[IC] Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Void

[Noire]

"Let's go." Hex whispered, slowly fluttering into the cavern.

The wild pokemon within the craggy ravine were still snarling and snapping from her. She kept to the shadows, diving between and through various dark corners and segments. Shannon had an ingenuous disguise. The Amaura had coated himself in a layer of ice. In the shadows, he reflected off of the light given off from the crystals, appearing to be one of them on a moment's glance. She flew almost soundlessly through the darkness. One could only hear the light hum of her wings as she fluttered down the ravine. Most of the wild pokemon seemed to be less occupied with looking for her, and more occupied with Anthony, which they had seemed to found rather quickly. He sluggishly made his way down the ceiling, a steadying drip of light goo falling upon the cave floor. It had given away his position quite quickly.

The Mawile were attempting to snap at him, and the Gible was trying to leap up with it's massive incisors to gnaw on the blob. The Geodude were throwing rocks, but most of the missed once again. She assumed it was because they spent most of their lives in the darkness, they didn't have much experience with aim. Hex paused for a moment, gaining an idea. Quickly and quietly, she formed a gust, stirring up the wind with her wings. The air was damp and moist, so it gave way to a wet gust. Air mixed with water, and hit a nearby Geodude in the back. Almost immediately, it swung around, looking for the opponent that had just hit him. Hex crossed her nonexistent fingers, staring at the pokemon. Do it, do it, do it.. Hex thought to herself. It began to bicker with a nearby Mawile standing behind it.

It was long series of grunts and hisses between the two. The bicker soon became more violent, and the pokemon began battling each other. Hex had never seen a wild pokemon battle before. Most of the fights she had seen were between two sentient pokemon, or her swarm against one measly threat. The pokemon just went at it in a no-holds barge. They Geodude picked up a rock and smashed the Mawile's second mouth. The Mawile used it's steel fangs to crack the tough rock. They attracted the attention of most of the nearby wild pokemon that were once occupied in eating Anthony. She briefly looked up to the darkness. Anthony was still moving across. This would buy them some time, but not for long. She continued moving forward at a hurried pace.

[Riddles]

Josh and Matt couldn't find a way to sneak past all of the wild Pokemon, even though most of them were distracted by Anthony. Shannon appeared to blend in with the crystals and rocks around him. He would have a much easier time sneaking around than anybody else would, without a doubt. Hex was stirring up a gust, as if she was going to attack one of the wild Pokemon.
"What are you doing?" Josh whispered. "What happened to 'stick to the darkness'?"
The gust hit a Geodude in the back of the head. It turned around, facing the Mawile behind it. The two started to battle each other, and before long more Pokemon had joined in. This gave Matt and Josh an opportunity to sneak right by them without being noticed.
"This is why you're the leader, Hex." Josh said once they were safely hidden behind a large rock.

[KaBling]

"Go on. I'm waiting. You're done beating Spruce." I said, hiding my worries as I tried to keep my head clear. Even going as far as thinking Spruce's discolouration was normal.

"You should be cherishing the time you have left." Desia responded, her voice distorted, lunging at me by the end of it and engulfing her attack with purple. If I could, I would've gulped.

Davis, you better get your ass here. 'Cause, had you not disappeared, this wouldn't have happened. I thought, sadly. I stiffened myself for Desia's attack, enhanced with an unholy purple as it began rocketing downwards at me. I held my body up high with a false smirk planted on my face (not an actual smirk; just the eye expressions of one), lifting my magnets up and forming a triangle of electrical arcs. Davis, you bloody idiot... I thought, letting some music flow in my head as Desia struck me down.

Boom. Well, more of metal being torn by a pickaxe. I could feel a discharge of electricity leaping from my triangle into Desia's claws. I was knocked into the ground, where monotone bark and spiked grass met my back. Desia was shaking her claws by the end of her attack, jumping off me and ignoring the arcs on her. She cackled at me, shaking her head.. "Argh... you want to kill me, you do it in one shot, you frickin' wuss." I told her, feeling a etch on the right side of my face. I would be lying if I said it didn't hurt. Especially with a purple glow stained on the wound. I sighed on my side, thinking about nothing. I had managed to resist her move because of my typing, but that still did tremendous amounts of damage.

Desia seemed uncomfortable at this. I could tell she was mumbling something about 'corruption.' Then, she faced me as finished my sentence. "Don't tell me how I should be murdering you. After all, it looks like your book about monsters won't have a happy ending." She said, slyly as she began walking up to me. Desia turned me to look at her face, as she creepily grinned at me. "Where's Davis NOW!?" She enjoyed every moment of this, towering over me with her menacing eyes. "You're just like him. Can't even handle a hit." I started floating upwards, although with trouble as I met her own eyes.

"Did my insult really get you? You're trying to make up for it, you know." I chuckled weakly, dazed and wiping the purple liquid off my face.

"What matters is that you're dead, and that I will rule even HELL by the end of this."

And then, another slash covered the wound already present on me, splashing purple on the right of my face. I was knocked into a grey rock, which somehow lost colour in this setting. Desia was in a lot of contrast when compared to this place, the background not faring so well against her. I breathed weakly, coughing. Natural reaction I presume, since this wasn't required for a Magnemite. "Woah, woah. She's going to kill me! Someone do something!" Greg's voice contorted the background, his voice echoing... not aware pretty much everyone was incapacitated...

...

Death doesn't come quickly, and may sometimes not come at all. I was angry, and I was angry now. She was now going for a defenseless Greg.

I instantly jumped up, although with limited balance. Another swipe, and I'd be dead. But, at least I wouldn't go down as a coward. Plus, I was (probably) the strongest of the group, and I wouldn't be going down anytime soon. She was steadily heading to Greg, who had tripped on a big branch and became a sitting duck for her. Hopefully, Kamina could stall her for me to reach her, but otherwise... as I crossed the grey landscape, I knew this way wouldn't end well. Then again, which other way could end well? Like declaring 'we surrender?' "Get back here. Hell can wait." I shouted, showing signs of... well, dying. I was dripping a purple liquid from my wound, staining the grass with an unnatural colour.

If I died, at least Davis would be here to watch... because, I could see his stark eyes beaming through the fog. Oh just go die, Davis. It's too late.

[Card Captor]

Kamina was not going to stand for this "I am not going to stand for this!" see? "If you think I'll just wait idly by while you attack my companions, the you are horrible mistaken! You think I'm scared about how you clearly outclass me in power? Ha, I say! I've spent my while life getting wailed on by people stronger then me, I had the fear of fighting someone more powerful then me beaten out of my body until I even forgot what that fear felt like! So who cares if you could probably kill me with just a single attack!? I've faced death more times then I can remember! So long as I die fighting for my dream, I can leave this world at least kind of satisfied! Now...take this!!!" he finished his rant with yet another volley of Ember

[Lugia]

[Desia]

I felt a small, insignificant fire attack bounce off of me as if it was supposed to stop me, somehow. Whoever attacked me has obviously underestimated me I think as I continue my advance towards this... Gregory, I think they were calling him. He seemed important to Spruce's little band, as everyone was protecting him on their way here. I was then taken back, somewhat at another oddity within that strange little group, that magnemite somehow found the strength to actually get up and protect Gregory, annoying me slightly in the process. Doesn't that fool know when he's beaten!? Agh... seems like I'll just have to remind him where his place is. I think as I look around for another fool, one that was on my side. I found Quartzil off to my left, standing idly by as if he was awaiting an order from me to attack, so, I gave him one. "Quartzil, go take care of the fish, something's not right here." he nodded and took off towards the fish in question using dragon rush as some sort of way to ensure that he gets knocked out. Of course, with how things have been going for us lately, that fish will somehow turn out immune to Quartzil's onslaught, and then manage to fight back with that new type of attack... erm... fairy to somehow deal damage to Quartzil. I entertained the thought of a fairy fish for all of a minute before noticing something strange with that magnemite... no, it wasn't just a dedication to his team, something was influencing him somehow... or, possibly, someone. "Tell me who or what you're hiding from me, NOW!" I shout to the magnemite as I ready an attack just in case he doesn't want to tell me.

---

[Anthony]

I was just about to get slashed at by some random gible, when Hex somehow randomly got the wild pokemon to start fighting one another. Before hurrying along, I decided to take this opportunity to use absorb and or bubble on that giant group of geodude, who seemed none the wiser due to other, more pressing matters. With the group of geodude gone, mainly from me, the mawile started fighting among themselves until a group of sableye came in. That, of course, was my cue to get the heck out of there, and after a while of not seeing any more pokemon, yet still 'running' for my life just in case that battle stops, I come across a camp of sorts with a krokorok, a dugtrio, and a gabite all sitting around some sort of campfire which apparently repelled the wild pokemon. "Uh... we're the rescue team you guys called for?" I say with very little confidence for some reason... well, it could have been because these three (or, rather, five) were all intimidating to me, however, that intimidation was gone when one of them said "Thank arceus, I almost gave up on that mission. I thought we were going to be stuck here forever!" the krokorok was the one among them who said that, and he then continued with "Name's Leeroy, and the other camp is right across the way. You can rest up here, and heck, I'll even give you some supplies." he then gestured towards a rock that was near the fire and I sat down... of course, I didn't wait long, and grabbed one of the bags marked 'supplies' and headed off towards this other camp... I could almost make out the shape of a tyranitar, though, that can't be right could it? Nah... just my imagination... I hope.

[Card Captor]

The lumbering Quartzil was charging straight at Kamina, however his mind remind calm and cool...you know, for Kamina "It wont be that easy to take me out!" he declared. Then, right before the Haxorus hit him, Kamina Splashed out of the way, making the massive Dragon Type pass him by harmlessly and hitting the wall "ha! I bet you didn't expect a Magikarp to be able to dodge your attack! Well let me just say this; I am no ordinary Magikarp! I am the Magikarp who's name will become legendary, the one who will singlehandedly inspire my entire race to achieve the same greatness as me. My name is Kamina! Just who the hell do you think I am!!!!?" Yet another dramatic speech out of the way, Kamina fired a volley of Ember at the Dragon's back.

[Evanist]

Celes tried to stay conscious, looking straight at Desia and that Quartzil. She could not believe how strong they were... it was unfair... why did they have to be attacked by those 2. She grinded her teeth at this. She reached into her bag and used a oran berry.. She had to get everyone out of there... she had to use her badge... Though it was very hard for her to even do this, cause she was feeling so weak from the attacks. She really wanted to beat those 2 into a pulp... but with how she felt right now... she knew she could not. She tried to get back up, only to fall on the ground again, seeing her leg injured. Why... Oh dear Arceus why did she have to be so injured...

[Noire]

Hex fluttered far down the ravine, avoiding anything in her path. The number of wild pokemon appearing began to drop more and more. Occasionally she would catch a brief glimpse of a starving Sableye or rabid Mawile, but she could easily avoid them. They were usually too wrapped up in their own problems within the cavern that they didn't even pay attention to the slight hum her wings gave off as she flew. Hex hugged a high, dark corner of the chasm. Few pokemon could see her, and even fewer could reach her. It was a good spot to stay low and hide. She continued on like this for several minutes, simply hiding within the darkness. Hex stopped in her tracks. Echoing voices reverberated throughout the cave, bouncing off the walls and spiraling in her direction. Hex caught an actual, conscious conversation, not communication through hisses, grunts, and growls. That must've been the pokemon in the camp who were conversing with each other. She hurried ahead, hoping to find them soon enough. The best option for the team seemed to be getting in and out quickly before one of them got badly injured.

Hex eventually stumbled upon the group. They had a relatively small camp, with several cloth tents set up. Surrounding a flickering fire were three large pokemon. A Dugtrio, a Gabite, and a Krokorok stood by the fire. Hex slowly lowered herself, careful to approach the trio. "Uh, hello?" Hex asked, staring at the three. "I'm Hex Flutter, from a Team Scarab. We got the mission." The three pokemon swung around to face her. "A second explorer! That's great!" The Krokorok said, grinning widely. His teeth gleamed in the firelight, showing off a great set of incisors that could gnaw through steel. "We just met your friend. Name's Leeroy. We got some supplies for you fellows." He turned back to attend the fire, stoking it with a long stick. The orange flames flickered and glowed, a column of smoke rising from the blazes. The flames seemed to repel any of the nearby wild pokemon, who had lived their whole lives through the unnatural luminescence of the crystals. The fire must've been new to them.

Hex looked through a large, linen bag. There was an assortment of berries and reviver seeds. She recognized most, and quickly stuffed them into her bag. They would be handy in dealing with whatever was up ahead. "Good luck over there." The Gabite advised in a gristly, deep voice. "You'll need it." Hex glanced over at the other camp. She could see a light, flickering flame with a silhouette. It appeared to be a large, spiked pokemon. She sighed. Anything big and spiked would be a threat. She slowly fluttered off to the second camp, following a small, sluggish blob figure, Anthony.

[KaBling]

I had realised something was around, watching my struggle to even float. I heard motors, a low rumbling... more lights flickering in the fog as the noise became louder, eventually taking over the whistling wind.

"Just the narrator stepping in to kick your ass, Desia." I said, smiling evilly and turning the tables on her. I blinked at her as she began running up to me, ignoring Greg who was probably only a few meters away.

And then, like a blitzkrieg, a motorized duck-like figure had rammed into Desia, knocking her into some bumpy grass. She lay seemingly dead for a second, which allowed me to talk to the Pokemon briefly. His eyes set on mine briefly, to which I had recognised as Davis.

"Dav... is that really you?" Despite the seemingly nil response given by Davis, I knew it was him. After all, he was pretty old, having caterpillar tracks on his sides. Interestingly, he also had some sort of dome and barrel on his back, to which he preferred never to talk about. A slightly torn flag always hung on his tail, which had red and white strips and white stars. He was sort of a hunchback, as well as being dusty. He never wanted to clean himself, though. Always told me about how he had a rough couple of decades. The lights on his body, tail and head seemed excessive, although he kept telling me how he found it difficult to remove them. There were cracks and chipping present on his sides, to which he seemed nervous talking about. I wouldn't know how he got all of this until much later.

"Nay." He responded. I heard some clicks before realising he was... turning his dome and pointing the barrel at Desia. "Well, I wish I wasn't. Y'might wanna stay away for this."

"Davis, why would I-"

Agh. I didn't really need an alias anymore, anyway. This isn't what got me to be interrupted; Davis' sudden explosion did that. Soon after that, Dav (you know, I just found out how lazy I got) was shrouded in smoke as a yellow and pointed projectile was propelled from his barrel and towards Desia's location, creating another explosion. I had figured out that this was what they called a 'firearm.' "I told ya. Stay away, unless you want shrapnel in the face." Dav slowly but clearly said. I gulped, noticing how his tracks were reaching into the ground to presumably stabilise him.

The next second involved Desia tackling Dav from behind. All I could do was watch as she attempted to swipe at him, failing miserably as he drove over her and... well, a Tri-Attack managed to set her on fire. Desia stumbled as she looked ready to pounce, the fire seemingly doing little to her. I had to leave to cater Celes and Spruce, although the latter first. "Did I really have to meet you again?" Dav asked with a sarcastic voice, treading backwards slowly as he readied his barrel at Desia once more...

"Spruce!" I yelled out, calling for him. Of course, I could barely see him as his colours matched this place. Strangely enough, so did I, but that was because of the grey nature of metals. Plus, I could be still seen as I had some purple liquid dripping from my wounds. I spent a minute looking for him and watching the fight, settling on helping him when I found him lying by Greg. "There you are! You got something in that bag of yours, right?"

"What bag?" I asked, a sudden spike in shock getting to me. "Ah crap. I don't have a bag!" Greg covered his ears as another grey cloud covered the fierce battle between Desia and Dav.

"What in the name of Arceus is going on!?" He cried out. All I could do was fetch a scratched and purple-stained bag that was knocked away from Spruce, opening it and looking through its contents for something.

"I can certainly say I didn't ask for this! Spruce's gone grey just because of this!" I yelled out to the top of crackling electricity which came from the battle. I eventually just spilled out the entire bag, knocking aside Pokes (which soon started orbiting me) and... well, if my understanding of botany was right, then nothing could be done for Spruce. "He's dead, Greg." I said sorrowfully, looking up at Greg. "At least until he gets up, otherwise we're gonna be dead ourselves."

And then, a crater appeared by us, knocking us backwards onto the grass. "Ah, blast it!" I shouted, ironically - 'blast.'

[Riddles]

Matt and Josh could see a light a little further into the cave. It wasn't a soft, eerie glow like the crystals. This was the definitely the light of a campfire. There was a possibility that it could be Leeroy's camp. Hex and Anthony apparently thought so, since they had already approached it. The wild Pokemon were still fighting amongst each other. It would be easy to get to the camp up ahead.
The duo were able to sneak past most of the Pokemon. It was going exactly as they planned, until a Sableye noticed them. It lunged at Matt just as they had gotten close to the camp. One of the camp Pokemon - a Krokorok - hit it with Crunch. This gave Matt and Josh enough time to get away. The Sableye kept its distance after that, but still stayed near the camp, as if it wanted to attack but was repelled by the light of the fire.
"That was quite a close shave there." The Krokorok said. "Name's Leeroy. A couple of your friend headed through here. They're going for the other camp there as we speak."
"Thanks for saving us back there." Josh said.
They managed to catch up to Hex and Anthony. Leeroy was right. That camp up did look pretty suspicious. They could see a Pokemon at the camp, and although they couldn't quite make out what it was, but it was huge. Back at the guild, Josh hoped the camp had hostile Pokemon, but now he hoped this guy was friendly. If he wasn't, this would be a tough fight.

[Lugia]

[Desia]

The fight dragged on for much longer than I assumed it would. I can thank that stupid meddling porygon for that, though. I eventually got the upper hand, with Quartzil helping me after a little while. Unfortunately for the remaining wimps, I still had some rage left over after Davis was down, and I started slashing away at anything that happened to be unlucky enough to move until whatever it was stopped moving... that is, everything that moved and wasn't Quartzil. "Good thing that's over." I say to Quartzil with a sigh. I then look over to my prize, the void crystal, only to notice that the altar was no longer holding the crystal. What the? Who the heck stole that thing!? Agh... great, just what we needed right now. I think as I check every one of our enemies... oddly enough, nobody seemed to have the thing, and worse? The void was starting to creep in through the tiny portal that was created when the void crystal was stolen. I look over to see Quartzil looking through Spruce's bag for the third time, and shout "Quartzil, we don't have time for this, we have to leave... NOW!" He nods and follows me away from the scene of the crime, and away from the deadliest portal to ever exist. After about thirty minutes of running, I stop and look back. It didn't seem like it would spread to this area, and I was getting kind of tired. Those kids were annoying, but, I guess they won't be bothering me anymore.

---

[???]

I watch the battle rage from my vantage point, which was on a cliff not too far from the void crystal, something that I absolutely needed. "Should we steal it now?" my associate, Vex, a vulpix who, like me, came from the dimension that the void crystals link to, asks. She knew that my light grey scales and lack of a tail fire would allow me to blend in and probably take the thing unnoticed, but that absol... she seemed dangerous. I had to make sure that she wasn't going to pay any attention to anything other than her fight. She ordered her draconic friend to attack a helpless magikarp and, afterwards, the oddly durable porygon. That was when I decided to go. "Vex... I'm sure you already know, but you should stay here. The shadows will hide you well." She protests with "Well, what am I supposed to do, then?" I shake my head, and say "Always the hyper one, weren't you? Fine, prepare a means of escape for that team.... um... the Odd Ones Out, or whoever they are." the black-furred vulpix replied with "Um... I'm not sure if I can..." which didn't exactly fill me with confidence of our success, however, we were certain to fail if I simply stayed here, and did nothing but talk with Vex. I then ran behind the absol, who was muttering swear words in between attacks towards the porygon, and quickly make it to the void crystal, taking it from its altar within seconds... and about seconds after, a small rift formed. I then ran back to the cliff, where Vex was hiding in the shadows of a nearby tree, and show my prize, our first Void Crystal. I place it in the bag and watch as the absol eventually knocks out the entire enemy team, and then checks their equipment to see if anyone has the exact thing I just stole. The absol quickly became fed up with searching and ran off, along with her teammate, to parts unknown. "Vex, we don't have long. Do you have a way to get those innocents out of here?" I ask her. During the fight between the snivy's team and that absol, I've already warned the locals, telling them to evacuate, and the only innocents left would be that other team. "I... yeah, I think I've got an idea." She then assures me. A dragon-shaped shadow appears and I look up to see a dragonite, only for her to point downwards for me to see some local timburr building some sort of wagon. They finished the job in no time flat, and they then picked up the innocents, only for the dragonite to fly the wagon away from this mess. It seemed a little weird, but, it WAS Vex's idea, after all. I was just stunned to see that it actually worked.

---

[Anthony]

My team approaches the enemy, and I make sure to do so with caution, though, that doesn't seem to help anything as he noticed us instantly and... unfortunately... was a tyranitar. "INTRUDERS! Agh, how many MORE of you intruders do I need to KNOCK OUT JUST TO GET SOME PEACE AND QUIET!?" yeah... he was mad. "Um, sir...? would you mind, um..." I start to say, only to get cut off my him saying "Let me guess, you want me to stop 'rampaging' right?" I nod, and get flung into the wall within the next second. "ugh..." I say as I manage to not faint from the attack. My helmet somehow shattered, unfortunately, though... there was something off about the shards. They were stone grey, stone cold, and as hard as... oh, wait, I was wearing a rock on my head this whole time, whoops. Wait... now I remember, I left my helmet with that bidoof back at the guild. I think as I get back up and use absorb on the beast, who didn't so much as take notice of my attack. This wasn't going to be easy, nope, not at all. The tyranitar laughs loudly enough for the cave to actually shake and a cave-in happens behind him, meaning that we were all stuck with this guy, now. A mawile and a sableye come out of a small cave, though, it didn't seem like either of them were going to fight. In fact, they both seemed somewhat timid at the moment, shying away from eye contact with me... weird. I then look back to try to find my team, hoping that they wouldn't take too long.

[Evanist]

Celes was still weak, was looking at what was happening, unable to really move. She could hear and slightly see, but not much else. She felt weak right now... but that was not what was hurting her more. The fact that the void crystal was taken by someone unknown to them... that was worrying her a bit... but was happy that Desia did not actually take it. She was breathing deeply, slowly, but surely. She looks as they were bring brung by a certain dragonite, but her vision was kinda blurry right now. She closes her eyes slowly. They were taken away from there at least....probably to safety. She was just glad they will be able to fight another day.. She turned to see Spruce, probably still knocked off. She just hoped that he would be alright. And how did he even take those hits from that Absol anyway? And his coloration.... it was weird a bit after the hit. She was really unsure about this. She just hoped he would end up alright, cause seeing this, it was worrying her.

[Card Captor]

So that Absol didn't get the crystal thingy...but someone else did. Did that mean that they won...or lost? Kamina couldn't tell. Well regardless, it looked like their work here was done...maybe. In all honestly, Kamina didn't really understand what had just happened. They got to fight people, that he got, but then there was this strange Pokemon that M guy seemed to know (David, was it?) and then there were a hole ton of explosion, which while awesome were also confusing. Not only that, but Spruce was changing colors...somehow "Okay...somebody needs to fill me in on what just happened, because I'm not quite sure myself. A whole lot of stuff happened and I'm still a little confused as to what it all means."

[Riddles]

The Pokemon at the camp turned out to be hostile. Josh and Matt rushed ahead to join Anthony when they saw him get attacked. This guy was obviously very powerful, and to make matters worse, the tunnel behind them collapsed, blocking their only exit.
"Sorry, I forgot to give this to you before." Matt said, pulling Anthony's helmet put of his bag. "I grabbed it when we went looking for you earlier." He then turned towards their opponent. "I can't do anything to damage him, I'm afraid." He began putting up Light Screen and Reflect, since that was really all he could do.
"I can." Josh said. He used Water Gun, but didn't do that much damage to him. No surprise there. What did surprise him, though, was how much energy it took to use that attack. He could normally fire multiple Water Guns in a row without any trouble at all. Why would it be so difficult this time?
He decided to ignore it, and assumed that it was just his imagination. Fighting the Tyranitar was their top priority right now. He couldn't waste time worrying about it.

[Noire]

"Fantastic." Hex muttered, watching as an armored tail slammed into the amorphous blob. "Just.. absolutely great."

She fluttered higher into the air, and began stirring up a gust with her wings. They fluttered rapidly, forming another mortar of winds. On the ground, the Tyranitar was lashing out, roaring at their team. Matt and Josh had arrived, Matt with a spurt of water, Josh raising a reflective light shield. It's green armored plating seemed that it could shrug off any attack thrown at it, however, and the water just seemed to slide off it. Some of the water managed to get into the crevices between the plating, but it really didn't do much damage. It stomped about the campsite, whipping it's tail around. The tail would easily be a problem, with it's strength, size, and length, as it could easily hit any opponents around him. Not to account in the fact that one simple smack of it's arm could easily knock out any pokemon around their level or size. It was quite the opponent, and could easily take any one of them out.

Hex released her gust, setting the wind upon it. It was well concentrated - to any other pokemon around her level, it would easily shove them down and away. However, the winds hit the Tyranitar with a dull thump, as if she had just threw a pillow at it. The Tyranitar turned an armored head toward her, noticing her high in the air. "No, no, no, nope.." She moved slightly higher into the air. Hopefully Shannon would arrive soon. Those ice moves of his would certainly help with the attacker, hopefully being rather strong. Josh seemed to be running out of water quickly, so they needed to get him to a pond or a stream or some melted ice quickly. Nearby, she noticed a Sableye and Mawile by a cave near by the camp. They strayed away from any eye contact with Anthony, seeming rather shy. She began stirring up another gust high in the air, but the Tyranitar's rampaging made it hard to concentrate.

[KaBling]

My name's Davis. Legally, I can't actually tell you about myself.

But who cares? Law and order collapsed, and yet I'm still alive after... probably around 2,000 years. We've abandoned so much of our past life, especially technology. Probably one of the many things to cause the War to End All Wars/Humanity's Last Stand/Second Cold War/The Last Days/The Rapture/The Five Days of Hell. (Don't ask me about the names; survivors I met often gave me conflicting results. Which unfortunately means there are no official names for the war.) The species I grew up with turned out to be nihilistic bastards, so this was expected after a while. They were all greedy and destructive, not caring about emotions faked on television, holographic watches and screen-glasses. Look at me. I represent a dead and forgotten world, with my main tank gun on my back, caterpillar tracks and armour plating. Screw the Stars and Stripes, hanging by my tail as a sign of defeat at the hands of everyone else. I was weaponised for nothing, and ever since I've been left bitter and frustrated at how stupid humanity was.

Was. Think about this word. What do I mean by it?

I will leave this to you to ponder. Right now, I have a story to tell you...

Two minutes ago, I came to the aid of a small group. Because, one of them happened to be a former companion of mine (and another was remarkably similar to one other former companion). And, Desia was back to haunt me. So what I survived That War with my radiation shielding and armour, and her once with my main gun? She was back, and therefore could kill again.

Not wasting any time, I had fired up my engines, engaging speeds I had only used during the war. I rammed into her, discharging whatever I had as weaponry as she stumbled back up and began fighting me. I knew Milloon would hate me for intervening, but what choice did I have? I couldn't just let them all die.

But, in the end, I released how truthful he was. Again, I was left beaten and laid on the damp grass. Just like old times. I wonder why she didn't finish me off...

[Lugia]

[Spruce]

I woke up to find myself in some sort of weird cart, and some dragonite was pulling it. "Huh...? What happened? Who are you?" I ask the dragonite, who has thankfully landed by now, yet, for some reason, hasn't taken us out of the cart yet. She then answers with "I just saved all of you from the void... oh, and my name's Denise, I'm the guildmaster over at Scale City." I haven't heard of this 'Scale City' yet, but she seemed to be telling the truth. "So... what's with the cart?" I then ask, with her saying in response "Oh, I got a bunch of timburr to build it." She said that as though it was completely normal for someone to just randomly command three, possibly four wild pokemon to build something for them. I then get out of the cart, and look around Allure, only to see that nothing much seems to have changed. I then look down at myself and notice that quite a bit has changed for me... oddly enough, I was now a grey color, and yet Denise didn't seem to care one bit. Why didn't she freak out? I mean, it's not every day that you see someone this badly discolored. I think as I look at Denise's seemingly unchanging smile. I also notice a pecha berry on her horn, though, she doesn't seem to notice the fruit on her head, which was proven when she finally dropped the cart and said "Well, I've got to go. I lost my pecha berry a long time ago, and I'd like to find it before dinner." I was about to say something, but she flew off before I could tell her. Of course, there was something much worse than a missing pecha berry to worry about, I mean, if that evil absol has that supposedly all-powerful void crystal... then we probably don't have much time left on this world.

---

[Anthony]

"Th...thanks." I manage to say to Matt, who somehow ended up with my helmet, and thankfully gave the thing back to me. I wasn't sure just how much good the thing would do in this situation, but I was glad to have it back. I can't believe that I mistook a rock for my helmet... I think as I get put my helmet back on, and get up with almost renewed strength. I then use absorb on the tyranitar, who didn't even seem to notice beyond making me his target again. "Uh-oh..." I say as I take a stone-edge attack right to my face, cutting it up as if it were made of butter. That would have been the end of me, were it not for the reviver seeds that I picked up from that camp earlier, as well as their amazing ability to somehow use themselves whenever their owner's in danger. "Ugh... guys... this guy's seriously tough..." I point out, probably to the dismay of everyone else on my team. Of course, it seems like everyone else already knew that, making me feel like a complete idiot again. I try using bubble on the thing, only to fail at damaging him, somehow. The tyranitar seems to have stopped using regular attacks at that point, and decides to throw me at the stone wall that he created by caving in the area nearby. It felt just about as good as you'd expect, and I noticed my badge fly off of my helmet once I hit the rock, and look around for it only to see the mawile holding it. She looks at it, and then at the tyranitar. I would have said something, but I got smashed by the tyranitar's tail, prompting another reviver seed to use itself, and making me forget what I was going to say.

[Riddles]

Despite all of their efforts to bring down the Tyranitar, it didn't seem like this would end well. He was able to shrug off even super effective attacks, Matt couldn't do anything besides put up screens, Anthony had already gone through two reviver seeds, and Shannon was nowhere to be found.
Josh fired another Water Gun. Just like last time, it did almost nothing. He was also pretty exhausted, which was weird. Matt seemed to notice this, and floated over to him immediately.
"Oh, this isn't good." He said. "We need to finish this as soon as possible. Josh needs water."
"I'll be...fine, Matt." Josh said. "I just need to get...one more..."
"No! Absolutely not! It's the only thing keeping you alive right now."
"I...can help...still...look." Josh aimed a Smokescreen up at the Tyranitar, creating a dark cloud around its head.
"Alright, but just don't use any water attacks."
Now that Josh was in no shape to do anything, the odds were really against them. There was no way Hex and Anthony could do this on their own. Wherever Shannon was, they needed him.

[Evanist]

Celes slowly looked up as the dragonite was leaving, the pecha berry on her horn. She felt a bit more energy inside. She looked at Spruce, worried, seeing his color. She breath deeply before getting up.
"Spruce...." she says weakly, looking at him, getting back her energy.
"Are you alright?" she asks him. looking at his coloring.
"You look... strange.... Are you feeling well? I am worried...." she then says, sad a bit looking at him, hoping that he was alright. She would not forgive herself if he was sick or something cause of that absol. That god dang absol that ruined everything... that dang absol that almost got the void crystal. She breath deeply. She was luckly she had her eyes closed but able to hear. She though she might faint again from that absol. She breath deeply, looking at the sky, taking back her energy slowly.
"That absol.... my body hurt's so much..." she says weakly, feeling as if she might faint again with one attack. Dang oran berry might have helped a bit, but it did not heal her like she wished it did. Time... time is what she needed.

[Antarctic Termite]

The last guess to arrive at the trio of earthy Pokémon around their camp, Shannon found himself also the most eager. This team was professional, and it was in operation. It was a learning opportunity to which Shannon was assigning mental notes with haste. Extras. They're carrying supplies in excess- For wanderers, likely. Or did they collect that here? All these Pokémon must have a food source... And water? Waterbags, they're with the rest of the supplies. Very practical. ...Nothing useful in this bag, I- Oh, no, it's glowing. Crammed full of crystals, ha. Put your mind where the money is, of course. With all these wilders, mining this place is hardly feasible. Or moral. Shannon raised his head towards the rest of Team Scarab. Sufficiently restocked, their footsteps were growing quiet and stealthy again as the protective ring of firelight was crossed. He did not intend to be left behiah no wait who is this?

One of the triplicate mole's faces had been sitting still behind the shade of the larger heads, facing the frost-gilded newbie as he poked around the bags. Sitting still until he started nosing around the loot sack. The Dugtrio vanished. The Dugtrio reappeared. The Amaura caught glimpse of the Explorer who had not been there, but was now. To her inner satisfaction, Shannon jumped. "Don't poke your head too far into Team Rabbit Hole. Go scurry along with your buddies, sparkly, they're getting the head start." The dinosaur dipped his head for a moment. The bow's apology was accepted. "Certainly. I'll do that. Question, however." She didn't twitch, but Shannon didn't assume stillness was an objection in this case. "Your fire, how is it fueled? No tree nor branch nor leaf grows here."

"...Blast seeds and any flammable trash. Food scraps. Useless items. Organics." Shannon lingered, but the Dugtrio was silent again, and he was not one to outstay a generous welcome. "Then thanks and best of luck." The Dugtrio vanished into the ground again, and he set off after companions already several seconds ahead. The adrenaline-induced grin attempted to return, but this time Shannon's face didn't support it. This stretch of cave was emptier. There were lurkers, but little traffic, and the Geodude horde was blissfully absent. But... It's more menacing for that. Every footstep made a subtle echo here, every breath whispered that there was no-one to help you. The extra ground could be easily covered in theory, but Shannon was averse to challenging the unsettling silence. ...The silence. It's growing. Whatever keeps the hordes out in here, it's...

A motionless body and a far wall was the only cover Shannon had when the Tyranitar's footsteps became audible. He went unnoticed. The colossus thudded past on all fours, following Team Scarab's trail, and following as quietly as such a massive body would permit. There was murderous intent in that lopsided four-legged prowl, but Shannon was too stunned to pray to his gods.

...I'm cut off. The lord of this cave was between him and his team. Trailing the Tyranitar closely was suicidal. The tail alone looked able to swat Shannon aside. Waiting until it was gone would leave Team Scarab to encounter the beast without their adopted fifth member. Dance, Carrol, dance, thought Shannon giddily, but he danced- Somewhere just beyond the Tyranitar's awareness was a space balanced haphazardly between discovery and delay. A heartrate soared and stopped again- This Amaura wasn't the only follower. A Sableye was nearby, and yet another Mawile, all three trailing around the wake of the Tyranitar. Shannon backed off. ...Folly to storm ahead, folly to risk engaging another Mawile. Oh god of song, help them, please. I'll be too late. Shannon gently incised his foot on a quartz shard and let a drop of blood flow for a hopeless prayer. Seconds ticked past.

The Sableye vanished somewhere. The Mawile followed, chasing a fragment of flying stone. There was rushing wind and water and voice. Fear for others broke fear for himself, and Shannon stormed into the room, trailing auroras of blood and heliotropes that hummed with electricity. He skidded and broke his gallop short of colliding with the Tyranitar, but the glowing streams of ions continued forwards, spiralling over the colossus's armour and dissolving into its body.

There was surprise mingled with the fury of the ensuing bellow- "You cheeky shit!" Shannon attempted to escape the swinging tail he expected, but the beast was not so predictable. A pulse of malicious aura flowed outwards, filling the chamber. The burst of malice focused its worst into the Amaura's body, flooding his brain with terror, shame, regret, loathing. He colllapsed into horror and shock, crying like a hatchling.

Bitches need to learn their god-damned place, the Tyranitar mused as his tail gave a useless spasm.