Wardens Eternal

Chapter Twenty-two: A Promise

The area now known as the Mossy Swamps weren't always the scummy marsh they are today. Up until rather recently, it had been referred to as the Mossy Forest, a thick, cool, woodland that housed a Mystery Dungeon deep within its trees. The road through was fairly popular, providing shade and a place to restock as opposed to the exposed open roads across the plains.

At least it was before the landslide that dammed up the river, flooding the forest. Eventually, the forest drowned, and the swamp took its place, leaving it to be forgotten by the outside world. The old road was still there for the most part but submerged underneath at least a couple feet of murky water topped with a thin layer of pond scum. So yes, it was traversable if you didn't mind wading through "less then clean" waters, and the bugs.

Martian could care less about the water quality, considering how easy he managed to move through it, it was almost like it wasn't there, failing to impede his pace in the slightest. Nothing mattered except the mission, not even the murky filth soaking into his fur and uniform.

The ambient noise was not the most welcoming, the constant buzzing of bug types flying around, the eerie sound of Phantump making their way through the dead trees, and the occasional sudden snap of Carnivine's mouth, the sound that signaled the capture of prey.

The one thing Martian couldn't ignore, however, was the subtle ripples occasionally making their way in his direction, as well as the occasional reptilian hiss. There was no denying the fact that the warden was being watched, and by no small number of eyes. Or the fact that one set of eyes felt, well, hungry. Someone or something was stalking the former human, hunting him.

For a while, the predator seemed to be keeping its distance, biding its time and subtly following the lone explorer, lurking, swimming just underneath the surface of the water. Martian paused for a moment, and his stalker froze in place to avoid giving away its position. The lone electric type reached for a pot stored on his uniform, making sure that he could quickly get to the item if need be.

There was a figure on the path a little further ahead, just sitting in the shallow water, completely oblivious to the approaching warden. When approaching, Martian was able to identify the stranger as a crogunk crouching over an area of water just off the path, it's poisonous cheeks continuing to pump. The poison/fighting type was unmarked, that is it didn't wear any sort of accessory to signal it's sentient intelligence. That meant it was feral, a wild animal, and a potential attacker. The warden braced for conflict.

The feral didn't even turn to look at the luxio, staying completely frozen in place except for its cheeks. In the blink of an eye, it used Poison Jab into the water in front of it, recalling its arm with its prey in hand, a single poliwag. With its hunt successful the crogunk leapt into the trees, prize in hand, not once even looking at the intruder. Martian sighed, exhaling all of his built up tension.

That was a mistake, made it all the more easy for his stalker, a feraligatr to shoot up out of the swamp and knock the electric type down, quickly pinning the former human's head under the water in an attempt to drown him. Martian instinctively tried to resurface, but the large water type's powerful arm kept him down, forcing him to gag as the swamp raced down his throat. For a brief moment, the feraligatr's weight shifted off of him, not enough to break free entirely, but enough that Martian was able to grab the pot off of his uniform and smash it into the reptile's face.

The ceramic ball shattered, releasing a small cloud of finely ground peppers and glass powder mixed with ash, all almost directly into the feral's eye. The massive jaw pokemon roared in pain as it stumbled back, futilely trying to remove the inflammatory substances from its eye releasing the luxio in the process.

The moment Martian managed to get his head back above the water's surface, he began to choke and cough, getting rid of as much of the water as he could out of his lungs. The feraligatr, blinded and frenzied by pain, wasn't going to give the lion time to recover, lunging with snapping jaws at the sound of gagging. For a few minutes, the fight was reduced to having Martian evade the blind attacks of the much larger opponent and try to cough up whatever he could out of his lungs when possible.

That was until the reptile gave the former human an opportunity, having reared up in preparation to lunge forward again, exposing its belly and neck. Duel Metal Claw easily tore through the water type's thick scales as Martian unleashed his anger, savagely mauling the larger opponent until he managed to sever the artery in the neck. With a quick roll, the warden evaded as the feraligatr collapsed forward, no longer able to fight or try to drown the former human anymore.

No longer in eliminate danger, Martian took the next few minutes to try and finish coughing up any water left in his body. Once satisfied, he took another look at the deceased reptile. Just to make sure it was actually dead and not planning to jump back up and start the fight all over again. Unlikely yes, but having been preoccupied with his airways during the fight, Martian could have easily missed something.

It was about then that Martian heard his stomach growl, requesting food. The truth was, the lion hadn't had any real food since his collapse, sure the healer as Respite Basin kept him alive with a mix of berries and plants during his recovery, but luxios were primarily carnivores, they needed to eat meat.

Thankfully, there was a generous supply of fresh meat right next to him, more than enough to suit his needs. Other pokemon may have been repulsed from the idea, but the Feraligatr was unmarked, therefore by law, it was okay to eat it. Had the pokemon been wearing any sort of accessory or uniform, signaling it's intelligent status, then the law would conder it cannibalism. Besides, the bastard tried to kill him. It was a bit of an annoyance, trying to separate the edible meat from the rest of the carcass, and even then the meat was difficult to tear, chew, and swallow.

After about an hour, Martian had been able to eat his fill and was ready to move on, taking a moment to reorientate himself before continuing on.

Wardens Eternal

Word must have gotten around fairly fast, seemed like all of the brutes and thugs were far more than reluctant to go anywhere near the red vulpix down in the dungeon. Most of the so-called guards spent their entire shift packed upstairs in an effort to stay as far away from the fire type as possible.

Unfortunately, that made it impossible to tell the length of time. All Scarlett could do was wait, sleep, and tell stories to the children around her. She told them in detail about the hero closing in on the gulf, a warrior who was only equaled in battle by legendary pokemon and the human knights of old. The one pokemon that turned Scarlett from a helpless coward into the courageous and impressive vixen she was now.

The children gobbled the stories right up without a second thought, the guards who overheard the tales were quick to dismiss the claims as exaggerations and empty threats at first, an attempt to scare them. Thing was, the more they thought about it, the less outlandish it sounded.

If there was one thing that was true in Scarlett's claims, it was that someone had trained her, someone turned the whimpering, powerless, runaway into a skilled and powerful fighter as proven by Mimikyu's defeat. That was for certain. If she could do that with less than three seasons of training, just imagine what someone with an entire life's worth of that same training could do.

It sounded impossible, but it happened. Most of the grunts began to doubt their own confidence against such an opponent. Exaggeration or not, this hero, this warrior, was no doubt formidable enough to warrant no small amount of concern. Like how poison saps a victim's strength from within, those thoughts, those fears, took their toll on morale. The normally cruel and ruthless brigands had noticeably weakened under the weight of their doubts. Lady Winter's Iron Paw had loosened its grip on Southern Gulf.

That fact did not go unnoticed by the innocent population of the tropical beach town. Almost all of them were unaware of what exactly had transpired in the dungeon, the few that did refuse to spread the rumors. Nothing good happened to anyone who tried to start a rebellion against the ninetails in the estate. It was best to just keep your head down and not get involved, inaction may not improve their situation, but hopefully, it will stop it from getting worse.

Still, someone or something shook up the muscle, just enough to uncover a thin sliver of hope. But that was before the guests arrived, and renewed the pokemon's plight well into the dark of night. . .

Wardens Eternal

A distinct chill in the air stirred Scarlett awake, a familiar chill. The old hinges of the door outside groaned and squeaked in protest as the heavy hatch into the upstairs of the dungeon was opened. It was finally happening, at last. Scarlett had hoped Martian would have been with her for this, but that wasn't the case.

The first to come down the stairs to the cells were two of the Machoke bodyguards, each wearing simple and crude metal armor on their fronts and backs and equipped with ancient human swords. The insulting ripoffs of the human warriors were followed by a pair of Steenee maidservants, Quillian (who couldn't bear to make eye contact with Scarlett), and Quill's father Decidueye before the real visitor finally walked down the stairs.

"Flaris,"

Standing outside the bars, adorned in her silver and sapphire circlet, white lace vest and blue beads was a white ninetails, Lady Winter, Scarlett's mother. The elder vixen's tone was absent of emotion of any nature, not rage, not love, not disappointment, nor approval. Her voice was just empty.

"Not anymore Mother" The fire type corrected, "I go by the name Scarlett now, I am my own person."

"Regardless, it's time." Lady Winter continued, "Will you behave yourself or do I need you subdued during the setup?" The ice type questioned, lifting a paw to reveal a key. The key to the collar around the vulpix's neck.

"No, you don't." Scarlett sighed, "I won't resist."

True to her word, Scarlett didn't attempt to break free once one of the Machoke removed the heavy iron collar from around her neck, and continued to comply as they lead her out of the dungeon and back into the world outside. The vulpix hadn't abandoned hope and accepted defeat however, she was just waiting for the right moment to strike.

The world was illuminated by moonlight when the red vixen emerged from the dungeon into the courtyard, though the orange horizon implied that dawn wasn't too far away. The party of eight moved through the courtyard to the stairs leading to the main hall before they stopped.

"It's time for you to start getting ready." Lady Winter commanded, "The Steenee already know what to do so you are to follow their lead. And just to make sure you don't try anything one of my Machoke guards will escort you while you prepare. Go."

Scarlett continued to comply as the Steenee led the vulpix away, with the machoke right behind her. They arrived at one of the guest chambers, and the servants opened the doors to reveal more servants ready to carry out their duties. The maids managed to convinced the guard to wait outside closed doors while they addressed their tasks, including bathing the vulpix.

Scarlett was embarrassed and hesitant at first, she could bathe herself fine without having everyone in the room watching, but it was clear that she had no say in the matter. After spending over a month in a dungeon, a chance to bathe was too good to pass up.

Once the bath was finished it was time for the steenee to start grooming the vulpix's fur until her coat was smooth and clean. Next was the food, what was her mother planning spoiling her like this?

It was difficult not to just swallow the entire supply of proper food whole after her previous diet of slop, but the fire vixen tried her hardest to resist, trying to convince the maids to have at least some of the food themselves so she didn't feel selfish eating in front of them. At first they politely refused, sighting that it was forbidden for staff to eat in the presence of their superiors or guests. The last thing they wanted was to give Lady Winter a reason to fire them, or worse.

That said, Scarlett managed to persuade at least a few of them to at least have a few bites to eat. They were still hesitant, and admittedly quite confused. Most of the steenee had slaved away tending to Lady Glacia for years grew used to the spoiled brat's selfishness and cruel nature. Scarlett's genuine compassion and concern for them was the exact opposite, shattering expectations.

Regardless, they still had instructions to follow. And in came the jewelry and lace.

"What exactly is this about?" Scarlett finally asked, unable to keep her curiosity quiet any longer, "What's being set up?"

". . . Your. . . Your engagement to your boyfriend M'lady." One of the maids reluctantly sighed before resuming to fit some of the rubies on Scarlett's head.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Scarlett objected as she poorly tried to suppress a sudden embarrassed blush before she made the connection, suddenly paling. "We're not talking about the same guy are we?"

"I fear so M'lady," Another maid confirmed, "An Emboar Nobel from overseas has given much coin and treasure to Lady Winter in exchange for your marriage to his son. You are to be given away at sunrise today. I'm so sorry M'lady."

"It's not going to happen," The vulpix promised, "This, everything my mother is doing, it's going to end today. I will stop it, even if I die trying, I will succeed. I know there have been uprisings against my mother before, Walrein, Incineroar, Fearow, I know what happened to them."

The young kitsune paused before taking a breath to collect her thoughts.

"I know it sounds like something out of fairy-tales, the myths about how one human with a single warcry would summon ten more, and each one would be able to fight like a hundred men. It sounds impossible, but I've seen it happen before. I think I know how they did it."

"H-how?" One of the steenee managed to finally whisper, the rest were still silent with hopeful awe. There was just something, sincere about the vulpix's words, something that was calming but still held a sense of stern authority. Authority that was superior to that of Lady Winter.

"You'll know it when you'll feel it. . ."

Wardens Eternal

Daybreak

Scarlett hesitated for a brief moment in the sunlight as it drove the darkness away. She was running out of time, her hope was that Martian would have showed up by now, ready to lend his support when she faced her mother. But the vulpix couldn't wait for him any longer.

The walk up the stairs towards the main hall was slow, each step growing heavy with the weight of the responsibility she had sworn to uphold. The sudden barrage of catcalls directed at her did help take her mind off of her growing dread, causing her to instead focus on the disgusting insults and sarcastic compliments and farewells she was receiving from the local thugs plus some scraggy and scrafty. The dark/fighting types must have accompanied the buyers here from overseas.

Two sword wielding Machoke stood guard at the doorway, sarcastically bowing to the vulpix before opening the door to let her and the maids in.

Glacia was looking as smug as ever, sneering at her sister before pouting and walking away. No doubt looking for a better angle to see Scarlett being sold off. Quillian looked sympathetic but quickly snapped back into posture when his dad tapped his shoulder. And there was Poliwrath, or what was left of his corpse sealed in ice. Laying on her raised bed in the center was the ice queen herself: Lady Winter.

"Dad! I told you I wanted a Braixen! Not a vulpix!"

"I got you a fire type fox for your birthday, close enough."

And here come the buyers. A large brutish Emboar walked in, pushing a Pignite forward with one hand. The Pignite seemed to be about her age, maybe a season or two older, and a literal snot nosed brat. First thing the younger hog did was wipe his nose on his arm, smearing his snot all over it before flicking the slime onto the floor as it began to burn.

"Like I can actually do anything fun with her! I wanted a Braixen slave!" The Pignite complained as he sneered and walked around Scarlett.

"I already paid for her Boy, We're taking her home with us. Maybe in a few months you can trade her for a Braxien." The Emboar suggested his patience running thin.

What a bunch of slobs

"Fine! I came all this way, might as well be for something" The brat finally agreed, taking a few steps forward before reaching out to grab Scarlett's chin. The vulpix shifted her weight, preparing to stab the hog with Metal Claw the moment he touched her. . .

That's when everyone heard the sound, the rallying cry, an unmistakable and primal call.

The roar of a Warden. . .