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Episode 39: The Black Fog Strikes
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Beneath a crescent moon, atop the great mountain known as Mount Moon, thousands of Nidorino, Golbat, Graveler, Parasect, Clefairy, Onix, and Sandslash waged war against the invading Team Rocket. The Rockets had brought as much of their forces as they could, yet the defenders steadily pushed them back.
"Never-Ending Nightmare." Thousands of Pokemon shuddered as the earth shifted to a purple so deep it bordered on black. Leaves and flowers withered, and stones crumbled before countless claws clutched the defenders of Mount Moon. Unable to move, unable to even scream, the defenders could only wait as the claws enveloped them. A second later, and the purple hue engulfing the earth faded.
Thousands of Pokemon fell to the earth. Their corpses were unharmed; even the finest Pokemon Nurse would be unable to find a cause of death. But a Pokemon would know, they would know the victims' souls had been stolen. They were dead before they fell.
The Black Fog observed her work. As expected, the stronger willed Pokemon's souls couldn't be stolen. The survivors of her attack numbered less than two-hundred by her estimate. Indigo allowed her subordinates to grow soft in peace. Even the survivors seem to have lost their will to resume battle. The Rockets were pushing them back easily now. "Silver."
"Yes?" Silver responded from atop his Scyther. The Fog was pleased to see the bead of sweat trailing down his forehead was the only sign of his anxiety. Impressive. Even if he's been exposed to my energy so often. A horde of ghosts levitated behind Silver with expressions of glee.
Furious roars filled the night. A Nidoking and Nidoqueen, four large Golbat led by a Crobat, a stout Golem, and three giant Parasect entered the fray from a tunnel on the mountain. The defenders howled when they saw the Nidoqueen and her king charge over hapless Rockets and their Pokemon. A moment later, a Steelix exploded from the earth and joined the battle. The Fog frowned. "My horde of ghosts will follow your instructions. Help Luke and Charmaine lead the fight against Indigo's lieutenants. I shall complete the mission alone."
"Understood."
"I leave this to you," the Fog said. She dove into the earth, passing through dirt and stone that had been reinforced by a might Rock Pokemon easily. She dove hundreds of feet before she came upon a cavern. This is the place.
Twelve-thousand years ago, Mount Moon was built by the Onix King for two purposes. The first purpose was to serve as a home for the defenders of the sacred Moon Stone. The mountain's tunnels were constructed in a manner that allowed the defenders to rush wherever they were needed and helped them monitor intruders.
The second purpose was one far more personal to the Onix King. Deep in the earth beneath Mount Moon, was the grave of the Onix King's adoptive mother. His mother was a Pokemon acknowledged as a hero by humans and Pokemon alike. She was not merely the first Pokemon to have partnered with a human. She was the mightiest being to have walked the earth since her birth. She was the Pokemon known as the Great One.
The cavern was enormous enough to fit a human town inside. At the center of the cavern, there was a small pyramid made of white boulders. In one claw, the Fog held an orb of purple fire, she pointed her other claw at the pyramid and called upon her telekinesis to pull the pyramid apart. A stone at the top of the pyramid twitched, but the rest of the structure didn't move an inch.
The Fog frowned. Prehnite visits Mount Moon every year. He probably reinforces these boulders every year. I would wager the ground beneath it can't be tunneled through by ground or rock Pokemon easily either. That's what's expected of the Onix King. She reached toward the pyramid again. Slowly, the stones lifted into the air and floated.
A gust of wind surged through the cavern, dislodging enough dust to conceal the corpse the pyramid had concealed. The Fog waited in silence for the dust to settle. The energy of a powerful steel and rock Pokemon filled the air with a pressure that would've made it difficult for weak Pokemon to breathe.
What greeted her eyes was as magnificent as she had imagined. The corpse has not decayed. Even after twelve millennia. The Great One stood over nine-feet, and her shoulders were broader than three men standing side by side. Her body was armored in thick steel plates except for her tail, claws, and the spikes on her arms. She had three horns, two protruding from the plate that protected the back of her neck, and another pointing up from the tip of her snout. She has no flesh, only steel and stone.
The Great One was an Aggron. She must have been one of the last of her kind to have been born in Kanto. Before the Great One was a boulder with a name inscribed. "Magna," the Fog murmured with reverence as she floated toward the corpse. "Magna the Peerless."
A faint rumble brought her out of her musings. As expected, Indigo is putting up quite the fight. Even three millennia after her partner's death, the Moon Goddess was not to be trifled with.
Shutting her eyes, she pointed her claw at the earth near Magna. The earth cracked before three shards of steel rose into her waiting claw. The rush of power that assaulted her mind would have brought many Pokemon to their knees. It'll take time to wrench the steel plate free.
How long are these children going to be silent? She frowned. "I hope you don't believe you can hide yourselves from me so easily." There was a moment of silence before she heard the chuff of a Piloswine.
The air five yards to her left shimmered, then seemed to collapse in on itself. Two Mismagius and a Ninetales stood behind a massive Piloswine. Odd. He's grown larger since Lavender Town. He's the age when boar Piloswine can breed, perhaps that's why? "Tundra," she greeted with a nod. The Piloswine chuffed back.
They stood in silence for a time before she turned back to the Great One. "Not all Transcendents - or Legendaries as the humans call us - are equal," the Fog murmured. "Tell me, do you know who the strongest Pokemon alive are?"
Tundra stared at her warily. The paranoia of Piloswine. The Fog hummed. "The Gyarados, Wave, and the Great Khangaskhan, Aoife." Tundra stiffened. "Yes… she was the Conqueror's partner. The Titan could challenge them, as could Palkia or Dialga, but even they would be defeated. Now that I think on it, Aoife has weakened somewhat in the last fifty years." She paused. A sliver of iron peaked through the earth. Almost. "Yet, even they pale before the Great One."
Tundra grunted impatiently. At another time, she might've smiled. "In the past twelve-thousand years, two Pokemon have surpassed Transcendence to become a Calamity. Only the Great One and the alien dragon Eternatus." The steel plate was nearly three inches out of the ground now. "Calamities… have the power to destroy all life in the world with their mere presence, unless they suppress their power. A rock-type Calamity's presence would call meteorites to Earth, a ground-type would make the continents grow until they absorb the seas, and a water-type would submerge all lands. "
"This is only a theory of mine, but I suspect they were not bound by the type advantages and disadvantages all other Pokemon have. How else could Groudon and Kyogre be in an eternal stalemate if Kyogre had a type advantage?" she said quietly. Tundra blinked, looking dumbfounded. The Fog sighed. The iron plate emerged and floated before her at last. Its bottom half was made of stone. Fitting, given the Great One, is a steel and rock type. "And finally, these plates form around Calamities." The Black Fog turned and pointed at the ceiling. Tundra and the Mismagius tensed while Ninetales narrowed her eyes. A black beam flew from the Fog's claw and smashed its way to the surface. I can't phase through the earth with this plate.
She gestured at Tundra and his associates before flying to the surface. Tundra and the others arrived a fraction of a second behind her. They landed, glaring at her. The Fog's scarlet eyes lit up with mischief. "Didn't you enjoy flying?" She chuckled and tossed the Iron and Stone Plate to Tundra. The Piloswine caught it and grunted in confusion. "Take that Pryce and your grandfather. They're somewhere around here, yes?" In case I try to run off with this plate.
Tundra snorted and charged down the mountain with Mismagius and Ninetales at his heels. If Proton and Luke are planning to summon and control Guzzlord, then it'd be best to create stronger Genesect this time around. And Proton meets to complete the Mewtwo Project too, I should-"
Instincts screaming a warning, the Fog spun around a silver beam that would have skewered her. She grinned as a tiny Clefable with glaring indigo eyes appeared as if out of thin air before the Fog. She shrank herself with Minimize to hide her presence and shot at my back. Quite cold for a cute little fairy. "Hello, Indigo. I'm impressed you defeated Proton already."
Indigo scowled. "You have no right to call me by the name my partner gave me!" Indigo's pink fur had patches of blood here and there, small wounds that she had healed already. A silver aura flared from her skin. The moon shone brighter.
The Fog chuckled. "Still so cold. Don't you want to talk at all? It's been decades since we last met, and there is much to speak of. As I'm sure you know, Wave the Destroyer and Aoife the Undefeated are nearing the end of their lifespans."
Indigo's glare sharpened. "And you hope to fill the void they'll leave behind."
"Perhaps." The Fog offered a bloodthirsty grin as a purple energy oozed from her skin. "Either way, a time of great strife is upon us." They stared at one another for a moment, then a gust of wind blew, and they darted forward.
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As always, please share your thoughts.
Author's Note:
The next chapter will be about Ash and the team. I've missed writing them.
The Fog is a very fun, yet difficult character to write. There are so many sides to her; it can be hard to portray her right.
I'm sure many of you guessed Ash's purple-eyed Clefable associate was the Moon Goddess too, and that Prehnite was the Onix King Ash met in chapter 1. Indigo isn't an imaginative name, but I'm fond of it. The Indigo League being named after an ancient Clefable sounded cool to me. Prehnite is a name I like. Prehnite, the Onix King, sounds fitting.
I was thinking it would make sense for a Legendary/Transcendent to be decisively above a Pokemon Master's team while still having a tough fight. Maybe a strong Champion could take them, but that's still a maybe. I think that's a good balance between Legendaries in the Pokemon show and the unstoppable gods they're sometimes shown to be in some of the movies. What do you think?
Aaaand, I feel like many of you already knew the Great Kangaskhan was the First Champion's partner.
Something I didn't explain properly before is that the name Aoife is given to the strongest Khangaskhan near Fuschia for generations. The Khangaskhan around Fuschia aren't Aoife's descendants, they're descendants of her adopted daughter.
I hope I get to introduce Aoife the Undefeated in the story. She's one of my favorite Transcendent/Legendary Pokemon personality-wise.
Magna the Aggron, or as Ash knows her, the Great One was a character I planned from the beginning. As the story developed, she went from being equal to Wave to on par with the ultimate Pokemon, but she was always the first tamed Pokemon.