Chapter 44: Cruelty Of Fate
Blade found himself strapped to a seat at the front of some sort of landing craft allegedly, seated beside Ashachu and Hunter. The craft was full of several humans. And to his benefit they were no longer using that mind control device on him.
"Entering atmosphere…Speed five per second…Time to deploy…One Minute…"
Porygon's voice filled the cockpit. About an hour after they had been strapped into this tiny dark compartment they had begun to move. Blade first felt it slow, but it began to gain speed quickly.
With the increasing speed and motion of the craft, Blade felt as though the blood had drained from his face, and he was starting to feel as though he'd vomit at any moment.
The other two were fairing little better, Hunter had his eyes screwed shut in an attempt to ignore the motion of the craft. And Ashachu looked like he was gonna be sick.
After a few minutes Porygon's voice returned. "…Parachute deployed…"
Without warning the parachute deployed and the heat resistant shield surrounding the craft fell away. The cockpit was flooded with sunlight. And the sudden release caused the craft to lurch and jolt uncomfortably.
"Here we go," shouted one of the humans. "Brace for levelling out…"
"…Envelope deployed…Levelling out," said Porygon.
Blade, Ashachu, Hunter…and the humans took their first look at the Ultra Jungle…
The sky was a dark navy blue in color. Dark clouds seemed to surround the landing craft. They seemed to have descended into the middle of a storm. A streak of lightning flashed across the sky in the distance.
"Atmosphere 77 percent nitrogen," said the lead human, examining a screen on the panel in front of their seats. "22 percent oxygen, traces of argon gas."
"Just like home," came the voice of a female sitting further behind.
"Just like home," the lead human repeated under his breath, before shouting, "Taking her down another two thousand feet."
The sky outside vanished into a sea of dark blue as the craft dropped through a storm cloud. The inside of the cockpit grew darker – almost as dark as it had been with the heat shield in place.
The darkness was a welcome comfort to the Sneasel. Though his mind was still in a panic.
The cockpit began to shake violently and static filled the air.
"How about this weather," another of the grunts commented. A male. Not that Blade really cared who it was.
The cloud eventually gave way and the surface of the planet came into view for the first time…
Down below was a series of ridges and mountain peaks comprised of black rocks, and between them valleys so deep and dark the bottoms were not visible.
A nervous murmur ran through the cockpit at the reality of their new world set in for the grunts present… "It's so…Barren!"
"Tell me we didn't travel halfway across the galaxy for this!"
The craft flew over a plateau between two mountain peaks. In the middle of this were a series of large monoliths protruding from the surface.
"What are those," Blade heard one of the grunts ask.
"Whatever they are, they're smooth to be naturally occurring. Captain take us down there," said another.
The craft begun to descend even lower, drawing closer to one of the two monoliths. It appeared to be made of stone, like a large rock formation. It could have been natural, except for one thing…
"Just as I thought. Look there…."
"They look like vents!"
Just below the top of the monolith were two square holes, out of which was emitting an eerie blue light and a continuous stream of smoke. As they floated passed, a second monolith right beside it came into view. This one was slightly shorter. Some sort of bridge connected the two.
"That must be a built structure of some kind. Captain put us down on top…"
The craft came to rest lightly just at the edge of the monolith. Six claws anchored it to the rocky surface…
Blade and the other two experienced the humiliation of being dragged from the seat and tied to the end of long leases. Their paws and claws remained bound to prevent them from escaping.
Then they were dragged from the cockpit by the same female grunt from earlier, through the body of the craft and out of an airlock at the rear onto the surface of the planet. They weren't given a spacesuit or any other protective equipment.
"It's not needed," their leader replied when another grunt asked him. "Atmospheric composition similar to earth. The air's breathable."
The ground was hard under paw and the air felt heavy, dry and full of static. Blade's fur puffed and frizzled making him suddenly look a lot fluffier. It had the same effect on the riolu. It might have been funny had the situation not been so dire.
Blade glanced below. The area below was filled with strange lights.
"What do you suppose those are," Ashachu murmured to the other two, gesturing with a flick of his ear. With his paws bound he couldn't point.
"No idea," Hunter replied before their handler gave a nasty tug on the lease.
"Hey you! No talking!"
The grunts spread out around the surface of the monolith. Pieces of equipment, both large and small, from handheld devices to giant box like structures were removed from the landing craft.
"There's an awful lot of static in the atmosphere. We seem to be in the middle of some kind of giant electric storm."
"The ground seems to be comprised of a kind of metal like substance. There's no way it can be naturally occurring."
"The seismograph readings appear to indicate this structure is hollow. Vickers I think you're right. This has to be constructed."
"Hey Vickers, what do you suppose this is?"
Their handler dragged the three Pokémon as she went over to assist the captain in examining what looked like a dead tree in the middle of the monolith…
"Strange isn't it," said the leader.
But on inspection however, it did not appear to be a tree at all.
"It looks like a mass of cables," Vickers observed.
"A mass of cables growing out of the ground?"
"Hmmm." Vickers reached out and placed her hand on the trunk. "Feels like. Almost like rubber.
"We've got to get out of here," he whispered to the other two urgently.
"Tell me something I don't know," Hunter replied through gritted teeth.
"That thing," said Ashachu. "I've seen it before. It's an ultra-beast."
Blade had been silent for the entire time, but the words Ultra Beast, didn't sound like something someone should stick around to see.
"Quite!" Vickers yanked on the lease once again pulling all of them off their feet. "What do you make of it, Captain?"
"I make of it that you were right. This is definitely a structure of some kind. Question is who made it."
"Suggest we get some samples."
"You can't touch that," Ashachu shouted urgently, getting back to his paws. "That things dangerous. It's an…Yahh."
She kicked him hard in the face. Ashachu yelped as pain exploded through his head and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"HEY," growled Hunter. "Leave him alone, you bully. You…. Gak"
Were it not for the restraints, Blade would be tearing into her already.
Vickers bent down and picked Hunter up by the scruff of his neck, gripping it tightly. Hunter flailed, swinging his feet to try and kick her, but without success.
"Listen here Riolu. You're not with your precious trainers anymore. So you and your furball love better behave yourselves, or I might just have you thrown from this cliff. Understand."
"Fuck you!"
"UNDERSTAND." She squeezed Hunter's neck tighter, cutting off his air.
Ashachu and Blade watched in horror as he spluttered and gasped.
Blade may not know him well, but even so, he was someone Ashachu, or as blade knew him, Hikari held dear. It only angered him further.
"Understand," Hunter choked after a moment.
"Good." She released him and he dropped back to the ground.
Blade could feel rage boiling in the air, not his own, he looked to Ashachu. The Pikachu was clearly seething with rage.
"You shouldn't have done that," he growled.
Ashachu and Hunter at that moment each emanated a strange power within them. Their bodies became shrouded in pillars of light.
Blade's eyes widened in shock at the sight, such power, it was, overwhelming.
"What the hell is going on?"
As soon as it had come the light faded and it was no longer Ashachu and Hunter standing there…Well it was, but they had changed.
Ashachu had become a Raichu…But not just any Raichu. His fur had taken on the same colour and pattern as Hunters. Jet blue and with black around the ears and paws. And Hunter had become a yellow Lucario with brown stripes.
The chains and collars binding them had broken and now lay in pieces on the floor.
"No way!" Vickers exclaimed.
And that was the last thing she ever said…
Hunter pushed her back, and she stumbled over the edge of the monolith. There was a terrible scream as she fell.
"Shit!" The captain reached for a Pokéball, but he wasn't fast enough.
Ashachu pounced on him, tackling him and letting loose a powerful bolt of electricity. He was dead before hitting the ground.
But the lightning bolt had done something else. The sparks and thrown and struck the strange tree like thing. At once the spiky dome thing begun to glow…
From there everything seemed to happen in slow motion…
Ashachu and Hunter wheeled themselves around to face the rest of the team flare grunts who had gathered round them, preparing to fight. But before any of them could draw a Pokéball or a weapon, their eyes simultaneously widened, and expressions of fear crossed their collective faces.
Ashachu glanced over his shoulder and saw what had frightened them. The ultra-beast had come to life. It was raising two cord like arms. Small strips of copper protruded from the ends like claws and sparks emanated from it.
"RUN!" He shouted.
Hunter nodded, picking Blade up by the scruff of the neck and following him toward the landing craft…it was their only refuge.
Had Blade not been so amazed and stunned by the sudden display, he would have felt humiliated by being carried in such a way.
The humans realised this too. Unfortunately for them, none had the speed of a Pokémon. Hunter pushed two of them over on his way past…their screams echoed around the monolith.
There was a lever beside the entrance to the airlock. Hunter pressed it and the double set of doors sealed behind them leaving the grunts outside to scream and bang on the outside of the craft.
"That was incredible. How did you guys do that," Blade asked in disbelief as Hunter freed him before both he and Ashachu slumped against the floor.
"I don't know," Ashachu replied examining his blue paws.
"We evolved," said Hunter. "That can't be right. Lucario's are blue."
"This has happened to us before. That time with Entei remember."
Hunter looked confused for a moment before comprehension dawned on his face. "Oh yeah!"
"I'll tell ya what it was," said Blade, a large grin forming on his face. "That was you're instinct kid." Though he had to admit, this talk of Entei confused him, as though he were seeing part of a story he'd never read.
Ashachu coxed his head. "What!"
"The two of you were acting like wild Pokémon. Trusting your instinct rather than waiting for a trainer to tell you what to do. Doing what it takes to protect yourselves and you're loved ones. Great job."
Ashachu and Hunter looked at each other.
"Ya even took care of the humans…"
Ashachu looked over at the airlock. Through the tiny windows he could see a bloody handprint on the exterior. And his sensitive ears could just pick up the tortured screams. A wave of worry came over him.
"Hunter should we…Help them!"
Hunter snorted at the question and shook his head vigorously. "No way! Help the people who kidnapped us, tortured us and tried to kill us. I don't think so. Besides I'm not going back out there with that thing?"
"But Hunter…They could die."
"Better them than us!"
"You're boyfriend here's right," said Blade. "Fuck 'em." The Sneasel was used to making choices like this, he'd been forced to live his life by making these sorts of decisions, or being the victim of them.
Bang
The craft suddenly shook violently.
"Uhhh…Just how sturdy is this thing!"
"We gotta get out of here," said Hunter.
They raced through the craft back to the cockpit…and saw to their horror the ultra-beast at the windshield, bashing on the glass with its claws. There were flashed of yellow as it let off its electric type attacks.
"Oh fuck," said Ashachu, his body beginning to shake. "Anyone got any bright ideas."
"We fly away. Come on how hard can this thing be!"
Hunter threw himself into the pilot's seat and started pressing at the panel of controls in front of him…nothing happened.
The craft continued to shake as the thing outside struck it, again and again.
"Porygon," Blade shouted. "Can you hear us? Get us out of here?"
The image of Porygon appeared on a small screen in the middle of the panel in front of Hunter.
"Negative," they heard it say. "You do not have authority to issue that command."
"Oh ya fucking kidding me," Blade swore. Humans always made things so complicated.
And then they heard another voice over the crafts speakers. "Hey you! Pokémon."
Ashachu's ears twitched. "Who's that?"
"One of the grunts," Hunter suggested.
"Just ignore it," said Blade. Looking around and thinking of a way to get out of this.
"Pokémon! Can you hear me? If you can hear me say something."
"We can hear you," Ashachu answered. "Who are you?"
"My name's Noomi. Please, if you Pokémon…"
"Pokémon! We have names you know," snapped Hunter impatiently.
"Right. Raichu. And Lucario…"
"Actually, my names Hunter," said Hunter. "And my friend's name is Ashachu."
"Right…Hunter. Please, don't let me die out here?"
Blade was too lost in thought to catch Hunter using Ashachu's real name
"Why not!" Hunter retorted. "You were going to kill us."
"No, we weren't," came Noomi's desperate reply. "We were…"
"You kidnapped us. Froze us. Tied us up. Hell, you're boss even cut off Ashachu's tail!"
"I didn't do that," shouted Noomi. "I had nothing to do with any of that."
Hunter rolled his eyes. "You're part of team flare, aren't you." There was a definite note of irritation his voice now.
There was another cry from the ultra beast outside and the craft shook more violently.
"I have command privileges," said Noomi. "If you let me aboard I can fly this thing."
"How do I know you're not lying," was Hunter's reply.
Ashachu made his way to the airlock.
Hey wait, what are you doing," cried out Blade. The Sneasel stuck out a claw to stop him, but Ashachu brushed it off.
"Ashachu," said Hunter spinning around in his seat. "Wait, stop."
Ashachu ignored him to. He raised himself onto his hind legs and studied the control panel beside the airlock door. The mechanism worked so as to enable access in and out of the craft while it was in the vacuum of space. A single green button read
Open exteiror door
"Ashachu, what are you doing?"
Ashachu looked over his shoulder to see Blade and Hunter staring at him with wide-eyed incredulous expression.
"You can't let her in here," exclaimed Blade. "Not after everything those humans have done." Normally hearing the false name Hikari had taken would bother Blade, but given the situation it was the last thing on his mind.
"Yeah Ashachu, just look at your tail."
Ashachu glared at them. "We can't just leave her out there to die. And beside without one of them, we can't operate this flying machine. We'll be stuck here."
"Yeah, but we don't know if she's telling the truth about being able to operate it," said Hunter. "And they tried to kill us."
Ashachu shook his head. "That doesn't mean we should be as bad as them."
"Ashachu. Don't…"
Ashachu pressed his paw on the green button. Blade reacted too slow to stop him. The exterior door, slid open, and the woman stepped inside. The door slid shut behind her.
"You moron…" Blade shoved Ashachu aside and examined the panel and found what he was looking for.
Interior door – open – lock
Blade locked the interior door. Through the small window the three Pokémon watched as the woman attempted to open the door, pulling the latch.
After a few tries, they heard her shout, "If you don't let me in, I can't pilot the craft!"
"Nice try," replied Hunter. "But we both know its voice activated. You can tell Porygon to take off."
There was another violent tremble…
She sighed. "Okay." She cleared her throat then shouted, "Porygon. Ascend!"
*A Short While Later*
Ashachu and Hunter had returned to their ordinary Pikachu and Lucario forms. Their immense power had worn off. Ashachu seemed disappointed. Now he was just a tired Pikachu with half a tail…Lost on this strange world.
"They're called Xurkitree," said the woman in the airlock. Through the small window she had seen Ashachu staring out of the porthole. "An electric type ultra beast."
The craft was slowly rising higher and higher in the sky. Once it reached the appropriate altitude above the storm, it would be able to activate its boosters and launch back into space.
"Did anyone say you could speak," barked Hunter.
"How do you know that," asked Ashachu, wrenching his eyes away from the porthole.
"I was a researcher for the Aether Foundation," she explained. "I used to research ultra beasts. And I've seen one of these before. They found one absorbing electricity from the geothermal power plant in Alola."
Aether, Blade hadn't had much interaction with them. More with one of their employees, so he wasn't too knowledgeable about Aether.
"So are they dangerous?"
"Not if unprovoked. They feed off electricity and there's more than enough of it from the storm to satisfy them. We should be safe up here. This is the ultra plant. It's the Xurkitree's home world…we aren't supposed to be here."
"No shit," replied Hunter, gritting his teeth.
"You brought us here," added Ashachu.
Through the small window to the airlock they saw the woman shake her head. "No. The centurion was supposed to be programmed to take us to a world called the ultra jungle. An earth like planet. It was supposed to be team flare's new home. Not this place. This world can't support any life other than the Xurkitree."
"Great…" said Hunter sarcastically.
Blade was tired of her voice, and if he could have he'd have shut her up already. But he relaxed himself.
*A Short Time Later, Aboard the Centurion*
Shadow had freed himself, Pyre, and Meowth and began making his way back to the command bridge of the ship.
He reached the command bridge and targeted one of the many men in the room teleporting behind him.
"Mr Logan. Look out," a voice shouted, but it was too late.
Shadow had seized the man by the back of the head, and his jaw. With a sudden, sickening snap the man's head was turned completely around.
There was a shout as the other grunt, adjacent to the one Shadow had killed, jumped from his seat and ran for an exit and the captain shouted, "how the hell did you get out."
"You foolish humans," said Shadow coldly, turning around to face the captain. "No cage can contain me!"
"We'll see about that." Without leaving his grand chair, the captain produced a Pokéball. There was a flash of light and a Mightyena materialized between the two of them. "Mightyena. Use Bite."
Mightyena threw itself forward. At the same time a voice crackled over the radio.
Shadow caught the Mightyena by the throat and gripped it by the snout. He gazed into Mightyena's eyes as he grabbed it's lower jaw. And without breaking eye contact pulled down hard tearing the lower jaw off leaving a gushing stream of blood as he dropped it to the ground.
Meowth and Pyre stood in the doorway to the corridor, watching in horror.
Shadow pulled the man from his seat and took him by the hand. Slowly the Darkrai lifted him into the air and held him over the chair. With two swift kicks, Shadow had pushed both his legs against the chair and forced the bones out the back of his knees. He dropped him back into the chair and took hold of his hand again. With one claw, the Darkrai began to peel the fingernails from the man's hand. Horrific screams erupted from him as one after the other Shadow took his fingernails, swapping hands moments after finishing with the first.
'My legs, the nerves are gone, I can't even feel them.' His screams went unheard by the Darkrai in front of him. 'but my fingers, the pain, my nails, torn off, I can barely….'
Shadow kept holding his hand as he took his index and middle finger on his right hand, and snapped the bones backwards at each joint. He proceeded to do the same with his ring and pinky fingers. Each joint snapping easily under Shadow's claws. And he did the same with the other hand once more.
"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" The man screamed at the top of his lungs at each snap of the joints in his fingers. 'can't feel my hands, barely think all I can do is…'
His screams were music to Shadow's ears. He pulled one finger until he ripped it clean off. And the Darkrai pulled the longest bone from said finger, snapping it in half and slowly stabbing the more jagged of the two pieces of it into his right eye.
'can't….see…. can't breathe….'
Shadow pulled out the claw he took from Cleave and cut the man's chin, then dragged the claw up the left side of his head, then around his forehead, then down the right side of his face. Shadow put away the claw as he took the man's head in his claws, hooking his claws into the incisions and tearing the man's face off.
'I can't even scream anymore…why won't someone help me?!'
Shadow watched on as he drove his claw into the man's throat, twisting until the man audibly choked, until his body went limp and the man slumped in the chair dead.
Meowth threw up from the sight. The cat turned his back to the Darkrai and vomited.
*With Blade*
"This is the Centurion calling the landing craft…I repeat this is the centurion calling the landing craft…we are under attack from the Pokémon Nation Military. Do not attempt to return…I repeat. Do not attempt…. Ahhhh…."
"…End of transmission," said Porygon as the brief but horrible message ended with the screams of some random humans.
There was silence for a moment before Blade voiced the question gnawing at the back of everyone's mind. "So what do we do now?"
"…If they're human military and they're attacking team flare then maybe it's a rescue party," Hunter suggested hopefully.
"But we don't know that for sure," Blade replied, biting his lip. "Oh Arceus, I hope Shadows okay." He was genuinely worried about the Darkrai.
"Well I'm not going up there to get arrested," came the woman's voice from the airlock chamber.
"I don't think anyone asked you," muttered Hunter.
Unfortunately for Hunter, and the rest of the Pokémon, what the sole human aboard said next made it clear that didn't matter.
"Porygon, abort liftoff. Descend ten thousand feet."
"Lift off aborted."
"Hey." Hunter wrapped his paw angrily on the door to the airlock. "We didn't say to do that! Don't make me come in there."
"Oh no I'm not going back up there to be killed," she declared. "And I'd be careful Riolu. You still need me to operate this contraption. Or you're stuck here!"
Hunter growled and shook his paw, but had nothing else to say. She was right.
Fortunately, though, Blade had an idea.
"What we need to do is get a message to the humans up there," the Sneasel said. Blade didn't have much optimism toward humans, but it was better than letting this woman doom them. "If they really are there to rescue us, they'll come save us."
"And if not," asked Hunter.
Ashachu grabbed hold of his ears and groaned. "I don't want to think about it."
"Hey Porygon," shouted Hunter. "Can we send a message back to the Centurion, or do we need her to do it."
"You have radio privileges," the computer data Pokémon replied over the crafts intercom.
"Yes!" Hunter did a little paw pump in the air. "Okay then send the following message to the Centurion. Uhhh…This is the…whatever the fuck this thing is…this is Hunter the Riolu, Ashachu the Pikachu and Blade the Sneasel. Our trainers are Cameron Kotetsu and Ash Ketchum. Team Flare kidnapped us. We're trapped on the…errr…insert location there…. And we need help!"
"Affirmative. Message recorded. Transmitting message…"
As the craft descended back through the storm clouds, a great mountain came into view. Rocky barren and grey, like the rest of the monoliths and the canyons of this world, but with a key difference.
In the middle of the rock face, was the entrance to what appeared to be a single cave, from which a strange red light was glowing?
It was the woman who had noticed it. She commanded Porygon, "initiate landing sequence, point twenty six degrees…"
Hunter banged on the airlock door angrily. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?"
Ashachu felt an increasing sense of unease. Blade just folded his arms and shook his head… whatever she had planned, Blade could tell shed likely die if she tried it.
The landing craft came to rest on edge of the ledge beside the cave entrance. There was a hissing sound as the woman disengaged the exterior airlock door and jumped off.
Hunter groaned. "Oh fuck. Where's she going?"
"Dunno but we'd better get her back," Blade replied bitterly. "She's the only one who can fly this stupid thing…" they still needed her, whether they liked it or not.
But by the time the three Pokémon managed to get out of the airlock, she had disappeared.
"Damnit. Where'd she go," exclaimed Hunter.
"Could she have climbed down the side of the cliff," Ashachu wondered. He poked his head over the ledge.
The rocky face was quite steep with many jagged edges. Without knowing the move rock climb, he imagined it would have been hard, if not impossible for himself or the other two to climb down, but he supposed a skilled enough human might be able to.
"Well I'm not going after her, is she did," said Blade, seemingly having the same thought as Ashachu. Blade kicked the ground angrily with his paw. "Great! We're stuck here!"
"N-not to worry," said Ashachu, more to reassure himself than anyone else. "We got that distress signal out. They'll come and rescue us. They have to." The alternative was too scary to contemplate – starving to death on this desolate rock. Or, be killed by ultra beasts.
"I'm not betting on it," muttered Blade, making Ashachu's stomach turn over.
"I think we ought to check out that cave," said Hunter, pointing to the rocky opening.
"Hunter, I don't think that's a good idea." Ashachu reached out to try and stop him walking off, but Hunter just brushed his paw away.
"Fine, I'll check it out by myself."
"No wait!" Ashachu hurried after him, followed by a shrugging Blade.
Better to follow them than to be left alone with these ultra beasts.
The cave was shallow in the middle of the rock face and it was barely large enough for the three Pokémon to fit in. The source of the red light was a small fire burning in the middle, on a pile of twigs and tree branches.
The cave also contained a single occupant…
Blade's jaw dropped as his eyes locked on to him. "N-no…Y-you can't be here."
Ashachu looked at him curiously. "Blade? What's going on?"
"Hmmm." Hunter shuffled around the fire to take a closer look at the sleeping creature. "Hey, what do you know, its another Sneasel? No wait, Sneasel don't have crests…It's the other one. Evolved form."
"You mean a Weavile," said Ashachu, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
"That's the one…Hmmm. He looks hurt." Hunter inspected the sleeping Weavile closer.
There were several bruises, lacerations and a large amount of swelling across its face and chest, and it seemed to be missing part of its right paw.
Blade shook his head, completely in denial. "No No this isn't right. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD, YOU BASTARD!"
Hunter and Ashachu gaped at him.
"Blade," said Hunter incredulously.
"Do you know this Pokémon," asked Ashachu.
Blade let out a heavy sigh. He was panting heavily. Why was fate this cruel. "Yeah I know him alright. That's Cleave. And he's my father…"