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Chapter 89
Nowhere To Go
"You lie! Where is it?! Where is the portal?!"
Zekra watched Len scream these words as he lowered his stance, as if ready to pounce. He bared his teeth as he let out a guttural roaring sound and the air around him was making Zekra's fur stand on end. However, despite the fearsome sight, the Suicune, Entei, and Raikou standing before the Luxray only seemed to smile more. They straightened themselves as they jeered down at the enraged Luxray before them, ignoring Zekra, Crystelle, Impetus, and even Reshiram despite how much he towered over them.
"Ah Len, we already told you," the Raikou said. "We got rid of the portal. There's no longer a portal to be found here on this mountain. You came here for nothing."
"No, there's a portal." Len insisted. "There has to be. You wouldn't dare remove the portal and cut off access to that thing in Giratina's realm… You moved it somewhere else, didn't you?"
"Maybe we did, maybe we didn't," the Raikou said with a dismissive shrug. "It's not in this room, that's for certain. And you're certainly not going to be finding any way to the master with all of the trouble you're going to cause it…Oh no. We can't have that. The master doesn't' exactly enjoy bothersome guests in its domain. And all of you are very much quite bothersome."
It happened before Zekra could even blink. One second, the three legendary beings were standing their distance from the group, shooting Len taunting grins. And then, a split second later, Zekra felt something frying her insides, harming both her and Venri at once. She felt Venri screaming within her as she toppled onto the floor, her plague's tendrils writhing painfully inside her so much that she worried Venri would release her grip on Zekra's organs and muscles. The burning continued snaking through her nerves as she continued to lay there until her body suddenly became numb. She stopped being able to feel the cold ground beneath her or Venri's tendrils crawling through her insides. Zekra tried to move her claws, but was soon to realize that her body wouldn't respond to any of her commands.
All she could do was glance back at her companions from the corner of her eyes.
Everyone else had met her same fate. Impetus and Crystelle lay in heaps near her, their eyes wide and tears streaking down their cheeks, but remaining motionless.
Even Reshiram lay toppled, though from how he had been blown out of the room and had much of his divine plume doused in water, Zekra imagined he had taken the brunt of the leaders' true power. Everyone else had only been hit with a mere fraction of the power.
The only one who had not been toppled was Len, who still stood strong before his former masters. Burns streaked along his sides and many areas of his fur was singed, but he otherwise stood unharmed.
"Hmm, I had forgotten that electric-types are immune to paralysis in this generation. We come from a time when this was not the case," the Raikou mused. "It's quite pitiful for you, Len. It only means that you're going to die a much more painful death."
The Raikou then lunged forward with his jaws open wide, the metallic plate centered upon his muzzle gleaming maliciously as he closed in on the Luxray. Len deftly leapt out of the way as the beast was to sink his fangs into the Luxray, and then pushed himself against a nearby wall. Then, before the Raikou could make another move, Len landed upon the Raikou's back, digging his claws into his lavender pelt as his teeth emitted sparks. Then, before the Raikou could buck the Luxray off of him, Len sank his fangs into the Raikou's neck.
The Raikou let out a hoarse, weak roar before he suddenly began to fall over onto his side. Len swiftly withdrew his fangs from the Raikou as he leapt off of his back just as the great beast collapsed onto the ground. His limbs convulsed and twitched as his eyes darted about in his eye sockets, but he seemed unable to control his limbs in a coordinated fashion. Len spat out the black residue dripping from his fangs as he shot his former master a sharp glare.
"It's quite pitiful for you, master," Len growled, not even a hint of a smile forming on his face, "that you are not immune to paralysis."
The Luxray leapt to the side as a massive fireball impacted the spot where he once stood, charring the floor a deep black. The Luxray brought his gaze over to his remaining two leaders, both of which were baring their fangs at him as spheres of energy formed at the backs of their throats.
However, before the two could fire their attacks at the Luxray and blast him out of the room, a low hissing noise filled the air. The two leaders closed their maws as they brought their sights onto something behind Zekra, watching it with bemused glares while Len's fur stood up on end. As this happened, Zekra had feeling return to her body, and the second she could move her muscles again, she twisted her neck around toward the source of the hissing noise.
There, creeping into the room upon its flat belly, was a monster darker than the night. Unlike the monster that she had seen outside in the hallways, this one was more serpentine with multiple spikes jutting out of its body and running down its spine. Its large, white eyes illuminated softly as it opened up its large mouth, revealing rows and rows of black teeth that were dripping with a sludge-like substance.
Zekra thought that this demonic creature was Syn. She clearly remembered Syn could conjure up a shadowy serpent thanks to his synchronization with Willow, so it wasn't entirely out of question that this creature before her was him. Perhaps he had found some way to live despite what Len had told them and was coming to rescue them.
"Hssssh…"
When all of the creature's long and winding body was inside of the room, it curled itself up in a spot between Zekra's group and the Fellowship leaders, watching all of them intently with its wide, moon-like eyes. Zekra swiftly got to her feet as she cast it a wary stare. From the corner of her eye, she could see Impetus and Crystelle doing the same, though they seemed far less reluctant to pounce if the creature dared to strike.
The Suicune and Entei glowered at it momentarily before their frowns seemed to deepen.
"Have you returned from the dead?" the Entei growled. "Or was the severed corpse we found of you in the dungeons with that Flygon merely a ruse?"
The beast said nothing. It only remained where it was and kept its silent gaze on each of the Pokémon as it only raised its head higher. Within a matter of moments, it was towering over everyone in the room. Zekra thought she could see something writhing in its belly, beating against its flesh and causing little tendrils to flail out momentarily before withdrawing back into its body.
And then the serpent lunged forward and swallowed the paralyzed Raikou with one gulp. The Raikou didn't even scream as he disappeared down into the shadow monster's bowels as the monster snapped its jaws shut.
The Suicune instantly fired a massive pillar of water at the beast's head as the Entei spat out a fireball the size of his head at its neck. The serpent swiftly darted out of the way, slithering onto the ceiling before locking its gaze onto Zekra. Its eyes gleamed with a green light for just a moment as it opened its jaws once more.
Zekra was only barely to bolt out of the way as the beast struck the ground where she once was with its teeth, sinking its fangs deep into the flooring. With seconds to spare, Zekra swiftly turned into a Flygon and flew over to Crystelle and Impetus. Then, she grabbed them with her claws and whisked them out of the room, Len following shortly behind her. They quickly congregated in front of Reshiram just as he began to rise to his feet, shaking his head and coughing out water from his lungs.
"Reshiram, we need to go!" Zekra screamed as she flew right past him. "Come on!"
Though the dragon still appeared quite dazed, he wasted no time in darting after the group, keeping up to them as closely as he could muster. With every step he made, the chandeliers dangling from the ceilings would tremble and Len would briefly stumble. However, it was momentary, for by the time they made it back to the courtyard where Zekra had last seen Yimtri as a Sableye, Reshiram swiftly returned to the skies. He then flew up onto a nearby rooftop and settled himself there as Zekra set Crystelle and Impetus down and reverted back into a Zoroark.
"So what do we do now?" Zekra asked, growling under her breath. "What do we do now that the portals gone? "
"The portal's not gone," Len stated firmly, glaring at the Zoroark. "I refuse to believe that my former masters got rid of it. I firmly believe they simply moved it somewhere more discreet. After all, how else would they have summoned Rayquaza here without that portal?"
"Maybe they got him here and then got rid of the portal," Zekra said instead. "I mean, I've seen Shade make portals before. She opened these portals in the sky and all of these Plagued Ones came flying out of them… They're not that hard to get rid of."
"No, this portal was different," Len stated with a shake of his head. "It was large and spacious, and it took up the entire wall. It was almost as though it were built into the very stone…"
"But it is still gone," Impetus then said. "You saw the room. There was nothing on the walls. Perhaps the portals Zekra mentions and the one you mention are not different at all."
The Luxray shot the Mienshao a fierce glare and seemed ready to snarl at her, but once he locked his eyes onto her own steadfast and unwavering stare, he stopped himself. He sighed deeply as he closed his eyes before looking back towards the interior of the castle.
"You're right. My masters probably did remove the portal after they summoned Rayquaza here," Len said ruefully. "That, or the Primogenitor itself removed it."
"So you mean… there's no way for us to get to the Primogenitor then," Zekra stated. "We came up here for nothing."
Len didn't reply to remark, but Zekra didn't need him to say anything. All she had to do was see the forlorn glimmer in his eyes to know the answer. Silence fell over the group as despair slowly creeped its way into their souls, drowning them in its darkness. Only moments ago they had been filled with so much hope. Only moments ago had they felt that they would finally be able to reach the Primogenitor and end everything. They had lost Terron and Yimtri along the way, but they had refused to let their grief stifle them. They only continued forward until they found themselves at the doorstep of the portal.
But now that they finally realized that there was no portal to reach it… all of that warmth and happiness was promptly sucked away.
All that remained within their hearts was cold. Bitter and ravenous cold.
"No, there has to be a way to get to wherever you guys need to go!" Crystelle declared. "All of this couldn't have been for nothing! Are you guys sure that there isn't any other sort of way to get to that dimension?"
"There is no other way," Len stated bitterly. "You need a portal to get there, which only the Primogenitor's generals or the Primogenitor can make from what I can imagine."
"But aren't a bunch of you guys plagued?" Crystelle asked. "Can't you make the portals yourselves?"
"No, we cannot," Impetus said with a shake of her head. "That's not something our plagues know how to do. Erebus never had the power so neither do we. It's not as though we can have the Fellowship leaders open up a portal for us either."
"Not even you, Reshiram?" Crystelle then asked as she turned toward the great fire dragon that stood amongst the rooftops. "You can't make a portal with your god-like powers? I mean, the Primogenitor can since it's a god thing and you're one too."
"I may be of god-like status, but I only held that ability when I was a whole being," Reshiram spoke. "As a half-being, I have no such power. My shadow stole that ability from me when it and my original self split. I'm afraid I can offer no solution to this predicament you are trying to solve."
"But there just has to be a way to get there!" Crystelle insisted, stamping her paws into the ground. "I mean, you guys worked so hard to get up here, and now you guys can't get to where you want to go? I refuse to believe that there isn't something that we can do to get there!"
"No. There is no way we can get to the Primogenitor anymore, okay?" Zekra growled at the Umbreon, shooting her a resentful gaze. "Quit trying to find an answer. There isn't any. We lost Tear and Yimtri all for nothing and pretty soon, the whole planet's going to be overrun with Plagued Ones."
"No, we didn't!" Crystelle cried. "There's a way to that dimension! I know there is! Maybe it's like Len said. Maybe there's another portal around here that they're hiding somewhere below us. Or maybe-"
"No Crystelle, it's OVER!" Zekra snarled, drawing closer to the Umbreon as her eyes radiated with a sinister light. "There's nothing here for us anymore! Everything we did was for NOTHING! There's no portal here! This is where everything ends! We don't reach the Primogenitor and stop it like we're supposed to at the end of every other story! We're STUCK HERE UNTIL WE GET KILLED BY ALL THOSE SHADOW THINGS! Stop trying to think there's more than this and JUST ACCEPT THAT THIS IS THE END!"
Zekra expected the Umbreon to cringe back as she towered over her, the red lines upon her body illuminating as Venri's own voice mixed into her screams. However, Crystelle surprised her. She only stood unwavering before the Zoroark with the same strength that Venri had when she was pretending to be Crystelle, and looked up at the Zoroark with her glowing red eyes.
"No, this isn't the end," Crystelle said firmly. "You can think this is the end and that we're all going to watch the world get taken over by those monsters, but I'm not. I know there's a way to get to that dimension, and I'm going to help you find it. I'm going to show you how strong I really am and help you stop the monsters that ruined your life once and for all.
"I'm going to help you finish what you started so long ago."
Zekra continued to keep her glare fixed onto the Umbreon, but that was only to hide the troublesome thoughts brewing within her mind. She knew that the only way to reach the Primogenitor was through a portal. She knew that Len was telling the truth when he said it was located in the Fellowship leaders' bedroom. She had seen that there was no such portal in that room and heard the leaders even say that it was long gone.
She knew there was no way to get to the Primogenitor anymore. And yet… Crystelle's words still resonated with her.
Was there a way to the Primogenitor after all? Was there another portal that Len didn't know about, or was there perhaps another way to the Primogenitor? After all, there had been so many Pokémon guarding Pledge Mountain from her and her companions. Even Rayquaza himself had been summoned to eliminate them. It was true that it all could have been ruse to get their hopes up, but there had simply been so many Pokémon resisting them. Why would the Fellowship have seemingly all of their members fight back against Zekra and her group if there wasn't a portal to be found? Why didn't they just have a small fraction of their members defend the fortress and then have only the leaders eliminate Zekra's group with their god-like power?
As all of these thoughts began to swarm in her mind, the cold despair in her heart disappeared and the faintest glimmers of hope that she had thought were smothered out slowly returned.
Zekra softened her glare, but still kept her dark scowl as she backed away from Crystelle.
"Alright fine, maybe there is a portal around here," Zekra finally confessed. "But… where is it?"
"Somewhere secret," Crystelle said. "Somewhere nobody would look. Like maybe in some kind of basement or whatever. Are there any here?"
"There's a particular dungeon that my masters throw Pokémon into in order to build their corrupted army," Len answered as he removed his gaze from the ground and brought it over to the Umbreon. "It's quite large and not many know of it, making it a possible location for a secret portal."
"Then let's try going there," Crystelle then said. "Do you know how to get there?"
"Normally you'd have a ghost-type bring you there through the floor. However, there are a few entrances throughout the castle," Len answered. "They're tricky to get to, but I think I can lead all of you there without a problem. Well, except for you Reshiram. I'm afraid you won't fit in the dungeon."
"Does any part of the dungeon reside near the edge of the mountain?" Reshiram then asked.
"Yes, a part of the dungeon's walls are the western exterior of the mountain," Len confirmed.
"Then I'll simply tear apart the western side of the mountain until I reach the dungeon," the great dragon stated as he spread his wings. "I suggest you stay away from that area unless you want to feel the true power of a godly being rending your body apart."
The white dragon shot them a confident smile, and then took off into the skies, swooping over them before disappearing from their sights. Once he was gone, the four Pokémon all brought their gazes back to each other.
"And you really think that a portal will be in these dungeons?" Impetus asked Crystelle, crossing her arms over her chest.
"No, I don't know for sure," Crystelle admitted. "But it's not like we can all just stand around here and do nothing. We have to try and do something. We can't just give up because it doesn't look like there's anything else to do."
Crystelle then glanced over at Zekra and gave her a knowing look.
"Right, Zekra?" she asked. "We can't just give up when we feel like everything we've done is pointless."
Zekra had to resist the urge of shooting Crystelle a nasty glare. However, she realized that Crystelle was right. They couldn't give up. Not after everything that they had worked for and everything they had lost. Even though they had lost Terron and Yimtri, she knew what they would have said to her if they were still with her. They would have wanted her to keep moving forward no matter what happened. That was always what they had done when things had looked their worst.
That was what she had to do now as well.
Even when I'm not pretending to be her, Crystelle's still the one to tell you to keep going when you feel like a failure. Venri then began laughing in Zekra's head. That's pretty funny.
Yeah… if I hadn't of known that you were right here in my head, I would have thought she was just you again. She really has grown up since she was that wimpy Eevee.
And I guess you know who to thank for that, don't you?
Zekra couldn't resist smiling a little as Venri's last words echoed softly in her mind. Then, as the last traces of Venri disappeared and the shadow's mind merged back with Zekra's, the Zoroark gave the Umbreon a determined glare.
"Yeah, we'll find that portal," Zekra said, her heart swelling with confidence. "We will, don't you worry."
Crystelle beamed at her as the rings on her body seemed to illuminate for just a brief moment before she turned back to Len. The Luxray took in a deep breath as he stepped toward the courtyard's entryway, seeing no Pokémon anywhere in sight. It seemed uncannily vacant up ahead, which Zekra wasn't sure she found comforting or not.
"Everyone, follow close behind me," Len instructed. "The entrance to the dungeon is quite a distance, though I feel that's going to be the least of our problems if we don't stick close together…"
The Luxray cast everyone one last glance from behind his shoulder, and then took off running like lightning. Zekra, Impetus, and Crystelle swiftly bolted after him, however it was only Zekra and Impetus that were able to stay a few feet behind him. Crystelle, despite her lithe form, was still a considerable distance from the group and was becoming an increasingly small dot with each second that passed. She lacked the power of plague synchronization, thus she stood no chance in keeping up with the rest of the group.
Thankfully, Venri was able to come up with a solution only seconds after Zekra noticed that. The Zoroark's shadow manifested herself into reality in the form of an Arcanine and once formed, ran toward the sprinting Umbreon. Once she was beside Crystelle, Venri barked a command, prompting the Umbreon to leap onto the Arcanine's back. Then, after she was awkwardly draped over Venri's body, the Arcanine picked up her speed. It only took a moment or two for Venri to catch up to the rest of the group, grinning smugly as she slowed her speed to a trot rather than a full sprint like the rest of the group. Zekra had to resist rolling her eyes.
"Hssssssh…"
Zekra saw something dark in the corner of her eye. She didn't even need a second to figure out what was going on.
Zekra leapt out of the way just as something black flung itself at her, missing her by a hair. It crashed into the wall as it melted into it momentarily before pulling itself out. Zekra turned her head back to see that the creature was yet another one of Yimtri's demented shadowy fragments, this one bearing a resemblance to an Ariados. Or at least it vaguely did. The body was much smaller while the legs had grown to startling lengths, each of its six legs being at least eight feet long and made out of dozens of tentacles wound together. A single head stuck out from its body with a long, protruding neck, but there was no face to be seen upon it. There wasn't even a mouth like the other beasts Zekra had seen.
However, Zekra felt no relief upon seeing that. Regardless of whether this creature had a mouth or not, it was going to devour whatever it could somehow, just as the other Yimtri creations did.
"Guys, we've got some company!" Zekra cried, alerting everyone to the beast as it peeled itself off the wall.
Len growled under his breath as he shot a bolt of lightning at it, followed by Impetus flinging a great sphere of red light. The creature scurried out of the way, avoiding the explosion entirely, before it chased after the group. It moved at an alarming speed as it scampered forward on its legs, quickly growing closer and closer to the group with each second.
Zekra let Venri fill her claws with explosive energy before she brought herself to a halt and faced the great demon barreling toward her. Then, she shot toward it with unwavering strength, locking her glare onto its faceless form. The beast only seemed to quicken its charge as the vaguest traces of a line seemed to appear along its head.
But just before the Zoroark could sink her claws into the ground and create a shockwave that could surely topple the creature, if not obliterate it completely, something wrapped itself around her arms and tied them to her waist. Zekra looked down to find that a web-like, black substance was pinning her arms to her body, refusing her to free herself no matter how much she squirmed. Even when Zekra changed into a larger, more burly Tyranitar, the binds refused to budge, merely adapting to her shape.
"What is this?!" Zekra cried as she shifted between multiple forms to break free, but to no avail. "Why won't it get off of me?!"
Zekra was only barely able to leap out of the way as the demon launched itself at her. She nearly tripped and fell over just as she landed, but was thankfully able to keep herself steady and watched the shadow monster splatter into the ground where she once was before pulling itself right out not even a second later. Then, before Zekra could think about running away and rejoining the rest of her fleeing group, the monster lunged at her once more. This time, Zekra found she couldn't move fast enough, and she could watch as he monster descended upon her so it might devour her completely.
But it never reached her.
Just as the beast was to crash into Zekra, Impetus shot herself from the distance and tackled it down to the ground. Then, before it could right itself up, she took her arm and transformed it into its more lance-like appearance. Then she stabbed directly into the creature's belly and sliced it right open.
Hundreds of tiny, writhing tentacles shot out of its innards and wrapped themselves around Impetus. She struggled and thrashed, crying like a caged feral, but it was no use. Within seconds, the tendrils had wrapped themselves completely around Impetus, cocooning her. Then, with one swift pull, they dragged her into the creature's insides just as its belly was sealed back together.
"Impetus!" Zekra cried, her voice breaking.
That was when Zekra was suddenly forced down to the ground, her chin hitting the marble flooring. The binds constraining her released their hold on her before slithering onto the ground and stopping right before the Zoroark's eyes. She watched as the web-like substance shifted into a more humanoid shape. In fact, it even grew to resemble a human with its shape with how Terron had always described what he once looked like before he became a Cubone. However, Zekra knew that this monster wasn't anything like what Terron once was. This creature's limbs were far too elongated for a natural human being and in place of its head was a blank face surrounded by waving tentacles, each moving sporadically through the air. The bright, glowing blue circles that Zekra could only presume were its eyes gazed down at the Zoroark, showing neither contempt nor joy for her condition. There was simply no soul behind those creature's eyes.
Zekra would have thought that this creature was the Ariados-like one that had attacked her, but all she had to do was look over to see that the other shadow creature was beginning to right itself up. Ripples flowed through its body, and within a few moments, it was an exact copy of the other more humanoid creature standing near it.
So there really is more than one of them. Zekra thought grimly. There wasn't just one Yimtri thing going around killing everyone.
Well he did explode and every piece of him started moving on its own. Venri said thoughtfully. We really should have expected this really.
Why do they all look like different, though? Why don't they all just look like the same thing?
Well, that one that got Impetus turned into that weird thing that is shaped kind of like her. Maybe it changes depending on what it eats? Or maybe they all look different since they're all aware and don't want to get each other mixed up when there's two of them in the same place like now.
Zekra wasn't able to continue her conversation with Venri for much longer, for then the two shadowy creatures sprang at her. The Zoroark swiftly bolted from the spot, just barely avoiding them as they sank into the ground and reduced themselves to puddles. As the two lifted themselves out of the ground, Zekra swiftly changed into a Skarmory and hurried after Len, Venri, and Crystelle. She was quick to find that they were still running through the hallways, their sprint still as vigorous as it had been before those monsters had ever shown up.
As soon as she was amongst them again and reverted back into a Zoroark, Len and Crystelle cast their gazes onto her.
"Are you okay, Zekra?" Len asked her.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Zekra said.
"And Impetus…? Where is she?" Len asked cautiously.
Zekra bit down on her tongue as an image of Impetus being devoured by Yimtri's sinister shadow flashed before her mind. She tried to ignore the sting in her heart as the image slowly melted away and allowed her to see Len before her again.
"She's gone," Zekra answered somberly. "She's not coming back."
"Did Yimtri-"
"We need to keep moving forward," Zekra cut in. "We can't… we can't think about this. We have to keep going."
We have to keep going. We can't stop. We can't make all of this meaningless. We worked this hard to get to the portal. We can't just give up because Impetus is gone too. We have to keep going. No matter what happens.
That was when a loud cry rang through the air. Len and Zekra twisted their heads around to behold a horrifying sight. Both of the shadow creatures had caught up to them, and worse yet, they had managed to snag someone they both knew.
Crystelle.
Somehow, they had separated her from Venri, Zekra's shadowy half nowhere in sight. They both held her in their arms, their tentacle-like appendages wrapped around her muzzle so that she couldn't scream or fight back. All she could do was futile thrash in their grasps, blindly swiping her paws at them but achieving nothing. They only kept their grip on her firm.
Zekra didn't even get a chance to scream the Umbreon's name before the creatures promptly fled into the distance, taking Crystelle with them. Within seconds, they were all gone, being nothing but an after-image in Zekra's mind. The Zoroark was just about to bolt after Crystelle, thinking that she could perhaps catch up to the shadows before it was too late, but just as she was to pounce, Venri stopped her.
No, you have to forget about her. Remember what you said. You have to keep going, no matter what happens. You go after those things, you're just going to get eaten too.
But I can still help her! They're not eating her for some reason! I could get her and-
I couldn't save her, so you sure can't either. We have to keep going, Zekra. While all those shadow things are gone. We can't stop.
But…
You have to keep going. Don't make everything meaningless.
Zekra could see Venri within her mind, shooting her a resentful and vehement glare. She could feel Venri sliding her tendrils over Zekra's brain and bones, ready to tighten their grasp around her if she dared to turn back. However, Zekra didn't shudder at their unnatural touch.
She didn't, because she knew Venri was right. She had been telling herself that after Impetus was devoured. She couldn't let anything stop her. Losing Crystelle couldn't be any different. It was true that she feared the day that she would have to tell Lyra and Frazil that their daughter perished while fighting alongside Zekra, but she couldn't dwell in that right now.
Don't make everything meaningless. Get to the dungeon and find a portal there.
With tears forming in her eyes, Zekra turned away from where she last saw Crystelle disappear and focused on Len. She swallowed hard as she followed after him, rounding a corner and entering a new hallway. They ran through many hallways and chambers, rushing past many clashing Pokémon that once belonged to Yimtri and the Fellowship. And though some did attempt to attack Len and Zekra as they rushed past them, none of their attacks ever hit the two. They were far too swift for any of their assailants, moving as swiftly and dangerously as lightning bolts in a great storm.
Thus, it was only minutes later when Len brought Zekra to trap door hidden beneath under a great carpet of a secluded section of the castle that once appeared to be part of the larder. He flipped the carpet off of the door as he pried the hatch open with his teeth, then leapt inside. Zekra wasted no time in following after him, closing the door behind them as they descended upon a long flight of stone stairs.
Through the darkness of the dungeon, Zekra saw the many cells that filled the great and spacious underground prison. Dozens if not hundreds of Pokémon were kept down in these cells, all behind the bars, miserably confined to whatever torment the Fellowship had subjected them to. So many Pokémon were being bound by strange, shadowy binds that Zekra was sure was the work of plague energy, while others seemed ready to collapse dead upon the floor at any second. She couldn't resist shuddering as she passed by each and every one of the cells, only catching glimpses of the misery and suffering that was rotting away in the cells.
These Pokémon will be free soon. When we find a portal, we'll defeat the Primogenitor and then we'll set everyone here free. They don't have to suffer any longer.
They won't… they can't…
We'll find a portal. It's going to be here…
"Len, where do you think the portal is?" Zekra asked, ignoring the irritating skittering sounds her claws made as they scrapped against the dungeon ground.
"Somewhere…" Len stated, the confidence in his voice faltering. "Perhaps where they keep the devices to torture the prisoners… that's where I would put it. I imagine it's somewhere not easy to access."
"Do you know where that is?" Zekra asked.
"I believe I've seen it once. It's near the-"
A massive fireball the size of Zekra herself suddenly slammed into Len, smacking him across the room and crashing against a cell. The metal bars bent behind him as he landed upon the ground, all of his fur singed with small embers burning into his skin. Then, before the Luxray could even rise back to feet, a jet of water was shot at the Luxray, pushing him back against the cell once more. However, this time the force was so strong that he actually broke the bars and was slammed into the back wall of the vacant cell.
When the geyser of water ceased, the Luxray hit the ground once more. But this time, he didn't get up. He only lay there in the prison cell, completely motionless and creating a pool of blood beneath him.
It wasn't even a second after Zekra registered this was she too blasted with a great ball of fire. It impacted her right in the chest, searing her fur off and burning deep into her flesh. Zekra screamed so hard that she felt her lungs would burst as she fell to the ground and fell onto the part of her body that was aflame, smothering it under her weight. And though Zekra wanted to sigh a breath of relief as her body cooled and Venri began to patch up her burnt flesh, she couldn't.
Because right there in front of her, jeering down at her, were the Entei and Suicune she had thought she had escaped from.
"Oh little Zoroark, did you honestly think that coming here would do you any good?" the Suicune asked. "Did you honestly think you could escape from us?"
"The portal… where's the portal?" Zekra asked, slowly rising to her feet. "There's a portal in this dungeon, isn't there?"
"Pah, is that why you crawled down into this dingy and dank dungeon?" the Suicune said with a scoff before sneering at her. "Oh Zoroark, is that why you're down here? You still think that there's a way to the master even though we told you there wasn't any?"
"There's a way to the Primogenitor," Zekra growled, bearing her teeth. "I know there is. I didn't come all the way up this mountain all for nothing."
The Suicune and Entei both guffawed for several moments, their boisterous laughter bouncing off the walls of the dungeon and echoing eerily all around Zekra. She fought to keep the fierce scowl upon her face as the two ceased their laughter before shooting her condescending grins.
"You poor, hopeless soul. You're truly that desperate to reach the master," the Entei announced. "You're willing to believe in the most ridiculous of lies just so that you can stave off despair."
"There's a portal here! There has to be!" Zekra insisted. "Where is it? Where's the portal?!"
"There is none," the Entei answered. "There was one, but it's gone now and the master will never open another one on Shiron as long as you are still alive."
"You're lying! THERE'S A PORTAL! THERE HAS TO BE! STOP LYING TO ME!"
Zekra launched herself at the Entei faster than she could think, closing the distance between them. She struck his face with her claws, creating a long streak across his face as he cringed and let out a loud roar. When Zekra's feet touched the floor, she pushed off the ground and sprang at the Entei's back, landing on it before sinking her claws deep into his brown fur. She let Venri slink out of her and worm her way into his organs, where she would tear apart anything that she could find.
However, before Venri could reach anything meaningful, a blast of frigid air hit Zekra in the side, ripping her claws out of the Entei as she collapsed onto the ground. Her right arm became frozen to the ground by a block of ice, which she found that no matter how much she struggled, would simply not break. Zekra opened her jaws and was about to spew a fireball upon it that she hoped she could replicate even as a Zoroark, but then another blast of ice hit her, and she found her neck frozen to the ground.
"Look at you, so desperate to deny reality," the Suicune said to her with a scoff. "I don't think I've met someone so blinded by false hope as you."
"There's a way to the Primogenitor!" Zekra growled. "There is! There has to be!"
Zekra thrashed for a moment with all her might, then broke free of her icy binds. The Suicune and Entei only shot her disapproving glares as she filled her claws with red, explosive power. She knew that by using this power she might have the entire ceiling collapse on her with how great the radius of the blast could be, but Zekra didn't care. She had to defeat these legendary creatures.
She had to find the portal.
Zekra thrust her claws down into the ground, and watched as everything around her became red. The ground beneath her threw up debris into her eyes as fissures formed beneath her claws. Zekra grit her teeth as she watched the entire dungeon become torn asunder from the shockwave, watching as many of the cells were thrashed and bent out of shape while almost all of the torches in the area were blown out. Rocks flew into the air and hurled themselves in all directions as pieces of the ceiling rained down upon the dungeon. The entire dungeon was caught up in the explosion as Zekra kept herself anchored to the ground.
When all of her energy had left her claws and all the red cleared from the room, Zekra found everything had been completely decimated. Large chunks of the ceiling were littered upon the ground, though none had been able to hit her or Len. The dungeon was almost pitch-black as well, all of the light from it having been snuffed out by the explosion. But most of all, the Entei and Suicune were gone. There were no traces of them, and Zekra knew that they couldn't have escaped a blast with as wide of a range as her attack had.
Zekra straightened herself out as the remaining glow in her claws diminished. She glanced around her momentarily, searching for any signs of life that weren't Len or the prisoners that had managed to survive the blast. When she detected no one, she went towards Len. He was still out cold, but she knew that she couldn't leave him alone. She would carry him with her as she searched for the portal, or at least until Reshiram showed up. Then she could give Len to Reshiram and she could search for the portal on her own without anything to weigh her down.
Because there was a portal. The Suicune and Entei were lying to her.
They had to be. Because if they were actually telling the truth…
No, they were lying. Zekra told herself. There's a way to get to the Primogenitor. And I'm going to find it.
The Zoroark stopped before the Luxray and glanced down at him. Though he still bled and remained motionless, she knew that he was still alive. Though his breaths were shallow and she could only barely see his chest rising and falling, he was alive. He would make it through this and help her defeat the Primogenitor. All he needed to do was sleep for a while.
Something cold struck Zekra in the back, and then she suddenly couldn't breathe.
Zekra fell over onto her side as she reached around for her back, and was immediately met with dozens of sharp, icy shards stuck deep in her flesh. Zekra was about to pull them out, as well as have Venri help push them out of her body, but before she could, a blast of water struck her, shoving her against a wall. Zekra slammed into it face first, and then fell onto her back, further pushing the shards into her body. Zekra screamed as she curled inward and felt Venri hastily push all of the shards out of her body. However, even as the ice was removed her and a numbing feeling slowly came over Zekra, it meant nothing in the end. A massive paw slammed down onto her ribcage, pinning her down to the ground. Not even a second later, another paw smashed down onto both of her claws, keeping them pinned to the ground and rendering them useless.
All Zekra had to do was look up to see the Suicune and Entei before her, their bodies giving off wisps of smoke, but otherwise completely unharmed.
"Please be quiet," the Suicune with a condescending scoff. "Hope is noisy."
Venri suddenly manifested above them in the form of a Raikou, her fangs opened wide as she descended upon them. However, before she could touch them, the Suicune shot a pillar of frigid energy at the false Raikou, blowing her back into a wall and freezing her in place. Venri shot the Suicune a vicious glare as she tried to vanish and reconstruct her illusion behind the Suicune, but found that she couldn't. Zekra felt her panic within her mind as she struggled against the ice, but found herself stuck in place.
"You can't break free from that, irritable pest," the Suicune growled. "Did you honestly think that the master didn't warn us about you? It told us about your little powers, and it made sure we could properly deal with you."
As soon as the Suicune said that, the ice encasing Venri shattered, revealing that she was not actually being constrained by ice. Instead, it was a thick webbing of black plague substance, covering every part of her body except her head. And no matter how much Venri squirmed, she could not break free or even revert her form. She was stuck as a Raikou, fastened to the wall helplessly.
The Suicune smiled smugly before bringing his gaze back to Zekra.
"Now then, I think I've tired of chasing you around this mountain," the Suicune said. "Master wants you dead, and quite frankly, so do I. You've been quite the vermin ever since you stepped foot here."
Zekra struggled against the Entei and Suicune, but their weight held her down, making her thrashing useless. Even with help from Venri from within her mind, she couldn't find the strength to topple the two beasts holding her down. Their weight was too much.
"Don't feel so bad about your death," the Suicune told her. "You were never meant to succeed. This is all exactly as it's supposed to be. You were never going to reach the master no matter what you did."
Zekra wanted to tell them that they were lying to her. She wanted to scream that there was a way to get to the Primogenitor, just as she had done again and again. There wasn't any reason that her fate was to die to the hands of the Fellowship leaders. She was supposed to be victorious and kill the Primogenitor, thus protecting the world from it.
But she couldn't say it this time.
She couldn't… because the Suicune was absolutely right.
There was no way she would have been able to succeed. The Primogenitor absolutely did not want her or her friends reaching it, so of course it had sealed off any sort of portal they could use to reach it. And even if they had found a portal… how could they hope to defeat it when she couldn't even win against the Fellowship leaders? How could she possibly hope to win that fight when all of her friends were gone, all slowly disappearing, one by one?
How was she ever supposed to be victorious when she was the only one left?
The answer was that she wasn't. She was never supposed to succeed. She had only been lucky that she had made it as far as she had. Maybe it was her excessive determination that had done it. Maybe it was stubbornness and refusal to back down in the most dangerous and absurd situations she found herself in. Maybe it was even her arrogance that allowed her to get through the trials and tribulations that dared to stand in her way.
But she was never meant to make it this far.
She should have perished long ago, whether it was after Aurora Town had been attacked by Plagued Ones or when she fought with Nyx in Erebus Woods. That, or she should have quit, as she once did after Zeverous died. She was never supposed to come back to Shiron and keep fighting.
In reality… she stood no better chance at stopping the Plagued Ones than she did as a tiny, weak, and lost Zorua.
Her victories meant absolutely nothing.
Tears streaked down Zekra's eyes as this earth-shattering revelation dawned upon her, breaking her heart in two. She couldn't resist whimpering as the tears pooled beneath her, wallowing in her own self-defeat and the realization that she was never destined to succeed. She was always meant to fail.
Everything she had done was utterly meaningless.
The Suicune and Entei smirked down at the miserable and pathetic Zoroark, reveling in her misery.
"Oh look, you made her cry," the Entei said with fake pity.
"Aww, I did," the Suicune said, his smirk widening. "Maybe I should put her out of her misery then. She must be suffering so much, knowing all of her efforts were for naught."
"Yes, be a kind soul and do so. I'm sure she would love that very much."
The Suicune opened his maw, revealing a white light at the back of his throat. It grew larger and larger, gathering energy as the Suicune aimed it down at Zekra. And though Zekra could see it through her blurry vision, she did nothing. She only watched the light grow brighter, knowing there was nothing to do. She only lay motionless and waited for the end to come.
She was done. There was nothing left to do. Even Venri wasn't arguing with her.
There had just been no point in this entire journey.
"Hssssssh…"
The Suicune closed his maw as he and Entei shot their gazes over to something in the distance. And though Zekra felt almost no energy to do so, she did the same and found herself staring at an uncanny sight.
There, standing by one of the few torches still burning in the dungeon, was the first shadow creature that Zekra had seen in the castle. It was staring at the three of them with its beady white eyes, watching them silently and making no effort to move. And though Zekra did find the sight of the creature to be unnerving, it didn't make her want to flee. She still felt the miserable lethargy consuming her, making her dormant as she watched the creature with a dull and hazy stare.
She watched as more shadows then crept into the dungeon around the shadow with hissing sounds. They slinked in from behind, gathering in the torchlight as they stood before beneath the original shadow, each of them of a different shape than the others. Zekra thought she even saw the serpent-like creature and the Ariados like one amongst the group of clustering shadows as they loomed close together.
Then, all of the shadows suddenly merged into the original shadow, becoming one with its mass. The creature's body convulsed as it began to change, its shadowy form becoming grotesque and wrong. Its form melted so that it was nothing but a black blob that took on an incredibly vague human shape. Multiple eyes opened up on various parts of its grotesque mass, glowing with white power as they focused upon all of the Pokémon in the room at once
But it was not the body of the creature that Zekra found most disturbing, even as it grew so that it towered over the Suicune and Entei. It was the head of the creature. The head was undoubtedly a human head, presumably Dimitri before he was split in half. However, that was as far as similarities went, for everything else about him was corrupted and altered. Where his eyes once were, there were now two green glowing circles, emitting a bright light that almost lit up the entire room with its radiance. And where his mouth once was, there was now simply nothing, leaving only a blank face that gazed down at the tiny Pokémon. Long, flowing wisps that sprouted out of its head like hair swayed in a non-existent wind, occasionally reverting into a large, fanged mouth that snapped at seemingly nothing in the air.
The abomination watched Zekra and the legendary beasts, doing nothing as various parts of its body would morph into shadowy tendrils and snap at the air.
"You," the Entei hissed, shooting it a glare. "What exactly are you, and whose side are you on?"
The beast said nothing, only keeping its multiple eyes upon the Entei, none of them ever blinking.
"I think this is a Blight Demon that has lost its connection to the master," the Suicune stated cautiously. "Perhaps it has gone mad due to it and thus has become unpredictable."
"Pitiful," the Entei scoffed. "This one seems fairly powerful. It could have made a great addition to our army."
The Entei stepped off of Zekra just as the Suicune placed its other paw down upon her, preventing her going anywhere. However, Zekra had no intentions of going anywhere and thus resigned herself to remain still as she watched the great fire beast approach the shadow monster, not wavering in the slightest. Then, he opened his mouth and shot a great blast of fire at the monster.
One second, the shadow was standing at a distance from the Entei, watching him blankly. Then, before the fire could even exit the Entei's maw, the shadow was suddenly before him, quick as a flash. It wasted no time in wrapping its body around him before taking its tendrils and digging them deep into the Entei's body. The Entei roared as the tendrils wormed their way inside of him before suddenly falling limp in the shadow's grasp. The beast then removed its tendrils from the Entei before releasing its grip on him and letting him collapse onto the ground. A huge, gaping mouth tore open from the face, filled with fanged teeth that could easily snap bones in half with just one chomp. Then, after releasing an unnatural, inhuman howling sound, the beast snagged the Entei with its teeth and swallowed him whole, closing its mouth and making it vanish from existence once more as the legendary slid down its throat.
It locked all of its eyes onto the Suicune just as he tensed, and for a moment, the great legendary being seemed frozen with fear.
And then in the next moment, the shadow monster leapt at the Suicune, not even bothering to attack him like it had with Entei. It only collided with the Suicune, knocking him off of Zekra before making him tumble onto the ground. Then, before the Suicune knew what was happening, the monster opened up its mouth once more and devoured the Suicune with one bite.
Everything became eerily quiet as the shadow monster slowly turned toward Zekra, eyeing her with its blank gaze. Zekra only continued to remain where she was on the floor, as if she were still being pinned down the Fellowship leaders. However, it was not out of crippling fear as what had struck the Suicune seconds before his life ended. It was because she knew there was no point in fighting back. Her spirit was still dampened, and not even the sight of a demonic beast ready to devour her could snap her out of her miserable state.
The shadow beast slowly crept over to Zekra until it was right before her, its head only about a foot above her own head. It cocked its head to the side as it watched her, as if waiting for her to lash out and fight it, but Zekra only remained where she was. The sight of this monstrous creature right before her, staring her down as its tentacles brushed up against her fur, could not even provoke a shriek out of her.
All she did was stare up at it with a blank stare, unable to see her own reflection in its multiple eyes that were fixated upon her.
"Well, are you going to do it?" Zekra asked in a monotone. "Are you going to eat me just like you did with those other guys?"
The creature didn't answer her, once again remaining silent. Zekra quickly deduced that creature was incapable of speech just as its spawn were, but that didn't stop her from shooting it an exasperated glare.
"Just end it already!" Zekra screamed at it. "You're here to kill me, so just do it already! Stop waiting around!"
The shadow creature gave her another long stare, and then it seemed to close all of its eyes at once so that the entire monster was nothing but a black, shifting mesh of darkness. Then, it opened all of its eyes at once as a mouth formed along its face. Zekra didn't even struggle as the creature's tendrils wrapped themselves around her arms and shoved her into the massive shadow's mouth. Then, once she was fully within the creature's maw, it clamped its jaw shut.
And then, there was just darkness.
Warm, welcoming darkness that lifted all of the cold despair out of Zekra's heart and filled her with peace.
So this is how everything ends. This is how my story ends. I never make it to the Primogenitor. I just die because Yimtri devours me like I'm some kind of snack because he's gone insane. Hahah.
I… I was so stupid thinking otherwise.
I was always going to fail.
Just like everybody who ever tried to fight the plague.
They all died and got nowhere. Now I get to join them.
The only bragging right I have is that I made it further than them. I get to say I made it to the Fellowship. But it doesn't matter really.
I couldn't save anybody.
Zekra would have sighed if she still could, but she couldn't breathe, as if she no longer had lungs. Thus, she only sighed in her mind as she basked in her dying thoughts, letting the warmth around her consume her as she felt her spirit drift out of her body.
I lost. I lost and now it's all over.
But it's not, Zekra. You haven't lost.
Zekra was suddenly snapped out of her lulling state as the voice echoed softly in her mind, tantalizing yet familiar at the same time.
Who said that? Who just talked to me?! Was that you, Venri?
No. I'm not Venri.
I'm your salvation.
There was suddenly a bright light, and the next thing Zekra knew, she was on the ground, coughing and feeling the warmth leave her. She shivered as she got onto all fours, and hacked up a black substance from her lungs, stinging her throat in the process.
"Zekra! You're okay!"
Zekra looked up, and was immediately taken aback by what she saw before her. She was back in the leaders' bedroom. Not only that but standing right before her was Crystelle, completely unharmed though now with a red scarf tied fast around her neck. Zekra felt a wide smile work its way onto her face as she got up and rushed over to her.
"Crystelle, you're still alive!" Zekra cried joyously. "But how? I thought you got taken away by those shadow things…"
"I thought I was a goner too," Crystelle confessed. "But those shadows didn't eat me. They just brought me here and wanted me to stay here for some reason. And they gave me this scarf with this weird pin attached to it too."
"Pin?" Zekra repeated. "Wait… what does the pin look like?"
"It's silver and has this weird shine to it, and looks kind of like a tear drop," Crystelle answered.
"That's a plague-blocking pin…" Zekra realized. "Why would those shadow things…"
Zekra looked behind her to find that the demonic creature that had devoured her only moments ago was standing at a distance, hunched over and making strange clicking sounds. Then, it opened its mouth and Impetus was spat out of its body and dropped onto the floor, covered in a black, sticky substance. The beast formed many tendrils out of its body and gently ran them through Impetus's fur, removing the residue before it gingerly set her back on the ground. Seconds later, the Mienshao opened her eyes, and just like Zekra, she began coughing up a black substance. As soon as it exited her respiratory tract and sloshed to the ground, the blob slithered toward the shadow and was reabsorbed back into it.
"Impetus!" Zekra cried.
The Mienshao blinked once, shooting the Zoroark a hazy gaze before clarity returned to her eyes. She then smiled as she got to her feet and drew closer to the Zoroark.
"Zekra, you're okay," Impetus said warmly. "I didn't think I would see you again. That demon ate me and then everything went black for a while. I thought I had died."
"Nope! You didn't die!" Zekra assured before something dawned upon her. "But wait… if we both got eaten and then spat out, and Crystelle here was just carried over here, then…"
The three turned back to look at the shadow monster to see that it was staring at them with its blank eyes. However, rather than finding the sight to be unnerving and have shudders run down Zekra's spine, she felt something else upon sharing a gaze with this monster.
She felt camaraderie.
"Yimtri… is that you?" she asked it softly. "Are you… are you helping us? Is that why you gave Crystelle that pin?"
The shadow's blank face remained unchanged, but Zekra thought she saw a small glimmer in the creature's many eyes.
Zekra was about to question it more, but then she saw it turn away from the group and watch the entryway as two Pokémon made their way toward the room. The shadow retreated towards the back of the room as the two Pokémon emerged into the room, revealing themselves to be Len and Reshiram. Despite the heavy damage Len had sustained during his time in the dungeon earlier, he still walked with quite an impressive amount of strength. His wounds were already healing and as he entered the room in front of the great dragon, he didn't even stumble. Zekra noticed that he also wore a scarf around his neck, though his was green. Zekra imagined that his scarf also had a pin attached to the inside of it that the shadow must have stolen off of Pokémon throughout the castle.
"Alright, I found Reshiram," Len stated as he turned toward the shadow. "That was what you wanted, correct?"
The shadow nodded before it slinked over to a nearby wall and gazed upon it, seemingly studying it with intense concentration. As it did so, Len and Reshiram finally noticed Impetus and Zekrom in the room, and rushed over to them.
"Ah, you two are okay," Len sighed heavily. "Thank Arceus. I was hoping that this creature hadn't hurt you two. It looks like it really is as benevolent as it's trying to make itself appear."
"Len, what's even going on?" Zekra asked, growing more and more confused by the second.
"Yes, I share the same thoughts as Zekra," Reshiram spoke, eying the shadow cautiously. "You mentioned that you wanted me here to meet with this shadow, but I don't quite understand the reasons for this when it was devouring everything earlier."
"This shadow… it's Yimtri. I'm sure of it," Len stated as he turned to look at the monster. "And even though he's been corrupted and had his form twisted, I think he's trying to help us. He asked me to bring you here Reshiram, because he was going to do something for us. He couldn't exactly say what, since he can only communicate by shifting into different shapes, but… I think he has something very important he wants us all to see."
It was not long after Len said this that the shadow suddenly thrust many of its tendrils into the wall before him, arranging them so that they made a circle on the wall the size of Zekra's head. Then, black energy leaked out the tendrils and seeped toward the center of the circle. Everybody watched with mystified gazes as the interior was slowly filled with this darkness until the entire circle was nothing but a black spot. The shadow withdrew its tendrils from the wall as the circle grew larger and larger, making loud whirling sounds as purple light slowly seeped out of the middle of the darkness and dispersed itself amongst the circle.
Within a matter of moments, the circle had grown to take up the entire wall, its entire interior a swirling mesh of equal amounts of purple and black light. White flashes of lightning occasionally erupted from the vortex, streaming out of the mesh of colors and into the air harmlessly. The shadow observed the vortex for a few moments before sticking his head into the mass of colors and kept it in there for a few seconds. Then, he pulled it right back out, revealing to the mystified group that his head was solid and unharmed.
He cast the five a gaze before pointing to the vortex with one of his tendrils, his eyes flickering in the process. Then he slinked away, making his way past the group and towards the door.
"Hey wait! Yimtri, wait!" Zekra cried out.
The shadow stopped in the doorway. He turned his head toward Zekra and cocked his head to the side, watching her carefully. Zekra nervously took a step forward as she approached the shadow monster, still wary of its towering height and frightening appearance.
"This is the portal to the Primogenitor, isn't it?" she asked.
The shadow nodded slowly.
"And nothing'll happen if we use it?" she asked.
The shadow shook his head. She could see his tendrils waving through the air more vigorously, as if he were feeling quite antsy. She even thought she saw some of his eyes turning toward something outside of the room.
"And you're… you're coming with us, right?" she then asked.
The shadow did nothing this time. He only brought all of his eyes to Zekra, remaining silent as he always did as his body became still. Zekra, feeling slightly more courageous, took a step toward the beast.
"You're coming with us to fight… right?" she asked. "I mean, you said you would. You told me how much killing the Primogenitor meant to you."
The shadow still did not respond in any way. He only continued to stare at Zekra silently. The Zoroark cast him a longing stare as she reached her claw toward him, taking a few more steps forward as she did so.
"Yimtri… where are you going?" she asked him, her voice barely above a whisper. "Why aren't you coming with us?"
The towering creature kept his gaze on Zekra for a moment longer, and then slithered toward her. Zekra stopped as he came toward her, suddenly afraid of what he would do. However, before she could think about running away, the creature stopped before her and he shrank down to her level so that he was just a head taller than her. Then, he cast her what appeared to be a longing stare of his own before making two large tendrils sprout of his body to create makeshift arms. He wrapped these tendrils around her, holding her close to him as he enveloped her in a hug. Zekra didn't do anything as he held her ear against his strange, nearly intangible body, finding herself at a loss as she partially sank into him.
I'm sorry. It has to be this way. Don't come after me.
Then, he released her and raced out of the room, leaving everyone behind as he disappeared. Zekra looked down at her claws as the shadow's last words echoed in her mind. What did he mean when he had said them? Why was he apologizing and saying it in such an insidious manner? Where exactly was Yimtri going?
"Zekra, we should get going."
The Zoroark turned to find Len, Impetus, Reshiram, and Crystelle all standing before the portal. They all seemed ready to jump in without hesitation, even knowing what was on the other side of that swirling mass of surreal colors. There was not a shred of reluctance in their eyes.
There was only steadfast resolution.
Zekra cast the doorway of the Fellowship a longing stare. Though she wanted to chase after Yimtri and bring him with her to stop the Primogenitor, she knew she couldn't. He clearly had somewhere else he had to be. She wasn't sure where that was or what he wanted to do, or if it was even benevolent or not, but she knew there was no stopping him.
She had to let him go, just as he wanted her to do.
Zekra took in a deep breath before she brought her gaze back over to her companions, returning their determined glares with one of her own.
"You're right," she said with a slow nod. "Let's go. Let's go save the world and end everything."
And then, with her conviction renewed and her heart swelling with confidence, Zekra raced toward the portal and dove in head-first, her companions following right behind her.
Terron's plague had just finished devouring a Nidoqueen that had tried to topple him over with an earthquake. She had made a valiant effort, but alas, it was pointless. He had simply leapt into the air and sprouted his wings once more before descending upon her and swallowing her whole.
He stood near the entrance of the Fellowship, in the grand hall that so many Pokémon were gathered in at any given point of the day. In the past, so many Pokémon had passed one another whether it was day or night, seeing each other off before they went on missions or greeting each other from their successes. But now, the hall was completely empty. All that remained were ruined tapestries, charred remains of carpet, and dozens and dozens of corpses piled upon the white flooring.
Terron's plague smiled to himself as he looked over himself. He had devoured at least a hundred different Pokémon now. Though his form was small, he had been able to eat and consume all of them, so long as they had the plague. So long as they had the plague, he could shrink them down with ease, making it so that he could fit an entire galaxy's worth of plagued Pokémon if he truly wanted to. After all, he was their master. He held one of the Primogenitor's greatest powers, the ability to take any powers from any Pokémon and make it his own. It'd be awfully inconvenient if he couldn't shrink them down and could only devour Pokémon smaller than him. The best he could possibly hope for that case would have to be a Joltik.
Something dark moved in the corner of the Cubone's eyes.
"Oh, is that who I think it is?" he chuckled to himself.
There, moving briskly along the ground, was a shadow. The Cubone smiled as the shadow made its way toward him before stopping a few feet in front of him. Then, it slowly rose out of the ground, taking on the vague form of a Sableye that lacked gemstones and instead had glowing circles in their place. The Sableye kept its distance from Terron's plague as it stood before him, gazing at him silently with his mouthless face.
"Ah, there you are," Terron's plague said in a pleased voice. "Feeling better?"
The Sableye did nothing at first, but eventually nodded once. The wisps escaping his body seemed to lick at the air more vigorously, prompting Terron's plague to smile even wider.
"Yep, just like I expected," Terron's plague said. "How does it feel, being a real shadow? How does it feel, being one of us?"
"… Different."
"Yes, well that's what happens when you've been masquerading in a 'real' body for a number of years and now have to be this," Terron's plague shrugged. "But don't worry, you'll get used to it. In fact, I know how to help you so that you feel better."
"… Synchronize. You want to synchronize like before in that swamp."
"Exactly! Wow, you're good at this. It's almost like you can read my mind," Terron's plague laughed. "Well then, what do you say? You ready to be one and help Rem's Shadow? You know it'll be so happy to see us again after it sees what we've done to the real Dimitri…"
"… Yes. Let's synchronize. For Rem's Shadow. We have been separated for too long."
The Cubone grinned as he stuck out his hand toward the Sableye. The shadow stared at it for a moment, gazing at it absently, and then crept toward the Cubone until he was standing right in front of him. He looked into the Cubone's eyes once more with his own vacant ones, and then finally grasped the Cubone's paw with his own claw.
Terron's plague felt pure euphoria as the Sableye lost his form and became nothing but a black, wispy blob that was slowly being absorbed into the Cubone's hand. He watched the Sableye slowly disappear from reality as he merged with the Cubone, infusing himself into the Cubone's very soul. He could practically feel the Sableye's power within him, all of the potential and all of the power that he had stolen from the Primogenitor. He could see all the Pokémon he had devoured after his transformation, all of the power that would make the two of them stronger.
All of the power that would make Terron's plague stronger.
Except that it's not yours to have.
It never was, abomination.
What the… Terron's plague rasped mentally as the voice suddenly invaded his mind. You're not the one I'm looking for! Who… who are you? What's going on?!
I'm Yimtri… and yet I'm not Yimtri.
I'm his protector. I'm his guardian. I'm the one that keeps him safe and gives him power, even when he wants nothing to do with me.
Dozens and dozens of Pokémon suddenly tumbled out of Yimtri's disappearing body. They all landed in heaps, slumbering peacefully, not an injury to be seen upon them. Terron's plague quickly recognized all of the Pokémon to be the ones that Yimtri had devoured as he had been slithering about the Fellowship as multiple creatures. But worst of all, he realized something else.
These were all of Yimtri's Pokémon. They were all Dusk Mines Pokémon.
He had been protecting them within himself, all the while using their energy to eliminate the threats that stalked the halls of the castle.
The only Pokémon he had ever killed were his enemies.
GET AWAY FROM ME!
Terron's plague ripped his hand out of the Sableye's grasp, trying to halt the synchronization, but it was futile. What remained of Yimtri's disappearing form produced claws from its body and grabbed the Cubone's maw before prying it wide open. Then, in his shapeless form, he crawled into the Cubone's mouth and disappeared down his throat.
Instead of still feeling the Sableye's power invigorate him and allow him to turn into the all-powerful being he was supposed to be, the Cubone's muscles rebelled against him and threw him onto the floor. No matter how much he struggled, he could not get up. He was somehow glued to the ground.
You thought you were going to have Yimtri, you spiteful demon. But in truth, he was never yours. He was always mine to protect and shelter, just as Mother always wanted me to from you and the demon you tried to awaken in him.
WHO ARE YOU?! ANSWER ME!
Terron's plague could see the entity smiling at him in his mind's eye, its green eyes flashing as darkness quickly fell over him.
I'M YOUR DOWNFALL.