PokèDruids [PkmnWattys2016]

Falling Skies

As Xerxes did the honor of unlocking the cell in which the three were contained, a click was triggered in the lock and the door swung open with a loud creek, causing everybody (even Croconaw) to wince.

As Eros looked over to Croconaw's cage, he drew the key from his lock and quickly shoved it into Croconaw's, yet he was stopped by a mourning voice, "No. I don't deserve to leave. Just leave me be."

Eros dismissed this and was trying to fiddle with the lock when one of the lightly armored guards snuck up on him and tackled him to the ground. The world went blurry for a second, but Eros regained focus to find the guard was no longer on him, but rather lying to Eros' side with an odd gash across his throat. To explain this, Eros looked to Xerxes, who had blood on the tip of one of her claws and a blank expression on her face.

Xerxes simply turned to Eros and whispered, "That... Felt... Kinda nice. I like the feeling of blood on my claws..."

Eros, although appalled by this, didn't hesitate to grab the two Pokemon under his arms and bolt down one of the halls. The two eventually rearranged themselves so that they rested easily on his shoulders. Albeit Eros wasn't the strongest of trainers, he certainly wasn't hindered by the diminutive creatures atop of him, even while dashing wildly around the fortress. Eventually, Eros turned a corner to find an assembly of heavily armored guards standing outside of a room hidden by the turn of a corner. And, like, fifty Vin Diesel looking guards staring right at him in bewilderment.

As Eros was about to turn the other direction and run, Surge tugged on Eros' collar and whispered, "I got this." Eros simply turned back towards the guards, who were staring in bewilderment as the escaped prisoner stood without speaking a word.

Surge simply raised himself higher upon Eros' shoulder, raising a few hairs on his back. Sparks of energy danced upon his face, surprisingly not affecting Eros nor Sicily. Just as the guards were about to make a motion towards the group, a sudden gust of wind, originating from all directions and headed towards Surge, urged the guards to withdraw; And so they did. Soon, a brilliant strobing light radiated from Surge, causing the rest of the hall to appear aphotic in comparison (which, after a surprising Google search, is a synonym for dark that only applies to the depths of water).

As this strobing ceased for but a second, a flash of lightning flew from Surge and down the line of guards standing in the hallway. This flash came with a bang, one that echoed many times into itself in the hallway, forcing the three to fall to the ground in pain. A blatant ringing rang in their ears, unceasing for what seemed like an eternity. Surely, someone would have heard, but lest they were immune to the effects of the echo, they would've surely collapsed from the noise. All in all, however, the attack was a relative success.

Eventually, Eros was able to stand up, as well as Xerxes and Surge (the last of the three seemingly less damaged by the blast). Eros, still suffering from a sharp ringing in his ears, motioned for the others to follow him into the room that the guards were blocking. They soon found themselves in a small room, barely enough for but 5 people, showing only a few overturned crates in the corner alongside a table in the center with a mysterious map, as well as various letters.

Eros, still shocked from the blast, stumbled into the room and dropped his hands forcefully onto the table, making sure not to land them on any of the papers. He let the two other out of his sight while he read the papers; And, for whatever risk he was taking standing here, he could have never done anything more important than read these papers.

Why? Because these papers held a key to understanding what was surely imminent destruction for all of Morono. Eros first looked over the maps, trying to comprehend what they meant. Although it clearly contained the entire Morono region in it, there was so much more to it than that island alone. On the map, albeit a bit confusing, he could see the city he assumed to be Utopia on the map, a small circle within a larger land mass that was once the entirety of Utopia. Then, looking around, he found many other dots, much like the one that represented the castle, along with a variety of strings and pins that showed some kind of connections between them. Various names and numbers accompanied these dots, such as "Highpoint Peak" for the one he assumed to be in now, along with "6.6 km". The map was a tad confusing for Eros, so he moved on to the other side.