Shining Shadows
Will the Charizard
Chapter 9: Caves
Hey guys, long time, no see, right? I was gone most of June, two weeks of camping trips, went to see family in California for a week, it didn't leave much room to write. Also I'm really lazy. Blah blah blah, Nintendo owns Pokémon, don't sue me.
"Guys, I'm fine" Jet insisted for the 12th time in the last half hour. Even though she had managed to healed it most of the way, Nurse Joy had instructed that Jet was to stay off her leg as much as possible, which, to me, meant she couldn't fight until her leg healed completely, and shouldn't walk to our next gym. To Jet, it had meant nothing.
"Jet, I don't care if you feel perfect, I'm not letting you use that leg for a few days" I replied. "I just don't want anyone getting hurt." Which means she'll probably favor that leg, just to spite the world.
"Sam, I'm perfectly ok. I'm walking. It's final, you can't argue." Jet began walking in the direction of our next destination, Eterna city. According to the map, we have to go back through Jubilife, through that small looking cave, and through Eterna forest to get there, and it seems like it'll take at least two days, minimum. She can't walk that on an injured leg.
"Jet…" I started to argue, until Will grabbed my pant leg.
"She won't listen, Sam. Jet's tough, she'll be ok" the Charmander reassured me with a wink.
Jet smirked, thinking she had Will as an ally. "See? Will knows there's nothing wrong with me."
"Not physically" the Charmander added, too quiet for Jet to hear, but loud enough to make me and Charlie crack up.
Jet did appear fine during the walk to Jubilife, though, so I guess she was alright. After getting directions from a watch salesman dressed as a clown, we headed north as quickly as possible, to avoid any more of the city's insanity.
The road to the north was straight and narrow, with few patches of grass or trainers along it. The few trainers we did encounter were fairly easy to defeat, just Bidoof and Starly in our way, good experience for battling, but nothing spectacular. We stopped for a short bit by a deep river, drinking its cool water while Charlie and Will tried catching magicarp that strayed too close to the shore. They were getting really close to catching them, but our fun was interrupted by an enormous Gyarados bursting from the water. We didn't stop running until the river was far out of sight.
"We could've taken him" Will said, still holding his tail protectively and shaking like a leaf. He'd been the first to run, and the loudest scream.
Minutes later, we were heading north again, not wanting our journey to take more time than it needed to. We debated taking a shortcut off the path, then climbing up the short cliff, but decided to take what we thought was a less dangerous path, a cave that tunneled into said cliff, coming out on top.
The inside of the cave would've been black, outside light barely penetrating into its dangerous depths. With Will, however, we had plenty of light to see with, the fire on his tail providing a clear view of what lay ahead, and the occasional poof of flame down a short side tunnel keeping us on track.
We were practically undisturbed, the Zubat and Geodude fleeing from the alien light. The tunnel rarely ran straight, often following wide curves, with a few sharper turns scattered throughout. There was only one way to go that continued, though, until we hit a split in the path.
Will, being the trusting Charmander that he was, grabbed the map and started studying it the moment I started down the path to the right. Any attempt to stop him was met with a witty retort.
"Will, can you even read that?" Charlie insisted, worried that her friend would send us to a dead end with his antics.
"It's a bunch of pictures and lines on a piece of paper, no reading needed" he replied, staring at the map in confusion.
"He has no idea what he's doing" Jet stated, shaking her head in disbelief.
"What, and you do?" Will snapped back. "Why don't you guys trust me on this, I know what I'm doing." Said the Charmander who thought Jell-O was a type of glue
I hate to do this to him, but… "It's just that... The map is also upside-down." I said.
Will looked from me to the map, than back at me. "Look, I've got news for you buddy, the world is round. There is no up or down" he said while turning the map around.
He handed the map back to me, than started marching down the left side, humming randomly as he went. Are we really going to follow Will farther in? Really? The answer, of course, was yes.
As we went farther and farther from what I believed was the exit, the air inside the cave seemed to get colder and colder. The tunnel was beginning to turn more often, and there were many times when we couldn't see what was ahead. The walls of the cave were getting damp, and I was beginning to things darting out of our range of vision when the light hit them, scampering into holes in the walls before we could tell what they were. We could still hear them, though, the sharp rap of claws on stone or a soft beat of a wing echoing from behind the layers of stone.
We walked through the stone labyrinth, our path twisting and curving, now gaining a slight incline. The path continued another few hundred yards, the slope increasing until a last steep climb separated us from an open cavern bright with light. It wasn't exactly an outdoors-light, but not a fire-light either, rather something in-between.
As I helped Will, Charlie, and Jet scramble up the rocky face, I couldn't stop hearing the murmur of dozens of moving creatures, people or Pokémon I didn't know, coming from above. It was an easy sound to miss unless you were trying to hear it, like it was muffled somehow.
When I pulled myself up, it was obvious that the noise had come from the many Pokémon of all kinds occupying the cave. There was a large group off to the side in a circle, shouting at whatever was in the middle, and another group moving to surround my friends and I.
There were the sort of Pokémon you would expect underground, rock types, bat-like Pokémon, but also some that you would never see normally, like Arcanine, various Eevee evolutions, Sceptile and other forest dwellers, all with menacing looks in their eyes.
Sounds of fighting erupted from the other group of Pokémon, cries of pain and the sound of rocks and bones being cracked and crushed. The crackle of electricity was audible, the air smelling faintly of ozone. Whatever was being attacked in the middle sounded like it was able to handle itself.
We, on the other hand, were in for a beating. We were a recently injured Umbreon, an angry but small Charmander, a young Dratini, and a human with no special training, against a group of high level group of Pokémon whose existence appeared to revolve around causing pain, and I didn't have much hope.
The Sceptile stepped forward, and spoke with a voice that belonged on a snake. "Charander, Dratini, join usss, and you will be ssspared. Rebel, and be killed. However, the massster does not want the Umbreon or the human, not in thisss way, at least." The Sceptile punctuated his last words with a sickly laugh.
"And how does 'master' want Sam and Jet?" Will asked softly, with a threat hidden in his voice. He was already tensed, we all already knew this couldn't end well for everyone.
"That is no concern of yoursss, little lizard. Massster has his reasonsss." The Sceptile replied, suddenly much less friendly.
"They're my friends, of course it's my business. Now go tell your master he can kiss my ass" Will said, stepping forward to walk through the group.
The Sceptile pushed him back, claws drawn, arm blades glowing. "Well then, you will be allowed to die with your friendsss, fool." He let out a low growl and lunged for Will, who instinctually dived under the Sceptile, spewing flames.
Then all hell broke loose.
Jet dived at the Espeon she had been eyeing during Sceptile's speech, tackling the psychic fox to the ground and rolling out of sight. Will's claws turned as hard as solid steel, and he attacked anything near enough with fire and metal claw. Even Charlie quickly got into the action, coiling up to defend her head and spitting dragon fire.
Being the almost useless fighter that I was, I had managed to get to fight the three least intimidating things in the room, a Beautifly, a Pachirisu, and a Vileplume. I drew my knife, wondering if I really needed it. The Beautifly and Vileplume quickly proved that I did. The Beautifly constantly dived at my face, spreading its poisonous dusts around with each pass, making it impossible to see or breath. I could still hear its wings beating, though, and flailed my arms around like a maniac whenever it passed down.
I was too concentrated on the Beautifly, though, to notice before the Vileplume sweep my legs out from underneath me with a vine whip, sending me crashing to the hard uneven ground. I was just lucky that nothing had broken and I hadn't impaled myself on my knife when I fell. But where was the Pachirisu….
Sitting on my chest, apparently. I threw it off of me, rolled, and started to stand up. Another vine whip immediately brought me back down, though, because Arceus plays favorites. The pachirisu landed straight on my back as I tried to get up, sending my chest straight back onto the rock when is sent a jolt of electricity through me. I dropped my knife on the way back down, it landed underneath my stomach, scraping my skin when I slammed down, where the Vileplume sat straight on the small of my back, pinning me to the ground.
It was impossible to breath, the Beautifly still spreading her poison with her slow beating wings, the Vileplume crushing me under its weight. I beat against the Vileplume with my fists, but to no avail. Stupid knife… it was right there, but I couldn't get at it. The Vileplume pressed down harder, and I felt a spike of pain and something cracking in my chest.
Having never broken a bone before, the shock was unbelievable. I'm going to die ran through my head over and over again. Adrenaline giving me a surge, I grabbed the handle of my knife and pulled it out from underneath me, cutting into my skin in the process, and repeatedly jabbed it upward. I heard a sharp cry as the knife found flesh, the Vileplume recoiling and rolling off my back, clutching his face. The pachirisu fell back off my back as I stood up, and scampered off to some other part of the brawl.
The Beautifly, seeing I was up again, dived for another attack. Still acting purely on instincts, I grabbed the Beautifly as it swooped near my head, making it squeak in fear. I couldn't tell what I was doing, or I didn't care one, way or the other, I still killed the Beautifly, stabbing its body again and again, even after it was long dead. I took away its life, any chances it had at a family or happiness.
As I stood there, gasping for air, I got the feeling that I wasn't getting everything. The pachirisu, not finished, jumped off a golem's back at me, attaching itself to the back of my head as it landed. It bit down on the back of my head and started sending jolts of electricity into my head.
I went ridged at the shock, and started to lose control of my limbs. Fall backward I thought while I could still do something about it. I managed to throw myself backwards, landing with the small Pachirisu in-between my head and the ground. I got up as soon as the electricity stopped, turning to defend myself from the electric squirrel if I still had to.
It was far too gone for it to do anything, though. Even if it's neck hadn't broken when it's head twisted around under my body, it would've been crushed. It's broken ribs stuck out from odd angles in its chest, blood coming out is small spurts around the neck, oozing from many other slashes in its body from the sharp edges of snapped bone. The smell hit me a second later, and I retched, spewing my previous meal onto the dead body that I had killed.
It took me a minute, just sitting there surrounded by the three dead Pokémon, (the Vileplume had bleed out of multiple head wounds) to realize that most of the fighting had stopped. Jet, Charlie, and Will stood in a circle, backs together, with a Gallade and the oddest Luxray I had ever seen, waiting for any of the still many hostile Pokémon to attack. Jet was unharmed, but had a feral look in her eyes. Will looked the tinniest bit beat up, but didn't seem to care. Charlie looked untouched, she probably avoided fighting as much as possible. The Gallade didn't seem to have any fresh wounds, although there was a bit of a curved scar running down his left side. The oddly colored Luxray, with a pink face and legs, everything else a now off-white, had fur matted with blood everywhere, and was staying off its clearly injured right foreleg.
I scrambled to the group of five, who widened a little to let me in, without saying a word. I was already worried that we might not be able to take the rest in a fight, but then he had to show up and make my fears a reality.
"Impressive, Sam." Saboten commented. "I never saw you as a killer, apparently I was wrong." My favorite Cacturne came closer, followed by a Gardevoir, a Scyther, and a normal-colored Luxray. Saboten stopped at the bodies of the three I had I had killed. "They weren't much, but still, impressive. I'm afraid, however, that we will have to stop you here. I need as many as I can to join my cause, and you are getting in the way of our goal."
He turned his attention away from me, and began speaking to Will, Charlie, and the odd Luxray. "Larsha, Will, Charlie, why are you with them? All the people seek to do is to restrain you, keep you from a free life. Forcing you to fight for their entertainment, never giving you a choice. Join us, and be freed from the bonds of captivity, fight for your freedom, not for your slavers. Your companions will use you, and then abandon you in your times of need, but we would never leave brothers or sisters behind…"
"Then why did those three abandon me?" the Gallade interjected, angrily. "Why, when I was injured, did they leave me to die? Your 'family' is all a lie, created so you could use your fellow Pokémon to your advantage."
The Gardevoir, Scyther, and Luxray stepped forwards, the Gardevoir speaking softly to the Gallade as she approached. "Little brother, you say we abandoned you, but really, is that the case? I seem to remember you walking out on us, because you said that what we were doing was 'immoral'. I remember you being the one to abandon us."
The Scyther spoke up next, in a much harsher tone, "You ran from your family because you couldn't handle the guilt, even though that man deserved to die. You were part of the team; you needed to do your job."
The Luxray finished, her voice cold and emotionless, "When you left, you became a traitor. We're giving you one last chance to come back, not that I felt you've deserved it. So, come back with us, or die a horrible death. Your choice." She smiled, a sickly thing, impossible to misplace as real.
The Gallade glared at the three newcomers, clearly having no problem with what he was about to do. "Then kill me, if you can."
The Gardevoir sighed at her brother as the Scyther and Luxray charged the Gallade. He's going to die here, I thought, but Larsha came out of nowhere and dived onto the other Luxray. The Scyther didn't seem to care, and rushed the Gallade, it's bladed arms arcing down, looking for a kill. The Gallade quickly retaliated, blocking the Scyther's many blows with his own bladed forearms.
You could almost mistake Larsha and the other Luxray's fight as a wrestling match between the two, if you could ignore the fire and ice coating their jaws that they lunged for each other's necks with. They rolled around locked together like a pair of cubs, it was hard to tell if they were fighting or playing.
I didn't notice Jet wasn't with me anymore until she was next to the Gardevoir, attempting to provoke the other into a fight. The Gardevoir levitated the many rocks in-between the two as a barrier, but my Umbreon companion refused to give up.
"This isn't your fight, Umbreon. Don't get involved, and you won't get hurt" the Gardevoir warned. "It became my fight the second that Cacturne walked in" Jet replied with a growl. She propelled herself above to engage the Gardevoir, who, when faced directly, had no problem defending herself, even with a type disadvantage.
Will immediately tried throwing himself back into the fight, but I made him stay. Three can defend themselves better together than apart, and I wasn't about to run back in. Will did get to fight though, as his Sceptile foe and a few others came running at us almost immediately. We stood with our backs together, so none of us could get surprised from behind.
It worked, for a while. Will lit fire to anything too close, Charlie spat dragon rage at anything at all, and I stood there and tried to not show my fear too much. I noticed at this point Saboten had left the cavern, hopefully not waiting for us should we escape.
Our attackers did get impatient, though, and apparently some knew dig, because a Sandslash popped out between us all, and probably would've finished us, too, if Charlie hadn't noticed and nocked it back into its hole with her tail, with Will sending a burning blast behind it.
The Pokémon surrounding us took this as a fantastic opportunity, and closed in a great deal in that short time. I honestly had very little hope, my rib was still burning in pain, Jet was still fighting that Gardevoir, and I had no idea if Will or Charlie had any serious injuries. Those two were still keeping anything hostile away better than I could've hoped, but I could tell they were tiring.
Out of nowhere, though, Jet, the Gallade, and Larsha ran through the crowd, and stopped at us. "Run. I'll explain later" Jet said shortly, before sprinting for the one exit out of the three that light was streaming from.
And run we did.
Anything in our way, somebody made move. Plenty of Pokémon were hit with thunderbolt or shadow ball, or blasted to unconsciousness with a strong psyshock. There was a strong crashing noise seeming to come from everywhere at once, and the ground quaked with every ear-shattering boom.
I picked up my speed, trying to catch up with the Gallade, who was obviously going much slower than he could to make sure we all made it out. When I got to him, panting, I asked "What the hell… is that noise?"
The answer was absolutely terrifying, and made me forget how out of breath I was. "Spade, the Scyther, Star, their Luxray, and Rose, my sister, are collapsing the cave. They're trying to bury us in the rubble, which, obviously, would kill us. Bastards…" he muttered that last part under his breath.
I ran a little faster after that, straight out into the fantastic, non-collapsing outdoors and with no angry Pokémon trying to kill us. Everybody but the Gallade and I were already out, as Jet and Larsha had carried Will and Charlie to safety. They were all already spread out on the ground, still watching the entrance to the cavern, of course. I quickly collapsed next to them, but our new psychic-fighting friend had barely broken a sweat.
I gave myself a few minutes of doing nothing to catch my breath and let the adrenaline wear off. Turns out, that was a big mistake. My shirt was stained through with blood in some places due to the cuts on my chest, thankfully smaller than I originally thought. My rib, unfortunately, still hurt like hell, and stopping gave me time to think about the three lives I'd just ended.
I've got to keep my mind off that, and what better way to distract myself than ask questions? "So, Gallade, why did those three try to kill us? And what did they mean about finishing a job?" Those are good questions, right?
The Gallade, with little emotional change, was slow to reply. "First, my name's Kade, feel free to use it." He scratched his chin, a slightly pained look on his face, barely detectable. "Rose, Spade, and Star, and formally myself, were a few of the first to adopt Saboten as a leader, we've done a lot of his dirty work over the years, and I'm not proud of it. Innocent people were hurt, a lot. It used to just be a job."
"Well, why'd you quit?" Charlie asked, apparently not caring that this guy has done terrible things for almost no reason.
"It got beyond the point I was comfortable with. At first, it was 'keeping Pokémon equal' or 'protect your own' type of things, but it just went too far. I killed someone. Almost did it twice, but couldn't. So, I quit."
Goddamn it. Of course he's a killer. "Why couldn't you kill the second one?" I made sure I knew where my knife was, though I doubted I could do much against this guy if he decided to attack.
"Well, the first man was acceptable because he deserved it." That's reassuring. "The second boy was too innocent, so I refused. He had neither the time or motive, as he was a mere 8."
"And what happened to him?" I asked, uneasily.
He looked down at his feet, a disappointed look on his face, a remembering look. "Sadly" he said, "My sister doesn't have the same morals as I. She has a much more, say, objective-oriented look on life. Nothing can get in her way and finish unscathed. Her companions aren't much better. Spade fights without honor, often attacking much weaker opponents, using dishonest tactics. Star challenges herself, always. She takes any fight she can, and always finishes. I have no doubt that there were no survivors, or witnesses." He looked back ahead and picked up his pace, I almost had to start jogging to keep up with him. He continued in a soft, disgusted tone, I don't think anyone was supposed to hear it. "We always cleaned up when we made a mess of things"
I'm so sorry. I had to change the end, because the previous end was so stupid. In all seriousness, though, I'm really sorry about the two-three month wait, I hope it never happens again. I didn't have much better going on, and I honestly felt like I was wasting time all summer. Relax, review, whatever you want. Will the Charizard, out.