‘How long has it been since I last came here…?’ the wraith thought as she soared through the airspace over the remains of Maritide Island.
Far below, the former city appeared absolutely desolated by the ravages of time. In the era of Man, over 65,000 inhabitants lived on the five-mile-long island, not including the countless Pokémon who lived alongside them. Back then, the buildings also ranged from elegant modern structures in the northernmost neighborhoods to rundown urban dwellings in the south and different variations in-between; nowadays, however, the town was in utter disarray. Many of the edifices had either collapsed due to centuries of structural decay or simply rotted out from exposure to elements and lack of maintenance. Very few other markers remained of mankind’s domination on the island, especially with the roadways eroded by rainwater and overgrowing vegetation. The only true reminder that humans had been here at all was a large complex that seemed virtually untouched and isolated on the island’s northernmost peninsula.
‘Four… Five hundred years…’ she continued, as she suddenly nose-dived towards the point with unprecedented velocity. Just before she hit the ground, she pulled her dart-like body upward and stopped to hover a few inches above the cracked pavement.
In the morning mist, her form appeared as nothing more than the silhouette of a vaguely avian being with an elongated neck connected to a stout egg-shaped torso with sharply curved wings spreading outward from it. Her head was basically a widely formed cone shaped so that it had a gentle curve around where her mouth should be. Two long ears curled up and then backwards from her face so that they ended at acute points. Lastly, she had two flat oval disks on her rear that served as her tails.
“Vyi quo tyi-mok neyi!” she declared as she opened her slanted auburn eyes.
And I haven’t aged a day!
She gazed upon the decrepit buildings with much disdain. At the center stood an eight-story structure that had an apparently octagonal design. Several outbuildings once connected to it via corridors that led to each of the intermediate directions, though said passageways had long since deteriorated to the point where they were no longer existent. The main building seemed virtually intact in rough comparison, despite all the glass having broken out of all the windows including the three-story ones that once decorated the front lobby’s entryway. In front of the building, though, the two massive statues of Palkia and Dialga that once towered over the path leading into the entrance had long since collapsed and were now rubble on the ground.
The entity remembered this place quite well. During the Age of Man, the former institute served as the focal point of her long-lived conquest over the atrocities committed by humankind, as it was here where she began her crusade to rid the multiverse of the species entirely. Since accomplishing that task in this universe, she had abandoned any further plans she made to eliminate the remnants of human society. Hopefully, that didn’t prove to be a mistake.
Slowly the entity levitated her body upward and straightened it out so that it was virtually parallel with the ground. She then caused her form to gravitate forward as though it were being drawn into the building.
As she entered the laboratory, she noted of the dank environment that had developed within the lobby. Lack of proper lighting made the large commons appear cavernous. The brown carpeting that once decorated much of the floor had mostly rotted away into dust, and the white ceramic tiles forming paths down the sides and into the middle of the room were now cracked with yellowed surfaces. Four marble pillars forming a virtual square around the foyer’s central area served as virtual stalagmites as they protruded from the ground up, their once-polished surfaces now covered by a distinct slime with lime-green and black streaks in it. At the farthest parts of the lobby, old chairs and tables were toppled over or broken up as if they’d been thrown aside in some maleficent struggle.
Halfway into the room, she took a moment to glance at the numerous skeletons and corpses just littering the area. Many were those of vermin, while others belonged miscellaneous Pokémon that had no means of escaping the island long ago. However, a few remains appeared to be of humans who were caught up in the apocalypse that once befell this place.
‘How pathetic…’ she thought as she sensed the faint remnants of their souls nearby. Continuing onward, the being slowly approached a long corridor heading further into the establishment. As she entered it, the creature made her body glow gently so that she could see the path ahead of her.
About halfway through the hallway, she came upon the fresh corpse of a male Charizard. Examining the beast, she noticed that the dragon’s body had been completely dehydrated, given how his skin looked extremely tight to his bones and internal organs. Also, there were numerous gouges in the side of his neck that seemingly formed a virtual ellipse from top to bottom, along with a large puncture wound near design’s center. Sensing that his spirit remained here, she listened for his otherworldly moans.
“I’m sorry… Alakazam… Tyranitar…” she heard him whine,
“If only I had been more vigilant…” She immediately turned her attention away from him and continued down the hall.
“Th…thank goodness!” a male voice screamed, “I… I thought no one would come in time!” As she approached an abrupt fork in the corridor, she saw the distinct silhouette of a five-foot-tall humanoid that had a star-shaped cranium. The creature appeared to have stocky legs and forearms, as well as a stout-looking torso. In the faint light coming off her body, the Pokémon’s skin looked mostly tan.
Stopping right in front of him, the entity curled her neck backward and moved her body so that it hovered vertically above the floor. She then put her face directly against his so that they gazed deeply into each other’s eyes.
“Tell me… Are you descended from the Symbiote or the Grenade?” she asked him telepathically.
“I… I don’t understand…” he muttered, just barely moving his mouth.
“Do not play coy with me!” she sniped,
“Your lineage is clear.”
“I… I have no idea what you’re talking about…” he wheezed. Clearly some type of venom was circulating through his body, paralyzing most of his form. The fact that he could even speak seemed astounding.
After several moments of staring at him, the avian slowly backed away. As she did, the lengthy form of a snakelike creature began to coil gently around her plated metal neck. Lime-green and black coils coursed the entirety of the serpent’s body as he climbed up her long collar towards her face. He then stopped his ascent right beside her head.
“He appears to be related to Doxibond, but I cannot say for certain,” Doxisite clicked as his blood-red eyes glared at his victim.
“Vyi tok mol te-ar!” she responded authoritatively.
You may eat then! She turned her head away as he partially undid his bind on her.
“If I may speak freely,” he responded, “This creature may yet be of use to us…”
“Quay vu-lok?” she asked him.
How so?
“His blood would make an excellent vessel for Mother’s pathogens. He could serve as a prime vector.”
“Vek-toma lek neyi vac-quo… Nefyi tu-ak!”
Do with him as you will… I do not care!
Suddenly, she forced Doxisite off of her with a powerful psychic force. She had her own agenda to attend to, so there was no point in interfering with the plans of her former antagonists. After all, this world was only living on borrowed time. At this very moment, her minions were preparing to unleash a second catastrophe upon reality, so anything Doxisite wanted to accomplish wouldn’t interfere with that.
As the entity began to leave, Doxisite slithered after her and said, “My Lady…” She cocked her head and glowered at the leech’s ovoid head.
“If you can wait on whatever plans you have, I assure you that we can be successful,” he continued
“Veyi teck-yi olyi quay sha-ruk… Quay tyi-lef!”
You have one month before I cast my final judgment… Do not fail me!
Afterwards, she continued to head outside. Doxisite contracted his body into its naturally conical form and ejected the notched red spines concealed in his backside. Then, he slunk back towards Alakazam.
“What… What are you going to do with me?” the humanoid muttered as the fat parasite approached him again.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Doxisite clicked in response.
Raising his head over his victim’s side, the leech watched as the glowing lime-green and black ooze festering in the fork began to churn and boil as though it were forming into something. Slowly, tendril-like formations began to emerge from the slime and surround Alakazam’s feet. Next, each of them jabbed upward into random places on his body. After several long moments, the feelers withdrew and dissolved back into the sludge.
Doxisite backed off to the side of the hall as Alakazam’s body then flopped onto the floor lifelessly. Within minutes, the humanoid’s skin-color changed; it started to exude lime-green and black stripes across his belly, face, and forearms, while his upper arms and legs became covered in a scaly dark-green hide. As the infection spread throughout his form, the helpless victim felt his consciousness slowly waning. Trying his hardest to resist it, Alakazam couldn’t do anything against the contagion that was consuming him. With a painful groan, his spirit seemingly slipped away into nothingness as he became one with the microorganisms festering inside him…
“And with this, the transformation is complete…” Doxisite explained as the leech stretched out his body. Alakazam’s body lied dead on the ground for several more moments before finally standing upright again in a battle-ready pose.
“Your mind is no longer your own… You are part of the colony now…
Doxi Riboneria…” he then clicked.
____________________________________
As far as Weasinge went, Chip Erminfyr was considered quite the trailblazer. While most of his kind preferred mostly solitary lifestyles, the young ermine had always been a lot more adventurous. Originally he lived with his family near the foothills of Mount Freeze, but after his sixth birthday a few months ago, he moved to Pokémon Square in order to start a more sociable life amongst other creatures rather than asceticism like his relatives. Though his mother Sheila protested his departure, his father Apollo fully encouraged him to go out into the world. Eventually Chip met up with his dad’s old acquaintances Kent Zoltaine and Saul Retford, and recently underwent their mentorship program in the Rescue Corps.
As he led Seraph into the deep woods, the skunk girl sighed with disbelief. The daughter of Meyi-kotan shouldn’t have been reduced to mere errand girl given her former standing, both in her tribe and at the guild. But then, this was probably her only chance to make any kind of getaway, so she couldn’t do much else but play things by ear until his mission got done.
“So,” she finally asked, staring up at the skyline through the foliage, “What’s your girlfriend like?”
“Huh?” he then asked, glancing back at her briefly, “Oh, Cheyenne isn’t my girlfriend… She’s just a Swablu I know from town.”
Seraph glanced off to the side momentarily and replied, “I see… So I guess it’s safe for me to presume that her attacker is avian too?”
“He’s a Destail named Sirocco Feranshire, who’s been terrorizing these woods for about a year now since he evolved and became chief of his flock,” Chip explained as he halted abruptly.
“A Destail, hmm?” she commented as she stopped behind him. Seraph had heard some pretty nasty tales about the peacocks in the past. Arguably the most intelligent of bird Pokémon, they knew how to fluently speak without clicks, coos, or hesitation. Many Destail often used their suave articulation to seduce victims into doing their will with little force. However, the moment they stopped getting their way, they often turned belligerent and even abusive.
“Listen, Seraph. I don’t know what it’s like where you come from, but Pokémon in these parts have become paranoid lately,” he continued, turning back to her, “It’s become so bad that they’ll attack others just for getting in their way. This is part of why I don’t want you wandering off on your own.”
Seraph burst into a full on laugh just then and commented, “Kid, I’m seventeen! I’ve been away from my tribe for the past three years. I know how to handle myself.”
“Oh, yeah? Prove it!” he suddenly demanded.
The Skunanne smirked at him a moment as she straightened out her back. Glancing upward, she spotted an unpicked apple growing off the branch of a nearby tree. She grabbed her whip’s handle and let its chain slide of her shoulder. Then she cracked it upward towards the fruit’s stem, striking it and making part of the limb break off with it. As it fell, she caught it, broke off twig, and took a bite out of the apple.
“Big deal! I can shoot fireballs out of the ruby in my forehead,” he chuckled as he turned to face an unobstructed trail. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Then a large sphere of flame shot out gem embedded in his cranium like he explained. About fifteen feet out, the orb started to fizzle out into nothingness.
“I’ve seen better. Besides, the main reason I have my tools is because I can’t use long-range attacks like that. Close combat means nothing if you lose your life in the process,” she commented smugly.
“Okay. I’m sorry for criticizing you, then,” Chip apologized.
She glanced away from him momentarily and asked, “So which way are we going?” There were two pathways diverging from the fork they’d stopped at. The leftward one seemed to lead into thicker brush, while the other appeared to head towards an open grove.
“Oh, yeah. That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
“You don’t know where he’s at?” she nearly shouted, ready to backhand him.
“Keep your voice down!” Chip hushed her as he pivoted back around, “That’s why I’m going to try and pick up his scent.” Afterwards, he started to sniff around on the ground and then the air.
She sighed and then remarked, “If you can’t find it, I’m just going to take off. I’m not just going to linger here after I overheard that Metalupus say he’d hunt me down if I tried to escape.” Chip growled at her a little as he continued to smell around. Suddenly he pointed his nose down the leftward trail and wagged his tail joyfully.
“Find it?”
“No, but I’ve got the scent of his younger brother Mints.”
‘He’s got a little brother named Mints?’ she thought to herself with slight grimace.
“He’s is usually pretty nice to me…so long as I have something to give to him, anyways…” Chip continued, “I just hope he’s not suddenly on-guard because Sirocco’s trying to mate.” He immediately darted off down the trail, sniffing the air for the aroma he’d picked up. Seraph put her unfinished apple into her satchel and chased after him at breakneck pace.
Judging by his direction and stride, the ermine knew exactly where he was going now. But Seraph had to admit that she was a little apprehensive, given how her own life was at stake if they wasted too much time on a wild-goose chase and she didn’t make her getaway soon.
About twenty-five yards down the path, Chip came to another abrupt stop at a three-way fork. As he tried to discern where to head next, Seraph examined their options. The right and forward paths headed deeper into thicker tree cover, while the left-hand one seemed to twist back around towards Pokémon Square.
“So?” she asked him after a long moment.
“He’s close!”
“What does he look like?” she then inquired.
“He’s a Temptail! What do you think he looks like?”
Seraph squinted her eyes at him meanly. She’d never actually encountered a Temptail or Destail before, so she had absolutely no idea what they’d look like. The only thing she could hazard was that they were probably some pretty gaudy-looking birds.
“He’s got green plumage and purple wings. You’ll know him when you see him.”
“Right.” Seraph continued to look around a little, glancing only at the treetops now to see if there were any birds like that nearby. Spotting no one, she returned her gaze towards Chip, who had suddenly started down the right-hand path deeper into the forest.
“Hey, wait!” she called, trying to catch up as he scurried along.
“Hurry up! He’s gotta be right up ahead somewhere!” Chip replied.
As they got further down the trail, the underbrush seemed to consume most of the path and Chip began to disappear. Once she found the thickening weeds to be impassible, Seraph stopped a moment to take out her Luna Fang. Unsheathing it, she swung it from side-to-side to slice down the foliage and clear her way.
“Who you? Croooo!” someone suddenly cooed at her from overhead.
“Hmm?” she asked back, looking around to see who was there.
After a few seconds, she spotted the head of a jade-green bird with a long neck gazing at her from a branch several meters back. Leaves obscured most of the creature’s body but she was able to see that parts of its wings and tail were distinctly purple. She also noted how its eyes appeared to be glowing in the slight darkness of the timberland’s shade, and that it had several golden feathers combed back atop its brow.
“Who you? Croooo!” it cooed again, its tone apparently female. Clearly, this wasn’t the Mints guy Chip was looking for.
“Nobody,” Seraph responded.
“Nobody who? Croooo!” the bird replied, dropping down from her perch and flying somewhat towards Seraph. After the bird landed, she hopped her way right up to the Skunanne and poked her orange-red beak against Seraph’s nose.
“Nobody you? Croooo!” the Temptail clucked again and then Seraph shoved her back with her free paw. Right afterwards, the bird pecked at the opal earring in her right ear and yanked it.
Angered by the sudden pain, Seraph quickly slashed her knife at the peahen’s chest. The bird jumped backwards, feeling the blade lightly cut into her chest feathers and skin. Droplets of blood began to drip from the wound, and the bird cried out in anguish.
Seraph raised her buckler and started to back away from the crazed Temptail as she suddenly began jabbing the skunk wildly with her beak. The bludgeoning became stronger and stronger with each hit as though the irate bird wanted nothing less to kill her attacker absolutely. Several times, Seraph thought she heard the wooden shield breaking under the stress of the attacks.
“Knock it off!” Seraph declared, suddenly shoving her shield into the bird’s face as she struck again. The Temptail’s head suddenly bounced back as a result and the creature appeared to be stunned. Seraph took the opportunity to infuse her knife’s blade with energy from her Dark Pulse attack, and then unleashed a shockwave that forced the bird back-first onto the ground several feet away.
“Seraph, what’s going on?” Chip whispered as he popped his head out of the weeds behind her.
“That stupid bird just attacked me, that’s what!” she sniped at him.
The weasel looked around side her and gasped, “That Temptail’s part of Sirocco’s harem. What have you done?”
“That bird was deranged!”
“Keep your head under the brush and follow me. We can’t let Sirocco see us now that you’ve attacked one of his lovers.”
“Wasn’t that the idea anyways?” she asked as she crouched down on all fours and began to follow him through the underbrush.
They crawled silently along the ground for several minutes through the thickening foliage until they suddenly came upon another clearing in the path. Once they did, Seraph wasted no time getting back into an upright position and then brushed dirt off of her shins.
Looking around, she noticed that the tree cover almost totally blocked out any sunlight from above, save for a couple rays. The breeze seemed to diminish as it blew into this particular area, given how the scent of numerous Pokémon remained stagnantly from several days ago. It was difficult for her to discern just what types of creatures lived in this forest since the smells were all foreign to her.
“Alright, I tracked Mints to this spot before loosing his trail,” Chip explained.
“How can you even tell? There are so many odors here that it’s ridiculous,” she replied as they stepped forward, “Does everyone in these woods pass through here?”
He shook his head and continued, “If you’ll note, the scents here are almost all from the same kind of Pokémon: Temptail. However, focus enough and you’ll catch a whiff of something slightly different.”
Seraph nodded slight and then took a couple deep breaths through her nose. For the most part, the air stunk of bird droppings, a vulgar mixture like rotten eggs and old berries. However, she did notice that there were additional separate odors as well, predominantly sweet scents like lilacs and roses. Judging by their strength, they were emanating from an area just straight ahead and overhead.
“You’re right,” she whispered.
“See? Your nose always knows!” he said cheerfully.
“Who you? Croooo!” a feminine voice chirped again from up in a tree off to the twosome’s left.
“Who you? Croooo!” another clucked from a different one to their right.
“Who you? Croooo!” a third bird called from up ahead.
Chip looked around to see the three Temptail who’d just perched themselves on low-lying branches and said, “Female Temptail aren’t smart by any standard, but they’re vicious. Just being away from Sirocco’s flock makes them crazy.”
Seraph held up her knife towards the one on her right-hand side as the bird dropped down to ground level and replied, “No crap! I’d sooner have killed that one from earlier after what she did to my buckler.”
“NO! We can knock them out, but we can’t seriously hurt them. Sirocco’s extremely vengeful and will drop you to your death if he catches you.”
Seraph then focused a Dark Pulse attack into her blade and sliced it at the air to send a shockwave at the approaching Temptail. The assault immediately knocked the bird out with a single hit.
“The key word is ‘if.’ By the way, aren’t these birds supposed to be Dark-types like me?” she asked as she changed positions with Chip to face the Temptail approaching them from the left.
“No, only males are. Females are part Psychic-type, which is why they fainted as soon as you used that attack.” Seraph infused her blade with a second Dark Pulse and flung another shockwave at the bird. The Temptail jumped over it and flew in the air until she landed right in front of Seraph.
“Who you? Croooo!” she immediately asked her.
“Back off!” Seraph then shouted, loosing a Dark Pulse wave around her body. Chip jumped away from her, while the Temptail took the attack head-on and fainted right in front of the Skunanne.
“Watch what you’re doing!” Chip demand, not watching at the third Temptail came down from her perch and approached him.
“Who you? Croooo!” the bird asked as she got close.
The ermine turned to his oncoming attacker, inhaled deeply, and shot a fireball right into her chest. Before the bird could avoid it, the sphere burst and she became consumed by flames. After a few seconds, the Temptail started to fall backwards onto the ground. It was then that Chip extinguished the blaze with his psychic powers, revealing that the bird’s feathers had been lightly singed by not severely hurt.
“You should’ve let her burn some more. They’re terribly weak!” Seraph sneered.
“What part of ‘can’t seriously hurt them’ do you not understand?” he scolded her.
“Geez! All I’m saying is that you shouldn’t have restrained yourself that much. Fire is all about power, isn’t it?” Chip turned away from her.
“Power isn’t everything. My father and Kent both taught me that it’s best to hold back on your full strength unless absolutely necessary,” he then mumbled, pawing the gem hanging from his necklace, “That’s another reason why I have this amulet.”
“Hmm?”
“Nothing. Let’s keep looking for Mints.”
Chip resumed his lead down the trail heading deeper into the forest. Seraph began to follow him, when her ear began to twitch wildly to the sound of something flapping above the looming canopy.
“What’s wrong?” he turned to ask her.
“Look out!” she screamed, diving at him to shove him out of the way as a massive avian shadow dove at them from between the branches and pinned her to the ground with its feet.
“I bet you think you’re so smart, eh, chico?” the eight-foot-tall bird then spoke with a sweet, smooth baritone. Seraph tried to look up at him to see who it was, but he had his long orange-red tones spread on her shoulders so she couldn’t turn her head around enough to.
After a long moment, the peacock spread his large wings out wide enough to cast a vile shadow akin to a sinister grin on the ground. Then, he lifted his long neck up to reveal silhouette of his small head. Apparently, he had a plume of down feathers combed around his face like hair and a singular contour one sticking up above his stout beak.
“Oh, ho! You are not that estupid Weasinge?” he continued as he put his beak near the back of Seraph’s head to sniff her hair, “A Skunanne? Interesting…”
“Let her go, Sirocco, along with Cheyenne!” Chip demanded when he got back onto his feet.
“My, aren’t we cocky all of a sudden, chico?” Sirocco taunted as he reached his head forward, “I thought I said that, the next time I saw you, I’d peck your damn eyes out!” He suddenly jabbed his beak at Chip to make the weasel cringe.
Folding his wings back, the peacock then commented, “You know, I must admit that I am quite jealous… I have to take a few days to seduce my new mates, and here you find one overnight. Congratulations!”
“What!” both Chip and Seraph yelled.
“Oh, my apologies then. I only presumed you two were a couple.” Chip started to growl, closed his eyes, and snorted embers at Sirocco from his nose.
The bird flapped his right wing twice to snuff them out and remarked, “That is not an attack, chico. Now this is an attack!” Sirocco spread both of his wings widely and then flapped them with enough force to blow Chip into the underbrush with ease.
“Let me go, or…” Seraph shouted.
“Now, hush, darling. I will let you go in due time,” Sirocco told her, repositioning his feet so he could clutch her under each shoulder, “But now, we must fly!”
He began to take off, lifting her as gently as he could. Fearfully, she grasped her knife as tightly as she could and took hold of her whip with her opposite hand so she wouldn’t drop it. As they got airborne, Seraph began to struggle to get free by jerking her body left-to-right, but every time she did, the bird only tightened his clasp on her ribcage.
Once they breached the canopy, Seraph found herself momentarily blinded by sunlight. She glanced up as her captor straightened his body out and saw the bird’s form in full. He was really a lean-bodied avian with jade-green plumage on his chest, neck, and face like the Temptail had. His wingspan easily cleared eighteen feet in length, not wasn’t including tips of the massive feathers that virtually draped downward from his shoulders on out. Upon his chest, the peacock had a triangular pattern bisected into six sections that were colored teal, lavender, light-blue, violet, fuchsia, and dark-green. There also appeared to be large areas of black plumage just below the tops of his wings that seemed to form a malevolent grin. Underneath the ‘smile’ pattern, his feathers became purple save for their ends, which were dark-blue with teal teardrop accents decorating the tips.
Seraph tried to struggle again as Sirocco tried to level out his flight. Again, he tightened his hold on her with his feet, his claws starting to dig into her skin.
“I’m used to carrying objects thrice your weight, chica. You shan’t get out of my grasp that easily,” he told her, showing his face to her. Unlike the Temptail she’d seen earlier, his eyes had sharp-focused irises at their centers instead of half-dazed ones.
She flipped her knife over as he lifted his head back up and said, “We’ll see about that.” Then, she motioned her arm around and jabbed the blade’s tip into the backside of his ankle.
Sirocco let out a painful shriek and dropped Seraph instantly. She fell onto a nearby treetop feet-first and then dove into the undergrowth again. After dropping down several branches, she finally located and jumped down to the path Chip and her were on before Sirocco appeared. Checking the surrounding foliage, she noticed that several bushes had branches broken, meaning that Chip probably got blown in this direction. After a couple moments of searching, she found the ermine flat on his back passed out in some nearby weeds.
“Chip, snap out of it!” Seraph shouted, shaking him wildly to wake him up.
“AH!” he yelped as he came to, “What happened?”
“I jabbed that Sirocco guy in the foot so he’d let me go. Let’s get out of here before he decides to come back!”
Chip got back on his feet and replied, “Mints can’t be too far from here! Let’s track him down and see if he’ll help us save Cheyenne.” Seraph nodded and the two headed further into the forest, following the scent they’d picked up a few minutes ago.
As they continued onward, the path seemed to get progressively narrower until it ultimately stopped in front of a humongous oak tree. Once the two reached its trunk, they stopped and looked around.
“Mints’s trail ends here,” Chip explained.
“I noticed,” Seraph replied, examining the ground for any tracks that may lead them somewhere, “If I had to guess, he took to the sky. I’d climb this tree, but Sirocco would probably attack again.”
“We’ll have to backtrack then,” Chip said, shaking his head.
“Hey, yous!” a guy’s voice called from up in the tree, “Yous lookin’ for somethin’?”
Seraph and Chip turned their attention to an overhanging branch to spot another Temptail looking down at them like earlier. Unlike the previous ones, this one bared a resemblance to Sirocco with a similar tuft of hair-like down atop his head, teal triangle on his breast, and teardrop patterns on the tips of his wing feathers. The bird dropped down to ground level a few feet away from them and then spread out his large tail purple tail feathers in a fanlike fashion. Down their midsection, there was a long silvery oval with a dark-blue triangle near its top; the peacock’s appeared to have a hazel eye flanking each side of the silver area.
“We’re you talking to us?” Seraph asked, readying her knife in case this guy wanted to fight.
“Yeah, I was talkin’ to yous,” he replied, pointing the tip of his right wing at her like a finger.
He started waddling towards them and continued, “That stunt yous just pulled, little missy, probably just cost that Cheyenne kid her life. My half-brother becomes a total jerk when he doesn’t get his way.”
“Mints! We’ve been looking all over for you!” Chip said joyfully.
Mints pointed his feather at Chip and continued, “And yous! I thought I told yous not to come looking for me! I’d find yous if I thinks yous needs help!”
“I… I’m sorry…” Chip mumbled, “But this is an emergency!”
The peacock stopped right in front of Seraph and chuckled, “Yous really think I’m gonna help yous now?”
Seraph held her knife up to his neck and replied, “Oh, yeah. You’re going to help us.”
“Tch! Yous think I’m afraid of this, girly?” Mints said as he hopped back a step and then pecked her hand to make her drop it.
“This beak’s a lethal weapon. I can gouge your eyes out with this thing!” he then told her, putting his beak right up to her nose.
Chip said, “Stop it! We need to get to Cheyenne.”
“Shut up, Chip!” Mints scolded him, “This is between me and her!” Seraph pushed Mints away from her face momentarily and then suddenly backhanded him with her shield.
“YE-OUCH!” the bird shouted as he reeled away from them somewhat.
“Seraph, what did you do that for?”
“He just pecked my hand. That’s the least of what I want to do to him!”
“Geez, girly! That’s one hell of an arm yous got there,” Mints said, shaking his head after regaining his stance, “I tells you what. I’ll shows you where Chip’s friend is…on one condition.”
“And what would that be?” she sneered, picking her knife up off the ground.
“Teach my half-brother a lesson he won’t soon forget!” the peacock then requested.
“Say what?” Chip asked him, hiding somewhat behind Seraph, “Are you crazy?”
“Listen, pal!” Mints said, putting his wing on Seraph’s left shoulder, Yous don’t know just what kind of muscle yous got here, do ya?” She shirked him and the bird walked over to his Weasinge friend instead.
“Yeah,” he continued, “These Skunanne are tougher than they looks, see? The girls just aren’t usually so…brutal.” Seraph smirked at him while cocking her head back slightly.
“What do you mean?” Chip asked.
Mints put his wing on his brow and explained, “The guys are barbarians; the girls are seductresses. They’re the exact opposite of my kind, you numbskull!”
“Oh.”
“See, Chip? I can tells ya that this is a special Skunanne. She ain’t no girly-girl.”
“You got that right!” Seraph laughed.
“So yous see where I’m goin’ here? Help me out by puttin’ Sirocco in his place. I can’t get none while he’s around, if you catch my drift.”
‘Oh, boy. Do I?’ Seraph thought to herself.
“Alright, we’ll take care of that horny old peacock, but you need to show us where Cheyenne is first!” she then demanded.
“Fine, then. Just don’t blame me if yous two are already too late,” Mints agreed. He then hopped several feet off the ground and spread his wings out. Once he had air under them, the bird began to fly off into left-hand side of the oak tree and vanished into the forest. Seraph and Chip immediately took off after him.
Mints flew through the misaligned branches with beautiful precision, his feathers not so much as glancing a limb or leaf. The two mammals were actually having difficulty keeping up with his graceful movements as they traveled in the underbrush. After several moments, the bird landed on an old stump where a new path seemed to begin while he waited for the others to catch up.
As Seraph and Chip emerged from the bushes, Mints snickered, “So…what took yous so long?” A little ticked, Seraph grasped her whip and snapped it at him quickly, making the bird jump back out of fear.
“Show use where to go!” Seraph barked.
“Alright! Geez!” Mints clucked, turning around and hopping down the trail. Seraph and Chip continued to follow him.
After a few more moments, the three reached an expansive clearing with a small pond at the opposite end near a low embankment. Nests made from piles of large leaves littered the entirety of the otherwise grassy field. Seraph noticed immediately that the place was completely abandoned, save for a lone bird perched in a bed at the far left-hand side of the area.
From a distance, the creature appeared to be little more than a light-blue ball of feathers with large white cottony wings on her sides. As they started to approach, Seraph noted that the bird actually had a small pair of feet under her body, and that she was trying to keep her face hidden in the leaves. Also, it appeared as though she were intentionally hiding her backside from onlookers.
“Cheyenne!” Chip cried, “We’re here to help!”
“L-L-LEAVE ME ALONE!” the Swablu screamed at the top of her lungs.
Halfway into the field, Seraph yanked Chip’s tail and stop to tell him, “Shut up, you idiot! Do you want to give our position way?”
“Yous are lucky we got here first. But I wouldn’t count your chicks before they’re hatched,” Mints snickered, “No pun intended.” Afterwards, he looked towards the skyline behind him.
“You’re dead! You hear me? Dead, chica!” Sirocco cawed as he approached overhead.
“Well, I’ll be seeing yous!” Mints then said as he began to take off. Before he could get a few feet off the ground, Seraph lashed her chain around his foot and pulled him forcefully to the ground.
“You aren’t going anywhere!” she scolded him as he landed flat on his back.
Chip and Seraph both turned as Sirocco’s silhouette appeared from the northern edge of the tree line, along with four female Temptail who took up positions behind him. The large avian landed gracefully with his wings half-tucked and tail feathers completely hidden behind his otherwise slender form. His minions, however, just plopped their bodies on the ground in lackluster fashion.
“I bet you thought you could get away with stabbing me in the ankle, eh, chica?” Sirocco scoffed as he held his right foot off the ground slightly. The peacock then hobbled towards them with an awkward gait, as though he were trying to sashay from side to side.
“I have been chasing this Swablu for far too long, and I will be damned if let you two children take her away!” he then declared as he caused his tail to suddenly unfurl in a beautiful violet fan. Like Mints, there was a silvery oval extending down the midsection of the bird’s tail, and two large hazel-colored eyes that slanted inward to flank them. The triangle near the top of his oval pattern, however, was bisected into six sections colored royal blue, pink, hunter green, lavender, azure, and violet.
For a moment, the Destail focused his glance at Chip and Mints. Consequently, Chip seemed to become entranced by the peacock’s waltz and the apparent eyeballs staring him down.
“So, I see… You dare to betray your own flock, little brother?” Sirocco then whispered. Once he got close, he spread his wings out and attempted to jab his momentarily stunned brother in the head with his beak. Seraph immediately jumped in his way and blocked the attack with her buckler.
The bird recoiled his head back and shouted, “Insolent girl!”
After he shook it off, Sirocco instantly tried to jab his beak at her again. Seraph slammed her shield into his face as he did, but the moment she did, the wooden backside cracked in half. He hit it again with a stronger blow, puncturing the leather binding it and making the wood break further. The skunk flipped her knife around so the blade was down and slashed at him backhandedly.
Sirocco jumped away in the nick of time and scoffed, “Did you really think I’d fall for that trick, chica?”
“Hoped so!” she replied as she switched hands the hands she held her whip and her knife in. Seraph then cracked the chain weapon at his legs, trying to catch one of his feet with it. He flapped his wings wildly to get further away from her, inadvertently blowing the chain away from him too.
“Chip, Mints! Help me fight him!” she yelled.
“Right!” Chip said, snapping out of his daze. Then he jumped over to Seraph’s side and launched a fireball at Sirocco. Sirocco waved his left wing as he landed again and immediately extinguished the blaze.
“What? That wasn’t the deal!” Mints replied as he got off his back and hopped onto his feet. He then started to waddle away from them over to where Cheyenne was cowering.
“You little traitor!” Sirocco shouted at his half-brother and then aimed a powerful blade of wind at him from his Air Slash. The leading edge only clipped Mints’s right shoulder, but the following gale blew him face-first to the ground.
“Leave him alone!” Chip shouted, closing his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, a blinding light consumed the area, forcing Seraph to squint. Once the flash ended, she looked at Sirocco inquisitively. The bird was just standing there gazing off into space with his beak wide open, as were his followers.
“My eyes! I’m blind!” the peacock suddenly screamed. Seraph then looked at Chip confusedly.
“That was Coronal Gaze,” Chip explained to her with a grin, “My father taught me how to use it. It temporarily blinds anyone who stares into it.”
“Why didn’t you do that in the first place?”
“I don’t want people knowing I can do that!”
“What else can you do?”
Chip slipped out of the strap holding his toolbox in place on his back, and then bowed his head so that his amulet would slip off onto the case. He stepped towards Sirocco, who was still stupefied from Chip’s previous attack. The ermine snorted flames at the peacock’s feet in attempted to get his attention. After he did, a blaze of bluish-white flames ignited down the entire length of Chip’s back, from the ruby of his forehead all the way to the very tip of his tail. A couple seconds later, the fires seemed to turn into a slow ethereal burn.
“You!” Sirocco squawked as he felt the Ember attack hit him, “I…am going to kill you where you stand, chico!” Suddenly the oversized bird tried to peck in the direction he felt the cinders come from, only to be come consumed by the virtual wall of flame unleashed by Chip’s Wildfire along with his four mates. Seraph ducked under the blaze as it passed her by. Within seconds, the inferno reached the outer limits of the nesting grounds, but fizzled out just before it could start a forest fire.
After the flames were extinguished, Seraph looked up to see that Sirocco was lying on the ground unconscious, his wing and tail feathers all singed because of the attack. Likewise, his four girlfriends were knocked out by the amazing power of Chip’s move, and each had their wings and tails burnt as well. If he could unleash that sort of blaze, why did he need her to come with in the first place?
“Seraph, quick, pass me my amulet!” he demanded, turning to her with his eyes glowing white.
She noticed that the flames down his back were turning into an uncontrollable blaze. Seraph went to his toolbox, snatched the necklace, and then threw it to him. The ermine caught it on his nose and lifted his head so that it would slip onto his neck. Instantly, his back flames diminished to a small kindle-burn before they finally went out.
“That’s why I don’t normally take this thing off,” he explained, holding the pendant up with his paw, “I know a lot of pyrokinetic techniques that I haven’t gotten the mastery of yet. My dad gave me this so I would go burning things down when I traveled here.”
“I can see why,” Seraph replied as she examined the battlefield. Some of the nests had been lightly burned, while others were nothing but piles of ash now.
“Cheyenne?” Chip called, glancing over at the nest where they’d spotted his Swablu friend in, “Are you alright?” For the first time since they’d arrived, the bird peeked up out of her perch and realized that it was Chip who’d come to rescue her.
“Chip!” Cheyenne chirped as she hopped out of the leaves towards them. Chip immediately ran towards her too, but stopped halfway right by Mints to see how badly hurt the Temptail was. Seraph stood up and turned to watch the reunion.
“Touching, isn’t it?” a raspy voice whispered from beside her.
“Yeah,” she replied. Her muscles suddenly ceased with fear as she felt the presence of a Ghost-type Pokémon overtake her entire body. She managed to glance off to her side only slightly to catch a glimpse of the phantom that had just taken control of her body.
The ghost appeared to be a three-foot-tall gray fox that hovered just above the ground. He had glowing red eyes and seemed to lack feet of any kind; instead, he just had puffy stumps that seemed to taper off into nothingness. His body was slightly elongated without any consistent form whatsoever. Likewise, his pointed ears and slender tail seemed to exude misty shrouds through which they inevitably disappeared. Lastly, the vulpine entity wore a fluffy boa of cloudlike fur that wrapped around his collar and hovered somewhat over his back.
“Did you honestly think you would get away? You might be able to con a trainee into escorting you through the woods, but you’re no match for a legitimate officer of the Pokémon Rescue Corps.”
“Charon, you found her!” the voice of the Luxray she’d encountered last night called from across the way.
“Yeah, Leona. I’ve caught her relatively unscaved,” the Obseon replied as his ally emerged from the bushes behind them. Charon turned around, causing his captive to as well. The Luxray came forward with a disgusted look on her face. Shortly after, the Weavile from last night appeared from the underbrush too.
“Damn it! Let me at her!” the imp screamed, drawing the attention of Chip and his friends.
“HEY! What’s going on?” Chip shouted as he dashed over to them.
Charon turned back to him with a smirk on his face and remarked, “Cadet! What in the hell were you thinking escorting a wanted criminal out of town?”
“Hey! I had her under control the whole time!” Chip sniped back.
“Oh, ho! An admission of guilt?” Charon chuckled as he suddenly rushed up to Chip’s face with Seraph in tote, “Here I’d thought you weren’t aware of who she was, but if you knew the whole time, then by rights we should arrest you too!” Chip cowardly backed away from him, shaking his head as if in denial.
“That’s what I thought. I don’t care what your reasons were, but Saul is furious after hearing what you’ve done and I, for one, wouldn’t want to be around when her tribunal begins.”
‘A tribunal…’ Seraph thought to herself, unable to speak thanks to Charon’s possession.
Chip sighed a breath of relief and asked, “So, he is holding a tribunal for her?”
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up. With two civilians dead and this fail escape attempt, the odds aren’t looking in her favor. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t execute her halfway. I mean that is what he’s notorious for anyways.”
Seraph gulped fearfully as Charon cackled for a bit. Once he was done, the Obseon turned back to his compatriots and ordered them back to town. After they’d gone, Chip put the strap of his toolbox around his body again and went back to over by his friends.
“Chip, what’s going on?” Cheyenne asked him, “Who was that Pokémon Charon just took away?”
“Her name is Seraph. She’s a Skunanne from down south and the one who lead that raid on our village last night,” he explained with a saddened look on his face.
“You mean that girl they captured after Cairo returned?”
“She’s not that bad really. A little smug, but I think she’d make a great partner on my rescue team.”
“Are you sure?”
“HA! Yous better believe him. That girl’s tough, to says the least,” Mints commented.
Cheyenne looked slightly away and said, “I don’t know, Mints. We need to be leery-eyed towards Pokémon we don’t know.”
“Let’s get back to Pokémon Square!” Chip ordered. Cheyenne hopped into the air and started to fly overhead, while he started to scurry back into the woods.
“Yo, I’m comin’ too!” Mints called, hobbling along after Chip due to his injured wing.
<End Chapter Three>
