There is a longer scene in this one, hence it's cut from the previous update.
~ Kira University, Commons ~
Alcryst raced across the scene. All the panicking Pokémon flooded the scene, making it difficult for Alcryst to hear himself think over the all the voices. Stands were knocked over, food and drinks spread about the ground, and various other items scattered across the scene.
Where is this Eternarift!? It shouldn't be so hard to find it!
"Hey! YOU! Down to the ground NOW!"
Alcryst stopped and looked downward and eyed an Urshifu pointing directly at him from the ground. With him was a Magnezone, which looked like it was charging an electrical attack of some sort.
"What do you want," Alcryst asked in the Urshifu's head, "I'm going to take care of the Eternarift!"
"We can't have civies getting involved in this conflict," The detective shouted, "If you go into the scene, you WILL risk charges!"
Alcryst shut his eyes in disbelief. I don't have time for this… The Alakazam propelled himself towards the scene of the Eternarift, ignoring the orders barked by the Urshifu. Coming to a stop near the rift itself, he witnessed it pulsate and crackle with magenta-colored electricity.
"SIR! Place your hands where we can see them! You are tampering with…"
Alcryst mentally blocked the officials out. Immediately clicking his looplet, he began to recreate his incantation from earlier.
~ Crystal Cove Depths ~
"E-Euno? You still there buddy?" Neltharios nervously asked the Gyarados.
Euno merely glared into the Charmander's eyes, immediately intimidating him down to his very core. The scarlet red sclera of the Gyarados reflected Neltharios's own figure back to him, further unsettling him. Neltharios found his mouth moving, but no more words coming out. His body refusing to move on its own accord.
"Nel… I don't think Euno's there anymore…" Traximus muttered, steeling himself.
"He has to be!" Palla shouted, "I can't take much more of this dungeon!"
The Gyarados began to spin around, whirling its tail about. As he spun faster and faster, his tail began to ignite, alerting Team Nova to the imminent danger.
"Everybody MOVE!" Reiner shouted, prompting everybody to move in different directions. Traximus and Palla rolled to the left and Neltharios and Reiner moved to the right. As soon as Euno stopped spinning, he slammed his blazing tail into the crystalline surface in between the group, creating a line of flaming debris that perfectly split Team Nova's formation in two.
"What was that move?! Blaze Tail?!" Neltharios cried out in a mixture of confusion and fear.
"Who cares!? Attack!" Traximus screamed from across the room.
Neltharios began charging up as much dragon fire in his mouth as he could muster. Releasing it, made sure to hit the facial area. A direct hit was had, however, the Gyarados merely lifted his face back, seemingly unphased by the dragonbreath attack.
"What?! I swore I hit him!" Neltharios raged.
"Keep moving, doofus!" Reiner shouted as he pulled Neltharios by the arm, taking him out of the way of a crunch attack.
Euno whirled his back to Traximus and Palla. The Axew looked frightened, stepping back towards the wall.
"Palla, we have to hit him with all we got," Traximus shouted, "It's the only way we can get out of this alive!"
"But what if we go too far and kill him?!" Palla cried, "I c-can't do that! I can't kill a Pokémon!"
"We can only fight and hope we don't! But right now, it's us or him who wins this! And I choose us!"
Traximus then began charging a dragon pulse, its light gleaming on the face of the small green dragon. Palla hung back, still apprehensive about what to do. "But I don't have any ranged attacks! I'm useless here!"
The bolt of dragon pulse collided with the Gyarados, causing it to recoil a bit. Euno turned back around to face Traximus and Palla, causing the intimidating stare to be placed on the both of them. Both tiny dragons took several steps back.
"Not exactly! Follow my lead! When its back's turned again, then I'll give the signal!" Traximus ordered as he moved to his left with Palla following close behind.
Euno then unleashed a flamethrower attack on where Traximus and Palla once were. Fortunately for them, he missed, creating a scorch mark on the ignited area. Meanwhile, Reiner and Neltharios positioned themselves somewhere underneath the Gyarados to avoid its line of sight.
"Reiner! You have to have some sort of rock type move to deal with these things, right!?" Neltharios pressed.
Reiner shook his head nervously, "If I did, then I would have used it already! But a better question is how is that thing using so many fire type moves!?"
A roar that came from above them was followed by the temperature rising significantly, forcing Reiner to the floor immediately. "Gyarados can naturally learn some fire type moves, but I've never seen that tail one!" Neltharios responded.
"Hey! If you guys are done twiddling your thumbs, we could use some help here!" Traximus shouted, dodging streams of fire.
Neltharios shot Reiner a glance, "You have to at least try something!"
"How?! It's a water and flying type! My dark type moves are close range and mud shot won't do squat!" Reiner retorted.
"Better to try something than nothing!"
"Fine! See how useless my mud shot is!"
Reiner conjured up a blob of insidious mud and shot it directly upwards at Euno and scored a direct hit. Surprisingly, the Gyarados hissed and rammed its face against the walls of the room, creating that pinging sound that the group came to hate so very much. Both Reiner and Neltharios blinked several times in disbelief.
"That…Worked!?" Reiner cheered, disbelief turning into bravado.
Traximus raced to Reiner's right, determination brimming on his face. "Reiner! Not sure what you did but keep doing that! It's working!"
As Euno shook off the mud on his body, he set his eyes on the Krokorok, gathering intense flames in its mouth. The group once again split apart with Traximus and Neltharios to the right of Euno and the others to the left. Once again, the Gyarados missed its fire attack, splitting the group up.
"Nel! We need to paralyze it!" Traximus barked.
"Dragon breath?" Neltharios responded.
"Dragon breath."
The duo charged up dragon fire in their maws. While the Gyarados was distracted by the other group, Neltharios and Traximus released a twin dragon breath, coating the Gyarados's back in deep blue dragon fire. Euno arched in pain and then began spasming wildly.
"Yes!" Traximus cheered, "Palla! Reiner! Do your things! It's stuck!"
Reiner immediately seized the opportunity and shot rapid fire mud shots at the serpent, making it hiss in pain. Palla, however, looked on as the sweet natured Gyarados she just met was being pelted with attacks from her team. A strange feeling began bubbling up in her stomach, causing her head to spin.
"Palla!? You have to attack! Now's your chance!" Neltharios screamed.
Palla doubled over, the headache beginning to overtake her, "I-I cant… do it!"
"You have to! We can't win this without your help!" Traximus joined in.
"I CAN'T!" Tears began to stream down the Axew's face.
Traximus, realizing the situation, immediately broke formation with Neltharios. Running over to the other group proved to be a poor decision, however, as Euno managed to shake off his stun. Despite all the damage dealt to him, the Gyarados, however weak, was still up. Recognizing the Bagon in front of him, Euno snapped at him with a crunch attack that managed to nip at Traximus's back, causing several jagged lines of scales to be ripped off him.
"Traximus!"
"Traxman!"
Traximus skidded to a stop right in front of Palla. The Bagon arched his back and screeched in pain, making Palla's heart sink so far into her stomach breathing began to hurt. She screamed as loud as she could before approaching him.
"Please, get up! Please," Palla pleaded, "We can't do this without you!"
"It hurts! It hurts so bad!" Traximus cried as he tried and failed to stand up. The sight of Traximus stripped the fight out of Team Nova.
The injured Gyarados loomed over the party. Reiner was about to launch another mud shot at Euno, but suddenly found himself unable to. He tried again and again, but just couldn't find the energy to muster.
"Uh guys, problem!" Reiner yelled, "I ran out of juice for mud shot!"
"And I did too for dragon breath!" Neltharios added, "Traxy's down and the only range I got left is Flamethrower!"
The other standing members looked back at Palla, their faces hinting at desperation. "Palla, you have to do something," Neltharios begged, "Please! We need you right now!"
"But what can I do? I don't have range like you guys!" Palla objected.
The Gyarados moved closer to Palla and Reiner, skyrocketing the anxiety of everybody. "You can attack! I've seen you do it!" Neltharios yelled.
Euno crept even closer to them, widening its maw as if to eat them. "Palla, come on! You have to have an ace somewhere!" Reiner cried.
Palla shook her head, tears sliding off her face, her anxiety completely locking her movements. She shut her eyes tightly and awaited her fate.
"Gah! Forget it!" Reiner shouted, "Crunching away!"
Reiner jumped up on the wall and then kicked off it, placing himself square on the Gyarados's forehead. The Krokorok then grabbed onto the crystalline candlelight on Euno's head, making the serpent thrash about, sending him in numerous directions. Holding on tightly and taking a deep breath, Reiner released his strongest crunch attack directly into the Gyarados's head. When he did, he felt an unexpected surge of heat pulsate through his maw and through his body, causing him to recoil immediately.
"Woah! Guys! I think he might not be a water type," Reiner called out, "His body isn't supposed to be this heated!"
As he shouted out, the crystalline candle began to crack, releasing shards of crystal into Reiner. "Uh… Uh oh…" He meeped.
The Gyarados arched his back one last time, releasing another roar. As he did, the crystal cracked more and more, until the crystalline candle shattered completely, raining shards on everything below Euno. Reiner felt his feet slip underneath him as the Gyarados fell from his suspended altitude. When Euno collided with the ground, Reiner slipped off the serpent and fell to the ground.
Palla, Traximus, and Neltharios were just barely out of the way enough to avoid being crushed by Euno's large frame. The Axew subconsciously pulled the Bagon into her grasp, ignoring his objections. Neltharios moved towards the face of the Gyarados, eyeing it suspiciously, ready to fight it again should it get back up. Reiner followed in Neltharios's footsteps, climbing back on top of Euno threatening to release another crunch attack. When the Gyarados's face then twitched, everybody braced themselves for round two of combat, but were surprised with gentle tears instead.
"…Is…it gone?" Euno muttered between sobs, "Is…the monster…dead?"
The others looked between each other, confused, and concerned as to what he could be referencing.
"Uh…Y-you mean what just attacked us?" Neltharios asked.
"…You were…attacked? Did…I do that?"
Neltharios observed the Gyarados's eyes begin to downpour tears, tearing a hole in the Charmander's heart. His only response was to silently nod.
"…Oh gods… I really screwed up big time… I promised Lo-Lo… Wouldn't hurt nobody again…" The Gyarados shut his eyes, "I…I can't face her again! Not after what I've become…"
Palla released her hold on Traximus slightly, "W-What do you mean by the 'monster'?"
"Since I've been here… There's been a strange Pokémon… He's big, like me… I only ever see him in my mind. But whenever I see him… I just get really angry…"
"Can you tell me what he looks like?"
"He's like me… But longer… and bigger… I think he's purple? Or maybe red…"
Palla looked to Neltharios and Reiner, hoping for an answer from either. "I have no clue what Pokémon that could be," Reiner said.
"Neither do I," Neltharios added, "Does such a Pokémon exist?"
Before anybody could ponder the answer to the question, the entire dungeon began to shake. The crystal walls and floor began to crack, destabilizing the very foundation of the dungeon. Everybody inside shook about, Reiner falling on the unstable ground near a crack in the floor.
"We have to get out of here!" Neltharios shouted.
"Where can we go!?" Reiner responded, "There's no stairs outta here!"
Palla's last vision before everything went white was the Charmander and the Krokorok bantering back and forth. The Gyarados lies still, awaiting his fate. Traximus silently lies on his stomach in front of the Axew, the slashes on his back visible to her before she herself shut her eyes.
~ Kira University, Commons ~
"He's breathing, so he's alive! Give him some space!"
Traximus could only feel the aching pain in his back, the exposed wounds making his body tremble. His entire world remained blackened.
"Hey, are you awake? Speak to me."
The Bagon's eyes opened slowly, the bright lights of the university beaming into his unprepared pupils. Instinctively, he tried to stand up, but he failed to do so, causing a yellow-colored hand to catch his front side.
"Relax. You and your friends are safe now. Rescue teams will be here shortly, and the situation will be handled."
"W-what do you mean," Traximus asked, his voice slurring, "Where's Euno?"
"The Gyarados? He's being airlifted to a care center near the lake for examination." Alcryst inspected the Bagon's wounds closely, "But you don't appear to be in the best shape to be talking here. You're going to see a doctor, okay?"
Traximus silently agreed, and Alcryst warped him away.
The first Eternarift dungeon is finished! The reference for the dungeon was actually from Megaman Battle Network's fifth dungeon (The traffic stage) and the title of the chapter has the same name as the music track for that stage.
Next: Unforeseen Consequences are abound...