"Meowth! Cut down those vines!" Ash shouted. Meowth ran straight up and cut the very thick vines in front of them. "Good work."
"This is getting ridiculous boss. I mean, it's as if we're in an actual forest!" Meowth exclaimed. And it was true. Around them were trees everywhere and it would have looked like a real forest, if it weren't for the stone ground.
"This is the Temple of the Steelhead. So this must be the Forest Temple. Though, I was told Pokemon lived in these temples," Ash said, looking around as if expecting a Pokemon to jump at him.
"Maybe dey all died? I mean, it's been centuries since someone last entered here, right?" Meowth asked, jumping up a tree to see if he can see ahead.
"Hm, yet no bodies or fossils are around," Ash said. Surely they would have at least found a corpse by now, as they have been walking for approximately twenty minutes.
"Well, the bodies could have been transposed or whatever, right boss?" Meowth asked. Ash raised an eyebrow but decided not to comment.
"That couldn't be possible, since this is a stone floor," Ash said tapping the floor.
"Hm, then what if another Pokemon ate the other Pokemon?" Meowth asked. Ash looked at him telling him to continue. "Well, it isn't unheard of that Pokemon eat others you know."
Ash shuddered at the thought. He couldn't imagine eating Pokemon. "If that's the case, then there could be a Pokemon devourer here?"
Meowth shrugged. "It was only a theory boss."
"A theory that is possible. If there's no fossils or bodies, then there are few explanations. The Pokemon are all hiding somewhere or they were eaten by another Pokemon that we have not run into yet," Ash said. Meowth nodded and jumped down from the tree. He walked ahead before tripping on something.
"Ow, what da heck? Hey boss, this is a funny lookin' stone," Meowth said, picking the stone up.
Ash walked over to him and inspected it. "It's a broken stone though, it has a weird inscription on it. And this figure looks like a…Chikorita. Is this some Chikorita remains?"
Meowth shrugged. "I don't know. Sure doesn't looked like a fossil to me," Ash nodded in agreement as he put the stone in his pocket.
"Let's keep moving forward," Ash said and the two kept walking along the stone path, cutting vines and branches in their way.
Ash cut down another pair of vines with his Aura Sword before stopping suddenly. "What is that?"
Meowth climbed onto Ash's shoulder to get a better look and saw a weird creature walking around. "Looks like a…Drapion boss."
"But why does it have two tails and four arms? It's as if it's some mutated Drapion," Ash said. He was very curious about this Pokemon. He's never seen anything like it.
The Pokemon heard the rustling and turned towards them. Ash and Meowth quickly jumped on a tree to avoid being seen. Ash pulled out something from his pockets. "Never thought I would be using this again," Ash opened the device, his old Pokedex. It was upgraded the day…he left. He pulled it out and it began its analysis.
"Drapion, the Ogre Scorp Pokemon. It is a Poison and Dark type Pokemon. It takes pride in its strength. Even though it can tear foes apart, it finishes them with powerful poison. It has the power in its clawed arm to make scrap of a car. The tips of its claws release poison."
"…"
"…"
"So, I was right. It is some mutated Drapion," Ash said. Meowth was speechless and nodded.
Just then, the tree they were own started to fall and soon they were on the ground.
"Oww, boss?" Meowth opened his eyes and was shocked by the fact that the mutated Drapion was right in front of them. With two others nearby.
Ash got up and quickly grabbed Meowth and jumped away from a Cross Poison attack.
"This isn't good. If I use Charizard, the whole forest will burn down! And there's no way I am using you against those things Meowth!" Meowth can only nod on top of Ash's shoulder as Ash was running. Those Drapion were not normal.
Ash stopped and turned around and the two were surprised at how fast those Drapion were. They were chasing them like a bulldozer, destroying anything in its path.
"Lucario!" Ash tossed the Pokeball and Lucario appeared. Quickly analyzing the situation, Lucario entered battle stance. "Bone Rush!"
Lucario obeyed and created a giant long bone that he used as his weapon against the mutated Drapion. Lucario countered every blow the Drapion tried to send and delivered a more powerful one right back at them. Ash knew that Lucario was by no means one of his most powerful Pokemon, since he only recently got him, but he knew Lucario was no pushover in the slightest. So the way these Drapion were giving Lucario a hard time surprised Ash.
Ash wanted to help but he couldn't use the Aura Sword, he didn't want to kill the Drapion. So Ash just helped Lucario from afar, using Aura Sphere whenever and Meowth did the same with Water Pulse. Lucario soon got the upper hand and jumped on a tree branch and jumped down, delivering a bone blow to each Drapion. And soon each of them were unconscious. Lucario went over to Ash and Meowth, panting from exhaustion.
"Master, what were those…"
"They were Drapion, Lucario. They aren't different species wise. But appearance and power wise, it was as if someone conducted an experiment on them," Ash said. He and Lucario closed their eyes and tried to sense for auras. The only auras were each other's, Meowth, and the three Drapion.
"I would think that there would be more Pokemon in a forest like this."
"That's what Meowth and I were wondering to. It doesn't matter, at the moment. We just need to get out of here. Meowth, pass where we encountered those Drapion, was there anything beyond?" Ash asked.
Meowth thought about it. "Yeah! There was a stairway leading into a building!"
Ash nodded and returned Lucario and he and Meowth headed back to where they encountered the Drapion.
"A stairway?" Ash noticed that this stairway was not supported by anything and if you fall, you would fall into the abyss next to the stairway. Oddly, this stairway reminded him of one from long ago. Though, it was as if his memory was erased.
"I won't let you!"
"Bulbasaur! Squirtle! PIKACHU!"
Ash shook his head started to climb the stairway with Meowth by his side. After a long walk, they reached the top. They were at the very top of the temple and when Meowth and Ash looked behind them, they saw nothing but the vast green of the trees of the forest. They turned around and noticed they were at some shrine. There was a huge stone tablet that looked a lot like the stone Meowth found earlier. On it were some inscriptions and a Manectric.
"Boss!" Meowth exclaimed. Ash looked back and noticed the stairs were gone. Not like it mattered, he had Charizard. He heard the sound of flames being lit and turned back to the stone tablet and noticed the two torches next to it were lit.
"What now?" Ash muttered and soon he heard clapping. Meowth sharpened his claws, ready to strike.
Soon, out of nowhere, appeared a figure. In a black cape. With black boots. With a black hat. And black gloves. And a black mask, concealing all of his face, including his eyes.
"Ash Ketchum," the voice said with a disguised voice making it unidentifiable.
"Who are you?" Ash asked, gritting his teeth. Was this the man who experimented on those Drapion?
"You don't know who I am…" the person said.
"Stop speaking riddles you black obsessed freak!" Meowth shouted.
"The talking Meowth. And since you're probably wondering…yes…it was me who experimented on…those Drapion," Ash clenched his fists. "And…I am also the one who, 'summoned' the giant…Pokemon."
"WHAT!?" Ash shouted. "You were responsible for that!? Why? What has this island ever done to you?"
"…That is for me to know…And for you to find…out. I want to see how well…you can do," the person looked behind him and pointed at the Manectric Stone Tablet. "Behind this tablet…are two you hold dear…But in order to get to them…You must defeat…My Manectric. I wish you good luck…Ash Ketchum…"
The figure disappeared and soon the ground started shaking and Ash gripped Lucario's Pokeball. Soon the Stone Tablet exploded into bits, causing smoke to appear everywhere. When the smoke cleared, standing where the tablet once was, was a giant Manectric.
Ash gulped. He knew that these giant Pokémon were no pushovers. And with only three Pokémon, this will not end well. But, two he holds dear?
"ASH!"
"DADDY!"
Ash's eyes widened and gritted his teeth. Oh this masked man was going to pay.
I don't know why but I really enjoyed writing this chapter, heck I've enjoyed writing a lot of chapters!
Man, when I think of the Aura Sword, I now think of a blue Master Sword from Zelda combined with the Monado from Xenoblade. Fanart? No? I was hopeful (not really)
Well, I think this was a pretty decent chapter so I hoped you all liked it as well.
And that was an old AN. It was written around the time I wrote this chapter, which was a long time ago. The plot for this story has finally started! Yay! I also combined some chapters to make them a bit longer. This isn't one of them though but it was 24 chapters but now I've got 18 chapters. (Not total, but it's the amount I've written.)