Chapter 35
Inari
Inari felt a sense of dread wash over her as she slowly guided the group through the beginning of the grass temple. All around her, the walls were covered in fines, and the aroma of something sweet was in the air. The floor of the temple was made of stone and felt cool to the touch. Up above there was sunlight pouring in, though if someone tried to sneak in through the top of the temple they were in for a very long fall. Most Pokemon would not survive the trip down and even flying Pokemon appeared to have a tough time trying to not get hurt on their way down. Inari was sure that this temple was well protected for all these years.
"So, you are Chip's other half," Alister asked. The trio were walking down a long tunnel. Inari felt Ommni's presence all around her, the Alakazam seemed to be almost leading them towards him. She couldn't put her paw on it, but she had a feeling that he wanted their two parties to run into one another sooner or later.
"Yes, I am, I am the side of Chip that he keeps bottled up." Inari smiles. "Hopefully one day I can meet your other half as well."
"Does it work the same way?" Alister asked.
"Me and Chip are unique in that I can use his illusion ability to create my own "form." Inari looked ahead; the group was heading towards a fork in the road. Inari's eyes flash as she is able to sense the direction that Ommni has gone. He was leaving a trail for them to follow. "Be on guard, Ommni is leading us to him."
"Is he stupid?" Alister asked. "Why lead us to him?"
"From what I've gathered so far, Ommni is anything but stupid," Shawn says.
"Huh, why would you believe that?" Alister asked. Inari had a feeling she could tell them why.
"Because Ommni loves to be in control. And control equal's power." Inari says as she stops at the fork in the road. Two different pathways went in opposite directions. This place was not just a temple, but a maze designed to throw an intruder off and make it hard for them to reach the altar where the plate was stored. Inari puts a paw on the wall and spreads her senses out to see if she could see if there was another way around. She didn't want to depend on Ommni's "directions." As she spread her senses out she felt something coming, a powerful foe was approaching them.
"You feel that?" Inari asked.
"Huh, you feel something?" Alister asked. Just as he speaks those words they are approached by a shadowy entity. The figure was a Raichu, it had shadowy dark fur, and red eyes and seemed to emit a similar power to Ommni though there was a difference that Inari found familiar. Yes, there was no doubt about it this was Soulless. A shadowy dark version of a Pokémon that was created in a place of power.
"What the hell is that thing?" Alister gasped.
"That's a Soulless." Inari says as she gets in a fighting stance. "We fought them before remember."
"Ya back in the other woods." Shawn joins Inari, the saur leans low as he was prepared to move at a moment's notice.
"This is one of those?" Alister asked.
"Intruders…" The Raichu says it holds onto the wall. The group watched as electricity crackled were its paw was. "Intruders must be dealt with."
"We're not even going to get a warning to leave this place?" Shawn asked.
"No… you're just going to die." The Raichu lifts its paw and suddenly a bolt of electricity is shot at the group hitting the ground in front of them and causing a dust cloud to form around them. Inari closed her eyes and allowed her senses to take over, she didn't need her eyes to feel where their opponent was coming from. She struggles at first to tell the Soulless from the other shadowy energy around them but soon she locks onto him. He was…right in front of her. Inari opens her eyes to see the shadowy Raichu inches from her face. She tried to dodge but it was too late as he grabbed her by the ears and headbutts Zorua knocking her onto her stomach.
"Shit!" Shawn cries. Inari watches as Raichu's paw is grabbed by Shawn's vine and it's yanked towards him. Alister follows up by running at the chu and slamming into it with his horns knocking it onto its back. Alister lands next to Inari and helps her up.
"No need to thank me."
"I wasn't." Inari rolls her eyes. She had planned to thank him but if he was going to be an idiot…she could be one too.
"What are your Chip's dick side?" Alister asked.
"No…" Inari sighs. "Let's just try to be serious all, right? We've got a mission to succeed at, there is no time to joke around." Inari smiles. "We can worry about that later. Maybe I'll show you just how much of a dick I can be." Inari smirks while grabbing Alister's butt. She watched the Minccino jump, and she couldn't help but snicker.
"You two done?" Shawn asked as he bound the Soulless with his vines. It wasn't moving though there was no telling if or when it'll wake up. They were lucky that they were able to knock this one out with a good combination attack. Inari puts a paw on its head and feels its mind. This one was indeed knocked out though it wouldn't be for long. "Shawn bind it with Leech Seed."
"Good idea." Shawn drops a few seeds onto the Raichu's paws binding them to the ground. Inari just hoped that all of their fights might be this easy. Once done she turns her attention to the next task. "Let's make good use of our time." Inari begins leading the way as they head down the passage the Soulless had come from. She could feel Ommni's presence becoming stronger as they walked. The light from up above began to dim and soon they were in darkness.
"Now what?" Alister asked.
"I've got this," Shawn says. His bulb began glowing. "Use of a bit of this sunlight I've gathered."
"Good thinking," Inari says. "Hopefully we'll find lighter soon enough." Inari lets Shawn take the lead. She closes her eyes letting her senses be her guide. She thinks about Meadow and how she must feel. Was she awake again or has she still passed out? Did Ommni hurt her? What was the status of the plate? Are they making progress or simply going down the way Ommni wanted them to? There were so many questions. Or less would they find any more of those Soulless around?
"Look there's light," Alister says, and Inari opens her eyes. The group saw that there was light at the end of the tunnel and without thinking Alister and Shawn moved faster to get to it. Inari growls.
"Not so fast, we don't know what's up there." Inari dashes after them. The group soon reached the lighted area and found themselves standing in a cavern. There was a single door on the other side. The cavern was large, more than large enough for something to call home. Walking into the cavern Inari felt odd, like they were not alone here.
"You think we're getting close?" Shawn asked.
"Got to be, I mean what else could be here? We've come far. Plus, if we find any more of those Soulless we'll knock them out." Alister confidently says.
"…" Inari wasn't sure about them. She looked around as if she believed that whatever was watching them could appear at any moment. The light in the room became dark for a moment and then lit up again. She held her breath as she wondered why it got dark all of a sudden.
"Hey, you good?" Alister asked.
"No…" Inari shakes her head. Why couldn't she get over the feeling of something watching them? But there was nothing ahead of them, to the sides or behind them. That means that the only place something could be…
"You're seeing things?" Alister asked.
"We're being watched…" Inari says. Suddenly it became dark again for a moment and then the light appeared once more. She was certain now where they were being watched from. Inari slowly looks up. There was nothing there at first but soon she saw something large move in front of the opening at the top of the cavern. It must have realized it was found as a loud roar comes from up above causing the others to look up too.
"What the hell is that?"
"I don't know Alister, you want to go ask it what is?" Shawn asked.
"Get ready!" Inari commands. The large creature roars again before dropping from the top of the cavern down at them, and the group spreads out in time. The creature hits the ground sending rocks and dirt flying everywhere, a gust of wind blows the group off their paws. They tumble but manage to avoid any serious damage. Inari gets up and sees that the creature before them was a dragon, it looked like a Salamence though it was much larger than it, it took up a good portion of the cavern. It was covered in vines and moss.
"What is that thing?" Alister says.
"It looks like a Salamence." Shawn says. "But I've never seen one look like that."
"The world of Mysticfell is full of mysterious," Inari says as she readies herself. "We've got to beat this thing to move on."
The Dragon lets out a loud roar causing the cavern to shake, rocks fall all around the group. Inari and the others run to protect themselves from the falling rocks. A few large boulders fall in front of the passage back out of the cavern trapping them.
"No way!" Alister gasped.
"Yep…no way out but forward." Inari prepares herself. "NO FEAR!"
"Speak for yourself." Alister nods. "We've got to win this."
"Damn right." Shawn smiles.
The Dragon roars once again sending a shockwave at them. The group is thrown back but remains standing. Inari shakes off the attack and watches the dragon send a blast at them again, this time her eyes flash a wall rises to protect them. It nearly shattered from the force of the attack but the group at least didn't take the worst of the move.
"Where did you learn that?" Alister asked.
"I've picked up a few tricks that my other half doesn't know about yet." Inari giggles. She then becomes serious. "We've got to get in."
"Leave that to me." Shawn begins running towards the Dragon. He shoots a few leaves at the Dragon who simply takes the attack letting the leaves bounce off it. Shawn nears it and the Dragon takes a swipe at him. Shawn dodges out of the way and sprays some spores at the dragon who sneezes.
"Huh did my Stun Spore do nothing?"
"It might be a grass-type dragon," Alister asked.
~ It's the guardian of this place. ~ Chip speaks into Inari's mind.
'That would make sense. A dragon to protect the treasure hidden at the end of the temple.' Inari comments. 'Any idea how to take this guy down?'
~ We need to see if it has any weaknesses. ~
'Sounds like a plan.'
"We can do this." Inari closes her eyes, her paws glow purple. "Through everything we have at it, we've got to find a weakness." Inari releases a blast of dark energy at the Dragon hitting it. The beast roared back at her as it looked like it didn't like the attack. Inari watches as it blows wind at her sending her back against the rock wall. She fell onto her stomach, though she was only shaken, she wasn't about to get stirred that easily. Getting up the Zorua shakes her head.
'Come on you can do this.'
"AAAAHHH!" Alister launches himself at the beast punching it as hard as he could. Inari watched as the Dragon glared at the Minccino. "Um…"
"RAWR!" The Dragon grabs Alister with his maw and throws him across the cavern. He lands in a pile of rocks.
"That worked out well." Shawn sighs. "Any more ideas?"
"Ironically all I can think to do is keep hitting it. Maybe we'll get a better idea what we're dealing with." Inari sighs.
"Let's try the distance approach until we can find a way in." Shawn runs at the Dragon flinging leaves at it. The Dragon looks annoyed by the attack and takes a swipe at Shawn who slides under its swipe and sends more leaves at the dragon's face making it fall back.
"Classic, no one likes getting hit in the face." Inari jumps into the fray as she changes her form, taking on Hathor's Fennekin form. Zorua's fur was a lighter shade of pink than Hathor's. She launches a few fireballs at the dragon who seems to not like fire attacks.
"RAWR!" The Dragon slams its paws into the ground causing the entire cavern to shake. More rocks fall around the ground he works to dodge the attack. Inari flings more fireballs at the Dragon who backs away a few feet trying to get out of her range.
"I think he's getting weak," Shawn says.
"Let me at him!" Alister charges in leaping around and slamming his tail onto the Dragon's head. It grabs him and slams the Minccino onto the ground. Inari spreads her legs and launches a large stream of fire at the Dragon causing it to back away from Alister. Shawn grabs his friend yanking him towards them.
"Let us give you an opening." Inari scolds. "We can't keep saving your bacon."
"Oh, I've got him on the ropes." Alister chuckles. Inari grumbles under her breath. The group soon sees the Dragon open its wings and beat them, sending rocks at them again. Inari tries to put up a wall, but she feels oddly too worn out to put up the barrier again and instead must resort to using the natural area for protection. Luckily for them, they were able to hide behind large boulders that were lying around.
"If this was a video game, do you think we'd be in phase two right now?" Shawn asked.
"I think so." Alister chuckles.
"This is kind of exciting huh." Inari looks over the boulder to see that the Dragon was stomping around now causing more rocks to fall and forcing them to move from their hiding spot. It wasn't as bad as the first or second set, but she was getting tired. She rolls just out of the way for a boulder and right into the claws of the Dragon as it uses this chance to close the distance on her. She feels herself being grabbed and picked up.
"INARI!" Alister cries.
"We've got to do something!" Shawn yells. Inari soon sees leaves flying towards her, a few hit her cutting the Zorua. She lets out a cry of pain.
"Oops."
"We've got to do something."
Inari looks into the eyes of the Dragon, its large green eyes stare at her. It then roars in her face before leaping onto the wall, digging its claws into it. Inari struggles to free herself, her body wiggling as she forces herself to move. She soon finds a small opening as she makes the Dragon loosen its grip on her. She watches as it tries to roar at her again, but this time gets a mouth full of fire as Inari spits several fireballs into its mouth causing the dragon to cough and let her go. She lands on the ground and rolls in pain as she didn't like how she fell.
"Are you ok?" Shawn asked.
"I'll be better once we're in." Inari looked up at the Dragon who was climbing up a bit. It dug its claws into the rocks and began flinging them down at the ground. Shawn grabs Inari yanking her to safety. Alister dashed in jumping around the falling rocks and slamming himself against the wall causing the Dragon to tumble a bit. Inari saw a small opening.
"Shawn now, fling everything you have at it."
"Alright!" With that the pair start throwing everything they had at the Dragon causing it to struggle to stay up on the wall and before long it falls off and falls onto the ground, landing on its back. Inari charges up a powerful fire attack.
"Take this!" Inari fires her attack engulfing the Dragon in flames. It lets out one last roar before falling to the group. Inari let out a sigh of relief and the rest of her party high-fived one another feeling accomplished.
"How did we manage to win that?" Inari pants, her legs feel wobbly.
"Cause we're the best." Alister laughs happily.
"I couldn't agree more." Shawn smiles and nuzzles Alister.
"Let's try not to get too comfortable," Inari says as she wills herself up. "We've got a mission to complete."
"Aww can't we take a quick break?" Alister asked. Inari felt that she was a little tired herself, their last fight had taken it out of her. She smiles and nods.
"All right let's take a quick break, though let's try not to make it be for too long. We must be ready for anything that might come our way." Inari thinks about their situation and what they have to do next. What lies beyond that door? Would Ommni be waiting for them? Could they beat him? Regardless of whether this might be their final rest, their final chance to prepare themselves before what could be the biggest fight of their young lives.
"You look nervous," Alister says as they take a seat on some rocks. Shawn lays his head down on Alister's lap taking a quick nap. Inari didn't blame him; she was worn out from everything that has happened.
"Are you not?" Inari asked as she put a paw on Shawn's head petting him. She watched him stir.
"I mean of course. But...we just took down a dragon!" Alister pumps his fist. "We can take down a dragon we can take down anything."
"I mean..." Inari thinks about what to say next. She didn't want to bring down their moods, not before what could be a big fight. Instead, Inari just smiles and oddly gives Alister a kiss. He looks taken back.
"Um...?"
"Oh, Alister it's just a kiss, enjoy it." Inari smiles. "Besides I want a moment to just...unwind." Inari notices Alister smiling, and he pulls the Zorua close to him and gives her a passionate kiss on her maw. Inari soon feels herself forgetting their mission ahead, her worries, or anything else. It was just her and Alister and nothing else. Their shared kiss lasted for what felt like hours before they were broken up by the sound of Shawn letting out a yawn.
"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Shawn asked as he looked up at them with his big red eyes. Inari blushed and pulled away.
"Nothing..."
"Just helping a friend unwind," Alister says rubbing his head.
"That was a nice five-minute nap." Shawn stretches. "All right who is ready to go jump into the face of darkness. I know I am."
"Might want to change how you say that." Alister sighs. As the group makes their last preparations the door on the far side opens slowly and Ommni and Tusk walk through the door. The group feels a cold feeling crept over them as they look at their greatest foes. In one of Tusk's hands was the passed-out Meadow.
"Meadow!" Inari cries.
"Don't bother, she won't be joining us any time soon. Her mind is where she wants it to be, not here. Sad since there might have been some use for her, but alas the weak always seek the easy way out of life." Ommni says while crossing his arms. "Tusk give her back to them, we no longer have any use for her."
"As you wish." Tusk walks towards the middle of the room and lays Meadow down before returning to Ommni's side. Inari quickly walked over to Meadow and began shaking her. She did not open her eyes, but Inari saw her stirring a bit.
"We'll deal with them, just rest..." Inari glares at Tusk and Ommni. "How did you get past the dragon?"
Ommni points at Meadow. "Despite her being nothing more than a body, the guardians here still respect her. They did not get in our way. But thank you for taking care of the dragon, it was a thrilling fight to watch. I expected you to come through the door sooner, but boredom got the better of us. Why not finish this little cat-and-mouse chase here and now."
"Sir you do not need to explain yourself to these weaklings," Tusk interjects. Ommni looked a little taken by Tusk's words but then nodded.
"You wish to deal with them?"
"Yes. I wish to finish the job I should have done long ago." Tusk steps forward. As he did so the group felt a shockwave and the cavern shook. Inari blinks as Tusk felt even stronger than last time and that was only a short time ago, they fought him.
"This bastard!" Alister was on one knee.
"Don't do anything hasty," Shawn says.
"Think about who you are talking too." Alister chuckles.
"Yah... that's why I'm saying this," Shawn responds.
Inari blinked as she couldn't figure out why these two were joking around so much. This was serious. Shaking her head, she stares down at Tusk. This would be their third fight against one another and this time they were playing for keeps. No room for errors this time.
"All right guys let's do this thing, no holding back."
"Right!"
As the group heads in to face off against Tusk, they feel the ground shaking again and again, and rocks begin falling around them. Not only did they have to face off against the Tusk but the very cavern itself seemed to be against them. All the while behind everyone Ommni was watching, a dark grin on his face.
What was he planning? And more importantly, was this all going according to his grand scheme plan? Only time will tell.