Stranger(s) in a Strange Land
The sky shone brightly in the mid-afternoon sky. Luke, a
Lucario was heading into a nearby town with a list in his paw, reviewing a
small shopping list as he headed for the market, walking through the aisles and
picking out specific groceries from his list ane proceeding to pay for them
before heading back out and toward his home, sighing contently as he re-entered
the forest he came from.
While there, though, he began to notice something was
different about today... the forest seemed eerily quiet, and the feeling
something was about to happen hung over him... yet even with his keen eyes he
could not see anything out of the ordinary. He glanced around warily, slowing
his pace and keeping all of his senses keen, expecting something to happen.
Eventually he came to a full stop, slowly dropping his groceries and looking
all around his surroundings...
And almost as if that were a cue, lights began flashing from
nearby, coming from above a nearby copse of trees he could just see, each one
flickering in various colours. The flashing lights continued to get brighter
until suddenly, a bright white flash lit up the sky and nearly eliminated every
shadow around the Lucario. Luke grunted and he quickly shielded his eyes with
his arm, clenching his eyes shut as well and trying to sense what ws going on,
but even his Aura Sense was being blinded by the strange white light in around
him*
Until suddenly, the light vanished, and he saw a singular
aura, a very strange looking one at that, appear from where the light had been
centered, and begin to fall towards the ground. Halfway down, he heard someone
cry out, and the voice seemed to be coming from that same presence. "What
the...?! GAAAAAAAHHHH!"
And then, as they hit the treeline, the sound of someone
grunting and a few limbs breaking, along with the unmistakable thud of a body
hitting ground. Luke winced with each grunt and snap he heard, then after the
thump he reacted on instinct, rushing toward the single aura signal quickly
with his inhuman speed, skidding to a stop right next to the source of said
aura signal
And he found... not the least what he expected. A Blaziken,
lying face down in the dirt groaning painfully. This Blaziken had a very
strange aura to him, not like any Luke had ever seen before, and more
surprisingly... even after that fall, he wasn't even hurt! Sure, Blaziken could
leap great distances, but dropping without a chance to brace themselves would
certainly still cause harm.
He
knelt next to the dazed Blaziken, still rather stunned by the fact he was
unharmed by such a fall. "Hey! Hey, are you alright?"
"Ugh... depends," the Blaziken returned, pushing
himself up on his hands. "Did I fall out of the sky just now or did a
dragon just walk on me?" He asked. "Sure feels like either one
happened."
"If you got stomped on by a Dragon-Type, you wouldn't
even be alive right now..." He returned. "You fell out of the sky
after a blinding light shone brightly."
"Well, then at least I wasn't imagining things when I
flew into that light," remarked the Blaziken, sitting down and glancing
around. "Where did I en..." He paused when saw Luke. "A...
jackal?" He asked. "Did I fall into Egypt?"
Luke tilted his head a little. "....Egypt...? I've no
idea what you're talking about...I'm a Lucario."
"A what? What's a..." He shook his head.
"Nevermind... Where have I ended up?"
"In a forest not too far from a nearby town." Luke
said as he offered his paw to the stranger.
The
figure raised their hand to accept the offer of help, before noticing his hand.
"Wha...?" He demanded, pulling it back to his face, and then raised
his other hand to look at it, seeing it too had the same number of fingers.
"What happened to two of my fingers?!"
Luke again looked at him confused, letting his paw drop to
his side. "...What do you mean two of your fingers...? Blaziken have
always had only two fingers."
"Blazi..." The figure paused. "What? But I'm a
Phoenix, not a Blaziken... whatever that is."
Luke frowned a little. "...I hope you're not trying to
joke around on that subject..." He said softly. "The only phoenix Pokémon
is Moltres..."
"Oooookay, this is getting too weird," stated the
Blaziken, standing up. "Good meeting you but I'm flyin' the coop now...
sound like Pavan or Korban when I say that... anywho, hope that portal's still
up there." He looked up and, with a mighty leap, he soared up into the
air... but didn't get very far before gravity took effect and he fell back
down. "Hey what...WHAT?!" He barked before managing to correct his descent
and land feet first, though he landed in a crouch to absorb the impact of his
fall.
Standing back up, the -rather odd- Blaziken put a hand to his
chin, smiling in a rather demented manner as he spoke. "Okay," he
began. "Let me think... Either A, my wings are numb and not working right
or B... I don't have them anymore." He looked over his shoulder towards
Luke.
By this time, Luke was getting rather annoyed by his
cluelessness. "Really...?" He said in an exasperated tone.
"Blaziken are Fire/Fighting types...they don't have wings nor are they
flying types...."
"That's what I was afraid of," said the rather
strange Blaziken, his eye twitching. "Excuse me for a second while I..." He
took in a deep breath, before unleashing a loud holler to the sky above. "FREAK
OUT!!!" He roared, a flock of Spearow scattering from the nearby trees.
The strength of his voice was enough it would've deafened a
Zubat...
Luke only crossed his arms and stood there as the Blaziken
freaked out like a mad Primape on a blind rampage. "....Are you quite
finished...?"
"Oh yes," replied the Blaziken. "Just needed
to vent... Now..." He spun towards Luke and dashed up to him. "You
mind telling me why I've turned into a long-legged chicken with V shaped
hair?"
Luke
stared up at him for the longest time, almost as if studying the Blaziken
intently. "This is what a Blaziken normally looks like..." Then he
put his paw to his forehead. "...Do you have a fever or something?"
Volcan shook his head to get Luke's paw off. "No, I
don't, and if you feel one it's probably my blood pressure!" He barked,
breathing harshly for a moment before he began to calm down, slowly letting out
a long sigh. "I'm sorry... I'm just really confused right now..."
"...Perhaps you need some rest to clear your
mind..." He said. "I was just on my way home from shopping for dinner
tonight..."
"Well, since I don't really know where I am in the first
place... do you mind if I come along?" He asked, more politely now.
"It would probably be best that you do. It's starting to
get late and a lot of nocturnal Pokémon will start emerging soon..." He
said as he walked over to grab his groceries.
"Can... I help?" The Blaziken offered.
"No, I'll be fine." He said, leading the way back
to his home. They both walked for about 5 or so minutes before they arrived at
an indent in the ground that lead to a door down below.
Suddenly, the Blaziken perked up as if remembering something.
"Oh, how rude of me," said the Blaziken. "My name's Volcan, by
the way."
Luke looked back and nodded to him. "Pleasure. My name's
Luke." He said before he walked down toward the door and opened it,
walking inside and holding the door open for Volcan to enter.
The
Blaziken was so tall he had to crouch down to walk through the hole up to the
door, and ducked through to enter the house, slowly standing back up to full
height as if expecting to bump his head on the ceiling. However, inside the
house it was rather spacious and roomy, allowing anyone to stand inside
unhindered by height restrictions. Luke walked toward the dining room table and
set down his bag of groceries. "Well...make yourself at home for
now." He offered.
"Nice place," remarked Volcan, looking around the
house, taking in its contents and nodding with approval. "You live here
alone?"
"No. My son and my mate live here too, as well as her
assistant." He said. "They won't be back for a while yet. Janine
tends to work late."
"What does she do?" He asked, sitting down at the
nearby table after pulling out a chair.
"She's a Pharmacist." He returned, setting all the
food on the table before sorting it into different categories for storage.
"Ah, nice," returned Volcan. "Look uh... I
know this seems a little extreme to hear but, I'm honestly not what I appear to
be. I'm not normally..." He looked at himself. "This."
"...I'm
not sure I understand." He said as he put away his groceries.
"Well, how can I
put this?" He began. "You see, I'm actually an Anthropomorphic
phoenix. I'm normally tall, muscular, have big red and yellow wings and... can
manipulate fire and absorb solar energy."
Luke looked back to Volcan, finding it rather hard to
believe. "...You're saying that you're not from this particular part of
the world...?"
"I'm not sure I'm even on the same world anymore,"
replied Volcan. "No beings like you or... me, in this body, exist back where
I come from. If you have a pencil and paper I could try and show you what I
used to look like"
Luke then headed into another room for a moment, and then
returned with said items, placing them in front of Volcan and crossing his
arms. "I'm still finding this rather hard to believe..."
"Well, I'm not one to lie, really, and I should hope I'm
not losing my mind," replied Volcan as he began drawing. "I'm not
much of an artist -especially with my hand... not the same anymore, but I'll do
my best."
Luke nodded, still keeping his arms crossed and watching
Volcan sketch on the paper.
After a few minutes of drawing, several times correcting
himself, Volcan eventually managed to draw a rather amateur image of a figure
with arms and legs, but with wings growing out of his back, and dressed in
clothes... he almost looked some sort of half-human half-animal hybrid, beyond
the shape of his body nothing was human about him; his head and feet were both
those of a bird, and his hands -though normally birds didn't have hands- had
the same skin type and nails as the talons of a very large bird of prey, but
had five fingers instead of three toes.
"Well, it's not exactly Leonardo Da Vinci, but, that's
about the best I can draw."
Luke studied the picture intently, even taking it in his paws
to look more closely at it, then to Volcan. "...And you say this is
you?"
"Well, it used to be anyway," returned Volcan,
looking at himself. "Apparently someone or something gave me an extreme
makeover; even changed my powers. Apparently my sword didn't come through with
me either... I hope nobody has stolen it."
"...Right." Luke returned, still finding all this
new information hard to absorb.
"What do you want me to do to prove it to you, turn the
surface of a desert into glass?" Volcan asked, getting rather defensive
with Luke's doubt in him. "Look, I'm not making this up."
"And I'm not trying to judge you; I'm just finding
everything hard to believe is all." Luke returned defensively.
Volcan let out an exasperated groan, but his tone became more
even. "I suppose I can understand that; I'm still wondering if I'm having
some sort of dream or something. Well, hopefully somehow I can find a way to
convince you," he stated, running a hand down his face. "Now the only
thing I need to do is find out how I ended up here and how I get home. If I
don't, my friends will lose their minds looking for me; I don't want them
chasing after Kalo'Temir again on their own..."
"...Who?"
Luke asked.
"Think of the
most horrifying thing you've ever seen and multiply it by ten thousand,"
replied Volcan, beginning a rough sketch of the figure he talked about, in a
few minutes producing a very unusual looking creature, with spikes protruding
from its shoulders, a tail like that of a dragon, and legs like one too, and
disproportionately long arms ending with scythe-like claws. "A while back,
he kidnapped me, intent on stealing my powers; my friends came to save me. We
barely got out of there alive."
"...He tried to steal your powers...." Luke
returned. "What for..?"
"Well, to put it simply, he's basically someone who can
take the abilities of others, and making them his own," replied Volcan.
"If he consumes someone who has similar abilities to one he's devoured
before, such as another fire user like me, it powers up the abilities he
already has, making him stronger. In short, he wanted to devour me to gain more
power."
"...Sounds
a little like Giratina..." Luke commented.
"Someone
I probably don't want to come across?" Volcan asked.
"He's
the deity of the Distortion World..." Luke returned. "A Ghost/Dragon
type Pokémon with enough power to stand up to even Arceus himself..."
"Arceus
some sort of... powerful being?" Volcan asked.
"He's
the God of all Pokémon..."
"Oh..."
Luke
nodded. "He keeps all of the other deities, spirits and guardians in
check."
"But Giratina is one who challenges his role?"
"Indeed. Giratina has earned the nickname 'God
Slayer'...because of his Ghost typing, he has the potential to overpower Arceus
due to him being a Normal type. And Normal types cannot damage Ghosts."
"Yikes... there's someone I wouldn't want to meet in a
dark alley," said Volcan. "Wouldn't be the first ghost I've fought,
but still."
Luke nodded. "Luckily he's been sealed within the Distortion
Realm and hasn't emerged since...which means the Deities of Space and Time are
being kept in check."
"...Somehow I'm starting to wonder about that,"
said Volcan. "Because if I'm not in Unity Falls anymore, and I've changed
into this... then I'm definitely in another world, and this sounds like
something your Giratina guy could do."
"Unlikely." Luke returned. "The only way
Giratina could do such a thing is if Palkia and Dialga, the deities of space
and time, conflicted with each other."
"Well I only know three others in my world that could do
this..." Volcan remarked. "Izrail, Kalo'Temir and Abdul-Al
Hakam."
"Names I have never heard of before." Luke
returned, taking a seat again.
"Yeah, no surprise there," replied Volcan, leaning
back in his seat. "I guess I'll be here a while."
Luke nodded. "Well you're welcome to stay as long as you
need to. There's a guest room in the back you can use."
"Are
you sure? I wouldn't want to impose on you or your family."
"It'll
be fine. Don't worry." Luke returned. "It's no trouble."
"And
you're sure your family won't mind? It's not like either of them know me
either..."
"Janine
is a gentle soul. She's not against helping out others in need. And Jin would
most likely appreciate a playmate around the house."
"Playmate?"
Volcan chuckled. "Well, I dunno if I'm any good with kids."
"Well
only time will tell." Luke commented with a small smirk.
"Right..."
Volcan replied, and suddenly stood up from his chair. "Can I see the room,
then? I may as well get settled in."
Luke nodded and stood up. "Right this way." he said
as he walked toward the back of the house, opening a door toward a smaller room
with a bed and dresser.
Volcan followed him to the room, and peered inside. surveying
the room, although looking at the bed, and then his long legs, with a hint of
doubt. "Hehe... um... don't suppose you have an ottoman or something
around, do you?"
It then occured to Luke that Volcan was too tall for the bed;
it wasn't meant for a Pokémon his size... "Hmmm...Well...the sofa does fold
out into a hideaway bed..." Luke offered instead
"We'll have to give that a shot then," he looked
down at himself. "Changed into a completely new body and I'm still too damn tall for half the furniture
in the world..." He grumbled with clear irritation, although Luke still
caught it. He said nothing to that remark as he opened up the couch to reveal
the hideaway bed, extending it out until it reached its full length.
Volcan looked it over, and then decided to try it out, laying
down across it; his feet still hung slightly over the far end, but besides
that, he fit fairly well onto the bed, and nodded his approval. "This'll
work," he said, and looked up at Luke. "Hey... I really appreciate
this, Luke. Thanks."
"You're
welcome. Like I said, you're welcome to stay as long as you like."
Volcan
nodded again. "Yeah... hopefully I won't have to be a moocher for
long," he said, sitting up and sliding back against the rear of the couch.
"I still wish I knew how I ended up here..." He looked at his hand.
"And what caused me to change into this form? I still feel a connection to
fire powers but, none of my other abilities came with me. My strength, my
wings, my shapeshifting... am I still immune to fire?"
"Well
not quite...You can still be harmed by fire, but because you're a fire type
yourself, you can resist it...also depending on your ability, you can either
increase your overall speed with Speed Boost, or you gain a power boost when
you're close to defeat with Blaze."
"...Say
what?" Volcan asked, clearly not understanding what Luke meant.
"Nevermind...I'll
explain it later." Luke returned.
"Right... I guess getting used to this body will be
quite a learning curve," remarked the Blaziken. "But... Fire and
Fighting type, you said? Sounds like I'll catch on fast enough if I'm getting
the concept."
"If you're already familiar with fighting, then yes you
should catch on quickly."
"Alright," said Volcan, nodding. "Well, guess
I'll just hang out here for now..." He laid back down on the bed.
"I've got some things to think about... And it's not like I have anywhere to
go, now."
"I'll leave you to it then...I have to get dinner
started for when everyone gets home." He said as he walked back toward the
kitchen and turned on the stove.
Volcan tucked his hands behind his head and stared at the
ceiling, slipping into deep thought. Everything was so confusing to him at the
moment; if he wasn't already familiar with dimension jumping he might have gone
even more crazy when he had found out what he'd changed into... but at least
he'd found someone willing to help him out, although he wondered if Luke
possibly still thought Volcan was insane -if he ever did think that, of course;
the phoenix... Blaziken, wasn't going to make assumptions. Luke could turn out
to be a good friend for him...
~~~~~
The next day, when Luke awoke and prepared to go about his
day, he noticed Volcan was missing from the guest bed in the living room.
Somehow, the Lucario doubted the Blaziken had gone back to... whatever world he
had come from, so he likely wasn't very far away.
Luke let out a soft sigh and rubbed his forehead.
"Dammit all..." He grunbled before he headed outof hsi house and
tried searching for Volcan's aura signal before giving chase.
Thankfully though, the Blaziken hadn't gone far. He found him
in a short time, and arrived to find him stretching his muscles, before he
began trying a few punches and kicks at open air. A short time after, Volcan
walked over to a small tree, gripping it tightly around the trunk and seemingly
trying to lift out of the ground. Of course, he failed, an stepped back in
exasperation, rotating his arms. "Ouch... guess not."
"What are you doing...?" Luke asked as he
approached him from behind.
"Ah!" Volcan jumped slightly as Luke approached, before
turning around to face the Lucario, a blank stare crossing his face.
"Please don't sneak up on me," he requested. "I'm a little jumpy
about that."
"Well then please don't wander off when you're not
familiar with your new environment." Luke said back calmly.
"I didn't want to wake you up," returned the
Blaziken, rubbing his shoulder a bit. "I was just coming out to test this
new body, trying to find out what it could do." He groaned. "But it's
nothing like my old body..." He gestured back at the tree. "I used to
be able to rip those out of the ground and throw them at people, now I can
barely rattle them, let alone use them for a caber toss."
"...Caber....toss...?" Luke asked, tilting his head
in confusion.
"A sport, back in my ancestral homeland," replied
Volcan. "At the Highland Games, one of the sports involves throwing logs;
a test of strength and finesse. That's the caber toss."
"Sounds like something a Chesnaught or Machamp would
do..." Luke commented.
"Yep. My Uncle's actually due to host the next
games," replied Volcan. "Of course, he and I are both supernaturally
strong, so, it's considered unfair for us to compete."
Luke nodded softly. "Well regardless, don't wander off
like that again."
"I didn't see where you kept the paper so I couldn't
leave a note," Volcan pointed out. "And... I think you write
differently than I do."
Luke shrugged his shoulders. "Regardless.
I'm assuming you would like a small tour around the place?"
"I suppose it couldn't hurt, since I might be here quite
a while," said Volcan. "But, I'd like to learn a little more about
this body first, just in case whatever's causing this comes looking for me
-assuming it's a who, and not a what."
Luke looked at him for a moment. "...You want to
spar?" He asked quizzically.
"You'll probably clobber me, but I've got to learn how
this body ticks," said Volcan.
"Then I'll hold back some..." Luke said as he took
some steps back from Volcan.
"Okay," Volcan took in a deep breath, and adopted a
fighting stance. "So... any hints you can give me on that this red poultry
body can do?"
"Well let's start with some standard fighting..."
He said as he got into what looked like a soft style stance. "Try landing
a single blow on me."
"Alright, here goes," said Volcan, before he ran
forward, and attempted to deliver a punch towards Luke. Luke lifted his leading
paw up a little, and then when Volcan's fist got close, he smacked it down with
enough force to make Volcan stumble. Luke then weaved around the Blaziken and
watched him regain his composure.
"Geez, you move like Vinge," Volcan remarked.
"Er... a friend of mine." He turned to face Luke again, and this time
went at him with a flurry of punches, each one aimed to different locations.
Rather than deflect them, Luke simply shifted his stance and
weaved around each strike. His reaction time was unprecedented, almost inhuman
even. Luke then grabbed onto Volcan's arm as it passed his cheek, holding it in
place. "Good...you can at least throw a punch...but your attacks are far too
wild and unfocused..." Luke said as he pushed Volcan back.
"How about this," returned Volcan before spinning
around and delivering an inverted spin-kick towards Luke, "eh?"
Luke sighed and simply leaned back from the kick, letting it
swoosh in front of him as he stepped back a little. "Again,
unfocused...you're going to have to try harder than that, friend..."
"I never used to be able to even do that, and it was
still obvious? Oye..." The Blaziken muttered.
Luke once again adopted a soft style stance. "Alright,
now let's see how solid your defense is...prepare yourself."
"Alright," returned Volcan, returning to his own
combat stance, watching Luke carefully.
Luke then started running up to Volcan, then he spun once and
threw a backfist right for his face and suprisingly, Volcan actually caught it,
and in the span of a second, twisted Luke's arm behind his back and grabbed him
in a headlock with a powerful grip. "Gotcha," he said.
He grunted and clenched his eyes shut for a moment, then
reopened them and glanced back at Volcan. "Not bad..." he
complimented, and then before Volcan could respond, he threw his head back and
nailed Volcan right in the beak, allowing him precious moments to escape the
headlock an grab onto Volcan's arm quickly and flip him over his shoulder, then
he twisted his arm backwards quickly as he subdued him.
"Good counter," Volcan returned. "But two can
play at that game." He suddenly used all the strength in his legs to throw
himself back into Luke. Luke grunted as he was suddenly hurled back, then
quickly flipped over Volcan before he could be pinned to the ground and landed
in a crouch. "I was trained to be better at countering than attacking if I
had to go bare-handed," Volcan pointed out.
"You're learning quickly...now try a special attack on
me..."
"What sort of special attack?"
Luke narrowed his eyes for a moment. "Well you're a
Fire/Fighting type...Try a Mach Punch or a Blaze Kick on me or something."
"But how do I even use them?"
"Blaze Kick as a Fire Type attack; focus your fire power into
your foot as you try to kick me."
"Alright, here goes," said Volcan, shutting his
eyes and focusing his energies, just as he would if he were still in his true
form, mentally commanding them to a specific part of his body. However, Volcan
would find it wasn't the same as commanding his normal elemental powers. Try as
he might, his legs did not go ablaze.
"It's not working," said Volcan, a little
frustrated. "Whatever powers this body has they don't work like my own; I
can't mentally command it."
"It might because you haven't learned it yet..."
Luke returned. "Alright...Try a Fire Punch instead."
Once more Volcan tried to command the energy into his hand,
clenching it into a fist as he did so. This time, his fist began to emit smoke,
then after some more focusing, his hand was completely ablaze, burning like a
small wildfire around his hand. "Hey... it worked!" Volcan exclaimed.
"But... why didn't it work for my feet before?" He looked at Luke.
"Is this what you meant by 'learned'?"
He nodded. "As you fight and get
stronger, more attacks will be available to you...I've acquired myself a wide
array of abilities because I've been fighting all my life..."
"Makes sense; I developed most of my own attacks but
mastering them took practice," remarked Volcan, letting the flames around
his hand go out. "This is some unusual stuff... but I'm sure I'll learn it
overtime."
"All it takes is practice..."You'll know you've
unlocked a new attack when you begin fighting for real."
Volcan
nodded. "Alright... I'll have to practice more soon but I think I get
it."
"Good." Luke returned. "I think we can head
into town for a bit...I have to do a few things while I'm there anyway."
Volcan nodded again. "Lead on, my friend."
Luke lead Volcan out of the woods and into a rather bustling
town. Many different Pokémon of all shapes, sizes and typings were all roaming
the streets, making their way through the crowds to get to their destinations.
"Man... even though I've turned into a Pokémon now, I
still feel extremely out of place here," Volcan remarked.
At that moment, the sound of punches being thrown and meeting
flesh caught his attention, and when he turned he saw two Pokémon, a Rhydon and
a Magmar were busy scrapping it out, punching and tackling each other, with a
crowd around them chanting and whooping as the street fight went on.
"Hey... is that normal around here?" Volcan asked.
"Why isn't anybody stopping them?"
Luke glanced to where the fighting was taking place. "It
happens...Pokémon fight for either exercise or for the thrill of battle...but
otherwise we're not as violent as most let on."
"Sheesh... back in my world, the Police would be coming
here faster than a charging horse to intervene," remarked Volcan.
"This place sure is different..."
Another commotion was heard, this time it was shrieks from
some female Pokémon. They were pointing toward the sky and shrieking
hysterically, even jumping up and down on the spot as a black blur zoomed
across the sky, leaping from building to building before disappearing from
view.
"Whoa!
What was that?" Volcan asked.
"That was just
the local town hero...well, one of them anyway." Luke commented.
"Anyone
you know?" Volcan asked.
Luke
nodded. "You'll meet him eventually."
"Guy
was damn quick," remarked Volcan, looking back where the dark figure had
gone.
Luke
nodded in acknowledgement as they came to their first stop: a small pharmacy.
"Wait here." Luke said as he went inside.
Volcan nodded to him, and leaned against the wall, peering up
and down the street for anything else that might hold his attention as he
waited.
He
did pick up on something rather unusual. A gang of different kind of Pokémon
were all ganging up on a smaller Pokémon. A Dewott with scars on his body and
gauze wrapped around his forearms and attached to his scallop blades on his
thighs. On his back rested a small sword hidden in a wood sheath held to his
body with string.
The gang were circling around the Dewott, making taunts and
vulgar remarks to him, but he only stood there, arms at his sides and looking straight
ahead in a calm, focused manner.
Volcan slowly approached the scene, watching carefully to see
what else the gang might do; more habit than anything he was waiting to see if
he needed to act in the defense of the Dewott, but didn't make a move until he
was certain that he was in danger...
One of the gang members laughed and made a move, stepping
toward the Dewott and throwing a punch, stopping just before his head. The
Dewott slowly glanced to his would be attacker. "...If you're going to hit
me, then hit me...don't waste time throwing mock jabs at me..."
"Kid's brave," muttered Volcan, too low for the
gang to hear; he was almost to them now.
"Heh, alright kiddo, yer askin for it!" The Pokémon,
an Emboar, stated as he reared back again, this time throwing a punch for real.
He didn't even get to follow through with his attack before the Dewott quickly
slammed into his gut with Aqua Jet, critically winding him and making him
freeze in place. The Dewott landed and hopped away, watching as the Emboar slowly
began to tilt backwards and flop on his back.
"Whoa," Volcan said, impressed. This time, he
deliberately spoke loud enough for the other gang members to hear him.
"The kid's got style."
The other gang members twitched and looked back at Volcan.
"Butt out punk!!" One of them roared at him, and then they turned
back to the Dewott once more. "GET IM!!" Another said as they all
charged in at once toward the smaller Pokémon. He sighed and glanced behind
him, leaping over a strike to his back, landing on his attackers arm before
darting to him and kicking HARD in the face.
He then turned and held up his paw in a sort of handseal,
then expelled a boiling hot stream of water from his mouth, nailing his next
attacker with a Scald attack. From then he turned to the remaining two and drew
his Scallop blades, then darted forward witih Aqua Jet and slashed at them both
simultaneously with Razor Shell, skidding to a stop in front of Volcan, then
straightening up and swing his shells once before placing them back on his hip
fur, then the two behind him fell forward and were out cold.
"Well... guess you didn't need my help after all,"
remarked Volcan.
The Dewott looked up toward Volcan for a moment. "No
actually I didn't...I had everything under control..."
"Sorry about trying to butt in then," said Volcan.
"Why were those guys giving you such a hard time anyway?"
"They're thugs." He commented. "They ALWAYS
give other Pokémon a hard time." He commented before he looked behind him.
"That so?" Volcan asked, looking at the downed Pokémon.
"Sounds like they deserved this painful lesson then."
"It was anything BUT painful." He returned. "I
don't believe in making others suffer...I made sure they were taken down as
painlessly as possible..."
"That's a good thing to do," said Volcan.
"Save the painful ones for the more dangerous types, and leave the
pushovers in the dirt."
"Even then I don't want to make them suffer..." The
Dewott returned.
"Well, that's respectable," agreed Volcan.
"Anyway, I'm glad I wasn't needed after all. You should probably head home
now, alright?"
The Dewott gave him a slight frown. "I don't need
someone telling me where to go...I'm not a child." He returned rather
sternly before turning and taking his leave.
"Sorry," Volcan called after him, before he headed
back over to the pharmacy, hoping he hadn't missed Luke.
Just after he arrived,
Luke did indeed come out with a small bag of medicinal herbs and berries. "Hey,"
Volcan waved in greeting to the Lucario.
Luke nodded in greeting. "Sorry to have
kept you waiting."
"Ah... don't worry; had a bit of a show helping me kill
time," remarked Volcan, looking back up the street where the gang of
clobbered Pokémon remained.
Luke
looked at the downed Pokémon and cocked his eyebrow. "I see..."
"Wasn't me, really," replied Volcan. "It was
this smaller Pokémon... kind of looked like an otter with blades."
"Ah, a Dewott." Luke returned. "Did he have
any distinguishing features?"
"Not that I could think of, except he was kind of...
grim, like he was upset about something, yet it wasn't about the gangsters
themselves."
Luke nodded "Anything else..?"
"Yeah; he knocked out all of those guys without even
trying," said Volcan. "I went over to help because I thought he'd
need it but, turns out he didn't."
"I meant physically." Luke reinstated.
"Well... he had a lot of scars on him, and a wooden
sword on his back," said Volcan. "And... I kinda mistook him for a
kid; he took offense to that."
"Oh
him!" Luke said. "That would be Wade. He's a student of my best
friend's son."
"Oh
I see," said Volcan. "Well... little guy was tough as nails"
"And
he should be....He was trained by two very skilled warriors. One of them is
part of my Rescue Team." Luke explained.
"Rescue team?" Volcan asked.
Luke nodded. "Basically it's a team of Pokémon that
actively go out and perform missions for rewards. Often times they're sent on
missions to search for and retrieve something or someone of importance."
"Huh...
kinda like career Police, Fire Fighters and Coast Guard back on my world,"
remarked Volcan.
"I...suppose
so..." Luke said, unfamilar with the latter two jobs.
"Well,
alright then," said Volcan. "Where should we go next?"
"Well
we also need some fish, so let's head over to the docks and see if the kiosk
there has anything worthwhile." He said as he lead Volcan away toward the
docks.
"Right
with you," said Volcan. "Strange I didn't notice this town near any
lakes or rivers..."
"It actually borders an ocean." Luke explained as
they travelled quite a ways through town until they came to a more quieter part
of town. It was there that Volcan could see docks lined up with different
kiosks for different attractions, such as surfing, scuba diving or merchants
selling different kinds of fish.
"Wow... Serena would like it here," the Blaziken whispered,
looking around the area with a somewhat nostaligic look... hinted with a bit of
homesickness as he once more felt a wave of melancholy settling over him as he
remembered his home.
Luke looked back to Volcan, sensing his distress. "Are
you alright?"
"Sorry just... remembering a few friends of mine,"
replied Volcan. "One called Serena, specifically. Timid to the point of
seeming almost cowardly, very gentle, but determined, protective, and a very
quick learner. She's of an aquatic species unlike me, and loves the water,
especially clean, clear and spacious water where she can swim peacefully."
He looked out to the ocean. "She'd like it here..."
"I see..." Luke said softly, but he didn't look at
Volcan. The Lucario was beginning to question his own doubt about Volcan's
origins; about his claim of being from somewhere else; the way he spoke of his
friends and how many times he had expressed homesickness as he thought back to
that place, not to mention speaking of feats his previous body was capable of but
his new one was not... even if he was delusional about being from another
dimension, one thing was certain; "you really aren't from around here, are
you...?" Luke asked, plainly.
At that question, the Blaziken rolled his eyes, his tone
escalating to display his annoyance. "Is it really THAT hard to
believe?" Volcan asked, very sternly. "Considering I have no clue
what I am or what any of the beings around me are, how could I possibly be a
local?" He looked at Luke intently. "You really just thought I was crazy,
or at least amnesiac or something?"
"I'm sorry...I just don't really believe in the whole
alternate realities deal." Luke returned. "But now, well...I'm
starting to question that disbelief..."
Volcan laughed unexpectedly. "Stick with me; you'll find
a lot of things you thought to be impossible turn out to be real... that is, if
there's a way back to my world..."
Luke smirked a little. "I'm sure there will be a
way..."
Volcan nodded. "Until then... I just have to try and
stay positive, and hope there's a way I can go home someday... although maybe I
shouldn't rush, 'cuz there's a chance my brother might yell my ear off when I
get back." He chuckled a little.
Luke chuckled with him as they reached the kiosk that sold
fish. Luke was conversing with the shop keep about what fish were best this
season.
In the meantime, Volcan peered out to the ocean, silently
missing his telescopic vision at that moment, but keeping that detail to
himself; he didn't want to sound like a complainer, to the one who was showing
him such generosity. The Blaziken honestly hoped he would get a chance to get
to know Luke, especially now that the Lucario was certain he wasn't walking
around with madman. 'Though if I were in his shoes... paws, I'd probably have
thought I was crazy too,' Volcan silently confessed to himself.
Luke finished with his purchases and turned back to Volcan,
seeing him staring out toward the horizon and sensing his distress again.
"...What's wrong?"
"Just reminiscing is all," replied Volcan. His
expression softened and he turned to Luke with an apologetic look. "And...
I wanted to apologize; I really can't blame you for not buying my story before.
Admittedly if you had showed up in my world and transformed into a species
local to it I might've thought the same thing, even though I already know of
the existence of alternate dimensions."
Luke nodded softly. "I understand...I'm sorry for my
harsh behaviour to you earlier...."
Volcan turned fully to Luke, and his hand twitched, as if
about to do something, but he paused. "Er... do they even do handshakes
here?" He mumbled. "Gotta be careful about that..."
Luke only smiled and held his paw to Volcan. "Well,
seems you do," replied Volcan, reaching out with his large talon and
grasping Luke's paw. "Guess this place isn't 'so' different from where I
come from."
"I guess not." Luke returned, shaking his hand
firmly.
As soon as their pulled their hands apart though, a bright
flash of light coming from out at sea suddenly caught their attention, turning
their gaze towards the ocean. "The heck...?" Volcan asked.
The light was familiar to Luke, though... he had seen similar
lights the previous day, when he had first met Volcan... Luke narrowed his eyes
and prepared to shield his eyes in case it shone any brighter. "That looks
like the light that brought you here...."
"Wait, what?" Volcan asked. "Hey... you're
right! It looks like the same kind of light I flew into before I wound up
here." Volcan's eyes widened in realization. "You don't
suppose..."
"Only one way to find out..." Luke said as he
walked closer to the edge of the docks, watching the light intently.
"That's out to sea pretty far; can you really see
anything from here?" Volcan asked, shadowing his eyes and squinting as he
strained to see what was happening out on the ocean.
"I don't really need to see." He said as he closed
his eyes and tuned his Aura Sense. With it, he was able to find this strange
anomaly did indeed match the one Volcan had come through. But out there with it
he also spotted a large boat covered in land-walking Pokémon, probably a
fishing boat, and several swimming ones directly below it. As the anomaly took
place though... something strange seemed to be happening to the aura's of the Pokémon
near it; it's like some other sort of aura was mixing with their own...
"...What the hell...?" Luke muttered.
"What
is it?" Volcan asked.
"It's like all the aura signals out there are merging
together.." Luke returned. "I can't make heads or tails on what's
going on..."
"...We better get out there," said Volcan. "If
that's the same kind of light that brought me to this world it may mean
something else from my world is coming through, and there are some dangerous
people back in my world you wouldn't want wandering around here..."
Luke nodded. "We'll have to secure a boat or some
kind..." Then he ran back to the fish kiosk and asked the shop keep to
take them out to sea toward the light. He was hesitant, but agreed nonetheless
after some minor persuasion by Luke.
After a brief wait as the shop keep prepared his boat, he and
Volcan were on the open ocean, heading for the light ahead. Volcan watched the
lights from the bow of the ship as they kept flickering, eyeing them with mixed
emotions; it was likely he wondered if he could somehow go home if they could
get there before the lights stopped, or if someone he knew would be coming
through... but whatever it was didn't hold his attention over something he
noticed off the starboard side.
"Hey... something's swimming towards us," he said,
pointing down to the water.
Luke turned and noticed the water breaking as something was
traversing through it at impressive speeds. As it got closer, Luke slowly
smirked as he recognized who it was under the waves. "I wondered if he'd
show up..."
"Someone you know?" Volcan asked.
Luke nodded just as the figure broke through the water,
leaping in the air and landing on the boat deck next to Luke and Volcan. The
figure was a very muscular Samurott wearing a dark blue Kimono, obviously
soaked from his swim. He shook himself to dry off a little before turning to
Luke. "Heading out into danger alone, are you?" He asked with a small
smirk.
Luke smirked back and nodded back to the Samurott. "Good
to have you aboard Katsu.."
"Katsu... oh yeah, I think you were telling me about
him," remarked Volcan.
Luke turned and nodded to Volcan. Katsu looked at the
Blaziken with a curious look. "A new friend of yours?"
"Yeah, I'm... new around here. My name's Volcan,"
replied the Blaziken. "Luke here has been kind enough to offer me shelter
while I'm in the area."
"I see. It's a pleasure to meet you." Katsu said as
he did a short bow. "I am called Katsumoto. The Mighty Blade of Rescue
Team Valiant..."
"Glad to meet you too," returned Volcan politely,
also returning the bow.
"We'll have to save the formalities for later. We've
almost arrived." Luke said, getting both their attention.
When the two turned though, they came upon a sight they
weren't expecting. The ship Luke had spotted through his aura sense had been
thrown against a cluster of rocks that marked shallow waters nearby, its
outside hull covered in holes that looked like they had burned into the side,
along with several tears and clusters of seaweed, as if something had attacked
the ship.
"Holy... what happened?" Volcan asked. "Those
lights barely started half an hour ago; what could've wrecked this boat that
fast?"
"I will check for any survivors." Katsu said as he
dove back into the water and headed for the wrecked ship.
"I hope he'll be okay," said Volcan. "There's
no telling what's in the water now, if that portal brought something
through..."
"Katsu should be fine...he's the tank of my team...it
takes a LOT to bring him down." Luke returned.
"Yeah,
well, I was the tank on my team before Tristan showed up; a household fire
extinguisher was capable of killing me," Volcan pointed out. "I'm
just saying, no matter how strong someone is, there's always the possibility of
something or someone stronger."
Luke nodded softly before continuing to scan with his Aura
Sense for any more survivors, or for anything out of the ordinary.
And he saw much, although it was hard to make sense of it. On
the ship, he saw the Aura's of the Pokémon he had sensed before, but there were
fewer, and they were clashing, as if the ship's own crew had turned on one
another. Something similar was happening in the water as well; many of the
aura's, including one very big one, were clashing below, violently at that,
like some sort of frenzy had fallen over everyone in the area.
"...What could cause such a frenzy like this...?"
Luke muttered.
"Frenzy?" Volcan asked, just barely catching the
word from Luke.
"It's unreal...the Pokémon I sensed earlier are all
fighting one another...I can't explain why."
"...That IS strange," said Volcan, peering out to
the shipwreck again. "Maybe the ones on the boat are fighting over the
lifeboats?"
"It's
possible...perhaps we should take a look"
"Right."
Volcan glanced back towards the fisherman steering the boat, and motioned for
him to bring them closer. He nodded and slowly brought the boat closer to the
vessel in question. Once they were near enough, Volcan looked at Luke.
"Think I can reach it from here; what about you?"
"I
can as well." Luke returned, looking back at Vocan.
"Alright,
on three," said Volcan, counting down with his fingers. Three... two...
one... and with a clenched fist, he sprang, soaring through the air and landing
on the wrecked ships' deck with surprising grace, his powerful legs easily
absorbing the impact.
Luke also leapt onto the deck as well, though he had to cheat
a bit and relied on Extreme Speed to run on the water for a bit before he
hopped onto the wrecked boat beside Volcan, keeping his guard up in case they
were attacked.
"I can feel a lot of bodies falling into
walls below decks," remarked Volcan. "We better get down there before
somebody gets ki-" He was cut off as something smashed through the wooden
floor right in front of them; they failed to get a glimpse of the figure as it
was sent soaring through the air, flailing its limbs helplessly before falling
into the water.
Seconds later something else leapt out of the hole, something
quite big, with four mighty arms that lifted it out of the hole without a hint
of difficulty, growling ferally as it emerged. To Luke, he recognized it as a
Machamp, but it looked... different. Its skin was a darker hue than it
should've been, and each of the fingers ending his four hands were tipped with
claws... but the 'Macho' family of Pokémon didn't have claws at any state of
their evolution.
When it turned to face him and Volcan its eyes were strange
too; most had naturally red eyes anyway but this time they were red and black.
Using his aura sense, Luke could see that this Machamp was a victim of whatever
strange affliction had driven the others into a frenzy; his aura, if it could
be seen as colours, would be pitch black...
Volcan however, seemed
familiar with this strange ailment. "Oh... shit," he said.
"What
is it?" Luke asked, glancing to Volcan as they stared the machamp down.
"I
know this sort of thing; this guy's come into contact with Demons,
somehow," said Volcan. "He was exposed to their corruption and a lot
of it by the looks of it; anyone who doesn't have the will to resist it,
well... they..." He paused. "Incoming!" He barked, and Luke saw
the Machamp leaping towards them, all four arms drawn back to punch.
Luke quickly crouched before the Machamp got close, then he
moved forward and leapt up, slamming his paw into the foe and sending him
skyward with Sky Uppercut. Luke then flipped a couple times in middair and
fired off two Aura Spheres at its face and chest to get it to further back off
before he landed on the edge of the deck in a low crouch.
The Machamp seemed barely hurt by the attack though. As it
dropped back to the deck, it landed on all six limbs, breaking its fall, before
it sprang towards Luke without even taking any time to recover, and swung at
him repeatedly with its arms, unleashing a Mega Punch with each limb. Luke's
eyes widened at its reaction time, instinctively raising his arms up to block
the attacks, almost knocking him off of the boat deck.
Volcan came dashing in as the onslaught continued, and
delivered a Fire Punch to the Machamp, throwing it off balance. "Don't
hold back!" Volcan called. "There's no coming back from demonic
corruption; this guy's already dead."
"Come again?!" Luke said in disbelief
"Once demonic corruption sets in, it's almost impossible
to remove," replied Volcan. "Overtime the being that's been corrupted
will become a demon too; the process can only be stopped in early stages and
the only way to do that is through exorcism."
"Well I don't know exorcism, so how are we going to fix
this?!" Luke asked as he fired some more Aura Spheres to keep the Machamp
at bay.
"We can't," replied Volcan. "Those with weak
wills turn much faster; this guy's already gone. I know it's hard to believe,
Luke, but I was exposed to a small amount of this corruption for 18 years of my
life," Volcan went on. "It kept growing within me and nearly consumed
me, but before it could get out of control, it was purged from me. This guy,
however, has been exposed to a lot of it. There's no bringing him back; he's
nothing but monster now."
Luke looked on at the now demonized Machamp, sensing that
Volcan was indeed telling the truth; the Machamp's aura, seen in a colour to
the keen senses of the Lucario, had turned a sickly violet colour; all trace of
his pure life force was gone, and the mind was clearly broken, as this Machamp
fought like a mad animal. He let out a soft sigh and flattened his ears.
"...We just need to knock him out, right...?"
"No Luke... we have to kill him," replied Volcan.
"If we just knock him out he'll get back up again and go another rampage.
I know this isn't customary on your world but when it comes to demons you can't
spare them. Trust me."
Luke's ears flattened even further at this
realization. For all his life he's managed to get by without taking a single
life, but now he was faced with the inevitable reality....He slowly closed his
eyes and clenched his paws tight, mentally steeling his resolve as best he
could before he took on a soft style stance again. The Machamp was already
coming and Volcan jumped in once more, delivering a punch right to its chest;
anatomically the area would've been perfect to slow down any opponent... but
against a Machamp, corrupted or not, it barely flinched, and glared at Volcan
menacingly.
"Uh oh..." Volcan whispered.
The Machamp grabbed him in a tight bear hug, squeezing
tightly and forcing all of the breath out of Volcan's lungs. Luke's keen ears
caught the groan of protest emanating from Volcan's bones as they were
compressed by the powerful Machamp's limbs; the Machamp was crushing him! Luke
quickly sprung into action, leaping at the Machamp and swinging his leg HARD
against his face in an attempt to make it stumble and release Volcan from its
grasp.
The
Machamp let go of Volcan, and the Blaziken fell limp to the ground, gasping for
breath as Luke kept fighting the corrupted Machamp, which took a swing at him
with both of its right arms. Luke leaned his head back to dodge the blows, then
thrust forward with both paws for a powerful double Force Palm, sending the
Machamp back even further and adding a paralyzing effect to the attack.
It fell against the railing of the ship, but before it could
make another move back towards Luke, something soared out of the water and bit
the Machamp right around its upper body. A Sharpedo, but not like one Luke had
ever seen; just like the Machamp, its features had been warped and twisted; its
rough skin had become gross and scaly, and its red eyes had turned black as the
void. Like the Machamp, all semblance of its aura was gone, and it was actually
biting the Machamp hard enough to draw blood as the two struggled. Eventually
though the Machamp fell over the railing, and splashed into the water below,
sealing its fate...
Luke stared in horror at the spectacle, his heart thundering
in his chest and his body trembling, panting softly after that whole spectacle
unfolded, eyes wide in a mix of shock and awe. Overtime, his breath became
faster and more erratic, on the verge of hyperventilating.
"Luke..." He heard Volcan groan as
the Blaziken slowly pushed himself back up to regain his footing. "Are
you... okay?" But the Lucario didn't answer at first. He was in complete
shock after what he saw, even stumbling back and falling onto his rear. Volcan
dragged himself over to Luke's side. "Hey, keep it together Luke,"
stated the Blaziken. "If you lose your cool now, we're ALL sunk."
He panted for a few moments longer before he shook his head
and slowly got back to his feet, still somewhat in shock, but he could at least
move. "I-I'm alright...just...."
"I know," assured Volcan, putting
his hand on Luke's shoulder. "It takes some getting used to, but that
kill, that wasn't your doing. Demons are notorious for attacking each other
too; without a stronger one to control them all they're like two ant colonies
-they'll tear each other apart over a scrap of meat. Now..." He looked
Luke in the eye. "We have to find out if anyone isn't corrupted yet and
get them away from here but I don't know how to do that. Any ideas?"
Luke remembered the Machamp's Aura when he first saw it; it
was... distorted, defiled, and practically radiated malice when he saw it
through his aura sense. Everyone on the ship and many Pokémon in the water
had...
Katsu! He
was still in the water!
However, another
splash was heard and the same Sharpedo that had killed the Machamp was suddenly
laying limp on the deck of the boat, a huge gash along its body. Another splash
and Katsumoto was now on the boat deck, swords drawn and standing tall on his
hind legs.
"Katsumoto; you okay?" Volcan asked.
"I'm alright." He returned, glancing to Volcan.
"What on earth has happened to these Pokémon...? They attack anything that
moves."
"They've been corrupted with demonic essence,"
replied Volcan. "Every single one afflicted has been stripped of all sense
of reason, turned into wild animals that know only how to tear each other
apart. We can't do anything for the ones who've already fallen to it; we have
to see if anyone is still free of it, and get them away from here. I don't know
how where to start looking, though..."
"We'll have to start below decks. Perhaps there are some
that have taken refuge down there." Katsumoto stated.
Luke managed to calm himself enough, doing some breath
control to lessen some of the strain in his body. When he could focus well
enough, tuned to his aura sense and searched below decks, ultimately finding
some Pokémon with pure auras. "They're down in the cargo hold...They're
frightened, but otherwise unharmed."
"How do you know?" Volcan asked.
Luke looked to Volcan. "My aura sense picks up on
anyone's aura signal, be it pure or corrupt. The ones I sensed down below are
pure, meaning they haven't come in contact with these..."demons"
"Fair enough. Anyone in the water not affected?"
"I'm afraid not...they're all corrupt..." Then Luke
flinched for a moment. "Wait...there's one aura signal that stands
out...it's pure...and from the feeling of it, the Pokémon's unconcious."
"Shit;
they'll be a sitting duck down there!" Volcan looked at Katsu. "Can
you slip around the corrupted ones and get to them?"
"It
will be done." He said, then without another word he leapt off the boat
and back down into the water, swimming as fast as he could to reach the Pokémon
in question.
Volcan looked at Luke. "I guess that
leaves the ones on this ship for us," he said. "You ready for
this?"
Luke nodded slowly. "I'll try..." He said with
uneasiness, but he still headed for the stairwell, keeping a lock on the other Pokémon
trapped on the ship.
"I'll take point; I'm a lot more adapted to this sort of
thing than you," said Volcan. "Remember, don't think of these guys as
people, think of them as rabid animals that need to be put down. This is all we
can do for them."
Luke nodded, but he still felt uneasy about the whole thing.
He didn't want to kill anyone, regardless of them being possessed or
not...still, they made their way down the ship and toward the cargo bay to free
the survivors.
Fortunately though most of the corrupt Pokémon currently
tearing each other apart were in separate rooms and not in the corridors; for
the first floor, they didn't encounter any opposition but as soon as they
descended to the sub-deck where the cargo bay was located they found another
corrupted Pokémon hammering on the door; a Quagsire, which was definitely no
longer its absent-minded looking self; it still had the smooth body but its
eyes had turned yellow, and its tail looked like a serrated blade now. Besides
that, it didn't look like it had changed much...
Volcan looked closer. "He hasn't been fully corrupted
yet; this guy's actually resisting it."
The Quagsire was standing hunched over,
holding its stomach as if in pain, and stumbling about the room, occasionally
falling into the wall as it tried to hold off whatever was attempting to take
its mind.
"What should we do? Try to purge it? knock him
out?"
"If we can get him to some kind of healer fast enough,
they might be able to save him," said Volcan. "Some sort of holy
ground, like a god's temple, would be best."
"We don't have anything like that." Luke commented.
"We don't really have any sort of religion."
"You said you have a god don't you?" Volcan asked.
"Arceus, wasn't it? Isn't there some sort of conduit for his power in your
world?"
Luke
shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not..."
Volcan
looked at the Quagsire closely. "I don't know what to do... if there was
some way to separate the corruption from him..."
The Quagsire looked at them, having only just noticed their
presence, and he spoke to them pleadingly, his voice distorted yet still
terrified. "Please... don't let me... become one of them!" He begged.
"I've seen so many of my friends turn into monsters; I can't be like
that!"
Luke grit his teeth, trying to think on how
they could free him. "Damnit...there HAS to be another way..."
Volcan scratched his head in frustration, thinking hard on
how best to approach this problem. He knew corruption was an evil power that
latched directly onto the life force of others, choking and poisoning it until
it took over the host. But at that thought, the Blaziken seemed to have an
idea. "Hang on..." Volcan began. "Those projectile attacks you
do; how do you use them?"
Luke looked to Volcan. "I use my internal aura to
produce my aura spheres... essentially I'm weaponizing my own internal
energy."
"Can you make contact with the... aura's of other people
as well?" Volcan asked.
Luke thought for a moment on that idea, then looked to the
struggling Quagsire and looked at his paw. "...It's worth a shot..."
He said.
"Just be careful, Luke," said Volcan. "Soon as
the corruption makes contact with you it may try to seize you too; it's like a
symbiotic parasite without form."
Luke nodded, then walked over and slowly placed his paw on
the Quagsire's head, then focused as hard as he could, immediately feeling the Pokémon's
corrupted aura conflicting with the lingering, pure aura within itself, trying
to force it aside and take it over completely. In his mind, it looked like
something out of a nightmare; a labyrinth of discoloured walls, with eyes
watching him at every step he took, whispering things to him that made his
spine tingle.
"Don't let yourself be afraid," he heard Volcan's
voice. "Demons feed on negative
emotions; if you become filled with them you make it easier to lose yourself.
Be brave, Luke."
Luke was taken aback by such a sight, but he swallowed his
fear and anxiousness and pressed on through the mental labyrinth, searching for
that speck of pure aura so he could cleanse it further. And soon he found it;
the Quagsire was still fighting back the corruption, but would be overtaken by
it soon if it wasn't removed. Luke knew only one thing he could do; the
corruption itself was in the form of Aura, so if he could grasp it like he did
his own Aura Sphere or similar powers, perhaps he could tear it out of the
Quagsire itself.
Luke approached the Quagsire carefully. "Try to
relax...I'm going to help you..." He said, then he steeled his resolve and
flashed his eyes open, grasping at the corrupted Aura and pulling it away as
hard as he could.
The aura actually became visible as Luke ripped it out of the
Quagsire; it seemed to cause the host discomfort but it was quickly replaced by
relief as that evil power was pulled
out of his body. However the instant it was free, Luke could feel the
corruption trying to bond with him, immediately attempting to invade his own
body.
"GGH!!" Luke cringed and doubled over as he tried
to take him over, a black shroud burning around him as he twitched and
struggled to get it out of his system as well.
"Luke, project it, like you do your Aura Spheres!"
Volcan barked. "Throw it like you would one of those!"
He was right; if this corrupted essence was in the form of
aura, Luke could manipulate it just like he could his own aura, especially with
it trying to bond with his own. He just had to isolate it somehow...
However, flinging them in his Aura Sphere's would cost him
precious time. Instead he tried something else. After some time struggling he
flashed his eyes open, then he tensed his body and let out a loud roar. The
black aura around him seemed to surge, and then burned much more erratically,
as if being blown off of him. It wasn't long before there was a flash the flame
went from pitch black to a bright blue colour, then he relaxed and panted
heavily, falling to his knees as the blue flame disappeared. Clearly whatever
happened had cleansed Luke of the corruption, but it also tuckered him out
drastically as well.
"Hey, you okay?" Volcan asked, running over to Luke
and catching him as the Lucario began to keel over with exhaustion.
He
was still panting heavily from that struggle, but he waved his paw dismissively
at Volcan. "I'll be fine....I just...wasn't expecting that," he replied,
turning himself over to sit down as he rested for a moment.
Volcan
stepped back. "I can barely believe what I saw but you actually pulled
corruption out, made it visible, and then destroyed it."
Luke
slowly stood back up to his feet. "Is...is the Quagsire alright...?"
Volcan looked over to
the Quagsire; his body was reverting to normal, and he was breathing more easily,
not in any pain anymore and no longer transforming; the serrated look of his
tail ended, and his eyes reverted to the beady black they were supposed to be.
"He's back to normal," returned Volcan, turning his
gaze back to Luke. "We're lucky he was still in the early stages; you
couldn't have done that for the Machamp we faced before, but now you know you
can do it to those not completely overtaken by the demonic essence." He
patted Luke's shoulder. "That's one for the books, buddy."
He slowly regained his
breath and nodded. "Indeed...but we're not done yet..."
"Right...
have to save those in the cargo bay there," said Volcan, looking at the
door. "Only thing I'm worried about though is how do we let them know
we're friendly?"
Luke thought for a moment.
"It might be best if I go in alone...Most of the town knows of me and my
rescue team... they might respond better to me."
"Alright but I got your back if you need me,"
promised Volcan, a firm tone in his voice.
Luke nodded softly and approached the door, taking a moment
to find the switch to unlock it, then he stepped inside. When he entered,
someone screamed, at least until they saw who was in the door. Of the three
inside only one seemed to recognize him, but when they said his name the others
knew that much anyway. "We're saved!" One exclaimed.
"And look; it's Diver!" One of the Pokémon inside
pointed past Luke at the Quagsire. "He even managed to save him too!"
Luke
breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the survivors. "Thank Arceus they're
unharmed..." he muttered to himself. "I need you all to stay close to
me. I have a ship that can take you to shore, but I need your full
co-operation...stay close to me. My friend and I will protect you..."
"Hey
Luke," Volcan remarked, pointing at a nearby corner, where a puddle of
water had formed and was steadily increasing in depth and becoming wider.
"I think the rest of the ship is going to go down soon. We better scram,
and fast."
Luke looked at the puddle and his eyes widened a little as
the leak grew and grew. He turned to the survivors. "There's not much
time! We have to move. NOW!" He commanded the other Pokémon.
"I'll take point; Luke, let me know if we're about to
run into trouble," Volcan instructed, before leading the way back up to
the second level.
Luke followed close behind Volcan, with all
the other survivors in tow. As they ascended, they did run into some
resistance, but they were able to hold them at bay for the passengers to
escape.
Once topside, Volcan flagged down the other
boat, motioning for it to get as close as possible, before turning back to
Luke. "Can you see anything we could use as a gangplank for them to
cross?" He asked.
Luke looked around the
deck for something sturdy to use. He noticed a loose plank on the deck and
grabbed it with his paws, heaving with all of his might, but he was still too
exhausted from his act of helping the Quagsire before. Volcan caught on to what
the Lucario was doing, however, and dashed over to help him. With their
combined strength, they tore the plank free; Volcan kicked it in a few spots to
free more of it so that it wouldn't break before they reached the end, else it
be too short to reach their boat.
The Quagsire went first, followed promptly by the two Nidoran
-one male, one female- and lastly by the young Machop. Seeing him made Luke
wonder if he had any relation to the Machamp that he and Volcan had come across
before... But before he could dwell on it, suddenly something rocked the ship,
making the Machop freeze mid-step as he nearly lost his balance on the board
"What was that?" Volcan asked, almost fearfully.
Suddenly, something shot out of the water; a tentacle,
smooth, rounded tip and gray, which lashed around the leg of the Machop. He let
out a yelp of terror as he was suddenly yanked off of the plank; he grabbed the
edge of it to catch himself but was quickly pulled free. Volcan, reacting
quickly, sprang forward and held onto the rail of the ship as he grabbed the
Machop's arm before he could be pulled out of reach.
Luke retaliated quickly, firing a few Aura Spheres at the
tentacle to try and get it off of the young Machop. It refused to let go, until
the onslaught of Luke's attacks actually broke it, freeing the Machop and
allowing Volcan to pull him up onto the ship, but a rather grotesque wound had
been left where the tentacle grabbed him before, and from his sudden crying, it
was causing him pain.
"Hey... is he infested, like the others?!" One of
the Nidoran demanded.
"No; that's something else," replied Volcan,
looking at the wound. "It looks like an infection; poison maybe."
Luke leapt over to the boat, running over to the young Machop
and examining the wound, calling for someone to bring him something to wrap the
leg with before he called out to the ship's captain. "Get these Pokémon
out of here and take this Machop to a hospital immediately! He's been poisoned
and needs medical attention right away!" He commanded before calling to
Volcan.
"What about Katsu? Is he back yet?" Volcan asked.
Luke quickly tuned to his aura sense to locate him, but all
he found was a trail of his aura signal. "...I'm only sensing a trail...he
must have found the Pokémon and brought it back to shore already." However,
no sooner did he say that did Katsumoto shoot up from the water and landed on
the boat deck, shaking himself dry once more. "....Or not." Luke
muttered.
He quickly noticed on Katsu's back was another Pokémon -a
Vaporeon to be exact; it looked fairly beaten up, but alive, and its aura had
only a mild amount of corruption in it, but it was going away on its own,
apparently not enough to actually take the body.
Luke looked at the Vaporeon on Katsu's back. "...This
was the Pokémon that I sensed?" He asked as he gently took it in his arms
and gently set it down on the deck.
"Looks
like it," said Volcan.
"She's pretty," Diver remarked.
"That's a she?" Volcan whispered, unable to
actually tell himself at first glance.
Luke took a closer look at the Vaporeon before looking back
up at Volcan. "He's right, it is a woman..." Luke said.
"Ah. Well... glad she's okay," said Volcan, nodding
even as he flushed with embarrassment at his oversight. But then, he tilted his
head at a sound he heard, looking around. "Now... unless my ears are full
of water..." He looked over the rear of the ship. "Something's
chasing us."
Sure enough, there was a large form moving
through the water at high speed causing a wave behind the ship at it pursued.
Luke turned
to the captain of the ship. "Full speed ahead captain!" He commanded.
"I AM
going full speed!" He called back.
Luke looked back to the wave that was chasing them, then
looked to Katsumoto. The Samurott seemed to get the idea immediately and hopped
over to the stern of the ship, drawing his blades and twirling them a bit. He
then pointed them to the water below and used his Aqua Jet to add even more
speed, making the ship rush through the water quickly toward shore.
The
figure in the water emerged; a large blue body with a dome-shaped top, embedded
with what resembled two massive rubies, and a black body peeking above the
water from behind the large top. The eyes of the creature were a blood red
colour, and seemed to actually glow like small stars as it glared at the ship,
somehow still keeping up with it despite the boost of speed.
"That's not possible..." Volcan whispered.
"Unless..." He ran over to the edge of the ship, and peered over.
"Damn it, he's holding the ship; we're pulling him!"
"Not for long!" Katsu stated,
crouching low before leaping up into the air, aiming his swords down and
roaring as he dropped onto the domed head, stabbing at it from above.
Unfortunately though, despite the strength of
his attack, he barely made penetration, and only seemed to irritate the
corrupted Pokémon; a tentacle rose up out of the water, and immediately went
for Katsu, trying to grab him.
"By Arceus, that's a Tentacruel!" One of the
civilians cried out.
"It's huge!" Another one exclaimed.
Katsu quickly managed to retreat back to teh ship with Aqua
Jet, skidding to a halt on the boat deck and gazing up at the Tentacruel.
"No way a Tentacruel has a hide that thick..." He muttered.
"The corruption must've mutated it somehow like it did
the others," said Volcan. "I've never heard of it giving it tougher
skin but hey, even I don't understand demons yet. We'll have to wear it down
and make it let go; if we drag this thing all the way back to the shore it
could be a disaster."
"We'll need an Electric type if we're to weaken it enough...it
has a resistance to Fire, Fighting and Water Type attacks..." Luke said.
"...Unless....."
"Unless what?" Volcan asked
Luke thought for a
moment. "....It's worth a shot..." He said as he held his paws out in
front of him, then he quickly parted then and a long bone materialized in his
paws.
"What...
is that?" Volcan asked.
"My
Bone Rush." Luke returned. "Because Tentacruel are also Poison types,
they're susceptible to Ground type attacks...Bone Rush is a Ground type
attack."
"Are you sure you can get close enough to it to use it?
What if snags you and tries to drown you?" Volcan pointed out.
"What other options do we have?" Luke said sternly
to Volcan. "If you have a better idea, then speak up!"
"I know I can't do much harm to it," admitted Volcan.
"But maybe Katsu and I can draw its attention long enough for you to land
a clean hit. Just make sure you make that hit count."
"Sounds solid enough for me...but how do you intend to
draw its attention? If you fall in you'll most likely drown"
"The old fashioned way," replied
Volcan, stepping back from the ledge. "Annoy the heck out of him and keep
his attention on something that's not a threat. Watch and learn!" Volcan
barked before he ran forward and sprang away from the ship.
He landed on the Tentacruel's head. "Allow me to
introduce the Cossack Dance!" And before long, Volcan was doing a very
odd-looking, series of movements, jumping and stomping all over the
Tentacruel's head with his arms crossed. Eventually, it tried to make a grab at
him but he was jumping around so much it kept missing, until he dove over the
front, digging his claws into its head until he was dangling in front of its
eye. "There's no Visine for this!" He barked before delivering a fire
punch right into the Tentacruel's eye which made it rear back and bellow out in
pain, sending Volcan back-flipping through the air. "WHOOPS!!" He
yelled.
Both Luke and Katsumoto watched wordlessly as Volcan went
spiralling through the air, wincing when he crashed into the cabin, and again
when he flopped onto the deck of the ship. "...Ouch..."
"I'm okay!" He called.
The Quagsire looked at Luke in exasperation. "Well,
what're you waiting for?!" He snapped. "You've got an opening!"
Luke snapped back into reality, then he crouched low, bone in
paw, before leapt up and toward the Tentacruel while it was still rearing. He
roared and drove his bone into the Tentacruel's other eye, then slammed it
against its head before leaping off and landing back on the ship again. The
Tentacruel howled in pain again, nearly losing its grip on the ship as it was
struck; the tentacles stretched dangerously as the ocean Pokémon nearly lost
its grip. Now was Katsu's chance to free the ship.
Katsu roared and dove quickly into the water. A few seconds
after, he emerged from below the surface and sliced at the remaining tentacles
with a combo of Razor Shell and Aqua Jet, severing them from the boat, and then
he darted back to the deck and landed in a crouch, quickly sheathing his blades
into his arm guards. With its tentacles severed the Tentacruel lost its grip
and the ship was released, allowing it to finally go at its proper speed and
leave the large, corrupted Pokémon behind. It appeared to be about to give
pursuit, but paused and then swam away in the opposite direction. They were
safe... for now...
Luke breathed a sigh of relief when they saw it swim away, and
then quickly headed over to check on Volcan. "You alright...?"
The Blaziken sat up. "A little dizzy, but I'm okay. I've
taken worse falls than that before, trust me..." He cringed.
"Although at the time, I had wings to slow myself down with -ow- or big
muscles to catch myself..."
Luke chuckled a little "Well in any case, we're safe for
now...We need to get these Pokémon to a hospital as soon as we reach
land."
"Good call, especially for the Machop there," said
Volcan, glancing past Luke. "That wound looks like it's spreading...
Tentacruel's; they're poisonous, right? How potent is it?"
"It depends on the severity of the wound...Either way,
we can't waste any more time."
"We should be almost back to shore now," said
Volcan, looking past the bow of the ship, seeing land getting closer.
"Hey, guys!" Diver called. "The Vaporeon;
she's waking up!"
Katsumoto was closest to her at the time, so he was the first
on the scene, gently sitting her up a little and holding her in his large arms
as she slowly came to As her eyes opened, he immediately noticed something
unusual; they were the wrong colour, not the sapphire blue like other Vaporeon;
hers were the colour of emeralds. When she looked up at Katsu, her eyes widened
with shock and she immediately shot away from him, although stumbled somewhat,
and turned to face him.
"Who... what are you; where am I?" She demanded,
although her voice sounded more afraid than angry.
"Easy..." Katsumoto said softly, raising his paw in
a calming manner. "You were found drifting in the ocean...I brought you
aboard and saved you..."
"The ocean? But I'm nowhere near..." She paused
when she saw past Katsu and saw the open sea stretched out before her, blinking
in confusion. "But... how? How did I get here?" She asked.
"Looks like we have a visitor from my world,"
remarked Volcan, whispering to Luke.
Katsumoto
slowly approached her again. "My name is Katsumoto..." he returned
softly. "What is your moniker...?"
"My...
my friends call me Serena..."
Luke literally felt Volcan jerk when he heard that name, and
looked over to him to see the Blaziken had stiffened with shock, staring
directly at the Vaporeon as if in recognition of her, even though his earlier
inquiry about her species indicated he had never seen a Vaporeon before. "...Volcan?
You alright...?" Luke asked softly
"That's... It couldn't be..." Volcan whispered.
And then, Luke remembered; Volcan had been telling him of an
aquatic friend of his from back home that had gone by the name Serena,
commenting on how she would've liked to see the ocean here...
"Wait...that's Serena?" Luke said, glancing to the
Vaporeon and back to Volcan.
"It doesn't look like her, but that timid demeanor and
being called 'Serena' as a nickname -mostly because none of us can pronounce
her actual name- is one hell of a coincidence if it isn't her... only one way
to be sure though." He stepped forward, carefully approaching the
Vaporeon.
Serena looked up as the Blaziken approached, and was about to
back up when she stumbled again. "Why do I keep..." She looked down
at herself. "Wha... what?! What's happened to me; where are my hooves? My
hands? My fin...!" She looked ready to completely lose herself with fear,
when Volcan spoke.
"Serena," he said. "Take it easy; you've been
transformed. I know it's not your old Hippocampus body, but don't be
scared."
Serena
looked at the Blaziken again, blinking questioningly at him. "What... how
do you know what I used to be?" She asked.
"Because I know you," replied Volcan. "And...
because I went through the same thing as well; that helps too. You've entered
another world."
Her gaze met Volcan's for a moment, studying the look in his
eyes; in those sky blue eyes, she saw a familiar warmth and kindness that she
knew well. Her own eyes widened with realization as she stared at Volcan
longer, studying his eyes. "Wait... you couldn't be..."
Volcan smiled
back at Serena. "Yeah, Serena, it's me... it's Volcan."
The two stared at each other a moment longer, before the
Vaporeon suddenly leapt at the Blaziken; Volcan caught her and wrapped her in a
tight hug, the Vaporeon rubbing her head against the side of his.
"By Poseidon... it really is you! We all thought you
were taken by Kalo'Temir again," Serena whimpered. "Thank the seas you're
alright!"
"I'm sorry... I got pulled here by accident somehow; I'm
guessing you were too," returned Volcan. "I'm sorry I made you all worry."
"You've been gone for almost six days; it was hard not
to worry."
"Wait, six?" Volcan asked, pulling back from Serena
and looking at her. "But I've only been gone for a single night."
Serena blinked at him. "Volcan... back on our world
we've been looking for you for nearly a week; the police have been scouring the
city trying to find you. Pavan and Korban have even headed for Egypt to see if
Izrail knew where you were. You're saying it's only been one night?"
Volcan was frozen in place for a moment, setting Serena down
before he fell onto his backside, his face filled with confusion and shock...
"Are
you alright?" Katsumoto said, approaching Volcan as he fell back.
"It's
been six days since I came here?" Volcan asked. "My god, everyone on
Earth must be scared to death..."
Luke rested his paw on Volcan's shoulder. "I...I don't
know what to say...I'm sorry..."
Volcan looked at Luke briefly, and then back at Serena.
"And now she's here... whatever's happening to cause these rifts between
our worlds, now I know we don't share a time stream." Volcan ran a hand
down his face. "If she and I don't find a way home, eventually the whole
world may think we're dead."
Luke looked away for a moment, unsure of what to say or do
next.
Volcan shook his head. "But I'll worry about that
later... right now, we have to find out why this is happening, and why Demonic
Essence is here on this world, corrupting its populace... turning them into
monsters."
"Demons are involved?" Serena asked fearfully.
"It seems so. Either Kalo'Temir is trying to rip a hole
in space and time or something worse is happening," replied Volcan.
"Either way, there's no telling what's been sent here to this world, and
what might get sent FROM here back to ours."
"Well for now, we
have to get these Pokémon to the hospital." Luke said as he picked up the
injured Machop as they hit the shoreline. "Volcan, can I count on you to
lead the others to the hospital? It's a tall white building."
The
Blaziken shook his head. "You should lead them there," He stated.
"They know of you; I'm a stranger here. Serena and I... we should just
head back to your place and wait... We have a lot of thinking to do."
Luke nodded. "Alright, but I'm sending Katsumoto with
you to escort you both back..." He said then turned to the survivors and
commanded them to follow closely to the hospital.
Volcan nodded. "Fair enough," he returned..
Katsumoto approached the two. "Stay close to me, and I
will be able to protect you..." He said as he slowly walked ahead of the
two.
"We can handle ourselves... but thanks either way,"
Volcan assured, following Katsumoto. Serena tried to as well, attempting to walk
on her hind legs, but failing. After about the third attempt to navigate
herself -clearly not used to being a quadruped- Volcan picked her up and
carried her on his back.
~~~~~
After
a long walk, they arrived back at Luke's residence and he opened the door for
them. "Do you need anything else...?" He asked as he held the door
open for them.
Volcan
couldn't think of an answer to give the Samurott, so he simply shook his head
in no. "Thanks for coming with us... Sorry if this all a little strange to
you."
He
nodded softly. "It's alright...." He returned, though he glanced to
Serena, looking to her for a moment before he averted his eyes.
Of course, this didn't go unnoticed by Volcan. "I think
he likes you," he remarked to Serena, too low for Katsu to hear.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"A-Anyway...take
care...both of you..." He said, nodding to them both, though he blushed a
bit when his eyes were on Serena once again. He quickly averted them once more
before he made his way back to his home, leaving the two to enter Luke's home
and wait for the Lucario to return.