Chapter 38: Where two ghosts fight.
As Bao fell, he fell right onto Mo, still in his paw.
"I'm okay!", Mo muffled underneath the Mienshao.
"What ... what was that?!", Ferhat called out and looked at the remaining adventurers.
"I'd say, that was cunning.", Amy answered and was rather surprised herself.
"But what Mo did is only slowing him down, and only for a while, too.", Nya pointed out towards Amy.
"Then ...", Amy said, prepared herself for battle as her paw glow again. "We should act fast."
Bao, shacking from his paralyse, slowly stood up while still holding Mo. It was Mo's first, real time using this attack and he was not sure himself how strong it would be. He feared this would not be enough for a Pokémon like Bao and he may would not get another chance like this. Mo kept his new attack secret for a reason.
"Can you still fight?", Ferhat asked Bao, worried.
"It is not done.", Bao angrily announced.
Without warning, Charlotte rolled at Bao with high speed like she did moments before.
"Charlotte, wait!", Amy called out, but she didn't listen.
Bao smiled sinister as she rolled nearer to him.
"Foolish Komala.", he said. "I'm still stronger than-"
What Bao did not noticed: As Charlotte started rolling, Mo tried to get himself free. He took his fake, wooden tail and filled it with his dark energy, enough to be stronger, but still remaining in normal size. Mid sentence, Mo swung his tail and smacked it right across Bao's face. In the progress, Bao let him go and held his jaw in pain. Seconds later, Charlotte and her log crashed down on Bao's snout, sending the Mienshao to the ground while now holding his whole face in pain, shouting.
Charlotte helped up Mo.
"Well, that was something.", he said.
Charlotte up her left arm, raising her hand. First Mo did not know what she intended. Understanding shortly after, he softly gave her a high-five.
Meanwhile, behind them, Bao lifted his paw and notices he was bleeding from his nose and one of his paws was dripping. Quiet fast for a paralysed Pokémon, he stood up again, angry and snarling at the two Pokémon.
Mo and Charlotte both had one of the "he's right behind me, isn't he" moments.
The same moment, the remaining adventures, lead by Amy, charged united at Bao. Amy punching down on him, Nya biting his leg with her fiery teeth, Richard peeking on his head and Aaron trying to hold him still with his ribbons.
"Don't worry, Mo! We've got this!", Amy, out of breath, assured him.
"Mo!", Aaron called out to him as well. The next moment, Mo only saw their team bag flying at him, just barely managing to catch it.
"We have one oran berry left! Help Ziggy!", Aaron ordered him.
Mo quickly emptied their bag on the floor and took the single oran berry. He turned around and saw Ziggy, knocked out and still there where he was left. But Mo's view wandered somewhere else: Ferhat.
Mo handed the berry to Charlotte.
"You need to help Ziggy, quickly! ... I need to do something else.", Mo told her and his eye glow up.
Still with his eyes glowing, Mo took a chesto berry and quickly ate it before turning around, facing Ferhat.
"What are you looking at?!", the Spiritomb asked with flinched eyes. "Are you challenging me?"
"I know they can take on him, and I'm sure, in the meantime, ...", a dark aura appeared around Mo. "I can take on you."
They were both coming closer to each other. Ferhat spirit-like was seemingly getting bigger.
"Do you know who I am?!", Ferhat's voice changed into a demonic tone, similar to Mo's.
"I actually do.", Mo also used his demon voice. "You're the one that gave Team Purple a bad reputation."
Ferhat seemed impressed for a short moment but also made him angry.
"I almost bested Guild Master Dingo! And you?! You are a workless Pikachu-wannabe with only one friend, that Sylveon over there!", Ferhat told him angrily.
"A little pumpkin told me!", he added laughing.
Ferhat hit a nerve.
"I beat your entire air force and your 'little pumpkin' at least once, and I only learned cooking! What's your excuse?!", Mo shouted and prepared to attack first. "I'm not even in my best condition right now!"
"That's all I need to hear.", Ferhat said and grinned sinisterly.
Mo ran towards the Spiritomb, seemingly making no effort of doing anything but keep on grinning over his big face. Mo jumped up, his right claw reaching out underneath his cloth, ready to strike, while Ferhat still stood there, looking at him. Mo was too much into it to notices something was going on.
Mo slashed down on Ferhat, cutting through him from top right to down left. Literally, through him. Ferhat still stood there with the same facial expression, but with the slashed part of him kind of washed away. Mo finally realised what was going on, but too late. Ferhat appeared behind Mo, swung his rock he was attached to and smacked Mo to the ground and the duplicate disappearing in thin air.
"And they told me I had anger issues.", Ferhat mocked him.
Mo used his shadow claw attack again, quickly turning around and slashing at the Spiritomb again. Ferhat managed to dodge the attack.
"You're aware this kind of tactic only works if you're stronger than your opponent?", Ferhat told him.
Mo was already breathing heavy, both of anger and exhaustion. Until now, this method always worked somehow.
Still close to each other, Ferhat began to charge a shadow ball. Not having enough time to dodge, Mo tried using his fake tail as a shield, hopefully blocking it. It was still a direct hit. Mo was thrown into the air, his tail leaving where he stood seconds before. The blast was strong enough to not only hurt him a lot, but also almost threw him into the right flame next to the pedestal.
Getting up again, Mo only saw the fall of flames in front of him, feeling the heat on his face and ... his fake ears were lit! Mo quickly and in panic extinguished them.
Turning around, Ferhat was floating above him, charging another shadow ball attack.
"Think fast.", Ferhat meanly suggested.
Suddenly, lightning struck from the side, hitting Ferhat who shouted up in pain and uncharged his coming attack.. It wasn't Mo who did that.
"Who did that?!", Ferhat shouted in a demonic tone as he turned around.
There stood Ziggy, on all fours, ready to run and fixed on Ferhat.
"Hello there.", he said.
Ferhat, for some reason, became even more angrier now.
"You fooled me, you dirty rat!"
"And I already told you that was a joke!", Ziggy answered.
Ferhat quickly charged his attack again, this time firing it at the Pikachu. Ziggy dodge by running in Mo's direction underneath Ferhat while also picking up Mo's tail with his mouth. Arriving, he pressed it against Mo's face, ordering him to take it.
"Ziggy, what are you doing?!", Mo asked rudly and took his tail.
"What does it look like?! I'm helping you! And what'S even going on right now?!", Ziggy argued back and turned around to see what Ferhat was doing now.
Said Spiritomb was charging at the two. Reacting fast, Ziggy pulled Mo away by his cloth, Ferhat then landed where the two stood before.
"I did not ask for your help! I can do it myself!" , Mo further argued.
"Doesn't look like it!", Ziggy told him back.
Mo looked back at the rest of the group. Amy, Aaron, Nya, Richard and now Charlotte as well tried their best to overwhelm Bao, with Charlotte seemingly having the best change to do so, but Bao was still holding on despite his paralyzes.
"How about we share the achievement of beating the boss?", Ziggy suggested.
Mo turned around. Ferhat was looking at the two of them. Mo put his tail back on.
"Wel'll see.", he answered.
"What do YOU will be the outcome?" Ferhat called out. "I beat not only you but also your friends back then in the Meteor Cave!"
"Unlike now, YOU also had your friends with you, too!", Ziggy called back. "And right now we are two, and you're alone!"
Ferhat looked of them with sharp eyes.
"Do I look like I bother?"
Thinking Ferhat was distracted that moment, Mo tried to paralyze him with his thunder wave. But Ferhat avoided this by flying upwards.
"I don't.", Ferhate added and fired a shadow ball at Ziggy.
Mo was far enough from Ziggy to not be affected by the ball itself or the blast it made. Shortly before impact, Ziggy dash to the side very fast. Not having hit his target Ferhat tried it again, only to end up with the same result. And again, and another time, and another time. Mo felt rather awkward standing there and left out.
"Is that all you've got?!", Ziggy mocked the Spiritomb.
Ferhat fired another shadow balls, but this time not at Ziggy. This time he was distracted by Ziggy. He tried to warn him, but it was to late already and Mo got directly hit and thrown off the ground.
For a moment Mo lost his consciousness. When he got up again, Ziggy and Ferhat took the ongoing fight to the ground. Ziggy tried keeping distance to the Spiritomb while trying to hit him with thunder bolts while Ferhat swung his stone at him, which he also used as a shield for Ziggy's attacks.
This was supposed to be Mo's fight, not his. Despite the pain and the exhaustion he felt, he could not just look how someone else did HIS job. Mo took his tail and walked towards the fighting.
Ferhat noticed him first again and stared at him surprised.
"Why do you still stand, you creep?!", he called out and got hit by Ziggy.
Ziggy turned around as well and looked rather shocked too. Mo's fake ears were slightly burned, he fake head still limb and dragged behind him, his fake face smudged and the fighting torn on his cloth. His scarf was still alright, thou.
Ziggy, now distracted by Mo's appearance, was knocked to the ground by Ferhat, who approached Mo.
"You're really enduring, aren't you?", Ferhat pointed out.
Mo's tail began to glow and doubled in size.
"The darkness is strong in you and you show willpower.", Ferhat said. "If I were Guild Master, I would have accepted you as well, but you're not the type of Pokémon Hilarius would let in."
Mo dash forward and swung his tail at him, with Ferhat dodging it with ease. Ducking to avoid his attack, Mo used his left claw and slashed it at the Spiritomb, hitting him this time.
"Good.", Ferhat said, then swung his rock at Mo which he blocked with his tail. "Let the anger guide you."
"Anger does not control me! I control the anger!", Mo corrected and pushed Ferhat away with his tail, tried slashing at him again, but missed.
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that.", Ferhat answered.
Ferhat managed to get behind Mo, hit him with his rock and forced him to the ground.
"Who told you that? Hilarius? That Sylveon? I saw you have a nurse now. Her maybe?", he asked as he repeatedly hit down on Mo. "You control your anger?! Why don't you use it properly then?!"
He stopped. Ferhat looked down to him, thinking.
"You show potential, but you need someone to show you the way.", Ferhat said, looking down to Mo. "I offer you to join the Forces of Darkness, with me as your mentor."
Mo, despite the pain, quickly looked up in a state of surprise.
"Once the Dark Lord achieved his goal, I plan on creating a new Adventurer Guild, a guild where everyone is Team Purple. And you, Mimikyu, will be my personal pupil.", Ferhat further told him and smiled over his visage.
Ziggy carefully and shaky stood up.
"Come on, Mo! You don't actually believe his lies!"
Mo began to think. This Pokémon didn't seemed trustful, and they already got so far, but Mo was slowly losing hope, not able to defeat him.
Mo stepped forward to the Spiritomb, then bowed down to him, like he did to King Kamili before.
"... Mo?", Ziggy asked in disbelieve.
"I see this is for the best.", Mo admitted, not looking up. "I feel honored ... master."
Ziggy ran towards Mo and Ferhat as fast as he could.
"Mo, what are you doing?!", he called out.
Looking to his side, Ziggy arrived with an expression of anger and exhaustion. Mo turned towards him and used his thunder wave against his rival and colleague.
Ziggy did not expected that, tried to fight it, but eventually fell down shaking and stiff like Bao did.
"How .. could ... you?", Ziggy asked him, trying effortless to get back up.
"Master?", Ferhat said to himself pleased. "I like that title! You will not regret your decision, Mo."
Ferhat turned to Ziggy and looked down to him.
"Kill him, Mo.", Ferhat ordered him. "We don't need Pokémon like these."
Ziggy's face turned into and expression of horror and looked at it at the Mimikyu. Mo looked at Ziggy as well.
"I dislike him, but he's a strong Pikachu und currently not our main problem." , Mo said as he turned to Ferhat again. "If I may suggest, we should help Bao get rid of everyone else, including the human."
"Even your own partners?", Ferhat asked, sounding surprised in a good way.
"Aaron, that Sylveon, is weak, and I could never really like him anyway. But that Komala, Charlotte, ...", Mo explained. "She and he ...", Mo pointed to Ziggy with his fake, lump head. "Would later be of use to ... us."
Ferhat took a long look at Mo. Then he started to laugh.
"I like the way you think!"
"We will never ... surrender!", Ziggy shouted as he, again, tried to get up.
Ferhat turned around. The remaining adventurers where still fighting Bao and Helix's force field was still up. Richard was already knocked out, Aaron on the ground of exhaustion, while Amy, Nya and Charlotte did their best, with Bao, even thou he was wounded himself, still besting them.
"I suppose Bao is recovering and can take down those pesky kids himself.", Ferhat told Mo, still having his back turned to him. "It would not hurt if-"
While Ferhat was busy talking, Mo took his wooden tail, filled it with dark energy, making it grow, and SMASHED it right onto Ferhat's stone. Upon impact, the stone began to crack and Ferhat screamed in agony, his spirit like body started becoming unstable and so did his voice.
"WHAT?!", Ferhat shouted as he turned around.
That moment, Mo used hi thunder wave again, now paralyzing the Spiritomb. This only made his unstable state even more corrupted.
"I lied.", Mo calmly confessed.
With his dark glowing claw he slashed directly at the Spiritomb, making him fly in the air where his spirit body disappeared into the rock, which then fell back to the ground.
Mo breathed hard in exhaustion and hoped that would take care of him now, feeling proud to have bested the traitor.
"Was that an act?!", Ziggy yelled at Mo.
"I'm bad at lying, but I found his one impressive myself.", Mo confessed and laughed a little about it. "Don't worry, I packed extra cheri berries for scenarios like these."
"... remind me never to 100% trust you." Ziggy commented.
"Can't make that promise.", Mo answered.
The next moment, Nya, thrown by Bao, flew at Mo and landed on him while he had his back turned to the still ongoing fight.
"Nya!", Ziggy called out to her.
"I'm fine.", Mo said. And so was Nya.