Darkness Awakens

Aku

The Shogun of Sorrow
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Beyond the atmosphere of the planet Ede Nona, a black mass drifts freely in space toward the planet filling with life. The rings around the planet move gracefully in orbit at ten mph. Hundreds of miles away, the black mass moves closer toward Ede Nona at a fast speed. Soon after, it flies past the moon and over the rings of the planet. The gravitational pull gets a hold of the black threatening unknown mass, making it fall toward the atmosphere. Suddenly, it picks up speed even more than before. The mass starts to burn up as it enters the planet, just like an asteroid. This object wasn't big enough to cause catastrophic devastation to the life of the Ede Nona on impact. Currently were the darkened mass was falling at, it is currently daylight.

Where the object is going to land is far away from the kingdom of Arcadia. It's falling into the Hinterlands instead. Anyone that day near the area could look up at the sky and think as if an asteroid is about to smash on Ede Nona. The black mass is hard to see with it burning up from flying at mock speeds into the atmosphere, now becoming a bright object. A young merchantman is riding in his wooden covered wagon with his trusty mule down a trail in the middle of the woods. Suddenly, the man can see the asteroid looking object coming towards him. He looks up and is fearing from this rare encounter of a flying object coming from the sky. His mule is startled by the presence too and starts to run fast. The merchant holds on tightly while the wagon speeds up with the mule running. While they move, the object from space flew over them and lands into the ground.

It lands south from them but as the wagon moved over the trail quickly, they hit a big rock which causes the merchant to fall off his transportation. He hit the ground hard which takes a few seconds for him to realize his wagon was getting away. The man whistled at his donkey to get the animal's attention even screaming at the poor thing. Only stubbornness is the response of the traveling jackass that fled the scene in a hurry. Now the merchant was all alone in this wild forest with no one around. He shifted off the ground and back onto his feet. On his mind, the task is to control the wagon again, but curiosity struck him on what landed away from here.

Not whole lot of things fall from the sky here and maybe he can make a great discovery. Wherever that thing hit the ground at is causing smoke to rise in the air, making it easy to find. The merchant starts to make his first steps toward the smoke. It took about eight minutes to get where this alien thing is at, and he finally can have a good gaze upon this rare event. A crater was made by the impact and all the ground around is cracking. In the center of this crater, is a black melted puddle that's hard to describe what is it. Still, curiosity filled the merchant's mind and he continues to walk closer to this strange liquid. As the closer he gets, his ears can hear the ooze noises that the puddle is making. Now, the man stands in front of this unnatural liquid substance and thinks of its existence.

Is this a life form from the outer space? When he stood there long enough coming up with more questions and thinking about touching it, activity springs from the puddle. It's a large tree that sprouts within it and rises high. Once it reaches a certain point, the blackened tree stopped. Branches from the top start to form and move upwards. The limb continues to grow into actual two long arms. Above the arms, two bigger branches on both sides sprout into sharp pincer shapes. Six smaller branches migrate to the top of the tree. While this process happened before his eyes, fear and amazement came over him that freezes his body. Hands started to form on the two arms that were just made. At the same time, two fiery flaming spheres appeared at the top of the tree. A green demonic face rises out of the black surface to connect with the flaming brows. The last thing that the tree makes is a red long beard that has the same color along with the eyebrows. This being's eyes remain closed during this process but once everything was made, the black eyelids open with white and black round pupils. More panic rises inside the merchant from the sight of this huge being.

The blackened creature starts to stretch his limbs out and open his wicked sharp fingers. Once his eyes understand the environment around him, this supernatural force looks down upon the mortal.

"Ahhhh." was the first thing uttered from this dark living thing that was filled with relief.

The merchant still facing this figure with horror across his face of this abomination. It was too late for the young man go running since the dark creature's eyes catch him.

"YOU, THANK YOU FOR REVIVING ME" the being's words booming around the area, making the merchant even more scared.

"Please don't eat me!" the merchant screamed in shock and backs away quickly but falls onto his back from his heels hitting a rock.

"HA HA HA! FOOLISH MORTAL I'M NOT GOING TO EAT YOU!" the huge creature laughs with hilarity from the poor human's scream.

"FOR YOU SEE, I AM AKU. THE SHOGUN OF SORROW, THE DELIVERER OF DARKNESS, AND I AM YOUR NEW MASTER!" Aku booms once more with introducing himself while looking down at the human.

"M-master?" the merchant confuse with this situation on how this monster isn't going to eat him.

"YOU HEARD ME, I WAS ONCE A RULER OF ANOTHER WORLD BUT REMOVED FROM IT. NOW I CAN RELINQUISH MY POWER AND SHOW THIS WORLD WHO IS MASTER" Aku followed up with while the mortal listened to his words.

"You're going to let me free right?" The merchant requested in favor for his life.

"BWAHAHAHAHA AS LONG YOU BOW TO MY PRESENCE AND SPREAD THE WORD OF AKU" Aku laughed at the cowering human who was still on his back after falling.

"Oh yes Lord Aku, I won't forget you! I'll let my customers know about you!" The merchant shifts quickly to a bowing stance and repeating it over.

"NOW BEGONE TINY INSECT!" Aku demanded in high authority at the merchant.

The young man got back on his feet and ran away as far as he can. After the human left, Aku looks down at himself and realizing how smaller his full form is now compared to before.

"I really need to start exercising more," Aku mentions to himself, concerning about his shape.
 

Aku

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For minutes, Aku tries to shapeshift into his forms and other powers. Such defeat falls upon him on how he can't control his abilities during this moment. For a long time, the controlling on his skill were such a breeze to do but since appearing on this planet somehow has depleted his previous powers. Agitation spread across him with already a twitching face and his eyes becoming grumpy from the fact that this happened. With all his frustration, he let out a scream of anger from the temper that builds up inside of him.

"SAMURAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Aku screams incredibly loud with anger across him, causing an echo throughout the land and making the birds fly out of the trees in a frightening manner.

His face is still stuck with a grumpy expression while slouching a little in his huge form after the outburst. Muttering is coming out of Aku's mouth from letting out his frustration about his powers.

"Of course, that samurai fool must've cursed me with that cheating sword. However, will I get my old self back together? Hmmmmm?" Aku talked to himself with calmness while stroking his fiery red beard in the middle of the quiet forest and thinking for his plan.

A light bulb goes off inside Aku's mind, following along with a snap of his fingers.

"Maybe I can regain my powers. I mean, after all, I must be out of touch from that battle." Aku gaining back his self-esteem with a little positive expression across his face.

"Yessssssss, that's it. I just need to cause destruction and make my evil known. After that, I could become more invincible than now," the master of darkness face slowly curled into a mischievous wide smile.

Samurai Jack comes across his mind from fearing he might show up and kill him all over again. His smile vanished into a worrying expression with the bad thought coming to realization.

"Grrrrrrrrraaaaaahhhhhhh… Maybe the Samurai doesn't exist in this world or anything to destroy me. I'm sensing everything around me and it feels like new. Nothing like earth." Aku talks to himself while pondering the many possibilities this world has.

Suddenly, he starts laughing manically with the daydream he's having that shows him destroying civilization, enslaving anyone who opposes him and creating a world of evil that is under his rule.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

His genuine loud evil laugh made a big smile come across his face while it echoes throughout the land, terrifying any living thing that stands close by. The shogun of sorrow begins making his way through the forest in his smaller form. Aku stands at 7'2 at his height when reducing to a similar human form. His head, arms, and shoulders weren't changed during the process, but he now has two legs to walk on from the waist down. The hands still had those long-wicked fingers that are sharpened with claws. This supernatural being walked through the brush of the clam forest while still agitated he can't shapeshift yet into an easy way of traveling.
 

Mewtwo

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It was a beautiful day.

The sun was shining and the airstream resulting from our fast flight brushed over my skin. Behind me were the other clones, all twenty-five of them, flying thanks to my psychic powers. I needed not see them to feel their presence. And beside me was Mew. It was acting as the guide, yet I knew just as much where we were headed even though I had never been there before. Now I know that it is the memories of the ancient Mew whose genetic material served to create me, passed on to me through the millenia.

I casted a glance over at the one next to me, wondering how many generations had come and gone between it and my genetic parent. Could it be one and the same? Mew raised its head to return my look with its big, innocent eyes and I saw an amused glimmer in them. Then it turned its focus forward again. I doubt I’ll ever get an answer to that question and I’ve given up on trying to Mind Read its thoughts: our minds are too evenly matched for either of us to see anything, even though it seems like Mew could tell what I was thinking often times. Besides, it is a matter of trust and good manners not to invade another’s thoughts.

Our destination was still a ways off but I felt impatient. Maintaining my concentration to keep everyone flying in the air was keeping me from formulating deeper thoughts yet at the same time left me enough that I grew bored. But I refused to distract myself as I needed to be careful not to loosen my grip on any of the others, even if Mew could probably catch them if I dropped one by accident.

I called out to Mew with conversational telepathy. Unlike mind reading which could be equated to breaking down a door or sneaking in through a window, this is like ringing the doorbell - an invitation from outside, not an attempt to force your way in. It answered promptly. What is it, Mewtwo?

I would like to land and take a short break. To maintain everyone in the air is taxing. I also sent an image of a beach below us that looked untouched by humans, instead of pointing it out by hand.

Good idea. Gyarados, Blastoise and the others could use a soak.

I thus began our collective descent while announcing our intent to everyone. Gyarados replied with a happy wriggle which drew a smile from me. However, that was not the time for pleasantries: I had to keep an eye on our surroundings and ensure that no human witnessed our presence. A group of nearly thirty Pokémon would no doubt draw their attention.

I was the first to touch down, digging my toes into the sand and checking that it was safe. Outside of a handful of Kingler and Tentacruel swimming near the shore everything looked fine, so I lowered the others onto the ground as well. A pair of Woopers scurried off but otherwise the local Pokémon did not particularly note our presence, even when Dewgong used its tail to catapult itself into the deep water and made a huge splash. Much like myself these clones had been born fully developed without experiencing evolution, and the first hour of their existence had been to be thrown into combat. Now they had a chance to behave the way they should: like the children they really were.

Mew formed a pinkish bubble in the air and laid down while I turned away from the group and peered into the forest. Venusaur was befriending a couple of Caterpie that were seemingly curious about the flower on its back, but that was all. I could sense no threat far and wide, but that was not to say that there was none. However, my attention was soon taken when I felt fur brushing against my leg. Meowthtwo had come up and was asking for rubs.

“You should relax too”, it said as I squatted next to it and rubbed behind its ears with my nubby fingers.

"I can’t let my guard down. I’m responsible for our group", I responded.

“Just ask Mew to keep watch for a bit. You shouldn’t be the only one that doesn’t get to enjoy themselves.” When I did not respond it turned its head to look up at me and caught a direct ray of sunlight with the coin on its forehead, reflecting it into my face. I involuntarily squinted, but then turned my head to look into the sky. It was a beautiful day indeed.

"Can I trust you to keep Mew from dozing off for a few minutes, say ten?"

“Just ten though. The sun’s making me lazy too.” As if to confirm that statement it yawned and stretched its arms with the claws extending.

"Very well. I will not be away overlong." I relayed the message to Mew, who acknowledged me with a short glance from a half-open eye and didn’t move from its ‘bed’ atop the bubble, not even to pat Meowthtwo when it came to lay down next to it. Perhaps I should come back after five minutes after all.

Again I turned my eyes skywards and gathered my concentration. Then I pushed myself into the air at maximum speed, blasting off so fast that I kicked a small crater into the sand below me. Within moments I had reached the lower-hanging clouds - the tiny ones that hung around in the otherwise blue-colored sky - but I kept going. Beneath me the world shrunk down as I rose away from it, the beach I had stood on turned into a yellow strip along the edge of a far larger landmass and the clone Pokémon became tiny dots.

When I stopped I knew that I was higher than where humans flew their commercial planes. If it was a rainy day I would be above the raincloud layer now. I stretched my arms, legs and tail and filled my lungs with the thin air. I wouldn’t be able to stay this high for long before starting to have problems, but a minute or two would be fine.

Then I noticed that I was still rising. Was this the momentum of my ascent? No, I was certain that I’d stopped myself. Nontheless I applied some downward force with my psychic power to nudge myself in the right direction. I’d just let myself drop and slow my descent once I reached a good height for breathing. But I did not start descending. I continued to ascend, at breakneck speed.

Weird, I thought to myself as I saw the last of the clouds zoom past me. Above me the sky was darkening as if it was turning to nighttime. I’m not feeling afraid at all. I consciously knew that I should be panicking as my body gasped for air and the blue and green planet below me turned dark. It felt surreal, but the pain in my chest was not.

The last thought I had before I passed out was that Earth seen from this far away looked beautiful.





Blub





Where… what…

What’s happening?



This feels… familiar. I remember this place.

This is… where I was born.



Have I died? Is this what it’s like?


Bubbles rise around me in the dark. I cannot see them, but I can hear them. This is just like back then. Dr. Fuji’s laboratory. The tank I was born… that I was created in. It is where I dreamt of Mew’s life. Of the river that it swam through and the jungle it flew over. It is where I met Ambertwo. I remember that I then opened my eyes and saw the scientists behind the glass.

I remember shattering that glass. Is that what will happen next?



Nothing happens… but am really just a spectator that re-watches my life? Could it be that…


I opened my eyes, slowly and carefully. But I was not met with the expected humans in coats beyond the glass. Instead there was darkness, and a single large green and blue world in it. I realized that it could not be Earth because it had rings around it like the planet Saturn.

I felt confusion well up inside me and reached my hand out towards the planet, only to find it stopped a short distance away from me, by an unyielding cold surface. Glass.

Is this a tank again? Am I inside a laboratory again? But why do I see this image of outer space? Is it a trick to confuse me? Could there be a screen beyond the glass displaying fake images?

… should I try to break the glass and escape?


I decided against that. If it was indeed a trick then they would eventually slip up. And if it was not and for whatever reason I was indeed in space, the glass protected me. No matter how powerful I am, not even I cannot defy nature. I would freeze or suffocate instantly.

On the other hand I couldn’t just accept that I was floating in space above an unknown planet, stuck inside a glass tank. The only thing that remotely made sense was that I was in space, since I had flown skywards and then, for some reason, been dragged further up against my will.

I then realized that the planet was slowly coming closer. No, not slowly, it had to be immensely fast if I could see it grow with my naked eye. A quick calculation in my head said that if this planet was the size of Earth I had to be about as far away as the moon right now. To approach it at this speed… I would be reaching the ground in a minute. And if my estimate about my distance was correct, that meant I was approaching at almost a fiftieth of the speed of light.

There was no way a flimsy glass tank could protect me from anything at this speed. If I did not want to end my life torn apart by the friction of entering the atmosphere or as a crater I would need to act, and fast.

The pod became surrounded in blue flames as I exercised my psychic power on it. I applied all my force in the opposite direction and, when I realized I wasn’t slowing down in the slightest, I attempted to redirect the pod to a high orbit. This worked better, as fortunately I wasn’t descending at a vertical angle. Even so I knew that I was still approaching the planet rapidly. Already I was entering distances where Earth would have satellites in high orbit.

It was only much later, when the planet beneath me filled out my field of view, that I was able to stabilize the tank and, with relatively little effort, keep it from falling further so that I was suspended above the planet which slowly continued to rotate beneath. Six thousand kilometers per second approaching Earth, four hundred times the top speed of a human-made rocket, slowed down to zero in less than a minute. I felt a little impressed with myself. And yet, realistically this made no sense. My psychic powers were powerful to be sure, but to decelerate myself at… say a hundred and fifty kilometers every second was ludicrous, even in outer space. If this was indeed a trick, it was an immensely elaborate one to simulate all this and react to my psychic power usage - and I had felt the exertion of slowing myself down. I concluded that this could not be a trick, then.

For a brief moment the memory of the Pokémon reviving the petrified human, Ash Ketchum, flashed through my head. A miracle. Had I performed one such miracle myself just now? Had some divine creature decided to intervene? A week ago I would have dismissed these thoughts as laughable wishful thinking. Now I was not so sure.

What am I thinking? Now isn’t the time to philosophize about the supernatural. I have a more pressing matter at hand.

Namely the remainder of my descent. I was suspended above the unknown planet but I could not stay here, obviously. I had to descend. Far beneath me were clouds obscuring my vision of the surface, but between the gray and white layers I caught glimpses of an extensive structure. A human city, perhaps? Yet none of the landmasses looked even remotely like Earth’s, which confirmed my prior observation that this was not Earth, unless I had somehow traveled through time to when the continents were different. Either way I would have to throw out my prejudices. It may be that this world was inhabited by wholly different species. With that in mind, I began to allow myself to fall.

I opted to let myself drop at a slight angle. As luck would have it I had the sun behind me so I needed not to circle around the planet to land in an area with daylight, but a straight descent was harder to control. At these speeds however, maintaining a steady descent was feasible, I only needed to be careful. Soon I felt the friction of air form around the tank, until it was encased in flames. Being wary of heating the cold glass too fast and cracking it I encased it in a Barrier, then allowed myself to accelerate as gravity’s pull drew me in with increasing force.


----


Meanwhile somewhere in Arcadia a few people looked up to the sky as they witnessed yet another unidentified object leaving a blazing trail behind it descending upon their planet. “That’s the third time this week”, an older man remarked with a concerned frown. “First that black blob, then the naked woman, now one that leaves a blue trail.”

“Why are people falling from the sky? Is this some kind of sign from above?” a woman asked in a frightened tone.

“Probably just a spacecraft that exploded in low orbit”, a younger girl pointed out. “The debris are burning up as they fall down.”

“Those filthy otherworldlers squatting in orbit better stop dumping their trash onto our city!” an aged senior pointed out as he shook his fist at the sky.

These and many more impressions were shared throughout the city and even inside the palace, but the matter was soon forgotten about by the general population.


----


As I descended more and more details came into view. In hindsight I have come to the conclusion that the nutritional liquid must have been laced with some sort of sense-enhancing drug because I was able to see the world beneath me in breathtaking detail that day, but lost that super-sensitive vision soon after my landing. But that day I wondered if this was what a deity saw the world like: the big picture all around me, yet everything in more detail than even my enhanced brain could process. I had descended past the cloud layer into a drizzling afternoon and was just beneath the highest rainclouds, yet I could see the single leaves on the trees beneath me. I could see Caterpie-like creatures munching on some of them and I could see weirdly colored Pidgeys and Spearows nesting in the trees.

I focused my vision onto where I estimated my landing to be, and found myself surprised. There was a dark bog of some kind - no, not dark, completely black - surrounded by trees that looked singed. Has something exploded or released a heat wave of some kind?

I decided to find stabler ground to land on and settled for a clearing not far from the bog. Once I was only about a hundred meters above the treetops I manoeuvered myself to fly above it and from there hovered downwards and landed my makeshift spacecraft. With its purpose served, I released a Psywave around me that blasted the glass apart and spreaded shards and the nutritional fluid I had been suspended in all over the clearing. The shattering noise caused a few Pidgeys to fly up and away from the trees. I followed them with my eyes. No, those weren’t Pidgeys, those were… what? New Pokémon? The longer I looked at them, the fewer details I was able to make out. I blinked and looked down at my hands. My sight was returning to normal. Resigned, I stepped out of the destroyed tank, still wet with the liquid.

That was when, with the remainder of my sharpened vision, I noticed a big pair of eyes watching me. “You there”, I called out using broadcasted telepathy. “I know you’re there. Show yourself!”

The figure that appeared between the trees was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was somewhat taller than me, human in shape and with a body as black as the night. Its big eyes had flames burning above them and the green-lipped mouth opened to reveal a wide, toothy grin.

“YOUUUU!” the figure shouted, responding with a masculine voice. So it was a ‘he’... an unknown Dark-type Pokémon that could speak? I was immediately wary. A Dark-type was the worst possible matchup for me. “IS IT YOU WHO FELL FROM THE SKY INTO MY DOMAIN?” as he asked this, he accusingly pointed a claw-like finger at me.

“Yes”, I responded plainly. “What is this place, and who are you?”

The stranger’s face shifted from that big, grimacing smile into a surprised expression. It was almost comical. “You mean… YOU MEAN YOU DO NOT KNOW OF ME, AKU THE MASTER OF DARKNESS?”

Did his voice just slip a bit? Is this Aku really shouting at me all this time? He was probably trying to sound imposing but after that slip-up I had a harder time taking him seriously. “I have never heard that as a name”, I responded honestly, “but I believe that some humans refer to the Dark type as ‘Aku’.” Which translates to evil. A dark-type Pokémon named ‘Evil’... could he be a legendary Pokémon, an embodiment of darkness of some kind? I had better be wary.

“So this really is a new world”, Aku murmured to himself. Then he turned to me again and put on his wide-grin grimace. “VERY WELL! I SHALL FORGIVE YOU FOR INTRUDING UPON MY DOMAIN THIS ONCE, WORM. YOU MAY LIVE SO THAT YOU CAN TELL OTHERS OF ME! NOW TELL ME, MY CURIOUS-LOOKING SERVANT, WHAT IS YOUR NAME?”

Worm? I felt tempted to wipe that grin from his face with a Dynamicpunch, but to take on an opponent like this was risky. To proclaim himself sovereign over this territory and title himself ‘Master of Darkness’ he had to have at least some strength - unless he was blowing his ego. He was also a Dark-type and looked to be completely fit, while I was shaky on my legs after my flight through space. I did not gauge my chances of winning high… I would just have to play along for now.

“I am called Mewtwo, the genetic Pokémon.”

“Mew-two?” Aku repeated, looking a little puzzled. Then his eyes narrowed and his mouth shifted into an amused smile. “Mew and two?” he asked, holding up two fingers.

He had to notice, didn’t he? I grunted and nodded. “Yes. I was made based on the genetic template of Mew. My creators were not very… creative regarding my name.”

“Mew-two… hehehe…”

That was when I discovered that I could not use Dynamicpunch - my body refused to gather the required energy in my fist. So I resigned myself to letting him laugh for now, and mentally picturing my fist wiping that toothy grin from his face. Maybe one day.
 

Aku

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A funny name that belongs to the second person that Aku met in this world. Snickering from the humorous thought of the strange name comes out of Aku's tooth-filled grin for a brief time but snaps himself back into seriousness along with his face straightening out. The word "Pokémon" is foreign to Aku and figures that's the name of the species that Mewtwo belongs too. Also, this genetic being is giving off a familiar scent that the master of darkness could smell, similar to his own anatomy but different. Mortal didn't fit Mewtwo that Aku can tell but light and pure goodness are absent from it.

Strange that a genetic experiment of a Pokémon is almost quite alike the shogun of sorrow. The more he thinks about the topic, the more wicked ideas fill Aku's mind. Then he forms the same smile and eyes as before but with his brain hopped up on the evil plans that can work. The genetic legendary Pokémon didn't have any different thoughts towards Aku's first appearance.

"SO MEWTWO, I SENSE YOUR PRESENCE IS GREATER THAN A DULL MORTAL'S," Aku stats with a mighty expression about the genetically made Pokémon that stands in front of the lord of darkness.

"My DNA came from a mythical legendary Pokémon as I said before named Mew," The legendary Pokémon, Mewtwo communicates with Aku as his permanently angry eyes focus onward at him.

Aku's face shifts to a curious and questionable look when Mewtwo mentioned "Pokémon" since that's the first time anyone mentions that single word.

"Pokémon?" Aku questions with his authority as his arms crossed while thinking about the funny word.

Interesting, so this embodiment of darkness is no Pokémon, the thought comes across Mewtwo after Aku never heard Pokémon.

"That is what I am. The term Pokémon refers to a broad range of non-human lifeforms that make up half of the world's life where I come from. The other half is humans who coexist with Pokémon: weak creatures that rely on tech and Pokémon that they capture and train, yet they mistake that strength for their own,” Mewtwo explains more about his origin before arriving here, Erde Nona.

This is perfect, Mewtwo is similar toward Aku about humanity as he long ago ruled over mankind of Earth and made them pay tributes to his greatness.

"Hehehehehehehe" Aku snickering about the idea of Mewtwo helping his plans fall into place of this world.

It thinks that Aku is laughing about the origins of the legendary Pokémon species and really wants to teach the embodiment of evil a lesson or two with his power.

The master of darkness clears his throat after snickering and becomes serious again for the moment to not act like a joker too much to this new suppose ally, Mewtwo.

"MEWTWO, I CAN SEE WHERE YOU ARE COMING FROM SPEAKING OF THESE VERMIN HUMANS. I AND YOU HAVE A SIMILARITY WHEN IT COMES TO MORTALS. SAY, HOW ABOUT WE WORK TOGETHER IN THIS DOMAIN I'LL RULE. WE COULD BENEFIT FOR ONE AND ANOTHER WITH EACH STEP WE TAKE TO RULE OVER HUMANITY. WITH EVERY DEED YOU COMPLETE IN MY NAME, I WILL GRANT YOU ANYTHING THAT YOU DESIRE. WHAT YOU SAY?" Aku booms almightily with his request toward the scientifically made Pokémon that stood before in this unknown forest landmass.

His face awaits with seriousness and authority for Mewtwo's response toward Aku's offer.
 

Mewtwo

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As Aku spoke, I did not let the time pass unused: I tried my way through the list of techniques that I used to be able to draw on, both for combat and utility. I was repeatedly disappointed: not even the Psywave I had earlier used to break out of my pod worked anymore. Had I lost something when leaving the liquid? Was it the presence of Aku before me? … no, that could not be it. His body would merely be unaffected by an attack, it would not prevent its execution altogether.

What was most annoying was that my telepathy only worked one way. I could not read his mind - not that I needed to, given that his face showed his thoughts so outrageously that it was almost comical. I wondered if he did it on purpose, making grimaces for some reason.

Just as he addressed me again, making that dubious offer, I found that I was able to use Shadow Ball - not my preferred move, but a helpful one nonetheless. I closed my fingers around it to hide it from Aku’s view while I reabsorbed the energy into myself and formulated a response to his offer, but Aku was impatient.

“WELL?” Aku asked, his voice booming loudly once more.

“Before I accept: what is your intent for humanity?” I asked as I went through the offer again. Though Aku had first worded it as ‘working together’ everything else sounded like he wanted me as his underling. I did not doubt that if I refused he would attack me, however.

“AAH. THEY WILL MAKE USEFUL SERVANTS IF THEY ARE STRONG AND SMART, OR SLAVES AND ENTERTAINMENT IF THEY ARE NOT!”

If I had eyebrows I would have raised one. “Entertainment? Like what?”

“Like… LIKE DESTROYING THEIR VILLAGES OF COURSE! OR THROWING THEM IN GLADIATOR ARENAS! THAT SORT OF THING!” replied Aku. Again his expression read like a book. No doubt he was wondering what I would have done with them.

“Isn’t it wasteful to keep the weaklings alive for cheap entertainment?”, I pointed out.

To that, the shogun of sorrow fraternally put his huge hand on my shoulder. “You’re not thinking BIG enough, my friend”, he said, thankfully in his quieter voice as he was right next to me. “What fun is there in wiping them all? I shall leave enough alive to live in fear of me, to build new towns for me to burn down and maybe even mount an occasional rebellion to crush!”

“A long-term plan to squeeze the most enjoyment out of them that you can… very cunning.”

“THANK YOU! I LEARNED FROM THE BEST… THAT BEING MYSELF, HAHAHA!” he said, laughing, as he bowed theatrically. Then he looked at me again and asked: “DO YOU ACCEPT, THEN?”

“... very well. Let us join forces.”

“EXCELLENT!” He clapped his hands, making a sound so loud that it startled a few more Flying-types from the nearby trees. “THEN TELL ME, MEWTWO, WHAT CAN YOU CONTRIBUTE TO OUR JOINT EFFORTS?”

“In Kanto I was known as the most powerful Pokémon. I am a capable fighter with-”

“A FIGHTER? WITH ARMS LIKE THESE?” he interrupted me while leaning in a bit.

“... with psychic powers”, I finished my sentence as I glared at him. “Where a Machamp could lift an Onix or bend a beam of steel with its physical strength, I can do the same with a simple thought.”

“Well that is a weird power. Why an onyx of all things?”

“What do you… no! I mean the Pokémon, not the gem.” Seeing that Aku still looked confused I opted to instead send a mental image of the giant rock snake Pokémon to his mind, side by side with a human to show what he meant.

“Ohhhh. So you can lift heavy things and bend steel… hmmmm…” The way his lips curled and his eyes narrowed to form a cunning smile made me figure that he had some idea. He leant in again. “You could bend steel items too, then? Say, a sword?”

“Easily.”

“Yeeees, very good…” He stroked his chin, maintaining that smile. I wondered what he was speaking about. Sword-type moves were Steel type, not Fighting, which he would be weak to - was he thinking of a specific Pokémon that was giving him trouble? I could not think of any, much less a legendary one, that would have a sword at their disposal.
 

Aku

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The wind blows across the hinterlands that lightly shakes the branches of trees while the duo started their travel through this foreign land. Aku walks on his makeshift blackened legs of darkness while Mewtwo levitates off the ground by 3 feet and hovers smoothly over it in a slow manner. The master of darkness is leading in front while the legendary unnatural Pokémon follows him from behind. They go through shrubbery and any plant life that stood in their way. Having no powers still bothering Aku greatly since in this situation a bird transformation is a great fit.


Witnessing the Pokémon's levitation power gives Aku a thought that Mewtwo is capable to fly too. It's a relief for Aku since when the time comes for fast traveling, he wouldn't have to figure a way for the Pokémon to hitch a ride. Silence fills the air all over the forest as they still travel. Nearby, a stream of running clean water flows peacefully down the creek with a couple big rocks exposed from the surface of the natural water. They stand near the side of the creek that wasn't deep to cross. The scenery around them is beautiful and natural to witness in person. Silence breaks off from something rustling in the shrubbery across them. Mewtwo isn't startled but Aku waits for any so-called "threat" to reveal itself.


A doe comes out of the shrubs extremely cautiously toward the source of water. Her hooves step softly with precise quietness to not let any predators know she is there. The animal notices the two strange alien beings to this world that's Aku and Mewtwo. For survival, water is necessary due to her natural instincts kicking in, so she continues to move toward the creek in the same manner as before. Mewtwo observes this creature and tries to think what this mammal Pokémon is called.


Aku rolls his eyes in disappointment that there was no native conscious being to spread his greatness with fear. The doe bows her head toward the water from the creek being thirsty. Her mouth moves in pattern to drink the clean water. Curiosity got the betterment of Mewtwo and he tries to communicate to what he thinks this is a Pokémon.


"Hello, can you understand me?" it speaks with calmness and gracefully to the native doe.


The doe looks up in a panic motion as she's startled by Mewtwo's talking that connecting to her brain. She prances away quickly from the stream and back into the dense forest with her instincts alerting about a possible predator.


"What? You never have seen a weakling coward doe before?" Aku questions with shoulders shrugging about Mewtwo's knowledge of an earthling animal.


"It was worth trying out, to get the better knowledge of this world," Mewtwo replies looking to its left side where Aku stands at.


"Anything that is harmless, or frail deserve none of my time, well most of the time I wipe out weakling mortals that always deserve it." Aku pronounces about his look on certain living creatures but Mewtwo doesn't have a concerned comment about it.


The legendary Pokémon levitates across the creek as Aku walks over it. They continue their hike through the wilderness. While traveling Aku is making strange noises with his mouth such as grunting, sighs, and humming. This concerns the legendary Pokémon and question about Aku's noises while they walk. It is agitated a little from how annoying his sounds are.


"What are you doing?" Mewtwo is being curious about Aku's behavior.


The master of darkness is embarrassed to admit he didn't have most of his extraordinary powers and he still needs to have Mewtwo convinced that he's superior. If spilling his secrets all over the place, that would make him become weaker then now. He had to come up with some sort of explanation.


"I'm meditating. Yeah meditating that's what I'm doing. It helps me more to rule this world with an iron fist." Aku lies with his toothy grin showing while his eyes sort of squint with his wide grin.


Mewtwo is concern about Aku but focuses more about their path ahead of them. They stumble upon a clear big patch in the forest of a place that once had civilization. Stone ruins surrounded them that involved with moss-covered walls and archways. The supernatural travelers keep moving forward to pass through this area. Something is off while coming through this place of old ruins. It's like they're not the only ones here.


The legendary Pokémon senses something that's disturbing him greatly. Aku sniffs the air with his nostrils and a familiar stench comes across him.


"Hmmmm, I smell foolish mortals," Aku states with a stern expression on his face.


"I agree too." Mewtwo acknowledges with the shogun of sorrow while it concentrates a small shadow ball forming in its hands.


Suddenly an ambush is upon them with smoke bombs airborne and impacting the ground quick, engulfing the two travelers in smoke. Human bandits put their red bandannas on to cover half of their identities and charge forth from their hiding spots to overrun the two. The gang of ambushers has weapons that consist of swords, axes, hatchets, flails, and daggers. Some archers got into their position from a good distance and draw their bows in the case for support on the battle. With this chaos happening, Aku grows in his form to appear intimidating against the attackers. Both of his legs become engulfed by the darkness that consumes them and made his lower half into a cone with little dark tendrils sprouting across the ground.


They shift their stance into combat ready to get this fight over so the bandits suffer excruciating pain. Aku's face lights up with an angry face that shows his jagged teeth. The shadow ball grows immensely in both Mewtwo's hands as it levitates high into the air to get a better advantage against the bandits and escape the smoke screen.
 

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Continuation from the thread Darkness, a clone and Santa's elf walk into a sled, read up for a complete understanding of Aku's and Mewtwo's adventures!

“That’s the last of it. Still made it in time, good.”

As Aku, the elf and I were sitting in the sled which was flying over the forests of Erde Nona once more, the elf went over his list and remarked on its completion while Aku leant back with a very satisfied smile and I idly studied the forest beneath us.

“I’ll stop near here, where we started out”, the elf said. “No idea what you’d be doing so deep in the forests, but I’m not judging.”

“I started my prior conquest in a forest too”, Aku said with a happy look in his eyes as he looked at the starlit sky. “Wiped out the dinos when I landed. Good times…”

“By the way”, the elf interrupted Aku’s reminiscing, “the bag of coal is surprisingly empty. Did you not hand out just one lump each to the naughty kids? Our list wasn’t even that long.”

“Ohhh, no. Some of the kids were so naughty that we had to give them more coal”, Aku said with a smug grin. “What’s the difference? A few extra kilograms here and there, that’s all…”

‘A few extra kilograms’... He had all but poured the coal over the kids’ heads, handing them enormous sacks after they listened to his spiel. And he gave them directions to stores they could sell all that coal to, so that they could use the money to buy their own presents. All to spread his name, training the youth for the future. A shrewd plan, but I had to admit it sounded effective.

I had been left with the nice kids on the list, which I’d worked through without any incidents. Save, of course, for the two kids who had asked for a Sentret and a Snubbull and were going to be gifted a Pokéball with the respective two Pokémon in them. I swapped those out for a pair of sweaters depicting Pokémon and released the Sentret and Snubbull into the plains instead. “Steer clear of the towns and cities”, I advised them, “you’ve seen how the elves of Saint Clause treat you already - you are treated as objects to satisfy the wishes of some children, shipped off to unknown owners without explanation. You’d end up as pets at best, or in some mad scientist’s laboratory at worst.” I’d have told them more, but we were on a tight schedule if we wanted to finish the list.

“Well”, the elf interrupted my thoughts, “I can land somewhere nearby if you want to get off, but then I have to bring the sleigh back home.”

Aku still held his hands behind his head and leant back in the sleigh, but at least he turned his eyes towards me as he asked: “See any human settlements, Mewtwo?”

“No”, I answered. “But… there’s something over in that direction. Looks like an excavation of sorts.” I raised a hand. “Elf. Stop the sleigh for a moment, I want to take a look.

“I told you, my name’s-” the elf protested but I didn’t hear him anymore, having left the sleigh already. I flew high up and examined the digsite from a better angle. Looked like some sort of ruin was being dug up… and there were humans weaseling around it. They had tents pitched near the treeline and tarps of various sizes covering up the digsite, probably to protect sensitive items. I flew back to the sleigh.

“Looks like an archeological digsite”, I told Aku. “Looks like something large.”

Aku’s eyes opened wide. “ARCHEOLOGICAL DIGSITE YOU SAY? WHAT SORT?”

“Looks like a town, maybe a castle or temple. I estimate the ruins that have been uncovered to be upwards of two hundred meters across.”

“EXCELLENT! WELL THEN, ELF, THAT IS WHERE WE ARE GOING!”

I snuck a peek at the elf rolling his eyes when he thought we weren’t looking at him and adjusted the trajectory of the sleigh to land near the digsite, but among the trees. “Can’t risk anyone seeing me, you know”, he pointed out.

“So, Aku. What is it you aim to do in this digsite?” I asked.

“HAAAHAHA! THAT IS A GOOD QUESTION, MEWTWO… actually it is a really good question.” He put his hand to his chin, thinking a moment. “AH! WELL THE TEAM HERE IS EDUCATED UNLIKE THOSE BRAWNY HIGHWAYMEN, AND I NEED SOME INTELLIGENT PEOPLE TO FORM THE ELITE OF MY PLANET-SPRAWLING EMPIRE OF COURSE. BESIDES, THERE MAY BE TREASURES AND ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY BURIED IN-”

“Hold on! Our elf friend is trying to escape!” I interrupted him. Indeed, while Aku shouted his plans out for the entire forest to hear, the elf had taken back off and was now rapidly accelerating away from us.

“WHAT? AH! HOW DARE YOU!” Angrily, he fired a pair of laser beams from his eyes but they missed the elf, only singing the sleigh’s passenger compartment a little. I flew up and threw a Shadow Ball after the sleigh, but it was too slow. Then I reached out with Psychic… but it didn’t work! No, of course! I’d forgotten about my power loss upon my arrival to this world. While pushing back my frustration, I floated back down. The sleigh was much faster than I could fly. Pursuing the elf would be pointless.

“THAT ELF WILL BE THROWN IN THE GLADIATOR ARENA ONCE I SIT ON THE THRONE”, Aku proclaimed while waving an angry fist at the rapidly shrinking sleigh, “WITH ONLY A TOOTHBRUSH TO FEND OFF A DOZEN STARVED GROTWORMS!”

“Leave him”, I said. “He would have tricked us sooner or later anyway. Besides, he left us the hats. And he’s left us somewhere you can continue your… conquest.”

“INDEED. YOU ARE QUICK WITH YOUR MIND, MEWTWO, AS EXPECTED OF MY LOYAL MINION. KEEP THIS UP AND PERHAPS I SHALL MAKE YOU MY ADVISOR.”

Advisor? Before I could say anything, he continued.

“NOW, LET US GO TO THIS EXCAVATION NEXT. I AM EAGER TO SEE WHAT IT HAS TO OFFER.”

Resigned, I followed. Perhaps these ruins would offer me an occasion to pull a fast one on him, just like the elf had. Though I could not deny that the idea of exploring an ancient ruin might prove profitable. So for now, I followed.
 

Aku

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933/5000 words out of "In the Shadow of the Old Empire"
They continue through the dense forest in the direction to the excavation site while the morning dew was fresh. The sun has barely risen yet and from last night, Aku and Mewtwo weren't able to get enough sleep from helping. Though, that doesn't bother the two supernatural beings since they are used to days filled with activity to make a mortal wore out. The master of darkness continued to walk on two legs while his shapeshifting still wasn't working. Mewtwo levitated as it followed Aku toward their chosen destination.


While walking, Aku was thinking about how their entrance should be when they arrive. He thought about using his growth ability to make his presence grand and important as if he was a god. This will help get attention and make the mortals tremble by his powerful appearance. Of course, Mewtwo will be at his side and a powerful enforcer to show them that they mean business. Everything sounded perfect on paper but Aku wasn't worried about messing up since nothing will harm him.


On the other hand, if someone threatened Mewtwo there should be no issues too since Aku will defend him from how much loyalty the cloned legendary Pokémon was showing for the meantime. The shogun of sorrow broke their silence about their entrance plan.


"So, here's the plan Mewtwo, we won't attack anyone unless they are too stupid enough to understand we are stronger than them and if they keep attacking. I'll announce that they will bow down to me and know who is master of their world. If somebody steps out of line, you can make them an example of why not to disobey ME! At that point, they will do anything I or you want. Got it?" Aku explained his plan with a malicious smile across his face as he looked back at his follower after making the plan.


The artificial Pokémon had no comment about the plan and agreed with Aku just for now with a simple approving nod.


"Hehehehehehe!!!!" the master of evil tee-heed about their plan he just came up with


They were now one mile away from the ancient expedition site as they continue their travel. The sun has now just risen over the horizon and brightened for a new day. At this time, the expedition team was awakened and finished cooking breakfast over the campfire. They ready for another day that will unveil answers about the old vast empire that once ruled this planet or ancient artifacts. Now was the time for the archaeologists to start continuing their work on this bygone temple.


Before the team could even leave their campsite at the outside of the temple, a black intelligent living mass formed before them. Out of the mass of darkness, Aku rose with his growth ability making the mortals appear beneath his authority. This whole scene confused and filled them with fear from this mystical lord of darkness appearance. Aku looked down at them with his eyes wide open and sharp teeth showing as they clinch. The great eyebrows on top of his continued to burn with crackling and popping. This was a conversation stopper as they questioned if this was a possible haunted spirit that they awoke when they started investigating the temple. The shogun of sorrow introduces himself to the weak mortals with a hand gesture toward them.


"GREETING MORTALS OF ERDE NONA, I AM THE SHOGUN OF SORROW KNOWN AS AKU! I AM ON A CONQUEST TO CONQUER THIS WORLD AND BUILD MY EMPIRE. NO ONE CAN HARM ME BY MY PERFECTNESS AND I AM IMMORTAL! NOW, BOW BEFORE MY ALMIGHTINESS AND I WILL AWARD YOU FOR YOUR WORSHIP. IF YOU FOLLOW MY COMMANDS, I WILL AID IN YOUR SEARCH FOR THESE ANCIENT RELICS THAT COULD ASSIST ME. ANYONE WHO DISOBEYS MY COMMAND OR OPPOSES ME WILL DEAL WITH SIGNIFICANT UNFORGIVING CONSEQUENCES BY THE HELP OF MY FELLOW OBEDIENT SERVANT, MEWTWO! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Aku announced his own presence and Mewtwo's with a powerful echoing laugh that rung the vast landscape.


The master of darkness raised his arms high in the air in an expressive way of his power of command and eyes closed from so much laughter that made him smile. Aku's ego was so big now which made Mewtwo roll its eyes as it arrived with Aku. The legendary biological Pokémon levitated twenty feet off the ground by Aku's side. The archeologists were shocked by the sight of the two powerful beings that were before them and were debating if to defend themselves. One of their spirits were already broken by the intimidation of these god-like looking beings.


"Oh, shogun of sorrow, Aku, was your presence awaken by the disturbance of this once holy temple he discovered?" the leader of this expedition team spoke while looking up at Aku and Mewtwo with confidence and tried to keep his fear beneath him.


"NOT EVEN CLOSE FOOLISH HUMAN!!!!!!! I AM AKU AND MY PRESENCE IS MUUUUUCH GREATER THAN YOUR WORLD'S HISTORY. NO MORE QUESTIONS WILL BE ASKED UNLESS BY ME! NOW GO FORTH AND BE THE FIRST TO PAVE THE ROAD OF THIS GREAT VAST FUTURE EMPIRE!!!!! " Aku commanded the humans for his doing and while pointing toward at them with his sharp index finger. A serious expression was on his face at the current moment.


A wide smile spread across his face as he made the team of archaeologists submit to him and go to work for him while Mewtwo monitored them. It was satisfying to the legendary artificial Pokémon to see these humans now being controlled under their orders.
 

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While Aku handled the PR, I turned my interest to the excavation efforts before me. I had no shame in admitting that, in his own way, he was far better at people interactions than me. Intimidation and domination was after all an interaction. And me? The only face-to-face experiences I’d had was with a mind-controlled nurse and a handful of Pokémon trainers. And even the latter ones I’d just done battle with, not tried to intimidate into submission.

Thus, I landed by the digsite and lifted one of the tarps out of the way. Let’s see here, what had they excavated? Mosaic tiles lining the walls of this… what was this, a room that had lost its roof? And this, the first thing that stuck out to me, looked like a skull. I tried to make sense of it, stepping back to take in the bigger picture displayed. Was that a warning sign or did the mosaic represent a death scene? And why was there such a large amount of red tiles on the left? Maybe the mosaic depicted a great fire?

“MEWTWO, MY LOYAL SUBORDINATE!” Aku shouted, pulling me out of my archeological thoughts. I floated up out of the pit.

“I am here”, I responded. “What is it?”

“THIS DIGSITE IS WHERE WE WILL ROLL UP OUR SLEEVES. WE WILL UNEARTH EVERYTHING OF USE.”

“Treasure, ancient tech and the like?” I repeated. “Do you already know what these humans were looking for?”

“I WAS ABOUT TO GET THERE. YOU SHOULD BE AROUND TO LISTEN!” Then he beckoned for me to come closer with narrowed eyes and his smile gone. I wondered what he wanted, but floated into whispering range, and he continued in a lowered tone of voice: “Hadn’t I told you to stand by in case they tried to act up? Make an example of one and such?”

“These are simple humans - scientists, even”, I spoke back, now speaking directly to Aku via telepathy. As he had to lower his voice I cut the scientists off from the conversation that way. “They are not going to rebel. I figured you didn’t need me anymore.”

Aku looked displeased despite my reasoning. “Remember your place and my orders next time, hmm?”

“Very well.” Given our positions I had little recourse but to give in, for now. An open confrontation wouldn’t have ended favorably for me no matter which way I turned it. And my agreement seemed to appease Aku in any case.

“GOOD”, he said after leaning back and returning to his usual commanding voice. “THEN LET US HEAR WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN UNCOVERED.”

The three archeologists started going on at great length about a groundbreaking discovery of an ancient temple, likely a place of worship for a long-lost civilization that could shed new light on the religious history of the inhabitants of Erde Nona from thousands to possibly tens of thousands of years back, until Aku cut them short with a well-placed eye beam that made one of them jump back to avoid having his feet burnt. After that they condensed their explanation into several key points:

One, this ancient temple was likely a place of religious practice. As such, offerings such as gold and gems were probably hidden away somewhere.

Two, it was definitely possible that weaponry of some kind was stashed down here too. If their estimates were correct the civilization that had built this temple had had a militarized religion whose high priests wielded highly destructive weapons in holy wars.

Three, they couldn’t tell how big the temple was yet as numerous entryways were blocked. It definitely went deeper than what they’d uncovered so far, but they had trouble getting there.

And four, there was a curious central theme of three elements: blue for water, red for fire and a yellow element that they believed to be lightning or energy of some kind.

“Wait”, I interrupted them when they came to that point. “You are certain of that? That the temple is devoted to that exact trinity of elements?”

“Well, not certain but everything points to it. The deeper parts of the temple are likely better preserved and have less weathered mosaics.”

“MEWTWO, DO YOU HAVE SOME KNOWLEDGE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE?”

“Nothing yet that I am certain of. I have a suspicion, but it’s near-baseless conjecture at this point. We should figure out how to get deeper into the temple.”
 

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While Aku examined the outsides of the temple and had the intimidated archeologists tell him everything they knew about the place, I stayed back under the pretense of reading some of the squiggles that these people called handwriting. Diagrams, measurements, paragraphs of text… how could they go on for so long about some old ruins? Whoever cared that the dimensions entrance were precisely 2,7839 by 1,034 meters, with precision of tenth of a millimeter and a measuring tolerance of one fifth of a millimeter? Wouldn’t it be enough to say that it was over two and a half meters high and about a meter wide? It was no surprise that that group of scientists at the Ruins of Alph, back in Johto, had never discovered that the secret of the chambers they were investigating was a simple puzzle in each room…

I skimmed over the texts trying to look like I was really deep into the subject, until Aku walked into the ruins to do some exploration of his own, which was exactly what I’d been waiting for. To be frank, subtlety was not my strongest suit despite being a Psychic-type, whose entire schtick tended to revolve around tricks rather than raw force. But as things stood Aku had every advantage on me so a direct confrontation would have ended unfavorably. If I wanted to oppose him directly I needed to regain my power first, and that just didn’t happen in a day.

Though I loathed to do so, I fled. I could not even leave a Substitute behind, the best I could do was to tell one of the scientists who stayed outside not to disturb me under any circumstances as I was rifling through their papers and if they opened the tent the wind would scatter everything. It would not buy me much time, but enough for me to put sufficient distance between myself and my would-be pursuer that he would be unable to track me down. Not to mention, I took to flying above the trees for a bit so that I would not leave any tracks, broken twigs or traces of my scent.

For a few minutes I flew, then I descended to a meter or so off the ground, above the bushes and grass but dodging the treetops. With only the occasional large branch to worry about I took to considering my next few priorities.

Number one: Figuring out where I was. This looked like a temperate forest but it didn’t tell me anything more. I could just as well be on Kanto as in Johto, or maybe on a different continent. Possibly a different planet, given that I had yet to encounter any Pokémon that I knew about. The solution to the problem? I’d need to wander around until I found someone who I could ask. Hopefully a Pokémon, given that humans were likely to be apprehensive towards me if Kanto was any indication. Trainers might even attempt to battle and catch me.

Number two: Figuring out my next steps. What would I be doing around here? That depended entirely on the environment I had landed in. Due to the circumstances of me being spirited away I had no hurry to return: I was confident that Mew would take care of the clone Pokémon that were left with him, and even if it did not they were powerful on their own, more than capable of fending for themselves. Of course, I would try to make it back if I was able to. Given the satellite view that I had gotten from flying over the planet however I could say with confidence that Kanto and Johto were nowhere in my field of vision. It was possible that they were on the other side of the planet which I hadn’t seen but that would mean that I could be thousands, if not tens of thousands of kilometers away from it. Or, I could have landed on a wholely different planet.

And number three: Figuring myself out. As a Pokémon I was able to learn moves, train my stats, raise my level and so on. This was all wrapped into the so-called Status. I shou-

-------

STATUS

GENERAL INFORMATION
Name: Mewtwo
Species: Pokémon (Mewtwo)
Type: Psychic
Level: 5
Gender: N/A
OT: N/A
Ability: N/A

STATS
HP: ùÑ‚I
ATK: Æ5
DEF: ôa„
SP.ATK: $õFÍ
SP.DEF: ¤ª
SPD: ž%s²

MOVES
Telepathy
Levitation
Barrier
Shadow Ball

EQUIPMENT
Red Cap

-------

… well this was certainly interesting.

Out of nowhere, a bunch of information appeared before my eyes. I had a feeling, however, that this information was not actually in the physical world, but like an illusion visible only to me.

I studied the Status. First of all, it was numbers and text, unlike the more instinctive knowledge that was associated with it in Kanto. It was more like I knew I was stronger than someone else, rather than having numbers to tell me that my level was 10 higher than the other’s.

The first big surprise I had was my ludicrously low level of 5. How was that possible?! I knew that it had to be higher than that! A level 5 Pokémon was effectively a hatchling, weak and defenseless. No trainer who could even remotely call themselves that had a Pokémon this low-leveled with them!

Internally shouting at no one in particular let me calm a little. It could very well be that the Status was wrong or that I had lost a massive number of levels for some reason. More collected, I continued my read. I happily registered that no OT, or Original Trainer, was noted in my Status. Giovanni’s name had plagued that spot for years as he was the first and only person to have been my ‘trainer’, despite never having stuck me in a Pokéball. I had never been able to wipe that blemish from my status back then but now it was gone. Effectively speaking I was a wild Pokémon right now. Did this also mean that whoever brought me here had not captured me to do so? Maybe.

That my Ability was blank also came at a surprise. A Pokémon was born with an ability that it kept all its life - mine would have been Pressure, going by my old status. Why was this empty? If I had no ability could I obtain one, possibly even choose one, later on? There was little point to worrying about something I could not get an answer to right now though, so I shelved the thought and read on.

My stats were a garbled mess of incoherent text. Odd and annoying given that I would have liked some solid numbers to know my combat capabilities, and to be able to compare it to others.

My moves got me curious - Telepathy and Levitation in particular. There were no moves in the Pokémon world named like that. I had originally used Mind Reader to communicate with others, in particular the humans, and Psychic to move around in the air among others. Levitate was an Ability, not a move, so why was it listed as one? And even if it was an Ability, I would not have it - it was an Ability belonging to Pokémon such as Haunter and Koffing, which naturally floated in the air. I had to do so consciously.

Last but not least, I was given a one-item list of items instead of a Held Item slot. The Red Cap… that thing I’d gotten from the elf which guarded me from cold environments. Would I be able to equip other items alongside this if it was a list, or was ‘Equipment’ more like an inventory? I tried putting the cap on and a small “E” appeared next to it, probably a short form for Equipped. Removing it also made the E disappear.

Though it had provided me with some useful information, most notably my list of moves, this Status had raised more questions than it answered. I would need to further study its contents and hopefully figure out how to clear up the garbled text. At the very least it cleared up a part of my third priority, figuring myself out. Knowing my power enabled me to compare it to that of others.

I floated up over the treetops and eyed my surroundings. This should be far enough to throw any would-be pursuer off my trail… I accelerated my flight speed to what equated to a moderate jog, in a straight line away from the ruins and vaguely towards the settlements that I had seen when flying above the planet. Hopefully I hadn’t been turned around… my Status inspection confirmed to me that taking on Aku would be a bad idea given that my only offensive move was Shadow Ball, which Dark-types were resistant to. Flying right back into his arms would be a terrible, if ironic, ending to this escape.
 

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QUEST TIME

Mew.... too?

Quest Giver:
Martha Kwaynte

Quest Length: 10k words

Quest Location: Erde Nona

Quest Description: Old Lady Martha is asking for any information on the whereabouts of her son "Claruce". The 45 year old lad was last seen playing with his friends in the Copy-Cat Woods. Missus Kwante always disapproved of those woods, and local hullabaloo says it's home to some kind of weirdo who makes monsters, or IS a monster, or something. Urban Legends aren't really clear on exactly what was in the forest, but most people left it alone anyway. However, she's a doting mother and wanted her child to feel free to explore his imagination, so she didn't protest too much about his excursion. But when his friends ("Jokex Luther" and "Bane Seid") came back without him, she knew something was wrong. Please, kind adventurer, find her son!

Word count is tracked at the bottom of the post.

As time passed and hours turned to days I allowed myself some relaxation. With no obligations here and no hurry to make it back I was in a good position to take my time. I refused to be lazy, however: I covered what ground I reasonably could every day, flying towards the fringes of civilization that I remembered seeing prior to my descent.

My mornings consisted in a quick bath to wash off the dust and grime in whatever body of water I could find, foraging for berries and fruit to keep my belly full and my brain functioning at peak performance. I kept a day’s worth of spare rations wrapped into a makeshift bag of leaves just in case, but this forest was more than capable of providing what I needed.

After the morning ritual came a long day of flying and observing. The forest was incredibly expansive and at my current level I couldn’t well maintain a high pace of flying, especially not if I went with only two eating breaks throughout the day. I kept an eye out for any Pokémon I could recognize but I had no luck - every living creature I happened across was an unknown one. I concluded that either the Pokémon in this region were all unknown ones, as unlikely as that was, or that this place did not have Pokémon at all, only animals. A strange thought, but this was another world. It could have a wholly different ecosystem.

Come early evening I stopped for the day, found myself somewhere to stay for the night and made it as homely as I could in a short span of time. Without telekinetic powers to work with I was forced to resort to getting my hands dirty and since Shadow Ball did not deal physical damage I could not use it to break obstacles or the likewise. I quickly found that making a nest of sorts in the treetops was a quick way to set up a home in relative safety and with little effort. Even so, having my arms and hands covered in scratches and bug bites by the time I was finished was not something I was used to. I was a Psychic-type, I did things with my mind and not my muscles damnit! On the other hand, complaining would get me nowhere even if there was someone to listen. So I figuratively bit my tongue and endured.

This routine went on for six days. It was dusk on the seventh day when things changed as I came across the first hint of civilization. It was a cozy-looking house made of wood, single-story and with a roof of reeds. Very rustic. It stood at the edge of the forest with the back window facing into it and on the other side bordered an open plaza. Basically, this house marked the edge of a town.

I landed on a tree branch to scout out the town beyond. A few of the houses had smoking chimneys and others had candlelight and other antiquated methods of lighting up the rooms but most places were quiet. Except the single two-story building where laughter and the sound of wood on wood could be heard. The local inn, no doubt.

I leant closer to get a better angle view but I had overestimated the branch I stood on, and underestimated my weight. A creak, a snap and I fell to the ground with the branch dangling off the tree by only a few strands.

“Claruce? Is that you?” a voice came from the house that I first seen. Before I could get out of sight the back window opened and an old woman’s head poked out. “There you are, my boy! You’re finally back, I was so worried!” she exclaimed with a warbly, creaking voice. I was about to object when she spoke in a louder, more authoritative tone: “You’re coming in right now young man! No escaping to Rylgar’s bar!”

“I’m not your son”, I finally got in edgewise while she backed away from the window. In response she raised a hand to her ear.

“What’s that? You’re on the run? What didya do this time?! I swear, one of these days you’ll give your old lady a heart attack! First you don’t come back for days, then you try to sneak around the back… not with me, my boy. Your mother’s still got hearing as sharp as a dog. Not even that one twig you stepped on escaped me.”

Good grief… not only did this woman look older than that hag Agatha from the Elite Four, she was apparently blind as a Zubat and deaf as a brick on top of that. A ‘twig’ that I stepped on… The amount of noise I made when falling off the tree could probably have been heard through the whole village if it wasn’t for the loud patrons at the inn. Although, I failed to grasp how she could have managed to mis-hear what I had directly passed to her mind telepathically, instead of by speaking. Maybe her mind wasn’t the freshest anymore either? Why I didn’t clear the mistake up then, I don’t know. Obeying her words in the stupor I was in would have farther-reaching consequences for me than I realized at that point.

I stood up, dusted myself off and wrapped my tail around my waist like a belt. Better to keep it safe before she tried to rip it off believing it to be a branch stuck to my clothes, or something. Then I walked around the house and used the front door, though not without checking the little image made out of fired clay that hung next to the door: “Kwaynte”, it said up top, with three figures that looked like they’d been made by a child. Two were diligently painted to look like they had clothes on and said ‘Martha’ and ‘Claruce’ above the one with a dress and the one in pants, respectively. The third figure looked like someone had chiseled off the paint, but I could make out the name ‘Eric’ in faded letters. So those were the last and first names of the family living in here, eh? Given that she had addressed me as Claruce, I figured that ‘Eric’ was the absent father, probably divorced. It was just like an angry human to cut them out of family pictures and the like as a symbolic gesture.

“You had me WORRIED!” the crone greeted me the moment that I walked through the door. “Not coming back for several days like that, what were you THINKING? And with those irresponsible two fellas no less. Especially that Bane boy, I don’t know how you could-”

“Listen to me”, I interrupted her. “I am Mewtwo, not Claruce. I’m not even a human.”

This startled her a bit and she stopped the beginnings of her tirade. Then she asked: “What are you saying about flowers blooming? It’s the middle of fall. Did you eat some kind of shroom in the forest? I told you so many ti-”

“I said: I’M NOT A HUMAN”, I repeated slower and putting more energy into the telepathic speech. Spoken aloud this would probably be equivalent to emphasizing each word. “I’M NOT CLARUCE.”

“Alright, alright, geez! You needn’t yell, I can hear you just fine!” the woman replied and stuck a finger in her ear, picking it a bit. She looked around on the table in the room. “I must’ve confused you for my boy in this darkness… now where did I put my glasses?”

“Well, if that’s all I’ll be taking my leave”, I spoke, still ‘loudly’ but less like I was yelling.

“Wait!” Martha shouted just as she found her glasses atop the shelf over the fireplace. She adjusted them over her eyes and looked at me more closely. “Ah, I was already wondering how someone could wear such horrible lavender-colored clothes… you boy, you’re an adventurer, aren’t you?”

“I’m a Pokémon, not a boy.”

“No, I’m not trying to annoy you. But you see, my boy, Claruce… he’s been gone for days and I’m worried that something’s happened to him! If you could help… please? I would make it worth your time.”

I thought for a bit. Come to think of it, this could be a good opportunity to gain some insight into this world, and to make some coin in the process. Given that I had crashlanded in an unknown land, maybe on an unknown world, without a single coin to my name and my level at an all-time low this was a good opportunity to get a little info and some money. Without mind control I was sorely lacking ways to bend people’s will, and coin was a way to do that, albeit not one I favored.

“I will listen”, I said, speaking with my slow and loud telepathic voice once more, “but I will decide if I will help you only after I hear what you ask of me.”

“That is okay. Why don’t you have a seat though, and eat something while I explain? You adventurers are all so lanky, you could really use a bit of meat on your bones…”

While I seated myself at the one table in the room, she walked over to the large pot hanging over a burnt-out fireplace in the back of the room. With a wooden bowl in one hand she reached for the ladle in the pot.

Just then a shape that I had not noticed laying in front of the fireplace started moving when the old crone nearly tripped over it. “Brutus you little rascal!” she exclaimed. “One o’ these days you’ll make me fall and then no one will be left to feed you!”

The creature apparently named Brutus was a strange four-legged Pokémon whose body shape vaguely reminded me of Umbreon or Houndoom, but its furcoat was brown and white, with large droopy ears, folds of skin and sad-looking eyes. It yawned before moving out of the way, then turned its head and fixated those same eyes on to me.

“‘Brutus’?” I asked it telepathically. “I’ve not heard of a Pokémon of such a name before. This region holds a lot of surprises.”

“Brutus is what the Missus calls me”, the deep voice of an aged man replied after a moment. The strange creature trotted over, sniffed my tail then sat itself in front of me. I reached out as I sensed its wish to be given headpats. “You’re no human. You smell different.”

“I am Mewtwo. If Brutus is your nickname, then what type are you?”

“I’m a Basset Hound. That’s what the Missus says I am”, the deep voice responded. I could feel the comfort spreading through him with every rub of my nubby fingers over his head.

“A curious species name… I’ve never heard of a Pokémon named like that.”

“I don’t know what a Pokémon is”, the creature responded simply. “What about you? Are you a Pokémon?”

“Yes. I’m a Mewtwo.”

“That’s a weird name… that’s as if my name was Dog.”

“A ‘Dog’. I thought you were a Basset Hound?”

“Yes. That’s a kind of dog.”

So it was like a sub-type of the ‘dog’ archetype… like the Unown with various shapes. That made sense. But if he didn’t know what a Pokémon was, chances are he wasn’t one himself.

“Here you are”, the old woman said as she placed a bowl with a soupy stew before me along with a spoon. I took a careful bite, but found the stew to be hearty, filling and tasty. Although, I questioned why it had a sweet aftertaste. Had she mixed up salt and sugar for the finishing touch? No matter, it tasted good all the same.

“So”, I asked, once more putting on my loud telepathic voice while I continued to pat Brutus on the head, “what is it that you would ask of me?”

“It’s about my son, Claruce… he hasn’t come back since the day before yesterday when he went to play with his friends. They came back… without him, that evening.”

“Who are these friends? What are they called?”

“No, neither of them is bald. Anyway, those two… their names are Bane Seid and Jokex Luther. They’re not bad kids, but… they’re no good. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not racist, but nothing good can come of a halfling that’s fifty years old but looks like fifteen! And Jokex… he’s just like my boy, you know. He’s a good lad, but he’s got the head of a child on the shoulders of an adult.”

“How did that occur? Some form of accident with an improperly used Devolution Spray?”

After some confused back and forth it was clarified that it was not some freak accident that had literally left this Jokex person with a preteen’s head attached to an adult body, but that Martha had meant this figuratively - the man called Jokex Luther was an adult, forty-six years old, but mentally stuck in his preteens. And Brutus informed me further that Claruce, Martha’s son, had the same condition. That also clarified to me how a woman her age had her son living with her, whom she treated like a child.

“So, where was Claruce last seen?”

“In the forest. There’s this place that’s called the ‘Copy-Cat Woods’, Claruce and Jokex were always very enthusiastic to explore it. The lads went there two days ago, but then only Jokex and Bane came back.”

“And the fact that Claruce has been in that particular forest worries you.”

“It’s the late evening, what are you on about morning dew?”

“I said: WORRIES YOU.”

“Oh! Well, yes, the woods have been a nasty place since forever. My own mother used to warn me of going there.” She drew some symbol into the air as she said that, which I interpreted as some form of religious symbol. That place ain’t right. It’s… there’s rumors going around that it’s haunted.”

“What does the folklore say?”

The old woman blinked, then angrily waggled a finger at me. “You don’t ask a lady that, young man!”

I sighed. Even though I was speaking up, half the words I spoke didn’t seem to get through to her. “I didn’t ask what you weigh, I asked what the folklore says about it. The fairytales, the rumors, the myths and stories.”

“Oh! Well, if you stopped whispering maybe I wouldn’t… anyway, the stories say that the Copy-Cat Woods are haunted.” She put her glasses on the table and rubbed the bridge of her nose while thinking for a bit, then continued: “One fairytale has it that this mad scientist created a great monster that felt lonely, and when it asked him to create a girlfriend for it and he refused, it killed him in a fit of rage, and now wanders the woods in search of someone to be with it. Other stories have it that a father that could no longer care for his child but could not bear to kill it himself sent it to the forest so they would get lost, but after the child died its spirit remained behind and now haunts the forest.”

“A lonely monster seeking a friend and an abandoned child’s spirit…” I summarized. Humans had a tendency to make up myths about things they did not understand but there usually was a grain of truth in them. This next question was important, so I made sure to ask it in a clear, loud telepathic voice: “There are other myths and legends, right? Do they have this theme of loneliness as well?”

To this, Martha shuddered and Brutus gave a low whine. “I think so… there are some tales in which… if I remember correctly, I… no. I need to… sorry lad, give me a moment.”

She was visibly shaken, so I nodded. “Take your time.”

“I need something to calm my nerves. Oh, what if my poor boy has gotten himself… no, I can’t think like that. I know he’s alive, you know. A mother feels that sort of thing.” She stood up and walked over to the area where the kitchen supplies are kept. “Let me make some tea. Would you like a cup as well?”

“Certainly.”

“Ah. This will just take a moment. Now where did I put the chamomile extract…” She searched a cupboard for a few moments before producing a packet and pouring some into a tool that looked like two tiny sieves pressed together to form a sphere. An ingenious invention to let the flavor seep into the water without the ground leaves getting into the drink. This tool she stuck into the kettle that hung over the fire by the large pot, waited a few minutes then poured the resulting drink into two cups.

As I had it placed before me, a dizzying odour filled my nostrils. I was about to ask Martha if she had boiled fish broth rather than water for this ‘tea’ when the old woman’s eyes fell on the item besides the cup on the table.

“Oh, my glasses! I was already wondering why the writing was so smudged… Ah, wait. This doesn’t say chamomile extract, this says chameleon extract. Silly me, it’s the chameleon extract that I use to make my skin care cream.”

Good grief... I was glad that I hadn’t tasted this mishmash before she had found out about her error. I pushed the mug towards Martha, who put both of them aside. At least this ‘silly’ error seemed to have cheered her up and she wasn’t as jittery anymore. So I asked. “Can you tell me more about these other tales?”

“Most of them involve some or another individual that’s lonely. The man who wanted to meet his mistress in the woods, only for his wife who found him cheating to cut him down from behind with an axe, for instance. It’s said that he never realized that he died and thus still searches for his sweetheart. Oh, and the Faceless Shadow of course, but that one’s not about someone who’s lonely.”

“The Faceless Shadow?”

“No, not the Gracious Banjo, the Faceless Shadow. That one’s fairly recent actually, just four years ago… a woodcutter found an emaciated hiker near the edge of the Copy-Cat Woods, unconscious. He was brought back here to be healed, but never woke up. In his fever dreams he kept saying something about a Faceless Shadow in the moonlight… three days after he was found, he died.”

“So, a shadow causing nightmares and draining lifeforce, and a lonely spirit haunting the forest…” The order was the wrong way around if this lonely spirit was supposedly first and the faceless shadow came after, but it was possible that the original spirit had laid an egg and this shadow was its offspring.

“Do you know something of these, dearie?”

“A Gengar or a Haunter. The stories of the lonely spirits line up… Gengar are spirits of humans who wish for a traveling companion. They try to create one by taking the lives of other humans. Haunters on the other hand sap their victim’s life with their big tongues and use Hypnosis to put them to sleep, followed by devouring their dreams. Their lick causes shaking and shuddering until death.”

Martha’s face turned a little paler. “The good news is that Gengars are exceedingly rare in the wild and this Faceless Shadow story leads me to believe that the hiker was attacked by a Haunter, which is far less dangerous. These Copy-Cat woods, are they densely forested?”

“Oh yes, very. They are deep into the forest, it’s very dark there even during the day. The woodcutters dare not go in because of the stories, so the trees were never thinned out.”

“There we are. Haunters like to keep to the shadows because they become nearly invisible. I presume that your hiker has seen Haunter’s form in a ray of moonlight. This sight was burnt into his mind during his nightmares, which Haunter ate. What you believed to be fever shudderings were the results of a Haunter’s Lick.”

“Oh dear… what if Claruce fell prey to one?!”

“Haunters are slow feeders. If your son has been missing for two days only, it is likely that he is still alive. He will need food and drink though. As for the shuddering… those will require medical treatment, but can be cured. Have you a Pokémon Center anywhere nearby?”

“A Po-kay-mon center? What is that?”

“If you don’t know it’s unlikely that you have one. I’ll see about finding a Cheri Berry on my way, though.” Having said that, I got to my feet. “Prepare something edible and a large bottle of water for Claruce, something I can carry. I’ve to make some preparations to deal with the threat.”

“Of course! I’ll have everything ready in ten minutes!” Reinvigorated by my words, she got to her feet rather energetically and began to rummage around the kitchen, this time with her glasses on.

“I will join you”, Brutus declared as I began to float towards the door.

“Can you hope to stand against an immaterial Pokémon?” I asked him.

“No, but I can sniff the boy out.”

“... very well. I’ll be back later, I just need to find a few Cheri or Lum Berries first.”

“Okay.” With that he trotted back towards Martha, who was just in the process of cutting some large chunks out of a cheese wedge with a massive butcher knife. I turned around and floated off into the forest, relying on my nose from here on to sniff out the characteristic scent of berry bushes.

The bad news I had not told Martha about was that if there really was a Haunter in the Copy-Cat Woods, I had my work cut out for me. With my level being at a pitiful low of 5 and having a type disadvantage against the elusive ghost-type Pokémon I was already in a hard place, but there was also the matter of my opponent’s level. Gastly evolved into Haunter at level 25, and if four years ago a Haunter had killed a human, that meant that if I was dealing with the same individual, they were at least level 25, most likely higher as they had four years to train. There was a possibility that the Haunter had left the forest, but it was just as likely that it had bred and thus had Gastlys other Haunters to back it up. In short, the odds were stacked against me.

Of course, that did not man I would give up. As Dr. Fuji said in his last moments before I destroyed the scientific facility where I had been created, they dreamed of creating the world’s strongest Pokémon, and they succeeded. My weakness was but a temporary setback.

But first, I needed those berries. And then I would go about interrogating these friends of Claruce’s, Jokex Luther and Bane Seid. Maybe they had some info I could yet squeeze out of them.

3.853 / 10.000
 
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Aku

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2,075/5000 words out of "In the Shadow of the Old Empire"

The sun beats down on the excavation team as they keep digging for artifacts or treasures to find. Sweat drains from their pours as it cools off their bodies from the intense heat where there is no shade. Their Shovels sound off by penetrating the planet's surface that contained soil that is a direct copy of earth's. Some of the older archeologists are starting to get tired of the nonstop work. The archeologist team consists of eight members.

The leader is a human named Dr. Allan or for his full name, Grady Allan. His age is in his sixties, and he has been an archeologist ever since he earned a doctoring degree from one of Arcadia's top universities. The other seven consists of young and middle age coming from both genders. There are three females and four males, and the archaeologists' species consists of three humans, one Argonian, two elves, and one Twi'lek. The gendered races consist of two human males, one human female, an Argonian male, a Twi'lek female, and both elves are one male and one female.

Meanwhile, the team of professionals working hard, their new master is resting off to the side somewhere while not doing hard work. A flat rectangle block was formed over him, representing support to create shade. Underneath Aku, his body forms a lounging chair while laying on it with relaxation. A pair of sunglasses covered his eyes while his eyebrows still were lit up underneath them. Next to him is a glass of iced tea sitting on top of a coffee table next to him. Every couple of minutes, he will take a sip of his tea while relaxing.

A radio sits next to the master of evil, playing soothing Hawaiian music through the speakers to set the mood. While getting comfortable, Aku shrank to an average human being size. Dr. Allan's energy depleted from his body, and he could not take it anymore from their new master that overruled his university project. He dropped his shovel immediately, catching his team's attention as they see him walk away from the digging site toward the camp where Aku's location. The doctor marches with frustration and tiredness, heading straight forward to the Erde Nona's future ruler.

He stood next Aku for a solid minute with his hands balled up into fists that rest against his hips as same for his arms bent to make the posture. Dr. Allan could not stand how Aku was treating them and having him over here, not even looking over them to see the hard work they are doing for him. His facial expression is filled with a frown and disgust while the doctor's wrinkle face scrunched. Along with the forehead, rolls formed by the face he made. Grady's white professional handlebar mustache becomes like a sponge that absorbed sweat and is drenched.

How could this all-powerful godly being not be taking things too seriously as he was before? The shogun of sorrow did not notice Dr. Allan's presence as he continues to sip his ice-cold tea through a straw. Dr. Allan straightens his posture and fixes his face to not be rude to their new god. He takes off his hat to show respect toward Aku.

"Master Aku, we have been working nonstop for hours. Please give us a little break to regain our strength and continue doing our expedition oh great almighty Aku." Dr. Allan speaks as his words come out nervously in a sweating manner.

The pitch naturally dark being acknowledges the doctor speaking his mind. Aku's thumb comes down upon the stop button of his little radio that pauses the pleasant music. In a single moment, silence fills the air between the two. Dr. Allan further awaits Aku's answer to his request with awkwardness. The future ruler takes one more sip with his tea that is now halfway full. He pulls the sunglasses off and puts it away by causing it to disappear by a poof of black smoke. His mind wonders why Mewtwo was not performing the job of keeping everyone in line.

Without saying a word, Aku makes his setup transform into a black substance and retreats to his body. As the matter enters the shogun of sorrow's body, his growth activates. The figure starts to tower over the doctor, forming a dark shadow on top of the arcadian. Aku's physique blocks the sun, and he faces toward Dr. Allan. A concerned look goes across the master of darkness' face at the request.

"SURE, WHY NOT! COME SO THAT WE CAN ADDRESS THIS TO THE TEAM." Aku boomed with his words toward the doctor.

"Oh, thank you for your gratefulness, master of all!" Dr. Allan praised the powerful ruler's choice while humble.

They head back to the digging site to tell the team to take a break from their work. Aku stands in the middle of everyone while they continue to dig. The sounds of shovels hitting the dirt keep lapping over each other. The shogun of sorrow studies the surroundings to see where Mewtwo is. There was no sign of his first follower. The doctor stands next to Aku while seeing everyone still working hard with little energy left in them.

"MORTALS!" the master of evil grabs all the team of archaeologist's attention as they gaze upon their new ruler.

"I WANT EVERYONE TO HEAR WHAT I'M ABOUT TO SAY HERE." Aku continued with his authoritative voice following along a curved smile

Dr. Allan is happy and has a welcoming attitude that eases everyone from the fret of their new leader's presence.

Breaking the stillness, the shogun of sorrow eyes glows with whiteness that makes everyone unnerving. A scorching white beam whooshes out from the great eyes and covers Dr. Allan completely. After a second, the tyrannical ruler stops his power. A pile of ashes replaced where the expedition team's beloved doctor once stood. Everyone gazes in horror, and some started to cry in tears of Dr. Allan's tragic demise.

"Please master Aku; I need a break so I can be lazy and not work for your perfectness." The twisted dark being intimidating Dr. Allan's voice with mockery.

"You monster!" shouted one of the humans named Zayden, calling out Aku's gruesome act.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" Aku laughs back at Zayden's choice of words.

"I PRESENT AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU STOP DOING WHAT YOUR'E TOLD TO DO BY ME! NOW, BACK TO WORK OR ELSE!" The shogun of sorrow orders the expedition team.

Everyone goes back to work and doubles their digging effort while their water canteens are about to run dry.

Aku faces away from everyone and proceeds back to the camp, and his eyes continued to scan around the scene if he could see his loyal servant.

"Where is Mewtwo." The master of darkness mumbles while stroking his red beard with curiosity.
 

Aku

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2653/5000 words out of "In the Shadow of the Old Empire"
After hours of work on the dig site, they finally uncovered the buried entrance to this ancient temple of Erde Nona's past. The team notified Aku about the discovery, and he was pleased with the progress. In his giant form, the once ruler of earth gazes upon half-buried stairs that lead to the entry of the muster yellow-colored stone temple. The crew is astonishing about the discovery they made only one thing they deeply desire is for Dr. Allan to witness this great piece of the past world.

"Interesting, this temple must have been buried from the geographical formation of this world. The holy ground is starting to show that that the previous civilization built it before the golden age of Arcadia." A hypothesis remark made by the Twi'lek female archeologist while she examined the age of the stones that made the temple.

Progress has stopped from an obstacle blocking their way into the temple. It appears to be two big, thick stone doors that are close to the outside. The team walks up the half-buried steps that lead to the entrance. They push with all their might against the door and struggle to open it. Grunts came out of the archeologists as they grit their teeth to try their absolute best to move the doors at least. It is no use to the mortals to open it, and they stop to take a break away from the entrance.

"THIS IS NO TIME TO TAKE A BREAK, FOOLS! YOU MUST PAVE THE PATH FOR MY REIGN TO SUCCEED!" A command is shout out from Aku upon the archeologist team's action.

"There is no way we can open those doors, master." The Argonian male remarks while panting to regain his breath from all the strength used on pushing.

"Grrrrrrr… MEWTWO I SUMMON YOU!" Aku shouts out loud with authority toward his companion.

Two minutes go by, and Mewtwo did not respond from the master of darkness' words.

"MEWTWO!" roars Aku that makes birds within the vicinity fly away from the treetops.

Again, silence is the response the shogun of sorrow gets and no Mewtwo. Anger is filling within Aku and frustration that is starting to look like Mewtwo ditch him.

The fiery eyebrows upon his head were starting to grow with fury fueling the fire. In response, the archeologists become nervous, and fear from the future ruler of their planet begins to lose his temper.

"FINE THEN I'LL JUST DO ALL THE WORK MYSELF!" screams out Aku in rage from his companion's action of leaving him.

His eyebrows burst with even more fire that can no longer contain his anger. The shogun of sorrow's eyes began to light up from before when Dr. Allan met his demise. Two laser beams shoot out from both his eyeballs that hit against the concrete doors. The laser beams sear the stone doors, but nothing is happening. The archeologists cover their eyes from the brightness of the beams. He stops his powers, and his eyeballs return to normal with the single small black pupils in the center of the eyes.


No help made to assist calming anger down since Aku is used to his powers being more reliable from the past.

"FIND A WAY TO OPEN THIS DOOR BEFORE I RELEASE MY WRATH UPON YOU WORMS!" the master of darkness bursts with anger that made the mortals scramble to study the entrance.

Aku's arms folded frustratingly while his face is filling with grumpiness.
 

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Continuation from this post (same thread!)

Despite the lack of familiar Pokémon in this area, the woods held a number of berries which, while colored and sometimes shaped differently, held the same effects as the berries I was familiar with. Cheri berries I couldn’t find, but Lum berries I was able to secure two handfuls of, which would be more than sufficient. Even if Claruce were to need three or four to be fully cured of the shudders brought on by Haunter’s Lick I would have plenty left over for myself. Plus, Lum Berries were in every way better than Cheri berries when it came to curative effects, though some would argue that they tasted worse.

Next I returned to the village and went to Martha’s home. I picked out a hemp bag that I filled with the berries so I would not need to transport them individually. It wasn’t an ideal way of carrying them around but it was the best I could do. Martha added a pair of water bottles and several wrapped sandwiches to the bag, telling me to feed those to Claruce so he would last.

“You can stay by the fire, Brutus”, I told the Basset Hound when he raised his head. “I’m not yet going out to look for Claruce.”

“Where are you going?” asked Brutus.

“To pay a visit to Claruce’s friends. If they have any further information on the situation he’s gotten himself into I will be able to prepare better.”

“I’ll come with you. Jokex is a nice boy and maybe he’ll open up with me around.”

That was what he said, but I also sensed that he wanted to get out of the house. I pondered the option a moment, then nodded. “Very well. Lead the way.”

Given the town’s small size it took us only a minute to get to where we needed to be and knock on the doors to Bane’s and Jokex’s homes. Jokex readily came out when he saw Brutus through a window, and Bane the halfling ended up dragged out by his trousers when he saw me and tried to slam the door shut in our faces. I reached my hand out to yank him towards me, only to be reminded yet again that I had lost my telekinetic powers. But, I had a backup.

“I am not feeling patient, halfling. You will answer my questions”, I commanded and, to underline my threat, I formed a Shadow Ball between my fingers. The crackle of energy on the black sphere’s surface was enough to bring Bane to reason.

“Alright, alright!” he yelled and threw his hands up in the human gesture for surrender. “Just tell the damned mutt to back off!”

“Brutus is not a mutt!” protested Jokex as he got on his knees. “He’s a good boy! Brutus! Come here boy.” He patted his knees and Brutus let go of Bane’s trouser leg and walked over, happy as a clam to get some scritches.

I examined the two ‘boys’. Save for his childlike behavior Jokex seemed like a grown human who only occasionally threw a glance my way and was mostly busy snuggling Brutus. Bane was the opposite - small like a teenager human, with large ears and a wiry build, but the intelligent eyes of someone much older than he looked.

“Tell me what you know about the Copy-Cat woods”, I began my interrogation.

“I don’t know anything that Mrs. Kwaynte couldn’t tell you”, grumbled the halfling.

“I know you’ve been to the woods.”

“Well… yeah, but only during the day. The monsters come out at night!”

“It takes no monster to harm a human. A simple Ratic-”

“I had a rifle, even if it’d been a bear I could have scared it off!”

“A rifle”, I repeated. Ah yes, the firearm weapon that the humans employed. Could it be that… “Did you misaim and hit Claruce?”

“Heavens, no!” Bane exclaimed with a sharp glare. “These two lads are like sons to me! I would never hurt them! I could never forgive myself if I did!”

I crossed my arms as I met his glare. “If Claruce means so much to you, you are not being helpful to someone who means to aid him. You are hiding something.”

“We were HUNTING, alright!” Bane exclaimed. “The two lads kept an eye out for game and we took the occasional shot at one. I watched them closely though! I was careful that they couldn’t hurt themselves!”

“Did Jokex-”

“I told you, no! We didn’t do nothing to him, neither of us!”

“Then who did?”

Bane froze up. He took a few moments to respond. “It was… the monster of the Copy-Cat Woods… it…”

I felt his mind. He was repressing the memories? But I lacked the patience to help him so I opted to shake out of him what I could, so I grabbed him by the collar and pinned him against the wall of his own house. “What did you see?” I asked.

Bane didn’t respond, but I saw blurred images flashing through his mind, passing via telepathy. A forest that rapidly darkened as a thick purple haze filled the air. Loud bangs ringing through the air. A shadowy figure hovering over the ground with big hands and a purple glow in its eyes and serrated maw. A pair of purple beams outlined in dark red that whizzed over Bane’s head before everything went dark. It wasn’t much but I knew to recognize the signs.

I loosened my grip and he slid down until he was sat on the ground. “That was a Night Shade attack. You’ve been attacked by a Haunter”, I said and turned my attention to Jokex. Except Jokex was gone. I looked around, but both the boy and Brutus had vanished during my interrogation.

“Where did Jokex go?” I asked Bane. As I had my back turned to them, Bane must’ve seen them leave.

“Hell if I know! You were looming over me all creepy like all this time!”

I was about to fly up, when I noticed Jokex coming back with Brutus beside him. He was keeping him close by a leash that was attached to the Basset Hound’s collar. I gave the human a revulsed look and asked Brutus: “How can you allow a lowly human to degrade you like that?”

Brutus seemed indifferent. “This is how the humans prevent me from running off and chasing after dangers. I’m used to it.”

“Used to a leash! To condition a proud creature like yourself to accept such a degrading treatment…! what did you two do anyway?”

“Jokex took me for a little walk to the edge of the village.”

“The edge of the village? Why would...” I started, when a picture flashed through my mind, a memory of Brutus from not two minutes ago, sniffing around a tree and finding a good spot to- “... right. That’s why you wanted to come out earlier.”

“That too.”

I felt a twinge of disgust at the thought that the humans of this world would not even allow their Pokémon companions to choose their own time to answer the call of nature. Control freaks and slavedrivers, the lot of them.

“What about you?” I asked, turning my attention back towards Jokex.

“Eh?” he just answered with a puzzled look on his face.

“What did you see in the Copy-Cat Woods? How did Claruce get taken away?”

“I already told Brutus but I’m not telling you! I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”

The age-old human mantra that the adults teach to the children ‘Don’t talk to strangers’. An annoyance but I felt like the threatening language I had used against Bane would not do here. So instead I reached out to Brutus. “What did he tell you?”

“He said that there was a purple cloud in the air and that Mr. Bane shot his rifle at something. Then he felt sleepy and when he woke up he was outside the Copy-Cat woods.”

So Jokex was hit by Hypnosis and Bane had taken a grazing hit of Night Shade. Had he been hit he would likely not have survived. While Natu’s and Spinarak’s evolutionary lines could also learn the moves, the grimace I had seen in Bane’s memories was unmistakably a Haunter’s, and neither Natu nor Spinarak could learn Hypnosis besides.

“Do you know where the Woods are?” I asked.

“Yes. I can lead you there.”

“In that case we can go, I have all I need to know from these two. I’m going back to Martha’s to pick up everything.”

“Okay.” The Basset Hound shook himself once Jokex had unhooked the leash and trotted back over to me. We returned to the house, where I picked up the bag of provisions and called out to Martha. “I’ll go find your son now. Brutus is coming along to help me sniff him out.”

“That’s fine, but please don’t forget about searching for my boy! He’s been absent for so long, it’s got me worried sick… oh, you could take Brutus along with you! He’s got a good nose even in his old age, he’ll find Claruce for sure!”

I stifled a groan and said “sure” as I slung the bag over my back and turned around and left the town with Brutus trotting beside me. The Copy-Cat Woods then… although, I would have to do a little training along the way. There seemed to be no known Pokémon around but any combat experience would strengthen me. Or rather, I would regain my strength. The question was, how would I go about that? To retrain my combat-oriented synaptic links I plain and simply needed to fight someone, and defeat them. The local wildlife might do but if I challenged someone too weak I would gain nothing, and if I bit off more than I could chew I had no reliable source of recovering from my injuries.

No sooner had I thought this than that I noticed a creature blocking my way. It reminded me of a Stantler, but with several differences such as the lack of orbs on its antlers. It snorted - huffed? at me, exhaling hot air from its nostrils, and stomped the ground. Was this a mutated variant that had adapted to the local climate? When I did not back off it huffed again and threateningly lowered its antlers, aiming them towards me.

Foolish, I thought as I raised my hand, only to be reminded for the third time today that I could not use Psychic. And I could not use Shadow Ball against a Stantler either… unless this mutated version was not immune? No, experimenting right now was too risky, with it being as close as it was and having a clear line of sight. It had a good angle to charge me with Take Down.

In other words, I was outmatched against a common Stantler. It was a situation so ridiculous that I cracked a smile. “Brutus, back away. We are intruding on this one’s territory.” With that I slowly backed up again, one step at a time, and carefully placed a tree between it and me. The Stantler kept its eyes on me. A few more steps and it relaxed slightly but kept its guard up. The tree acted as an obstacle to prevent a charging tackle, but I could still see it.

”We will need to circle this Stantler’s territory”, I said.

Brutus looked a bit worried and replied: “I don’t know another route to the woods.”

“Then we’ll fly over it.” I picked him up and took off, but Brutus immediately started to whine and thrashed around, stricken with panic when we were barely three meters above the ground. I briefly considered to go to the woods alone, but going without the Basset Hound to provide comfort and warmth to Claruce when we found him was going to make things harder yet.

No way over, no way around, and I couldn’t use Dig so getting under the territory was no option either... The only way was through.

I raised my hand and gathered energy until a Shadow Ball swirled over my palm. There was no guarantee that the Stantlers around here were immune to ghost-type attacks. I was in a foreign world with different rules - it would not hurt to try, now that I had the tree between us to prevent it from charging me. The Stantler looked more alert and huffed, but I thrusted my hand forward and hit it head-on. It bursted like a water balloon and harmlessly dissipated, as the startled and angered creature angrily bellowed, lowered its head and began its attack. But I had prepared, and flew up slightly, out of its reach.

So it really was immune. But to flee now would mean to leave Brutus behind, and I still had need of him - not to mention, I had no intention of turning tail like a coward. So, what other options were available to me, with the movepool at my disposal? The answer was simple - if I could not directly harm it, I would indirectly do so.

The Stantler gave another bellow and threateningly waved its head around. I formed a new Shadow Ball and hit a large branch with it, severing it near the base and sending it plummeting down. Caught by surprise, the creature could not dodge it in time and was knocked down under its weight, but a flailing of its head heaved the branch up. Nonetheless, it gave me time to throw a second, even larger branch on it, a weight under which it collapsed.

“Brutus”, I called out, “it’s time to go.”

“Did you kill it?” the Basset Hound asked as he joined me.

“No. Those branches are heavy but it’ll escape them just fine. It’ll just be struggling for a while. See?” Indeed, the Stantler was slowly squirming its way out, though the branches were stuck in its antlers and making the process slow and tedious. “I do not yet intend on killing it.”

“Yet?”

“Enough of the Stantler. Where are the woods?”

“Ahead. We need to follow this path.” The wildlife path carved by the hundreds of paws and hooves that used this on a daily basis, in other words. I nodded. Brutus led the way as I inspected the level-up notification that had popped up when I had defeated the Stantler. Two levels? Very nice. Unfortunately, Psychic and other moves did not yet appear as options. But perhaps I would be able to get Confusion?

Distracting myself turned out to be my near-undoing. It was only thanks to the Stantler’s hooves cracking a few twigs that I heard it charging behind me. I instinctively dodged to the side, but I was too slow, and its right antler struck my leg and tossed its head up, tearing it open.

A horrible pain exploded along my leg and my world briefly went black as I hit the ground. But before I could pass out, I engaged my levitation and floated up. Were my leg to hit the ground now it would get dirty and make its healing riskier.

“Insolent beast…! how did you free yourself so fast?!” I asked, but got no response. It was already rearing its head for another charge. I attempted to use Recover, only to be reminded that I did not have that ability yet, either. There was nothing to stop the pain. And the Stantler was about to charge me for a second attack, already lowering its head…

A small brown and white creature came darting into my field of view and sunk its fangs into the Stantler’s hindleg. It roared in pain and briefly thrashed its head and legs about, before bucking and kicking both legs. For the moment where they stood still, I got a better look. It was Brutus who’d saved me. But that kick sent him flying through the air and he’d only left some bite marks, not seriously injured the Stantler. It was already turning its attention back to me and lowering its head.

I gritted my teeth as the blood dripped down the back of my leg and foot, then to the ground. It took me all my willpower to not pass out there and then. I could barely remain floating and I doubted I would be able to touch the ground without my leg folding. But I could not handle this opponent. Stantler was too strong. To be defeated by such a simpleton of an opponent… was this really how I was going to end? Gored, stomped and crushed by the hooves of a lowly Stantler, dead and forgotten in some backwater forest?

I refused to accept that. I had greater goals to attain! I could not die here! But it seemed like that fate was inevitable. The Stantler roared as it charged, its head coming within a meter of me. It was going to impale and gore me. Time seemed to slow down in these last moments.

I did not resign myself to that fate.

---

As the stag defending its territory, angrily charging at Mewtwo to take his revenge for its attack, tossed his head around expecting his antlers to tear the lavender-colored intruder’s chest open, a heavy force slammed into its neck from the side. So strong it was that he was knocked off course and fell on his side, then slid along the mossy ground a short distance. He gave a weak bellow, but his head was spinning, and he could not stay conscious. His head dropped as the pain from the hit made him pass out.

---

I breathed heavily as I floated mere centimeters off the ground, looking at the now unconscious body of the Stantler. The blood continued to drip but the pain was slowly going away.

I let go of the massive spoon and watched it dissolve into blue and purple energy that dissipated in the wind. It was almost ironic, seeing that it took me a near-death experience to develop a new move.

Psystrike… to release a large amount of psychic energy so dense that it hurt the enemy physically rather than mentally, as most other psychic abilities did. To have it shape into a spoon nearly as tall as me, that I could swing around to bash my charging opponent with… it was so simple, and yet so effective.

For me, the strongest Pokémon, to wield powers as sophisticated as psychic energy to whack an opponent with what amounted to a club… it was ironic, and it made me laugh. Or it would’ve, if the pain in my leg wasn’t there.

“Brutus!” I called out. I got no response, but a weak presence of mind behind a bush. I floated over and eyed the Basset Hound laying there.

“The Stantler struck you”, I remarked.

Brutus whined. “My side hurts.”

“You’re in luck”, I replied as I reached out. He had crashed into a bush with fat yellow berries on it, that had orange spots all over its surface. I plucked two and tossed one at him. “Eat.” Then I bit into the other.

Sour juice filled my mouth, but the pulp of the berry tasted sweet. With each bite I took, I felt the pain diminish. The blood stopped dripping and the wound shrunk. Brutus looked greatly intrigued, then bit into the berry. With his elongated maw, he had trouble holding the pulp in, but he managed to get most of it swallowed whole, after breaking the berry into chunks. “The pain is disappearing”, he said.

“You’re eating a Sitrus Berry. They heal injuries very fast and restore vitality even if one is close to passing out.” I plucked another two and handed him another while eating my own, slightly less hurried. The pain in my leg diminished to a weak throb. “Before you ask, I did not kill the Stantler this time, either. It will remain passed out for a while though.” I looked at the bush behind which I knew the Stantler to be. “Is it possible that these Stantlers lack the ability to hypnotize? Otherwise I would not put it beyond one of them being the monster of the copy-cat woods.”

“I don’t think that stags cannot hypnotize anyone”, Brutus replied as he stood and shook himself. He looked a lot better, if a bit dirty.

“Then our search goes on. Lead the way.”

We continued our way along the wildpath, leaving the unconscious body behind. Psystrike… I felt more confident in its ability to injure an opponent with that than Shadow Ball. It had a limited range, but I could feel it - the hyper-dense psychic energy did not have the weaknesses of regular psychic energy anymore, it was essentially a metal spoon I was wielding. A ghost-type or dark-type Pokémon should not be able to withstand it.

In other words, should I encounter Aku and have to battle him, as he would no doubt be unhappy about my escape, at least I now had a weapon to take him on with. One that he was not immune to.

Word count: 3.853 + 3.520 = 7.373 / 10.000

Sorry to Aku and staff for mixing two quests in the same thread. Didn't think of starting a new one when I started the quest... and now it's in for a penny in for a pound!
 
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The Sitrus Berries worked wonders for Brutus and myself, though I could feel throbbing in my leg even without touching the ground. The bleeding had stopped and the injury had closed without leaving a scar, but there was still a dull pain.

Berries did not heal in the same way as a proper medical treatment, like a Recovery, a Chansey’s Softboiled or the care of a Nurse Joy. I snorted as that memory came back to mind. The Nurse Joy I’d abducted to care for my clones on New Island, placed under Hypnosis and waiting on me loyally. She had been a good puppet, laughably easy to subdue and control.

Had she been here now, what would she have recommended? Bedrest and a healthy diet? Probably. But I did not have access to, or interest in, either of those. Maybe after Claruce was back safe at his home. Why again was I helping a human anyway, I asked myself for what had to be the twentieth time. And the answer remained the same. I needed information, I needed power… and, lacking too many of my abilities to do everything I needed on my own, I needed money.

‘Money makes the world go round’... hah. It was the words of weaklings whose focus on learning a singular craft left them crippled and dependant on others. To become a singular cog in an enormous machine.

A machine that, I was well aware, I was dependant on without my powers. It was laughable. Degrading. But I had no choice but to accept the position, for now.

“We’re here”, Brutus said. “The Copy-cat Woods are right ahead.”

There was no physical border, no marking of any kind indicating that we were crossing into them. And yet I could see it. The woods we had traversed were open, the night sky was visible overhead and it was dark, but not exceptionally so. The darkness ahead felt stifling and heavy, like the air itself was thick… Haze? No, I did not smell the scent that came with that move. It had to be something relating to the forest itself.

It was no surprise that Haunters lived in such a place, it was dieal breeding grounds for ghost Pokémon. I held out my hand, and my Psystrike spoon materialized in it. “Stay behind me”, I told Brutus. “Do not try to attack anything, unless… can you use Feint Attack?” Brutus’s uncertainty answered that question before he could word it out. “Bite? Crunch? Pursuit?”

“My teeth are not the best. I am not young anymore.”

“Then avoid combat entirely. When we rescue Claruce, run with him.”

“And what will you do?”

“I can fly, remember. Besides, I want to train against the Ghastlies that may inhabit the forest.” I floated forwards, into the woods, and let the Basset Hound follow me. The stifling atmosphere settled over the both of us almost immediately but I pressed on. I might have been weakened, but the mere thought that a little discomfort would push me out was ludicrous.

The dense foliage over our heads blocked out what little moonlight would have lighted up our path, which I had little patience for. With how long it’d been since Brutus and I had been traveling though, morning should come around soon enough. I scoured the ground for something resembling flintstone to light a lighting fire with, but there was no such luck. And of course, I did not know Flash.

Hmm. How about... “Brutus, step back”, I ordered. As the Basset Hound obliged, I waved my hand and there was a flicker. I released the spoon, letting it dissolve, and repeated the motion. This time a large blue barrier bubble formed around me, lighting the forest up better than any torch could’ve. That was much better.

“What’s this?” Brutus asked, his voice slightly fearful.

“Barrier”, I answered as I began to float again, and the bubble followed. “You needn’t worry, it’s harmless.” I was very glad to have made it work. Another powerful move - the perfect shield, combined with the perfect sword in the shape of Psystrike. And it would proof me from sneak attacks that the Ghastly family was infamous for, both thanks to the all-round protection and lighting up the area so they could not approach unnoticed.

Interestingly, there was nothing around us. I looked left and right, but I could not hear any Noctowls hooting, no Rattatas scurrying about, no Zubats fluttering their wings or even a single Oddish rustling its leaves. It should be prime time for the nocturnal Pokémon to be coming out. All was eerily silent.

Then, a scent crossed my nostrils. It had been a little while but it was familiar, the scent of… “Brutus, do you smell this too?”

“It smells like burnt things.”

“There is no fire around though.”

“No.”

“Which means the smell is old. Days, perhaps weeks. Can you sniff it out?”

“It’s coming from that way.” He began to trot forward, ignoring my previous command to stay behind me. But he had only taken a few steps when he turned around. “What about Claruce?”

“Hmph. Can you smell him?”

“Okay.” He put his big snout on the ground, inhaling and snorting several times, then began to lead the way again, this time in a different direction. I followed after him, looking ahead, but there was nothing to be seen. Only more trees and bushes and vague dark shapes that turned out to be more vegetation.

No. One shape was solid and as we drew closer did not split into multiple trees lined up behind each other. It was a structure of some kind, large enough to comfortably fit a pair of Nidoking were I to guess. As I approached, Barrier’s light was reflected off of its metallic surface.

“Brutus, step back”, I ordered. Whether this was a machine or something else, it concerned me. Doubly so when I noticed the mound… no, the river that this thing had carved into the ground. I could not see them, but the smell of burnt trees was strong now. Piecing together what had happened was easy. This metal item, likely a capsule or a pod, had fallen from the sky at an angle, impacted into the woods, carved this river and set fire to the trees with its heated exterior, then finally it had come to a standstill where it was now. It was not smoldering though, so it couldn’t have been recent.

Interesting. This was quite a similar occurrence to my own arrival on this world. But it could not be related to the Haunters and Gengars. If anything, such a disturbance would have made them flee the scene.

While I was thinking, raised his head and howled. he was just gathering air for another howl, when I pulled his maw shut with one hand.

“Silence! We do not know who might be listening!” I hissed to him telepathically.

“Claruce is here!” Brutus replied. His ability to speak mentally was, of course, not impeded by me holding his maw shut. “I can smell him!”

As I prepared to object, I heard a very muffled voice and the banging of something solid against metal. It was coming from the pod.

Was that Claruce? Was he stuck inside the box? My eyes darted around, but still I could not perceive a single Pokémon nearby. I floated around to the other side of the big pod, summoning the spoon back to my hand, and eyed the surface. The pod was at a shallow angle to the ground, almost laying on its side, but… yes, there it was, a doorframe.

I could not reach out with Telepathy as I saw nobody on the other side. To tell them to step away from the door was thus impossible. I resigned myself to hoping that the occupant would know what was best for them as I searched out a gap in the doorframe big enough to slide the spoon’s handle into, then once I had it in place, I gave it a sharp tug.

Without telekinetic force, I was restricted to my physical muscle but I made up for a lack in strength with leverage. By pulling on the spoon’s bowl I applied its force on the other end of the lever to a minimal area, and with a lot of creaking the metal began to give way, widening the gap. I slid the spoon downwards along the opening and repeated the motion until I could see a human eye staring at me through the gap, wide with shock.

This time I was able to form a connection. “You. Who are you?”

The mind on the other side was a child’s, small, innocent and terrified. “C-Claruce, Sir”, he answered.

“Claruce Kwaynte?”

“Y-yes! Please, don’t hurt me Sir!”

I internally groaned. “Stay away from the door”, I ordered. But before opening it fully, I checked myself over. My thoughts were circulating correctly. I had not been hit by Hypnosis, as would be a common concern when making eye contact. But even a subtle Hypnosis left traces that I would’ve identified. In other words, the human behind that door was doubtlessly Claruce.

As I placed the spoon for a third time, a purple hand reached through the gap and grasped the door. A hand I recognized without a doubt - a Haunter. But what was it doing in the pod with Claruce? Was the lad secretly a trainer whose Pokémon this was? Had he caught Haunter after his friends had been knocked out?

Had he used Haunter to attack them?

Whatever the reasons were, Haunter now helped me by pushing from the other side, adding its meager strength to mine own. The door creacked and protested, but after two more tugs the locks snapped. The door slowly opened as the Haunter on the other side made its hands solid and pushed it.

The inside of the pod was an unseeming near-empty space outfitted only with a seat, a disengaged security restraint and a fair amount of dirt on the ground. In the seat was a human matching Martha Kwaynte’s description, who looked terrified. In his hands he clutched a Pokéball of unknown make to me, and despite how the way was open he made no move to escape. Haunter floated there, indecisive after having opened the door, and stared at me. Without its usual broad smile, it actually looked

Brutus on the other hand leapt past me and into the cabin, onto Claruce, and began to lick his face and snuggle in. I needed not read his mind to see how overjoyed, yet deeply concerned he was. But we were not out of the woods yet, figuratively and literally. I thus gave Brutus only a minute to comfort the terrified man-child before I interrupted. “Brutus, bring Claruce out”, I ordered. “We will clear things up later.”

Brutus began to tug the frightened Claruce out by the sleeve of his jacket, and Claruce shakily got on his feet, his eyes remaining on me. Only when I disabled Barrier did he seemingly calm down a bit.

“Are you physically well?” I asked as I removed the pack I had worn over my shoulder.

“I’m… I’m not hurt… who are you?” he responded. His knuckles were white around the Pokéball that he still clutched. Only when I held a Cheri Berry out did he reach for it.

“Your mother asked me for aid in your rescue. Eat this, it’ll heal you.” I waited for him to chomp down on the berry, first gingerly then ravenously once he got accustomed to the taste. As he finished, his shudders were gone. I chose that time to ask: “Did you get stuck in that pod?”

“N-no, it… he imprisoned me there! H-he wanted me to…!”

I felt a peculiar coldness run down my spines. “Who is ‘he’?”

Claruce’s eyes widened. He shuddered so bad that I thought he had been Paralyze’d again, but then he raised a hand. Slowly his fingers balled into a shaking fist, save for his index, which pointed at me. “Thethethe P-papapa… T-the Pa- the pa…”

“What have we here? Looking to leave again so soon, human?” a voice behind me asked. That was when I realized Claruce wasn’t pointing at me. He was pointing at something behind me.

I turned around. Clad in broken and torn brownish armor that exposed much of his gray skin stood a man-sized creature that grinned broadly, exposing rows of pointed teeth. He wore red goggles but one glass was broken, revealing an eye beneath that was not smiling along with the mouth. In fact, that lone eye I could see was glaring at me with a piercing malicious gaze, and I was certain that the other eye did the same.

I now realized that the coldness I had felt had been a warning. A surge of adrenaline readying me for what was to come.

This creature, whatever it was, was the one that had arrived with this pod.

And he was not friendly.

Word count: 7.373 + 2.176 = 9.549 / 10.000
 
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Aku

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In the dark-filled night, a small incoming object enters the atmosphere of the lush planet. The unknown piece from outer space flies across the night stary sky, almost faking a shooting star's appearance. This object isn't space trash nor a meteorite. It is something that lives and breathes unusually coming from the vacuum of the last frontier. Hurling towards the planet's natural soil surface, it's color is pitch black that covers this object's entirety aspect.

This thing currently burns and overwhelming by fire, bringing a beautiful scene for anyone who is paying close attention to the beautiful star-filled sky, tricking them into thinking it something far from danger. Closer and closer, the black as sin object flies toward the ground. Luckily, no one was present in the area it pin-pointed to land. Someone could get hurt or killed by receiving the brutal force of how physics is unforgiving. The strange thing crashes at the edge of a particular forest located in the hinterlands.

It left a small crater surrounding the blackened object lying in the center. Dirt is shown caused by the impact and scattered everywhere at the sheer force. The shape is oval, sitting there with no life bound to it. After a minute landing, it wiggles a little rocking back and forth. It does this for a couple of seconds, but suddenly, two little eyeballs form on top of this alien creature.

Whiteness fills the eyeballs having tiny beady pupils that look around the environment. Curiosity comes over his mind on how he got into this situation. After a minute of guessing, the creature gives up and attempts to activate motor functions. The black liquid being squirms and seeks to move out the crater. Currently, the black blob is six inches high, and the length is 3 feet across the ground.

He moves along into the forest in a hasty manner, similarly to a prey avoiding predators. This dark being's movement is quick to prevent anyone from catching him at all costs. A shelter is the number one goal on his mind to accomplish finding. Unfortunately, the process of healing takes time to make a return on replenishing the truly diabolical lord's identity. Nothing must get in his way to make a comeback. Soon, everything rushes back inside his mind, reminding him how he got into this mess.

That cursed game.

Now experiencing this famous event in the crossroads, next time, he will come prepared and waiting for next year to show everyone that there is no stopping Aku. For now, conquering every square inch of this planet is his primary goal to make a foundation—no more foolish games to play. Playtime is over. Now is the time putting shackles on his enemies and smiting them with no mercy.

The small blob eyeballs around in the darkness, making sure the coast is clear. No one is present in this area to traverse. Aku makes his next move and darts away in a hasty manner. After landing some time ago, this creature can feel his powers slowly returning to him. Maybe his recovery's process will be shorter this time around unlike before when he landed on this planet after Earth.

He must wait in the shadows to strike at a perfect time when all the Akuness returns.
 

Mewtwo

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Before me, the alien creature who Claruce seemed to call “the Pa-”something. Behind me, the lad, the Basset Hound, the Haunter and the pod blocking the way. The densely grown trees would present a challenge were I to fly upwards, and it would leave the three behind me exposed.

The humanoid spoke up a few seconds after nobody else said a word. “Nother one of them wannabe spooksters? Pfah. Whole forest’s infested.” As he spoke, I noted the broken spear-like implement in one of his arms. He had three, and a stump on his right that ended halfway between the shoulder and elbow - torn off, most likely. If my theory was correct, he had crashlanded here and gotten greatly injured. It was likely that crashlanding that had also destroyed much of his equipment. A pair of Yanma-like wings protruded from his back, but they were singed. Whether they were still functional I could not guess.

Even injured and crippled in this manner he radiated aggression. Why he had not assaulted us yet I did not know. Was he gauging my threat? His one visible eye was fixated on me, at least.

“Why did you imprison the human?” I asked. The ‘Pa’ did not respond. Then his maw formed into another hideous grin. His teeth were covered in a green substance that I presumed to be blood.

“Good. You’re not small-fry like the purple ghosts of this forests. You’ve got power.” He began to walk forward, holding up the speartip. “On the ground and I’ll make it quick.”

“No.”

The next moment he was upon me, moving faster than I could’ve anticipated. Only by sheer reflex was I able to form my Barrier in time, before his spear, thrust forward by his hand, could pierce me. He pressed the tip against the blue wall. Cracks were beginning to form around it already.

Claruce and the Hound were holding me back. Covering them with my back, I could not fight my opponent. But Claruce had recovered from his paralysis already and was scampering to his feet. The Haunter followed suit, and Brutus was already on his feet, whining.

I shoved the Barrier forward, pushing the creature back and forcing him on his back foot, then right as he charged back in I dispelled the barrier and allowed his momentum to carry him past me and into the just-vacated pod. He angrily roared, but I was already turning around and threw a Shadow Ball at him, which he narrowly dodged by rolling to the side in the cramped space of the pod.

“Brutus, take Claruce and run. I cannot fight with you getting in my way”, I ordered the Basset Hound. Brutus was happy to oblige and Claruce could not wait to get out of this situation, so they rapidly withdrew.

“Thank you purple man!” the man-child yelled over his shoulder as he limped away from us, following Brutus who was leading them the way we had come. “I will never forget your help!” The Haunter, bound to its trainer by the Pokéball, trailed behind them and gave me a thankful “Haaaaunter”, before they vanished amidst the trees.

The ‘Pa’... perhaps ‘Pale Man’, given the gray complexion of his skin? was just climbing back out of the pod. I prepared a new Shadow Ball, but as I was about to throw it he flung his spear at me and I was forced to put up a Barrier. The thrown weapon bounced off and he caught it out of the air before smashing his fist into the barrier. “You can’t do both at once”, he remarked. “Weak.”

“Why did you imprison the human?” I asked again. “He is of no use to you.”

“He was”, the Pale Man replied as he began to batter his fists into my shield. “Not anymore, now I have you.”

Why could he have wanted a man that lacked even basic combat skills? No, I could not reach a conclusion this way. I turned my thinking around. Claruce had wandered into the woods and been attacked by a Haunter. They were territorial, so that was to be expected. So this Pale Man must’ve found Claruce. Martha did not know the first thing about Pokémon, nor did the village have any that I had seen, so it was safe to assume that Claruce was not a trainer either. Yet he had a Haunter that was caught with a Pokéball…

I realized something. Even the smallest child could follow orders if instructed… and intimidated into obedience. And Haunters were one of the few Pokémon that had a strong response to being traded away to someone else. The feeling of being abandoned by their former trainer-owner and the anger and sadness that came with it triggered an evolution into a Gengar, a much stronger Pokémon. And this Pale Man had spoken of ‘small-fry’ ghosts in the forest, and how I had ‘power’. So he had wanted a Gengar. He must’ve forced Claruce into catching a Haunter and intended on forcing him to trade it to him once they had bonded a little, so that the trade would trigger an evolution.

Even someone with no prior experience as a Pokémon trainer could follow the instructions to complete a trade.

“You wanted a Gengar”, I concluded.

“Hah. You’re starting to understand”, the Pale Man replied. Under his flurry of punches, my shield was cracking again. The only reason it had not yet was that I was backing away with each punch, dampening the blow.

“And I as a more powerful Pokémon serve your purposes better. What are they?”

“You’ll be dead anyway so you don’t need to know.” He reared all three fists and performed a triple punch which shattered the Barrier and hit me hard. I tumbled backwards, but caught myself with Levitate before I could crash into a tree.

“You bit off more than you could chew, monster”, I replied as I conjured my Psystrike into my hand. “Your weapons are broken, your armor’s in tatters and you are crippled by your injuries. And you stand against the strongest Pokémon of all.”

“Pfah. I’ll have you torn apart one way or another.” He leapt and his wings moved, but he was clumsy in the air. As I had suspected, his wings too were damaged and reduced his mobility in the air. Even so, he was not an opponent to be underestimated.

This time I did not form a new barrier. We traded blows, he with his spear, I with Psystrike. I matched his swift movements with my swift movements, yet even then he got several hits in. Before the minute was over I was bleeding from a dozen shallow slash marks all over my body, and he only had two dents on his armor and a mark on the side of his head to show for it.

It was as if my attacks had no effect. When I landed a hit, he did not even flinch and used the opportunity for a counter-attack. And with each exchange of blows he adapted more to my movements. A natural-born fighter… infuriating to the extreme.

I had to try another route, because he would wear me down at this rate. For one moment I abandoned my defenses and allowed him to get in a grazing hit on my waist, then I smashed him in the head with Psystrike and watched him tumble downwards. I followed suit and began a series of aggressive, rapid strikes with both the bowl and the butt of my spoon, driving him backwards. As he hit his back against a tree, he began to block my strikes more reliably, learning my patterns, but I kept my rapid, but tiring onslaught, up. What his he did not block he deflected and they crashed into the tree trunk. The sound of metal against metal was only partly obscured by the tree’s cracking as chunks of bark and wood were hacked out of it.

“You’re tiring yourself out, Pokémon”, the Pale Man mocked. “You’re just wasting your energy. Energy that I’ll need from you.”

“Do you… plan on… draining me?” I asked, huffing as I felt the tiredom get to me. Was he able to use a Leech Life-type move? Why had he not used it yet if he could?

“I told you you don’t need to know.” Yet I could see him glancing for the slightest moment at his missing arm. So I was right on it. Suddenly his will to obtain a Gengar made sense, too: they had far more life energy than Haunters, and I had more than Gengar.

“How will… hah… how will you do it?”

“You’ll find out. Soon enough!” With that he suddenly grasped the bowl of my Psystrike and used the momentary opening to punch me in the stomach with both his other fists. I gasped as I reeled back, the air knocked out of me. The next moment he struck me again and I fell to the ground, but he was already upon me, raining one blow after the other on me. My vision blurred. I was certain I heard a bone crack, and it was my own.

As he was finished, he stood up and eyeballed his pod, before reaching down to grab me by my secondary spine. “Took you long enough. Now let’s get it over with… what’s that?”

The tree that I had struck with so many deflected blows could not take the strain of a half-destroyed trunk any longer. Under the weight of its own branches it creaked and cracked, and slowly began to fall forward. The Pale Man’s one visible eye widened and he leapt out of the way, but I had planned for this. There was no way he would miss the noise. The tree fell, and its heavy weight crashed down upon the pod.

Whether or not the cabin was still intact or destroyed did not matter. What did was that for the briefest of moments the Pale Man, distressed by the risk of losing the remainder of his tech, let his guard down. Surely he believed himself secure from my attacks since I was down and my Psystrike spoon was far away on the ground. He did not know that I could simply conjure a new one. Or that I had protected my head from his blows, the one most vital part of my body to use Levitate, to pull myself up from my prone position on the ground, to summon Psystrike into my hand, and to fly behind him.

My strike hit him, and it hit with all the force I could muster. My broken arm screamed out in pain but I forced myself to ignore it. The butt of my spoon smashed into the unprotected left side of his head where his helm was broken, and cracked his skull with a disgusting crunch. He howled as he fell to the side. I did not allow him time to recover. With the bowl I scooped up the speartip that he had dropped and flew over to him. Then as he rolled onto his back to get up, I stabbed him through the chest with his own weapon.

The Pale Man coughed up green blood and grasped at the shaft of the spear. It was no use, though: I had hit a vital point near his heart. He had moments left to live. Seeing himself bested, he turned his head slightly to look at me. Then he laughed, a cold, guttural laugh made even worse by the blood in his mouth, and with no joy in it. “You barely killed me at my weakest, Pokémon…” he said, coughed, then chuckled again. “You would have stood no chance against me had I been stronger.”

“You speak confident… for someone about to breathe their last”, I responded. “Where does… your confidence stem from?”

“Pfah… did you think me to be the only one, Pokémon? I am expendable… I was just a scout for this world. A foot soldier among thousands.” He laughed, then spoke his last words: “Remember us… we are the Parademons. We are the Harbingers of Unmaking, unerring servants to our Lord, and we are legion.”

“Your… Lord?” I asked. “Who is that?! Tell me, demon!” I hit his leg with the spoon, but the Pale Man, whose real name was ‘Parademon’, had already breathed out his life.

The adrenaline coursing through my veins receded and I felt my vision blur again. At the edges of my vision I saw a handful of Ghastlies and Haunters floating around the edge of the tree line, watching. I had not the energy to scare them away. Or to flee. Or to upkeep Levitation any longer. Instead I collapsed where I stood, dropping on my back next to the Parademon’s corpse, and lay still.

The last I could see before my conscious faded entirely was the three Haunters who came closer.

Word count: 9549 + 2161 = 11.710 /10.000
Quest... complete? That took way longer than it should have for just 10k words.
 
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