Guardian of The Forest

by Relic8

Set in the land of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon 'Explorers' games, Guardian of The Forest tells the story of a driven Lucario whose childhood was spent in service to the famous Wigglytuff's Guild, and his seemingly endless struggle to protect innocent Pokémon from the once-fabled beings known as Humans, intent on capturing them and forcing them into slave labour in the villages.

22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-One:

The Lord of The Labyrinth

Minutes passed as they moved among the shadows, all the while the sounds of battle growing louder and louder as the distance between them shrank.
"Keep up," his voice urged, "Shouldn't be much further now." -and during his command, he tried again and again to tap into his Aura Senses, but with every attempt it was as though the frame of mind needed had hidden itself behind a great wall of fog, and as he fought to break through the mental barrier, his clients' safety as the fuel for this fire, he felt his head swim and was only able to hide his nausea by steadying himself on part of the surrounding wall, glad that none of his companions could see him.

Then the compressive walls withdrew, and as Howl stepped out and looked up to see where they had arrived, his eyes were met with a great shower of light from a gaping hole in an angular ceiling which fell directly into the centre of the largest room they had seen yet, reaching at about eighty meters in length and about fifty-or-so meters in width.

And yet they were not alone in this giant's den.

Perched beneath the burning glow of the heavens like it were their own personal spotlight, there stood a group of roughly five humans, guards clad in their gleaming metal armour and hunters' bodies adorned with weapons, slings, ropes, and their own lightweight, bamboo-crafted armour pieces.
They were huddled in a compact circle, all of them with weapons in hand and casting wildly about into the dark that surrounded them. At the same time that Howl noticed this, he saw the state the humans were in; bodies glistening with sweat almost as brightly as the blades held before them, the armour on their bodies riddled with dents or cracked completely in the case of the hunters, and how the little of their bare skin he could see was torn, battered, and streaked with red.
And before he was left long to ponder; the humans had shuffled about in their positioning, and there, at the end directly opposite to that which he and his clients had entered by, there stood a large opening in the wall that blazed strongly with light which could only be of the outside world.

They had made it through to the end of the Mystery Dungeon.
And yet, if those before them were hesitant to flee...

His mind connected the dots in an instant and he spun round to meet Sally and Rowan as they followed him out of the tunnel,
"Stop!" he began, thrusting out his paw that was not holding Pachirisu, "Sto-!"
There came a loud clatter from somewhere that echoed across the bounty of stone, and with it came a single human's terrified scream and the sound of stampeding feet as they turned towards the source of the noise.
Then, in the instant Howl's gaze had snapped round to see what had occurred, something enormous burst out of the ground behind the humans' turned backs and reared itself up high, its head almost reaching the ceiling, and brought itself crashing down into the heart of their gathering with all the weight it possessed. But it seemed the humans' nerves were already on edge, and the instant the creature had revealed itself, they had scattered wildly in different directions in desperate attempts to evade its surprise-attack. Then the behemoth twisted itself around with lithe might and swung the length of its body round in a colossal sweep, crushing into the hapless humans before they had time to react.

Then, amidst the limp bodies soaring and bounding across the length of the arena, Howl could see one last human abandoning his comrades and making a wild dash for the exit, sprinting with panic-fuelled legs at a speed he had never seen a human reach, and yet the creature's sheer size and power overtook him in an instant and coiled itself in a circle around him, spinning around and around to trap its quarry until it slithered free and delivered a flick of its tail as it left, sending the terrified warrior skidding and bouncing along the earth just like his abandoned allies.

The creature's outline stood clear against the outside light as it reared itself high once again and let out a deafening roar that ravaged their ears even across the great distance it traversed.
Howl narrowed his eyes towards the towering Feral Steelix and felt his fur begin to dampen with cold sweat, which in turn made the dizziness that had momentarily withdrawn suddenly return in a powerful wave so that it was all he could do to prevent himself from staggering under its force.
His outstretched paw had not dropped since he had barked the order at his clients, and turning his gaze to meet them, he saw their eyes wide with horror and mouths held shut with hand or forearm.
But the way behind them had vanished with their entrance of the room. The path for their safe retreat was no longer an option to them now.

'Stay calm...' he told himself, 'This is what you were trained for...'

Howl grit his teeth and clenched his fists, struggling to keep his emotions under control.
He whispered urgently for his clients to remain noiseless, and waited, rotating his ears their full range, eyes raking the walls to left and right in anticipation.
Soon. Any moment now...
Then he heard it; the sound of another patch of wall breaking away to reveal a fresh, new tunnel, towards the middle of the enclosure on the right-hand side.
But as the sound reached them, so, too, did it reach the Feral Steelix.
With a growl that thundered the length of the cavern, it began to prowl around in wide, slow sweeps, hunting for the new arrivals who had disrupted the position of the tunnel, the intruders whose presence it knew to be there...

Howl snarled beneath his breath, but felt a surprisingly lax amount of anger at the unfortunate development.
He felt he had known it somehow.
From the moment the Feral had drawn into his sights, he had known he would have to engage it directly if any of them were to escape its territory. It was part of the job. It was what he had been trained for. Whether he was fit for the battle or not, it was just what needed to be done. What he had to do.
Without a word, he handed the unconscious Pokémon over to the humans and stepped back slowly.

He flexed his limbs to release the tension that had settled upon them.
He gave a gentle flick to his aching wrists and ankles.
Delivered a brief massage to each row of knuckles in turn.
And drew in a deep, scentless, tasteless breath of cold, damp, cavernous air to relax the frenzied beating of his heart before locking his gaze on the Feral in their path and addressing Sally, Rowan and Pidgey as one:

"No matter what you see. No matter what you hear.
You do - not - interfere.
Whether it's the one to the side, or the one that finally leads out of these caves; the moment you get the chance to escape through one of the tunnels, take it and go.
Once you're out of harm, you just sit tight and wait for me."

He thought he had heard the voice of one client - or perhaps it had been all of them combined - speaking out in open refusal to the plan, but at that moment, not a word further could reach him.
His attention was remote.
His very mental plane was remote.
Nothing in the world stirred or made a sound to him other than that Feral Steelix closing the distance between them; a giant among its own giant species.

He shot forwards, kicking up dust in his wake, the rushing air bending his ears back as he readied an Aura Sphere without the slightest concern for how hastily he rushed his vitality into the Move and hurled it forwards at last, halting its preparation only when it had begun to cause him pain.
It burst in a great veil of navy-blue upon his foe, who stopped dead in its tracks and reared up like a great metal tower, baying in agony just as Howl had made to strike again with a Force Palm.
His Move had missed, but he had not lost his momentum, and so he sprang forwards still and unsheathed his claws, latching them into the gaps between the Steelix's segmented body and leaping upward, again and again to further heights, claws latching into a fresh space with every bound, coming up closer and closer to the creature's mighty, armoured head...
And he found his mark not a millisecond too soon. He had sensed the creature relocating him, had caught a fleeting glimpse of its deep-set glare fixed straight into his own before he had brought his arm round in an uppercut motion and struck with a successful Force Palm straight to the Steelix's jaw.
Again, the gargantuan Pokémon recoiled at the blow and let out a roar that caused dust to fall even from a ceiling that stood so high as the one above their heads.
His mind as serene as though he were in a dream, Howl was not aware of his own crippling exhaustion as he made to use Extreme Speed before gravity reclaimed him and follow up his strike with another, but it was at the instant before he unleashed the burst of energy and soared closer still that the Feral's anger had burned through its pain, and it saw its attacker and unleashed the Move Roar upon him just as he had made to aim his paws in the required direction.
The retaliating Move broke through the clear-skies of his mind like the sudden clap and rumble of a storm, and Howl felt himself plummeting at an angle down to the ground and skidding away across its rough surface on his back, feeling the friction burn white-hot through the fur and into his flesh.

The Feral Steelix snarled and fired a follow-up Move of its own: Rock Tomb, and the Move glowed bright in the cavern's perpetual gloom before great, heavy boulders enveloped in the translucent, moss-brown light were thrown towards the grounded Lucario.
A few, swift-passing seconds. That was all he needed. Just enough for the adrenaline to numb the pain along his body and the burning passion of battle to reignite within him.
"For them...!" he growled through gritted teeth as he spun round onto his front and propped himself on an elbow, his nauseated mind swimming sickeningly with the faces of the Pokémon awaiting him back at the Forest.
"For the mission...!"
He lifted his head as the sounds reached his dazed ears, saw the danger and reacted on instinct alone.
He pulled himself forwards with claws buried into the ground for leverage, pushed himself high again on tremulous knees and let out Force Palm as the Steelix's Move was inches from finding its mark.
The boulder shattered into pieces, and Howl struggled to hold himself steady as he saw more falling towards him on either side, some in danger of hitting him, others merely crashed and broke among the emptiness around him.

He saw his opponent finally charging forth and stood firm, waiting.
It was not prudent for him to be on the offensive in his current condition, much less against a Pokémon as powerful as this one. Yet he was nimble, and a much smaller target, and as a Fighting-Type, he had the advantage over the Steel-Type. He would continue to let it approach from then on and wait for the openings to present themselves...

The Steelix slithered with great loud clatters as its segments scraped against each-other with every turn.
Howl waited until it was upon him, then leapt backwards as it swung its great, long tail around, and the appendage only just brushed the tips of his toes as it clattered underneath him.
He gritted his teeth, suddenly unsteady on his feet, for as he had dodged the attack, he had made to charge another Aura Sphere for his foe, but with the effort, the haze of exhaustion had returned to his mind, preventing him from striking as he had done on so many an occasion before.
He could only land, and a nanosecond view of his opponent bearing down on him with open jaws sent him rolling sidewards to escape.
At the same moment as the Steelix had collided with the ground, however, its entire body had shone with a ghostly, brown-coloured light before it burrowed beneath the soil and vanished from sight completely.
Howl was given no time to realise what had happened; he was barely given enough time to rise to his feet once more before the ground directly under him was burst asunder and he felt himself being carried upward at a speed too quick to register.

It was only the distant screams of his human companions that snapped him back to his senses.

With tired arms and legs trembling with all their strength, he realised himself to be clutched between the Feral's great jaws, gazing with his muzzle pointed straight down into its throat.
The creature's breath billowed against his fur and into his nostrils as it fought to close its metal maw, and he fought back with crazed heartbeats, unable to tear his gaze from the dark pit mere inches away that would serve as his own gruesome end.

Even through the great expansive cavern, the Pidgey's screech rang clear to the two contenders, and though Sally snatched her hand out from behind their hiding place to try and stop her, she sped away through the air and tried to peck at the eyes of the great Feral behemoth, and Howl seized what could be his one and only chance and blasted the Steelix's upper-jaw away with two combined Force Palms.
He pushed himself away, reaching even higher into the air, and for a glorious, blissful second he was free, but then the Feral's one-eyed glare was fixed upon him, the Steelix twisted its entire lithe body round in a great, contorted motion below, head at the ground and tail held up high.

"A-Ah-!" Howl gasped, but no words were formed.
The Steelix's tail came crashing upon him and he was crushed between it and the stone wall with force comparable to that of a building falling down.

There was a moment in which their guide simply hung in place upon the wall, seemingly lodged in the fissure that had been crushed into the rock's surface. But then as bits of shattered rubble fell to the earth and reverberated in the echoing stillness, Howl's limp figure was unfastened from its position and fell noiselessly through the cold cavern air until he crashed, voiceless and motionless on the ground before his foe.
And from that spot, Howl, the Demon-Guardian of The Forest, Sally and Rowan's staunch protector, did not rise up again.

The minds of the two concealed humans were numbed by what they saw. From their hiding place behind large rock structures, they were too stunned to even move.
It couldn't be...
It simply couldn't...!
The Demon of The Forest!
Their stoic protector who had battled and endured so many...
How could he have fallen?!
This could not be reality!
And yet, even through the consuming numbness of their shocked disbelief, the sound of the Feral's snarl and the terrified cry of the flying Pokémon still reached their ringing ears.

Of the two of their addled minds, the first's to return was Sally's, and through the icy panic that coursed through her veins, the sound of the Pidgey's continued terrified screech was the only thing that could to force her into action.
"Rowan!" she called, unable to keep her voice under control, fingers fumbling at the straps of her backpack,
"We have to help them! We have to use the-"
"Sally! What can we do against-"
"SOMETHING, ROWAN!" she bellowed, true terror taking hold as she spoke, "We have to do SOMETHING!"
-and suddenly the Steelix gave an alarmed snarl, and the two humans fell as motionless as statues, each of them convinced it had heard their voices, and certain that it would find them before they could resolve to do anything at all.
She shut her eyes tight as she heard the monstrosity sliding and skidding around in search, and her hand unconsciously shot out, seeking Rowan's arm, and she felt his hand grasp a tight hold of her own.
Then the movement stopped, and by the subtler scrapes and scratching-sounds, it seemed that the Steelix was glancing around.

She opened her eyes, but didn't dare make a sound. Then there was a rustle of earth and stone towards the middle of the enclosure, followed almost immediately by the crash of the ground bursting open and an unseen something unmistakeably colliding into the Steelix's head, for the roar that followed was one of pain and fury to make the dust above their heads fall in light showers.
They shuffled cautiously and peered out from their seclusion.
Had they been mistaken? Had Howl rose again to continue the fight after all?
But no.
The figure they could make out was far smaller, and had not a strand of blue fur on its being.
"That's the one from...!" Rowan gasped, and before she could question further, another figure had erupted from the ground directly behind the Feral, spinning in dizzying motions too fast for their gaze to penetrate, with what appeared to be blades thrust out before it, drilling straight into the Steelix's metal coat.
The young Bunnelby and Drilbur dove back into the earth again before they could be countered and the Steelix followed after the latter, plunging its way into the pit after its quarry just as there came the patter of footsteps from what sounded like across the battlefield.
Then a peculiar sound reverberated through the air, and, unable to hold her curiosity at bay, Sally glanced out from behind their cover and saw Pokémon she could only guess to be extras whom Howl had freed from their imprisonment in the mountain town; and the source of the curious sounds was a somewhat plump, pink-bodied figure leaning over the place where they knew Howl to have fallen.
Sally craned her neck to get a better view, but found her already-shaken nerves giving an almost violent jerk in her body as the view was obscured by the very Pokémon she herself had freed from the cage, and whom had laid siege to the entire market square mere moments after its release.
For the first time since they had realised themselves in danger, she found herself sharing Rowan's unwavering desire to flee from the dangers entirely, found herself thinking as her eyes followed the Charizard that while the other Pokémon were present, their guide was undoubtedly safe, whereas they themselves were anything but.
Before she could consider her actions, however, there came another sound of shuffling stone, and the Feral Steelix erupted from the ground once again, the Drilbur sent tumbling away from the burst-open ground until it came to an unsteady rest against the opposite wall, and before either human had time to work their heads around that, the Bunnelby had followed the attacker themself and struck it from behind with Mud Shot.
Before she had time to witness its reaction, however she felt Rowan's cold palm suddenly slap over her mouth as he shuffled close towards her, barely making a sound in his movements.
She followed the direction of his gaze and saw the Pachirisu stirring, rousing itself at the sounds of battle, and even as its dreary, half-lidded eyes swept straight past them they kept as motionless as they could.
A crash resounded, and the Pachirisu gave a little start and limped hastily out from behind the cover, saw the cause of the commotion and trudged on weakened legs out into the open.

Wrestling herself free and ignoring Rowan's protests, she half-lifted her head out of concealment and peered after the creature as, to her barely-contained alarm, it carried itself forward with Quick Attack and pushed its Bunnelby companion out of the air and swept him out of harm as the Feral Steelix's tail came crashing down in the place where he had been about to land.
She retreated as the Bunnelby's gaze turned to its saviour, and consequently towards their hiding place, and she heard the Ground-Type speak in an enthusiastic tone that could only be one of gratitude, but before she had time to sneak another glance, the crash of the Feral's rampaging tail burst upon her eardrums from mere feet away.
She felt Rowan take hold of her arm again, and had not the force to resist as he kept low and hurried her along through the shadows, closer towards the brightly-glowing exit of the cavernous arena.

As she glanced back over her shoulder, she saw several combatants sent soaring as the Steelix's tail swept along the ground, and decimated the cover they had been hiding behind as if it were a sculpture made of sand.

From across the room, in the direction from which the newcomers had arrived, there came another Pokémon's cry, and the human's eyes were turned in time to see the Charizard's daughter, Axew, throw an inferior variant of the Move Dragon Rage after the Steelix as it made to attack the unsteady Pachirisu with Rock Tomb.
The projectiles of the Move fell with resounding clamour to the ground, one landing directly on the attacker's head as it fell, who turned round, located the source of its disturbance and charged for the young one.

Her father's voice boomed across the arena, and from his own fissure in the wall he emerged and struggled to take to the air, to close in on the Feral as it saw the other Pokémon behind the Axew, converged around the entrance to the room, and began to quicken the pace of its twists and turns.
Desperately the Charizard launched Fire Blast from the distance, hoping against the odds that the Move would reach the target he could not, and all who had eyes with which to see caught a horrifying glimpse of the gargantuan Feral rearing itself high, glaring down at the little figure cowering below before a sudden rush of blue haze burst upon the Steelix's neck, and before there was even time to acknowledge that, the Charizard's Fire Blast found its mark at last, and the creature was sent crashing and cascading stone and earth along the ground until it smashed into the wall, creating the biggest fissure yet.

His vision a mass of blurred outlines and vague shapes, his head awash in sickly pain, Howl drove his fist into the ground beneath him and pushed himself to his knees.
The Audino whom had revived him with Heal Pulse put her hands on his shoulders, struggling vainly to prevent him from standing, but he shook her off and managed to stand upright on violently-shaking legs.

"What's going on?!"

A new voice met his ears, and turning towards its source, he found that the entryway to the side had vanished, and what looked like every Pokémon they had freed all standing beside him and Audino, as the latter drew in close to him and resumed her use of Heal Pulse.
"So... you're all OK..." Howl groaned in a strained voice. As Audino's treatment took further effect, and he felt the blur across his vision begin to relent, and faces amidst the crowd began to resume familiar shapes.
"You fools!" said a snarling voice, and Howl felt the ground tremble as the Charizard landed close by, and deduced by a faint whimper accompanying his raised voice that he had retrieved his daughter from further harm.
"I told you to stay behind!" he seethed, black smoke wafting from the corners of his maw,
"Now we have to protect you and fight! The way's closed off now because you left!"
"No, it isn't," said Howl, holding himself steady on the wall and managing to match the Charizard's look with his own,
"A Mystery Dungeon's tunnels never close off entirely... the entrance will reappear soon enough. Not that we need it anyway."
"And you-!" Charizard snarled, "What d'you think you were doing, running off like that?! Stay close, you said, don't fall behind, you told us, and then you went and hurried on without us! Did you forget we're wounded and sick?! You call yourself a-"
"What do you mean?" said Pidgey, cutting across the Charizard and ignoring his scornful reminder of proper manners.
"Why wouldn't we need the other way out?"
Howl flashed her a brief, thankful smile, as he had known all too well what he had been doing as he'd rushed ahead of the other Pokémon, and had been twice as grateful for her understanding back then at the time of the act.
"We're all going the same way," he said, feeling more of his strength return with each passing moment of Audino's treatment, though his entire being was still ablaze with pain. He supposed dimly that some bones had been fractured.
"Unless," he continued, "somebody really thinks all of us combined can't take one big Feral..."
There was another scuffling sound in the distance, an alarmed cry from someone in the crowd, and Howl reflexively grasped hold of the Audino and leaped out of harm as the Steelix charged towards their gathering, coming to a halt when its onslaught met no impact and reared its tail up, ready to bring it crashing down on the Houndour, Sewaddle and Espurr, who had only managed to back against the wall and avoid collision thanks to their small size.

Suddenly both the Espurr's body and the Steelix's tail glowed a pale, radiant blue, and Howl recognised it as the little Psychic-Type using Telekinesis to prevent the impact - though her strength failed her, and rather than hold the tail in place, she could only slow its movement, and still it travelled inexorably down like a stone being slowly pushed further down into mud.
Then directly beneath the tail, within the earth darkened by the its shadow, something suddenly shifted about, and the Drilbur and Bunnelby exploded out together and struck the tail as one, sending it back into the air, and Ivysaur appeared suddenly from behind the Steelix and latched his vines around the tail, preventing it from moving again so that the smaller Pokémon could be shepherded away.
"How..." Howl asked with narrowed eyes as the Bunnelby and Drilbur hurried the children back to him and Charizard, "How can it move so fast? We've been chipping away at it non-stop, but it seems as if its been getting faster as the fight continues..."
The Drilbur gave a baffled shrug and shake of the head, but the Bunnelby's ears had suddenly sprang upright, eyes alight with a dawning revelation.
"There was..." he murmured as the Drilbur hurried away to assist Ivysaur in his struggle, "There was a noise it kept making... When we both used Dig and were under the ground... always when it was just outta sight, I kept hearing this... clang-y, scraping sound, as if..."
Howl felt a rush of exhilaration as his mind located the answer.
"Rock Polish!" he said,
"The last of its Moves!
So... whenever they're out of harm's way, they've taken the chance to give themselves a little boost...
That's... That's actually pretty good.
Ah, no,"
-he added at the looks the others all gave him,
"-not good for us. That's actually pretty problemat-"
His words were cut across by a frightened yelp from the Drilbur as their opponent sent them fleeing from an onslaught of Rock Tomb boulders being hurled after them, apparently unaware of the little threat a Rock-Type Move presented to them, and immediately after that, the Steelix let its head fall to the ground, inches in front of Ivysaur, setting him up to be blasted away by Roar, and before Howl, Charizard or even Bunnelby could hasten to intervene, the Steelix burrowed itself back into the ground and vanished from sight.

Panic resounded from one end of the cavern to the other: The Pokémon captives all yelled and jostled in opposing directions, casting about wildly for the opponent whom they knew would reappear in a matter of moments, and Howl managed at last to relocate the strength to access his telepathy and ordain the command for all to hear:
"Stop!" he called, and astonishingly even to him, the command was met with absolute compliance,
"Don't spread out so far!" he continued, "Get back here, get in close!"
"You want us to huddle up?!" Charizard snarled directly into his ears, "That'll make our entire group one big, easy picking!"
"Move!" Howl commanded, ignoring the dissent, "Quickly! Before it catches you all alone!"
"Mister, what are we doing?!" Pidgey whispered, but he replied softly,
"You get in position too, little miss. This is going to take a little input from all of us in order for it to work."
He heard her give an exhilarated intake of breath, and as soon as he told her where to remain stationed, she fluttered the few feet required and hovered resolutely in place.

Figures from the shadows hurried to approach, and as each drew into focus, Howl clearly directed them with swiftness of speech quite unattainable through tongue; where to stand, face, what Move to prepare and exactly how and when they were to use it.

He held little regard for the fleeting looks they gave him, and it was only as Pachirisu, Sewaddle and Houndour all gave him an identical stare that he realised he had been subconsciously smiling.
As the fight had escalated with the arrival of more combatants, he had found his thoughts drifting constantly to years passed, and in those brief moments of calm, his memories came back in full flow to his guild days, when missions like this were commonplace; when he had been a proud comrade in an alliance of skilled fighters; when his own talents had been an essential component, and his weaknesses managed by the group's other individuals.
And how, when under the direction of one stoic leader, their alliance had felt unstoppable when faced with even the mightiest of opposition.
His smile deepened, and just as he was in danger of losing himself to the memories, a voice awoke within him; a voice he couldn't help associating with his beloved partner.
'Howl!' the Illume of his memory snapped, 'get a grip! Now isn't the time to get stuck in your head! This isn't training!'

Then the final Pokémon drew towards them, their outline staggering Howl before they had drawn into the light;
Ivysaur, and slung across his back was the sickly Delcatty, on her back and all four legs still clinging with all their strength to the egg, which looked in danger of almost falling to the ground before Espurr's pale blue glow suddenly enveloped them all, and their weight seemed to lessen as they hurried the final steps into the wide-stretched, vaguely-defined circle they had all formed.
He wanted to ask after the Delcatty's condition, wanted to commend the Ivysaur for keeping them both safe throughout the onslaught, but instead he gave a curt nod and said,
"Over there, next to Audino," and adding to the aforementioned Pokémon, "As soon as we've got its attention, you take hold of her and treat her as you did for me, got it?"
No words were spoken, which was for the better, though in the brief instant that Audino glanced back as Ivysaur had drawn to her side, he saw her eyes flash with determination.
Then at last, there followed the absence of footsteps and the dominance of total quiet.

Sally felt her ears begin to ring, and glanced towards Rowan, but found him still with his back to the cold stone and eyes unwavering from the direction he had turned them in.
Still the silence reigned on, and unable to restrain her burning curiosity, she stuck her head out from behind their fresh concealment for only a dangerous moment, just to catch a glimpse of what was happening.
Within the centre of the cavernous arena, roughly encircled around the patch of sunlight spilling from the opening in the ceiling, she saw all the Pokémon their guide had gathered facing out in opposite directions, and each and every one of them keeping completely still and utterly silent - save for the wingbeats of the airborne Pidgey.

Then, after what might have been an eternity of nerve-ending silence, the ground in-between their formation burst open.
Yet, despite the alarm and locked attention of several Pokémon, no towering form erupted from the open pit.
Before there was time to acknowledge that, it happened again towards the exit-side of the cavern, and a third time feet apart from that.
Then the ground was burst asunder for the fourth time, towards the end opposite the brightly-glowing path to freedom, and out reared the Steelix's entire, lithe body, glowing projectiles of Rock Tomb at the ready, and at the exact same instant it had shown its face, there had resounded the echoing, ear-splitting, crystal-clear command that could only have come from their guide.

"NOW!" Howl called, his voice the greatest replica he could make of his Guildmaster's tone, and the gathering of frail, debilitated, frightened captives couldn't have given a more magnificent response.

Exactly as he had commanded, their formation dispersed, and Moves cracked and exploded through the air.
The star-shaped rays of Pachirisu's Swift, the heavy chunk of Bunnelby's Mud Shot, and the uncontrolled wave of energy that was Axew's Dragon Rage all rushed towards the Feral, stopping it dead in its tracks before it could look to aim its own Move, Howl and Charizard's Aura Spheres and Flamethrower crushing the rocky projectiles to dust before their holder had time to react, and Espurr and Ivysaur rushing into position either side of the Feral before proceeding exactly as instructed; Ivysaur lifting the little Sewaddle high with his vines and allowing her to throw a great, continuous web of the gelatinous String Shot onto their common foe, creasing between its smooth segments and hindering its movements while Espurr held its whole body at bay with her Telekinesis.
Then Howl and Charizard beckoned behind them, and the Houndour and Drilbur dashed forth, ran up along the two older Pokémon's backs and allowed themselves to be boosted high into the air, their combining Fire Fang and Rapid Spin Moves catching the Steelix squarely in its middle-most segment, sending the towering Feral lurching its head down towards the ground, right in place for the final attackers to make their strike.
Howl and Charizard sprang forwards side-by-side, Howl overtaking the Fire-Type with use of Extreme Speed, grasping onto the Feral's upper-jaw and pushing with opposing feet and arms to open its mouth, even as the creature struggled and writhed against its considerable restraints.
But then, as Charizard closed in, the Feral managed to unleash Roar just as the impending strike drew upon it, and Charizard was sent tumbling back across the ground, coming to a halt closer towards the exit than the Steelix had been beforehand.
Suddenly there came a snapping sound, and he realised with horror that the Feral had begun to shake off the String Shot Sewaddle had so diligently plastered over it, and he tried desperately to land a weary Force Palm in its open maw, but that only seemed to enrage it further, pulling back against the Espurr's restraint and lifting Howl high up towards the ceiling again.
Then, amidst the thundering of blood through his brain, he heard the voice of the Audino give a desperate, pleading cry, and turning his eyes, he saw the outlined body of Delcatty glowing the same colour as Espurr, and felt himself being lowered back into place as the Delcatty, even in her weakened state forced herself to use Copycat and empower Espurr's restraining hold on their foe.
Howl saw Charizard across the arena getting awkwardly to his feet, heard Axew - closely followed by all the others - calling out to him words of encouragement, and finally the Fire-Type took to gliding low to the ground with his wings, as fast as he could go, speeding back to reclaim his target, and as the creature attempted to close its mouth, Howl seized the chance to use a Force Palm on its lower-jaw first before forcing its upper-jaw wide again.
Charizard soared into the air once more, speeding through it as fast as a Rapidash on the earth, drew a blazing left-arm back behind him, and caught the Steelix with a full blast of Fire Punch directly into its gaping maw.

The great, towering titan of a Pokémon was launched away through the air the length of the entire room; flying as if blasted out a canon, bouncing, clattering, and carving a ravine through the dim, grey ground, reaching towards the tunnel which had reappeared at the opposite end, but Howl's eyes were averted at that moment, for he felt gravity begin to pull him back down, and just as he was bracing his exhausted limbs for the impact of the fall, he halted a mere inch above the ground, caught by Espurr before he was immediately dropped again with a thud, winded, but unharmed.

With a grunt of defiance against the high-pitched singing of his body's myriad of pains, he rolled over to all-fours and lifted his head to see what had become of their opposition.

Metres away, almost totally submerged in the shadows save for the gleaming of its body in the reflected light, he could see the Steelix struggling to reach its full height as well.
Though it would not be fool enough to attack them again. The damage it had sustained was insurmountable, and he could tell by its limp, hindered movements that Sewaddle's String Shot webs still held fast.
"Everyone..." he said, unable to conceal his fatigue despite his effort.
He had to breathe deeply for a second and reach higher than his knees before he could issue his final command to them.
"Positions... quick."
And he charged the largest Aura Sphere he could muster between his paws to punctuate his words.
Even if it could tell the battle was over, the Feral Steelix may have needed that knowledge hammered home a little more candidly before it was willing to admit it.
The Pokémon former-captives gave not a moment's hesitation as they rushed to his side in a large line through the middle of the the arena, most following his lead and readying whatever ranged attacks they had at their disposal, others simply bracing their stance and locking their gaze forward as the Feral surveyed them across the room.

Cold fury; blind hatred and an almost desperate desire to lunge back into chaos could be read upon its features even across the distance between them.
No-one in the cavern moved or made a sound, save for the Steelix as at last it twisted and shook itself to left and right, trying, in appearance, to remove the webs that hindered it so.
Though he couldn't see them plainly, Howl felt the eyes of his allies upon him and, as the plainest and most coherent response he could give, he widened the gap between his paws as he charged more of his Aura into the explosive Sphere, clutching it tight and perfectly prepared to throw it with all his strength.

And as he heard the sounds of those beside him following suit, he saw comprehension finally dawn in the rage-filled eyes of their foe.

The Feral Steelix bared its massive teeth at them and its stentorian bellow soared as an almost visible wave across the entire length of the arena towards them, but it was neither a Move nor a sign of aggression; just a vague expression of outrage or an oath of reprisal.
But at that, it turned round and slipped its way into the tunnel at the opposite end, leading it further inside, and allowing them their escape.

"Is..." came a quiet voice from a Pokémon to Howl's left, "I-Is it over...?"
"Yup," said the Charizard on his right, "no question. That brute isn't comin' back."
"We... actually won..." said another voice further to his right side, closely followed by a nervous laugh.
Then the air was rent with the sounds of joyous cries, victorious howling, and the ranged Moves many had been storing at the ready being thrown up towards the ceiling and illuminating the walls of the cavern in a cascade of colours.
Howl closed his eyes and felt the corners of his mouth twitch as his memories turned once more to his guild days: and for the most fleeting of instances, he felt himself drawing in a deep breath in preparation to join his baying companions in celebration...
But he felt his chest ache before he had drawn too deeply, and the sudden pain seemed to rouse him to his senses.

Watching from the shadows, the two humans were forced to retreat behind their cover again as the Pokémon's feet thundered past them towards the exit, spouting cries of joy and some even continuing to hurl Moves into the air as they ran, and then they heard the sound of heavy, bare, padded footfalls come to a sudden halt just before following the rest.
A moment's pause.
Then they heard their guide's voice speak in a tone of the deepest exasperation.
"You... idiots," he groaned,
"Why didn't you run? What were you thinking...?"
And before they could contemplate a response, he told them sharply to remain out of sight, as if he had suspected their intentions, and informed them he would direct them when the distance was wide enough for them to follow along behind him and the other Pokémon.
Then the padded footfalls pattered away across the stone and drifted into the distance, and after what felt like a full ten minutes, they heard his voice give them the all-clear, and with nary a glance back at their surroundings, they ran as fast as they could out of the room and into the open air, each of them more than content to let the memories of the haunting labyrinth be eternally forgotten.

Howl led the freed Pokémon up the large, steep hill that followed, and even he felt himself taxed by the effort it required.
"C'mon!" said Pidgey, suddenly adopting Howl's stern tone of voice, "Quit panting like that, you bunch'a Slaking!"
"You can fly!" Howl retorted, "This is easy for you!"
"Easy?!" she twittered in disgust, "You think flying is easy?!"
Howl heard a loud groan from behind him and turned to see the Charizard doubled over and sweating greater than any of those around him.
"Getting too old for this bilge..." he grumbled, and was unfortunate enough for Howl to have heard him.
"Oh dear..." he drawled, "Don't worry, old Mon, we're almost at the top. When we get there, I could give you a therapeutic massage if you need it..."
His words seemed to ignite the Charizard's metaphorical fire.

"You? Please. You wouldn't be able to get through all this muscle."
"Well, I suppose I would want to be careful... don't want to damage any og those old bones by mistake..."

Black smoke flared from the Charizard's nose until he expelled it in a huff of irate air and forced his own pace to quicken, stomping up the hill until he drew almost level with his critic, and promptly delivered a sideways smack with a wing his across his muzzle as Howl's expression did not fade.
Howl heard the Fire-Type grumbling about the current generation of youths, and caught such key words as 'disrespectful' and 'youthful arrogance'.
But far from irritating him, he felt his wry smile deepen as he hurried to catch up to them.
He saw the peak of the hill and flashed a glance in the Charizard's direction, and could tell by how he had received one in turn that the Fire-Type was thinking just the same thing.
"Just you try it," he snarled, causing yet another waft of smoke to billow from his nostrils.
Even his daughter perched atop his head seemed to have discerned the sudden rivalry and stuck out her tongue at Howl, who crooked an amused ear at her before the Charizard quickened his pace even further.
Howl had just begun to draw a deep inhale in preparation for giving chase, when there came a sudden outcry from the rear of the travelling Pokémon, followed by a chorus of terrified screams.
He spun round, paws at the ready, expecting more foes, escaped humans or the Steelix giving chase.
The eyes of the travelling Pokémon were turned as one towards the Ivysaur who had been so diligently carrying both the Delcatty and egg atop his back, but at a glance Howl discerned that the mother had collapsed onto the grassy earth and had began to roll unsteadily downhill, but already she had been caught. Yet the screams did not cease, and with another glance, Howl saw why, and felt a wave of as horror wash over him.
The dull pain in his legs suddenly a distant memory, he charged down the hill again and saw a small selection of the others begin to give chase to the egg as well, but they would not reach it in time, and Howl could see its course set directly towards what looked like a sudden dip in the earth, be it the dominance of empty air or yet another downhill slope, his terror seemed elevated to even greater heights as he saw the egg begin to gather momentum as it travelled.
Howl seized the Houndour around her middle and leaned down, hoping to lessen resistance in the air and quicken their own momentum, but he held the young Fire-Type fast and prepared to thrust her out to grab the egg in his stead.
As a male, the one thing he must not do is let the egg into direct contact with his body, much more so since its true father had been absent for so long...

With every audible little thud and every bound as it moved, the fear was sent in an electric shock through him again and again, and he knew the Houndour in his grasp shared the feeling, and it was as though everything - time itself - slowed to a crawl and held its breath as the egg neared the lip where the descending slope fell at such a deepening angle that it would be no exaggeration to consider it a mere fall, and the path it offered was strewn from crest to base with jutting rocks, protruding roots and a stubbornly uneven surface.
Howl sprang forward with what little strength his legs held, carried by them and by sheer momentum as he held the Houndour out before him, falling through the air, knowing they were upon the egg at last, mere inches away.

"Grab it, grab it!" he pleaded, almost not daring to look.

They pummelled the earth with such force he felt the spike on his chest plunge into the smooth soil, and his ears strained to hear any noises as he angled his head to see past the little one in his grasp.
"Have you got it?!" he demanded.
Her response came as tremulous murmur that he couldn't discern as a yes or a no.
Carefully he released his grip on her hind legs and crawled around to see, and felt relief spread over his numbed being.
The egg was lodged firmly between her front paws, hovering in the air above the slope that would lead it to positive destruction.
"I can't..." she gasped, her paws beginning to tremble, "It's too heavy... It's slipping!"
"Hang on, keep still!" he responded, casting wildly about for something among the grass he could use for indirect leverage. Then his eyes found a tree stump and he sped upon it, tore off a large chunk of the wood and appeared back at Houndour's side, slipping it beneath the egg, perching it on a forearm.
The moment he felt the weight of the egg, he felt the effect it had on his body:
The length of his arm began to glow with the translucent blue of his own life energy as the egg reached almost hungrily for it, felt his pulse began to speed, the weakness in his limbs suddenly invigorated with an almost intoxicating flow of primal desire.
Very much alike to how Houndour struggled to hold the egg in place, he too fought to prevent his reasons not to touch it from slipping away;
It was so very close; no more than two inches of bark away.
He wanted to place his paw on it; wanted to pass on his own vitality, wanted to be the one to guard and protect the life within that he himself had helped to create, wanted to witness the egg hatch before his very eyes...

But it was not his own.
What his urges commanded him to do was little more than the grossest of theft.

He wrestled back the desire and choked down his own emotion with an audible swallow, shut his eyes and lifted the egg upward, trusting the Houndour to hold it steady on either side.
He heard the little one's exhalation and opened his eyes at last, and found them to be burning, but the danger had passed: the egg was safe. Nestled close into the Houndour's entire underbelly, almost as large as her whole body, with all four of her legs barely managing to reach around it in her attempt at an embrace, her cheeks hissed with the steaming tears of the Fire-Type Pokémon.
Her body too was aglow with the translucent light, yet the core of the egg still retained the strong pink glow from its mother, and not a mote of the Houndour's energy was drawn into its being.
Howl remained motionless, his eyes were fastened upon the specs of the jade-green glow that had undoubtedly been that of its father, and clenched his fists with the effort to force his gaze away.

He had barely taken a third step when the familiar voice of the Audino rang out from above, towards the middle of the hill, and Howl caught the accompanying sounds of her Heal Pulse again. Her words sent his ravaged body into the pits of cold fear, and such a deepness was its chill that his knees near buckled, and every individual strand of fur across his being bristled with its passing.
Somehow, his shattered mind found the strength in his broken being to force him to climb the hill's dust-laden, green-patched tract, and all the while he heard the voices of the other Pokémon joining the Audino's frightened, desperate tone, and as he finally arrived among them, his eyes were met with the limp, sweating, tremulous body of the egg's mother.

"Please...!" the Audino beseeched, holding her arms aloft over the Delcatty's rapidly inflating and deflating body, "You can't... You mustn't say that! Your baby! Think of them!"
-and as she spoke, the Houndour reached their side at last, assisted by Pidgey, Sewaddle, Drilbur, Pachirisu and most notably Espurr, all of them practically shoving the egg back into its mother's hold.
"You're all they have left for family!" Charizard put in, "They need you!"
Howl saw the glimmer of the Delcatty's eyes beneath their heavy, drooping lids, and dropped to his knees when they flicked in his direction.
"You're going to be alright," he said, his paw joining Audino's above her middle and struggling to use his own inferior Heal Pulse.
"Just focus on your breathing. Deep and slow. Don't let your eyes close."
Delcatty seemed barely to register his words. Perhaps her nausea was too deep for her to have heard him.

The Pokémon around her drew themselves close, offering similar words of support, of comfort.
Hands, paws, claws and wings alike were placed gently upon her being. Soothing, urging, pleading, desperate voices accompanying them.

Her mouth moved in the motion of attempting speech, and knowing he would not be able to dissuade her, the Guardian leaned in close until his ear was practically at her lips, and the rest of the Pokémon around them fell silent as stones.
"Thank you..." the Delcatty breathed, as her words began to drift further and further away,
"Take... to safety...
...watch over...
healthy... a-and...
...happy..."
And a single tear fell from her brimming eyes as she managed a last breathless, yet surprisingly steady message as her head was laid back upon the green grass beneath:

"Thank you...
Thank...
you..."

Then the egg rolled out from beneath her clutches, coming to rest in Audino's grasp.

"No."
To those around him, the composure he had maintained for so long seemed to have vanished as if snuffed out like a candle.

"Don't you dare..."
The large, charcoal-black paws suddenly clenched upon her shoulders and began shaking her.
"You're not stopping here! You have to carry on!"
"Mister!" came Pidgey's terrified voice, but he was oblivious to her.
"Open your eyes," he said, his tone mounting to a shout as his grip tightened on the Delcatty's shoulders.
"OPEN YOUR EYES!"
There came a sudden grab around him and he felt the Charizard pull him firmly away, snapping at him,
"Enough, you fool! There's nothing you can do, you understand?!
She's gone.
There's nothing more we can do..."
Howl shook his head, refusing to believe his words. Unable to believe them, his mind a torrent of vivid faces from the darkest depths of his memory.
"No...!"

His smaller, blue paw outstretched to save a Mawile as her hand fell from his into the vast expanse of air beneath them;
The faces of the Pokémon he and Illume had failed to reach in time, within the depths of the Mystery Dungeons.
Walking along the leaf-strewn path towards the Family Trees, only to find the bereaved kin already huddled together, mourning the elder sister, the father, or the cousin they had lost.
He and Illume in their own quiet home, unable to sleep, and unable to do more than hold each other close and shiver in silent tears from the events of the previous day.

"Not again..." he choked, feeling his own body fall limp in the Charizard's iron grip.
"It can't... No...
Not again..."

Time's passing was a foreign concept to the travellers upon the mountain's surface, both the Pokémon ahead and the two solitary, secluded humans who followed in their footsteps.
In stark comparison to the day's earlier events, they met no resistance as they moved on from the twisting labyrinth they had fought to escape.
The weather remained warm and impassive, the skies ahead a piercing blue until they begun to fade into the tint of sapphire, the sun a golden, spherical blaze creeping steadily down to the horizon when the party as a whole stopped to take in their surroundings.

The rising hills had relented since they had crested the first, and the tallest one, and the plain that had followed had been strewn with shallow streams and small clumps of plant-life with trees dotting the mountain, but none large enough for them to take shelter among.
And more so, none heralding enough of nature's beauty to serve the purpose they sought.
Then, as it was looking as if they would have to make do with what little they had been offered, they found themselves crossing paths with a vast expanse of verdant green grass, stood tall and proud around a crystalline pond, glimmering in the sky's darkening light, and towards the opposite end of the pond was a majestic view of the mountainous lands beneath them.

Howl chose his moment, and returned to find his human clients and direct them to a ridge atop higher ground; where they were to remain still and silent, so he would be able to keep watch over them without detection.

Sally sat with her back against a rock and idly brushed a hand over her now perfectly healed shin while Rowan sat opposite her, neither of them saying a word.
It was a testament to the gravity of their situation that Sally was neither brimming with questions, and nor was Rowan fidgeting or anxiously throwing out doubts or paranoia-induced statements.
Then, finally, Rowan's uncertain voice broke the silence,
"Do you think... maybe..."
She lifted her gaze to find his cast to the side, then to the ground, then the opposite side, anywhere but towards the one his words were intended for.
"maybe the hunters or guards... were the ones who did it?"
She understood his desire for his face not to be seen. It was a desire she herself shared as her thoughts were dragged against her will back to the horror they had seen upon drawing to the Pokémon.
"No..." she replied in a frail voice that did not belong to her, "Our... guide... he's taken all sorts of beatings. I don't think a Pokémon could have been..."
She choked.
"Not... not so easily. They can heal all sorts of damage in about a minute, right?"
"But he's been suffering from blood loss," Rowan persisted, "Even they can only take so much."
"I didn't see any blood, though... Did you see any?"
"No... Guess you're right..."

Another stretch of silence dominated their respite.
They guessed on in defeated murmurs as to what the cause had been, and sometimes their words yielded a response, while other times they fell unheeded.
Neither of them held any true desire to know what had been the cause of the creature's fate, but it was something they felt almost like they had to know, as if it were immoral or even cowardice for them to try and shield themselves from the knowledge.

Sally could not escape the image of the look in their guide's crimson glare, could not forget the curt, careworn tones with which he had regarded them.
In truth, it had frightened her, and worried her now to no end.
For the first time since that terrifying night in her tavern, when she had first tasted fear for her life, she did not feel safety when their guide was nearby.
She looked back at Rowan and wondered how much of her feelings held true for him. Whether he was debating the genuine intent of slipping away in the dead of night.
Just as she found herself to be doing.

The noise of a Move was carried by the wind to their ears, and Sally found herself shuffling towards Rowan's side to see what was happening.

Howl stood by and gazed in silence as the Delcatty floated gently through the air with Espurr's Telekinesis, across the grass which they had together cut back until its blades settled comfortably beneath their feet, towards the mound they had prepared for her.
The Delcatty came to a soft halt above the empty grove of earth and was lowered with equal tenderness down until she came to rest at the bottom of its depths, no more than a few feet below them.
Howl looked over the faces of the freed captives, and saw them riddled with grief, and there came a few barely-silenced sobs as the Drilbur and Bunnelby together began to shimmy the earth they had upheaved back into its place until the mound before them was no more.
As the sobs transcended into unleashed cries from some, the humans watched on in silence from their vantage point high above, whispering to one-another as the event proceeded.
"Just like any other burial..." Rowan observed, "That... wasn't what I expected."
She shifted a perplexed glance in his direction.
"I dunno," he said with a vague motion of his hand, "I just... would have thought there'd be some... something abou-
Wait!
Is that... What's the... pink one doing now now?"
She looked back towards the Pokémon.

Howl's eyes followed the Audino as she moved slowly through the corridor of spectators, the sapling she and Ivysaur had sought out together held securely between her cupped hands.
Howl and Charizard stepped forth from their station, the Charizard clutching his trembling daughter close to his chest, and he and Howl knelt down at either side of the mound and dug out a notch in the very centre.
With nary a word, they backed away together and Howl's eyes returned to the location of his unseen clients as the Charizard gently bounced the Axew in his arms to comfort her.

"Why are they planting...?" Rowan queried, but Sally had figured the answer out already as the Ivysaur spread a strange, powdery substance of what looked like pollen from the bud on its back, and all the Pokémon together passed in a line, one after the other, a few steps in the humans' direction to scoop pawfuls of water from the now gleaming, golden pond and drop it lightly onto the sapling that stood over the Delcatty's final resting place.
"I-It's..." Sally began, her voice a tremulous murmur as she felt the understanding settle upon her,
"It's for the... the buried one. When the body decomposes..."
Her throat felt suddenly parched, and it was a struggle to force further words out.
Her understanding was on point however:
For when the body broke down and became part of the earth, it would be from that very same earth that the young tree sapling they had buried would draw forth its nutrition.
This way, the Delcatty was guaranteed never to vanish fully beyond their reach. Her body, one day, would be absorbed directly into the sapling they had planted, which would one day mature into a majestic Oran Berry tree.
Forever, she would live on within its wooden limbs, and bask in the sun along with its leaves.

When at last she had managed to convey the entirety of her explanation to him, she was surprised to see his hand upon the rock begin to tremble, and for him to shift his gaze away from her before she had finished speaking.
She prodded him with a mutter of his name, then did it again stubbornly, unaware of the Pokémon below all turning slowly to face the amber ball of flame that was the setting sun, and the humans' cries of alarm were lost in the din of the Pokémon's voices rending through the heavens, towards the crescent moon that glistened in the clear, evening sky.
"W-What the-?!" Rowan yelped, "A-Are they-?!"
Sally shushed him desperately, but unnecessarily; the Pokémon all gathered together had their attentions held quite remote, all eyes turned skyward as the sun and moon together shone their lights over the land of green fertility, and their mighty cries bellowed out into the heavens as if to reach the celestial beings themselves.
Rowan's question hung in the air, unanswered, but an answer was unneeded.
Just as they had understood the significance of the sapling, they found themselves grasping that of the peculiar act they now witnessed below.

Howl closed his eyes amidst the cries and pictured the Delcatty mother's face once more.
The loving smile she wore that could only come from a mother, and her eyes, tired as they were, filled to the point of flowing with gratitude and hope.

Then he drew in a breath so deep his chest inflated like a Drifloon, before he finally divulged for all around the reason behind the name Illume had given him:

He turned his muzzle skyward, folded his ears as flat as they could go, and let out a great, long mighty howl that brimmed with the emotion of its creator.
The wild ululation carried over the other contending cries with a strength that made the winds of a hurricane seem like the twittering morning-song of a Pidove.
Sally and Rowan watched on, each of their views blurred by the welling of tears as Howl and all the other Pokémon let out their mighty calls into the heavens, bidding the departing Delcatty her final, and the most beloved farewell she could ever have wished for as her spirit passed on from this world, and into whatever the fates held in store for them.