//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 - Extreme Speed 
// Story: A New World, A New Way - Swarm 
// by Kingofsouls 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 6
Extreme Speed
     



Day 1
Nell and Nalel were many things.
        At this moment, calm was not one of them. The sisters were running around the hole in circles, hoping their act of panic would be some strange rite that would summon Frilly Face and Kor from the mists of the unknown. Surprisingly the other Hordlings simply sat in stunned silence, a rare occurrence for them.
        “Oh no. Oh no. Oh nonononononononononooononononno. “ Nall panicked.” What are we gonna tell Mom and Dad!?”
        “Well I know what we're not telling them.”
        “Really? What?”
        “We're not telling them a giant ant creatures took Kor and Frilly Face followed him! What's Dad going to think that! I'll tell you what he's going to say. He's going to berate us about how we weren’t being responsible! We told him we could be responsible and responsible was the one thing we weren’t!”
        Nall sighed. Her brood sister made a good point. “Okay. You make a good point. When we go back home, we're not going to tell them. But what about Frilly Face? How could Frilly Face shoot lightning out of his head? Lizards can't do that!”
        “Maybe he a magically enhanced lizard? I don't know. Something weird is going on and I'm not sure I like this, with all of these strange creatures just appearing.”
        Her panic was interrupted by the yawn (which had a tone of worry to it) from behind her.
        “Well, mostly not sure.”
        


        “Slow down you stupid thief! I only want to electrocute you!” Inti cursed as she chased the Durant, their captive struggling in vain. After the first small section of tunnel, Inti was surprised at the size of the tunnels: large enough to move in at a brisk pace but not big enough for the almost 3 foot lizard to stand up in. She swore in her thoughts, cursing the Durants for being smaller than her. To her horror, the Durant split up, each going into several different tunnels. Inti gasped for air, then collapsed.
        She wasn't used to running in tunnels.
        


        After resting for a bit, Inti crawled into one of the tunnels, unaware of what she would find. To pass the time, she grumbled and complained about her captor.
        “Well, Inti, you’ve gone and done it. You try to play hero and you lose the little brother.” With a mocking voice, she continued her rant. “'But Inti! If you don't help her, she won't like you anymore.' Ah, who needs her anyway! I ain't no pet. I'm Inti of ShadowFox Construction. I build. I fight. I do everything except be a pet.
        “I swear, when I get the kid back she owes me big time for this. Big time. Like a new name. I mean, I'm a fighter. A warrior even. I ain't no Frilly Face. No self respecting warrior is called Frilly Face! No one must ever know. Especially Apocalypse. If no one is to ever know, I will make sure he never knows it at all costs.
        “Aaaaand I'm talking to myself. Geez, I'm not that far off the deep end, am I?”
        Then, Inti thanked Arceus as she saw a light at the end of the tunnel. She ran towards it, and glared at what she saw.
        The good news is that the area she waltzed into was a large chamber, which was thankfully spacious enough for her to stand up in. Several holes littered the ceiling, providing pillars of sunlight to filter into the normally dark and dank underground labyrinth. The bad news is that it was crawling with Durant. The ant Pokémon crawled to and fro, hither and thither, going back and forth doing what Durants do. Many of them were simply carrying supplies, ranging from food to lumber.
        Weird. What do Durant need wood for?
        As if to answer her question, a section of tunnel near it's appropriate entrance collapsed on a duo of Durant. The two ant's easily dug their way out while another team brought wood to reinforce the walls of the tunnel in question.
        Well, that's a good answer.
        Scanning the area, she quickly found what she was looking for: The Durant whom took Kor, the little changeling making small struggling movements in the jaws of his captors. At a glance, he was alright, but being captured by someone you didn't really know always left you with a chill of horror running down your spine.
        Inti shuddered as she thought that. All pokémon had to come to grips with the prospect of being captured by a human, a stranger that comes out of the blue. Thankfully her trainer X had been a pretty nice guy, treating her like a friend rather than a scaled tool once he did catch her. Though to be honest she didn't make it easy for him.
        She shook the thoughts out of her head. She had a rescue to do.
        


        Inti carefully traversed the awkward angles of the ground, being careful not to be seen. Again cursing Naruto's sneaky nature and tactics being the only viable tactic at the time, the lizard followed Kor's captors. Time crawled to a standstill as Inti tailed her targets, going into tunnel after tunnel avoiding several close calls.
        Finally, the captors stopped in a large chamber with many connecting tunnels, a dozen Durant surrounding the captive. Kor was dropped with a thud on his rump as a Durant went to a pile of wood planks. The Durant grasped a piece in its jaws and brought him to him while two more Durant grabbed a second piece. Curiously, the changeling looked as his captor with a strange look in his eye, as if to ask his captor “What do you expect me to do with this?”
        The two Durant with the plank approached a tunnel while a third Durant, already in the tunnel, used it's jaws to dig a small indent in the top of the tunnel, clinging to the wall with it's six legs. The two workers then worked together, one climbing the wall to do so, to place the plank in place. Another team of Durant then started to push dirt behind what little unfilled space there was behind the plank.
        Kor nodded hesitantly, understanding what the Durant wanted him to do. He marched towards a plank, and grabbed in in this mouth, dragging it slowly towards the walls. In response, a Durant snapped its jaws at the child, Kor yelping in surprise, and cowering behind a rock that was not there, hoping to fool the Durant.
        The Durant growled as it gnashed it's jaws again, when a bolt of lightning struck the Durant, knocking it back into a wall of the chamber with enough force to embed him in the dirt. The ants turned around and noticed Inti atop one of the several piles of dirt.
        “Okay bugs, listen up!” Inti shouted defiantly, the electric energy dancing anger. “I woke up in the middle of who knows where, I got adopted by two crazy people who insist on treating me like a Furfrou, they call me something unflattering that shall never be spoken of again, and now you start stealing stuff including those crazy ladies kid brother. Please allow me the pleasure of taking my frustrations out on your collective asses! THUNDER!” With a crash of sound and thunder, another bolt of thunder impacted the Durant, the insect flying across the room and ending up next to the last unlucky Durant.
        As one, the Durant ran towards the intruder, the lizard screaming a battle cry as she ran towards the enemy. “THUNDER WAVE!” the lizard shouted. At her command a soft wave of thunder shot from her, striking two of the attackers. Lighting coursed through their bodies causing their muscles to stiffen, their pace reduced to a crawl. Then, another Thunder wave shot out, striking three more.
        The seven remaining Durant charged the Heliolisk, Inti leaping over them and landing in the middle of their formation, striking the face of a Durant with her tail, causing it to stumble back in confusion.
        As one, the horde of Durant lowered their heads, a metal sheen shining across them, charging Inti. As the ant's closed in, Inti leapt into the air. The Durant slammed into the others heads, the sound of metal scraping together causing Inti to cover her head to block out the sound as she descended from the air, and young Kor to cower even more.
        “Seriously, a Steel type attack against a li'l old Electric Type like me? I'd use a 'you're so dumb' joke, but that would be insulting to Apocalypse.” Inti jested. She then put a finger on her chin. “Oh wait. I usually do that to Apocalypse anyway! You guys are so dumb you make Rocks look intelligent!”
        A sudden impact to her back stopped her insults. Inti felt to the ground as the three of the paralyzed Durant jumped her from behind, screeching as they did so.
        “You think that will stop me!?” Inti taunted. One of the Durant that Iron Headed it's ally marched up to her, a vicious look in it's red eyes. Inti took notice of the Durant and narrowed her eyes. “Just so you know, I regret nothing. Thunder.”
        Lightning danced around her, shocking the mob on her back into falling off, then fired the Thunder into the face of the approaching Durant. The thunder hit Durant head on, the attack knocking it out as it collapsed. The other Durant charged again as Inti stood up to face them. The lizard then shouted “THUNDER!” as more Thunders shot from her, striking each of the Durant that approached, taking each one out one by one.
        Sighing a sigh of relief, Inti turned to Kor, the changeling gazing up at his savior. Inti motioned to him, and the changeling soon rose and approached the lizard.
        “Almighty, lets get the hell...”
        The tunnel Inti had just come out of collapsed.
        “...out of here. Whatever, lets find another way out.”
        Inti then marched into a different tunnel with Kor in pursuit.
        In their haste to leave, Inti and Kor didn't notice that there were only ten Durant sprawled unconscious, with two pairs of eyes spying on the intruders in the shadows of another tunnel.
        


        “Okay Chesnaught Naught, we're almost there. Only about an hour more of travel.”
        “That's what she said an hour ago.” X deadpanned.
        “It feels like forty minutes to me.”
        “Really Azisa? We're really going there?” X said with a chuckle. “You almost sounded like Inti right there with the snark.”
        “No I really mean it. It feels like forty minutes to me.” Azisa sighed.
        “Well in any case we should keep moving.”
        “I'm going to assume you said something encouraging.” Nell told her steed. X cracked a smile at the creature's strange ability to understand the gist of what he and his team was saying. “In the meantime, I'm going to check on Anteater and the others.”
        With a flutter of her wings, Nell leapt off of the Chesnaught and hovered in front of Anteater, whom was taking residence on the sled Apocalypse was pulling. The dinosaur grumbled as he pulled the sled, sad that he had to be gentle and go slow.
        “How are you holding up Anteater.”
        “Considering a wild animal in the forest tried to eat me and apparently failed, I think I would be in the mild discomfort range.” He ended the sentence with a wince of pain.
        “I wouldn't call it mild discomfort.”
        “Okay, so I have a bad poker face. Kinda hard to have one when your barrel feels likes its a broken jigsaw puzzle.”
        With a glance Nell looked at the other wounded members of Anteater's company. Since Nell, Chesnaught Naught, Treve Trev, and Tyrunt Runt Runt. The four of them were feeling better, considering what they went through, but not quite at full strength. They lay on their sleds, Anteater being the only one strong enough to be in a sitting position.
        “Just....hang on.”
        


        A book was angrily closed as it's reader fumed. “Problems with the translation spell?” a voice said from outside Hira's study as it's owner walked into the room.
        Hira looked as her husband as she levitated her glasses off of her muzzle, the glasses landing next to a lamp while a pencil was levitated in it's stead. “The problem is that doesn't seem to be a problem.”
        “Uh......I may not be a scholar like you but isn't that a bit of a paradox?”
        “Yes and no. The spell is working correctly. Everything the spell does is being done correctly. The problem is I can't seem to translate the words correctly.” She pointed the pencil at her subject, a small sunflower seed with a face and a sprout coming out of it's head. The creature replied with a small squeak of “Sunkern!”
        “That bad huh?”
        “Watch.” The changeling mare's horn glowed, and a familiar aura surrounded the seed. “Okay Sunny. Can you tell me what you are thinking right now?”
        “Watashi wa ima dewa o yatsu o motsu koto ga dekimasu?”
        “See? At the very least, I've managed the spell to pick a language and stick with it.”
        “Well, I do know a little Neighponese.” Citel remarked, sitting next to his wife.
        “What did Sunny say?”
        “Something about a snack.”
        “Well, I promised Sunny some food if I could experiment on her.”
        “You sure it's a her?”
        “I assume so. Sunny are you a girl?”
        “Hai” The Sunkern responded.
        “She said yes.”
        “Well that's good to know.” The teacher slid deeper into her seat, sighing as she ended the spell. “At the very least, I'm married to a translator.”
        “I honestly don't know how to respond to that.” Citel laughed, Sunny joining in on the laughter. “Really, though. I think you need to step back and think from a different angle.”
        “That's good to know.” Hira sighed. “Maybe your right. I could use a break. Maybe use the translation spell on those audiobooks you got from Canida.”
        “Honestly I'm surprised that the Diamond Dogs don't have that many books to begin with. Most of them prefer audio books.”
        “And it's rather annoying to translate them....wait. That give me an idea.”
        “An idea?”
        “What if I cast two translation spells? One to translate whatever Sunny is saying to Neighponese, then another to translate that to Equish?”
        “A double translation? You're the expert here. Think you can do it?”
        “I just need to do my research. I think I can do it.”
        Then, coming from the living room, the sound of a opening door rang through the house, followed by a voice. “Mom, Dad, we're back!”
        “How was the market kids?” Citel shouted to the kids in the other room, taking a sip of coffee.
        “We most certainly did not in any way lose Kor and Frilly Face because giant ants made of metal kidnapped them.”
        The cup Citel had in this grip fell to the ground in a crash, the coffee inside it spreading across the carpet as he spit out the coffee in surprise and horror.
        “GIANT ANTS KIDNAPPED KOR AND FRILLY FACE!?”
        “We said that didn't happen!”
        


        In the silence of the tunnels, a Thunder shot through the empty space, light illuminating the tunnel then fading as quickly as it was created. As the light faded and darkness returned, Inti and Kor ran through the darkened tunnel, followed by several angry Durant, each of them snapping their jaws.
        Inti wasn't really sure just how the entire colony was alerted to her entering the colony uninvited, nor how they discover Kor's attempted escape.
        Inti would figure the answers out later when they weren’t in immediate danger.
        “Faster little guy! I see an exit!”
        The duo charged into the entrance, and skid to a stop once they saw what they saw.
        The entire room, a rather large room with many small light holes in the ceiling was filled with Durant. And oddly there was a few Venipede mixed in, the pokémon being a small magenta armored bug with a green thorax. A black marking that looked like the letter Y was just behind it's head, which bore two antenna. Their yellow eyes glared at the Electric Normal pokémon as her face fell.
        “ARCEUS DAMN IT!”
        


        Far away, in Equestria's Everfree Forest, in a temple that stood for ages in a world abandoned by it's god, Arceus turned his head towards the ceiling. His daughter Mew hovered around his head, seeing him apparently try to hear something only he could hear.
        “Dad? Something wrong?”
        “No sweetie. Just thought I heard something.”
        


        “SERIOUSLY, HOW MANY OF YOU ARE THERE!? YOU BREED LIKE BUNNLEBYS!”
        The bugs ignored her question, several of the Venipede curling up into balls and rolling towards the intruder and prisoner while the rest of them charged. Inti concentrated, and twin strands of grass grew from the ground between her and the attackers. “Grass Knot!”
        The grass then grew towards the other strand and then tied themselves into a knot, then stretched apart, tightening the trip they made. It worked, as one of the Venipede ran into the Grass Knot and rolled out of its Rollout, sliding on the ground in pain and surprised. The other two continued in their assault, Inti dodging one and getting stuck by the other, sliding across the ground into a wall. The Heliolisk recovered and jumped out of the way as the rolling Venipede attacked again, crashing into the wall and somehow getting stuck.
        “Just great, me against the horde. Gotta get out of there and fast, but how!? A horde in front of me, more from behind. It's not like I can just Dig my way out.”
        A screech tore Inti from her thoughts, the lizard barely noticing a screaming Durant charging towards her, the Durant breaking away from the pack to get the jump on her. The Electric lizard roared at the ant as the ant leapt towards her, and sunk it's jaws into her. Rearing up in pain, Inti fired the Thunder, the electric attack soaring through the sky and striking the ceiling. Screaming, Inti balled her fist and punched the Durant in the eye, the Steel Bug releasing its grip as it moaned in pain. Without a moment to lose Inti fired a Thunder point blank, the Durant launched into the crowd of charging bugs, scattering several of the Durant, though the vast majority of them just kept charging. Inti scanned the room, the fear she was feeling being feed to Kor, the small changeling choking in surprise and disgust of the emotion he was consuming.
        “Okay. Little guy. I think I'm out of.....” Inti tone was full of defeat as her sentence trailed off into silence, the lizard's eyes ending up glaring at the impact of the stray Thunder. The bolt had struck near one of the light holes, the beam of sunlight widened due to the angle of the impact.
        “Idea.”
        “GRASS KNOT!” Inti shouted with such power that the Durant slowed their assault for a split second, the resultant Grass Knot bursting from the ground, the blade of grass much longer and thicker than the last Knot. With deft moment Inti ripped the Grass Knot out of the ground, and threw one end to Kor. “GRAB ON!”
        Despite the language barrier, Kor figured out what Inti had asked of him and grabbed the Grass Knot. As soon as he did so Inti wrapped the grass around her hand and leapt onto the wall, Inti surprisingly able to dig her hand in the wall with ease. Thankful for the dirt being rather soft Inti climbed up the wall with ease, Kor flapping his wings to hover near her. The Durant and Venipede stopped the charge as they approached the wall, the Durant chasing the duo through the tunnel merging at this moment. Without a moment to lose, Into turned her neck towards her mark and shouted “THUNDER!”, the lighting sailing through he sky and striking the mark. Dirt fell from the cloud of dust that exploded into existence, widening the hole.
        Needless to say , all present stopped what they were doing, and simply looked at the Heliolisk, then her mark, then the Heliolisk again. “AGAIN!” The Thunder sailed again, blasting more of the hole away. Within moments a third Thunder following it's brother to the same point followed by a fourth.
        Suddenly, one Venipede eyes widened as it realized what Inti was planning. “SHE'S TRYING TO MAKE A TUNNEL OUT OF THE COLONY! STOP HER!” The Durant roared as the ones closest to the walls began to climb up it, their feet suited for climbing in such a manner.
        “Time to go!” Inti shouted. Quickly Inti climbed up the wall, hoping the dirt in the ceiling would be just as soft as the dirt in the wall, Kor flailing in the air as he held on for dear life.
        Somehow, Inti managed to grip the ceiling, the weight of Kor valiant in it's attempt to make her lose her grip. With gritted teeth, Inti advanced while Kor held on for dear life, the Durant climbing on the walls and ceiling in all directions as a giant side of glinting steel and gnashing jaws.
        Inti cursed the speed of the ants were surprisingly fast. Then, with a last burst of power, Inti charged towards the hole with a Thunder arching across her head. He made it to the hole, aimed, and fired another Thunder, widening the hole enough for her and Kor to enter. “Grab my tail!”
        Without an argument, Kor released his grip, his tiny wings keeping him in the air long enough to bite Inti's tail, Inti wincing as he bit down. “That hurts but whatever. We are outta here!”
        With a final push of willpower, Inti climbed into the now wide enough hole, Kor barely squeezing into the hole. The Durant swarmed the hold, gnashing, following the escapees one by one.
        


        X pondered the situation as the party marched towards the mysterious home of the little lady, and decided to recap the situation.
        He woke up in a strange land far away from Laverre City with a Blitzle shaped bug with wings that talked in English, with the irony of him behind unable to speak English back despite knowing the language. In addition, he had taken the form of Chesnaught, which was the reason behind the inability to speak his own language.
        In addition, Inti and Naruto were unaccounted for, Azisa and Apocalypse having found him shortly after he woke up. Hopefully Inti hadn't gotten into too much trouble, as the Heliolisk was a scrapper: She enjoyed getting into fights.
        All in all, it was a very stressful day.
        “I'm bored!”
        “Shush Apocalypse” Azisa mothered the Rock Dragon, Apocalypse grumbling again.
        “But I'm bored! And I'm kinda tired! I don't wanna do this anymore.” To illustrate his point, Apocalypse stopped moving, his passengers glaring daggers at him.
        “Hey, move it you scaled moron!”
        X and Azisa stopped their advance was well, Azisa twisting her head around ( the sight of that alone causing the jeering Changeling to shut up in shock and horror), raising her aim in a gesture to science the jeering changeling.
         “Apocalypse, we need to keep moving. “
        “I don't want to. All day we've been walking and walking and I don't want to walk anymore. I quit.”
        Azisa completely turned around, and started to approach the misbehaving Tyrunt when X's arm intercepted her. She looked up at X, the former human having set down the vines he was using to pull the sled, shaking his head while Nell looked on with a worried and confused expression on her face.
        X knelt down to face Apocalypse, his eyes narrowed, stern but still kind. “Tired?”
        “Kinda. More bored than anything.”
        “Well, once we finish we can relax for a bit and unwind before we look for answers for why I'm now a pokémon, and why we got there.”
        “BUT I DON'T WANNA!” The Tyrunt shouted.
        “Well, why not think of the situation in a different manner. “
        “Like what?”
        “How about you think of this as a job Apocalypse.” X countered. “Remember the number one rule I tell you where we're working on buildings and making houses and statues and all of those other jobs?”
        “The job comes first.”
        “Exactly. Little Lady is depending on us to help her friends, and if we slack off these, uh beings might wind up in a worse state than when we found them.”
        “Are they gonna pay us? Because if it's a job then we get paid and then we get fun things.”
        “Well, uh no.” X rubbed the back of his head, Nell scootching back a bit to avoid the arm. “We're not getting paid. Not this time.”
        Obviously, this was the last thing Apocalypse wanted to hear. “Then it's not a job...”
        “But it is a job. See, when you help other people, it's a job. And when people are relying on you, you can't just quit in the middle of the job. You'll let them down and in the end, nothing good happens.”
        “Well, I don't like this job.”
        “Not every job we take is one we like. Remember the time when we were making that one tree house with the fountain outside it?” Apocalypse nodded and X continued. “Remember how bossy that guy was, wanting everything done with the super expensive rock for the fountain instead of the rocks that actually useful? Among other things?”
        “I remember. He wasn't very nice.”
        “No he wasn't. But we kept working until the job was done, trying to get it done the way he wanted it to. We might not enjoy every job we do, and we might not be able to do what we want to while doing it, but when we do take a job, we see it through to the end.”
        “Even if the other guy isn't nice?”
        “Even if the other guy isn't nice.”
        A moment passed, the air tense. Then, Apocalypse got to his feet, and roared. “Okay. Not bored now! Lets go!”
        “That's my Tyrunt!” X shouted with joy. He marched towards this sled, Azisa holding the vines in her hand. 
“What a speech.” she whispered to her trainer.
        “He's a kid. All he needed was a little pep talk.” X said as he grabbed the vine. “Ready to go?”
        “Indeed friend. Let's get going. We don't want something to jump out of the trees and ambush us.”
        As if Azisa asked the universe to do such a thing, a bolt of lightning visible from among the trees burst out of the ground, causing X to stumble and fall down backwards, thankfully missing the sled. “What the!?”
        “What was that!?” Nell shouted, point a hoof at the thunder, which at this point had just dissipated. “It was lightning, and it came out of the ground!? Doesn't it go the other way!?”
        “Yes, yes it does.” X and Azisa echoed
        Another thunder flew from the ground, tearing it up as it flew into the air and faded from existence. Azisa marched forwards toward the lighting, X choosing to remain on the ground, while Nell flew off of X and flew alongside the tree spirit.
        The duo approached the area in question, a hole torn through the ground. “Huh. Weird.”
        Then, as suddenly a head popped out of the hole, quickly crawling out of the hole. The tree and changeling gasped as the creature, a Heliolisk crawled out of the hole. She was panting and heaving, clearly out of breath and holding a rope that looked like it was a very long blade of grass.
        Nell glared at the lizard, the creature falling to the ground unconscious. Azisa narrowed her single eye, curious. Pokémon, especially those whom had above average senses of smell, often used scent as a form of identification in addition to eyesight. Often scent was more accurate considering many Pokémon look almost identical compared to members of their own evolutionary families.
        Yet scent could be fooled. The Heliolisk smelt like underground musk mixed with the smell of steel overpowering the familiar scent of a friend, to the point of being confused as to the identity of the Heliolisk.
        “Treve Trev?” Nell turned her head to the Trevenant. “Do you know this....person?”
        Azisa almost nodded. The Heliolisk looked so familiar, felt so familiar. There was only one was to be sure. Carefully, Azisa lifted the frill of the Heliolisk, and lightly moved her fingers across the neck.
        Almost immediately the Heliolisk cracked a small smile, and her tail started to slightly swing left and right.
        “Inti?”
        Before Nell could make a failed attempt at translation, a second figure floated out of the hole. It was a changeling like her, but much smaller with green colorings instead of yellow. He also want panting, gasping for breath as he felt to the ground.
        Nell was in shock. “KOR!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?”
        The changeling foal looked up, and saw his big brood sister and Azisa. With a burst of energy and a scared whimper he leapt into Azisa, the changeling blending into the ghostly aspects of Azisa quite well. Azisa was less than pleased at the invasion of her personal bubble, trying and failing to remove the little insect.
        Nell gazed at her brother hiding in the ghost. His expression told Nell everything she needed to know: her little brother was terrified of something, and wa hiding in the tree hoping whatever he was running from would just turn around and go away.
        “Kor, what happened back there?”
        Nell quickly got her answer. A third entity burst from the hole, an ant made of metal that made a screeching sound of scratching metal announcing its arrival. The three beings present screamed in horror as a second ant followed, whom was followed by a third. Without a moment to lose, Azisa picked up the Heliolisk and immediately turned and ran, Nell nipping at her heels.
        Nell did not know what kind of creatures they were, but it didn't take an expert to realize what was happening as the number of emerging ants rose exponentially.
        


        Apocalypse smiled as he sat and waited. After all the walking he was finally getting to take a break and just sit and relax. X was standing near his sled, his passengers looking around the jungle.
        “Honestly, you'd think checking lightning falling up wouldn't take so long.” X told Apocalypse. “...I just realized how odd that sounded.”
        “In my opinion, the longer they take, the longer we wait, and that means the longer I get to take a break and rest up.”
        “Well hopefully they'll come running back and we can get back on track.”
        Then, Azisa, Nell, and two newcomers (one slung over Azisa's shoulder, or at least the closest thing she has to a shoulder) the other a bug similar to the other five hiding in the trunk that formed her legs came running back, their eyes widen and faces horrified. Before X could question them Nell leapt onto her steed of the day, whom was surprisingly followed by Azisa leaping onto her trainer. X lurched forward a bit, the weight of Azisa the cause. Apocalypse laughed as he got up, the four changeling warriors looking at the tree in a worried manner, as if they knew what was happening. “Uh Azisa, apparently you're a hugger now.”
        “RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”
        X's following question was stern and demanding. “Okay, what happened back there?”
        Then a metal ant leapt out of the brush, screeching a battle cry loud enough to wake a Snorlax from it's Rest. As quickly as the Durant made it's intent clear, Apocalypse slammed his head into the Durant, the Earthquake attack embedding the attacker into the ground, shatter marks similar to that of an impact crater snaking from underneath the Durant.
        “...right. Explanations later.”
        X and Apocalypse then ran, following the road and hoping that the end of the road would protect them as a small tide of steel burst from the treeline as if it was a broken dam, threatening to engulf all in it's path without the slightest thought of mercy.
        


        Through the jungle X and Apocalypse dragged the sleds holding the wounded changelings, each of them holding on for dear life. Behind them, a swarm of Durant relentlessly followed them, and were slowly gaining.
        “ANY IDEAS!?” Azisa screamed as she held on to X, the human-turned-pokèmon beginning to wheeze and gasp for breath.
        “Getting... off of me....would be a good start!”
        “X, I'm a tree. I wouldn't be able to keep pace if I ran instead of clinging to you.”
        “Well, then I don't have any ideas!”
        “But you're the idea guy!” Apocalypse shouted, the tiny tyrant, currently right beside his trainer with his sled bobbing to the left and right as Apocalypse ran.
        “Well, yea but...
        “THEN THINK OF SOMETHING!?”
        “Yeah, I'll just think of a plan while a small army of Durant are chasing me with the intent of grievously harming all of us. No pressure, right!?”
        “Apocalypse has a point. We need a plan and a plan now.”
        X grumbled, sometimes hating the fact that he was the one expected to think of every plan the team used. Then again, he was the leader, and it was his job to do just that. He just wished right now he wasn't being chased by a horde of pokémon who were by nature very territorial.
        “If only we could slow them down without losing any momentum! But it would be easy if I wasn't under all of this pressure. Geez, breaking construction rule number four would be easier than this right now!” X shouted.
        “Remind me again, what rule is that?” Apocalypse asked innocently.
        “Never build a house on sand. The weak foundation would be shaky and eventually any strong impact would make it fall down and be just a pile of broken wood.” Then his eyes widened. “Wait, that could work! Azisa, Apocalypse, I have a plan!”
         “And all is right in the world!”
        “Not now Apocalypse.” chastised X, the Tyrunt grumbling. “Azisa, I want you and Little Lady to shoot as many Will-O-Wisps and Ice Beams at the trees as possible ahead of us to weaken them.”
        “Will-O-Wisp doesn't work like that!”
        “It's fire right? I hoping that if we mix fire and ice, it might weaken the trees enough so they would fall down with a strong enough impact. Like an Earthquake. And even if the Will-O-Wisp doesn't work that way, it's the only way I think we can convince Little Lady to do it since we're having a failure to communicate.”
        “I approve of the Earthquake part!” Apocalypse shouted. He gnashed his teeth, hoping to strike soon.
        “But what about the other sled!”
        “We'll just hand the vine to me and I'll drag both of them myself to free up Apocalypse.”
        “The vine is tied around his waist!”
        X mentally face palmed. He had forgotten about that. “Crap. Looks like we're gonna double up on passengers.”
        “X, that's a bit of extra weight there. Think you can handle it, friend?”
        “Pretty sure. Make it happen!”
        Azisa then turned to Apocalypse's passengers, and mimed jumping from one sled to the other, hoping the message would not be lost in translation.
        “Boss, the tree is telling us something!”
        Anteater narrowed his eyes, watching Azisa mime. “I think it wants you to join us on the sled.”
        “But sir...”
        “Trust me. I think they have a plan.”
        The two changelings nodded, and weakly jumped to the other sled, their weakened wings granting them enough push to leap across. Azisa smiled on the inside, and then turned to Nell. “Treve Trev, what are you doing?” she asked. Azisa did not respond,, only pointing at several of the trees near the side of the road. “I hope this works. Will-O-Wisp!”
        At her command, the purple orbs shot out of her hand, flying to her targets. The fire danced around the impact points, but did little other than that. “Uh, Treve Trev. What are you doing?” Nell asked, a whimper of fear in her voice. Azisa turned her head, and pointed at Nell's horn, then at the trees.
        “Wait...you want me to help you?” Azisa nodded in agreement, Nell's expression turning sour. “I dunno...it sounds really important, and I'm not that good at magic. Are you sure you need me?”
        Azisa then pointed behind her, her eye narrowed and clearly not happy with Nell's response. She looked behind her, and saw the approaching horde, which had apparently gotten bigger the last time she looked. “...Right. Well, here goes.”
        Nell took a deep breath, and got into a good position to shoot. “Ready?”
        Azisa said nothing as she took aim. Nell gulped, then focused as her horn was covered in frost again. Then, the changeling and Grass Ghost fired their magic and ghost fire, the two attacks flowing through the air and striking the trees. The Will-O-Wisps did little, but the Ice Beams covered the trees with a nice layer of frost. Continuing the assault, Azisa fired more Will-O-Wisps at the farthest trees within range, with Nell tentatively mimicking her. Again the two attacks danced in the air and struck their targets.
        By the time the pokémon and changelings ran past the frost flamed trees, the bases of the trees were lined frost with the wisps of ghost flame underneath them, the Durant were closing in. “NOW APOCALYPSE!”
        At his trainers command, Apocalypse skid to a stop and turned to face the approaching horde of Durant, the empty sled whipping behind him, nicking X's tail. Apocalypse then roared to the heavens, raising his head as high as he could as many of the Durant sped up and broke from the pack, intent on landing the first blow.
        “Earthquake!” Apocalypse slammed his head into the ground, the ground shattering as shock waves ripped through the earth. The force of the impact was enough to shatter the frozen trees, and just as the Durant were but five paces away from the Rock Dragon, the trees fell, crushing many of the Durant under the trees. At this the horde stopped the advance, concern for their allies outweighing any hatred of their enemies.
        Apocalypse then ran towards his trainer, leaving the crushed ants to their own devices.
        


        At long last, Nell gazed upon the wooden walls of her home, the strong wood separating the wilds from the city. Changelings walked the top of the wall, the sentinels patrolling the wall with diligence.
        X slumped to the ground, panting for breath as he stand on the ground, thankful that the Durant had apparently given up pursuing them. “Well, today is turning out to be rather exhilarating huh?”
        Apocalypse felt to the ground alongside his trainer. “Speak for yourself, I'm tired.”
        “Indeed.” Azisa agreed, sliding off the back of her trainer and landing on the ground with a thud. “Almost reminds me of the...”
        “Don't go there...” X wheezed. Nell had taken the time to fly up to the sentinels, two of them pointing their spears at her.
        A moan was heard as this was happening, the Heliolisk stirring from slumber. Azisa set the Heliolisk down, Kor (whom was still inside Azisa) leaning forward. The lizard slowly opened her eyes, gazing at the pokémon gathered around her. “Azisa?”
        “Inti?”
        “Azisa!”
        “Inti!”
        “Azisa!”
        “ME!!”
        Sigh. “Apocalypse.”
        “Me again!”
        “Apocalypse....”
        “Me again again!”
        “Apocalypse, just stop.” Inti sighed. “I just recovered from being unconscious. Please don't send be back there so soon.”
        “That's Inti alright.” X chucked at the feisty response. “Glad to see ya.”
        “Uh....I don't know you.”
        “It's me, Inti.”
        Inti stared at the Chesnaught. “....X? What happened to you. You got....bigger.”
        “I honestly do not know, and I am not entirely sure how it happened. I fell asleep doing the finances and then I woke up in the middle of the jungle. Thankfully Little Lady found me.” X pointed to his rescuer, whom was still talking to the guards.
        Azisa's eye honed in on the guards. “Think they'll let us in?”
        “I don't see why not.” X answered. “I mean, we're not dangerous so they should let us in.”
        


        “Look, lady, you and your wounded can come in but the captain of the guard made it very clear when he said none of those things get in the city after what happened earlier today.” One of the guards, his voice deep and gruff, a perfect fit for a profession such as his, was trying to convince the little changeling to see things his way. The other simply stood there in silence, letting his partner do all the talking.
        “But they're friends of mine. The lizard helped my little brother, and the others help us escape from whatever those things were when they tried to kill us.” Nell counters. The guard didn't look convinced, and pointed his spear at the biped hedgehog, the tree, the lizard, and the bigger lizard that looked like it was carved from a rock.
        “They don't look friendly.”
        “And our species doesn't?”
        The guard that to think about that one. “Look, I'll talk to the captain, but I'm not so sure he'll change his mind. What was your name again?”
        “Nell.”
        “Well then, as I said I'll see what I can do. Off with you then, and good day.”
        Nell flew back to her new friends, feeling somewhat dejected, and returned to the group.
        


        “Apocalypse....”
        “No really, as you sure it's Inti?” Apocalypse replied. It was obvious that Apocalypse was planning something. “It could be Naruto. Or a Ditto.”
        “I hate to say it. The Rock makes a point.”
        “That's something Inti would say.” X smirked. Apocalypse clearly wasn't buying it.
        “Well, maybe she could tell us only something she knows. Like say, a certain Incident.”
        Inti snapped at the Rock, slapping him in the face. “I am not telling anyone, especially you Apocalypse, about the Volcarona Incident.”
        “But I wanna know!” Apocalypse moaned, then bit his tongue. “I mean, yes. Yes you will tell us. Especially me.”
        “Knock it off Apocalypse, she's proved she Inti already. Drop it.” Apocalypse mumbled as his trainer stopped yet another attempt at him learning what the mystery of the Volcarona Incident was. As Apocalypse was about to whine again, Nell flew down to the group, looking somewhat detected. She didn't say a word, simply sitting on her haunches, and gazing at the mighty wall.
        


        Several minutes had passed, which had somehow turned into a massive free for all game of connect the dots, with Nell choosing to relax on X again while Anteater and his mean simply watched.
        Inti was winning by a considerable margin, with made Apocalypse more pouty than usual.
        Meanwhile, the two sentinels had returned to their post guarding the wall and entrance alongside their captain, a burly changeling with bright orange mane, tail, and chitin. He gazed at the pokémon present, and then spoke. “For the last fifteen minutes those creatures have yet to make a move.” The captain spoke, a accent that was a thick and heavy accent of Stalliongrad.
        “So, are they harmless sir?”
        “Nothing is ever truly harmless. We as changelings should know this.” He narrowed his eyes, gazing at the large armored green one. “Especially that one.”
        The deep voiced guard said nothing, miming his silent friend as the captain continued. “I am allowing them passage past the wall and into the city. But I want an eye on them. I sense a great power within him. Those ants, well we have seen ants before so we had a general idea of what they could do. But him? I feel a force within him, one that is kept under control. A force that wishes to remain that way. I shudder to think that would happen if he were to unleash it.
        “Keep a close eye on him.”
        


        The doors opened unceremoniously, Apocalypse being the first to notice. He cheered and got up first and ran towards the doors, the wooden passage practically calling him as he left the others behind him. Getting up slowly, as he was still not used to the added weight and the tail, X smiled. “See. Told ya. All it took was a few games of connect the dots.”
        Inti shuddered. “Wait...I just realized something.” She pointed at Kor, who was clapping his hooves in joy. “We need to return him.”
        “What did you do?” Azisa scolded the Electric Normal pokémon, Inti feeling smaller now that Azisa had gone into her mother mode.
        “I didn't do anything this time, I swear!” Inti defended. “I was rescuing him from some Durant who just appeared and started making a mess of things. It took a bit longer than I thought.”
        “So....why the bad vibes.”
        “Because I need to stay away from his sisters.” Inti moaned. “It was....different. And not exactly in a fun way.”
        “....uh....”
        “I'm not talking about it X. It wounds me.”
        “fair enough. Lets get these guys to a Center or something.” Dragging the injured, X and his team entered the city behind the wooden wall. They barely took three steps into the city when they stopped and gazed in wonder, the walls closing nonchalant behind them.
        Tree houses.
        Hundreds of them.
        X had a plan, one of many, where he and his team would go on a trip to the Hoenn region for a vacation, mostly to vacate from the day to day chore known as being a construction worker, and partially to exchange the glory hounds of Kalos seeking him so they could battle him for an easy victory against the not so legendary legend of Jacob Arrow, son of Silas and Morgan Arrow for the trainers of Hoenn whom would hopefully battle him for fun and practice instead of glory (he still would have said no, but at least they accepted the definition of no as “no” instead of whatever the challenger wanted to say.)
        The main destination would have been Fortree City, a forest town with several tree houses for the residents to live in. That reason alone was why X had wanted to go, with the Feather Festival, a festival to celebrate the Flying type was an added bonus.
        Compared to the pictures X had shown this team, comparing Fortree City to this city was the same as comparing a pie from a fast food joint to one you would find at the Ritz: Similar, but not quite the same.
        “It...it's....beautiful.” X sniffled, tears coming down his face. Apocalypse and Azisa did the same, the three of them overwhelmed by the majesty of the city bound by trees. “If this is a dream, I hope I never wake up, and if I do wake up I wish I could come back to this moment in every future dream.”
        “The majesty of the forest and the wonders of urban sprawl, combined in a form such as this...” Azisa whipped a shadowy tear from her eye as she gazed alongside her trainer. “I never thought it would be real.”
        “I'm not tired anymore. The prettiness made it go away.”
         “Eh.” All pokémon eyes turned to Inti, the lizard looking mildly confused as the sudden focus given to her. “What? They're houses in trees. They're not to different from the ones we build.”
        “You take that back.” X commanded.
        “Uh, Chesnaught Naught...” X perked up at the sound of Nell's voice, the changeling tapping him on the head to get his attention. “The hospital's that way.”
        X took a look at where Nell's was pointing, a long stretch of residential treehouse buildings towering over their land bound counterparts that occasionally split into a side road. Changelings and pokémon littered the ground and air, most of the changelings getting along with the pokémon quite well, while several of the more insectoid pokémon present were staring down obviously angry changelings.
        “Oh right. That.” X chuckled as he marched, wading through the stubborn tide of changelings and pokémon. “Wait...doesn't she mean Center? Because hospitals are for people. Right?”
        Inti shrugged, the motion serving as her answer to the question.
        


        It didn't take the team very long to find the hospital, as it was the tallest building in town that wasn't a tree house. The building was made of the same substance of the tree houses, with some traditional materials like wood and brick thrown in, making the ascetic a little hard on the eyes. This made X a little upset as they left the hospital, nurses quickly pouring out of the hospital's doors to escort the wounded inside it's hollowed halls.
        “If they can make a city out of....are those crystals?” X begun to rant, curiosity slowing the rant down to a question.
        “Weirdest crystals I've ever seen, X” Apocalypse responded. He had taken the lead, his appearance convincing the crowds to conveniently move out of the parties way, a fact X's increased girth needed.
        “Guess that makes one thing you and the things have in common.” Inti snarked, choosing to ride X alongside Nell.
        “Thanks Inti! I knew you would be nice to me someday!”
        “Uh...”
        “Give him a minute X. He'll get it eventually.” Inti's grin was rather devious, X's sigh wondering how long it was going to take to get Inti to stop singling out Apocalypse.
        “If you say so...”
        “Okay take a left here.”
        The team obeyed Nell's direction, arriving in the market. From the looks of things, there was a small scuffle earlier in the day. “...as I saying, if these pokémon can build a city in the trees, why not build the Center in it as well?”
        “Wouldn't the ground be a better foundation? After all, construction rule number four.”
        X pondered that for a moment. “Yea, but those crystals look pretty sturdy. If only I could have gotten a closer look...” Silence followed as the team advanced through the stalls, many pairs of eyes glaring at the pokémon. Eventually, the motley crew reached a forge, it's forgemaster pounding away at a long metal shaft with a hammer encased in a dull red aura. A Paniard was helping him, gathering materials for him while two Alakazam meditated. At that moment, the forgemaster took a moment to pause from his work, and looked up and saw Nell and Kor, the little changeling waving from his seat within Azisa.
        


        “Nell!? You're back so soon?” The old changeling set this hammer down, and walked towards the pokémon present, the Paniard following him.
        “Hello Firequake.” Nell replied. “How's the forge treating you?”
        “Well, fire can be a cruel mistress when she wants to be entertained.” A hoof pointing towards the scorch marks he had accumulated was proof of that statement's truth. “But you're picking up your dad's merchant misdirection tricks pretty quickly now. Why back so soon?”
        Nell's ears drooped at this, clearly a topic she'd rather not talk about at this moment. “I'd rather not talk about it...”
        “Does it have something to do with the cart? Or lack thereof?”
        “Oh, that...uh...It's in the shop?”
        If Firequake's glare was a material object, they would be drills, drilling into the feeble lie and tearing it to oblivion in the blink of an eye. A sigh preceded Nell's revised response. “It got broken...”
        “Oh you're father isn't going to like that.”
        “No. No he's not.”
        “Mind I ask how that happened?”
        “Well, I found a lion, and I kinda let my bodyguards go on ahead of me while I took him to find his family...whom were deeper in the jungle...”
        This had Firequake's expression become one of utmost concern. “You're father isn't going to like that even less. He knows first hand how dangerous the jungle can be. Leaving the road and wandering into it invites only death, and he is a more devious being than fire ever will be.”
        “I guess he wasn't feeling to devious...” Nell mumbled. “I made it out in one piece, even made some friends along the way. Just...the wagon wasn't one of them.”
        “I'm curious how the wagon got broken if there were guards around it.”
        “Uh....creatures?” Nell responded as a thought came to her mind.
        


        Among the wreckage were Anteater and his team, wounded and on the ground in pain. Without a moment of hesitation, Nell and Azisa rushed to their aid while X and Apocalypse simple stared at the ruined cart.
        “Anteater!”
        Anteater opened his eyes, his entire body bruised and weakened by something. “Nell?” he groaned, his voice weak and hoarse.
        “It's me Anteater. What happened?”
         “Attacked.” he coughed. “By...creatures.”
        “What kind of creatures?”
        “They attacked quickly. Couldn’t get a good look, but they glinted like light does when it's reflected off of metal. ” Anteater coughed again. “They ambushed us. Though it was you. Used strange attacks. Almost like magic, yet at the same time it wasn't. They took us out like we were nothing, then went after the wagon. Took almost everything.”        
        


        “Something on your mind?”
        The voice of the old forgemaster snapped Nell out her thoughts. “Sorry. I was...uh how would Nall and Nalel put it? Uh...right. I was having a flashback.”
        “That does sound like your sisters. What were you flashbacking about?”
        “Well, before we got here to the safety of the city my guards were attacked by metal creatures. And much later, we were attacked by metal ants. I think those ants may have been the same metal creatures that attacked the guards and....uh destroyed my wagon.”
        Firequake thought on this for a moment before responding. “Sounds like what happened earlier.”
        “What happened earlier?”
        “Well, I heard that some of the creatures that showed up started causing some sort of trouble, unlike the other critters who just appeared. Started tearing the market up, stealing some wood.” His eyes landed on Kor, the little changeling wincing from the experience of being kidnapped. “Apparently that's not all they took.”
        Nell's eyes fell on her little brother, feeling the remnants of the fear he felt. No words were needed as Nell took Kor out of the tree spirit, and the two hugged. Silence drowned out all other sounds, all other emotions save that of sisterly concern. Firequake smiled as he let them be, the creatures she accompanied moving away to give the siblings much needed space, a tear falling from Chesnaught Naught's eye.