FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 11.

Rook didn't get to enjoy being at the wheel for much longer, as over the next two hours the storm they were caught in had indeed became much worse and Nether took back control. Flashes of lightning grew in frequency and the rocking of the raft soon became tumultuous and shook it up, down, left, right and any which direction that seemed possible except upside down!

Nether did his best to meet every large rogue wave that appeared before them, his crew of Buizel pushing their raft to fight the pull and tug of the raging water at the same time. Rook and the others worked in making sure that their potted trees and bushes didn't suddenly fly overboard from the intense shifting of the boat once they had begun shifting across the floor of the raft, the entire 100 foot long base they were all planted in sliding with the extreme movement and force.

"Why didn't they nail them down!?" Riley would shout at some point from his position by his computer, making sure that the storm wouldn't knock them off course.

"What are nails!?" Nether shouted next to him over the storm, which then he laughed boisterously at the look of shock that Riley gave him as he spun his wheel, "Kidding!! I guess it was just overlooked!"

The storm continued to rage on into the darkness of night for several hours more until, finally, just as dawn began to light up the clouds of the storm, they finally broke past it. The stormy clouds above slowly gave way to a still starry, but bluish night sky and revealed the moon, currently nearing its full phase, and soon after, the waters grew calmer. The sun peeked over the horizon in front of them.

The aftershocks of the storm still caused the water here to shift and churn, but not nearly as bad as those that they had just worked through. The dozen Buizel down below were all obviously exhausted, but even still they pushed themselves further until the waters stilled entirely, and the thunder of the storm could no longer be heard.

"We did it boys! Another storm conquered! The Inextinguishable Flame remains burning!!! Good job!" Captain Nether shouted as he would suddenly slide right under the glass platform and fall to the fiery hearth below, joining his twelve crew members in celebration.

"Yah! Yes! Can we sleep now!? Hot tub time! Am I still First Mate?!" The shouts of the twelve Buizel below answered their Captain all at once. Their shouts faded away into a normal volume as Nether laughed and started to individually speak to them. The remaining pokemon were still on the top floor, all but Rook slumped and exhausted.

Ruli was slouched against one part of the railing while panting and his eyes were closed. "I...think I developed...sea sickness...urgh...with how rough...those waves...were..." He let out a burp and groaned.

"I really...don't want to have...to experience that again, that was terrifying." The Timburr shipwright said close by him, sitting and leaning back against the wall himself, his eyes changed as the Litwick sharing his body spoke up, "I found it quite exhilarating, your fear was exquisite." Right after this, the child's personality came back and he groaned, "Shut up...you're lucky you can't feel my exhaustion instead..."

The Espeon teleported back into their room without speaking a word and Riley began double checking their course. Rook and Enzlo, with the Abra still sitting on top of his head, set to checking the potted trees and bushes. Some of them had nearly ripped themselves out of the soil they had been potted in because of the wind and tipping of the raft. In this instance, Rook's power came in handy, as he controlled the small amount of little stones that had been left in the soil to retighten and secure their roots back in.

"There we go. All better." Rook said while pulling his glowing paw away from the roots of the Oran Berry tree, and then reached up to pick off one of the berries from the branches as his treat. "When all this over Enzlo," Rook said then, biting into the berry before he finished in the middle of chewing, slightly slurring his last words, "I wanna shctart a Oran bury pharm."

"Are those gonna be for others or all for yourself?" Enzlo asked lightly in amusement.

"Both!" Rook said with a bright grin right after he swallowed the bite he had taken, then took another quick bite.

"EVERYONE!" Rook and Enzlo both jumped as suddenly the Espeon's voice shouted within theirs and every other pokemon's head on the raft. Nether and the Buizels below froze their celebrations as the Espon continued, "We have a situation, something happened with the Eeveelutions over the night while I was too busy doing well...NOTHING during this storm! Damn it Nether why did you-They've been trying to reach me for hours! YOU DIDN'T EVEN NEED ME FOR ANYTHING DURING THIS STORM!" The volume of his voice was absolutely booming and everyone went to cover their ears, even though this did nothing.

"Storms are all hands on deck situations, it doesn't matter. Someone falls overboard or something like that, -everyone- needs to be involved. What's the issue? Focus on that first and then you can scream at me about disturbing the 'meditating' you've been doing for the last month and a half all you want." The captain sternly shot back in everyone's head as the psychic link the Espeon held between them all allowed them to speak like this.

"You DAMN fiery pin cushion! I-" The Esepon started but was quickly interrupted.

"Is it the Mirrors?" Ruli's voice had interjected wearily, forcing the Espeon to focus back on his situation.

"N-no...maybe yes..." The Espeon's voice, now drained of volume, let out a sigh before he stammered out, "M-members of the Eeveelutions have gone missing...including uh...Prince Axel..."

"WHAT!?" Ruli shouted out loud, his sea-sickness suddenly vanished as he shot up to his feet.

"No one knows where they are." The psychic Eeveelution's voice continued, "Over the last day, Including him, several other members of the Eeveelutions are MIA, they were simply not at their stations when it came time for them to swap out with others. No one knows where they are."

"Who all in total?" Enzlo's voice then asked further.

"We're still doing a total headcount, but besides Axel and two other Umbreon...four Jolteon, two Glaceon, and three Vaporeon."

"All members of the four clans whose Mirrors are currently stolen." Enzlo noted.

"Y-yes that's true..." The Espeon realized. "Like I said, we are still doing a total headcount, but so far it does appear that no one from clans whose Mirrors are still safe are missing..."

There was a moment of silence, and Rook peered up at Enzlo atop of his head as best as he could, and asked in his head, "What do you think it means...? It's obviously Jack..."

"It's...troubling..." Enzlo said back within everyone's head, then he took a powerful, controlling tone. "It could mean any manner of things, but we must operate under what we know to be the worst case scenario possible; that he's doing this because he needs them for destroying the Mirrors or something along those lines. Ruli, I'd hate to ask this of you after everything we just went through with that storm, but please, recharge as many of the Buizels's energy with Healing Pulse as you can. Keep going until you practically collapse. Captain Nether, get this ship moving again, we don't have time to rest. We're still two months and some odd days out from our destination, and Jack's starting to get ahead of us."

"Understood." Nether's voice answered back. "Boys, we're setting up a schedule, 24/7 full power from now on. No stalling. Let's see if we can't shave even a week's worth of time!" The Buizel's all below didn't even groan, exhausted as they all were, instead letting their determination known through the psychic link they shared all at once.

"Agreed." Ruli's voice followed up, and the Mega Lucario quickly made his way to the stairs and began to walk down them two at a time, as now he was definitely on a mission. His mate had been abducted, and he was going to get serious.

"Tell the rest of the Eeveelutions to remain as vigilant and aware as possible, we can't afford anyone being even slightly relaxed, it leaves them susceptible to any tricks Vane can pull." Enzlo told the Espeon. "And keep your rage to yourself, your responsibilities here do not take a back seat to it!"

"I...Y-y-yes s-sir, Messenger..." The Espeon stammered in response, and Rook was somewhat surprised at this, hearing Enzlo be referred to as the title directly for the first time.

"That goes for you too, Nether!" Enzlo snapped further, perhaps sensing a moment of smugness from the lizard as the Abra had scolded the Eeveelution. "You're right regarding the storm, under normal circumstances it should be all hands on deck, but this was never normal circumstances! From now on the Espeon remains doing exactly what he should be doing! Even if we come across another storm, the rest of us can handle it just fine."

"Roger." Was the only response the fire type offered this time, but he gave it readily, and then Enzlo cut the psychic link the Espeon had started himself.

Within minutes, the ship was moving again at full(ish) speed, as Ruli managed to quickly re-energize ten of them with his own energy, expanding every single drop he could until he had just out right passed out and Nether had to put him to bed in his room.

With Enzlo still atop of his head, Rook walked towards the edge of the top floor, and he stared out across the sea at the sun as its light sparkled across the water. The psychic was too busy thinking on the situation they had just been made aware of and what it potentially meant, until Rook finally started to speak.

"Enzlo..." Rook began, his paw gripping the railing of the ship. "I can't afford to keep struggling on this weapon thing...is there -anything- more you can tell me that may help...?"

The Abra was brought out of his thoughts on the situation and he would sigh in reaction. "There...is one more idea that I had a few days ago...but you won't like it and I would rather not-"

"Anything." Rook said quickly, interrupting him, "I need help, I don't understand what it is I'm trying to do..."

Enzlo let out a sigh. "All right." And suddenly Enzlo teleported off of Rook's neck and shoulders to stand on the platform beside Riley. The ghost didn't even react to Enzlo's sudden appearance beside him, as the psychic now spoke to both him and Rook in their heads together.

"Riley, I require your assistance."

"Well of course you do. And just like I told you and Tod, I'm here for you." Riley said haughtily as he tapped a few buttons on the control panels of the satellite device as he spoke, pausing to look at the Abra beside him. "But if it's for something as important as I sense you believe it to be...you're gonna want more than just me."

"Hmm..." Enzlo hummed, "You're right..."

Rook approached the platform in interest as now he also felt Enzlo extended their connection to both the Timburr and the Espeon on board.

"Timburr, rather...the ghost inside you, I have a request. The same request involves you as well, Espeon."

"You, Messenger, may call me by my name. I am Illumi. You may as well Rook..." The ghost's wispy voice answered, "And of course. Ask, and I shall assist as I can."

The fact that the ghost hadn't called him by the title of Avenger wasn't lost on Rook, and he honestly didn't really know how to feel about that, but his thoughts on that were pushed aside as the Espeon spoke, his voice soft and it was clear he was trying to pick his words carefully towards Enzlo.

"Am I actually required for this...? I don't want to miss anything more from the mainland..."

"Your focus required will be only supportive for my own, and that shouldn't interfere with your ability to hold contact with the rest of your clan. My power is more stable now, but the brief hiccups I now experience may be too disruptive to what I have planned. I will be counting on you to cover for those hiccups." Enzlo explained, and he sat most of his focus upon Riley and Illumi as he told them, "I want you both to perform the Perish Song Ritual on Rook."

There was a moment of silence, upon which was broken by Illumi's voice saying, "What...is that?" and Riley just nodded in atestment.

"Yeah, what the heck are you talking about?"

"Oh dear..." Enzlo sighed, "I'm sorry Rook, but I must cut you out of this to explain to them." And then Rook felt himself get cut off as the psychic began to explain further to the others what he wanted.

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Perish Song was a move used by only a very select few pokemon in the world now. Learning the move itself was dangerous and potentially crushing work. As such, in this world, only a select few ghost types knew the move anymore and passed it on to those they believed who could responsibly use it. Any pokemon that heard the song would soon fall unconscious, their body experiencing a slow build up of pain. With the final verses of the song, that pain would suddenly spike beyond what their mind could tolerate and trigger the 'recovery trance', causing them to faint even when no actual damage was inflicted.

As it were, Illumi and Riley did not know the song, but Mistress Chandelure did, and through her connection to her child and as Mistress, could exert her control on Illumi and perform the song. Riley, as a human turned ghost, and having not yet actually accepted any Mistress or Lord in this world, would instead act as support.

Unlike the move Perish Song, the Perish Song Ritual was more...complex. Like a human turning into a ghost pokemon, it was another of those old methods and rituals that ghost types once did in the human world to survive and gather the kind of energy they lived off of. Fear.

Enzlo explained the ritual to Riley, Illumi, and the Espeon, and when the Litwick had reached out to his Mistress to ask for her permission in performing it, she ended up offering her knowledge and assistance, for she knew Perish Song as well as had knowledge of the Ritual, just as she had known about Oscar's capability to become a ghost type as a human.

"It's been some time since I performed it...but I would rather perform it myself through Illumi than have him try and learn the song himself, and for performing the Ritual, not just the song...he is not ready." She had said. "I barely even think I am ready to try the Ritual..."

And so about three hours later, Rook was called by Enzlo to join him and the others in the Espeon's and Ruli's room. The Timburr child, his eyes both glowing that dark black with red irises, was currently channeling Mistress Chandelure's energy through the connection she shared with Illumi inside him.

"Hello Rook~" Her voice said to him through the child, and Rook had to pause, for he hadn't expected or known about this since he had been left alone over the last three hours.

"Um...hello?" He said in confusion and this made the ghost laugh.

"It's Mistress Chandelure hon." She laughed further, and this made Rook even more confused.

"What, but...how?"

"Ghost types of this world have learned how to survive much differently than how they did in our first world Rook. As his Mistress, Mistress Chandelure can project her energy to Illumi and thus, through Timburr. That was one of the reasons he was chosen to come with us, as her knowledge and experiance of this world may often prove useful, like it will today." Enzlo told him then as he walked up to him and took hold of his paw, pulling him further into the room. Riley stood at the end of

The Espeon watched silently from his bed in the side of the room, as Enzlo pulled Rook into the very center of it, and then released his paw. "Lay down right there, on your back."

Rook blinked, but he did what he was told, crouching down and then laying back onto the ground, his head tilted to watch the Abra as now he, Timburr, and Riley both took a position around him in a circle.

"What you're about to feel is something meant to target many, many pokemon and human's Rook. This is known as the Perish Song Ritual. Back in our world, ghost types would use it inside huge cities filled with humans in order to playfully scare them and then empower themselves on the emotion of fear it caused. For pokemon in the area they affected, it made them outright faint, just like if the song was directed solely at them instead."

"We're about to attempt something very unorthodox, I am unsure if it will even work." Mistress Chandelure stated through Timburr, "Focusing such a thing meant for a wide, large area directly at you and you alone."

"You will feel a large amount of pain, fear, and terror." Riley said, and Rook's head would turn back and forth between all three of them. "Enzlo, Espeon..."

Suddenly Rook felt his arms and legs suddenly pulled down to the floor of the room at his wrists and ankles, and the Lycanroc looked to his limbs, lifting up his head to do so, and saw purple energy had wrapped there and now held him down. It sunk into the floor halfway as to anchor him there. A moment of somewhat fearful anticipation filled Rook as he said, "I-is that really necessary?" This reminded him of when the scientists would often strap him down onto tables and start poking him with needles...and he began to whine, struggling against the binds.

"With someone like you...yes." Enzlo said gently close to his head, his arms extended out over Rook and glowing the soft purple of his power, while the Espeon's eyes now mirrored the same color, helping to keep Enzlo stable as he looked at Timburr, "Mistress, please begin."

Riley lifted up his arms into the air from where he was standing, and he cast an invisible barrier around the small circle that they had created around Rook, as Timburr stepped forward and he opened his mouth, and Mistress Chandelure's haunting voice began to sing a slow, haunting melody.

At first, Rook didn't feel anything in particular like he expected, but slowly, that fearful anticipation he had felt just a moment ago settled into his mind and as he listened and heard the song, its droning tones and shifting melodies found and played upon his memories of his time in the labs...

Those memories flashed before his eyes rapidly, and then suddenly Rook found himself in a brightly lit, small room, now strapped to a long, wide table by several leather belts. Bright lights hung from the ceiling up above him...the buzzing of a nearby machine droned on with the sound of the Perish Song that he couldn't see because he couldn't turn his head. A scientist with a mask on shifting just outside of his field of vision as they tinkered and made their instruments clink and clatter. He realized he knew this specific memory. It was from the day he had evolved...

Rook struggled against the binds at his wrists and ankles again, and in this vision, there was more than just one strap at his wrists and ankles binding him down. There were three more belts that were strapped across them, keeping him absolutely pinned and unable to move much at all.

"N-no...wait...p-please...w-what is going on?" he whimpered. To Rook, it was as if he was that newly evolved Lycanroc all over again. In this instance, he suddenly was. His body was smaller than he was currently and far less muscled. Having just evolved, this was what should have been the best moment of his life and now he was instead strapped to this table, unable to move. He didn't know what was going on.

"Where am I? Where is Oscar and Lilian...?" He whined out to the scientist, but received only silence in answer still. The melody of the song continued, now increasing its tempo and gaining a higher pitch that would fade away and then return, slowly building to its crescendo and then fading off again.

The haunting melody of the song continued on like this as the scientist came to hover over him, holding in one hand a needle with a blue fluid inside it. Rook's wide eyes locked onto the reflection of himself that he could see on the human's mask, and then the human reached in with his hands, rubbing an alcohol patch into the fur on his neck with the one not holding the needle.

"N-no!" Rook shouted, and he struggled again, more forcefully this time. Despite feeling like he was a just evolved Lycanroc again, Rook would try to call upon his power on pure instinct, but nothing happened. The restraints around his wrists clanked as he struggled against them, but his power did not come. Rook felt his heart rate spiking, pounding within his chest. "Oscar! Lilian!" He shouted out, fear and confusion gripped him. Why was this happening!?

Something shook, rattling the machine that was droning the Perish Song, but it kept going, and with one more of that rising, high pitch tone, the needle stuck into his neck and the scientist pushed down on the plunger, injecting the blue liquid inside into Rook's body.

Pain flooded through his body like lava. He knew this pain. It was the same venom his collar would inject him with, but he felt it now just like he had for the first time that day...

"RRRR-RRAAAA!!!" Rook shouted out with his eyes squeezing shut, as he tried to arch his back off the table and flail his arms and legs, but the most he did was slightly shake the table he was strapped down on. The tone and volume of the Perish Song was lost to the Lycanroc, as he felt his entire body burn and felt like he was being torn apart from the inside out.

This continued on for several seconds, until finally, the pain began to recede. Rook opened his eyes, now wet with tears and rapidly blinking, the fluids dripped onto the table around him as the pain continued to epp and slowly fade and he let out little whines and sniffles. "O-oscar...L-L-Lilian...help..." He didn't even realize or really feel it when the human came close again and injected another needle of the same fluid, along with a red one, into his neck.

The pain spiked all over again and Rook howled, thrashing again against the bindings holding him down and shaking the table but only as hard as he had managed to do before again. "AAAARR-RRAAAOOO!!!!"

As this second dose of venom raced through his system, Rook also felt how his body flexed and clenched with the pain...he knew this memory, but in the moment he wasn't able to recall that this was the moment that Jack had him injected with several performance and body enhancing drugs. The pain of the venom was meant to help him ride through the sudden onset of muscle and bone growth. He felt how the restraints hugging his body squeezed upon his body slightly more tightly.

Because of this new rise of growth, Rook grit his teeth and let out more drawn out whines as the seconds ticked by he felt the pain induced by the venom fade it was instead carried on by the continuing growth of his body rapidly expanding and growing, but before he could even try to get used to that, he felt another needle poke his neck and that lava poured back into him, along with more enhancing drugs.

"RRRRRRRARARRRRRWWHYHYYYYYYY!!!!?" Rook managed to shout out the question through his pain as it raced through his veins, pumped rapidly along by his spiking heart rate. "STOPApappapP-pl-PLEEESsssshaaaaaa!!" Rook stammered the last of his crying pleas, but the scientist beside him just continued to prepare another dosage...

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Enzlo watched with extreme difficulty for many reasons as Rook cried out, but his voice was lost to the vision the Perish Song Ritual was inducing upon him. In reality he did not shout, he did not wail, and right there and then, no one but Enzlo knew what Rook was going through. Enzlo had suspected that when put into this situation, that the Lycanroc's mind would settle upon the exact memory he was currently experiencing...and while it was exactly as he he had wanted from doing this, it still pained him to watch Rook in such terror and agony, reliving one of the most horrid memories of his life...the very start of his time in the labs.

He hadn't wanted to try this...he had dismissed it as far too cruel the moment he had thought of it a few days ago, but Rook had insisted... -anything- that may help...

Each time the Lycanroc struggled, Enzlo tightened the binds at his wrists and ankles because if he didn't, Rook would break free easily. Unlike in his vision, the Lycanroc's eyes, body, and his hands glowed brightly while he struggled and strained against the vision and the energy holding him down. So far, Enzlo was thankful his damaged limbs weren't acting up and his energy held strong. Rook made no noise with his voice, his muzzle closed as his screaming was only that which he did in his vision.

"Holy fuck..." the Espeon swore behind Enzlo at the sight before them.

"I'll say..." Riley said with his teeth grit, trying to maintain his barrier around the room, which Mistress Chandelure was infusing with the power of her Perish Song in order to create the zone of influence for the Ritual. "We can only barely maintain this...How is he not breaking free?"

The Lycanroc's power poured out from him in an ever increasing amount, simply expanding into the air all around them...and then just seeming to fade away, but he just kept pouring out more and more. Like that moment where Captain Nether had first teased the Lycanroc about being Jack's pokemon, that bright yellow glow now encased much of his upper body, his mane of fur making that same chattering and clicking sound. Yet the Lycanroc himself was completely unaware of this. In his vision, to him his power was nonexistent, and yet here it poured out from his body on its own.

Enzlo had made everyone else on the ship quietly aware of what they were going to be doing, and right now Ruli was just outside the zone of the barrier to keep watch, unable to feel what was going on inside the room with the Aura, but even then he could feel the power that simply bloated through the air in an ever increasing volume.

Suddenly, he did feel something, and he turned his head towards where he felt it. From Enzlo and Rook's room, there was a loud 'thump...Thump!...Thump!!!' slamming against the wall between it and the hallway with increasing firmness.

Ruli frowned as the noise continued to grow and then suddenly, it turned into more of a 'twack!' and the wooden wall splintered apart slightly. The wood that not even that earlier raging storm had damaged gave in partway to something intense.

The Mega Lucario's eyes widened as he saw the ball of rocks Rook had been practicing on for the last several weeks smash partway through the wall, one part of the glowing yellow ball pointed outward towards the room he was currently in like an arrow, and then pull back and smashed in against the wall once more to entirely smash through it, sending splinters and wood spraying across the hallway.

Ruli had barely enough time to jump in front of it after seeing it start to smash through, and using his own energy, he caught the ball between his own fighting type lifeforce. Despite his fighting type energy having an advantage against the type that controlled the ball, Ruli struggled to dissipate it as it pushed against his chest, quickly shoving the Mega Lucario against the wall of the other room even while he struggled to destroy it.

Inside the room, everyone heard the loud noises and then the softer "Wump!" of Ruli being pushed up against the wall, but they knew they couldn't let themselves focus their attention outside of Riley's barrier in order to maintain it and ignored it.

Instead, it was Nether who came up from the bottom floor and moved through the hallway just in time to see Ruli finally pour enough of his own energy to get Rook's ball of rocks to fall apart, the pebbles and stones rolling across the floor and then Ruli slumped tiredly against the wall, panting and rubbing at his lower chest just under the spike where the ball had been shoving agaisnt him, already starting to bruise. The fire type crossed his arms as he observed the hole in the wall of his ship and then turned his attention to the other room in silent thought.

______________________

"N...n...no...pl-please..." Rook stammered out and panted, his body burned and buzzed with the sensation of the venom and the drugs he had suddenly been pumped full of. Involuntarily his body spasmed like it had been for the last five minutes, newly developed muscles twitching and squeezing across his entire body.

The scientist had finally stopped injecting him after about six more needles...and then he was left to ride out the waves of pain the final injection had caused. But now the human began to undo his bindings and Rook merely stammered out his pleas for him to stop even though he was freeing him from the table.

When the last binding was undone, the table under Rook began to lift and rise up into a vertical position, and Rook felt himself slide and lamely fall to the floor, grunting in residual pain as he flopped there. Almost immediately, the human's hands scooped under the Lycanroc's now powerfully muscled arms and pulled him up. The crescendoing sound of the Perish Song continued to bounce along the walls as he was pulled up.

Rook was unable to even move in response to it, tears dripping from his eyes onto the floor as the human pulled him across the floor with his footpaws dragging along it, and then out the door. Time lost meaning as the final traces of the venom and drugs ebbed through him, the pain slowly fading more and more enough that Rook eventually, finally, lifted his head and eyes up.

He was being dragged through very bright hallways, several other pokemon in small cages looked on as Rook was pulled past them and the dreadful, melancholy song rang in his ears. Rook turned his head only slightly to look at one of the pokemon, a small, white Vulpix who was shivering and cowering as far back in their cage as they could away from the wired door, but soon he was pulled past them and he lost sight of the vulpine. His eyes roved across the lines of cages and different pokemon, all cowering or looking and watching him with fearful expressions of their own. The sight of him fed their own fears about what may happen to them in this place...and those already subjected to it like Vulpix feared their next time...

Rook's head twitched, his ears flicking as he heard a voice...it was calm, gentle and firm as it said, "Their pain and fear...do you feel it like yours...?" Rook grimaced, his head throbbed... "I can show you...How you can beat it..." And at that moment, unlike how it actually happened to him in the past, Rook fell unconscious, his head slumping forward.

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Rook's body fell still upon the floor, and the vision was interrupted as Rook passed out, and the four pokemon paused, except for Timburr, through whom Mistress Chandelure continued her Perish Song. For a short moment, Rook's energy faded slightly, before it suddenly began to explode forth even more fiercely than it did before, and soon after, the entire raft started to shake. Rook's mane of fur shook and chattered as he laid absolutely still, his paws glowing their intense yellow along with his chest as the yellow light washed across the floor and would vanish just a few feet away from the tips of his fur.

"What is happening!? ENZLO!?" Riley shouted, as he struggled to hold their barrier, even with Mistress Chandelure starting to add in her own energy, they could both feel it, the amount of energy the Ritual was getting from Rook's fear was too much for them.

Enzlo didn't know, he hadn't expected this. He was just as shocked. No one else had followed Rook's mind into the vision to watch him; because he specifically said he alone would, so only he had witnessed it. He had heard that voice as if it had spoken to himself, sensing everything Rook himself did...What was that...?

"I...I don't know..."

Enzlo slipped in his concentration just then, the stutter in his power not caused by his damaged limbs but rather his surprise, and allowed the bindings upon Rook's right paw to suddenly snap as the Lycanroc's right arm punched upward into the air like it was possessed.

"Shit!" The Espeon shouted out, his eyes glowing bright as he wrapped a loop of energy around Rook's wrist and then pulled it down to the floor again, but right after, Rook's left arm busted free and punched up into the air instead.

The raft continued to shake, and it increased in intensity as Enzlo then struggled to rewrap a loop of energy of his own around Rook's left wrist, but this time try as he might, despite his own increased lifeforce as an Abra of the Corsova, he couldn't pull Rook's arm back down. It stubbornly refused to budge, unflinching with the tugs of Enzlo's loop.

Suddenly, Enzlo sensed incredibly impending danger..rushing towards them from...BELOW!?

"Everyone, out of the room now! Out out out!" Enzlo shouted, instead flinging his arm at the door to slam it open with a blast of psychic power. Ruli and Nether stepped aside as the others rushed out of the room.

"What the fuck is going on?!" Nether shouted out as he saw the Lycanroc laying on the floor with one arm raised up in a fist.

"Get back! Get back!" Enzlo shouted frantically as the raft's shaking grew, "Get to the top floor! Everyone!"

Unable to protest the authority in his voice, everyone did as he stated, the Twelve Buizel's below rushed up the stairs right behind everyone else as Enzlo led them to the other end of the Raft of the one they had left Rook in. The shaking of the raft began to also sound with a rumble that begin building in volume until-

SMASH!!!CRACK!!!CRUSH!!!

A huge pillar of earth shot up through the quarter part of the raft Rook had been left in, skyrocketing up into the air at a rapid speed about fifty feet before it just seemed to snap into absolute stillness and rigidity.

"HOLY ARCEUS! FUCK!" Nether had shouted, only briefly covering his head as wood and splinters showered the group of pokemon, making everyone momentarily close their eyes and duck down.

And then everyone looked back up and became struck in awe. The ship groaned as what remained of the floors tapped upon the spire of rock and began to spin within the water...now pinned in place by the pillar that had absolutely pierced through the reinforced wood and reached up into the air above.

"Incredible..." Mistress Chandelure's voice whispered as everyone looked up at the fifty foot spire. It was absolutely flat at the top and appeared to be made of very, very, deep stone and earth.

After another moment of stunned silence, Ruli finally spoke, "Wh-what just happened...? Where is Rook...?"

Enzlo knew exactly where he was. "He's at the top of it...as still and quiet as can be..." He said softly, staring up towards the top of the pillar.

Laying on his back, Rook dozed and slept upon his spire of rock, his power completely faded and sleeping like himself, the wind of the air ruffling his fur...

__________________

The Lycanroc stirred awake wearily, blinking his eyes to see the starry night above him, the full moon looking down upon him. His eyes locked onto it for a short moment and he smiled slightly. That was a far better view than what he'd just gone through.

He slowly lifted himself up into a sitting position. "Rook..." Enzlo's voice sounded next to him then and the wolf looked over to his left, to see the Abra sitting upon the ground next to him.

"Hey, Enzlo...I wish you had told me it was going to be so rough..." Rook narrowed his eyes, then looked around himself, realizing that they were up in the air somehow. "Uh...why are we here in this starry place? This is a new mind world of yours?"

Enzlo stared at Rook for several seconds. "You did this."

Rook tilted his head, very clear confusion on his face. "What?"

"HEY! IS HE AWAKE YET!? TELL HIM TO FIX MY DAMN SHIP!!!" Nether's voice shouted from somewhere that sounded decently far away to Rook.

Rook's ears flicked as he would then further realize something he hadn't immediately noticed in the darkness of the night, looking downwards over the edge of the spire of rock he was on. "WHAT THE FUCK!?" His eyes widened and he shot up to his feet, looking back and forth as he realized they were fifty feet or so up in the air with the rest of the ship below them, standing on top of a spire of earth and stone that was just wide enough and flat on the top for Rook.

"Hmmm...so this is the kind of thing it takes to get you to curse..." Was Enzlo's thought as Rook panicked further.

"W-what happened?! I did this!?" Rook shouted. Rook immediately hated that he asked that, of course he did this, who else could cause something so incredibly dangerous and destructive?

"YES YOU DID AND YOU BETTER DAMN FIX IT OR YOU'RE NO LONGER NO FIRST MATE OF MINE!!!" Nether shouted up at him, shaking a fist, fire flaring off his back now that Rook was awake.

"We're just lucky this is a raft and not an actual boat or this would have been sunk, and that they just happened to do it on portion of the ship that didn't cause that pillar to destroy our supplies... " Ruli said lightly as he was casually leaning against the pillar near Nether, but his words went unheard by Rook who shouted out to the Captain in response.

"I'm so sorry, Nether!" Rook shouted down, "I'll fix it right now!" Rook clapped his paws together and they glowed yellow, and then he slammed them down against the flat top. The spire rumbled and then steadily began to sink. Rook lifted his paws and then stood up, as the spire sank down and the raft came closer.

Carefully, Rook jumped down from the top of the spire as it neared the top floor, and the pillar continued to shake and sink down until it vanished under the water, and the raft gave a groaning shake as it was freed, and began to float freely upon the water again.

Together, Rook, Enzlo, Ruli, and Nether all peered over the hole that had been punched through the raft.

"Someone needs to tell Timburr the pillar is down and to start repairs on the bottom floor." Enzlo said.

"I got it..." Ruli sighed, "This damn craziness has been enough for me for one day, after I tell him I'm going to bed, good night." and the Mega Lucario turned from the hole and began his way towards the stairs.

Rook whined, folded his ears back as he looked at Captain Nether. "I'm sorry!" He repeated, his tail tucking in slightly between his legs.

"Eh you didn't really -mean- to do it..." Nether sighed and he waved his paw dismissively.

It was Enzlo that Nether pointed at as he growled instead, "But gods damn think about what we're doing! This has set us back another whole day because we were stuck on that rock! Ya think this was the best place to try something unknown like that?"

Enzlo nodded, "Yes..." He sighed, "My apologies..."

"Humph." Nether folded his arms and Rook whined further.

"It was my fault...it was my power...and I was the one that insisted on it..." The wolf frowned, looking down.

Nether stared at Rook for a moment longer, "Ehhhhh it's hard to stay mad at you..." The fire lizard shrugged while shaking his head and sighing. "No one expects their ship to get -stabbed- by the sea floor, I suppose I have a fun story to tell now at least and if anything this gave my boys plenty of time to rest after that storm."

He turned and waved his paw in the air as he began to walk towards the stairs to follow Ruli down, "We're gonna be back to full speed in a moment, so keep yourself anchored when we do."

Rook just whined again and he would flop down onto his butt next to the hole while looking at his paws, "Arceus damn it...why can't I fucking control this?" Rook growled and shook his head. "I'm trying so hard!"

Enzlo floated up beside him and put his paw on the Lycanroc's shoulder. "Focus for me real quick, what do you recall of what we did?"

"I...I relived my first day in the lab..." Rook said, looking over at the Abra. "I...I blacked out? I...can't recall anything but the pain and horror..."

"What about when you were dragged down the hallway? Do you remember that voice?"

Rook peered at Enzlo. "Voice...? No...I...that day...no one spoke to me until I heard Oscar's voice over that intercom..." Rook shook a bit, "D-during that fight they put me in right after..."

Enzlo frowned next to the Lycanroc, and he sent a gentle probe into Rook's head and then stepped back slowly. Rook didn't remember the voice, not one bit. At the moment in which Enzlo believed Rook should recall the voice in his memory, there was nothing. The only thing Rook's mind recalled at that moment was his head hurting.

"E-Enzlo?" Rook stammered when the psychic stepped back.

"Relax." Enzlo said, putting his paw on his shoulder again hurriedly, "You're fine, it's okay. I told you you weren't going to like it at all...Rook...please, go rest, take a good long nap...you deserve it..."

Rook folded his ears back again but he nodded, and then slowly picked himself up to start walking towards the stairs himself. Enzlo stayed back and watched him, and then looked back at the hole beside him.

"This was incredible..." Enzlo said softly. After the pillar had been smashed through the ship. Enzlo sent Riley, who didn't need to breath, into the water to see just how deep the pillar had reached.

The thing just stretched down into the dark abyss of the ocean. There was no way they could possibly know just how deep Rook's power had reached to summon that pillar...

And it wasn't just that. The ship had been in full motion the entire time. For it to have smashed where it had, right under the Lycanroc, it had to -predict-, or somehow -know- where he was going to be at the exact moment the pillar reached the surface of the water...There was no way Rook himself could do that.

Enzlo looked back towards the stairs, as he felt Rook settled down within their room restlessly.

Ruli had told Enzlo about how the ball of rocks had been the first thing to try and bust its way into the room, completely on its own and several feet away from him...and this gave Enzlo a very new insight into Rook's power than he had before. Perhaps...perhaps they'd been going about this wrong.

Rook wasn't a learner, he was a feeler. Ruli had easily taught him how to control his energy around that of another type after the Lycanroc had been able to -feel- it. Otherwise, Rook's energy acted on pure, base instinct without him even realizing it. Even when he wasn't conscious of it, his power acted on its own to protect him. It had reacted to his desire to be protected, both now and in the past, rather than him actually commanding it to do so. Enzlo now believed that that voice he had heard was somehow Rook's power itself. It obeyed the Lycanroc's will, to what degree Rook knew how to control it, but had one of its own...

This he could work with, he realized, yes. This he could use to teach Rook his control for sure. There was something more Enzlo needed to do now...and as he began to slowly float his way to the stairs, the clever psychic began to formulate a plan. He floated down the stairs just as the ship began to move again, suddenly bursting off into full speed with all twelve Buizel's swimming.