Time rarely mattered to a Subterran, or at least in the traditional sense found on the surface. The sun and moon were hardly beneficial to the lifestyle of the underground Pokémon. Time lost meaning some days, and Subterrans often find themselves several days into the future without even realizing. Days move on, time moves on without them.
If someone told Magni he had been lying in this cage for fifty years, he'd believe them. Everything lost meaning with the absence of time.
The briefest glimpses of sunlight he got were when the Grimmsnarl slaver showed off the gigantic Scolipede to prospecting buyers. Some were intimidated by his stature, believing one rebellious thought would turn his mighty strength against them. Other times, the threat of his savage nature turned away buyers in fear of being his next meal.
Today, however, it seemed his owner was having better luck making a convincing sales pitch for the Scolipede. The jingling of coins and excited murmurs of potential owners seemed to warm the Outlanders to the prospect of purchasing such a mighty creature.
They didn't even see a living, breathing creature in the cage. Just a tool to exploit as the Outlands fell further into despair.
It was a hard truth to swallow, Magni supposed. Savages were not viewed as equals, and Magni's group was among the remaining few still actively practicing the consumption of flesh. They were relics of darker times, the age before knowledge was brought to the creatures of Virdis. His extinction was inevitable.
The Savage Kin were tempering their feral appetites, holding strong to their feral roots while disobeying that hunger. Was this the only way to survive into the future? If so, where did that leave Magni? The Outlands seemed like the only place he belonged, and even here he wouldn't be accepted.
No matter where he went, he was a walking disaster that had feral urges. There wasn't anyone left who could understand him. He was just a monster in the eyes of everyone.
Nowhere was sacred for a beast who committed the taboo of consuming another.
What was life for a true savage? Was he even a true savage? He wasn't educated like the surface dwellers, but he wasn't stupid. He understood concepts like morality and justice just from living in the Subterra Kingdom. A creature like him wouldn't be accepted in the age of true, true savagery. He was too…modern.
And soon, he will become the relic of those old times.
What was the last of his tribe, a Savage Kin, to do?
Without his tribe, what purpose did he have left to serve? How could he keep moving forward? Was he destined to use his strength as a slave to the monsters of the surface? Or…
The tarp covering his cage was pulled back, letting in light. Magni kept his face hidden, peeking just a bit to see what scum was eying him up now before he would be inevitably sold off later.
Little did Magni know, this small band of misfits would grant him the wish he desired most of all.
The Broken Glass Alchemical Company…would give this Scolipede a chance to leave behind a glorious legacy.
"RAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
All thoughts of pain and fatigue were obliterated within the Scolipede's psyche. All that remained was slaughter. The slaughtering of the bastard skunk right in front of him. Clad in spiked rock armor, Magni charged down the dazed skunk and hammered into him with an array of enlarged spikes growing out of his armor.
"GAAAH!" Plouton gasped, feeling the individual horns stabbing against his dense skin. Though not at risk of being poisoned, the sheer power from Magni recklessly charging rattled the skunk's laboratory of a body, feeling his organs shifting and shaking like a bag full of water.
"DIE!" Magni locked his horns around Plouton and smashed him into the ground, causing dozens of poison spikes to rip out of the earth. Plouton bounced into the air, being lacerated in the rising pillars of poison.
Plouton's tough skin kept him from suffering lethal injury, but the pain was suffocating. He, at some point, considered shutting off his sense of touch to better his defenses, but ultimately decided against it as he needed the pain to figure out where he was shifting around the chemicals in his body. He prioritized his defenses in favor of that, but he failed to consider someone being able to induce such reckless harm.
Where did this…berserker strength come from? I was told his fighting style was a simplistic application of Toxic Spikes, but now I see he has undergone some sort of awakening. By using Rock Tomb and Toxic Spikes, he can encase himself in a spiked armor. And by infusing Speed Boost with Toxic Spikes onto himself, he's using the poison coursing through his body as an enhancer. On top of that, every single one of those spikes on his armor can be empowered with Megahorn. This beast…
"RAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Magni whipped his neck through the spikes and cracked his head across Plouton's side, folding the skunk like a wet napkin.
He's not just some mindless savage! He's the worst kind of savage! The kind that can adapt on the brink of death!
Amos and Phoebe watched Magni as he threw Plouton around, his roars booming across the battlefield like thunder. Phoebe clenched her teeth. "He shouldn't even be able to stand. Where did this come from?!"
"He's your family, remember?" She glanced at Amos, who was busy withering the adhesive goo off himself with Sandstorm. "You're both from the Savage Kin. I'd think you understand better than any of us what he's thinking."
"…" Phoebe glanced over to where Caractacus was, who was still trapped in the inferno. "Caractacus, keep your barrier up!" She loaded an Absolute Zero Bullet and fired at the inferno.
It impacted, releasing a chilling pulse that instantly turned the inferno into a flurry of snow. Ice flaked off of Caractacus' barrier, and he fell to the ground, taking deep breaths. "Agh…thanks," he wheezed. He rubbed his throat and asked, "Why aren't you two dead yet?"
"Ask Magni," Amos said, freeing his mechanical pincer from the goo.
Magni trapped Plouton in his cluster of horns and dragged him through the ground. Plouton seethed through clenched teeth, feeling the rough terrain sanding away his fur and back. He spiked his fur up, creating an aura of sparks. "Black Coat!"
A blank point explosion erupted in Magni's face, breaking the horns apart and sending the Scolipede skidding off course. Plouton rolled with his momentum and landed on his feet before instantly deploying his Death Fog.
"Wither to dust, you worthless savage!" Plouton yelled.
Magni's eyes snapped open. He rolled to his feet and charged headlong into the disintegrating fog.
Plouton cackled in disbelief. "You idiot! You think you can outrun my Death Fog? The second it comes in contact with you, it won't stop until every last piece of you is a bloody pile—"
BAM!
Plouton recoiled, taking a battering ram of a headbutt to the skull. Magni emerged from the fog, detaching infected pieces of his armor like exploding shells. While his armor withered away, his body remained untouched as he summoned more armor around himself.
Plouton clenched his teeth. He already thought of a countermeasure?! In that time he was being useless on the ground, was he studying my attacks?!
"Science…make Skunk weak!" Magni growled. "Too reliant…on brain! Too smart! Not strong of body!" Locking his horns around Plouton, he slammed the skunk back into the ground. He then reared his legs up and stomped down on his head, crushing it beneath the earth. "All that science…doesn't make you stronger! Deadlier, but not deadlier than a savage!"
"Black Coat: Maximum Output!"
Magni flinched as an aura of sparks ignited under his feet before blasting him away in a massive explosion that split the earth open. He bounced across his side, rolling and tumbling before barely sliding back onto his feet. His rock armor chipped away, revealing half his face.
Plouton pulled himself out of the ground, panting heavily. He had light abrasions over his face, and most of his clothes were in tatters, but he showed no signs of slowing down. Despite the Scolipede's superior strength, Plouton still managed to push through.
"Inferior lifeform! You dare mock my achievements?! I have evolved beyond your world! An old relic like you has no place in my future!" He split his tail open. "Perish with the rest of your dead! Phosphorus Cannon!" He braced himself and fired the massive laser straight at Magni.
Magni curled tightly with his rock armor and tanked the hit. The searing heat of the chemically-induced Flamethrower tore through the outer shell, melting and peeling away layers of rock to reach the megapede's hide.
Plouton grinned like a maniac. "My science makes me weak? Tough talk from a cooked bug! Wither and die, you semi-sentient maggot—"
BAMF!
His eyes widened as a shockwave rippled vertically between Magni and the Phosphorus Cannon. An aura of electricity pulsated between him and the attack, absorbing and neutralizing the energy. He ceased firing and jumped back, growling as he saw Caractacus standing atop the megapede.
The half-metal Boltund dusted himself off and glared. "Now, now, there's no need for that kind of foul language. I, for one, see value in such savagery. After all, though my scientific brilliance makes me stronger…" He grinned wildly. "You can't survive the Outlands without being a little insane!"
Plouton froze, feeling the end of a rifle slamming into the back of his head. He glared through his peripherals, finding Phoebe standing on his back with her gun locked and loaded. She smirked. "And you can't get more insane than us, asshat!"
BANG!
Phoebe went flying back as she unleashed a violent whirlwind from her shot. Plouton slammed face first into the ground with the windstorm crushing his back. He cracked his eyes open and saw Amos lining up a shot.
"Don't think we're idiots, either," Amos continued. "For example, that little trick you pulled on Caractacus earlier? Here's my version!" He fired a Blaze Bullet, commanding the sand to mix with the whirlwind and fuse with the bullet, fanning the flames into a deadly inferno with the skunk trapped inside.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" Plouton screamed, grasping at his throat as the air began to burn up and scorch his throat. His eyes stung, the fluids in them vaporizing in the intense heat. "YOU BASTARDS!"
Phoebe smirked. "We're going to catch up with Evelot, and there's nothing you can do to stop us! Isn't that right, Magni?!"
The Scolipede, who was inspired by Phoebe's words, pushed himself up weakly and roared to the heavens. "We are…Broken Glass Alchemical Company!"
"You tell him, Mags!" Amos shouted.
Plouton clenched his teeth. "Oh, just SHUT UP! Experiment 25!" He sprayed green bubbles into the inferno, causing them to pop in the extreme heat. "Alchemical Armor!" He sprayed himself in a purple liquid that quickly hardened into crystalline armor.
The company braced themselves as the volatile gases ignited in the inferno, expanding outward in a wide-reaching explosion. The guys bunkered under Caractacus' Negative Space while Phoebe hightailed it away from the explosion, screaming like a Grookey on fire.
"GETTING UP CLOSE WAS A BAD IDEA!" she screamed.
Plouton broke through the explosion, chasing after the unguarded Aipom with flames wreathed around his armored body. "Combusting Breath!" He blasted Phoebe in the back with superheated smoke.
"AAAAGH!" she screamed. She tumbled and faceplanted into the ground. As she tried to stand, Plouton slammed his paw down on her nape and aimed his tail.
"Now, Phosphorus—"
"Oh, hell no! Metronome!" She rolled a random move and craned her neck. "Poison Gas!" She spat the poison gas in his face.
He coughed, but easily fanned the gas away. "Too reliant on luck, are we—GAH!" The brief moment of distraction allowed Phoebe to draw her wind cleaver and slash his neck. He backed off, grasping his throat as a thin cut opened up along it.
"Metronome! Stockpile!" Phoebe flipped to her feet, taking a deep breath and bulking up her defenses. All that damage Magni did is paying off! His skin may be tough, but the seals on his wounds aren't!
As Plouton collected himself, he felt the ground rumbling behind him. With only precious seconds to react, he fired Noxious Fog against the ground and blasted himself away from a charging sweep from Magni. However, in his haste, he failed to notice Amos riding on the megapede's back before being blasted with a hail of sand bullets.
"GAH!" he growled, sand exploding against his skin and face.
"Hey, you third-rate alchemist!"
Right as Plouton landed, he was suddenly blindsided by a handful of rotating spikes, grinding and ripping into his skin. He forced his eyes open, staring at the shoddy contraption attached to Caractacus' metal leg composed of a repurposed carriage tire, damaged nails, and wires linked to Alpha who was sitting on the Boltund's back.
"You should know better that even the greatest science needs a little luck!" He swung his paw again and slammed his nail-covered wheel gauntlet under Plouton's chin, tearing deeper into the wound inflicted by Phoebe. The nails caught beneath the flesh, pulling and tearing on the skunk's skin and spilling sprays of blood over the ground.
"AAAAAAAGH!" Plouton screamed. "Death Fog—" He stopped himself, noticing he was sitting inside Caractacus' Negative Space.
"HA!" Caractacus pushed Plouton up against the barrier and rammed his rotating gauntlet into his stomach, tearing into his wounds. "What's the matter? We're both in an enclosed space! That disintegrating fog of yours would undoubtably kill me like this!"
Plouton snarled. "MacGyver!" He shifted his body around and split his tail open. "Phosphorus—"
"Oh, like hell I'm letting that happen!" With his other paw, Caractacus whipped out a sphere that instantly exploded into a bolas-like grappler. It caught and bound itself around the skunk's tail, sealing off the Phosphorus Cannon. With no means of firing from his tail, Caractacus hammered one last punch into Plouton and knocked him out of the Negative Space. "Is one the requirements for becoming Dr. Underhill's lackeys being a total disappointment in a fight? I dismantled Arethusa with little effort! I'm not impressed!"
Plouton dragged his claws down and to catch himself. He panted heavily, feeling his insides rumble from the stress. He held his stomach, trying to steady his breathing. N-No…not yet…
"RAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Plouton suddenly found himself being hammered into the ground by the titanic Magni, who could easily crush an Aggron's skull with just a well-placed stomp. Plouton's body flattened and folded under the attack like rubber. "Crush you—"
"Black Coat!" Magni recoiled from a high-volume explosion, shoving him off of Plouton. The Skuntank pulled himself out of the ground, growling at the restraint still wrapped around his tail. "Of all the—"
"Surprise!" Dashing out of the smoke, Amos and Phoebe double-teamed Plouton, delivering slashes on both sides. Phoebe spun around after activating Metronome. "Parting Shot! What's the matter, loser?! I thought you were supposed to teach us a lesson or some shit!"
Plouton felt a dark aura overtake him, siphoning his strength. "Agh…"
"Magni, send him flying!" Amos ordered.
Magni scooped his horns under Plouton and flung him in the air. Amos loaded his pincer and fired. "Drill Bullet!" The bullet carried a spiraling force around it as it chased the airborne skunk and blasted into his stomach, tearing into stomach.
Caractacus smirked. "Perfect! Just a little more, and his innards will be ripped to shreds!"
Plouton seethed through his teeth, feeling the drilling force pressing and grinding into his raw flesh. Any second now, if left to prolong, the bullet will tear apart his body and set him off early. He couldn't allow that. Not yet. Not until he achieved perfection.
He wasn't done…with the tests yet!
"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME, YOU SCUM!" Plouton screamed.
His fur lost more and more of what little color remained, turning the skunk pitch black. Red lines started to etch across his fur, glowing like the sun. Circles formed between intersections of these lines, taking the form of eyes. These eye-like patterns seemed to move, frantically twitching as they observed their surroundings.
The BGAC stared at the skunk in confusion and horror. "Wait, what the hell's going on with him?!" Phoebe cried.
Caractacus heard Alpha beeping and shaking. It seemed unusual, but the cube almost seemed…scared? "Alpha?"
"What…going on…? Hell…the hell…" Alpha replied, Phoebe's copied voice distorting and deepening.
Magni growled. "I smell death…"
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Plouton twisted his body, pulling himself out of the path of the Drill Bullet as it lacerated across his side instead. He flailed through the air before crashing back onto the ground.
Amos raised his arm. "Everyone, get around Caractacus!"
A paw reached out of the ground, pulling Plouton back onto his feet. The company stared at the skunk in disgust, watching as he dragged himself back onto the surface with his body mangled from the impact. His legs were bent, his neck was nearly twisted a full one eighty, and his spine was misaligned. Blood dripped from his upside-down maw, spilling over his eyes.
And yet, Plouton continued to huff and wheeze as he did before.
Phoebe stepped back fearfully. "How…is he still alive?!"
"That shouldn't be physically possible…" Caractacus mumbled.
Plouton cackled at their befuddled expressions. "S-Surprised?" He flicked his broken legs, causing them to snap back into place. He stretched himself out, realigning his back. He finished off by grabbing his head and rotating it back into place. The red markings across his body glowed brighter. "Hahahaha! I have achieved what that fool of a mercenary couldn't! My alchemically enhanced body combined with Dr. Underhill's experimentation! I have achieved the perfect form!"
Amos clenched his teeth. "What the hell? Is this asshole immortal or something?"
"That can't be true…" Phoebe mumbled.
Caractacus growled. "I'm normally one to denounce such possibilities, but I can't deny the results. A normal Skuntank with those injuries shouldn't even be thinking."
Plouton laughed madly as the eye patterns across his body swelled with heat. "Come! Dance with me to the orchestra of my greatness!" He roared to the sky, releasing an array of heat rays from his body.
Everyone ducked while Caractacus took the brunt of the lasers, negating them against his Negative Space. The lasers spun wildly over the terrain, slicing up the earth and leaving behind sizzling pathways of sludge. Plouton's body caught fire from the sheer power of his attacks, but he continued to fire at full power as if unaware of his own state.
Phoebe shielded her face, wincing as she felt her skin itching from the heat. "W-What the hell is going on?!"
Caractacus growled. "This is bad. Whatever he's done to himself, it's amping up his power! Each one of those lasers has the potential to incinerate anything they connect with! Even if my Negative Space protects us from damage, his effects on the atmosphere will still be an issue!"
Amos snarled. "We're steadily breaking past that tough body of his." He glared at Magni. "You're the only one with the muscle to break him open. Think you can do it?"
Magni snorted, stamping his feet down. "Never surrender."
"Nice sentiments, but pretty fucking useless against the death ray-spewing skunk in front of us!" Phoebe shouted.
Caractacus patted himself before producing three metal discs. He slapped them onto his teammates, sending an electrical charge across their bodies. "Negative Space: Support Barrier. These have a limited charge, but they should shield you from his attacks."
Amos nodded. "Then let's make them count! Magni, take him down!"
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Magni charged out of the Negative Space and rushed down Plouton at full speed.
"Foolish creature!" Plouton roared, focusing the lasers onto Magni.
The Scolipede ducked his head and barreled through the lasers, Caractacus' device providing enough protection for him to close the distance. "Stinging Sentinel!" Regrowing his rock armor, he produced several dozen poison horn constructs and rammed headlong into Plouton.
"AGH!" the skunk gasped, his lasers diminishing.
"Take him down!" Amos ordered, he and the others jumping into action.
Plouton snapped his eyes open, his pupils twitching wildly in his skull. "Black…COAT!" Sparks erupted violently over his fur, releasing a powerful blast on par with its maximized variant. It shattered the horns and blasted Magni away, who was protected by his armor and barrier.
Caractacus ran up and leapt off of Magni's back, striking down on Plouton with his spiked wheel gauntlet and grinding it into his wounded stomach. Plouton roared and flailed on the ground before unleashing lasers from his body, directing them into the ground. The earth rapidly heated up and collapsed into a molten pool of sludge.
"Gah!" Caractacus lost his balance and plunged beneath the molten earth. As he tried to swim back to the surface, he was pushed further down by another laser, pinning him to the bottom of the pit as more ground liquified around him.
Plouton propelled out of the sludge by the force of his own lasers, focusing them down on Caractacus. "Typical! Too busy fighting from the sidelines that you don't know when to get your paws dirty! Eh, MacGyver?!"
"Maelstrom Cleave!" A wind slash broke against the skunk's neck and knocked him out of the air. Phoebe charged after the falling skunk as she wound up another attack. "Maelstrom Cleave: Psyshock!" She swung, releasing a wind slash that carried psychokinetically charged rock.
The attack landed, though dealt no additional damage thanks to Plouton's immunity. Even so, the force of the attack sent the skunk skidding across the earth, his face dragging against the ground, before he finally sprung to his feet.
He inflated his throat, looking like swallowed a large rock, and fired a ball of radiating heat at the Aipom. "Phosphorus X Cannon!"
Phoebe shielded her face as the attack landed. Caractacus' disc released Negative Space to nullify the damage, but the land around Phoebe was blistered in scorching heat that vaporized everything around. The shock of the blast staggered her, sending her to her knees.
Plouton cackled, firing off lasers from his body and directing them onto the fallen Aipom. Amos, however, intercepted the lasers and darted through them. He screeched against the blistering heat, but pushed through and reached Plouton, delivering a swift uppercut with his pincer blade extended.
The blade dug through a wound under Plouton's chin, causing the blade to rip through his mouth and pierce his tongue. "AaaaAAAAAggggAGGGGGgAGgAH!" Plouton screamed.
Amos followed it up by jamming his stinger into the skunk's open mouth and blasting him with Toxic. Though it wouldn't affect the skunk, the sheer volume of toxins flooding his insides would inevitably suffocate him. Realizing this as he began to choke on the poison, Plouton shifted his insides around and forced himself to vomit.
Amos was blasted back by a geyser of lime-green sludge spewing out of the Skuntank's mouth. Some of the toxins got through and burned Amos' skin, forcing him to blast himself with Sandstorm to buff it off.
Plouton vomited the last of the poison out and focused his lasers onto the fleeing Gligar. Amos shielded himself, the Negative Space tanking the damage as he went flying across the earth, his body bouncing off the ground with searing heat slamming down on him.
"You can't beat me—" Plouton started screaming until he was blindsided by Magni once again.
"DON'T HURT FRIEND!" Magni roared, thrashing and tossing Plouton around.
"Enough!" Plouton fired lasers into Magni's face, but the Scolipede persisted, breaking throat and spearing into the skunk's side. "GAH!"
"RAAAHHHH!" Anger rising exponentially, Magni threw Plouton ahead like a skipping stone and unleashed a barrage of poison missiles from his rock armor. "Stinging Storm!" The sheer volume of missiles erupting from the megapede's back eclipsed the sky like a hail of arrows.
Plouton shielded himself as the missiles rained down on top of him, peppering the land in a cluster of poisonous explosions. The seemingly endless rain struck down on Plouton with such ferocity that he couldn't compel his body to move.
Magni ceased firing and, before the missile rain let up, charged through his own storm and extended poisoned horns from his armor. He scooped low and speared Plouton off the ground, rushing him through the depleting poison arrow rain before dragging his limp body through the ground.
"Phos…phorus…Cannon!" From the splitting earth, Plouton fired into the megepede's face, unleashing a blinding, searing flash that traveled as high as the visible sky.
Magni persisted with the aid of Negative Space and continued dragging Plouton through the ground. Wounds reopened across his body, blood bursting out as his muscles worked overtime, tearing themselves apart to keep up with his monstrous strength. Even as the heat started burning through his armor and scorching his skin, he didn't let up.
Must…protect…friends!
Magni stopped and slammed his feet down, raising poison-tipped spires of earth from the ground. Plouton wailed in agony as the spires dragged against his open wounds, cutting into his flesh and tearing off layers of skin. His body worked overtime producing adhesive clots, but the pain was intense. Magni didn't let up either, focusing several spires to rise below Plouton and drill into his wounded stomach.
"You call me monster?" Magni growled. "You haven't seen monsters."
"Phosphorus X Cannon!" Plouton's throat swelled, then he fired a ball of searing heat into Magni's face. It erupted point blank, incinerating everything around them. The ground and spires vaporized, and both combatants were sent hurtling away from each other.
Magni, however, refused to fall. He twisted his body upon hitting the ground, bouncing back onto his feet. His prosthetic pressed deeper into his raw flesh, and blood poured out from his reopened wounds. Regardless, he locked onto his target and sprinted at him with reckless abandon.
Plouton barely had a moment to breathe before Magni was back up in his face. He dodged the megepede's charge, but the corner of his lip was caught in the horns, causing half the skin on his face to be flayed off. With his bare teeth exposed and bleeding over his left side, he roared in retaliation, spraying his Experiment 25 over the battlefield.
"Phosphorus Cannon!" He unleashed his lasers and pierced through his own volatile bubbles, circulating the reactive gas to magnify the attacks power.
Like a shower of heavenly light, the lasers struck down on Magni, pummeling him into the earth with unrelenting punishment. Magni howled in agony as the artificial Negative Space could only nullify so much with its conduit. Because it couldn't recharge itself like Caractacus, the barrier's power will inevitably deplete the more damage it takes.
"Who do you think you are standing in the way of my vision?!" Plouton snapped. "You stand before greatness, yet you sully my brilliance with your bloodthirsty, outdated values?! You're a relic of a forgotten time! You don't belong in this world! Allow me the mercy of removing you from your own doom—"
BANG!
"GAAAH!" Plouton recoiled, taking a bullet straight to the forehead and cutting off his laser fire.
"Honestly…" Through the scorched air and smoke, Phoebe reloaded her rifle as an aura of smoke wafted off her body. "You just can't take the damn hint that you're going to lose, huh?"
Gleaming red eyes pierced through the lingering plasma, and Magni charged down the stunned skunk. With massive horns extending out of his back, they curved inward, striking down on Plouton like a guillotine. The Skuntank spat blood as the bladed horns ripped into his wounds.
"Ph-Phosphorus—"
A disc flew around Magni and slapped down onto the skunk's chest, imbuing a reversed Negative Space over him. He strained to lift his head, growling as Caractacus approached with cooled rock dripping off his shoulders.
"Go ahead. Fire to your heart's content. I doubt you can survive your own firepower."
Plouton grinded his teeth together. "MacGyver—GAAAH!" Magni pressed more of his weight down on the skunk, tearing into his skin.
"You can act all high and mighty until the next ice age, Plouton…" He craned his neck back as Amos walked up behind him, his poncho blowing in the fiery smoke. "You lost to the old world. Monsters like us? Those are real, and we're still here haunting you." He smirked. "Shnee-heehee. You tormented my team all those months ago. Now it's our turn to let the monsters loose."
Magni ensnared Plouton within a cluster of horns and lifted him up. Amos, Phoebe, and Caractacus jumped up, rearing themselves up to deal the finishing blow upon the arrogant skunk.
Plouton flailed in his bindings. "You…FOOLS! You can't do this to me! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU—"
"Stinging—" The rock armor around Magni expanded, transforming in a bed of spikes resembling an open iron maiden.
"Flame Vortex Bullet!"
"Metal Destruction Bullet!"
"Positive Cannon!"
Amos, Phoebe, and Caractacus all fired down on the trapped skunk, blasting him into the bed of spikes atop Magni's back. The Scolipede endured their combined attacks while Plouton screamed out in agony as flame, metal, and electricity slammed down on his open wounds. His stomach boiled like an open cauldron. Superheated gas expelled from his maw as he struggled to stay conscious.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Sarcophagus!"
Magni flexed his body and snapped the bed of spikes shut, trapping the erupting energy within a massive boulder and undoubtably riddling the skunk in a forest of piercing spikes. His screams were silenced almost instantly, the faint sounds of the attacks raging within quieting as their energy expended itself.
The group landed as the sealed rock rolled off Magni's back. Cracks opened up along the surface, releasing smoke and the horrid stench of burning flesh. It crumbled to pieces, spilling over the ground and dumping the remainder of its occupant within.
Plouton fell to the ground, his body pierced to the brim with dozens of poison horn constructs. One pierced through his neck, flaying it open as blood gushed out of the wound. His hindlegs were mangled into bloodied tatters, hanging on by loose ligaments with chips of bone embedded in the flesh. His jaw was nearly severed off, a horn jabbing through and ripping through his tongue.
Injuries like these would've killed anyone else, yet the frantic twitching of Plouton's eyes showed he was still conscious. Unable to speak beyond garbled growls blocked with bloodied vomit.
Amos stamped on the Skuntank's head and spat in his face. "Not as weak as you thought, huh?"
"Gaaaah…gllllaaaagh…" Plouton choked.
"Tch. After siccing the Deadly Seven on us, what made you any worse than them?"
"Aaaaagh…!" The company turned their attention back to Magni, who collapsed onto his stomach after his legs finally gave out.
"Holy shit, Magni!" Phoebe raced to him, purposefully stomping over Plouton's face to reach him. She held him, trying her best to keep his head up. "Fuck!"
Caractacus detached the junk weapons from himself and skimmed Magni's state, wincing openly. "He hasn't rested for days, and he was still injured from our bout with Babylas and Evelot. After all of that, he shouldn't be conscious."
Magni panted heavily, trembling in a vain effort to keep himself upright. "S-So…cold…" he mumbled.
Phoebe clenched her teeth. "We can't get to Evelot in time like this. Amos, can't you hit him with a Healing Bullet or something?"
"I-I could try, but these injuries don't look superficial." Amos dug inside his pouch for the bullets.
As the team fretted over Magni, Caractacus turned his attention back onto Plouton. Irritated, he stomped down on the skunk's stomach, which made him vomit blood over the ground. He dug his metal claws into Plouton's neck wounds and held him up like he was grasping the collar of his shirt.
"What the hell did Cain do to you?" Caractacus growled.
Plouton, though unable to speak, laughed through the blood and poison pooling in his throat. Caractacus studied the markings still glowing across the skunk, then glanced at Alpha who continued to stare and hum in what could be described as mourning.
"…" Caractacus glared. "Logos." He snarled. "It's Logos. What the hell is this, then? Is it Heavenly Emotion? Inherited Will? What the hell did he do to you? And what did he do to Logos?"
Plouton only smirked, blood drooling out from his teeth. Caractacus huffed and threw the skunk to the ground. He stepped away for a moment to collect his thoughts.
"This is insane…" he mumbled.
"Well, there's no use crying over it," Phoebe said as Amos finally pulled out some Healing Bullets. "What do we do with this loser, though?"
Caractacus glared. "He's pretty much out of commission thanks to Magni. Can't do much harm now."
Amos glared at the Scolipede. "You shouldn't have pushed yourself so hard. Even if you saved us, you were going to get yourself—"
"Can't…help self…" Magni mumbled, his breaths becoming weary and drawn out. "Never…again…"
Amos frowned. "Never again what?"
"…" Magni closed his eyes. "Protect…family. No matter what."
His glare softened. "Magni…"
"…I—"
Before Magni could speak further, they heard Plouton coughing and wheezing up blood. Phoebe groaned and loaded a new barrel onto her rifle. "Okay, I think we can all agree splattering his brains will put an end to this immortality bullshit."
However, after spilling the last of the pooling blood, Plouton finally spoke, his voice scratchy and lifeless.
"…hehehe. F-Fools…have no idea…messing with…" he choked. "I…was the test subject…greatness…"
Caractacus sneered. "Yes, yes, you've spouted quite enough about how amazing you are. Mighty words for a bloodied pin cushion. You've exhausted all of your tricks, so don't bother trying anything else."
Plouton stretched a smirk. "Have…I?"
Hiiiiiiiissssssssssssss
The company's eyes widened as smoke started rising out of the skunk's wounds. His tattered body twitched periodically as more smoke rose from his mangled corpse of a body. His skin folded and bulged like something wiggled worm-like wiggled about within. His body molded and wobbled like a bouncy Wailmer.
Amos covered his nose from the horrible stench coming off the skunk. "What the…?"
"Remember…warned you about…earlier?"
The company's eyes widened, backing away from Plouton as his body started bloating. The horrid smoke continued expelling from his wounds as his mangled form grew in size, shaping into a rotund mound of flesh. Wounds stretched open, peeling themselves apart to reveal more of the raw flesh beneath. His tattered clothes ripped away. His eyes stared down at the horrified group, bulging and pulsating as the flesh comprising them expanded.
"I've been outfitted…unstable concoctions. This not…full potential. This…is!"
Amos and Phoebe struggled to push Magni to his feet. The Scolipede howled weakly, blood squirting out of his wounds from the most minimal of movements. Plouton's rotund form slowly towered above them, eclipsing them in darkness.
The more Plouton grew, the less he resembled a Skuntank. A ball of flesh with patches of black fur scattered about. His face was barely visible, receding within the bulging flesh as more horrid smoke expelled like an active volcano.
"I…gave up my life to science," Plouton strained. "I…dedicated my life to the pursuit of science." Even his laughter was starting to strain. "Did you…really think I'd put my life at risk…without some form of countermeasure?"
Phoebe glanced at Caractacus fearfully. "Hey, uh…smart guy? Mind filling us in on what he's doing?"
Caractacus seemed equally horrified. "That's not normal. That is not normal."
Plouton cackled weakly at the sound of the Boltund's fear. "What's the matter, MacGyver? Too scared to…pursue the unknown?"
"He has Explosion…and he's performing an infusion with his ability. He has the Aftermath ability." His eyes widened. "He rigged himself to explode!"
"What?!" Amos and Phoebe screamed.
"…" Magni narrowed his eyes.
Plouton, pushing through his incapacitated state, cackled at their realization. "I've always intended to blow myself up in the event I were to die, but now Cain has shown me a new way. A better way! I will become something greater! I shall dedicate my death to science and be reborn in its image!"
"Run…RUN!" Caractacus screamed, gesturing everyone to move. With little time to overthink, the company took off running.
"You can't flee me, fools." Tears split open over Plouton's body, releasing a dark purple gas into the air. "I…will become the truest form of scientific brilliance. I will achieve greatness beyond comprehension. Witness…my achievements!"
Amos jumped onto Magni, who was starting to pick up speed. He grabbed and pulled Phoebe aboard before reaching out to Caractacus. "Quick, hurry!" Amos screamed.
Caractacus ran as fast as he could, reaching out for the Gligar's pincer. "Almost…there—"
Too. Late.
"Apocalypse Alchemy."
At the peak of his power, Plouton's body detonated. His flesh and bone were instantly vaporized on the release of his technique, and the ground and air around him was scorched from the overwhelming heat that followed. A devastating shockwave ripped across the plains of the Outlands, blasting up a wall of sand that, too, was incinerated in its path.
The shock of the blast caught up with the ground. The ground quaked under Caractacus, causing him to trip up and fall behind as Magni and the others were thrown ahead.
"CARACTACUS!" Amos and Phoebe screamed.
Caractacus picked himself up and looked back. His eyes widened as a massive wall of toxic gas as far as he could see charged through. The ground ahead rapidly withered to dust in the presence of this gas, all rock and plant life dying from the briefest exposure to the gas.
I won't be able to outrun that. Caractacus clenched his teeth. But if only one of us can get out of here alive at this rate…
"I'M GOING AFTER EVELOT!" Caractacus screamed at the top of his lungs. "YOU THREE! HEAD TO THE CHASM! IT'LL GIVE YOU COVER!"
Amos gasped. "Caractacus, wait—"
The Boltund lunged and dove headfirst through the gas. Negative Space: Compact Armor! He compressed his Negative Space around himself. The gas blasted against him like a raging sandstorm, but none managed to leak through like before. I have a limited air supply using it like this, but this completely blocks entry from everything besides light! Even if I'm the last survivor, I promised I would help reach Evelot. This is the only way I can still help.
With Caractacus running off on his own, the remaining trio were left to fend for themselves as the deadly wall of gas chased them down. Despite getting a head start, it was slowly gaining on them. Magni, for all his efforts, wasn't able to reach his top speed as readily. The extensive injuries on his body prevented him from boosting his Speed Boost to its limit.
"He said we can take shelter in the chasm we ran around earlier!" Amos shouted. "Magni, please! Hurry!"
The Scolipede clenched his eyes shut, screaming in pain as he kicked his legs to their limits. He managed just a little more speed, but it was all he had left to muster.
Amos peered ahead and saw the chasm in their sights. "Yes! I see it! We might be able to—"
"Uh…guys?" Phoebe whispered, her voice trembling with terror.
Amos looked back, and he felt his blood turn to ice.
A shape emerged ahead of the disintegrating wall of gas, two gleaming orbs of red piercing through. A feral, wolf-like appearance with massive claws charging ahead of the gas.
No, it wasn't emerging from the gas.
It was the gas.
Red chains appeared over the feral monster with eye-like patterns appearing in every other link. They resembled the markings found on Plouton. It wasn't a wolf-like creature taking shape from the gas. It was a monstrous visage of a Skuntank.
"P-Plouton?!" Amos screamed.
A maw split open into a wicked grin, laughter booming from the monstrous cloud. It stamped its paws down, spreading more of the withering fog ahead as it gained speed. As if prying itself from the wall of gas itself, the cloud beast dug its claws through the earth and scrambled to catch up with the fleeing Scolipede.
Phoebe shrieked. "He's catching up!"
Amos looked back. "The chasm's in sight—"
"We won't make it time!" She grabbed her rifle and fired into the monster, but did nothing more than punch a hole through the gas. "What is this?!"
"SANDSTORM!" Amos swung his pincer, blasting into the monster with all his might, but not even the sand was enough to slow it down. "N-No…"
Magni opened one eye, looking back as he watched the wills of his comrades draining away. He's never seen them look so terrified in the short time he's known them. Coming face to face with forces beyond what was foreseeable? It was enough to dissuade the bravest of souls.
After everything they've endured together…
"We're going to die," Amos said weakly.
"N-No…" Phoebe mumbled.
Magni stared pitifully at them. Conquering insurmountable odds up until now, and there was nothing they could do to face the monster before them. Magni knew his limits. He wouldn't reach the chasm in time. He couldn't outrun the monster. After everything he gave to defeat Plouton, it wasn't enough. He couldn't protect his family. He couldn't save them.
…
…
…
…But Magni refused.
"We…face monsters getting here," Magni huffed.
Amos and Phoebe glanced back at him. "W-What?" Amos mumbled.
Magni took a deep breath, then looked back at them with a smile. "You will win. You always do."
Phoebe's eye widened. "Wait, Mags? What are you—"
Magni suddenly stopped, causing Amos and Phoebe to slide off his back and over his neck. Using his remaining momentum, Magni spun himself around and used his neck like a flail and threw the duo ahead, sending them sailing toward the chasm.
Amos and Phoebe braced themselves, crying out, "MAGNI!"
The Scolipede collapsed, panting heavily as the fog finally reached him. He raised his head, eyes glimmering with hope as the gas blasted against his back. Cracks split across his body as his colors dulled, pieces of himself tearing apart into particles.
He felt no fear. He felt no regret. He promised he would get them as far as their journey allowed. He was promised freedom at the cost of being their steed, but being their steed granted him the freedom he truly craved. The one thing he desired most of all was to protect something precious to him.
That's what they were all fighting for.
Magni looked around at the gas surrounding him, smiling as vestiges wrapped around him. His old pack. Rock, Boss, and the rest of his pack. They looked upon him, smiling and holding him close, assuring him everything was going to be okay. After all, being a Savage Kin meant never regretting who you were.
{Rock, I finally understand what you meant. It's not the bright start you envisioned, but I see a shining hope on the horizon thanks to these foolish rogues. My friends. My family.}
"Amos. Phoebe."
Their eyes widened as tears dripped down Magni's face. The entire back of his body crumbing away to dust, he only had a precious few seconds left. He wanted to make sure they saw his smile. They weren't the greatest people in the world. Far from it.
But they were his hope. And now, it was their turn to carry the torch.
"Find Evelot. Protect her dreams. You are…not above redemption. We are…familllllyyyy…."
The last of the Scolipede crumbled away into the gas. Amos and Phoebe, eyes filled with tears and horror, nearly forgot that they were currently falling.
"M…Magni—"
"YOU'RE NEXT!"
Their eyes widened as the beast-like gas leapt into the air and dove after the falling duo. In a flash, Amos blasted the area with a thick covering of Sandstorm before grabbing Phoebe. He launched themselves out of the cloud, barely dodging the monster's attack.
Burrowing Bullet!
He fired into the side of the chasm, creating a tunnel for him and Phoebe to hide away in. He fired behind himself, blasting the tunnel shut.
The monster's roars raged outside their hiding spot, left unaware of their escape. With Caractacus going on ahead and Magni…
…
With Magni's hope in his family, Amos and Phoebe were left on their own to face what may be an unkillable monster. After all Magni did for them…
Failure was not an option.
"MAGNI!"
Caractacus, having finally gotten out of the gas' reach, froze at the haunting cry of Amos and Phoebe echoing in the distance. He almost thought he imagined the shout, but his finely tuned ears told him the truth. He looked back unsurely, yet felt a worrying despair gripping his heart.
He was the one who examined Magni's injuries. He knew how fast the Scolipede was, and he knew how fast the gas was moving.
"…Magni," he mumbled, eyes glistening with tears.
Alpha beeped something to the Boltund, as if asking if he was alright.
"…" Caractacus wiped his eyes, steely his resolve, and looked ahead. "We have to keep moving." Suppressing the sadness in his heart, he sprinted in the direction of Algus, hoping his efforts to reach Evelot were not shortsighted.