EPISODE I - RISING STARS
CHAPTER IV - FALLEN MERCENARIES
Rex leaned against the grey wall, panting as he wiped his face clear of sweat. The side of his gut throbbed from a well-placed strike from a sneaky Beldum. It was nothing that a well-placed Flame Wheel-powered kick couldn't deal with, but it was still enough to leave him wincing.
The Mercenaries had surged into the temple, hot on the bandit's heels and making a solid push through an open atrium, bare save for carved pillars that held up the ceilings. They didn't have much of a chance to look around though, as the bandits fled into separate tunnels, forcing the mercenaries to split up to pursue their targets. Rex and Foster got running down one of the side paths, sticking alongside a pair of Surskit and a Munchlax as they followed a subgroup of the crooks.
Little by little, they pushed the bandits further into the temple. The bandits would try and fire off blasts of water, sound and the odd fireball to slow the mercs down, but the mercs pressed on, occasionally catching one criminal who couldn't quite fall back quickly enough and was swiftly knocking them down.
Still, progress was slow, there were what appeared to be touches, glowing with a soft blue light in a container rather than an open flame. Rex only spared a moment to look towards the strange contraptions, only wishing they were a bit brighter as the place was still dark, often hiding openings to smaller chambers that were offshoots of the tunnel to ambush them. One of the Surskits fell victim to one such attack, slumping against the wall and forcing her panicking companion to drag her away, leaving the remaining group to advance alone.
It was not long after that when the bandits launched their last attack, a trio composed of a Beldum, a Starmie and a Banette. It had caught the mercs off guard, but Rex had managed to recover quickly enough to blow the Steel-type away. As did Foster, the Furret throwing out a Surprise Brick Break to put down the Starmie.
But as for the Munchlax…
Foster frowned sadly as he closed the Normal-type's eyes, the Pokémon slumped against the wall near the still form of the Banette. It took a dual move from Rex and Foster to stop the Banette, but it was too late to stop the ghost-type before he got his kill move in. The poor merc didn't stand a chance.
But that was the last of the bandits, at least in their tunnel.
Foster moved over to the Combusken's side, wincing as he shook one of his legs, slightly charred from a fire or electrical attack, "You alright Rex?"
Rex nodded, grinding his beak as he rubbed his bruised body, cursing the Beldum for landing such a hard hit. He may have been a fighting type, but with such tight spaces, even he struggled. "I'll live, just wish we stopped that Banette sooner."
"Tell me about it…" Foster replied with a hiss, turning towards the still forms of the bandits, "Do they think they can hold us off like this?"
Rex glanced back down the tunnel, eyes narrowed, It does seem a bit daft, there haven't been any traps, so were they just desperate to flee down here? Or did they find another exit further back?
Either way, they had to scour further ahead, maybe they'd come across the other mercenaries further ahead. Pushing himself away from the wall, Rex managed a pained grin, "Come on, we need to keep moving."
The duo pressed onwards, using the strange touches as their guides. Rex finally took his chance to inspect them as he walked past, realising that indeed, there was no flame inside them at all. Instead, he couldn't help but think that the lights were humming. How long have these lights been lit for?
He had no idea, nor any idea on how they worked as they rounded another corner and entered a four-way junction, a pair of corpses laid out across it. One bandit and one mercenary.
Foster scurried over to check them both, chewing his lip as he did. "Looks like the others have been through here!"
"But what happened?" Rex questioned, feeling stiff as he directed his narrowed eyes across the tunnels, noticing how empty the tunnels were, including what he hazarded a guess as the path that led deeper in. "And where is everyone?"
He bared his claws, trying to pick up any signs of battle or movement, readying himself for the next threat.
Something thumped, and the Combusken spun towards the new tunnel to find Ingrid stepping out of a side room, her body mostly pristine save for a few scuffs across her hide. Exhaling quietly, Rex nodded her way, "Ingrid, you alright?" he asked.
The Bayleef nodded back at him with a narrowed gaze, "Yeah, you two still kicking?"
Foster pulled a weak smile as he stepped towards her unsteadily, "Well enough, some of us had to fall back…" the smile faded away as his eyes flicked towards the bodies behind him, "We still lost one of our own."
Ingrid's gaze barely settled on the bodies, "Yeah. Lost a few ourselves. The Altaria was a smart bastard."
Rex frowned, feeling a shiver run through his feathers. Ingrid seemed strangely cold to the fate of their comrades. Could just be the rundown from combat. It can do strange things to Pokémon when it's not just a fun bout.
Still, he couldn't shake off his discomfort.
The Bayleef flicked her head towards the tunnel leading further in. "The Electrabuzz is further in with the rest of us, must be interrogating the last bandits now."
Rex blinked, "It's all over?"
That can't be right… they must have had more bandits to deal with than we did, or at least a similar amount. How did they blitz through so quick?
"That's great!" Foster uttered with a sigh of relief, still visibly shaking as he entered the tunnel, "What are you doing down here then?"
"Trying to gather everyone in." Ingrid replied with a bored tone. "Follow me. It's quite a sight.
She started to turn down the corridor.
The Combusken felt his fingers twitch, wanting to say something to stop Foster, something felt off. Ingrid didn't seem like the type to backstab them at the camp or the cliff, but the change of behaviour wasn't something he was expecting.
As he stepped forward, his side throbbed sharply and unable to contain it, he let out a faint hiss.
"Here." Ingrid said.
Rex looked up to catch an oran berry that flew to him, "Get that checked out." She added, "We'll go on ahead."
"Just wait a second…" Rex started, "I can keep-"
"Don't worry!" Foster said, jogging over and patting his shoulder. "You can catch up!"
"Foster!" Rex hissed, "Just stop and-"
But it was too late, Foster and Ingrid were already running down the corridor, leaving the Combusken behind as they disappeared into the darkness.
Damn Beldum! How did that thing manage to hit me?! Now Foster is running off to who knows where-
His side throbbing, he knew that steel-type had a good hiding place at least as he bit into the berry and ripped a piece off to rub against his side. Feeling the pain subside, he started to jog after the other mercs, Ingrid did give me an oran, maybe it is just her being numb-
Rex halted in his tracks as he caught a glint from the side room. The one that Ingrid had emerged from. And it wasn't blue.
He took a step back, and saw the pool of blood spreading across the floor. Feeling his limbs tighten, Rex sneaked towards the opening, willing his claws to sharpen, ready to slash at any threat hidden inside.
As he stepped into the entryway, his legs suddenly went wobbly, and he grabbed hold of the wall to hold himself up.
Two corpses lay inside the side chamber, lit under the cracked 'touches' that now allowed white light to shine through. One was the Altaria, his neck bent and twisted at awkward angles.
The second was that of a Bayleef.
She lay on her side, her eyes black and devoid of any life. Deep cuts covered practically every part of her body, her legs, her torso… and one particularly deep slice in her throat.
I-Ingrid!
The revelation shook the fire-type to his core, it didn't matter if Ingrid killed the Altaria in the fight. The aloofness, the chill in that voice… the Pokémon that Foster was with…
They're an imposter!
His heart pounding, Rex sprinted out of the room and into the tunnel, in hot pursuit of Foster and the doppelganger Bayleef.
The tunnel twisted and turned, with only the hum of the strange touches along the walls. His mind was focused on Foster, he knew the Furret didn't think about the risks as much as he did, but he didn't think the normal-type would have ended up in this situation! And who was the imposter? Night Aura? Did they somehow punch through the Mystery Dungeon? But Quintin said it was impossible! Unless they were amongst the bandits or the mercenaries all this time!
Doesn't matter now! I have to get to Foster!
When he finally burst out of the tunnel, his mind suddenly went blank.
He had emerged into a spacious chamber with walls of solid granite, only the walls had glowing cracks running all along them. The floor was smooth underneath him and ran towards a set of low, but large steps that climbed towards a sizeable obelisk at the very top. The obelisk itself was also covered in blue cracks, softly pulsing without any pattern. The roof was now gone entirely, and Rex could see starlight above his head.
The Combusken stared at the scene, only to sharply shake his head. There was no time to waste!
He sprinted up to the steps, sometimes bounding up too at a time. "Foster!" Rex shouted as he ran, "Foster!"
"Rex?" came the bark back, coming from towards the top of the stairs. His heart pounding, he vaulted the last step onto the summit. The large obelisk was surrounded by four smaller ones, unmarked with blue markings. Where the hell are the other mercs? Did they get ambushed or held up?
That was when he saw Foster at the foot of the central obelisk, his fellow mercenary turning to face him. He's alright!
Foster worked up a confused grin, "Hey, what's going on? This place loo-"
That was when crimson blades punched through the Furret's chest.
"Foster!" Rex screamed, reaching out for Foster, too far away to help.
Pain rushed across Foster's face as he gasped for air, slowly being lifted by the crackling blades, his feet hanging limply off the floor. The Furret looked down at the weapons, wheezing as he finally looked back to Rex, his eyes wide and bulging.
"R-Rex…" he stammered.
Then his head dropped and went limp.
Rex could only watch, blood pounding in his ears as Foster's body was thrown aside, revealing Ingrid, the crimson claws retracting away from her leg.
Her eyes now glowed a bright blue as she pulled a mocking smile, "What an idiot."
His entire body twitching, Rex roared, charging for grass-type and leaping into the air, willing the fire to ignite into a new Flame Wheel. "You bastard!"
The Bayleef raised her arm just as his fire-empowered kick connected with a thud, only to be smothered out with a flow of crimson energy.
"W-What!?" Rex squarked, just before something invisible tightened around his feet and threw him back. Wincing, he skidded across the stone floor, glaring at the Bayleef. She should be in agony from that! What the hell is this?!
Laughing, 'Ingrid' inspected her seemingly uninjured arm before slowly walking towards the Combusken. "You think it'd be that easy?"
As Rex clenched his fist, the air around the Bayleef shimmered and with her body distorted… and started to reshape itself. The Combusken went cold as the yellow-green form of the Bayleef was replaced with a grey, fully bipedal form in its place. Red patches of fur and claw covered her body, although that was all overshadowed by the massive, voluminous red mane.
A Pokémon that Rex didn't recognise at all.
"What… what the fuck are you!?" he shouted, unable to make sense of this new form.
The fox-like Pokémon bared her canines into an even more mocking smile, her eyes closed. "I just happen to be a Zoroark." She replied, her eyes opening to reveal cold blue eyes. "I'll give you one chance."
The smile faded away as the Zoroark glared at him, her eyes softly glowing. "Surrender or Die."
Rex felt his claws shake, finding himself looking between her and Foster's still body. His heart pounded harder and unable to hold back his anger, he settled into his fighting stance. "I don't know who you are." He growled, his claws glowing white, "But I'm not going to let you get away with this!"
The Zoroark laughed, crimson light forming around her claws with a click of her fingers. "You have no idea how much I wanted to hear that."
Unable to restrain himself anymore, Rex charged, slicing with his claws.
White and crimson claws clanged against each other, the Zoroark countering with her's. Rex threw Slash after Slash, aiming high and low to try and force her back. But with every strike, she deflected his, unmoving.
She ducked on his tenth swing, sweeping her leg out too fast for him to stop.
His feet were swiped out from underneath him, sending Rex tumbling to the floor. Grunting, he started to stumble up-
Crimson claws rushed down at him, and with a cry, he rolled aside just as the attack stabbed into the rock where he was.
He scrambled back to his feet as the Zoroark glared at him. "I've got to admit, you're doing better than the other mercs."
"What did you do to them!?" Rex questioned venomously; hand pressed against the floor.
She merely shrugged back, "Took a few of them out. The rest should be easy pickings for my partner."
So it's true! She's…
Rex snarled at her, "Team Night Aura."
"Congratulations." She stated, sounding fed up, "You've managed to use more brainpower than most of your kind."
With another screech, Rex scraped his claws into the ground, firing the Rock Throw at her. She pounced upwards, black and blue rings shooting from her arms. Gasping, Rex leapt away from the Dark Pulse, evading the attack.
His heart pounded as he skidded back again, panting for air, She's strong! His legs wobbled as he rose back to his feet, H-How can I beat her?!
He willed his raw strength to flow into his limbs, Alright, Dark Pulse, dark fur, Night Slash, she has to be a dark-type!
Lunging back at her again, he fired off his Double Kick, hoping to catch her with a fighting-type move. She rolled away, his kicks beating into the ground. He swiftly ducked her fresh claws, and retaliated with Brick Break.
His attack connected with her arm, the fox wincing from the blow. Rex didn't grin, trying to will more of that energy through him. Tough enough to take that kind of hit!
With another cry, he tried Brick Break again, but she evaded, forcing Rex t-
Her claws glinted white as she swiped at him, forcing the fire-type back. Then she swiped again and again, pushing him further away. As the Fury Swipes ceased, he tried to throw himself back at her with his own Sla-
Only for her foot to smack into his. Gasping, Rex stumbled, his slash cutting empty space as the Zoroark slipped past. Rex tried to spin back at her.
The Dark Pulse speared into his chest.
Rex screamed as he was thrown off his feet, pain exploding across his body. He sailed through the air, his body slamming into hard rock.
Into the central obelisk.
The blue cracks burst into bright light, energy crackling across the surface… and straight into Rex.
Blue light flared across his vision, agony pulsing through his flesh. He screamed even louder, images flashing through his mind. Symbols, shapes and hieroglyphics burnt themselves into his head, threatening to blow it open.
Seconds felt like an eternity before the energy faded away, releasing him from the obelisk.
Rex hit the floor like a rock, hot enough that he could feel his sweat vaporise from his skin. Dark blobs floating across his vision, Rex tried to push himself up, but his arms wouldn't work, shaking violently as the only thing he could do was weakly look up at the Zoroark, slowly walking towards the wounded Combusken with her crimson claws ignited. Got… gotta… keep… fighting…
But his body was giving up on him, his eyes slowly drifting closed as he fell into darkness…
-ie here.
Rex stirred, W-What?
A young voice chuckled in the darkness, Hold on to your feathers mate. I'm not about to let you die here.
Red light flashed before Rex's eyes.
With a cruel smile on her lips, the Zoroark raised her claws, "Pathetic beast." She purred, as the claws fell onto the still form of the Combusken.
The colours of the rainbow exploded in her face. Snapping a bark, she stumbled back, shielding her eyes from the intense light. "The hell…"
She refocused her gaze on the source.
Rex was now back on his feet, eyes closed as the multicoloured energy flowed around him. His body suddenly became enveloped in white light, and the Zoroark's mouth could only drop as he grew larger, his body changing shape before her eyes.
Like he was evolving. And yet… he wasn't. Not quite.
There was the briefest flash of a teardrop-shaped symbol over Rex's form, and with a final blast of light, he was fully revealed.
The Pokémon that stood in the Combusken's place was covered in red and black feathers, towering over the fox as flame ignited around his wrists. A V-shape crest dominated his angular head, with a hooked beak at the other end.
Raising his leg into a new combat stance, the Mega Blaziken's blue eyes snapped open.
The Zoroark growled at him, claws fully igniting again, "What the fuck is this!?"
Rex glared at her, feeling the newfound power rushing through him, "I don't know." He said, "But it's just what I need to put you down!"
Fire whipped around his legs as he sprung forward, the Flame Wheel-powered kick rushing through the air at her. The Zoroark leapt back, hissing as flame licked at her face. Not stopping, Rex charged in again, throwing attack after attack and forcing his hated foe back. The Zoroark's eyes were bulging, alarm setting in as she tried to slash him back, only for his claws to deflect it away, opening her up.
He didn't even power up a move, opting to slam his fist straight into her chest with a crack. Gasping, she was thrown back, but she managed to keep herself on her feet, sliding back across the ground. He struggled not to smirk, flames erupting from his wrists. Time to finish this!
With a powerful screech, he leapt up, powering up his fire attack as he dove down towards her, ready to strike her down!
The blue shape dashed in front of the Zoroark in the blink of an eye, a blue beam of light spinning in its grasp. Rex could only bark in surprise as his foot struck the spinning bar, sending a jolt running up his leg as he flipped away. As the Mega Blaziken landed, he finally caught a glimpse of the new arrival. A blue-black canine, also bipedal, stood between him and the Zoroark. Grunting, the Pokémon fell to one knee, slamming the ethereal bone in his paws into the floor to hold himself up.
Snarling at the new arrival, Rex willed the flames to reform around him, "Get out of my way!"He roared, ready to strike again.
All that power suddenly rushed out of him, and with a flash of light, Rex felt himself shrink and change within a heartbeat. H-Huh?
Weakly, he lifted his arms to find his original cream limbs. "W-What!?"
The blue ball of energy slammed into his chest like a missile. Air rushed out of his lungs as the world spun and swiftly went dark.
For about ten seconds.
Groaning, Rex's eyes fluttered open, his entire body throbbing. Planting his paws into the ground, Rex pushed himself up to his knees.
A short distance away, the blue canine was helping the Zoroark up. Rex blinked, trying to make sense of the new Pokémon. Where… where have I seen that Pokémon… Lu… Lucario…
"Thanks for the save partner." The Zoroark purred as she rose to her feet.
The Lucario responded with a lightly rough, but gentle voice. "I'm just glad I got here in time." He held up a hefty-looking pouch, "I got what we need. The client will handle the rest. But we need to get moving, more bandits are coming."
"Shame." The Zoroark pouted, "I was looking forward to another scrap."
The two turned away.
Violently shaking, Rex scraped his claws against the floor, "H-Hey! Wait!" he snapped. "We're not finished!"
Team Night Aura turned back to him, the Lucario's brow furrowed, "We've done our job, why should we hang around?"
The Zoroark rolled her eyes, "Come on, let me shut him up." She said, taking a step towards the Combusken, only for the fighting type to block her with one arm, narrowing his eyes at her.
"You… you need to pay for what you've done…" Rex spat, shaking as he tried to get to his feet.
The blue-furred Pokémon's features softened, his eyes drifting off to one side. "I'm sorry about the other mercenaries. It's not personal."
Rex glared at him, "You made it that way…", his insides burning up, wanting to throw himself at them and rip them to shreds!
He looked somewhat hurt at that, only for the Zoroark to cut in, "It's not personal. If you can't handle a few deaths, you shouldn't be here." She leaned in, growling into the Lucario's ear. "Let me kill him. He's going to be a problem."
Slowly, the Lucario shook his head, "What's the point? He can't fight. And the bandits will find him soon enough."
He turned away, "Another time, perhaps."
With that, he started walking away. And with a final glower of her own, the Zoroark moved to join him.
A tremor ran through the Combusken. "Don't you walk away!" he bellowed, trying to step after Night Aura, "I'm not done with you… with…"
His body suddenly weighed like a sack of lead, what was left of his energy fluttering out. His eyes rolled back as he slumped to the floor.
The last thing Rex saw was the face of Foster, his eyes blank and lifeless.
A gentle warmth flowed over Rex, stirring him from the depths of unconsciousness.
As his eyes fluttered open, he found himself looking at a bright sky, the sun shining down at him. Leaves rustled in the wind and he could smell a welcome aroma of wood.
Huh? Where… where am I?
Slowly, Rex sat up to find himself in a large grassy clearing, cut in half by a stream running through. Trees surrounded him and the clearing on all sides, but it was all completely dominated by a single massive tree. This tree's trunk was wider than the entire canopies of its smaller cousins and rose easily more than a hundred metres into the air, likely more.
Rex stared at the giant tree, now feeling very small at the sight of it. Its size was far beyond anything he had ever seen. Far beyond anything he expected from the Air Continent.
"What… what is this place?" he finally stuttered.
"Glad to see you've woken up!"
Something thumped behind him, the Combusken jumping around in shock towards the source.
Standing atop a small boulder by the edge of the river was another Pokémon he did not recognise. A small, bipedal white rabbit with flashes of red-orange fur on his ears and feet.
The rabbit winked an orange eye at him. "How's it hanging?" he asked warmly.
Author's Note: Well holy hell. This one went in a new direction, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter throwing things through a loop.