Era Chapter XV: What Lies Beneath the Leaf

CHAPTER XV What Lies Beneath the Leaf

??? Days A.A.D.

    "So... which is the right way now?" a young and energetic Sceptile asks himself, seeing how the road in front of him splits in two. He carries a black leather bag on his shoulder, containing some snacks and provisions.

    "Mmmmm." The Sceptile doesn't give it much thought and takes the path on his right, even when they looked exactly the same; the Sceptile knew he shouldn't stop moving. It is late evening already and he is aware about all the strange things showing up in Quera lately after Arceus’s incident.

    After about just three minutes of walking through the ground trail, his instincts tell him of the presence of someone ahead. He has no idea of who it could be, probably some Pokémon villagers, a criminal or one of those ill and hostile Pokémon that have been spreading around.

    "Should I keep going this way? Heh, whoever is there, I’m sure they won’t give me any trouble" mumbles the Sceptile to himself very confidently. He keeps moving ahead, only now going stealthily, holding his arms and leaf blades in front of him.

    By each step, the Sceptile worry grows; he can barely see the path now, but what is even more worrying is that the presence that isn't moving at all, making him curious.

    The night is about to rule the sky and envelope the ground in total darkness, but before can, the Sceptile makes out a dark silhouette in the middle of the path. It is indeed the presence he has been feeling.

    To the Sceptile it looks like a bag, with an odd round form, almost like a huge knot.

    "What or who is this?" The Sceptile thinks, even in the darkness, he expected to at least recognize what he was looking at. For an instant he noticed the thing was breathing, it is a living being, and not just that, the Sceptile also notices that the thing is now aware of his presence.

    The silhouette starts to stretch and slide side to side as soon it hears the Sceptile at few feet from it. The shape of a Pokémon starts taking form.

    "Oh, did I wake you up?" The Sceptile asks while he tries to recognize the species of the Pokémon in front of him. Lamentably this task is impossible because a sudden screeching scream.

    "SSSSHAAAHHHGRH!" The thing screams as its body started twitching in a crazy manner.

    The now scared Sceptile isn't sure about how to react. Before he can even do anything, the thing starts getting away, but before going further, it throws something at the Sceptile at high speed. It was too fast for the Sceptile to evade.

    The Sceptile is thrown the body of a Cranidos, its head is slimy and has several deep cuts on its body. It is a frightening sight for the Sceptile before getting hit and falling unconscious by the Cranidos's hard skull.

----

438 days A.A.D.

1:33 pm

    A Enerve Dragonite trapped between rocks, a badly wounded Sceptile on his knees, a mad and out of his mind Serperior and a totally terrified Aerodactyl, are the scenery forming in the interior of a re inaugurated power plant.

    "Ughm... y-you... you have murdered all those people, a-and you had me to pay for all your fucking madness!" The Sceptile stammers while holding his arm to a bleeding wound on his chest; Jackie's Enermove was executed to be lethal, even for being a grass type move.

    "Jackie? What he talking about? Why you acting like that now?" Ryan tries asking his partner, having a little of faith in that he would get an explanation as usual, though now Ryan feels totally intimidated just by the sight of him.

    "Bsshttt hah! I did not want this to happen yet… TOO SOOON!" The Serperior groans while sticking his tongue out, his tail waves in an erratic way, his head stares at one of the light bulbs of the facility.

    "You! Aerodactyl, y-your partner, is a serial killer! You know what that means right?" Turret imparts Ryan, getting his attention. "You better fly away from here! Now we know his secret, he will exterminate us!"

    "No... I know Jackie and he wouldn't be-" Ryan turns to look back at partner, who isn't any more in a breakdown moment, but worse, right now Jackie is right next to Ryan, staring him into his eyes, with the most tenebrous look he has ever made.

    "You had it nice for too long, partner.” Jackie speaks while uses Glare on Ryan.

    "Gahhh! but, y-you kill Pokémon like us!? That was your past life? You remember being a killer, m-must be mistake!" Ryan stammers as he is afflicted by the paralyzing stare, he is terrified but has a strong will to demand answers.

    "Silly... I made sure nobody would notice, my memories have always been intact, I planned to murder you all the day things went back to normal in the world!" Jackie confesses as he turns his sight to the Sceptile, who is still on his knees, glaring angrily at the Serperior. “I was really afraid the Sceptile would end up recognizing me,”

    “Jackie no, don’t do that. No need.” Ryan flops on the ground at his answer, the paralysis effects now dominating him.

    "I can't explain why I have a strong desire for taking away someone else's life. Just knowing I'm the one responsible of making a soulless body, makes me... excited." The Serperior mumbles and waves his tail around now in a stylish manner.

    "You... sick mind, thinking you can do anything you want without facing the  consequences. YOU DISGUST ME MORE THAN I DO TO MYSELF!" Turret yells, finally standing up to engage Jackie. Turret slashes at the mad Serperior's face with a Dragon Claw attack. The now hurt Serperior hisses at Turret and jumps quickly to top of a big transformer nearby, while jumping he swings his sharp tail at Turret, who manages to dodge it by bending his back.

    "If only someone was able to appreciate the effort I have put into this, all those I have murdered had defects and made mistakes after all. Even I’ve executed other Pokémon like myself." Jackie charges an Energy Ball and throws it at Turret's position.

    "You know that the ends doesn't justify the means, right? Well, your end and means are both are plain disgusting anyway!" Turret exclaims and holds his arms in defense, absorbing most of the damage of the Energy Ball. “That Cranidos was just a child!”

    "The little bitch bite me when you distracted me! You stuck your nose into something that wasn't your business. Also, I'm certainly not the only murderer in this buildi-" Jackie is interrupted when Turret jumps towards Jackie and grabs his tail. "HEY! LET THAT GO!"

    "I got judged and punished for being a murderer, so that's what I had to become!" Turret speaks as pulls on Jackie´s tail with massive strength. Turret uses proper footing while pulling Jackie off from that transformer, for then slamming Jackie towards a wall, causing him to crash hard against the cement, some of which caves in slightly, making Jackie's head and part of his body stuck.

    "Jackie! No." Ryan mumbles weakly as he watches the battle under his ailment, not motivated to attempt anything. He still couldn't get used to the fact that Jackie wasn't being his loyal, smart, calm and sometimes cranky teammate anymore.

    Turret approaches close to Jackie who is stuck in the wall. He places his hands on the ground and flexes his knees, his peculiar spiky tail flexes as did himself, the tip of his tail moving over his head and aiming at Jackie.

    "Hah..." Jackie chuckles; he could predict what was coming next by looking at the way how Turret's tail spikes begin to shine. "It's fun to think that we're the only ones in the world that know the pleasure of the death, right Turret?. The wildest and true nature of a Pokémon... if I didn't want to devour you so badly right now, we could make a team."

    "Jackie! if that's your real name... We both may have many things in common, I'll give you that..." assents Turret while he digs his claws on the floor and his tail begins to emit a noise. “...but unlike you, I never enjoyed doing this, and I never will! TURRET TWO HUNDRED FIFTY!"

    Jackie hisses aloud before a huge burst of green darts is shot at him. Each of them are thick, and approximately three inches long.

    With the paralysis, Ryan's arms are able to protect him from watching the scene as his body cringles at hearing each of the over two hundred needles striking their target.

    "Kneaf!"

    It only took just under three seconds for Turret to unleash his full arsenal, although, to his disgrace, while he was focused looking directly to the front, he realizes that Jackie isn't on the wall anymore, just a huge number of needles impaled on it. Curiously there is an empty area in between the needles, like if a third part of his attack went missing.

    Turret doesn't have the chance to analyze. The pain of the wound on his chest gets worse, he couldn't stay on all fours anymore, falling flat on the floor in a puddle of blood that had formed under him without his noticing, still being added to from his wound.

    "I have to admit that I'm impressed of myself..." Jackie comments weakly from behind Turret, looking at the opposite side.  From head to chest he is covered by a layer of blood. And about fifty of Turret's needles are nailed on his face and neck, the only ones that managed to hit him.

    "D-did you just use your Enermove t-twice!?" Turret stammers as struggles to stand to his feet again, failing at even managing to keep his belly away from the floor. He soon realizes that Jackie had used his Enermove to pierce through his own body to hit Turret.

    "I'm kind of special I guess, you should be proud of yourself also, you managed to surpass the priority of my move, sort of, but also destroy my face... you fucking idiot." the Serperior sighs as his tail starts coiling around Turret's neck.

    Ryan with fear, he moves his wings out of his sight, wanting to see to how things are turning out. He doesn’t feel relieved at seeing Jackie still alive and with his face like that.  Ryan notices that Turret is alive as well from the way his legs are now squirming.

    Jackie grins and drools at hearing his victim whimpering and suffocating. Turret has a blank stare and isn't putting any effort in fighting back, he couldn’t at this point.

    "No, You taught me to behave, Jackie! and I must remind you of it... yes! I can do a thing." Ryan thinks while he struggles against his own body. His legs begin to react, letting him barely stand, allowing him to use his wings to crawl towards Jackie.

    Jackie tightens his coils on Turret's neck, even with how much he is enjoying giving torment, he notices that Ryan is approaching them. He turns his eyes to Ryan, looking at him with insanity while Ryan stares back at him, trying to not cry.

    "Don't think I have forgotten about you, partner, I've planned something different for you." The Serperior sneers while blood drips down from the wounds of his face, his voice tone is shady.

    "I also have planned plan, Jackie!" Ryan confides before tapping the ground twice. Jackie stares at Ryan confused, not for long after he realizes why he did and said that, the rocks that trapped the Enerve Dragonite reduced to pieces, freeing it and letting it attack the closest none-Enerve Pokémon.

    "RYAN! DON’T TH-" Jackie shouts, but before he could get away, the huge Dragonite pins Jackie's head against the ground, making him feel the most terrible pain he had in his life. He can feel the needles are being pushed further into his face, about to pierce through his skull, making him regret that had hadn’t pulled them out before. “GHAAAAAAAAH!”

    Ryan flaps his wings and takes flight above, not letting the paralysis keep him immobile. From the new angle he can see his plan is going better than expected; Jackie is forced to let Turret's neck go so he could defend himself.

    Turret couldn't believe he is being helped, taking a big breath of relief at seeing his aggressor neutralized. Turret thinks in helping the Dragonite to finish him off, but he is hurt badly, so takes the chance to get up at will and limp away.

    "NOBODY'S GETTING OUT OF HERE ALIVE!" Jackie screeches and jabs the neck of the Dragonite with his axe tail. Jackie knowing he hit in the right spot because the Dragonite stopped pinning him to fall to a side, dead.

    Turret hears the scream and the Dragonite falling behind him. Even then, he doesn't turn back and keeps moving, hoping to get out safe somehow.

    Jackie stands up again and hisses aloud at Turret, about to jump towards him. However before he can, he hears the voice of his partner shouting from above.

    "Ancient Rage" Ryan flies above Jackie while his body shines and splices into few copies of himself. Jackie looks up and sees three Aerodactyl over him, holding a great force and flying towards him.

    "Tsk... Ryan, you wouldn't...!" Jackie stammers, trying to negotiate, not being in the state to fight back. Jackie attempts to sneak between the machinery of the facility, failing to reach by being stopped by three speedy consecutive headbutts.

    The Aerodactyl roars while they attack the now helpless Serperior. Each is behind the other, every time they hit Jackie they perform an air stunt before striking again.

    Jackie can’t take anymore after several seconds of the attack. His entire body but his tail falls to the ground. His tail spins crazily, as the only method Jackie has to defend himself. This is stopped by now an unique Ryan, who after being done performing his Enermove lands next to Jackie and catches his tail with his long and peculiar fangs.

    Jackie's eyesight is bad; his right eye is unusable, while the other one can see how Ryan bites off the weapon of his tail, mercilessly. After all the pain Jackie has went through that day, he doesn't even bother to scream again at losing his tail or to the huge hemorrhage it is now causing.

    Ryan doesn’t stop here, after tearing Jackie's tail off, he stands on his body and grabs it with his talons, carefully taking off carrying Jackie with him.

    "Heh... I have no idea where are you going to take me, but to be honest; I never wanted you to learn this from me." Jackie informs Ryan slowly, looking at the ground while hanging from Ryan, who flies at high speed towards a window on the roof, flying out breaking the glass.

    Jackie with effort turns what remains of his sight towards the direction Ryan is flying, he can see snowy mountains at the distance, something that Jackie didn't pay much attention to when he feels his partner stopping going ahead and now just flying still, over the river.

    "I said earlier I didn't want you to fall into river, but you said this is how one gets rids of problems." replies Ryan still flapping his wings, getting ready to spread his talons, Jackie's body slowly starting to descend by the gravity.

    "Ryan! P-please, before you do... promise me to not kill anyone else?" Jackie requests as his barely sane eye begins to close.

    Ryan simply nods and drops Jackie into the river. Jackie falls several meters before splashing into the water, eventually his body getting dragged into the violent water stream.

    "I hope you forgive me this like you always did, Jackie." Ryan thinks as he watches the long trail of blood on the water surface, which disappears after a few seconds.

    Several minutes later, Ryan flies back to the interior of the power plant, landing badly after flying for too long while still feeling the paralysis within his body. He sees the facility running normally, and the corpse of the Enerve Dragonite lying on the floor. Turret is nowhere to be seen, but he has left a track that leads to the opposite exit.

    Ryan remembers the rule about not to interact with the Miserables, so he doesn't to look for him and instead flies back to the base, thinking of a way to speak properly and explain how now not he and Jackie’s mission, but his mission went.

==

I'm sorry I cannot come up with a Halloween themed drawing like everyone else, but this will make up with some spooky maybe o:

Power is back in Quera! But Turret is attacked and Jackie has become a psycho or had hidden a secret? What is Ryan going to do now? What's behind all this? What will be the outcome of the situation?

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