Pokemon Max: Final Showdown

Ch. 69 Monsters Part 1

Ch. 69 Monsters Part 1

I wandered as casually as possible. As I went through the streets, I heard a scream pierce the night, and was suddenly silenced. I felt a chill snake down my spine. I tried to not act suspiciously, which was kind of hard when everyone else was some sort of super Poke-Werewolf.  

That was a sentence I never thought I'd have to actually say.

I wondered what I was going to do. I didn't know what had caused this, how it worked, or how I could stop it from spreading. I looked at my claws, newly sharpened and shining. I normally would have liked the sight, but now it just made me sick.

After a little while I noticed that the fur was significantly helping with resisting the cold weather. I made a mental note of it, shortly before I was pounced to the ground.

I was turned over onto my back. I was suddenly staring into the face of a large dog, which was mostly brown and cream colored across its body, except for some tufts of white fur. It snarled in my face.

"Now I've got you." It literally growled.

"Oh really?" I grasped at his paws and tried to turn him over. I barely budged him. "Huh. You were...you were supposed to flip over so I would be, uh, asking the questions. Usually that works."

Its face turned to curiosity. "You speak?"

"Yes, I speak. Quite a lot, actually. Now get off!"

It cautiously backed off of me. "Do you notice anything not right about this world around you?"

I did a quick glance around my peripherals. "Oh noooo, this is totally fine. Peachy keen."

He whirled around, pinning me to the ground once again. "I suspected just as much."

"Hey! It's called SARCASM! Never heard of it!?" I sighed. "I was joking. Of course there's something wrong. The city's turning into an apocalypse. Everyone's a monster. Quite the opposite of peachy."

He seemed to consider this, and finally stepped off of me. "My apologies." He sat down politely. "I am Lycanroc. I can take you to another."

"Another what?" I asked.

"Another who has managed to last." He began walking off. I sighed, and followed close behind.

---

A little while later, we were somewhere I did not expect to be. "Okay..." I said to myself.

Lycanroc turned his head. "Is there something bothering you?"

"No, it's just, this is my...my house. What are we doing here?"

"This is where I found him." He answered simply as we walked in through an empty door frame.

"Him?" I wondered, though not for long. "He" was on top of me, pinning me against a wall as soon as I walked in.

I groaned. "Why does everyone have to go for pinning me to something? Seriously, just hit me in the face for once. No, wait..."

I looked at my assailant, and found myself looking into the red brown eyes and black mask of an all too familiar face.

"You." I muttered.

Lucario looked back at Lycanroc. "Why did you bring him here?"

"This is my house, bro." I grumbled.

"You do not know my connection to-" He suddenly stopped himself. He looked back at me. "He is infected."

"He retains full control, for whatever reason it may be." 

"'He' is completely in the dark as to what is going on. Someone care to elaborate?"

There was an uncomfortable silence. Wind whisked through the open door way.

Lycanroc spoke at long last. "Let him go." 

Lucario looked at me again coldly, before relief seemed to wash over his face. He let me go, backing up from the wall. "My apologies."

"Yeah." I muttered, rubbing my arm, which had been stuck against my body in an uncomfortable position. Now free, I took a quick look around my old home. I found the door, or what was left of it, on the staircase. Claw marks covered the walls and floors. Several lights had been broken.

"I'm afraid this mess is my fault." Lycanroc sighed. Neither of us said anything, but looked at him, asking to elaborate. He took a breath.

"I had been captured. I remember that much. I didn't know where I was, or what was going on, but I heard faint conversation, and suddenly felt something cold and sharp pierce my body. I began to feel some sort of rage and sadistic joy. It was terrifying. I soon lost consciousness, and woke up eventually in an alley, where soon after I found him." He nodded towards Lucario.

"What did they do to you?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, but, I remember hearing the word 'berserker'. Does this mean anything to you?" He inquired curiously.

"Yeah." I replied, "Berserkers were heroes from stories and stuff who were supposed to be nearly unstoppable, because no matter how many hits they took they wouldn't go down."

Lucario looked at me, seeming surprised.

"What? Literature class. I'm not completely hopeless in school."

"No. It's not that. We- the men that I work for. They were mentioning a formula made from the DNA of a special Pokemon. One with a strange form that resulted from moonlight." 

Lycanroc nodded. "I'm afraid that would be me. I suppose they found some way to draw on my species' ability to reach two different forms in our second stage of life."

"Yeah, well clearly there was something up with their formula. It turned the whole city into these things." I sighed.

"We must find some way to fix this. I don't know how we will yet, but if we could find where I was kept, we may be able to figure something out."

"I already know." Lucario spoke quietly.

"You do?" Lycanroc and I asked together.

---

We crept through the streets, trying to draw as little attention as possible. They seemed to be leaving Lycanroc and I alone, but Lucario seemed to be catching eyes. He had agreed to let Lycanroc disguise his scent (via dog slobber), which at the least seemed to be keeping him from getting mauled on sight.

Along the way, Lycanroc stopped. "I hear something."

Lucario nodded. "I as well."

All I could hear was the occasional growl and cricket chirp. "I got nothing." They began to walk in a different direction. I followed, muttering quietly to myself about super hearing.

After a little while of walking, I began to hear things too. A steady rumbling sound, with other noises. Footsteps.

When the noises had almost reached a climax, Lucario grabbed me and kept me against a wall.

He closed his eyes, and the weird things that dangled from his ears began to float. I remembered Jacob doing that to scan the area.

The appendages drooped again. "Soldiers. Somewhere over a hundred. And a tank."

"A tank? Why the hell are they bringing in a tank?"

"I don't know. It can't be good."

We listened a little more. Then a stupid idea popped into my head. "Let me talk to them."

"What? Why?"

"If we try to do something, they might do something to interfere. And we can't take on a tank."

"I beg to differ." Lucario grunted.

"Take it easy, blue pants." I retorted. "I'm mostly likely to get shot first, but I'm best to talk. No offense, but you two aren't exactly fully versed on human courtesy."

I took a deep breath. "Talk or get shot. Talk or get shot." I stepped out slowly. "Excuse me!"