Standing at the gates of Victory Road, Oscar marveled at how strange it felt to be… here. Looking up and seeing the mountain through which the tunnel complex wound its way to the Pokemon League Headquarters, the site of the Elite Four and the Championship Arena. It was another journey, just like he undertook every time he acquired a Badge and had to move on to the next city and Gym, but this time…
It was funny. There was a straightforward, paved road that led to the Headquarters. The Victory Road was, obviously, not the only way to reach the Championship—tourists, technicians, and media people had to get to the big battle, after all!—and it wasn't even required for a challenger to make the journey on foot. But they all did, because even if this wasn't the only road to their destination, the fact that the journey was only allowed to those who had completed the Circuit made it feel almost like this was the real goal. That he would set foot where only victors trod, those who'd stuck it out to acquire eight Badges and carried the approval of eight Gym Leaders who believed they had what it took to be a future Champion.
The Ranger at the gate gave a respectful nod as he passed Oscar his League Registry back to him. It felt heavy now, carrying two rows of four Badges, a slim red spear making the Invincible Badge on the bottom right corner. But as he put it back in his pocket, it felt… right. The gate was opened, and Oscar was permitted entry and as soon as he made his first step across it, he felt… accomplished. A farmboy with his pet bug had set out from home and had reached a place that few had tread. And now…
Oscar bit his lip. The gate was open, the path was ahead, and all he had to do was… walk forward. He felt a faint churn in his stomach as he tried to lift his leg, now feeling heavy and leaden, his face feeling hot as the weight of what he was about to do finally hit him.
"Big milestone?" the bemused Ranger asked from behind him.
Oscar blushed at getting caught, but… it was the truth. "Yeah," he said, turning back to the guard, "It's been… a long journey."
The Ranger chuckled, but Oscar felt a little less embarrassed at getting caught in the moment. From the sound of his laugh, this was a situation the guard had seen plenty of times before, and he gave Oscar a warm, if wry, smile. "I remember my own trip 'round the Circuit," he said, "Hard to reconcile the boy who started that journey with who I was at the end of it, but… well, I think you're thinking the same things yourself."
"Yeah…" Oscar mused, "But it still… I mean, it's the League Championship. Feel like I've… still got so much left to go!"
"Saw you had Pyrrha's badge," he chuckled, "That… does not come easy. And if you could face all she had to throw at you, you're as prepared as anyone could be for this."
Oscar couldn't help but smile a little at that. He didn't want to throw it around too much—well, he'd really, really enjoyed the shade of green Arslan turned as Oscar took Pyrrha's badge and attached it to his Registry—but he knew that he'd earned some bragging rights facing the Invincible Girl and coming out the winner.
…even if the last two Badges might have been earned through less than straightforward wins.
"Well, it's… still hard to believe," he murmured.
The Ranger chuckled. "Working the Victory Road gate means I've seen this all before. Don't think I've ever seen a Trainer who walked the Road like they belonged there. But I don't doubt these," he tapped the Registry in Oscar's hand, "eight believe in you."
Oscar smiled, taking the Registry and putting it back in his pocket.
"By the way... if your journey takes you to see Jaune and Pyrrha again, tell them Cardin and Velvet say hi," he said, "Back when we were your age and having our own adventures along the Pokemon circuit… well, I think you've got your own story; you don't have to hear mine."
"Sometime, maybe," Oscar said with a smile, "A pleasure meeting you, Cardin."
"Pleasure was all mine," he said with a salute, and Oscar was on his way.
The Victory Road had an overland portion before the caves took prospective challengers underground. From what Oscar knew, the caves featured some dangerous and territorial Pokemon… and some stranger things if the urban legends were to be believed. But the walk before the caves he knew didn't have many obstacles, making it a quiet, meditative time, a walk with his Pokemon, a time to think of all it had taken to get here and how much was still ahead. They walked in silence, his team recognizing the weight of it-
The silence was shattered by the sudden brrrrring of his phone. Fumbling at his pockets in a dash to try and salvage the moment, his fingers closed around the device and opened it up.
"Sup, Oscar, it's Yang," the voice broke through the speaker.
"How… how do you have my number?" Oscar asked.
There was a brief silence on the line. "...You're a Trainer registered with the League and I'm a vested Gym Leader? You know I have to file paperwork after every Gym match, right?" she answered, making Oscar cringe at his mistake. "But bigger fish to fry here. You know Team Salem?"
"Uh, yeah?" Oscar said, trying to rally himself back to seeming confident and decisive.
"We've got action, and it's moving fast. I told you they were looking for info on Victory Road, right? Well, they're making their move. We're all converging from multiple angles, but I dunno if you know this, it's a big cave system. So we're trying to cover as much ground as we can, and if you're in the area-"
"I am!" Oscar answered, a little too quickly, "I mean- I'm- I just passed the Badge checkpoint."
"Ha, I knew you'd take Pyrrha!" Yang said, making Oscar's cheeks turn a little pink at the impressed tone of her voice, "It's good for my rep that you got her Badge after mine. Anyways, that's good luck for us—we've got people heading to where you are in the South quadrant, but they might take a minute. You're the only person we know who's faced a Grimm before and I've got the feeling that's going to be real useful."
Oscar felt an involuntary shudder at the thought. He still remembered the Beowolf, and he did not like the idea of another.
"How- who's going to be there?" he asked her, trying to shake the fear from his voice and focus on the practical concerns.
"From the chatter we've picked up… Team Salem's sending everyone they got. You've met enough of them to know they're serious customers, and trust me, they're all the kind that don't think twice about using Pokemon against people."
Oscar nodded. Mercury, Emerald, and Cinder had all shown a willingness to kill him, and Oscar didn't doubt the rest of the membership was any different. "One last question," he asked, "What do they want?"
Yang sighed. "Alright, this is gonna sound a little crazy, but they've found azzzzzzzzzzzzt…"
"Yang? Yang?" Oscar asked his phone as her voice turned into so much static. "Yang?" he asked again, raising his phone in the vague hope of capturing a signal. He'd been getting good reception before this, and he figured the tower was on his side of the mountain, so that shouldn't be the cause.
"I'll spare you the trouble," a voice came in, "and let you know that there's nothing wrong with your phone—though it wouldn't have hurt to get an upgrade."
Oscar whirled to see a well-dressed man with an elaborately groomed mustache and a look of bemused contempt in his eyes as he looked down at Oscar. Behind him, a smooth pink… duck thing floated, its eyes vaguely pointing upwards due to its body being at a slight angle on the rocky terrain. It didn't seem… natural, and Oscar got the feeling it had something to do with his signal cutting out.
"I apologize for this," the man with the mustache said, "Personally, I'd have just taken you out with a quick ambush strike, something silent, efficient. You wouldn't have noticed you were under attack until it was too late. But my associate, he prefers-"
"I enjoy it more when I can hear you scream," the voice of a slender, dark haired man cut in as he stepped forward from behind a rock. He had a lanky, predatory build and wore a long coat without a shirt. Much like the pink duck thing, everything about this man made Oscar uncomfortable, but there was an undeniable feeling that he wasn't just trying to psych his opponent out. This was a man who didn't seem to be lying that he'd very much enjoy inflicting pain, and Oscar saw a Seviper slinking behind him, its fangs long and gleaming.
Oscar narrowed his eyes, doing his best to show that he wasn't intimidated. 2 on 1 wasn't favorable odds, but he'd faced worse and come out the victor. Cutting his best swagger, he gave both men a look of matching condescension.
"Team Salem, I take it?"
The creepier of the pair's smile grew wider. "Ah, yes, we are sworn in the service of our dear, beloved Salem—a shame you will not get to see her wisdom, insight, and glory come to this world."
"I gotta say…" Oscar said, his eyes carefully panning over his opponents, being ready for anything, "you two don't really seem like the rest of Team Salem. Not as much… smash and grab as they were."
They did little to conceal their delight in the comparison. Hopefully, Oscar could get somewhere with this, exploiting their generally unprofessional and egotistical behavior to give himself the advantage here. Just like with Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald, he'd learned that the Trainer could be the weak link in the fight.
"Mmmm, quite," the mustached one said with a nod, "Cinder and her… proteges don't give you the best impression of our operation. I can assure you, we're much more competent than that blundering fool of a girl. Though I suppose we owe you some credit for being the one who revealed what a failure she was…"
"The Mistress was not forgiving!" the other man added with sadistic glee.
"Well if you owe me anything," Oscar cut in, "Could you at least explain a little bit of why you're coming to kill me? I just keep running into people who try to rob or kill me, and nobody's explained anything about why this is happening. Especially to me."
The men exchanged a glance. Honestly, this was more than just stalling for time—Oscar really didn't have a clue of the goals beyond the parts where they tried to murder him. Just for once, he'd like to know before the battle what was going on here.
"Well…" the mustachioed man began, stroking his chin, "I suppose it wouldn't do to go through all the process of executing such an intricate plan and not explain it to our foes."
"No, it wouldn't do at all," his companion snickered.
"I… am Dr. Arthur Watts," he proclaimed with a flourish, "a researcher of Pokemon technology, and one whose name would be commonplace to even an ignorant child such as you, were it not for the treachery that was launched against me by those jealous of my-"
"I'm Tyrian," the other man interrupted, "and he'll keep going if you don't stop him."
Dr. Watts shot Tyrian a livid glare. "It's important," he snarled, "But if you must hear the shortened version… ahem. We are the followers of the brilliant Salem, whose name graces our organization. A woman, a seer whose insight into the nature of the world surpasses even my own. She understands… more than anyone sees, looks further than the simpletons who cannot open their eyes beyond Pokemon. She was the one who discovered that, deep within the Victory Road, there exists…" He paused, a blatant move for dramatic impact. "A fissure in reality, something that even my most brilliant analysis could not understand… but our illustrious leader, she sees what we do not, and her vision will bring about a new order to all the world!"
"I almost wish I could leave you alive to see it!" Tyrian cackled, "She has glimpsed across the lines and will soon be master of all worlds!"
Oscar slowly nodded. "And the Grimm?" he asked, "They're… the things from the other side of this fissure?"
"Indeed!" Dr. Watts crowed, "Merciless creatures, they inflict terror on all who behold them, human or Pokemon… but Salem has the means to control them. And now she has the method of bringing them forth in limitless numbers, and so… there really is nothing left but to hear the wailing of regret and lamentation from those who snubbed me. When the armies of Salem scour this land, she has promised me that Pietro Polendina's skull will decorate my desk!"
It was clear to Oscar that both men were decidedly unhinged and unambiguously murderous. Just like every other member of Team Salem, but at least, Emerald and Mercury came off a little more sane in comparison. But anyone who allied on a plan to release a horde of unnatural monsters upon the world couldn't be that sane to begin with. And either way…
He glanced to Ninjask, giving the slightest, nigh-imperceptible nod and his Pokemon vanished in a blur of speed. The rest of his team took it as the signal to lunge, but…
The Seviper flicked forward, fluid as water, its fangs flashing for a split second-
The ground exploded in front of him, dirt and rock simply rising up in a wall that blocked the Seviper's attack. Before Oscar could even stumble back, the ground receded and he could see the great metallic bulk of a familiar Aggron…
"J-Jaune?" Oscar stammered out, his head whipping back and forth to catch sight of the Gym Leader.
"Sorry I couldn't be here sooner!" the Valois Leader cried, leaping up to catch up with his Pokemon, "But we've had a lot of ground to cover!"
"And he's not alone!" another familiar voice cut in, just as a red blur shot past the both of them.
"Ruby?" Oscar asked, seeing the wide grin and silver eyes of the Bug-type specialist.
"Yep!" she cried out, "And I'm glad I caught up to you before you finished these two jerks off!"
Oscar turned back to Dr. Watts and Tyrian, both men visibly darkening at the arrival of the Gym Leaders, and not just because of how it tilted the odds.
"Of course it's you two," Dr. Watts spat, "At least, this way I get the last laugh when you see you're too late to stop Salem!"
"And won't the dear lady Rose weep so beautifully when she learns what happened to her child…" Tyrian sneered, licking his lips in a truly disgusting fashion.
But Ruby was undeterred. "Ha, my Mom's told me a hundred times about the time she arrested you—can't wait to be able to tell her the sequel."
Tyrian's face turned a mottled purple as rage overtook him. But he could rage all he wanted—Oscar stepped forward with confidence as he prepared to flatten this little speedbump… until Jaune turned, palm held up in a sign to halt.
"Hold back, Oscar!" Jaune said before glancing back to his team, "Aggron, be the wall, Corviknight, stay low and close!"
"Wait, what do you-"
"We're engaging Team Salem- SCIZOR! Go all out!" Ruby barked, before snapping back to Oscar, "We're engaging Team Salem all across the region! They're going after something deep in the caves-"
"A… fissure in reality?" Oscar ventured.
"Ironwood called in a 'crack,' but same idea," Jaune grunted, directing his team against Tyrian's.
"Either way, we want to get there first!" Ruby cried, "So go, Oscar!"
Oscar blinked in surprise, "W-wait, me?"
"We'll hold these two off!" Jaune called, his Aggron surging forward as his Aegislash whirled about it. "You keep going!"
"Should- shouldn't you be going into the caves?"
"Negative!" Ruby shot back, "If only one of us can go, it's best that it's you, Oscar. You're the only Trainer with the only team that's actually faced a Grimm-type before—you've got the best bet of standing against what they might have down there!"
"A-alright!" Oscar said with a quick nod, fixing his resolve, "Team! You heard them—let's get moving!"
While Oscar didn't want to leave a fight in progress, he heard what Jaune and Ruby had said. If he was needed in the caves… he had to get going. Before whatever Team Salem was planning with the fissure could come to pass.
...what he wouldn't give to have been briefed on this before now.
Tripping over another stalagmite—stalactite? Didn't matter!—Oscar struggled to cross the rough terrain of a cave system. His path to Kuo Kuana had been like this, but it hadn't been this difficult to cross… and he didn't have such a dire clock ticking down there.
Fortunately, Shedinja could emit light, but that only brought Oscar's mind to the fact that he hadn't seen any Pokemon. Which would be a mercy, but from the way the hairs on the back of his neck stand tall, he got the feeling that something was keeping them away. Something much, much worse than Zubats.
But this deep in the caves, Oscar realized he really didn't know what he was looking for. A… fissure in reality? He'd been trusting Yang and Pyrrha that they knew what was going on and he didn't really have to follow up on why Cinder was breaking into facilities or what Team Salem was even about. They'd tried to mug him once and kill him twice—three times now, actually—and that gave Oscar all he felt he needed to know on the matter. But now, he was out of his depth and-
Stumbling forward, Oscar half-tumbled into a large chamber that seemed to suddenly open up in front of him. And inside…
Well, that was… definitely a fissure in reality.
A large purple-and-black light-thing crackling in the air. Everything about it looked like… like the air was cracking and twisting, drawing Oscar's wide-eyed stare. He almost didn't believe what he was seeing… and then he saw he wasn't alone.
It was hard to tear his eyes from the fissure, but with so much unnatural movement coming from the crack in reality, seeing natural motion seemed like an unexpected contrast. She was a queenly woman, tall and self-assured enough to lock Oscar's attending on her as she turned, even as existence sizzled behind her. Oscar felt very small before her, her pale blonde hair making her seem almost angelic as it glowed like a halo in the unnatural light, but her blue-gray eyes had a hard, merciless edge as she fixed him with a withering glare.
This… this had to be Salem.
"So, this is what comes to stop me," she said, her voice unsettlingly ethereal as she seemed to just… produce a sound rather than speak. Her eyes looked over Oscar impassively as she continued, "A youth, on his journey to become a 'Pokemon Master.' Here, at the precipice of victory, this is what I face. Not a preening Gym Leader, not one of the Elite Four, not him, but just… a boy."
Oscar stiffened at that last line. Yes, he was still a teenager, one still smarting from a harsh reminder of that fact back in Argus, but hearing it in person from a decidedly creepy woman in an extraordinarily unforeseen circumstance… he ought to be cowed or frightened or resolute or something other than annoyed.
"Do you imagine…" she asked waspishly, "that this will make you a hero? That it will prove your skill as a Trainer… or do you believe this will earn you favor with the pompous frauds who lie beyond these caves?"
"I'll be honest," Oscar said, trying to square his footing, "I actually don't know anything about this. I just keep getting dragged into these things by people who keep trying to kill me, and that's… actually, yeah, that's enough reason to really want to stop you."
Salem seemed almost a little put out to hear it, a fleck of annoyance briefly passing across her face. Oscar took it as a win.
"Heck," he continued, thrusting an accusatory finger forward, "considering what the Gym Leaders have put me through, for all I know, you're just being all spooky out of smoke and mirrors and you're not actually someone's dead mom!"
Her mouth twisted in scandalized anger... and no small amount of confusion about what Oscar was talking about, but he kept on the heat. "Yeah, she tricked me into thinking I was talking to the ghost of her mom because the Gym Leaders are actually pretty messed up! This whole League is pretty messed up! I'm facing you right now because my parents just kicked me out of the house without any warning or preparation! I've almost died—I have almost been murdered—because I'm out on the road with my Pokemon as a teenager, to try and achieve a dream I never actually wanted, and now I'm- I'm what? The last line of defense between you and whatever it is you're against? I barely know what this is about!"
Oscar realized he was panting as he heard the echo of his final outburst ringing up and down the caves. But he wasn't done yet.
"Nora blew me up, I almost froze to death, like, three days later, then Yang punched me, Pyrrha almost drowned me—and I am still not okay with Jaune! And I know I'm in the wrong on that one and it doesn't measure up with the rest, but also, I've had to go through it!"
With that he was finished, his ears still ringing with all the near death experiences, nearly half of them being Nora's fault, he'd been through. He poured all his feelings into a glare he directed at Salem.
"Did it feel good to get that off your chest?" she asked, sarcastically.
"Actually… it did," Oscar said.
Salem gave a faint shrug. "I'd hoped for more, but I suppose it doesn't matter. It could have been you or it could have been any other arrogant fool who thought they understood the world, but-"
She extended an arm and suddenly, the stones around her began to glow white, a growing intensity that forced Oscar to take a half step back.
"-it really doesn't matter. Everything is already in place, and the power you've only glimpsed is now mine to take. You can leave now, and I won't pursue you."
Narrowing his eyes and squaring his jaw, Oscar refused to let her think he was cowed. "If all that didn't stop me yet," he growled, "then I'm not backing down. No matter what."
"Then I'll just have to kill you."
Oscar laughed, "You would not even remotely be the first to try. So send out your team—let's see how it stacks up to the little red fish that tried to drown me last week."
But Salem's face fractured into a crooked, unnatural smile as she spread her arms wide.
"A team?" she asked, a mocking half-laugh in her voice, "I am standing before a fissure in reality, a link between our world and another… a world full of monsters rather than Pokemon, an endless tide of darkness… But there is a Salem there, a Salem I can forge a connection through, then draw on, to bring her power forth. You've faced a Grimm before, boy!" she cackled, a sudden flash of white lightning leaping from her fingertips as Oscar took a step back in surprise. "But are you prepared to face their Queen?"
Eyes widening in shock, Oscar beheld as her arms, almost blindingly white in the illumination of the stones behind her, suddenly began to blacken… in a way that was terrifyingly familiar. Criss-crossing spiderwebs of unnatural corruption flowed over her skin, twisting and thickening as Oscar's stomach churned. Her hair began to turn white as she closed her eyes, allowing the darkness to overtake her body.
Oscar knew he had to act, had to strike now, but the Beowolf was terrifying in one way… seeing a human body so corrupted by- by whatever these Grimm things were made up of, it left him completely paralyzed. A feeling that only got worse as Salem opened her eyes and revealed the unnatural red. The same eye as the Beowolf's, completely devoid of any humanity.
She had become a monster, a complete, utter monster, and Oscar could see her revel in it as she flexed her arm.
"This… this is power," she hissed, every syllable filling Oscar with an instinctual dread, "a power denied me by the coincidence of our reality… but I have bridged that gap. I have claimed the identity that lurks for me beyond the veil. I am Salem, I am QUEEN SALEM, and my dominion is absolute, on this world and all others!"
Throwing himself backwards on reflex, Oscar saw as the ground he'd previously been standing on simply exploded out of nowhere. This… this was something well beyond his ability to understand but… he had to try!
Springing forward, he leapt onto Gogoat's back as he nimbly dodged another explosion of purple energy.
"Pidgeot! Ninjask!" he cried, "Harry her as best you-"
His words caught in his throat as Gogoat bucked, a hair's distance before getting caught in a blast of magical energy. They weren't blown apart, but… cold comfort as Oscar felt his full momentum slam forward as he desperately struggled to maintain his grip, particularly as Gogoat sprang away to stay evasive.
But while Oscar was reckoning with whiplash, his Pokemon were on the ball. He heard Salem scowl as Pidgeot and Ninjask dive-bombed her. They swung in close, but not to attack—Oscar could see that getting so close to Salem's face triggered reflexive defense. She wasn't an experienced combatant, even if she was supercharged by… magic or whatever this was. And maybe she had the power to best his team, but she didn't have the experience!
"Mudsdale, make a charge, Drednaw, get in close," he hissed, hoping to take advantage of Salem's distraction. But even if she caught on… Oscar guided Gogoat to position as-
He heard the thunder of hooves as Mudsdale roared forward, his eyes darting to see her, forceful, determined, perhaps graceless to the uninformed, no Rapidash with flames trailing behind her, but every inch of her body suggested a perfect efficiency, a machine of raw power as she charged ahead. Time slowed down, every hoof striking the floor of the cave in slow motion, just as Oscar could see every flap of Pidgeot's wing, and he could see…
It was too late.
Oscar threw out a hand and screamed Mudsdale's name, as though he could will her out of the way as Salem raised a hand, black and purple energy crackling on her fingertips as it formed into a spear of power, lancing forward and…
He couldn't look, but couldn't bear to close his eyes, every second stretching out to infinity as-
As Shedinja floated into the way. Like he'd always been there, like he wasn't even aware of what was happening as the magic struck his shell, sending black magic spiraling in all directions. Oscar saw him drop, like he'd seen him drop before, but this time… this time, Oscar wasn't sure what magic could do.
Salem screamed as Ninjask went for the strike, cutting into her face in a furious drive for revenge. Black blood spattered as Oscar suddenly remembered this was a human he was battling… but as soon as Ninjask broke away, it was as though he'd never struck in the first place. No trace of injury, no sense that a second ago, her black blood was spraying forth in gouts. She… she didn't seem affected at all.
Cracking a smirk, Salem turned to Oscar as Gogoat slowed down, the both of them frozen in place by her gaze.
"You will die here," she snarled, "if I have to kill every last one of your miserable pets first, so much the- nyaaaaAAAARGH!"
Drednaw exploded from behind her, too slow to charge, but easily overlooked with all the other action around her. But now, she could not be ignored as she bit down hard. More importantly, it was an opening.
"Gogoat," Oscar hissed, "Do it now!"
A blast of green energy shot forward as Drednaw pulled back, letting Salem take the shot dead on. Maybe more than just a description, but Oscar didn't have time to confirm it.
Leaping off of Gogoat, Oscar dashed to where Shedinja had fallen. He.. he didn't seem dead. More dead, at least. Just knocked out. Oscar allowed himself a brief sigh of relief, but only for a moment as he scooped up the fallen shell. Glancing back to where his Pokemon were fighting the still-fighting Salem, he felt a momentary thrill of hope as he saw Mudsdale deliver a powerful kick to the so-called Grimm queen as she staggered backwards. She answered with a wave of dark magic, but she wasn't experienced like a Pokemon team was, dodging back as she wildly lashed out. Maybe she could take punishment, but-
An explosion of force knocked Oscar off his feet and sent his team scattering. The only figure left standing… unmarred by anything but a furious expression on her face… was Salem. Black lines pulsed and writhed on her skin, her eyes flashed with a hellish red and Oscar… Oscar wondered if he might not survive this. But even as he felt a dense icicle of fear, frigid cold and terrifyingly sharp, form in his heart, the thought of death reminded him that he had to think of more than just himself.
"Pidgeot, Ninjask," he hissed to his flyers, "Just keep giving the team openings and keep buying time!"
He didn't know if his command could make a difference, but right now, Oscar was fumbling at his pack to reach through his emergency gear. Grabbing a Revive from the first aid kit, he gently cradled Shedinja in his hands and wondered at how the two of them had gone from hiding out from chores in the root cellar to this. But he'd have time for reflection later… if he had a later.
But a spritz of medicine and Oscar saw Shedinja slowly rise from the ground… hopefully better, but it was hard to tell with Shedinja… but Oscar had other things that were now very much on his mind. Another powerful bite from Drednaw only ended with the so-called Grimm Queen demonstrating she had strength as much as endurance as she flung her across the cave. But it left Salem unbalanced as Pidgeot raked at her with his claws—and darted away just as quickly before a bolt of black energy burst out, shattering a stalc… tite as the shattered rock came tumbling down with a great crash.
Oscar suddenly had an uncomfortable reminder of a previous fight in a cave, where he'd bluffed about dropping the ceiling on all of them. Salem… she'd die too, wouldn't she? But… this drunk on power, was she even considering the consequences?
"Die! Die! Why won't you die!"
That… might have answered his question.
Oscar wasn't in a place to really answer her that question, but he could see as Salem's rage grew… everything around her was beginning to crack. Though… they were… yes! They were glowing, which meant… something! But if the power came from her connection to the Grimm-verse, then he could… he could…
Ninjask buzzed her like a gnat, too nimble to swat in spite of Salem's best efforts. But it still sent Gogoat and Mudsdale scattering as debris rained down anddown and errant bolts of magic left craters in the cave floor. The terrain was getting worse and worse and Oscar was starting to see that even a single lucky shot would have a catastrophic impact. Drednaw seemed to be unsteady on her feet as she lumbered back in, too slow with her injuries to get close enough against that heat. Mudsdale seemed to be in the same boat, and even Gogoat seemed to be at his limit of his ability to evade.
They were running out of time.
Something, Oscar had to do something if he was going to get out of here, and he had to do it fast. But since he didn't have a good idea of what was even going on here—since nobody but Salem seemed to have a clue what was even going on with the Grimm—he didn't have a lot to build on! What experience did he have with inexplicable phenomena that dealt with the connection between parallel…
Oscar blinked. Staring at Shedinja, he knew, rationally, that they were probably completely different, that he wasn't basing this off of anything sensible, but…
"Okay, buddy," he said, quietly, "I don't know if whatever connection Salem has with… the Salem of the Grimmverse, it's probably something different from the connection you have with Ninjask, but… this is it. This is our only shot, so please tell me you can… well, if there's anything you can do, we're desperate."
Shedinja gave a faint bob, something that Oscar hoped was more like a nod than not, before he levitated into the air. Oscar whistled, hoping to catch Salem's attention and draw it away from the spooky ghost cicada that might or might not be able to stop her. Gogoat raced to his side, and Oscar leapt onto his back, holding onto his horns tightly as he silently communicated "Just RUN!" to his loyal steed.
"Ninjask! Initiate Tactic X, Drednaw, optomerate the positives," he yelled, absolute nonsense, but if he could make himself more prominent, draw more attention to him, he could hope that this would be enough to make this wild, desperate pitch work. And from the snarl of wrath he heard that chilled his very soul, it was working!
…for a certain value of working, of course, as Oscar felt the hairs on the back of his head shoot up like a static charge when a bolt of destructive magic missed him by a hair. Considering what it did to the rock wall behind him, Oscar was trying real hard not to think about what it would do to his head. But with his head down and his hands gripping on to Gogoat's horns for dear life, he felt… a deep well of anger at Salem and a spur of satisfaction that he could at least spit in her eye on his way out!
"I'm just one trainer!" he yelled, "Just a kid! And my team's like… ordinary Pokemon! What chance do you think you have-"
"Shut up, SHUT UP you insufferable brat!" she shrieked back.
"Yeah!" Oscar yelled back, counting each word as though it might be his last, "Call me a brat! Remember that you're fighting a kid and you're losing!"
Salem's scream of rage exploded like a bomb, a pressure wave of noise staggering both Oscar and Gogoat, the normally surefooted Pokemon suddenly stumbling as they both tumbled to the ground, hard. Oscar wasn't sure if he had the rest of his team close enough to try and pick him up. Opening his eyes from the ground, he looked up to see Salem's face mottled with fury as she charged up a spell to… to kill him.
End of the line.
But even as his heart stopped and the fear seized him too tightly to even breathe, he saw Shedinja in the air, wrapped in a familiar glow of golden light that flashed without warning, right in Salem's face. Her magic flickered for an instance as she blinked, her rage briefly snuffed out by a sudden disorientation, but while it passed far too soon for Oscar to gain any hope from it, he did hear her dizzily murmur. "What- what did you-"
Seconds before her spell went off.
Salem shrieked in pain as she hurt herself in her confusion. And more… Oscar suddenly felt the air in the cave shift, like the pressure of power and terror Salem exerted upon all of them was now flowing in reverse… like whatever power Salem had stolen from her alternate was now being taken back! The fissure in the air suddenly pulsed and... Oscar couldn't make sense of what the hell he was seeing, but it was definitely different!
Staggering back onto unsteady feet, Oscar realized that Mudsdale was beside him, her strong back propping him up as Gogoat limped back to his side. Drednaw dragged herself forward with a grunt, a resolute determination to make her last stand. Pidgeot boldly flapped above as Ninjask buzzed to take his familiar spot on Oscar's shoulder, and Shedinja… if whatever he'd done had worked or not, came to take his place on the other.
Maybe this was only a setback for Salem, maybe the way the cave began to rumble and shake beneath them meant that there wasn't going to be a "winner" in this fight, but if this was still Oscar's end… he faced it with his team. Together.
But things didn't look good for Salem as she struggled to remain standing, magic swirling around her in currents that seemed more poised to sweep her off her feet than anything. "This isn't- this isn't how it's supposed to happen!" she shrieked in rage, "You- you're nothing, you're no one!"
"Yeah, well," Oscar spat back, bracing himself on Mudsdale as he added, "You're still losing anyways."
He heard the deep, guttural snarl of Salem's inhuman voice as she choked on her fury. Magic crackled and sizzled in the air, no longer exploding in the form of missiles. Her rage was too great to cast anything, but Oscar feared that her power might just make her explode anyways as her anger reached a peak. But instead of being able to attack him, Salem's eyes instead shot upwards to the fissure as she clasped at her chest.
"No, no!" she proclaimed, "This- this is not the end, this is not how I- this is not- it's not, IT'S NOT!"
Declaring her defiance to reality to the very end, Salem seemed to calm the swirling magic for a moment… but before Oscar even had a chance to lose hope, she lost that control once more in a sudden, explosive BOOM of purple, black, and white, a wild kaleidoscope of colors and the sound of an explosion that left Oscar's ears ringing. He couldn't see Salem, couldn't tell what was happening, because now, the cave was truly starting to collapse, great boulders coming down all around him as the team moved in closer in some vain attempt at safety. Another and another fell, each collision almost enough to knock Oscar off his feet if he wasn't supported by his team. This was the end, this was the end, this was-
A white flash…
"-KAZAM-" a sound broke through the din, muffled like Oscar heard it through water, "-ORT NOW"
And then everything went black.
From Salem's perspective, she's prepared to face down the regions most skilled trainers, the Gym Leaders and Elite 4, the kind of people Team Salem's prepared extensive research on and have old grudges to settle, and now there's a fifteen-year-old with bugs and a bird and a donkey that make up the first demonstration of her new powers. No wonder she's pissed beyond belief, particularly when her godlike powers aren't getting any results against a bunch of Pokemon who aren't exactly breaking the tier lists. Readying to fight a legendary and instead getting your arm bit by a snapping turtle before a goat headbutts you adds insult to injury, and when your opponent's also a teenage boy who doesn't actually know your plans or who you are, that really has to sting.