Scene Five: The Keeper
"What do you hope to accomplish?"
The captain kneed Will for his question. He grunted in pain, clutching his chest, but a glare at the man in question showed he wasn't about to let up. Mosten spat at the raider captain's feet. Sira instinctively tried to reach for her sword – not only was it absent, but trying to move only made the binding tighter around us. She grumbled something about not being able to believe someone snuck up on her. I could relate.
Through our controlled attack, the raiders had hardly uttered a noise. We put effort into ensuring they had no time to scream out for help. Except for…
I caught Lusari's guilty glance across the room. She had her back to Will's, as I did to Sira's. Even if her attack had alerted them to us, I couldn't blame her. Hearing the raiders talk about their victims when she could have been one earlier today? I'd have done the same – but now here we were, trapped in their camp. I'd seen Mosten, Leif, and Alex bound up and taken to another tent, and I wasn't sure about the fourteen other soldiers we'd come with.
Our Pokemon were kept somewhere else too, something I absolutely dreaded. Only Snacks was in our sight – and she was kept in a cage not unlike the one I'd seen in my nightmare. But, instead of being pinned by a dark emperor, the raider captain stayed near the cage, giving Will a snide look. This one looked much better fed than the rest of the army. His beard was neatly trimmed, his armor finely polished, and his dark eyes shining with contempt. It was clear how their systems worked.
"Don't think I didn't notice yer Eevee's talents." The raider captain looked to me with a sinister gaze. "There's bound to be a good sellin' value to an Eevee like this 'un. That sort of coin'll feed us fer years! We can build a whole new Capital! Give and take as we please – no need to fight over scraps, then. Some of ye could even join us. As the help, o'course."
I grimaced as the captain and a couple other raiders guffawed, the captain taking a swig of a fancy dark wine. I could hardly take my eyes off Snacks, who looked back at me worriedly, blood still staining her fine fur. My fists clenched behind my back.
"You'll sell her over my dead body," Sira spat. "You think your smelly lot could make a sale? Any merchant worth his salts would kill you for reeking so bad in their presence."
The captain struck her across the face. Her head snapped to the side, but she kept her shoulders straight. "Shut yer trap, wench. Ye just don't want us to get rich, don't ye?" I saw him examining her up close. "Come te think of it, yer a pretty wench. What say ye shack up with us? Get a fair shaggin' on the daily, and ye can even fight with us if ye want to. Ye'd get a tidy sum, o'course."
His words made a deep fire rumble in me. "Keep your filthy hands off her, and my Eevee."
The captain turned his attention to me, looking thoroughly bored. "Now the pup's uttering threats too? Curse it all. Who thought to bring you in here without wrapping yer mouths?"
He stepped toward me and lowered his head down to my level. He might be better groomed than the others, but he still stank like them. He grinned in an ugly way, baring missing and damaged teeth. "Protective of yer Pokemon and yer wench? So, which one do I beat first? Or…"
He snapped his fingers, and the two other raiders with him – currently fighting over the wine the captain had – snapped to attention. "Start with the wench. Leave a lot o' her fer me. In the meantime," he added with a disgusting grin, "I've got me sights set somewhere else."
My jaw dropped – more from rage than surprise. Sira growled behind me as the men approached her. "Try it. We'll see what I bite off first."
I didn't understand what the captain was saying until he stepped over me, headed to Lusari. Comparatively to Sira, the realization of what he planned made my blood run cold.
"Lay another hand on either of them, and you will face the true wrath of the Elemental Stones."
The voice came from me, but it didn't sound like me. I felt backed to the wall, helpless, as one of the men behind me shoved a gag in Sira's mouth. She tried to scream through it, but her angry words came out muffled. "The hell're the Elemental Stones?" one of the men murmured to the other, who shrugged.
"Is that so?" the raider chuckled. "Cause, we were planning on more than just a hand."
"It is so." I was surprised to hear Will backing me up, though his words came to my ears like he spoke through a wall. "I have seen it with my own eyes. Have you not? The force that drives the forest into unrest? You surely have felt it, seen it, and experienced it. The force of the Elemental Stones."
An eerie chill seemed to settle into the room, and the men behind me stopped. The captain glared at Will. "What're you gabbin' on about? I've never heard of an Elemental Stone with that kinda power. Can't be real – this bigot's blufifn'!"
"You would presume so?" Will asked gently. Unlike me, he kept his voice perfectly even. "Tell me: have you ever seen an Eevee that could do what she can? And have you seen the forest Pokemon up close?" His head tilted to me, a small smile forming on his face. "Because they are connected. You bring harm to any of us, especially Eevee, and… it will come."
One of the other raiders cleared their throat. "Boss, that monster that gots Reed and Ronfrey last night! Ya don't think…?"
The captain snarled in frustration. "Don't tell me yer scared of an Eevee! Ain't nothin' gonna happen! These are just a couple o' rotten kids that need to separate fact from fiction! Watch and learn!"
He got up and approached Sira. No, I thought angrily. I couldn't let them touch her!
I felt hands behind me working on the rope. They didn't let my hands out, but they yanked Sira to her feet. The captain pushed her, causing her to stumble, and the other caught her by the bottom, squeezing it hard. She let out an angry noise through the rag shoved in her mouth.
The other two didn't look unscared, but they certainly understood an attractive woman before them, and they started to close in. As they moved, I detected a strange noise. It rang slightly above the energy building up in my chest, as though the force only gently abated so I could hear the sound. Something about it was horribly familiar – but at the moment, it was exactly what I needed.
I rose – but I didn't do it. Something powered me, surging through my limbs, and the rope snapped at my wrists. I heard the men utter a noise, and I turned to face them, crossing my arms over my chest. A grin spread across my face.
"I warned you."
Nothing happened for a moment. All three men looked at me with newfound terror. One still clutched Sira's backside. Taking advantage of their stupor, she rammed him in the jewels with her elbow, inciting a screech of an octave barely above the Keeper's whistle.
A scream lit the night from outside our tent. Everyone whipped around to face the noise – except me. Something kept me standing there, a dangerous smirk on my face, holding the captain's glare.
"What the—?" the captain snarled. He held my gaze for a moment longer before reeling around to one of his raiders. "Joff, go check it out. One of the men probably just lit 'emselves on fire again. If this kid thinks he can scare us, he's never met me. Joff, if you don't move yer sorry arse, I'll—"
The tent ripped apart. A bundle of green cloth split through it and shot overhead of me, tearing through one raider in seconds before it fell upon the captain. Blood sprayed everywhere, splashing across my unblinking face. The raider captain let out one last shrill, horrific scream before the Keeper's claws plunged through his chest. They stopped short, blood streaming from them in rivulets, an inch from the rise of my chest.
"Holy fuck." Sira's whisper was the first noise I heard past the scream. Before my eyes, the captain sank to the floor, the Keeper's claws ripping through him up to his skull. Now it hovered before me for a second time. I stared into the darkness under its hood, its glowing green eye. I didn't move.
"Guardian of the Stones," it intoned in a voice that seemed to shudder the very earth itself, "prove your worth."
The last raider in the room gave, and let out a horrified shriek. The Keeper whirled around like a hellbent storm. Leaving only its shrill, flute-like noise in its wake, it carved through the side of the tent and, by association, the top half of the last raider. The disembodied legs kicked, seized up, and fell.
I momentarily thought that it left altogether, but the immediate following sounds of screaming and bloodshed rectified that thought.
Will was the first to speak. "Get to the weapons and our Pokemon. Now!"
The ice gripping everyone broke with the urgency of Will's voice. Sira stepped away from the two mangled corpses, kicked one, and made for her sword. I went for the raider captain's corpse. I was able to identify his ring of keys at his belt and rip them free, rushing to unlock Snacks' cage. As soon as the lock gave, Snacks leapt into my arms, squealing happily.
Picking her up, I made to go to the weapons as Sira was using her blade to cut Will and Lusari free. I found myself stopped, staring out into the carnage. While the bloodshed was immense and violent, it didn't look like the Keeper killed everyone. Some people scrambled out from their tents in its wake, looking horrified, and ran. Women, children, innocents. Did it differentiate them?
A warm presence appeared in my hand, trying to drag me away. For a moment, somewhere in my thoughts, I imagined it was somebody else. The girl with strawberry-blond hair, shaking me to my senses as I stood over a body. I could almost see the girl's freckled face, her blond hair falling across her shoulders in loose curls, the urgency in her eyes. A tall, gentle Bayleef cried softly next to her, rubbing its head against my arm.
Whatever I was thinking, it abruptly shifted, and I stood before a puzzled-looking Sira. Her expression shifted, and she shoved my things into my hands. Glimmer's ball, my bag, knife, staff, and bow. In our panic, the odd feelings in my chest, the voice that spoke from within, the Keeper's words, and that memory… they all started to fade into the back of my mind, for careful evaluation when we were safe.
"That thing's angry as all hell," Sira muttered to us. "Can we even get past it? Will it spare us a second time?"
"We must go." At the edge of the torn tent, Mosten appeared with Alex and Leif. Each of them just had one Pokemon out: Mosten's Empoleon, Alex's Violet, and Leif's Riptide. "My men are somewhere in this camp. If we don't get out now, we could end up that monster's next target."
"I know not what it plots, but we must be ready." Will turned to me and gave Snacks the smallest of nods. "Be ready to use any fire you can. You too, Sira."
Sira nodded, Infernix already back at her hip. She affectionately scratched him behind the ears for just a second before straightening, stretching her arms out. "Well, fuck it. Let's go."
With one last, unanimous look between us, we burst out of the tent – and I almost went right back in.
The entire clearing was painted in gore. Slashes cleaved tents asunder. Bodies of raiders hung everywhere like the listless flags. Not all were dead. Some lived, screaming at the top of their lungs, sobbing in sheer agony. Great gashes split their chests apart. Some held their insides together with their hands, screaming to us for help. Many Pokemon, to my horror, were not spared. I tried not to look too hard, fearful of identifying them. Fires raged throughout the field, and some raiders caught flame.
There were survivors left in the Keeper's wake, but to the bloody encampment, it was a game to see what might pick them off first. Mosten tried to stop a Drapion that skittered away in fear, only to stumble into a burning tent and emit a final shriek before it stilled. Alex and Violet were able to corral a small group of terrified raiders, left behind for one reason or another. Given that they followed us without question, maybe the Keeper had a sense of justice, if skewed.
Shouts from behind us caused us to turn around. The other soldiers of Mosten's emerged from a nearby tent in a similar fashion to us, some still strapping on their armor. They had grouped together another set of surviving raiders, and their Pokemon worked to battle some of the fire quickly ravaging the field.
Mosten met each of them and urged each one forward with a pat on the back, adding his Empoleon to the efforts of battling the fire, stopping only to revel in the fact that his men yet lived. If I was ever to become a soldier and had a choice of commanding officer, it would be Mosten, I thought.
As much as we struggled to corral survivors and put out fires, Will kept us strongly surging forward to exit this hellscape. Before him, the fire caught some kind of fuel and soared up into a pillar of flames, blasting us all with its sheer heat as it seemed to grasp for the sky. I didn't need to say anything for Snacks to jump out of my arms, shifting into Vaporeon with a thought, and start throttling the flames with a jet of water. Mosten's Empoleon followed suit, and Leif's Riptide soon joined.
Shaking his head, Will reached for the silver ball at his belt, and a large, sturdy-looking Excadrill popped out. Immediately leaping into action, it used its great, drill-like hands to start throwing earth all over the fires, stamping them out more effectively than the others.
Will kept the forward march going as our numbers swelled to include any survivors. We had to dance around bodies on the ground, dodging the injured who grabbed at our ankles. Sira and Will tried to put down each living raider that fought to bring us down, but there was little we could do. Too many suffered in this field. As much as I knew the raiders had done terrible things, and that the Keeper must be obeying its own code, I resented it for the profound violence it caused.
We encountered some raiders who still thought to fight, even with their Pokemon either dead or having abandoned them to flee with us. Most scattered around in the relentless smoke and fire, their weapons in hand and smeared with blood, their eyes popping with crazed fright. Sometimes we would end up close enough where we had to engage. Other times, the smoke would billow up, then away to reveal just another body.
We were certain the Keeper still prowled, and, while I wagered it had a code, we didn't know if it might decide to strike any of us down at any time. We saw it only as the occasional shadow, a haunting whistling in the distance, or a recently slain raider. We knew it wasn't far.
We weren't far from the edge of the raider camp, but the state of it made our trek feel like an eternity of crossing hell. We finally reached the opposite edge of camp from where we'd entered, looking up at the plains between us and the city. We'd have to climb a last hill to reach safety. The fire hadn't gotten this far, but black smoke billowed up from the camp like an insidious monster.
"We're almost free!" Mosten called out, his voice loud and encouraging. "Once we leave this wood, all should be safe from the Keeper!"
"Just a little further," Will was saying to a scared couple, urging them forward. Leif stumbled behind him, and Mosten offered the soldier a hand up. Behind us, a small band of surviving raiders shot out from the cover of some trees. Our soldiers took up the defensive, Alex at their forefront with Violet. I sent out Glimmer to join them, backing her up with my bow and arrow.
Sira headed the group that first scaled the hill, free of the ancient wrath of the woods. She stabbed Sinistra into the earth and bent over in exhaustion, hands on her knees while she struggled to catch her breath. Her whole team was out, shepherding the survivors up the hill after her. Will was halfway up the hill, helping an injured man scale it, when his glance caught something behind me and he froze. Sira seemed to see it as well, and I saw her reach for Sinistra again.
"It comes this way! Hurry now!" Alex rushed me along. Soldiers around us readied their weapons, and fright grew among the survivors. Sira was already charging down the hill, Infernix sprinting after her. Mosten looked torn between herding the survivors and challenging the ancient Keeper. I could hear its haunting cry growing in strength.
My legs felt heavier than ever as I tried to keep pace, Alex and Lusari appearing with me to rush me along. Something caught my ankle suddenly – a felled raider, using the last bit of his life force to try and drag me down. I dropped like a stone, the wind shooting from my lungs. Lusari and Alex fell with me, but Alex rolled, drawing his sword in an enraged shout. Lusari spun around, her expression vivid in horror, and thrust her staff forward.
Snacks rammed her finned head into the hand ensnaring me, and Glimmer shocked it with a burst of electricity, shocking it into letting go of me. Realizing I had precious seconds, I scooped both Snacks and Glimmer up in one arm and spun around with my staff.
For a creature of the forest, the Keeper seemed right at home among ashes and heat waves. The dim echo of flames behind it gave it a terrifying sort of aura as it loomed over me for a third, final time. Beneath that frayed hood, I saw its single, glowing green eye.
Snacks wriggled free from my grasp and, before I could stop her, lunged through the air between us at the Keeper. Mid-air, she began to change into a Flareon once more… but this time, something was different.
Once she turned into Flareon, her mane continued to grow. Her ears furled out longer, accentuated by dark markings. Her tail puffed out into what looked and felt like real flames, encircling the lower half of her body. What was normally orange shifted into a darker red, her mane becoming golden, and black markings drawing themselves across her paws, the tips of her mane and tail, and her ears.
A golden power radiated from her unlike anything I'd seen before and, with a great cry, she became immolation. Fire rose with more aggression and intensity than I thought possible. It burned so brilliantly that it left angry bright patches in my vision, spinning and whirling in the air, given strength from the flames all over camp.
The Keeper shrieked in a way that would likely hammer my eardrums for days. It stretched to every corner of the forest. It resonated within me like it caught in my lungs. I felt every Pokemon in the woods turning its head as the sacred Keeper took a serious blow – both Pokemon I'd expected, and strange Pokemon that hid in the deepest recesses of the woods. A majestic and huge Stantler, its antlers adorned with vibrant leaves. A massive and mossy-green Ursaring, boasting unusually large, rabbit-like ears.
The last thing I saw was an ancient and imposing Decidueye, its mantle a deep forest-green and fading into a deep red. Its features were striking and otherworldly, a single, radiant green eye gleamed with untold wisdom. Long, ivory claws extended from its wings. What normally resembled a feather hood stuck out and arced behind it like a helmet. It stood on its huge taloned legs with an aura of solemnity, a sentinel of the woods.
Most notably, its shoulder was made completely of a sharp, jagged stone that jutted out and around its back like armor, glistening a deep, surreal green. It radiated with power so strongly that I almost felt the urge to kneel – but I couldn't move.
The ancient Decidueye held my gaze for a long moment, and I suddenly knew what I looked upon – the Keeper of the Old Forest, a guardian of the Grass Stone. Our minds connected in the moment, and it looked at me from beneath its veiled guise.
It didn't speak like it did earlier, but I found myself understanding of something immense. It would yet live, and Snacks and I passed its challenge, proving our worth. The great guardian of the Grass Stone could not be felled, even by so mighty a strike – though it appeared impressed.
The Decidueye extended a taloned hand out to me. In it was a shard of that iridescent green stone – the Grass Stone. With it came silent acknowledgement of a new, yet old, promise: to protect it with my life.
I realized Snacks was with me in this connected moment, standing in the new form of Flareon that I'd seen her in briefly. Like this, she stood taller than my waist, and she emanated an aura of heat.
Facing the Keeper, she made a series of mewing noises. The Decidueye did not speak, but lowered its head, eyes closed. In response, Snacks' head lowered, too. Unsure what was going on, I lowered my head – and the shard of the Grass Stone lifted from the Decidueye's outstretched hand. My right hand instinctively rose to take it, and the mark on my wrist gleamed the same shade of green. The gleam brightened, and grew, until I couldn't see.
Then, as suddenly as it occurred, everything returned. The flames vanished, flickering away altogether like a fell wind was enough to extinguish it all. With them, the Keeper was gone – defeated or otherwise – and I felt a considerable weight lifted from my shoulders, even as a new weight was gained.
Snacks tumbled to the ground before me, instantly becoming an unconscious Eevee once more. Hands appeared to help me to my feet. Lusari picked up Snacks. Alex sheathed his sword. It was Sira, though, who grabbed my hands, and pulled me along up the hill. Glimmer kept pace, murmuring a happy 'baa!' every few steps.
Sira led me to the height of the hill until we stood safely outside the raider camp, and then she spun around.
I watched her move in slow motion like a dance of flames of her own. Her scarlet eyes left afterimages in the air, her hair painting a picture as she spun – and a single teardrop. Then I was in her arms. I thought to pull away quickly, but she held me tightly against her chest, her hands gripping the fabric of my shirt, her chin resting against my head. Sinistra lay abandoned on the ground, the blade seeming to reflect Snacks' incredible blaze from moments before. Infernix appeared next to the blade, glancing at it for a moment before looking up at his trainer.
"That was brilliant," Will whispered from beside me. I could hear swelling pride in his voice. "Good job, Ryoku, Snacks. If this is what you two can really do…"
I found myself shaking my head. "That was all Snacks. I… It was all her."
"Ryoku, that was excellent!" Alex proclaimed, smacking my shoulder. "What you two did…!"
Lusari shook her head a bit in disbelief, a small smile on her face as she looked at me, holding Snacks in her arms, her eyes lightly closed. "Marvelous," she whispered. "I didn't think to see you display the power of Mega Evolution so soon…"
"Mega Evolution?" I echoed, confused. "What do you…?"
But nobody answered me, not directly. Everyone herded around, congratulating me for something I wasn't certain of. What I had seen remained in my mind as we stood, ash-laden and breathless, gathered in the fields outside the Old Forest. Absently, I removed my right hand from Sira, and glanced at my wrist.
The marking was of three wavy lines partially intersected by a cross, before. Now, the cross seemed to have evolved, like it was just a partial marking before. Now, among the intersecting lines was one weaved circle surrounded by several smaller circles – and one of those circled was inked green.