Whoot! New banner!
New chapter too, of course. I tried my best in the action sequence of this chapter for you action-lovers.
Oh, and besides the bad guy,and possibly Giratina, it seems as if all the characters in this chapter are female. Hm...I promise it will even out eventually
And without further ado:
Chapter 3
She saw, but not with her eyes, nothing. She heard, but not with her ears, breathing. She felt, but not with her body, shadow as it grabbed at her mind desperately.
So…you have come.
It was then that she saw a great monstrosity come to her. Piercing eyes illuminated the nothingness, allowing her to see the golden mask that hid the monster’s visage. Though she could barely tell, she could almost see strands of flat shadow following the beast. Immediately, a feeling of dead came over her.
In your current state, you can’t do much.
What did it mean by that?
But I need you.
Again, she was left confused at the beast’s words.
So for now, you must beware. Survive and beware.
Beware?
Now awaken!
-*-*-*-*-
Navi’s eyes burst open like buds in the sun. Her voice, which blasted out a sharp outcry, began to ebb into a hollow whimper. Her paws had grasped the bedding in a constricting grip as terror continued to wreathe her features.
There was shadow. She began to recall as her scarlet eyes stared at something far beyond the wall she cast her gaze on now. And a monster. Beware. Nothingness. Shadow. Monster. Beware. Nothing. Shadow, monster, beware, nothing. Shadow-monster-beware—
And if she just focused on those words. If she recited them faster—
Nothing.
And yet still, those moments of her dream slipped away from her.
Her gaze finally left the wall, and it took a moment for her to realize that she was sitting up. When she did, she brought her knees to her chest and hugged them like a frightened toddler. She felt as if there was something important in that dream that left her with terror when she awoke. A normal person would not want to remember something that gives them such a feeling of dread. But she was not normal. She was stuffed into a disproportional body, thrown into an alternate dimension, and stripped of all her memory. Surely even a little memory from a dream that leaves her in a cold sweat would be welcome.
She bit her bottom lip, let herself calm down, then sighed.
She slid of her bed and walked briskly, albeit shakily, out of her little cave of a room. There would be no good coming to her just sitting and moping about a dream. She had to do something, even if it is to ask around. Or get that stupid shackle off her foot…
Indeed, as she was walking through the tunnel, the broken chain of her fetter rattled noisily on the rocky ground as she strode through the reverberating cavern, earning her curious glances or angry glares from some of the guests. She tried her best to ignore them until the rattling was muted on a smoother dustier floor.
Navi looked around. She was in the same domed room she first saw when she entered the base. There were still some creatures about, but there was less than she saw yesterday.
I should probably find Rigel, she thought to herself. Maybe he’ll have an idea of what to do next.
As she scanned the vast room with her gaze, she caught something in the corner of her eye.
It was a bulletin board, right next to the entrance. It was cluttered with papers, many of them overlapping each other or concealing another altogether. She trotted over, craning her neck back to see it better. She read a few:
Help!!
My friend hasn’t returned from the
Temple of the Sea!
Please find Him!
Reward: Brown Gummi
From the Guild of Discovery:
We have heard of the secrets of the
Erebus Catacombs.
However, we must know of the hazards in such a place.
Your Team has been requested to scout the catacombs.
If you accept, please inform us.
Reward: 5000 poke’
Come one, come all!
In the next full moon, many
Teams will come to compete in the
Pleiades plains.
Do not miss this chance!
1st place: Joy Ribbon
2nd place: Pecha scarf
3rd place: Apple
She shook her head, not understanding all of the ideas and chaos on the board. As she did, she saw another bulletin board right on the other side of the entrance. This one had much less clutter, though there were still quite a bit of articles held up by various sharp objects that could be stabbed into a cork board. These were much more interesting, in Navi’s opinion, because of all the well done sketches on each. Though they were slightly different, all of the articles had at least a profile, or frontal sketch and the word WANTED written below it.
“Ah, that’s our criminal board.”
Navi yelped at the sudden remark and pivoted around sharply to see who disturbed her—
--only to fall backwards from the momentum of the twist.
Chara rocked back and forth on her tail as she looked at the board. If she noticed Navi’s reaction, she made no effort to acknowledge it. “Yep. They’ve been causin’ trouble ‘round these parts lately, those criminals. They’ve been makin’ us Teams more like bounty hunters than anything.”
“R-really…” Navi pushed herself up into and standing position again, dusting herself off.
“Mmhm! There’s a bunch that have large sums for their heads, like Kymella, Ortus, and Kell Bearous…”
“…By the way…where’s Rigel?”
“Oh, him?” Chara leaned back, looking as if she could fall at any second. “He went off to the Pygmy Forest for a mission this morning. He chose a really easy one this time—“
“W-wai-wait! This morning?” But that means…
Chara blinked. “Yep. It’s noontime! Did’ya sleep in?”
Navi mentally slapped herself. That really helped. Now she’d have to find some way to pass the time. But…how long will she have to wait in the first place? “When do you think he’ll get back?”
Chara surprised her with her reaction, which suddenly became more somber. “Well…he should’ve came back a few hours ago.”
“Really?”
“Yep”, Chara confirmed with a nod of her head…or body. “He wanted to have enough time to show you ‘round, so he picked an assignment that would only take a few hours. Pygmy Forest lives up to its name at being small, so it’s a bit strange that…” Chara then returned to her former self, losing any former essence of seriousness. “He’s probably slacking off somewhere anyhoo. Don’t worry about him. Even he can’t get stuck in a place like that. That’s usually where beginner Teams start.” And with that, Chara lowered from her perch on her tail and bounded off like a squirrel.
Navi gritted her teeth and wrapped her arms around her tiny body. Of course she was worried, since he was the only person that has or will believe that she was human, and the one most likely to help her out of the mess that she was mercilessly hurled into, and not only that, but he saved her from rotting away in a dungeon.
She looked at the ground…shifted…glanced at the entrance…turned her gaze back to the ground…shifted again…then slowly—very slowly—turned her head back to the entrance of the base.
She had a feeling this wasn’t going to be a good idea.
-*-*-*-*-
“This isn’t a good idea,” Navi muttered.
It was a bit too late to be thinking that, however. She swore she got the right directions, but this place definitely didn’t match her description as somewhere that could only take a few hours to go through.
It was not at all friendly, especially during this snowless winter where the leafless trees looked like witches’ hands reaching out in a futile attempt to seize and strangle the cheery, blue sky that mocked at their earthly fate. Everything else about the place seemed barren. There were no ferns or sprouts or thorns, for they were a part of the layer of litter that Navi trudged her way through.
She wanted to go back, wait it out at the base. But she was lost amidst the redundancy of the bare trees. She had to keep going.
It was then that a figure burst out from behind her, making a loud entrance. Navi grabbed the nearest stick she could find and whipped around, readying herself for an attack. Instead, she saw the sleek figure of the serpent, Capella, in front of her.
“What are you…” Capella didn’t finish, looking from Navi, to the stick, then back to Navi again.
Immediately, Navi stuck the stick behind her, wondering if the snake thought she was deranged. “I’m looking for Rigel,” she stated to show that she was not intimidated.
Capella continued to stare at her with a look of bewilderment and judgment in her eyes, then shook her head. “Oh.” And that was all she said. Oh. Then she cast her golden eyes over Navi’s shoulder as if orienting herself. “Well then Navi, do you know what a place like this is called?"
Navi blinked, not understanding the question.
“It’s what we like to call a dungeon. No, not in the way of a prison like you were in, but of a place like a maze, where many are doomed to lose their bearings. Not only that, but sometimes, fellow Pokemon attack passerby’s in places like this. I can handle them fine, but with such little skill like yours, well, I couldn’t help but intervene in your trek through here.”
Navi mentally winced at the new wound of pride she now owned. But it was true, and if these strange crea…Pokemon really did attack others like the animals she thought them as, then she got herself into a lot more trouble than she thought. “What are you doing here?” she asked, changing the subject.
“Oh, I’m supposed to drag that waterlogged Rigel back since he has some chores he’s supposed to do and—“ she stopped abruptly and swiveled her head to the side, her once calm breaths became short. “What is he doing here” she whispered so quietly that Navi almost didn’t catch it, then darted off with her confused companion following suit.
It didn’t take Navi long to notice what Capella saw. There was an area before them that the layer of litter was cleared, as if thrown to the side, and the dirt floor was revealed. To one side of the area was Rigel’s orange body, lying lifeless on the forest floor. Another creature shared his fate nearby.
But that was not what made the violet snake dash off.
It was the eyes of blood that leered into their souls. Navi traced the visage in which the eyes belonged to find the ashen fur that covered the felon’s body and claws that could rip through intangible fog. A mane along the spine that looked as if it was cut from the dark cloth of night finished the impassionate soul.
“Kell Bearos…the Mightyena…” Capella breathed beside her. And then Navi remembered…
“Mmhm! There’s a bunch that have large sums for their heads, like Kymella, Ortus, and Kell Bearous…”
Kell Bearos.
Oh no…Please no…
But her chain of thought was interrupted when the behemoth charged towards them, slamming Capella against the trunk of a tree before Navi could even react. She heard the serpent’s body thump sickeningly against the forest floor as the beast turned to deal with her.
This wasn’t supposed to be happening…
Navi was then flung against the ground and held fast by concussion, where, motionless, forlorn, she could only watch as the beast, as colorful as he is kind, approach and place a large paw on her chest. “What’s this?” the beast sneered as he lowered his head. “Is that a small heart? Hammering through the ribs? Yes?”
Wolfish teeth glinted mercilessly at her.
“Yes,” said Navi.
“Poor creature. We can’t have that, now can we? Don’t you worry, I’ll stop it!”
And to that the petrifying stare and the weight of the paw lurched away for an instant, before the claws were thrust back down and came to a squelching halt in her flesh. A shrill shriek burst from her compressed lungs and the paw was pulled away, her skin rippling as the claws were extracted. Anticipating another strike, her body ticked in to her reflexes and her leg kicked forward, connecting with the attacker’s forearm. Stunned and surprised, the behemoth reared back.
Taking the opportunity, Navi rolled onto her wounded stomach and pushed herself up, then took a mad dash in a random direction. Then, she heard the hushed sound of scampering feet from behind her, and she instinctively half-fell, half-rolled, out of the way, barely dodging a wild swing.
She leapt up to run again, but she suffered a blow to her arm, triggering another blood-curdling screech from her weakened lungs. Another sent her toppling to the ground, her body thrashing and convulsing in a futile attempt to shake off the pain.
Navi stilled in a crooked mess, her eyes dulling of color as her energy went with it. She was losing…she was dying…she couldn’t bear the fear that wanted to burst inside her. Wasn’t the pain supposed to be going now? Wasn’t she supposed to go numb as she slipped away from this world. Why wasn’t she dead?
Another force racked against her body yet again, taking away any energy left within her.
Then, a familiar, ethereal voice…
Get up!
As if woundless, Navi rose to her feet. The beastly shriek escaped from her lips again, but this time, it was one of aggression as she launched herself to the behemoth to deliver one final blow.
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