New Goldenrod City outskirts, Unstable Zone.

Half a mile away from the new and improved Goldenrod City, an area dotted with the upturned ground from Necrozma's battle with Mewtwo, resulting hundreds if not thousands of holes that led into a near-endless labyrinth of interconnected tunnels. On top of that, each and every one of the holes led straight into the volcanic mantle, letting loose volcanic gases into the air that made recovery nigh impossible without repairing every inch of the displaced ground.

Unwilling to spend the energy to fix it while so many other areas needed life to flourish, Mr. Star had the entire area walled off and abandoned. He deemed it unusable due to how easily even the surface ground collapsed. This turning of a blind eye soon proved to be a mistake, as members of Team Rocket's Nova Branch soon took advantage of it. Under the guise of Mr. Star's own men, they began conducting experiments within the caverns.

Beyond simply the sheer amount of heat and gaseous energy they could collect, they discovered traces of Necrozma's energy ripe for harvesting. There were also powerful Rock, Ground and Steel Type Pokemon that had been slumbering beneath the earth for years and were awoken by the battling. Now they wandered the labyrinth, attacking any intruders they came across in their ire about their sudden awakening. This luckily proved to be a major hurdle for the Nova Branch. And but one of many.

Upon the sun's setting, the nefarious members of the Nova Branch began scrambling about the Unstable Zone like ants over their prey. They carried all manner of tools, devices and machinery systems across the blackened fractured ground. They marched past many of the holes scattered about. Each one was marked by a bright yellow flag pinned into the ground. Eventually, they surrounded an unmarked hole and quickly went to work.

Long before the others had arrived, a few men were already gathered by that particular hole. A number of seismographs were implanted nearby, as well as other similar devices that frantically scribbled jagged lines down onto long, winding sheets of paper. The second one paper was finished, the grunt manning it ripped it off, sprinting toward a grisled, bearded man who was followed by six others. He looked old, yet thin. Hunched over amidst a sea of men standing as tall as could be.

"Here you are, sir!" Said the grunt, shoving the paper into the bearded man's hands excitedly. "I think this is the one!"

The bearded man's eyes traced along each and every turning point of the line. Sheepishly smiling, the grunt painstakingly awaited his superior's response with baited breath. A gruff grunt was the elder's response as he shoved the paper back into the grunt's hands before marching past him, the six other men following closely behind. The grunt was left completely and utterly bewildered.

When the elder man made his way to the marked tunnel, he turned to his men and gave his simple order. "Gear up, men. We'll get to the source this time." Every attempt at locating the source of Necrozma's residual energy has been met with failure by these men so far, along with many casualties. Falling stones, sudden dropoffs, jagged stones and sudden bursts of gas from the corona below were typically the cause of this.

The surrounding grunts immediately went to work on the old man and the six that followed behind him. Like ants, they surrounded them, modifying their suits and thrusting weapons of all shapes and sizes into their hands and onto their suits. When they were finished, the grunts backed away from the men that would soon venture into the tunnels.

"All ready, sir!" One grunt called to the bearded man with a salute.

Nodding, he turned to the hole and knelt beside it. He looked down into it, attempting to gauge its immediate depth. "Twenty-two meters," He said aloud, then asked, "Do we have a map on this one yet?"

The same grunt approached him, handing over two large sheets of paper and a thin device with only a black screen and one yellow button. "We don't have much of a map of this one yet, sir, but we've managed to map out all the others we've gone through...at least as far as the other parties got."

The bearded man simply turned to look at the device. It emitted a high-pitched frequency for about five square miles and then gave a somewhat detailed map of its surroundings, not dissimilar to what a swarm of Zubat would do to find their way around dark caves. Pocketing it for the moment, he took a sturdy metal stake and jammed it into the ground. He motioned to another grunt with his finger, who, in return, picked up a mallet and hammered the stake into the ground.

As his men worked on their own stakes, the bearded commander wrapped a rope around his and tied it tightly. He pulled on it with all of his might and nodded approvingly when it didn't budge. "I'll head in first," He announced. "Everyone else, make sure you're monitoring the other vents for any activity! Any of my men die, that information is going straight to Mr. Lee."

The mention of their leader's name immediately sent a shiver up the spines of the grunts, making them jump into action. Turning to the nearest of them, the bearded man asked, "How far down has the scouting drone gone?"

"Nearly a mile down now, sir!" He replied. "Though it should still be able to send you directions underground at triple that distance."

Nodding, the bearded man turned back to the hole. He peered down into its abyssal depths for a slight moment, then fearlessly plunged down into it. Slowly but surely, he kicked off the wall to descend down the tunnel's initial drop. It didn't take long until he was swathed in darkness entirely. For nearly any other man, it would have been off-putting. However, even the elderly commander could not deny the sheer oddity of its immediate darkness. He should have been able to at least see the night sky as it had only been thirty seconds since his descent...yet there was nothing.

After another two minutes, he eventually touched the bottom. There was an immediate downward slope to the ground beneath his feet to the point one of his feet was noticeably higher than the other, though it felt as firm as concrete. He turned his gaze, along with a small but powerful flashlight on his forehead, back up to the the entrance upon continuing to hear the sound of scuttling dirt. By now, the other six men appointed under his command were making their descent as well.

75 meters deep.

The first half-hour of the descent was uneventful as expected. Every other attempt had reportedly been similar. The dangers would start at about three-hundred or so meters down, so they were safe for the moment. They wasted no time documenting the area like the others as the areas were nearly identical in composition. Nothing more than ordinary stone burnt to a crisp. Any of Necrozma's residual energy at this level had been burnt away and escaped through the vents.

"Geodude!" Chirped a Wild Geodude from ahead of them, immediately dashing any ideas of a lack of threats at this depth. The soldiers immediately readied their weapons. In the tunnels, even a lowly Pokemon such as Geodude was an immense threat. A tear in their suits meant an excruciating death by asphyxiation, so encounters such as this was cause for concern.

"There's one this high?" Asked one of them with surprise. "I thought they stuck to the hotter areas!"

The old commander merely scowled, slowly lowering himself onto his stomach without aiming his gun away from the Pokemon's voice. The others immediately followed his example. Soon after, they spotted the Pokemon in question. Its eyes were wide and it was floating toward them as fast as however that worked could let it. The commander fired at it, striking it between the eyes with a miniature Flash Cannon and sending it tumbling onto its back.

Hesitantly, one of the other men approached it, pointing his weapon at it all the while. He poked at the Geodude's body with a metal rod repeatedly, but it did not react. Through a radio, he announced, "Target neutralized, commander."

Relieved, the commander slightly laxed in his stance. Rising back to his feet, he and the other men approached the fallen Geodude, looking down at its body. "Is it dead?" One man asked.

The old man shook his head. "No, I just knocked it out for now." He knelt down to its body, flipping it over onto its back. The eyes of the soldiers collectively widened when they found that it was completely black.

"What the-?!" One cried.

Standing back up, the commander turned his gaze down the path ahead of them where the Geodude had came from. "It probably got attacked by another Pokemon. A Steelix, maybe. That must have been why it was so high up." He held his firearm more firmly than before as he pointed it down upon the Geodude. "We were lucky that we intercepted it. It'd have really been disruptive to the grunts upstairs."

He turned a dial on his gun up about five notches, then pulled the trigger. The result was a bright flash of light that completely engulfed the Geodude for but the blink of an eye and disappeared, taking the Pokemon with it and leaving a smoking, ashy black stain in its place. "Let's get a move on, boys." The commander bobbed his head to the side toward the descending path and began walking. The other soldiers followed suit, with one turning to look back at the black stain for a moment before turning to follow.

The next hour was uneventful. There were a few drops, though none more than a few feet and every one of them completely visible with their flashlights. The old man held his squad up for a moment to calculate their current depth with the echolocator. It pinged, lighting up the screen with hundreds of winding lines. Comparing it to the two maps, he said, "We're about a hundred n' twenty meters down now," He announced. "Fifty more and we'll be at the conjunction point."

The conjunction point was the nickname the scientists above had given to an area where many of the tunnels briefly converged to form a massive rectangular room, as well as a dropoff that matched its size both before and after it. In the four months that the venturers had traversed the tunnels, it became almost a ritual of sorts for each party to drop an 'Eternal Glowstick', something that the higher-ups in the Nova Branch had made for their exploits, down into the room to mark it.

"Let's get a move on, then," Said the old man, returning to the group's head. "We'll take a break once we're down there."

Nodding, the other soldiers followed him. As they walked, the old man handed the echolocator and maps over to the closest man to him. "You hold onto that," He said. "I'm better at aiming than reading anyways." Fumbling with the items, the soldier wanted to make some kind of retort, but bit it back before he could do so. It was never wise to question your superiors in his line of work.

So, as the map-bearer, that soldier took the head position from the leader. Yet, he was so focused on the map that he didn't realize there was a dropoff right in front of him. And a giant one at that. "Wha-?!" He cried. Throwing the maps and echolocator behind him, he attempted to turn and grab the ledge that was rising up at him, only for his blood to run cold as his fingers missed their mark. A scream of terror escaped his mouth for but a split second until it, as well as his fall, were suddenly halted.

"Gotcha!" Said the old man. He caught onto the soldier's wrist and pulled him back up onto the overhang where he let out a relieved sigh.

"Th-thank you, sir," He said pitifully.

The old man scowled down at him. "Damn fool." Bending over to retrieve the maps, he said, "Can't even trust you with directions for five seconds without falling off a cliff. How the hell did you even…" A green glint from the darkness below caught both his attention as well as the words he was about to say. "...What the hell…?"

Below them was a massive rectangular expanse of blackened stone and abyssal darkness. At its bottom, the only illumination came from a multitude of discarded green iridescent lights. Scratching at his beard in bewilderment, the old man took out an Eternal Glowstick from his bag, bent and shook it to activate it, then dropped it down into the hole. It took a good five seconds for it to reach the bottom, resulting in an audible bang from its stony impact.

Its glow perfectly matched that of its various counterparts.

"The hell?" Asked one of the soldiers, voicing the inner thoughts of everyone else present. "We're already at the conjunction point?"

Another one turned to the old man. "I don't mean to offend, sir, but did you misread the map?"

Scowling, the old commander scanned both maps over for a second time, then activated the echolocator. The resulting image was completely different from before, listing paths that were completely different from the ones on the map. "What in the…?" He poked at the screen and activated the device repeatedly, resulting in a different given map each time. It suddenly shut off without warning.

The old man's rising frustrations were visible to the others as clearly as day. Trying to defuse it before it could grow out of hand, one soldier suggested, "Maybe it shut off because of the vents. I heard these things can be like EMP's."

He shook his head and pocketed the device. "No. We shouldn't be anywhere near where such a thing should be able to happen yet. Even if we were, we'd have much worse things to worry about." Taking out another metal stake, the commander narrowed his eyes down at the emerald lights dotting the floor far below. "Between that Geodude's behavior and this thing, I'd wager that there's a powerful Pokemon roaming the tunnels."

"A powerful Pokemon?" Asked a soldier. "As in...more than normal?"

Hammering his stake into the ground, the commander replied, "Steelix can't do anything that would mess with the echolocator besides Earthquake, and if it were doing that, we'd have felt it."

At that, the soldiers cringed. "More powerful than a Steelix?"

"What...what could even be that powerful?"

"Well," Started the old man as he finished tying his rope, "We're not going to be getting answers by standing around and doing jack all."

One of the soldiers stepped up and asked, "Should we...call it here? There are too many unknowns to deal with, even if they believe this hole is the safest path to the caldera."

The old man guffawed at that. "Boy, we're probably safer down here than up there. At least the bigwigs won't follow us down here. But giving up on a mission?" He couldn't help but to chuckle dryly. "I'll take a dozen Steelix over them any day."

A shiver collectively ran down their spines at the thought of being hunted down by a certain armored man with a blade. They weren't sure if the executives of the branch would punish them for giving up that brutally, but the prospect of it even being a possibility was enough to shut them up for a while. When they made it to the bottom of the conjuncion zone, they decided not to take a break. The sooner they were done with this whole ordeal the better.

290 meters deep.

The heat was now becoming noticeable from within their suits. The amount of gas was visible as well. Were it not for the brand of glass panes they had in their helmets, their vision would have been obscured by it. None of the soldiers, and certainly not the commander, knew nor cared about the logistics involved. Such things were beyond the minds of what the Nova Branch higher-ups considered throwaway grunts anyways.

"Stop here for a moment," Ordered the commander. His soldiers immediately stopped in their tracks with the clap of their heels. The old man pressed the two maps up against the wall, shining the light of his helmet upon it and squinting in an attempt to see its details. Under his breath, he muttered curses and the like that were directed at the gasses getting in the way. Though it did not fog up his visor, it did get in the way of the map.

After a few swipes of his hand through the air in an unsuccessful attempt at ridding himself of the annoying fog, he turned around and handed the maps over to another soldier. He made sure it wasn't the same one as before. "You read it," He ordered. "My eyes ain't what they used to be." He was about to start walking again, but stopped when he remembered something. "Oh, and keep your eyes on the floor, will you?"

Nodding, the soldier followed through on his orders. "...We seem to be nearing three-hundred meters, sir. If we haven't already gotten to that point."

The old man held his gun closer to his chest, his finger resting on the trigger. "Then keep your eyes open. Even if this is supposed to be the "safe" tunnel, this is where the Pokemon get rowdy." As the squad began to mobilize once more, the old man turned to the map-bearing soldier and asked, "What do you estimate the scout drone's depth as right now?"

He looked up into the darkness, mulling that question over, then replied, "Provided it hasn't been destroyed, and since it went down long before we did, my guess is that it's gotten to around eight-hundred meters. Though…"

The commander raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Though?"

"You could always just ask the guys back at base," Continued the soldier as he tapped his radio. "They're the ones with eyes on it. They probably see its video feed too."

With a grumble, the old man shook his head. "The radios are probably broken like the echo-whatever it was called. Don't you think they would've tried to make contact?"

The soldier frowned, returning his gaze to the maps. "That's a good point. Now that I think about it, whatever caused our stuff to malfunction probably got the drone too." Looking back at the air canisters on his back, he gave a nervous chuckle. "It's a good thing EMPs can't mess with our suits."

"But Pokemon can," Another soldier reminded them, "So let's keep our eyes forward, yeah?"

The commander adjusted his gun in his arms and said, "To whoever said that, you're my new favorite man on this team."

A short-lived laughter broke out from the squad as they continued further down into the darkness.

450 meters down.

Four hours had passed since the squad first dropped into the tunnels, as had many vertical drops along the way. There was a slight red hue to the floor and tunnels now due to the heat. Every step they caused a hissing sound to emerge as burning air was released from the ground. However, the red hue did not yet allow any visibility in the tunnels for anything other than itself. Thus, the soldiers were still left in the dark.

A long silence had been broken by the map-bearing soldier. "Sir?" He said, getting the old man's attention. "The map we were given has run out. We've passed the point the scout drone was at when it was created."

"Toss it," Ordered the commander nonchalantly. "If it ain't helpful, it's a hindrance. We'll just have to find our way with the first map."

The soldier pursed his lip. "Feels like a bit of a waste." He took out a thick metal pen from his bag, pressing it up against the point where the tunnel ended. "I'm actually a bit of a cartographer myself," He admitted. "I'm still a novice, but I feel like I could give us a rough...esti-what is that?"

He squinted his irritated eyes as his flashlight reflected off of something shiny. Holding his hand up to abate the oncoming light, he spotted something equally black on one side as it was white on the other. He let out a gasp as he recognized what it was.

"The scout drone!"

Dropping the pen and maps, he sprinted toward it, leaving his equally-surprised companions behind. The soldier dropped to his knees upon reaching the fallen drone to get a better look at it. Half of it appeared to be completely unharmed...but the other half was drenched in some odd black liquid. "What...the hell is this?!"

"What's wrong?" Asked the commander, though as he himself got a good look at the drone's remains, he found he was in a similar state of disbelief. "Good lord, what in Aura's name is that?"

"Volcanic ash, maybe?" Suggested another soldier. "There could have been a small spurt of gas that burnt it or something."

The bearded man crouched down to it, narrowing his eyes. "...'Scept there's no burn marks. A Pokemon did this." He stood back up and turned back to where they came from. "As I recall, that Geodude had something similar on its back. Only drier."

"Think it could be some kind of Dark-Type?" The same soldier suggested. "I can only guess that's what this weird black crap comes from."

Shaking his head, the old man replied, "A Ghost-Type more likely. An ordinary Dark-Type would get killed down here and I don't think the Steel-Type would be of much help to a Bisharp." He scowled, glaring into the darkness ahead. "Ghost-Types are some of the most annoying types to deal with. Watch your backs, men."

With that, he gave his signal to move. As the others began to follow, the map-bearing soldier, after deciding that touching the shadow substance was not a good idea, bent over to peer into the camera that was left untouched. He worded the phrase 'send backup,' then got back onto his feet and took off after the others. He did not know if the camera even still worked. It was more of a prayer than a request. He also did not know of the shadowy substance that leaked from the ground behind them.

Another hour passed with nothing to show for. No Pokemon nor significant changes in scenery. Even the dropoffs were becoming less frequent. Since the group no longer had a reliable map, the former map-bearer surmised that they were roughly 520 meters down now. The commander found himself missing the dropoffs. At least that way, he felt they were making significant progress.

"How far down did the science guys in camp guess the caldera was?" The old man asked gruffly.

With an unknowing shrug, the soldier replied, "I don't know...it could go down for miles, honestly."

"I meant to the entrance."

"Oh," Said the soldier. "...It should be about twelve-hundred or so, I think. Give or take."

The old man shook his head, letting out an exasperated puff of air. "It's going to be a long day."

One of the soldiers fell back to the group's end, sticking to the wall's side. He ran his hand over the cave wall without any sort of purpose in mind. It was more of a distraction from the mundanity of their endless walking. Out of curiosity, he decided to run his finger across a red spot, thinking that the suit would repel him. To his chagrin, that was not the case. Hissing, he retracted his hand and flicked his wrist to relieve himself of the pain.

He glowered at the wall as if it were its fault. Just before turning away, a shadow rushed across the red spot and disappeared just as swiftly as it had come. The soldier only saw this out of the corner of his eye. Out of curiosity, he looked back and saw nothing amiss. He merely shrugged, dismissing the incident as a figurement of his imagination, or a stream of gas rushing past. Upon hearing a rumble, he and the others snapped around, aiming their guns at the wall.

Something smashed through the wall with tremendous force, accompanied by a high-pitched deafening shriek. The soldier nearest to the wall was thrown back into the wall opposite to it. The head of a squirming Onix had burst into the tunnel. It was obviously in a panicked state, judging alone by its current temperament.

"OPEN FIRE!" Roared the commander.

The soldiers wasted no time firing upon it to get it away from their comrade. Its wailing heightened, as did its squirming. The soldier closest to it used this chance to get away from it and back toward the others. "Where the hell did this come from?!" He cried, pointing his gun straight at its head. He received no answer, as the others were still firing upon the massive Pokemon.

Managing to squirm its way into the tunnel at last, the Onix glared at its attackers. There was a dark look in its eye that the commander had never seen before. It looked fearful, angry and...animalistic in a way that he could only identify as the way a predator would hunt its prey.

"What the hell…?"

In an attempt to end this encounter as fast as possible, the commander aimed a shot at its eye. The Onix responded by turning its head and using Mirror Coat, resulting in the Flash Cannon bouncing off and hitting the ceiling. He was about to fire again when he heard the sound of rock sliding against rock. Above him, the ceiling was beginning to collapse.

"GET BACK!"

Upon his order, the nearest soldiers immediately jumped back just in time to avoid the falling roof. One soldier, the one who'd been closest to the Onix when it burst through the wall, was not as lucky. The last anyone saw of him as rocks slowly piled down was the Onix biting down on his abdomen and a black substance seeping from the Rock-Type's skin. It raced toward the soldier at breakneck speeds, but the last of the falling stones prevented the commander from seeing anything beyond that.

The soldiers were left dumbstruck for a good few minutes after that. Even in the midst of the nigh-unbearable heat that surrounded them, a collective chill raced through their blood and bones. They heard tales of people often dying on these missions and that Pokemon were usually to blame. But seeing it for themselves, right in front of their eyes...was something not even the commander was prepared for.

"...Ladies and gentlemen," Said the old man, breaking the silence, "Let me be the first to put your minds at ease by telling you that we're getting the h.e. double hockey sticks outta this place right now. Mission be damned."

He turned from the fallen stone pile down toward the everlasting abyssal descent. If it were haunting before, the dark caves looked like a self-filling grave now. "...Well, we gotta find a way back up first." He turned to the former map-bearer and asked, "Still got the first map?"

The soldier, snapping out of his stupor, frantically rushed to show the commander the original map detailing the dozens of winding paths. The map listing the sheer number of groups that failed before them.

700 meters down.

It had been nearly eight hours of nonstop walking. By now, it was morning, though the squadron did not get to revel in that. It had only been a third of a day, yet the daytime was endlessly missed. The walls were so red now that they could actually see most of it now. There were no branching paths in that time. True to the words of those who worked on the surface, they were lucky enough to have a straight shot to the caldera. There were no branching paths that might lead back to the surface anymore.

"What are we going to do, sir?" Asked the map-bearing soldier. His eyes scanned the cartograph in his hands up and down frantically as some desperate attempt to try and find an answer to their predicament that wasn't actually there. "I don't think there are any other tunnels. Once we reach the caldera, we're at a dead end!"

The old man responded by taking out a metal stake and a suction cup. "If all these tunnels lead to the caldera, then the ones we'll find down there will lead back to the exit."

Another soldier guffawed in disbelief. "We'd have to climb over the magma to do that! Didn't one of the scientists say that it was practically an active volcano down there?! We'll be incinerated!"

Turning around, the commander pointed his gun back up toward where they came from. "If you want to take your chances with that Onix and any other Pokemon that might be here with us, be my guest. Personally, I'll take the lava." He took hold of the power-increasing notch on the soldier's gun and turned it to its highest point. "You'll have to dig your way out, though," He said with a chuckle, "Which might attract the attention of those Pokemon."

The soldier turned the notch back the opposite way and replied, albeit begrudgingly, "Point taken, sir."

He was pat on the shoulder by the old man. "Thought so. Now then…" Turning back to the map-bearer, he asked, "So how far down do we have to go now?"

The exasperated soldier shook his head and sighed. "I have no idea anymore. I think we're around seven-hundred, so I assume we've got anywhere between three or six-hundred to go."

Another one rolled his head and groaned. He pulled at the center of his shirt in an attempt to cool himself, to no avail. "Gah!" He cried in exasperation. "How much hotter is it going to get?!"

He was roughly shoved from behind by the commander to urge him forward. "You wanna sit here, whine and melt or get back to the surface? Let's move, gentlem…"

The commander stopped short upon hearing a deep, thunderous noise roaring from ahead of them. There was a great cracking, like what he imagined would be heard when an iceberg split. "The hell was that?!" Clutching his trusty firearm tightly, he raced down the tunnel toward the source of the noise. "Follow me!" He ordered. The soldiers sent unsure glances at one another, but ultimately followed after him.

As the squad ran through the ever-reddening tunnels, the sounds grew louder and louder. The heat quickly became nigh-unbearable. They could practically feel their skin flaying and their blood bubbling from the sheer intensity of the heat. The cave itself appeared to be bulging from how hot it was, which made it all the more odd when the walls gradually started to become darker. It wasn't an ashen darkness like what would be expected of a burned area.

Small, seemingly random streaks of pure black that even the light of their flashlights seemingly couldn't penetrate littered the walls, ceiling and floor. They became bigger the further they went until they consumed the cave entirely. They would have been left entirely in blinding darkness were it not for a bright orange light ahead of them. Sweltering winds poured in from the light's source, carrying much debris with it.

And when they entered that light, they could not believe what they saw.

They were at the cave's end, overlooking a seemingly endless swamp of swirling magma far, far below. Like a lava lamp, bubbles of magma seemingly defied gravity and floated to the roof in streams before falling back into the pool elsewhere. The light of the magma surrounding the area was in stark contrast to the magma pool's walls, which were completely coated in the same darkness as the last expanse of the cave. The black substance coating the walls caused massive heaps of stone to collapse, falling into the magma.

They were at the caldera's edge.

"Is...is this the caldera?!"

The map-bearing soldier frantically looked over his map again, but was utterly baffled by their encounter with their mission's goal. "Th-this doesn't make any sense! The caldera shouldn't be for another five-hundred kilometers-"

Unbeknownst to them, a small creature clad in liquid shadow rose up from the wall into the cave. It leapt up, latching onto the back of the map-bearing soldier's head. "What the-aah!" He cried out in fear, flailing his arms at the shadows wildly in an attempt to get them off of him. When he touched them, they clung to his hands and arms as well. In mere seconds, his head was completely submerged.

"What the-?!" Cried another soldier. "Hey! Get the hell off of him!" He attempted to reach out to the shadow, only to be pulled away by the commander.

"Don't touch it, you moron!" He bellowed. "Look at how it got his hands!"

The map-bearing soldier stepped too far back and, before any of the wide-eyed soldiers could stop him, plummeted straight off the edge into the heart of the caldera. Just before his body collided with the swirling magma, the shadow jumped off of him and latched onto the wall. To the soldiers' horror, it raced up the wall; crimson eyes peering out from somewhere within the moving void. Wherever it went, it left a black liquid substance, resulting in the stone corroding away and falling into the magma.

"RUN!" Ordered the commander as he turned tail. "GET AS FAR AWAY FROM THAT THING AS POSSIBLE!" He and the others immediately took back off into the cave without looking back. The shadow crawled after them, melting away into the darkness. The squad sprinted as fast as their legs could take them with the burden of their suits. Minutes flew by like seconds as adrenaline coursed through their veins like blood.

But it wasn't before long until they came across a dead end. The rock slide caused by the Onix blocked their path and though they couldn't see the shadow following them, the soldiers knew it couldn't be far behind.

"We won't be able to see it here," Said the commander as he took out a handful of eternal glowsticks, "So make as much light as possible." As he threw them to the other soldiers, he also tore a gun out of one of their hands and turned both its power magnifier and his own's to their maximum values. "As for me…" He turned around pointing them at the fallen stones. "Well, you guys should probably step back."

As the others backed away to set up their threshold of light, the commander took in a deep breath. It was a good thing the Nova Branch had good tech, otherwise he would not have been able to afford to take that breath without running the risk of asphyxiation. "Come on, old bones...don't fail me now…" He crouched down, holding his arms in a way that he hoped would prevent his wrists and back from shattering from the sheer force behind the maximum-power Flash Cannons.

A wall of white emerged in front of the old man and collided with the stone barricade with all the force of a Gyarados's Hyper Beam. His eyes went wide as he was nearly thrown straight onto his behind, but he was able to grit his teeth and prevent that from happening. Still, it felt like his hands and arms were on fire from the sheer force behind his weaponry.

"Crazy bastards," He cursed between breaths. "Who the hell does the Nova Branch think could fire this thing?!"

After a few seconds of continuous fire, he was able to hear the sound of moving stone. Though he couldn't see it due to the intense light, he surmised that if he could hear it over the roar of his weapons' fire, he must have been doing some damage. The sound of churning rock soon faded, having been completely overtaken by the roar of his weapon. He deduced, to his relief, that it was because he'd finally punched a hole through the fallen stone.

The commander's weary arms fell to his sides, dropping his weapons to the ground. His legs would have followed suit, but he forced himself to continue to stand. As he heaved for air, he stared up into the smoke that had billowed up amidst his fire. A wide grin crept up along his face. Behind him, he heard the calls of his men. He couldn't hear what exactly they were saying as his ears were still ringing, but he assumed they were cheers.

"Pack your bags, boys," He said as he turned toward his men. "We're gettin' outta this-"

His eyes went wide when he saw what had been behind him. The barrel of a gun, held by one of his men, was pointed straight at him. He now knew that those were not cheers he heard. They were warnings. As adrenaline rushed through his veins, the commander fell onto his back just in time to avoid the traitor's fire. Before he could aim another shot, the commander quickly grabbed one of the guns at his sides and fired up at him.

A glob of black liquid shot burst out from the traitorous soldier's pores and onto the nearest wall just before the blast hit him. The soldier himself was not as lucky. The gun, still being on its highest setting, completely blew off his torso and sent his smoking legs and abdomen tumbling onto its back. The shadow tried to pounce on the commander, but he swiftly rolled to the side to avoid it and fired at where he'd just been laying.

The shadow let out a high-pitched shriek louder than anything its size should be able to produce as the light burnt away at it. However, it was able to escape from it and leap onto the ceiling where it then slithered ahead into the dark once more. The commander aimed his gun after it, but one of the remaining soldiers kicked it out of his hands.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Roared the commander. "I almost had it!"

"Stopping you from making another cave-in!" Countered the soldier. He turned around to where the shadow slithered off to. It was past the rockfall. They'd be forced to go after it to get out of the caves. "What the hell is this thing anyways?"

Letting out a sigh, the commander merely replied, "Help me up, son." The soldier instinctively reached down to accommodate the order, then stopped. Looking up at him oddly, the old man asked, "Something wrong?"

The soldier in question quickly shook his head. "N-no, sir." He knelt down, grabbing onto the old man's hand and pulling him back onto his feet.

"Holy…" The soldier and commander turned at the sound of one of the other soldiers speaking. The other three were hovering over their comrade's smoking lower half with winces on their faces. "You killed him!"

"It was him or me," The commander retorted, "And you all saw who aimed first." A deep, angry frown crawled down his face, unnerving the soldiers. "Why the hell didn't any of you take the shot? If I didn't drop down, I'd be the smoking torso." He marched over to one of the soldiers, making the others instinctively back away. Before the target of the commander's wrath could stutter out an excuse, he was grabbed by the the front of his suit and shoved into the wall.

The commander leaned in as close as their suits would let him. "What the hell's wrong with you?! That...thing took over one of our guys and none of you even noticed?!" Terrified, the soldier attempted once again to make an excuse, and once again, it was shot down before it could come to fruition. "You let that thing into our ranks, come up right behind me, and nearly got me killed!"

He shoved him roughly into the wall, eliciting a loud clank from the soldier's oxygen tank. "If I didn't kill him, that thing would have killed all of us since none of you had the balls to take him out first!"

"S-sir, his air tank!" Another soldier protested.

The commander leaned over and, upon seeing the scuff he'd made on it, immediately pulled away from the terrified soldier. "...We're getting out of here," He said, turning away from his men to face the darkness ahead. He clutched his gun tightly to his chest, glaring at the shadows where their hunter lurked. "To do that, we'll have to make sacrifices. If anyone turns their gun on us, shoot him."

No one spoke a word for the next three-hundred meters up. The exception to this was the commander, who occasionally issued orders to them. One of them was to occasionally let loose a small Flash Cannon at the minimum setting at the walls and ceiling to provoke a reaction from the shadow. They considered themselves both lucky and unlucky that they never encountered it so far. Perhaps the shots, as well as feeling the pain of one of them, made it think twice about attacking each time it saw them.

The five remaining men trapped down within the hellish tunnels soon came upon something that they weren't expecting. They couldn't have expected it because it didn't exist when they initially descended down into the tunnels. A wall of stone coated in black liquid blocked the way forward.

"The hell is this?!" Roared the commander. He crouched down and took fire. His eyes went wide when the wall bounced it back at him. By nothing more than a slim hair's distance, he managed to avoid the miniature Flash Cannon tearing a hole in his suit and providing him with a horrific death via the inhalation of heated gas. "Damn thing! How did it even make this?!"

Eager to appease their commander's ever-rising temper, one of the soldiers pointed down at a black spot in the wall next to them. "This part here looks pretty hollow, sir!" He said. "Probably leads to another tunnel."

The commander, rising back to his feet, looked at the wall incredulously. The black spot was dry, looking like it had been that way for a long time. But there was no mistaking it. Not in the commander's eyes at least. "That looks like the same black crap that it leaves behind," He said. The soldier glanced at it with widened eyes, immediately backing away. Pointing his gun at the spot, the commander muttered, "Maybe this is its den…"

He decided against firing, deciding that the last thing they needed was a surefire provocation from the shadow. "Let's head back down," Ordered the commander. "We'll find another hollow spot to shoot. Anything's better than this deathtra-"

A thunderous roar from the darkness shook the tunnels with such force that they were nearly thrown onto their backsides. Small pieces of rubble fell from the ceiling and cracks began crawling along the walls like snakes. When the cracks touched the black spot on the wall, it collapsed, revealing a path to another tunnel.

"What the hell was that?!" Cried one of the soldiers.

His answer came in the form of another roar. It was louder this time; so much so that the squad was forced to double over and cover their ears. They felt their helmets quaking, their visors threatening to shatter and allow the surrounding gasses to burn away at their throats and lungs. When the roar at last came to an end, they were met with the harrowing sight of a Tyranitar. Its eyes looked nothing like the Onix's. Where it possessed both fear and excitement, this one possesed nothing. Its pupils were dull and grey, and where there should have been white, there was a sickly, hollow green.

The commander immediately pointed his weapon at it and cried, "OPEN FIRE!"

The soldiers raised their guns, but the Tyranitar was faster. It unleashed a Hyper Beam just before their feet. But instead of creating an explosion, the beam tore straight through the ground as if it were paper. A series of terrified cries erupted from the soldiers when the ground beneath their feet began to crumble away. While the soldiers looked for any other way to escape than the newly-formed tunnel at their side, the commander dared a glance at the Tyranitar.

He felt his heart skip a beat when he saw the ferocious Pokemon was lying flat on its face. It did not move, and appeared not to be breathing. When the collapsing ground met with the fallen Tyranitar, it fell down into the darkness. He did not hear any sound, indicating that it was still falling. It would not be a drop they could survive. With no other options, he forced himself to look to the new tunnel. One of the soldiers had already gone inside and others looked as if they were going to do the same.

"Damn it," He cursed, backing away from the collapsing floor. It was either die or walk directly into a trap where the same or worse fate would await them. He glared into the darkness ahead as if it were the shadow. "This thing thinks it's so smart…" He fired a shot into nothing and thus received no response outside of the sound of the Flash Cannon. A piece of the ground right beneath his foot gave out. He was barely able to step back in time to avoid falling into the abyss.

By now all of the soldiers had entered the tunnel. There was no point in staying and dying. "Commander!" One of them called to him. "What are you doing?! Come on!" The old man's face wrinkled into a deep-seated frown. The prospect of playing by the shadow's rules sickened him. "COME ON!"

Swallowing his pride, the commander at last turned heel and ran to the opened way. The soldiers parted, allowing him to pass into it. He dared a look back at the ground of the other tunnel just as the last of it collapsed. He waited for a moment, hoping that the shiny black wall would collapse as well and they would be able to thwart the shadow's plan by simply leaping back onto the path behind it. He waited...and waited...but it stayed firm.

He then turned his gaze to his left to where the paths were parallel...finding yet another black wall. He planned to simply shoot through another part of this tunnel to get back into the first one on the wall's opposite end, but it seemed the shadow had been a step ahead of them.

"This thing…!" Seethed the commander, his fists trembling with rage. "This damn thing…! It's playing with us!"

A hand touched his shoulder, making him jump. He whipped around, aiming his gun at what he thought was the shadow, but instead found one of his own men holding his hands up non-aggressively. With a tired sigh, the commander lowered his weapon and said, "Be careful about sneaking up on people, son. Almost blew your fool head off."

"S-sorry, sir," Apologized the soldier. "It won't happen again, sir. But…" He turned to the only remaining path: one that went right back down into the darkness. "We'd better get moving. No telling how much time we have until we get attacked again."

The commander sighed again and said, "You're telling me. Let's...get going, then…" He held his gun as firmly as his weary arms would allow, pressing it against his chest. As he stared down into the dark, he felt a sense of fatigue that he'd been forcing back. The adrenaline was losing its touch. By now, it must have been half a day since he and his men had gone down into the tunnels. But he would see the light of day again. That, he swore.

One hour and seventeen minutes. After walking on ever-numbing legs with tired muscles and even more tired minds for that time, the soldiers stopped in their tracks and nearly allowed the stygian blackness of sleep overtake them. Yet the shock of what they saw forced them to stay awake, as what would happen to them if they ever stopped movin was once again burned into their minds. One hour and seventeen minutes. After that amount of time, they bore witness to something they shouldn't have.

They came across a fairly large opening with many tunnel entrances. That much would have been a joyous discovery. Yet in the opening between those tunnels, they found what became of their predecessors. The men who went into the caves before them and never came out. Those who survived said they'd either been chased away by wild Pokemon...or someone in their group was killed by them. But now they realized that something much worse had gotten to them.

Bodies of their fellow men were piled up unceremoniously. Casually tossed aside as if they were trash. But not just men. Pokemon had found themselves as victims to its hunting as well. Together, man and Pokemon lived and died as prey to the shadow. After death, they were together as well. A black liquid coated many of their bodies. Some of it was dry. Some was so fresh that it flowed off of their fingertips like water droplets.

One of the soldiers fell to their knees, nearly vomiting at the sight. He made a horrible groan that did not exactly help the current mental state of his living compatriots at the moment. The commander slowly approached the pile. He walked around it, looking upon the many faces of the soldiers.

"...I recognize some of them," He said. "These were good men. Young, too. If the Nova Branch hadn't held 'em back, they probably would have helped out against Necrozma." Shaking his head, he turned back to his men and said, "Let's move on, men. We shouldn't stay here more than we need to, otherwise we might end up on this pile."

As he turned his back upon the bodies, he heard a sudden gurgle from behind. He immediately whipped around and pointed his weapon at the sound's source. It was one of the soldiers. He spasmed and coughed, struggling for air. "We got a live one!" Cried the commander, dropping his weapon to rush to the soldier's aid. "Help me get him out of there!" Managing to snap out of their trances, the soldiers quickly went to follow orders.

When they pulled the fallen soldier out of the pile, the commander and his men winced at the sight they saw. Fresh black liquid dripped from his fingers and shoulders, indicating that this man was one of the shadow's newest victims. His legs were broken, completely snapped out of shape. It was hard for them to look at. It was miraculous that his suit wasn't torn and his air tank was left unharmed.

"Sweet mother of Aura," Said an appalled commander as he looked the injured soldier up and down, "What the hell happened to you?"

The soldier in question stared up between them and the ceiling, sputtering as he attempted to form a response. His eyes were wild with fear. Completely and utterly crazed. They hardly looked like they belonged to a human. "Y-you need...t-to run!" He lifted a trembling, wild arm, trying to point it up at the body pile by his side. "Th-that thing...the shadow…! It's...pure evil!"

His eyes widening at the mention of their pursuer, the commander leaned forward with interest. "The shadow…? What do you know about it?"

"It…" The downed soldier took in a raspy breath, his chest beginning to heave. "It...takes you over! As soon as it touches you...it goes into your skin...takes over your body...and kills your mind…!" His body spasmed as another coughing fit plagued him. Another soldier reached out in an attempt to help him, but he retracted it upon realizing that there was no helping him.

After a good minute of coughing, the fallen soldier managed to get ahold of himself. To the point he could continue speaking, at least. "I saw...what it did…! My comrades! It...took them…! Crept into their eyes and ears…! Forced them to...kill each other...while using them like puppets!" He managed to grab the commander, looking pleadingly into his eyes. "You need...to leave…! Don't let it...catch you…!"

When his arm fell, the commander caught it. "Hey, hang in there!" He went to lift the fallen soldier up, but his body went rigid when he heard the all-too familiar screech of the shadow echoed throughout the tunnels.

The fallen soldier's bloodshot eyes nearly popped out of their socket. "I-it's here! R-run!" The commander snarled and lifted his weapon, but the soldier put his hand on it to stop him. "D-don't fight it! Just run!" In his eyes, the commander saw a fear he'd never seen before. His pupils were shaking just as much as his body. "When it takes you...you die...instantly! That liquid…." He pointed a trembling hand at the black substance on a nearby corpse. "It corrodes you..from the inside!"

He managed to pull something out of a pocket on his suit: a small pocket knife that was drenched in the black substance. "It's smart! It hunts...for sport! It learns...with each kill! Takes your memories...your skills...everything!" With a trembling hand, he brought the knife closer to himself and his suit, but the commander grabbed his wrist to keep him from piercing it.

"Not so fast." Said the commander. "The Nova Branch's filled with bastards, but I ain't about to leave a man behind if I can help it."

Another screech pierced the halls. It was much louder this time. In his shock, the commander let the fallen soldier's arm go and fell onto his backside. His breath becoming more and more frantic, the soldier brought the knife right up against his suit. "I-I...w-won't get...-t-taken!" He swore. "Y-you need...to r-run…" He turned to the commander, forcing a pained smile as a fearful tear fell down his cheek. "A-and y-you...can't do th-that...while c-carrying me."

The commander opened his mouth to retort, but stopped. Instead, he stood up on his feet, straightened his back, and saluted. He was right. There was no way they could escape the shadow while carrying him, and as he looked at the soldier's air tank, he found that it was nearly empty anyways. There was no saving him. All he could do was allow this fine soldier his final chance at glory, as well as defiance in the face of his killer.

"You're a damn good man," Said the commander, ending his salute to send the fallen soldier off. He turned his back on him, motioning for his men to follow. "Let's move out, men."

With that, he began walking into the next tunnel, soon disappearing into its darkness. His soldiers glanced down at their fallen comrade, mentally debating whether or not they could even bring themselves to leave him. A third screech from the shadow was all it took for them to make up their minds. Quickly turning tail, they ran after their commander and left the fallen soldier behind.

The fallen soldier's body became more still before as he reached a state of clarity. He was going to die. There was no longer a point to being afraid. After all, five months ago, everyone on Earth witnessed the existence of a deity anyways.

Grinning at the tunnel where the shadow's screams came from, he said, "I...know how...m-much you like...y-your victims...a-alive…" He pressed his knife down onto the chest of his suit, preparing to slice it open and allow the unbreathable gasses to burn away at his lungs. "So I won't-" He coughed roughly. "G-give you...the pleasure…"

A fourth screech echoed throughout the tunnels. It was so loud now that he felt the glass of his suit threaten to shatter with how much it trembled. "T-take my c-corpse if you want!" He cried in defiance. "B-but I won't let you...take my s-soul!"

A black mass crept along the walls, peering at the fallen soldier with a hungry gaze. It screamed again and leapt at him. Before it could touch him, he sliced clean through his suit and then threw the knife at his attacker. The shadow's form shrunk to evade the pitiful attack and resumed its assault, but as the last of the fallen soldier's life sputtered away by the gasses' hand rather than its own, it stopped. It glared at the soldier's lifeless body for a moment, then slithered off after the others.

The commander's vision was becoming woozy again, and his movements were more sluggish. His soldiers weren't in any better of a state. Twenty hours. Twenty hours straight was how long they'd spent without food, water or rest. The commander, in particular, was becoming irritable. He often unnerved the soldiers by suddenly stopping and pointing his weapon at something, then lowering it while muttering to himself incoherently.

None of them knew if they were going on the right path or not, if there even was one that the shadow had yet to block off. They did not know how far they were from the surface, what the people working there were doing now or if another team had been sent after them. In their tired, desperate states, that was one of their dwindling hopes. Yet a small part of them hoped that they didn't, else they would meet the same fate as them.

One soldier's stomach growled for the umpteenth time, setting off a chain reaction of similar groans from the other remaining members of the squad. Ordinarily, going without sleep for a day wouldn't have been much trouble for them. But with all the running, fighting and climbing they'd been doing without food or water...they could practically feel their bodies attacking itself on the inside. Each time their bodies complained, it felt more dull than before. Somehow, that made it feel worse.

The commander hissed, gritting his teeth as his complaining stomach caused a wave of irritating numbness in his mouth and throat. "Aw, shut up," He muttered to his stomach as if it were sentient. He looked down at his suit in disdain. The mission was only meant to take nine hours at most. Less than that if they were forced to make an early retreat. Which made it all the more frustrating now that they were left without food and water.

"Damn bigwigs," Cursed the scowling commander. "What were they thinking sending us down here without resources?! It's hell enough that we gotta watch our backs for some psychotic body-snatching Ghost Pokemon or whatever that thing is." He forced himself to raise his head to look at the endless cave expanse ahead. "How are we supposed to escape...if our own bodies are killin' us?" They no longer knew if such a thing as escape was even possible, but anything was better than giving up and allowing the shadow to catch them.

Forgoing duty, formality and other things they disregarded as nonsense at the moment, the squad allowed their arms to sag. Even the commander had long since done the same. Their weapons dangled in their weary, shaking hands. The only reason any of them continued to carry their burden was because they knew it was their lifeline.

The commander stopped in his tracks all of a sudden. Instinctively, the other soldiers followed suit. Narrowing his eyes at what he saw amidst the darkness, he asked, "...What the hell?"

There was a light ahead of them. In their delirium, they briefly entertained the idea of it being an exit. That fantasy was soon destroyed when the light moved and a voice called out to them. "Oh my Arceus, is that…" The source of the voice gasped in excitement. "It's...real people! Heeeeeeey!" The commander winced at the sound. The other soldiers, however, recognized the voice.

"No way... there's no way in hell…"

From the darkness came none other than one of their own. The soldier that was attacked by the rogue Onix. His suit looked tattered where he'd been bitten, yet it somehow wasn't torn. "Hey!" He greeted cheerfully. "Man, am I glad to see you. After that Onix bit me, some weird dark liquid fell onto me. I thought I was a goner, but it went back onto the Onix and…" He shuddered. "It seeped into its skin...and looked like it took it over. Then it was gone."

To the surprise of all the soldiers, the commander raised his weapon and pointed it at their comrade. "You think I'm some kind of idiot, you freak?" He demanded scornfully. His bloodshot eyes were wide with rage, and his entire body was trembling.

The soldier immediately raised his arms in surrender. "H-hey what are you doing?!"

The other soldiers agreed. "Sir, with all do respect, I-"

"Shove it," Ordered the commander. "I thought the Branch would have trained you better." He pointed his weapon at the soldier accusingly. "You really believe a half-assed story like that? You all saw what that Onix...no...what the shadow did to him." That thing ain't one of us. Not anymore."

Realizing what he meant, the soldiers behind him turned accusing glances of their own to the one ahead of them. The accused soldier's eyes went wide, shaking his head frantically. "Wh-what are you guys even talking about? You're acting crazy!" He slowly lowered his weapon to the ground, then kicked it over to the commander. "L-look, I can't shoot you now. I don't know what's going on, but I'm not a threat!"

The commander said nothing. He stood still, rigid as a rock and unblinking. The soldiers behind him were unnerved, looking at one another as if they held any answers. The one in front of him was sweating profusely, his eyes wide with terror. "...Sir, please," He begged after the silence was no longer bearable. "I'm not this...thing that you're talking abou-"

The four remaining soldiers behind the commander flinched as he loosed a shot straight to the other soldier's chest. His smoking body dropped like a log. If that shot hadn't killed him, the gas entering the gaping hole in his suit would. "Holy-!" Cried one of the soldiers. "Y-you killed him!"

"I had to!" Retorted the commander. "He was possessed by the shadow!" He turned back around, aiming his gun at the body. His finger trembled along the trigger, anxiously waiting for the shadow to emerge from it. He waited...and waited...and waited. His blood steadily ran colder and colder the longer nothing happened. Then, he heard one of his men scream from behind. He whipped around, briefly seeing his arm as it was dragged into the darkness of the cave.

"Dammit!" He roared, firing blindly into the darkness. The others followed suit for only a few seconds before ultimately lowering their weapons, realizing their efforts were fruitless. As another of their ranks was plucked away, the soldiers fell to their knees. The commander nearly did as well. His legs were trembling, but he forced himself to stand. "You...it's your fault!" He whipped around, pointing an accusing finger at the soldier. "If you hadn't tried to stop me, I wouldn't have turned around and let it sneak off!"

The soldier gaped at him in utter disbelief. "M-my fault?! What the hell are you talking about?!"

"When you asked me what I was doing," Started the commander, "I was distracted long enough for the shadow to get off of his body!" He motioned toward the soldier he'd shot. "That's when it snuck around us and got him!"

Unable to even properly form words at the sheer ridiculousness of the commander's accusation, the accused soldier looked between himself and his fellow soldiers. Another one stepped up to defend him. "No, I kept my eye on that guy's body until...well, you know. That shadow wasn't on him! He was real!" Turning the accusation on its head, he jammed a finger toward the old man and said, "You shot an innocent man! You killed one of our own and gave that thing an opening to take another!"

"Wha-?!" Stuttered the commander. "I...I was doing what I thought was best for us! If I had let him near, who knows what would have happened?!"

"Who knows-" The soldier was utterly baffled beyond words and trailed off. "I know what would have happened! We would have had another man to fight that thing! We would have had one less death to mark if we get out of here! We would have one less family to break the bad news to!" His face was red, and not from the heat. He and the commander glared into one another's tired eyes. "...Commander?" He asked. "Just how many more of us are you going to kill for the sake of your own survival?"

"Our survival!" Claimed the commander. "I haven't gone crazy, you idiots! I'm doing what I have to do to keep us alive!"

The soldier shook his head, the other remaining two standing back onto their feet. He raised his gun to the commander, who mirrored him. His finger rested on the trigger anxiously until he saw the other two pointing their own weapons at his back. "...You're making a mistake," He hissed. "Don't do this!"

"Drop your weapon," The soldier ordered.

"But-"

"Now!"

His face wrinkling with rage, the commander stood his ground at first. He glared into the soldier's eyes with a burning fury. The soldier did the same. He glanced back to the soldiers behind him, then to the darkness where the last to die was dragged. "...We should save this for later," He said in an attempt to change the subject. "That thing is still nearby. It'll take another of us soon enough." He glanced back at the man in front of him challengingly. "Can you really afford to lose another gun?"

"I can afford to lose one that's pointed at our backs," The soldier retorted.

The commander chuckled in disbelief as he saw the soldier take out some rope ordinarily used for climbing out of his bag. "You're kidding."

Not sharing in the commander's amusement, the soldier said, "You're not mentally fit to be wielding that weapon. If you want to get out of here, you're doing it on a leash. Now drop your weapon."

"That thing's still nearby!" Cried the commander, pointing to the darkness where one of the other soldiers was dragged into. "You waste time tying me and the shadow will get all of us!"

The soldier looked to where he was pointing, then bit his lip. "...Fine," He conceded. "But…" He motioned to one of the other two guards with a nod, who in turn poked the commander's back with his gun. The first soldier took the gun out of the commander's hand and threw it to the remaining one. "You watch the back," He said to the two-gunned man. With an icy glower to the commander that was eagerly returned, he said, "And you…you get to watch the front."

Pointing his gun to the back of the commander's head, he nodded to the soldier pointing at his back. Nodding back, that soldier prodded the commander forward. "Let's get moving," He said, forcing him forward. "If you waste time complaining, the shadow will get all of us."

The commander scowled, shaking his head. He was tempted to threaten the soldiers with punishment when they returned to the surface, but considering two Flash Cannons were pointed right at the back of his head, he decided against it.

"This is insane," He muttered, shaking his head. "I'm not the bad guy here…"

He was ignored. As they walked, no one spoke but the commander, who continued muttering incoherently under his breath. Complaints. Suggestions. A pleading for his weapon. His unoccupied hands twitched and twisted into the shape of the weapon he'd been holding for nearly a day until scowls on the face of the men that formerly served under him continued to grow as the sounds he made grated on their dwindling sanity and restless minds. This went on for hours, and their patience was tested more and more.

Then, the commander stopped, noticing a series of lights ahead of them. They were a dull green, but clearly visible in comparison to the darkness surrounding them. "Is that...the exclusion zo-" His vision suddenly went black when something hard hit the back of his head. He fell to the ground like a sack of bricks as his first sleep in twenty-two hours overtook him.

The commander's tired eyes fluttered open slowly. His ears were ringing, and a splitting headache pulsed through his head as if it were in line with his own heartbeat. Several voices were speaking, though they sounded muffled. As his vision returned, he recognized the figures as his three remaining soldiers. A loud zipping sound snapped him out of his trance.

"What hap-" He grunted as he attempted to pull himself up only for his knees to lock as something prevented him from doing so. As he looked down, he found that he'd been tied by rope. "You crazy bastards," He cursed, glaring up at them. "You actually did it. Well what now? I'm sitting bait for that thing!"

Whipping around, the soldiers gaped at him in shock. "I...didn't expect you to wake up for hours," One admitted. The commander recognized him as the one that started the insurrection. "But we had been traveling for a while and decided to put our minds at ease."

"By hitting an unarmed man in the back of the head?" Asked the old man incredulously. He noticed that their legs were wobbling like jelly, as were their arms. How they could even hold their weapons anymore was a mystery. "...You weren't planning to carry me back, were you?" If he could move his arms, he would have been pointing at them accusingly. "You couldn't with your arms like that. You were going to leave me behind!"

The soldier lulled his head back and sighed. "...Not for long, commander," He admitted, earning a glare that could kill from the old man. "Just until we got support from the ground team. We'd never make it pulling you along."

"Then why knock me out at all?!"

Turning away from the old man, the soldier picked up his bag and said. "To be honest, I felt like I was going to go insane hearing you talk. Sorry, but-"

He cut himself off when he heard a screech not too far away. Everyone's eyes collectively went wide with fear upon recognizing its source as the shadow. The soldiers fired aimlessly into the darkness, while the commander ducked down and tried to be out of the way. His heart sunk when he saw the shadow crawling along the wall straight toward him. He shut his eyes, preparing for whatever agony he would be faced with when it touched him.

...Yet it didn't…

A scream from one of the soldiers, the one he'd been speaking to, made his eyes shoot open. He and the other two remaining soldiers watched with horror as their comrade flailed wildly in a useless attempt to rid himself of the shadow. He unconsciously dropped his gun to the ground, and to the shock of the helpless onlookers, kicked it away. His arm movements were becoming slower, and with them, his cries of pain and fear lowering to mere grunts and whimpers.

The two remaining soldiers looked back and forth between the shadow, the commander and the tunnel that would lead them to the exit. Without further hesitation, they turned tail and ran, abandoning their allies as if they were throwing trash into the wind.

"H-hey!" Cried the fearful commander. "Don't just leave me here! What, are you…" He trailed off, his eyes widening as much as they possibly could when he noticed that the soldier...no, the shadow...had stopped moving. It had taken over the soldier completely. Already, he could see a black ooze coursing through its victim's veins, replacing his blood and very essence with its own.

The shadow dropped its arms, letting out a scratchy sigh using the man's mouth. It turned to the commander with a toothy grin. The old man shuddered, fearfully kicking at the stone floor to back away from the shadow. It laughed. The creature laughed at his pitiful efforts to escape. With crazed eyes, a fatigued mind and a weakening body that still refused to give in, the commander screamed at it.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

It laughed again, putting a hand to his forehead and leaning back. Then, it spoke. "Very well." Its voice was exactly the same as the man that it had consumed. Aside from its veins, of which its black coloring was already dwindling to the point it was scarcely noticeable, there was absolutely no difference between the shadow of its true form and the form of its quarry. It was less like it was taking them over, and more like becoming them. "There are two other candidates more fit for assimilation."

Feeling his breath catch in his throat, the old man struggled to breathe. The revelation that this...thing could speak gave a small sliver of hope to the old man. "You...can talk?!" He shook his head. "What do you mean more...fit?! What the hell are you anyway?!"

The shadow let out a displeased growl as it turned to where the other soldiers ran off to. "They're getting away. Too many questions." It turned back to face the commander and pointed at the ropes that bound him. "There would be no point in taking you. Your sustenance would not be worth being unable to move when those men are free. Younger and healthier as well."

Chuckling to itself in a manner that made the old man's blood run cold, the shadow asked, "You came here to collect the energy of Necrozma, did you not?" When the commander opened his mouth to ask how he knew that, the shadow spoke once more. "That useless one with the broken legs told you. Upon seeping into your bodies, I do the same with your mind."

The shadow made its way over to the gun that it kicked away earlier, knelt over, and picked it up. It handled the weapon with such precision and care that it seemed as if it had been wielding the thing for years. "Soon," It said, "There will be no shortage of prey, so I needn't worry too much about wasting time speaking to you." It turned the notch on the weapon up to its maximum value. "After all, it's been so long since I was last able to speak with someone that couldn't run."

As it looked back to the tunnel exit with anxious eyes, the shadow shook its head. "...No. There will be plenty of time for that as well once I reach the surface. This body quickly rots, and I may need further sustenance for the journey." The shadow crouched down into a position that looked more akin to a Pokemon than the human it possessed. "But since you will die in this darkness anyways, I will leave you with the name of your killer."

Without moving its head, its eyes darted back to look at the old man, It was then that the commander, as he and the demon glared into one another's eyes, that he saw the only remarkable difference between the shadow and what it possessed. Its eyes carried with them the primal glare of a hunting animal.

It said, "Once upon a time, humans called me 'Marshadow.' Though, the humanity I knew was far different than the one I've seen through your eyes." A wide grin crept up along its face, nearly touching its eyes as they faced ahead. "I'm excited to see just how fun the new one is to play with. Especially this 'Nova Branch' you serve."

Then, it took off into the darkness after the two escaping soldiers. The commander wasted no time, knowing what he had to do next. "I'm no use to that thing?" He asked aloud. "Then that must mean it doesn't consider me a threat." He pushed himself onto his feet and walked over to a bag that one of the soldiers dropped. With a light kick, its contents spilled onto the ground. One of those contents was a small knife.

He dropped to his knees, knelt over, and fumbled about the ground with his fingers until he eventually grabbed it by the hilt. "We'll see," He swore as he began cutting into the ropes with a crazed determination. "If that thing literally becomes the thing it takes over, I wonder what'll happen if I kill it while it's still in a body?!" An excited grin crept up his wrinkled face. He had been spared and left alone. There was nothing hunting him anymore. Nothing to stop his escape. And oh, would he make his hunter pay.

27 hours since initial descent.

New Goldenrod's Unstable Zone was at a relative peace. The Nova Branch members working on the surface were making early preparations to send in the next team. At this stage, it was nothing more than phone calls and paperwork, leaving most of the workers either on status tracking or simply lazing about with nothing to do. They had long since declared the last team as dead. Such was the usual. So, it came to a great surprise for them when they heard someone say that they returned.

The entire surface team went into action to prepare for their return, surrounding the hole they'd gone into. Medical agents, business agents with loads of papers, technicians with various papers and boards, as well as specialized handlers in heavy-duty hazmat suits with briefcases at the ready to aid in the transfer of the residual Necrozma energy. A rope was thrown into the hole to allow what they believed to be was at least most of the squad to be pulled out.

A dozen men grabbed onto the rope and pulled with all their might. At a rate much quicker than expected, they pulled the rope back up. A bearded man's head poked out from the hole. He quickly pressed his shoulder to the hole's side, pushing his legs up against the wall to return to the surface ground as quickly as possible. He was swiftly helped back onto his feet and examined for injuries.

"S-sir!" Cried a medic. "We didn't expect you to return!" When he saw the look the old man gave him, he quickly added, "S-so soon, at least. But…" He glanced down at the hole. "...Where are your men? You don't appear to be injured. Were you separated?"

One of the men with briefcases asked, "And where is the Necrozma energy? Don't tell us that you were down there for over a day and you didn't get any!"

A deep scowl fell down the old man's face. "Those bastards abandoned me," He hissed. "But that's not important right now. We need to seal all these holes as quickly as possible!"

"Out of the question," Hissed one of the businessmen. "The executives sunk millions into this! They won't stand for us abandoning it!"

Turning to address him, the old man said, "Well you can tell them that the energy's gone." Many of the surrounding faces went pale at that. "There's some...thing down there. I still think it's down there at least. It ate all of the energy and killed nearly everything down there. Including the Pokemon." He turned away from the hole and started walking, eager to distance himself from it as much as possible.

"Wh-where are you going?!" Demanded the businessman. "What is this thing that you're talking about? And where are your men?! You're not making any sense!"

The old man stopped in his tracks, not facing the others. "...It's dangerous," He said. "One by one, it hunted down my men and I. It turned us against each other. Literally. If it reaches the surface now that it's sucked away all of the Necrozma energy, it'll be something that the executives can't ignore."

The irate businessman replied, "That doesn't clarify anything! We can't just shut down a multi-million Pokedollar operation on a whim! You haven't even told us what this...thing is and you expect us to-"

He went silent when the commander suddenly dropped onto his face, ushering a series of panicked cries. "C-commander!" Many of the surrounding men cried. They rushed to his aid, carefully handling the fallen old man. As they rolled him onto his back, a scientist sheepishly asked, "Is...is he dead?"

With a chuckle, another replied, "No way. A guy like him? Nah, he's probably just as tired as a rock from bein' down there for so long."

"He's dead," Announced a medic that had his fingers placed upon the old man's neck to check his pulse. The other man immediately went silent. "But...that doesn't make sense. He was talking and walking just fine a moment ago. How could he just…?" The doctor trailed off upon noticing something odd. A black liquid oozed from the old man's oriphouses. He dared to touch it, hissing in pain when it burnt his finger for it.

He stepped away from the body with widened eyes and flicked his wrist to ease the burning. When he looked back at his hand, he found that his glove had been completely burnt through. "What in the…?"

Something leapt at the back of his head, earning a series of screams from both him as well as everyone else. Others tried prying at the dark mass that enveloped the doctors to no avail, soon ceasing their efforts when they were burnt for it.

"What the hell?!"

"Someone do something!"

"Dammit!"

"What is that thing?!"

"Good mother of Aura, get that thing off of him!"

"Don't fire, you idiot!"

Helpless to lift a finger to help the doctor, the surface team descended into utter chaos. Some, not wanting to witness a death occur right before their very eyes, began to run toward the walls of the Unstable Zone. Others readied their guns for whatever would happen when the doctor finally stopped flailing. None of them were prepared for what he...it...finally did.

"I tried to warn you," Said Marshadow as he turned to face the others. "But you didn't listen. Not that it would have helped you."

"SCREW IT, OPEN FIRE!"

Just before the Nova Branch grunts could raise their weapons, Marshadow whipped around and fired at one of the men running away, nailing him between his two leg joints and causing him to fall flat on his face. A silver streak of light impacted the back of its head and causing the body it possessed to drop like a rock.

"Keep firing!" One of them ordered, ushering in more shots by the dozen. The body of the doctor disappeared into a cloud of dust as a hail of Flash Cannons wracked it. They continued blasting it relentlessly for half a minute before the order to cease fire was given. "That should do it!" Said the grunt with an arrogant smirk. "Shame about the poor guy, though. Guess we saved his family the cost of cremation at least."

He couldn't help but laugh at his own sadistic joke. A laugh that did not last long, soon drowned by a spastic gargling for air. Marshadow leapt onto his face, smothering him as its ooze entered his body. "At last, I can let loose!" Cried the grunt, or rather, the shadow excitedly. "There are vessels as far as the eye can see! I no longer need to salvage every meal, and so…" It pointed its writhing arm at a crate a ways away that was filled with pressurized air containers.

"Perhaps I could be forgiven for wasting food for the sake of a little fun."

Before its new vessel could be fired upon by the surrounding Nova Branch grunts, Marshadow shot at the crate, resulting in a thunderous concussive blast all the pressurized air and metal were burst like bubbles. Nearly everyone in the Unstable Zone collectively clutched at their ears as they were rendered deafened by the sheer force behind the burst. The few unfortunate souls that were close to the crate as it exploded were sent flying and dropped limply to the ground.

Taking advantage of their stunned state, Marshadow leapt from vessel to vessel, using them to fire upon people or objects at random. Like a whirlwind, the shadow circled the Unstable Zone, taking with it the lives of all that it touched. Banshee-like screeches pierced the night, only stopping to be replaced with a mad laughter when it took another body for its own before devolving back into screeching once the vessels outlived their usefulness.

One man, a simple low-ranking Grunt even among other grunts, felt a slim hope in his pounding heart as the exit grew nearer. "I'm gonna make it!" He cried, laughing in relief. "I'm going to-" He suddenly fell flat on his face, letting out a grunt of pain. He looked to his feet to see what had tripped him and went pale as he saw that his own shadow was grabbing at his ankles.

The black ooze of Marshadow's form leaked from it, slowly coating the poor man's legs. He screamed in terror, attempting to crawl away from the shadow. But he was pulled right back. Behind a pile of crates, the only remaining living person in the Unstable Zone was huddled into a ball, shuddering. He'd been lucky to be too far for the exploding canisters so that he was not deafened. He no longer considered himself lucky when the last of the screams rang through the night as Marshadow claimed its latest vessel.

His body trembled violently as if he were stuck in a blizzard. Fearful tears fell from his eyes, as did muffled whimpers from his mouth. He tried with all his might to silence and still himself, but his body would not listen. There was a deafening silence now that there were no more for Marshadow to slay. A silence that was broken only by his whimpering, which he cursed himself for endlessly in his hopelessness to stop it.

His entire body jerked when he heard a loud crash of falling debris ahead of him. Daring to open his eyes to look at it, he recognized its spilled contents as mounds of paperwork. His eyes went wide with horror as he realized that the crates he'd been hiding in housed the same thing. He dared to roll onto his other side to check the status of his own boxes, finding that they were now gone.

A sharp exhale escaped the man's mouth in place of a scream as he bolted to his feet. His head swerved around to look in all directions for any trace of the shadow. But there was nothing. The world around him was silent except for the sounds of his own labored breathing and whimpering. Not thinking twice, he turned to run, only to find that he couldn't. The leg of his suit had caught onto something.

As he dared to look down, he let out a horrible moan of fear. Marshadow had gripped onto his leg, and it had taken on a new form as well. It looked impish, retaining its black shadowy ooze but seeming to gain limbs and a head. It peered up at the man with hungry crimson eyes. Though it only stood halfway up to the man's knee, it held on with a strength that most Pokemon would envy.

Before the man could scream, it leapt up at his neck, coating the entirety of his head in its shadowy essence. He didn't even have the time to struggle before he was taken over completely. "I'm getting quite good at this," Commended Marshadow as he looked down at the new vessel he'd taken. "It seems this one was the head of the operation here." It chuckled. "Well, I suppose I should thank him for it. Were it not for him politely giving me his men for vessels, I may have still been down there sipping on scraps of that energy."

Marshadow looked down at its hazmat suit, something on the Nova Branch badge intriguing him. It was small, silver and cylindrical with a black film within it."They call this a camera? I imagine it's quite handy, but…" He took the tiny camera off, stared into it for a moment as if pondering who might be watching on the opposite end, then dropped it to the ground and promptly stomped on it. "As it stands, it only serves to get in my way."

It turned up to the sky, looking upon the vague shapes of New Goldenrod's highest skyscrapers amidst the dark night sky. "I sense more of that energy… Vastly more. They called it Necrozma's energy? But...who is Necrozma? The vessels here seem to only have one memory of it." It winced as it felt the corrosive nature of its true body beginning to burn away at his vessel already. "Of course, time is running short. This vessel may be particularly useful in gaining the answers I seek. And perhaps the power I seek as well."

Author's Note.

Creator: We're finally back! College has left us with precious few hours to work on this, which is why this has taken so long. Thanks to Covid-19, we now have time to actually work on this, which is how we finished this chapter. Even if College comes back too soon for our liking, we aren't going on hiatus like we did after Chapter 10 again. No way. We're getting this thing done no matter what.

Now, as for this chapter. We delve away from Ash for a little bit to establish another character who will have an integral role in Arc 2. Marshadow, though this one is a far cry from its Alola variant. As you've seen with

Necrozma, this fic is no stranger to different characterizations to certain important Pokemon, and Marshadow is no exceptions. (As well as what the lower-end of the Nova Branch does).

A blob of shadow that, rather than entering a person's shadow to copy their movements and learn from them, can instead possess whoever it touches at the cost of rotting their body, so it can't use the same person or Pokemon for long. It also knows their memories upon entering and takes them with it even after it leaves the body and finds a new one. Terrifying, eh?

Why don't you explain how this development came to be, Hydra

Hydra: great to see you all again it's been a little while. Anyways, referring to what the creator said I came up with this idea for Marshadow after we got a review from two years ago that asked if we would see him. I really wasn't sure if we would add him at the time because he had just come out, but overtime as I thought more and more about it I realized that he could be the perfect villain if done correctly. So that's a little background about our little bloodthirsty monster Marshadow. I can't wait to hear your thoughts about him and I hope you enjoy what eventually happens with him.

Creator: Now for the long-awaited reviews.

Amourshipper: "I am glad ash was able to help Raikou and I hope they can find team rocket and stop them"

Creator: All in good time. Maybe.

Hydra: Luckily Ash has amazing aura abilities so injuries aren't too hard for him to heal unless they're very bad.

Guest: "I would never expect to see Tobias so vulnerable hahahahah

Nice to see Serena supportive for Ash."

Creator: People are at their most vulnerable after they reach the highest point and lose it. For the once strongest trainer to now be without any firepower, as well as his mental state being broken down by the loss of his teammates and friends...well, he may as well be a living microcosm for the Pokemon World's current state itself.

Hydra: In this arc I think you'll really enjoy Ash and Serena's relationship because it has a BIG factor in what happens later and how they react to certain problems.

British-Vulture: "I'm gonna keep this short and simple, as I am angrier than Doomguy thanks to the [REDACTED BY THE SCP FOUNDATION DUE TO SPACIAL DISTORTIONS BEING CAUSED BY THE REDACTED VULGARITY] Orphan of Kos being a [REDACTED FOR THE SAME REASON] that I can't beat because it's attacks seem to have more range than a [DEAR GOD, HELP US, WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF REDACTS TO USE] Stonehenge Railgun.

Anyway, I enjoyed this chapter. Lee's a dick. See you next chapter."

Creator: Yeah, the Orphan is rough. Don't know how many more times I can hear "YEEEEEEOOOOOOOW YEEEOOW-YEEEOWWWW-YEEEEOOOOOW AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGHHH *BZZT BZZT BZZT BZZT BZZT BZZT BZZT BZZT*" Without going into a catatonic state. Still beats Laurence and his earrape screeching by a mile. Lee is indeed a dick.

Hydra: Happy to hear you enjoyed the chapter and I do hope that everything is going alright for you via this whole Covid 19 incident.

Guest2: (For Chapter 1). "The first half of this chapter kept the theme of renewal and had a very upbeat feeling. That mood change at the other half just hit. Great storytelling in that regard!"

Creator: (For all the other readers, so you're not confused, this is one of Hydra's real life friends.) Thank you. Chapter 1 isn't exactly the most polished since it was our first attempt at creative writing, but I'm glad you enjoy it. I hope you can find time to read the rest eventually.

Hydra: I'm really happy you enjoyed our early work. Looking back on it now there was probably a lot we would have improved on, but I still do think it was a good first attempt. Hopefully you continue to enjoy the fic and I look forward to hearing from you again.

Creator: Next chapter will once again be focusing on Ash. This time, he'll be going on a real mission. Action, fighting, a semi-new character introduction that you may recognize as an unnamed character that fought Necrozma. ...And the re-introduction of three infamous characters. I'll let you guess who they are.

Hydra: Well boys that does it for this chapter. We really wanted to go with a horror theme when writing this chapter because honestly it makes sense for a Pokémon like Marshadow. The real question is what's next for Marshadow? Well I'll leave that to your imagination, but rest assured when you see him again you will be shocked. Anyways stay safe everyone and remember WASH YOOOOOUR HAAAAANNNNDS!