Chapter 12 - Power
Es wird gesagt, dass die Götter im Gefolge des glühenden Blitzes unruhig wurden und von ihren Plätzen in dieser vergangenen Welt wanderten, um zu versuchen, einen Sinn für die zu finden, die in ihrem Gefolge zurückgelassen wurde. Einige sollen bis heute von Region zu Region und Leben in Leben in den Ländern dieser Welt treiben, während andere neue Domänen wälten und sich in ihnen niederließen.
Nirgendwo wird dies vielleicht deutlicher als in den Ländern von Wahrheit und Ideale. Zwei Königreiche, die durch ein Meer getrennt sind, durch ihre Kulturen und sogar durch die alten Sprachen, die sie mit der Welt verbinden, die sie erheben und schätzen. Länder, die seit den sagenumwobenen Zeiten nach dem glühenden Blitz nur erbitterte Rivalität und Feindschaft kennen.
Und doch haben diese beiden Länder ihre Schicksale und die Schicksale ihrer Könige mit denen von einem namenlosen Drachen aus einem fernen Land verflochten. Eine, die mit ihren Hinterlassenschaften sowohl die Länder von Wahrheit und Ideale als auch ihre Bewohner prägt. Gleichzeitig eine Ägide, die bereit ist, ihre Wunden zu trösten und zu rächen, und ein Endbringer, der bereit ist, Ihr Jüngstes Gericht auszusprechen, wobei die Schwelle zwischen diesen Extremen ständig schwankt, da sein Leben unser eigenes immer wieder in der Geschichte kreuzt.
Das zukünftige Datum, an dem sich diese Schicksale wieder trennen könnten, ist unbekannt, und der gegenwärtige Bogen der Geschichte neigt sich dazu, dass sie sich immer mehr miteinander verstricken. Einige, einschließlich einiger Könige dieser Reiche, sind überzeugt, dass diese Verflechtung nur enden wird, wenn das eine oder das andere, Wahrheit oder Ideale, über dem anderen steht.
Angesichts des unsagbaren Elends, das solchen Annahmen folgte, können wir nur beten, dass diejenigen, die diese Berichte lesen, die Weisheit und Voraussicht haben, aus den Sünden der Vergangenheit zu lernen, die in diesem Buch aufgezeichnet sind. Zusammen mit denen, die ungeschrieben bleiben.
- Auszug aus »Ein und Alles - Von Göttern eines Landes von Schwarz und Weiß«
Four floors and about two hours later, Team Forager found themselves prowling through another floor of overgrown forests, the present one shrouded with a thick mist that permeated the air and made it hard to see their surroundings. Enough so that at times, Lyle thought that they were on a path to a Pocket.
He and the others took care to creep about the floor quietly to try and avoid hostile encounters like the one they'd had with the Archeops and Rampardos, but it had largely gone unneeded. Little had happened on their current floor beyond them coming across a Blast Seed and a Totter Seed that the team kept for themselves.
"Was zum Teufel ist das?₁"
Lyle looked up as Dalton blinked and walked up to paw at the remains of a wooden chest with a mangled metal frame lying strewn about in the dirt ahead of them. Or at least he assumed it was one since whatever that mess of splintered wood and twisted metal was, it looked much as if it'd been flattened by a boulder. As the Heliolisk sifted through the wreckage, the Quilava noticed that there was nothing left behind in or around the ruined chest beyond just the wood and metal. He blinked and glanced over at Kate as the Sneasel sized up the pile of wood and scrap with a puzzled quirk of her ear.
"Something wrong, Scales?" she asked. "You sound pretty worked up right now. What on earth are we looking at?"
"An Exposure Chest, or I suppose what's left of one," Dalton answered. "Judging from the pattern on some of the wood, it looks like the Colorswap Consortium set this one out."
Lyle blinked and looked back down at the remains of the chest. Exposure Chests were used by merchants to try and fashion items to sell to the likes of Hunters, ones that could only be formed through the exposure of a Mystery Dungeon's Distortion. This one probably used to have a bunch of fabrics for making scarves with special properties for their wearers like invigorating them or suppressing poisons, or maybe something more exotic like fabrics for those scarves that were supposed to have effects in Mystery Dungeons like some Wonder Orbs.
Except, chests like these were usually heavily reinforced. They had to be in order to survive getting caught up by Dungeon Winds repeatedly, much less Wilders messing around with them. Lyle turned back to Dalton with a wary cock of his brow, as the Fire-type went up and gave a wary sniff at the wreckage, and caught a scent on its planks that made his stomach growl.
"Smells like this one was being used to try and treat Gummis," he said. "I'm a little surprised that one of the Colorswap Consortium's chests would get broken into since they never struck me as the type to cheap out on their stuff."
Irune shifted uneasily and gave a concerned look up at her teammates. Lyle didn't peg her as knowing anything about those lizards given that she hadn't known better than to shoplift from one of their shops, but something that he said must've struck her being off from her expression.
"… Should we be worried?" the Axew asked. "You're making it sound like this wasn't supposed to have happened."
"The chest could've just been defective and gone overlooked," Dalton said. "Though considering some of the Wilders we've run into lately…"
… Right, the Wilders on the past few floors had been getting pretty strong. And some like that Rampardos from earlier probably could've made for decent Box Busters had they been Civils. Between that and the chatter that food had apparently been scarce among them lately, Lyle supposed that was as simple an explanation as any for how the Wilders broke into the chest…
So why did he have a lingering uneasy feeling about it?
"Damn, could've used some free food with how much the Dungeon's been wearing down on us," Kate sighed, shaking her head. "But whatever, let's just keep going."
Lyle opted to not think too hard about the matter and just move along with his teammates. After all, the Link to Raptor Rock they were pinning their hopes on was supposed to be somewhere on this floor and it wasn't about to find itself. The four went back to combing the maze-like floor they were on, occasionally leaving markings cut or burned into the surrounding forest to note where they'd already been, while taking care to keep their eyes and ears peeled for roaming Wilders. Thankfully, they didn't run into any, and after sweeping the peripheral corridors, Lyle and his fellows came across a cave entrance with mist thick enough to look like a cloud swirling about it. He figured that had to be a sign they'd come across the Pocket to the Link which the Cranidos from the Monster House told them about.
"I… think we've found it," Lyle said.
Dalton walked up and eyed the fog-filled approach warily, before shaking his head and looking back. Had Dalton found something wrong with it? Or else, what was with this hesitation?
"I don't know if that's a safe assumption to make, but it's the only Pocket we've found on this entire floor so far," the Heliolisk said. "We should proceed accordingly and tread carefully."
Right, assuming anything in a Mystery Dungeon was a bad idea. Especially one that had been getting as treacherous as the past few floors had been. One by one, Team Forager's members braced themselves, Lyle giving an exploratory flare of his vents while Dalton and Kate did much the same with their own elements. Before Lyle knew it, Irune had been trusted with a Blast Seed and the guiding string had been distributed between them. Dalton took the lead this time with Kate following just behind him, just in case they accidentally popped into a den and needed to bog down a group of Wilders up ahead before making a run for it.
Well, nobody could say that they hadn't gone in prepared, which was probably the best they could hope for at the moment.
Lyle sucked in a sharp breath and warily drew towards the mist after feeling Dalton and Kate tug the string forward, only for it to suddenly run taut. The Quilava looked over his shoulder, seeing Irune had stopped and was visibly shrinking back from the fog, just staring off at the cave entrance. What on earth had gotten into her all of a sudden?
Dalton and Kate had noticed things by now themselves and were now stopping themselves and turning around. The pair paused briefly, before both the Heliolisk and Sneasel shot sharp frowns at the young Dragon-type.
"Irune, is something wrong?" Dalton asked.
The Axew bit her lip a moment, and dragged her foot against the ground uneasily. She looked uneasy, afraid even.
"A-Are we sure we're making the right choice here?" she murmured. "We don't have any idea of what's waiting for us on the other side of this passage."
She was seriously bringing this up now of all times? Lyle let out an unamused sigh at Irune's hesitance, and Kate and Dalton looked to be similarly unimpressed. Especially Kate, from the way she was pinning her ears back and folding her arms much like she might've at times when he or Alvin second-guessed her a bit too forcefully in the past.
"Hrmph, asking a bit late aren't ya? Surprised you're so worried about a bunch of Outlaws getting smacked around given that you made your feelings about us clear earlier," the Sneasel scoffed. "Also, this was the only lead we got out of that Cranidos before you chased him off. We'd be shooting in the dark otherwise."
Irune briefly grimaced and Lyle swore that he saw a brief flash of regret over her eyes. It didn't last for very long before the Axew piped up, raising her voice in stammering protest.
"I-I know that, but-!"
"Irune, you yourself pointed out that Lacan is most likely sending soldiers to lie in ambush at the exits to this place," Dalton reminded. "If that's the case, we need to take this Link to Raptor Rock. Its exits are over a day's journey from Toya Square. Far enough that it'd be our only realistic shot at beating his Grünhäuter out to the surface."
"B-But if something happened to me in there-!" she started.
Lyle narrowed his eyes at that and flared up in irritation. Irune was still going on about herself right now? Gods, he wasn't sure if he could take an entire journey to the Divine Roost like this.
"Then you'd be in the exact same boat as the rest of us, and we'll pull through things by working together."
The Axew froze as Lyle made his way up to her and curled his features into a piercing, fiery scowl.
"Look, you've already made it clear you don't like us, kid. But our different backgrounds mean as little those Wilders as it does to that Fähnlein that's chasing us around," he harrumphed. "The least you can do is fight alongside us properly until we get to that treasure you're after."
Irune shrank back, and part of Lyle wavered a bit. He never liked picking on kids, and even if Irune's words had stung earlier, the way she'd been acting afterwards almost felt like she'd been trying to make things up.
Lyle eased himself briefly. There'd be a time and place to give her crap for running her mouth off like that, but now wasn't it. He looked between his Sneasel and Axew companions, before flattening out his ears.
"We know that taking this Link's risky. But passing it up to try and find another one isn't any less of so," the stoat reminded. "How many more Wilders would we have to fight if we just kept going deeper to try and find another way out? Would it even get us any closer to the Divine Roost? Raptor Rock wasn't on the route we were planning originally, but it at least gets us closer to where we need to go."
There was a long silence, before the Fire-type shook his head with a low grunt.
"So let's go with what we know here," he insisted. "It's not like our other options are much better."
Irune lowered her head and hesitated, before sighing and pacing along after the Quilava. Sounded like that was enough to convince her. Lyle followed along after feeling the guiding string tug at his paws again and carried off along with the rest of Team Forager into the mist. Lyle flared the fire on his vents for light, and dutifully watched the ground below to make sure he was staying on the path through it, only for the fog to make it increasingly moot as his vision collapsed further and further.
At its height, Lyle was unable to see more than just a few paces in front of him, and slowed his steps to a guarded crawl until the guiding string from Kate ahead of him ran taut. He inched along carefully, until he noticed he was starting to see further out. Five paces ahead, then ten, then fifteen, his body's fire illuminating more and more of the mist-shrouded passage until he saw Kate and then Dalton's bodies reappear up ahead as an exit partly blocked by a large boulder came into view.
The Quilava popped out with his teammates into a misty clearing hemmed in by gray stone walls flecked with moss and ferns. Some of it was natural stone, others of it was composed of level, concrete surfaces, including one that bore a faded sigil of that same design they spotted a few floors above of two swirls circling about each other.
Lyle waited for his companions to catch up, gaping about and noticing that the boulder behind them had been precariously balanced on a short ledge. Thank the dead gods that the stone had remained where it was. Had the stone toppled and blocked off the exit, any ideas of making their way to Raptor Rock and back to the outside world through this Pocket would've literally hit a wall.
Lyle shook his head and started to turn away, when he noticed something was wrong. The earth heading in from the passage from the Distortion sported a noticeable, round, indentation, with the face of the boulder nearest the edge caked in dirt. A closer examination revealed the ledge it was balanced on sported scuffs and scrapes with rock fragments broken off at the edge, as if the boulder had fallen and then been rolled back up the ledge before, and likely more than once.
"Ah! This is it! That's the Link to Raptor Rock!"
Lyle turned his head and saw Kate motioning off with her claw at a ledge with vines running up it from the ground. There was a stony, inclining path that started from there, which made its way up to a cave mouth filled with fog.
The Quilava stood there staring dumbly for a moment, hearing Dalton and Irune breathe sighs of relief. So they really had found the Link, and it didn't look like it'd be hard to reach either. Thank gods, since after everything that had happened since morning, they could use a lucky break for once. The sound of pattering footsteps snapped Lyle back to attention, as he saw Kate start forward and motioned back to him and their other teammates to follow.
"Come on," the Dark-type insisted. "Let's get going and leave this dump behind-"
"GRAAAAAAAWWWRRRRR!"
Lyle's blood froze in his veins and his teammates' eyes visibly shrank at the sound of a deafening roar when a hulking, red and white creature that stood on two legs with a pair of stubby arms stormed out from behind a ruined wall towards the back. Another Wilder Tyrantrum, one who was flashing an overpowering glare at them, opening his jaws to flash a maw full of white, knife-like teeth.
"Invader scum!" the Tyrantrum snarled. "How dare you disturb the territory of Rankar, High Chief of Primordial Woods?!"
The fire on Lyle's body came alive with a start as he and his teammates shrank back from the encroaching Tyrantrum. A quick glance over his hide revealed that it was worn and flecked with battle scars. Old, but not weak in the slightest from the looks of it, enough so that going through the rest of Primordial Woods and trying to find some other Link to literally anywhere else in Varhyde suddenly didn't sound like such a bad idea to him.
"W-We were just leaving!" the Fire-type squeaked back. "C-Come on, let's get out of here!"
Lyle turned to run for the entrance with his companions, only for this 'Rankar' to call up a hail of stones from the ground and knock the boulder ajar from its place on the ledge. Lyle watched in horror as the rock lurched, before dropping in front of the exit with a deafening crash, the sound fading out as a startled cry from Irune filled his ears.
"A-Aah! The passage!"
The Quilava and the others ran up to the boulder and tried to push it out of the way, only for the massive rock to refuse to budge. Attempting to squeeze past it was similarly a non-starter, as it blocked the cave's mouth so completely that even a Cutiefly would've had trouble getting by it. A low growl turned their attention back towards the Tyrantrum, who was approaching with a tensed crouch and readying himself to lunge forward.
"I don't know who put you up to disturb my sanctuary, but it doesn't matter," the Tyrantrum snarled. "I'll chew your bones like I do with everyone else who dares come here!"
Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the Rock-type stomped the ground, Lyle dragging Irune rightwards for dear life as he could faintly make out Dalton and Kate bolting for the left. The ground erupted in a shower of dirt as stones tore out of the earth and crashed into the boulder. The crunch of stones dashing against each other rang out along with Irune's voice yelping in pain, then came the feeling of something blunt striking him in his back and knocking him down.
Lyle wheezed for air as he tried to gather his rattled mind and fraying nerves. He'd been hit by a Rock-type attack, probably a Rock Slide from how much it'd stung. The Quilava tried to right himself when he felt the ground shake and saw gleaming, white teeth bared as the Wilder charged at him. Lyle's nerves failed him, the Quilava suddenly feeling the same helplessness he did back when he was a Cyndaquil stranded in the middle of the stream near home. He yelped and spewed fire from his head and tail vents, trying to curl up into a fiery ball when he felt cold air woosh past and heard the Tyrantrum wince in pain.
Lyle looked up and saw the Tyrantrum 'High Chief' recoiling, trying to brush ice off his snout, when the Quilava felt claws dig into his forepaws and yank him up. He panted and quivered briefly, before looking up to see Kate's red eyes scowling into his impatiently.
"Lyle! Look alive and get up already!"
Kate shoved him back and hurriedly jumped away, Lyle rolling out of the way as the ground tremored and the Tyrantrum charged. The Quilava readied a Will-O-Wisp, only for the hulking dinosaur to veer off to his left at the last second.
Which was when he saw it:
Much to Lyle's horror, the Rock-type was barreling for Irune, bluish light starting to fleck his tail as Irune froze and looked up in petrified terror. The Tyrantrum wound up his Dragon Tail and swung, the Quilava flinching in advance of the sickening thud or crunch that would surely follow.
It never came, and instead a sharp yelp and pained bellow rang out. Lyle looked back at the site and saw Rankar wincing briefly after pulling his tail back from hitting the wall. Off on the ground just beside the Tyrantrum, he spotted Dalton hurriedly dragging Irune back onto her feet. He must have tackled her out of the way of the Tyrantrum's tail—not a moment too soon, either.
The Heliolisk looked back frantically, calling out to Lyle and Kate with an impatient snap as he raised a hand and pointed off behind him..
"Hurry! We're going to need to make a run for it!" Dalton cried.
The four bolted for the vine-covered ledge as fast as their legs could carry them for the exit, Lyle and Irune hobbling a little from their earlier blow. Just as Kate made it to the vines and latched on, a hail of rocks slammed into the wall ahead of them. The four stumbled back as clods of dust and dirt kicked up, a few of the vines falling to the ground severed. Lyle reeled as the dust plume got into his eyes and nose and hacked for air.
Amidst the confusion, he felt the ground shake when a loud thump rang out from above. Lyle froze as the dust settled, looking up to see that the Tyrantrum had taken the opportunity to overtake them and jumped up onto the ledge above them. The dinosaur opened his maw and let out a bellowing roar that made Lyle's head spin and he darted back in a blind panic. As he regained his wits, he saw his teammates had fled with him in much the same fashion. The tremors he then noticed coming from behind them tipped him off that the 'High Chief' of this craphole was hot on their tails, a quick glance back revealing Rankar had chased them halfway back across the Pocket from their would-be exit.
"H-He just keeps cutting us off!" Irune stammered.
Lyle felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of the hulking Rock-type running after them with jaws bared for a crushing bite. From how hard the Tyrantrum had hit him and Irune earlier, getting into a straight fight would be a harrowing ordeal that they'd likely lose. So then their best option would be to buy time and slip away from him through the Link, and the Totter Seed prodding at him through his depleted satchel's fabric was one of the best bets that they had of pulling that off.
"Then we're going to have to fix that!" Lyle exclaimed. "Everyone, go for his legs!"
Lyle dug his heels in and fished out the Totter Seed from his bag, whirling and throwing it at the Tyrantrum right as he readied a Rock Slide. The Totter Seed dashed against Rankar's hide with an audible pop that sent the dinosaur into a visible daze. From there Kate ran in as the Rock-type staggered, sliding between the Tyrantrum's legs, breathing out an Icy Wind to slick the ground under his feet and make him slip and topple over.
"Grah!"
Rankar toppled over onto his front with a loud crash, one that Lyle figured would probably be satisfying if his heart didn't feel like it was about to stop at any moment. The Rock-type lay there in a daze as Dalton ran up and passed a weak jolt of electricity through the Tyrantrum's body. The Fossil Pokemon jerked back reflexively, his limbs stiffening as static danced on his body and Dalton jumped back with a low scoff.
"Perhaps it'd do you some good to show some hospitality next tim-!"
A hateful glare flashed over the elderly Tyrantrum's eyes. He fought against his stiff and unresponsive limbs and then lunged forward, swinging his mouth open wide and clamping down on Dalton's right shoulder with a sickening crunch.
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
Everything went by in a blur after that as Dalton's screams filled the Pocket. Lyle looked on blankly as the Tyrantrum lifted the still-flailing and thrashing Heliolisk in his jaw, throwing him up before biting down again over Dalton's entire upper body on shaking the Electric-type much like a doll between a Granbull's jaws. Lyle stood frozen in his tracks at the sight, when Irune's voice snapped him back to attention with a horrified cry.
"D-Dalton!"
A deafening, electrical crackle rang out, making the Tyrantrum open his jaws and recoil with a pained bellow as smoke curled up from blackened patches of scales about his mouth. Dalton slipped from the dinosaur's grasp, falling and hit the ground stunned in a sorry heap. For a second, Lyle thought the Wilder had killed him: the Heliolisk's entire upper body was covered in bite marks, with ragged, oozing holes punched through the lower right of his frill that dribbled ruddy fluid.
And then the Heliolisk staggered up, cradling his right arm as it hung limply at his side, dribbling blood from a few ugly puncture wounds around deepening bruises as the lizard tried to suppress a few pained whimpers. Lyle reflexively started forward and flinched along with Dalton as a low growl sounded out behind them. There, fighting against the effects of his paralysis, was the High Chief, lumbering along as he let a low growl escape his wedge-like teeth.
"Time to finish you, Invader!"
"L-Leave him alone!"
Lyle followed the Tyrantrum's gaze just in time to see an Irune dart at his heels and throw a pair of sharp chops at them with her tusks. Rankar winced in pain and hesitated, as from the side, Kate ran in with her claws flashed and eyes smoldering with hatred. The Sneasel darted at the Tyrantrum calling out to Lyle as bitter venom dripped from her voice.
"Get up, Lyle!" Kate snarled. "We're icing this overgrown lizard!"
One thing happened after another following Kate's angry hiss. Dalton scurried off for cover as the Sneasel ran up and threw icy flechettes at one of the Tyrantrum's knees and sent the dinosaur staggering back and stumbling over as his limbs locked up from paralysis. That was as good an opening as any to make that bastard pay.
Lyle lowered his head and charged forward with a wheeling somersault the best that the stoat's typing allowed against his Rock-type foe. He felt himself striking the Wilder's hard hide with all the force he could muster, which much to his surprise, hit him hard enough to draw a sharp yelp. The Quilava breathed in tensely as the Tyrantrum seemed to struggle and have the wind taken out of him. For a second, Lyle thought that they'd put Rankar on the ropes, only for the Tyrantrum to force himself up, seemingly finding an untapped source of vigor.
"Do you think that's all it takes to best me?!" the Wilder sneered. "Let me show you little runts how wrong you are!"
Lyle readied smoke at the back of his throat, rocking back and forth on his feet to spring away at a moment's notice as Kate ran at the Tyrantrum with her claws drawn and taking a metallic sheen. He sprang forward, when the ground suddenly erupted with stones tearing out of the ground from below, and stabbing pain shot through his underbelly.
The Quilava shrieked and felt his paws leave the ground, hearing Kate yowling in pain somewhere in the Pocket that was spinning around in his vision. He sailed along through empty air briefly, when the back of his head and then the rest of his body struck something hard and rough from behind.
He slumped forward after that, hitting the dirt on his side and rolling as his vision blurred. He could barely move his paws and every part of his body he could think of now hurt. From the smell of smoke and the audible sputtering he was hearing from his body's flames, he wasn't sure he could even get back onto his feet right now.
Lyle laid there for a moment, panting as the world about him swirled in an incoherent daze, when a low growl filled his ears and he felt warm, moist breath over him. The Quilava looked up, and there was Rankar hovering over him with his fangs bared.
Lyle felt a whimper come from his throat. This was it. He was going to die in this gods-forsaken jungle, too tired and beaten down to even curl up and give a spiting burn as his foe moved in for the kill. The Quilava screwed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the Tyrantrum's crushing bite when he heard a sharp, quailing cry ring out from ahead of him.
"S-Stop it! Just stop it!"
The Quilava felt Rankar's breath leave him and cracked his eyes open to see Irune standing a short distance away from the both of them, wide-eyed and struggling as if trying to keep a fire penned up within her body. White-blue electrical sparks danced on her scales and ringed her in crackling arcs, as her red eyes glared hateful daggers into the Tyrantrum.
T-The hell?! S-Since when did Axew know how to use electric attacks?!
"Get away from them!"
Irune charged forward, the electrical arcs crossing over in front of her as she barreled headfirst into the Tyrantum. There was a brilliant flash of blue light upon contact, followed by a pained howl and a loud crash. Lyle woozily stumbled to his feet. He panted in fright for a moment, and turned after the Tyrantrum only to freeze at the sight he came across:
There, slumped against the wall on the far left end of the pocket, was Rankar who from the distance, had been flung aside much as if he were a child's toy from Irune's tackle. The Tyrantrum was now missing chunks of his protofeathers and sporting blackened electrical burns across his hide and struggling up in a daze. Lyle's mouth hung open in shock, as Irune flopped over seemingly drained of energy and gasped for air, the Quilava staring wide-eyed and dumbstruck at his Axew partner.
"Wh-What in the-?"
"Whatever it was, don't question it!" Kate cried. "Hit him while he's down!"
The Sneasel scooped up a red-and-yellow scaled seed lying on the ground. Ah! That was the Blast Seed they'd given Irune! She must've dropped it in the confusion earlier!
Lyle couldn't remember the last time he'd ever seen Kate this angry. He hurriedly forced himself onto his feet, trying to limp after her to give her cover. A deafening bellow rang out, with a glance upwards revealing had righted himself and opened his mouth for a bellowing roar.
Kate's eyes shrank to pins in a panic and she reflexively flung her Blast Seed forward. The red, scaled missile sailed along, finding its mark along the Tyrantrum's lower jaw when a deafening blast and flash of heat rang out. An agonized howl rang out as Lyle watched the Tyrantrum totter and crash to the ground on his side, the place where the Blast Seed had struck his maw now sporting a scorch mark where droplets of dark fluid oozed out of his mouth. The Quilava stood there panting in disbelief for a moment, when he heard a dull thud, and turned with Kate and Irune to see Dalton had slumped over onto the ground behind a small pile of rocks, much to the Axew's alarm.
"D-Dalton!"
"G-Götterblut, can't we catch a break?" the Sneasel muttered. "Hang in there, Scales! Don't die on us!"
In a better moment, Lyle probably would have huffed about his Sneasel partner's comment tempting fate. But with how he couldn't even see Dalton's chest heave, he was starting to worry that she might be prescient. He, Kate, and Irune came upon the stricken Heliolisk, and found him visibly shivering from his ordeal, his scales blotched at various points with deep bruises and lacerations dribbling blood. Lyle grimaced and felt his vents come to life, stammering as he saw the Heliolisk's condition.
"Oh crap, oh crap…"
He reflexively stooped to help the Electric-type up with his Sneasel partner, the pair helping Dalton to his feet when Kate's paws chanced to brush up against the Heliolisk's right arm and made him cry out in pain. The two backed away from the Electric-type, lest he accidentally shock them by reflex when in the process, Lyle felt something brush up against one of his hindpaws and jumped away with a start.
"Ah! The hell was-?!"
Lyle whirled around and saw Irune hanging back with a blank look on her face. She must've been frozen in shock. But she wasn't the one who'd brushed his paw. A quick glance down revealed the culprit: a blackened, white spike-like shape in the ground with a curve and dulled serrations on it that broke off abruptly at one end. The Quilava picked up the object and held it, when heard a groan coming from the middle of the Pocket.
"N-Nrgh…"
There, Rankar was woozily trying to get up, and right by where his Blast Seed had struck his jaw, was a dark gap, and the broken stubs of a pair of teeth. The dinosaur's eyes fell on the tooth in the Quilava's paws, when his eyes shrank to pins and his voice took on a panicked tone.
"A-Ah! Give that back right now, you furry worm!" the Tyrantrum cried.
Lyle braced himself, only to see the Tyrantrum stumble after trying to give chase. The Rock-type clearly was in no shape to keep fighting at the moment, something that Kate clearly noticed as well from the way she glared back and flashed her claws.
"You'll wind up killing yourself if you try to fight things out in your state, Wilder," the Sneasel harrumphed. "Not that I care if you wind up biting it after what you did to our friend. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes-"
"Wait."
Lyle felt someone tug the tooth out of his paws, and looked down to see Irune approaching still-panting, her eyes now narrowed into a fierce scowl.
"Before we do anything to him, there's something I need to know," the Axew insisted.
Irune held the tooth out in front of the Chief, who abruptly froze and looked much as if he'd been suddenly caught in a snare. Lyle stumbled forward and shot an incredulous stare after his Axew teammate as his thoughts went straight to his lips.
"Irune, what the hell are you doing-?"
"Didn't he threaten to chew our bones earlier?" she asked. "How was he supposed to do that with teeth like this?"
Irune held up the tooth in her claws, which Lyle went over to inspect and instantly noticed that it looked worn and ground down. He looked at the tooth and then back at Dalton. The Strong Jaw Pokémon had done a number on him, but even so, something was off. Rankar had bit down on the entire upper half of his body and shook him around like a rag doll, but only a few spots of the Heliolisk's hide were broken.
The Tyrantrum's mood had become clearly unnerved, too. Much more so than what a couple broken teeth ought to have done with the way he was looking back wide-eyed, still gasping for air.
"S-So I engage in a little bluster," the Rock-type stammered back. "You've made your point, now give it back-! Agh!"
A frigid wind hit the Tyrantrum in the face and made the lumbering dinosaur recoil with a pained yelp. Lyle looked to his right and saw Kate approaching with the lingering remains of an Icy Wind leaving her mouth. The Sneasel's fur stood on edge and she breathed in livid, hissing breaths as she flashed her claws back at the ailing Tyrantrum.
"A little bluster?! You just tried to kill us!" Kate cried. "I oughta cut your throat right here and now, you gottverdammten Vow-Breaker!"
Lyle hurriedly grabbed onto Kate as she tried to break free. She'd thrown one of the most serious charges a Civil could throw at a Wilder, or that a Wilder could throw at a Civil. That they'd broken the Vow that kept them from taking each others' lives and had forfeited its protections.
Lyle didn't know if Kate had ever taken another 'mon's life, but with that look in her eyes, he got the feeling that if she hadn't done so sometime in the past, that she was about to right here and now.
"W-What do you want from me?! Food? T-Take it and leave this place! Just give me that tooth back!"
The Tyrantrum was squirming now, with his tail curled in towards his body and his face contorted into a visible grimace. The dinosaur winced and shrank back visibly cowed, any traces of his earlier aggression now replaced with a frightened, submissive posture. Lyle paused for a moment and hesitated. It was hard to believe this scared-looking geezer was the same 'mon who just a few moments earlier was ready to sink his teeth into him.
No, something had to be wrong here. Vow-Breaker or not, even when Wilders were cowed by defeat, they rarely reacted like this. The Quilava looked about and noted that for a predator's lair, there was a distinct lack of bones lying about, stranger still, it looked like there were a few broken-up chests lying about, with a few stray gummis around them.
Exposure Chests? Even if a Tyrantrum was probably strong enough to open one up, since when did Wilders make a point for searching out gummis?
"I guess you'd better get me in the mood to give it back then," Irune's voice piped up. "You say you're the High Chief of Primordial Woods, so why's this tooth such a big deal to you?"
Lyle turned to see the Axew standing in front of the Tyrantrum with a piercing glare. He thought to cut her off and tell her that a Wilder's business was none of their own and that they should just hurry up and leave after they'd scared the 'mon into backing down. Rankar said nothing back for a long while, before looking away and letting a grudging murmur out from his mouth.
"… It's from my last set. They stopped regrowing three years ago," the Rock-type replied. "They're my pride and joy, and show my strength to the others so that they respect me!"
The Quilava blinked at the Tyrantrum's reply. He supposed that it wasn't unreasonable for a bigger and tougher Pokémon to be prideful of his strength, even many Civils were like that. But 'respect'? Irune seemed to react poorly to the answer, as she pointed accusingly at the ancient Wilder.
"Is that why the other Pokemon were so bitter at you?" Irune demanded. "They don't respect you, they're scared of you! They're literally just waiting for you to die! Why on earth are they even like this?!"
There was a long silence afterwards, the Tyrantrum closing his eyes briefly as he spoke up in a low voice.
"… It's because of the last High Chief of these woods. My brother."
Team Forager's members blinked at the dinosaur's reply. Lyle opened his mouth to press further himself, only for the hulking Rock-type to preempt him by shaking his head and continuing on with a sullen growl.
"That bastard was the last High Chief of Primordial Woods, and ascended by exiling our mother after she grew old and toothless so he could rule in her stead," the Tyrantrum replied. "I overcame him on the surface near the falls and let the waters carry him off. I became the High Chief of this Mystery Dungeon afterwards, thinking that surely things could go back to normal and that surely the others would appreciate what I'd done to avenge my mother who once led them…"
Lyle felt a cold chill run down his back. Those two killed off their own family over who'd become this 'High Chief'? While Lyle supposed that even Civils weren't above such things and knew that Wilders could be vicious in dealing with one another, but… this wasn't normal here, was it?
The Tyrantrum's reaction seemed to indicate otherwise, as he paused and balled up his claws, right as a flash of bitterness came over his face and leaked into his voice.
"But no, everyone wanted that horrid tearthroat as their High Chief instead and tried to push me out almost as soon as I returned!" he growled. "So I made them respect me. With my teeth and claws I fought, and fought until all of Primordial Woods knew me as their leader!"
Lyle felt his stomach knot up in revulsion. So this 'mon was a usurper, and whatever he did to make those other Wilders 'respect' him, he was sure he didn't want to know. Nobody else seemed to be in a good mood after the explanation, least of all Kate; with that hateful look from earlier, she bore her fangs and flashed her claws as ice began to build up on them.
"Wilde Mistkerl₂…" Kate spat. "I've heard enough. We're giving this craphole a new 'High Chief'-!"
"L-Leave him alone!"
A higher-pitched roar abruptly rang out, followed by a yelp from Kate. Lyle whirled around just in time to see a brown blur tackled her from behind.
"Ow! What the-?!"
Lyle lit up and whirled around along with his Sneasel companion to see a Tyrunt clamped down on her tail with his jaws and trying to pull her back. Because of course there'd be more gottverdammten Wilders trying to take bites out of them right about now.
Lyle dropped to all fours and forced struggling fire out of his vents. He readied white-hot cinders in his mouth for a Will-O-Wisp, when something heavy struck him from the side. The Quilava yelped after feeling the tackling blow strike still-raw wounds and stumbled off his feet, looking up just in time to see a second Tyrunt bite down on his belly.
The stoat's eyes shot wide with a pained yelp, and he reflexively blew fire in the other Tyrunt's face. There was a pained screech, as she let go and fell back. Lyle rolled back onto his feet and flared out the fire from his vents, seeing the Tyrunt whimper in pain and cringe from scorched scales on her snout.
He hesitated briefly, as he realized that the Pokémon's blow had been weak even compared to the Wilders from the Monster House. Just how young was she?
A sharp cry from Kate's direction turned his attention back to her where he saw she'd freed herself from her own attacking Tyrunt with a tackle that knocked him loose and launched him back. She hissed and spewed out an Icy Wind for good measure that made the Tyrunt squeal in pain, only to be cut off by a sharp cry.
"W-Wait! Stop it for just a second!" Irune cried.
The Sneasel faltered for a moment, as Lyle watched the two Tyrunt hastily fall back and go over to the elderly Tyrantrum for cover. After a brief moment hiding behind him, the pair trudged out and dug their feet in. In spite of their widened eyes giving away that they were obviously frightened, the pair stubbornly bared their teeth and tried to make themselves look and sound threatening. Irune cast glances between the smaller dinosaurs and then up at their elder, who seemed to take on an expression much like a cornered Rattata's before she spoke up.
"W-Who are these two?" Irune asked. "And why are they defending you like this?"
Rankar forced himself up and hastily stepped in front of the younger Rock-types, crouching to try and shield them. The Tyrantrum paused for a moment, before grudgingly answering the Axew's inquiry.
"They're my grandchildren… and the only heirs I have as High Chief," he said. "My mate, my children, all of them fell to an 'illness' here or an 'accident' there…"
Lyle froze for a moment as the fire from his vents abruptly sputtered and died out he thought back to the ruined Tyrantrum nest in the Pocket. He hadn't paid it much mind at the time, but… had it also belonged to one of these children Rankar spoke of? He looked up as the Tyrantrum shook his head, before the dinosaur leveled his eyes back insistently at the gathered Outlaws.
"Th- That's why you must give that tooth back!" the dinosaur exclaimed. "As long as the Pokemon here remember me for my strength, they won't dare harm them!"
The Quilava looked down at the tooth in his paw and back at Dalton. He ought to have just spit an Ember back in the damn lizard's face for what he did and then throw it into the Distortion for the Mystery Dungeon to spit out on some random floor. And yet something about all of this made him feel deeply uncomfortable.
Probably because if he did, it'd most likely be a couple of kids who'd pay the price for it.
Lyle looked at the Tyrunt hiding behind the elderly Tyrantrum's legs, then up at the exit on the raised ledge. He paused for a moment, before shaking his head with a bitter grunt.
"Hrmph. Even if we did, those teeth wouldn't magically go back in your jaw anyways," Lyle spat. "But if you really care so much about your grandkids, here's my offer: you back down and let us heal up and go, and we don't whig your teeth into the fog on our way out for your 'subjects' to find after the Distortion inevitably spits it up."
Kate blinked and turned back to Lyle, folding her ears back with an incredulous start.
"Huh?!" the Sneasel exclaimed. "We're just gonna-?!"
"Get our noses out of a Wilder's problems and move on. Besides…"
A sharp wince filled the air, the Quilava turning to see Dalton recoiling and pawing at his bad arm after moving it slightly. The Fire-type stared at his teammate briefly, before shaking his head with a low grumble.
"We've got bigger problems to worry about right now."
Rankar yielded to the demands much easier than Lyle expected. He supposed that for everything he could say about the Wilder, he really did care about those grandkids. After gathering up Rankar's other tooth, Team Forager healed themselves under the vine-encrusted ledge below the exit of the Pocket. He and Kate took turns applying berries and seeds, prioritizing Dalton to try and seal his wounds, only to find that the tears and holes in his frill wouldn't fully seal, and his right arm would stubbornly flash in pain whenever it was touched or brushed up against. Lyle hoped that was just some sort of deep bruise that would sort itself out, but with the way it reminded him of past occasions when he'd seen Pokémon get bones broken during jobs that had gone sideways… he wasn't optimistic.
After they started running low on items, the four reluctantly decided to split the rest between themselves, since they couldn't afford another member of their party getting injured like Dalton had. The whole time, they kept watch over Rankar and his grandchildren in shifts to make sure they weren't attempting to ambush them when their backs turned.
Lyle chewed up the last of some Oran pulp and picked up Rankar's teeth from the dirt beside him when his ears faintly heard Rankar's grandchildren worriedly whining. He pinned his ears back and tried to ignore them. Wilders lived by different rules, after all, it wasn't his job to worry about what became of them. It wouldn't be much longer before they were out of this damned hole anyways.
Even so, it was a bit weird how Irune had stayed deathly silent this whole time. As was the way she kept turning her eyes away whenever he or his teammates looked at her.
"Agh!"
Lyle flinched after hearing Dalton sharply wince in pain and turned to see him at the vine-encrusted ledge up to the exit. There at the top, Kate was already waiting while Dalton had grabbed onto the vines with his left arm, with his right one held out stiffly and limply at his side.
Lyle was losing hope that that was just a deep bruise that they weren't able to treat. He traded a look with Kate, when the Sneasel sighed and rummaged around the top, before throwing a vine down at Dalton.
"There's more than one way to get a 'mon up," she sighed. "Here. Grab onto this, Scales. We'll try pulling you up."
Kate threw a vine down at Dalton's feet, leaving the Heliolisk to breathe in and out deeply before latching onto it with his uninjured arm and planting his feet on the wall. Lyle stooped down and let the Heliolisk step onto his shoulders, rearing up with wobbly feet as his Electric-type passenger tried to grab onto the ledge.
"Is this really all because of your grandkids?"
Lyle looked back, where he saw Irune drifting off for Rankar and his grandchildren. The hell was she up to? The High Chief stared blankly at the ground as his grandchildren pawed at him nervously, when the elderly Rock-type's eyes abruptly came alive and he spoke up with a stammering splutter.
"O-Of course it is!" the Tyrantrum insisted. "Why wouldn't I want the next High Chief of these woods to come from my own flesh and blood?!"
"Then why do you keep setting up things to be worse for them when you're gone?"
Lyle felt Dalton's feet and tail leave his shoulders as Kate helped pull him up onto the ledge, but even so, he couldn't help but look at Irune as she stared down the Wilders and dead silence followed her question. The Quilava's attention fell over the Tyrunt. Would it really take until Rankar keeled over for things to get worse for them? After all, once all those other Wilders put two and two together about how the 'mon's teeth weren't growing back…
Irune must've realized it too, since she seemed to have a sense of lingering discomfort as she grew visibly lost in her thoughts.
"I… don't know what to say for what you should do," the Axew murmured. "All I know is that you're just turning the other Pokemon against you, and your grandchildren don't have your strength to defend themselves."
… No, that wasn't their problem. Getting to the Divine Roost in one piece was, as was getting out and getting their wounds more properly treated. Lyle shuffled over and placed a paw on Irune's shoulder, the Axew jolting up briefly and whirling around and looking up into his eyes with a start.
"Irune, we need to get going," the Quilava said. "We need to find someone to patch up Dalton as soon as we can. I'm not sure how well he'll hold up in another Mystery Dungeon like this."
The Axew fell silent and looked away, but otherwise gave no resistance as Lyle led her up to the vine-encrusted wall. After climbing up, they found Kate steadying Dalton as he cradled his injured arm—probably from having brushed it against something on the way up. Lyle bit his lip and shook his head with a low sigh.
"I'll lead us through the fog this time," he insisted. "Someone's going to need to keep close to Dalton in case he loses his grip on the line as we go through, and you're the best 'mon for the job, Kate."
The Sneasel gave no protest to the assignment either, and sidled up behind the Heliolisk as he grabbed onto the guiding string with his left arm, and briefly blinked back a flash of pain. All the while, Lyle passed their guiding string among his teammates, with Irune rounding out the rear. The Axew took a moment to fish her pendant out from under her scarf and pawed at it uneasily murmuring under her breath, seemingly for reassurance.
Lyle began to set off for the foggy cave mouth when he heard a faint "Grandpa, what's wrong?" from behind. The Quilava looked back and saw Rankar looking down at his younger counterparts with a pained grimace. He had no idea how the 'mon would even begin to explain their predicament to those two. Or even if he'd have the heart to.
"… Maybe it's a good thing that I didn't have any ideas. Seems like all I've been doing lately is making things worse for other Pokemon."
Lyle heard Irune's voice briefly and looked back to see her looking at the ground absentmindedly. He turned his attention back to the broken teeth in his paw and hesitated a moment at the mouth of the Distortion as Irune's words lingered in his mind. Making life worse for others was just part of being an Outlaw, but he usually didn't get to see the others who were affected by that. They were always safely out of sight and out of mind. Until they weren't… like right now.
He shook his head and tightened his grasp around them, before whigging them back into the Pocket with a faint clatter.
A deal was a deal, and what on earth would he even do with the damn things? Keep them as a reminder of this gods-forsaken place?
Lyle made his way forward into the mist along with his teammates, all but grateful as the fog made that damned Mystery Dungeon fade from his senses behind him.
He suspected his teammates all felt much the same way.
Author's Notes:
Words and Phrases
1. Was zum Teufel ist das? - "What the hell is that?" lit. "What the devil is that?"
2. Mistkerl - "bastard", in the sense of a term of abuse. lit. "crap fellow/guy"
Teaser Text - Special thanks to TorchicBellow for Translation:
It is said that in the wake of the Great Flash, the gods grew unsettled and wandered our world to try and make sense of the one left behind in its wake. Some are said to drift from region to region and life to life about the lands of this world, while others chose new domains and grew settled in them.
Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in the lands of Varhyde and Edialeigh. Two kingdoms that stand separated by a sea, by cultures, by even the ancient languages that link them to the world-that-was which they elevate and hold dear. Lands which have known only bitter rivalry and enmity since the myth-shrouded ages following the Great Flash.
And yet, these two lands have had their fates and the fates of their kings intertwined with those of a Nameless Dragon from a faraway land. One that shapes those lands and their inhabitants with what it leaves behind in its wake. At once an Aegis that stands ready to comfort and avenge their wounds and an Endbringer that stands ready to pronounce their final judgmentᵃ, with the threshold between these extremes remaining ever-fluctuating as its lives intersect our own time and again in history.
That future date when those fates might once again separate is unknown, and the present arc of history has bent towards those fates growing more and more enmeshed. Some, including kings of these realms, have become convinced that this entwinement will end only when one or the other, Varhyde or Edialeigh, stands supreme over the other.
Given the untold misery that has followed such assumptions, we can only pray that those who read these accounts have the wisdom and foresight to learn from the sins of the past recorded in this book. Along with the ones that go unwritten.
- Excerpt from 'Ein und Allesᵇ - Of Gods from a Land of Black and White'
a. lit. "youngest judgment", with "youngest" used in the sense of "last", "most recent". A term for the same concept as a "Last/Final Judgement" or "Doomsday" in eschatology.
b. Left untranslated for flavor reasons and to function as an echo to terminology from the German franchise localization. In a more faithful translation, this would be "One and All".