Well, another update from me. Isn't this one a charmer? Well, at least there were no more LotR references in this. I resisted the urge to carry the reference on, prefering to do things my own way. So we get a slightly different version of chaos instead.

Episode 123: Precious Light

I jumped out of my skin at the sound of a massive explosion that rumbled through the tunnels.

"What the hell?" I muttered as I turned around the corner and witnessed the devestation, "Flame!"

I dashed out into the cavern proper, towards the rubble that was all that remained of the crevice path. There was no sign of the Charmander amongst the dust and debis. I gasped when I spotted blackened bones laying on the other side of the massive hole.

"Shit," I muttered as I slumped to my knees, "Shit!"

"Could you please stop yelling? I have a slight headache," the familiar voice muttered as two pairs of paws grasped onto the paths edge and the scarred Charmander pulled himself up.

"You're alive!" I cheered as I hauled him up the rest of the way, "I thought you'd died."

"If you keep with the yelling, you will," Flame grumbled as he stared over the gap, "did it work?"

"For now," that chilling voice replied from the other side of the hole, I spun round and was just able to make out the phantom's form.

I stared at that form, trying to figure out why it was after Flame so much. There had to be a reason, beyound simple revenge.

"What the hell do you want with him?" I asked, getting a chuckle from the phantom.

"Why do you care?" It asked in return, "you are nothing but a pawn in the grand game of life, to be used and discarded when the time comes. It is with that Charmander that the fate of this world will rest when the time comes."

"That makes no fucking sense," Flame replied, "why can't I ever get a strait answer?"

"Because, my nemesis," the phantom muttered as it started to drift back towards the tunnels, "that would spoil the suprise."

Flame turned back towards our tunnels, where the other groups were waiting.

"Dick," he muttered, "when I find a way to kill that bastard for good, I am using it. No matter what it takes."

"I'll help," I said as we both headed back into the confined spaces of the tunnel system, "I don't like that bastard either. It gives me the creeps."

"You should have seen it when it was alive," was all he said in reply as he took his position as scout and the groups moved off again.

Blue Nine took the front now, seeing as I wanted to stick near Flame incase things went wrong. I knew that some of the Greens must have escaped the phantom and Jolteon, so I was preparing myself for a fight. After around ten minutes, although it could have been much longer or even shorter than that seeing as the constant darkness really fucks up your sense of time, we finally saw another green glow from up ahead.

It was coming from dead ahead, so there was no chance of sneaking up on it.

"Well, it has to have spotted us," Flame muttered, "but why hasn't it made a move towards us?"

"Who cares? As long as it keeps on not making a move, then we're good," I replied as the two of us moved fowards.

Eventually we were close enough to see the problem, it was dead.

"That Jolteon again?" I muttered as Flane clenched his fists, "but how did it get ahead of us and then still manage to attack us from behind?"

"It wasn't the Jolteon," he muttered as I reached down to a vine that was attached to the object that was stuck between the Green's ribs, "unless he could weild weaponry."

I pulled it out, just to get a good look at what we were dealing with. It seemed to be some sort of horn, which Flame immediatly grabbed from me.

"I don't believe it," he said as he stared at the blood stained object.

"You recognize it?" I asked, to which he nodded.

"I wore it all the time, before I got sucked into these tunnels. I told a friend to hold onto it untill I came back."

He wiped the horn on his arm and looped the vine around his shoulders so it took the place of where the bags of Boom Berries used to be.

"It is a good thing that Blue Seven is the rearguard now," he said as we headed back to the others, "I doubt that Cray would handle me having a detached Nido-horn very well."

"Can't be that bad," I replied, "she is rather happy go-lucky."

"I know an Umbreon who is like that, except that he occasionally turns into a crazed psychopath who will kill everything that gets in his way."

"Why does that not suprise me?" I sighed as everyone set off once again, "everyone you know seems to be abnormal."

"I doubt that they even know what normal is."

"I'm not that bad," I replied with a smirk, "I know of it."

We all set off once more, Flame seemed to have perked up a bit from the find.

"We have to be close to the surface," he grinned as we turned a corner and spotted a light coming from up ahead, "see, what did I tell you?"

"Don't get too excited," I replied as I pointed out two Pokémon that were dashing towards us, "we've got company."

I had to jump back as the fasted of the two attackers, and also the tallest, brought two blades towards my head. It kept coming, dispite me firing my bullet seeds at its head. I managed to ward of most of the blows with my claws but it eventually managed to slip through my guard and knock me down with the flat of one blade.

"How many more slavedrivers will Scyther have to kill?" The attacker asked as it brought the two blades down on my prone form, only to get knocked aside as the other attacker was flung into it. Flame pulled me up and faced the two, shielding me with his own body.

As the attackers got up and approached once more, Flame flared up his flame and they both stopped in their tracks.

"Scyther! Squirt! It's me, Flame," he yelled, "we're the good guys."

"Flame?" The smaller Pokémon asked as it stepped fowards, some sort of turtle with ears, "what are you doing with the green crystal thingies?"

"Oh I dunno," he replied sarcasticaly, "maybe because they are the only things that allow the rest of the Pokémon we are with to bloody see, we don't all have super ninja senses. And it is hard to cross gaping chasms when you are following one tail flame."

The two Pokémon, who I presumed were Flame's friends, looked at eachother before nodding.

"Well, why did you say so earlier?" The turtle asked with a grin.

"Because you were trying to beat me over the head with a rock," Flame replied, "now, can we get a move on before some of the others come around and make a similar assumption to what you did?"

"Probably a good idea, just follow the light. You really can't miss it."

Flame turned back to me, "Fervo, you go fetch the others. I have some catching up to do with Squirt here."

"Righto Flame, just don't go kamikaze like you did in the chasm," I replied as I went back to Blue Nine, hearing a loud smack coming from the turtle's position, 'looks like Flame is a little less sane than he makes out.'

As I led the groups towards the exit, I noticed that the turtle was rubbing a nasty looking bumb while the bladed bug was untouched. As all of the others, Tate included, covered their eyes and glanced around in the light, I walked over to Flame and smirked.

"Everyone's out and alive, thanks to you. My escape plan would probably have gotten them all killed," I laughed, to which he joined in.

"Oh please, I didn't even have a plan. I just winged it. Besides, it was you and Tate that came up with yoinking the green crystals," he said as he scratched the back of his head, "anyway, I nearly got myself killed back on the pathway. It was only luck that a piece of rubble knocked me back towards the pathway and I was able to hook my claws into a crack."

We both spun around at the sounds of screams and spotted masses of vines bursting out of the tunnel exit, lashing out at everyone that was in reach. I spotted two yellow eyes in amoungst the vines as several shot towards us.

"Looks like we've got another bad guy that refuses to stay dead!" I yelled as the two of us dived to the sides in order to avoid the vines, "I always hated that Tangela, at least now I know why."

"Well, at least this bastard is solid," Flame called back, "and most solid things can burn."