Chp 9: Temple

	"Morning." Seth said as he exited the bedroom and into the dining room. Everybody else was in there, chatting idly. He had slept the latest. He walked over, in between Soul and Sky. "So we're gonna move on to Snowpoint." 

	"Snowpoint? I thought we were doing the gyms. That's the wrong way." Soul said. 

	"She's right. We can't do that gym until later." Sky said.

	"I know, but maybe we can catch a ride to Veilstone from the docks there. That will cut down a ton of walking time. Ready to go?" They nodded. "In that case, we'll be leaving. Thanks for letting us stay." 

	"If you come back around these parts, be sure to come visit." Flurry said. "Friends are always welcome in this den." 

	"He's a lot more than a friend." Flare snickered. This earned her a smack from Flurry's tassels.

	"And one last thing." Seth said, going over to Dust and Drew. He squeezed in between them and gave Drew a kiss, forcing his tongue into the other males mouth. He pulled back quickly, and spat on the ground, as did Drew. 

	"What the fuck!?" Drew shouted. 

	"Got 'em all." Seth said. "Okay, let's go." He and the girls rushed out before Drew could respond. 

+++

	The trip up to Snowpoint was uneventful, done at a rushed pace to escape the cold as soon as possible. Seth had turned human again, his clothes and backpack reforming when he did. Strangely, just as they arrived at the city, the snow started. Seth led the way to the southernmost part of the city, to the docks. Once there, he found a ship, advertised as for travel. He approached the small ship, talking to the captain who was sitting on the dock next to it. 

	"Hi, I'm looking to get to Veilstone." Seth said.

	"Aye, I can do that. But not right now. A storm's brewin', and these are dangerous waters." He explained.

	"Oh, okay. How's tomorrow sound?" 

	"We'll see. Weather isn't exactly... predictable." 

	Seth nodded and turned to leave. 

	"Well, what now? We just stay the night?" Soul asked.

	"Yea." Seth said. He could talk freely as the 'city' was nearly abandoned. They passed by the gym, which was in the center of town, when Sky stopped them. 

	"Hey! What's that?" She said, looking north. There was a large building there, looking quite old. 

	"Wanna check it out?" Seth asked. 

	"Yes." She said, leading the way there. 

	"Welcome to Snowpoint Temple." A guard in front of the entrance said. "Please no capturing inside. This is a pokemon sanctuary." 

	"Will do." Seth said. The guard stepped aside to allow him in. 

	The temple was certainly an ancient structure, with strange architecture everywhere. There was a large statue with many dots in its surface. They were raised, like Braille. There were six on the statues face, looking like eyes. 

	"This is creepy..." Soul said. "All that's missing is the ominous music."

	Sky walked closer and began to examine the statue up close. "Speak for yourself. This is cool." She placed her palm on the base of it. Seth walked closer to join her. "Wow, feel this."

	Seth reached his hand out and placed it next to her paw. The stone felt odd. It didn't feel like anything he had felt before, as if there was some... thrumming in it, some kind of energy. Suddenly, the sound of grating stone began. The statue began to move back, revealing a staircase leading down into the temple. "What the..."

	Sky started to descend. "C'mon, let's check this out." 

	"Okay, now I'm creeped out. But we can't just let her go in alone." He said, following her, with Soul taking up the rear. They went down, down, down... until they came into a large room. In the center of the room was a large pedestal, with a depression in the center. Seth and Sky walked closer to investigate, while Soul remained apprehensively near the exit. 

	The pedestal was raised up about three feet, at around Seth's waist. Sky had to stretch to look at it. It had a strange depression, pressed into the stone. Seth experimentally counted the sides of the shape, coming to seventeen. "What could have been here?" It was very obvious that whatever had been in the pedestal had been missing for a long time, or never existed at all, as a thick layer of dust rested in it. Up ahead, there were three paths, one in each direction. 

	Sky began wandering down one, and they followed, letting her explore. They went down a path, until coming to a new room, nearly identical to the last, except with no exit stairs, and no pedestal. "Oh god..." Seth muttered. "It's a maze." 

	"Well, it's an actual structure, so there must be limited space." 

	"I got that one." Seth said, turning anthro lucario. He swung his fist into the wall, leaving a hole. "Trail marker." He said.

	"I don't really approve of damaging the ruins..." Sky said. 

	"We're not getting lost." Seth said. 

+++

	About twenty minutes of exploring later, and Soul began to grow impatient. "You ever think that maybe there's nothing here?" 

	"We've got to be close to the end." Sky said optimistically. 

	Just after she said this, they came into a different room. In the center was a large block of stone. It was chiseled with some kind of design, but it didn't mean anything to them, besides looking cool. It was huge, stretching up to the roof, easily over ten feet tall. 

	Sky began to walk towards it with Seth in tow, before Soul yelled. "Stop!" They stopped and looked at her. "There is... something here. Can you feel it? It's like the air is shaking." 

	Sky stopped and looked up. "There is something here. Something alive, besides us." 

	Seth began to look for aura, feeling the same something they were. It was coming from the stone block. Something was in there. Something alive, as it had an aura. Seth walked up and clenched his fist. "Someone's trapped in here!" 

	"Wait! Are you sure that's a good idea?" Soul said.

	"If someone is in there, they need out." He reeled back and punched it hard. The stone was actually not solid, only a layer surrounding someone. It cracked and chipped, crumbling as he punched a few more times. The rock fell to the ground, revealing a massive behemoth of a pokemon. It had a white body, gold ornaments, and moss growing on its body. "What the hell?" Seth said. 

	It let out a loud creaking sound as it began to move. "Trespassers..." It said slowly. One of its large hand moved up and pointed at Sky, and then Soul. "Begone..." It took a step forward, the ground shaking. It slowly raised a hand into the air, before it swiftly slammed into the ground, causing a massive shake. A trail of energy ran through the ground, towards Soul, who dodged to the side. 

	"Shit!" She yelled. Seth delivered another punch, this time to the pokemon, but it did nothing, hurting Seth's hand more. 

	"Should we run?!" Sky yelled. 

	"No way we can make it out with this thing chasing us. We'll have to beat it." Seth said, trying an aura sphere. Sky used psychic, but was unable to lift the monster, and Soul charged forward, launching several night slashes. All the attacks just bounced off. It raised its arms and let out a burst of energy, pushing them all back. 

	"Should we mega evolve?!" Soul asked.

	"No, that probably won't cut it... Shit... Maybe we should try to run." Seth said.

	"I am Regigigas. None who trespass among these halls may escape. I do not know how you entered, but you will die here." The gigantic pokemon said, talking a bit faster, but still in a slow drawl. 

	"But we didn't mean to!" Sky cried. "We promise to never tell anyone!" 

	"Silence!" Regigigas roared. The entire structure shook. It pointed at her, and a large beam shot out. It looked like Sky was going to get hit, until Soul shot forward, mega evolving. Her furry wings gave her the speed she needed to rescue Sky. After pushing Sky out of the way, she spun in midair, slashing a huge night slash through the air at it. The wave of darkness exploded, once again with no effect. 

	"Really?! We need to go, now!" Soul shouted. She helped Sky up, before they both ran for the hall out. 

	"No escape." Regigigas repeated. It planted a fist into the ground, and a burst of energy exploded in front of the girls, halting their escape. 

	"Seth... maybe you should do that thing..." Soul said. 

	"But..." He said, knowing exactly what she meant. The trump card. "I can't while-"

	"We'll run and get as far away as we can. You just distract him. If anything can beat him, it's that." 

	"What?! What is he gonna do?!" Sky asked.

	"I'll explain later. We need to go." Soul said.

	"Stop." Regigigas said, preparing another attack. 

	"HEY!" Seth roared at the top of his lungs. "I'm your enemy now." He closed his eyes and focused. Forms... he had four at that point. While he was a hybrid, he had always wondered if he could be a hybrid pokemon, half one and half another. That time he had only tried two, lucario and absol. Now, he went for all four. 

	His body bulged, shifting around, as it warped and mangled briefly. His general shape remained that of an anthro lucario. Where his paw spikes were, an absol horn grew, giving him two scythe like blades, one on the back of each hand. A section of his head hardened into a red gem, and his tail split and shrunk into an espeon one. From his head grew the hair of a zoroark, as his aura sensor went back into his body. At the base of this was a ring of fur instead of an orb. Two similar ones puffed out around his feet. He drew in a ragged breath, his eyes opening again. 

	"Abomination." Regigigas said. It thrust its fist forward, aiming right for Seth. 

	Seth punched back, a huge shockwave bursting from the impact of their fists. As Regigigas drew back for another attack, Seth vanished. He had jumped, and spun around, delivering a powerful spinning kick into its arm. This time, it actually moved. It had felt that hit. Before Regigigas could respond, Seth vanished again, appearing behind it and slashing down with the large sickles on his hands. Two bloody lines ripped into its back. 

	Regigigas spun around, much more swiftly than before, and reached out for Seth. It wrapped a hand around Seth's leg, and squeezed, bones popping under the crushing force. Seth swung his head down, the large strand of hair on his back swinging forward and driving the pointed end into Regigigas. The attack was equally strong, cracking bones under the force. Seth pulled his leg out of the grip, and began to run up Regigigas' arm. As he did, fragments of bone poked through the skin of his leg, leaving blood running from his mangled leg. Nevertheless, he kept running, as if it didn't hurt, he dashed right past Regigigas, swinging his arm at its neck. This left a large gash along the path, before Seth swung the scythe back, stabbing it into Regigigas' neck. The very tip of it poked out the other end. Seth then twisted his blade, tearing an even larger hole in the behemoth's neck. 

	Regigigas' arm glowed, and it swung back, smashing into Seth, directly in the chest. Bones audibly cracked, and Seth's chest dented in, as his shattered ribs tore him up. The force of the attack sent him rolling back. 

	"What are you?" Regigigas said. Its voice did not change, despite the hole in its neck, but it was visibly injured and tiring. It held up both hands, building up energy in both. "I will destroy. You can not exist." A huge beam fired out, going straight for Seth.

	Seth roared loudly, a burst of aura leaving his body. He charged forward, right into the beam. The powerful energy tore at his already battered body, ripping off chunks of flesh. Seth kept going, coming right up to Regigigas. He lowered his head, the tendril of hair coming forward, a shine running through it, as it began to spear forward in rapid succession, the tip stabbing into Regigigas' Chest. Regigigas cupped its fist together and slammed them down, a burst of energy flying outward. 

	Seth only moved to the side, the energy tearing him up more. He thrust his fist forward, aura coating his arm. The fist flew right through the battered Regigigas, breaking right into his chest in a explosion of blood. Seth's paw wrapped around its mammoth heart, and squeezed, the organ rupturing under the strain. 

+++

	"SHIT! Ass fuck dammit!" Soul shouted, swinging her horn against the rocks. They had run into a collapse, caused by the every growing quakes coming from the fight. She couldn't make any headway, the rocks were too tough, and there were too many. Even her mega evolved body could do little more than scratch the ancient rocks.

	"Maybe when Seth gets here he could bust through?" Sky said, sounding worried. She kept looking back.

	"Don't worry. A while ago, he tried to become more than one form at once. It worked, but he went berserk. He'll be fine. I just hope..." She tried a few more times, but failed. She reverted to normal and sat down. "We're shit out of luck." She finally spat. 

	The battle soon grew quiet. And then, noises, drawing closer. Soul stood back up and mega evolved again, growling at the noises. 

	"Its... okay." Seth said, crawling forward, using his arms and one good leg to push himself forward. 

	"Seth!" Sky screamed. She ran to his side, and Soul did too after she returned to normal. He was covered in blood, white bits of bone poking out in several places. 

	"I'm..." He drew in a shuddering, labored breath. "I'm fine." He said, moving towards a wall and sitting against it. He was an anthro lucario now. He ran a hand over his mangled chest. 

	"You are not fine! We need to get you help!" Sky begged.

	"We can't get through that wall. A fighting type could maybe, but..." Soul said. 

	"Yea, I'll get on that." Seth said quietly. "Just, let me rest first." He leaned his head back. "It's really hard to breath." He muttered. He reached down and put a hand on each of the girl's heads. 

	"I'm sorry..." Sky said. "It's my fault we got into this mess." 

	"Meh, we would have got into some kind of trouble sooner or later." Soul said. She looked up at Seth, but he was unconscious. "This is bad. Know any healing moves?"

	"Morning sun, but that only works outside." Sky sounded depressed.

	"We've been through worse. We'll make it."