I stared blankly at the Mountain Lord before speaking, “You can have a peaceful talk with us and sort out our differences over some tea?” I do not want to fight her. I do not want to fight her. No fighting please. There’s absolutely no way my team can beat her in a fight, we’ll die to death.
“i doubt that.” Winnie muttered in my ear. I rolled my eyes at him and whispered, “You have a better suggestion?” He didn’t.
There was a pause. The Mountain Lord snorted. No.
“Oh.” I looked down at the ground and then looked back up at the Mountain Lord.
Any last words human?
“Umm. Yeah. You really sure you don’t wanna just, ya know…talk things out? You don’t have to solve everything with violence.” The name of the female player character from Legends Arceus was Akari right? Or was it Dawn? Cause Akari is the Japanese version of the name. I think. But there’s probably already a Dawn in this world. Unless she later on gets sent back in time by Arceus…
A no is a no human.
Shit, I’ll just go for it. I shrugged, “Yeah but I don’t think Akari was the type to kill people just because they disagreed with her. Didn’t she work to bridge the gap between humans and Pokemon? You’re kinda, uh, doing the opposite of that.”
Akari was never unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of relentless hate and persecution. The Mountain Lord retorted, a hint of a snarl on her previously expressionless face.
“You’re kind of doing the same thing as what you just described being a victim of.” I pointed out.
I am protecting my home.
I clapped my hands together and pointed them at the Mountain Lord. “Bruh, the people who persecuted you thought they were doing the same. They saw an illusion of scary stuff and thought it was dangerous so they made the dangerous stuff go away regardless of whether it was actually dangerous or not.”
The Mountain Lord’s eyes flared with energy as she stepped forward with a vicious snarl. I will not allow my kind to become tools of humans once again!
Ah. She changed the subject.
I held my hands up, “Hey, I can’t claim to know a ton about the past, but I know that right now, People and Pokemon coexist super well, and it’s against the law to use a Pokemon as a tool and abuse it. Not everything is perfect but it’s a lot better than what you’re talking about.
Humans never could live without Pokemon, leeching off of us like parasites.
I blinked a few times, “Uh, we’ve had advancements in tech that make us able to live without the protection of Pokemon. From what I’ve seen people and Pokemon kinda choose to live with each other in a symbiotic relationship. Pokemon get a safe environment to grow strong in and people get friends and work partners. There are also multiple massive organizations dedicated to ensuring that Pokemon are treated well. There are faults in the system but it’s a hell of an improvement from the past. ”
Hmph, your kind are simply maintaining their tools so that they can work well.
Bruh that’s all you got from that?
I put my hands on my hips and retorted, “Okay, if all humans see Pokemona as tools, then what were you to Akari? And what about Rei, Professor Laventon, Cogita, all the Survey Corps members, and more? Did they see you and your fellow Pokemon as tools?”
The surrounding noises went silent and the Mountain Lord took a step forward, revealing her teeth with a snarl.
“i think you hit a nerve.” Winnie whispered.
“No shit Sherlock.” I whispered back as I slowly backpedaled. Let’s change the subject.
“Tell me what happened after Akari died. What changed your mind about humans?”
The Mountain Lord prowled towards us and began circling me like a shark circling a lifeboat. I was blessed by the Lord of Distortion in order to better protect the Pokemon in my sanctuary. Then the humans got a new leader and the humans lost their respect for my kind and began seeing us as tools. Those that couldn’t be controlled were to be feared and eradicated.
“Oh, that sucks.” Great response there Az.
So I took those under my care and left for Alabaster Mountain where this sanctuary was created.
Every time after that, whenever we let a human in and back out alive, they always came back to cause trouble, or they yapped about this place to more unsavory humans who came to plunder and kidnap those under my protection.
The Mountain Lord stopped about a foot in front of me and gestured at Winnie with a claw. That little one is a kit of one of the ones stolen from the mountain, no?
Winnie and I glanced at each other. Winnie shook his head. “um, no. that’s–”
That is of no matter. The Mountain Lord interrupted Winnie, much to his annoyance as she began to circle me again. You will not be slain within my sanctuary little one. As for you human…
I will not open up our home to the outside world. We have paid a great price every time we have done so, my kindness for your kind has dried up long since now.
I was right before and I am right now, after all, you ingrates have led poachers right to our front door. They sit in their little flying metal den waiting for the right chance to pounce.
I am grateful that you have warned us of this incoming threat, but humans are more defenseless than a newborn without the Pokemon they’ve enslaved. We do not need weaklings guarding us when we have our own defenses.
Lemme guess, that’s Hunter J.
“Um, as I said before, people today don’t have to rely on Pokemon for everything. The commander of that ship has a cannon on her arm that’s capable of temporarily turning its targets into stone. That’s pretty dangerous.”
Tech? The Mountain Lord said the word as if it were foreign to her. Hmph, an arm cannon is no use if it is no longer attached to an arm, their ‘tech’ cannot withstand the might of a Noble Pokemon.
I shrugged, “You have a point on the arm cannon, but I’d be careful about whatever else they have in store.”
“why don’t you let us prove ourselves by getting rid of the poachers?” Winnie suggested, “we came here to help not to start a fight with you guys.”
The Mountain Lord stopped behind me, putting ice-cold claws on the back of my head as she spoke to Winnie. I frowned at that but stayed still.
Your human here has invaded my home and tarnished the Akari’s tomb. I have the right to protect it from danger.
Aaaand we’re back to square one. She’s fucking insane.
I turned around to face the Mountain Lord.
“What the fuck, are you even listening to our arguments?!” I pointed to the gate leading to the outside the illusion of Jubilife Town.
“Take a look at the outside world for once in a century and then make your judgment. We’re here because we want to help and learn, we can deal with the poachers for you to prove our strength and worth. Yet you are insistent on killing every human that comes in! You’re not protecting your sanctuary, you just hate humans. You’re no better than the ignorant humans who drove your own kind out of Unova and general Sinnoh in the first place! What would Akari think of your actions?”
A blinding pain exploded in my head. I reeled back, stumbling and falling hard.
“az!” I heard Winnie squeak as he jumped off my shoulder and placed himself in between me and the Mountain Lord. I felt the shadows beneath me roil as a few stronger members of the ghost gang emerged, glaring at the Noble Pokemon.
At the same time, Glados whirled out of my watch, glitching furiously. “HOSTILES. DETECTED.”
Don’t you dare try to use Akari’s name against me again! The Mountain Lord snarled her mane wildly whipping around before smoothing back down. She would be pleased with me protecting my home!
Smelling iron, I put a hand to the side of my head and felt warm blood trickling out. Gritting my teeth, I unsteadily got back up onto my feet.
“You of all Pokemon should know better than to generalize another species just because of a few bad experiences, despite having had wonderful experiences with humans before. I doubt you would’ve built a literal shrine to Akari if you hadn’t loved her for being a wonderful person right? Deep down inside, you don’t hate all humans. Otherwise you wouldn’t have let us get this far, right? You could’ve killed us all yourself yet you haven’t!”
I will not tolerate your unreasonable words anymore. Let us see how you speak with no tongue. The Mountain Lord growled, stalking to the side before turning invisibility on and disappearing. I felt the temperature drop till I could see my breath freeze.
Insert the Dark Souls boss music. I am so fucked.
I grabbed Infernape and Lucario’s Pokeballs and let the fighting types out.
Damnit, Lucario and Infernape are strong but the type matchup is horrendous, half of their move pools are useless. Absol would be useful but was sent away with Leo.
I wiped away some of the blood on my forehead so it wouldn’t get into my eye. “Get ready for the fight of your lives guys. We’re dealing with a ghost type in the same weight class as a minor legendary.”
Lucario’s fists blazed with aura while Infernape’s fire hair blazed as the monkey beat a fist on his chest.
“What’s the plan az?” Shuppet asked, eyes darting around as it tried to sense any threats.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Survive.” I answered, touching the injuries on my head again as the pain was replaced by an icy coldness. “We need to get back to the others and run. Or find another way to convince the Mountain Lord to not kill us. Whichever works.”
Eyes flashing, Lucario suddenly grabbed my arm and yanked me to the right as something flashed by. I felt a cut open up on my left cheek.
Everyone whirled around, Infernape, Winnie, and Glados shot a Flamethrower and two Dark Pulses at the figure but it was gone before the attacks could even hit.
“Shit. Lucario, keep Detect up. Everyone else, get ready to retaliate when Lucario senses something.”
I gestured for everyone to stay close as we headed for the gates of Jubilife Town. Then we were back in front of the town hall.
There was another cut on my arm. Lucario’s ears twitched and it shouted, “Lucario!” A long blue bone appearing in its paws and it swung the bone into the empty space in front of us but seemed to miss. Glados beep bopped and shot a series of Dark Pulses into the space in front of us to no avail.
“Winnie, can you do something?” I asked.
“i’ll try.” Winnie replied, hopping back to stay close to us for cover and closing his eyes as he concentrated on unweaving the Mountain Lord’s illusion.
Lucario grabbed Winnie and me, shouting a warning to the others and jumping away as the ground where we were just standing exploded, throwing up dust everywhere.
Reality glitched as Winnie did his work, we could now see the faint outline of the Mountain Lord’s shadow on the ground.
“i did it!” Winnie shouted victoriously as Lucario set us back down.
Infernape didn’t need any orders, with a battle cry, the fire monkey seemed to teleport over to where the Mountain Lord’s shadow was. Fists burning with fire, Infernape punched and his fist connected.
The Mountain Lord’s disguise faded away as she was pushed back, unflinching at the powerful punch from the elite fire type. The Noble Pokemon's claws blurred together, flashing a chilling purple as she retaliated with a series of Shadow Claws while a Grass Knot pinned Infernape’s feet down to prevent him from escaping.
Lucario jumped in using Extreme Speed to boost its speed and stopping the Mountain Lord’s attack with Bone Rush. Infernape incinerated the Grass Knot with a Flamethrower and shouted, “IN-FERN!”
A pillar of fire engulfed the Mountain Lord. Lucario created a large drop of sparkling water and sprayed it over Infernape, healing most of the wounds the fire monkey had incurred from its initial bout with the Mountain lord.
“Murder Mode Glados, Dark Pulse.” I commanded.
Glados’s eyes began to emit a soft red glow as it pointed a wing at the Mountain Lord who was now locked in combat with Lucario and Infernape within a massive swirl of fire.
The Mountain Lord slipped through both Lucario and Infernape’s attacks, a flick of her claws completely dissipated Infernape’s Fire Spin trapping her. The illusion fox then phased in and out of reality before reappearing in front of Glados. The two fighting types tried to follow but tripped, they were suddenly stuck in the ground up to their knees.
Glados beeped frantically, trying to redirect its Dark Pulse but was hit by a devastating Brick Break that smacked the AI Pokemon down into the ground, embedding it in a crater the ground.
The AI let out a few miserable beeps before its eyes went dark as it lost consciousness.
“Glados!” I scrambled back, grabbing Sahara’s Ultra Ball as the Mountain Lord reached out her claws to grab me.
A quadruple Dark Pulse from Winnie, Shuppet, Gastly, and Misdreavus hit her arm. The Mountain Lord scowled, swiping her claws at the four ghosts, picking them up, and restraining them with Psychic.
Thankfully, the distraction from the ghosts gave just enough time for Infernape and Lucario to dig themselves out of the ground and re-engage the Mountain Lord in combat. Though the Noble Pokemon seemed to be more annoyed by the attacks than hurt, it seemed that she needed more concentration to keep their flurry of attacks away so she let the ghosts go from Psychic.
“This isn’t working.” I turned to the ghost gang, “Go find that Hisuan Zorua called Mii. I need her help.”
Winnie nodded and looked at the other three. Shuppet saluted with its rag dress and zipped away with Gastly and Misdreavus close behind. A few shadows zoomed out of mine and followed them.
Then I let Sahara out, the landshark roared and stomped the ground. “Swords Dance a few times before you go in.” I ordered, “Note that normal type moves won’t work.”
Sahara grunted in acknowledgment and began using Swords Dance as I ran over and retrieved Glados, letting it return to my watch. There was a strong gust of wind as Sahara sped into battle with Dragon Rush.
Lucario was trying to distract and overwhelm the Mountain Lord with a frenzy of Extreme Speed boosted Bone Rushes, Infernape was left to deal damage with its variety of elemental punches. The Mountain Lord didn’t seem very bothered by Lucario’s speed and was consistently breaking through the aura Pokemon’s defenses with one arm and either blocking or deflecting Infernape’s punches with the other.
Sahara barreled into the fight, aiming to knock the Mountain Lord off her feet and begin a one-sided curb stomp. Instead, the Mountain Lord ducked low, sweeping Lucario and Infernape off their feet while dodging Sahara’s rush at the same time.
Then she used Psychic to grab the fighting types and threw them against each other to trap Sahara in between before throwing them.
The trio then hit the ground and phased through it as if they had no-clipped into the Backrooms.
“what happened?!” Winnie shouted.
“Oh that’s just straight-up bullshit! How in the world is that fair?” I yelled, gesturing at what had just happened with both hands. She fucking baited me!
Do not worry little human, your companions will not be slain. Take it as a token of my goodwill.
“That’s a lot of dogshit goodwill.” I shouted back.
Accept your death with grace. The Mountain Lord hissed.
“No thank you!” I replied as Winnie once again placed himself in between us. Shuppet and the others better get here fast.
The Mountain Lord disappeared in a blur, completely ignoring Winnie. I threw myself to the side just in time to dodge her.
With a snarl, Winnie raced over to the Mountain Lord and shot a Dark Pulse at her face. The Noble Pokemon simply swiped the attack away and once again grabbed Winnie with Psychic to trap him again.
Meanwhile, I dug through my bag for something useful. The Terra Orb wasn’t super useful for this predicament, changing Winnie’s type wouldn’t be helpful, but the Master Ball sure would be.
I dug through the Pokeballs pocket for the Master Ball but was grabbed by Psychic and thrown away from my bag. I blindly grabbed for anything before I was out of reach, then I collided with the wall of one of the buildings and crumpled to the ground.
Stars were flashing in my eyes as I tried to breath through the pain lancing through my back and torso. That's gonna leave a bruise.
I crawled to my hands and knees, only then noticing the Pokeflute I had grabbed instead of the Master Ball I needed.
Great. Let me solve this with the power of song and friendship…Oh wait. That's just Oracion.
Those hopes were shattered alongside my Pokeflute as the Mountain Lord stomped the instrument, grinding it beneath her feet and raised her arm, claws at the ready to slice my head off.
I blearily blinked up at her, my head was spinning. Instead of trying to run away from imminent doom, I took a page out of Kaiju’s book and dove towards the Noble Pokemon’s feet, grabbed, and pulled with all my might.
That seemed to catch the illusion fox off guard and her slash went off mark, grazing my back instead of hitting my neck like she had originally intended.
I scrambled underneath the Noble Pokemon’s legs and grabbed her mane as support as I jumped onto her back.
“CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA!”
What the–
I reached over and grabbed the Mountain Lord’s nose. “HAHAHAHAHAHA! I GOT YOUR NOSE!” Then I bit down onto the Mountain Lord’s mane, getting a mouthful of fur and pulled, aiming to tear as much fur out as possible. FUCK U! If I'm going I'm leaving a bald spot!
The Mountain Lord disappeared, phasing into out shadows and dumping me on the ground.
I was thrown face first into the wall again by Psychic and I felt something cold slash through my back and settle there in a line, the only thing I could smell were sweaty pennies.
There was a burst of energy from behind the Mountain Lord, I felt chills of malice sweep through the area and begin to tear through the illusion of Jubilife Town. The buildings began to melt.
The Mountain Lord paused in surprise. Then she was knocked away as a large snarling red and white ball of fury began tearing into her.
Lifting my head, I slightly shook my head to refocus my vision. Who dat? Winnie?
The Hisuan Zoroark who was assaulting the Mountain Lord was Winnie!
“You got this Winnie!” I shouted. Using the building I had been thrown against as support, I got back up and stumbled back to where I’d left my bag. I felt unusually cold, also my bag was gone. Probably no clipped into the Backrooms as well.
Well, at least the ghost gang had good timing. A Banette flew over to me with a Gastly, Misdreavus, and Hisuan Zorua in tow.
I blinked a few times and stared at the Banette. “Wai–Shuppet?”
“I’ll explain later. We got Mii.” Banette said, glancing at the two Zoroarks tearing at each other like a pair of rabid cats.
“Great!” I stumbled as a wave of dizziness hit me. “Mii! We need to go back to the place you showed us.”
Mii’s big yellow eyes glanced nervously at Winnie and the Mountain Lord’s fight and then at the blood that was dripping from my rather disheveled form. Before she nodded, “Okay.”
The little vixen swiped a paw at the air, as if someone was pulling aside a curtain, a portal to the forest appeared.
I took a step and nearly fell, but Banette helped me stay standing. “Don’t mind me, let’s go.”
With support from the ghosts, I fast walked through the portal, glancing at Winnie still locked in a fierce battle with the Mountain Lord. They seemed to be unaware of me leaving. You got this Winnie!
Slowly but steadily, we made our way through the path in the forest. The first pillar I saw was Mesprit’s pillar. The little hole in the central tablet containing what I needed had resealed itself.
“We need to open this up again.” I said, switching to the tablet for support so that Shuppet and the others would be free to move. “There are buttons at the top of each pillar, go–”
The whole forest shook like there was an earthquake. The ghosts’s forms all wavered as a massive boom of ghost type energy swept through the forest. Mii flinched hard, retreating behind the tablet, whispering something about Meemaw. We all stared in the direction of the epicenter of the quake for a second.
There was a pop as Kaiju let himself out of his Dusk Ball with a roar. “Deino!”
I fumbled for Kaiju’s Dusk Ball, “Not now Kaiju.”
Kaiju grabbed my arm and pulled my sleeve towards where Mii was hiding. I got the message and ducked behind the tablet.
There was a short pause and then something crashed through the upper part of the tablet, sending shards of stone everywhere and slammed into Mesprit’s pillar, cracking it before sliding to the ground.
The contents of the tablet fell to the ground in front of me.
“Winnie!” I shouted. I was about to get up to go check on him and felt the air pressure change and murderous presence behind me. I ducked back down.
You DARE come back to this place! How dare you!
What remained of the tablet was sliced clean through, Mii, Kaiju, I scrambled away as the Mountain Lord smashed through what was left of the centerpiece tablet, grabbing the contents of the tablet as I ran. Then my leg gave away as something stabbed into my thigh and I crashed to the ground.
Banette and the other ghosts began peppering the Mountain Lord with attacks. The sky above the clearing filled with Shadow Balls that began firing back and hitting the ghost gang with insane speed and accuracy, scattering them.
I took the momentary distraction to crawl into a sitting position.
Kaiju roared and charged at the Mountain Lord, his form glowed with a blindingly bright light. With his two heads, Kaiju fired a double Draco Meteor into the Mountain Lord’s face, the force of which was able to push her back a few feet.
I raised the Azure flute up and paused. How the hell do I play this thing?! This isn’t a fucking ocarina, it’s got holes in its spikes! I can’t fucking play this!
As if it had realized the issue, Rotom came in clutch and zoomed out of my pocket.
“Bzzt!” Rotom’s slightly cracked screen flickered to a picture of the bottom of Azelf’s tablet where there was a fingering chart for the Azure Flute, I had noticed it earlier but didn’t pay much attention to it since I was eager to get through all three tablets.
Without another word, I looked through the fingerings and began sounding out the notes needed for Oracion. It wasn’t how I would’ve liked for it to sound, the notes came out a bit disjointed but at least it sounded like a song.
I flinched, making the current note I was on squeak as Kaju was thrown into another pillar, partially destroying it as well. Just get through the song. Just get through the song.
The Mountain Lord stalked towards us. Mii bravely jumped in front of her, “Meemaw! Stop trying to kill my friends! You’re only supposed to kill bad guys! They’re not bad!”
Meemaw wasn’t listening, flicking her claws and teleporting the kit somewhere else. I flinched again but kept playing the last few notes as the Mountain Lord grabbed Rotom’s and crushed the phone in her claws. The plasma ghost screeched and detached from the phone, zapping angrily at the Mountain Lord’s arm, but it was so weak to her that she didn’t even seem to notice it.
I dropped the instrument as the Mountain Lord grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up. I coughed and gasped for breath as she squeezed and began choking me. One of my hands weakly grabbed at her claws, trying to pry them apart.
Your silly songs and prayers won’t work on me.
I choked out a laugh, “I-I’m not praying to you.” I held up the now glowing Griseous Orb in my other hand. Oracion meant prayer for a reason, and my prayers had been answered.
The Mountain Lord’s eyes eyes widened. A giant dark portal swirled to life right next to us. Then a massive black tendril tipped with a red claw burst through, the Mountain Lord dropped me as she was bitch slapped away.
I fell to the ground, gritting my teeth as some hella intense pain lanced through my back and thigh. My voice stopped working for a moment as I let out a silent scream. All of the icy numb feeling that had spread from my injuries to my blood seemed to momentarily stab through my veins and my vision turned black for a moment. Then the icy feeling returned and the darkness in my vision slowly receded.
The tendril retreated, and Giratina’s eye leered through the portal. A familiar deep, gravelly, and slightly annoyed voice spoke, “This had better be good. I do not like my time being wasted.”
“Good to see you too Lord Giratina! I need a bit of help.” I coughed. “I need someone to help mediate between the Mountain Lord and I. Thought you’d be the best option considering you’re her patron.”
Sounding extra annoyed this time, Giratina growled, “I have no need to get involved in mortal matters.”
I painfully sat up. “Really? Even if those matters involve a maniac who wants to create a new world by taking control of Palkia and Dialga and destroying this one?”
That seemed to get Giratina’s interest. The Mountain Lord stalked back over, lowering her head before Giratina.
My Lord, I have spent centuries protecting this sanctuary without major issue. We will be fine this time. There is no need for your mighty interference.
I wagged a finger at the Mountain Lord, “Nuh uh. Nope nada. You don’t know half the shit going on in the human world. You don’t even know where the Adamant and Lustrous orbs are, or where the base of Team Galactic is, and no it is not the same as the Galaxy Team who were good guys.”
I turned back to Giratina, “Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic is planning on mining ore from this mountain to create a new Red Chain. The crew I’m with is trying to stop that and create friendly relations with the residents of the mountain and she,” I pointed an angry finger at the Mountain Lord, “isn’t hearing anything of what I’m trying to say.”
The Mountain Lord snarled at me. They were invading the mountain. I protected it.
“No, you were not Shiro. From what I have seen, they have been defending themselves and even brought peace offerings, of which one of your underlings accepted.”
I staggered to my feet and limped over to the Mountain Lord as she began to protest. But–
I grabbed the Noble Pokemon’s face by the cheeks, the Mountain Lord’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oi. Look. I get that you’ve had bad experiences with humans in the past, but that doesn’t negate all the good experiences. Humans aren’t perfect, there are good and bad people, but the same applies to Pokemon.”
My head was spinning like I had just spun around in an office chair for too long. The Mountain Lord tried to pull away, but I had an iron grip.
“You can’t keep living in the past. This path isn’t a good way to honor Akari’s legacy. She worked so hard to create harmony between people and Pokemon despite the cons, and here you are doing the complete opposite of what she worked for. If you won’t listen to me, listen to the god that you worship. Silly fox.”
I stepped back, almost falling but I just barely managed to keep my balance on the leg that was working. My veins were ice, the sides of my vision were getting dark.
I pointed to Giratina who would’ve raised an eyebrow if it had them, “Thanks for the save man, I’ll invite you out for dinner later, my treat, tell everyone about how awesome you are.”
Then the ground flew up to meet my face.