"Death Fog!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Plouton went on the attack, spraying a jet of dark purple gas toward the trapped Aipom. Phoebe panicked, weighing her options between the bomb under her feet and the deadly, toxic cloud propelling toward her. She reached for her wind cleaver, but feared it wouldn't be enough to dispel the gas.

"Sandstorm!"

Fortunately, Amos leapt to her rescue, blanketing the area in an intense sandstorm that parted and dispersed the disintegrating fog high above. He opened his pincer gun and took aim.

"Sandstorm Rapid Fire!" He unleashed a barrage of sand bullets through the storm, taking flight on the currents to throw off Plouton's aim.

The Skuntank braced himself, growling as the bullets burst against his dense hide. He snapped his eyes open, which stung against the sand blowing in his face, and parted the tip of his tail. "Phosphorus Cannon!"

Amos glared. Shit, I remember that one!

Plouton's tail swelled with light, then fired a beam of concentrated heat through the sky. Amos blasted himself away on a jet of sand, narrowly avoiding the incinerating beam. His skin burned from the close proximity, but he pushed through and dove onto Plouton.

"DIE!" He unsheathed his pincer blade and slashed into Plouton's back. To his annoyance, the blade didn't cut all the way through his thick hide, but blood was still drawn. The Guillotine infused within the blade once again proved its worth. "Take THIS!"

However, before he could butcher the skunk's back, Plouton's hairs spiked up, emitting a parade of sparks that shined like stars in the night. "Black Coat!"

Amos gasped and kicked off into the air before a surface-level explosion released from Plouton. He shielded himself against the incendiary blast wave, flying through the air before crashing down on his back.

Plouton stepped out of the smoke, unharmed by his own explosion. He dusted himself off and grinned. "My body has been outfitted with the most unstable concoctions imaginable. Arcania was weak, unwilling to push the boundaries of self-induced alchemy. I am the pinnacle of self-experimentation!"

Amos stood up and dusted himself off. "Have you looked in a mirror lately? I'd say it's done a number on you."

Plouton wiped the drool constantly pouring through his teeth and laughed. "My body serves to push the boundaries of science. It's a worthwhile risk, and I'm far from unleashing the full might of my arsenal!" He grinned back at the trapped Aipom. "But I'm curious how far you can push yourself."

Amos' eyes widened. "Shit!"

"Death Fog!" He turned and fired the disintegrating gas at Phoebe.

"Shit, shit, shit!" she screamed, firing off wind slashes to keep the gas at bay.

"Phoebe!" Amos lunged for her, but Plouton spun back around and fired a beam of gas into the Gligar, blasting him away.

"Noxious Fog!"

Amos bounced across the ground covered in irritable fumes. His skin felt inflamed, much like what Frank endured when he was exposed to it. He lifted his eyes and watched Phoebe fend off the towering cloud of death encroaching on her.

He didn't fire Death Fog at me instead. It must have a slower deployment speed. Noxious Fog can be fired much faster, but it only causes surface-level burns. Good. At least we can avoid the worst of it.

Plouton noticed Amos' analytical expression and smirked. "Ah, now there's the eyes of someone with a cunning mind. Trying to come up with countermeasures? Well, you'll have to try harder. You may be able to get around the landmines, but I'm not beyond adapting."

He lifted his friend, making a horrible gargling noise within his throat. His skin bulged and shifted as if his insides were being rearranged. His throat swelled, worsening the awful sounds, and then he clenched his teeth and exhaled. Slimy green bubbles blew through the gaps in his teeth, each one carrying a pocket of purple gas inside.

"Experiment 25."

Amos watched the bubbles float along the air cautiously as their numbers filled the battlefield. He watched as they floated along the sand until one burst from the particles. It spewed the trapped gas into the air, which quickly faded within the sand.

Before Amos could discern the effects, it answered with a raging explosion across the sandstorm. The currents carried the volatile mixture through, spreading thin its destructive might from multiple directions, including from behind the storm's caster. Amos screeched in pain, feeling the heat of the blast across his back.

"S-Stop!" he roared, causing the Sandstorm to lift before any more bubbles could burst.

Plouton laughed through his slime-covered teeth. "You like it? It's a special concoction that's highly explosive when it touches the air. How fortunate you dispersed the gas before the reaction took effect, otherwise the concentrated mass would've torn off your other claw."

Amos gritted his teeth, struggling to his feet. "B-Bastard…"

Plouton's smirk grew. "Can't use that sensory technique of yours without risking one of these going off. Landmines, and now airmines. What an unfortunate place to be for one of ground and air, you wretched Gligar—"

BANG!

"AGH!" Plouton grabbed the back of his head, wincing as a compressed bullet flaked off his skin. He glared back, watching his fog disperse around Phoebe, who reloaded her rifle.

"Hey asshole, I'm the one who talks shit around here!" she snapped. "Quit with the fucking monologues and die already!"

Plouton scowled. "Oh, I'm going to have fun watching you scream. Phosphorus Cannon!" He turned and started gathering energy inside his tail. "Let's see you try and dodge this!"

Phoebe reached for her wind cleaver, praying she could summon up a move that could split or even match the attack's power. However, she saw Amos picking himself up and loading a bullet into his pincer, giving her a subtle wink. She glared, then spread her arms out as if waiting for Plouton's attack.

Plouton smirked. "Accepting death already? Wonderful!" He hardened his stance and steadied his aim. "Now, fire—"

Right before the attack let loose, Amos fired his own bullet ahead of him, clipping Phoebe in the side. As Plouton's attack fired, the energy from Amos' bullet took effect, causing Phoebe to teleported off the landmine. The laser met the towering explosion, both mighty forces clashing and cancelling each other out.

Plouton's eyes widened. "Huh—"

"DEATH FROM ABOVE!" Phoebe reappeared in the air and came down on Plouton, driving her heated dagger into his nape.

"GAAAAAHHH!" Plouton screamed.

Phoebe kept hammering down on the butt of her dagger, pushing harder and harder against his dense skin. "I wonder what happens when I set off all those potions swimming in your body!"

Plouton snarled. "A teleportation bullet? Clever, but don't get cocky! Black Coat!"

Phoebe yelped and leapt off his back before the skunk released a massive blast over the earth. She landed, her heels skidding against the sand, and stopped beside Amos before falling to her knees and gripping her wounded side.

Plouton stepped out of the smoke and scowled. "This is my domain, fools. Don't you forget!" He split his tail open and released sickly purple goo from it. "Incendiary Slime!"

Amos and Phoebe leapt back, globs of poison raining down over them. The globs came down in greater numbers, inevitably splashing upon the duo in their haste. Plouton shut his tail, shifted his insides around again, and reopened his tail.

"Combusting Breath!" He fired out a jet of fiery smoke from his tail.

Amos and Phoebe split up, dodging the attack and attempting to evade the skunk's sweeping motions. However, in his haste, Amos missed a landmine in his path. The moment he stepped on it, he quickly deployed Sandstorm and blasted himself as fast into the sky as possible before it went off. He narrowly avoided the worst of the explosion, but the embers that followed licked the goo coating his body, setting it ablaze.

"AAAHHH!" he screamed. He tried to pat the flames out, but ended up running into one of the mobile bubbles and popping it. He diverted the flammable gas with his sand before it went off, blasting his back in a wave of fire. "AAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Phoebe watched the Gligar careen out of the sky in horror. "Lamecaster!"

Plouton grinned. "My science is unbeatable! Fools!"

Caractacus watched the battle from a safe distance, periodically taking his eyes off his impromptu operation with Magni. Though relatively safe thanks to Negative Space, he had to constantly keep an eye on what Plouton was doing, multitasking between the surgery and making calculations in his head to account for the gases filling the air.

Negative Space was a nearly perfect defense that kept out anything Caractacus deemed unsafe, though that meant he also had to account for things like air as that can also be filtered out if he so wished. If he didn't know what Plouton was pumping into the air, he could realistically suffocate on something toxic.

Too many unknowns and variables for his liking.

He finished cobbling together a rudimentary metal leg. After making doubly sure Magni's wound was disinfected, he nodded at the Scolipede and said, "Brace yourself, big guy. This is going to hurt a lot." Without delay, he jabbed the prosthetic into Magni.

The megapede bit down on the block of wood in his mouth, roaring in pain as he felt the screws digging into his flesh. The prosthetic, thanks to Caractacus' Neutral Influence, compelled itself to clamp down and attach to Magni with little chance of it coming undone. Magni tried his best to remain still, keeping himself from thrashing about.

Once the prosthetic was securely fastened, Caractacus let go, causing Magni to go limp. He raced over to the Scolipede and shook him. "Magni! Magni! Hey, wake up, big guy!"

A combination of his accumulating injuries and the fatigue he suffered to get this far finally took their toll. The megapede lay still on the ground, breathing heavily with his face occasionally twitching from the pain. Caractacus grimaced, realizing they won't be relying on their heavy hitter for this fight.

"This is bad…" He looked over at Alpha, who floated attentively at the half-metal Boltund's side. "Alpha, help me cobble together some inventions. We can't sit here and wait." The cube's sensor blinked with understanding, and the two raced for the junk pile.

As they frantically dug through the scrap, Magni cracked one eye open, wearily watching the battle unfold. He tried to will himself to stand, but his body didn't have anything to give. He was paralyzed, trapped within his own flesh with no means of escaping and only able to watch helplessly.

Only able to watch his family fight for their lives.

Family…

Summer Moon, 907 – Undergrounds of Subterra

"NO! STOP! AGH—"

The intruding Outlanders met a swift end entering the secret tunnels of the Subterra Kingdom. Doomed to face the primitive kingdom, they instead came across the outcasts of their world. Monsters who feed upon the flesh of others, satiating their taste for blood.

They were the Savage Kin.

Limbs were torn off. Necks were ripped to shreds with razor sharp fangs. Bodies were pulverized under the stampede of howling monsters. Escape was futile. Desperately, the Outlanders tried to reach the exit, but were swiftly overtaken by the monsters whose reigned supreme in the dark.

Only one managed to escape the carnage, leaving behind a feast for the monsters.

A plethora of carnivorous Pokémon stepped out from the shadows and feasted upon the bodies of their prey. Among them was Magni, a Scolipede far greater in size to his species, who dug into the flesh of a still-breathing Forrestress, easily melting through their metal hide to get to the organs.

"{Outsiders are getting bolder.}" Magni ceased his meal and looked up at his fellow savage, a scarred Tyranitar. "{They're finding the secret tunnels and attacking our own. Could be problematic.}"

Magni lifted his head, blood dripping off his chin. "{It shouldn't be our problem. The king exiled the Savage Kin from the Underworld. What does it matter if we let these surface dwellers through? An easy meal for our stomachs, but our betrayers don't deserve mercy.}"

Tyranitar shook his head. "{The pack doesn't betray its own, and I still hold the king in high regards. Even if the other Savage Kin take to controlling their bloodlust, this is the way we aid. We kill those who wish harm.}"

Magni glared. "{How do you tell the difference?}"

"{Monsters, they consider us. You get a sense for their truths. Their appetites. Their own bloodlust. Malicious intention. It's something you pick up on with time.}"

"…" Magni glanced at the hole in the ceiling. "{The outside is scary.}"

"{I agree. Unwelcoming to those like us.}" Tyranitar shook his head. "{Unwilling to accept the likes of us, but that is the changing of society.}"

"{Why do our brothers and sisters suppress their urges?}" Magni asked. "{What is to gain?}"

Tyranitar smirked. "{Perhaps hope that both our worlds can live as one.}"

Magni scoffed. "{Foolish.}"

"{Hope is found in many places, Magni. Our worlds are far apart. Not out of reach.}"

Magni rolled his eyes and returned to feasting on the Forretress at his feet. He found it all absurd. The Subterra Kingdom has been at war with the surface for was long as he could remember. No one would look upon them as equals. It wasn't in the surface world's nature. To them, the underground was a place where monsters festered. There was no good will or fortune to be found.

What good was the surface to them?

"{This…This might be problem.}"

Magni lumbered through the tunnels when he overheard a commotion from his pack. He followed their voices before finding them huddled together within a spacious cavern. Upon entering, he recoiled at a foul stench in the air, one that reeked worse than the most rotten of corpses.

"{No! Do not taste its flesh!}" one of the Pokémon scolded.

Magni walked closer, easily towering over his back, and saw the meeting was being led by a Mabosstiff with ragged, bloodstained fur. However, what Magni saw that had gathered such an audience nearly made his heart leap out his throat.

A corpse did indeed make up the foul aroma wafting through the cavern, but its appearance was a disgusting, twisted visage of nature. Foul, pink lumps swelled across the left side of the corpse in a tight cluster, twitching and pulsating periodically with pus leaking from a couple. Fur had fallen off the body, revealing sickly green patches of infected skin. The creature was undoubtably a Zweilous, for it had a second neck that carried a grosser amalgamation of lumps. The other's tongue ballooned to such astronomical proportions that it threatened to explode at the slightest prodding.

Magni clenched his teeth. "{What insidious plague is this? I have never seen anything like this before.}"

Mabosstiff nodded solemnly. "{Indeed. Unnatural, this is. This is no natural plague. This is something sinister—}" He paused to slap the Vikavolt snapping its mandibles near the infected corpse. "{Control yourself! Do you wish to spread the disease further?!}"

Vikavolt winced. "{S-Sorry!}"

Mabosstiff groaned before continuing, "{Unnatural forces are at work here. This must be a trick of the surface world. Their magicians! No doubt.}"

Magni leaned down and sniffed the corpse. "{This is not the usual work of the magicians, though. Was this anyone we knew? They wouldn't send one of their own like this, and they are too weak-willed to carry out such terror.}"

Mabosstiff scratched his chin. "{Hmm, indeed. I am hasty in my judgment, but this is a magician's doing without question. Not of territory, though. Rogue, perhaps.}"

"{Why would they send this to us?}" a Heracross asked. "{Is it a declaration of war? A taunt?}"

"{Could be work of evil surface dwellers who attacked us a few days ago,}" a Bastiodon pointed out.

Mabosstiff nodded. "{Yes. All very true.}" He hummed in thought before growling. "{Too many questions. Double—no, triple our patrol routes throughout the tunnels. Must not let this get by again.}"

"{What of the corpse?}" Magni asked.

"{Burn it. Fire cleanses the sickness. Must not let it spread. Find running lava. Dispose corpse into there and make sure it is completely destroyed. Leave nothing to chance.}"

The savages nodded and got to work carefully moving the body through the tunnel. Magni watched, his eyes wandering down the tunnel with suspicion. Who was attempting to antagonize them? And who was callous enough to perform such dark rituals upon the living?

In a matter of minutes, the battlefield became a toxic minefield of flame. As Amos and Phoebe attempted to evade Plouton's tricks, more of his unorthodox techniques went off around them, making nowhere safe to attack.

"Experiment 25." Plouton exhaled another cluster of bubbles into the air before walking across the ash-covered earth, eyes scanning through the smoke. "A mere sample of my capabilities. Like a chef preparing the most exquisite meals, I have perfected my science to defy all!"

Amos and Phoebe stumbled back on their heels, panting as they barely kept themselves standing. The bubbles continued to float in their direction, and their backs were up against a wall of raging flames. Toxic mist flooded the air, burning their throats with every breath.

Plouton smirked. "Now, suffer a thousand deaths. Death Fog!" He split his tail open and fired the disintegrating gas at them.

Amos growled. "Screw it. Sandstorm!" He swiped his pincer, commanding a whirlwind of sand to scatter the fog. In doing so, he rustled the bubbles, causing them to pop in droves, spreading the reactive gas into the air. "Burkhard, take cover!"

He and Phoebe leapt back into the flames with the protection of Sandstorm as the air ignited in front of them. They screamed, flying across the sand as the goo coating their bodies ignited, setting them ablaze. They tried to roll through the sand and extinguish it, but it continued burning brighter as it spread along the ground.

Plouton laughed. "You think that's enough to extinguish the flames? Pitiful!" He split his tail open again. "How about something hotter? Phosphorous Cannon!"

Phoebe peered out through the cloak of flame, glowering at the skunk. "Screw…you!" She gripped her wind cleaver. "Maelstrom Cleave—" She activated Metronome and fired a wind slash composed of white-hot stardust. "Last Resort!"

The attack connected, slashing across Plouton's body and causing him to flip. His Phosphorous Cannon misfired, firing into the sky instead as he flopped onto his back.

"Maelstrom Cleave: Gunk Shot!" She fired off a sludgy wind slash right as Plouton stood up, plastering his face in a harmless, but viscous sludge.

"Agh!" Plouton scratched at his face. "What's that supposed to accomplish?"

"Sandstorm!" Amos amped up the flow of the storm, concentrating it on himself and Phoebe until the flames were either funneled out or extinguished by the high winds. He gasped in relief, collapsing to his knees as smoke rose off his scorched skin.

Phoebe, ignoring her burns, sprinted on all fours, howling with her fangs bared. "Maelstrom Cleave—" She gathered Metronome into her wind cleave, then smirked. "Oh, that one's a lucky draw!"

Plouton wiped the last of the sludge off his face just as Phoebe reached him, seizing him by the collar. She reared back her broken blade as a vicious whirlwind of sand surrounded it, melding with the lingering sand of Amos' Sandstorm.

"Weather Ball!"

Swinging her tail like a flail, she spun on her hands and delivered an underhanded slash carrying a crescent trail of golden sand, blasting Plouton into the air. The Skuntank vomited toxins, feeling the thin cut across his torso that oozed with blood and mixed potions.

Amos pulled himself together, spotted the airborne skunk, and quickly loaded his pincer gun. "Boost!" He slapped his tail down, launching himself on a jet of sand. He caught up with Plouton and clamped his face within his metal pincer. "Fiery Rupture Bullet!" Fire spewed from within his pincer as he used his sand to blast himself and Plouton back toward the ground.

He hammered Plouton's head into the ground before releasing the bullet, causing the ground to blacken and swell with cracks of intense heat. He retreated just as the ground ruptured into a fiery explosion, incinerating the skunk within the epicenter.

"Maelstrom Cleave!" Phoebe slashed at the flames, protecting herself from the blast wave and sending back another portion of damage on top of Plouton. "Wither to dust, you useless—"

A shape lunged out of the flames, eyes gleaming in murderous red. Phoebe recoiled as it tackled her, sinking its fangs into her neck.

"GAAAAAH!"

"Alchemical…Armor," the shape growled as its skin chipped away, revealing Plouton underneath. He dug his fangs deeper into her neck. "I managed to coat myself in a quick-hardening poison to reduce the damage. You almost got me~."

Phoebe growled before grabbing his head. "Metronome! Noble…ROAR!" She unleashed a fierce roar into the skunk's ear, causing him to disengage and leap back in pain. Phoebe leapt back, covering the bite wound while throwing her wind cleaver into her tail hand. "Maelstrom Cleave: Fairy Wind!" She spun and fired the sparkling slash attack.

Plouton recoiled from the hit, skidding back a few feet before spitting blood on the ground. "How annoying…" He touched his wounds, grinning as the blood had already clotted. "So, you've gotten this far against my hide, but it won't be enough to secure victory."

Amos scowled. "What the hell's with this guy's body?"

Phoebe groaned. "That's it. If we survive this, I'm going to murder the next scientist I see!"

"Wouldn't that technically be Caractacus?"

"Thus rendering it a pointless endeavor, yes."

Plouton smirked. "You'll have plenty of time to consider your failures after I've liquified your organs. Death Fog—"

BAM!

"AGH!" Plouton recoiled as something nailed him in the back of the head. "Agh! Why? Why does everyone keep doing that?!" He turned and glowered at his attacker.

Caractacus threw off his jacket, revealing his modified disc launcher strapped to his back. "How unfortunate your hide is too thick to make a clean cut, but you still bleed red." He smirked. "And if bleeds, it can be killed." He lowered his head, activating Neutral Influence, and caused the disc launcher to fire.

Plouton shielded his face as sharpened discs hammered into him, bouncing and nicking off his thick hide. Phoebe rushed in low, dragging her wind cleaver across the sand, and slashed across Plouton's back. She then grabbed his forelegs, pulled them apart, and held him still as Caractacus focus-fired on the skunk's face.

"Black Coat!" Sparks erupted over Plouton's fur, and he blasted the Aipom off. He dodged the next wave of sharpened discs until the device ran out of ammo. "Noxious Fog!" He fired a jet of gas at Caractacus.

The Boltund covered his muzzle as the gas struck against his Negative Space. He focused on filtering the air out from the gas, keeping it from seeping through. Plouton rushed in and tackled the barrier.

Caractacus smirked. "What was that supposed to—"

"Death Fog!" He slammed his tail against the barrier and blasted against it with the disintegrating fog.

Caractacus recoiled, watching gas seep in with the air, and leapt back from the skunk. He dropped Negative Space and immediately reapplied it, pushing the tainted air out.

Plouton wiped his face and scowled. "As expected. Seems that defense of yours does have a few holes in it. Your quick to retake control of the situation, Caractacus MacGyver."

Caractacus scoffed. "I'm always in control. Positive Cannon: Auto Scatter!" He inhaled, then fired a barrage of electrical orbs at the skunk.

Plouton shielded his face, grunting as the attacks exploded against him. He heard movement in the sand and turned, taking a slash to the face from Amos' pincer blade. Phoebe flipped over the Gligar and stabbed her dagger into the skunk's back.

"Black COAT!" Plouton unleashed a violent explosion over the area, pushing his adversaries away. "Incendiary Swamp!" He raised his tail and sprayed a shower of purple goo over the battlefield.

Caractacus glared as goo rained on his barrier, the electricity causing it to catch fire. "Tch…"

Around and around, Plouton spun his tail, spreading more of the goo on his surroundings. He closed his tail, shifted his body around, and reopened it, revealing a small jet of flame. "This experiment is far from over, scum…"

Magni growled between ragged breaths, watching as his friends continued their back and forth between the arrogant skunk. He tried to will himself to his legs, fighting through the overwhelming fatigue and demand for rest. Blood dripped around the prosthetic embedded into his wound. Blood dripped from his open cuts. His bones screamed in agony as he attempted to raise his neck.

Eyes shaking with hatred, fixating on the arrogant skunk who carried the scent of death around him. A filthy miasma of dread that made life wither and decay.

How much he hated…surface dwellers like that man.

Life Moon, 907

More and more bodies showed up after the first. Diseased, carrying the scent of death around them. Their stench infected the air with a horrid aroma, forcing the savages to seek the surface world for brief doses of purified air. Over and over, they disposed of the bodies, incinerating them until they were ash. And yet, more kept arriving, sneaking past their watchful eyes in the dead of night.

It was becoming problematic.

Magni and his Tyranitar companion took to topside, hiding behind a cluster of rocks to evaluate any sign of their malefic prey. Magni rested with his head hanging atop their cover, eyes lazily scanning the barren lands while his companion sat by his side.

"{Rock. I'm bored.}"

Rock shrugged. "{The leader needs to gather our kin to secure the tunnels. We are the strongest. We will eliminate our hunters.}"

Magni groaned. "{Pointless. They believe they reign supreme over the Savage Kin? Disgusting. How foolish. They deserve to have their bones picked clean of meat.}"

Rock shook his head. "{Do not confuse hunger with anger, Brother. This is our life. This is how we choose to live.}" He crossed his arms and sighed. "{Even if society will never accept us. Our hunger.}"

Magni closed his eyes and snorted. "{The surface doesn't deserve our respect. Treat us like monsters.}"

"{In their eyes, I suppose we do resemble monsters. Gone are the days where we had to survive off the hunt. Come the days of agriculture and imitation meats.}"

Magni grimaced. "{Vile.}"

"{It's how they curb their own appetites.}"

"{What even is considered society? It sounds dull.}"

Rock laughed. "{Agreed. Surface dwellers and their fancy cities. They're too soft. They break easily. Bones snap like twigs.}"

"…" Magni lifted his head. "{You mention our sister kin, those who suppress their hunger, seek acceptance in society.}"

Rock nodded. "{One day, our way of living will come to an end. Our hunger is unacceptable in a civilized world. Savages with a taste for blood. However, we value our ancient ways. Our sister kin, they believe that they can curb that hunger, but still hold onto the values of our ancestry. The hunt. Perhaps benefit society.}"

Magni glared. "{What is to be gained from society?}"

"{We are a society, Brother, just not the dominant one. We have our purposes.}" Rock looked up at the sky. "{They believe in something called dreams.}"

"{Sleeping?}"

"{No. Dreams. Power to make the mind come forth into reality. Belief. Strange. The surface is full of strange creatures.}"

"…" Magni narrowed his eyes. "{Dreams…}"

Before he could ponder more on his brother's point, he saw something advancing through the plains dressed in a heavy cloak. Magni nudged Rock, and the two made their way down.

The thunderous stomps of these two giants alerted the cloaked figure to their presence, stepping back as both savages approached with their mighty statures towering over the smaller prey. Their eyes gleamed in the dark, their fangs dripping with saliva as they growled at their 'visitor'.

"{Long way from town, surface dweller,}" Rock said, licking his maw. Sand funneled out from the ports in his armor. "{Bad time to be lingering around these parts. We savages don't take kindly to your kind.}"

"…" The figure visibly smirked under their hood. "{Even in your own tongue, you speak with such ineloquence.}"

Magni's eyes widened. "{You speak Subterran?!}"

"{How else can I communicate with such inferior beasts?}" He bowed to them. "{A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I take it you're the welcoming party?}"

Rock bared his fangs. "{Party? Yes. A feast upon your flesh.}"

"{Oh. Oh dear.}" The figure covered his face and laughed. As his cloak bounced, Magni took notice of the strange, spiked shape around the man's left arm.

He could've sworn he saw something blink under the cloak.

"{I'm afraid there's been a bit of confusion,}" the man said, flashing a grin at the confused savages. "{I've been trying to get your attention these last few weeks. I assumed you found my gifts, but it seems they weren't as potent as I hoped.}"

Rock's face creased with fury. "{You sent those corpses?!}"

"{Corpses? Eh, more like test subjects. I'm something of an alchemist, and I like to push the boundaries a bit. You savages didn't eat the bodies, though? You're smarter than I gave you credit for. Well, can't say I didn't consider the possibility.}"

Rock reached down, seizing the alchemist by his hood, and lifted him to meet his eyes with his furious scowl. "{Twisted devil! You underestimate the Savage Kin! What gain do you get from hunting us?!}"

The alchemist smirked. "{Does the concept of money mean anything to you? My only goal is to pursue the truth.}"

Magni sneered. "{We will bury you.}"

"{Most likely. However…}" The alchemist snickered. "{I'm afraid to mention this, but you're already too late.}"

BOOOOOOM!

Rock and Magni recoiled as the underground rumbled below, geysers of toxic gas bursting onto the surface. They heard the screams of their kin howling among the raging geysers. Their eyes widened as one of their own crawled out from the geysers, their skin being peeled away by the corrosive fumes.

"This is the truth." Rock looked back, then gagged as the alchemist slammed a shell-like gauntlet into the Tyranitar's mouth. "This…is the truth of all reality!"

Magni's eyes widened. "{Rock—}"

BANG!

A white-hot flash ignited from the shell, and Rock's head was blown clean off his neck. Magni recoiled, blood splattering his face and shards of his friend's shell piercing his skin. He stared in horror, watching the body of his friend fall to its knees and collapse to the ground, blood spilling from the neck.

The alchemist leapt back, the shock of the blast blowing back his hood. The Galarian Slowbro wiped his hand across his face, smearing the freshly spilt blood over the crisscross scars covering the right side of his face. "I was hired to observe you savages and bring back one for the slave markets." He grinned. "You're quite a powerful creature, Scolipede. A large specimen such as yourself would pay some good coin."

Magni growled, tears trickling down his face. "{Monster…MONSTER!}" He rushed the Slowbro down, enhancing his horns with poison. "{STINGING SPEAR—}"

The alchemist's arm twitched, causing his shell gauntlet to go off and fire faster than Magni could reach him. A blue goop exploded across Magni's face, causing his legs to falter and lock up. He tripped over himself, slamming onto his face and sliding in front of the alchemist.

"How disappointing," he mumbled. He glanced over his shoulder and saw savages pulling themselves out of the tunnels, many horribly mutilated by the toxic explosion, but still able to move. He smirked. "Oh dear, can't have that getting in the way."

Magni cracked one eye open, fearfully looking at his brothers and sisters. "{N-No…}"

"Withering Rain." The alchemist raised his shell gauntlet and fired a ball of purple light into the sky. It burst, bringing about storm clouds. As the savages raced toward him, the clouds released a purple-colored rain over the area. He spread his arms out, bathing in the rain and laughing. "You're already dead, you lower lifeforms!"

Magni, slowly succumbing to the potion he was blasted with, watched helplessly as his kin fell one by one in the rain. Some managed to get close to attack the alchemist, but he evaded their attacks and returned fire. He heard his kin screaming in agony at the myriad of tricks firing from the deranged alchemist's arsenal.

He tried to move. He tried to stand. He tried to fight back.

He…

Needed…

To…

Rescue…

…them…

"Mighty fine specimen you brought me, Vlad. You weren't kidding. This Scolipede looks strong."

Magni opened his eyes wearily, peering out of the cage he had been transported in for the last several days. Weighed down by heavy chains and muzzled, the Scolipede looked up helplessly as the rogue alchemist collected his payment from the Grimmsnarl slaver.

"And you won't have to worry about those savages any time soon," Vlad assured, juggling his earnings in one hand. "They'll be decaying back into the earth where they belong. Might even keep the Subterra Kingdom off your back if they see this as means for retaliation."

"I expect nothing less from the seventh most wanted man in Virdis. You're efficient."

"No, not efficient. Thorough. I like to take my time with my experiments. This was a most educational outing. I say I've perfected some artificial diseases I've been creating." Vlad glanced at the chained up Scolipede, sensing his staring. "Hopefully this one doesn't cause you too much trouble."

The Grimmsnarl smirked. "It'll be his new owner's problem, not mine. As long as I get a good price off him."

Magni narrowed his eyes sadly, drooping his head back down onto the cage floor. Would it be impossible for him to break out of the cage? Hardly. Once his strength returned, he could demolish anything that stood in his way. But then, what was he to do afterwards? Slaughter everything until there was nothing left to slaughter?

A Savage Kin without his kin. To have his pack wiped out in a single night, unable to do anything to but lay helplessly as their numbers were picked clean. This was the path they chosen. Beasts unfit for society. He should've been more upset by their deaths, but that is the way of the savage. To survive or die. This was the way.

But now, a caged beast with nowhere to return to, what was left for him?

What good was a caged savage?

With one use of his Black Coat, Plouton set off the tainted ground, releasing a massive wildfire over the battlefield. Caractacus covered his maw as the flames blasted against his barrier while Amos whipped up a Sandstorm to divert the explosion.

The floating bubbles popped against the blast, releasing a sea of volatile flame over their heads. Amos screamed, amping up his Sandstorm to the limit to keep himself and Phoebe safe.

"Get him!" Amos yelled, making a tunnel of sand toward the skunk.

Phoebe raced on all fours, howling like a savage, and slammed her rifle into Plouton's forehead. "Metal Destruction Bullet!" The barrel disintegrated upon the release of the metal-consuming energy, blasting Plouton away with a searing scar across his forehead.

"AAAGH!" Plouton growled.

"Positive Cannon: Auto Scatter!" Caractacus leapt into the air and fired Plouton back into the ground with a volley of electrical shots.

Plouton sank through the earth, electrical bursts pressing him down. He wiggled his tail free and pressed it into the earth. "Death Fog!" He released the disintegrating gas through the earth, sending it through the cracks and causing geysers to burst out over the battlefield.

"Hang on!" Amos grabbed Phoebe and leapt into the air before the gas erupted under their feet.

Phoebe fumbled through her bag for a spare rifle barrel. "This bastard's getting on my nerves!"

Plouton flipped to his feet and fired another jet of gas. "Noxious Fog!"

It sniped Amos out of the air, sending him and Phoebe careening back toward the ground. They nearly fell into the lingering Death Fog, but Caractacus fired a pulse from his Negative Space to blow it away.

"Oh, don't look proud of yourself yet, MacGyver!" Plouton sprayed goo from his tail before instantly igniting it. It erupted around the Boltund into a concentrated vortex of flame.

Caractacus grimaced. "W-What the…?" He covered his throat and coughed, the air itself scorching him with every breath. "Th-The air…!"

Plouton smirked. "For as powerful as you think you are, you succeeded only by the idiocy of your opponents. I, however, am of a superior mind!" He looked toward the fallen Amos and Phoebe, blasting them with an adhesive goo before they could retreat.

"Agh!" Amos fell to his knees, his pincers stuck to the ground. "Shit!"

"Can't…move!" Phoebe growled.

"Oh, don't worry," Plouton assured, lighting the end of his tail with a small flame. "You won't be stuck for long~." He snickered, moving closer to the duo. "Now then, let's see what burnt Gligar looks like—"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Huh—" Plouton's entire world flipped on its head from a spiked boulder suddenly plowing across his face. He flopped and skidded across the ground, setting off some of his landmines along the way.

Amos and Phoebe looked up in shock. "M-Magni?!"

The Scolipede stomped his feet down and roared. His breaths were heavy, carrying immense weight from the pain wracked across his body. Thanks to Caractacus' impromptu surgery, the bleeding from his lower half finally stopped. The prosthetic, however, pressed into his raw flesh, making each movement excruciatingly painful. Regardless, that pain only fueled his rage, his eyes locked on the malicious alchemist.

"No…more!" Magni growled.

Plouton pushed himself up, laughing bitterly. "You think you can beat me, savage? A lower lifeform such as yourself? With those injuries, you don't have the strength to—"

BAM!

Plouton's eyes whited out briefly, taking a headlong headbutt to the skull that sent him flying further back. It happened so suddenly, barely a moment to react. It had to have been Speed Boost, but to have powered up so suddenly?

Magni panted heavily as rock-like armor started forming over his hide from the broken Rock Tomb, jamming into place with his own Toxic Spikes. Poisonous spikes grew out of the rocks as more of it formed over his body.

"Damage…don't matter. Keep fighting until we win." Magni slammed his feet down, roaring at the alchemist. "Savages, we may be…but…" He strained for the words before shouting, his voice booming like thunder for all to hear:

"We savages protect our own to the very end! That's why we are the Savage Kin!"