The Viterals

Chapter 24: Grass

When the water dried up in the warehouse, zapped away like magic, Zakana thought that the attacks were over. The fire burned, and the water surged and when the heat and the cold dissipated and everyone had caught their breath, life seemed to emerge. Things grew in that space. Flowers. And plants. And grass. There wasn't enough time for Zakana to realize that something else had merely taken the place of the other murderous Pokémon.

It was a snake. A green, grassy one made of thick vines and fauna, with leaves hanging back off its neck like a popped collar. Like it was already peeling off its body for its next phase of shedding. Zakana flipped open Oodi to get some information.

"Serperior. The Regal Pokémon. It can stop its opponents' movements with just a glare. It takes in solar energy to boost its power internally."

All at once, Zakana saw the glow. How the sun came in through the windows and filled it, yes it was regal Zakana had to admit, with power. Its red eyes scanned the warehouse hungrily.

"Don't look at it directly!" Yumin ordered.

But Zakana found himself mesmerized. The way it moved around effortlessly captivated him to an end he could not fathom. Why were they there? First the fire chicken and then the metal penguin—why had they come? To obliterate them from existence? It certainly seemed that way and Zakana began to fear, not just for his own life, but something else. Memories rushed back. He felt dark, invisible hands close around his neck.

"I've only got one more Pokémon!" Yumin announced it and Zakana could sense the fear.

They were running out of Pokémon. No Pokémon meant no protection. Zakana fought back memories of that day.

"Go, Shuckle!" Farore cried. "Yumin! I'm on my last one too!"

Bambi released her Houndour. Makua sent out his Fennekin.

"Zakana! You'll have to use Slowpoke again!"

They were all, it seemed, on their very last Pokémon. All the others had fainted, which meant that the Pokémon physically could not fight anymore. They had been drained of their will. The four Eevee were still just infants and had finally been withdrawn to Pokeballs once the floods came.

Fire burned grass. The flames went up. Makua's Fennekin and Bambi's Houndour fought side-by-side blasting swirls of red and orange fire. But the snake was too fast. It slithered in spurts, from one end of the warehouse to the other, searching for something it seemed, crawling not just on the ground, but clinging to the walls too, as if gravity was just a figment of its imagination. It seemed to grow with time as rays of sun beat down on it.

"Tygo is down!" Yumin announced.

Zakana saw how desperate his cousin looked. He collapsed to his knees, not because he was tired but probably because of how helpless he felt. Not only had he lost over 90 Pokémon in his reserve, he had lost all his usable Pokémon in the span of a few weeks.

Zakana moved to Yumin and tried to pull him up. "Yumin! Use my Slowpoke!"

Yumin bounced up on the balls of his feet, only momentarily stunned and looked to Farore, a desperate longing behind his eyes.

This Pokémon wasn't deadly like the other two in the same way. It merely encroached. Where the fire-chicken raged onward and upward with punches and kicks and blazes of fire, and where the metal-penguin filled the space with heavy floods, this green snake grew things. Something pricked Zakana's arm and he bled.