Chapter 18

The Guardian of Rock

Aurora's legs were trembling as she stood before the colossal rock guardian. Even the rest of the group was paralyzed in fear from its large presence. Each of them had all heard of stories and tales of adventurers coming across many legendary and mythical pokémon, but never once had they thought to themselves that they would ever see one. Most had doubted their existence.

Regirock had little patience for the six who were currently transgressing its territory. It shifted its base to the closest target, Aurora, and its eyes began blinking and beeping as a series of mathematical equations calculated themselves in its own head. Regirock then lifted its leg and stomped harshly on the ground, sending a hostile shockwave in Aurora's general direction.

Aurora tried to evade but missed her only opportunity as a stone shot out of the ground, punching her in the stomach and throwing her across the room. The attack caused Aurora to lose her breath. As she desperately struggled for oxygen, the whole room appeared blurry for her. While straining herself back onto her feet, she coughed up a small amount of blood. That's not good... she thought. It hits hard, too.

"What the hell do we do?" Magma asked.

"The only thing we can do," replied Wetleaf. "We fight."

Wetleaf withdrew his spikes located on the belt he wore and began charging towards the behemoth of a pokémon. While in pursuit, the regirock decided on stopping the lombre with an attempt to smash him with its hulking arm. Wetleaf was able to maneuver out of the way as it crashed into the pond and let up a large wave. Wetleaf used this to his advantage as he surfed on the wave until it put him right behind the regirock. In a backwards swinging motion, Wetleaf punctured the back of the regirock's leg with his spike and followed through by puncturing the other a bit higher. He then extracted the first one and stabbed it in a bit higher and used the original hole as a support for his foot. He continued this pattern as a means of climbing the back of the large rock pokémon.

This caused the regirock to become irritated. It began thrashing about in an attempt to shake Wetleaf off. The gardevoir then decided to take action. Willow gripped her book tightly and started skimming through pages until she found the one she was looking for. She put her hand on the center of the page and began whispering something in Avarian. As she finished, magical chains shot out of the book and wrapped themselves around regirock. This hindered its movement, allowing Wetleaf to continue climbing.

The others then decided to take action and send in their barrage of attacks, though Diode held back in order not to also shock Wetleaf. Aurora froze the water at the base of regirock's legs, further restraining its movements. Magma blasted a steady flow of roaring flames at the monolithic beast. In the midst of all of the combined efforts was also Redwing who flew around delivering mach punches and brick breaks at random intervals around its body.

Clearly agitated, the regirock tried one last attempt to break free. It leaned backwards with all of its might creating high tension on the chains that bound him. Willow fought with all her power to keep the chains up, but this created a bit of a migraine for her. She clenched her eyes while a bead of sweat dripped from her head. Try as she had, she was outmatched by the regirock's weight. The chains shattered and dematerialized all while the regirock began plummeting backwards.

Wetleaf's eyes widened in realization of what would come next for him as he saw the rapidly approaching surface. He then closed his eyes as he waited fearfully for his fate. Suddenly, Redwing swooped in and rescued him just seconds before the impact. As the large rock pokémon dropped, a large tremor rumbled throughout the cave and a large splash of water covered its body. Now was time for Diode to do what he did best. He pointed both his magnets towards the wet regirock and blasted it with a zap cannon.

And then there was silence.

"Was... was that it?" Asked Willow.

Redwing had just landed after rescuing Wetleaf. "I would hope so, I'm not too found of something I have two type disadvantages against."

Aurora had an irritated frown. "What the crap is this? I know for sure this is the cave I had gone through. Why all of the sudden is it different? What the hell is going on here?!"

Before she could complain much longer, the regirock began moving and released monstrous groan as it got back on its feet. The six pokémon looked in disbelief as the rock effortlessly got ready to battle some more. Regirock grabbed a chunk of rock from the ground and slightly tossed it in the air before giving it a mighty punch. What followed next was a hostile downpour of rock shards.

Willow was the quickest to react as she flipped to another page and created a small ward around herself, Redwing, and Aurora. It wasn't large enough to save the others who now had to improvise. Magma tried shielding his eyes as best as he could, but still managed recieved blunt impacts of various rocks while sharper ones burrowed into his flesh. Wetleaf used both water and grass attacks to his advantage to fend off as many rocks as he could, though plenty attacked him from his blind spots. Diode was unfazed by their impact and eventually used his body to shield Wetleaf and Magma.

What they hadn't realized was while they were distracted, regirock had been preparing its next attack. Regirock had a concentrated ball of light and only Aurora seemed to recognize the attack. After shooting her concerns to the team, everyone began running in different directions. Redwing snatched Wetleaf (again) and began flying to a safe distance leaving everyone to fend for themselves.

A loud, deafening blast filled the room as the hyper beam discharged. It felt as if the entire cave would come done any second, but it didn't. The blast was immense and the aftermath was just as bad. Blood. Blood now covered the walls of where one member had stood just seconds ago. Aurora frantically searched for everyone in the team. She saw Willow hiding behind a bolder using a protective ward, Redwing and Wetleaf had found safety on the opposite side of the cave, Diode was also behind a boulder, and Magma... was nowhere to be found. Aurora felt a hole form in her chest. Magma was the newest Royal Guard having only done two previous missions. But now he was nothing but a splattered mess of blood on a wall. Magma was now nothing more than a mere memory.

Aurora felt a negative, emotional energy build up inside of her, one she wanted to let consume her and take control of her; anger. Not again... she hissed in her head as a couple tears flowed from her eyes. I will not let my entire team die again. Taking just one away from me was crossing the line!

Aurora charged from her cover and shot two ice beams in quick succession, each hitting a different shoulder joint on the goliath. Redwing had flown Wetleaf up to behind the head of the regirock now. Wetleaf took out two spikes and used furry swipe to burrow into the back of its rocky head until he opened a softer spot. Putting his mouth directly in the hole, he unleashes a hydro pump, shattering a good chunk of the rock head. Redwing flew by once again, to help escort the lombre safely to the ground.

Diode began shooting arcs of electricity while Aurora ran straight at the beast. Once close enough, regirock attempted to squish her like a bug type. It slammed its leg into the water bringing up a large wave. Aurora rolled a safe distance and froze the water around its leg. After covering her body with energy, she used takedown to shatter the frozen leg. The regirock fell instantly, struggling to keep itself up right. The regirock fell at an angle where it was face-to-face with Aurora.

Anger burned in her eyes as she looked into the few remaining orange dots on its face. "Burn in hell," she said while ironically using an ice type move. She blasted its face with a blizzard turning the entire creature into an ice sculpture. She didn't stop there, though. She now prepared an attack she had taught herself and spent months training grotesque to do. Ice energy formed in her maw into the shape of a slightly curved blade. Though struggling to keep its form, she slammed the blade against the frozen rock causing both the blade and the regirock to shatter.

Aurora panted heavily from exerting so much energy. She still didn't feel satisfied. Agre wanted to take her anger out on more pokémon, to make them feel pain and to express her emotions in a violent way. She wanted to justify magma's death. She felt a hand on her shoulder before looking back to see Willow. The fire that once burned in her eyes slowly died as more steady tears began forming. Willow embraced Aurora in a hug, slightly causing the amaura to cry more and hug her back.

Wetleaf tended to his spikes while Diode sat alone with his thoughts. Redwing was knelt down by the puddle of blood. He brushed a hand over the crimson liquid before staring into it. Stopping that regirock solved nothing... it's that honchkrow's blood I'm after now.

Nightfang was alone, he found himself in a city of some kind, but it was eerie how absent and quite it was. The city lacked color and the sky was a dark red with black clouds looking menacingly over the city. Nightfang traversed the town very carefully. He didn't remember how he got there, but it didn't seem too important, he was now only focused on getting out.

The poochyena prowled the city cautiously until he noticed one building that stood out from the rest. The building looked pretty damaged, almost as if it caught fire at one point. The windows were shattered while grey, tattered cloths dangled in the wind. Two dead trees were in front of the house, though one had something Nightfang couldn't keep his eyes off of. A skeleton of a canine-like pokémon hung from the tree, not only that, but a couple limbs were missing.

The door to the house was already opened and the inside was pitch black. Though his gut screamed for him not to enter, he decided to anyway. As he entered the house, his eyes slowly began adjusting to the darkness, and he felt something in the room, though not too sure what it was. It felt somewhat familiar to the poochyena, and he felt he needed to find whatever it was. He eventually came across a door that had two boards holding it closed. A dark red glow shined from below the door.

Using his teeth, he gripped the wooden boards and used his paws to push away, thus removing them. He repeated this for the other board too. He hesitated to open the door and just as he brought his paw to the handle, it slowly creaked open. He saw the source if light sitting in the center of the room, causing his heart to sink.

It had a spherical shape and a nimbus of red and black fog swirling inside the orb. He then also noticed a painting right behind the orb that it lit up rather easily. The picture showed two mightyena with a puppy poochyena between them. However, a black line was drawn over both throats of the parent mightyena as well as black X's over their eyes. Nightfang felt a stab at his heart while his claws dug into the wooden floor.

A yellow light then flickered in the corner of the room, snapping the poochyena's attention. "It's about time you came crawling back here," an all too familiar voices said as more yellow light sources began lighting up. Eventually the umbreon's form was revealed. "We have a lot to catch up on," he said while approaching him. "Wouldn't you agree, Nightfang?"

Nightfang said nothing, only slowly began backing up until he felt himself bump into something. It didn't feel like a wall, but instead another pokémon. He turned around and saw another pokémon he feared. The familiar absol gave him a devious grin. Nightfang wanted to run, but was petrified with fear, though he wouldn't show it. He was basically cornered by the two dark types.

Though he knew the two could easily overpower him in a fight, that seemed like the least of his worries as his eyes were glued onto the gem. He has only seen what it was capable of doing once, but that one time was all he needed to know that he feared it. Realizing his consternation, Tenebris grabbed the gem and slowly walked towards the poochyena.

"You know what must be done," Tenebris had whispered into Nightfang's ear.

Nightfang jumped up quickly with a gasp. It took him a couple of seconds to realize he had woken up from a dream. Or rather, a nightmare. He was perplexed seeing his immediate surroundings, last remembering floating on a log. He was now in what looked like an infirmary. Observing more, he found himself rested on a cot next to a table with a bowl of water. He suddenly realized he was thirsty and began lapping at the water to quench his newfound thirst. Next he noticed that his wounds had been tended to, and even more surprising was his claw that was once forcefully removed had seemingly grown back overnight.

He was still puzzled, but figured whoever his captors where were probably less of a threat than Zerith considering he was still alive. He glanced over to an adjacent cot and found an unconscious mareep with a bloodstained cloth wrapped firmly around his tail. On a chair next to him was a fennekin who seemed to currently be sleeping, which was made apparent by the way she was curled like a ball.

Before Nightfang could ponder on his whereabouts much longer, an audino came around the corner while reading some paperwork. She eventually caught sight of the poochyena and put on a small smile as she walked up to him.

"Looks like you've finally decided to wake up. How are you feeling?" As she asked this, she went to put the back of her paw on Nightfang's forehead to which he instinctively backed up a bit. The audino giggled before assuring him it would be okay and continued to check his temperature. Nightfang still hadn't answered, so she decides to continue. "We found you floating in the ocean yesterday. You were pretty roughed up and unconscious so we took the liberty of tending to your wounds."

Nightfang hesitated a reply. "Where exactly... am I?"

"You're currently on a Mardol ship. We are headed a bit north before returning to Whitestone." She saw a bit of a panicked expression on the dark type. "Look, we don't know for certain what you're doing out here, but you currently don't pose much of a threat... at least, not yet. Though you're fully healed up, we'll be keeping you down here, as some of the passengers aren't too fond of your kind."

"I'm not exactly expecting a kind welcome back in Whitestone," bitterly replied Nightfang.

"I wish I could put some of your thoughts at ease, but I have no say in the matter. The fact is that you're obviously from Zerith, and they're going to try and get as much information out of you before coming to a conclusion on what to do with you. I do apologize, but it's out of our hands."

The audino then excused herself from the room. Nightfang flattened his ears. He knew this was coming, but still wasn't prepared. The people of Whitestone could be very biased, and Nightfang would have little to no validity in proving he means no harm in his arrival to Whitestone. He wasn't too sure what else to expect, but only time could tell.

"Hello!" Exclaimed a voice belonging to someone quite energetic. The voice not only snapped Nightfang from his thoughts but also startled him. As he looked next to his bed, he noticed the fennekin was now awake and had a smile on her face. "Oh, sorry, it wasn't my intent to startle you. I'm just happy to see you're okay, I've been watching over you and this mareep the past day. Oh, by the way, my name's Kindle!"

Nightfang was already sceptical about the fennekin and her high amount of energy. He couldn't deny that it was at least more comforting than his recent years in Zerith. He already picked up the vibe that silence wasn't going to end this conversation with the fennekin. Besides, he was going to be down in that room anyway, might as well converse, especially with those who weren't opposed to the fact that he came from Zerith.

"Uh, thanks, I guess. You can just call me Nightfang."

"Nightfang," she repeated, while putting a paw to her chin. "I like it. It's foreign, but in a good way. So, I couldn't help but eavesdrop on your conversation with the audino early and I just wanted to know, is it true that you're from Zerith?"

Nightfang let out a long sigh. "Yes, I'm from Zerith. Though, I'd rather not talk about that."

"That's understandable. I was just going to ask what it was like there, but judging from your response and what a buizel friend of mine told me, it's not the best place to live right now."

Wait...a buizel? There's one that possibly survived the attack? Or perhaps left right before? If that's the case, then there may be some hope.

Suddenly a hoothoot entered the room, looking like they were looking for someone. After their eyes fell on Kindle, the owl approached.

"Hello, would you happen to be Kindle?" She asked.

"Why yes I am!"

"I regret to inform you this next bit of information, but you've been disqualified from the tournament. As a result of shedding blood of your opponent, we head to come to this conclusion."

Kindle nervously looked at the ground while twiddling one phrase over the other. "I understand. I went a little too far in that battle."

The hoothoot only nodded then looked at the mareep who was still sleeping. "Then this must be Tesla. When he comes to, do let him know he too has been disqualified. The use of items - his eviolite in this case - are prohibited in tournament rules."

"Alright, I'll let him know, thank you." As the hoothoot left, Kindle's smile became a frown. "This mother fucking piece of shit. Using our eviolite! I swear to mew, when he wakes back up, I'm giving him a piece of my mind! The sheer fucking audacity of this inept dumb ass!"

Light smoke was fuming from Kindle's mouth as her claws dug into the deck. Nightfang just sat the awkwardly, not knowing how to even react from the outburst and sudden mood change. Kindle seemed to notice this and readjusted her composure while taking a deep breath to calm herself down.

"Sorry about that, just kinda went off the for no reason. This mareep and I go back a bit, but he's already on some thin ice with me right now. But I'm definitely going to kick his ass again when he wakes back up," she said with a smile.

"Right..." Nightfang replied hesitantly.

Eventually Aurora and the remaining members of her team paid their respects to their fallen comrade and had left the cave. Inside the cave where the battle had commenced was the shattered pieces of the regirock. A red aura silhouetted the remains before materializing into a single ball-like wisp. The wisp shot up and ascended out of the cave and flew across the dark night sky. For hours, the wisp flew, until it eventually found its target. On a secluded island was a husk where the wisp then entered. It then transferred its remaining life force onto the husk and awaited the missing wisps. Next to the husk was a dead tree where a honchkrow was perched. Though not seeing it, he knew what had been done. It let out a sigh before flying off.

Back in Zerith, Toxin and his soldiers had set up camp in the former buizel tribe's homeland. The tree that had bark as blue as the ocean and leaves as red as blood began shaking. The mysterious phenomenon grabbed the attention of a couple nearby guards who were currently patrolling the area. The bug types approached the tree nervously until eventually a light began emitting from its hollow section.

Now feeling uneasy, the guards grabbed Toxin to investigate further. After he finally arrived he looked on curiously at the glittering lights of the tree. Curiosity seemed to get to the best of the scolipede as he decided to descended into the tree and see what caused the lights. Once underground, he found himself in the same room with the same locked door. The only difference now were the engravings on the door projecting a cyan colored light from them.

"Just what the hell were these buizel doing?" Toxin couldn't help but mutter to himself.