A/N
Chapter 7 is here! Also, WARNING. This chapter contains blood and some violence. More Pokemon battles await!
Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or my friend and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines.
Chapter 7: Matt vs. James
The dark chuckle evolved into a sinister laughter. There was some scuttling along the walls traveling up to the ceiling. Whatever it was had no problem seeing in this pitch black darkness. "On guard already, are we?" The sinister voice sliced through the darkness, almost violating it. He didn't need to see to know that the Pokémon he'd released were already ready for whatever fight there was.
Something neared Matt in the pitch black very quickly, only the slightest sound of crunch glass sounding over the man's voice. "Your friend was right, though: it was a substitute. Its sole purpose was to attract my prey, but instead it was you. But at least it's someone rather than nothing." Something reached out and launched itself at Riley from the side. "It wasn't a total loss."
Fine tuned as his senses were, Riley was unable to completely save himself from the sudden attack from his right. He turned part of the way to meet the oncoming projectile, holding his arms and pincers at the ready to absorb the blow as much as he could.
Matt – unable to see, let alone do something in this pitch black – grabbed another Pokéball from his belt and released another Pokémon to help him defend himself against the unknown threat. Gama stood at the ready, bouncing on his heels and alert for any other sudden attacks.
Although he had known of another presence in the building somewhere because of the Umbreon, Adria had told Matt nothing about who owned that Umbreon and what they were like. "Who are you!?" He shouted into the darkness, voice wavering slightly as he tried to figure out just what kind of danger he was dealing with.
With glass crunching under his feet, the man traveled to the other side of the room, his voice carrying out into the dark. "I see you're not at all informed of who I am," he noted. The thing that attacked Riley fought back with pincers of its own, striking out against the creature. "It would be only fair that she would have told you after you spoke of the woman to her, but I guess some things are too touched by fear to even reach the tongue. Shall I provide you with a name, or an alias that I go by? It doesn't matter to me, either way." Something sticky was shot from the ceiling, where the second Pokémon lurked, straight at Shida and Gama. It was webbing, sticky and laced with strong electrical currents- Electroweb, as it was called. "Oh, terribly sorry, Matt. Shall I turn the lights on? It's a bit hard to see in here, I must admit."
Matt followed the sound of the crunching glass as much as he could, remaining with his back against the wall. However, the sound of Riley clashing with some other metal Pokémon was loud and distracting. Gama's pained cry was also loud, and very worrisome. Shida seemed to have made it out alright, at least. The Electroweb hadn't caught her and she used her freedom to the best of her ability. Darting at the source of the crunching footsteps, she attempted to directly attack the man that was setting his Pokémon upon her friends in this pitch blackness.
"Who are you!?" Matt repeated, as loudly and boldly as he could. No good would come from admitting and showing his fear in such a situation, even if it was obvious. Standing as strong as he could was his best option as he attempted to figure out just what was going on in here. "What is your name?" Alias or not, it probably didn't matter. Really, Matt was just stalling for time.
The voice carried from the far right corner behind sticky webbing ready to ensnare the ferret Pokémon. "My, how impatient of you," but he smiled. "Very well," he snapped his fingers and a blinding light suddenly flashed from the center of the room, illuminating it before dying down a bit into a relatively dimmer light trapped in a ball of webbing on the ceiling.
The room was covered in spider webs, very different from when Matt first entered. Hanging on the ceiling was an Ariados that watched Matt almost hungrily. Fighting with Riley was another Scizor with an evil look glimmering in his beady eyes. In the far right corner was a man ducking under another spider web and making his way to the center of the room with ebony locks and sea-blue eyes narrowed at Matt from underneath. His posture was completely relaxed, hands tucked in his jacket pocket almost casually. There were sunglasses clipped onto his shirt collar, having used those moments ago against the flash to shield his eyes. To Matt, if he remembered correctly the appearance and was able to see clearly enough, this man looked strikingly like an older version of Nathan. "Th'name's James."
"Arg!" The sudden bright light was a violent contrast from the previous darkness of the room and the red-head had rushed to cover his eyes too little too late. Now, he was just rubbing his eyes and trying to blink spots away from his vision. When he finally managed to open his eyes and see straight, his attention was captured by the man approaching him. James, he said his name was. James, and yet this man looked so familiar. The black hair, the sculpt of his face, the eyes... they all looked just like Nathan. Older, more worn, but the look was still there and it caught Matt unawares for a moment. It certainly hadn't been what he had been expecting.
All of the Pokémon Matt had released into the room were busy, now, leaving him mostly unprotected. Shida was caught in a spider web, squirming and trying to free her fur from the sticky tendrils. Gama was incapacitated by the electric move that had practically taken him down in one hit. Riley, meanwhile, was not faring all too badly against the other Scizor, but it was taking all his concentration not to be beat down by the more experienced Pokémon. Despite the situation he had found himself in, the shock had taken over momentarily. This James person was not at all what he had been expecting.
More laughter escaped from this James person as he watched to realization of familiarity settle into Matt. It was the same look Adria had gave him a year ago and it was the same look Nathan had made about the same time, thoroughly insulted by the striking resemblance. "You and your sister look nothing alike, I must say," James admitted. "Now that I see you from up close, I don't see much that really points the girl out as your sister. But then again, Adria looks nothing like Nathan. Not all siblings look alike, I guess." The man half shrugged. "Finding your sister was quite easy, and getting her was also very easy; Dyavol approached, practically tripping over his paws to go after a ball and begun to play with that fire mutt. It brought her guard down." Dyavol, who was in the far left corner, a wall of webbing protecting him from any and all danger, looked up at his name. There was a half-gnawed apple between his paws.
"But allow me to clear something up before you jump to an absurd conclusion for I'd like to express one fact," he began firmly. "Dyavol is a puppy at heart and had no intentions of being a pawn or taking up a fight; the only time he seems to get aggressive is when his spot is taken at night." James really hated it when people assumed Dyavol was heartless. In truth, he was harmless and had not a single bad bone in his body. "He only showed the glasses to you. I don't appreciate that mutt chasing him down and attacking, and I don't care if that mutt wasn't yours. You fell in the trap, so you're going to play a game." He pointed to the ceiling where there were large nests of webbing that looked large enough to hold a human. There was one in each of the corners, not counting the one Dyavol was in. "Which one do you think doesn't hold the mutt?"
Rage bubbled up in Matt as James spoke about his sister. The red-head did not take kindly to someone talking about his sister like that and here he was standing before the man that had apparently nabbed her, thanks to his innocent Pokémon. Dyavol, as James had called the Umbreon, had struck Matt as a more innocent creature, but he was usually smart enough to avoid making judgment calls on a first impression. Some Pokémon were very good at hiding their true intentions, just like humans. It was better to be a little skeptical rather than get hurt somewhere along the line.
His rage dimmed a moment when James mentioned a game and he cautiously cast a glance up at the ceiling where the Ariados was resting. Webs; there were lots and lots of webs up there and it appeared that Cerberus had been stashed in one of them. That was what James had implied, at least, but Matt wasn't sure he had the complete inclination to believe him. "There are three places he could be," he pointed out, meaning that Cerberus was only in one. James wasn't making complete sense, asking him which one didn't hold Cerberus. "But I'm not sure I want to play your game." Matt reached for the last Pokémon on his belt, the last one he had with him, and tossed out his Metagross, Kane. The metal Pokémon filled the room; he was larger than the two Scizor and his size and strength might help to keep James and his Pokémon at bay.
"If you don't play, I'll cut the lights and let my Ariados feast. It's your job to tell which sack Ariana will eat. Each contains something and one contains the mutt that chased Dyavol around. You have to guess which ones he isn't in, and Ariana will eat its contents. But if you don't want to play the game, I guess we'll just have to be more aggressive. Far more aggressive, and that will upset the local Pokémon." James hinted.
"There was a reason why this base was unsuccessful in Rocket History. One was because of its experimentations of possession. Another was that there was a bunch of Pokémon whose home was where this base was later built," James filled in. "Small battles like between Scizor and Scizor are okay, but when someone brings out the big guns, they get involved."
Even as he spoke, the ground begun to shake around Matt, brown moles traversed underneath and popped up right under Kane's feet, each using the move Dig. The Diglett looked quite annoyed about the mass of Pokémon gathered in the room. At the same time, another brown mole popped up right underneath Kane. This one was bigger and stronger with three heads and looked to be the leader of the other four Diglett that used dig simultaneously under Kane's footing. The Dugtrio looked the most annoyed, glaring at Matt and James with the three heads all at once. James didn't seem fazed. "The last thing you'll want is an army of Pokémon you can't see, right?" He asked. This attack on the heaviest Pokémon by the ring leader was a warning. To the Dugtrio, this Pokémon had the most potential, so it made sense to attack that Pokémon.
Mat scowled worriedly, looking about at all the Diglett and the Dugtrio that had congregated into the room. Kane was treading carefully, lifting his feet to avoid being hit and simultaneously avoid stepping on them. The warning attacks were strong against his type, but it wasn't enough to do significant damage just yet. He was going to have to be very careful now; in this kind of climate, Kane wouldn't be able to properly attack or do anything, but he was still keeping James away from Matt. That, at least, was a good thing.
This game, though... this was a dangerous game to be playing. James was partially right in that Matt didn't want to be plunged back into darkness and he didn't want any harm to come to Cerberus. He eyed the black haired man somewhat warily. "What are in the other webs?" Were there other things in there that could potentially get hurt by his decision? "And what happens when I choose?" What would happen afterwards? If he chose a cocoon that didn't have Cerberus in it, what then? After the Ariados feasted, what would James do?
James approved of Matt's decision to play along. Now that Matt was aware of the rules and aware of why he couldn't have Kane attack, James felt a bit more on top of things. Although, he silently admitted to himself, the appearance of Kane threw him and his plans off a bit. But Syler was still fighting, and the Ariados was paying close attention up above. "Let's just say they were dead before we got here. In every sack will be something for her to feast on. And you have to pick two, but one at a time," James explained, "that way, in the end, there will only be one left. That one may or may not be the mutt. Understand?" Meanwhile, he tried to think of a way to get to Matt somehow. Syler was itching to get a little more bloody action. Otherwise, playing games like these, although not very satisfying, would be good enough. "Choose."
There had to be some way out of this that wasn't chance. Matt couldn't risk Cerberus's life on a guessing game. Kane, at least, seemed to have it covered. The large metal Pokémon was scanning the three choices, secretly probing them with his Psychic power. It would allow him to, hopefully, narrow down the choices and save Cerberus from being eaten.
Matt was also observing his choices carefully, scooting away from the wall a little so that he could get closer to his Metagross. He placed a hand on the cool blue metal of one of the Pokémon's legs and felt some of that Psychic energy flowing into him. Kane was a masterful manipulator of psychic energy, and it was using that power to give Matt a nudge in the right direction without being too obvious about it.
"That one." He pointed to the far right corner, assured by his Pokémon that this bundle was not Cerberus.
The man glanced over as Ariana scuttled to the sack and spent a long moment investigating it. Even she didn't know what was in this, considering that a different, local Ariados had spun it before they arrived. It was older than the others, and Ariana squealed in protest as she finally figured out what it was. Ripping the cocoon open, something heavy dropped to the ground with a nasty thump. It was a corpse, almost perfectly preserved, drained of all fluids. It was truly terrifying; even James had to admit how gnarly it was. "Congrats: not the mutt." James flinched away from the sight. He'd never get used to the idea of how spiders feasted on their trapped prey. Taking a few steps closer to Matt just for the sake of being further away from the corpse, he looked to the other two cocoons. "I take it your big friend is telling you all the answers, right? Which one is he saying?"
Matt backed off a few steps, Kane moving with him, to keep his distance from both James and the drained corpse. All color had drained from his face as he set eyes on the body that had fallen to the floor; one cocoon down, one more to go. Kane was completely ignoring the human that had instigated this sick game and was examining the last two cocoons. James had given them the most important clue: there was only one living creature in the cocoons and that was Cerberus. The other cocoons were nothing but corpses, and Kane could tell.
Matt ignored the question, taking in Kane's Psychic observations. He turned his attention to another cocoon, this one in the upper left corner. "That one's the other dead body," he pointed to make himself absolutely clear. He wasn't about to have James cheating on this game.
James clasped his hands together. "Wonderful! Congrats on guessing right!" There was no need to open the other one. James hadn't expected the first corpse to really look like that and there was no way he'd open that second one up. "And here comes your prize right now!" While Matt and Kane had been so focused on the other two cocoons and guessing which one hadn't held Cerberus, Ariana and scuttled along the ceiling using the spiny barbs on her feet to get up over Matt and Kane's head. She dropped down on Kane and, using her legs, began to physically assault the large Pokémon with Foul Play.
Foul Play was an attack that uses the target's attack stat rather than the users, and Metagross had quite a bit higher attack stats than Ariados. And, since Metagross was a Psychic type, the dark type did double damage. However, Kane's steel-type countered it, so the attack count was only times regularly effective instead of super effective.
Kane emitted a loud, rumbling roar when a sudden weight dropped on his flat head. The assault was painful and powerful against him, but he was a Pokémon of high defense. Matt had jerked back and away when the battle started, wanting to stay out of range of any attacks. "Kane! Psychic!" His order rang loud and clear to his Metagross, who began to glow with Psychic energy. Because Ariados was part Poison, the Psychic attack would be twice as powerful. Maybe that attack would get the spider off of the metal Pokémon's head. The room had practically erupted into battles, with Riley and Syler going at it off to one side and Kane taking up most of the center of the room. That was it for Matt's Pokémon, though; the other two he had with him were incapacitated and these two battles left him with his back to the wall, quite literally.
Ariana squealed in pain and writhed on the large Pokémon's back. However, the poison Pokémon didn't seem to be getting off any time soon as the Psychic only slowed it down in its physical assault upon the Pokémon, still using Kane's attack stat against it by the use of Foul Play. Psychic was strong against Poison and there was no doubt that Ariados was part Poison, but it hadn't been as effected as it should have been. That was because of the use of a berry it had in its possession only moments ago. The berry was a Payapa Berry; a soft, lumpy, purple berry with a sweet and sour taste to it. It was a berry that halved the effectiveness of super effective Psychic-type move. James made sure to prepare his Ariados carefully prior to these events, having had his Ariados stash multiple berries in the room under the webbing or in normal looking clumps of webbing. No one could say that James wasn't playing fairly, either; he'd just had his Ariados conveniently place berries in small, easy to miss web clumps along the ceiling.
However, the berries were only available to the spider and not any of James's other Pokémon. Syler didn't seem to need one, anyway, since the metallic Pokémon was able to hold himself against the other, less-experienced Scizor. He was fighting quite vigorously without any mercy, intending to win this battle against its doppelganger.
The fight between the two Scizor was not going well. Riley was outclassed by this older, stronger, and more experienced Scizor. Despite giving the battle his all, he was at a disadvantage and his opponent had gained the upper hand. Riley was being driven back, accumulating more injuries as the fight went on. This other Scizor was merciless, fighting with no intention of losing any ground. If Riley wasn't careful, he might not make it out of the fight at all.
Kane, on the other hand, was faring slightly better. He was one of the strongest Pokémon on Matt's team by virtue of his type and naturally high defense and attack. A second Psychic attack attempted to dislodge the spider from his back; he couldn't let her keep using Foul Play. Although it wasn't extremely effective, because of him being part Steel-type, it was still going to take its toll on him if he didn't do anything about it. This weak little bug Pokémon should honestly stand no chance against him. Then again, there was no telling the crafty tricks this Pokémon would pull out of thin air.
While the battles proceeded in their violent way, Matt was attempting to figure out what exactly he could do to turn the fights in his favor. He could see that Riley was losing, Kane was struggling, Shida was still stuck in the webbing in one corner, and Gama was completely out of the fight. Ender was somewhere in the halls with Adria and Kita was left outside. That left Matt very little option, seeing as he couldn't leave the room with the bars blocking the way.
Ariana squealed even louder before finally hopping off and scuttling away back to her trainer, weakened after that last attack and barely on her feet. It didn't have the energy to climb up the walls and eat a berry tucked away.
James had some berries on him, however. Outside the base there were many berry trees that James went and picked through. Syler didn't really need berries, but Ariana needed berries to keep herself going after a while, especially against such a strong Pokémon. Among these berries was a Sitrus Berry. It was another lumpy berry that was almost identical to a pear and only slightly larger than an Oran Berry. James didn't like having his Pokémon faint and preferred to have them retreat rather than go down fighting. His Pokémon liked that, too. With Ariana's docile nature, being friendlier to her made it easier for her to listen to him and be obedient.
"Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Matt?" James asked, allowing Ariana to nibble on the berry he had for her. It would recover about a fourth of her health. Off to the side, he could see that Syler was stepping it up a notch now that Ariana had retreated. He was aiming to simply knock Riley's lights out for the time being and take him out of the fight so he could finish off Kane himself. He was, by far, the strongest Pokémon James had on him.
Matt scowled in response to the taunting question, forced to think about the fact that James was right; he really was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He was stuck between dangerous Pokémon battles and a wall with no open door. There was no place for him to go. James was right, but Matt didn't vocalize his answer; he merely glared at the man instead, trying to pick through his options for a feasible way to escape this mess.
Kane was doing well enough, even though he had already taken damage from all sides. The metal Pokémon kept his eyes on the Ariados, but shuffled and adjusted his footing slightly to avoid angering any of the Diglett or the Dugtrio as he advanced forwards. His eyes were still glowing with Psychic energy; he wasn't going to let the Ariados get away with scuttling off to heal in the middle of the battle. It was entirely fair, by rights, to heal in the middle of a battle, but Kane was not in a position to let it continue to happen if he wanted his trainer to make it out of this situation alright.
Off to the side, Riley hit the ground hard. He was winded, sore, and exhausted, but knew that just giving up was not an option. The stubborn Pokémon rose again to his feet, trying to keep his front facing his opponent so that Syler would not score a hit from behind. It was clear he wouldn't last much longer at the rate they were going.
Syler scowled at the stubborn Pokémon. Now he was just getting annoyed with Riley. Like Cerberus, Syler's patience was very thin. He disliked tedious tasks and dealing with persistent Pokémon. He liked to get things done, and Riley's persistent attitude was beginning to get to him. He sped up in his fighting against Riley almost immediately as he rose once again, aiming to knock him down once more and hopefully for good in this fight.
Ariana watched warily as Kane shuffled forward. She fled to the walls to try and distance herself from the large Pokémon and his psychic abilities, but it was virtually impossible to flee from Psychic energy. Ariana was James's weakest. He recalled her into her Pokéball, still refusing to let her faint. She was out for now, and although James had one more at his disposal, and even out on the field, but Dyavol was chowing on apples. He was passive aggressive and liked to keep it that way. Even if Kane's psychic wouldn't affect him without something else to make it affect him, Dyavol would probably just try to play with Kane.
Riley hit the ground again, unable to continue battling. Although he still seemed somewhat conscious – at the very least he was alive – he couldn't pick himself up off the ground; he lacked the strength to do anything other than lay there and catch his breath.
Kane was still very much in the fight, however, advancing on James menacingly. Normally, the Metagross wouldn't dare harm a human or even attempt to do so, but this man was pissing him off. This man had trapped his trainer in this terrible room and had severely harmed two of his companions with his Pokémon. Kane was going to do something to this man to force him to back off, at the very least, so Matt could make it out of here intact. Even if Riley couldn't break open the bars across the door, Kane probably could. Matt hadn't used him before because such a large Pokémon using such a powerful attack would have drawn the unwanted attention of whoever was in the building; Matt had been hoping that Riley could do it in a more quiet fashion.
Syler had no intention to kill Riley, although he wouldn't deny the thought had crossed his mind. But he had to pick up the slack of that Ariados now! He didn't particularly like Ariana and barely tolerated Dyavol. The Scizor left the other creature to fade out or stay conscious – he really didn't care what happened, and went for the approaching Metagross instead. Unlike Ariana, he had no weakness to Psychic and was barely affected by other steel moves. Psychic and Steel only did half damage and because of his Bug-half, and Fighting reverted to only normal damage rather than the times-two damage rate against steel types. It was good because he half-expected this thing to have a fighting move, but at the same time could have cared less.
Syler readied his X-scissor and attacked Kane with it from the side.
The attack forced Kane to switch his attention to the advancing Scizor instead of the trainer that had brought all this trouble. Kane did, indeed, have a Fighting-type move: Hammer Arm. Although it decreased his speed and had a less than perfect accuracy, the move was his best option against the Scizor.
However, Kane was already suffering from the multitude of attacks that had already hit him. The Foul Play from Ariana and the multiple Dig attacks from the ground Pokémon still underneath his feet were starting to take their toll. He needed to try to end this battle quickly before Syler could get the upper hand.
While the Pokémon fought it out, Matt had sidled his way over to Riley now that the Scizor was mostly out of the way of any fighting. Gama was still in the middle of everything and Matt could neither recall him nor get to him because of how much was going on in between them. Matt had, stupidly, neglected to bring his bag; he had left it outside with Kita because he hadn't quite anticipated that there would be this much fighting between Pokémon. He had also anticipated that he and Adria would stick together and likely outnumber whatever came their way.
Syler braced himself for the Hammer Arm attack. He knew there had to be a Hammer Arm that this Metagross knew. It was almost an essential move, or so he'd seen in the past. Syler, in his time had seen several different Metagross and only one out of four didn't know Hammer Arm, but they knew Brick Break instead. Some sort of fighting move was almost essential for most Metagross. Almost.
Syler countered the Hammer Arm by tightening his defense. His body gave a bright sheen as the metal along his body hardened in an Iron Defense, bringing his defense up by two stages. The raise in defense made the attack less painful and more bearable for Syler.
Kane didn't let up just because Syler was raising his defense. His arm swung down again, using Hammer Arm once more to strike at his enemy. This Scizor was going down and then Kane would incapacitate the trainer so his own trainer could make an escape. The sooner they got out of this situation, the better. This trainer and his Pokémon were dangerous; they had proved that already with how they used some cheap techniques and played games with people's and Pokémon's lives. Before they left, they were going to need to pry Cerberus off the ceiling and free him from the cocoon. Hopefully he would still be alright.
If anything Cerberus would be in a very bad mood. At the moment he was knocked out in the cocoon. James had used a chemical to lace the webbing in order to keep Cerberus asleep for as long as he was in the cocoon. Other than a bit of a beating, he was fine; he was a tough hound.
Syler braced himself again for the second attack. Now Kane's speed had fallen down; he was slower, and Syler was faster. Syler took this chance to launch himself away from the large Pokémon and sharpen his attack using Sword Dance. He took a few steps in what seemed like a simple 3-step dance. His pincers had a soft purple glow to them, which faded within moments, and then had a brighter sheen to them in the dim lighting. That took only a matter of seconds, and Syler was on the offensive once again, crossing his pincers and readying another X-scissor against the Metagross. X-scissor had a high critical hit ratio and was a bug-type move. The extra attack would make this move quite powerful.
Kane was moving sluggishly now, due to his severe drop in speed; it didn't matter a whole lot in the long run because Syler had already been faster than him. He continued to assault the Pokémon that was buffing himself up, unwilling to let him get an even larger upper hand. Both of them were battle weary, but Kane was the one that had endured more damage from more Pokémon and he was slowing down in more than one way. Another few tough strikes from Syler would be the end of the battle, even if Kane had a high defense.
Matt was kneeling by Riley while his Pokémon fought on his own; Kane didn't need Matt's constant hovering and babying in the middle of a battle. The Metagross was more than capable of fighting his own battles, literally, and choosing the attacks he thought would work best in his situation. He would do fine while Matt checked on his other Pokémon. Riley wasn't faring very well, having fallen unconscious now. A little rest would do him good, but he would need to be healed as soon as they got out of this place.
Syler never let up, repeatedly using his attacks against the Metagross. The fight with Riley had left him somewhat beaten, and this fight with Kane was doing more than just chipping away his health. It was clear that the fight would end soon enough between the two of them.
Behind the fighting and across from Matt, James had released Ariana once again and gave her specific instructions. Afterward, she scuttled up the wall again, in better health than before returning to her Pokéball, and up the ceiling where Cerberus was hanging in his web sack. He'd spare the trainer the tedious task of prying the creature off the ceiling, but that was the extent of James's kindness. After this battle, James would bail. He had stalled long enough and allowed his Scizor to get his fair share of fighting.
The victor of the battle was Syler. Kane moved sluggishly compared to the Scizor and was finally overtaken by the ruthless attacks, sinking slowly to the ground. The Diglett and the Dugtrio were going to have to move out of the way if they didn't want to get hurt by his slumped mass.
This was not looking good for Matt. All of his Pokémon had been rendered unable to battle, even though Shida was still conscious and struggling in the corner. Should she get free, she still wasn't enough to take down the part Metal, part Bug Pokémon that had taken out half of Matt's team. Riley was coming around, but too slowly to do anything helpful for the foreseeable future.
Syler smirked at his fallen foe. He made his way to Matt, but stopped immediately at the sound of squealing. One of the Diglett hadn't gotten away in time and was clocked on the head by the massive, metal Pokémon. It didn't bode well for anyone; the angered look the Dugtrio shot at him was enough to tell anyone that. Syler returned to his trainer's side just as the floor began to shake. The walls began to shake soon after. The vibrations of the ground traveled up the walls and shook the ceiling. Ariana was on the ceiling still, trying to get the web sack down when the shake knocked her from her perched and sent her flailing down upon Matt, spidery limbs flying everywhere.
At the very least, Syler had backed off, and Matt liked to think that it made him a little safer to have the cruel Pokémon as far away from him as possible. While he tried to catch his balance, however, the sudden weight of the spider crashing down on top of him knocked him flat onto his back, flailing and trying desperately to get the Pokémon away from him. With the flailing limbs, however, something went incredibly wrong. There was a searing, unbearable pain around his right eye and he threw the Ariados away from him so that his hands were free to grasp his face and he could writhe, unimpeded, upon the shaking floor. Blood leaked between his fingers, running down his hand and face. A scream had bubbled up from his throat, echoing around the room and down the hallway just outside the barred doorway.
James froze for a moment as the screaming caught his attention. The injury was caused by Ariana, who scurried away almost immediately from Matt. James cursed aloud and recalled his two Pokémon, calling Dyavol from his corner and stumbling over things on the floor to reach his companion. It was time to go. Causing Matt an injury like that was unintentional. He had only planned for Syler to taunt him and maybe give him a few bruises if he wanted to, but the sight of the blood cascading down from his right eye was quite unintended.
Abandoning the screaming boy, James ran to the barred door that was no longer barred – Dyavol had flipped the switch in his little corner – and fled the shuddering room. Soon after he left the quakes died down. A Diglett popped up through the cracked cement floor nearby Matt and watched. Why was he screaming?
Matt had finally managed to control himself after the quake died down. The pain was intense, but he bit his lip to stop anything louder than unintentional, strangled whimpers from escaping. That hadn't been something he had expected from the spider; maybe Syler would have done some similarly painful damage, but not Ariana. Blood was still flowing from the injury to his eye, as well as trickling from his lip because of the pressure he was putting on it with his teeth. Cracking open an eye, the first thing he was met with was the inquisitive little Diglett. It seemed harmless enough, so he tried not to worry about it in his pain addled, hazy mind.
Riley seemed to have recovered somewhat, despite the sudden localized earthquake that had hit the room. Just as the Scizor was pushing himself up into a sitting position, the light went out. Without Ariana there, she being the source of the light, it was no longer being sustained and had plunged the room back into darkness. Now that things had gone mostly silent in the room, the only noise was Matt's ragged breathing. Shida's struggling had gone silent as the earthquake shook her loose of her web, leaving her free to scurry back to her trainer and figure out what was wrong.
It wasn't something Ariana would have normally done. She was in a panic and was having a hard time getting off her back in the earthquake. Ariana didn't like earthquakes for obvious reasons.
After a bit of relative silence in the hall there came a collection of footsteps invading the silence. Lights from flashlights were shone on every wall. The light crawled along the floor of the entryway and a head with ebony locks popped in the door way, peering in curiously to see if he could see anything inside. His face had the same build as the man who had just left the room in a bit of a hurry, albeit fresher with less age lines and defined features as the other man who was there. The very spitting image of James swept his light around, mumbling something to someone else. The light finally settled on Matt. "Matt!"
With help from Riley, Matt had managed to get in a sitting position. His head was spinning and his thoughts were a little hazy, so he used the nearest wall to prop his back up. Riley had pushed himself up on shaking legs was trying to figure out what he was going to do when the beam of light began flashing about the room. The sight of someone looking almost identical to James in the darkness had the Pokémon on edge, advancing carefully to keep this person as far from Matt as he could. Having never met Nathan before, Riley was understandably confusing this young man for the other that had attacked them only minutes earlier. His pincers snapped and clacked threateningly, raising them so that the eye-like patterns could further unnerve the human that had located his trainer.
Nathan yelped and jumped back from the Scizor, his flashlight clattering to the ground. He'd not met Riley before either and also mistook him for the other Scizor that was somewhere around here. Something green and white shoved past Nathan and closed in on Riley, bringing something long and sharp to his throat. The humanoid creature gave a growl in warning, easily reading how injured this Scizor without the use of its psychic abilities: the Pokémon was shaking on his legs moments ago, he was using the pattern on his pincers to unnerve Nathan – a clear defensive maneuver to use – and only sprung when Nathan had located the injured boy.
Finding the light again, the other person there shone it briefly on the Gallade with his sword-like arms against Riley's throat as a warning and then back to Matt. "Matt, call him off," Benn's voice drifted in through the door way. '"It's Nathan and I."
Riley didn't seem to take kindly to the Pokémon that had its blades to his neck, but he didn't move either way; he neither moved to attack nor moved to back down. He and Shida were Matt's last line of defense in here and the boy was already injured from the Ariados. Not to mention, Matt was still sporting bruises all over his ribs from the Tentacruel attack earlier today. Riley was not moving from his spot despite the threatening presence of the Gallade.
Matt, however, had recognized Benn's voice and belatedly realized that it was Nathan that had peeked through the doorway. Adria had messaged her brother earlier and they must have been gone long enough to cause worry. It was a good thing these two had showed up. "Riley." His voice was soft, cracking even, but that was the only word he needed to say to get his Scizor to back off. Riley took a small step back, trying to retain his balance, and lowered his pincers. The humans were free to get to his trainer.
The Gallade lowered his arms when Riley lowered his pincers, retreating a few steps back as the two other trainers stumbled into the room to Matt's side. Benn had something with him: a small box with a handle filled with medical supplies. "It's alright; you're safe now. There are no threats nearby." The Gallade joined him at his side, but stared at the curious Diglett rather than pay any attention to the injured boy or Riley. He sensed no danger nearby, which was good; it was just the three trainers and their Pokémon there. But he also didn't sense the presence of Nathan's sister, and Nathan could see she wasn't there. He grew worried.
"Matt, let me see what's wrong and see if I can't do anything about it right here, right now." It was Benn speaking, trying to get Matt's attention so he could assess the wound that was causing the amount of blood running down Matt's hand.
Matt turned his attention to the two that had very suddenly joined him. Instead of listening to Benn – he probably didn't hear him at all, considering how his mind was elsewhere and his brain was pretty foggy from shock – he reached out with his free hand and caught Nathan's sleeve to get his attention. "Adria... went on ahead..."
While the three trainers spoke and the two newcomers congregated on Matt, Riley had staggered his way over to the corner with the help of the wall. Cerberus had never been fully freed from his cocoon and now Riley was left trying to figure out how he was going to get it down. Shida, who had stayed by Matt, peeked out at the two other trainers curiously. She was covered in hanging threads of silk from the spider web she had escaped, but looked otherwise unharmed.
Nathan blinked. "Adria's..." No wonder she wasn't here. If she was up ahead and hadn't responded yet to the text messages he'd sent, did that mean she was also in trouble? Did James have her?
"Go on Nathan, I'll stay with Matt. We'll meet up later," Benn stated, shooing the other man away. Within seconds the brother was running down the hall, leaving Matt to Ben, the Gallade who was curiously watching Riley move along the wall, and the young Diglett nearby that was watching the scene.
