Chapter 72: Confronting a Legendary

Point of View Flare

It has now been a few hours since I have been returned home from the pokecenter. It didn't take more than a minute for me to figure out the mood of everyone around me. As for what the pokecenter did for me while I was injured, they prescribed me painkillers, and told Alex to let me rest for the next week without any serious movement. So, I ended up on the bed lying on my stomach. Everyone in the room remained in some form of shock from the news about Nia…, or perhaps I should say Naomi. Black has mostly remained under a nightstand in complete silence. No one, not even Kana was able to cheer him up, even a little. I guess I could say I was surprised to hear that news from Hesh; it was something I didn't expect when he came with Alex to get me from the hospital.

To an extent, I felt pity for her. I could relate to being full of guilt, after all I'm an ex team Flare member, so I committed my crimes towards society that I regretted. At the same time, her suicide wasn't the top priority on my mind. I was more concerned about Hunter. The very thought of him being out there sent chills down my spine.

What was I to do if he came back for me, or what if he killed those around me? Only one option surfaced in my mind, I would have to wait for him to strike again, and next time, I would kill him and end this entire game. Hunter being alive endangered everyone around me, and it put me at risk for being exposed for who I was.

I've changed over the years, some would even say I have become care free and even a goofball. But Hunter was right, I have gotten significantly weaker, and he easily defeated me in a fight. The question is, how would I defeat someone like him who had an advantage in every form of combat against me? I was physically weaker, and I had no chance of beating him with my flame based attacks. I was no match for him in any confrontation.

A grumble escaped my mouth from the stressful thoughts. What a sad display for everyone, including myself, to be heartbroken at a moment like this. Hesh, and Gray seemed to be the only two who were unaffected by all the drama, but even Gray had things on his mind from what I could tell.

Almost everyone was lost in their own form of pain.

Point of View Stark

I sighed in annoyance as Vincent and I both walked down a tunnel. Like every other tunnel, this one was literally the same piece of unimaginative crap. Crystals sticking out of the walls, holes for aron to sneak out of and ambush us, and a never ending path ahead of us. Being trapped below ground really made me lose track of time. It had to be at least two hours since someone made the brilliant idea of coming into this forsaken hole.

My legs were now growing tired, and each step caused a sharp pain in my muscles. It was truly sad that my body was this weak. I looked to my left and observed Vincent who was doing perfectly fine. Over the hours of walking my mouth had grown dry, and I desperately needed some form of water or I was going to die. When I was outside, I really wish I would have taken advantage of the water that drained into this cave… But now that I thought of it, the water that drained into the cave was nowhere to be seen, this place was completely vacant of water.

"Hey Vincent," I said, getting the espeon's attention. "All that water was draining into this place, so where did it go. After I fell down a slope, I never really noticed that the entire area after that was dry…?"

Vincent stopped walking, "I never noticed either. After we got separated, I ran into some aron, and I didn't notice with all the chaos," Vincent said as he continued to think on the subject, "Interesting, so where is the water draining to then?" Vincent asked out loud.

"I have no idea," I added as I sat down to rest my tired legs. "You know, how do we even know Zygarde is really here? We have yet to see anything that proves he is really here," I complained to Vincent.

"Because, Mandus found out on his own," Vincent responded.

"That's a bullshit reason, and you and all of your friends are complete idiots if you really followed him down into this death trap," I said with spite. Vincent just chuckled as he looked at me. "What's so funny?" I asked him as I felt my temper beginning to surface.

"Nothing, I just find it funny that you call us idiots, yet you jumped down here with us, when you don't even believe this stuff. So in reality, you're the 'idiot' for following us down here when you should have known better," Vincent responded.

"Don't test me," I said as I got to my feet and growled at the espeon.

"Stark, you insulted me first, so don't act like you're the victim here," Vincent said as he nodded his head at me in disapproval.

'I am the victim here,' I said to myself mentally. "Let's just get a move on, so we can get out of here," I replied back as I walked past Vincent.

"You're going the wrong way," Vincent warned me, and I instantly froze. "We were heading this way," Vincent said as he pointed in the proper direction.

"Just get me to your mythical creature, or get me the Hell out of here," I said as I followed Vincent down the supposed proper path. 'Just what the Hell is this place anyways? Is it some kind of mystery dungeon lair thingy.'

For a while we walked down the same path. I would consider us lucky that we didn't run into anymore aron, but I would consider us extremely lucky if we had a leader who didn't bring us down here in the first place. If this kept up, we'd have to resort to cannibalism just to stay alive. Our species weren't known for eating flesh to survive, but I was a survivalist… Although, in reality I probably wouldn't resort to that, I'd probably find an aron and eat it… once I removed that pesky armor.

As more time went on my stomach began to too rumble from starvation. I couldn't help but look over towards my comrade, and the thought of espeon meat ran through my head. "Wait… why the Hell am I thinking about this," I questioned out loud as I shook off my hunger.

"Thinking about what?" Vincent asked me.

I awkwardly shifted my head towards him as I thought of a logical excuse, "Stuff," I responded bluntly.

"Stuff… right," Vincent said as he slowly took his gaze off of me and looked ahead. As I grew more and more tired of walking, my head slumped down low as I watched every single foot step I took forward. At this point if I lived to make it to whoever was messing with us, I'd be too tired to fight him. Vincent and I both paused as we heard a loud thrashing noise further down the tunnel. We both glared at each other as we tried to figure out what was further up ahead of the tunnel.

"Let's go," Vincent said as he picked up his pace and began running towards the noise. Feeling frustrated about Vincent's curiosity I scowled in annoyance as I ran after the psychic. The tunnel curved as we ran down it, and as we went around the curve and we both came to a halt as we saw an aggron flailing its arms at a greninja. The greninja jumped away from each attack, as she threw a water shuriken at the aggron. The water splashed against the solid armor of the aggron, and only left a minor scratch.

"Scarlet!" Vincent yelled out to the greninja, as he ran to assist her. The aggron turned to Vincent as he ran to the steel type. The aggron dove towards the espeon, and smashed into the ground with his entire body. Dirt, and rock flew into the air and created a smoke screen. As the cloud of dirt cleared, the aggron began to stand back up. As it recovered to his feet, I saw Vincent on the side of the tunnel, practically hugging the wall in an attempt not to get crushed by the aggron's massive body.

"Where's Flynn?!" Vincent shouted at Scarlet.

The greninja jumped to a safe distance from the aggron as she hunched forward and placed a hand on the ground in front of her," He got injured by this aggron, I lured it away from him so I could kill it," Scarlet said as her eyes narrowed in on the aggron, who was now focusing on her.

"This thing is a tank, killing it won't be so simple," I added to the conversation.

"If it bleeds, we can kill it," Scarlet said as she jumped towards the aggron and threw a series of water shurikens at the aggron. As the shurikens splashed against the aggron, she ran around the aggron and ran up its tail until she was on its back.

"Stark, your support would be appreciated," Scarlet said to me as she launched a hydro pump out of her mouth and right into the back of the aggron.

"Fine," I said in annoyance as I charged up a shadow ball. The aggron rammed its head into the wall in an attempt to shake the greninja off its back. The creature seemed to lack a basic form of logic, because all it would have to do is roll around to get her off.

Without a moment more of delay, I launched my shadow ball at the aggron's torso. The shadow ball exploded against its chest, and caused it to flinch back. The aggron wasn't really concerned with me, and it focused on getting Scarlet off of it, as the aggron exhausted itself from ramming repeatedly into the wall.

Suddenly a fiery explosion blew up in the aggrons side. I looked down the tunnel to spot Flynn, who was panting in exhaustion as blood dripped out of a giant gash in his head. The aggron continued to fight Scarlet, and it almost looked as if the ember attack didn't even get the aggron's attention.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting," the fire type said as he panted in exhaustion.

My attention was then directed back to Scarlet, as she took advantage of the aggron's exhaustion and ran up the rest of its body. She jumped straight into the air, and twirled her body so her head was facing the ground. As she fell past the aggrons face, she spawned two water shurikens in her hands and threw them into the aggrons face. The aggron let out a pained roar as Scarlet finished her acrobatic move and landed perfectly on her feet. Without hesitation she jumped to a safe distance from the panicking aggron..

The aggron aimlessly thrashed its body into the wall as it flailed its arms around aimlessly. I caught a glimpse of its face to see blood dripping from both of its eyes, which revealed Scarlets target. The aggron charged aimlessly down the tunnel towards Vincent and I. It didn't take more than a second for us to clear out of that thing's way. As the aggron ran down the tunnel, it turned and rammed into the wall. To our surprise the wall collapsed and the aggron fell through. We all looked at each other as a new path was revealed.

"Where does that lead to?" Vincent said as he walked towards the hole in the wall. I followed behind him cautiously as I braced myself for the blind aggron. As Vincent and I peeked around the hole in the wall, we both spotted the aggron lying on the ground. The creature was still breathing, but it appeared to be unconscious from blood loss, or possibly shock.

"Hopefully it doesn't wake back up anytime soon," Vincent said as he stepped through the hole in the wall. I followed Vincent through the hole, and what I saw shocked me. Before me now was a giant lake within this cave. The lake went on for what looked like miles, and sticking out of the lake were multiple tree's growing from the ground,through the ceiling, and possible to the surface. None of the tree's had any branches they just spiraled upward. The room appeared to be perfectly illuminated with a bluish-green color, but there was no source of light that I could find.

"What is this place?" Flynn asked as he crawled through the hole in the wall.

"I have no idea. To think that something like this was on the other side of the wall the whole time," Vincent said. Looking down towards the water, I quickly noticed the smooth stone ground at the bottom. The water was no deeper than six or seven inches. Not wasting anytime I stepped into the water and instantly felt my paw shiver from the ice cold water. Once my body got used to the ice cold temperature, I looked down at the water, and lowered my head to finally get a drink of water.

"Don't!" Vincent shouted, and stopped me from drinking the water.

"Why?" I said in annoyance.

"We don't know if it's safe to drink, it could be contaminated," Vincent answered. I looked over to Flynn who nodded in agreement.

"No," Scarlet said as she stuck her hand in the water, "This water is pure, cleaner than the water human's drink." Trusting Scarlet over Vincent, I quickly indulged on the water my body desperately wanted, after which I felt rehydrated. I was ready to continue our search for the mythical legendary.

"So, now what?" Flynn asked, as he looked at his teammates.

"It would be wise to search this area, it may be possible that this is Zygarde's actual lair," Vincent responded as he slowly turned his head and scanned the area.

"I would agree that this place it worth checking out. It has a very peculiar feeling to it," Flynn added.

"Then let's not waste any more time," Scarlet said as she led our group.

Our group walked through the shallow water as we all picked a direction, and kept watch. The scenery of this area was very different from anything I have seen, but I quickly caught on that everything looked the same in this unique area. After a few minutes of walking we all directed our heads towards the water that fell through a small hole in the ceiling like a waterfall.

"So, this is where all the water was going," Vincent said. "The water also seems to hydrate all the organic life that lives down here, but even then I would expect that this room would flood one of these days, or the swamp above would drain completely," Vincent continued to speak.

"The swamp above us goes on for many miles, on top of that much rain floods the land above," Scarlet said as she lean against a tree and crossed her arms.

"Even so, an area like this is unnatural, tree's don't grow this deep underground," Vincent said.

"Perhaps your company isn't as incompetent and feeble as I anticipated," A voice echoed through the enormous opening we were in. My eyes widened as I realized this was the same voice that spoke to me earlier. The only question is who was it?

"Who's there?" Vincent asked as every one of us got in a defensive position. A laughter echoed throughout the opening we were in.

"I don't owe it to mere pokemon to share my name, nor do I care for introductions." The voice echoed through the oversized puddle we stood in. "I am the guardian of nature itself, I do not hold any form of hatred towards any of you, so leave now and any form of violence will be avoided," the voice offered.

"Reveal yourself, prove to us that you're real," I asked the creature that referred to himself as Zygarde.

"Foolish umbreon, I don't owe you an audience, so be gone," The voice spoke.

"You're scared of us," I said out loud, but only heard silence. "If you really are Zygarde, then what would a creature so great fear? Instead you hide in the shadows, and leave us to your pawns."

"Very well, if it's death you seek, then I shall allow you to become one with the earth," the voice spoke. Suddenly the ground began to rumble, and soon a giant crack formed right below where all the water was pouring. Then the ground split open, and a stone orb with lime green lines circling the orb arose from the crevice. Multiple roots were attached to the orb, and they appeared to go under the ground of this lake.

The orb then cracked in the front and a bright green light shone through the crack. Then the crack grew larger until the whole side facing us had multiple cracks, and then it all shattered. My eyes were instantly blinded by a bright green light. The light slowly died down to reveal a strange pokemon slithering out of the stone orb. It appeared as a black serpent like thing, and had hexagonal shaped scales. The underbelly of the serpent was a dark lime green, and the tip of his tail was also the same shade of lime green. The creature had hexagonal green scales where its eye should have been, but despite the lack of vision, I could still feel its gaze piercing my soul.

"I had to see it, to believe it," I said as I stared at the serpent creature. As the creature slithered out, it revealed multiple roots that were attached to its body, and the roots went to the orb, to the ground and below. As the creature came closer to us, the roots ripped off its body, and it slithered towards us.

"Behold, a true legendary, in the flesh," Zygarde said with a booming voice that made the cave tremble from his power.

"This is it, remember everything we were trained!" Vincent shouted as the red gem on his forehead glowed a brilliant red. Scarlet withdrew the sword she carried on her back, and held the handle of the sword backwards so the sword extended out towards her back side. Flynn began to charge an ember in his mouth.

I on the other hand stood paralyzed in shock. This was something so unreal, it had to be. A legendary was just a legend, nothing more. But why was a myth standing before me, and why was I about to battle something so powerful. How much of Mandus's plan was actually real, was he actually going to be the one to change the world if we pulled this off?

"Stark!" Vincent yelled and got my attention, "Snap out of it and focus! This is just as surprising for the rest of us."

"R-right," I said as I nodded my head. I took my battle stance and faced Zygarde as dark matter began to form around my body. Our company faced Zygarde, as the greater force stared back. This would be a battle to remember, if we survived this, we would make history.

Chapter End

Author Note: Alright, that concludes chapter 72. When writing this my beta reader pointed out that this was rather similar to a mystery dungeon, and my Mew he was right. Anyways, I hope I was able to keep this cave interesting up to this point, because I haven't wrote something like this yet, so if anything was done poorly or bothered you, please tell me for the sake of future chapters.

As usual, thank you genericgamer207 for editing this chapter, and many others... And this time I double checked your name! I spelled it right, don't tell me otherwise.

Thank you everyone who has read to this point... AND HOLY SHIT I'm GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL FROM JUST TRYING TO UPDATE THIS! Till next time...