and cancelling out my energy. I can't use moves or get free."
Abigail groaned. It was like that for her ropes, too. She tried tricks like releasing all of her air to get smaller and slip past, but they failed.
"I hate this!" Abigail screamed. "Just get me out or I swear..."
Okay, does anyone remember how they got here!?" Gawain asked.
Silence fell. Abigail groaned.
"Oh, come on. I thought you said this wouldn't happen again..."
"I don't think this is normal," Aaron said.
"A detective prince," said Agatha. "Nice."
"Hey! You can blame that piece of shit up there!"
"What the- What?" Markus asked. "Why me every time, man?"
"Will you guys shut up for a second? Try using our legs and pushing up to get over and out of these ropes.
"Way too bound for that," Luke said.
Agatha's head fell from her lack of motivation. The boosters in her feet relied on her body's energy, and she couldn't summon it up. She burned through all of her ideas.
Flareon Light stirred awake. He was on top of something soft, but not his bed.
"Light?" a dry voice asked.
Light stood up from the white blanket he was on and looked around. He was surrounded by metal bars. Outside of his blanket, the floor was made of cold metal outside his blanket. The outside of the cage revealed they were high up in a cave. The ceiling was covered with stalactites.
Sky Shaymin Ariel stared at him. Her body faced bars overlooking a beautiful, wide blue and white waterfall with a small wall of mist at the bottom.
"Ariel?" Light asked. "Where are we?"
"I don't know," Ariel said, shaking her head, "I came into your room last night to put something in, but someone was there... And I just don't remember what happened."
Light's vision cleared more. He just realized a set of metal bars stood between them. They both had metal bracelets connected to chains that were hooked to the floor of their cages.
"There are some weird people down there," Ariel said, "but they're all trapped too. They're just arguing now... What should we do?"
"Is it possible to get out of these chains?" Light asked.
"They're suppressing our energy. I can't just snap them off."
"Then we just have to wait for now."
"Well, maybe…" Ariel mumbled. "Just give me a second. Let me try something."
"Yes!" Luke's voice hissed.
Audino Agatha couldn't look further down below herself, but she heard Lopunny Luke's body fall to the cave floor. He turned around smiling up towards them before firing a Thunderbolt from the tips of his fingers.
Agatha slid to the ground and crumpled onto her chest while Furret nearby landed perfectly on her feet. She counted herself lucky that she had her prosthetic feet on when she happened to fall asleep, and especially lucky to have the rubber coverings that dulled the sound and made them look normal.
"Okay," Luke said, "let's get them next."
Agatha pushed herself onto her metal feet just in time to see Luke get belted in the chest.
Light was probably just as surprised as Ariel to see Furret had attacked. After Lopunny flew back in the air, she stood defensively with her arms raised in front of her face. He couldn't see her face from so far above, but the impact sounded ferocious.
"I don't believe you were just able to do that without planning it," Furret declared, "so who are you and what do you want?"
Light turned to a snapping noise nearby. Ariel stood up taller with snapped chains hanging from her wrists. She pulled and bent the bars on her cage and flew to his. After she bent more metal bars, she flew inside his cage and ripped off the chains from Light's wrists.
"That Lopunny saved my life from Reshiram the first time," Light said quickly. "Not even any strings attached. He wouldn't do this."
Ariel seemed to take a second to process what he said. He had to admit, he flung that information and slapped her in the face with it.
"Well… okay then. Let's go get him."
"Hey!" Meowstic Markus yelled, "if you get me out of here, I'll free the others."
The Furret with golden fur on the floor glanced back at him. She took a moment to decide, then created a blue sphere between her paws, and threw the Focus Blast balanced on her feet.
The rope tied around the Meowstic's arm was cut clean off close to his paw.
"Dang," Markus muttered, "and you did that with Focus Miss..."
Markus dangled free in the air above dark, clean water. He reached up and pulled the rope with his claws, cutting it and freeing himself. He used his psychic abilities to turn himself upright and float in the air. turned his attention downwards towards Buizel Zen, Quilava Gawain, and shiny Zorua Aaron hanging from their arms by ropes in a short line.
He floated above Zen first and started carefully cutting the rope from around his wrist.
"Hey Zen," Markus greeted, "you look taller. A little better on style. Told you it'd be fine."
"This is not good," Zen said. "Abigail's kinda panicking..."
"Gee," Aaron grunted, "I wonder why."
Agatha noted what she heard over the roar of the waterfall. Furret's fur was messy, and she didn't seem too aware that she looked crazy as she glanced around in random directions. Agatha felt the strand of her ear, but her earring wasn't with her.
Thick rock walls and miniature rivers surrounded the cave floor. Agatha only saw a path leading anywhere behind the Lopunny along. It was a winding path upwards etched into the wall of the cave. At the top, there was a way through the stone with a gentle blue light coming through.
"T-tell us where we are," Furret ordered.
Luke fell silent and straightened his back. He groaned and clutched his side where she had hit him.
"Tell us!" she screamed.
Furret didn't give Luke time to react. A Focus Blast shot out of her arms. Agatha couldn't move fast enough.
A gust of wind swirled around her face from above. It focused in front of Luke's body. Agatha ducked. The blue sphere was flung away by the gust, close to her, into the water. She looked up to see where it came from.
A beautiful form fell down with white swan wings and green tinged limbs. The Sky-Forme Shaymin was the first mythical class species Agatha had seen in person, but it was a lot larger than she thought a Shaymin would be. She released a small gray and white mass from her arm. It fell quietly to the cave floor in front of Luke. The gray mass moved to the side.
A huge, gray tail moved to the side and revealed a Flareon. The usual red fur on his species was a blinding white. As he stood up on his legs with his arms up, Agatha realized his eyes were different colors; His left eye a controlled white and his right eye a deep blue. Both of them were highlighted by a layer of smooth, gorgeous black around his eyes. His whole body sparkled from the droplets of water coming from the cave ceiling and light reflecting off. Even with a defensive glare, he looked like an angel.
Abigail was even more confused. The White Star was standing in front of her, but it had to be a trick. The last she read online, he was a whole continent away moving even further away. That Lopunny had to know something she didn't, but he didn't explain anything.
Abigail glanced towards the White Star's eyes. She locked her gaze on him.
"Calm down," the White Star said. "No one knows where we are, but it's clear we're on the same side of... whatever's happening."
A warm feeling went in Abigail's head. His smooth voice echoed and snaked around in her mind. Her opinion turned itself around.
She jumped when there was a paw on her shoulder. Buizel Zen stood behind her along with Quilava Gawain and Zorua Aaron.
"We're okay," Zen said, "let's get out of here. Right?"
Abigail stared at each of their faces. She couldn't tell if they were faking the confidence or not, but it reached her.
"Okay," Abigail said, "where's the exit?"
"Up there."
Abigail glanced at Audino, grazing over the scars over her whole body. She focused in on her arm and traced it to where she pointed.
Light turned around to where the strange Audino pointed: A long, winding path in the cave wall that led up to a blue light through a pathway.
"Airy?" Light asked.
"Checking it out," Ariel said.
Sky Shaymin Ariel galloped into the air. Light watched her fly up before turning back to the others.
"So, uhm, who are you guys?" Light asked.
"Who are we?" shiny Zorua asked. "Uhm, the Royal Parade?"
"Oh, that... I've been a bit… busy."
"Aaron Valor," Zorua said.
"Zen Verity," Buizel added.
"Gawain Acuity," Quilava said.
Light's heart jumped in his chest. He'd heard that people with the royal blessings could sense each other, but he had no clue how it worked. Or how to prevent it. Gawain didn't seem to notice anything. His face was perfectly neutral.
"I'm Abigail Frisk," Furret finished. "It's... Nice to meet you."
"I'm Light", he nodded, "and it's nice to meet you."
Along with them, Light unconsciously turned to Lopunny and Audino. Lopunny sat up on the ground, clutching his side and stretching his chest in different ways.
"Luke," Lopunny grunted, "nice to meet you..."
Audino didn't budge. When everyone's eyes were turned on her, she looked back from the cave's exit.
"What?" Audino asked.
"What's your..."
Light stopped and paused looking at her. She seemed familiar. Past the scars and muscle, she stood with a perfect posture with her arms at her side.
He remembered where his group of thieves first found what he now knew was Reshiram. A mansion in the countryside.
"Pharaoh," Light guessed. "You lived in that mansion..."
Her eyes lit up. A sudden noise stole her attention.
A gust like a tornado spiraled from the cave's exit. The sound combined with the rushing water overtook Light's hearing. The wind itself nearly pushed him down. He recovered after the initial shock.
The gust itself was short-lived. Light looked around, and everyone else seemed to have the same confused reaction he did except for Luke. Luke stared at the cave exit with a stressed face and grit teeth. Light looked in the general direction he stared off towards and saw Ariel floating down like a piece of paper. She had new light red marks across her whole body and came down on all four limbs. Light ran up to her when she nearly fell over during her landing.
"I'm good," Ariel huffed.
Light paused before he could reach out to her. She raised her arm by her face.
"I'm good," Ariel repeated, "there's something up there."
"Guys," Luke said, "get ready."
Furret Abigail peered her eyes at the shadow going over the blue light.
"Who is that?" Abigail asked quietly.
"Let me guess," Audino whispered back, "Miss Destiny?"
A gray and silver shadow took a huge leap off of the cave walls. Abigail cringed as it took the long fall to the cave floor. The sound of cracking rock and the shaking in her feet turned her explosive, electric feelings back on in her chest.
Streams of white fur took longer to fall to a Cinccino's back. When Abigail realized how long it was, she realized how big the Cinccino was. The normal for her species' height was around two feet, but she was at least four when she straightened out her back.
A sharp, blue mask covered her ocean blue eyes.
"What is this?" Abigail asked.
Cinccino looked up and smiled..
"Isn't it obvious?" she asked. "All of you are here together."
A lavender object fell and stuck up out of the ground. Cinccino swiped it out of the ground and pointed it in their direction.
It was the same as in Agatha's vision; the horn of a Keldeo.
"It's execution day."
Agatha put her arms out in front of her when a whirlwind started. She leaned in to stay on her feet, but her legs were pushed into taking steps back.
When it was over, Cinccino rushed at Agatha with Keldeo's horn at her side. Agatha lifted her arms by her sides and waited to try and dodge.
"Don't get hit by that horn!" Luke called.
She shifted her focus, driven by the fear in Luke's voice. She backed up continuously while the Cinccino swiped at her with the horn. Before Agatha got pushed back close to the water, a blue orb hit Cinccino in her exposed side, a Water Pulse. Agatha made a break for the exit.
Furret Abigail advanced. She ran side by side with the Audino going in the opposite direction. Cinccino stared back with a dim expression and the horn still pointed out at her side. She expected her to swing first, but she stood still.
She had her arms up as the Cinccino swayed to the side. The air around her still burned with the horn's energy. Abigail would have to dodge every swing. She couldn't let that weapon touch her.
There was a sudden jolt on either side of Abigail's body. The high and low gusts of wind knocked her off balance and put her on her side.
Pain erupted when the horn scraped against the ground and hit her in the chest.
"Markus, leave us here."
Meowstic Markus stopped pulling on the bars separating himself and a Mightyena. His eyes twisted in confusion.
"We're too slow to get out with you."
"But, dad," Markus said, "I gotta get you out. You can't stay in here."
"I mean it, Markus. Please."
Markus didn't move at first, but a piercing scream sounded below on the ground. He barely managed a sloppy wave and rocketed back to the dark cave floor.
Light saw Audino double back and pick up Furret Abigail as she wriggled in pain on the ground. Buizel Zen, Quilava Gawain, Zorua Aaron, and wounded Lopunny Luke all reached the cave wall and started to take the winding path up. He limped, but managed to keep up. He wasn't sure what Ariel was, but he decided that he'd take more bruises before she did. Between her and the path outside, he reached a decision point.
An orange streak passed him from the side of his vision.
"Zen, no!" a voice ordered.
Buizel Zen used Aqua Jet and bounced off of a pillar of rock straight for Cinccino. In response, she put her paws in a circle shape and pushed out.
Somehow, it created a blast of wind. The water around Zen disappeared into a light drizzle on the rock floor below. Zen vanished in the blast.
A war cry sounded from above. Zen flew overhead by whirling his tails in a fast circle. He threw shiny Zorua Aaron straight down at her head. His body glowed with red and black dark type energy.
Light saw Cinccino form her hands in a circle again. He forged a red Trump Card between his fingers and arced it at her legs.
Cinccino noticed and moved her leg, but it threw her stance off. Aaron landed with Night Daze.
The pitch black explosion ended just in front of Light's face. He scrambled back as it formed a black dome.
A break formed in the dome. A dark projectile flew off in the air as the attack broke apart. Buizel Zen flew fast enough to catch Aaron and stop them both before they hit the ceiling.
Cinccino was still standing straight as the black color disappeared onto the floor. Light flinched when someone landed just behind him, but he didn't want to take his eyes off of her. A Meowstic marched into his peripheral vision and stood right next to him.
"They need a minute," Markus said. "Impromptu badass time. You ready?"
"Yah," Light said.
Cinccino glared and smiled at him. He couldn't see her whole face, but it was a warm, somehow slimy smile. Something about the way she carried herself changed.
Markus swung his tail using Swift. Light copied (he happened to know the move himself) and focused his line of gold stars in another direction. Both attacks came down at her front from above.
Cinccino pushed out her arms in either direction while walking forward. The blasts of winds sent the stars into the cave walls. The impacts created tiny clouds of dust that fell into the water.
Light was still thinking of what to do next when the Cinccino pushed her arms out behind herself. She blasted forward in the air and elbowed Markus in the face with the force of her whole body. He screamed out while Light took a step back from her and froze.
Up close, Light shivered as he realized she was three times his size. Cinccino took loud, pounding steps forward and stared down straight into his eyes. She was still smiling.
"Hey," she said.
Light fell back when Sky Shaymin Ariel tackled her from out of nowhere. When he got back on his feet, he saw their paws were locked and pushed against each other. Ariel's body glowed with a strengthening green hue.
"Oh," Cinccino said, frowning, "you're different."
The explosion of green and white almost blew Light off his feet again. He dipped low and clutched the ground with his claws while beads of water coalesced on his body.
When it ended, he looked up and saw Cinccino had been blasted all the way back near the waterfall. Ariel galloped to him and wrapped her arms around his back.
"Time to go," Ariel heaved.
Ariel flew with Light in her arms over the path straight to the cave exit on top. A few gusts were thrown in their direction, but they were from too far away to throw Ariel off. Looking straight down, Light was able to see the Meowstic catching up flying behind them when the blue light came into his vision.
Cinccino Hannah watched Meowstic be the last to leave. There was no other way for them to go other than back to where she was, and she didn't want to deal with a large number of enemies in a maze. If they all came close at the same time, they could overwhelm her, especially that Shaymin and Furret.
Instead, Hannah walked to the edge of the water and stabbed the cave floor with the horn. She sat down with her arms on her crossed-legs and her back straight.
"If you have enough patience, anything's possible," Hannah remembered.
A small plume of water erupted into the air in front of her. Hannah took a slow, deep breath. It sprinkled around her and fell back into the water. That would be the only time she let her focus slip.
