Shaymin Village

[Namohysip]

If Treasure Town was the economic centerpiece of the Grass Continent, then Shaymin Village was the spiritual centerpiece. Fields upon fields of green blades covered every inch of the mountains of Sky Peak, a great and segmented Dungeon that went all the way from the mountain's base to its tall, tall summit. It was said to be a sacred place, and for good reason: only Shaymin made a permanent residency here, a whole tribe of them, unlike many Legendary Pokemon that there were only one of.

The base of the mountain was their main square, where little village huts and traditional buildings, practically untouched by the modernization of the world, stood small and proud. The air was considered to be the purest in the world, and simply visiting the village was said to cure you of your ailments and give you a fresh start for the whole year. As such, traveling to the top was considered a special privilege, and not everyone was allowed through...

Recently, however, fewer and fewer visitors were being allowed passage into the peak, perhaps out of caution for the recent crisis.

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"Now, remember," Maple said warningly, "be respectful. The Shaymin are friendly but they do not take kindly to disrespecting nature."

Owen nodded and quickly said, "Should I become a Grass type for this?"

"I wouldn't," Maple said. "They are tolerant of Fires, and changing your appearance might unnerve then more than it's worth."

"Right..."

"Ice, as well?" Nip felt he should ask.

"For anything that may harm the grass, you are only asked to be polite. Though... I suppose that doesn't really matter right now, does it?" She crossed her arms, perplexed. "The village is..."

Empty. The stalls were completely abandoned. Buildings left empty. There were signs that some chores had been left half-complete and abandoned for days.

"...That's not good."

 

[Virgil134]

"Where... is everyone?" Cabot asked, cautiously approaching one of the buildings to try and peer inside.

 

[windskull]

Despite being more like Treasure Town than it was to his Tribe's nesting grounds, something about Shaymin Village reminded him of home. Perhaps it was the mountain that overshadowed them, or perhaps it was the way the homes were built out of mounds of dirt and branches and leaves, plants growing naturally over the top. Regardless, the not-quite-familiar appearance only made the complete absence of pokemon all the more gut-twisting. This... this wasn't natural.

"I've... never seen anyone's nesting grounds abandoned like this. Not unless something terrible happened to the pokemon living there. Something very bad happened here."

 

[Torchic]

"It's kind of creepy here..." Cino remarked. "And it's been like that for days now?" His ears drooped. The wind felt cold, instead of refreshing. If it wasn't for the beautiful landscape, and him being one of those who could hurt those corrupted Pokemon, he would've asked Maple if he was allowed to go back to Treasure Town.

He said to himself that he should be more courageous, but with those things able to corrupt basically anybody... it was only a matter of time until they would fight against someone who couldn't be defeated by his team.

He looked at the tall mountain. This was said to be sacred, right? "Maybe they all went up there? If you said the mountain was sacred, Maple, then maybe they went up there for protection?"

 

[Namohysip]

The whole team searched around for signs of life, but aside from the plants, they didn't seem to find any... But then, Owen squeaked and pointed toward the upper hills.

"Pine!" Owen shouted.

Indeed, at the top of the hill was a Haxorus, and he seemed to be carrying something. More worrisome, though--and something Maple could not see--was the shadowy haze that covered Pine from head to toe and beyond.

He was holding, above his head, something that looked like a giant, black sphere. Diyem's silence suggested that he could no longer see what was going on...

Pine tossed the thing in the air. It went flying across the sky and landed with surprising precision--it landed in the center of the arena with a metallic THUD, and then rolled back silently. It didn't seem to be doing anything... but there was a horrible, ominous feeling coming from it.

"No... that... that can't..." Maple stepped back, for the first time showing a sign of fear and panic to the whole team. She masked it and tried to keep composed, but Cynthian didn't look like he was doing nearly as well. "That's... is that Dark... No, it's not speaking, but it looks... so much like..."

And then, coming up from behind, near the higher portions of the low hills, were little, grassy Pokemon that would have been adorable in any other context. But now, with that black haze that surrounded them...

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot shifted his gaze from the giant sphere to the horde of Pokémon on the top of the hill, his eyes widening as he began to realize just how many there were.

"Those... Those are a lot of infected Pokémon..."

 

[Torchic]

"Just standing near that thing makes me feel sick..."

Cino looked past the ball of shadows, and saw a lot of dark spots. "Wait, are those... are those the Shaymin?! Do we have to fight them all??"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Maybe things weren't going to be so okay.

Brisa's eyes darted from party member to party member. This was already her fifth day back after her experience in the cave with Starr, but it felt like she'd done almost nothing besides that lunch with Curio and Starr, and the sparring afternoon with Owen and Icetales. She tried to stay as near to all her friends as she could, ready to take a hit for them if she needed to.

Better her than them.

After all, you're the violent animal, aren't you?

 

[Namohysip]

Pine picked something up and wrapped it around his neck--a Serperior. She coiled around him and stared ahead with a glowing, golden stare. Then, Pine jumped--he jumped far higher than he should have been capable of, all the way from the top of the mountain, over the sky, perhaps even over the very distortions that protected the village.

"Huh." Soda cocked his head. "Didn't expect to see a flying Haxorus in my life."

"Flying? I believe that is a jump..." Truffle hummed.

Pine landed with a resounding crash, leaving a crater five feet wide in the dirt that sent a shockwave large enough to knock several Shaymin and the team back a few feet.

"I'm so bored," Pine said in a low growl, his voice distorted like so many others who had been infected. "Paradise, explorations, Pokemon... I'm so bored of it all. I saved the world and now there's nothing left. I guess... I just need to make my own crisis."

"Paradise is fragile," Nanab said softly. "It's so... easy... to bring it all to ruin, if we wanted... so easy..."

The Shaymin were closing in. There was an odd, brown thing accompanying the horde as if he was one of them, but he did not fight the same way--

"Found Bidoof," Soda pointed out.

"Maybe this whole Shadow thing is something that'll shake off that boredom," Pine said, shrugging at the same time that the hazy phantasm did. Nanab looked down, dejected, but nodded with her own haze. "And... I..."

They stood still. And then, the strange, Shadowy orb made a strange, rumbling sound. A dark aura emanated out from it and Pine's knees buckled.

"Gngh... I..." Pine looked like he was resisting something. And then, he raised a hand--the team braced--and then slammed it into his own chest. Something cracked. Indigo flames splashed over his body, leaving burns across his scales. He reached for Nanab, who was curling up, and swung her in the air by the tail, slamming her on the ground like a whip. and packing the dirt even further into the ground.

The machine pulsed again and Pine let go of Nanab and knelt down, gasping. "H-help," Pine said. "Help me... it's trying to..."

Another pulse, and Pine stopped talking. With a blank expression, he stood up. Nanab did next. Little, black strings connected their bodies to the dark sphere, which made several mechanical whirrs and buzzes from inside, like it was something artificial.

"They're being controlled," Maple said. "If we can destroy that thing, we'll be able to free them, but--" She didn't even have to try. Their powers wouldn't work against this thing. "If you destroy it, you might badly hurt them if you don't free them first."

"So you're saying, beat them first," Soda mumbled.

"I don't know..."

Owen didn't, either, but considering how many of them there were... they'd have to prioritize what to strike first. That machine looked strong; if they only focused on it, and not all of its puppets, would they be overwhelmed?

The Shadow Machine is attacking!

Shadow Machine:
Raid enemy
HP: 4000 + 150
2 Actions
Has a strong shield that replenishes every turn, but it looks thin. Break through!
Seems to be immune to status effects, but not debuffs.

Pine:
HP: 600
2 Actions
He hurt himself, but now he's under total control of the machine...

Nanab:
HP: 600
2 Actions
Pine weakened her, but she's still fighting.

Bidoof:
HP: 600
2 Actions
He's possessed, but it's like the machine isn't even prioritizing him...

Shaymin Horde:
Horde enemy
HP: 10,000
There are so many! It's probably a bad idea to focus on them, but maybe if they're hurt enough, their attacks will get disrupted for a little while.


The Shadow Machine used Shadow Miasma. The whole arena became filled with a thick haze... Everyone's Shadow corruption will rise by 10 per turn!

The Shaymin Horde is preparing Seed Flare!

 

[Ambyssin]

Well, they found Darkwhite's machine. "Oh, joy." Bahamut was completely monotone.

 

[Namohysip]

"What's with this smoke...? We need to be careful about that," Owen said, and then looked to Maple and the others. They were keeping their distance for now, but Owen could tell that the miasma was already having a slight effect on the team. "I don't think we can afford to lose momentum here!"

It was a good thing Pine and Nanab already look exhausted. Had they been fighting it this entire time?

Bidoof was hopping from foot to foot, ready to battle.

 

[Fusion]

"We kinda have to have momentum first before we can worry about losing it," Vix said, having already taken the form of a wax Litten. "I don't like the look on Bidoof's face. Actually I don't like the look on any of these guys faces. Especially not all of them." Vix nodded her head towards the seemingly endless horde of hedgehogs. For some reason, chili popped in her mind. And hot dogs. Gross.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste really didn’t like that machine’s smoke. “Hmph. Try not to breathe too hard, if you can help it.”

 

[Namohysip]

"What--what're you doing?!" Pine said. It was like some kind of psychic team building exercise, almost a meditation as they prepared to strike.

"Grr... it's not fair... the team never thinks to do THAT with me! They think I'm... incompetent. Yup-yup! Well, I'll show them..." Bidoof curled up tight. "I'll show 'em all...!"

The Shadow Machine rumbled; it looked like it was already starting to send commands out to its puppets... Everyone moved at once in a strange, rigid dance. They weren't in control of themselves--not entirely. While there was a bit of their personality in there... these Shadow puppets were far too busy following the central core's command. The Shaymin came first, followed by the smaller foes.

Everyone boosted themselves or prepared to boost up!

The Shadow Machine used Shadow Boon! Pine, Nanab, and Bidoof gained +1 Defense, Resistance, and Speed!
The Shadow Machine used Shadow Mind on Celeste, Astrid, and Dave!
Celeste and Dave gained 15! Astrid gained 30!

The Shaymin Horde launched Seed Flare!
Astrid: 41
Bahamut: 49
Celeste: 58
Cino: 127
Curio: 107
Cynthian: 27
Dave: 44
Nip: 91
Starr: 96
Vix: 41
Zane: 135

Starr was knocked out!

Pine used Fling on Cynthian! He threw an Iron Thorn! Cynthain partially dodged it, taking 80 damage!

Nanab used Leaf Storm on Celeste, dealing 50 damage! Nanab's Magic went UP!

Pine and Nanab used dual Dragon Tail on Vix and Curio!
Pine went for Vix, dealing 46 damage!
Nanab went for Curio, dealing 25 damage!
They were sent to the back row!

Pine's movements are... disconcerting. Cynthian and Curio lost their appetite for their next turn!

Bidoof proudly curled up into a ball, raising his defense!
Then, he used Rollout on Nip, dealing 30 damage!

The miasma thickens, corrupting everyone by 10...
Astrid's Hail deals 12 damage to the Machine and the Shaymin Horde!

Machine:
3988 +150

Horde:
9988

Pine:
600

Nanab:
600

Bidoof:
600

The Shaymin Horde is preparing Sweet Scent!

 

[Namohysip]

"Ghh--!" Owen staggered back. "We... we need to take out Pine and Nanab, or something! And Bidoof is just going to get stronger! If we pool all of our attacks at once, maybe we can take a few of them out right now! I--I think--!"

"The machine won't be much of a threat if it doesn't have minions fighting for it!" Maple announced. "If you put the pressure on the Shaymin, you might also be able to distract them!"

"They're preparing Sweet Scent," Soda remarked, trying to kick one away with an annoyed grunt. "I don't think that's a huge threat, but maybe they can grapple with a few and see how easy they can disrupt their forces. Gah! This is chaos! Keep fighting, do SOMETHING!"

Several Shaymin tried to burrow in Soda's mane, to his great annoyance.

 

[windskull]

In hindsight, trying to catch a bidoof barreling down towards him with his paws probably wasn't his best idea. And after that nasty seed flare had left him worse for wear...

Nip stumbled backwards, wheezing. Yveltal, that hurt! Who would have thought a bidoof could pack such a punch? He didn't know if anything was broken, but he wouldn't doubt it. Still, he had no time to think about that. So he stumbled forward, reaching into his bag for elixirs and an oran berry, consuming them even as he raced towards his target.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Same as last time. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Starr didn't waste a second before tearing across the battlefield, Radiance lighting up her vision. Brisa was supporting her again, just like last mission. Last time it was obviously just practical. Support the team; personal shit stays off the battlefield. This time, though. Well, it felt different. After everything.

Surging power flowed within her, adrenaline-fueled might and speed. The familiar pain tearing through her chest, setting her nerves on fire. Just had to endure it. She'd been through worse. Just had to endure it, and then she could heal, and then start dishing out damage.

And then the Seed Flare erupted in the middle of their lineup, and the world dissolved into blinding, earth-shattering pain.

 

[Namohysip]

Pine and Nanab panted, glancing at one another, and then felt the horrible pulses of energy rolling through them again. Against their own will--or perhaps this was really what they wanted? They couldn't tell anymore--they readied for another attack. Bidoof was rolling around at the speed of sound, aiming for a second hit at Nip, before a wave of heat that warped the light slowed him down and knocked him out of his rhythm. That was the perfect opportunity to counter!

Vix's Heat Wave struck Bidoof, the Shaymin Horde, and Nanab!
Bidoof: 52
Shaymin: 49
Nanab: 33

Nip's triple Iron Thorn strike dealt a total of 727 damage to Bidoof, knocking him out instantly!

With Bidoof tumbling over the Shaymin, which were largely ignoring him, that left two foes that weren't part of the village to take down. Considering their status as heroes, they were probably much more dangerous than any individual Shaymin; collectively, the team decided to focus on them.

Starr's double Leech Life, in addition to Cuicatl's Boon, dealt a total of 370 damage to Nanab, healing Starr for 37 HP!
Celeste's double Assurance dealt 272 damage total to Nanab, taking her down!

Cynthian's Blast Seeds dealt a total of 200 damage to Pine!
Two of Dave's Assurances dealt 408 damage to Pine, taking him out!

Owen was thrilled, gasping over the chaos. "They're down! They're down!"

"Ow..." Pine breathed out something between a wheeze and a groan, the residual smoke of the Blast Seeds puffing out of his mouth with each cough. He fell back and decided a nap sounded like a good time. Several Shaymin adorably trampled over him in the midst of the fight. Nanab curled up and tried to breathe deeply, her sanity slowly returning to her, but she was far too weak to fight on.

Curio sped across the field with Dave right behind her. The machine was wide open! It was time to see just how powerful it was up close! Radiant energy pooled around Curio's fist as she wound back, slamming into a thin, dark barrier that covered the machine. It wasn't enough and the hard part of her wrist clanged against the barrier; it was Dave's Dark strike that shattered it just enough, bursting the thing wide open.

Curio's first Radiant Fist dealt 112 damage to the Shadow Machine's shield!
Dave's final Assurance dealt 128 damage to the Shadow Machine's shield, shattering it!

Inside the shield was a bright, red orb that whirred and buzzed mechanically. Several gears and gizmos of unknown purpose twirled and bounced around within, dark circuits flowing with black energy. They had little time to report this to the others; it looked ominous, and therefore, it had to be punched!

Curio's second Radiant Fist struck the core, dealing 219 damage!
Bahamut's Radiant Siphon landed on the Machine, restoring a quarter of his HP! It didn't lower its speed, but it seemed to make progress.

But with all the chaos that was happening, they had little time for follow-ups. The shield abruptly reformed, sending a shockwave at Curio and Dave that forced them back.

"That shield doesn't stay down for long," Owen reported. "If we want to attack that thing, we need to get through the shield and then attack the core! But--Aaah!"

The sweet smells were ebbing away and all the Shaymin were glowing again. Another one...! "C-can we stop them this time?!"

The Shadow Machine used Shadow Mind on Celeste, Dave, and Nip!
Celeste and Dave dodged it slightly, taking 15 corruption! Nip took 30!
The Shadow Machine used Shadow Mind again on Celeste, Dave, and Zane! They all took 30 corruption!

Shaymin's Sweet Scent lowered everyone's evasion, but Bahamut reflected it back at the horde!

Horrible waves of energy radiated off of the machine once more. It was several times more corrosive than the miasma that filled the air; dark, compulsive thoughts were torn from the subconscious and brought to an unignorably forefront part of the mind. Bloodlust, hatred, frustration, fear, all irrational and some of it without a true source. It was becoming too hard to ignore.

The miasma continues to seep into the team, adding 10 corruption...
The Shaymin horde took more damage from the hail!

The Shaymin are preparing Seed Flare!
The Shadow Machine is rumbling...

"Stop those Shaymin!" Maple commanded.

"We need to stagger that attack! A-and maybe the machine, too?! I--something!" Owen tried to direct over the chaos, blasting nearby Shaymin with plumes of fire.

"Some of them're losing it," Soda reported, pointing at Celeste, then Dave. "Guys! Focus and calm down! Don't become like Pine and Nanab, you hear me?!"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Just as she did in the fight against Lugia, Brisa rushed to the fore to put up covering fire and make coordination calls for Starr. As Starr took the opportunity to fire up a more powerful Radiant Adrenaline than she could have done alone, Brisa looked back at her with the same fierce grin she'd given her in the cave, when they'd helped each other escape.

Was this... what it was like for rangers with a partner? Fighting together with someone who was your equal in combat. Knowing you could support someone, and that they'd have your back too. Gods, if only she-

And then the Seed Flare erupted in the middle of their lineup, and the world dissolved into blinding, earth-shattering pain.

"Starr!" Brisa cried, darting back from the melée. Did she have a reviver seed? Was she okay-?

Starr's double Leech Life, in addition to Cuicatl's Boon, dealt a total of 370 damage to Nanab, healing Starr for 37 HP!

Oh, thank the stars. She was alright. Of course she was alright. Brisa gave a hoarse cheer as Owen called out the defeat of the heroes, but there was still the machine and the horde of shaymin to defeat...

A flash of uncertainty crossed Brisa's mind. Were they going to make it through this one? She... she couldn't bear- She wouldn't see Starr dead because she'd let her friend down, not after what they went through in that pit.

Brisa put herself between Starr and the enemy. Hackles up; teeth bared. She'd bite dirt before she let a one of her friends go down.

Better you than her.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"Some of them're losing it," Soda reported, pointing at Celeste, then Dave. "Guys! Focus and calm down! Don't become like Pine and Nanab, you hear me?!"

Celeste turned around and flashed his teeth at Soda. “Shut up, you useless imbecile. We’re not going to ‘lose it.’ Don’t treat me like some kind of bloody feral, I’m perfectly capable of keeping control of myself!”