It was another 40 minutes before the Grunts were called for the next expedition. Sirius let his “sense” flow, feeling the barely traceable emotions of the men and women around him. The newcomers, especially the ones coming with him, gave off traces of excitement, wonder, and curiosity. The veterans however, gave off the heavy set of wariness, though some gave off confidence at the increase in numbers.
Human emotions always felt more muted than Pokémon ones, though Sirius didn’t know why. The sheer number of people helped though, overwhelming that…strange feeling that seemed to fill the ruin. The whole ‘empath’ thing was still novel to him, though the ability didn't come without its downsides. Too many emotions, or ones that were simply too powerful influenced him. He hated that, hated that his control could be dictated by the will of others. At the end of the day though, he wasn't going to complain, reading people, if you didn’t include Pran, was difficult. The emotions changed that, he could see them, feel what they were feeling, and emotions were a huge help in understanding people. Still, he wondered how Pran did it sometimes, he made reading people look easy.
They stood at the base of the steps leading to the central temple, Sirius’s eyes focused on the “sky” that shone like the night. He let his imagination flow for just a little bit, dreaming for a while that there was no Galactic, no gang war or threats of violence. He imagined that it was just him and Pran, exploring ruins together as they adventured through foreign lands, discovering things on their own.
“One day.” He promised, “One day.”
“Attention!” Jupiter called, every Grunt quieting down as Cyrus stood with his Admins. “I understand you’re all excited for our next foray into our very special ruins.”
The crowd gave various noises of assent, as Charon threw something onto the floor, only for a screen detailing the map of the ruins popping up in front of them.
“Our goal today is not discovery, but conquest.” She continued, gesturing to a point in the center of the “Dialga” Chamber. “We believe there to be a central chamber here. Our goal is to establish multiple routes from here to base camp in order to continue our discovery of the ancient’s technology.”
Sirius felt his breath suddenly begin to quicken, as his senses began to run wild. His eyes went wide as they darted around the chamber, brows furrowed in confusion. His gut began to twist in anticipation, the adrenaline in his blood causing him to clench his fists until they were white. What the hell? What was going on?
“-eams will be split into smaller groups, as we’ve discovered small groups draw less attention. The goal being that by splitting the attention of the Unown, it will be easier to push farther into-”
His head throbbed, and he winced. There it was again! It was…no…how could he describe it? Anger? Fear? Joy? No, how did those emotions even relate to each other? It was like trying to describe a color that didn’t exist. His mind couldn’t fathom what it was feeling, something so alien his mind was destroying itself trying to process it into something he could understand. He needed to shut whatever was going on in his head off. He closed his eyes, focusing on the image of his psyche peeled open like an onion, and forcing it to ravel back in on itself.
It didn't work.
“I can’t turn it off.” Sirius thought, his eyes widening, “Why can’t I turn it off?”
Another wave of pain as his mind shuddered, and he let out a soft gasp, stumbling into his brother’s shoulder.
“Arun?” Pranav asked, worried, “Dude, what’s wrong?”
“A…Aken.” He managed to grit out, “Where is Aken?”
Two eyes peeked out from his brother’s shadow. Huh, he would’ve complimented his ability to hide if his head didn’t hurt so much.
“Aken, what’s wrong with him?”
Aken whispered something, Arun grabbed Valor’s pokeball from his belt, expanding it and letting the weight comfort him.
“Hey!” His brother whispered, “Aken’s saying you’re in pain, what’s wrong?”
“I…something…something’s coming.” Arun hissed.
Pranav’s eyes shot up, darting around the central chamber they were in. “I don’t see anything. Aken?”
Aken’s eyes were wide, and it hissed something at his brother.
“CONTACT!” Felis hollered, interrupting Jupiter in her speech.
Thousands of Unown exploded out from every direction, every single one of them letting off a soft hum that filled the air with a choir that signaled death. The cavern was immediately lit up in green energy as the army of Unown unleashed a volley of Hidden Power, crashing into the gathered Grunts who let out varying screams of anguish and surprise from the sudden attack.
“[Light Screen: House of Glass!]” Jupiter commanded, as a Bronzong appeared out of nowhere.
Hundreds of blasts were blocked as four shimmering walls fazed into existence, guarding a majority of the regular Grunts from harm. The Elites who were left outside burst into action, throwing Pokémon into the fray with a number of Bronzors, Giraffrigs, and Medicham lighting up into existence.
“POSITIONS!” Cyrus roared, and just like that the initial shock of the sudden ambush was dispelled. The walls of Lightscreen fell as Grunts moved in every direction, scattering as their own Pokémon entered the battle. Arun managed to free Valor from his Pokeball before the sheer psychic pressure of the unknown caused him to collapse onto the floor.
"Gah!" He screamed, grabbing the sides of his head in a futile attempt to block out the hammering in his head.
“Come on!” Hands roughly grabbed Arun’s shoulders, dragging him up as Pranav slung Sirius’s arm over his shoulder, dragging him away to cover. “Aken! [Knockoff] on anything that comes close! Valor, [Bulletseed!] shoot them out of the sky!”
The Pokémon got to work, Arun could feel Aken’s frustration as a spectral arm formed around the little ghost, knocking aside green blasts of energy into the ground. He could feel Valor’s fear, desperately shooting into the air as angry Unown battled against the ranks of Galactic.
Pranav dragged his brother into one of the tents. The actual cloth of the structure was torn to shreds, and Sirius wondered what the hell he could possibly want there.
“Sorry.” Pranav said, suddenly dropping him onto the floor. Arun would’ve said something, but all he could think about was the spike that was driving itself into his mind over and over again.
He heard the clattering of furniture, and with a great deal of effort he managed to look up to see that his brother had thrown lockers and tables to the floor, forming a makeshift barricade for the two of them. Some of the other Grunts had gotten the same idea, and amidst the screams of man and Pokémon alike barriers were formed, the Grunts finally, finally managing to build a perimeter.
A shitty perimeter, but a perimeter nonetheless.
“JAXON!” Arun heard his brother holler, “GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!”
Seconds later Jaxon arrived, stumbling in with his sister in tow, Elys groaning as she was dropped beside Arun.
“Thanks.” Jaxon gasped, Skorupi standing protectively beside him, “Got any burn heals?”
“Messenger bag, on Sirius, shit!” Pranav ducked a green blast that flew overhead, slamming into another poor grunt who was thrown a few feet back. The man wasn’t moving, Sirius didn’t know if he was dead or unconscious.
“Aken, [Will-O-Wisp!], fuck where the hell are the guns in this world?”
“Eli, stay still.” Jaxon said, brushing his sister’s hair to the side as a nasty burn was revealed on her neck and shoulder.
“I’m…I’m good.” Elys grit out, but let Jaxon help her anyways, shivering as the burn heal was spraying onto the blistering flesh.
“Get the rest of your Pokémon out here!” Felis commanded, “We’re being overrun!”
Arun snapped to attention at that. With great effort he pushed the pain to the side, trying desperately to take stock of the situation. The perimeter was set up, a loose oval of makeshift barriers that was under constant assault. But these weren’t sandbags or concrete blocks against steel bullets. These were lockers, tables, chairs, loosely packed together against energy blasts.
A bellowing roar cut through the hum of the Unown, as Cyrus’s Gyrados entered the fray, a jet of water instantly wiping out dozens of Unown from existence. It wasn’t difficult to see that Cyrus, his Admins, and the Elite were having little trouble defending themselves. They were however, stretched thin, and already he could see some of the grey uniforms of the Elite lying unconscious (at least, he hoped they were) across the battlefield.
But…was it him, or were the Unown more concentrated on their side?
“Skorupi! [Pin Missle!] The rest of you! Don’t stop with the long range!”
Jaxon and Elys’s team fought hard, taking out many of the Unown who didn’t appear to have the best of constitution. But they were too few, and the Unown too many.
“Watch it!” Arun managed to shout, tackling Valor and Pranav away, only to be hit in the side with a blast of green energy.
It burned.
“SIRIUS!” Pranav shouted, turning over his groaning form, “Goddammit you asshole! Stay awake!”
Arun could barely hear him, the pain of the psychic pressure, and the new burn in his side overwhelmed him. But he could still see, and he realized he wasn’t wrong, the Unown were converging towards them. He grabbed his brother's shoulder, before raising a shaking finger pointing towards a group of Unown that had arranged themselves in front of the lockers, over a dozen eyes casting their gazes directly at the two of them.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE
Well. Shit.
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Time seemed to slow down as Felis processed everything happening around him.
Unown stared at them through the chaos, they knew.
They fucking knew.
Cyrus and his admins were cut off from the rest of the Grunts, a wall of Unown between the two forces as whatever consciousness the Unown deeming the Admins to be the larger threat, that was a blessing and a curse, at the very least they wouldn’t see the messages.
The fight would be won, that was a no brainer, but if it continued the way it was going everyone would be either too dead or injured to continue with the expedition, and Felis couldn’t have that now, not when he saw a chance to receive answers.
“How?” He thought, as the shouting of his coworkers and the humming of the Unown faded around him, “How can I make this mine?”
Their little group was on the left side of the “perimeter” that had been set up, though it leaned closer to the center. He saw Hazel and Emily, battling a losing fight as their cover was too small for any substantial defense. He saw the elites spread thin as they tried their best to cover everything. He saw Cyrus’s tent, the G lying on the ground next to a fallen pole, the area was a mess with fallen research equipment and furniture.
Perfect.
“Aken!” He said, pointing to the downright terrifying Unown that watched them, as a green blast dissipated harmlessly across his partner’s silk, “There! Get rid of them!”
Snarling in euphoria, probably because he was fighting an enemy who could not hurt him, Aken flew into the masses, his spectral bony claw of Knockoff swiping at anything that drew too close.
Trusting his partner to make a mess of the messaged Unown, Felis vaulted off the locker, sprinting as hard as he could towards where Hazel, Emily, and Remi stood, their Pokémon valiantly defending their trainers and many of the wounded Grunts. He wove between blasts of green energy, feeling the singe on his skin as attacks narrowly missed him.
“Hazel!” Felis shouted as he slid in behind them, “You’re being overrun! We can’t stay here!”
“As if we’re staying of our own volition!” Remi snapped, “We have wounded over here!”
Felis ignored him, instead grabbing Hazel by his shoulder, “Where is your Duskull?”
“In his ball--Snowrunt [Protect!]” A wall of blue energy shimmered into existed, a dozen blasts exploding harmlessly off the glasslike surface.
“Get him out!” Felis asked, throwing the arm of an unconscious Grunt over his shoulder.
“He’s not going to listen to me!”
“He doesn’t need to! He’s a ghost type! He won’t be hurt, just let him go crazy!”
Hazel glanced at Emily, the two exchanging a silent conversation in one look before he turned back to him, nodding with apprehension. Hazel grabbed the only ball that was left dangling at his side, hurling it as far as he could.
It was as if the whole room had grown darker.
Felis could see the brief flash of light where the ball had opened, but it was immediately covered by a roiling black mist, two baleful red eyes peeking out.
And then there was laughter.
Immediately Unown turned to face their new threat, their dogged attacks doing nothing as the mist slowly enveloped one Unown, then another, and another as the Duskull laughed in ecstasy, the sound of a thousand echoed voices chilling Felis to his core.
“Let’s move!” He managed to shout as the focus of the Unown was shifted to Duskull. “To the center!”
The group followed, carrying as many of the wounded as they could, until they reached the ruins of Cyrus’s old tent, depositing injured before Felis turned back to them.
“Ems, Remi, I need you to go lead anyone who’s being overrun back here, Hazel, help bring Sirius and Elys over.”
Nobody protested, which surprised Felis, he expected Remi to say something but the man took one look at the situation, nodded, and bolted over to another group to the right, his Persian right on his heels.
Felis got to work, grabbing anything large enough to pull down onto the floor. Lockers, tables, expensive machinery, hell, even the suitcase Charon carried. In the end he wasn’t left with a good barrier, but it gave off the illusion of defense, and that was all he needed.
He knelt by the ruins of the tent in the center, ripping the “G” and wrapping it around a loose pole just as the others had returned, bolstering their numbers.
“To me!” Felis called, hoisting the “flag” up high, “To me, Galactic brothers and sisters!”
They were injured and panicked. Caught by surprise. The commanders were nowhere to be seen and their friends were injured. Their Pokémon, their partners, fought a seemingly endless enemy. Felis was a beacon of hope to all of them, a chance to turn things around, and with the now larger force taken to the center, it was a believable hope.
Galactic men and women rushed towards the middle of the battleground in a mad retreat, their Pokémon hot on their heels as the humming of the Unown intensified with their attacks. Felis waved the flag up high, swinging it back and forth as the Grunts below took up the cheer of “Galactic! Galactic!”
“Ghost and Fighting types to the front!” He commanded, shouting as loud as he could to his growing forces, “The rest of you! Volley fire on my signal!”
Golbats, Houndooms, and Bronzors took to forming the inner ring, as Misdreavious. Medicham, and Aken rushed to the front, forcing the Unown back as their attacks bounced harmlessly off the ghost-types, the fighters instead knocking attacks out of the air like as if they were nothing but buzzing insects.
“Prepare!” Felis raised the flag up once more, before bringing it down with a dramatic sweep, “Volley!”
Dozens of attacks ripped through the air, scattering the Unown whose own attacks lacked the power to counter them.
“Prepare!” He called again! “Volley!”
This time, a hundred attacks pushed through, and the Unown were sent reeling, their hum twisting into a metallic screech as they redoubled their efforts into removing the humans.
“Remi!” Felis called after a third volley, grabbing the man and hoisting him up beside him, “Continue the volley!”
“Wh-where are you going?”
“To get the injured, now get to it!”
“I-yes sir!” Remi hoisted the flag up, to the cheer of the Galactic men and women, “Ready!”
“You!” Felis shouted, grabbing Hazel and a number of other Grunts, “With me, let’s go!” Their Pokémon pushed forward into the fray, Flamethrowers and Aircutters smashing any resistance in their way. If Felis’s history teacher were here, he was certain he’d be given an A+ for his use of the creeping barrage, the attacks soaring overhead providing them all the cover they required. Aken floated beside him, absolutely revelling in the carnage now that it was in their favor.
“Fear me!” He cried out, spearing an Unown through the eye with his spectral arm, “I am death! I am the end!”
Felis laughed at the butchering, making sure to keep his little ghost close as they pointedly made their way away from Hazel’s Duskull, who was currently a giggling mass of dark mist and ruin, wreaking havoc on the Unown whose attacks seemed only seemed to incite more laughter.
Together they rushed for the injured and the stranded, picking up human and Pokémon alike, dragging them back towards their lines as the battle raged around them, the cavern rumbling and shaking as attacks went off and met in the air.
“We’re pushing them back!”
“Evan’s down!”
“Medic on site!”
“Injured are back!”
10 minutes.
Felis counted every moment in his head, watching as Grunts ran for cover and Pokémon battled where they could. Volleys of attacks were thrown one after the other with commands from Felis, and the help of Remi’s flag waving. He'd taken the most protected position in the center with Sirius groaning in pain beside him. Felis placed a hand atop his brother’s shoulder as he watched for any other…messages the Unown might have displayed. Thankfully, nothing else could be found, though he could almost feel some of the Unown watching him with unblinking eyes. Even the ones that were dying stared at them, their bodies evaporating into purple mist.
“[Howling Dance.]”
It was the quietest of whispers. If Felis’s ears hadn’t been trained in the Before to hear the tiniest of sounds he would have missed it. His head snapped towards where the voice crawled through, seeing Cyrus stride out of the darkness, Charon, Jupiter, and almost a dozen elite walking through. Their uniforms were scorched, and he could see the way Cyrus’s flesh turned an ugly pink at his neck. If they felt any pain however, they did not show it, their faces locked in firm determination.
The world around them darkened.
Duskull’s laughter snapped shut immediately.
The Unown stopped their hum.
They screamed instead.
It sounded like someone dragging their fingernails across chalk, but Felis could hear the pain the Unown exuded. His brother gasped beside him, clutching his head as he curled in on himself.
“Sirius!” Felis cried out, surprised to find his voice did not work, in fact, nothing anyone said worked. He could see Grunts yelling things but no sound existed, only the screams of the Unown.
“What…what is this?”
The Unown were dying, they were dying fast. Too fast for him to even see. He didn’t dare blink, watching the Unown simply vanish out of existence before his very eyes. All the while the strange Pokémon screamed, their scratching, metallic cries filling the empty chambers around them.
And then it was over.
The room went up in cheers.
Felis released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Grunts and Pokémon celebrated together, howling in their victory as the medics ran to the injured, and scientists lamented over their damaged equipment. Hands grabbed him, and before Felis could shrug them off he was hauled off in front of the Galactic boss himself.
“Cyrus!” They cheered, “Galactic! Felis!”
In any other situation, he would have absolutely reveled in the attention. But now? His blood ran cold as he stared at the Galactic Boss towering over him, his eyes seemingly boring into Felis’s very soul.
“He could kill me in a second…” Felis thought, as the Grunts around him continued their cheers, “He could kill me in a second and I wouldn’t even know.”
Was this what high level battling was like? How could you even stop a move like that? No. How did one even learn to do something like that? Would he live long enough to learn? Was turning against such a man even possible?
He snapped out of his thoughts a second later, as Cyrus rested a firm hand on his shoulder. Felis tensed, subtly shifting his stance as he prepared for...something.
“Well done.” Was all Cyrus said however, giving him a slight smile.
Felis nodded numbly as he was gently pushed to Cyrus’s left hand side in front of Charon. The Boss then turned to the crowd, raising an arm to silence the cheers. Once all was silent, he watched them for a few moments, letting the quiet settle over the crowd.
“My friends.” The Gang Boss finally said, his voice echoing across the midnight cavern, “We’ve discovered a treasure no person has even heard of for thousands of years. We of Galactic have found ruins that could usher in a new age for those of us in Sinnoh.”
He raised both his arms, gesturing around the mess that was once the Galactic camp “It appears its denizens do not intend to give up their secrets so lightly. Nay, instead it looks as if they intend to stop us. Stop us from achieving greatness. Stop us from achieving our destiny. Will we let them stop us? Will we let the dead force us into subservience?”
“NO!” The crowd cheered.
“Will we let the ancients stop us from saving Sinnoh?”
“NO!” They called again.
“Will we let our dream be shattered by the grudges of those before us!?”
“NO!” They cheered, louder this time, and Felis was surprised to find himself joining the chant.
“SHOW ME!” Cyrus roared, above the crowd, “SHOW ME YOU CAN PREVAIL! SHOW ME YOUR SKILL, YOUR STRENGTH, YOUR CUNNING! SHOW ME!”
The crowd roared back, stomping their feet and howling as they waited for Cyrus to give the order. They were like hounds bound by their master's leash, eagerly awaiting the start of a hunt. Felis spotted his brother at the front of the crowd, whatever headache had affected him earlier was now replaced by the emotions of the crowd, as Sirius had a snarl painted on his lips.
“Go forth!” Cyrus called, “Go forth and conquer! Go forth and leave no stone unturned! No wall unmarked and unrecorded! Go forth and wipe the Unown from their hallowed halls! Go forth and show them that Galactic cannot be stopped! That we will never stop, until the very stars kneel to us!”
“Medics!” Jupiter shouted over the crowd, “Take the injured and set up a safe house! Stellars! Set up a new perimeter, I want a watch and a guard rotation right now! We are not getting caught by surprise again!”
Bodies moved and surged in different directions. The injured hobbled over to the Medics, those with injured Pokémon did the same. The elites…or Stellars he supposed, took to forming a ring about the ruins of the old camp as Scientists inspected the damages of their machinery. Those with light burns began popping berries and spraying down their Pokémon with potions, letting them heal before taking them back into their balls.
Amidst the somehow controlled chaos, Felis disappeared into the crowd, dragging his older brother away from the sight of Cyrus as he continued to shout orders and directions to those who seemed lost.
“Hey! You good?” Felis whisper-shouted.
“My head feels like a sack of bricks.” Sirius grunted, as Valor worriedly leaned into his cheek, “But I’m good enough to move.”
“Good. We need to get out of here, into the ruins before Cyrus decides he wants to know how we knew about the attack before it went off.”
“Yeah. Yeah, alright.”
They followed the bustling crowd, eager to leave the camp–and Cyrus–behind. They needed to be alone, they needed to plan, to think, to talk. Cyrus was powerful, too powerful. Even if the two brothers attempted an assassination, the fact that his Pokémon could do that meant they’d never be safe. Not unless they played by the Pokémon rules, got their own team strong enough to handle…whatever it was Cyrus did, and cement themselves as people who could not, and should not, be fucked with.
So as the central chamber of the Temple appeared, and the yawning darkness beckoned them to enter and discover what secrets it had.
Felis couldn’t help but feel relieved.