Today's special thanks goes to long time reviewer of this story, Freak666chaos. Thanks again!
And, without further interuptions, here's chapter 14, The Wrath of Tsa' aal!
The sun shone down on the green fields. The grass seemed to shine in its blaze, and waved at it in the wind. A lone Seviper slithered through the grass, his red eyes gazing out to the fields. He slowly slid through the grass, soaking in the enviroment. He took a breath of the warm, spring air as he moved throughout the field, almost lazily. However, something soon caught his sight, as he began to slide into a grove of apples trees.
A small Ekans, a bag tied around his coils, was yelling at a Pikachu and a Pichu. The three were clearly in a heated argument.
The Seviper sighed. Again?
He slid into the grove, listening to the two boys, and small girl, yell.
"Just admit it, slimy! You're scared!" the Pikachu said.
"Yeah!" the Pichu chimed in.
"Na-uh!" the Ekans replied. "I don't need to prove anything to you two!"
"See?" the Pikachu turned to the Pichu, grinning. "He's a Scaredy Meowth!"
The Pichu laughed. "Scaredy Meowth! Scaredy Meowth!"
"I am not!" the Ekans yelled.
"Oh, yeah?" the Pikachu said. "Prove it!" He pointed to a particularly tall apple tree. "Climb up there and get the perfect apples on the top!"
"I'm not going to!" the Ekans seethed.
"Why not?" the Pikachu said.
"Because my Mom said that I'm not allowed to climb that tree! The branches aren't safe and it's too tall for someone my age!"
The Pikachu and Pichu began laughing loudly. "He's not just a Scaredy Meowth! He's a Mommy's boy!" the Pikachu said, snickering.
The Pichu was laughing so hard she could barely breath.
The Ekans lost it. "Alright!" he shouted. "Come on!" he charged the Pikachu and knocked the Electric Type over.
The Pikachu looked less than thrilled. "Why you-!" he began, leaping up, electricity leaping from his cheeks. "Bring it on you little-!"
A scarlett and black blade landed between the two combatants, surprising the two. Both looked up at the angry face of the Seviper.
The Ekans paled. "D-dad..."
"Venom..." the Seviper said. "What did I tell you about picking fights?"
"Not to do it," the Ekans said, bowing his head shamefully.
The Seviper nodded. "That's right."
"But Dad!" the younger Venom said. "They were calling me names! They were making fun of Mom!"
"Son," the Seviper said, shutting him up. He had that kind of voice; the one that just demanded you shut your trap. "Just because they call you names doesn't mean you can just get into a fight with him. Besides," he added, glaring at the two giggling Electric Mice, "if they had really been making fun of your Mom, I'd take their little heads off."
Both stopped laughing. "Hey!" the boy said. "Don't talk to me like that! I'll get my Dad!"
The Seviper grinned. "Go get him," he said. "Maybe your father will listen to how you tried to taunt my son into climbing that tree - the tree that every parent I know in in the village has forbidden their children to climb."
Both of the Electric Mice swallowed. Their parents wouldn't be happy... "Uh..." the Pikachu said. "I think my Mom's calling!" He turned and ran away, followed by the Pichu.
The Seviper looked back to Venom. "Come on," he ordered, gesturing to a different tree. "Let's get those apples for your Mom."
Venom nodded, as he slid up the tree, reaching a branch. He shook it, apples falling down. Sliding back down, he silently gathered them up, and the two went home.
The slide back home was mostly quiet. Venom was being silent, still afraid of punishment. Sighing, the Seviper said, "Son."
Venom looked up.
"I know what it's like to have a temper," the Seviper said. "It's not like our skin; we can't just shed out of it. Even I have a bad temper. The important thing is," he insisted, "that you learn to control it. I made a lot of mistakes when I was your age. Mistakes that made me very unhappy. All because I couldn't control my words and actions. Do you understand me?"
Venom the younger nodded. "Yeah, Dad. I do."
The Seviper nodded. "It's hard to make friends in the world when you can't control those two things."
"But Dad!" the Ekans said. "I don't need friends! I have you, Mom, and Sistru!"
The Seviper smiled. "Well, if you never make any friends, you'll never get a mate, and you'll never have children together."
Venom made a sour face. "Girls," he muttered.
The Seviper chuckled. "You'll get over that in due time," he said. "Come on, let's go home. And I'll let the fight slide... But just this once!" he warned.
Venom smiled. "Thanks, Dad!" he said.
Venom's eyes snapped open, reality returning to him. He sighed. And this time he had been having a good dream.
He blinked wearily, faintly remembering his situation. He, along with two immature children, were in a cave, searching for treasure. They had gotten into a fight, and they had collapsed by a Kangaskhan rock.
However, he had no recolection of someone using him a s a blanket.
Venom stared down and could faintly make out a small Pachirisu, using his tail as a quilt as she slept there.
Venom quickly whipped her off, sending her into a cave wall with a scream.
Chaos followed.
Aero and Cotton, hearing the scream, awoke and began feeling around around the room for anything attacking them. A fifth voice joined the chaos, until one voice declared, "Quiet!" and a bright flashed blinded them.
Lily glared at the others sleepily. "What's going on?" she asked, yawning.
Violet glared at Aero. "Oh, it's you," she said. "I should have known you'd be following us!"
"What?" Aero glared right back. "We were here first!"
"Were not!" Violet retorted.
"Were too!" Aero shot back.
"Shut up, all of you!" Venom said, before taking a deep breath. "Oh great," he remarked, seeing Violet, "it's you again."
Lily blinked. "You know each other?"
"Yeah," Lily said. "He's the Arbok who I was fighting." She glared. "Why he's in here is beyond me."
"That's none of your business," Venom retorted.
"Wait a sec," Lily said. "You really did fight an Arbok?"
"See?" Violet said. "I was telling the truth! Hah!"
Lily frowned. "Alright, fine!" she said. "I'm sorry for not believing your outlandish story!"
"Thank you," Violet said, nodding.
"Well, now that's all done, care to explain why you're here?" asked Aero. "You followed us, didn't you?"
"Why would we follow you?" asked Violet. "Unless you're hunting for treasure... Are you?"
Aero blinked. "Uh... No..."
Violet knew a lie when she saw one. "I knew it!" she shouted. "I knew this place had treasure in it!"
"Congratulations," Venom remarked dryly.
"Will there be enough to split it five ways?" whispered Cotton.
Venom sighed. "Who knows?" he whispered back.
"Alright, so there might be a treasure in here!" said Aero, folding his arms. "However, we were here first! So go home!"
Before Violet could reply, Lily piped in. "Well, how are you going to get through here without a light?" she asked. "I know that Mawile live in caves, and you can see in the dark, but can your friends? No? Good!" She flipped through the air, landing near Violet. "Then, you need us! Otherwise, you can't get through the cave!"
Venom sighed. "The moron has a point, sadly."
Aero rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said. "Let's go. But don't try anything funny!" she ordered.
Violet rolled her eyes right back, but grinned. "Alright!" she shouted. "Let's go deeper into the cave!" she and Lily took off like a bolt.
"Hey!" Aero shouted, following the light from the glowing Pachirisu. "Wait up!"
Venom groaned, slapping his face with his tail. "Come on," he ordered Cotton, as he slithered off.
Cotton slowly followed, not wanting to go any deeper, but not wanting to be left alone. As she left, she failed to notice orange eyes, glowing in the darkness.
A pair of white, angry looking eyes joined the others. With an angry grunt, the white eyes, followed by the orange ones, followed, blanketed in the darkness.
Time seemed to speed by for the Explorers. They navigated the tunnels as swiftly as they could. Their hearts were filled with hope. But they were also filled with fear. There was no absolute garuntee that the treasure they sought was real, or if it had already been claimed. With high hopes and empty stomachs they marched on, past massive trenches, deadly chasms, and more underground lakes. Tiny Island was small, but these caves seemed to go on forever.
That is, until they hit a dead end.
All the time they had traveled on one single path. There were no crossroads or anything of the sort. So, they had been hoping to come across a treasure chamber, or something like that.
What they got was a large room, that was completely empty. Strange runes covered the walls, unseen in centuries.
The runes failed to impress or motivate the tired Explorers. They sat down in the cave, feeling dejective and angry.
"Well, great," Violet said. "Super. A dead end." She paused, but then cried out, "A dead #$*ing end!"
Aero covered Cotton's ears. "Hey! Language!"
"Oh, shut it," muttered Violet, rubbing her head. "We came all this way for nothing!" She kicked a rock in frustration.
Aero growled and walked up to her. "We came all this way for nothing!" she snarled. "You two followed us!"
Violet growled, baring her claws. "Are you going to keep whining about that?"
The mouth on the back of Aero's head snarled. "Yea, I am! You two are just a couple of lousy, little thieves!"
"You take that back!" Violet shouted.
Aero shook her head fiercely, and it took very little time for the two to lose it. Aero sunk her teeth into Violet's leg, as the cat began to scratch and tear at her face.
"H-hey!" Venom said. "Stop it!"
"Stupid... little... theif!" Aero shouted, biting Violet's tails.
Violet snarled in pain, before countering with a flurry of Fury Swipes across the Mawile's face, causing her to cry out and throw the Meowth off.
The two glared before lauching at each other again, stopped only by Venom's tails, smashing the earth between them and shouting, "Knock it off!"
Both looked at the snake, surprised.
Venom leered at the two. "Look, you don't like me, and I certainly don't like you, but killing each other is a waste of time and energy!"
"But... there's no treasure!" the two girls complained.
Lily raised an eyebrow. "So you're going to kill each other? That makes a lotta sense. Besides, your scaring little Cotton!"
Cotton nodded. It was bad enough that she was in a dark, and wet, cave, but now her friend was fighting with some other girl.
Violet sighed. "I guess you're right," she said.
Aero looked away. "I can't believe you're telling us to control our tempers..." she muttered to Venom.
Venom rolled his eyes. "Believe it, kid." He tested the ground, seeing it wasn't to hard. "Alright," he said. "I'm going to dig us out of here. We all go home, go to sleep, and forget this ever happened, alright?"
Recieving no reply, Venom tunneled into the ground, leaving the four girls. Violet and Aero looked devestated, and hung around vacantly. Lily looked fidgety, and eager to go back to the surface, and Cotton hung about in a dark corner, next to the unreadable runes. She was secretly releaved to be getting out of here. Darkness and water. Ugh.
She gave a sigh and leaned against the wall. A clicking sound surprised her.
A tremor travelled through the room, surprising the girls. The sound of gravel scrapping against gravel echoed through the tunnel. A section of the wall, covered in the strange runes, slowly opened, revealing another tunnel. A faint green light shone in the new path.
Venom poked his head from the tunnel he had been digging, surprised. "Did anyone else feel that-?" he began, only to be cut off by Aero and Violet squealing in delight and running into the new room, soon revealed to be what they had hoped to find: a treasure chamber.
Large ancient chests, filled with jewels, were stacked upon piles and piles of coins, shining temptingly in the caves light, illuminating the room in its glow.
"We found it!" shouted Aero, happily. "Alright!"
The girls quickly ran into the room and happily looked through the treasure, admiring the gold and jewels. Even Venom, who was used to his unimpressed demenour, couldn't help but smile as he looked over the impressive amount of riches.
The Explorers explored the room, picking pieces of treasure up and admiring it, only to drop it and admire another. It took very little time for Aero to be wearing several necklaces, and Violet had replaced her own charm with a much more expensive looking one. Cotton was so enchanted by the golden treasures, she could barely touch them. Lily was filled with more enthusiasm than normal, running around and flipping on everything and anything in the room.
Violet was enjoying her new charm, and her mind swirled with all the things she could do with her fortune. Funding an Exploration base, a team, being able to finally live her dream and make everyone ever regret every rude thing they ever told her... She was so happy, she could burst, and her excitement only elevated when she saw a glowing, emerald light.
Slowly, she creeped over to the source of the glow, finding a small, but brilliant looking, green jewel.
It was small, and it wasn't cut very well, but the way it glowed was enticing. The Meowth's eyes widened as she slowly picked the gem up. To her surprise, it wasn't cold, but very warm instead. "Amazing," she whispered, slipping the jewel into her bag for safe keeping.
It took very little time for the party to be carrying as many pieces of treasure as they could. Cotton was wearing a very large necklace, and Venom had actually swallowed several large gems, planning to regurgitate them later (snakes can do that, you know). Aero had stuffed a large loud into her second mouth. Later, they could come back with bags and carry the rest home.
"Well," Venom said, feeling very stuffed. "That's that. Let's head home for now and keep quiet about this."
"No need to tell us," said Aero, feeling very off balance with all the treasure in her second maw. Tomorrow she was going shopping.
"Let's head home!" said Lily, with a large crown on her head.
"Yeah!" Cotton said. "Let's go-"
BANG!
A massive explosion cut them off, showing them with gravel and dust. When the smoke cleared, the secret entrance was nothing more than rubble.
Cotton was the first to panic, naturally. She began shouting and screaming incoherently until Venom put his tail over her mouth.
"Everyone shut up!" he said. "Look, the ground isn't too hard. I'll dig us out in no time."
"Uh, gramps?" Aero said.
Venom glared. "I told you not to call me gramps!" he shouted. "What it is?"
Aero pointed to several shapes, moving through the dirt towards them. Someone was digging into the room.
The someones showed themselves. Small, brown creatures emerged from the holes. Orange eyes glowed on dark faces, staring at the party. They crawled up from the earth, propelled by four insect-like legs. Four came from the front, chittering in a strange dialect as they crawled towards them. Four more tunneled from behind, cutting them off.
One last one began to tunnel in, larger than the others. A long silvery blade emerged from the ground, followed by another, and then a massive, brown beast emerged. Bronze armor like skin covered his body. Long blades on his fore-arms, and white eyes, filled with hatred. He snarled and stepped towards the Explorers.
Venom tried to seem unimpressed. "And you are...?"
The beast growled. "My name," he said, in a grating voice, "is Tsa' aal. The last Pokemon you wastes will ever see, provided you don't hand over the Life Fragment!"
"Never heard of you, or any Life Fragment!" said Venom.
"And what kind of name is Tsa' aal?" asked Lily.
"How do you even pronounce it?" asked Cotton.
"Shaddap!" said Tsa'aal (how do you say that anyway?), obviously the short-tempered type. "I could kill the lot of you right now, but I'm giving you worms a chance to live. Give me the Fragment, and I'll leave a tunnel. Otherwise," he gestured to the blasted remains of the door, "you can stay in here and suffocate or starve to death. Your choice."
Venom slithered. "I can dig too," he said. "You think you can scare me with empty threats? We found this cave first. We don't know anything about any blasted Fragments, so beat it!"
Tsa' aal snarled. "You're trying to scare me? I gave you fools a chance and you laugh at me? ME? No one laughs at me! Kabuto!" he screamed. "Kill them! Now! I'll pry the Fragment from your bloody hands!"
Venom waved his tail. "No hands, dipstick."
"Raaaargh!" Tsa' aal tackled Venom, pushing him to the ground. Venom snarled right back, wrapping his coils around Tsa'aal and squeezing as Tsa'aal struggled to break free. The two rolled on the floor, Venom trying to bite into his enemy's stron armor, while the other Pokemon, Kabuto appearently, attacked the others, blasting at them with deadly Water Guns.
Aero ducked behind a pile of gold as Lily and Violet hid behind another. Cotton was shivering next to Aero as she peered over the pile. The Kabuto were advancing, going in for the kill.
"Lily!" she shouted.
"What?" the Pachirisu replied.
"They're using Water Gun!" Aero said.
"So?"
"That mean's they're probably Water Type! And you're Electric Type!"
"Uh, yeah... So...?"
"DO I HAVE TO SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU?" shouted Aero as the Kabuto began to climb up their cover.
"Water and electrici... Oh, yeah!" she shouted. "Now I remember!" Lily hopped onto the pile of treasure, glaring at her enemies. "EAT LIGHTNING, BUBS!"
A powerful spark sent the Kabuto scattering. They swung around and fired of more bursts of water, narrowly missing them. One began to scratch at Aero, but she knocked him out with a powerful Brick Break.
"Good job!" shouted Violet, as she began to angrily swipe at the crab-like creatures. "Let's hurry up and get the heck out of here!"
"Right!" shouted Cotton as she hid behind Aero, who was bashing the Kabuto down.
Venom wasn't in such a good situation. Tsa' aal had broken free from his grip and was now charging at the serpent with his long, blade like claws. The amazingly angry look in his eyes told the snake he wasn't in the mood to talk right now. Dad was right about controlling my temper, he thought. Look what my mouth has gotten me into now.
Venom charged foward, ducking under a blade and body slamming the creature, sending him flying back. Slicing his blades into the ground to slow himself, before charging at Venom again, swinging his deadly forearms.
Before he could slice the snake in two, a Kabuto smacked him in the head, knocking him over. Aero, who had thrown the crab-like creature, stood next to Venom ready to attack.
"I didn't need your help," the snake said.
"Whatever you say, gramps!" Aero replied.
Before Venom could snap back, Tsa' aal angrily rose off the ground, glaring at the Kabuto who had been thrown at him. "Idiot," he muttered, kicking the creature away. He turned back to Venom and Aero. "Your friends might walk away from this if you give me the blasted Fragment!" he shouted.
Venom glared. "I don't have your Fragment! Besides, weren't you going to kill us? Or are you too afraid that your lackies can't do the job?"
"My 'lackies' aren't worth spit!" snapped Tsa 'aal. "Neither are you! The Fragment is all that matters to me! Give it, or die." His glared hardened. "I am more capable than them, I assure you. I'll start with the little rodent, then work my way up. And I'll do it slowly."
Aero rolled her eyes. "Wowwie, he's more full of steam than you, Gramps!" She glared at Tsa 'aal. "You want that stupid Fragment? Come and prove we have it, chump!"
Tsa 'aal slowly stalked over to the Mawile. Aero growled. "You asked for it!" she said. "Brick Break!" she shouted, punching Tsa 'aal in the ribs.
There was a crack. And it wasn't Tsa' aal.
Aero winced and pulled her hand away. "SONUVAH $%&* that hurt!" she shouted.
"Hey!" shouted Violet, whilst she pounded a Kabuto with her claws. "Language, remember?"
Tsa' aal knocked Aero aside before pinning Venom against the wall, his blades held against his throat. Venom began to make a gagging sound. "Well," said Tsa. "Where's your bravery now? Or are you too choked up?"
"I'm not choking," gasped Venom. "I'm vomiting."
Tsa' aal blinked. "Wha-?" he began.
Venom spat out one of the jewels he had swallowed, the hard rock smacking the creature in the face. Tsa cried out in pain as he loosened his grip long enough for Venom to break free, smashing him aside before joining the other. "Come on!" he shouted. "We need to get out of here!"
"Thank you Captain Obvious!" shouted Aero.
Lily zapped the last of the Kabuto that had been surrounding them. "Haha!" she announced. "Lily the great saves the day once more!"
"Wonderful," remarked Cotton sarcastically.
"You missed the big ugly one!" said Violet.
Tsa' aal glared at the Meowth before he looked down to two barely awake Kabuto. "What are you waiting for?" he snarled. "Get them!"
The Kabuto stared back, weak and afraid.
Tsa' aal growled. "Who scares you more? Them... or me?"
The two Kabuto rose and charged at the Explorers while Tsa' aal jumped up and clung to the roof of the cave, speeding towards them like a Spinarak on a web would.
Lily zapped the two on the floor, knocking them out, but missed Tsa' aal, who landed next to them before swiping the squirell out of the way. "Playtime is over!" he snarled.
The odds weren't good, and the party knew it as they stepped back. The Kabuto were pulling themselves off the ground and beginning to surround them.
"We're in trouble," said Violet.
"Is it that obvious?" remarked Lily.
The Kabuto drew nearer and prepared to attack, their claws ready to tear the Explorers in two. Tsa' aal stalked up behind them, his eyes filled with rage, and obviously not in the mood to ask for any last words.
Eh, sorry everyone, but I have to cut this short. Sorry, but I have work to do. Anyways, I have a quick question: If your OC could be voiced by any voice actor in the world, who would it be? Sorry to ask this, but I couldn't decide on what kind of voice to give Tsa' aal. I was stuck between Gabranth from Final Fantasy and a typical tough guy voice. Let me know who you'd like your OC to be voiced by if this fic was an anime! (And no, I do not plan on invading Nintendo and making this come true, though I could add it to the list...)
Oh, yeah. Before I go, there's something I want to address. Yes, snakes can eat objects, and, if they're in danger, spew them out from their stomachs so they get away quicker or strike back easier. Please take it from me, I am studying to be a herpetologist. Trust me on this one.
See you next time, when the Explorers go Dragonite's Trading Post, and we see Bessie and Bonehead. Hey, we haven't seen them in a while, now have we?
Read, review, and fave!