Chapter 7

Without Aid

Overgrowth Jungle S1

Terron had truly believed that a Mystery Dungeon jungle would be just like the forest one he had gone through last time. He really wanted to believe Zekra in her saying of how they'd be similar.

However, the very second the two entered into this Mystery Dungeon, his hope for familiarity disappeared in an instant.

This place most definitely wasn't a forest. The trees that grew around them were warped into shapes that Terron didn't think were physically possible. Their roots crept throughout the dirt, heaving up dirt along the many paths spread throughout the area. The sky was covered by the dense tops of the trees and because of that, hardly any light was able to penetrate through. Vines hung from the vast canopy of trees and twisted into knots and other tangled fashions. Moss lined the dirt paths. The air within the area was incredibly humid and made Terron's body feel sticky from all of the moisture.

Yes, this place was definitely different from a forest. Though, at least this place had some lighting in it compared to the ever-growing darkness of the other dungeon.

Terron and Zekra heard the sounds of something moving and rustling behind them. They turned around to find that the vines that scaled the walls of the jungle were moving. The plants were rapidly growing, sealing off the dungeon entrance. It was just like before, but neither of them made an attempt to escape. They simply watched in slight despair as the outside world closed off from them.

They were imprisoned. This was their world now.

"Well, this is a bit of a change," Zekra said as she looked around. "At least it's kinda like the other one with the plants. So it's kinda like the forest place. The jungle looks nice, though… or at least right now."

"Yeah, welcome to the jungle..." Terron remarked quietly. "The place where things look nice before something kills you."

"Let's start looking around," Zekra said before walking forward. "That way we can get out as soon as possible."

Terron couldn't agree more. He followed after Zekra as the two of them kept their eyes peeled for any kinds of stones. Since most of the jungle was infested with trees, it was somewhat relieving that in this place, nearly everything was green or brown. Any kind of stone would stick out easily.

The two wandered down the first path to the left in search of their item. As they went through there, Terron's mind started to wander now that he had time to do so. A few random thoughts went by, such as how Mystery Dungeons sealed the exit off or what other missions the Fellowship members were doing.

But then, a strange and recent memory came to mind.

Specifically, when he and Zekra had met Bane and Rayne. His memory froze on the odd glances the Team Valor members gave.

Along with this still image, a new thought surfaced.

Why were those two staring at us so oddly?

Something had been going through their heads.

Terron hadn't put much thought into it before. He had maybe done that when talking to Bane and Rayne for two seconds, but he never had an afterthought. He figured it wasn't important and forgot about it.

Yet, now that it had resurfaced into the Cubone's thoughts and he could dwell on the subject, he felt bothered and slightly paranoid.

Terron glanced over at Zekra. Perhaps she knew what was with the faces of the Team Valor members from the other day. Maybe it was a Pokémon thing.

"Hey, Zekra," Terron said.

"Yeah, what's up?" Zekra asked curiously as she constantly moved her head around to look for the stone.

"Well... Did you find Rayne and Bane's reactions to us joining the Fellowship weird?" Terron asked, his words somewhat hesitant.

"You know, I was wondering that myself," Zekra admitted. "Maybe they're just concerned about us since we're new and all."

"Yeah, suppose that would make sense," Terron replied. "But, why worry about that? We're the only kids in the Fellowship according to Len, but that's not a big deal, right? I mean, these missions we're supposed to do... they're not that hard, are they?"

"Maybe they're being too overprotective," the Zorua said. "And I don't think the jobs are that hard. I mean, we're doing fine so far. Besides, they don't seem to realize that I have experience. I've hunted plenty of things, so I'm more than capable. I'm not that weak!"

Terron started to smile wryly as his worrisome thoughts ceased.

"And what exactly have you hunted?" Terron asked in a sarcastic tone, not completely believing her since he remembered the Spinarak incident.

"Rattata, Pidgey, Azurill, and a Spinda one time when it was acting really weird and looked a bit confused," Zekra replied proudly.

"Yeah, that's an accomplishment," Terron remarked.

"Whatever!" Zekra scoffed.

The two reached the end of the path they were traveling on... only to find that they were back at the beginning. Terron was about to begin the next path over, but Zekra stopped him.

"Hey, maybe we should mark what paths we've been on," she suggested. "That way we can tell where we've searched already. And then if we do find the right path, we can go back and check the others to see if they have the stuff just in case. It's for precautions."

"Sounds like a lot of time on just one floor," Terron stated. "You sure you want to do that? I mean... we don't know how big this dungeon is. We could be here for a long time if we completely check every floor."

"But we have to find that stone!" Zekra insisted. "And we don't know where it is! We could have missed it and we would never know until it's too late! After all, it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Well not in a Mystery Dungeon," Terron said as he looked around them. "But fine. We'll check all the trails. I just hope the food lasts long enough. We're lucky not to have run into any Pokémon."

"Don't jinx it!" Zekra shouted.

She then took a small stick that was lying around and stuck it into the ground in front of the trail they had just taken. It served as a makeshift post and reminder of the way they had went. Once that had been taken care of, the two began the next path over.

Overgrowth Jungle S2

After what felt like an hour had passed, the two had finished exploring the entire section of the first floor. They weren't able to find anything, but that didn't dampen their spirits at all.

When the Pokémon entered this area, Terron felt his stomach rumble. It wasn't painful, but it was bothersome since he knew what that meant; he would have to refuel on energy soon.

Not long after they entered their first path did an unwanted guest appear. A Treecko was in the middle of the path, crossing to the other side. However, as soon as it saw Terron and Zekra coming its way, it stopped in its tracks and faced them. A deadly glare was etched into its eyes.

Terron and Zekra stopped and stared at it. Zekra was staring at it curiously as if finding it fascinating, but Terron felt a strange sense of dread overcome him. Even though the Treecko wasn't very threatening, he still felt unnerved by it. He couldn't even blink his eyes.

"Well, looks like our first battle of the dungeon. A little Treecko out for a stroll," Zekra said casually. "You wanna take care of it? Or me?"

"You do it," Terron decided quickly, hiding his unexplainable fear from the Zorua.

Zekra let out a loud huff as she glanced at Terron.

"You're just saying that because grass-types have an advantage over you," Zekra stated blandly. "But if you insist. You're getting the next one though no matter what it is."

So that's what it is. I'm scared because that Pokémon can beat me easily. Terron thought as he calmed down. I guess I'm feeling this way because I'm a Cubone now. Wonder what else will change now that I'm a Pokémon...

Terron's pondering was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the Treecko's battle cry. He watched as it charged toward them, swinging its tail out to strike them. Terron quickly backed off a few feet as Zekra stood her ground. As the bushy tail came her way, the Zorua jumped up into the air and dodged the strike. As she fell back down, she opened her mouth wide to latch her teeth onto the Treecko.

However, the feral was able to see this and quickly maneuvered out of the way just in time. It countered by shooting out a red beam from its mouth that swiftly struck Zekra's side. She yelled as her body began to glow the same shade of red before she hit the ground. Small white bubbles streamed out of Zekra through the beam before being absorbed into the Treecko in an instant.

"Hey! Don't you dare think you can take away my energy and use it as your own!" Zekra shouted.

She quickly got up during the middle of the attack before running toward the Treecko. The wild Pokémon prepared to smack her with its tail once more, but before it could, Zekra jumped into the air and a pink light enveloped her.

When the light vanished, a new Treecko dropped to the ground, landing on its feet with grace. It looked at the feral with a pleasant expression, not fazed by the hostility of the other Treecko. The feral one ceased its attack and stared at the newcomer oddly, unsure of what to think of this new Pokémon. It tilted its head to the side.

A sly grin suddenly formed across the new Treecko' face.

It sent a kick to the feral's head, catching it off guard and knocking it to the ground. With the opponent down, the new Treecko then leaped into the air and landed on the feral with as much force as possible.

"AAAHHHH!"

The feral Treecko squirmed around from under the other Treecko's foot until it managed to free itself. Once it had done that, it slipped away into the forest in a panic.

"Lousy wild Pokémon," the Treecko muttered. "Picking a fight and not even bothering to finish it."

Terron stared at the Treecko that had its back to him, not understanding what had just happened. He had an idea… but he wasn't sure if such a strange explanation was logical. However, he did seem slightly convinced his idea was true upon seeing the grey tail that stuck out of the Treecko that bore an uncanny resemblance to another tail he knew…

"Zekra…?" Terron asked hesitantly.

The Treecko, realizing it was being addressed, turned around and gave Terron its attention.

"Yeah, what is it?" the Treecko asked.

"You're a…" Terron tried to say.

The Treecko stared oddly at the Cubone for a moment until it finally realized what was bothering Terron. It gave a nervous laugh.

"Oh, I didn't change back yet. One second," the grass type then said.

The pink light from before started to cover the gecko as its shape shifted back into Zekra's normal form. As the light faded away, she smiled pleasantly at Terron. The Cubone only stared with wide eyes.

"There, back to normal," Zekra said. "Sometimes I forget I changed forms. I usually tire out or get injured, and that puts me back to normal. Been a while since I had to make myself me again."

"You can turn into other Pokémon?" Terron asked, the surprise still present in his voice. "I mean, you still had your tail, but you looked just like that Treecko. How do you do that?"

"By using the power of illusions," Zekra said proudly. "A power only given to Zorua and Zoroark."

"Illusions?" Terron repeated oddly.

"Yeah, illusions," Zekra confirmed. "You know, stuff that looks real even though it's not. I have this ability to create illusions and make it look like I'm a certain Pokémon. However, I'm not really that Pokémon. I just have their look. It's not like with Ditto where they actually turn into other Pokémon and get their powers as well. I just pretend to be someone else and I kinda can use some of their basic abilities. Like with the Treecko, I could just do kicks and punches and maybe tail smacking if my tail would change too. But if I were to turn into say… an Abra, I couldn't use its psychic powers since I don't get the powers. "

"But, if you're just using illusions and pretending to be someone else, how are you able to hurt others?" Terron then asked. "It's fake, so how do use that as an attack?"

"I never really understood how my abilities work either," Zekra said meekly. "It's really complicated apparently. But, I've heard that there are better illusion powers that are even harder to understand, but they're really cool! Like Zoroark can use their illusions to make more than just themselves different. They can change an entire area into whatever they want! And they can even use the powers of the ones they pretend to be! It's awesome! I look forward to when I can do that!"

"But for now all you can do is just change yourself, huh?" Terron asked.

"Yeah, I'm still learning I'm afraid," Zekra said in disappointment. "And I can only turn into Pokémon that I see in front of me. I haven't really been successful in turning into Pokémon that are from my memory. They always look so weird and deformed. Plus, I've still got to figure out how to get my tail to change as well. It would help with disguises."

"How long can you stay in your illusion form?" the Cubone then asked.

"Depends, really," Zekra said with a shrug. "Usually not long. I think the longest I've done is five minutes since it takes a lot of energy and concentration. I'm working on making it better, though. Just wish that somebody could teach me, since my family isn't exactly-"

Zekra immediately realized what she was about to say and cut herself off.

"Let's keep walking," Zekra abruptly said. "You know, before anymore wild Pokémon come."

She immediately went forward, not bothering to wait for Terron's response. Terron was about to say something, but then realized why Zekra wanted to get going. Upon having this epiphany, he frowned in melancholy before following after his companion.

Overgrowth Jungle S3

After passing through all of the available trails of the second floor, still no stones were found. All that was found on the ground was moss. A lot of moss at that. However, the two still continued searching. By the time they were looking through the fourth path out of the possible six, Terron felt his stomach ache again. This time it was much more painful. He clutched his belly before stopping. He reached into the bag he had to carry and dug around a bit before managing to find an apple. He smiled eagerly before starting to devour the fruit without hesitation.

"Hey, can you hand me one of those?" Zekra asked. "I'm getting kinda hungry too. I would hunt some Pokémon around here... but I think everything here is some kind of plant Pokémon. Those kinds of Pokémon taste really weird. At least apples kinda have a good taste to them."

"If you insist," Terron said with a shrug.

Terron took out another apple before holding it out to Zekra. She took it from his mouth before she sat down and began taking bites out of it. The Cubone figured they could rest while they ate and sat down next to her with the bag set between them. There was quiet between them as Terron simply let his sights wander around the dungeon. Everything seemed at peace. Everything was quiet.

And then he saw something.

High in a branch that stretched over them was an Aipom. It was just lying there with its tail wrapped around the branch, apparently trying to get some sleep despite it being broad daylight. However, that wasn't what caught Terron's attention. No, it was what was grasped in its little purple hands.

A bright, blue stone.

Terron immediately nudged Zekra.

"What?" Zekra asked as she looked over at him.

Terron pointed at the Aipom. Zekra peered over at the direction and after staring at the Pokémon for a while, finally saw the stone Terron had seen.

"That could be it!" Zekra said excitedly. "Now we just need to get it down from here!"

"I think I can handle that," Terron said as he got to his feet.

The Cubone made his way over to the tree that held the Aipom until he was right under the very branch it slept on.

"You know, I could climb up those trees instead," Zekra said as she went up to the Cubone. "I could just turn into that Aipom and getting up there would be easy."

"It's alright," Terron assured. "You took care of that last Pokémon; I might as well try to take care of this one. I need to practice my aiming skills anyway."

"Whatever you say, Terron," Zekra shrugged.

Terron prepared to toss the bone at the Aipom when something dawned upon him. If he threw his bone, and it missed his target, he could lose it. But, if he didn't use his technique to get the Aipom, he risked not completing his mission. He could always just yell at the Aipom to wake it up, but he was worried that it would run away and forever be lost.

I don't know... Terron mentally said. I don't know if I can do this without messing up. I only knew how to hit those spiders from last time with accuracy because of that voice. It just... it just told me where to throw and it felt like something took over me. I don't even understand how it happened. Wait! That's it! I just need that voice again! I need its help! But how...? I don't have any control over it. It just shows up...

Terron silenced his thoughts and decided to wait and see if the voice would come to him. Everything seemed to grow quiet around him. So quiet, in fact, that he could hear the wind blowing through the jungle and the leaves of trees swaying.

He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Nothing came from Terron's mind after what could have been an hour for all he knew. Out of agitation, he threw his bone toward the Aipom with a snarl. It rapidly spun in circles as it flew into the branch.

"AAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

The weapon smacked into the branch right where the Aipom slept, causing the monkey to jolt awake in a panic. It jumped from the sudden sound and fell out of the branch. Thankfully for it, its tail was still wrapped around the branch and managed to prevent the Aipom from plummeting to the ground.

However, the stone it was holding had fallen out of its grasp from the panic and came tumbling down toward Terron. The Cubone quickly rushed forward and held out his hands to catch the stone, forgetting about his weapon, which had just came crashing back down a few feet away.

With a leap, he managed to grab the stone just as it came near him before cupping his hands around it. He smiled with victory at managing to accomplish his goal. Unfortunately, he didn't remember he was falling down as well now until it was too late.

*THUMP!*

Terron landed on his stomach and nearly had knocked the wind out of him. He sharply breathed in to compose himself and groaned in pain. He slowly got to his feet as he caressed his stomach to ease it from the dull, thudding pain.

"Good job Terron!" Zekra congratulated as she came over to him with the bag in tow. "Now hopefully that's the right stone we need. Then we can stop searching and get out of here!"

"Yeah, I hope so too," Terron said as he took the stone in his grasp and stuffed it in the bag. "Now let's get going. We've got what we-"

"AIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEE!"

Without warning, five Aipom fell from above and landed around Terron and Zekra. They surrounded the two in a loose circle as if to prevent them from escaping. All of them seemed furious with Terron and Zekra, though one in particular seemed the angriest. Terron recognized that Aipom to be the one he had stolen the rock from. Somehow, he could tell it was different from the others.

"Great," Zekra growled as she set the bag on the ground. "They're ganging up on us because we upset one of them and now they're all working together to beat us up!"

"Well, looks like we'll have to fight through them," Terron said. "I just have to get my weapon back first. Can you distract them while I do that?"

"You wanna use me as bait?!" Zekra cried. "They'll have finished me off by the time you get your bone back!"

"I can't fight unless I have my weapon!" Terron insisted. "Just work with me! It'll only be temporary!"

Before Zekra could make a statement against that, the Aipom standing closest to Terron leapt forward at him. Taking advantage of the opening, Terron quickly rushed forward and went underneath the creature. Just as he managed to escape from the circle of Aipom, all of them began to chase after him in a crazed frenzy.

Just as all the Aipom started to chase Terron, Zekra rammed her head into the back of one of the Aipom. The feral was knocked to the ground from the sudden momentum, which gained the attention of the others. Before they could do anything, though, Zekra was quick to tackle another Aipom. She sank her fangs into one of its arms as the Aipom attempted to get her off its limb with its tail hand. However, Zekra refused to let go and it only made her teeth go deeper into the flesh.

The other Aipom attempted to get her off their comrade as they started swinging punches at her. She attempted to dodge each punch and watched in amusement as some of the hits managed to hit the Aipom and not her.

"Ha ha! That's right! Keep trying to catch me!" Zekra teased.

One of the Aipom managed to land a hit on her, knocking her off her Aipom platform.

As Zekra fell, she saw all of the Aipom turning their tail hands into fists.

Her eyes grew.

"Oh dear Darkrai! WHY?!"

Back with Terron, he hurried as fast as he could toward his club. It was only a few more feet away and so very close. He picked up speed and swiftly picked it up off the ground without stopping and turned back around to deal with the Aipom.

The Aipom were bombarding Zekra with attacks from their tails at a nonstop pace. Every time one had managed to finish its blows, another delivered another blow not even a second later.

Zekra was being overpowered.

"Terron! Hurry up already!" she shouted. "I swear, if you don't get over here right now, I'm going to kill you later!"

Terron ran as fast as he could and then threw his club at the crowd, expecting it to hit at least one of the Aipom since they were so many. Much to his surprise, his weapon actually managed to strike not one, but two of the Aipom. Both of them staggered from the sudden attack, but unfortunately, they hadn't been knocked out. They turned around to see Terron.

They let out loud shrieking cries and started running toward Terron in their rage.

Terron's weapon returned to his hand as he watched them come toward him and found he was honestly terrified of the sight. He had just realized these Aipom were going to be much tougher than the Venonat and the Spinarak he defeated. It'd take much more effort. But more frightening to him, it was the fiery glares in their eyes that showed him just how enraged they were and what that there was almost no stopping them. The only way to stop them was to knock them out.

However, Terron found he couldn't move at all. His eyes grew wide with terror as the Aipom charged at him.

I really wish that voice was here right now! Terron thought in a panic. It'd know what to do! Why isn't it here now?! What's different about now than last time?!

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIII!"

Terron felt a powerful force blow him across the mossy floor until he felt his head smack into the base of a tree. His head ached terribly from the impact and throbbed to add even more pain. He gripped his skull before slowly opening his eyes to find that the two Aipom were right in front of him. He let out a yell of surprise as one of them prepared to deliver a punch to his face with the hand on its tail.

Terron quickly ducked and felt the hand go right over his head.

Out of reaction, he kicked the abdomen of the Aipom nearest to him. It fell over from the sudden assault before clutching its gut in agony. The other Aipom turned its head to check on its comrade, which Terron took full advantage of. He no longer felt paralyzed with fear and his entire being was rushing with adrenaline.

He lifted up his foot and kicked the Aipom's side and watched it fall over as well. Terron swiftly made his way to the nearest Aipom and began bashing his weapon into its skull repeatedly. A gnash started to form on its head, but just as Terron was to deliver one last blow, the other Aipom grabbed him from behind with its tail. It lifted him into the air before smashing him down into the ground. He felt his body being crushed by the intense gripping of the Aipom and the force from the ground as well as the moss getting smeared all over his face.

The crushing pain…

Terron had to make it stop.

He tried to fight back, but the Aipom continuously bashed him into the ground without stopping.

But suddenly, Terron was flung down the path and tumbled backwards before managing to stop. He found he couldn't get up since he was in so much pain and his muscles wouldn't listen to him. They were too strained from the harassment they went through.

He did all he could do and opened his eyes.

Much to his surprise, he found the Aipom wasn't about to attack him or even right next to him.

It was actually a few feet away from him, trying to get Zekra off of it. She had clamped down on its ear with her teeth and seemed dead set on not letting go. The Aipom thrashed around like a maniac in an attempt to free itself of the fox, but Zekra refused to give way. Claws shot out of her front paws as she put them on the head of the Aipom.

She sank the claws into the Aipom and started carving into the flesh.

Blood dripped down the sides of the Aipom's cranium.

The wild Pokémon screamed as deep scratches formed across its head, which only encouraged it to writhe even more. Unfortunately, doing so only caused Zekra's claws to rake its head even more. Slashes made their way across its face before blood began to spill. And inevitably, Zekra's claws managed to scratch over the eyes. The Aipom had to cover its eyes from the massive pain it brought.

Tears of blood coursed down its face. No doubt it had been impaired of vision permanently.

Zekra immediately brought her claws back into her paws and slammed one of them into the back of the Aipom's head. She swiftly jumped off its body as the monkey fell forward and collapsed onto the ground.

It had fainted.

Terron watched as Zekra went back to go retrieve the abandoned bag before making her way over to him. She was exhausted, but she somehow managed to keep walking without passing out. She stopped in front of him and started searching through the bag.

"I think we can both use an Oran berry right now," Zekra said as she pulled out a blue berry from the bag.

"Oran berry?" Terron asked, still finding he couldn't get up.

"It'll help you regain your strength," Zekra explained while she carefully split the berry in two with her claws. "I used to eat a lot of them when I was hunting and got into rough fights with my prey. These berries are miracle workers."

The Zorua dropped Terron's half of the berry in his mouth before she ate her half. Terron slowly chewed it, remembering that he had this kind of berry before and how it had its unique taste of all flavors at once. He slowly felt his energy return to him as he swallowed the berry and managed to get to his feet. His muscles still felt a little sore, but it was much better than how he was feeling moments before.

"What happened to the other two Aipom you were battling?" Terron asked.

"I managed to defeat them right after you lured away those other two," Zekra said proudly. "They got distracted by how their teammates ran off, so I managed to finish them off while that happened."

Terron looked around them to find that indeed, there were five Aipom scattered around that were all unconscious. Each one seemed to have a different look to them as if to show how they all fainted differently. Thankfully though, it didn't look like a massacre scene.

"So we got the stone right?" Terron asked curiously, wanting to check on it.

"Yep!" Zekra said as she peered into the bag.

"Alright, good. Let's get out of here then," Terron declared. "I don't want those Aipom waking up again and having to fight them all over again."

Overgrowth Jungle S5

Terron and Zekra hadn't found any more stones as they wandered through more sections of the jungle. They had run into some resistance that took on the form of two wild Seedot, but the two of them had defeated the small Pokémon easily. But otherwise, no other Pokémon had decided to bother them.

The two had begun venturing down the second path of this area of the Mystery Dungeon when they came across a remarkable sight; a single stone resting by the roots of a mighty tree growing nearby. It was a simple, grey stone that might have looked like an ordinary stone in a river bed, but by the way they reacted to it, it might as well have been a fire or thunder stone.

"It's another rock!" Zekra cheered. "Quick! Let's put it in the bag before someone gets it!"

Terron hurriedly went over to the featureless rock and picked it up in his free hand and brought it back over to Zekra. He put it inside the bag before they continued making their way down the path. Not long after they had finished this path and began a new one, another rock appeared. This time, it had more of a red shading to it, but nonetheless, it didn't look all that extraordinary. Still, Terron and Zekra grew eager upon seeing it.

It was still like a little treasure to them.

"I'll get it," Terron said before managing to retrieve the stone and putting it in the bag.

"You know, that's the second rock we've found on this area," Zekra remarked as the two continued walking. "Wonder why they're here."

"Don't know," Terron replied with a shrug. "But at least we're finding something. And hopefully one of these things are what we're looking for."

"Hopefully," Zekra said. "But hey, I'm sure one of these is what we want!"

"Yeah, then we can give it to our client and have our first mission complete," Terron said pleasantly.

"Yep!" Zekra said with a smile just as she noticed something. "Oh look! Another rock!"

Overgrowth Jungle S6

After having searched the entire previous floor, Terron and Zekra had found about five rocks that were stashed away safely in their bag. Thankfully, since the stones were rather small, it didn't weigh down the bag too much. It sure felt a lot heavier, but the bag was still manageable.

Some of the rocks were slightly different from the rest, but almost all of them seemed to be like a rather ordinary stone. However, to Terron and Zekra, they were still of high value since any one of the stones could have been their sought treasure.

Upon entering this section of the dungeon, Terron noticed something was quite different.

At the end of each trail, there was pitch-black. There was no light unlike the previous trails. There was light throughout the area like before, but at each trail's end, that light seemed to disappear. All that lay there was darkness. It reminded Terron of the entrance to the jungle itself where he couldn't see what was beyond the darkness.

Terron's eyes grew.

"I think this is the last floor," he stated.

"Hm?" Zekra asked.

"The exits look different this time," Terron explained. "Remember how in that other dungeon the last section had that light while the other sections didn't? Well here it's the same thing, but there's darkness."

Zekra peered at the trails with squinted eyes.

"Huh, you're right," Zekra said. "Surprised you noticed that before I did. Well, I guess since we've got a bunch of stones, we can just look for the exit this time rather than take our time. Sound good?"

"Yeah, I couldn't agree more," Terron said with a nod.

The two then went forward, attempting to find the correct exit. Terron could feel the excitement of completing his mission building up inside him and was already thinking about the reward he might get for doing this mission. He smiled at the happy thoughts and started to walk a little faster.

Zekra, who seemed rather giddy herself, seemed even quicker on her feet than the Cubone.

"GIIIIIIIIIAAA!"

Terron and Zekra stopped in their tracks.

A sense of dread overcame the two of them as they looked around them to see where the noise was coming from. It had to have been a feral, but no Pokémon were in sight. The two finally looked at one another.

"What was that?" Terron asked her.

"I don't know," Zekra answered worriedly. "I've never heard that kind of sound."

"Hmmmm, let's keep going then," Terron said. "Must be some Pokémon trying to scare us off or something. Let's just get to the end of this trail."

"Yeah… Sounds like a good idea to me," Zekra nodded.

The two picked up their pace and practically began to run toward the potential exit of the dungeon. Terron suddenly had the overwhelming feeling that he was being stalked by something, but he didn't dare look behind him. He kept rushing along.

The sooner he and Zekra left this jungle the better.

BUZZZZZZZ!

Without warning, a large, green creature leaped out of the trees before landing right in front of them. A large blade came crashing down onto the ground where they stood, but the two were able to get away at the last second. The blade swiftly sliced into the ground before just as quickly being raised back up.

Terron and Zekra quickly got back up and found themselves staring at the sides of a large Pokémon that towered high over them. It was a mantis with strange blades that replaced its hands, having the appearance of invincible and gleaming scythes. A pair of wings grew out of its back, twitching in anticipation as if meaning it would fly soon.

"It... It's a Scyther!" Zekra cried before looking over at Terron with terror wide in her eyes. "Terron! We have to get out of here! It's going to kill us!"

"Kill us?!" Terron exclaimed. "That's an exaggeration, right?"

"GIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAA!"

The wild Scyther let out a loud, shrill cry before slicing its blades at Zekra. She yelped in terror as she just barely maneuvered out of the way, the blades missing her by an inch.

"Run Terron!" Zekra screamed. "RUN!"

Terron didn't hesitate. He took off toward the end of the trail, his heart pounding furiously.

However, the Scyther was quick to react to the fleeing. It sped toward Terron, its wings buzzing as it put its blades into a scissor lock.

Terron didn't have to look behind him to know that the Scyther was only a few feet behind him.

He could feel that Scyther's presence starting to gain on him.

The Scyther was five feet behind Terron. Then three feet. Then one foot.

"GIIIIIIAAAAA!"

*SLASH!*

The blades of the Scyther struck.

*CLANG!*

Terron didn't feel anything strike him.

He stopped and turned around. Another Scyther was holding back the feral Scyther's blades with its own.

It trembled from the power it had to push back, but it didn't let the power overcome it.

The Scyther turned its head and saw Terron standing there, frozen in place.

"Get out of here!" the Scyther yelled, its voice sounding quite familiar. "I'll hold this Scyther off until you get close to the exit!"

Terron suddenly saw the furry tail sticking out of the Scyther.

He brought his glance back up to Zekra. There was a pleading expression in her eyes.

"What about you?!" Terron cried. "I'm not going to leave you with a killer Pokémon!"

"Forget about me!" Zekra insisted. "I can take care of myself! I can hold this Scyther off! Just get going!"

"But you'll-"

"STOP ARGUING AND RUN!" Zekra shouted, a snarl forming on her face. "JUST-"

The feral Scyther suddenly pushed Zekra backwards with more force, managing to knock her to the ground. She landed on Terron, knocking them both to the ground.

Terron frantically started to get himself out from under Zekra's Scyther body.

He was desperate to escape from this monster.

Terron managed to get his head out.

He looked at the Scyther.

Every muscle in Terron's body stopped moving.

Every thought in his mind became frozen.

His eyes wouldn't blink and remained wide open.

*SLASH!*

With one blade, the wild Scyther sliced Zekra's throat.

*SLASH!*

And with the other blade, the wild Scyther sliced Terron's throat.