He looked back, and the deep red eyes looked at Zarius with slight amusement, "Not sure."
Zarius caught up to him and waved for him to stop, crouching down. "Yveltal said he turned you into an Umbreon. How's that work?"
Umbreon sat on his haunches and pointed up to the roof with a paw, "Up there, on the mountain top. Eevees are solitary, unless it is mating season. I recently moved to the mountain top, seeking the icy heights to transform into a Glacion." He looked into Zarius' eyes, and there was a warmth there as he spoke, "I appreciate this form even more."
"Why did you come down here, into the cave, and find me?"
"Because I was told to. When a legendary tells you to jump, you ask, "How high?""
"Do you have Moves and Abilities like me?" Zarius asked.
"Yes. Would you like me to show you?"
Zarius nodded, "Yeah. Go ahead. And while you're at it, feel free to give yourself a name if you want."
"I'll stick with my species' name," Umbreon replied. "Eevees are already fairly rare - my type even more so." He said the last with a smirk, as much as a dog-like Pokémon could smirk. He waved his paw in front of Zarius' face, and the language of the gods appeared once more - but this time, instead of red on black, it was yellow on black.
-----
Umbreon, bound to Zarius [Level 1]
- Experience – 0 / 10
Moves (uses per day) [type]:
- Bite (25) [Dark]
- Manifest spectral jaws that crunch down on a target within 25 feet, dealing Dark damage and causing them to flinch, interrupting actions for 1 second.
- Growl (40) [Normal]
- All who can hear the Pokémon are shaken, reducing their outgoing damage. Lasts for 5 seconds.
- Take Down (20) [Normal]
- Deals heavy damage to a target. Suffer a portion of the damage dealt from the attack.
- Helping Hand (20) [Normal]
- Increases the combat efficacy of a chosen target (defaults to Trainer) for 1 minute, or until they deliver a strike, or use a Move.
Abilities:
- Inner Focus
- Prevents flinching.
- Synchronize
- When the user suffers a status effect, the same effect is duplicated upon the affliction source.
- Pact of Yveltal
- This Bound Pokémon is able to heal from Mending Darkness at twice its efficacy when affected by its Trainer.
-----
The screen vanished, and Umbreon stood up. "Come, Trainer. Actually-" he craned his head back over his shoulder, "What do you prefer?"
"Just Zarius is fine, thanks for asking."
The duo crept down the tunnel, and Zarius found the darkness comforting. Almost as if it was enveloping him and keeping him safe, caressing him in the shadow. He was quiet, he knew, as even the few insect-type who illuminated the caves on occasion did not notice his passage beneath them. Every step, he felt perfectly sure of where he needed to move.
Umbreon was just as quiet, padding ahead with ears twitching, nose sniffing. And Zarius picked up the sounds that Umbreon heard, and the scents he smelled. It was disgusting - a scent of refuse and waste from the droppings of the Zubats that had not been tended to as the cultists had all perished. His ears could hear the rustling of wings as they shifted, perhaps preparing for their pre-morning flight.
The sound of the Zubats ahead, and the "Gol" of the Golbat filled Zarius with glee. Finally, he thought, I can get my revenge on these stupid bats. The creatures had seemed to love picking on him during his time in the cave, and every time they swooped at him he had to hit the ground and would often find himself then shat upon by the foul rodents of the sky.
The sword in his hand seemed to pulse with dark desire. Craving violence. Pulsating energy and crimson lines coursed up the blade and into Zarius' arm. He moved forward, and rounded the corner where he saw the flock, still roosting from the ceiling, save for that damned, smug Golbat. No, he thought, it's a different one.
This one had a small chunk missing out of one of its ears, and once more, Zarius was thrilled by his newfound capability to see in the dark. I want to be harder to hit, he thought. How do I activate this Double Team?
As soon as he thought the words, he felt his body vibrate. Not out of control, but as if his whole body had fallen asleep with that horrific tingling feeling - but the tingling was not painful or uncomfortable. It was just...movement. A buzzing that danced along the surface of his skin like a Beedrill flapping its fluorescent wings just above the surface of a flower.
One minute of improved evasion, he thought. Okay. Let's try this out. He had never trained with weapons, but he knew the basic principle of using one. Slice the target.
He ran forward, his feet barely making a tap tap tap as he sprinted down the straight cave. Raising the sword next to his head, he reached the Golbat and slashed across with a horizontal swing. The blade bit into the creature, and it let out a screech of pain - the loud sound making Zarius wince thanks to his new, amplified hearing. But the sword cut into the creature, halfway through the torso, and it lost its perch on the ceiling as it crashed to the ground.
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Umbreon pounced and, in a swift, decisive move, locked his jaws around the head of the smaller bat-like creature, ripping it off as blood sprayed up into the air. Umbreon's yellow circles turned bloody crimson, and he let out a laugh. "This is going to be fun."
The Zubats had roused and, almost as one, dropped down and swarmed Zarius. He was swinging back and forth, but felt tiny cuts, scrapes, and needle-like appendages finding purchase on his skin. The pain was something he was acclimating to, but there was a sense of slowness, and his vision started to blur slightly.
"You are Poisoned," Yveltal informed. "But thanks to Synchronize, it will affect your attacker as well."
True to the gods' word, Zarius saw the Zubats - some of them - flapping in odd directions and banging into each other and the wall. He kept swinging, back and forth, cleaving through dozens of the little fuckers. Their screeching was like nails on a chalkboard, which threatened the worst headache of his life.
Umbreon seemed to be faring better, as his fur was more naturally defensive and denied the injuries they attempted to inflict as they ineffectively swarmed. He was rearing up on his hind legs and chomping one out of the air after another; purple, viscous blood coating his head, the walls, and the floors as he savagely ragdolled them back and forth in his mouth.
Zarius felt the pain ramp up, and knew he was being more seriously injured just from the sheer number of injuries. Time to try out a Move. Lash Out!
His body exploded with black shadow that took form. Tiny spikes lashed out from the shadow, injuring each Zubat and skewering them through the torso. Dozens killed with one Move. And with each death, Zarius felt warmth and heat rush into him. Harvester of Life had activated, and his wounds were sealing shut as shadowy tendrils surged up from inside his body. The power of a nascent god renewed him.
"Good! Now try to take a Bite," Yveltal instructed.
Zarius looked at the largest group of Zubats and instinctively raised his left hand, curling the fingers into a claw-like grip, "Bite!" he shouted.
A huge, shadowy mouth appeared around the clump of Zubats, and it felt like an extension of Zarius' hand - his claw-like fingers feeling the tension of some spectral force connecting the two. He gripped, closing his hand, and the shadowy mouth chomped down - instantly killing several Zubats as they exploded in a fountain of gore.
Zarius let out a laugh. The laugh of someone who has found power. The means to take control of their life - of any life they came across. The raw power of Dark flowed through him, and he could feel the surging energy coursing through his veins like a cool stream. He jumped to the next cluster of Zubats who were swarming Umbreon, and taking large, lopping swings, he felled even more of the creatures.
"Good job, Zarius!" Umbreon shouted. "Helping Hand!"
Zarius saw a slight, yellow and crimson glow surge from Umbreon and shoot into his chest. He felt a warmth, like a fire had been ignited and he was right next to it, a red-hot poker poised above his chest, waiting to be embraced. "Double-Edge!" he shouted as he unleashed a left-to-right cross slash on the swarm. A split-second later, a phantasmal, second copy of the weapon appeared and slashed from the opposite angle.
He felt his arms twist, the muscles straining and sinew ripping like he had pushed his body far too hard in physical training. That has to be the backlash part, he thought. But the pain was quickly soothed by the cool suffusion from the life essence being harvested from the now-fallen Zubats.
Zarius let out a cackle of glee, and to someone who saw him from afar, he was a blood-covered madman, holding a glowing red blade with a monstrous, black and crimson dog next to him. The Zubats all lay slain, save for a few that tried to run - but Zarius faced them, held up his hand, and whispered, "Bite." The spectral maw appeared, and he closed his fingers - crushing the Zubats as they burst into gore.
Umbreon was huffing in breaths and stumbled slightly, pulling Zarius out of his bloodshed-fueled reverie. "You okay?" Zarius asked as he knelt down to put a hand on Umbreon's upper back.
"Hurt...mind sharing...that healing?"
"Sure, how do I-" Zarius was cut off as he felt that same, cooling rush depart his chest, go down his arm, and saw the spectral red energy cascade over Umbreon's form. And yet Zarius did not feel tired; just winded from the combat.
"You are in the dark, the shadows. Healing here will occur much faster, and thus the amount of health you can restore to Umbreon is accelerated as well."
Umbreon pushed himself to his feet and shook himself, flinging blood all over the hall and onto Zarius, who held up his hands ineffectually. "Thanks for that," he said fondly.
"No problem," Zarius replied. The language of the gods appeared in his sight once more - crimson on black.
-----
[Combat Concluded]
[Experience Awarded: 50]
[Bonus from Harvester of Life: 25]
[Total Experience: 75]
[You have Leveled Up!]
-----
"We grow in power, but not enough to gain a new Move or Ability," Yveltal said, sounding quite pleased.
Zarius sheathed the sword on his hip. "What about Umbreon?"
"I saw the same message," the Pokémon replied as he came over to Zarius' leg and nudged him. "We share Experience, and should level up together, I'd imagine."
"Level 3," Yveltal stated with a sigh. "And in order to break free of this mortal coil, for us to ascend to our true form, we must reach Level 100."
Zarius grinned as he looked around the bloody passage, hearing the slight drip of blood from the ceiling where it had been flung. "I don't care how long it takes, that was amazing!" he shouted, feeling glee at the sheer power at his fingertips.
"At least Experience stays," Umbreon stated as he looked down the tunnel toward the exit. "It does not reset, thank the gods."
"You are welcome," Yveltal replied.
Zarius composed himself and led the way down the tunnel to one of the supply caves with a solid, wooden door blocking access. Kicking it down, he scrounged up a backpack, food for a few weeks, waterskins, and a few other odds and ends that would doubtless be useful - including a mess kit and a trusty cast-iron frying pan.
"Why bring that?" Umbreon asked as he padded over and sniffed the metal cooking implement.
Zarius flipped it in his palm, "It makes for a good weapon in a pinch, and if I'm killing Pokémon to level up, that means a lot of meat we can cook up!" He shook a container with a simple salt and pepper mix. "Much better than the dried nuts, berries, and jerky."
Umbreon sniffed the container and chuckled, "Weird smell, but if you say it tastes good, who am I to complain? Want me to grab some Zubats to butcher?"
"No, not much meat on them," Zarius replied as he finished packing up the bag and hoisted it onto his back. "Come on. Let's head outside."
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