Locked Aura

by TundraStanza

Ch. 9: A Disrespectful Revelation

"This is an open invite to a few candidates. Be warned, the path we're traversing may involve a lot of fighting."

I can work with that. Xavier held out his staff. Aura, answer their call!

There wasn't even a comedic "whoosh" noise. One minute, he was in his resting chamber. The next, he was standing on a random road. Looking around, this new world looked like the wreckage of a city. Scorch marks at random places indicated fires that had died down hours ago. Jagged cracks in building walls and the sidewalks looked like a Groudon had woken up.

Multiple growls came from behind him. He turned to see a few creatures that were pony-like in basic shape. But that was where the similarities ended. Their skin looked like it was made of ash and was barely clinging to their limbs. Eyes were pools of black and orange. They had walls of fangs where their lips should have been.

"Lu..." Xavier held his staff in one paw behind his back. Are they going to play nice?

One of the creatures jumped and opened its grotesque jaws wide open.

Guess not.

The Lucario charged his staff into its Bone Rush form. With a swift arc, he swatted the ghoul away like a baseball. It seemed the ground-type laser weapon had actually cut right through the creature's torso. With a loud and grating screech, the ghoul collapsed in two pieces on the road before uttering no more sound. The rest of the colony hissed before charging at the blue, black, and yellow intruder.

Xavier bashed through the other five ghouls in about two seconds. With a flick of his wrist, the staff returned to its default shape. White flakes slowly descended on the road.

Is this a volcanic region? He asked to no one in particular.

"More like Hell on Earth."

Turning to his right, he saw a couple things that definitely weren't there before. A black horse snorted while its solid red eyes glared around itself. It was an actual steed, far larger than the ponies Xavier had interacted with the other day. Seated on the horse, there was a humanoid in glowing garments. The hood was red, but the rest of the attire had less distinct colors. The outfit just sort of blended into itself rather than sticking to one part of the visible light spectrum.

"... or I guess Tartarus on Equus, if you want to get technical." The voice came from the man.

And who might you be? Xavier hooked his staff against his back.

The man stared with white pools where his eyes should have been. "Is that a serious question?" He held out a tiny blue staff 'key' in the palm of his hand.

Xavier nodded. Ah, I see. So, what was the purpose of your invite?

"If you can keep up, I'll explain when we get to the meeting point."

The man in red and glows dug his heels against the sides of the stallion. As the horse moved its hooves into a gallop, it looked like a trail of fire followed where it traversed. Xavier shrugged before running next to the fiery trail, holding his paws behind him to lower wind resistance. Almost instantly, he was running side-by-side with the other Displaced.

---

"Are you in or out?"

The glowing man looked around at the three invited Displaced. Xavier was sitting cross-legged, thinking something over. To his left, there sat a pale boy in a gray hoodie, faded color jeans, and white hair spikes going in several directions. Next to them, there was an anthro wolf with white and red patterns along her fur.

"What exactly do we get out of this?" The pale boy idly twirled one of his own hairs around his finger.

"I am no Desire demon." The man in red simply glared at him. "Find your own incentive if rending judgment isn't good enough."

"My own incentive?" The boy chuckled while standing up. "All I want when I visit every world is to make an environment of ultimate despair. Out of which, the ultimate hope will triumph!"

Xavier tilted his head. You have the craziest rhetoric I have ever heard.

The anthro wolf lifted her head and howled.

Xavier clenched a paw tightly around his staff. I stand corrected. That is the craziest rhetoric I've ever heard.

"From here on out, I am 'War'." The man in red swept a hand to the side. His cape followed direction on a secret wind. "The rest of you shall take up the mantles of 'Famine', 'Pestilence', and 'Death'."

'Famine' let out a deep bark.

"I suppose I can savor this." 'Pestilence' smiled before hugging his arms. "But will it be long enough for me to enjoy?"

'Death' stood back up on his hind paws. And here I am without my cheap kitchen scale.

'War' climbed atop his steed. "Remember, the enemies are from both Heaven and Hell. The end times will not weep if you drive your weapons down either throat." With that statement, he and his stallion galloped away from the lush jungle meeting place.

A cricket hopped atop Famine's head, chirping annoyingly in her ears. She growled before sprinting away, leaving a trail of random flowers growing behind her footsteps.

"Instructions that only make sense in a single world and everything could potentially kill us." Pestilence shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Is it going to be the most important day of our lives, or will it just be a Tuesday?"

Is this stalling your roundabout way of saying you need a lift? Death crossed his paws. To catch up with the others, I mean?

"Eh heh heh." Pestilence rubbed the back of his messy hair and grinned. "Maybe that's part of it."

Death rolled his eyes. He then proceeded to pick up the boy and lift him above his head. Death grunted before dashing off in a blur of bluish-white.

---

As War and his ride galloped through hordes of ghoul ponies, he swung a blade wide with a dark flame. To his other side, Famine followed the trend of fire by magically summoning a giant, burning infinity symbol. Most of the ghouls burned to ashes in their wake. Few stragglers remained when Pestilence and Death made it to certain checkpoints along the path. The hooded boy chuckled quietly as he ducked, bobbed, and weaved himself away from fangs and hooves.

Death attempted to throw his Bone Rush like a boomerang. While it managed to destroy three of the grounded ghouls, it looked like it barely flicked against a ghoul with wings. When his staff returned, the Lucario grunted before channeling a Dark Pulse out of his free paw. Three of those shadowy pulses were finally enough to smoke the winged ghoul. He heard a pair of hands clapping.

"Nice work, Death." Pestilence cupped his hands together. "You really warmed them over."

So glad I could entertain you. Death rolled his eyes.

"Oh no, I'm not mocking you." Pestilence insisted. "I truly admire your adaptability. I wish I could apply skill to my situations. But all I've got is an ultimate luck."

Death shrugged as he slowly walked along the path. If luck is what allows the character you've become to survive, you shouldn't be so quick to dismiss it.

"Really? Wow." The boy's sneakers stepped around a puddle without him even glancing down. "I never thought about it that way."

The path lead through the remains of an old hydro mill. Splinters lay there next to the giant, wooden wheel. What was left of the river was either muddy, dried up, or burned to ash. Pestilence looked up at the gray, hazy sky as his feet hopped, skipped, and jumped across an old rocky cross-path. Death took a running start before vaulting himself across the riverbed with his staff.

"By the way, you never told us what you wanted out of this field trip of War's." Pestilence clasped his hands together behind his hairstyle.

Neither did War, pointed out Death. I think I'll keep that close to the chest. If my desire becomes relevant to what we actually do, I'll let you know.

"Aw, c'mon..." Pestilence seemed to wink, with his open eye looking at the Lucario. "Not even a hint?"

Death's hind paw stepped on something that went "clink". Hmm?

"Hello, what's this?" Pestilence reached down a hand and picked up the dark instrument. "What's a crossbow doing in the middle of a mill town?"

Does it still work?

Pestilence shrugged before turning to look at some concrete rubble. He moved his thumb across a switch that put up a little resistance. He closed one eye before holding the crossbow at about his arm's length in front of himself. Slowly, he contracted his index finger.

*Zwip!*

One second after the trigger had been pulled, the block had an arrow sticking out of it. Several crack lines surrounded the block at the point of impact.

Works well enough. Death nodded.

Pestilence turned the crossbow over in his grasp. "Hmm... looks like there's only four bolt arrows left."

What about the arrow still in the block?

Death walked over to the block in question. However, all of his attempts to move the bolt arrow up, down, left, right, inward, and outward were met with failure. The arrow did not budge a millimeter. After thinking for a minute, Death charged his staff with his Bone Rush attack. A single downward slash broke the block into pieces. But in the process, the arrow had bent and cracked beyond feasible use.

Ah. ... Guess I still don't know my own strength. He scrunched his mouth while putting his staff away.

"Like I said, four bolt arrows left." Pestilence took a few steps. "We'll need to save them for very situational moments."

Death deadpanned. Basically, you get to save your energy while the rest of us handle the fighting.

Pestilence softly laughed.

---

Death attempted to open his eyes. But he felt nothing, almost like his eyes no longer existed to open. He could see walls surrounding him, yet there was also an outside to these walls. Rather, it was a sphere surrounding him. As far as his glowing aura allowed him to sense, this sphere was made of a white metal on the southern hemisphere and a blue color with red dash markings on the northern hemisphere.

He gasped, trying to shake any of his limbs. But his limbs weren't responding either. Sighing silently, he tried to focus on seeing anything else around the Great Ball. To the right of his prison, he saw War hanging on a back wall with giant nails jammed into his wrists. To his left, Famine was trapped in a round cage that was glowing in neon yellow.

What happened? The contained Pokemon called out.

"From the looks of things, a lot has happened." Pestilence grinned with his eyes shut at the Great Ball.

Wha-? Let us out of these restraints! Death continued to float in the formless light.

"I'd love to, but..." When Pestilence tried to move his legs, loud chains rattled and made him grunt. "... I'm trapped as well." He opened his eyes and looked down.

How did we all end up like this?

" 'How' indeed."

Those that could move their heads flinched at the new voice. They looked over at the opposite wall of the room. Somewhere unseen, there was a high-pitched drum roll. Within five seconds, part of the floor slid open. A small, blonde girl rose up on an elevating platform. Her outfit consisted of a dark-greenish brown uniform, complete with an exaggerated, black plus sign.

Pestilence blinked twice. "Why hello there, little girl. What's your name?"

The girl tapped her heels together once. "I am High General Stonisch, here to review the immediate surrender of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!"

She then proceeded to unfold a piece of paper from her pocket and unleashed a torrent of legal-speak. Famine tilted her head, as if a question mark were to briefly appear over herself. If Death could still feel his eyes, they would have been spinning. War, despite his pain, looked as though he understood the language but feigned boredom. Well into the midst of the girl's out-loud reading, Pestilence raised his hand.

"I'll let you finish, but could I get a bagel or something? I'm famished."

The alleged general immediately turned red in the face. She waved a hand away from the letter. A second later, several knives crackling with electrical sparks appeared around Pestilence's neck. A sweat drop rolled down the side of his face.

"... okay. Maybe later then." Pestilence slowly lowered his hand.

The girl general neatly folded the piece of paper. With a slightly different wave of her hand, the electric knives vanished into thin air. Pestilence sighed quietly.

"You seem to be under the delusion that you are still free to devour and piss all over whatever you want." Her eyes glowed a bluish-green. "Allow me to break that asinine conclusion that you've drawn."

"I never mentioned the bathroom-"

The little general merely squinted and a long lance appeared out of thin air. Before Pestilence could even finish his sentence, the lance rushed past him and stabbed through War's rib cage area. The red-hooded man grunted as the lance immediately pulled itself back. Red blood spilled out of his side. The boy turned as much as he could and looked back.

"Idiot..." War hissed out. "Don't take your eyes off the enemy."

When Pestilence faced forward again, another electrified knife was floating near his chin. Death wasn't entirely sure, but he thought he could sense a strong aura around the girl's hands and eyes. Was she using a form of magic?

"I will teach you to fear and respect me, even if it kills you all!" shouted the girl.

"Clearly you need us alive for some reason, else you'd have already killed us." Pestilence's smile was thin.

"Hmph." The knife vanished. "I can use cleverness, but not insubordination. We're going to run through a test. If you pass, I'll release one of your allies. Fail, and you will all be executed immediately."

Pestilence twiddled some hair between his fingers. "So... about that bathroom break..."

General Stonisch blinked. In the next second, Famine howled in pain at the new magic spear driven through her left paw.

"Care to finish that statement, maggot?" asked the general.

Pestilence held up both of his open palms in surrender. "I can hold it."

What kind of test does she plan to give him? wondered Death.

What happened next caught the contained Lucario by surprise. The aura in the room started to look like physical words floating in the air. It sounded like the general was talking, but her very voice was taking form and moving around the room. Sometimes, her phrases spun around an epicenter.

"All of you are being charged with treason against the country!"

"You invaded with no provocation."

"You went so far as to take innocent civilians' lives!"

"How can

you justify

yourselves?"

Pestilence was thinking to himself. It was true that some memories and details of more recent events were missing. Perhaps the people that this general thought innocent did not fit the same definition as the innocent in his eyes. However, something clicked as he turned his eyes toward one spot in the room. He held up his crossbow, and fired at one set of floating words.

"You invaded with no provocation."

"You invaded with

no|provocation."

"Sore wa chigau yo." Pestilence held up an index finger on his left hand. "I mean... no, that's wrong." He holstered his crossbow before he continued. "Technically, we were just volunteer accomplices in War's campaign. You say we entered a country without being provoked. But the constant swarm of random demons and angels was pretty provoking."

Random pictures rushed through the room's space. Many depicted grunts and monstrosities that belonged to the armies of both heavenly realms. The last four pictures showed the four horsemen using their powers to clean up.

"I... suppose the demon count in and around the country's borders has been higher than usual."

Something clunked, rather closely in Death's formless hearing. The red light he was made of briefly turned a bluish-white color. In that moment, feeling returned to his face and all of his limbs. He gasped as he looked around at his standing form. He glanced over at the general, currently clearing her throat. He charged up purple shadow energy in his right paw.

"Stop right there!" General Stonisch summoned three electrical knives. Each one was pointed at the neck of an ally. "If you so much as sneeze in my general direction, you'll force my hand into ending their lives."

The Lucario growled.

A door slid open on the side of the room. "You will wait outside until the rest of their fates are decided."

War grunted. "Forget about us and end her now."

Pestilence shook his head. "Did you see how fast her spells are? He wouldn't make it in time before she stopped him." He flashed a smile at Death. "Go on. This will only take a few minutes."

Death exhaled and canceled his Dark Pulse. He looked around at his current group. Pestilence was still smiling. War seemed indignant but kept silent. Famine was still hurting, but she let out a normal bark.

If you have hope, hold tightly to it. Death gave one last look at the boy before running out the open door.

---

Two minutes passed while Death waited by a dead tree. He had his aura sense on during that entire time. Inside of the fort, Pestilence was still fighting his opponent's words with his own. It seemed normal to the boy, but not to the Lucario. Yet, he could only wait.

A winged beast with golden wings silently flew up behind him. He was too focused on the fort and the goings-on to notice. He sighed in relief when Famine was released from her cage. When he heard a bird cry, he gasped and turned around. Before he could charge up any kind of move, golden talons pressed him into the ground.

Famine's howl was followed by a barrage of icicles in the shape of diamonds. The angelic beast was tossed backward. This gave Death enough time to clear his mind and launch a Psychic. With all of that pressure from the Pokemon's mind, the winged beast's limbs cracked into itself before dissipating in a splash of golden halos.

Thank you, Death looked over.

Famine cut him off with a short whine.

Yeah, yeah, don't get too full of yourself. He returned his attention and aura sense to the fort.

War stepped out a minute later. He was applying some kind of gel to the wounds in his arms. Silently, Death wondered if that was a poultice. The horseman's bleeding sealed up along thin red lines. Death reached out to sense the inside of the fort again.

"I still have unfinished business elsewhere." War marched by. "You two can use your own discretion when to leave."

Death blinked and looked behind him. Seriously? Call us then leave us? That was your plan?

"You already helped clear out most of the lesser demons and Heaven's foot soldiers. What comes next, I take full responsibility."

But-

Famine placed a paw-hand on the Lucario's shoulder. She shook her head.

Death sighed. Fine, just don't lose sight of the 'why' when you reach for your objective.

War paused then tossed a circular icon. When Death caught it, the coin turned into what looked like a blue, glowing pistol. The word "MERCY" was engraved into the side.

"Normally I don't respond to the calls of the Displaced." War half-turned. "That weapon draws on the power of an end result rather than mortal bullets. Make sure you're ready for that end before using it."

A gun named Mercy? Isn't this a little too on-point? Death smiled wryly.

War walked away. Death inventoried the Mercy pistol before activating his aura sense.

Upon gazing back into the fort, Death saw what looked like words attached to tiny missiles. They were running into each other as Pestilence and Stonisch stared at their respective opponent. The Lucario almost thought he saw a copy of Pestilence's face smile while also holding up a finger. When the fort door opened again, Death opened his eyes.

The crazy-haired boy gave a wave before walking toward them. He tossed his crossbow off to one side. There were no more crossbow bolt arrows available in it. Pestilence put his hands in his hoodie pockets and stopped at the dead tree.

What was all of that about? Death waved his paw around for emphasis.

Pestilence shrugged. "Just another class trial. I've had my share of those."

There were words floating around... and you shot them. The Lucario tilted his head.

"Yeah? Huh... I guess it does seem kind of crazy from an outsider's logic." He pretended to scratch his cheek. "Oh well." He pulled something out of his pocket and threw it. "Here, catch!"

Wha-? Hey! Death instinctively used his Psychic attack to retaliate. The Great Ball hung there. Careful with that! I don't want to go back in there.

"I'm not throwing it to catch you, silly jackal." Pestilence chuckled. "I'm giving you my 'key'. It's got my pass-phrase in it now." He plucked the blue Poke Ball out of the air and passed it by hand. "Trust me."

Death kept his eyes narrow as he slowly reached for the ball. It didn't react when he held it in his own grasp. When he moved to put it away, it suddenly opened with a speaker-voice.

"Gotcha! Ha ha! Just kidding. You're not being caught. I just have a few things to say. My name is Komaeda. If you want to talk or need help with a plan, call me. I'll see what I can do." Then, the Great Ball shut itself.

The Lucario blinked a couple times before putting the ball away for good. I'm Xavier.

"Nice to meet you properly, Xavier." Komaeda crossed his arms and smiled thinly.

The anthro wolf barked at them.

"Your... name is...?"/... Ammi? The other two stared at her. "Hmm, not what I'd have picked for you, but I guess it's as good as any other name."

A paintbrush appeared out of thin air, drew a circle of ink over her, and pulled Ammi out of the world. Something sounded like a judge's hammer four times in a row. Then, Komaeda was removed from the setting. Without any fanfare, Xavier found himself back in his resting chamber at the hive.

Those guys might have been crazy, but at least I caught them on a relatively good day.

---
(In another place...)

Even though its body only had four limbs, it felt one thousand more. Red chains glowed in the otherwise dim reaches of space. Time lost all meaning, yet it grew impatient. It may have been tampered with, but it lost the will to care. Its command was to deliver judgment upon a particular world. It would do so very soon.
---

Author's Note:

Sorry if that part imitating Danganronpa was difficult to read. I'm 90% sure I won't be using that style of writing again in future chapters.

Comments

[Who cares]

Is there a damn imprisoned Arceus waiting to destroy the planet?!

[Zapper Frost]

Even though its body only had four limbs, it felt one thousand more. Red chains glowed in the otherwise dim reaches of space. Time lost all meaning, yet it grew impatient. It may have been tampered with, but it lost the will to care. Its command was to deliver judgment upon a particular world. It would do so very soon. ---

Arceus?!