Author's Note: I try to not elaborate too much too frequently on absolute beatdown fights, I'd rather spend the energy that goes into a fight both as a writer and for y'all as readers on the tense and close ones.
Special shoutout to Verdauga and HamClad who both marathoned this fic when Chapter 16 came out and left reviews every few chapters semi-live reacting. I wish I had popcorn when I went through them in order and saw the reactions develop. Also the chapter title bit for this is apparently going to be song lyrics the way every chapter of Morbed! starts with a quote about how plans go wrong.
Chapter 17: Under the Cities Lies a Heart Made of Ground
"Artagnan, you gotta watch out for that Disable, bud!" I called out over my shoulder when I heard a frustrated cry come from behind me.
My newly evolved kleavor was dueling with a cofagrigus that was drawing out the fight and frustrating him with its ghostly moves and maneuvering.
I, on the other hand, was very much wasting quite a bit of time going over the script embedding the walls leading down into the center of the ruins.
It was a fascinating script, some type of divergent Pokelantian if I had to guess, which led credence to the idea that Proto-Pokelantian was a kind of origin script that splintered into many scripts, including Classical Pokelantian, and this script here.
Most importantly, this version of the script did not have the Unown influence seen in the Pokelantian, Pokemopolan, Pre-Modern Hoenn, and modern scripts around the rest of the known world. The only other Unown-less script in the world was the touch-based Braille-esque scripts of Hoenn and the Sevii and Orange Islands. Only found in the most ancient and remote of ruins.
Pre-Modern Hoenn…why did that ring a bell? A spike of pain hit my temple and I wavered as my vision swam and I saw an ancient text, a stone pokeball, and a giant claydol.
"The Sacred Fire preserve me, that was a bad one!" I massaged my temple for a minute or two while the pain faded. I wasn't sure what it was about this set of ruins, but they seemed to make the visions come more frequently and more painfully. That was the third flash I had had to memories of seeing other ruins presented throughout the media in my past life. These visions were also far less clear than my full dreams as well, the dreams usually were from a first-person point of view as an observer of the media. These waking flashes, particularly the ones here, were just flashes of images that gave me a migraine.
After the pain cleared I took a few more pictures with my pokegear and stored away the charcoal rubbings I had taken as well, pictures are great but you can't beat the classics in my opinion. They'd convey a sense of the texture of the wall itself.
Turning around I was just in time for Artagnan to finally finish using X-Scissor to finish the cofagrigus off as the Disable ran out.
"Good job! We'll work on upgrading Thief to Night Slash at some point, that will help you against ghosts!" He nodded with a light chuff as I returned him.
The vibrava had continued to follow us, even after we entered the ruins, and she buzzed on over and landed on top of my bag to hitch a ride as I continued forward.
Based on the little I could gain from what I knew of Proto-Pokelantian script it talked about a "Guardian of the Gilded Gateway to the Afterlife" or "Protector of the Golden Gates to the Deadlands" or similar. Really fascinating stuff, though not anything that could help me in discovering a possible peaceful alternative to fighting the golurk in order to get it to join.
Maybe I should come back here some day and catch the volcarona before they get displaced by poachers? I imagined I could really trade for some great pokemon with that, though for some of the rarer 'mons I wanted I had very specific plans for future capture trips like this one.
There was a shiny and possibly Alpha metagross in Sinnoh that I was aware of for example. Then that giant claydol in Hoenn. And maybe I'd grab a pink nidoking to be the Anthony to my Cleopatra.
I wanted to see what including as many of these abnormal genes into breeding lines could do. I already strongly suspected that my fossil pokemon were so genetically distinct they could be considered something close to an underworld regional variant, this was due to both their slightly mottled and different coloring and the fact that data was building up to suggest they perhaps had different abilities.
Grauben, my omastar, was just that little bit too talented with Spike Cannon and Rock Blast for it to be a coincidence or basic talent. I'd get her the TM for Pin Missile after I got back from this trip to test that theory out.
I frowned at my charcoal rubbings as I sealed them away in a document tube and had it disappear into my bag's hammerspace. I was going to need to specialize academically, and soon, it appeared that my past life's career path may need to be avoided so I could go deeper into the two types of evolutionary mechanics in this world. Divergent gradual evolution and triggered instant evolution.
"Alright, return Artagnan," I said, bringing my kleavor back into his Safari Ball.
It was time to play David to a Goliath.
The giant…puzzle orb for the lack of a better term in the middle of the large circular antechamber made of grey stone certainly stood in stark contrast to the rest of the ruin complex.
"A different stone…that's odd. A later addition? Something different about the requirements they had for the stone's quality? Hardness and fortitude perhaps?"
I slowly combed the chamber looking for more and more clues that might expose the secrets.
There were more murals and inscriptions that I noted down but once again, not anything that would help me calm the pokemon inside the puzzle ball.
With a sigh, I released most of my team, barring Hannibal, who would have only barely enough room to maneuver around the ceiling so I decided to hold him back unless he was absolutely needed as an ace.
I scanned over Cleo, Artagnan, Alberich, Estella, and Brinker.
"Alright, gang. We've got a major battle coming up here. Our foe at minimum knows Hammer Arm and Heavy Slam and likely also Shadow Punch. We will prioritize ice and dark-type moves. Set up and I will open the containment. He'll be big so start at a distance, I'll book it to the back corner as soon as I trigger the sequence," I pointed at the vibrava, "You stay back there while I'll be heading over to, okay?" She buzzed an affirmative, "Good girl!"
With that I walked over as my team set up Stealth Rocks and Mist. Perhaps I should have Cleo pick up Toxic Spikes and someone else Spikes so that I had three entry hazard options? It was an idea. Perhaps if he couldn't pull off too many additional techniques I could have Alberich replace Rocks with Spikes now that Artagnan could set them up with Stone Axe? It was a thought.
A thought I had while I casually completed the puzzle in the center of the room. As soon as the final ring began to shift into place I took off towards the back corner I had indicated earlier, where the helpful vibrava was fluttering, seemingly a bit anxious.
A blinding light emitted from the stone orb as the rings unlocked and released the guardian of the ruins from within.
"GO! LURK!"
And he woke up cranky. A wave of mental pressure seemingly filled the chamber, causing my lungs to stutter in a mistimed breath. I wasn't sure if it was the strength of the pokemon or the strength of the enchantment that had held it and connected to it as a guardian for the ruins, but I was definitely in for just as difficult of a fight as I had imagined.
The massive golem wasted no time in throwing a brutal Hammer Arm straight at the first pokemon he saw, Cleo. She threw up a casual Protect and ended up being very surprised when she was sent rolling back in the protective sphere a dozen meters, over halfway to the wall of the area.
That's when Brinker blitzed in out of his Mist along with many shards of Stealth Rocks, "Ogo!" the targeted pokemon grunted as the rocks along with a Rollout slammed into his side.
A backhand however sent Brinker pinballing into the distance, I wasn't worried about him though, he'd bounce back. Quite literally.
A shaking of Bulldoze staggered the golem and stopped it from following up, Alberich knew his main purpose here, redirection and distraction. His normal finisher of a Take Down wouldn't work, so he had to be ranged artillery support.
Estella and Artagnan had both built up to maximum stacks of Swords Dance and both leapt in out of the mist with their respective best attacks for the situation. Bone Club for Estella and X-Scissor for Artagnan, we had yet to properly upgrade Thief to Night Slash to reflect his ability moving from Technician to Sharpness.
They executed the moves in a perfect pincer movement and I cheered them on. Most trainers didn't train their teams in small group or mass battle tactics any larger than double battles. Rangers were the one major exception, usually training their teams to work in triplicate with each other. This was more than even that. I had had my team doing raid tactics for years now. Which was admittedly another reason I had held Hannibal back, he hadn't had much of that training at all yet.
The hit and run and distraction tactics worked very well for the first few minutes of the fight and the "boss" as I was labeling him began to flag slightly. He was spreading his energy around too much chasing too many targets.
Unfortunately it seemed that the golurk had a "rage button" so to speak. With a mighty cry it raised up a foot after Brinker skated away from another Hammer Arm and slammed the foot down into the ground sending out brutal fissures and up spikes of rock with the strongest Stomping Tantrum I had ever seen in my life.
The floor was shattered, my pokemon team sent flying opposing directions, the dust bonded with the water particles of the mist causing muddy rain to fall for a moment, and even a few slabs from the ceiling fell down.
And its optical sensors locked onto me and turned red. "Oh shit!" I called, and when I tried to move I found I was locked in place, that same pressure from before becoming almost physical.
"No, no, no! Move, damnit!" I'd known legendary and mythical pokemon were real. I had known Ash was a character. That meant so many other things were real, too. Why not some of the weird ephemeral magics that supplemented these pokemon from ancient history in so many stories?
And I had no seeming defense against it. I should have looked into aura more. Maybe I could have pulled something off? I was trash with psychic powers, but maybe I could have made something else work?
Then, as the charged Flash Cannon lanced at me with silvery light, I heard a cry next to me.
"Vi! Va!" And the little vibrava that had been following us shot towards the light, the green ripples of Bug Buzz surrounding her.
The two moves hit, and there was a blinding light and explosion.
As the smoke and light cleared I discovered it hadn't just been from the attacks.
"FLY! GON!"
Maybe there was some kind of deity looking out for me?
Because the little vibrava, not even officially part of my team, had evolved to protect me.
The lavender-blue flames of a Dragonbreath shot out from the smoke before it fully cleared enough for the golurk to see that its attack had not reached its intended target.
Lady Luck continued to favor us as after the flames died down the golem was having visible difficulty moving, it had been paralyzed.
"Loose!" I called, jolting my team out of their shock, and a round of ranged attacks shot out. Ice Beam, Rock Throw, Vacuum Wave, Bonemerang, and Powder Snow all hit and the raid boss fell to one knee.
Now it was my turn, I palmed a Heavy Ball and clicked the button to bring it back to size, "You're mine!" I called out to the golurk as I sent it spinning with a momentous toss right at the center of the golurk's chest.
Red light covered the ghost-type and when the ball hit the ground it only rocked once before quieting down and disappearing back to storage in a flash.
I fell flat on my ass, "Whew! That was something!"
The flygon hovered over to me and fretted, checking that I was okay.
I held up a Friend Ball, the green matching her scales, "Do you want to join the team, girl? I think I'd like to call you Shahrazad. After the bravest woman of the desert."
She cooed happily and tapped the button.
Post-Desert Resort Team with New Acquisitions:
On Hand for Trip:
Nidoqueen- Cleo
Marowak- Estella
Kleavor- Artagnan
Rhyhorn- Alberich
Alolan Sandshrew- Brinker
Aerodactyl- Hannibal
On Ranch:
Team Members:
Quagsire- Huckleberry
Piloswine- Alexei
Galarian Meowth- Rum Tum
Kabutops- Axel
Omastar- Grauben
Flygon- Shahrazad* Note- this is the spelling of Sheherazade from Ibn al-Nadim's 8th century history of Baghdad and surrounding Arab controlled locations.
Golurk- ?
In-Training or for Trade:
Pawniard Egg
Sandile
Crustle
Kabuto x10
Omanyte x7
Scyther x5