Defeat was not something Garou believed to be a possibility in this situation. Not even in the slightest. The old fart stood before him, staring at his battered form with a proud look on his wrinkled face. If he were to put words in his former masters mouth, they would be "You've gotten stronger. Now, your even more worth teaching than before!" or some shit.
Even in a fight to the death, the old fart was still trying to reach out to him, to grasp any sliver of his blood stained humanity. His eyes shone with pride as I stood back up, noise in the vicinity coming to a near halt. Only the controlled breathing of former master and disciple remained on the desolate battlefield.
But one's breathing wasn't as controlled. Garou was losing his vision, his focus, everything becoming slightly more blurry as every millisecond passed. His lungs began to burn with every breath, as if there were thousand of paper cuts inside of them and someone was pouring lemon juice into the supposedly negligible wounds. Staggering, he began to feel… weak?
*Cough* *Cough*
Coughing crimson black blood from a newly opened crack in his monsterized face, Garou tunes himself to his body and, through his fine, controlled discipline over his body, finds something that shouldn't even be possible, let alone happening to him… his body was becoming atomized, one particle at a time, at an incredibly fast pace.
That's… not good. What's happening to me? Why is this happening so suddenly!? I was fine just a moment ago, but now… dammit… DAMMIT ALL!! I can't except this, I WON'T!! I won't…
"O-old… fart…" He begins his words, but they fall short. Garou enters an intense coughing fit while Bang watches in confusion, then concern, as his best pupils stomach began to crumble away like dust in the wind, before disappearing into nothingness.
This, of course, brings Bang into thought. Right before his eyes, someone he once considered close as family was slowly disappearing, piece by piece. Of course he didn't want Garou to die! He wanted to teach him a lesson! He wanted to finally teach his lost student again! Bringing him to the side of humanity would've been an added bonus, but he wouldn't be able to do either if Garou didn't exist. But what could he do..? The more he looked at his former student, the more they crumbled. Nothing… he could do nothing but watch…
Now, half of Garou remained, his leg's nonexistent, or at least in a different form a matter. A nub for a right arms and an extended nub for his left. Hilarious. Through sheer will alone, Garou managed to stay alive while not only his arms, but torso too were disintegrated into nothingness. Finally, cracks appeared on the mask of Garou, flaking off to reveal his human face, with uncharacteristic water near the bottom of his eyes.
"…old…man…" Garou was clearly pushing himself. He shouldn't be able to talk, being just a head, but he pushed through. Bang, being the martial artist he is, begins to sweat… from his eyes. Having to watch as Garou began to disintegrate was almost to much form him.
"…m…ast…er…" With his final breath, Garou says a word that speaks more than any others could, his world finally turning black. And this is what finally breaks Bang, as he began to cry, bawl and mourn as the last part of Garou disappeared from view. After calming his mind, he stands up to look at the dangerous situation he's still in. Monsters and Hero's on a battlefield, to the death…
"Hah… I'm definitely… going into retirement after this… My back… is gonna kill me… before you monsters do..!"
Peaceful.
Serene.
Beautiful.
These are only some of the words that can describe this paradisiacal lagoon. Water so crystal clear that you could see even the Shelders at the bottom, laying in the sand. Life thrived wherever the eye could look, even the large Pokémon in their home had made a truce with the weak. Always roaming, these Pokémon, Guardians, protect while the weaker, non combative Pokémon stayed to live in relative peace, only getting into minor scuffles with each other. The only problem? Humans.
Human trainers, tourists to be exact, brazenly waltz into a thriving ecosystem and say "Oh, you look cool! I'm going to capture you!", completely disregarding the harm taking away even one Pokémon could cause to the ecosystem. Of course, humans weren't the only problem…
Slowly descending from the sky in a stream of shadows, dark as the abyss, was an unknown. Not the Pokémon. Those who lived in their lagoon were scared. What is it? Why does it have that terrible aura surrounding it? Then some-mon said their piece.
"That malevolent energy, the strength we see before us is something we Guardians cannot fight one on one." Luxray stated as if this was a normal occurrence, and yet even she was nervous about what was to come. Even then, no weakness should be shown until the very end. After all, she would protect them until death called her name!
"Evacuate to the cave! When that hits the shore, we'll do our best to hold it off." Her short speech resonating with all Pokémon near, they either began to run or stay, some obviously not wanting to leave their home so easily
Slowly but rapidly reaching the ground, they heard an explosion from their lookout spot. Luxray, watching the entire time, couldn't shake herself out of her stupor as spikes of glass infused with Ghost energy lingered around the crash site.
"What kind of Pokémon could cause such devastation in a single move? Legendary..?" She whispers to herself, seeing a crater in the shape of a creature come into view as the howling fog dissipated.
"Raaaaaahhh…" A monstrous growl resounded from hole to the abyss, and even though I was supposed to protect, I felt fear! My fellow Guardians felt it too, so we ran. Why we ran, we did not know, but we went to the cave and hid with the weaker Pokémon. Now though, there didn't seem to be much distinction between us. All of us were afraid… and so we stayed there, in the cave, hoping that it would just leave.
The reformation of the body on an atomic level is not a pleasant experience. It's an incredibly similar feeling to the monsterization I went through, but so different…foreign. Energy unknown began to fuel my new body as it plummeted from the… sky… oh come one, give me a break!
As I fell, surrounding me was an unusually ominous fog. I say unusual because normally so thing like this wouldn't feel like anything, but I was being cocooned in a torrent of malicious aura, coming straight out of me. So I'm the source… was my body rebuilt in order to handle this power?
Nearing the ground, I try to slowing my descent, but controlling this chaotic power is impossible at the moment, as if it has a mind of its own. My landing was terrible… I need more training. I'm glad my new body can at least handle the impact of have its body molded into the sand.
"Raaaaaahhh…" I stretch myself, hearing a few joints click and seeing my body for the first time. All black, no other defining features other than large lumps on my wrists. Sitting there for a bit to get my bearings, I decide to look at my surroundings. I have to jump to get out of my self created hole, only to see what greets me once I stand.
A sandy lagoon. Sky clearer than any I've seen. Even I had realized that something was missing over the years of training. This was it; fresh air, peace and quiet. A vacation. Wow, I never though something like this would cross my mind. What would the heroes say if they heard that the Human Monster, the Hero Hunter, Garou, was on vacation?
"…hehe." Just thinking of the faces they would make. Hilarious!
A lagoon with an island in the middle… I may be here for the near future, so I might as well make myself more welcome. Before swimming across the water though, I look at it closely and see something staring back at me.
I spent that first hour I was awake staring at myself in water, eyes tracing my black skin and orange eyes. I'd also lost height and muscle, all replaced by a short and scrawny looking child monster. My years of honing and training his body to the limit were wasted by a… simple body transformation.
"At least I'm a monster, but… why am I cute!?" This is an outrage! Outrage! Seriously, I've never heard of a cute monster before… dammit, is this because I was going to name my martial arts technique something about god slaying? Damn. Maybe I should watch my thoughts more. . . NAH!
With complete disregard for what others may think, he dives into to water, swims to the middle island and clambers his way onto to shore, his body being much heavier than expected. Soaked, he begins the explore the small island, only finding a tree with some weird looking fruit. Really weird looking fruit, but Garou doesn't care grabbing one of the low hanging blue ones from the chromatic assortment. Slowly, he takes a bite out of the strange fruit. And then another. And another. And another. And… it's gone?
"The hell? What the heck kind of fruit was that!? Texture of a blueberry, flavour of mint and the size of an apple? And why was it such a good combination!?" As I was contemplating his life over these new fruits, I realize that I could taste some more fruit, just to see how different they are. My body needs food if I'm going to start training my body again, right?! Shaking the tree, a few fruit drop. A red, spiked one, a blue, strawberry shaped one and one that looks very similar to a banana.
Trying to bite into the red one was tougher than expected, but when I do, I'm greeted with the taste of a pepper so spicy my tongue actually caught on fire! What!? I immediately throw my head into the water, swallowing enough to quench the flame inside. How does a fruit burn your tongue? Acid that catches fire when it is in contact with saliva? If so, that fruit must be heavily adapted in order to not be eaten. It's so hard, it could probably be used as the head of a mace! Still, weirdly enough, it had the taste of ketchup, so that's a plus at least… Heading back to the tree, I place the Pepper Fruit on the side to try the blue one. I pick it up and take a bite. It's a little bitter, but-wait, isn't this just a strawberry? All that build of for a blue strawberry the size of my fist!? And why does my tongue feel better all of a sudden!? Gah, this place is so confusing… This Strawberry Fruit actually managed to heal my burn with its juice, so… does that mean every fruit growing on this tree has a special ability like pyrokinesis and telekinesis?? How do fruits have super powers!?
Ranting in his mind, Garou failed to realize that something was coming up behind him. A large, jiggly shadow appears in his vision as Garou slowly turns around to see… a fat squirrel?
"I don relli appreciate ya eatin ma berries. Don think I didn notice ya shakin ma tree, did ya? Leave." The fat squirrel says, obviously something stuffed in his mouth. Incredibly, it managed to sound intimidating, even with its stupid, pudgy appearance. Is this entire island the home of adorable monsters?
"Hey, lard ass, stop chowing on whatever's in your mouth and make me. How the heck did you even climb that tree, anyway? I doubt you can hold your own weight, let alone a tree holding you!"
Nothing is said back, which leaves Garou irate. Instead, much to his surprise, an orange aura began to surround the squirrel. Expecting an attack, he gets into position, ready to block and counter. Instead, the orange aura disappears and nothing happens.
"What was that, an intimidation tactic? News flash, a fancy light show isn't going to scare me off!" Garou was laughing at the gall of his "opponent", who thought they could scare off a monster that would reach disaster level god!
No answer again, the taunt having no affect. Another orange aura appears and disappears, no attack. It then starts to drum on its belly, a huge reddish orange aura surrounding him, then a comforting green aura with a draining blue one. What the heck is up with this squirrel?!
"You just going through the colors of the rainbow now?! You can't scare me off, idiot!" Orange auras keep appearing and disappearing as I becomes more and more impatient, anticipating an attack that may never actually come. This fat squirrel is actually getting on my nerves more than most.
The fat squirrel, still silent as ever, turns around… and shakes it's tail at me!? This bastard..! Not even noticing the faint blue aura surrounding him, Garou shouts:
"I'm gonna kill you and make you into a doormat! I swear, whenever I open the door, I'm gonna rub my filthy feet all over your corpse!" Tensing his body, Garou gets ready for a mad dash to gut the fat squirrel. Instead, he hears him respond.
"Yo cockiness will be yo undoin, ya here? Ya really don understan what ya just let me do, ya know?" Standing straighter than before, his confidence exuding from his fur, the fat squirrel… was looking down on me!!!
"If you could actually catch up to me while I'm running, I'd stop. Until then, I'll stay this cocky!" Getting into position a final time, Garou thinks about his current situation. Isn't this supposed to be a vacation for me? How the hell did I end up in a rib off with a tub of lard? It doesn't matter really. I mean… you can do whatever you like on vacation, so… WHY NOT A HUNT?!
Before Garou could start his attack, however, the fat squirrel took in a huge breath, mouth turning green. Opening its mouth again, Garou was completely when a bunch of FRICKING BULLETS began to shoot out if it's mouth! Thinking back to Death Gatling, he decided on trying to deflect them. After all, even though his body may be new, his experience wasn't. Using Fist of Flowing Water, Crushed Rock to knock away the first bullet, Garou realized something; "Why can't I follow my own movement?" He thought, but he knew the answer. His body was to weak to perform such an art just after being created. So, instead of deflecting the first bulled, it hit Garou straight in the torso, but Garou wasn't worried. After all, he literally fell from the sky, what could a seed flying at the speed of a bullet do-?
As soon as the first bullet hit, it exploded, but not before it pierced his new skin as if it were made of taffy. The explosion of the first seed blasted me into the water, causing the rest to miss, but just that singular bullet had almost killed me!
"-GAAAH!?!"
If one seed caused me this much damage… what the heck is this place? Was the squirrel a plant monster and I just didn't notice? No, it's definitely a mammalian monster, so how the heck did it shoot- THE FRUIT! The fruits gave it the ability to shoot seeds like bullets, or at least one of them did. Figuring out how it did it still doesn't change the fact that I will die if I don't move… and I'm sure as hell not going to die to my future doormat!!
"…Little guy, I warned ya." The irritatingly full voice of the fat squirrel filled the air as he stared at me, eyes full of contempt, "Ya should've just listened. I guess I betta teach a lesson to ya, since yo obviously not from 'round here." And then green energy began to build up in his mouth again, aiming to disable or maybe kill.
Garou on the other hand was wondering how the heck the fat squirrel got to the edge of the water so fast. Realizing that he was about to be shot at again though, Garou looked into the water, picking up a weird clam… thing.
"H-hey, p-put me d-down-n you m-meanie..!" Huh, so it was also a monster. Sounds similar to a child, too… If it wasn't for its weird tongue and out of place moustache, I would've found a different way out of this situation, but for now…
"Your sacrifice shall not be in vane, Chowder!" I'm sorry that I find my life more important than yours. I guess I'm just… shellfish? No… no that sucked… never doing a pun like that again.
The fat squirrel shoots the seeds with no remorse as they come hurdling towards me. Using the clam creature as a shield, I do my best to block the incoming seeds. Weirdly, when the many seeds hit the clam, nothing happens, not even an explosion. In fact, the seeds didn't even hit the clam at all, stopping in mid air and falling into the water as if they didn't defy logic just a couple seconds prior.
"Hey, Chowder." Garou begins with a regular voice but the undertone leaves nothing to the imagination, causing the clam to shiver in his hands, "How did you not die just now? In fact, how do you not even get hit by those seed? Tell me, won't you?" If a clam could cry, this would be the time, as Garou was crushing the clams shell with his raw strength.
"O-ok, ok!! It was just Protect! Almost everymon I know can l-learn the move…" Looking up, the clam only saw Garou glaring at him, "So, can you let me go? I'll be right on my way-!" The grip became stronger, almost cracking the shell of the clam, causing an orange aura to surround it.
Now Garou was intrigued. His clam friends shell just became tougher after that orange aura appeared. With the information he currently has, he came to a simple conclusion: Whenever an orange aura surrounds a monster in this place, it indicates that they've become stronger. The other two auras that he's seen, like the green and blue ones, he'll have to find out later, but what the clam said was also weird. A technique that every monster can use? If this "Protect" could be used by almost "everymon", then couldn't he use it too? It seemed simple enough. All he had to do was learn a new technique while running for his life, easy!
"Teach me." The shadow child demands, causing the clam to both be surprised and nervous. What would happen if he didn't teach him Protect in fast enough? What if he wasn't a good learner? He would die either way, either being used as a shield or being crushed in the grip of a sassy child.
"I'll do it!" Agreeing nigh immediately, the clam begins his explanation of the simple move, "A-all you have to do is take t-the Normal type energy surrounding you and compress it, h-harden it with your intent. This will create an impenetrable defence… in m-most circumstances, at least." Not being the best teacher, the clam starts to panic. It started to pray that it would be spared from the demon holding it in his clutches. Please, oh Arceus, spare me from this-
Garou had begun to meditate, with the clam trapped in his lap. The fat squirrel was just as surprised as the clam. Weren't they just in a battle, how could you just fall asleep like that? The fat squirrel was so confused, it actually became dizzy, leading it to search for a berry to cure its ailment. Trying to feel the ambient energy in air, Garou began to concentrate harder. He had felt the chaotic energy before, and even though he was the originator, he wasn't able to produce it. The fact that the clam said it was "Normal" energy implies its normal for every monster to use it, making it the easiest type of energy to use. Ha… I'm taking a beginner course in how to use something tantamount to magic.
He began to concentrate harder, feeling only the island breeze as… he looked inside himself. He began to think that if "Normal" energy could be used by every monster, then the body should be naturally absorbing the energy. After searching in his mind for a bit, a bundle of energy could be seen. Looking closely at it, words began to appear.
Marshadow:
Type: Ghost/Fighting
Sex: Male
Health: Badly Hurt
Ability: ???
Known Moves: Copycat, Counter, Shadow Sneak
…Huh? Marshmallow? How in the world would this even help me? I'm a "Ghost" type… am I dead!? Why don't I have my martial arts in my Known Moves? And what the heck is a Copycat!?
Copycat:
Type: Normal
Power: —
Accuracy: —%
Effect: Copycat causes the user to use the last move that was used in the battle, even if the last move was by the user. If no move has been made, Copycat fails.
Description: The user mimics the move used immediately before it. The move fails if no other move has been used yet.
Oh… OH! Isn't this a cool little thing? How would I use something like this… do I just, like, think of using it and it just happen? Copycat..! Nope. At least I can actually sort of feel the energy surrounding it. It's kinda similar to water… what happens if I try to tap into it-!
Suddenly, I'm taken out of my mind space and into the real world, a barrier of hard energy appearing before me. Not only am I surprised that my little experiment actually worked, but now I can't actually feel the Normal energy around me, unlike before when it felt like it just went through me. Touching the barrier doesn't do anything to it, as if it is cut off from everything else at the moment. Suddenly, it shatters, but into such tiny particles that it looked more like glitter than anything else. At least now I've figured out how to use Protect without this Copycat move, but it's definitely useful.
The fat squirrel, looking weaker than before, appears before the both of them right after the Protect dissipates. Why does it feel less powerful? Shouldn't it be shooting it's seeds right about-!
Before his thought could finish, an orange aura appeared around the fat squirrel once again. Now realizing what the squirrel had meant, he immediately decides to go on the assault. If he let glutton power up again, he would be stupid.
"W-why are you still carrying me-?!" Huh, I guess I brought the clam with me on instinct. Even better, now I have a weapon, "I don't k-know what your thinking, b-but it's definitely nota good-?!" Running towards the powering up, I raise the clam with both hands, jump… and bash it over the head!
"GREEED-!?" A clam came crashing down on the fat squirrels head, causing the berry in its mouth to be eaten. Sadly for the clam, it was a magic berry.
"SHEELL-!?" Clam took emotional damage. Console it? NOPE! Now that the fat squirrel is stunned, I chuck the clam like a frisbee before taking a running punch at him. Before the clam hits its target however, it stops mid air before falling to the ground. Déjà vu, the clam was right about Protect being a common move. Still, I don't think they realize that their back is open after performing it. In order to not get blocked, I use Protect below me, using it like a platform to jump over the fat squirrels Protect, causing clear alarm in the its eyes. Sweeping its legs out from under it, the fat squirrel falls like a sack of potatoes. Winded, it's unable to get up. Rushing over to it, I immediately kick in its throat. There's no way I'm attacking his squishy tummy, my foot would get stuck! Unable to breathe, the fat squirrel stops moving, his throat and face bruised even through his fur. That is, until a green aura surrounds him again and he gets up, obviously weaker but still alive.
*Crack*
Unable to get out of the way in time, Garou gets bitten. That may not sound bad, but let me put this into perspective. Pokémon Logic. There you go.
Taking extreme damage to his left arm, Garou quickly back steps, but trips… on a clam! The fat squirrel, seeing an opening, jumps into the air and prepares to slam the full weight of his body into his opponent. Garou, unable to dodge, sees his life flash before his eyes as a fat squirrel comes hurdling towards him. Only, the attack doesn't connect. In fact, it phased right through him, as if his body wast actually solid.
With both monsters surprised, Garou decides to use it to his advantage as he quickly delivers a right uppercut! Falling to the ground, swirls are seen the eyes of the fat squirrel. Weirdly enough, Garou has respect for the large rodent. To be pushed to his limits like this… it made him want to get stronger with 10x the vigour! Still, it doesn't change the fact that the monster would die. Walking up to the fat squirrel for a final time, he steps on his throat and applies press-
"W-wait!" A voice from down below bellows. Banged up and cracked, a clam clambers towards me the best they can, warbling a fluent yet dry voice, "You really shouldn't kill Greedent, it would cause a lot of pain to our community if our chubby fluff ball were to vanish." Their voice somehow the clearest it's ever been, the clam speaks with desperate determination.
In response, I state the obvious, "Chowder… does it look like I would care? This guy just tried to kill me over some fruit. Seriously, if I was a human, this would just be self defence." Seriously, who does this monster think they are?
The clam is shivering in place, obviously thinking of a rebuttal jumps up suddenly, only stuttering the first word that comes out of him, "W-well, don't humans own their own land? Can't humans do whatever they want to thieves and trespassers? Aren't you also blatantly trying to kill him?! That's not 'less or equal force' at all!" Their logic sound, the clam could only wait to hear his response.
Garou was surprised that a monster could actually have a working brain that wasn't just "cause pain to humanity" or something. The fact that the clam was actively trying to dissuade him from killing was, in some way, admirable (for a monster). The thing is, Garou doesn't like when others steal or don't let him finish off his prey. He hunted it, so he gets to do whatever he wants with… Greedy Ant, even killing it. He would need an incentive in order to actually stop what he was-
"I can teach you how to use the moves that you are so unfamiliar with. I may JUST be a Shelder, but I've lived for quite a long time!" Chowder says with a hint of sarcasm, trying to lighten the mood, "In return, please don't kill any other Pokémon while your on this island… please?" He pretty much begging. It's a really weird sight seeing a clam trying to kowtow. His offer is intriguing, though… couldn't I just force him, or would he withhold information that could detrimental to my growth. Ugh… I hate this. I've got a chance at getting information, but I really don't like it…
"I won't kill chubby over there until after we talk the terms. Before any of that though, I need to ask you something…" Slowly, a suffocating dark fog begins to surround the both of them, even the sleeping rodent having a hard time breathing. The originator of this smokescreen like move doesn't even seem to care for the fear they're causing the hiding Pokémon in the area. Opening its mouth, one would expect worst. Would they ask for a worthy sacrifice in Greedent's stead? Would they ask for all the berries on the island-no, the island itself?! Moving its Giratina's Tongue around with practiced ease, they speak, "What the heck is a 'Pokémon' and is it edible?" Oh no-!
"PLEASE DON'T EAT ME!!" I scream in-wait a minute, "…actually, what did you say just now?" Did I mishear?
"You heard me. What are 'Pokémon' and are they part of a balanced meal?"
"…"
"…"
""EHHHHHHHH!!!?!??!?!!?"" So surprised by the turn of events, even the fainted Greedent decides to wake up for a good scream before immediately fainting again, using all built up energy to yell.
"..?" Did I say something wrong?
[Chapter End]
So, did you like it? Took a bit longer to write than expected, but I think it turned out pretty good! I've wanted to do a Pokemon story for a while, but I couldn't find anything that would. That was until I started reading OPM and thought, "Huh, wouldn't it be cool if Garou was a Pokémon instead of a Monster?" And boom! I hope you enjoyed it. Also don't expect another chapter for a while. Again, this took a long time to write. With that said, have a great day!
