Chapter 19

Different Kinds of Knowledge

Route 55

"Alright, Syn. You see that Mareep just chilling there by that tree?" Zekra asked.

"Yeah, I see it. It's kind of hard to miss it when it's all yellow," Syn replied with a nod.

"Alright, well what do you know about Mareep?"

Syn stuck his forked tongue out the side of his mouth as he thought.

"They're electric Pokémon. Which is obvious since they're yellow…"

"Not every yellow Pokémon is an electric-type. I mean, you're yellow."

"But I'm not all yellow. I'm mostly green, which is the color of grass Pokémon."

"Alright, whatever. It's mostly yellow, which means it's an electric-type. I guess you can work with that for now. Back to battling. Now, how do you plan on attacking that thing?"

"By ramming into it."

"You don't know any other kind of attacks?"

"Well, I could use my vines, but they don't exactly listen to me all the time…"

"What do you mean by that? Are you saying that your vines have a mind of their own?"

"Yeah, they do."

"I know that grass-types have some weird plants in their bodies, but I really don't think any kind of plant has a mind of its own."

"You don't know that! You're not a grass Pokémon!"

As Zekra and Syn continued to ramble, Terron and Impetus sat against an unoccupied tree near the trail. They both ate their late lunch and watched the others prepare for the battle. This was the first time Zekra was trying to teach Syn since the start of the journey. Terron was expecting to be entertained by their battle with the Mareep, but watching the two ramble on with their conversation was amusing enough. Even Impetus seemed interested in the yammering.

Zekra let out an agitated sigh after blabbing with Syn for a while.

"Guess we'll just focus on 'controlling' your vines and attacking with them," Zekra said. "Sound good?"

"I guess so," Syn shrugged.

Zekra's body became coated in pink light before she transformed into a Snivy. Unlike the other times she transformed, she no longer had the Zorua tail. It was a normal, Snivy tail. When she saw this, Zekra grinned.

"Ah, finally got that down," Zekra said in a pleased tone. "Now I just need to work on staying in this form longer and becoming forms I don't have in front of me. And using the attacks… okay… maybe I actually still have a lot to learn…"

Zekra shook the thoughts out of her head.

"Anyway," she continued, "let's get started now that I'm you. Get your vines out."

"You're not really me…" Syn pointed out, "but, alright. I'll try."

Syn closed his eyes and started to mutter something. From what Zekra could tell, it sounded like he was talking to his vines. After a moment of this, Syn opened up his eyes and looked back at Zekra.

"They don't wanna," Syn reported.

Zekra let out a sigh as she attempted to summon her form's vines. In an instant, two vines slid out of her collar and hung above her head.

"Ha! It's not so hard!" Zekra laughed. "See! You can do it at will too!"

"You only got them out so quickly because they're not real," Syn said, not very amused. "Plus, whenever they come out, it's a little painful. It's like something's slithering out of your body… I know you didn't feel that. You didn't make a weird face."

Zekra frowned. Her vines dropped to the floor.

"Just try again," the Zorua instructed. "We can't stick around here all day. I'm surprised that Mareep has been patient enough for us."

Zekra glanced over at Mareep to find it was still hanging around the tree that was a few feet away from them. It didn't seem to care about their presence and was now taking a nap. Syn looked at the sheep as well before letting out a sigh. He closed his eyes once more.

"Nope, they keep saying they don't wanna do anything," Syn said.

Zekra grabbed the Snivy by the collar with her hands and started to shake him violently.

"Well tell them to do it anyway!" Zekra cried. "They're not a separate entity from you! They're just a stupid plant in your body that's connected to you! How hard can it be to-"

WHAP!

Suddenly, Zekra was smacked across the face by a vine. Zekra's form shifted instantly and she turned back into a Zorua. She dropped the Snivy and rubbed her cheek before glancing at Syn again. The vine that had slapped her was slowly going back inside his body.

Zekra quickly snapped her jaws onto the vine and started yanking it out of the Snivy. Some low growls escaped her maw as she pulled.

"Ow! Stop it!" Syn screamed. "Stop pulling on my vine!"

"Tell it to stop resisting and let me pull on it then!" Zekra muttered as she held the vine.

Syn attempted to do such, but his vine wouldn't listen. Instead, another vine shot out of his collar and started battering Zekra. Zekra bit down harder on the vine in her mouth as she kept pulling. Syn stopped trying to control his vines and grabbed ahold of the one Zekra held. He attempted to pull it away from her.

Zekra swiftly yanked the vine forward, causing Syn to go flying over her head. The sudden momentum began pulling Zekra as well, but she wouldn't let that happen. She dug her feet into the ground jerked her head to the side. Syn swiftly changed course, but this time, he headed straight for the slumbering Mareep.

THUD!

Syn crashed right into the Mareep's side. The momentum was so strong, in fact, that it sent the sheep tumbling down the trail. The Mareep jolted awake and sent out a weak bolt of thunder into the air out of reaction. Despite the unintentional use, the electricity flew toward Terron and was harmlessly absorbed into his helmet. When the Mareep managed to get to its feet, it bolted away from the group, shrieking in fright.

Terron oddly rubbed his skull after the strange feeling of the static passed. As soon as he did so, he heard crackling. Curious, he took off his helmet and found that there was still some static lingering in the mask. Some of the sparks leaped onto his hands before disappearing a few seconds later.

"Huh, interesting," Terron said. "I'm temporarily electrically charged. I bet that could be useful somehow…"

Impetus stared oddly at the helmet and watched the remaining bits of static fade into Terron's body. She then took the helmet out of Terron's hands and inspected it curiously.

"Don't break it," Terron warned. "I mean, I know it's kinda difficult to do that since it's a dragon skull, but don't try to."

Impetus flipped the helmet and stuck it onto her head. She blinked a few times. Terron couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous the helmet looked on her. He could tell that she could barely even see out of it.

As Terron got his helmet back from Impetus and put it on, Zekra hastily made her way over to the Snivy. She stopped in front of him as Syn slowly got up. He rubbed his head that now throbbed from being bashed into the sheep. Zekra finally released the vine from her grasp and let it fall to the ground. The vine, as if mad at her, slapped her one more time before going back inside Syn. Zekra didn't bother to retort.

"Are you okay?" Zekra asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Syn replied. "Just a little headache. But, what you did with my vine… that was so cool!"

Zekra tilted her head to the side as she gave the child a funny look.

"Wha…?" she started to say.

"That thing where you threw me into the Mareep!" Syn clarified. "It was awesome! I think I did a lot more damage that way than I could have by myself! You should do that again next time we see another enemy!"

"Wha…?" Zekra said yet again.

Syn let out a chuckle at her amusing reactions.

"You and I just made synergy!" the Snivy explained. "We combined our powers and together, we did more than we could do by ourselves! Like a team attack!"

Zekra nodded thoughtfully. She looked at Syn curiously.

"Team attack, huh?" Zekra said. "Like… if a Turtwig were to send out a bunch of leaves at a foe, and then a Pidgey blew wind behind those leaves… the leaves would spin even faster and cause more damage than they could have without the wind. Or, at least, speed up the velocity of the leaves…"

"Or the Pidgey could blow the enemy into the air, and the Turtwig can spam its leaves at the enemy!" Syn suggested. "Then, the enemy wouldn't be able to escape!"

"Or, a Cubone could get struck by electricity, and then he could ram a susceptible opponent with his electricity-infused head."

Zekra and Syn looked over to find Terron and Impetus making their way back to the group. The two stopped in front of the Zorua and Snivy. Terron tapped his helmet with his club.

"What you've figured out is pretty interesting, Syn," Terron said. "We might use that theory to come up with some new attacks. But, how did you come up with that idea? I don't think I've seen Pokémon use combination attacks."

Syn chuckled.

"Contests and competitions," Syn answered. "Mommy used to take me to those since she always liked them. Whenever the opening ceremony began, there were always two Pokémon who would combine their powers and make all of these pretty lights. No one ever really did that for battles though at the competitions, which is pretty weird since I think it'd be pretty useful."

"And then you came up with an idea that it'd be good for combat?" Terron asked curiously.

"Yeah!" Syn replied. "It just came to mind one day after watching one of those events. Told everyone about my idea, but no one really went along with it since making up all the kinds of team attacks takes a lot of thinking."

"I'll say," Terron said in agreement. "I only came up with my idea since I just happened to get hit with electricity and saw how it stayed in my helmet. But, your idea is pretty cool. Thanks for the inspiration."

"You're welcome!" Syn cheered.

Terron dug out of the bag strapped to him and pulled out an apple. He handed it to the Snivy, who happily munched away at it. Terron then pulled out another apple and gave it to Zekra.

As the two had their own lunch, Terron thought over the information Syn gave him. This synergy he spoke of could be a valuable tool. Terron knew he and the rest of the team would have to think up some team attacks, but he was happy to know of a new battle style. Terron found he was starting to enjoy the Snivy's company due to this. The child was full of such interesting thoughts.

Terron smiled before looking down the trail.

"Well, if you guys are done training, you should probably get going," Terron said. "We should be able to make it to our final rest stop of the day before sunset if we go now."

"Yeah, we're done," Zekra said. "Let's get going."

The four went forward, continuing down the path as they chatted about whatever came to their minds.

Four hours passed. The four had taken many breaks along the way, whether it was to eat or to do training, but they were still making steady progress toward their destination. According to their map, the four would be able to make it to their last stop of the day in about thirty minutes. There, they could camp out for the night.

At the moment, the team and Syn were traveling down the road that ran along the side of the Obsidian Cave Mystery Dungeon. The cave wasn't really made of obsidian, but the locals gave it the name due to its uncanny appearance similar to the rock. As the team walked past it, they couldn't help but stare at it and listen to the roars coming from within.

As the team walked, Impetus suddenly became very still. Her eyes moved around swiftly, as if trying to find something. The team stopped when they noticed Impetus's strange behavior.

"What's wrong, Impetus?" Terron asked curiously.

Impetus didn't say anything. She glanced at the cave suspiciously. Her eyes squinted as she crouched low into the grass.

Impetus's eyes suddenly grew wide. She stood back up and took a few steps backwards. Her eyes were filled with terror. Terror… that she had never shown before.

"Impetus?" Terron asked again.

The Mienfoo hastily fled from the sight, getting as far away as possible from the dungeon. She didn't stop running. The team watched her fade away into the distance, but none of them bothered to chase after her. She'd get brought back in time.

"What's the matter with Impetus?" Syn asked curiously.

"I don't know," Terron said. "I mean, I know it's something about this cave, but I don't know why she'd be so scared. Sure, they're scary places, but only on the inside…"

"What's so special about this cave?" Syn then asked.

"It's something called a Mystery Dungeon," Terron explained. "They're these places that get corrupted somehow and-"

"I know what a Mystery Dungeon is," Syn interrupted. "A lot of Pokémon tell me about them. There's no need to tell me."

"Well then…" Terron replied in annoyance.

Syn stared at the cave, but with a more curious expression than Impetus did. He tapped his leafy fingers against the side of his head and swayed his tail back and forth.

"Well, nothing seems out of place," Syn reported. "It feels a little weird since it's a dungeon and all, but all the other dungeons I've seen have this same kind of feeling."

"Maybe Impetus was just doesn't like the atmosphere," Zekra suggested. "I mean, she's never been a Mystery Dungeon before, so that could be it…"

Terron wasn't quite sure if that was true or not. Still, there was no way to know for certain. It wasn't as though Impetus could talk. Maybe in the future, when she could talk, Terron would ask her what was going through her head.

Upon thinking about this, Terron suddenly remembered something else.

"Hey, Syn," Terron said. "I have something I want to ask you."

The Snivy looked back at Terron and smiled cheerfully.

"What is it?" he asked curiously.

"What are your parents like?" the Cubone asked. "How do they treat you?"

"That's a pretty weird question," Syn commented. "But, mommy and daddy are nice. They take good care of me and play with me."

"They haven't been acting weird at all?" Terron asked.

"No… not really," Syn said oddly. "Although, they've been getting sick lately, so they haven't been taking care of me as much. But, that's not weird. They're just ill."

"How long have they been sick?" Terron asked some more.

"Um, about a month," the Snivy answered. "Yeah, a month."

Terron nodded slowly and looked away. It seemed there was nothing unusual really. Whenever anyone was sick, they usually acted a bit off. Still, something didn't seem right about the mother. But, Terron couldn't figure out what felt so wrong and decided to let it go… for now.

The three continued their journey, where they were shortly reunited with Impetus. Though she stayed with them this time, Terron couldn't help but notice that she kept staring back at the cave they had passed. Clearly, something was troubling her, but nothing could be done to help her.

Eventually, the four made it to their rest stop; a small gathering of cherry blossoms known as the Sakura Grove. Since it was summer, the pink flowers were not blooming and instead, the trees were all filled with their usual green leaves. More importantly though, there didn't seem to be any wild Pokémon around the grove.

The team went over to one of the trees and plopped down near its base. Terron and Zekra saw that the sun was starting to set. Night would be upon them soon.

"So, we're camping out for the night?" Syn asked.

"Yeah, we are," Zekra answered. "We don't really use hotels or anything. You don't mind that, do you?"

"No, not really," Syn shrugged. "Camping is cool. Just as long as we don't make a campfire."

"Well, we're not going to have one of those," Zekra laughed. "We don't have any fire Pokémon on the team to make one of those."

As the light faded from the sky, everyone got ready for bed. Despite how the time had just barely become nightfall, the whole team was tired from their lack of sleep and constant traveling. A well-deserved rest was needed. Terron and Zekra cuddled close together while Impetus made her way up the tree and found a nice spot amongst the branches. Syn joined Terron and Zekra where they slept, though Terron had the Snivy sleep against Zekra's unoccupied side. Terron still didn't like Syn touching him.

When everyone was comfortable, they all fell asleep.

The next morning, the team woke up and had their breakfast of dried fruits and jerky. They all felt they had a good rest and were ready for the final hours of their journey. All that needed to be done now was walk about an hour and go through Dreaded Cavern. Once they got out of there, they'd only have to walk for another two hours and they'd arrive at Lavender Town.

All of this would only take about four hours. The team would surely get to the town a little after noon. Their time with Syn was ending. They'd miss the interesting little fellow, but they weren't too upset by the thought of the inevitable departure. After all, they knew from the very beginning that they'd be forced to leave him once the mission was done.

After everyone had breakfast, the team set off. Eventually, after an uneventful hour passed, the four came to the cave that they sought.

Dreaded Cavern's entrance was nothing special. It was simply a huge hole in the side of a small hill covered in green. The entrance was a bit smaller than normal caves, but all of the team members could easily get into the hole. The team stared at the cave for a little while, trying to see past the darkness that filled the cave's entry.

"Why would they name this place Dreaded Cavern?" Syn asked curiously. "That's a horrible name to give to someplace. That just screams that something is wrong with the cave."

"I think it's because there's a bunch of dark-types in there," Zekra said. "But, you're right. They probably should have given it a better name. I bet no one goes through here because of that."

"The guide also said there are a couple of dragons in there, too," Terron added. "So, maybe the name refers to them as well since dragons are supposed to be fierce."

"Well, whatever the reason, at least the cave's short," Zekra stated. "Should be able to get out of there in an hour if we follow the trail. And thankfully, it should be pretty straight forward since it's not a Mystery Dungeon."

Terron nodded as he pulled out the Light Ball he had received from King. It was still de-activated, and he hadn't figured out how to activate it again. Still, he would have to find out today, or else they were never going to get through this cave. He looked at the dull sphere in his hands.

"Light ball, activate!" Terron commanded.

Nothing happened. Terron took a step inside the cave and lightly tapped the sphere against the wall. Still, nothing happened.

"Work already!" Terron shouted in frustration.

Terron slammed the ball into the wall with more force. While the ball didn't crack from such an impact, it still refused to light up.

"Why won't it work?" Terron asked. "What did King do that made it light up?"

"What's it supposed to look like?" Syn asked curiously.

"Like a bolt of electricity is flying around inside it," Terron answered. "It looks pretty cool actually. Too bad it won't work…"

"Hmm, let me try something with that thing," Syn then said.

Terron handed the Snivy the ball. He watched as Syn rotated the ball around in his hands to get a full view of it. Syn stepped inside the cave as well before gently placing the ball along the cave's side. With one quick movement, he dragged the ball across the wall. A couple sparks flew into the air and temporarily lit up the dark cave. Electricity suddenly appeared inside the sphere and began bouncing off the walls of the ball.

Now that light was available, Terron could see what the cave's interior looked like. Unlike Jolton Cave, this cavern held none of the odd electric crystals. Instead, this place was completely made of limestone and actually had quite a bit of room to walk around in. Terron didn't see any Pokémon near them, but he knew that they were around. They were probably in the deeper parts of the cave.

Syn smiled as he handed Terron the ball.

"It just needed a spark," Syn said. "I figured making friction could do that."

"Huh… you're a smart kid," Terron remarked.

"Well I'm a Snivy," Syn grinned. "Snivy are super smart! Not as smart as psychic Pokémon, but we're still smart!"

Terron nodded as he looked at the glowing sphere within his hands. It was exactly as how he remembered it. Terron took a moment to marvel at the beauty of the encased static before the rest of the team entered inside the cave. Impetus was rather reluctant to go inside due to how enclosed and dimly lit it was, but Zekra managed to get her inside with some coaxing. Once everyone was ready, they treaded farther into the cave.

Traveling through Dreaded Cavern was not a difficult task compared to the Mystery Dungeons Terron and Zekra had to venture through. Yet, that didn't mean this cave had its own share of hardships, despite not being a dungeon cave. For one, they had to be more cautious about where they walked. There were several times when one of the team members would step onto some loose rocks and end up slipping. That had happened at least four times to everyone.

Another problem was that Syn was becoming a lot slower. He could still walk, but the team noticed a significant change in his speed. When asked why this was, he explained that he needed the sun to make his movements faster. Now, in this sunless cave, he had to put more effort into keeping up with the team.

And last of the problems, Impetus was rather uneasy inside of the cave. She wasn't as panicky as she had been when encountering the dungeon they saw yesterday, but she still seemed nervous. She'd glance around everywhere at every second. She never seemed to take a break from her alertness. Terron figured it was because she was practically walking around in the dark in an environment she had never seen before. He didn't know how to fix the issue unfortunately and just tried to help her cope by talking to her to keep her mind off the cave.

Despite these problems, the team still did well. They had traveled through most of the cave with only a small amount of resistance in the form of wild Pokémon. Now, they neared the exit, which was a giant hole of light at the end of a long tunnel. The team happily stepped inside that tunnel and headed for that light. It would take a few minutes to get to that light, but they took their time in getting toward it.

"It's the sun!" Syn cried happily. "I can be with the sun soon! Then my tail can stop drooping and I won't have to drag it around anymore!"

"Meh!" Impetus cheered.

The four walked past a couple of chambers that connected to the tunnel. Within them, the team could see some wild Pokémon either sleeping or eating. Zekra stared at a Geodude that was wandering around one of the chambers by itself. She started to smile evilly as she got Syn's attention.

"Hey, you want to have one last battle in this cave before we leave?" she asked. "That Geodude could make good practice for you. They're pretty easy if you can get your vines to work."

"Sure!" Syn said. "Let's go!"

Without another word, the two took off into the room with the feral. Terron and Impetus stopped as soon as half their team disappeared. The Cubone let out a sigh.

"Guess we have to wait for them," Terron said in disapproval. "At least we're almost-"

It was then that Terron noticed another Pokémon in a different chamber. It had a couple of other Pokémon with it in the chamber, but he didn't pay attention to those ones. No, he paid attention to the slumbering Axew. His eyes became fixed on the little tusked dragon. He hadn't seen a single dragon in the entire cave until now.

Everything else in reality no longer seemed to exist. Only one thought went through his mind;

It's got the bones I want.

Terron pressed his helmet further onto his head and set the bag on the ground. Impetus gave Terron an odd glance.

"Hey Impetus, you want to help me with something?" he asked, his voice becoming eerily happy.

"Meh?" she asked curiously.

"You want to help me take out an Axew?" Terron asked with a smirk. "I need the bones. If you help me, I'll let you have the meat. What do you say?"

Impetus was confused by Terron's sudden glee, but she did like the idea of getting to battle. So, as she had seen the others do when they wanted to say yes, she nodded. Terron's grin only seemed to grow when he saw this.

"Alright, let's go. Don't worry about the others in the room; they'll just run away. We only care about the Axew."

Terron set the Light Ball on the ground so both teams could see what they were doing in the other rooms. The light's radius seemed to stretch that far. Once the light had been resolved, Terron ran forward and entered the room. The other Pokémon who were awake immediately ran away from him as Terron predicted. The Cubone brought his weapon down on the Axew, but before it could make contact, the Axew woke up and rolled out of the way. Terron let out a growl.

"Get that dragon, Impetus!" Terron commanded. "Weaken it!"

Impetus shot into the room and landed in front of the Axew. She sent a kick into its face, making the little dragon fly into a wall. It crashed into the thick stone before tumbling to the ground, panting heavily. Terron charged forward, preparing to swing his club at the Axew like a baseball bat.

The Axew saw Terron and swiftly blew a stream of blue fire at him. Terron was about to get out of the way, but a different idea came to mind instead. He was about to disagree with it, but as the energy closed in, Terron stuck with the plan. He grabbed his weapon with hands and held it in front of him. The fire scorched him as he got the full force of the attack, but the Cubone withstood the pain and held his ground.

After only getting burned by the dragon energy for a couple seconds, it abruptly stopped when Impetus unleashed the energy in her paw upon the Axew. The little dragon skid across the ground until it put down its paw and brought itself to a halt.

But before it could attack, Terron threw his flaming bone at the Axew. Thanks to the bone being covered in dragon fires, the Axew was severely injured once the weapon smacked into its head. It let out a loud cry of pain as Terron's weapon came back to his hand. The bone was charred a deep black, but none of that mattered to Terron. Not even the pain of his burnt skin mattered. All he cared about were the bones he would soon be getting.

"It's time we try out one of those team attacks Syn was mentioning," Terron said as he looked at his companion. "Impetus, I want you to throw me at that Axew."

The Mienfoo gave him an odd stare.

"You know what I'm talking about," Terron said more firmly. "Hurry!"

Impetus sensed to urgency in his voice and reluctantly went up to him. Despite not liking the idea, she picked up the Cubone and tossed him with all her might. Terron flew through the air as he adjusted his weapon so that the sharp side was facing away from him. As he closed in on the Axew, he saw it was getting ready to unleash another wave of dragon fire upon him.

It never had the chance to use its attack.

Terron slammed into the dragon and with his increased momentum, rammed the bone into its heart. Had he tried to do that by himself, he never would have pierced the thick hide of a dragon. But with Impetus's strength and the dragon-charred bone, he had managed to penetrate the hide and impaled the heart.

The Cubone got to his feet and looked at the corpse before him. His bone was stuck in its chest, and blood was oozing out of the wound. The eyes were still open, frozen in shock. Terron put his foot onto the dragon's stomach as he ripped the bone out. Even more blood shot out of the wound that got all over Terron, but he found he wasn't disgusted by it. In fact, he wasn't alarmed by the fact that he had just killed a Pokémon.

It's so much easier than expected. Terron thought. It's just… so simple. Why was I so scared? I mean, I'm glad I didn't kill Impetus, but still. Wait, why am I thinking like this? I'm not like Zekra where I can handle gore like it's nothing. What's changed so that I don't feel so terrified and disgusted right now?

Terron shook his head. It wasn't important. What was important, however, was that he got what he needed from this corpse.

"Alright Impetus, thanks for your help," Terron said. "I couldn't have done it without you. Now, come here so you can get what I promised you."

Impetus came over to Terron and together, the two tore apart the Axew. As Impetus enjoyed a nice meal, Terron brought the bag back over to them and started making some bone weapons. He made a few more bone thorns to add to his collection as well as getting not one, but two clubs to replace his old club. He figured carrying two bones would be a lot more beneficial in battle, even if it was uncommon to see Cubone and Marowak carrying dual bones. He packed any other decent club bones inside of the bag for future use, as well all the other bones in case he could find a purpose for them later. Surely he could think of a way to tamper with them and make interesting weapons.

By the time the two were done with the Axew, it was nothing but a hollow shell.

"Alright, let's go find Zekra and Syn," Terron said. "I'm pretty sure they're done now."

Impetus nodded. Terron noticed the blood on both of their bodies.

"Yeah… we'll probably need to wash off before we go inside Lavender Town," Terron stated. "No one wants to see us like this."

Impetus stared at her bloody paws and started licking them clean. Terron chuckled at the sight.

FWOOOSH!

Terron and Impetus became silent. The sounds of something burning filled the air. Yet, neither smoke nor flames were seen or smelt. Terron looked at Impetus and noticed that she was looking toward the Light Ball. Her eyes were wide open.

SKREEE!

Terron and Impetus's hearts started to race. They had never heard such a sound before, but they didn't need to know what that was in order to know that peril was coming upon them. Terron gripped the weapons in his hands. Impetus fled from the sight and disappeared to wherever the other wild Pokémon went.

And then… strange creatures filled the tunnel the team was once in. They poured into the room and surrounded the entrance.

They gazed at him with their flaming eyes. Etched upon each of their faces was a sinister grin. Their bodies gaze streamed with wisps as if they were all demented ghosts.

But… they weren't ghosts. There were Ghastly and Haunter, but there was more than that. There were Onyx and Golbat amongst them… and so much more.

As Terron looked upon an Eevee within the swarm, his eyes frozen in fear and heart beating fast, he realized what these things were. No one had to tell him.

These were the creatures that slaughtered everyone Zekra knew.