Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Realms ❯ Riot Rebounds! To Summon Erizar! ( Chapter 16 )

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Riot Rebounds! To Summon Erizar!

By nightdragon0

"Ahahahahaha!"

"Zian!! Hey what are you laughing about?!" Firestorm demanded.

"You expect me to believe that kind of story?"

"Hey it was really what happened!! We got captured by a bunch of plants and turned into one of them!!"

"Yeah right."

"Grrr…you little…"

"Easy hot-head." Nightslice held a pincer out to stop his Charizard companion.

After what seemed like ages, Firestorm and Nightslice were finally back at the labs where they'd originally left Zian. And they were currently in his computer room, trying unsuccessfully to tell the former psychic Dragon about their misadventures.

"Well, you're not helping." Firestorm huffed. "Whose side are you on anyway?!"

"We don't have time for this." Nightslice spoke up. "Zian, you said that Kris and Jade headed off using these teleporters?"

"I'll hook you guys up with Ryan and Rynn, who helped your partners to activate the teleporters in the first place." Zian nodded.

"That'll be great. We'll need to get to them as soon as possible."

"Yeah, I can't imagine how Jade could possibly survive without me." Firestorm folded his arms.

"Or how you survive without him." Nightslice muttered under his breath.

"Unfortunately, I haven't received any word from the others." Zian craned his neck to check through his various computer screens. "I last picked up Hazuki and Gwyenvere's signal from out at sea. Nala and Riot have had their own encounters with the teleporters and I've lost contact with them as well, somewhere around the Azalea area in Johto. Alken and Abetos went off on their own, but I believe he's in the Kanto area. And Yusia…"

"Yeah, Raguragi's gang has her." Firestorm sighed. "You mentioned earlier."

"What a mess." Nightslice added in. "Then again, it sure sounds like us."

"You guys are just strange." Zian remarked. "How did we Legendary Dragons come along to help you in the first place?"

"Because we're descended from the ancient Dragon Gods that created you!" Firestorm growled.

"He meant that as a figure of speech, you know?" Nightslice tapped his buddy's shoulder.

"Oh yeah. I knew that of course!"

Nightslice and Zian sighed, sweatdropping.

"Let's quit wasting time and get back into action." Nightslice huffed.

"I second that." Firestorm laughed, spraying out a small wave of flames. "I'm sure the audience has been missing us for way too long…"        

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The Aqua Dragons, being more land capable, had built their base along the shores of a small island. Like many of the marine communities, they were built around reefs, which protected the place from the worst of the waves.

Being a pirate's base, the entire island was also surrounded by a high spiked wall constructed out of thick logs, making it a very difficult place to get into uninvited.  

It was nighttime and numbers of blazing torches on stands had been lit up.

All along the beaches and on the rocks, the Aqua Dragon pirates were lazing around, singing and roaring in celebration. Many were splashing around in the shallow water, and thumping their bellies against each other as a show of strength. They were all so caught up in the guzzling of food and drinks that almost no one was left on watch.

At the back of the base, the huge Lapras statue had been left floating amongst the reefs. It had been too big and heavy, so the pirates simply decided to leave it in the water and secure it to the rocks instead.

The 'offering' of the Lapras was left alone, and remained silent and motionless until much later at night.

It came as a soft scraping, and then a tapping. Finally, a door at the statue's underbelly opened up and a small figure slipped into the water below. Hidden in the darkness, Hazuki swam out from under the floating statue and surfaced.

"Looks like it's all clear." She commented.

Behind her, the heads of Gwyen, riding Alric, and 6 more Lapras appeared from the dark waters.

"Part one of Asiyu's plan went well enough." Gwyen added in. "But the 9 of us against all of them doesn't sound promising."

[The plan isn't to start a fight with them immediately, but shake them up a bit and open the gates so the rest of our troops can get in.] Asiyu's voice sounded.

"Yeah, but that is the part that's worrying me."

"Too late to turn back now." Alric spoke up. "Besides, this might be our only chance of standing against our foes. I'm not going to let it go to waste."

"That's the spirit." Hazuki smiled, climbing up onto the lead Lapras' back. "Let's hurry!"

Alric and company swam silently out of the docking bay where the Lapras statue had been left and headed towards the gate.

They encountered no pirates blocking their path initially, owing it to the majority of the Aqua Dragons partying in their 'common area'. Alric kept watch nevertheless, and his vigilance was soon rewarded by spotting a pair of guards. Behind them was a cave with a chained door and about 10 captured Lapras, huddling in fear behind the bars.

"Anyone you know?" Hazuki leaned close to Alric's ear and whispered.

"Hard to tell from this distance." Alric replied. "But…I don't want to just leave them there."

"Shouldn't be too hard to bust them out." Gwyen bared her fangs. "The two guards look pretty drunk. Probably been eating all the drugged seaweed we left for them."

"The seeds Hazuki crushed up and added to the seaweed naturally produce a strong sedative." Alric nodded. "Never thought we'd be using them in this manner though."

"One more thing. When fighting, just don't let your conscience get in the way of your thinking." Gwyen told him. "Watch, I've got this one covered."

The Suicune hopped off Alric's back and crept across the shoreline behind the cave. As her companions anxiously looked on, Gwyen approached the guards from the rear and hid herself in the bushes there.

Gwyen snatched up a small rock in her jaws and tossed it at one of the guards. The Aqua Dragon hissed as the stone struck his shoulder, turning his head to see where it had come from. Gwyen deliberately rustled the bushes and the guard stomped forward to investigate, throwing caution out the window in his drunken state of mind.

WHAM!! Gwyen smacked him unconscious with an Iron Tail attack to the head.

"Huh? Wadda find there?" The second guard mumbled as the sound of footsteps returned.

"On nothing much." Gwyen hissed. "Except this!"

BAM!!

Gwyen dragged the two unconscious Dragons into sight of the others and waved to them. Alric quickly swam over and Hazuki leapt off onto the shore.

"That was a great job Gwyen." The blue-haired girl cheered.

"Ha, it was nothing partner." The Suicune raised her head in a cocky grin. "Hurry and open the doors."

Alric frozen the crude lock with an Ice Beam and Hazuki smashed it open with the bottom of her Ankh. There came many excited cries from within the prison, which Alric quickly silenced with a couple of high-pitched notes.

Soon, he managed to explain their plan and those Lapras who were fit and capable were more than willing to help. Alric and Gwyen quickly went to work getting their troops organized.

"Now comes the hard part." Hazuki whispered.

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"Hey, you all right there?"

Riot moaned, surprised to find out that she could still hear anything at all. She did, after all, have a very clear memory of that traitor Sciion slitting her throat open.

The Aerodactyl slowly opened her eyes to find a shimmering, Dragon-like face staring into her eyes.

"Arrrghh!! Ghost!!!"

"You should speak for yourself." The Dragon replied.

Actually he was more like a wyvern, built with his upper limbs integrated into his wings. Much like herself, he had a pair of clawed feet and a long tail.

His scale color was a tint of gray, however Riot realized that his body was surrounded by a light, bluish glow. She could also see right through him and saw the ancient walls of that the chamber they currently stood in.

"Speak for myself?" Riot looked down, finally able to find her words. "Gargh!! What the?!"

Riot found that her own form glowed with the ghostly blue light of the Dragon before her.

"I saw what happened to you. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to do anything about it."

"No…I can't be dead…" Riot stuttered. "Damn!!"

"I know." The Dragon hissed. "It sucks…big time."

"And who are you?" Riot asked. "What are you doing down here?"

"Hmm…I guess you don't know me yet Riot. I'm Arist, Legendary Dragon of the Wind." He flapped his wings. "I've met some other members of your group. But I didn't exactly want to be meeting you in this kind of situation."

Riot was still in much of a dazed state, unsure what to make out of it. However, the scraping of shoes on stone suddenly caught her attention.

A bruised Nala stumbled in through the entrance of the room, glancing around. The left side of her forehead was bleeding slightly and the right sleeve of the green sweater she wore had a long rip in it, but otherwise she looked fine.

"Hello?! Anybody here?" Nala called.

"Nala! You're all right!!" Riot instinctively rushed for her partner, only to have her ghostly form pass right through the human girl. "Nala?"

The Aerodactyl stopped short and turned around with a deeply depressed sigh. Nala continued walking and left the room as if she hadn't seen or heard Riot at all.

"Don't think she's sensitive enough to supernatural forces to see us." Arist said softly.

"But I have to do something!!" Riot snapped. "That backstabbing Sneasel is after some 'energy source' hidden in here, and he won't hesitate to take Nala out along the way!!"

"Energy source?"

"Yes, I heard him talking about it."

"Hmmm…he's probably referring to the Ghost Spirit Crystal." Arist replied.

"A Spirit Crystal? Here?" Riot asked excitedly. "And of Ghost energy? Is it what's causing all the problems on the surface?"

"It's quite likely." Arist nodded. "It's also what's forcing our souls to keep lingering in this world."

"Wait a minute…keeping our souls here? Did I hear that right?"

"Unfortunately so. The Crystal literally absorbs the wandering souls here." Arist said grimly. "The energy field is creates prevents us from being able to move on. All the others who were lost down here have already submitted to this fate."

"And you're the last one left?"

"I'm been trying to keep my hopes up. Praying that someone with the ability would come to my rescue, especially after I managed to tap into a little of the Ghost Crystal's energy to send a message to your friends."

"I heard something like that happened during one of the battles my companions fought." Riot muttered. "Perhaps that was what drew us to this condemned place when we activated the teleporter."

"Hey we should follow your partner." Arist suggested. "I'll warn you first, just don't get too close to the Ghost Spirit Crystal if she finds it, otherwise it'll absorb your soul."

"And I'll be lost forever? Oh pretty." Riot groaned sarcastically.

"Come on then." Arist spread his wings and flew forwards, passing straight through the nearest wall.

"Huh? Whoa!!" Riot gasped.

"Don't be so surprised." Arist stuck his head through the wall and back into the room. "As a ghost, matter is but an illusion to you."

"Er…yes, I've got it." Riot nervously ran her tongue across her fangs.

Closing her eyes, she mimicked Arist's action and passed through the solid wall into the rooms beyond.

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"Hmm…" The Aqua Dragon looked drowsily up. "Raagghhh!!!"

He was promptly hit in the face by a Hydro Pump, which sent him flying off his perch on the rock and into the water. Beneath the surface, two Lapras Body Slammed the Dragon into submission.

A second pirate Dragon snapped up in alarm. The Lapras head of Alric quickly popped out from beneath the surface and hit him with an Ice Beam, freezing his jaws shut.

Gwyen leapt across the stone platforms and approached the Dragon from behind. The Suicune sent an Iron Tail to the back of his head, knocking him out cold.    

"That's another one." Hazuki noted.

To reach the point where they could open the barriers surrounding the pirate's base, the Lapras had to swim through a relatively shallow lagoon. Scattered around the pool were rocky surfaces that served as resting platforms for the pirates. And further off to the west lay the main pirate encampment, where the majority of the Aqua Dragons were gathered.

The original idea was to sneak past the main group and open the gates. However, this was now made more complicated because several Dragons had left the main beach and returned to various perches across the lagoon.

Therefore, the group had to move slowly and carefully take out the stray guards without giving them a chance to sound the alarm. All had gone well so far, and the team was practically in front of the main gate.

Hazuki knelt down on Alric's back and studied the situation for a while. There were two levels to the gate, with one guard on each level. A large metal bell that spanned the entire two levels was suspended above the water there, most likely to serve as an intruder warning.

"I'll go for the one above." Gwyen stuck her head over Hazuki's shoulder. "I'll give you guys a signal, then you take the bottom guy at the same time. That'll prevent either of them from sounding the bell."

"All right. Let's do that." Hazuki agreed.

Gwyen rode on the back of a young female Lapras named Umi, who brought her to the end of the lower platform, where a wooden ladder was placed to allow easier access to the second level. Hazuki, Alric and the rest of the group crouched behind nearby rocks and waited.

Umi pushed Gwyen with her head, giving the water elemental 'dog' a boost and lifting her high enough to reach the ladder. Gwyen was able to grip it with her front paws and steadily pulled herself upwards.

Near the top however, the ladder shook and came loose. Gwyen started and instinctively jumped up to grab the ledge of the higher platform.

Gwyen was left literally hanging there…as the wooden ladder clattered loudly against the rocks below. Both of the Aqua Dragons were immediately alerted.

Alric brought his head up and fired an Ice Beam at the guard on the lower level. The shot was too far to the left and the Aqua Dragon dodged it, then made a break for the bell.

From her position on Alric's back, Hazuki brought up her Mitra Ankh and focused her powers towards it. A couple of sharp-tipped icicles shot out and stabbed the Aqua Dragon in the knee. The pirate let off a howl of pain as another Lapras' Hydro Pump took him off the platform.

The upper level Dragon was stunned by this sudden turn of events and Gwyen made use of the advantage to pull herself up. She charged the Dragon, who lashed out with his claws.

The Suicune took a couple of long scrapes across her right side, and howled in pain as she launched Iron Tail, swinging the glowing tail towards the pirate's face. Her opponent ducked beneath the attack and opened his jaws, spraying water out in the form of a Hydro Pump attack.

Gwyen was thrown against the wooden wall, cracking part of it and getting a bunch of splinters in her side. The Aqua Dragon hissed and placed his claws together, electricity sparkling between them.

Aw crap! They can use electric attacks?! Gwyen thought.

"Mirror Coat!" Gwyen placed the magical barrier up, just in time to feel the full force of the Thunderbolt crackling through her body. Mirror Coat was a counter spell however, which absorbed the energy of the Thunderbolt and sent it back twice-fold in the form of a powerful glowing beam.

BOOM!! The Aqua Dragon took the explosion head-on and went flying….right into the bell. That caused the bell to start ringing, giving off a thunderously loud noise.

"Uh-oh…" Gwyen moaned, sweatdropping.    

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"Erizar, anything now?" Nala asked as she stepped into the next room.

[Nothing.] The ancient Dragon's voice responded. [But…]

"Still feel the pain?"

[Not as much now. But those shocks from earlier hurt to the core.]

"Is it about Riot?"

[Possibly, since we are all bonded now.] Erizar's voice seemed weaker, as if she were growing more exhausted and was trying not to show it to Nala.   

"I'm really afraid for her." Nala muttered. "What if something's happened to her?"

This particular room was square-shaped and had three other exits, unlike the previous ones. Four stone pillars also stood at each of the four corners, though Nala was unsure of their uses.

"Huh?!" Nala suddenly whirled around.

She'd felt as if a cold presence had swept past her, and yet there was nothing else in the room.

[What is it?]

"Oh…nothing…"

"Damn, nothing?!" The ghost of Riot screeched, hovering close to Nala.

"She can't see or hear us Riot." Arist said from the rear.

"But I…oh no!" Riot turned her head upwards.

Hidden behind one of the pillars was the dark form of Sciion. The Sneasel hung back there, watching Nala with interest.

"No!! Nala!! Watch out for him!!" Riot called desperately.

Sciion felt around the pillar until he pressed several small sections of it. Immediately, a low rumbling started sounding as the entire underground shrine shook.

Nala managed to flip away as parts of the floor beneath her feet collapsed into the darkness below. Frantically, she shone the flashlight on her belt around and was greeted to an astonishing sight. Different bricks and tiles were all moving simultaneously as the room rearranged itself.

The next few moments were intense as Nala leapt about, jumping across the moving sections and the deadly holes. The adrenaline rush kicked in and Nala moved more through instinct than anything else.

BAM!! Nala hopped up as two bricks clanged together where her feet once stood. She pulled back as a wall formed in front of her and dropped to all fours to crawl through a narrow space before it was sealed off.

Finally, she made it to one of the doorways and threw herself into it, panting wildly.

All the movements had finally stopped, leaving the previous room in a greatly disorganized mess of bricks. It reminded Nala of one of those wooden puzzles where you had to unlock all the pieces and take it apart, only that whoever was trying to solve this puzzle had left everything in a total mess.

The room beyond had changed too, although it was very different from the previous. This one had a pyramid-like structure take shape in the center of the area, and at the top lay a sparkling object, which Nala squinted to make out by the beam of her flashlight.

"Hey! That you over there girl?" A voice called out.

Nala looked up to see Sciion climbing over the mess in the previous room. The black cat was holding a small lantern of his own.

"Sciion? What are you doing here?" Nala asked, clearly feeling a lot more relieved.

"Same thing you are I guess." Sciion replied. "Lost and wandering around."

"Have you run into Riot anywhere?"

"Riot? Oh, the Aerodactyl? Well, I haven't, or I certainly would've brought her along with me…" Sciion shrugged, walking closer.

"Nala!! No!!" Riot's ghost cried in vain. "You can't trust that backstabbing liar!! Damn, what can I do…?"

Then, Riot caught sight of the pistols strapped by Nala's sides.

The pistols! They hold some form of Erizar's spirit! I wonder if…

"Hey what are you…" Arist never got to finish his sentence because Riot's image sprang forward and went right into Nala's left hand pistol.

[Nala! Duck left now!] Riot ordered.

Upon hearing her partner's voice, Nala instinctively complied. That was just in time to avoid Sciion's swift claw thrust, which would've gotten Nala in the chest.

Instead, the cat fell over and crashed into a wall.  

"Wha…" Sciion stared.

"Riot?" Nala gasped. "Where…?"

[Hey! What are you doing in here?!] Erizar added in.

[No time to explain!!] Riot yelled. [Take Sciion out now or you'll end up like me!]

"You…" Nala drew both her pistols.

With a ferocious growl, Sciion pounced and slashed Nala across her right shoulder. Ignoring the pain, Nala hit him with a spinning kick, knocking the cat away. The Sneasel rebounded off the wall and came right back with a Faint Attack, bashing Nala to the ground.

Fortunately, she was nimble enough to move away as Sciion threw the large blade he'd used against Riot earlier. With a clang, the weapon bounced off the stones and rolled away.

Nala was on her feet as Sciion bounded towards her. With one swing, she spun in a 180 degrees turn, knocking Sciion's head with one pistol and shooting him with the other.

Screaming, the cat flew backwards and landed amidst the mess in the other room. Suddenly, the grinding sounds came up again and the room begun to rearrange itself once more.

"No! The timer is up already?!" Sciion hissed in disbelief, dodging the moving stones.

Nala, in the adjacent room, felt the trembling as well. The pyramid structure was slowly sinking into the ground, taking its glowing treasure with it.

[Nala! Get it] Riot indicated. [I think I know what it is!]

With a slight nod, Nala broke into a mad dash. Parts of the floor were either rising or collapsing, and Nala skipped between the shifting stones.

From the rear came the clicking of claws as Sciion had caught up to her. At the same time, both reached the edge of the newly formed pit and leapt towards the glittering object.

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Time seemed to slow down as the Sneasel aimed a deadly Slash attack towards Nala. Still in mid-air, Nala sensed the attack and spun her body around so that her view was facing the ceiling. Leaning her head and arms backwards, Nala whirled in a full head-over-heels spin.

Sciion's claws managed to get a scrape across Nala's exposed belly, but by the end of the maneuver, Nala was facing Sciion with one of her guns raised.

"You lose." She snarled, pulling the trigger.

BOOM!! With a long screech, Sciion tumbled into the depths of the pit. The blast also had the added effect of propelling Nala towards the center of the descending pyramid.

Using her free right hand, Nala snatched the object and pushed off the flat platform. That gave her the extra boost needed to get her body over the other side of the pit and to the safety of the ledge.

Heart pounding with the intensity, Nala stumbled over to the closest door and dropped to her knees. Now that she actually had time to look, Nala realized that the object she held was a crystal…a light purple colored crystal with an odd glow.

"That's the Ghost Spirit Crystal." Arist's voice sounded.

Nala looked up and saw the shimmering image of the wyvern hovering nearby.

"You….you're one of the Legendary Dragons too?" She asked.

"Well, I was at least."

"Hey wait a minute! She can see you now?!" A shimmering image of Riot suddenly materialized beside Arist's.

"I believe it's an effect of contact with the Ghost Crystal." Arist spoke. "Its energy is directed towards letting you contact us, the displaced souls here. Therefore, causing it to lose its other effects temporarily."

"But Riot, if I see you like this, then…" Nala turned and begun walking towards Riot's image.

"Nala…I…"

"Whoa!! Arrghh!!" Nala was so distracted that she didn't see the flight of stairs until she fell down them.

The dark-haired girl ungracefully toppled to the bottom and literally ended up face-to-face with the skull of a large wyvern. Nala cried out in shock and crawled backwards.

"Hey, could you at least show a little respect for my corpse?" Arist moaned dryly.

"Sorry…" Nala breathed.

It was then that she realized she'd accidentally stuck Ghost Crystal into the wyvern skull. The rattling was soft at first, but soon all the bones around it started vibrating in their places.

"What the…?!" Arist stared. "No way!!"

Nala scrambled up the stairs as the bones slowly re-arranged themselves into their original shape….the form of the large wyvern-style body of Arist, only in a pure skeletal form.

The new 'Bone Dragon' snapped its jaws viciously about, as if snarling and growling in battle. And Nala swore that it was eyeing her, despite the creature having no eyeballs left in its hollow sockets.

"Can't you stop your body or something?!" Riot asked.

"No, I haven't got any control over it!" Arist responded.

Even as the words left his jaws, the Bone Dragon form of Arist charged, smashing Nala straight through the closest wall. Groaning in pain, Nala pulled herself up and started firing.

But it was all to no avail however, for the Bone Dragon simply kept coming. Nala ducked beneath a tail swipe and barely managed to avoid being crushed by a barrage of stones the thing shook from the ceiling.

[You can't fight this abomination by yourself!] Erizar warned.

"Normally, I'd be offended by that." Arist hissed. "But in this case, she's right."

"But we can't give Erizar her physical form." Riot muttered. "Not without me…"

"AARRGGHH!!!" Nala ducked as the Bone Dragon smashed a large hole in the ceiling, sending tons of debris falling through.

Luckily, something softer landed on top of Nala and blocked out the impact from most of the debris. However, it didn't help much for Nala's confidence when she saw that it was really Riot's dismembered carcass.

"Ugh…I wish you didn't have to see that Nala…" Riot's 'soul' closed her eyes and turned away. "If only I wasn't so stupid, I'd still be able to…"

"Your heartbeat!" Nala raised her voice. "It's still there!"

"What?!"

"Faintly, but its here."

[There's still a chance it'll work.] Erizar decided. [You have to try and Dragon Meld! It's the only choice all of us have right now!]

"But what if it doesn't work?" Riot asked. "Nala can't hold your physical form by herself!"

[I know. The result won't be pretty…for all three of us…]

"Let's go for it." Nala held her pistols up, crossed against her chest.

Facing them was the Bone Dragon, 'roaring' intimidatingly, although it lacked the vocal cords to make any noise.

"That's my girl." Riot grinned, flying her image to hover behind Nala.

"Dragon Meld! Unleash!" The pair shouted together.

"Guys!! RRARGH!!" Even Arist was blinded by the light and was forced to look away. "Nala! Riot!!"

The Legendary Wind Dragon feared the worst when he heard screams, but soon, the dust cleared to dispel his fears.

A massive 8 foot 'hydra' Dragon had engaged the Bone Dragon. Erizar was grabbing its wings with her two side heads, while the main one bit and snapped at the Bone Dragon. The smaller Bone Dragon slipped away and flew to the side of the room, where Erizar turned to face it.

"Venom's Retribution....Erizar!" She roared, landing firmly on all fours.

"It really worked!" The right head, with Nala's voice, laughed.

"At least we have a fighting chance now." The left head, Riot, agreed.

"Don't look to confident now girls." Erizar, the main head, ordered. "This battle has only just begun!!"