FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 10

"What's that smell? It's very...thick..."

I groaned as I awoke to the sound of a familiar voice outside of the tent. Axel was still held tightly in my arms, still sleeping soundly. The light of early morning was pouring through the fabric. As I started waking the smell inside the tent hit my nose and I winced. The smell of sex and musk was heavy in the tent.

I heard then a soft giggle also outside and another familiar voice answer, "I know that smell." I shot awake at that point and Mistress Chandelure called to me as she heard me.

"Oh boooooys." She teased in a sing-song voice and I cursed under my breath as I tried to wake Axel by shaking him. He mumbled and opened his eyes as the Mistress continued, "Have a little too much fun hmmm?"

Axle shot awake at this as he heard her and we scrambled to exit the tent, opening the flap and tumbling out along the grass. I came to a rest laying with my face and chest on the ground, my rear ending up up in the air as my legs held it up. My scarf fluttered down to cover my face as I laid there in general embarrassment to the situation. Axel ended up flopping on his side a little ways from me and quickly scrambling to his feet but I just remained on the ground, hoping childishly that maybe if I couldn't see them they couldn't see me.

I heard Mistress Chandelure start laughing and she chided, "Don't be so embarrassed you two. Nothing I've haven't seen, or felt before." She added the last bit after pausing to add emphasize but it only made me feel more embarrassed for it.

I rose and sat in the grass to see the Mistress floating before me and Skitty just under her. The cat's head tilted in confusion as I blushed deeply and coughed.

A few moments passed as Axel and I gathered ourselves, and soon we more properly greeted them both.

"Thank you for coming, Mistress Chandelure." I said and bowed with my paw on my chest again.

"Ohhhh so formal, learned your people's mannerisms I see. It's not just me that came though." She said and waved her candles to the side gracefully, and others stepped out of the brush behind her.

"Well looks like someone grew up!" A gruff voice spoke as Machop stepped into the clearing, followed by the two Hitmontop brothers behind him.

"You guys?" I asked in surprise and Machop scoffed.

"You say that like you aren't happy to see us. A friend told us you were in trouble and could use some help."

"Who?"

"Me." A forth visitor followed up, it was Timburr, but his eyes were black with only his irises showing. I blinked in confusion before I remembered. There was only one reason for his eyes to be like that.

"You're still possessed?" I asked him in surprise and Mistress Chandelure explained.

"Out of the four Litwicks that possessed your companions that day, it seems only one of them had the smarts to understand that a true partnership involves assisting the greater benefit of the host. Instead of making a deal to take his body for food like the others had, he made a deal to lead Timburr home if he could hitch along for his life. It is Timburr in control, and while his eyes may give away the possession, this is an honest and good one. For that reason, his parents and I decided it was beneficial to let them stay together."

Timburr nodded and he smiled, "Yeah, he led me home and now he's just kind of along for the ride in my head. Actually it's kind of fun! He has a constant connection to his mother and when she found out you needed him she told him and then he alerted us." A moment passed and he jumped, "Oh! Axel!"

Axel tilted his head and Timburr bowed his head, "I'm sorry for hitting you...and uh...sorry to you too Ruli I guess...for everything."

"Don't worry about it guys..." I rubbed the back of my head, "As I told you already, I'm not really him."

"Well it doesn't really matter." Machop said while he punched his own palm, "We're here to help you out!"

I blinked then and I grimaced slightly, "Speaking of though, what about your parents? I doubt they let you wonder off."

The group shuffled awkwardly and Timburr grumbled, "We snuck out...the town's divided on who to believe..."

Machop explained more, rubbing the back of his head while frowning himself, "When the news about ya reached the town, Infernape went insane and started screaming nonsense about how he "Knew it all along!" and such. He told crazy stories to all of us about how you were some evil mastermind that was tricking us all the whole time. Half the town seems to actually believe him, the others think he's just crazy but at the same time think you're really dangerous now. The only ones that seem to say differently are Milotic, Hypno, and Treeko. When Infernape threatened to report them to the Eeveelutions for being suspicious about you though they didn't fight him...He practically has the town in the palm of his paw now, anyone that doesn't agree with him he threatens to report."

"He already turned in Psy and Pangoro by spilling the beans to the clans. Psy kept trying to tell us all that you weren't evil but the Eeveelutions arrested him as a traitor." Timburr growled out in frustration. "But we believe them. You aren't evil."

"Yeah!" Machop said and he gave a thumbs up, "You definitely aren't the same Ruli that we all knew before that's for sure, but you sure as hell aren't evil!"

I looked at them all a moment and eventually nodded happily, "Thank you..."

Machop grinned and he put his hands on his hips, "So, what's the plan of action?"

"That's the problem really." I sighed and rubbed my shoulder with a paw, "I don't have one. I've got to stop those other human's from stealing the mirrors and prove my own innocence at the same time..."

"Why don't you tell us everything first and we can go from there?" Mistress Chandelure stated and I nodded.

I explained to everyone there the situation about the other humans and what had happened over the last month since I began training with Lucian. I explained how I had met with Epa and that she had seemed to state that she believed me, but that for the sake of her world she could not ignore what I was and was still giving the orders to kill me if I was seen. Unless I could stop the other humans and somehow prove I was not here to harm this world I was priority number one for the Eeveelutions. Without the support of them I was alone against both this world and the one trying to invade.

I told them that the attackers were, like me, humans in the bodies of pokémon, but that no one knew what species they were. I explained that as far as we knew right now, there were only two known attackers, but there could be four humans total. There goals were to destroy the mirrors based on the vision I had in the mirror, but for some reason it seemed instead of just destroying them, they were moving them somewhere instead.

"They're moving them?" The eldest Hitmontop asked as I said this and I nodded.

"Yes, from what we know, there was no broken mirror found at the Jolteon Tower, they had simply moved it."

"So maybe they're gathering them before destroying them." He concluded and his little brother followed up, "So we need to find out where they are storing them."

"It could be anywhere." Skitty said beneath Mistress Chandelure.

"Yes..." The ghost type said softly, "This land is too large to comb through without more support from the Eeveelutions."

We stood in silence a moment before Timburr spoke up, "Maybe we can get them to come to us instead."

I tilted my head at him slightly, "What do you mean?"

He seemed reluctant to continue but he shook his head, "Well...this isn't my idea it's my ghost friend's..." He started slowly and shivered, "But...what if...we stole the Leafeon Tower's mirror?"

Axel shook his head in surprise at the suggestion, while I brought my paw to my chin, "Wait what? You're suggesting we steal a mirror? That's the opposite of what we're trying to stop!" He growled and I waved my paw at him to calm him.

"I think I know what he's really getting at. If we stole a mirror, the attackers would have find us to steal it themselves."

Timburr nodded, "Exactly. If they have to come to us then we just need to wait until they show up!"

"It's...an interesting idea..." Axel stated reluctantly, "But how would we steal it? The Leafeons aren't pushovers and we aren't that many."

"Ohohoh." Mistress Chandelure chuckled, "You leave the numbers to me Axel. Remember...all the ghosts of this forest answer to me. And, fortunately, we have an advantage...many of my ghosts have made pacts with members of the Leafeons, just like this Timburr has. While it is important to live harmoniously with your hosts...given the right command we ghosts can seize full control at any moment we want if we really need to..." She said this rather sinisterly and I shivered at the thought, but at the same time I was intrigued.

"Wait wait. Are we really gonna do this?" Machop said, "This is gonna make you a permanent target for the Eeveelutions for sure if you attack them."

I shook my head, "I know but I don't see any other option, and this is the best idea I've heard so far."

"Shall I make preparations?" Mistress Chandelure asked me and I looked at her, thinking about this another moment before I nodded.

"This is our best shot I think. We'll steal the mirror, hide, and wait until they find us themselves."

_________________

With the Mistress cloaking our movements with her abilities, we moved deeper into the forest, into her own territory. We began to see and notice many other ghosts shifting through the trees of the forest. The trees became dark and more eery as we went further and further until we reached what appeared to be a central hub of some kind. Many ghosts were already gathered there, summoned by the Mistress' mental call.

Mistress Chandelure seemed to take to this idea more than I had thought she would. She seemed to delight in planning the attack on the Tower with me. After making the plans and sending all the ghosts and others to their tasks to prepare for the assault, I asked her why she was trusting me so much. She chuckled and brushed my cheek with the flame of her metal arms. It was lukewarm and soothing as she spoke to me.

"This is the most excitement I've had in the two thousand years I've been Mistress..." She stared into my eyes with those ghostly yellow ones she had, "I've lived many lives and seen many things, but never had I seen a human in a pokémon body. Since I became Mistress I have not gotten to live a life, I am not able to anymore. It is my job to monitor and keep track of the ghosts of this region. I believed the moment I met you and I sensed what you were that you were going to be an important center point in our world's history."

"But what about the Eeveelutions, are you not scared of them? What will happen to the ghosts currently living inside those Leafeons?"

"We are ageless, we cannot be killed." The Mistress started and she further explained, "There is an understanding between us and the living. We ghosts need to cause mischief sometimes, we feed on the energy pokémon give off when they are startled or frightened, without that we will die. Otherwise, there is nothing the Eeveelutions can do to us, we are exempt from their rules. The only reason we abide by some of them is because we know we must also live in harmony with the living. As for the ones that currently have pacts with them, once a pact is made it cannot be broken. The hosts might be very upset with them for a long time after this, but they will just have to learn to deal with it." She stated that last part simply and straight to the point.

"So you're doing this simply because you believe it is right?"

"I believe in what you say and that you are not here to harm us, for that I will do my part. You may have been sent here at first to harm but you are now fighting to defend and I respect your desire, I do not want my world to be harmed either. It takes a lot of strength to fight the Eeveelutions but my goodness...so strong you have become since you were that small Riolu. I am impressed at how rapid your growth was. You did lots of training recently didn't you?" Her eyes roamed my body and I blushed as I watched her eyeing me, her sudden change of topic catching me off guard, "And so handsome...Axel sure is lucky...if I could I would ask you if I could hitch a ride in that body of yours for a moment of fun." She hummed and giggled again and I coughed in embarrassment.

"How uh...how did you become Mistress anyway?" I tried to change the subject to something else and she hummed again, clearly amused.

"I was voted into it by the ghosts. We exist in a kind of monarchy separate from the laws of the living. I was voted in to lead, and until they all deem me unfit, I shall continue to lead." She stated simply and I felt a little bad for her. For two thousand years she could not experience a life. I don't know what really drove me to say what I did next, I didn't really think about it before I said it.

"If uh...if we succeed in this..." I looked around silently to make sure Axel or anybody was nearby to overhear, "I'll let you along for a moment with Axel..."

The Mistress looked at me a moment as I stood there awaiting her answer, but instead of speaking she suddenly burst out laughing and I blushed heavily, staring in surprise before further realizing the ridiculousness of what I just said.

"Hahahahaha!" She shook in the air as she bellowed and a few ghosts appeared to check on what was happening but continued on as they saw us there, me holding my arm shyly and looking down at the ground as she kept laughing for a full minute before finally seeming to calm down.

"Ohhhhh goodness..." She said as she tried to stop her laughing fit, cackling still as she tried to speak, "Don't-Don't say such things dear...oh my..." she giggled and coughed, "I am not allowed to possess anymore. Besides, such things between loved ones are private. For me to expect that as a payment is shameful."

I merely nodded slightly and stayed silent, still very embarrassed and she made a chiding noise, bringing a flame back to my chin. I felt a spectral force grab it and force my gaze to look at her in the eyes again. "I do appreciate it though. Not many are willing to let a ghost type enter them for any reason. Your willingness speaks plenty of your trust."

I blinked and eventually smiled to her, nodding slightly and she released my chin to start floating up into the canopy of the trees. "I must go do my part to prepare, I will send a ghost to alert you and the others once we are ready. By the way I wanted to tell you, I like the scarf, it suits you." She giggled as she vanished and I smiled still, feeling happy that I got to know such a pokémon.

_____________________

I rejoined Axel a few hours later at the fringe of the forest just outside the Tower, staring out at many Leafeon standing guard dutifully in differently positions around their encampment. Although we could clearly see them, they could not see us.

This was due to the many ghosts types floating above us in the trees, invisible to the Leafeons but not to us, and their cloaking abilities rendered us invisible to the Leafeons eyes as well. They also masked our footsteps on the forest floor, preventing the land itself from alerting the Eeveelutions to our presence.

While I stared out at the Leafeons I noticed several whose eyes were completely dark save for the brown iris. They would stare right at us, but they did nothing to make the others aware. There were not many of them, but there were enough that it would create quite a lot of confusion should they suddenly attack their fellow Leafeon.

"Are you ready?" A Haunter appeared next to me suddenly as he spoke and I jumped slightly in surprise but quickly nodded to his question.

"Yes, we are ready."

"Remember we will be mostly distracting them." The Haunter told me, "We're not here to kill."

I nodded again, "Yes, Axel and I will be running straight for the Tower, just as planned."

With that the Haunter vanished again and I returned to staring out at the Leafeon, my heart starting to pound in anticipation.

Axel seemed to sense my tension and he nudged me slightly with his shoulder, "You and me right?"

I looked down at him as he was standing next to me and I smiled, "Yeah, you and me."

Suddenly we heard one of the Leafeon cry out, "Hey what the heck are you do-" Followed by a loud whipping noise as suddenly the possessed Leafeon started attacking their fellows.

"The Haunting is upon you!" Several voices cried out in the air as suddenly hundreds of ghost types of all kinds filled the air. They started flying through the air as a massive cloud, flinging balls of shadow energy and other attacks at the startled Leafeon.

I was stunned at the sheer number of them, unable to act as I watched the chaos suddenly unfold before me in a matter of seconds.

"What are you waiting for!?" One of the possessed Leafeon yelled out to me from just outside the trees, "Go!" He shouted at me just before the vine whip of another Leafeon struck him on the side and he turned to face his attacker, just before said attacker took a shadow ball to the back from the cloud of ghosts and tumbled along the ground.

"Let's go Ruli!" Axel shouted at me and he dashed ahead of me, and I quickly started behind him.

We dashed into the encampment, shouts and wails of the ghosts as they flew ceaselessly in the air, distracting the frightened Leafeons that were not already possessed. They would dart at them making faces and laughing in hideous tones, and those that tried to fight back would find their attacks would just phase through the ghost's bodies, before they would fire back with their own attacks. Machop and the others were also there, doing their best to distract a pair of Leafeon at the edge of the encampment. Machop jumped to take a punch at one of them but the Leafeon blocked with a pair of slithering vines sprouting from its body, but before it could strike back Timburr jumped in to attack with his log and the Leafeon had to jump back to avoid the impact. The Hitmontop brothers had surrounded the second and were spinning on their heads, constantly coming at the Eeveelution as he had to focus on defending from their spiked feet. They were just kids compared to them but their advantage in numbers made the fight a stalemate so far it seemed.

Several others of the Leafeon guards were already out cold and laying in the ground, but already the rest were gathering strategically around the Tower to protect it.

"Protect the Tower! Get rid of these pests!" I heard one of them shout out loudly and I recognized the voice. Chora stood at the entrance to the Tower with a dozen other Leafeon. They lined up and each opened their muzzles together, balls of green light all gathering as they opened their mouths.

They fired into the group of ghosts with a simultaneous shout, catching some off guard and managing to impact with the energy balls. The explosions caused the cloud to disperse slightly and Chora noticed Axel and I running through the chaos.

"It's the human!" She shouted, "All focus!"

They prepared and fired another volley of orbs directly at us, but the ghosts flew as a solid wall between me and Axel to intercept the attacks, taking them directly as the orbs exploded. They covered us as they then darted at the group of remaining Leafeon. They washed over them like an endless wave, cackling madly and forcing the Leafeon to cover themselves. Axel and I jumped over the distracted defenders, entering the tower.

The wave of ghosts past over the Leafeons completely and they all suddenly vanished, their part of this operation complete. Mistress Chandelure then appeared beside Axel with a dozen Haunter.

"Axel, with me!" She called while she pointed all her flames at the Leafeon. The Haunter began waiving their disembodied hands.

"Right!" Axel shouted, his yellow rings glowing as both he and the Mistress focused on the entrance of the tower.

A wall of purple energy rose from the ground of the Tower entrance, completely enclosing the opening. The Leafeon turned and instantly began firing orbs at the entrance, but Axel and the ghosts stood firm, keeping their wall of energy from breaking.

"Enough!" Chora's voice shouted and the orbs ceased, she stepped forward, tail high in the air and twitching in aggravation, "Stop this nonsense and surrender, you have nowhere to run now!"

I shook my head as I stood beside Axel, "I'm sorry Chora but we need that mirror, We'll find some other way off this tower." Mistress Chandelure had in fact told me she would have a group of ghosts waiting to assist me in moving the mirror, and that she would cloak Axel during their own escape once she knew I had it.

Chora bared her teeth at me, "I should've known that scent on you that day was dangerous. It's the stench of humanity!"

I stared at her, "Do you really believe that?" I shook my head, "I swear I will return the mirror, but I need it to lure the real enemies out."

"You'll be hunted down to the ends of the earth!" Chora shouted, ignoring my words, "Epa should have left your mind broken, and she would have, if it wasn't for my traitorous nephew." She snapped her attention to Axel. "How ashamed your parents must feel, probably rolling in their graves."

Axel growled loudly and I growled myself, but contained my rage as I stared at Chora, waiting a few moments before sighing and shaking my head, "Hopefully...after this is all over we can make amends...but I hope you'll see why I must do this." I turned away and started walking over the large stone slabs of the Tower's "stairway"

Axel had to stay to keep the barrier active with Mistress Chandelure, so I was left with the task of climbing the tower. Chora continued to shout at us from the other end continuing threats and demands, but I did not listen as I climbed, reaching the final stone to pull myself up to the top.

______________________

I huffed as I pulled myself up the last stone, thankfully it was much easier to scale the tower with my new body and physical training. I stood up, finally on the top of the Tower that had started this whole mess with the haunting vision it had given me.

I approached it slowly and stood in front of it again, staring at myself my now evolved form. The last time I had seen the mirror I had still been a Riolu. Curious, I stood in front of it, wondering if it would show me something again. The mirror shimmered a bit as I stared at myself, but it did nothing else to show me any new vision or anything.

Stepping forward, reached out to touch my paw against the glass, my reflection doing the same as if touch my paw. It was cold and smooth to the touch. As I moved my paw, it didn't even leave a single smudge. It was the perfect glass in every way it seemed. Was it even possible to simply shatter it? Was the reason why the attacker took the Jolteon mirror because they actually tried and hadn't been able to break it. I brought my paw to the golden edges of the frame, grasping it carefully in my paw and sliding it down the frame, watching as it shimmered from the light of the sun brightly.

I crouched down to examine the base. The mirror's frame seemed to be attached securely to the floor by large bolts of design I could not begin to understand. It seemed the only choice to remove the mirror would be to rip it off the base itself.

I stood up and stared into the mirror again, and saw the reflections in it. A pokémon was approaching just a few feet behind me, body white and green with what looked to be a flowing dress around its legs and feet. Its hand glowing purple, was reached out and about to tap me on the back of my head.

I reacted on instinct when I saw it. I ducked to dodge the touch of the hand and instead it touched my scarf from my sudden drop. As I crouched, I brought a paw to the ground under me and then kicked out with both legs towards the unknown assailant.

There was nothing but air behind me, but my foot impacted an invisible body and I heard the pokémon gasp in surprise, the tone indicating it was female. Her body flew back several yards from the force of my kick, dust flying from where her body hit the ground as she tumbled, still invisible.

A moment passed as I stood up, standing to the side and looking back into the mirror a moment to see the pokémon I had kicked again as she laid on the ground dazed. It seemed the mirror was not fooled by invisibility. I knew the pokémon in the mirror too.

"You're a Gardevoir huh? No wonder no one knew who was attacking, you were invisible." I growled softly at the image in the mirror than back to where I knew she was laying.

I heard her cough a bit and then started to chuckle softly, her voice soft and majestic sounding.

"Your reaction time is fast." She stated as she slowly began to appear, her body shimmering as it seemed to just materialize into existence and she looked up at me, then slowly begin to rise. "You seem very used to your body already."

I growled at that and held my paws up in the fighting stance Lucian had taught me, "So you're one of them? I was wondering why the ghost types that should've been waiting for me weren't here."

"I sent them scurrying with a slight wave of my hand." The Gardevoir chuckled and she waved her hand to emphasize it. "I'm much more powerful than they could've possibly dealt with, thanks to perfecting the process after sending you." She grinned knowingly.

I grimaced and stared her down, "Who are you?"

She gave a slow bow as she held her arms out to each side, "I am Morgana...one of the chief scientists of project Ouroboros."

"Project Ouroboros?" I repeated.

"Correct." She stated and began to walk closer to me, but as she reached halfway she stopped, "The project to revitalize our world, through the resources of this one."

"Revitalize?" I asked and she grinned while bringing her hand to her mouth.

"You really don't remember a thing do you?" She asked and I bared my teeth.

"Just tell me!" I barked at her and she laughed.

"I'm not going to tell you anything..." She stated while staring at me, "But I suppose I should thank you for distracting those annoying Leafeons. How about instead I tell you who you really are?"

I glared at her but said nothing. I honestly did want to know, but there was no way I was going to say it aloud to her. She held her grin as she began to speak. "You real name is irrelevant, but you are, simply put, a test subject."

Before I could ask, she continued explaining, "You were chosen as the lucky candidate to test our dimensional teleporter. There was one before you that was also chosen, but he, sadly was lost during the experiment, the barriers held by these mirrors bounced him back and he was lost between the dimensions. After fine-tuning our systems, we sent you to this world with the task of destroying the mirrors."

I remembered the scene the mirror had shown me. Was she one of the four humans that had been speaking to me in the vision?

"During the process of crossing through space, the barrier held by the mirrors caught you as well, but thanks to the data we got sending the first, we were able to force you through. However, it appears it did not come without consequence. For one thing, while your mind slipped through the barrier, your body did not, and so you were placed into a random host who which appears to no longer exist in that head of yours..." She looked my body up and down as she said that, "On top of that you also lost your memory, asides from knowing for certain you were once human, you could not remember what you were sent here to do."

I folded my ears back, "How do you know all that?"

"We were perfectly aware of everything that you had been doing." She grinned at me. "Even right now, you are being recorded by our labs. We can see into this world, but we are not able to penetrate it by more than one person at a time. Even then, this world transforms us into pokémon, and the mirrors are a formidable barrier. After sending you we were able to finally perfect our system and now we are here with bodies of our own, as fully grown and powerful pokémon."

"But why are you wanting to destroy the mirrors?"

She waved her finger at me and shook her head, "I'm afraid that's as much as I'm going to tell you. Now kindly obey and step aside from the mirror."

I shuffled in place as I held my stance, staring her down and she giggled.

"Very well...If you want to fight for this world...so be it." Her eyes flashed and began glowing. I felt the mental attack instantly, the feeling of sickness and pain and fever striking at me all at once.

I held my ground. I closed my eyes and focused a moment, recalling the mental training Lucian had put me through and I told myself it was not real. I held back the urge to vomit, forced my body to stop shaking and ignored the feeling of being hot and cold. I opened my eyes again and huffed as I balled my paws into fists, holding my stance as she stared at me interest.

"Curious..." She said as she watched me. I panted softly from the feelings of her mental attack, but I was not going to let it keep me from defending the mirror.

"Your mental ability is strong..." She said and she frowned, "Someone has trained you..."

"Shouldn't you know?" I growled at her, "You've been watching me as you said."

She held her frown as she then held her hands up above her head, and clapped them together lightly. She parted them slowly, creating a glittering rapier from her psychic energy. She kept up her mental attack as she held the weapon in front of her in her left hand. I gulped. How good at combat was she? I hadn't yet gotten the chance to practice fighting in rapid physical combat. I was able to hold my own maybe, but I still was really sluggish and slow while under these conditions.

She dashed at me then as she pulled back the rapier. Her movements were thankfully easy to read and as she took a stab at me I dodged to the right and attempted to punch back at her, but she spun away rather gracefully, almost as if she were dancing. Her other hand come up during her spin to place a small reflecting shield in front of her that blocked my retaliation.

As I bounced back from the shield she followed up with a swinging slash as she finished her spin, her momentary shield dissipating to allow her own attack through. I backed off to attempt getting out of reach of the swing but felt myself hit the mirror behind me. I gasped and ducked barely in time to roll out of the way of her attack. Her sword struck the mirror, which caused it to pulsate and make a strange ringing noise. She was rebelled by the magic of the mirror, falling back a bit as I rose a few yards away after my roll. I looked at the mirror in worry, but it seemed undamaged.

Morgana shuffled a bit as the pulsations of the mirror faded, then rose up again and faced me once more, holding her rapier in front of her. I panted as I took my stance again, sweat dripping down my face from the high fever I was running. I shuffled to the left as she started to circle me, putting her back to the mirror now while glaring me down.

She dashed at me again to strike with a vertical slice, yelling out as she did, "How long do you think you can keep up?"

I jumped back to dodge but Morgana continued to move, spinning in what seemed to be a dance as she held out her other hand, leaving sparks in the air. A purple spear of psychic energy appeared in the air by her head and she pointed at me after completing her spin. It shot at me at such a fast speed I could not react.

I yelped as the spear struck me in the chest and I slid along the Tower roof, coming to a rest just before falling down the opening that led back down the stair blocks. I panted softly and held my chest where the spear hit, pain flashing through my body from it, minor shockwaves of the energy flowing through my body that were locking up my muscles. I seemed to have become momentarily paralyzed.

I heard Morgana taking slow steps up to me and I struggled to rise, lifting my head from the ground and scowling at her as she walked up to me and to my side, leering down at me a moment. I coughed as I stared back up at her defiantly, my other paw clenching the ground at my side but I was not able to move.

"You were a traitor to mankind anyway...nobody will miss you..." She seemed to be thinking out loud and she raised her rapier above her head. I growled out at her defiantly still and bared my teeth.

She swung down. I closed my eyes on reaction.

*Crack*

I heard the noise first and thought it was the rapier striking me, but when I felt no pain I opened my eyes to see a blue bone spear above my face, blocking the rapier just inches from my nose.

"Not too late am I?" I heard a voice that made my heart skip a beat and I turned my head to the side to the opening in the ceiling. It was Lucian!

He had the top half of his body up out of the hole, one arm holding himself up and the other extended out towards me, holding the bone spear that blocked Morgana's attack. His eyes showed a fire the like I had never seen before during our sparring matches. He stared right at Morgana, focusing the fire at her.

"That voice..." Morgana stared in shock at my rescuer, eyes wide. "It can't be...Lucian?!" The grip on her rapier slacking from her stunned surprise.

Grunting, Lucian flung Morgana's attack back, making her lose her balance and have to step back several feet. Lucian quickly got up out of the hole, getting in front of me as I tried to sit up, only able to get my elbow under me.

Morgana stared at the other Lucario now and Lucian spun his staff around a bit, placing it behind himself in his fighting stance while he glared at the Gardevior.

"Nice to see you again too...Morgana..."