Chapter 23: Leader of the Element Clan
So here we were inside a cave staring at a very large moonstone that was as big as a… as big as a… well I couldn't really think what was big enough to compare it to the- Onix. It was a big as an Onix being that I thought back to my battle against him, but that wasn't what was important right now, for the reason we came walking into the caves in the first place, besides trying to get to Cerulean, was because we were attacked by a crazy male Clefairy and… you know what? Let's just skip to the part where the culprits that blew holes in the cave showed up in the room with the giant moon stone and gathered about in front of it while we were veered off to their left, hiding in the hole that was made.
Though I was practically looking over towards the group that had made its way into the area, my attention was more focused upon the pokemon that stood before them, getting a better view of him than I could during the night. Though I couldn't see that much of him I could tell that he was quite tall and that he walked upon two legs. It made me wish I could get up close and personal to see just what kind of pokemon he was. As it was, my ears perked up as he began to speak.
"The future," he began. "Those who control their own fates, their own destinies, can write the future history of the new world. And those who enter the new world can make everything their own world, a perfect world to your hearts content. There will be no more feeling afraid of the world, having to fight to survive, not even having to put up with the cruelty humans treat us as. For generations they have enslaved us, made to be rulers over us, but no more. Now, all of human kind shall face the bitter taste of us rising over them. This is our time to rise!" All around hoots and hollers went about in agreement with what this pokemon had said. I for one could not believe what I was hearing exactly. This clan leader pokemon was planning on ruling over the humans like they were some sort of pets? I mean I can understand pokemon being that, but in my own opinion, we are made how we are made, if that made any sense at all.
Once all the cheering died down, the pokemon clan leader continued on. "Now there has been some questioning over what possible reason this moon stone may be able to assist us. Allow me to explain in detail. Once long ago, some time after the earth was created and pokemon were placed onto the earth, a group of alien pokemon made a travel across space and landed on our planet. Their mode of transportation was none other than a giant rock made out from the moon, thus the name moon stone was given and the name Mt. Moon to these mountains."
A pokemon within the crowd suddenly spoke up asking one simple question. "So what does this moon stone have to do with us gaining the powers of all the legendary pokemon?" he asked. Several others spoke up in agreement with him while the clan leader remained unchanged, allowing the pokemon to voice their questioning.
"My friends," he said, his voice strong and clear over the crowd. "Allow me to explain how it all ties together. You see, by taking the moon ship out into outer space, we will watch as humanity destroys itself while we live safely away from the danger that is yet to come. Once all the humans have been purged, we will return and make the world into a better place. Any remaining humans found will be our slaves to serve us. Those foolish enough to get in our way will perish like the rest."
"Um," someone voiced up. "Would that include pokemon who have sided with the humans?"
The clan leader remained silent, probably interested in the question asked. "Having doubts are we?" he asked.
"It's not that," the pokemon responded, sounding quite feminine. "It's just that if we're all going to rule over the humans, wouldn't it be better if we had every pokemon from all over the world join us?"
"If only it were that simple," the clan leader replied. There are those who might stand up togther and wage war to prevent our world from coming to pass. If they are not with us, then they will most certainly be against us."
A low, but very quiet growl began to escape my throat. A lot of this wasn't making a whole lot of sense to me at the moment, but purging out all of mankind to create a perfect world was absolutely absurd and downright appalling one could say. Where would be the joy in wondering what the next day would bring you if you knew what was going to happen the next day?
My growls must have been heard rather well, for I heard Ted say in a low voice, "I take it you've run into this group of pokemon before, haven't you Zack bro?"
I turned about to see Ted, Charcoal, and Cleft all looking at me, all knowing the answer. "Unfortunately," I replied. "Remember back in Viridian Forest when I came walking out like I got into a fight?"
"You were fighting them?" Charcoal said, somewhat surprised.
"Not all of them," I said. "Just this Sneasel who chose death over living. I mean, who would die pointlessly just to keep from going back and getting killed off by this guy when he had the option of just walking away and living life?"
"We're going to need to know everything about this clan, Zack," Charcoal said. "What their goals are and stuff."
"It'll have to be later though," said Ted. "Now isn't the place."
"He's right," Cleft joined in. "You can't let them misuse the power of the moon stone. You have to protect it."
"So you now know that we're not your culprits, eh?" Ted asked with a smirk.
"I'm sorry for doubting you guys," Cleft said as I heard Laura ask my master what was going on in an almost non audible whisper, to which his reply was that he had no clue, but knew that it wasn't good with the way I growled. "It's just, you don't know what it's like to be ganged up upon trying to protect something precious to you and the place you're living in."
"You're right," Ted said. "We don't. But that doesn't mean that we don't feel. Trust me Cleft. Whoever these pokemon are, the three of us will do what it takes to protect your home and your moon stone."
"I suppose that means I'm in too," Charcoal said with a roll of his eyes.
"Right!" I said. "So, any body got a plan?" Fortunately, someone did. Unfortunately, it was someone who had absolutely no idea of what we were in the middle of. I don't know about the others, but my heart instantly stopped as a flash of white light burst out from a pokeball that was on Laura's waist, coming into the form of Skitty.
"Hi guys!" she yelled. "I'm back and ready for-" She stopped, examining her surroundings before sighing with a huff. "Great. More gray. I'm depressed again."
"Who's there?" I heard the clan leader shout. "Show yourselves."
"Not good," Charcoal said. "What do we do?"
"I got this," I said, running out from the shadows and into the light. As expected, all eyes turned upon me as I slowed down to a walk, looking the clan pokemon over. There were quite a lot of them here. Even with Ted, Charcoal, and Skitty being here, we'd still be at a disadvantage against this number. I eventually stopped, my gaze lingering over the group of pokemon I stood before, my eyes diverting themselves over to the group leader himself, getting a full view of him.
I couldn't quite describe what he looked like. He was tall, stood on two legs, had slightly big ears, but definitely not long as mine, and had some sort of weird facial hair right below his nose that curved down about halfway down his body and curved upright slightly. Plus he was holding something that looked like curved circles on a metal stick. Why he was holding them I wouldn't know? I'd have to ask Charcoal later. "So," I said, breaking the silence. "Hope I didn't keep you all waiting."
The clan leader remained silent, his gaze upon me, a smirk appearing on his face. "I have to say," he said at last in that cold, calm, slimy voice of his. "I certainly underestimated your abilities against the Sneasel. I should have figured that he wouldn't have been able to get the job done."
"Yet he sacrificed himself just so he wouldn't return here a failure, am I right?" I asked, my eyes narrowing.
The clan leader chuckled a most silent, yet heinous laugh, a laugh that made my fur stand on end. "You seem to have foresight abut who we are, but not much. True, had the Sneasel return, he'd receive punishment for losing a battle against you. Luckily for him, he met a supposedly better end. Hopefully he didn't suffer much as he would here."
I bared my teeth as he laughed again, snarling as I did. The clan pokemon ceased his laughing almost immediately and glanced at me for a second before diverting his attention over toward where the rest of the gang were hiding. "Hmm," he mused, observing everyone that was in my group. He was silent for a few minutes, smirking again. "Two humans, a Charmander, and a Teddiursa. Quite a unique little group you have there, bipedal creature."
Wait. Laura and my master, Charcoal, and Ted were all that he saw? Where was Skitty? I thought back to an earlier conversation I had with Ted about Skitty going back into her ball whenever she was around gray colors, so I figured that's where she must have been, meaning that whoever this pokemon was, she was not in danger of being known to them. "You leave them alone," I warned him. "This has nothing to do with them."
"Yet they now know of our existing clan," the pokemon said. "Therefore, they must be eliminated along with you." The pokemon then crossed whatever it was he was holding, a Shadow Ball being formed in front of them. My eyes widened as I knew what was about to happen.
"Look out!" I yelled, turning back to look at Ted and Charcoal as the Shadow Ball was fired, aimed straight above them and blasting the ceiling part of the cave. The Shadow Ball must have been powerful, for the entire ceiling came caving down. I watched, though, as Ted grabbed Cleft and jumped through the collapsing rubble, cutting us off from Charcoal and our trainers.
"Charcoal!" I yelled, rushing over once the cave-in subsided. "Charcoal! Can you hear me?"
"Yeah," came a muffled reply back. "We're all okay here. What about your end?"
"Ted and Cleft are fine as well," I shouted back to him. "Think you can make your way through this rubble?"
"Probably not," was Charcoal's reply. "We'll have to find another way around. We'll be there as soon as we can."
"Don't take too long," I said as I turned my attention to Ted and Cleft as they were both getting up. "You guys all right?"
"Perfectly fine, Zack bro," Ted said, brushing the dirt off his fur.
"Cleft? You all right?"
"I've lived through better days," he replied. Like that made any sense.
"Guess it's us then against all of them," I said as I turned my attention back to the clan. I saw the leader talking with someone I didn't know, mainly because they were behind the rock, but that didn't mean I couldn't hear.
"Shall we dispose of these three?" the mysterious pokemon asked. The leader pokemon simply lifted up his hand.
"No need," he said. "No sense in all of us taking them out. I should have seen to it back in Viridian Forest to take care of that bipedal pest. I shall make up for that by dealing with him here. You take the rest of the group onward for our next target."
"Yes sir," the pokemon said. "Attention Element Clan! Please make your way back through the way we came to proceed to our next plan." Ted, Cleft, and I all watched as the group of pokemon began making their way out from the cave, the leader keeping watch as they all walked out, stopping one suddenly.
"You there," he said, referring to an odd looking pokemon. I couldn't quite explain what he was. All that I could tell was that he had some sort of weird hair style going on in the back and… what was up with his mouth? It looked like it zipped up or something.
"Yes?" he questioned.
"I need you to help take care of the Teddiursa for me," the leader said to him. "I'll be dealing with the bipedal creature myself."
"Would you like me to eradicate the Clefairy as well?"
"No need. There's not much he could do anyway."
"As you wish," the pokemon said as he disappeared.
"Where'd he go?" Cleft asked as we all looked around for him. The next thing we all knew, Ted was knocked down, taking a hit to the face, yet there seemed to be no attacker present.
"Ted!" I yelled out, only to be interrupted by the pokemon I was about to face.
"There's no need to worry about your friend, creature," he said. "You'll be soon joining him in the afterlife."
"You can try," I said, receiving a sarcastic chuckle out from him.
"Funny," he said. "Allow me to introduce myself, so that you may know who it is that sent you there. My name is Destiny and I am the end to all things."