Chapter 3: One Foot in the Grave

"At least you could cheer up a bit, we're safe now and we can leave it in our pasts."

"But-"

"But nothing, it wasn't your fault, you had nothing to do with it."

"I just think that-"

"Listen to me, you did everything you could. I know how hard it is to live with what happened that day but you have to look forward to the future."

"..."

"Max! Max wake up!"

The blue Pokemon was roused violently by a voice shouting towards him and a hand violently shaking him. He opened his eyes, forcing his eyelids apart despite what the light around him protested.

"Come on! Please get up," the voice shouted again, now urging him propping himself up onto four paws, he now found himself looking up at Rose who was staring back down at him.

"Did you have to be so rough," the Minun thought to himself as he sat down to make sense of the groggy world around him.

"What... What's going on," he pushed out dazedly to the Plusle standing in front of him.

"I'm not too sure and that's the problem. one moment I was on the boat with you and now we're both here-" she broke from her sentence and took a moment to look around rapidly. "You wouldn't happen to have any clue on what's going on?"

He was about to automatically shake his head when the memory of the shipwreck and the temple surfaced in his head. He was about to say something when a better idea popped in his head. "Can you wait here for a moment… I- I need to go check on something."

"Sure," she quickly replied, "just promise you won't disappear on me."

He nodded at the rhetorical question and ran off. Max was certain this place had looked familiar and, sure enough, he arrived at his goal. A massive clearing, just like the one he had found the temple in, was right where it should've been. Only thing was, the stone building itself was completely absent in the space, having vanished into thin air.

"Was that just a dream…" Max began questioning his own memory, "it has to of been, there's no other explanation for it."

The Minun began walking back to Rose, now as confused as ever. His short journey, however, was interrupted as he spotted an object glimmering brightly from the sun. Max stepped over to it and picked it up. He became both relieved and perplexed by what he had grabbed. "This- This is the broken compass-thingy from the dream- er- well I guess it wasn't a dream." The item had been opened on its hinge and the sun had been reflected off of its clear, crystal-like surface.

"Hey Max, what's been keeping yah," Rose said, pulling him from his thoughts. "Look something weird is going on here. Both of our scents are all over this place."

"That's… odd," he spoke while attempting to make himself sound as confused as possible. "I really don't think I should bring the temple up to her, I'd probably just sound insane anyways." Max then began formulating a follow-up statement, "do you think- er... I mean, we should probably follow our trail back, like-"

"I was thinking the same thing," Rose said, cutting him off, "It's not like we have anywhere else to be."

With that, the two set off back the way they came; Max still holding on tightly to the compass in his paw. Along the way he noticed that the entire path their own scent produced seemed entirely off, the smell didn't seem to taper off at all as they went along it. Eventually, the duo made back to the river where Rose recommended him a drink and Max, foreseeing a certain outcome, politely denied.

Shortly from the river was the initial clearing which they had departed from prior. In the area, the pair saw various boxes littering the ground along with Lucus who had just spotted them and started approaching their position.

"Hey you guys, what are you doing back so soon," the human questioned while setting a folded up tent onto the ground.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'back'," rose asked while tilting her head slightly, "I'm not following what you mean."

An important detail suddenly crashed into Max's mind. The Pokemon turned his face up to the sky, seeing that the sun was only slightly past the position it had been the last time he was here. "It was just dusk and now its bright in the afternoon and Lucus is saying how we just returned…"

The Plusle began talking again, "Lucus where is this and how did we end up here?"

Lucas replied in an equally confused tone, "We shipwrecked don't you remember… are you feeling alright? Just find a seat and I'll go get you some water."

"No don't," she quickly uttered just as the being was about to turn around, "I feel fine, just a little confused. I guess the best way I could describe it feels like time is being reversed in my mind."

"Time…" Max began processing in his thoughts, "could we have traveled back through time… No that's insane, I guess I'm just as confused as she is."

"Well then, as long as you say you're alright, the day is still young and I could always use both of your help in setting up camp."

The two electric Pokemon gave a synchronized nod and began following behind the human when something caught the three's attention.

Jae appeared out of the distant foliage, nearly running fast enough to set the grass beneath him on fire with each step. The Scorbunny came to a grinding halt just a few feet from the group and started talking at an incredible rate. "Listensomethingreaalybadhappenedandireallyreal-"

Lucus interrupted his nonsensical speech, "Whoa, calm down a tad, no one can understand you when you're speaking that fast."

The fire type took a few moments to catch his breath and stop hyperventilating before attempting to communicate again. "So," he took an elongated gulp before continuing, "Landon and I were going along the beach like you told us too."

"Speaking of Landon, where is he," Lucas asked, although he already had a slight premonition as to where this was going.

"We had gone quite a bit and then these Pokemon appeared and attacked us out of nowhere. I tried to ask them for a reason why but they just kept pelting us with attacks. I managed to get away in the chaos but afterwards, I went back there and couldn't find Landon anywhere. I think they might have captured him."

"Well then we have to go after him," Lucus replied in an oddly calm tone. "Come on all, Jae you lead the way back to where you two were attacked and we can work from there."

The Scorbunny gave a nod and the entire party began heading out towards the shore in the hopes of saving their lost friend.

…

Landon woke up in a state of limitless uncomfortability. His entire body ached from the fight he was vastly outnumbered in and, much worse, he had been unconscious on the hard, dirty soil beneath him. The Minccino took stock of his environment after dragging himself off the floor. He was in a crudely constructed wooden cage, obviously made to hold a creature much larger than himself, in fact, he could probably slip right in between the bars if he wanted too. However, the main force stopping him from doing such was a Cubone standing guard right in front of the cell. Along with that, in the distance, he could see at least a dozen other Pokemon moving between what looked like huts made quickly with whatever was available.

"Just great," the gray Pokemon thought to himself, "even if I could beat that Pokemon, he'd go and alert his group, and in my current state I couldn't avoid all of them. Guess I'll just have to go about this another way." Finishing that though, Landon shouted towards the guard who had his back turned to him.

"Hey!"

He got no response.

"Hey, I know you can hear me."

He was still ignored and it was starting to get on his nerves.

"Hey, you deaf orphaned fuckwad, over here."

The Cubone didn't even give him the slightest bit of attention.

Now being pushed past his limit, the Minccino picked up a rock off the ground and hurled it at the guard, directly hitting him in the back of its skull helmet with a loud "THUNK."

This seemed to finally attract the Pokemon as after it recovered from the impact, it walked over to him in an angry fashion.

"Alright, what the fuck do you want," the Cubone spoke in an agitated, masculine tone.

"I want to know why you decided to knock me unconscious and lock me up in here," Landen said in as much of an enraged tone as he could muster.

"Well that's not something you're gonna find out. So sit there nice and pretty and stop being such a pain in the ass."

The Minccino, thoroughly pissed, slipped his body in-between the bars of the cage and walked expressionlessly up to ground type while giving him a death stare. The Cubone took a few steps back with a slight shock in his eyes. Landen took this opportunity to deck the Pokemon in the stomach, causing it to fall to the ground, clutching his abdomen.

Landen then swiftly turned around and calmly entered back into his "cage," knowing that if he wanted to strike back against him, the Cubone would be too wide to reach him.

"I swear to fucking Arceus," the guard said as he raised himself from the dirt, "you do that again and I'll rip your hairball of a face off."

"Except you won't do that," the Minccino cockily replied, "if you were going to kill me, you would have already done it, why else would I be in a cage."

The other Pokemon just let out a low, "Humph."

"So I'll ask you again, and if you don't answer me this time, I'll make sure to turn every second you're watching over me into a living hell. Why am I in this shitty excuse for a cage."

"Fine," he said in a low grumble, "you're in there because we need someone to act as a sacrifice."

"A sacrifice? Now this is getting good."

The Minccino replied in a cocky tone once again, "so what are you going to do me, stab me through the heart, maybe even hang me from a stick and leave to starve so that you can appease whatever false idol you worship. You really got my mind reeling now."

"For somebody about to die," the Cubone spoke, "you sure do talk a lot."

"We'll see about that." Landon quickly formulated a plan in his mind for escape now that he had the Cubone's attention. "Say, I'm guessing this whole sacrifice thing is a 'more the merrier' kinda ideal."

He could see the other Pokemon raise an eyebrow behind his mask before inquiring, "where exactly are you going with this?"

"But is it?"

"Yeah, sure, I don't see why it wouldn't."

"Well, you happen to have a weak, defenseless Pokemon with you who just happens to know where a bunch of other weak, defenseless Pokemon are and he wouldn't mind for a second to sell them out to save his fur."

"Yeah right, what reason would have to trust you?"

"You see, I'll take you straight to them, if they're not there then you can have your little sacrifice right then and there, at the very least you still have a Pokemon caught."

"I'd have to be slower than a Slowpoke to fall for something like that, you'd run the second I turned my back on you."

"So then bring as large as a group as you want with you, I wouldn't even get any chance to deceive you if they have even half a brain. Plus look at me," he turned around and showed the Cubone a cut that stretched across the length of his back, something he had gained when they attacked him. "Look, with a mark like that there's no way I'd be able to run at all for at least a few days."

"You have an answer for everything don't you," the Cubone replied sarcastically while appearing to be thinking his words over in his head. "I really don't have any reason to believe a word you said, except for the fact that you seem to be the kind to sell someone out to save your own hide."

A smirk came to the Minccino's face, he was starting to bite. "Keep in mind that the longer I'm in here, the longer you're stuck with me."

"You just wait there and I'll be back, not like you have much of a choice, even if that cage cant hold you; If you were to try and escape, someone would catch you, and I highly doubt they'd hold any resentment to breaking your legs right then and there."

"Why would I need to leave when I already have you right where I want you."

The Cubone then left Landon for a few moments, and seeing no reason to do otherwise, stayed put.

When the brown Pokemon returned, he was quick to speak first, "Wow, I'm genuinely surprised you didn't try to escape, can't be that bright to let your only shot at freedom pass you by."

"Trust me, your shitty excuse for a Pokemon isn't what's keeping me here."

"Whatever you say, anyways, I found a group to come with me and to make sure you don't have the slightest chance in hell to try something."

Landon just rolled his eyes, they could bring one Pokemon or a million, it wouldn't affect his plans.

"Anyways, you might as well give me your name since you might just not be a dead Pokemon walking. Mine is Grave by the way."

The Minccino couldn't help but laugh a little in his mind before taunting, "oooh Grave, such a big tough name for such a little bitchy Pokemon."

"You think you could try to be polite for at least five minutes," Grave mocked, "or is that too much to ask of you."

"Hey, you're not the one who was almost murdered before being kidnapped to be used as a living sacrifice." An awkward silence hung in the air before he decided to break it, "but I guess you can me Landon."

With this exchange, the events that followed were pretty simple in nature. Landon was brought to the group of Pokemon, which, for the most type were all ground or rock types. After this the Minccino was forced to lead them throughout the jungle, something he did without hesitation, making sure to stick to a certain path only he knew about. During the entire trek he was antagonized by the other Pokemon who even went as far as to prohibit him from even drinking or eating, something that only grew the deep resentment he had towards them more and more. Eventually night did fall on them, and the other seemed to come to a consensus that resting now would be an appropriate course of action. Landon made sure to make his way away from the group when he went to rest, just close enough as to not arouse suspicion, but far enough to ensure they couldn't do anything to him easily. It was while he was lying on his side that Grave approached him.

"Go away you fucking pervert and stop watching me sleep" he scolded while throwing a rock at the Cubone who had started staring at him. The rock completely missed the ground type, which was to a slight degree intentional.

"Relax… Jeez," Grave said, "I'm not here to do anything like… that to you while you're sleeping." He then paused for a bit before continuing, "I'm here to make sure you don't try to make a break for it while we're all sleeping. Oh, and to also pay back the favor from earlier." The Cubone then ran up to him and kicked him in the abdomen with a powerful amount of force.

Landon rolled around a bit in pain before it subsided, giving off a visible smirk before speaking, "I guess you're stronger than I thought, but my expectations weren't that high to begin with."

"You really can't help yourself from insulting people can you. Look, the real reason I'm here is because I have some questions I want answered."

The Minnocino turned his head away from him and prepared to ignore everything that was about to be said to him.

"I hope you know your not fooling me in the slightest."

This managed to catch Landon's attention

"Wherever you are taking us, it definitely isn't too some magical place full of Pokemon just willing to be taken away. I've been all throughout these jungles hundreds of times and know there isn't a Minnocino colony for miles and miles, and I highly doubt there's anyone else waiting for your return right now."

"You know you're not the spitting image of politeness yourself."

"I'll be honest, you probably do have all the other's fooled, but then again you could tell them that the sky will turn red tomorrow and they'd believe it with just a tiny bit of apprehension. So I'll ask again, where are you taking us?"

He bubbled the question around in his head for a moment before replying, "I think the better question is, if you don't believe me, then why did you tell all these members of your tribe to follow me?"

"How about you answer my question first and I'll see about getting back to yours."

"Don't make me laugh, seeing as you need my answer and I don't need yours, I think I'll pass on that offer."

"Aww, you think you have a choice," the Cubone said right before striking him in the side with his bone club.

Landon was once again reduced to rolling in pain on the ground before he could concentrate, "Fine, I'll tell you this much, your right in saying It's not where you think."

Grave thought for a second before replying, "I guess in a way, that's all i really wanted to know, and too your question, I'll tell you this much, maybe I wanted to see just what you had planned." He began turning around and walking forward before stopping, "and this one's for being an asshole."

The Pokemon then once again swung his club at the normal type's side with incredible force, but stopped just short of connecting. "Although sadly, I do still need you to at least be able to walk." Grave finally decided to leave, and not a moment too soon, with Landon falling asleep not too far after.

The next day went much like the end of the first, with Landon leading them throughout the jungle and, about midway through the day, he had finally arrived and his plan was falling almost perfectly into place.

"Now I just wait, I could sense the scent of whatever predator this was from all the way back at the tribe, and given how these other Pokemon barley have a sense of smell, if any at all. They won't see it coming, and in the havoc that follows I'll break away from the group, hopefully they'll be torn to shreds, and then i'll be home free." The only problem was one loose end that the Minccino thought would occur, Grave was completely absent for the group, proving that he truly did see through his plan, or at least just far enough through to save his own skin.

Once he noticed the other Pokemon weren't watching him, he grabbed a sharp stone off the ground and sliced his arm just deep enough to draw a droplet or two of blood, which he knew would attract the predator Pokemon almost immediately. His self-made prophecy was coming true as he could hear them in the distance approaching, and as the other Pokemon also didn't have hearing like he did, they stayed completely ignorant to it.

All in one instance, A Houndoom shot out from the treeline, pinning a Marowak down onto the ground. Another shot a wall of fire at all the surrounding trees, creating a thick blanket of smog that made seeing and breathing difficult.

Landon was hard pressed on whether or not he wanted to stay to watch the carnage unfold, a small part of him saw a moraless victory in doing such, another part wanted to get as far away as possible. Eventually reason did win out and he started dashing as hard as he could throughout the woods, which was proving somewhat difficult due to the injury on his back and the beating that Grave had provided him.

After running a distance and being sure he was safe, the Minccino dropped to the ground, panting from the intense fleet. He was not out of the jungle yet as a Houndoom bolted right out of the woods from his side and was now face first against the giant predator.

"I must not have heard it due to my heavy breathing," he thought, being fully aware that, even if he did prove strong enough to beat the creature, in his current state he was far to exhausted.

The predator gave off a vicious growl, Landon fully aware that any moment now it would pounce at him and rip his face off, he was entirely out of options.

The Houndoom did just that, flying towards him at incredible speed, and by some miraculous luck, he managed to dodge the initial charge and have the dog slide on by right past him.

But now he was against the ground, too exhausted to even pull himself off the ground, and the Houndoom had turned itself around and was about to finish him off once and for all.

That was when an attack came out from the woods, right in front of him and hitting his adversary right in the skull. The dog gave out a quick yelp followed with a growl before disappearing into the woods.

A familiar, but somewhat unwelcomed face appeared from the foliage to greet the Minnocino.

"Really didn't think you were planning on sending all those Pokemon to literally die, but I guess to each their own."

Landon just stared silent at the Cubone which had saved his life.

"...And don't think of this as a show of mercy either, I just want you alive because I still have quite a few things to know about you."

Once again Landon stayed silent.

"That means…" Grave reached extended his bone club out for him to pick himself up with, "getting out of here before anymore of those Houndoom show up."

…

Meanwhile, Max, Rose, and the others had scoured both the shore and the beach for any signs of their missing crew mate. On the first day they failed to find even the slightest sign of the Pokemon and had to go to sleep with their failure in mind. The next day did prove much more successful as they did find a scent trail that belonged to Landon, however this did seem to come to a dead end, and with no other alternatives, they were starting to lose hope. This was until they saw massive plumes of fire rising into the sky from the distance, something they were all aware could only have been caused by a Pokemon and, with nothing else to give them direction, they started making their way towards it.

Author's Note: It appears that this place may have a few secrets to it… It also seems that Landon may be a completely different person than the crew had come to know. What is with this? Well, you'll have to keep reading to find out! Also, seeing that you've made it this far into the story, you must have some interest in it, right? So why not consider following/favoriting it or even go as far as to even leave a review! Just a few words are more than enough, I'm not a particularly picky person.