Thursday, May 11th, 1989

The cavern began to shake, and the wall cracked as James and Sergeant Sutton walked on. The pathway beneath their feet crumbled away, and they fell with the rocks toward the ground. He closed his eyes and muttered a prayer under his breath. As if giratina were listening, he felt a pinch on his shoulder, followed by a thunderous collapse of the rocks around him.

Sergeant Sutton helped James up onto his feet. A small chamber lined with old drawings painted along the walls caught both of their attention in an instant. James felt specks of dust come down in front of him, and an uneasiness set up camp inside of him. The slanted, unstable stone ceiling looked like it was one slightly raised voice away from collapsing and crushing them both.

"It is old Kilgorese..." Sergeant Sutton whispered; his voice ebbed with pain. "At least... I think it is. It looks like it."

"Sure," said James. "I hope Li and Kuti are okay..." James pushed past Sergeant Sutton and entered an expansive room. The stone brick crumbled even more inside. A few stone chairs wrapped around a stone table. "What is this crap?"

"I think it's an old prophecy chamber... I'm not sure, though. Ha Fehahra means place of destiny, just in old Kilgorese, at least I think it does." Sergeant Sutton turned to face the wall. His shirt's tears became more evident as he approached the glowing wall. "These were built when Prophecy Fever was rampant..."

James staggered around as he ran his fingers along the wall, desperate to find an unburnt torch. Every second that ticked by left James with an overwhelming sense of dread sinking deeper and deeper into his stomach. All of a sudden, the room lit up, and the carvings shone six bright colours. Red, purple, yellow, yellow, blue, green. James staggered back, and his arm knocked into one of the chairs. A spinarak web drifted down and caught his hair. He waved his hand back and pushed the way away. A grunt echoed from behind him, and he spun around to be greeted by a large pokémon.

"It is an alakazam? What is it doing here?" James reached forward and touched the alakazam's arm. Her large eyes shot open, and her soulless black-dotted pupils latched onto James. She tilted her head from side to side and began assessing him.

Footsteps came from behind like a lightning strike, and James turned to face the creator of them. His eyes met with a woman with blonde hair. Her chipper smile felt all too familiar. It was her, Lady Smith. In front of her stood her luxray with bared teeth. Behind her stood Hanson Rei. His tentacruel sat upon his shoulder.

Shit, this isn't good. Sergeant Sutton thought as he drew his blade. "Stay behind me, James." He looked back at James. "James?"

James's legs seized up, and he felt sickness in his stomach. Why am I frozen in place? Sutton? He glanced around, and he saw purple vines sprouting up through the rock. Oh no...

Toxic spikes shot up out of the ground and lunged towards Sergeant Sutton. "Fuck!" he jumped back, but he felt a tingling sensation score his leg. "Shit!" He shook his head, and his eyes narrowed in on the tentacruel and luxray, which had stepped closer to him. He took a deep breath, and in Colrat, he clearly said, "James, I am here."

"Sutton! Watch out!" James shouted.

The tentacruel let out a snigger as the high-pressured water shot out of the tentacruel's mouth, swirling with toxins and cascading towards the sergeant. The rocks on either side of the cavern became drenched and slippery, rubbing against the toxic spines and vines that had appeared moments before.

Sergeant Sutton dived onto his stomach and covered his hands over his head. This would be so much easier if I could hear clearly. James, you have to send out your pokémon. If you can send out your onix and cause the wall to collapse, you can put up a shield between them and us. "Yaagh!" he screamed as he felt sharp teeth dig into his arm.

"Don't hurt the cutie too much!" Lady Smith chimed. "Just enough to knock him out, 'kay?"

"Sutton!" James shouted out once more and grabbed his poké ball from his pocket. "Okta, use iron tail!" He pressed the button of his poké ball, and the large golden onix appeared in the cavern. Her tail lifted, hardened, and slammed into the luxray. "Sutton..." James whispered, diving down and nudging his arm.

"Fuck!" Sergeant Sutton shouted in Elkrat, seeing the fangs.

"Little brat!" Hanson Rei spat, pointing forward at James. "You will die." As if the hiss of the kilgorese word die was a command, his tentacruel extended its long tangling stingers, and water shot out of its mouth towards James.

Sergeant Sutton reached for the light-metal shield on his shoulder but side-glanced his sableye. "Protect!" Let's go, mega-evolution! Wait... He looked down, and a shiver darted up his spine. His watch and mega stone had been cracked. Fuck. Okiol already got hurt by the torterra. He grabbed his injured arm and stood up. At least the luxray's fangs aren't going to be as effective anymore. He turned and saw the luxray already pouncing on his sableye, and a bright light covered the cavern. His eyes stung as he heard the sound of electricity raging.

"Okta!" James shouted as the sound of metal scraping against rock echoed through the cavern's walls. His eyes catch a glimpse of Hanson Rei's aegislash slicing through his onix's body. The sound of his onix letting out a pained roar flooded his ears. She's... still standing? Oh, right, sturdy!

The onix's roar of pain was swiftly followed by the sound of rocks crumbling. Her body's core chipped in places from the impact. She shook and trembled as fear and pain flooded through her body. However, she turned her head, opened her mouth and screeched as loudly as she could.

"Time to die, Runt." Hanson Rei smirked as he approached James, eyeing his injured onix. "That beast won't stop me. Lady Smith, deal with the sergeant. And where are the others?" He drew and slashed his knife at James.

He lost some of his fingers in the attack on the train? Deserved it. "Okta! Use sand tomb!" James called out, staggering back; however, the knife's sharp blade slashed across the side of his head. "Gaagh!" James shouted as a knife cut at him and poison spikes stabbed at him from every direction. He's using the poison stone... fuck.... Do I use his gengar? He reached into his pocket and grabbed the second poké ball. No. If I do that, it could just take his orders – and besides, I fucking hate gengar.

The ground beneath the aegislash and Hanson Rei folded in on itself, catching the tip of the aegislash's blade, sucking her into the cracks. She tugged as hard as she could to break free.

As his aegislash was bombarded by the spewing rocks and caving in the ground, Hanson Rei grinned and pulled and raised his arm, revealing a bracelet. In the middle of the leather strap sat a glowing mega stone. "Get on with it!" he shouted at Lady Smith.

"Alright!" she drew her sword and held it low. You are already injured. I won't kill you, but I do want to take you and the other prisoners. She gripped the electric stone with her hand.

Sergeant Sutton reached down, pulled his sword with his left hand and swung at Lady Smith. I have never had to fight with my off-hand before. He glanced at his sableye as the luxray's electricity surrounded him. The best thing I can do... is prevent that tentacruel from mega-evolving! He pulled himself upright and shouted at the top of his voice, "Kno-ouff. Yaagh!" Sergeant Sutton let out a scream as a sword hilt slammed into his chest.

"Ashna, let's do this!" The luxray began to glow a bright light, and her tail began to grow. Her fangs sprouted forward, becoming sharper in her mouth. Her fur dimmed to match her newly acquired dark typing. "Finish the sableye off." She shouted out, and her luxray leapt forward once again, digging her fangs into the sableye.

Electricity flickered in the cavern, burning the fearful images into James's memory. The sound of footsteps rang out in the background, and James opened his mouth to call for help, but no words came out. The ground underneath his feet began to shake, and he grasped hold of the ground stone in his pocket tightly.

Go on, James. Drain the graveler before it is too late.

"No..." James muttered and tried to stand. Shit, there are more of them now. Graveler, sandslash, and a pokémon I don't know... Okta! His onix roars once again as the ground beneath her starts to crack and shake.

Use my power to protect your friends. Let me take your energy for this. You know you want to.

James clenched hold of the stone as Hanson Rei's knife came down on him once again. The metal of the knife clinks against the rocks beside him. He placed his hand on the ground and yelled out, "Okay! Fuck you, Hanson!" His eyes began to glow an amber brown and flickered. His fingers tingled, and he stretched his hand out towards the graveler that was making the ground shake. His arm ached as the stone used up his energy, cracking his skin. "Now, Okta, use aftershock surge!" James said with a voice that wasn't on his own.

The onix's eyes glowed an amber brown as she slammed her tail into the ground, ripping it open. A shockwave rumbled under the cavern, and the walls began to tear apart. The cracks crawled up the walls, reaching the base of the crypt above. The thunderous sound of collapsing rocks and concrete from far above filled the cavern.

A familiar roar rang out as the dust made from the rockslide clouded the tight cavern.

Shit! James! Sergeant Sutton swung his sword at Lady Smith, hoping to catch her off-guard, as a second shockwave rumbled throughout the battlefield.

"Aww, you are still trying." Lady Smith raised her sword, blocked his swing, and slammed her foot into his knee. "Come on, Sergeant. Surrender, if you do, we can, like, totally talk things out." She stepped into the cleared dust. That wild torterra will totally be a problem. "Take out the torterra. I'll deal with the Sergeant." She said, glancing over at the two individuals who had appeared on the battlefield during the dust cloud.

Sergeant Sutton staggered back. Gardevoir, sandslash, torterra and mega luxray. All I have left on me is Vesx. While she has the electric stone, I'm going to be in deep shit. My arm stings so much. He grabbed his poké ball from his pocket and pressed the button in the middle.

"Need help, Sutton?" Lord Orag said, drawing his sword. He looks really hurt, and he's still standing. Lord Orag placed a hand on his poké ball and pressed the button in the middle. Sutton's electabuzz and my mamoswine stand a chance, but... "Where's James, Kitiku, Lioa and Andrew?"

"I don't know!" Sergeant Sutton replied.

On the other side of the rockslide, Hanson Rei rushed forward, spinning spikes covered in toxins out from the ground. "Damn, Sergeant, make sure he fucking pays. As for you, runt, you have the ground stone? Heh, that doesn't mean anything! End him!" His tentacruel spat a hydro pump blast towards his aegislash, who swivelled into her king's shield form. The water cracked the collapsing ground with enough force to break the smaller plates into manageable chunks.

The aegislash swivelled back into her blade form and rushed at James, spinning with the intent to kill. The speed at which she spun left a whistling sound in the suffocating air.

Boom.

A long metal tail swung through the cavern and smashed into the aegislash, a mere inches from James's face.

Glowing crystals floated in the air, shimmering in the little light that came from a flaming torch, catching James's attention. Who... who is that? James thought as his vision blurred under the pain. It hurts... His eyes glimpsed over at the graveler as it flew past him and into the wall.

"You want to kill? How about you try and kill me." A man's voice said, and he stepped into the light, drawing his blade and rushing toward the graveler's trainer.

"Kill him!" Hanson Rei's voice strained, ordering his aegislash to attack. Her blade hardened in response, and she swung at the Elkran Lord. So, it's really him. If I kill him here... no, I doubt that will work out. Even I know I'm no match for him, but... Hanson clenched the poison stone, and spikes shot up around the Elkran Lord.

Bad move. The Elkran Lord grabbed Hanson Rei's minion and tossed him into the spikes, impaling him. He bounced back on his heels, and with his sword, he clashed against the aegislash's blade. The ground feels strange, almost as if it has a high current running through it. The soldiers have been removed, so I only have this one civilian to worry about. What is a kid like that doing down here? No. Focus. Strategize. His arm hardened, showing a slight shimmer, as he backed up and slammed his forearm into Hanson Rei's stomach.

"Hydro pump!" Hanson Rei shouted out.

Shit, I need to get through there, someone needs help! Lord Orag thought, turning back to the wall before swinging at Lady Smith once again. This isn't good. The sound of metal scraping against itself screeched in the blocked-off chamber. Lord Orag ducked and shoulder-barged into the much smaller Lady Smith. Her hair almost flicked up in his face as he did.

The sound of glasses hitting the floor caught Sergeant Sutton's attention, and with a weak stomp, he crushed Lady Smith's glasses under his foot before collapsing onto the floor. His head felt heavy, and the pain in his arm was screaming at him.

"Ach!" Lady Smith shouted as she was knocked back. However, she rolled onto her feet, sprinted forward faster than the eye could see, and slashed at him. Meanwhile, her luxray pounced up and extended her new fangs, opening her jaws wide before snapping down on the electabuzz.

Sutton is down, and I don't have time to call for backup. This is a one-against-three. His electabuzz won't act without orders, and I don't know much about him... but... I can do what I can. Lord Orag pulled out a second poké ball. "Zulli!" In front of him, a large green haxorus appeared, flashing his scales and lowering his axe-shaped head.

"Dazzling gleam!" the man behind Lady Smith ordered. The gardevoir sparkled, and a beam of energy blasted out of her body. However, before she could finish building up power, the torterra's tree on its back flung back and hit the gardevoir back.

And then there's that wild pokémon to deal with, too. This is such a mess. Lord Orag grabbed hold of his mamoswine's tusk, and hopped up onto them, as he opened his mouth, and spat ice shards at the wild torterra. The glistening ice struck the torterra's body, leaving ice burns on the wild pokémon's back.

Meanwhile, the water washed over the mega steelix, chipping away at her metal body; however, she stood stoically, leering down on the tentacruel and Hanson Rei. Meanwhile, the aegislash's blade sharpened once again, lunging for James.

"Gatch!" the Elkran Lord coughed as a toxic spike snagged his leg, piercing through his armour. Shit, I've been inflicted with toxic... That means my time on this battlefield is limited unless I use my adrenaline shot – even then, it's still limited. "Aagh!" he screamed, swinging his sword at the Hanson Rei. "Fe'fuss, protect the kid!" He threw a second poké ball forward and caught it as it snapped back into his hand because of the magnet on his ring finger. An eiscue appeared and shuffled for a second before diving in front of the sacred sword attack. "Kid, you better move!" He took a deep breath, and in Elkrat, he said, "Spiked defence!" Spikes shot out of the steelix's body, twisting into sharpened blades covering each inch of the large pokémon. She lowered her head and dived under the rocky ground, making the ground shake.

The aegislash's blade collided with the eiscue's ice face, and flipped back out of the way, and behind Hanson Rei, who had raised his blade to match the Elkran Lord's.

It's using belly drum? Hanson Rei thought, taking his eyes off of the Elkran Lord. With only one hand, I can't win this, but I can weaken him, for him, or at least send him packing! Hanson grinned and ducked as the Elkran Lord's sword slashed at his head, allowing his aegislash's king's shield to take the impact before switching form yet again and stabbing at the man in front of him. "Break it down!"

Water rushed forward once more from the tentacruel's mouth and slammed into the wall, causing the rocks to tumble once again. They crumbled and rolled towards James.

The Elkran Lord raised his shimmering arm and pressed it against the wall. "Help me hold it up, Nayhak! Fe'ifuss, liquid..ation..." he said as sickness erupted in his stomach. Quickly, his steelix raised her tail, holding it up above James's head, stopping the rocks from falling onto him. Meanwhile, the eiscue's liquidation sliced at the aegislash but was blocked by the king's shield. The Elkran Lord glanced up before throwing up from the toxins inside his body. Keep going. "Er... let's see... use dig!" he shouted at James's onix in Colrat. Please understand me. "Nayhak, use thunder fang!"

James's onix let out an almighty screech before digging underground, spitting up rocks and debris littering the cavern as the sharp fangs of the steelix crashed down on the tentacruel's body and sprayed out one final hydro pump.

On the other side of the wall, Lord Orag dived out of the way of the luxray's fangs, swinging his blade upward, slicing the sandslash up as he did. The wall is crumbling... He grabbed hold of Sergeant Sutton's arm and jumped back. "Dragon rush!" he ordered, and the haxorus swung its axe-shaped head at Lady Smith, throwing her back. He gripped hold of his poké balls and returned the pokémon as the rocks fell in front of him.

"Lord Orag... Help," James whispered as his head pounded and blacked out.

James's memories felt foggy as he opened his eyes. He was lying down outside on the cobblestones just outside of the crypt's opening. He slowly rolled onto his knees, and his shaky legs struggled to hold him upright.

"Hey, kid! What happened?" a gruff voice said.

"It was Rei. Rei was there. He attacked all those people, and I- " James stumbled back, holding his face. "Y-you hit me? Why? What did I do?" He felt his anger swirling around inside, and he wanted to punch the Lord back. However, the eyes of the soldiers and Lords around him stared angrily.

"Don't lie. You are lucky I don't have your head for not bowing to me. Now move!" the Lord kicked James in the shin and pointed to the camp nearby.

The camp outside of the holy building was a sight to behold. The Elkran had clearly spared no expense in assisting everyone involved in the incident. However, there were still many soldiers in the queue in front of James. He could see Sutton up ahead being taken inside the tent. He touched the tip of his eyebrow and flinched back as a stinging sensation echoed through his skin. What is Lord Orag doing here? Lord Orag approached him and stared down. Oh, right... you... you came? I think... who was that other guy? Where's my onix?

"James, you have a head injury," Lord Orag said as he tilted James's head back. "You shouldn't be waiting in line. Lord Ikur and the other doctors working in Fehahra will deal with the less serious injuries, but head injuries are serious." He opened his hand and offered it to James.

James shrugged, stared at the floor and whispered, "I feel fine. I just want to go home. Where is my onix? No one believed me when I said Rei was there. I really just want to go home." He felt Lord Orag place a hand on his shoulder.

"Your onix is fine," Lord Orag started. He reached into his pocket and handed the poké ball to James.

James grabbed his poké ball. "Rei was there." James scowled at him. He saw Lord Orag narrow his eyes and stare at him. The Lord scanned over him like a braviary hunting for prey.

"Alright, James, deep breaths." Lord Orag raised his hand to another Lord.

James heard Lord Orag talking in Elkrat to another Lord before being dragged along and into a white tent with an overhang. The wooden poles that held the tent upright seemed new, and the beds which lined the inside of the tent looked comfortable. The perfectionism grated James. How can you bring such a thing here? he thought. Lord Orag tapped a bed next to him, and James sat down on the soft blue cushions. Dubwool cotton? Really? James groaned and looked around the room. There were several Lords in there. He shuddered as his eyes glanced over at the Lord in a bloodied white coat. The Lord was tall, far taller than Lord Orag.

"You are Mr Bryson? Let's have a look," a Lady said. "You are going to need some stitches. You know you are very stupid for going into that crypt. If we hadn't turned up, you'd have been killed." She dabbed her mareep cotton cloth in a bottle and raised it to James's forehead.

"I didn't need your help," James snarled back. "I survived a 20ft fall on my own." He turned, slumped back on the bed, and rolled over to show her his back. He felt a tight grip grab his shirt, and before he knew it, James was thrown across the floor. "What the fuck, bitch?" He looked up to see a tall man with a blue hat and blue jacket with a band with the medical symbol tied to his arm.

"Do you have a death wish, child?" the man said in Elkrat. "I am Lord Puanami. You will do as you are told. Hold still, boy." Lord Puanami lowered James down onto the bed and pulled out a silver-looking needle. He pressed some wet Mareep cotton against his wound. He looked into James's eyes, scouring for a reaction. He then carefully pressed the needle against James's face.

"Ow!" James cried out as the needle pierced the skin on the side of his head. He raised his hands to swat the Lord away. James noticed the Lord's blue eyes were focused on threading a long leavanny string into a stitching needle. He raised his legs to kick, but the weight of the Lord pressed down on his thighs. James tried to squirm, thrashing his slung shoulder.

"Get off me! That really hurts!" James kneed the Lord in the leg.

"I am only doing this as a favour to Orag. Remember that, runt," the Lord said, grabbing James's shirt.

"M-my Lord, I apologise for him!" a voice called out. "He took a hit to the head. He doesn't know what he is saying or doing."

James turned to face the familiar voice. On his knees, he saw Lieutenant Tomilson and felt Lord Orag place his hand on his shoulder.

However, Lord Puanami, clearly frustrated now, pulled James's head back up aggressively. The needle went into his skin, and all he could do was wait. He continued to sew James's injury up before throwing the needle away. He pulled on James's sling and adjusted it. Lord Puanami scribbled a note down and stuck it to James's forehead with a little bit of spinarak web goo before he walked off.

"What happened, James? Tell us," Lord Orag asked, sitting beside James. He waved his hand to Lieutenant Tomilson to sit down beside him.

"I don't really know," James said. "We went looking for Sutton because Kuti wanted to see him, and Li said he saw Sutton by the crypt, so I went to find him, and then I fell down the hole. Like 20ft fall... and then..."

"James, you fell 5ft at most. You'd be dead if you fell 20ft," Lieutenant Tomilson interrupted.

"It was 20ft! I fell, and then when I woke up, I saw a torch, so I followed the torch, and this lady asked me if I knew how they got there. I saw a ship and some sick people, and then I was thrown into a cart, and then I woke up, and oh, Hanson Rei and the others, me and that Steelix trainer fought off were there." James paused and stared directly at Lieutenant Tomilson, as Lord Puanami stuck another note on James's forehead

"So, James, me and Mr Bryson talked," Lieutenant Tomilson said, trying to change the subject. He reached over and pulled the note off of James's head. Geesh that Lord didn't like you. I guess you are lucky he takes being a doctor seriously, he thought. "We both agreed you can stay with me on Wednesdays... we can do art and drawing, and maybe eventually we will be able to do some more days. How does that sound?"

"Can I stay with you tonight?" James leaned against the Lieutenant. "Since Rei is around, I want to stay with you."

"I'll talk to Mr Bryson. I am sure he will understand." Lieutenant Tomilson helped James up onto his feet, and the two of them walked out of the tent and along the road toward where  Lieutenant Tomilson's accommodation was. "It is a good thing the ten or so officers and thirty or so Lords get a house, huh?"

"Mhm..." James whispered.

Who was the person who saved James? Why does no one believe him?

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