Chapter 19: Team Jerkwads And The Thunderlord

Pyre awoke to tranquil wind and water, Ivy was cuddled up beside him. Pyre smiled a moment before frowning, something about it felt wrong. Like he wasn't giving Ivy the same affection he was getting. He stretched and stood up, moving to walk outside. The sunlight was a welcome sight as was Cobalt waiting outside looking at the mail.

"What's up?"

"That freak disaster yesterday. It's all over the news. And according to this Tiny Woods wasn't the only dungeon that got destroyed. Silent Chasm, Oddity Cave, Mt Freeze, they're all just…rubble now." The mudkip looked sad. "Did…did we speak too soon yesterday? Can we actually handle this?"

"Pyre! Cobalt!" A voice came from behind them as a Caterpie scurried up to them.

"Oh, what's up Caterpie?"

"It's my friend metapod, he's trapped on Mt Thunder!"

"What were you guys doing there?" Cobalt looked surprised and worried.

"We were exploring…"

"That's dangerous for a little fella like you, but hey don't worry. Cobalt and I will help your friend!"

Caterpie's eyes lit up. "Oh thank you both so much!"

"Um, excuse me? Is this the Sentinels rescue team base?" Another voice came from seemingly nowhere until a Dugtrio popped out of the ground.

"This is there." Pyre stated, with a welcoming grin. "What ya need little guy?"

"Well, my…my little diglett got swept up during that last earthquake. Launched straight into Mt Thunder. I'd go get him, but…I'm not strong enough!"

"Well we'll help you too!" Cobalt chimed in.

"Why ask those weaklings for help? My team is way better!" Another voice came in, this one dripping with a sinister tone. A plump round ghost pokemon. A Gengar. "Team Jerkwads will save your puny friends and family!" The ghost smiled wickedly between them. "We shall scale Mt Thunder and save them first! And that means the reward will be ours!"

"Umm I don't have anything to pay with…" caterpie frowned.

"I don't either I'm afraid." Dugtrio added

"That's fine, we don't do this for the cash anyway!" Cobalt spoke up happily.

"Kekekekeke" Gengar chuckled. "Well that's fine. I know the perfect way for you to pay. Join Team Jerkwads!"

"What?!" Pyre looked surprised.

"If we get there and save your friends before these weaklings, you can repay us by joining our team!" Gengar gave a sinister laugh.

"Fat chance! We'll save them first! And we'll do it for free!" Pyre took a determined look into his eyes.

Gengar was slightly startled, something about the conviction in Pyre's eyes had him spooked. "W-whatever, we'll go right now so we have a head start….yeah."

But it wasn't just conviction in his eyes. It was fear. He felt his chest growing tight. Someone else's loved one was in danger, and he didn't want to fail them. Not like he had…before.

The Charmander didn't realize he had started hyperventilating until he felt the gentle grip of a vine in his hand. "Pyre?" The snivy was right in front of him. He hadn't even seen the snake approach him. "You okay?"

He felt his breath coming easier. "Y-yeah, what happened?"

"Gengar left and you just kinda, froze." Ivy looked worried.

"Sorry about that. I don't know what came over me." It hurt, lying to Ivy's face. Pyre had done it on reflex, but didn't expect it to make him so uncomfortable. "I'm fine, really." Inside he knew he wasn't. Even now, he felt a stinging sensation in his chest. A deep, hollow sting. The charmander turned away. "Come on, we need to go find diglett and metapod."

"Wait! We can't go yet!" Cobalt suddenly seemed hesitant. "I forgot, there's some legend about Mt Thunder. A monster or something lives there!"

"A monster." Pyre smirked, driving the dark thoughts from his mind. "No problem." He started strutting off toward the gate.

*Mt Calamity*

"Master is going to be furious with us."

"Bitch I know! That charmander is still alive! I'm more fucked than you! I dead ass told master he was dead. When he finds out…" the Krookodile glanced back at his own butt, then into the near dostance where Eclipse was training with a group of weavile. "Ain't no way I'm letting that runt top me."

"When master finds out, you won't have a choice. But at least you know you'll live. He'll probably execute me on the spot." Moon sighed.

"Oooh yeah, cause being Eclipse's fuck toy wouldn't be cringe as fuck."

"Suck it up you moron."

"The hell are you two doing? Shouldn't you be out cleaning up your mess?" The voice of that malnourished Sneasel broke their conversation easily.

"But Master…"

"Already knows Pyre survived. I told him personally. And if either of you value your lives, you should stop loafing about and get back to hunting."

"No sweat dawg, he's going to Mt Thunder, Zapdos'll kill him."

"Are you an idiot?" The Sneasel had closed the distance fast. "It wasn't a suggestion."

"But he's right, none of the pokemon that fought Zapdos have survived, so we have nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, and Pyre hit me, he was weaksauce."

"Swindle. Shut. Up."

"You know what? No, I'm sick of being pushed around by an anorexic cuck like you! I'm stronger than you and we all know it. You don't get enough food to threaten anyone. That's why you're just master's cum dump. That's why he fucked that.."

The Krookodile was cut off by a crushing grip around his throat. But neither Moon nor the Sneasel saw the one doing it.

"Swindle. You forget yourself." The dark voice of the calamity spoke to him directly. Though the other two couldn't see it, they knew what the Krookodile was seeing. Their dark master's clawed hand crushing his throat. "Every day the barrier sealing me in this mountain weakens. And as it does, my power over you only grows. You would do well to not insult my consort. If memory serves you dropped to your knees and begged me to take you when we first met."

"Yes master! I…" the Krookodile choked out his words. "I understand…I'm…sorry." Swindle could suddenly breathe again. He was left coughing and panting for a few moments.

"Good. Then do as you were told." The dark voice spoke again. "Clean up your mess."

"But master, if we follow him up Mt Thunder, Zapdos will surely…"

"If I must repeat myself one more time, Swindle, I assure you I will keep my promise. You will belong to Eclipse."

"I…yes master…" Swindle turned away and began to walk away.

"Aww don't sulk too much handsome." Moon walked beside him. "We can do this. Pyre doesn't stand a chance."

Just behind them the malnourished sneasel chuckled. "I thought you were going to kill him that time."

"Believe me I wanted to, but I promised Eclipse he could have him. And I am a mon of my word. Eclipse," the dark voice spoke again. "I have a mission for you."

*Mt Thunder*

"Well, here we are…" Cobalt seemed startled. "Ooh noooo, ummm m-my stomach, oh no, I don't think I can do this guys.." Cobalt was clearly just frightened, but acted like he was ill.

"Oh no, are you okay?" Pyre didn't realize it was an act.

Ivy however "Come on Cobalt, you agreed to this remember?"

"But he's not feeling well." Pyre gave a worried look.

"Oh you sweet summer child. He's acting, he's just afraid of going in."

"N-no I'm not! I'm serious, I think I'm sick." Ivy simply stared at him. The tension was almost palpable. "Okay okay, I'm fine, but come one, there's a monster!"

"Hey, there's no need to be afraid of whoever this monster is! This is me we're talking about, I'm awesome!" Pyre's words held no semblance of narcissism. He wasn't being overconfident, he simply believed in himself that much.

"Hehe, that you are." Ivy said under his breath, looking over the charmander for a moment and stealing a glance at his tail. To say he was entranced by that sapphire flamed tail was an understatement. He watched it sway, before slowly lifting his eyes to look at the charmander overall. It was like Pyre was aglow, in the snivy's eyes. The fire type was amazing, Ivy knew it from the moment they met, it was the entire reason he had tried so hard to mate with Pyre in the past.

His train of thought was cut short at a loud thundering boom.

"Was that the monster?!"

"It was just thunder. Probably where this place gets its name."

"Oh, r-right." Cobalt wipes sweat from his head. "I forgot."

"Alright, enough messing around!" Pyre held no further hesitation as he stepped into the open cave mouth of Mt Thunder. Unsurprisingly the inside of the dungeon was full of rocky crags, some covered in moss, most not. "Well, at least we didn't come here for sightseeing hehe. Okay, let's find the stairs, they said they were gonna be at the peak right?"

"They never said that, but with our luck that's exactly where they are."

"Well come on guys, can't let team Jerkwads beat us to saving Diglett and Metapod!" Cobalt rushed off down a corridor with Pyre and Ivy right behind him.

It would be an understatement to say Mt Thunder was a maze. But not all that difficult to navigate. And the hostile pokemon were surprisingly easy to handle as well.

A Gligar here, a few Pidgeotto there, an Electabuzz, and Growlithe interspersed throughout the maze-like corridors. To Pyre's amusement, and enjoyment, the engagements of battle were swift and decisive.

A quick flame thrower, water gun, or vine whip, and most of these pokemon seemed to drop immediately. A few of them were carrying rocks or money. A few berries here and there. Pyre felt strange just sort of looting them like that, but given how casually Cobalt had done it, he simply assumed that was normal.

Pyre wasn't certain how long they'd been wandering through Mt Thunder, when all of a sudden.

"Hey, little guy!" Swindle rounded a corner stopping them in their tracks. "Let's rock and roll?"

The trio of pokemon stepped back.

"Going somewhere?" Moon had appeared behind them.

"Okay guys, remember, same game plan as before, we'll take the big one, Ivy handles the little one." Pyre spoke reassuringly before suddenly disappearing from between them.

The fire type felt all the air driven out of him in a split second. And his head slammed back into a rock wall. His vision went blurry and he felt a fist slam into his nose smashing him into the rock wall again. Just as another punch was about to collide with his face flames burst up around him and he caught his assailant pulling them forth and slamming them into the wall. He stepped back and swung his tail at them, sending them sliding back away from the wall. He looked toward Cobalt and Ivy, they seemed to be fine. At least he thought so, his vision was still extremely blurry.

He shook his head to try and clear his sight. Once his vision began to clear he was face to face with an almost perfect mirror of himself. A crimson scaled Charmander, the only difference was the onyx flame on the end of his tail. A dark contrast to Pyre's own sapphire flame.

The Charmander rushed forward wreathing his fists in flames and swinging them with devastating force and precision. If those first hits were anything to go based on, this guy knew what he was doing, his first hits had Pyre dazed and barely able to see straight. And his attacks hit hard. Pyre blocked the first punch with his arms, then quickly sidestepped the next one, but the darker charmander pursued using the momentum of his left fist to follow Pyre to his new position. The sapphire-flamed char caught the attack with one hand and in one swift motion gut punched his assailant.

"Who, are you?" Pyre looked at the winded Charmander before a sudden pain shot into his forehead. His attacker had head-butted him.

"The one that will block out the sun, and bathe this land in Father's dark embrace!"

"Whosaywhatnow?" Pyre blurted out, unimpressed by the lengthy title.

"I am Eclipse." The dark Charmander rushed forth and punched Pyre in the face twice before spinning around and hitting him in the face with the back of his right fist.

Pyre stumbled back. "Well what do you want with me?"

"To fight you." Black flames surrounded Eclipse. "To kill you. Now, give me a good fight."

Pyre raised his fists before notice Gengar, an Ekans, and a Medicham rushing by them.

"Okay, I get you want to fight, but I'm kind of busy right now! I can't give you a good fight if I'm distracted right?"

"Then I guess you better focus." Eclipse rushed forth.

"Hey, no!" Pyre held his hand out and booped his counterpart on the nose. "I'm always up for a fight, but I'm not fighting you if you won't fight fair."

"Good, then I can just kill you where you stand."

Eclipse took a swing at Pyre. Faster than he could react, a gold tint enveloped his tail flame and Pyre struck Eclipse so hard he embedded himself into the ground.

"Dayum!" Swindle shouted out looking at the Eclipse shaped hole in front of Pyre. In his moment of distraction the Krookodile was blasted with a massive wave of water and slammed into a wall.

"PYRE!" Eclipse shouted as he crawled from his body shaped hole.

"Awww you're super tough? Why can't you wait, I really wanna fight you now, but I'm really too busy. So, sorry!" As the dark charmander reached the surface his head was slammed down again, this time the crater punched through the floor and sent him down to the previous level.

"Swindle, let's get out of here, master will have our heads if Eclipse is too hurt." Moon stated, rushing off and away with Swindle jogging behind her.

"They aren't nearly as imposing as you made em sound when we met Cobalt." Pyre looked surprised, but so did the other two.

"Yeah either they are having an off day, or the stories aren't very accurate." Cobalt responded.

"That eclipse guy is definitely tough though. He hits hard, just so happens I hit harder." Pyre turned toward where he'd seen Team Jerkwads running off. "Come on, we gotta get to the peak."

The trio pressed onward until they reached what appeared to be the summit of the mountain.

Gengar and his team were already there, and they seemed to be holding Metapod hostage. "Come on, find that Diglett. Kekekeke"

"Hey, let Metapod go!" Cobalt cried out as they arrived.

"Keke, no I don't think I will." Gengar held Metapod close to his chest. "This little dude is all ours."

"No, let them go right…"

A loud clap of thunder silenced them all.

"Leave this place….while I have some semblance of control of myself." A loud booming voice came from above. A massive yellow and black bird hovered above them, its feathers spiked like electricity had them standing on end. "Lest you face me!" With a loud squad and a thunderclap the bird announced himself. "Thunderlord Zapdos!"