I
Incinermyn
RE: Dark Nostalgia: Biohazard (Chapter Six/Part One Up: 5/15/2013)
This forum is crapping out on me and I cannot post the rest of the chapter right now. I'll try again in the morning.
Chapter Six: Mechanisms
Chip awoke slowly as he stretched out his long mustelid body out across the leaves that made up his bed. As he opened his eyes, the ermine looked around the small hut he called home.
It was a simple dwelling for the young Pokémon, consisting of a single room about three-meters wide with domed ceiling about eight-feet high. There were windows in each of the cardinal directions of the cottage’s walls, save the eastern face that had doorway with a drape hanging in front of it for privacy. Towards the south part of the hut, he had a small cupboard that Katherine had made him to store berries along with a short table in front of it, on which he kept his trainee toolbox and miscellaneous items he’d taken out of it the night before.
Standing up and shaking some dust off his pelt, the Weasinge pawed the amulet around his neck to make sure it hadn’t fallen off overnight. When he reassured himself it was still on, he headed over to his food cabinet, scooped up a few berries out of the container’s top bin with his right foreleg, and then set them on the table to eat. He gobbled his breakfast up quickly and decided to take out some more of his larder to take with for the day. After packing them into his case, Chip pulled the strap over his shoulder and headed out the door.
With his hut located in the southeast part of Pokémon Square, he had to travel partway through town to reach the main road. On the way, he zigzagged between random houses as to not catch the attention of his neighbors whom might be out at this hour. The sun was only just starting to raise on the horizon, so the last thing he wanted to do get caught up in a conversation when he wanted get to the Pelipper Post Office before Commander Kent and Seraph arrived.
Upon reaching the main road, he saw the Skunanne approaching from the distance. She had a small brown satchel slung over her right shoulder and a pink bandana around her neck. As soon as she stepped onto the pavement, Seraph turned her head sideways and gave him a small grin. He noticed that her hair was now tied into a ponytail with a pink bow in it to match her Pecha Scarf.
“You’re up early…” she said to him.
“You…you too?” he replied blushingly, “You look beautiful for your first day on a rescue team!”
“Ah, yeah… The ponytail was Kathy’s idea. She thought it’d keep my hair out of the way, and I personally don’t mind it. I used to keep my locks tied back when hunting anyway. The bow’s a nice touch, eh?”
“It looks adorable!” he said cheerfully.
“A little childish, though… I haven’t worn one since I was a Skunette.”
“Nonsense! It goes great with your Pecha Scarf.”
“Yeah, she said I’d want it in case we got caught against Poison-type Pokémon.”
“Well, I’m not sure where the job is going to take us today, but it’s always nice to have one anyways.”
She nodded and then said, “Thanks. Now shouldn’t we go meet up with that Zoroark?”
“Oh!” he replied, “Yeah, we should get going.”
Afterwards, he led her northward to middle of town, where they then turned to head towards the cliff that the Pelipper Post Office was located on. As the building came into view, Seraph caught a glimpse of the Obseon who was responsible for her capture yesterday. The phantasmal fox floated quietly above the ground while reading the bulletin board alongside the path leading to the Rescue Corps headquarters.
Once the two got near him, the gray ghost grinned cockily and said, “Well, look what the cat dragged!” He then stared at Seraph with his head slanted to accentuate the glare of his glowing red eyes. Seraph huffed and turned her nose up at him.
“Oh, you’re here early, Charon…” Chip mumbled as he looked away from the Obseon out of embarrassment.
“What was that, Cadet?” Charon sneered as he suddenly rushed Chip to shock the weasel into locking eyes with him.
“N-nothing… I just didn’t expect to see you here this early,” the Weasinge quivered.
“Hey, jack*ss! Knock it off!” Seraph demanded.
Charon looked at her spitefully and said, “You don’t have much of a place to talk, little girl! This little traitor only caused us all headaches yesterday, so I’m seeing that he gets the treatment he deserves.” Seraph immediately clawed at his throat with her Night Slash. The phantom squealed horribly, backing away out of fear.
“Seraph, what did you do that for?” Chip whined.
“Tch, don’t defend him!” she replied, checking her claws, “He deserves it after that bullcrap.”
“But he’s a Gold-rank officer! You can’t just go and attack him.”
“Damn, that hurt!” Charon said as he shirked off the pain of her attack, “How come your Night Slash is so freaking powerful? I haven’t taken a hit like that in years, even from actual Dark-type Pokémon.” In awe, he got close to her face and looked her curiously in the eye.
“Back off or I’ll do it again,” she threatened him.
“No, you don’t understand. It takes a lot to actually hurt me. If you can pull off attacks that strong, you’ve earned my respect!” Seraph turned her nose up at him again.
He smiled a little and continued, “I see we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot… My name’s Charon, the leader of Team Hellfire. Sorry for the rough handling yesterday, but I’ve got an image to maintain. If you ever need help with something, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Are you sincere about that, or are you just afraid of me now?” she then asked him. Charon backed away from her slightly, and then glanced at Chip for a brief moment. The Weasinge looked back at him inquisitively. Afterwards, the Obseon vanished into thin air in order to flee.
“That’s what I thought…” Seraph snickered a few moments after he was gone.
“Why did you do that?” Chip asked her again.
“Chip, you need to show a little backbone if you’re going to make it as a rescue team leader. I went through a lot of the same things when I worked as part of the Exploration Corps down south.” Chip groaned at her remark for a long moment, but then nodded to acknowledge she’d gotten her point across.
“Well, that was impressive. I can’t say that I commend your actions, though, Seraph,” Kent said as he stepped out from behind the bushes on the far side of the Rescue Corps bulletin board.
Seraph cocked her head sideways and thought, ‘He was right there the whole time?’
“Commander Zoltaine…” Chip whimpered as he nervously approached his mentor.
“I agree that it’s about time Charon got put in his place, but outright attacking him isn’t acceptable amongst rescue team members. We’re all supposed to be on the same side.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever…” she replied, looking her claws over for dirt as she walked up to the Zoroark.
“Chip,” Kent then said as he looked at his protégé, “You need to show more assertiveness around Charon and Team Hellfire, or they’ll never show you any kind of respect.”
“I’ll try to from now on, sir,” the Weasinge sighed.
“Now then,” Kent continued, “It took most of the night, but I finished the proper paperwork and Seraph will be acquitted of all charges so long as she completes her community service for the next several weeks.” He then reached into his crimson dreadlocks and pulled out a small badge-like object. After he handed it to her, the Skunanne looked it over carefully in her paw. The metallic emblem consisted of a bluish-white oval flanked by a pair of three-feather wings.
“That badge certifies you as a trainee member of my rescue squad. Make sure you don’t lose it!” She nodded at him and stowed the item in her new shoulder bag.
“Coincidentally,” he then said, reaching into his hair again, “I’ve also been permitted by Captain Retford to return two of your tools to you, on the condition that you don’t use them to attack anyone in town.” The Zoroark then pulled out her Luna Fang and her fractured buckler. He handed them over to her, a little leery-eyed. She bowed graciously and accepted them back without a word.
Seraph inspected her shield to see just how much damage it took from Sirocco pecking at it yesterday. The split down the center of the wooden backside could comprise its integrity if it took any more hits like that again. On the front side, though, she noticed that the peacock had completely punctured the leather binding her buckler in several spots. With that, she knew that the object was worthless now.
“Did you by any chance make that? I have to say that the craftsmanship is quite good, considering it’s a wooden shield,” Kent said to her. Afterwards, he reached into his locks yet again to pulled out an oval-shaped shield forged from iron. The object had a pair of eyes etched into its center as a type of insignia.
“I prefer iron ones myself because they have better durability. Not a lot of bipedal Pokémon have the physical strength to carry them like me, though.”
“Pardon me if I sound rude, but how much stuff can you hide in your dreadlocks like that?” Seraph interrupted, “Do you have some sort of pouch hidden in there or something?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what he’s got in there, Seraph!” Chip replied laughingly.
“Actually, that IS where I hide my duffle bag for long journeys,” Kent explained, “You see, I rely heavily on the arts of illusion and concealment. If an attacker can’t see that I’ve got tools on-hand, it’s that much easier for me to defend myself.”
“Wait, seriously? When Chip said you hide your supplies in your hair, I thought it was just some kind of stupid joke.” Chip and Kent both shook their heads.
“Okay, then…” she muttered embarrassedly.
After a short moment of silence, Chip finally asked, “What is today’s mission, sir?”
“Right,” Kent said, looking at the bulletin board off to his side. He pointed at the various memos pinned to it until he came across the one he was looking for. Then, the Zoroark ripped it off and read it briefly.
“A few days ago,” he continued, “A Yamask named Ramses was exploring ancient ruins he’d discovered with his father recently. Apparently, they were doing some excavating when an unknown assailant attacked the two in the depths of the temple. Ramses escaped, but his father is being held hostage by the entity. He needs our help to rescue his dad.”
“And you just picked that mission off the board…at random?” Seraph asked.
“Well, Seraph,” Kent replied, “It’s not like these are exactly sent directly to specific rescue teams. Missions are fair game for anyone, not just you guys.”
“Where exactly is this temple? Also, doesn’t it say anything about what creature the kid encountered?”
“The temple is located in a region called Meradai Wastes, a desert a ways to the southeast of here.”
“A DESERT?” she screamed, “How far away is it exactly?”
“About one hundred miles,” Chip told her.
“How the hell do you propose we get there then? Walk?” she then hollered, “That will take us days, if not weeks!”
“Geez! Settle down!” Kent ordered as he reached into his hair again. After fumbling around with objects in his concealed satchel, he finally found the item he was searching for and pulled it out. The object appeared to be a large blue topaz that had been cut into a curved triangular shape. Kent had a rope tied around the gem so he could wear it around his neck as jewelry.
“This is a Teleport Stone. Lord Sly entrusts top-level rescue teams with these after they’ve proven their worth to him. This is how we’ll be getting to the desert, Seraph.”
“Speaking of Sly, what’s up with him?” she responded smugly.
“What do you mean?” Kent asked her.
“Well, he’s a giant snake living in a tiny pond. Doesn’t that seem a little…awkward?”
“I can’t say much, but Lord Sly isn’t exactly a Pokémon of this world…” he tried to explain.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“He is partially a Ghost-type. Ghost Pokémon don’t fully exist in this realm. In fact, Lord Sly comes from a different world entirely…or so he’s claims…”
“Where does he come from then?”
“He exists in a rift between realities that he calls The Nexus, okay!” Kent blurted out, “He really doesn’t want other Pokémon to know that, though, because he says it can change the structure of his domain entirely.”
“What does that mean?” she demanded, now that she was suddenly getting answers to some questions that had been bugging her since she met Sly.
“Enough!” he retorted, “I really don’t understand this stuff myself, much less know everything about what he described to me when I first met him.”
Shaking his head, Kent held out his Teleport Stone and explained, “This gem is supposedly formed when powerful Psychic and Ghost Pokémon will it into existence. It allows others to instantly warp to wherever they need to go, which is why it’s a particularly crucial object for experienced rescue team leaders to own. It allows us to deploy teams faster when they’re needed far away and urgently.”
“So we’ll be able to get to that temple pretty quickly,” Chip added cheerfully.
“I don’t know… I’ve always been a little suspicious of teleporting…” Seraph said, gripping her knife tightly.
“There’s nothing to it. I just think of the place we need to go, and we’re there!” Kent told her. Immediately afterwards, his gemstone glowed brilliantly. Then, the flash consumed the entire area.
Within seconds, Seraph heard the sound of howling winds all around her. She was blinded by sand blowing into her face. The Skunanne closed her eyes and put her Pecha Scarf over her maw to avoid getting dirt in her nostrils from the dust storm they’d suddenly found themselves in.
“What happened? I thought we were going to teleport into the temple,” she heard Chip cry out.
“It’s not an exact science. In any case, we need to get out of this sandstorm immediately!” Kent ordered.
Unable to see them, Seraph focused her telekinesis to sense out their presences instead. Both Chip and Kent were mere feet from her, but it seemed like they were beginning to move away from one another. Emitting a weak pulse forward, the Skunanne sensed that there was a large pit straight ahead of them with a small opening into a cavern near its farthest point.
“There’s a cavern about ten meters dead ahead. Move forward away from my voice and we should make it!” she then shouted.
“Got it!” the two replied. She then trudged forward through the sand, hoping that they were going the same direction. After several moments of walking downhill, she felt the soil under her feet suddenly turn into solid rock and noticed that the winds died down as soon as she entered the presumed chasm she’d detected.
Seraph lowered her mask and opened her eyes to see that she was now inside the darkened entrance of an ancient ruin. Gazing back, she saw the silhouettes of Chip and Kent as they struggled to head towards the large rectangular entryway, through which sand occasionally blew in from the outside. As soon as they entered, the two dropped to the floor and tried to catch their breath.
“Damn, that was intense…” Kent slurred, “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a sandstorm that bad before…”
“No kidding, sir?” Chip replied as he slowly tried to stand up. Shaking the dirt off his pelt, he approached Seraph with a bit of concern.
“How did you know there was a cave here?” he then asked her.
“I didn’t. I just sensed it using ESP.”
“Oh…”
“Chip!” Kent coughed, “Mind providing some light?”
“You mean, take off my amulet?” the weasel replied, pawing the trinket around his neck.
“At least until we can find a torch or something.”
“Alright, then…” Chip took off his charm and stowed it in his case, the strap of which he then slid off his neck to avoid burning it. Multicolored flames ignited down his backside and the room was instantly illuminated.
The massive chamber appeared wholly rectangular with sandstone bricks comprising everything from the floor, walls, and ceiling to the ornate columns supporting the roof every ten feet or so. Near the center of the room, there seemed to be an enormous hole built as a chute into the depths of the ruins. On the opposite side of the pit, the three could see the entrance to a large corridor that led further into the ruins.
“Whoa… This is amazing!” Chip shouted with glee. He quickly approached the middle of the entry room to look down into the shaft leading down into the temple. Lying down aside the rim, the Weasinge stuck his head over the end and gazed into the darkness with awe.
“How deep do you think this is?” he then asked, wagging his tail back and forth excitedly, “I can hardly imagine what must be down there!”
Seraph started looking around and noticed that the walls were inscribed with some ancient type of cuneiform. Upon closer examination, she recognized it as the writing style her father had taught her to use as a child.
“How strange…” she finally said, “I had no idea that this type of scribing existed outside my former tribal home. Whomever wrote in this really wanted to scare off intruders, if they knew how to read it at all.”
Kent walked over by her and asked, “If you can translate it, what does it say?”
“It tells about an ancient beast that terrorized nomads living in this desert a very long time ago. They built this temple in order to entrap it, but it doesn’t say specifically what the creature was.”
“Well, that doesn’t explain much. Surely such a creature couldn’t be alive today.”
“I don’t know… This text is quite eroded, but it seems to mention that the monster can sleep for many ‘quo-tya’ at a time. ‘Quo-tya’ is an archaic measurement my tribe formerly used to approximate the lifespan of an entire generation, so it basically rounds out to about sixty-five years.”
“So, you think this thing is still alive then?” Kent asked her.
Seraph glanced over the writings again and then replied, “I’m not even sure if the monster was actually alive to begin with… You said it yourself. Ghost-type Pokémon don’t fully exist in this realm. Who’s to say that this monster didn’t just come into existence on its own?”
“Hey! I resemble that remark!” a shrill voice called from down the corridor leading further into the temple.
Kent, Seraph, and Chip turned their attention to the dark hallway. A pair of large red eyes suddenly peered out of the shadows. Slowly the creature came into the light provided by the flames on Chip’s back, revealing itself as a one-and-a-half foot tall specter with a pitch-black body. The entity’s cowl-like face comprised the majority of its body, and it had three distinct appendages growing out of it like tendrils. Two of its limbs were formed similar to arms with three-fingered hands at their ends, while the third hooked downward from its body as a tail that gripped onto an odd stone mask. His death mask simply depicted a crude facial pattern with a grievous expression.
“Are you Ramses, by chance?” Kent asked as he reached into his locks to grab his machete from his pack.
“Yes, sir. My name is Ramses. Are you the rescue team answering my communiqué?”
Kent relaxed his posture and responded, “Yes. I’m Commander Zoltaine of the Pokémon Square division of the Rescue Corps.”
“Oh, thank goodness!” the Yamask replied, “I thought you were going to send some amateurs or something.”
“Okay…” Kent muttered, motioning at Chip and then Seraph, “These two are my trainees, Chip Erminfyr and Seraph Furlong.”
“Trainees? You really brought trainees to a place like this?” Ramses then yelped.
“Settle down!” Chip told him, “We’ve still got enough experience to help you save your dad.”
“That’s not the problem, though!” the ghost then shouted.
“What do you mean?” Seraph asked as she approached him, “Your letter said that he was being held captive, right?”
Ramses looked at her with his large red eyes and explained, “Yeah, that’s true. But, in the days since I sent it, I’ve discovered more problems that you’ll have to contend with if you’re going to rescue him.”
“More problems? What do you mean?” she retorted.
“When we first discovered this temple, my father and I didn’t do much exploring. We phased into this entry hall and immediately dropped down the pit. Being Ghost-types, falls don’t really bother us like it would you flesh-bags.”
“So, what are you saying? Is the rest of the place booby-trapped?” Chip asked.
“Maybe… But there’s something worse than that straight down the hall I just came from.”
“Like what?” Seraph sneered.
“I can’t say it… You’ll just have to come and see for yourselves.” Afterwards, Ramses turned away from them and slowly floated back down the corridor from which he came. Seraph grabbled Chip’s toolbox and then the threesome followed him into the inky black hallway, which became slightly illuminated by the light of Chip’s flame.
The catacombs began to get progressively larger as the path gradually headed underground. Eventually they came upon another massive chamber like the entrance they’d just left. However, this room was octagonal with a solid limestone floor. There were colossal statues braced against the walls depicting ancient dragon-like Pokémon that were likely worshiped by the builders of the temple.
“This is incredible… What sort of creatures could they have been?” Chip asked unwittingly stepping forward into the chamber while gazing at the sculptures.
“Chip, look out!” Kent yelled, but trying to keep his voice down.
The weasel stopped in his tracks and stared awkwardly at the unusual object standing directly in front of him. Overall, the thing looked like a seven-foot-tall mechanized ungulate with a large boxy body, long metallic legs bolted somewhat into its sides, cast-iron hooves, and a solid but curved neck. It had odd triads of concaved parts serving as joints in the bends of its legs, as well as bulgier ones at the base of its neck and the backside of its head. The horse’s head was somewhat elongated and cylindrical with three horns jutting outward, one sticking straight out of its forehead while the others were where its ears should have been. A hinged bowl-like plate covered the area where its mouth should’ve been, and shutters covered its apparent eyeholes.
“What is this thing?” he whispered backing away.
“If I recall correctly, that’s what humans called a ‘machine,’ Seraph explained, “They built them in order to do various tasks and ease up on their own workload.”
“That’s no machine, you idiots!” Ramses scolded them, “That’s a Zomborg!”
“Ramses, keep your voice down!” Kent ordered and then glanced at Seraph, “These Pokémon are exceptionally rare. This is the first time I’ve seen one in at least twenty years.”
“Well, I’ve got news for you… There’s more of them!” Ramses added.
Looking shocked, Kent turned his attention to Chip and ordered, “Shoot off a couple fireballs at the corners of the room, but be careful not to hit anything other than the walls.”
“Yes, sir!” Chip responded and then launched a couple fire orbs from the ruby in his brow. As the spheres whizzed passed them, the light from them revealed at least twelve more Zomborg hiding in the darkness, each of the Pokémon standing alone and silently away from the others.
“This is going to be a problem…”
“Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly are Zomborg?” Chip asked as he came back over to the group.
“Zomborg are demonic predators that ruthlessly stalk and kill prey to consume their disembodied souls as nourishment. A solitary Zomborg isn’t much of a threat, but when they gather in herds like this, that’s when they become absolute terrors,” Kent explained.
“But, didn’t you just say they were rare?” Seraph questioned him.
“Yes, but there are still a lot of them. It’s said that there may be several thousand scattered throughout the world.”
Chip looked back into the room and said, “You know… It looks like these things have been asleep for a very long time. So long as we don’t wake them up, we should be fine, right?”
“Geez, how stupid are you?” Ramses almost yelled, “They’re only pretending to sleep!”
“Ramses!” Kent reprimanded him, slinging his blade out in front of him, “Be more respectful of my protégés! They didn’t even know these creatures existed until now.” Afterwards, Kent motioned for the Yamask to follow him back down the hall a little, so they could talk just out of earshot. Once they vanished into the darkness, Seraph headed over by Chip.
“To be honest, those things don’t look like they’ve moved in years. I don’t know how they could possibly be a threat,” Chip told her.
Seraph closed her eyes for a moment and tried to focus her psychic power on one of the Zomborg. The creature’s internal mechanisms seemed to be intact, from its combustion engine to the gears and pulleys that operated its legs. She sensed that there was some rust in its joints along with occasional corrosion along its face, but otherwise the machine appeared to be in operating condition with only one possible issue. From what she could tell, there was nothing inside to actually make it work, not even through supernatural means.
Opening her eyes again, she said, “These Zomborg are nothing but shells!”
“Huh?” Chip responded as he looked at her inquisitively, “How can you tell?”
“If there was anything in them, even spirits, I would’ve been able to sense it.” She then headed over to the closest one to examine it better.
“Seraph, wait! Don’t touch it!” he told her. Seraph placed her right forepaw on the Zomborg’s leg anyways.
After waiting a few seconds, she removed her mitt and said, “See. Nothing happened.” The Skunanne then sent out a wider psychic pulse out to check the others. Like the one she first examined, their bodies were in excellent condition, but there was nothing inside any of them to make the robots move.
“It’s perfectly safe. None of these Zomborg have anything possessing them, so they’re harmless,” she said with a smile.
“Seraph! What are you doing?” Kent rasped at her as he returned with Ramses after he’d finished reprimanding the young Yamask.
“Sir, it’s alright. Seraph checked out all of these Zomborg. They’re nothing but husks.”
“Husks?” Kent and Ramses both replied.
“Yep. There’s nothing inside them but some really intricate mechanisms.” Kent glared at her angrily for a long moment, but stopped once he noticed something at the far side of the room behind her.
“Chip, Seraph, come with me. Ramses, stay put.” Seraph and Chip then followed their leader to the other part of the chamber, where they made a horrific discovery. Near the entrance to the next corridor, there were three more Zomborg toppled over and apparently decapitated, due to how their legs were missing and their heads had been smashed.
“What could possibly have done this?” Chip asked.
“Well, I can’t say for sure, but I have heard rumors that some Zomborg will try to cannibalize other ones’ spirits just to make themselves that much stronger,” Kent replied, pointing at the shattered heads with his machete, “It takes a lot of pressure to crush their body parts like that. This Zomborg must have been especially strong.”
“What would happen if said Zomborg consumed the spirits of all the members in this herd?” Seraph asked nervously, “It wouldn’t…evolve, would it?”
“It’s difficult to say. I only know rumors and not much else,” he told her, shaking his head, “I was only a child when I first encountered a Zomborg, and it wasn’t like I actually got to know him that well.”
Ramses suddenly came over and asked him, “You were friends with one of these things?”
“Briefly, yes…” Kent replied, bowing his head, “His name was Ratchet, but I haven’t seen him in twenty years. I have no idea what became of him, or if he was even part of this herd.”
“If these things are so dangerous, why did you used to hangout with one?” Seraph inquired.
“It was a long time ago, and it’s not like he stayed around long. Ratchet was different from typical Zomborg. The majority of these creatures attack without a second thought, but Ratchet wouldn’t harm anyone unless it was in self-defense.”
“Why was that?” Ramses then asked.
“Ratchet was sentient. He was aware of his actions, as opposed to how other Zomborg normally aren’t and mindlessly seek out prey to kill.”
“Do you think that Ratchet would even remember you after all these years, sir?” Chip added, “I mean, the odds of finding him here may not be as bad as you think.”
“What makes you so sure?” Kent replied. Chip looked down at the floor and pointed at some circular footprints embedded in the rocky surface.
“If I’m not mistaken, these were made by the stomping of a Zomborg’s feet. They lead deeper into the ruins. We may find out what happened to the creature that did this to the rest of its herd, if nothing else.”
“WHOA, WHOA! Now you’re just talking crazy!” Ramses shouted.
“You want to save your father, don’t you?” Seraph sniped at him, drawing her knife so that he could see its blade.
“Yeah, but…”
“Then we need to continue.” Afterwards, Seraph and Chip started heading down the nearby corridor alone. Kent and Ramses soon followed a few yards behind them.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Chip,” the weasel’s mentor commented.
As they approached the next chamber, Seraph stopped a moment to sense what was ahead. The room seemed like the previous one, large and octagonal. Both massive columns and ornate statues supported the ceiling along the sides of the room, though there were a few extras near its midsection to help brace it further. Oddly enough, she could also detect that the room had three separate exits that led off in the intermediate directions. The thing that surprised her, though, was the overwhelming sense of something evil waiting directly ahead of them. Once Chip and her entered the room proper, the light from his flame spread inward enough for them to see the silhouette of another mechanized horse akin to the Zomborg in the previous chamber.
“Well, I’m guessing that’s the Zomborg that cannibalized its own herd…” she commented, a little unnerved by the aura she detected from it.
“I don’t know, Seraph… That’s a lot bigger than those Zomborg were,” Chip told her, noting that the entity was easily two feet taller than the other Pokémon from its group. As he moved slightly closer, he noticed that the demon had a rounded body, larger horns, and concaved covers atop each of its legs with spikes jutting out of their sides.
“Chip, stay away from it!” Kent ordered as he and Ramses caught up.
“A Z-Z-Z-Zombrong…” Ramses quibbled.
“Let me guess…” Seraph whispered, “This is Zomborg’s evolved form.” The Yamask nodded too afraid to speak.
“Seraph, do you sense anything from it?” Kent asked her.
“The spiritual pressure this Pokémon exudes is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I can’t even begin to describe how oppressive it is…” she replied.
“If you look carefully, though, it looks like this Pokémon has been here for years,” Chip said, pointing at the Zombrong’s appendages, “Those legs look they’re seriously rusted, especially around the joints. I don’t think this thing could move, even if it wanted to.”
Kent took out his machete and slowly approached the sleeping Zombrong. Scraping the area under one of its knees, some rust flaked off and he noticed that Chip was right. This monster’s joints were all rusted up badly to the point where they wouldn’t be able to move anymore. He looked up at the creature’s face to see that the mouth and eyes were rusted closed in almost the same way.
“You’re right. It looks like his body’s rusted into place, probably because he’s been standing at attention for so long.”
“But this area is so dry. How could that happen to him, while the rest of his herd is in near-perfect condition?” Seraph asked. She then listened carefully to hear the faint sound of water dripping from the ceiling.
“Some parts of the desert still contain groundwater,” Ramses answered her, “If any leached through the ceiling and dripped on him as he slept, it’s likely what caused him to rust up.”
Afterwards, he sighed and said, “That’s somewhat of a relief. I can’t imagine what we’d do if we had to fight this thing or his entire herd.”
“I kind of feel sorry for him, in a way,” Chip said as he walked up to his mentor, “It’s not fair that he got frozen into place because of where he fell asleep.”
“What would you have us do, though?” Seraph retorted, “If this thing can move, he would just spring to life and attack us, right?”
Suddenly, the group heard the sound of gears moving inside the mechanical horse. Chip and Kent backed away a little bit, the Zoroark keeping his weapon drawn in case he needed to attack it. Seraph also kept her knife at the ready, but instinctively knew that it would be useless against the thing’s metallic body.
After a couple moments, they heard additional noises coming from within the machine, much like the screams of anguished souls trying to get out. Ramses quivered from the sounds, fearing that the spirits would try to consume him like they probably did countless others. A few minutes later, the howls began to stop.
“Was he waking up or something?” Seraph asked.
“It’s hard to tell…” Kent replied as he slowly approached the machine again.
Once he was alongside the Zombrong’s body, he tapped on the creature’s side with the hilt of his blade. In apparent response, the entity inside banged against the same spot. The Zoroark backed up a few steps and nodded his head.
“He’s awake, but I think he’s also come to the realization that he’s trapped.”
“So, what should we do?” Chip asked.
“First off, I want to ask him a few quick questions. Then we can be on our way.”
Kent got close to the Zombrong again and said, “To answer my questions, pound once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no.’ Did you cannibalize your herd to make yourself evolve?” Immediately afterwards, there came two banging noises from inside the creature’s body.
“Okay, then… Were you the leader of the herd of Zomborg we saw in the room after the entrance?” Again, the entity in the machine hit the side of its body twice.
“Did you intend attack us when you woke up a moment ago?” The Zombrong’s demon tapped the side of its hull once right away and then again seconds later.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” The spirit responded with an annoyed scream.
“I can’t believe this!” Ramses interjected, “You’re supposed to be helping me save my dad, not horsing around with this monster!”
“Final question, then… Are you or have you ever met a Zomborg named Ratchet?” After a few long minutes, the entity finally replied with several successive bangs.
“Alright, now I think we’ve just aggravated him,” Kent told the others, “Let’s go.” Afterwards, the group walked around the Zombrong, Ramses keeping some extra distance from it as a precaution. Then, they headed towards the opposite end of the room where the diverging passages were.
Glancing down each of the corridors, Seraph noticed that they all headed deeper underground at a bizarre angle before each led off down a different tangent. She also sensed that each passage lead to several different chambers and then continued into the depths of the ruins until they joined again in one room. Oddly enough, it didn’t seem like there were any obstacles or traps in the way to stop the group; but then, she’d only used a weak psychic pulse to see what was ahead.
“So the question is ‘Which path do we take?’” Kent said as he scratched the side of his head.
“They all lead to the same place,” Seraph replied, “But I can’t tell whether there are traps in the rooms ahead.”
“I’d say let’s take the center one just to be safe,” Chip suggested, “The side paths may take too long if they twist around and then merge together in the same room.”
“I’m with Chip,” Ramses added.
“Alright then,” Kent said as he then headed forward down the passageway. Chip followed right alongside him, while Seraph and Ramses lagged behind a little.
Once they’d left, the Zombrong went back to struggling to free his body from its rusted-in-place stance. Several moments passed before he finally managed to force the crusted iron off the joints of his front legs and move them freely. Afterwards, he got his hind legs to move again and found a way to force open the shutters that sealed his eyes shut, revealing a terrifying blood-red glare from his eye sockets.
“I… will not… be… DENIED!” he bellowed, his rasping metallic voice loosening the cap-like hatch over his mouth. Slowly the beast stomped around the room, his hooves clanging hard against the floor. Eventually, he reached the right side-path leading deeper into the temple. He instinctively knew this was the fastest route to catch up to his quarry due to there being only one room to pass through rather than the two that the other Pokémon had to. Even with his sluggish foot speed, he was certain he could catch them.
Meanwhile, Chip led the others in his group slowly into the catacombs of the temple. After several minutes of traveling through the wraparound corridor they’d chosen, the four found themselves in one of the building’s grand halls, a massive edifice constructed with a combination of sandstone bricks and solid limestone statues that supported the level above. At the center of the room, they could see the silhouette of a large tablet and several sealed sarcophagi around it. Judging by a faint scent, Seraph presumed that several creatures had been here in recent years, though it was impossible to exactly whom or what.
“Amazing!” Chip gawked, “This must have been where ancient humans who built this place interred their dead.”
“Or they were buried here to guard the temple. Some human cultures believed that their dead would come back to life if curses were put on places like this,” Kent replied as they moved further into the chamber.
“Yeah, right,” Seraph sneered, “I’ll believe that when I see it.”
“Hey!” Ramses snapped at her, “My father and I were humans in our past lives, so can it!” Seraph immediately unsheathed her knife and pointed it at him threateningly.
“And I don’t give a rat’s ass. I can still cut through with my blade and Dark Pulse.” Her weapon started to glow, and Ramses backed away from her.
“Seraph, knock it off!” Chip told her. She put the blade away and walked into the room with the others.
“Do you guys notice those stagnant odors?” Seraph asked, “Other Pokémon have been through here in recent years.”
“It would make sense given how those Zomborg congregated upstairs,” Kent replied. As they approached the center pedestal, Kent motioned for Seraph and Chip to the take the lead so she could read whatever was inscribed on it. Once Seraph reached the slab, she immediately recognized the large insignia engraved into it and backed away.
“What’s wrong?” Chip asked her.
“This tablet tells about the ancient warriors who died trying to keep the monster in this tomb at bay,” she replied, “The sealed coffins are their final resting places.”
“It must have been considered a great honor to be buried in the tomb they helped defend,” Kent commented.
“Or a final torture…” Ramses said.
“What do you mean?” Kent responded.
“Think about it. What worse way to spend your afterlife than trapped in the same tomb as the monster that killed you?”
“Don’t most spirits leave their physical bodies after death?” Chip asked.
“Not necessarily,” Ramses explained, “Some souls remain attached to their corporeal forms for years before they finally leave them. Others won’t abandon their bodies at all, even as they rot away.”
“Wow…” Kent uttered, “I guess it would be torturous to be killed by a monster and then entombed here with it.”
“Speaking of which, shouldn’t we continue onward since there doesn’t appear to be much here?” Seraph asked, peaking around the other side of the pedestal to see that there was nothing else in the room to really investigate.
“She’s right. We’ve got to get to my dad, ASAP!”
Kent nodded his head and then motioned for Chip to take the lead again as they headed around the tablet. Chip kept a few feet ahead of the others as the four reached the far end of the massive room. It slowly seemed to give way to a narrowing corridor that lead several meters into the depths of the ruins. As they continued down the path, Seraph noticed that the lingering stench of marauding Pokémon seemed to get stronger went further down the hallway; it seemed like the creatures who invaded this temple in the past never actually left.
Eventually, they arrived at the next chamber, which seemed fairly small compared the previous ones. Additionally, this room had a crudely octagonal layout with two extra passages that entered it from the sides. However, it otherwise appeared to be a dead end.
“What will we do now?” Chip asked as he ran over to the far wall.
“If we backtrack, we’ll only wind up going back towards that room where the Zombrong was,” Kent replied as he approached it too.
“There’s no way I’m going back to there!” Ramses shouted, rushing up the sandstone blockage as well, “You have to find a way through here to save my dad.”
Seraph started to walk towards them, but stopped dead in her tracks about halfway through the room. Turning her head to the tunnel on her left-hand side, she listened carefully for the sound of something metallic clanging on the floor. Squinting hard, the Skunanne saw a pair of glowing red eyes staring back at her a ways down the corridor. They hovered at least nine feet off the ground, which she knew wasn’t a good sign.
“Um, guys…” Seraph whispered as she approached with her back to her allies.
“What’s wrong, Seraph?” Kent asked her.
“We’ve got company,” she said. The Zoroark unsheathed his blade again and pointed it down the corridor Seraph was looking at.
“Chip, use Pyro Salvo down that hallway!” he then ordered.
“Yes, sir!” Chip replied as he hustled to get in front of Seraph. The weasel took a deep breath and then shot off a barrage of fireballs from the ruby embedded in his forehead. His attack went on for a distance before hitting something large and metallic. After the last fireball hit, the light radiating from the assault revealed cylindrical face of the Pokémon they encountered upstairs.
“ZOMBROOOOOOOOOONG!” the haunted machine hollered in a loud screechy voice.
“Great going! That only pissed him off,” Ramses scold him.
“I don’t get it… Steel Pokémon are supposed to be weak against fire attacks.”
“Some of his body parts are made from cast iron, making them resistant to heat.”
“Not just that…” Kent explained, “Zombrong have endowed their bodies with a curse that prevents magic from harming them. It’s the same thing that keeps spirits trapped inside them as well.”
“What are we going to do then?” Ramses whined.
“Ramses, behind me. Seraph, hand Chip his amulet. We’ll wait to see how he reacts when things suddenly go dark.”
Chip backed up towards Seraph, who in turn reached into the toolbox she was carrying for him and took out his necklace; the weasel put it on and the flames on his back immediately went out. Following Kent’s order, Ramses hid behind the Zoroark, who was now searching his bundle for his iron shield. Once he found it, Kent put the armament on his left arm and readied his machete to attack at a moment’s notice.
The sound of the entity’s metal hooves suddenly stopped a few yards away from the group, apparently right where the three hallways entered the chamber. His glowing eyes scanned the immediate area as if searching for them. Seraph surmised that Kent knew this Zombrong had the exact handicap the rest of them did, wherein it couldn’t see in pitch darkness.
“You cannot hide from me…” the mechanical horse rasped angrily, “I can sense your presences…”
“Attack!” Kent suddenly ordered as he rushed at the Zombrong with his sword held high.
Following orders, Chip cloaked himself in a shroud of blue flames and charged at the enemy as well. The Weasinge tackled the fiend first, hitting only the creature’s right leg to make his knee buckle. Once Kent got within striking distance, Chip jumped out of the way as the Zoroark took a swing at the entity’s side with the back of his weapon, which caused the monster to fall forward somewhat and then onto his side.
“STOP!” the mechanical horse demanded before Kent could take another slice at him.
“Why should we?” the Zoroark retorted.
“Because I am not your enemy!”
“What do you mean?” Chip asked, taking his amulet off so he could provide light again.
“This temple is a trap! Anyone who breaks into it become entrapped,” the Zombrong replied.
“What are you talking about? We’re here on a rescue mission,” Kent told him.
“Ha, that’s a joke! You’re the ones who need rescuing now,” the demon machine scoffed, “I’ve been trapped down here for almost twenty years.”
“How did you get trapped here?” Seraph asked, “The entrance isn’t sealed.”
“That’s the trap. A mechanism in these ruins it set to replace the stone slab any time someone destroys the previous one. Members of my herd did exactly that and we’ve been trapped down here ever since. Some of them even resorted to spiritual cannibalism just to stymie their hunger. I had to destroy those few just to end their madness.”
“That would make sense of the slaughter upstairs, but what trap are you talking about? We haven’t touched anything,” Kent told him.
“You don’t have to. Just entering this level activates the trigger. Now there is no escape.”
“I don’t believe any of this bullcrap,” Ramses replied, “Commander Zoltaine, you and your protégés need to figure out a way through this wall to save my father!” Kent and Chip turned their backs to the Zombrong before starting to walk away from him.
“Zoltaine…” the Zombrong muttered to himself and then bellowed, “HALT!” He then rocked himself onto his belly and found some footing so he could stand back upright.
“Are you by any chance related to a Zorua named Kent Zoltaine?” the demon suddenly asked.
Kent stopped and replied, “And what if I am?”
“Then I may know you… My name is Ratchet.”
The Zoroark sneered and commented, “What makes you think I give a damn? You just up and left one day without a word.”
“You know that isn’t the case at all. That stupid Saul Retford ousted me. He rallied a gang of his strongest friends and forced me to leave town.”
“Doesn’t matter. You still left without a word.”
“Hey, wait!” Chip said, stepping in front of Kent, “This Zombrong is your childhood friend you mentioned earlier? Shouldn’t you treat him with a little more respect, Commander?”
“Don’t mistake my nostalgia for sentimentality. I was just reminiscing about the Zomborg I knew as a kid, not wishing I could meet him again. Not that I know what’s become of him, I couldn’t care less,” the Zoroark cackled with a wink, “If he wants to make himself useful, he can start by helping us break through that wall.”
“Hmm?” Ratchet groaned. Suddenly he stomped towards a spot between Seraph and Ramses. After he stopped, the cover of his mouth flung open and he began to form a Shadow Ball in front of his face. Ramses and Seraph fled as the mechanical launched several spheres at the wall in rapid succession. When he was done, the barrier was completely destroyed, revealing the next corridor hidden behind it.
“Are you satisfied, Kent?” the robot asked.
“Very.”
“Good. Shall we proceed together, then?”
“Yes.” Afterwards, Ratchet, Seraph, and Chip headed into the next hallway. Ramses, however, lingered significantly behind the others. Kent noticed immediately and waited somewhat back as well.
“You three go on ahead. Ramses and I will catch up,” he told the others. Chip looked at him momentarily and nodded. He then returned his gaze forward and lead the other two down the corridor.
After several moments of silence, Seraph turned to Ratchet and asked him, “Why are you being so nice? The way you howled back there, I swore you were going to try and kill us.”
“It is not in my nature to kill, unlike the rest of my kind,” he responded, “I only howled because I was trying to warn you about the trap this temple has.”
“How do you know it’s a trap?”
“I came here with my newfound herd twenty years ago in search wayward souls we could consume. There was a slab against the temple’s entrance, which I destroyed. When we entered these ruins and later came back to the entrance, it was sealed again. I couldn’t destroy the new slab, however.”
“That doesn’t make any sense… When we got here the entrance was open again.”
“You did not break the slab?” She shook her head.
“Ramses’ dad must have or something because the entrance was wide open when we got here. We’re here to rescue his father,” Chip explained.
“I presume that is the Yamask’s name?” Both of them nodded.
“My name’s Chip and she’s Seraph, by the way,” the Weasinge added.
“I shall memorize that.”
As the hallway ended, it gave way to another immense chamber. From limited lighting, the room looked like it had been carved out of solid rock into a circular basin. They couldn’t see the far side, but the floor appeared to slope gradually towards the center of the arena. Overhead, Seraph could see faint light filtering down through the same pit they’d found in the middle of the entry chamber; however, there wasn’t enough light to actually see what lied ahead.
“Do you think this is the final chamber?” Chip asked.
“I would think so,” Seraph replied. Ratchet remained silent as he scanned the areas off in the darkness.
After a few seconds, he stopped and said, “I am detecting the presences of numerous Pokémon lurking in the shadows.”
“What?” Chip squealed, “Are you kidding?” The mechanical horse turned his head to the right and started walking towards one of the Pokémon he’d sensed. Chip and Seraph looked at each other, but then followed after him.
They came upon a statue of a Gallade just a few yards from where they previously were. The scrawny humanoid had his arms in front of his face with the blades on his elbows extended to their full length. Additionally, the creature had a look of utter terror on his face, as though he’d just seen a glimpse of death.
“Congratulations! You’ve found yourself a statue,” Seraph said, pawing her forehead.
“Well, it is pretty lifelike, Seraph. Give him the benefit of the doubt.”
“I beg to differ…” Ratchet explained, “Closer inspection shows that this Pokémon has been petrified.”
“Petrified?” the two questioned.
“Turned to stone. It appears to have been done through a process akin to fossilization too, but somehow it was instantaneous.”
“Turned to stone?” Chip said nervously, “What could’ve possibly done that?”
“To my knowledge…nothing…”
“Oh, please!” Seraph scoffed, “You honestly expect me to believe that this statue was once alive?”
“Sense for its spirit, then!” Ratchet demanded.
“Fine.” Seraph closed her eyes and focused her telepathy on the statue. Instantly she felt that the remaining tatters of the soul that had been forcibly reaped from the Gallade’s body.
“Its soul has been purged from the body,” she gasped, “Only small fragments of the creature’s essence remain.”
“What are you saying, Seraph?” Chip asked her.
“A soul eater consumed it, along with the souls of all other Pokémon whom have ever set foot in here,” Ratchet elaborated.
“You mean, like you?” Chip replied nervously.
“Do not be ridiculous! I’ve never once set foot in here.”
“This makes me wonder about that warning scrawled into the entrance’s walls,” Seraph interrupted
“Warning?” Ratchet asked.
“It was written in the first language I learned, but it wasn’t specific. Also, I’m starting to think that the same monster who did this to these intruders may have done the same to Ramses’ dad.” Seraph looked around for a moment to see if she could make out anything that looked like a Cofagrigus with the limited light Chip’s back-flames provided. Alas, she couldn’t make out anything.
“I am detecting a strong amount of spiritual energy from a focused point near the center of the room,” Ratchet added.
“Let’s investigate!” Chip ordered. Seraph nodded, and then the threesome headed further into the room.
Once they’d reached the bottom of the slope, Chip stopped dead in his tracks, awestruck by what his flame revealed. Before them was perhaps the largest intact fossil that he’d ever see, the twenty-two-foot tall carapace of an ancient terrapin. The monster’s shell had three gigantic rock spires jutting out of its forty-foot long backside, while the rest of it appeared to be fossilized with like cracks in its surface.
“Whoa, this guy must’ve been huge!” Chip screamed excitedly, “Just look at the size of this fossil!”
“Geez, Chip! Shut up,” Seraph told him.
“Seraph, do you have any idea how much a fossil this size is worth? And it’s completely intact!”
“Did you even consider how you’d get this thing out of here?” she retorted, “I don’t think so, so knock it off.”
“Aw, come on, Seraph…” he said, moving around to the front of the giant turtle. On his way towards the head, he noticed that the bones that once made up the creature’s flippers were lying neatly on the ground alongside of it.
“Look. More bones! We can probably take these with us as proof that we found this thing. They probably aren’t worth much, but should still fetch a good price.” He picked one up and threw it towards her. She caught it and clutched it in her paw.
He continued towards the creature’s face to see if the skull was still in one piece as well. As he approached it, he noticed that the reptile’s head lied several feet away from the rest of its body, with no vertebrae connecting it to the rest of its form. The skull itself was proportionally as massive as the rest of its body, about five feet long, three feet high, and a meter-and-a-half wide. Its mouth extended over two feet out from its brow line, and its eye sockets seemed to slant in towards. There were small cracks and fractures all across the fossil, but surprisingly its jagged teeth seemed perfectly preserved.
“Cool! He was a predator!”
“Chip, are you sure we should be so close to this thing?”
“Of course, why not? It’s just a fossil. This thing’s been dead for years.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of…”
Ratchet walked over to them and stated, “This would appear to be the source of spiritual energy I am detection. Or rather, a single point on the fossil’s forehead is exuding a malevolent aura unlike anything I have ever seen.” Seraph and Chip moved to the front of the creature’s face to get a better look. They both saw that there was a straight-bladed dagger with a golden hilt wedged into one of the cracks on the creature’s forehead.
“I wonder how that got there,” Chip said as he suddenly climbed onto the monster’s snout.
“Chip, stop!”
“Calm down. I’m not going to touch it.”
“If you say so…” she said. Something then caught her eye off to the side of the beast.
She went over to look at the object and then realized that it was another Pokémon statue. In the limited light, she noticed that the creature appeared to be vaguely like the coffins they’d just seen in the one room. However, it was somewhat narrower than the sarcophagi and had an area near the top where a human’s head would’ve rested. There also appeared to be a mask similar to Ramses’ engraved onto the headrest.
‘Is this Ramses’ father?’ Seraph thought to herself.
Meanwhile, Chip got close enough to examine the dagger wedged into the crack in the giant fossil’s skull. It appeared to exude a faint purple aura that seemingly pulsed into the fracture. Likewise, Chip noticed that a blackish mist appeared to be seeping from the fissure, almost as though it were trying push the blade out.
“Hey, it looks like something’s inside the skull.”
“I advise against touching that weapon,” Ratchet said.
“I’m not going to, but it looks like something’s trying to force it out from inside the skull.”
He blinked momentarily and then noticed that someone was watching him from overhead. Chip glance up from the weapon to see the silhouette of a humanoid Pokémon standing atop the highest spire on the terrapin’s back. The husky figure wore a heavy sheepskin cloak with the hood drawn over his head. Underneath the cowl, the weasel could see that the entity had two pairs of glowing amber eyes that focused directly on him. Slowly, the creature held his right hand to reveal a glowing eyeball shaped tattoo on his palm.
“Uh…guys…? Who…who is that?” he then asked, pointing his paw nervously at the Pokémon. Ratchet and Seraph looked at him, and then in the direction he was staring at. Neither of them could see anything in the darkness beyond the light of his flames.
In the next moment, the entity clenched his hand in a pulling fashion and the dagger suddenly flew into his palm hilt-first. Afterwards, the humanoid leapt from the fossil’s backside to floor. Seraph caught a glimpse of him as he landed, but he vanished into the shadows before she could call out to him.
“Kay…ner…sha…” a heinous voice then rasped from inside the dead terrapin’s skull. Chip’s entire body immediately became paralyzed with pure terror. Ratchet started to back away from the fossil before turning his body around and trying to flee in a full gallop.
“Chip, get out of there!” Seraph screamed before running away herself. The bone Chip handed her suddenly flew out her paw and back to where they originally found it.
“I…I can’t!” he cried.
“I…am going…to damn you… TO HELL!!!” the terrapin bellowed as he reared his head backwards.
Seraph stopped partway up the slope to see the monster materialize large phantasmal flippers at near the front and rear of its carapace. The creature forced his body towards the ceiling and almost threw Chip off of his head. Afterwards, the entity laid back on his belly, but started to levitate just above the floor.
“Seraph, Ratchet!” Kent called as he came running out of the hallway. Ramses followed right alongside him, psychically holding a small purplish-blue fireball between his palms. Its light revealed that Ratchet was just a few feet down the slope away from Seraph.
“My god…” Kent gasped, shocked by the sight of the angered beast, “Where’s Chip?”
“On that thing’s forehead!” Seraph replied.
They watched as the eyeless monster scanned the room back and forth, looking for his target. Meanwhile, Chip tried digging his claws as deep as he could into the fractures along the terrapin’s skull, hanging on for dear life. The monster roared ferociously as he saw that his quarry was no longer nearby.
“CANERSIA!!! Stop hiding, you coward!” he bellowed as he rested momentarily.
“Ramses, is that the monster you were talking about?” Kent asked their client.
“Uh, I… I think s-s-s-so…” the Yamask stuttered, “But I thought he was just a head. I had no idea that’s what he actually looked like.”
“No crap! He’s gigantic!” Seraph yelled.
After a few seconds, the monster’s red irises finally appeared in his eye sockets and began to look around the room. For a time, they seemed to ignore Chip completely, but suddenly focused on the others.
“You again!” the being shouted, recognizing Ramses at a distance. Chip whimpered as soon as the creature began to turn his head again.
Immediately, the phantom focused his iris on the Weasinge and bellowed, “Who are you, and why are you on my maw?”
“I-I-I… PLEASE DON’T HURT ME!!!” Chip screamed. The monster suddenly shook his head and flung several feet off to his side. Chip miraculously landed on his feet and darted towards the allies.
“What is he?” Chip whimpered as he got close to the group. The monster’s eyes glowed menacingly in the darkness as he turned towards them.
“I believe he is called a Carastone,” Ratchet explained.
“A Carastone?” Kent sneered, “I thought they were supposed to be a myth.”
“What’s a Carastone, Commander?” Chip asked
“In ancient times, they were hostile predators that swam primordial seas. After death, their spirits remained attached to their corpses, even after they decayed and their bones became fossilized. That’s what allows it to sleep for eons undisturbed.”
“And you knew this without saying anything?” Seraph yelled at him.
“You are all going to die down here!” Carastone declared with a terrifying rasp. Then, a large glowing orb shot at them from his mouth.
“Dodge!” Kent ordered. Seraph and Chip darted to one side, while Kent pushed Ramses to the other. Ratchet just stood still and took the attack head-on. Once the orb dissipated, the others looked up to see that Ratchet just stood there, clearly unfazed by the oversized Shadow Ball.
“Ratchet, are you alright?” Kent asked.
“Yes,” the Zombrong replied. Afterwards, he retaliated with a Shadow Ball of his own. As the attack hit, Carastone’s eyes moved to the left and his carapace took the blow instead.
“Such pitiful attacks are worthless!” he then wailed. Carastone then slammed his body into the ground to unleash an Earthquake attack. The resulting shockwaves spread out from his massive shell and heaved up the floor beneath Ratchet and the others. Ratchet got knocked onto his side while Seraph, Kent, and Chip fell hard on their backs; coincidentally, Ramses had enough sense to float high enough off the ground to avoid being struck down.
“How the hell do we fight this thing?” Seraph yelled angrily as she stood back up, “He didn’t even feel Ratchet’s attack!”
“What did you do to enrage him?” Kent asked, standing up.
“We didn’t do anything,” Chip explained as he got back on his feet, “He had a knife wedged into his forehead, and somebody in the shadows pulled it out with psychokinesis.”
“And how do I know you didn’t pull out the knife?” his teacher inquired.
“I saw him too, but he fled right as Carastone woke up,” Seraph replied. Kent stared at her skeptically.
“I sense that his head is his only weak spot,” Ratchet told them as he managed to stand back upright.
Turning his head to them, he continued, “If I can use Shadow Force against his side, it may provide enough of an impact to topple him on his side. Then, you may have a chance to attack him on your own.”
It was a simple dwelling for the young Pokémon, consisting of a single room about three-meters wide with domed ceiling about eight-feet high. There were windows in each of the cardinal directions of the cottage’s walls, save the eastern face that had doorway with a drape hanging in front of it for privacy. Towards the south part of the hut, he had a small cupboard that Katherine had made him to store berries along with a short table in front of it, on which he kept his trainee toolbox and miscellaneous items he’d taken out of it the night before.
Standing up and shaking some dust off his pelt, the Weasinge pawed the amulet around his neck to make sure it hadn’t fallen off overnight. When he reassured himself it was still on, he headed over to his food cabinet, scooped up a few berries out of the container’s top bin with his right foreleg, and then set them on the table to eat. He gobbled his breakfast up quickly and decided to take out some more of his larder to take with for the day. After packing them into his case, Chip pulled the strap over his shoulder and headed out the door.
With his hut located in the southeast part of Pokémon Square, he had to travel partway through town to reach the main road. On the way, he zigzagged between random houses as to not catch the attention of his neighbors whom might be out at this hour. The sun was only just starting to raise on the horizon, so the last thing he wanted to do get caught up in a conversation when he wanted get to the Pelipper Post Office before Commander Kent and Seraph arrived.
Upon reaching the main road, he saw the Skunanne approaching from the distance. She had a small brown satchel slung over her right shoulder and a pink bandana around her neck. As soon as she stepped onto the pavement, Seraph turned her head sideways and gave him a small grin. He noticed that her hair was now tied into a ponytail with a pink bow in it to match her Pecha Scarf.
“You’re up early…” she said to him.
“You…you too?” he replied blushingly, “You look beautiful for your first day on a rescue team!”
“Ah, yeah… The ponytail was Kathy’s idea. She thought it’d keep my hair out of the way, and I personally don’t mind it. I used to keep my locks tied back when hunting anyway. The bow’s a nice touch, eh?”
“It looks adorable!” he said cheerfully.
“A little childish, though… I haven’t worn one since I was a Skunette.”
“Nonsense! It goes great with your Pecha Scarf.”
“Yeah, she said I’d want it in case we got caught against Poison-type Pokémon.”
“Well, I’m not sure where the job is going to take us today, but it’s always nice to have one anyways.”
She nodded and then said, “Thanks. Now shouldn’t we go meet up with that Zoroark?”
“Oh!” he replied, “Yeah, we should get going.”
Afterwards, he led her northward to middle of town, where they then turned to head towards the cliff that the Pelipper Post Office was located on. As the building came into view, Seraph caught a glimpse of the Obseon who was responsible for her capture yesterday. The phantasmal fox floated quietly above the ground while reading the bulletin board alongside the path leading to the Rescue Corps headquarters.
Once the two got near him, the gray ghost grinned cockily and said, “Well, look what the cat dragged!” He then stared at Seraph with his head slanted to accentuate the glare of his glowing red eyes. Seraph huffed and turned her nose up at him.
“Oh, you’re here early, Charon…” Chip mumbled as he looked away from the Obseon out of embarrassment.
“What was that, Cadet?” Charon sneered as he suddenly rushed Chip to shock the weasel into locking eyes with him.
“N-nothing… I just didn’t expect to see you here this early,” the Weasinge quivered.
“Hey, jack*ss! Knock it off!” Seraph demanded.
Charon looked at her spitefully and said, “You don’t have much of a place to talk, little girl! This little traitor only caused us all headaches yesterday, so I’m seeing that he gets the treatment he deserves.” Seraph immediately clawed at his throat with her Night Slash. The phantom squealed horribly, backing away out of fear.
“Seraph, what did you do that for?” Chip whined.
“Tch, don’t defend him!” she replied, checking her claws, “He deserves it after that bullcrap.”
“But he’s a Gold-rank officer! You can’t just go and attack him.”
“Damn, that hurt!” Charon said as he shirked off the pain of her attack, “How come your Night Slash is so freaking powerful? I haven’t taken a hit like that in years, even from actual Dark-type Pokémon.” In awe, he got close to her face and looked her curiously in the eye.
“Back off or I’ll do it again,” she threatened him.
“No, you don’t understand. It takes a lot to actually hurt me. If you can pull off attacks that strong, you’ve earned my respect!” Seraph turned her nose up at him again.
He smiled a little and continued, “I see we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot… My name’s Charon, the leader of Team Hellfire. Sorry for the rough handling yesterday, but I’ve got an image to maintain. If you ever need help with something, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Are you sincere about that, or are you just afraid of me now?” she then asked him. Charon backed away from her slightly, and then glanced at Chip for a brief moment. The Weasinge looked back at him inquisitively. Afterwards, the Obseon vanished into thin air in order to flee.
“That’s what I thought…” Seraph snickered a few moments after he was gone.
“Why did you do that?” Chip asked her again.
“Chip, you need to show a little backbone if you’re going to make it as a rescue team leader. I went through a lot of the same things when I worked as part of the Exploration Corps down south.” Chip groaned at her remark for a long moment, but then nodded to acknowledge she’d gotten her point across.
“Well, that was impressive. I can’t say that I commend your actions, though, Seraph,” Kent said as he stepped out from behind the bushes on the far side of the Rescue Corps bulletin board.
Seraph cocked her head sideways and thought, ‘He was right there the whole time?’
“Commander Zoltaine…” Chip whimpered as he nervously approached his mentor.
“I agree that it’s about time Charon got put in his place, but outright attacking him isn’t acceptable amongst rescue team members. We’re all supposed to be on the same side.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever…” she replied, looking her claws over for dirt as she walked up to the Zoroark.
“Chip,” Kent then said as he looked at his protégé, “You need to show more assertiveness around Charon and Team Hellfire, or they’ll never show you any kind of respect.”
“I’ll try to from now on, sir,” the Weasinge sighed.
“Now then,” Kent continued, “It took most of the night, but I finished the proper paperwork and Seraph will be acquitted of all charges so long as she completes her community service for the next several weeks.” He then reached into his crimson dreadlocks and pulled out a small badge-like object. After he handed it to her, the Skunanne looked it over carefully in her paw. The metallic emblem consisted of a bluish-white oval flanked by a pair of three-feather wings.
“That badge certifies you as a trainee member of my rescue squad. Make sure you don’t lose it!” She nodded at him and stowed the item in her new shoulder bag.
“Coincidentally,” he then said, reaching into his hair again, “I’ve also been permitted by Captain Retford to return two of your tools to you, on the condition that you don’t use them to attack anyone in town.” The Zoroark then pulled out her Luna Fang and her fractured buckler. He handed them over to her, a little leery-eyed. She bowed graciously and accepted them back without a word.
Seraph inspected her shield to see just how much damage it took from Sirocco pecking at it yesterday. The split down the center of the wooden backside could comprise its integrity if it took any more hits like that again. On the front side, though, she noticed that the peacock had completely punctured the leather binding her buckler in several spots. With that, she knew that the object was worthless now.
“Did you by any chance make that? I have to say that the craftsmanship is quite good, considering it’s a wooden shield,” Kent said to her. Afterwards, he reached into his locks yet again to pulled out an oval-shaped shield forged from iron. The object had a pair of eyes etched into its center as a type of insignia.
“I prefer iron ones myself because they have better durability. Not a lot of bipedal Pokémon have the physical strength to carry them like me, though.”
“Pardon me if I sound rude, but how much stuff can you hide in your dreadlocks like that?” Seraph interrupted, “Do you have some sort of pouch hidden in there or something?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what he’s got in there, Seraph!” Chip replied laughingly.
“Actually, that IS where I hide my duffle bag for long journeys,” Kent explained, “You see, I rely heavily on the arts of illusion and concealment. If an attacker can’t see that I’ve got tools on-hand, it’s that much easier for me to defend myself.”
“Wait, seriously? When Chip said you hide your supplies in your hair, I thought it was just some kind of stupid joke.” Chip and Kent both shook their heads.
“Okay, then…” she muttered embarrassedly.
After a short moment of silence, Chip finally asked, “What is today’s mission, sir?”
“Right,” Kent said, looking at the bulletin board off to his side. He pointed at the various memos pinned to it until he came across the one he was looking for. Then, the Zoroark ripped it off and read it briefly.
“A few days ago,” he continued, “A Yamask named Ramses was exploring ancient ruins he’d discovered with his father recently. Apparently, they were doing some excavating when an unknown assailant attacked the two in the depths of the temple. Ramses escaped, but his father is being held hostage by the entity. He needs our help to rescue his dad.”
“And you just picked that mission off the board…at random?” Seraph asked.
“Well, Seraph,” Kent replied, “It’s not like these are exactly sent directly to specific rescue teams. Missions are fair game for anyone, not just you guys.”
“Where exactly is this temple? Also, doesn’t it say anything about what creature the kid encountered?”
“The temple is located in a region called Meradai Wastes, a desert a ways to the southeast of here.”
“A DESERT?” she screamed, “How far away is it exactly?”
“About one hundred miles,” Chip told her.
“How the hell do you propose we get there then? Walk?” she then hollered, “That will take us days, if not weeks!”
“Geez! Settle down!” Kent ordered as he reached into his hair again. After fumbling around with objects in his concealed satchel, he finally found the item he was searching for and pulled it out. The object appeared to be a large blue topaz that had been cut into a curved triangular shape. Kent had a rope tied around the gem so he could wear it around his neck as jewelry.
“This is a Teleport Stone. Lord Sly entrusts top-level rescue teams with these after they’ve proven their worth to him. This is how we’ll be getting to the desert, Seraph.”
“Speaking of Sly, what’s up with him?” she responded smugly.
“What do you mean?” Kent asked her.
“Well, he’s a giant snake living in a tiny pond. Doesn’t that seem a little…awkward?”
“I can’t say much, but Lord Sly isn’t exactly a Pokémon of this world…” he tried to explain.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“He is partially a Ghost-type. Ghost Pokémon don’t fully exist in this realm. In fact, Lord Sly comes from a different world entirely…or so he’s claims…”
“Where does he come from then?”
“He exists in a rift between realities that he calls The Nexus, okay!” Kent blurted out, “He really doesn’t want other Pokémon to know that, though, because he says it can change the structure of his domain entirely.”
“What does that mean?” she demanded, now that she was suddenly getting answers to some questions that had been bugging her since she met Sly.
“Enough!” he retorted, “I really don’t understand this stuff myself, much less know everything about what he described to me when I first met him.”
Shaking his head, Kent held out his Teleport Stone and explained, “This gem is supposedly formed when powerful Psychic and Ghost Pokémon will it into existence. It allows others to instantly warp to wherever they need to go, which is why it’s a particularly crucial object for experienced rescue team leaders to own. It allows us to deploy teams faster when they’re needed far away and urgently.”
“So we’ll be able to get to that temple pretty quickly,” Chip added cheerfully.
“I don’t know… I’ve always been a little suspicious of teleporting…” Seraph said, gripping her knife tightly.
“There’s nothing to it. I just think of the place we need to go, and we’re there!” Kent told her. Immediately afterwards, his gemstone glowed brilliantly. Then, the flash consumed the entire area.
Within seconds, Seraph heard the sound of howling winds all around her. She was blinded by sand blowing into her face. The Skunanne closed her eyes and put her Pecha Scarf over her maw to avoid getting dirt in her nostrils from the dust storm they’d suddenly found themselves in.
“What happened? I thought we were going to teleport into the temple,” she heard Chip cry out.
“It’s not an exact science. In any case, we need to get out of this sandstorm immediately!” Kent ordered.
Unable to see them, Seraph focused her telekinesis to sense out their presences instead. Both Chip and Kent were mere feet from her, but it seemed like they were beginning to move away from one another. Emitting a weak pulse forward, the Skunanne sensed that there was a large pit straight ahead of them with a small opening into a cavern near its farthest point.
“There’s a cavern about ten meters dead ahead. Move forward away from my voice and we should make it!” she then shouted.
“Got it!” the two replied. She then trudged forward through the sand, hoping that they were going the same direction. After several moments of walking downhill, she felt the soil under her feet suddenly turn into solid rock and noticed that the winds died down as soon as she entered the presumed chasm she’d detected.
Seraph lowered her mask and opened her eyes to see that she was now inside the darkened entrance of an ancient ruin. Gazing back, she saw the silhouettes of Chip and Kent as they struggled to head towards the large rectangular entryway, through which sand occasionally blew in from the outside. As soon as they entered, the two dropped to the floor and tried to catch their breath.
“Damn, that was intense…” Kent slurred, “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a sandstorm that bad before…”
“No kidding, sir?” Chip replied as he slowly tried to stand up. Shaking the dirt off his pelt, he approached Seraph with a bit of concern.
“How did you know there was a cave here?” he then asked her.
“I didn’t. I just sensed it using ESP.”
“Oh…”
“Chip!” Kent coughed, “Mind providing some light?”
“You mean, take off my amulet?” the weasel replied, pawing the trinket around his neck.
“At least until we can find a torch or something.”
“Alright, then…” Chip took off his charm and stowed it in his case, the strap of which he then slid off his neck to avoid burning it. Multicolored flames ignited down his backside and the room was instantly illuminated.
The massive chamber appeared wholly rectangular with sandstone bricks comprising everything from the floor, walls, and ceiling to the ornate columns supporting the roof every ten feet or so. Near the center of the room, there seemed to be an enormous hole built as a chute into the depths of the ruins. On the opposite side of the pit, the three could see the entrance to a large corridor that led further into the ruins.
“Whoa… This is amazing!” Chip shouted with glee. He quickly approached the middle of the entry room to look down into the shaft leading down into the temple. Lying down aside the rim, the Weasinge stuck his head over the end and gazed into the darkness with awe.
“How deep do you think this is?” he then asked, wagging his tail back and forth excitedly, “I can hardly imagine what must be down there!”
Seraph started looking around and noticed that the walls were inscribed with some ancient type of cuneiform. Upon closer examination, she recognized it as the writing style her father had taught her to use as a child.
“How strange…” she finally said, “I had no idea that this type of scribing existed outside my former tribal home. Whomever wrote in this really wanted to scare off intruders, if they knew how to read it at all.”
Kent walked over by her and asked, “If you can translate it, what does it say?”
“It tells about an ancient beast that terrorized nomads living in this desert a very long time ago. They built this temple in order to entrap it, but it doesn’t say specifically what the creature was.”
“Well, that doesn’t explain much. Surely such a creature couldn’t be alive today.”
“I don’t know… This text is quite eroded, but it seems to mention that the monster can sleep for many ‘quo-tya’ at a time. ‘Quo-tya’ is an archaic measurement my tribe formerly used to approximate the lifespan of an entire generation, so it basically rounds out to about sixty-five years.”
“So, you think this thing is still alive then?” Kent asked her.
Seraph glanced over the writings again and then replied, “I’m not even sure if the monster was actually alive to begin with… You said it yourself. Ghost-type Pokémon don’t fully exist in this realm. Who’s to say that this monster didn’t just come into existence on its own?”
“Hey! I resemble that remark!” a shrill voice called from down the corridor leading further into the temple.
Kent, Seraph, and Chip turned their attention to the dark hallway. A pair of large red eyes suddenly peered out of the shadows. Slowly the creature came into the light provided by the flames on Chip’s back, revealing itself as a one-and-a-half foot tall specter with a pitch-black body. The entity’s cowl-like face comprised the majority of its body, and it had three distinct appendages growing out of it like tendrils. Two of its limbs were formed similar to arms with three-fingered hands at their ends, while the third hooked downward from its body as a tail that gripped onto an odd stone mask. His death mask simply depicted a crude facial pattern with a grievous expression.
“Are you Ramses, by chance?” Kent asked as he reached into his locks to grab his machete from his pack.
“Yes, sir. My name is Ramses. Are you the rescue team answering my communiqué?”
Kent relaxed his posture and responded, “Yes. I’m Commander Zoltaine of the Pokémon Square division of the Rescue Corps.”
“Oh, thank goodness!” the Yamask replied, “I thought you were going to send some amateurs or something.”
“Okay…” Kent muttered, motioning at Chip and then Seraph, “These two are my trainees, Chip Erminfyr and Seraph Furlong.”
“Trainees? You really brought trainees to a place like this?” Ramses then yelped.
“Settle down!” Chip told him, “We’ve still got enough experience to help you save your dad.”
“That’s not the problem, though!” the ghost then shouted.
“What do you mean?” Seraph asked as she approached him, “Your letter said that he was being held captive, right?”
Ramses looked at her with his large red eyes and explained, “Yeah, that’s true. But, in the days since I sent it, I’ve discovered more problems that you’ll have to contend with if you’re going to rescue him.”
“More problems? What do you mean?” she retorted.
“When we first discovered this temple, my father and I didn’t do much exploring. We phased into this entry hall and immediately dropped down the pit. Being Ghost-types, falls don’t really bother us like it would you flesh-bags.”
“So, what are you saying? Is the rest of the place booby-trapped?” Chip asked.
“Maybe… But there’s something worse than that straight down the hall I just came from.”
“Like what?” Seraph sneered.
“I can’t say it… You’ll just have to come and see for yourselves.” Afterwards, Ramses turned away from them and slowly floated back down the corridor from which he came. Seraph grabbled Chip’s toolbox and then the threesome followed him into the inky black hallway, which became slightly illuminated by the light of Chip’s flame.
The catacombs began to get progressively larger as the path gradually headed underground. Eventually they came upon another massive chamber like the entrance they’d just left. However, this room was octagonal with a solid limestone floor. There were colossal statues braced against the walls depicting ancient dragon-like Pokémon that were likely worshiped by the builders of the temple.
“This is incredible… What sort of creatures could they have been?” Chip asked unwittingly stepping forward into the chamber while gazing at the sculptures.
“Chip, look out!” Kent yelled, but trying to keep his voice down.
The weasel stopped in his tracks and stared awkwardly at the unusual object standing directly in front of him. Overall, the thing looked like a seven-foot-tall mechanized ungulate with a large boxy body, long metallic legs bolted somewhat into its sides, cast-iron hooves, and a solid but curved neck. It had odd triads of concaved parts serving as joints in the bends of its legs, as well as bulgier ones at the base of its neck and the backside of its head. The horse’s head was somewhat elongated and cylindrical with three horns jutting outward, one sticking straight out of its forehead while the others were where its ears should have been. A hinged bowl-like plate covered the area where its mouth should’ve been, and shutters covered its apparent eyeholes.
“What is this thing?” he whispered backing away.
“If I recall correctly, that’s what humans called a ‘machine,’ Seraph explained, “They built them in order to do various tasks and ease up on their own workload.”
“That’s no machine, you idiots!” Ramses scolded them, “That’s a Zomborg!”
“Ramses, keep your voice down!” Kent ordered and then glanced at Seraph, “These Pokémon are exceptionally rare. This is the first time I’ve seen one in at least twenty years.”
“Well, I’ve got news for you… There’s more of them!” Ramses added.
Looking shocked, Kent turned his attention to Chip and ordered, “Shoot off a couple fireballs at the corners of the room, but be careful not to hit anything other than the walls.”
“Yes, sir!” Chip responded and then launched a couple fire orbs from the ruby in his brow. As the spheres whizzed passed them, the light from them revealed at least twelve more Zomborg hiding in the darkness, each of the Pokémon standing alone and silently away from the others.
“This is going to be a problem…”
“Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly are Zomborg?” Chip asked as he came back over to the group.
“Zomborg are demonic predators that ruthlessly stalk and kill prey to consume their disembodied souls as nourishment. A solitary Zomborg isn’t much of a threat, but when they gather in herds like this, that’s when they become absolute terrors,” Kent explained.
“But, didn’t you just say they were rare?” Seraph questioned him.
“Yes, but there are still a lot of them. It’s said that there may be several thousand scattered throughout the world.”
Chip looked back into the room and said, “You know… It looks like these things have been asleep for a very long time. So long as we don’t wake them up, we should be fine, right?”
“Geez, how stupid are you?” Ramses almost yelled, “They’re only pretending to sleep!”
“Ramses!” Kent reprimanded him, slinging his blade out in front of him, “Be more respectful of my protégés! They didn’t even know these creatures existed until now.” Afterwards, Kent motioned for the Yamask to follow him back down the hall a little, so they could talk just out of earshot. Once they vanished into the darkness, Seraph headed over by Chip.
“To be honest, those things don’t look like they’ve moved in years. I don’t know how they could possibly be a threat,” Chip told her.
Seraph closed her eyes for a moment and tried to focus her psychic power on one of the Zomborg. The creature’s internal mechanisms seemed to be intact, from its combustion engine to the gears and pulleys that operated its legs. She sensed that there was some rust in its joints along with occasional corrosion along its face, but otherwise the machine appeared to be in operating condition with only one possible issue. From what she could tell, there was nothing inside to actually make it work, not even through supernatural means.
Opening her eyes again, she said, “These Zomborg are nothing but shells!”
“Huh?” Chip responded as he looked at her inquisitively, “How can you tell?”
“If there was anything in them, even spirits, I would’ve been able to sense it.” She then headed over to the closest one to examine it better.
“Seraph, wait! Don’t touch it!” he told her. Seraph placed her right forepaw on the Zomborg’s leg anyways.
After waiting a few seconds, she removed her mitt and said, “See. Nothing happened.” The Skunanne then sent out a wider psychic pulse out to check the others. Like the one she first examined, their bodies were in excellent condition, but there was nothing inside any of them to make the robots move.
“It’s perfectly safe. None of these Zomborg have anything possessing them, so they’re harmless,” she said with a smile.
“Seraph! What are you doing?” Kent rasped at her as he returned with Ramses after he’d finished reprimanding the young Yamask.
“Sir, it’s alright. Seraph checked out all of these Zomborg. They’re nothing but husks.”
“Husks?” Kent and Ramses both replied.
“Yep. There’s nothing inside them but some really intricate mechanisms.” Kent glared at her angrily for a long moment, but stopped once he noticed something at the far side of the room behind her.
“Chip, Seraph, come with me. Ramses, stay put.” Seraph and Chip then followed their leader to the other part of the chamber, where they made a horrific discovery. Near the entrance to the next corridor, there were three more Zomborg toppled over and apparently decapitated, due to how their legs were missing and their heads had been smashed.
“What could possibly have done this?” Chip asked.
“Well, I can’t say for sure, but I have heard rumors that some Zomborg will try to cannibalize other ones’ spirits just to make themselves that much stronger,” Kent replied, pointing at the shattered heads with his machete, “It takes a lot of pressure to crush their body parts like that. This Zomborg must have been especially strong.”
“What would happen if said Zomborg consumed the spirits of all the members in this herd?” Seraph asked nervously, “It wouldn’t…evolve, would it?”
“It’s difficult to say. I only know rumors and not much else,” he told her, shaking his head, “I was only a child when I first encountered a Zomborg, and it wasn’t like I actually got to know him that well.”
Ramses suddenly came over and asked him, “You were friends with one of these things?”
“Briefly, yes…” Kent replied, bowing his head, “His name was Ratchet, but I haven’t seen him in twenty years. I have no idea what became of him, or if he was even part of this herd.”
“If these things are so dangerous, why did you used to hangout with one?” Seraph inquired.
“It was a long time ago, and it’s not like he stayed around long. Ratchet was different from typical Zomborg. The majority of these creatures attack without a second thought, but Ratchet wouldn’t harm anyone unless it was in self-defense.”
“Why was that?” Ramses then asked.
“Ratchet was sentient. He was aware of his actions, as opposed to how other Zomborg normally aren’t and mindlessly seek out prey to kill.”
“Do you think that Ratchet would even remember you after all these years, sir?” Chip added, “I mean, the odds of finding him here may not be as bad as you think.”
“What makes you so sure?” Kent replied. Chip looked down at the floor and pointed at some circular footprints embedded in the rocky surface.
“If I’m not mistaken, these were made by the stomping of a Zomborg’s feet. They lead deeper into the ruins. We may find out what happened to the creature that did this to the rest of its herd, if nothing else.”
“WHOA, WHOA! Now you’re just talking crazy!” Ramses shouted.
“You want to save your father, don’t you?” Seraph sniped at him, drawing her knife so that he could see its blade.
“Yeah, but…”
“Then we need to continue.” Afterwards, Seraph and Chip started heading down the nearby corridor alone. Kent and Ramses soon followed a few yards behind them.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Chip,” the weasel’s mentor commented.
As they approached the next chamber, Seraph stopped a moment to sense what was ahead. The room seemed like the previous one, large and octagonal. Both massive columns and ornate statues supported the ceiling along the sides of the room, though there were a few extras near its midsection to help brace it further. Oddly enough, she could also detect that the room had three separate exits that led off in the intermediate directions. The thing that surprised her, though, was the overwhelming sense of something evil waiting directly ahead of them. Once Chip and her entered the room proper, the light from his flame spread inward enough for them to see the silhouette of another mechanized horse akin to the Zomborg in the previous chamber.
“Well, I’m guessing that’s the Zomborg that cannibalized its own herd…” she commented, a little unnerved by the aura she detected from it.
“I don’t know, Seraph… That’s a lot bigger than those Zomborg were,” Chip told her, noting that the entity was easily two feet taller than the other Pokémon from its group. As he moved slightly closer, he noticed that the demon had a rounded body, larger horns, and concaved covers atop each of its legs with spikes jutting out of their sides.
“Chip, stay away from it!” Kent ordered as he and Ramses caught up.
“A Z-Z-Z-Zombrong…” Ramses quibbled.
“Let me guess…” Seraph whispered, “This is Zomborg’s evolved form.” The Yamask nodded too afraid to speak.
“Seraph, do you sense anything from it?” Kent asked her.
“The spiritual pressure this Pokémon exudes is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I can’t even begin to describe how oppressive it is…” she replied.
“If you look carefully, though, it looks like this Pokémon has been here for years,” Chip said, pointing at the Zombrong’s appendages, “Those legs look they’re seriously rusted, especially around the joints. I don’t think this thing could move, even if it wanted to.”
Kent took out his machete and slowly approached the sleeping Zombrong. Scraping the area under one of its knees, some rust flaked off and he noticed that Chip was right. This monster’s joints were all rusted up badly to the point where they wouldn’t be able to move anymore. He looked up at the creature’s face to see that the mouth and eyes were rusted closed in almost the same way.
“You’re right. It looks like his body’s rusted into place, probably because he’s been standing at attention for so long.”
“But this area is so dry. How could that happen to him, while the rest of his herd is in near-perfect condition?” Seraph asked. She then listened carefully to hear the faint sound of water dripping from the ceiling.
“Some parts of the desert still contain groundwater,” Ramses answered her, “If any leached through the ceiling and dripped on him as he slept, it’s likely what caused him to rust up.”
Afterwards, he sighed and said, “That’s somewhat of a relief. I can’t imagine what we’d do if we had to fight this thing or his entire herd.”
“I kind of feel sorry for him, in a way,” Chip said as he walked up to his mentor, “It’s not fair that he got frozen into place because of where he fell asleep.”
“What would you have us do, though?” Seraph retorted, “If this thing can move, he would just spring to life and attack us, right?”
Suddenly, the group heard the sound of gears moving inside the mechanical horse. Chip and Kent backed away a little bit, the Zoroark keeping his weapon drawn in case he needed to attack it. Seraph also kept her knife at the ready, but instinctively knew that it would be useless against the thing’s metallic body.
After a couple moments, they heard additional noises coming from within the machine, much like the screams of anguished souls trying to get out. Ramses quivered from the sounds, fearing that the spirits would try to consume him like they probably did countless others. A few minutes later, the howls began to stop.
“Was he waking up or something?” Seraph asked.
“It’s hard to tell…” Kent replied as he slowly approached the machine again.
Once he was alongside the Zombrong’s body, he tapped on the creature’s side with the hilt of his blade. In apparent response, the entity inside banged against the same spot. The Zoroark backed up a few steps and nodded his head.
“He’s awake, but I think he’s also come to the realization that he’s trapped.”
“So, what should we do?” Chip asked.
“First off, I want to ask him a few quick questions. Then we can be on our way.”
Kent got close to the Zombrong again and said, “To answer my questions, pound once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no.’ Did you cannibalize your herd to make yourself evolve?” Immediately afterwards, there came two banging noises from inside the creature’s body.
“Okay, then… Were you the leader of the herd of Zomborg we saw in the room after the entrance?” Again, the entity in the machine hit the side of its body twice.
“Did you intend attack us when you woke up a moment ago?” The Zombrong’s demon tapped the side of its hull once right away and then again seconds later.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” The spirit responded with an annoyed scream.
“I can’t believe this!” Ramses interjected, “You’re supposed to be helping me save my dad, not horsing around with this monster!”
“Final question, then… Are you or have you ever met a Zomborg named Ratchet?” After a few long minutes, the entity finally replied with several successive bangs.
“Alright, now I think we’ve just aggravated him,” Kent told the others, “Let’s go.” Afterwards, the group walked around the Zombrong, Ramses keeping some extra distance from it as a precaution. Then, they headed towards the opposite end of the room where the diverging passages were.
Glancing down each of the corridors, Seraph noticed that they all headed deeper underground at a bizarre angle before each led off down a different tangent. She also sensed that each passage lead to several different chambers and then continued into the depths of the ruins until they joined again in one room. Oddly enough, it didn’t seem like there were any obstacles or traps in the way to stop the group; but then, she’d only used a weak psychic pulse to see what was ahead.
“So the question is ‘Which path do we take?’” Kent said as he scratched the side of his head.
“They all lead to the same place,” Seraph replied, “But I can’t tell whether there are traps in the rooms ahead.”
“I’d say let’s take the center one just to be safe,” Chip suggested, “The side paths may take too long if they twist around and then merge together in the same room.”
“I’m with Chip,” Ramses added.
“Alright then,” Kent said as he then headed forward down the passageway. Chip followed right alongside him, while Seraph and Ramses lagged behind a little.
Once they’d left, the Zombrong went back to struggling to free his body from its rusted-in-place stance. Several moments passed before he finally managed to force the crusted iron off the joints of his front legs and move them freely. Afterwards, he got his hind legs to move again and found a way to force open the shutters that sealed his eyes shut, revealing a terrifying blood-red glare from his eye sockets.
“I… will not… be… DENIED!” he bellowed, his rasping metallic voice loosening the cap-like hatch over his mouth. Slowly the beast stomped around the room, his hooves clanging hard against the floor. Eventually, he reached the right side-path leading deeper into the temple. He instinctively knew this was the fastest route to catch up to his quarry due to there being only one room to pass through rather than the two that the other Pokémon had to. Even with his sluggish foot speed, he was certain he could catch them.
Meanwhile, Chip led the others in his group slowly into the catacombs of the temple. After several minutes of traveling through the wraparound corridor they’d chosen, the four found themselves in one of the building’s grand halls, a massive edifice constructed with a combination of sandstone bricks and solid limestone statues that supported the level above. At the center of the room, they could see the silhouette of a large tablet and several sealed sarcophagi around it. Judging by a faint scent, Seraph presumed that several creatures had been here in recent years, though it was impossible to exactly whom or what.
“Amazing!” Chip gawked, “This must have been where ancient humans who built this place interred their dead.”
“Or they were buried here to guard the temple. Some human cultures believed that their dead would come back to life if curses were put on places like this,” Kent replied as they moved further into the chamber.
“Yeah, right,” Seraph sneered, “I’ll believe that when I see it.”
“Hey!” Ramses snapped at her, “My father and I were humans in our past lives, so can it!” Seraph immediately unsheathed her knife and pointed it at him threateningly.
“And I don’t give a rat’s ass. I can still cut through with my blade and Dark Pulse.” Her weapon started to glow, and Ramses backed away from her.
“Seraph, knock it off!” Chip told her. She put the blade away and walked into the room with the others.
“Do you guys notice those stagnant odors?” Seraph asked, “Other Pokémon have been through here in recent years.”
“It would make sense given how those Zomborg congregated upstairs,” Kent replied. As they approached the center pedestal, Kent motioned for Seraph and Chip to the take the lead so she could read whatever was inscribed on it. Once Seraph reached the slab, she immediately recognized the large insignia engraved into it and backed away.
“What’s wrong?” Chip asked her.
“This tablet tells about the ancient warriors who died trying to keep the monster in this tomb at bay,” she replied, “The sealed coffins are their final resting places.”
“It must have been considered a great honor to be buried in the tomb they helped defend,” Kent commented.
“Or a final torture…” Ramses said.
“What do you mean?” Kent responded.
“Think about it. What worse way to spend your afterlife than trapped in the same tomb as the monster that killed you?”
“Don’t most spirits leave their physical bodies after death?” Chip asked.
“Not necessarily,” Ramses explained, “Some souls remain attached to their corporeal forms for years before they finally leave them. Others won’t abandon their bodies at all, even as they rot away.”
“Wow…” Kent uttered, “I guess it would be torturous to be killed by a monster and then entombed here with it.”
“Speaking of which, shouldn’t we continue onward since there doesn’t appear to be much here?” Seraph asked, peaking around the other side of the pedestal to see that there was nothing else in the room to really investigate.
“She’s right. We’ve got to get to my dad, ASAP!”
Kent nodded his head and then motioned for Chip to take the lead again as they headed around the tablet. Chip kept a few feet ahead of the others as the four reached the far end of the massive room. It slowly seemed to give way to a narrowing corridor that lead several meters into the depths of the ruins. As they continued down the path, Seraph noticed that the lingering stench of marauding Pokémon seemed to get stronger went further down the hallway; it seemed like the creatures who invaded this temple in the past never actually left.
Eventually, they arrived at the next chamber, which seemed fairly small compared the previous ones. Additionally, this room had a crudely octagonal layout with two extra passages that entered it from the sides. However, it otherwise appeared to be a dead end.
“What will we do now?” Chip asked as he ran over to the far wall.
“If we backtrack, we’ll only wind up going back towards that room where the Zombrong was,” Kent replied as he approached it too.
“There’s no way I’m going back to there!” Ramses shouted, rushing up the sandstone blockage as well, “You have to find a way through here to save my dad.”
Seraph started to walk towards them, but stopped dead in her tracks about halfway through the room. Turning her head to the tunnel on her left-hand side, she listened carefully for the sound of something metallic clanging on the floor. Squinting hard, the Skunanne saw a pair of glowing red eyes staring back at her a ways down the corridor. They hovered at least nine feet off the ground, which she knew wasn’t a good sign.
“Um, guys…” Seraph whispered as she approached with her back to her allies.
“What’s wrong, Seraph?” Kent asked her.
“We’ve got company,” she said. The Zoroark unsheathed his blade again and pointed it down the corridor Seraph was looking at.
“Chip, use Pyro Salvo down that hallway!” he then ordered.
“Yes, sir!” Chip replied as he hustled to get in front of Seraph. The weasel took a deep breath and then shot off a barrage of fireballs from the ruby embedded in his forehead. His attack went on for a distance before hitting something large and metallic. After the last fireball hit, the light radiating from the assault revealed cylindrical face of the Pokémon they encountered upstairs.
“ZOMBROOOOOOOOOONG!” the haunted machine hollered in a loud screechy voice.
“Great going! That only pissed him off,” Ramses scold him.
“I don’t get it… Steel Pokémon are supposed to be weak against fire attacks.”
“Some of his body parts are made from cast iron, making them resistant to heat.”
“Not just that…” Kent explained, “Zombrong have endowed their bodies with a curse that prevents magic from harming them. It’s the same thing that keeps spirits trapped inside them as well.”
“What are we going to do then?” Ramses whined.
“Ramses, behind me. Seraph, hand Chip his amulet. We’ll wait to see how he reacts when things suddenly go dark.”
Chip backed up towards Seraph, who in turn reached into the toolbox she was carrying for him and took out his necklace; the weasel put it on and the flames on his back immediately went out. Following Kent’s order, Ramses hid behind the Zoroark, who was now searching his bundle for his iron shield. Once he found it, Kent put the armament on his left arm and readied his machete to attack at a moment’s notice.
The sound of the entity’s metal hooves suddenly stopped a few yards away from the group, apparently right where the three hallways entered the chamber. His glowing eyes scanned the immediate area as if searching for them. Seraph surmised that Kent knew this Zombrong had the exact handicap the rest of them did, wherein it couldn’t see in pitch darkness.
“You cannot hide from me…” the mechanical horse rasped angrily, “I can sense your presences…”
“Attack!” Kent suddenly ordered as he rushed at the Zombrong with his sword held high.
Following orders, Chip cloaked himself in a shroud of blue flames and charged at the enemy as well. The Weasinge tackled the fiend first, hitting only the creature’s right leg to make his knee buckle. Once Kent got within striking distance, Chip jumped out of the way as the Zoroark took a swing at the entity’s side with the back of his weapon, which caused the monster to fall forward somewhat and then onto his side.
“STOP!” the mechanical horse demanded before Kent could take another slice at him.
“Why should we?” the Zoroark retorted.
“Because I am not your enemy!”
“What do you mean?” Chip asked, taking his amulet off so he could provide light again.
“This temple is a trap! Anyone who breaks into it become entrapped,” the Zombrong replied.
“What are you talking about? We’re here on a rescue mission,” Kent told him.
“Ha, that’s a joke! You’re the ones who need rescuing now,” the demon machine scoffed, “I’ve been trapped down here for almost twenty years.”
“How did you get trapped here?” Seraph asked, “The entrance isn’t sealed.”
“That’s the trap. A mechanism in these ruins it set to replace the stone slab any time someone destroys the previous one. Members of my herd did exactly that and we’ve been trapped down here ever since. Some of them even resorted to spiritual cannibalism just to stymie their hunger. I had to destroy those few just to end their madness.”
“That would make sense of the slaughter upstairs, but what trap are you talking about? We haven’t touched anything,” Kent told him.
“You don’t have to. Just entering this level activates the trigger. Now there is no escape.”
“I don’t believe any of this bullcrap,” Ramses replied, “Commander Zoltaine, you and your protégés need to figure out a way through this wall to save my father!” Kent and Chip turned their backs to the Zombrong before starting to walk away from him.
“Zoltaine…” the Zombrong muttered to himself and then bellowed, “HALT!” He then rocked himself onto his belly and found some footing so he could stand back upright.
“Are you by any chance related to a Zorua named Kent Zoltaine?” the demon suddenly asked.
Kent stopped and replied, “And what if I am?”
“Then I may know you… My name is Ratchet.”
The Zoroark sneered and commented, “What makes you think I give a damn? You just up and left one day without a word.”
“You know that isn’t the case at all. That stupid Saul Retford ousted me. He rallied a gang of his strongest friends and forced me to leave town.”
“Doesn’t matter. You still left without a word.”
“Hey, wait!” Chip said, stepping in front of Kent, “This Zombrong is your childhood friend you mentioned earlier? Shouldn’t you treat him with a little more respect, Commander?”
“Don’t mistake my nostalgia for sentimentality. I was just reminiscing about the Zomborg I knew as a kid, not wishing I could meet him again. Not that I know what’s become of him, I couldn’t care less,” the Zoroark cackled with a wink, “If he wants to make himself useful, he can start by helping us break through that wall.”
“Hmm?” Ratchet groaned. Suddenly he stomped towards a spot between Seraph and Ramses. After he stopped, the cover of his mouth flung open and he began to form a Shadow Ball in front of his face. Ramses and Seraph fled as the mechanical launched several spheres at the wall in rapid succession. When he was done, the barrier was completely destroyed, revealing the next corridor hidden behind it.
“Are you satisfied, Kent?” the robot asked.
“Very.”
“Good. Shall we proceed together, then?”
“Yes.” Afterwards, Ratchet, Seraph, and Chip headed into the next hallway. Ramses, however, lingered significantly behind the others. Kent noticed immediately and waited somewhat back as well.
“You three go on ahead. Ramses and I will catch up,” he told the others. Chip looked at him momentarily and nodded. He then returned his gaze forward and lead the other two down the corridor.
After several moments of silence, Seraph turned to Ratchet and asked him, “Why are you being so nice? The way you howled back there, I swore you were going to try and kill us.”
“It is not in my nature to kill, unlike the rest of my kind,” he responded, “I only howled because I was trying to warn you about the trap this temple has.”
“How do you know it’s a trap?”
“I came here with my newfound herd twenty years ago in search wayward souls we could consume. There was a slab against the temple’s entrance, which I destroyed. When we entered these ruins and later came back to the entrance, it was sealed again. I couldn’t destroy the new slab, however.”
“That doesn’t make any sense… When we got here the entrance was open again.”
“You did not break the slab?” She shook her head.
“Ramses’ dad must have or something because the entrance was wide open when we got here. We’re here to rescue his father,” Chip explained.
“I presume that is the Yamask’s name?” Both of them nodded.
“My name’s Chip and she’s Seraph, by the way,” the Weasinge added.
“I shall memorize that.”
As the hallway ended, it gave way to another immense chamber. From limited lighting, the room looked like it had been carved out of solid rock into a circular basin. They couldn’t see the far side, but the floor appeared to slope gradually towards the center of the arena. Overhead, Seraph could see faint light filtering down through the same pit they’d found in the middle of the entry chamber; however, there wasn’t enough light to actually see what lied ahead.
“Do you think this is the final chamber?” Chip asked.
“I would think so,” Seraph replied. Ratchet remained silent as he scanned the areas off in the darkness.
After a few seconds, he stopped and said, “I am detecting the presences of numerous Pokémon lurking in the shadows.”
“What?” Chip squealed, “Are you kidding?” The mechanical horse turned his head to the right and started walking towards one of the Pokémon he’d sensed. Chip and Seraph looked at each other, but then followed after him.
They came upon a statue of a Gallade just a few yards from where they previously were. The scrawny humanoid had his arms in front of his face with the blades on his elbows extended to their full length. Additionally, the creature had a look of utter terror on his face, as though he’d just seen a glimpse of death.
“Congratulations! You’ve found yourself a statue,” Seraph said, pawing her forehead.
“Well, it is pretty lifelike, Seraph. Give him the benefit of the doubt.”
“I beg to differ…” Ratchet explained, “Closer inspection shows that this Pokémon has been petrified.”
“Petrified?” the two questioned.
“Turned to stone. It appears to have been done through a process akin to fossilization too, but somehow it was instantaneous.”
“Turned to stone?” Chip said nervously, “What could’ve possibly done that?”
“To my knowledge…nothing…”
“Oh, please!” Seraph scoffed, “You honestly expect me to believe that this statue was once alive?”
“Sense for its spirit, then!” Ratchet demanded.
“Fine.” Seraph closed her eyes and focused her telepathy on the statue. Instantly she felt that the remaining tatters of the soul that had been forcibly reaped from the Gallade’s body.
“Its soul has been purged from the body,” she gasped, “Only small fragments of the creature’s essence remain.”
“What are you saying, Seraph?” Chip asked her.
“A soul eater consumed it, along with the souls of all other Pokémon whom have ever set foot in here,” Ratchet elaborated.
“You mean, like you?” Chip replied nervously.
“Do not be ridiculous! I’ve never once set foot in here.”
“This makes me wonder about that warning scrawled into the entrance’s walls,” Seraph interrupted
“Warning?” Ratchet asked.
“It was written in the first language I learned, but it wasn’t specific. Also, I’m starting to think that the same monster who did this to these intruders may have done the same to Ramses’ dad.” Seraph looked around for a moment to see if she could make out anything that looked like a Cofagrigus with the limited light Chip’s back-flames provided. Alas, she couldn’t make out anything.
“I am detecting a strong amount of spiritual energy from a focused point near the center of the room,” Ratchet added.
“Let’s investigate!” Chip ordered. Seraph nodded, and then the threesome headed further into the room.
Once they’d reached the bottom of the slope, Chip stopped dead in his tracks, awestruck by what his flame revealed. Before them was perhaps the largest intact fossil that he’d ever see, the twenty-two-foot tall carapace of an ancient terrapin. The monster’s shell had three gigantic rock spires jutting out of its forty-foot long backside, while the rest of it appeared to be fossilized with like cracks in its surface.
“Whoa, this guy must’ve been huge!” Chip screamed excitedly, “Just look at the size of this fossil!”
“Geez, Chip! Shut up,” Seraph told him.
“Seraph, do you have any idea how much a fossil this size is worth? And it’s completely intact!”
“Did you even consider how you’d get this thing out of here?” she retorted, “I don’t think so, so knock it off.”
“Aw, come on, Seraph…” he said, moving around to the front of the giant turtle. On his way towards the head, he noticed that the bones that once made up the creature’s flippers were lying neatly on the ground alongside of it.
“Look. More bones! We can probably take these with us as proof that we found this thing. They probably aren’t worth much, but should still fetch a good price.” He picked one up and threw it towards her. She caught it and clutched it in her paw.
He continued towards the creature’s face to see if the skull was still in one piece as well. As he approached it, he noticed that the reptile’s head lied several feet away from the rest of its body, with no vertebrae connecting it to the rest of its form. The skull itself was proportionally as massive as the rest of its body, about five feet long, three feet high, and a meter-and-a-half wide. Its mouth extended over two feet out from its brow line, and its eye sockets seemed to slant in towards. There were small cracks and fractures all across the fossil, but surprisingly its jagged teeth seemed perfectly preserved.
“Cool! He was a predator!”
“Chip, are you sure we should be so close to this thing?”
“Of course, why not? It’s just a fossil. This thing’s been dead for years.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of…”
Ratchet walked over to them and stated, “This would appear to be the source of spiritual energy I am detection. Or rather, a single point on the fossil’s forehead is exuding a malevolent aura unlike anything I have ever seen.” Seraph and Chip moved to the front of the creature’s face to get a better look. They both saw that there was a straight-bladed dagger with a golden hilt wedged into one of the cracks on the creature’s forehead.
“I wonder how that got there,” Chip said as he suddenly climbed onto the monster’s snout.
“Chip, stop!”
“Calm down. I’m not going to touch it.”
“If you say so…” she said. Something then caught her eye off to the side of the beast.
She went over to look at the object and then realized that it was another Pokémon statue. In the limited light, she noticed that the creature appeared to be vaguely like the coffins they’d just seen in the one room. However, it was somewhat narrower than the sarcophagi and had an area near the top where a human’s head would’ve rested. There also appeared to be a mask similar to Ramses’ engraved onto the headrest.
‘Is this Ramses’ father?’ Seraph thought to herself.
Meanwhile, Chip got close enough to examine the dagger wedged into the crack in the giant fossil’s skull. It appeared to exude a faint purple aura that seemingly pulsed into the fracture. Likewise, Chip noticed that a blackish mist appeared to be seeping from the fissure, almost as though it were trying push the blade out.
“Hey, it looks like something’s inside the skull.”
“I advise against touching that weapon,” Ratchet said.
“I’m not going to, but it looks like something’s trying to force it out from inside the skull.”
He blinked momentarily and then noticed that someone was watching him from overhead. Chip glance up from the weapon to see the silhouette of a humanoid Pokémon standing atop the highest spire on the terrapin’s back. The husky figure wore a heavy sheepskin cloak with the hood drawn over his head. Underneath the cowl, the weasel could see that the entity had two pairs of glowing amber eyes that focused directly on him. Slowly, the creature held his right hand to reveal a glowing eyeball shaped tattoo on his palm.
“Uh…guys…? Who…who is that?” he then asked, pointing his paw nervously at the Pokémon. Ratchet and Seraph looked at him, and then in the direction he was staring at. Neither of them could see anything in the darkness beyond the light of his flames.
In the next moment, the entity clenched his hand in a pulling fashion and the dagger suddenly flew into his palm hilt-first. Afterwards, the humanoid leapt from the fossil’s backside to floor. Seraph caught a glimpse of him as he landed, but he vanished into the shadows before she could call out to him.
“Kay…ner…sha…” a heinous voice then rasped from inside the dead terrapin’s skull. Chip’s entire body immediately became paralyzed with pure terror. Ratchet started to back away from the fossil before turning his body around and trying to flee in a full gallop.
“Chip, get out of there!” Seraph screamed before running away herself. The bone Chip handed her suddenly flew out her paw and back to where they originally found it.
“I…I can’t!” he cried.
“I…am going…to damn you… TO HELL!!!” the terrapin bellowed as he reared his head backwards.
Seraph stopped partway up the slope to see the monster materialize large phantasmal flippers at near the front and rear of its carapace. The creature forced his body towards the ceiling and almost threw Chip off of his head. Afterwards, the entity laid back on his belly, but started to levitate just above the floor.
“Seraph, Ratchet!” Kent called as he came running out of the hallway. Ramses followed right alongside him, psychically holding a small purplish-blue fireball between his palms. Its light revealed that Ratchet was just a few feet down the slope away from Seraph.
“My god…” Kent gasped, shocked by the sight of the angered beast, “Where’s Chip?”
“On that thing’s forehead!” Seraph replied.
They watched as the eyeless monster scanned the room back and forth, looking for his target. Meanwhile, Chip tried digging his claws as deep as he could into the fractures along the terrapin’s skull, hanging on for dear life. The monster roared ferociously as he saw that his quarry was no longer nearby.
“CANERSIA!!! Stop hiding, you coward!” he bellowed as he rested momentarily.
“Ramses, is that the monster you were talking about?” Kent asked their client.
“Uh, I… I think s-s-s-so…” the Yamask stuttered, “But I thought he was just a head. I had no idea that’s what he actually looked like.”
“No crap! He’s gigantic!” Seraph yelled.
After a few seconds, the monster’s red irises finally appeared in his eye sockets and began to look around the room. For a time, they seemed to ignore Chip completely, but suddenly focused on the others.
“You again!” the being shouted, recognizing Ramses at a distance. Chip whimpered as soon as the creature began to turn his head again.
Immediately, the phantom focused his iris on the Weasinge and bellowed, “Who are you, and why are you on my maw?”
“I-I-I… PLEASE DON’T HURT ME!!!” Chip screamed. The monster suddenly shook his head and flung several feet off to his side. Chip miraculously landed on his feet and darted towards the allies.
“What is he?” Chip whimpered as he got close to the group. The monster’s eyes glowed menacingly in the darkness as he turned towards them.
“I believe he is called a Carastone,” Ratchet explained.
“A Carastone?” Kent sneered, “I thought they were supposed to be a myth.”
“What’s a Carastone, Commander?” Chip asked
“In ancient times, they were hostile predators that swam primordial seas. After death, their spirits remained attached to their corpses, even after they decayed and their bones became fossilized. That’s what allows it to sleep for eons undisturbed.”
“And you knew this without saying anything?” Seraph yelled at him.
“You are all going to die down here!” Carastone declared with a terrifying rasp. Then, a large glowing orb shot at them from his mouth.
“Dodge!” Kent ordered. Seraph and Chip darted to one side, while Kent pushed Ramses to the other. Ratchet just stood still and took the attack head-on. Once the orb dissipated, the others looked up to see that Ratchet just stood there, clearly unfazed by the oversized Shadow Ball.
“Ratchet, are you alright?” Kent asked.
“Yes,” the Zombrong replied. Afterwards, he retaliated with a Shadow Ball of his own. As the attack hit, Carastone’s eyes moved to the left and his carapace took the blow instead.
“Such pitiful attacks are worthless!” he then wailed. Carastone then slammed his body into the ground to unleash an Earthquake attack. The resulting shockwaves spread out from his massive shell and heaved up the floor beneath Ratchet and the others. Ratchet got knocked onto his side while Seraph, Kent, and Chip fell hard on their backs; coincidentally, Ramses had enough sense to float high enough off the ground to avoid being struck down.
“How the hell do we fight this thing?” Seraph yelled angrily as she stood back up, “He didn’t even feel Ratchet’s attack!”
“What did you do to enrage him?” Kent asked, standing up.
“We didn’t do anything,” Chip explained as he got back on his feet, “He had a knife wedged into his forehead, and somebody in the shadows pulled it out with psychokinesis.”
“And how do I know you didn’t pull out the knife?” his teacher inquired.
“I saw him too, but he fled right as Carastone woke up,” Seraph replied. Kent stared at her skeptically.
“I sense that his head is his only weak spot,” Ratchet told them as he managed to stand back upright.
Turning his head to them, he continued, “If I can use Shadow Force against his side, it may provide enough of an impact to topple him on his side. Then, you may have a chance to attack him on your own.”
This forum is crapping out on me and I cannot post the rest of the chapter right now. I'll try again in the morning.
I
Incinermyn
RE: Dark Nostalgia: Biohazard (Chapter Six/Part One Up: 5/15/2013)
Note: This an addition to the previous post, since the chapter is too long to keep to a single installment.
Note: This an addition to the previous post, since the chapter is too long to keep to a single installment.
“Are you sure you’re up for that?” Kent asked, “You’ve already taken a hell of a beating.” Ratchet returned his gaze towards Carastone and started walking towards the monster. After a few seconds, he vanished into thin air.
“Ramses, stay put!” Kent then ordered, “Seraph, Chip, let’s get as close to Carastone as we can to distract him.” The three then ran diagonally downhill towards the enraged fossil.
“Hey, *sshole!” Seraph called out to him as they weaved back and forth between the miscellaneous statues crowding the pit. Carastone turned his head to lock eyes with her and growled. As they got closer to him, the light from Chip’s flame revealed the malevolent expression on the terrapin’s face, his teeth apparently clenched and his eyes glowing brightly now.
“DIE!” the fossil shouted. He opened his maw widely and created a massive gray vortex from it.
“Get down!” Kent shouted as he grabbed his protégés and pushed them face-first onto the floor. A second later, they watched as ethereal mists rose from the statues and get sucked into the virtual tornado.
“Soul Sucker? Damn, he’s serious if he’s breaking out a move that powerful,” he then said as the vortex diminished.
“What? I thought that attack was outlawed in Pokémon Square,” Chip said, getting back up along with his friends.
“This isn’t Pokémon Square. If any of us get caught up in it, we’re dead,” Seraph said as they started running again.
Carastone tried to follow their movements with his eyes. The three were getting closer, but he wanted to wait to attack them at pointblank. However, he had the sinking feeling that something was wrong…as though he’d forgotten about something.
Suddenly he heard the sound of screeching metal, and then felt something hard crash into his left torso. The impact caused his slightly-elevated shell slide somewhat across the floor before finally tipping upward and forcing him onto his side. His head suddenly disconnected from his main body and fell onto the ground.
Seeing the opening to attack, Kent charged the skull with his machete held out to his side. Likewise, Seraph ran towards the fossil with her dagger pointed to the ceiling. Her knife glowed with a purplish gleam as she slashed forward to unleash a shockwave from her Dark Pulse attack. Right as her attack hit the front Carastone’s head, Kent jabbed his weapon into the demon’s right eye, both of which made the fossilized terrapin cry out in horrific pain. After a long moment, Kent withdrew his blade and watched as Carastone’s irises immediately disappeared.
“I think…we won!” the Zoroark then declared.
Ratchet’s body rematerialized several feet behind Kent. The Zombrong slowly approached his old friend, taking care to watch Carastone’s body just in case it fell over on top of them. Seraph and Chip also came over by their team leader, ready to praise him for an awesome job.
“Dad!” Ramses called out as he suddenly hovered over by them, “DAD?” As the Yamask looked around for his father, he inadvertently lingered nearby Carastone’s forehead.
“I am not done with you, boy!” Carastone’s voice bellowed throughout the chamber. Kent readied his weapon again, prepared to go another round with the monster.
“Disarm yourselves!” Carastone then demanded, “I have no quarrel with you four anymore.” The monster’s eyes regenerated and focused strictly on Ramses. The Yamask immediately yelped and hid behind Kent’s hair.
“Why did you attack us?” Chip yelled. Carastone’s body fell back to ground level with a heavy boom.
The fossil raised his head to look at the group and said, “This temple is my home. I have lived here for millennia, long before you were even born! I shall protect it from intruders at all cost.”
“Is that so…?” Seraph commented, looking back at Ramses.
“The Yamask you are escorting… He trespassed here with his father but a few days ago. I consumed his father’s soul and petrified his body as an example that I do not tolerate invasion whatsoever.”
“Isn’t that a bit cruel?” Kent replied.
“Normally, my groans and howls are enough to scare any thieves off. But, once in a great while, they actually make it this far into my sanctum. Rarely I encounter those bold enough to try and fight against a monster like me, even after I tell them firmly to get out. Only then do I resort to petrifying victims.”
“Hey, my dad and I aren’t thieves!” Ramses shouted as he flew right in front of Carastone’s face.
The terrapin snorted him away and retorted, “LIAR! You know damn well that you’re a thief! Now, be gone and never let me see you again!” The Yamask was so terrified that he fled out the hole he’d originally used to enter the chamber with his father.
“Hey, he was our client!” Kent reprimanded him.
“You would do better to avoid working for swindlers like him. His father’s death is indeed justified.”
“What are you talking about?”
“In addition to living in this temple, I am also the assigned guardian of a sacred treasure. The likes of which, no one must obtain.”
“A treasure?” Chip and Seraph asked gleefully.
“Correct. The knowledge of this trinket is limited to only folklore, but I can confirm that it does indeed exist.”
“What is it?” the two replied.
“A Nostalgia Crystal…” he whispered.
“Nostalgia Crystal?” all four of them questioned.
“It is an object of immense power capable of overpowering even the darkest emotions. In the same stride, it can be used to unleash a terrible apocalypse upon the world.”
“Say what?” Chip quivered.
“Fear not. It can only be used in conjunction with two other crystals,” Carastone explained, “But I fear there are forces that wish to use them for just that purpose.”
“What do you mean?” Seraph asked.
“The crystal I guarded was stolen by another intruder shortly after I repelled that Yamask.”
“That’s terrible!” Kent said.
Chip’s eyes widened and he said, “I saw a shadowy figure with four glowing eyes just before you woke up and went on a rampage. Was that the guy who jammed a knife in your forehead?”
“Indeed. He is an accursed beast known as Canersia… He hexed his blade to suppress my soul while he stole the crystal.”
“Isn’t there anyway to get it back?” Chip asked.
“I fear that there is not… Canersia is one Pokémon that you do not want to encounter. He’s one of the most ruthless entities in all existence and nearly impossible to track. His psychic abilities are said to be unparalleled.”
“Oh, I see…” the weasel sighed.
“If there is anything we can do to help, can you let us know?” Kent then asked.
“I am afraid not… Just know that this is part of an even greater cataclysm to follow.” Kent and the others looked at each other concerned.
“If you can find the other gemstones, you may be able to stop this catastrophe. However, there are other forces that will try to stop you. This is all I can say…” Carastone finished. Afterwards, he rested his head upon the ground and prepared to go into a deep slumber.
“Let’s return home,” Kent replied, leading the group away from the fossilized terrapin. When they were far enough away, he took out his Teleport Stone. In a brilliant flash, the four warped out of the temple, back to Pokémon Square.
<End Chapter Six>
“Ramses, stay put!” Kent then ordered, “Seraph, Chip, let’s get as close to Carastone as we can to distract him.” The three then ran diagonally downhill towards the enraged fossil.
“Hey, *sshole!” Seraph called out to him as they weaved back and forth between the miscellaneous statues crowding the pit. Carastone turned his head to lock eyes with her and growled. As they got closer to him, the light from Chip’s flame revealed the malevolent expression on the terrapin’s face, his teeth apparently clenched and his eyes glowing brightly now.
“DIE!” the fossil shouted. He opened his maw widely and created a massive gray vortex from it.
“Get down!” Kent shouted as he grabbed his protégés and pushed them face-first onto the floor. A second later, they watched as ethereal mists rose from the statues and get sucked into the virtual tornado.
“Soul Sucker? Damn, he’s serious if he’s breaking out a move that powerful,” he then said as the vortex diminished.
“What? I thought that attack was outlawed in Pokémon Square,” Chip said, getting back up along with his friends.
“This isn’t Pokémon Square. If any of us get caught up in it, we’re dead,” Seraph said as they started running again.
Carastone tried to follow their movements with his eyes. The three were getting closer, but he wanted to wait to attack them at pointblank. However, he had the sinking feeling that something was wrong…as though he’d forgotten about something.
Suddenly he heard the sound of screeching metal, and then felt something hard crash into his left torso. The impact caused his slightly-elevated shell slide somewhat across the floor before finally tipping upward and forcing him onto his side. His head suddenly disconnected from his main body and fell onto the ground.
Seeing the opening to attack, Kent charged the skull with his machete held out to his side. Likewise, Seraph ran towards the fossil with her dagger pointed to the ceiling. Her knife glowed with a purplish gleam as she slashed forward to unleash a shockwave from her Dark Pulse attack. Right as her attack hit the front Carastone’s head, Kent jabbed his weapon into the demon’s right eye, both of which made the fossilized terrapin cry out in horrific pain. After a long moment, Kent withdrew his blade and watched as Carastone’s irises immediately disappeared.
“I think…we won!” the Zoroark then declared.
Ratchet’s body rematerialized several feet behind Kent. The Zombrong slowly approached his old friend, taking care to watch Carastone’s body just in case it fell over on top of them. Seraph and Chip also came over by their team leader, ready to praise him for an awesome job.
“Dad!” Ramses called out as he suddenly hovered over by them, “DAD?” As the Yamask looked around for his father, he inadvertently lingered nearby Carastone’s forehead.
“I am not done with you, boy!” Carastone’s voice bellowed throughout the chamber. Kent readied his weapon again, prepared to go another round with the monster.
“Disarm yourselves!” Carastone then demanded, “I have no quarrel with you four anymore.” The monster’s eyes regenerated and focused strictly on Ramses. The Yamask immediately yelped and hid behind Kent’s hair.
“Why did you attack us?” Chip yelled. Carastone’s body fell back to ground level with a heavy boom.
The fossil raised his head to look at the group and said, “This temple is my home. I have lived here for millennia, long before you were even born! I shall protect it from intruders at all cost.”
“Is that so…?” Seraph commented, looking back at Ramses.
“The Yamask you are escorting… He trespassed here with his father but a few days ago. I consumed his father’s soul and petrified his body as an example that I do not tolerate invasion whatsoever.”
“Isn’t that a bit cruel?” Kent replied.
“Normally, my groans and howls are enough to scare any thieves off. But, once in a great while, they actually make it this far into my sanctum. Rarely I encounter those bold enough to try and fight against a monster like me, even after I tell them firmly to get out. Only then do I resort to petrifying victims.”
“Hey, my dad and I aren’t thieves!” Ramses shouted as he flew right in front of Carastone’s face.
The terrapin snorted him away and retorted, “LIAR! You know damn well that you’re a thief! Now, be gone and never let me see you again!” The Yamask was so terrified that he fled out the hole he’d originally used to enter the chamber with his father.
“Hey, he was our client!” Kent reprimanded him.
“You would do better to avoid working for swindlers like him. His father’s death is indeed justified.”
“What are you talking about?”
“In addition to living in this temple, I am also the assigned guardian of a sacred treasure. The likes of which, no one must obtain.”
“A treasure?” Chip and Seraph asked gleefully.
“Correct. The knowledge of this trinket is limited to only folklore, but I can confirm that it does indeed exist.”
“What is it?” the two replied.
“A Nostalgia Crystal…” he whispered.
“Nostalgia Crystal?” all four of them questioned.
“It is an object of immense power capable of overpowering even the darkest emotions. In the same stride, it can be used to unleash a terrible apocalypse upon the world.”
“Say what?” Chip quivered.
“Fear not. It can only be used in conjunction with two other crystals,” Carastone explained, “But I fear there are forces that wish to use them for just that purpose.”
“What do you mean?” Seraph asked.
“The crystal I guarded was stolen by another intruder shortly after I repelled that Yamask.”
“That’s terrible!” Kent said.
Chip’s eyes widened and he said, “I saw a shadowy figure with four glowing eyes just before you woke up and went on a rampage. Was that the guy who jammed a knife in your forehead?”
“Indeed. He is an accursed beast known as Canersia… He hexed his blade to suppress my soul while he stole the crystal.”
“Isn’t there anyway to get it back?” Chip asked.
“I fear that there is not… Canersia is one Pokémon that you do not want to encounter. He’s one of the most ruthless entities in all existence and nearly impossible to track. His psychic abilities are said to be unparalleled.”
“Oh, I see…” the weasel sighed.
“If there is anything we can do to help, can you let us know?” Kent then asked.
“I am afraid not… Just know that this is part of an even greater cataclysm to follow.” Kent and the others looked at each other concerned.
“If you can find the other gemstones, you may be able to stop this catastrophe. However, there are other forces that will try to stop you. This is all I can say…” Carastone finished. Afterwards, he rested his head upon the ground and prepared to go into a deep slumber.
“Let’s return home,” Kent replied, leading the group away from the fossilized terrapin. When they were far enough away, he took out his Teleport Stone. In a brilliant flash, the four warped out of the temple, back to Pokémon Square.
<End Chapter Six>
I
Incinermyn
RE: Dark Nostalgia: Biohazard (Chapter Six Up: 5/15/2013)
I was concerned about the description, especially since I kind of restrained it to what was visible because of Chip's back-flame. If it's as good as you say, then I'm not worried about it anymore. I just felt like it was too resticted because the setting was literally dark.
I was concerned about the description, especially since I kind of restrained it to what was visible because of Chip's back-flame. If it's as good as you say, then I'm not worried about it anymore. I just felt like it was too resticted because the setting was literally dark.
I
Incinermyn
RE: Dark Nostalgia: Biohazard (Chapter Six Up: 5/15/2013)
Eh, this chapter may seem a little choppy... I didn't rush writing it, but I sort of used a different tactic in which I wrote what came to mind first and then sort of modified it a little to better fit into the plot.
Eh, this chapter may seem a little choppy... I didn't rush writing it, but I sort of used a different tactic in which I wrote what came to mind first and then sort of modified it a little to better fit into the plot.
Chapter Seven: Signs of Infection
“No, no… Please, NOOO!!!!” a young Rattata cried as she dashed frantically through the underbrush.
Doxisite followed closely as he slithered behind his prey. To his eyes, the one-foot long mammal looked like a bluish-white rodent with stumpy red paws and a curled white tail. She wasn’t going to be a full meal, but she would suffice until he could find more suitable prey.
Futilely, the small creature tried to dart from back and forth in order to distract her pursuer. However, the viper-leech matched her movements with his head. At last he snapped at her body, catching it right between his front fangs. Holding her upward, Doxisite let some of her blood drip down his gullet. As it did, he lapped it up with his narrow tube-like suckers, and then injected them right into his victim’s neck to drain the rest of her fluids before rigor mortis set in. In a split-second, he’d sucked her corpse dry to the point where it almost imploded.
“Delicious…” he clicked, throwing her body into the weeds so it wouldn’t be found.
It had taken several days of travel from the island, but he’d finally found a feeding ground plentiful enough to sate even his veracious appetite. Though, admittedly, the prey in this area was quite meager and he needed to kill several victims just to keep his hunger under wraps. Of course, they were mostly vermin that nobody would likely miss.
Slowly he made his way back to the main road, where his accomplice waited for him to return. The zombified Alakazam stood motionlessly as the leech wrapped himself around his backside and lingered on his shoulder.
“What are your orders, master…?” the humanoid gargled, his throat and veins filled the primordial ooze that gave birth to Doxisite.
“I hear there is a town nearby… Take me to it!” the viper-leech ordered.
“As you wish,” Alakazam responded, his eyes glowing red with a black slit down their middle. The psychic suddenly teleported them away from the forest.
Seraph yawned loudly as she stretched herself out atop of Ratchet’s back as the Zombrong followed Chip and Kent down the forest path. Wanting to keep a low profile, Kent had teleported the group to the outskirts of Pokémon Square hoping to sneak his old friend into the village without Saul noticing. It was nearly dark and any diurnal townsfolk would likely be going to sleep soon, making this a prime opportunity.
“So, Ratchet,” Seraph said as she snuggled up near the ungulate’s head. The machine looked back at her inquisitively.
“What’s it feel like going home after so many years trapped down in those ruins?”
“In all honesty,” he replied, “I never considered Pokémon Square my actual home…” Glancing down the path, he made out the distinct outline of the footbridge leading into the village.
“Why is that?” Chip inquired.
“My kind is nomadic. We do not linger in any place for too long, even though most are driven simply by the desire to feed.”
“Well, besides that, didn’t you mention something about Saul driving you out?” Seraph added.
“Saul Retford is distrusting of anyone he does not know personally. I do not expect him to have changed his ways, even after all this time.”
“How do you know he’s still alive?” Chip then asked.
“Metalupus pride themselves on their longevity. They do not succumb to old age the same way you would. Saul was only thirty-five when I saw him last.”
“Thirty-five back then? I thought he was only forty-five now,” the weasel pondered.
“Saul hides his age pretty well, but he isn’t the titan he once was. When he gets injured, it takes a while for him to recover from it,” Kent explained, “But never underestimate him. His strength is as formidable as ever.”
As the group reached the bridge, Kent stopped them so he could go on to scout ahead. When he saw the coast was clear, he waved them onward and led them to a path between houses where he knew nobody would see them. After they reached Katherine’s storage huts, he motioned for Ratchet to wait while he went to find the elderly Kangaskhan and ask if she could help hide him. Once the Zoroark took off, Seraph jumped down from Ratchet’s back.
“Well, this is going to end badly…” she then sighed.
“What do you mean, Seraph?” Chip asked her.
“How are we going to hide Ratchet from Saul? It’s not like he can just duck down in a corner and lie there inconspicuously.”
“I suppose you’re right, but that’s why we’re getting Katherine to help!” he said, wagging his tail. Ratchet huffed and then glanced down at him angrily.
“What’s wrong, Ratchet?” Chip then asked.
“Katherine and I did not know each other very well. I doubt she’ll even recognize me, let alone help.”
“But that was twenty years ago.”
“And she was a bitter woman back then. I don’t want to know what she’s like now.”
After a few moments, the three heard footsteps. Two shadows appeared from around the corner, distinctly those of Katherine and Commander Zoltaine. As the two creatures appeared in front of them, Ratchet backed away a couple paces.
The Kangaskhan stood there quietly a moment before saying, “My god, it really is you…” Ratchet looked away, reluctant to make eye contact with her.
“Alright then,” she continued, motioning towards one of her nearby warehouses, “I’ve got a place where you can stay the night. But I want you gone by morning.”
“What?” Chip squealed, “Why?”
“She hates my kind, like many Pokémon do… That was the reason I was exiled to begin with,” Ratchet explained.
“I want nothing to do with Zomborg or Zombrong, Chip. If Ratchet were any other kind of Pokémon, he would be welcomed with open arms. But he’s too dangerous to keep around for too long. He’ll only attract others of his species over time. This is why he has to leave by morning,” Katherine added as she led them around to the front of one of her storage huts.
The building was a long rectangular shack made from massive logs, which had been tied together with the gaps sealed with clay. Its roof had a pointed pinnacle with bark shingles covering it from the top downward. There was a crude door made from a single piece of wood that had a crude latch on the side Katherine pushed on to make it release. As she swung the gate open wide, the group saw that the hut contained a treasure trove of miscellaneous larder, weapons, and tools that Katherine’s customers entrusted her to store.
“There’s some room in the far corner. You can settle down there for the night,” she told Ratchet as he started to walk inside, “But I want you gone before dawn. Kent agreed to escort you out of town.” After he was inside, he went into the far left corner and laid himself down for the night. Katherine closed the door slowly while leering at him, and then locked him inside for the evening. Suddenly, she backhanded Commander Zoltaine who was standing right behind her.
“Damn it, woman! What the hell was that for?” he yelped.
“Your incompetence... I just pray that Chip doesn’t follow the examples you’re starting to set for him.” Afterwards, she walked away and headed home.
“Commander, what happened twenty years ago between her and Ratchet?” Chip asked as Kent rubbed the side of his face.
“Nothing… Her hatred for Zomborg goes all the way back to childhood when she had a near-death encounter with a herd of Zomborg. They say she narrowly escaped only because another Pokémon gave his life to save her. That Pokémon was Saul’s grandfather, Leon Retford. It’s the same reason why Saul has a grudge against them too, because he knew that his grandfather got killed by a herd of them.”
“Do you know how many Zomborg there were at the time?”
“Three or four. It wasn’t a large herd like the one we saw in those ruins today.”
“But that’s still no excuse for treating Ratchet so badly.”
“That’s the price he pays for being what he is. I’m sure Ratchet accepts that easily enough,” Kent said.
Standing authoritatively, he continued, “We need to report that we couldn’t complete the mission. Saul is going to want to be briefed on the details of what happened, so I’ll need you two there to describe the encounter with Carastone.”
“Really?” Seraph sighed, “We can’t just call it a night?”
“It’s protocol, Seraph,” Chip explained, “We need to give a report as soon as we return from a mission, whether we completed it or not.”
‘Sounds more like a load of bullcrap to me…’ she sneered.
“At this time of day, he should be around the Pelipper Post Office addressing night patrols about recent occurrences and things to keep an eye out for. It won’t take long…” Kent told her. Afterwards, he motioned for his protégés to follow him as he led them across town to the Rescue Corps adopted command center.
As they traveled through town, Seraph felt an air of foreboding starting to develop amongst the denizens of Pokémon Square. She knew that most of the creatures were terrified to be out after nightfall, but this evening seemed particularly odd. Everybody they passed appeared to eye her nervously, perhaps due to the other night’s altercation or more likely out of simple distrust for naturally nocturnal Pokémon. At one point, though, she took notice of an unidentifiable creature staring at her from an alcove between two houses; she didn’t have time to get a good look at him, but she did see how he had slanted red eyes and an unnaturally large grin.
Once they’d finally arrived at headquarters, the threesome stopped to listen in as Saul addressed the members of Team Hellfire about their patrol for the evening.
“Gentlemen and lady…” Saul greeted them, “I have heard terrible rumors that several Rattata have turned up dead on the outskirts of town within the past twelve hours. Whilst I am not obliged to believe them, as such vermin are no longer permitted in town, I must advice you to be on the lookout for any unknown predators lurking on or within our borders. If you find anyone at all who hasn’t been seen here before, you have orders to use lethal force if necessary. Do you understand?”
“Ah, that’s a joke,” Leona scoffed as she revealed her claws, “The only ‘predator’ anyone needs to worry about is me.”
“I wouldn’t be so cocky, Leona!” Saul reprimanded her, raising his talons, “We have no idea what, if anything, this creature is.”
“Got it, sir!” Chet replied, raising his right claw in salute.
“We’ll keep Leona under control, Captain. Don’t worry about that,” Charon added.
“You are dismissed then.” Team Hellfire then turned to leave, not saying so much as a word as they passed by Seraph, Kent, and Chip.
After they were out of sight, Saul turned to Kent and shouted, “What the hell happened?”
“Yikes, settle down, Saul!” the Zoroark replied, “You’re going to burst a blood vessel.”
“Explain why a Yamask by the name of Ramses showed up just a few minutes before you did and yakked my ear off about how you failed to rescue his father and then almost got his soul consumed by a Zombrong!”
“He said that?” Seraph sighed.
“He also said that you, Seraph, assaulted him several times with that Dark Pulse attack you unleash from your knife!”
“That’s a load of crap!” she retorted, “Did he mention that the tomb was guarded by a Carastone, or even that he and his father were thieves who infiltrated it just to plunder whatever artifacts were inside?”
“How dare you make such accusations of your client?” he roared, “You were supposed to help him and you failed…MISERABLY!!! I should have your head for this!” The wolf approached her and raised his right paw to slash at her with its talons. As he swung, Kent blocked his attack by catching his machete in the hooks of Saul’s weapon.
“Stop, Saul! She’s telling the truth,” Kent yelled, holding the backside of his blade with both hands.
Saul pulled his paw away and said, “If this is true, then why didn’t Ramses come back howling about how you almost got him fed to a Zombrong and say nothing about the Carastone? They’re equally deadly monsters, but Carastone are particularly dangerous because they can petrify their victims’ bodies and consume their souls.”
“Probably because Carastone scared the living crap out of him,” Seraph giggled, “Carastone was still p*ssed off at him after their previous encounter.”
“Sir…” Chip interrupted, “Ramses sent out a communiqué without full details about what was going on. This would dictate a ‘false alarm,’ and therefore our mission wasn’t so much a failure as opposed to a waste of time.”
Saul cleared his throat and replied, “So, you think that this mission should be scratched from the logbooks? You do understand that regardless of whether I do that or not, you’ll still need to complete yet another mission to make up for this before you’ll be allowed to graduate from basic training, Cadet?”
“I understand, sir, but my point is that the mission didn’t count because Ramses withheld information that we needed to know ahead of time.”
“Very well then…” Saul said, backing away, “Consider yourselves dismissed for today. I expect you to be back to work right away tomorrow morning.” The Metalupus turned and headed into the post office to take care of the evening’s paperwork.
“I suppose that’s it for the night,” Kent said, “Make sure you both get a good night’s sleep because we’re probably going to have a full day tomorrow making up for today’s loss.”
“Alright, sir,” Chip replied, “We’ll reconvene here at dawn as usual.”
“Fair enough. Good night, Chip! Good night, Seraph!” the Zoroark replied, nodding at each of them. Then he headed back to the village proper.
A few seconds after Kent was gone, Seraph and Chip walked each other into town too. As they reached the crossroads at the middle of town, Seraph stopped and looked around for a couple moments.
“What’s wrong?” Chip asked her.
“Have you noticed something odd about the town this evening?” she replied.
“No more so than usual.”
She hummed to herself a little bit and then replied, “I saw some Pokémon eyeing me on our way through town earlier.”
“They’re probably still distrustful towards you for what you did the other night.”
Seraph shook her head and mentioned, “I noticed that there was a peculiar Pokémon glaring at me from an alleyway between two houses on our way from Katherine’s storage units. He didn’t look like anything I’d ever seen before. In fact, I couldn’t really tell what he was at all.”
“Well, that doesn’t mean anything. We get so many visitors here throughout the day, it’s impossible to keep track of who is who.”
“I hope you’re right…” she replied, looking away and rubbing her arm nervously with her paw, “I just didn’t like the look that thing gave me. It seemed like he was sizing me up for dinner.”
“Now you’re just being ridiculous,” Chip laughed, “You’re probably just tired from the day. Head back to Katherine’s, and see if she’s got supper ready. I’m heading home to myself a meal too. See you in the morning, Seraph.” The Weasinge headed down the southward street from where they were, and eventually took a left down the path leading to his hut. Sighing, Seraph turned around and walk down the same street he did until she reached the footpath that led to Katherine’s home.
As she traipsed down the trail leading to her caretaker’s home, Seraph’s ear twitched wildly as she heard the same creature she’d told Chip about suddenly slithering behind her. The Skunanne remained silent as she staggered into a slight jog, not wanting to completely let on that she knew the thing now pursued her. After several moments of dead silence, Seraph finally pivoted around to unleash a Psycho Cut attack with a swing from her Luna Fang. With viper-like speed, her pursuer literally slingshot his body between two houses and slithered away as quickly as he could. Seraph tried to glance between the crevasse he’d escaped through to see what the thing was, but he moved to fast for her to spot him; she only noticed how he had strange lime-green and black rings coursing the entirety of his body.
“Seraph, dinner!” Katherine called from a few houses down. Seraph put her knife into its sheath and headed towards the Kangaskhan’s home. Once inside, she took extra care to watch outside as she closed the door, just in case the Pokémon followed her again.
Katherine set two plates of berries on the table in the middle of the hut and then glanced at Seraph. She grinned at the girl for a moment, seeing that Seraph kept the bow on the she gave her to wear this morning. After an awkward moment of silence, however, the Kangaskhan began to frown somewhat.
“What’s the matter, Sweetheart?” Kathy asked as the girl finally set down her backpack, knife, and buckler.
“I was being stalked by somebody,” the Skunanne replied.
“Really? Who?” the marsupial asked, putting her hand to her mouth.
“That’s the thing. I don’t know.” Seraph plopped herself on the floor in front of the plate Katherine had set on the right side of the table.
Kathy sat across from her and said, “That’s not much of a surprise. Many Pokémon come through town on a daily basis, so it’s likely someone who’s just taken a sudden interest in you. I’m sure all they wanted to do was talk.”
“I don’t think so… This guy looked hungry to me.”
“Oh, now that’s just preposterous!” the elderly Pokémon laughed.
“That’s what Chip said, but I’m not so sure…” Seraph sighed, “Is it true that some Rattata were found dead on the outskirts of town today?”
“Oh, well, I guess… Saul mentioned something to that effect when I spoke with him this afternoon, but I didn’t think anything of it. Even if it is true, they’re just Rattata. They get eaten all the time.”
“Well, I overheard him before we gave tonight’s ‘report’ on our mission. It sounded like there may be a connection.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it, Sweetie. If there’s anything this mystery Pokémon is involved with, it’s up to Saul to handle it, not you,” Kathy continued, “Now, eat your fruit.”
“Alright,” Seraph replied. She then started eating her meal.
After about ten minutes, the two of them had finished their food and Katherine had put their plates away. For a time later, they exchanged stories about what happened during their day. Seraph went into extra lengthy detail explaining about how her team had come up on the Zomborg herd, found Ratchet, and then stopped Carastone from rampaging in the depths of the temple. Katherine offered up only a short rundown of her daily clients and some gossip about the embarrassing things they do when they don’t think anyone’s around, including a stint about how Silas constantly plucks gray hairs from his beard and moustache to make himself look younger than he really is.
Once their giggling and storytelling was done, the two decided it was time to go to bed. Seraph lied in a modest pile of leaves right against the far wall across from the entrance, while Kathy slept in a larger one nearby. Getting settled under her Linoone-skin blanket, Seraph said her final ‘good night’ to Katherine, closed her eyes, and quickly fell asleep.
In the midst of her slumber, Seraph sensed that something strange about to happen. As she dreamt, she thought she could hear the faint sounds of someone panting as they tried to run down an empty street. Minutes later, the Skunanne awoke to a terrifying scream from somewhere in the village. Glancing at around disoriented, she saw that Katherine hadn’t been waken by the ghastly noise. Not wanting to disturb her caretaker, Seraph stood up and tiptoed around the elderly Kangaskhan quietly. Seraph went over to grab her knife and buckler before heading outdoors to investigate.
She had been asleep for at least a few hours, given how she was able to see perfectly in the moonlight. At this time of night, only Team Hellfire and possibly a few other patrols were likely out. Her first instinct, though, was to avoid them at all costs and hunt down her stalker from earlier.
Sniffing the air, she could tell that something had just been killed. The scent of blood was fresh on the wind, and her gut told her that the killed occurred towards the north side of town. Immediately she headed around the backside of Katherine’s home and hastily made her way between houses until she reached the main street leading through town.
Upon reaching the paved road, she came upon a rather disturbing sight. Leona from Team Hellfire lied dead in the middle of the street facing her as a dried up husk of a corpse. The Luxray’s skin was tight to her bones, and she had a gaping elliptical bite mark on the back of her neck with a puncture wound at its center.
“LEONA!” Chet the Weavile called as he and Charon the Obseon raced over to her dead body.
“My god… Seraph, what the hell happened?” Charon asked as he hovered over and examined Leona’s wound.
“I just got here,” she explained, “I heard her scream from Katherine’s house.”
“We heard her all the way on the other side of town,” Chet explained.
“This is terrible! What could’ve possibly done this?”
“A parasite…”a raspy voice spoke from the shadows behind Seraph. The Skunanne stepped forward and then pivoted to see the muscular silhouette of a bipedal reptile leering at her. As he walked towards her, she recognized him as the Draconai she’d seen yesterday at her tribunal.
“Lord Draconai…” Charon hissed, “What are you doing out at this hour?” Draconai lashed at Charon with the razor-sharp claws on his fingertips, forcing the ghost fox to recoil somewhat.
“I did not give you permission to speak to me, troglodyte.”
“Troglodyte?” Chet asked confusedly.
“It’s an insult!” Draconai then barked.
“Oh…” the Weavile cowered.
“Excuse me, but what do you mean by ‘a parasite?’” Seraph asked Draconai sternly, “What kind of a parasite can feed like that?”
“This isn’t a normal parasite. I just happened to get a glimpse of him before he disappeared. He’s easily over eight feet long, and his body seems like it can contract or expand as needed.”
“Which direction did he head off in?”
“That’s the problem… He didn’t leave on his own. Somebody is helping him hide,” Draconai said disappointedly.
“Who then?”
“The leader of Team ACT and my best friend…Alakazam…”
“What?” Chet and Charon barked.
“Who?” Seraph questioned.
“Seraph, Alakazam is a veteran in the Rescue Corps,” Charon explained, “His team is only a few weeks from retirement.”
“I thought he was off on an expedition to some recently discovered island,” Chet added.
“He was,” Draconai replied, “But the fact that he’s returned early without his friends raises dire concerns.”
“What do you think happened to Charizard and Tyranitar?”
“If I’d have to guess, the same thing that happened to Leona.”
“So what are we going to do then?” Seraph asked.
“Hunt the b*stard down and kill him before he can do any more damage,” Draconai ordered, “Team Hellfire search the eastern half of town, but do not let Saul know about this right yet. I want to keep the air of surprise while everyone’s asleep.”
“Alright, I guess…” Charon grumbled, and then left with his partner.
Once they were gone, Draconai crossed his arms and told Seraph, “I saw you sneak that Zombrong into town earlier tonight.”
“What?” she said, backing away.
“I want you to get him and bring him out into the open. I only a machine Pokémon will stand a chance against this monster.”
“But…Saul will find out he’s here…”
“Leave Saul to me. Just bring that Zombrong to the crossroads in the next few minutes. I’ll need you there with him as bait.” Afterwards, Draconai dashed off towards the middle of town.
“Bait?” she thought to herself nervously. A second later, she swallowed her pride and headed back towards Katherine’s storage huts.
Upon finding the shed Ratchet was hiding in, Seraph headed around to its front, where she jumped furiously so she could grab the latch that would open the door. As soon as she gripped the mechanism, the entryway began to open. Dropping back to the ground, she yanked hard on the inside of the door with her paw to make it fling outward the rest of the way. She stepped inside to see Ratchet kneeling on the ground with his eyes closed in the far corner of the room.
“Ratchet, wake up!” she called with a harsh whisper. The mechanized horse forced the shutters over his eyes to open immediately and then glanced in her direction.
“Is it morning already?” he asked confusedly.
“No, but there’s huge trouble. I need you to go with me to the middle of town…NOW!”
“Do not yell at me… I am very tired and need as much rest as I can get. Furthermore, this is the only cover I have until morning. Saul must not be allowed to see me.”
“If you don’t come, Saul and everyone in town will be dead by morning!”
“What could possibly be the matter?”
“A parasite is on the loose and he’s already killed someone.”
“And you presume that I would be immune to its assault?” he sighed, “Very well, then.” He then stood up as quickly as he could and made his way out of the storage unit. After he stepped outside, Seraph took a moment to close the door and then climbed onto Ratchet’s back.
Ratchet slowly headed north towards the main road as per Seraph’s instruction. Once they reached it, the Zombrong stopped to look at Leona’s dehydrated corpse, sensing that the Luxray’s spirit was still attached to the body. After a moment, he started to walk towards the crossroads in the middle of town. When he stopped the intersection, Ratchet gazed around to assure himself that Saul wasn’t anywhere within sight.
“Now, what?” he asked Seraph as she jumped off his back.
“That’s a good question…” she muttered as she looked around. She didn’t see any sign of Draconai. If the parasite appeared before he showed up, both her and Ratchet would be in trouble.
Ratchet turned his body sideways and scanned the area. Based on his spiritual scans, he could tell that nothing was amiss in town. There were certainly no signs of any parasitic organisms from what he could tell. He thought that perhaps Seraph had been mistaken.
Seraph’s ear twitched wildly as she heard something slithering towards her at an ungodly speed. As she pivoted to turn, she watched as the viper suddenly bit hard into Ratchet’s hind right leg with his numerous dagger-like fangs. The Skunanne jumped off to the side, while the Zombrong gave out an anguished wail.
From her vantage, Seraph saw that the leech had a wide elliptical maw that gripped the bottom half of Ratchet’s leg; his serrated ivory-white teeth seemed to leek a clear-colored poison as he tried tightening his clamp on his victim. She moved off to her left to see that the monster’s body was stretched out and snakelike. The creature’s slanted oval eyes were the crimson shade of blood with tiny black slits near their centers. In addition to the lime-green and black rings coursing this body, she saw that he also had reddish sores running down his backside.
“Ratchet, stomp with your back hooves!” she told the Zombrong.
“Gladly!” he responded, lifting each of his hind legs in succession and pound his feet hard against the ground. The leech squirmed wildly trying to keep his grip, but suddenly found his tail getting squashed by the machine’s cast iron appendages. Releasing his bite out of pain, the monster tried to dart away. However, the tip of his tail was pinned under the ungulate’s rear left hoof.
“Damn you!” the parasite clicked as he then snapped his maw at her. Seraph jumped back quickly, and the monster missed her by merely an inch.
“What the hell are you?” she whispered. She continued to back away as he continued lunge at her. Unsure whether to be shocked or disgusted, Seraph watched as the creature stretched closer and closer to her each time he attacked.
“Seraph!” Ratchet bellowed, “I cannot hold him forever. He will eventually wriggle free.”
“Right, but what can we do?”
“Do you know how to use Psychic?”
“Yes.”
“Then use it to grip him. Let me know when you have a strong enough hold. Then I shall release him.”
Seraph nodded and then focused her fully attention on the parasite. Next she tried to channel her psychic power into the creature’s body and take control of its mind. After a couple seconds, she realized that this fiend wasn’t like other Pokémon. Wherein she’d normally have to breach her foe’s willpower, she found herself trying to take control an infinite cluster of microorganisms that had consciousnesses all on their own. It seemed like the more she strained to focus on one, millions of others got in the way. There was no way to take over this monster’s body without overtaxing herself.
“What’s wrong?” Ratchet asked as she suddenly backed away huffing.
“I can’t concentrate on his body… There are too many thought patterns to focus on.”
“What does that mean?”
“He’s immune to psychic power because he has more than one mind.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Actually, it makes perfect sense… Considering how I was spawned from a colony of microbes!” the leech cackled as he still struggled to get free.
“Seraph, what’s going on!” Chip called from somewhere behind the Skunanne, “Why is Ratchet out here?” As the Weasinge got closer, he peeked around Seraph’s side and caught a glance of the monster they’d caught.
“D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DOXISITE!!!” he suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs, “DOXISITE IS ALIVE?!”
“Chip, shut up!” Seraph scolded him, “You’re going to wake up the whole damn town.”
“That’s the point!” he shouted in her face.
“It seems my reputation precedes me, even after all these centuries,” the leech clicked happily.
“What is he then?” Doxisite relaxed his body to reveal the jagged row of red spines hiding in his back.
He grinned for a long moment and finally explained, “I am what you would call a ‘legendary’ Pokémon, though I scoff the term myself.”
“Legendary, my *ss! You’re a monster!” Chip retorted, “You killed countless Pokémon during the Age of Man and for some time afterwards.”
“Then prey thinned out, and I returned home to hibernate.”
“You should never have reawaken!”
“Hard not to when prey ambles so willingly into my domicile.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Alakazam…” Seraph whispered, recalling what Draconai mentioned a few moments ago. The Skunanne’s ears twitched wildly as she heard the plopping steps of someone stopping directly behind Chip and her.
Both of them turned to see the shadowy form of a five-foot-tall humanoid Pokémon standing several feet down the road. The entity had an abnormally large cranium with large conical ears that seemed to curl off to the side like horns; his face appeared deformed as well due to its pointed cheekbones and slightly extended maw, from which several fangs jutted outward. He had a relatively stout torso, scrawny arms, and fairly weak legs. Trait for trait, the only things that looked remotely muscular on him were his shoulders, his forearms, and his hoof-like feet.
“Seraph, hold!” Draconai called from somewhere nearby. Then, the reptilian warrior jumped down from a nearby rooftop and landed right beside Chip.
“No… This is not what I had planned. You should’ve waited for me,” he explained, looking back and forth between Doxisite and Alakazam.
“It couldn’t be helped. That monster attacked the moment Ratchet and I showed up.”
“Alakazam…” Draconai gasped, staring into the psychic’s eyes and seeing that they matched Doxisite’s, “What the hell has happened to him?”
“That’s just the first stage of his assimilation,” Doxisite cackled.
“Assimilation? You mean he’s turning into another version of you?” Chip barked.
“Not specifically…” he then replied, “He’s been infected my mother’s pathogens. They’re far more virulent than my own.”
“Mother? You mean there are more of his kind?” Seraph asked Chip.
“According to legend, there were at least four known members of his family. Aside from Doxisite, there are Doxibond, Doxifice, and Doxinox, but nobody actually knows who they are or what they look like.”
“Seraph, we need to kill Alakazam now before he changes any further. Chip, keep an eye on Doxisite while we attack his victim,” Draconai then ordered as he saw Alakazam’s neck suddenly start to elongate.
“How do you propose we do that?”
“Use a series of ranged attacks to get his attention, then I’ll sneak over to his side to sever his neck with my tail. It should be a clean and swift enough cut to kill him instantly, but I need time to get close.”
No sooner did Draconai finish his explanation did Alakazam’s head suddenly flop onto the ground listlessly. The infected Pokémon’s body was immediately kicked aside to reveal the silhouettes of Captain Retford and Commander Zoltaine with his machete held out in an apparent back swing. Kent shook his blade towards the ground to dispel any contaminated blood from it and then stood authoritatively alongside Saul.
“What the hell do you think you’re trying to pull, Draconai?” the Metalupus woofed as he approached.
“The nerve!” Draconai retorted, “Do you realize your underling just killed another member of the Council of Five?”
“At least he had the sense to use a weapon. You would’ve used your own appendage.”
“Captain, Commander! We’re all in terrible danger!” Chip yelped, trying to stop them from quarreling.
“We’re well aware. Team Hellfire informed us about what exactly was going on,” Kent interjected.
“This louse would’ve sooner let our Rescue Corps members get killed before stopping the leech. The fact that Alakazam happened to be working with it is only a sad consequence.”
“You don’t understand a thing, Saul!’ Draconai reprimanded as he stood off to the side to let the Metalupus get a better look at what they were dealing with. As Saul and Kent got closer, they both stared wide-eyed at the sight of Doxisite trapped under Ratchet’s back hoof.
“Where did this Zombrong come from, and what the hell is that thing behind it?” Saul then bellowed.
“Saul, the Zombrong’s harmless… I think the leech he’s trapped is Doxisite!” Kent said.
“Doxisite? You honestly think a predator like that is still alive after all these centuries,” Captain Retford scoffed.
Doxisite tucked his spines inside his body and rasped, “Come and say that…to my face!”
“Fight me!” Saul declared as he stepped forward. The leech immediately lunged for his head.
“SAUL!” everyone screamed. With a swift hack, the Metalupus lacerated Doxisite’s face to ribbons with his insanely sharp talons. The leech’s body fell lifelessly on the ground in front of him.
“Now that is the mark of a true predator,” Saul again scoffed.
“He killed Doxisite that easily?” Chip and Seraph gasped.
“I underestimated him as usual…” Draconai grumbled as he turned away.
“Is the parasite…dead?” Ratchet asked Kent.
“Yes, you can release your grip now, old friend,” the Zoroark replied. The Zombrong then stepped off the leech and began to walk away.
“Not so fast, Zombrong!” Saul declared as he glared harshly as Ratchet, “I don’t know who the hell you think you are. I want you gone by morning. We had enough of your kind twenty years ago, and I’m not about to put up with that bullsh*t again.”
“Understood,” Ratchet responded.
Saul then turned to Draconai and ordered, “Help me dispose of Alakazam’s body. We cannot allow the villagers to see him in this condition.”
“What do you intend to do?” the dragon snarled.
“A burial at sea is befitting of his demise. If we throw him from the cliff, his body will be swallowed by the tides.”
“But that’s inhumane!”
“It’s more humane than leaving his corpse here to rot. Now throw his body onto my back, then grab his head, and follow me!” Draconai wasn’t in the mood to argue, so he grabbed his friend’s decapitated body and threw it onto Saul’s backside as ordered. He then grappled the ears of Alakazam’s head and followed the enraged Metalupus all the way to the outcropping near the Pelipper Post Office.
Once they were gone, Kent took a disgusted look at Doxisite’s tattered face. The claw marks from Saul’s talons had literally hacked the leech’s face into four separate pieces, leaving his jaw torn to hell and teeth misaligned. Doxisite’s eyelids apparently squeezed shut in the last split-second, cringing from the undoubtedly painful sensation he felt right before an instant death.
“What are we going to do about Doxisite, sir?” Chip asked after a moment.
“I have no idea,” Kent replied, scratching the side of his head, “My greater concern is figuring out what to do with Ratchet.”
“Saul will not listen to reason, especially now that he’s seen me,” Ratchet said.
“That’s the thing, Ratchet…” Kent sighed, “I almost had him talked into letting you stay.”
“Really?” Seraph asked.
“Yeah, if I’d only had a few more minutes to get my point across about how big of a help Ratchet was on our mission, he would’ve been made a member of our team officially. Team Hellfire interrupted us mid-discussion. That’s when we found out this thing was terrorizing town.”
“I don’t get it…” Seraph said, “Draconai told Team Hellfire not to tell Saul what was going on right away.”
“Draconai can just be total *sshole some days…” Kent sighed, “It’s a good thing that they didn’t listen him.”
“So, if Charon and Chet had listened to him, then Draconai, Chip, and I would’ve been killed.”
“Or worse…infected…”
“Infected? By what?”
“Whatever pathogen Alakazam was carrying… Saul told me that Lord Sly had a vision of this exact event lately. Your encounter with Doxisite is the precursor of something even more heinous: a plague the likes of which has never been seen.”
“That’s awful…” Chip whimpered.
“But I think this much pretty stops that from coming true,” Kent added, “With Doxisite and Alakazam dead, there’s nothing left to cause the infection on the mainland.”
“Commander… Perhaps I’m over-thinking this, but isn’t the source of the infection still out there somewhere?”
“If it is, it’s likely isolated with no vectors left to bring it here. So I wouldn’t worry about it.”
Afterwards, Kent turned to Ratchet and said, “Let’s go and see if we can talk some sense into Saul.” Ratchet huffed, and then followed the Zoroark towards the cliff where Saul and Draconai were.
Once they were gone, Seraph went over to examine Doxisite’s carcass. She poked the leech with her knife a couple times and picked through each of his serrated teeth. Assured he was absolutely dead, she put her knife away and began to walk down the southward road to go home.
“Seraph, wait! Let me escort you,” Chip offered as he caught up to her.
“Sure,” she responded with a yawn.
The two traveled down the street to the off branching path that led towards Katherine’s hut. As they staggered down it tiredly, Chip kept glancing into at Seraph’s face longingly. Admitted, the Weasinge had become quite attached to his new friend in the past few days and he was beginning to wonder if their relationship would escalate beyond just being friends. But then, he thought it was still too early to tell if they’d get involved in anything serious. And, if they did, he definitely wanted to propose like his father did to his mother.
With Katherine’s house looming, Chip heard something odd slithering up behind them at an alarming rate. He turned to get the shock of his life.
“Seraph, look out!” he screamed, jumping on top of her. As he did, the familiar silhouette of a serpent-like Pokémon lunged at them out of the darkness and nipped the backside of the ermine’s neck.
“DAMN IT!” Doxisite shrieked as he whipped his body around and landed facing them coiled up.
“You’re alive?” Seraph yelled.
“My body is comprised of simple organs and undeveloped tissues. I can regenerate anything at will, including my head.”
“You…YOU’RE A MONSTER!”
“I know…” he cackled as he began to slither away.
“Chip, get up! We have to follow him.
“S…Seraph…” Chip muttered, “My body feels numb… And my vision... It’s becoming blurry…”
“Ah, yes. That piddly amount of neurotoxin should wear off in a day or two… I guess it’s a small concession, considering how I really wanted to take your life, girl.”
“What do you mean? Why would you want to kill me?”
“Oh, did I not mention that I’m a predator? I thought we cleared that up.” Afterwards, Doxisite turned away from her and began to slither away as fast as he could.
“Sorry, Chip!” Seraph said, pushing the limp ermine aside.
She got on her feet and gave chase. The Skunanne followed the leech through town for several minutes until he reached the bridge leading to the forest. As he crossed the viaduct, Seraph took out her knife and prepared to strike him with her Dark Pulse. Right as the leech passed to the forest’s edge, she unleashed a shockwave from her blade and stunned the monster momentarily. Before she could get to him, though, Doxisite shook off the attack and slithered towards the underbrush where she couldn’t pursue him. Once he vanished into the foliage, the skunk girl dropped to her knees and started to cry. She desperately wanted to take him down after those comments he made, but now any chance of doing so went up faded away.
Angst overtook her as she headed back into the village. With that monster at large, the whole region would be in trouble. She wanted to write it off as no longer her problem, but he derogatorily came after her tonight and she knew this wouldn’t be the last she’d see of him.
<End Chapter Seven>
Doxisite followed closely as he slithered behind his prey. To his eyes, the one-foot long mammal looked like a bluish-white rodent with stumpy red paws and a curled white tail. She wasn’t going to be a full meal, but she would suffice until he could find more suitable prey.
Futilely, the small creature tried to dart from back and forth in order to distract her pursuer. However, the viper-leech matched her movements with his head. At last he snapped at her body, catching it right between his front fangs. Holding her upward, Doxisite let some of her blood drip down his gullet. As it did, he lapped it up with his narrow tube-like suckers, and then injected them right into his victim’s neck to drain the rest of her fluids before rigor mortis set in. In a split-second, he’d sucked her corpse dry to the point where it almost imploded.
“Delicious…” he clicked, throwing her body into the weeds so it wouldn’t be found.
It had taken several days of travel from the island, but he’d finally found a feeding ground plentiful enough to sate even his veracious appetite. Though, admittedly, the prey in this area was quite meager and he needed to kill several victims just to keep his hunger under wraps. Of course, they were mostly vermin that nobody would likely miss.
Slowly he made his way back to the main road, where his accomplice waited for him to return. The zombified Alakazam stood motionlessly as the leech wrapped himself around his backside and lingered on his shoulder.
“What are your orders, master…?” the humanoid gargled, his throat and veins filled the primordial ooze that gave birth to Doxisite.
“I hear there is a town nearby… Take me to it!” the viper-leech ordered.
“As you wish,” Alakazam responded, his eyes glowing red with a black slit down their middle. The psychic suddenly teleported them away from the forest.
Seraph yawned loudly as she stretched herself out atop of Ratchet’s back as the Zombrong followed Chip and Kent down the forest path. Wanting to keep a low profile, Kent had teleported the group to the outskirts of Pokémon Square hoping to sneak his old friend into the village without Saul noticing. It was nearly dark and any diurnal townsfolk would likely be going to sleep soon, making this a prime opportunity.
“So, Ratchet,” Seraph said as she snuggled up near the ungulate’s head. The machine looked back at her inquisitively.
“What’s it feel like going home after so many years trapped down in those ruins?”
“In all honesty,” he replied, “I never considered Pokémon Square my actual home…” Glancing down the path, he made out the distinct outline of the footbridge leading into the village.
“Why is that?” Chip inquired.
“My kind is nomadic. We do not linger in any place for too long, even though most are driven simply by the desire to feed.”
“Well, besides that, didn’t you mention something about Saul driving you out?” Seraph added.
“Saul Retford is distrusting of anyone he does not know personally. I do not expect him to have changed his ways, even after all this time.”
“How do you know he’s still alive?” Chip then asked.
“Metalupus pride themselves on their longevity. They do not succumb to old age the same way you would. Saul was only thirty-five when I saw him last.”
“Thirty-five back then? I thought he was only forty-five now,” the weasel pondered.
“Saul hides his age pretty well, but he isn’t the titan he once was. When he gets injured, it takes a while for him to recover from it,” Kent explained, “But never underestimate him. His strength is as formidable as ever.”
As the group reached the bridge, Kent stopped them so he could go on to scout ahead. When he saw the coast was clear, he waved them onward and led them to a path between houses where he knew nobody would see them. After they reached Katherine’s storage huts, he motioned for Ratchet to wait while he went to find the elderly Kangaskhan and ask if she could help hide him. Once the Zoroark took off, Seraph jumped down from Ratchet’s back.
“Well, this is going to end badly…” she then sighed.
“What do you mean, Seraph?” Chip asked her.
“How are we going to hide Ratchet from Saul? It’s not like he can just duck down in a corner and lie there inconspicuously.”
“I suppose you’re right, but that’s why we’re getting Katherine to help!” he said, wagging his tail. Ratchet huffed and then glanced down at him angrily.
“What’s wrong, Ratchet?” Chip then asked.
“Katherine and I did not know each other very well. I doubt she’ll even recognize me, let alone help.”
“But that was twenty years ago.”
“And she was a bitter woman back then. I don’t want to know what she’s like now.”
After a few moments, the three heard footsteps. Two shadows appeared from around the corner, distinctly those of Katherine and Commander Zoltaine. As the two creatures appeared in front of them, Ratchet backed away a couple paces.
The Kangaskhan stood there quietly a moment before saying, “My god, it really is you…” Ratchet looked away, reluctant to make eye contact with her.
“Alright then,” she continued, motioning towards one of her nearby warehouses, “I’ve got a place where you can stay the night. But I want you gone by morning.”
“What?” Chip squealed, “Why?”
“She hates my kind, like many Pokémon do… That was the reason I was exiled to begin with,” Ratchet explained.
“I want nothing to do with Zomborg or Zombrong, Chip. If Ratchet were any other kind of Pokémon, he would be welcomed with open arms. But he’s too dangerous to keep around for too long. He’ll only attract others of his species over time. This is why he has to leave by morning,” Katherine added as she led them around to the front of one of her storage huts.
The building was a long rectangular shack made from massive logs, which had been tied together with the gaps sealed with clay. Its roof had a pointed pinnacle with bark shingles covering it from the top downward. There was a crude door made from a single piece of wood that had a crude latch on the side Katherine pushed on to make it release. As she swung the gate open wide, the group saw that the hut contained a treasure trove of miscellaneous larder, weapons, and tools that Katherine’s customers entrusted her to store.
“There’s some room in the far corner. You can settle down there for the night,” she told Ratchet as he started to walk inside, “But I want you gone before dawn. Kent agreed to escort you out of town.” After he was inside, he went into the far left corner and laid himself down for the night. Katherine closed the door slowly while leering at him, and then locked him inside for the evening. Suddenly, she backhanded Commander Zoltaine who was standing right behind her.
“Damn it, woman! What the hell was that for?” he yelped.
“Your incompetence... I just pray that Chip doesn’t follow the examples you’re starting to set for him.” Afterwards, she walked away and headed home.
“Commander, what happened twenty years ago between her and Ratchet?” Chip asked as Kent rubbed the side of his face.
“Nothing… Her hatred for Zomborg goes all the way back to childhood when she had a near-death encounter with a herd of Zomborg. They say she narrowly escaped only because another Pokémon gave his life to save her. That Pokémon was Saul’s grandfather, Leon Retford. It’s the same reason why Saul has a grudge against them too, because he knew that his grandfather got killed by a herd of them.”
“Do you know how many Zomborg there were at the time?”
“Three or four. It wasn’t a large herd like the one we saw in those ruins today.”
“But that’s still no excuse for treating Ratchet so badly.”
“That’s the price he pays for being what he is. I’m sure Ratchet accepts that easily enough,” Kent said.
Standing authoritatively, he continued, “We need to report that we couldn’t complete the mission. Saul is going to want to be briefed on the details of what happened, so I’ll need you two there to describe the encounter with Carastone.”
“Really?” Seraph sighed, “We can’t just call it a night?”
“It’s protocol, Seraph,” Chip explained, “We need to give a report as soon as we return from a mission, whether we completed it or not.”
‘Sounds more like a load of bullcrap to me…’ she sneered.
“At this time of day, he should be around the Pelipper Post Office addressing night patrols about recent occurrences and things to keep an eye out for. It won’t take long…” Kent told her. Afterwards, he motioned for his protégés to follow him as he led them across town to the Rescue Corps adopted command center.
As they traveled through town, Seraph felt an air of foreboding starting to develop amongst the denizens of Pokémon Square. She knew that most of the creatures were terrified to be out after nightfall, but this evening seemed particularly odd. Everybody they passed appeared to eye her nervously, perhaps due to the other night’s altercation or more likely out of simple distrust for naturally nocturnal Pokémon. At one point, though, she took notice of an unidentifiable creature staring at her from an alcove between two houses; she didn’t have time to get a good look at him, but she did see how he had slanted red eyes and an unnaturally large grin.
Once they’d finally arrived at headquarters, the threesome stopped to listen in as Saul addressed the members of Team Hellfire about their patrol for the evening.
“Gentlemen and lady…” Saul greeted them, “I have heard terrible rumors that several Rattata have turned up dead on the outskirts of town within the past twelve hours. Whilst I am not obliged to believe them, as such vermin are no longer permitted in town, I must advice you to be on the lookout for any unknown predators lurking on or within our borders. If you find anyone at all who hasn’t been seen here before, you have orders to use lethal force if necessary. Do you understand?”
“Ah, that’s a joke,” Leona scoffed as she revealed her claws, “The only ‘predator’ anyone needs to worry about is me.”
“I wouldn’t be so cocky, Leona!” Saul reprimanded her, raising his talons, “We have no idea what, if anything, this creature is.”
“Got it, sir!” Chet replied, raising his right claw in salute.
“We’ll keep Leona under control, Captain. Don’t worry about that,” Charon added.
“You are dismissed then.” Team Hellfire then turned to leave, not saying so much as a word as they passed by Seraph, Kent, and Chip.
After they were out of sight, Saul turned to Kent and shouted, “What the hell happened?”
“Yikes, settle down, Saul!” the Zoroark replied, “You’re going to burst a blood vessel.”
“Explain why a Yamask by the name of Ramses showed up just a few minutes before you did and yakked my ear off about how you failed to rescue his father and then almost got his soul consumed by a Zombrong!”
“He said that?” Seraph sighed.
“He also said that you, Seraph, assaulted him several times with that Dark Pulse attack you unleash from your knife!”
“That’s a load of crap!” she retorted, “Did he mention that the tomb was guarded by a Carastone, or even that he and his father were thieves who infiltrated it just to plunder whatever artifacts were inside?”
“How dare you make such accusations of your client?” he roared, “You were supposed to help him and you failed…MISERABLY!!! I should have your head for this!” The wolf approached her and raised his right paw to slash at her with its talons. As he swung, Kent blocked his attack by catching his machete in the hooks of Saul’s weapon.
“Stop, Saul! She’s telling the truth,” Kent yelled, holding the backside of his blade with both hands.
Saul pulled his paw away and said, “If this is true, then why didn’t Ramses come back howling about how you almost got him fed to a Zombrong and say nothing about the Carastone? They’re equally deadly monsters, but Carastone are particularly dangerous because they can petrify their victims’ bodies and consume their souls.”
“Probably because Carastone scared the living crap out of him,” Seraph giggled, “Carastone was still p*ssed off at him after their previous encounter.”
“Sir…” Chip interrupted, “Ramses sent out a communiqué without full details about what was going on. This would dictate a ‘false alarm,’ and therefore our mission wasn’t so much a failure as opposed to a waste of time.”
Saul cleared his throat and replied, “So, you think that this mission should be scratched from the logbooks? You do understand that regardless of whether I do that or not, you’ll still need to complete yet another mission to make up for this before you’ll be allowed to graduate from basic training, Cadet?”
“I understand, sir, but my point is that the mission didn’t count because Ramses withheld information that we needed to know ahead of time.”
“Very well then…” Saul said, backing away, “Consider yourselves dismissed for today. I expect you to be back to work right away tomorrow morning.” The Metalupus turned and headed into the post office to take care of the evening’s paperwork.
“I suppose that’s it for the night,” Kent said, “Make sure you both get a good night’s sleep because we’re probably going to have a full day tomorrow making up for today’s loss.”
“Alright, sir,” Chip replied, “We’ll reconvene here at dawn as usual.”
“Fair enough. Good night, Chip! Good night, Seraph!” the Zoroark replied, nodding at each of them. Then he headed back to the village proper.
A few seconds after Kent was gone, Seraph and Chip walked each other into town too. As they reached the crossroads at the middle of town, Seraph stopped and looked around for a couple moments.
“What’s wrong?” Chip asked her.
“Have you noticed something odd about the town this evening?” she replied.
“No more so than usual.”
She hummed to herself a little bit and then replied, “I saw some Pokémon eyeing me on our way through town earlier.”
“They’re probably still distrustful towards you for what you did the other night.”
Seraph shook her head and mentioned, “I noticed that there was a peculiar Pokémon glaring at me from an alleyway between two houses on our way from Katherine’s storage units. He didn’t look like anything I’d ever seen before. In fact, I couldn’t really tell what he was at all.”
“Well, that doesn’t mean anything. We get so many visitors here throughout the day, it’s impossible to keep track of who is who.”
“I hope you’re right…” she replied, looking away and rubbing her arm nervously with her paw, “I just didn’t like the look that thing gave me. It seemed like he was sizing me up for dinner.”
“Now you’re just being ridiculous,” Chip laughed, “You’re probably just tired from the day. Head back to Katherine’s, and see if she’s got supper ready. I’m heading home to myself a meal too. See you in the morning, Seraph.” The Weasinge headed down the southward street from where they were, and eventually took a left down the path leading to his hut. Sighing, Seraph turned around and walk down the same street he did until she reached the footpath that led to Katherine’s home.
As she traipsed down the trail leading to her caretaker’s home, Seraph’s ear twitched wildly as she heard the same creature she’d told Chip about suddenly slithering behind her. The Skunanne remained silent as she staggered into a slight jog, not wanting to completely let on that she knew the thing now pursued her. After several moments of dead silence, Seraph finally pivoted around to unleash a Psycho Cut attack with a swing from her Luna Fang. With viper-like speed, her pursuer literally slingshot his body between two houses and slithered away as quickly as he could. Seraph tried to glance between the crevasse he’d escaped through to see what the thing was, but he moved to fast for her to spot him; she only noticed how he had strange lime-green and black rings coursing the entirety of his body.
“Seraph, dinner!” Katherine called from a few houses down. Seraph put her knife into its sheath and headed towards the Kangaskhan’s home. Once inside, she took extra care to watch outside as she closed the door, just in case the Pokémon followed her again.
Katherine set two plates of berries on the table in the middle of the hut and then glanced at Seraph. She grinned at the girl for a moment, seeing that Seraph kept the bow on the she gave her to wear this morning. After an awkward moment of silence, however, the Kangaskhan began to frown somewhat.
“What’s the matter, Sweetheart?” Kathy asked as the girl finally set down her backpack, knife, and buckler.
“I was being stalked by somebody,” the Skunanne replied.
“Really? Who?” the marsupial asked, putting her hand to her mouth.
“That’s the thing. I don’t know.” Seraph plopped herself on the floor in front of the plate Katherine had set on the right side of the table.
Kathy sat across from her and said, “That’s not much of a surprise. Many Pokémon come through town on a daily basis, so it’s likely someone who’s just taken a sudden interest in you. I’m sure all they wanted to do was talk.”
“I don’t think so… This guy looked hungry to me.”
“Oh, now that’s just preposterous!” the elderly Pokémon laughed.
“That’s what Chip said, but I’m not so sure…” Seraph sighed, “Is it true that some Rattata were found dead on the outskirts of town today?”
“Oh, well, I guess… Saul mentioned something to that effect when I spoke with him this afternoon, but I didn’t think anything of it. Even if it is true, they’re just Rattata. They get eaten all the time.”
“Well, I overheard him before we gave tonight’s ‘report’ on our mission. It sounded like there may be a connection.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it, Sweetie. If there’s anything this mystery Pokémon is involved with, it’s up to Saul to handle it, not you,” Kathy continued, “Now, eat your fruit.”
“Alright,” Seraph replied. She then started eating her meal.
After about ten minutes, the two of them had finished their food and Katherine had put their plates away. For a time later, they exchanged stories about what happened during their day. Seraph went into extra lengthy detail explaining about how her team had come up on the Zomborg herd, found Ratchet, and then stopped Carastone from rampaging in the depths of the temple. Katherine offered up only a short rundown of her daily clients and some gossip about the embarrassing things they do when they don’t think anyone’s around, including a stint about how Silas constantly plucks gray hairs from his beard and moustache to make himself look younger than he really is.
Once their giggling and storytelling was done, the two decided it was time to go to bed. Seraph lied in a modest pile of leaves right against the far wall across from the entrance, while Kathy slept in a larger one nearby. Getting settled under her Linoone-skin blanket, Seraph said her final ‘good night’ to Katherine, closed her eyes, and quickly fell asleep.
In the midst of her slumber, Seraph sensed that something strange about to happen. As she dreamt, she thought she could hear the faint sounds of someone panting as they tried to run down an empty street. Minutes later, the Skunanne awoke to a terrifying scream from somewhere in the village. Glancing at around disoriented, she saw that Katherine hadn’t been waken by the ghastly noise. Not wanting to disturb her caretaker, Seraph stood up and tiptoed around the elderly Kangaskhan quietly. Seraph went over to grab her knife and buckler before heading outdoors to investigate.
She had been asleep for at least a few hours, given how she was able to see perfectly in the moonlight. At this time of night, only Team Hellfire and possibly a few other patrols were likely out. Her first instinct, though, was to avoid them at all costs and hunt down her stalker from earlier.
Sniffing the air, she could tell that something had just been killed. The scent of blood was fresh on the wind, and her gut told her that the killed occurred towards the north side of town. Immediately she headed around the backside of Katherine’s home and hastily made her way between houses until she reached the main street leading through town.
Upon reaching the paved road, she came upon a rather disturbing sight. Leona from Team Hellfire lied dead in the middle of the street facing her as a dried up husk of a corpse. The Luxray’s skin was tight to her bones, and she had a gaping elliptical bite mark on the back of her neck with a puncture wound at its center.
“LEONA!” Chet the Weavile called as he and Charon the Obseon raced over to her dead body.
“My god… Seraph, what the hell happened?” Charon asked as he hovered over and examined Leona’s wound.
“I just got here,” she explained, “I heard her scream from Katherine’s house.”
“We heard her all the way on the other side of town,” Chet explained.
“This is terrible! What could’ve possibly done this?”
“A parasite…”a raspy voice spoke from the shadows behind Seraph. The Skunanne stepped forward and then pivoted to see the muscular silhouette of a bipedal reptile leering at her. As he walked towards her, she recognized him as the Draconai she’d seen yesterday at her tribunal.
“Lord Draconai…” Charon hissed, “What are you doing out at this hour?” Draconai lashed at Charon with the razor-sharp claws on his fingertips, forcing the ghost fox to recoil somewhat.
“I did not give you permission to speak to me, troglodyte.”
“Troglodyte?” Chet asked confusedly.
“It’s an insult!” Draconai then barked.
“Oh…” the Weavile cowered.
“Excuse me, but what do you mean by ‘a parasite?’” Seraph asked Draconai sternly, “What kind of a parasite can feed like that?”
“This isn’t a normal parasite. I just happened to get a glimpse of him before he disappeared. He’s easily over eight feet long, and his body seems like it can contract or expand as needed.”
“Which direction did he head off in?”
“That’s the problem… He didn’t leave on his own. Somebody is helping him hide,” Draconai said disappointedly.
“Who then?”
“The leader of Team ACT and my best friend…Alakazam…”
“What?” Chet and Charon barked.
“Who?” Seraph questioned.
“Seraph, Alakazam is a veteran in the Rescue Corps,” Charon explained, “His team is only a few weeks from retirement.”
“I thought he was off on an expedition to some recently discovered island,” Chet added.
“He was,” Draconai replied, “But the fact that he’s returned early without his friends raises dire concerns.”
“What do you think happened to Charizard and Tyranitar?”
“If I’d have to guess, the same thing that happened to Leona.”
“So what are we going to do then?” Seraph asked.
“Hunt the b*stard down and kill him before he can do any more damage,” Draconai ordered, “Team Hellfire search the eastern half of town, but do not let Saul know about this right yet. I want to keep the air of surprise while everyone’s asleep.”
“Alright, I guess…” Charon grumbled, and then left with his partner.
Once they were gone, Draconai crossed his arms and told Seraph, “I saw you sneak that Zombrong into town earlier tonight.”
“What?” she said, backing away.
“I want you to get him and bring him out into the open. I only a machine Pokémon will stand a chance against this monster.”
“But…Saul will find out he’s here…”
“Leave Saul to me. Just bring that Zombrong to the crossroads in the next few minutes. I’ll need you there with him as bait.” Afterwards, Draconai dashed off towards the middle of town.
“Bait?” she thought to herself nervously. A second later, she swallowed her pride and headed back towards Katherine’s storage huts.
Upon finding the shed Ratchet was hiding in, Seraph headed around to its front, where she jumped furiously so she could grab the latch that would open the door. As soon as she gripped the mechanism, the entryway began to open. Dropping back to the ground, she yanked hard on the inside of the door with her paw to make it fling outward the rest of the way. She stepped inside to see Ratchet kneeling on the ground with his eyes closed in the far corner of the room.
“Ratchet, wake up!” she called with a harsh whisper. The mechanized horse forced the shutters over his eyes to open immediately and then glanced in her direction.
“Is it morning already?” he asked confusedly.
“No, but there’s huge trouble. I need you to go with me to the middle of town…NOW!”
“Do not yell at me… I am very tired and need as much rest as I can get. Furthermore, this is the only cover I have until morning. Saul must not be allowed to see me.”
“If you don’t come, Saul and everyone in town will be dead by morning!”
“What could possibly be the matter?”
“A parasite is on the loose and he’s already killed someone.”
“And you presume that I would be immune to its assault?” he sighed, “Very well, then.” He then stood up as quickly as he could and made his way out of the storage unit. After he stepped outside, Seraph took a moment to close the door and then climbed onto Ratchet’s back.
Ratchet slowly headed north towards the main road as per Seraph’s instruction. Once they reached it, the Zombrong stopped to look at Leona’s dehydrated corpse, sensing that the Luxray’s spirit was still attached to the body. After a moment, he started to walk towards the crossroads in the middle of town. When he stopped the intersection, Ratchet gazed around to assure himself that Saul wasn’t anywhere within sight.
“Now, what?” he asked Seraph as she jumped off his back.
“That’s a good question…” she muttered as she looked around. She didn’t see any sign of Draconai. If the parasite appeared before he showed up, both her and Ratchet would be in trouble.
Ratchet turned his body sideways and scanned the area. Based on his spiritual scans, he could tell that nothing was amiss in town. There were certainly no signs of any parasitic organisms from what he could tell. He thought that perhaps Seraph had been mistaken.
Seraph’s ear twitched wildly as she heard something slithering towards her at an ungodly speed. As she pivoted to turn, she watched as the viper suddenly bit hard into Ratchet’s hind right leg with his numerous dagger-like fangs. The Skunanne jumped off to the side, while the Zombrong gave out an anguished wail.
From her vantage, Seraph saw that the leech had a wide elliptical maw that gripped the bottom half of Ratchet’s leg; his serrated ivory-white teeth seemed to leek a clear-colored poison as he tried tightening his clamp on his victim. She moved off to her left to see that the monster’s body was stretched out and snakelike. The creature’s slanted oval eyes were the crimson shade of blood with tiny black slits near their centers. In addition to the lime-green and black rings coursing this body, she saw that he also had reddish sores running down his backside.
“Ratchet, stomp with your back hooves!” she told the Zombrong.
“Gladly!” he responded, lifting each of his hind legs in succession and pound his feet hard against the ground. The leech squirmed wildly trying to keep his grip, but suddenly found his tail getting squashed by the machine’s cast iron appendages. Releasing his bite out of pain, the monster tried to dart away. However, the tip of his tail was pinned under the ungulate’s rear left hoof.
“Damn you!” the parasite clicked as he then snapped his maw at her. Seraph jumped back quickly, and the monster missed her by merely an inch.
“What the hell are you?” she whispered. She continued to back away as he continued lunge at her. Unsure whether to be shocked or disgusted, Seraph watched as the creature stretched closer and closer to her each time he attacked.
“Seraph!” Ratchet bellowed, “I cannot hold him forever. He will eventually wriggle free.”
“Right, but what can we do?”
“Do you know how to use Psychic?”
“Yes.”
“Then use it to grip him. Let me know when you have a strong enough hold. Then I shall release him.”
Seraph nodded and then focused her fully attention on the parasite. Next she tried to channel her psychic power into the creature’s body and take control of its mind. After a couple seconds, she realized that this fiend wasn’t like other Pokémon. Wherein she’d normally have to breach her foe’s willpower, she found herself trying to take control an infinite cluster of microorganisms that had consciousnesses all on their own. It seemed like the more she strained to focus on one, millions of others got in the way. There was no way to take over this monster’s body without overtaxing herself.
“What’s wrong?” Ratchet asked as she suddenly backed away huffing.
“I can’t concentrate on his body… There are too many thought patterns to focus on.”
“What does that mean?”
“He’s immune to psychic power because he has more than one mind.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Actually, it makes perfect sense… Considering how I was spawned from a colony of microbes!” the leech cackled as he still struggled to get free.
“Seraph, what’s going on!” Chip called from somewhere behind the Skunanne, “Why is Ratchet out here?” As the Weasinge got closer, he peeked around Seraph’s side and caught a glance of the monster they’d caught.
“D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DOXISITE!!!” he suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs, “DOXISITE IS ALIVE?!”
“Chip, shut up!” Seraph scolded him, “You’re going to wake up the whole damn town.”
“That’s the point!” he shouted in her face.
“It seems my reputation precedes me, even after all these centuries,” the leech clicked happily.
“What is he then?” Doxisite relaxed his body to reveal the jagged row of red spines hiding in his back.
He grinned for a long moment and finally explained, “I am what you would call a ‘legendary’ Pokémon, though I scoff the term myself.”
“Legendary, my *ss! You’re a monster!” Chip retorted, “You killed countless Pokémon during the Age of Man and for some time afterwards.”
“Then prey thinned out, and I returned home to hibernate.”
“You should never have reawaken!”
“Hard not to when prey ambles so willingly into my domicile.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Alakazam…” Seraph whispered, recalling what Draconai mentioned a few moments ago. The Skunanne’s ears twitched wildly as she heard the plopping steps of someone stopping directly behind Chip and her.
Both of them turned to see the shadowy form of a five-foot-tall humanoid Pokémon standing several feet down the road. The entity had an abnormally large cranium with large conical ears that seemed to curl off to the side like horns; his face appeared deformed as well due to its pointed cheekbones and slightly extended maw, from which several fangs jutted outward. He had a relatively stout torso, scrawny arms, and fairly weak legs. Trait for trait, the only things that looked remotely muscular on him were his shoulders, his forearms, and his hoof-like feet.
“Seraph, hold!” Draconai called from somewhere nearby. Then, the reptilian warrior jumped down from a nearby rooftop and landed right beside Chip.
“No… This is not what I had planned. You should’ve waited for me,” he explained, looking back and forth between Doxisite and Alakazam.
“It couldn’t be helped. That monster attacked the moment Ratchet and I showed up.”
“Alakazam…” Draconai gasped, staring into the psychic’s eyes and seeing that they matched Doxisite’s, “What the hell has happened to him?”
“That’s just the first stage of his assimilation,” Doxisite cackled.
“Assimilation? You mean he’s turning into another version of you?” Chip barked.
“Not specifically…” he then replied, “He’s been infected my mother’s pathogens. They’re far more virulent than my own.”
“Mother? You mean there are more of his kind?” Seraph asked Chip.
“According to legend, there were at least four known members of his family. Aside from Doxisite, there are Doxibond, Doxifice, and Doxinox, but nobody actually knows who they are or what they look like.”
“Seraph, we need to kill Alakazam now before he changes any further. Chip, keep an eye on Doxisite while we attack his victim,” Draconai then ordered as he saw Alakazam’s neck suddenly start to elongate.
“How do you propose we do that?”
“Use a series of ranged attacks to get his attention, then I’ll sneak over to his side to sever his neck with my tail. It should be a clean and swift enough cut to kill him instantly, but I need time to get close.”
No sooner did Draconai finish his explanation did Alakazam’s head suddenly flop onto the ground listlessly. The infected Pokémon’s body was immediately kicked aside to reveal the silhouettes of Captain Retford and Commander Zoltaine with his machete held out in an apparent back swing. Kent shook his blade towards the ground to dispel any contaminated blood from it and then stood authoritatively alongside Saul.
“What the hell do you think you’re trying to pull, Draconai?” the Metalupus woofed as he approached.
“The nerve!” Draconai retorted, “Do you realize your underling just killed another member of the Council of Five?”
“At least he had the sense to use a weapon. You would’ve used your own appendage.”
“Captain, Commander! We’re all in terrible danger!” Chip yelped, trying to stop them from quarreling.
“We’re well aware. Team Hellfire informed us about what exactly was going on,” Kent interjected.
“This louse would’ve sooner let our Rescue Corps members get killed before stopping the leech. The fact that Alakazam happened to be working with it is only a sad consequence.”
“You don’t understand a thing, Saul!’ Draconai reprimanded as he stood off to the side to let the Metalupus get a better look at what they were dealing with. As Saul and Kent got closer, they both stared wide-eyed at the sight of Doxisite trapped under Ratchet’s back hoof.
“Where did this Zombrong come from, and what the hell is that thing behind it?” Saul then bellowed.
“Saul, the Zombrong’s harmless… I think the leech he’s trapped is Doxisite!” Kent said.
“Doxisite? You honestly think a predator like that is still alive after all these centuries,” Captain Retford scoffed.
Doxisite tucked his spines inside his body and rasped, “Come and say that…to my face!”
“Fight me!” Saul declared as he stepped forward. The leech immediately lunged for his head.
“SAUL!” everyone screamed. With a swift hack, the Metalupus lacerated Doxisite’s face to ribbons with his insanely sharp talons. The leech’s body fell lifelessly on the ground in front of him.
“Now that is the mark of a true predator,” Saul again scoffed.
“He killed Doxisite that easily?” Chip and Seraph gasped.
“I underestimated him as usual…” Draconai grumbled as he turned away.
“Is the parasite…dead?” Ratchet asked Kent.
“Yes, you can release your grip now, old friend,” the Zoroark replied. The Zombrong then stepped off the leech and began to walk away.
“Not so fast, Zombrong!” Saul declared as he glared harshly as Ratchet, “I don’t know who the hell you think you are. I want you gone by morning. We had enough of your kind twenty years ago, and I’m not about to put up with that bullsh*t again.”
“Understood,” Ratchet responded.
Saul then turned to Draconai and ordered, “Help me dispose of Alakazam’s body. We cannot allow the villagers to see him in this condition.”
“What do you intend to do?” the dragon snarled.
“A burial at sea is befitting of his demise. If we throw him from the cliff, his body will be swallowed by the tides.”
“But that’s inhumane!”
“It’s more humane than leaving his corpse here to rot. Now throw his body onto my back, then grab his head, and follow me!” Draconai wasn’t in the mood to argue, so he grabbed his friend’s decapitated body and threw it onto Saul’s backside as ordered. He then grappled the ears of Alakazam’s head and followed the enraged Metalupus all the way to the outcropping near the Pelipper Post Office.
Once they were gone, Kent took a disgusted look at Doxisite’s tattered face. The claw marks from Saul’s talons had literally hacked the leech’s face into four separate pieces, leaving his jaw torn to hell and teeth misaligned. Doxisite’s eyelids apparently squeezed shut in the last split-second, cringing from the undoubtedly painful sensation he felt right before an instant death.
“What are we going to do about Doxisite, sir?” Chip asked after a moment.
“I have no idea,” Kent replied, scratching the side of his head, “My greater concern is figuring out what to do with Ratchet.”
“Saul will not listen to reason, especially now that he’s seen me,” Ratchet said.
“That’s the thing, Ratchet…” Kent sighed, “I almost had him talked into letting you stay.”
“Really?” Seraph asked.
“Yeah, if I’d only had a few more minutes to get my point across about how big of a help Ratchet was on our mission, he would’ve been made a member of our team officially. Team Hellfire interrupted us mid-discussion. That’s when we found out this thing was terrorizing town.”
“I don’t get it…” Seraph said, “Draconai told Team Hellfire not to tell Saul what was going on right away.”
“Draconai can just be total *sshole some days…” Kent sighed, “It’s a good thing that they didn’t listen him.”
“So, if Charon and Chet had listened to him, then Draconai, Chip, and I would’ve been killed.”
“Or worse…infected…”
“Infected? By what?”
“Whatever pathogen Alakazam was carrying… Saul told me that Lord Sly had a vision of this exact event lately. Your encounter with Doxisite is the precursor of something even more heinous: a plague the likes of which has never been seen.”
“That’s awful…” Chip whimpered.
“But I think this much pretty stops that from coming true,” Kent added, “With Doxisite and Alakazam dead, there’s nothing left to cause the infection on the mainland.”
“Commander… Perhaps I’m over-thinking this, but isn’t the source of the infection still out there somewhere?”
“If it is, it’s likely isolated with no vectors left to bring it here. So I wouldn’t worry about it.”
Afterwards, Kent turned to Ratchet and said, “Let’s go and see if we can talk some sense into Saul.” Ratchet huffed, and then followed the Zoroark towards the cliff where Saul and Draconai were.
Once they were gone, Seraph went over to examine Doxisite’s carcass. She poked the leech with her knife a couple times and picked through each of his serrated teeth. Assured he was absolutely dead, she put her knife away and began to walk down the southward road to go home.
“Seraph, wait! Let me escort you,” Chip offered as he caught up to her.
“Sure,” she responded with a yawn.
The two traveled down the street to the off branching path that led towards Katherine’s hut. As they staggered down it tiredly, Chip kept glancing into at Seraph’s face longingly. Admitted, the Weasinge had become quite attached to his new friend in the past few days and he was beginning to wonder if their relationship would escalate beyond just being friends. But then, he thought it was still too early to tell if they’d get involved in anything serious. And, if they did, he definitely wanted to propose like his father did to his mother.
With Katherine’s house looming, Chip heard something odd slithering up behind them at an alarming rate. He turned to get the shock of his life.
“Seraph, look out!” he screamed, jumping on top of her. As he did, the familiar silhouette of a serpent-like Pokémon lunged at them out of the darkness and nipped the backside of the ermine’s neck.
“DAMN IT!” Doxisite shrieked as he whipped his body around and landed facing them coiled up.
“You’re alive?” Seraph yelled.
“My body is comprised of simple organs and undeveloped tissues. I can regenerate anything at will, including my head.”
“You…YOU’RE A MONSTER!”
“I know…” he cackled as he began to slither away.
“Chip, get up! We have to follow him.
“S…Seraph…” Chip muttered, “My body feels numb… And my vision... It’s becoming blurry…”
“Ah, yes. That piddly amount of neurotoxin should wear off in a day or two… I guess it’s a small concession, considering how I really wanted to take your life, girl.”
“What do you mean? Why would you want to kill me?”
“Oh, did I not mention that I’m a predator? I thought we cleared that up.” Afterwards, Doxisite turned away from her and began to slither away as fast as he could.
“Sorry, Chip!” Seraph said, pushing the limp ermine aside.
She got on her feet and gave chase. The Skunanne followed the leech through town for several minutes until he reached the bridge leading to the forest. As he crossed the viaduct, Seraph took out her knife and prepared to strike him with her Dark Pulse. Right as the leech passed to the forest’s edge, she unleashed a shockwave from her blade and stunned the monster momentarily. Before she could get to him, though, Doxisite shook off the attack and slithered towards the underbrush where she couldn’t pursue him. Once he vanished into the foliage, the skunk girl dropped to her knees and started to cry. She desperately wanted to take him down after those comments he made, but now any chance of doing so went up faded away.
Angst overtook her as she headed back into the village. With that monster at large, the whole region would be in trouble. She wanted to write it off as no longer her problem, but he derogatorily came after her tonight and she knew this wouldn’t be the last she’d see of him.
<End Chapter Seven>