//------------------------------// // Swallowed // Story: The Disaster Pokemon // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Marble wasn't happy that Limestone was coming with them. Absol knew that none of them had any choice in the matter. Once the healers had restored Limestone's strength and she had rejoined the group, Celestia and Luna had teleported the ever increasing group to the entrance to the Eternal Forest. The forest, at least on the outside, looked like any other forest. Trees, bushes, filled with all assortments of cute little animals. But to those who were attuned with magic, or those that resisted its effects completely, they could sense something far more sinister within. "This is domain to the ghosts," Celestia said with full understanding. "This is a place for the dead." "I can sense it as well, princess," Twilight agreed with a frown. "The decay, the drain...it's almost like these trees and illusion of peace are all to hide the death and chill within." "That is exactly what it is doing, Twilight," Absol confirmed as he walked towards the forest ahead of the rest of the group. "And I can sense an incredible amount of spirits resting within. They are not moving around either. It is like they are waiting for us. They know we are coming." "But how could they know that?" Luna asked. "We have not spoken to any others about this plan aside from Twilight and our magical energies have kept the ghosts out of Canterlot since their invasion. There is no possible way that they should know that we are coming." "However they did it, the ghosts know. We can spend time trying to figure out how they know or we can head inside and ask them ourselves," Absol put forward. Before the princesses could begin to argue his point, Absol, along with Limestone and Marble, headed into the forest. "Faust he is insufferable," Celestia muttered before she and the other princesses followed after him. "Do you two have a history with Absol?" Twilight asked the sun and moon. "Luna no, but I have had...near encounters with him," Celestia admitted. "He is crafty and elusive. I learned about him nearly fifteen years ago when he showed up before a massive earthquake claimed a town near the coast. Survivors told me that right before the earthquake struck, they saw a being in white with a scythe like horn appear before them. That was when I first discovered Absol was in our land. He appeared numerous times after that, each time before a large disaster. He actually showed up to some ponies before Nightmare Moon returned." "Have you hunted him all these years?" "...yes. Know this, Twilight, we knew next to nothing about Absol, since he wouldn't talk to us and we couldn't catch him. My advisers and I suspected that he was either responsible for the disasters or he could somehow predict them. We had to know," Celestia said before a smirk crossed his face. "But he was never captured. And until he showed up with you in my throne room, I truly believed that I would never meet him face to face." "I do not like him," Luna spoke, adding herself into the conversation. "He is cold, rude and I can't get a read on him. Then there is the fact that he...is immune to our magic." "Because he's a dark type. That's what he told me," Twilight informed the princesses. "And because he is a dark type he is immune to our magic. That is how it works in his world. Certain types have strengths and weaknesses against one another. He is incredible strong against us and ghosts. That is how he strikes them down so easily." "But he does have weakness?" Luna pressed. "He doesn't like fighters. That was made clear when another pokemon, a fighting type, attacked us. And I think he may not like bugs, but I may be wrong," Twilight said, before she narrowed her eyes and thought. "There may be one others. The way he reacted when he met Pinkie told me...there might be one that he hasn't revealed to anypony. But I have nothing concrete yet." "Are you done talking about me behind my back?" Absol asked, snapping all three sets of heads towards him. "You are correct Twilight. I do not like fighting types. But I can best them. Nor do I like insects. I crush them all the same. Pray that I do not do the same to you." For a brief moment the three princesses narrowed their eyes at the pokemon, up until Limestone smacked him in the back of his head with her hoof. "Why are you acting all menacing like that? Cut it out, it makes you look like a bad guy," she chastised him before smiling back at the princesses. "Ignore him, he only acts like that when he wants to seem tougher than he is. You guys have nothing to fear from him, trust me." "We...will take your word for it," Twilight smiled back weakly. "Must you always sweep my feet out from under me whenever I am trying to be serious?" Absol snapped at Limestone. "Don't give me that. Be threatening to the ghosts, not our allies. This is why you had no friends before you met me," Limestone smirked. "They are not my allies. They have hunted me ever since I arrived in this land. And Luna tried to take over the world once, who is to say that she would not do it again?" Absol asked with a glance back at Luna, one that earned him an elbow in the ribs. "Stop that. Princess Luna is sorry for what she did and is trying to be better. And who are you judging others base on their past? Mr. Disaster Pokemon that never really caused a disaster." "But she did try to take over the world!" "Yes. And now she is reformed. This isn't that hard." "You know, despite being immune to our magic and having powers that I don't comprehend, seeing him like this...makes me less afraid of him," Celestia said with a bit of a chuckle as she watched Limestone and Absol continue to bicker. "Almost makes him seem like a regular pony, doesn't it?" Luna followed up. "Nothing regular about him. He's tolerated my sister far longer than any other pony I know," Marble added on, making the princesses do a double take as they noticed that she was standing next to them. "But I'm happy for my sister. She seems happier ever since she found somepony that she can actually talk to. So please Princesses, know that Absol has done good things since living here." "Do not worry, Marble. I know that we are in Absol's debt. Doesn't mean that i have to like it," Luna grumbled with a small smirked. "Then you will not like this at all." Moments after the voice spoke the ground heaved beneath the princesses, hurling them into the air. Since all three of the princesses had wings, it only took a moment for them to right themselves in the air and look around for the one that had attacked them. Then a scream reached their ears and they realized there had been a pony standing with them that could not fly. Twilight looked down just in time to see the earth open up and swallow Marble within its maw. "NO!" Absol bellowed as his horn crackled with dark power. With a roar he slashed his horn into the spot where Marble had been swallowed, ripping apart the earth and revealing a small cavern that she had been dragged down. Without so much as a word to any of the princesses Absol leaped down into the cavern after her. The princesses barely had begun to shout after him before Limestone followed him down into the earthy depths. Twilight, Celestia and Luna started to fly after them, but at that moment the uncountable number of ghosts that Absol had sensed all appeared out of the forest, encircling the princesses. "Celestia, should we go after Absol?" Twilight asked as all three sets of horns came to life. "He is on his own," Celestia replied, casting a glance towards the ground to see that it sealed itself up once more. She then raised her eyes towards the ghosts, which were tearing across the sky to get at the royals. "For now we most focus on surviving up here. Absol will overcome whatever he faces. We shall have to do the same." Deep beneath the surface of the ground, Absol slid down a long tunnel of dirt and mud, barely able to hear the cries of Marble ahead of him. Despite there being no light whatsoever for him to navigate off of, his night vision was incredible and he was able to tell when he needed to shift or move to keep pace with the earth pony. He could hear cursing and tumbling behind him, telling him that at the very least he wasn't alone in his descent into the depths. A faint light began to shine from the end of his tunnel, telling him that he was hopefully at the end of his descent into the planet. With a single kick off he propelled himself into the air, where he flipped twice before landing on all fours without making a sound. He slowly raised his head to find that he was in a deep cavern, with a single, orange crystal providing what little light there was for him to see with. But even with the little light, he could see enough. Marble was in a coffin of the earth, entombed up to her head in mud and sand. Her panicked eyes glanced towards Absol, the fear on her face clear as day. But then Absol's eyes shifted over to the figure standing next to Marble, a being with a strange face, arms of an animal that Absol didn't recognize and the tail of an Aipom. While Absol may not have known who this being was, he knew that he was trouble. "Ah, Absol. We meet at last," the being said as he slammed his tail on the ground, causing the earth beneath it to ripple. 'A ground type? If so, nothing I can't handle,' Absol thought to himself before he spoke. "You have one chance to release Marble and walk away before I am forced to do harm to you. And believe me, I can do an incredible amount of harm if I so wish." "None of that Absol, you are of little threat to me. I know all about your type and what you're strong against," the being replied. "But where are my manners? I am Ahuizotl. And I am the one that freed Spiral." "Hmm, so that's what happened. Let me guess, you did it for power or treasure," Absol guessed, getting Ahuizotl to chuckle. "Indeed. Spiral promised that if I freed him, he would make me king of Equestria once his ghosts wiped the princesses off the face of Equis," Ahuizotl said with a cackle, before he locked onto Absol with a look of loathing. "And I would be king of the world now if it wasn't for you. For the one being in this land that could fight back against the ghosts. Had you not reared your head, Spiral would have conquered the world and I would be king." "But he became interested in you. In how you fight, in your matchups and how you might be able to beat him. So he experiments, he tinkers, but worst of all he delays. He delays crushing the princesses and bending this world to my will all so that he can continue to observe you. Which means that if I am to ever get my crown!" Ahuizotl roared as he used his new powers to tear chunks of rock out of the ground and levitate them around Absol. "Then you must be exterminated!" "You think that a mere ground type can beat me?" Absol asked with a chuckle, slashing his horn at the rocks and slicing them to pebbles. "You are sorely mistaken. You have no advantage here. I will free Marble and then proceed to bury you deep in the earth you love so much. You have no advantage in this fight. You have none of my weaknesses." "Oh, that is not true at all, Absol. See, you have another weakness besides the fighters, the bugs and the...fairies," Ahuizotl revealed, getting Absol's eyes to widen with terror at the realization that his foe knew of his third weakness. But then he began to wonder what could the other weakness be. "And if I am not mistaken, here she is." Then Limestone tumbled out of the tunnel and landed right on Absol's back.