A New World, A New Conflict

by Evowizard25

Dogs and witches (Day 6)

Lia had always hated cages. Both from experience and the very concept of them. They housed creatures against their will. They kept them confined and enchained inside. Cages were another form of bondage. She had been caged before. When she was a little Ralts, she had stupidly wandered off from her mother when they went to the local market. Since they lived out in the woods mostly by themselves, with the exceptions of trainers that came and went, her mother often had to leave them behind. That one time, she didn’t and Lia had screwed it up. Before she knew it, she was in the hands of Team Rocket. It didn’t last long, but it was really scary.

She had always hated herself for getting caught. If she hadn’t, her brother…she was the reason behind her brother’s first kill. He was never the same and Lia had spent the next two weeks apologizing. They didn’t blame her. She was so young. Her mother said it was her fault that she hadn’t kept an eye on her and her brother thought he should have come along. He just didn’t like being in a crowded place full of humans. Lia knew better, but eventually stopped.

She never did stop hating herself for it.

Now, she had gotten herself captured once again because of her own stupidity. She thought she could take anyone if she was attacked. She was in the nice king’s city and her brother and mother was nearby. Nobody could touch her.

Lia was in a cage now because of that train of thinking. Her brother was going to have to kill for her again…or he could get hurt himself. ‘I don’t want my big brother to die…I’m sorry! I’m sorry!’ She whimpered and clutched her head. She had seen her brother bloodied up before, but now he wasn’t moving in her mind. He had a dead, vacant look to him. ‘I’M SORRY!’ She screamed inwardly. Of course, it was just in her head. It couldn’t talk.

“Alright,” she heard the stallion, Caballeron, speak up. “Set her down. I think she can walk the rest of the way.”

The ponies holding her cage did as commanded and opened it up. One of the unicorns hooked a leash onto her collar with their magic. They obviously didn’t want to take any chances with her, even with the collar around her neck cancelling out her abilities. The pony pulled the leash harshly, which nearly choked the little Kirlia.

Once outside, Caballeron spoke, “Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Lia didn’t say a word. She didn’t even look at him.

Caballeron frowned. “Don’t get into your head that the silent treatment will work. I may tolerate it, but your new master certainly won’t.” When Lia didn’t answer again, he sighed. “What now?”

“Maybe you shocked the speech out of her,” one of the other ponies suggested. “I mean, she does look frail and we have no idea what her biology is like.”

“If I had wanted your opinion I’d have asked for it,” Caballeron scowled, causing said stallion to cower out of sight. He collected himself and looked back over at Lia. “Cheer up, this is almost over.”

“…No it isn’t,” Lia said softly. “I’m not home yet.”

“Au contraire,” Caballeron smiled. “Your new home is just over this last dune.”

Lia shook her head. “Nope, that’s not home. Home is with my family.”

“Who you are not going to see again,” Caballeron rolled his eyes.

“Again, wrong. My big brother’s coming to pick me up,” Lia smirked and folded her arms. “He always comes to help me and he’ll make you sorry for being such a big meanie head.”

“I highly doubt that,” Caballeron growled out. He tugged on the leash harshly, cutting off whatever Lia had to say in return. The small caravan continued on past the last dune.

Lia gasped at what she saw. Before her were several, armed to the teeth with heavy armor and weapons, Hyena Dogs. While the ones she had seen before were just savages, these were much more organized creatures. They would have put up a much better fight. However, they weren’t the most impressive creature there. That went to the towering behemoth among the Dogs. It was several times the size of the others and had even more fearsome armor. It didn’t carry any weapons on it, but Lia didn’t doubt for a second it could kill anything with just its paws.

Oddly enough, a pretty, unicorn mare stood beside the gigantic monstrosity. She looked prim and proper, even wearing an elegant, but rough rider sort of dress. She moved ahead of the rest of the group with two dogs not far behind her.

“Loving Note,” Caballeron went to greet her. “So good to see you.”

Loving Note narrowed her eyes. “The Feeling isn’t mutual,” she snorted, causing Caballeron to frown. “Did you bring what you promised? I wish to get this horrid experience over as soon as possible.”

“Yes,” Caballeron nodded over to the pony holding Lia’s leash. He roughly shoved her forward with a hoof to the back. “A new slave and-“ He gestured over to the large, wooden boxes some of them carried. “Your cannons are right over there.”

Loving Note paced around Lia, looking her over. “She doesn’t look like much of a digger, but….” While Caballeron couldn’t see her face, Lia could. She gently smiled down at her. It wasn’t condescending, or evil. It was an actually kind smile, filled with motherly warmth. “I think a personal maid would do.”

“Of course,” Caballeron nodded. “Now….”

Loving Note’s scowl caused Caballeron to gulp and shut his mouth. “Quick to the point as ever.” She gestured her head over to a large precession of carts. Each one was filled to the brim with jewels. “Take it and leave.”

Caballeron smiled and bowed his head. “Pleasure doing business with you.” He moved towards his treasure.

“Oh and Caballeron~” Loving Notes voice nearly sung. “I see some bruises on my new maid. You wouldn’t happen to know where they came from, would you?”

Caballeron stiffened and then looked back at her. “Of course not. She was found this way.”

“You’re lying~” Without another voice, she glanced at one of the dogs with her and the pony that had roughly pushed her around. The dog nodded back and thrust his spear into the stallion’s chest. The pony died instantly as it pierced his heart. The rest of the caravan either took steps back, or pulled out their weapons. “Oh no,” Loving Note dramatically put a hoof to her head. “He’s dead. Such a tragedy….” She sighed when no one said anything. “I miss the theater…Caballeron, you know how I hate ‘bruised merchandise’. Please make sure to have a little more patience in future cases, or you might be the one getting acquainted with a spear next time.”

Caballeron quickly nodded and his forces rushed to get their jewels.

Loving Note snorted. “Barbarians,” she then leaned down and nuzzled Lia’s head. “Now come along dear,” she lightly pushed her towards the rest of the dogs with her muzzle. “We need to run along home. We don’t want to get caught in a sandstorm or the like, now do we?”

“No ma’am,” Lia was confused by the mare’s actions. So far, all of the ponies she had met had been big meanies. Even though she just ordered someone dead, Lia could tell she had good intentions behind it. ‘I mean, some of my big brother’s friends kill all the time. Even Master Gard kills. At least she stopped that meanie unicorn from hurting anyone else.’ She decided to stick close to this mare until she got home.

The large Hyena Dog walked up to them. Lia squeaked in fear and hid behind Loving Note. Loving laughed, which sounded like beautiful chimes. “Now, now, you don’t need to fear him. He may look big and nasty, but he’s a softie.”

“So,” the Hyena Dog boss started. “You’ze got a new slave?”

Loving Note snorted. “Servant and yes. She will be my new personal maid.”

The Hyena Dog rolled his eyes and then lowered his head. “She better be gud. Da last un’ was so annoyin’ I had ta send ‘er down to the mines to get some rest.”

“She was scared out of her wits,” Loving Note glared at him. “Thankfully, I rescued her from your inane scheme.”

“Stop usin’ fanzy words,” the Hyena Dog pounded the ground with a fist, causing it to shake. He glared at the other dogs. “What’ya doin’ standin’ dere like gits? Get da cannons.” The dogs quickly did as asked, lest their boss turn his anger on them. He sighed and gently picked up Lia and Loving Note in a large paw. “Letz go home.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________

It had been years since Thrist had worked this hard. The collars were more tasking then she realized. Perhaps she had overstretched herself a tad. It couldn’t really be helped, she figured. There were so many and she was only one. The latest collar was finished as she passed her hand over it. The purple glow flowed pure dark magic into the device and she sighed in a job well done.

She put the collar down on the table, fell back into a chair and eased her old chest. Thrist kept her talons wrapped around her staff tightly. She would need more blood soon to regain her power. She hated being so tired. ‘Why? When me and my sisters….’ She growled and stopped that train of thought. She would not think of Daring or the demise of her sisters, but she did it anyways. Her anger grew and grew and that alone gave her strength in its own way. ‘I’ll make her pay. I’ll make the whole world pay.’

The more anger she felt, the more she felt alone. She was the last Thrist sorceress. Unless she was able to gather the power to bring back some of her compatriots souls from Tartarus, she had no one to talk to. Well, there was one, but he served another god and was off doing his own thing. So, little Thrist was by herself. Her warriors were mindless brutes. A conversation with them would be like talking to a rock. She didn’t know when she started shaking, but she could hear her old bones and staff beating against the chair and floor. She couldn’t help herself.

That is, until she felt something nuzzling her leg. Thrist looked down at the little Rattatta she had taken in. Normally if something came upon her in such rage, she’d kill them and use their bodies for some spell. Oddly, she didn’t want to do that to this pokemon. If anything, she could swear she had grown some sort of ‘attachment’ to the creature. Maybe it was because she was lonely, or because it was so cute. She couldn’t pinpoint it. Instead, she leaned down and scratched behinds its ears.

Thrist chuckled at its content growls. Pulling it onto her lap, she focused some of her magic into the collar. She could feel the Rattatta grow stronger already. Again, she found it odd that she fed this creature so much power. Usually, she would never think of something like that. The more power you give a creature, the harder it was to control. She couldn’t help but notice the creature’s aura start to shift occasionally as if it was building up to something.

“I never did give you a name,” she said to herself and her companion. This was a good way to get her mind off her earlier anger. “Hmmm….Rage. Yes, that is a good strong name.” She sighed. “Well Rage, my name is Thrist the Thirst. Unoriginal I know, but all sorceress had similar to names to our kind when they took up the mantle. My name before was Jade. However, no one could take a sorceress seriously if they were called Jade…..My mother gave me the name after her favorite gem. She made the best jewelry in the world…until she was killed by a dragon.” Thrist, or Jade, growled. “I was only a child. I should have died, but Ragnoros saw potential in me. He took me and gave me strength. Then, I found that dragon and slew him.” She grinned. “That kill is my most treasured memory….Why am I telling you all of this?” She stroked Rage along his back. “Perhaps I’m growing soft….no matter.” She stood up, causing Rage to jump to the ground. “We have work to do.”

Thrist walked back over to the table and picked up the collar. “Let us show our new ‘ally’ the ways of darkness.” She chuckled as she made her way over to what appeared to be some sort of green, bug-raptor with blade arms. It was asleep on her table, kept that way with her magic. She was honestly fascinated by this creature. It was an ultimate predator. Every part of its body was designed to make a quick, bloodied kill. ‘As I marvel this creature, I can’t help but wonder. If this ‘Scyther’ was made by Arceus himself, perhaps he is no different than Ragnoros.’ It was an interesting idea. Each and every pokemon had immense power. They were all perfect weapons in their own rights. ‘Maybe we should have some pokemon of our own.’

Whether he was like Ragnoros or not, he was sure to be a worthy opponent. There would be songs and legends made of the fall of Arceus. Thrist counted herself lucky to be able to see it. That aside, she fastened the collar around the sleeping Scyther’s neck. While she would have loved to keep it, the zebra nobles needed it for their own needs. ‘Oh well, blood shall be spilled either way.’

Author's Note:

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, the last of day 6, and please leave a comment.

Comments

[tdnpony]

Call me a hypocrite considering I just love using dumb nobles to cause problems and have the world screw them over, but I think saying the Zebra nobility is in cahoots with her seems a bit...much, considering not only are they xenophobic to stupid extremes, and they couldn't possibly be stupid enough to sign up with someone who's well...crazy, JUST for the reason I think.

[V-Oblivion]

I love getting to see the softer side of bad guys, makes them look so more realistic.
BTW, Jasmine is a plant, not a gem.

[Evowizard25]

5449671
The rebels don't know about Thrist. Both of them are working through Caballeron and he isn't going to tell them they got their new 'weapons' from a blood magi, death dealing, cultist of some dark god....and that she's a griffin. {Zebras hate griffins more than most.}

[Evowizard25]

5449693 I wrote that part around midnight and I was very tired.

[V-Oblivion]

5449747 I got lots of those moments. Jade is a gemstone you could use.

[Evowizard25]

5449778 I already changed it to that. Thanks for pointing out my mistake.

[V-Oblivion]

5449798 Glad to be of help... by the way, you did leave another 'Jasmine' shortly after.

[Arcane Howitzer]

I'm sure forcibly evolving a Pokemon via dark magic infusion will have absolutely no negative repercussions.