Chapter 15: Unleashed

  The air is a storm of dust, poison, and restrained rage. The cave seems to rumble with the tension of every step, every clash, every roar escaping from human throats or Pokémon on the brink of exhaustion. A metallic and sulfurous scent mixes with dust, blood, and sweat, creating an unbreathable atmosphere.

  On one side, Vera, her reddish hair plastered to her skin with sweat, raises her gleaming gaze while her Abra, Sage, floats around her, and her Mime Jr., Butler, struggles to maintain control of the psychic barriers. Opposite her, Lisa, with pink hair and a necklace of red beads, displays an expression of coldness that contrasts with the fire in her eyes. Beside her, an additional Abra, a Staryu with a flickering core, and an Eevee with firm footing prepare to strike, ready to overpower Vera with the advantage of three against two.

  Vera feels the psychic pressure climbing up her neck like a clawed beast; her body trembles, but her mind, fueled by fury and instinct, refuses to give in. Each time Lisa moves her hand, the beads on her necklace shoot out with deadly precision, sometimes bouncing off the cave walls, sometimes shattering in the air and releasing a shockwave that shakes Vera’s concentration. Lisa’s Abra, its gaze dull but its will unyielding, teleports to impossible angles and fires bursts of Confusion. Meanwhile, Staryu spins, spitting a jet of water that scrapes against the rock, sending splinters flying, and Eevee zigzags, trying to distract Butler. Each of Lisa’s Pokémon combines their moves with precise coordination, forcing Vera to fight on multiple fronts.

  Sage, Vera’s Abra, generates Psychic bursts capable of shaking the cavern, but Lisa counters with a Psychic Terrain that spreads from the ground, staining the rock in purple hues. That mental platform amplifies psychic attacks, making Vera’s defenses even more difficult. Around them, rocks rise and fall, sometimes colliding with Lisa’s barrier, sometimes hitting an unsuspecting Pokémon. Butler, breathing heavily, attempts a Wish to restore some energy for his trainer and teammates, but the intensity of the battle makes the small Pokémon tremble every time he tries to summon that healing light.

  At the same time, Lisa’s red beads fly unpredictably—one grazes Vera’s cheek, sending a sting of pain; another shatters against a wall, unleashing a tiny psychic explosion that echoes among the stalactites. Vera bites her lower lip and takes advantage of her connection with her Abra to unleash a series of Telekinesis attacks. She lifts fragments from the ground and hurls them at Lisa as makeshift projectiles, hoping to create an opening for a decisive strike. But Lisa responds with a flick of her hand, and her Staryu spins, launching a water jet that knocks the stones aside.

  Suddenly, Eevee sneaks in with a Quick Attack, softened by the Psychic Terrain, which dampens speed-based strategies but still makes it effective for breaching Vera’s defenses. Butler takes a hit to the belly and staggers back, gasping, disoriented. Sage, with a mental growl, rushes to intercept, firing Confusion at Eevee. Lisa sees the maneuver and orders her own Abra to counter with Psyshock. The clash of powers shakes the air, their muffled echoes rumbling through the cave.

  Not far away, in another broad section of the cavern, Kara, with her Mankey named Box and her Machop called Karate, faces off against Alex, a burly man with orange hair who believes in brute strength and numerical superiority. At his sides, two Tyrogue and a Machop move like a well-trained squad. Alex wears metal gloves that flash with every movement, striking the air and clashing against Kara’s force with sparks that light up the darkness.

  Kara feels her sky-blue aura coursing through her muscles, granting her strength and endurance that save her from being knocked down in the first exchange. Her kicks blend with spins reminiscent of the most refined martial arts. However, Alex knows how to block or deflect many of her strikes, and his Tyrogue flank her, throwing punches and kicks that threaten to break her guard. Machop—Karate—lets out a focused grunt, using Low Kick against one of the Tyrogue, abruptly knocking it down. The second Tyrogue takes advantage of the opening to strike Mankey with a Rolling Kick, sending it crashing against the wall with a cry of pain.

  Kara’s breath grows heavy—she knows her opponent is accustomed to the brutality of no-holds-barred combat. Alex throws a right hook that impacts the top of her guard, and it feels like being hit by an iron battering ram. His gloves are instruments of destruction, and each time they strike the rock, the sound reverberates with terrifying echoes. Despite her aura and increased strength, Kara is being overwhelmed by Alex’s strategy, which relentlessly bombards her from different angles, backed by his numerically superior Pokémon.

  The Machop on both sides battle fiercely. Kara’s Machop tries a Drain Punch to regain energy, managing it partially by siphoning vitality from an approaching Tyrogue. Alex watches, his face twisting with fury, as his Pokémon staggers backward, weakened. Even so, his own Machop, tougher than average, catches Kara off guard with a Mega Kick that slams into her ribs, sending her flying several meters. She crashes against a rocky ledge, exhaling a ragged gasp. Mankey—Box—reacts immediately, trying to shield her with a Reversal attack. Alex lets out a dry laugh as his metal fist blocks the strike, and a Tyrogue kicks Mankey’s knee, making it tremble.

  The cave quakes with every step—every collision a reminder that the place won’t hold much longer. The air thickens with a veil of dust that blurs vision. Yet, the battle seems to matter more than the structure itself, as if fury and competition clouded any awareness of the risk. Pokémon pant, push forward, growl—the resonance of fists against flesh and rock blending into a menacing symphony.

  A bit apart from the two centers of destruction, Aspen clings to the wall, blood dripping from his arm, his breath so ragged that every inhale comes with a painful moan. His legs tremble, and his internal venom burns with an unsuspected violence, amplified by the wound Niko inflicted and the toxin injected. Still, he knows he can’t stand idly by while Kara and Vera are overwhelmed by their adversaries. Fighting against the dizziness, he closes his eyes and focuses on his spleen—on that part of his body modified by the Five Poison Organs ritual. He knows that if he controls his own toxic essence, he can forge a basic weapon. The crystals emerging from his wound pulse with unbearable tingling, but there is no other choice.

  With a gasp, he tears what remains of his left sleeve, allowing a volume of venom to condense in the air. He concentrates on shaping it into makeshift dumbbells—something that can boost Kara’s strength—and arrowheads that could serve Vera’s mental control. His fingers tremble as he moves them, praying he won’t lose consciousness in the process. Before his eyes, the toxin solidifies, taking on violet hues that refract the cave’s dim light.

  Aspen, his voice hoarse, tries to call out to his Grimer—Dozy—by weakly swinging his arm in the air to get its attention, though he realizes his companion is struggling with the confusion caused by Bulbasaur and Nidoran. He turns his head and sees that his plan is getting complicated. With a dry throat, he forces himself to shout the words:

  “D-Dozy… tell… Vera’s Abra… that… I have… a weapon.”

  His sentence is cut off by coughing and mild convulsions. However, it’s Vera’s Mime Jr., Butler, who hears him, as he is at mid-range, and one of Kara’s Mankey also catches the message, his ears tense. Butler, the little clown, trembles but manages to run toward Sage to relay the information with clumsy miming, while Mankey jumps toward Aspen. Through grunts and gestures, both Pokémon understand that Aspen is offering crystallized poison as a weapon for their trainers.

  Butler, determined, executes a short-range teleportation, trying to reach Aspen. He looks strained and even stumbles, as the mental saturation of the cave and his inexperience overwhelm him. Nonetheless, he manages to grab the arrowheads with his tiny hands, marveling at the deadly density they emit, and disappears again in a flash of psychic power. Mankey grabs the dumbbells and leaps with a determined growl, carrying them in his arms. The monkey weaves through rocks and debris, unconcerned for his own safety.

  The dumbbells and arrowheads appear near Kara and Vera. Mankey drops the dumbbells at Kara’s feet amidst the clash, and Butler appears behind Vera, extending the sharp tips he clutched with his clumsy Telekinesis. Both fighters flinch but recognize the violet glow and the latent threat within them.

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  Kara, cornered by Alex and his Machop, takes a split second to grasp the dumbbell as if it were an extra gauntlet covering her forearm. She immediately feels the venomous tingle that makes her gasp, but she interprets it as the spark she needs. With her other bare hand, she grips the second dumbbell and experiences a surge of strength—or at least, the sensation of wielding a power distinct from her own.

  On the other side, Vera stumbles as Butler hands her the arrows. Carrying something so dangerous with Telekinesis is an enormous risk—one misstep, and they could shatter in her face. However, Vera pinches the smallest one between two fingers and holds it aloft with her psychic energy, sensing how the pink current of her mental power resonates with the crystalline structure. A shiver runs down her spine, but she ignores it, as the momentum of the fight forces her to act.

  Lisa throws another bead from her necklace, and Staryu fires a water jet. Vera defends herself with an uprooted rock, and her Abra reinforces it with an additional Psychic. Then, Vera hurls the arrow at Lisa. The pink-haired girl dodges with a gasp, though the arrow doesn’t graze her enough to wound her. However, a wave of poison releases a vapor that forces her into a coughing fit. Her Abra shields her with Confusion, and Staryu spins to counter with a water blast that disperses part of the fumes. It’s a small advantage, but Vera feels more confident, knowing that a direct hit could poison her enemy.

  Kara, with the dumbbell adhered to her fist, launches a charge that surprises Alex, his Machop, and his Tyrogue. Her knee strike slams into Alex’s guard, and the venomous charge jolts him with searing pain. Alex grunts as a burning sensation spreads through his arm. In disbelief, he sees that the semi-solid substance is embedding slightly into his uniform, causing numbness in his muscle. The girl seizes the moment to take down one of the Tyrogue with an elbow strike to the temple.

  Machop—Karate—and Mankey—Box—work in tandem, closing in on the other Pokémon. Although Alex’s numerical advantage remains, the introduction of poison and Kara’s newfound confidence shift the balance.

  The rumbling intensifies, and the cave gives a final warning. Lisa, irritated and with a stinging throat from the gas emitted by Vera’s arrow, shrieks Niko’s name as if expecting immediate assistance.

  “Niko! Damn it, we’re being poisoned!”—her voice cracks between coughs, her hands clutching at her own skin as if trying to tear away the burning venom—“What the hell are you doing?! Give me the antidote now!”

  Alex, staggering, his face twisted in frustration and pain, growls while clutching his side.

  “Niko, don’t mess with me! Throw the damn antidote!”—he demands, panting—“I won’t let this amateur beat me… and especially not because of something as dirty as poison!”

  Lisa grits her teeth, feeling her body betray her, her limbs going numb, her vision blurring from the sting eating at her shoulder. Her Staryu tries to support her with a glimmer from its gem, but the poisoning continues its course. Still, her disdain is stronger than the pain.

  “Don’t tell me you’re still busy with that pathetic coward!”—she barks, turning her head toward Aspen and Niko’s fight—“It shouldn’t be this hard, Niko, he’s just a scared insect with a puddle of slime and a squeaky bat!”

  Alex chuckles despite the venom burning through his body.

  “Don’t tell me, Niko! You still haven’t killed that idiot? He doesn’t even know how to fight!”—his laughter cuts off as a spasm of pain forces him to kneel, but his expression remains laced with mockery—“What’s taking you so long, huh?! He’s just a kid who hasn’t even trained his body!”

  Lisa wobbles, her face pale, but her hatred doesn’t wane.

  “Tell me you’ve already cut him to pieces!”—she spits, her voice dripping with both literal and figurative venom—“I don’t want my last memory before passing out to be this disgraceful defeat against impure blood.”

  But Niko doesn’t respond. His silhouette still moves in the shadows, still trapped between the hardened venom fragments binding him. His eyes shine with pure rage as he struggles against his own prison. With each strike, the crystals restraining him crack, but he still can’t fully break free. However, none of that deters him from his only obsession: killing Aspen.

  The sound of his blade striking the crystals, the rocks, even the air itself, fills the cave with echoes of uncontrolled fury. Vera and Kara turn their heads, their bodies tense.

  They see him.

  Through the darkness, they glimpse Niko lunging at Aspen. His figure is a blurred streak of speed and steel, his swords descending with relentless violence. Aspen barely moves in time, but the edge of one blade slices his side, opening a fresh wound. Dark blood splatters against the rocks.

  Lisa and Alex see it too, and their twisted grins widen.

  “Look at him,”—Lisa chuckles, breathless—“running like a wounded rat.”

  “Come on, Niko!”—Alex yells, equal parts desperate and eager—“Do us all a favor and finish him off already! It shouldn’t be this hard…”

  The mockery in their voices fills the air. They don’t know Aspen. To them, he is nothing but an insignificant obstacle. They don’t know his struggle, his story, or what he has endured. And they don’t care.

  The blade of Niko’s sword comes down again.

  Aspen stumbles.

  Vera and Kara hold their breath.

  And then, something changes.

  A memory.

  For Kara, it’s a vivid image from her childhood, a place where the strong trampled the weak without consequence. A little girl, cornered, beaten until her breath became a distant echo. No one helped. No one moved. No one did anything.

  For Vera, it’s a scorching sense of helplessness. She remembers the voice of someone who mocked her with the same condescension as Lisa. “You are nothing. Just a mistake waiting to be corrected.” She knows what it means to be underestimated, to be crushed. She knows what it means to be trapped with no one to save her.

  Their energy distort.

  Vera’s eyes glow with a pink radiance that condenses in the center of her forehead, as if a third eye of pure psychic fury is opening. A pink lightning crackles around her, and both Abra and Mime Jr. recoil in fear. On Kara’s side, her right arm, the one holding the dumbbell, darkens into a mysterious deep blue, streaked with luminous sky-blue veins that stand out like the roots of a spectral tree. A tremendous force escapes from her, forcing her Machop to retreat, sensing the overwhelming surge of energy.

  The entire cave, already weakened, reacts in unison to this demonstration of power. Vera’s psychic energy becomes a pink whirlwind of levitating rocks spinning out of control, while Kara, enveloped in a sky-blue storm, cracks the ground just by stepping on it. The proximity of destruction engulfs them all. Lisa and Alex, poisoned and terrified, curse as they attempt to retreat.

  “This is impossible!”—Lisa screams, clutching her trembling hand to her chest, feeling the venom’s burn—“No one outside the clans should be able to do this!”

  Alex, his legs shaky, his knuckles white with tension, looks at her with the same disbelief reflected in his eyes.

  “They told us only the heirs could reach this level!”—he spits, trying to mask his fear with rage—“They lied to us, Lisa! These two… they shouldn’t exist!”

  An immense energy surges from Vera and Kara simultaneously—a rumbling force that makes the cave tremble, a vibration so intense that stalactites break off by the dozens, and the earth itself seems to twist in an internal cataclysm. Lisa and Alex stare at each other, their bodies hunched under the crushing pressure of two powers that should never have been awakened.

  “If we don’t stop them, we’ll die here!”—Lisa shrieks, panic tearing through her voice—“We can’t let this continue!”

  Alex, with venom eating away at his insides and sweat rolling down his face, grits his teeth and reaches into his belt.

  “I’m not going to sit around waiting to be crushed like a rat…”—he mutters, voice trembling as he pulls something from his gear.

  The deafening hum dissolves any attempt at rational thought. Lisa’s Abra, her Staryu, and her Eevee are flattened against the ground, neutralized by an unbearable psychic and kinetic pressure. Alex’s Tyrogue and Machop collapse to their knees, writhing under the same oppression. Aspen, wounded and semi-conscious, can’t even lift his head, barely experiencing a wave of terror as he feels the rocks about to bury him.

  Dozy and Noizy throw themselves over him, using their dwindling strength to shield him. The cut Niko inflicted only makes the poison spread faster. Aspen takes a pause, his body convulsing, then weakly recalls Dozy and Noizy into their Pokéballs before closing his eyes in deep concentration.

  Butler trembles beside Sage under Vera’s psychic pressure, while Karate and Box cling to a rock, struggling not to be flung away by Kara’s force, unable to contain the madness of their own trainers.

  At the epicenter of the explosion, Vera’s forehead pulses with that psychic eye, throbbing like an enraged heart. Kara is surrounded by crackling sky-blue sparks, her darkened arm emitting a contrasting glow from the energy veins coursing through it. Lisa gasps at the sight, her expression contorted by pure terror.

  “This can’t be real…”—she whispers, feeling the ground quake beneath her feet.

  Alex, his eyes wide with fear, swallows hard. His breathing is erratic, and desperation seeps into every fiber of his being.

  “There’s no choice…”—he growls—“If we don’t stop them, no one will.”

  Both of them grit their teeth, forcing themselves to ignore the paralyzing fear, preparing for their final move.

  But then, Vera and Kara unleash a simultaneous roar, and the cave answers with a partial collapse of its walls and ceiling.

  Massive boulders break loose. The floor shatters. A storm of dust devours their vision. A final, earth-shaking explosion rumbles through the cavern, as if the land itself were crying out in agony.

  Vera Espern

  Abra [Nickname: Sage]

  Mime Jr. [Nickname: Butler]

  Kara Auralis

  Machop [Nickname: Karate]

  Mankey [Nickname: Box]